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«^ THE
CENTURY DICTIONARY
AND
CYCLOPEDIA
A WORK OF UNIVERSAL REFERENCE
IN ALL DEPARTMENTS OF KNOWLEDGE
WITH A NEW ATLAS OF THE WORLD
IN TEN VOLUMES
VOLUME VII
PUBLISHED BY
%\ft Centiirj) Co.
NEW YORK
PE
V
.H
Copyright, 1889, 1890, 1891, 1894, 1895, 1896, 1897, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901,
By The Century Co.
Ml Bights Reserved.
PUBLISHERS' NOTE ON THE COMPLETED WORK
With the publication of tlie Atlas which is incorporated in the present edition The Century Diction-
ary and Cyclopedia has been brought to completion. As the Cyclopedia of Names grew out of the Dic-
tionary and supplemented it on its encyclopedic side, so the Atlas has grown out of the Cyclopedia, and
serves as an extension of its geographical material. Each of these works deals with a different part of the
great field of words, — common words and names, — while the three, in their unity, constitute a work of
reference which practically covers the whole of that field. The total number of words and names defined
or otherwise described in the completed work is about 450,000.
The special features of each of these several parts of the book are described in the Prefaces which will
be found in the first, ninth, and tenth volumes. It need only be said that the definitions of the common
words of the language are for the most part stated encyclopedically, with a vast amount of technical,
historical, and practical information in addition to an unrivaled wealth of purely philological material ;
that the same encyclopedic method is applied to proper names — names of persons, places, characters in
fiction, books — in short, of everything to which a name is given; and that in the Atlas geographical
names, and much besides, are exhibited with a completeness and serviceableness seldom equaled. Of
The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia as a whole, therefore, it may be said that it is in its own field
the most complete presentation of human knowledge — scientific, historical, and practical — that exists.
Moreover, the method of distributing this encyclopedic material under a large number of headings,
which has been followed throughout, makes each item of this great store of information far more acces-
sible than in works in which a different system is adopted.
The whole represents fifteen years of labor. The first edition of The Century Dictionary was com-
pleted in 1891, and that of The Century Cyclopedia of Names in 1894. During the years that have elapsed
since those dates each of these works has been subjected to repeated careful revisions, in order to include
the latest information, and the results of this scrutiny are comprised in this edition.
January, 1899.
. THE
CENTURY DICTIONARY
AN ENCYCLOPEDIC LEXICON
OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
PREPARED UNDER THE SUPERINTENDENCE OF
WILLIAM DWIGHT WHITNEY, Ph.D., LL.D.
PROFESSOR OF COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY AND SANSKRIT
IN YALE UNIVERSITY
PUBLISHED BY
^1)0 Century €o.
NEW YORK
Copyright, 1889, 1890, 1891, 1895, 1896, 1897, 1899, 1900, 1901, by The Century Co.
All Rights Reserved.
By permission of Messrs. Blackie & Son, publishers of The Imperial Dictionary by Dr. Ogilvie and
Dr. Annandale, material from that English copyright work has been freely used in the preparation of
The Century Dictionary, and certain owners of American copyrights having claimed that undue use of
matter so protected has been made in the compilation of The Imperial Dictionary, notice is hereby
given that arrangement has also been made with the proprietors of such copyright matter for its use
in the preparation of The Century Dictionary.
THE DEVINNE PRESS.
ABBREVIATIONS
USED IN THE ETYMOLOGIES AND DEFINITIONS.
■^ adj. adfectire.
abbr. abbreviation.
abL ablative.
■oc. accasative.
accom. acconiniodated,accoin-
modatioD.
act. active,
adv adverb.
AF. Anglo-French.
agrL agriculture.
AL. Anglo- Latin.
alg algebra.
Amer American.
anat. anatomy.
anc ancient.
antiq. antiquity.
aor. aoriat.
appar. apparently.
At. Arabic.
arch. architecture.
ansbatoL arcbieology.
aiHb. arithmetic
art article.
AS. Anglo-Saxon.
aatroL astrology.
aitron. astronomy.
attrib. attribative.
aog. angmentatire.
Bav Bavarian.
Beng. BengalL
biol biology.
Bohem. Bohemian.
bot, botany.
Braz. BrazDlan.
Bret. Breton.
bryoL bryology.
Bols. Bulgarian.
carp, carpentry.
Cat. Catalan.
Oath. Catholic.
caiu. causative^
ceram. ceramics.
ct L. confer, comparei
ch. church.
CbaL Chaldee.
cheni. chemical, chemistry,
Cbln. Cbineae.
cfanm. chronology.
ixdlaq. ooUoqaIa],coUoqnially.
com. commerce, commer.
clal.
oomp. composition, com.
pound.
compar. comparative.
conch. conchology.
conj conjunction.
oontr. contracted, contrac-
tion.
Com Comlsb.
cranioL cranlology.
cranionL craniometry.
crystal crystallography.
D. Dutch.
Dan Danish.
dat dative.
det definite, deflnitlon.
derlT derivative, derivation.
dial dialect, dialectaL
diff dilTerent.
•Mm,. diminutive.
•listrit distribntiTC.
dram dramatic
dynam dynamics.
E. East.
E- English (utuaUymettn-.
in^mod em English).
eccL, ecdea. eccleslaaticaL
econ. economy.
e. g U exempli gratta, tot
example.
Egypt. BgyptUn.
E.Ind. Eaat Indian.
elect electricity.
erabryol embryology.
Eng.
engin engineering.
entom. entomology.
Epis. EplscopaL
eqnir. equivalent.
esp. especially.
Eth Ethlopic
ethnog. etlinography.
ethnoL ethnology.
etym etymology.
EuT. European.
exclam exclamation.
f., fern. feminine,
F. French (vsuaUy mean-
ing modem French);
Flem Flemish.
fort tortlflcatlon.
freq frequentative.
Maa. Friesic
fnt future.
O. Oennan(unuiZ/yni«a».
ing New High Ger-
man).
OaaL Gaelic
galT. galvanism.
gan. genitive.
reog. geography.
«eoL geology.
geom. geometry.
Ooth. Oothlc (Hceaogothic).
Or. ; Greek.
gram. grammar.
gnu. gunnery.
Heb Hebrew.
her. heraldry.
herpet herpetology.
Hind. HlndnstanL
biat history.
boroL horology.
hort. horticulture.
Hang. Hungarian.
hydraoL bydraolics.
bydroa. hydrostatics.
Icel Icelandic (unioAy
weaning Old Ice-
Ian dlc,<i(A«nc<ssea<I-
«d Old NorseX
ichtb. Ichthyology.
1. e. Kidett, that Isl
Impen. ImpetaonaL
Impf. Imperfect.
Impv imperative.
Improp. Improperly.
Ind Indian.
ind. indlcatlTe.
Indo-Eor. Indo-European.
indef. indefinite.
Inf. Infinitive.
instr Instrumental.
inter) interjection.
Intr. , Intrana , . Intransitive.
Ir. Irish.
breg. Imgular, irregularly.
It Italian.
Jap. Japanese.
!> I«tln iutuoBy mean-
ing classical Latin).
Lett Lettish.
LO Low German.
lIchenoL lichenology,
lit literal, literaUy.
lit literature.
Uth. Lithuanian.
lithog. lithography.
llthol lithology.
LL LateLatin.
m.,masc masculine.
U. Middle.
mach machinery.
mammal. mammalogy.
manuL manufacturing.
math. mathematics.
Ha Middle Dutch.
HX. Middle English (o(A«r-
v>i*e called Old Eng-
UdiX
mech. mechanics, mechani-
caL
med. medicine.
mensur. mensuration.
metal metallurgy.
metaph metaphysics.
meteor. meteorology,
Mex. Mexican,
MGr. Middle Greek, medie-
val Greek,
MHG Middle High German.
milit military.
mineraL mineralogy.
ML. Middle Latin, medie-
val Latin.
MLG. Middle Low German.
mod. modem.
mycoL mycology,
myth mythology.
n. noun.
n., neut neuter.
N ...New.
N. North.
N. Amer. North America.
nat natural.
naut nauticaL
nav. navigation.
NGr. New Greek, modem
Greek.
NHO. New High German
(vrually simply O.,
GermanX
NIfc New Latin, modem
Latbi.
nom nominative.
Norm. Norman.
north northern.
Norw. Norwegian.
nomls. numismatics.
O. Old.
obe. obsolete.
obstet obstetrics.
OBulg. Old Bulgarian (other-
wiee called Church
Slavonic, Old .Slavic,
Old SlavonicX
OCat Old Catalan.
OD. Old Dutch.
ODan. Old Danish,
odontog odontography.
odontol odontology.
OF Old French.
OFlem Old Flemish.
OGael Old Gaelic
OHO Old High German.
Olr. Old Irish.
Olt Old Italian.
OL. Old Latin,
OLG <. Old Low German.
ONorth. Old Northumbrian.
OPruss. Old Prussian.
orig original, originally.
oniith. ornithology.
OS Old Saxon.
OSp Old Spanish.
osteol osteology.
OSw Old Swedish.
OTeut Old Teutonic,
p. a. participial adjective.
paleon paleontology.
part participle.
pass. passive.
pathol pathology.
perf. perfect.
Per*. Persian.
pers. person.
persp. perspective.
Peruv. Peravian.
petrog. petrography,
Pg. Portuguese.
pbar. pharmacy.
Phen Phenician.
phllol philology.
philos. philosophy,
phonog. phonography.
photog photography.
phren phrenology.
phys physical.
physiol physiology.
pi,, plur plural.
poet poetical,
polit political.
Pol Polish,
poss possessive,
pp past participle,
ppr. present participle.
Pr. Provencal (usually
meaning Old Pro-
venial).
pref. prefix.
prep preposition.
pres .present.
pret preterit.
priT. privative.
prob probably, probable.
pron pronoun.
pron pronounced, pronun-
ciation.
prop propferly.
pros. prosody.
Prot Protestant.
prov provincial,
psychol psychology.
q. V. L. giwd (or pi. qua!)
vide, which see.
refl reflexive.
reg. regular, regularly.
repr representing.
rhet rhetoric.
Bom Roman.
Bom. Romanic, Romance
(languages).
Buss. ,, Russian.
8. ,,' South,
8. Amer. South American.
80 , ,L. scilicet, understand,
supply.
Sc Scotch.
Scand Scandinavian.
Scrip Scripture.
sculp. sculpture.
Serv. Servian.
sing. singular.
Skt Sanskrit,
Slav. Slavic, Slavonic
Sp. Spanish.
Bubj subjunctive.
snperl superlative
surg surgery.
surv surveying.
Sw. Swedish.
syn synonymy,
Syr. Syriac.
technol technology.
teleg. telegraphy.
teratol teratology.
term termination.
Tent Teutonic.
theat theatricaL
tbeol. theology.
therap therapeutics.
toxicol toxicology,
tr,, trans. transitive.
trigon trigonometry.
Turk. Turkish,
typog, typography.
Hit ultimate, ultimately.
T, verb.
Tar. variant.
ret veterinary.
T. t intransitive verb.
y. t. transitive verb,
W. Welsh.
Wall Walloon.
Wallach Wallachian.
W. Ind M'est Indian,
soOgeog zobgeography.
ZOIU zoSlogy.
lOfit EoOtomy.
KEY TO PRONUNCIATION.
a as in fat, man, pang,
a as in fate, mane, dale.
& as in far, father, guard.
& as in fall, talk, naught.
a as in ask, fast, ant.
5 as in fare, hair, bear.
8 as in met, pen, bless.
e as in mete, meet, meat.
6 as in her, fern, heard.
i as in pin, it, biscuit.
i as in pine, fight, file.
o as in not, on, frog.
6 as in note, poke, floor.
6 as in move, spoon, room.
6 as in nor, song, off.
as in tub, son, blood,
as in mute, acute, few (also new,
tube, duty : see Preface, pp. ix, x).
as in pull, book, could.
German u, French u.
oi as in oil, joint, boy.
on as in pound, proud, now.
A single dot under a vowel in an unaccented
syllable indicates its abbreviation and lighten-
ing, without absolute loss of its distinctive qual-
ity. See Preface, p. xi. Thus :
a as in prelate, courage, captain,
e as in ablegate, episcopal.
o as in abrogate, eulogy, democrat,
u as in singular, education.
A double dot under a vowel in an unaccented
syllable indicates that, even in the mouths of
the best speakers, its sound is variable to, and
in ordinary utterance actually becomes, the
short !(-sound (of but, pun, etc.). See Preface,
p. xi. Thus:
a as in errant, republican,
e as in prudent, difference.
i as in charity, density.
o as in valor, actor, idiot.
a as in Persia, peninsula.
e as in the book.
u as in nature, feature.
A mark (w) under the consonants t, d, s, z in-
dicates that they in like manner are variable to
ch,j, sh, di. Thus:
t as in nature, adventure,
d as in arduous, education,
g as in pressure.
z as in seizure.
th as in thin.
TH as in then.
ch as in German aeh, Scotch loch.
n French nasalizing n, as in ton, en.
ly (in French words) French liquid (mouill^) 1.
' denotes a primary, " a secondary accent. (A
secondary accent is not marked if at its regular
interval of two syllables from the primary, or
from another secondary.)
SIGNS.
< read /row; i. e., derived from.
> read whence ; i. e., from which is derived.
+ read and ; i. e., compounded with, or with suffix.
= read cognate with; i. e., etymologically parallel with.
V read root.
* read theoretical or alleged; i. e., theoretically assumed,
or asserted but unverified, form.
t read obsolete.
SPECIAL EXPLANATIONS.
A superior figure placed after a title-word in-
dicates that the word so marked is distinct
etymologically from other words, following or
preceding it, spelled in the same manner and
marked with different numbers. Thus :
back^ (bak), n. The posterior part, etc.
back^ (bak), a. Lying or being behind, etc.
back)^ (bak), V. To furnish with a back, etc.
back^ (bak), adv. Behind, etc.
backet (bak), n. The earlier form of bat^.
back^ (bak), n. A large flat-bottomed boat,
etc.
Various abbreviations have been used in the
credits to the quotations, as " No." for number,
"st." for stanza, "p." for page, "1." for line,
f for paragraph, " fol." (or folio. The method
used in indicating the subdivisions of books
will be understood by reference to the follow-
ing plan :
Section only J 5.
Chapter only xiv.
Canto only . xiv.
Book only iii.
Book and chapter
Part and chapter
Book and line
Book and page ) iii. 10.
Act and scene
Chapter and verse
No. and page ,
Volume and page II. 34.
Volume and chapter IV. iv.
Part, book, and chapter II. iv. 12.
Part, canto, and stanza II. iv. 12.
Chapter and section or If vii. $ or 1[ 3.
Volume, part, and section or IT I. i. § or H 6.
Book, chapter, and section or IF . . I. i. ^ or H 6.
Different grammatical phases of the same
word are grouped under one head, and distin-
guished by the Roman numerals I., II., III.,
etc. This applies to transitive and intransi-
tive uses of the same verb, to adjectives used
also as nouns, to nouns used also as adjectives,
to adverbs used also as prepositions or con-
junctions, etc.
The capitalizing and italicizing of certain or
all of the words in a synonym-list indicates
that the words so distinguished are discrimi-
nated in the text immediately following, or
under the title referred to.
The figures by which the synonym-lists are
sometimes divided indicate the senses or defi-
nitions with which they are connected.
The title-words begin with a small (lower-
case) letter, or with a capital, according to
usage. When usage differs, in this matter,
with the different senses of a word, the abbre
viations [cap.'] for "capital" and [I. c] for
"lower-case" are used to indicate this varia-
tion.
The difference observed in regard to the
capitalizing of the second element in zoologi-
cal and botanical terms is in accordance with
the existing usage in the two sciences. Thus,
in zoology, in a scientific name consisting of
two words the second of which is derived from
a proper name, only the first would be capi-
talized. But a name of similar derivation in
botany would have the second element also
capitalized.
The names of zoSlcgicalandbotanical classes,
orders, families, genera, etc., have been uni-
formly italicized, in accordance with the pres-
ent usage of scientific writers.
Prickly Saltwort (Sattoda
Kah).
salsify
salsify (sal'si-fi), ». [Also salsafy; = Sp. saJsifi
= Pg. sersijim = Sw. sahojiy < F. salsijis^ dial.
sercijiy OF. sercijij cercheji^i It. sassefricuj goat's-
beani, < L. saxum, a rock, + fricare, rub: see
friction. Cf. 8a88afras.~\ A plant, Trrtgfo/Jor/OM
porrifolius. it is extensively cultivated as aregetable,
the long fusiform root being the esculent part. Its flavor
has given rise to the name of oi/«ter-pto/»/ or vegetable oyster.
Alao purple goat's-heard. See cut on preceding page.—
Blacs SSUsify, Scvrzoiiera Ilispaniea, a related plant with
a ro<jt like that uf salsify but outwardly blackish. It is
similarly us^, and its flavor is preferred by eome.
salsilla (sal-sil'ji), H. [< Sp. salsiUaf dim, of
salsa (= Pg. It" salmi) J sauce: see sauce.'] A
name of several plants of the genus BomareOy
yielding edible tubei*s. B. edulis is cultivated in the
West Indies, its root being eaten like the potato ; It is dia-
phoretic and diuretic. Other species, as B. SaltiUa, are
natives of the Peruvian Andes, and are pretty twining
plants with showy flowers.
salso-acid (sarno-as^id), a. [< L. salsu^j pp. of
salirt , salt, salt down, + acUhtSy acid.] Having
a taste l>oth salt and acid. [Rare.]
sal-soda (sal -so 'da), n. Crystalline sodium
carU((iiiite. See«r>(/*Mm carbonate, nnder sofiium.
Salsola (wal'so-la), ?». [NL. (Linnaeus, 1737), <
L. sal.sit^, pp. of mlircj salt, salt down, < *«/, salt:
%eesauc€.\ 1, Ageuusof apetalousplantsof the
order Chenopotliareie. tvpe of the tribe Salsolcie.
It is characterized by a single orbicular and horixontal seed
without albumen, containing a
green spiral eml^ryo with elon-
gated radicle proceeding from its
center, by bisexual axillary flow-
ers without disk or stamioodeflL
and with four or Ave coDCaTe and
winged perianth-segments^ and
by unJ4iinted branches with alter-
nate leaves. There are about 40
species, mainly natires of Europe,
northern •Africa, and temperate
and tropical regions of Asia ; 10
are found in .South Africa; one,
S. Kali, is native on sea-beachet
not only in Europe and western
Asia, but in North and South
America and Australia, also spar-
ingly inland in the T nited States.
They are herbs or shrubs, either
smooth, hairy, or woolly, and bear-
ing sessile leaves, often with a
brtMul clasping base, sometimes
elongated, •ometiraes re«luced to
scales, and often prickly- point-
ed. The nnall greenish flowers are solitary or clustered
in the axils, and coniinonly persistent uid enlarged about
the small rounded utricular fruit Varfoas species are
called aaUumrt, and priekiy glatrwort, also telpuort
2. [/. c] A plant of this genus.
salsolaceons (sal-so-la'ehius), a. [< NL. Sal-
sttht 4- -iirrous.'} Oi. or pertaining to or resem-
bling tlie genus Salsola.
It Is getting hopeless now ; . . . sand and nothing but
sand. The mUolaeema plants, so long the only vegetation
we have seen, are gone.
U. Kingdey, Geoffrj Usmlyn, zllL
Salsoleae (s&l-so'le-e), n. pL [NL. (Moquin-
Taiidori. 1835), < iialsola + -*?«.] A tribe of
chenopodiaceous plants, typified by the genus
Salsola. It embraces twenty other genera,
chiefly natives of the temperate parts of the
Old World.
salsoginose (sal-su'jl-nos), a. [< yiXj.salsugino-
tilts, .salty : see salsittjinonjij] In bot.^ growing
in pliifCH inundate<i with salt water.
salsaglnoas (sal-su'ji-nus), a. [Also salsugi-
nose; < ML. salswfinomis^ salty, < L. salaugo
(also HalsiUujo) (-gin-)^ saltness, < saUus, pp. of
aalire, salt, < saly salt: see salt^,'] Saltish;
somewhat salt, [Rare.]
l*he distinction of salts, wherebv they are discriminated
into acid, rolatile, or mUsugimna, if I may so call the fugi-
tive salts of animal substances, and fixed or alcallxate, may
appear of much use in natural philosophy. ^tjfie.
fcalt^ (H<), n. and a. [T. n. < ME. salty sealt, <
A8,«ea/f = OS.«rt/f = MD. sout, D. roM< = MLG.
itatt, 8olt, LG. 8oU = OHG. MHG. G. salz = Icel.
salt = Sw. Dan. salt = Goth, salt = W. hallt
(Lapp, salltej < Scand.), salt; appar. with the
formative -t of the adj. form. II. a. < ME. salty
< AS. sealt = OFrios. salt = MLG. solt = Icel.
saltr = Sw. r>an. salt, salt, = L. salsus, salted.
The name in other tongues is of a simpler type :
L. salOh. sab- = Sp. Pg. Pr. sal = F. sel) = (ir.
dXf = OBuIg. Holi = Serv. Pol. sol = Bohem.
»tU = KuHH. sols = Lett, sflls = W. hal, halcn —
Olr. salan, salt. Hence, from the L. form, sal,
BoUtd^y salanj, salinCy salmaf/undi, seller^ (salt-
cellar)i w/Z/petcr, sauce, sausaf/e, sousr^ etc.] I,
«. 1. A compound CNa('l) of chlorin with the
metallic base of the alkali soda, one of the
most abundantly diHseininatedand important of
all KubHtanoes. Itnotonlyoccurslnnumerouslocallth-s
in beds sometimes thousands of feet in thicknens, but also
exists in solution in the ocean, fonnlng nearly three per
cmt. by weight of Its mass. It is not only of the greatest
334*
5317
Importance in connection with the business of chemical
manufacturing, but is also an indispensable article of food,
at least to all men not living exclusively on the products
of the chase. Salt often occurs crystallized, in the isomet-
ric system, and lias when crystalline a perfect cubic
cleavage. Its specific gravity is about 2.2. When pui-e
it is colorless. As it occurs in nature in the solid form, it
is almost always mixed with some earthy impurities, be-
sides containing more or less of the same salts with which
it is associated in the water of the ocean (see ocean). It
is not limited to any one geological formation, but occurs
in great abundance in nearly all the stratified groups.
The Great Salt Range of India is of Lower Silurian age;
the principal sui)ply of the United States comes from the
Upper Silurian and Carlwniferous; the most important
salt-deposits of England, France, and Germany are in the
Permian and Triassic: the most noted deposits of Spain
are Cretaceous and Tertiary; and those of Poland and
Transylvania are of Ttitiary age. S;dt is obtained (1) fnim
evaporation of the water of the ocean and of interior saline
lakes ; (2) from the evaporation of the water rising natu-
rally in saline springs or obtained by boring; (3) by mining
the solid material, or rock-salt. The supply of the United
States is chiefly obtained by evaporating the water rising
In holes made by boring. The principal salt-producing
States are Michigan, New York, ( thio, Louisiana, West Vir-
ginia, Nevada, Cfdifurnia, and Kansas; it is also produced
in Utah. The two first-named States furnished in 18!*7
about three-quarters of the total product of the United
States. The salt of California is made by the evaporation
of sea-water ; that of Utali from the water of Great Salt
Lake ; that of Louisiana and of Kansas, in part, is ob-
tained by mining rock-salt The product of the other
States named comes chiefly from the evaporation of brine
obtained by boring. Salt is of great importance as the
material from which the alkali soda (carbonate of soda)
is manufactured, and thus may be properly considered as
forming the basis of several of the most economically im-
portant branches of chemical manufacture. Salt is also
an article of great hiBtoric»l an<l ethnological importance.
By many nations of antltiuity it was regarded as having
feculiar relations to mankind. Uomer calls it "divine."
t has been and is still used as a measure of value.
Ley tcUt on thi trenchere with knyfe that be clene ;
Not to myche, be thou were, for that Is not gode.
Booke qf Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), L 60.
Then, when the languid flames at length subside.
He strows a bed of glowing embers wide.
Above the coals the smolUng fragments ttims.
And sprinkles aacred mU from lifted urns.
Pope, Iliad, U. 282.
Abandon those from your table and 9aU whom your
own or others' experience shall descry dangerous.
Bp. Hall, Epistles, I 8.
2. In chcm.y any acid in which one or more
atoms of hydrogen have been replaced with
metallic atoms or basic radicals; any base in
which the hydrogen atoms have been more or
less replaced by non-metallic atoms or acid rad-
icals ; also, the product of the direct union of
a metallic oxid and an anhydrid. (*/. P. Cooke^
Chem. Phil., p. 110.) The nomenclatate of salts has
reference to the acids from which they are derived. For
example, nUphatetf nitrate$, earbonatM, etc, imply salts of
sulphuric, nitric, and carbonic acids. The termination -ate
implies the maximum of ox>'gi-n in the acids, and -ite the
minimum.
3. ;>/. A salt (as Epsom salts, etc.) used as a
medicine. See %iso smelling-salts, — 4. Amarshy
place floocled by the tide. [Local,] — 5. A salt-
cellar. [Now a trade-term or eolloq.]
Gamish'd with taltt of pure beaten gold.
Middleinnt Micro-Cyoicon, i. 3.
I oat and bought some things : among others, a dosen
of sllrer taiU. Pepy*, Diary, II. 165.
6. In her., a bearing representing a high dec-
orative salt-cellar, intended to resemble those
ixsed in the middle ages. In modem delinea-
tions this is merely a covered vase. — 7. Sea-
soning ; that which preserves a thing from cor-
ruption, or gives taste and pungency to it.
Ye are the aait of the earth. Mat. v. 13.
Let a man be thoroughly conscientious, and he becomes
the »aU of society, the light of the world.
J, F. Clarke, 8elf-Culture, p. 216.
8. Taste ; smack ; savor ; flavor.
Though we are Justices and doctors and churchmen,
Master Page, we have some salt of our youth in us.
Shak., M. W. of W., 11. 3. 50.
9. Wit; piquancy; pungency; sarcasm: as,
Attic salt (which see, utmet Attic^).
On wings of fancy to display
The flag of high invention, stay.
Repose your guills ; your veins grow four,
Tempt n<)tyour mlt beyond her pow'r ;
If your pali'd fancies hut ilecHne,
Censure will strike at ev'ry line.
Quanes, Emblems. (Nares.)
He says I want the tongue of Epigrams ;
I have no $alt. B. Jonaon, Epigrams, xlix.
They understood not the gait and ingenuity of a witty
and useful answer or reply,
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 18:J.H I- 741.
10. Modification; hence, allowance: abate-
ment ; reserve : as, to take a thing with a grain
of salt (see phrase below).
Contemponiry accounts of these fair damsels are not
very grxHl, but it was rather a libellous and scurrilous age
Hs regards women, and they might not be true, or at all
events be taken with much mlt.
J. Athton, Social Life in Keign of Queen Anne, I. 135.
salt
1 1 . A bronzing material, the ohlorid or butter
of antimony, used in browning gun-barrels and
other iron articles. — 12t. Lecherous desire.
Gifts will be sent, and letters which
Are the expressions of that itch
And salt which frets thy suters.
Herrick, The Parting Verse.
13. A sailor, especially an experienced sailor.
[Oolloq.]
My complexion and hands were quite enough to dis-
tinguish me from the regular salt, who, witli a sunburnt
cheek, wide step, and rolling gait, swings his bronzed and
toughened hands athwart-ships, half-opened, as though
just ready to grasp a rope.
B. H. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 2.
Above the salt, seated at the upper half of the table, and
therefore among the guests of distinction ; below or be-
neath the salt, at the lower half of the table, and there-
fore among the inferior guests and dependents: in allu-
sion to the custom of placing the principal or standing
salt-cellar neai* the middle of the table.
His fashion is not to take knowledge of him that is be-
neath him in clothes. He never drinks below the salt.
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, ii. 2.
Abraum salts. See afrraum. -Acid salts, those salts
which still have one or more hydrogen atoms which are
replaceable by basic radicals.— Ammoniacal salt. See
avimoaiacal. — Xt^Ac salt. See ^(^^cl.— Bakers' salt.
See /jaArr. — Basic saltS, those SiUts which still retain one
or more Iiydrogen atoms replaceable by acid radicals. — Be-
low the salt. See above the ««ff.— Binary theory of
salts. See fetVkiry.— Blue salts. See rehtrn-alkali.—
Bronzlng-salt See &ro?i^tn<7.— Decrepitating salts,
salts which burst with a crackling noise into smaller frag-
ments when heated, as the nitrates of baryta and lead.
— Double salt, a salt containing two different acid or ba-
sic radicals, as potassium sodium carlxjnate, K Na CO^, or
strontium aceto-nitiate, Sr NO;t(('yIIyOo).— Epsom salts,
magnesium sulphate. MgS04 + TH^**. a catliartic produ-
cing watery stools. It istheprincipalingrcdient of springs
at Epsom. Surrey, England, and is also prepared from sea-
water, from theniincrul magnesite, and from several other
sources.— Essential salt of bark. See 6arfr-'.— Essen-
tial salt of lemon, see /ein^».>~ Essential salts, salts
which are procured from the juices of plants Ijy crystalli-
zation.—Ethereal salt, a compound consisting of one or
more alcohol radicals united to one or more acid radicals.
Also called coinpo-und ether (which see, under ether). —
Ethyl salts, see e^Ai/;. — Everltt'S salt, a yellowish-
wliite powder formed from the decomposition of potassi-
um femjcyanide by sulphuric acid, and composed of po-
tassium snlpliate mixed with an insoluble compound of
iron cyanide and potassium cyanide. — Ferric salts. See
/crric. Fixed salts, those salts which are prepared by
calcining, then boiling the matter in water, straining off
the liquor, and evapoi-ating all the moisture, wlien the salt
remains in the form of a powder. — Fossll salt. Same as
ro<*-*a//. — Fusible salt, the phospliate of ammonia.—
Qlanber*s salt [after J. K. Glauber ((lied \mii\ a German
chemist, who originally prepared itj, hydrous sodium sul-
phate, Na-jSO^.loH^O, a well-known cathartic. It oc-
curs in monoclinic crystals and also as an elllorescence
(the mineral mirabllite). It is a constituent of many min-
eral waters, and, in small quantity, of the blood and other
animal fluids. It may be prepared by the direct action of
sulphuric acid on sodium carlxinate, and it is procured in
large quantity as a residue in the process of forming hy-
drochloric acid and chlorin. This salt is extensively em-
ployed by woolen-dyers as an aid to obtain even, regular,
or level dyeing.— Haloid salt. See haloid. — Horse salts, a
familiiu* name of Glaubers salt. —Individual salt, a very
small salt-cellar, containing salt for one person at a meal.
See def. 6 and individual, a., 4. [A traiie-term.] — Kelp
salt. See *f/p.— Lemery'S salt [named from Lemery, a
French chemist (lti45- 1715)1, magnesium sulphate.— Llx-
ivlal, martialt, metallic salts, see the adjectives.-
Mlcrocosmlc salt. See microcosinic. -Mineral salt.
Sec ?/(('/i('r(;/. — MonseVs salt, basic ferric sulphate, used
in solution as a styptic— Native salts, mineral bodies
resembling precious stones or gems in their external char-
acter, and so named to distinguish them from artificial
salts.- Neutral or normal salts. See mtttral.— Oxy-
salt, a sidt derived from an oxygen acid, as distinguished
from -A haltrid fall (derived from a halogen acid). — Perma-
nent salts, those salts which undergo no change on ex-
posure to the air.— Per-saltt, a salt supposed to be formed
by the combination of an acid with a peroxld.- Fink
salt, a salt sometimes used in calico-printing as a mor-
dant. It is the double salt of stannic chlorid and am-
monium chlorid. — Polyclirest saltt. See polychrent. —
Preparlng-SaltS, stannate of soda as used by calico-print-
ern ill iirepariiig the cloth for receiving steam-colors. —
Preston's salts, ammonium carbonate in powder, with
stronger water of ammonia and essential oils. — ProtO-
saltt, a salt supposed to be fomied by the combination
of an acid with a protoxid. — Prunella salt. See prunel-
la-^—Ridd&nce salts. See nV/rfrtJice.— Rochelle salt,
sodium potassium tartrate (KNaH4C40(j.4H20). It has
a mild, hardly saline taste, and acts as a laxative. —
Salt of bone. Same as ammonia.— Salt of COlCOthar,
iron sulphate, or green vitriol.— Salt of hartshom, a
name formerly applied to both ammonium chlorid and
ammonium cart)onttte.— Salt of lemons. See exsential
salt (if lemon, under lemon.— Salt Of RlVttlluS, potassium
citrate.— Salt of Satum [from Saturn, the alchemistic
name of leadj, lead acetate ; sugar of lead. — Salt Of Sei-
gnette. Same as Rochelle salt.— Salt Of soda, sodium car-
bonate.— Salt of sorrel, acid potassium oxalate.— Salt
Of tartar, purilled potassium carbonate.— Salt of tin.
See tin.- Salt Of Vltrlol, zinc sulphate.— Salt Of Wis-
dom. Same as sal alembroth (which see, under sal^). —
Salt of wormwood, an impure jtotassinm carbonate ob-
tained from the ashes of absinthium.- SchUppe's salt,
a compound of antimony sulphid with sodium sulphid,
having the forniula Na:,SbS4 + iJlIaO. It is a crystalline
solid, having a l)ittcr saline metallic taste, and Is 8t)luble
in water. — Sesqul-salt, a salt supposed to be formed by
the combination of an acid with a sesquloxld.— Smoking
salts, a name improperly given by English silversmiths
salt
to fnmlng sulphuric aciti.— Spirits of salt. See inon-
*«V, 9.— To be worth one's salt, to be worthy of one's
hire, or of the lowest possible wages, in a depreciatory
sense, as implying that one is not worth his food, but
only the salt that he eats with it : generally in the negative
form : as, be is not tvorth his salt — To eat one's salt, to
be one's guest, and hence under one's protection for the
time being ; be bound to one by the sacred relation of
guest.— To put, cast, or lay salt on the tall of, to cap-
ture ; catch : children having been told from hoary anti-
quity that they can catch birds by putting salt on their
tails.
Were you coming near him with soldiers, or constables,
. . , you will never lay sail on his tail.
Scott, Redgauntlet, xi.
To take With a grain of salt, to accept or believe with
some reserve or allowance. — Under salt, in process of
curing with salt : as, ciKltlsh put under salt : a ttshermen's
phrase.— Volatile salts, such salts as disappear in va.
por at a given temperature, as ammonium bicarbonate.—
White salt, salt di-ied and calcined ; decrepitated salt,
II. «. 1. Having the taste or pungency of
salt j impreguateti with, containing, or aboiuid-
ing in salt : as, salt water.
Ho nas stadde a stitfe ston, a stalworth image
Al-so salt as ani se & so ho set standej.
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), ii. 984.
The [Eaxinel Sea is lesse salt than others, and much an-
noyed with ice in the Wincer [Winter).
Sandys, Travailes (1652), p. 3.
A still salt pool, lock'd in the bars of sand. \
Tennyson, Palace of Art.
2. Prepared or preserved with salt: as, salt
beef; salt fish. — 3. Overflowed with or grow-
ing in salt water: as, salt grass or hay. — 4.
Sharp; bitter; pungent.
Amongst sins unpardonable they reckoned second mar-
riages, of which opinion TertuUian, making ... a salt
apology, . . . saith . . . Hooker, Eccles. Polity, vi. 6.
We were better parch in Afric sun
Than In the pride and salt scorn of his eyes.
Shak., T. andC, i. 3. 371.
5. Costly; dear; expensive: as, he paid a sa?<
price for it. [CoUoq.] — 6t. Lecherous; sala-
cious.
Then they grow salt and begin to be proud ; yet in an-
cient time, for the more ennobling of their race of dogges,
they did not suffer them to engender till the male were
foure yeare old, and the female three : for then would the
whelpes proove more stronge and lively.
TopseU, Beasts (1607), p. 139. (Halliwell.)
For the better compassing of his salt and most hidden
loose affection. Shak., Othello, ii. 1. 244.
Salt and cured provisions, beef and pork prepared in
pickle or smoke-dried for use as food. — Salt eel (a) A
rope's end ; hence, a bejiting. [Naut. slang.] (6) A game
something like hideand-seek. Ilattiwell.—Salt junk.
See junii, 4.— Salt meadow, reed-grass, etc. See the
nouns,
salt! (salt), V. [< ME. salten, also selten, siltcn,
< AS. 'sealtian, also si/ltan = D. souten = MLG.
solten = 0H6. salsan, MHG. G. salzen = Icel.
Sw. saltu = Dan. salte = Goth, saltan (cf. L.
satire, salere, sallere), salt; from the noun : see
«o?<l, M.] I. trans. 1. To sprinkle, impregnate,
or season with salt, or with a salt: as, to salt
fish, beef, or pork.
It takes but a little while for Mr. Long to salt the re-
mainder of the venison well.
W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 134.
And of flesch that was eke for brend the woundes he
salte also. Holy Rood (ed. Morris), p. 69.
2. To fill with salt between the timbers and
planks, as a ship, for the preservation of the
timber. — 3. To furnish with salt ; feed salt to:
as, to salt cows. — 4. In soap-making, to atld
salt to (the lye in the kettles) after saponifica-
tion of the fatty ingredients, in order to sepa-
rate the soap from the lye. The soap, being insolu-
ble in the salted lye and of less specific gravity, rises to
the top and floats. This process is also csdled separation.
6. In photog., to impregnate (paper, canvas,
or other tissue) with a salt or mixture of salts
in solution, which, when treated with other so-
lutions, form new compounds in the texture.
Various bromides, iodides, and chlorids, being salts which
elfect the decomposition of nitrate of silver, are among
those much used for this purpose.
6t. To make, as a freshman, drink salt water,
by way of initiation, according to a university
eostom of the sixteenth century . — salting down,
the process of concentrating a mixture of the disulled am-
moniacal liijuor from ga-s-works with sulphuric acid until
the hot solution precipitates small crystals of ammonium
sulphate.— To salt a mine, to make a mine seem more
valuable than it really is, by surreptitiously introducing
rich ore obtained elsewhere : a trick first resorted to by
gold-diggers with the design of obtaining a high price for
their claims.— To salt an invoice, account, etc., to put
the extreme value on each article, in some cases in or-
der to be able to make what seems a liberal discount at
payment.— To salt down, to pack away in salt, as pork
or beef, for winter use ; hence, to place in reserve ; lay by.
— To salt in bulk, to stow away in the hold with salt,
without washing, bleeding, or divesting of offal, as fish.—
To salt out, to separate (coal-tar colors) from solutions
by adding a large excess of common salt. I'hc coloring
matter, being insoluble in a solution of common salt, sepa-
ntMoat.
5318
II. intrans. To deposit salt, as a saline sub-
stance : as, the brine begins to salt.
salt-t, «• See sault^.
saltablet, «■ See saultabU.
saUant (sal'tant), a. [< L. saltan(t-)s, ppr. of
xaltare, dance, freq. of salire, leap, dance : see
xaiP, sally'^, salient.'] 1. Leaping; jumping;
dancing. — 2. In zooL, saltatorial or saltatory;
salient. — 3. In her., leaping in a position simi-
lar to salient: noting a squiiTel, cat, or other
small animal when used as a bearing.
saltarello,salterello(sal-ta-rel'6,sal-te-rero),
?(.; Tp^. .^altarctli, Kiiltcrclli (-i). [= Up. salta-
relo, a dance; < It. saltarcllo, salicrelln, a little
leap or skip (cf. saltarella, a grasshopper, =
OF. sauterean, saultereau, a leaper, grasshop-
per, sauterclle, a grasshopper), < L. saltare,
dance.] In music : (a) In old dances generally,
a second section or part, usually danced as a
round dance, the music being in triple rhythm.
Saltarelli were appended to all sorts of dances, most of
them being contre-dances. (fc) A very animated
Italian and Spanish dance for a single couple,
characterized by numerous sudden skips or
jumps, (c) Music for such a dance or in its
rhythm, which is triple and quick, and marked
by abrupt breaks and skips and the rhythmic
figure I "] J. (cl) In medieval counterpoint,
when the cantus firmus is accompanied by a
counterpoint in sextuplets, it was sometimes
said to be in saltarello. Compare salteretto. (c)
In harpsichord-making, same as jack^, 11 (g).
saltate (sal'tat), r. i. ; pret. and pp. saltated,
ppr. .'^altating. [< L. saltatus, pp. of saltare (>
It. saltare = Sp. Pg. saltar = Pr. sautar = OF.
saulter, F. sauter), dance, < salire, jump, leap :
8eesail^,sault'>-.] To leap; jump; sMp. [Rare.]
Imp. Diet.
saltation (sal-ta'shon), n. [< OF. saltaeion,
saltation, F. saltation = Sp. saltaeion = It. sal-
tasionc, < L. saltatio(n-), a dancing, dance, <
saltare, pp. saltatus, dance: see saltate.'] 1.
Saltatory action ; the act or movement of leap-
ing, or effecting a saltus; a leap or jump;
hence, abrupt transition or change.
The locusts being ordained for saltation, their hinder
legs do far exceed the others. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err.
Nature goes by rule, not by sallies and saltations.
Emerson, Conduct of Life.
Leaps, gaps, saltations, or whatever they may be called
[in the process of evolution].
W. H. Dall, Amer. Nat., March, 1877.
2. Jumping movement ; beating or palpitation.
If the great artery be hurt, you will discover it by its
saltation and florid colour. Wiseman, Surgery.
saltato (sal-ta'to), n. [It., prop. pp. of saltare,
spring: see saltate.] In music, a manner of
bowing a stringed instrument in which the bow
is allowed to spring back from the string by
its own elasticity.
Saltator (sal-ta'tor), n. [NL., < L. saltator, a
dancer, < saltare, pp. saltatus, dance : see sal-
tate.] 1 . A notable genus of validirostral pity-
line tanagers of large size and sober coloration,
Saitatar ma£>tus.
with square tail, strong feet, sharp claws, and
notched bill, as S. magnns. Vieillot, 1816. Also
called Huhia. — 2. A genus of ichnolites of un-
certain character. Hitchcock, 1858. — 3. The
constellation Hercules.
Saltatoria (sal-ta-to'ri-a), n. pi. [NL.,< L. sal-
tator, a dancer: see Saltator.] In entom., a di-
vision of orthopterous insects, corresponding
to the Linnean genus Gryllus, including those
which are saltatory, having the hind legs fitted
for leaping, as the Oryllidee, Locu.itidee, and^c-
rifliiflse, or crickets, grasshoppers, and locusts :
originally one of two sections (the other being
Cursoria) into which Latreille divided the Or-
thoptera.
salt-cellar
saltatorial (sal-ta-to'ri-al), a. [< saltatt^y +
-«(.] 1. Pertaining to dancing: as, tlie .■iultu-
tonaJart. — 2. Inro67. : {a) Leaping frequently
or habitually; saltatory; saltigrade ; of or per-
taining to the Saltatoria, in any sense: distin-
guished from ambulatory, gradient, gressorial,
eur.i()rial, etc. Of the several words of the same
meaning {salient, sultant, saltatorial, saltatori-
ous, and saltatory), saltatorial is now the com-
monest in entomology, and salient in herpetol-
ogy- C*) Fitted for leaping; adapted to salta-
tion: as, Sfillali/rial limbs, (c) Characterized
by or pertaining to leaping: as, saltatorial ac-
tion; H saltatorial group of insects Saltatorial
abdomen, in entom., an abdomen terminated by bristle-
like springing-organs, as in the Podvrulie. See syriivjtail.
— Saltatorial legs, in entom., legs in which the femur is
greatly thickened for the reception of stioiig muscles, by
moans of which the insect can take long leaps, as in tlie
grasshoppers, fleas, many beetles, etc. See cuts under
(jrastih(qi2^er and Jlea.
saltatorious (sal-ta-to'ri-us), a. [< L. saltato-
rius, pertaining to dancing: see saltatory.]
Same as saltatorial. [Rare.]
saltatory (sal'ta-to-ri), a. and n. [=It. salta-
torio, < L. saltatorius, pertaining to dancing, <
saltare, (\a,n(te: see saltate.] I. a. Same as ;.'«?-
tatorial — Saltatory theory of evolution, in bidl., the
view which holds that the evolution of species is not al-
ways gradual and regular, but may be marked by sudden
changes and abrupt variations. It is an extreme of the
view which recognizes periods of alternating acceleration
and retardation in the development of new forms, and may
be considered akin to the theory of cataclysms in geology.
See third extract under saltation, 1.
II. ".; pi. saltatories (-riz). A leaper or
dancer.
The second, a lavoltateer, a saltatory, a dancer with a
kit, ... a fellow that skips as he walks.
Fletcher {and another), Fair Maid of the Inn, ill. 1.
salt-barrO'W (salt'bar"6), n. See barrow'^, 5.
salt-bearer (salt'bar''er), n. One who canies
salt; specifically, one who takes part in the
Eton montem. See montem.
According to the ancient practice, the salt-txarers were
accustomed to carry with them a handkerchief filled with
salt, of which they bestowed a small quantity on every
individual who contributed his quota to the subsidy.
Chambers's Book of Days, II. 665.
sal't-block (salt'blok), n. A salt-evaporating
apparatus : a technical term for a salt-making
plant, or saltern.
salt-box (salt'boks), n. 1. A box in which salt
is packed for sale or for transportation. — 2. A
box for keeping salt for domestic use.
sal't-burned (salt'bemd), a. Injured by over-
salting, or by lying too long in salt, as fish.
salt-bush (salt'bush), n. Any one of several
species of plants, chiefly of the genus Atriplex,
covering extensive plains in the interior of
Australia. The most important are A. nummtdarium,
one of the larger species, and A. vesicarivin. an extremely
abundant and tenacious dwarf species, together with the
dwarf A. halimoides. The name covers also species of
Rhagodia and Chenopodium of similar habit.
salt-cake (salt ' kak), ». The crude sodium
sulphate which occurs ^s a by-product in the
manufacture of hydrochloric acid on a large
scale from sodium chlorid: a British commer-
cial name. Through the reaction of sulphuric acid
upon the sodium chlorid, hydrochloric acid is set free and
sodium sulphate formed.
salt-cat (salt'kat), n. [< ME. salte catte; <
salf^ + caf^.] A lump of salt made at a salt-
works (see cat'^, n.,
15) ; also, a mixture of
gravel, loam, rubbish
of old walls, cumin-
seed, salt, and stale
urine, given as a diges-
tive to pigeons.
Many give a lump of salt,
which they usually call a
salt-cat, made at the salterns,
which makes the pigeons
much affect the place.
Mortimer, Husbandry.
salt-cellar (salt'sel''-
ar), «. [Early mod. E.
saltseller, saltsellar ; <
late ME. .saltsaler, salt-
selar, < salt^ + seller^, q. v.] A small vessel
for holding salt, used on the table. See salt^, 4.
When thou etys thi mete — of this thou take hede —
Touche not the salte heyng in thi salt-saler.
Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 60.
Dip not thy meate in the Saltseller. but take it with ihy
kuyfe. Babces Book (E. E. T. 8.), p. 76.
We can meet and so conferre.
Both by a shining salt-sellar,
'And have our roofe.
Although not archt, yet weather proofe.
Herrick, His Age.
Salt-cellar of Heori Deux i
(l6th century).
salt-cellar
standing salt-cellar, the large salt-cellar which for-
merly occupied an important place on the table. The
priJicipal one, usually placed in front of the master of the
feast, was frequently a very decorative object. Compare
Ireticher »aJt-cfUar. — TiencheT salt-cellar, a small salt-
cellar for actual use at the table, placed within reach of
the guests, as distinguished from the gtandiitg gait-cellar,
which was rather an object of decoration.
salt-cote (salt'kot), n. [Also salt-coat; < ME.
salt vote, salte cote: see salt^ and cofci.] A
salt-pit.
There be a great number of xM eoU» about this well,
wherein the salt water is sodden in leads, and brought to
this perfection of pare white salt
Harrimn, Descrip. of Eng., ill. 13.
The Bay and riuers have much marchantable flsh, and
places fit t\jr Salt-coaU. building of ships, making of Ii-on,
«c. Capt. Jolin SmUh, Works, X. 12S.
salt-duty (salt'du'ti), n. A duty on salt; in
Loiulon, a duty, the twentieth part, formerly
payable to the lord mayor, etc., for salt brought
to the port of London.
salted (sal'ted), a. [< salt^ + -€(J1.] Having
acquired immunity from disease by a previous
attack. [Kare.]
In addition, he must have horses which should be "galt-
ed": that is, must have bad the epidemic known as horse-
sickness which prevails on the north of the Vaal river,
particularly on the banks of the Limpopo.
W. W. (Jruiter, The Gun, p. 6ia
saltee (sal'te), n. [< It. soldi, pi. otsoUlo, a small
Italian coin: see sou.] A penny. [Slang.]
It had rained kicks all day in lien of teUteet.
C. Rtade, Cloister and Hearth, Iv.
Salter (sal't^r), n. [< ME. Salter, saltare, < AS.
sealtere, a Salter; as sall^ + -erl.] 1. One who
makes, sells, or deals in salt.
Saltan, or wellare of salt Salinator.
Prompt Part., p. 441.
2. A drysalter. The incorporated salters, or
drysalters, of London form one of the city liv-
ery companies.
A few yards off, on the other side of Cannon Street, in
St Swithin's Lane, is the spacious but not very interesting
hall of the laiUrt. Ttie Century, XXXVII. 18.
3. One who salts meat or fish. The saltcr In a flsh-
iog-veasel receives the flsh from the splitter, strews salt
on them, and stows them away In compact layers with
the skin down.
4. A trout about leaving Rslt water to ascend
a stream. [New Eng.]
salterello, n. See saltarello.
saiteretto (sal-tp-ret'o), ft. [It.; ct.saltarella.']
Ill mii.tii; the rhythmic figure ffl^. Compare
saltarello. J-Wj
saltern (sal'ttm), «. [< ME. •saltern (t), < AS.
sealtern, < salt^ + ern, a place for storing, cor-
ner: gee ernS.] A salt-works; a building in
which salt is made by boiling or evaporation ;
more especially, a plot of retentive land, laid
out in pools and walks, where the sea-water is
admitted to t)e evaporated by the heat of the
sun's rays. E. II. Kniijht.
salt-foot (silt'fut), n. A large salt-cellar for-
merly iilaced near the middle of a long table to
mark tne place of division between the superior
and the inferior guests. See above the salt, un-
der milt^.
salt-furnace (s4It'f<>r'nas), n. A simple form
of furiiiice for heating the evaporating-paus
and bnilcrs in a salt-factory.
salt-gage (s<'gaj), n. Same as salinometer.
salt-garden (salt'^olr'dn), n. In the manufac-
tiiri' of I'ominoM salt from sea-water or water
obtained from saline springs, a large shallow
pond wherein the water is allowed to evaporate
till the salt, mixed with impurities, separates
out. Sj)0)i^ Encyr. ilanuf.,1. 285.
salt-glaze (sAlt'glaz), n. A glaze produced
upon ceramic ware by putting common salt in
the kilns after they have been fired for from
60 to IX) hours. The gUze is formed by the volatiliza-
tion of the salt, its decomposition by the water in the
gases of combustion, and the combination of the sodic
nydtmte thus set free with the free silica in and on the
surface of the ware. The gUie is therefore a sodium
■iUcate.
salt-grass (s41t'gris), ». A collective name of
grasses growing in salt-meadows, consisting
largely of species of Spartina. .'fponbiiiu airirUlen,
which alT'irds considerable pasturage on arid plains in the
western rnit*^! Slates, is also so called, as Is IhMiddit
inaritiinn, which inhabits both localities.
salt-greent (sAlt'gren), a. Green like the sea.
salt-group (sillt'grop), n. In geol., a group or
series of rocks containing salt in considerable
quantity.— Onondaga salt-group, a series of rocks
occupying a position nearly in the middle of the Tpper
Silurian, and csfM-cially well developed in central Sew
York, where it is of gr«-at economical importance on ac-
count of the salt which it affords : so named frf>m the
connt7 of tmondaga, where for many years the mauufac-
5319
tare of salt has been extensively carried on. Also called
Salina group.
salt-holder (salt'hol'd^r), ». A salt-cellar.
"Be propitious, O Bacchus!" said Glaucus. inclining
reverentially to a beautiful image of the god placed in
the centre of the table, at the corners of which stood
the Lares and the salt-holders.
Bidwer, Last Days of Pompeii, i. 3.
Salt beef. [SaUors'
salt-horse (salt'hors'), «•
slang.]
By way of change from that substantial fare called salt-
horse and hard-tack.
C. M. Scammon, Marine Mammals, p. 123.
Salticidae (sal-tis'i-de), «. pi. [NL., < Salticus
+ -i<te.] A family of vagabond dipneumonous
spiders, typified bjr the genus Salticus, contain-
ing active saltatonal species which spin no web,
but prowl about to spring upon their prey.
They are known &s jumping or leaping spiders.
Salticus (sal'ti-kus), ». [NL., < LL. salticus,
dancing, < L. saltus, a leaping {saltare, dance),
< «a/i>«, leap: seesa/feife] A genus of spiders,
typical of the family Salticidx.
saltie (sal'ti), n. The salt-water fluke or dab,
Limauda platessoides Bastard saltie. See bastard.
saltier^, saltire (sal'ter), n. [< OF. saultoir,
V. sautoir, St. Andrew's cross, orig. a stirrup (the
cross bein^ appar. so named from the position of
the side-pieces of a stirrup, formerly made in
a triangle resembling the Gr.
delta, A), < ML. saltatorium, a
stirrup, < L. salt/itorius, belong-
ing to dancing or leaping, suit-
able for mounting a horse, <
saltator, a leaper, < saltare, pp.
saltatus, leap, dance: see saU
tate.'] In her., an ordinary in the ^ j,„_^,
form of a St. Andrew's cross,
formed by two bends, dexter and sinister, cross-
ing each other. Also called cross saltier, cross
in saltier.
Upon his sorcoat valiant Nevil bore
A silver saltire upon martial red.
Drayton, Barons' Wars, IL 23.
The Saracens, Cardmans, and Ishmaelites yield
To the scallop, the saltier, and crossleted shield.
Scott, The Fire-King.
In saltier. J^ame as sallierinne when applied to a num-
ber of siiiiill riiarges, — Per saltier, saltierwiae.— Quar-
terly is saltier, same as per mltier. Saltier archfid,
a baring consisting of two curved t)ands turning their
convex ndea to each other, tangent or conjoined, so as
to nearljr resemble a saltier. Saltier ctaeclnr, a saltier
whose field is occupied with small checkers in three or
four rows, the lines which form the checkers being par-
allel to those bounding the saltier, and therefore oblique
to the escatcheon.— Saltier compon^, a saltier whose
field is occupied with S4(uares alternating of two tinc-
tures: these are set square with the saltier, and there-
fore seem to be lozenges as regards the escutcheon. —
Saltier conjoined In baae, a saltier cut short in some
way, as cou)h-4|, and having the feet or extremities of
the two I()wer arms united by a band, usually of the same
width and tincture as the arms of the saltier.— Saltier
COai>e<l, a saltier the extremities of which do not reach
the edges of the field.— Saltier couped and crossed, a
figure resembling a cross crosslet set saltierwise. Also
called croM eroadet in saltier; sometimes also saltier sal-
turlrt, ajiparently In imitation of cross crossUst, etc^Sal-
tier crossed patt^, a saltier each of whose arms ends in
a cross patt«^, or, more correctly, Is decorated with three
arms (rf a cross patt^. — Saltier fimbriated, a saltier hav-
ing along each of its anus a narrow line of a tlitferent tinc-
ture, separating It from the Held ; this usually represents
another saltier of the tincture of the flmbriation, the two
having been combined on the occasion of some family alli-
ance or the like. A notable instance is seen in the Brit-
ish union Jock.- Saltier lozengy, a saltier the Held of
which Is occupied with lozenges, or with squares set di-
agonally to the saltier, and therefore square with the es-
catcheon.— Saltier moline, a saltier couped and having
each of the eixls divided and l)cnt backward in a curve.
Also called cross Jtujline in mitier. SSiltleT nowy, a t)ear-
ing consisting of a circle in the fesse point of the field,
from which four arms, bendwlse and Ijendwise sinister,
an carried to the edges.— Saltlernowylozengy,abear-
Ing consisting of a 8<iuare set diagonally in the middle of
the field, from each side of which one arm of a saltier ex-
tends to the e<lge of the escutcheon, the angles of the
square projecting between the arms. —Saltier nowy
quadrat, a Iiearlng consisting of a 8<iuare in the center
of the field, from each angle of which one arm of a saltier
extends to the limit of the escutcheon : each angle of the
saltier Is therefore tilled up with a triangle.— Saltier Of
chains, in her., a bearing representing a ring in or near
the fesse-[>oint of the Held, from which four chains extend
to the edges of the ftebl, forming a saltier.— Saltier of
five mascles, a bearing consisting of a square inascle
having four lozenge-sbaped mascles fretted or interlaced
with it, one with each of its four sides. — Saltier quar-
terly pleTCed, a saltier having the center removed, as in a
cross aaarteriy pierced : but, as the s<iuare so cut out is di-
agonal on the field, this bearing is more often described as
a mUtier pierced imenify. — Saltier Quarterly quartered,
a saltier divided by the vertical and horizontal lines which
if carried out would (plarter the whole field : each of the
four arms is thus separated from the others, and is distin-
guished by a ditferent tincture or combination of tinc-
tures— Saltier trlparted, a bearing composed of three
bendlets and three liendlets sinister, usually fretted or
interlaced where they cross one another.
Salt-marsh
saltier^t, n. A blunder for satyr^.
There is threecarters, three shepherds, three neat-herds,
three swine-herds, that have made themselves all men of
hair, they call themselves Saltiers, and they have a dance
which the wenches say is a gallimaufry of gambols.
Shak., W. T., iv.4. 334.
saltierlet (sal'ter-let), n. [< saltier^ + -let.'^ A
small saltier. See saltier couped and crossed,
under saltier^.
saltierra (sal-tyer'a), n. [Mex. Sp., < Sp. sal
(< L. sal), salt, -I- tierra (< L. terra), land, soil.]
A saline deposit left by the drying up of certain
shallow inland lakes in Mexico, formerly much
used in the patio process instead of salt ob-
tained from the sea-coast by evaporation of the
ocean-water.
saltierwise, saltirewise (sal'ter-wiz), adv. In
her.: (a) Airangcd in the form of a saltier, as
small bearings of any kind of approximately
circular form, not only roundelSj bezants, etc.,
but mullets, escallops, martlets, etc. (6) Di-
vided by two diagonal lines having the posi-
tion of the arms of the saltier : said of the field
or a bearing, (c) Lying in the direction of the
two anns of the saltier: as, a sword and spear or
two swords saltierwise. See cut under angle^, 5.
— Cross saltierwise. See crosgi.
Saltigrada (sal-tig'ra-da), n.pJ. [NL. : see«a?-
tigrade.'] Same as Saltigradse.
Saltlgradse (sal-tig'ra-de), n. pi. [NL. : see
saltigrade.] A group or suborder of spiders dis-
tinguished by their activity or ability to leap.
It includes species which have a high cephalothorax with
almost vertical sides, a very broad back, short and thick
extremities, and a peculiar position of the eyes, four in the
first row and the remaining four in a second and a third
row. The two generally admitted families are the Eresidx
ami the Attidir.
saltigrade (sal'ti-grad), a. and «. [< L. saltus,
a leap (< satire, jump, spring), -I- gradi, walk,
advance.] I. a. Moving by leaping; saltato-
nal, as a spider; specifically, of or pertaining
to the Saltigradie.
n. n. A member of the Saltigradie.
saltimbancot (sal-tim-bang'ko), «. [= P. sal-
timbanque = Sp. Pg. saltimbanco, < It. saltim-
banco, a moimtebanK,< saltare, leap, -I- in, on, +
banco, bench : see salt'^, saltation, in^, bank^. Cf .
monntcbank.'\ A mountebank; a quack.
SalHnbancoes, quacksalvers, and charlatans deceive
them. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err.
salting (sorting), «. [Verbal n. of .faWl, v.] 1.
The act of sprinkling, seasoning, filling, or fur-
nishing with salt; specifically, the celebration
of the Eton montem. See mou tern.
"Twas then commonly said that the college [at Eton!
held some lands by the custonie of saltimj. but, having
never since examined it, 1 know not how to answer for it.
J. Byrmn, in Letters of Eminent Men, II. 167.
2. A salt-marsh.
salting-box (sal'ting-boks), «. See box^.
salting-house (sal'ting-hous), «. An establish-
ment wlicre fish, etc., are salted.
salting-point (sal'ting-point), n. In snap-mak-
ing, the degree of concentration to which the
soap is brought bj' evaporation before the sep-
aration from tlie lye is effected by the addi-
tion of salt or salted lye. JVatt, Soap-making,
p. i'24.
saltire, n. See saltier^ .
saltirewise, adv. See saltierwise.
saltish (sal tish), n. [< «n7(l -(■ -»a7(1.] Some-
what salt; tinctured or impregnated with salt.
But how bitter, saltish, and unsavoury soever the sea is,
yet the fishes that swim in it exceedingly like it.
liev. T. Adams, Works, III. 45.
saltishly (sM'tish-li), adv. With a moderate
degree of saltness. Imp. Diet.
saltishness (sal'tish-nes), «. The property of
liciiif; saltish. Imp. Diet.
saltless (saU'les), n. [< salt^ + -less.'] Desti-
tute of salt ; insipid. Imp. Diet.
salt-lick (salt'lik), w. A place resorted to by
animals for the puri)08e of satisfying the natu-
ral craving for salt. The regions thus visited are
those where saline springs rise to tile surface, or have
done so in former times. The iniiiiig of large animals,
especially of the buffalo (Bison americanus), about these
licks has caused one of the most remarkable of them to
be called the "Big Bone Lick." It is in Boone county,
Kentucky.
No, he must trust to chance and time ; patient and wary, ,
like a "painter" crouching for its spring, or a hunter
waiting at asalt4ick for deer.
Whyte Metvate, White Rose, II. i.
saltly (salt'li), rtrf». [<. salt^ + -ly''^.'] , In a salt
inaiiiior; with the taste of salt. Itnp. Diet.
salt-marsh (siilt'miirsh), «. [< AS. sealt-mersc, <
.wait. salt. -I- mrrsc, marsh : see salt\ and marsh.]
Land under jiastiire-grasses or herbage-plants,
subject to be overflowed by the sea, or by the
salt-marsh
waters of estuaries, or tlie outlets of rivers
which, in eonsequenee of proximity to the sea,
are more or less improguateJ with salt, -gait-
marsh caterpillar, the hairy larva of an arctiid moth,
Spiiimnna acnea. one of the woolly-bears, which feeds
coinnioiily on the salt-iri-ass of the sea-coast of New
Kiiglanii. — Salt-marsh fleabane. See /VucAca.— Salt-
marsh hen. Same as morsh-lieu (&).— Salt-marsh ter-
rapin, the (lianionil-backed turtle. See diamoiulbacked,
ana cut under terrapin.
saltmaster (salt'mas'ter), n. One who owns,
leases, or works a salt-mine or salt-well ; a salt-
proUucer.
The cost of that salt Is likely to become dearer now to
the gaUmasten on account of the increased price of coal.
The Etigineer, LXVIIl. 834.
salt-mill (salt'mil), n. A mill for pulverizing
eoarse salt in order to prepare it for table use.
salt-mine (salt'miu), »^. A mine where rock-
salt is obtained.
salt-money (salfmun^i), n. See moiitem.
saltness (salt'nes), H. [< ME. *saltncsse, < AS.
scaltiws, scaltnis, saltnisse, < sealt, salt (see salt^),
+ -iifss.] The property or state of being salt ;
impregnation with salt: as, the saltticss of sea-
water or of provisions.
Men ought to find the difference between saltness and
bitterness. Bacon, Discourse.
And the great Plain Joyning to the dead .Sea, which, by
reason of it's saltness, nii^ht be thought unserviceable
both for Cattle, Corn, Olives, and Vines, had yet it's prop-
er usefulness, for the nourishment of Bees, and for the
Fabrick of Honey. Maundrell, Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 66.
salto (sal'to), n. [It., < L. saltus, a leap: see
salt^ySiiuU.'] lnmusic,sa,mea,sskipl. A melody
characterized by frequent skips is said to be
di salto.
saltorel (sal'to-rel), n. [Dim. of saltier (OF.
saultoir): seesaltier^.'] Infter., sameassoKJerl.
salt-pan (salt'pan), H. A large shallow pan or
vessel in which salt water or brine is evapo-
rated in order to obtain salt. Jhe term is also ap-
plied, especially in the plural, to salt-works and to natu-
ral or artiHcial ponds or sheets of water in which salt is
produced by evaporation.
saltpeter, saltpetre (salt-pe'ter), n. [An al-
tered form, simulatiug A'rt?il,of early mod. E. sal-
peter, < ME. salpetre = D. G. Dan. Sw. salpeter,
< OP. salpetre, salpestre, F. salpHre, < ML. sal-
petra, prop, two words, salpetree, lit. ' salt of the
rock': L. sal, salt; petrx, gen. of petra, a rock:
see pier, peter^.'] A salt called also niter and,
in chemical nomenclature, potassium nitrate, or
nitrate of potash. See niter chili saltpeter,
sodium nitrate.— Gunny of saltpeter. See gunny.—
Saltpeter-and-sulphur grlndirig-mlU. See grinding-
mt/;. -Saltpeter rot, a white, tloccul.ar, crystalline ef-
florescence which sometimes forms in new or damp walls
where potassium nitrate is generated, and, working its
way to the surface, carries off large patches of paint. Also
called «(rf(pe«enn(;.— Saltpeter war, the war of Chili
against Peru and Bolivia, 187!(-83, for the possession of
niter- and guano-beds claimed by both parties.
saltpetering (salt-pe't6r-ing), n. [< saltpeter +
-ing.} Same as saltpeter rot (which gee, under
saltpeter).
saltpetre, n. See saltpeter.
saltpetrous (salt-pe'trus), a. [OF. salpestreux ;
as saltpeter + -ous.'] Pertaining to, of the na-
tvire of, or impregnated with saltpeter: as, salt-
petrous sandstone.
salt-pit (salt'pit), n. A pit where salt is ob-
tained; a salt-pan.
salt-raker (salt'ra'kfir), n. One employed in
raking or collecting salt in natural salt-ponds
or in inelosures from the sea. Simmonds.
salt-rheum (salt'rom'), n. A vague and indef-
inite popular name applied to almost all non-
febrile cutaneous eruptions which are common
among adults, except perhaps ringworm and
itch — Salt-rheum weed, the turtlehead, Chelone gla-
bra, a reputed remedy for salt-rheum.
salt-rising (salt'ri zing), ». A leaven or yeast
for raising bread, consisting of a salted batter
of flour or meal. [Western U. 8.]
Salt River (salt riv'fer). An imaginary river,
up which defeated politicians and political par-
ties are supposed to be sent to oblivion. "The
phrase to raw up Salt River has its origin in the fact that
there is a small stream of that name in Kentucky, the
passage of which is made difilcult and laborious as well by
its tortuous course as by the abundance of shallows and
bars. The real application of the phrase is to the unhap-
py Wight who has the task of propelling the boat up the
stream ; but in political or slang usage it is to those who
are rowed up." J. Inman. (Bartlett.)— To go, row, or he
sent up Salt River, to be defeated. |U. S. political
slang.]
salt-salert, n. A Middle English form of salt-
cellar.
salt-sedativet (sftlt'sed'a-tiv), n. Boracic acid.
Ure.
salt-slivered (8alt'8liv''6rd), a. Slivered and
salted, as fish for bait. Menhaden are usually so
5320
treated, and a mackereler carries 20 barrels or more of
such bait. [Trade use.]
salt-spoon (salt'spon), n. A small spoon, usu-
ally having a roimd and rather deep bowl,
used in serving salt at table.
salt-spring (siilt'spring), n. A spring of salt
water; a briiic-siiring.
salt-stand (salt'staud), H. Same as salt-cellar.
salt-tree (salt'tre;, n. A leguminous tree,
Halimodendron argenteum, with hoary pinnate
leaves, growing in Asiatic Russia.
saltus (sal'tus), n. [< L. saltus, a leap: see
a'((m((1.] 1. A breacli of continuity in time,
motion, or line. — 2. In logic, a leap from prem-
ises to conclusion; an unwary or unwarranted
inference.
salt-water (saifwA't^r), a. In eool., inhabit-
ing salt water or the sea : as, a .lalt-water fish;
a salt-water infusorian.- gait-water fluke. See
y!«*e-', 1 (6).— Salt-water marsh-hen. see marsh-hen
(1).— Salt-water minnow. See minnow, 2 (6). -Salt-
water perch, snail, tailor, teal, etc. See the nouns.
salt-works (salt'werks), n. sing. ovpl. A house
or place where salt is made.
saltwort (salt'w6rt), n. [< srti^l -I- wort^.'l A
name of several maritime plants, particularly
the alkaline plants Halsola Kali (also called
prickly glasswort) and S. oppositifoUa : applied
also to the glassworts Salicornia. The two gen-
era are alike in habit and uses. See alkali and
//tos«ico)-t- Black saltwort. See GJato;.— West In-
dian saltwort, Balis maritima of the West Indies and
Florida.
salty (sal'ti), a. [= 6. salzig; as «««! -1- -yl.J
Somewhat salt; saltish.
Many a pleasant island, which the monks of old re-
claimed from thesalty marshes, and planted with gardens
and vineyards. Uowells, Venetian Life, xxi.
saluberrimet, a. [< L. salubcrrimus, superl. of
sdluhris, healthful, wholesome : see salubrious.']
Most salubrious or beneficial or wholesome.
All vacabondes and myghty beggers, the which gothe
beggynge from dore to dore & ayleth ly tell or nought with
lame men and crepylles, come vnto me, and I shall gyue
you an almesse saluberrgme & of grete vertue.
Watson, tr. of Brandt's Ship of Fools, Prol.
salubrious (sa-lu'bri-us), a. [With added suf-
fix -ous (ef. F. Sp. Pg. It. saluhre), < L. salubris,
healthful, healthy, wholesome, < salus (salut-),
health: see salute.'] Favorable to health ; pro-
moting health ; wholesome : as, salubrions air.
The warm limbec draws
Salubrious waters from the nocent brood.
J. Philips, Cider, i.
Religions, like the sun, take their course from east to
west; traversing the globe, they are not all equally tem-
perate, equally salubrious; they dry up some lands, and
inundate others.
Landor, Imaginary Conversations, Asinius Pollio and
[Licinius Calvus, ii.
= Syn. Wholesome, etc. See healthy.
salubriously (sa-Wbri-us-li), adv. In a salu-
brious manner; so as to promote health.
salubriousness(sa-lu'bri-us-nes), n. Salubrity.
salubrity (sa-lu'bri-ti), n. [< F. saluhrite =
Sp. salubridad = Pg. salubridade = It. salu-
brita, < L. sahtbritas(-tat-), healthfulness, < salu-
bris, healthful: see salubrious.] The state or
character of being salubrious or wholesome;
healthful character or condition ; healthfulness ;
as, the salnbriti/ of mountain air.
Drink the wild air's salubrity.
Emerson, Conduct of Life.
They eulogized . . . the salubrity of the climate.
Bancroft, Hist. U. S., I. 150.
saludadort, ». [Sp., a quack who professes to
cure by prayers, also a saluter, < L. salutator, <
salutare, greet: see salute^.] A false priest; an
impostor who pretended to cure diseases by
prayers and incantations.
His Mafy was discoursing with the Bishops concerning
miracles, and what strange things the Saludadors would
in Spaine, as by creeping into heated ovens without
hurt, and that they had a black crosse in the roof e of their
mouthes, but yet were commonly notorious and profane
wretches. Evelyn, Diary, Sept. 16, 168.5.
saluet, V. t. [Also salew*; < ME. saluen, < OF.
saluer, greet, salute: see salute'^.] To salute;
greet.
The busy larke, messager of daye,
Salueth in hire song the morwe grave.
Chancer, Knight's Tale, I. 684.
saluet, n. [ME., < OF. salut, < L. .'salus (salut-),
health: see salute'^, salute^.] Health; salva-
tion. Also salewe.
With thi rijt, lord, mercy mynge.
And to my soule goosteli salue thou sende.
Political Poeins, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 113.
salufer (sal'u-fer), n. Silicofluoride of sodium,
used as an antiseptic.
saluingt.M. [ME., verbal n. of «ai«e, ».] Salu-
tation; greeting.
salutatory
Ther nas no good day, ne no salutng.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 791.
salutarily (sal'u-ta-ri-li), «(/('. In a salutary
manner; beneficially.
salutariness (.sal'u-ta-ri-nes), «. 1. The prop-
erty of being salutary or wholesome. Jolmson.
— 2. The property of promoting benefit or pros-
perity.
salutary (sal'u-ta-ri), a. [= F. salutaire=z Pg.
salutar = It. salutare, < L. salutaris, healthful,
< salus (salut-), health : see salute^.] 1. Whole-
some ; healthful ; healing.
Although Abana and Pharpar. rivers of Damascus, were
of greater name and current, yet they were not so salutary
as the waters of Jordan to cure Maaman's leprosy.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), I. 28.
How many have murdered both stranger and friend by
advising a medicament which to othei-s may perhaps have
been salutary! ia^wfor, Imaginary Conversations, Kpi-
Icurus and Metrodorus.
2. Promotive of or contributing to some bene-
ficial purpose ; beneficial ; profitable.
We entertain no doubt that the Revolution was, on the
whole, a most salutai-y event for France.
Macaulay, Mill on Government.
= Syn. 1. Salubrious, etc. See healthy. — 2. Useful, ad-
vantageous, favorable,
salutation (sal-u-ta'shon), n. [< ME. saluta-
eion, salutacioun, < OF." (and F.) salutation =
Pr. Sp. salutacion — Pg. .•<auda^So = It. saluta-
sione, < L. salutatio(n-), salutation, < salutare,
pp. salutatus, salute : see salute^, r.] 1 . The act
of saluting or greeting, or of paying respect or
reverence by customary words or actions or
forms of address ; also, that which is spoken,
written, or done in the actof saluting or greeting.
It may consist in the expression of kind wishes, bowing,
uncovering the head, clasping hands, embracing, or the
like : technically applied to liturgical greetings, especially
to those between the officiating clergyman and the people.
And .V. myle from Jberusalem, into ye whiche houa of
Zacharye, after the salutacion of the aungell and the con-
cepcion of Criste, the moste blessyd Virgyne, goynge into
the mountaynes with grete spede, entred and saluted
Elyzabeth. Sir Ii. Guyl/orde, Pylgrymage, p. aS.
Al the bretheren grete you. firete ye one another wyth
an holy kysse. The salutacyon of me Paule wyth myne
owne hande. Bible of 1651, 1 Cor. ivi. 20.
The early village-cock
Hath twice done salutation to the mom.
Shak., Rich. III., v. 3. 210.
Out into the yard sallied mine host himself also, to do
fitting salutidion to his new guests.
Scott, Kenilworth. xix.
He made a salutatimi, or, to speak nearer the truth, an
ill-defined, abortive attempt at courtesy.
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, vii.
2t. Quickening; excitement; stimulus.
For why should others' false adulterate eyes
Give smutation to my sportive blood?
Shak., Sonnets, cxxi.
Angelic salutation. Same as Ave Maria, (which see, un-
der aiM).— Salutation of our Ladyt, the Annunciation.
= Syn. 1. Greeting, Salutaiion, Salute. A greeting gener-
ally expresses a person's sense of pleasure or good wishes
upon meeting another. Salutation and salute are by deri-
vation a wishing of health, and are still modified by that
idea. A salutation is personal, a salute official or foi-mal ;
salutation suggests the act of the person saluting, salute is
the thing done ; a salutation is generally in words, a salute
may be by cheers, the dipping of colors, the roll of drums,
the firing of cannon, etc.
Salutation and greeting/ to you all I
Shak., As you Like it, v. 4. 39.
On whom the angel Hail
Bestow'd; the holy salutation used
Long after to blest Mary, second Eve.
Milton, P. L, V. 386.
Crying, . . .
"Take my salute," unknightly with flat hand.
However lightly, smote her on the cheek.
Tennyson, Geraint.
salutatorian (sa-lu-ta-to'ri-an), n. [< salu-
tatory + -an.] In American colleges, the mem-
ber of a graduating class who pronounces the
salutatory oration at the annual commence-
ment exercises.
salutatorily (sa-lii'ta-to-ri-li), adv. By way of
salutation. Imp. Diet.
salutatory (sa-lu'ta-to-ri), a. and n. [= It.
saluiatorio, < Ij. salutatorius, pertaining to visit-
ing or greeting, < salutare, salute, greet : see
«rtte/el.] I. a. Of the nature of or pertaining
to salutation: as, a salutatory address.
II. n. ; pi. salutatories (-riz). If. In the early
church, an apartment belonging to a church, or
a part of the diaconicum or sacristy, in which
the clergy received the greetings of the people.
Coming to the Bishop with Supplication into the Saluta-
tory, some out Porch of the Church, he was charg'd by him
of tyrannicall madnes against God, for comming into holy
ground. Milton, Reformation in Eng., ii.
2. The oration, usually in Latin, delivered by
the student who ranks second in his class, with
salutatory
which the exercises of a college commence-
ment begin ; loosely, any speech of salutatioa
[U. S.]
salute' (sa-luf), v.; pret. and pp. saluted, ppr.
naluting. [< L. salutare (> It. salutare = Sp.
Pr. saludar = Pg. sniidar = F. saluer, > ME.
saluen : see salue), wish health to, greet, salute,
< L. salus (saltit-), a safe and sound condition,
health, welfare, prosperity, safety, a wish for
health or safety, a greeting, salute, salutation,
< .lalcus, safe, well : see safe. The E. nouu is
partly from the verb, though in L. the noun pre-
cedes the verb. Cf. salute-.] I. trans. 1. To
wish health to; greet with expressions of re-
spect, good will, affection, etc.
Thy master there beynge, Salute with all renerence.
Baiees BooHE. E. T. S.), p. 839.
All that are with me mluU thee. Tit. iii. 15.
2. To greet with a kiss, a bow, a courtesy, the
uncovering of the head, a clasp or a wave of
the hand, or the like; especially, in older writ-
ers, to kiss.
They him mluUd, standing far afore.
Sfenter, F. Q., I. x. 49.
If ye mlvU your brethren only, wliat do ye more than
othen? Mat v. 47.
You hare the pretUeat tip of a finger : I mnst take the
freedom to M/u/e it. AddUon^ Drummer.
He seemed to want no introduction, but was going to
mlute my daughters as one certain of a kind reception,
but they had early learned the lesson of looking presump-
tion out uf countenance. Goldmnith, Vicar, v.
3. To hail or greet with welcome, honor, hom-
age, etc.; welcome; hail.
Even till that utmost comer of the west
Saivie thee for her king. Shak., K. John, ii. 1. 30.
They miuU the ."^unne in his moming-approch, with
certalne Terses and adoration : which they aJso periforme
to the Moone. Pttre/uu, Pilgrimage, p. &S6.
They heare It as their ord'muy surname, to be tttlvUd
the Fathers of their conntrey.
Milton, Apology for Smectymnuns.
4. To honor formally or with ceremonious
recognition, as by the firing of cannon, pre-
senting arms, dipping the colors, etc. : as, to
salute a general or an admiral; to salute the
flag.
About five of the clock, the rear.admiral and the Jewel
had fetched up tli<; two ships, and tiy their tatuting each
fither we perceived they were friends.
Wintlirop, Hist. New England, I. 16.
The present rale for ships of the United States, meeting
the flagships of war of other nations at sea, or in foreign
parts, is for the United State* vessel to miluU the foreign
ship first. PnbU, Hist. Flag, p. 39.
5t. To touch; affect; influence; excite.
Would I had no being
If this salute my blood a Jot.
SkaJc., Hen. VIII., ii. 8. 108.
n. intrans. 1. To perform a salutation ; ex-
change greetings.
I was then present, saw them aofute on horseback.
Sha*., Hen. VIII., L 1. a
2. To perform a military salute.
Mt^Jor. Oli,couldyonbntseemesa/tife.' yon have never
a spontoon In the house?
atrJae. No; but we could get yoa a shovepike.
Poate, Mayor of (iarratt, I. 1.
salute 1 (sa-lflf), ". r<«a/u<el, r.] l.Anactof
expressing kind wisnes or respect; a saluta-
tion; a greeting.
O, what avails me now that honour high
To have conceived of Ood, or that nUtile —
Hail, highly favour'd, among women blest!
JfOton, P. R., IL 67.
We passed near enough, however, togivethemthensnal
anfute, Salam Alicnm. Bruee, Source of the Nile, I. 18.
2. A kiss.
There cold taluUt, but here a lover's kiss.
Rotcommonf On Translated Verse.
3. In the army and navy, a compliment paid
when a distinguished personage presents him-
self, wlien troops or squadrons meet, when offi-
cers are buried, or to celebrate an event or show
respect to a flag, and on many other ceremonial
occasions. There are many modes of performing a sa-
lute, snch as flrinit cannon or sm.ill-amis, dipping colors,
presenting aniin, nianninK the vard«. cheering, etc. The
salute reprcsenling the eichange of courtesies between a
man-of-war. whin enterinu a harbor for the first time
within a year, and the authorities on shore, consists in ftr-
ingacertain number of guns, depending upon the rank of
the officers saluted.
Have you manned the qnay to give me the honour of a
talutt upon taking the command of my ship?
Scott. Pirate, xxiiv.
The etiquette of the sea requires that a ship of war en-
tering a harbor, or passing by a fort or castle, should pay
the first mIhU-, except when the sovereign or his ambassa-
dor Is on lioard. In which case the greeting ought t<i be
made first on the shore.
Wooltey, Introd. to Intsr. Uw (4to ed). I 8.^
5321
4. The position of the sword, rifle, hand, etc., in
saluting; the attitude of a person saluting: as,
to stand at the salute while the general is pass-
ing; specifically, in fencing, a formal greeting
of sworilsmen when about to engage Salutes
with cannon. National salute (United States), 1 gun for
every State in the I'nion; international salute, 21 guns;
the President of the United States, on arrival and depart-
ure, 21 guns ; a sovereign, a chief magistrate, or a member
of a royal family, of any foreign country, each 21 guns;
the Vice-President, or the president of the Senate, of the
United States, 19 guns; a general-in-chief, the general of
the army, the admiral of the navy, a member of the cabinet,
the chief justice of tlie United States, the Speaker of the
House of Representatives of the United States, governors
of States and Territories within their respective juris-
dictions, ambassadors extraordinary and plenipotentiary-
each 17 guns ; a viceroy', a governor-general, governors of
provinces, of foreign governments, each 17 guns. =Syil. 1.
Greetinij, etc. See galutation.
salute-'t, «. [ME. salut (pi. saluz), < OP. salut,
saluti, saliitz, a coin so called from the saluta-
tion of (labriel to the Virgin Mary being repre-
sentedontheobverse; lit. 'salutation," salute':
see salute^.'] A gold coin current in the French
Obrcne. * Reverse.
Salute of Heory VI.— British Museum. (Size of the original.)
dominions of Henry V. and Henry VI. of Eng-
land, weighing about 54 grains.
For the valne and denombreinent [number] of iiij. m'.
sdfiiz of yerly rent, he (Fastolf) was commaunded by the
Kinges lettres to deliver upp the sayd baronyes and lord-
sliipps to the Kyngs'commlssioners. Patton Lttten, 1. 373.
saluter (sa-lu't^r), n. One who salutes.
salntiferoas (sal-u-tife-ms), a. [= Sp. salu-
tifiri) — Pc. It. salutifero, < L. .safufi/er, health-
bringing, < salus (salut-), health, + ferre = E.
bearl-. see -feraus."] Health-bearing; remedi-
al; medicinal: as, the «a/Mft/eroM« qualities of
herbs. [Bare.]
The prodigious crops of hellebore . . , impregnated the
air of the country witA such sober and so/titi/iprous steams
as very much comforted the heads and refreshed the senses
of all that breathed in it. SUele, Tatler, No. lib.
Much clattering and jangling . . . there was among jars,
and bottles, and vials, ere the Doctor produced the wluiif.
erouM potion which he recommended so strongly.
SaM, Abbot, xxvi.
salutiferously (sal-u-tif 'e-rus-li), adr. In a sal-
utiferous or beneficial manner. [Rare.]
The Emperonr of this invincible army, who govemeth
all things sd/t/fv^erousf^.
CudworfA, Intellectual System, p. 609.
salvabilltjr (sal-va-bil'i-ti), n. [< solvable +
-ity (see -W/ify ).] "The state of being salvable ;
the possibility of being saved.
He would but hare taught less prominently that hateful
doctrine of the mUpabili^ of the heathen Gentiles.
F. W. RobrrUon, Sennons, 2d ser., p. 302.
salvable (sal'va-bl), a. [< L. salvare, save (see
save^, salration), +
-able.] Capable of be-
ing saved; fit for sal-
vation.
Our wild fancies about
Ood's decrees have in event
reprobated more than those
decrees, and have bid fair to
the damning of many whom
those left nalvaljte.
Decay o/ CtiriMian Piety.
salvableness (sal'va-
bl-nes). II. The state
or condition of being
salvable. Bailey, 1727.
salvably (sal'va-bli),
adv. In a salvable man-
ner; so as to be salva-
ble.
Salvadora^ (sal-va-do'-
rji), H. [NL. (Linnreus,
itij.S), named after .1.
Salvador, a Spanish
botanist.] A genus of
gamopetalous shrubs
or trees, type of the or-
der Salradoraccse. It is
characterized by a bell-
sliaped calyx and corolla, four stamens fixed at the base
or middle i)f the corolla, a one-celled ovary with one ovule,
very short style, and l>road peltate stigma, the ovary be-
coming in fruit a globose drupe with papery endocarp and
Branch with Flowers ofSalva-
iioru Persica, a, a female flow-
er ; b, the fruit.
salvation
single erect seed. There are 2 or 3 species, natives of
India, western Asia, and northern and tropical Africa.
They bear opposite entire thickish, commonly pallid
leaves, and smail flowers on the branches of an axillary
or terminal panicle. S. Persica, distributed from India to
Africa, has been regarded by some as the mustard of Luke
xiii. 19. (Heernustard,!.} 'I'he same in India furnishes Ai-
kuel-oU, and from tlie use of its twigs is sometimes called
toottiinntsh-tree.
Salvadora'-' (sal-va-do'ra), n. [NL. (Baird and
tiirard, 1853).] Inherpei., a genus of Colubrinee,
having the posterior maxillary teeth not ab-
ruptly longer than the preceding ones, a trans-
versely expanded rostral plate with free lateral
borders, several preocularplates, smooth scales,
and double subeaudal scutes. S. grahamim is
found in the United States.
Salvadoraceae (sal'va-do-ra'se-e), ». pi. [NL.
(Lindley, 1836), < Salvadora^ -f -accee.] A small
order of shrubs and trees of the cohort Gentia-
nales, closely allied to the olive family, and dis-
tinguished from it by the uniform presence of
four stamens and four petals, and often of ru-
dimentary stipules. It includes about 9 species, be-
longing to 3 genera, of which Salvadora is the type. They
are natives of Asia, especially the western part, and of
Africa and the Mascarene Islands. They bear opposite
entire leaves, and a trichotomous and pauicled inflores-
cence, often of dense sessile clusters.
salvage! (sal'viij), n. [< OF. salvage, saving
(used in the phrase droit de salvage) (cf. F.
sauvctage, salvage, < sauveter, make a salvage, <
sauvete,sa.tety),<. salver, sauvcr, save: seesatel.]
1. The act of saving a ship or goods from ex-
traordinary danger, as from the sea, fire, or pi-
rates.— 2. \i\ commercial &nA maritime law : (a)
An allowance or compensation to which those
are entitled by whose voluntary exertions,
when they were under, no legal obligation to
render assistance, a ship or goods have been
saved from the dangers of the sea, fire, pirates,
or enemies.
The claim for compensation is far more reasonable when
the crew of one vessel have saved anitthcr and its goods
from pirates, lawful enemies, or perils of the seas. This
is called mlvaije, and answers to the claim for the ransom
of persons which the laws of various nations have allowed.
Woolgey, Introd. to Inter. Law, § 144.
(6) The property saved from danger or destruc-
tion by the extraordinary and voluntary exer-
tions of the salvors. — 3. Nant., same as sel-
t'dflfe. — Salvage corps, a body of uniformed men at-
tached to the fire department iti some cities, notably in Lon-
don, for the salvage of property from fire, and the care and
safe-keeping of that which is salved. These salvage corps
correspond in some respects to the lire-patrol of New York
and other cities of the United States.
salvaee-t, «• and n. An obsolete form of savage.
salvatella (sal-va-tel'a), n.; pi. salvatellee (-e).
[It., dim.,< LL. salvatus,'p\y.ofsalrare, save: see
«ai'el.] In anat., the vena salvatella, or vein on
the back of the little finger: so called because
it used to be opened witli supposed efficacy in
melancholia and hypochondria.
salvation (sal-va'shon), «. [< ME. salvacioun,
salvacion, sauvacion, savacion, < OF. (and P.)
salration = Pr. Sp. salvacion = Pg. salvaq&o =
It. salrazione, < LL. salvatio(n-), deliverance,
salvation, a saving, < salvare, pp. salvatus, save :
see «ai'el.] 1. Preservation from destruction,
danger, or calamity ; deliverance.
He shude drenche
Lord and lady, grome and wenche.
Of al the Troyan nacioun,
Withouten any savacioun.
C/iattcer, House of Fame, 1. 208.
2. In theol., deliverance from the power and
penalty of sin.
And anon the Child spak to hire and comforted hire,
and seyde, Modir, ne dismay the noughto; for God bathe
hidd in the his prevytees, for the salvacioun of the World.
MandeviUe, Travels, p. 133.
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain
salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. ■ 1 Thes. v. 9.
I have chose
This perfect man, by merit call'd my Son,
To earn salvation for the sons of men.
Milton, P. E., i. 167.
According to the Scriptures, salvatifm is to be rescued
from moral evil, from error and sin, from the diseases of
the mind, and to be restored to inward truth, piety, and
virtue. Channing, Perfect Life, p. 277.
3. Source, cause, or means of preservation
from some danger or evil.
The Lord is my light and my salvation. Ps. xxvii. 1.
Their brother's friend, declared I>y Hans to have been
the salvation of him, a fellow like nobody else, and, in flne,
a brick. Geortje Kliot, Daniel Deronda, xvl.
Salvation Army, an organization formed upon a quasi-
military pattern, for the revival of religion among the
masses. It was founded in England by the Methodist
evangelist William llooth about 18(t.S under the name of
the Ctiristian Mission ; the present name and organization
were adopted about 1878. It has extended to the conti-
nent of Europe, to India, Australia, and other British pos-
salvation
aesdons, to the Tnited States. South America, and else-
where. In the rnited States it has about 600 stations and
27,000 soUliers an*i adherents. Its work is carried on l),v
means of processions, street singing and preaching, and
the lllse, under the direction of oIHcers entitled generals,
majors, captains, etc. Botli sexes participate in tlie ser-
vices and direction of the body on equal terms. Besides
its religious woric, it engages in various reformatory and
ghilanthropic enterprises. It has no formulated creed,
at ita doctrines bear a general resemblance to tliose com-
mon to all Protestant evangelical churches, and especially
to those of Methoilism.
Salvationism (sal-va'shon-izm), n. [< Sah-a-
tioii (Aniii/) + -ism.'] The methotls or principles
of aetion of the Salvation Army. [Recent.]
The gentler aspects of Salmlionigm ilnd their exponent
here in the labours of a beautiful self-denying girl, who
Tolantarily gives herself to the service.
The Aeadeiny, No. 888, p. 319.
Salvationist (sal-va'shon-ist), n. [< Salvation
{Army) + -ist.] A member of the Salvation
Army. [Kecent.]
The organisation is, however, powerful, and parades in
Sydney and in Melbourne from ten to twenty thousand
people upon the racing holidays, when the Satvationisti en-
courage their friends to show their absence from the race-
courses by attendance in other portions of the towns.
Sir C. W. LHlke, Probs. of Greater Britain, vi. 6.
salvatoryt (sal'va-to-ri), «. [= It. salvatorio,
< ML. *salvatorium, < LL. salvare, save: see
Srtc«l.] A place where things are preserved ;
a repository ; a safe.
Thou art a box of worm-seed, at best but a salvatory
Of green mummy. Webster, Duchess of Maltl, iv. 2.
In what salvatories or repositories the species of things
past are conserved. Sir if. Bale, Orig. of Mankind, p. 166.
ealve^ (sav), «. [< ME. salve, sealve, older
salfc, < AS. sealf= OS. salbha = D. zalf= MLG.
salve = OHG. salba, MHG. Gr. salbe = Sw. salfva
= Ban. salre = Goth. *salba (indicated by the
derived verb salbon), salve ; prob. = Skt. sarpis,
clarified butter, so called from its slipperiness,
<-\/ sarp, gUde: see serpent.] 1. An adhesive
composition or substance to be applied to
wounds or sores; an ointment or cerate.
And [they] smote hem so harde that thel metten that
thei neded no stUve. and the speres fly in peces.
Merlin (E. E. J". .S.), iii. 624.
Hence — 2. Help; remedy.
Hadde iche a clerke that coathe write I wolde caste hym
a bille.
That he sent me mder his seel a stdue for the pestilence.
Piers Plovfinan (15), xiii. 247.
There is no better saiue to part us from our sinnes than
alway to carrie the paine in meniorie.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 107.
Sleep is a saive for misery. Fletcher, Sea Voyage, iii. 1.
We have found
A salve for melancholy— mirth and ease.
Ford, Love's Sacrifice, ii. 1.
Deshler's salve, a salve composed of resin, suet, and
yellow wax each twelve part.s, turpentine six parts, and
linseed-oil seven parts by weight. Also called compound
resin cerate. ~ Salve-bousie, a bougie having depressions
which are filled with a salve or ointment
salve^ (siiv), V. t. ; pret. and pp. salved, ppr.
salving. [< ME. salven, < AS. sealfian = OS. ,sai-
bhon = OPrifes. salra = D. zalven = MLG. LG.
salven = OHG. salbon, salpon, MHG. G. salbcn
= Sw. salfva = Dan. salve = Goith. salbon, anoint
with salve ; fi'om the noim. In the fig. uses the
word seems to have been confused with salve^,
an old form of «a»ci.] 1. To apply salve to;
heal; cure.
And [hej souste the syke and synful bothe.
And salued syke and synful, bothe blynde and crokede.
Piers Plourman (BX xvi. 109.
Bnt no outward cherishing could salve the inward sore
of her mind. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, i.
I do beseech your majesty may salve
The long-grown wounds of my intemperance.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., ilL 2. 165.
2. To help; remedy; redeem; atone for.
But Ebrank salved both their infamies
With noble deedes. Spenser, F. Q. , II. x. 21.
When a man is whole to faine himselfe sicke to shunne
the businesse in Court, to entertaine time and ease at
home, to saltie oifences without discredite.
PxtUenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 251.
I devised a formal tale.
That salved your reputation.
B. Jonsan, Volpone, iv. 2.
My only child
Being provided for, her honour salved too.
Massiwjer, Bashful Lover, v. 1,
They who to salve this would make the deluge particu-
lar proceed upon a principle that I can no way grant.
Sir T. Browne, Eeligio Medici, i. 22.
They [the Bishopsl were all for a Regency, thereby to
salve their oathes. Evelyn, Diary, Jan. 15, 1689.
Salve^t, V, t. An obsolete form of savf^.
salve'* (salv), v.; pret. and pp. salved, ppr. sal-
ving. [A particular use of .mlce^ for save^, in
part a back formation < saltmge^: see salvage^.
5322
salve^, sarel.] I. trans. To save, as a ship or
goods, from danger or destruction, as from
shipwreck or fire : as, to salve a cargo, lite
Scotsman.
II. intrans. To save anything, as the cargo
of a ship, from destruction.
The Society may from time to time do, or join in doing,
all such lawful things as they may think expedient, with
a view to further saleing from the wreck of the Lutine.
Charter of Lloyd's, quoted in ¥. Martin's Hist, of Lloyd's,
[p. 206.
salve* (sal've), interj. [L. salve, hail, impv. of
salvere, be well, < salvus, sound, safe: see safe.
Cf. salutei.] Hail!
Salve^f (sal've), V. t. [< salve*, interj.] To sa-
lute or greet with the exclamation "Salve!"
By this the stranger knight in presence came.
And goodly salued them. Spenser, F. Q., II. viii. 2.3.
The knyght went forth and kneled downe.
And salued them grete and small.
Lytell Oeste of Robyn Hode (Child's Ballads, V. 62).
salve-bug (sav'bug), n. A parasitic isopod
crustacean, j^ga psora, and some
similar forms. One of these, parasitic
on the cod, is Calitjus curtus, sometimes
used as an unguent by sailors.
salveline (sal've-lin), «. Belong-
ing to the genus Salvelinus.
Salvelinus (sal-ve-li'nus), n. [NL.
(Richardson, 1836), said to be based
on G. salbling, a small salmon.] A
beautiful and extensive genus of
Salmonidje; the chars. They have the saive-bug
vomer toothless, <Jie scales very small (200 (yEga psora).
or more in the course of the lateral line),
and the body spotted with red or gray. The type of this
genus is Sahno salvelinus of Linnseus, the char of Europe,
All the American ''trout^" so called, are chars, and be-
long to this genus. The great lake-trout, Mackinaw
trout, longe, or togue, S. natnaycush, represents a section
of the genus called Cristivomer. (See cut under lake-
trout, 2.) The common brook-trout cf the United .states
is S. fonUnalis (see cut under chari) ; the blue-back or
oquassa trout is 5, oquassa ; the Dolly Varden trout of Cali-
fornia is S. malma. There are several other species or
varieties.
salvenap, n. Same as savenape.
salverl (sa'ver), >!. [< ME. "salvere (= D. MD.
salver, ealver = OHG. salbari, salpari, G. salber) ;
< salve^ + -erl. Cf. quacksalver.] One who
salves or cures, or one who pretends to cure:
as, a quack.s«fo'er.
salver^ (sal'vfer), n. [< salveS + -erl.] One
who salves or saves goods, a vessel, etc., from
destruction or loss by fire, shipwreck, etc.
Salver, one that has sav'd a Ship or its Merchandizes,
i?. Phillips, Kew World of Words.
salver^ (sal'ver), n. [An altered form, with
accom. suffix -er, of *salva, < Sp. salva (= Pg.
salva), a plate on wliich anything is presented,
also the previous tasting of viands before they
are served up, < salvar (= Pg. salvar), save, free
from risk, taste food or drink of one's master
(to save him from poison), < LL. salvare, save:
see save^, safe. Cf. It. credenza, faith, credit,
belief, also sideboard, cupboard : see credence.]
A tray, especially a large and heavy one, upon
which anything is offered to a person, as in the
service of the table.
Gather the droppings and leavings out of the several
cups and glasses and salvers into one.
Swift, Advice to Servants (Butler).
There was a salver with cake and wine on the table.
Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xl.
Salve Begina (sal've re-ji'na). [So named
from its first words, L. salve, regina, hail, queen !
salve, hail, impv. of salvere, be well or in good
health (see salve^); regina, queen, fern, of rex
ireg-), king: see rex.] In the Bom. Catli. Ch.,
an antiphonal hymn to the Virgin Mary, it is
contained in the brevi-
ary, is much used in pri-
vate devotions, and, from
Trinity Sunday to Ad-
vent, is sung after lauds
and coin]>lin,
salver-shaped (sal'-
ver-shapt), a. In
bot., of the shape
of a salver or tray;
hy poc rat eri form:
noting a gamopeta-
lous corolla with the
limb sjjreading out
flat, as in the prim-
rose and phlox.
Salvia (sal'vi-ii), n.
[NL. (Tournefort,
1700), < L. salvia, sage : see sage^.] 1. A large
genus of garaopetalous plants of the order La-
biatse and triVje Monard«m. it is characterized by a
two-lipped calyx cleft slightly or to the middle and not
Flowers of Phlox Drummondii,
showing salver-shaped corolla.
8am
closed by hairs, and by two anthers, one erect and bearing
a perfect anther-cell, the other spreading and club-shaped
or bearing an empty and imperfect anther-cell. The flow-
ers are in verticillasters of two or more, these grouped in
spikes, racemes, or panicles, or rarely all axillary. There
are about 450 species, widely scattered through temperate
and warm regions, about 30 in the Inited states, chiefly
southward. They are either herbs or shrubs and of great
variety in habit, their leaves ranging from entire to pinnati-
fld, and their flowers from the spike to the panicle, from
a minute to a conspicuous size, and through almost all
colors except yellow. The floral leaves are generally
changed into bracts, often colored like the flowers, scarlet
and showy in the cultivated S. splendens and other spe-
cies. The members of the subgenus Salvia, including
the garden sage, aie all natives of the Old World, are of-
ten shrubby, and have a sterile anther-cell on each sta-
men ; those of the subgenus Scioreo (Tournefort, 1700), in-
cluding the clary, also all of them Old World species, lack
the imperfect anther-cell ; the large subgenus Calosphace
includes about250 American species, some of great beauty
with corollas several inches in length, A general name
of the species is saf/e, though the ornamental species are
known as salvia. See sat/e2, chia, clary'i, and cuts under
Inlabiale, calyx, and lyrate.
2. [I. c] Any plant of tliis genus: applied es-
pecially to the ornamental sorts.
Salviati glass. [So called from Dr. Salviati,
who was instrumental in the revival of this in-
dustry.] Venetian decorative glass made since
about 1860.
salviflct (sal-vif'ik), a. [< LL. salvifcus, sav-
ing, < 1,.. salvKS, safe, -I- facere, make, do (see
-/«■).] Tending to save or secure safety . [Rare.]
Imp. Diet.
Salviflcallyt (sal-vif'i-kal-i), adv. As a savior;
so as to procure safety or salvation. [Rare.]
There is but one who died salvifically for us.
Sir T. Broume, Christ, Mor,, it 11.
Salvinia (sal-vin'i-il), ». [NL. (Micheli, 1729),
named after Antonio Maria Salvini, a Greek
professor at Florence.] A genus of heteros-
porous vascular cryptogamous plants, typical
of the order Salviniacese. They are minute fugacious
annuals, with slender floating stems, which give olf short-
petioled or sessile fronds on the upper side, and short
branches that bear the conceptacles and much-branched
feathered root-fibers on the under side. The fronds are
small, simple, with a distinct midrib that runs from the
base to the apex. Thirteen species, widely distributed
over the warm regions of the globe, have been described.
Salviniaceae (sal-vin-i-a'se-e), >i. j)i. [NL.
(Bartliiig, 1830), < Salvinia -t- -aee«.] An order
of hetorosporous vascular cryjitogams of the
class ii'/i!corar/)f,'F,typified by the genus .So?r/«ia.
They are little, fugaciotis, floating annual plants, with the
conceptacles usually single, always membranaceous and
indehiscent, and containing only on3 kind of sporangia.
Azolla is the only other genus in the order. See Filicinefs.
Salviniese (sal-vi-ni'e-e), n. pi. [NL. (Adrien
(le Jussieu, 1844), < Salvinia + -ex.] Same as
Salriniacese.
Salvio gambit. See gamUt.
Salvo^ (sal'vo), H. [< L. salvo, in the phrase
salvo jure, the right being preserved (words
used in reserving some particular right) : salvo,
abl. neut. of salvus, safe, preserved; jure, abl.
of jus, right: see safe, jus'^.] An exception j a
reservation; an excuse; a saving fact or clause.
They admit many salvos, cautions, and reservations,
Eikon Basilike.
ITiis same salv« as to the power of regaining our former
position contributed much, I fear, to the equanimity with
which we bore many of the hardships and humiliations of
a life of toil. Hauthorne, Blithedale Romance, iv.
salvo^ (sal'vo), )(. [For 'salva; = D. salvo =
G. Dan. salve = Sw. salva = F. salve = Sp. Pg.
salva, < It. salra, a salute, salvo, < L. salve, hail:
see salve*.] 1. A general discharge of guns
intended as a salute.
Your cannons proclaimed his advent with joyous sal-
vos. Everett, Orations, I, 523,
2. A concentrated fire from a gi-cater or less
number of pieces of artillery, for the purpose
of breaching, etc., the simultaneous concus-
sion of a number of cannon-balls on masonry,
or even earthwork, producing a very destruc-
tive effect. — 3. The combined shouts or cheers
of a multitude, generally expressive of honor,
esteem, admiration, etc.: as, salvos o( applause.
salvor (sal'vor), n. [< .<ialre^, v., + -o)l. Cf.
savior.] One who saves a ship or goods from
wreck, fire, etc. See salvage^.
Salvourt, «• A Middle English form of savior.
salvy (sii'\'i), a. [< safi'el -I- -y^.] Like salve
or ointment.
salyt, ". A Middle English form of salli/'^, sal-
/OH-I.
sam^t, adv. A variant of .same.
sam^ (sam), r. t. ; pret. and pp. .mmmed, ppr.
samming. [< ME. samtncn, samnen, soninen. <
AS. samnian, gesamnian (= OS. sumnon = MD.
samelen, D. :amden = OFries. saniena, som-
nia z= MLG. samenen, samelen, sammen, samen
sam
= OHG. samanott, MHG. samenen, somen, G.
sammeln = Icel. samna = Sw. samhi = Dan.
samU), collect, gather, bring together, < nanieii,
together: see same.'] If. To bring together;
collect ; put in order.
Bat aamme oure men and make a schowte,
So Bchall we beflte yone foolis flaye.
York Plays, p. 468.
2. To curdle (milk). Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
sam^ (sam), n. [Origin uncertain; cf. ««»il.]
Apparently, surety: used only in the following
phrase.— To stand sam for one, to be answerable or
he surety or security for one. UaUiweil. [Ppov. Enf^.]
Samadera (sam-a-<le'ra), H. [NL. (Gaertner,
isoj ), t'ruiii iin E. Ind. name.] See Samandura.
— Samadera bark. See barlr^.
saman, "• See I'ithecolobinm.
Samandura (sa-man'du-r»), n. [NXi. (LiniUB-
us, 1747), from an E. Ind. name.] A genus of
poh-petalous trees of the order Simariibaceai
and tribe Simarubese, formerly known as Sama-
dera. It is characterized by bisexual flowers with a small
three- to ave-part«d calyx, greatly exceeded by the three
to Ure lontr ritsUl petals ; by a large obconical disk, six to
ten includeil stuiucus, and four to fire separated orary.
lobes with their styles united into one, and with a single
pendulous ovary in each cell, the fruit l>eing a large, dry,
compressed, and rigid drupe. The 2 species are natives,
one of Ceylon and the Malay archipelago, the other of
Madagascar. They are small and smooth trees, with al-
ternate undivided leaves, which are oblong, entire, and of
a shining dark green. The flowers, borne in an umbel, are
rather large and showy. See karinffhota and mepO'bark.
samara (sa-mar'a or sam'a-ra), n. [L., also xa-
mtrii. the seed of the elm.] In hot., a drj-, indo-
hiscent, ustially one-seeded
fruit provided with a wing.
The wing may be terminal, as in the
white ash, or it may surround the
entire fruit, :uiin theelm and birch.
The maple-fruit isadouhlesamara,
or pair of such fruits onspicuooaljr
wingeil from the apex. It is fre-
iiueiitly called in English a key.
Also called key./ruit, pUridiufn.
8amare(sa-mar'),". [OF.»a-
marre, chnmarre (Cotgrave) :
see gimar,'] 1. A sort of
jacket with skirts or tails
extending about to the knee,
worn by women in the seven-
teenth centur*'. — 2. Same as
gimiir. in the general sense.
8amariform(8am'a-ri-fdrm),
a. [< XL. samarrj, q. v., +
l,./<)r/H«,form.] In 6of., hav-
ing the form of a samara.
Samaritan (sa-mar'i-tan), a. and n. [< LL.
SiniKiritaiiii.s, Hauiaritan, < Sanuirites, < Gr.
ZufiitpiiT^r, a Samaritan, < iafiSpeia, L, Sama-
ria, Samaria.] I. a. 1. Of or pertaining to
Samaria, the central division of Palestine, ly-
ing north of Judea, or the city of Samaria, the
capital of the kingdom of northern Israel. — 2.
U»e<i by the Samaritans: applied to the charac-
ters of a kind of iincieiit Hobrcw writing prob-
ably in use lief ore, and partly after, the Babylo-
nian exile — Samaritan Pentateucli. See MM*,!.
IL «. 1. A native or an inhabitant of Sa-
maria ; specifically, one of a race settled in the
cities of Samaria by the king of Assyria after
the removal of the Israelites from the country
(2 Ki. xvii. 24-41). Originallv idolater^ thejr soon
began to worshiii Jehovah, bat without abandoning their
former gods, lliey afterward became monotbetsU, and
observed the MomUc law venr strictly, bat with peculiar
variations. About 400 B. c. they built a temple on Mount
Orriziin, which was deatroyed !.•» B. c. They began to
decline toward the close of the flfth ceutur>' after Christ.
They still exist, bat are nearly extinct
The Jews have no dealings with the San%aTaani.
John Iv. 9.
2. The language of Samaria, a compound of
Hebrew, Sjrriac, and Cbaldee. — 3. Acnaritablo
or t)enevolent person: in allusion to the char-
acter of the "good Samaritan" in the parable
Luke X. :t0-37.
Samaritanism (sa-marM-tan-izm), n. [< Sa-
niiiiittiii + -ixm.] i. The claim of the Samari-
liinx that the Jews were schismatics, the true
site of God's sanctuary and worship being
Mount Guri/.im in Samaria (and not Mount
Zion), as shown in their copy of the Penta-
teuch, which in Deut. xxvii. 4 reads (ierizim
for Ebal.
The Itamaritans mut . . . have derived their Penta-
teuch from the Jews after Ezra's reforms, L e. after 444
h. c. Before that time SamariUxnvtm cannot have existed
In a form at all similar to that which we know.
Encyc. BrU., XXI. 244.
2. An idiom or expression peculiar to the Sa-
maritans, or to their version of the Pentateuch,
which they asserted to be older than the Jew-
Samara of («) Frmxi.
nut MnuricaMm, <^) VI-
mut /utva, and (r) Bi-
tuta Unla.
5323
ish. .ffnr;»«-'sJ/a(7.,LXXIX. 582.-- 3. Charita-
bleness ; philanthropy ; benevolence, like that
of the good Samaritan.
Mankind are getting mad with humanity and Samari-
tanism. Sydney Smith, Letters, 1844.
Samaritan's balsam. A mixture of wine and
oil, formerly used in treating wounds.
samarium (sa-ma'ri-um), Ji. [Nil,, as if < sam-
ankite.] 'The name given by Leeoq de Bois-
baudran to a metal which he supposed he had
discovered in the mineral samarskite by the
aid of the 8i)ectroscope. Nothing further is
known of it, nor has its existence been, as yet,
defiiiitelv established.
samaroid (sam'a-roid), a. [< NL. samara +
-olV^] Resembling a samara. See samara.
samarra (sa-mar'a), «. [ML., a garment worn
by persons condemned by the Inquisition on
their way to execution, a sanbenito: see samare,
simar.'] Same as simar.
samarskite (sam'ars-ldt), n. [So called after
a Hussian named Samarshi.] A niobate of
uranium, iron, and manganese, of a velvet- black
color, submetallie luster, and conclioidal frac-
ture. It is found in the Hmen mountains, also in consid-
erable quantity in North Carolina. It has yielded a num-
ber of new elements, belonging especially to the yttrium
group (decipium, philippinm, etc.), whose properties are
not as yet wholly determined.
samatizet, f- '• [< sem-atha (see quot.) -I- -ize.']
To anathematize or excommunicate in a par-
ticular way. See the quotation. [Rare]
If they did not amend, they were excommunicated with
a greater curse, or Anathema ; and if they persisted ob-
stinate, they did SanuUiit them. The word Anathema is
sometimes taken generally, but heere for a particalai
kinde. Maran-atha signifleth the Lord commeth ; and so
doth -Sem-atha. For by Hem, and more emphatically Has-
sem, they vsed to slgnifle name, meaning that Tetragram-
maton and iuelTable name of God now commonly pro-
nounced lehoaah. iHtreJkoj^ FOgrimage, p. 113.
Samaveda (sii-ma-va'dS), «. [Skt. Sdviaveda,
< miiKiii, a Vedic stanza arranged for chant-
ing, -t- Veda, Veda.] The name of one of the
four Vedas, or sacred books of India. The
Samaveda means the Veda containing samans
or hymns for chanting.
sambhnr, n. See samhur.
sambo, zambo ( sam ' bo, zam ' bo ) , n . [.Also used
as a personal name for a negro ; appar. < 8p.
zambo = Pg. zamhro, bow-legged, < L. scamhiis,
bow-legged, < Gr. aKo/tfii^, crooked, bent, bow-
legged.] The offspring of a black person and
a mulatto.
sambOO (sam'bS), n. [E.Ind.] Same as «am&ur.
sambook (sam'bok), n. [.Ar.] A kind of small
vessel formerly used in western India and still
ou the Arabian coast. Yule and Burnell, Anglo-
lad. Gloss.
sambaca (sam-bn'kf), n. [L. : see aambuke.']
Saino as siimbuke.
Sambuceae (sam-bu'se-e), n. pi. [NL. (Hum-
boldt, Bonpland, and Ivunth, 1818), < Sambucus
+ -<•«'.] A tribe of garaopetalous plants of the
order Caprifoliacea, distinguished from the
other tribe, Lonicertte, by the wheel-shaped
regular corolla, short and deeply two- to nve-
cleft style, and the uniformly one-ovuled ovary-
cells. It Include* 8 genera and nearly 100 species, of
which .SnmbueuM, the elder, is the type, natives chiefly
of telii[MT:ae regions.
Sambucus (sam-bu'kus), n. [NL. (Toiimefort,
1700), < L. sambucus, sabucus, an elder-tree; cf.
sambitcum, elderberry.] A genus of gamopeta-
Braach wHh Inflorescence of Elder {Samtucuj CaMoJtMtis).
a. p«Tt of the inflorescence ; A, fruits.
Ions trees and shrubs, the elders, type of the
tribe Sambitcetp, order CiiprifoUacea, the honey-
suckle family, it is characteriied by corymbose or
thyrsoid flowers having wheel-shaped corollas, Ave en-
tire stamens, and an ovary with three, four, or Hve cells,
each with a single iwndulous ovule, followed in fruit by
same
a berry-like drupe with three, four, or five small stones.
It is distinguished from the related genus Viburnum by
its more fleshy fruit, with more than one seed, and by
its pinnately divided leaves. It includes 10 or 12 spe-
cies, natives of temperate regions (except South Africa),
also found upon mountains within the tropics. They are
shrubs or trees, rarely perennial herbs, with rather thick
and pithy branches, opposite pinnate leaves with toothed
leaflets, and small white, yellow, or pinkish flowers in flat
corymbs or in dense rounded masses. Among the large
species is 5. fflauca of tlie western United States, a tree 25
feet high, the large blue-black fruit edible; also S. Mexi-
cana of the southwest, IS feet high. The flowers of Sam-
bucus Canadensis are excitant and sudorific, the berries
diaphoretic and aperient ; the inspissated juice is used in
rheumatism and sypliilis, and as a laxative ; the inner bark
and juice of root is a hydragogue cathartic, emetic in large
doses; the young leaf-buds are a violent purgative. For
common species of the genus, see elder-, elderberry, Ju-
das-tree, 3, and danewort; see also bloodwtrrt, bour-lree, and
hautboy, 2.
sambuke (sam'biik), n. [< L. sambuca, < Gr.
aafi,iiK7i, < Syrian sahM, Heb. sabela, a stringed
musical instrument.] An ancient musical in-
strument, probably a large harp, used in Asia
and introduced into Italy by the Romans. The
name has been applied to various stringed instruments,
such as a lyre, a dulcimer, and a triangular harp, or trigon.
Stainer and Barrett.
And whatsoever ye judge, this I am sure, that lutes,
harps, all manner of pipes, barbitons. sambiikes, witli other
instruments every one, which standeth by fine and quick
fingering, be condemned of Aristotle, as not to be brought
in and used among them which study for learning and
virtue. Axham, Toxophilus (ed. 1864), p. 26.
sambul (sam'bul), n. Same as musk-root, 1.
sambur (sam'b^r), n. [Hind, sambre, < Skt.
aimbara, a kind of deer.] The Indian elk,
Susa aristotelis, a very large rusine deer in-
habiting the hill-country of India. It stands
about 5 feet high at the siioiilders, and has a mane. See
liusa. Also samboo, satnhhur.
sam-clotbt (sam'kloth), n. [Appar. abbr. of
sampter-cloih.'] A sampler. Diet, of Needle-
icorX:
samet (sam), adv. [< ME. same, samme, samen;
< (a) AS. same, similarly, in the same way, used
only in combination with swd, so, as {swd same
swa, the same as); cf. sam, conj., whether, or
{sam . . . savij whether ... or) ; as a prefix
sam-, denoting agreement or combination; =
OS. sama, samo, same = MLG. same, sam = OHG.
sama, MHG. same, sam, adv., the same, like-
wise; (6) AS. somen, together, = OS. saman =
OFries. semin, samin, somen = MLG. samene =
OHG. samant, MHG. sament, samt, Q. samt,
sammt, zusammen, together, together with, =
Icel. saman = Sw. saminan = Dan. sammen =
Goth, samana, together, = Russ. samnn, toge-
ther; (c) as an adj. not in AS., but of Scand.
origin, < Icel. samr = Sw. samma, samme =
Dan. samme = OHG. sam = Goth, sama, the
same ; = Gr. a/ia, at the same time, together,
(J//<ic, the same (> Suoiof, like), = Skt. sama,
even, like, equal; cf. Skt. so (in comp.), with,
sam, with; L. simul, together, similis, similar:
see simultaneous, similar, etc.] Together.
So ryde thay of by resoun hi the rygge bonez,
Euenden to the hauiche, that henged alle eamen,
& heuen hit vp al hole, & hwen hit of there.
Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1345.
On foote ^ on faire horsse fought thel samme.
Alimunder of Macedoine (E. E. T. S-), 1. 342.
For what concord han tight and darke samf
Spenser, Shep. Cal., May.
same (sam), a. [< ME. same, < Icel. samr = Sw.
samma, samme = Dan. samme = OHG. sam =
Goth, sama, the same : see same, adv.] 1 . Iden-
tical numerically ; one in stibstance; not other;
always preceded by the detinite article or other
definitive word (this or that), in this sense, mbk
la predicahle only of substances (things or persons), or of
other kinds of objects which, having individuality, are for
the purposes of speech analogous to individual things,
especially places and times. It is a relative term, imply-
ing that what comes to mind In one connection and what
comes to mind in another connection are one individual
or Bet of Individuals in existence.
The very tame man that beguiled Master Slender of his
chain cozened him of It. Shak., M. W. of W., iv. !i. 37.
There was another bridge . . . built by the same man
at tlie same time. Coryat, Cnidities, I. 29.
The very same dragoons ran away at Falkirk that ran
away at Preston Pans. Walpole, Letters, II. 3.
2. Of one nature or general character; of one
kind, degree, or amount: as, we see in men
everywhere the same passions and the same
vices ; two flames that are the same in temper-
ature; two bodies of the same dimensions;
boxes that occupy the same space. Same, used in
this way, expresses less a different meaning from def. 1,
than a different (and often loose) mode of thinking; the
thought is often that of equality rather than that of iden-
tity.
Those tilings, says the. Philosopher, are the same whose
essence are one and the same. . . . Those things are said
/^ <^Cky'V\.^Zr-tf iJ-Zeu..
same
to be the MM*, says the Philosopher, In nnniber, whose
matter is one and the mtne. . . . Those things are the
nme in species whose ratio of essence is one.
Burffersdiciiis, tr. by a Gentleman, i. 20.
I rather pity th.in hate Turk and Infldcl, for they are
of the same -Metal and bear the same Stamp as I do,
though the Inscriptions dlBer. BoweU, Letters, I. vi. 32.
It hath bin Inevitably prov'd that the natural and fun-
damental causes of political happines in all governments
are the same. Mtttun, Reformatiou in Eng., ii.
Ignatius Loyola ... in the great Catholic reaction
bore the same part which Lather bore in the great I>rotes-
tant movement. Macaulay, Von Ranke's Hist. Popes.
Bigotry is the tame in every faith and every age.
J'rescoU, Ferd. and Isa., 11. 6.
The Mm* sentiment which fits us for freedom Itself
makes us free. H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 467.
This ambiguity in the word same, whereby it means
either individual identity or indistinguishable resem-
blance, hiis been often noticed, and from a logical or ob-
jective point of view justly complained of, as "engender-
ing fallacies in otherwise enlightened understandings. '
* J. Ward, Encyc. Brit., XX. 81.
8. Just mentioned, or just about to bo men-
tioned or denoted: often used for the sake of
emphasis or to indicate contempt or vexation.
Who is the same, which at my window peepes? . . .
Is it not Cinthla? Spenser, Epithalamion, I. 372.
For that same word, rebellion, did divide
The action of their bodies from their souls.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., i. 1. 194.
Afterwards they flea him, and, obseruing certaine cere
monies about the flesh, eat the same.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 425.
No one was there that could compare
With this sonw Andrew Lammie.
Andrew Lammie (Child's Ballads, II. 191).
All the same, nevertheless ; notwithstanding ; in spite
of all : for all that.
We see persons make good fortunes by them all the
same. Disraeli, Conlngsby, iv. 9.
At the same time, (a) At one time; not later, (b)
However; nevertheless; still; yet: used to introduce a
reservation, explanation, or fact not in conflict but in con-
trast with what has been said.
Sir Peter. We shall now be the happiest couple
Lady T. And never differ again?
Sir Peter. No, never ! — though, at the same time, in-
deed, my dear Lady Teazle, you must watch your temper
very seriously. Sheridan, School for Scandal, ill. 1.
samel-brick (sam'el-brili), n. Same as placc-
brick.
samely (sam'li), a. [< same + -ly'^.} Monoto-
nous; unvaried. [Prov. Eng.]
The earth is so samely that your eyes turn toward
heaven. Kinglake, Eothen, xvii.
sameness (sam'nes), ». [< same + -ness.'i 1.
The being the same; oneness; the negation of
otherness ; identity : as, the sameness of an un-
changeable being.— 2. Essential resemblance ;
oneness of nature : as, a sameness of manner.
Unaltered ! Alas for the sameness
That makes the change but more !
Lowell, The Dead House.
3. Want of variety; tedious monotony: as, the
sameness of objects in a landscape.
He was totally unfitted for the flat sameness of domestic
5324
^\_^.iyt/f-i4fy\A^
or other fine earth. The vases are of a bright-red or black
color, covered with a lustrous silicious glaze, with sepa-
rately molded ornaments attached to them.
II. H. A native or an inhabitant of Samos.
Also Samiot, Samiote.
Samidse (sam'i-de), V. 2il- [NL., < Samus +
-idle.'] A family of sponges, typified by the
genus Samm, whose characteristic megaseleres
or skeletal spicules are trifid at both ends.
samiel (sa'mi-el), n. [< Turk, samycli, a poison-
ous wind, < samm, scmm (< Ar. samm), poison,
-I- yel, wind. Cf. simoom.] The simoom.
Burning and headlong as the Samiel wind.
Moore, Lalla Rookh.
The cold wind that frequently during winter sweeps
the continent of North America from north to south is
more deadly than any hot wind, even than the half-fabu-
lous Samiel or Simoom.
J. K. LaughUm, In Modem Meteorology, p. 50.
Samiot, Samiote (sa'mi-ot, -6t), a. and n. [< Gr.
Xa/uuTtK, < S(t/;of, Samos : see Samian.] Same
as Samian.
samiri, «■ Same as saimiri.
samisen (sam'i-sen), )i. [Jap.] A gtiitar or
banjo of three strings, used by the Japanese.
Samisen. rt, plectrum.
samite (sam'it), n. [< ME. samite, samyte, sam-
it, samet, samette, < OF. samit, samyt, samet,
sammit, samis, sami, samy = Pr. samit = Sp.
xamete = It. sciamito = MHG. samit, samat, sam-
met, samite, G. sammet, sammt, samt, velvet, <
ML. examitum, exametum, also, after Rom., sa-
mitum, prop, "hexamitum, samite, = Euss. ak-
samitti, velvet, < MGr. e^d/urov, samite, lit. ' six-
threaded,' < Gr. ff, six (= E. six), + fiiroq, a
thread of the woof. Cf . dimity, lit. ' two-thread-
ed,' and Sp. terciopelo, Pg. terciopello, velvet,
lit. ' three-piled.'] Originally, a heavy silk ma-
terial each thread of which was supposed to be
twisted of six fibers ; later, rich heav^ silk ma-
terial of any kind, especially that which had a
satin-like gloss.
Ful yonge he was and niery of thought.
And in samette with briddcs wrought.
Rmn. of the Rose, 1. 836.
In wldewes habit large of samyt broune.
Chaucer, Troilus, 1
109.
life.
Whyte Melville, White Rose, II.
It haunted me, the morning long.
With weary sameness in the rhymes,
The phantom of a silent song.
That went and came a thousand times.
In silken samite she was light arayd.
Spenser, F. Q., III. xii. 13.
To say of any silken tissue that it was "examitum" or
"samit" meant that it was six-threaded, and therefore
costly and splendid. . . . This splendid web was often so
thick and strong that each string, whether it happened to
be of hemp or of silk, had in the warp six threads, while
the weft was of flat gold shreds.
S. K. Handbook, Textile Fabrics, p. 25.
samlet (sam'let), «. [Perhaps a var. of sal-
monct, dim. of salmon.] A salmonet; a parr;
a young salmon of the first year.
It is said that, after he is got into the sea, he becomes,
from a Samlet not so big as a Gudgeon, to be a Salmon,
in as short a time as a gosling becomes to be a goose.
I. Walton, Complete Angler, i. 7.
sammet, v. *■ An obsolete form of sam'it.
fempan
alous plants of the order Primulaceee, eml
ciug the single genus Samolus.
Samolus (sam'o-lus), n. [NL., < L. samolus, a
plant, supposed to be Anemone Pulsatilla, or
Hamulus Vnlerandi (the brookweed): a word of
Celtic origin.] A genus of lierbaeoous plants
of the order Primulaceee, the primrose family,
constituting the tribe Samoleie. it is character-
ized by a calyx » ith five-cleft persistent border, a perigy-
nous corolla with five rounded and imbricated lobes and
a short tube bearing five stamens, which are alternate
with as many slender staminodes. There are about 8 spe-
cies, of which one, S. Valerandi, the brookweed or water-
pimpernel, is cosmopolitan, the others being natives most-
ly of the shores south of the tropics. They are smooth
lierbs with round stems, sometimes shrubby below, bear-
ing alternate entire leaves, often princip.iUy in a rosette
at the base. The small white flowers fonn terminal ra-
cemes or corymbs, and are followed by roundish flve-valved
capsules with many minute globose or angled seeds.
Samosatenian (sam"o-sa-te'ni-an), «. [< LL.
Samosatenus, of Samosata, < Samosata, neut.
pi. (LL. also fern, sing.), < Gr. lafjuanra, neut.
pi., Samosata, the capital of Commagene, on
the western shore of the Euphrates.] A fol-
lower of Paul of Samosata, Bishop of Antioch
in the third century. See Paulian.
Samothracian (sam-o-thra'sian), fl. [< Samo-
ihrucc (see def.) -I- -ian.] Pertaining to Samo-
thrace, an island in the ^gean Sea, belonging
to Turkey.
samonnt, «• A Middle English form of salmon.
samovar (sara'6-var), n. [< Buss, samovarii, a
tea-urn ; regarded in a popular etymology as
lit. 'self-boiler'
(ct.Jj.authepsa,
< Gr. avBc-ijtt/f,
a kind of urn
for cooking, lit.
'self -cooker'),
as if < samit (in
comp. samo-),
self, -I- bariti,
boil ; but prob.
< Tatar saiia-
bar, a tea-
urn. The Cal-
muek sanamur
is from the
Kuss. word.]
A copper urn
used in Russia,
Siberia, Mon-
golia, and else-
where, in which
water is kept
boiling for use
when required
for making tea,
live charcoal
being placed in a tube which passes up through
the center of the ui-n. Similar vessels are used
in winter in northern China, for keeping soups,
etc., hot at table.
A huge, steaming tea-urn, called a Samovar — etymo-
loglcally, a " sell-boiler " — will be brought in, and yon
will make your tea according to your taste.
D. M. Wallace, Russia, p.
Antique Russian Samovar.
Tennyson, Miller's Daughter, gajumier (sam'i-er), n. In tanning, a machine
=Syn. 1 and 2. Sameness, Identity. Sameness may be in-
ternal or external; identity is internal or essential: as,
sameness of personal appearance ; the identity of Saladin
with llderim and Adonbec. One book may be the same as
another, but cannot be identical with it. Saladin and ll-
derim and Adonbec were the same man.
samester, samestre (sa-mes'ter), n. A variety
of coral. iSimnionds.
samett, samettet, «• Middle English forms of
samite.
Samia (sa'mi-ii), n. [NL. (Hubner, 1816), < L.
JSamia, fem. of Samius, Samian: see Samian.]
A notable genus of bombyoid moths, confined
to North America, and belonging to the family
Saturniidie. The largest silkworm-moth native
in the United States, -S. cecropia, is an example.
Samian fsa'mi-an), a. and n. [< L. Samius, <
Samus, Samos, < Gr. ta/KK, the island of Samos.]
I. a. Of or pertaining to Samos, an island in
for pressing water from skins. E. H. Eniglit.
sammy (sam'i), v. t. ; pret. and pp. sammied, ppr.
sammying. In Icathcr-mamif., to damp (skins)
with cold water in the process of dressing.
samnet, v. See sam^.
Samnite (sam'nit), a. and n. [< L. Samnis
{Samnit-), pi. Samnites, of or pertaining to Sam-
nium, a native of Samnium, also a gladiator so
called (see def.), < Samnium, a country of Italy
whose inhabitants were an offshoot from the
Sabines, as if •Sabinium, < Sabinus, Sabine:
see Sabine^.] I. a. Pertaining to Samnium, a
country of ancient Italy.
II. n. 1. Anativoof Samnium.— 2. In Ko?m.
antiq., one of a class of gladiators, so called be-
cause they were armed like the natives of Sam-
nium. They were distinguished especially by
bearing the oblong shield, or scutum-
the..Egean Sea, west of Asia Minor, now form- gamoan (sa-mo'an), a. and n. [< Samoa (see
s :_,.:_. i;t„ t-jv...* — , *„ rr„„i,»„ ^j^^^ ^ ^^^ -j j-- ^ qj or pertaining to Samoa
(also called the Samoan or Navigators' Islands ) ,
an island kingdom of the Pacific, lying about
latitude 14° south, longitude 169° to 173° west.
It is under the supervision of tlie United States,
Great Britain, and Germany — Samoan dove or
I nigeon, the tooth-billed pigeon. See cut under JHduneu-
\^lw). V,
,^.5*11. /ft, A native or an inhabitant of Samoa.
Bamlan stone, a stone found in the island of Samos, used(^, fsa-mo'le-e), «. pl. [NL. (Endlicher,
lorpolishitigbygoldsm ths.etc. — Samlaawaxe,aname'-"'*muie« ^hrf^ lu" ■^-t'.l, "• J'^^ L > .'
^v^ to an ancient kind of pottery made of Samiin earth 1836), < Samolus + -ex.] A tribe of gamopet-
ing a principality tributary to Turkey-
Fill high the cup with Samian wine.
Byron, Don Juan, ill. 86 (song).
Samian earth, the name of an argillaceous earth found
in the Island of Samos, and formerly used in medicine as
an astringent. — Samian letter. Same as Pythagorean
letter. .See Pythagrjrean.
When Reason doubtful, like the Samian letter, \
Points him two ways. Pope, Dunciad, iv. 151
12.
The samovar, however, is a completely new institution,
and the old peasants will tell you, "Ah, Holy Russia has
never been the same since we drank so much tea."
Nineteenth Century, XXL 136.
Samoyed (sa-m6'yed), n. [Also Samoied, Sa-
moide, and formerly Samoed, Samoyt; < Russ.
SamoycdU.] One of a race inhabiting the north-
ern coast of Asia and eastern Europe, and be-
longing to the Ural-Altaic family.
The Sanwyt, or Samoed, hath his name, as the Russe
saith, of eating himseUe ; as if they had sometime beene
CanibiUs. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 431.
Samoyedic (sam-6-ycd'ik), fl. [< Samoyed +
-!('.] Of or pertaining to the Samoyeds.
samp (samp), n. [< Massachusetts Ind. saupac,
sdpac, lit. made soft, thinned.] Indian corn
coarsely ground or broken by pounding ; a kind
of hominy ; also, a porridge made of it. [U. S.]
Nawsaump is a kind of meal pottage unparched. From
this tlie English call their samp ; which is the Indian com
beaten and boiled.
Roger Williams, quoted in Trans. Amer. Anbq.^c.,
Give us the bowl of samp and milk,
]!y homespun beauty poured !
Whittier, 1 he Corn-Song.
sampan, sanpan (sam'pan, san'pan),
Chin, .^an, sam, three, -1- jMn, a board;
wise of
Sampan.
n. [<
other-
Malay
origin.] A small
boat used on the
coasts of Chi-
na, Japan, and
Upper Part of Stem with th« In-
florescence of Samphire (Crith-
mwn fnaritiffttttmY a, a flow-
er; ^. the fruit: r, transvene
sectioD of ooe of the fruitlels.
sampan
Java, corresponding to the skiff of Europe and
America, ami propelled with either sculls or a
sail. It is sometimes provided with a fore-and-
aft roofing of mats,
affoniing slielter and
habitation for a family.
sampf en-wood (samp'-
fen-wiid), n. Same as
sapan-vrond.
samphire (sam'fir or
siam'fer), «. [A corrup-
tion (appar. simulating
camphire for camphor)
of early mod. E. sam-
pire, mmpere, sampler,
< OF. saint pierre (i. e.
herbe tie Sain t Pierre, St.
Peter's herb), < L. sanc-
tus, holy (see saint), +
lAi. Petrus, < Gr. IX^rpof,
Peter, < rrcTpo^, a stoney
TTtTixi, a rock: see saint
and pier.'] A succulent
umbelliferous herb,
Crilliniiiin maritimum,
growing in clefts of
rocks close to the sea
in western Europe and
through the Mediterra-
nean region. The young leaves are bighlj esteemed
for making pickles. Vanooa other marit^e plsfits are
named from it. In America Sdlieomia is sometimes so
caUed.
Sometimes for change they [the people of l.esboB] will
scale tike rocks for Sampier, and search the hottome of the
lease deep seas for a little dah shaped like a barre.
Sandy, Trarailes, p. U.
Ctolden samphire, a plant. Inula crithmmde*, with golden
flowers and thick stems, resembUng and said to have been
used like samphire. See Imda. — Jamaica sampbire.
(a) Balis marMma, a chenopodlaceous salt weed of the
West Indian and noridaooasta. {h)BorTichiaarborttcent,
a maritime shrub of the West Indies.— LonsiTGOd Mun-
pbire. See PAanuMsim.— Bock-sampbure, the com-
mon samphire. (See also marA^ampUn.]
sampi (sam'pi), ». [< Gr. oa/nri, < aav, san,-*- iri,
pi. ] A character, ^, representing a Phenician
sibilant in early Dorian (Greek) use, and calle<l
sun, but retained later only as a numeral sign,
with pi added to its name, because of the re-
semblance of the character in form to a Greek
ir (pi). Its valne as a numeral was 900.
samplaryt, ». [ME. saumplarie, by apheresis
from 'enaumplarie, later cxampUiry,' exemplary :
see exemplary, n., and cf. sampler.'] An exem-
plar; a pattern.
Tbauh men maden bokes God was here maister,
And sejmte spirit the mtmflarit and seide what men
sbolde wijte. Pien Plovman (C), it. 47.
sample (sam'pi), n. [< ME. sample, saumple, by
apheresis from asaumple, esaumple, < OF. essam-
plr, {Sample, also ensample, example: see ex-
amjile, ensample, of which sample is a doublet.]
It. Anything selected as a model for imita-
tion; a pattern; an example; an instance.
A mmpU to the yoongest, to the more mature
A glass that feated them. SHaJt., Cymbellne, L 1. 48.
Thus he concludes : and er'ry hardy knight
His nmfl* followed. Fairfax.
2. A part of anything taken at random out of a
large quantity and presented for inspection or
intended to be shown as evidence of the qual-
ity of the whole ; a representative specimen :
aa. a sample of cloth, of wheat, of spirits, of
V. ' . Samples of textile fabrics are nsad exten-
til as well ss wholesale bnsfaieaa and iu the
' bere are busliiesa houses most of whose deal-
iiijja are with oat.oftawn customers by means of samplea.
Such samplea sre oblong, about twice as long as wide,
and are generally stitched or pinned Into little packages
like books. Samples for wholesale trade are nsaally pasted
or glued upon pattemK:ards or pattern-books. See jnttn-n-
tord, pallarn.boot.
A lamrie la better than a description.
Jtfenan, To John Jay (Correspondence, n. 410).
Though sickly tampta of the exuberant whole.
Cowper, Task, Ir. 781.
In onitshlp ererythlng is regarded as proTlsional and
ptellminary, and the smalleat tompU of Tlrtue or accom-
Sllsbment is Uken to guarantee delightfiU stores which
le broad leisure of marriage win reveaL
Oearge Eliot, Middlemarch, I. xx.
The quality of Oils shall be subject to speclBc contracts
■a per mtmpU, snd shall be sold by gauge or weight.
Sac York Produce Bxehange Ktport, 1888-9, p. 204.
'Syn. 2. Sptcimen, Sample. Steipedmen.
sample (sam'pi), r. t. ; pret. and pp. sampled,
ppr. mnnpHmi. [< mmpic, n. Cf. example, r.]
It. To place side by side with something else
closely similar, for the purpose of comparison
at illustration.
334"
5326
Yon being both so excellent, 'twere pity
If such rare pieces should not be conferred
And sampled together.
MiddUton, Anything for a Qniet life, II. 1.
She would have had you to have sampled you
With one within, that they are now a teaching.
And does pretend to your rank.
B. Jongon, Devil is an Ass, v. 1.
Lest this should be wholly attributed to Pilate's cruelty,
without due respect had of the omnipotent justice, he
[Christ] mmpUs it with another — of eighteen men mis-
carrying by the fall of a tower.
Rev. T. Adam», Works, II. 160.
2. To match ; imitate ; follow the pattern or
method of.
Rhew me but one hair of his head or beard.
That I may sample it.
Middlelun and Dekker, Roaring Girl, iv. 2.
Walla by chance was in a meadow by.
Learning to sample earth's embroidery.
W. Browne, Britannia's Pastorals, ii. 3.
3. To select, or take at random, a sample or
specimen of ; hence, to try or test by examin-
ing or using a specimen or sample : as, to sample
stigar or grain ; to sample wine.
Chancer never shows any signs of effort, and it is a
main proof of his excellence thu he can l)e so inadequate-
ly sampled by detached passages.
LomH, Study Windows, p. 281.
It is dlfflcult to compel the hydrochloric acid maker to
sample this water In the ordinary way.
Spans' Eneyc. Manvf., L 146.
sample-card (sam'pl-kiird), n. Same as pat-
Urii-card, 1.
sample-cutter (sam'pl-kut'^r), n. Botary
shears in the form of a sharp-edged disk rolling
on a table against a tixed edge. It cnts from a
roll of cloth narrow strips to form samples of
the goods.
sampler (sam'pl^r), n. [< ME. saumpler, sam-
plere, a sampler, by apheresis for 'esampler,
txampleir : see cxampler and exemplar, of wnich
sampler is a doublet. Cf. also sampUiry, exem-
plary, ».] If. An exemplar; a pattern.
Sundry precedent* and samplers of indiscretion and
weakneaa. Ford, Line of Life, Pref.
2. A piece of embroidery, worsted-work, or the
like. Originally, such a piece of work done to flx and
retain a pattern considered of value : or. in some cases,
a large piece of cloth or canvas upon which many pat-
terns were wnfced aide by side ; more recently, a similar
Sampler
piece of needlework intended merely to exhibit the skill
of a beginner, and often framed and hung up for show.
Samplers of Uils sort often included Bible texts, verses,
and the like.
We, Hermla, like two artiflcial gods,
Have with our needles created Ijoth one flower.
Both on one sampler, sitting nn one cushion.
Shak., M. N. D., Ul. 2. 206.
In NOea deer Crystall shee doth Jordan see ;
In Memphis, Salem ; and vn-warily
Her hand (vnbidden) in her Sampler sets
The King of luda's S'ame and Counterfets.
Silvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, iL, The Magniflcence.
Come, bring your sampler, and with art
Draw In 't a wounded heart.
Berriek, The Wounded Heart
The best room
. . . bookless, pictureless
Save the Inevitable sampler hung
Over the fireplace.
WhilHer, Among the Hills, Prel.
3. One who samples; one who makes up and
exhibits samples for the inspection of mer-
chants, etc.
The modem practice of buying and selling ore through
men known as public samplers is constantly growing in
favor. ffarpo'tJfoi;., LXXVL 95(1.
If buyer fails to attend to the same [notice to attend to
inspeetloni within a reasonable time, it shall be the duty
Samydacese
of any two members of the Committee on Lard, upon proof
of such notice and failure, without fees, to appoint a sam-
pler to sample the Lard for delivery on that notice, and
his inspection shall be final on that delivery.
Sew York Produce Exchange Report, 1888-9, p. 172.
sample-room (sam'pl-r6m),n. 1. Aroom where
samples are kept and shown. — 2. A place where
liquor is sold by the glass ; a bar-room ; a grog-
shop. [Vulgar euphemism, U. S.]
sample-8CJlle(sam'pl-skal),w. A very accurate-
ly balanced lever-scale, weighing correctly to
ten-thousandths of a pound. It is used to weigh
small proportional quantities of articles, in orde^ to de-
termine thfir weight in bulk.
sample-spigot (sam'pl-spig'qt), «. A smallfau-
cet inserteu through a cask-Sead.
sampling-tube (sam'pling-tub), «. A drop-
tube, pipette, or liquor-thief used for drawing
out small (|uantities of liquor. Also called tdte-
vin, tlurf-tubc, velinchc, or wine-taster.
Sampssean (samp-se'an), n. [< Gr. ^a/i-\jiaioi,
SampsKans, < Heb. sKemesh, the sun.] One of
an early school of Jewish Christians, often iden-
tified with the Elcesaites.
And in worshipping of the Sunue, whereof they were
called Samps«ans, or Suuner, Sunnien, as Epiphanlus in-
terprcteth that name. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 148.
sampson-post (samp'son-post), n. Same as sam-
son-post.
sampsuchinetj »• [< L- sampsuchinus (< Gr.
attfi<l'i xi>-(k), 01 marjoram, < snmpcuchum, samp-
sichus, samj)siicum (> Sp. sampsuco = OF. samp-
sue), < Gr. aaftyfwxov, aa/jifxwxov, aapijwxoc, a for-
eign name of marjoram.] Sweet marjoram.
I savour no aiim;>nieAtn« in it.
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, v. '2.
samshoo, samshu (sam'sho), ». [Chin., Ut.
'thrice fired or distilled'; < san, sam, three, -t-
shao, fire, boil.] An ardent spirit resembling
Batavia arrack, distilled by the Chinepe from
rice or from large millet. 'The name is also ap-
plied in China to all spirituous liquors, such as
gin, whisky, and brandy. See riee-tcine.
samson-post (sam'son-post), «. [So called in
allu.sion to Samson the strong man, the cham-
pion of the Hebrews (Judges xiv.-xvi.).] 1.
\aut. : (a) A notched stanchion used in the
hold of a merchant ship for fixing purchases
or screws in stowing cargo. (6) A stanchion
fixed between the decks of a man-of-war as
an attachment for a purchase-block or leading-
block, (c) In whaling, a heavy upright timber,
firmly secured in the deck, and extending about
two feet abo*e it, to which the fluke-chain or
fluke-rope was formerly made fast when the
whale was towed in to be cut. Most whale-
men now make the rope fast to the bitts. C.
M. Scanimon, Marino Mammals, p. 311. — 2.
The upright post supporting the walking-beam
in the rope-drilling apparatus used in the Penn-
sylvania oil-region. See cut under oil-derrick.
Also written sampson-post.
samurai (sam'^-ri), *i«(y. and pi. [Jap.] The
military class of Japan during the continuance
of the feudal system there, including both
daimios, or territorial nobles, and their vassals '
or military retainers, but more particularly the
latter, or one of them ; a military retainer of a
daimio; a two-sworded man, or two-sworded
men collectively. The samurai were both the
soldiers and the scholars of Japan.
Below the classes already mentioned were the great
bulk of the stsmvrai, the two'Sworde<l military retainers,
who were supported by their lords. . . . They were reck-
less, idle fellows, acknowledging no obeisance Imt to their
lord. F. O. Adams, Hist, of Japan, I. 76.
Among all the privileges which the samurai enjoyed
over the common man, there was none tliat he prized
more highly than the right, indeed the duty, of carrying a
sword. . . . The samurai never went without his sword,
and even a boy going to school had one buckled on.
J. J. Rein, Japan, p. 827.
Samyda (sam'i-da), n. [NL. (Linmeus, 1753),
< Gr. arifivAa, supposed to be the birch-tree.] A
genus of shnibs, type of the order Samydacese,
belonging to the tribe I'asearirsp. It is character-
ized by a colored and bell-shaped calyx-tube bearing four
to six unequal lobes, by the absence of petals and atami-
nodes, by Its eight Ut thirteen monadelphous stamens and
Its free ovai7 with very numerous ovules on three to five
Mrietal placent«e, the style single with a capitate stigma.
The 2 species, natives of the West Indies, are shrubs bear-
ing two-ranked alternate oblong leaves, which are covered
with pellucid dots. The large white, rose-colored, or green-
ish flowers are borne singly or few in the axils, and followed
by a hard roundish fruit with numerous angled seeds each
with a flesliy aril. See cloven-berry.
Samydaceae (sam-i-da'se-e), n. pi. [NL. (Lind-
ley. 1845). < Samyda +' -acea/] An order of
polyi)etalou8 plants of the series ValyciJIone and
cohort Paxsiflorales. It Is charactorixed by similarity
of the petals and the sepals, or by their absence, and by
the usually undivided style and stigma, a sessile one-celled
SamydacesB
orary generally free fnnii the ralyx, oblonR or aneled seeds
always fewt-r thsn the ovules, with a h:u-d and dark outer
coat covered by a thin and tieshy or torn aril, and contain-
injf copious albumen. The stamens are in one or several
rows, more often numerous, freiinently alternate with
sterainodes, equidistant or clustered opposite the petals,
their slender filaments either free or more or less united.
The order differs from the Paxsifiorawee only in habit and
the lack of a corona. It includes about ItiO species, bo-
longing to 25 genera, all tropical. They are smooth or
haip' trees or shrubs, with alt«rnate and two-ranked un-
divided leaves, and inconspicuous ilowers. The typical
genus is Samyda.
Samydese (sa-mid'e-e), n. pi. [NL. (Karl Fried-
rieh Gaertner, ISOt), < Samyda + -«».] Same
as Samydacese.
Ban (san), n. [Gr. odv.2 See sampi and epise-
mon, 2.
Sana (sit'n^), n. [Peruv. (f).] A kind of Peru-
vian tobacco. Treas. of Bot.
sanability (san-a-bil'i-ti), n. [< sanable + -ity
(see -bility).'\ Sanable character or condition;
curableness; sanableness. Imp. Did.
sanable (san'a-bl), a. [= Sp. sanable = Pg.
sanavel = It. sanabile, < L. sanabilis, curable,
remediable, < sanare, cure, make sound: see
sanation.'] Capable of being healed or cured;
guseeptible of remedy ; curable.
Those that are sanable or preservable from this dread-
ful sin of idolatry may And the efficacy of our antidote.
Dr. H. More, Antidot« against Idolat^, Pi-ef. (Latham.)
sanableness (san'a-bl-nes),n. Sanability. Inq).
Diet.
sanap, ». Same as savenape.
sanatarium, sanatary (san-a-ta'ri-um, san'a-
ta-ri), n. Krroueous forms of sanatorium, san-
atory.
sanationt (sa-na'shon), n. [= It. sanazione (>
It. sanare), (.\j. sanatio(n-), a healing or curing,
< sanare, heal, make sound, < samcs, soiuid,
healthy: see «o»ei.] A healing or curing;
cure.
But the mnation of this brain-sick malady is very dif-
ficult. Rev. T. Adams, Works, I. 473.
Consider well the member, and, if you have no probable
hope of saruition, cut it off quickly.
Wisemun, Surgery. (Latham.)
sanative (san'a-tiv), a. [= Pg. It. sanativo, <
ML. sanativus, serving to heal, < L. sanare, pp.
sanatuSyhea,]: see sanation.] Having the power
to cure or heal; healing; tending to heal; sana-
tory.
It hath been noted by the ancients that wounds which
are made with brass heal more easily than wounds made
with iron. The cause is for that brass hath in it selfe a
sanative vertue. Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 787.
The doctor . . . declared him much better, which he
imputed to that sanative soporiferous draught.
Fielding, Joseph Andrews, L 16.
Thine be such converse strong and sanative,
A ladder for thy spirit to reascend
To health and joy and pure contentedness.
Wordsvxtrth, Prelude, xi.
sanativeness (san'a-tiv-nes), ». Healing prop-
erty or power.
There is an obscure Village in this County, neare St.
Neot's, called Haile-weston, whose very name soundeth
something of sanativeness therein.
Fuller, Worthies, Huntingdon, II. 98. (Davies.)
sanatorial (san-a-to'ri-al), a. [< sanatory +
-ul.] Same as sanatory. [Rare.]
sanatorium (san-a-to'ri-um), n. [NL., also, er-
roneously,«a»//ton«»i (also sa»itonM»i, withref.
to L. sanitas, health) ; neut. of LL. sanatorius,
giving health: see sanatory.] 1. A place to
which people go for the sake of health ; a local-
ity to which people resort to regain health ; also,
a house, hotel, or medical institution in such a
locality, designed to accommodate fnvaUds:
specifically applied to military stations on the
mountains or tablelands of tropical countries,
with climates suited to the health of Euro-
peans.
Simla, a British tanatorium in the northwest of India.
Chambers's Encyc.
2. A hospital, usually a private hospital for
the treatment of patients who are not beyond
the hope of cure.
sanatory (san'a-to-ri), a. [= It. sanatoria, <
LL. sanatorius, giving health, < L. sanare, pp.
sanatus, heal : see sanation. The word is often
confused with sanitary, q. v.] Conducive to
health; healing; curing. =S3m. See sanitary.
sanbenito (san-be-ne'to), n. [= F. sanebenit
= It. sanbenito, < Sp. Pg. sambenito, the sanbe-
nito, so called because the garment was of the
same cut as that worn by the members of the
order of St. Benedict; < Sp. San Benito, St.
Benedict, founder of the order of Benedictines :
see benedict, henedictine. The word has also
been explained, absurdly, as if intended for
6326
(Sp.) 'saco benito, 'blessed sack,' said to have
been orig. a coat of sackcloth worn by peni-
tents on their reconciliation to the church.] A
farment worn by persons under trial by the
iiquisition when brought into public view at
an auto de fe either for recantation and sub-
sequent pardon after penance, or for punish-
ment by hanging, flogging, or burning alive.
Some writers describe it as a hat, others as a sort of cas-
sock or loose overgarment, and it is generally asserted to
have been decorated with red tlames or grotesque figures
either paint«d or applied in thin material.
There are few who have fallen into the Gripes of the
Inquisition do scape the Rack, or the San^nito, which
is a strait yellow Coat without Sleeves, having the Pour-
trait of the Devil painted up and down in black.
Howell, Letters, I. v. 42.
What you tell us of knights-errant is all invention and
lies; and, if their histories must not be burnt, at least
they deserve to wear each of them a Sanbenito, or some
badge whereby they may be known to be infamous.
Jarvis, tr. of Don tjuixote, II. vi.
sance-bellt (saus'bel), ». [Also saints' bell,
sancte-bcU, sauncing-bcll, prop. Sanctus bell : so
called because orig. rung at the Sanctus. See
saints' bell, under bclU, m.] Same as Sanctus
bell. See l>ein.
King out your san^x-beUs. Fletcher, Mad Lover, i. 1.
I thank God, I am neither so profanely uncharitable
as to send him to the sance-bell, to truss up his life with a
trice. G. Harvey, Four Letters, iii.
sancbo^ (sang'ko), n. A musical instrument
of the guitar class, used by negroes. The body
consists of a hollowed piece of wood with a long neck,
over which are stretched strings of vegetable fiber, which
are tuned by means of sliding rings.
Sancbo^ (sang'ko), n. In the game of Sancho-
Pedro, the nine of trumps.
Sancho-Pedro (sang'ko-pe'dro), n. A game
of cards in which the Sancho or 9-spot of trumps
counts 9, the Pedro or 5-spot of trumps 5, and
the knave and 10-spot (or game) of trimips
and the highest and lowest trump-cards played
(called high and low respectively) 1 each. In
playing the value of the cards is the same as in whist.
The person whose deal it is has the privilege of either
selling to the highest bidder the right to make the trump,
or of refusing all bids ; in either case, the person who buys
or the one who declines to sell must make at least as much
as was bid or refused, or he is "set back " the number of
points so offered or declined. The game is usually 100
points.
sanctt, n. An obsolete variant of saint^.
Here enter not vile bigots, . . .
Cursed snakes, dissembling varlets, seeming sancts.
Urquhart, tr. of Rabelais, i. 54.
sanctanimity (sangk-ta-nim'i-ti), n. [< L.
sanctus, holy, -t- animus, the mind. Cf. longa-
nimity, magnanimity, etc.] Holiness of mind.
A hath, or a thou, delivered with conventional unction,
now well nigh inspires a sensation of solemnity in its
hearer, and a persuasion of the sanctanimity of its ut-
terer. F. Hall, Mod. Eng., p. 17.
sancte-bellt (sangk'te-bel), n. [Corruption of
Sinictu.s bell.] Same as Sanctus bell. See bell^.
sanctificate (sangk'ti-fi-kat), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
sanctificated, ppr. sanctificating. [< LL. sancti-
ficatus, pp. of sanctificare, sanctify : see sancti-
fy.] To sanctify. [Rare.]
Wherefore likewise doth Saint Peter ascribe, our election
to the Father predestinating, to the Son propitiating, to
the Holy Ghost sanctijicating. Barrow, Works, II. xxxiv.
sanctificatet, a. [ME., < LL. sanctificatus, pp. :
see the verb.] Sanctified; holy.
O loseph, sanctificatc is thy fyrst foundation,
Thy parentycle may be praysed of vs all.
Joseph of Arimathie (E. E. T. S.), p. 60.
sanctification (sangk"ti-fi-ka'shgn), n. [< LL.
sanctificatiol^n-), a sanctification, < sanctificare,
pp. sanctificatus, sanctify: see sanctify.] 1.
The act of sanctifying or making holy ; in theol.,
the act of God's grace by which the affections
are purified and the soul is cleansed from
sin and consecrated to God. in Protestant theol-
ogy, regeneration, or the awakening of spiritual life in the
heart, is regarded as an instantaneous act ; while sanctifi-
cation, or the perfecting of that life, is generally regard-
ed as a gradual and progressive work, never completed in
this life. The doctrine of perfect sanctification, sometimes
also called the doctrine of holiness, held by a compara-
tively small number, is the doctrine that men may be and
sometimes are perfected in holiness in the present life,
and wholly, unreservedly, and undeviatingly consecrated
to do the divine will, so that they are freed from all sin,
though not from all mistakes or errors in judgment.
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation,
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.
2 Thes. ii. 13.
2. The state of being sanctified, purified, or
made holy; conformity of the heart and life to
the will of God. — 3. Consecration.
The bishop kneels before the cross, and devoutly adores
and kisses it ; after this follows a long prayer for the sanc-
tification of that new sign of the cross. Stillint/fket.
sanctimoniously
sanctified (sangk'ti-fid), p. a. [< sanctify +
-c(t-.] Made holy; consecrated; set apart
for sacred services ; hence, affecting holiness ;
sanctimonious: as, a, sanctified v;huie.
He finds no character so sanctified that has not its fail-
ings. Goldsmitli, Citizen of the World, Ixvii.
sanctifiedly (sangk-ti-fi'ed-li), adv. Sancti-
moniously.
He never looks upon us but with a sigh, . . . tho' we
simper never so sanctifiedly.
Brome, Jovial Crew, ii. (Works, ed. Pearson, III. 371).
sanctifler (sangk'ti-fi-er), n. One who sancti-
fies or makes holy ; specifically [cap.], in thcol.,
the Holy Spirit.
sanctify (saugk'ti-fi), v. t. ; pret. and pp. sanc-
tified, ppr. sanctifying. [< ME. sancUfien, < OF.
sanctifier, saintcfier, F. sanctificr = Pr. sanctifi-
car, sanctifiar = Sp. Pg. santificar = It. mntifi-
care, < LL. sanctificare, make holy, sanctify, <
L. sanctus, holy, -I- -ficare, < facere, make : see
saint^ and -fy.] 1. To make holy or clean,
either ceremonially or morally and spiritual-
ly ; purify or free from sin.
Clu-ist also loved the church, and gave himself for it ;
that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of
water by the word. Eph. v. 26.
Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people
with his own blood, suffered without the gate.
Heb. xiii. 12.
2. To consecrate ; set apart from a common to
a sacred use ; hallow or render sacred ; invest
with a sacred or elevated character: said of
things or persons.
God blessed tho seventh day, and sanctified it.
Gen. ii. 3.
Whether is greater, the gold or the temple that sancti-
^c<A tho gold? Mat. xxiiL 17.
Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and
sent into the world, Thou blasphemest ; because I said, I
am the Son of God? John x. 36.
A deep religious sentiment sanctified the thirst for lib-
erty. Emerson, Hist. Discourse at Concord,
3. To make efficient as a means of holiness;
render productive of spiritual blessing.
Those judgments God hath been pleased to send upon
me are so much the more welcome, as a means which his
mercy hath sanctified so to me as to make me repent of
that unjust act. Eikon BasUike.
The church is nourished and fed by the power of Christ's
life, and sanctified, that is, perfected in her unity with
him, by his truth. Bibliotheca Sacra, XLIII. 496.
4. To make free from guilt ; give a religious
or a legal sanction to.
That holy man, amazed at what he saw,
Made haste to sanctify the bliss by law.
Dryden, Sig. and Guis., I. 164.
5. To keep pure ; render inviolable.
Truth guards the poet, sanctifies the line.
Pope, Epil. to Satires, ii. 246.
6. To celebrate or confess as holy.
Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself, and let him be your
fear, and let him be your dread. Isa. viiL 13.
= S3m. To hallow.
sanctifyingly (sangk'ti-fi-ing-li), ade. In a
manner or degree tending to sanctify or make
holy.
sanctiloquent (sangk-til'o-kwent), a. [< L.
sanctus, holy, + loqucn(i-)s, ppr. of loqui,
speak. Ct. LL. sanctiloquus, speaking holily.]
Discoursing on heavenly things. [Rare.] Imp.
Diet.
sanctimonialt (sangk-ti-mo'ni-al), a. [< LL.
snnctimonialis, holy, pious, < t. sanciimonia,
holiness: see sanctimony.] S&me as sanctimo-
tiioun.
sanctimonious (sangk-ti-mo'ni-ns), a. [< ML.
"sanctimoniosus, < L. sanctimonia, holiness: see
sanctimony.] If. Possessing sanctity; sacred;
holy; saintly; religious.
Sanctimonious ceremonies . . .
With full and holy rite. Shat., Tempest, iv. 1. 16.
Sanctimonums customes, which of olde
Haue by grave counsels to a godlie end . . .
Been instituted. Times' Whistle (E. E. T. S.), p. la
2. Making a show of sanctity; affecting the
appearance of sanctity.
The sanctimonious pirate that went to sea with the ten
commandments. Shak., M. for M., i. 2. 7.
Sanctimonious avarice. Milton.
At this Walter paused, and after twice applying to the
bell, a footman of a peculiarly grave and sanctimoniotts
appearance opened the door. Bulwer, Eugene Aram, ii. 7.
sanctimoniously (sangk-ti-mo'ni-us-li), adv.
If. Sacredly; religiously.
You know, dear lady.
Since you were mine, how truly I have lov'd yon.
How sanctimoniously observ'd your honour.
Fletcher, Sea Voyage, L 1,
sanctimoniously
2. In a sanctimonious or affectedly sacred
manner,
sanctimoniousness (sangk-ti-mo'ni-us-nes), II.
Suii'-tiiiiniiious fliarafter or condition,
sanctimony (sangk'ti-mo-ni), H. [< OF. sane-
tiiiioiiie = Sp. Pg. It. suiitimoiiia, < L. sancti-
moiiia, iioliness, saeredness, virtuousness, <
sanctus, holy, + suflix -moiiia : see saint^ and
-moiiy.l It. Piety; devoutness; scrupulous
austerity; sanctity.
It came into my Mind that, to arrive at nniversal Holi-
ness all at once, I would take a Journey to the holy Land,
and so would return Home with a Back-Load of Sancti-
mony, y. BaUey, tr. of Colluquies of Erasmus, 1. 362.
Her pretence is a pil$n*imaf?e : . . . which holy under-
taking, with most austere eanctimonu, she accomplished.
Shak., All's Well, iv. 3. 59.
Cardinal f'arolus Borreraajus . . . [was] greatly rever*
enced in his time for the purity <V: gancHmony of his life.
Cotyat, Crudities, L 117.
2. The external appearance of devoutness;
labored show of goodness; affected or hypo-
critical devoutness.
sanction (»iini;k'shon), w. [< OF. (and F.)
suiK'lwH = Hp. sancioH =. Pg. s^aneiflo = It.
sanzione, < L. ganctio(n-), the act of ordaining
or decreeing as sacred or inviolable, a decree,
ordinance, satiction, < sancirc, pp. saiictiis, ren-
der sacred: see »nin?l.] 1. The act of making
sacred; the act of rendering authoritative as
law; the act of decreeing or ratifying; the act
of making bindiug, a.s by an oath.
Fill every man his bowL There cannot be
A fitter drink to make this nnction in.
Bare I begin the sacrament to all.
B. Jonim, Catnioe, L 1.
Wanting imteUon and authority, it is only yet a private
work. T. Baker, On learning.
If they were no lam to them, nor decreed and made
sacrml by mnetion, promulgation, and appendant penal-
ties, they could not so oblige them aa to Deoome the rule
of virtue or vice.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1885)b Pref., I. 9.
2. A decree ; an ordinance ; a la w : as, the prag-
matic ganction.
Love's power, we wee.
Is Nature's mtnetion, and her firat decree.
Drydm, PaL and Arc, L SSO.
3. The conferring of authority upon an opinion,
practice, or sentiment; confirmation or support
derived from public approval, from exalted tes-
timony, or from the countenance of a person,
or body commanding respect.
The strleteit nrofesiora of reason hare added the tane-
tion tit their testimoDj. Watts,
Religion gavebarMiMHiin to that intense and onqnench-
able animosity. Maeaulag, Hist Eng., Tit
Gown and Sword
And Law their threefold tanetion gave.
Whittier, Astnea at the CspitoL
4. A provision of a law wliich enforces obe-
dience t)y the enactment of rewards or penal-
ties, called respectively rcmiinerntory aaapuni-
tirc naiirtiiiiin ; hence, in utilitarian ethics, the
knowledge of the pleasurable or painful conse-
quences of an act, as making it moral or im-
moral.
By the laws of men, enacted by civil power, gtatitade
Is not enforced : that is, not enjoined by the mneUon at
penalties to be inflicted upon the person that shall not be
found gratefuL South.
A Sanctum then is a source of obligatory powers or mo-
tives: that la, of paitiK iind pleasures; which, according
as they are connecte^l with such or such modes of conduct,
operate, and are indeed tbi; only things which can oper-
ate, as motives.
Bentham, Introd. to Morals and Legislation, ill. 3, note.
The fear of death is generally considered as one of the
strongest of our feelings. It is the moat formidable anne-
tian which legislators nave been able to devise.
Maeaulay, UIII on Qorermnent
The internal tanctum of duty, whatever our standard of
duty may be, is one and the same — a feeling In our own
miiiil, a pain, more or leas intense, sttendant on a viola-
tion of duty. J. S. Mm, I'tilltarianlsm.
The consequences which an action dune here may have
in the unseen world are the tancti'iu attached to It.
Itodgmm, I'hli. of Reflection, III. xl. % B.
External sanction, the knowlidge of a tact In the ei-
teniiil Mi.rlil which will result from an act either always
or ill th)- Inntf run, and wt produce pleasure or pain, as an
induct incnt to ilo or refrain from that sort of^act.— In-
ternal sanction, the knowledge of mental reflection
upon an .let, productive of pleasure or pain, as an induce-
ment to do or refrain from that sort of act.— Legal sanc-
tion, the knowledge that a penalty will prolwldy be In-
nicted by a court for an act, as an inducement to refrain
from that act.— Moral sanction, acconllng to Bentham,
the knowledge of how niies nci(fn'>"ni will take a given
act, as a motive for ili.ing or not doing it. Less strict
utilitarians, as .Mill, aiimlt an internal sanction as moral.
Non-utilitarian moralintft often use the phrase tnornl none-
tirni, but with no determin.->tc sign iflciil ion. Thus, the
Intnltionalist Caldi-rwiKKi (HandlwKik of Moral rhili«., I,
ll. 4, J 7) says: ".S'nnwr-,,, |s » connnnallon of the mural
character of an action, which follows it in experience."
6327
This makes mncHon in this phrase mean not a reward or
punishment, but an attestation. On the other hand, the
evolutionist Stephen (Science of Ethics, X. i. 2) says : "Ac-
cording to my argument, the primary and direct inci-
dence, if I may say so, of moral sanctions is upon the social
organism, whilst the individual is only indirectly and
secondarily affected. " That is to say, races in which cer-
tain instincts are weak are unfitted to cope with other
races, and go under : so that a moral sanction is a remote
consequence of a line of l>ehavior tending t)y natural se-
lection to reinfoixe certain instincts.— Physical sanc-
tion, the knowledge that pleasure or pain will generally
result from a given line of conduct by the operation of
causes purely nattlral.- Political sanction, the hope of
favor or fear of hostility on the part of a govenmient
as the consequence of, and thus a motive for or against,
certain conduct. — Popular Banction,the knowledge that
the people, in their private and individual capacity, will
regard with favor or disfavor a person who acts in a given
way, as a motive for or against such action. Bentham re-
gards this as the same as moral mnetion. — Pragmatic
sanction. See prarnnaiic— Psychological sanction,
the knowledge that certain conduct, if found out, will act
upon a certain mind or certain minds to cause those per-
sons to confer pleasure or inflict pain upon the person who
pursues such conduct, this knowledge being considered
as a motive for or against that conduct. — Punitive sanc-
tion, the attachment of a penalty to a legal offense.—
Religious sanction, the belief that God attaches rewanis
and i)unishuu-nts to his laws a.t a motive for obeying him.
— Remuneratory sanction, the promise, as by a govern-
ment, of a reward as an incitement to attempt a certain
performance.- Social sanction. Same tapopular sane-
(ton. = 8yil. 1 and 3. Authorization, countenance, support,
warrant,
sanction (sangk'shon), f. <. [<. sanction, n.'i 1.
To give authoritative permission or approval
to: ratify; confirm; invest with validity or
authority.
They entered into ■ eovenant MncMoned by all the so-
lemnities of religion osDsl on these occasions.
PramU, Ferd. and Iss., L a
If Spinoza and Hobbes were scctised of Atheism, each of
them tanetiontd his speculations by the sacred name of
theology. Laiie Stephen, Eng. Thought, i. i 21.
2. Togive countenance or support to ; approve.
Tk> sanetton Vice, and hunt Decorum down.
Byron, Eng. Bards and Scotch Reviewers, L 615.
Even Plato, in his Imaginary republic, the Utopia of his
beautiful genius, aanelions slavery.
Sumner, Orations, I. 21.1.
Sanctioning right. See right, 4. =Byn. Allow, Permit,
etc. .See allotci.
sanctionable (sangk'shon-a-bl), a. [< sanction
+ -/ihli'.] Worthy of sanciion, or of approba-
tion or approval.
sanctionary (sangk'shon-a-ri), a. [< sanction
+ -iirij.] Kclating to or implying sanction;
giviin: sanction. Imp. Diet.
sanctitude (sangk'ti-tud), n. [< L. sancHtudo,
saeredness, < sanetus, holy: see sanctity.'] 1.
Holiness; saeredness; sanctity.
In their looks divine
The image of their Morions Maker shone,
Truth, wisdom, taneUtude severe and pure.
Miltan, V. L-, iv. ii9S.
2. Sanctimony; affected sanctity.
His manners 111 corresponded with the austerity and
mnetitwie of his style.
Landor, Aslnlns Folllo and Licinioa Calvns, II.
sanctity (sangk'tj-ti), «.; pi. sanctities (-tiz).
[< OF. siiinrtrtf, also saintved, santite, saintcr,
F. sainttte = Pr. sanctital, sanctctat = Sp. san-
tidaH = Pg. santidadc = It. santitA, < L. sanc-
tita(t-)s, holiness, saeredness, < sanetus, holy,
saci^: seesainfi.] 1. Holiness; saintliness;
godliness.
Pnritsnes, ... by whose apparent shew
<H sanctity doe greatest evils grow.
Time)' Whittle (E. E. T. S.\ p. 141.
Then heaven and earth renew'd shall be made pure
To sanctity, that shall receive no stain.
Milton, P. L, X. eSO.
2. Sacred or hallowed character; hence, sa-
eredness; solemnity; inviolability.
His afflrmatlons have the tanetitu of an oath.
Lamb, Imperfect Sympatliiea.
We have grown quite accustomed now-a-days to the In-
vasion of what ased to be called the mmeHty of private
life. D. C. Murray, Weaker Vessel, xllL
3. A saint or holy being; a holy object of any
kind. [Rare.]
About him aU the mncOtie* of heaven
Stood thick as stars. MiUon, P. L., lU. 6a
I murmur'd, as I came along.
Of comfort clasp'd in truth reveal'd ;
And loiter'd in the .Mast<.-r's Held,
And darken'd sanctities with song.
Tennyson, In Memoriam, xxxvll.
Odor Of sanctity. See odor. =8yn. 1. Piely, SainUinesi,
etc. fsee rfli[iiim\ pnrity, goo<lnes8. — 2. Inviolability,
sanctuarize (Rangk'tu-a-riz), t'. t. [< sanctnnri/
+ -(>'■.] To shelter by means of a sanctuary
or sacred privileges. [Karo.]
No place, Indeed, should murder sanctuarixe.
Shak., Hamlet, iv. 7. 12s.
sanctuary («anpk'tu-a-ri), n.\ pi. sanctuaries
(-riz). [< ME. sanctuary, svintuarie, scyntuaric,
sanctuary
senticary, seyntwarie, < OF. saintuaire,santnaire,
saintiiairio, F. sanctuairc = Pr. sanctuari = Sp.
Pg. It. santuario, < LL. sanctuariiim, a sacred
place, a shrine, a private cabinet, ML. also
temple, church, churchyard, cemetery, right
of asylum,< L.««7ic<«s,holy, sacred: see saint^.']
1. A sacred or consecrated place; a holy spot;
a place in which sacred things are kept.
Proverbs, like the sacred books of each nation, are the
sanctuary of the intuitions. Emerson, Compensation.
Specifically- (a) In .Scrip., the temple at Jerusalem, par-
ticularly the most retired part of it, called the holy of ho-
lies, in which was kept the ark of the covenant, and' into
which no person was permitted to enter except the high
priest, and that only once a year to intercede for the peo-
ple. The same name was given to the cotresponding part
of the tabernacle in the »ildernes8(Ex. xxv. 8). (6) A house
consecrated to the worship of God ; a church.
And I saw crowds in column'd saiKtuarics.
Tennyson, Fair Women.
(c) The cella or most sacreil part of an Egyptian, Greek,
or Roman temple, (rf) In clatwical antiq., a sacred place,
a locality, whether inclosed or not, but generally inclosed,
consecrated to somedivinity or groupof divinities, often a
grove, sometimes an inclosure of notable size and impor-
tance, containing shrines, temples, a theater, arrange-
ments for gymnastic contests, places of shelter for suppli-
ants t>r for the sick, etc. : as, the sanctuary of ^Ssculapius
at Epidaurus.
The stele was to be set up in a san^ctuary, which, it seems
probable, was that of Pandion on the Acropolis.
Harrison and Verrall, Ancient Athena, p. xcvlL
(«) The part of a church where the chief altar stands ; the
chancel; the presbytery. .See cut under rererf^.
The original arcade piers of the choir and sanctuary [the
semicircular part of the choir, in the At)hey of St. Oenis]
do not exist. C. H. Moore, Gothic Architecture, p. 37.
(/t) A portable shrine contaiidng relics.
Than the kynge made be brought the blest seintewiries
that he liadde, and the beste relikes, and ther-on they
dide swere. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), L 75.
(St) A chim;hyard.
Also wyth-ynne chyrche & seyrUtcary
Do ry^t thus as I the say,
Songe and cry and suche fare.
For to stynte thow schalt not spare.
Jfyrv, Instructions for Parish l>rle8ts(E. E. T. a.), \. 330.
.SeyntiiYiry, churchyard. The name of sanctuary is now
given to that part of the choir or chancel of a church where
the altar standa. In media'val documents belonging to
this country, Sanctoarlum and its e<|Uivalent8 in English
almost always mean churchyard.
Note In Myre's InttrueHons/or Parish Priests (E. E. T. S.X
rp. 75.
2. A place of refuge or protection; a sacred
asylum; specifically, a church or other sacred
place to which is attached the privilege of af-
fording protection from arrest and the ordinary
operation of the law to criminals, debtors, etc.,
taking refuge within its precincts. From the
time of Constantine downward certain churches have lieen
set apart in many Catholic countries to be an asylum for
fugitives fn)n) the hands of Justice. In England," particu-
larly down to the Reformation, any person who had taken
refuge in such a sanctuary was secured against punishment
— except when charged with treason or sacrilege — if w ith-
in the space of forty days he gave signs of repentance, and
subjected himself to banishment. By the act 21 ,Tanu>s I.,
c. xxviti., the privilege of sanctuary for crime was finally
sl>olishe<l. Various sanctuaries for debtors, however, con-
ttnuefl to exist in and at>ont London till U!S>7, when they
too were abolished. In Scotland the abbey of Ilolyrood
House and its precincts still retain the privilege of giving
sanctuary to debtors, and one who retires thither is pro-
tected for twenty-four hours; but to enjoy protection
longer the person must enter his name in the books kept
by the bailie of the abbey, since the abolition of iniprU-
onment for tiebt this sanctuary is no longer used.
That Cytee was also Sacerdotalle — that is to seyne, seyn-
luarie — of the Tribe of Juda. Mandemlle, Travels, p. 66.
The Bcholehonse should be counted a mnctuarie against
feare. Ascham, The Scliolemaster, p. 49.
Your son Is slain, Theodoret, noble Theodoret I
Here in my arms, too weak a satuiuary
'Gainst treachery and murder!
fieati. ond Fl., Tlilerry and Theodoret, ilL 2.
Let 's think this prison holy sanctuary,
To keep us from corruption of worse men.
Fletcher (and aiwther\ Two Noble Kinsmen, II. 1.
Whitefriars, adjacent to the Temple, then well known
by the cant name of Alsutia, had at this time, and for
nearly a century afterwanls. the privilege of a sanctuary,
uidess against the writ of the Lord Chief .Tustice. , . .
The place abounded with desperadoes of every dcscrip-
tion — bankrupt citizens, ruined gamesters. Irreclaimable
prodigals. Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, xvi.
3. Kefuge; shelter; protection; specifically,
the immunity from the ordinary operations of
law afforded by the sacred clieracter of a place,
or by a specially privileged church, abbey, etc.
The Chapell and Refectory [were] full of the goods of
such poor people as at the approch of the Army had fled
with them thither for sanctuary.
Evelyn, Diary, Aug. 7, 1841.
At this Time, upon News of the Earl of Warwick's Ap-
proach, (jueen Elizabeth forsakeththe Tower, and secretly
lakes Sanctuary at Westminster.
Bii*fr, Chronicles, p. 2iiO.
These laws, whoever made them, bestowed on temples
the privilege of sanctuary. JHtton.
sanctuary
The admirable works of painting were made fuel for
the fire ; but some reliques of it took tanduary under
gioaud, and escaped the common destiny.
Diyden, tr. of Dufresuoy's Art of Painting.
O peaceful Sisterhood,
Keceive, and yield me aanetuofy, nor ask
Her name to whom ye yield it.
Tennyson, Guinevere.
tsUunian sanctnaiT. See Isthmian.
sanctuaryt (sangk'tu-a-ri), f. t. [< satwtuary,
M.] To place in safety as in a sanctuary; be-
stow safely.
8ecarel>- fight, thy purse is sanetuary'd.
And in tiiis place shall beard the proudest thiefe.
Heytrood, i'oiir Prentises of London (Works, II. 1S9X
sanctum (saugk'tiun), «. [Short for sanctum
saHctorum, holy of holies: sanctum, neut. of L.
sanctus, pp. of saneire, consecrate, make holy;
saHctorum. gen. pi. ot sanctum: see s«intl.] A
sacred place; a private retreat or room: as, an
editor's sanctum.
I had no need to make any change ; I shoold not be
called upon to quit my sanctinn of the school-room — for
a sattctum it was now become to me —a very pleasant ref-
uge in time of trouble. Chariatte Bronte, Jane Eyre, ivii
Sanctum sanctorum, (a) "The holy of holies": the
innermost or holiest place of the Jewish tabernacle or
temple. See holy, (b) Any specially private place or re-
treaty not to l>e entered except by special permission or
favor.
His house is defiletl by the unsavory visits of a troop of
pup dogs, who even sometimes carry their loathsome rav-
ages into the aoiK^fiii gaitctorum, the parlor !
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 197.
Sanctns (sangk'tus), «. [So called from the
first word in the L. version; < L. sanctus, pp.
of saneire. make holy, consecrate: see saint^.]
1. In liturgies, the ascription " Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God of hosts, . . ." in which the eucha-
ristic preface culminates, and which leads up to
the canon or praver of consecration. The Sanctns
exists and occupies ihis place in all liturgies. It is proba-
My of primitive origin, and was already, as it still is, used
in the Jewish litur^- (l>eiug taken from Isa. vi 2, 3 : com-
pare Rev. iv. 8), the following " Hosanna " (Psalm civiit
25, "Save now") also further marking the connection.
A similar ascription occurs in the Te Deum. Other names
for the Sanctus are the Tersancttts (and, improperly, the
TritagionX and the Seraphic or Triumphal Hymn (^Epi$u-
dan). See Bfnfdictus, pnifaa.
2. A musical setting of the above ascription or
hymn — Black Sanctust, a profatie or burlesque hymn,
perfomievl with loud and discordant noises; hence, any
confused, tumultuous uproar. Also BlcuA Satttus, Santos,
SoHtis.
At the entrie we heare a confused noise, like a Nactt
sanctus, or a house haunted with spirits, such hollowing,
shouting, dauncing, and clinking of pots.
jRouiey, Search for Money.
Like Bulls these bellow, those like .\sses bray;
Some barke like banniogs, some like horses ney;
Some howl like Wolues, others like Furies yell ;
Scarce that Moetie Santas could be match'd in hell.
Heytmod, Hierarchy of Angels, p. 576.
Let '8 sing him a black santis ; then let 's all howl
In our own beastly voices. Fletcher, Mad Lover, iv. 1.
Sometimes they whoop, sometimes their Stygian cries
Send their blaek sanios to the blashiug skies.
Qtutrtes, Emblran^ I. x. SO.
Sanctus bell See beOi.
sand^ (sand), H. [< ME. sand, sond, < AS. saad
= OS. Mind = OFries. sond = MD. sand, D. zand
= MLG. sant, LG. sand = OHG. MHG. sant, G.
sand = Icel. sandr = Sw. Dan. sand (Goth, not
recorded), sand ; cf . OHG. *samat, MHG. sampt.
G. dial. (Bav.)samp, sand ; the Teut. base being
appar. orig. samd-, prob. = Gr. a/jado^, ^tafiaBo^,
sand; cf. E. dial, samel, gritty, sandy, and L.
tahulum (for *samulHm f), sand, graVel.] 1.
Water-worn detritus, finer than that to which
the name grarel woiild ordinarily be applied :
but the line between sand and gravel cannot
be distinctly drawn, and they frequently occur
Intermingled. Sand oonsists usually ot the debris of
crystalline rocks, and quartz very commonly predomi-
nates in it, since this mineral is very little liable to chemical
change or deoompoaitiou. In regions of exclusively cal-
careoos rocks ther« is rarely any considerable amount of
what can be pn^perly called faiid, finely comminuted cal-
careoos materials being extremely liable to become re-
consolidated. Sand occurs in every stage erf wear, from
that in which the pntieles bave sharp eatees, showing
that they have been derived fixm the recentoreaking np
of granitic and other sOicions rocks, to that in which the
fragments are thoroogfaly rounded, showing that they
have been nibbed against one another during a great
length of time. Sand, when consolidated by pressure or
hda together by some cement, becomes sandstone; and a
lam part of the material tanning the series of stratified
rocfa IS sandstone.
The coonter, shdves, and floor had all been scoured,
and the latter was overstiewn with fresh blue sniui.
Hattihome, Seven Gables, IL
2. A tract or region composed principally of
sand, like the deserts of Arabia ; or a tract of
sand exposed by the ebb of the tide : as, the
Libyan Sandg; the Solway sands.
Bren as men wrecked upon a sand, that look to be
— ^ 1 off tbe next tide. Skat., Hen. v., iv. L lOa.
5328
The island is thirty miles long, two miles broad in most
places, a mere sand, yet full of fresh water in ponds.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. Ifla
3. Any mass of small hard particles: as, the
sand of an hour-glass; sand used in blotting. —
4. In founding, a mixture of sand, clay, and
other materials used in making molds for cast-
ing metals. It is distingoished according to different
qualities, etc, and is therefore known by specific names :
as^ core.ainui^ green sand, old sand, etc
5. Sandstone: so used in the Pennsylvania pe-
troleum region, where the various beds of pe-
troliferous sandstone are called oil-sands, and
designated as first, second, third, etc., in the
order in which they are struck in the borings.
Similarly, the gas-bearing sandstones are called
ga.ssands. — 6. pi. The moments, minutes, or
small portions of time; lifetime; allotted period
of life : in allusion to the sand in the hour-glass
used for measuring time.
Xow our sands are almost mn.
Shak., Pericles, v. 2. 1.
7. Force of character; stamina; grit; endur-
ance; pluck. [Colloq., U. S.]
I became head superintendent, and had a oonjde of
thousand men under me. Well, a man like that is a man
that has got plenty of sand — that goes without saying.
The Ontury, YY\TY 74.
Bagshot sand. S.ame as BagAot beds (which see, under
ftedl).— Blue sand. SeeWut — Brain sand. Seei>raiI^
Mnd.— Buxned sand, in moUUag, sand wlxich has l)een
ht-ated sufficiently to destroy the tenacity given by the
clayey ingredient. It is sometimes used for partings. —
Dry sand, in founding, a combination of sand and loam
used in m;ddng molds to be dried in an oven. — Green
sand, in /oitnding, fresh, unused, or unbaked sand suit-
able for molding. — Hastings sand, in geol., one of the
subdivisions of the Wealden, a very distinct aiul peculiar
assemblage of strata covering a large are^i in the southern
counties of England. See Wealden New Bsmd. See
tieir. — Old sand, in /oundinir, sand which has been used
for the molds of castings, and which has become, under the
action of heat, friable and more pi»rons, and is therefore
used for ailing the flaaks over the facing s;ind, as it affords
ready escape for gases. — Rope Of sand. See ro;*fi.—
Sand blast. Seeaand-Most. — Sharp sand, sand the par-
ticles of which present sharp crystallme fracture, not worn
smooth by attrition.
sand^ (sand), r. t. [< sandl, h.] 1. To sprin-
kle with sand; specifically, to powder with
sand, as a freshly painted surface in order to
make it resemble stone, or fresh writing to
keep it from blotting. — 2. To add sand to: as,
to sand sugar. — 3. To drive upon a sand-bank.
Travellers and seamen, when they have been sanded or
dashed on a rock, for ever after fear not that mischance
only, but all such dangera whataoever.
Bwrton, Anat of MeL, p. 148.
sand^t, H. [ME., also sonde, from AS. sand,
sond, a sending, message, mission, an embassy,
also a dish of food, a mess, lit. ' a thing sent,' <
sendan (y/ sand), send : see send. Cf. sandes-
«!««.] A message; amission; an embassy.
Firste he saide he schulde doune sende
His sande, that we schuld nost be irke.
His haly gaste on vs to lende.
York Plays, p. 4«&
SandaU (san'dal), «. [Early moil. E. also san-
dall, sandale, sendal, sendall; < ME. 'sandale,
sandalie = D. sandaal = G. sandale = Sw. Dan.
sandal, < OF. sandale, cendale, F. sandale =
Sp. Pg. sandalia = It. sandalo, < ML. sanda-
lum, L. sandalium, < Gr. aaiSa/Mi; ilim. of aav-
6ajj)i; .aiolic oaiijkujov, a sandal; prob. < Pers.
sandal, a sandal, slipper.] 1. A kind of shoe,
consisting of a sole fastened to the foot, gen-
erally by means of straps crossed over and
passed around the ankle. Originally sandals were
made of leather, but they afterward became articles of
SandaK
The pair m the cuddle a)« Raman, those on the sides are Greek.
luxury, being sometimes made of gv^ld. silver, and other
precious materials, and beautifully ornamented. Sandals
of straw or wickerwork sre woni by some Oriental nations ;
those of the Japanese form their cliief foot-covering, ex-
cept the stocking ; they are left at the door, and not worn
within the houses, the floois of which are generally cov-
ered with mats. Sandals form part of the official dress of
bishops and abl>ots in the Roman Catholic Church ; they
were formerly often made of red leather, and sometimes
of sQk or velvet richly embroidered.
His tamfrtw were with toilsome travell tome.
Spenser, ¥. Q., I. >i. 35.
sandalwood
The men wear a sort of scandals made of raw hide, and
tied with thongs roimd the foot and ancle.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. ii. 13.
The form of the episcopal sandal about half a century
before St Austin began his mission among the Anglo-
Saxons may be seen from the llavenua mosaics.
Rock, Church of our Fathers, ii. 235, note.
2. A half -boot of white kid or satin, often pret-
tily embroidered in silver, and laced np the
front with some bright-colored silk cord. They
were cut low at each side to display the em-
broidered clock of the stocking. — 3. A tie or
strap for fastening a slipper or low shoe by
being passed over the foot or around the ankle.
Shoes with sandals were in use during the early years of
the nineteenth century and until about IMO. Originally
the term signified the ribbons secured to the shoe, one
on each side, and crossed diagonally over the instep and
ankle, later a simpler contrivance, as a single band with
button and buttonhole, or even an india-rubber strap.
Open-work stocldugs, and shoes with sandals.
Dickens, Sketches, Tales, i. 2.
4. An india-rubber overshoe, having very low
sides and consisting chiefly of a sole with a
strap across tlie instep. Especially— (a) such a shoe
with an entire sole and a counter at the heel ; or (6) such
a shoe with a sole for the front part of the foot oiUy.
5. In her., a bearing representing any rough
and simple shoe. Also called brogue.
sandal^ (san'dal), II. [Early mod. E. also sn«-
dol, also Sander, usually in pi. form sanders,
Saunders, < late ME. satrndres, sairndyrs, < OF.
sandal, snii/a?, pi. sandaulx, F. sandal, sanfal =
Sp. sandalo = Pg. sandalo = It. sandalo (> D. G.
Sw. Dan. sandel), < ML. (and XL.) santalum, <
LGr. aavTa/.ov, also advdavov, sandalwood, = Ar.
feindal = Hind, sandal, chandan = Pers. sandal,
cliandal, cliandan = Malay tsendana. sandal-
wood, < Skt. ehandana, the sandal-tree, perhaps
< -y/ chand, shine, = L. candere, shine: see em
did.'] Same as sandalwood.
The white sandol is wood very sweet & in great request
among the Indians. HaHvyt's Voyages, II. 2|>&.
Toys in lava, fans of sandaL Tennyson, Princess, ProL
sandal^ (san'dal), H. Same as sendal.
sandal'^ (san'dal), M. [< Ar. sandal, a large open
boat, a wherry.] A long narrow boat with two
masts, used on the Barbary coast.
We were startled by the news that the Mahdi's people
had arrived at I^o with three steamers and nine sandals
and nuggars, and had established themselves on the site
of the old station. Science, XIV. 375.
sandaled, sandaUed (san'dald), p. a. [< ^m-
doii + -f<P.] 1. ^yeariug sandals.
SandalVd palmers, faring homeward,
Austrian knights from Syria 'came.
Jf. Arnold, Church of Brou, I
2. Fastened with a sandal. See sandal^. 3. —
Sandaled shoes, low, light shoes or slippers worn by
women, from I5O0 till about 1840, in the house and in com-
pany, and often out of doors.
sandalifomi (san'da-li-f6rm), a. [< L. sanda-
lium. sandal, + forma, form.] Shaped like a
sandal or slipper.
sandalin (san'da-lin), H. [< sandal^ + -i«i.]
Same as sandaltrood.
sandal-tree (san'dal-tre), h. A name of one
or more trees of the gentis Sondorieuni.
sandalwood (san'dal-wud), «. [< sandal^ -h
iroorfl.] The fragrant wood of the heart and
roots of a tree of several species belonging to
the gentis Santalum ; also, the tree itself. The
most important species is iS. album, an evergreen 20 or 30
feet high, with the aspect
of privet. It is native in
dryish localities in south-
em India, ascending the
mountains to an altitude of
3.000 feet The heart-wood
is yellowish - brown, very
hard and close-grained,
scented with an oil still
more abundant in the root,
which is distilled for per-
fumery purposes and is in
great request The wood
is much used for carving,
making ornamental boxes,
etc., being valued as a pro-
tective from insects as weU
as for its perfume. It is
also extensively used, espe
cially in China (which is
the great market for san-
dalwoodX to bum as in- SanAalmxxi {Smt^/mm aUmm).
cense, both in temples and
in dwellings. Other sandalwoods, from which for a tim-:
after their discovery lar^re supplies were obtained, are 5,
Freyn'netiantnn (its wood called citron or yellmr tanda!-
tmod) and S. pyrularium of the Hawaiian Islands. ."?. Ynei
of the Fijis, S.'.4 ustro-eatedoniernn of New Caledonia, and
Puaanus{Santalum)spicatusof .\ustralia. but these sources
were soon nearly exhauste^i. In India and New Caledonia
sandalwood is systematicjUly cultivateil. ,^ee almufj and
Fusamts. .Ais^V calleil satuierswood. — Bastard sandal-
wood. See Jfyoporvn.— Queensland sandalwood, the
-Australian SremapkUa Mitehelli of tht Muoporinf/r. a
tall shrub or small trec^ viscid and strongly scented. The
sandalwood
bewt-wood to dark rcddiah-biuvo, faintly scented, ased for
cabbMt-wotk.— Bad MUldalwOOd. (a) The East Indian
Ine runiMipia mmtaKiua, or its dark-red wood, which
ia aaed aa a ^e-atafl, imparting a reddiah-tvown color
to woolcs^ It is oooaidend by Hindn pliyiiciaiia to be
aitiiaceait aad tooic Oee PItniemrpi*. llao caOed r«ty-
anad. and aooMtlaea distiix^iTely nd mmitntnti. (»)
Another KaatlndlMitwat^dtwrafWws^aMiifaa.allhrwi
wood,iisedaaailjualagaiidotherwiae. See ^doMattera.
— SaodalWOOd tmA, a bark said to be troaa a species
of Jfymrydns burnt in place ot banldncenae. — Buidal-
wood EnsUih. ■'*ee Kmgiuk.— ywmiiuito nndal-
WOOd, a wood thoocht to be derived from a mtaeeons
tree, aomewiiat exported trom VenezneliL Xbe beart-
wood ia dark brown, the sap yellow, the acent pleasant
bat faint. It ia the aoone ot West ladiaa sandalwood
oiL— WUte nadalwood, the eoeaman sandalwood.—
TaQov nndalWOOd, in the West Indies Jtaeada eaiMtaCa
a( the CmOralww.
■M^t^aTmo (8an'dit-rak), n. [Also taiularadt.
tamdarak, and coiraptly amdarae; < OF. sanda-
rae, sawUtraeke. nandaraXj ¥. mmdaraque = Sp.
Pg. tamdaraca = It. ga»daraea, taiidracca, < L.
aandarara, mndeTtiea, sandaraeha, < Gr. trm-cki-
poK^. red sulphuret of azseaic, realgar, a red col-
or, also bee-bremd; of Eastern origin : cf . Ar. «aii-
daris = Pers. mmdaril = Hind, samiaris, sa»-
darot, sindriig. sundrng. < Skt. sindira, realgar.]
1. In iiiij»«-(i/. , re<l siUphuret, or protosulphuret,
of arsenic ; realgar. — 2. A resin in white tears,
more transparent than those of mastic, which
exudes from the bark of the sandarac-tree,
CMitri$quttdrieakni. (9e« mntdarae-tree.) it is
oaed aa poaaea-pinrdar lor ilrewlns QTtr cnsarea on paper
e» ^minsslX as hedaait and torasakinc a pale Tamiiah
UKht.eolared woods. It was torssstli renowned ss s
■Mdidae. AaatraUan speeka of tlillHi Is jklA a similar
reaia. Also called Jiia»ii- riifmfnjiistfir.
H»ndaractll (san-dar'a-sin). n. [<»a»darat +
-IN-. ] A substance, containing t wo or three res-
in!<, which remains after treating sandarae with
alcohol.
sandarac-trae (san'da-rak-tre), n. A tree, C41I-
Utria quadriralru, a native of the mountains of
Morocco. It Is a larwe tree with stranUaf branches.
Tks wood la (rscrant, hard, dnrabK insintany-eokred.
and is Issstly
■Hdfaitbeeoa-
tt
bwsfaiaaaotth
of Abiea. Bea
dense. Alsocsll-
tdmrmr-tnt.
■and-badger
(sand' baj '-
»r), a. AJa-
had-
etc.
I with
fcer, Meier a»-
fanio. P. Ia
Selater.
(sandMLg),
n. A bag fill-
ed with sand.
(•)Abi«ofiaad
orcarth, naed in afoHUkatiaaf<)rreaalrti
araaballaat In boats and bdeona. (»)AI
Hshtly lUed with anaasn^ need b* encravan to prap thair
west at a eo«Taalaat aa(K or to ghre fr«e aMMoa to a piste
or eat la snctsrtas enrred Une^ etc. (e) A bag at sand
■BSd aa a weapon, taeeially— 0)8«chaba|tiMteacdto
the and of a stoC and forms^ smplajradln the appointed
cnmbato of icoaen, Inatrad of the sword aod lamin, the
I af kntghta and gentlaaMn.
aoaay-baaa aa bold
iad4iiWr did of oU.
& AtMar. Hadibraa, m. a 8O1
(i) A cyHndrieal tabeaf lexMs and alrai« malatlalllled
with land, by wbkh a heavy Mow may ba atracfc which
learaa littla or no aaarfc on the skin: a waaaon oaed by
raSaaa. (d)Abas«f sand whlehwaaaMaabad toafoto-
trin. (<) A ioas narrow bac of laaMi. AM with sand,
aaad to eoxer cfartcaa between -rtadmr Mhsa «r onder
doora, or hdd on the staae of a thcntar behind flato and
wlaga toprercat llirtita at the bock tnm sUnte thnoah
the saaeas left at Janctiona.
sandbag (sand'bag), r. (.; pret. and pp. snarf-
hit or beat with a sand-bag.
sandbagger (aand'W'^r), n. 1 . One who uses
a sand-bag; espeeially, a robber who uses a
sand-bag to stun his victims.
And the perfla that sarraoad the belated cttlaen ttma
klB« hlahwa»saee indaiad tMiwn In the
I do noT^ to tha MrseaManaa of the
XlmL Aafns(ABar.X XT. xlz. U.
2. A sailing boat that uses sand-bags as ballast,
sand-ball (sand'bil). a. A ball of soap mixed
with fine sand for the toilet: used to remove
rotighness and stainM from the hands.
»sad taffi ar* amde by laoorpoiatinf with aettad and
parfhsaed soap oartola prapotttona ofjba rirar aaad.
ralt,goap-niaMnt,p. 184.
sand-band («»nd'hand), a. In a vehicle, an
iron i,nianl-ring over the inside of the hub of a
wheel, and projecting over its junction with the
335
5329
axle, designed to keep sand and dnst from work-
ing into the axle-box. E. H. Kniijht.
sand-bank (sand'bangk), n. A bank of saud:
es[HH'iiilly, a bank of sand formed by tides or
eurreuts.
sand-bar (sand'bar). n. a bar of sand formed
in the bottom or at the mouth of a river.
sand-bath (sand'bath), a. 1 . A vessel contain-
ing warm or hot sand, used as an equable heater
for retorts, etc., in various chemical processes.
— 2. In med.. a form of bath in which the body
is covered with warm sea-sand. — 3. The roll-
ing of fowls in sand, by which they dust them-
selves over to cleanse the skin and feathers;
the act of pul verizinjr : saburration.
sand-bear (sand'bar), N. The Inilian badger
or bear-pifr, Jretomi/jt coUaris. See balmiHr.
sand-beanngs (sand'bar'ingz), H.pL See bear-
infi.
sand-bed (sand'bed), N. In mrtah, the bed into
which the iron from the blast-furnace is run :
the floor of a foundry in which large castings
are made.
sand-beetle (sand'be'tl), a. Any member of
the TroqUUe. Adams, Man. Nat. Hist.
sand-bellows ( sand'bel'oz), a. A hand-bellows
fi>r thrviwing sand on a newly painted surface,
to give it tlie appearance of stone.
sandbergerite isand'b^rg-t'r-it), ». [< F. SoHd-
berger (b. isiti) + -if*""-.] In mineral., a variety
of tennantite, or arsenical tetrahedrite, con-
taining a considerable amount of zinc.
sand-bird (sand'b^rd), a. A sandpiper or some
similar bird; a shore-bird.
sand-blackbeny (sand'blak'ber-i), a. See
hl.l.-kh. rr;i and Subus.
sand-blast (sand'bUst), a. Sand driven by a
blast of air or steam, used to cut, depolish, or
decorate glass and other hard substances, c^nu-
aM» bard sand and other snbataneea are thoa oaed aa ab-
rodanla. The bbat throwa tha particlea violentlT wainat
the aofSee. In whleh each pnrtide makaa a Blaote break,
and the flnal reaott Is the eonspleto and rapid cottliw of
the haidaatajsaa or stone. Paper or (el^ Wd on the
aailBee resMs the sand and aaakaa It noaaifale to eat on
Ciaaa,aleL, the moat tatrieatopattama The method halao
■sad tar ommnentiac marble aad atoaa, naaallT with the
aU af tron pottama, and (or denntaic and naaaipaoliv
Oka. Also caUed mm^jtt.
■aad-blind (sand'blind), a. [< late ME. ma<fe-
bbfnde; siipposed to be a corruption, simulating
»a»d (as if having eyes blurred by little grains
or specks; ef.«<ia(irrf,4),of an unreconled 'nam-
bliitd, half-blind, < AS. aiiai- (= L. gemi- = Ur.
ifu-),balt{aeemim-,»ewti-^hemi-), + Miatf, blind:
see Ma<fi.] Purblind ; dim-«i{^ted. [Obaolete
or archaic]
Ohaaron^thialassytwabegutteutatharl who^befan
■nre than saad Hfa< hkh graTd-bUnd, knows asa not.
Stot., M. ot T., U. t. W.
I have bean mad IWail from my infancy.
ntdkir (and aaoUfr), Love's Core^ U. L
aand-blindness (sand'blind'nea), a. The state
of ln'ini: ■•aiid-blind.
■and-blower (sand'bld'^r), a. A simple appa-
ratus for throwing fine sand thinly and evenly
npon a fr»>«hly painted surface ; a sand-bellows.
■and-board (sand'bdrd), a. In a vehicle, a bar
over the rear axle and parallel with it, resting
upon the hind hounds at (he point where they
cross the axle.
sand-box (sand'boks), a. 1. A box with a per-
forated top or cover for sprinkling paper with
sand. — 2. A box filled with sand, usuaUv placed,
in American locomotives, on top of the boiler
and in front of the driving-wheel, with a pipe
to guide the sand to the rail when the wheels
slip owing to frost, wet, etc. See cut under
potmitger-mgme. — 3. A tree,
aW* tnpUoM. The tmlta are of
tha riap* ihoani ia tha cot, aboat the
slae of aa oiaanL havtaiB a namber of
eaila, each cnnmnihit a aeed. When
ripe and dry they binat with a sharp
report. S<^ Hvra (with cat). ^i^»l.
sand-brake (saml'brak), a. A ""•■•
device in which the resistance
offered by sand, in a box surrounding a car-
axle is automatically made to stop a train when
the cars accidentally separate, or if the speed
reaches a dangerous point.
sand-bug (sand'bug), a. 1. A btirrowing crus-
tacean of the family Hippidte. See cut under
Bippa. — 2. Some hj'menopterous insect that
digs in the sand, as a digger-wasp; a sand-
wasp: a loose popular use. [U. 8. J — 3. Any
mcmlM'r of the (ialgvUdte.
sand-bnr (sand'bar), R. A weed, Solanum ro»-
tratmm, a native of the great plains of the
€R^
sanded
western United States, thence spreading east-
wanl. The fnut fills closely the extremely
prickly calyx.
sand-burned (sand'b^md), a. In fovMdiHg, not-
ing the surface of a casting to which the sand
of the mold has become partially fused and has
united with the metal, thus forming a rough
casting. This defect is due either to unsuitable
sand or to the lack of proper blacking of the
mold. A'. H. Kniijht.
sand-canal (sand'ka-nal'), n. The madreporic
canal of an echinoderm; the stone-canal. See
diaCTani under Eckinoidea.
sand-cherry (sand'eher'i), a. The dwarf cher-
ry, I'riiHUS pumila.
sand-clam (sand'klam), n. The common long
clam, ifita areiiaria.
sand-club (sand'klub), a. A sand-bag.
sand-cock (sand'kok), w. The redshank, To-
taHWicalidris. See cut under redsAanit. [Local,
British.]
sand-CoUar (sand'kol'Sr), a. A sand-saucer.
sand-corn (sand'k6m),"n. [< ME. *.«iHdcorw,
< AS. ,-<i«rf-<^)r» (= G. saiidkoTH = Icel. wiiirf-
tont = Sw. sdMdkiyrH = Dan. »nHd,«il-<>rH), a grain
of sand, < naiid, sand, -I- corn, com: see sand^
and f<>r«l.] A grain of sand.
sand-crab (sand'krab), H. A crab of the genus
(tcgpoda. which lives on sandy beaches, runs
very swiftly, and burrows in the sand; also,
theJady-crab, t'latyontfehug ocellatvs. See cut
under Platj/onj/chMg.
sand-crack (sand'krak). N. 1. A fissure or
crack in the hoof of a horse, extending from
the coronet downward toward the sole, it occurs
mostly on the inner quarters of the fore feet and on the
toes of the hind feet. It is due to a diseaseii condition of
the iKini-secrf ting membrane at the coronet, and is liable
to caose lameness.
2. A crack which forms in a molded brick prior
to burning, due to imperfect mixing.
aand-cricket (sand'knk'et), ». One of certain
large crickets of odd form common in the
western United States and belonging to the
genus Stenopelwiattu. S. fasciaiux is an exam-
ple. It is erroneously considered poisonous by
the Mexicans. See cut Jinder SUnopthiidtHS.
sand-cmsher (sand'krush'er), H. A form of
Chilian mill for breaking up sand to a uniform
fineness, and washing it, to free it from foreign
matters. It is employed especially in prepar-
ing sand for use in glass-manufacture. K. U.
Kninht.
sand-cnsk (sand'kusk), a. A fish of the genus
i>liliiiiiiim. See cut under IMtidium.
sand-dab (.sand'dab), n. A kind of plaice, the
rusty (lab, Limattda femtjfinea, found along the
Atlantic coast of the United States, especially
northward. Its colore<l side is brownish-olive
with irregular reddish spots. See dab^.
sand-dart (sand'dart), H. A British noctuid
moth, .ti/rotix ripse.
Sand-dafter(sand'd&r't^r),a. Anetheostomine
fish of the genus Ammoerypta, several S(>ecie8
of which occur in the United Stafe.s. The most
Interesting of theae is A. ftUuHtla, alHiut :i inches long,
abounding in clear sandy streams of the Ohio valley and
northweatward. See tlarter.
sand-diTer (sand'di'v^r), a. Same as s<ind-
iliirtrr.
sand-dollar (sand'dol'ftr), a. A flat sea-urchin,
as Eihinnruehmug pafma, or ilellita quinque-
fora ; a cake-urchin. The fUhermen on the coast of
Maine and New Brunswick sometimes prei>arc a marklng-
ink tnmi sand-doUara, by mbliinjr off the spines and skin,
and, after pabrarialng, ntsking the mass into a tl)in paste
with water. See flueenta, ScuteUiiitt, nhiHiiurchin, and
cnts under K»eept, trnkt-vrtldn, and ara-urcAtn.
sand-drier (sand'dri'^r), a. An apparatus for
elimiiiiiting moisture from sand, either by con-
•luction or by a ctirrent of hot-air.
sand-drift (sand'drift), «. Drifting or drifted
sand ; a mound of driftetl sand.
sand-dune (sand 'dun), M. A ridge of loose
sand drifted by the wind: same as d«nel.
naring ridden about twenty. five mHea, we came to a
broad belt ot sand-diows, which stretchea, as tar sa the
aye can reach, to the east and weat.
Airwia, Voyage of Beagle, I. g«.
sanded (san'ded), a. [< wiadl + -ed?. In def.
4 a particular use, as if ' having sand or dust
in the eyes,' with ref. to sand-blind, q. v.] 1.
Sprinkled with sand.
The whitewashed wall, the nicely sanded floor.
GMtmiUt, Dee. VU., L «?.
2. Covered with sand.
The roosed-up Kiver poors along :
Reaistlesi^ roaring, dreadful, down it cornea, . . .
Then o'er the aaadad valley Moating spreada
Tkomun, Winter, L 100.
sanded
8. Of a sandy color.
My hounds are bred out ol the Spartan kind,
So flewd, so landed, and their heads are hung
With ears that sweep away the morning dew.
Shak., M. N. D., iv. 1. 126.
4. Short-sighted. [Prov. Eng.]
sand-eel (sand'el), ». [< ME. sandel (= 6. Dan.
saiid-aal); < sand"^ + eel. CI. sandling.} 1. An
anacanthine fish of the genus Ammodi/tes. The
body is slender and cylindrical, somewhat "resembling
that of an eel. and varying from 4 inches to about a foot
in length, of a beautiful silvery luster, destitute of ventral
fins, and the scales liardly perceptible ; the head is com-
pressed, and the upper jaw larger than the under. There
are two British species, bearing the name of latux, namely
.4m?n«<fi/^^^oWoHt«,orwide-mouthedl!ince, and .4. ?anc«a,
or small-mouthed lance. They are of frequent occurrence
on the coasts, burying themselves in the sand to the depth
of 6 or 7 inches during the time it is left dry by the ebb-
tide, whence the former is dug out by fishermen for bait.
They are delicate food. ITie name extends to any member
of the Ammodytidse. In America there are several other
species, as A. mnericanus of the Atlantic coast and A.
penonattts of the Pacific coast. All are known also as saivi-
lance, and some as lant. See cut under Atnmodytidx.
Yarrell suggested that the larger saud-launce only should
be termed sand-eel, and the lesser one sand-launce.
Day, Fishes of Great Britain and Ireland, II. 330.
2. A fish, Gonorhynchus greyi, of the family
Gonitrliijnehidx. [New Zealand.]
sand-ejector (sand'e-jek"tor), n. See sand-
pump, 2.
sandelt, »■ A Middle English form of sand-eel.
sandel-brick (san'del-brik), n. Same asplace-
hrick.
sandelingt, ». A Middle English form of sand-
Ihiff.
Sandemanian (san-de-ma'ni-an), H. [< Sande-
man (see def . ) + -!-n».] A member of a denomi-
nation, followers of Robert Sandeman (1718-
1771), a native of Perth, Scotland, and a zealous
follower of John Glass. Among the distinctive prac-
tices of the body are community of goods, abstinence from
blood and from things strangled, love-feasts, and weekly
celebration of the communion. Called GlasHte in Scot-
land.
Sandemanianism (san-de-ma'ni-an-izm), n.
[< iiandemanian + -ism.'] the principles of the
Sandemanians.
sandert, ». See sandal^.
sanderbodet, «• [ME., < sandsr- (as in sander-
man) + bode, a messenger: see 6o<foi.] A mes-
senger. V
sanderling (san'd6r-ling), n. [< sand^ + -er
+ -ling^. Cf . sandliny.'] The three-toed sand-
piper, or so-called ruddy plover, Calidris are-
naria or Arenaria calidris, a small wading bird
.^^
5330
sandever, «. See sandiver.
sand-fence (sand'fens), n. In hydraul. engin.,
a barrier formed by driving stakes in A-shape
into the bed of a stream, and lashing or wiring
brush about them. E. H. Knight.
sand-fish (sand'fish), «. A fish of the genus
Trichodon, or any member of the Tricliodoniidx
(which see for technical characters), t. sullen,
sanding-plate
sand-heat (sand'het), n. The heat of warm
sand, used in some chemical operations.
sand-hill (sand'hil), «. [< ME. sond-hylle,<. AS.
sand-hyll, sond-hyll, < sand, sand, + hyll, bill.]
A hill of sand, or a hill covered with sand. —
Sand-hill crane, the gray or brown crane of North Amer-
ica, different from the white or whooping crane. There
are two species or races to which the name applies, both
of which have been called Grus canaderms, which properly
applies only to the northern brown or sand-hill crane,
somewhat smaller and otherwise different from the
southern brown or sand-hill crane, Gnat mexUanus or G.
pratensis. Both are leaden-gray, when younger J)rowner,
or quite reddish-brown. The larger variety is 44 inches
long, extending fi feet S inches; the wing, 2*2 inches; the
tail, 9 ; the tarsus, 9J. The trachea of these birds is much
Sanderlmg iCaltdrts arettarta), in breeding plumage
of the family Scolopaddas, subfamily Scolopa-
cinse, and section Tringese, found on sandy
beaches of all parts of the world, it is white,
much varied with black or gray on the upper part8,»and
in the breeding-season suffused with rufous on the head,
neck, and back ; the bill and feet are black. It is from Ti
to 8 inches long, 15^ in extent of wing. This is the only
sandpiper without a hind toe, whence it was sometimes
classed as a plover.
sandermant, n. Same as sandesman.
sanderst (san'derz), n. See sandal"^.
Vnder their haire they haue a starre vpon their fore-
heads, which they rub euery morning with a little white
ganders tempered with water, and three or foure graines
of Rice among it, Purchag, I'ilgrimage, p. 484.
They have many Mines of Copper [in Loango], and great
quantity of .Sanders, both red and gray.
S. Clarke, Geographical Description (1670).
Sanders blue. See blue.
sanderswoodt (san'd6rz-wud), n. Same as san-
dalwood.
sandesmant, ». [ME., also sondesman, and san-
derman, sonderman ; < sandes, gen. Of sand^, a
message, mission, + man, man : see sand^ and
man.'] A messenger; an ambassador.
Thou sees that the Emperour es angerde a lyttille ;
That semes be his sandismene that he es sore grevede.
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 266.
Saud-fish iTrickodon sttlUri).
about a foot long, lives buried in the sand on the coast of
Alaska and southward. It superficially resembles the
weever, but differs very much structurally, and has fifteen
spines on the first dorsal fin and eighteen rays on the
second.
sand-flag (sand'flag), n. Sandstone of a lamel-
lar or flaggy structure.
The face of that lofty cape is composed of the soft and
crumbling stone called gand-flag, which gradually . . .
yields to the action of the atmosphere, and is split into
large masses. ScoU,, Pirate, vii.
sand-flaw (sand'fla), H. In brick-making, a de-
fect in the surface of a brick, due to uneven coat-
ing of the mass of clay with molding-sand be-
fore molding. Also called satid-crack.
The brick shall contain no cracks or sand-flaws.
' C. T. Dattis, Bricks and I'iles, p. 124.
sand-flea (sand'fle), n. 1. The chigoe or jig-
ger, Sarcopsylla penetrans. — 2. A sand-hopper
or beach-flea; one of numerous small amphi-
pod crustaceans which hop like fleas on the sea-
shore. A common British species to which the name
applies is Talitrits locusta. See beaeh-Jlea, and cuts under
Ampkipoda and Orch^sUa.
sand-flood (sand'flud), 11. A vast body of sand
moving or borne along a desert, as in Arabia.
Bruce.
sand-flounder (sand'floun"d6r), n. A worthless
kind of flounder or flatfish, Bothus or Lopho-
psetta maculatus, nearly related to the Euro-
pean turbot, very common on the Atlantic coast
of North America, and also called windowpane,
from its translucency. The eyes and color are on
the left side ; the body is very flat, broadly rhomboid, of
a light olive brown marbled witli paler, and with many
irregular blackish blotches, and the fins are spotted.
sand-fluke (sand'flok), n. 1. Same as sand-
sucker. — 2. The STaeaT-d&h, Microstomns kitt or
microcephalus.
sand-fly (sand'fli), n. 1. A small midge occur-
ring in New England, Simulium (Ceratopogon)
nocivum of Harris. This is probably the punky
of the Adirondack region of New York. — 2.
Any member of the Bibionidse.
sand-gall (sand'gal), n. Same as sand-pipe, 1.
sand-gaper (sand 'ga" per), «. The common
clam, Mya arenaria.
sand-glass (sand'glas), n. A glass vessel con-
sisting of two equal, nearly conical, and coaxial
receptacles eonneoted by a small opening at
their vertices, one of which contains sand,
which, if the glass, is turned, runs through the
opening into the other, the amount of sand be-
ing so regulated that a certain space of time
is exactly measured by its running through.
Compare hour-glass, minute-glass.
A sand-r/lasse or houre-glasse, vitrexim horologium.
Withal's Met. (ed. 1608), p. 266. (Sares.)
sand-grass (sand'gras), n. 1. Grass that grows
on sandy soil, as by the sea-shore. The name is
peculiarly applied to those grasses which, by their wide-
spreading and tenacious roots, enable the sandy soil to
resist the encroachments of the sea.
The sand-grasses, Elymus arenarius, Arundo ai'enaria,
are valuable biuding weeds on shifty sandy shores.
Hen/rey.
2. Specifically, in the United States, Triodia
{Tricttspis) purpurea, an annual tufted grass of
the Atlantic coast and sandy districts inland.
It is of little practical worth.
sand-grouse (sand'grous), n. Any bird of the
family I'teroclidx ; a pigeon-grouse or rock-
pigeon, inhabiting sandy deserts of the Old
World. The common sand-grouse is Pterodes arenaria;
the pin-tailed is P. setaritis; Pallas's is .Syrrhaptes para-
doxus ; and there are many others. See cuts under ganga,
Pterocles, and Syrrhaptes. Also sand-pigeon.
sand-guard (sund'gard), ». In vehicles, a de-
vice for preventing sand or other gritty sub-
stances from entering the boxes and abrading
the bearing surfaces. A common form is a
metal collar fitted within an annular flange.
Sand-hill Crane ^,lrrlls canadensis).
less convoluted in the sternum than that of the whooping
crane. They are seldom if ever found now in settled
parts of eastern North America, though still abuudant in
the north and west.
sand-hiller (sand'hil"er), n. One of a class of
"poor whites "living in the pine-woods that
cover the sandy hills of Georgia and South
Carolina. They are supposed by some authorities to be
the descendants of poor white people who, being deprived
of work by the introduction of slave-labor, took refuge in
the woods. Also called cracker.
The sand-hillers are small, gaunt, and cadavei-ous, and
their skin is just the color of the sand-hills they live on.
They are incapable of applying themselves steadily to any
labor, and their habits are very much like those of the
old Indians. Olmsted, Slave States, p. 607. (Bartlett.)
sand-holder (sand'hoF'der), n. In a pump-
stock, a chamber in which the sand carried by
the water is deposited, instead of being carried
on to the plunger or pump-bucket.
sand-hopper (sand'hop"er), n. Some animal
whicti hops on the sand (as of the sea-shore), as
a beach-flea or sand-skipper ; one of the amphi-
pods; a sand-flea. Vei7 numerous species of differ-
ent genera receive this name, which has no technical or
exact meaning. The Gaminaridse are sometimes collec-
tively so called. See cut under Amphipoda.
sand-hornet (sand'hor'net), n. A sand-wasp,
especially of the family Crabronidx, some of
which resemble hornets. See cut under Cra-
bronidee.
sandie (san'di), n. Seesandy'^.
San Diego palm. See Washingtonia.
sandiferoust (san-dif'e-rus), a. [Irreg. < .sand^
+ -i-fcrous (see -ferous).] Bearing or throw-
ing up sand ; areniferous. [Rare.]
The surging sulks of the sandiferous seas.
Sir P. Sidney, Wanstead Play, p. 619. (Davies.)
sandiness (san'di-nes), n. [< sandy^ + -ness.]
1. Sandy character: as, the sandiness of the
soil. — 2. Sandy character as regards color:
as, sandiness of hair, or of complexion.
sanding (san'ding), n. [Verbal n. otsand^, v.]
1. In ceram., the process of testing the surface
of gilding, after it has been fired, with fine
sand and water, to try whether the firing has
been insufficient (in which case the gold will
not adhere) or excessive (in which case the
gold will not be brilliant). — 2. The process of
burying oysters in sand, mud, etc. ; also, ac-
cumulation of foreign matter on their shells, or
this matter itself.
The gales also have the effect of covering the scattered
oysters on the leeward sand, which process is called sami-
ing, and it appeal's to be vei-y injurious. Window.
3. The act of mixing with sand.
The sanding process consists in mixing with the sponges
before packing a certain quantity of fine sand, which in-
creases their weight from 25 to even 100 per cent.
Fisheries o/U. S., V. ii. 840.
sanding-plate (san'ding-plat), n. A plate of
east-iron mounted on a vertical spindle, used
sanding-plate
in grinding marble-work of small or medium
size,
sandisht (san'dish), a. [< »anrfl + -w/il.] Ap-
ple lachiug the nature of saud; loose; iioteom-
pait.
You may plant some anemonies, especially the tenul-
folias and ranunculus's in fresh mndigh earth, taken from
under the turf. Evelyn, Calendar, p. 481.
sandiver (san'di-ver), n. [AXso satidever ; <ME.
tKiiindyver, sawnderere, < OF. ««*w de verre, later
siiint de verre, sandiver, lit. 'scum or grease of
glass': OF. suin, suiiit, F. suint, grease, esp.
from the wool of sheep (< suinter, sweat, as
stones in moist weather, < G. schwihen, sweat:
see sweat); de (< L. de), of (see rfe2); rerre,
glass, < L. vilrum, glass: see vitreous.] Glass-
gall. See aiiatroii, 1.
The clay that clenges tber-by am corsyes strong,
As alum & alkaran, that an^r^ am bouie,
.Soufre sour, & «aund}fiter, \ other such mony.
AUUeratiix I'oetatied. MorrteX It 1035.
sandiz (san'diks). «. [Also saiidi/x; < ME. saii-
(lijsi- ( also .latnulyrs, mwndre.i, by confusion with
like forms of sandal^), < L. nan'dix, sandyx, ML.
also mindex, < Gr. cavii^, aavfiv^, vermilion. Cf.
Hind, sindur, sendiir, red lead, minium.] Red
lead prepared by calcining lead carbonate. It
ha.s a brighter red color than minium, and is
iis(>(l as a pigment.
sand-jack (sand'jak), «. Same as uHlhw-oak.
sandjak, ". See .lanjak.
8aild-jet (sand'jet), n. An apparatus whereby
sharp sand is fed to a jet of compressed air or
a steani-jet, and driven out forcibly against a
surface which it is desired to abra<le. it has
within a few years been extensively applied to the orna-
mentation of glaas, and to some extent in the operations
of stone-cutting and the smoothing and cleaning of cast-
iron hollow ware. In the ornamentation of glau, st«ncil8
are placetl upon the surface, which protect from abraaioD
the parts covered, and the abraded p«rt« tjike the form
of the pattern cut in the stencil. A very thort exposure
to the sand-jet prodnces the tracing oi the patt«m in a
flne-froeted. weil-doflne<l flgnre. The effectlvenen of the
Jet when air or steam at high preaaure Is used renders it
competent to cut and drill even corandnm. The results
attained, when the simplicity of the means employed are
considered, render this one of the moat interesting of
moeleni Inventions See aaiuf-Mojf.
sand-lance (sand'l&ns), n. A fish of the family
Aiiniiiiitijtidte : same as sand-eel, 1. Also lance.
Sand-lairk (sand'lark), n. 1. Some small wad-
ing bird that runs along the sand, not a lark;
any sandpiper or sand-plover, as a dunlin, dot-
terel, ringneck, etc.
Along the river's atony maige
The mndlark cfaanla a Joyoaa song.
Wordtworth, The Idle She^erd Boys,
(a) The common sandpiper, TringaUa hyfoleuaa: also
mndy tavenek. (») The sanderling, CalUnt armaria.
2. A true lark of the genus Ammomanes, as A.
dcjterti, having a pale sandy plumage.
sand-leek (saml'lek), «. See leek.
Sandlingt, «. [MK. sandelynge; < xq/k/I -1-
■liiK/K] Same as sand-eel, 1. Prompt. I'arr.,
]>. 441.
sand-lizard (sand'liz'&rd), n. A common Eu-
ropean lizard, Ixieerta agilis, found in sandy
places. It is about 7 inches long, rarlable lo color, but
generally sandy-brown on the upper parts, with darker
blotches Interspersed, and having bhwk rounded spots
with a yelliiw or white center on the sides.
sand-lob (sand'lob), n. The common British
lug or lobworm, Arenicola piscatorum, about 10
inches long, much used for bait.
sand-lot (sand'lot), a. Pertaining to or resem-
bling the socialistic or communistic followers of
Denis Kearney, an Irish agitator, whose prin-
cipal phK'o of meeting was in the "sand-lots" or
unoccupied lands of San Francisco: as, a sand-
lot orator; the sand-lot constitution (the consti-
tution of California framed in the year 1879 un-
der the influence of the "sand-lot" agitation).
We can . . . appoint ... a miiuUat politician to rhlna.
TU AOantie, LVIII. 416.
sandman (sand'man), n. A fabulous person
who is supnosed to'make children sleepy : prob-
ably so called in allusion to the rubbingof their
eyes when sleepy, as if to rub out particles of
sand.
sand-martin (sand'mSr'tin), n. The sand-
swalliiw or bank-swallow.
sand-mason (saml'ma'sn), n. A common Brit-
isli tulicwortn, Trreli'lln littoralis. Dah/ell.
sand-mole (sand'mol), ». A South African ro-
dent, as Iltithi/eri/iis mnrilimiis, or (ieorychus ca-
penitis, which burrfiws in the sand. See cuts
under llnthyeriiitH and deoriiehus.
Hbiand-monitor (sand'nion'i-tor),n. Avaranoid
^^B li/.iiril "f <)u' u<-Min I'xammosnuruSjP.arenarius,
5331
sand-monse (sand'mous), n. The dunlin or
piiiTe, Triuija al]>ina, a sandpiper. Also »•(■«-
iiKiiisc. [Westmoreland, Eng.]
sand-myrtle (saiurmer''tl), «. See Leiophyllum
and myrtle.
sand-natter (8and'nat''er), M. A sand-snake
of the genus Eryx; an ammodyte. See Am-
miidytis, 2, and cut under Eryx.
sandJiecker (sand'nek''er), n. Same as sand-
siirker.
Sandoricmn (san-dor'i-kum), n. [NL. (Cavanil-
les, 1790), < santoor, a Malay name.] A plant-
genus of the order Meliacea and tribe TrichUicee,
consisting of 5 species of trees, found in the East
Indies and Oceanica. Its special characters are a
tubular disk sheathing the ovary and the base of the style,
a cup-shaped calyx adnate to the base of the ovary, having
five short imbric:ited lobes, a stamen-tube bearinp at the
apex ten Included anthers, a corolla of five free Imbricated
petals, and a glubose tleshy Indehlscent fruit which is acid
and edible. 5. Indicum, native in Burma (there called
Utitto) and introduced Into southern India, Is a lofty ever-
green with a red close-grained heart-wood which takes a
flue polish. It is used for making carts, boats, etc. This
and iwrhaps other species have been called mndol-free.
sand-oyster (sand'ois't^r), n. See oyster.
sandpaper (sand'pa'per), H. Stout paper coat-
ed with hot glue and then sprinkled with sharp
sand of different degrees of fineness. It Is used
for rubbing and finishing, and Is intermediate in Its action
l>etween emery-paper and glass-paper.
sandpaper (sand'pa'per), V. t. [< sand})aper,
«.] 1. To rub, smooth, or polish with sand-
pajjer.
After the priming has been four days drying, and has
then been tarui-paperfd off. give another coat of the same
paint Workshop Recffp(s,l6t set., p. SO.
Hence, figuratively — 2. To make smooth or
even; polish, as a literary composition Band-
papenilg-manhine.a machine in which sandpaper la em-
ployed as an abradant in finishing woo<len spokes, handles,
etc., and In balling ahoe-soles. It Is niaile In several forms
according to the character of the work, with a rotating
dram or disk covered with sandpaper.
sandpaper-tree (sand'pa-per-tre), «. One of
several trees of the oilier Dilleniacesp, having
leaves so rough that they can be used like sand-
paper. Such trees are Curatell/i Americana of
friiiana.and /WHenifl scaftreHa of the East Indies.
sand-partridge (sand'par'trij), «. A partridge
of the genus Ammnperdix: translating the ge-
neric name. There arc two kinds: ..f.ftonAatnt Is widely
distributed in India, Persia, and some other portions of
Asia; A. heyi occupies Arabia and Palestine, and thence
extends Into Egypt and Nubia. They diOer little from the
members of the genns Ptrdix proper. See partridge, 1.
sandpeep (sand'pep), n. A familiar name in
the United States of various small sandpipers;
a peep; apeetweet: so called from their notes.
The bfrds chiefly called by this name are the American
stint or least sandpiper, Aetodronuu minutiUa; the semi-
palmated sandpiper, A«iaiete> putittut ; and the peetweet,
or spotted aandpiper, 7H»goida maetdariut. See cuts un-
der Xmmela, TnmgiUit, and tMnt
sand-perch (sand'pirch), n. The grass-bass,
I'limiijys KjKiroides. [Southern U. 8.]
sand-picture (sand'pik'tur), n. A sheet of
sandpaper upon which the sand is arranged in
different colors to produce a sort of picture.
sand-pigeon (sand pij'on), R. Same as sand-
f/roitse.
The santl-gronse, better tand-pigeont, Pterocletes. Caues.
sand-pike (sand'pik). n. See pike^.
sand-pillar (san<rpil'|ir), n. A sandspout.
sand-pine (san(l'pin),'n. See pixel.
sand-pipe (sand'pip), n. l. A deep hollow of a
cylindncal form,manv of which are found pene-
trating the white chalk in England and France,
and are filled with sand and gravel. Pipes of
this kind have been noticed in England penetrating to
a depth of sixty feet, and having a diameter of twelve feet.
Also called nnd-gaU.
2. In a locomotive, one of the pipes leading
from the sand-boxes, through which sand is al-
lowed to flow upon the rails just in advance of
the treads of the driving-wheels to increase
their tractive power.
Connecting, conpllng, and excentric rods are taken
down, homstays, brake rods, tandpiptt, and ploughs, and
any pipes that run beneath the axles.
The Engineer, LXIX. 169.
sandpiper (sand'pl'pfer), «. 1. A small wad-
ing bird that runs along the sand and utters a
piping note ; a sand-lark, sand-plover, or sand-
snipe. Technically- (a) A bird of the family Scolopaci-
dir, subfamily Seolopaeiiut, and section Tringea, of which
there are about 20 species, of all partsof the world. They
have the bill likea^esnlpe'sin Its sensitiveness and con-
stricted gape, but It Is little If any longer than the head,
straight or scarcely deeurved, and the tall lacks the cross-
bars of that of most snipes and tattlers. The toes are four
in number (excepting Calidrix), and cleft to the base (ex-
cepting Microvaiama and Ereitiietee). The sandpipers }te-
Inng especially to the iHirtheni hemisphere, and mostly
breed In high latitudes; but they perform the most ex-
sandpiper
tensive migrations, and in winter ai-e generally dispersed
over the world. The sexes are alike In plumage, but the
seasonal changes of plumage are very great. The sand-
pipers are probably without exception gregarious, and
often fleck the beaches In Hocks of hundreds or thousands.
They live preferably In open wet sandy places, not In
swamps and fens, and feed by probing with their sensi-
tive bills, like snipes. Among them are the most diminu-
tive of waders, as the tiny sandpipers of the genus Aeto-
dromas called etints. The semipalmated sandpiper Is no
larger, but has basal webs ; it is Eremtetes pxisillus of
America. The spoon billed sandpiper, Eurynorhynchua
pygmjBus, Is another diminutive bird, of Asia and arctic
America. The stilt-sandpiper has long legs and semi-
palmated feet ; It Is Microjxuama liimautnptcK. The broad-
billed sandpiper is Limicola pyijmsea or platyrhyncha, not
found in America. The peet4;>ral sandpipei-, or grass-snipe,
is Actodromas nuicuiata, a characteristic American species
Gras&4nipe, or Pector.il Sandpiper ( 7"n>r^)f [Actodrtnnas)
m'Jculatn'j,
of comparatively large size. Dunlins or puiTes are sand-
pipers of the genus Vetidt\a. The curlew-sandpiper is
A tu^loehilug tftibarqnattut. The purple sandpipers are sev-
eral species of Armtatetta, as A. maritima. The knot, Ca-
nute, red or red-breasted, or ash-colored sandpiper, or
robin-snipe, is Trinya camitia. (b) A bird of the same fam-
ily and subfamily as the foregoing, but of the section Tola-
nea, or tattlers, several but not all of which are alsti known
as Mndpipers, because they used to be put in the old genus
Tringa, The common sandpiper of Europe, etc., is Trt'n
goidee or Actitis hypoleucue, of which the common peet.
weet or spotted sandpiper of the United States, T. viacti-
laritig, is a close ally, (ireen sandpipers belong to the ge-
nus Rhyacophilxig, as K. ochropujt of Europe and Ji. fiotita-
n'tisof America. The wood-sandpiper of Europe is Tota-
nut gtareUa. The fighting sandpiper Is the rntf, Machetes
or Paponcelta pttynax. The butf-breasted .sandpiper is a
peculiar American species, TrynyiteK r^i/eweus or mibr^ifi-
coUie. The Bartrainian sandpiper is /^artrainia t/ntyieauda
or ActUurwt bartramius of America. .See the technical
and special names, and 'cuts under Bartraviia, dunlin,
Ereunetee, Eurynorhynchue, Micropahuna, lihyacfiphilus,
Tuf, sanderling, stint, Tringa, TriwjffidcK. and Trynyites.
2. A fish, the pride — Atierdeensandplper. Same
as aberdeen.- Aleutian sandPlperTT"""!/" (Ariitiatella)
couesi, a conspecies or race of tne purple sandpiper, of
northwestern .North America. IHdgivay, 1880. — Armed
Sandplpert, an .\ustralian spur-winged wattled plover,
Lolnvanellus viilcit (Boildaert), called by a geographical
blunder I'arra tiidoriciana by (imelln in 1788, and Tringa
fu<forvria)ta by L:ithani in 171K), Pennant. — Ash-COlOred
sandpiper, the knot in winter ))lun)age. Pennant; La-
tham, 178.1.— Baird'S sandpiper, Trinya (Aclixlromat)
bairdi, an abundant stint of both Americas, intermediate
in size between the pectoral and the least sandpiper, and
resembling l>otli in coloration. Coues, 1801.— Baxtra-
mian sandpiper. See Barfrrt»ni'<i.— Black-breasted
sandpiper, tin- American dunlin in full plumage. See
cut under dunlin. — Black Sandpiper, the purple sand-
piper {Trinya lincolnietisis of Latham, 1790). Pennant;
ZaMam, 1781V. {Lincolnshire, Eng.) — Bonaparte's sand-
piper, Tringa {Actodromas) t}onapartei (or /uncicoUis of
Vieillot), a stint of the size of Baird's sandpiper, but with
white upper tail-coverts. It Is widely dispersed in both
Americas, and Is among the peeps which alwund on the
Atlantic coast during the migrations.- Boreal Sand-
Plpert, the streaked sandpiper, or snrf-bii'd. front King
Georges Sound. Latham, 178,').— Broad-bllled sand-
piper. .See def. 1.— Buff-breasted sandpiper, a small
tattler with a very slight bill, Trimtnfenni/ettcrnsiOTmbru-
flcollvtot WeiUot, 181!tX widely dispei-sed but not very com-
mon in both Americas. See cut under Trynyites. — Cay-
enne sandpipert, the South American lapwing, Vanel-
Itut {liel'iH'ipteruH) cayennensis. Latham, 178.'>.— Common
sandpiper. See def. l. Ray; WiUughby;etc.— CoOveT'B
sandpiper, Trinya eooperi, a doubtful species, of which
the only known specimen was shot on May "J^th, 1S3:-*, on
Long Island. .9. F. Baird, 18.18 Curlew sandpiper.
^mwnnspyymy ci/ri^u' (whicli see, under a/r/c (/•).- Eques-
trian sandpiper, the mtt.— Fighting sandpiper, the
raff . — FreCKled sandpiper, the knot. Also called yriz-
ded sandpiper. Pennant; f.dtAawi.— Gambetta sand-
plpert, the red. legged hcrsenian of Albin ; the redshank,
a tattler. See cut under redshank. Pennant; Latham,
178,"). — Oca sandpipert, a spur- winged plover of India,
etc., LobivaneUus indievs, formerly Trinya tfttensis. La-
tham, 178.';. -Gray sandpipert, the gray plover, Squa-
tarola helvetica, formerly Trinya squatarola. Pennant;
Latham, 178.').-- Green sandpiper. See def. 1 (6). Pen-
nant; Latham, 178.5. — Greenwich sandpiper, the young
rulf, f<innerly Tringa grenovicensis. Latham. — Grizzled
sandpiper, the knot. Mso f^sled sandpijier. Latham,
178.5- — Hebrldal sandpipert, the tuinstone, Strepsilas in-
terpres. Pennant. — Least Sandpiper. See »f int.— Little
sandpiper, Trinya purilla, teiina under which the older
ornitholrtgist.H confounded Wilson's stint with the semi-
palmated sandpiper. The rectification was made by .lohn
('assin, in 180*1, when Trinya pvmUa first became Ereu-
netes ;rt/««w«.— Loulslane sandpipert. Same as Pen-
nant's armed Mindpiper. by ii Lren(.'ni]ihi<-al blunder. La-
tham. 17s,'i - Prybllof sandpiper, Trinya (ArifualeUa)
ptHocnemis of Coues (187:i), a kind of puride sandpiper
sandpiper
necoUar to the rr>-bilof (or Fribylov) Islands of Alaska.—
Sled-backed sandpiper, the American dunlin, Trinija
iPelidjui) americarM of I'ftssin. pacijica of Coues, in full
plumage. .Se« cut under (/»Hiin.— Red-necked sand-
piper, an Asiatic stint, Triwra rujicoUu of Peter S. I'aUas.
Latham, 1785.— Red sandplperj the abenleen ; the knot
in full plumage ; the robin-snipe, Triwja i^andica, now
T. eanutiu.— Selninger sandpiper, the pmple saml-
piper. Pennant; LaJ/iain.— Semlpalmated sandpiper,
SreuneUs pugilUts. one of the commonest peeps of Amer-
ica. See cut under iV<'un«(<'«.— Senegal sandpipert, an
African spur-winged plover (Parra seim/ntlo of Linnajus,
7Vin^«en<i7<i«a of Latham, 1790). Latham, 17S5.— Sliarp-
tailed sandpiper, Tringa {Actodromas) acuminata of
Horsfleld (1821). much like the pectoral sandpiper, and of
atwut the same size, common in Asia, rare in Alaska. —
Shore sandpiper, (a) The rutf. (&t) Of Pennant, the
green satulpiper: called Tringa littorea by Linnteus, and
Jfr. Oldham's irMIe hirun by Albin.— Solitary sand-
piper, the green sandpiper of .America. See cut under
tthfiacophaw.— Spoon-billed sandpiper. See def. i. —
Spotted sandpiper, see def. l. Tiiis is the spotted
tniiyn of Edwards. — Stilt-sandpiper. See def. 1. —
Streaked sandpipert, the surf-bird, Aphriza virgata,
called Tringa virgata (and T. borealis) by Lathain. (1790).
The earliest description is under this name, l>y Latham in
1785, from the northwest coast of North America (Sand-
wich Souiul). — Striated sandpipert, tlie redshank. Pen-
na}U; Latham,ns.'\— Swiss sandpipert, the black-bel-
lied plover, Sqiiatarola (furmcrly Tntiga) helvetica. Hav-
ing four toes, this plover used to be classed with the sand-
pipers. Pennant: Latham, I78.'j.— Temmlnck's sand-
piper. See irfinf. — Terek sandpiper. See Terekia.—
TlU'ee-toed sandpiper, tlie sanderling. See cut under
sanderling.— Uniform sandpipert, a sandpiper so called
by Pennant and Latlnim, from Iceland. — Waved sand-
pipert, a sandpiper supposed to be tlie knot in some ob-
scure plumage (Tringa undata of IJriinnich, 1764). Pen-
nant; Latham, l7s6.—WMte- winged sandpiper of La-
tham, Tringa leucoptfra of Gmelin (1788), a remarkable
sandpiper of Polynesia, related to the buff-breasted sand-
piper, and type of the genus Prosobonia of Bonaparte
(1863).— Wilson's sandpiper, the American least sand-
piper, peep, or stint. See stint. — Yellow-legged sand-
piper, the rutf.
sand-pit (sand 'pit), II. A place or pit from
which sand is excavated.
sand-plover (saiid'pluv"6r), n. A ringueok,
ring-necked plover, or ring-plover; any species
of the genus jKginUics, as a ring-dotterel, which
frequents sandy beaches. See cuts under JEgi-
alitcs and piping-plover.
sand-prey (sand'pra), n. Same as sand-pride.
sand-pride (sand'prid), n. A petromyzontoid
vertebrate, also known as mud-lamprey and
sandpiper, in its young or larval condition,
when it has a short horseshoe-shaped mouth.
It is found in many rivers and streams of Europe, reaches
a length of 6 or 7 inches, and is of a brown color. See
pride'^.
sand-pump (sand'pump),»!. 1. \n rope-drilling,
a cylmder, provided with a valve at the bottom,
which is low-
ered into the
drill-hole from
time to time to
remove the pul-
verized rock, or
sludge. Also
called dmlger.
[Pennsylvania
oil - regions.] —
2. A powerful
water-jet with
an annular
nozle inclosing
a tube which is
siuik in loose
sand, and oper-
ates as an injec-
tor to lift the
sand with the
water which
discharges back
through the
tube. This form
is used in caissons
for sinking bridge-
foundations, and is
sometimes called a
sand^ejector. It is
a modification of
the jet^pump. The
water, passing upward around the upper end of the suc-
tion-pipe, produces an upward draft or suction on the
mingled sand and water below, drawing it upward and
discharging it through d.
sand-rat (sand'rat), n. A pocket-gopher of the
genus Thomomys, found in sandy places in the
western coast-region of North America; the
Camas8-rat. The term applies to some other members
of the family, as the common Geomgs bursarius. See cuts
under camag8-r(U and Qeomyidm.
sand-reed (sand 'red), n. A shore-grass, the
marram or beach-grass, Ammophila arundi-
nacea.
sand-reel (sand'rel), n. A windlass, forming
part of a well-boring outfit, used for operating
a sand-pump.
Sand-pump.
(, sand to be removed ; *, Buction.pipc ;
inductinn-pipe ; d, distharge-pipc.
5332
sand-ridge (sand'rij), n, [< ME. ""sandryggc,
AS. sauiihnjcg, a sand-bank, < sand, sand, +
hrifcg, back, ridge.] A sand-bank.
sandrock (sand'rok), n. Same as sandstone : a
term occasionally used in England, but very
rarely in the United States. The Great Sandrock
is tlie local nanie of a member of one of the lower divisions
of the Inferior Oolite series in England. It is from 50 to
100 feet thick, and is extensively quarried for building
purposes.
sand-roll (sand'rol), n, A metal roll east in
sand: in contradistinction to a chilled roily
■which is east in a chill.
sandninner (sand'run'''6r), «. A sandpiper.
sand-saucer (sand'sa''''8^r), n. A popular name
tor the egg-mass of a naticoid gastropod, as
Lunatia heroSj commonly found on beaches, re-
sembling the rim of a saucer or lamp-shade
broken at one place and covered with sand.
See out under Natica.
sand -scoop (sand'-
skop), n. A form of
dredge used for
scooping up sand
from a river-bed.
sand-screen (sand'-
skren), n. A large
sieve consisting of a
frame fitted with a
wire grating or net-
ting of the desired
fineness, propped up
by a support at a con-
venient angle, and
used to sift out pebbles and stones from sand
which is thrown against it with a shovel. The
fine sand passes through the screen, while stones and
gravel fall down in front. Also called sand-sifter.
sandscrew (sand'skro), n. An amphipod, Lejn-
dactylis arenaria, which buiTows in the sand of
the sea-shores in Europe and America.
sand-shark (sand'shark), «. A small voracious
shark, Odontaspis or Carcharias littoralis, also
called shovelnose. The name extends to all the
Carchariidse as restricted by Jordan, by most
writers called Odontaspididse.
sand-shot (sand'shot), n. Small cast-iron balls,
such as grape, canister, or case, cast in sand,
larger balls being cast in iron molds,
sand-shrimp (sand'shrimp), n. A shrimp: an
indefinite term. In Europe Crangon vulgaris
is sometimes so called.
sand-sifter (sand'sif'ter), w. Same as sandr-
screen .
sand-skink (sand'skingk), n. A skink found
in sandy places, as Seps ocellattcs of southern
Europe.
sand-skipper (sand'skip^^r), n. A sand-hopper
or beach-flea.
sand-smelt (sand'smelt), «. An atherine or
silversides ; any fish of the family A therinidce.
A common British sand-smelt is Atherina pres-
byter. See cut under silversides.
sand-snake (sand'snak), ?;. 1. A colubrine
serpent of the family Psammophidsej as Psam-
mophis sibilans. Also called desert-snake. — 2.
A boa-like Old World serpent of the family
Erycid^^ quite different from the foregoing, as
Eryx jaculus of India, and others. See cut un-
der Eryx.
sand-snipe (sand'snip), n. A general or occa-
sional name of any sandpiper; especially, the
common spotted sandpiper or summer-piper of
Europe, Tringoides hypoleucus,
sand-sole (sand'sdl), w, A sole, Solea lascaris.
See borhame,
sandspout (sand'spout), n. A pillar of sand,
similar in appearance to a waterspout, raised
by the strong inflowing and ascending currents
of a whirlwind of small radius. The height of the
column depends on the strength of the ascending currents
and the altitude at which they are turned outward from
the vortex. Sandspouts aie freciuently observed in Ara-
bia, India, Australia, Arizona, and other hot countries and
tracts having desert sands.
sand-spurry (sand'spur''''i), n. A plant of the
genus Spergidaria.
sand-star (sand'star), n. 1. Any starfish or
five-fingers. — 2. An ophiuran; a brittle-star,
having long slender fragile arms attached to a
small circidar body.
sandstay (sand'sta), «. An Australian shrub
or small tree, Lcptospermum Imvigattwij a spe-
cially effective plant for staying drift-sands in
warm climates.
sandstone (sand'ston), n. [= D. zandsteen =
G. sandstein = Sw. Dan. sandstcn; as sand^ +
8t<me.'] A rock formed by the consolidation of
sand. The grains composing sandstone are almost ex-
sandstone
clusively quartz, this mineral resisting decomposition, and
only becoming worn into finer pai-ticles as abrasion con-
tinues, wliile almost all other minerals entering int^j the
composition of ordinary rocks are liable to dissolve and be
carried away in solution, or be worn down into an impal-
pable powder, so as to be deposited as mud. Sandstones
may contain also clayey or calcareous particles, or be ce-
mented by so large a quantity of ferruginous or calcareous
matter as to have their original character quite obscured.
Hence varieties of sandstones are qualified hy the epithets
artfUlaceous. calcareous, ferruginous, etc.— Berea sand-
Stone, a sandstone or grit belonging to the Car)K)iiifL-ruus
series, extensively quanied as a buildinp-stcme and for
grindstones in Ohio and especially in the vicinity of lierea
Twhence the name).— Caradoc sandstone, a sandstone of
Lower Silurian age, veiy nearly the geological equivalent
of the Bula groui> in Merionethshire, Wales, and of the
Trenton limestone of the New York geologist*. The name
was given by Murchison, from the locality of Caer Caradoc,
in Shropshire, England.— Flexible sandstone. See ita-
columite. — Medina sandstone, a red <>r mottled and
somewhat argillaceous sandstone forming, according to
the classification of the New York Survey, the base of the
Upper Silurian series. It corresponds nearly to the Upper
Llandovery of the English geologists. It is the "Levant"
or No. IV. of the Pennsylvania Survey.
"A mountain of IV. "is perhaps the commonest expres-
sion in American geology. These mountains are very nu-
merous, being reiterated outcrops or reappearances and
disappearances of the Medina sandstone as it rises and
sinks in the Appalachian waves.
J. P. Ledey, Coal and its Toi>ography, p. 59.
New Red Sandstone, a name formerly given in Eng-
land to a great mass of strata consisting hugely of red
shales and sandstones and overlying rocks, belonging to
the Carboniferous series. A part of the New Red Sand-
stone is now considered to belong to the Permian series,
since the organic remains which it contains are decidedly
Paleozoic in character. The upper division of these red
rocks, although retaining to a very considerable extent the
same lithological characters as the lower division, differs
much from it in respect to the fossils it contains, which,
are decidedly of aMesozoictype, and form a portion of the
so-called 'i'riassic series. The term New Red Sandstone is
still used to some extent in England, and lias been ap-
plied in the United States to the red sandstones of the
Connecticut river valley, which are generally considered
to be of Triassic age. See Triassic.— Old Red Sandstone,
a name given in England, early in the history of geology,
to a group of marls, sandstones, tilestones. and cunglom-
erates seen over an extensive area, and especially in Here-
fordshire, Worcestershire, Shropshire, and South Wales,
cropping out from under the coal-measures and resting
on the Silurian. These rocks were called Old lied, to dis-
tinguish them from a somewhat similar series overlying
the Carboniferous, and designated as the Neio lied Sand-
stone. The name Devonian was given later by Sedgwick
and Murchison to rocks occurring in Devon and Cornwall
and occupying a stratigraphical position similar to that of
the Old Bed, and the name Devonian is now in general use
throughout the world as designating that part of the geo-
logical series which lies between the Silurian and the Car-
boniferous. The name Old lied Sandstone has, however,
been retained by English geologists to designate that pe-
culiar type of the Devonian which is less distinctively ma-
iU\e than the Devonian proper, and which is characterized
by the presence of numerous land-plants and ganoid fishes,
as well as by the absence of unequivocally marine or-
ganisms. The areas in which these deposits were laid
down are generally considered to have been lakes or
inland seas. The Old Red Sandstone, as thus limited,
seems to have been almost exclusively confiTied to the
British Isles ; and it is particularly well developed in Scot-
land, and also is of considerable importance in Ireland.—
Oriskany sandstone, the name given by the New York
Ge(»logical Survey to a group of strata lying between the
Lower llelderberg group and the Cauda-gaili grit, and
consitiered by James Hall as forming the uppermost divi-
sion of the Upper Silurian. In central New York it is
chierty a silicious sandstone, but is sometimes argilla-
ceous ; it extends west as far as Missouri, becoming more
calcareous. Spiri/er arenosus is a very characteristic fos-
sil of this group over a wide area. It is No. VII. of the
numerical designation of the Pennsylvania Survey, and
the "Meridian "of H. D. Rogers's nomenclature. — Focono
sandstone, a vei-y thick and persistent mass of sand-
stones and conglomerates underlying the Manch Chunk
Red Shale, and forming the base of the Carboniferous in
Pennsylvania. It is No. X. of the numerical notation of
the First Pennsylvania Survey, and the same as the "Ves-
pertine "of H. D. Rogers.
The Pottsville conglomerate forms a rim around the
coal basins, and the Pocono sandstone and conglomerat*
an outer rim, with a valley included between them eroded
out of the Mauch Chunk red shale.
C. A. Ashlnimer, Anthracite Coal-fields of Penn., p. 13.
Potsdam sandstone, in geol., the lowest division of the
Lower Silurian, and the lowest zone in which distinct traces
of life have been found in the United States : so named by
the geologists of the New York Survey from a town of that
name in that State. The formation is a conspicuous and
important one further west through the region of the Great
Lakes. It is the e(fuivalent of the Primordial of Barrande,
and of the Cambrian or Cambro-Silurian of some geolo-
gists. Among the fossils which characterize this formation
are certain genera of brachiopods(L«i(?wW/ff. Oboldla, Or-
this, Discina) and trilobites of the genera Conocor>/phe and
Paradoxides. The Potsdam, Primordial, or Cambrian rocks
have been variously subdivided in Europe and America
within the past few years. Thus, the Canadian geologists
call the lower section, as developed in Newfoundland,
Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, Acadian, and the over-
lying beds Geori/ioJi. In Nevada five divisions have been
made out. The rocks thus designated, however, are pale-
ontologically closely related ; neither is there, in th*' opin-
ion of most Continental geologists, any sufiicient reason
for separating the Cambrian, as a system, from the Silu-
rian.— St. Peter's sandstone, a sandstone, from (»0 to 100
feet in thickness, consisting of almost chemically pure sili-
cious material, which lies next above the so-called Lower
Magnesian limestone in the upper Mississippi lead region,
sandstone
and extends further to the north into Minnesota. It is al-
most entirely destitute uf fossils, but from its stratigraphi-
eitl |x>sition it is consideretl to be nearly of the same age
as the I'liazy limeatooe of the >'ew York Survey.
sand-storm (sand'storm;, «. A storm of wind
that liears along clouds of sand.
sand-sucker (sand'suk''er), n. 1. The rough
dali, tlii>pot)los.i<>i(les liniandmdes, also called
sn,i(l-Jlul-e and sandnecker. The name is due to the-
< rioneous idea that it feeds on nothing but sand. Daitt
Fishes of Great Britain and Ireland, II. 10.
2. In the United States, a general popular name
for soft-bodied animals which hide in the sand,
sometimes exposing their suckers, tentacles.
5333
H" stopped the unstamped advertisement— an animated sanfailt adv
miuitaich composed of a boy between two boards. - • ■-'• -
IHckeng, .Siietehes, Characters, ix.
sandwich (sand'wich), r. t. [< sandwich, «.]
To make into a sandwich or something of like
arrangement; insert between two other things :
as, to sandwich a slice of ham between two
slices of bread ; to sandwich a picture between
two pieces of pasteboard. fColloq.] „„_„^/„'> ry i.Jr< , , r^-r,
sandwich-ma£(sand'wieh-man),« 1. A seller ^f,^; 1?°^?' '• k ^<^»0<sanlc, < OF. savg,
of saudwiches.-2. A man carrying two ad- «''''f'l-f""0 =&?■ sangre = Fg sangue sa,,yre
sangsue
[ME., < OF. sans faille : see sans
and fain, h.] Without fail.
That both his penon and baiier san/aiU
Put within the town, so mtUiing conqueste.
Bom. ofParUnay (E. E. X. S.), 1. 1592.
sang^ (sang). Preterit of sing.
sang2 (sang), H. An obsolete or dialectal
(Scotch) form of song.
carrying
vertising-boards, one slung before and one be-
' ind him. [Slang.]
or other parts, as ascidians, holothurians, or Sandwich tem. See tern
nereidn
sand-swallow (sand'swoHo), n
sirttllinr.
sand-thrower (sand'thro'^r), n. A tool for
throwing sand on sized or painted surfaces, it
consists <»f a hollow handle in
which a supply of sand is con-
tained, and from which it passes
into a conical or V-shaped box.
The box ends in a narrow silt
= It. sangue, < L. sanguis, blood.] Blood : used
in heraldry, in different combiuations._Outt6
de sang, in her., having the field occupied with drops
— gnles.
sand-wind (sand' wind), H. A wind that raises Sing (siuig), h. [Chin.; also «/ieMfl'.] A Chinese
from which the sand lasnes, dia-
trilMited iiy a projecting lip.
sand-trap (sand'trap), n.
In liijdraid. engin., a device
for separating sand and
other heavy particles from
ninuing water. It consists
Huhstantnilly of a pocket or
chanitHir in which the sand is
collected by a sudden change in
the direction of the fli>w, which
causes the monientuni of the
particles to carry them out of
the stream into the collecting-
chamber, or by a sudtlen reduc-
tion of velocity throui "
Sand«ap (ia sectiaii).
Sphim'r'?.. "^t^ sandyi (.san'di), «.
port lor water; E. valre.
(WHtcr enters through Aand
the Mwl is collected in C.)
^'.plutf tor clearing out sand.
igh an abrupt enlargementin the pipe
or channel which condocts the stream, whereby the heavy
particles are permitted to gravitate Into the receiving-
p-jcket, or by the lue of a strainer which iiitercepu the
particles and retains them, or bjr a combination of these
principles.
sand-tube (sand'tub), n. In :mil.: (a) A sand-
Ciiiial. {!>) A tubular structure formed of ag-
glutinated sand, as the tubes of various anne-
lids, of the peduncles of Lingulida, etc.
sand-viper (sand' vi'j)«r), ». A hog-nosed
snake. See lliterodon. [Ijocal, U. S.]
sand-washer (sand'wosh'^r), n. An apparatas
for separating sand from earthy substances.
It usually consists of a wire screen for the aand. The screen
Is either shaken or rotated in a constant flow of water,
»hi< li carries oft soluble substances.
sand-wasp (sand'wosp), h. a fossorial hyme-
nopterous insect which digs in the sand ; a dig-
ger-wasp, as of either of the families I'nmpilidte
and Sphcgida, and especially of the genus Am-
mophila. There are many speclei, and the name Is a
looae one. Some of these waaps belong to the SealiidM;
others, Bs of the family OtiAronta4B,aveuflo known as aand-
tanteU, and many are popalariy called miid-bufft. The
general distinction of these waaps Is from any of those
which build their neats at papery tissue, or which make
their cells aliove ground. See cuts under -/tmmopAtla,
Crabro. ElU, and diggtr-%oaip, and compare potttr-watp.
sandweed(sand'wed),n. 1. Same a8«am/(rorf. —
2. Thi- snurry, Spergula arrensis, [Prov. Eng.]
sandweld (sand'^weUl), r. t. To weld with sand
(silicii), which forms a fluid slag on the welil-
iug-snrface: acbramon metho<l of welding iron.
When tbe pieces to be welded are put t^igethor and hani-
mered, tbe slag Is forced out and the metallic surfaces left
bright and free to nnltc.
sand-whirl (.fiin(l'hwi'>rl),n. a whirlwind whose
vorte.x is filled with dust and sand. See saiul-
spoift.
sandwich (sanjd'wieh), n. [Name<l after John
Same as AanA- and carries along clouds of dust and sand.
sandworm (sand'werm), n. 1. A worm that
lives in the sand : applied to various areuico-
lous or limicolous annelids, found especially in
the sand of the sea-shore, and quite different
from ordinary earthworms. They are much
used for bait. — 2. A worm that constructs a
sand-tube, as a species of Sabellaria.
sandwort (sand'wert), n. [< sand^ + ifoc(l.]
A plant of the genus Arenaria. They are low,
chiefly tufted herbs, with small white flowers, the leaves
most often awl-shaped or flliforni, many species growing in
sand. I'he mountain-sandwort, A. GranUandica, a densely
tufted plant with flowers larger than usual, is a noticeable
alpiue or subalpine plant of the eastern United States and
northwartl, found also very locally on low ground. The
sea-sandwort Is A. prploide*, found in the coast-sands of
Europe and North America. Also »andtKed.
[< ME. "sandy, sondi. <
.■\S. sandii) (= D. :andig = MHO. sandtc =
O. Dan. 8w. sandig = Icel. siindugr), sandv, <
mnd, sand: see gnnrfl.] 1. Consisting of or
containing sand; aboimding in sand; covered
or .sprinkled with sand: as, a sandij desert or
plain; a sandij roa<i or .soil.
I should not see the mndy hour-glass run
But I should think of shallows and of flats.
Shak., M. of V., I. 1. 26.
2. Resembling sand; hence, unstable ; shift-
ing ; not firm or solid.
Favour . . . built but upon the smufi/ foundation of per-
sonal respects only . . . cannot be long lived.
Baeon, Advice to VUllers.
3. Dry ; arid ; uninteresting. [Kare.]
It were no service to you to send you my notes upon
the book, because they are Mndy, incoherent rags, for my
memory, not for your Judgment Donne, letters, xxL
4. Of the color of sand; of a yellowish-red
color: as, sandy hair.
A huge Briton, with imdy whiskers and a doable chin,
was swallowing patties and cherry-brandy.
Thackeray, Men and Pictures.
Sandy laverock. .'<ee laverock.
Hare naethiug but windle-straes and $andy-lai!rocki.
Scott. Old Mortality, vlL
Sandy mockinx-bild, the brown thrush, or thrasher,
llarporhyHchuii rv^fut. See cut under Uaraiher. [Local,
f. 8. 1 — Sandy ray. See niy2.
sandyl (san'di), »i.; pi. sandies (-<liz). [Also
sandie, sanny; abbr. of sandy laverock.'] Same
as sandy laverock (which see, under laverock).
— Cuckoo's sandy, the meadow-plplt, ,4n<A«>pra(«n<i>^
nXfui (r.\\\t^\ cuckoo' ttiUing. (Prov. Eng.J
Sandy- (san'di), n. [Also .S'airnf^; familiar in
Scotland as a man's name; a var., with dim.
term., of Sounder, < ME. Saumier, Sounder, an
abbr. of Alexander."] A Scotsman, especially
a Lowlander. [Colloq.]
'* Standards on the Braes of Mar," shouted by a party of
Lowland Sandiet whoSlled the other seats |of tbe coach).
Uarper-t Mag., LXXVII. 493.
musical instrtiment, con-
sisting of a set of gradu-
ated bamboo tubes, which
contain free reeds, insert-
ed on a gourd with a
mouthpiece, so that the
reeds may be sounded by
the breath, it is supposed
that this instrument suggested
the invention of the accordion
and reed-organ. The French
spelling chenff is sometimes
used.
san^a (sang'gii), n. [Abys-
sinian.] The Galla ox of
Abyssinia. Also sangii.
sangaree (sang-ga-re'), «.
[< Sp. Sangria, "a drink
made of red wine with
lemon-juice, lit. bleeding,
incision (= Pg. sangria,
blood-letting, sangria de
vinho, negus, lit. 'a bleed-
ing of wine'), < sangrar, bleed, < sangre, blood.
< h. sanguis, blood: see sang^.] Wine, more
especially red wine diluted with water, sweet-
ened, and flavored with nutmeg, used as a cold
drink. Varieties of it are named from the wine
employed : as, port-wine sangaree.
Vulgar, kind, good-humoured llrs. Colonel Orogwater,
as she would be called, with a yellow little husband from
Madras, who first taught me to drink mngaree.
Thackeray, Fitj-Boodle's C^onfessions.
SAng.
(From Carl En^el's
Musical Instruments.")
One little negro was .
cold gangaree.
handing him a glass of ice-
The Century, XXXV. 946.
I
Miintagii, 4th Earl of. %iiMlir(cA (died 1792), who sandy-carpet (san'di-kiir'pet), «. A British
used to have slices of bread with ham between
brought to him at the gaming-table, to enable
him to go on playing without iiitennission. The
title isderiveil from Sandwich, < ME. Sandirichr,
AS. Sandwit; a town in Kent, < sand, sand, -t-
wir, town.] 1. Two thin slices of bread, plain
or buttered, with some savery article of food,
as sliced or potted meat, fish, or fowl, placed be-
tween : as, a ham sandwich ; a cheese sandwieli.
Claret, tandwich, and an appetite,
Are things which make an English evening pass.
Byron, Don Joan, T. C8.
But seventy-two chickens do not give a very large meal
- a thousand people, even when backed up by sand-
Saturday Iter.. April, 1874, p. 492.
Hence — 2. Anything resembling or suggest-
ing a sandwich ; something placed between
two other like things, as a man carrying two
advertising-boanls, one before and one behind.
[Colloq.]
(or
A pale young man with feeble whiskers and a still white
neckcloth came walking down tbelaneenxindtHcA — hav-
log a lady, that is, on each arm.
Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Ivlll.
geiiiiiiirid liioth, Emmelesia decolorata.
sandy-glasst, n. Same as sand-glass.
O Cud, O nod, that it were possible
To vndo things done : to call backe yesterday :
That time could tnrne vp his swift mndy-gUuae,
To vntell the dayes, and to redeeme these houres!
Heyicood, Woman Killed with Kindness (Works, II. 138).
sandrset, sandyxt, »• See sandix.
sane' (san), «. [= F. sain = Pr. san = Sp.
sann — Pg. silo = It. sano, < L. sanus, whole, of
sounil mind, akin to Or. anor, nu^, whole, sound.
From the same source are ult. E. insane, sanity,
sanitary, sanation, sanatory, etc.] 1. Of souiid
mind; mentally sound : as. a xane person.
I woke tant, but well-nigh close to death.
rennyaon, Princess, vll.
2. Sound; free from disorder; healthy: as, a
saneminil; a »anc project ; «a«e memory (law).
sane-, v. t. See «ni«l.
sanely (san'li), arfr. In a sane manner; asone
In possession of a sound mind; naturally.
saneness (san'nes), w. Sane character, con-
dition, or state; soundness of mind; sanity.
liuiley.
sangaree (sang-ga-re'), V. t. [< sangaree, n.]
To mix with water and sweeten; make sanga-
ree of: as, to sant/arec port-wine.
sang-de-bcenf (soia'd^-b^f), «. [F., ox-blood:
sang, blood (see sangS); de, of (see rfe2); ha-uf,
ox (see beef).] A deep-red color peculiar to
ancient Chinese porcelain, and much imitated
by modem manufacturers in the East and in
Europe. The glaze is often crackled, and the
color more or less modulated or graded.
sang-froid (son-frwo'), n. [F., < sang (< L.
sangiii.^), blood, + froid, cold, cool, < Ij. frigi-
dm, cold : see sang'^i and frigid.] Freedom' from
agitation or excitement of mind; coolness; in-
difference ; calmness in trying circumstances.
They [the players] consisted of a Russian princess losing
heavily l>ehind a broad green fan ; an English peer throw-
ing the second fortune he had inherited after the flrst
with perfect gootl-huniour and mnij. froid; two or three
swindlers on a grand scale, not yet found out.
Whyte MelvOle, White Rose, I. xxlii.
General Lee, after the flrst shock of the breaking of his
lines, soon recovered his usual mng-froid, and bent all his
energies to saving his army. The Century, XXXIX. 146.
sangiac, ». See sanjak.
sangiacate, ». See sanjakate.
sanglant (sang'glant), a. [< F. sanglant, blood,
< LL. sanguilentus forh. sanguinolcntus, bloody,
< sanguineus, bloody: see sanguine, sanguino-
lent.] In her., bloody, or dropping blood : used
especially in connection with erased: thus,
erased and sanglant signifies torn off, as the
head or paw of a beast, and droj)ping blood.
sanglier (sang'li-6r), «. [< F. sanglier, OP. ■
sengUr, saingler, sanglier {,ov\g. pore sanglier) =
Pr. singlar = It. dnghiale, < ML. singularis, i. e.
porcus singularis, the wild (solitary) boar (cf.
Gr. /iowiif, a boar, lit. ' solitary ') : see singular.]
In her., a wild boar used as a bearing.
sangreal, sangraal (sang'gre-al, sang-gral'), n.
[See .sY/i//(l and grain.] In medieval legends,
the holy vessel supposed to have been the "cup"
used at the Last Sii])per. See graift.
Sang-SChool (sang'skol), n. A singing-school.
Schools thus named were common in Scotland from the
thirteenth to the eighteenth century, various other sub-
jects besides singing being often taught in them. (Scotch. J
sangsue (sang'sfl), «. [< F. sangsue, OF. sang-
sue, sansue = Pr. sanguisuga = Pg. sangucsug'a,
sanguexuga, sanguichuga, sanguisuga = It. san-
sangsne
gitfsi'ga, a leeeh, < L. mnujiiisuffn (NL. Sangiti-
siiga), a blood-siieker, leeeh, < L. sonijiiis, blood,
+ sugere, suck: see succulent and suck.'^ A
leeeh. Also called sanguisugc.
The poisonous mn^stie of Charlottes\ine may always be
distinguished fi-om the medicinal leech l)y its blackness,
and especially by its writhing or veimicuhu- motions, which
very neaiiy resemble those of a snake.
Poe, A Tale of the Ragged Mountains.
sanguicolous (sang-gwik'o-lus), a. [< L. san-
guts, blood (see sangS^ sii>iguinc), + coJerc, inhab-
it.] Living in the blood, as a parasite ; hema-
tobic. Also saiiguiiiicolous.
sanguiferous (saug-gwif e-rus), a. [< NL. *saii-
guijtr, blood-conveying, < L. sangtiis, blood, -I-
Jerre = E. ftcrtcl.] Receiving and conveying
Dlood; circulatory, as a blood-vessel. The san-
guiferous system of the higher animals consists
of the heart, arteries, capillaries, and veins.
Also sanguiniferous.
This fifth conjugation of nerves is branched ... to the
muscles of the face, particularly the cheeks, whose san-
guiferous vessels twist about.
Derhmn, Physico-Theology, v. 8.
sanguification (sang-'gwi-fi-ka'shon), n. [=
F. sanguification = Sp. sanguificacion = Pg. san-
guifiea^ao = It. sanguificazione, < NL. "sangui-
ficatio(n-), < *sanguificare, produce blood: see
sanguifi/.] The production of blood.
The lungs are the Hrst and chief instrument of sani/mft-
catioii. Arbuthnot, Aliments, ii. 2.
sanguifier (sang'gwi-fi-er), n. A producer of
blood.
Bitters, like choler, are the best sanffuifterg. and also the
best febrifuges. Sir J. Floyer, On the Humours.
sangulfluoust (sang-gwif lo-us), a. [< L. san-
guis, blood, -I- fluere, flow.] Flowing or run-
ning with blood. Bailey.
sanguify (sang'gwi-fi), r.; pret. and pp. san-
guified, ppr. sanguifying. [< NL. *sanguifieare,
produce blood, < L. sanguis, blood, + facere,
make, do : see -fy.'] I.f intrans. To make blood.
At the same time I think, I deliberate, I purpose, I com-
mand ; in inferiour faculties, I walk, I see, I hear, I di-
gest, I gangmjief I carnifie.
Sir M. Hale, Orig. of Mankind, p. SI.
II. trans. To convert into blood; make blood
of. [Rare.]
It is but the first digestion, as it were, that is there [in
the understanding] performed, as of meat in tlie stomach,
but in the will they are more perfectly concocted, as the
chyle is sanyuified in the liver, spleen, and veins.
Baxter, Saints' Eest, iii. 11.
sanguigenoust (sang-gwij'e-nus), a. [< L. sarv-
guis, blood, + -genus, producing: see -genous.']
Producing blood : as, sanguigenous food. Greg-
ory.
sanguint (sang'gwin), a. An obsolete form of
sanguitie.
Sanguinarial (sang-gwi-na'ri-il), n. [NL. (Dil-
leuius, 1732), so called in allusion to the blood-
like Juice, < L. sanguinaria, a plant {Polygonum
aviculare) so called because reputed to stanch
blood, fem. (sc. herha) of sangicinaritis, pertain-
ing to blood: see sanguinary.'] In bot., a ge-
nus of polypetalous plants of the order Papa-
veraccee, the poppy family, and tribe Enpaj^a-
verCee. it is characterized by one-flowered scapes from
a creeping rootstock, an oblong and stalked capsule with
two valves which open to its base, and a flower witli two
sepals, eight to twelve petals in two or three rows, numer-
ous stamens, and a short style club-shaped at the summit.
The only species, S. Canadensis!, the bloodroot, is common
throughout eastern North America. Its conspicuous pure-
white flower appears before the leaf; the latter is devel-
oped single from a terminal bud, is roundish or reniform
with deep palmate lobes, of a pale bluish-green color,
and enlarges throughout the season until often 8 inches
across. Also called red piiccoon, and, from its use by the
Indians for staining, red Indian paint. See bloodroot, 2.
Sanguinaria^ (sang-gwi-na'ri-a), n. pi. [NL.,
neut. pi. of L. sanguinarius, pertaining to blood:
see sanguinarij.'] In zooL, in Illiger's classifica-
tion (1811), a family of his Faleulata, or mam-
mals with claws, corresponding to the modem
PelitJa, Canidse, Hyxnidx, and part of the Vi-
verridee.
sanguinarily (sang'gwi-na-ri-li), adv. In a san-
guinary manner; bloodth'irstily. Bailey.
sangTiinarin, sangninarine (sang-gwin'a-rin),
n. [< Sanguinaria + -in'-i, -ine'^.] An al'fcaloid
found in Sanguinaria Canadensis.
sangtlinariness (sang'gwi-na-ri-nes), n. San-
guinary^, bloody, or bloodthirsty disposition or
condition. Bailey.
sanguinary («ang'gwi-na-ri), a. and n. [= F.
sanguinaire = Sp. Pg. Iti sanguinaria, < L. san-
guinarius, sanguinaris, pertaining to blood, <
sanguis (sanguin-), blood: see sangS.] I. a.
1. Consisting of blood ; formed of blood : as, a
sanguinary stream.— 2. Bloody; attended with
6334
much bloodshed or carnage: as, a sanguinary
encounter.
We may not . . . propagate religion by wars, or by sa?i-
gvirmry persecutions to force consciences.
Bacon, Unity in Religion.
As we find the ruffling Winds to be commonly in Ceme-
teries and about Churches, so the eagerest and most san-
guinary Wars are about Religion. Howell, Letters, iv. '29.
On this day one of the most sanguinary conflicts of the
war, the second battle of Bull Run, was fought.
The Century, XXXVII. 429.
3. Bloodthirsty ; eager to shed blood ; charac-
terized by cruelty.
If yon make the criminal code sanguinary, juries will
not convict. Mmerson, Compensation.
'Ihe sanguinary and ferocious conversation of his cap-
tor— the list of slain that his arm had sent to their long
account — . . . made him tremble.
0. P. H. James, Arrah Neil, xliv.
=Syn. 2 and 3. Sanguinary, Bloody. Sanguinary refers
to the shedding of blood, or pleasure in the shedding of
blood ; bloody refers to the presence or, by extension, the
shedding of blood: as, a sanguinary battle; the sangui-
nary spirit of Jenghiz Khan ; a bloody knife or battle.
One shelter'd hare
Has never heard the sanguinary yell
Of cruel man, exulting in her woes.
Coivper, Task, iii. 335.
Like the slain in bloody fight,
That in the grave lie deep.
Milton, Ps. Ixxxviii., 1. 19.
Slain by the bloody Piemontese that roU'd
Mother with infant down the rocks.
Milton, Sonnets, xiii.
II. n. 1. The yarrow or milfoil: probably so
called from its fabled use in stanching blood.
— 2. The bloodroot, Sanguinaria CanaSensis.
sanguine (sang'gwin), a. and n. [Early mod.
E. also sanguin; < ME. sanguin, sangwine, san-
gwyne, sangwein, < OF. (and F.) sanguin = Pr.
sanguini = OCat. sangui = Sp. sanguino, san-
guineo = Pg. sanguineo, sanguinJio = It. san-
guigno, sanguineo (ef. D. G. sanguiniscli = Dan.
sangrinsk = Sw. sangvinisk), < L. sanguineus, of
blood, consisting of blood, bloody, bloodthirsty,
blood-colored, red, < sanguis (sanguin-), blood:
see sang'i.~\ I. a. 1. Of blood; bloody.
The sanguine stream proceeded from the arm of the
body, which was now manifesting signs of returning life.
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, I. 188.
2. Bloodthirsty; bloody; sanguinary. [Rare.]
All gaunt
And sanguine beasts her gentle looks made tame.
Shelley, Witch of Atlas, vi.
3. Of the color of blood ; red ; ruddy : as, a
sanguine complexion; the sanguine franeolin,
Ithaginis cruentatus; specifically, in her., same
as murrey.
She was som-what brown of visage and saji^wein colour,
and nother to fatte ne to lene, but was full apert aue-
nauntand comely, streight and right plesaunt, and well
syngynge. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 507.
This face had bene more cumlie if that the redde in the
cheeke were somwhat more pure sanguin than it is.
Ascham, The Hcholemaster, p. 114.
4. Abounding with blood; plethoric; charac-
terized by fullness of habit: as, a sanguine
habit of body.
The air of this place LAngora] is esteemed to be very
dry, and good for asthmatick constitutions, but pernicious
to the sanguitie.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. ii. 87.
5. Characterized by an active and energetic cir-
culation of the blood ; having vitality ; hence,
vivacious; cheerful; hopeful; confident; ar-
dent; hopefully inclined ; habitually confiding:
as, a sanguine temperament ; to be sanguine of
success. See temperament.
Of all men who form gay illusions of distant happiness,
perhaps a poet is the most sanguine.
Goldsmith, Tenants of the Leasowes.
The phlegm of my cousin's doctrine is invariably at
war with his temperament, which is high sanguine.
Lamb, My Relations.
We have made the experiment; and it has succeeded
far beyond our most sanguine expectations.
Macaulay, Utilitarian Theory of Government.
= Syn. 6. Lively, animated, enthusiastic.
II. n. 1. The color of blood; red; specifi-
cally, in her., same as murrey.
Obserue that she [the nurse] be of mature . . . age, . , .
hauing her complection most of the right and pure san-
guine. Sir T. Elyot, The Governour, i. 4.
A lively sanguine it seemd to the eye.
Spenser, V. Q., III. viii. 6.
2t. Bloodstone, with which cutlers stained the
hilts of swords, etc. — 3t. Anything of a blood-
red color, as a garment.
In sanguin and in pers he clad was al.
Chaucer, Gen. l>rol. to C. T., 1. 439.
4. A drawing executed with red chalks.
sanguinolent
Examples of fine sanguines are so extremely frequent in
every large collection of drawings by the, ild masters that
it is unnecessary to particularise them.
P. 6r. Hamerton, Graphic Arts, p. 153.
sanguinet (sang'gwin), v. t. ; pret. and pp. .'san-
guined, ppr. sanguining. [< ML. sanguinare, tr.,
stain with blood, bleed, L. sanguinare, intr., be
bloody, bleed, < sanguis (sanguin-), blood: see
sangS, sanguine, a.] 1. To stain with blood;
ensanguine.
Ill sanguined with an innocent's blood.
Panshawe, tr. of Guarini's Pastor Fido, p. 149. (Latham.)
2. To stain or varnish with a color like that of
blood; redden.
What rapier? gilt, silvered, or sanguined?
Minsheu, Spanish Diet. (1599), p. 3. (Latham.''^
Piso. He looks
Of a more rusty, swarth complexion
Than an old arming-doublet.
Lod. I would send
His face to the cutler's, then, and have it satiguin'd.
Beau, and Fl., Captain, ii. 2.
sanguineless (sang'gwin-les), a. [< sanguine +
-less.} Destitute of blood ; pale. [Bare.] lm2J.
Diet.
sanguinely (sang'gwin-li), adv. In a sanguine
manner; with confidence of success; hopefully.
Too sanguinely hoping to shine on in their meridian.
Chesterfield.
sanguineness (sang'gwin-nes), n. Sanguine
character or condition, (o) Redness ; ruddiness : as,
sanguineness of complexion. (6) Fullness of blood ; pleth-
ora : as, sanguineness of habit, (c) Ardor ; heat of tem-
per; confidence; hopefulness.
sanguineous (sang-gwin'e-us), a. [< L. san-
guineus, of blood, bloody': see sanguine.'] 1.
Of or pertaining to blood ; bloody. '
This animal of Plato containeth not only sanguineous
and reparable particles, but is made up of veins, nerves,
and arteries. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err.
2. Of a deep-red or crimson color; specifically,
in zool. and hot., of a deep, somewhat brownish,
red color, like the color of clotted blood.
His passion, cruel grown, took on a hue
Fierce and sanguineous. Keats, Lamia, ii.
3. Possessing a circulatory system; having
blood.
I shall not mention what with warm applications we
have done to revive the expired motion of the parts even
of perfect and sanguineous animals, when they seem to
have been killed. Boyle. Works, III. 124.
4. Abounding with blood ; having a full habit ;
plethoric.
A plethorick constitution in which true blood abounds
is call'd sanguineous. Arbuthnot, Aliments, vi. 1. § 1.
5. Having a sanguine temperament; ardent;
hopeful; confident.— sanguineous creeper. See
Myzoniela.
sanguinicolous (saug-gwi-nik'o-lus), a. [< L.
sanguis (sanguin-), blood, -t- colere, inhabit.]
Same as sanguicolous.
sanguiniference (sang-gwi-nif'e-rens), n. [<
L. sanguis (sanguin-), blood, + "-ferentia, < fe-
ren(t-)s, Tj)]iv. otferre = 'E,. hcar^.]' The convey-
ing of blood in the vessels. [Rare.]
It would appear highly probable th.it the face and neck
sympathize with the internal condition of the skull as re-
gards sanguiniference. E. C. Mann, Psychol. Med., p. 427.
sanguiniferous (sang-gwi-nif'e-rus), a. [< L.
sanguis (.sanguin-), blood, + ferre = E. bear^.]
Same as sanguiferous.
sanguinity (sang-gwin'i-ti), ». [< sanguine +
-ify. Cf. OF. sanguinite = It. sanguinitd, < ML.
sanguinita(t-)s, blood-relation, consanguinity:
see consanguinity.] Sanguineness; ardor.
I very much distrust your sanguinity. Sivi.ft.
SanguinivoroUS (sang-gwi-niv'o-rus), a. [< L.
sanguis (sanguin-), blood, + vorare, devour.]
Same as sanguirorous.
sanguinolence (sang-gwin'o-lens), n. [< LL.
sanguinolentia, a congestion. < t. sanguinolen tns,
bloody : see sanguinolent.] The state of being
sanguinolent.
sanguinolency (sang-gwin'o-len-si), n. [As
sanguinolence (see -cy).] Same as sang.nnn-
lence.
That great red dragon with seven heads, so called from
his sanguinolency.
Dr. H. More, Mystery of Iniquity, I. vlU. § 4.
sanguinolent (sang-gwin'o-lent), a. [= F.
.sanguinolent (vernacularly sanglant: see san-
glant) = Sp. Pg. It. sanguinolento, < L. sangui-
nolentus, sanguilentus, full of blood, bloody, <
sanguis (sanguin-), blood: see sangS, sanguine.]
Tinged or mingled with blood; bloody; full of
blood ; sanguine.
Although . . . the waves of all the Northerne Sea
Should flow for ever through these guilty hands.
Yet the sanguinolent staine would extant be !
Marston and Barksted, Insatiate Countess, v.
sanguinous
sanguinOUSt (sang'gwi-uus), a. [= It. sangui-
naso, < ML. sniujuiiio-ius, full of blood, < L. saii-
yiiis (siiiKjuiii-), blood: see sanguine. Cf. san-
guineous.^ 8ame as sanguinary.
It is no desertless office to discover that sabtle and in-
satiate beast [the wolf] ; to pull the sheepskin of hypoc-
risy over his ears; and to expose his forming malice and
saiiuuitwug cruelty to men's censure and detestation.
Ret. T. Adamt, Works, III. xlii.
Sanguisorba (sang-gwi-sor'ba), n. [NL. (Rup-
pius, 1718), so ealled as being used to stanch
the flow of blood (a use perhaps suggested by
the blood-red flower) ; < L. sanguis, blood, +
sorbere, absorb : see absorb.'] A former genus
of rosaceous plants, now Included as a subge-
nu.s in the genus Poterium, distinguished from
others of that genus by its single carpel, smooth
hard fruit, and stamens not more than twelve.
Sangnisoga (sang-gwi-su'gii), H. [NL. (Sa-
viguy), < L. sanguisuga, a blood-sucker, leech:
see sangsue.] A genus of leeches: synony-
mous »Tith Hirudo. The officinal or Hungarian
leech is often called S. officinalis. See cut un-
der leech.
sangnisnge (sang'gwi-suj), n. [< NL. Sangui-
suga.~\ A sangsue; a leech; a member of the
old genus .Sunguisuga.
sangoisugent (sang-gwi-su'jent), a. [< L. san-
iliiis, blood, + sugcn(t-)s, pp'r. of sugere, suck:
see suck. Cf. sanguisuge.'] 1. Blood-sucking,
:t> a leech; pertaining to a sangnisuge. — 2.
SiiEiguivorous, as a blood-sucking bat or vam-
piri'.
sanguisogOUS (sang-gwi-sii'gus), a. [< L. san-
guisuga, a blood-sucker (see sangnisuge), +
-ous.] Blood-sucking. [Bare.]
These were the tanffuimgous woWes, Papists.
■ Rn. T. Adanu, Works, IL 120.
sangnlTolentt (sang-gwiv'o-lent), a. [< L.
Mdiiijiiis, tiloiiil, 4- r<ilen(t-)s, [ipr. of volere, wish,
want.] Bloodthirsty; bloody.
Maritit. Oh, I am alain t . . .
Latiia. SamjuivoUnt murderert !
Can soldiers hart>our such damn'd treachery ?
Beau, and Ft. (^ Faithful Friends, iU. 8.
Bangnivorons (sang-gwiv'o-ru.s), a. [< L. «n»i-
guis, blood, + rorare, devour.] Feeding on
blood ; sanguisugent, as a bat : gpeciflcally not-
ing the true vampires or blooa-sucking bats.
Also sanguiuieorous.
Vtmprnu apectnuii, L., a large bat Inhabiting Brazil,
of mfBciently forbidding aspect, which was long coniid-
ered by nstoraliata to be thoroughly nngvirmrout in Ita
haliitn. Bneyc. Brit., XXIV. 52.
sangwinet, a. and n. An obsolete spelling of
sinnfiii*'.
Banhedrim, sanhedrin (san'he-drim, -drin), n.
[z= F. sanhiilrin = Sp. sanedrin'= Pg. sanedrim,
M/nedrim = It. sanedrin = G. sanhedrin, < late
Heb. sanhedrin, < Gr. owUpinv, a council, lit. 'a
sitting together,' < oiiv, together, + iipa, a seat,
= E. settle'^.'] 1. The supreme council and
highest ecclesiastical and judicial tribunal of
the .Je wisii nation, it consisted of 71 members, com-
posed of tlie chief priests, elders, and scrlhefi, and held
dally seulona^ except on sabbaths and festivals: specittcal.
ly styled the yreat taiJudrim, to distinguish it from the
Utaer or promneial tanhedrim of 2:1 members appt^inted
by the great sanhedrim, and having Jurisdiction over
minor civil and criminal caaea. .Such lesser tribunals were
set up in towns and villages having not fewer than 120
representative men. Including a physician, a scribe, and
a Bchoolnuster. The great sanhedrim Is said In the Tal-
5335
mud to have had Its origin in the appointment by Moses
of 70 elders to assist him as magistrates and Judges(N'um.
xL 16). The Greek origin of the name, however, seems to
Indicate that the thing originated during the Macedonian
supremacy In Palestine. The name was dropped under
the presiilency of (iamaliel IV. (a. ii. 270-3001 while the
Institution itself became extinct on the death of Its last
president. (Iamaliel VL (425).
Christian parliaments must exceed Its religion and
government of the nnhedrim.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1885X U. 11.
2. By extension, some similar assembly ; a par-
liament.
Let hini Klve on till he can give no more,
Thf t ' '' 'Irin shall keep blm poor;
Au'i ; which he can receive
shall' > "f his prerogative.
Drydtn, Abs. and Achlt, 1. 390.
sanhedrist (san'he-drist), n. [< snnhedr(im) +
-isl.] A member of the sanhedrim. [Rare.]
Banicle (san'i-kl), n. [< MK. .laniclr = D. sani-
kel = M LG. sannekele = MHG. G. Sw. Dan. sani-
kel, < OF. (and F.) sanicle = 8p. sanieuUi = Pg.
sanieula = It. sanicnla, < ML. (and NL.) sani-
etda, f., also snnirulum, n., sanicle, so called
from its healing wounds, in form dim. of L.
sanus, .sound, healthy, >.w/Hff»r, heal : see sanr'i.]
1. .\ plant of the genus .Smiiciilii. The common
iftnlcle, called uwxt-mnii-U, Is .S. Kuropsea, of Europe and
Floweriiii; Plant of Sanicle ^Sanieuia .VarUaHdica).
a, a male flower ; d. the fruit.
central Asia, a plant once credited with great remedial
virtues. There are several American species, of which S.
Marttandiea, called Uack maktroot, Is said to possess some
medicinal properties.
Satiide, with its tenacious burrs, in the woods.
The Century, XXXVni. 647.
2. A plant of some other genus. See the
phrases — Alpine sanicle, a plant of the genus Corfu-
to (which see) AmerlcJin sanicle. See Heuehera.—
Bear's-ear sanicle. ^ec c«rtiua.~ Great sanicle, an
old name oi AlrhftniUa miljaria, thelady's-mantle, probably
from a resemblance of its leaves to those of the true sani-
cle. - Indian or wbite sanicle, the white snakeroot, Eu-
patifvittm ai/eratuufe«. —Wood-sanlcle. .See def. 1.
Sanieula (sa-nik'u-lii), H. [NL. (Rivinus,
1699): see sanif/c] A genus of umbelliferous
plants, type of the tribe Saniculeie. It is charac
terlxed Inr a two-celled ovary ; by fruit forming a small
bur nsuany covered with h<K>keit bristles ; and by flowers
In small and commonly paniclcd umbels, with small bracts,
mostof the flowers unisexual, the staminateailpetlicelled.
There are about 12 species, chiefly North American, some
South American, cither in the Andes or beyond the tropics,
a few existing elsewhere, particularly S. Kuropxa, widely
distributed over the Old World. They are herbs with leaves
palmately divided Into three or five toothed or dissected
segments, and irregularly compound um))els of small and
usually greenish flowers. The lUunesanMeappUes to the
species In general ; S. MitrOandiea of the eastern United
States is also called Moot malteroot. See laniete.
Sanicnleae (san-i-kii'le-e), n. pi. [NL. (Koch,
18J4), < Sanieula + -««.] A tribe of umbellif-
erous plants, tyi)ified by the genus Sanieula. it
Is charmcterUed by conim^mly conspicuous calyx-teeth, ir-
regularly compouTid inflorescence, and a fruit somewhat
trimsversely cylindrical or compressed. Its furrows with-
oat oil-tabes. It Includes 10 genera, of which Brjfnffium
and Sanieuia (the type) are the chief.
sanldaster (san'i-das-t^r), H. [NL., < Gr. aavi^
((Tfuvi!-), a l>oard, tablet, -f- iiariip, a star.] In
the nomenclature of sponge-spicules, a kind
of microsclere or flesh-spiculc, consisting of a
straight axis spinose throughout its length.
This [splrasterl, by losing its curvature, becomes the
unidagler, and by simultaneous concentration of its
spines Into a whorl at each end, the amphiaster.
Eneyc. Brit., XXIL 417.
Sanidine (san'i-din), «. [< Gr. Bavi(: (ffavM-), a
board, tablet covered with gypsum, -1- -iiie*.]
A variety of orthoclase feldspar, occurring in
glassy transparent crystals iu lava, trachyte,
and other volcanic rocks, chiefly those of com-
paratively recent age. It usually contains
more or less N<xla.
ganidine-trachyte (san'i-din-tra'kit), «. A
variety of trachyte, the ground-mass of which
consists almost wholly of minute crystals of
sanidine.
sanidinic (san-i-din'ik), a. [< sanidine + -tc]
Containing or resembling sanidine. Encyc.
Brit., XVril. 748.
sanies (»a'ni-ez), n. [= F. sanie = Pg. sanie. <
NL. sanies, < L. sanies, diseased blood, bloody
matter; perhaps connected with snjii/tjis, blood:
see sang^.] A thin greenish or reddish dis-
charge from wounds or sores, less thick and
white than laudable pus.
sanify (saii'i-fi), r. t.; pret. and pp. annified,
))pr. sanifying. [< L. sanus, sound (see sane^),
+ -ficare, < fac^re, make, do : see -/y.] To
make healthy ; improve in sanitary conditions.
[Rare.]
Where this f simplicity aiul frugality of living] Is achieved,
voluntary celibacy will become discreditable, . . . and the
sanjakate
premature deaths of the bread-winners disappear before
sanified cities and vanishing intemperance.
W. R. Greg, Enigmas of Life, p. 61, note.
sanious (sa'ni-us), a. [= F. sanieux = Pr. sanioa
— Bp. Pg. It. sanioso, < L. saniosus, full of
bloody matter, < sanies, corrupted blood, bloody
matter: see sanies.] 1. Pertaining to sanies,
or partaking of its nature and appearance. —
2. Excreting or effusing: as, a sanious ulcer.
sanitarian (sau-i-ta'ri-an), n. [< sanitary +
-an.] A promoter of, or one versed in, sani-
tary measures or reforms.
According as one is a sanitaria^n, a chemist, or a ma-
larialist. Harper's Mag., LXIX. 441.
sanitarily (san'i-ta-ri-li), adv. As regards
health or its preservation.
sanitarist (san'i-ta-rist), n. [Irreg. < sanitary
+ -ist.] One who advocates sanitary mea-
sui-es; one especially interested in sanitary
meastires or reforms.
sanitarium (san-i-ta'ri-um), n. [NL., neut. of
'sanitarius: see sanitary. Cf. sanatorium.] An
improper form for sanatorium.
sanitary (san'i-ta-ri), a. [= P. sanitaire = Sp.
Pg. It. sanit(irio,\ NL. as if *sanitarius, irreg.
< L. sanita(t-)s, health: see sanity.] Pertain-
ing to health or hygiene or the preservation of
health ; hygienic ; healthy.
These great and blessed plans for what is called gard-
tary refonn. KingOey.
Solitary communion with Nature does not seem to have
been sanitary or sweetening in its influence on Thoreau's
character. Lowell, Study Windows, p. 206.
Sanitary cordon, see cordon. ~ Sanitary science, such
science as conduces to the presei-vation of health by show-
ing how the parasitic and other causes of disease may
be avoided.— Sanitary ware, coarse glazed earthenware
used for drainage and for sewer- pi pes. —United States
Sanitary Commission, a body created liy the Sccretai-y
of War in 1S(J1, and chai-ped with the distribution of "re-
lief" to the soldiers diu-ing the civil war. The relief in-
cluded foo<l, clothing, nudical stores, hospital supplies,
etc. In addition tlie commission provided for the lodgii]g
of many soldiers, the preparation of hospital directories,
the collection of vital statistics, the inspection of hospi-
tals, and the adoption of various preventive measures. Its
members were appointed by the Secretary of War and the
United States Medical Bureau. =Syn. Sanitary, .'Sanatory.
These two words arc often confounded. Sanitary means
■'pertaining to health, hygienic": as, sanitary science;
sanitary conditions (which may be good or bad). Sana-
tory means "serving to heal, therapeutic": as, sanatory
medicines or agencies.
sanitate (san'i-tat), r. t. ; pret. and pp. sani-
tated, ppr. sanitating. [< L. samta{t-)s, health
(nee sanity), + -ate^.] To render healthy ; pro-
vide with sanitary appliances: as, to sanitate a
camp. [Rare.]
sanitation (san-i-ta'shon), n. [< sanitate +
-ion.] The practical application of knowledge
and science to the preservation of health ; the
putting and keeping in a sanitary condition.
Charles Kingsley, whose object in his novels was to preach
sanitation, should be placed at the head of the list of those
who have vividly depicted well-known diseases.
Xineteeuth Century, XX. 682.
Later legislation (In England] has charged the Board of
Guardians with the care of the sanitation of all parts of the
Union which lie outside urban limits.
Woodruw Wilson, State, i 789.
sanitory (san'i-to-ri), a. An erroneous form for
.sanitary. [Rare.]
Estimating in a sanifory point of view the value of any
health station. Sir J. D. Booker. (Imp. Diet)
sanity (san'i-ti), H. [= F. sanitd, sanity, ver-
nacularly sdnte, health, OF. sante, sanite, sun-
teit, saniteit, health, = Sp. sanidad = Pg. sani-
dude = It. siinita, health, < L. sunita(t-)s, sound-
ness of body, health, also soundness of mind,
reason, good sense, sanity, also correctness and
propriety of speech, < sanus, sound, healthy,
sane: see sane^.] The state or character of
being sane; soundness of mind; saneness. See
insanity.
sanjak (san'jak), n. [Also sanjac, sandjak, san-
giac (<. F.), formerly also sanzack ; = F. sanyiac
= Sp. Pg. sanjaco = Ar. sinjaq, < Turk, savjaq, a
minor province or district (so called because the
governor is entitled to carry in war a standard
of one horse-tail), < sanjaq, flag, banner, a stan-
dard.] 1. A Turkish administrative district of
the second grade ; a subdivision of a vilayet or
eyalet, governed by an ofticer formerly styled
sanjak-bey (or -beg) : now often styled mutessa-
riflik,the governor being styled mutessarif or
kaimakam. — 2t. A sanjak-bey.
Which are as Vice-royes, and haue their Begs or San-
zackes under them. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 291.
This country is called Carpousley ; it has In it five or six
villages, and is governed by an aga under the sangiac of
Smyrna. Pococke, Description of the East, II. 11. 67.
sanjakate (san'jak-at), ». [Also sanjacate, san-
giavatc, sangiakute ; = F. sangiacat = Sp. sanja-
sanjakate
eado, sanjacato = Pg. sinijacndo; as sanjuk +
-flffS.] Same as S(i ///'(/ A, 1.
sanjak-bey (san'jak-ba), II. [< Turk, saiijaq-
beg, < saiijnq, a minor province, + feefl, bey: see
sanjak and ftfi/l.] The governor of a sanjak.
Fortie mOes further is Rossetto, which is a little towne
without walles, . . . forgoueriieiiient whereof is appoint-
ed a Saniacbey, without any other guarde.
Uaiduyl's Voyages, XL 199.
sailkl (sangk). Preterit of sink.
sank-t, «. A Middle English form of sang^.
Sankhya (siing'kliya), n. [Skt. sdnkhya, <
xamkhyd. number.] One of the six leading
systems of Hindu philosophy, it is attril)ut€d to
the sage Kapila, and is generally regarded as tlie system
most akin to Buddhism, or out of which Buddhism ori-
ginally developed. It postulates the existence of matter
and of individual spiritual beings, subject t4) transmi-
gration, and acknowledges no deity. It aims at the
emancipation of spirit from the bonds of matter by means
of the spirit's recognition of its complete diversity from
matter.
sannup (san'up), h. [Also saniiop; Amer. Ind.]
Among the American Indians, a married male
member of the community; the husband of a
squaw.
Chickatabot came with his sannopg and squaws, and pre-
sented the governour with a hogshead of Indian corn.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 58.
Our Indian rivulet
Winds mindful still of sannup and of squaw.
Emerson. Musketaquid.
sanny (san'i), n. Same as saiitly^. [Scotch.]
sanpan, ". See snmpaii.
San Paolo balsam. Same as copaiba.
sans (sanz), picj). [Early mod. E. also sanse;
< ME. sans, also sam, saun, < OF. sans, sains,
seinz, senz, F. sans = Pr. sens, sencs, ses = Cat.
sens = OSp. senes, sen, Sp. sin = Pg. scm = It.
senza = Wall, sai, < L. sittc (LL. *sinis (?)) (also
sometimes nesi, and without the negative sc,
sed), < .SI, OL. sei, if, + ne, not: see nc.~\ With-
out: a French word which has existed long
in English without becoming naturalized : now
archaic or affected, except as used in heraldry:
as, a dragon sans wings; an ear of corn sans
stalk.
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sajis everything.
Shak; As you Like it, ii. 7. lOfi.
I am blest in a wife (Heaven make me thankful !)
Inferior to none, sans pride I speak it.
Fletcher {and Massiayer ?X Lovers' Progress, i. 1.
sansa (san'sii), M. A musical instrument of per-
cussion, resembling a tambourine.
San Salvador balsam. Commercial balsam of
Pern. Sec l>al.'«im.
sans-appel (saiiz'a-pel'), «. [< F. sans appel,
without appeal: sans, without; appel, appeal:
see sans and appeal.^ A person from whose
decision there is no appeal; one whose opin-
ion is decisive ; an infallible person. [Bare.]
He had followed in full faith such a sans-appel as he held
Frank to be. Kinydey, Westward Ho, xix.
Sanscrit, Sanscritic, etc. See Sanskrit, etc.
sansculotte (sanz-kii-lof), n. [< F. snnsniloflr
(see def.); < «r(HS, without, + CMtoite, breeches,
< ciil, breech, < L. cuius, breech : see recoil^.']
1. Literally, one who is without breeches: a
name given to the poorer men of Paris who
were prominent in the first French Revolu-
tion and took part in the attacks tipon the
court, the Bastille, etc. its precise origin has been
mach disputed. It appears as a designation willingly as-
sumed from the very beginning of its use.
Hence — 2. An advanced Republican ; a revo-
lutionist ; by extension, a communist or anar-
chist.
sansculotterie (sanz-ku-lot're), n. [< F. sans-
culotteiie, < sansculotte, q. v.] Same as saiis-
culottisnt.
8ailSCUlottic(sanz-kn-lot'ik), a. [< sansculotte
+ -ic] Pertaining to or involving sansculot-
tism ; revolutionary.
Those mnseulottic violent Gardes Frantaises or Centre
Grenadiers shall have their mittimus.
Carlyle, French Rev., II. v. 1.
sansculottide (sanz-ku-lot'id), n. [< F. sans-
cutottiile, < sansculotte: see sansculotte.'] One
of the five (in leap-years six) complementary
days resulting from the division of the year by
the French revolutionists of 1789 into twelve
months of thirty days each. They were added
at the end of the month Fructidor.
sanscnlottism (sanz-ku-lot'izm), n. [F. saiis-
culottisnie ; as sansculotte + -ism.'] The opin-
ions and principles of the sansculottes in any
sense. Carlijle.
aanscalottist (sanz-ku-lot'ist), n. [< sanscu-
lotte + -ist.] 1. A sansculotte. — 2. A person
5336
who approves in an abstract way of the doc-
trines of the sansculottes, without taking active
part in revolutionary measures.
Sansevieria (san"sev-i-.e'ri-a), H. [NL. (Thtm-
berg, 1 794). from the Prince of Sanseviero (1710-
1771),alearned
Neapolitan.] A
genus of mono-
cotyledonous
plants of the
order Hmrno-
doracces and
tribe Ophiopo-
goncsp. It is char-
acterized by a long
and slender peri-
anth-tube, six hli-
forni tllaments,
and a free ovai-y,
fixed by a broad
base, containing
three cells and
thi-ee erect ovules.
There ai-e about 10
species, natives of
tropical and south-
ern Africa and of
the East Indies. Sanstvieria Zeylanica. a, flower ; *. fruit.
They are plants of
singular aspect, the true stem reduced to a short and thick
rootstock from which spring long, thick, rigid, and some-
times cylindrical leaves, which are erect or spreading, re-
semble stems, and are filled with tough fibers. The flow-
ers are of moderate size or sometimes very long, and are
clustered among dry brjicts in a dense raceme on a tall
and stout unbratiched leafless flower-stalk. This genus is
the source of the fiber known as howstriny hemp, so named
from a native use in India. (.See inoorva.) African bow-
string hemp is the similar product of S. Guineensis.
Sanskrit (san'skrit), M. and a. \_A\so Sanscrit,
formerly also Samskrit, Samkrit; =F. Sanskrit,
Sanscrit, samskrit = Sp. Pg. It. siinscrito = D. G.
Sw. Dan. Sanskrit, < Skt. Siiiiixkritd, Sanskrit,
so called as being the cultivated or literary lan-
guage, distinguished from the vulgar dialects,
or, some say, because regarded as a perfect lan-
guage, the speech of the gods, formed by in-
fallible i-ules, < samskrita, prepared, formed,
wrought, adorned, perfect, < sain, together (=
E. stimc),+ -s (euphonic)-!- krita, made, formed,
< -y/ kar, make, akin to L. creare, create : see
create. The name Sanskrit is opposed to Pra-
krit, Skt. prdkrita, lit. 'common, vulgar,' the
name given to the vulgar dialects which grad-
ually developed from the original Sanskrit,
and from which most of the languages now
spoken in Upper India are derived, as the Ro-
mance languages developed out of the vulgar
Latin.] I. «. The ancient and sacred language
of India, being that in which most of the vast
literature of that country is written, from the
oldest parts of the Vedas (supposed to date from
about 2000-l!)00 B. C.) downward, it is one of the
Indo-European or Aryan family of tongues, a sister of the
Persian, Greek, Latin, Germanic, .Slavonic, and Celtic
tongues. The earliest Sanskrit of the Vedas differs con-
siderably from that of the later literature. Though San-
skrit has long ceased to be a vernacular language, it con-
tinues to be employed, in ita later form, for literally pur-
poses, much as Latin continued and continues to be used
as a learned tongue. Abbreviated Skt.
II. a. Of or pertaining to Sanskrit: as, early
Sanskrit idioms — Sanskrit (or Indo-Aryan) archi-
tecture, the ancient architecture of the northern plain of
India, and notably of the Ganges valley. A leading char-
Sanskrit Architecture. — Sumaree Temple, Benares, India.
acteristic of the style is its predilection for tower-like
temples of square plan with a vertical base and an upper
part of convexly curved outline. From this style as an
origin was developed the Jain architecture. See Jain.
Sanskritic (san-skrit'ik), a. [Also Sanscritic
CNh. Sanscriticus); a.s Sanskrit + -ic] Relat-
ing to or derived from Sanskrit.
The languages of the south [of India] are Dravidian, not
Sanskritic. Uncye. Brit., II. 897.
Santee beds
Sanskritist(san'skiit-ist), II. [Also Sanscritist ;
< Sanskrit + -ist.] A person distinguished for
attainments in Sanskrit.
sans nombre (son nom'br). [F. : .sans, with-
out; noinbrc, numhvi:] In )ier., repeated often,
and covering tlie field: said of any small bear-
ing : as, a field or mullets sans iiomhre gules.
The small bearings are generally arranged in a formal
maimer. By some writers it is held that the figures in sans
nombre must not be cut off at the edges of the escutcheon.
Compare sem^.
Sanson's images. The reflections from the
anterior surface of the cornea and the an-
terior and posterior surfaces of the lens of the
eye.
Sanson's map-projection. See projection.
sans-serif (sanz'ser'if), 11. [< F. sans, without,
-I- E. serif.] A printing-type without serifs,
or finishing cross-lines at the ends of main
strokes. See serif, and Gothic, n., 3. [Eng.]
sans SOUCi (soii sii-se'). [F.: sans, without;
souci, eare.] Without care ; free from care :
used specifically as the name {Sans Soiici) of a
royal palace at Potsdam in Prussia, built by
Frederick the Great.
santt, ". and H. An obsolete form of saint.
Santa Ana bark. See bark^.
Santa Ti nutmeg. See nutmeg, 2.
santal (san'tal), n. [< ML. santalum, sandal-
wood: see .«(»*(?■-.] In j)/(or., sandalwood. —
Oil of santal. See oa.
Santalaceae (san-ta-la'se-e), n. 2)1. [NL. (R.
Brown, 1810), < Santalum + -acese.] An order
of apetalous plants of the series Achlainydo-
sporesc. It is characterized by a one-celled inferior ovary
with one, two, or three ovules, pendulous from the sum-
mit of a slender erect stalk or funiculus, and by a green
or colored perianth of one row, commoidy of fom- or five
valvate lobes with as many stamens, and a flat, ring-like,
or sheathing disk. The fruit is a nut or more often a
drupe, the exocarp either thin and dry or fleshy, or some-
times thick, the nut or stone containing a roundish
smooth, wrinkled, or deeply fuiTowed seed. The species
are either trees, shrubs, or low herbs, a few parasitic on
branches or on roots. They ai-e distinguished from the
allied Loranthacese by the structure of the ovary, as well
as their habit, which still more strikingly separates them
from the Balannphoracese. There are about 200 species,
distributed in 28 genera and 4 tribes, widely dispersed in
tropical and temperate regions throughout the world.
The leaves are alternate or opposite, smooth and entire,
with the veins obscure, or sometimes all reduced to mere
scaies. The flowers are small or rarely conspicuous, green
or yellowish, less often orange. Three genera extend into
the United States — Comandra, Pyrularia, and Buckleya.
For illustrative genera, see Santalum (the typeX Osyris,
and Pyrularia.
santalaceous (san-ta- la 'shins), a. Of, per-
taining to, or of the nature of the order Santa-
lacese.
santalic (san-tal'ik), a. [< santal + -ic] De-
rived from sandalwood.
santalin (san'ta-lin), «. [= F. santaline; as
santal + -(»2.] The coloring matter of red
sajidalwood, which may be obtained by evapo-
rating the alcoholic infusion to dryness, it is
a red resin, fusible at 212° F., and is very soluble in acetic
acid, as well as in alcohol, essential oils, and alkaline lyes.
Santalum (san'ta-lum). n. [NL. (Liunieus,
1753), <ML. ,s((«to/«»«, sandal: see sandal'^.] 1.
A genus of apetalous trees and shrubs, the
sandalwoods, type of the order Santalaeese, be-
longing to the tribe Osj/rideee. The flowers are per-
fect, marked by parallel anther-cells which open length-
wise, by a sheathing disk produced into distinct fleshy
scales, and by a bill-shaped or ovoid perianth, its tube
adherent t^ the base of the ovary, the limb deeply divided
into usually four valvate lobes, the stamens, together
with clusters of hairs, borne on their base. The s species
are native from the East Indies to Australia and the Pa-
cific islands. They are smooth plants, bearing opposite
or rarely alternate petioled coriaceous leaves, whiclt are
feather-veined, but with the midrib alone conspicuous.
The fiowcrs are borne in the upper axils or in short loose
terminal panicles triehotomously branching, ami are fol-
lowed by roundish drupes crowned by the ritig-like scar
of the fallen perianth. For species, see sandalwood (with
cut).
2. [I. c] The wood of I'terocarpus Santalinus,
often called red sounders.
Santa Maria tree. See tree.
Santa Martha bark. See hark^.
Santa Martha ■wood. Same as peach-wood.
santee (san'te), n. [Guzerathi .mnti, a mea-
sure of land, equal to either (iO or 90 biglias (see
iega).] An East Indian land-measure, eqtial
in some districts to as much as can be plowed
by two bullocks in a season, and in others to
what three or even four bullocks can plow.
Santee beds (san-te' bedz). [So called from
the Santee river. South Carolina.] A division
of the Lower Eocene, consisting, near Charles-
ton in South Carolina, where it is well dis-
played, of a white limestone with marly strata.
The burstone of Georgia and Alabama is of the
same geological age.
Santir,
( From " South Kcnun)
fter a Pereian paiatinjr.
igtoa Museum t
Handbook.")
Santenot
Santenot (son-te-no' ), «. An excellent white
wine of Buiwundy, iiroduoeil in the Cote d'Or.
It rt-stfuililes Meiirsault. the wine uf that name being pro-
iliict'it in the same
climate.
santer (san'-
t6r), V. i. A lUa-
leetal spelling
of saunter.
santir, santur
(san't^r), ii. A
variety of dul-
cimer used in
the East.
The pi^totype of
our pianoforte is
evidently the dul-
cimer, icnown at an
early time to the
Arabs and Persians,
who call it ttantir.
It u;i-* played by
:tf i:i- of two
-liuiiily curved
-ticlis.
S. K. Art Hand-
[bifok, No. v.,
(p. 5.
Santist, Santost, ». Same as Sanctus.
Santolina (san-to-li'na), «. [Nil. (Toiime-
fiirt. 17011), said to be named from its repute in
medieval medicine and its flax-like leaves; <
\j. xanctm (> It. santo), holy,+ linum, flax : see
ndint^ and /ine' .] A genus of composite plants,
nf tlif tribe AnthrmUlrw. It is characterized by a
clKiilv receptacle, lonff-stallced roundisli heads of flowers
wtthuut raya, corollas with a hooded appendage at the
l>afl«. smooth achenes which are three- or four-angled, and
an involucre of many rows of dry and closely appreased
bracts. The 8 species are all natives of the Mediterranean
region. They are shrubby and remarlcably odorous plants,
very much liranched at the base^ bearing yellow llowers
in -ii>;i)| heads, and alternate leaves which are finely dls-
S. ChamtBfyparurus. the common lavender-cot-
ailed from Ijeing used like lavender and from its
!ioarypai>escence, is a neat bedding-plant contrast-
iiiK well witn darker foliage. Its name Is extended to the
other species, some of them also cultivated.
santon (san'ton), H. [I^rlier also santoon; = F.
.iiiiiitim, giinton (also santoron, xanctoroii, forms
due to L. sanctorum, gen. pi. of sanctus, holy)
= D. (}. santnn, < 8p. santon, a Turkish monk or
friar (also 8p. santon = Pg.santSo, a hypocrite),
< santo, sacred, holy (see saint^), or else (in the
Turkish sense) < Hind, sant, a devotee, a saint,
a goo<l simple man.] In Eastern countries, a
kind of dervish or recluse, popularly regarded
HH a saint.
There go in this foreward 6 Santonet with red tarbants
vpon their heads, A these eat and ride at the cost of the
Captaine of the Carooan. llaUuyt'i Voyaga, U. 2M.
• Adjuyniug unto then) are lodgings for sanfoM^ which are
fools and mail-men. Sand}/; Travailea, p. 9S.
He was (say the Arabian historians) one of those holy
men termed aanfoiu; who pass their lives in hentfltages,
in fasting, meditation, and prayer, antll they attain to the
purity of saints and the foresight of prophets.
Irving, Granada, p. 23.
All the foregleams of wladom In santon and sage.
In prophet and priest, are our true heritage.
WkUHer, Quaker AlnmnL
Santonlan (san-td'ni-an), n. [< L. Santoni,
Siinliinrs, a people of Aquitania (see tantonic),
+ -i<i;i.] In gcol., the lower subdivision of the
Senonian, which in England forms the upper-
Tiui.Kt ilivision of the Cretaceous, but in France
iiid Belgium is overlain by the Danian, a group
vautiiigti) the north of tlje Channel. TheSanto-
iiian of France is divided into three subgroups,
each characterized l)y a peculiar species of Mi-
i-riixlcr.
santonic (san-ton'ik), a. [< NL. santoniea, the
specific name of Artemisia santoniea, fem. of
Ii. SantouicHH (Gr. lavroviKiji:), pertaining to the
.Santoni (Siintonieum absinthium ((ir. aavrovuidm,
(TfiiTOKov), also Santoniea lierha, a kind of worm-
woo<l found in their country), < Santoni, San-
lonf:<, a people of Ai|iiitHnia, whose name sur-
vives in that of tiie |)laoe called Saintes in
France.] Derived from the plant santoniea.
santoniea (san-ton'i-ka), n. [NL.: see san-
ton ir.] 1. The Tartarian southernwood, ^rte-
misia Oallica, var. pauciJUira, by some consid-
ered a distinct species. It was formerly con-
foundei! with ./. Santoniea. — 2. An anthelmin-
tic drug consisting of the flower-heads of this
plant; Levant vsormseed. The extract santo-
nin, now produced mainly in Turkestan, is
chiefly in use.
santonin (san't«-nin), n. [< P. santonins;
as .vinlniidc) + -»n2.] A bitter substance
'* i.-"i«":i'' t''^ active principle of santoniea,
or uoiiM-^ced. It is a iTystalliiie, mlorless, and neu-
tral priiiiiple. insoluble in cold wat«r, and an active
5337
poison. It is one of the most efficacioi^s vermifuges for
roundworms.
santoon, n. See santon.
Santorinian (san-to-rin'i-an), a. [< Santorini
(.see def . ) + -««.] Pertaining to or named after
the Venetian anatomist Santorini (1681-1737):
as, the Santorinian plexus (which see, under
plexus).
Santorini's canal. See canal'^.
Santorini's cartilage. See cartilages of Santo-
rini, under eiirtiliij/e.
Santorini's fissures. Irregular fissures in the
tilifocartiliipe of the pinna.
Santorini's muscle. The risorius.
Santorini's tubercles. Same as comicula la-
ri/nijis (which see, under corniculum).
santur, «. See santir.
Sanvitalia (san-vi-ta'li-a), n. [NL. (Lamarck,
1792), named after the Sanvitali family of Par-
ma.] A genus of composite plants, of the tribe
Helianthoidete and subtribe Zinniem. It is char-
acterized by a flattened and chaffy receptacle, solitary
heads with fertile disk-tlowers and spreading pistillate
rays, and achenes bare or tipped with nine short awns.
The 3 or 4 species are annual or perennial branching herbs,
natives of Mexico and Texas, bearing opposite entire
leaves, and small heads with yellow or white rays and pur-
ple centers suggesting Rudtteckia. S. yrocumbem is often
cultivale^i for ornamental edgings.
sanzt, I'rej). See sans.
saouari (sou-ii'ri), «. See soiiari.
sapi (sap), n. [< ME. son = MD. D. sop =
MLG. sap, LG. sapp = OHG. saph, saf, MHG.
saf, also, with excrescent t, soft, G. soft, sap; cf.
Icel. safi = Sw. Dan. saft (conformed to G.):
(a) Teut. root appar. "saj), or according to the
Icel. form 'sab, perhaps connected with OS.
sebbjan = OHG. seven, stppen, MHG. scben, per-
ceive, = L. sapere, taste, perceive, know : see
sapid, sajnent. (6) But perhaps the Teut. words
are of L. origin, = F. seve, dial, sepe, site = Pr.
saba = Sp. .laba, sabia = Pg. seiva, juice, sap
(cf. F. saber, yield sap), < L. sapa, must, new
wine boiled. Cf. Ab. sseppe, spruce-fir, < L.
sapimis, sappinus, a kind of fir. (c) Not con-
nected, as some suppose, with Gr. bv6^, juice,
sap, = L. sucus, succus, juice, sap, = Ir. sug =
Kuss. sokii, sap, = Lith. sakas, tree-gum: see
ofiium, succulent.'] 1. The juice or fluid which
circulates in all plants, being as indispensable
to vegetable life as is the blood to animal life.
It is the flnt product of the digestion of plant-food, and
contains the elements of vegetable growth in a dissolved
condition. The absorption of nutriment from the soil is
etf ected by the m inate root-hairs and paplllsB, the absorbed
nutriment being mainly composed of carbonic acid and
nitrogenotu compounds dissolved In water. This ascend-
ln|[ sap, or as it is termed ertufe asp, is apparently trans-
mitted through the long cells in the vascular tissue of the
stem and branches to the leaves, passing from cell to cell
by the process known as endtrnnote. In the leaves Is ef-
fected the process of digestion or assimilation, with the
following results : (1) the chemical decomposition of the
oxygenated matter ot the sap, the absorption of carl>on
dioxid (carbonic acldX and the liberation of pure oxygen at
the ordinary atmospheric temperature; (2) a connter-op-
eratlon by which oxygen is absorbed from the air, and car-
bon diozld exhaled ; (3) the transformation of the remain-
ing crude sap into organic substances which enter into the
composition of the plant: this change Is effected in the
chlorophyl-cells of the leaves under the influence of liKht,
and the assimilated sap, or as it is termed elaborated mp,
descends through the branches and stem to the growing
parts of the plant requiring the same, there to be used up,
after undergoing a series of changes included under the
name metagtans, or to form deposits of reserve material
Imlged in various parts for future use. The ascent of the
sap Is one of the most wonderiul phenomena of spring, and
apparently depends not so much on the state of the wea-
ther—for it begins in the depth of winter — as on the plant
having had its sufficient t'-nn of rest, and being, therefore,
constrained by its very nature to renewed activity.
Hence — 2. The juice or fluid the presence of
which in anything is characteristic of a healthy,
fresh, or vigorous condition ; blood.
A handkerchief; which say to her did drain
The purple np from her sweet brother's body.
Shak., Rich. III., iv. 4. 277.
3. The alburnum of a tree ; the exterior part
of the wood, next to the bark; sap-wood.
sap'- (sap), n. [Abbr. of sappy or saphead.']
Same as saphead. [Prov. Eng, and Scotch, and
slang, especially in schools.]
He maun be a saft $ap, wi' a head nae better than a fozy
frosted turnip. ' Scott, Bob Koy, xiv.
When I once attempted to read Pope's poems out of
school hours, I was laughed at and calfeii a nap.
BiUicex, Pelham, ii.
If you are patient because you think it a duty to meet
insult with submission, you are an essential tap, and in no
shape the man fur my money.
CItarlnlte Bronte, Professor, Iv.
sap'-' (sap), V. i. ; pret. and pj). sajrped, ppr. sap-
ping. [< s«;»2, ti.] To act like a sap; jday
the part of a ninny or a soft fellow. [Scotch,
and slang, especially in schools.]
sape
"They say he is the cleverest boy in the school. But
then he mpg." — "In otiier words," said Mr. Dale, with
proper parsonic gravity, "he understands he was sent to
school to learn his lessons, and he learns them. You call
that sapjfing. I caU it doing his duty. '
Bulwer, My Novel, i. 12. (Z>atae«.)
A pretty sporisman you are. . . . What 's that book on
the ground? Sappiiuj and studying still ?
King$ley, Yeast, i.
Sap3 (sap), n. [< OF. sappc, F. sape, a hoe, =
Sp. zapa = Pg. sapa, a spade, = It. zappa, a mat-
tock, < ML. sappa, sapa, a hoe, mattock, perhaps
corrupted < (rr. OKairdw?, a hoe, digging-tool, <
BKOTrruv, dig: see shave.] If. A tool for dig-
ging; a mattock.
Zappa, a mattocke to dig and delue with, a mppe.
Florio.
2. [<»ap3^«.] JffKi., a narrow ditch or trench
by which approach is made to a fortress or be-
sieged place when within range of fire. The
trench is formed by trained men (sappers), who place ga-
bions as a cover (filled with the earth taken from the trench)
along the intended line of parapet — the earth excavated,
after the gabions liave been filled, l)eing thrown toward
the fortress, to form a parapet capalile of resist ing artillery.
The single sap has only a single parapet ; the double has
one on each side. A sap is usually made by four men
working together.
At three points on the Jackson road, in front of Leggett's
brigade, a sap was run up to the enemy's parapet, and by
the 25tll of June we had it undermined and the mine
charged. II. S. Grant, Personal Memoirs, I. .^49.
Flsrln^ sap (milit.), the rapid excavation of the trenches
of an attacK, when each man advances under cover of two
gabions.
Sap^ (sap), r. ; pret. and pp. sapped, ppr. sapping.
[< OF. sapper, P. saper (= Sp. zapar = Pg. sapar
= It. zappare), sap, undermine ; from the noun :
see sapi, ».] I. trans. 1. To undermine ; render
unstable by digging into or eating away the
foundations, or, figuratively, by some analogous
insidious or invisible process; impair the sta-
bility of, by insidious means: as, to sap a wall ;
to sap a person's constitution, or the morals of
a community.
Nor safe their dwellings were, for, sap'd by floods,
Tlieir houses fell upon their household gods.
Dryden, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., i. 397.
Sapping a solemn creed with solemn sneer.
Byron, Childe Harold, iii. 107.
At the same time the insidious art of a Dcmiinican friar
. . . had been surely gappitiff the fldelify of the garrison
from within. Motley, Dutch Hepublic, HI. 520.
2. Milit., to approach or pierce with saps or
trenches.
H. intrans. To dig or use saps or trenches;
hence, to impair stability by insidious means.
Zappare, to digge, or delue, or grubbe the ground ; to
tap. Florio.
Both assaults are carried on by tapping. Tatter.
sapadillo (sap-a-tlil'o), ». Same as .lapodiUa.
sapajOU (sap'a-jO), w. [= G. saj>aju, < P. sai>a-
jon,sajou.'\ 1. A sajou, or sai with a prehensile
tail; some species of J te?f» or Cf6«s; especial-
ly, a spider-monkey or a capuchin. See cut
under ,'rpider-monltey. — 2. [cap.] [NL. (Lac^-
p6de).] The genus of spider-monkeys: same
as Atetes. =iyn. 1. f^eetagvin.
sapan-'wood, sappan-'nrood (sa-pan'wud), «.
[= 1'. sujian, sappan = Sp. sapan = Pg. sapilo
(NL. sappan), < Malay sapang.] A dyewood
produced by a small East Indian tree, Ceesal-
pinia Sapj>an. It yields a good red color,
which, however, is not easily fixed. Also samp-
fcn-wood, bukkum-wood.
sap-ball (sap'b&l), «. A local name for those
species of I'olyporus that grow on trees, but
more specifically applied to Polypoi'us Sfjuamo-
sus, abounding on decayed trunks, espeeially of
ash-trees, the stems of which sometimes form
a foundation for tennis-balls. It is sometimes
used for razor-strops. See cut under I'olyporus.
sap-beetle (sap'be''tl), n. A beetle which feeds
on sap; specifically, any beetle of the family
Xitiitiilidee.
sap-boiler (sap'boi''16r), «. A special form of
portable furnace with kettle or pans, used for
evaporating the sap of which maple-sugar is
made.
sap-bucket (sap'buk'et), n. In mapU-sugat
manuf., a bucket into which the sap flows from
the tree when it has been tapped.
Sap-ca'Tity (sap'kav'i-ti), n. In bot., one of cer-
tain sacs or cavities in the leaves of officinal and
other species of aloe, filled with a colorless or
variously colored sap. They are thin-walled
and semicircular in transverse section.
sap-color (sap'kuFor), n. An expressed vege-
table juice inspissated by slow evaporation, for
the use of painters, as sap-green, etc.
sape, saip (sap), n. Scotch forms of soap.
Saperda
Saperda (sS-p^r'da), «. [NL. (Fabrioius, 1775),
< dr. aaTTtpd//^, a kind of fish.] A notable genus
of long-horn beetles of the family Cerambycidse,
having moderately short antennas which are
finely pubescent and mounted upon well-sepa-
Roiinii-lic.iilLM Aiiple-Iree Borer
{Safifrda candidtti. a, larva, full-
f'rown ; ^, pupa; f, beetle. (Hair-
ines at a and 6 indicate natural
sizes.)
rated tubercles, and legs
rather stout and some-
what swollen. It is dis-
tributed throughout the north
temperate zone. The larvse
are mainly wood-borers. That
of S, Candida of the United
States is Icnown as the rouiid-
hfoded apple-tree borer, and often damages oreliards to a aanidnoes CsiTi'irl tipq^
serious extent by boring the cambium layer under the barlf. S^P'O^ess (.b<ip lu nes;,
sap-fagot (sap' fag "ot), n. MiKL, a fascine
about 3 feet long, used in sapping to close the
crevices between the gabions before the para-
pet is made.
sap-fork (sap'f6rk), n. Milit., a fork-shaped
lever employed for moving the sap-roller for-
ward and holding it in position when exposed
to the fire of field-guns.
sapfol (sap'ful), a. [< sapi -f- -ful.'i Pull of
sap ; containing sap ; sappy. Coleridge. (Imp.
Diet.)
sap-green (sap'gren), ». A green coloring
matter extracted from the juice of buckthorn-
berries. The ripe berries are submitted to pressure,
when a purple-red juice is obtained, which becomes green
on the addition of an alliali. The liquid is then concen-
trated and filled into bladders, where it becomes hard
and brittle. It is sometimes used as a water-polor, but is
not durable. It is also used by paper-stainers 'and leather-
dyers. Sometimes called Madder-green and iris green. See
Hhamnus.
sapharensian (saf-a-ren'si-an), a. [< Ar. ia-
rich alsefar, perhaps from sifr, zero.] Of or
pertaining to the Spanish era, dates expressed
in which are to be reduced to the Christian era
by subtracting 38 from tbem. This era was
prevalent in Spain from the fifth to the twelfth
century.
saphead (sap'hed), n. [So called in allusion to
his freshness and greenness; .< sapl 4- head.
Cf . «a/)2, sappy. "i A silly fellow ; a ninny. AI50
sap. [Colloq.]
sap-headed (sap'hed^'ed), a. [< sap'^ + head +
-«d2.] Silly; foolish. [Colloq.]
saphena (sa-fe'na), n. ; pi. saphenee (-ne). [=
OF. saphena, sapTiene, F. saphene = Sp. safena
= Pg. saphena = It. safena, < NL. saphena, sc.
vena, a prominent vein, < Gr. aa<lir/vr/c, plain, vis-
ible, < aa-, an intensive prefix, -t- ^ivciv, show,
<paheadai, appear. The Ar. sa/in or sdftn, the
name of two veins in the leg, supposed to be the
source of the NL. and Rom. word, is from the
same Gr. source.] A saphenous vein or nerve.
saphenal (sa-fe'nal), a. and n. [< saphena +
-al.~\ I. a. Same as saphenous,
II. n. The saphenous vein.
saphenous (sa-fe'nus), a. and 11, [< saphena +
-OM.S.] I. a. 1. Prominent, as a vein of the
leg. — 2. Of or pertaining to a saphenous nerve
or vein — External saphenous nerve, a branch of the sapient (sa'pi-ent), a.
5338
artery, an anomalous artery, rarely met with, formed by
the enlargement of the median supertlcial sural artery.
II. n. A saphenous vein or nerve; a saphena:
as, the long saphenous; the short saphenous.
sapho, M. See sappho.
sapid (sap'id), a. [= F. sapide, OF. sade = Sp.
sapido, < L. sapidus, having a taste, savory, <
sapere, have a taste, taste of, etc.; of persons,
have taste or discernment, be wise : see sapient,
Cf. sopl. Hence the negative insipid.'] Hav-
ing the power of affecting the organs of taste;
possessing savor or relish ; tasteful ; savory.
Thus camels, to make the water gapid, do raise tlie mud
with their feet. Sir T. Broimie, Vulg, Eit,
Very many bodies have no taste whatever; and the
mpid qualities of others vary according as they are hot or
cold. H. Spencer, Prin. of Psychol., § 318,
sapidity (sa-pid'i-ti), n. [< F. sapidite = Pr.
sapiditat; as sapfd + -ity.'\ Sapid character or
property ; the property of stimulating or pleas-
ing the palate ; tastefulness; savor; relish.
As for their taste, if their nutriment be air, neither can
it be an instrument thereof ; for the body of tiiat element
is ingustible, void of all sapidity.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg, Err., iii, 21, (Richardson.)
sapidless (sap'id-les), a. [< sapid + -less.]
Without taste, savor, or relish ; insipid. [Rare
and erroneously formed.]
I am impatient and querulous under culinary disap-
pointments, as to come home at the dinner hour, for in-
stance, expecting some savoury mess, and to hnd one quite
tasteless and gapidlesg. Lawb, Grace before Meat
n. Sapidity.
When the Israelites fancied the sapidnegs and relish of
the flesh-pots, they longed to taste and to return,
Jer. Taylor, Worlds (ed. 183.S), I. S54.
sapience (sa'pi-ens), n. [< ME. sapience, < OF.
(and F.) sapience = Pr. sapiensa = Sp. Pg. sapi-
encia = It
sapien{t-
The character
profound knowledge ; also, practical wis-
sapi-outan
-al,] Containing, exhibiting, or affording wis-
dom; characterized by wisdom.
God will work on man by moral means, . . . and his
work of grace is sapiential, magnifying the contrivance and
conduct of his wisdom, as well as his power.
Baxter, Divine Life, L 11.
Sapiential Books (of the Bible and Apocrypha), Prov-
ert>s, Ecclesiastes, Wisdom (The Wisdom of Solomon), and
Ecclesiasticus (The Wisdom of Jesus, the Son of Sirach).
Open your bibles, where you will, in all the sapiential
or prophetical books. Bp. Hall, Remains, p, 68.
sapientiallyt (sa-pi-en'shal-i), adv. In a sapien-
tial or wise manner. Baiter,
sapiently (sa'pi-ent-li), adv. In a sapientman-
iier; wisely; sagaciously; sagely.
Sapindacese (sap-in-da'se-e), n.'pl, [NL. (Jug-
sieu, 1811), < Sapindus + -aceee.] An order of
trees and shrubs of the cohort Sapindales, char-
acterized by usually compound leaves, a single
style, and ovary-cells with the ovules one or
two in number and ascending, or numeroiis
and horizontal. The flowers have usually four or five
imbricated and unequal sepals, three, four, or five imbri-
cated petals, eight stamens inserted within the disk, and
a three-celled ovary, becoming in fruit capsular or inde-
hiscent, a drupe, berry, or nut, or composed of two or
three wing-fruits. As recently revised by P>adlkofer, tlie
order includes about OiiO species, and is most abundant
in the tropics, with only a few genera in temperate re-
gions. The 122 genera are included in 14 tribes. The
species are usually tall trees, with a watery juice, and
in the tropics bear evergreen alternate abruptly pinnate
leaves^ generally with small flowers without odor and
with inconspicuous colors. For prominent genera, see
Sapindus (the type), Paullinia, Kcelrexderia, and Nephe-
limn. The well-known genera Acer, Aisadvs, and ,Sla-
phylea now pass respectively into the orders Aceracear.
Hippocastanaceee, and Staphyleacese. .See Sapindales, and
cut« under Kcelreuteria, Neyundo, and Sapiiidus.
sapindaceous (sap-in-da'shius), a. [< NL. Sa-
pindriceie + -ous.} Pertaining to the order Sa-
dom; common prudence: often used ironically.
[In early writers tlie meaning is influenced by the sixth
book of Aristotle's "Nicomachsean Ethics," where this word
was used to translate c7o0ia, defined by Aristotle as tile
union of science, or demonstrative knowledge, with nous,
or cognition of principles, Aristotle also applies it to the
knowledge of a master of any art. But in scholastic writ-
ings it usually means knowledge of the most difficult sub-
jects, metaphysics, theology, thus again translating ao-
That thou liatg in thy hert holy connyng
Of sapyence thi sawle ful sothes to schawe,
AUUerative Poems (ed. Morris), ii, 1626,
Tlier goth he
That is the man of so grete sapience,
And held us lovers leest in reverence,
Chaucer, Troilus, i, 515.
Sapience and love
Immense, and all his Father in him shone,
Milton, P, L., vii, 195,
A thousand names are toss'd into the crowd,
Some whisper'd softly, and some twang'd aloud,
Just as the sajnence of an author's brain
Suggests it safe or dangerous to be plain,
Cowper, Charity, 1, 519,
2. The reasonable soul ; the intellective facul-
ty ; that which distinguishes men from brutes ;
reason.
Ryght as a man has sapieruxs three,
Memorie, engyn, and intellect also,
Chaucer, Second Nun's Tale, 1. 338.
Many a wretch in Bedlam . . .
Still has gratitude and sapience
To spare the fojks that give him ha'pence.
Sw^. (Johnson.)
3. The sense of taste, or intelligence compared
to taste.
Eve, now I see thou art exact of taste.
And elegant, of sapience no small part,
Since to each meaning savour we apply,
And palate call judicious. Milton, P, L., ix. 1018,
4t. The apocryphal Book of Wisdom.
Ich wrot hure a byhle.
And sette hure to Sapience and to the sauter glosed.
Piers Plowman (C), xii, 117.
[< L. sapien{t-)s, know-
ing, discerning, wise, discreet, ppr. of sapere,
of things, taste, smell of, etc. ; of persons, have
taste or discernment, etc. Cf. sapid, and see
sapT^. From the same source are ult. insipient,
insipid, sage^, etc.] Wise; sage; discerning:
now generally used ironically.
Now tell me, dignified and sapient air,
My man of morals, nurtured in the shades
Of Academus, is this false or true?
Cowper, Task, ii. 531,
Temples served by sapient priests, and choirs
Of virgins crowned with roses,
Wordsworth, Prelude, xi.
Another way my sapient guide conducts me.
. . Longfellow, tr. of Dante's Inferno, iv. 149.
a half below Poupart's _• a. i / - . / i i^ ry t t
I the outer side of the Sapiential (sa-pi-en shal), a. [< LL. sapten-
pet^lous plants of the series Disciflorx, charac-
terized by stamens inserted on a disk, ovules
commonly one or two in a cell, ascending and
with a ventral raphe, or solitary and pendulous
from an ascending funiculus. The leaves are usu.
ally compound, and the flowers polygamously dioecious.
According to the latest revisions, it includes 7 orders—
the Aceracese, Uippocastanacese, Meliatdhacese, and Sta-
phyleaceie, formerly regarded as suborders of the Sapin-
daceee, being now erected_ into independent orders.
Sapindeee (sa-pin'de-e), n. pi. [NL. (Hum-
boldt, Bonpland, and Kunth, 1821), < Sapindn.i
+ -ex.] A tribe of polypetalous trees and
shrubs, of the order Sapindacex, characterized
by alternate leaves, seeds without albumen,
and stamens inserted in a circle or unilaterally
within the disk at the base of the ovary. It in-
cludes 7 genera, of which Sajrindus is the type.
Sapindus (sa-pin'dus), n. [NL., so called with
ref.to the saponaceous fruit, < Ij.sap(o) Ind{ic)-
us, Indian soap : see soap and Indie] A genus of
polypetalous trees, type of the order Supinda-
ces. and of the tribe Hapindese. It is characterized
by regular and polygamous flowers with four or five sepals
and as many petals, twice as many stamens, filaments
bearded or hairy, versatile anthers, a complete and regu-
internal pofiliteal supplyfiig the skin on the outer side of
the foot. Also called short saphenous nerve. — Great sa-
phenous artery, in man, an occasional branch of the
femoral artery arising either aliove or below the origin of
the profunda, Tlie vessel is normal In the rabbit and other
mammals.— Internal saphenous nerve, the largest cu-
taneous branch of the anterior crural. It passes down on
the inner side of the knee, leg, and foot, as far as the great
toe. Also called long saphenous nerve. — Saphenous
opening;, the aperture in the fascia lata through which
the saphenous vein passes to join the femoral vein ; the
largest opening in the cribriform fascia (which see, under
fascia). It is also the place of exit of femoral heniia.—
Saphenous veins, two sui>erficial veins of the leg, the
internal or long and the external or short. The former
takes ita origin from the dorsum of the foot, and passes
op along the inner side of the limb to empty into the
femoral vein about an inch and 1
ligament The latter arises from . . „
foot,andterminatesin the popliteal,— Small saphenous tialis, <. L. sapientia, wisdom (see sapience), +
Branch with Kniits o{ Su^i'ndus marginatus. a, a flower.
lar disk, stilitary ovules, and a fruit of one or two oblong
or globose- nutlets, each containing a single glolrase seed
without an aril. There are about 40 species, natives of
the trojiics of both hemispheres, mostly trees, sometimes
climbing shrubs. They liear alternate leaves, wliich are
undivided, or are abruptly pinnate with several entire
leaflets, or are reduced to a single leaflet The flowers
form terminal or axillary racemes or panicles. All the
species, and several specifically, are known as soapberry.
See soapberry ; also icUd china-tree, under china-tree.
sapi-outan, «. See sapi-utan.
Sapitun
Sapium (sa'pi-um), H. [NL. (Brown, 1756),
said to be < "Celtic sap, fat, in allusion to the
anctuous exudation from the wounded trunk "
(Imp. Diet.); but no such Celtic word is found.]
A genus of apetalous plants of the order Eit-
phorbiaceie, tribe Crotoneee, and subtribe Sip-
poiiuineie. It is characterized by spiked or racemed
flowers whicli are commonly glandular-bracted, by two
free stamens, and by a capsule which at length opens
loculicitlalty, bat long afterward retains its seeds persis-
tent on a three-winged columella. There are about 25
species, widely scattered through most warm regions.
They are trees or shrubs, with alternate petioled leaves,
which are usually entire and glandular at the base. S.
Laurocertuus, var. ftUpticum (S. laurifolium'), is the Ja-
maica milkwood or gum-tree, a middle-sized tree with
shining leaves, abounding in an annoying milky juice. S.
biitlandulfmtm. of which there are many varieties, yields
in the West Indies a gum like caoutchouc, and in Paraguay
a tan-bark. The East Indian S. /mfieumhas a milky sting-
ing juice; its leaves altord in Borneo, where it is called
bonx), a dye and a stain for ratan, and its young fruit is
acid and eaten as a condiment, though the fruit is said
to i>e used as a poison for alligators.
sapi-utan, sapi-outan (8»p'i-6-tan), ». [Malay
xd/ii-utdii, 'cow of the woods' or 'wild cow,'
< luipi, cow, + utdn, woods, wild. Cf. orang-
1 am the root that gave thee nourishment,
! spif _
Now I am old and mtpUm.
And nude thee i
Sapi-uL^u ^.litita dtfrftsicQTHii).
Kttin.] The wild cow or ox of Celebes, Anoa
ill l,i<sxirornis. See Anna.
sapless (sap'les), rt. [<««/>!+ -/e*».] 1. Des-
titute of sap; dry; withered.
A wither'd vine
That droops his tapUm branches to the gronnd.
Shot., I Hen. VI., iL 5. 12.
Like a mplat leaflet now
Frozen upon December's boiwb.
ShMry, Written Among Eaganein Bills.
Hence — 2. Destitute of or deficient in vital
force.
itga'
pring fair ; do not let me perish
Beau. andFl., Captain, L S.
All the books of philosophers are mpUta and empty. In
eompariaon of the teaching of .lesns Christ
Baxter, Life of Faith, iii. 10.
Uplintr (sap'ling), M. [< ME. gappelynge; <
»<i//l + -/i/ij/l.] 1. A young tree: especially
applied to an immature forest-tree when its
trunk attains three or /our inches in diameter.
What planter will attempt to yoke
A MfCing with a falliiw oak?
Swifi, CadeDOS and Tanecn.
Figuratively — 2. A young person.
Peace, tender tailing ; thon art made of tears.
S»o*., Til. And., la. 2. 60.
8. A greyhound that has never run in a cours-
ing-match ; a young greyhound from the time
of whelping to the end of the first season there-
after,
sapling-cnp (sap'Iing-kup), n. An open tan-
kard fiir drinking new ale. It is formed of wood,
with «lavi » lii».|ii-.l like a dimlnutiTe barrel, and has a
sa.pling-tankard (xap'ling-tang'k&rd), n.
.Saiiif as Hupling-cup
and ntnre-tankard.
sapo' (sa'po), n. [L.:
see map.] In phar.,
soaj).
SapO" (sii'po), n. [< 8p.
xa/ii), a large toad.] In
iihlli.. the toad-fish,
Hiilrnchwi tau. Also
siiriii).
sapodilla (sap-o-dirii),
11. [Mho Happniilla, m-
)ii>iti llo,iiappi>dillo, snpa-
dillo. Kuppadillo ; = F.
Hiipiilillfz^l). sapodille =
< i. HappailiU, < Sp. fiapn-
tilla, dim. of napota, the
sapottt-tree : see sapo-
Ui.] A large tree, .■IcArrt*
Sapiita, native in tropical America, cultivated
then- and in other tropical regions for its fruit,
'' ' ''llaor saportilla-plum. This has an acrid
) iiiappears with Incipient decav, when the
' s very sugary. The woo<l Is hard, heavy, and
Sapodllb iAckrai .Safota).
I, ttle fruit , b, the ftatnc, trans-
venely cut
5339
durable, of a reddish-brown color. Also called nageberry,
and sometimes hully-tree. See Achra» and chicle.gum.
sapodilla-plum (sap-o-dil'a-plum), M. See *n-
podilla.
saponaceous (sap-o-na'shius), a. [= F. sapo-
nacc = Sp. sapondceo = Pg. It. saponaceo, < NL.
"saponaceus, soapy, < L. sapo(n-), soap: see
soap.'\ Soapy; resembling soap; having the
properties of soap. Saponaceous bodies are
compounds of an acid and a base, and are iu
reality a kind of salts.
He (Lord Westbiu^] described a synodical judgmebt as
"a well-lubricated set of words — a sentence so oily and
sapmiaceous that no one can grasp it"
Dia. NatUmal Biography, IV. 429.
saponacity (sap-o-nas'j_-ti), ». [< saponac-eom
+ -('v.] Saponaceous character or quality.
Saponaria (sap-o-na'ri-a), n. [NL. (Linnteus,
1<37), so called with ref. to its mucilaginous
juice, which forms a lather with water; fem.
of "saponariu,-!, soupy: see saponary.} A genus
of polypetalous plants of the order Caryophyl-
lese and tribe Silencee. it is characterized by a many-
seeded capsole opening at the apex into four short valves,
and by flowers with an obscurely veined tubular or swol-
len calyx, five narrow, stalked petals, teu stamens, two
styles, and a one-celled ovary with many ovules. There
are about 36 species, natives of Europe (especially the
southern part) and extratropical Asia. They are either
aimual or perennial herbs, often with conspicuous flowers
and broad entire leavea. The best-known species are S.
o^cinaiit,Xha common soapwort, fuller' 8-herb,or bouncing-
bet, and 5. Fneniriii, the cow-herb. See especially soap-
wort, which Is ased as a general name ; also cut aaderpelal.
saponary (sap'o-na-ri), a. [< ML. saponarim,
ii s<)ap-inaker,prop. adj., pertaining to soap,< L.
.vrtj;w()i-),8oap: see soap.] Soapy; saponaceous.
A soft, taponary substance. Boyle.
saponiflable (sa-pon'i-fi-a-bl), a. [< saponify
+ -able. ] Capable of being saponified, or con-
verted into soap.
saponification (sa-pon'i-fi-ka'shon), n. [< sa-
ponify + -<itioH (gee -fication).'} Conversion into
soap; the process in which fatty substances,
through combination with an alkali, form soap.
In an extended sense the term is applied to the resolution
of all ethers and analogous substances into acids and alco-
hols.
saponifier (sa-pon'i-fi-6r), «. 1. An apparatus
for the manufacture of pljcerin and the fatty
acids, by the decomposition of fats and the
isolation of their several constituents. E. H.
Knight. — 2. A substance that produces saponi-
fication, as caustic soda or potash.
saponify (sa-pon'i-fi), v. t.; pret. and pp. sa-
pvnifttd, ppr. saponifying. [= F. saponifier, <
L. sapo{n-), soap, + -fieare, < fatere, make (see
-fy)-\ To convert into soap by combination
with an alkali.
saponin (sap'o-nin), II. [< L. sapoin-), soap,
+ -iH'-i.] A glucoside (C32HJ54O18) found in the
root of Saponaria officinalis and many other
plants. It is a powerful sternutatoir.
Saponite (sap'9-nJt), n. [< L. sapo(n-), soap,
-1- -ih'-.'] A hydrous silicate of magnesia and
alumina. It occurs in soft, soapy, amorphous
masses, filling veins in serpentine and cavities
in trap-rock.
saport (sa'por), «. [< L. sapor, taste, relish,
flavor, savor, < sapere, taste : see sapient. Doub-
let of savor, q. v.] Taste; savor; relish; the
power of affecting the organs of taste.
There Is some satwr In all aliments, as being to be dis-
tinguished and judged by the gust.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., IIL 21.
saporific (sap-o-rif ik), a. [= F. saporifique. <
L. sapitr, savor, + facere, make (see -fie).']
Producing or imparting taste, flavor, or relish.
Johnson.
Saporosity (sap-o-ros'i-ti), n. [< LL. saporosus,
savory (see savor, soporous), + -ity?] That
property of a body by which it excites the sen-
sation of taste.
saporous (sap'o-ms), a. [< LL. saporosus, also
saponis, savory, < L. sapor, savor: see sapor.]
Having flavor or taste ; yielding some kind of
Sapota (sa-p6'ttt), n. [NL. (Plumier, 1703), <
8p. zapote (> J*, sapotr) = Pg. zapota, < Mex.
zapotl (cochit-capotl), sapote. Cf. sapodilla.]
1. A former genus of gamopetalous plants,
type of the order Sapotaceee, now called Achras
(Linnaeus, 1737). See Achras, naseberry, and
sapodilla. — 2. [l. c] The sapodilla-plum.
Sapotacese (sap-o-ta'se-e), «. pi. [NL. (End-
licher, 1833), < Sapota' + -acex.] An order of
gamopetalous plants of the cohort Ehenales in
the series Hetiromirie, typified by the genus
Achras (.Sapota). It is characterized by regular and
bisexual flowers, with short erect stamens Iwrne on the
corolla, either as many as Its lobes (sometimes with an
sapphire
equal number of staminodia in the same or a second row)
or twice as many in one or two series, by a superior ovaiy
with a broad sessile base, and containing from two to ttve
or rarely many cells, each with one araphitropous ovule,
and by a large and straight embryo with a minute inferior
radicle. It includes about 400 species in 40 genera and 9
tribes, natives chiefly of the tropics, especially of islands,
and extending in the genus 5ideroxj/ion into Soutli Africa.
They are trees or shrubs with milky juice, and often cov-
ered with a down composed of stellate hairs. They bear
alternate rigid leaves which are entire and feather- veined ;
their flowers are clustered at the axils of the leaves or at
the older nodes, and have commonly rigid and obtuse
calyx-lobes longer than the corolla-tube. See Isonandra,
Bumelia, Bassia, Payena, Palaquiujn, Mimusops, and
Chrymphyllum, and cut under mpodilla.
sapotaceous (sap-o-ta'shius), a. Having the
characters of Sapota; belonging or pertaining
to the Sapotacem.
sapotad (sap'o-tad), n. A plant of the order
Sapotaceee. iindley.
sappadillo (sap-a-dil'o), n. See sapodilla.
Sappan-wood, " . See sapan-wood.
sappar, sappare (sap'ar, -Sr), n. [A name
given by Saussure to the blue disthene of the
St. Gotthard; appar. based on sapphire, q. v.*]
A mineral, also called cyanite and disthene. See
cyanite.
sapper^ (sap'6r), n. [< sajjl -I- -er^.] A chisel
used iu some sawing-maehines to cut away
waste or sap-wood and reduce a log to a cylin-
drical shape.
sapper^ (sap'Sr), «. [< sap^ + -eri. Cf. F. sa-
peur.] One who saps; specifically, a soldier
employed in the building of fortifications, the
execution of field-works, and the performance of
similar operations. Formerly in the British anny the
non-comrafssloned ofiicers and privates of the Eoyal Engi-
neers received the general appellation of the Royal Sap-
pers and Miners.
Nothing is gained to the celestial host by comparing It
with the terrestrial. Angels are not promoted by brigading
with sapperg and miners. Laitdtrr, Southey and Landor, I.
The Natchez still retained possession of a fortifled out-
post, which enflladed the French workmen engaged in the
trenches. On the 22d, Purler ordered it to be attacked by
twelve grenadiers and twelve sappers.
Qayarr^, Illst. Louisiana, I. 440.
Sapphic (saf 'ik), a. and n. [Early mod. E. also
Siiphick, Saphik ; < F. saphique = Sp. Sdfico =
Pg. Saphico = It. Saffico (cf. G. sapjihisch), < L.
Sapphicns, < Gr. San-^wdf, Sapphic, belonging to
Sappho, < XoTTipij, Sappho (see del).] I. a. Of
or pertaining to Sappho, a Greek lyric poetess
of Lesbos (about 600 B. c), famed for the
beauty and passioiiateness of her poems ; in
pros., noting various meters used by the poet-
ess Sappho. See phrases below Greater Sap-
phic meter or verse, a logao^dlc meter consisting of
a third Glyconie and a first I'herecratean (—='1—^1
-ww|_i_ww| — ^1- w)._ Lesser Sapphic meter
orverse, alogaoedicpentapody with a dactyl in the third
place (5; c|_o|_ww|— %^|— s). Also called .Siqjjthic
hindi'caxyllahu- , and simply 5ap;jA(c.— Lesser SapphlC
system, strophe, or stanza, a system fonsissting of three
Suppliic henilt'tasyUHbics. to the last of which an .\donic
(_ v^ s^ [ — w) is subjoined with synaphea as epode. This
strophe was one of the most fre<tuent forms of versifi-
cation in ancient lyric poetry, and was a favorite with
Sappho, AlcteuB, and Horace. Also called simply the
Sapphic stanza.
II. «. A Sapphic verse: used especially of the
Lesser Sapphic verse (hendecasyUabic), and, in
the plural, of the Lesser Sapphic system.
Gregory and some of the Ambrosian authors occasion-
ally wrote in sapphics. Encyc. Brit., XII. 582.
sapphire (saf'ir or saf'fr), n. and a. [Early
mod. E. also saphir; < ME. saphir, saphyre,
safir, safyre, saffer,< OF. saphir, saphyr, safir, F.
saphir = Pr. saphir, softer, safir = 8p. zajir, zdfiro
= Pg. saphira, safira = It. zaffiro, sapphire, < L.
sapphirus (also sappir, LL. also sapphir,<. Heb.),
ML. also saffiriis, safirus, < Gr. aaizipetpo^, sap-
phire, or more prob. lapis lazuli, < Heb. sappir
= Ar. gafir (> Pers. saffir), sapphire.] I. «. 1.
A precious stone next in hardness to the dia-
mond, and nearly as valuable when of fine
quality : a variety of the mineral corundum, it
embraces the ruby, the Oriental amethyst, the Oriental
topaz, and the Oriental emerald ; the name, however. Is
always, except by modern mineralogists, limited to the
transparent blue varieties of corundum. The two shades
most highly valued are that which most closely resembles
the blue of the cornflower and the rich velvety blue
variety. Sapphires are found in Burma, British India, and
Ceylon in Asia, and in Australia ; also in Norih Carolina
and near Helena in Montana.
Flowers purple, blue, and white ;
Like mpphire, pearl, and rich embroidery.
Shak., M. W. of W., V. 75.
His belly Is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires.
Cant. V. 14.
2. The color of the sapphire ; blue.
A livelier emerald twinkles in the grass,
A purer sapphire melts into the sea.
T«nn^Mm, Maud, xviii. 6.
3. In her., a tincture, the color blue, in blazon-
ing by means of precious stones. Compare
sapphire
6/<irOH, «., 2. — 4. In oniitli., a sapphirewiiig:. —
Asteriated SappUre, a sapphire which exhlliits by re-
llei'lea Huht a star nf bright rajs, resulting from its crys-
talline structure — Chatoyant sapphire, a variety nf
Siipphire. souietinies traiislueent alui nearly limpid, re-
Bectiiijt slight tints of blue anil red, and sometimes show-
ing peally retlections— Girasol sapphire, a beautiful
variety of sapphire with a pinkish or bluish opalescence
and a peculiar jilay of light— Green sapphire, the Ori-
ental emerald.— Red sapphire, the Oriental ruby.— Sap-
phire cat's-eye, an imperfect star-sai)phire cut in such
a way that only one band of light is visible.— Star sap-
phire. Same as axleriated sapphire.— Wiolet sapphire,
the Oriental amethyst —White or limpid sapphire, a
colorless or grayish and transparent or translucent variety
of sapphire. — Yellow sapphire, the OrientjU Utpnz. See
eontndum,
H. a. Resembling sapphire ; of a deep bril-
liant blue.
The living throne, the »apphire-hlaze,
Where angels tremble while they gaze,
He saw. Oray, Progresa of Poesy.
sapphirewing (saf'ir-wing), «. A liumTning-
biril of the genus Pierophanes.
sapphirine^ (saf'i-vin), a. [< L. sapphirinus, <
'Gr. aoTfipcipivoc, of the sapphire or lapis lazuli, <
aa-beipoc, sapphire or lapis lazuli : see sapphire
and -inel.] 1. Made of sapphire. — 2. Having
the qualities of sapphire, especially the color.
Compare sapphire, a.
I found the coUiquated mass, npon breaking the cruci-
ble, of a lovely sapphirine blue. Boyle.
Sapphirine gurnard, a flsh, Trigla Mrundo.
sapphirine''^ (saf 'i-rin), n. [< sapphire + -ine".']
1. A blue variety of spinel. — 2. A pale-blue
or greenish mineral occurring in disseminated
grains with mica and anthophyllite in Green-
land: it is a highly basic silicate of aluminium
and magnesium.
sapphism (saf 'izm), n. [< Sap2)ho, Sappho : see
Snpiihic.'] Unnatural sexual relations between
women.
sappho (saf '6), ». [NL., < Gr. Y.aiz^i>, Sappho:
see Sapphic.'] 1. A humming-bird with a long
Sappho (Sappho sparganura),
forked tail, Sappho sparganura. — 2. [cap."] A
genus of such Trochilidee; the comets. See
comet, 3. Reiehenbach, 1849.
sap-pine (sap'pin), n. See jjjncl.
sappiness (sap'i-nes), «. 1. The state or prop-
erty of being sappy, or full of sap ; succulence ;
juiciness. — 2. The state of being sappy or fool-
ish; the character of a saphead; foolishness.
[Colloq.]
sapping (sap'ing), n. [Verbal n. of sap^, v.]
The art of excavating trenches of approach
under the musketry-fire of the besieged.
sapping-machine (sap'ing-ma-shen'), n. A
ciivuliir saw and suw-beneh for sawing bolts for
shingle-stuff. E. H. Kniijht.
sapples (sap'lz), n. pi. [Also serplius; origin
obscure ; by some taken to be a dim. of "sap,
saip, Sc. form of soap.'] Soapsuds. [Scotch.]
Judge of my feelings, when I saw them— rubbin' the
clothes to juggons between their hands, above the gap-
pies. Gait, Ayrshire Legatees, p. 265. (Jainiegon.)
sappy (sap'i), «. [< .ME. sapy, < AS. seeim/,
sappy, < saep, sap : see sap^.] 1. Abounding
with sap; juicy; succulent.
The tappy branches of the Thespian vine
Ne'er cling their less beloved elm so fast.
Quarks, Emblems, iv. 12.
2. Not firm; weak; foolish; silly; sap-head-
ed. [Colloq.]
Thl» yonng prince was brought up among nurses till he
arrived to the age of six yeai-s ; when he had passed this
weak and mppy age, he was committed to Dr. Cox.
Sir J. Hayward.
3t. Softened by putrefaction. [Bare.]
Bapfie or unsavourle flesh.
Baret, Alvearle, 1580. {Latham.)
5340
sapremia, saprsemia (sap-ro'mi-a), «. [NL., <
Gr. aaTTjiuf, rotten, -I- ui//«, blood.] A condition
of blood-poisoning due to the absorption of tox-
ins produced by saprophytes.
sapremic, sapraemiC (sap-re'mik), a. [< sa-
premia + -/(•.] Pertaining to, of the nature
of, or affected with sapremia.
saprogenic (sap-ro-jen'ik), a. Producing de-
cay or putrefaction.
saprogenous (sap-roj'e-nus), a. [< Gr. aanpS^,
rotten, -I- -ycvr/^, producing: see -gen.] Engen-
dered in putridity ; produced in decaying or de-
composing animal or vegetable substances.
Saproharpages (sap-ro-har'pa-jez), n.pl. [NL.,
< Gr. aawpu^, rotten, -t- aprra^ (dpTray-), a robber:
see Harpax.] In ornith.,VD. Sundevall's system
of classification, a group of birds of prey con-
sisting of the Old World vultures, divided into
the two groups of Gypaetinse and Vulturinie.
Saprolegnia (sap-ro-leg'ni-a), 11. [NL. (Nees
von Esenbeek), < Gr. aanpdc, rotten, + Myvov, a
hem, an edge.] A genus of fungi, of the class
Phycomycetaceie, giving name to the order Sa-
prolegniacem. The fllaments are branching, the zoo-
spores* clavate, the oogonia usually polyspored, and the an-
theridia small, ovate or clavate. There are about 25 spe-
cies, of which S. .ferax is well known, as it causes a veiy
destructive disease in salmon and other kinds of flsh. See
mlmon-di'^ease.
Saprolegniaceae (sap-ro-leg-ni-a'se-e), n. pi.
[NL. (IJe Bary), < Saprolegnia + -acese.] A
family of phycomycetous fungi, typified by the
genus Saprolegnia. The plants of this group are sap-
rophytes or parasites, and grow quickly ux)on dead fishes,
insects, etc., being found either in water or in connection
with moist tissues. The vegetative portion is unicellular,
though greatly elongated and branched ; the reproductive
portions only are separated from the rest of the plant- body
by partitions. Reproduction is both asexual and sexual,
the hyphaj producing zoosporangia which are either ter-
minal or seiial ; zoospores usually biciliate ; oogonia one-
to many-spored. There are about 15 genera.
Saprolegnieae (sap"ro-leg-ni'e-e), n. pi. [NL.,
< Saprolegnia + -cse.] Same as Saprolegtiiacese.
sap-roller (sap'r6"lfer), n. A gabion of peculiar
form, cylindrical and carefully made, solid and
stiff, so as to roll evenly, it is pushed before the
first workmen in a besiegers' trench at what is called the
head of the sap to protect them while at work.
Sapromyza (sap-ro-mi'zii), n. [NL. (Fallen,
1810), < Gr. canp6q, rotten, -t- fivZetv, suck.] The
typical genus of Sapromyzidse. It is a large and
wide-spread group of reddish-yellow or dull-black flies,
found commonly about outhouses, whose larva) live in
decaying vegetal^le and animal matter.
Sapromyzidse (sap-ro-miz'i-de), n. pi. [NL.,
< Sapromyza + -idap,.] A family of two-winged
flies, belonging to the Muscidee acalyptratst, hav-
ing a complete neuration, the front with a sin-
gle row of bristles on each side, and a small
erect bristle on the outer side before the end
of the tibia. Loncheea and Sapromyza are the
principal genera.
Saprophagat (sap-rof'a-gii), n.pl. [NL., neut.
pi. of saprophagus : see saprophagous.] In
entom., a group of lamellicorn beetles whieli
feed on decomposing animal and vegetable sub-
stances ; the saphropliagans,
saprophagan(sap-rof'a-gan),n. [< Saprophaga
-I- -an.] A member of the Saproj>haga.
saprophagous (sap-rof 'a-gus), a. [< NL. sapro-
jihagus,<.GT. aairpdg, rotten, -I- ^ayelv, eat.] Feed-
ing on putrid matter; habitually eating decay-
ing substances ; specifically, of or x>ertaining to
the Saprophaga.
saprophilous (sap-rof'i-lus), a. [< Gr. aavpo^,
rotten, -I- ^(Aof, loving.] Same as saprophytic:
as, a saprophilous organism.
saprophsrte (sap'ro-fit), «. [< Gr. aavp6g, rotten,
+ tpvrSv, a plant.] In hot., a plant that grows
on decaying vegetable matter, as many species
of fungi, the In(liaii-])i]H', etc. Also called hu-
mns-plant. See hysUrophyte and Fungi.
In parasites and plants growing on decaying vegetable
matter (saprophytes) which are destitute of chlorophyll,
the scales are the only foliar structures of the vegetative
parts. Sachs,
Facultative saprophyte, fiee facultative.
saprophytic (sap-ro-fit'ik), a. [< saprophyte +
-ic.] 1 . Pertaining to or of the nature of sapro-
phytes ; growing on decaying vegetable matter.
See Perisporiacese. — 2. In zool., engendered or
growing in putrid infusions, as one of number-
less infusorial animalcules ; saprogenous : op-
posed to holophytic.
saprophytically (sap-ro-fit'i-kal-i), adv. As or
in the manner of a saprophyte.
liyphomycetous fungi have been found occasionally to
occur saprophytically in the intestinal canal.
Nature, XXXV. 344.
saprophytism (sap'ro-fi-tizm), n. [< sapro-
phyte + -istn.] The state of being saprophytic ;
Sarabaitse
the state of living on decaying vegetable mat-
ter.
SaprOStomous (sap-ros'to-mus), a. [< Gr. aa-
7Tp6<;, rotten, -¥ aru/ia, mouth.] Having a foul
breath.
sap-rot (sap'rot), n. Dry-rot in timber.
sapsagO (sap'sa-go), »». [A corruption, simulat-
ing a compound of '
ziegcr (also called
Sapsucker {Sfkyroptcus varttts)
sap'^ + sago, of G. schah-
ziegcr-kase), Swiss green
cheese partly prepared from vegetables, < seha-
ben, shave, scrape, pare ( = E. share), + zieger,
whey, posset.] A kind of hard cheese, made
in Switzerland, having a greenish color, and
flavored with melilot.
sap-shield (sap 'sheld ), m. A steel plate mounted
on wheels, designed to give cover to the sapper
in a single sap, where the earth thrown up by
him is insufficient for shelter.
sapsknll (sap'skul), n. Same as saphead.
[Prov. Eug.]
sapsucker (sap'suk"6r), n. The popular name
in the United States of all the small spotted
woodpeckers : so
called from being
supposed to suck
the sap of trees.
The commonest species
to which the name ap-
plies are the hairy or
greater spotted wood-
pecker, Picus inttosus;
thedownyorlesser spot-
ted woodpecker, Pictis
puhescens ; the red-bel-
lied woodpecker, Ceniu-
run carritinus ; and the
yellow-bellied. But the
name properly applies
only to the yellow-bel-
lied or sap -sucking
woodpeckers of the
genus Sphyropicug,
which have the tongue
non-extensile, brushy
instead of barbed, and
do much damage by de-
nuding fruit-trees of
their bark to get at
the alburnum or sap-
wood, upon which they largely feed. See also cut under
Ce7ltur^lg.
Of the several small species commonly called sapsuckers,
they alone deserve the name.
Coues, Key to N. A. Birds, p. 4a'i.
sap-sucking (sap'suk"ing), a. Feeding on al-
burnum or sap-wood, as a woodpecker ; belong-
ing to the genus Sphyropicus. Coues.
sap-tube (sap'tub), n. A vessel that conveys sap.
sapucaia (sap-o-ki'a), n. [Nh.zabucajo ; < Braz.
sapucaia (?).] The tree that yields the sapu-
caia-nut.
sapucaia-nut (sap-o-kl'a-nut), n. The edible
seed of Lecythis Zabucajo&wA L. Ollaria of South
America. The seed of the latter species yields an oil
analogous to that of the Brazil-nut, serving for fond-nse
and soap-making, but soon becoming rancid. See Lecylhis.
sapucaia-oil (sap-ij-ki'a-oil), n. See sapucaia-
nut.
sap-wood (sap'wiid), ». Alburnum.
Sapyga (sa-pi'gil), n. [NL. (Latreille, 1796);
formation obscure.] A genus of digger-wasps,
typical of the family Sapygidx. having distinct
ocelli and the male antennae thickened at the
tip. Eight European and twice as many North American
species have been described. They are inquilinous in the
nests of wild bees. S. ptoictata and 5. clavicomis are two
European species.
Sapygidae (sa-pij'i-de), n. pi. [NL. (Leach,
1819), < Sapyga -H -idee.] A family of fossorial
hymenopterous insects, named from the genus
Sapyga, comprising rather small, smooth, slen-
der forms, often ornamented witli yellow. It
is a small group, and all the forms are sup-
posed, like Sapyga, to be inquiline.
Sapygites (sap-i-ji'tez). n. pi. [NL., < Sapy-
ga -\- -itcs.] In Latreille's classification, a di-
vision of fossorial liymenopterous insects, con-
sisting of the genus Sapyga and its allies, and
including, besides, certain forms now placed
in the families Scoliidse and Mutillidse.
saque, n. A variant of sacV^.
sarlf, a. A Middle English form of sore\
sar' ~
go, < L. sargus,
as sargo.
Several of them occur in the Mediterranean and the
neighboring parts of the Atlantic, and are popularly called
Sargo. Sar, and Saragu, names derived from the v.-ord Sar-
gus, by which name these fishes were well known to the
ancient Greeks and Romans.
Giinther, Study of Fishes, p. 46,5.
Sarabaitse (sar-a-bii'i-te), n. pi. [< LL. Sara-
baif/p, also Sarahoitse (?); appar. of Egyptian
origin.] See liemoboth.
(sar), n. [Appar. a dial. abbr. of Sp. sar-
a sea-fish : see Sargus.] ' Same
if
Sarabaite
Sarabaite (sar-a-ba'it), «. [= F. sarabaite: see
Sdidliiiilic] Oue of the Sarabaita?.
saraband (sar'a-baml), )i. [= (t. xarabande, <
F. xiiialxiiule = It. sartihuHiia, < Sp. carabanda
= Pg. sarahuiuta, a dance of Moorish origin ;
[lerhaps ult. < Pers. xiirbaiid, a fillet for fas-
tening a woman's head-Jress, < sar, head (=
Or. aapa, head : see cheii), + band, a band : see
ft«nfp.] 1. A slow and stately dance of Span-
ish origin, primarily for a single dancer, but
later used as a eontra-<lanee. It was originally ac-
cuinpanied by singing, and at one time was severely cen-
sured for its immoral character.
A mrahand dance t>y a Moor constantly formed part of
the entertjiinment at a puppet-show ; and this dance was
always performed with the castanets,
StTutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 310,
2. Music for such a dance or in its rhythm,
which is triple and slow, usually with adecided
iiiiphasis upon the second beat of the measure.
In the old sutt^f, the saraband was the distinctively slow
movement, and was usually placed before the gigae.
How they are tickled
With a light air, the twwdy taraband !
B. Jonaony Staple of News, iv. 1.
The canticles are changed to mrabandt.
IxmafeUow, .Spanish Student, L 3.
Saracen (sar'a-sen), h. [Early mod, E. also
Sitraciiii also dial, garsen (see below); < ME.
-'iracen, xarezyn, saresgn, mrygync, < OF. "sara-
< III, snrraciH, sarra:in, sarracen, F. iiarrajsin =
sp. saraccno = Pg. sarraceiio = It. sarnciiio (G.
-iiraeene), < LL. Sararrtiun, pi. Saraceiii, a peo-
ple of Arabia Felix, ML. Arabians, Arabs,
Moors, < LGr. XapaKr/v6(, Saracen, < Ar. sharqin,
I 1. of shiirqiij. eastern, sunny. Oriental, < gharq,
ust, ri.'<ing .sun, < nharaqa, rise. Cf. sarsenet,
iirramii, sinx'co, from the same Ar. source.] 1.
V name given by the later Romans and Greeks
<i the nomadic tribes on the Syrian borders of
the Koman empire; after the introduction of
.Mohammedanism, an Arab; by extension ap-
plied to Turks and other Mohammedans, and
even to all non-Christian peoples against whom
f, a crusade was preached.
Lease worth am I then any Saryiffiie,
WUche is in beluue of soqr Hanoand !
Jtom. 0/ Partrtmy (E. £, T. a), L SOS.
8f. One who continued to use the old low-
fnmed Saracenic loom in the production of
• arras or Saracenic tapestry, as ilistingui.shed
from those who adnpte<l the high frame Saia-
oen'i oomfreT, consoiind, and woundwort, old names
of a species of raifwort, Snieeto miraeeniemi, sai<l to have
been esteemed by the Saracens for healing wounds. —
■armcan's com or wheat, the connnoTj inukwhtat: a
nam* alhiding to its AsUtii; origin.— Saracen's stone, a
' .'hen In variouspartsof aoutbemand soathwestem
I totilocksofaandstoDewbicbliescatteredoTertbe
;>nd which ai« of Eocene Tertiary ice, belDg the
II iii-s Iff what was once a contlnooos covering of this
I'Tk extending over the chalk-downs of that region. It
I' of these lilocks that Stonehenge and other so-called
"drniiliralrirclea' were ha lit. Also called 5anni'« ifone,
Martrn. ami :rrttywiUteT.
Saracenic (sar-a-sen'ik), a. [= F. garraci-
'i<liie (ct. (f. Sdracenisch), < ML. Saraceniciis,
■^^iracenic, < Llj. Sararenux, Saracen : see Sara-
• ■I «.] Of or pertaining to the Saracens.
The Saracrnic niusic of the challengers concluded one
cif those lont' and hifh tlonrishes with which they liad
liroken the i<ilini:e of the lists. .SeoW, Ivanhoe, viii,
Saracenic architecture, a general name covering all
' \ Ifs of Mohammedan architecture, wherever
Vraliic, Moorish, Alhambraic, and Inilian-
t' ^. Itespfte local and race ditTe^ence^ all
> Its bear a (imlly reeenib|ance U) one another ; In
:.
I
;, 'i{ SiilLiii Uuniayun, Dellil.
• 11 orcnr. as f'*ntnrw of constmctlon. the pointed (often
' ' •• . • ,,.,! („ft,.p bullious) dome, and
> in arabes4|Ui>. with fre^iuetit
I ical design iti pigments. S(K3
Aii,n,„',r.tir, ,\„ir,i,- .t/o'/nj. if ooTuA. — Bkracenlc worlc,
Saracenic fabric, an early name for tapestry.
5341
Saracenical (sar-a-sen'i-kal), a. [< Saracenic
+ -<//.] Same as Saracenic. See the quotation
from Purchas under hatch'^, r. t., '1.
saracenicum (sar-a-sen'i-kum), n. [ML., neut.
of Saracenicus, Saracenic: see Saracenic and
sarsenet. ] Sarsenet.
Saracenism (sar'a-sen-izm), n. [< Saracen +
-ism.] Mohammedanism.
AllKorraigners, Christian, Mahometan, or Heathen, who
come into this Island, . . . may easily see such sights as
rather proclaim Saracenigm. Barbarism, and Atheisme
than such a sense of Christianisme as possessed our noble
Progenitors.
Bp. Oauden, Tears of the Church, p. 556. {Daviet.}
saragn (sar'a-go), n. Same as sargo.
sarangousty (sar-an-gSs'ti), n. A material
obtained from a mixture of stucco with some
w^ater-proof substance, and used, either in a
continuous sheet or in square tiles, as a pre-
servative of walls, etc., from damp.
Sarapis, ». See Scrapis.
sarasin, ". See sarrasin.
Saraswati (sa-ras'wa-te), «. [Hind.] In Hirtd.
myth., the goddess of speech, music, arts, and
letters.
saran (sar'A), n. [E. Ind.] A kind of goat-
antelope of India, .y(!>>NorA^u« rubidus, Encyc.
Brit., XII. 742.
sarawaklte (sar-a-wak'it), n. [< Sarawak (see
def.) + -itc2.] In mineral., a compound of an-
timony occurring in minute colorless or pale-
yellow octahedrons with the native antimony
of Sarawak in Borneo: the exact composition
is unkiio«Ti.
sarbacand (sar'ba-kand), n. Same assarbacane.
These (the first tools) were invented, not by one man,
nor at one spot upon the earth, but by many, and at points
very distant from one another. Thus originated levers,
rollers, wedges, and axes ; clnbs and spears ; slings, aarba.
eaitdt, lassos ; bows and arrows : etc.
. /'op. Sci. Mo., July, 1878, p. 258.
sarbacane (sftr'ba-kan), n. [OP. sarbacanc,
also.sar/«ita»«e(Cotgrave).] A blow-gun. Com-
pare snmpitan.
sarbitt, interj. An exclamation of sorrow.
[Scotch.]
"O mtrbar says the Udie Maisery,
"That ever the like betide."
Lnrd Wa'yataand Auld Ingram (Child's Ballads, II. 331)l
SaTC^Sm (sfir'kazm), n. [< F. sarcasnte = Pr.
Sp. Pg, It. sarcojtmo, < L. sarcasmus, sareasmos,
< Gr. oapnaofiii, a sneer, < aapxaCriv, tear flesh
like dogs, bite the lips in rage, sneer, < aap^
(ffop*.-), flesh,] A biting taunt or gibe, or the
use of such a taunt; a bitter, cutting expres-
sion ; a satirical remark or expression, uttered
with scorn or contempt; in rhetoric, a form of
irony ; bitter irony.
When we deride with a oertalnc aeueritle, we may call
It the bitter Uunt [Ssraumiul,
Pntlenham, Arte of Eng. Poesle (Arher reprint), p. 200.
It wastheMiKasm of Montesquieu, " It would not do to
supposetbatnegroesweremen, lest it should turn out that
whites were not." JBmtrmm. West ln<1iHn Emancipation.
=8]m. Irony, eto. (see latirr), taunt, fling.
sarcasmoTUt (sSr-kaz'mus), a. [< sarcasm +
-"w.v.j Sarcastic.
When he gets a mtreamnmtji paper against the Crown,
well backed with authoritv or quality, then he pours it out
at full length. Koger Xorth, Kxanien, p. 98. (Ztansi.)
Like th' Hebrew calf, and down Ijefore It
The saints fell prostrate, to adore It;
So say the wicked — and will you
Make that aareosmotu scandal true,
By running after dogs and bears?
Beasts more unclean than calves or steers.
5. Butler, Hndlbia^ I. U. STO.
sarcastic (s&r-kas'tik), a. [< F. sarcattique =
Sp. sarcdstico = Pg. It. sarcastico (f ), < Gr. *aap-
KotrriKdi, sarcastic, < oapK&C,ttv, sneer: see sar-
eaaiH.'] Characterized by sarcasm ; bitterly cut-
ting; scornfully severe ; taunting.
What a fierce and aareaatUk reprehension wonid this
have drawn from the friendship of the world ! Smith.
The mrcaMie bitterness of his conversation disgusted
those who were more inclined to accuse his licentiousness
tliHii their own degeneracy. Maeavlay, Machiavelli.
sarcasticalt (siir-kas'ti-kal), a. {(.sarcastic +
-at.] Sarcastic.
He sets it down after this tareaftieal manner.
Slrypt, MemorhUs, Edw. 'VI., U, 16.
sarcastically (siir-kas'ti-kal-i), nrfv. In a sar-
castic manner; with bitter taunt.
The deist Collins 8aid,sarcasMca//;/, that nobody doubted
the existence of the Deity until the Boyle lecturers had
undertaken to prove it.
Udu Stephen, Eng. Thought, il. { 0.
Sarcet, «. and v. See sarse.
sarcel (siir'sel). «, [Also sercel; < OF. cercel,
a, circle, hoop, bend, the pinion or outer joint
of a hawk's wing, < L. circellus, dim. of circu-
SarciophoruB
te, a ring, circle : see circle.'} In falconry , the
pinion or outer joint of a hawk's wing.
Shaking on their sinnewie side
Their long strong sarcels, richly triple-died
Gold-Azure-Crimsin, th' one aloft doth soar
To Palestine, th' other to >'ilus shoare.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Magnificence.
sarcel^, sarcell6e (siir-se-la'), «. [< OF. ccr-
ccle, pp. of cerccler, < cercel, a circle, hoop: see
sarcel.'l Same as sarceled C^oas sarceld. See
cross^.
sarceled, sarcelled (siir'seld), «. [< sarcel +
-crfs.] In /((•)•., cut through the middle: espe-
cially noting a beast or bird represented as
so divided, and used as a bearing, the halves
placed saltierwise or in some other way. Also
cloven — (S'oss sarceled resarceled. .See erogsi.—
Demi-sarceled, in her. . jmrtly cut tliiough, or hiiving a
deep notch or several notches cut in it: an epithet loosely
used to denote various methods of notching or voiding :
thus, a cross demi-sarceled has a square notch cut in each
of its four extremities.
sarcelle (sax-sel'), ». [P., also cercelle, a teal:
see cirrcl.^ A kind of duck ; especially, a teal,
as the j,'aif;aiiey, Qiicrquediila circia. Also sercel.
sarcenchymatous (siir-seng-kim'a-tus), a. [<
sarccndiumc (NL. 'sarcenchymu(i-)) + -ous.]
Soft or fleshy, as a certain connective tissue of
sponges ; of or pertaining to sareenchyme.
sarcenchyme (sar-seng'kim), «. [< NL, *sar-
ccnchijma, < Gr, aap^ (aapK-), flesh, + iyxv/ia, an
infusion: see enchymatous.'] One of the soft
tieshy connective tissues of sponges, considered
to be a modification of coUeiichyme, consisting
of small polygonal granular cells either closely
contiguous or separated by a very small quan-
tity of structureless j^elatinous matrix.
Sareenchyme would appear to originate from a densely
granubir collenchyme, SoUas, Encyc. Brit, XXII. 419.
sarcenet, ". See sarsenet.
Sarcicobrachiata (siir'si-k6-brak-i-a'ta), n. pi.
[NL., < Gr. aapKiK6(, fleshy (i aap^ (aapK-j, flesh),
+ L. brachium, arm : see brachiate.^ In some
systems, an order of brachiopods whose fleshy
arms have no shelly support, composed of the
families tHscinidie, Craniidse, and Lingulidse;
the inarticulate or lyopomatous brachiopods.
See hyopomata. Also Sarcohrachiata.
Sarcidiomls (siir-sid-i-dr'nis), ». [NL. (Eyton,
lH:t8, ill form Sarkidionis), < Gr. capxiSiov, a bit
of flesh (dim. of oriof (aapK-), flesh), + dpvi(,
bird.] A genus of Indian and African spur-
winged geese of the subfamily Plectropterime,
the type of which is S. mclanoniitiw.
Sarciiia (sar-si'na), w. [NL. (Goodsir, 1842),
< L. sarcina, a bundle, < sarcire, patch, mend.]
1. A genus of schizomycetous fungi or bac-
teria, closely allied to the genus Bacterium.
It Is characterized by having the cells Ultited in small but
fixed numbers in regular families; the cells are globular,
dividing ill two or three planes: daughter-cells a long
time united, forming little solid or tubular families, which
are often again united into larger colonies; the families
usually consist of four or stnne multiple of four cells.
They are found In various organic fluids, especially those
of the stomach, occurring in tK>th lleiilth ami ilisense.
There are alxjut 1.'. spedcs or forms recognized, of which
S. ventrieuli occurs In the stomach of healthy and dis-
eased man and the higher animals ; S. vrittte occqrs In
the bladder; .*?. Httoratijt in putrid sea-water; 5. hyatina
in swamps ; .S. Virch'ncii in the lungs, etc.
2. [/. <■.] I'l. sarcina (-ne). A fungus of the
genus Sareina.
sarcinseform (sar-si'ne-fflrm), a. r< NL. Sar-
cina + L. forma, form,] In 6o<,, having the
form or shape of plants of the genus Sarcina.
sarcine (siir'sin), m. [Also sarkin; < Gr. aap-
(c/jwc, of flesh, < oript (aapK-), flesh.] A weak
organic base (C5H4N4O) existing in the juice
of muscular flesh : same as hypoxanthinc.
sarclnic (sar-sin'ik), a. [< sarcina + -ic.'i Of
or pertaining to, or caused by, sarcinae : as, sar-
cinic fermentation.
sarcinnla (sar-sin'u-la), n.; pi. sarcinulfe (-le).
[NL., < L. sarcinnla, dim. of sarcina, a bundle:
see sarrina.] Same as sarcina, 2.
Sarciophorus (sar-si-of'o-rus), ». [NL. (Strick-
laiiil, 1841 ), < Gr. aapKinv, a bit of flesh, + fipiw
= E. fccflr'.] A genus of spur-winged plovers,
or wattled lapwings, of the family Cliaradriida;
without any hind toe, with the wattles small,
and the spur almost or quite obsolete. The type
of the genus Is the crested wattled lapwing, S. tectvs, of
Arabia and some parts of Afrit-a, having a long pointed
black crest when adult, and a band of black feathers fnmi
the neck along the bn-ast ; the primary coverts and the
bases of all the primaries white, and the terminal half of
the outermost secondaries black. The Wnck-brcastcd wat-
tled la|>wlnK is S. pecloratis. of Australia and I'asniania;
S. malabaricus is the Inilinn representative, and type of a
subgenus Lobiptuvia. The African .S'. alliiceps. the black-
shouldered or white-crowneil wattled lapwing, Is more
aberrant, with better-develope<l wattles and spurs, and
gives rise to the generic name .VipAidiopterus (which see).
sarcitis
sarcitis (sar-si'tis), H. [NL.. < Gr. adp^ {aapK-),
ttesli. + •iti,s.'\ Same as myositis.
sarclet (sSr'kl), c. t. [Early mod. E. also sarkle ;
< OF. (and F.) sarcler, F. dial. (Norm.) jcrcir,
sercler = Pr. salclar, serdar = Pg. sachar = It.
sarchiarc, < LL. sarcttlare, hoe, < L. sarculus,
sarciilum, a hoe, < sarrire {sarire), weed, hoe.]
To weed with a hoe or some similar tool.
To tarUe, to harrow, or rake orer at;ayne.
Flario, p. 444.
sarcobasis (sar-kob'a-sis), n. [NL., < Gr. <jdpf
(capn-), llesh, + /ido'f, a step, foot, base : see
2x1^, hase-.~\ In hot., an indehiscent, many-
celled superior fruit, contaBiing but few seeds ;
a carcerule. The cells cohere to a common
style, as about a common axis.
Saircobatidese (siir-kob-a-tid'e-e), n. pi. [NL.
(Bentham and Hooker, 1880)'. < Sarcobatus +
-idese.'] A tribe of apetalous plants of the order
Cheiiopodiaceas, consisting of the monotypic ge-
nus Sarcobatus.
SarcobatOS (sar-kob'a-tus), n. [NL. (Nees,
1817), so called from its habit and resemblance,
< Gr. adpi (aapK-), flesh, + fiaric, samphire.] An
anomalous genus of apetalous plants, constitut-
ing the tribe Sarcobatidex in the order Chenopo-
diacex. it is char-
acterized by it*
monoecious bract-
less Mowers, the
8taminat^; in cat-
kins and without
any floral envelops,
the pistillate soli-
tary in the axils,
and having their
top-shaped peri-
anth wholly con-
fluent with the ova-
ry, which is ti-ans-
versely thickened
above and termi-
nated by two fleshy
recurving stigmas,
and which contains
a single pear-
shaped ovule. The
fruit is a rigid mem-
branaceous utricle,
surrounded by a
thin and veiny hori-
zontal wing, and
containing an erect
orbicular seed, with
green spiral embryo
and inferior radicle.
The only species, 5f.
vermiculatus, is ana-
five of the western
United States, and
is an erect much-
branched spiny shrub, with numerous alternate leaves,
which are linear, sessile, and somewhat fleshy, and cylin-
drical catkins ^ijith persistent scales. It is known as
greasewood, and is the principal shrub called by that name.
sarcoblast (siir'ko- blast), n. [< Gr. ddpf
((japn-), flesh, + jiAacriQ, a germ.] The germ
of sarcode ; a germinating particle of sarcode,
or sarcodous blastema.
sarcoblastic (sar-ko-blas'tik), a. [< sarcoblast
+ -(c] Germinating or budding, as sarcode ;
pertaining to a sarcoblast.
Sarcoborinse (sar"ko-b6-ri'ne), n. pi. [NL.
(M'Clellaud, 1838), <'Gr. odpf {aapK-), flesh, +
fiopd^, devouring.] A subfamily of cyprinoid
fishes, distinguished by a short intestinal canal
and adaptation for a carnivorous diet. It in-
cludes the Leuciscitiee, and numerous other rep-
resentatives of the family Cyprinidse.
Sarcobrachiata (siir-ko-brak-i-a'ta), n. pi.
Same as •Sarcicobrachiaia.
Sarcocarp (sar'ko-kiirp), n. [< Gr. adp^ (aapK-),
flesh, + KapTrS^, fruit.] In bot., the fleshy part
of certain fruits, placed between the epicarp
and the endoearp ; the meaocarp. It is that part of
fleshy fruits which is usually eaten, as in the peach, plum,
etc. See memcarp, and cuts under drupe and endoearp.
Sarcocele (siir'ko-sel), «. [< Gr. aapKOKijIii, a
fleshy excrescence on thescrotum,< nip^ {aapK-),
flesh, + KJiTiT], a tumor.] A fleshy tumor of the
testis, as a carcinoma or sarcoma.
Sarcoceplialese (siir"ko-se-fa'le-e), n. pi, [NTj.
(A. P. lie Oandolle, 1830), < Sarcocephalus +
-e«.] A subtribe of plants of the order Rubia-
cese, typified by the genus Sarcocexihalus.
Sarcocephalus (sar-ko-sef'a-lus), n. [NL. (A.
Afzeliiis. 1 S:;4), so called in allusion to the fleshy
mass formed by both flowers and fruit; < Gr.
odpf (aapn-), flesh, + xe^a/,?), head.] A genus of
gamopetalous plants of the order Miibiaceee and
tribe Naueleem, type of the subtribe Sarcoce-
phalus, It is characterized by a somewhat funnel-
shaped corolla with five or six rounded lobes above, and
below a very smooth throat l>earing five or six stamens, and
by a two-celled ovary with nnnierous ovules imbricated
over placentee which are pendulous from the sunmiit of
Greasewood {Sarcobatus vermicula/iti).
I, branch with female flowers ; 2. branch
with fruits ; a, a female flower ; h, the fruit.
5342
each cell. There are about 8 species, natives of the tropics
in Asia, Africa, and Australia. They are shrubs and trees,
or sometimes climbers, with opposite rigid leaves, con-
spicuous triangular or obovate stipules between the peti-
oles, and white or yellow terminal and axillary or some-
times panicled flower-heads. The fruit is a fleshy syn-
carp containing thin membranous partitions, with a few
minute seeds in each carpel. (For S. esculentus, also known
as country-Jig, see Guinea peach, under peach^.) Several
species produce a medicinal bark. See African cinchona
(under cinchona) and doundaM bark (under bark^).
sarcocol (siir'ko-kol), n. [< NL. sarcocoUa, <
L. sarcocoUa, < Gr. aapnoKdXka, a Persian gum,
< adpi (aapK-), flesh, 4- xd/lXa, glue.] A semi-
transparent solid substance, imported from
Arabia and Persia in grains of a light-yellow or
red color.
sarcocoUa (siir-ko-kora), n. [< L. sarcocoUa,
< Gr. aapKOK&J.a, a Persian gum: see sarcocol.'\
1. Same as snrcoco(. — 2. [cop.] [NL. (Kunth,
1830).] A genus of apetalous shrubs of the
order Penseacex, It is characterized by flowers with
a long cylindrical perianth-tube which bears four valvate
and strongly recurved lobes, and incloses four stamens, a
cylindrical style with a terminal four-lobed stigma, and
an ovary of four cells each with either two or four erect
ovules. There are 9 or 10 species, all natives of South
Africa. They are diminutive shrubs with large flowers,
and in the type, S. squamosa, with large and colored floral
leaves fllledwith a copious liquid varnish. They resemble
in habit the closely related genus Pemea. The substance
known as sarcocol, the anzeroot of the Ai'abs and the gtijara
of the Hindus, an ancient drug still much used medicinally
in India, was formerly supposed to be obtained from plants
of the genus SarcocoUa or Penxa ; but it comes from Ara-
bia and Persia, where these do not grow, and is perhaps
from plants of the genus Astra<)alug.
Sarcocollin (sar-ko-kol'iu), n. [< sarcocoUa +
-Hi2.] Same as sarcocol.
SarcOCystidia(sar"ko-8is-tid'i-a), n.x)l. [NL.,
< Sarcocystis + -idia.'] A division of Sporozoa,
formed for the reception of the genera Sarco-
cystis and Amcebidimn, members of which are
found parasitic in the muscular tissues of many
animals. Biitschli.
sarcocystidian (sar"ko-sis-tid'i-an), a. and n,
I. a. Of or pertaining to the Sarcocystidia.
II. M. A member of the Sarcocystidia,
Sarcocystis (sar-ko-sis'tis), n. [NL., < Gr.
anp^ {aapK-), flesh, -I- KvaTi(, the bladder: see
cyst,'i A genus of parasitic sporozoans, giving
name to the Sarcocystidia.
Sarcodaria (sar-ko-da'ri-a), M. pi, [NL., < Gr.
aapKCM^f, flesh-like, + -aria.] In H. Milne-Ed-
wards's classification (1855), the second sub-
branch of his fourth branch Zoophytes, distin-
guished from his liadiaria (or echinoderms,
acalephs, and polyps), and composed of the
two classes Infusoria and Spougiaria, It thus
corresponds to Protozoa with the inclusion
therein of the sponges.
sarcode (sar'kod), n, and a, [< Gr. capKaSr^,
contr. of aapaouSiiq, flesh-like: see sarcoid.']
I. n. Dujardin's name of the primitive indiffer-
ent substance of all animal bodies, as observed
by him in certain protozoans : subsequently
named and now usually called j>rotoplasm or
bioplasm.
II. a, Sarcodie or sarcodous ; protoplasmic.
Sarcodea (sar-ko'de-a), n. pi. [NL. : see sar-
code.] Sarcodie animals, consisting chiefly or
entirely of sarcode : a loose synonym of Proto-
zoa. Also Sarcoidea.
sarcoderm (sar'ko-.derm), n. [< NL. sarcoder-
ma, < Gr. aap^ (aapn-), flesh, + oep/ia, skin.] In
bot., the middle fleshy layer in the testa of some
seed, especially when it becomes succulent.
sarcoderma (sar-ko-der'mS), K. [NL. : see sar-
ciiderm,] Same as sarcoderm,
Sarcodes(sar-kd'dez), n, [NL. (Torrey, 1850),
so called with ref. to the red fleshy stem ; < Gr.
aapniiSriQ, flesh-like: see sarcode.] A genus of
gamopetalous plants of the order Monotropeee,
It is characterized by the absence of a disk and the pres-
ence of five concave and glandular-haii-y persistent sep-
als, a bell-shaped corolla with live short erect lobes, ten
stamens with anthers erect in the bud, and a flve-lobed
ovary surmounted by a columnar style with a five-lobed
stigma. The five ovary-cells contain very numerous
ovules crowded on fleshy and two-lobed placentae, and
ripening into extremely minute ovoid seeds. The only
species, S. sanguinea, is a native of the Sierra Nevada in
California, and is known as snow-plant from the place of
its growth. It is a leafless parasitic herb, like the Indian-
pipe and others of its family, and bears numerous erect
red flowers on a dense spike-like bracted raceme. The
robust and fleshy stem is thickly covered with scales, and
produces a coral-like mass of roots at its base. The whole
plant is of a flesh-red color, and covered well to the base
with crowded and persistent flowers.
sarcodie (sar-kod'ik), a, [< sarcode + -ic]
Same as sarcodous, Darwin,
sarcodous (siir'ko-dus), a. [< sarcode + -oiis.]
Pertaining to sarcode; containing or consist-
ing of sarcode ; resembling sarcode ; sarcodie ;
protoplasmic.
sarcomatous
SarCOgnomy (sitr-kog'no-mi), >i. [< Gr. aap(
(napK-), flesh, + '•ji'ufir/, thought, judgment.]
A study of corporeal development which seeks
to explain the relations and correspondences
between the body and the brain, and to show
the corresponding physiological and psychical
powers in each. J. B. Buchanan, 1842.
sarcoid (silr'koid), a. and n. [< Gr. aapKocifir/i:,
flesh-like, fleshy, < adp^ (aapK-), flesh, + fMof,
form; cf. sarcode.] I. a. Resembling flesh;
fleshy, as the soft tissue of a sponge. •
II. n. A particle of the sarcoid tissue of a
sponge.
Sarcoidea (sar-koi'de-a), n. pi. [NL.] Same
as Sarcodea.
Sarcolactic (sar-ko-lak'tik), a. [< Gr. crripf
(aapK-), flesh,-!- L. lac(lact-),Ta\\k,+ -ic] Used
only in the following phrase Sarcolactic acid.
.^ame as paralactic acid (which see, under paralactic).
sarcolemma (siir-ko-lem'a), «.; pi. sarcolcm-
mtita (-a-tii). [NL.', < Gr. adp^ (aapK-), flesh, +
'Ai/i/m, husk, skin.] An elastic transparent
structureless membrane which forms a tubular
sheath enveloping and supporting each fiber
(bundle of fibrilhe) of striped muscular tissue,
excepting that of the heart. See muscnlar tis-
sue, under muscular.
The sarcolemma is not contractile, but its elasticity al-
lows it to adjust itself, pretty accurately, to the changes
of form of the contractile substance which it contains.
Huxley, El em. Physiol., p. 327.
sarcolenimic(sar-ko-lem'ik), a. [(.sarcolemma
+ -ic] Investing or sheathing muscular fiber ;
having the character of, or pertaining to, sarco-
lemma: as, a sarcolemmic tissue or sheath.
sarcolemmous (sar-ko-lem'us), a, [< sarco-
lemma + -ous.] Of, pertaining to, or of the
nature of sarcolemma; resembling sarcolemma.
Sarcolemur (silr-ko-le'mer), n, [NL. (Cope,
1875), < Gr. adp^ (aapn-), flesh, + NL. Leviur,]
A genus of extinct Eocene mammals from the
Bridger beds of North America, presumably
of lemuroid affinities, having quinquetuber-
culate lower molars, the fifth cusp separated
from the anterior inner one by an apical fissure
only.
Sarcolite (silr'ko-lit), «. [< Gr. (jdpf (aapK-),
flesh, -I- /.('Sof, a stone.] A silicate of alumin-
ium, calcium, and sodium, occurring in reddish
tetragonal crystals near Vesuvius: it is related
in form to the scapolites.
Sarcolobe (sar'ko-lob), n. [< Gr. ffdpf {capK-),
flesh, + /o/3df , a lobe. ] In /jo<., a thick fleshy
cotyledon, such as that of the bean or pea.
sarcologic (sar-ko-loj'ik), a. [< sarcolog-y +
-ic] Of or pertaining to sarcology.
sarcological (sar-ko-loj'i-kal), n. [< sarcologic
+ -ah] Same as sarcologic,
sarcologist (sar-kol'o-jist), n, [< sarcolog-y +
-ist,] One who is versed in sarcology.
sarcology (sar-kol'o-ji), )i. [< Gr. odpf (."apu-),
flesh, + -Aoyia, < Aeyeir. speak : see -ology,] The
science of the soft or fleshy parts of the body :
a department of anatomy distinguished from
osteology. [Not in use.]
sarcoma (sar-ko'ma), n. ; pi. sarcomata or sar-
comas (-ma-ta, -maz). [NL., < Gr. aapKufia, a
fleshy excrescence. < capKovv, make fleshy, aap-
KovaSai, produce flesh, < adp^ (aapn-), flesh.] 1.
In 6of., a fleshy disk. Henslow, — 2. Injyathol,,
a tumor composed of tissue resembling embry-
onic connective tissue. The sarcomas are of
varying, usually high, grades of malignancy. —
Alveolar aarcoma. See alveolar — Giant-celled sar-
coma, a kind of sarcoma formed chiefly of spheroidal or
fusiform cells of variable size, but characterized by the
presence of larger and smaller multinuclear cells called
giant-cells. Also called myeloid sarcoma. — Myelogenic
sarcoma, a sarcoma arising in the bone-marrow. — Mye-
loid sarcoma. Same as giant-celled sarcoma. — Osteoid
sarcoma, a mixed tumor consisting in part of the tissue
of fibrosarcoma and round-celled sarcoma, and, mingled
with this, immature bone-tissue in varying amounts. Also
called malignant osteoma and osteoid cancer, — ParoSteal
sarcoma, a sarcoma growing close to the outside of the
periosteum. — Periosteal sarcoma, a s.arcoma arising in
the periosteum.— Roimd-celled sarcoma, a sarcoma in
which the cells are round, but may be lai-ge or small. The
round-celled sarcomata are frequently very malignant,
rapid in growth, soft, vascular, and were formerly called
medullary cancers. — Spindle- celled SaTCOma, a sarcoma
with fusiform cells, large or small. When the intercellu-
lar substance is abundant, it is sometimes called fibrosar-
coma, and is a form transitional in a fibroma, 'the spin-
dle-celled Storcomas include forms formerly called Jibro-
plastic tumors and recurrent fibroids.
sarcomatosis (sar-ko-ma-to'sis), )i. [NL., < Gr.
adpKufia{T-), a'fleshy excrescence, + -osis,] Sar-
comatous invasion or degeneration.
sarcomatous (siir-kom'a-tus), a. [< sarcoma{t-)
+ -ous.] Pertaining to or of the nature of a
sarcoma.
sarcome 5343
sarcomet (sar'kom), n. [< NL. sarcoma, q. v.]
Same as sarcoma. Minsheu.
Sarcomphalns (sar-kom'fa-lus), M. [NL. (P.
Browut'. 1756), so called with ref. to the fleshy
fiinioulus ; < Gr. <rapf (capK-), flesh, + 6/i<pa?.6f,
navel.] A genus of polypetalous plants of the
orJer Khamnaceie and tribe Zizyphese. It is char-
acterized by panieled flowers witli five long and slender-
stalked erect and hooded petals, Ave anthers opening out-
ward, and a disk which sheathes the base of the calyx and
invests the ovoid tliree-celled ovary, a small dry and ovoid
drupe in fruit, containing a two-celled and two-seeded
st<ine. The 3 species are natives of the West Indies. They
are trees or shrubs with very smooth bark, with or with-
out spines, and bearing very smooth ovate or oltovate en-
tire leaves, and small tlowers in much-branching panicles.
S. taurinug of Jamaica is there known as badard liffnum-
ei/ie.
Sarcopetalom (sar-ko-pet'a-lum), «. [NL.
( Fenlinaud von Mueller, 1860),< 6r. aap^ (aapK-),
flesh, + -CTa?x)v, petal.] A genus of polypeta-
lous plantsof the order Me)ii»perma€eep andtrihe
( 'ix.tii mpelidesp. 1 1 is characterized by d ioeciou s flowers
wirh two to five minute sepals, three to Ave or rarely six
T 1 1 i ' k ened and fleshy petals, and a column of stamens with
! ^v ■ T three short and spreading lobes above, each lobe
1 ' i! ing a horizontal anther. The pistillate flowers contain
rlii> " to dx carpels, which become in fruit compressed and
"!!' -t-eded drupes. The only species. .*? Uarreyanum, is
a native of Australia, and is there cnltivate<l under the -»-«;._i,-__ / „;;_ i,„f'„ i:\ „ r/ ri- « j.
wuiK of Hamy; vine. It is a climbing vine with broad Sarcophagy ( ^ar-kol a-gi), n. [_< Gr. aapKixpayia,
and heart-shaped evergreen leaves, and flowers borne in
lateral unbranched racemes.
Sarcophagai (sar-kof'a-ga). h. [NL. (Meigen,
IHJti;. ff»m. sing, of sarcophuymt, flesb-eating:
see sdrc'tpliatioHn.'i A genus of dipterous in-
rifHiei'"*'^''''''!''''""^^'?,''''''^*"''''^' "'^ sarcophUe (sar'ko-fil), ».
flesh-flies. They are Urge or small modei>tely bristly *^ - - - '- '
Sarcophagus (restored), from the Street of Tombs at Assos in the
Troad, excavated by the Archa^k>£ical Institute of America, 1881.
especially for the burial of distinguished persons whose
tombs are more or less monumenttU. See also cats imder
bacchante and Etmtean.
3. A peculiar wine-eooler forming part of a
dining-room sideboard about the end of the
eighteenth centtiry: it was a dark mahogany
box, lined with lead.
the eating of flesh,< uopKo^yof, flesh-eating : see
sarcophagous.'^ The practice of eating flesh;
zodpbagy; camivorousness.
There was no tareophaffie before the flood.
Sir T. Brmme, Vulg. Err.,
s|«!ciis. recogniziible from the lengthened three-striped
sciitcllum and from cubical claret-colored spotB on the
abdomen. These (Ilea are viviparous, and deposit liv-
ini; larvx upon decking animal substances. Some have
liei ri considered paraiitic upon other Insects, but probably
t hiy never oviposit upon living tarvis or pupa. They have
tiecn known to breed In ulcerous •ore* upon man and other
riiainnials. The species are numerous, over .W inhabiting
the Inited States. S. camaria \t the European flesh-fly,
\i\ s.itnu authon< considered identical with the North
.\riiiiicaii .S rimUui, in which case the former Is said to
Ik- cnAiiin[K'litan. See cut under Jtesh-Jly.
8arcophaga-(siir-kof'a-ga). u.pl. [NL., neut.pl.
Kisdnopliaijux: nee sarcopliagouM.] In Owen's
•lassilication (1839), a division of marsupials,
having teeth of three kinds and no caecum,
as the dasyures, anil including a section of the
larnivorous marsupials.
sarcophagal (siir-kofa-gal), a. [< aareopha-
(/-<iii.-- + -III.] Flesh-devouring.
iiiral balm . . . can at utmost but keep the
1 the life's taper be burnt out ; or, after death,
uid insensible preservation to it in tbewr-
> '■• Jtev. T. Adamt, Works, I. 8711
saijophi^'an (sar-kof'a-gan), h. [< NL. Sar-
<"l'l"i;iii- + -fin.'} A carnivorous marsupial;
a iiii'inln-r of the Siirrophagn.
sarcophaget, "- Same as Mircophagug.
sarcophagi^ «. Plural of luircoplmgHK.
Sarcophaglda (sar-ko-faj'inie), n. pi. [NL.,
< Sarcoplwyn^ + 'idee'.] A family of dipterous
i iisects or true flies, founded on the genus Sarco-
Ithiiqn. The anttnnal bristle Is naked at the tip, and
fiithi rtd for half Its length only; the forehead is broad
ill tilth sexes, and the aiNlomen is four-jointed. The
family contains about 6 genera, of which Sareophaga i*
the immt Important
sarcophagons (sSr-kofa-gus), a. [< NL. tar-
i'opliagiis,< Gr. aapnot^-jiif, flesh-eating, carnivo-
rous, < anp^ (oaftK-), flesh, + ipayeiv, eat.] Flesh-
eating; zoophagoiis: carnivorous, as a marsu-
pial : jiertaiiiing to the Sareophaga : sometimes
spccifi.ially contra8t<-d with phytophagous or
hfrhirnrnns.
sarcophagus (sar-kof'a-gus), n. ; pi. sarcophagi
(-ji). [Formerly aUo sarrophage, < F. snreo-
jihiign = Sp. siirr6fago = Pg. sarcophago = It.
Ktirrofagn — I). Hiirropliaag = G. sarcophag =
l>»ii. Sw. sarkofiig. a coffin, sarcophagus; < L.
-iirrophagiis, adj., sc. Iiiph, a kind of limestone,
IS a noun a coffin, seiiiilcher, < Gr. ffapKo^jor,
;idj., flt'sh-eating, carnivorous (uapKo^yor '/i-
i<«r,. a limestone so calleii, lit. ' flesh-consum-
iU. 26.
An animal of the
penuM Sarcophilut; hence, some or any sarcoph-
ilous animal.
sarcophilons (sSr-kof'i-lus), a. [< Gr. ffdpf
(aapK-), flesh, + i^lv, love.] Fond of flesh as
an article of diet; sarcophagous.
Sarcophilus (sUr-kof'i-lus), «. [NL. : see »«r-
rophiloiis.} A genus of carnivorous marsupials
of the family Dasyuri<Ue and subfamily Dasyu-
nnte, formerly united with Dasyurus, contain-
Tasmanian Devil iSarca^Aitui urtintu).
ing the Tasmanian devil, or ursine dasyure, S.
ursinus, a stout heavy animal about as large as
a badger, of blackish color with some white
marks, remarkable for its ferocious and intrac-
table disposition.
Sarcophyte (sar-kof i-te), n. [NL. (Sparr-
inann, 1777), < Gr. adp^ (""pn-), flesh, + ^6v,
plant.] A monotypic genus of parasitic and
apetalous plants or the order Balanophorese,
constitnting the tribe Sarcophytfm. it is charac-
terised by dioMlons flowers, the staminate with a three- or
four-lobed calyx and three or foui- stamens with many-
celleil anthers, the pistillate with a three-celled ovary
without style, its three penilulous ovules reduced to em-
bryonal sacs. The only species, S. tawjuinea, is a native
of Sooth Africa, and Is a thick fleshy herb, of a blood-red
color, very smooth and oily, and with an unpleasant odor.
It produces a lobed and shapeless rootstock, which is
without scale*, and bears a short and in egiilarly ruptured
ring around the base of the thick and scaly flower-stalk.
The flowers are panlcled on a large pyi-ainidal spadix, the
staroluate solitary on its branches, and the pistillate com-
pacted Into rotinded heads, followed by fleshy syncarps
which are conimoidy empty or contain a hard three-angled
slngle-scCilL-d stone.
Sarcophytese (siir-ko-fit'e-e), n. /)/. [NL. (End-
lieher, 1836), < Sarcophy'ie + -€«.] A tribe of
apetalous plants of the order Balanophorese,
)nsistiiig of the fleshy parasite Sarcophyte.
ing stone,' so named from a 8ui>posed property Sarcoplasma (siir-ko-plas'mii), h. [NL.,<Gr.
of consuming the flesh of corpses laid in it); ""''* (""p"-), flesh, + ir'/Aia/jn, anything formed:
liciice, as a noun, a coffin of such stone: see wr- *""" ;''"-"»•] The interfibrillar substance of
inphiigoiis.] 1. A species of stone used among muscular tissue.
the (irecks for making coflins. It was called by Killing np the spaces between the muscle-columns is
the Komans tapis .Ixsius, from beinir found at the interflhrillar material or «iircM*Min<i.
A-^i.-^. acityof the Troad.-2. A stone coffin, Ifvcro.. ^<™«, N. 8., XXXL 67.
'I lally one ornamented with sculptures or Sarcopsylla (sar-kop-sira), n. pUj. (West-
n ing inscriptions, etc. • wore In use wood, 1.H40), < Gr. oripf (ffopit-), flesh, -I- t/it?Aa, a
flea.] A genus of siphonapterous or aphanip-
terous insects, erected to contain the so-called
jigger,chigoe, chique, or pique of tropical Amer-
ica, S. penetrans, a peculiar flea which during
the dry season attacks exposed parts of the
from very early F.g)ptlan
tin- fall of tb*- R^iman fmpin
iify dfiwn to
iMfl Koman
-, and a few
decoration
! lilting in col-
nimoii, tlicy arc s^tnietlmsAOsed,
sarcotheca
human body, especially the feet, and burrows
under the skin or nails. See cut under chigoe.
Sarcoptes (siir-kop'tez), n. [NL. (Latreille), <
Gr. adp^ (napK-), flesh, + (irreg.) Kdirreu', cut.]
The typical genus of Sarcoptidx; the itch-mites
or scab-mites. S. scabiei, formerly Acarits sca-
hiei, is the acarid which produces the itch in
man. See cut under itch-mite.
sarcoptic (siir-kop'tik), a. [< sarcopt(id) +
-ic.] Pertaining to or caused by sarcoptids;
due to the presence of these mites : as, sarcoptic
mange or itch.
Sarcoptida (sar-kop'ti-de), n. pi. [NL., < Sar-
coptes + -idee.} A family of atracheate aca-
rines, typified by the genus Sarcoptes; itch-
mites, living as j>arasites under the skin of the
host, and producing a painful disease, the itch.
Sec cut under itch-mite.
Sarcoptinae (sar-kop-ti'ne), «. pi. [NL., < Sar-
coptes + -»««.] The itch-mites as a subfamily
of Acaridee.
Sarcorhamphidset (sar-ko-ram'fi-de), JI. pi.
[NL., < fSarcorhamphus + -idee.'] A family of
Jiap tores, nametl from the genus Sarcorhamphus:
same as Cathartidee; the New World vultures.
Sarcorhamphinset (sar''ko-ram-fi'ne), n. pi.
[NL.,< Sarcorhamphns + -inx.'^ The Harcorhani-
phidse or Cathartidee regarded as a subfamily
of Vulliiritlie.
Sarcorhamphus (sar-ko-ram'fns), n. [NL., <
Gr. adpi (capK-), flesh, -1- ^d/i^f, a curved beak.]
An American genus of C«iArtrf((?«,having fleshy
caruncles on the bill; the condors and king-
vultures. 5. gryphm is the Andean condor ; 5. papa
is the king-vniture. The Californian condor, formerly in-
cluded in this genus, is now placed in Pseudogryphus.
See cuts under condor and king-vulture.
sarcoseptum (siir-ko-sep'tum), H. ; pi. sarcosei)-
ta (-ta). [NL., < Gr. oapf {aapn-), flesh, + NL.
septum, q. v.] A soft septum; a fleshy parti-
tion ; specifically, a mesentery of some antho-
zoans, as sea-anemones. See mesentery, 2 (6).
sarcosis (siir-ko'sis), n. [NL., < Gr. aapKuai^,
sarcoma, a fleshy excrescence, < aapnovv, make
flesh, aapKovadai, produce flesh: see sarcoma.]
In surg.: (a) The formation of flesh. (6) A
fleshy tumor; sarcoma. [This term is now gen-
erally disused.]
sarcosperm (silr'ko-sp6rm), n. [< Gr. aapi
Irmpn-), flesh, + OTrcp/ja, a seed.] Same as sar-
eodcrm.
Sarcostemma (sar-ko-stem'a), n. [NL. (R.
Brown, 1809), so called with "ref. to the fleshy
inner corona ; < Gr. adpi (aapK-), flesh, + are/i/ua,
a wreath, chaplet: see stcmma.] A genus of
gamopetalous plants of the order Axclepiadeee
and tribe Cynaiichex. it Is distinguished by flowers
with deeply five-parted calyx and corolla, and five sta-
mens united into a short tube, surrounded by an exterior
corona of ten short rounded lobes forming a membrana-
ceous ring, and by an inner corona of Ave fleshy convex
or keeled erect scales. There are about 8 species, natives
of Africa, Asia, and Australia within tropical and sub-
tropical limits. They are leafless, shrubby climbers with
fleshy branches, and small white or yellow flowers in
rounded cymes. S. breiHstiipna (formerly AsclepiaJi acida)
Is the reputed aoina-plant of the VedIc hymns. S. aphylla
and S. mminale are sometimes ctUtivated under the name
ot Jteeh croim-JUnper,
Sarcostigma (sar-ko-stig'mii), w. [NL. (Wight
ami Arnott, 1833), so called with ref. to the
fleshy discoid stigma ; < Gr. odpf (aapx-), flesh,
+ ariyua, a point: see stigma.] A genus of
polypetalous plants of the order Olacinese and
tribe I'hi/tncrrnc/e. Itischaractcrizedhydiadousand
intemiptedly spiked flowers, with filaments longer than
the anthers, a sessile stigma, and a one-celled ovary witli
two pendulous ovules, in fruit an oblong dmpe with woody
st(»ne containing a seed destittlte of albumen, and with
thick, fleshy, heart-shaped seed-leaves. The 3 species arc
natives of tropical Asia and Africa. They are shrubby
climbers and twiners, growing to a great height, and wilh
hard-wood stems bearitig alternate oblong rigid and veiny
leaves, and elongated spikes of small flowers. 5. Kleinti
is the odal-oil plant. See odal'^.
sarcostyle (sar'ko-stil), ». [< Gr. aapi {aapK-),
flesh, + aTv?jK, a pillar.] The mass of sarcodo
or protoplasm contained in the sarcotheca of
a coolenterate. See quotation under sarcotheca .
The colony is provided with bodies which admit of close
comparison with the mreostytes and sai-cothecas of the Plu-
mnlarinsB. Nature, XXXVIII. 338.
sarcotheca (sar-ko-the'ka), n.; pi. sarcotheca
(-se). [NL., < Gr. aap^ (aapn-), flesh, -f- ^iiKr/,
a sheath.] The cup or cell of a thread-cell or
lasso-cell, which may contain a sarcostyle; a
cnida, cnidocell. or nematophore, regarded as to
its walls, as (listiiif;iiislied from its, contents,
which when cxi.sting form a sarcostyle or cni-
docil. See cuts iiniler Cnida. Hincks.
Mr. Bincks, however, considering that the presence of
the thread-cells is not the primary characteristic, and la
sarcotheca
perhaps not universal, has suhstituted the term mrcothcca
for the chitinous cell, and siircostyle for the contained
sarcode-niasa.
W. Jtf . Ball, Cat of Austral. Hydroid Zoiiphytcs, p. 20.
HEiunjc. Diet.)
sarcotic (sar-kot'ik), a. and »i. [< Gr. aapKun-
KOi, promoting tlie growth of flesh, < aapKoicSa:,
prodnco fles)i: see sarcoma, sarcosis.'\ I. a.
Pertaining to sarcosis; causing flesh to grow.
H. H. A medicine or an application which
promotes tlie growth of flesh. [Rare.]
sarcous (sar'kus), a. [< Gr. aapf (aapK-), flesli,
+ -OH*-.] Fleshy; sarcodous: especially not-
ing the contractile tissue of muscles: as, sar-
cous elements, the form-elements of muscular
tissue.
sarculation (siir-ku-la'shon), n. [< L. sarcula-
tiv(H-), a hoeing, < (LL.) sarcvJare, yp. sarcula-
tns, hoe: see sarcle.~i A raking or weeding
with a rake. [Rare.]
sard (siird), H. [< F. sardc = It. sarda = MHG.
sarttiiis, sarde, G. sardcr, < L. sarda, LL. sar-
dius, < Gr. adpdioc, se. X/So?, also aapdiov (also
oapMvmi', (TO/)(!(i), a sard (earnelian or sardine),
lit. ' Sardian stone,' < Xap<kic, Sardis, the capital
of Lydia : see Sardian. Cf. sardiiis, sardine'^,
sardoin, sardonyx.'] A variety of earnelian
which shows on its surface a rich reddish
brown, but when held to the light appears ot a
deep blood-red. Also called sardoin.
Sarda (sar'da), n. [NL. (Cuvier, 1829), < L.
sarda, < Gr. aapd?/, a fish, Sarda viediterranea :
see sardine^.'] In ichth,, a genus of scombroid
fishes of large size and metallic coloration; the
bonitos. jS. mediterranea is the sarda of the ancients,
attaining a length of 2^ feet, of a dark steel-blue shade,
silvery below, with many obUque narrow dai-k stripes from
the back downward. It also occurs on the American side
of the Atlantic, and is a food-fish. (See cut under bonito.)
S. chilensis is the corresponding species of Pacific waters.
The latter is sometimes called tuna; both are known as
skipjacks. The genus is also called Pelamys.
sardachate (sar'da-kat), /(. [= F. sardachate,
< L. sardachates, < Gr. *aapSaxaT7i^, a kind of
agate, < crap'S;oc, a sard, + d^dT)?f, agate : see saril
and agate^.] A kind of agate containing layers
of sard.
sardart (siir'dar), n. Same as sirdar.
sardel, sardelle (sar'del), n. [= D. sardel = G.
surdelic = Sw. Dan. sardell = Russ. sardchf, <
OF. sardelle = It. sardella, dim. of L. narda, a
sardine: see sardine^.'] 1. Same as sardine^.
Cotgrave. — 2. A clupeoid flsh, Clupca or Sardi-
nella aurita, a slender herring-like fish with well-
toothed mouth, about the size of the sardine, and
prepared like it in certain Mediterranean porta.
Sardian (sar'di-an), a. and n. [< L. Sardianus,
of or pertaining to Sardis, < Sardis, Sardes, <
Gr. 2d/H5£(f, Sardis, the capital of Lydia.] I.
a. Pertaining to Sardis, the ancient capital of
Lydia — Sardian nut. See nut.
n, n. A native or an inhabitant of Sardis.
You have condemn'd and noted Lucius Pella
For taking bribes here of the Sardians.
Slmk.,3. C, iv. 3. 3.
sardine^ (siir-den'), «. [= D. sardijn = MHG.
sardin, G. sordine = Dan. Sw. sardin, < F. sar-
dine, formerly also sardaine = Sp. sardina = Pg.
sardinlui = lt. sardina, < L. sardina, also sarda, a
sardine, < Gr. aapdi/vri, also aapSa, a kind of tunny
caught near Sardinia ; perhaps <. Gr. ^a/M, Sar-
dinia: see Sardinian.] 1. One of several differ-
ent small clupeoid fish suitableforcanningin oil.
The genuine sardine of the Mediterranean and the Atlan-
tic coasts of .Spain, I'ortugal, and France Ib the pilchard,
Clupea pUchardus, highly esteemed for its delicate flavor.
The Californian sardine is C. sacjax, called sadina. An*
CalifoTiiian S."ir(liiii- vj.
other Is the Spanish sardine, C. pseudohwpanica. found
from Cuba U) Florida, and related to the former, but having
a strongly striate operculum. In the French preparation of
sardines these delicate fish are liandled as fresh as possible,
to which end the factories are usually within two or three
hours from the place where the fish are caught. Placed
on stone tables, tlie fish are headed and gutted ; they are
then allowed to drain on wooden slats overnight, after be-
ing slightly salted. Next day they are salted again, and al-
lowed to dry. They are then cooked in oil, and put in
wire baskets to drip. The c<x)king is a nice process ; if it
is overdone the scales come off, which impairs the market
value. Fiveorsix minutes sufllcesforthe cooking. When
cold the flsh are placed on tables, to be aiTanged in the
boxes, in oil dipped from barrels. The oil being worth
more than the fish, bulk for bulk, it is an object to fill tlie
boxes ais closely as possible with flsh. The boxes are then
5344
soldered and afterward steamed, being placed in cold wa-
ter on which steam is gradually turned. This second cook-
ing takes an hour or more. The Itoxes are then allowed
to cool in the water, and care is taken to move them as
little as possible. In a cheaper methiKl the sardines are
first coolied in an oven witlunit oil, the after-process be-
ing the same as before. As the flsh are migratory, a shoal
sometimes remains ut a fishing-station only a week. The
season of catching and caiming lasts three or four months,
from May to August. Small sardines are most prized.
Large coarse flsh put up in the tlnited States as sardines,
under the name of shadines, are young menhaden.
When the sayd increasyng of the sea commeth, there
commeth also therwith such a multitude of the smaule
fysshes cauled sardyties that ... no man wolde beleue it
that hath not scene it.
R. Eden, tr. of Gonzalus Oviedus (First Books on America,
[ed. Arber, p. 223).
2. The Gulf menhaden, Brevoortia patronus.
[Local, U.S.] — 3. The common menhaden, iJre-
voortia tyrannus, when prepared and bo.xed as
sardines. See shadint. — 4. An anchovy, Siolc-
phorus brotvni. [North Carolina.] — 5. A chara-
cinoid fish of the subfamily Tetragonopterinse,
living in the fresh waters of the island of Trini-
dad. Several species are known by the name.
— 6. An insignificant or contemptible person ;
a petty character. Compare small fry, under
fry"^. [Humorous or contemptuous.]— Ameri-
can sardine. Same as shadine.
sardine^ (sar'din), n. [< ME. sardyn = MHG.
sardin, < OF. sardine, < LL. sardinus, sc. lapis
(only in gen. lapidis sardinis (Rev. iv. 3), where
sardinis may be for sardini, or is LL. sardinis,
gen. of *sardo), < Gr. aap6tvog, also aapfiu and
aapdtov, a sardine : see sard. Cf. sardius, sar-
doin, sardonyx.'] Same as sard.
sardinert, n. [ME. : see sardine^.] Same as
sardine^.
Safyres, & sardiners, A semely topace,
Alabaunderrynes, & amaraung & amaffised stones.
Alliterative Poema (ed. Morris), ii. 1469.
sardine-tongs (sar-den't6ngz), n. pi. Small
tongs resembling sugar-tongs, except in having
broad claws, intended for lifting sardines from
a box without breaking them.
Sardinian (siir-din'i-an), a. and «. [< L. Sar-
dinianus, < Sardinia, the island of Sardinia, <
Sardi, the inhabitants of this island; cf. Gr.
J^apdo), Sdpdow, Sardinia.] I. a. Pertaining to
Sardinia.
II. n. 1. A native or an inhabitant of (a) tlie
island of Sardinia, lying west of Italy ; or (h) the
. kingdom of Sardinia, constituted in 1720, and
comprising as its principal parts Savoy, Pied-
mont, and the island of Sardinia: it was the
nucleus of the modem kingdom of Italy. — 2.
[/. c] In mineral., the lead sulphate anglesite,
which occurs abundantly in lead-mines in the
island of Sardinia. Breithaupt.
sardius (sar'di-us), n. [< LL. sardius, < Gr. aap-
riior, onp6iov, a sard : see sard.] A sard. The
precious stone mentioned as one of those in the breast-
plate of the Jewish high priest is thought to have been a
ruby.
The flrst row shall be a sardivs, a topaz, and a carbun-
cle. Ex. xxviii. 17.
sardoin (sar'doin), n. [< ME. sardoyne, < OP.
(and P.) sardoine = Pr. sardoyne, < Gr. aapid-
viov, same as aapdwv, sard: see sard. Cf. sar-
donyx.] Same as sard.
And the principalle Zates of his Palays ben of precious
.Ston, that men clepen 'Sardoyne.
Mandcville, Travels, p. 275.
sardonian (siir-do'ni-an), a. [< F. sardonicn,
< Gr. ila/jddvwf, of Sardinia, < ^apfiav, Sardinia :
see sardonic, Sardinian.] Same as sardonic.
It is then but a Sardonian laughter that my refuter
takes up at our complete antichrist.
Bp. Uail, Works (ed. 1839), IX 267.
sardonic (siir-don'ik), a. [< F. sardonique =
Sp. sarddnico = Pg. It. sardonico, < ML. *sar-
donicus, sc. risns, sardonic laughter, believed
to be so called as resembling the effect pro-
duced by a Sardinian plant (L. Sardonia herba,
Sardoa hcrha, a bitter herb, which was said to
distort the face of the eater: li. Sardonia, fem.
of Surdonius, < Gr. So/xVw/oc, also "ZapdoviKot, of
Sardinia, < 'Lapdu, Sardinia), but prop. L. *sar-
danins, sc. risus, < Gr. aap()avioc, bitter, scorn-
ftil, used only in the phrase >f^uf aapMvioc, bit-
ter laughter (ye/.oiTa aapSaviov ye'Aav, or simply
napSdviov ye7.av, laugh a bitter laugh) ; cf. aap-
(Wi^etv, laugh bitterly, aiar/p6>(, grinning, sneer-
ing (prop. pp. from v' aap). The word sardonic
is prob. often mentally associated with sarcas-
tic] 1. Apparently but not really proceeding
from gaiety; forced: said of a laugh or smile.
Where strained sardonic smiles are glosing still,
And grief is forced to laugh against her will.
Sir U. WoUon, Eeliquite, p. 391.
sari
2. Bitterly ironical; sarcastic; derisive and
malignant; sneering: now the usual meaning.
The scoiTiful, ferocious, sard(niic g?-in of a bloody ruf-
flan. Burke, A Regicide Peace, i.
Yon were consigned to a master . . . under whose «ar-
do7iic glances your scared eyes were afraid to look up.
Thackeray,
Sardonic smile or lau^h, mpatlwl., risns sardonicus:
same as canine laujli (which see, under canine).
sardonically (siir-don'i-kal-i), adv. lu a sar-
doni(t manner.
He laughed sardonically, hastily took my hand, and as
hastily threw it from him.
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xx.
sardonicant (siir-don'i-kan), o. [Irreg. < mr-
donic -H -an.] Sardonic.
Homer flrst, and others after him, call laughter which
conceals some noxious design Sardonican.
T. Taylor, tr. of Pausanias's Descrip. of Greece, III. 149.
sardonyx (siir'do-niks), n. [= F. sardonyx =
Pr. sardonic = Sp. sardonix = Pg. sardonyx =
It. sardonico, < L. sardonyx, < Gr. aapSdvv^, a sar-
donyx, < cdpoiog, adpdiov, a sard, + bw^, an onyx :
see sard SiXiA onyx. Cf. sardoin.] 1. A chal-
cedony or agate consisting of two or more lay-
ers of brown or red combined with white or
other color. Since about 1870 the name has
been given to a chalcedony stained with vari-
ous shades of red to deep brown. — 2. In her.,
a tincture, the color murrey or sanguine, when
blazoning is done by precious stones Oriental
sardonyx, any sardonyx the component layers of which
are of a fine color and sharply defined.
saree, n. See sari.
sarellt, «• Same as serail, seraglio. Marlowe.
sargasso (siir-gas'o), n. [Also sargassum, and
formerly 4«)Y/«*o; =F. sargasse = Sp.sargazo,
< Pg. sargo^o, sargasso fNL. sarga.ssnm), sea-
weed, < sarga, a kind of grapes (cf. Sp. sarga,
osier). The weed has also been called in E.
grapewecd and tropical grapes.] Same as gulf-
weed. The Sargasso Sea is a region occupying the interior
of the great gyration of the Gulf Stream in the North At-
lantic, so named from the abundance in it of this weed
(.'^arffassum bacciferuin), which in some parts is so dense
as to he a serious hindrance to navigation. It covei-s a
large pail of the space beween the 16th and 3»th parallels
of north latitude, and the seaweed is most dense between
the 30th and .Wth meridians. By extension the name is
sometimes used with reference to other less important
areas of floating seaweed. See Saryassum.
The floating islands of the gulf-weed, with which we had
become very familiar as we had now nearly made the
circuit of the Sargasso Sea, are usually from a couple of
feet to two or three yards in diameter, sometimes much
larger ; we have seen on one or two occasions fields several
acres in extent, and such expanses are probably more fre-
quent nearer the centre of its area of distribution.
Sir C, WymUe Thomson, The Atlantic, ii. 9.
Sargassum (sar-gas'um), n. [NL. (Agardh,
1844), < Pg. sargago, sargas.'io, the gulfweed:
see sargasso.] 1. A genus of marine algte, of
the class Fncaceee, having fronds attached by a
disk, and branching stems with the fronds pro-
vided viith a midrib and distinctly stalked air-
bladders. The fruit is developed in special compound
branches; the conceptacles are hermaphi-odite, and the
spores single in the mother-cell. This genus is the most
highly organized of the Fucacese, and contains about 150
species, which inhabit the warmer watei-s of the globe,
S". bacciferuin being the well-known gulfweed which floats
in the open sea in great ai>undance and has given the luuim
to the Sargasso Sea. Two species are found off the New
England coast. See Fucaceie, sea-grape (under grape^),
and cut under gulfweed.
2. [/. c] Gulfweed.
sargassum-shell (sar-gas'um-shel), n. A ma
rine gastropod of the family lAtiopidie; the
gulfweed-shcll. Also sargasso-shell.
Sargina (sar-jl'njl), n. 111. [NL., < Sargns -\-
-ina.] A gi'oup of sparoid fishes, named from
the genus Sargus, distinguished by trenchant
teeth in front and molar teeth on the sides.
They are mostly carnivorous. By most authors they are
combined in the same family with Sparime. (runtker.
sargine(sar'jin), «. andM. I. n. A sparoid fish
of the subfamily Sargina.
II. a. Of or having the characteristics of the
Sargina.
sargo (sar'go), n. [Sp., < L. sargus : see Sar-
gus.] A sparoid fish of the genus Sargus or
Diplodus, especially JJ. sargus or <S'. rondeleti, of
the Mediterranean and neighboring seas. Also
called sar, saragu, sargon.
Sargus (siir'gus), «. [NL., < L. .largus, < Gr.
oapydf, a kind of mullet.] 1. In iV7i^/i., a genus of
sparoid fishes, properly called Dijihtdu.s; ty))ical
of the subfamily Sargina. Various limits have
been given to it ; and the American sheepsliead
was included in it by the old authors. Cmucr,
1817. — 2. In cntoni., a genus of dipterous in-
sects. Faliricius.
sari (sii'ri), n. [Also saree, sary ; < Hind, .tdri.]
1 . The principal garment of a Hindu woman.
aarl 5345
consisting of a long piece of silk or cotton cloth, others. Also sarmeiit. See cuts under fVa<?n-
wrappetl round the middle of the body, with one ria and sarmentose.
end falling nearly to the feet, and the other sam (siirn). h. [< W. sani, a causeway, paving.]
thrown over the head. A pavement or stepping-stone. Johnson. [Prov.
In the front row, chattering brown ayahs, gay with red Eng.]
Mnw and nose-rings. saroh (sar'6). )i. [E. Ind.] An Indian musical
J. W. Palmer. The >ew and the Old, p. 349. i„sti-ument.with three metal strings, which are
Hence— 2. Any long scarf. [Anglo-Ind.] soiinded by means of a bow.
saron (sar'on), n. [E. Ind.] A kind of xylo-
phone, used in the East Indies.
saronf (sa-rong'), n. [Malay.] 1. A garment
used in the Indian archipelago, consisting of
I
I
sarlama, n. See caruima, seriema.
sarigue (sa-reg')j "• [< F. sarigue, < Braz. sari-
ijiiei/(i, ^ariijueia, ^arigueira.'] A South Ameri-
can opossum, Didelphus opossum.
sark (sark), H. [< ME. sark, serk, serke, < AS.
stjrce, sirce, seree, a shirt, = Icel. serkr = Sw.
sark = Dan . sjerk, a shirt, in mod. use a shift,
smock, chemise, = North Fries, serk, a shirt.
Cf . berserk. The E. form is partly due to Seand.]
A shirt or chemise ; the body-garment, of linen
or cotton, for either sex.
She shalde rneowen hlr terke and sette there an heyre
To atfaiten hire flesshe that fierce was to synne.
Piers Plmmnan (BX v. 66.
8he neist brocht a tark o' the saftest silk,
Weel wrought wi' pearls about the band.
Alum Oroa (Child's Ballads, I. leex
Her catty nrk of Paisley ham.
Bumf, Tarn o' Shanter.
Danced In table iron tark.
LottafeOme, tr. of Uhland's Black Knight
sarkin (sar'kin), ». [< Gr. odpf (aapK-), flesh,
+ -i«2.] Same as sarcine.
sarking(sar'king), n. [<.sark,n.,+ -ing'^.'\ Thin
boards for lining, etc. ; specifically, the board-
ing on which slates are laid. [Scotch.]
sarkinite (sar'ki-nit), «. [So called in allusion
a piece of cloth which envelops the lower part
of the body : worn by both sexes.
The natives, Malays, are a flne-looking, copper-coloured
race, wearing bright-coloured tarotigt and turbans.
Lady Brattey, Voyage of Sunbeam, II. xxiv.
Hence — 2. The cotton cloth generally used for
this garment, especially the printed cotton im-
ported from Europe, to which the name has
been given as a trade designation.
saros (sa'ros), «. [< 6r. oapoj-, or aap6c, a Chal-
dean cycle.] 1. A Babylonian numeral, or unit
of tale: sixty sixties (3,600). — 2. An astro-
nomical cycle of 6,585 days and 8 hours, during
which period there are 223 lunations, 242 dra-
contie months, 239 anomalistic months lacking
about 5 hours, and 18 Julian years, 10 days,
and 18 hours. At the end of this time all eclipses "are
repeated nearly as before, except for the difference in the
sun's apparent place due to the 10} days by which the cy-
cle differs from a whole number of years. Moreover, the
solar eclipses will fall upon pari* of the earth differing
by 120" of longitude. This cycle was discovered by Baby-
loniiin aBtroriomers.
to its blood-red color and greasy luster; < Gr. Sarothamnus (sar-6-tham'nus), «. [Nli. (Wim-
o&pKtvoi, fleshy (< oipi (aapK-), flesh), + -»te2.] A mer, 1844), < Gr. aapov, a broom (see sarothrum),
hydrous arseniate of maneanese, occurring in + Ouiivo^,a, bush.] A former genus of plants,
cleavable massive forms, less often in mono- ""^ making a section under Cytisus. It in-
clinic crystals, of a blood-red color: found at ♦'ludes the common European broom. See cut
Paisberg in Sweden. Also called j>o/yar«eRi(e. ^nAer Cytisus.
sarklet, <'. /. See sorcte. sarothmin (sa-ro' thrum), n. ; pi. sarothra
sarlak, sarlyk (sar'lak, -lik). h. [Mfso sarlac, (-tl"i>)- [NL., < Gr. aipurfxv, a broom, < ao-
snrlik; < Mongol »rtr/yt.] The yak, Poephagm /«^'^> sweep with a broom, < aajxm, a broom, <
itrunniens. aaipetv, sweep.'] In e»tom., a brush of stiff hairs
^armatian (s&r-ma'shjan), a. and n. [< L. ""■ "^^ leg of a bee, used for collecting pollen.
Sarmnlia (see def.), < SarmaUi (Gr. Sop/idrvf), Also called seopa, poUen-brmh, and corbiculum.
pi. Siirmata, SauromaUe, a Sannatian.j I. a. ^^e scapula.
Of or pertaining to Sarmatia, an ancient region sarpeleret, ». An obsolete variant of sarplar.
extending from the Volga vaguely westward, II<tlliir<H.
identified poetically with Poland; pertaining Barplsirt, sarplert (sSr'plSr, -plfrr), n. [Also
to the inhabitants of this region.
n. n. Amemberof one of the ancient tribes,
probably of Median aftinities, which wandered
in southern Kussia, Hungary, and elsewhere.
The Sarmatians became merged in other peo-
ples.
Barmatic (sar-mat'ik), a. [< L. 8armatie%u, <
Sarmata, a Sarmatian : see Sarmatian.'] Same
as SarmatMn.— BarnaMc polecat, the larmatier.
■armatier d'. i>ron. niir-niH-ti-a'), «. [< F.
sarmatier, < Siirmutie, Sarmatia.] The Sarmatic
sarplier, siirpJiar; < ME." «ar/)/rtr, sarpelere, snr-
pulere, < OF. sarpillere, serpilliere, serpeillere,
serpeliere, F. serpilliere, dial. charpiUire, cher-
piliire, coarse cloth or canvas used in packing,
a canvas apron, = Pr. sarpelheira = Cat. sarpal-
lera, xarpallera, arpiUera = Sp. arpillera = Pg.
tarapilheira (ML. sarplerium, serpleria, sarpil-
leria, serpilheria, serpelltria, etc., after Rom.),
coarse cloth, sacking; with suffix -ere, etc. (ML.
-eria, prop, -/iria), < ML. serapellinus, seropeUi-
nus, xerapellinus, etc., senipellina, seropellina.
or spotted polecat, I'utorius sarmaticus, inhab- xerapellina, applied as adj. or noun, usually n.
iting Poland and Russia, black, on the upper
parts brown spotted with yellow, the ears and
a frontal band white,
sarmentt (sSr'ment), «. [< OF. sertnent, F. scr-
ment = Pr. sertnent = Cat. sarment = Sp. sar-
miento = Pg. It. sarmento, < L. mrmentum,
twigs, light branches, brushwood, < sarpere,
trim, cut, prune.] 1. A scion or cutting.
Writhe not the hede of the larment
Whenne it is sette.
PaUadivt, Hnsbondrie (E. E. T. S.\ p. 86.
2. Siiiiie as narmeiitum.
sarmenta, n. Plural of sarmentum.
sarmentaceous (sar-men-ta'shius), a. [< sar-
minliim + -tic/ oils.'] In bot., same as sarmen-
tosr.
aarmentose, sarmentous (sar-men'tos, -tus),
'(- [<!«irnieiitiim + -ottt.-ous.] In &of., having
Saimeutom Sten of Fraguria Indiea,
sarmenta or runners ; having the form or char-
acter of a runner.
sarmentTim (sar-men'tum), n.; pi. sarmenta
(-fa). [L. : see snrmenl.] In bot., a runner;
B nmniiig stem giving off leaves or roots at in-
tervals, as that of the strawberry; also, a twin-
ing stem which supports itself by means of
336
pi., serapellinm or serampelUnx restes (OF. sera-
pellines), to old clothes, or old or worthless
skins, < L. xeramjielinte (sc. vestes), dark-red
or dark-eolored clothes, < Gr. ^iipa/iniiuvoi, of
the color of dry vine-leaves, < f^piif, dry, -f- a/i-
wthvof, of the vine (^tX/a aiiirftuva, vine-leaves),
< i//5rf?,«f , a vine : see xerasia waA Ampelis. The
derivation from OF. serge vieille is erroneous.]
1. Sacking or packing-cloth ; coarse pack-sheet
made of hemp.
They ben ententyf sboute mirputerig or sachels [var.
soeAeuei) nnprofltable for to taken.
Chaueer, Boethius, L prose 3.
It was upbraided to Demosthenes, by an envious, surly
knave, that his Orntioiis diti smell like the tarpter, or
wrapper of a foul and filthy oil vessel.
Urquhart, tr. of Rabelais, I- 98.
2. A large sack or bale of wool, containing 80
tods, each of 2 stone.
The prowde Dcwke of Burgoyne
Came to-fore Calys with flemyngis nat A fewe,
Whiche gave the sakkls A tarpeUn of that towne
Of thy woUe* hyghte [he] hem pooenione.
PatUieal Poems, etc (ed. FumivaUX p. 18.
In his four and twentieth Year, he commanded a Sub-
sidy U< he levied upon all Sarplart of Wool going out of
England. Baker, Chronicles, p. 100.
sarpo (sar'po), ». [Cf. sapo"^.] Same as sapo^.
Sarracenia (sar-a-se'ni-il), n. [NL. (Toume-
f ort. 1 700). namei3( after t)r. Sarrasin of Quebec,
who first sent specimens and adescription to Eu-
rope.] A genus of polypetalous plants, known
as sidfsad/ilr-floxrer and pitcher-plant, type of
the order Siirrareninrrir. It is characterized byflow-
erswith flvetliick and sprearltng sepals, five petals curving
together, ininieroiis short Rtaniens, and a large flve-Io)>ed
and live-celled ovary with its distinct style dilated at the
sarsaparilla
top into a peltate umbrella-like and petaloid membrane,
which is stigmatic near the end of a nerve extending to
each of its five angles. The « species are all natives of
North America, and occur chiefly in the southern United
.states, with one also in the northern. Tliey are remark-
able plants, inhabiting peat-bogs, with their leaves trans-
formed into pitchers, and produced at the top into a more
or less arching hood, which closes the pitcher when young.
The pitchers are usually partly filled with rain-water and
with masses of decomposing insects, and in some species
special glands secrete a digestive fluid which aids in their
assimilation. The flowers ai'c large, solitary, and nodding
upon a long leafless scape, usually of a deep brownisll red,
globular in the bud, flattened on expansion, and with pet-
als which are strongly contracted in the middle. S. pur-
purea, the original species, which extends north to Great
Bear Lake, is known as pitcher -plant, also as hmtxman's-
cup and sidemddle-flmcer. S. Jtava and other southern
species are known as trumpetlea/ and huntsman' g-horn.
Sarraceniaceae (sar-a-se-ni-a'se-e), n.pl. [NL.
(Endlicher, 1836), C Sarracenia + -aceae.] An
order of polypetalous plants of the cohort Pa-
rietales in the series Thalamiflorm. It is charac-
terized by a minute embryo near the base of the seed in
fleshy albumen, and flowers with five sepals and five petals,
numerous stamens, and a five- or three-celled ovary with
the phicentte fixed to the inner angle. They aie readily
distinguished by their peculiar habit, being bog-herbs
with conspicuous flowers nodding upon naked scapes, sur-
rounded at the base by a circle of radical leaves, which are
inflated into pitchers, and project in front into a thin
lamina, and at the top into a hood. The 10 species are all
American, and belong mainly to the type genus, Sarrace-
nia—the others, Dartingtonia and Hetiamphora, being
nionotypic. See cuts under Darlingtonia and pitcher-
plant.
sarrancolln (sa-rang'ko-lin), n. [F., < Sarran-
colin (see def.).J a kind oi ornamental mar-
ble quarried near Sarrancolin, in the valley of
Aure, department of the Hautes Pyrenees,
France, it is more or less brecciated in structure, and
of varied color, gray, red, and yellow predominating.
This is one of the most highly prized of French marbles,
and was used in the interior decoration of the Orand
Opera House in Paris.
sarrasin, sarrasine (sar'a-sin), n. [< F. sarra-
sine, a portcullis, fem. of sarrasin, Saracen : see
Saracen.] A portcullis: a term probably dat-
ing from the Crusades, and retained in use in
French, from which English writers have taken
it. Also spelled sarasin.
sarrazin (sUr'a-zin), n. [F. hie sarrasin, buck-
wheat, lit. 'Saracen wheat': see Saracen.]
Buckwheat.
The Russian peasant will not always sell his wheat and
live on tarrazin and rye. Nineteenth Century, XXIV. 836.
sarret, «. [OF.] A long cannon, smaller than a
Iwinlpurd. Farroic, Mil. Encye.
sarrusophone (sa-rus'o-fon), n. [< Snrrits (see
def.) -I- Gr. ^luvfi, a sound, tone.] A musical
instrument, properly of the oboe class, but with
a tube of metal, invented in 1863 by a French
band-master, Sarrus. Eight different sizes or varie-
ties are made, so as to form a complete series, as of the
saxophone, and are named either from their fundamental
key or from their relative compass. Compare saxophone.
sarsat (sar'sa), n. [Also sarza ; the first part of
sarmiparilla, taken in sense of the full word.]
Sarsaparilla.
You may take sarza to open the liver.
Bacon, Friendship (ed. 1S87X
sarsaparilla (sar'sa-pa-ril'S.), n. [= D. sarsa-
parilla = G. Dan. ■'<(irsaparilla = Sw. sarsa-
parill = F. salsejyareille = It. salsapariglia, <
Sp. zarzaparilla, now zarzaparrilla = Pg. saU
saparrilha, sarsaparilla, orig. Smilax aspera;
usually explained as < Sp. zarza, a bramble
(supposed to be < Basque sariziu, a bramble),
-I- *parilla, "par-
rilla, supposed
to be a dim. of
parra, a train-
ed vine (others
suggest Parillo,
name of a physi-
cian said to have
first employed
it).] 1. The rhi-
zome of several
plants of the
genus Smilax,
chiefly, it is be-
lieved, of iS. medi-
ca, S. officinalis,
and S. papyra-
cea, all of tropi-
cal America. — 2.
Any plant of the
order Smilacese.
— 3. A medicinal preparation of sarsaparilla-
root. The reputation of sarsaparilla as a medicine has
sometimes suffered from worthless substitutes, or from
the r(H>t l)eiiig too long kept, but it now has an estab-
lished character as an alterative, most usefully employed
in syphilis, but also valuable in chronic rlieuniatisra
and other affections. Compare cAino-root.— Australian
Brancli of Sarsaparilla (^mfVax mtdica),
with fruits.
sarsaparilla
sarsaparilla. See //nr((.)ift.T,.«n. -Brazilian sarsa-
parilla, the product in Ilruzil ef one or more unidentified
speciesofSini/aj.— Bristly sarsaparilla,.! Nortli Amer-
ican plnntj Araiia hispida, aW> ealleil irild ehh'r. Com-
pare trild tarmpanUa.— Country sarsaparilla. Same
88 IiuliaH jorsoportKa.— German sarsaparilla, the
roots or rhizomes of Carex arenarUt, C. di^tirha, and C.
hirta, from their being occasionally used in (Jermaiiy iis
a substitute for sarsaparilla.— Honduras sarsaparilla,
the sarsap-irilla most used in the United States, derived
perhaps from Sinilax m<'i(i<;a.— Indian sarsaparilla, an
East Indian asclepiadaceous plant, Jtfttiiiirr-^mtij^ Jmh'cits,
tbe rootB of which are used as a substitute for sarsaparilla.
Alao n«nnartr«rf.— Italian sarsaparilla, the product
ofa8oathEuropeanplant,.s»ll/«.rn.^■/J(•rlI.— Jamaica sar-
saparilla, a former name of various kinds of sarsapai-illa
which reached Europe by way of Jamaica from ilexico,
Honduras, United States of Colombia, and even Peru. It
is now applied to a Cost4l Kican article, ascribed to Sinilax
officinalis. Also red sarsaparilla.— Mexican sarsapa-
rilla, the product perhaps of Smilax mcdica. - Spuri-
ous sarsaparilla. See Hardenberjia.— Texas sarsa-
parilla. See menispennum, 2.— Wild sarsaparilla, a
North .\merican plant, Araiia tnidicaitlis, whose lon^ hori-
zontal aromatic roots are used as a substitute for sarsapa-
rilla. Also (in English books) Virginian sarsaparilla.
sarset (sars), «. ami r. See scarce.
Sarsen (sar'sen), n. [Also Sarsin, Sareen; a con-
traction of Saracen, q. v.] If. Same as Saracen
(formerly used in a vague sense tor foreigner).
— 2. The name given iu southwestern England
to former inhabitants of the region, and espe-
cially to former workers of the tin-mines, the
ancient piles of attle in Cornwall and Devon
being designated as "Jews' pits," "Jews' leav-
ings," "attal-Sarsen"or "-Saracen," "remains
of the Sarcens," etc. — 3. [i.e.] Same as /Sara-
cen's stone (which see, under Saracen).
How came the stones here? for these sarsens or Druidi-
cal sandstones are not found in the neighbourhood.
EmersoUf Stonehenge.
sarsenet, sarcenet (sars'net), «. [Also sars-
net .■=!). sarcenet = G. sarsenet, < OF. sarcenet,
< ML. saracena fits, also Saracenietis {ecpannus),
sarcenet, lit. ' Saracen cloth,' < LL. Saracemis,
Saracen: see Saracen.'} A fine, thin silk stufif,
plain or twilled, especially valued for its soft-
ness. It appears to have come into use in the thirteenth
century, and to have been a favorite material during the
eighteenth century and down to 1820 for garments for
women, especially as linings. It is now mainly super-
seded by other materials. Formerly also called sendal or
ceiidtU.
The roffys [roofs] garnyshed with sarsnettys and buddys
of golde. Arnold's Chronicle, 1502, p. li.
Loose jerkins of tawny taffety cut and lined with yellow
sarsenet. GoldweU, quoted in Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 478.
His letters of credence brought by his secretary in a
scarf e of sarsenett. Evelyn, Diary Aug. 28, 1667.
Miss Andrews drank tea with us that evening, and wore
her puce-coloured sarsenet.
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, xv.
Sarsenet ril)l>on, ribbon of sarsenet material, plain, and
consisting merely of piece sarsenet in narrow widths.
Sarsia (sar'si-a), n. [NL. : named from Prof.
Michael -Sars, of Christiania, Norway.] 1. A
genus of jellyfishes, giving name to the Sarsi-
idm. S. tabulosa is a small British species. — 2.
[I. c] A member of this genus.
Sarsiidse (sar-si'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Sarsia +
-idee.} A family of acalephs, named from the
genus Sarsia. Also SarsMse.
sarsinisht (sar'si-nish), n. [ME. sarsynysh, <
OF. sarrazinesclie, < sarrazin, Saracen : see
Saracen, sarsenet.} A fine woven silk of the
kind called sarsenet.
Largesse hadde on a robe fresh
Of riche purpur sarlymjsh [read sarsynysh; tr. OF. sar-
razinesclie]. Rom. of the Rose, I. 1188.
Sars's organ. See organ^.
sart (sart), n. [Short for assart : see assart.}
A piece of woodland turned into arable land.
Wharton.
sartage (sar'taj), n. [< sart -(- -age.} The
clearing of woodland for agricultural purposes,
as by setting fire to the trees.
sartain (sar'tan), a. An obsolete or dialectal
form of certain.
sarticniraens (sar'ti-krS-re'us), n. ; pi. sarti-
crurxi (-i). [NL., for 'sartoricrurseus, < L. sar-
tor, a tailor, + NL. crurmus, q. v.] The tailor's
muscle of the thigh; the sartorius. Coues and
Shute, 1887.
sartor (silr'tor), n. [< L. sartor, a tailor, < saf-
cire, pp. sarins, patch, mend.] A tailor: as,
"Sartor Resartus" (the tailor retailored).
Coats whose memoiy turns the sartor pale.
0. W. Uolmes, Terpsichore.
sartorial (sar-to'ri-al), a. [< sartor H- -i-al.}
1. Of or pertaining'to a tailor or tailors.
A north-country dame, in days of old economy, when the
tailor worked for women as well as men, delivered one of
her nether garments to a professor of the sartorial art.
Southey, The Doctor, Interchapter Ix. (Dames.)
5346
2. In anat. pertaining to the sartorius muscle.
Sartorii, w. Plural of sartorius.
sartorite (siir'tor-it), n. [After Sartorius von
Waltershausen (1809-76).] In mineral., a sul-
phid of arsenic and lead, occurring sparingly in
orthorhombie crystals of a lead-gray color in
the dolomite of the Binnenthal in V alais, Swit-
zerland. Also called scleroclase.
sairtorius (siir-to'ri-us), n.; pi. sartorii (-5).
[NL., < L. sartor, a tailor: see sartor.} The
longest muscle of the human body, crossing the
thigh obliquely in front, it arises from the anterior
superior spine of 'the ilium, and is inserted into the top of
the inner anterior surface of the tibia. It has been con-
sidered to be the chief muscle in producing the position
of the tailor when at work (whence its name). It is usually
present in mammals, though with various modifications.
Also called iliopretibiatis, sartiarurieas, and trntor-muscle.
See cut under viusde^.
Sarum use. See use.
sarzat (silr'za), «. Same as sarsa.
sasanqua (sa-snng'kwa), n. [Jap.] The plant
VamcUia Sasanqua. See Camellia.
sasarara (sas-a-ra'ra), ». Same as siserary.
sashl (sash), »(. [< F. chdssis, sash, or more
prob. directly from the orig. of clidssis, namely
OF. chasse, F. chdsse, a case, frame, < L. capsa, a
box, case: see case'^, chase^, and cash^, doublets
ofsas7(l.] 1. The framed part of a window, in
which the glass is fixed; also, a similar part of a
greenhouse, etc. In windows they either open and
shut vertically, or are hung upon hinges so as to swing
open like doors. The former are called sliding sashes, and
the latter French sashes, or casements.
I was the other day driving in a hack tlu-ough Gerrard-
street, when my eye was immediately catched with the
prettiest object imaginable — the face of a very fair girl
. , . fixed at the chin to a painted sash, and made part of
. the landscape. 5tee/e, Spectator, No. 510.
No fire the kitchen's cheerless grate display'd ;
No cheerful light the long-closed sash convey'd.
Cfrabbe, Works, I. 106.
2. The frame in which a saw is put to prevent
its bending or buckling when crowded into the
cut — Leaded sash. See icaded.— Port-sash. See
port'^. — Sash-mortising machine, a machine used to
form mortises in stiles and rails of doors and sashes, and
for similar work. K. li. Knight. — Sash-planing ma-
chine, a small form of molding-machine for making rab-
bets and molduigs for the stiles and bars of sashes. E.
U. Knight. — Sash-Stlcking machine, a machine for
forming the moldings on the edges of Ijars and rails for
window-sashes, and for planing up other small stuff. E.
II. Knight.
sashi (sash), V. t. [< sash'^, n.} To furnish with
sash-windows.
The windows are all sashed with the finest crystalline
glass. Lady M. W. Montagu.
The noble old residence of the Beaucharapa and Ne-
villes, and now of Earl Brooke. He has sashed the great
apartment that 's to be sure. Gray, Letters, I. 256.
It [Hurstmonceauxl is scarcely furnished with a few
necessary beds and chairs ; one side has been sashed.
Walpole, Letters, II. 30a
sash^ (sash), n. [Formerly also shasli; < Pers.
shast, shest, a girdle, also a thumb-stall worn
by archers, a plectrum.] A long band or roll
of silk, fine linen, or gauze, wound round the
head by Orientals in the manner of a turban ;
also, in modern times, a band or scarf worn over
the shoulder or round the waist for ornament.
Sashes are worn by women and children (less frequently
by men), and by military officers as badges of distinction,
and are a regular part of certain costumes. They are
usually of silk, variously made and ornamented.
So much for the silk in Judea, called shesh in Hebrew,
whence haply that fine linen or silk is called shushes, worn
at this day about the heads of eastern people.
Fuller, Pisgah Sight, II. xiv. 21.
On the mens [heads] are Shashes, which is a long thin
wreath of Cloath, white or coloured.
5. Clarke, Geog. Description (1671), p. 46.
A Scarlet Silk net Sash to tye a Nightgown.
Quoted in Ashton's Social Life in Eeign of Queen Anne,
[I. 150.
sash^ (sash), V. t. [< sash^, n.} To dress or
ornament with a sash or sashes.
They are ... so sashed and plumed that . . . they are
grown infinitely more insolent in their fine clothes even
than they were in their rags. Burke, A Regicide Peace, iv.
sash-bar (sash'biir), «. In carp., one of the
vertical or transverse pieces within a window-
frame which hold the panes of glass.
sash-chisel (sash'chiz'el), n. In carp., a chisel
with a narrow edge and a strong blade, for mak-
ing the mortises in sash-stiles.
sash-clamp (sash'klamp), n. A clamp for
squaring a sash and tightening up the joints.
li. If. Knight.
sash-door (sash'dor), TO. A door having panes
of glass to admit light.
sashery (sash'er-i), TO.; pi. sasheries (-iz). [<
sash'^ + -er-y.} Sashes or scarfs collectively,
sasine
considered as parts of official costume, or as
parts of ornamental apparel. [Rare.]
Distinguished by their sasheries and insignia.
■ Carlyle. (Imp. Diet.)
sash-fastener (sash'fas"ner), n. A latch or
screw for fastening the sash of a window.
sash-frame (sash'fram), n. 1. The frame in
which the sash of a window is suspended, or
to which it is hinged. When the sash is suspended
the frame is made hollow to contain the balancing weights,
and is said to be cased.
2. The frame in which a saw is strained.
sash-gate (sash'gat), to. In hydraul. engin., a
stop-valve sliding vertically to and from its
seat.
sash-line (sash'lin), «. The rope by which a
sash is suspended in its frame.
sashoont (sa-shon'), n. [Origin obscure.] A
kind of stuffing or pad put into the leg of a
boot, or secured around the calf of the leg, to
prevent chafing, or to cause the boot to sit
smoothly.
1688, June 29, paid Henry Sharpe of Cuckfield for a pair
of bootes and sashoons, 13s. Stapley's Diary.
sash-saw (sash'sa), n. 1. A small saw used
in cutting the tenons of sashes. Its plate is
about 11 inches long, and has about thirteen
teeth to the inch. — 2. A mill-saw strained in
a frame or sash.
sash-sluice (sash'slos), «. A sluice with verti-
cally sliding valves.
sash-tool (sash'tol), TO. A small paint-brush of
a size used in painting window-sashes.
sash-window (sash'win"d6), n. A glazed win-
dow in which the glass is set in a sash, and
not in the wall; hence, a window that can be
opened.
She locked the door, . . . then broke a pane in the 8a«ft
window. Swift, Advice to Servants (Chambermaid).
Sasia (sa'si-a), TO. [NL. (B. R. Hodgson, 1836),
from a native name.] A notable genus of In-
dian piculets or pygmy woodpeckers of the sub-
family I'icumninse, with naked orbits and only
three toes. p. ochracea and P. abnormis are two exam-
ples. They range from Nepal and Sikhim through Burma
into the Malay Peninsula, Sumati-a, Java, Borneo, etc. Also
called Coineris, Microcolaptes, Dryalles, and Picumiwides.
sasin (sas'in), TO. [E. Ind.] The common In-
dian antelope, Antilope cervicapra or A. bezoar-
tica, remarkable for its swiftness and beauty.
Sasin, or Indian Antelope (Antilope cfrvt'cafira).
It is abundant in the open di-y plains of India, in flocks
of from ten to sixty females to a single male. It will
clear from 2.5 to 30 feet at a bound, and rise even 10 or
11 feet from the earth. It is grayish, brown or black on the
upper parts of the body, with white abdomen and breast,
and a white circle round the eyes. It stands about 2 feet
6 inches high at the shoulder. This is the animal which
is considered to represent the modern restricted genus An-
tilope, from which many more have been successively de-
tached for other and very numerous Antilopinn of Asia
andAfricT, Its usual specific name is not to be confound-
ed with the same word used in a generic sense for the very
different African bohor. The' sasin is among several ante-
lopes loosely called algazel. It has long been known as a
source of bezoar, as indicated by one of its specific names.
The record of the sasin, in its relations to man, goes back
to the dawn of history ; for it is the animal « ith the straight
corkscrew horns so commonly figured on the monu-
ments of Assyria and Babylonia. In India it is usually
figured drawing the car of Chandra, the moongod, and
furnishes a probable prototype of tlu; animals with which
the classic huntress Diana is associated. It is there also
a regular attribute of Siva, or Mahadeva, held by the hind
legs upright in one of the hands of this god, and connected
with linga-worship, apparently fi-om its reputed salacity.
sasine (sa'sin), «. 1. An obsolete form of
seizin, retained archaically in Scots law. Spe-
cifically— 2. In Scoti law, either (n) the act of
saslne
giving legal possession of feudal property (in
which ease it is synonymous with infeftment), or
(A) tlie instniment by which the fact is proved.
There is a general office for the registering of
sasines in Edinburgh — Cognition and sasine. See
i-i.;miW/(i.— Precept of sasine. See precept.— iaaiae
ox, a perquisite funiierly <iiie tij the sherifl wlien he jjave
infeftment to an heir hoMiii^ crown lands. It was after-
wan! converted into a payment in money proportioned to
the value of the estate, and is now done away with.
sass(sas),n. [Adial.formof srtMfc, H.] 1. Same
as sauce. — 2. Vegetables, particularly those
used in making sauces: as, garden sass. — 3.
Insolence ; impudence. [Vulgar, U. S., in all
uses.]
sass (sas). r. [A dial, form of sauce, v.'] I.
ill trans. To talk or reply saucily; be insolent
in replying. [Vulgar, U. S.']
Its (Mr. Thayer's hoolc's] very pugnacity will no doubt
tempt so many of the assailed to »k» back that we shall
in the end And ourselves by so much the richer In contri-
butions to the annals of the times.
Harper I Mag., LXXIX. 649.
n. trans. To sauce; be saucy to. [Vulgar,
U. S.]
sassaby (sas'a-bi), n.; pi. sassabies (-hiz). [8.
-African; also sassabye, sassaybe, sassabi.] The
bastard hartbeest, Damalis or Alcelaphus lu-
»'((«.<, of South Africa. The saMaby resembles the
hartbeest, A. eaama, but stands somewhat higher at the
5347
I
iim}
%.
,#
'■i^bit-
Sassaby yAUtlafhui lunfifMj).
withers, and it« horns are gently cnrveil rather than ab-
ruptly lM;nt. It li one of the Kroup of large bubaline an-
te!'ip.s of which the bleabok is another, but the samaby
lai ks the white blaxe on the face. (Compare cut of bUt-
Sassafras {Sassafras officinaU).
I. Branch with fruits, a. Branch with sterile flowers. «, *, f, dif-
ferent forms of leaves.
bark used in infusion aa a tonic, (c) Of Qneenslani! : a
smaller related tree, DaoAmiruiramicran/Aa. — Brasdlian
sassafras, the tree Stdn-ndra I'lirhurti, which vields
the,s<. called sa8saft«»-nat« or Picliurimlieaiis.— Cayenne
sassafras. Hee Uearua. — CUllan sassafras. Sn;ne
as Pertitrian nti(ine!7 (which see, under milmeg). — OU of
Baasaftaa. See <nt and taaafnuoil. — Sassafras tea, an
infusion of aaaaafraa-wood or of the bark of the root. -
Swamp-sassafras, Magnolia gtauea. See Magnolia.
sassafras-nut (sas'a-fras-uut), n. Same as
rirhiti iiH h<aii.
sassafras-oil (sas'a-fras-oil), n. 1. A volatile
aromatic oil distilled from the root-wootl and
root-bark of the common sassafras. Also oil of
sassafras. — 2. A volatile oil obtained from the
bark of the Victorian sassafras, with an odor re-
sembling sassafras and caraway. — 3. An oil ex-
tracted from sassafras-nuts or Pichiuim beans.
— 4. .See Ocotea.
Sassa giun. Seepum^.
Sassanian (sa-sa ni-an), a. and n. I, a. Per-
taining to the Sassanids.
Three ahoit wan with the Satiaman monarchs of Persia
were waged. The Academy, Feb. 15, IgSO, p. 110.
H. n. Same as Sassanid.
>fjk.) The horni are about a foot long. The animal la much SaSSanid (sas'a-nid), n. [< ML. Sassanidx, <
liiintei! Iioth for It* hide and for ita fleth, and has been
thinned out in countries where it formerly abounded. It
inhaliits liy preference open places, aometlinea in herds of
seventl hundreds.
sassafras (sas'a-fras), n. [Formerly also saxa-
fra." ; = D. G. 8w. Dan. sassafras = F. .musafras
= It. sassafras, sassafrasao, sassofrasso = Pg.
"X ifraz (NL. sassafras), <, 8p. sasafrds, sassa-
fii-: another application of salsafras, salsi-
'il<ifragia, OSp. sassifragia, saxifrage,
" : scp saxifrage.'] 1. A tree, the only
>ll he genus .S'njwa/ro*. Itlscommonlneaat- 8*ssararat, «
Stissan or Sasan, a Persian priest, ancestor of
the founder of the dynasty. J A member of a
dynasty which ruled the Persian empire from
the downfall of the Parthian power, about A. D.
226, until the conquest of Persia by the Sara-
cens, about 642.
The Arsacid empire, which had lasted for 476 yeara, was
replaced by the monarchy of i\\e Samanidt, itself destined
to endure for a nearly equal period.
Itaac Taylor. The Alphabet, IL 242.
See siserary.
rn .North America, in the sooth taidngTosMMdoaT'along SaSSet (sas), n. [< F. sas, < D. sas, a sluice, a
>ith the persimmon, of abandoned fields. It reaches a sluice-gate.] A sluice, canal, or lock on a navi-
f able river; a weir with floodgates; a naviga-
te sluice.
They have made divers great and navigable siuaM and
sluices, and bridges.
The Oreal Level (Arber's Eng. Oamer, I. 320).
Sir N. Crisp's project of making a great eame in the
King's lands about Deptford, to l>e a wett-dock to hold 200
sail of ships. Pepy; Diary, Jan. 25, 1662.
Iieight of aliout 45 feet. Its wood is light and soft, cowie-
grained, not strong, bat very dorable In contact with the
w.il. used for fencing. In cooperage, etc. The root, espe-
cially its l>ark, enters into commerce as a powerful aro-
matic stimulant, and Is much used In flavoring and scent-
InK. an oil being distilled in large quantities for the latter
purposes. The bark is ofHciiral, as also the pith, which
affords a mucilaginous application and a drink. An early
name in England was agxU-lree.
[Thcyi did heipe vs to dig and carry Sata/nu, and doe Sassenach (sas'e-nadh), n. [< Gael. Sasunnach,
any thing thiy could, lieiiigof a comely proportion and the
best condition of any .Salvages we had yet Incountred.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, 1. 107.
2. leap."] [NL. (C. G. Nees, 1836).] A genus
of apetalous trees of the order Laurinese and
tribe Litseaeea, characterized by an umbel-
like inflorescence of liinecious flowers in loose
Saxon : see Saxon.l A Saxon ; an Englishman
a general name applied by the Scottish High-
landers of the British Isles to persons of Saxon
race.
The term Saioienach, or .Saxon, is applied by the High-
landers to their l>ow-Country nelghlKirs.
Scott, Qlenflnlaa, note.
.1 short racemes from terminal buds, and gagsolin. sassoline (sas'o-Iin), ». [< F.
l>rodui-od around the base of the new growth
of the season. The flowers have a sii-lobed perianth
and nine stamens In three rows, with their anthers in-
trnriMsly four-ccIle<l. the tliird njw of fllaments each with
a stalked gland at tlie liaae. The only species. S. nffici-
naif. Is a native of the Initcd States, especially south-
ward and principally east of the Mississippi, eitending
alwi iiit<i Canada. It is a small or middle-sized tree,
with arornalie !>arlc and rrxits, and remarkable for the
green . olor of its liowerh, liudscaies, and branches, and
for it« 'liiMo! j)hous leavef, the earlier entire and oval, the
lat*T fhrec lolled or irregular. .See cut in next column.
A rnrallan sassafras. r'i)<if Victoria(and Tasmania):
f'ritm truiMchnfa ot the order MonimiaeeM, a lofty
soline = G. .las.solin, < It. Sasso, a town near
Florence, Italy.] Native boraeie acid, HgBO..^,
occurring more or less pure in irregular six-
sided laminae belonging to the triclinic sys-
tem, or as a crust, or in stalactitic forms com-
posed of small scales. It Is white or yellowish, has
a nacreous luster, and is friable. It occurs as a deposit
from hot springs and ponds in the lagcM>ns of Tuscany, and
was first discovered near Saaso (whence the name) in the
province of Florence.
saSBOlite (sas'o-Iit), «. [< Sasso (see sassolin)
-1- -if/2.] Sumo as »rt*TO?>«.
with a »..iiiew!iat useful wood and an aro'- saSSOrol, sasSOrolla (sas'6-rol, sas-o-rol'a), n.
r.rk used to malje a kind of tea and affording an r< jfL. sOssorolUt, < It. sassajuolo, wobd-pigeon,
11 oil. Als^> called lAumr-nutmeit. (o> (if New > i • t i -i mi. i
■Vales : Ihm„,ha .^Jnfra, .,f the same order, an- < *"««". » ""ock. < L. saxuni, a rock.] The rock-
oihcr largo tree, with very fragrant leaves, and aromatic pigeon, Columba licia.
satchel
sassy-bark (sas'i-biirk), n. [W. African sas-
sy (?) + E. 6rt)*2.] The maneona bark (which
see, under hark^); also, the tree that yields it.
See Erythrophlceum.
sastra (siis'trii), «. See shaster.
sat (sat). Preterit of sit.
Sat. An abbreviation of Saturday.
Satan (sa'tan), n. ['Formerly or (iial. also Sa-
than; < ME. Satan, Sathan, also Satanas, Safliaii-
as,< OF. Suthaii, Sathaytas, F. Satan, Satanas
(coUoq.) = Pr. Sathanas, Sodhanas = Sp. Satan,
Satanas = Pg. Satana: = It. Satan, Safanasso
= D. G. Dan. Sw. Satan = AS. Satan = Gr. 2o-
Tav, Saravac, < LL. Satan, Satanas = Goth. Sa-
tana, Sat/ivas = Av. Shaitdn (> Turk. Sheytan
= Pers. Hind. Shaitdn), < Heb. sdtdn, an ene-
my, Satan, < satan, be an enemy, persecute.]
The chief evil spirit; the great adversary of
man*; the devil. See devit.
The gay coroun of golde gered on lofte . . .
Now is sette for to serue satanas the blake,
Bifore the bolde Baltazar wyth host & wyth pryde.
Alliterative Poevns (ed. Morris), ii. 1449.
And now hath Sathanas, seith he, a tayl
Brodder than of a carryk is the sail.
Chaucer, Prol. to Summoner's Tale, 1. 23.
And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall
from heaven. Luke x. 18.
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which
is the Devil, and Saian, and bound him a thousand years.
Rev. XX. 2.
Incensed with indignation, Satan stood
Unterrifted, and like a comet bum'd.
Milton, P. L., ii. 707.
= Syn. Apollyon. .See definition of Belial.
Satanic (sa-tan'ik), a. [< F. satanique = Sp.
Pg. It. satiinico (cf. D. satansch. satanisch = G.
satanisch =Dan. Sw. satanisk),<Ijh.''Satariicus,
< Satan, Satan : see Satan.] Of, pertaining to,
or characteristic of Satan ; devilish ; extremely
malicious or wicked ; infernal.
His weakness shall o'ercome Satanic strength.
Milton, P. K., i. 101.
Satanic scbooL See schodi.
satanical (sa-tan'i-kal), a. [< satanic + -al.]
Same as sotiinic.
I deal not
With magic, to betray you to a faith
Black and satayiical.
Shirley, Bird in a Cage, II. 1.
satanically (sa-tan'i-kal-i), adr. In a satanic
manner ; with the wicked and malicious spirit
of Satan ; devilishly.
Most satanicaUy designed on souls.
Uammond, Works, IV. 470.
satanicalness (sa-tan'i-kal-nes), n. Satanic
t liiiractor or quality. Bailey.
Satanism (sii'tan-izm), n. [< Satan + -ism.]
The evil and malicious disposition of Satan ;
a diabolical spirit, doctrine, or contrivance.
Luther first brinced [pledged] to Germany the poisoned
cup of his heresies, biaspheinies, and satanitmig.
Bp. Jeuel, Works (Parker Soc), III. 265.
satanist (sa'tan-ist), «. [< Satan -\- -ist.] One
who is, as it were, a disciple or adherent of Sa-
tan; a very wicked person; also [.cap.], one of
the Euchites. [Rare.]
There shall be fantastical babbleVs, and deceitful .Satan-
igts, in these last times, whose words and deeds are all false-
hood and lies. Oranyer, On Ecciesiastes (1621), p. 343.
satanophany (sa-ta-nof 'a-ni), «. [< Gr. ZoTavdr,
Satan,-!- -^vf/a,<^/i'f(7#a(, appear.] Anappear-
ance or incarnation of Satan ; the state of being
possessed by a devil. [Kare.] Imp. Diet.
satanophobia (sa'tan-o-fo'bi-a), «. [< Gr. 2a-
-avi'ir, Satan, -1- -tpofiia, K ^I3eia6ai, fear.] Fear
of the devil. [Rare.]
Impregnated as he was with Satanophobia, he might
perhaps have doubted still whether this distressed crea-
ttu'e, all woman and nature, was not all art and fiend.
C. Reade, Oolster and Hearth, xcvi. {Daviee.)
Satan-shrimp (sa'tan -shrimp), ». A devil-
shrimp; any member of the Lueiferidse. See
cut under Lueifer.
Satara, «. A ribbed, highly dressed, lustered,
and hot-pressed woolen cloth. Encyc. lirit.,
XXIV. 062.
satchel (sach'el), n. [Formerly also «acfteJ ,• <
ME. sachet, < OF. sachel, < L. saccellus, dim. of
saeeus, a sack, bag: see sack^. Cf. It. sacciilo
= G. sdckel, < L. sacculus, dim. of saeeus, a sack,
bag: aee saccule.] A small sack or bag ; espe-
cially, a bag in which books (as school-books)
are carried ; also, any hand-bag.
Nyle le here a tachel, nether scrip, nether schoon, and
greete ze no man by the weye. Wycl\f, Luke x. i.
The whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face.
Shah , As you Like it, ii. 7. US,
satchel
I make a doubt whether I had the same identical in-
dlTidually iiuinerical Body when I carried a Cali-leather
SacM to Soiioitl in Hereford, as when I wore a Lambstcin
Hood in Oxford. Bawell, Letters, 1. i. SI.
sate^ (sat). An obsolete or arohaic preterit of
sit.
sate- (sat), V. t. ; pret. and pp. sated, ppr. sating.
[Irreg.<L.«oft<ire,satisfy, satiate, appar.res*ing
in part on the L. sat for satis, sufiScient : see sati-
ate, satisfy.^ To fill full ; glut ; surfeit ; satiate.
When she is tated with his body, she will find the error of
her choice. Shak., Othello, i. 3. 356.
The sated reader turns from it [the subject] with a liind
of Uterarj- nausea. Goldsmith, Citizen of the World, icvii.
For never power
Can sate the hungry soul beyond an hour.
Lowell, Legend of Brittany, ii. 5.
=Syn. Surfeit, etc. (see satisfy), glut, gorge,
sateen (sa-ten'),«. [AXsosatteen; <F.asif*»'«-
tine, < satin, satin : see satin.'] 1 . A fabric hav-
ing a glossy surface, so called from its resem-
blance to satin ; specifically, a kind of worsted
goods much used for linings.— 2. A cotton fab-
ric, (o) A thicli and strong fabric resembling jean, used
for corsets, women's shoes, etc. (6) \ thin textile resem-
bling Indian sillt, printed in colors for dresses. Also
spelled sod'w.— Amazon sateen, sateen made especially
for women's riding-habits.
sa'teless (sat'les), a. [< sate"^ + -less.'] Insatia-
ble; that cannot be sated or satisfied. [Bare.]
His very crimes attest his dignity ;
His sateless thirst of pleasure, gold, and fame
Declares him born for blessings infinite.
Young, Night Thoughts, vii. 512.
satellite (sat'e-lit), n. [< OF. satellite, P. satel-
lite, attendant, satellite (of a planet), = Sp.sate-
lite = Pg. It. satellite, < L. satelles {-itis), pi. sutel-
Mte«, an attendant, guard ; root uncertain.] 1.
A follower; particularly, a subservient or ob-
sequious follower or attendant ; a subordinate
attendant.
5348
(hid =
Satellite-sphinx (Philampetus salettitia). natural size (left pair of
wings omitted).
satellite-sphinx (sat'e-lit-sflngks), «. PMlam-
pehis satellitia, a large and handsome hawk-
moth -whose larva feeds upon the vine.
satellite-'Vein (sat'e-lit-van), n. A vein accom-
panying an artery. There are frequently two
such veins to one artery, each of which is called
rena comes.
satellitioust (sat-e-lish'us), a. [< LL. .satelli-
tiiim, an escort, guard (< L. satelles, an atten-
dant: see satellite, satellitivm) , + -ous.'] Per-
taining to or having the character of a satellite.
Their sateUUious attendance, their revolutions about the
sun. G. Cheyne, Philosophical Principles.
&»(««<««, one retained to guard a man's person ; a Yeo- Satellltium (sat-e-lish'i-um), «. [< lAj. satel-
'"- ■ " . -.- - KW«»i, an escort, guard, < L. «ate//c«, an atten-
dant: S66 satellite!] An escort; guard; accom-
paniment.
man of the Guard ; a Sergeant, Catchpoll
Blount, Glossographia (ed. 1670).
But the petty princes and their satellites should be
brought to market; not one of tliem should have a span
of earth, or a vest, or a carcass of his own.
Landor, Marcus TuUius and Quinctus Cicero.
The fault lies not so much in human nature as in the
satellites of Power. /. D Israeli, Curios, of Lit., I. 173.
Bedford, with his silver liettle, and his buttony satellite,
presently brought in this refection [the tea].
Thackeray, Lovel the Widower, iv.
His horoscope is B , having in it a satellilium of 6 of the
7 planets. It is a maxime in astrology that a native that
hath a satellitium in his ascendent proves more eminent
in his life than ordinary. Aubrey, Lives, Thomas Hobbes.
Saterdayt, n. An obsolete form of Saturday.
Sathan, Sathanast, n. See Satan.
sati, n. Same as snttee.
2. An attendant moon ; a small planet revolv- Satiability (sa-shia-bil'i-ti), n. [< satia'ble +
-ity (see -bility).] "The "character of being sa-
tiable, or the fact of being satisfied.
satiable (sa'shia-bl), a. [< sati(afe) + -able.]
Capable of being satiated or satisfied.
satiableness (sa'shia-bl-nes), ». Same as sa-
tiahiUty.
satiate (sa'shiat), V. t.; pret. and pp. satiated,
ppr. satiating. [< L. satiatus, pp. of satiare (>
It. sasiare = Sp. Pg. saciar), fill full, satiate, <
sat, satis, sufficient, satur, full ; akin to sad: see
sad, sate^, satisfy.] 1. To satisfy; feed or
nourish to the full; sate.
ing round a larger one ; a secondary planet.
The earth has one satellite, the moon ; Neptune is Icnown
to be accompanied by one ; Mars by two ; Uranus and Ju-
piter by four ; Saturn by eight. Saturn's rings are sup-
posed to be composed of a great multitude of minute sat-
ellites.
Or aslc of yonder argent fields above
Why Jove's satellites are less than Jove.
Pope, Essay on Man, i. 42.
[In the above quotation the Latin plural satellites is used
instead of the English plural.]
We can spare
The splendour of your lamps ; they but eclipse
Our softer satellite. Cowper, Taslc, i. 766.
The others may be regarded merely as satellites, revolv-
ing round some one or other of these superior powers.
Preseott, Ferd. and Isa., i. 20.
3. In geom., a straight line bearing the fol-
lowing relation to another straight line. The
satellite (also called the satellite line) of a given straight
line, with reference to a given cubic curve in whose
plane the straight line lies, is the straight line joining
the three points at which the three tangents to the
curve at the points of intersection of the first straight
line with it again cut the curve. This is the definition
of Cayley (Phil. Trans., 1867, p. 416), but It has the incon-
venience that according to it every satellite line has two,
four, or six primaries, while each primary has but a single
satellite. For this reason, it might be well to interchange
the applications of primary and satellite in the theory of
plane cubics. In the diagram, ABC is the satellite line.
O ! what not sell wee heer,
Sithence, to satiat our Gold-thirsty gall,
We sell our selues, our very soules and all?
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 5.
2. To'fill beyond natural desire; surfeit; fill
to repletion.
He may be satiated, but not satisfied. Karris.
3t. To saturate. See saturate.
Why does not salt of tartar draw more water out of the
air, . . . but for want of attractive force after it is satiated
with water? Newton.
satin-de-laine
satiety (sa-ti'e-ti), «. [Formerly also saciety ;
< OF. saticte, saaeted, F. saticte = Pr. Sp. sacie-
" saciedade = It. sazieta, < L. satie-
ta{t-)s, sufficiency, abundance, satiety, <
satis, enough, sufficient: see satiate, sat-
w/2/-] If. Fullness ; sufficiency. [Kare.]
This, of himselfe all Fulnesse, all Satielie,
Is then the sole Incomprehensil>le Deitie.
Heywood, Hierarchy of Angels, p. 68.
2. A glutted or cloyed state or condition; an
excess of gratification which excites loathing;
gratification to the full or beyond natural de-
sire; surfeit.
Of knowledge there is no satiety, but satisfaction and
appetite are perpetually interchangeable.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, i. lOO.
The strength of delight is in its seldomness or rarity,
and sting in its satiety. Sir T. Browne, Christ. Mor., IL 1.
Thou lovest, but ne'er linew love's sad satiety,
Shelley, To a Skylark.
=Syn. 2. Repletion, cloyment, glut. See satiny.
satin (sat'in), n. and a. [Early mod. E. also
sattin, satten; < ME. satin, satyne (= D. satijn
= Sw. satin), < OF. satin, also sain, F. satin,
satin, = Pg. setim = Olt. setino, satin, It., silk
hangings, < ML. setinus, also (after OF.) sati-
ntts, satinum, satin (ef. OF. sathenin = Olt.
setinino, satin), prop, (as in Olt. setino) adj., of
silk, < seta (> It. seta = Sp. Pg. seda = F. soie
= OHG. sida, MHG. side, G. seide = Olr. sita),
silk, a particular use of L. seta, sseta, a bristle,
stiff hair, also something made of hair, as a
pencil, etc. : see seta.] I. n. A silk material
of which the surface is very glossy, and the
back not as lustrous as the face. The high luster
of the surface is produced partly by the quality of the silk,
partly by the weaving, and partly by dressing with hot
rollers. Satins are sometimes figured, and sometimes the
background of a raised velvet is satin, so that the stufl
may be called a satin with a velvet pattern, or more gen-
erally velvet with satin ground.
Satyne, clotlie of sylke. Satinum.
Prompt. Parv., p. 441.
We did see
Damask and sattins,
And velvet full fair.
Winning of Coles (Child's Ballads, VII. 127).
What said Master Dombledon about the satin for my
short cloak and my slops? Shak., 2 Hen. IV., i. 2. 34.
Aureate satlnt, a rich silk stuff.
Their hosen being of riche gold satten called aureate
satten. ■ Hall, Henry VIII., quoted by Planch^.
Cuttanee satin, a satin of Indian origin, with a cotton
back, strong and durable. — Denmark satin, a coarse
worst«d stuff with a smooth surface.— Double satin de
Lyon, a satin in which both faces are satin. — Duchesse
satin, a satin of good quality, strong and durable, and
usually in black or plain colors witlinut pattern.— Farm-
er's satin, a durable material of wool, or cotton and wool,
having a satin-like surface. It is used especially for lin-
ings.—Satin d'Am^rlque, a name given to a cloth made
of the fiber of the American agave or aloe. It is used espe-
cially for upholstery.— Satin de Bruges, a fabric of silk
and wool, having a smooth and satin-like surface : used
chiefly for upholstery.— Satin de Lyon, a kind of Siitin the
back of which is ribbed instead of smooth.- Satin mer-
veilleux, a twUled silk fabric with a satin finish.- Turk
satin, Ttirk'B satin, a soft silk material with a glossy
surface and twilled back. It is used for men's waistcoats
and women's evening shoes, and for lining fur garment*.
II. a. 1. Made of satin: as. & satin dress. —
2. Of the nature of satin ; pertaining to or re-
sembling satin ; having a satin surface.
There was a wayward breeze, a desultorj' satin rustle, in
the vine-leaves. The Century, XXXVni. 894.
Satin bOWer-blrd, Ptilanorhynchus hulosericeus. See cut
under bouer-bird.— SsMa embroidery, embroidery in
satin-stitch ; a mere abbreviation, but frequently used.—
Satin figure, in textile fabrics, decoration by means of a
pattern having a smooth or satiny surface relieved upon
a ground without gloss. — Satin Jean. See jean.
rn?^cw ■'''^' **"■ ^^^ x^^y)' ™ffl'=<' overfill, glut, satin (sat'in), v. t. [< F. satiner, press so as to
give a satin finish. < satin, satin : see satin, n.]
m., — : — „ — 4.:.. £„■ I. J.-- 1 _ _. .1 ' 1
Nodal Cubic, with Four Primary Lines and their Satellite.
gorge, cloy,
II. intrans. To satisfy need or desire.
Cleared of all suffusion, we shall contemplate that ful-
ness which can only saZiale without satiety.
Evelyn, True Eeligion, I. 242.
satiate (sa'shiat), a. [< L. satiatus, pp. : see the
verb.] Filled to satiety ; glutted; satiated.
The sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made
drunk with their blood. Jer. xlvi. 10.
Summer winds
Satiate with sweet flowers.
Shelley, Prometheus Unbound, ii. 1.
Satiate with food, his heavy eyelids close ;
Voluptuous minions fan him to repose.
Montgotnery, The West Indies, iii.
i^driwn to'^JTelitte'r AD AV Bf%u''^^f^"^Vt Satjation (sa-shi-a'shon),«. KUWsatiatio^n-),
^nu of"tlrnge,rcy11rth''ree tv'thfee''oi fo"u'r"rimirv < ^^ .*««««', PP- satiatus, satiate: see satiate.]
A being or becoming satiated or filled; also.
points of tangency lie three by three on four primary
lines, FUH, Dfil, EGH, FEI. Tifie intersections of these
with the satellite line are called the satellite points. Two
are near H. The others are not shown.
4. In entom., a satellite-sphinx.- Eclipse of a
satellite. See eclipse. — Satellite line, satellite point.
See def. 8.
the state of being satiated.
This rapid process of satiation among the particular
class to which I refer [pretended lovers of the country I is i- j ,-. ; ^z- , , ;;
a phenomenon for wliiuh the wise ol)server would have Satln-ue-laine (sat in-de-lan ),
been prepared. Contemporary Itev., LU. mi. satin; de, of; laine, wool.] 1
To give a satin finish to; make smooth and
glossy on the surface like satin.
Pieces [of wall-paper] intended to be satined are ground-
ed with fine Paris plaster, instead of Spanish white.
Ure, Diet., HI. 478.
satin-bird (sat'in-berd), n. The satin bower-
bird. See cut under hower-bird.
satin-bush (sat'in-bush), n. See Podalyria.
satin-carpet (sat'in-kar"pet), n. One of two
different moths, Boarmia abietaria, a geomet-
rid, and Cytnatophora fluctuosa, a noctuid: an
English collectors' name.
satin-cloth (sat'in-kldth), n. A thin woolen
cloth with a smooth and glossy face, used es-
pecially for women's gowns.
satin-damask (sat'in-dam"a8k), n. A silk tex-
tile with an elaborate design, usually of floral
pattern. In some cases the pattern is raised
in velvet pile upon the satin ground.
" ». [F. : satin.
A smooth va-
satin-de-laine
rietv of cassimere, thinner than satin-cloth. —
2. Same as satin-cloth.
satine, «. Same as sateen, 2.
satine (sat-i-na'), «. [F. satine, satin, velvet,
< tiiilin, satin: see satin. 'i A wood of French
(iuiaua, of uncertain origin, perhaps from a
species of Parinarium. it is of a red color, hard,
heaw, and solid, suitable for fine work, and for civil and
naval architecture.
satinet (sat-i-nef), H. [F. satinet, < satin, satin;
as satin + -ct.'\ If. A very slight, thin satin.
Chambers's Cyc. — 2. A material made of cotton
and Woolen, so woven that the woolen forms
the surface : so called because the smooth sur-
face is thought to resemble that of satin. It
is cheap and very durable.
satinet-loom (sat-i-net'16m), n. A loom of the
open-shed type, used for heavy goods, as twills,
jeans, satinets, etc. The usual form has four boxes
ut ni,e end, and an endless chain controlling and actuat-
iriL.' !he heddle-levers, and may, wittioat the use of cams,
III I liiinged readily to any pattern.
satin-finish (sat'in-fin'ish), n. 1. A finish re-
sembling satin. — 2. In sihersmithing, a lus-
trous pearly finish produced by the scratch-
brush, with or without the use of water.
satin-flower (sat'in-flou'^r), ». See Lunaria.
— Crimson satin-flower, an English garden name of
Brrrtxirtia (liriMliira)eo<xtnea, a liliaceous plant from Cali-
fornia. It bears drooping umbels of showy flowers on
slender scapes a foot and a half high.
satin-fonlard (sat'in-fo-lard'), »• Foulard silk
the surface of which is especially smooth and
has a satiny appearance.
satin-grackle (sat'in-grak'l), n. The satin-
bird.
satining (sat'in-ing). n. [Verbal n. ot satin, r.]
In metiil-icork, a method of treating silver by
holding it against a revolving wire brush, which
makes minute scratches on the soiface, and
gives the metal a satin-like finish.
satining-machine (sat'in-ing-ma-shen'), n. In
jxilitr-iiKiiiiif., a, machine for giving a satin-fin-
ish to paper by causing it to pass in contact
with aeylindrical brush revolvingat high speed.
it is used for some kinds of wall- and letter-
pajKT.
satiniscot (sat-i-nis'ko), n. [< It. as if 'setinesco,
< setino, satin : see satin,'] A poor quality of
-.itin.
He wearea his apparell much after the fashion ; hla
lucancswill net Buffer him cumetoouigh; they afford him
niiRkvelvit, or Miiiiixo, but not withoat the colleges next
lt.-a»t:'s acquaiiitaitce.
.Sir T. Ottrbury, Characters, A Heere Fellow of an Home.
satinity (sa-tin'i-ti), n. [< satin -^ -«y .• formed
in imitation of Latinity.] Satin-like character
or quality. [Rare.]
I knew him Immediately by the smooth mMHSty of his
>'yl«. Lamb, To OOiiuui, 1830.
satinleaf (sat'in-lef), n. The common alum-
mot. Ill iii-hera Americana.
satin-lisse (sat'in-Ies), n. A cotton cloth of
fine satin-like surface, usually printed with
small delicate patterns and useci as a dress-
raatcrial.
satin-loom (sat'in-l5m), n. A loom for weav-
ing satin. The heddles are flTe-leaved or more, with
currcaixMuling trcadlei, and are so mounted as to pass the
shuttle, at each throw, over at least four warp-threads
irirl under one — the ilossy or right side of the fabric, ex-
' lit In double satlu de Lyon, being always woven under-
satin-moth (sat'in-mdth), n. A British moth,
f.ipnris or Uuama saticis: an English collec-
tors' iianii'.
satin-paper (sat'in-pa'p^r), ». A fine kind of
writiiii;-|iii|jfr with a satiny gloss.
satin-sheeting (sat'in-she'ting), n. A twilled
cotton faliric with a satin surface, made of so-
callcdwaste silk. It is employed especially for
upholstery, curtains, and the like, and is made
of grout width.
satin-spar (sat'in-spSr), n. 1. A fine fibrous
variety of calcite (or aragonite) which assumes
• silky or pearly luster when polished. — 2. A
tiiilar variety of gypsum.
satin-sparrow (safin-spar'o), n. A flycatcher
of Australia and Tasmania, Myiagra nitida, be-
longing to the Mitscicajmla. u is a^ inches long,
the wing 3i ; the male Is glossy steel-black, with a saUny
green luster In some places, and most of the under parts
white ; the female Is nnlte different. It received Its New
Latin riariii- frnrii fionld in 1 W7, and the French name mui-
OffTf hnllani from llonibron mid Jaciiuinot. who figured It
on plali- 11 l,i« of their "Voyage an Pflle .Sud."
satin-stitch isat'in-stich), n. An embroidery-
Htitcli by which the surface is covered with long
parallel stitches side by side and regular in
their arrangement, so as to produce a glossy
satin-like surface— saijed satln-rtltch, a kind of
6349
satln-stltch done over a padding of threads laid down
upon the surface of the ground, so that the pattern stands
out considerably.
satin-stone (sat'Ln-ston), n. A fibrous kind of
gypsum used by lapidaries ; satin-spar.
satin-striped (sat'm-stript), a. Having bars
or stripes of glossy satin-like surface contrast-
ing with a surface less smooth and brilliant:
said of a textile material.
satin-Snltan (sat'in-sul'tan), n. A silk textile
material made in India, with a glossy surface :
it is used for women's clothes.
satin-surah (sat'in-so'ra), n. Surah sUk hav-
ing an unusually smooth' and glossy surface.
satin-Turk (sat'in-terk), «. Same as Turk satin.
See s<(tin.
satin-wave (sat'in-wav), ». A British geomet-
rid moth, Acidalia subsericata.
satin-weave (sat'in-wev), n. A style of weav-
ing executed on a loom having five or more har-
nesses. E. H. Knight.
satinwood (safin-wdd), n. The wood of Chlo-
roxylon .Sicietenia, of the order Meliaceee; also,
the tree itself. The tree is a native of southern India
and Ceylon, of moderate size, liearing long pinnate decldu-
ous leaves and large branching panicles of small whitish
flowere. The heart-wood is ot a yellowish color and line
satiny luster, hard, heavy, and durable. It is used in In-
dia for furniture, agricultural implements, etc., but in
western countries is used only for cabinet-work, backs of
brushes, turnery, etc. Another East Indian satinwood is
furnished by Maba btud/olia. Bahama satinwood, a fine
article entering commerce, is attributed to some ebena-
ceous tree, perhaps a Maba. Xaiithuxylum Caribieum of
Florida and the Wect Indies Is another satinwood, a small
tree with extremely hard, flne-graincd wood, susceptible
of a beautiful polish. There is also a Tasnianian satin-
wood, the source of which Is botanically unknown.
satiny (sat'i-ni), a. [< satin + -y^.] Some-
what resembling satin ; ha ving a gloss like that
of satin.
Satiny slates, with dark limestones. Nabtn, XXX. 46.
sationt (sa'shon), H. [< L. satio(n-), a sowing,
satirist
Without humor, satire is invective; without literary
form, it is mere clownish jeering.
R. Ganiett, Encyc. Brit., XXI. 317.
Sf. Vituperation; abuse; backbiting.
The owls, bats, and several other birds ot night were one
day got together in a thick shade, where they aliused their
neighbours in a very sociable manner. Their satire at last
fell upon the sun, whom they all agi-eed to be very trouble-
some, impertinent, and inquisitive.
Addison, Tatler, No. 229.
4t. A satirist.
You are turnd satire. Ford, Lover's Melancholy, Iv. I.
Leave dangerous truths to unsuccessful satires.
Pope, Essay on Criticism, 1. 692.
= Syn. 1. Pasquinade, Invective, etc. 9ee lampoon.— 2.
Irony, Sarcasm, Satire, ridicule. Irony may be of the na-
ture of sarcamn, and sarcasm .nay possibly take the form
ot irony; but sarcoCTn is generally too severe, and there
fore too direct, to take an ironical form ; both may be
means of satire. The essential thing about irony is the
contradiction between the literal and the manifest mean-
ing: as, "Is not a patron, my lord, one who looks with
unconcern on a man struggling for life in the water, and,
when he has reached the ground, encumbers him with
help?" (Johnson, To Chesterfield.) "Irony ... is the
humorous wresting of language from its literal use for the
expression of feeling, either happy or painful, but too ve-
hement to be contented with that literal use. . . . When
the thoughtful spirit of .Macbeth is distorted by guilt, and
as the agony of that guilt grows more and more intense,
the pent-up misery either flows forth in a subdued trony
or breaks out in that which is fierce and frenzied." (H
Reed, Eng. Lit., p. ,S«6.) The essential thing about sar-
casm is its cutting edge ; it therefore is intensely concen-
trated, lying in a sentence or a phrase ; it is used to scourge
the follies or foibles or vices of men, but has little of re-
formatory purpose. Satire is more elaborate than sarcasm,
is not necessarily bitter, and has, presumably, some aim at
the reformation of that which is satirized. ' ' Well-known
Instances of Ironical argument are Burke's ' Vii>dlcatlon
of Natural .Society,' in which Bolingbroke's arguments
against religious Institutions are applied to civil society;
Whately's 'Historic Doubts,' in which Hume's arguments
against Christianity are used to prove the non-existence of
Napoleon Bonaparte ; Swift's 'Argument against the Abol-
ishment of Christianity,' and his '.Modest Roposal' for re-
lieving Ireland from famine by having the children cooked
and eaten." (A. S. Hill, Rhetoric, p. 193.)
< serere, pp. satus, sow, plant: see «oicl. Cf. satiric (sa-tir'ik), a. [Formerly also saf^ric; <
«ea»on, a doublet of «a<>on.] A sowing or plant- ^ --.<•-..-•-.- a- .-../.-•-- t-> ,. .
ing. [Rare.]
Eke snmen uyen the benes mtion
In places colde la best to fructlfle,
On nem If me doo noon occacion.
PaBadiu; Husbondrle (E. E. T. S.), p. 207.
satire (sat'ir or safer), n. [Formerly also
satyre, satyr ; =G. Dan. sottre = Sw. «aHr,< OF.
satire, satyre, F. satire = Sp. sdtira = Pg. satyra,
satira = It. satira, < L. satira, satiira, also, erro-
neously, satyra, satire (see def.), orig. satura, a
medley, as in the phrase per saturam, in the
gross, confusedly; a species of poesy, orig.
dramatic and later didactic, peculiar to the
Romans; a medley: orig., according to the
statements of the grammarians, satura lanx,
lit. a full dish, a dish of various kinds of fruit,
or food composed of various Ingredients: sa-
tnra, fem. of satiir, full (see saturate) ; lanx, a
dish: see latw, lanet^, balance. The spelling
satyre, satyr, L. satyra, was due to confusion
with satyr^ ; so satiric was confused with sa-
tyric.] 1. A literary composition, originally
in verse, characterized by the expression of in-
dignation, scorn, or contemptuous facetious-
ness, denouncing vice, folly, incapacity, or fail-
ure, and holding it up to reprobation or ridi-
cule : a species of literary production cultivated
by ancient Roman writers and in modem lit-
eratiire, and directed to the correction of cor-
ruption, abuses, or absurdities in religion, pol-
itics, law, society, and letters.
Tile first and most bitter Inuectlue against vice and
riclous men was the Satjfrt.
PvUmham, Arte ot Eng. Poesle, p. 24.
The one (sort of readers] being Ignorant, not knowing the
nature of a satire (which Is, under feigned private names to
note general vices), will needs wrest each feigned name
F. satiriqiie = Sp. satirico = Pg. satyrico, satiri-
co = It. satirico, < L. satiricus, satiric, < satira, a
satire: see satire.] 1. Of, pertaining to, or of
the nature of satire ; containing or marked by
satire.
You must not think that a satyrie style
Allows of scandalous and brutish words.
Roscommon, tr. of Horace's Art of Poetry.
He gave the little wealth he had
To build a house for fools and mad ;
To show by one satiric touch
No nation wanted it so much.
Suitt, Death of Dr. Swift.
Nature imparting her satiric gift,
Her serious mirth, to Arbuthnot and Swift,
With droll sobriety they rais'd a smile
At Folly's cast, themselves unmov'd the while.
Cowper, Table-Talk, L 666.
2. Indulging in satire ; satirical.
For now as elegiac I bewail
These poor base times, then suddenly I rail
And am satiric.
Drayton, To Master William Jeffreys.
satirical (sa-tir'i-kal), a. [Early mod. E. s<i-
tyrical ;< satiric +"-al.'} 1. Same as satiric, 1.
Yet Is not then grossness so intolerable as on the con-
trary side the scurrilous and more than satirical immod-
esty of Martinism. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v., Ded.
2. Fond of indulging in satire ; given to satire ;
severe in ridiculing men, manners, or things.
The satirical rogue says here that old men have grey
beards. Shak., Hamlet, 11. 2. 198.
She was not coldly clever and Indirectly satirical, but
adorably simple and full of feeling.
George Eliot, Middlemarch, xxL
= Sm. 1. Cutting, biting. See irony.
satirically (sa-tir'i-kal-i), adv. In a satirical
manner; with sarcastic or witty treatment.
What has a pastoral tragedy to do with a paper of verses
sad'ricaWi/ written? Dryden, Ded.
to a private unfeigned person. j.j_i -i . , . , ,
UartUm, Scourge of vnianle. To Him That Hath Perused Satiricalness (sa-tir i-kal-nes), n
The charac-
[Me.
Adfoom not that virtue unto those years when Cato
could lend out his wife, and Impotent .Satyrs write Satyrs
agahiat Lust Sir T. Broume, Letter U< a Friend, p. 148.
2. Hence, in general, the use, in either speak-
ing or writing, of irony, sarcasm, ridicule, etc.,
in exposing, (Yenouncing, or deriding vice, folly,
indecorum, incapacity, or insincerity.
Sattrs has almurs shone among the rest,
And Is the boldest way. If not the best,
To tell men freely of their foulest faults.
To laugh at their vain deeds and vainer thoughts,
ter or practice of being satirical.
Robert Person . . . had an Ill-natured wit, biassed to
satiricalness. Fuller, Worthies, Somersetshire, III. 106.
satirise, v. t. See satirize.
satirism (sat'i-rizm), n. [Formerly satyrismei
< satire + -ism.] Satire. [Bare.]
Or should we minister strong pills to t
W'hat lumps of hard and Indigested stu
Of bitter Satyrisme, of Arrogance,
Of Self love, of Detraction, of a blaol
And stinking Insolence, shouldy^ fetch up?
Dekker, Satiromastlx. (Davies.)
Satire 's my weapon, but I'm too discreet
To ran a-muck, and tilt at all I meet.
Pope. Imlt. of Hor., II. I. 69.
Cervantes excels In that sly satire which hides Itself
under the cloak of gravity.
/. HfltratU, Lit. Char, Men of Genius, p. 436.
Dryden. gatJrigt (sat'i-rist)* ». [Formerly also satyrist ;
< satire + -ist.] One who indulges in satire ;
especially, the Tynter of a satire or satirical
compositiofi. , '
They [the ppetsi desired by good admonitions to reforn^«e
the eulll of tfieir life, and to bring the bad to amendr.nent
satirist
by those ktnde of preachings, wliereupon tlie Poeta inuen-
tours of the deuise were called Safyristeg,
Puttenham^ Arte of Eng. Poesie (ed. Arber), p. 46.
I laugh, and glory that I have
The power, \\\ you, to scourge a general vice,
And raise up a new satirist.
Massinger, City Madam, iv. 4.
The clergy, when they appeared in public, wore always
both cassock and gown ; with the wig, of course, which
was sometimes carried to excess, when it brought down
the ridicule of the gatirigt.
J, Ashtotiy Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne, II. 124.
satirize (sat'i-riz), r. ^; pret. andpp.&'rt^n^ed,
ppr. satii-i;^ing, [< P. satiriser = Sp. satirizar
= Pg. satirizar, satyrisar = It. satiriggiare ; as
satire + -ize.'] To assail with satire ; make the
object of satire or censure ; expose to censure
or ridicule with sarcastic wit. Also spelled
satirise.
It is as hard to satirize well a man of distinguished vices
as to praise well a man of distinguished virtues. Swift.
satiryt, n, A Middle English variant of satyr'^,
satisfaction (sat-is-fak'shon), n. [< ME. satis-
faccioutiy < OF. satisfaction, satisfactiun, satis-
faciOHj F. satisfaction = Pr. satisf actio = Sp.
satisfaccion = Pg. satisfacgoto = It. satisfazione,
soddisfazioHd, < L. satisfactio{n-), satisfaction,
< satisfacere, pp. satisfactus, satisfy: see satis-
fy.'] 1. The act of satisfying, or of fully sup-
plying or gratifying wants or wishes ; full com-
pliance with demands; fulfilment of condi-
tions.
Hate to vow'd enemies
Finds a full saiigfaction in death.
And tyrants seek no farther.
Fletcher (and another ?), Prophetess, ii. 2.
When the blessed Virgin was so ascertained that she
should be a mother and a maid, ... all her hopes and
all her desires received . . . satikfaction.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835X I. 28.
In theology, the doctrine of mti^action is the doctrine
tliat the sufferings and death of Christ satisfied the re-
quirements of God's justice, and thus prepared the way for
the forgiveness of sins. The word does not occur in this
sense in the Scriptures.
They dispute the sati^action of Christ, or rather the
word eati^action, as not Scriptural ; but they acknowledge
him both God and their Saviour. Milton, True Religion.
This faith had in the third centuiy not yet been devel-
oped into the form of a strict theory of satisfaction, in the
sense that the sufferings of Christ were a punishment
necessarily inflicted by divine justice, and assumed in the
{>Iace of the sinner, whereby the justice of God was strict^
y satis ffed.
Hagenbach, Hist, Christian Doctrine (trans.), p. 180.
2. Extinguishment of an obligation or claim
by payment, or by surrender or concession of
something accepted as equivalent to payment;
quittance.
You know since Pentecost the sum is due, . . .
Therefore make present satisfaction.
Shak., C. of E., iv. 1. 5.
To the king,
To whom I stand accountable for the loss
Of two of his lov'd subjects' lives, 1 11 offer
Mine own in satigfaetion.
Fletcher (and Magsin/jer T), Lovers' Progress, v. 1.
3. Compensation; reparation; atonement.
For the preseruation of their countray they [the Decii]
auowed to die, as it were in a satisfaction for all their
countray. Sir T. Elyot, The Governour, ii. 4.
The pain that I here sutfer in my flesh is to keep the
body under, and to serve my neighbour, and not to make
satigfaction unto God for the fore sins.
Tyndale, A ns. to Sir T. More, etc. ( Parker Soc. , 1850X p. 143.
Satisfaction is a work which justice requireth to be done
tor contentment of persons injured.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, vi. 5.
She caused her Gallognecians to cut off his head, which
she carried to her husband, in satisfaction of her wrong.
Purcttag, Pilgrimage, p. 322.
You have discharg'd
The true part of an honest man ; 1 cannot
Request a fuller satisfaction
Than you have freely granted.
Ford and Dekker, Witch of Edmonton, 1. 1.
4. The state of being satisfied ; a gratified or
contented feeling or state of mind ; tranquillity
resulting from gratified desire ; content ; grati-
fication.
It would have been some satisfaction to have seen by
the Pictures what the middle Ages, at least, had thought
of them [animals]. Lister, Journey to Paris, p. 108.
Like lubberly monks we belabor our own shoulders, and
''e a vast satisfaction in the music of our own groans.
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 238.
Nod 1 c t?® ^^^ ^^ °*^" ''^ dwell with saiigfaction on
' ''ds, particularly when, for some reason or
From Its interseK^ence smites them?
are drawn to the laP- A'^w^w". Parochial Sermons, i. 77.
points of tangency lie , . as, for eiiample, the «a(w/adion
lines, KDH, LKil, EOII. FU. Sensation and Intuition, p. 34.
with the satellite line are call*, c • • j
are near H. The others are not ^'epainng a supposed
4. In enUrnu, a satellite-sphi^.^ by duel, or, in
satellite. See ec2ip«e.— Satellite line;'Ation; the ac-
Seedef. 8. hallenge to
5350
single combat with the aggrieved person, or the
hostile meeting which ensues.
It is called " giving a man satisfaction " to urge your of-
fence against him with your sword.
Steele, Tatler, No. 25.
A case of satisfaction pistols, with the satisfactory ac-
companiments of powder, ball, and caps, having been
hired from a manufacturer in Rochester, the two friends
returned to their inn. Dickeng, Pickwick, ii.
6. Eccles., part of the sacrament of penance.
See penance — Accord and satisfaction. See ac-
cord, 5. — Satisfaction piece, an instrument by which
the holder of a mortgage or a creditor by judgment, etc.,
certifies that it has been paid, in order to procure an entry
to be made on the official record of the heir, that it has
been satisfied.— Satisfaction theory of the atone-
ment. See atonement, 3 (a). =Syn. 1. Atonement, Ex-
piation, etc. See propitiation. — 2 and 3. Recompense,
amends, remuneration, requital, payment. — 4. Content-
ment, etc. (&ee contentment) ; pleasure, enjoyment.
satisfactive (sat-is-fak'tiv), a. and n. [< saUs-
fact{ion) + -ive.'] I, a. Giving satisfaction ;
satisfactory. [Rare.]
A final and sati^active discernment of faith.
Sir T. Browne.
IL+ n. An act of satisfaction ; compensation;
requital ; amends.
satisfactorily (sat-is-fak'to-ri-li), adv. In a
satisfactory manner; so as to give satisfaction.
They strain their memory to answer him satisfactorily
unto all his demands. Sir K. Digby.
satisfactoriness (sat-is-fak'to-ri-nes), n. Sat-
isfactory character or state ; the power of sat-
isfying or contenting: as, the satisfactoriness
of successful ambition.
The incompleteness of the seraphick lover's happiness
in his fruitions proceeds not from their want of satisfac-
toriness, but his want of an entire possession of them.
Boyle.
satisfactory (sat-is-fak'to-ri), a. and n. [< F.
satisfactoire = Sp. Pg. satisfaetorio = It. satis-
fattorio, < ML. ^ satisf actorins, satisfactory, <
L. satlsfacere, pp. satisfactus^ satisfy: see sat-
isfy.'] I. a. 1. Affording satisfaction; satis-
fying; that fully gratifies or contents; fulfil-
ling all demands or requirements : as, to make
satisfactory arrangements; to give a satisfac-
tory account; a satisfactory state of affairs.
I can conceive no religion as satisfactory that falls sliort
of Christianity. J. R. Seeley, Nat. Religion, p. Ii.
The oldest land plants of which any satisfactory^ remains
have yet been found are those of the upper Silurian.
Dawson, Nature and the Bible, p. 107.
2. Making reparation, atonement, or expiation ;
expiatory.
A most wise and sufficient means of . . . salvation by
the sati^actory and meritorious death and obedience of
the incarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ. Bp. Sanderson.
To resemble his [Christ's] whole satisfactory oflBce all the
lineage of Aaron was no jnore than sufficient.
MUton, Church-Government, i. 5.
Satisfactory evidence. See evidence. = Syn. 1. Gratify-
ing, pleasing, sufficient, convincing, conclusive, decisive.
See satisfy.
Il.t «. A place or means of atonement or
retribution.
To punish a man that has forsaken sin of his own ac-
cord is not to purge him, but to satisfy the lust of a ty-
rant ; neither ought H to be called purgatory, but a jail of
tormenting, and a satisfactory.
Tyndale, Ans. to Sir T. More, etc. (Parker Soc, 1850), p. 143.
satisfiable (sat'is-fi-a-bl), a. [< satisfy + -able.]
Capable of being satisfied.
satisfier (sat'is-fi-er), «. A person or thing that
satisfies or gratifies.
satisfy (sat'is-fi), v.\ pret.and pp. satisfied, ppr.
satisfying. [Early mod. E. satisfie, satisfye, sat-
ysfye, < OF. satisfier, sateffier (< ML. as if ^satis-
ficare), also satisfaire, F. satisfaire = Pr. satis-
far = Sp. satisfacer = Pg. satisfazer = It. satis-
fare, < L. satisfacere, satisfy, content, pay or
secure (a creditor), give satisfaction, make
amends, prop, two words, satis facere, make or
do enough: satiSf enough; facere, make, do:
see sate^ and fact] I. trans. 1. To supply or
gratify completely; fulfil the wishes or desires
of; content: as, to s«fe/^ hunger or thirst; to
satisfy one's curiosity or one's expectations.
I pray you, let us satiny our eyes
With the memorials and the things of fame
That do renown this city. Shak., T, N,, iii. 3. 22.
But though it pleased them to have him exposed to all
the ignominies Imaginable, yet nothing would satisfie them
but his blood. Stillingfleet, Sermons, I. vi.
The sports of children satisfy the child.
Goldsmith, Traveller, 1. 154.
The Christian conqueror did not seek the extermination
of his conquered enemies; he was satisfied with their po-
litical subjection. E. A. Freeman, Amer. Lects., p. 149.
2, To comply with; discharge fully; liquidate;
pay; hence, to requite; remunerate; recom-
pense: as, to satisfy the claims of a creditor;
to satisfy one for service rendered.
sative
We thought our selues now fully satisfied for our long
toile and labours.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, II. 37.
I purpose to write to your brother Stephen, and press
him to satisfy those two debts.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, II. 430.
These Indians did us good service, especially in pilot-
ing us to an Island where we killed Beef when ever we
wanted ; and for this their service we satisfied them to their
hearts content. Dampier, Voyages, I. 128.
A grave question . . . arose, whether the money . . .
should be paid directly to the discontented chiefs, or
should be employed to satisfy the claims which Argyle
had against them. Macaulay.
" But, Laird," said Jeanie, "though I ken my father will
satisfy every penny of this siller, whatever there 's o' 't, yet
I wadna like to borrow it frae ane that maybe thinks of
something mair than the paying o' 't back again."
Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xxvi.
3. To make reparation or amends for; atone
for; expiate : as, to satisfy a wrong.
In flesh at first the guilt committed was.
Therefore in flesh it must be satisfyde.
Spenser, Hymn of Heavenly Love, 1. 142.
I must have life and blood, to satisfy
Your father's wrongs.
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Burning Pestle, iii. 1.
If any of his men did set traps in our jurisdiction, etc.,
they should be liable to satisfy all damages.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, II. 19.
4. To assure or free from doubt, uncertainty,
or suspense ; convince ; also, to set at rest, as a
doubt : as, to satisfy one's self by inquiry.
I will be satisfied; let me see the writing.
^AaA:., Rich. II., v. 2.59.
He [the Pope] was well saiisfy'd that this War in Ger-
manywas no War of Religion. Howell, Letters, I. vi. 8.
I am pretty well satisfied such a passion as I have had
is never well cured. Steele, Spectator, No. 118.
Revelation was not given us to satisfy doubts, but to
make us better men.
J. H. Kewinan, Parochial Sermons, i. 229.
5. To fulfil the conditions of; answer: as, an
algebraical equation is said to be satisfied when,
after the substitution of particular expressions
for the unknown quantities which enter it, the
two members are equal. = Syn. 1. Content, Satisfy,
Satiate, Sate, Surfeit, Cloy. To content a person is to give
him enough to keep him from being disposed to find fault
or repine ; to satisfy him is to give liin) just the measure of
his desires (see contentment) ; to satiate him is to give him
so much that he cannot receive, desire, or enjoy more,
and would be disgusted at the idea of more ; to surfeit him
is to give him more than enough ; to cloy him is to fill
him to the point of loathing ; sate is the same as satiate,
but less popular and more rhetorical. The last four words
of the list are applied primarily to food.
Shall I confess my faulty and ask your pardon?
Will that content you ?
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, iv. 1.
He finds reason in all opinions, truth in none : indeed
the least reason perplexes him, and the best will not sat-
isfie him.
Bp. Earle, Micro-cosmographie, A Sceptickein Religion.
What could satiat the desires of this Man, who, being
King of England, and Maister of almost two Millions
yearely, was still in want? MUton, Eikonoklastes, si.
One glass insensibly leads on to another, and, instead
of sating, whets the appetite.
Goldsmith, Citizen of the World, Iviii.
The doors are open ; and the surfeited grooms
Do mock their charge with snores : I have drugg'd their
possets. Shak., Macbeth, iL 2. 5.
Both satisfied with deepe delight,
And cloyde with al content
Gascoigne, Philomene, Steele Glas, etc. (ed. Arber, p. 92).
II, intrans. 1. To give satisfaction or con-
tentment: as, earthly good never satisfies.
This would not satisfy, but they called him to answer
publicly. iVinthrop, Hist New England, I. 250.
In other hours, Nature satisjieg by its loveliness, and
without any mixture of corporeal benefit.
Emerson, Nature, iii.
2. To make requital, reparation, or amends;
atone.
satisfying (sat'is-fi-ing), j;. a, 1. Giving or
fitted to give satisfaction or gratification.
You know Scriptur' tells about bein' filled with the east
wind; but I never found it noways satisfyin' — it sets
sort o' cold on the stomach. //. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 77.
One quick spring,
One great pood satisfying gripe, and lo !
There had he lain abolished with his lie.
Browning, Ring and Book, I. 310.
2. Fitted to dispel doubt and uncertainty ;
convincing; satisfactory.
The standing evidences of the truth of the gospel are in
themselves most firm, solid, and satisfying.
Bp. Atterbury.
satisfyingly (sat'is-fi-ing-li), adi\ So as to
satisfy; satisfactorily.
sative (sa'tiv), a. [= Sp. Pg. It. satiro, < L. sati-
viis, that is sow^l or planted, < severe, pp. satus^
sow, plant: seesation.] Sown, as in a garden.
Preferring the domestick orsative for the fuller growth.
Evelyn, Sylva, II. it § 4.
satle
satlet, i". An obsolete form of settle^.
satrap (sat'rap or sa'trap), n. [lu ME. satra-
pcr; < OF. stitrape, F. satrape = Sp. sdtrapa =
Pg. Sdtrapa = It, satrapo = D. satraap = G. Sw.
Dan. satrap, < L. satrapcs, satrupa (pi. satrapx),
also satraps (pi. satrapes), < Gr. aarpdn^^, also
i^arpuKric, also 'ifaidpd-r/^ (indicated by the verb
k^aibpa-^eveiv, found in inscriptions) = Heb.
akhashdarpnim, pi., a satrap, the title of a Per-
sian viceroy or pro\'incial governor, < OPers.
khshatra-pd or Zend slioithra-paiti, ruler of a
region, < slioithra, a region (:= Skt. kshetra, a
field, region, landed property), + paiti (= Skt.
pati), a lord, chief: see despot, potent.^ A
governor of a province under the ancient Per-
sian monarchy ; hence, a viceroy or petty
I'siuc-e acting under an autocratic superior;
ti^' I natively, a despotic official under a tyrant.
Now the sacred doors
. . . admit obsequious tribes
Oimtraps! priiiees!
ShenAone, Ruined Abbey.
Satraps lorded it over ttie people as tiieir Icing over
them. H. Spencer, Social italics, p. 461.
satrapal (sat'rap-al), a. [< satrap + -a/.] Per-
taiiiiu;.; to a satrap or a satrapy.
With the expeilitioi) of Alexander the mtrapal coinage
couies to an end. and is superseded by the new royal
coiuaKe of Alexander.
B. V. Head, Historis Numonuu, p. 597.
satrap-crowned (sat'rap-kround), a. Crested:
noting the golden-crested wren of North Amer-
ica, liKjuhis satrapa.
satrapert, «. [ME. : see satrap.'] A satrap.
Thi $atrapert, thi senyowrs.
Wart 0/ AlacaiuUr {TL E. T. 3.X L 1»37.
satrapess (sat'rap-es or sa'trap-es), n. [< sat-
riiji + -{«s.] A female satrap. [Rare.]
satrapical(8at-r8p'i-kal),a. [isatrap + -ical.]
Satrapal.
satrapy (sat'rap-i or sa'trap-i), ».; pi. satrapies
(-iz). [< F. satrapie = Sp. satrapia = Pg. sa-
trapia = (j. satrapic = Sw. siitrapi, < L. satrapia,
satrapea, < Gr. oaTpaTzcia, the office of a satrap,
< oarpanrK, a satrap: see satrap.'] The govern-
ment or jurisdiction of a satrap; a principality.
The angels themselves . . . are distlngnish'd and qua-
ternion'd into their celestial princedoms and tatrapiM.
MUlon, Church-Uoverument, i. 1.
So far as Egypt, from her vast antiquity, or from her
great resources, was entitled to a more circomstantial
notice ttun any other mitrapy of the grvat empire^ sach a
notice it has. De Qvineey, Herodotus.
The f»ct that the range of the Indo-Bactrian alphabet
was approximat4.>ly coextensive with the limitsof the east-
ern mtrapiea of Persia seems to suggest that Its Introduc-
tion and diffosion was a consequence of the Pendjui oon-
qoeat. Jtaae Taylor, The Alphabet, II. 262.
Satsnma ware. See irare^.
satteen, ". Hco sateen.
sattiet, ». See satty.
sattyt (sat'i), n. [Al.so satlie; < It. saetiia, "a
very speedie pinnace, bark, foyst, brigandine,
or barge" (Florio), a light frigate, < saetta = F.
sagetle, an arrow, < L. sanitta, an arrow : see sa-
(jitta. Cf. settee'^, from the same It. source.] A
merchant ship of heavy tonnage.
Wee espied it to bee a kMU, which is a ship much like
nnto an aisoaey, of a very great burthen and bignesse.
John Taylor, Works (1630). {Sara.)
satlirable (sat'iVra-bl), a. [< F. saturable = %y.
satiiriiliti = Pg. saturavel, < L. saturabilis, satu-
ralilc, < satur, full: see saturate.] That may be
saturated; capable of saturation.
saturant (sat u-rant), a. [< L. saturan(t-)s,
ppr. of snturari; saturate: see saturate.] Satu-
rating: impregnating or soaking to fullness.
saturate (sat'u-rat), r. t.; pret. and pp. satu-
rated, ppr. saturating. [< L. saturatus, pp. of
saturari: (> It. saturare = Sp. Pg. saturar = F.
saturer). fill full, < sntur, full; akin to sat, satis,
enough, and to E. »«(/.• iiii<'sKd,sate'^.] 1. To fill
full or to excess; cause to l>e thoroughly pene-
trated or imbued; soak: as, to saturate a uponge
with water; a mind satiirttletl with prejudice.
Innumerable Hocks and herds covered that vast expanse
of enieralil meadow, taturaUd with the moisture of the
Atlantic Macaulay.
It is no use reproducing a book which is MturaUd with
discredited and forgotten pbiloaophic theories.
Watmitiiter Kev., CXXV. 228.
The mfire thoroughly a man is poasesAed by the idea of
duty, the more his whole being is mturaffd with that idea,
the more will giKHlness show itself in all his, even spon-
talleou^ actions.
•II. a. Mirart, .Nature and Thought, p. 160.
2. In rhim., to impregnate or unite with till no
more can be received: thus, an acid saturates
an alkali, and an alkali saturatis an acid, when
the {xiint of neutralization has been reached,
5351
and the mixture is neither acid nor basic in its
character. — 3. Jiij)hysics: (a) To bring (a given
space or a vapor) into a state of saturation. See
saturation (6) (1).
The diif erence between saturated and superheated steam
may be expressed by saying that if water (at tlie tempera-
ture of tile steam) be mixed with steam some of the wiiter
will be evaporated if the steam is superheated, but none
if the steam is saturated. Eneyc. Brit., XXII. 483.
(6) To magnetize (a magnet) to saturation, or
so that the intensity of its magnetization is the
p-eatest which it can retain when not under the
inductive action of a strong magnetic field. (<■)
In optics, to render pure, or free from admix-
ture of white Ught: said of colors. — 4t. To
satisfy.
After a saturating meal, and an enlivening cup, they de-
parted with elevated spirits.
Brooke, Fool of Quality, I. 91. (Danes.)
saturate (sat'u-rat), a. [< L. saturatus, pp.: see
the verb.] l! Saturated.
The lark is gay
That dries its feathers, saturate with dew.
Cowper, Task, 1. 494.
Though soak'd and saturate, out and out.
Tennyson, Will Waterproof.
2. In entom., deep ; very intense : applied to
colors: as, saturate green, umber, black, etc.
saturater (sat'u-ra-t6r), n. One who or that
which saturat'es. Speciflcally — (a) A device for sup-
plying to a room or inclosed space air saturated with
water-vapor.
A saturat*r ... for supplying saturated air at the tem-
perature of the room.
7Van>. qf Cambridge PhU. Soe., XIV. 37.
(b) In air -compressors, an apparatus that injects water into
the compressor-cylinder to absorb the heat-eqaivalent of
the work of compression : so called because the air leaves
the compressor saturated with aqueous vapor, (c) In the
proiiuction of the ether-oxygen lime.light, an apparatus
for saturating oxygen with ether vapor. Also salurator.
saturation (sat-u-ra'shon), II. [< F. saturation
= Sp. saturacion .=: Pg. saturacSo = It. satura-
zione, < LL. saturatto(n-), a filling, saturating,
< L. saturare, till, saturate: see saturate.] The
act of saturating or supplying to fullness, or
the state of being saturated; complete pene-
tration or impregnation. Speciflcally— (a) Incik«m.,
the combination or impregnation of one substance with
another in such proportions that they neutralise each
other, or till the receiving substance can contain tio more.
The saturation of an alkali by an acid is etfected by chem.
leal combination ; the saturation of water by salt is by the
process of solution A fluid which holdsin solution as much
of any substance as it can dissolve is said tu be saturated
with it; but saturation with one substance does not de-
prive the fluid of its power of acting on and dissolving
some other substances, and in many cases it increases
this power. For example, water saturated with salt will
still diaaolve sugar, (o) In ptiysics: (1) With respect to
the presence of a vapor, a space is said to be in a state of
saturation when it contains all that It can hold at that
temperature ; tlie vapor Is also said to be in a state of satu-
ration or at the dew-point (see captor) ; it has then a maxi-
mum elastic pressure for the given temperature, and is in
a state where any increase of pressure or lowering of tern-
perature will cause it to be more or less condensed to a
liquid state, (a) With respect to the presence of mag-
netism, alrnr is said to be magnetized to saturation when
a maximum of permanent magnetic force has been im-
parted to It, this maximum depending principally u{M)n
the material of which the bar is made. — Saturation-
equivalent, in e/tenu, a number expressing tlie (inan-
tity of a standard solution required to saturate or neu-
tralize the statidiird (inantity of a sutistance, as of a fatty
acid. — Saturation of colors, in (yptks. the degree of ad-
mixture with white, the saturation tliinlnishing as the
amottnt of white is increased. In other words, the high-
est degree of saturation belongs to a given color when in
the state of greatest purity.
saturation-pressure (sat-u-ra'shon-presh'ur),
«. The pressure (fixed for a given vapor at a
given temperature) which is required to bring
it to its maximum density.
The saturation pressure of any vapour at any tempera-
ture is the same as the pressure at which the correspond-
ing liquid boils at that temperature.
A. Daniell, Prin. of Physics, p. 347.
satur ator, n. Same as saturater.
Saturday (sat'^r-dil), «. [Early mod. E. also
Satcrdaii. Sutlerdaij, Saturudaij, etc.; < ME. 8at-
erdaij. Satyrdaij. Saterdai, Seterdai. Ssetterdsei, <
AS. Sseterdag, SiEtern-d«g, orig. with gen. Siet-
eresdseg, Smtres-dseg, Steteriies-dseg, prop, two
words, Smternes dag (= OFries. Saterdei = MD.
Saterdag, D. Zaturdag, Zutrrdag = MLG. Sat-
erdaeh, Satersdach, IjG. iSaterilaeh), 'Saturn's
day' (cf. Olr. dia-satliuirn, or sathaim, after L.
Saturni dies, 'Saturn's day') : Sxlern (gen. Siet-
emes),<. h.Saturnus, Hiitiim (aee Saturn); dtexf,
day (gee daij). The G. name is different : OH<jr.
Hamhaz-tag, MHG. Sam:-tar, sampstar, G. sam.it-
Uty, in which the first element is Tout, 'saviljat
= ()Bulg. .lanliota, Bulg. siViota = Slovenian so-
Imta = Scrv. suhota = Bohem. Pol. .lobota =
Kiiss. sublidta = Lith. subota, sabata = Hung.
szombat = Kumellan sdmb6t&, sabbath, < Gr.
Saturn
"adfijiaTnv, or some Oriental nasalized form of
LGr. ffd/3/Jarov, the Jewish Sabbath, the seventh
day of the week, Saturday: see Sabbath. An-
other G. name for Saturday is Sonnabend, ' Sun-
even,' ' Sunday eve.'] The seventh or last day
of the week; the day of the Jewish Sabbath.
See Sabbath. Abbreviated S., Sat.
Than made he hii* snster come on a saterday, at even, to
do hir more turment and anger, to loke yef he might gete
hlr in that manere. Merlin (E. E. T. 8.), i. 9.
Satyrday, at af tyr noon, we visited places a bowyt Jheru-
salem ; it was Seynt Jamys Day.
Torfcington, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 52.
Burial Saturday, a common medieval name for Easter
eve.— Egg Saturday. See eggi.— Holy Saturdajr, the
Saturday ut Holy Week ; the day before Easter. - Hos-
pital Saturday. See Aosyifa;.— Saturday klrtlet, a
garment kept for wear on holidays, or perhaps, in some
cases, a clean kirtle fli-st worn on Saturday.
satureget, ". [ME., < OF. *saturege, saturige,
< L. satureia, savory: see savory'^.] The herb
savory.
Forto make a wyne to drynke swete
Of saturetje or fenel putte in meete.
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 199.
Satureia (sat-u-re'i-a), «. [NL., < L. satureia,
savory: see saturege, saioiy^.] A genus of
gamopetalous plants, of the order Labiatsp, type
of the tribe Satureinex, and belonging to the
subtribe Men thoidem. it is chai acterized by four dis-
tant and ascending stamens, an open bell-shaped calyx
with five equal teeth and ten equidistant nerves, and a
corolla-tube which equals the calyx and bears a spread-
ing and three-cleft lower lip and an erect flat and en-
tire upper lip. There are about 15 species, natives of the
Mediterranean region, excepting one, 5. rigida, whicli oc-
curs in Florida. They are strongly aromatic herbs or un-
dershrubs, with small entire leaves, often clustered in the
axils, and flower-clusters or verticillasters eitlier loosely
few-flowered or densely many-flowered and globose or
aggregated into a head, in the American species into a
dense spike. See savory, the popular name of the genus.
Satureinese (sat'u-re-in'f-e), n.pl. [NL. (End-
licher, 183(i), < Satureia '+ -inx.] A tribe of
gamopetalous plants of the order Labiatse, char-
acterized by a four-parted ovary forming four
smooth dry nutlets in fruit, and by flowers
with the calyx-nerves thirteen or less, the co-
rolla-lobes usually flat, and the stamens four,
or sometimes two^ and either straight and di-
verging or ascending, it Includes about 42 genera,
classed in 4 subtribes. They are shrubs or usually herbs,
very strongly pervaded by the odor of mint, the flowers
often but slightly labiate. For important genera, see Satu.
reia (the type), Mentha (type of the family), Cotlinsonia,
Cunua, Lyeopus, and Pycnantfteinuin, prominent in the
eastern United States, and Thymus, Melissa, Uedeoma,
Hyssopus, Calamintha. Origanum, and Perilta, important
genera of the Old World. See cuts under Hedeoma and
Origanum.
saturityt (sa-tu'ri-ti), n. [< OF. saturiti = It.
siitiirita, < Ij. saturita(t-)s, fullness, satiety, <
satur, full : see saturate.] Fullness or excess
of supply ; the state of being saturated ; reple-
tion. C'otgrare.
They . . . led a miserable life for 5. days togeather,
with ye parched graine of maize only, and that not to
saturitie. Peter Marti/r, quoted in Bradford's Plymouth
[Plantation, p. 136.
In our plenty, saturity, satiety of these earthly bless-
ings, we acknowledge not manum expansam, his whole
hand of bounty opene<l to us ; though then we confessed
digitum extensum, his flnger striking us, and bewailed
the smart. Rev. T. Adams, Works, I. 420.
Saturn (sat'fem), n. [< ME. Satern, < AS. Stet-
ern (in Sieternesdteg, Sieterndteg, Sietcrdteg, Sat-
urday) ; ME. also as L., Saturnus = D. Saturnus
= G. Saturn = Dan. Saturn, Saturnus = F. Sat-
urne = Sp. Pg. It. Saturno ; < L. Saturnus, Sat-
urn; prob. < screrc, pp. satus, sow: see sation,
season.] 1. An ancient Italic deity, popularly
believed to have appeared in Italy in the reign
of Janus, and to have instructed the people in
agriculture, gardening, etc., thus elevating
them from barbarism to social order and civili-
zation. His reign was sung by the poets as ' ' the golden
age." He became early identifled with the Kronosof the
Greeks. Ops, the personification of wealth and plenty,
was his wife, and Doth were the especial protectors of
agriculture and of all vegetation. His festivals, the Sat-
urnalia, corresponded to the Greek Kronia.
2. The most remote of the anciently known
planets, appearing at brightest like a first-mag-
nitude star. It revolves in an orbit inclined 2j° to
the ecliptic, departing toward the north by that amount
near Spica, and
toward the
south in the
ribtion of the
Fishes. Its
mean distance
from the sun is
(l.-'i times that
of the eai'th,
or SH3,000,(K10
miles. Its side-
real revolution
rhc I'l.tTict Siktuni, with its Kin,!. OCCUpieS 29
Saturn
JalUn years »nd 167 days, its synodical 378 days. The
eccentricity of tiie orbit is eotisiderable, tlie greatest
equation of tjie center being 6^.4. Owing to the fact
that tlie period of Satui'n is vei7 nearly 2^ times that
of Jupiter, these planets exercise a curious mutual influ-
ence, analogous to that of one pendulum upon another
swinging from the sjinie support Since 1790, wlien in con-
sequence of tills intlueiice Saturn had lagged W behind
and Jupiter had advanced 20' beyond the positions they
would have had if undisturbed, Saturn lias been moving
continually faster, and tlie whole period of the inequality
is 929 years. This is the largest perturbation of those af-
fecting the motions of the principal bodies of our system.
Saturn is the greatest planet except Jupiter, its diameter
being about 9 times, its volume 697 times, and its mass
93.0 times that of the earth. Its mean density is 0.7,
water being unity. Gravity at the surface lias 1 i the inten-
sity of terrestrial gravity. It is evident that w-e see only
the atmosphere of Satuni. Its albedo is 0.5, about that of
a cloud ; but its color is decidedly orange. It shows some
bands and spots upon its surface which are not constant.
The compression of the spheroid of Saturn exceeds that of
every other planet, amounting U> Vn of its diameter. Its
rotation, according to I*rofessor Asaph Hall, is performed
in loh. 14.4m. Its e<iuat«r is nearly parallel to that of the
earth. After the discovery by Galileo of the four satellites
of Jupiter, Kepler conjectured that Mars should have two,
and Saturn six or nine moons. In fact, .Saturn has nine
moons, as follows (the distances from the planet being
given in thousands of miles):
Name. Mag. Dist. Period.
Discoverer. Date.
Mimas 12.8 114
Enceladns. . . 12.3 U7 I
Tcthys 111.4 181 1
Dione 111.5 232 2
Rhea. [10.8 325 4
Titan 9.4 753 15
Hyperion ....13.7 912 21
lapetos 11.8 2193|79
PhoBlie lS.5i.... ..
22 36 17.1 W. Herschel
8 53 6.8 W. Herschel
21 18 2«.4J. D. Cassini
17 41 8 3J D. Cassini
12 25 12. IJ. D. Cassini
22 41 22 . 2 Hnygcns l(iB5
6 39 25.5 G. P. Bond....! 1848
7 64 26.0 J. D. Cassini . . 1671
W.H. Pickering 1898
1789
1789
1684
1684
1672
Saturn was regarded by astrologers as a cold, dry, and
melancholy planet, and was called the (freater in/ortnrw..
The symiwl of Saturn is b. representing probably a
scythe. For its attendant ring, see below.
3t. In alchemy and old chem., lead. — 4. In her.,
a tincture, the color black, when blazoning is
done by means of the heavenly bodies. See
blazon, ».. 2. — Balaam of Saturn, line of Saturn,
mount of Saturn, salt of Saturn. See balxim, luie2,
etc.— Saturn red, nd lead. — Saturn's ring, an appa-
rent ring around and near the planet Saturn. It consists of
tiiree apparent rings lying in one plane. The innermost is
dusiiy and pretty transparent. In contact with it is the
brightest ring, called ring B, and between this and theouter-
niost, called ring A, is a gap. Other divisions have been ob-
served at diiferent times, but they do not appear to be con-
stant, rtie following are the dimensions in statute miles :
Diameter of Saturn 76,800
Distance from surface of Saturn to duslty ring 5,900
Breadth of dusky ring 11,200
Breadth of ring B 17,900
Width of division 1,800
Breadth of ring A 11,700
Total diameter of ring 172,800
The thickness of the ring is considerably less than a hun-
dred miles. Its plane is inclined 7" to the planet's equa-
tor and 28° 10' to the earth's orbit. When Saturn appears
in the hind legs of Leo or the water of .\quariu8, we
see the rings edgewise, and they pass out of sight, re-
maining invisible as long as the sun shines upon the side
away from us, for the ring only shows by the reflected
light of the sun. They are best seen when tlie planet is
in Taurus and Scorpio. As soon as Saturn was examined
with a telescope (by Galileo), it was seen to present an
extraordinary appearance ; but this was first recognized
and proved to be a ring by Hnygens in 1659. In 1674
J. D. Cassini saw the separation between rings A and B,
which is hence called the Cassinian division. (It has also
been erroneously called Ball's division.) The dusky ring
was discovered in 18.^0 at Cambridge, Massachusetts, by
G. P. Bond. The ring was first assumed to be solid. La-
place showed that, upon that assumption, it must be up-
held by the attractions of the satellites. B. Peirce in 1851
demonstrated the ring to be fluid — that is, to consist of
vast numbers of particles, or small bodies, free to move
relatively to one another. This had been suggested by
Roberval in the seventeenth century. See cut on pre-
ceding page. — Saturn's tree, the popular name for an
arborescent deposit of lead from a solution of lead acetate
by electrochemiual action.
Saturnalia (sat-fer-na'li-a), n. pi. [= F. Satur-
nales = Sp. Saturnales "= Pg. Saturnaes, < L.
SaturnaliafHevA. pi. of Saturnalis, of or belong-
ing to Saturn, Saturnian, < Saturnus, Saturn :
see Saturn. '\ X. In iJom. aKiig., the festival of
Saturn, celebrated in the middle of December
as a harvest-home observance. It was a period
of feasting and mirthful license and enjoyment
for all classes, extending even to the slaves.
Hence — 2. Any wild or noisy revelry ; uncon-
strained, wild, and licentious reveling. =S3m. 2.
Retel, Debauch, etc. See carouscUl.
Saturnalian (sat-fer-na'li-an), a. [< Saturnalia
+ -an.'] 1. Pertaining to the festivals cele-
brated in honor of Saturn. — 2. Of the char-
acter of the Saturnalia of ancient Rome ;
hence, characterized by unrestrained license
and reveling; licentious; loose; dissolute.
In order to make this mtumalian axDUsenaent general
in the family you sent it down stairs.
flHrke, A Regicide Peace.
5352
Satumalst (sat'er-nalz), n. pi. [< F. Satur-
nales, < L. Saturnalia, pi. : see Saturnalia.']
Saturnalia.
I know it is now such a time as the Sat\tmal8 for all
the world, that every man stands under the eaves of his
own hat, and sings wliat pleases him,
B. Jonson, Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue.
Saturnial (sa-ter'ni-ii), n. [NL. (Sohrank, 1802),
< L. Satiirniuii, pertaining to Saturn, < Satur-
nus, Saturn: see Saturn.] A genus of bomby-
cid moths, typical of the family Saturniidx, of
varying scope according to diflferent authors,
but ordinarily including species with papillate
ocelli on the wings and with the branches of the
male antennte not very hairy and not of equal
length. In this sense it contains only about a dozen
species, nearly all Old World. 5. pyri and S. pavonia are
two notable European species.
Saturnia'-^ (sa-ter'ni-a), n. [< Saturn, 3.] Lead-
poisoning; plumbism.
Saturnian^ (sa-ter'ni-an), a. [< F. Saturnien,
< L. Saturnius, of Saturn, < Saturnus, Saturn:
see Saiurti.] 1. Pertaining to the god Saturn,
or to his reign, alleged to be "the golden age";
hence, happy; distinguished for purity, integ-
rity, and simplicity. [In the second quotation
there is also an allusion to Saturn as a name
of lead.]
This, this is he foretold by ancient rhymes ;
Th' Augustus, born to bring Saturnian times.
Pope, Dunciad, iii. 320.
Then rose the seed of Chaos and of Night
To blot out order, and extinguish ligiit.
Of dull and venal a new world to mould,
And bring Saturnian days of lead and gold.
Pope, Dunciad, iv. 16.
2. Of or pertaining to the planet Saturn Sa-
turnian meter or verse, a form of verse used in early
Roman poetry before the adoption of Greek meters. A
number of examples of this meter are extant in citations,
inscriptions, etc., but recent metricians are by no means
agreed as to its true nature. Some explain it as quanti-
tative, and describe the classic example
Dftbiint mSliim MMelli [or MCtelli] || NSvIo pOetle
as an iambic line consisting of two members (cola)
separated by a cesura. Such a verse was compared iiy
Slacaulay (Introd. to "Lays of Ancient Rome") to the
nursery rime
Th6 queen j w^ in | her par | lour II eating | bread ftnd |
honey.
Others (and this is now the prevalent opinion) regard the
Saturnian verse as purely accentual :
Djibunt mAluin Met^lli [or MCtelli] || NsfeviO po^tse.
saturnian^ (sa-ter'ni-an), a. and n. [< Satur-
nia + -an.] 1. a. In entom., pertaining or re-
lated to the Saturniidse.
II. n. A saturnian moth ; a member of the
SaturniidiB.
Saturnicentric (sa-tfer-ni-sen'trik), a. [< L.
Saturnus, Saturn, + centrum, center.] Refer-
red to Saturn as an origin of coordinates.
Satumightt, «■ [ME. Satemigt, < AS. Sieter-
niht, < Ssetern, Saturn (see Saturday), + niht,
night.] Saturday night.
In a Lammasse nigt, Sater ni,jt that was.
Mob. of Gloucester, Chronicle, p. 557.
Saturniidse (sat-er-ni'i-de), n.pl. [NL., < Satur-
nia + -idse.] A family of large bombyeid moths
erected by Boisduval on the genus Saturnia, and
including many of the largest known lepidop-
ters. The subfamily Attacinx contains all the
large native North American silkworm-moths.
Saturnine (sat'6r-nin or -nin), a. [< OF. satur-
nin = Sp. Pg. It. saturnino. Saturnine, < ML.
Saturninus, pertaining to the planet Saturn or
to lead, hence heavy, lumpish, melancholy, as
those born under the planet Saturn were feigned
to be ; < L. Saturnus, the god and planet Saturn :
see Saturn, Cf. Jovial, mercurial.] 1. Pertain-
ing to the god Saturn or the planet Saturn ; un-
der the iniluence of the planet Saturn. Hence
— 2. [I. c] Morose; dull; heavy; grave; not
readily susceptible to excitement or cheerful-
ness; phlegmatic.
My conversation is slow and dull, ray 'hnmonv saturnine
and reserved ; in short, I am none of those who endeavour
to break jests in company, or make repartees.
Dryden, Def. of Essay on Dram. Poesy.
A tall, dark, saturnine youth, sparing of speech.
Lanib, Christ's Hospital.
If you talk in this manner, my honest friend, you will
excite a spirit of ridicule in tlie gravest and most satur-
nine men, who never had let a laugh out of their breasts
before. Landor, Lucian and Timotheus.
3. II. c] Arousing no interest; stupid; dull;
uninteresting.
The noble Earl, not disposed to trouble his jovial mind
with such saturnine paltry, still continued like his mag-
nificent self. Q. Harvey, Four Letters.
4. [I. c] In old chem., pertaining to lead: as,
saturnine compounds — Saturnine amaurosis, im-
sat3rre
pairment or loss of vision due to lead-poisoning. — Satur-
nine breath, breatli of a peculiar odor observed in lead-
poisimlng.- Saturnine colic, lead-colic — Saturnine
intoxication. Same as lead-pomming. — Saturnine
palsy, saturnine paralysis. Same as lead-paralj/ns.—
Saturnine red. Same as redlead (whicli sec, under (ead2).
saturnism (sat'fer-nizm), H. [< Saturn, 3, -t-
-ixm.] Lead-poisoning.
Saturnistt (sat'6r-nist), n. [< Saturn + -ist.]
A person of a dull, grave, gloomy temperament.
Leon. Why dost thou laugh, Learchus?
Learch, I'o see us two walk thus, like satumists,
MufHed up in a condensed cloud.
Why art thou sad, Leontius'j
Beau, and Fl. (?), Faithful Filends, v. 1.
saturnite (sat'er-nit), n. [< L. Saturnus, Sat-
urn, -I- -itc^.] A mineral substance containing
lead. Kirwan.
Saturnus (sa-ter'nus), n. [L. : see Saturn.]
1. Saturn. — 2t. In oW c/ie?»., lead.
Saturnus leed and Jupiter is tin.
Chaucer, Prol. to Canon's Yeoman's Tale, 1. 275.
saturyt, n. A Middle English form of satyr^.
satyr' (safer or sa'ter), n. [Early mod. E. also
satyre; < ME. 'satir, satiry, satury, < OF. satire,
satyre, F. satyre = Sp. sdtiro = Pg. satyro = It.
satiro = D. satcr = 0. Sw. Dan. satyr, < L. saty-
rus, < Gr. adrvpo^, a satyr (see def.).] 1. In cUis-
sical myth., a sylvan deity, representing the lux-
uriant forces of Nature, and closely connected
with the worship of Bacchus. Satyrs are repre-
sented with a somewhat bestial cast of countenance, often
Satyr.— The Barberini Faun, at Munich.
with small horns upon the forehead, and a tail like that
of a horse or a goat, and they frequently hold a thyrsus
or wine-cup. Late Roman writers confused the satyrs
with their own fauns, and gave them the lower half of the
body of a goat. Satyrs were common attendants on Bac-
clins, and were distinguished for lasciviousness and riot.
In the authorized version of the Old Testament (Isa. xiii.
21 ; xxxiv. 14) the name is given to a demon believed to
live in uninhabited places and popularly supposed to have
the appearance of a he-goat (whence the name). The
Hebrew word ««'fr, plural se'trUn, so translated in these
passages, means 'shaggj;' as an adjective, and *he-goat'
as a noun. From the idolatrous worship of goats, the
name came to be applied to demons. In Lev. xvii. 7 and
2 Chron. xi. 15 it is translated 'devil.'
Satury and fawny more and lesse.
Chaucer, Troilus, iv. 1544.
In deede they were but disguised persons vnder the
shape of Sat-yres, as who would say, these terrene and base
gods being conuersant with mans afi:au'es, and spiers out
of all their secret faults.
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 25.
I was horn with budding Antlers like a young Satyr.
Congreve, Way of the World, iii. 18.
Hence — 2. A very lecherous or lascivious per-
son; one affected vrith satyriasis. — 3. In rooV.:
(a) The orang-utan, Simia satyrus: see Satyrus.
(b) Apheasantof the genus ('mor«j«; atrago-
pan. (c) An argus-butterfly : same as mcnrfoir-
brown; any member of the Satyrinse. — 4. In
her., same as manticore.
satyr^t, «. An obsolete erroneous spelling of
■satire.
satyral (sat'er-al or sa'ter-al), «. [< ,««/.i/)l -(-
-al.] In her., a monster which has a human head
and the body and limbs of different animals, as
the body and legs of a lion together ■with long
liorns, or some similar grotesque combination.
satyre^t, ». An obsolete form of satyr^.
satj^re'-^t, "• An obsolete eiToueous spelling of
■mtire.
»
i
Satyri
Batyri (sat'i-ri), n.pl. [NL., pi. of h.s/ittirus, a
satyr: see stiti/r^J] The satyrs or argus-but-
tertlies collectively. See Satyrinse.
satyriasis (.sat-i-n'a-sis), n. [NL., < Gr. aarv-
piuair, satyriasis, pnapism, < carvpiav, equiv. to
aarvpisea; act like a satyr, be lewd, < aarvpog, a
satyr: see siiti/ri.'] I.'A diseased and unre-
strainable venereal appetite in men, corre-
sponding to nymphomania in women. — 2t. In
IHitliol., lepra.
satyric (sa-tir'ik), fl. [= F. sati/rique = Sp.
satirico = Pg. It. satirico, < L. na'ti/ricus, < Gr.
aarvptKo^, of or pertaining to a satyr, < aarvpo^,
a satyr: see mtijr'^.'] Of or pertaining to sat-
jTs: as. a satijrii; drama. The satyric drama was
a particular kind of play among the ancient Greelts, hav-
iiis; somewhat of a burlesque character, the chorus repre-
senting satyrs.
satyrical (sa-tir'i-kal), a. [< satyric + -al.'\
Same as satyric. Grote.
Satyrinae (sat-i-ri'ne), n.pl. [NL., < Satifri +
-line. ] The sat jts or argus-butterflies as a sub-
family of Symphalid«. having only four legs
fitted for walking.
satyrine (sat'i-rin), a. In entom., pertaining to
the Siilyrinsp.
satyrion_(sa-tir'i-on), n. [Formerly also satyr-
iaii : < F. giityrion, < L. satyrion, also satyrios,
< Ur. aaripiov, a plant supposed to excite lust,
< aarviK>c, a satyr: see satyr^.'] One of several
species of Orcliix.
That there nothlDg is to boot
Between a Bean and a Satyrion root.
Ueywaod, Dialogues (Worlis, ed. Pearson. 1874, VI. 237).
The sweet ntf/rian, with the white flower.
Bacon, Gardens (ed. 1887>
Satyrium (sa-tir'i-um), n. [NL. (Swartz, 1791),
< (ir. nnrlpiov, satyrion: see satyrion.] A ge-
nus of small-flowered terrestrial orchidaceous
plants, natives of South Africa, northern In-
dia. :inil the Mascarene Islands.
satjrromania ( sat'i-ro-ma'ni-a), ». [NL., < Gr.
nnrvpiir, a satyr, + /iavia, madness.] Same as
s(i ti/ridsis.
satyromaniac (sat'i-ro-ma'ni-ak), a. and n.
[< sntyromatiia + -ac] I. a. Affected with
satvromania.
II. «. A person affected with satvromania.
satyr-ptlg (sat'^-r-pug), «. A British geometrid
iiKitli, Kupilhicia xalyrata.
Satyms (sat'i-ms), «. [NL., < L. siityrus, <
(ir. ou7Tp<;f, a satyr: nee satyr^.l; If. [/.c] An
old name of the orangs. — 2. The genus of
orangs: synonymous with Simia. Two sup-
posed species have been called S. oraiig and
8. morio. — 3. In entom.. the typical genus of
Salyhiiie, liaving such species as S. gaUitea, the
mat I)1p butterfly. Also called Hipparehia.
saualpite (s6-al'pit), >i. [< Sau Alpe (see def. )
+ -Iff-.] Same as zoisite: so called because
found in the San Alpe in Carlnthia, Austria-
Hiiiiprary.
sauba-ant (sA'bft-ftnt), n. [< 8. Amer. Ind. sauba
+ K.rtH^l.] A leaf-carrying ant. (Krorfomacp/iAn-
hitex, occurring in South America, and remark-
able from the fact that the colonies include five
ila.Hses of individuals— raales,queen8, small or-
ilinarj' workers, large workers with very large
hairy heads, and large workers with large pol-
isheil heads. These ants are Injurious to plaatatloiM.
from the eitent to which they strip plants of their learn
to rarrv to thoir ,■,«#■ XI..... n.«.. »>• i... i^ ,.
5353
Avoid curiosities and provocations ; let your chiefest
tauce be a good stomach, which temperance will help to
get you. penn, Advice to Children, iii.
Hence, specifically— 2. Garden vegetables or
roots eaten with flesh-meat: also called gar-
den-sauce. [Prov. Eng. and U. S.]
Of com in the blade you may make good green muce, of
a light concoction and easy digestion.
Urquhart, tr. of Rabelais, iii. 2.
3. Fruit stewed with sugar; a compote of fruit:
as, apple-sflucc- 4. Pertness; insolence; im-
pudence, or pert or insolent language. [Now
coUoq.]
Then, full of muxe and zeal, up steps EInathan.
Satyr agaxntt HypocrUet (1689). (Sares, under ducking-
[pond.)
_ Nanny . . secretly chuckled over her outburst of
mnce as the best morning's work she had ever done.
George Eliot, Amos Barton, vii.
6. The soft green or yellowish substance of a
lobster. See tomalley.—Q. A mixture of fla-
voring ingredients used in the preparation of
tobacco and snuff [Eng.] -Carrier's sauce,
poor man s sauce.— Marine sauce. See vmnne.—Vooi
man s sauce, hunger.— To serve one (with) the same
sauce, to requite one injury with another, [folloq]
If he had been strong enough I dare swear he would
have len d htm the mtne Sauce.
Ward, London Spy (ed. 1703X (Saret.)
What is sauce for the goose Is sauce for the gander
the same principle npnlifs in l.oth ca-ses: what i.s appliia-
ble in one case should be aitplied to all similar cases.
saace (sas), c l.; pret. and pp. sauced, ppr. sau-
cing. [Early mod. E. also sawce; < ME. sawcen,
somen, < OF. saucier, saucer, F. saucer, sauce ;
from the noun.] 1. To add a sauce or relish
to; season; flavor.
He cut our roots in characters,
And taueed our broths, as Juno had been sick
And he her dieter. Shak., Cymbeline, iv. 2. 60.
Right costly Catei, made both for shew and taste.
Bat taue'd with wine.
Heywood, Hierarchy of Angels, p. 290.
2. To gratify; tickle (the palate). [Bare.]
Sauce his palate
With thy most operant poison.
Shak., T. of A., It. 8. 2-1.
3. To intermix or accompany with anything
that gives piquancy or relish ; hence, to' make
pungent, tart, or sharp.
Sorrow taueed with repentance.
Spenter, Shep. Cal., March.
saucy
sawsour, < OP. saussiere, P. saueiere, a sauee-
dish, = Sp. salsera = Pg. salseira = It. salsiera,
a vessel for holding sauce, < ML. 'salsaria, {.,
salsarium, neut., a salt-cellar or a sauce-dish, <
salsa, solcia, sauce, L. salsa, salted things: see
sauce.'i 1. A small dish or pan in which sauce
is set on the table ; a sauce-dish.
Of dowcetes, pare awey the sides to the botomm, & that ye
lete, "^
In a sawcere afore youre souerayne semely ye hit sett.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 148.
Take violets, and infuse a good ptigil of them in a quart
of vinegar; . . . refresh the infusion with like quantity of
new violets, seven times; and it will make a vinegar so
fresh of the Hower as if a twelvemonth after it be brought
you in a saucer you shall smell it before it come at you.
Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 17.
2. A small, round, shallow vessel, a little deep-
er than a plate, upon which a eup, as a tea- or
coffee-cup, is placed, and which is designed to
retain any liquid which may be spilled from the
^a'S'T^-^ Something resembling a saucer, la)
A kind of flat caisson used in raising sunken vessels. (6)
A socket of iron which receives the spindle or foot upoii
which a capstan rests and turns round.— Sand saucer
See sand.miicer.
saucer-eye (sa'ser-i), «. a large, prominent
eye.
But where was your conscience all this while, woman '
did not that stare you in the face with huge mucer-eyest
Vanbrvgh, Relapse, v. 3.
saucer-eyed (s4's^r-id), a. Having very large,
round, prominent eyes.
sauceryt (sa'sSr-i), «. [Early mod. E. also saw-
eery, saulcery; < OF. 'saucerie, < ML. salsaria,
a department of a royal kitchen having charge
of sauces and spices, also prob. a sauce-dish,
< salsa, salcia, sauce: see sauce.] A place for
sauces or preserves.
The skullary and aawcery.
BuUand Papen, p. 40. (If ares.)
His store of pleamrea must be sauced with pain.
Marlowe, Faustus, v. 4.
4. To be saucy or pert to; treat saucily, or with
impertinence; scold.
As tut as the answers thee with frowning looks, I'll
•Hues her with bitter worda.
Shak., As you Like it, lit v. 69.
6f. To cut up ; carve ; prepare for the table.
Sauce that capou, amiet that playce.
Babea Book (E. E. T. 8.X p. 266.
The bodie (of the slave sacrificed] they sauced and
dressed for a banquet about breake of day, after they had
: - — "^... ^< -ni,,!, .uej sinp nianu oi ineir leaves
to carry to their nests. They may often be seen in long
tiles carrying pieces of leaves, they burrow very exten-
sively umlerground, some of their gaUeries being hundreds
"f yards long. The winged females are often eaten by the
natives. '
sauce (sis), «. [Also dial. s<us; early mod. E.
also sau:cf; < ME. sauce, tause, savee, sawsc,
K'lhc = D. «««« (> E. souse) = Q. Dan. sauce =
Sw. sauce, sAs, < OP. saurr, sause.saime, salce,
•milre. saiilse, F. sauce = Pr. 8p. Pg. It. salta, <
ML. salsa, f. (also after Kom., salcia), sauce, <
L. wtwi, things salte<l, salt food (cf. aqua salsa,
-MJted water), neut. pi. of salsus, pp. ot satire,
-lit, < sal, salt : see salt^. Cf. sausage, saucer,
'"«<■, from the same source.] 1. A condiment,
as salt or mustard ; now, usually, an accompa-
niment to foo<I, usually li(|uid or soft, and highly
-••asoiied or flavored, eaten as a relish, an ap-
'tizer, or a digestive: as, mint-.<(n«ccy white
'litre; lobster-«n«fr / *aucc piquante.
ITiei .■t4' at here eseas thel mljt thanne,
Njute (l)ut, without] salt other tauce or any semli drynk
William (If Paieme (E. E. T. 8.), 1. 1882.
Also to know youre satnees for flesche conveniently
Hit provokithc a fyne apetide if muvmi youre mete bo hie
Babees Book (k. E. T. .S.), p. 1.51.
The Sauce Is costly, for it far exceeds the cates.
Ortene, Never Too Late.
Old the Idoll good morrow with a small dance.
Pvrehas, Pilgrimage, p. 810.
6. To make to pay or suffer.
Ill make them pay; I'll sauce them: they have had
my house a week at command ; I have turned away my
other gueata; . . . I'U tauce them.
Shak., M. W. of W., It. 8. IL
sance-alone (sAs'a-lon'), ». [< me. sawce-lyne,
supposed to be a corruption of sauce-alone : see
sauce and alone.l An Old World cnieiferous
plant, Sisymbrium Alliaria (Alliaria offlrinalis),
emitting a strong smell of garlic: sometimes
used as a salad. Also called garlictnustard,
hedge-garlic, and jack-by-the-hedge.
sauce-boat (sAs'bot), n. A dish or vessel with
a lip or spout, u.sed for holding sauce.
saucebox (sAs'boks), n. [< sauce + 6ox2.] A
saucy, impudent person. [CoUoq.]
Marry come up, sir saucebox! I think you'll take his
part, will you not?
Beau, and Ft., Knight of Burning Pestle, iii. 6.
The foolish old poet says that the souls of some women
are made of sea-water ; this liaa encouraged my saucebox
to be witty upon me. Addison, Spectator.
sauce-crayon (sas'kra'on), «. Avery soft black
I>iistel used for backgrounds in pastel or crayon
ilrn«-iiic,'s.
sauce-dish (sas'dish), n. A dish for sauce.
saucepan (s4s'pan), n. 1 . Originally, a pan for
cooking sauces. — 2. A small metallic vessel
for cooking, having a cover, and a long handle
proje<'ting nearly horizontallv from the side.
saucepan-fish (sAs' pan -fish), «. The king-
crab. Liiiiiihis polyplumiis : so called from its
shape. See riisserole-fish.
saucer (sa'ser), ». [Early mod. E. also saiccer,
sauser; < ME. saiccer, sawcere, sauser, sawser.
sauce-tureen (sfis'tg-ren'), «. A small tureen
for holding sauce or gravy.
sauch, saugh (sach), n. A Scotch form of sal-
lowi.
The glancin' waves o' Clyde
Throch sauchs and hangin' hazels glide.
Pinkerton, Bothwell Bank.
O wae betide the frush saugh wand !
And wae betide the bush of brier !
Annan IKater (Child's Ballads, 11. 189).
saucily (s4'si-li), ado. In a saucy manner;
pertly; impudently; with impertinent boldness.
That freed servant, who had much power with Claudius
very saucily had almost all the words.
Bacon, Apophthegms.
sauciness (sa'si-nes), n. The character or fact
of being saucy; hence, also, saucy language
or conduct; impertinent presumption; impu-
dence; contempt of superiors.
You call honourable boldness impudent sauciness
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., 11. 1. 136.
Jealousy in a gallant is humble true love, . . . bnt in a
husband 'tis arrant sauciness, cowardice, and ill-breeding.
Wycherley, Gentleman Dancing-Master, v. 1.
=8Tn. Impertinence, EfronUry, etc. (see impudence),
malai>ertness.
saucisse (so-ses'), «• [P., a sausage: see sau-
sage.'] In fort, and artillery : (a) A long pipe
or bag, made of cloth well pitched, or of lea-
ther, filled with powder, and extending from
the chamber of a mine to the entrance of the
gallery. To preserve the powder from dampness, it is
generally placed In a wooden pipe. It serves to commu-
nicate fire to mines, caissons, bomb-chests, etc. (J) A
long bundle of fagots or fascines for raising bat-
teries and other purposes.
saucisson (so-se-sdn'), n. [P., < saucisse, a sau-
sage : see saucisse.] Same as saucisse.
saucy (84'si), a. [Also dial, sassy; early mod.
E.saucie,sawcy,sawcie; < sauce + -y^.] 1. Pull
of sauce or impertinence; flippantly bold or
impudent in speech or conduct; impertinent;
characterized by offensive lightness or disre-
spect in addressing, treating, or speaking of
Superiors or elders ; impudent ; pert.
When we see a fellow sturdy, lofty, and proud, men say
this is a saucy fellow. Latvmer, Misc. Sel.
Ami not the protector, saucii priest ?
Shak., 1 Hen. VL, ill. 1. 46.
My father would prefer the boys he kept
To greater men than he ; but did it not
Till they were grown too saucy for himself.
Beau, and Fl., Philaster, it 1.
i'he best way is to grow rude and saucy of a sudden.
Siiift, Advice to Servants (General Directions).
2. Characterized by or expressive of pertness
or impudence.
study is like the heaven's glorious sim,
That will not be deep-search'd with saucy looks.
Shak., L. L.'l., i. 1. 86.
saucy
A taueie word spak* hee.
Beir<if Untie (Child's Ballads, VIII. 73).
There is not so impudent a Thing in Nature as the
taiccy Look of an assured Man, contident of Success.
Congreve, Way of the World, iv. 5.
3t. Presuming; overbearing.
And if nothing can deterre these saucie doultes from
this their dizardly Inhumanitie.
Lomatius on Painting by Laydock (1598). (Nares,)
But now I am cabin'd, cribb'd, confln'd, bound in
To saucy doubts and fears. Shak.t Macbeth, ilL 4. 2.^.
4t. Wanton; prurient; impure.
Saucy trusting of the cozen'd thoughts
DeBles the pitchy night. So lust doth play.
Shak., AU's Well, iY. 4. 23.
=SyiL 1 and 2. See impudence.
saucyt (sa'si), adv. [< saucy, o.] Saucily.
But up then spak the auld gudraan.
And vow but he spak wondrous saucie.
Glasgow Peggy (Child's Ballads, IV. 76).
saucy-bark (sa'si-biirk), n. Same as sassy-
harl:
sauer-kraut (sour'krout), n. [Also partly
Englished sour-krout, sour-crout (= F. choii-
croute) ; < G. sauer-kraut, < sauer, = E. sour, +
kraut, plant, vegetable, cabbage.] A favorite
German dish, consisting of cabbage cut fine,
pressed into a cask, with alternate layers of salt,
and suffered to ferment till it becomes sour.
sauft, sauflyt. Middle English forms of safe,
safely.
saugef . An obsolete form of sage^, sage^.
sauger (sa'ger), n. A percoid fish, Stizostedion
eanadetise, the smaller American pike-perch,
also called sand-pike, ground-pike, rattlesnake-
pike, jack, and horn-fish. See cut under Stizo-
stedion.
saugh^ (sadh), n. See sauch.
saugh^ («uf), n. Same as sough.
sangh-^t. An obsolete preterit of see^.
saughtt, w. [ME. saughte, seihte, saJite, sxhte,
< AS. saht, seaht, seht, sseht (= Icel. sdtt), rec-
onciliation, settlement, orig. the adjustment of
a suit, < sacan, fight, contend, sue at law: see
safrfii. Of. sought, a. and v.'] Eeconciliation ;
peace.
We be-seke 30W, syr, as soveraynge and lorde,
That ge safe us to daye, for sake of 30ure Criste !
Sende us some socoure, and saughte with the pople.
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3063.
saughtt, a. [ME. saught, saugt, sauht, saght,
sagt, sseht, < AS. saht, seht, sseht (= Icel. sdttr),
reconciled, at peace : see sought, n., and cf.
saught, v.'\ Eeconeiled; agreed; atone.
saughtt, V- t. [ME. saughten, saugten, sauhten,
< AS. "sahtian, sehtian (= Icel. ssetta), recon-
cile, make peace, < saht, seht, sseht, reconciled,
saht, seaht, seht, sseht, reconciliation, peace : see
saught, n. Cf . saughten, and saughtle, now set-
tle^.'] To reconcile.
And men vnsaugte loke thou assay
To «iw,jten hem thenne at on assent.
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. 108.
saughtent, v- i- [ME. sau^tenen, saugtnen, sauht-
nen, < AS. 'sahtnan, become reconciled, < saht,
seht, sseht, reconciled : see saught, a. Cf. saugh-
ile.'\ To become reconciled.
"Cesseth," seith the kynge, "I suffre 30W [to dispute] no
lengere.
ge shal sau;^tne for sothe and seme me bothe.
"Kisse hir," quod the kynge. Piers Plowman (B), iv. 2.
saughtlet, v. A Middle English form of settle"^.
saul^ (sal), n. An obsolete or Scotch form of
sowA.
saul^, n. See saV^.
saule^t, «■ An obsolete form of soul^.
saule^t, sauleet, ». See sool, soul^.
sauUe, saullie (sa'li), n. [Origin obscure.] A
hired mourner. [Scotch.]
There were twa wUd-Iooking chaps left the auld kirk,
. . . and the priest . . . sent twa o' the tiding saulies after
them. Scott, The Antiquary, xxv.
sault^t (salt), n. [Also salt, saut; < ME. saut,
saute, sawt, < OF. saut, sault, F. saut = Pr. saut
= Cat. salt = Sp. Pg. It. salto, a leap, jump, fall,
< L. saltus, a leap, < satire, leap : see sail^, and
cf. assault, n., of which sault^ is in part an
aphetic form.] 1 . A leap.
He rode ... a light fleet horse, unt^j whom he gave a
hundred carieres, made him go the high faults, bounding
in the air, [and] . . . turn short in a ring both to the right
and left hand. Urquhart, tr. of Rabelais, i. 23.
2. An assault.
Tho cam Anthony and also Raynold,
Which to paynyraes made sauUs plente.
And of Ausoys the noble Kyng bold.
Ram. 0/ Partenay (B. E. T. S.), 1. 2146.
Slenthe with hus slynge an hard saut he made.
Piers Plowman (C), xxlli. 217.
5354
sault^t (sftlt), V. t. [Also saute; < ME. sauten,
OF. sauter, saulter, < L. saltare, leap, freq. of
salire, leap: see sail^, salient, and cf. assault, v.,
of which sault^ is in part an aphetic form. Cf.
sault^, ?i.] To assault.
sault- (so, commonly so), n. [< Canadian F.
sault, saut, a leap, fall : see sault^,'\ A rapid m
some rivers : as, the Sault Ste. Marie. [North
America.]
sault^t, ». and V. A bad spelling of «attl.
saultablet (sal'ta-bl), a. [Also saltuhle; by
apheresis for assu ultahle.'] Same as assaultable.
The I>reacli is safely satiable where no defence is made.
WUloughby, To W^alsingham, in Motley's Hist. Nether-
[lands, II. 418.
sault-fat (salt'fat), n. [Sc. form of salt-vat.']
A piekling-tub or powdering-tub for meat.
saul-tree, n. See sal'^.
saum (soum), n. [G., = E. seam, a load: see
scanfi.] An Austrian unit of weight, formerly
used in England for quicksilver. Young says it
was 315 pounds avoirdupois: and Nelkenbrecher says the
Styrian saum for steel is 250 Vienna pounds, being 309
pounds avoirdupois. Probably in Carniola the weight was
greater. The saum was also a liquid measure in Switzer-
land, like the French somine, Italian soma; also a unit of
tale, 22 pieces of cloth.
saumbuet, sambuet, «. [ME., < OF. sambue,
saubue (ML. sambuca), a saddle-cloth, a litter,
< OH6. sambuoh, sambuh, savibUch, sampoh,
sampoch, a chariot, sedan-chair, litter.] A
saddle-cloth.
Saumburyt, ». [ME., appar. an irreg. var. of
«aM»(6Me, a saddle-cloth: see saumbue.] A litter.
And shope that a shereyue sholde bere Mede
Softliche in saumibury fram syse to syse.
Piers Plouman (C), ili. 178.
saumplariet, «. See samplary.
saunce-bellt, sauncing-bellt (sans'bel, siin'-
sing-bel), re. Same as saints' bell, Sanctus bell.
See belli.
Titan gilds the eastern' hills,
And chirping birds, the saunce-bell of the day.
Ring in our ears a warning to devotion.
Randolph, Amyntas, iii. 1.
Saunders (san'derz), n. Same as sandal^.
saunders blue. See blue.
saunders'woodt (san'd6rz-wud), n. Same as
sandalwood.
saunt^, n. A dialectal (Scotch) or obsolete form
of saint^.
saunt^, n. A variant of saint^, cent, 4 (a game).
At coses or at saunt to sit, or set their rest at prime.
Turbervitle on Hawking, in Cens. Lit., ix. 26().
saunter (san'ter or san'ter), v. i. [Also dial.
santer; < ME. saunteren, santren (see defs.): (a)
prob. < OF. s^aventurer, sc adventurer, reflex., ad-
venture oneself, risk oneself: se, oneself, coa-
lescing with aventurer, risk, adventure (> ME.
auntren, risk): see adventure and obs. aunter, v.
This etymology, suggested by Skeat and Mur-
ray, involves a difficulty in the otherwise unex-
ampled transit into E. of the OF. reflexive se as
a coalesced initial element, but it is the only
one that has any plausibility. Various other
etymologies, all absurd, have been suggested or
are current, namely: (b) < F. sainte tcrre, holy
land, in supposed allusion to "idle people who
roved about the country and asked charity un-
der pretence of going a la sainte terre," to the
holy land, (c) < F. sans terre, without land,
''applied to wanderers without a home"; {d)
< P. sentier, a footpath (see sentinel, sentry^);
(c) < D. slenteren = LG. slenderen = Sw. slentra
= Dan. slentre, saunter, loiter, Sw. slunta = Dan.
slunte, idle, loiter; Icel. slentr, idle lounging,
slen, sloth, etc. ; (/) < Icel. scint = Norw. seint
= Sw. Dan. sent, slowly, orig. neut. of Icel. sei-
nir = Norw. sein = Sw. Dan. sen = AS. ssene,
slow; (g) < OD. swanckcn = G. schwanken, etc.,
reel, waver, vacillate.] If. To venture (f). See
sauntering, 1. — 2t. To hesitate (?).
Yut he knew noght uerray certainly.
But santred and doubted uerryly
Where on was or no of this saide linage.
Ronu of Partenay (E. E. T. S.), L 4658.
3. To wander idly or loiteringly ; move or walk
in a leisurely, listless, or undecided way ; loi-
ter; lounge; stroll.
The cormorant is still sauntering by the sea-side, to see
if he can find any of his brass cast up. Sir R. L' Estrange.
4t. To dawdle ; idle ; loiter over a thing.
Upon the first suspicion a father has that his son is of a
«aM7iim?i</ temper, he mustcarefuUyobserve him, whether
he be listless and indifferent in all his actions, or whether
insomethlngs alone he be slow and sluggish, but in othei-s
vigorous and eager. Locke, Education, § 123.
Interr'd beneath this Marble Stone
Lie sauni'ring Jack, and Idle Joan.
Prior, An Epitaph.
=Syn. 3. SlroU, Stray, etc. See ramble, v.
Saurichthyidae
saunter (san'ter or san'ter), n. [< saunter, l^]
1. A stroll; a leisurely ramble or walk. — 2,
A leisurely, careless gait.
I saw the large gate open, and in walked Rab, with that
great and easy saunter of his.
Dr. John Brovni, Rab and his Friends.
One hurried through the gate out of the grove, and tlie
other, turning round, walked slowly, with a sort of sa\in-
ter, toward Adam. George Eliot, Adam Bede, xxvii.
Loitering and leaping.
With saunter, with bounds — . . .
See ! the wild Meenads
Break from the wood.
il. Arnold, Bacchanalia, 1.
St. A sauntering-place ; a loitering- or stroU-
iug-plaee.
The tavern ! park ! assembly ! mask ! and play I
Those dear destroyers of the tedious day !
That wheel of fops, that saunter of the town !
Young, Love of P'ame, i.
saunterer (san'- or s&n'ter-er), n. [< saunter
+ -cfl.] One who saunters, or wanders about
in a loitering or leisurely way.
Quit the life of an insignificant saunterer about town.
Berkeley, The IJuerist, § 413.
sauntering (san'- or san'ter-ing), n. [< ME.
saunteryng ; YeThsXu.ot saunter, v.] If. Ven-
turing; audacity (?).
Thoo sawes schall rewe hym sore
For all his saunteryng sone.
York Plays, p. 351.
Nowe all his gaudis no thyng hym gaynes.
His sauntering schall with bale be bought.
I'ork Plays, p. 354.
2. The act of strolling idly, dawdling, or loi-
tering.
saunteringly (san'- or san'ter-ing-li), adv. In
a sauntering manner; idly; leisurely.
Saurat, Saur8et(sa'ra, -re), w.j)i. [NL.] Same
as Sauria.
Sauranodon (sa-ran'o-don), «. [NL. (Marsh,
1879), < Gr. aavpoi; a lizard, + av6Sov<;, tooth-
less: see Atiodon.] 1. The typical genus of
Sauranodontidse, based upon remains of Juras-
sic age from the Kocky Mountains: so called
because edentulous or toothless. — 2. [<. c] A
fossil of the above kind.
sauranodont (sa-ran'o-dont), a. [< Saurano-
rfoH((-).] Pertaining to the sauranodous.
Sauranodontidse (sa-ran-o-don'ti-de), re. iJl.
[NL., < iSauranodon(t-) -(- -idae.} A family of
edentulous ichthyopterygian reptiles, typified
by the genus Sauranodon.
saurel (sa'rel), n. [< OF. saurel, "the bastard
mackarel" (Cotgi-ave), < saur, sorrel : see sore^.]
A scad, IVachurus trachurus, or T. saurus ; any
fish of the genus Trachurus. See cut under scad.
Sauria (s^'ri-a), n.pl. [NL., < Gr. aavpoc, aaipa,
a lizard: see Saurus.'] An order of reptiles,
having scales and usually legs, named by Bron-
gniart in 1799, and corresponding closely to the
Linnean genus Lacerta ; lizards. The name has
been used with various extensions and restrictions of its
original sense, in which it included the crocodiles and
alligators as well as the true lizards or lacertilians, thus
corresponding to the two modern orders Lacertilia and
Crocodilia. In Cuvier's classification Sauria were the
second order of reptiles, extended to include not only the
living lizards and crocodiles, but also the extinct repre-
sentatives then known of several oilier modern orders, as
pterodactyls, ichthyosaurs, and plesiosaurs. On these ac-
counts the term Sauria is discarded by many modern
writers ; by others it is used in a restricted sense for the
lizards proper without the crocodiles, being thus an exact
synonym of Lacertilia. This is a proper use of the name,
near its original sense, and the term has priority over
Lacertilia. The Sauria in this sense are about 1,500 spe-
cies, representing from 20 to 25 families and numerous
genera. Formerly also Saura, Saurx.
saurian (sa'ri-an), a. and n. [= F. saurien;
as Sauria + -an.] I. a. Belonging or relating
to the Sauria, in any sense; having legs and
scales, as a lizard ; laeertiform; lacertilian.
II. re. A member of the Sauria, in any sense ;
a scaly reptile with legs, as a lacertilian or liz-
ard. Though the term Sauria once lapsed from any defi-
nite signification, in consequence of the popular applica-
tion of Cuvier's loose use of the word, saurian is still used
as a convenient designation of reptiles which are not am-
phibians, chelonians, ophidians, or crocodilians. See cuts
under Plesiosattrus.
saurichnite (sa-rik'nit), «. [< NL. Saurichnites,
< Gr. aavpoc, a lizard, -I- Ix^o^, a track, footstep: .
see ichnite.] A saurian ichnolite; the fossil
track of a saurian.
Saurichnites (sa-rik-ni'tez), n. [NL. : see «a»«-
riclmite.] Agenus of saurians which have left
saurichnites of Permian age.
Saurichthyidae (sa-rik-thi'i-de), n. pi. [NL.,
< Saurichthys + -idse.] In Owen's classifica-
tion, a family of fossil lepidoganoidfishesnamed
f Tova the gennsSaurichthys. The body was elongate,
with a median dorsal and ventral row of scutes and an-
other along the lateral line, but othei'wise scaleless, and
Saarichthyidae
the flns were vithout fulcra ; the maxillae gave off hori-
zontal palatal plates. The species lived In the Triassic and
Ljassic seas. Also called Belonorhyiickidse .
Sanrichthys (sa-rik'this), h. [XL.,< Gr. aaipof,
-a lizard. + i^ftc, a fish.] The typical genus of
the family Saurichthtfidx. AgasMz.
Saiiridae^"(sa'ri-de), n. pi. [Nil., < Gr. aavpo^,
a lizard, + -Was.] In Giinther's classifica-
tion, a family of lepitlosteoid ganoid fishes. It
is charaeterize<I by an oblong body covered with ganoid
scales, vertebra) incompletely ossiHed, termination of the
vertebral column homocercai, fins with fulcra, maxillary
composed of a single piece, jaws with a single series of
conical pointed teeth, and branchiostegals numerous, en-
ameled, the anterior ones developed as broad angular
plates. The species are extinct, but formed a consider-
able contingent of the fishes of the Mesozoic formations
from the Liassic and Jurassic beds. The genus having
the widest range is SemionotMj of both the Liassic and Ju-
rassic epochs ; other genera are Lo;Mo9tomu», Paehycor-
mm, and Ptyeholfpis. Also called Paehyeormidir.
Saurid8e-{sa'ri-de), n.pl. p!h,,<Saurus + -irf«.]
A family of raalacopterygian fishes, typified by
the genus Saurus: same as Synodontlda.
Saurii (sa'ri-i), n. pi. [NL.: see /Sauruz.] Same
a.-i fiiinria. Oppel, 1811.
Satirilia(8&-ri'na),».p/. [NL.,<Sa«n«« + -iHa2.]
A division of Seopelxdse, named from the genus
Stiitriin : same as Sjfnodonticlte. Giintlter.
Saurischia (sa-ris'ki-a), n.pl. [NL., < Gr. aaii-
l)o^, a lizard, + iaxiov, the nip-joint : see Uchi-
Kw.] A suborder or order of Jinosaurian rep-
tiles with the inferior pelvic elements directed
doninvanl, including the ifegalosauridx, etc.
sauriscllian (sa-ris'ki-an), a. and n. [< Sauris-
cliiii + -an.} I. a. Relating to the Saurischia.
II. «. A member of tlie S<iuri.schia.
saurless (sar'Ies), a. [Contr. of savorless: see
sarorless.} Savorless; insipid; tasteless; vapid;
spiritless. [Scotch.]
Sanrobatracnia (sA'r6-ba-tr»'ki-8), n.pl. [NL.,
< (ir. aaif>ijr, aaipa, a lizard. + jiarpaxo^, a sea-
frog. ] A synonym of Vrodela, one of the ma-
jor divisions ot Amphibia: opposed to Ophido-
hiitraehia.
sanrobatrachian (sA'ro-ba-tra'ki-an), a. and n.
I. <(. Of or pertaining to the jSaurofcafracAia or
I'rortela.
U. n. A urodele batrachian, as a member of
the Snurnbntrnchia.
Saurocephalidae (sa'ro-se-fal'i-de), n.pl. [NL.,
< .Sfiiirorijilidlus + -idse.] An extinct family of
actinochirous fishes, typified by the genus Sauro-
eephaltis. They were large compreaied flihei. and had
Uise teeth implanted in distinct tocket* in the Jaws, and
both the intermaxillarr and sopramaiillary bone* well
developed. They flourished in the CretaceoiUMU. Alw
callL'd SaurodontidM.
Sanrocephalna (si-ro-sef'a-lns), n. [NL.
(Kner, 1869), < Gr. aavpo^, a lizard, + Kt^Aj/,
the head.] A genus of fossil fishes of Creta-
ceous age, variously placed, but by late writers
made the type of the family Saurocephalidte,
having teeth with short compressed crowns.
Saarocetn8 (»4-ro-8«'tns), n. [NL., < Gr. aav-
P'fr. a lizard, + i^of, any sea-monster or large
fish : see CeteS.] A genus of fossil zeu^lodons,
or zeuglodont cetaceans, based on remains from
the Tertiary of South America, of uncertain
eharaefer. Also Saurocetes.
Saurodipterida (s4'r6-dip-ter'i-d§), n. pi.
[NL.. < Gr. aaiipoi, a lizard, + Siirrcpoc, with
two fins (i. e. dorsal fins), -I- -irfa?.] A family
of fossil pol^-pteroid fishes from the Devonian
and Carboniferous formations. It includes forms
with scale* ganoid and smooth lilie the sorface of the
skull, two dorsal Bns, the paired flns obtusely lobate,
teeth conical, and the caodalfln heterocercal. The spe-
cies belonged to the genera DiplonUrut, Mej/alieUhyt, and
OteoUpit. K\v, called OtUoltpUida.
Sanrodipterini (s4-ro-dip-te-ri'ni), n.pl. [NL.,
< Saiinifliptcr(id«) -i- -ini.]" Same as <Sauro</ip-
tiriiliv.
Saorodon (sA'ro-don), ». [NL., < Or. aavpoc,
a lizard, + Mov^ (oiovr-) = E. tooth.'} A ge-
nus of fossil fishes, of Cretaceous age. referred
to tlie Sphyrsen4dte, or made type of the Sauro-
donfi(hf.
^■anrodont (sA'rp-dont), a. and n. [< Sauro-
don(t-).] I. a. Of or pertaining to the Sauro-
dtmtidm.
n. II. A fish of the family Saurodontida.
Saurodontidae (s&-ro-<lon'ti-<le), n. pi. [NL.,
< Situri>iliiii{l-) -f -idse.} Same as Saurocepha-
lidiT.
\ Saurognathse (sA-rog'na-thS), n. pi. [NL., fem.
pi. f>{ Haurognathus : see taurognathous.} A
Huperfamily of birds, containing the wood-
peckers and their allies, or the Picidse, Piiiim-
nidfp, and Iijngidte ; the ( elromorphie of Huxley.
W. A'. Parker. See cuts under Picumnus, Piciis,
laurognathous, and wryneck.
5355
saurognathism (sa-rog'na-thizm), n. [< sau-
royitdth-oiiK + -ism.} In ortiith., a peculiar ar-
rangement of the bones of the palate which
has been seen in some woodpeckers; the sau-
rogiiathous type of palatal structure.
saurognathous (sa-rog'na-thus), a. [< NL., <
Gr. aavpof, a lizard. -I- j-naSof, the jaw.] In
ornith., having an ar-
rangement of the bones
of the palate which con-
stitutes a simplification
and degradation of the
segithognathous struc-
ture, as a woodpecker:
as, a saurognathftus bird
or palate; a saurogna-
thous type of structure.
The case Is far from clear or
satisfactor)', though named,
described, and figured by high
authority (the late William
Kitchen ParkerX and may be
only an individual variation
in some woodpeckers. In the
flicker's skull here figured from
nature is found a condition of
things that fairly answers to
Parker's description, subsist-
ing mainly in the presence of
a pair of stunted vomers sepa-
rate from each other ; but the
like state of the parts does not
appear in several other wood-
peckers' skulls examined in
the preparation of this i>ara-
grapn.
sauroid (s4'roid), a. and
H. [< Gr. aavporii^, like
a lizard, < aaipoc, m.,
aaipa, f., a lizard, + eiSo(, tmr; », quadrate
form.] I. (I. Resembling temporal ;/«, foramen nia,;.
•* . * . ,e» num. The posterior part of
a saunan in general ; one pautine u cut away to
having characters of or t7of'S,c^c^S:"^'''-
some affinity with rep-
tiles; reptilian; sauropsidan, as a vertebrate;
pertaining to the Sauroidei, as a fish.
The existence of warm periods during the Cretaceous
age is plainly shown ... by the corals and huge aauroid
reptiles which then Inhabited our waters.
J. CtoU, Climate and Time.
U. n. 1. One of a family of ganoid fishes
including the lepidosteids and various extinct
Saurognathous Skull of
Woodpecker ( Cotaftes auro-
tU3), V, V, the posterior parts
of the aboflive vomer ; s, point
of sphenoid : iHxfi, raaxillo-
pahitine ; //. pterygoid ; ntt.
ossiflcd mesethmoin; //, pa)n-
: it, txisi-
Restored Sauroid {Pypo/terus),
forms; a member of the Sauroidei: as, "the
aam-oids and sharks," BuckUind. — 2. A mem-
ber of the SauropnitUi. Huxley, 1863.
Sauroidei (s&-roi'de-i),n.p/. WL., < Qr.aavpo-
tii>vf, like a lizard : see sauroidT] 1. A family of
ganoid fishes supposed to have reptilian char-
acteristics. The name was used by Agassiz for fishes
with conical pointed teeth alternating with small brush-
like ones, Bat rhomboid scales, and a bony skeleton. It
included numerous extinct species which are now known to
have few common characteristics, and also living fishes of
the families Pol}fptmdK and Lepidotladtt.
2. An order of ganoid fishes : same as Holostei.
.Sir ./. Richnrds<m.
sauroidichnite ('*a-roi-dik'nH), n. [< NL. Saii-
ruidichnitcs.} The fossil footprint of a saurian ;
a saurichnite left by a memoer of the genus
Sauroidichnites.
Sanroidichnites (sft'roi-dik-ni'tez), ». [NL. :
see siiiiriiidithnitr.} A generic name of sauri-
ans which have left uncertain sauroidichnites.
mtrlKOck, 1841.
Sanromalns (sA-rom'a-lus), n. [NL., < Gr.
aavpoc, a lizard, -f- ojiaAi^, even, efjual.] A ge-
nus of robust lizards of the family Iguanidte.
S. ater is the alderman-lizard (so called from its obesity),
which has commonly been known to American herpetolo-
gists by lu untenable synonym Euphryne obeta.
sanrophagoas (sft-rofa-gus), a. [< NL. sauro-
phmiHs. < Gr. aaipoc, a lizard, + <^yeiv, eat.]
reeilint; upon reptiles ; reptilivorous.
Saurophidiat (s&-ro-fid'i-a), n. pi. [NL., < Gr.
aai'iKir, a lizard, -I- Mic, a snake: see Ophidia.}
An order of reptiles, including the typical saiiri-
ans and the ophidians or serpents, and contrast-
ing with the Emydtmiiurio or Crorndilin. Ttie
term was introduced liy l)e HlsiinvIIle in 1816, for the sanje
forms that were calletf .S/imwnto by Merrem.
saurophidian (s^-ro-fid'i-an). «. and ». [<
SiturDjihidiii + -an.} I. a. Of or pertaining to
the SiiKrophidia.
II. )i. A member of the Saurophidia.
Saurophidiit (sa-ro-fid'i-i), n. pi. [NL., < Gr.
aaifKK, a lizard, + o^ff, a snake: see Ophidia.}
Saururse
A group of reptiles having rudimentary or no
legs. It was proposed in 1825 by J. E. Gray for saurians
and ophidians having atrophied limbs and a narrow mouth,
and included the families Scitiddee, Anguidee, Typhlopidx,
Amphisbsenid^e, and ChcUcididie.
sanropod (sa'ro-pod), a. and n. [< NL. Sauro-
poda.} I. a. Of or pertaining to the Sauropo-
do, or having their characters.
II. n. A member of the Sauropoda.
Sauropoda (sa-rop'o-da), n. pi. [NL., < Gr.
(Toipof, a lizard, -I- jroi'f'(xo(5-) = 'E.foot.} An
order of IHnosauria. it contains gigantic herbivo-
rous dinosaurs with plantigrade unguiculate quinquedigi-
tate feet with unossifled distal row of carpal and tarsal
bones, fore and hind limbs of proportionate lengths and
with solid bones, pubes united distally without post-
pubes, paired sternal bones, anterior vertebrae opisthocce-
lian, and premaxillary teeth preseitt. The families AUan-
togaurida, Diplodocidx, and Morosauridx are assigned to
this order.
sauropodons (s4-rop'o-dus), a. [< Sauropoda +
-<nis.] Of or pertaining to the Sauropoda.
SaUTOpsida (sa-rop'si-da), n.pl. [NL., < Gr.
oavpo^, a lizard, + oi}iii;, appearance, + -ida.}
In Huxley's classification, a superclass of ver-
tebrates ; one of three prime divisions of Ver-
tehrata, in which birds and reptiles are brigaded
together and contrasted on the one hand with
Ich tinjopsida, or amphibians and fishes, and on
the other with Mammalia, or mammals. They
almost always have an epidermic exoskeleton in the form
of scales or feathei-s. I'he vertebral centra are ossified
with epiphyses. The occipital condyle is single and me-
dian, formed from ossified exoccipitals and basioccipital ;
the latter is completely ossified, and there is a large basi-
sphenoid, but no separate parasphenoid in the adult. The
prootic bone is always ossified and remains distinct from
the epiotlc and opisthotic, or only unites with these after
they have united with adjacent bones. The mandible
consists of an articular element and several membrane
bones, and the articular is connected with the skull by a
quadrate bone. The ankle-joint is mediotarsal. The in-
testine ends in a cloaca. The heart is trilocular orquadri-
locular, and some of the blood-corpuscles are red, oval, and
nucleated. The aortic arches are usually two or more,
but may be reduced to one, dextral. Respiration is never
effected by gills. The diaphragm is inctmiplete, if any.
Wolffian iKxlies are replaced by permanent kidneys.
There is no corpus callosum, nor are there any mammary
glands. The embryo is amniotic and allantoic ; reproduc-
tion is oviparous or ovovivinarous. The Sauropgida con-
sist of the two classes Jteptilia and Aveg,
sauropsidan (sa-rop'si-dan), a. [< Sauropsida
+ -an.} Of or pertaining to the Sauropsida.
SauTopsides (sa-rop'si-dez), n.joi. [NL.] Same
as Sauropsida. Hacckel.
sauropsidian (sA-rop-sid'i-an), a. [< Saurop-
sida + -ian.} Same as sauropsidan. Huxlei/.
Sauropterygia (sfi'rop-te-rij'i-a), «. pi. [NL.,
< Gr. aavpo;, a lizard, + :7Tein<^ {■n-repvy-), a wing,
< TrrepAv, wing, = E. feather.} An order of fos-
sil saurians usually called Plesiosauria. The
name is now often used instead of the earlier and equal-
ly appropriate designation. See cut under PlesioMunu.
Otren.
sauropterygian (8&"rop-te-rij'i-an), a. and n.
[< Sduriiptcrygia + -an?} 1. a. Of or pertaining
to the Suurojiterygia ; plesiosaurian.
H. n. A member of the Sauropterygia ; a ple-
siosaur.
Sauromia (8&-r6r'ni-a), n. pi. [NL. : see Sau-
rornithc.^.} A class of extinct reptiles, the pte-
rodactyls : so named by H. G. Seeley from their
resemblance to birds in some respects. The
class corresponds with the order Pterosauria or
Ornithoxanria. [Not in use.]
Sauromithes (sa-rdr'ni-thez), n. pi. [NL., <
Gr. aavpo^, a lizard, + bpviQ {opvS-), a bird.]
Same as Saururse.
sauromithic (8&-r6r-nith'ik), o. [< Saurorni-
th-es -k- -ic.} Of or pertaining to the Sauror-
nithes or Saururee, as the Archmopteryx.
SaUTOthera (sa-ro-the'ra), n. [NL. (Vieillot),
< Gr. aaipo^, a lizard, + m/p, a wild beast.] The
typical genus of the subfamily Sanrotherinee,
embracing several species of West Indian
ground-cuckoos, as S. vetula.
Saurotherinse (s&"r6-the-ri'ne), n.pl. [NL., <
Saurothera + -»««.] A" subfamily of birds of
the family Cuculidm; the groiind-cuekoos. They
are characterized by the large strong feet, in adaptation
to terrestrial life, the short rounded concavo-convex wings,
and very long graduated tail of ten tapering feathers. The
genera are >iaurothera and GetKoccyx. See cut under chap-
arral'Cock.
saurotherine (sa-ro-the'rin), a. Of or pertain-
ing to the Saurotherinsp.
Saururaceae (sa-r8-ra'se-e), n.pl. [NL. (Lind-
ley, lH:i5). < Saururee + -acem.} A synonym of
Saurnreie, formerly considered an independent
order.
Saumrse (sa-ro're), n. pi. [NL. (Haeckel, 1866,
in the forms Sauriurae and Sauriuri), fem. pi.
of "saururus : see saururous.} A subclass or an
order of Aves, of Jurassic age, based upon the
Sanmrs
genus Archmoptcnjx, having a loug lacertilian
tail of many separate bones without a pygostyle
and with the feathers aiTauged in pairs on each
side of it, the sternum carinate, the wings func-
tionally developed, and teeth present; the liz-
artl-tailed birds. Also called Saurornithes, and,
by Owen, Droioni.
saumran (sa-ro'ran), «. and a. [< saurur-oiis
+ -<J«.] I. H. A member of the iSaururee.
II. a. Saururous; of or pertaining to the
Saiirurie.
Saunireae (sa-ro're-e), n. pi. [NL. (Endlieher,
183G}, < S<iHruriis + -ex,'] A tribe of apetalous
plants, of the order Pipei'cieeae, tlie pepper fam-
ily, distinguished from the other tribe, Pipe-
reee, by flowers with three or four carpels in-
stead of one, and each with two to eight
ovules. It consists of the genera Saurunis (the type),
Ammiopgig and HouUuynta. American and Asiatic herbs
with ccrdate leaves, and Lactorig, a monotypic shrub from
Juan Fernandez, unlike all others of the order in possess-
ing a perianth.
saururous (sa-ro'rus), a. [< NL. sauriirm, <
Gr. aavpoc, lizard, + oipd, tail.] Lizard-tailed,
as a bird; specifically, of or pertaining to the
Suiiniree.
Saururus (sa-ro'rus), n. [NL. (Plumier, 1703),
so called in allusion to the inflorescence ; < Gr.
aavpog, lizard, -I- ohpd, tail.] A genus of apeta-
lous plants, of the order Piperaceee, tj-pe of the
tribe Saururese. It is characterized l)y naked, bisexual,
and racemed
flowers, each ses-
sile within apedi-
celled bract and
consisting of six
or eight stamens
and of three or
four nearly dis-
tinct carpels
which contain
two to four as-
cending ovules
and in fruit coa-
lesce into a cap-
sule that soon
separates into
three or four
roughened nut-
lets. There are 2
species, S, Lou-
rein in eastern
Asia and 5. cer-
nuus in North
America, the lat-
ter known as
lizardtail and
breastweed, and
extending on the Atlantic coast into Canada. They are
smooth herbs with broadly heart-shaped alternate leaves,
and numerous small flowers crowded in a terminal catkin-
like raceme.
Saurus (sa'ms), n. [NL. (Cuvier, 1817), < Gr.
aavpo^, m., aavpa, f., a lizard.] In iehth., a ge-
nus of fishes of the family Synodontidse; the
lizard-fishes. Called Synodus by Scopoli in
1777. See Synodus.
saury (sa'ri), n. ; pi. sauries (-riz). [Prob. < F.
saur, sorrel: see saurel.'] A fish, Scomberesox
Flowering Branch of Lizardtail I^Sattriirus
cernitus). a, flower.
Saury or Skipper {Scemiergscr saurus).
saurus, the skipper or bill-fish ; any species of
this genus, llie true saury is found on both sides of
the Atlantic. It attains a length of 18 inches, and is olive-
brown, silvery on the sides and belly, with a distinct sil-
very band, as broad as the eye, bounding the dark color
of the back.
saury-pike (sa'ri-pik), «. The saury; any fish
of the family Scomber esocidie.
sausage (sa'saj), n. [Early mod. E. also saul-
sage, saucidge; dial, sassage ; < ME. sancAge
(also extended sawcister, sawcystcr, saucestour,
salsister), prop, 'saucisse (= D. saueijs), < OP.
saudsse, saulcisse, saucJiise, F. saucisse = It.
salciccia, salsiccia = Sp. salchicha (cf. F. sau-
cisson), saUhichon = Pg. salchicha, salchiehdo,
< ML. salsitia, salcitia, salsicia, salsuiia, f.,
salsitium, salsutium, etc. (after Eom.), prop.
salsidum, neut., a sausage, of salted or sea-
soned meat, < L. salsus, salted: see sauce.l An
article of food, consisting usually of chopped or
minced meat, as pork, beef, or veal, seasoned
with sage, pepper, salt, etc., and stuffed into
properly cleaned entrails of the ox, sheep, or
pig, tied or constricted at short intervals. When
sausages are made on an extensive scale the
meat is minced and stuffed into the intestines
by machinery.
VariusHeliogabaluB . . . had the peculiar glory of first
making saugar/eg of shrimps, crabs, oysters, prawns, and
lobsters. W. King, Art of Cookery, Letter ix.
5356
Bologna sausage, a large sausage made of bacon, veal,
and purk-suet, chopped tine, and inclosed in a skin, as a
large intestine.
sausage-cutter (s^'saj-kut'er), n. A machine
for cutting sausage-meat. Such machines exist in
great variety. Some operate chopping-knives in a hori-
zontally rotating circular metal trough with a wooden
bottom ; others consist of a horizontally rotating cylinder
with cutting-teeth that pass between fixed cutting-teeth
in an environing shell ; and others act merely to tear the
meat into the required state of fineness. Most of them are
hand-machines operated by cranks ; but in large manu-
factories tiiey are often driven by power.
sausage-grinder (sa'saj-grin"der), n. A do-
mestic machine for mincing meat for sausages.
sausage-machine (sa'sSj-ma-shen"), n. A ma-
chine tor grinding, mincing, or pounding meat
as material for sausages ; a sausage-grinder.
sausage-poisoning (sa'saj -poi"zn-ing), n. A
poisoning by spoiled sausages, characterized
by vertigo, vomiting, colic, diarrhea, and pros-
tration, and sometimes fatal. Also called allan-
tiasis and botalismus.
sausage-roll (sa'saj-rol), n. Meat minced and
seasoned as for sausages, enveloped in a roll
of fiour paste, and cooked.
sauset, n. An obsolete form of sauce.
sauseflemet, "• and a. [< ME. sausefleme, sawce-
flcm,<. 0V.s<iH8cJlcme,<. ML. salsum flegma, 'salt
phlegm,' salty humor or inflammation: sal-
sum, salty (neut. of salsus, salted: see sauce);
phlegma, phlegm: see phlegm.'] I, n. An erup-
tion of red spots or scabs on the face.
II. a. Having a red pimpled face.
For gawcefiem he was. with eyes narwe.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., I. 625.
sausert, "• An obsolete form of saucer.
Saussurea (sa-su're-a), n. [NL. (A. P. de Can-
dolle, 1810), named after Theodore de Saussure
(1767-1845), and his father, H. B. de Saussure
(1740-99), Swiss writers on botanical science.]
A genus of composite plants, of the tribe Cyna-
roidCcB and subtribe Cardulneai. It is characterized
by smooth and free filaments, by pappus of one row of
equal and plumose bristles, with sometimes an additional
row of small slender and unbranclied bristles, and by the-
absence of spines on either leaves or involucres. There
are about 70 species, natives of Europe, Asia, and North
America, mainly mountain plants. They are smooth or
white-woolly perennial herbs, bearing alternate leaves
which vary from entire to pinnatifid, and purplish or blu-
ish fiowers in heads which are small and corymbed, or
broad and solitary or loosely panicled. Several species
are sometimes known as gawwort, from their cut toothed
leaves. For S. Lappa, see cogtug-root.
saussurite (sa-su'rit), «. [Named after H. B.
de Saussure (1740-99), its discoverer: see Saus-
surea.] A fine-grained compact mineral of a
white, gray, or green color, it has a specific grav-
ity above H, and in part is identical with zoisite ; in many
cases it can be shown to have been derived from the alter-
ation of feldspar. It is found in the .Alps at various points
as a constituent of the rock gabbro (including euphotide),
and also at other localities.
saussuritic (sa-su-rit'ik), a. [< saussurite +
-4c.] Resembling, pertaining to, or character-
ized by the presence of saussurite. Amer.
Jour. ScL, 3d ser., XXXIl. 239.
saussuritization (sa-su-rit-i-za'shon), n. [<
saussurite -f- -i^e ■¥■ -atioii.] Conversion into
saussurite: a term used by some lithologistsin
describing certain metamorphic changes in va-
rious feldspars. Also, and less correctly, saus-
surization.
The felspar in all these rocks aiTords more or less evi-
dence of incipient gauggurization.
Quart. Jour. Geot. Soc., XLV. 632.
saut^ (s&t), n. and a. A Scotch form of salt^.
The king he turned round about,
And the gaiU tear blinded his ee.
Yuun(/ AHn (Child's Ballads, I. 184).
saut^t, n. See sault^.
sautet, n, and v. See sault^.
sautellust (sft-terus), M. [NL.] In 6o<., a de-
ciduous bulb formed in the axil of a leaf or on
the crown of a root.
Sauter (s6-ta'),t). «. [F.] To fry in a pan light-
ly, with very little grease or butter.
Sautert, «■ A Middle English form of psalter.
sautereau (s6-te-r6'), n. [F., a jack, grass-
hopper, etc., < sauter, leap: see sauW^. Cf.
SdUterclJe.] In musical instruments like the
harpsichord, spinet, etc., same as j'acfcl, 11 {g).
sauterellt, ». [ME., < OF. sautcrel, *sauUerel,
saultereau, a leaper, jumper, also a locust, grass-
hopper, < sauter, < L. saltare, leap: see sault^.]
A term of abuse (exact sense uncertain, being
used in depreciation).
Mi souerayne lorde, yone natUerell he sais.
He schall caste donne oure tempill, nogt for to layne,
And dresse it vppe dewly with.in thre dales,
Als wele as it was, full goodely agayne.
York Playg, p. 310.
savage
sauterelle (s6-te-rel'), «. [< F. sauterelle, a
shifting-bevel, grasshopper; cf. OF. sauterel, a
leaper, grasshopper: see sauterell.] An instru-
ment used by stone-cutters and carpenters for
tracing and forming angles.
Sauterne (s6-tern'), n. [< Sauteruc, a place in
Franco, department of Gironde.] .A name for
certain white wines from the department of
Gironde, France, (o) A wine grown at and near the
village of Sauterne, on the left bank of the Garonne, some
distance above Bordeaux. (6) A general name for the
white wines of similar character and flavor exported from
Bordeaux, including some of quality much superior to (a) :
thus, Ch&teau Yquem and Chateau Suduiraut are consid.
ered as Sauternes. All these wines are sweet, but lose
their excess of sweetness with age.
sautflt (sat'fit), n. A dish for salt. [Scotch.]
sautoire, sautoir (s6-twor'), n. [F., a saltier:
see saltier^.] In her., a saltier En sautoire.
(a) In her., saltierwise, or in saltier, (fc) Borne or worn
diagonally : as, a ribbon worn en gautoire crosses the body
from one shoulder to the opposite hip.
sautriet, «■ A Middle English form of psaltery.
sautrient, f- i. [ME., < sautrie, sautry, psaltery :
see psaltery.] To play on the psaltery.
Nother sailen ne gaulrien ne singe with the giterne.
Piers Plowman (C), xvL 208.
sautrylf, n. A Middle English form ot psaltery.
sautryZf, a. [Cf. saltier, sautoire.] In her.,
same as en sautoire (which see, under sautoire).
sauvaget, a. and «. An obsolete form of savage.
Sauvagesia (sa-va-je'si-a), n. [NL. (LinnBBus,
1753), named after P. A. Boissier de la Croix
de Sauvages (1710-95), a writer on vegetable
morphology, and professor of botany at Paris
in 1752.] A genus of polj'petalous plants, type
of the tribe Sauvagesieie, in the order Violarieee,
the violet family, it is characterized by flowers with
five equal and convolute petals, five veiy short fertile sta-
mens, and dimorphous staminodes of two rows, the outer
thread-shaped and very numerous or only five, the inner
five and petaloid, and by a one-celled ovai-y with three
placenta;, becoming in fruit a three-valved capsule with
many small seeds and fleshy albumen. There are about
10 species, natives of tropical America, one of them also
extending into the Old World. They are extremely smooth
herbs or undershrubs, with alternate and slightly rigid
leaves, deeply fringed stipules, and white, rose, or violet
flowers in the axils or in terminal racemes, 5. erecta is
known as herb of St. Martin (which see, under herb).
Sauvagesieae (sa'va-jf-si'e-e), «. pi. [NL.
(Bartling, 1830), < Sauvagesia + -ese.] A tribe
of polypetalous plants of the order Violariese,
the violet family, it is unlike all others of its family
in the possession of staminodes which are thread-like or
petaloid, five or many in number, and free or united into
a tube, and in the septicidal dehiscence of the three-valved
capsule, which opens only at the top. It includes 6 gen-
era, of which Sauvagesia is the type. The 26 species are
all tropical, and mainly South American.
sauvet, V. A Middle English form of save.
sauregarde (sov'gard), «. [< F. sauvegarde,
lit. safeguard: see safeguard.] A monitor, or
varanian lizard ; a safeguard.
Hence, probably, their names of gauvegarde and monitor.
Cia-ier, Rfegne Anim., 1829 (trans. 184»), p. 274.
sauveourt, «• An obsolete form of savior.
savable (sa'va-bl), a. [< save'^ + -able.] Capa-
ble of being saved. Also saveable.
All these difficulties are to be past and overcome before
the man be put into a gavable condition.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), 1. 187.
savableness (sa'va-bl-nes), «. Capability of
being saved.
The gavablenesg of I'rotestants.
ChUlingworth, Religion of Protestants, p. 31V.
savaciount, «. A Middle English form of sal-
vation.
savage (sav'aj), a. and n. [Early mod. E. also
savudgc, salvage, sauvage; < ME. savage, sauvage,
< OF. salvage, sauvage, savaige, F. sauvage =
Pr. salvatge, salvage = Sp. salraje = Pg. salva-
gcm = It. salvatico, selvaggio, < L. silvaticus, be-
longing to a wood, wild, ML. silvatictis, syl-
vaticus, also salvations, n., a savage, < silva, a
wood: see silva, sylvan.] I. a. 1. Of or per-
taining to the forest or wilderness, (a) Growing
wild ; uncultivated ; wild.
And when you are come to the lowe and playn ground,
the residue of the iourney is all together by the sandes ;
it is throughout bai-en and galuage. so that it is not able
to nourishe any beastes for lacke of pasture.
li. Eden, tr. of Sebastian Munster (First Books on
[America, ed. Arber, p. 27).
A place . . . which yeeldeth balme in great plenty, but
galuage, wilde, and without vertue.
Hakluyt'g Voyageg, II. 202.
Cornels and gavage berries of the wood.
Dryden, .Eneid, ill. 855.
(6) Possessing, characterized by, or presenting the wild-
ness of the forest or wilderness.
The scene was gavage, but the scene was new.
nyron, Childe Harold, ii. 43.
savage
2. Living in the forests or wilds, (o) Not domes-
ticated ; feral ; wild ; hence, fierce ; ferocious ; untamed :
SLS, aavage beasts of prey.
In time the mvagt bull doth bear the yoke.
Shak., Much Ado, L I. 263.
Q>) Bmtal; beastly.
Those pamper'd animals
That rage in tavage sensuality.
SKak., Much Ado, iv. 1. 62.
3. Living in the lowest condition of develop-
ment ; uncultivated and wild ; uncivilized : as,
savage tribes.
The salvage nation feele her secret smart.
And read her sorrow in her count'nance sad.
SpenMr, l\ Q., L vl. 11.
I will take some tacage woman, she shall rear my dusky
race. Tennyson^ Locksley Hall.
4. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of man
in such a condition; unpolished; rude: as, sar-
atje life or manners. Hence — 5. Barbarous;
■fierce; cruel.
Thy threateninff eoloars now wind up ;
And tame the latiage spirit of wild war.
Shai., K. John, v. 2. 74.
Some are of disposition fearefull, some bold, most caute>
lous, all Savage. Capt. John Smith, Works, I. 129.
6. Wild or enraged as from provocation, irri-
tation, restraint, etc.
Michel Angelo's head is full of masculine and gigantic
figures as gods walking, which makes him aavage until
bis furious chisel can render them into marble.
BmenoH, Old Age.
7. In *<T., nude; naked; in blazonry, noting
human figures unclothed, as the supporters of
the arms of Prussia.
On either side stood as supporters ... a ttUvage man
proper, to use the language of heraldry, wreathed and
cinctured. Sctjtt, Quy Mannering, xlt
=8yn. 3 and 4. Brutish, heathenish. — S. Pitiless mercl.
less, unmerciful, remorseless, bloody, murderoua.
II. «. 1. A wild or uncivilized human being;
a meml)er of a race or tribe in the lowest stage
of development or cultivation.
1 am as free as nature first made man,
Ere the base laws of sen-itnde began.
When wild in wikmIs the noble wavage ran.
Dryden, Conquest of tiranada, I. i. 1.
The cirilUed man is a more experienced and wiser nr-
age. Thareau, Walden, p. 4S.
2. An unfeeling, brutal, or cruel person; a
fierce or cruel man or woman, whether civil-
ized or uncivilized; a barbarian. — 3. A wild
or fierce animal.
When the grim aamj^e (the lion], to his rifled den
Too late returning, snuHs the track of men.
Pope. Iliad, ZTiil. 373.
His office resembled that of the man who, in a Spanish
bull.flght, goads the torpid mvage U) fury by shaking a
r«d rag in the air, and by now and then thmwing a dart.
Maeavlay, Nugent's Hampden.
4. Same tis jack of the clock. Seejiick^.
MVage (sav'aj), r. ; pret. and pp. savaged, ppr.
savaijing. [< savage, «.] I. trans. To make
wild, barbarous, or cruel. [Rare.]
Let then the doga of Faction bark and bay,
It« bloodhounds mvaged by a croaa of wolf.
Its full-bred kennel from Uie Blatant-beast.
SmMey.
TL intrans. To act the savage; indulge in
cruel or barbarous deeds. [Bare.]
Though the blindness of some ferities bare amiii^ on
the bodies of the dead, . . .yet hwl they no design upon
th'- soul. Sir T. Broume, \ ulg. Err., ylL 19.
savagedom (sav'ij-dupi), n. [< savage + -dom.']
A savage state of condition ; also, savages col-
lectively.
The scale of adrancement of a oonntnr between tatage-
dom and ciriliiation may generally be determined by the
style of iU pottery, .lir S. W. Baker, Heart of Africa, rvlll.
savagely (sav'aj-li), adv. 1. In the manner of
a savage; cruelly; inhumanly.
Yoar wife and babe* tamuiely slaoghter'd.
Shak., Macbeth, It. S. 206.
2. With extreme impetuosity or fierceness: as,
to attack one savagely. [Colloq.]
savageness (sav'aj-nes), H. 1. Savage charac-
ter (iv couilition; the state of being rude, un-
civilized, or barbarous; barbarism. — 2. Wild,
fierce, or untamed disposition, instincts, or
habits; cruelty; barbarity; savagery.
An admirable muslcUn : O ! she will sins the tatagt-
ne— out of a bear. Shak., Othello, Iv. 1. 200.
3. Fierceness; ferocity; rabid impetuosity.
In spite of the nvagenem of his satires, . . . IPope's]
natural dispoaition seems to have been an amiable one,
and his character as an author was as purely fictitious a»
Us style. LoteeU, .Study Windows, p. fii\.
[savagery (sav'aj-ri), «. [< F. sanvngerie; as
siiriKji- + -n/.] 1. Savage or uncivilized state
or condition; a state of barbarism.
5357
The human race might have fallen back into primeval
savagery. Froude, Short Studies on Great Subjects, p. 261.
2. Savage or barbarous nature, disposition, con-
duet, or actions; barbarity.
This is the bloodiest shame,
The wildest savafjery, the vilest stroke.
That ever wall-eyed wrath or staring rage
Presented to the tears of soft remoree.
Shak., K. John, iv. 3. 48.
A huge man-beast of boundless savagery.
Tennyson, Gareth and lynette.
3. Wild growth, as of plants; wilduess, as of
nature.
Her fallow leas
The darnel, hemlock, and rank fumitory
Doth root upon, while that the coulter rusts
That should deracinate such savagery.
5AaJ-., Hen. v., V. 2.47.
Except for the rudest purposes of shelter from rain and
cold, the cabin possessed but little advantage over the
simple savagery of surrounding nature.
Jtret Harte, Mis. Skagg's Husbands (Argonauts, p. 29).
savagism (sav'aj-izm), n. [< savage + -wni.]
1. Savagery; utter barbarism.
The manner in which a people is likely to pass from
tavagism to civilization.
W. Taylor, Survey of German Poetry, II. 295.
2. Savage races or tribes collectively.
An elective judiciary supersedes the chief of savagism
or the despot of the Orient. .V. A. Rev., CXLIl. 561.
savanilla (sav-a-nil'a). n. A large herring-like
fish, the tarpon, Megalops atlanticus. Also
called sabalo and silverfish. [Texas.]
savanna (sa-van'a), n. [Also savannah; = F.
savane = 6. savanne, < OSp. savana, with ac-
cent on second syllable (see def.), Sp. savana,
a large cloth, a sheet, = OHG. saban, sapon,
MHG. saben = AS. saban, a sheet, < LL. sa-
banum, a linen cloth, towel, napkin, = Goth, sa-
ban, < Gr. aajiamv, a linen cloth, towel.] («) A
plain or extensive flat area covered with a
sheet of snow or ice : so first used, with the ac-
cent on the first syllable, by Spanish writers.
(6) A treeless plain : so first used in reference
to American topography by Oviedo (1535), with
the accent on tne second syllable, used in mod-
em tiroes In Spain, with the accent changed to the second
syllable (sabanaX and defined in various dictionaries
(1865-82) as meaning an "extensive treeless plain," and
generally with the additional statement that it Is "a word
much used In America." This word was fre(iuently used
by English writers on various parts of America, in the form
Sdcanna and savaivnah, aa early as 1691>, and always with
the meaning of "treeless region." It is still used occa.
sionally with thai meaning, and as being more or less near*
ly the equivalent otpraine, steppe, or plain, by writers in
English iin physical geography. As a word in popular
use, it is hardly known among English-Bpeaking people, ex-
cept in the southern Atlantic States, and chiefly in tlorida.
At San-set I got out into the clear open Savannah, being
about two Leagues wide in most Places, but how long I
know not. Dampier, Voyages, II. it, 84.
Regions of wood and wide savannah, vast
Expanse of unappropriated earth.
Wf/ritsworth, Excuraion, IIL
Thus, Mr. Barbour says, in speaking of the land ad-
jacent to the St John's river, above UUce Monroe, "It Is
a flat, level region of aamnnos, much resembling the vast
prairies uf Illinois."
J. TK Whitney, Names and Places, p. 187.
savanna-blackbird (sa-van'a-blak''bferd), n.
Same as <ini.
savanna-finch (sa-van'a-finch), n. Bee Jinch^.
savanna-flower (sa-vaii'il-flou'f'r), n. A West
Indian name for various species of Echites, a
genus of the milkweed family.
savanna-sparrow (sa-van'ii-spar'o), n. Any
sparrow of the genus raaxcrculius, especially
Savanna-sparrow {Pasitrculus savanita).
that one (P. savanna) which is common through-
out the greater part of North America.
savanna-wattle (sa-van'a-wot'l), «. A name
of tlie West Indian trees Vitharexi/luni quad-
riifigiiliire and ('. cinerca, otherwise called _/(rf-
dlewood.
savant (sa-von'), n. [< F. savant, a learned man,
< savant, learned, knowing, ppr. of savoir, know,
< L. sapere, have sense or discernment: see
sapient, of which savant is a doublet.] A man
of learning or science ; one eminent for learn-
ing.
It is curious to see in what little apartments a French
savant lives; you will find him at his books, covered with
snuff, with a little dog that bites your legs.
Sydney Smith, To Mrs. Sydney Smith.
Savart's wheel. See wheel.
save! (sav), c; pret. and pp. saved, ppr. saving.
[< ME. saven, sauven, sahen, < OF. sauver, salver,
F. sauver, save, = Pr. Sp. Pg. salvar = lt. salvare,
< LL. salvare, make safe, secure, save, < L. salvus,
safe: see safe.'] I. trans. 1. To preserve from
danger, injury, loss, destruction, or evil of any
kind; wrest or keep from impending danger;
rescue: as, to save a house from burning, or a
man from drowning; to save a family from
ruin.
Theophylus was of that Cytee also, that oure Ladye
savede from oure Enemye. MandevUle, Travels, p. 43.
And thei speken of hire propre nature, and salven men
that gon thorghe the Desertes, and speken to hem als ap-
pertely as thoughe it were a man.
Mandeville, Travels, p. 274.
Yet shal I saven hire, and thee and me.
Hastow not herd how saved was Noe?
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1. 347.
But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid ;
and beginning to sink, he cried, saying. Lord, save me.
Mat. xiv. 30.
None has deserv'd her.
If worth must carry it, and service seek her,
But he th&t sav'd her honour.
Beau, and Ft., Knight of Malta, ii. 5.
Not long after, a Boat, going abroad to seeke out some
releefe amongst the Plantations, by Nuports-news met such
ill weather, though the men were «o?/«rf,they lost their boat.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, II. 82.
2. To deliver from the power and penal con-
sequences of sin ; rescue from sin and spiritual
death.
He shall save his people from their sins. Mat. L 21.
And they were astonished out of measure, saying among
themselves. Who then can be saved? Mark x. 26.
Men cannot be saved without calling upon God ; nor
call upon him acceptably without faith.
Donne, Sermons, vL
All who are saved, even the least inconsistent of us, can
be sat>«f only by faith, not by works.
J. H. Newman, Parochial Sermons, 1. 170.
3. To deliver; defend.
But of all plagues, good heaven, thy wrath can send.
Save, save, oh ! save me from the Candid Friend !
Canning, New Morality, 1. 210.
4. To spare : as, to save one's self much trouble
and expense.
If you had been the wife of Hercules,
Six of his labours you 'Id have done, and saved
Your husband so much sweat. Shak., Cor., iv. 1. 18.
Save your labour ;
In this I'll use no counsel but mine own.
Beau, and Fl., Thierry and Theodoret, 1. 2.
Robin's buckler proved his chiefest defence,
And saved him many a bang.
RMn Uovd and the Shepherd (Child's Ballads, V. 240).
6. To use or preserve with frugal care ; keep
fresh or good, as for future use; husband: as,
to save one's clothes; to save one's strength for
a final effort.
Ills youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank.
Shak., As you Like it, ii. 7. 100.
Every thing ~ including the carpet and curtains — look-
ed at once well worn and well saved.
Ctuirlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xxix.
6. To avoid, curtail, or lessen; especially, to
lessen waste in or of; economize: as, to save
time, expense, or labor.
Bestow every thing in even hogsheads, if you can ; for it
will save much in the charge of freight.
Winthn^, Hist. New England, I. 464.
7. To lay by, little by little, and as the result
of frugal care; lay up; hoard: as, he has .vrtfcd
quite a good sum out of his scanty earnings.
I have five hundred crowns.
The thrifty hire I saved under your father.
Shak., As you Like it, ii. 3. 39.
8. To take advantage of; utilize; avoid miss-
ing or losing ; be in time for ; catch : as, to save
the tide.
To save the post, I write to you after a long day's worry
at my place of business. H'. Collins.
9. To prevent the occurrence, use, or necessity
of; obviate: as, a stitch in time saves nine.
Will you not speak to save a lady's blush?
Dryden, Spanish Friar, iv. 2.
The best way *8 to let the blood barken upon the cut —
that saves plasters. Scott, Guy Mnnnering, xxill.
save
The lift of a round wave lielped her [the skiff] on, and
the bladder-weed saved any chatliig.
R. D, Blackinore, Maid of Sker, iv.
God save the mark! Save the mark! See j;wrfri.—
Save your reverence. See reverence. —To save alive,
to keep s;vfe and secui-e.
Let OS fall unto the host of the Syrians : if they sane us
oliw, we shall live ; and if they kill us, we shall but die.
2 Ki. vii. 4.
To save appearances, originally, to show wlicre any
given planet would be at any given epoch (Ptolemy's defi-
nition of the purpose of his astronomical theories); now,
commonly, to manage so that the appearances may be con-
sistent with a probable theory ; especially, to do something
to prevent exposure, vexation, or molestation, as to save
one 8 financial credit by avoiding the appearance of em-
barrassment ; or, to keep up an appearance of competence,
gentility, or propriety by shift or contrivance.
"When they come to model heaven
And calculate the stars ; how they will wield
The mighty frame; how build, unbuild, contrive.
To mve appearances ; how gird the sphere
With centric and eccentric scribbled o'er.
Cycle and epicycle, orb in orb. Milton, P. L.,viii. 82.
To save clean, to save all (the blubber) in cutting in : a
whaling-term. — To save One's bacon. See bacon.
O Father ! my Sorrow will scarce save my Bacon:
For 'twas not that 1 murder'd, but that I was taken.
Prior, Thief and Cordelier.
= SyiL 1 and 2. To redeem, — 3. To protect.
Il, intrans. 1. To be economical; keep from
spending; spare.
It [brass ordnance] saveth ... in the quantity of the
material. Bacon, Compounding of Metals.
2. To be capable of preservation : said of fish :
as, to save well,
save^ (sav), conj. [< ME. savCf safj saufj < OF,
saw/, save, except {sauf won droitj * save my
right,' my right being excepted), = Sp. Pg. It.
salvoj save, except, < L. salvo (fern, salvd)^ abl.
(agreeing with its noun in the abl. absolute) of
salvus, safe: see safe. Save is thus a form of
safe, Cf. salvo^.'] Except; not including; leav-
ing out of account ; unless.
For alle thoughe it were so that hee was not cristned,
zet he lovede Cristene men more than ony other Nacioun,
9a/ his owne. Mandemlle, Travels, p. 84.
Dischevele, mvf his cappe, he rood al bare.
Chancer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 683.
Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one.
2 Cor. xi. 24.
Save that these two men told Christian that, as to Laws
and Ordinances, they doubted not but that they should as
conscientiously do them as he.
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 112.
A channel bleak and bare,
Save shrubs that spring to perish there.
Byron, The Giaour.
Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which
is of God. John vi. 4ti.
I do entreat you not a man depart,
Sow I alone. Shak., J. C, iii. 2. 66.
Save they could be pluck'd asunder, all
My quest were but In vain.
Tennyson, Holy Grail.
save^t, n. [< ME. savcy < OF. sauve, < L. salvia^
sage: see sage^^ of which save^ is a doublet.]
The herb sage or salvia.
Fremacyes of herbes, and eek save
They dronken, for they wolde here lymes have.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1, 1855.
saveable, «. See savable.
save-all (sav'al), n. [< save^j r., + obj, all.']
A contrivance for saving, or preventing waste
or loss; a catch-all. Inparticular— (a) Asmallpan,
of china or metal, having a sharp point in the middle,
dtted to the socket of a candlestick, to allow the short
socket-end of a candle to be burnt out without waste.
Go out in a Stink like a Candle's End upon a Save-all.
Congreve, Way of the World, iv. 12.
You may remember, sir, that a few weeks back a new
save-aU came in, and was called candle-wedges, and went
off well.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I. 392.
(6) A small sail set und^ another, or between two other
ssdls, to catch or save the wind.
(c) A trough in a paper-making
machine which collects any
pulp that may have slopped
over the edge of the wire-cloth.
saveguardtj «. Same as
safeauardf o.
saveloy (sav'e-loi), w. [A
corrupt form of cervelat:
see cervelat.] A highly
seasoned dried sausage,
originally made of brains, but now of young
pork salted.
There are office lads In their first stirtouts, who club, as
they go home at night, for saveloys and porter. Dickens.
savelyt, «<^f. A Middle English form of safely.
savenapet (sav' nap), n. [Also salvenap, sanap;
< OF. *sauvenapej isauverj save,+ nape, atable-
cloth, napkin : see nape^.'\ A napkin, or a piece
of linen, oiled silk, or other material, laid over
a table-cloth to keep it clean.
a. Save-all.
5358
saver^ (sa'v6r), n. [i save^ + -^rl.] 1. One
who saves or rescues from evil, destruction, or
death; a preserver; a savior.
Tell noble Curius,
And Bay it to yourself, you are my savers.
B. Jonson, CatUine, iii. 4.
2. One who economizes, is frugal in expenses,
or lays up or hoards.
By nature far from profusion, and yet a greater sparer
than a saver. Sir H. WotUm.
3. A contrivance for economizing, or prevent-
ing waste or loss : as, a aosX-saver.
saver'-t, «• A Middle English form of savor.
save-reverencet (sav'rev"e-rens), n. [See
phrase under reverence, ».] A kind of apolo-
getic remark interjected into a discourse when
anything was said that might seem offensive or
indelicate : often eoiTupted into sir-reverence.
The third is a thing that I cannot name wel without
save-reverencet and yet it sounds not unlike the shooting-
place 1 Sir J. llarint/ton, Letter preflxed to Metani. of
tAjax. (Nares.)
saverlylf (sa'v6r-li), adv. [< saver + -ly^.'] In
a frugal manner. Tusser, Husbandry, p. 17.
saverly^t, a,, and adv. Same as savo'rly.
saveryif, a,- A Middle English form of savory'^.
savery^t, «• An obsolete form of savory"^.
savetet, "• A Middle English form of safety.
savetivet, »• [Appar. a var. of safety, accom.
to suiiix -ive.'\ Safeguard.
Operys satisfaccio the souereyne sauetyff.
For soth as I yow tell.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnlvsll), p. 219.
Savigny (sa-ve'nyi), M. [F.] A red wine of Bur-
gundy, produced in the department of Cote-
d'Or, of several grades, the best being of the
second class of Burgundy wines.
savillet, m. [A cormption of save-all,'] A pina-
fore or covering for the dress. Fairholt.
savin, savine (sav'in), n. [Also sahin, sabine; <
ME. saveine, savyne, partly < AS. safine, sauine,
savin, and partly < OF. (and F.) .sabine = Sp.
Pg. sabina = It. savina, < L. sabina, savin,
orig. Sabina lierba, lit, 'Sabine herb': <Sa6j-
na, tern, of Sabinus, Sabine: see Sabine^.'] 1.
A European tree or shrub, Juniperns Sabina.
Its tops, containing a volatile oil, are the officinal savin,
which is highly irritant, and is used as an anthelmintic,
in amenorrhea and atonic menorrhagia, and also aa an
abortifacient The similar American red cedar, J. Vir-
ffiniana, is also called samn. (See juniper.) The name is
further extended in the United States to Torreya taxifo-
lia, one of the stinliing-cedars, and in the West Indies to
Csesalpinia Hjuga and Xanthoxylum Pterota.
Within 12 miles of the top was neither tree nor grass, but
low savins, which they went upon the top of sometimes.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, II. 81.
And when I look
To gather fruit, find nothing but the gacm-tree.
Middleton, Game at Chess.
2. A drug consisting of savin-tops. See def. 1.
— Kindly-savin, the variety cuprestn/olia of the common
savin.— Oil of savln. See oil.— Sayin cerate, a cerate
composed of fluid extract of savin (2,') parts) and resin ce-
rate (90 parts), used in maintaining a discharge from blis-
tered surfaces. Also called savin ointment.
saving (sa'ving), H. [Verbal n. of save^, v.]
1. Economy in expenditure or outlay, or in the
use of materials, money ,"etc. ; avoidance or pre-
vention of waste or loss in any operation, es-
pecially in expending one's earnings. — 2. A re-
duction or lessening of expenditure or outlay;
an advantage resulting from the avoiding of
waste or loss : as, a saving of ten per cent.
The bonelessness and the available weight of the meat
constitute a saving ... of 5id. a pound in a leg of mut-
ton. ' Saturday Rev., XXyiY.eax.
3. pi. Sums saved from time to time by the
exercise of care and economy; money saved
from waste or loss and laid by or hoarded up.
F.noch set
A purpose evermore before his eyes,
To hoard all savings to the uttermost.
Tennyson, Enoch Arden.
The savings of labor, which have fallen so largely into
the hands of the few, . . . have built our railroads, steam-
ships, telegraphs, manufactories.
Pop. Sci. Mo., XXV. 792.
4. Exception; reservation.
Contend not with those that are too strong for us, but
still Vflth a saving to honesty. Sir B. L'Estrange.
saving (sa'ving), p. a. [Ppr. of .save^, v.] 1.
Preserving from evil or destruction ; redeem-
ing.
Scripture teaches U8 that saving truth which God hath
discovered unto the world by revelation.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, iii, 8.
It is given to us sometimes ... to witness the saving
influence of a noble nature, the divine efficacy of rescue
that may lie in a self -subduing act of fellowship.
Oeorge Eliot, Middlemarch.
savior
2. Accustomed to save ; avoiding tmnecessary
expenditure or outlay ; frugal ; economical : as,
a saving housekeeper.
She loved money ; for she was saving, and applied her
fortune to pay John's clamorous debts.
Arbuthnot, Hist. John Bull.
3. Bringing in returns or receipts the principal
or sum invested or expended; incurring no loss,
though not profitable : as, the vessel has made
a saving run.
Silvio, . . . finding a twelvemonth's application unsuc-
cessful, was resolved to make a saving bargain of it ; and,
since he could not get the widow's estate, to recover at least
what he had laid out of his own.
Addison, Guardian, No. 97.
4. Implying or containing a condition or reser-
vation : as, a saving clause. See clause.
Always directing by saving clauses that the jurisdiction
of the Barons who had right of Haute Justice should not
be interfered with. Brougham.
Saving grace. See grace.
saving (sa'ving), conj. [< ME. savyng ; prop,
ppr. of 6'«Bfil, t'. ; cf. sfM/'el, conj.] 1. Except-
ing; save; unless.
Rewarde and behold what gift will be haiiyng ;
Vnto you with-say neuer shall hire me,
Sauyng and excepte only o gift be.
Rom. of Partenay (E. E. T. S.), 1. 5528.
I could see no notable matter in it [the Cathedral church],
saving the statue of St. Christopher.
Coryat, Crudities, I. 29.
Hardly one
Could Iiaue the Lover from his Lone descry'd, . . .
5a«in</that she had a more smiling Ey,
A smoother Chin, a Cheek of purer Dy.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 6.
Thou art rich in all things, sauing in goodness.
Dekker, .Seven Deadly Sins, Ind., p. 9.
2. Regarding; having respect for; with apol-
ogy to. See reverence.
Saving your reverence. Shak., Much Ado, iii. 4. 32.
You looked so grim, and, as I may say it, saving your
presence, more like a giant than a mortal man.
Beau, and Fl.. Knight of Burning Pestle, ii. 8.
sa'Vingly (sa'ving-li), adv. 1. In a saving or
sparing manner; with frugality or parsimony.
— 2. So as to secure salvation or be finally
saved from spiritual death: as, savingly con-
verted.
To take or accept of God and his Christ sincerely and
savingly is proper to a sound believer.
Baxter, Saints' Rest, iii. 11.
sa'Vingness (sa'ving-nes), n. 1. The quality
of being saving or sparing ; frugality ; par-
simony.— 2. Tendency to promote spiritual
safety or eternal salvation.
The safety and savingness which it promiseth.
hrevint, Saul and Samuel atEndor, Pref., p. v.
savings-bank (sa'vingz-bangk), n. An insti-
tution for the encouragement of the practice of
saving money among people of slender means,
and for the secure investment of savings, man-
aged by persons having no interest in the prof-
its of the business, the profits being credited
or paid as interest to the depositors at certain
intervals, as every month (in Great Britain), or
every three or six months (as in the United
States) — Post-oflBce savings-bank. See post-ojice.
savior, saviour (sa'vior), «. [< ME. saveour,
saveoure, savyor, savyour, savyonrc, saryowre, <
QiF . saveor, sattveor, sauveonr, saheor, F. sauveur
= Pr. Salvador = Sp. Pg. Salvador = It. salva-
tore, < LL. salvator, a saver, preserver (first
and chiefly with ref . to Christ, as a translation
of the Gr. auH/p, saviour, and the equiv. 'Ij/aovc,
Jesus), < salvare, save : see sacel, salvation, etc.
The old spelling savionr still prevails even
where other nouns in -our, esp. agent-noims,
are now spelled with -or, the form savior being
regarded by some as irreverent.] 1. One who
saves, rescues, delivers, or redeems from dan
ger, death, or destruction; a deliverer; a re-
deemer.
The Lord gave Israel a saviour, so that they went out from
under the hand of the Syrians. 2 Ki. liii. 5.
The Lord . . . shall send them a savimtr, and a great
one, and he shall deliver them. Isa. xix. 20.
Specifically — 2. [cap.] One of the appellations
given to God or to Jesus Christ as tlie one who
saves from the power and penalty of sin. (Luke
ii. 11 ; John iv. 42.) The title is coupled in the New
Testament sometimes with Christ, sometimes with God.
In this use usually spelled Saviour.
Item, nexte is the place where ye Jewes constreyned
Symeon Cirenen, comynge from the towne, to take the
Crosse after our Sauyour.
Sir R. Giiyl/orde, Pylgrymage, p. 29.
In the same Tower ys the ston vpon the whiche ower
Savyor stonding ascendid in to hevyn.
Tttrkington, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 30.
savior
For thia is good and acceptable in the aight of Ood our
Saviour. 1 Tim. iL S,
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the
Lonl .lesus Christ our Sanour. Tit. L 4.
savioress, saviouress (sa'vior-es), ». [< savior,
.i(irio)ir,+ -ess.l A female savior. [Rare.]
One says to the blessed Virgin, O Savioure^, save me I
Bp. Hall, No Peace with Rome.
Folycrlta Naxia, being saluted the mviourttt of her
lOunhT. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835X I. S27.
Saviotti's canals. Very delicate artificial pas-
sages formed between the cells of the pancreas
by injecting the duct under high pressure.
saVite (sa'vit), «. [< Sari (see def.) + -i7«2.] In
mineriiL, a zeolitie mineral from Monte Capor-
eiano, Italy, probably identical with natrolite:
named bv Beehi aft*r M. Savi.
savodinskite (sav-o-dins'ldt), n. [< Satodin-
^ki, the name of a mine in the Altai mountains,
+ -i7<--.] The sUver telluride hessite.
savoir-faire (sav'wor-far'}, ». (T., skill, tact,
lit. • know how to do,' < saroir, know (< L. sapere,
have discernment : see sapient, sarant), +J'aire,
< L./nrere, do : 8ee/ac^] The faculty of know-
ing just what to do and how to do it; Bkilfnl
management; tact; address.
He had great confidence in his aarotr/oire. His talents
were nataraily acute, . . . and his address was free from
both countr>- rusticity and professional pedantry.
Scott, Guy Uannering, xxxv.
savoir-vivre (sav'wor-ve'vr), «. [F., good
breeding, lit. 'know how to live,' < sai-oir, know
(see above), + rirre, < L. virere, live: see eiciVf.]
Ooofi breeding; knowledge of and conformity
to tlue u.sages of polite society.
savonette ( sa v-o-net '),n. [= D. satonet, a wash-
ball, < F. sarunette, a wash-ball, dim. of savon,
soap, <L.8<ipo( n-), soap: see «oap.] 1. Akind
of soap, or a detergent for use instead of soap:
a term variou.sly applied. — 2. A West Indian
tree, Pithectilobium micradenium, whose bark
serves as a soap.
savor, savour jsa'vor), ». [< ME. savour, sa-
vor, saeur, < OF. safour, savor, F. saveur = Pr.
8p. Pg. sabor = It. sapore, < L. sapor, taste, <
aapere, have taste or discernment: see sapid,
lapient. Doublet of «a;>or.] 1. Taste; flavor;
relish ; power or quality that affects the palate :
•8, food with a pleasant savor.
U the nit bare lost his saimir. Hat t. IS.
It will take the Mi»ur from bis palat«, and the rest from
his pillow, for days and nighu. Lamb, Hy Kalations.
2. Odor; smell.
Whan the gaye getles were in-to the nrdia come,
Faire flonres the! loonde of fele maner oewes,
tniat sweto were of tauor A to the si^t gode.
WttKam qf PaUnu (E. E. T. S.X L 81&
A mwiir that may strike the dullest nostriL
Sliat., W. T., i » 4iL
St. An odorous substance ; a perfume.
There were also that used pndons petfnmes and sweat
sssors when they bathed tbemselres.
Sora, tr. of Plutarch, p. 678.
4. Characteristic property; distinctive flavor
or qnality.
The motor ot death from all things there that lire.
MObrn, P. L., z. an
The amwr ol bearen peipetiiaUy upon my spirit
BaaUr.
5. Name; repute; reputation; character.
Te have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of
Pbaraob. Ex. t. l\.
A name of evil samwr In the land.
Tmnyson, Oaieth and Lynette.
6. Sense of smell ; power to scent or i>erceive.
[Bare.]
Beyond my tawiwr. Q. Herbert.
7t. Pleasure; delight.
Ac I haue no tauoure in aongewarle, for I se it ofte faOle.
Pien Plowman (BX Tit 1*8.
Thou never dreddest hlr [Fortune's] oppressioun,
Ne in hir chere founde thou no aawmr.
Chancer, Fortune, 1. Ht.
I flnde no eauour in a meetre of three stllablea, nor In
affect in any odde ; but they may be Tsed for Tsrietie sake
PtiUenlkam, Arte of Eng. Foesie, p. AS
•SyiL L nuor, arnaet, etc. See Uute.—3. SeenI, Pro-
grtaux, etc. See imM.
savor, savour (sa'vor), r. [< ME. savouren, sa-
rorrn, sarcren, < Of. (and F.) sarourer = Pr.
«/fcorrtr = 8p. Pg. saborear = It. saporare, < ML.
<'i]n>rnre, taste, savor (cf. LL. saporatus, sea-
Koncd, savory), < L. sapor, taste: see savor, n.]
L intraiui. 1. To taste or smell; have a taste,
flavor, or odor (of some particular kind or qual-
ity).
Nay. thon shalt drynken of another tonne
BRr that I g<j, shal »av*ntre wors than ale.
Chaucrr, l*)l. to Wile of Bath's Tale, L 171.
But there thai wol be greet and <anmre well.
P
6359
What is loathsome to the young
Savours well to thee and me.
Tennygon, Vision of Sin.
2t. To have a bad odor; stink.
He tavourt; stop your nose ; no more of him.
ifvdtUeton, Michaelmas Term, L 1.
Fie! here be rooms savour the most pitiful rank that
ever I felt B. Jonton, Poetaster, ii. 1.
3. To have or exhibit a peculiar quality or
characteristic; partake of the nature; smack:
followed by of: as, his answers saror o/ inso-
lence.
Your majesty's excellent book touching the duty of a
king : a work . . . not savouring of perfumes and paint-
ings, as those do who seek to please the reader more than
nature b^u^th. Bacon, Advancement of Leai-nlng, ii. 279.
The people at large show a keenness, a cleverness, and a
profundity of wisdom that savors strongly o^ witchcraft
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 309.
To savor of the pan or of the frying-pant. See pani.
n. trans. It. To perceive by taste or smell;
smell ; hence, to discern ; note ; perceive.
I do neither see, nor feel, nor taste, nor savour the least
steam or fume of a reason.
B. Jtmson, Cynthia's Revels, i. 1.
Were it not that In your writings I savour a spirit so
very distant from my disposition . . .
Heylin, Certamen Epistolare, p. 8.
2. To exhibit the characteristics of; partake of
the nature of; indicate the presence of; have
the flavor or quality of.
I cannot abide anything that savours the poor over-
worn cut B. Jonson, Cynthia's Bevels, ii. 1.
Bis father, being very averse to this way (as no way
saporina the power of religionX . . . hardly . . . consent-
ed to bis coming hither.
Winthrop, Hist New England, I. SOS.
3t. To care for ; relish ; take pleasure in ; en-
joy; like.
Savour no more than thee bihove shaL
CAaueer, Truth, 1. 5.
He savourrlh neither meate, wine, nor ale.
Sir T. More, The Twelve Properties of a Lover.
Tbon smourvK (mlndest R. V.J not the things that be
of Ood, but those that be ot men. Hat zvL 23.
Homettme the plainest and the most Intelligible rehearsal
of them [psalmsl yet they (the reformers) sanmr not be-
cause it is done by interlocution.
£fao*»r, Eccles. PoUty, Y. gl.
Savours himself slone. Is only kind
And loving to himself.
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, UL 2.
4t. To please; give pleasure or satisfaction to ;
suit.
Good oonadenoe, goo preche to the post ;
nu ooancelaaturttA not my test
Hymns to Virgin, etc (E. E. T. 8.X P- «!•
6. To give savor or flavor to ; season.
Fele kyn flsche
Somme baken in bred, samme brail on the glede,
Snmme sothen, somme In sewe, sauered with spyces,
A ajr sawes so siege, that the segge lyked.
«r Omwaynt and Ou Green Knight (E. S. T. &X 1- 881.
The Romans, it would appear, made great use of the
leek for sacourin^ their dlsbes. Kne^ BriX., XIV. 400.
savorert, savotirert (sa'vor-^r), n. One who
savors or smacks of something ; one who favors
or takes pleasure in something.
.She [Lady Eleanor Cobham] was, It seems, a great so-
vourer and favourer of Wickliffe's opinions.
Putter, Ch. Hist, IV. IL «1.
savorily, savourily (sa'vor-i-Ii), adv. 1. In a
savory manner ; with a pleasing relish.
Sore there 's a dearth of wit In this dull town,
When silly pUys so sowurily (Globe ed., satourly] go down.
Dryden, King Arthur, 1^1., L 2.
The better sort have Fowls and Fish, with which the
Markets are plentifully stored, and sometimes BuSaloes
flesh, all which is dreat reiy savourily with Pepper and
Garlick. Damfier, Voysgei^ U. L 129.
2t. With gusto or appetite; heartily; with
relish.
Hoard up the finest play-scraps you can get, upon which
your lean wit may most savourily feed, for want of other
staff. Dekker, Gull's Uoml>ook, p. 149.
savoriness, savouriness (sa'vor-i-nes), n. Sa-
vory i-haraoter or ([iiality; pleasing taste or
smell : as, tlie savoriness of an orange or of
meat.
savoringt, savonrlngt (sa'vor-ing), n. [< ME.
iovorynge; verbal n. of savor, p.] Taste; the
sense of taste.
Certesdellces been after the appetites of the live wltte^
■s sigbte, herynge, smellynge, savorynge, and louchynge.
Chaucer, Parson's Tale.
savorless, savourless (sa'vor-les), a. [< sa-
vor + -fcv«.] Destitute of flavor; insipid.
As a child that seeth a painted apple may be eager of
It till he try that It is savourless, and then he careth for
it no more. Baxter, Crucifying the World, i vL
savory
savorlyt, savourlyt (sa'vor-li), a. [< ME. *sa-
vorly, sarerly; < savor + -ly^.] Agreeable in
flavor, odor, or general effect ; sweet ; pleasant.
I hope no tong mogt endure
No sauerly saghe say of that sygt,
So wat3 hit cleue & cler <fc pure.
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), 1. 226.
savorlyt, savourlyt (sa'vor-li), adv. [< ME.
savourUj, saverly ; < savorly, a.] With a pleasing
relish; heartily; soundly.
Thei wolde not a-wake the kynge Arthur so erly, ne
his companye that slepten sauourly for the grete trauaile
that thei hadde the day be-fore.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 415.
And for a good appetite, we see the toiling sei-vant feed
savourly of one homely dish, when his surfeited master
looks loathingly on his far-fetched and dearly-bought
dainties. Bev. T. Adams, Works, II. 140.
savorons, savourous (sa'vgr-us), a. [< ME.
savorous, savourous, saverom, < OF. savourevx,
saverous, F. savoureux = Pr. saboros = Sp.
sabroso = Pg. saboroso = It. saporoso, < ML.
saporosus, having a taste, savory, < L. sapor,
taste: see savor. ~\ Agreeable to the taste;
pleasant.
Hir mouth that is so gracious,
So swete, and eke so saverous.
Rom, of the Rose, L 2812.
savoryi, savoury (sa'vor-i), a. [< ME. savori,
savery; < savor + -yl.] If. Having a flavor.
If salt be msauorl, In what thing schulen 3e make It
sauori! Wyd\f, Mark ii. 6a
Tho that sitten in the sonne-syde sonner aren rype,
Swettour and saueriour and also more grettoure
Than tho that selde hauen the Sonne and sitten in the
north-half. Piers Plowman (C), xli. 66.
2. Having savor or relish ; pleasing to the or-
gans of taste or smell (especially the former);
appetizing; palatable; hence, agreeable in gen-
eral: as, savory dishes; a savory odor.
Let hunger moue thy appetyte, and not sauery sauces.
BalMes Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 106.
And make me savoury meat such as I love, and bring
it to me, that I may eat Gen. xxvIL 4.
ThOT [Tonquinesel dress their food very cleanly, and
make It savory : for which they have several ways unknown
In Europe. Dampier, Voyages, II. 1. 3a
3t. Morally pleasing; morally or religiously
edifying.
One of Cromwell's chief difficulties was to restrain his
pikemen and dragoons from Invading by main force the
pulpits of ministers whose discourses, to use the language
ot loat time, were not savoury. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., L
4. In good repute ; honored; respected. [Ob-
solete or provincial.]
I canna see why I suld be termed a Cameronlan, espe-
cially now that ye hae given the name of that famous and
savoury sufferer . . . until a regimental t>and of soul-
diers, where<if I am told many can now curse, swear, and
use profane language as fast as ever Richard Cameron
could preach or pray. Scott, Heart of MId-Lothlan, xvilL
savory^ (sa'vor-i), II. [Early mod. E. also sa-
rorie, savery; < ME. sarery, savercy, savereye,
saveray, saferay, < OF. savoree, also sadree,
sadariege, saturige (> ME. saturege), F. sarorie
= Pr. sadrria = Sp. sagerida, axedrea = Pg.
segurelha, cigurelha, saturagem = Olt. savo-
reggia, savorella. It. santoreggia (with intru-
sive n), satureja = ME. satureie = MLG. satu-
reie = 6. saturei = Dan. saturej = Pol. c::aber,
czabr = OBulg. shetraj, shetraja, < L. satureia,
flowering Plant of Savory (Saturtia harltntis).
a, corolla ; A, calyx ; c, pktiL
savory
savory: see Sati(reia. As with other plant-
names of unob\'ious meaning, the word has
suffered much variation in popular speech.] A
plant of the genus Satureia, chiefly S. hortensis,
the summer savory, and S. mnntana, the winter
savory, both natives of southern Europe. They
are low, homely, aromatic herbs, cultivated in gardens for
seasoning in cooliery. S. Thipnhra of the Mediterranean
region is a small evergreen bush, with nearly the flavor of
thyme.
In these Indies there is an herbe much lyke vnto a yel-
owe lyllie, abowte whose leaues there growe and creepe
certeyne cordes or laces, as the lyke is partly scene in the
herbe which we caule lased sauery.
R. Sden, tr. of Oonzalus Ovicdus (First Books on Ameri-
(ca, ed. Arber, p. 280).
Now gavery seede in fatte undounged londe
Booth weel, and nygh the see best wol it stonde.
PaUadius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.X p. 81.
savoy (sa-voi'), n. [So called from Savoy in
France.] A variety of the common cabbage
with a compact head and leaves reticulately
wrinkled. It is much cultivated for winter
use, and has many subvarieties.
Savoyard (sa-voi'ard), a. and n. [< F. Savoy-
ard, < Savoie, Savoy, + -ard.'i I. a. Pertain-
ingto Savoy.
n. n. A native or an inhabitant of Savoy,
a former duchy lying south of Lake Geneva,
afterward a part of the kingdom of Sardinia,
and in 1860 ceded to France. It forms the two
departments of Savoie and Haute-Savoie.
Savoy Conference, Declaration. See confer-
ence, declaration.
Savoy medlar. A European shrub or tree,
Amelanchier vulgaris, of the Bosacese, related to
the June-berry or shad-bush.
savvy, savvey (sav'i), v. [< Sp. sahe, 3d pers.
sing. pres. ind. of saber, know, with an inf.
'know how,' 'can'; < L. sapere, be wise: see
sapient. The word was taken up from Spanish
speech in the southwestern part of the United
States, in such expressions as" sa6eM«te(i! . . .,"
'do you know . . .,' "no sabe," 'he does not
know,' "sabe habtar Esparlol," 'he can speak
Spanish,' etc. Gt. savvy, n.'] I. irarw. To know;
understand; "twig": as, do you savvy that?
[Slang:.]
II. intrans. To possess knowledge.
savvy, sawev (sav'i), «. [< savvy, V. Cf. 8c.
savie, knowledge, < P. savoir, know, = Sp. saber,
know.] General cleverness; knowledge of the
world : as, he has lots of savvy. [Slang.]
saw^ (sa), n. [< ME. sawe, saghe, sage, < AS.
saga = MD. saghe, saeghc, D. zaag = MLG. sage
= OHG. saga, sega, MHG. sage, sege, G. sage
= Icel. sog = Sw. s&g = Dan. sav, saug, a saw;
lit. 'a cutter' (ef. OHG. seh, MHG. seek, seche,
G. sech, a plowshare, AS. sigthe, sithe, E. sithe,
misspelled scythe, lit. 'a cutter'), < ■/ sag, cut,
= L. secare, cut (whence ult. E. sickle): see
secant, section.'} 1. A cutting-tool consisting
of a metal blade, band, or plate with the edge
armed with cutting teeth, worked either by a
reciprocating movement, as in a hand-saw, or
by a continuous motion in one direction, as in
a circular saw, a band-saw, and an annular saw.
Saws are for the most part made of tempered steel. The
teeth of the smaller kinds are formed by cutting or punch-
^^^
tf. circular saw (riffht-band and left-hand saws have the teeth run-
Ding in opposite directions) ; *. section of circular saw showing flange
ate," (^, concave saw; ^.circular saw with inserted teeth ;/, nlill-
saw ; ^, ice-saw ; h, cross-cut saw ; t. band-saw ; J, rip-saw ; «, hand-
law; /, panel -sa w ; ^n, pmnin^'Saw ; », whip-saw ; o, wood-saw; /,
keyhole- or compass-saw ; y, back-saw : r, bow-back butchers' -saw.
5360
Ing in the plate interdental spaces or gullets. In saws of
large size inserted or removable teeth are now much used.
Small saws are generally provided with a single handle of
hard wood ; larger saws, for use by two workmen, have a
handle at each end. Reciprocating saws more generally
have their teeth inclined toward the direction of their cut.
ting-stroke (see rake''\ n., 1), but some cut in both direc-
tions equiUly. To cut freely, saws must have, for most
purposes, what is called set — that is, alternate teeth must
be made to project somewhat laterally and uniformly from
opposite sides of the saw in order that the kerf or saw-cut
may be somewhat wider than the thickness of the saw-
blade. This prevents undue friction of the sides of the
blade against the sides of the kerf. Some saws, however,
as surgeons' saws, hack-saws, etc., have little or no set,
and undue friction against the kei-f is prevented by mak-
ing the blades of gradually decreasing thickness from the
edge toward the back.
2. A saw-blade together with the handles or
frame to which the blade is attached, as a hand-
saw, wood-saw, or liack-saw. — 3. In zool. and
compar. anat., a serrated formation or organ,
or a serrated arrangement of parts of forma-
tions or organs, (a) The set of teeth of a merganser,
as Mergus serrator. (b) The serrate tomial edges of the
beak of any bird. See mwbill, serratirostrate. (c) The
long flat serrate or dentate snout of the saw-flsh. See cut
under Pristis. (d) The ovipositor of a saw-fly {Tenthre-
dinidx).
4. A sawing-maohine, as a scroll-saw or jig-saw.
— 5. The act of sawing or see-sawing; specifi-
cally, in whiM [XJ. S.], same as see-saw, 3 (6). —
Annular saw. (a) A saw having the form of a hollow cylin-
der or tube, with teeth formed on the end, and projecting
parallel to the longitudinal axis of the cylinder, around
which axis the saw is rotated when in use. Also called
barrel-saw, crownrsaw, cylinder-satv, drum-saw, riixg-saw,
spherical saw, and tub-saw. See cut under crown-saw. (6)
In surr/., a trephine.— Brler-tooth saw, a saw gulleted
deeply between the teeth, the gullets being shaped in a
manner which gives the teeth a curvature resembling some-
what the prickles of briers (whence the name). This form
of tooth is chiefly used in circular saws, rarely or never in
reciprocating saws. Also called gullei-saiv. — Butcher's
saw [named after R. O. Butcher, a Dublin surgeonl, a nar-
row-bladed saw set in a frame so that it can be fastened
at any angle : used in resections. — Circular saw, a saw
made of a circular plate or disk with a toothed edge, either
formed integrally with the plate, or made by inserting re-
movable teeth, the latter being now the most approved
method for teeth of lai-ge lumber-cutting saws. Circular
saws are very extensively used for manufacturing lumber,
and their cutting power is enormous, some of them being
over 7 feet in diameter, running with a circumferential
velocity of 9,000 feet and cutting at the rate of 200 feet of
kerf per minute. From the nature of this class of saws,
they are exclusively used in sawing-machines. These
machines, for small saws, are often driven by foot- or hand-
power, but more generally by steam-, water-, or animal-
power. Plain circular saws can cut only rectilinear
kerfs, but some circular saws have a dished or concavo-
convex form, by wliich curved shapes corresponding with
the shape of the saw may be cut. See cut under rimrsaw.
— Comb-cutters' saw. .same VLBcomh-saw. — Cross-cut
saw. (a) A saw adapted by its Hling and setting to cut
across the grain. The teeth are flled to act more nearly
like knife-points than those of rip-saws, which act more
like chisels. Cross-cut saws have a wider set than rip-saws.
(6) Particularly, a saw used by lumbermen for cutting logs
from tree-trunks, having an edge slightly convex in the
cutting-plane, a handle at each end projecting from and
at right angles with the back in the plane of the blade, and
teeth flled so that the saw cuts when drawn in either
direction. It is operated by two workmen, one at each
handle.— Double saw, two parallel saw-blades work-
ing together at a specific distance from each other,
and in cutting leaving a piece of specific thickness be-
tween their kerfs.— Endless saw. Same as band-saw.
— Equalizing saw, a pair of circular saws placed on a
manarel and set at any desired distance apart by a gage :
used for squaring oft the ends of boards, etc.— Hack-saw,
a small stout frame-saw with little set, close teeth, and
well tempered: used for sawing metal, as in cutting off
bolts, nicking heads of hand-made screws, etc. —Half-back
saw, a hand-saw the back of which is stiffened to a dis-
tance of half the length of the blade from the handle.—
Half-rip saw, a hand-saw without a back, and having a
width of set intermediate l)etween that of a cross-cut saw
and that of a rip-saw.— Hey's saw, a small two-edged
saw set in a short handle : one edge is straight, the other
convex. It is used in removing pieces of bone from the
skull. — Interosseous saw. See interosseous. — Perfo-
rated saw, a saw having a series of perforations behind
the teeth.— Pitcb of a saw. See piteAi.— Pit frame-
saw, a double frame-saw, worked by hand, to the frame of
which are attached upper and lower cross-handles analo-
gous to those used on the ordinary pit-saw.— Railway
cut-off saw, a circular saw or buzz-saw supported on its
frame upon a carriage moving on a track, so that it can be
fed backward and forward to its work.— Reversible saw,
a straight-edged saw having both edges armed with teeth,
so that cutting can be done with either edge, at will, by
reversing the saw.— Smith's saw, a hack-saw. — To be
held at the long sawt, to be kept in suspense.
Between the one and the other he was held at the long
saw above a month.
North, Life of Lord Guilford, i. 148. (Davies.)
(See also ba^.saw, band.saw, belt-saw, buzz-saw, center-saw,
chain-saw, fret-saw, gang-saw, gig-saw, ice-saw, jig-saw,
rabbet-saw, ring-saw, etc.)
sawi (sa), V. ; pret. sawed, pp. sawed or sawn, ppr.
sawing. [< ME. sawen, saghen, sagen, < AS.
"sagian = D. zagen =; MLG. sagen, OHG. sagon,
segon, MHG. sagen, segen, G. sdgcn = Icel. saga
= Sw. s&ga = Dan. save, saw; from the noun.]
I. trans. 1. To cut or divide with a saw; cut
in pieces with a saw.
saw-bearing
By Caine Abel was slaine, ... by Achab Micheas was
imprisoned, by Zedechias Esaias was sawen.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 90.
Probably each pillar [of the temple) was sawn- into two
parts ; they are of the most beautiful granite, in large
spots, and finely polished.
Pocoeke, Description of the East, II. i. 108.
2. To form by cutting with a saw: as, to saw
boards or planks (that is, to saw timber into
boards or planks). — 3. To cut or cleave as witli
the motion of a saw.
Do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus, but
use all gently. SImk., Hamlet, iii. 2. 5.
4. In bookbinding, to score or cut lightly
through the folded edges of, as the gathered
sections of a book, in four or five equidistant
spaces. The stout bands which connect the book to its
covers are sunk in the saw-track, and the sewing-thread
which holds the leaves together is bound around these
bands.
II. intrans. 1. To use a saw; practise the use
of a saw ; cut with a saw. — 2. "To be cut with a
saw: as, the timber saxvs smoothly Sawing in,
in bookbinding, the operation of making four or more
shallow cross saw-cuts in the back of the gathered sections
of a book, in which cuts the binding cord or thi'cad is
placed.
saw^ (sa), ». [< ME. sawe, sage, sage, sahe,
< AS. sagu, saying, statement, report, tale,
prophecy, saw "(= MLG. sage = OHG. saga,
MHG. G. sage, a tale, = Icel. saga = Sw. Dan.
saga, a tale, story, legend, tradition, history,
saga); < secgan (.-^ sag), say: see «a.'/l. Cf.
saga.} If. A saying; speech; discourse; word.
Leue lord & ludes lesten to mi satces!
Waliam 0/ Palerne (E. E. T. S,), \. 1439.
So what for o thynge and for otlier, swete,
I shal hym so enchaunten with my sawes
That right in hevene his soul is, shal he mete.
Chaucer, Troilus, iv. 1395.
I will be subgett nyght & day as me well awe.
To serue my lord Jesu to paye in dede & sawe.
, York Plays, p. 174.
2. A proverbial saying ; maxim; proverb.
On Salomones sawes selden thow biholdest.
Piers Plowman (B), vii. 137.
The justice, . . .
Full of wise saws and modern instances.
Shak., As you Like it, ii. 7. 156.
3t. A tale; story; recital. Compare saj/a.
Now cease wee the sawe of this seg steme.
Alisaunder of Uacedoine (E. E. T. S.X 1. 462.
4t. A decree.
A ! myghtfuU God, here is it sene.
Thou will fulfllle thi forward right.
And all thi sawes thou will maynteyne.
York Plays, p. 604.
So love is Lord of all the world by right.
And rules the creatures by his powrfuU 9aw.
Speitser, Colin CTout, 1. 884. j
=Syn. 2. Axiom, Maxim, etc. See aphorism.
saw^ (sa). Preterit of seel.
saw* (s&), n. A Scotch form of salve^.
A' doctor's saws and whittles.
Bums, Death and Dr. Hornbook.1
sawara, n. See Retinospora.
saw-arbor (sa'ar'''bor), n. The shaft, arbor, oi?!
mandrel upon which a circular, annular, or
ring saw is fastened and rotated. Also calledl
satr-.sliaft, .taw-spindle, and saw-mandrel.
sawarra-nut (sa-war'a-nut), n. Same as
.soxuiri-nut.
saw-back (sa'bak), n. An adjustable or fixe
gage extending over the back of a saw, and'
covering the blade to a line at which it is de-
sired to limit the depth of the kerf. Compare j
saw-gage.
sawback (sft'bak), n. The larva of Nerice
dentata, an American bombyeid moth, the dor
sum of whose abdomen is serrate.
saw-backed (sa'bakt), a. Having the dorsum^
serrate by the extension of the tip of each ab-
Saw-backed Larva of Nerice bidentata, natural size.
dominal segment, as the larva of Xerice bideti-
tata and other members of that genus.
Eight or ten of these peculiar satv-backed Inrvee.
C. L. Marlatt, Trans. Kansas Acad. .Sci., XI. 110.
saw-beaked (sa'bekt), a. Having tlie beak
serrated. Also saiv-bllled. See cut under ser-
ratiroslral.
saw-bearing (sa'bar"ing), a. In entom., secu-
riferous : as, the saw-bearing hymenopters, the
saw-flies.
I
sawbelly
sawbelly (sA'bel'i), n. Ths blue-backed her-
ring, or glut-herring, Pomotobus xstivalis. [Lo-
cal, U. S.]
saw-bench (sa'bench), n. In wood-tcorking, a
form of table on whieh the work is supported
while being presented to a circular saw. it is
flthid with fences and gages for sawing dimension-stuff,
anH is sometimes pivoted for bcTel-sawing. E. U. Knight.
sawbill (sa'bil), n. One of several different
s.aw-billed birds, (a) Any motmot See cut under
Umnoltu. (6) A liumming-btrd of tlie genus Rhamphu-
don or Grypug, having the long bill finely serrulate along
the cutting edges, (c) A merganser or goosander : some-
timfs called jaek-saw. See cut under inergatuer.
saw-billed (sa'bild), a. Same as saw-beaked.
See cut under serratirostral.
saw-block (s&'blok), n. A square channel of
wood or iron, with parallel slots at various an-
gles, which guide the saw in cutting wood to
exact miters.
sawbones (sa'bonz), n. [< satci, v., + obj.
biines.^ A surgeon. [Slang.]
" Wos you ever called in,"inquired Sam, . . . "woe you
ever called in, yen you wos 'prentice to a nvebona, to
wisit a post-boy?" Dickent, Pickwick, li.
sawbuck (sa'buk), n. [= D. saaqhok; as aauj^
+ hiirkl.'i Same as saicliorse. [V. S.]
sawcet, n. and v. An obsolete form of sauce.
sawcert, ". An obsolete form of saucer.
saw-clamp (sA'klamp), ». A frame for holding
saws whilt> they are filed. Also called horse.
sawder (sa'dtr), n. [Also pronounced as if
spelled "sodder; a contraction of solder.'] Flat-
tery; blarney: used in the phrase «o/t *oicder.
[Slang.]
This is all your fault. Wby did not yoa go and talk to
that l>rute of a boy, and that dolt of a woman 7 You're
gut gf'/t tawder enough,' as Frank calls it in bis new-faah-
iuned siang. Bulwtr, My Novel, ilL 13.
My Lord Jennyn leemt to hare his Inaolence aa ready
aa bla toft nwder. Otorgt Btid, Felix Holt. xx£
She . . . sent in a note explaining who she wu, with a
bit of $o/t taurder, and aaked to see Alfred.
C. Seade, Hard Caah, xlL
saw-doctor (sA'dok'tor), n. Same as saw-
(jummi-r.
sawdont, «. An obsolete form of sultan.
sawdust (sa'dust), n. Dust or small fragments
of wiiod, stone, or other material, but particu-
larly of wood, produced by the attrition of a
saw. Wood sawdust is used by Jewelers, braaa-flnishera,
' tc, to dry metals which have been pickled and washed.
i;.)XWood sawdust is considered the beat for Jewelry, be-
< ause It ta free from turpentine or resinous matter. That
uf beecbwood la the next t>eat. Sawduat la used for pack-
In^ and, on account of Its propertJea aa a non-conductor
of heat, aa filling in walls, etc
sawdust-carrier (sS'dust-kar'i-^r), n. A trough
or tube for conducting away the sawdust from
a nitu'liine-saw. £. B. Knight.
sawer^ (sa'tr), «. [< ME. sawer; < »airl, r., -H
-cr'. Cf. saaijer.] One who saws; a sawyer.
(ath. Ang., p. 319.
sawer-l, n. A Middle English foim of sower.
sawft, H. An obsolete form of salre^.
sawf-DOXt (sftf'boks), ». An obsolete form of
salri-hiix.
saw-flle (s4'ni), n. A file specially adapted for
tiliii<; saws. Triangular files are used for all
NiuuU saws; for mill-saws, etc., the files are flat.
saw-flsh (s&'fisb), n. 1. An elasmobrsnchiate
•r selachian fish of tlvj family I'ristUtie, having
■ ho snout prolonged into a flat saw or serra be-
- t iin each side witli horizontal teeth pointing
" ii' ' i<ie. The Imdr Is elongate like that of a shark, but
:•< -1' [.r'-Hsed. and the branchial apertures are inferior. The
flrsi <lursal is opposite or a little hack of the basea of the
veiiirals. Five or six species of the genua are known; they
are chiefly inhabitants of the trr)i)[<-a1 oceans, but occaalon-
ally wander t)eyond their "< 'its. The European
i nectea is Prittis antiqxurr" - of the ancients.
M the Atlantic Ocean, ati.ii < h of from 10 to •20
feet, and of a grayiah color. The common American saw-
Smw-tUh {FriiHt ftcttnttui). i, Mx view ; t, under vtew.
I Is PrtMU pfcllruitiu. The saw attains a length of a
ird or more, and is straight, flat, a few inches wide, ob-
[se at the end, and furnished In the European speciea
1th from Kiitciii !/> Iwtnly pairs, and in the American
with (mm Iwirit.v-tr.iir lo llilrtv-two pairs of stout siiarp
teeth, ttrinly lrn|>lant<:d at «<inu- distance apart; it Is used
as a weapon of iitfense and defense, especially in killing
prey. See also cut under Pti$lit.
Hence also — 2. By extension, one of the dif-
ferent selachians of the family PristiophorUite,
337
6361
having a similar saw-like appendage, which
never reaches such a size as in the Pristida;, or
true saw-fishes. They are confined to the Pa-
cific. See cut under Pristiophorus.
saw-fly (sa'fli), n. A hymenopterous insect of
the family Tenthredinidee, so called from the
peculiar construction of the ovipositor (saw or
terebra), with which they cut or pierce plants.
Two plates of this instrument have serrate or toothed
edges. Theturnipsaw-flyia^tAa/tacertt<fo/irt; thegoose-
berry anw-Hy, Nematus grossularise ; the sweet-potato saw-
fly, Schizoeertu ebeneut; the wheat or corn saw-fly, Cephus
pygmxux; the rose saw-fly, Monogtfyia (or Hfflotoma) rosa;
the willow saw-fly, Xematus ventricogus. The pear-slug is
the larva of Selandria cermt. The wheat or corn saw-fly
is exceedingly injurious to wheat and rye, the female de-
positiitg her eggs in the stalic, which the larva destroys.
It is about half an inch long. The Scotch saw-fly is a mem-
ber of the genus Lophffrwt. See cuts under Hylotoma,
Lyda, rox-dufff and Securi/era.
In the case of the larch saic-fiy (Nematua erichsonii,
Hartig), tile two sets of serrated blades of the ovipositor
are thrust ol)linuely into the shoot l)y a sawing movement;
the lower set oi blades is most active, sliding in and out
alternately, the general motion of each set of blades being
like that of a back-set saw,
Ptu*ard, Entomology for Baginnera, p. 166.
saw-frame (s4'fram), n. The frame in which
a .«aw is set: a saw-sash.
saw-gage (sa'gaj), n. 1. (a) A steel test-plate
or standard gage for testing the thickness of
saw-blades, (b) A straight-edge laid over the
edge of a saw-blade to determine whether the
teeth are in line. (<•) A test for the range of
the tooth-points of a saw in their distance from
the center of rotation. — 2. An attachment to
a saw-bench for adjusting the stuff to be cut
to the saw, the gage determining the width of
cut. — 3. A device.for adjusting the depth of a
saw-cut.
Also saiHng-machine gage.
saw-gate (s4'gat),»i. 1. The rectangular frame
in which a mill-saw or gang of mill-saws is
stretched. Also sawmill-gate, saw-sash. — 2t.
The motion or progress of a saw (f). Encyc.
Dictt
Theokeandtheboxwoo<l, . . . although they be greene,
doe stiff ely withstand the mwgaU, choking and fllling up
their teeth even.
BMand, tr. of Pliny, xtL 4S. (TifeAardxm,)
saw-gin (s&'jin), n. A machine used to divest
cotton of its husk and other superfluous parts.
See cotton-gin.
saw-grass (si'gris), n. A cyperaceous plant
of the genus Cladium, especially C. Marixcu.t
(or, if distinct, C. effusum). It is a marsh-plant
with culms from 4 to 8 feet high, and long slen-
der saw-toothed leaves. [Southern U. S.]
saw-guide (sa'gid), ». A form of adjustable
fence for a saw-bench.
saw-gummer (s&'g^m'6r). n. A punching- or
griimiiig-inachine for cutting out the spaces
between the teeth of a saw ; a gummer. Also
saw-doctor.
saw-hanging (s4'hang'ing), n. Any device by
whicli II niilT-saw is strained in its gate.
sawhom (si'hom), h. Any insect with serrate
antcunjB ; specifically, a beetle of the serricom
series. See Serricornia.
saw-homed (s4'h6md), a. Having serrate an-
tciimi', as tlie beetles of the series Serricornia.
sawhorse (sa'hdrs), n. A support or rack for
holding wood while it is
cut l)y a woo<l-saw. Also
calliMl Kitwbuck or buck.
sa wing-block (sft'ing-
blok). H. A miter-box.
sa wing-machine ( sA ' -
ing-raa-shen'),*!. Ama-
chine for operating a saw
or gang of saws. Also often
called simply taie. generally,
however, with a prefix Indi-
cating the kind of machine :
aa, 9erott-9aw, ganff-nair, band mw, etc, — Lath-sawlng
nuu^dne. see loiAi. — Bawlng-machinegaxe. same
ai wiiNffafe.— Traversing sawlng-maclilne, a sawing-
machlne In which the work remaiiis stationary, and the
•aw travels over it.
Sa'W-jOinter (si'join't^r), n. An apparatus by
wliich the jointing of gang-saws (that is, the
ftlingandsettingof the teeth) isperformed with
proper allowance for change of shape resulting
from unequal strains in the saw-gate, so that
parallelistn of the breast-line and rake ma.T be
secured when the saws are put under tension.
The main features of the apparatus are a guiding-frame
(or holding the saw during the operation of Jointing,
which moves upon adlnstable ways in such manner as to
gage the filing of the teeth so that their points will lie In
the arc of a circle of conslderalilc radius. Saws so Jointed
may have the tension adlnstcd in the gate in a manner
that will secure the straight breast-line and uniform rake
Becesiary for uniformity In their action In the gang.
saw-table
saw-jtimper (sa'jum''ptr), n. Same as saw-
swagc.
saw-like (sa'lik), a Sharp and wiry or rasping
in tone, as a bird's note ; sounding like a saw
in use or being sharpened.
The gaic-like note of this bird foretells rain.
C. Swaingon, British Birds, p, 33.
sawlog (sa'log), n. A log cut to the proper
length for sawing in a sawmill.
saw-mandrel (sa'man'drel), ». A saw-arbor.
sawmill (sa'mil), II. A mill, driven by water or
steam, for sawing timbsr into boards, planks,
etc., suitable for building and other purposes.
The saws used are of two distinct kinds, the circxtlar and
reciprocatUiy (see «ajcl , n. ), In many of the larger sawmills
of modern times many accessory machines are used, as
shingle-, lath-, and planing-machines.
The Ilande of Medera , . . hath in it many springes of
fresshe water and goodly ryuers, vpon the which are bylded
manye sau-e mytUs, wherewith manye fayre trees, lyke vnto
Ceder and Cypresse trees, are sawed and cut in sunder.
R. Eden, tr. of Sebastian Munster (First Books on AmOT-
lica, ed. Arber, p. 40X
sawmill-gate (sa'mil-gat), n. Same as saw-
gntc, 1.
sawn (san). A past participle of «atcl.
sawndxest, "• Same as Sanders'^ for sandal^.
Sawney, Sawny ( sa ' ni ) , » . [ A f urth er c orrup-
tion of Sandy (ME. Saundcr, Sawnder), which is
a corrupted abbr. of Alexander.'] A Scotsman :
a nickname due to the frequent use of the name
Alexander in Scotland, or to the characteristic
Scotch pronimciation of the abbreviation.
saw-pad (sa'pad), n. A device used as a guide
for the web of a lock-saw or compass-saw in
cutting out small holes.
saw-palmetto (sa'pal-met'6), n. See Serenoa.
saw-pierced (sa'perst), a. Cut out, like fret-
work, by the use of the band-saw or jig-saw,
as in woodwork: also noting similar work on a
much smaller scale in metal, as in ^old jewelry.
saw-pit (sa'pit), M. A pit over which timber is
sawed by two men, one standing below the tim-
ber and the other above.
Thither (to Ihe alehouse] he kindly invited me, to a place
aa good aa a death's head, or memento for mortality ; top,
sole, and sides being all earth, and tlie beds no bigger than
so many large cofflna Indeed it was, for beauty and con-
veuiency, like a covered «airt;tt.
Court and Timet dJ Charlet I., II. 286.
saw-sash (s&'sash), m. Same as saw-gate, 1.
sawset, n. A Middle Englisli form of sauce.
sawsert, ». A Middle English form of saucer.
saw-set (s&'set), «. An instrument used to
Wood-saw aad Sawtione.
S.iw-set5.
*. anvil used for setting saws in s,nw f.ictories, tfie setting being per-
fomied liy i)iows of ttie (>eculia/ly sh,i|}ec! hammer a. Every second
tooth is set in one diiectiun. and, the saw-bhuie Ijeing turned over,
the intervenicg teeth are set in the reverse direction ; c and tt are
ootclietl levers by which in ordinary settiuy the alternate teeth are
set in opposite dirccttons.
wrest or turn the teeth of saws alternately to
the right and left so that they may make a
kerf somewhat wider
than the thickness
of the blade. Also
called saw-wrest. —
Saw -set pliers. See
plier.
saw-sharpener (sA'-
shiirp'ner), «. The
greater titmouse, Pa-
rus major: so called
from its sharp wiry
notes. Also sharp-
saw. See cut under
Parus. [Local, Soot-
land.]
sawsieget, "■ An ob-
solete form of sau-
sage. Bnrct, 1580.
saw-spindle (sa,'-
snin'dl), n. The
shaft wliich carries a circular saw ; a saw-arbor.
saw-swage (s4'swtij), n. A form of punch or
striker for flattening the end of a saw-tooth to
give it width and set. E. H. Knight.
sawtt, ". See saiiW^.
saw-table (sa'ta''bl), n. 1. The table or plat-
form of a sawing-machine, on which material to
be sawn is held or clamped while sawing it. — 2.
A form of power sawing-machine for trimming
the edges of stereotype plates. E. H. Knight.
Saw-set for a Wortc-bench.
A, shank for fixing the implement
to a bench : C, punch, hinged to t
fxise H at H, and pressed upward
for ■
O, gage
may be adjusted for different-sized
by springs : ff, screw-support for the
back of the btide ; D, gage which
teeth. The blade is moved along
to bring alternate teeth under the
punch, which is struck with a ham-
mer.
^f<^ ^;enn&, p^
1«*^ r«7 <i-^
A B C
|Mrim AHJYl /"WATVA^
D p""" E G
AAAAA. MMMMMA /WWvWM
H I J
fUV'^yV'Xyt j-'V'i'VA'WA j^t-uvw^
K L
M
N O
r^
Saw-teeth.
A, cross-cut teeth ;
rated saw. same tooth
B, perfo
asA; C
double-cutting cross-cut teeth ;
D, cross-cut saw-teeth ; E shows
set of teeth shown in A and B ;
F, M-teeth, cross-cut; G, peg-
teeth or fleam-teeth, cross-cut ;
H, half-moon teeth, cross-cut;
I, cross-cut teeth for small saws;
J, cross-cut hand-saw teeth ; K,
teeth used in some circular saws,
also in some pit-saws, cross-cut
saws, etc ; L., shouldered teeth ;
M and P, forms used in cir-
cular saws; N, O, brier-teeth.
Saws with teeth A, B, C. D, and
F cut in both directions; those
with teeth Hand L in only one.
saw-table
Rocklni; saw-table, a form of cross-cuttlnjt machine in
which the stuff is laid on a table which rocks on an axis,
for convenience in bringing
the stuff under the action ffS'T^ J^^-'^ Xi-^-i
of the circular saw. is'. H. I "" "^ ( I '^ * I
sfw-tempering (sa'- ^^ (^ <r^
requisite haniness and ^t^t,. Aj'Tf-T A<?t.
elasticity are given to v ' \ 7 r S'
a saw. E. H. Knii/ht. — Jr-H-, /f-CFv iG-Gtj
Saw-tempering machine, ^ Dfj r 71 7
« machine for holding a saw- ytwv, .ft^r^ /iVrZ^
blade ftrmly so that it may <r^h (CH^ ^^
not buckle when it is plunged ^^ ^^ .^^^
into the tempering oil-bath. &^r\ jS^^^ jt^'tw
sawteret, »• An obso- ' ^ '
lete form of psalter.
saw-tooth (sa'toth), n.
A tooth of a saw. Saw-
teeth are made in a great Forms of Removable Saw-teeth.
variety of forms ; typical
shapes are shown in the cuts. If designed to cut in one
direction only, they are given a rake in that direction.
If they are to cut equally in either direction, the teeth
are generally V-shaped, their central axes being then at
right angles with tlie line of
cut. Teeth of saws are either
formed integrally with the
plates or blades, or inserted
and removable. The latter
have the advantage that they
can be replaced easily and
quickly when worn or broken,
and the need of gumming is
entirely obviated. The meth-
od is, however, practicable
only with the teeth of large
saws.— Saw-tooth indica-
tor, an adjustable device
used in shaping the teeth of
circular saws to insure their
filing and setting at equal dis-
tances from the center. —
Saw-tooth swage, an anvil-
block used witli a punch or
wedge to flatten the edges
of saw-teeth. Compare satv-
iieage.— SaW-tOOth upset-
ter, an implement for set-
ting the teeth of saws, or for
spreading their teetli, and
acting as a swage. See swage.
saw-toothed (sa'totht),
a. Sen'ate; having ser-
rations like the teeth of a saw — Saw-toothed
Sterrinck, Lobodon carcinophagus, an antarctic seal.
sawtryt, «• -An obsolete form oi psaltery.
Armenia Rithmica is a sownynge melody, and divers in-
strumen tes serue to this maner armony, as tabour, and tim-
bre, harpe, and mwtrye.
Trevim, tr. of Barth. Aug. de P. E,, xix. 41.
Their instruments were various in their kind,
Some for the bow, and some for breathing wind :
The gaictry, pipe, and hautboy's noisy band.
Dryden, Flower and Leaf, 1. 358.
saw-upsetter (s4'up-set"6r), n. A tool used
to spread the edges of saw-teeth, in order to
widen the kerf; a saw-swage or saw-tooth up-
setter.
saw-vise (sa'vJs), n. A clamp for holding a
saw firmly while it is filed; a saw-clamp.
saw-whet (sa'hwet), n. The Acadian owl,
Nyctala acadica: so called from its rasping
notes, which resemble the sounds made in fil-
ing or sharpening a saw. it is one of the smallest
owls of North America, only from 7^ to 8 inches long, and
from 17 to 18 in extent of wings, the wing itself 5i. The
bill is l>Iack and the eyes are yellow. The plumage is
much variegated with brown, reddish, gray, and white,
the facial disk i)eiiig mostly white. It is widely distrib-
uted in North America. The name is sometimes extend-
ed to a larger congeneric species, N. richardsoni, of arctic
America. See cut under Nyctala.
saw-whetter (sa'hwef'er), n. 1. Same as
saw-whet. — 2. The marsh-titmouse, Parus pa-
lustris. [Prov. Eng.]
sawwort (sa'wSrt), n. A plant of the Old
World genus Serratula, especially S. tinctoria,
whose foliage yields a yellow dye. The name is
derived from the sharp seiTation of the leaves.
Species of Sausswea are also so called.
saw-wrack (sa'rak), n. The seaweed Fucus
serratus.
saw-wrest (s4'rest), n. A saw-set, either in
the fonn of a notched lever or of pliers, in con-
tradistinction to others operating by percus-
sion, as those of the hammer and swage varie-
ties.
sawyer (sa'yfer), «. [Early mod. E. also saw-
ier; ME. sawyer, < 'savcien, sawen, saw (see
aaicl, v.), + -er^. For the termination, see -ier,
-yer, and ef. loryer, lawyer, etc. Cf. sawcrl.]
1. One whose employment is the sawing of
timber into planks or boards, or the sawing of
wood for fuel.
I was sold in the field of Mars and bought of a sawier,
which when be perceiued that my armes were better giueu
6362
to handle a lance than to pul at a sawe, he solde mee to
the Consul Dacua.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 112.
2. A tree swept along by the current of a river
with its branches above water, or, more com-
monly, a stranded tree, continually raised and
depressed by the force of the current (whence
the name ) . The sawyers in the Missouri and the Missis-
sippi are a danger to navigation, and frequently sink boats
which collide witli them. [Western U. S.]
There was I perched up on a sawyer, bobbin' up and
down in the water. hobb, Squatter Life.
3. See top-sawyer.
Here were collected together, in all sorts of toggeries
and situations, a large proportion of such persons, from
the lowest stable-boy and threadbare, worn-out, white-
coated cad up to the shawlified, four-in-hand, tip-top
saivyer. Quoted in First Year 0/ a Silken Reign, p. 139.
4. In entotn., any wood-boring larva, especially
of a longieorn beetle, as Oncidercs cingulatus,
which cuts off twigs and small branches; a
girdler. The orange sawyer is the larva of Eki-
phidion inerme. See cuts under hickory-ffirdler
and Elaphidion. — 5. The bowfin, a fish. See
Amia, and cut \m(ieT Amiidee. [Local, U. S.]
sax^ (saks), n. [< ME. sax, sex, seax, saex, a
knife, < AS. seax, a knife, = Icel. sax, a short,
heavy sword, = S w. Dan. sax, a pair of scissors,
= OFries. sax, a knife, a short sword, = MD.
sas = MLG. sax = OHG. MHG. sahs, a knife, <
■\/ sag, cut: see«ntol.] If. A knife; asword;
a dagger about 20 inches in length.
Wan he thanne seyde
"Nymeth goure sauces," thot be a non mid the dede
Drow ys knyf, and slow a non al an on ywar.
-R06. of Gloucester, Chronicle (ed. Heame), p. 125.
2. A slate-cutters' hammer. It has a point at
the back of the head, for making nail-holes in
slates. Also called slate-ax.
sax^ (saks), a. and n. A dialectal (Scotch)
form of six.
Sax. An abbreviation of Saxon and Saxony.
saxafrast (sak'sa-fras), n. A form of sassa-
fras.
saxatile (sak'sa-til), a. [< L. saxatilis, having
to do with roclis, frequenting rocks, < saxum, a
rock, a rough stone.] In soiil. and hot., living
or growing among rocks ; rock-inhabiting; sax-
ieolous or saxieoline.
saxaul, «. Same as saksaul.
saxcornet (saks'k6r''''net), n. [< Sax (see sax-
horn) + L. cornu = E. horn.'] Same as sax-
horn.
saxe (saks), n. [So called from Saxe, F. form
of G. Sachsen, Saxony.] A commercial name for
a quality of albuminized paper exported from
Germany (Dresden) for photographic purposes.
saxhorn (saks'hom), n. [< Sax (see def.) -t-
horn.'] A musical instrument of the trumpet
class, invented by Adolphe Sax,
a Frenchman, about 1840. it
has a wide cupped mouthpiece and a
long, large tube with from three to five
valves. The details of construction
are such that the tone is remarkably
full and even, the compass very long,
and the fingering consistent and sim-
ple. .Six or more sizes or varieties are
made, so as to form a complete series
or family of similar tone and manipu-
lation : they are named by their funda-
mental key or by their relative com-
pass, as soprano, tenor, etc. The tenor
saxhorn is also called 'alt-horn ; tlie next
larger, barifione ; the naxt, euphonium ;
and the bass, bonibardon or sax-tuba.
These instruments are especially use-
ful for military bands, but they have
not been often introduced into the
orchestra, because of the comparatively unsympathetic
quality of the tone. Also saxcornet and saxotramba.
Saxicava (sak-sik'a-va), n. [NL.: see saxica-
votis.2 A genus of bivalve mollusks, typical
of the family Saxicavidee, whose species live
mostly in the hollows of rocks which they ex-
cavate for themselves. The common European S.
rugosa varies greatly under different conditions. Some-
times by excavation it does consideriible damage to sea-
walls. Successive generations will occupy the same hole,
the last inhabiting the space between the valves of its
predecessor. See cut under Glycjtmeris.
Saxicavidffi (sak-si-kav'i-de), n. i>l. [NL., <
Saxicava + -idse.'] A family of bivalve mol-
lusks, typified by the genus Saxicava. The ani-
mal has the mantle-lobes mostly united, the siphons elon-
gated, covered witli a thin skin, and with fringed orifices,
and the foot digitiforin ; the shell iias thick valves, gap-
ing at the extremities: the hinge ha.s a single cardinal
tooth, and the ligament is external. The species live iit
sand or mud as well as soft rocks, in which they excavate
holes or burrows. Also called (?Zi/ci/m«rid«. See cut un-
der Gtycymeris.
saxicavous (sak-sik'a-vus), a. [< NL. saxicavns,
< L. saxum, a rock, -f cavare, hollow, < caviis,
hollow: see cave^.] Hollowing out rocks, as a
mollusk; lithodomous.
d
Saxhorn.
a, mouthpiece; *,
valves; c. Keys ; d,
bell ; e, crook.
saxifrage
Saxicola (sak-sik'o-lji), h. [NL,: see saxico-
hfHs.l The typical genus of Saxicolinse; the
stoneeliats. There are many species, the greater num-
ber of which are African. The commonest is S. oRnanthe^
the stonechat or wheatear of Europe, rarely found in
>'orth America. The genus is also called iEnanttie. See
cut under stonechat.
saxicole (sak'si-kol), a. [< 'Hl^, saxicola : see
saxicoJons.'] In hot.^ same as saxicolous.
Saxicolidse (sak-si-kori-de), «. pi. [NL., <
Saxicola + -idse.'] The Saxicolinx regarded as
a separate family.
Saxicolinse (sak''''si-ko-li'ne), w. pi. [NL., <
Saxicola + -inse.] A subfamily of turdoidoseine
passerine birds, referred either to the TunUdse
or the SijlviidsB ; the chats. They have booted tarsi,
a small bill much shorter than the head, oval nostrils,
bristly rictus, pointed wings, and short square tail. There
are numerous genera, and upward of a hundred spe-
cies. They are almost exclusively Old World, though 3
genera appear in America. See cuts under uhinchat and
stonechat,
saxieoline (sak-sik'6-lin), «. [As saxicole +
-inc^.'] 1. In ^007., living among rocks; rock-
inhabiting ; rupieoline ; rupestrine ; in hot. ,
same as saxicolous. — 2. Specifically, of or per-
tainiDg to the Saxicolinse.
saxicolous (sak-sik'o-lus), a. [< NL. saxicola^
< L. saxum, a rock, + colcre, inhabit.] Living
or growing on or among rocks. Also saxicole.
Saxifraga (sak-sif 'ra-ga), n. [NL. (Tournefort,
1700): see saxifrage.] A genus of polypeta-
lous plants popularly known as saxifragcj type
of the order Saxifragacese and tribe Saxtfra-
gese. it is characterized by a two-celled ovary maturing
into a small two-beaked and two-celled many-seeded pod,
with the placenta; in the axis, and by tlowers with a f\ve-
lobed calyx, five equal petals, and ten stamens, with slen-
der filaments and two-celled anthers. There are about
180 species, chiefly natives of cold regions, especially high
mountains and in arctic latitudes, chietly of the northern
hemisphere, rare in South America and in Asia. They
are usually perennials, with a radical rosette of broad
leaves, and varying in habit from erect to prostrate, and
from very smooth to glandular-hairy. Their flowers are
small, but of conspicuous numbers, usually white or yel-
low, and panicled or corymbed. About 50 species are
found in North America, nearly half of which occur also
in the Old World; excluding Alaska, 30 species are known
within the United States, natives especially of mountains
of New England and Colorado, only a descending into the
plains, and but 1 in the mountains south of North Car-
olina. They increase rapidly northward, and 25 or more
are reported from Alaska, 9 of which extend to its most
northern limit, Point Barrow, at 71° 27'. S. opposit%folia,
the purple saxifrage, is perhaps the most characteristic
and widely distributed plant of the arctic regions, where
it is almost universal, and often the first flower to bloom,
producing from four to nine pink or dark-purple petals,
ranging from sea-level to 1,900 feet, and extending from
northern Vermont to the farthest north yet reached, 83°
24'. See saxifrage.
Saxifragacese (sak''''si-fra-ga'se-e), n. pi, [NL.
(A. P. de Candolle, 1830), < Saxifraga + -acese.]
An order of polypetalous plants, the saxifrage
family, belonging to the cohort Rosales in the
series Calydflorse. it is closely allied to the Rosacea,
but with usually only five or ten stamens, and is charac-
terized by the usual presence of regular flowers with five
sepals, five petals, free and smooth filaments, two-celled
anthers, a swollen or divided disk, and an ovary of two
carpels, often separate above and containing numerous
ovules in two rows at the centi-al angle. It includes about
650 species in 87 genera of 6 tribes, natives of north tem-
perate and especially of frigid regions, rare in the tropics
and south temperate zone. It exhibits great variety in
habit. In the shrubby genera and trees the leaves are
generally opposite; in the others alternate, and often
chiefly radical. Many produce valued fruits, as the cur-
rant and gooseberry ; in others the fruit is a dry capsule.
Many are cultivated for their ornamental flowers. See
Hydrangea, Dexdzia, Philadelphvs, Heuchera. and Saxif-
raga (the type of the family); also llibes'-i, Cunonia, J£s-
catlonia. Francoa, the types of tribes ; and, for American
genera, Ilea, Mitella, Partiassia, and Tiarella. See cut un-
der Ribes'^.
saxifragaceous (sak'-'si-fra-ga'shius), a. [<
saxifrage (L. saxifraga) + -accous.'] Belong-
ing to the Saxifragacese.
saxifragal (sak-sif'ra-gal), a. [< saxifrage (L.
saxifraga) + -«/.] 1. Like or pertaining to
saxifrage. — 2. Tj'pified by the order Sa.rifra-
gacese: as, the saxifragal alliance. LindJcy.
saxifragant (sak-sifra-^ant), (/. and n. [< L.
saxifragiis, stone-breaking (see saxifrage), +
-ant] I. a. Breaking or destroying stones;
lithotritie. Also saxifragous. [Rare.]
II. n. That which breaks or destroys stones.
[Rare.]
saxifrage (sak'si-fraj), v. [< ME. saxifrage, <'
OF. (and F .) saxifrage = Sp. saxifraga, saxifra-
giia (vernacularly saxafrax, sasafras, salsafraSj
etc., > E. sassafras) = Pg. saxifraga, saxifra-
gia = It. sassifraga, sassifragia, < L. saxifraga,
in full saxifraga herba or saxifragum adiantumj
maidenhair; lit. ' stone-breaking Uso called be-
cause supposed to break stones in the bladder) ;
fem. of saxifragmj stone-breaking? < saxunij
Floweriiv Plant at i
fraffe (Saxt/ragu Virt
»
saxifrage
a stone, rock (prob. < s/ sac, nee, in secure, cnt:
see secant, saw'-), + frangere (■/ frag), break,
= E. break: see fragile. Cf. gassafras.'\ A plant
of the genus Saxifraga.
Scarcely any of the species have
economic properties, but many
are beautiful in foliage and flow-
er. They are commonly rock-
plants with tufted leaves and
panicles of white, yellow, or red
flowers They are predominant-
ly alpine, and of alpine plants
they are the most easy to culti-
vate. One group, as S'. Aj/pnoide*,
has mossy foliae*, forming a car-
pet, in spring dotted with white
flowers. Others, as 5. Aimon,
have the foliage silvery, in ro-
settes. Others, as 5. umbrotat,
the London-pride or none-so-
pretty, and S. oppontifUia, the
purple saxifrage, afford brilliant
colored flowers. A leathery-
leafe<i group is represented by
the Siberian S. cramifolia, weU
known in cultivation. A com-
mon house-plant is S. tarmen-
toM. the beefsteak- or straw-
berry-geranium (see geranium),
also called laUorplant, ereeping-
mnlor, and Chinete mudfrage. S.
Virginiensi^ is a common spring
flower in eastern North America. — Bomdt-saxlft'a^e,
a common Old World plant, Pimmnella Saxi/rnijn, with
leaves resembling those of the garden hornet. The young
Slants are eaten as a salad, and the root has diaphoretic,
iuretic, and stomachic properties. The great bumet-
saiifrage is P. magna, a similar but larger plant.—
Qolden Bazifirass, > plant of the genus CkrytahUnium
of the saxifrage family; especially C. oppcmti/Uium of
the Old World, with golden-yellow flowers. Tlie species
are small smiwth herbs of temperate regions. — Lettuce
«iiTif»ag« t^ee UUuct-taxifrage. — Headow-saxlfrage.
(a) Saxi/Taga granulala, a common white-flowered Euro-
pean species. (6) See i—itoi* mrifragt.—'Koav sazi-
Onuce, the Earopean Smtffmga hgpnoida, sometimes call-
ed (cu/y's-ctuAwn. See def. above.— Fepper-saxlD'age.
Same as meadow-tttcelfrugt, 1.— Swamp-saxifrage, •%
Penntylvanica, a plant a foot or two hiRti, with rattier
long tongue-like lesvea and greenish flowers, found in
bogs in the northern United States.
Saxifrages (sak-si-fra'je-e), n.pJ. [NL. (Ven-
tenat, 1794), < Saxifraga + -e«.] A tribe of
?olypotalou8 plants of the order Samfragaceie.
bey are characterized by herbaceous babit witb alternate
or principally radical leaves, without stlpalea, the flowen
elevated on scapes, and asnally with flve petala, and the
ovary with two c^^ or In a large groap with but one.
The tribe contains about 23 genera, urgdjr American, o(
which Saxifraga Is the type.
saxifragine (sak-sif 'r»-jln), n. [< L. saxifragus,
stoiK-briaking (see 'saxifrage), + -tnc^.] 1.
A Kiiiijiowder in which sulphur is replaced by
barium nitrate. According to Cundill's " Dictionary
of Exploalvea," It contains 77 parts of barium nitrate, 21
parts of charcoal, and 2 parts of sodium nitrate.
2. A name for a grade of dynamite.
saxlAragons (sak-sif'ra-gus), a. [< L. saxifra-
gits, stone-breaking: see saxifrage.} Same as
saxifnigaut. [Rare.]
saxigenons (sak-sij'e-nus), a. [< LL. saxigenug,
spriiiis; from stone, < L. saxum, a stone, rock, +
-genii.s, produced: gee -genou».'\ Growing on
rocks: as, saxigerums lithophyteg. Darwin,
C'onil Beefs, p. 85.
Saxon (sak'sn), n. and a. [< ME. * Saxon, Sax-
iiiDi, < OF. Saxon. 'Saxoun (nom. also Saisne,
> ME. Saisne), P. Saxon = 8p. Sajon = Pg.
Saxilo = It. Sassone, < LL. Saxo(H-), usually in
pi. Saxonet, Saxon ; from an OTeut. form repre-
sent fd by AS. Seaxa (pi. Seaxan, Seaxe, gen.
Seuxcna, Seaxna, Saxna) = MD. *Saxe = OHG.
Sahto, MHG. Sahge, Sackse, G. Sachte = Icel.
Baxi, pi. Saxar = 8w. Saehsare = Dan. Sachser
(= with added suffix -er, D. Sakter, MD. <Sa«8e-
naer), a Saxon, in pi. the Saxons; usually ex-
plained as lit. ' Sword-men ' (as the Franks were
'Spear-men': see Frank^, < AS. scax = OHG.
»aA», etc., a short sword, a knife: seesnil. Cf.
AS. fieaxnedt = OHG. Saxnot, a war-god, lit.
'companion of the sword'; Icel. •Idrnsaxa, an
ofress who carried an iron knife: see Anijlo-
,'<(ix'in. The Celtic forms, Gael. Sasunnach,
Sa.\i>n, English, etc., W. Sais, pi. Sneson, Seison,
an EiiKlishmaii. Scisontg, n., English, etc., are
from E. or ML.] I. n. 1. One of the nation or
jieople which formerly dwelt in the northern
part of Germany, and invaded and conquered
England in the fifth and sixth centuries; also,
one of their descendants. See Angle^, Anglo-
Saxon, and .lute.^.
And his peple were of bym gladde, for tbel hadde be In
' drede of the Siumnu. Merlin (E. E. T. 8.X II. 185.
. One of the English race or English-speaking
•Ces. (a) A member of the English-speaking ra jes as dls-
ingulshed from other races or races speaking other isn-
ages; an Etigliiihman, American, Canadian, Australian,
:. (ft) A Ix>w|[inder of gicotland, as distinguished from
Highlander uf (Ja«l,
5363 say
A critical Saaanigl has detected the corruptions of its
(the Saxon Chronicle's] idiom, its inflections, and its or-
thography. /. D'lsraeli, Anieu. of Lit., 1. 134.
saxonite (sak'sn -it), «. [< Saxony + -i^e^.]
A rock made up essentially of olivin and en-
statite. It occurs as a teiTestrial rock, and also
in various meteorites. See peridotite.
(e) An Englishman, as distinguished from an Irishman. Saxonizs (sak'sn-iz), f. t. ; pret. and pp. Saxon-
[Ireland.l i:c(l, ppr. .Saxonhing. [= F. saxoniser, < ML.
Cassidy, before retiring, would assiu-edly intimate his Saxonizarc, <.Saxo{n-), Saxon: see Saxon.'\ To
approaching resignation to scores of gentlemen of his na-
While on yon plain
The Saxon rears one shock of grain, . . .
The Gael, of plain and river heir,
Shall, with strong hand, redeem his share.
Where live the mountain Chiefs who hold
That plundering Ixiwland fleld and fold
Is aught but retribution true?
Seott, L. of the L., v. 7.
render Saxon in character or sentiment ; per-
meate or imbue with Saxon ideas, etc.
The reintroduction into Saxmiized England, from the
south, of Celtic myths nearly identical with those which
the Anglo-Normans found in Wales . . . gave to the latter
a fresh life. Encyc. BrU., XX. 642.
tion, who would not object to take the Saxon's pay until
they finally shook his yoke otf. Thackeray, I'hilip, xxx.
3. A native or an inhabitant of Saxony in its
later German sense. The modern Saxon lands are in
central Germany, and comprise the kingdom of Saxony,
thegrandduchyofSaxe- Weimar-Eisenach, the duchies of aai-nnvr (snlr'sTi-il « f^ .SnTo«w rsppdef 1 < TJ,
8axS.Alteiiburg,Sax^Coburg-iJotha,andSaxe-Meiningen, SaXOUy (saK sn-i),n. y\ baxony (si^d aei. ), \ uu.
and part of the province of Saxony in Prussia. Saxonta, Saxony, < Saxo(n-), Saxon : see Saxon.]
4. The language of the Saxons; Anglo-Saxon; A woolen material taking its name from the
byextension,modemEnglishspeechofSaxonor kingdom of Saxony, and supposed to be of
Anglo-Saxon origin ; English diotion composed superior quality from the high reputation of
mamlv of Saxon words, and not Latinized or of the wool of that country, (o) A glossy cloth once
■ • ■• ..'.-. .... ., 1, ... .„. ..„_.,• „„i (5) Flannel: the
(c) Same as Sax-
classical or other origin. See Anglo-Saxon. Ab-
breviated/Sax.— S. Intntom., the noctuid moth
Hadena rectilinea : an English collectors' name.
— Old Saxon, Saxon as spoken on the continent in early
times in the district between the Rhine and the Elbe.
Abbreviated O. Sax., 0. S., or, as in this work, OS.
II. a. 1. Pertaining to the Saxons (in any
sense), their country, or language; Anglo-
Saxon. — 2. Of or pertaining to the later Sax-
ons in Germany Saxon architecture, a rude va-
riety of Romanesaue, of which early examples occur in
England, its periou being from the conversion of England
until about the Conquest, when the Norman style began
to prevail. The
few relics left us
of this style ex-
hibit its general
characteristics as
rude solidity and
strength. Tbe
walls are of rongb
masonry, vei7
tblck, without
buttresses, and
sometimes of her-
ring-bone work ;
the towers and
fiillars are thick
n proportion to
height, the for-
mer being some-
times not more
than three diam-
eters hlgb; the
quoins or angle-
maaoniy are of
hewn stones set
alternately on end
and borlsontally
(long and short
work) ; tbe arches
of doorway* and
windows are
rounded, or
See blue,
[< Sax (see def.)
A musical instni-
Saxon Architectars.
a.towcr of Earl's BartoDChuich.Northamp.
toofliirv, EngUiK] : », baluster-window, m
same church ; <. an angle in long and llx>rt
work.
thoea these openlngt have triangular heads, their jambt of
long and short work carrying either rudely carved Imposts
or capitals with square abaci Sometimes heavy moldings
run round the arohea, and when two or more arches are
conjoined In an arcade they are carried on heavy low shafts
formed like baluster*. Window-openings in the walls
splay from both the Interior and the exterior, the position
of the windows being in the middle of the thickness of the
wall.— Saxon blue. (") Same as Saxon)/ Wue(which see,
under blue), (b) The blue obtained on wool by the use
of .'iaxony blue. It is brighter than the blue of the in-
dlgo-vat, but not so fast to light or alkalis.
Saxondom (sak'sn-dum), n. [< Saxon + -dotn.']
Peoples or communities of Saxon or Anglo
much in vogue for wearlng-apparel.
finest blankets being included iu this.
ony yam. See yam.
Saxony blue, green, lace, yam.
green^, etc.
saxophone (sak'so-fon), ?i.
-1- Gr. puvit, voice, sound.]
ment, properly of the clari
net class, but with a metal
tube like a trumpet or horn,
invented by Adolphe Sax
about 1840. It consists of a
clarinet mouthpiece or beak and a
conical tube more or less convo-
luted, with about twenty flnger-
holes controlled by keys or levers.
Eight sizes or varieties are made,
which are named from their fun-
damental key or their relative
compass. They are especially use-
ful in military bands as a more
. sonorous substitute for clarinets,
but are almost unused in the or-
chestra.
saxophonist (sak'so-fo-
nist), «. [< saxophone +
->a7.] a player upon the
saxophone.
saxotromba (sak-so-trom'-
bft), n. [< Sax (see sax-
horn) + It. tromba, a trumpet.]
horn .
saxtryt (saks'tri), n. Same as sextry, sacristy.
sax-tuba (saks'tii'ba), «. [< Sax (see saxhorn)
+ L. tuba, a trumpet.] One of the larger forms
of saxhorn.
sax-valve (saks'valv), n. In musical instru-
ments of the brass wind group, a kind of valve
invented by Adolphe Sax about 1840. Its pecu-
liarity lies in its ingenious itrrangemcnt to secure pure in-
tonation and to maintain an even quality of tone through-
out the compass of the instrument.
sayi (sa), V. ; pret. and pp. said, ppr. saying.
[< ME. sayen, sain, seyen, seien, sein, seggen,
siggen (pret. saide, seidc, sayde, seyde, sede,
pp. sayd, seid, seyd), < AS. secgan, secgean (pret.
ssegde, saede, yp- ge-gsegd, ge-sad) = OS. seggean,
seggian = OFries. seka, scga, sedsa, sidsa = D.
zeggen = MLG. seggen, segen, LG. seggen =
OHG. sekjan, segjan, sagen, MHG. G. sagcn =
Icel. «fg/a = Sw. saga = Dan. sige, say, = Goth.
'sagan (inferred from preceding and from Sp.
Saxophone.
Same as sax-
Sa.xon origin, orjhe countries inhabited by «nyo« = OPg. saiao, a bailiff, executioner, < ML.
sagio(n-), sago{n-), saio(n-), an officer among
the Goths and West-Goths, an apparitor, bailiff,
speaker,' < Goth. *sagja = OHG. sago =
them; the Anglo-Saxon race.
Look now at American Saxondom, and at that little
tictof tbe sailingof the Mayflower, two hundred years ago,
from Delft Haven in Holland I
CarlyU, Heroes and Hero- Worship, Iv.
Saxonic (sak-son'ik). a. [< ML. Saxonicus, <
LL. ,sV(jo(ii-), Saxon: see Saxon.'\ Of or per-
taining to the Saxons; written in or relating
to the Saxon language; Saxon: as, Saxonic
(iocuments.
Saxonical (sak-son'i-kal), a. [< Saxonic + -al]
Same as Saxonic.
Peaceable king Edgar, that Saxanieatt Alexander.
HaHuyVi Voyaget, L 7.
Saxonisht, "• {< Saxon + -ish.'i eame na Saxon.
Jiali . Life of Leland.
Saxonism (sak'sn-izm), n. [< Saxon + -ism.']
An idiom of the Saxon or early English lan-
guage.
The Ungnage (of Robert of Gloucester] ... Is full of
Saxonieme. which Indeed abound, more or le*^ In every
writer before Oower and Chaucer.
Warton, Hist Eng. Poetry, I. 49.
Saxonist (sak'sn-ist), n. [< Saxon + -ist.] A
Saxon scholar; one versed in Saxon or Anglo-
Saxon.
orig- .
OS. eago = OFries. scga, chiefly in comp., a
gayer, speaker); cf. Lith. sakyti, say, sakan, I
say, OBulg. sorhiti, indicate, = Olr. sagim, sai-
gim, I speak, say, h.-y/ sec, in OL. i»i-«ecc, impv.,
relate, narrate, L. in-seciiones, narratives ; prob.
akin to L. »/(/»H»H, sign: see sign, sain. Hence
ult. «aMj2 and (from Icel.) saga. The pp. sain,
formerly in occasional use, is, like sawn, sewn,
etc., a conformation to orig. strong pai'ticiples
like lain, sown.} I. trans. 1. To utter, express,
declare, or pronounce in words, either orally or
in writing; speak.
Thou may »ey a word to-dey
That vij jere after may be for-thousht.
Bookeo/ Precedence (K E. T. 8., extra ser.), I. 53.
It is an epilogue or discourse, to make plain
.Some obscure precedence that hath tofore been gain.
Shak.. L.h. L., Hi. 1.83.
All "s one for that, I know my daughters minde if I but
$ay the word.
Ueywood, Fair Maid of the Exchange (Works, II. 60).
And Enid could not my one tender word.
Tennyson, Geraint.
2. To tell; make known or utter in words.
say
"And sun," he eaid, " I Ball the say
Wharby thou sail ken the way."
Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 68.
"Now, good Mirabel], what Is best?" quod she,
" What shall I doo ? sayf me your good avise."
Generydet (E. E. T. S.), 1. 32.S6.
WeOl, tay thy message. Marloice, Edw. II., iil. 11.
Say in brief the cause
Why thou departed'st from thy native home.
Shak., C. of E., i. 1. 29.
3. To recount; repeat; rehearse; recite: as,
to say a lesson or one's prayers; to say mass;
to say grace.
They . . . ttydm hire ensamples many oon.
Chaucer, Good Women, I. 1850.
What Tongue shall my
Thy Wan on Land, thy Triumphs on the Main?
Prior, Ode to the Queen, st. S.
The "Angelas," as it is now mid in all Catholic coun-
tries, did not come into use before the beginning of the
xtL century, and seems to have commenced in France.
Rock, Church of our Fathers, III. i. 389.
4t. To call; declare or suppose to be.
Bycause euery thing that by nature fals down is mid
heauy, ife whatsoeuer naturally mounts vpward is said
light, it gaue occasion to say that there were diuersities
in the motion of the voice.
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 65.
6. To utter as an opinion; decide; judge and
determine.
But what it is, hard is to say,
Harder to hit. Milton, 8. A., 1. 1013.
6. To suppose ; assume to be true or correct ;
take for granted : often in an imperative form,
in the sense of 'let us say,' 'we may say,' 'we
shall say': as, the number left behind was not
great, say only five.
Well, say there is no kingdom then for Kichard ;
What other pleasure can the world atf ord ?
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., iii. 2. 146.
SAy that a man should entertain thee now ;
Wouldst thou be honest, humble, just, and true?
B. Jonsmi, Every Man in his Humour, ii. 3.
Say I were guilty, sir,
I would be hang'd before I would confess.
Fletcher, Pilgrim, il. 1.
7. To gainsay ; contradict ; answer. [CoUoq.]
"I told you so," said the farmer, "... but you wouldn't
be said," TroUope, Phineas Finn, xxiv.
I dare eaj. Seedarei.— Itls said, they say, it is com-
monly reported ; people assert or maintain. — It says, an
impersonal usage, equivalent to 'it is said.'
/( mysin the New Testament that the dead came out of
their graves. W. Collins, Dead Secret.
That Is to Bay, that is; in other words; otherwise.—
To go Without saying, see go.— To hear say. See
hear.— To say an ape's paternoster. See ape— To
say (one's) beads, .see to Ind headK, under head.— To
saj (any one) nay. See 7101/.— To say neither haff nor
bnfft. See baffi.—To say the devil's paternoster.
See devH.—To say to, to think of ; judge of ; be of opinion
regarding.
What say you to a letter from your friends?
Shnk., T. G. of V., ii. 4. 61.
= Syn. Say, Speak, Tell, State. Each of these words has
its peculiar idiomatic uses. We speak an oration, and tell
a8ti)ry, but do not say either of them. We say prayers or
a lesson, but do not speak or tell them, although the one
praying may teU his beads. Say is the most common word
before a quotation direct or indirect : Adam said, " This
is now bone of my bones" (Gen. ii. 23); "If we say that we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves" (1 John i. 8). Tell is
often exactly synonymous with say to: as, tell (my to) him
that I was called away. Speak draws its meanings from the
idea of making audible; (eW. from that of communicating.
TeU is the only one of these words that may express a
command. State is often erroneously used for simply »at/-
ing: as, he stated that he could not come : sta^ always
implies detail, as of reasons, particulars ; to state a case
is to give it with particularity.
II. intrans. 1. To speak; declare; assert;
express an opinion : as, so he says.
"O Kynge Priam," quod they, "thus siggen we."
Chaucer, Troilus, iv. 194.
At that Cytee entrethe the Ryvere of Nyle in to the See,
as I to zou have seyd before. MandemU'e, Travels, p. 56.
And thei ansuerde that he had wele seide and wisely.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), i. 84.
For the other part of the imputation, of having said so
much, my defence is, that my purpose was to say as well
as I could. Dorine, Letters, xxxii.
The Goddess said, nor would admit Reply.
Prior, To Boileau Despreaux.
2t. To make answer; reply.
To this argument we shall soon have said ; for what con-
cerns it U8 to hear a husband divulging his household
privacies? Milton.
Say away. See away.
Bayl (sa), n. [< sayl, v. Cf. «om;2, the older
noun from this verb.] 1. What one has to say;
a speech; a story; something said; hence, an
affirmation ; a declaration ; a statement,
n condescend to hear you say your say.
Provided you yourselves in quiet spread
Before my window.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, v. 74.
2. Word; assurance,
5364
He took it on the page's mye,
Hunthill had driven these steeds away.
Scott, L. of L. M., vi. 7.
3. A maxim; a saying; a saw.
That strange palmer's boding my.
Scott, Marmion, iii. 16.
4. Turn to say something, make a proposition,
or reply : as, " It is now my say." [CoUoq.]
Say^t (sa), n. [By apheresis from assay, essay:
see assay, essay. '\ 1. Assay; trial by sample ;
sample ; taste.
In the first chapter, ... to give you a say or a taste
what truth shall follow, he feigneth a letter sent from no
man. Tyndale, Ans. to Sir T. More, etc. (Parker Soc,
[1850), p. 78.
Thy tongue some my of breeding breathes.
Shak., Lear, v. 3. 143.
To take
A say of venison, or stale fowl, by your nose.
Which is a solecism at another's table.
Massinger, Unnatural Combat, iii. 1.
2. A cut made in a dead deer in order to find
out how fat it is.
And look to this venison. There 's a breast ! you may
lay your two fingers into the say there, and not get to the
bottom of the fat. Kingsley, Westward Ho, vlii.
3. Tried quality ; temper; proof.
Through the dead carcases he made his way,
Mongst which he found a swoid of better my.
Spenser, F. Q., VI. xL 47.
To give a say, to make an attempt.
This fellow, captain,
Will come, in time, to be a great distiller.
And give a soy — I will not say directly,
But very fair — at the philosopher's stone.
B. Jonson, Alchemist, I. 1.
To give the say, to give assurance of the good quality of
the wines and dishes : a duty formerly performed at court
by the royal taster.
His [Charles I. 's| cup was given on the knee, as were the
covered dishes : the my was given, and other accustomed
ceremonies of the court observed. Herbert. (Wares.)
To take the na^. (a) To test or taste.
Philip therefore and loUas, which were woont to take
the, my of the kings cup, having the poison ready in cold
water, myxed it with wine after they had tasted it.
J. Brende, tr. of Quintus Curtius.
(b) In hmiting, to make a cut down the belly of a dead
deer in order to see how fat it is.
say^t (sa), V. t. [< ME. sayen; by apheresis from
assay, essay.'] 1. To assay; test.
No mete for mon schalle sayed be,
Bot for kynge or prynce or duke so fre ;
For heiers of paraunce also ywys
Mete shalle be sayed ; now thenkys on this.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 816.
Sh' admh'cs her cunning ; and incontinent
'Sayes on herselfe her manly ornament.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartaa's Weeks, ii.. The Handy-Crafts.
2. To essay ; attempt; endeavor; try.
Once I'll say
To strike the ear of time In those fresh strains.
B. Jonson, Poetaster, To the Eeader.
say^t (sa), ?!. [Early mod. E. also saye, saie ; <
J-iE. say, saye, saie, < OF. seie, F. soie = Pr. Sp.
Pg. seda = It. seta = D. zijde = OHG. sula,
MHG. side, 6. seide, silk, < ML. seta, silk, a par-
ticular use of L. seta, sxta, a bristle, hair: see
seta, and cf. satin and seton, from the same L.
source.] A kind of silk or satin.
That fine say, whereof silke cloth is made.
Holland, tr. of Pliny. (Draper's Diet.)
His garment nether was of silke nor say.
Spenser, F. Q., III. xii. 8.
say*t (sa), n. [Early mod. E. also sey, saye, saie ;
< ME. say, saie, saye, a kind of serge, < OF.
saie, saye, a long-skirted coat or cassock, =
Sp. sayo, a wide coat without buttons, a loose
dress, saya, an upper petticoat, a tunic, = Pg.
.sayo, saio, a loose upper coat, saia, a petticoat,
= It. sajo, a long coat, < L. .saf/um, neut., sagtis,
ra.. saga, f., a coarse woolen blanket or mantle,
< Gr. aayoc, a coarse cloak, a pack, pack-saddle ;
perhaps connected with aay^, harness, armor,
aay/ia, a pack-saddle, covering, large cloak, <
aaTTeiv (y cay), pack, load: see seanfi. The L.
and Gr. forms are usually said to be of Celtic
origin ; but the Bret, sue, a coat, is from F.] A
kind of serge. In the sixteenth century it seems
to have been a fine thin cloth used for outer
garments.
Item, j. tester and j. seler of the same. Item, ilj. eur-
taynes of rede mye. PasUm Letters, I. 482.
Worsteds, Carols, Saies. Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 440.
They [ Benedictine monks] were attyred in blacke gownes
with fine thin vajies of blacke Say over them.
Coryat, Crudities, I. 68.
Their trading is in cloth with the Dutch, and bales and
saies with Spain. Evelyn, Diary, July 8, 1656.
Nor shall any worsted, bay, or woolen yarn, cloth, says,
bays, keraeys, serges, frizes, ... or any other drapery
Sayornis
stuffs, or woolen manufactures whatsoever, made up or
mixed with wool, in any of the said counties, be carried
into any other county. Franklin, Autobiog., II. 183.
say^ (sa), n. [Prob. a var. of sie, ult. AS. sigan,
siij<: see.siel.] A strainer for milk. [Scotch.]
say^t. An obsolete preterit of seel. Chaucer.
Saybrook platform. Hee platform.
sayet (sa). Same as say'^, say^, sail*.
sayerl (sa'er), n. [< ME. seyere, seggere, siggere;
< srti/l + -Cfl.] One who says.
As for that ye desyr that I shuld send yow word that I
shuld sey In this mater, I pray yow in this and all other
lyke, ask the seyeres if thei will abyd be ther langage, and
as for me, sey I prupose me to take no mater uppon me
butt that I woll abyde by. Paston Letters, I. 348.
Some men, namely, poets, are natural sayers, sent into
the world to the end of expression. Emerson, The Poet.
sayer^t (sa'6r), n. [< «ff.y3 -1- -eel.] One who
assays, tests, or tries; an inspector or assayer:
as, the market saycr's duty was to prevent un-
wholesome food from being sold in the market.
sayette (sa-ef ), n. [< F. sayette, OF. sayete (=
Sp. sayete, sayito = Pg. saicta = It. saietta),
serge, dim. otsaye, serge: see say*.] 1. Alight
stuff made of pure wool, or of wool and silk:
it is a kind of serge, adapted for linings, furni-
ture-coverings, and the like. — 2. A woolen yarn
intermediate in quality between combed yarn
and carded yarn. A long staple is used, but instead
of being combed it is carded on a mill of peculiar con-
struction. It is used in making stockings, carpets, Berlin-
wool work, etc. Also called Aa;/-H'ors(erfi/ar?i. See M'6r«(<!(i
yarn, under yam.— Til de sayette, the peculiar woolen
thread used for sayette.
sayid, saisrid (sa'id), n. [Ar. : see setV/.] A
title of honor (literally 'lord') assumed by the
members of the Koreish, the tribe to which
Mohammed belonged.
On the death of the Imam, or rather the sayyid. Said of
Muscat, in that year, his dominions were divided between
his two sons. Encye. Brit., XXIV. 769.
saying (sa'ing), n. [< ME. seyenge; verbal n.
of sayl, i'.] 1. That which is said; an expres-
sion; a statement; a declaration.
Here Seyenges I repreve noughte.
MandeviUe, Travels, p. 185.
Moses fled at tills saying. Acts vIL 29.
Philosophy has a tine saying for everything.
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, v. 3.
In the eschatological speeches of Jesus reported by the
synoptical writers there is no doubt that sayings are intro-
duced which are derived not from Jesus but from the
Jewish apocalyptic writers. Eiuyc. Brit., XX. 497, note.
2. A proverbial expression ; a maxim ; an
adage.
We call it by a common mying to set the carte before
the horse. Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 213.
First Goth. What, canst thou say all this, and never
blush ?
Aar. Ay, like a black dog, as the mying Is.
Shak., Tit. And., v. 1. 122.
Deed of saylngt. See deed. = Syn. 2. Axiom, Maxim, etc.
See aphorism.
saykert, «■ See saher^.
saylet, «• and v. A Middle English form of
so(7i.
saymant (sa'man), 11. [< S0//2 -1- man.'] Same
as snymasier.
If your lordship in anything shall make me youtmyman,
I will be hurt before your lordship shall be hurt.
Bacon, To the Earl of Buckingham. (Trench.)
saymastert (sa'mas"ter), n. [< .soy2 -f. ,nas-
ter^.] One who makes trial or proof ; an assay-
master.
May we trust the wit
Without a say-master to authorise it ?
Are the lines sterling?
Shirley, Doubtful Heir, EpiL
Great say-master of state, who caimot err.
But doth his caract and just standard keep.
In all the proved assays.
And legal ways. B. Jonson, Underwoods, xclv.
sayme, ". and v. Same as scain^.
saynay (sa'na), n. A lamprey.
sayon (sa'on), n. [OF., < saye, serge: see
say^.] A garment worn by men during the lat-
ter part of the middle ages, a kind of sleeve-
less jacket, peculiar to peasants and to soldiers
of low grade.
Sayornis (sa-6r'nis), n. [NL. (Bonaparte,
1854), < Say (Thomas Say, an American natu-
ralist) + Gr. 6pv(f, bird.] A genus of Tyran-
nidie; the pewit flycatchers. The common pewit
of tlie United States is S. .fuseiis or phatbe. The black
pewit is S. nigricans ; Say's pewit is 5. sayus. The black-
and-white one figured on following page abounds in
western and especially southwestern parts of the United
States, in rocky and wateiy places like those which the
common pha-be haunts in the east. It has been found
several thousand feet below the general surface of the
country, at the bottom of the grand cafion of the Colorado.
Say's pewit is also confined to the west, but is rather a
Sayornis
Black Phoeb« or Pewit {Sayornis nigrleani).
bird of dry open regions, in sage-bnuh, etc. The genus
is otherwise named Theromyiiu and Auianax. See also
cJit nndeT petrit.
Sayre's operation. See operation.
say-so (sa'so;, «. [< say\ v., + so, adv.'] 1.
A saj-ing or assertion; especially, an autiiori-
tative declaration ; a command.
If Richarfl Cromweli Iceep not hoid of the scepter — and
Richartl f 'rumwell is a simpleton — then Kelderby stands
in the wind of Charles Stuart's ioj/-so.
A. a. Barr, Friend OUrta, xvii.
2. A personal assertion ; an expression of in-
dividual opinion; hence, mere report; rumor.
Pete Cayce's my-go war all I wanted.
M. A'. Murjret, Prophet of Great Smoky Moontains, liL
All my tay-tot .
hare been verified.
Eleet. Rev. (Eng.X XXIV. 2a
In ch
xtihiiiiii).
sbirro (sbir'ro), n.; pi. sbirri (-re). [It. (> Sp.
ifhirro = OP. sbirre) sbirro, also without the
unorig. prefix, hirm. a bailiff, sergeant, cf.
berroriere, a bailiff, a riifRan, prob. so called as
being orig. in red uniform, < LL. birrus, a cloak
of a reddish color, OL. burrus, red : see birrus,
biirrel.'i An Italian police-officer.
'sblood (sblud), ittterj. [An abbr. of Go<f»
hlnnil, through 'ods-bloo<i, uds-blood. Cf. 'sdeatb,
< (i'xrndrath; zounds, <. God's icounds, etc.] An
imprecation.
'SUi/rid, I am aa melancholy ai a sib cat or a logged bear.
Shot., 1 Hen. IV„ L 2. 8i
S-brake (es'brak), n. A railway-brake having
a hnik<-slirn- attached to each end of an S-
Kli:ipiil p. -k-l' ver centrally axled between a
(■air "f win (l.-i on one side. When rocked on it*
nx\'- it <':iii..-H one of the shoes to bear against the front
uti>l*T 'i']r ..r the hind wheel, and the other shoe to press
upon th' luck upper side of the front wheel of the pair.
S. C. .\ii .ilibreviation: (n) Of the Latin sena-
lii.i niiixiiltii, by decree of the senate (of Rome).
(i) In printing, of amaU capitals.
8C. An abbreviation; (n) Of scilicet. (6) Of
Latin sciilpxit, he (or she) engraved or carved
(it), (c) [cap.] Of Scotch (used in the etymol-
ogies in this work).
8c. In rhem., the symbol for scandium.
scab (skab), n. and a. [< ME. scab, scabbe, also
as^iljilated shab (the form «ca6 being rather due
to Si'and.), < AS. sc«b, seeb, sceabb, scab, itch,
= Ml), .icliahhe = OHO. scaha, scnpd, MHG. G.
lekabe, scab, itch, = Sw. ukahb = Dan. skab, scab,
.itch; either directly < L. scabies, roughness,
eurf, scab, itch, mange (cf. scaber, rough,
^^nrfy, scabby), < scabere, scratch; or from the
■ Teut. verb cognate with the L., namely, AS.
teafan = O. schaben, etc., shave : see share. Cf.
»AnA. an ns.sibilatedform of «cn6.] I. n. 1. An
incniKti'il subMtance.dry and rough,formed over
a soro in liiuling. — 2. The mange, or some
mancy •lisi iisi' caused by the presence of a par-
asite, as an itdi-insect; scabies. — 3. A mean,
paltry, or shabby fellow : a term of contempt.
A company of Kabi .'the proudest of you all draw your
weapon If he can. Orient, Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay.
Thonah wo be kennel-niketa. sraAa, and scoundrels,
We. the discreet and bold -^ And yet, now I remember it,
We tilers may deserve to be senators.
Fletcher (and another?). Prophetess, 1. 3.
One of the usurers, a head man of the city, took it in
dudgeon to be ranked, cheek by Joul, with a tcab of a cur-
rier. .9ir It. L'KMranffe.
4. Specifically, in recent use, a workman who
is not or refuses to Ix'come a member of a la-
bor-union, who refuses to join in a strike, or
who takis the place of a striker: an opprobri-
ous tertn U8e<l by the workmen or others who
dislike his action. [Vulgar.]
5365
Even the word scab, which we have heard so frequently
of late, and which had to be defined for the Congressional
Ck)mmittee on Labor by one of its witnesses, was used in
a law-suit tried in Philadelphia eighty years ago.
New Priixceton Rev. , 11. 54.
5. In bot., a fungous disease affecting various
fruits, especially apples and pears, in which a
black mold appears, often distorting or destroy-
ing the fruit, it is usually followed by a brown scab-
like appearance, whence the name. The fungus produ-
cing the disease in apples and pears is Fusidadium den-
driticum. The orange-leaf scab is produced by a species
of Cladosporium. See Fueicladium.
6. In founding, any projection on a casting
caused by a defect in the sand-mold.
H. a. Having to do with '"scabs," or made
by them: used opprobriously : as, scab mills;
sca6 labor; sonft shoes. [Vulgar.]
scab (skab), r. t. ; pret. and pp. scabbed, ppr.
scabbing. [< scab, «.] To form a scab or scab-
by incrustation ; become covered with a scab
or scabs; specifically, to heal over; cicatrize;
repair solution of continuity of a surface by the
formation of a new skin or cicatrix.
Even granulating sores heal by the gradual process of
cicatrisation from the edges — heal by scabbing in a way
that we have never seen so satisfactory under any other
dressing. Lancet, Ko. 34,t4, p. 948.
In the "glass snake" andotherlowordersof life, repair
is usually by primary adhesion, by tcahbirig, or more rare-
ly inimedlafe onion. Sd. Amer., H. S., LVII. 277.
scabbadot (ska-ba'do), n. [Appar. < scab, with
Sp. It. term. -rtrfo.] Venereal disease. [Rare.]
Within these five and twenty years nothing was more
in vogue in Brabant than hot baths, but now they are
evei-y where grown out of use ; but the new teabbado has
taught us to lay them down.
Bailey, tr. of Colloquies of Enumos, p. 1(13.
scabbard^ (skab'ilrd), n. [Early mod. E. also
svublierd, scnbarUe ; < ME. scauberd, scaubert,
earlier scaubert, scairberk, skawberke, scaberk,
schauberk, scaberge, scabargc, prob. < OF. *es-
caubcrc, 'escaubert, escauber (in pi. escaubers,
escauberz), a scabbard, also a poniard; prob.
formed (orig. in OLG. or OHG. f ) from elements
corresponding to OF. escale, P. ecale, a scale,
husk, ease (< OHO. seala = AS. scalu = E.
scaled), 4- -frcrc (as in hauberc, a hauberk), <
OHG. bergan = A.S. beorgan, protect : see bury^,
and cf . An uberk. The formation of the word was
not perceived in E., and the second element
came to be conformed to the suffix -ard. The
first element has been by some referred to E.
scathe, harm, to Icel. scaji, a chisel, to Icel.
skdi]>r, OSw. skalp, a sheath, and even to AS.
«c«M, a sheath.] A sheath; especially, a sheath
for a sword or other similar weapon.
Into his tcaberge the swerdc put fJalTray.
Rom. qfPartenay (E. E. T. S.X 1. 3060.
I had a paaa with him, rapier, tcabbard, and all.
Skat., T. N., Hi. 4. S03.
He is one
That wear* Ilia forehead in a velvet scabbard.
Beau, and Ft., Captain, IIL 6.
SCabbardl (skab'jlrd), tr. (. l<scabbardl,n.'] 1.
To sheathe, as s sword. — 2. To provide with a
scabbard or sheath; make a sheath for.
scabbard^t (skab'ard), ti. [< scab + -ard.'] A
mangy, scabby person. HaUiwell.
scabbard^ (skab'ard), n. [A reduction of seale-
linanl.'] In nrinting, a scale-board.
scabbard-flsh (skab'&rd-fish), n. 1. A fish of
the family LepidopodidsB, Lepidopus caudatus.
Scabbafd-6Bh ( Ltfidoptis caudatuj).
of the Mediterranean and Atlantic shores of
Europe, as well as of New Zealand, of a bright
silvery color, with a long dorsal and rudimen-
tary anal fin : so called from suggesting by its
form the sheath of a sword. Also called scale-
fish and frost-fish. — 2. Anv fish of the family
drmpi/lida'. Sir J. Richardson.
scabbard-plane (skab'jird-plan), n. Inprinting,
a scale-board plane (which see, under ptone''^).
scabbed (skabd or skab'ed), a. Ji< ME. scabbed,
snibbydc, scahyd; < scab + -ed^. Cf. shabbed,
an assibilated form of scabbed.] 1. Abound-
ing in or covered with scabs.
The briar fruit makes those that eat them tcabbed.
Bacon.
2. Specifically, mangy; affected with scabies.
The shepherd ought not, for one mxMed sheep, to throw
by his tar-Doz. B. Joruon, Bartholomew irair, UL 1.
3. Mean; paltry; vile; worthless.
scabious
scabbedness (skab'ed-nes), M. A scabbed char-
acter or state ; seabbiness.
A scab, or tcabbednegse, a scall. Seabies. line rongne,
galle, teigne. Barei, Alvearie, 1680.
scabbily (skab'i-li), adv. In a scabby manner.
seabbiness (skab'i-nes), n. The quality of be-
ing scabby.
SCabble (skab'l), r. t; pret. and pp. scabbled,
ppr. scabbling. [Also scapple; perhaps a freq.
of *scave, unassibilated form of shave, AS.
scafan, shave: see shave. Cf. scab, from the
same ult. source.] In stone-working, to dress
with a broad chisel or heavy pointed pick after
pointing or broaching, and preparatory to finer
dressing.
scabbier (skab'ler), n. In granite-working, a
workman who scabbles.
scabbling (skab'ling), n. [Also scabling ; < scab-
ble + -/«</!.] 1. A chip or fragment of stone.
— 2. Same as boasting^, 2.
scabbling-baminer (skab'ling-ham'^r), «. In
stone-working, a hammer with two pointed ends
for picking the stone, used after the spalling-
hammer or cavel. Also scappling-hammer.
scabby (skab'i), a. [= D. schabbig = MHG.
schebic, 6. schdbig; a.a scab + -j/l. Cf. shabby.]
1. Covered with scabs ; full of scabs ; consist-
ing of scabs.
A scabby tetter on their pelts will stick,
When the raw rain has pierced them to the quick.
Dryden, tr. of Virgil's Oeorgics, ilL 672.
2. Affected with scabies.
If the grazier should bring me one wether fat and well
fleeced, and expect the same price for a whole hundred,
without giving nie security to restore my money for those
that were lean, shorn, or scabby, I would be none of his
customer. Swift.
3. Injured by the attachment of barnacles,
limpets, and other shell-fish to the carapace,
interfering with the growth of the shell at the
spots affected : noting tortoise-shell so injured.
— 4. In printing, noting printed matter that is
blotched, spotty, or uneven in color.
scabellum ( ska-be I'um), H.; pi. scabella (-&).
[L., also scabiUinn, a musical instrument (see
def.), also a footstool, dim. otscamnum, a bench,
a footstool : see shambW^.] An ancient musi-
cal instniment of the percussive class, consist-
ing of two metal plates hinged together, and
so fastened to the performer's foot that they
could be struck together as a rhythmical ac-
companiment.
scaberulous (ska-ber'§-lus), a. [< NL. 'scabe-
rutus, irreg. dim. of L. scaber, rough: see sca-
brous.] In bot., slightly scabrous or roughened.
See scabrotis.
scab-fnngns (skabTung^'gus), n. See scab, 5,
anil I'lmicladinni.
scabies (ska'bi-ez), n. [L., itch, mange, scab,
<««(/«)•?. scratch: see «ca6.] The itch; a oon-
tagious disease of the skin, due to a parasitic
mite, .Sarcoptcs scabici, which forms burrows
(cuniculi) in the epidermis and gives rise to
more or less severe dermatitis. See cut under
itch-niilc.
scabiophobia (ska'bi-o-fo'bi-a), n. [NL., < L.
scabies, scab, + Gr. <po/iia, < <t<i/3of, fear.] An
excessive fear of scabies.
Scabiosa (ska-bi-o'sft), n. [NL. (Toumefort,
1700), < ML. scabiosa, scabious: see scabious,
«.] A genus of gamopetalous plants, of the or-
der Dipsaceie, the teasel family, it is character-
ized by terminal long-stalked and flattened heads of crowd-
ed flowers, having an involucre of leafy bracts partly in
two rows, inconspicuous chatT on the receptacle, a four- or
five-cleft corolla, which is often oblique or two-lipped, four
perfect stamens, a thread-shaped style, and the fruit an
achene crowned with the calyx-tube. There are alwut 110
species, chiefly natives of tlie MediteiTanean region and
the Orient, not found in America, but extending into
South Africa. They are haiiy annual or perennial herbs,
with entire or dissected leaves, and blue, red, yellowish,
or whitish flowers. They are known in general by the
names scabious &nd pincushion. The roots of SI succisa and
S. arvensis are used to adulterate valerian.
scabious (ska'bi-us), a. [< P. scabieux = Pg.
cscahioso = It. scabbioso, < L. scabiosus, rough,
scurfy, scabby, < scabies, scurf, scab: see sca-
bies.] Consisting of scabs; scabby; scurfy;
itchy.
If the humours be more rare and subtle, they are
avoided by fumosites and sweat ; if thicker, they turn to
a scabious matter in the skin.
Rev. T. Adams, Works, I. 601.
scabious (skS'bi-us), n. [< ME. scabymcse, sca-
byose, < OF. scabicuse, P. scabieuse = Pr. scabi-
osa = Sp. Pg. escabiosa = It. scabbiosa. scabious,
< ML. scabiosa, sc. hcrba, 'scabious plant,' said
to be so called because supposed to bo effica-
cious in the cure of scaly eruptions, fem. of L.
scabiosus, rough, scaly: see scabious, a.] A
scabious
plant of fhe genus Scabiosa; the pincushion-
flower. Conspicuous species are S. gticcita, the blue sca-
bious, or devil's-bit (wiiich see); 5. aTvetigiSfthe ftelti-sca-
bious, or Es}'ptian rose, with pale lilac-purple heads ; aiid
& tUropurvureay the sweet scabious, or inourrting-bride,
also ouXea Egxptian row. See Muecap, and Eijyptian rose
(under rote).
SaMote, Bilgres, wildflax. is good for ache.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 186.
Is not the rhubarb found where the sun most corrupts
the liver ; and the scabious by the shore of the sea, that
God migtit cure as soon as he wounds?
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 904.
Sheep's-scabious. Same as sheep's-bit.— Swest scabi-
ous. (n).^eeal)ove. (&) In America, sometimes, the daisy-
fleahane, Erxfferon annuus,
scabling, «. See scahhling.
scab-mite (skab'mit), n. The itch-mite, Sarcop-
tes scabiei, whicli produces the itch or scabies.
scabrate (ska'brat), a. [< L. scaber, rough, +
-a/el.] Same as scabrous.
scabredityt (skab-red'i-ti), «. [Irreg. for 'scab-
riditji, < LL. scabridus, rough (ef. scabredo,
roughness of the skin, mange): see scabrld.']
Roughness ; ruggedness.
He shall finde . . . warts, neves, inequalities, rough-
ness, scabredity, palenesse. Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 562.
scabrid (ska'brid), a. [< L. scabridus, rough,
< scaber, rough, scurfy: see scabrous.li In bot.,
slightly rough to the touch : as, a scabrid leaf.
Compare scabrous.
SCabriusculose (ska-bri-us'ku-16s), a. [< NL.
*scabriusculiis, irreg. dim. of L. scaber, rough:
see scabrous.~i In bot., same as scabrid.
scabriusculous (ska-bri-us'ku-lus), a. In bot.,
same as scabrid.
scabrous (ska'brus), a. [= F. scabreux = It.
scabroso, < LL. scabrosus, rough, < L. scaber,
rough, scurfy, < scabere, scratch: see scabies.}
1 . Rough ; rugged ; having sharp points or lit-
tle asperities. Specifically, in zool. and bot., rough or
roughened as if scabby, as a surface ; covered with little
points or asperities ; as, shagreen is the scabrous skin of a
shark; especially, rough to the touch from hardly visible
granules or minute angular elevations with which a sur-
face, as of an insect or a plant, is covered. Also scabrate.
2t. Harsh; unmusical.
His verse is scabrous and hobbling.
Dryden, tr. of Juvenal's Satires, Ded.
Lucretius is scdbroug and rough in these [archaisms].
B. Jonson, Discoveries.
scabrousness (ska'brus-nes), n. In bot., the
state or property of being rough.
scabwort (skab'wert), n. [< scab + icorii.]
The elecampane, Inula Helenium.
scaccbite (skak'it), n. [Named after A. Scac-
chi, an Italian mineralogist.] In mineral., man-
ganese chlorid, a deliquescent salt found on
Mount Vesuvius.
scad^ (skad), n. [Appar. a var. of shad^.'\ If.
A fish, probably the shad.
Of round Hsh, [there are] Brit» Sprat, Bame, Smelts,
Whiting, Scad. R. Carew, Survey of Cornwall, p. 30.
2. A carangoid fish, formerly Caranx trachurus,
now Trachurus saurus, also called saurel, skip-
jack, and horse-mackerel, of a fusiform shape,
with vertical plates arming the entire lateral
line from the shoulder to the caudal fin. it
reaches a length of about a foot, and is found in the Euro-
pean and many other seas. It occurs rarely on the South
Scad {Tracfturus saurus).
Atlantic coast as well as on the Pacific coast of North
America. It is sometimes found in immense shoals, and
as many as 20,000 have been taken olf Cornwall in a net at
one time. In Cornwall and some other places it is split
and dried salted. Its flesh is firm and of good flavor, some-
what like that of the mackerel, although generally it is
but little esteemed. The name extends to any species
of this genus, as T. symmetricui, the horse-mackerel of
California, and also to the members of the related genus
Decapteru^. more fully called mackerel-scad. A species
of Caranx (or Trachurops), C. (or T.)cnrurment)phthalmus, is
known as the goggler, goggle-eyed jack, or big-eyed scad.
See goggle-eyed.
3. The ray, Raia alba. [Local, Scotch.]
scad^ (skad),!). and ». Adialeetal form of scaWi.
Bcaddle (skad'l), a. and ». A dialectal form of
scathel. Also skaddle.
And there she now lay purring as in scorn ! Tib, hereto-
fore the meekest of mousers, the honestest, the least scad-
die of the feline race, a cat that one would have sworn
might have been trusted with untold fish.
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (ed. Hazard), II. 366.
5366
Sceean (se'an), a. [< 6r. OKatdc, left, on the left
hand, hence also western {'Smia't vv/.at, the west-
ern gate of Troy): see Scievola.} Western, west-
ward : used in the phrase the Sceean Gate, in le-
gendary Troy.
Scaevola (sev'o-la), «. [NL. (Linnteus, 1767),
so called in allusion to the irregular flower ; <
L. Scxvola, a surname, 'the left-handed,' dim.
of sceevus, left-handed {scseva, a left-handed per-
son), = Gr. oKaidc, left, on the left hand.] A ge-
nus of gamopetalous plants, of the order Goo-
deniacem, formerly made the type of an order
Scxvolacese (Lindley, 1830). The tube of the oblique
corolla is split down behind to the base, the lobes spread-
ing and unappendaged ; there are five stamens with free
anthers, and a two-celled ovary with one ovule in each
cell, becoming in fruit an indehiscent drupe with the stone
woody or bony. The species, numbering about 60, are all
confined to Australia, except 8 or 10, which reach to the
Pacific islands and Asiatic coast, while one, a widely dis-
tributed fieshy shrub, S. Lobelia (S. Plumieri), extends
also to the West Indies, Florida, and Mexico, and the
Cape of Good Hope. They are herbs or shrubs with alter-
nate leaves and axillary flowers, the whole inflorescence
peculiar in its hairs, the corolla-tube downy within, set
with reflexed bristles without, and often with penicillate
bristles on the lobes. S. Kognigii is the Malayan rice-pa-
per tree (see rice-paper). S. cuneiformis of West Australia
has been called /a7i-yiow'er.
scaf (skaf), «. [Ct scabble.'] In metal-working,
the tapered end or feather-edge of a weld-lap.
E. H. Knight.
scaff (skaf), n. [Origin obscure.] Food of any
kind. [Scotch.]
SCaffling (skaf'ling), n. [Origin obscure.] A
young eel. [Local, Eng.]
SCaff-net (skaf'net), H. A kind of scoop-net; a
flat net about 12 feet square, stretched by two
long bows, the ends of which are attached to
the corners of the net, arched up high above
it, and crossed at the middle. See scap-iiet.
scaffold (skaf 'old), n. [< ME. scaffold, scaffolde,
skaffold, scafold, scafald, scafalde, schaffalde,
scalfalde, < OF. *escafalt, esehafauU, eschafaud,
eschaafaut, F. echafaud, OF. also chafaut (>
D. schavot = G. schafott = Sw. schavott = Dan.
skafot) and earlier escadefalt, escadafaut (ML.
reflex scafaldus. scadafaltum) ; with expletive
prefix es-, orig. OF. cadefaiit, 'catafalc, F. cata-
falque = Pr. cadafalc = Sp. cadafalso, cada-
kalso, cadalso, also catafalco = Pg. cadafalso,
also catafalco = It. catafalco, a funeral canopy
over a bier, a stage, scaffold ; prob. orig. It.
(and not common Rom.), lit. 'a view -stage '(cf.
cataletto, ' a view-bed'), < Olt. *catore, see, view
(found as It. cattare, get, obtain, etc.). It. dial.
catar, find (= OSp. catar, see, view,< L. capture,
strive to seize, strive after, seek to obtain,
watch), -(- *falco, irreg. var. of balco, a stage,
orig. beam, balk: see bnlk^, and cf. balcony.
The same initial element (It. cattare, etc., L.
capture) appears in regatta, regrate^; and the
same It. word catafalco has come through F.
catafalque into E. as catafalque: see catafalque.']
1. A temporary gallery or stage raised either
as a place for exhibiting a spectacle or for
spectators to stand or sit.
On the tother side thei sigh a scaffolde, and in that scaf-
folde satte a knyght that was of a 1 wynter age, and ther
satte also the feirest lady of the worlde.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 361.
Pardon, gentles all,
The fiat unraised spirits that have dared
On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth
So great an object. Shak., Hen. V., i., Prol.
Who sent thither their Ambassadors with presents, who
had there their «ca/oW« prepared for them, and furnished
according to their states. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 302.
2t. The gallery or highest tier of seats in a
theater.
In Dekker's day, the price of admission to the galleries,
or scaffolds as they are sometimes called, alike with the pit,
was, at some of the inferior playhouses, one penny only.
J. NoU, in Dekker's Gull's Hornbook (rep. 1812), p. 133.
3. A stage or platform, usually elevated, for
the execution of a criminal.
Whensoever there is to be any execution, . . . they erect
a scaffold there, and after they have beheaded the oflen-
dours . . . they take it away againe.
Coryat, Crudities, I. 229.
The scaffold was the sole refuge from the rack.
Motley, Dutch Republic, I. 324.
4. A temporary structure upon which workmen
stand in erecting the walls of a building. See
cut under putlog. — 5. An elevated platform
upon which dead bodies are placed — a mode of
disposing of the dead practised by some tribes,
as of North American Indians, instead of burial ;
a kind of permanent bier. — 6. In embryol., a
temporary structure outlininfj parts to be sub-
sequently formed in or upon it ; a framework :
scagliola
as, the cartilaginous ,?ofl_^oM of the skull. Also
scaffolding. — 7. In metal., an obstruction in the
blast-furnace above the twyers, caused by the
imperfect working of the furnace in conse-
quence of insufiicient or unsuitable flux, bad
fuel, irregular cliarging, etc. As the materials un-
der such a scaffold or agglomerated mass descend, this
latter may itself give way and fall down ; this is called
a "slip," and if such slips occur on a large scale, or are
several times repeated, the furnace may become choked
or "gobbed up" (as it is technically called) to such an
extent as seriously to interfere with or entirely to stop
Its working.
Obstructions technically known as scaffolds occur not un-
frequently in blast furnace working, and are often a source
of considerable trouble.
W. H. Greenwood, Steel and Iron, p. 142.
scaffold (skaf 'old), V. t. [< scaffold, «.] 1. To
furnish with a scaffold; sustain; uphold, as with
a scafl'old. '
After supper his grace . . . came into the White Hall
within the said Pallays, which was hanged rychely ; the
Hall was scaffolded and rayled on al partes.
Hall, Chron., Hen. VIII., an. 2.
2. To lay or place on a scaffold; particularly, to
place (dead bodies) on a scaffold to decay or
be eaten by birds, as is customary with some
uncivilized tribes.
A grand celebration, or the Feast of the Dead, was sol-
emnly convoked. Not only the remains of those whose
bodies had been scaffolded, but of all who had died on a
journey, or on the war-path, and been temporarily buried,
were now gathered together and interred in one common
sepulchre with special marks of regard.
D. Wilson, Prehistoric Man, xxi. (Encyc. Diet.}
scaffoldage (skaf'ol-daj), n. [=F. echafaudage ;
as scaffold + -age.] A scaffold; a stage; the
timberwork of a stage ; scaffolding.
'Twixt his stretch'd footing and the scaffoldage.
Shak., T. and C, i. 3. 156.
scaffold-bracket (skaf 'old-brak'''et), II . A plate
fitted with claws devised to hold firmly to a
sliiiigled roof to afford support to scaffolding.
scaffolderf (skaf'ol-der), n. [< scaffold-h-er'^.']
A spectator in the gallery of a theater ; one of
the "gods."
He ravishes the gazing scaffolders.
Bp. Hall, Satires, I. iii. 28.
scaffolding (skaf'ol-diug), n. [< scaffold +
-ing^.] 1. A frame or structure for temporary
support in an elevated place ; in building, a
temporary combination of timberwork consist-
ing of upright poles and horizontal pieces, on
which are laid boards for supporting the build-
ers when carrying up the different stages or
floors of a building, or plasterers when execut-
ing their work in the interior of houses. The
scaffolding is struck or removed as soon as
it has answered its purpose. See cut under
putlog.
This was but as the Scaffolding of a new edifice, which
for the time must board, and overlooke the highest bat-
tlements. Milton, On Def. of Humb. Remonst.
2. Materials for scaffolds. Imp. Diet. — 3. Figur-
atively, any sustaining part ; a frame or frame-
work, as the skeleton; especially, in embryol., a,
temporai-y formation of hard parts to be re-
placed by or modified into a permanent struc-
ture : as, the scaffolding of an embryonic skull.
Sickness, contributing no less than old age to the shak-
ing down this scaffolding of the body, may discover the in-
ward structure. Pope.
4. In metal., the formation of a scaffold; an
engorgement. See scaffold, 1.
scaffolding-pole (skaf'ol-ding-pol), n. In build-
ing, one of tlie vertical poles which support the
putlogs and boards of a scaffold. E. H. Knight.
scaff-raff (skaf'raf), n. [A loose compound, as
if < scaff + raff. Cf. riffraff, ruffscuff.] Refuse ;
riffraff; rabble. Also scaff and raff'. [Scotch.]
We wadna turn back, no for half a dizzen o' yon scaff-
raff. Scott, Guy Mannering, xxv.
Sitting there birling at your poor uncle's cost, nae doubt,
wi' a' the scaff and raffo' the water side, till sun-down.
Scott, Old Mortality, v.
scaglia (skal'ya), n. [It., a scale, a chip of
stone, etc.: see scaled.] The local name in
parts of the Italian Alps of a limestone of vari-
ous colors, and of different geological ages.
The typical scaglia is a reddish argillaceous limestone
with a decidedly conchoidal fracture. This rock is of
.Tnrassic age ; but there is an upper scaglia which is of
the a^e of the Vpper Cretaceous.
scagliola (skal-yo'lii), n. [Also scaliola; < It.
scagliuola, dim. of scaglia, a scale: see scaW^.]
In arch., an Italian process for imitating stone,
used for enriching columns and internal walls
of buildings. It is an application of stucco consisting
essentially of a mixture of plaster with glue. 'Ihe plaster
employed must be as pure and white as possible. Various
colors are given to it by a mixture of metallic oxids. To
scagliola
5367
imitate different kinds of marble, the colors are mixed
witli the paste. Breccias are imitated by introducing
scald-head
To Kald hogs and take of their haire, glabrare sues.
Baret.
sidered rare and bringing a large prlce^ Also Seala,
Scatia. Scalariiiif, Scalarus,
fragments o( colored stucco; granites and porphyTies in Scalariappa rska-ln-ri a'«B a^ « nl rVT <" ot . .
the same way. and also by cutting into thrstucco and v ,; ,w^ 1 '■ • i ^ Se-a;, « jtJ(. [INL,., < She 's een setting on water to scoZd such chickens as you
fllling the cavities with a paste having the color of the -^kiI'IIJ" -r -acea.} hame a.s 6calarnclee. are. SAa*., T. of A., ii. 2. 71.
— ..„i. ;. :. ..„.i„j .. ,„....„ Sometimes the stucco is SCalaxian (ska-la'ri-an), a. and n. [< Scalaria scaldl (skald), n. [< scaUn r ] A bum or in-
crj-stals it is desired to imitate.
put ujwn the wall with a brush, ^s many as twenty coats
being applied. It is then roughly polished, and the cav-
ities and defective places filled up; and this is done over
and over, until the surface has attained the desired per-
fection ; a finer polish is then given.
+ -on.] I. a. Of or pertaining to Scalaria or
the Scalariidse.
II. «. A species of Scalaria.
Scalaridse (ska-lar'i-de), ». pi.
.So was (thrown open] the double door of the entrance- "^ Scdjariidx.
hall, ietting in the warm light on the xagliola pillars, the SCalarUOITn (ska-lar 1-fonn), a. ^
marble statues, and the broad stone staircase, with its mat- a fligllt of steps (neut. pi. of scalaris, of or ner-
tiiig worn into large holes. <Jmri,e Eliot, i'elix Holt, i. taining to a ladder or a flight of steps : see sca-
SCaith (skath), n. A Scotch spelling of «caMc. lar), + forma, form.'] 1. Shaped like a ladder;
SCaithlesS (skath'les), o. A Scotch spelling of resembling a ladder. Specifically— (o) In enfom.,not-
seutheless. '"K 'h" venules or small cross-veins of an insects wings
[NL.] Same
[< L. scalarw,
jiiry to the skin and flesh by a hot liquid or va-
por. =Syil. Bum, Scald. See imrnl.
scald^ (skald), w. [An erroneous form of scall,
apparently due to confusion with scalcP, a.]
Scab; scall; scurf on the head.
Her crafty head was altogether bald.
And, as in hate of honorable eld.
Was overgrowne with scurfe and filthy seald.
Spenser, F. Q., I. vilL 47.
Blanch swears her husband 's lovely, when a scald
_ „. Has blear'd his eyes. aemV*, Upon Blanch.
when they are perpendicular to the longitudinal veins and scald2 a See «<•// //»■//
placed at regular distances, like the rounds of a ladder. l^it^As' =V-.l7r>vft„ll ^ i,«i jn r/ ^^-c
(6) In 6of., noting cells or vessels in which the walls are SCalOL-', SKald- (skald or skald), n. [< ME. scald,
. -. , — ,- thickened in such a way as to form transverse ridges, scalde, scaw(le{= G. slcalde = Svf. skald = Dan.
eool. and anat., one of three cavities of the These ridges, or alternating thick and thin places, follow «A;/a?rf), < leel. sA-aW, a poet, the accepted word
cochlea, in man and other mammals winding fodder *" '"" ^"^"''^'5' "^ *''^ "■""■"^^ "' » for 'poet,' but prob. orig. or later used in a de-
spirally around the modiolus or columella of 2. In coneA., resembling or related to xSeffJflWa • P''!f]at''*'e sense (as indicated by the derived
• the ear,^ as a spiral staircase winds around the scalarian.-scaiartfnm, .«ni„<r,«„„ ,„ ,.„.!,_„.,./- *™''''' » poetaster, a vagrant verse-maker, sioM-
BCala (ska'Ia), n. [L., a ladder, a fUght of steps :
see «ca/«3.] 1. In surg., an instrument for re-
ducing dislocations. — 2. PI. scalse (-le). In
scalarian — Scalariform conjugation, in fresh-water
newel: in lower vertebrates much simplified.— algaj, conjugation betwerasevM cells ortwHiiflrent .^A a poetaster ; cf.«*-aWa, make verses (used in
3. [ca/).] In conch., an old generic name of Hlaments, when the two lie very near one another side by ''epreciation), ieJc-si-aM, a poetaster (?eir, clay),
wentletraps: same as &vf/«n"«. Klein, 1753. — f'^f- Each cell of each filament sends out a short pro- skdidskapr, a libel in verse, also (in a eood
«..,.„../: .v.._... ..._.„. I tuberance on the «.de facn. ,h. ,.,h.. «>.„,.„, wh„„ sense) poetry, etc.,«i-«;d»m, libelous, etc.). Ac-
cording to Skeat, perhaps orig. 'loud talker,'
< skjalla (pret. skall) (= Sw. skalla = G. schal-
len), resound ; akin to scold : see scold. Accord-
ing to Cleasby and Vigfusson, the name has ref-
erence to libels and imprecations which were in
the heathen age scratched on poles ; cf . skdlda
(= OHG. scaltfi, MHG. schalte), a pole, skdld-
stoitg, also nidhstijny (nidh, a libel), a pole with
Scala media, the middle passage of the spiral canal of the
cochlea, separated from the scala vestibuli by the mem-
braneof Reissner and from the scala tympani by the basi-
lar membrane, and containing upon its floor the organ of
Cortl. It terminates at Iwth apex and base in a blind
polnte<I extremity, but is continuous through the canaUs
tuberance on the side facing the other filament. When
these protuberances meet, the cell-wall becomes absorbed
at the extremity of each, and an open tube is thus formed.
It is the ordinary mode of conjugation in the Mesocarpa-
oaK.— Scalarifonn vessels, vessels in which the walls
are thickened in a scalariform maimer. They are espe-
cially abundant in ferns.
renniens, near its basal extremity, with the saccule of the o*^ i'' "Vl""''''"' " ',<"■"
Testilmle. Also called oina/u m«m&nin<i««iu and eocAicar oCalanidaB (skal-a-ri'i-de), M. p/. [NL., < Sea
du<<orcanaf i{rM«(»eAJ«a;thelatter twotermshowever, laria + -idee.} A'family of ptenoglossate gas-
KJwTn'ilTt^rirml^b^e'^Tt'he'&iSf.r^rS! tropods whose type genus is Scalaria; the w^n-
brane and the one between the tectorial membrane and "etraps. The animal has elongated tentacles, with eyes
the membrane of Reissner.— Scala tympanl, that part of
the spiral canal of the cochlea which is on the under side
of the spiral lamina, and is separated from the scala media -,. , • »
by the basilar membrane. It communicates with the Bcala J,"", .".P*«'e« "" numerou^ especially in warm seas. Also
Tectibull at the apex of the modiolus, and is separated from ^"if*"*. Sadaruuxa, Scataridx. See cut under Scalaria.
the tympanum. In the recent state, by the membrane cov- BCalaty (ska'la-ri), a. [< L. scalaris, of or per-
eringtbefenestrarotunda.— Scala yestibaU, one of the taining to a ladder or a flight of stens: see
{^Sr^^"ii''l."?rby=\;"^ll'mVr.''S1SS^^^^^ r'"'^ ResemWing a ladder; formed with
It begins at the vestibule, and communicates at the apex ^''^P''' L^are.J
of the modiolus with the scala tympanL Also called res- Certain elevated places and lealary ascents.
Ubvlar pat$age. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., T. 13.
scalable (ska'la-bl), a. [_< scal^ + -ahU.'\ Ca- scalawag, scallawag (skal'a-wag), »i. [Appar.
l>;iblc of being scaled, in any sense of that " ' ' - • •• -- ^^
their external base, a single gill, and many unciform imprecations and charms scratched on it.] An
or aciculate teeth in each cross-row on the radula ; the ancient Scandinavian poet ; one who composed
shell is tiirreted, with the aperture entire and subcu-cular. poems in honor of distinguished men and their
achievements, and recited and sang them on
public occasions. The scalds of the Norsemen
answered to the bards of the Britons or Celts.
So prondly the Scalds raise their voices of triumph.
As the Northmen ride over the broad-bosomed billow.
W. Mothenvetl, Battle-flag of Sigurd.
I heard his scalds strike up triumphantly
Some song that told not of the weary sea.
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, I. 18.
Scotch foiTn of scold.
[Short for scaldwecd.} A
uscuta£uroj>«a. Also scald-
scaladet
or
(= Sp. Pg. esealada), a scaling with ladders, <
scalare, scale : see scaled, v. Doublet of esca-
/'(*'.] An assault on a fortified place in which
the soldiers enter by means of ladders; an cs-
I'alade.
The nocturnal tealade of needy heroes.
ArbutJuwt, Hist. John Bull.
While we bold parley here,
Raise your seatado on the other side ;
But, enter'd, wreak your sufferings.
Fletcher, Double Marriage, r. 8.
We understood for certain afterward that Monsieur La
Tour's fort was taken by assault and toalado.
Winthnp, Hist New Eng., II. 291.
scalar (ska'iar), n. and a. [< L. scalaris, of or
The truth Is that the number of miserable "scattawags "
Is so great that . . . they tend to drag down all above
themselve* to their own level.
irev York TrOmm (Cattle Report^ Oct. 24, 1864.
2. A worthless, good-for-nothing, or contemp-
tible fellow; a scamp; a scapegrace. The word
was used in the sontbem United SUtes, during the period
o/ reconstruction (1885 to 1870 and later), in an almost
speciltc sense, bein) "^ ■
nents of the Re
acted with that
a Repuljlican o^ .Northern orl^n. [U. 8.J
You Kood-foi^nothin' young sealatcag.
UalibmUm (Sam Slick), Human Nature. (BarUeU.)
IMTtaininir to a ladder nr n fii<rht nt atane < ■ ' "''"''' kiiow that he's much worth the saving. He
-«/«,«<■„/«, a ladder, flight of stSps: mesiile^. .Tmi /"vTm^ , "'■'^•""'-'•' '-f-**; "'■
f. scalary.] I. «. In .luatemions, a real ntim- *^*? («*r^)' f- '• ' V^ei. and pp. scalded (for-
l..r, positive or negat/vei^^. fraction^, ^e'lyo'd'."!; flw^ca/f), ppr. »c«M,«ff. [< ME.
or surd : but some writers lately extend the ^"""'^
iiieiiiiing so as to include imaginaries. SirW. R.
. scaldabanco, "one that
but ironically spoken of
_ ^ possesse a pewe in the
schooles or pulpet in churches and bafile out
they know not what; also a hot-headed puri-
tane" (Florio, 1611); < scaldare, heat, warm, +
banco, bench : see scald^ and bank^. The allu-
sion in mouHtebatiktiiid saltimbanco is different.]
A hot declaimer.
The Presbyterians, those Scalda-bancos or hot declamers,
had wrought a great distast in the Commons at the king.
Bp. Uacket, Abp. Williams, ii. 182. {Dames.)
scaldberry (skald'ber'i), n. The European
blackliorry, liubus fruticosus, which was once
reimted to give children scald-head.
scalderl (skal'di-r), n. [< scaUn + -<?rl.] 1.
(Jne who scalds (meat, vessels, etc.).
Or Ralph there, with his kitchen boys and ncaldert.
Fletcher {and another). Elder Brother, 11. 3.
2. A pot or vessel for scalding: as, a milk-
scalder.
: but some writers latelv' extend the '?"'^' schaUlen, scoldci, scald, bum (with hot Scalder^f (skal'd^ror skai'dfer), n. An errone-
r so as to include imftrir,«;i«, «,.w» ^^""1 "' ^jt^ " ^l*- ""''1' = ^<'^- «^«W« = ous fonn of «caM3.
Norw. skaalda = Sw. skdlla = Dan. akolde,
scald, < OF. escalder. eschauder, F. echauder =
Sp. Pg. cscaldar = It. scaldare, heat with hot
water, scald, < LL. excaldare, wash in hot wa-
ter, < L. ex-,
calidus.
lliiNilton introduced the word with"the meaning "a real
inimii 1 ••; and It tends to confuse the subject to use a word
i..;.-.l. .1 for one purposeto signify something else for which
no new word i> iiir,ii-.l Scalar of a quaternion, a sca-
lar which, being sulitractcd fn.m the quaternion, leaves a
vector as the remainiier.
II. ". Of the nature of a scalar. - Scalar func-
tion. .'*ee /unciinn. - Scalar operation,
formed upon a ------ -• -
quantity, see quantity.
Scalaria (skii-la'ri-a). n. [NL. (Lamarck, 1801),
< L. si-alariH, of or pertaining to a ladder or a
flight of steps : see»ca/«r.] A genus of holosto-
mous ptenoglossate pectinibranchiate gastro-
pods, typical of the
faiiiiiy Sralariida;
the ladder-shells or
wcntletraps. They
are marine shells, most-
ly of warm temperate
and tropical seas, tor-
retell and coatate. or
with many raised croas-
ril.« !it intervals along
'I li'irls. The most
' >ted species is S.
ijrUiuia, formerly con-
, ^ an operatioii ^'c, and cf. chafe, ult. from the same L. verb.]
whi.ii. perfornictl upon a scalar, gives a scalar.— Scalar 1. To bum or affect painfully with or as with
a hot or boiling licjuid or with steam: formerly
used also of burning with a hot iron.
I am Ksalded with my violent motion.
Shak., K. John, v. 7. 49.
Thick flow'd their tears, but mocked them the more.
And only itcalt their cheeks which flam'd before.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, vi. 41.
Close to Earth his Face,
Sealding with Tears th' already faded Grass.
Congrect, Death of Queen Mary.
2. To cook slightly by exposure for a short
time to steam or to hot water or some other
'heated liquid: as, to scald milk. — 3. To sub-
These practices and opinions co-operated with the kin-
dred superstitions of dragons, dwarfs, fairies, giants, and
enchanters, which the traditions of the (iothic scolders had
already platited.
* .1. 1 1 Jl 1 I 1 , ^- ff^artun. Hist. Eng. Poetry, I. diss. 1. (Latham.)
>.M-, out, thoroughly, + caWtt«,contr. of „„„, J <,„-.,,.,,,„ ,, ^ '
t, hot,< calere, be hot: see calid, caldron, Sfald-flsh (skald fish), n.
„,1 «» «I,»A, .,14 * tl ^ i_ -i t'<» or
A marine pleuronec-
or flatfish, Arnoglossus laterna: so called,
Wentletrap iSfataria frtti«itt).
Scalcl-tish ^Amoghssus tatema).
it is said, from its appearance of having been
dipped in scalding water. Daif.
ject to the action of boiling water for the pur- SCald-head (skald'hed), «. [^ scaUV^, scalled,
pose of cleansing thoroughly: as, to scald a tub. + head.'] A vague term in vulgar use for tinea
Take chekyoa, lealde bom fayre and clene. favosa, and other affections of the scalp which
LO>tr Cure Cocorum, p. 22. superficially resemble it.
scald-head
Mmh of stature he [Malioniet] was, and evill propor-
tkmed ; baring ever a tcald-head, which made him wear a
white abash continually. Sandys, I'rarailes, p. 42.
SCaldic (skal'- or skal'dik), a. [< scakl^ + -ic]
Pertaiiiiug to tie scalds or Norse poets ; com-
posed by scalds.
scalding (skal'ding), n. [Verbal n. of scald^, r.]
1. The act or process of burning with hot
liquid or with steam. — 2. ]j1. Things scalded or
boiled, espeoially while still scalding hot.
Immediately the boy be4onjring to our mess ran to the
locker, fn»m whence he canied otf a large w txHleii platter,
and In a few minutes returned with it full of boiled peas,
ctTiiig Seaidinga all the way as he came.
StnMett, Roderick Random, xxv. (Daviei.)
SCaldinO (skal-de'no), n. [It., isctildare, heat:
see Sffl/rfl.] A small covered brazier of glazed
earthenware, used in Italy.
Old Venetian Scaldino.
A man who had lived for forty years in the pungent
atmosphere of an air-ti;.:ht stove, succeeding a quarter of
a century of roaring hearth fires, contented himself with
the spare heat of a scaldino, which he held his clasped
hands over in the very Italian manner.
H'. D. Howetls, Indian Summer, xi.
An aged crone with a scaldino in her lap, a tattered
shawl over her head, and an outstretched, skinny palm,
guards the portal of every sanctuary.
The Century, XXX. 208.
scaldragt (skald'rag), *. [< scald>, v., + ohj.
raj'i.] One who scalds or boils rags; asealder:
a nickname for a dyer.
For to he a laundres imports onely to wash or drease
lawne, which is as much impeachment as to cal a justice
of the peace a beadle, a dyer a scaldragge, or a flsh-
monger a seller of gubbins.
John Taylor, Works (1630), II. 165. (UaUiuell.)
scaldweed (skald'wed), ». Same as seald^.
SCale^ (skal), «. [Early mod. E. also slcale; <
ME. scale, also assibilated shale, schale, < AS.
scealu, sceale, a scale, husk, = MD. scliaele,
T>. schaal, a scale, husk, = MLU. schale =
OHG. scala (tl or a), MHG. schale, schal (a
or a), G. schale, a shell, husk, scale, = Dan.
skal, shell, peel, rind, skiel, the scale of a
fish, = Sw. skal, a shell, peel, rind, = Goth.
skalja, a tile; cf. OF. cscale, F. icale, ecaille
= It. scaglia, a shell, scale (< OHG.); akin to
AS. scale, sc&le, MHG. scale, scole, E, scale,
etc., a bowl, dish of a balance, etc. (see scaled),
to AS. scyll, scell, E. shell, etc. (see shell), to G.
scholle, a flake (of ice), a clod, etc. ; < Teut.
■^'skal, "skel, separate, split ; ef. OBulg. skolika,
a mussel (-shell), Russ. skala, bark, shell, Lith.
skelti, split, etc. From the same root are ult.
E. scaled, shale^ (a doublet of scaled), shale'^,
shell, scall, scal^A, scallop = scollop, schW^ =
skulP-, scull^ =skulft, skill, etc., skoal (a doub-
let of scaled), etc., and prob. the first element
in scabbard^. Cf. scaled, u.] 1. A husk, shell,
pod, or other thin cover-
ing of a seed or fruit, as
of the bean. — 2. In bot.,
a small rudimentary or
thin scarious body, usu-
ally a metamorphosed
leaif, scale-like in form
and .often in arrange-
ment, constituting the
covering of the leaf-buds
of deciduous trees in
cold climates, the involu-
cre of the Composite, the
bracts of the catkin, the
imbricated and thick-
ened leaves which con-
stitute the bulb, and the
like. Also applied in the
Coniferx to the leaves or
bracts of the cone, and
to the chaff on the stems
of ferns. See also cuts
under imbrieate and ros-
m-plant. — 3. In zoiil.,
a. Cycloid Scale of Caranx, en-
larged. ^.Ctenoid Scaleof /.<f*o>«»>,
enlarged. £, Ganoid Scale or Lefi-
dosttus trUtuchus, three fifths nat-
ural size.
tA^'tp;'
a, the scale-like leaves of
the stem of !.athrma Squa^
wnaria ; b, the cone with the
scales of Cupressus sentper-
virens ; c, the imbricate scale-
like bracts of the spike of Cy-
Perus badiitt.
5368
an epidermal or exoskeletal structure that is
thin, flat, hard or dry, and of some definite
extent; a piece of cuticle that is squamous,
scaly, or horny, and does not constitute a
hair, a feather, or a horn, hoof, nail, or claw;
a squama ; a scute ; a scutellum. ah these struc-
tures, however, belong to one clasB, and there is no ab-
solute distinction. Scales are often of large size and
great comparative thickness or solidity, and may be re-
inforced by bone, in which case they are commonly called
shields or plates. Speciftcally — (a) In ichtk., one of the
particular modiflcalions of epidemiia which collectively
form the usual covering, more or less complete, of fishes;
a fish-scale. They are of many forms and sizes, but
have been sometimes considered under the four heads of
cydoid, cteiwid, ganoid, and placoid, and fishes have been
classified accordingly, as by Agassiz. (See cycloid, etc.)
They are developed on the inner side of the genei-al epi-
dermis, but vary greatly in form and other characteris-
tics. In most livingfishes they are expanded horny lamel-
Ise, and imbricated, the posterior edges of one transverse
row overlapping adjacent parts of the succeeding row.
Growth takes place from a central, subcentral, or posterior
nucleus by increase at the periphery. Generally the ante-
rior part, or base of insertion, is provided with strife or
grooves diverging backward. (1) In numerous fishes
growth takes place in layers and at the posterior edges as
much as at the anterior,
and there are no teeth or
denticles at the posterior
margin : such are called
cycloid scales. (2) When
the posterior margin is
beset with denticles, a
ctenoid scale is the result.
When vestiges of such
teeth or denticles are re-
tained on the surface be-
tween the nucleus aiid the
posterior margin, the sur-
face is to that extent jnwrv
cated. In other forms the
growth is almost entirely
sideways and forwai'd,
and the nucleus is consequently near the posterior edge.
(3) f?till other fishes have a hard enameled surface to the
scale, which is generally of a rhomboidal form, and such
a scale is called ganoid; but few modern fishes are thus
armed, though scales of this kind were developed by
numerous extinct forms. (4) When the scales are very
small, or represented by ossified
pupilhc of the cutis, they are
called ^/((coirf; such are found
in most of the sharks. Be-
tween these various types there
are gradations, and there are
also numerous modifications
in other directions. The pres-
ence or absence of scales be-
comes also of slight systematic
importance in some groups, and
the same family may contain
species with a scaleless body
and others with scales of fhe
ctenoid and cycloid types. The
scales of various fishes, as the
sheepshead, mullet, and drum,
are used in the manufacture of ornamental work, as
mock jewelry, flower-sprays, etc. Pearl-white or essence
d'Orient, used in making artificial pearls, is prepared from
the scales of Alhumus lucidus and other cyprinoid fishes.
(b) In herpet., one of the cuticulur structures which form
the usual covering of reptiles proper, as distinguished
from amphibians, as a snake or lizard. These scales are
commonly small, and are distinguished from the special
shields or plates which cover the head, and the large spe-
cialized gastrosteffes or it^osteges of the under parts, as of a
serpent. They are usually arranged in definite rows or
series, and are also called scutes or scutella. In the Chclo-
niaoT turtles one of the thin plates of tortoise-shell which
cover the carapace is a scale. See tftrtidse-shell. (c) In or-
nith. : (1) A reduced feather, lacking locked barbs, and with
flattened stem : as, the scales of a penguin. (2) A feather
with metallic luster or iridescence, as those on the throat
of a humming-bird. (S) A nasal opercle ; a naricorn : as,
the nasal scale. (4) One of the large regular divisions of
the tarsal envelop; a scutellum : the smaller or irregular
pieces being usually called plates, (d) In mammal., one
of the cuticular plates which may replace hairs on much
ot the body ; as, the scales of a pangolin.
4. Something like or likened to a scale ; some-
thing desquamated or exfoliated; a flake; a
shell; a scab.
In the spiritual conflict of S. Pauls conversion there fell
scales from his eyes that were not perceav'd before.
Milton, Church-Government, i. 7.
Specifically— (a) A thin plate of bone ; a scale-like or shell-
like bone: as, thehumanlacrymalboneisamere«caie; the
squamosal is a thin scale of bone, (b) A part of the perios-
tracum, or epidermal covering of the shell of a mollusk.
(c) One of the broad flat structures, or hemielytra, which
cover some annelids, as the scalebacks, with a kind of
defensive armor, (d) In entom,.: (1) One of the minute
structures which constitute the covering of the wings of
lepidopterous insects, as the furriness of a butterfly or
moth. These are modified hairs which when well de-
veloped are thin, flat plates, pointed at the end where
they are attached to the surface and generally divideil
into a number of long teeth at the other end ; they are set
in rows overlapping each other slightly, like tiles or
shingles on a roof. These scales are ornamented with mi-
croscopic lines, and are of various and often very bright
colors. By covering the transparent membrane of the
wings they form the beautiful patterns much admired in
these insects. See cut in next column, and cut under Lepi-
doptera. (2)0ne of the plates, somewhat similar to those on
a butterfly's wing, covering the bodies of most Thysetnura
{Lepismatidm, Poduridas). (3) One of the little flakes which,
scattered singly or close together, so as to cover the whole
surface in a unifoi-m manner, ornament the bodies and
scale
'k'P'si
Placoiti Scales of a Shark
{Odontaspis littoratis).
Scales from Wing of Butterfly {P'anessa atitiopa), highly magnified.
I, from border of anterior wing, above; a, from border of
anterior wing, below.
wing-covers of many beetles, especially species of Curcu- '
lionidiB. These scales are frequently mingled with hairs;
they are often metallic and very beautifully colored. (4)
One of the rudimentary wings of some insects, as fleas,
or some similar process or formation on the thorax : as,
the covering scale, the operculum or tegula of various in-
sects. Baetegula. (5) The shield covering the body of most
female scale-insects (Coccida;), and subsequently, when
the insect dies and shrivels up, serving to protect the
a. Scales of Chionaspis pini/oliae upon pine-leaves, natural fize;
b, scale of male, enlarged ; c, straight scale of female, enlarged ; d,
curved scale of female, enlarged.
eggs and young which are concealed beneath it. (See ac-
companying cut.) It is formed cither by an exudation
from the body of the female, or by her cast-off larva-skins
cemented together. Hence — (6) A coccid ; a scale-insect:
as, the barnacle scale, Ceroplastes Hrripedi/ormis, common
in Florida. See cuts under coccus, cochineal, and scale-insect.
(7) A vertical dilatation of the petiole of the abdomen, found
in some ants. Also called nodus or node, (e) One of the
large hard scabs which form in some diseases of the human
skin. (/) One of the metal plates which form the sides of
the frame of a pocket knife, and to which the outer part, of
ivory or other material, is riveted, (g) The crust of oxid
formed on the surface of a metal heated with exposure to
the air : used chiefly with leference to iron, as in the terms
mill-scale, hainmer -scale, etc. — Black Scale, Lecanium
oleagy which feeds on the olive, oleander, citron, etc. It
originated in Europe, but is now found in (California and
Australia. (California.]— Chaff scale, Parlatoria per-
gandei, an enemy of the orange and lemon. [Florida.] —
Cottony maple-scale. See Pulvinaria. —Flat scale, Le-
canium hesperidum, a common greenhouse pest on many
plantsinallpartsof the world. — Fluted scale. SeectwA-
%oji-8cale. — Long scale, Mytilas]^'^ gloveri, a pest of citrus-
plants, common to southern Europe and the southern
tinited States. [Florida. ]- Mining scale, Chionaspis bi-
clavis, which burrows beneath the epidtrmal layer of
leaves and twigs of various tropical plants.— Oleander
scale, Aspidiotus nerii, a cosmopolitan enemy of the olean-
der.—Pine-leaf scale, Chionaspis pini/ulise. See figure
above. — Purple scale, Mytilaspis citricola, a pest of citrus-
plants in southern Europe and the southern l^nited States.
[Florida.] — Quince scale, Aspidiotus cydonisv, which in-
fests the (juince in Florida. — Red ^ChlQ^Aonidia aitratitity
a cosmopolitan enemy of the orange.— Rose Scale, Di-
aspis rosee, — San Jos^ scale, Asjndiotus jyerniciosus, in-
festing the apple and pear on the Pacific coast of the
United States.— Scales scaled. See scaled.— ^c^xefy
scale, Chionaspis /urfurus, a common pest of the apple
in the I'nited States. — White Scale. Same as cushion-
scale. — Willow scale, Chionaspis salicis, the common
white-willow bark-louse of Europe and Isorth America.
SCale^ (skal), V, ; pret. and pp. scaled, ppr. seal-
in(f. [Formerly also skaJe (Sc. sl'ail); < ME.
scalen, schalen = OHG. shelen, MHG. schebi. G.
schiilcn^ shell, = Sw. slcala=z Dan. skalle, shell,
hull (cf. D, schillen, pare, peel) ; from the noun,
but in the mere sense * separate' prob. in part
a secondary form (as if a var. of skillj r») of the
scale
primitive verb, Teut. ■\/ skal, skel, separate : see
«catei, H.] I. trans. 1. To deprive of scales, as
a fish.
Scalyn fysche. Exquamo, sqaamo.
Prompt. Pare, p. M2.
Our American neighbors neither allow set-neU, ordrift-
neU, on their shores, as they say nets break up the schulla
of herring, and destroy them by scaling — that is, rubbing
ol! their scales, when they are in a large body. Pertey.
2. To peel; husk; shell: as, to «ca?e almonds.
— 3. To pare down or off; shave or reduce, as
a surface.
If all the mountains and hills were gcaied and the earth
made even, the waters would not overflow its smooth sur-
face. T. Burtitt, Theory of the Earth, i. 7.
4. lu metal., to get rid of the scale or film of
oxid formed on the surface of (a metal), as of
iron plates, in order to obtain a clean surface
for tinning. — 5. To clean (the inside of a can-
non) by firing off a small quantity of powder.
The two large guns on the after tower were first teaUd
with light blank charges. Set. Amer. Supp., p. 8685.
6. To cause to separate ; disperse ; scatter : as.
to scale a crowd.
Ah, sirrah, now the hngy heaps of cares that lodgM In mj
mind
Are Kalid from their nestling-place, and pleasure* pusage
find.
For that, as well as Cl^omon, Clamydes broke his day.
PeeU, 8ir Clyomon and Sir Clamydes.
7. To spill : as, to scale salt; to scale water. —
8. To spread, as manure or some loose sub-
stance. [In the last three senses obsolete or
prov. Eng. or Scotch.]
H. intrans. 1. To separate and come off in
thin layers or laminee ; become reduced by the
separation or loss of surface scales or flakes.
The creature* that cast their skin are the snake, the vi-
per. . . . Those that cast their shell are the lobster, the
crab. . . . The old skins are found, but the old shells
never; so as it is like they teaU oO sod cmrable away
by degrees. Bacon, Nat. Hist, i 732.
The pillar IPompey's] is well preserved, except that It
hasaousd away a very little to the sonth.
' Poeodce, Description of the East, I. 8.
2. To separate; break up; disperse; scatter.
[Obsolete or prov. Eng. or Scotch.]
They wonld no longer abide, but tcaUd, A deputed
awaie. IlUinMhed, Chron., lU. 4M.
See how the* Kale, and turn their tall.
And rin to llail and plow, man.
Tht Battle of Sherif-Mttir, st. 6.
scale^ (skal), n. [Early mod. E. also scale; <
ME. scale, skale, also assibilated schale, also
(with reg. change of long a) scoale, scale, < AS.
scale (pi. scedla) (scdlel), a bowl, a dish of a
balance, = 08. scdla (scdial), a bowl (to drink
from), = North Fries, sical, head(-pan) of a
testaceous animal. Fries, skeel, a pot, = MD.
schalle, D. schaal = MLG. schale, a bowl, dish
of a balance, = OHG. seala {scdla f), MHO.
schale, schal, O. schale, a bowl, dish, cup, =
Icel. skal, a bowl, dish of a balance, = 8w. »Jt<JI
= Dan. skaal, a bowl, cup (whence E. skoal,
q. v.); akin to AS. scealu, sceale, a scale, shell,
etc., E. scaled, and to AS. scyll, scell, etc., shell,
E. shtll: see scaled, shell, sculll, skuU^, sculf^,
skii!r~, etc. The forms have been more or less
confused with those of scaled, and the distinc-
tion of quantity (d and d) is in the early forms
more or less uncertain.] If. A bowl; a cup.
A b*a*yn, a holle, other a tcole.
AUiUnMct Poemi (ed. Uonii,\ 0. 1148.
2. The bowl or dish of a balance ; hence, the
balance itself, or the whole instrument: as, to
turn the scale : eeuerally used in the plural
when applied to tne whole instrument.
They buy and sell not with golde, but slluer, and that
not coined, but euery one hath his ncolet with him to the
Market to weigh his slluer. Purchat, Pilgrimage, p. 438.
I am one of those indilTerent Men that would hare the
Scale* of Power In Europe kept even.
MowM, Letters, IL 43.
Long time In even leaU
The battle hung. JTOtm, P. L, vL 146.
3. /;^ [rn;).] The sign of the Balance, or Libra,
in the zodiac — Beam and scalM, a balance.— Evan
scales, scales In which thclHum is suspended at the mid-
point of its IcMigth, w, that Ihi- |H.i»e and the object bal-
anced must 111- i»f the same wi'ixht. -Plg-metal scales
Sec ;/i.;mW«/.- Registering «cale, a wilghing-scale in
which prca^nrc on a stud causes the weight of the object
In the iu;:il.- to be rcTOrded on a card. E. B. Knight. (See
also ptat/'/nn-Hcaie.)
BCale'-i (skal), V. t. [< «ot/c2, n.] 1. To weigh
in or as in scales; measure; compare; estimate.
You have found.
Scaling his present bearing with his past.
That ho 's your filed enemy. Skak., Cor., 11. X 257.
"Well," says old Bitten, "I expect I can tcate a fair
load of wood with e'er a man." LowM, Flti Adam's Story.
5369
2. To weigh; have a weight of: as, the fish
«caW seven pounds. [Colloq.] — 3. To make
of the proper or exact weight : as, a sealed pot-
tle of wine. [Colloq. or trade use.]
It is kneaded, allowed to stand an hour, and scaled into
loaves, and baked, the oven being at 400° Fah. to 450' Fah.
Sci. Amer., N. S., LXII. 140.
Scaled herring, a smoked herring of the best quality.
It must be 7 inches long, and fat. — Scaling Off, in bread-
making, the process of cutting off masses of dough and
bringing them to proper weight,
SCale^ (skal), n. [Early mod. E. also skale ; <
ME. scale, skale = OF. eschiel, sequele, F. echelle,
a ladder, = Sp. Pg. escala, a ladder, staircase,
scale, = It. seala, a ladder, staircase, scale, <
L. scdUi, usually in pi. scdiee, a flight of steps,
stairs, a staircase, a ladder, for 'scadla, < scan-
dere, climb: see scan, ascend, descend, etc.
From the L. scdla are also ult. E. scalade, esca-
lade, eschelon, etc. In def. 7'the noun is from
the verb.] 1. A ladder; a flight of steps ; any-
thing by means of which one may ascend.
All true and fruitful natural philosophy hath a double
$eaU or ladder, ascendent and descendent.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 15&
Love refines
The thoughts, and heart enlarges ; ... is the tcale
By which to heavenly love thou mayst ascend.
Mdton, P. L., vUi. 59L
One still sees, on the bendlngs of these mountains, the
marks of several ancient icalet of stairs, by which they
used to ascend them.
Addiion, Kemarks on Italy (Works, ed. Bohn, I. 445).
2. A series of marks laid down at determinate
distances along a line, for purposes of measure-
ment and computation ; also,tlie rule upon which
one or more such series are laid down. — 3. In
music: (a) A definite and standard series of
tones within some large limiting interval, like
an octave, selected for artistic purposes. The
first step towart] an artistic system of tones is the adoption
of some interval for the division of the infinite possible
range of tones Into convenient sections of equal length. In
Greek mnslc, this unit of division was originally the tetra-
cbord; In medieval music, the hexachord; and in nicxlern
miulc, the octave, though the octave Is more or less recog.
nized In all systems. Within the tetrachord, hexachord, or
octave various scale* are possible. (See tetrachord and
hexachord.) The abstract method whereby the octave
is divided and the succession of tones ordered within it
is properly called a mode; bat when a mode is applied
at some given pitch the concrete result Is called a key or
eeale (though vu>de and «ni<« are often used Interchange-
ably in the abstract sense). A scale is distingoished from
a key in that it is used simply of the tones of the key
when arranged in order of pitch. The successive tones
of a scale are called degrtet; they are usually numbered
from below upward. The firsttoneor starting-tone iscalled
the keynote or keystone. The historic process of scalein-
Tentlon is, of course, nncoDscloua. The selection of tones
seems to be controlled primarily by an Instinctive percep-
tion of their harmonic relations to the starting-tmie and
to each other, though limited and modified by a desire to
secure an even melodic succession without too short In-
tervals. When the smallest interval allowed is the whole
step or major second, five-toned or pentatonic scales are
produced, such as are used among the Chinese, in the
older music of various Celtic nations, and by certain senii-
civllized peoples. When the half step or semitone is tol-
erated, seven-toned or beptatonic scales are produced, as
In the later Greek and all modem systems. When smaller
intervals than the semitone are admitted, scale* of more'
than seven tone* are produced, as among the Hindus, the
Persians, and other Oirlentals. In modem European mu-
sic two chief forms of scale are used, the major and the
minor, the latter having three varieties. (See model, 7 (o)
(3V) Both forms are termed dialonie. When, for pur-
poses of modulation or of melodic variety, other interme-
diate tones sre added, they are called chromatic lonet, and
a scale in which all the longer steps of a diatonic scale
are divided by such Intermediate tones Is a chromatic teale,
contaioinic eleven tones in alL (See chromalie.) Properiy
an upward chromatic scale for melodic purposes dmers
from a downward, hat on the keyboard tney are assumed
to be eqnivalent. In written music, a scale noted In both
sharps and flats, so as to include the nominal constituents
of both an opward and a downward chromatic scale. Is
called an enharmonic aeale. A chromatic scale for har-
monic purposes includes. In addition to the tones of the
nsaal diatonic major scale, a minor second, a minor third,
an augmented fourth, a minor sixth, and a minor seventh.
When a scale of either kind ismndc npof tones having ex-
act harmonic relations with the key-note. It is called exact
ot'pvre; bat the compromise construction of the keyboard
reduces all scales to an arbitrary form, called tempered.
In solmtsation, the tones of a scale are represented by the
syllables do, «, mi, etc. (See interml, keyboard, eolmiia-
tion, and temperament.') (ft) Any particular scale
based upon a given key-note : as, the scale of
Cr or of F. Unless otherwise qualified, such a scale is
understood to be a major scale. All major scales are es-
sentially similar, except In pitch ; all minor scales also.
On the Keyboard, however, there is considerable mechan-
ical difference <m account of the varying succession of the
white and black digiUla. {^eekeyi,!.) (c) Of a voice
or an instrument, same as compass, 5. (d) In
an organ-pipe, the ratio between its width and
its length : a broa<l scale j>roduc)ng full, sono-
rous tones, as in the open diapason ; and a nar-
row scale, thin, string-like tones, as in the dul-
ciaua. The same usage occurs oooaslonally in oonnec-
scale
tion with other Instruments, referring to size in relation to
the quality of the tones produced.
4. Succession of ascending or descending steps
or degrees ; progressive series ; scheme of com-
parative rank or order; gradation.
There is in this universe a stair, or manifest tcale, of
creatures, rising not disorderly, or in confusion, but with
a comely method and proportion.
Sir T. Browne, Religio Medici, i. S3.
The higher nature still advances, and preserves his su-
periority in the scale of being. Addison.
In passing down the animal sc(Ue, the central spot [of
the eye) is quickly lost. It exists only in man and the
higher monkeys. Le Conte, Sight, p. 76.
5. A system of proportion by which definite
magnitudes represent definite magnitudes, in
a sculpture, picture, map, and the Ske ; also, a
system of proportion for taxation or other pur-
pose.
He [Governor Van TwiUer] conceived every subject on
BO grand a scale that he had not room in his head to turn
it over and examine both sides of it.
Irving, ICnickerbocker, p. 149.
6. A system of numeration or numerical nota-
tion.— 7. Any graded system of terms, shades,
tints, sounds, etc., by reference to which the
degree, intensity, or quality of a phenomenon
or sense-perception may be estimated. — 8f.
The act of storming a place by mounting the
walls on ladders; an escalade or scalade.
Others to a city strong
Lay siege, encamp'd ; by battery, scale, and mine
Assaulting. Milton, P. L., xi. 666.
Accompaniment of the scale. See accompaniment.—
AuzUietry scales, Babylonian scale, binary scale,
diagonal scale, dialing scale. See fbe adjectives.—
Centigrade scale. See (A^ndonK-^er.— Character of
scales and keys. See c*aracr<T.~ Differential scale.
In alg., the diJference between unity :uid the scale of re-
lation.-Duodenaiy, fundamental, harmonic scale.
See the adjectives.— Effective scale of Intercalations.
See e/Mttcc. — Fahrenheit scale. See thermmneter.—
Ounter's scale, a lar^'e plane scale having various lines
upon it, both iiatnnil and lopaiithmic, of great use in
solving nieclianicHlly by means of a slider problems In
navigation and suiveying. It is usually 2 feet long, and
about U inches broad— Magnetic scale. Seeniagiietic.
— 'ManTlhelm scale, an arbitrary scale of four terms, for
estimating and rec(uding the force of the wind, adopted
by the Mannheiin -Meteorological Association about 1780,
and for a time very widely used by European meteorologi-
cal observers. — Mlonnet'S SCaJe Ifrom ilioimet, the
French numismatist, wlio used it in his "Description de
Midailles Antiiiucs," published in 18071, an arbitrary scale
often employed by numismatists for measuring coins and
medals. Many English immismatists, however, measure
by inches and tvntlis of an inch.— Octave, plane, pro-
portional scale. See the adjectives.— Pentatonic or
qulnquegrade scale. See def. s (a).— Reaumur's
scale. See tAermonu>«r.— Scale of color, in art, the
combination of colors used in a design.- Scale Of hard-
ness, in mineral. See hardness. — Scale of relation, the
polynomial obtained by taking the equation of finite dif-
ferences which subsists between the coefficients of a re-
curring series, by bringing all tlie terms to one side by
transposition, anil by substituting in this expression for
the successive coefficients of the series, beginning with
the highest involved, the successive powers or a:.— Scotch
scale, a form of i>entatonic scale found in old Scotch
melodies.— Sliding scale. See slide, c. i.— Triangular
scale, a rule of triangular section, differently dividedon its
several edges, so as to afford a choice of scales. It is made
either of steel or other metaL or of boxwood, and Is used by
engineers and draftsmen. E. II. Knight —WiJii-SCtkle, sl
numl)er of descriptive terms systematically arranged for
use in estimating the force of the wind. Scales of four, six,
seven, ten, and twelve terms have been usc(l by different
meteorological services. Seamen of all nations have very
generally adopted the Beaufort scale, introduced into the
British navy by Admiral Beaufort in 1805. This is a scale
of twelve terais, as follows : 1, light air ; 2, light breeze ;
3. gentle breeze ; 4, moderate breeze ; tt, fresh breeze ; 6,
strong breeze; 7, moderate gale; 8, fresh gale; 9, strong
gale ; 10^ whole gale ; II, storm ; 12; hurricane.
Scale^ (skal), II. ; pret. and pp. scaled, ppr. seaU
ing. [Early mod. E. also stale; < ME. scalen =
OF. escheler, escheller = Sp. Pg. escalar = It.
scalarc, < ML. scalare, climb by means of a lad-
der, scale, < L. scdla, a ladder: see scaled, ji.]
1. trans. 1. To climb by or as by a ladder; as-
cend by steps; in general, to clamber up.
Often have I scaled the craggie Oke.
Spenser, Shep. Cal., December.
My soule with joy shall scale the skies.
The Merchant's Daughter (Child's Ballads, IV. 336).
Other Captains of the English did yet more, for they
sealed Belleperche in the Province of Bourbon.
Baker, Chronicles, p. 126.
How they climb, and scale the steepy Walls !
Congreve, On the Taking of Namure.
2. To draw, project, or make according to scale ;
represent in true proportions. — 3. In himher-
iiuj, to measure (logs), or estimate the amount
of (standing timber). [U. 8. and Canada.] —
4. To cut down or decrease proportionally in
every part; decrease or reduce according to
a fixed scale or proportion: sometimes with
down : as, to scale w^es ; to scale a debt or an
appropriation.
scale
5370
It will require seventeen and one-half years, provided scale-grOUnd (skal'gi'ound), )(. Ground orna-
there be no failure of tlie bills during that period, and ,„B,,t„,q .^rfti7 <,„„i„„„.i, "
that the item be not ttaUd down. mented w itli scalework.
your. Franklin Inst., CXXVI. 340.
n. intrans. To afford an aseent, as a ladder
or stairs ; lead up by steps or stairs.
Satan from hence, now on the lower stair
That scaled by steps of gold to heaven's gate,
Looks down with wonder. Milton, l\ L., iii. 541.
scaleable, «. See scalable.
scale-armor (skarar'mor), n. Armor consist-
ing of scales of metal
or other hard and resis-
tant substances secured
to a flexible material,
such as leather or linen,
so as to lap over one an-
other. It has been used by
all amiorwearing nations, but
never as the most common
style. In Europe it was intro-
duced as early as the begin-
ning of the twelfth century,
and was not absolutely relin-
quished until the fifteenth,
but never replaced other kinds
or became very common. See
horn-mail. Also called plate-
inail.
n. An annelid of the
family AjihrodititJse ; a scaleworm; a kind of
marine worm covered with scales or elytra on
the back, as a sea-mouse or sea-centiped: as,
the scolopendrine scaleiack, Polynoe scolopen-
drina. See cut under Polynoe.
scale-beam (skal'bem), n. The beam or lever
of a balance.
scale-bearer (skarbar''6r), n. A hydrozoan of
the family Bhodophysidx.
scale-bearing (skar'bar''ing), a. Having on the
back a series of scales called hemielytra : spe-
cifically noting certain marine annelids, the
sea-mice or Aphrodithlse.
scale-board (skal'bord, often skab'ord), n. 1.
A very thin board, such as is used for the back
of a picture or a looking-glass.
Pasteboard, millboard, and scaleboard were included in
the tax. S. Dowell, Taxes in England, II. 78.
2. In printing, a thin strip of wood, less than
type-high, formerly used around pages of type
to aid in getting exact margins and register.
Cardboard is now used for this purpose Scale-
board plane. SeepianeS.
scale-borer (skal'b6r''6r), n.
scale-hair (skal'har), n. In entom., a short,
flattened hair, having the form of a scale:
applied especially to such hairs clothing the
lower surfaces of the tarsi in certain in-
sects.
scale-insect (skal'in'sekt), n. Any insect of
the homopterous family Coccidie; a scale: so
scaling
scalenohedron (ska-le-no-he'dron), n. [NL.,
< Gr. cKa'Arivo^, uneven, -i- f<!pn,'a seat, base.]
In crystal., a twelve-sided form
under the rhombohedral division
of the hexagonal system, in which
the faces are scalene triangles. It
is regarded as a hemihedral form
of the double twelve-sided pyra-
mid. See hemihedral.
called from the appearance they present when scalenon (ska-le'nonj, a. [< Gr
sticking fast to plants, and from the fact that
most of the common forms secrete a large
shield-like scale under which they hide and
feed. The genera and species are numerous, and all are
destructive to vegetation, usually remaining stationary
upon the bark and sucking the sap through their slen-
der beaks. Chionaspis pin\foliee is a common species
throughout the United States, and infests the different
species of Pinus. (See cut under scalei, n., 4 (<f) (5).)
Scalenohedron.
Scale-armor of the Early
Middle Ages. (From Viollet-
ie-l>uc's "Diet, du Mobilier
fran^ais.")
scaleback (skal'bak),
Scale-insect.— Oyster-shell bark-loi;se of the apple (Mylitaspis
poTnorutn) ; male.
a, ventral view with wings closed; *. dorsal view with wings ex-
panded ; c. scale (line shows natural size) ; d, leg : f, antennal joint.
(All much enlarged.)
Mytilaspis pomorum is the cosmopolitan oyster-shell
bark-louse or scale-insect of the apple, probably origi-
nally European, now found in both Americas, Australia, __ _ .^
TdSd^""'"'"'"""''*^^''^*'^ scale-lnsectB. the scaie°-pYpette (7kal'pi-pVt^")7«
scaleless (skal'les), a. [< scalel + -less.-\ Hav- f^l^^ "^^^^ f gi'aduated scale marke(3 on it, for
aKa'Ar/vdv (so. rplyiMov), neut. of OKd-
y.iv6(;, scalene: see scalene, scale-
»(«(«.] Scalene.
A triangle . . . must be neither oblique,
nor rectangle, neither equilateral, equi-
crural, nor scalenon.
Locke, Human Understanding, IV. vii. 9.
scalenous (ska-le'nus), a. [< L.
scalenus, scalene: see scalene.'] Same as sca-
lene.
Scalent (ska'Ient), n. In geol., the name given
by H. D. Rogers to a division of the Paleozoic
series in Pennsylvania. It forms, with the Preme-
ridian, the upper part of the Upper Silurian, and is the
equivalent of the Onondaga shales of the New York Sur-
vey.
scalenum (ska-le'num), n. [NL., < Gr. aKokirviv
(sc. Tpiymiov), neut. of atm'krpjiq, scalene: see
scalene, scalenon.] A scalene triangle.
Suppose but a man not to have a perfect exact idea of
a right angle, a scalenum, or trapezium.
Locke, Human Understanding, IV. xii. 15.
scalenus (skS-le'nus), «.; pi. scaleni (-ni). [NL.
(sc. musculns), < Gr. cKa'AijvdQ, iineven : see sca-
lene.] A scalene muscle.- Scalenus antlcus, me-
dius, and posticus, the anterior, middle, and posterior
scalene muscles — three muscles in man connecting the
transverse processes of the six lower cervical vertebra; with
the first and second ribs. They assist in respiration, and
belong to the group of muscles called prevertebral. Also
called respectively prescalenvs, mediaealeims, and postsca-
lenus. See first cut under musclel.
scale-pattern (skarpat'em), n. and a. I. n.
An imbricated pattern.
II. a. Imbricated; having a pattern resem-
bling scales : as, a scafe-;MHfr« tea-cup.
' " ' A tubular pi-
iug no scales : as, the scaleless amphibians ; the ^^^"S "P,<if fi'^ite quantities of liquid.
scatetess rhizome of a fern. SCale-Ctuail (skal kwal),«. An American quail
- - 01 the genus Calhpepla, as C. squamaia, having
scale-like markings of the plumage. C'oues,
1884. See cut under Callipepla.
removing scale from boiler-tubes
scale-bug (skal'bug), ». Same as scale-insect.
scale-carp (skal'kiirp), n. See carp'^, 1.
scaled (skald), a. [< ME. scaled; < scaW^ +
-ed-.] 1. Having scales, as a fish or reptile;
scaly; squamate. — 2. Having scutella, as a
bird's tarsus ; scutellate. See cuts under Goura
and Cruttera. — 3. Having color-markings which
resemble scales or produce a scaly appearance :
as, a scaled dove or quail. See cuts under
Scardafella and Callipepla. — 4. In entom., cov-
ered with minute scales, as the wings of but-
terflies and moths, the bodies of many weevils,
etc. See cut under seale'^, n. — 5. In her., im-
bricated ; covered with an imbricated pattern.
See e«caZtopcrf.— Scaled pattern, a pattern made by
irregular impressions in the surface, close together, leav-
ing small, rough ridges between them. — Scales scaled,
In her., a bearing representing a field imbricated, and hav-
ing ever)' one of the imbrications cusped or lobed with
three or more divisions.
scale-degree (skal'df-gre'), n. See degree, 8
{d), and scaled, 3 (a).'
scale-dove (skal'duv), n. An American dove
of the genus Scardafella, as S. inca or S. squa-
mata, having the plumage marked as if vrith
scales. Cones, 1884. See cut under Scarda-
fella.
scale-drake (skal'drak), n. Same as sheldrake.
[Orkneys.]
scale-duck (skal'duk), B. SeedmJcK C. Swain-
son, 1885.
scale-feather (skarfeTH"6r), «. A scaly fea-
ther. See scaled, n., 3 (c), (1) and (2).
scale-fern (skarffern), n. [Also dial, scalfern;
< scafei -I- fern^.] Same as scaly fern (which
see, under scaly).
scale-flsh (skal'fish), M. l. Same as «crt&6a>-d-
fish, 1. See scalefoot. — 2. A dry-cured fish, as
the haddock, hake, pollack, cusk, or torsk, hav-
ing much less commercial value than the cod,
which is distinguished as fish, [A fishmongers'
name.]
scalefoot (skal'fut), n. The scabbard-fish : so
called from the reduction of the ventral fijis to
scale-like appendages, being a translation of
the generic name Lepidopus. See scabbard-fish.
scale-louse (skal'lous), n. A scale-insect, es-
pecially of the subfamily Diaspinse..
A machine for scale-niicrometer (skarmi-krom"e-t6r), n. In
a telescope, a graduated scale fixed in the field
of view to measure distances between objects;
a linear micrometer. E. If. Knight.
scale-moss (skal'mos), n. A popular name for
certain plants of the class Hepaticm, and espe-
cially of the order ^Tmh-
germanniacese. iTiey re-
semble moss, and grow on
the trunks of trees, in damp
earth, and in similar places,
and are so called from the
scale-like leaves. See Jun-
gemmnnia, Jungermanni-
acese, and Hepaticse.
scalene (ska-len'), a.
and n. [= OF. sca-
lene, F. scalene = Sp.
escaleno = Pg. escale-
no, scaleno = It. sca-
leno, < Ij.scalenus, < Gr.
amkitvi^, uneven, un-
equal, odd, slanting,
scalene, oblique (rpi-
yuvov GKd^.rjv6v, a sea-^
lene triangle); prob.
akin to aKoki6q, crooked ; ctkc /.Adf , crooked-legged ;
(T/cf/lof, a leg.] I. a. 1. In jwaife., having three
sides unequal: noting a triangle so
constructed.
said to be scalene when its axis is inclined to
scaler! (ska'lfer), M. [< sccrfel -t- -erl.] 1. One
who scales fish ; distinctively, a person in the
act of scaling, or who makes a business of it:
used specifically of the sealing of menhaden. —
2. An instrument resembling a currycomb and
usually made of tin, used for removing scales
from fish. — 3. An instrument used by dentists
in removing tartar from the teeth.
scaler^ (ska'ler), n. [< sailed -t- -cj-l.] One
who scales or measures logs.
scale-shell (skal'shel), n. A bivalve mollusk
of the family Leptonidx. See cut under Lep-
tonida-.
scale-stone (skal'ston), «. Tabular spar, or
wollastonite.
SCaletail (skal'tal), ». An animal of the genus
Anomalurus. See Anomaliiridee.
The scale-tails are unmistakably sciurine.
Stand. Sat. Hist.,
Scale-mosses.
1, Ptilidium ciliare ;
/en minor. (Both natural size.)
, Lofhoco-
V. 132.
scale-tailed (skal'tald), a. Having scales on
the under side of the tail : noting the Anoma-
liiridee. Coues. See cut under Anmnuluridse.
scale-winged (skal'wingd), a. Having the
wings covered with minute scales ; lepidopter-
ous, as a moth or butterfly: specifically noting
the Lepidoptera. Also scaly-xcinged. See cuts
under Lepidoptera, and scaled, n., 4 (d) (1).
A cone or (;ylinder is also scaleworfc (skal'werk), n. 1. Obiects or parts
itsbase,butinthrsc™srthe''lVi\Let<,w4«« °^ "^^"""^ consisting of scales lapping over
is more frequently used. See also cut under one another, as m a kind of ai-mor. See
scalermhedron. scale-armor. — 2. Imbrication; imbricated or-
2. In anat: (a) Obliquely situated and un- nament.
equal-sided, as a muscle: specifically said of scaleworm (skal'wferm), n. A scaleback.
the scaleni. See scalenus, (h) Pertaining to scaliness (ska'li-nes), n. Scaly character or
contiition.
SCalingl (ska'ling), n. [Verbal n. of scaW^, r.]
1 . The process of removing incrustations of
a scalene muscle — Scalene tubercle, a prominence
on the inner border of tlie first rib for attachment of tlie
scalenus anticus muscle,
II. n. 1. A scalene triangle. — 2. One of the
scalene muscles. See scalenus.
scaleni, «. Plural of scalenus.
scalenohedral (ska-le-no-he'dral), a. [< scale-
nohedron + -al.] Pertaining to or having the
form of a scalenohedron.
The etchings were of very great beauty and perfection, ,,.,,„,v ,„„ , ,,„ ,.,.„ ,,-« ,
the outline of the scalenohedral cross sections being in „ „T 1 ? V.'?,^^^'^"
almost all cases very distinct and free from distortions Scaling^ (SKa Img), a
of any kind. Amer. Jour. Sci., 3d sen, XXXIX. 376.
salt and other foreign matters from the inner
surface of boilers. — 2. In mctal-worl-ing, the
first process in making tin-plate, in which the
plates are placed in a bath of dilute muriatic
acid and then heated in a scaling-fumace to
remove the scale. — 3. The act or process of
removing the scales of fish.
;caling! (ska'ling), a. Liable to rub the scales
off fish, as some nets.
0'(
yLy&-
K^^'
ft'iA
scaling
scaling- (ska'ling), «. [Verbal n. of scaled, r.]
The process of adjusting sights to the guns on
board of a ship.
scaling-bar (ska'Ilng-bar), «. A bar or rod for
removing the incrustation or scale from heat-
ing-surfaces, as from the surface of a steam-
boiler.
scaling-fumace (ska'ling-fer'nas), n. In metal.,
a furnace or oven in which plates of iron are
heated for the purpose of scaling them, as in
the preparation of plates for tinning.
scaling-namnier (ska'ling-ham'fir), n. A ham-
mer for tlio rt inoval of scale.
scaling-knife (ska'ling-nif), n. A knife used
to remove scales from fish. It is sometimes
made mth a serrated edge.
scaling-ladder (ska'ling-lad'fer), n. 1. A lad-
der used forthe escalade of an enemy's fortress.
Besides an ordinar>- ladder with hooks at the upper end
and similar tittinga, which is the common kind, scaling-
ladders have been made with braces to support them at
the proper angle and wheels by which the whole structure
was run close up to the walls. They are now used chiefly
for descending the height of the counterscarp into the
ditch.
2. In her., a bearing representing a ladder hav-
ingtwo pointed hooks at the tops of the uprights
and two pointed ferrules at the bottom. — 3.
A firemen's ladder used for scaling buildings.
See ladder.
scaling-machine (ska'ling-ma-shen'), n. Same
as -scnUr, '1.
scaliola, «. See scagliola.
scall (skal), «. [Early mod. E. also skaU, skal,
scaule ; < ME. slcalle, scalle, scalde, a scab, scab-
biness, eruption (generally used of the head), <
Icel. skalli, a bald head; cf. skollottr, bald-
headed; Sw. skatliii, bald, lit. having a smooth
roundish head, like a shell, < Icel. *skal, Sw.
Dan. skal, a husk, shell, pod, = AS. seealu,
aeeale, a shell-husk (cf. V. Ule, a head, ult.
< L. testa, a shell) : see scaled. Cf. scalled.']
1 . A scaly eruption on the skin ; scab ; scurf ;
seabbiness.
Vnder thy longe locke* tboo nuist bare the teaUt,
But after my making thou writ« more trewe.
Chauetr, Scrivener, L S.
It U a drr teatt, eren a leproiy upon the head.
Ler. xiiLSa
2. In mining, loose ground ; rock which easily
becomes loosened, on account of its scaly or
foliated structure. [Cornwall, Eng.]— Dry acalL
paoriaaia, scabiea, and other cutaneoo* aflectiona.— If oi>f
gcall, eczema. Compare teald^, n.
scallt (skal), a. [Abbr. or misprint of scalled.1
Mean; paltiy.
To be rerenge on thia tune teaU, acurvy, cogging com-
panion. S»o*., M. W. of W., 111. 1. 12S.
scallawag, n. See sealavcag.
Bcalled, scald^ (sk&Id), a. [< ME. tcaUed,
skulled ; < scall + -e(P. Prob. in part dependent
on the orig. noun, < Sw. Dan. «An(, etc., shell (see
scaled); cf. Dan. skaldet, bald.] 1. Scabby; af-
fected with scald: as, a scald head.
With $eaUd browe* bUke and piled herd.
CltatuxT, Oen. ProL to C. T., 1. 627.
If (she hare) a fat hand and tcald naila, let her carve the
leaa, and act In glovea. B. Joiuon, Eptccene, iv. 1.
Hence — 2. Scurvy; mean; paltry; wretched;
contemptible.
Would it not grieve a King ... to hare bl* diadem
Bought for by such tcald Knavea aa love him not?
Marlowe, Taroborlalne the Oreat, I., 11. 2.
Other news I am aduertlaed of, that a $caid trivial lying
pamphlet, cald Ureena Oroataworth of Wit, la given out
to be of my doing.
A(uA<, quoted In Int to Pierce riiiillnmni ii
Your gravity once laid
My bead and heel* ta«etb«r in the dungeon.
For cracking a aeoid olilcer'a crown.
fUtOerCand oOert), Bloody Brother, L 1.
Sc&ld crow, the hooded crow,
scallion (skaryon), n. [Formerly called, more
fully, ycallinu onion; early mod. E. alaoskallion,
sralinti : < ME. scalyon, scalane (also scalier) =
I), xrhiifimrir = It. sralngna (Florio), scalogno
— S|). (inralimia, mcalona, < L. Ascalonia csppa,
ML. a^nnlonin, or asealonium (sc. allium), the
onion of Asoalon ; fem. or neut. of Asealonius,
of Ascalon, < Asealo{n-), < Gr. 'AoKd'/Mv, Asca-
lon in Palestine. Cf. shallot, fjpm the same
source.] The shallot, Allium Ascalonicum, espe-
cially a variety majus ; also, the leek, and the
common onion when sown thick so as not to
form a large bulb.
Ac Ich haue porett-plontea perselye and lealonet,
Chlboies and chiruyllea and chlries aam-rede.
Piert Plomaan(C). Ix. 810.
Sivot, a teaUim, a hollow or vnset Leeke. Cotgraoe.
Let Peter Onion (by the Infernal goda) be turned to a
leek, or a tcaUion. B. Jmuon, Caae la Altered, It. S.
Scallop {NtHHitet
pusio).
5371
scallion-facedt (skal'yon-fast), a. Having a
mean, scurvy face or appearance.
His father's diet was new cheese and onions, . . . what
a $caUion-/aced rascal 'tis !
Fletcher (and another), Love's Cure, ii. 1.
scallop (skol'- or skal'op), n. [Also scollop, and
formerly seollup, early mod. E. scaloppe (also
in more technical use escallop, escalop) ; < ME.
scalop, skalop, < OF. escalope, a shell, < MD.
schelpe, D. schelp = LG. schelpe, schulpe, a
shell, esp. a scallop-shell: see scalp^.] 1. A
bivalve moUusk of the fam-
ily Pectinidsc ; any pecten.
There are many species, recent
and fossil, among them PecUn
maximua, of great size, and P. jaco-
baug, the St. James's shell. They
are used for food and for other pur-
poses. A common scallop of the
Atlantic coast of the United States
is P. irradians. P. tentacoOattu
is a large species of the United
States, used for food, and ita ahella
for domestic utensils. Hinnites pu-
no is a different style of scallop from
these, very prettily marked. See
also cut under Peetinidx.
Oceanns . . . aita triumphantly in the vast (but queint)
ahell of a siluer tcoUup, reyning in the heads of two wild
sea-boreea.
Dekker, London's Tempe (Works, ed. Pearson, IV. 119X
And luscious 'Scattopi to allure the Tastes
Of rigid Zealots to delicioua Fasts.
Gay, Trivia, ii. 417.
2. One of the valves of a scallop or pecten ; a
scallop-shell, as a utensil; also, a scallop-shell
as the badge of a pilgrim. See scallop-shell.
My palmers hat, my geailopg shell,
Hy croflse, my cord, and all, farewell !
Uerrick, On Himselfe.
Religion . . . had grown to be with both parties a po-
litical badge, aa little typical of the inward man aa the ical-
lopot» pilgrim. LovxU, Study Windows, p. 399.
3. In her., the representation of a scallop. —
4. A small shallow pan in which fish, oysters,
mince-meat, etc., are cooked, or are finally
browned after being cooked. This was originally
a large •callop-abetl : it aometimes is >o still, or is made
In the exact form of auch a ahell.
8. One of a number of small curves resembling
segments of circles, cut by way of ornament on
the edge of a thing, the whole simulating the
outer Mge of a scallop-shell.
Baae* and boaklna cut likewise at the top into ailner
•mUioia.
Dekker, London's Tempe (Works, ed. Pearson, IV. 119).
6. A lace band or collar scalloped round the
edges.
Made myaelf One with Capt. Ferrers' lace band, being
lothe to wear my own new icattop, it is ao tine.
Pepyt, Diary, Oct. 12, 1862.
Scallop t>1Iddlng, in hort., a method of budding per-
formed by paring a thin tongue-ahaped section of bark
from the stock, and applying the bud without divesting it
of ita portion of wood, so that the barks of both may ex-
actly nt, and then tying It in the usual way.
scallop (skol'- or skal'op), f. t. ^Also scollop
(also in more technical use escallop) ; < scalloji,
n.] 1. To mark or cut the edge of into convex
rounded lobes, (a) Regularly, aa for ornamental pur-
Compare inveeted. (6) Irregularly, In a general
See uie quotation.
Have I for this with labour strove.
And lavish'd all my little store.
To fence for you my shady grove.
And ecoUop every winding shore?
ShenKtone, Ode after Sickness.
2. To cook in a scallop; hence, specifically, to
prepare by mixing with crumbs, seasoning, and
baking until browned on the top: as, to scallop
fish or meat.
The shell [of the scallop Pectm maximxxt] is often used
for teaUoping oysten. E. P. Wright, Anim. Life, p. 555.
Bcallop-crab (skol'op-krab), n. A kind of pea-
crab, Pinnotheres pectinicola, inhabiting seal-
lops.
scalloped (skol'- or skaropt),p. a. [.Also scol-
loped; < scallop + -crf2.] 1. Furnished with a
scallop; made or done with a scallop. — 2. Cut
at the edge or border into segments of circles.
A wide nriMMd arch with teaUoped ornaments.
Gray, To Mason. (Latham.)
3. In her., same as escalloped.
It may be known that Monteth was a gentleman with
a ecattoped coat. W. King, Art of Cookery, Letter v.
4. In 6of., same as cren«<ei, 1(a). — 6. Cooked in
a scallop.- Scalloped kalanchoe. See Kalanchoe, 1.
— Scalloped oysters, oyHtfrs Imlced with bread-crumbs,
cream, jieppt-r, i*alt, mitntfj.', and a little butter. This
was at IlrKt litt-rally done in distinct scallop-shells, and
aflerwarcl in a dish for tliL* purpose called a gcaltop.
Bcalloped-hazel (skol'opt-ha'zl), n. A British
geometrid moth, Odontopera bidentata.
scalp
scalloped-hooktip (skoropt-huk'tlp), ». A
Britisn moth, Platypteryx tacerttila.
SCalloped-oak (skol'opt-ok), n. A British geo-
metrid moth, Crocaliis elingtiaria.
scalloper (skol'- or skal'op-er), n. One who
gathers scallops. Also spelled seolloper.
The scaltopers will tell you everywhere that the more
they [scallops] are raked the more abundant they become.
Fisheries of U. S., V. ii. 570.
scalloping (skol'- or skal'op-ing), n. [Verbal
n. of scallop, v.'] The act or industry of taking
scallops.
scalloping-tool (skol'op-ing-tol), n. In saddlery,
a tool for forming an ornamental edge on lea-
ther straps.
scallop-moth (skorop-m6th), «. A collectors'
name in England for certain geometrid moths.
Scodiona belgiaria is the gray scallop-moth.
scallop-net (skol'op-net), n. A small dredge-
like net used for taking scallops. [New Bed-
ford, Massachusetts.]
scallop-shell (skol'op-shel), n. [Also escallop-
shell; early mod. E'.' scaloppe-shell ; < scallop +
sheU.I 1. Ascallop, or the shell or valve of one.
The scallop-shell was the badge of a pilgrim.
Compare cockle-shell.
And in thy hand retaining yet
The pilgrim's stall and scallop-shelt !
Whittier, Daniel Wheeler.
2. A British geometrid moth, Eucosmia undu-
latfi.
scallyt (ska'li), a. [< scall + -^i.] Scalled ;
scurfy; scald.
Over its eyes there are two hard teaUy knobs, as big aa
a man's fist. Dampier, Voyages, an. 1676.
scalma (skal'ma), n. [NL., < OHG. scalmo,
scelmo, pestilence, contagion: see schelm.'] An
obscure disease of horses, described and named
by Professor Dieckerhoff of Berlin in 1885. it
manifests itself by cou^thing, difficult breathing, pale-
ness of the mucous membranes, loss of strength, fever,
and more rarely pleuritis. The disease is more or less
contagious in stables. Recovery takes place witliin three
or four weeks.
scalonet, «• A Middle English form of scallion.
scalopt, «• A Middle English form of scallop.
Scalops (ska'lops), n. [NL. (Cuvier, 1800), <
Gr. (TKO/ioV/, a mole, < OKoM-ew, stir up, dig.] A
^enus of American shrew-moles of the subfam-
ily Talpina, having the median upper incisors
enlarged and rodent-like, the nose not fringed,
and the dental formula 3 incisors, 1 canine, 3
premolars, and 3 molars on each side above, and
2 incisors, no canine, 3 premolars, and 3 molars
on each side below. It includes the common mole or
shrew-mole of the United States, S.aguaticus. of which the
silvery mole, ^. arffentatwt, is a western variety. The other
moles of the same country, formerly referred to Scalops,
are now placed in Scapanus. See shrtw-mole.
scalp^ (skalp), M. [Early mod. E. also skalp; <
ME. scalp, the top of the head; cf. MD. schelpe,
a shell, D. schelp, a shell, = LG. schelpe, schulpe
= OHG. scelira, MHG. schelfe, G. dial, schelfe,
husk, scale, = Icel. skdlj/r, a sheath, = Sw. skalp,
a sheath (cf. Olt. scalpo = F. scalpe, scalp, =
G. seal}) = Dan. skalp, scalp, all appar. < E. ?) ;
with an appar. formative -p, from the same base
as E. scak^, scaled, shell, and skull^ : see scaled,
scaled, shell, skulft. Doublet of scallop, scollop,
q. v.] If. 'The top of the head ; the head, skull,
or sconce.
The scalps of many, almost hid behind.
To Jump up higher seem'd, to mock the mind.
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 1418.
2. The integument of the upper part of the
head and associated subcutaneous structures;
the skin, the occipitofrontalis muscle, and its
broad fascia-like tendon and connective tissue,
with their vessels and nerves, together form-
ing the covering of the skull, and freely mov-
able upon the subjacent bones.
scalp
The scalp h»d been partially despoiled of hair from the
disease. J. M. Carnochan, Operative Surgeiy, p. 48.
8. The sealp or a part of it, together with the
hair growing upon it, cut or torn from the head
of a living or dead person. Among the North
American Indians scalps are taken as trophies
of victory.
Hiirons and Oneidas, who speak the same tongue, or
what may be called the same, take each other's scalps.
.'. F. Cooper, Last of Mohicans, xix.
He had been for the Indians an object of particular
notice, on account of the long flowing hair which curled
down on his shoulders, and which made it a very desirable
tcalp. Gayarri, Hist Louisiana, I. 427.
4. The skin of the head of a noxious wild ani-
mal. A bounty has sometimes been offered
for wolves' scalps.— 5. The head or skull of a
whale exclusive of the lower jaw. — 6. In her.,
the skin of the head of a stag with the horns
attached : a rare bearing.
scalpi (skalp), f. t. [= F. scalper, scalp, > D.
scalperen = Q. shalpiren = Dan. skalpere = Sw.
skalpera; from the noun. The similarity of
this verb with L. scalpere, cut, carve, scratch,
etc. (see scalpel), is accidental.] 1. To deprive
of the scalp ; remove the scalp of. The scalping
of slain or captured enemies Is a custom of the North
American Indians. The scalp beiiiggraaped by the scalp-
lock, a circular cut is made witli the scalping-knife, and
the skin is then forcibly torn off ; the operation requires
but a few seconds at the hands of an expert.
Hence — 2. To skin or flay in general ; denude;
lay bare ; specifically, to deprive of grass or turf.
5372
gans or hair-like lancets contained in the pro-
muscis of hemipterous insects. The upper
pair of scalpella are homologous with mandi-
bles, the lower pair with ma.\illa?. — 2. [cap.'\
A genus of thoracic cirripeds of the family
FoUicipedidx, related to Jbla, and notable in
presenting in some species the sexes distinct,
scammel
with the fronds cut nearly or quite down to the rachis
into alternate, blunt, broadly oblong or roundish lobes,
which are coated on the lower surface with a dense cover-
ing of small reddish-brown membranaceous scales (whence
the name). See ceterach. Also called scale-fern and milt-
11 a*'.— Scaly tetter, psoriasis.
scaly-winged (ska'li-wingd), a. Same as scale-
wiuijcd.
in others hermaphrodites with complemental scamblet (skam'bl), «!. [Also assibilated«Aara-
males
scalper 1 (skal'pfer), n. [< sculpt + -ej-i.] 1. One
who scalps, or takes a scalp. — 2. In miUiiir), a
machine or apparatus for scalping, (a) A machine
for removing the fuzz from the ends of grain, as wheat or
rye, and for cleaning off the surface-impurities accumu-
lated in the fuzz, and the dirt wliich gathers in the creases
of the berries, called crease-dirt. Such machines usually
act by attrition upon the surfaces of the grain without
crushing the latter, (b) A sieve, bolt, or screen used to
separate different gi'ades of broken wheat, semolina, and
break-flour, and also to separate impurities and bran dur-
ing various stages of roller-milling, (c) A machine for
operating a sieve, bolt, or screen, or a combination of sift-
ing or screening devices, for separating grades of flour,
semolina, broken wheat, break-Hour, bran, and impuri-
ties in the manufacture of wheat-, rye-, and buckwheat-
3. One who sells at less than official or recog-
nized rates; specifically, a dealer in railway
and other tickets who sliares his commission
with his customer, or who purchases unused
tickets and coupons at cheap rates, and sells
them at a slight advance, but for less than the
official price; a ticket-broker. [U.S.]
With the eternal quarrel between railroads and scalpers
passengers have nothing to do.
„, „ . J , , ^A* Nation, Oct, 6, 1882, p. 276.
Thevalley IS very narrow, and the high buttes bound- „„„,„^„, , , ,, . , ry t , . , s
Ing It rise, sheer and barren, into scalped hill-peaks and SCaiper^t (Skal per), n. [< L. scalper (scalpr-),
naked knife-blade ridges. also scalprum, a knife, chopper, chisel (of shoe-
T. Roosevelt, The Century, XXXV. 666. makers, surgeons, husbandmen, sculptors,ete.).
Many a good in-ileld [for base-ball] has no turf on it, and < scoipere, cut, carve, engrave.] Aninstrument SCamblet (skam'bl), )!. [<scamhle,i\'\
fa called a «M/p«d field. St. Nichotoi, XYU. bm. of surgery, used in scraping foul and carious gle with others; a scramble.
3. In miffiwi/: (fl) To separate (the fuzzy growths bones; a raspatory.
at the ends of the berries of wheat or other SCalping-iront (skarping-i^fem), n. [< 'scalp-
grain) by attrition and screening, with or with- ing, verbal n. of scalpS, v., + iron.'] Same as
■ ~ scalper'^. Minsheu.
SCalping-knife (skal 'ping-nif ) ,n. A knife used
by the Indians of North America for scalping
their enemies. It is now usually a common SCamblingt (skam'bling)
steel butcher's knife, but was formerly a sharp verbal n. of scumble, v.}
hie (see shamble) ; < ME. "scamlen (in verbal n.
scamling) ; origin uncertain. Cf. scanqA and
.sw(»yjec2.] I. intrans. 1. To stir about in an
eager, confused way; scramble; struggle for
place or possession.
Thus sithe I have in my voyage suffred wracke with
Ulisses, and wringing-wett scambled with life to the
shore, stand from niee, Kausicaa, with all thy traine, till
I wipe the blot from my forhead, and with sweete springs
wash away the salt froth that cleaves to my soule.
Gosson, Schoole of Abuse (1679). (Halliwell.)
These court feasts are to us servitors court fasts — such
scamUing, such shift for to eate, and where to eate.
Marslon, The J'awne, 11. 1.
2. To shift awkwardly ; sprawl; be awkward;
be without order or method.
II. trans. 1. To mangle; maul.
My wood was cut in patches, and other parts of it
scarnbled and cut before it was at its growth.
Mortimer, Husbandry.
2. To scatter; squander; dissipate.
Dr. Scambler had scambled away the revenues thereof
[i. e., of NonvichJ. Fvller, Worthies, London, II. 367.
3. To collect together without order or method.
Much more . . . being scambled vp after this manner.
Holiiiihed, Chron., Ep. Ded.
I caimot tell, but we have scambled up
More wealth by far than those that brag of faith.
Marlowe, Jew ol Malta, i. 1.
A strug-
out the employment of aspirators. (6) To sepa
rate, after the first operation of the breaking-
rolls (the broken wheat, semolina, and break-
flour), and after each subsequent use of the
breaking-rolls (making in some schemes of
milling six separate operations) to treat (the
products) in the same manner with sieves,
bolts, or screens of different grades of fineness.
— 4. To sell at less than official or recognized
rates, by sharing the commission or profit with
the purchaser, or by purchasing cheap and
asking only a small advance : as, to scalp rail-
way-tickets. [CoUoq. or trade use.]
A corporation like the Pennsylvania Eailroad must pro-
tect itself against loss through scalping by the ample pun-
ishment for the crime which the laws of the State seem
to provide for the scalper himself.
The Nation, Oct. 6, 1882, p. 276.
5. In Amer. polit. slang, to destroy the politi-
cal influence of, or punish for insubordination
to party rule.
scalp2 (skalp), n. [Also (Sc.) scaup; appar.
connected with scalp'i- (D. schelp, a shell, seal-
lop, etc.), but prob. not identical with it.] A
bed of oysters or mussels.
SCalpSf (skalp), v. t. [Found only in verbal n.,
in comp., scalping-iron; < L. scalpere, cut, carve.
Cf. scalper^, scalpel] To cut or scrape. See
scalping-iron.
scalpel (skal'pel), n. [< F. scalpel = Pr. sea-
pel = Sp. escalpeh = Pg. escalpello = It.
scarpello, < L. scalpellum, a surgical knife, a
scalpel, dim. of scalprum or scalper, a knife:
see scalper^.] A small light knife, which may
be held like a
pen, used in
anatomical dis- scaipei
section and in "
surgical operations, having the back of the
blade straight or nearly so, the edge more or
less convex, and the point sharp. Such a knife
is distinguished from a bistoury. The handle is light and
thin, long enough to pass beyond the knuckles when the
knife is held in its usual position, and commonly of bone,
ivory, or ebony. A special heavy form of scalpel is called
a cartilage-knife.
scalpella, «. Plural of scalpellum, 1.
scalpellar (skal'pe-lar), a. [< scalpellum +
-«)•-.] Of or pertaining to the scalpella of
hemipterans.
scalpellifonn (skal-pel'i-fdrm), a. [< L. scal-
pellum, a surgical knife (see scalpel), + forma,
form.] In bat., having the form of the blade
of a scalpel or a penknife. [Rare.]
scalpellum (skal-pel'um), 11. [NL., < L. seal-
pellnm, a surgical knife: see scalpel.] 1. PI.
scalpella (-&). One of the four filamentous or-
stone
scalping-tuft (skal'ping-tuft), n. A scalp-lock.
His closely shaven head, on which no other hair than the
well-known and chivalrous scaliring-Uift was preserved,
was without ornament of any kind, with the exception of
a solitary eagle's plume.
J. F. Cooper, Last of Mohicans, ill.
scalpless (skalp'les), a. [< scalp^ ■¥ -less.] 1.
Having no sealp, as a person who has recovered
after being scalped. — 2. Bald; bald-headed.
A cap of soot upon the top of his scalpless skull.
Kingsley, Alton Locke, vi.
scalp-lock ( skalp 'lok), n.
scamblert (skam'bler), n. [< scumble + -erl.]
1. One who searables.— 2. A bold intruder
upon the generosity or hospitality of others.
A scamhler, in its literal sense, is one who goes about
among his friends to get a dinner, by the Irish called a
cosbever. Steevens, ^ote on Shakspere's Much Ado, v. 1.
n. [Also scamling;
_ An irregular, hasty
meal; a "scratch" meal.
of hair left on the scalp by the North American
Indians, as an implied challenge to an enemy
to take it if he can.
Loosely on a snake-skin strung.
In the smoke his scalp locks swung
Grimly to and fro.
Whittier, Bridal of Pennacook, 11.
scalpriform (skarpri-form), a. [< L. scalprum,
a knife, chisel, + forma, form.]
Chisel-shaped ; having the char-
acter of a chisel-tooth ; truncate
at the end and beveled there to a
sharp edge : specifically said of
the incisor teeth of rodents, and
the similar teeth of a few other
mammals. See chisel-tooth, and
cut under Geomyidse.
scalt. An obsolete or dialectal
preterit and past participle of
scald^.
scaly (ska'li), a. [< scuW^ + -y'^.]
1. Covered with scales; pro-
vided with scales; scaled; squamate
late.
The scaly Dragon, beeing else too lowe
For th' Elephant, vp a thick tree doth goe.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, 1. 6.
2. Scale-like ; of the nature of a scale ; squa-
mous.— 3. Furfuraeeous ; scarious; desqua-
mated; exfoliated; scabby. — 4. In bot., com-
posed of scales lying over one another: as, a
scaly 'bViVo; having scales scattered over it: as,
a scaly stem. — 5. Shabby; mean; stingy.
[Slang.]— Scaly ant-eater or lizard, a pangolin. See
Manis, 1.— Scaly buds, buds, such as those of magnolia,
hickory, lilac, etc., that are large and strung and provided
with numerous scales, which serve to protect the tender
parts in them from cold. — Scaly epithelium, squamous
epithelium.— Scaly fern, the fern Asplmium Ceterach,
Other some hare so costly and great dinners that they
eat more at that one dinner than the poor man can get at
three scamlings on a day.
Jip. Pilhington, Works (Parker Soc.), p. ."iBS. (Dames.)
scamblingt (skam'bling), p. a. [Ppr. of scam-
ble, r.] Scrambling; struggling; disorderly;
without method or regularity.
But that the scambling and unquiet time
Did push it out of farther question.
Shak., Hen. V., 1. 1. 4.
A fine old hall, but a scamUing house. Evelyn.
A long lock or tuft SCambling-dayst (skam'bling-daz), H.p?. Days
Lett Lower Scil-
priform Iiici.sor of a
Beaver (.Castor Ji.
ber), one half natu-
ral size.
seutel-
n Lent when no regular meals were provided,
but every one scrambled and shifted for himself
as best he could. MalHwelt.
Their " service of Meat and Drynk to be servyd upon
the Scamlynge-Days in Lent Yerely, as to say, Jlonchiys
and Setterdays," was for "x Gentilmen and vj Childre of
the Chapell iiij Measse." Babees Book(E. E. T. S.), p. xciii.
scamblingly (skam'bling-li), ado. With eager
struggling; strugglingly.
Scamblingly, catch that catch may. Cotgrave.
Scamel, scammel (skam'el), v. [Origin ob-
scure.] A bar-tailed godwit. See godwit. [Lo-
cal, Eng.]
Sometimes I'll get thee
Young scamels from the rock.
Shak., Tempest, ii. 2. 176.
Scammel, ... a name given to the female bird by the
gunners of Blakeney.
C. Swaimon, British Birds (1885), p. 199.
scamillus (ska-mil'us), n. ; pi. scamilli (-i). [L.,
dim. of scamnum, bench, stool, step, also a
ridge or balk left in plowing: see .^humble^.]
1. In Gr. arch., a part of a block of stone, as
of the lower drum or the capital of a Doric
column, made to pro-
ject slightly by the
beveling of the edge
or edges of its bearing
face, that the edges of
the exposed face or
faces may not be liable
to chip when the block
is placed in position.
— 2. In Horn, arch., a
second plinth or block
under a statue, column,
but not, like a pedestal,
molding.
Scamillus in Roman architecture.
s, Scamillus.
or the like, to raise it,
ornamented with any
a native of Europe. It is a small densely tufted species SCammel, n. See scamel.
scammoiua
[NL.: Beescajii-
Scaminoay (CfMve/VM/uj Scam-
scanunonia (ska-mo'ui-a), «.
iiiiiiiit.] Same as scaniiiioNy,
scammoniate (ska-mo'ni-at), a. [< seammony
(L. .scummiiniu) + -ate^.'] Made with seam-
mony.
Scammoniiae or other acrimonious medicines.
Wimman, Surgery.
seammony (skam'o-ni), n. [Early mod. E.
also scammonie, scamony; < ME. scamony, scam-
oiiie, < OF. scamo-
7iee,scammonee,scani-
nionie, F. scammonee
= Pr. Sp. Pg. esca-
vioiiea = It. scamo-
nea, seammonea, < L.
scnmmonia, seammo-
nea, < Gr. CKOufiuvia,
seammony; said to
be of Pers. origin.]
1. A plant, Con-
rolvulus Smmmonia,
whieh grows abun-
dantly in Sjma and
Asiailinor. Its stems,
bearing arrow-sliapea
leaves, trail or cUmb •
distance of several feet, and It has a large t«pering root
which is the source of the drug seammony.
They have also a very good Kamomj and althea here |in
MytUenel, and I saw a great quantity of alkermea, but
they do nut make any use of it
Poaxke, Description of the East, II. il. 16.
2. A gum-resin con.sisting of the inspissated
root-juice of this plant, it is obuined by slicing off
the top of the root obliquely and collecting as it runs olf
the sap, which concretes in course of time. It appears
in commerce commonly In fragments or cakes of a green-
ish-gray or blackish color, has a peculiar odor somewhat
like that of cheese, and a slightly acrid taste. Fin/tn
taxmmony, the pure exuded article, is little In the market ;
the common seammony is adulterated with a decoction of
the root and with earthy and other substances, on which
account the dried roots are to some extent imported and
the resin ertraetod liy alcohol. Seammony is an energetic
cathartic. — French or MontpelUer ICammony, a sub-
stance made in the south of I'rancefrom theeipressed Juice
(it has been said) of Cynanehum aeutum (C. Montpdui-
cum), mixed with dilferent resins and other purgative sub-
stances — Lacryma seammony, pure seammony, con-
Bisling of the juice niixi-.! nith the Inter scrapings of the
cut surface and .Iriml. Resin Of scammony. .See renin.
— Scammony-root, the dried root of Conioimdiu Scam-
ut'inta, used in prc|>aring resin of scammony.
scampi (skamp), f. I. [Also in var. form skimp;
prob.< lce\.skamtu, dole out, apportion (meals),
hence scant or stint: see scant, of vihich scamp
is thus a doublet.] To e.\ecute in superficial
manner; perform in a careless, slip-shotl, dis-
honest, or perfunctory manner: as, to scamp
work.
That all the accesaorie* most needful to health, bat not
of the most elegant description, would be tcamped or
neglected. Saturday Rev.
ihi I..' itlnch chimneys, he told me. were frequent In
' I sesj houses got up at the lowert poanble rate
rig builders.
'' ,:hew, I>ondon Labour and London Poor, 11. SM.
scamp- (skarap), «. [Perhaps < 'scamp, v. (not
found except as in freq. scamj>er), flee, decamp,
< OF. escfimpcr, eschamper, scamper, schamper,
escape, flee, = Sp. Pg. cscampar, escape, cease
from (> iSp. escampada, stampede), = It. scam-
pare, escape, decamp, tr. deliver, save, < ML.
'cxcampare, < L. rx-, out, + campus, a field,
csp. a field of battle : see camp''', and cf. de-
camp, scamjxr'^, scamble, shamble'^. Cf. tramp,
a vagabond, < tramp, r.] 1. A fugitive or vaga-
bond; a worthless fellow ; a swindler; a mean
villain; a rascal; a rogue.
Sramp. A highwayman. (Thieves' cant I Royal snmsp;
a highwayman who robs civilly. Royal foot scamp; afoot-
pad who hehavea in like manner.
Grtm, aass. Diet of Vulg. Tongue {2d ed.), 1788.
He has done the teamp too much honour.
De Quincey, Works, U. 43. (Latham.)
"The impudent hog-trotting scamp," he thought, "dare
to threaten me : " Thadtrray, I'endennis, lili.
The postillions and boatmen along this route were great
Kampt, fretguently asking more than the legal fare, and in
one instance threatened In prevent us from going on un-
less we paid H. B. Taylor, Northern Travel, p. 8M.
Among the Mexicans . . . every rich man looks like a
grandee, and every poor sninipllke a broken-down gentle-
man. R. II. Dana, Jr., Before the .Mast, p. M.
2. A serranoid fish, Trisotropis falcatus, of a
brown color with irregular darker spots, ami
with the pectorals edged with blackish and
orange. It occurs along the coast of Florida and in the
VVest Indlf^, and belongs very near the groupers of the
gcnUB HiniLphehu. See Trimitropu.
scampavia (skam-pii-ve'ji), «. [It., < scampare,
escape (see scamp'^), +"ria, wav, course (see
riVi).] Xaut., a fast-rowing war-boat of Nai>les
and Sicily, in I8U-15 they were built 160 feet In
5373
length, and were pulled by forty sweeps or large oars,
every rower having his bunk under his sweep. They were
rigged with one huge lateen sail at one third the distance
from the bow, and no forward bulwark or stem was car.
ried above deck. They carried a gun forward of the
mast, about two feet above water. Aft they carried a
lateen niizzen with topsail.
scamper^ (skam'per), n. [< scampi + -<ri.]
One who scamps work. Imp. Diet.
scamper- (skam'per), r. i. [Freq. of -4/ 'scamp,
i:, or, with retained inf. termination, < OF.
escamper, escape, flee : see scampi. Cf . scamble,
shamble^.'} To run with speed ; hasten away.
A fox seized upon the fawn, and fairly scampered away
with him. Sir R. L Estrange.
We were forcd to cut our Cables in all haste, and scam-
per away as well as we could. Dampier, Voyages, 1. 189.
So horribly confounded were these poor savages at the
tremendous and uncouth sound of the Low l)ut«h lan-
guage that they one and all took to their heels, and scom-
pered over the Bergen hills. Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 96.
scamper^ (skam'per), n. [< scamper^, «.] A
hasty run or flight.
Wordsworth's ordinary amusements here were hunting
and Ashing, rowing, skating, and long walks around the
lake and among the hills, with an occasional scamper on
horseback. Lowell, Among my Books, id ser., p. 205.
scampish (skam 'pish), a. [< scampi, n., + -fA'Al.]
Pertaining to or like a scamp; knavish; ras-
cally.
The alcalde personally renewed his regrets for the ri-
diculous scene of the two scampish oculists.
De Quincey, .Spanish Nun, § 23. (Davits.)
Scampith Alain and ruffianly Rodellec.
The American, \U. 170.
scampy (.skam'pi), a. [<.scamp'^ + -y^.'\ Same
a.s sciiiiiiiish.
scan (skan), r. ; pret. and pp. scanned, ppr. scan-
ning. [Early mod. E. also skun, scanne; < ME.
scannen, for "seanden, < OF. escander, exandir,
climb (also scan f), F. scander (> D. scandcren =
Q. scandiren = Sw. skandera = Dan. skandcrc),
scan, = It. scandcre, climb, 8can,< h. scandere,
climb {scandcre versus, measure or read verse by
its feet, scan), = Skt. ■^ skand, spring, ascend.
From the L. scandcre are also ult. E. scansion,
scansorial^, etc., ascend, descend, condescend,
transcend, and (through the deriv. scala) scaled,
escalade, etc.'] I. trans. If. To climb; mount.
[Bare.]
Ne Btaide till she the highest stage had soamf.
Where Cynthia did sit, that never still did sUnd.
Spemer, F. Q., VII. vl. 8.
2. To examine by counting the metrical feet or
syllables; read or recite so as to indicate the
metrical structure.
Scanne verse (aeanityn verses). Scando.
Prompt. Pan., p. 442.
Harry, whose tuneful and well-measured song
Klrat taught our English musick how to span
Words with just note and accent, nut to scan
With Midaa ears, committing short and long.
Milton, .Sonnets, viiL S.
Hence — 3. To go over and examine point by
point; examine minutely or nicely; scrutinize.
F.xactly to skan the tnieth of euery case that shall hap-
pen in the affaires of man.
PvtUnham, .\rte of Eng. Poesie, p. 221.
I would I might entreat your honour
To scon this thing no further.
Shak., Othello, ilL 3. 245.
My father's souldiers fled away for feare,
As soone as once theyr I'aptayne's death they scarul.
Mir. Jor Mags. (ed. Haslewood), I. 78.
Yet this, if thou the matter rightly scanne,
la of noe force to make the perfect man.
Timetf H'ftuffe(E. E. T. !i.\ p. 112.
Seanntng my (ace and the changes wrought there.
M. AmMd, Faded Leaves, Separation.
H. intrans. To follow or agree with the rules
of meter: as, lines that scan well Scanning
speech, in pathU., monotonous speech in which the sylla-
bles ate aeporsted by prolonged pauses.
scandt. -An obsolete form of scanned, past par-
ticiple of scan.
Scand. An abbreviation of Scandinavian.
scandal (skan'dal), w. [Early mod. E. also
srandall; < ME. scandal, scandle (= D. sehiin-
daal = G. Sw. skandal = Dan. skundale), < OF.
scnndale, scandalle, seandele, also escandic, F.
scandnir = Pr. escandol = Sp. escdndalo = Pg.
escandalo = It. scandain, a scandal, offense, <
lAj. srandolum, a stumbling-block, an induce-
ment to sin, a temptation, < Gr. aKdv6a?Mv (in
LXX. and N. T.), a snare laid for an enemy,
a trap or stumbling-block, also scandal, of-
fense, in classical Gr. only in the form OKavAa-
y.ififMv, orig. the spring of a trap, the stick which
sprang up when the trap was shut, and on
which the bait was placed ; prob. < >/ "skand
= L. scandcre .= Skt. -^skand, climb, spring up:
see scan. From the same source is derived E.
scandalize
slander, a doublet of scandal.'] 1. Offense
caused by faults or misdeeds ; reproach or rep-
robation called forth by what is considered
wrong; opprobrium; shame; disgrace.
O, what a scandal is it to our crown
That two such noble peers as ye should jar !
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., lii. 1. 69.
Then there had been no such scandals raised by the de-
generacy of men upon the most excellent and peaceable
Religion in the World. StillingJUiet, Sermons, I. lit
My obscurity and taciturnity leave me at liberty, with-
out scandal, to dine, if I see flt, at a common ordinary.
Steele, Spectator, No. 88.
2. Reproachful aspersion ; defamatory speech
or report; something uttered whieh is injuri-
ous to reputation ; defamatory talk ; malicious
gossip.
When Scandal has new minted an old lie.
Or tax'd invention for a fresh supply,
'Tis call'd a satire, and the world appears
Gath'ring around it with erected ears.
Cmiper, Charity, 1. 613.
No scandal about Queen Elizabeth, I hope ?
Sheridan, The Critic, ii. 1.
3. In late: (a) A report, rumor, or action
whereby one is affronted in public, (ft) An ir-
relevant and defamatory or indecent statement
introduced into a pleading or proceeding; any
allegation or statement whieh is unbecoming
the dignity of the court to hear, or is contrary
to good manners, or which unnecessarily either
charges a person with a crime or bears cruelly
on his moral character. — 4. That which causes
scandal or gives offense ; an action or circum-
stance that brings public disgrace to the per-
sons involved, or offends public morals.
What shall I call thee, thou gray-bearded scandal.
That kick'st against the sovereignty to which
Thou ow St allegiaiicey Ford, I'erkin Warbeck, iii. 4.
= Syn. 1. Discredit, disrepute, dishonor.— 2. Backbiting,
slander, calumny, detraction.
scandal (skan'dal), r. t. ; pret. and pp. scandaled
or scandalled, ppr. scandaling or seundalling.
[< OF. seandaler, escandalcr, < scandale, scan-
dal: see scandal, n.] 1. To throw scandal on;
defame ; asperse ; traduce.
If you know
Thafr I do fawn on men and hug them hard
And after scan/foZ them, . . . then hold me dangerous.
Shak., J. C, L 2. 76.
Ill tongues that scandal innocence.
Dryden, Flower and Leaf, 1. 607.
Now say I this, that I do know the man
Which doth abet that traitorous libeller,
Who did compose and spread that slanderous rime
Which fcandalsyoxi and doth abuse the time.
Ucywoud, Edw. IV. (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, 1. 177).
2t. To scandalize ; offend ; shock.
They who are proud and Pharisaical will be scandalled
even at the best and well disciplined thiitgs.
Taikrr, Kabrick of the Church (ed. 1804), p. 75. (Latham.)
scandal-bearer (skan'dal-bar"er), n. A propa-
gator of scandal or malicious gossip.
The nnwilllngness to receive good tidings is a quality
as inseparable from a scandal-bearer as the readiness to
divulge bad. Steele, Spectator, No. 427.
SCandaledt (skan'dald), a. [< scandal + -cri2.]
Scandalous; disgraceful.
Her [ Venus's! and her blind boy's scandal'd company
I have forsworn. Shak., 1 empest, iv. 1. 90.
Bcandalisation, scandalise. See scandaliza-
tioii, .<miii(l/ili:e.
scandalization (skan"dal-i-za'shon), n. [Early
mod. E. scandalisaeion, < OF. seandalisacion,
< scandaliser, acandahze : see scandalize.] 1.
The act of scandalizing, defaming, or disgra-
cing; aspersion; defamation.
The Lords of the Council laid hold of one Walmesley, a
publican at Islington, and punished him for spreading
false reports and " scandatizatinn of my Lord of Shrews-
bui-y." AUienieum, No. 3192, p. 889.
2. Scandal ; scandalous sin.
Let one lyue neuer so wyckedly
In abhominable scandalisaeion.
As longe as he will their church, obaye.
Not refusynge his tithes dnely to paye.
They shall make of him no accusacion.
Dyaloge beticecne a Gentillman and a Husbandman, p. 168.
KDaviet.)
Also spelled scondalisation.
scandalize^ (skan'dal-iz), r. t. ; pret. and pp.
scandalized, ppr. scdiululizing. [< OF. scando-
User, escandaliser, F. scandaliser = Pr. escaiida-
lisar=Sp. Pg. eseandalizar = \t. scandalizzare,
scandalezzarc, < LL. scandalizare, < Gr. oKavAa-
XiCuv, cause to stumble, tempt, < OKavSahiv, a
snare, stumbling-block : see scandal.'] 1. To
offend by some action considered very wrong
or outrageous; shock; give offense to: as, to
be scandalized at a person's conduct.
I demand who they are whom we Kandalize by using •
harmless things? Hooker.
scandalize
Let not our young and eager doctors be scandalized at
our views as to the compjirative uncertainty of medicine
as a science. Dr. J. Brown, Spare Hours, :jd ser., p. 100,
2. To disgrace ; bring disgrace on.
It Is the manner of men to tcarulaltie and betray that
which retaineth the state and virtue.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, i. 38.
S. To libel ; defame ; asperse ; slander.
Words. , . tending to «canrfa/ta» a magistrate, or person
in public trust, are reputed more higlUy injurious than
when spoken of a private man.
Maekstone, Com., III. riii.
To tell his tale might be Interpreted into ecandalvdng
the order. Scott, Ivanhoe, xxxv.
Also spelled scandalise.
scandalize'" (skan'dal-iz), V. i.; pret. and pp.
scanclali;:e(l, ppr. scandalizing. [Prob. an exten-
sion of scaHt/<;*,as if scaKHe2+-i>e, conformed to
scandalize^.'] Naut., to trice up the tack of the
spanker or mizzen in a square-rigged vessel, or
the mainsail in a fore-and-aft rigged vessel. It
is frequently done, to enable the helmsman to look to lee-
ward under the foot of the sail. The same word is errone-
ously used of the sails on the mizzenmast of a ship when
they are clued down (the ship being before the wind) to
allow the sails on the mainmast to draw better. Also
spelled scandalise.
scandal-monger (skan'dal-mung"ger), n. One
who deals in or retails scandal; one who spreads
defamatory reports or rumors concerning the
character or reputation of others.
scandalous (skan'dal-us), a. [< OF. (and F.)
seandaleux = Sp. Pg. escandaJoso = It. scan-
daloso, < ML. scandalosus, scandalous, < LL.
seandalum, scandal: see scandal.~\ 1. Causing
scandal or offense ; exciting reproach or repro-
bation ; extremely offensive to the sense of
duty or propriety ; shameful ; shocking.
Nothing scandalous or offensive unto any, especially
unto the church of God ; all things in order, and with
seemliness. Hooker.
For a woman to marry within the year of mourning is
scandalous, because it is of evil report.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 279.
2. Opprobrious; disgraceful to reputation;
that brings shame or infamy : as, a scandalous
crime or vice.
The persons who drink are chiefly the soldiery and great
men ; but it would be reckon'd scandalous in people of
business. Pococke, Description of the East, I. 181.
You know the scandalous meanness of that proceeding.
Pope.
3. Defamatory; libelous; slanderous: as, a
«ca«(?o?0!ts report; in tow jjrocedwre, defamatory
or indecent, and not necessary to the presenta-
tion of the party's case.=syn. 1 and 2. Wicked,
Shocking, etc. See atrocious.— 2. Discreditable, disrepu-
table.
scandalously (skan'dal-us-li), adv. 1. In a
scandalous manner; in a manner to give of-
fense ; disgracefully ; shamefully.
His discourse at table was scanda/otM/y unbecoming the
dignity of his station. Swift.
2t. Censoriously; with a disposition to find
fault.
Shun their fault who, scandaloudy nice,
Will needs mistake an author into vice.
Pope, Essay on Criticism, 1. 556.
scandalousness (skan'dal-us-nes), n. Scanda-
lous cliaraeter or condition.
seandalum magnatum {skan'da-lum mag-na'-
tum). [ML.: hh. seandalum, a stumbling-block
(see scandtd) ; magnatum, gen. pi. of magnas,
an important person: see magnate.] In law,
the offense of speaking slanderously or in def-
amation of high personages (magnates) of the
realm, as temporal and spiritual peers, judges,
and other high officers. Actions on this plea
are obsolete. Abbreviated scan. mag.
SCandent (skan'dent), a. [< L. scanden(t-)s,
ppr. of sea nrfere, climb: see scan.] 1. In 6o*.:
(a) Climbing ; ascending by attaching itself to
a support in any manner. See climb, 3. (6)
Performing the office of a tendril, as the peti-
ole of Clematis. — 2. In ornith., same as scan-
sorial^, 2.
Scandentesf (skan-den'tez), n.pl. [NL., pi. of
L. scanden{t-)s,'pi>T. ot scandere, climh : seescan-
dent.] In ornith., same as Scansores.
Scandian (skan'di-an), a. and n. [< L. Scandia,
var. of Scandinavia, taken for the mod. coun-
tries so called, + -an.] Same as Scandinavian.
Skeat, Principles of Eng. Etymology, p. 454.
BCandic (skan'dik), a. [< scand-ium + -ic] Of,
pertaining to, or derived from scandium.
Scandinavian (skan-di-na'vi-an), a. and n.
[< ML. Scandinavia, Scandinavia, orig. L. Scan-
dinavia (Pliny), also written Scandinavia (Pom-
ponius Mela) and Scandia (Pliny), the name of
a large and fruitful island in northern Europe,
5374
supposed by some to be Zealand, by others Scho-
neu (which is not an island); later applied to
the countries inhabited by the Danes, Swedes,
and Norsemen.] I. a. 1. Of or pertaining to
Scandinavia, or the region which comprehends
the kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Swe-
den, with the adjacent islands, including Ice-
land, now an outlying possession of Denmark :
as, Scandinavian literature; Scandinavian lan-
guage.— 2. Of or pertaining to the languages
of Scandinavia Scandinaviaii belting, lock, etc.
See the nouns.
II. w. 1. A native of the region loosely called
Scandinavia. — 2. The language of the Scandi-
navians: a general term for Icelandic, Norwe-
gian, Swedish, Danish, Faroese, etc., and their
dialects, or for their original. Abbreviated
Scand.
scandium (skan'di-um), n. [NL., < L. Scandia,
Scandinavia (see def.).] Chemical symbol,
Sc; atomic weight, 44. An elementai-y body
discovered by Nilson in 1879, by the help of
the spectroscope, in the Scandinavian mineral
euxenito. Its oxld is a white powder resembling mag-
nesia : the metal itself has not yet been isolated. Scan-
dium is interesting as being one of thi-ee elements (the
others are gallium and germanium) the predicted exis-
tence of which by Mendelejeff has been confirmed.
There are now three instances of elements of which the
existence and properties were foretold by the periodic
law : (1) that of gallium, discovered by Boisbaudran, which
was found to correspond with the eka-aluminium of Men-
delejelf ; (2) that of scandium, corresponding with eka-
boron, discovered by Nilson ; and (8) that of gei-manium,
which turns out to be the eka-silicium, by \\ inckler.
J. E. Thorpe, Nature, XL. 196.
Scandix (skan'diks), n. [NL., < L. scandix, <
(Jr. BKavSt^, the herb chervil.] A genus of um-
belliferous plants, of the tribe Amminese, type
of the subtribe Scandicineee. It is characterized by
an oblong-linear wingless fruit with a long-beaked apex
and with somewhat equal and slightly prominent primary
ridges, obsolete secondary ridges, and obscure oil-tubes,
and by a deeply-furrowed seed with involute margins.
There are 12 species, natives of the Old World, especially
near the Mediterranean. They are smooth or hairy annual
herbs with finely dissected leaves, and white Howers which
are polygamous and often enlarged on the outside of the
umbels. The umbels are compound, but with few rays,
mostly without an involucre, but with numerous entire or
dissected bractlets in the involucels. S. Pecten is a com-
mon weed of English fields (for which see lady's-comb and
camTTWHrA-i, 2), known also by many names alluding to its
fruit, as shepherd's-, beggar's-, crow's-, pink-, and puck-nee-
dle, devil's darning-needle, needle-chervil, poukenel, and
Venus' s-comh. S. grandijlora, an aromatic annual of the
Mediterranean region, is much esteemed there as a salad,
scanklyonet, «. A Middle English form of
scantling'^.
scan. mag. An abbreviation of seandalum mag-
natum.
scansion (skan'shon), n. [< F. scansion = It.
scansione, < L. scdnsio{n-), a scanning, < scan-
dere, pp. scansus, climb, scan: see scan.] The
act of scanning; the measuring of a verse by
feet in order to see whether the quantities are
duly observed.
The common form of scansion given in English proso-
dies. Genesis and Exodus (E. E. T. S.), Pref., p. xxxvil.
He does not seem to have a quick ear for «ca/wion, which
would sometimes have assisted him to the true reading.
Lowell, Study Windows, p. 320.
Scansores (skan-so'rez), n. pi. [NL., pi. of
LL. "scansor, a climber, < L. scandere, climb:
seescan.] 1. The climbers or scansorial birds,
an old artificial order of birds, corresponding
to the Grimpeurs of Cuvier, having the toes in
pairs, two before and two behind (see cut under
pair-toed), 'whenpe also called Zygodactyly. The
orderwas named by lUiger in 1811 ; in 1849 it was restrict-
ed by Blyth to the parrots. TTie term is not now used in
any sense, the members of the order being dissociated in
several different groups of Picarise and in Psittaci.
2. Applied by Sundovall to sundry other gi'oups
of climbing or creeping birds, as creepers, nut-
hatches, etc., usually placed in a different or-
der: same as Certhiomorpliai.
scansorial^ (skan-s6'ri-al), a. and n. [< L. scan-
sorius, of or belon^ng to climbing (see scan-
sorious), + -al.] J., a. 1. Habitually climb-
ing, asabird; pertaining to climbing: as, scon-
sorial actions or habits; fitted or serving for
climbing: as, scansorial ieet; the scansoWo/ tail
of a woodpecker. Also scandent. — 2t. Belong-
ing to the Scansores Scansorial barbets. See
barbet2.
Il.t n. A member of the Scansores; a zygo-
dactyl.
scansorial- (skan-so'ri-al), a. and n. [< scan-
sori-us + -al.] I. a. Pertaining to the scanso-
rius.
II. n. The seansorius.
scansorii, «. Plural of seansorius.
scant
scansorious (skan-s6'ri-us), a. [< L. »ca««ort««,
of or belonging to climbing, < scansor, a climber,
<. scandere, im. scansus, e\imb: see scan.] Same
as scansoriaP-, 1.
The feet have generally been considered as scansorious,
or formed for climbing.
SAow, Gen. ZoOL,lX.1.8a. {Encyc. Diet.)
seansorius (skan-s6'ri-us),J(.; pi. scansorii (-1) .
[NL., < L. seansorius, of or for climbing: see
Scan.iores.] In anat., a muscle which in some
animals, as monkeys, and occasionally in man,
arises from the ventral edge of the ilium and is
inserted into the great trochanter of the femtir.
Traill.
scant (skant), a. [Early mod. E. also skant; <
ME. scant, skant, < leel. skamt, neut. of skamr,
skammr, short, brief (cf. skamtr, Norw. skant, a
portion, dole, share), = OHG. scam, short.] 1.
Short in quantity; scarcely sufficient; rather
less than is wanted for the purpose ; not enough ;
scanty: as, a scant allowance of provisions or
water; a scant piece of cloth for a garment.
Than can 3e be no maner want
Gold, thocht gour pose wer neuer sa skant.
Lauder. Dewtie of Kyngis (E. E. T. .S.), 1. 260.
By which Provisions were so scaTit
That hundreds there did die.
Prior, The Viceroy, st, 14,
Scant space that warder left for passers by.
M. Arnold, Balder Dead.
2. Sparing; parsimonious; chary. [Rare.]
Be not to liberall nor to scant ;
Vse measure in eche thing.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 83.
Be somewhat scanter of your maiden presence.
Shak., Hamlet, L 3. 121.
3. Having a limited or scanty supply ; scarce;
short : with of.
He's fat and scant o/ breath. Shak., Hamlet, v. 2. 298.
'Tis life whereof our nerves are scant.
Tennyson, Two Voices.
4. Naut., of the wind, coming#rom a direction
such that a ship will barely lie her course even
when close-hauled.
scant (skant), n. [< scant, a. or v. Cf . Icel. skamt
= Norw. scant, a portion, dole, share.] Scar-
city; scantiness; lack.
Of necessary thynges that there be no skant.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 342.
I've a sister richly wed,
I'll rob her ere I'll want.
Nay then, quoth Sarah, they may well
Consider of your scant.
Oeorge Barnwell, ii, 1 84, (Percy's Reliques, III, 249.)
Let us increase their want.
Make barren their desire, augment their scant.
Middleton, Solomon Paraphrased, iL
SCantt (skant), o«J«). [< ME. scan*; < scant, a.]
1. Scarcely; hardly.
In all my lyfe I could scant fynde
One wight true and trusty.
Babees Book (E, E, T, S.\ p. 102.
Scant one is to be found worthie amongst vs for trans-
lating into our Countrie apeach.
Ascham, The Scholemaster, p. 7.
In the whole world there is scant one . . . such another.
B. Jonson, Poetaster, iv. 1.
2. Scantily; sparingly.
And fodder for the beestes therof make,
First scant; it swelleth and encreaseth bloode.
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 140.
scant (skant), 41. [< ME. scantcn, < leel. skamta
(= Norw. skanta), dole out, measure out, < sA-o»i<,
scant: see scant, a.] I. trans. 1. To put on
scant allowance ; limit; stint: as, to scant one
in provisions or necessaries.
Where a man hath a great living laid together, and where
he is scanted. Bacon, Building (ed, 18S7).
The flesh is to be tamed, and humbled, and brought in
subjection, and scanted when greater things require it, but
not to be destroyed and made unserviceable.
Baxter, Crucifying the World, Pref.
And Phoebe, scanted of her brother's beam.
Into the West went after him apace,
Leaving black darkness to possess the sky.
Drayton, Barons' Wars, vi. 50.
2. To make small or scanty; diminish; cut
short or down.
Use scanted diet, and forbeare your fill.
Spenser, F. Q., VI. vi. 14.
Therefore I scant this breathing courtesy.
Shak., M. of V., v. 1. 141.
If God be perfect, he can be but one. . . .
The more you make, the more you shall depraue
Their Might and Potencie, as those that haue
Their vertue scanted.
lleyicood, Hierarchy of Angels, p. 67.
Cold had scanted
What the springs and nature planted.
Greene, Philomela's Second Ode.
3. To be niggard or sparing of ; begrudge ; keep
back.
scant
Like a miser, spoil his coat with scanting
A little cloth. Shak., Hen. V., ii. 4. 47.
II. intrans. Xiiiit., of the wind, to become
less favorable; blow in such a direction as to
hinder a vessel from continuing on her course
even when close-hauled.
When we were a seaboord the barre the wind scanUd
vpon vs. HaJduyVg Voyages, I. 279.
At niglit the wind seanUd towards the S. with rain ; so
we tacked about and stood N. W. by N.
WinOtrop, Hist. New England, 1. 17.
scantilonef, «. AMiddle English form otscant-
scantily (skan'ti-li), arfp. [< scanty + -ly^. Cf.
»«■««(///.] In a scanty manner; inadequately;
insuRieiently; slightly; sparingly; niggardly,
scantiness (skan'ti-nes), n. ^anty character
or condition ; lack of amplitude, greatness, or
abundance ; insufficiency.
I Alexander was much troubled at the seanlinen of nature
itself, that there were no more worlds for him to disturb.
South.
Nature '. in the midst of thy disorders, thou art still
friendly to the scantinfst thou hast created.
Stmu, Sentimental Journey, p. 116.
■cantityt (skan'ti-ti), H. [Irreg. <scant + -ity.]
Scantiness; scantuese; scarcity.
Such is the tcantitie of them (foxes and badgers) here
in England, in comparison of the pleutie that is to be
Beene in other countries.
Uarrinon, Descrip. of Eng., ill. 4. (Uolinilud'4 Ckron.)
SCantleH (skan'tl), r. [Freq. or dim. of scant, r.
The word was perhaps suggested by or con-
fused with acantfe^.] I. intrans. To become
less; fail; be or become deficient.
They [the winds] roae or leatUUd, as his saOs would drive,
To the same port whereas he would arrire.
Drayton, Moon-Calf.
II. trans. To make less ; lessen ; draw in.
llien KontUd we our aaUi with speedy hands.
Oreene and Lodgt, Looking Obus for Lond. and Eng.
The soaring kite there teanlUd bis large wings,
And to the ark the horerlng caitril bring*.
Drayton, Noah's Flood.
Bcantle^ (skan'tl), r. t. ; pret. and pp. scanOed,
ppr. smntling. [< OF. escanteler, eschanteler,
break into cantles, < es- (< L. ex-), out, + can-
tel, later chaiilil, a cautle, comer-piece : see can-
tie. Cf. «c««</iH</i.] 1. To cut up or divide
into small pieces; partition.
The Pope's territorie* will, within a century, be teanUed
out amoDg the great power* who bare now a footing In
Italy. Cheterfttd.
2t. To cut down or eut short; scant.
The chine* of beef in great bouse* are teantted to buie
chains of gold ; and the alroe* that was wont to releeve
the poore U husbanded better to buy new rebctoe*.
X^pe, Wit'*Mlserie(lMeX (BaBsmO.)
scantle^ (skan'tl), n. [< scantier, v., perhaps
in part < Norw. scant, a measnring-rod : see
sen lit. '\ A gage by which slates are regulated
to thi-ir proper length.
SCantlett (skant'let), n. [< scant-, the assumed
bast- of seantling^, the suffix -tet being substi-
tuted for the sup|iosed equiv. -ling: see seant-
/i/i,'/'.] A small pattern ; measurement.
While the world was but thin, the age* of mankind were
longer ; and as the world grew fuller, lo their live* wore
*ncces*irely reduced to a ahorter teantUt, till they came
to that time of life which they now have.
Sir M. Hale, Orig. of Mankind.
5375
This onr Cathedrall, . , . hauing now beene twise burnt,
is brought to a lesser Bcantliiuj. Uakluyt's Voyages, I. 578.
Your lordship's wisdom and mine is much about a scant-
ling. Shirley, Bird in a Cage, i. 1.
5. A small quantity, number, or amount ; a
modicum.
We must more take care that our desires should cease
than that they should be satisfied : and therefore redu-
cing them to narrow scantlings and small proportions is
the l)est instrument to redeem their trouble.
Jer. Taylor, Holy Living, ii 1.
Provided he got but his scantling of Burgundy.
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, vii 21.
Mr. Cotton also replied to their answer very largely,
and stated the ditferences in a very narrow scantling.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 264.
Bemove all these, remains
A scantling, a poor dozen at the best
Browning, Paracelsus.
6. In naval arch., the size in any case under con-
sideration of some one of the principal parts of
the hull of a ship, such as floors, frames, out-
side plating, etc. — 7. In carp, and stone-cutting,
the size to which it is intended to cut timber
or stone; the length, breadth, and thickness
of a timber or stone. — 8. A small beam less
than five inches square in section, such as the
quartering for a partition, rafters, purlins, or
pole-plates in a roof, etc.
Sells the last tcantling, and transfers the price
To some shrewd sharper, ere it buds again.
Cowper, Task, ill 763.
scapegrace
The teeth are 3 incisors in each upper and 2 in each lower
half-jaw, and 1 canine, 4 premolars, and 3 molars above and
below on each side. There are 2 species, S. townsendi and
5. aniericamis, the latter being the hairy-tailed mole of
the United States, formerly called Scalope ttreu-eri. These
moles outwardly resemble Scalops quite closely, but the
dental formula is different. The hairy-tailed is the near-
est American representative of the common mole of Eu-
rope, Talpa europeea.
scape^t (skap), V. i. or t. [< ME. scapen, apbetio
form of ascapen, askapen, escapen, eschapen, es-
cape: see escape.] To escape.
Help us to scape, or we been lost echon.
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, L 422.
They had rather let all their enemies scape than to fol-
low them out of array.
Sir T. More, Utopia (tr. by Kobinson), iL 10.
SCapeH (skap), ». [< sca^jel, k.] 1. An escape.
Hair-breadth scapes i' the imminent deadly breach.
Shalt., Othello, L 3. 136.
2. Means of escape ; evasion.
Crafty mate,
MThat other scape canst thou excogitate?
Chapman, tr. of Homer's Hymn to Apollo, L 511.
3. Freak; aberration; deviation; escapade;
misdemeanor; trick; cheat.
Then lay'st thy scapes on names ador'd.
Milton, P. B.,ii. 189.
For day, quoth she, night's scope* doth open lay.
ShaJc., Luorece, 1. 747.
Slight scapes are whipt, but damned deeds are praised.
Maiston, Satires, v. 138.
I then took up three planks from the flooring of the SCape^ (skap), «. [< F. scape = Sp. escapo = It.
— K.. ._j A ..... -t. ,._. ^ ,,._. scapo, a shaft, < L. scapiis, the shaft of a pillar,
the stalk of a plant, etc., a pillar, beam, post, =
Gr. (Doric) o/cd-
chamber, and deposited all between the scantlings.
Poe, Tales, I. 386.
The roof had no shingles, nothing but scantling.
The Century, XL. 222.
9. A kind of trestle or horse for supporting a
cask — Scantling number, a number computed from
certain known dimensions of a ship, and fixing the sizes
of frames, floors, etc., the method of computation and
the scantlings corresponding thereto being regulated by
*ome large Intnrance society, such as Lloyd's, or the Bu.
re»n Veritas.— ScantUng-sticks, sticks upon which are
marked the moldings of iFie square hody-franiea of u ship.
Thearte, Naval Arcli. -Scheme of scantling. .See scheme.
SCantling^t (skant'ling), a. [< scant + -ling'^, or
ppr.of «canf/el,t!.: see scanf/el.] Scant; small.
scantly (skant'Ji), adv. [< ME. scantly, sicante-
ly ; < scant + -ly^.] 1. In a scant manner
or dep-ee; sparingly; illiberally; slightly or
slightingly.
Spoke teanlly o( me, when perforce be could not
But pay me term* of honour.
Shak., A. and C, ill. 4. 6.
A grace bat seantty thine. Tennyson, Balin and Balan.
2'. Scarcely; hardly; barely.
And the duste a-ro*e so thikke that scantly a man mygbt
■e fro hym-self the caste of a stone.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.X IL 19S.
In faith. It w*« ouere ikanltly scored ;
That maki* It fouly for to f aUe.
York Play, p. 862.
Scantly there were tolke enow to remoue a piece of «r-
tiUeiy. HaHuyts Voyage*. U. 88.
Marmion, wbo*e loul could scantly brook.
Even from hi* king, a haughty look.
Scott, Marmion, UL 14.
SCantnesS (skant'nes), n. [< ME. scantncsse,
sciiiili'iifsse; < scant + -ne*i.] Scant condition
or state; narrowness; smallness: as, the scant-
ness of onr capacities.
Tof, a shaft, staff,
cf. aKJjmpov, a
staff, scepter :
see scepter.] 1.
In bot., a radi-
cal peduncle or
stem bearing the
fructification
without leaves,
as in the narcis-
sus, primrose,
hepatica, stem-
less violets, hya-
cinth, etc. See
also cuts under
jonquil and^u^
tyroot. Also «ca-
pus. — 2. In en-
The
Scape.
Wild hyacintti iScftta nutans). 2. OxUp
{Prtrnu/a tlatior), s, s, scapes.
Either itrnttlng In unwieldy bulk, or sinking in de-
■ ~ Works, I
fective seantness.
Barrow,
scantling' (skant'ling), n. lAlso scantlin, now
regarded as a corruption, but really a variant SCant-Of-graco (skant ov-gras), n
of the correct early mod. E. scantlon (the term, nothing fellow; a graceless person; a scape
-linti lieing a conformation to -Hnijl); < ME. g™ce.
sraiilhfott. srankh/oni', skankli/one, < OF. eschan- Yet you asaoclate yourself with a sort of ieant.of-grae«,
tillon, a Hmall caiitle, scantling, sample, dim. of " "*° **" '»*■ ^«*' Kenllworth, III.
'eschantil,'i-srantU,cscandU,eschantiHe, eschan- Scanty (skan'ti), a. [< scant + -y^ .] 1. Lacking
dille (cf. escanteler, rsihanteler, break into can- amplitude or extent; narrow; small; scant,
ties, eut up into small pieces: see scantle'^),
< es- (< L. ez-), out, + canfi, a comer-piece, >
Locke.
cantel, a cantlc, comer-piece (>0. dial.' A'an («{,
a ruler, measure): seecantle. In def. 5 the word
i.s appar. associated with scantling^, scant.] If.
A [lattem; sample; specimen.
This may be taken a* a SeanUtng of King Henry's great
Capacity. Boter, Chronicle*, p. 2S4.
2. A rough draft; a rude sketch.— 3. A mea-
suring-rod.
Though it were of no ronnde *ton<^
Wroogbt with *quyre and leantOone.
Rom. o/ Iht Rate, L 7064.
4. Measurement; size ; dimensions ; compass ;
grade.
Remede . . . that allay which aoldsmith^ Jewellers,
and M<my-ninker» are permitted to add unto the allowed
imbascnient of Gold and .Sliver . . . This advantage they
have gotten upon allegation that they cannot precisely
hit or Jnstly keep the scantling required of them by the
*~ Calfrate,
His dominion* were very narrow and scanty.
To pas* there was such scanty room,
The bars, descending, razed hi* plume.
Seott, Marmion, vL 14.
2. Limited in scope, copiousness, fullness, or
abundance; barely sufficient for use or neces-
sity: as, a scanty wardrobe.
Onr Ral* . . . found himself under great difflcultte* to
provide water enough for the voyage, for we had but a
scanty provision left. Bruce, .Source of the Nile, 1. 328.
3. Sparing; niggardly; parsimonious.
torn. : {a)
basal joint of
an antenna, especially when it is long and slen-
der, as in the geniculate antenna) of many hy-
menopters and coleopters, or the two proximal
joints, as in dipters, generally small and differ-
ent from the others. When these two Joints are quite
separate, the basal onebecomes the InUbus, leaving the name
»«•;» lor the next one. (ft) The stem-like basal por-
tion of the halter or poiser of a dipter. — 3. In
omilh., the shaft or stem of a feather ; a rachis ;
a scapus. Coues. — 4. In arch., the apophyge or
spring of a column ; the part where a column
springs from its base, usually molded into a
concave sweep or cavetto.
8Cape'''(skap),n. [Said to be imitative.] 1. The
cry of the snipe when flushed. — 2. The snipe
itself.
A good-for- Scape-gallo'WS (skap'gaFoz), n. [< scape\ v.,
_. - -{■ oh], gallows.] One who has escaped the gal-
lows though deserving hanging; a villain : used
in objurgation.
"And remember this, scape-gallows," said Kalph, . . .
"that if we meet again, and you so much as notice me by
one begging gesture, you shall see the inside of a gaol
once more." Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, xliv.
scapegoat (skap'got), n. [< scape^ + goat.]
1 . In tlie ancient Jewish ritual, a goat on which
the chief priest, on the day of atonement, sym-
bolically laid the sins of the people. The goat
was then driven into the wilderness. Lev. xvi.
Hence — 2. One who is made to bear the blame
of the misdeeds of others.
ii.
And heap'd the whole inherited sin
On that huge scape-goat of the race ;
All, all upon the brother.
Tennyson, Mand, xlil. 8.
In Illustrating a point of difilcult) be not too scanty of SCapegTaCB (skap'gras), «. [< scape^, v., + obj.
ifatu. grace.] 1 . A graceless fellow ; a careless, idle.
Uw
words.
= 8yn. 2. .Short, insufficient, slender, meager.
Scapanus (skap'a-nus), M. [NL. (Pomel, 1848),
< Gr. BKairavri, a digging-tool, mattock,< okAtttuv,
dig.] A genus of North American shrew-moles
of the subfamily Talpiiiie, having the median
upper incisors enlai-ged, resembling those of
rodents, and the end of the snout not fringed.
harebrained fellow.
I could not always be present to guard the little scape-
grace from all the blows which were aimed at his young
face by pugilists of his own size. Thackeray, Philip, Ii.
2. The red-throated diver or loon, Colymbus
septentrionalis. Also cape race. [Local, New
Eng.]
scap«l
scapelt (skap'el). n. [< NL. scapellus, dim. of
L. gcajyus, scape : see scape^.'] In hot., the neck
or eaiilicle of the germinating embryo.
scapeless (skap'les), a. [< scape^ + -less.^ In
bot.. destitute of a scape.
BCapement (skap'ment), n. Same as escape-
ment, 2.
scape-wheel (skap'hwel), n. The wheel which
actuates the pendulum of a clock.
scapha (ska'fa), «. [NL., < L. seapha = Gr.
OKOi^ri, a light boat, a skiff, a bowl, tub, orig.
anything hollowed out, < oKa-n-Teiv, dig, delve,
hollow out: see sAave.] 1. PI. scajp^«(-fe). In
anat., the scaphoid fossa or fossa seaphoidea
of the heUx of the ear. See second cut under
earl. — 2. [cap.] In entoni., a genus of coleop-
terous insects. Motsehulsky, 1848.
scaphander (ska-fan'dfer), »i. [= F. scaphan-
drc, < Gr. OKapi, anadoq, a bowl, tub, boat, skiff
(see scapha), + avr/p (^avSp-), a
man.] 1. A diver's water-tight
suit, with devices for assuring a
supply of air; diving-armor. — 2.
[cap.'] [NL.] A genus of tecti-
branehiate gastropods, typical of
the family Scaphandridx.
.Scaphandrid8e(ska-fan'dri-de), n.
pi. [NL., < Scaphander (-aiidr-) +
-idee. ] A family of tectibranchiate
fastropods. The frontal disk is simple
ehind and without tentacles ; the radular teeth are tri-
serial or raultiserial, with the lateral teeth very large and
curved; the shell is external and well developed. The
species are mostly inhabitants of the northern seas.
Scapharca (ska-far'ka), «. [NL. (J. E. Gray,
1847), < L. scapha, a boat, skiff, + NL. Area,
q. v.] A genus of bivalve mollusks. S. trans-
versa is known among fishermen as the bloody
clam, from its red gills. [New Eng.]
scaphia, «. Plural of scaphium.
SCaphidia, «. Plural of scaphidium, 1.
ScaphidiidSB (skaf-i-di'i-de), ii.pl. [NL. (Mac-
Leay, 1825), < ticaphidium + ■idx.'] A small
family of olavioorn beetles, typified by the ge-
nus Scaphidium, composed of small oval or
rounded oval, convex, very slimy necrophagous
beetles, or scavenger-beetles, which live in fun-
gi and feed on decaying animal and vegetable
substances. The larvse are said to have long
antennae. Also Scaphidiadx, Scaphidida, Sea-
phidii, Scaphidites.
scaphidium (ska-fid'i-um), n. [NL., < Gr. oKa-
ipiolov, a small tub or skiff, dim. of tTKaij>7/, i7Kd<l>o(,
a bowl, tub, boat, etc. : see scapha.] If. PI.
scaphidia (-a). In bot., a receptacle contain-
ing spores in algae. — 2. [cap.] A genus of
clavicorn beetles, typical of the family Scaphi-
diidss. It Is wide-spread, and about 30 species are known,
of which 4 inhabit the United States. Also Scaphiditts.
Olivier, 1791.
Scaphidurinae (skaf'i-du-n'ne), n. pi. [NL., <
Scaphidurus + -inse. ] A subfamily of Icteridse,
named from the genus Scaphidurus; the boat-
tailed grackles : synonymous with QuiscalinsB.
Swainson, 1831.
scaphidurous (skaf-i-du'rus), a. [< NL. sca-
phiduriis, <lGr. oKafig ((j/cai^HS-), a skiff, -\- ovpd, a
tail.] Boat-tailed; pertaining to the Scaphi-
durinas, or having their characters. See out
under boat-tailed.
Scaphidurus (skaf-i-du'rus), n. [NL. (Swain-
son, 1827): see scaphidurous.] A genus of
grackles, giving name to the Scaphidurinx; the
boattails : synonymous with Quiscalus. Also
Scaphidura (Swainson, 1837), and Cassidix (Les-
son, 1831).
scaphiopod (skaf 'i-o-pod), a. and n. [< Gr. md-
^lov or anaftlov, a shovel, spade (see scaphium),
+ noiig (trod-) = E. foot.] I. a. Spade-footed,
as a toad.
II. n. A spade-footed toad.
Scaphiopodinse (skaf'i-o-po-di'ne), n. pi.
[Nh.,<.Scaphiopus{-pod-) + -inm.] A subfam-
ily of Pelobatidx, typified by the genus Sca-
phiopus, having the sacrum distinct from the
coccygeal style, and containing the American
spado-footed toads.
ScaphiopUS (ska-fi'o-pus), n. [NL. (Holbrook) :
see scaphiopod.'] A genus of toads of the fam-
ily I'elobatidm and subfamily Scaphiopodinx,
having a spade-like appendage of the fore feet,
used for digging; the spadefoots. s. holbrooH is
common in eastern North America, remarkable for the
noise it makes in the spring. S. interr/umlaniu is a similar
toad of western North America.
Scaphirhynchiuae (skaf'i-ring-kl'ne), n. pi.
[NL., < Scaphirhynchus + -inx.] A subfamily
of Acipcnseridx, typified by the genus Scaphi-
rhynchus; the shovel-nosed sturgeons. They
Scafhites fgualij.
5376
have no spiracles, and the rows of bony shields are imbri-
cated on the tail. Also called Scaphirhynchopinse.
SCaphirhjmchine (skaf-i-ring'kin), a. Of or
iiertniniiig to the Scophirhynchinx.
Scaphirhynchus (.skaf-i-riug'kus), n. [NL.,
prop. Scaphorhi/nchus {Scaphorynchus, Maximil-
ian, 1831), < Gr. aKd<l)r/, a bowl (oKa^ion, a bowl,
shovel), -(- p('>';t;of, snout.] 1. In ochjWi., a ge-
nus of tyrant-flycatchers: same as Meyarhyn-
chus (Thunberg) of prior date. — 2. In ichth.,
a genus of Acipenseridx, having a spatulate
snout ; the shovelheads, or shovel-nosed stur-
geons. S. platyrhytu;Mts is a common species of the
Mississippi and Missouri basins, attaining a length of 5
feet. This genus was so named by Heckel in ISS.'J, but,
the name Scaphirhynchus being preoccupied in ornithol-
ogy, it is now called Scaphirhynchops (Gill) or Scaphir-
rhynchops (Jordan and Gilbert, 1882). See cut under
fihovel-nmed.
SCaphism (skaf'izm), n. [< Gr. caa^ri, OKa^g,
anything hollowed out (see scapha), + -ism.] A
barbarous punishment inflicted among the Per-
sians, by confining the victim in a hollow tree.
Five holes were made — one for the head, and the others
for the arms and legs. These parts were anointed with
honey to attract wasps, and in this plight the criminal was
left till he died. Brmver,
SCaphite (skaf'it), «. [< NL. ScMphites.] A fos-
sil cephalopod of the genus Scaphites.
Scaphites (ska-fi'tez), re. [NL. (cf. Gr. cKa(jiiTj]g,
one who guides a boat or skiff, orig. adj., per-
taining to a boat), < Gr. mdijir/, a boat, + -ites.] A
genus of ammonites, or fos-
sil ammonoid cephalopods,
of scaphoid shape, typical of
the family Scaphitidx; the
scaphites. They have the early
walls regularly involute, but the
last whorl detached, and straight
for some distance, when it becomes
again recurved toward the body.
Also Scaphita. Fleining, 1828.
ScaphitidaB(ska-fit'i-d6), n. pi. [NIj.,<. Scaphites
+ -idx.] A family of tetrabranchiate cephalo-
pods, typified by the genus Scaphites. The name
has been proposed for extinct shells resembling the ammo-
nites, but with the last whorl detached, and straight for
some distance, and then again recurved toward the body ;
the sutures are many-lobed, and the lobes are dendritic or
branched. The species are characteristic of the Creta-
ceous epoch, in Europe and North America, and about 40
are known. By recent conchologists they are mostly re-
ferred Ui the StepTianoceratidx.
scaphium (ska'fi-um), n. ; pi. scaphia (-ii). [NL.,
< L. scaphium, < Gr. aiid(piov, a bowl, basin, a con-
cave min'or, etc., a shovel (cf . BKa<pF.iov, a shovel,
spade, mattock), dim. of aKd(l>7i, o/cd^of, a bowl,
boat, skiff: see scapha.] 1. In 6o<., the carina
or keel of papilionaceous flowers. — 2. In en-
tom., the unpaired appendage lying between
the uncus and the intromittent organ of lepi-
dopterous insects; the upper organ, or tegu-
men of White, consisting in the swallowtail
butterflies of chitinous points on a membranous
body. — 3. [cap.] A genus of coleopterous in-
sects of the family Scaphidiidx, with two spe-
cies, one of Europe, the other of the United
States. Kirby, 1837.
Scaphocalcaneal (skaf"o-kal-ka'ne-al), a. [<
scapho(id) + calcaneal.'] Pertaining to the
scaphoid and the ealcaneum.
Scaphocephalic (skaf"o-se-fal'ik or -sef'a-lik),
a. [< Gr. oKaiptj, aKd(pog, boat, -I- Ne<l>a/.% head.]
Boat-shaped : applied to a skull deformed from
the premature union of the sagittal suture,
whereby the transverse growth is prevented,
with an increase in the vertical and longitudi-
nal directions.
Professor v. Baer, . . . .in his elaborate and valuable
memoir on the macrocephalic skull of the Crimea, pro-
poses the term scaphocephalic to indicate the same boat-
like head-form.
D. WUson, Prehist. Annals Scotland, I. 236.
scaphocephalism (skaf-6-sef'a-lizm), n. [<
scnphocephal{ic) + -ism.] Same as scapho-
cephaly.
Scaphocephalism, or a boat-shaped depression of the
summit, occurs from defective parietal bone formation.
Amer. Naturalist, XXII. 614.
scaphocephalous (skaf-o-sef'a-lus), a. [<
scaphocc}>hal{ic) + -ous.'] Same as scapho-
cephalic.
scaphocephaly (skaf'o-sef-a-li), «. [< scapho-
cephalic) + -y^.] The condition of having a
seaphoeephalie skull.
scaphocerite (ska-fos'g-rit), n. [< Gr. OKdijioc,
a bowl, boat, -t- KtpaQ (Kcpar-), a horn : see ce-
rite^.] In Crustacea, one of the parts of the
antennce, borne upon the basicerite. It is a
scale-like appendage, considered morphologi-
cally to represent an exopodite. Milne-Ed-
wards; Huxley; Bate.
scaphopodan
The scaphocerite and rhipidura are both present as well-
developed appendages. Nature, XXXVIII. 339.
scaphoceritic (skaf'o-se-rit'ik), a. [< scapho-
cerite + -ic] Pertaining to the scaphocerite,
or having its characters.
SCaphocUDOid (skaf-6-ku'boid), a. [< scaph-
o{id) + cuboid.] Of or pertaining to the scaph-
oid and cuboid bones : as, the scuphocuboid ar-
ticulation. Also called navictdocuboid.
scaphocuneiform (skaf-6-kii'ne-i-f6rm), a. [<
scapho(id) + cuneiform.] Of or pertaining to
the scaphoid and cuneiform bones. Also called
naiiculocuneiform.
scaphognathite (ska-fog'na-thit), «. [< Gr. cKd-
(j)//, cKii^of , a bowl, boat, + yvdBog, jaw, -f- -ite'^.] In
Crustacea, an appendage of the second maxil-
la, apparently representing a combined epipo-
dite and exopodite. in the crawfish it forms a
broadly oval plate or scaphoid organ, which continually
bales the water out of the respiratory chamber, and so
lets fresh water in. See cut at Podophthalmia (C, cd).
SCaphognathitic (ska-fog-na-thit'ik), a. [<
scaplioynathitc + -ic] Pertaining to a scaphog-
nathite, or having its characters.
scaphoid (skaf 'old), a. and n. [< Gr. c!Ka(pocci5^g,
like a bowl or boat, < mdip?/, oKdipog, a bowl, boat,
-f «(5of, form.] I. a. Boat-shaped ; resembling
a boat; cymbiform: in anatomy applied to sev-
eral parts — Scaphoid bone. See U.— Scaphoid
fossa. See fossa^.
II. n. In anat.: (a) The bone on the radial
side of the proximal row of the carpus, articu-
lating with the lunar, magnum, trapezoid, tra-
pezium, and radius. Also called navicular, ra-
diate. See cuts under Artiodactyla, Perissodac-
tyla, hand, and solidunyidate. (b) One of the
tarsal bones, placed at the inner side, between
the astragalus and the three cuneiforms, and
sometimes articulating also with the cuboid.
Also called navicular. See cut under /oo<.
seaphoidea, n. Plural of scaphoideum.
scaphoides (ska-foi'dez), n. [NL. : see scaph-
oid.] The scaphoid bone of the carpus. See
scaphoid, re. (a).
scaphoideum (ska-foi'de-um),n. ; pi. seaphoidea
(-a). [ii\j.: see scaphoid.] The scaphoid bone,
whether of the wrist or the ankle : more fuUy
called OS scaphoideum. Also naviculare.
SCapholunar (skaf-6-lii'nar), a. and n. [< scaph-
o(id) + lunar.] I. a. 1.
Pertaining to the scaphoid
and the semilunar bone of
the wrist : as, the scapholu-
rear articulation. — 2. Rep-
resenting or constituted by
both the scaphoid and the
semilunar bone of the
wrist: as, the scapholunar
bone.
II. re. The scapholunar
bone; the scapholunare.
scapholunare (skaf"o-lu-
na re), re. ; pi. scapholuna-
ria (-ri-a). [NL. : see
scapholunar.] The scapho-
lunar bone, representing or
consisting of the scaphoid
and semilunar in one, situ-
ated on the radial side of
the proximal row of car-
pal bones, it is found in the
carpus of various mammals, and
is highly characteristic of the
carnivores. It has two ossiflc
centers, supposed to represent
the radiale and the intermedium
of the typical carpus, and sometimes a third, representing
the centrale. More fully called os scapholunare.
scaphopod (skaf'o-pod), a. and n. [< NL.
scapliojius (scaphopod-), < Gr. aKa(j>ri, md^oc, a
bowl, + iroiif (Trot!-) = E. foot,] I. a. Having
the foot fitted for burrowing, as a moUiisk; of
or pertaining to the Scaphopoda.
II. n. A member of the Scaphopoda; a tooth-
shell.
Scaphopoda (ska-fop'o-dii), n. pi. [NL., neut.
pi. of "Scaphopus : see scaphopod.] A class of
Mollusca (formerly an orderof gastropods), hav-
ing the foot fitted for burrowing; the tooth-
shells, also called Cirribranchiata, Prosopoce-
phala, and Solenoconchx. They have an elongate
cylindrical body exhibiting bilateral symmetry in the dis-
position of its parts, inclosed in a tubular shell open at
both ends; many long cirri or tentacles; euthyneural
nervous system, with cerebral, pleural, pedal, and visceral
pairs of neiTcs; paired nephridia and ctenidia; no heart ;
and distinct sexes. There are two well-marked families,
Dentaliixtx and Siphonodentaliidx. See cut under tooth-
shell.
scaphopodan (ska-fop'o-dan), a. and ii. [<
scaphopod + -an.] Same as scaphopod.
I
scl
Palmar Aspect of Lett
Fore Foot of a Klack Bear
(.i'rsus ajnericanus).
scl, scapholunar; c, cu-
neiform ; /, pisiform ; tr,
trapezium ; t, trapezoid ;
tn, magnum ; tt, unciform.
The phalangos show a full
scries of sesamoid bones
(unmarked].
scaphopodoos
scaphopodous (ska-fop'v-dus), a. [< xcaphopod
+ -mix.] Same as 6'<'«/»//«7)orf.
Scaphorhynchus (skat'-o-ring'kus). 11. [NL., <
Gr. (TKo^iof, a bowl, boat, anything hollowed out,
+ /"'jj-of, snout.] Same as Scaphiihi/nchug, 1.
scapifonu (ska'pi-formj, a. [< L. scapiis, a
[itim. a stalk (see scape^), + forma, form.]
Scape-like; having the form or character of a
scajie. in any sense of that word.
SCapigerous (skS-pij'e-rus), o. [< L. scapus, a
stem, a stalk (see scape^), + gerere, carry.] In
■ hot., scape-bearing.
scapinade (skap-i-nad'), «. [< F. scapinade,
< sidjiiii, a knave, rogue (from a character in
Moliere's "'Les Fourberies de Scapin"), < It.
Saipiiio, a character in Italian comedy, < scapi-
110, scappino, & soek: see ehnpine.'\ An act or
a process of trickery or roguery.
If Calhoun thought thu^ It is not astonishing that
Adams declared ''the negociation [between Engiaiid and
the I'liitett .States about the suppression of the slave-trade]
it.Sflf a fKapinade — a struggle between the plenipotenti-
aries to outwit each other, and to circumvent Iwth coun-
tries by a slippery compromise between freedom and sla-
very." H. Km Hoist, John C. Calhoun, p. 212.
scap-net (skap'net), II. A net used by anglers
to catch minnows, shrimps, etc., for bait. See
sronji-liet,
scapolite (skap'o-Kt), n, [< Gt. (Dorio) wanof,
a rod (see gcnp'e^), + Xtfh^, a stone.] One of
a group of minerals, silicates of aluminium and
calcium, with sometimes sodium, also often
containing chlorin in small amount. They occur
in tetragonal crystals, and also massive, of a white to
irrayish, yellowish, or reddish color. They are named
iiuaiiitr, paranthiiie, ekeherffiu, dipyre, marialiu, etc.
I la- 9|>ecie8 show something of the same progressive
change in coni|K>sition observed among the triclinic feld-
spars, the increase in amount of soda (from mionite to
niarialite) being accompanied by a corresponding Increase
in silica.
scapple (skap'l), V. t.; pret. and pp. seappled,
\<\)v. nriipiiUiiff. Same as seahble.
scappling-hanuner (skap' ling -ham '6r), n.
Same as sciiltliliiiij-hammer.
scapula (skap'u-la). H.; p\.scapulxi-le). [NL.,
< LL. scapiild, the shoulder, in L. only in
pi., si-apulie, the shoulder-blades, the shoul-
ilers, shoulder-pieces; prob. akin to L. scapiu,
a shaft, stem,
■-talk: see
-.„/«-2.] 1. In
'(/inf., the shoul-
der-blade, or
t>lade-bone, or
oinoplate. it la
the proximal ele-
nii-iil t,{ the pectn-
r;il ■■! -.capiilararch
*>l Vf/rteliratea, t-s-
pci i.illy of high-
er \ <Ttebrates, in
which it is priml-
tivi'l\ theproilmal
imrt of a cartllagl-
11'"!. i,«l the dbtal part of which it (egmented off toform
< It assumes the most varioasabapea In dlBer-
iit is usually flattened and expansive io mam-
■ slender and saber-like. The scapala, what-
. normally malntaina connection with the
h is then a scpumte bone, but in all mam-
i< the nionotremes the ooracold Is completely
i:4>it.<.->Ii«iate<i with the scapula, appearing as a mere pro-
ct-ri.-. uf the latter. 1'he human, like other mammalian
»' ;u"ihi'. uith the exception noted. Is therefore a com-
I 'insisting uf scapula and conooid anited.
I "r scapula and coracotd together, normally
I ' iculation for the clavicle when the latter Is
I d. In mammals above monotremes this
. witli the spine or acromion. The glenoid
articulation of the humerus is always at the
junciiuii of the scapula proper with the coracoid, and
wht'Ti the latter Is separate Iwth bones enter Into Its for-
mation. Morphologically a well-developed scapula, as In
a niarnm.ll, has two ends, three borden, and three sur-
tai.s, corresiKinding to the prismatic pod of primitive
cartilaite; these parts, however, do not correspond with
tlio borders, angles, and surfaces descrlt>ed In human
anatomy (for which see sAouUer-Motfe). the vertebral bor-
der, for instance, being really one end of the bone, and
the .cIki: of ihc -pine being one of the morphological
lionlcrs The ilin-c surfaces correspond to the supraspt-
n..ns infrnpln.Mi«, and subscapular foaaiB, better known
as tlir prcscaiinlar, poatacapular. and sabscapular sur-
faces In nil maramala and birds, and moet reptiles
proper, till: scapula closely conforms to the characters
hire ifiven In li;itra<-hians and flshes, however, whose
scapiilar un h \t . oiii|.Iicale<l with aildltional bones, the
niodiJl'rations are variou.s, and some of the coracoid ele-
menu Ikih; Inren wrongly regarded and named as scapo-
Xm. Sec critF* under mnoitternum, »caprd<jcftraeoid, and
nhmtlilfr-ltUitti'. See also po9t»cayular, pruKapular, nib-
nca^mlnr, mipraneapuUlT.
2. In Crinoiilca, one of the plates in the cup
which give rise to the arms. — 3. In entoiii. : (n)
One of the purupsides or plicH? scapulares on
the side of the rnesothnrax. Tlionixoii. (b) A
pleura, including the episterniim and epimeron,
the latter being distinguished by Burmeister as
338
Right Shoulder-tcirdle or Scapular Arch of
Fowl, showing A>, the h7pocUdiuni:/,rur<:u-
lum ; Co, coracoid; 5t, scapula ; f /, f^ienoid.
5377
the posterior wing of the scapula. Also scapti-
larium. See panqmn^. (o) A shoulder-tippet,
or shoulder-cover. See patagiiim (c). (<l) A
trochanter of the fore leg. Kirbij Dorsalis
SCapulSB, the dorsal scapular artery (whi'cli see, under
icapular). — Scapula accessoria, in omith., the OS liu-
meroscapulare, a small sesamoid bone developed al)out
the shoulder-joint of many bii'ds.
SCapulacromial (skap"u-la-kr6'mi-al), a. [<
NL. scajiiilii + acromion : see acromial.~\ Per-
taining to the acromion of the scapula; acro-
mial.
scapulalgia (skap-u-lal'ji-a), n. [NL., < scapu-
la, q. v., -I- Gr. a/.yo(, pain.] Pain in the region
of the scapula. •
scapular (skap'u-lar), a. and n. [I. a. < ML.
scapuliiris, pertaining to the shoulders, < L.
scapulie, the shoulders: see scapula. II. ii.
Early mod. E. scapcllar. skappler, < ME. "scape-
te»e (usually in longer form: seescapulary),<.¥.
scapiilaire = Pr. escapolari = Cat. escapidari =
Sp. Pg. escapulario = It. scapolare, < ML. scapu-
larium, scapulare, a scapular, < scapularis, per-
taining to the shoulders: seel. Ct.scapidary.'i
1. a. Of or pertaining to the shoulders or the
shoulder-blades; pertaining to the scapula (in
any sense), or to scapulars. Also scapularij. —
Great scapular notch. See /wteA.— Scapular arch,
the pectoral arch, or shoulder-girdle, forming in verte-
bnites whicli have fore limbs or pectoral tins the suspenso-
riuni or ijony apparatus for suspending such limb or fin
from the trunk or hea*i, the limb or fin fi-oni the shoulder-
joint or its representative being the diverging aj-pendage
of the scapular arch. In all higher vertebrates (mam-
mals, birds, and reptiles) the scapular arch consists primi-
tively of a cartilaginous rod, more or less perfectly seg-
mented into a proximal moiety (scapula) and a distal
moiety (coracoid), to which an accessory lione (clavicle) is
frequently added, together with various other supplemen-
tary osaeous or cartilaginous pieces, either in the median
line In front or in the line of the clavicle. In a batra*
chian, as the frog, there is a distinct superior ossification
forming a suprascapula, with a precoracoid and an epi-
coracoid, besides the coracoitl proper. In tlshes the scapu-
lar arch ia still further moditled, especially by the presence
of additional coracoid elements which have l^een variously
homologized. Also called teapttlar girdle, and pectonU
arch or girdle. .See geapula, eoraeoid, preecapula, tupra-
teayula, eeioeoraand, epieoraeoid, hypereoraeoid, prfcora-
eoid, and cats under epifleura, omoiterttum, interdavitie,
i<er7H<m, aaqwioeanieaia, and amnufa.— Scapular ar-
tnry. (a) Dmal, a large branch of the subscapular, which
winds over the axillary border of the scapula to ramify
In the infraspinous fossa. Also called dmalit tcapuUe.
(6) Po^ervrr. the contiimation of the transveraalis colli
ahmg the vertetiral iMirtler of the scapula as far as the
inferior angle. - Scapular crow. See <Tf>w2 and teapu-
<afed.— Scapular feathers, in omith., those featliers
which grow ujwin tile pterylahumeralis or humeral tract;
a packet of feathers lying upon the wing at or near its in-
sOTtlon into the body. See 1 1, X— Scapular hyoid mus-
cle. Same aa omoAuouf. ~ Scapular line, a vertical line
drawn on the back through the inferior angle of the scap-
ula.—Scapular point, a tender point developed in neu-
ralgia of ttie iinicnial plexus, and situated at the Inferior
angle of the scapula. Scapular reflex, » contraction of
S4jmeof the scapular muscles from .>ititnillatlnii of the skin
in the interscapular region.— Scapular region, the re
gion of the back over each scapula. Scapular veins, the
venie comitea of the scapular arteries.
n. ». 1. A short cloak with a hood, appa-
rently confined to monastic orders, and among
them the garment for use while at work, etc.,
as distinguished from a fuller and longer robe ;
hence, specifically, (a) a long narrow strip of
cloth, covering the shoulders and hanging down
before and behind to the knees, worn by certain
religious orders; (6) two small pieces of cloth
connected by strings, and worn over the shoul-
ilers by lay persons in the Roman Catholic
Church, as a token of devotion, in honor of
the Virgin Mary, etc. The original scapular was flret
Introduced by 8t Benedict, In lieu of a heavy cowl for
the shoulders. Alao eeapulary.
The doctoure of dlulnltle, when he commenseth, hath
bis tcapular cast oner his headde. In token that he hathe
forsaken the worlde for Christes sake.
B. EdeniFbtt Books on America, ed. Arber, p. S8).
And slow up the dim aisle afar,
With sable cowl and scapular.
And snow-white stoles, in order due,
The holy Fathen, two and two,
In long procession came.
SeoU, L. of L U., t1. Sa
2. In surg., a bandage for the shoulder-blade.
Also seapulary, — 3. In omith., the bundle of
feathers which springs from the pteryla hume-
ralis or humeral tract, at or near the shoulder,
and lies along the side of the back; the shoul-
der-feathers : generally used in the plural. Also
seapulary. See cut under covert.
The scapolar or shoulder feathers, tcapulart or scapu-
laries; these are they that grow on the pterylso hume-
rales. Couei, Key to N. A. Birds, p. 94.
Ton^e-BCapular, a scapular on which twelve tongues
of red cloth were sewed, put on a Cistercian monk who
bad (ttfended with his tongue.
scapulare (skap-u-la're), n, [NL., neut. of
ML. scapularis, pertaining to the shoulder: see
1. Same as scaj)-
as scap-
scapuloradial
scapiilar.l In oruitli., the region of the back
ornotanim whence spring the scapular feathers,
alougsiile but not over the shoulder-blade. The
insertion of the feathers of the scapulare is upon the
pteryla hunieralis, and not upon the pteryla dorsalis. See
interscapidxim, .-Vlso scapularium.
scapularia, «. Plural of scapularium.
scapularis (skap-u-lil'ris), ». ; pi. scapulares
(-rez). [NL. : see scapidar.'] Same as supra-
scapular nerve (which see, under suprascapular).
scapularium (skap-u-la'ri-um), n. ; pi. scapula-
ria (-a). [NL., < SlL. scapularium, scapular:
see scapular.'^ 1. \n omith.: («) Same as sco/)-
ulare. (6) The scapulars or scapularies, col-
lectively considered. — 2. In entom., the pleiira,
or side of the mesothorax. Same as scapula, 3
(t). Kirby.
seapulary (skap'u-la-ri), a. and n. [Early mod.
E. also *'«y)e/aWe; <' MS. scapularye, scaiielcrcy,
seaplerie, scapclori, scaplory, chapolorie, etc., <
OF. scapulaire, < ML. scapularium, scapular:
see scapular.'] I. a. Having the form of a
scapular.
The King was in a scopetarie mantle, an hat of cloth of
siluer, and like a white hermit.
lloUnshed, Chron., III. 830.
II. ». ; pi. scapularies (-riz).
ular, 1.
Ha muhe werie seapelorin hwen mantel ham henegeth.
Ancren RiwU, p. 424, note c.
Thei Bchapen her chapolorie$ & streecheth hem brode.
Piers Plowman's Credc (E. E. T. S.), 1. 660.
j seapelerey with an hodde. Paston Letters, III. 410.
The monastic garment named seapulary, the exact char-
acter of which has not been decidedly determined, appears
to have been a short super-tunic, but having a hood or
cowl. Eneyc. Brit., VI. 468.
2. Same as scapular, 2. — 3. Same
ular, 3.
scapulated (skap'u-Ia-ted), a. [< NL. scapti-
latus (< L. scapulse, the shoulder-blades) +
-«(f2.] In omith., having the scapular feathers
notable in size, shape, or color: as, the scapu-
Uitcd crow or raven, Corrus sca2>ulatu.s.
scapulet, scapulette (skap'u-let), w. [< seapu-
Ui + dim. -cf, -€»(■.] An appendage at the base
of each of the manubrial lobes of some acalephs.
They are secondary folds of the oral cylinder.
The smaller appendages to the oral cylinder are sixteen
in number, and are known as the scapulettes or upper leaf-
like appendages. Amer. Jour. Sci., 3d ser., XXXIII. 123.
scapulimancy (skap'u-li-man-si), h. [< L. scnji-
ulie, the shoulder-blades, + Gr. /janreia, divina-
tion.] Divination by means of a shoulder-blade :
same as omoplatoscopy.
The principal art of this kind [the art of divining by
bones) is divination liy a siionlder-blade, technically called
scapultJitancu or omoplatoscopy.
E. B. Tylor, Prim. Culture, I. 124.
scapulimantic (skap^u-li-man'tik), a. [< scap-
ulimancy (-nuint-) + -ic.l Pertaining to scapu-
limancy; omoplatoscopic : as, a scapulimantic
rite or ceremony; a scapulimantic prophecy or
omen.
SCaouloclavicular (skap'u-lo-kla-vik'u-lar), a.
l<.iih. scapuloclavicularis,< scapula + cldvicula
+ -«rS.] Pertaining to the scapula and the
clavicle: as. the .trnpiiloclaricular articulation.
— Scapuloclavicular arch, the pectoral arch.
8capuloclavicularis(skap''u-l6-kla-vik-u-la'-
ris), n., pi. scapuloclaviculares (-rez). [NL.:
see scapidoclavicular.'] An anomalous muscle
which in man may extend from the sternal part
of the clavicle »
to the superior '
border of the
scapula.
scapulocora-
COld (skap"u-
16-kor'a-koid),
a. and n. [<
NL. scapula
+ coracoides :
see coracoid,]
Same as cora-
coscapular. —
Scapuiocoracold angle. Same as coracoseapiUar angle
(which see, uuili-'Tcoracoscanular). The angle is that formed
at yt by the hones Sc and Co in the cut under scaptda.
SCapulodynia (skap"u-lo-diu'i-a), «. [NL., <
scapula + (ir. bdim/, pain.] Pain in the region
of the scapula.
scapulohumeral (skap"u-I6-hu'm6-ral), a. [<
NL. scapula + humerus + -ah] (it or pertain-
ing to the scapula and the humerus: as, the
scapulohumeral articulation (that is, the shoul-
der-joint).
scapuloradial (skap'u-lo-ra'di-al), a. [< NL.
scapula + radius + -al.] In ariat., pertaining
Pectoral Arch and Fore Limb of the Pike
(Esox lucius), an osseous fish, showing scapu-
locoracoid, composed of 5f/, scapula or ny-
percoracoid, and Cr, coracoid or hj-pocora-
coid ; r, posterior end of the outer margin of
the scapulocoracoid i A, A, i, 3, 3, 4, 5, five
fin-rays or radialia ; a, actinosts or basalia.
scapuloradlal
to the scapula and the i-adius : as, a seapulora-
dial muscle (represented in man by the long
head of the biceps).
scapulo-ulnar (skap'u-16-urnilr), a. [< NL.
scapula + ulna + -ar^.] Of or pertaining to
the scapula and the ulna: as, a scapulo-ulnar
muscle (represented in man by the long head
of the triceps).
scapuloveitebral (skap'u-lo-vtr'tf-bral), a. [<
sc^tpula + rertebra + -a/.] Pertaining to the
shoulder-blade or scapula and to the spine or
vertebral column : as, the rhomboidei are scap-
ulorertebral muscles.
8Capus(ska'pus),n.; -phscapii-vl). [NL.,<L.sco-
, j>u«, a shaf t, st«m : seescape^/\ 1. In arcA., the
shaft of a column. — 2. In hot., same as scape^, 1.
— 3. In enUmi., the scape of an antenna. — 4. In
ornith., the scape of a feather; the whole stem
or shaft, divided into the barrel or calamus and
therachis. — 5. [cap.'i A genus of coelenterates.
SCar^ (skar), n. [Early mod. E. also skar; <
ME. sear, scatre, skarre,< OF. escare, F. esearre,
escharre = Sp. Pg. It. escara, a sear, scab, crust,
< L. eschara, a scar, esp. from a burn, < Gr. h-
Xapa, a scab, scar caused by burning, a hearth,
means of producing fire, etc.: see eschar.'] 1.
A mark in the skin or flesh made by a wound,
burn, or ulcer, and remaining after the wound,
burn, or ulcer is healed ; a cicatrix.
He jests at scars that never felt a wound.
Stmlc., R. and J., iL 2. 1.
Let Paris bleed ; 'tis but a scar to scorn.
Shak., T. and C, i. 1. lU.
That time, whose soft palm heals the wound of war.
May cure the sore, but never close the scar.
Drayton, Barons' Wars, i. 18.
You have got a Scar upon your Cheek that is above a
Span long. N. Bailey, tr. of Colloquies of Erasmus, I. 267.
2. Figuratively, any mark resulting from in-
jury, material or moral.
The very glorified body of Christ retained in it the scars
and marks of former mortality.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. 54.
Th' Earth, degenerate
From her first beauty, bearing still vpon her
Etemall Scars of her fond Lords dishonour.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 3.
This smooth earth . . . had the beauty of youth and
blooming nature, . . . and not a wrinkle, scar, or fracture
in all its body. Burnet, Theory of the Earth, i. 6.
3. A spot worn by long use, as by the limpet.
The greatest distance from its scar at which I noticed a
marked limpet to be was about three feet.
Nature, XXXI. 200.
4. In bot, a mark on a stem or branch seen
after the fall of a leaf, or on a seed after the
separation of its stalk. See liilum.
There were thick-stemmed and less graceful species
with broad rhombic scars (Leptophleum), and others with
the leaf-«car8 in vertical rows (Sigiliaria), and others, again,
with rounded leaE-«car«, looking like the marks on Stig-
maria. Dawson, Geol. Hist, of Plants, p. 71.
5. In conch., an impression left by the insertion
of a muscle ; a ciborium ; an eye. In bivalve shells
the principal scars are those left by the adductor muscles,
which in most species are two in number, an anterior and
a posterior, but in others only one, which is subcentral ;
other scars are left by the muscles which move the foot.
See cut under ciborium.
6. In eniom., a definite, often prominent, space
on the anterior face of the mandibles of rhyn-
chophorous beetles of the family Otiorhynchi-
dse. It indicates the deciduous piece or cusp which
falls off soon after the insect attains its perfect state. See
decidwms.
7. In founding, a weak or imperfect place in a
casting, due to some fault in the metal.
scar^ (skar), v.; pret. and pp. scarred, ppr. scar-
ring. [< «carl, w.] I. trans. To mark with a
scar or scars ; hence, to wound or hurt.
ni not shed her blood,
Kor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow.
Shak., Othello, v. 2. 4.
I would not scar that body.
That virtuous, valiant body, nor deface it.
To make the kingdom mine.
Fletcher, Pilgrim, iv. 2.
IL intrans. To become scarred ; form a scar.
scar'-' (skar), n. [Also (Sc.) scaur; < ME. scarrc,
skerre, < Icel. sker, an isolated rock in the sea,
= 8w. skar = Dan. skjser (cf. OD. schaere), a
cliff, a rock ; cf . Icel. skor, a rift in a rock ; < Icel.
skera = 8w. skara = Dan. sksere, cut, shear : see
shear^, and cf. shared, score, and shore^. Hence
also skerry.l 1 . A naked, detached rock. — 2. A
cliff; a precipitous bank; a bare and broken
place on the side of a hill or mountain.
Is It the roar of Teviot's tide
That chafes against the scaur's red side?
Scott, L. of L. M., i, 12.
5378
O, sweet and far from cliff and scar
The horns of Elfiand faintly blowing.
Tennysoti, Princess, iii. (song).
The word enters into many place-names In Oreat Britain,
as Scarborough, 5carcliff, etc.
scar-'^, «. Same as scared.
scar* (skar), n. [< L. scarus, < Gr. iTKdpof, a sea-
fish. Scams cretensis, supposed by the ancients
to chew the cud.] A scaroid fish. See Scarus.
scarab (skar'ab), n. [Formerly also scarabe;
also scarahec, < F. scarabee = Pr. escaravai =
Sp. escarabajo = Pg. escarabeo, scaraveo (also
dim. escaravelho) = It. scarabeo, < L. scarabseus,
a beetle; cf. Gr. Kapafiog, var. Kapafiioc, Kapd/i-
(iio^, Kapajilc, a homed beetle, stag-beetle, also a
kind of crab; Skt. carabha, galabha, a locust.
The Gr. forms *aKapa^eco(, *aKapaf3oc, commonly
cited, are not authentic] 1. A beetle. It was
supposed to be bred in and to feed on dung ; hence the
name was often applied opprobriously to persons. 8ee
dung-beetle, tuinbletrng, and cuts under Copris and Scara-
bteus.
Some [grow richl by hearbs, as cankers, and after the
same sort our apothecaries ; others \\y aslies, as scarabes,
and how else get our colliers the pence?
Nashe, Pierce Penilesse, p. 22.
.Such as thou.
They are the moths and scarabs of a state.
B. Jonson, Poetaster, iv. 5.
These sponges, that suck up a kingdom's fat.
Battening like scarabs in the dung of peace.
Massinger, Duke of Milan, iii. 1.
2. In entotn., a coleopterous insect of the fam-
ily Scarabeeidse, and especially of the genus
Scarabmus ; a scarabseid or
scarabseoid. — 3. A gem,
usually emerald, green feld-
spar, or obsidian, cut in the
form of a beetle and en-
graved on the under face,
common among the ancient
Egyptians as an amulet.
Also scarabxus.
Theodoros in the bronze statue
which he made of himself was rep-
resented holding in one hand a
scarab engraved with the design of
a quadriga. Scarab.
A. S. Murray, Greek Sculpture, Time of Thotmes in.
" rr nn (Size of original.)
SCarabaeid (skar-a-be'id), a. and n. I. a. Per-
taining to the Scarabseidx; related to or resem-
bling a scarabseid; scarabeeoid. Also scara-
beeidous.
II. n. A beetle of the family Scarabaeid^ ; a
scarabseoid or scarab.
Scarabaeidae (skar-a-be'l-de), n. pi. [NL.
(Leach, 1817), < Scdrabseus ■¥ -idse.] A very
large family of beetles of the lameUieorn se-
ries, having the lamellse of the antennal club
capable of close apposition and not flattened,
and having fossorial legs. The family contains
about 7,000 described species, of which between 500 and
600 inhabit Ameripa north of Mexico. They are usually
of large size, and among them are the largest beetles
known. Many of them are leaf-feeders, others live on
fruit, flowers, honey, sap, decaying animal matter, and
excrement. The larvaj are robust white grubs, living or-
dinarily underground, or in decaying stumps and logs,
or in dung. The males are usually much larger than the
females, and are often distinguished by horns upon the
head or prothorax, or by better-developed antennse, or by
modlflcations of the legs. Many noted pests to agricul-
ture belong to this group, such as the May-beetles or
June-bugs and cockchafers of America and Europe, the
Anisoplia austriaca of the Russian wheat-fields, and the
rose-chafer and fig-eater of the United States. Corre-
sponding groups in foiTiier use are Scarabteida, Scarabse-
ides, Scarabxiim. and Scarabteites. See cuts under Her-
cules-beetle, Pelidnota, and Scarabseus.
SCarabaeidoid (skar-a-be'i-doid), a. [< scara-
bseid + -oid.l Noting a stage of the larva
(after the second molt^ of those insects which
undergo hypermetamorphosis, as the blister-
beetles (Mcloidx). This stage succeeds the caraboid,
and is followed by the ultimate stage of the second larva,
after which comes the coarctate pupa. C. V. RiZey.
scarabaeidous (skar-a-be'i-dus), a. Same as
scarabseid.
The ordinary hairs of scarabaeidous beetles.
Science, III. 127.
scarabaeist (skar-a-be'ist), ». [< Scarahee{idee)
+ -i.s?.] A special student of the Scarabeeidse;
a eoleopterist who makes a special study of the
Scarabeeidse.
The possibility of any eoleopterist being more than a
scarabmst. Standard (London), Nov. 11, 188.').
scarabaeoid, scarabeoid (skar-a-be'oid), a. and
n. [< Scarabseus H- -oid.] I. a. 1. Resem-
bling a scarab; searabseid; pertaining, related,
or belonging to the Scarabseidse. — 2. Specifi-
cally, scarateidoid. €. V. Ililcy.
It. n. A carved scarab but remotely resem-
bling the natural insect; or, more usually, an
E^ptian Scarahaeus iAteuchus plus),
natural size.
scarbug
imitation or counterfeit scarab, such as were
produced in great numbers by the ancient
Phenicians.
Others Iscarabs] again but vaguely recall the form of the
insect, and are called scarabxoids.
Maspero, Egypt. Archajol. (tr. 1887)^ p. 242.
Scarabseus (skar-a-be'us), «. [Also Scarabeus;
NL. (Linnaeus, 1767), < L. scarabmus, a beetle :
see scarab.'] 1. An Old World genus of la-
mellicom beetles,
typical of the Sca-
rabeeid/e, formerly
equivalent to La-
mcUicornia, now re-
stricted to about 70
species distributed
through Africa and
tlie warmer parts
of Europe an d Asia.
They are coprophagous
in habit, the adults
rolling up balls of ex-
crement in which the
females lay their eggs.
The sacred scarab of
the Egyptians is S.
sacer, found through-
out the countries bor-
dering on the Mediter-
ranean. It is probable
also that another spe-
cies, S. laticoUis, was
held in religious veneration by the Egyptians, as the
scarab is sometimes figured by them with striate elytra, a
character which pertains to this alone. Species of Ateu-
chus, as A. plus, were formerly included in this genus.
2. \l. c; pi. scarabsei (-i).] Same as scarab, 3.
scarabee (skar'a-be), n. [Formerly also scara-
bie ; < F. scarabee, < L. scarabseus, a beetle: see
scarab.] Same as scarab.
Such as you render the throne of majesty, the court,
suspected and contemptible; you are scarabees that bat-
ten in her dung, and have no palats to taste her curious
viands. Fletcher (and anotfier). Elder Brother, iv. 1.
Up to my pitch no common judgment flies,
I scorn all earthly dung-bred scarabies.
Drayton, Idea, xxxi. (To the Critics.)
scarabeoid, a. and n. See scarabseoid.
Scarabeus, ". See Scarabseus.
SCaraboid (skar'a-boid), a. and n. [< .warab +
-oid.] I. a. Resembling a scarab; of the na-
ture of a scarab.
But these lenticular and scaraboid gems are precisely
those which the amateur pardonably neglects.
The Academy, Oct. 6, 1888, No. 857, p. 229.
II. «. 1. In e?itora., a scarabeeoid beetle. — 2.
An ornament, amulet, etc., resembling a scarab,
but not complete as to all its parts, or other-
wise differing from a true scarab ; also, an imi-
tation scarab, as one of Phenician or Greek
origin, as distinguished from a true or Egyptian
scarab.
From the Crimean tombs we learn that the favourite
form of signet-ring in the fourth century was a scarab or
scaraboid, mounted in a gold swivel-ring, and having a
subject In Intaglio on the under side.
C. T. Netcton, Art and Archseol., p. 395.
The design on a crystal scaraboid in the British Museum.
A. S. Murray, Greek Sculpture, I. 123, note.
Scaramouch (skar'a-moueh), n. [Formerly also
Scaramoche, also Scaramoucho (after It.); < F.
((caramoMc7(C, a buffoon, < Scaramouche (E. Scara-
mouche, Scaramoucha), < It. Scaramuccia, a fa-
mous Italian zany of the 2d half of the 17th
century, who acted in England and died in
Paris; the proper name being < scaramuccia
(>0F. escartnouche), a, skirmish: see skirnii,ih.]
A buffoon in Italian comedy and farce, a cow-
ardly braggadocio who is beaten by Harlequin.
The character is often adopted in masquerades,
with a dress usually of black, and grotesquely
ornamented.
Th' Italian merry-andrews took their place. . . .
Stout Scaramoucha with rush lance rode in.
Dryden, Epil. to Univ. of Oxford, 1673.
His astonishment still increased upon him, to see a con-
tinued procession of harlequins, scaramouches, punchinel-
los, and a thousand other meiTy dresses.
Addison, Foxhunter at a Masquerade.
SCarbott, »• [ME., < OF. *scarbot, scarbotte,
cscarbot, escharbot, escarbote, F. escarbot (ML.
reflex scarbo, scrabo, scabo), beetle, < L. scara-
li/eu.-i, a beetle : see scarab.] A beetle. Prompt.
I'nrr., p. 442.
SCarbroite (skiir'bro-it), «. [< Scarborough,
sometimes written S'carbro', a town of England,
-t- -itc''.] A white clay-like mineral, void of
luster, and essentially a hydrous silicate of
aluminium. It occurs as veins in the beds of
sandstone covering the calcareous rock near
Scarborough in England.
SCarbugt, «• See scarebug.
scarce
scarce (skSrs), a. [Early mod. E. also scarse;
< ME. scarce, skarce, scarse, scars = MD.
xchaers, sparing, niggard, D. schaars, scliaarsch,
scarce, rare, = Bret, scarz, niggard, scanty,
short, < OF. scars, usually escars, eschars, rarely
eschar, eskar, eschard, sparing, niggard, parsi-
monious, miserly, poor ; of things, small, little,
weak, few, scarce, light (of weight), strict, F.
eoAars, light (as winds), F. dial, eears, rare,
echarre, sparing, = Pr. escars, escas = OSp. es-
casso, Sp. escaso = Pg. escasso = It. scarso,
niggard, sparing, scanty, etc., light (of
weight); ML. scarsu^, diminished, reduced;
origin uncertain. According to Diez, Mahn,
Skeat, and others, < ML. scarpsus, excarpsus, for
L. excerptus. pp. of excerpere, pick out, choose,
select (see excerp and excerpt), the lit. sense
B379
You left me planted there — obliged to make mytelf
scarce because I had broken contract.
George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, liii.
=Syn. 4and6. Bare, Scarce. See rarel.
scarce (skars), adv. [= MD. schaers, schaars,
scarce, close (cf. schaers afscheren, shear or
shave close; cf. It. cogliere scarso, strike close,
graze; prop, the adj.); < scarce, a.] Hardly;
barely; scarcely.
Their successors have done very little, or scarce made
any attempts. Bacon, Physical Fables, ii.
To Noah's Ark scarce came a thicker Croud
For life than to be slain there hither flow'd.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, ill. 170.
scarecrow
treme difficulty in getting anything whatever to support
life.
Scarcity and want shall shun you ;
Ceres' blessing so is on you.
Skak., Tempest, iv. 1. 116.
There happen'd an extraordinary dearth in England,
come bearing an excessive price.
Evelyn, Diary, p. 9(1631X
Come not back again to suffer,
Where the Famine and the Fever
Wear the heart and waste the body.
Longfellow, Hiawatha, xx.
scarcrowt, «• An obsolete spelling of scare-
crow^.
SCard (skiird), n. A dialectal form of «7iarffl.
seriously of matrimony. Goldrmith, Vicar, 1.
While I profess my ignorance, I scarce know what to
say 1 am ignorant of. Lamb, Chapter on Eaia.
'picked out," selected,' leading, it is supposed, scarcet (skars), v. t. [< ME. scarsen (= It.
' "" '^ "■ '" """ scarsare) ;< scarce, a."] To make less ; dimin-
ish; make scant. Prompt. Parr., p. 442.
Scarsare [It], to scarce, to spare, to pinch, to cut off, to
scant. Florio.
I had »carce taken orders a year, before Il>egan to think ScardafcUa (skar-da-fel'a), n. [NL. (Bona-
parte, 1854), < It. scardafella.'] An American
genus of Columbidx, containing gi'ound-doves
to the sense 'rare,' 'scarce' (Skeat), or to the
sense 'contracted,' 'shortened' (Muratori,
Mahn), whence 'small,' 'scarce'; but ML.
scarpsus, excarpsus, is not found in any sense of
scarce, and this view ignores the early person-
al use, 'sparing,' 'parsimonious,' which can
hardly be connected with ML. scarpsus except
by assuming that scarpsus was used in an ac-
tive sense, 'picking out,' 'selecting,' and so 're-
serving,' ' sparing.' The physical use in MD.
schaers afscheren, shear off close, shave close.
It. cogliere scarso, strike close, graze (see
scarce, adv.), scarsare, cut off, pinch, scant (see
scarce, r.), suggests some confusion with MD.
schaers, a pair of shears, also a plowshare,
and the ong. verb scheeren, shear (see shear^,
shears, shared). The personal sense, ' sparing,'
' niggard,' is appar. the earliest in E. and OF.]
It. Sparing; parsimonious; niggard; niggard-
ly; stingy.
Ye shul nse the rlchenei ... in swtch a manere that
men holde nat yow to sears ne to sparynge ne to fooUaige.
Chaucer, Tale of Melibens.
That on was bothe curtels and kende,
Lef to give and let to spende ;
And ttut other lef to plnche,
Bothe he was sears and chinche.
Seryn Saga, 1. 1244.
Also God doeth conimaand him which shall be king
that he boord not vp much treasure, that he be not scarce,
or a nlgarde, for the offlce of a Uerchaunt is to keepe,
but of a King to glue and to be liberall.
(ruevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577X p. H.
2. Scantily supplied; poorly provided; not
having much : sometimes vrith of. [Obsolete
or archaic]
In dur(e)a olde, whan small apparaiU
Safflsed vn-to by ast«t« or mene.
Was grete howsholde stuffld with vitaOl ;
Bat DOW howsboldes be fall sears and lene.
Books 0/ Preeedmee (E. E. T. »., extra ser.), L 108.
As when a valtore, on Imaus bred, . . .
IHslodging from a region scarce q/ prey,
. . . flies toward the springs
Of Ganges or Hydaspea, Indian streams.
irOton, P. L., liL 4SS.
3t. Diminished ; reduced from the original or
the proper size or measure; deficient; short.
Koa behoaeth to habbe tuo mesarea, ane UtUe and ane
searse, tbet he useth toaore the aolke. And anothre goods
and large, thet he useth thet non ne y-nrjth (sees).
Ayenbite of Imnyt (E. E. T. S.\ p. 53.
4. Deficient in quantity or number; InsoiBcient
for the need or demand; scant; scanty; not
abundant.
Bys moder he dude In warde & scars lyllede her tonde
In the ^beye of Worwell A bynome byre hyr londe.
Robert qfOlouefter, p. 834.
How be It ye wynde was so scarce and calme that we
coade not come to the towne of Corf ona tvU Honday ayenst
nyght. 3(r R. Ouyiforde, Pylgiymage, p. 11.
The Padre told Capt Swan that Provision was now
scarce on the Island ; nut be woald engage that the Gov-
emour would do his utrocet to famish in.
Dtm^pitr, Voytiget, I. 301.
B. Few in number; seldom seen; infrequent;
uncommon; rare: as, learee coins; a scarce
book.
The scarcett of all Is a Pescennlos Klger on a medallion
well preserved. ytddison. Remarks on-Italy.
N'or weeds are now, for whence arose the weed
Scarce plants, fair herbs, and curious flowers proceed.
Crabie, Works, I. 69.
6. Characterized by scarcity, especially of pro-
visions, or the necessaries of life.
others that are provident rost their flsh and flesh vpnn
hurdles as before Is expressed, and keepe it till scarce
tlme«. Capl. John .Smith, Works, I. 13i
To make one's self scarce, to make on : get out of the
way ; leave at ftnce. [Colloq. )
Von seem to forgft that my liberty was granted only on
condition of making myself scarce In the two Castlles.
SmoOeU.
scarcely (skSrs'll), adv. [< ME. scarsly, searsely,
scarseliehe, scarsliche, sJcarschliche ; < scarce +
-/y2.] If. Sparingly; parsimoniously; nig-
gardly; stingily.
Lyve as scarry as hym list desire.
Chaucer, Gen. ProL to C. T., L 683.
2t. Scantily ; insufficiently.
He that soweth searsty, schal and scanty repe ; and he
that soweth in blessingis schal repe and of blesayngia.
Wyctyf, 2 Cor. Ix. 6.
3. Hardly; barely; with difficulty.
He scarcely knew him. striving to disown
His blottCNd form, and blushing to be known.
Dryden, .£neld, vl. 670.
Early one morning, when It was scarcely the gray of the
dawn. Irving, Granada, p. 54.
The sentence of Bacon had scarcely been pronounced
when It was mltl^ted. Macaulay, Bacon.
Their characters afford scarcely a point of contact.
Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., II. 16.
There was a thick fog, which the moon scarcely bright-
ened. B. Taylor, Northern Travel, p. 118.
scarcement (skars'ment), w. [Formerly also
shar.fmtnt ; origin obscure.] 1. In biiitaing, a,
setback in the face of a wall, or in a bank of
earth ; a footing or ledge formed by the setting
back of a wall. — 2. In mining, a small project-
ing ledge left in a shaft as a temporary sup-
port for a ladder, or for some similar purpose.
scarceness (skSrs'nes), n. [< ME. scarscnes,
scarsiie.tse; < scarce + -ness.l The state or con-
dition of being scarce. Speclflcally — (at) Sparlng-
ness; parsimony; niggardliness.
The seaen principals ulrtues thet ansnerleth to the
leue vices, ase deth bossamnesse a-ye prede, . . . Largesse
a- ye seartneae. AyenbOe pf Inuiyt (E. E. T. S.X p. ise.
(6) Deflclency; dearth.
We recoaerde syght of the yle of Candy, wherof we made
grete Joye, not oonly for the happy escape frome the grete
aaonger yt we were late In, but also for the lacke and
scarwnes at vytayllys that was in our galye.
Sir B. Guylforde, Pylgrymage, p. 60.
(e) Bareness ; Infireqaeacy of occurrence ; uncommoimeaa.
The value ot an advantage Is enhanced by Its seareenest.
Collier.
scarcity (skar'si-ti), n. [< ME. scarsiUe, scar-
scte, acarsite, skarsete, < OF. escarsete, esearcete,
etearcite, escharsete, escharcete. seharsete, parsi-
mony, niggardliness, miserliness, meanness,
deficiency, lack, = It. scarciUl, scarcity, light
weight (cf. It. teartezza, Sp. escatez, scarcity) ;
as scarce ■¥ -ity.'] It. Spanngness ; parsimony ;
niggardliness ; stinginess.
Right as men blamen an averoua man, bycause ot his
ahirseteandchyncherle, in the same manner Is he to blame
that spendeth oner largely.
Chaucer, TiJe of Melibeus (ed. Wright), p. 162.
2. The state or condition of being scarce;
smallness of quantity or number, or smallness
Scaly Ground-dove (i"
of small size with cuneate tail and scaly plu-
mage, as S. inca or S. squamosa ; the scale-doves.
scare^ (skSr), a. [Sc. also skair, scar, skar,
scaur, ME. scar, sker, < Icel. sljarr, shy, timid.]
Timid ; shying. [Now only Scotch. ]
The skerre horse. Ancren Biwle, p. 242, note.
SCare^ (skar), r. ; pret. and pp. scared, ppr. scar-
ing. [Formerly also skarc, Sc. skair ; Sc. also
scar, skar, E. and U. S. dial, skear, akeer; < ME.
scarren, skerren, skeren, frighten, < scar, sker,
scared, timid: see scared a.] I. trans. To
frighten ; terrify suddenly ; strike with sudden
terror or fear.
This Ascatus with skathe skerrit of his rewme
Pelleus, with pouer.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 13404.
The noise of thy cross-bow
WUl scare the herd, and so uiy shoot is lost.
Shak., i Hen. VI., lii. 1. 7.
I can hardly think there was ever any scared into heaven.
Sir T. Broume, Keligio Medici, 1. 62.
"Wasn't the Rabbit scored, t'ncle Remus?" asked the
little boy. " Honey, dey ain't bin no wusser tkeerd beas'
sence de worril begin dan dish yer same Brer Rabbit. "
J. C. Harris, Uncle Remus, xvL
To scare away, to drive away by frightening. — To scare
up, to And; bring to light ; discover: as, to »«ir« up money.
[t!olloq.|=8yn. To daunt, appal, frighten: «cnr« repre-
sents the least of dignity in the act or in the result; it
generally implies suddenness.
Tl.intruns. To become frightened; be seared:
as, a horse that scares easily. [Colloq.]
As a scowte wach [a sentinel) scarred, so the asscry rysed.
Alliterative Poe7ns(ed. Morris), ii. 838.
scare' (skar), n. [< .scared, c] A sudden fright
or panic : particularly applied to a sudden ter-
ror inspired by a trifling cause, or a purely ima-
ginary or causeless alarm.
God knows this Is only a ncore to the Parliament, to make
them give the more money. Pepys, Diary, Nov. 26, 1664.
Scare-t, «• An obsolete form of scar^.
scare^ (skar), a. [Perhaps due to scarce, earlier
scarse, in like sense (the terminal -se taken for
the plural suffix f). Cf. scar/-*.] Lean; scanty;
scraggy. [Prov. Eng.]
scare^ (skar), «. In golf, the narrow part of
the head of the club by which it is fastened to
the handle. [Scotch.]
in proportion to the wants or demands ; abso- ggarebabe (skar'bab), n. [< scared, »'., + obj.
lutely, deficiency of things necessary to the ft„ft(,.] Something to frighten a babe ; a bug-
subsistence of man ; deartb ; want ; famine. ])ear. Grose. [Rare.]
The groande was vntylled and vnsowen, whereof ensued gcarebOgt (skar 'bug), n. [Also scarbug ; <
great seanirtis and hunger, and after^hunger ensued deth. scarei,v., + bugi^.^ Anything terrifying ; abug-
bear. See bug^.
Yet remembering that these compliments, without the
substance, are but empty gulls and tcarebvgs of majesty,
the sophistry of government, as one calls them, and, as
Zechariah the prophet saith. the instruments of a foolish
governor. Bev. S. Ward, Sermons, p. 119.
SCarecrO'Wl (skar'kro), n. [Early mod. E. also
scarermo, skarcrowe; < scared, v., + obj. crow^.']
1. A figure of straw or clouts, made in gro-
tesque .semblance of a man, set in a grain-field
or a garden to frighten off crows and other birds
from the crops; nence, anything set up or in-
Fabyan, Chron., lixv.
Bat an In value ; I sate vp late & rose early, contended
with the colde, and conuersed with scareiHe.
Ifashe, Pierce Penllesse, p. 5.
They have to all these part* a great scarcity of fuel ; so
that they commonly use either the reeds of Indian wheat
or cow dung. Poeocke, Description of the East, I. 1'23.
Root Of scarcity, nr scarcity-root, mangcl-wnnel.
= 8yn. 2. .Scnrrilii, hearth, Fttmiw. Srareilii of the neces-
sities III life 1» not so severe as drarlh, ncir dearth so severe
as famine. Primarily, dearth is a scarcity that is felt In
high pricea, tnd famine such scarcity that people have to
go hungry ; but both are generally stronger than their
derivation would suggest, /om<n« often standing for ex-
scarecrow
tended to frighten or keep off intruders, or to
terrify the foolish.
CaeeiaeonMcchie [It.], a skar-crowe in a field.
Flmio(U9S).
To be ready in oar clothes is to be ready (or nothing
else ; a man looks as if he be hung in chains, or like a
teoTwroie. Dekker, Gull's Uornbook, p. 67.
You, Antonio's creature, and chief manager of this plot
for my daughter's eloping ! you, that I placed here as a
teancrovf 5A<ridan, "The Duenna, i. 3.
One mipht have mistaken him [Ichabod Crane] for the
genius of famine descending upon the earth, or some
$earecrou! eloped from the cornfield.
Irving, Sketch-Book, p. 420.
2. A person so poor and so meanly clad as to
resemble a scarecrow.
No eye hath seen such scareenyws. 111 not march through
Coventry with them, that 's flat. Shak. , 1 Hen. IV., iv. 2. 41.
I think she was bewitch'd, or mad, or blind ;
She would never have taken such a scarecrow else
Into protection. Beau, and Fl., Captain, ii. 2.
scarecrow^ (skar'kro), n. [Cf. scarp and
croic2.] The black tern, Hydrochelidon fissipes.
Pennant. [Prov. Eng.]
scarefiret (skSr'fir), ». [Also skarefire; < scared
+ fire.'i 1 . A fire-alarm.
From noise of scare-fires rest ye free.
From murders, benedicitie.
Herrick, The BeU-Man.
2. A house-burning; a conflagration. Com-
pare scathefire.
Used foole-hardily to sallie forth and fight most cou-
rageously, but came home fewer than they went, doing no
more good than one handful! of water, as men say, in a
common ekare-fire.
HoUandftr. of Ammianus Marcellinus(1609). (Nares.)
This general word [engine], communicable to all ma-
chines or instruments, use in this city hath confined to
signifle that which is used to quench scare-fires.
Fuller, Worthies, London, II. 334.
Bells serve to proclaim a scare-fire. Holder.
scare-sinner (skar'siu"er), n. [< scared, ?>., -t-
obj. sinner.'i One who or that which scares or
frightens sinners. [Rare.]
Do stop that death-looking, long-striding scoundrel of a
scare-sinner [Death] who is posting after me.
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, v. V6.
scarfs (skarf), n. [Formerly also skarf, also
scarph, appar. simulating scarfs as a var. of
scarp^ ; < Sw. skarf, a scarf, seam, joint, a piece
sewed to another (ef . Norw. skarv, an end or frag-
ment of a board or plank, = AS. scearfe, a frag-
ment, piece, = D. scherf, a shred, = G. scherbe, a
fragment, shard); associated with the verb, Sw.
skarfva, join together, sew together, piece out
(cf. in comp. skarf-yxa, an adz), = Norw. skar-
va, make even (by adding or taking away),
equalize, balance, settle (accounts), = Dan.
skarve, scarf, = AS. scearfian, cut small, shred,
scrape (the AS. would give E. *sharf, n., *sharve,
v.), = 6. dial. (Bav.) scharhen, cut, notch (tim-
ber), Gr. scharhen, cut small ; appar., with a for-
mative or addition -/ (-»), from the same source
as the nearly equiv. Icel. skor, a rim, edge,
joint in a ship's planking, a plank, row of
benches or steps, = Norw. skar, a cut, notch,
scarf, = Dan. dial, skar, a cut, notch (cf. Icel.
skdri = Norw. skaar = Sw. skdr, a cut made
b^ a scythe, a swath, = Dan. skaar, a cut, in-
cision, swath, skaare, a cut, notch), whence the
verb, Icel. skara, clinch (the planks of a boat)
so that each overlaps the plank beneath it, =
Norw. skara, join, bring together, clinch (the
planks of a ship), etc., = Dan. skarre, join,
scarp; < Icel. skera = AS. sceran, etc., cut,
shear: see shear. The words from this verb
are very numerous, and some forms of its de-
rivatives are confused with others. The sense
'cut' appears to be due to the AS. ; the sense
'join' to Scand. The noim scarf, in E., may
be from the verb.] 1. A cut; notch; groove;
channel.
The captured whale is towed to the beach at high tide,
and a scarf is cut along the body and through the blub-
ber, to which one end of a tackle is hooked.
C. M. Scamnwn, Marine Mammals, p. 63.
2. In carp., a joint by which the ends of two
pieces or timber are united so as to form a
continuous
piece ; also,
the part cut
away from
each of two
pieces of tim-
ber to be
joined toge-
ther longitu-
dinally, so
that the cor-
responding
Various Fonns of Scarfs.
5380
ends may fit together in an even joint. (Dif-
ferent scarf-joints are shown in the accompa-
nying cut.) The joint is secured by bolts and
straps.
Wee haled aground to stoppe a leake, which we found
to be in the skar/e afore. HakluyVs Voyages, I. 453.
3. In metal-working, the flattened or chamfered
edges of iron prepared for union by welding
or brazing, as in the brazing together of the
two ends of a band-saw — Edye's scarf, a vertical
scarf with two hooks, formerly much used for beams of
ships when wood was the material of construction.
scarf 1 (skarf), v. t. [< Sw. skarfva, join toge-
ther, sew together, piece out, =Norw. skarva,
make even, = Dan. skarve, usually starj'e, scarf:
see scarfs, ».] 1. In carp., to cut a scarf in;
unite by means of a scarf. See scarfs, n., 2.
The leak . . . was principally occasioned by one of the
bolts being wore away and loose in the joining of the
stern, where it was scarfed. « Anson, Voyage, ii. 7.
2. To flense, flay, or remove the skin and blub-
ber from (a whale) ; cut off from a whale with
the spade, as blubber; spade; cut in.
scarf ^ (skarf), n.; pi. .9C(W'/s,formerly also scart'cs
(skiirvz). [An altered form of scarp"^, appar.
simulating scorfl : see «ca)'j)2.] 1. A band of
some fine material used as a decorative acces-
sory to costume, and sometimes put to practi-
cal use, as for muffling the head and face. The
narrow mantle worn by women about 1830 to
1840 was of the nature of a scarf.
Then must they have their silk scar.fs cast about their
faces, and fluttering in the wind, with great lapels at
every end, either of gold or silver or silk, which they say
they wear to keep them from sun-burning.
Stubhes, Anatomic of Abuses.
What fashion will you wear the garland of? about your
neck, like an usurer's chain? or under your arm, like a
lieutenant's scarf? Sttak., Much Ado, ii. 1. 198.
There is a carpet in the next room ; put it on, with this
scarf over thy face. B. Jonson, Epiccene, iv. 2.
I . . . saw the palace-front
Alive with fluttering scarfs and ladies' eyes.
Tennyson, Princess, v.
2. A band of warm and soft material, as knit-
ted or crocheted worsted, worn around the neck
and head in cold weather. — 3. A cravat so
worn that it covers the bosom of the shirt,
whether it is passed through a ring, or tied in a
knot, or put together in a permanent shape and
fastened with a hook and eye or a similar ap-
pliance. See scarf-pin, scarf-ring. — 4. Inher.,
same as banderole. — 5+. A long thin plate.
The Vault thus prepared, a scarf of lead was provided,
some two feet long and flve inches broad, therein to make
an inscription. Fidler, Ch. Hist., XI. vii. 49.
scarf 2 (skarf), ». (. l< scarf '■^j n.l 1. To wrap
around one, as in the manner of a scarf.
Up from my cabin.
My sea-gown scarf d about me, in the dark
Groped I to find out them. Sftak., Hamlet, v. 2. 13.
2. To cover with or as if with a scarf.
Come, seeling night.
Scarf up the tender eye of pitiful day.
Shak., Macbeth, UL 2. 47.
After breakfast Margaret opened the front door to look
out. Here rose a straight and sheer breastwork of snow,
five feet or more in height, nicely scarfing the door and
lintels. i!. Judd, Margaret, i. 17.
scarfs (skarf), n. [Also irreg. (Sc.) scart, skart,
scarth; < Icel. skarfr = Norw. Sw. skarf, the
f-een cormorant.] The cormorant. [Prov.
ng.]
scarf ''t, «■ An obsolete variant of scarjA.
scarfed (skarft), a. [< scarfs + -cf?2.] Covered
or adorned with or as if with a scarf; decorated
with scarfs or pendants.
How like a younker, or a prodigal.
The scarfed bark puts from her native bay ! . . ,
How like the prodigal doth she return,
With over-weather'd ribs and ragged sails !
Shak., M. of v., ii. 6.15.
scarfing (skar'fing), n. [Verbal n. of scarfs, v.']
The act or process of removing blubber from
a whale, it la done with a spade, in such a way that
long strips of blubber are continuously unwound from the
whale spirally, the carcass being turned or rolled as the
operation proceeds.
scarflng-frame (skar'fing-fram), n. A device
for holding firmly the scarfed ends of a band-
saw while they are being brazed together.
SCarfing-macmne (skar'Ang-ma-shen'), n. A
machine for shaving the ends of leather belt-
ing to a feather-edge where they are to be lap-
ped to form a joint.
scarf-joint (skarf'joint), n. In carp., a joint
formed by scarfing.
scarf-loom (skilrf'lom), n. A figure-loom for
weaving fabrics of moderate breadth.
scarify
scarf-pin (skarf'pin), n. An ornamental pin
worn in a scarf or necktie.
scarf-ring (skiirf'ring), n. An ornamental ring
til rough which the ends of a scarf or necktie
are drawn.
scarf-skin (skarf'skin), n. The epidermis, es-
pecially the thin, dry outermost layer, which
continually scales off. Also scurf-skin.
Not a hair
Ruffled upon the scarfsHn.
Tennyson, Aylmer's Field.
scarf-weld (skarf 'weld), «. A peculiar joint
made in welding two pieces of metal, as iron,
together. See scarf i^, n., 3.
Scarfwise (skarf 'wiz), adt. As a scarf or sash ;
hence, crosswise.
They had upon their coats a scroll or band of silver,
which came scarfwise over the .shoulder, and so down un-
der the arm. Goldwell (Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 478).
Scaridse (skar'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Scarus -t-
-klse.'\ A family of fishes, typified by the genus
Scarus. The body is oblong and covered with large
scales, the posterior of which are angulated; the head is
compressed and the jaws are undivided in the middle,
exposed, and have the teeth mostly coalescent with the
bone, only the tips being free-; the dorsal has nine spines
and ten rays, and the anal two spines and eight rays. The
species are characteristic of the tropical seas, and are gen-
erally brilliant in coloration. Over 100 are known. They
attain for the most part a considerable size, many reach-
ing a length of 3 feet or more, and as a rule are excellent
table-flsh. They are generally known as parrot-fishes.
One of them. Scarus cretensis, was celebrated among tlie
Romans for its aavoriness. Also Scarina. See cut under
parrot-fish.
SCarie, n. Same as scaury.
scarification (skar"i-fi-ka'shon), n. [< OF.
(and F.) scarification = Pr. escarificatio = Sp.
escarificacion = Pg. escarifica^ao = It. scarifi-
cazione, < L. scarificatio{n-), later form of sca-
rifatio(n-), scariphatio{n-), a scratching open,
scarification, < scarificare, later form of scari-
fare, scaripharc, scratch open : see scarify.'] In
surg., the act of scarifying; the operation of
making several superficial incisions in a part,
as for the purpose of taking away blood or
serum.
scarificator (skar'i-fi-ka-tor), n. [= F. scarifi-
cuteur = Sp. escarificador, < NL. scarificator, <
L. scarificare, scarify: see scarify.] 1. One
who scarifies ; a scarifier.
What though the scarificators work upon him day by
day ? It is only upon a caput mortuum.
Hicfutrdson, Clarissa Harlowe, III. xvii.
2. An instrument used in scarification. One
form combines ten or twelve lancets, which are discharged
through apertures in its plane surface by pulling a trigger,
so that in passing they make a number of incisions in tlie
part to which the instrument is applied. This instrnment
is used in wet cupping. See cupping, 7i., 1,
scarifier (skar'i-fi-er), n. [< scarify -\- -er^.]
1. One who scarifies, either literally or figura-
tively.
I , . . have always had my idea that Digges, of Corpus,
was the man to whom my flagellation was intrusted. . . .
There is an air of fashion in everything which Digges
writes, and a chivalrous conservatism, which makes me
pretty certain that D. was my scarifier.
Thackeray, Philip, xvi.
2. An instrument used for scarifying. — 3. In
agri.,a form of cultivator with prongs, used for
6
6
Scarifier.
a, frame ; *, handles ; rf, teeth ; e.
'heels : y, draft-hook.
stirring the soil without reversing its surface
or altering its form. Such implements are also
called hasps, sciifflcrs, and grubbers.
scarify (skar'i-fi), r. t. ; pret. and pp. scarified,
ppr. scarifying. [Early mod. E. also scarifie,
scarrifie, scary fie; < OF. (and F.) scarifier zziVr.
scarificar = Sp. Pg. escarificar (cf . Pg. sarrafa-
gar, sarjar) — It. scarificare, < L. scarificare,
a later aceom. form of scarifare, scariphare,
scarify, scratch open, < Gr. CKaptipcicOat, scratch
an outline, sketch lightly, < atiapt^o^, a stylus
or sharp-pointed instrument for drawing out-
lines; prob. akin to E. shear, sharp, etc.] 1.
In surg., to scratch or make superficial incisions
in: as, to scarify the gums.
But to scarrifie a swelling, or make incision, their best
instruments are some splinted stone.
Capt. John Smith, Works, I. 137.
scarify
2. To stir up and prepare for sowing or plant-
ing by means of a scarifier: as, to scarify the
soil.— 3. Figuratively, to harrow or rasp, as
the feelings.
Scarina (ska-ri'na), n. pU [NL., < Scarus +
-(««-.] In Gilntier's ichthyologieal system,
tlic fifth group of Lahridie: same as Scaridse.
Scarinae (ska-ri'ne), n. pi. [XL. (Swain.son,
1839;, < t>ciiiHn + -i«a.] A subfamily of fishes,
typified by the genus Scarus, refeiTed by most
authors to the Labridse : same as Searidte.
scariose (ska'ri-6s), a. [< NL. scariosus: see
stii nulls. '\ Same as scarious.
scarious (ska'ri-us), a. [= F. scarieux, < NL.
si-iinosHs, < L. scaria, a word found in glossa-
ries with the sense of 'thorny shrub' (Lit-
tr6).] 1. In hot., thin, dry, and membrana-
ceous, as the involueral bracts of many Co-mpo-
sit3e: contrasted with /ierfcace»M«. — 2. hizool.,
scaly; scurfy; furfuraceous.
scarious-bracted (ska'ri-us-brak'ted), a. In
hill., providid with or consisting of scarious
bruits: said chiefly of flowei-s. See Amaran-
tai-ae.
scaritid (skar'i-itid), a. [< NL. Scarites (see
def.).] Pertaining to the Scnritini. a tribe of
ground-beetles of the family Carabidse, tyi>ified
by tlic genus Scarites. Compare Morio.
scarlatet, »• and a. An obsolete form of scarlet,
scarlatina (skar-Ia-te'na), M. [= F. scurlatine
= Sp. Pg. escarlathut, '<. NL. scarlatina, < It.
srarltitlina, scarlatina, a name given by a Ne-
apolitan physician in 1.553, fern, of scarlattino,
< ML. scarlatiiiiis, scarlet, < scarlatum, scarlet:
sec scarlet.'] Same as scarlet fercr (which see,
under fever^), — Scarlatina anglnosa, or anginme
ivnrlft fetier, that fonil of scarlet fever in which the faucial
jii' .iimation ig very aerioug.— Scarlatina maligna, very
^' ^ ■ scarlet fever, with grave nervous gyniptonis, and
II u .lly fatal.
scarlatinal (skiir-la-te'nal), a. [< scarlatina +
-/;/.] Pertaining to or o{ the nature of scarla-
tina.
scarlatiniform (skar-la-te'ni-f6rm), a. [< NL.
srinlaliiiii + L. farma, form.] Resembling
seiivliitiim or some feature of scarlatina.
scarlatinoid (skar-la-te'noid), a. [< scarlatina
+ -oid.} Resembling scarlatina or any of its
symptoms.
scarlatinous (skiir-la-te'nus), a. [< NL. scar-
liilimi + -ous.'i Pertaining to or of the nature
of si'iirlatiua or scarlet fever.
scarless (skilr'les), a. [< scari + -Jess.] Free
fiom scars.
scarlet (skiir'let), n. anda. [Early mod. E. also
sriiiittte; < ME. scarlet, Scarlett, scarlat, skarlet,
sihiirlette = MD. scharlaet, schurUieck, I), schar-
Uikeii = .MLG. scharlaken = MHO. scliarldt, later
siluirlach, seharlachen, G. scharlach = Dan.
sknrlagen = Sw. skarlakan (the forms in D. G.
Dan. Sw. simulating D. taken, MHG. lachcn, E.
lake*, a linen cloth) = Icel.(itMWrt(,«taWrtf,<OF.
escarlate, F. icarlaie = Pr. escarUtt = 8p. Pg.
esrtirlata = It. scarlatto, formerly scarlato =
OUidg. skrilaU) = Serv . skerlet, shkrlet = Turk.
iskirlat = NGr. aiiap>jarov, < ML. scartatiifi, scar-
let, a cloth of a scarlet color, < Pers. saqalat, si-
qaldl, ftuiildt, scarlet cloth, > saqidtun, saqldtin,
scarlet cloth; cf. suqldi (in the Pimjab trade),
broadcloth, used for banners, robes, quilts, leg-
gings, housings, pavilions, etc. : cf. Ar. saqar-
lat, a warm woolen cloth, siqldt. fine painted or
figured cloth, a canopy over a litter; cf. Telu-
gu sakaldti, sakuldtu, woolen or broadcloth.
Prom the Pers. saqidtun was prob. ult. derived
in part the ME. ciclatoun : see ciclaton,'\ I. ».
1. A highly chromatic and brilliant red color,
inclining toward orange. The color of red iodide of
mercury is a typical example of it. A color more orange
than red lead or as little orange as Chinese vermilion is
not called KariH.
If I should not disclose to you that the vesaels tliat im.
B381
For duble fees
A dunce may tome a Doctour, & in state
Walke in his scarlet !
Tivies' Whistle (E. E. T. S.), p. 48.
Have ye brought me any scarlets sac red.
Or any of the silks sae fine?
William and Marjorie (Child's Ballads, II. 150).
Iodine scarlet. Same as pure scarlet— Pure scarlet, a
very brilliant but also very fugitive pigment composed of
the iodide of mercury. It is not now used.
II. a. 1. Of the color scarlet; bright-red.
They [kings and heralds] were entitled to six ells of scar-
let cloth as their fee, and had all their expenses defrayed
during the continuation of the tournament.
Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 209.
The poppies show their scarlet coats.
Keati, To my brother George.
2. Dressed in scarlet ; wearing scarlet.
Out, tawny coats ! out, acarUt hypocrite !
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., i. 3. 56.
Scarlet admiral, the red admiral, a butterfly, Vanessa
atida lUa. — Scarlet bean. Same as scarlet runner.— Scax-
let cup, a fnri^:us of certain scarlet species of Feziza, as P.
aurantia. See iVazo. [Prov. Eng.l— Scarlet fever. See
/eceri. — Scarlet lis2l,the telescope-carj >, u Cli inese variety
of the goldfish, of a red color, with verj' prominent eyes.
— Scarlet grain, a coccid, the Polish beiry. Coccus polo-
nicusor P(/rptiyriiphora polntiica. See PtAish" Bnd Porphy-
ropAnra.— Scarlet grosbeak. Same :;s cardinal-lnrd.—
Scarlet hat, a earainal's hat; hence, the dignity of car-
din.al. — Scarlet haw. .See Aaic-', 3.— Scarlet ibis. See
ibis, 1.— Scarlet lake. See fntc:i. - Scarlet lightning,
(a) The scarlet lychnis, (b) The red valerian, Centranthus
ruber. [Prov. Eng.) — Scarlet lychnis. See Lychnis,
2. " " '" - - . - -
oak,
bidiid,
iidu) t, — Scarlet painted-cup. See jminted-citp. — Scar-
let pUnpemeL Se.;nirt;«r)i.(, J. — Scarlet rash. Same
as roseola. — Scarlet runner. See mnner.— Sc&Tlet
sage. See suae-. — ScSXlet snake, Osceola elapsoidea, of
the southern United States, which is bright-red witli alwut
twenty blaclc rings, each inclosing a white one. It thus
resembles a poisonous snake of the genus Elaps, but is
quite harmless. See i-..raf-xn<i*:< . Scarlet tanager. See
tanager.—'DM scarlet woman, tlu- » i>nian referred to in
Rev. xriL 4, 5 : variously applied by commentators to pa^
gan Rome, to papal Rome, and to the spirit of worldlinesf
and evil in all its rarious forms.— To dye Scarlett. See
scarlet (skar'let), r. t. [< scarlet, a.] 1. To
make scarlet or bright-red ; redden. [Rare.]
The ashy paleness of my cheek
Is snirtefed in ruddy flakes of wrath. Ford.
2. To clothe in scarlet. [Rare.]
The idolatour, the tyrannt, and the whoremonger are no
mete mynister* for hym, though they be never so gorgy-
ously mytered, coped, and typpeted, or never so finely
forced, pylyoned, and acarietled,
Bp. Bale, The Vocacion, l&^SCUarl. Misc., VL U2), (Davies.)
scarlet-faced (skar'let-fast), a. Having a very
red face : as, the scarlet-faced saki.
scarletseed (skSr'let-sed), n. l. A low West
Indian tree, Temstrcemia ohovalis, — 2. A fra-
n^nt West Indian shrub or small tree, Lxtia
Thamnia.
scarlet-tiger (skar'let -tJ'gf'r), n. A British
moth, lli/ii' rixanijia doniiniila.
scar-limestone (skar'Um'stdn), n. A thick
scart
foot of the rampart; hence, any sharp, steep
slope. See cut under parapet. — 2. Same as
escarpment, 2. [Rare.]— Scarp gallery, a covered
passage built in the scarp for the purpose of flanking the
ditch.
scarp2 (skarp), n. [< ME. *scarpe, also assibi-
lated sliarpe, < OF. escarpe, eskerpe, esqucrpe,
escliarpe, escherpe, eschirpe, escrepe, escreipe, a
purse, pouch, a purse-band or belt, a sling, a
scarf, F. echarpe (> D. sjeri) = Sw. skdrp = G.
schdrpe; cf. Dan. skjmrf, < E. scarf), a scarf,
= Sp. Pg. cliarpa = Olt. Scarpa, a purse. It.
sciarpa, ciarpa, a scarf, belt, < OHG. scharpe =
MD. scharpe, schxrpe, scherx>e = LG. schrapi =
Icel. skreppa = Sw. skrdppa (> E. scrip), a pouch,
pocket, scrip; cf. AS. sceorp, a robe: seescWjjl,
which is ult. a doublet of scarp^. Hence, by
some confusion, scarfs, the present form of the
word. The name, applied to a pilgrim's pocket
or pouch hung over the neck, came to be ap-
plied to the band suspending the pocket, and
hence to a sash or scarf. See
scarf^.'] It. A shoulder-belt or 'f 2lllir
scarf: the word is found only in
the Middle English form sliarpe,
and in the heraldic use (def . 2) :
otherwise in the later form scarf.
See scarf ~. — 2. In her., a, diminu-
tive of the bend sinister, ha\'ing scaip.
one half its breadth.
:.— Scarlet mallow. See Pa rwita.— Scarlet maple, scarpalogy (skar-pal'o-ii), )i. See scari>olooy.
*?^,,ocher. .Sec the nouns.-Scaj-let mite, a trom- Scarpa's fascia. [Natiied from Antonio -Scnij^o,
ndud,AsTromfjHiiumhi'io«eneeum,ot&sc&rleti:oUjrvf\mu "^"a t^t* o *a«o\^*o,. l, /Tr^fr iqq.j\-i
iin Itiihan anatomist and surgeon (1747-1832).]
The deeper layer of the superficial fascia of
the abdomen, blending with the fascia lata im-
mediately below Poupart's ligament, except in-
ternally, where it is prolonged to the scrotum.
It corresponds with the tunica abdominalis of
the horse or ox.
Scaroa's fluid. Liquor Scarpse. See liquor.
gan Rome, to papal Rome, and to the spirit of worldliness Scarpa S foramina. The anterior and posterior
~ ''" " apertures of the anterior palatine canal in the
bony jialiito.
Scarpa's triangle. See triangle.
SCarped(skarpt),^j.a. [<seorpl -(--ed2.] Steeply
sloping, like the scarp of a fortification.
The spring of the new year sees Spain invaded ; and re-
doubts are carried, and passes and heights of the most
•carped description. Cariyle, lYench Rev., III. v. 6.
From scarped cliff and quarried stone
She cries. Tennyson, In Memoriam, Ivi.
scarph, «. Same as scarf ^.
scarpines (skar'pinz), n. pi. [< F. escarpins,
light shoes, pumps, also an instrument of tor-
ture: see chopine.] An instrument of torture
resembling the boot, used by the Inquisition.
Being twice racked, ... I was put to the scarpines,
whereof I am, as you sec, somewhat lame of one leg to
this day. Kingsley, Westward llo, viL
scarpology (skilr-pol'o-ji), n. [< F.'scarpologie,
< JIL. .fcarpii (F. escarpin), a light shoe (see
— - , . • ,.1 J 1 scarpines), + Gr. -?Mfia, < ?.eycw, speak: see
mass of calcareous rock frequently crowded ^;o„„ .] ^ee the quotation. Also scarpalogy.
with marine fossils, especially cnnoids, corals, [Recent ]
bnichiopods. and variotismollusks, forming the ^ oraphologie, a French Journal, descril,es a new
middle division of the C arboniferous limestone niethwi of reading character, known as "scarpalogy." It
* T shoes
consists in a study of the heels and soles of shoes.
ScUnce, VIIl. 185.
mediately cuntain the tinging ingredient* are to be made
, yi)U would never be able . . . tobring
chi
of or lineii with tin, you would never be able
your tincture of cochineal to dye a perfect somief.
Boyle, Colors, ilL
2. One of a group of coal-tar colors used for
dyeing wool and silk, and to a certain extent
for the manufacture of pigments. They are com-
plex in composition, and belong to the oxy-axo group.
They are acid colors and need no mordant, are quite fast
t«i tight, and liavc largely <llKplAced cochlneat in dyeing.
They vary in shaile from yellow through orange to scarlet,
crimson, and br*>wn.
3. Cloth of a scarlet color; a scarlet robe or
dress.
One he henttis a hmie of schnrlette fulle richo,
A pavys pillione hatt, that pighte was fulle faire
With perry of the oryent, and precynus stones.
MorU Arthure (E. E. T. 8.), L 8M0.
series: so called by English geologists because
it forms scars or cliffs: same as mountain lime-
stone (which see, umler limestone). Of these scars scarrcH, «• An obsolete spelling of «car2.
the High Tor in Derbyshire Is an excellent example. This scarre-'t.f. An obsolete form of scarcl. Minsheu.
hasanescarpmentofalwut 200 feet of bare rock, the sum- oporrod fskiird^ no K scar^ + -ed^.^ Marked
mit rising tJan elevation of 400 feet above the Dei-went SCarrCQ ^SKaru;, p. a. J-^ °"." T,.fl ' Yi„ ;„ i,„*
at lU baie. The scarlimestone is not the geological by scars; exhibiting scars; specihcally, m Dot.,
equivalent of the clllf-limestone of the western Inlted marked by the sears left by leaves, tniits, etc.,
states. Also called iMeIr and niniii limeslmxe. that have fallen off.
scarmaget, scarmoget, scarmisht, scarmycht, scarryi (skar'i), a. [< acori + -yi.] Pertain-
H. oUsiilete fonns of .sAi/Hii'.i/i. i,,g to scars; having scars or marks of old
scam (skiirn), «. Saineas«Aurn. [North.Eng.] ^-ounds.
scam-bee (skjirn'be), II. A dung-beetle, turn- gcartv^ (skar'i), a. [< scar'i + -yl.] Having
blebng. or some other insect fond of scam. • • , _i_t._
[Local, Eng.]
T^^:^^^^^^^ S;,!--^; Obsolete spellings c..«r.^
.Scarus; belonging to the Scartam.
II. ". -^ member of the Scaridx.
scarp' (skiirp), B. t. [By apheresis from escarp,
v., < F. esearper, cut slopewise, scarp, OF. es-
carpir, eseharpir, cut off : see escarp, v.] M Hit. ,
to cut down (a slope), so as to render it im-
passable.
They had to open a direct passage tbrongh thickets,
swamps, scarped ravines, rocks, and streams, but the
thought of going to the assistance of comrades who were
in danger sustained the strength of that small band.
Comte de Paris, Civil War in America (trans-X I. 826.
BCarpl (skiirp), n. [Formerly also scarf; by
apheresis from escarp, < P. escarpe = It. Scarpa
= Sp. Pg. escarpa, a scarp, slope: see escarp,
&nA ct. counterscarp.'] 1. In /or(., the interior
talus or slope of the ditch, next the place at the
scars, precipices, or bare patches.
Verie deepe scarrie rockes. Harrison, Britalne, p. 93.
SCarslyt, scars'elyt, adv. Obsolete spellings of
scarcely.
scarti (skilrt), V. t. [A traiisposed form of
.icrat''^ (like cart for crat, etc.) : see scratl.] To
scratch; scrape. [Scotch.]
And what use has my father for a whin bits of scarted
paper [that Is, covered with indifferent writing]? Scott.
A three-legged stool is a thieflike banekame to scart
yer ain head wi.
E. B. Ramsay, Scottish Life and Character, p. 198.
scartl (skart), n. [< scarfs, v.] 1. A scratch;
a slight wound on the skin. [Scotch.]
Hout font, man. I would never be making a hum-dud-
geon about a scart on the pow.
Scott, Guy Mannering, xxlll.
2. A dash or stroke, as of a pen or pencil.
[Scotch.]
scart
That costs bat twa tkarts of a pen.
Scott, Bride of Lammennoor, v.
I stude beside blessed Alexander Peden, when I heard
hira call the death and testimony of our happy mar-tyrs
but drHps of blude and searts of ink in respect of lifting
discharge of our duty. Scott, Heart of Mid-Lotliian, ix.
scart- (skart), H. [Prob. a transposed form of
scrat-.) A meager, puny-looking person; a
niggard. [Scotch.]
scarb^ (skiirt), H. Same as scarfs. [Scotch.]
But d'ye think yell help them wl' skirling that gate like
an auld start f Scott, Antiquary, Tiii.
scart-free (skart'fre), a. Without scratch or
injury. [Scotch.]
scarth (skSrtli), «. Same as scarfS.
ScartOCCiot (skar-toeh'io), «. [It., "a coffin of
paper for spice," etc. (Florio), same as cartoc-
eio, a cartouche: see cartouche, cartridge.'] A
fold of paper ; cover.
One poor groat's-worth of unprepared antimony, finely
wrapt up in several Kartoccux. B. Jomon, Volpone, ii. 1.
scams (ska'rus), n. [< L. scants, < Gr. andpoc,
a kind of sea-fish: see scari.] 1. A fish of the
genus Scarus.
The tender lard of Apulian swine, and the condited bel-
lies of the «coriM. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), I. 693.
2. leap.] [NL. (Grouovius, 1763; Forskfil,
1775).] A genus of aeanthopterygian fishes,
of which the scarus of the ancient Greeks and
Romans is the oldest known species, giving
name to the Scaridx or Scarinte, and having
varying limits; the parrot-wrasses or parrot-
fishes. By most American authors the name has been used
for the genus called Pseudoscaru^ by European authors,
and the ancient scarus and its congeners havebeen placed
in a genus called Sparisomus. See cut under parrot-fish.
SCarvest, ». An obsolete plural of scarfs.
SCaryl (skSr'i), a. [Also skcary; < scared + -t/l.
Cf. the earlier adj. scared, a.] 1. Scaring;
causing or tending to cause a scare; causing
fright : as, a scary situation.
But tde thee, poore Dido, this sight so skewrye beholding.
What feeling creepeth?
Stanihurst, ^neid, iv. 438 (Davies.)
2. Inclined to be scared; subject to scares;
timid.
It is not to be marvelled at that amid such a place as
this, for the first time visited, the horses were a little
Bkeary. BlacJcmore, Lorna Doone, lix.
3. Somewhat alarmed or frightened; fluttered.
I'm ecanj always to see her shake
Her wicked head. WhitHer.
[Colloq. in all uses.]
SCary2 (ska'ri), n. [Cf. scared, lean, scanty,
scraggy. Less prob. < scar, a bare place on the
side of a steep (see scar'^), + -^l.] Poor land,
having only a thin coat of grass. [Local, Eng.]
SCatl (skat), n. [Also scatt, skatt; < ME. scat (<
Icel.),*sceJ,*«Ae< (cf. cherset), < AS. sceat, sceatt,
scsett, a coin, money, tax (ML. reflex scata,
sceatta), = OS. scat = OFries. sket, schct, a
coin, money, wealth, cattle, = D. schat = MLG.
schat = OHG. scaz, a coin, money, MHG.
schaz, G. schatz, money, treasure, riches, trea-
sury, = Icel. skattr = Sw. skatt = Dan. skat,
tax, tribute, = Goth, skatts, a piece of money,
money ; perhaps related to OBulg. skotu = Serv.
Bohem. Pol. skot, cattle, = Russ. skot, cattle,
ORuss. also money (cf. L. pecunia, money, as
related to pecus, cattle, and AS. feoli, cattle,
fee : see pecuniary and /eel), but the OBulg.
word, if related, may be borrowed from the
Teut. The word scot^ is of different origin.]
A tax; tribute; specifically, a land-tax paid in
the Shetland Islands.
The expenses of government were defrayed by a land-
tax, called gkatt. I'he incidence of skatt was originally
calculated and fixed by a process in which all the lands
then under cultivation were divided into districts of equal
productive value, and consequently varying in superficial
area in different parts of the islands according to the com-
parative value of the soil, but averaging about 104 Scottish
acres each. Westmimter Rev., CXXVIII. 689.
When he ravaged Norway,
Laying waste the kingdom.
Seizing scatt and treasure
For her royal needs.
LongfeUow, Wayside Inn, Saga of King Olaf, xvi.
scat^ (skat), n. [Formerly also skatt; not re-
lated, unless by corruption, with scud, a flying
shower: see scud.] A brisk shower of rain,
driven by the wind. Grose. [Prov. Eng.]
When Halldown has a hat,
Let Kenton beware of a Skatt.
Old Devon, proverb, quoted by Grose from Risdon.
SCat^ (skat), n. [Appar. an irreg. form of scath,
scathe, but perhaps a deflected use of «co<l,
'tax,' hence 'damage.'] Damage; loss.
It is part of the scat of the geir quhilk was castine f urth
of the schlpe. Aberd. Reg., V. 2:1. (Jamieeon.)
5382
SCat^ (skat), interj. [Perhaps an interjectional
form of scoot''- or scout^, iilt. from the root of
shoot ; usually addressed to a cat, pronoimced
'ss.'i-cat! and understood to consist of the word
cat with a sibilant prefix. Of. Sw. «cA«.s', up,
begone.] Be ofl'; begone: addressed to cats
ami other small animals.
scat* (skat), 1'. t.: pret. and pp. scatted, ppr.
scattiiig. [< scat*, interj.'] To scare or drive
away (a cat or other small animal) by orving
"Scat!" ' ) . h
scatch (skaeh), n. [< F. eseachc, an oval bit,
prob. < OF. escacher, csquachier, esquacher, crush
out, flatten, as wire, compress, as sheets of pa-
per, etc. : see squash^.] A kind of bit for bri-
dles. Also called scatchmouth.
scatchest (skach'ez), n.pl. [Also skatches; an-
other form of skateses, pi., < OF. eschace, es-
cltasse, F. echassc, F. dial. f'c«se, ecache, chache,
a stilt, < OFlem. schaetse, a high-heeled shoe, D.
schaats, pi. schaatsen, skates, stilts: see skate"^.]
Stilts used for walking in dirty places.
Others grew in the legs, and to see them you would
have said they had been cranes, . . . or else men walking
upon stilts or scatches. Urquhart, tr. of Rabelais, ii, 1.
scatchmouth (skach'mouth), n. [< scatch +
mouth.] Same as scatch.
scatet, ». See skate^.
scatebroust (skat'e-brus), a. [< L. scatebra, a
gushing up of water, a spring, < scatere, bubble,
gush, well.] Abounding with springs. Bailey,
1731.
SCatht, V. and n. An erroneous spelling of scathe.
scathe (skaTH), r. t. ; pret. and pp. scathed, ppr.
scathing. [So., also skaiih; < ME. scathen, skath-
en, < AS. sceathan (pret. scod, pp. sccathen), also
weak scyththan, sceththan, injure, harm, hurt,
scathe, = OFries. skathia, schadia, schaia =
D. schaden = MLG. LG. schaden = OHG. sca-
don, MHG. G. schaden = Icel. skatha, skrthja =
Sw. skada = Dan. skade= Goth. skalJijiiii, iilso,
in comp., ga-skathjan (pret. skoth, pp. skafhans),
injure, harm ; possibly akin to Skt. kshata,
wounded, < •/ kshun, wound. Cf. Gr. aaiafiijQ,
unscathed. Hence scathe, n., scathel, scaddle.]
To injure ; harm ; hurt.
You are a saucy boy : is 't so indeed?
This trick may chance to scathe you.
Shak., R. and J., i. 5. 86.
The pine-tree scaVted by lightning-fire.
Scott, Rokeby, iv. 'A.
There are some strokes of calamity that scathe and scorch
the soul. Irving. (Imp. Diet.)
scathe (skasn), n. [< ME. scathe, skathe, schathc,
loss, injury, harm, < AS. *sceathu (cf. equiv.
sceathen) = OFries. skatha, skada, schada = D.
MLG. schade = OHG. scado, MHG. G. schade,
schaden = Icel. skathi, skeeihi = Sw. skada =
Dan. skade, damage, loss, hurt (cf. AS. scatha,
one who scathes or injures a foe, = OS. scatho,
a foe, = OHG. scado, injurer) ; from the verb.]
1. Harm; injury; damage; mischief.
Cryseyde, which that nevere dide hem scathe,
Shal now no lenger in hire blisse bathe.
Chaucer, TroiluB, iv. 207.
Wherein Rome hath done you any scath.
Let him make treble satisfaction.
Shak., Tit. And., v. 1. 7.
This life of mine
I guard as God's high gift from scathe and wrong.
Tennyson, Guinevere.
2t. Disadvantage ; a matter of regret ; a pity.
She was somdel deef, and that was skathe.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., L 446.
SCathefiret (skaTH'fir), u. [< scathe + fire. Cf.
scarefire.] Destructive flames ; conflagration.
In a great scathfire it is wisdom not only to suffer those
houses to burn down which are past quenching, but some-
times to pull down some few houses wherein the fire is
not yet kindled, to free all the rest of the city from dan-
ger. Abp. Bramhall, Works, III. 6.59. (Davies.)
scatheful (skaTH'fiU), a. [< scathe + -ful.']
Causing harm or mischief ; injurious; destruc-
tive. Also scathful.
Such scathful grapple did he make
With the most noble bottom of our fleet.
Shak., T. N., T. 1. 69.
SCathefulness (skaTn'ful-nes), n. Injurious-
ness ; destructiveness. Also scathfulness.
Scathelt, «. and «. [E. dial, scaddle, skaddle, <
ME. scathel, < AS. "sccathol, injurious, mischie-
vous (= OHG. scadcl = Goth, skalhuls. inju-
rious, wicked), < sceathan, injure, harm: see
scathe, v."] I. a. Harmful ; injvirious ; mischie-
vous.
Mony ladde ther forth'-lep to laue & to kest,
Scopen out [of the shipl tne scathel water, that fayn scape
wolde. Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), lU. 165.
Scatophagoidea
II. H. Hurt; injury.
Lokez the contree be clere, the corners are large ;
Discoveres now sekerly skrogges and other.
That no skatheUe in the skroggez skorne us here aftyre.
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1642.
scatheless (skfiTH'les), a. [< ME. skathelxs,
scathelcs (= OFries. skadlos, schadlos = D.
schadeloos = MLG. schadelos = MHG. schade-
16s = Icel. skathlauss = Sw. Dan. skadeslos); <
scathe + -less.] Without scathe or harm ; \vith-
out mischief, injury, or damage; unharmed.
At the laste thanne thought I,
That scathles, fuUe sykerly,
I myght unto the welle go.
Rmn. of the Rose, 1. 1550.
He 's sent back Grace safe and skaithless.
ScoU, Black Dwarf, x.
SCathfult, ((. See scatheful.
scathfulness, «. Same as scathefulness.
scathing (ska'THing), 7). ft. Damaging; wound-
ing: blasting; scorching: as, scathing irony.
scathingly (ska'THiug-li), adv. With damag-
ing or withering severity ; unsparingly: as, he
was scathingly denounced.
scathold (skat'hold), n. [A]so scatthold, scat-
Mid, scattald, scattold; < scat^, tax, tribute, -I-
hold^, as in freehold. Ct. scatland.] In Orkney
and Shetland, open ground for pasture or for
furnishing fuel ; scatland.
scathy (ska'THi), a. [< scathe + -y^.'] Mis-
chievous; vicious; dangerous: as, let him
alone, he's scathy. [Scotch.]
scatland (skat'land), ?i. [< Icel. skatt-land, a
tributary land, dependency, < skattr, tribute,
-t- land, land. Cf. scathold.] In Orkney and
Shetland, land which paid seat or duty for the
right of pasture and of cutting peat.
Scatology (ska-tol'o-ji), n. [< Gr. oKiip (okot-),
dung, ordure, + -loyia, < '/.iyeiv, speak: see
-ology.] The science of fossil excrement; the
knowledge of animals which may be acquired
by the examination of coprolites.
SCatomancy (skat'o-man-si), n. [< Gr. mup
(mar-), dung, ordure, + /lavTeia, divination.]
Divination or diagnosis of disease by inspec-
tion of excrement. Compare scatoscopy.
There learned I dririmancy, scatoman^, pathology,
therapeusis, and greater than them all, anatomy.
C. Reade, Cloister and Hearth, xxvi. (Davies.)
Scatophaga (ska-tof'a-ga), n. [NL. (Meigen,
1803, in form Scathophdga) : see scatophage.]
A genus of Muscidm, containing such species
as S. stercoraria ; the dung-flies.
Scatophage(skat'9-faj), n. [< NL. scatophagus,
dung-eatmg: see scaiophagous.] An animal
that feeds on dung; especially, a scatophagous
insect, as a fly.
Scatophagidse (skat-6-faj'i-de), 11. pi. [NL., <
Scatophagus + -idee.] A family of aeanthop-
terygian fishes, typified by the genus Scatopha-
gus. The body is oblong and elevated toward the
front of the back, the head rather small and compressed,
mouth small and armed with bands of slender teeth ; the
Scatopha-gus ar^is.
dorsal is in two sections of nearly equal length, and the
anterior spinous section is nearly separated from the pos-
terior, which is mainly composed of branched rays. The
anal is similar and opposite to the second dorsal and pre-
ceded by four spines ; the ventrals are thoracic and com-
plete. Four species are known as inhabitants of the
Indian ocean and Australian seas.
Scatophaginae (skat"o-fa-ji'ne), «. i^l. [NL., <
Scatophagus + -/««.] ' Asubfamily of Muscidse,
tyi)ified by the genus Scatoi)haga ; the dung-
flies.
scatophagoid (ska-tof 'a-goid), a. and w. [< Sca-
tophagus + -oid.'i I. a. Of, or having charac-
teristics of, the Scatophagidse.
II. H. A fish of the family Scatophagidse.
Scatophagoidea (ska-tof-a-goi'de-ii), »!. pi.
[NL., < Scatophagus + -oidea.] A supcrfamily
of aeanthopterygian fishes, with the forks of the
Scatophagoidea
post-temporal intimately united with the pos-
terior ami inferior edges of the sides of the
cranium, containing only the family Seatopha-
gidse.
SCatopbagons (skS-tof'a-gus), a. [< NL. scato-
jih(((jiig. < Or. OKaToqid-j'oi;, dung-eating, < anup
((TMiV-), dung, -f (jM^uv, eat.] Feeding upon ex-
crement, as a dimg-fly.
ScatophagUS (ska-tof'a-gus), n. [NL. (Cuvier
and Valenciennes, 1831) : see scatophaqaug.'] In
ichth., a genus of acanthopterygian fishes, typi-
cal of the family Seatojihaflklx. The most common
species. .S. argus, enters rivers to some extent. It is said
to feed upon excrementitious matter. See cut under
Scatophaifidir.
scatoscopy (skat'o-sko-pi), n. [< 6r. oKop
(aKiir-). dung, ordure, + anoTreiv, view.] Inspec-
tion of excrement for the purpose of divination
or diagnosis.
scatt, ». See scatl.
scatter (skat'er), r. [< ME. scatereii, skateren,
xcliiiUren, scatter, < late AS. *scaterian, scat-
eran = XID. scheteren, scatter; formed (with a
freq. suffix) < V *'^<'') not found elsewhere in
Teut., but answering to Gr. -v/ffKcSjin OKedavvvc-
Oai, sprinkle, scatter, aidSaait, a scattering. Cf.
"l thatler, an assibilated form of scatter.'] I. tranx.
'1. To throw loosely about ; strew; sprinkle.
He teattereth the hoarfrost like ashes. Ps. cilvii. 1&
At the end of which time their bodies shall be cun-
•amed, and the winde shall scatter their ashes under the
•olM of Uu feet of the lust. PurcKat, Pilgrimage, p. 1S2.
Scattered wide the seeds.
Lies, and words half true, of the bitterest deeds.
waiiam Morrit, Earthly Paradise, n. 327.
2. To besprinkle or strew as with something
thrown here and there.
Where cattle pastured late, now teatler'd lies
With carcases and arms the ensanguined field.
MOUm, P. L., xL 6.M.
3. To separate and drive off in disortler and
in all directions; rout; put to disorderly re-
treat or flight ; disperse; dissipate: as, tojioa(-
ter an enemy's forces ; to scatter a mob.
Ill find some cunning practice out of hand
To tealter and disperse the giddy rioths.
Shak., Tit. And., t. Z. 78.
I leave the rest of all my Goods to mjr firtt-bom Edward,
tn )x' consumed or lecMerti. Hmcm, Letters, I. vL 17.
Our (leet being thus uatttrtd, there were now no hopes
of Kftttng together sgaln. Dampier, \ofagt», L 8S.
In Older that a surface may be Illuminated at all. It
must he aipMtottcattering light, L e., It roust be to some
extent opaque. P. G. Tail, Encyc. Brit, XIV. 588.
The caralgada was frequently broken, and teattered
among the rugged defiles of the mountains ; and above
five thousand of the cattle turned back, and were re-
gained by the Christians. Irving, Oranada, p. 82.
Hence — 4. To throw into confusion; over-
throw; dispel; puttoflight: as, to »ca(((T hopes,
fears, plans, etc.
.So doth Ood seotfsr the counsells of his enamies, and
taketh the wise In their craf tlnease.
Purclxu, FUgrlmage, p. it.
No one did more to sniM^r the ancient superstitions than
Cicero. i^ely, Europ. Morals, L 4S0.
St. To let fall as by accident or at random;
drop.
It is directed to yon ; some love-letter, on my life, that
Lace hath seotteni. TIte Wimrd, a Play, 1«M, MB. (AVm.)
=Byn. 1. To dlffaae, spread, distribute.— 3 and 4. DU-
perte. Ditprl, etc. See dimipalt.
II. tntrnns. 1. To separate and disperse ; pro-
ceed in different directions ; hence, to go hither
and thither at random.
The commons, like an angry hive of bees
That want their leader, aeatUr up and down.
And care not who they sting.
Shc£., 2 Hen. VL, la 2. 120.
2. Specifically, to throw shot too looselv or
without concentration of the charge: saiu of
a gun.
BCatteration (skat-e-ra'shon), n. [< scatter +
■titxiii.'] A scattering or dispersion; a bn-ak-
ing up and departing in all directions. [Col-
loq.]
By some well-directed shots, as they (the enemyl crossed
a hill, the Virginia guns with us sent wagons flying in the
air, and produced a scoMemMon. N. A.Ret.,CXXVl.m.
SCatterbrain (skat'6r-bran), n. A thoughtless,
Kiii'ly jifrson; one incapable of serious, con-
nected thought. Cowper. [Colloq.]
Poor Alexander, he Is a tool, a taUter-brain, and for
aught I know a versifier ; hut he is my son.
C. Reade, Art, p. 2S.
Bcatter-brainecl (skat'er-brand), a. Thought-
Ichh; lieedles.s; giddy.
Thin functionary was a good-hearted, tearful, tcaUer-
tfrained girl, lately taken by Tom's mother . . . from the
village school. Hugha, Tom Brown at Bogby, L 2.
5383
scattered (skat'erd), p. a. 1. Widely sepa-
rated; found, occurring, or placed at wide or
irregular intervals of distance.
A few scattered garrisons still held out; but the whole
open country was subjugated.
Macatday, Frederic the Great.
2. Wandering; vague.
When the instruments of praise begin to sound [in the
sanctuary), our scattered thoughts presently take the
alarm, return to their post and to their duty, preparing
and arming themselves against their spiritual assailants.
Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, II. xxii.
3. Disunited; divided; distracted.
From France there comes a power
Into this scatter'd kingdom. Shak., Lear, iii. 1. 31.
4. In 6o(., irregular in position; without appa-
rent regularity of order : as, scattered branches ;
scattered leaves. — 5. In entotu., irregularly
spread or strewn over a surface : noting punc-
tures, dots, or other small marks of sculpture
or color. Compare dispersed Scattered eyea,
eyes in which the lenses are unconnected, and arranged
without definite order. This is the rudimentary condi.
tion of the compound eyes as seen in many caterpillars,
etc.— Scattered light, in optics, light which is irregu-
larly reflected from a surface that is not smooth or is
broken up into a multitude of small suriaces.
It is by teattered light that non-luminous objects are, in
general, made visible. Tait, Light, § 78.
scatteredly (skat'^rd-li), adv. In a dispersed
or ililTused manner. [Rare.]
scatterer (skat'^r-*r), n. [< scatter + -eri.]
One who or that which scatters,
scattergood (skat'^r-gud), n. [< scatter, v., +
obj. good.] A spendthrift.
Which intimates a man to act the consumption of his
own fortunes, to be a tcatter-good; if of honey colour or
red, he is a drunkard and a glutton.
Sanders, Physiognomie (1653). (,Naret.)
scatter-gnnt (skat'6r-gtui), n. A shot-gun.
[V. S.J
scattering (skat'^r-ing), n. [Verbal n. of scat-
ter, r.] 1. The act of sprinkling, strewing, or
dispersing; dispersion.
When we examine the Milky Way, or the closely com-
pressed clusters of stars of which my catalogues have re-
corded so many Instances^ this supposed equality of seat-
lerinj mxut be given up.
Uertehel, PhUos. Trans., XCIL 495.
2. That which has been scattered or strewn
abroad.
The promiscuoussoattsrin^rs of his common providence.
South, Sermons, n. 378. (Latham.)
3. One of a number of disconnected or frag-
mentary things.
He has his sentences for Company, some scatterings of
Seoeca and Tacitus, wliich are good vpon all occasions.
^ Barle, Micro.«o«magraphle, A Pretender to Learning.
4. The irregular reflection of light from a sur-
face not perfectly smooth, or from many mi-
nute surfaces.
The four principal processes by means of which a ray of
light may be polarised are reflexion, ordinary retraction,
double r^raction, and toaUerinq by small particles.
Spottuumide, Polarisation, p. 2.
scattering (skat'6r-in^), p. a. 1. Separating
and dis|>ersing in all directions: &»,& scattering
flock of birtls; a scattering shot.
The sun
Shakes from his noon-day tlirone the scattering clouds.
Thomson, Spring, 1. 442.
2. Of rare or irregular occurrence ; sporadic.
Letters appearing in the record less frequently than five
per eent of these numbers have been regarded as scatter-
ing errors, and only the percentage of them all together
has been given. Amer. Joar. PsychoL, I. 408.
3. Miscellsneous; diversified: as, scattering
votes. — 4. Separated from the school, as fish :
hence, sparne ; scarce. [New Eng.]
scatteringly (skat'*r-ing-li), adv. In a scat-
tered or dispersed manner; here and there.
8Catterllng(skat'&r-ling),H. [<scatter -l--«n(/l.]
A vagabond ; one who has no fixed abode.
[Kare.]
Many of them be such losells and scatterlings as that
they cannot easely by any sherilt, constable, baylUf, or
other ordlnarye 'Officer be gotten, when th^ are chal-
lenged for any such fact. .S^ienser, State of Ireland.
SCattery (skat'fer-i), a, l< scatter + -1/^.'] Scat-
tered or dispersed; hence, sparse; scarce;
few and far between. [New Eng.]
scatty (skat'i), o. [< scat^ + -yl.] Showery.
[Prov. Eng.]
SCattlla (skat'u-lft), n. [ML.] A rectangular
parallelepiped having two dimensions equal
an<l the third one tenth of the others.
SCaturient (ska-tu'ri-ent), a. [< L. scaturi-
en(t-)s, ppr. ot scatufire, gush out, < scatere,
gush out, well forth.] Springing or gushing
oat, as the water of a fountain. [Bare.]
scavenge
Sallying forth at rise of sun, ... to trace the current
of the New River — Middletonian Stream I — to its scatu-
rient source. Lamb, Newspapers Thirty-five Years Ago.
SCatnriginoust (skat-u-rij'i-nus), a. [< L. sca-
turiginosus, abounding in springs, < scaturigi-
nes, gushing waters, spring-water, < scaturire,
gush out: see scaturient.] Abounding with
springs. Imp. Diet.
Scaud (skad), t'. *. A Scotch form of scaldK
SCauld, V. A Scotch form of scold.
SCaup^ (skap), n. A Scotch form of scalp'^.
scaup- (skfi,p), n. [< Icel. skdip- in sJcdlp-haina,
the scaup-duck.] A duck, Fuligtila or Fulix
marila and related species. The common scaup
Inhabits Europe, Asia, and North America. It is from
18 to 20 inches long, and from 30 to 35 in extent of
.ivip J-ulix marital.
wings ; in the male the head, neck, breast, rump, and vent
are black ; the back and belly are white, the former
finely vermiculated with zigzag lines of black ; the wing
has a white speculum, and is lined with white ; the bill
is dull-blue, with black nail ; the feet are dark-plum-
beous ; the iris is yellow. In the female a belt of white
encircles the bill. A smaller species is F. a^nis of North
America. The ring-neck scaup, F. collaris or rufitorques,
has a chestnut or omnge-brown ring around the neck.
All the scaups are near the pochards and redheads (in-
cluding the canvasback) in general pattern of coloration,
but the males have black instead of reddish heads. The
American scaups, of :i species, have many names, mostly
local, as InroadbUl and Uuebill (1>oth witli various qualify-
ing words prefixed), blackhead and TAackiieck (VfUh qualify-
ing words), ra/t-iluck, mu^set-duck, tjreenhead, grayback,
fiock'duck, jtockiiuj'fowl, troop-Jowl, shufier. etc.
scaup-duck (8k4p'duk), «. Same as scaup^.
Scaup-Duek, meaning a Duck so called "because she
feeds upon Hcaup, i. e. broken shelflsh," as may be seen
in Wlllughby's Ornithology (p. 36.S) ; but it would be more
proper to say that the name comes from the ''Mussel-
scaups" or "Mussel-scalps," the beds of rock or sand on
which Mussels . . . are aggregated.
A. Neuiton, Encyc. Brit, XXL 378.
Bcauper (skA'p^r), «. [Prob, a dial, form (in
shop use f ) of scalper^.] A tool having a semi-
circular face, used by engravers in the manner
of a chisel to clear away the spaces between
the lines of an engraving.
SCanr^ (skiir), a. A Scotch form of scared.
scaur- (skiir), n. Same as scar^.
BCaury (skii'ri), n. [Also scaurie, scarie, seorey,
seorie; said to bo < Sw. skiura, Norw. skiure (f).]
A young gull. [Shetland.]
scavage't (skav'aj), ". [< ME. scavage, sche-
rugi\ scliewage, < OF. 'scavage, escavage, escau-
tragc, cscaulvaige. etc. (ML. scavagium), an ac-
com. form, with suffix -age, of cscauvinghe (ML.
sceuinga, scheatcing, inspection), < ME. shewing,
inspection, examination, show, verbal n. of
shewen. etc. (> OF. escauvcer, escawtJer), inspect:
see show, showing.] A toll or duty anciently
exacted from merchant strangers by mayors,
sheriffs, etc., for goods offered for sale within
their precincts.
scavage'-' (skav'aj), r. i. [A back-formation, <
seavager, taken as formed from a verb *seavage
+ -efi.] To act as a scavenger: used only or
chiefly in the derived form scavaging.
SCavagert (skav'aj-^r), n. Same as scavenger, 1.
SCavagery (skav'ai-ri), «. [< scavage'^ + -ry.]
Street-cleaning; the sweeping up and removal
of filth from the streets, etc., of a town. Also
scavenger;/.
In scamgery, the average hours of daily work are twelve
Sundays of course exceptedX but they sometimes extended
fifteen, and even sixteen hours.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II. 245.
scavaging (skav'aj-ing), n. [Verbal n. of scav-
age"^, v.] Street-cleaning; scavenging.
The scavaging work was scamped, the men, to use their
own phrase, "licking the work over anyhow," so that
fewer hands were re<)uired.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor.
S(^venge (skav'enj), v. t.; pret. and pp. scav-
enged, ppr. scavenging. [A back-formation, <
scavenger, taken as formed from a verb 'scav-
enge + -«ri,] To cleanse from filth.
scavenge
While the rocks were covered with ten thousand sea-
anemoues and corals and madrepores, who scavenged the
water all day long, and kept it nice and pure.
Kingdei/, Water-Uabies, p. 176.
scavenger (skav'en-jtr), H. [Early moil. E.
also scavenger; with intrusive n as in messen-
ger, passenger, porringer; < ME. scavager, < OF.
scaicageour, lit. one who had to do with seavage
< *searage, escavage, seavage : see scavagc^. The
word has come to be
5384
of this kind were also called lame (»<uAa, elauda : cf. eholi-
ainbiis) by the ancients, as opposed to normal or perfect
(opSa, recta, iiitei/ra) meters. Some ancient Latin metri-
cians apply the term scamn, apparently through misappre-
hension, to other irregular meters, such as the hexameter
miurus, lines wanting the last syllable, etc. See choliami
Hippojuictean. ischiorrhoi/ic. '
SCear, «. In firearms, same as sen;-.
The scear was acted upon by a trigger in the usual way.
W. W. Greener, The Gun, p. 49.
agent in -erl, whence thT verb'^scn..'^,/.^" 1°' S^^,**' »;i f-f ««"'f- ^ [AS- sceat {UU sceaUa):
An officer whose duty it was to take custom f^ '""*'■■} An early Anglo
upon the inspection of imported goods, and
later also to see that the streets were kept
clean. Also scavager.
The Scavagers, Aleconners, Bedel, and other officials.
Liber Altms (ed. Riley), p. 34.
Hence — 2. A person whose employment is to
clean the streets, etc., of a city or the like, by
Obverse. Reverse.
Silver Sceat.— British
Museum. (Size of the
oritjinal.)
scraping or sweeping together and carrying off
the filth.
Dick, the teacenger, with equal grace,
rUrts from his cart the mud in Walpole's lace.
Suift.
A cloaked Frere,
Sweating in th' channel like a scavengere.
Bp. Hall, Satires, IV. vli. 4S.
3. In cotton-spinning, a child employed to col-
Saxon com. Specimens occur
in gold, but most frequently in
silver. Their average weight is
l.^j grains, and they were prob-
ably current from about 600 to
760.
SCedet, «• [< OF. scccle, a
tablet for writing, < L.
scheda or scida, a slip or sheet of paper: see
schedule.'^ A schedule.
A deed (as I have oft seen) to convey a whole manor
was implicit^ contained in some twenty lines or there-
abouts, like that scede, or Sytala Laconica, so much re-
nowned of old in all contracts.
Burton, Anat. of Mel., To the Reader, p. 51.
scedulet, «• See schedule.
sceleratt, «• See scelerate.
lect the loose cotton lying about the floor or sceleratet (sel'e-rat), a. and n. [Also scelerat;
machinery.— 4. In entom., a scavenger-beetle. <0F. scelerat, vernacularly «ce/cj-e, F. scelerat =
p ,..-...-„. Pg.scelerado = It.scellerato,scelerato,<l,.scele-
ratus, wicked, impious, lit. polluted by crime,
pp. of scelerare, pollute, defile, desecrate, < scehts
(sceler-), a crime, wickedness.] I. a. Wicked ;
villainous.
scene
nopterous family Procto^rjyjirfa, typical of a sub-
family Scelioninse. The chief generic character is the
lack of a postmarginal vein of the fore wings. The spe-
cies are parasitic in the eggs or egg-pods of short-horned
grasshoppers or
locusts {Acridi-
id/e). S. fameli-
cus {Valoptetiobia
ocivora of Riley)
is a common pai'a-
site of the Rocky
Mountain locust,
or western grass-
hopper, Melano-
plujf Kpretug. An-
other species (un-
described) infests
the egg-pods of
the lesser migra-
tory locust. Me-
lanoplug atlanis,
while still another
has been reared
from the eggsol the large South American migratoiy locust
SCellumt, n. See skellum.
Sceloporus (se-lop'o-rus), «. [NL. (Wiegmann, .
1828), also Sceleophorus, Scelephorus; < Gr. cki-
Aof, leg, -(- mpof, pore.] An extensive genus of
lizards of the family Iguanidse: so called from
the femoral pores. The best-known is the common
brown fence-lizard of the United States, .S. undulatus.
Scetie/amelii us.
a, female : b, her antenna. {Line sho'
natural size.)
Scavenger roll, in eotton-manv/., a roller in a spinning-
machine to collect the loose fiber or fluff which gathers
on the parts ftith which it is placed in contact.— Scav-
enger's daughter, a corruption of Skemngtoris datigh-
ter, an instrument of torture invented by Sir W Skeving-
ton. Lieutenant of the Tower of London in the reign of
Henry VIII., consisting of a broad hoop of iron, which
so compressed the body as to force the blood from the
nose and ears, and sometimes from the hands and feet.
scavenger-beetle (skav'en-jer-be"tl), «. A ne-
crophagous beetle, which acts as a scavenger:
sometimes specifically applied to the family
Scaphidiidm. Compare buri/itig-beetle, sexton-
beetle.
scavenger-crab (skav'en-j6r-krab), n. Any crab
which feeds on dead or decaying animal mat-
• ter. Most crabs have this habit, and are notably efficient
in making away with carrion, among them the edible crabs
On some parts of the Atlantic coast of the United States
thousands of small fiddler-crabs maybe seen about a car-
cass ; and on some sandy beaches, as the Carolinian, a dead
animal washed ashore is soon beset by a host of horse-
man-crabs (Oci/poda), which mine the sand and live in these
temporary burrows as long as the feast lasts.
scavengering (skav'en-jer-ing), ». [(.scavenger
+ -inf/i.] Theworkof scavengers; street-clean-
ing; cleansing operations.
A characteristic feature of the place are the turkey-
buzzards, who do the scavengering.
Encyc. Brit, XXIV. 163.
scavengerism (skav'en-jer-izm), n. [< scaven-
scavenging work
?'roude.
ger + -ism.'i Street-cleanini
or operations. Carlyle, in
Scaven^ersMpt (skav'en-j6r-ship), n. [Early
mod. K. also skavengersshipe; < scavenger -I-
-ship.] Work in clearing away dirt and filth gcelptt
from the streets, etc. sceieit,
To Mr. Mathewe, for skavengersshipe.
Churchwardens AccourUs (K60) of S. Michaels, CortihUl
[(ed. by Overall), p. 152. (Davies.)
SCavengery (skav'en-j6r-i), n. [< scavenger +
-y (see -en/).] Same as scavagery.
The scavengery (of London] is committed to the care of
the several parishes, each making its own contract; the
sewerage is consigned by Parliament to a body of commis-
sioners.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II. 203.
scavenging (skav'en-jing), n. [Verbal n. of
scavenge, r.] Street-cleaning; removal of filth.
In general terms it can be asserted that in these works
the decreased cost of maintenance, repairs, scavenging
, of the wood as compared with the cost of the same
That whole Denomination, at least the Potentates or
Heads of them, are charged with the most scelerate Plot
that ever was heard of: that is, paying Assassins to mur-
der a sovereign Prince. Moger North, Examen, p. 191.
II. n. A wicked man; a villain; a criminal.
Scelerats can by no arts stifle the cries of a wounded
conscience. g. Cheyne.
He was, and is, a scelerat and a coward.
J. H. Shorthouse, John Inglesant, xxi.
SCeleroust (sel'e-rus), a. [< L. scelerosus, wick-
ed, abominable, < sccliis (sceler-), a crime, wick-
edness.] Wicked; villainous.
Kynge Richard, by this abominable mischyef & scelerous
act (the murder of the princes] thinkyng hymself well re-
leuyd bothe of teare and thought, woulde not have it kept
counsail. Hall, Richard III., an. i.
I have gathered and understand their deep dissimula-
tion and detestable dealing, being marvellous subtle and
crafty in their kind, for not one amongst twenty will dis-
cover either declare their scelerous secrets.
Uarman, Caveat for Cursetors, p. iii.
SCelestict (se-les'tik), a. [Also seelestique; < L.
scclesfi<,f, villainous, infamous, < sceliis {sceler-),
a crime, wickedness.] Wicked; evil; atro-
cious.
Fence-lizard i^Sceloporus undulatus).
Many others inhabit different parts of the West. They
are of small size (a few inches long) and of moderately
stout form, with a long slender fragile tail ; the upper
parts are undulated and mottled with black, brown,
and gray, very variable in shade and pattern, and there
is a patch of vivid blue on each side of the belly. They
are quite harmless, are very active, and feed upon in-
sects.
SCelp (skelp), n. In gun-making, one of several
long strips of iron or steel used in welding up
and forming a gun-barrel. These strips are twisted
into spirals, then welded together at their margins, and
well h.-iinmered while hot to close all Assures. The bar-
rel is subsequently hammered cold on a mandrel and then
For my own part, I think the world hath not better .^T^;,A^^ff"- ^- -!,'--?''"rTl ^'"' *'""•/■ ""•
■ ifferunder that name: nnr with- SCemandO (.she-man do). [It., ppr. of «ce»»are,
men than some that suffer under that name ; nor, with
all, more seelestique villaines. Feltham, Resolves, i. 6.
See skelet.
SCelides (sel'i-dez), n.pl. [NL., < Gr. tr/cfAMff,
pi. of (ThE/./f , a leg, < oKfAof, a leg.] The lower,
posterior, or pelvic extremities of mammals.
scelidosaur (sel'i-do-sar), n. A dinosaur of the
genus Scelidosaurus.
SCelidosaurian (sel"i-d6-sa'ri-an), a. and n. I.
a. Of or pertaining to ihn SceUdosattridee.
II. «. A member of the Scelidosauridse.
diminish.] In music, same as diminuendo.
SCena (se'nij), n. ; L. pi. scensc (-ne). [L. (and
It.): see scene.'] 1. The stage of an ancient
theater, including the permanent architectural
front behind the stage platform and facing the
audience in the Roman and later Greek theater.
— 2 (It.pron. sha'na; yA.sceni (-ne)). Inmusic:
(a) In an opera, a scene, (b) An elaborate dra-
matic solo, similar to an operatic scene for a
single performer, usually consisting largely of
Scelidosauridse (sel"i-d6-sa'ri-deV, «. «/.'7nL., recitative or semi-recitative.
< Scelidosaurus + -idie.] A family of mailed scenario (she-na'ri-o), n. [It. : see scenery.]
OUR ditinsniirs with .1- A skeleton libretto of a dramatic Work, giv-
ing the general movement of the plot and the
successive appearances of the principal charae-
&c.,
services for macadam pays the increased cost incurred
or stegosaurian herbivorous dinosaurs with
separate astragalus,, elongate metatarsals, and
four functional digits of the pes, typified by
the genus Scelidosaurus. Other genera are
AcanthophoUs, Polacanthus, Hylseosaurus, etc.
ooi.itco loi Miacauam pays ine increased cost incurred onol{,^„„A».-~4J /„ i//- a- -> •a\ j ' r,
by the capital sunk in the roads, and the nett result haa Scelldosauroid (8el"i-do-sa'roid), a. and n. [<
been equUibrium in the yearly expenditure. Scelidosaurus + -oid.] I. a. Of, or having char-
FortnighUy Rev., X. s., XLIII. 148. aeters of, the Scelidosauridx.
SCavernick (skav'er-nik), n. [< Corn, scaver-
having
,, .. ^^ , „„„ A reptile of the family Scef(V7o.9a«r('fte,
noeck, skavernak, scovarnog, the hare, lit. 'long- Scelidosaurus (sel"i-d6-sa'rus), n. [NL., < '
eared' (Polwhele).] A hare. [Cornwall, Eng.] ""'''-'f (-"'-)i leg, -I- aavpog, a lizard.] The t-
II. «.
SCavilonest (skav'i-lonz), n. pi. Drawers worn
by men under the hose in the sixteenth cen-
tury.
scaw, n. See skaw.
scazon (ska'zon), v.; pi. scazons or seazontes
(ska'zonz, ska-zon'tez). [L., < Gr. tooCgw, limp-
ing, hohblmg, ppr. of aiiat;uv, Ump, halt.] In
ane. pros., a meter the rhythm of which is im-
perfect toward the close of the line or period.
The name is especially given to two meters— (o) a trochaic
tetrameter catalectic, the next to the last time or syllable
ol which is a long instead of the normal short, and (6) an
iambic trimeter with a similar peculiarity. This is com-
monly known as a ckoliamb, and if the last four times of
such a line are all long, it is said to lie ischiorrhogic. Both
•cazonsaresometlmesdescrlbedasifijfponactean. Meters
Gr.
.. „, , ., , typi-
cal genus of Scelidosauridie.
SCelidothere (sel'i-do-ther), «. A gigantic ex-
tinct edentate of the genus Scelidotlurium.
The length of skull of the scdidothere must have been
not less than two feet. Owen.
Scelidotherium (seFi-do-the'ri-um), n. [NL.,
< Gr. aKcXiQ (-«!-), leg, + Btipiov, a wild beast.] Age-
nus of megatherioid edentate mammalsfounded
by Owen in 1840 upon remains of a species called
S. leptocephalum, from the Pleistocene of Pata-
gonia. The genus contains a number of species whose
characters are intermediate in some respects between those
of Megatherium and those of Mylodon.
Scelio (se'li-o), n. [NL. (Latreille, 1804).] A
notable genus of parasitic insects of the hyme-
ters.— 2. The plot itself of such a work.
SCend (send), n. [A misspelling of send, simu-
lating ascend.'] Upward angular displacement
of the hull of a vessel measured in a longi-
tudinal vertical plane at right angles with and
on either side of a horizontal transverse axis
passing through the center of flotation. The
term is a correlative ol pitch'y, 13, and the two words
are generally used together in discussions of the princi-
ples of motion and stability of ships: as, the pitth and
scend of a vessel, meaning thereby the longitudinal rock-
ing motion of a ship about the transverse axis passing
through the center of flotation, of which motion the pitch
and the scend sepaiately considered are equal but oppo-
site elements.
scene (sen), n. [Also in earlier use, as L., scma,
scasna; = Dan. scene = Sw. seen, < OF. scene,
F. scbne = Sp. escena = Pg. It. scena, < L. scena,
sceena, scene, stage, = OBulg. skinija, a tent,
< Gr. aKijv?/, a tent, stage, scene, akin to CKta,
shadow, and from the same root as E. shade,
shadow: see shade, shadoir.] 1. A stage: the
place where dramatic pieces and other shows
are performed or exhibited ; that part of a thea-
ter in which the acting is done.
Giddy with pniise, and pnfl'd with female pride,
She quits the tragic scene. Churchill, Rosciad.
Our geem precariously subsists too long
On French translation and Italian song.
Pope, Prol. to Addison's Cato, I. 41.
2. The place in which the action of a play is
supposed to occur; the place represented by
the stage and its painted slides, hangings, etc. ;
the surroundings amid which anything is set
before the imagination.
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene.
Skak., E. and J., Prol.
Asia, Africa, and Europe are the several tceitet of his
tVirgilsj fable. AddUon, Spectator, No. 367.
3. The place where anything is done or takes
place: as. the scene of one's labors; the scene
of the catastrophe.
The larce open place calletl the Rooraeyleh, on the west
of the Citadel of t'airo, is a common scejie of the execution
of criminals. E. W. Lane, Modern Egyptians, I. 333.
4. One of the painted slides, hangings, etc.,
used on the stage of a theater to give an ap-
pearance of reality to the action of a play.
These are of several kinds, and are known, according to
their forms and ase«, asytott, dropt, burden or toffiU, and
winfffi.
By lier Majesty's Command no Persons are to be ad-
mitted behind the teenes.
QuoteU in Aihton't Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne,
in. 5.
5. A division of a play or of an act of a play,
generally so much as represents what passes
between the same persons in the same place ;
also, some particular incident or situation rep-
resented in the course of a play.
At last, In the purap-and-tub mxne. Mrs. Gnidden lighted
the blue-fire, and ail the unemployed inemben of the
company came in . . . in order to finish off with a tableau.
IHcktiu, >'icbolaa NIckleby, xxiv.
6. One of a series of events, actions, or situa-
tions contributing to form a complete view or
-pectaele or a written representation or de-
■ription: as, scenes from the life of Buddha;
i-rnrs and sketches of camp life.
Throu».'h what variety of untried being.
Through what new aeena and changea must we pass !
Addiim, Cato, v. 1.
Hence — 7. Any exhibition, display, or demon-
-tration ; especially, an exhibition of strong
leUng, usually of a pathetic or passionate
■ h:ir:ict<T, between two or more persons.
' Hn-ti! hush!" whispers the doctor; "she mast be
quit, nuiet. . . . There muat be no more teena, my
young fellow." Thadteray, Philip, xxvlt
8. A view ; a landscape ; scenery.
Overhead ap grew
Insuperable highth of loftiest shade.
Cedar, and pine, atid fir, and branching palm,
A sylvan tetne. MOton, P. L., iv. 14a
.Some temple'* mouldering top* between
With venerable grandeur man the $eene.
Oatdtmith, TraveUer, 1. 110.
Betilnd the scenes, back of the visible stage ; out of
siKlit "f tli>' :iu'lic III e ; among the macbinerr of the thea-
Ikt: tii-iKt'. li:t\jiiL' information or knowledge of aHair*
not appatt-iit to tlu- public.
You see that the world is governed by vet; dlflerent
penooages to what Is imagined by tboae who are not be-
hind the eeenee. Disraelis
Carpenter's scene (U«<if.), a short scene played near
tliu fiiutlii<hts. while more elaborate scenery Is being set
iHihiiiil.— Bet scenes, scenes on the stage of a theater
made tip of many parts mounted on frimes which fit into
each I ither, as an interior with walls, doors, windows, fire-
placf , etc., a garden with built-up terraces, etc. — To make
a scene, to make a noisy or oCberwlse oopleasaot exhibi-
tion of feeling.
You have no desire to expostulate, to opbtald, to mi^e
a teene. CharMU BnmU, Jane Eyre, xxvlL
==87n. 8. Prnepect, Landteape, etc See view.
BCenet (sen), r. t. [< scene, ».] To exhibit;
iriiiki- an exhibition or scene of; display; set
•lilt.
Our food is plainer, but eaten with a better appetite ;
our course <if employment and action the very same, only
not teenrd so illustriously, nor set off with so good com-
pany and conversation.
Ah),. Saticruft. Letters, etc. (1691), II. 17. (Latham.)
scene-dock (sen'dok), n. The space adjoining
the since of a theater in which the scenes are
storod.
scene-man fsen'man), n. One who manages
thi- siiiH TV in a theater; a scene-shifter.
scene-painter (sen'pan'ttr), n. One who paints
Mceiii's III' scrnt'ry for theaters.
scene-painting (sen'pnn'ting), n. A depart-
ineijt of the art of painting governed by the laws
of perspective, applied to the peculiar exigen-
cies of the f hcatrical stage. This painting is done
'•liieHy in distein|KT. and, while usually of summary exe-
culliiii, it admiu of the most strikinK clfects.
scene-plot (.sen'plot), «. The list of scenes
and parts of scenes needed for any given play.
5385
scenery (se'n6r-i), n. [Formerly also scenary;
= It. Pg. scenario, scenery, a playbill (= G.
sceneiie = Sw. Dan. sceneri, prob. < E. scenery),
< L. scenarius, of or belonging to scenes, < secna,
scene : see scene. The E. word is practically <
scene + -eri/.~\ 1. The disposition and succes-
sion of the scenes of a play.
To make a sketch, or a more perfect model of a picture,
is, in the language of poets, to draw up the scenery of a
play. Dryden, Parallel of Poetry and Painting.
2. The representation of the place in which
an action is performed; the painted slides,
hangings, and other devices used on a stage
to represent the place in which the action of
a play is supposed to take place. See scene,
«., 4.
.Sophocles increased the number of actors to three, and
adde^ the decoration of painted scenery.
Twining, tr. of Aristotle on Poetry, L
3. The general appearance of a place, regarded
from a picturesque or pictorial point of view ;
the aggregate of features or objects that give
character to a landscape.
The scenery is inimitable ; the rock broken, and covered
with shru)>s at the top, and afterwards spreading into one
grand and simple shade.
Oilpin, Essay on Prints, p. 133. {Latham.)
Never need an American look beyond his own country
for the sublime and beautiful of natural scenery.
Irving. {Imp. Diet.)
scene-shifter (sen'shif'ter), «. One who ar-
ranges the movable scenes in a theater in ac-
cordance with the requirements of the play.
scenic (Sen'ik or se'nik), a. [= F. sc^ique =
Sp. escSnico = Pg. It. scenico, < L. scenicus, < Gr.
OKi^iKdf, of or belonging to the stage or scene,
dramatical, theatrical, < okt/vti, stage, scene : see
scene.'] 1. Of or pertaining to the stage; dra-
matic; theatrical: as, the «centc poets; scenic
games.
Bid teenie virtue form the rising age.
Joknton, Prol. Opening of Dmry Lane Theatre (1747X
The long-drawn aisles of Its seenie cathedral had been
darkened so skilfully as to convey an idea of dim religious
gntodeur and vast architectural space.
Whytt MelviUe, White Rose, II. xxviU.
2. Of or pertaining to the landscape or natu-
ral scenery; abounding in fine scenery or land-
scape views: as, the scenic attractions of a
place; a scenic route of travel. [Recent.] —
3. Pertaining to pictorial design ; of such na-
ture as to tell a story or convey ideas through
intelligible rendering of figures or other ob-
jects. [Recent.]
As a general principle, there la far less antagonism be*
tween what is decorative and what is seenie in painting
than Is sometime* supposed.
C. U. Moore, Gothic Architecture, p. 807.
SCenical (sen'i-kal or se'ni-kal), a. [< scenic +
-a/.] 1 . Of or pertaining to the stage ; scenic ;
dramatic; theatrical.
If he lOildas] bad prepared any thing icenieal to be acted
on the theatre, certainly it would have been a tragedy.
Fidter, Worthies, Somersetshire, III. 101.
Many thing* and actions they speak of as having done,
which they did no otherwise than in prophetic vision and
leemeat Imsgery. Evelyn, 'True Kcligion, I. 363.
Hence — 2. Unreal, as in a play ; conventional.
Nay, this occasion. In me who look upon the distinc-
tions amongst men to be merely teeiiieal, raised reflections
upon the emptiness of all human perfection and greatness
In general. SteeU, Tatler, No. 187.
scenlcally (sen'i- or se'ni-kal-i), adv. In a
scenic manner; theatrically.
Not scientifically, but leenieaUy.
0. D. Boardman, Creative Week, p. 19.
SCenographer (se-nog'ra-f^r), n. [< scenog-
riiiih-i) + -€ri.] One who practises scenog-
raphy.
ApoUodom* was sciagrapher or leenographer according
to Hesychins.
C. 0. Matter, Manual of Archnol. (trans.X 1 136.
scenographic (se-no-graf'ik), a. [= F. seeno-
ijriiphique = Pg. scenografico, < Gr. aKi/voypaipt-
k6^, < aia^mypa^ia, scene-painting: see scenog-
raphy.'] Of or pertaining to scenography;
drawn in rKTspeetive.
scenograpnical (se-no-graf'i-kal), a. [< sceno-
griijihir + -III. 1 Same as scenographic.
scenographically (se-np-graf'i-kal-i), adv. In
a s('cii(igra|iliic manner; in perspective.
scenography (se.-nog'ra-fi), n. [= F. scenogra-
phic = Sp. cseenografia = Pg. It. scenografia, <
Gr. oKrjvoy pallia, scene-painting, esp. in perspec-
tive, < dKitvorypi^, painting scenes, a scene-
painter, < aiaivii, scene, + ypAt)>eiv, write.] The
representing of an object, as a building, accord-
ing to the rules of perspective, and from a point
of view not on a principal axis.
scent
Scenopinidae (se-no-pin'i-de), ». pi. [NL.
(Westwood, 1840), < Scenopimis + -idm.} A
small family of brachycerous flies, consisting
of small slender bare species common in dwell-
ings. The larvte are very slender and white ; they are
found in decaying wood and under carpets, and are sup-
posed to be carnivorous.
Scenopinus (se-uo-pi'nus), n. [NL. (LatreiUe,
1802), emended to Scenopaus (Agassiz, 1847),
< Gr. aKi/vonoioc, tent-making, < oKf/vog, a hut,
tent, -I- TToitiv, make, produce, create.] The
typical genus of Scenopinidm. Five species are
North American, and four European. S. fenes-
trate and S. fasciatus are examples.
scent (sent), I'. [Better spelled, as formerly,
sent (a spelling which appears also in the com-
pounds assent, consent, dissent, resent), the c
being ignorantly inserted, in the 17th century,
as in scythe for sithc, scitc tor site, scituate for
situate (perhaps in this ease to simulate a con-
nection with ascent, descent); early mod. E.
sent, < ME. senien, < OF. sentir, F. sentir = Pr.
Sp. Pg. sentir z=\t.sentire, feel, perceive, smell,
< L. sentire, perceive by the senses, observe,
give one's opinion or sentiments; prob. orig.
'strive after,' 'go after,' akin to Goth, sinihs =
OHG. sind = AS. sith, E. obs. sithe, a going, jour-
ney, time, and to OHG. sinnan, strive after, go,
MHG. G. sinnen, perceive, feel, whence OHG.
MHG. SIB {sinn-), G. sinn, perception, sense:
see sithe'^. From the L. sentire are also ult. E.
assent, consent, dissent, resent, etc., sensed, sen-
sory, consensus, etc., sentence, sententious, senti-
ment, presentiment, etc.] I. trans. 1. To per-
ceive or discern by the smell ; smell : as, to seen t
game.
Methlnks I scent the morning air.
Shak., Hamlet, I. 5. 68.
He . . . was fond of sauntering by tlie fruit-tree wall,
and scenting the apricots when they were wanned by the
morning sunshine. Qearge Eliot, Adam Bede, lii.
Hence — 2. To perceive in any way ; especially,
to have a faint inkling or suspicion of.
Alas ! 1 scent not your confederacies.
Your plots and combinations !
B. Jonson, Sejanus, ill. 1.
The rest of the men seent an attempted swap from the
outset. W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 187.
3. To fill with smell, odor, or effluvium; cause
to smell; make fragi-ant or stinking; perfume.
Beneath the milk-white thorn that scents the ev'ning gale.
Bums, Cottar's Saturday Night.
The humble rosemary.
Whose sweets so thanklessly are slied
To seent the desert and the dead.
Moore, Lalla Rookh, Light of the Harem.
H. intrans. 1. To be or become scented;
have odor; be odoriferous; smell.
Thunder bolts and lightnings . . . doe sent strongly of
brimstone. Holland, tr. of Pliny, xzxv. 15.
2. To hunt or pursue by scent.
scent (sent), n. [Better spelled sent, as in the
verb; < ME. .■»««<; from the verb.] 1. An ef-
fluvium from any body capable of affecting the
olfactory sense and being perceived as a smell ;
anything that can be smelled; odor; smell;
fragrance or perfume.
■ The sent (of the Ferret] endureth fifteen or twentle
dayes in those things which he hath come neere to, and
causeth some Towne sometimes to be disinhal>ited.
Purehas, Pilgrimage, p. 842.
Cloud-dividing eagles, that can tow'r
Above thesc«n^ of these inferior things!
Quarles, Emblems, v. 13.
And sceTtt of hay new-mown. M. Arnold, Thyi-sis.
2. A fragrant liquid distilled from flowers, etc.,
used to perfume the handkerchief and other
articles of dress; a perfume. — 3. The sense
of smell; the faculty of olfaction; smell: as,
a hound of nice scent.
He [SolinusI addeth the tales of men with dogges heads ;
of others with one legge, and yet very swift of foot; of
Plgmeis, of such as liue only by gent.
Purehas, Pilgrimage, p. 466.
The sporting-dogs formed a separate and valuable class
of exports, including rougli terriers or spaniels which ran
entirely by seent. C. Elton, Origins of Eng. Hist, p. 306.
4. The odoriferous trace of an animal's pres-
ence; the effluvium left by an animal in pass-
ing, by means of which it may be tracked or
trailed by smell ; hence, the track of such an
animal ; the course of its pursuit : as, to lose or
recover the scent, as dogs: often used figura-
tively of any trace by which pursuit or inquiry
of any kind can be guided.
He . . . travelled upon the same seent into Ethiopia.
Sir n: Temple.
Trim found ho was upon a wrong scent, and stopped
short with a low bow. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, Iv. 18.
scent
Depend on it that they're on the scent down there, and
that, if he moved, he'd blow upon the thing at once.
Dickt'tis, Oliver Twist, xxvi.
There is nothing more widely misleading than sagacity
If It happens to get on a wrong scent.
Qeorge Eliot, Mill on the Floss, i. 3.
Hence — 5. Scraps of paper strewed on the
ground by the pursued in the boys' game of hare
and hounds, or by the ' ' fox " in a paper-hunt,
to enable the pursuers to track them or him. —
6t. Inkling; faint knowledge or suspicion.
I'll ne'er believe but Caesar hath some scent
Of bold Sejanus' footing. B. Jonsan, Sejanus, iv. 6.
Cold scent, a faint or weak scent discernible some time
after an animal has passed.
He was used for coursing the deer, but his nose was
good enough for hunting even a eoid scent.
Dogs of Great Britain and America, p. 34.
Second scent, (o) The power of discerning things future
or distant by the sense of smell. Moore. [Rare.] (ft) Spe-
cifically, the supposed faculty of discerning odors in some
way distinct from ordinary physical means. — To carry
a scent, in /ox-hunting, to follow the scent. = Syn. 1.
Odor. Fragrance, etc. See smeli.
scent-bag (sent'bag), «. 1 . The bag or pouch of
an animal which secretes or contains a special
odoriferous substance, as those of deer, beaver,
skunks, etc. ; a scent-gland. — 2. A bag con-
taining anise-seed or some other odoriferous
substance, used in fox-hunting as a substitute
for the fox.
The young men . . . expended an immense amount of
energy in the dangerous polo contests, [and] in riding at
fences after the scent-bag.
C. D. Warner, Little Jotimey in the World, xvi.
scent-bottle (sent'bot"l), n. A small bottle
for holding perfume, either a decorative object
for the toilet-table, or a vinaigrette or smelling-
bottle carried on the person.
scent-box (sent'boks), n. A box for perfume.
A Cane with a Silver Head and Scent Box, and a Ferril
of Silver at the Bottom.
Advertisement, quoted in Ashton's Social life, 1. 158.
scented (sen'ted), p. a. Imbued or permeated
with perfume or fragrance; perfumed: as,
scented soap Scented caper, a small, closely rolled
black tea about the size of small gunpowder. It is col-
ored, and sold as gunpowder tea. — Scented fem. See
/enii.
SCentful (sent'ful), a. [< scent + -ful.J 1.
Yielding much smell ; full of odor ; highly odor-
iferous; scented.
The scent/ull camomill, the verdurous costmary.
Drayton, Polyolbion, XV. 195.
The sent/uU osprey by the rocke had fish'd.
W. Browne, Britannia's Pastorals, ii. 3.
2. Quick of scent ; smelling well ; having a
good nose, as a dog.
SCent-gland (sent'gland), n. An odoriferous
gland; a glandular organ which secretes any
specially odoriferous substance, as musk or
castoreum. Scent-glands are of many kinds in differ-
ent animals, to which their peculiar odor is due, and they
are for the most part af the category of secondary sexual
organs, serving in the males to attract the females. The
commonest are moaified sebaceous follicles, which may
be situated anywhe e on the tmdy. Preputial and anal
glands are more specialized structures of this class, very
highly developed in \ariou8 animals, as the musk-deer,
the beaver, civet-cats, n.ost species of Mustetidfie, etc.
scent-bolder (seufhol'der), ». A vessel of
ornamental character for holding perfumes,
especially one having a cover pierced with
holes.
scentingl^t (sen'ting-li), adv. Merely in pass-
ing; allusively; not directly; with mere pass-
ing reference or allusion.
Yet I find but one man, Richard Smart by name (the
more remarkable because but once, and that scentingly,
mentioned by Mr. Fox), burnt at Salisbury.
FiMer, Worthies, Wiltshire, III. 322.
scentless (sent'les), a. [< scent + -less.'] 1.
Having or yielding no scent; inodorous; not
odoriferous.
The scentless and the scented rose ; this red.
And of an humbler growth, the other tall.
Cowper, Task, vi. 151.
Few are the slender flowerlets, scentless, pale.
That on their ice-clad stems all trembling blow
Along the margin of the unmelting snow.
O. W. Uobncs, Nearing the Snow-Line.
2. Bestructive of scent ; conveying no scent, as
for hunting: said of the weather.
That dry scentless cycle of days.
The Field, April 4, 1885. (Encyc. Diet.)
BCent-organ (sent'6r"gan), n. In zoiil., a scent-
bag or scent-gland. The term is applied especially
to odoriferous vesicles at the end of the abdomen of many
insects, to extensile vesicles on the backs of certain larvse,
and to organs in the thorax of other insects having minute
external orifices called scent-pores at the sides. of the
metastemnin, near tlie hind coxte, as in certain longicorn
beetles. These organs are also called osmeteria. See re-
puffnatorial, and cut under osmeterium.
5386
scent-pore (sent'por), «. In enMym., the orifice
of a scent-organ, specifically of the metaster-
nal soent-organs. See metasternal.
scent-vase (sent ' vas), n. A vessel with a
pierced cover, designed to contain perfumes.
Compare cassolette, 2.
scent- vesicle (sent' ves'i-kl), n. A vesicle con-
taining odoriferous matter.
scentwood (sent'wud), n. A low bushy shrub,
Alyxia huxifolia, of the Apoeynacex, found in
Australia and Tasmania. Also Tonka-beau
wood andheath-hox.
scepsis, ». See slicpsis.
scepter, sceptre (sep'tfer), n. [Early mod. E.
also scpter; < ME. sceptre, septre, sceptour, sep-
i«r, < OF. sceptre, ceptre, F. sceptre = Sp. cetro
= Pg. sccptro = It. scettro, scetro = D. schepier
= G. Svv. Dan. scepter, < L. sceptrum, < Gr. okti-k-
Tftov, a staff to lean on, a scepter, < ojiT/TTTeiv,
prop or stay (one thing against another), lean
on, also dart, hurl, throw (cf. oKj/irTdt, a gust or
squall of wind) ; ct. Skt. ■\/ kship, throw. See
also scape^.] 1. A staff of olfice of the charac-
ter accepted as peculiar to royalty or indepen-
dent sovereignty. Those existing, or which are repre-
sented in trustworthy works of art of former times, have
usually only a decorative character, but occasionally an
emblem of religious or secular chai-acter occurs : tluis.
scepters are sometimes tipped with a cross, or with a small
orb surmounted l>y a cross, or with a hand in the position
of benediction, or with a royal emblem, such as the fleur-
de-lis of France. In heraldry a scepter is generally repre-
sented with a fleur-de-lis at the upper end, the rest of it
being a stalf ornamented in an arbitrary manner.
I doute it for destany, and drede at the ende,
Ffor lure and for losse of the londe hole ;
Bothe of soile & of septor, soueraynly of you ;
That we falle into forfet with our fre wille.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2296.
So Esther drew near, and touched the top of the sceptre.
Esther v. 2.
And put a barren sceptre in my gripe.
Shak., Macbeth, iil. 1. 62.
Two Scepters of massie gold, that the King and Queene
do carrie in their hands at their coronation.
Coryat, Crudities, 1. 45, sig. D.
Hence — 2. Royal power or authority: as, to
assume the scepter.'
The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver
from between his feet, until Shiloh come. Gen. xlix. 10.
King Charles's scepter. Bee Pedicularis.
scepter, sceptre (sep'ter), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
sceptered, sceptred, ppr. sceptering, sceptring.
[< scepter, h.] To give a scepter to; invest
with royal authority, or with the emblem of
authority.
Thy cheeks buffeted, thy head smitten, thy hand scep-
tred with a reed. Bp. Hall, Christ before Pilate.
scepterdom, sceptredom (sep'tfer-dum), n. [<
scepter + -dom.'] if. Keign; period of wield-
ing the scepter.
In the scepterdome of Edward the Confessor the sands
first began to growe into sight at a low water.
Nashe, Lenten Stutfe (Karl. Misc., VI. 161). (Dames.)
2. Imperial or regal authority. [Rare.]
The Sabbath comes down to us venerable in all the
hoariness of an immemorial antiquity, and imperial with
all the sceptredom. of the Creator's example.
G. D. Boardman, Creative Week, p. 251.
sceptered, sceptred (sep'terd), a. [< scepter
+ -e(/2.] Bearing a scepter; accompanied
with a scepter; hence, pertaining to royalty;
regal.
This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle, . . .
This fortress, built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war.
Shak., Rich. II., ii. 1. 40.
Where darkness, with her gloomy sceptred hand.
Doth now command.
B. Jonson, Underwoods, xliv.
Sometime let gorgeous Tragedy
In sceptred pall come sweeping by.
Milton, II Penseroso, 1. 98.
scepterless, sceptreless (sep'tfer-les), a. [<
scepter + -less.] Having no scepter,
sceptic, sceptical, etc. See skeptic, etc.
SCeptral (sep'tral), a. [< L. sceptrtim, a scepter,
+ -(I I.] Pertaining to or resembling a scepter;
regal.
Ministry is might.
And loving servitude is sceptral rule.
Bickersteth, Yesterday, To-day, and Forever, iv. 969.
sceptre, sceptredom, etc. See scepter, etc.
Sceptrum Brandenburgicum. [NL.: Jj.scep-
triiiii, s<'(')it('r; rirtiHitcHliiirf/icum., neut. of Brun-
denhitrgicus, of Bramlenhurg.] A constella-
tion, the Scepter of Brandenburg, established
by Gottfried Kirsch, a German astronomer, in
1688. It consisted of four stars lying in a straight line,
in the first bend of Eridanus, west of the Hare. The con-
stellation was used by Hode early in the nineteenth cen-
tuiy, but is now obsolete.
scbalstein
Sceptmm et Manus Justiciae. [NL.: L.scep-
trtim, scepter; et, and; miiniis, hand; justicise,
gen. otjusticia, prop. Jiistitia, justice.] A con-
stellation established in 1679 by Royerin honor
of Lotus XIV., now displaced by Lacerta.
SCeptry (sep'tri), a. [< scepter, sceptre, + -^l.]
Bearing a scepter; sceptered; royal. [Rare.]
His highness Ludolph's sceptry hand.
Keats, Otho the Great, i. 1. (Davies.)
Scernet, v. t. [< It. scemere, < L. discernere, dis-
cern: see discern.] To discern. [Rare.]
But, as he nlgher drew, he easily
Might sceme that it was not his sweetest sweet.
Spenser, F. Q., III. x. 22.
SCeUOpborion (sti-o-fo'ri-on), K.; pi. sceuopho-
ria (-a). [< LGr. BKno^opmv, < cKtvoc, a vessel,
-H (j)£peiv = E. hear^.] In the Gr. Ch., a pyx or
other receptacle for the reserved sacrament.
Also artopJiorion.
sceuophylacium (su"o-fi-la'shi-um), «. [< LGr.
OKcvuipv/.atiiov, ahei'0(j)v}.aKelov, a place for keeping
the vessels, etc., used in religious service, in Gr.
a place for baggage, etc., < cKcvo^vla^, a keeper
of such vessels, etc. : see scenophylax.] In the
early church and in the Greek Church, the
treasury or repository of the sacred utensils: a
part of the diaeonicon or sacristy; hence, the
whole diaeonicon. Also skettopliylakion.
They [the holy vessels, etc.] were kept in the sceuophy-
lacium of the church. Bingham, Antiquities, VIII. x. 2.
SCeuopbylax (sii-of'i-laks), n. [< LGr. OKcvrnjiv-
'Aa^, a keeper of the vessels, etc., used in reli-
gious service, a sacristan, in Gr. a keeper of
baggage, < oKtvoq, a vessel, a utensil, + ^ivof, a
watcher, guard.] In the early church and in the
Greek Church, the ofiicer having charge of the
holy vessels and otlier treasures of the church;
a sacristan. The great sceuophylax of the patriarch
of Constantinople ranks next after the great sacellarius.
He is custodian of the treasures of the patriarchate and
of vacant churches. A similar officer to the sceuophylax
in a nunnery is called the sceuophylacissa. Also skeu-
ophylax.
SCh. A consonant sequence arising in Middle
English (as well as in Middle Dutch, Middle
High German, etc.) from the assibilation of sc,
and now simplified to sh. See sk. For Middle
English words in sch-, see sit-.
SChaap-stikker (skap'stik"fer), ». [S. African
D., < D. schaap, = E. sheep, + stikker, choker,
< stikken, choke.] A South African serpent of
the family Coronellidee, Psammophylax rhom-
heatus, very common at the Cape of Good Hope.
It is a handsome little reptile, prettily marked, and agile
in its movements. It lives on insects and small lizards,
on which it darts with great swiftness. Its length is
about 2 feet.
schabrack, scbabraque, n. See shabrack.
schabzieger (shiip'tse"ger), n. [G., < schaben,
rub, grate (= E. shave), + deger, green cheese,
whey.] A kind of green cheese made in Swit-
zerland : same as sapsago. Also written schap-
::iger.
scbadonopban (ska-don'o-fan), n. [< Gr. axa-
(S(jv, axdduv, the larva of some insects, -t- <f>aheiv.
appear.] The early quiescent larval stage in
the development of certain mites, as apoderma-
tous trombidiids. H. Heuking, 1882.
Schsefferia (she-fe'ri-il), n. [NL. (Jaoquin,
1780), named after J. C.' -Sc/mefec (1718-90), a
German naturalist.] A genus of polypetalous
plants, of the order Cela.strineiB, tribe Celastrese,
and subtribe Elieodendrex. It is characterized by
dioecious flowers with four imbricated and orbicular se-
pals, four petals, four stamens, a two-celled ovary, and
a two-cleft stigma. The fruit is a diy drupe with two
seeds which are without an aril. The 3 species are na-
tives of the West Indies, Florida, Texas, and Mexico.
They are smooth and rigid shrubs, with small coriaceous
entire and obovate leaves, and small green or white flow-
ers nearly or quite sessile in the axils. 5". frulescens,
a small tree of southern Florida and the neighboring
islands, produces a valuable wood which from its color
and hardness is known by the names of yellow-wood and
boxwood.
scbah, ". See shah.
scbaiiet, «. An obsolete form of sheafs.
scbako, «. See shako.
schalenblende (sha'len-blend), n. [G.. ischale,
shell (= E. sca/el; see scaled, shale^), + blende, >
E. blende.] A variety of sphalerite, or native
zinc sulphid, occurring massive in curved lay-
ers, often alternating with galena and marca-
site.
schalkt, w. See shalk.
schallot, n. See shallot.
scbalstein (shal'stin), n. [G. schalstein, < schale
(= E. scaled, shalel^), shell, + sl^in = E. stone.]
A slaty or shaly variety of tufaceous (volcanic)
rock : "little used in English.
schalstein
On the whole, this diabase series is largely made up of
slaty volcanic rocks, much resembling the Nassau Schal-
ttein (shale stone).
U. B. Woodicard, Geol. of Eng. and Wales, p. 13S.
SChapbacIlite (shap'baeU-it), H. [< Scluwbach
(see def.) + -ite-.'\ A sulphid of bismuth, sil-
ver, and lead, occurring in indistinctly crystal
5387
She [Marie Antoinette] had . . . kept a large corking-
pin, and with this she scratched on the whitewaslied walls
of her cell, side by side with scriptural texts, minute lit-
tle seheduUs of the items in her daily diminishing ward-
robe. FoHnighUy Beil., S. S., XUI. 296.
We travel fast, and we reach places at the time named
on the xhedide. C. D. Warner, Koundabout Journey, p. 2.
--, , „ , . =Syil. -Beifigter, Inventory, etc. Seeii»t5.
lized and also massive forms of a lead-gray schedule (sked'ul or, in England, shed'ul),e.i.;
color at Sehapbach in Baden. pret. and pp. scheduled, ppr. scheduling. [<
SChappe, «. Any one of various silk fabrics schedule, n.] 1. To make a schedule of , as of
made of carded and spun silk, the silk used anumberof objects.— 2. To include in a sched-
for this purpose being obtained from the thin, „ig_ ^s any object.
fuzzy beginnings and endings of cocoons in gcheelt, f- t. A Scotch form of school^.
reeling. Have not I no clergymen?
Sehappe or spun silk fabrics, not so lustrous as reeled ~ Pay I no clergy fee, ()?
silk goods, but stronger and cheaper. I'll Bcheel her as I think fit,
Harver'i Mag., V. liri. 2-16. And as I think weel to be, O.
, . „ , . . Laird of Drum (Child's Ballads, IV. 120).
schapziger, ». See «c/iao^i«CTer. « t i ■ a ^
Scharlachberger (shar'lach-ber-gfer), «. A Scheele s green. Seefirrecni.
white wine gi-own on the banks of the Rhine,
near Mainz. It ranks with all but the best
Rhine wines.
Scharzberger (sharts'ber-g^r), n. A wine
grown in the neighborhood of Treves, on a hill
several miles from the Moselle. It is usually
classed among the still Moselle wines.
SCheelite (she'lit), «. [< K. W. Scheele, a Swed-
ish chemist (1742-86), + -ite^.'i Native calcium
tuugstate, a mineral of high specific gravity,
occurring in tetragonal crystals which often
show hemihedral modifications, also massive,
of a white, yellowish, or brownish color, and
vitreous to adamantine luster.
Scharzhofberger (sharts'hof-ber-g6r),. „.^ A 8«i««"ti^«/.t'rrkl'S;it^L'tft.VS
)od white wine grown on the banks of the Mo-
selle, near Treves. It is considered the best of
the still Moselle wines.
schaom-eartll (shoum'trth), n. [< G. gchaum,
foam, scum (= E.«ct<m; of. meerschaum), + E.
«flr/Al.] Aphrite.
schecklatont, «. See ciclalon.
schediasm (ske'di-azm), «. [< Gr. axMaofia,
something done oflfhand, < axeStditiv, treat off-
hand, < (T^e'<5ioc, sudden, offhand, < oxMv, near,
hard bv.] Ciirsory writing on a loose sheet.
[Kiire.i
schedule (sked'ul or, in England, shed'ul), n.
[Formerly also ihedule, geedule, scedull, cedule :
< ME. sedell = MU. schedel, eedule, cedel, D. eedel,
ceil, a bill, list; < OF. schedule, scedule, cedule, s
A name given by Beudant to the lead tung-
stiitf now called stohite.
scheett, «. See skate^.
schefferite (shef'tr-it), n. [< H. G. Scheffer, a
Swedish chemist (1710-59), + -ite^.^ A man-
ganesian variety of pyroxene found at L&ngban
in Sweden.
Scheibler's pitch. See pitefti, 3.
scheik, ». See shrik.
Schemer's experiment. The production of
two or more images of an object by viewing it
out of focus through two or more pinholes in
a card.
SCbekert, n. An obsolete form of exchequer.
Schelly (sbel'i), n. ; pi. schellies (-iz). A white-
tish, t'oriqoitus clupeoides
scroll, note, bill, F. cidule, a note of hand, = scheto. shelm (skelm), n. [X\sogcheVum,skel-
lum (< D.), < OT.schelme, < G. achelm, a rogue,
rascal (> I), schehn = Icel. skelmir = Sw. ikdlm
= Dan. skjelm). < MHG. schalnte, schelme, an
abusive epithet, rogue, rascal, lit. pestilence,
carrion, plague, < OHG. scalnio, seelmo, plague,
pestilence.] A rogue; a rascal: a low, worth-
less fellow. [Obsolete or Scotch.]
The gratitude o' thae dumb brutes, and of that pulr in-
nocent, bring* ttae lean into my auld een, while that Khel-
lum Malcofan — bnt I'm obliged to Colonel Talbot for put-
ting my hoandi into rach good condition.
Scott, Waverley, Ixxi.
oxiii/, a leaf, tablet; but this does not appear gcheltopusik (shel'to-pii'Bik), n. [Origin uti
Pr. cedule, cedola = Sp. cedula = Pg. cedula, se-
dula = It. cedola, formerly also cedula, a note,
bill, docket, etc. (> MHG. :edel, zvdele, Q.zettel,
a sheet of paper, a note, = Icel. aethill = Sw.
sedel = Dan. seddel), < LL. schedula (ML. also
seidula), a small leaf of paper. ML. a note,
schedule, dim. of L. scheda, a leaf or sheet ot
paper, also written scida, ML. scida, prob. (like
the dim. sctnduUi, a spliut or shingle) < L. icin-
derc (V scid), cleave, split : see «ci«»J07i, shiiidle,
thinijlt. The L. form xcheda is on its face < Gr.
innt.
tor/.
in Gr. till the 13th century (MGr.^, and is prob
a mere reflex of the L. scheda, which in turn is
then either a false spelling, simulating 8 Gr.
origin, of seida (as above), or a var. of 'schida
(found once as ichidia, a splinter or chip of
wood), < Gr. *axii>), an unauthenticated var.
(cf. axiiai, another var.) of ff^'C", oX'lvO dim.
ax'itov), a splint, splinter, lath, also an arrow,
spear, etc., also a cleft, separation, < axK""
(V "-t"')' cleave, split, = L. scindere (i/»cirf),
cut (as above): see schimt, schist, etc. The ult.
origin of the word is thus the same, in any case.
The proper spelling of the word, according to
the derivation from OF. cedule, is cedule (pron.
scd'iil); the spelling scedule (pron. sed'ul) is
an imperfect restoration of cedule, toward the
form schedule; the spelling schedule, as taken
from the OF. restorea spelling schedule, shouUl
be pron. shed'ul, and was formerly written ac-
cordingly «/ierfii/c,' but being regarded, later, as
taken directly from the LL. xchcdula, it is in
America commonly pronounced sked'iil.] A
paper stating details, usually in a tabular form
or list, and often as an appendix or explana-
tory addition to another document, as a com-
plete list of all the objects contained in a cer
knownJ] A large lizard, Pseudopus pallasi,
found in Russia, Hungary, Dalmatia, etc., at-
taining a length of 2 or 3 feet, having no fore
limbs, and only rudimentary hind limbs, thus
resembling a snake. It Is of glassy appearance and
darkbrownlah coloration. It feeds on insects, small quad-
rupeds, birds, and reptiles, is quite harmless, and easily
tamed. It is related to and not dlsUntly resembles the
common glass-snake (Ophianuru* vejUralU) of the south-
ern I'nited HUte*. Also spelled iheltopufidc (Huxley),
Bcheltronetj »• See sheltron.
tain house, belonging to a certain person, or gchema (ske'mft), ».; pi. schemata (-ma-ta). [<
the like, intended to ai-company a bill of sale, ^ schema, < Gr. o^/""- shape, figure, form: see
a deed of gift, or other legal paper or proceed- gchcme.'] 1. A diagram, or graphical repre-
inc; any list, catalogue, or table: as, chemi- gentation, of certain relations of a system of
cals are in schedule A of th» tariff law. tilings, without any pretense to the correct
representation of them in other respects; in
the Kantian philos., a product of the imagina-
tion intermediate between an image and a con-
cept, being intuitive, and so capable of being
observed, like the former, and general or quasi-
general, like the latter.
The ichema by Itself Is no doubt aprodnct of the imagi-
nation only, but as the synthesis of the imagination does
not aim at a single intuition, hut at some kind of unity
alone In the dctemiinallon of the sensibility, the Khrma
oogbt to be distinguished from the image. Thus, if I place
A gentilman of my Lord of York toke unto a yemsn
of inyn, John l>eye, a tokene and a tedell ot my Lords
entent whom he wold have knyghtts of the shyre, and I
sende yon a ttdett closed of their names in this same lel-
tre. PaMm UtUrt, 1. 161.
I will glue oot diners leeduUt of my beaatr ; It shall
l>e inuentoried, and euery particle and utensil labeUed to
my will. Shot.. T. S. (folio ItaS), L 8. 268.
I have procured a Royal Cedule, which I cansed to be
printed, and whereof I send you here inclosed a Copy, by
which CeduU I hare fower to arrest his very Person.
UomU, Letters, L Ui. 14.
scheme
Hve points, one after the other, this Is an image
of the number five. If, on the contrary, 7 think of u num-
ber in general, whether it he five or a hundred, this think-
ing is rather the representation of a method of represent-
ing in one image a certain quantity (for instance, a thou-
sand) according to a certiiin concept, than the image it-
self, which, in the case of a thousand, I could hardly take
in and compare with the concept. This representation of a
general procedure of the imagination by which a concept
receives the image I call the schema of such a concept.
Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, tr. by Max MUller, p. 140.
2. Scheme ; plan ; outline ; formerly, a geomet-
rical diagram. — 3. In logic, a figure of syllo-
gism.— 4. In anc. gram, and rhet., a figure; a
peculiar construction or mode of expression. —
6. In the Gr. Ch., the monastic habit: distin-
guished as little and great — Pedal schema, in
anc. pros., the order or sequence of longs and shorts in a
foot; the particular form of a foot as so determined. —
Transcendental schema, the pure and general seusu-
alization of a concept of the understanding a priori.
schematic (ske-mat'ik), a. [< Gr. cxwa, (-fiar-),
shai)e, form (see scheme), + -ic.'] Of the nature
of, or pertaining to, a schema, in any sense;
typical ; made or done according to some funda-
mental plan : used in biology in much the same
sense as archetypal.
If our system of notation lie complete, we must possess
not only one notation capable of representing . . . syllo-
gisms of every figure and of no figure, but another which
shall at once and in the same diagram exhibit every syllo-
gistic mode, apart from all schematic differences, be they
positive, be they negative.
Sir W. Hamilton, Discussions, App. II. (B).
Schematic eye. Same as reduced eye (which see, under
reduce).
schematically (ske-mat'i-kal-i), adv. As a
schema or outline ; in outline.
In the gracilis muscle of the frog the nervation is fash-
ioned in the manner displayed schematically upon this
diagram. Nature, XXXIX. 43.
schematise, r. See schematize.
schematism (ske'ma-tizm), «. [< L. schema-
tinmo.v, < Gr. axiliaTiOfidq, a figurative manner of
speaking, the assumption of a shape or form,
< <T;t7/""''f"*'> form, shape : see schematize.'] 1.
In astrol., the combination of the aspects of
heavenly bodies. — 2. Particular form or dispo-
sition of a thing ; an exhibition in outline of any
systematic arrangements ; outline. [Rare.]
Every particle of matter, whatever form or schematitm
it puts on, must in all conditions be equally extended, and
therefore take up the same room. Creech.
3 A system of schemata; a method of employ-
ing schemata.
We have seen that the only way in which objects can be
given to us consists in a modification of our sensibility,
and that pure concepts a priori nuist contain, besides the
function of the understamling in tlie category itself, formal
conditions a priori of sensibility (particularly of the in-
ternal sense) which form the general condition under
which alone the category may be applied to any object.
We call this formal and pure condition of the sensibility,
to which the concept of the understanding is restricted in
its application, its scliema ; and the function of the under-
standing in tliese schemata, the schematism of the pure
understanding.
Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, tr. by Max MUller, p. 140.
4. In /ofli'p, the division of syllogism into figures.
SChematist (ske'ma-tist), n. [<.GT.axv/'a{-/iaT-),
form, shape, figure (see scheme), + -ist.'\ One
given to wrming schemes ; a projector.
The treasurer maketh little use of the schematists, who
are daily plying him with their visions, but to be thor-
oughly convinced by the comparison that his own notions
are the best. Sirirt, To Dr. King.
schematize (8ke'ma-tiz),».; pret. and -pTp. sche-
matized, ppr. scheiiiatizing. [< Gr. ax'//iaTiCe'v,
form, shape, arrange, < axn^a, form, shape: see
schemc.'\ I. trans. To form into a scheme or
schemes; aixange in outline.
n. intrans. 1 . To form a scheme or schemes ;
make apian in outline. — 2. To think by means
of a schema in the Kantian sense.
To say that a man is a great thinker, or a fine thinker,
is but another expression for saying that he has a schema-
tizing (or, to use a plainer but less accurate expression, a
figurative) understanding. De Quincey, Rhetoric.
Also spelled schematise.
BChematologion (ske'ma-to,-16'ji-on), n. [<
LGr. nx'//inToUyiov, < Gr. iix'/fa (axifiar-), figure,
+ 7i) av, say.] The office for admitting a monk :
formerly contained in a separate book, now in-
cluded in the euchologion.
scheme (skem), ». [= F. schbmc, schdma = It.
Pg. schema = D. G. Dan. Sw. schema, < L. sche-
ma, < Gr. axW" ("XVf"'''-), form, appearance,
also a term of rhetoric, < Gr. exeiv, fut. oxvce'iv,
2d aor. ax"^. have, hold, ■/ aex, by transposi-
tion ax^, = Skt. v/ sah, bear, endure. From the
same Gr. source are schesis, schetic, hectic, and
the first or second element of heiiology, cachec-
tic, cachexij, eunuch, etc.] 1. A connected and
orderly arrangement, as of related precepts or
scheme 5388
a regularly formulated scheming (ske'ming), p. a. 1. Planning; con-
triving.— 2. Given to forming schemes; art-
eoCrdinate theories;
plan; system
"We shall never be able to give ourselves a satisfactory
account of the divine conduct witliout forming such a
achnnf of things as shall take at once in time and eternity.
Bp. AtUrbury.
It would be an idle task to attempt what Emerson him-
self never attempted, and build up a consistent gcftenie of
Emersonian philosophy. Quarterly Rev., CXLV.l.lo.
2. A linear representation showing the relative
position, form, etc., of the parts or elements of
a thing or system ; a diagram ; a sketch or out-
line.
To draw an exact tcheme of Constantinople, or a map of
France. Saittlt.
3. In astrol., a representation of the aspects of
the celestial bodies; an astrological figure of
the heavens.
It is a scheme and face of Heaven,
As the aspects are dispos'd this even.
S. Butler, Hudibras, II. iii. 539.
4. A statement or plan in tabular form; an
official and formal plan : as, a scheme of division
(see phrase below) ; a scheme of postal distribu-
tion or of mail service.
But, Phil, you must tell the preacher to send a scheme of
Sleet*.^ilyU?Si?/SAi;S"''-''"'* "^ "'"'' ""'" ^chemy (ske'mi), a. [< scheme + -2,1.] Clever
George £ifo«, Felix Holt, xxiii. at scheming; sly; cunning. [CoUoq.]
ful; intriguing.
May yon jnst heaven, that darkens o'er me, send
One flash, that, missing all things else, may make
My scheming brain a cinder, if I lie.
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien.
schemin^ly (ske'ming-li), adv. By scheming
or contriving.
SChemist (ske'mist), n. [< scheme + -isf] 1.
A schemer; a projector; one who is habitually
given to scheming or planning.
Baron Puffendorf observed well of those independent
schemists, in the words here following.
Walerland, Works, V. 500.
A number of schemists have ui-ged from time to time
that, in addition to our ordinary currency, there ought to
be an interest-beai'ing currency.
Jevons, Money and Mech. of Exchange, p. 246.
2. An astrologer or fortune-teller; one who
draws up schemes. See scheme, «., 3.
Another Schemist
Found that a squint-ey'd boy should prove a notable
Pick-purse, and afterwards a most strong thief ;
When he grew up to be a cunning Lawyer,
And at last died a Judge. Quite contrary !
Broine, Jovial Crew, i.
1
5. A plan to be executed; a project or design;
purpose.
The winter passed in a mutual intercourse of correspon-
dence and confidence between the king and Don Christo-
Oh. he was powerful schemy ! But I was schemy too.
That 's how I got out. The Century, XL. 223.
SChenchet, '-. Same as skinlA.
SChendt, i?- *. See shend.
pher, and in determining upon the best scheme to pursue SChene (sken), n. [= P. schbnc, < L. schoenns,
the war with success. Bruce, Source of the Kile, II. 184. also sckwinim, < Gr. axoivo(, a rush, reed, cord,
I'm not going to give up this one scheme of ray own, even
if I never bring it really to pass.
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, x.
Alas for the preacher's cherished schemes!
Mission and church are now but dreams.
Whittier, The Preacher.
6. A specific organization for the attainment
of some distinct object : as, the seven schemes of
the Church of Scotland (for the propagation
of the gospel in foreign parts, the conversion
of the Jews, home missions, etc.; these are un-
der the charge of a joint committee). — 7t. A
figure of speech.
I might tary a longe time in declaring the nature of di-
vers schemes, which are wordes or sentences altered either
by speaking or writing contrary to the vulgare custome
of our speaclie, without chaunging their nature at al.
Sir T. WUson, Rhetoric (1663X
Scheme of color, in painting, that element of the design
which it is sought to express by the mutual relation of the
colors selected ; the system or arrangement of interdepen-
dent colors characteristic of a school, or of a painter, or of
any particular work ; the palette (see palette, 2) peculiar to
any artist, or used in the paintiug of a particular picture.
Also color-scheme.
One of the angel faces in the . . . picture strongly re-
calls the expression of Jieonardo's heads, while the whole
scheme o/pure glowing colour closely resembles that em-
ployed by Di Credi in his graceful but slightly weak pic-
tures of the Madonna and Child. Encyc. Brit, XXIV. 176.
The scheme 0/ colour of the picture is sober, business-
like, and not inappropriate to the subject : but it is also
hot, and unduly wanting in variety and chaiin.
The Academy, Ko. 890, p. 36.'i.
measure of distance : see schaeii us. ] An ancient
Egyptian measure of length (in Egyptian called
atiir), originally (according to St." Jerome) the
distance which a relay of men attached to a
rope would drag a boat up the Nile, its varia-
tions were great, but 4 English miles may be taken as an
average value. It is essentially the same as the Hebrew
unit called in the authorized version of the Bible (Gen.
XXXV. 16, xlviii. 7; 2 Ki. v. 19) "a little way," and has also
been identitted with the Persian parasaug.
schenk beer. See Occr^.
SChenshipt, SChenchipt, ". See shendshq).
SChepen (ska'pen), «. [D., a magistrate, jus-
tice.] In Holland and in the Dutch settlements
in America, one of a board of magistrates cor-
responding nearly to associate justices of a
municipal court, or to English aldermen.
The post of schepen, therefore, like that of assistant
alderman, was eagerly coveted by all your burghers of a
certain description. Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 1B6.
It was market-day ; the most worthy and worshipful
burgomaster and schepens of Nieuw Amsterdam turned
over in bed, stretched their fat legs, and recognized that
it was time to get up. The Atlantic, LXIII. 577.
SChepont, »• See shippen.
schequert, «. An obsolete form of exchequer.
SCherben-CObalt (sher'ben-k6''balt), H. [G., <
schcrben, pi. of scherbe, a potsherd, fragment,
-I- I'ohalt, cobalt.] A German name for some
forms of native arsenic, having a reniform or
stalactitic structure.
scherbett, «• See sherbet.
Scheme of division, in Scots judicial procedure, a tabu- scherbetzide, n. See sherhetzide.
lar statement drawn out to show how it is proposed to -.-.-l^*..*,. ,. a„ ^■w^r.^^t.^ f«_,„ i; 7 1
divide a common fund amongst the several claimants SCheret, V. An obsolete form of shear^.
thereon, or to allocate any fund or burden on the different SCneril, n. bee slierif.
parties liable.— Scheme of BCantllng, a detailed descrip- scherzando (sker-tsan'do), a. [It., pp. ofscher-
tion of the sizes, material, and method of construction of
the various parts of the hull of a vessel. Also called sped-
/cotton, =Syn. 6. Design, Project, etc. See plan.
scheme (skem), r. ; pret. and pp. schemed, ppr.
scheming. l< scheme, n.'i I. trans. To plan;
contrive; plot; project; design.
The powers who scheme slow agonies in hell.
Shelley, Prometheus Unbound, 1. 1.
H. intrans. To form plans ; contrive ; plan ;
plot.
"Ah, Mr. Clifford Pyncheon ! " said the man of patches,
"you may scheme for me as much as you please."
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, x.
scheme-arch (skem'arch), ». [Irreg. adapted <
It. arco sccmo, an incomplete arch : arco, arch ;
scemo, diminished, deficient.] An arch which
forms a part of a circle less than a semicircle.
Sometimes erroneously written shenc-arch.
schemeful (skem'ful), a. [< scheme + -ful.']
Full of schemes or plans.
schemer (ske'mer), «. One who schemes or
contrives; a projector; a contriver; a plotter.
So many worthy schemers must produce
A statesman's coat of universal use;
Some system of economy to save
Another million for another knave.
Chatterton, Besignation.
It Is a lesson to all schemers and confederates in guilt,
to teach them this truth, that, when their scheme does not
succeed, they are sure to quarrel amongst themselves.
Paley, Sermon on Gen. xlvIL 12. (Latham.)
zarc, play, joke, jest, < sc)terzo, a jest f see scher-
zo.'] In music, playful or sportive : noting pas-
sages to be so rendered.
scherzo (sker'tso), M. [It., a jest, joke, play, < ^ ^,, -..
MHG. G. scherz'OT). scherts), jest, sport.] In schlitrount, ". See sheltrm
Schinopsis
monocotyledonous plants, of the order Xaiada-
cese and tribe Juiwaiiinea'. it is characterized by
bisexual and bracted flowers, with six oblong and acute
perianth-segments, six stamens with weak filaments and
projecting anthers, and a fruit of three diverging round-
ish and inflated one- or two-seeded carpels. The oidy
species, S. palmtris, is a native of peat-bogs in northern
parts of Europe, Asia, and .\merica. It is a very smooth
rush-like herb, with flexuous and erect stem proceeding
from a creeping rootstock, and bearing long tubular leaves
which are open at the top, and a few loosely racemed
rigid and persistent flowers.
SChiavone (skia-vo'ne), «. [It., so called be-
cause it was the weapon of the life-guards of
the Doge of Venice, who were known as the
.Sf/(Wi-o«( or Slavs: see Slav, SUivoiiic] A bas-
ket-hilted broadsword of the seventeenth cen-
tury. In many collections these weapons are known as
claymores, from their resemblance to the broadswords
popular in Scotland in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries and erroneously called claymjre in imitation
of the old two-handed sword which properly bears that
name. See claymore and basket-hilt.
Schiedam (ske-dam'), n. [< Schiedavi, a city
of Holland, the chief seat of the manufacture
of this liquor.] Schiedam schnapps, or Hol-
land gin.
Schilbe (shil'be), n. [NL. (Cuvier, 1829): from
Egypt, shilhc.] 1. A genus of Nile catfishes
of the family Silurida-.—i. [I. c] A fish of
this genus, of which there are several species,
as S. mystus. Also shilhe. Baidinson, Anc.
Eg^pt.
SChlller (shil'er), w. [G., play of colors, glis-
tening brightness.] A peculiar, nearly metal-
lie luster, sometimes accompanied by irides-
cence, observed on some minerals, as hyper-
sthene, and due to internal reflection from mi-
croscopic inclusions: in some cases this is an
effect produced by alteration.
schillerite (shil'er-it), n. [< Schiller + -ite"^.]
Sehiller-spar rock, an aggregate of anorthite
and eiistatite, the latter being more or less al-
tered or sehillerized, or even serpentinized : the
English form of the German SckillerfeU.
SChillerization (shil"er-i-za'shon), w. A term
employed by J. W. Judd to designate a change
in crystals, consisting in the development along
certain planes of tabular, bacillar, or stellar
inclosures, which, reflecting the light falling
upon them, give rise to a submetallie sheen
as the crystal is turned in various directions.
This peculiarity has long been known to the Germans,
and several minerjils which exhibit it were classed to-
gether under the name of schiller-spur (which see). It is
varieties of the monoclinic and rhombic pyroxenes, and
especially bronzite and diallage, that exhibit this schil-
lerization.
Some of these crystals show traces of schillerization in
one direction, which I take to be a face of the prism.
Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc, XLIV. 74«.
Chemical reactions (like those involved in the process
of SChillerization) can readily take place.
Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc., XLV. 181.
Schillerize (sliil'er-iz), t'. t.; pret. and pp. so/(i7-
lerized.Tppr.schillerizing. [(.schillcr + -i:e.] To
have that peculiar altered structure which
causes the phenomenon known as SChilleriza-
tion.
This intermediate variety ishigMy sehillerized sHong the
cleavage-planes. Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc, XLV. 533.
SChiller-spar (shil'er-spar), n. [< .schiUer +
sj>ar-.] An altered bronzite (enstatite) having
a metalloidal luster with pearly iridescence:
same as bo.stite.
schilling (shil'ing), ». Same as shilling^.
music, a passage or movement of a light or
playful character; specifically, one of the usual
movements of a sonata or symphony, following
the slow movement, and taking the place of the
older minuet, and, like it, usually combined with
a trio. The scherzo was first established in its
])lace by Beethoven.
schesis_(ske'sis), «. [<Gr. axtatc, state, oondi-
tion,< ex^iv, 2d aor. nxelv, have, hold : see scheme.
Cf. hectic] It. General state or disposition of
the body or mind, or of one thing with regard to
other things; habitude. — 2. In rhct., a state-
ment of what is considered to be the adver-
sary's habitude of mind, by way of argument
against him.
schetict (sket'ik), a. [< Gr. trxeriKdc, holding
back, holding firmly, < Ixciv, have, hold: see
schesis.] Pertaining to the state of the body ;
constitutional; habitual. Bailey, 1731.
SCheticalt (sket'i-kal), a. [< 'schetic + -al.]
Same as schetic.
Scheuchzeria (shok-ze'ri-a), n. [NL., named
after the brothers Scheuchzer, Swiss natural-
ists (first part of 18th century),] A genus of
schindylesis (skiu-di-le'sis), «. [NL., < Gr.
axn-dr'/j/an; a cleavLug into small pieces, < fffv-
duJ-fvv, cleave, < o-;f (few, cleave: see schism. Cf.
schedule, shindle.] In auat., an articulation
formed by the reception of a thin plate of one
bone into a fissure of another, as the articula-
tion of the rostiiim of the sphenoid with the
vomer.
SChindyletic (skin-di-let'ik), a. [< schindy-
lesis i-lct-) + -ic] Wedged in; sutured by
means of schindylesis; pertaining to schindy-
lesis.
Schinopsis (ski-,nop'sis), «. [NL. (Engler,
1873), < fSchinus, q. v., -t- Gr. oi/"f, view.] A
genus of polypetalous trees, of the order Jiia-
cardiaccse and tribe lihoidcie. It is characterized
by polygamous flowers with a flatfish receptacle, five se-
pals, five spi-eading and nerved petals, five short sta-
mens, a deeply lobed disk, and an ovoid and compressed
one-celled ovary which becomes an oblong samara in fruit,
containing a one-seeded stone. There are 4 species, na-
tives of South America from Peru to Cordova. They are
trees which bear blackish branchlets, panicled flowers,
and alternate pinnate and tbickish leaves <if many sni.all
entire leaHets and with winged petioles. For 5. Lorentzii,
see quebracho.
Schinus
Schinus (sld'nus), «. [NL. (Linnaeus, 1737), <
(jr. aximc, the mastie-tree (prob. so named from
its much-cracked bark), < oxi<ctv, cleave, split:
see schism.^ A genus of polypetalous trees, of
the order Jnacariliacese and tribe Anacardicie.
It Is characterized by dioecious flowers with unaltered
calyx, five iml>ricated petals, ten stamens, three styles,
and a one-celled ovary with a sinjrle ovule pendulous from
near the summit of the cell, and beooniins in fruit a globose
wingless drupe resembling a pea, containing a leathery or
bony stone penetrated by oil-tubes. There are about 13
species, natives of warmer parts of South America and
Australia. They are trees or shrubs with alternate and
odd-pinnate leaves, and small white flowers in axillary
and terminal bracted panicles. For S. MMe, see pepper-
tree, 1 : and for S. lerebinlhi/olius, see aroeira.
schipt, ». -Aji obsolete form of ship^.
schiremanf, «• An obsolete form of shire-
iiKin.
schirmerite (sh6r'mer-it), n. [Named after J.
i\ L. Schirmer.'] A sulphid of bismuth, lead,
and silver, occurring at the Treasury lode in
Park county, Colorado.
ScUrrevet, »• An obsolete form of sheriff.
S-chisel (fs'ehiz'el), n. In ire/Wiori«if, a boring-
tool having a cutting face sbaped like the let-
ter S.
SChisiophone (»kiz'i-o-fon), n. [Appar. < Gr.
ax'ai^, a cleaving, splitting, + itxjv)/, sound.] A
form of induction-balance used for detecting
flaws and internal defects in iron rails.
All the indications of the instrument proved absolutely
correct, the rails. Ac, on being broken, showing flaws at
the exact spot indicated by the tdumophane.
EUetrie Rev. (Eng.). XXVI. 491.
schism (sizm), H. [Early mod. E. also scistn;
< .\IE. sci:ime, later sclii-tmc, < OF. scisme, cisme,
F. schisme = Pr. scisma, sixma = 8p. eisma =
Pg. scliixma = It. scisma, < L. schisma, < Gr.
ox'cua, a cleft, split, schism, < axK^iv, cleave,
split, = L. scinilere (V scid), cut, = Skt. y/chhid,
cut. Cf. schist, squill, tibscind, rescind, etc.,
anil schedule, etc.'] 1. Divisiou or separation ;
specifically, in ecclesiastical usage, a formal
separation within or from an existing church or
religious body, on account of some difference
of opinion with regard to matters of faith or
discipline.
Se/atm \s » rent or dlrUion in the church when It conies
to the •epatating of congregmtiooi. Miltoa.Tne Religion.
Attraction is the mo«t general law In the material world,
and prevents a $ehi$m in tjie universe.
Theadort Parker, Ten Sermons on Religion.
2. The offense of seeking to produce a division
in a church, in the anthoriied version of the New
Testament the worti wAuin occurs but once (1 Cor. xii.
2.1); but In the Oreek Testament the Greek word ax'oi"^
occurs eight times, being rendered in the F.nglish ver-
sion 'rent' (>lat ii. 16) and 'division' (John vil. M; 1
Cur. xi. 18). tVom the simple meaning of division in the
church the word liaa come to Indicate a separation fnim
the church, and now In eccieaiaitical mage Is employed
solely to Indicate a formal withdrawal from the church
and the formation of or the uniting with a new organiia-
tion. Bee def. I.
From all false doctrine, heresy, and tekitm, . . . Good
Lord, deliver US. Book <if Comnum Prayer, Litany.
3. A schismatic body.
They doo therfore with a more oonstanto mjmde per-
aeuer in theyr fyrst frtyth which they recesaed . . . tnan
doo manye of vs. ) < i ' I'd into «;i>rrte« and aectes,
whiche thynge ni ii aiuonge them.
JL Eden, t[. ut .i' : i ii^ ikxrks on America, ed.
lArber, p. 290).
That r^nrch that from the name of a distinct place
tattes antoritv to set up a distinct Faith or Oovemment
is a S^tm and Faction, not a t'hurch.
MiUon, EikonoUaatea, zxrii.
Oreat schiam. Bee j;r«i<.— Bcblnn Act, or Schism
Bill, in Kmj. hid., an act of Parliament of i;i'< (12 Anno.
Stat. ■>. c 7), "to prevent the growth of schism and for
the further security of the churches of England and Ire-
land as by law established." Ii required teachers to con.
form to the established church, and refrain from attend-
ing dissenting places of worship. The act was repealed
l»y .'. IJeo. I., c 4.
schisma (skis'mii), n.; pi. schismata (-ma-tft-).
[< L. schisma, ( Gr. <j^i<T/ua, separation: see
schism.] In musical acoustics, the interval be-
tween the octave of a given tone and the third
of the eighth fifth, less four octaves, represent-
ed by the ratio 2 : 3» -^ 2" X 5, or 32H0.1 : 32768.
This corresponds almost exactly to the dilTerence be-
tween a pure and an equally tempered fifth, which dif-
ference U hence often called a tchinna. A schisma and
a diaAchiHnia tf>gether make a syntonic comma.
schismatic (!«i/,-inat'ik), a. and n. [Formerly
also scismalic; < i)F. (and F.) schismatique =
Pr. sismatic = Sp. cismatico = Pg. schismatico
= It. scismotico, < LL. schismaticus, < Gr. ax'<'-
/laTiKOr, schismatic. < a;^afia(T-), a cleft, split,
schism: see schism.] I. a. Pertaining to, of
the nature of, or characterized by schism ; tend-
ing or inclined to or promotive of schism : as,
lekismatic opinions; a schismatic tendency.
5389
In the great schism of the Western Church, In which
the Churches of the West were for forty years nearly
equally divided, each party was by the other regarded as
Khitmatic, yet we cannot doubt that each belonged to
the true Church of Christ. Pusey, Eirenicon, p. 67.
II. «. One who separates from an existing
church or religious faith on account of a differ-
ence in opinion ; one who partakes in a schism.
See schism.
As much beggarly logic and earnestness as was ever
heard to proceed from the mouth of the most pertina-
cious tchixmatic. I. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 113.
Dr. Pierce preach'd at White-hall on 2 Thessal. ch. 3. v. 6.
against our late schiematics. Evelyn, Diary, Feb. 22, 1678.
Unity was Dante's leading doctrine, and therefore he
puts Mahomet among the schiifinatics, not because he di-
vided the Church, but the faith.
Lowell, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 108.
Expose the wretched cavils of the Nonconformists, and
the noisy futility that belongs to schismatics generally.
George Eliot, Felix Holt, xxiii.
= Syn. Sectary, etc. See heretic.
BChlsmatic^l (siz-mat'i-kal), fl. [Formerly also
scismatical ; <.,'<chism(itic + -al.] Characterized
by or tainted with schism; schismatic.
The church of Rome calls the churches of the Greek
communion gchimnatical.
J ex. Taylor, Works (ed. 18S5> I. 282.
schlsmatically (siz-mat'i-kal-i), adr. In a
schismatic manner; by a schismatic separation
from a church; by schism.
schismaticalness (siz-mat'i-kal-nes), n. Schis-
matic character or condition.
schismatize (siz'ma-tiz), i'. i. ; pret. and pp.
schismati:ed, ppr. schismntizing. [< Gr. ax'tafa
(-fiar-), a cleft, diWsion (see schism), + -izc]
To play the schismatic ; be tainted with a
spirit of schism. Also spelled schismatisc.
[Rare.]
From which (Church) I rather chose boldly to separate
than poorly to gcldnnatige in it.
Bp. Gauden, Tears of the (^luxh, p. 42. (Daciet.)
Schlsmatobranchia (skis'ma-to-brang'ki-a), ».
III. [NL. (J. E. Gray, lS'2lJ as Chisniato-
branchia), < Gr. ax'Ofa(T-), cleft, -1- lipayx'",
gills : see branchise.] A suborder of rhipido-
glossate gastropods, with the gills in two plumes
on the left side of the gill-cavity on each side
of the mantle-slit, the body and shell spiral,
the foot fringed and bearded, the eyes pedi-
celled, and the central teeth of the odontophore
very large ami sessile. It was defined by Gray, for
the families llaluAidx and SeuaureUitUe, as one of 9
ortlers into which he divided his cryptobranchiate gastro-
pods.
prhiipiiAtOl)railchlRt-0 (skis ' ma - to - brang ' ki-
at), a. Of or pertaining to the Schismatobran-
chia.
schismic (siz'mik), a. [< schism -t- -ic.] Taint-
ed with or characterized by schism; schis-
matic. [Kare.J
Then to Carmel's top
The Sehimtik Priests were i|Ulckly called rp :
Vnto their Baal an AlUr build they there ;
To Ood the Prophet doth another rear.
Sylvttler, tr. of Du BarUs's Weeks, 11., The Schisme.
schismless (sizm'les), a. [< schism + -less.]
Free from schism; not affected by schism.
[Rare.]
The peace and good of the Church Is not terminated in
the acMnnelMae estate of one or two kingdonies, but
should beprorided for by the Joynt consultation of all
reformed ChriBtendome.
MUton, Church-Government, L 6.
Schismobranchiata («kis-mo-brang-ki-a'ta),
H. ),l. [NL. (De Blainville, 182.'>), < Gr. axiaiia,
dXia^, a cleft (see schism), + jipdyxui, gills.]
De Blainville's second order of his class Para-
cephalophora, having the branchiae communi-
cating from behind by a large slit or cavity.
Schismopneat (skis-mop'ne-a), n. pi. [NL.,
iippar. 1)\- error for 'Schismoimoa, < Gr. ax'^fa,
cx'O/''/, a cleft (see schism), + -Trvoof, breath-
ing, nvoii, breath, < meiv, breathe.] An artifi-
cial order or group of so-called cartilaginous
fishes, formerly supposed to have no opercula
nor branchiostegal membrane, including the
Ij)jihiidee. Balistidjt, and Chimierids: See cuts
under mii/lrr. Batistes, and Chimseridse.
schist (sliist), n. [< F. schistc, < L. schistos,
split, cleft, divided, < Gr. oxiordi, easilv cleft,
< oxKttv, cleave : see schism.] A rock the con-
stituent minerals of which have assumed a posi-
tion in more o'r less closely parallel layers or
folia, due not to deposition as a sediment, but
— in largo part, at least — to metamorphic
action, which has caused a rearrangement or
imperfect crystallization of the component
minerals, or the formation of new ones, these,
in the course of the process, having assumed
schistothorax
the parallel arrangement characteristic of the
rock. Schist and slate are not essentially -llft'e'-ent terms;
but of late years the latter has been chiefly employed to
designate a fine-grained argillaceous rock divided into
thin layers by cleavage-planes, and familiar in its use for
roofing; whUe the word schiM is generally employed in
composition with a word indicating the peculiar mineral
species of which the rock Is chiefly made up, and which
by its more or less complete foliation gives rise to the
schistose structure : thus, hornblende-schist, chlorite- schist,
mica-schist, etc. — all Included under the general desig-
nation of crystalline scliists, among which argillaceous
schist also belongs, and from which it is separated only
because its fissility is, as a general rule, more perfect than
that of the other schists, and because it is for this reason
of much practical irapoi-tance, especially in its application
to roofing. Also spelled sAisi.— Knotted schist. Same
as knoti, 3 (/).— Protozolc schists. See protozoic.
schistaceous (shis-ta'sMus), a. [< schist +
-aceous.] In zoiil. andftot., slate-gray; bluish-
gray.
schistic^ (shis'tik), a. [< schist + -ic] Same
as schistose.
schistic'-^ (skis'tik), a. [< Gr. axiCTS^, divided
(< ax'^etv, cleave, divide : see schism, schisma),
+ -ic.] Pertaining to schismata, or based upon
an allowance for the difference of a schisma:
as, a schistic system of tuning.
schistify (shis'ti-fi), r. t. [< schist + -i-fy.] To
change to schist; develop a schistose structure
in. Quart. .Jour. Geol. Soc, XL VI. 301.
schistocoelia (skis-to-se'li-a), «. [NL., < Gr.
o;f(OT«c, cloven, + aoi'Ma, cavity.] In teratol.,
abdominal fissure; congenital defect of appo-
sition of the right and left sides of the abdomi-
nal walls.
schistocoelns (skis - to -se' Ins), n. [NL.: see
schistocu'Uii.] In teratol., a monster exhibiting
schistoctt'lia.
SChistomelia (skis-to-me'li-a), n. [NL.: see
schi.'<t(»iielus.] In teratol., the condition of a
schistorachis.
schistomelus (skis-tom'e-lus), ».; p\. schistom-
eli (-Ii). [NL., < Gr. axiordi, cloven, -I- /ifXof,
limb.] In teratol., a monster with a fissured
extremity.
Bchistoprosopia (skis'to-pro-so'pi-a), n. [NL.,
< Gr. ax'oroi;, cloven, -f- itit6auiTov, face.] Fis-
sural malformation of the face, due to the re-
tarded development of the preoral arches.
SChistoprosopus (skis'tp-pro-so'pus), «.; pi.
schistojirosojii (-pi). [NL., < Gr. axtardq, cloven,
+ TrfHiau-ov, face.] In teratol., a monster whose
face is fissured.
schistose, schistous (shis'tos, -tus), a. [< schist
+ -ose, -ous.] Having the structure of schist ;
resembling schist, or made up of a rock so des-
ignated. A schistose structure differs from that result-
ing from sedimentation In that the former bears the marks
of chemical action In the more or less complete Interlacing
or felting of the component particles, and in the continual
breaks or want of continuity of the laminfc, while in the
latter the particles are only held together by some cement
dltfering from them in composition, or even by pressure
alone, and are arranged in a more distinctly parallel order
than is usually the case with the schists. In rocks in
which a slaty cleavage is very highly developed, as in
roofing-slate, this i-leavage is almost always (luite distinct
from and independent In position of the lines of stratifi-
cation, and this fact can ordinarily be recognized with ease
in the field. There are cases, however, in which a schis-
tose structure has been developed In a mass of rock paral-
lel with the planes of stratification. Also spelled shistose,
shistous.
schistosity (shis-tos'i-ti), n. [< schistose + -iti/.]
The condition of being schistose, or of having
a schistose structure.
Here, then, we have ... a continuous change of dip,
and a common sehistosUy.
Quart Jour. Geol. Soc., XLVI. 249.
SChlstOSOmia (skis-to-so'mi-ii), n. [NL.: see
schistosomus.] In teratol., tte condition of a
schistosomus.
schistosomus (skis-t6-s6'mus), 71. ; pi. sehisto-
somi (-mi). [NL., < Gr. axifTdQ, cloven, + aij/ia,
body.] In teratol., a monster with an abdom-
inal fissure.
Schlstostega (skis-tos'te-ga), n. [NL. (Mohr),
< Gr. ax'(JT6c, cloven, -I- areyy, a roof.] A ge-
nus of bryaceous mosses, giving name to the
tribe Schistnsteqacea;. It is the only genus.
Schistostegaceae (skis-tos-te-ga'-se-e), n. pi.
[NL., < .Schistostefla + -aceae.] A monotypic
tribe of bryaceous mosses. They are annual plants
with very tender and delicate stems which are of two
forms. The "flowers" are terminal, loosely gemmlfonn,
producing a small suliglohose capsule on a long soft pedi-
cel. The calyptra Is minute, narrowly mitrlform, cover-
ing the lid only. There is no peristome.
schistosternla (skis-to-stfer'ni-a), «. [NL., <
Gr. nxmrix:, cloven, + oripvov, breast, chest.]
In teratol., sternal fissure.
schistothorax (skis-to-tho'raks), n. [NL., <
Gr. axwrdi, cloven, + bupa^, a breastplate.] A
schlstothorax
malformation eousisting of a fissure in the
chest-walls, usually of the sternum.
SCllistotraciielu8(skis'to-tra-ke'lu8), «. [NL.,
< Or. a I ((77(11, cloven, + rpAxv^i, neck, throat.]
In teratol., congenital fissure in the region of
the neck.
Scllizsea (ski-ze'il), «. [Nil. (Smith, 1799), so
called with ref. to the dichotomously many-
cleft fronds; < Gr. ax'Cc', cleave, split: see
scbism.1 A genus of ferns, typical of the order
Sfhhsencese. They are small widely distributed plants
of very distinct habit, having the sporangia large, ovoid,
sessile, in two to four rows, which cover one side of close
distichous spikes that form separate fertile segments at
5390
of coeloma or somatic cavity in which a peri-
visceral or perienteric space results from a
splitting of the mesoblast : distinguished from
some kinds of body-cavities, as an enterocoele,
for example. See enterocoele, and quotation un-
der jjcriiiscenil.
SChiZOCOelous (skiz-o-se'lus), (/. [< schisocale
+ -ous.'i Resulting from splitting of the meso-
blast, as a body-cavity; having a schizocoele;
characterized by the presence of a schizocoele.
The cavity of the thorax and abdomen of man is schizo-
c<k1ous. See the quotation under perivisceral. Huxley,
Kiicyc. Brit., II. 63.
SChizodinic (skiz-6-din'ik), a. [< Gr. axK"^,
cleave, split, + itf/f, the pangs of labor.] Re-
producing or bringing fortli by rupture : noting
the way in which mollusks without nephridia
may be supposed to extrude their genital pro-
ducts: correlated with idiodinic and porodinic.
The arrangement in Patella, t&c, is to be looked upon
as a special development from the simpler condition when
the Mollusca brought forth by rupture (= schizodinic,
from (iSis, travail).
E. K. Lankesler, Encyc. Brit., XVI. 682.
Schizodon (skiz'o-don), n. [NL. (Waterhouse,
1841), < Gr. axK^iv, cleave, split, -f- bSov^ {u6ovt-),
tooth.] A genus of South American ootodont
rodents, related to Utenomys, but with larger
Schizaa fusiila.
a, pinnule with sporangia ; *, a sporangium, on larger scale.
the apex of the fronds. The sterile segments of the fronds
are slender, and simply linear, fan-shaped, or dichotomous-
ly many-cleft. There are 16 species, of which number only
one, S. pugilla, is North .\merican, that being confined
mainly to the pine-barrens of New Jersey.
Schlzaeaceae (skiz-e-a'se-e), ». pi. [NL. (Mar-
tins, 1834), < Schizeea + -acese.'^ An order of
ferns comprising a small number of species,
included in five genera — Schizsea, Lygodium,
Aneimia.Mohria, and Trochopteris. See Schigxa
and Li/i/odhim.
Schizanthus (ski-zan'thus), n. [NL. (Ruiz and
Pavon, 1794), so called from the two deep-
split and successively parted lips ; < Gr, axK^iv,
cleave, split, + avdog, flower.] Agenus of gamo-
petalous plants, of t,heorderSo?a«acea! and tribe
Salpiqlossidte. It is characterized by flowers with a
cylindrical tube and a spreading oblique plicate and imbri-
cated limb which is somewhat two-lipped and deeply cut
into eight to thirteen lobes, and containing two perfect
stamens, three dwarf staminodes, and an oblong two-celled
ovary. There are about 7 species, all natives of Chili.
They are erect annuals, somewhat glandular-viscid, with
deeply cut leaves, and are cultivated for their variegated
and elegant flowers, usually under the name schizanthtui,
sometimes also as cut-Jlower.
schizocarp (skiz'o-karp), n. [< Gr. axKi:"',
cleave, split, -t- taipTrdc, a fruit.] In hot., a dry
fruit which at maturity splits or otherwise sepa-
rates into two or more one-seeded indehiscent
carpels. The component carpels of such a fruit
are called cocci. See regma, and cut under coc-
cus.
Schizocarpic (skiz-o-kar'pik), «. [< schizocarp
+ -ic] In hot., resembling or belonging to a
schizocarp.
schizocarpous (skiz-o-kar'pus), a. [< schizocarp
+ -o«.s'.] In hot., resembling or belonging to a
schizocarp; splitting as in a schizocarp Schizo-
carpous moss, a moss ot the order A-ndrexacex : so called
from the fact that the capsule splits at maturity into four
or rarely six equal segments, after the manner of a schizo-
carp. See Andrefea, Bryace£e.
schizoceplialy (skiz-o-sef'a-li), n. [< Gr. axKciv,
cleave, split, -I- Kcipalfi, head.] The practice of
cutting off and preserving, often with orna-
ments or religious rites, the heads of departed
chiefs, warriors, or estimable persons: com-
mon to tribes in South America, Micronesia,
New Zealand, and northwestern America. W.
n. Dull.
Schizocoela (skiz-o-se'la), ». pi. [NL. : see
schizorwle.^ Those animals which are schizo-
eoelous, or have a schizocoele.
schizocoele (skiz'o-sel), n. [< Gr. axi^eiv, cleave,
split, + Koi'Aca, a hollow, cavity.] That kind
ScJt itedon /useus.
ears, smaller claws, less massive skull, broad
convex incisors, and molars with single external
and internal folds, which meet in the middle of
the tooth. S. fiiscns is the species.
SChizogenesis (skiz-o-jen'e-sis), n. [NL., < Gr.
ax'I^Eiv, cleave, split, + yivecnq, production.] In
biol., fission as a mode of reproduction ; genera-
tion by fission. Haeckel.
SChizogenetic (skiz"6-je-net'ik), a. [< SChizo-
genesis, after genetic.'] In hot., same as schizo-
genic.
SChizogenic (skiz-o-jen'ik), a. [< Gr. axiCetv,
split, cleave, -I- -jcv?/^, produced (see -gen), +
-ic] In hot., produced by splitting or separa-
tion : applied to cavities or intercellular spaces
in plants that are formed by the separation or
unequal growth of contiguous cells, leaving
an interspace. Compare lysigenous, protogenic,
hi/sterogenic.
ScMzogenous (sld-zoj'e-nus), a. [As schizo-
gen-ic + -ous.] In hot., same as schizogenic.
schizognatll (skiz'og-nath), n. and a. I. ». A
sehizognathous bird.
II. «. Sehizognathous.
Schizognatlise (ski-zog'na-the), n. pi. [NL.,
fem. pi. of schizognathus: see .sehizognathous.']
In ornith., in Huxley's classification (1867), one
of four primary divisions of carinate birds, em-
bracing all those which exhibit schizognathism,
or have the palate schizofrnatliciiis. The division
includes a number of superfaiuily ki<"i]»s — the Peristero-
inorphx. Atectoronwrplue, Sptifiusronmrpfue, Cecomorphsp,
Geranomorpkie, and Cfiaradriuvwrpha-', or the pigeons,
fowls, penguins, gulls and their allies, cranes and their al-
lies, and plovers and snipes and their allies.
schizognathism (ski-zog'na-thizm), n. [< schi-
zognath-ous + -ism.] In ornith., the sehizog-
nathous type or plan of palatal structure ; the
peculiar arrangement of tlie palatal bones ex-
hibited by the Schizognathee.
Schizognathi»m is the kind of "cleft jalate" shown by
the columbine and gallinaceous birds, by the waders at
large, and by many of the swimmers.
CouM, Key to N. A. Birds, p. 179.
sehizognathous (ski-zog'na-thus), «. [< NL.
schizognathus, < Gr. axiC,etv, cleave, split, -t- yvu-
Boi; jaw.] In ornith., having the bony palate
cleft in such a way that in the dry skull "tlie
blade of a thin knife can be passed without
meeting with any bony obstacle from the poste-
Schizognathous Skull of
Common Fowl, p**tx, pre-
maxilla ; mxp, maxillo-
palatine ; mx. maxilla ; fl,
palatine : //, pterygoid ;
vo, vomer.
Schizonemertina
rior iiares alongside the vomer to the end of
the beak " ( Huxley) ; exhibiting schizognathism
in the structure of the
bony palate : as, a schizoq-
HatJioun bird; a sehizogna-
thous palate; a scMzog-
nathoui< type of palatal
structure/ The vomer, whe-
tlier large or small, tapers to a
point in front, while behind it
unibracea the basisphenoidal ros-
trum, between the palatines;
these bones and the pterygoids
are directly articulated with one
another and with the basisphe-
noidal rostrum, not being borne
upon the divergent posterior
ends of tlie vomer; the maxillo-
palatincs, usually elongated and
lamellar, pass inward over the
anterior ends of the palatines,
with which they unite, and then
bend backward, along the inner
ends of the palatines, leaving a
broader or narrower fissure be-
tween themselves and the vomer, on each side, and do not
unite with one another or with the vomer.
schizogony (ski-zog'o-ni), n. [< Gr. oxis^iv,
cleave, split, + -yovla, generation: see -gony,']
Same as schizogenesis.
Schizogony having once been established, it must have
been further beneficial to the species.
A.A.W. Uubrecht, Micros. Science, XXVII. 613.
schizomycete (skiz'o-ml-set), n. A member of
tlie Schizomycetes.
Schizomycetes (skiz'^a-mi-se'tez), n.pl. [NL.,
< Gr. Gx^'^^i-'v, cleave, split, + ^VKyg, pi. ^VKirreq^
a fungus, mushroom: see Mycetes'^.\ A class
or group of minute vegetable organisms known
as bacteria, microbes, microphytes, etc., and
allied forms, belonging to the achlorophyl-
lous division of the Schizosporese of Cohn (the
Schizophyta of later authorities), or to the Pro-
tophyta of still more recent authors. They were
at first regarded as being simple fungi, and hence are
sometimes still called _;?mon/u?i£)'i, but recent investiga-
tions indicate that they are more closely allied to the
Schizophyceae or lower algpe than to the true fungi. They
are probably degenerate alga, a condition which has been
brought about by their saprophytic or parasitic habits.
They consist of single cells which may be spherical, ob-
long, or cylindrical in shape, or of filamentous or various
other aggregations of such cells. The cells are com-
monly about 0.001 millimeter in diameter, or from two to
five times that measurement; but smaller and a few larger
ones are Itnown. They are, with one or two exceptions,
destitute of chlorophyl, and multiply by repeated bi-
partitions. True spores are known in several forms, but
no traces of sexual organs exist. They are saprophytic or
parasitic, and occur the world over as saprophytes. They
abound in running streams and rivers, in still ponds and
ditches; in the sea, in bogs, drains, and refuse-heaps; in
the soil, and wherever organic infusions are allowed to
stand ; in liquids containing organic matter, as blood,
milk, wine, etc. ; and on solid food-stutT, such as meat,
vegetables, preserves, etc. As parasites, numerona spe-
cies inhabit various organs of men and animals, causing
most of the infectious diseases, as tuberculosis, typhoid
fever, cholera, etc. Plants are subject to their attack to
a more limited degree, a circumstance that is probably
due to the acid fluids of the higher vegetable organisms.
Schizomycetes vary to a considerable extent according
to the conditions of their environment, and hence many
growth-forms occur which have frequently received differ-
ent generic names. The round growth-forms are called
Coccus or Micrococcus; the rod-like forms have been term-
ed Bacillus, Bacterium; etc. ; the shortly coiled forms are
known as Vibrio; the spiral forms have received the names
Spirillum OT Spirochseta ; and the very elongated filiform
ones are Leptothrix, etc. Tlieir behavior with reference
to the supply or exclusion of oxygen has led to their divi-
sion by Pasteur into aerobioHc, or such as require a plenti-
ful supply of free oxygen for the purpose of vegetation,
and anaerobiotic, or those in which vegetation is pro-
moted by the exclusion of oxygen, or at least is possible
when oxygen is excluded. There are. however, various
intermediate forms. See entophyte, Funffi, Protophyia,
Bacteriftceffp, Bacteriiim, Micrococcus, Leptothrix, Bacillus,
Spirillum, Spirochseta, Vibrio.
schizomycetous (stiz''''o-mi-se'tus), a. In hot^
belonging or related to the Schizomycetes.
SChizomyCOsis (skiz*o-mi-k6'sis), n. [NL., as
Schizomyc{etcs) + -osis.'] Disease due to the
p;rowth of Schizomycetes in the body.
Schizonemertea (skiz^o-nf-mer'te-a), v. ph
[NL., < Gr. ax'iQftv^ split, cleave. + KL. Kemer-
tettf q. v.] Hubreeht's name (1879) of a division
of nemertean worms, correlated with HopJone-
mcrtea and Palwonemertea, containing the sea-
longwonns which have the head fissured, the
mouth behind the ganglia, and no stylets in
the proboscis, as Linens, Cerebratuhis, Langia,
and liorla^fia.
schizonemertean (skiz'o-ne-mfer'te-an), a, and
?^ I. (I. Of or pertaining to the Schizonemertea.
II. n. A member of the Schizonemertea j as a
sea-longworm.
Also .schizonemertine.
Schizonemertina, Schizonemertini (skiz-o-
nem-6r-ti'na, -m), n. pi. [NL., < Gr. ox'tCetv,
ScMzonemertina
split, cleave, + NL. Xcmertcs + -incfi, -im.]
Same as Sehizonemertea.
schizonemertilie (skiz'o-ne-mfer'tin), a. and n.
[As S(:lu:onemertea + -»n«l.] Same as schiso-
neincrtfan.
Schizoneura (skiz-o-nu'ra), ». [Nil. (Hartig,
1*40), < Or. axK^iv, cleave, split, + vevpov,
nerve.] A notable genus of plant-lice of the
subfamily Pt-mphiginse, having the antennte
I six-jointed, the third discoidal vein of the fore
wings with one fork, and the hind wings with
two oblique veins. The genus is cosmopolitan and
contains many species, neariyaij of which excrete an abun-
dance of Hucculent or powdery white wax. Many live upon
SrkiMtmfMra {,Encs«ima) lanitrra,
m, winced female : #, win^lcM female. (CrD» and line show
natujal sites.)
the root* of tree*, and otbers upon the limbs and leaves.
The best-known species is S. iMoaera, known in the United
{States as the voouy nct-ioum of the apple, and In England,
New Zealand, and Australia as the .inwrioinNi^At. See
al.^'* cuts under roof-fouse.
schizopelmons (skiz-o-pel'mus), o. [< Gr.
ax'Ci'v, cleave, split, + v(^/ia, the sole of the
foot.] InornttA,,8amea8iUMiio-
Schizophora fski-zof'o-rft), i».
pi. [>L., < Or. (7;t/'{«v, cleave,
split, + -^poc, < ^peiv = E.
tforl.] In Brauer's classifica-
tion, a division of cyclorha-
phous dipterous insects, or flies,
containing the pupiparous flies
of the familicH Hippohoseidte
and Syctcribiidie, as well as all
of the Mtixcida (in a broad
sense): contrasted with As-
ScUzophyceae (skiz-o-fi'se-e),
n. 1)1. rNL.,< (ir. ax'C"v, cleave,
split, + df«5r, a seaweed, +
-ese. ] A group of minute cryp-
togamou.s plants belonging, ac-
cording to recent authorities,
to the Protophyta, or lowest di-
vision of the vegetable king-
dom. It is a somewhat heterogene.
oua iroup, comptlainK the crester
iiunilfcr of the forms of vecetable life
which are anicellolar. which display
no tnie process of sexual reproduction,
and which contain chlorophyl. Tlie
iiroii p (which fntore research may dia-
I ri I i u t c otherwise) embraces tbe cUsaea
l'r,i(^necnidtm, UalomofM, and Cya-
iii'phiirrte. See /VofopAyto.
Schlzophyta (ski-zof'i-te), n. pi. [NL., < Or.
T^i^jii', cleave, split, + fvrdv, b plant.] Usual-
ly, the same as the Sehizomyeetea, but of vary-
ing application. See Sehizomyeete».
scliizophyte(«ki7,'o-fit), (I. [< Schizophytm.'] In
liiil., beliiiiging to the class Schizophytte.
SChizopod (skiz'o-pod), a. and n. [< NL. schizo-
piix, < (ir. nx'^i^ns (-~ocJ-), with cleft feet, <
Bx^fiv, flcave, split, -1- iroif (!ro<?-) = E. /o«f.]
I. (I. Having the feet cleft and apparently
double, as an oiK)H8um-shrimp; specifically, of
or pertaining to the Schizopoda.
tl. ». A member of the Schizopoda, as an
<Mi<is~utii-shriinp.
Schizopoda («ki-zop'o-da), n.pl. [NIj., nent.
pi. of Si:lii;(>pHn : sec ichizopoa.'] If. An Aris-
totelian group of birds, approximately equiva-
lent to the Linnean (irnlue, or waders. — 2. A
subonler or similar group of long-tailed stalk-
eyed crustaceans, having a smaU cephalotho-
rax, a large abdomen, and the pereiopods or
thoracic legs apparently cleft or double by
reason of the great development of exopodites,
which are as large as the endop<xiites. it in.
eludes the opaaaam-shrlmp* and their allies. .Hee M^ii-
dm. and cut under ufummm *htimp. LatnOe, 1817.
Disfraoi of plantar
a<|nct of tchuopel-
III ona foot of a mac.
pic {P^m raitjatm).
riMMviac Uic deep
plantar tendons, sep-
arate from one an-
otllcr and fmm Uie
supcfficial tendons.
JIM. Senor lomnM
hallDclB; AMI aesoc
perfocmas aicitonim.
5391
schizopodal (ski-zop'o-dal), a. [< schizopod +
-<(/.] Same as schizopod.
Schizopodidx (skiz-o-pod'i-de), H. pi. [NL., <
Schizopoda + -idse.'\ A family of CoUoptera
named by Le Conte (1861) from the genus
Schiiopiig, now merged in Buprestidee.
schizopodous (ski-zop'o-dus), a. [< schizopod
+ -ous.'i Same as schizopod.
Schizopod-Stage (skiz'o-pod-staj), n.
A stage in the development of some
of the stalk-eyed crustaceans, as a
prawn (Penxm), when the larva re-
sembles an adult schizopod.
The greatly enlarged thoracic limbs are
provided with an endopodite and an exopodite
as in the Schizopoda, the branchise are devel-
oped from them, and the abdominal appen-
dages make their appearance. This may be
termed the schizopod'ttage.
Hxaieyf Anal Invert., p. 301.
Schizopterls (ski-zop'te-ris), «.
[NL., < Gr. axiietv, cleave, split, +
nripic, a wing, a kind of fern: see
Ptem.] A generic name given by
Brongniart to a fossil plant found "i' <>f^»
in the coal-measures of the coal-field „^^. '
of the Saar and in Saxony, and sup-
posed to belong to the ferns. The genus is now in-
cluded in Jthaeopnyllum, but of this genus (as well as of
the plants formerly called Schizopterit) little is definitely
known.
Schizorhlnse (skiz-o-ri'ne), n. pi. [NL. : see
schizorhinfil.'\ Schizorhinal birds collectively.
A. H. Garrod.
scllizorhijial (skiz-o-ri'nal), a. [< Gr. o^i'feiv,
cleave, split, + ^r
(f>iv~), the nose, + -al.^
In ornith., having each
nasal bone deeply cleft
or forked: opposed to
holorhinal. The term de-
notes the condition of the
nasal bone on each side(righ t
and leftX and not the sepa-
lateness of the two nasal
bones, wbicb It has been
mliunderatood to mean. By
a further mistake, it has been
made to mean a slit-like
character of the external
ttoatrila, with which It baa
itothiitg to do.
In the Colnmbid*, and In
a great many wading and
swimming blrda, whose pal-
ates are cleft (schliogna-
thous), the nasal bones are
seMwrAinoi.- that is, cleft to
or beyond the ends of the
nremaxlllariea, such flsaion
leaving the external de-
scending process very dis-
tinct from the other, almost
like a separate bone. Pi
Schinwiiinat Sicull of Curlew
r and lower fbrlcs
(top -.iew), showing tlie lone cleft,
a, bel " * ■
other, almost
a separal
geons, gnlls, plovers, cranes, auks, and other birds are thus
split-nosed. Coues, Key to N. A. Birds, p. les.
SchlZOBiphOlia (skiz-o-si'fo-na), n. pi. [NL., <
Gr. axti'tv, split, cleave, 4- ol^in>, tube, pipe.]
An order of Cepkalopodn, named from the split
siphon, the edges of the mesopodium coming
into apposition but not coalescing : opposed to
Holosiphona : a synonym of Telrabranchiata.
BChlzosiphonate (skiz-o-si'fo-nat), a. [As
SchizoKiphiiiia + -nfel.] Having cleft or split
siphons ; specifically, of or pertaining to the
Sehizosipkona.
Schizostacliyiun (skiz-o-stak'i-um), n. [NL.
(Nees, 1829), < (Jr. o;fiCe<v, cleave, split, + tnaxiK,
a spike.] A genus of grasses of the tribe Bam-
btuete and subtribe Meloeannem. it is character-
ized by spikelets In scattered diuters forming a spike or
panicle with numerous empty lower glumes, and bisexual
flowers with two or three lodlcules, six stamens, three
elongated styles, and a pedicel continued beyond the
flowers. There are about 8 species, natives of the Ma-
lay archipelago, China, and the Facltlc islands. They are
tall and arbcneacent grasses, resembling the bamlioo in
habit and leaf. Several species reach ^ to 40 feet or more
in height, and several are cultivated for ornament or for
culinary use, the young shoots being eaten in Java and
elsewhere under tne name of Ttinrng.
Schizotarsia (skiz-o-tiir'si-ft), n. pi. [NL., <
Gr. ax'^'iv, cleave, split, + rapao^, any broad,
flat surface: see tarsus.] A family, tribe, or
suborder of centipeds, represented by the fam-
ily Cermaliid/e. See cut under Scutifieridie.
BChlzothecal (skiz-o-the'kal), a. [< Gr. ox'l!etv,
cleave, split, + ftyici?, case, + -al."] In ornith..
having the tarsal envelop, or podotheca, divided
by scutellation or reticulation: the opposite of
holofhrral.
Schizotrocha (ski-zot'ro-kft), ». pi. [NL.,
neut. pi. of schizotrochus : see schizotrochous.']
One of the major divisions of Rotifera, con-
taining those wheel-animalcules which have
schmelze
an intestine and anus and one divided disk,
whence the name : correlated with Holotrocha
and Zygotrocha.
SCllizotrochous(ski-zot'ro-kus), a. [<NL. schi-
zotrochus, < Gr. axKeiv, cleave, split, + Tpox6^,
a wheel.] Having a divided disk, as a rotifer ;
of or pertaining to the Schizotrocha ; neither
holotrochous nor zygotrochous.
ScUager (shla'ger), «. [G., < schlagen, beat,
strike, i=E. stoy; see siay^, slayer.} The mod-
ern dueling-sword of German university stu-
denta The blade is about 3 feet long and without point,
the end being cut square off ; each edge is very sharp for a
few inches from the end of the blade. It is used with a
sweeping blow around the adversary's guard, so as to cut
the head or face with the sharpened corner. The schhiger
has a heavy basket-hilt completely protecting the hand.
A heavy gauntlet of leather covers the arm to the elbow.
The usual guard is by holding the blade nearly vertical,
pommel uppermost, the hand just above the level of the
eyes.
Schlegelia (shle-ge'li-a), n. [NL. (Bernstein,
1864), so called after Hermann Schlegel, an or-
nithologist of Leyden (ISO.'i-Si).] A genus of
birds of paradise. The species is S. tfOsoni, better
known as Paradisea or Diphyllodeg tciisoni, of Waigiou
and Batanta. The male is 7J inches long, the tail 2, with
its middle pair of feathers as long again, twice crossed
and then curled in arietifomi figure. The bald head
Schtigetia ivilttmi.
is bright blue, the tore tnck Is rich yellow, the rest
lustrous crimson ; the breastplate Is mostly glittering
green, and other parts of the plumage are of varied and
scarcely less burnished hues. The female is somewhat
smaller, and in plumage unlike the male, as usual in this
family. The species has several technical synonyms. Pro-
fessor Schlegel called it Paradixea catm, but not till af-
ter Mr. Cassin of Philadelphia had dedicated it to Dr. T.
B. Wilson of that city. Mr. F.lliot, the monographer of
the Paradigeidee, has it Diphyllodeg reitpubiica^ after a mis-
taken identification made by Dr. Sclater of a bird very in-
adequately characterized by Prince Bonaparte, which be-
longs to another genus.
Schleichera (shli'ker-ii), n. [Nli. (Willdenow,
180.")),nuined after .J. C. Schleicher, a Swiss bot-
anist, author (1800) of a Swiss flora.] A ge-
nus of plants of the order Sapindacca; type of
the tribe Schleicherex. it is characterized by apeta-
lous flowers with a small calyx of four to six uniform and
valvate lobes, a complete and repand disk, six to eight
long stamens, and an ovary with three or four cells and
solitary ovules, becoming a dry and indehiscent one- to
three-celled ovoid and undivided fruit, containing a pulpy
and edible aril about the black top-shaped seed. The only
species, 5. trijiif/a, is a native of India, Ceylon, and Hur-
ma, especially abundant in Pegu, sometimes called /oc-
tree, and known in Indla&s koogumlna. It is alarge hard-
wood! tree with alternate and abniptly pinnate leaves,
usually of three pairs of leaflets, and with small long-pedi-
celled flowers in slender racemes. Its timber is very
strong, solid, and durable. In India and Ceylon it is
valued as one of the trees frequented by the lac-insect (see
fac2\ and its young branches form an important source of
shellac. The oil pressed from its seeds is there used for
burning in lamps and as a remedy for the itch.
8chleicliereaB(shli-ke're-e),n.;)/. [NL. (Radl-
kofer, 1888), < Schleichera + -etc.] A tribe of
dicotyledonous plants of the order Sapindacese
and suborder Sapindeie, typified by the mono-
typie genus Schleichera, and containing also 3
other species in 2 genera, natives of tropical
Africa and Madeira.
Schlemm's canal. See canal of Schlemm, un-
der conali.
SChlich (shlik), «. See slick'^.
Schloss Johannisberger. The highest grade
of Johannisbt igir, produced on the home es-
tate of Prince Metteniich.
SChmelze (shmel'tse), n. [< G. sehmelz, enam-
el: see smelt^, smalt, amel,&nA enamel.'] Glass
of some peculiar sort used in decorative work:
a word differently used by different writers,
(a) Glass especially prepared to receive a deep-red color,
and used when colored for flashing white glass. This is
the common form of red glass prepared for ornamental
windows, (b) Mosaic glass or filigree glass of any sort —
schmelze
th«t Is, glass In which colored canes and the like are In-
laid, (c) A. glass so colore*! that it is brown, green, or
bluish bv rehectcd light, but deep-red when seen by trans-
mitted light— Sclimelze aventurin, sclunelze glass,
schmelze as defined in (fi) or (c). above, upon the surface
of which thin ttlnis of aventuriu have been applied.
Schmidt's map-projection. See lyrojection.
sdinapps, schnaps ^sUnaps), ji. [G. sclmapps
(= D. Sw. Dan. suaps), a dram, "nip," liquor,
gin; cf. schnapps, Interj., snap! crack! < sc/iwop-
pen (= D. snappen = Sw. siuippa = Dan. snap-
pe), snap, snatch : see snap.'] Spirituous liquor
of any sort ; especially, Holland gin.
So it was perhaps
He went to Leyden, where he found conventicles and
gchjuipps. 0. W. Holmes, On Lending a Punch-bowl.
sclmeebergite (shna'b^rg-it), n. [< Schnee-
berg (see def.) + -»7«2.] A mineral occurring
in minute honey-yellow octahedrons at Sehnee-
berg in Tyrol : it contains lime and antimony,
but tlie exact composition is unknown.
Schneiderian (shni-de'ri-an), a. [< Schneider
(see def.) -I- -ian.'] Pertaining to or named
after Conrad Victor Schneider, a German anato-
mist of the seventeenth century: in anatomy
applied to the mucous membrane of the nose,
first described by Schneider in 1660.— Schneide-
rian membrane. See viembrane.
Schneider repeating rifle. See rifle^.
schcenite (she'nit), «. [< Schdne, the reputed
discoverer of kainite-deposits at Stassfurt, Ger-
many, -f- -i/c2.] Same as picromerite.
Schoenocaulon (ske-no-ka'lon), n. [NL. (Asa
Gray, 1837), from the rush-like habit; < Gr.
(T^oivof , rush, -I- KavUi;, stem.] A genus of mono-
cotyledonous plants, of the order Liliacex and
tribe Vcratrex. It is characterized by densely spiked
flowers with narrow perianth-segments, long and project-
ing stamens, and a free ovary ripening into an oblong and
acuminate capsule containing many dark oblong or curved
and angled and wingless seeds. The 5 species are all
American, occurring from Florida to Venezuela. They
are bulbous plants with long linear radical Icives, and
small flowers in a dense spike on a tall leafless scape, re-
markable for the long-persistent perianth and stamens.
5. officinale, often called Asagrsea officinalis, is the ceva-
dilla-plant of .Mexico, (See cevadUla.) Its seeds are the
ceTadilla or sabadilla of medicine.
Schoenus (ske'uus), «. [NL. (Linnreus, 1753),
< Gr. axolvoc, a rush.] A genus of monocotyle-
donous plants, of the order Cyperacese, the sedge
family, and of the tribe lihyncosporex, charac-
terized by few-flowered spikelets in dark or
blackish clusters which are often panieled or
aggregated into a head or spike. Each spikelet
contains a flexuous extension of the pedicel, numerous
two-ranked glumes, and flowers all or only the lowest fer-
tile, and furnished with six (or fewer) slender bristles,
asually three stamens, and a three-cleft style crowning
an ovary which becomes a small three-angled or three-
ribbed beakless nut. There are about 70 species, mainly
of Australia and New Zealand, 9 occurring in Europe and
the I'nited States, Africa, and the Malay peninsula. They
are of varying habit, generally perennial herbs, robust, or
long and rush-like, and erect or floating in water. S. nit/ri-
cans of England is known as b&j-rush, and S. brevifolixus of
Victoria as cord-rugK
Schoepfia (shep'fi-a), «. [NL. (J. C. Schrebcr,
1789), named after J. D. Schoepf (1752-1800),
who traveled in North America and the Baha-
mas.] A genus of gamopetalous plants of the
order Olachwie and tribe Olacese. It Is character-
ized by tubular flowers with a small cup-shaped calyx
which is unchanged in fruit, four to six stamens opposite to
the petals, and a deeply three-celled ovary nearly immersed
in a disk which becomes greatly enlarged in fruit. There
are about 16 species, natives of tropical Asia and America.
They are shrubs or small trees with entire and rigid 1 eaves,
and white flowers which are large for the order, and are
grouped in short axillary racemes. S. chrygophylloides is
known in the West Indies as white bee/wood.
schogget, I", t. See shof/^.
Schoharie grit. [So called from its occurrence
at Schoharie in New York.] In geol., in the
nomenclature of the New York Geological Sur-
vey, an unimportant division of the Devonian
series, lying between the Cauda galli grit and
the Upper Helderberg group.
scholar (skol'ar), n. [Early mod. E. scholer,
schoUcr (dial, scholard, scollard), earlier scaler
(the spelling scholar being a late conformation
to the L. scholaris), < ME. scoler, scolere, scolarc,
< AS. scolere, a pupil in a school, a scholar (=
MLG. scholer, scholare, scholre = OHG. scuolari,
MHG. schtwlsere, G. schiiler; with suffix -ere, E.
-eri), < scolu, a school: see school^. Cf. D.
scholier, < OF. escoUer, F. Scalier, also scolaire =
Pr. Sp. Pg. escolar = It. scolare, scolajo, a scholar,
pupil, < ML. scholaris, a pupil, scholar; cf. LL.
scliolaris, a member of the imperial guard, <
scholaris, of or pertaining to a school, < L. schola,
scola, a school: see school^.'] 1. One who re-
ceives instruction in a school; one who learns
from a teacher ; one who is under tuition ; a pu-
pil; a student; a disciple.
5392
Ine this clergie heth dame auarlce uele [fele, many]
Bcolers. Ayenbite of Inwyt (E. E. T. S.), p. 30,
The Master had rather ditfame hym selfe for hys teach-
yng than not shame his Scholer for his learnyng.
Ascham, The Scholemaster, p. 78.
I am no breeching scholar in the schools;
I'll not be tied to hours nor 'pointed times.
Shak., T. of the S., ill. 1. 1&
The same Asclepius, in the beginning of his first booke,
calleth himaelfe the scholier of Hermes.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 573.
Bleys
. . . taught him magic ; but the scholar ran
Before the master, and so far, that Bleys
Laid magic by. Tennyson, Coming of Arthur.
2. In English universities, formerly, any stu-
dent; now, an undergraduate who belongs to the
foundation of a college, and receives a portion
of its revenues to furnish him with the means
of prosecuting his studies during the academic
curriculum ; the holder of a scholarship.
For ther he was not lik a cloysterer,
With a thredbare cope as is a poure scoler.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T. (ed. Morris), I. 260.
3. One who learns anything: as, an apt «cftoter
in the school of deceit. — 4. A learned man; one
having great knowledge of literature or philol-
ogy ; an erudite person ; specifically, a man or
woman of letters.
He was a scholar, and a ripe and good one.
Shak., Hen. VIII., iv. 2. 61.
He [King James] was indeed made up of two men, a
witty, well-read scholar, . . . and a nervous drivelling
Idiot. Macaulay, Lord Bacon.
By scholar I mean a cultivator of liberal studies, a stu-
dent of knowledge in its largest sense, not merely clas-
sical, not excluding what is exclusively called science in
our days, but which was unknown when the title of «c/io?ar
was first established. Suimw.r, Orations, I. 137.
Canonical scholar. See cajionical. — King's scholar,
in England, a scholar in a school founded by royal charter,
or a scholar supported by a royal endowment or founda-
tion.— Soholax's mate. See motes.
scholarch (skol'iirk), h. [< Gr. axoMpxvc, the
head of a school, < <JX°^'h ft school, + apxetv,
rule.] The head of a school, especially of an
Athenian school of philosophy.
Among the stock were contained many compositions
which the scholarchs, successors of Theophrastus at Ath-
ens, had neither possessed nor known.
Grote, Aristotle, il
He died in 314, and was succeeded as scholarch by Pole-
mon. Uncyc Brit, XXIV. 718.
scholarismt (skol'ar-izm), n. [< scholar +
-ism. ] Affectation or pretension of scholarship.
There was an impression that this new-fangled scholar-
ism was a very sad matter indeed.
Doran, Memorials of Great Towns, p. 225. . {Davies.)
scholarityt (sko-lar'i-ti), n. [< scholar + -i-ty.l
Scholarship.
Content, 111 pay your scholarity. Who offers?
JS. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, v. 2.
scholarly (skol'ar-li), a. [< scholar + -/i/l.]
Of, pertaining to, or denoting a scholar ; char-
acterized by scholarship ; learned ; befitting a
scholar: as, a scholarly man; scholarly attain-
ments ; scholarly habits.
In the house of my lord the Archbishop are most schol-
arly men, with whom is found all the uprightness of jus-
tice, all the caution of providence, every form of learning.
Stubbs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 143.
The whole chapter devoted to the Parthenon and its
sculptures is a delightful and scholarly/ account of recent
discovery and criticism. Spectator, No. 3229, p. 698.
=SyiI. Learned, Scholarly. See learned and studious.
scholarlyt (skol'ar-li), adv. l< scholarly, a.1 In
the manner of a scholar; as becomes a scholar.
Speak scholarly and wisely. Shak., M. W. of W., i. 3. 2.
scholarship (skol'ar-ship), n. [< scholar +
-ship.'] 1. The character and qualities of a
scholar ; attainments in science or literature ;
learning; erudition.
A man of my master's understanding and great scholar-
ship, who had a book of his own in print.
Pope. {Johnson.)
Such power of persevering, devoted labor as Mr. Casau-
bon's is not common. . . . And therefore it is a pity that
it should be thrown away, as so much English scholar-
ship is, for want of knowing what has been done by the
rest of the world. George Eliot, Middlemarch, xxi.
2. Education; instruction; teaching.
This place should be at once both school and university,
not needing a remove to any other house of scholarship.
Milton, Education.
3. Maintenance for a scholar, awarded by a col-
lege, university, or other ediicational institu-
tion; a sum of money paid to a student, some-
times to a university graduate, usually after
competition or examination, to support him or
to assist him in the prosecution of his studies.
A scholarship hut half maintains.
And college rules are heavy chains.
Warton, Progress of Discontent.
scholasticism
I'd sooner win two school-house matches than get the
Balliol scholarship, any day.
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, i. 6.
Victoria has not yet extended its public system to sec-
ondary education, except by giving many scholarships as
the reward of merit to the best pupils of the primary
schools. Sir C. W. Dilke, Probs. of Greater Britain, vi. 4.
=S5rn. 1. Learning, EriuiiHeen, etc. See literature.
scholastic (sko-las'tik), a. and n. [< ¥. scohis-
tique = Pr. escola-itic = Sp. cscolustico = Pg.
cscolastico = It. scolastico (cf. G. scholastisch, a.,
scholastikcr, n.), < L. scholusticus, < Gr. axn'Aaa-
tik6(;, of or pertaining to school, devoting one's
leisure to learning, learned, < <yx<>'V, leisure,
learning, school: see school^.'] I. a. 1. Pertain-
ing to or suiting a scholar, school, or schools ;
like or characteristic of a scholar: as, a scholas-
tic manner; scliolastic iphrases. — 2. Of, pertain-
ing to, or concerned with schooling or educa-
tion; educational: as, a schola.ttic institution;
a scholastic appointment. — 3. Pertaining to or
characteristic of scholasticism or the school-
men; according to the methods of the Christian
Aristotelians of the middle ages. See scholas-
ticism.
The Aristotelian philosophy, even in the hands of the
master, was like a barren tree that conceals its want of
fruit by profusion of leaves. But the scholastic ontology
was nnich worse. What could be more trifling than dis-
quisitions about the nature of angels, their modes of
operation, their means of conversing?
Hallam, Middle Ages, III. 429.
The scholastic question which John of Salisbury pro-
pounds, Is it possible for an archdeacon to be saved ?
5(u&6«, Medieval and Modem Hist., p. 303.
Hence — 4. Coldly intellectual and unemotion-
al ; characterized by excessive intellectual sub-
tlety or by pimctilious and dogmatic distinc-
tions; formal; pedantic: said especially of the
discussion of religious truth — Scholastic realist.
See realist, 1. — Scholastic theology, tliat form of theol-
ogy whose fundamental principle is tli;it religious tmth
can be reduced to a complete pliilosophical system ; ordi-
narily used to designate a theological system which has
become dogmatic or abstruse. See scholasticism.
II. n. 1. A student or studious person; a
scholar.
They despise all men as unexperienced scholastics who
wait for an occasion before they speak.
Steele, Tatler, No. 244.
2. A schoolman ; a Cliristian Aristotelian ; one
of tliose who taught in European schools from
the eleventh century to the Reformation, who
reposed ultimately upon authority for every
philosophical proposition, and who wrote eliiefly
in the form of disputations, discussing the ques-
tions with an almost syllogistic stiffness: op-
posed to Biblicist.
The scholastics were far from rebelling against the dog-
matic system of the church.
E. Caird, Philos. of Kant, p. 23.
I have the smallest possible confidence in the meta-
physical reasonings either of modern professors or of me-
diajval scholastics. Nineteenth Century, XXI. 326.
Hence — 3. One who deals with religious ques-
tions in the spirit of the medieval scholas-
tics.— 4. A member of the third grade in the
organization of the Jesuits. A novitiate of two
years' duration and a month of strict conrtnenient are
prcre(|uisife to entrance to the grade of scholastic. The
term consists of five years' study in the arts, five or six
years of teaching and study, a year of final novitiate,
and from four to six years of study iii theology. The
scholastic is then prepared to be admitted as a priest of
the order.
scholasticalt (sko-las'ti-kal), a. and h. I. a.
Same as schola.'itic, 3 and 4.
Our papists and schdastical sophisters will object and
make answer to this supper of the Lord.
Tyndale, Ans. to Sir T. More, etc. (Parker Soc., 1860),
ip. 263.
Perplex and leven pure Doctrin with scholastical Trash.
Milton, Touching Hirelings.
Il.t "• A scholastic.
The scholasticalles against the canonist es.
Bp. Jewell, Reply to Hardinge, p. 259.
SCholastically (sko-las'ti-kal-i), adv. In a scho-
lastic manner ; according to the method of the
metapliysical schools of the middle ages.
Moralists or casuists that treat scholastically of justice.
South, Sermons, I. xi.
scholasticism (sko-las'ti-sizm), II. [= Sp. esco-
lasticismo = G. scholasticisiiius, < NL. scholasti-
cismus, scholasticism, < L. scholasticiis, scholas-
tic: see scholastic.'] The Aristotelian teaching
of the medieval schools and universities, and
similar teaching in Roman Catholic institutions
in modern times, charactei'ized by acknowledg-
ment of the authority of the church, by being
largely, if not wholly, based upon the atithority
of the cliurch fathers, of Aristotle, and of Ara-
bian commentators, and by its stiff and formal
method of discussion. It consisted of two dlitinot
scholasticism
and independent developments, the one previous tile
other 8Ubse(|Uent to the discovery of the extra-logical
works ot Aristotle in the last part of tlie twelfth centur)'.
Sehulusticism should be considered as arising about A. 1).
KXhl. and is separated by a period of silence from the few
writers between the cessation of the Roman schools and
the lowest ebb of thought (such as Isidorus, Rhabanus,
Gerbert, writers directly or indirectly under Arabian ili-
tluence, Scotus Erigena and other Irish monks, tlie Eng-
lish Alcuin, with his pupil I'ridigisus, etc.), writers marked
by great ignt»rance. l-»y a strong tendency to materialize
abstractions, by a disposition to adopt opinions quite ar-
biinirily, but also by a certain freedom of thought. The
first era of scholasticism was occupied by disputes con-
cerning nomittalisni and realism. It naturally falls into
two peri^Kls, since the disputants of the eleventh century
to^^k simple and extreme ground on one side or the other,
the nominalistic ration:Uist Berengarius being opposed
by tlie realistic prelate Lanfranc, the Flatonizing nonn-
nalist Roscellin by the mystical realist Anselm ; while in
the twelfth century the opiniixis were sophisticated by
distinctions until they cease to he readily classified as
nominalistic and realistic. The scholastics of the latter
period included {"eter Abelard (1079-1142); Gilbert of
Poitiers (died 1154), one of the few writers of the twelfth
century ever quoted in the thirteenth; Peter Lombard
(died 1164), compiler of the four books of "Sentences,"
or opinions of the fathers, which was the peg on which
much later speculation was hung as commentary; and
John of Salisbury (died IISO), an elegant and readable au-
thor. For more than a generation after his deatli the
schoolmen were occupied with studying the works of
Arist.jtie and the Arabians, without producing anything
of tlifir own. Then l>egan the second era of scholasti-
cism, and this divides itself into three periods. During
the first, which extended to the last quarter of the thir-
ti.Mih centur)-, Alexander of Halea (died 1245), Albertus
Jl^ik-nus (1193-liSO), and St Thomas Aquinas (died 1274)
set up the general framework of the scholastic philosophy,
while Petrus Uisparms (perhaps identical with Pope John
X.VI., who died 1277) wrote the standard text-book of
lou'ii; f.ir the remainder of the middle ages, and Vincent
of i',<-;iuvai8(died ab«)Ut 12l>l)lnadean encyclopedia which
iri still found in every library of pretension. During this
peri' id the L'niversity of Paris received a thorough or-
gani/.:ition, and thought there became exclusively con-
centrated up«>n thcdogy. The second period, which last-
ed for alK)Ut a century, was the great age of scholastic
thought, and it may be doubted whether the universities
of western Europe have at any subsequent time been so
WMiiIiv of respect as when Duns Scotus (died 1308) and
111- (. flowers were working up the redistic conception
t \i".:v.'. while "Durus" Durandos (died 1SS2X Occam
49)^ and Buridanas (died after 1350) were urg-
ral nominalixUo theofiea, and other writers,
ten that it is naelea* to luune them, were pre-
si'utKi;: oilier subtle pnjpositions commanding serious ex-
amination. During this i>eri(Ml ttie scholastic forms of dts-
ctisrtion were fully elaborate.] in<-th-»ds rnmbrous and
incli-giint, tint ''■'•., that
stiigf of int. 1. 't, ex-
tcn.liiigt.dh' 1. early
In til." ni\t. ' it .lirferent
ch;ir;iitcr- in i ever, every-
« he' ■ 'i[ I'k' . ■ f systems,
I t.. truiiil 1 - of vi-
-'lit. AmoiiL' f this
iiention.-.I .\i ■ U cen-
; \ills . 1: .■■ . ; Hit), and
■ .! \ "I I iiMe ' i ■lent writer*
..! 1. -- 1! ni/! . e and main-
scholia, "■ Latin pliuul ol' xcIwUum,
scholiast (sko'li-ast), «. [= F. seoliaste = 8p.
I .,'.//.«<<( = pjr. i/iiholiitxic = It. scolinMc = (i.
~ri,<,!iiii<t, < Nli. xrholitiKta, < M<ir. o^o/juirriyf, a
i .'iniaoiitiitor, < (i^o>.(riC"i', write commentaries,
<tir.c|.,> ol, a commentary: see «cAo{ii<m,] One
wliii iiiaki's scholia; a commentator; an anno-
tatiir; cspceiallv, an ancient grammarian who
annotated the classics.
The'-- --■
"Tlie I
Kich." : .'
The.SfW." liat.
jtfce^ On the Pindaric Ode, note.
scholiastic (sk6-li-a«'tik), a. [< gcholiant + -<«.]
I'lrlaiiiiiiK to a sclioliast or his pursuits.
SCholiazet (sko'Ii-az), r. i. [< M(ir. oxo'M&l^ttv,
write eointnentaries: see scAoWtw/.] To make
si'liolia or notes on an author's work. [Kare.]
it mannacripta, was
' . it hers of tne seAo-
. 1 1 y and Vices of the
t lersinss Satires, UL, Arg.
He thinks to mholUut upon the gospel.
MUtim, Tetrachordon.
scholicalt (skol'i-kal), a. [<. "xrholic (< L. who-
liriif, < Gr. axo^JKoi, of or belonging to a school,
e.\ei;etieal, < oxo?J/, school, etc.: see school^) +
-III.] Scholastic.
It Is a common m/udieiti erroarlo fUl our papers and note-
books with observations of great and famous erenta.
Bala, Uolden Kemains, p. 276.
scholiont (sko'Ii-on), H. Same as tcholium.
Hereunto have I added a certain Oloaae, or mholion, (or
thcxiMisition of old wonles.
SpfitMr, To (labriell Harvey, prefixed to Sbep. CaL
scholinm fskd'li-uml, ».: pi. nrhoUn. scholiums
(-H, -iirnz). [Korrnerly a\n<i m-holion . alao scholi/ ;
< t'. sioHc = Sp. esroliii = I'g. cscholio = It. sco-
lii>, < MI>. Hchiilium, < Gr. ax<i'iov. interpretation,
corainentary, < nx'>>>i- discussion, school: see
8cA«»M.] A marginal note, annotation, or re-
339
6393
mark; an explanatory comment; specifically,
an explanatory remark annexed to a Latin or
Greek author by an early grammarian. Explan-
atory notes inserted by editors in the text of Euclid's
"Elements " were called seholia, and the style of exposition
resulting from this was considered by later writers so ad-
mirable that they deliberately left occasion for and insert-
ed scholia in their own writings. A geometrical scholium
is, therefore, now an explanation or reflection inserted into
a work on geometry- in such a way as to interrupt the cur-
rent of mathematical thought.
SchoUard (skol'ard), ». A vulgar corruption
of scholar.
You know Mark was a gchoUard, sir, like my poor, poor
sister ; and ... 1 tried to talce after him.
Bulwer, My Novel, i. 3.
scholyt (sko'li), «. [= F. seolie, etc., < ML.
scholium, scholium : see scholium.] A scholium .
Without gcholy or gloss. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. 35.
That gcholy had need of a very favourable reader and a
tractable, that should think it plain construction, when to
be commanded in the Word and grounded upon the Word
are made all one. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, iii. 8.
scholyt (sko'li), V. i. [.< scholy, «.] To -write
comments.
The preacher should want a text, whereupon to gcholy.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, iiL 8.
Schomhurgkia (shom-Wr'ki-a), n. [NL. (Lind-
ley, 1838), named after the traveler R. H. Schom-
burgk (1804-()5).] A genus of orchids, of the
tribe Epidendreie and subtribe Lselicir. it is char-
acterized by a tenninal and Imtsely racemed inflorescence
with a somewhat wavy periantti, each anther with eight
pollen-masses, four in each cell. There are about i;i spc.
cies, all natives of tropical America. They are epiphytes
with handsome flowers in a simple raceme on an elon-
gated tenninal peduncle, and thick pseudobulbs or long
fleshy stems, which are covered with many sheaths and
hear at the apex one, two, or three ovate or elongated
rigid and fleshy leaves. They are remarkable for the very
long and slender flower-stems, and the large dry sheaths
enveloping them. In S. tibicinU of Honduras, the hollow
fiseudobulb, from 1 to 2 feet long, is a favorite with mits
or the consti-uction of their nests, and is used by children
as a trumpet (whence also its name in cultivation of cow-
horii orchui).
schondt, "■ See shand.
school^ (skol), n. and a. [Early mod. E. scool
(Sc. scule), scole (the spelling school, with sch-,
being an imperfect conformation to the L.
schola, as similarly with scholar) ; < ME. scale,
sc^nrle, < AS. sciilu, a school, = OFries. skile,
schule = I), school = MLG. scholc = OHG. scuola,
.MHG. schuole, G. schule = Icel. skoli « AS. T)
= Sw. sk-ola = Dan. skole = W. ysgol = OF.
rscoU; F. ecole = Sp. rscuehi = Pg. cscola = It.
scuola, a school, < L. schola, seola, learned dis-
cussion or disputation, a dissertation, lecture,
a place for discussion or instruction, a school,
the disciples of a particular teacher, a school,
sect, etc., < Gr. oxo^V, a learned discussion or
disputation, a dissertation, lecture, a place for
discussion or instruction, a school, a transferred
use of axo?Ji, spare time, leisure ; perhaps < Ixciv
{V "^X-i OX'')! hold, stop: see scheme. Hence
(from L. schola or Gr. oxn^'i) also scholar, scho-
lastic, scholium, etc.] I. M. 1. A place where
instruction is given in arts, science, lan^ages,
or any species ot learning; an institution for
learning; an educational establishment; a
school-house : a school-room, in modem usage
the term is applied to any place or establishment of edu-
cation, aa day-schools, grammar-schools, academies, col-
leges, universities, etc ; but it is in the moat familiar use
restricted to places in which elementary instruction is im-
parted to the young.
She hath at <coI< and elles wher him soght,
Til finally she gan so (er cspye
That he laat aeyn was in the Jewerye.
Chaucer, Prioreaa's Tale, 1. 138.
This boke is made for chylde gonge
At the tcncU tlut byde not longe ;
8one it may be conyd A had.
And make them gode iff thei be had.
Babeet Book (E. E. T. 1), p. 25.
In the eighth year of Edward III., licence was granted
to Barbor the Bagpiper to visit the ichnnlt for minstrels
In part* beyond the seas, with thirty shillings to bear his
eipenaea. StruU, Sports and Pastimes, p. 278.
2. The body of pupils collectively in any place
of instruction, ana under the direction of one
or more teachers : as, to have a large school. —
3. A session of an institution of instruction;
exercises of instruction; school-work.
How now, Sir Hugh ! no scAnot to-day?
Shak.,M. W. of W., Iv. 1. 10.
4. In the middle ages, a lecture-room, especial-
ly in a university or college; hence, the body
of masters and students in a university; a
university or college ; in the plural, the schools,
the scholastics generally.
Witnesse on him, that eny perflt clerk Is,
That In smfe is gret altercacioun,
In this matere, and gret dlspntisoun.
And hath ben of an hundred thousand men.
Chaucer, Kun'a Priest's Tale, 1. 417.
school
That elicitation which the schools intend is a deducing
of the power of the will into act. Abp. Bramhall.
5. A large room or hall in English universities
where the examinations for degrees and- hon-
ors take place. — 6. The disciples or followers
of a teacher ; those who hold a common doc-
trine or accept the same teachings or princi-
ples; those who exhibit in practice the same
general methods, principles, tastes, or intellec-
tual bent; a sect or denomination in philoso-
phy, theology, science, art, etc.; a system of
doctrine asdeliveredbyparticular teachers: as,
the Soeratie school; the painters of the Italian
school; the musicians of the German sc/iooi;
economists of the laisser-faire school.
In twenty manere konde he trippe and daunce
(After the scoie of Oxenforde tho).
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1. 148.
Let no man be less confident in his faith concerning the
great blessings God designs in these divine mysteries by
reason of any difference in the several schools of Christians.
Jer. Taylor.
7. A system or state of matters prevalent at a
certain time; a specific method or cast of
thought; a particular system of training with
special reference to conduct and manners : as,
a gentleman of the old school; specifically,
the manifestation or the results of the coopera-
tion of a school (in sense 6) : as, paintings of
the Italian Renaissance school.
He was a lover of the good old school,
Who still become more constant as they cool.
Byron, Beppo, st. 34.
The fact that during the twelfth century a remarkable
school of sculpture waa developed in tlie lle-de- France . . .
— a school in some respects far in advance of all others of
the Middle Ages — has not received the attention it de-
served from students of the history of art.
C. H. Moore, Gothic Architecture, p. 247.
8. Any place or means of discipline, improve-
ment, instruction, or training.
The world, . . .
Best school of best experience.
Jftiton.P. R.,iii. 238.
Court-breeding, and his perpetual conversation with
Flatterers, was but a bad Schoole.
Milton, Eikonoklastes, vi.
Ye prim adepts in Scandal's school,
Who rail by precept and detract by rule.
Sheridan, A Portrait.
9. In music, a book or treatise designed to teach
some particular branch of the art : as, A.'s vio-
lin school Alexandrian SCbOOl. See Alexandrian.
— Artlctilation school, see articulation. — Athenian
school, a body of late Neoi)lat..)nist8, followers of Plu-
tarch the great (not the biographer). Hoetliiiis is its most
distinguished representative. — Atomic school, the liody
of ancient atomists. - Board-school, a school in (>reat
Britain established by or under the control of a school-
board of from five to fifteen members elected by the rate-
{ layers under authority of the l^dil cation Acts of 1870-1 and
ater years. These iioard-schools comprise both primary
or elementary schools, and secondary schools, which give
a higher education. 'They are supported by rates, govern-
ment grant at so much per head for pupils who pass the
official examination, and graded scbotd-fees (which, how-
ever, are remitted in the case of parents too poor to pay).
Religious instruction (from wliicli, however, any child may
be withdrawn) is given at specitled times. The schools
must be at all times open t4i the government inspeetor. —
Brethren of the Christian Schools, ."^cc bntiiier.—
Catechetical, claustral, common, district, Dutch,
Ellac school. See the (|uallfying words.- Dialectical
school. Same as Jfc^artnn school. — Eleatic school, the
school founded by Xenophanes at C'oloplioii, and after-
ward removed to Elea. See Kleatic.-^ Endowed Schools
Act. .Sec endmc. — Epicurean school, the scIrhiI of Epi-
curus, otherwise called the Garden.— Eretrlan school Of
ShllOBOPhy. See -t'rf/nan. — Eristic school. .Same as
'egarian school.— 'Exterloi school, in medieval univer-
sities, a school not within the walls of a monastery.
In 817 the Council of Aachen required that only those
who had taken monastic vows should be admitted to the
schools within the monastery walls, the regular clergy and
othera being confined to the exterior schofAs.
Laurie, I'niversities, iii.
nemish sctlooL See Flemish.— Graded scbool. See
graded. — Grammar school. Siee grainmar-schml.—Bigh
school, a fie In Mil of secniiary instruction, forming the con-
clusion of the ptililic-scliooi course, and the link between
the elementary or grammar schools and the technical
schools or the college or university. Otherterms are still
in use in manylocalities to designate schools of this grade,
as academy, free academy, union school, etc. Even yraw-
mar-school is still somethues used to designate a school of
this grade.
English philology cannot win its way to a form in Amer-
ican hiyhschools until it shall have been recogniijcd as s
worthy pursuit by the learned and the wise.
Q. P. Marsh, Lects. on Eiig. I.ang., i.
Historical, industrial, intermediate, Ionic, Lake,
Lombardlc scbool. See the qualifying words.— Mas-
ters of the schools. See modferi.— Megarlan, mid-
dle-class, monodlc school See the ailjcctives. -Na-
tional schools, in Ireland, those sdUKils which are un-
der the siipcrintendeiice of the commissioners of na-
tional ediK-ation. 'I'liey are open to all religions denomi-
nations, and coiiiprise a larue part of all the schools of
Ireland.— Normal, old, organ school. See the qualify-
ing words. - Orthodox school, ill poil■^ ecim. See;>oiiti-
ca/.— Oxford school, a name given to that party of the
school
Church of England which adopted the principles prom-
ulgated in the "Tracts for the Times. The members
were also called Tmctariaiig and i*(iWf/iVc«. — Parochial
schools, in Scotland, schools established in the ditferent
parishes, in acconiancewilh legislative enactments, for the
purpose of f urnisliing education for the mass of the people
at low rates. Such schools are now merged in the public
schools, the management of them having been transferred
fr\im the heritors and presbyter}' of the Kstablished
Church to school-boards elected l>y the ratepayers. — Pel-
oponneslan scliool. See /Wo;«/nn<wian. -Peripatetic
8Cll00l,thc sclio*.)! founded liy Aristotle at .\thens. — Pri-
mary school, a sclUHil of elementAry instruction at the bo-
ginning of tlie public-school course. — Public school, in
the United States, same as common school ; in Scotland, a
school under the management of a school-board. In Eng-
land public schools are certain classical scliools. such as
Rugby, Eton. Harrow, Westminster, patronized cliiefly by
the wealthy and titled classes.— Public Schools Act, an
English statute of 1868 (81 and 32 Vict., c. 118) providing
fertile government and extension of certain i)ulilic schools
in England.— Pythagorean school, the school founded
by Pythagoras. — Ragged school, a free scliool, supported
by voluntary efforts, for the cilucation (and in some cases
the maintenance) of destitute children. Many schools of
this kind were estalilisheil in Great Britain in the first
halt of the nineteenth century, Imt since the establish-
ment of board-schools thtiv Jiavc liecome less impor-
tant — Reform or reformatory school. See re/orma-
tory. >i.— Rhodian, Roman, romantic school. See the
adjectives. — Sabbath-SChooL Same as Sunday-school.—
Satanic school, in Uterarii critiHsm, a school of writers,
of whom Byron was a conspicuous representative, char-
acterized by strong ajipeals to passion and by luridness of
style.— School commissioner, an offlcer charged with
the general oversight of public instruction throughout a
State; sometimes known as the State Superintendent of
Public Instruction, of Public Education, etc. ; also, as in
the city of New York, a member of the Board of Educa-
tion. [U. S.]— School of CnidUB, a school of medicine
antedating that of Uippocrates, or the school of Cos, and
located in the town of Onidus. They noted friction-sounds
of pleurisy and tapped the thorax for empyema.— School
of Cos, a school of physicians which adopted the teachings
of HipiMJcrates, including the doctrines of crasis, coction,
crisis, and prognosis. They had vague ideas of anatomy
and physiology, believing that the brain was a gland and
that the arteries contained air, and confusing nerves with
tendons. They had a better understanding of surgery.—
School of design, of refuge, of the prophets. See de-
sign, refugei, propAcf. — School of the Stoics. Same as
the PoroA (which see, under j»rcA).— Scottish school,
a group of philosophical vvTiters of Scotland beginning
with Francis Hutcheson (1894-1747). They are intuition-
alists in morals, and oppose Loclte in regard to innate
ideas. — Skeptical school, a group of skeptical philoso-
phers. These embrace in ancient times the PyiThonists
and Middle Academy ; in modern times followers of Mon-
taigne, of Hume, etc.— Socratic school, one of the
schools founded by pupils of Socrates, embracing the Me-
garic or Eristic, the Elian, the Cynic, and the Cyrenaic
or Hedonistic schools, and the Academy of Plato.— Sun-
day school. See Sunday-school.— Syrian SChOOl, the
disciples and followers of I'orpliyry and lamblichus, Neo-
platoiiists.— Tubingen school, a name given to a certain
phase of modern rationalistic philosophy which took its
rise (1825-60) at the University of Tiibingen, in Ger-
many, under Ferdinand Christian Baur. The fundamen-
tal principle of this school is that the books of the New
Testament were written for the purpose of establishing
certain opinions and parties in the early church, that
many of them were written at a later date than the one
usually assigned to them, and that they are rather valua-
ble as indications of the spirit of the early church than as
authoritative revelations, or even as authentic records.
The name is also sometimes, though more rarely, given to
an earlier school in the same university, which taught
almost exactly the reverse— namely, the credibility, integ-
rity, and authority of the New Testament.
II. a. 1. Pertaining or relating to a school
or to education : as, a «c/(Ooi custom. — 2. Per-
taining to the schoolmen ; scholastic : as, school
philosophy (scholasticism).
The unsatisfactoriness and barrenness of the school-
philosophy have persuaded a great many learned men to
substitute the chymists three principles instead of those
of the schools. Boyle, Origin of Forms, Preface.
There are greater depths and obscurities, greater intri-
cacies and perplexities, in an elaliorate and well-written
piece of nonsense than in the most abstruse and profound
tract of gcAooi-divinity. Addison, Whig-Examiner, No. 4.
In quibbles, angel and archangel join.
And God the Father turns a school-Aivine.
Pope, Imit. of Horace, II. i. 102.
Their author was Spenerus, from whom they learnt to
despise all ecclesiastical polity, all school theology, all forms
and ceremonies. Chambers's Cyc. (1738), art. Pietists.
school! (skol), V. t. [< school'^, ».] 1. To edu-
cate, instruct, or train in or as in school ; teach.
He 's gentle, never school'd, yet learned.
Shah., As you Like it, i. 1. 173.
So Macer and Mundungus school the Times,
And write in rugged Prose the Rules of softer Rhymes.
Congreve, Of Pleasing.
2. To teach, train, or discipline with the thor-
oughness and strictness of a school ; discipline
thoroughly ; bring under control.
Now must Matilda stray apart.
To school her disobedient heart.
ScoU, Rokeby, iv. 14.
She schooled herself so far as to continue to take an In-
terest in all her public duties.
Prcscott, Ferd. and Isa. , ii. 4.
3. To discipline or take to task ; reprove ; chide
and admonish.
5394
Good doctor, do not school me
For a fault you are not free from.
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, i. 1.
Thy father has school'd thee, I see.
B. Joiison, Poetaster, i. 1.
school^ (skol), n. [Now spelled school in eon-
foriuity with schooH, with which school'^ is ult.
identical ; early mod. E. scool, scoole, scole, scule,
scull, skull, < ME. scull, sculle, prop, scole, < AS.
scolu, a school, a multitude (= D. school, a
school, a multitude): see schooU, and cf. should,
the assibilated form of the same word. ] A large
number of fish, or porpoises, whales, or the like,
feeding or migrating together; a company.
A scole of Dolphins rushing up the river, and encoun-
tered by a sort of Crocodiles, fighting as it were for sov-
eraignty. Sandys, Travailes, p. 78.
A knauish shall of boyes and giiies
Did pelt at him with stones.
Warner, Albion's England, i.
And there they fly or die like scaled sculls
Before the belching whale.
Sliak., T. and C, v. 6. 22.
A ripple on the water grew, .
A school of porpoise Hashed in view.
Whittier, Snow-Bound.
school^ (skol), V. i. [< school^, >».] 1. To form
or go in a school, as fish ; run together; shoal.
The weakflsh run singly and much larger in size — four
times the weight of those scAooKn;;- coming along under
the still water of the ledges.
Sportsman's Gazetteer, p. 244.
2. To go or move in a body ; troop.
We schooled back to the Poorhouse Gorse.
The Field, April 4, 1886. (Encyc. Brit.)
To school up, to crowd close together at or near the sur-
face of the water ; as, menhaden do not«cAoo< up until the
beginning of the summer.
schoolable (sko'la-bl), a. [< school^ + -ahlcl
Of school age. [Recent.]
Each tax-payer . . . would have a far less burden to
bear In the work of getting all the schoolable children
within the schools. Science, XII. 88.
SChool-authort (sksra'thor), n. A schoolman.
Book of Common Prayer, Articles of Keliglon,
xiii.
school-board (skol'bord), n. A local board of
education or school-committee ; specifically, in
Great Britain, a body of managers, elected by
the ratepayers, male and female, in a town or
parish, to provide adequate means of instruc-
tion for every child in the district, with the
power of compelling the attendance of the chil-
dren at school, unless their education is satis-
factorily provided for otherwise.
school-book (skol'buk), n. A book used in
schools.
school-boy (skol'boi), n. A boy belonging to
or attending a school.
Then the whining school-boy, with his satchel.
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school.
Shah., As you Like it, ii. 7. 14.5.
school-bred (skol' bred), a. Educated in a
school.
That, though school-bred, the boy be virtuous still.
Cowper, Tirocinium, L 840.
school-clerkt (skol'klferk), n. [Early mod. E.
also schole-clark ; < school^ + clerk.'] One who
is versed in the learning of schools.
The greatest schole darks are not alwayes the wisest men.
Boohe of Precedence (E. E. T. S.), i. 3.
school-committee (skerko-mit'e), «. A com-
mittee charged with the supervision of the
schools of a town or district.
Schoolcraft (skol'kraft), n. Learning.
He has met his parallel in wit and Schoolcraft.
B. Jonson, New Inn, ii. 2.
school-dame (skol'dam), n. A female teacher
of a school ; a schoolmistress.
school-days (skol'daz), n. pi. The time of life
during which children attend school; time
passed at school.
Is it all forgot?
All school-days' friendship, childhood, innocence?
Shah, M. N. D., Hi. 2. 202.
school-district (skol'dis'trikt), n. One of the
districts into which a town or city is divided for
the establishment and management of schools.
school-doctor (skiJl'dok'tor), n. A school-
man.
From that time forward I began to smell the word of
God, and forsook the school-doctors and such fooleries.
Latimer, Sermons, p. 336.
SChooleryt (sk6'16r-i), n. [< school + -cry.]
That wliich is taught, as at a school; precepts
collectively.
A filed toung fumlsht with tearmes of art.
No art of schoole, but courtiers schooler;/.
Spenser, Colin Clout, 1. 701.
school-name
school-fellow (8kol'fel"6), >i. One educated
at the same school ; an associate in school ; a
schoolmate.
The emulation of sckool-fdlows often puts life and in-
dustrj- into young lads. Locke.
school-fish (skol'fish), n. 1. Any kind of fish
tliat schools habitually ; also, any individual
fish of a school. — 2. Specifieally.'the menha-
den, lireroortia tyrannus. [New York.]
school-girl (skol'gerl), n. A girl belonging to
or atti'iiding a school.
school-house (skol'hous), n. 1. A building ap-
propriated for use as a school. — 2. The dwell-
ing-house, generally attached to or adjoining a
school, provided by the school authorities for
the use of the schoolmaster or schoolmistress.
[Great Britain and Ireland.]
schooling (sko'ling), «. [Verbal n. of school^,
v.] 1. Instruction in school ; tuition.
My education was not cared for. I scarce had any school-
ing but what I taught myself. Thackeray, Philip, xxi.
2. Compensation for instruction ; price paid
to an instructor for teaching pupils. — 3. Re-
proof; reprimand.
You shall go with me,
I have some private schooling for you both.
Shah, 51. N. D., i. 1. 116.
school-inspector (sk61'iu-spek"tor), n. An
official appointed to examine schools and de-
termine whether the education given in them is
satisfactory.
SChoolma'am (skol'miim), n. A schoolmis-
tress. [Rural, New Eng.]
I don't care if she did put me on the girls' side, she Is
the best Schoolma'am I ever went to.
5. Judd, Margaret, ii. 8.
SChoolmaid (skol'mad), n. A school-girl.
Lucio. Is she your cousin?
Isab. Adoptedly ; as school-maids change their names
By vain though apt affection. Shah., M. for M., i. 4. 47.
schoolman (skol'man), n. ; pi. schoolmen (-men).
A master in one of the medieval universities
or other schools; especially, a Christian Peri-
patetic of the middle ages; a scholastic. See
scholasticism.
The Schoolmen reckon up seven sorts of Corporal Alms,
and as many of Spiritual. Stillingfieet, Sermons, II. vli.
If you want definitions, axioms, and arguments, I am
an able school-man. Steele, Lying Lover, i. 1.
There were days, centuries ago, when the schoolmen
fancied that they could bring into class and line all human
knowledge, and encroach to some extent upon the divine,
by syllogisms and conversions and oppositions.
Stubbs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 90.
schoolmarm (skol'mam), n. A bad spelling of
schoohiia'am. [U. S.]
schoolmaster (skol'mas'tfer), II. [Early mod.
E. also scholemaster ; < ME. scolmeistre, scoh-
maistre (= D. schoolmeester = MHG. schuol-
meister, G. schulmeister = Svv. skolmastare =
Dan. skolemester) ; < school^ -h master^.] A man
who presides over or teaches a school; a man
whose business it is to keep school.
He saith it [learning] is the corrupter of the simple, the
schoolemaster of sinne, the storehouse of treacherie, the
reuiuer of vices, and mother of cowardlze.
Nashe, Pierce Penllesse, p. 39.
The law was our schoolmaster [tutor, R. V.] to bring us
unto Christ. Gal. lii. 24.
The schoolmaster is abroad, a phrase used to express
the general diffusion of education and of intelligence re-
sulting from education. It is also often used ironically
(abroad taken as 'absent in foreign parts') to imply a con-
dition of ignorance.
Let the soldier be abroad If he will ; he can do nothing
In this age. There is another personage abroad — a per-
son less imposing — in the eyes of some, perhaps, insignifi-
cant. The schoolmaster is abroad; and I trust to him,
armed with his primer, against the soldier in full military
array. Brougham, Speech, Jan. 29, 1S2S. (Bartlett.)
schoolmate (skol'mat), n. [< school^ + matel.]
One of either sex who attends the same school ;
a school companion.
school-miss (skol'mis), n. A young girl who
is still at school. [Rare.]
schoolmistress (sk61'mis"trcs), n. [= D. school-
me.'itrc.^, sclioolmatres; as school^ + mistress.']
The mistress of a school; a woman who gov-
erns a school for children, but may or may not
teach.
Such precepts I have selected from the most consider-
able which we have from nature, that exact schootmiMrpss.
Dryden,
A matron old, whom we School -mistress name ;
"Who boasts unruly brats with birch to tame.
Shenstone, School-mistress, st. 2.
school-name (skol'nam), n. An abstract term ;
an abstraction; a word used by schoolmen
only.
As for virtue, he counted It but a «;Aoo/-»i<im«.
Sir P. Sidtur/, ArOMlia, It.
school-pence 5395
school-pence (skol'pens). n-i)?. A small weekly 8Chooner-smack(8ko'n6r-smak), n. A schoon-
sum paid iu school "for tuition. [Great Brit- er-riggedfishing-smack: the first form of sharp-
^jjj 1 bowed schooner, out of which the present
If the parenU are to pay lehoolpence, why are not their Gloucester schooner was developed,
pence taken for providing a dally substantial dinner for schorget, ". and V. A Middle English form of
the children? yineleenth Century, XXVl. ~n. scourge.
SChorist (sho'rist), n. [G. schorist (see def.).]
An advanced student in German Protestant
universities who made a fag of a younger stu-
dent. See pennal.
schorl, shorl (short), n. [= F. schorl, < G.
schorl = Sw. skorl = Dan. skjorl, schorl ; per-
haps < Sw. skor = Dan. skjor, brittle, frail.] A
term used by early mineralogists to embrace a
large group of crystallized minerals : later lim-
ited to common black tourmalin. Schorl is closely
connected with pranite, in which it often occurs, espe-
cially in tin-producing regions, schorl being a frequent
associate of the ores of this metal.— Blue schorl, a va-
riety of haiiyne. — Red schorl, titanic schorl, names of
rutile. — Schorl rock, an aggregate of schorl and quartz.
—Violet schorl, axinite.— WMte schorl, albite.
schorlaceous, shorlaceous (shor-la'shius), a.
[< sclKirl + -acC'iKS.] In mineral., containing
schorl or black tourmalin, as granite sometimes
does.
schorlomito (shdr'lo-mit), n. A silicate of ti-
tanium, iron, and calcium, occurring massive,
of a black color and conchoidal fracture, at
Magnet Cove in Arkansas. The name, which was
given to it by Shepard, refers to its resemblance to tour-
malin or schorl. It is often associated with a titaniferous
garnet, and is itaeU sometimes included in the garnet
group
school-pointt (skol'point), «. A point for scho-
lastic disputation.
They be rather spent In declaryng tehoUpovrU roles
than in gathering lit examples for vse and vtterance.
Axham, The Scholemaster, p. 131.
Dispute no more in this ; for know, yonng man,
These are no tchool-poiiUt. Ford, 'Tis Pity, i. 1.
school-room (skel'rom), n. 1. A room for
teaching: as, the duties of the school-room. —
2. .School accommodation: as, the city needs
more gcfmol-room.
school-ship (skol'ship), n. A vessel used for
thi- iiistniction and training of boys and young
men iu practical seamanship.
school-taught (skol'tat), a. Taught at or in
school or the schools.
Let KhoUtaught pride dissemble all it can.
GoltUmUA, Traveller, 1. 41.
school-teacher (skol'te'chfer), n. One who
gives regular instruction in a school.
school-teaching (skol'te'ching), ». The busi-
ness of instruction in a school.
school-time (skol ' tim), n. 1 . The time at which
a school opens : as, nine o'clock is school-time.
— 2. The time in life passed at school.
Life here is but the lehooUirM of eternity hereafter.
"iaiweCNorisoi, p.' 708. gchorlous (shdr'lus), a. [< schorl + -ous.'] Per>-
school-whale (skol'hwal), n. A whale that ha- taining to or containing schorl or tourmalin;
l.itually schools, orone in the act of schooling; possessing the properties of schorl
.ue of a school of whales: opposed to lone 8Chorly(shor'li),a. [< w/iorJ + -yi ] Relating
..I to or containing schorl or tourmalin — gchorly
J 1 / \•Jl^■\ rr>t I J v:„i oi Ti,« granite, a granite consisting of schorl, quartz, feldspar,
schooly (sktJ'b), n. [Cf. »c*oo;-;f«/i, 2.] The »;^,~, SirC.LyM. ,^ ^ y^,
in<-iiliaden. Bchotti8Che(8ho-tesh'), n. [Also «oAotHa7i; < G.
schooner (ske'ntr), n. [The first vessel so caU- acholtisch, Scottish, < Schotte, a Scot : see Scofi.
ed is said to have been built at Gloucester, Scottish.'] 1. A variety of polka.— 2. Music for
Mass., by Captain Andrew Kobinson, about g^^^ ^ dance or in its rhythm.
1713. When the vessel slid off the stocks into gchout (skout), n. [< D. «c/io«<, a bailiff, sheriff,
the water, a bystander cried out, "O, how she earlier sehouwt, a spy, overseer, bailiff, < OF.
si-oons!" Robinson instantly replied, "A «cooii- e»coM(#, a spy, scout: see .wo«<l.] A bailiff or
rr let her be!"; and from that time vessels of gheriff : in the Dutch settlements in America
this kind have gone by the name thus acciden- this officer corresponded nearly to a sheriff,
tally impf)sed. The proper spelling is seooner, |)„t had some functions resembling those of a
lit. 'skipper' or 'skimmer,' < scooHj q. v., + municipal chief justice.
-*ri . It 18 now spelled schooner, as if derived j,^,^ ^^ ^^^ . ^^^ „„„pected order, and doubtful
< D. schooner; but the D. schooner, U. schoner, perhapsof their right tooaurpthofunctionsoftheicAout,
.iichiH)ncr, Kchuner, Hw. skonert, Dan. skonncrt, the soldiers hesitated. The AOantK, hXTV. 192.
F. schooner, Sp. Pg. escuna, Buss, shkuna, Turk, gchrader's grass. Same as rescue-qrass.
uskunn, are all from E. A similar allusion to gchrankia («lirang'ki-il), n. [NL. (Willdenow,
the light, skimming movement of the vessel is ikiI.T), natiied after Franz von Paula Schrank
involved in the usual F. name for a schooner,
qoelette, lit. 'a little gull,' dim. of goelnnd, a
i;ull, < Bret, gwelan = W. gicylan = Com. gul-
lan, a gull : see gulP.] 1 . A fore-and-aft rigged
vessel, formerly with only two masts, but now
Foor-maitcd Schoooer.
often with three, and sometimes with four or
five. Schooner* lie nearer the wind than sqaare-rlg^ed
vessels,
(1747-1835), a German naturalist.") A genus
of leguminous plants, of the suborder Mimosex
and tribe Eiimimoseie. It is characterized by funnel-
shaped nmopetaloas flowers in a globose or cylindrical
■pike, with separate and projecting stamens, and a many-
ovaled ovary Decoming in trait an acute and linear prickly
Icinune with a dilated persistent margin as broad as the
TUTeiL and Iromwlileb the latter fall away. There are 6 spe-
det, all American, one ezteadlng also Into tropical Africa.
B. Hncinoto, known ai muOies brier, is a native of the
•oathern United State*. They are commonly prostrate
herb* or undershrnbe, armed with recurved spines, and
bearing blpinnate leaves with many small leaflets which
an often extremely sensitive to the touch. The rose-col-
ored or purplish flower-beads are solitary or clustered in
the Bxili<.
gchreibersite (shri'b^r-sit), »i. [Named after
Carl von Schrcibers of Vienna, adirectorof the
imperial cabinet.] A phosphide of iron and
nickel, occurring in steel-gray folia and grains
in many meteoric irons: it is not known to oc-
cur as a terrestrial mineral.
schrinkf, r. A Middle English form of shrink.
Schroeder's operations. See operation.
Bchroetterite (shrtt'f'r-it), n. [< Schroetter,vi\iO
first described it, + -ite^.'] A hydrous silicate
of aluminium, related to allophane
are more easily handled, and require much nnaller V <r, floK smiif shriitf
hence tbelr general nae .. coaater. and yacht* SChrofft, n. H^e *crirff, *«r«ff.
.See also cut under vwME-Aoat.
schrychet, t?. ».
This gentle. Schuchint, n.
A Midiile English form ot shriek.
Went to see Captain Robinson's l«ly This gentle- Bcnucnint, «. An obsolete form of »CK<c/ifon.
man was the flrat contriver of tehmnen, and built the schuitt (skoit), n. [Also schuyl; <. U. schuit,
Orst uf the sort about eight years since. MD. .»c/iu«f, a small boat: 8ee«co«(*.] A short.
Dr. M<mt Prince, Letter written at Gloucester, Masa., „i„m«v Dntch vessel used in rivers.
(Sept. », 1721 (quoted by Babson, Hist, of Oloucea. clumsy l^nicn vessel useu ui ovr™.
(ter, p.252). (Webtter'i DieL) We ... took a scAmt, and were very much pleased with
„ , 1 • i * 1 J the manner and conversation of the passengers, where
2. A covered emigrant-wagon formerly used ^^^ -^ French. Pepii; Inaiy, May 18, leao.
on the prairies. See jyrairie-schooner. — 3. A _ , ,. , ., _.. „„„ .mM
tall glass used for liciuor. especially lager-beer, Schulhof repeating rifle. See rifle^.
and supposed to hold more than an oniinary Schultze 3 phantom. A manikin of the fe-
bf...r-gl«H«. rCollo.|., U. S.]-Toi»aU Bchooner, ">Hlr i„lvis and adjacent parts, used in teach-
a sch<Kmer which has no tops at herforemnst, and is fore- iiig obstetrics. r> ^ .n o t 7
and-aft rigged at her mainmast. .She dlttcrs from a her- schulzitO (shill'tsit), «. [< Gmllaume SCftUtJ, a
maphro<lil* brig In that she is not properly square-rigged Prcnch geologist, + -itc'^j} Same as geocronite
<•* her foremast, having no top and carrying a fore-ana-*'* . . " .r* ' . ..
fier fcjremast, having no top and carrying a fore-and-aft „„i,__^. „
foresail, instead of a square foresail and a spencer or try- Sr T. v'-
sail. Dana.
See schuit.
Schwab's series. See series.
Schwenkfelder
Schwalbea (shwal'bf-a), «. [NL. (Gronovius,
1737), named after C. d. Schwalhe, a physician
from Holland, who wrote on Farther India,
1715.] A genus of gamopetalous plants of the
order Scropliularinex and tribe Euphrasiese.
It is characterized by flowers with two bractlets, a two-
lipped calyx and corolla, four stamens, equal anther-cells,
and us fruit an ovate capsule with very numerous linear
seeds. The only species, S. Americana, is a native of the
Atlantic coast of the United States from Massachusetts
southward, and is known as chaf-seed. It is a perennial
hairy herb, with ovate and entire opposite leaves which
become narrower and alternate above, and yellowish
and purple flowers in a somewhat one-sided wand-like
raceme.
Schwann's sheath. Same as primitive sheath
(which see, under primitive).
schwartzembergite (shwiirts'em-b*rg-it), n.
[Named from Seiior Schwartzemberg ot Copia-
po.] A mineral containing the iodide, chlorid,
and oxid of lead, occurring with galena at a
mine in Atacama, South America.
Schwartze's operation. See operation.
Schwartzian (shwart'si-an), a. and n. [<
Schicartc (see def.) + -Jaii.] I. a. Of or per-
taining to the mathematician H. A. Schwartz.
— Schwartzian derivative. See derivative.
II. «. That differential function of a variable
y which is denoted by the expression 2y' y'"
— 3j"2, where the accents denote differentia-
tions. It is the first function which attracted
attention as a reciprocant.
SChwatzite (shwat'sit), «. [< Schwatz (see def.)
-t- -ite^.'] A variety of tetrahedrite containing
15 per cent, of mercury : it is found at Schwatz
(Sehwarz) in Tyrol.
Schweiggeria (shwi-ge'ri-a), n. [NL. (Sprengel,
1821), named after A. F. Schceigger (1783-1821 ),
a German naturalist.] A genus of polypetalous
plants, of the order Violariex and tribe Violeae,
with flowers similar to the type as seen in the
violet in the enlarged and spurred lower petals,
the peculiar membranous dilatation of the an-
ther-connectives, and the spur upon the two
lower anthers, but distinguished by the very
unequal sepals. The 2 species are natives, one of
Brazil, the other of Mexico, and are erect shrubs with al-
ternate leaves and solitary flowers in the axils. S. parvi-
Jtora of Brazil is in cultivation as a greenhouse evergreen
under the name of tt>nfftte-viotet (so called from the shape
of its white Mowers).
Schweinfurth blue, green. See blue, greenX.
Schweinitzia fshwi-nit'zi-a), n. [NL. (Elliott,
1818), named after L. D. von Schweinitz (1780-
1834), an American botanist.] A genus of
gamopetalous plants, of the order Monotropeee.
It is characterized by persistent flowers with five scale-
like erect sepals, a bell-shaped flve-lobed corolla, ten
stamens with Introrsely pendulous anthers, a disk with
ten rounded lobes, and a globose flve-celled ovary with
very numerous ovules crowded upon thick two-lobed pla-
centie. The only species, 5. odorata, is a rare smooth
and scaly leafless parasitic herb, which is found native
in the United States from near Baltimore to North
Carolina in the mountains, and known as fnveet pine-
tap. The flesh-colored and nodding flowers form a loose
spike, and, like the whole plaut, emit the odor ot vio-
lets.
BChweitzerite (shwi'ts6r-lt), n. [< G. Schweitzer,
Swiss, -1- -ife'-'.] A variety of serpentine from
Zermatt in Switzerland.
schwelle (shwel'e), n. [G.] A threshold or
timen iu the psychophysical sense; the great-
est nerve-excitation of a given kind which fails
to produce any sensation. A sound, a taste, a smell,
a pressure, etc., as physical excitations produce no sen-
sations at all unless their intensity is greater than a cer-
tain limit.— Differential schwelle, a difference of sen-
sible excitations of a given kind which is the greatest
that cannot be perceived. The existence of a differential
schwelle has been disproved. Any ditference of sensible
excitations produces a difference of sensatious ; and al-
though this difference may be too small to be directly per-
ceived with a given effort of attention, it will produce mea-
surable psychological eltects.
Schwendenerian (shwen-de-ne'ri-an), n. and a.
i< Schwvmlnier (see Schicendenerism) + -ian.]
. n. A believer iu Schwendenerism.
n. a. Of or pertaining to Schwendener or
his theory.
Schwendenerism (shwen'den-^r-izm), TO. [<
Schwendener (see def.) -)- -ism.'] The theory of
Schwendener (a German botanist, born 1829)
that a lichen consists of an algal host-plant and
a parasitic fungus. See Lichenes.
According to Schmendenerigm, a lichen is not an indi-
vidual plant, but rather a community made up of two
distinct classes of cryptogams. fijicyc. Brit., XIV. 667.
Schwenkfelder (shwengk'fel-d&r), TO. [<
Schwenkfetd (see def.) + -«rl.] A member of a
GermaB denomination founded in Silesia in the
sixteenth century by KasparSchwenkfeld. They
select their ministers by lot, maintain a strict church dis-
cipline, and do not observe the sacraments. They are
now found chiefly in Pennsylvania.
Schwenkfeldian 5396
Schwenkfeldian (shwengk'fel-di-an), n. [<
Scliiceidifiiil (see Sclncenkfelder) 4- -ian.'] A
SchweukfelJor.
Schwenkf eld left behind him a Beet who were called sub-
Bequently by others Schictn^Mdians, but who called them-
selves "Confessors of the Glory of Christ."
Eticyc. Brit., XXI. 463.
schyttlet, schyttylf, «. and a. Middle English
forms of /ihuttle.
Sciadiacese (si-ad-i-a'se-e), n. iJl. [NL., < Sci-
ikHiiiii + -ncfa?.] A family of fresh-water alga;,
taking its name from the genus Sciadium.
Sciadium (si-a-di'um), h. [NL. (A. Braiin), <
Gr. aKiiiiiiov, OHiaduov, an umbrella or sunshade,
< aiad, shade, shadow.] A genus of fresh-water
alga9, of the order Eiemobiie and class I'loto-
coecoidex. typical of the family Sciadiacese..
Each cell-family is composed of a number of cylindrical
cells, each of which is contracted at the base into a short
slender stem liy which they are united, causing the long
cells to spri-ad above.
Sciadophyllum (s5"a-do-firum), n. [NL. (P.
Browne, 1756), so called with ref. to the use of
the leaves as a sunshade ; < Gr. aAvdf (oKiad-), a
shade, canopy (< mm, shade), -I- (phUov, leaf.]
A genus of polypetalous plants, of the order
Araliacesp and series Panaceee. It is characterized
by flowers with usually five valvate petals united at the
apex into a deciduous membrane, as many rather long sta-
mens, a flattened disk, and an ovaiy with three to five cells
with distinct styles. The fruit consists of fleshy drupes
with a hard compressed stone. There are about 25 species, o • "• / - - -/ -< 7
all natives of tropical America. They are trees or shrubs, iSCiaBninae (Sl-e-m ne), m. ^«.
usually with radiately compound leaves and entire leaflets,'
and often with elongated stipules. Their flowers are borne
in small heads or in umbellets which are grouped in a ra-
ceme or panicle or terminal umbel. For S. Brmcnei, also
called angelica-tree, see galapee-tree ; for S. capitatum
(Hedera mvltijUjra), also known as caiidlewood. see broad-
leafed balsam, under baUam. A third West Indian spe-
cies, S. Jaequini (also Aralia arborea), a small tree beju-
ing elliptical leaves and white berries, is there known as
loblollj/^uretwood.
Sciadopitys (si-a-dop'i-tis), n. [NL., < Gr. amd;
(-0(5-), a shade, canopy, -t- irirvc, a pine-tree : see
and the ventrals thoracic and complete. In this sense it
has been used by almost all recent writers, (d) In Giin-
ther's system it is the only family of the Acanthnpteryffii
sci^eni/ortnes. It is a large and important family of 150
species of about ,10 genera ; many r-^ach a large size, and
nearly all are valued food-fishes. Tliey are carnivorous,
and most of them make a noise variously called croakitvj,
ffrutitituj,«iiorin(j,ant\ drumming. The air-bladder is gener-
ally complicated, and supposed to be concerned in the pro-
duction of the noise. Hence v.arious names of these fishes,
as croakers, gruntersor^runtx, drums, roncadors, etc. Witli
few exceptions, tlie mcnibera of this fannly are salt-water
fishes, and they are widely distributed in tropical, warm,
and temperate seas. Two species are British, the maigre,
Sciivna {Psendosciiena} aqitila, and tlie bearded nmljrina,
Umhrina cirrosa. Many are American, as the fresh-water
dnnn, croaker, sheepshead, or thunder-pumper, llaplodi-
notus ffrttnniens ; the drum. Pogonias chrmnis ; redfish and
roncadors of the genera Sciseiia, SHsenops, and Roncadnr;
tlie spot or lafayette, Liostomus obliquiis ; a kind of croaker,
SHcropogon undulatus; roncadors of the genus Umbritia ;
kliigBsh of the genus Menticirrus ; queenfish of the genus
Seriphwt; weakfish, sea-trout, or squeteagues of the genus
Ctjnosciim (formerly Otolithus). The family is divisible
into the subfamilies Scianiiue, Otolithinx, Liosttm^irue,
and llaplodinotinm. Also Scieenmdcx. See cuts under
croaker, drum, redjish, roncador, Sdsttia, and iveakfigh.
sciseniform (si-en'i-f6rm), a. [< NL. Scisena +
L. forma, form.] Having the form of, or re-
sembling, the Scieeitidx; scirenoid; of or per-
taining to the Scieeniformes.
Sciseniformes (si-en-i-f6r'mez), «. pi. [NL.:
see scixniform.] In Giinther's system, the fifth
division of the order Acanthopteryyii. The only
family is Scixuidse (d).
. . ., , [NL., < Scisena
+ -inie.'] A subfamily of (Sci«md», contrasted
with OtolitUnee, having about 10 abdominal and
14 caudal vertebrje, separate hypoplmryngeals,
and three pairs of epipharyngeals, and includ-
ing most of the family.
scisenoid (sS-e'noid), a. and n. [< Scisena +
-oirf.] I. a. Related or belonging to the Sci-
senidse ; seiseniform.
II. n, A member of the Seiseniformcs or Sci-
senidse.
pine^.~\ Agenusof coniferous trees, of the tribe Sciaenoideae (si-f-noi'de-e), ?(. j)?. [NL.,<Sci-
Abietmese and subtribe Taxodinee, distinguished «?"" + -oidese.'\ Same "as Scisenidx.
by a lamina which bears seven to nine ovules and sciagraph (si'a-graf), n. [< Gr. ama, shade,
becomes greatly enlarged and hardened, com- siiauow, + ypa^ttv, write.] 1. The geometrical
posing nearly the whole scale of the coue when representation of a vertical section of a build-
mature. The only species, S. (sometimes Taxus) verti- i'lg. showing its interior structure or arrange-
allata, is a native of Japan, known in cultivation as urn. ment. — 2. Aphotograph taken with the X-ravs
brellaptne and parasol-fir. It is a tall evergreen tree, gee ran = i- j
bearlngasits true leaves minute scales, and as apparent .-.•„,_„„T,__ / - , c- \ rj ■ i .
leaves, rigid linear phyllodia, resembling pine-needles, SCiagrapner (Sl-ag ra-fer), «. [< setagraph^J +
which are produced yearly in small radiating and long- -C(l.] One skilled in sciagraphy.
Eng^consislfof numej^n^ dos'eVZta'i?at°ed mn'ndel Apollodorus of Athens, the sciagrapher. was the first who
w^dy seals whteh Slv J.?ne Lart as in tirni^^^^^ directed a deeper study to the gradations of light and
d^hLging th:'fl*tetd a'nSt^aX/wingeS si'arii »"'""'■ "■ °- '"^'' ^I""-"" »' A'''^'^^"'- ("•'•"«). « 1^6.
of the family Scixnidx. It is restricted by recent seiaVranliipaVlv CKi-H'^in-flf'Tkal'n "7;rf«i T«
authors to such &»•«>«■«« as have the lower pharyngeal -^P"-"' (Sl-a-giai 1-Jtal-i), adv. in
bones distinct, the lower jaw without barbels," the "iTnai sciagraphic manner,
spines two, and well-developed teeth persistent in both Sciagraphy (si-ag'ra-fi), re.
Jaws. In this narrow sense the species are still so numer-
ous in all warm seas that attempts have been made to es-
tablish various sections regarded by some as of generic
[< NL. sciagraphia
Maigre (Sct'a/iit i^Pseutiosciana) aquila).
value. The fish to which the classic name scisena was
given is the maigre, S. a^utia. S. (Sciseno2>s) ocellata is the SCiamachy (si-am a-ki)
(the title of a bookby F. Biithner, 1650), < Gr.
OKiaypaifiia, painting in light and shadow, < oKia-
ypdijioQ, painting shadows, < ctmo, shade, shad-
ow, -I- -ypa(pia,<. ypa(finv, write.] 1. The act or
art of delineating shadows correctly in draw-
ing; the art of sketching objects with correct
shading. — 2. In arch., a geometrical profile or
section of a building to exhibit its interior
structure; a sciagraph. — 3. In osft-ow., the art
of finding the hour of the day or night by the
shadows of objects caused by the sun, moon,
or stars; the art of- dialing.
Also aciography.
[Also sciomacliy ;
redflsh, red-horse, red-bass, or ehaimel-basa, which occurs < Gr. amauaxia, later aKtouaria, fighting in the
along the Atlantic coast of the United States, attains a ghade, i. e. practising in the school, a mock-fight,
weight of from 30 to 40 pounds, and is known by an ocel-
lus on each side of the tail (see cut under redfish). S. (Rhi-
noscion) satuma is the red roncador of the same country.
See also cut under roncador.
ScisenidaB (si-en'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Scisena +
-idx.} A family of aeanthopterygian fishes,
typified by the genus Scimna, to which different
limits have been ascribed, (o) By Bonaparte, in 1833,
< oKia/iaxeiv, fight in the shade, i. e. exercise in
the school, < OKid, shade, -I- /idxtatiai, fight.] A
fighting with a shadow ; a futile combat with
an imaginary enemy. Also sciomachy. [Rare.]
To avoid this sciomacki/, or imaginary combat with words,
let me know, sir, what you mean by the name of tyrant.
Cowley, Government of Oliver Cromwell.
the name was applied to the ScienoMe*, which form Cu- spiamotnr rsi-nrn'e tI^^ « r< av ni.,/, ol,o.lo
vier'sthird family of aeanthopterygian fishes. These have Snameiry (Sl-am e-tn), n. [<• Gi . (taw shade,
the preopcrculum serrated and spines to the operculum, ■•" -/«"f/"«, < perpetv, measure.] The doctrine
thebonesof the cranium and face generally cavernous, and of eclipses, and the theory of the connection
no teeth on the vomer and palatines. It included not only of their magnitudes with the semidiameters
the true Sct/enidie, but many other fishes eiToneously and Darallaxps to the snri nnrl mnm,
supposed to be related. (6) By Midler it was restricted o„vl ^ T -, ^?.^x ^^ * riSV .,f • ,■ooo^ , ^
to those species of Scimoides wMoh have separate lower ociara (si a-ra), n. [NL. (Meigen, 1803), < Gr.
cKiapdr, shady, dark-colored, < OKid, shade, shad-
ow.] A genus ot gnats or midges, of the dip-
terous family Mycctophilidx, containing mi-
nute species often flying in swarms and having
plumose antenna) in the males. The larva; of some
are aciuatic ; others arc found under bark in dense patches,
and when ready to pupate migrate in solid colunms (see
pharyngeals, (c) By Lowe it was limited to fishes with
an oblong or moderately elongated body, covered with
ctenoid scales, with the lateral line continuous and run-
ning out on the caudal fin, the head with the bones more
or leu cavernous and with the snout projecting, dorsal
Una two (the first short and with spines and the second
elongate or oblong), the anal short or moderate with not
more than two spines, the pectorals with branched rays,
science
snakexoorm), as S. militaris. The genus gives name to the
Sciarinie, and is also called MoloUrus.
Sciarinae (si-a-ri'ue), n. pi. [NL., < Sciara -t-
-//(«'.] A group of dipterous insects named from
tlie genus Sciara. ZctUrstedt, 1842.
sciascopy (si-as'ko-pi), n. Same as sliascnpy.
sciath, ". [Ir. scia tit, a shield, buckler, twig bas-
ket, wing, tin, = Gael, sgiath, a shield, buckler,
shelter, wing, fin, = W. ysgwyd, a shield, target ;
cf. L. 6Tj(iHWi, a shield: seescM/el.] An oblong
bulged shield of wickerwork covered with hide,
formerly used in Ireland. JCticyc. Brit., XIII. 257.
SCiatheric (si-a-ther'ik), a. and n. [Cf. L. sci-
atlicricun, also sciatherum, a sun-dial ; < MGr.am-
alhipiKOQ, pertaining to a sun-dial, iieut. OKiadi/pt-
Kuv, a sun-dial, < Gr. aKidHi/puv, also CKiaOi^pa^, a
sun-dial, < cKid, shade, shadow, + Oypdv, chase,
catch.] I. a. Of or pertaining to a sun-dial.
Also called scivthcric — Sclatherlc telescope, an
instrument consisting of a horizoiitiU dial witli a telesu.pe
adjusted to it, for determining the time, whether of day or
night, by means of shadows.
II. II. The art of dialing.
sciatherical (si-a-ther'i-kal), a. [< SCiatheric
+ -«/.] Same as sciatlieric.
SCiatherically (si-a-ther'i-kal-i), adv. In a sei-
atherie manner; by means of the sun-dial.
sciatic (si-at'ik), a. and ji. [Formerly also sci-
atick; < OF. .sciatique, schiatique, F. sciatiqiie =
Pr. sciatic = Sp. cidtico = Pg. It. sciatica, < ML.
sciaticits, a coiTupt form of L. iscMadictis, < Gr.
laxtadiKdc, subject to pains in the loins, < iaxidc
(iffjmd-), pain in the loins, < iax'iov, the socket
in which the thigh-bone turns : see ischiadic, is-
chiatic, ischium.^ I. a. 1. Pertaining to, con-
nected with, or issuing from the hip ; ischiac,
ischiadic, or ischiatic : as, the sciatic nerve, ar-
tery, vein, or ligament. — 2. Affecting parts
about the hip, especially the sciatic nerve ; af-
fected with or suffering from sciatica Sciatic
artery, the larger of the terminal branches of the anterior
trunk of the internal iliac, distributed to the muscles of
the back part of the pelvis after passing through the great
sacrosciatic foramen.— Sciatic foramen. Same as sacro-
sciatic foraineii (vfluch see, under sacrosciatic). — Sciatic
hernia, a rare hernia through the sacrosciatic foramen,
below the pyriformis muscle. — Sciatic nerves, two divi-
sions of the sacral plexus, the great and the small. The
great sciatic, the largest nerve in the body, issues from
the pelvis through the great sciatic foramen, and descends
vertically behind the thigh to about the middle, where it
divides into the internal popliteal and the peroneal. It
gives branches to the hip-joint and to the muscles of the
postfemoral group. The small sciatic arises by two roots
h'om the second and third sacral nerves, and receives also
a descending branch of the inferior gluteal nerve. This
is a posterior cutaneous nerve, which issues with the
great sciatic, and is distributed to the buttock, perineum,
Ijack of the thigh, and upper and back part of the leg. —
Sciatic notch. See notch, and cut under innmninatvm.
— Sciatic region, the region of the hip— Sciatic spine,
the spine of the ischium. — Sciatic veins, the vena; co-
mites of the sciatic arteries, emptying into the intemal
iliac vein.
II. II. 1. A sciatic part or organ ; especially,
a sciatic nerve. — 2. pi. Sciatica.
Kack'd with sciatics, martyr'd with the stone.
Pope, Iniit. of Hor., I. vi. 54.
sciatica (si-at'i-ka), «. [= F. sciatique = Sp.
cidtica =Pg. It. sciatica, < ML. sciatica, sciatica,
prop, adj., fem. of sciaticus, of the hips: see
sciatic.'] Pain and tenderness in a sciatic
nerve, its branches and peripheral distribu-
tion. It is properly restricted to cases in which the trou-
ble is essentially neural, and is not due to extraneous dis-
ease, as to pelvic neoplasms or the like. It appears to he
usually a neuritis of tlie sciatic, though some, probably
rare, cases may be strictly neuralgic. The neuritis may be
produced by gout, cold, or other causes. Also called ma-
lum Coiunnii.
Sir, he has bom the name of a Netherland Souldier, till
he ran away from his Colours, and was taken lame with
lying in the Fields by a Sciatica : I mean. Sir, the Strapado.
Bronw, Jovial Crew, i.
Sciatica cresst, a name of one or two cruciferous plants
cither of tlie genus Lepidium (peppergrass) or Iberis (can-
dytuft), reputed remedies for sciatica.
SCiatical (si-at'i-kal), a. [< sciatic + -al.] Of
or pertaining to a sciatic nerve ; affected with
sciatica.
A sciatical old nun, who might have been set up for ever
by the hot baths of Bourbon.
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, vii. 21.
sciatically (si-at'i-kal-i), adv. With or by
sciatica.
scibile (sib'i-le), n. [= It. scibilc, < LL. scihi-
lis, that can be known, < L. scire, know: see
scient.] Something capable of being known;
an object of cognition.
Scient, " ■ An obsolete form of scion.
science (si'ens), n. [< ME. science, scyence, <
OF. science, escience, F. science = Pr. sciensa =
Sp. ciencia = Pg. seiencia = It. sciensa, < L.
scientia, science, knowledge, < scien{t-)s, ppr.
of scire, know: see scient.'] 1. Knowledge;
science
comprehension or understanding of facts or
principles.
For God seith hit hym-self " shal neuere good appel
Thorw no sotel sdenee on sour stock growe."
Piers Ptouman (CX xi. 207.
Mercurie loveth wysdam and seienctj
And Venus loveth ryot and dispence.
Chaucer, ProL to Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 6!)9.
As rose is aboue al tloures most flue,
So is tcieiux most digne of worthynesse.
Horn, of Partenay (E. E. T. 3.X Int., 1. 107.
His reputation was early spread throughout Europe, on
account of his general xience. Ticknor, Span. LiU, I. 33.
Absolute l)eginiiing8 are beyond the pale of science.
J. Ward, Encyc. Brit., XX. 4.5.
2. KiiowU'flire gained by systematic observa-
tion, experiment, and reasoning; knowledge
coordinated, arranged, and systematized; also,
the jirosecution of truth as thus known, both in
the abstract and as a historical development.
Since all phenomena which have been sufficiently ei.
amirieil are found to take place with regularity, each hav-
ing ctrtain fixeil conditions, positive and negative, on the
occurrence of which it invariably happens, mankind have
been able to ascertain . . . the conditions of the occur-
rence of many phenomena; and the progress of geience
mainly consists lu ascertaining these conditions.
J. S. MOL
Science is nothing but the finding of analogy, identity
in the most remote parts. Emertan, Misc., p. 75.
In Krience you must not talk before you know. In art
you must not talk before you da In literature you must
not t.ilk before you think. . . . Si»c?i«;.— The knowle<lge
of tilings, whether Idral or Substantial. Art.— Theraodi-
flcation of Substantial things by our Substantial Power.
Literature,— The modification of Ideal things by our Ideal
Power. Rutkin, The Eagle's -Nest (18T'2X { 3.
The work of the true man of Science is a perpetual striv-
ing after a better and closer knowledge of the planet on
which his lot is cast, and of the anivene in the vastness
of which that planet ii loat
J. J\r. Lodcyer, Spec. AnaL, p. 1.
3. Knowledge regarding any special group of
objects, coiinlinated, arranged, and systema-
tized ; what is known concerning a subject, sys-
tematically arranged; a branch of knowledge:
a.s. the science of botany, of astronomy, of ety-
mology, of metaphysics; vaenta,\ science ; physi-
cal xrience ; in a narrow sense, one of the physi-
cal sciences, as distinguished from mathemat-
ics, int-tapliysics. etc, in reference to their degree
ot spi. iiiliz-iticin, the sciences may be anangetl as follows.
r.t ) M'tthi^innticM. the study of the relations of the parts
(»f liyic-tlu-'tical constructions, involving no observation
of f'l.'is, )iiit only of the creations of our own minds,
huviuL- two branches- (1) pure matliematiet, where the
sii|>ix>sitions are mrbltraiy, and (2) applitd matitmatiet,
wiL. r>' the h>'potheaea are •implificstions of real t*cti —
and branching again Into la) matktmatleal pUtdophu, n
the theory of prubabilittea, etc, (t) mathematieal pikifmet,
».s :iti:ilvtii'»l mechanics, etc., and (e)niafA«iiuiK«iI}iqreMe>,
onomy, etc. (B) PhiloKyphy. the examlna'
t -;d analysis of the general body of fact — a
n lioth in reason and in history precedes snc-
I . iiiig with special elements of the universe-
1.! ; 1 I _ 'r>,i\'il(fjie*ivi{i}metaphyne«. {C) ymtuiif><nf,
U,-j •'. 1 :j l '( the most general Uws or uniformities, hav-
ing two main branches— (1) ptneholoffy and (i) general
phj/nct. (O) ChemUtTu, the determination of physical
constants, and the stuay of the different kinds of matter
In which these constanU dlRer. (K) Biotagy, the (tudy
of a peculiar claaa of •nbatances, the prcAoplasms. and of
thckiTil" .f"rsnini"m«int"whii'h they grow. {F)Sciencn
r,f ■,r!'i,>i\-,ili'',n- f '.Tin. I:.,!', 'ill ^rii'lllg (1) }««S<0<<Vy,
til.' -.i-,. . ..1 I'i,' ■.i.-ikr.,- -f |.lii-i al structure* of or-
iriiii- in ! ij) MjciuL^iiii, ilic Sijitncc of psvcblcal ank>n%
i-^\- ri ilu inixlesof human society, locludlng ethici, lin-
i.-in-ii -, I' litics, tie. (O) DaeriptimM and explanaUont
u/ iiulUuLual oi^eelM or eoUeeUmu, divided into (1) cos-
mtbm, embracing aatraiomj, geogDonr, etc., and (2) ae-
ecmtUi (/ AiniMit iMtUen, M itatiatlc*, hutoi7, biography,
etc.
At o syde of the F.niperuurs Table sitten many Philoso-
fres, that ben preved lor wise men in maiiy dyvene Sey-
eixm. MandeviUe, "rnTela, p. ZS4.
To instruct her fully In thoee tdtnecM,
Whereof I know she is not ignorant.
Shot., T. of the 8., Ii. :. .W.
A teienee Is an aggregate of knowledge whose particn-
lur Items are more closely related to one another In the
w.iy • A kinship than to any other collective masa of par-
til ulars. A. Bain, Mind, XIII. 527.
4. Art derived from precepts or based on prin-
ciples; skill n'sulting from training; special,
exceptional, or preeminent skill.
Nothing but his tcimce, coolneaa, and great strength in
the saddle could often have saved htm from some terrible
accident. Lawrence, (luy Livingstone, v.
Kerkyon . . . killed all those who wrestleil with him,
exo-pt only Theseus ; but Theseus wrestle*! with him by
skill nnd wri^nce ((ro^i«X*nd so overcame him ; and liefore
the time of Theseus sise and strength only were employed
for wrestling.
Paiuaniat (timns.X quoted in Harrison and Verrall,
{Ancient Athens, p. cv.
6t. Trade ; occupation.
The more labfnirsome sci^nor* be committed to the men.
For the most part, every man is brought up in his father's
craft. Sir T. Jforc, L'topia (tr. liy iloblnsonX ii. 4.
5397
This very deuice [ferro et flamma] ... a certaliie base
man of England being knowen euen at that time a brick-
layer or mason by his science gaue for his crest.
PuUenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 119.
Absolute science, knowledge of things in themselves.
— Active science. Same &8practicai science. — Applied
science, a scit-nce when its laws are employed and ex-
emplilied in ilcaling with concrete phenomena, as op-
posed to pure science, as mathematics, wlien it treats of
laws or general statements apart from particular instances.
The term pure science is also applied to a science built on
self-evident truths, and thus conipi-ehends mathematical
science, as opposed to natural or physical science, which
rests on observation and experiment. — Articulation Of
a science. >^ee articulation. — Direct science, a science
conversant with objects, as contradistinguishetl from one
conversant with the modes of knowing uhjects. — Dispu-
tative science, eristic science, logic. — Historical sci-
ence, a science whose function it is to recoiil fai-ts, or
events that have actu.ally occurretl. — Inductive science.
See tndu<rfiw. — Liberal science, a science cultivated
from love of knowledge, and not as a means of livelihood.
— Lucrative science, a science cultivated as a means of
living, as law, medicine, theology, etc. — Material sci-
ence. See »«rt/crwi;. — Moral science, the science of all
mental phenoniena, or, in a narrower sense, the same as
moral pfiilo.<ophi/ or ethics. — Natural SCienCC. ''^ee nat-
ural. — Occult sciences. Sec oecuti. — Physical science.
See apfjlieU science, above. — Political, real, reflex, san-
itary science. See the adjectives. — Practical science,
a science which teaches how to do something u.sefiil.—
Professional science. Same as fua-ah'tw wnV/irc— Sim-
ple science. Same as direct science. — Speculative sci-
ence, a science which merely satisfies scientitic curiosi-
ty.— Tbe dismal science, imlitical economy. [Humor-
ousj — The exact sciences, the niathcniatical sciences.
— The gay sciencet. see yni/i.- The science, the art
of boxing ; pugilism, [slang.]
Up to that time he had never been aware that he had
the least notion of the science. Dickens, Pickwick, xlix.
The seven liberal sciencest, grammar, logic, and rhet-
oric, constituting the *■ trivium," with arithmetic, music,
geometry, aud astronomy, constituting the "quadrivium."
Also called the seven arts.
The two Apollinarii were fain, as a man may say, to
coin all the seven liberal sciences out of the Bible.
MUtan, Areopagitica, 1, ii.
= Syn. 3 and i. Art, Science. See art!!.
sciencedt (si'enst), a. [< science + -e(P.'\
Versed; instructed; skilled; learned; trained.
Deep sdenc'd in the mazy lore
Of mad philosophy.
P. Francis, tr. of Horace's Odes, L 34.
Scienoldes, ". ;>'. See SeUenidse.
scient (si'ent), a. [< L. ««>«(<-)», knowing,
skilled, ppr. of scire, know, understand, per-
ceive, discern, have knowledge or skill, <
■y/ Hci, separate, discern, = Teut. -y/ ski in aklll,
etc. : SCO skiU. From the L. scire are also tilt.
E. science, sciali.st, sciolou.i, etc., conscience, con-
scious, inseient, nescient, prescient, inseiencf, nes-
cience, preseinicr, aiiseititious, the second ele-
ment of plehiseitc, etc.] Skilful; knowing.
[Rare.] Imp. Diet.
scienter (si-eu't^rj, adr. [L., knowingly, in-
tentionally, < scien(t-)s, knowing, intending:
see ."ciViif.] In /rtin, knowingly; wilfully.
sciential (si-en'shal), a. [< L. scientia, science
(see science), + -aV.] 1. Of or pertaining to
science or knowledge ; producing or productive
of knowledge.
His light sciential is. snd. past mere nature.
Can salve the rude defects of every creature.
B. Jonmn, Mas<iue of Blackness.
Those seienUdl rules which are the implements of in-
stmctlon. Milton, Tetrachordon.
2. Skilful; knowing; characterized by accu-
rate knowledge based on observation and in-
ference.
Not one hour old, yet of sciential brain
To nuperplex bliss from its neighlior pain.
Keals, lAmia, L 1»2.
SCienticlan (si-en-tish'an), ». [< scient (see
scienti.'<t) + -ictVin.] A scientist; a person de-
voted to science. [Recent.]
The resson why seienticians have neglected to investi-
gate the laws of the currents thoroughly, and to discover
the truth concerning them, is that they have not re-
garded them as of much Importance. Science, V. 142.
scientific (si-en-tif Mk), a. [< OF. (and F.) sci-
entitique = f^p, cientijUeo = Pg. It. scientifico,
< NL. 'scientificus, pertaining to science, lit.
'making scient or knowing,' < L. scien(t-)s, ppr.
of scire, know, + -ficus, < facere, make : see
»rte«( and -/ir. The word is now used instead
ot sciential, ihc proper adj. from science.'] 1.
Concerned with the acquisition of accurate and
systematic knowledge of principles by obser-
vation and deduction: as, scientific investiga-
tion.
No man who first trafflcks Into a foreign country has
any scientifick evidence that there is such a country but
by report, which can produce no more than a moral
certainty ; that is, a very high probability, and such as
there can be no reason to except against.
South. (Johnson.)
Scilla
2. Of or pertaining to, treating of, or used in
science: as, scientific works; scientific instru-
ments ; scientific nomenclature.
Voyages and travels, when not obscured by scientific ob-
servations, are always delightful to youthful curiosity.
V. Knox, Essays, xiv. (Richardson.)
3. Versed in science ; guided by the principles
of science, and not by empiricism ormere quack-
ery; hence, learned; skilful: as, a scjch /j/ic phy-
sician.
Bossuet is as scientific in the structure of his sentences.
Landor.
4. According to the miles or principles of
science ; hence, systematic ; accurate ; nice :
as, a scientific arrangement of fossils.
Such cool, judicious, scientific atrocity seemed rather to
belong to a fiend than to the roost depraved of men.
Macaulay, Machiavelli.
The scientific treatment of the facts of consciousness can
never be, to any satisfactory extent, accomplished by in-
trospection alone.
Q. T. Ladd, Physiol. Psychology, Int. p. 10.
Literary and Scientific Institutions Act. See inHi-
t«tio?i.— Scientific experience, relatively complete ex-
perience about any class of objects, obtained by system-
atic research.— Scientific knowledge, knowledge of the
causes, conditions, and general chju^cters of classes of
things.
Scientific knowledge, even in the most modest persons,
has mingled with it a something which partakes of inso-
lence. O. W. Holmes, Autocrat, iiL
Sdentiflc logic, logic properly speaking ; the knowledge
of the theory of reasoning and of thinking in general, as
opposed to cultural skill and suhthtn. — Scientific meth-
od. See tnffAod.— Scientific psychology. See imjchol-
otni.
SCientificalt (si-en-tif'i-kal), a. [< scientific +
-al.] Harae as scientific.
The most speculative and scientificallegt Men, both in
Germany and Italy, seem to adhere to it [the idea that the
moon is inhabited). Howell, Letters, iii. 9.
Natural philosophy . . . proceeding fi*om settled prin-
ciples, therein is expected a satisfaction from scientifical
progressions, and such as beget a sure rational belief.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., L 7.
No where are there more quick, inventive, and pene-
trating capacities, fraught with all kind of scientifical
knowledge. Howell.
The systems of natural philosophy that have obtained
are to be read more to know the hypothases than with
hopes to gain there a comprehensive, scientifical, and sat-
isfactory knowledge of the works of nature. Locke.
It appears to be a very scientifical work.
Jefferson, To Thomas Paine (Correspondence, II. 416X
scientifically (si-en-tif 'i-kal-i), adv. In a seien-
titie manner; according to the rules or princi-
ples of science.
It is easier to believe than to be seienHfieaUy instructed.
Locke, Human Understanding.
scientism (si'en-tizm), n. [< scient (see scien-
tist) + -ism.] " The views, tendency, or prac-
tice of scientists. [Recent.]
Mr. Harrison's earnest and eloquent plea against . . .
the exclusive scientism which, because it cannot find
certain entities along its line of investigation, asserts
loudly that they are either non-existent or " unknowable,"
is strong. Nineteenth Century. (Imp. Diet.)
scientist (si'en-tist), K. [< scient + -ist. In
this word, and in scientism, seientician, the base
is formally scient as given, but it is practically
scient-, the base of }j. scientia, science; scientist
being equiv. to "sciencist, < science + -itt.] A
person versed in or devoted to science ; a man
of science ; a savant.
As we cannot use physician for a cultivator of physics,
I have called him a physicist. We need very much a
name to describe a cultivator of science In general. I
should incline to call him a ScietUist.
Whetcell, Pbilos. Inductive Sciences (ed. 1840),
[I., Aphorisms, p. cxiii.
BCientistic (si-en-tis'tik), fl. [< scientist + -ic]
Making pretensions to scientific method, but
really not in the right.
The seientistic haranguer is indebted to the religion he
attacks for the reckless notoriety he attains.
D. D. Whedon, quoted in N. Y. Independent, .Tune 19, 1879.
Seientistic denotes the methoil of one-sided scientists.
Cams, Fundamental Problems (trans.) (1889X p. 33.
SCientolism (si-en'to-lizm), «. ' [< scient + dim,
-1)1+ -ism; alter sciolism.] False science ; su-
periicial or inaccurate knowledge. Fallows.
SCi. fa. An abbreviation of scire facias.
scil. An abbreviation of .leilicet.
scilicet (sil'i-set), adv. [L., a contraction of
scire licet, lit. 'it is permitted to know' (like
the AS. hit is to witanne, 'it is to wit'): scire,
know (see scient); licet, it is permitted or pos-
sible: see /icf/ise. Ct.videlicet.] To wit; videli-
cet; namely. Abbreviated scii. or «c.
Sdlla (sira), ». [NL. (Linn»us, 1737, then in-
cluding the squill, rri/inea Scilla), < L. scilla,
squilta, < Gr. aKiXAa (also axivn(), a squill, sea-
onion: see squill.] 1. A genus of liliaceous
Scilla
5398
plants, type of the tribe SciVese. it is character- Scindapsus (sin-dap'sus), ». [NL. (Sehott,
scioptic
ued by flowers with separate spreading perianth-segments,
marked by a single central nerve, stamens with thread-
shaped filaments, and a three-celled ovary with slender
style, and usually two ovules in each cell. The fruit is a
thin globose three-lobed capsule, long enveloped by the
withered perianth, and containing three to sii black obo-
void or roundish seeds with a hard albumen. There are
about SO species, natives of the Old World throughout
temperate regions, and also within the tropics upon
mountains, with one species said to occur in Chili. They
are stemless plants from an onion-like coated bulb, with
narrow radical leaves, and flowers on a leafless scape, wliich
are blue, pink, or purple, and form racemes which are of-
ten very much prolonged. Many are cultivated for bor-
ders, especially S. tttneemda (S. Sibirica), with porcelain-
blue flowere in earliest spring. (For various species former-
ly classed here, see sutifft, Urginea, Camassia, and camass.)
SeTeral species are known as tcild hyacinth, (See hva-
ciiUh, 2.) S. vema, the spring s<iuill of England, is also
known as sea-onion. S. nutans, a beautiful species abun-
dant in British copses, by some assigned to a genus Jin-
dymion (Dumortier, 1827), is known in England as blmbell,
in Scotland as harebell, exchanging names with Campanula
rotundiMia, which is the bluebell of Scotland, but the
harebell of England and the United States. S. nutnns is
also known as bell-botlle, crow-bells, crmv-leek. See also
ctdverkey, 2, and cut under scope.
2. [/. C.J In the United States and British phar-
macopoeias, the sliced bulb of Urginea Scilla ;
squill. It is used in medicine as an expectorant
and diuretic.
ScilleSB (sil'e-e), n.pl. [NL. (Bartling, ]830),
< Scilla + -eee.'\ A tribe of liliaceous plants,
characterized by the flowers being borne in
a terminal leatless and unbranched raceme.
They do not produce umbels as the related tribe AUieee,
nor flowers so few nor so large as theTidipese; otherwise.
In habit and in growth from a coated bulb, the three tribes
are closely akin. The SdXlete include about 23 genera,
of which Scilla is the type, mainly natives of temperate
climates and very largely South African. For important
genera, see Ilyacinthus, Museari, Omithogalum, Camassia.
scillocephalous (sil-o-sef'a-lus), a. [< Gr.
nKiX/MKc^aAo^, also axivoKe<pa?.og, having a squill-
shaped head (an epithet applied to Pericles), <
aKi?./.a, squill, + Kt^oA?), head.] Having a point-
ed head.
scillocephalus (sil-o-sef'a-lus), n.; pi. sclllo-
cephali (-li). [NL.': see" scillocephaloits.'] A
person having a cranium which is conical or
pointed.
Scillonian (si-16'ni-an), n. [< Scilly (see def.)
+ -oii-ian.} A native or an inhabitant of the
Scilly Islands, a small group southwest of Eng-
land.
scimitar, scimiter, ». See simitar.
SCiac, '.'. See skiid-3.
Scincidae (sin'si-de), n. pi. [NL., < Scincus +
-«rf«.] A family of eriglossate laoertilians,
having united parietal bones, the supratempo-
ral fossa? roofed over, clavicles dilated proxi-
mally, arches present, premaxillary double,
and the body provided with osteodermal plates
as in the Gerrhosauridx : it is typified by the
1832), so called from the climbing habit ; < Grl
BKivdaTl>6(, an ivy-like shrub of doubtful genus.]
A genus of monocotyledonous plants, of the
order Araccse, tribe MoiistcroidcsF, and subtribe
Monsierese. it is characterized by a shrubby climb-
ing stem, branches bearing numerous usually oblique
leaves with numerous nearly equal curving veins, and
bisexual flowers without floral envelops, consistii'ig of
four stamens and a thick truncate and somewhat pris- SCintiUoUS (sin'ti-lus), «. [Also scintillose ; <
matic ovary which is strongly dilated upward and con- L. scintilla a snarV (spr aninm]n\ -U /»,,■> n
tains one cell and one ovule with a large embryo desti- Scintilla, t tpo^t 1 ^ «eintUla), + -ous.J
tute of albumen. There are 8 species, natives of the East ('^'''''"ani. LKare.J
Indies, especially Bengal and Java. They are climbing SCmtlllOUSly (sm ti-lus-li), adv. [Early mod.
shrubs clinging by rootlets produced on the branches, E. syntilhusly ; < scintillous + -lifi "1 In a scin-
and bear taper-pointed leaves, ovate or narrower, with tillous or sparkling manner.
and at adistance from itof about twenty-flve millimeters.
The plate is rotated about the aiis liy a mechanism. By
this device, the rays of light from a star are refracted
through the inclined glass plate, and the image describes
a perfect circle in the field. If the star undergoes no
change, the circumference is a continuous line exhibiting
the color of the star ; but if the star scintillates, this cir-
cumference is divided into fugitive arcs of dilferent colors.
The number of changes of color per unit of time indicates
the intensity of the scintillation.
long broadly sheathing petioles. The flowers are borne in
dense masses over a cylindrical spadix inclosed in a boat-
shaped spathe, and form in fruit a syncarp of closely
united juicy beiTies. Many remarkable plants of other a>>inirr9nTi'<r Csi r^cr'ra fi\ « «o,v,o „„ „^.-, i
genera have been cultivated under this name, especially SClOgrapny (Sl-og ra-ti), n. Same as sciagraphy.
Wyth theyr eyen beholdinge a trauers of stomackes
chaufed syntillaudy. SkMon, Boke of Three Fooles.
those Witt perforated leaves now classed under Monstera.
Some species have been called Indian toy, as fi^. hedera-
The first sciagraphy, or rude delineation, of atheism.
Cudumrth, Intellectual System (1C78X v. § 3.
cea, a vine with abruptly pointed leaves. Several bear o/.i'nUam Coi'A i;,t«\ „ r/ „„; 7 _i_
ornamental white-mottled leaves, as S. (Po(Ao8) or(;j/r«o, SClOllSm (Sl 9-llzm), n. l< sciol-ous +
cultivated from the Philippines under the name silver-
vine. Several others have often been cultivated under
the name Pathos. The fruit of 5. officinalis is prescribed
in India as a diaphoretic, dried sections of it being sold
by the native druggists under the name guj-pippid.
scinkt, SCinquet, n. See skink^.
- »»»(.]
Superficial knowledge ; unfounded pretense to
profound or scientific knowledge.
A status not only much beneath my own, but associated
at best with the sciolumi of literary or political adven-
turers. Oearge Eliot, Middlemarch, xxxvii.
scintilla (sin-til'S), n. [= OF. scintille = Sp.
centella = Pg. scintilla, centclha = It. scintilla,
< L. scintilla, a spark; cf. Gr. amv6j/p, a spark;
perhaps^akin to AS. seinan, etc. shine: see sciolist (si'o-list), n. [< sdol-ous + -ist.] One
who has only superficial knowledge ; a pre-
Here [in Macbeth) there is some genuine ground for
the generally baseless and delusive opinion of self-com-
placent sciolism that he who runs may read .Shakespeare.
A. C. Switiimme, Shakespeare, p. 186.
shine. Hence ult. (from L. scintilla) E. scintil-
late, etc., stencil, tinsel.'] 1. A spark; a glim-
mer ; hence, the least particle ; a trace ; a tittle.
Perhaps Philip's eyes and mine exchanged glances in
which ever so small a scintilla of mischief might sparkle.
Thackeray, Philip, xiv.
This single quotation . . . throws no scintilla of light
upon the point in question.
Lowell, Study Windows, p. 365.
2. \_cap.'\ [NL.] In .?o67. : (fl) A genus of bi-
valve mollusks. Deshayes, 1855. (6) A genus of
lepidopterous insects. Guende, 1879,
Juris^ a shadow of law or right.
scintlllant (sin'ti-lant), a. [= F. scintillant =
Sp. ceutellante = I*g. It. scintillante, < L. scin-
tillan{t-)s, ppr. of scintillare, sparkle, glitter,
gleam, flash: see scintillate.'] 1. Emitting lit-
tle sparks or flashes of light; scintillating;
sparkling; twinkling.
But who can view the pointed rays
That from black eyes scintillant blaze?
M. Green, The Spleen.
Slim spires
And palace-roofs and swollen domes uprose
Like scintillant stalagmites Iti the sun.
T. li. Aldrich, Pythagoras.
2. In her., sparkling; having sparks as if of
fire issuing from it: noting any bearing so rep-
resented.
genus ScincMS; the skinks. The family is wide- scintillante (shen-til-lan'te), o. [It.: see sctm
iy distributed, and the species and genera are
very numerous. See cuts under Cyclodus, Scin-
cus, and skink.
SCinciform (sin'si-fdrm), a. [< L. scincus, skink,
+ forma, form.] Resembling a skink in form
or aspect; related to the skinks; scineoid.
SCincoid (sing'koid), a. and n. [< NL. Scincus
+ -oid.] I. a. Resembling a skink; related
or belonging to the Scincidse; seinoiform.
H. n. A member of the Seincidse in a broad
sense.
Scincoidea (sing-koi'de-a), n. pi. [NL., <
Scincus + -oidea.] A group corresponding to
the Scincoides of Oppel, containing forms now
separated in different families; the scineoid
or scinciform lizards.
Scincoidian (sing-koi'di-an), a. and n. [< scin-
eoid + -i-an.] Same &s scineoid.
Scincus (sing'kus), n. [NL. (Laurenti), < L.
scincus, < Gr. cidyKot:, nKiyyog, a kind of lizard:
see sUnk'^.'] The typical genus of the family
tender to profound or scientific knowledge ; a
smatterer.
It is the ingrateful Genius of this Age that. If any Sciolist
can find a Hole in an old Author's Coat, he will endeavour
to make it much more wide. Uowell, Letters, iv. 31.
It is of great importance that those whom I love should
not think me a precipitate, silly, shallow sciolist in politics,
and suppose that every frivolous word that falls from my
pen is a dogma which I mean to advance as indisputable.
Macaulay, in Trevelyan, 1. 105.
ScintlUa Sciolistic (si-o-lis'tik), a. [< sciolist + -»c.] Of
or pertaining to sciolism or sciolists ; resem-
bling a sciolist ; having only superficial know-
ledge; shallow.
From its apparently greater freedom in skilful hands,
blank verae gives more scope to sciolistic theorizing and
dogmatism than the rhyming pentameter couplet.
Lowell, Among my Books, II. 298.
SCiolous (si'o-lus), a. [= Sp. esdolo = Pg. es-
ciolo = It. sciolo, < LL. sciolus, one who knows
little, a smatterer, prop. dim. adj., < L. scire,
know: see «cie>i«.] Superficial; shallow.
I could wish these scioloits zelotists had more judgement
joined with their zeal. Howell.
The speculations of the sciolous.
Hoffman, Course of Legal Study (2d ed., 1836), II. 196.
SCiolto (shiol'to), a. [It., pp. of scioglicre, un-
tie, loose, dissolve, < L. exsolrere, loose, < ex,
out, + sofrere, loose : see solve.] In tnusic : (a)
Free; unrestrained: opposed to strict: as, a
fuga stnolla (a free fugue). (6) Not legato ; de-
tached; staccato.
SCiomachy (si-om'a-ki), n. See sciamachy.
tillant.] In music, brilliant: sparkling.
scintillate (sin'ti-lat), v. i. ; pret. and pp. scin-
tillated, ppr. scintillating. [< L. scintillatus, pp.
of scintillare (> It. scintillare = Pg. scintillar =
8p.centellar,centellear = 'PT.scintillar = F.scm-
tiller), sparkle, glitter, gleam, flash, < scintilla, a SCiomancy (si'o-man-si), n. [= OF. sHomance
„„„-!,. „„„ „».„i.j7„ n m -^ ,__ , = Sp. It. 6CJowia«c!«, < Gr. OT(4, a shade, shadow,
+ ftavreia, divination.] Divination by means
of the shades of the dead; psychomancy.
SCiomantic (si-6-man'tik), a. [< sciomancy
i-mant-) + -ic] Of or pertaining to sciomancy.
scion (si'pn), n . [Formerly also sion, scien, cion,
cyan; < ME. sion, sioun, syon, scion, cion, cynn,
< OF. sion, cion, F. scion, dial, chion, a scion,
shoot, sprig, twig; orig. a 'sawing,' a 'cutting,'
< OF. sier, F. scier, saw, cut, = Sp. Pg. segar,
cut, mow, reap, = It. segare, < L. secare, cut:
see secant, section. The proper spelling is sion ;
the insertion of c in the F. word, and so into
the E., is as erroneous as in the E. scythe,
SkiDlc (SCTHCHS tifficinaiis).
Sdncidee: formerly used with great latitude,
now restricted to a few species of northern
Africa and Syria, as S. officinalis, the officinal
skink, or adda, onee in high medical repute.
spark: see scintilla.] To emit sparks; hence,
to sparkle or twinkle, as the fixed stars.
A very long silence succeeded. What struggle there
was in him between Nature and Grace in this interval, I
can not tell ; only singular gleams scintillated in his eyes,
and strange shadows passed over his face.
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xxxv.
While Holmes's rockets curve their long ellipse.
And burst in seeds of fire that burst again
To drop in scintillating rain.
Lowell, Agassiz, ill. 3.
= S3m. Sparkle, Glister, etc. (see glared, v. {.), coruscate.
scintillation (sin-ti-la'shon), n. [< F. scintilla-
tion = Pr. scintilacio = Sp. centilacion = Pg.
scintillagSo = It. scintillazione, < L. seintilla-
tio{n-), < scintillare, pp. scintillatus, sparkle : see
scintillate.] 1. The act of scintillating, or
emitting sparks or spark-like flashes of light ;
the act of sparkling. — 2. A flash; a spark.
Some scintillations of Promethean fire.
Cowper, tr. of Milton's Ode to his Father.
3. Specifically, the twinkling or tremulous mo-
tion of the light of the larger fixed stars. By
shaking the head, so as to elongate the image, it is seen
that not merely the intensity, but also the color of the
light varies. See scintillcmteter.
scintillometer (sin-ti-lom'e-ter), n. [< L. scin-
tilla, a spark, + Gr. fii-pov, measure.] An in-
strument devised by Montigny for measuring
the intensity of scintillation of the stars. The
apparatus consists essentially of a circular glass plate
mounted obliquely upon an axis very near and in front of
which is from the same ult. root, and in which
the c likewise appar. simulates a connection
with L. scindere, cut.] 1. A shoot or twig,
especially one cut for the purpose of being
grafted upon some other tree, or for planting.
As well the seedes
As scioyis from the grettest roote ysette.
PaUadius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 53.
Our scions, put in wild or savage stock.
Shak., Hen. V., ill. 6. 7.
Hence — 2. A descendant.
Hereelf the solitary scion left
Of a time-honoiu''d race.
Byron, The Dream, ii.
Was he proud — a true scion of the stock?
Browning, Ring and Book, II. 331.
Gr.
iquejy upon an axis very near and ni front of ai-innt-in /oT ,^^'^■;l,^ ^ r r> ■ ,■ y
of a telescope. An opening in the center of SClOptlC (si-op tlk), a. [= Pg. scioptico, <
jwsthe insertion of a ring, through which '"^"'t & shade, shadow, + OTrrMtif, pertaining
the eyepiece
the plate allows the insertion of a ring, through which OKia, a sliade, shadow, + OTTTiKd^, pertaining to
passes the axis, parallel to the optical axis of the telescope sight or seeing : see opitic] Of or pertaining to
scioptic
the eamera obscura, or the art of exhibiting
luminous images in a darkened room. Also
scioptric Scioptic ball, a perforated globe of wood
containing tlie lens of a camera obscura, titled with an ap-
pendage by means of which it is capable of being turned
on its center to a small extent in any direction, lilce the
eye. It may be tlxe*l at an aperture in a window-shutter,
and is used for producing images in a darkened room.
SCiopticon (si-op'ti-kon), H. [< Gr. omd, a shade,
shadow, + d-T(K6c, pertauiing to sight or see-
iufr: see ypfic] A form of magic lantern.
SCioptiCS (si-op'tiks), n. [PI. of scioptic (see
-ii-.v;.] The art of exhibiting luminous images,
especially those of external objects, in a dark-
ened room, by means of lenses, etc.
scioptric (si-op'trik), a. Sa,me tts scioptic. Com-
ji;iri' catoptric.
Sciot, Sciote (si'ot, -6t), ». and a. [< It. Scio,
< Gr. X»x;, Chios ; cf. NGr. Xfiir^.] I. n. A na-
tive or an inhabitant of Scio or Chios ; a Chiote.
II. rt. Of or belonging to Scio, ancient Chios,
an islaiul of the ^llgean Sea, or its inhabitants.
SCiotheism (si'o-thf-izm), «. [Formed by Hux-
ley < (ir. oKia, a shade, shadow, + E. theism.'\
The deification of ghosts or the shades of de-
parted ancestors ; ancestral worship.
Seifittieitm, under the form of the deificatioa of anceiitnil
ghosts, in its most pronounced form, is therefore the chief
element in the thojlogy of agreat moiety, possibly of more
than half, of the human race.
llwUey, Nineteenth Century, XIX. 494.
sciotheric (.si-o-ther'ik), a. Same as sciatheric.
Scio turpentine. Same as Chian turpentine.
See t'hlfin.
scire facias (sl're fa'shi-as). [So called from
these words in the writ : L. scire, know (see
Hcient); facian, 2d pers. sing. pres. subj. ot fa-
cere, make, cause.] In laic, a writ to enforce
the execution of judgments, patents, or mat-
ters of record, or to vacate, quash, or annul
them. It is often abbreviated to sci.fa.
scire- wytet, n. [ME. (or ML. reflex), mod. E. as
if 'ahiniritc; < AS. scir, scire, shire (see shire),
+ icitt, punishment, tax in money: see tci7<".]
The annual tax formerly paid to the sheriff for
holiling the assizes and county courts.
Bcirgemot, ». [AS. scirgemot: see shiremoot.']
SaTiie as shiremoot.
1 h<- voice which the simple freeman, the Ceorl, had In
the .Assembly of his Hark, be would not. lose In the As-
sembly of his .Shire, the Scirgemot.
E. A. Freeman, Norm. Conq., I. 68.
sciroccot, n. An obsolete form of sirocco.
Scirpese (str'oe-e), n.pl. [NL. (Nees von Esen-
bi'ck, 18;J4), < Scirpits + -««.] A large tribe of
monocotyledonous plants, of the order Cypera-
cea, the sedge family, it Is characterized by numer-
ous mostly bisexual Sowers in each spikelet, without emp-
ty glume* or with only one or two, and without perianth or
with its representatives reduced to flltforra bristles or to
flattened scales. It Includes about 1,M0 species, of 17
genera, of which Sdrpus, the bulrush, is the type. They
are grassltke or mshlike plants, with either triangular
or rounded stems, and with long flat triangular or cylin-
drical leaves. The Inflorescence becomes chiefly con-
spicuous when In fruit, and is often ornamental from its
sh»t>c or from Its dark-brown oolor% or by reason of the
fr. I It lit lengthening ottlie bristle* into wooUy or plume-
Ilk' !llfU.
Scirpua (ser'pus). n. [XL. (Toumefort, 1700),
< 1j. scirpus, sirpiis, a rush, bulrush.] A genus
of monocotyledonous plants including the bul-
nishes, type of the tnbe Scirpeae in the order
f^yperacetp. It is characteriwd by small many-flowered
rmuidisb splkelets with Imbricated and numerous glumes,
each flower bisexual and usually with six bristle*, repre-
senting a perianth, and surrounding the orary, from which
the continuous and slender
style fsUs away without leav-
ing any conspicuous tuben;le.
Over :W0 specie* havfe been
described, now reduced to
200 by the beat authorities.
Abrjut HO species occur in
the I nit«l .States They are
small tufted or floating an-
nuals, or strong perennials
with a creeping rootatock,
bearing usually a compound
panicle of numerous brown
spikelets, sometimes reduced
to a small cluster or solitary.
They are known by the gen-
eral names butrwih and aub-
nuh. the flrst spplied espe-
nccidrntnliii and the kindred
species .S'. Tatora are the tule
of falifonda. (»ee tulr. ) S.
marilinuu, the sea club-rush.
I. Flow«niig PUnt of Bulntih
(Srtr^Mt Ittclfjtni). s. The
■ nfl'treKcnce. a, a flowcf ; i, the
fniit.
6399
with a dense compact cluster of large spreading spikelets,
each often over an inch long, is a characteristic feature of
sea-shore marshes in both tropical and temperate climates
throughout the world. (For S. cstgpitogiig, see deer-hair.)
Several species of Eriophorum were formerly referred
here, as E. cypninum, the most conspicuous of American
rushes in fresh-water swamps, and known as wool-grass
and cotton-yrass.
scirrlioid (sir'- or skir'oid), a. [< scirrhus +
-oi<l.'\ Resembling scirrhus.
scirrhous (sir'- or skir'us), a. [Also seirrous; <
OF. scirrheux, F. squirreux, squirrheux = Sp.
escirroso = Pg. scirrhoso = It. scirroso, < NL.
'scirrliostis, < scirrh us, < L. scirros, a hard swell-
ing: see scirrhus.'] Proceeding from, or of the
nature of, sciiThus; resembling a scirrhus; in-
durated : as, a scirrhous tumor.
Blow, flute, and stir the stitl-set sprigs,
And ncirrhous roots and tendons.
Tennyson, Amphion.
A gamesome expression of face, shining, scirrhous skin,
and a plump, ruby head. S. Judd, Margaret, i. 2.
Scirrhous bronobocele, cancer of the thyroid gland.—
Scirrhous cancer, a hard carcinoma, with abundant
struma, usually uf slow growth.
scirrhus (sir'- or skir'us), n. [= OF. scirre, P.
squirre = Sp. eseirro = Pg. scirrlio, scirro =
It. scirro, < NL. scirrhus, < L. scirros, < Gr. OKip-
pof, prop. OKipoc, any hard coat or covering, a
tumor.] A bard tumor; specifically and now
exclusively, a scirrhous cancer. See above.
SCirtopod (ser'to-pod), a. and n. [< NL. scirto-
piis {-pod-), < Gr. amprav, spring, leap, bound, +
voif (iTod-) = E.foot.] I. a. Having saltatorial
feet, or limbs fitted for leaping; specifically,
pertaining to the Scirtopoda, or having their
characters.
n. n . A scirtopod rotifer, or saltatorial wheel-
animalcule.
Scirtopoda (s^r-top'o-dS), n. pi. [NL., neut.
pi. of scirtopus: see scirtopod.] An order of
rotifers which swim by means of their wheel-
organs and also skip by means of hollow mus-
cular limbs ; the saltatorial wheel-animalcules.
It contains the family Pedalionidx. C. T. Hud-
son, 1884. See cut under rotifer.
BCiscitationt (sis-i-ta'shon), n. [< L. sciscita-
tio(n-), an inquiry, < seiscitari, inquire, ques-
tion, < sciscere, scisei, search, seek to know, in-
ceptive of acire, know: Beescient.] The act of
inquiring; inquiry; demand.
There is not a more noble proofe of our faith then to
captivate all the powers of our understanding and will to
our Creator ; and, without all seiseitations, to goe blinde-
fold whither hee will leade us.
Bp. Uall, The Annunciation.
BCiset (siz), V. i. [< L. scindere, pp. scissus, out,
divide: see scission.] To cut; penetrate.
The wicked steel seised deep in his right side.
Fttir/ax. (.Eneye. Diet.)
BCismf, BCismatict, etc. Obsolete forms of
schism, etc.
BCissart, scissarst. Obsolete spellings of scis-
sor, scissors.
SCissel (sis'el), It. [Also scissil, scissile, sizel;
< OF. (and V.) cisaille, usually in pi. cisailles,
clippings of metal, etc., < eisehr, cut, chisel, <
cisel, F. ciseau, a chisel : see ehiseP. The spell-
ings scissel, scissil, scissile, simulate, as with scis-
sors, a coDDection with L. scindere, pp. scissus,
cut, divide (see scissile^, scission).] 1. The clip-
pings of various metals, produced in several
mechanical operations. — 2. The remainder of
a plate of metal after the planehets or circu-
lar blanks have been cut out for the purpose of
coinage ; scrap.
scissible (sis'i-Dl), a. [< L. scindere, pp. scissus,
cut, divide, + -ible.] Capable of being cut or
divided, as by a sharp instrument.
The difTerences of Impressible and not Impressible, flg-
urable and not flguriMe, mouldable and not mouldable,
sciuiUe and not scistOtie, and many other passions of mat-
ter are pletwian notiona, applied luito the instruments and
uses which men ordinarily practise.
Bacon, Nat Hist., | 840.
Bcissil (sis'il), n. Same as scissel.
scissile^ (sis'il), a. [= F. scissile = It. scissile,
< L. scissilis, that may easily be split or cleft, <
scindere, pp. scissus, cut, divide.] Capable of
being cut or divided, as by a sharp instrument ;
scissible.
Animal fat ... is seissHe like a solid.
Arbuttuut, Aliments, vL
scissile'-' (sis'il), ». Same as scissel.
acission (sish'on), n. [< F. scission = It. scis-
tione, < LL. srissioln-), a cleaving or dividing, <
L. scindere, pp. scissus, cut, divide ; cf. Gr. axt-
Ctif, cleave, split, divide (see schism). From
the L. scindere are also ult. E. scissile^ , abscind,
rescind, abscissa, shindle, shingle^, etc. ; also
scissors
prob. schedule.] 1. The act of cutting or di-
viding, as with an edged instrument; the state
of being cut; hence, division ; fission; cleavage;
splitting.
This was the last blow struck for freedom in the Wal-
loon country. The failure of the movement made that
scission of the Netherlands certain which has endured
till our days. Motley, Dutch Republic, III. 404.
2t. Schism. Jamieson.
SCissiparity (sis-i-par'i-ti), n. [< L. scissus, pp.
of scindere, cut, divide, + parere, bring forth,
beget, -t- -ity: see parity^.] In biol., schizo-
genesis; reproduction by fission ; fissiparity.
Scissirostrum (sis-i-ros'trum), n. [NL. (La-
fresnaye, 1845, also Sissirostrum), < L. scissus,
pp. of scindere, cut, divide, + rostrum, beak.]
A monotypic genus of sturnoid passerine birds
of Celebes, with cuneate tail, spurious first
primary, scutellate tarsi, and peculiar beak.
S. dulrium was originally named by Latham, in 1801, the
Stissir<utrutH dHbium.
dvbious shrike (Lanivs dubivs\ and in 184.5 redescribed
by Lafresnaye as Sissirostrum pagei ; it is 8 inches long,
of a slate-gray color shading into greenish-black on some
parts, having the rump and upper tail-coverts with waxy
crimson tips and a few crimson-tipped feathers on the
flanks.
scissor, «. The singular of scissors.
scissor (siz'or), f. t. [Formerly also sdssar;
< scissors, ».] To cut with scissors; prepare
with the help of scissors.
Let me know
Why mine own barber is unblest, with him
My poor chin too, for 'tis not scissar'd just
To such a favourite's glass?
Fletcher (and another), Two Noble Kinsmen, i. i,
SCissorbill (siz'or-bil), w. A skimmer ; a bird of
the genus l{hyncho}>s : derived from the French
hec-en-ciseaux. See skimmer'^, 3, and cut under
Ehynchops.
scissor-bird (siz'or-berd), n. Same as scissor-
tail.
scissoring (siz'or-ing), n. [Verbal n. of scissor,
v.] A cupping made with scissors.
A Weekly .Scrap paper, made up of scissorings from other
newspapers. Contemporary Rev.
scissorium (si-sd'ri-um), n. ; pi. scissoria (-ii).
[ML., also cissorium, cisoriiim, a trencher, also
a butcher's knife, < L. scindere, pp. scissus, out,
cleave: see scissile.] A wooden trencher used
in the middle ages.
scissors (siz'orz), n. pi. [The spelling scissors,
formerly also scissors, simulating a derivation
from h. scissor, one who cleaves or divides, a
carver, in ML. also a tailor, is an alteration of
the early mod. E. cisors, cizors, cizers, cizars,
cissers, cysers, siiers, sizars, sizzers, < ME. 'cis-
ers, cysers, cysors, cisovres, cysowres, sisoures,
scsours, < OF. cisoires, scissors, shears, F. cis-
oires, shears (cf. cisoir, a graver), = It. cesoje,
scissors, < ML. 'scissorium, found only in other
senses (scissorium, cissorium, cisorium, cinsori-
um, a trencher on which meat is cut, cisorium,
a butcher's cleaver), < L. scindere, pp. scissus,
cleave, divide, cut: see scissio7i, scissile^. The
word seems to have been confused with OF.
ciseaux, scissors, pi. of cisel,' e, cutting-instru-
ment, a chisel (> E. chisel^) (cf. OF. cisailles,
shears), prob. < MI>. as if 'csesellus, < L. ceedere,
pn.ciesus, cut: see chisel'^.] 1. A pair of shears
of medium or small size. See shears.
WIthoute rasour or sisoures.
Chaucer, House of Fame, 1. 69a
And after, as if he had forgot somewhat to be done about
it, with sizzers, which he holdeth closely in his hand.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 302.
Wanting the Scissors, with these Hands III tear
(If that obstructs my Flight) this load of Hair.
Prior, Henry and Kmma.
2t. Candle-snuffers. Halliwell Buttonliole-
BCdiuiors, scissors each blade of which is made with a step
scissors 5400
6r break, so that the cutting edges are short and end ab
ruptlj- sonic distance beyond the rivet, so as to cl
a slit M-hich is of Used lenjrth or which does not
edge. They are often so jnade that the lengtli of the cut cies arc inhabitants of the warm' seas, and aVe ofsmalT sYze
IS adjustable.- Lamp-sclssors, scissors especially made KpitamiTiP* (^«it a mi,.'5 51 ./ ,.; rWT /v
for tnmraing the Kicks of lamps. They have commonly a ,>_ .?^°,^*„s^ . S;™"' ?"'')',"• P'- [NL. (K,
bend or step, like a bayonet, in order to keep the fingers
fnuu contact with the wick, and a box or receptacle, like
sclere
and end ab- and the walls are indented by a keel and a slit in front of gcinnis rsi-fi'riisl « nVTT / T o^-.,™.„ / n
Jcutincloth the keel which is gradually mied up as the shell enlarges. °viurus (.81 u rus;, » iN U, <. h. scmriM, < Gt.
lot reach the The operculum is circular, horny, and subspiral. ■Ihesne- ™ ""/»?. a squirrel, lit. ' sbade-tailed,' < amA,
snuBers. to receive the burnt parts trimmed otf . - Revolv-
ing scissors, scissors having very short blades which are
so pivoted as to operate at any desired angle with tlie han-
dles, and thus reach deeji-seated parts. — Scissors and
paste work (generally ablireviated, scissors and paste),
mere mechanical compilation as by means of dippings
pasted together, as distinguished froin origimil work. IC'ol-
loq.)
scissors-grinder (siz'orz-grin''d6r), n. 1. One
whose occupatiou is t£e grinding of scissors. —
2. The European goatsucker,' Caprimulgus eu-
ropxit-i.
SCissortail (siz'or-tal), n. An American bird
of the family Tyrannidte and genus Miivulus;
a scissor-tailed flycatcher. The name applies to
two distinct species. One of these scissor-birds is M
tyrannus, called the /vrk-tailed flycatcher, distinguished
Scissortail, or Swallowtail Flycatcher iMilvuiui forjicatus).
from IS. forficatug, the swallowtail flycatcher, to which the
name scimrrtaU most frequently applies, because the bird
is so much commoner than the other in English-speaking
countries. .See Milmdus.
scissor-tailed (siz'gr-tiild), a. Having a long
deeply forficate tail which can be opened and
shut like a pair of scissors, as a bird. Compare
scissortail.
scissor-tooth (siz'or-toth), n. The sectorial or
caruassial tooth of a carnivore, which cuts
against its fellow of the opposite jaw as one
blade of a pair of scissors against the other.
SCissorwise (siz'or-wiz), adv. In the manner
of scissors.
A pair of scoops . . . close upon one another scissor-
wise on a hinge.
Sir C. WyviUe Thomson, Depths of the Sea, p. 214.
SCissura (si-su'ra), n. ; pi. scissurse (-re). [NL. :
see scissure.} In anat., a fissure or cleft.
scissnre (sish'ur), n. [< OF. scissiire, cisure, <
L. SCissura, a rending, a dividing, < scindere, pp.
scissus, cut, divide: see scission.} A longitu-
dinal opening in a body made by cutting; a
cleft; a rent; a fissure; hence, a rupture, split,
or division ; a schism.
Therby also, by the space of .viij. palmes frome the
place of the lefte anne of Criste, hangynge on ye crosse,
is a scissure or clyfte in the stone rok, ao moche that a
man almoste may lye therin.
Sir R. Guyl/orde, Pylgrymage, p. 26.
To this .Sect may be imputed all the Scissures that have
happened in Christianity. Howell, Letters, iii. 3.
Scissurella (sis-u-rel'a), n. [NL. (D'Orbigny,
lS23),<.h. SCissura, a, siit, + •■ ~ ■
gastropods, with a shell
whose outer lip is deeply
slit, typical of the family
Seissurellidie.
Scissurellidae (sis-u-rel'i-
de), n. pi. [NL., <; Scis-
surella + -idee.'] A family
of rhipidoglossate gastro-
pods, typified by the genus
Sci.ssurella. The animal has
the mantle-slit In front very long,
slender at the sides, the tentacles long and ciliated, and
the loot narrow and truncate in front The shell is spiral
-ella.1 A genus of
Brown, 1810) (earlier named Scitamina CLm-
nsBus, 1751), pi. of L. •««<((»««), <L-*'«'ta/«(e»to),
pi., delicacies or dainties for food (< scitus, beau-
tiful, fit, knowing, clever, pp. of sci.icerc, scisci,
seek out : see sciscitation), + -in-cas.'] A former
order of monocotyledonous plants, including
the present orders Zingihcracese and Musacese.
SCitamineous (sit-a-min'e-us), a. Of or bo-
longing to the Seitiimineee.
Sciuridae (si-ii'ri-de), «. pi. [NL., < Sciurus +
-idif.] A family of sciuromorphic simpliei-
dent rodent mammals, typified by the genus
Sciurus, containing the squirrels and related
animals. The postorbital processes are distinct; the
infraorbital opening is small ; the ribs are twelve or thir-
teen pairs ; the true molars are rooted, tubercular, three
above and below on each side ; and the premolars are small,
sometimes deciduous, normally two above and one below
on each side. The family is cosmopolitan, with the ex-
ception that it is absent from the Australian region. The
species are very nunierons, but the generic forms are
comparatively few. The leading genera besides Sciurus
are Sciurapterus and Pteromys, the flying-squirrels ; Xerm,
an Ethiopian genus ; Tamim, the chipmunks ; Spemwphi-
(««, the ground-squirrels ; Cynomt/*, the prairie-dogs; and
Arctamys, the marmots. The fossil genera are several,
going back to the Eocene. The family is conveniently
divided into the arboreal Sciurinse and the terrestrial Arc-
tomyinee. See cuts under flying -squirrel, Sciuroptenis,
prairie-dog, chickaree, fox-squirrel, squirrel, and chipmunk.
Sciurinae (si-u-ri'ne), n. pi. [NL., < Sciurus + _ ^
-jw«.] AsubfamilyofA'ciwnV?*, having the tail SClaff (sklaf),
long and bushy, and usually distichous; the same as baff.
arboreal squirrels. They are of lithe form and very
active in their movements, live in trees, and are found in
nearly all parts of the world, excepting the Australian
region,
SCiurine (si'u-rin), a. and n. [< L. sciurus, a
squiiTel_(see_)SciM»-Ms), + -jwel.] I. a. Squirrel
shade, shadow, -I- ol,pd, tail. Hence ult. si/iiir-
rel.'] A Linnean genus of Sciuridse., now re-
stricted to arboreal squirrels with a very long
bushy distichous tail and no parachute. The
species are numerous, particularly in North America.
1 he common squurel of Europe is S. vulgaris. The chick-
aree or red squirrel of America is S. hudsonius. The coni-
Gray Squirrel {Sciurus caraiinensis).
mon gray squirrel is .9. carolinensis. The fox-squirrel or
cat-squirrel is S. einereus, which runs into many varieties.
A large and beautiful gray squirrel with tufted ears and a
red back is S. aberti, inhabiting southwestci-n parts of the
United States. S./ossor is a very large gray Californian
species. There are many in Mexico, and S. sestuans is
South American. Many also inhabit the warmer parts
of Asia. See also cuts under squirrel, chickaree, and fox-
squirrel.
SCl-. For Middle English and dialectal words
so beginning, see under si-.
V. i. and t. lu (lolf, nearly the
See the extract. [Scotch.]
The distinction between the two words is somewhat
subtle. In bafflng a ball the stroke is played with the
intention of lofting it high in the air, whereas a sclaffed
ball is not necessarily lofted high.
W. Park, Jr., The Game of Golf, p. 269.
SClandert, n. and v. An obsolete form of slati-
der.
like; related to Sciurus, or belonging to the
Sciuridse ; especially, of or pertaining to the SClat, n. An obsolete or dialectal form of slat^.
Sciurinse. sclate, sclater, n. Obsolete or dialectal forms
II. n. A squirrel ; a member of the Sciuridse, •'J' '<l<i'<f, slater.
and especially of the Sciurin/e. SClaundert, sclandret, n. and r. Middle Eng-
SCiuroid (si-ii'roid), a. and n. [< Sciurus + -oid.} J^^^ forms of slander.
Same as sciurine in a broad sense. Sclav, Sclavonian, etc. See Slav, etc.
sciuromorpll (si-u'ro-m6rf), ». Any member SClavint, sclavynet, w. See slavine.
of the Scittromorpha. SCleiret, n. [< ME. sclcyre, slieire, sMeir, sl-layre,
Sciuromorpha (si-ii-r6-m6r'fa), n. pi. [NL., < ^ veil ; prop. *sleire. < D. sluijer = MHG. sloier,
Gr. OKiovpoc, n squirrel, + fiopifr/, form.'] One of f'logier,sleier,G.schlei&r,aveil.'\ A veil. Piers
three superfamilies of simplieident liodeniia, Plowman (B), ix. 5.
comprising the Anomaluridse, Sciuridse, Ischy- sclender, sclendre, a. Obsolete or dialectal
romyidse (fossil), HapUidontidse, and Castoridse, forms of slender.
or tbe scaletails, squirrels in a broad sense, sclentt, v. i. See slenfl.
sewellels, and beavers: correlated with Myo- sclera (skle'rii), «. [NL., <_6r. oKh/pk, hard,
morpha and Hystricnmorpha, and also with La-
gomorpha of the dujilicident series. The clavicles
are perfect, and the fibula persists as a distinct bone ; the
angular portion of the lower mandible springs from the
lower edge of the bony covering of the under incisor, and
premolars are present.
sciuromorphic (si-u-ro-m6r'fik), a. [< sciuro-
morpll + -ic] Having the structure of a squir-
rel ; related to the Sciuridse; of or pertaining to
the Sduromorplia.
Sciuropterus (si-u-rop'te-rus), n. [NL. (F. Cu-
vier, 18125), < Gr. amovpng, a squirrel, -I- irrepdv, a
wing.] One of two genera of flying-squirrels
Scissurella crispata.
Flying-squirrel (Sciuropterus pulverulentus).
having a parachute or patagium, and a disti-
chous tail. They are small species, of Europe, Asia, and
America, called polatmiches and assapam. The common
Hyingsquirrel or assapan of Aineriea is S. volucella. The
polatouehe is A', volans ut Europe. See also cut under /j/-
ing-i]quirrel.
rough, harsh: see sclere.'] The sclerotic coat
of the eyeball.
ScleragOgy (skle'ra-go-ji), n. [< Gr. nK2.Tjpayoryia,
hardy training, < tTKh/pd^, hard, harsh, -I- ayew,
lead, conduct.] Severe discipline or training;
hard treatment of the body ; mortification.
Bp. Hacl-et, Abp. "Williams, ii. .51. [Rare.]
scleral (skle'ral), a. [< sclera + -al.] Scle-
rous ; specifically, or of pertaining to the scle-
ra or sclerotic. Amer. .Tour. Sci., XXXIX. 410.
Scleranthese (skle-ran'the-e), n. pi. [NL.
(Link, 1821), < Sderanthus '+ -ese.] A tribe of
plants formerly by many included in the order
Cfirynphyllaccse, now classed in the widely re-
mote order Illecebracese among other apetalous
plants. It is characterized by flowers which are all
alike, an ovary with but one or two ovules, containing an
annular embryo, and by opposite connate leaves without
stipules. It includes the typical genus Sderanthus, and
Habrosia, a monotypic Syrian annual with a two-ovuled
ovary.
scleranthium (skle-ran 'thi-um), n. [< Gr.
nKAijptiQ, hard, -I- anflof, flower.] In hot., same as
diclesium. [Kare or obsolete.]
Scleranthus (skle-ran 'thus), n. [NL. (Lin-
neeus, 1737), < Gr. m'/ripo^, hard, -+• ai-*of, a
flower.] A genus of apetalous plants of the
order Illecebracese, type of the tribe Scleral! these.
It is characterized by a"herbaceoii8 four- or flve-toothed
or -lobed perianth, fonning an indurated cup below, and
by an ovoid one-celled ovary- with two erect styles and
a single pendulous ovule. There are about 10 species,
natives of Europe, Africa, western Asia, and Australasia ;
one, S. annuus, tlie knawel, also called German fniot-grass,
la widely naturalized in the United States. They are
small rigid herbs with numerous forking branches, often
forming dense tufts, and bearing opposite rigid and
prickly-pointed leaves, and small greenish flowers.
sclere (skier), H. [< Gr. aK/-r/p6(, hard, rough,
harsh, < aK?.f/vai, 2d aor. of aKi/.?.eiv, dry, parch.
From the same ult. source are E. skclef, sKvle-
ion.] In sponges, one of the hard, horny, sili-
cious, or calcareous bodies which enter into the
composition of the skeleton; a skeletal ele-
ment; a spicule, of whatever kind.
sclere
The walls of Ascetta are strenRthened by calcareous
sdere^ more especially designated as spicules.
JSncyc. Brit., XXII. 413.
Spherical sclere, a sclere produced by a concentric
fn*owth vt silica or calcite about an organic particle, or
which (K'ctirs as a reduction of a rhabdus.
sclerectasia (sklO-rek-ta'si-S), n. [NL., < Gr.
n\>/,pi>r, harii. + iK-aijic, extension: see ectasis.}
Scleral stapliyloma. See staphyloma.
sclerema (skle-re'mii), «. Same as scleroder-
mia. — Sclerema neonatorum, induration of the skin
coniinir iin a few <iays after birth, accompanied with severe
cniistitittional i^yni'ptoms, and resulting usually in death
in from fi-ui to ten days.
sclerenceplialia(skle'ren-8e-fa'li-ii), «. [NL.,
< Gr. aK>r/p6c, bard, + jjKf^/of, the brain: see
encephalon.'] Selerosis of the brain.
sclerenchyma (."ikle-reng'ki-ma), n. [Also sde-
iTurlii/Dii;; < Gr. aK/i/pu^, hard, -V h/xfuo, an in-
fusion: see ciichyniatom.'} 1. The hard sub-
stance of the calcareous skeleton or corallum
of sclerodermic corals, a proper tissue-secretion
or calcification of the soft parts of the polyps
themselves. — 2. In hot., the tissue largely com-
posing the hard parts of plants, such as the
shell (endocarp) of the hickory-nnt, the seed-
coat of seeds, the hypoderma of leaves, etc.
The cells are usually short, but in some cases they are
greatly elongated, as in the hypoderma of leaves; they are
S'miciinies regular in outline, but most frequently they are
very irregular. Ity many later, especially Uemuui, writers
the term has been transferred to the hard bast or liber, a
tissue of plants composed of cells whose walls are thick-
ened, often to a very considerable extent It is also useil
by some authors in a more extended sense, to include all
sorts of lit^iiitled Hbrotis cells or cell-derivatives.
sclerenchymatons (skle-reng-kim'a-tus). a. [<
srlif) ii(liipna{t-) + -oux.'\ Having the charac-
••■r of sderenchjTna; containing or consisting
I that substance: as, sclerenchymatoua tissue;
.1 ■«li niirliifiimtous polyp.
sclerenchyme (sUf-reng'kim), n. [< NL. scU-
ri)iilii)i,iii.] Same as sderetK^yma.
scleretinitie (skle-ret'i-nit), n. \V or gderoreti-
iiitr, < (ir. oii>.iipijf, rough, hard, + E. retinite.'] A
black, hard, brittle mineral resin, nearly allied
to amber, found in the coal-formation of Wigan
in Kiigland. in drops and pellets.
Scleria (»kle'ri-ii), ». [NL. (Berg, 1765), from
the hanl fruit ; i Gr. aiu.^pia, hardness, < aK/jip6f,
hard: see sclere.'\ A genus of monoeotyledo-
nous plants, of the order Cyperacea, the sedge
f ■ ^ 'rrietB. It Is charscter-
1 1 e and nDmeroos stami-
Ij are KToaped In nrmea.
I by the hanl bony
iioonly white and
1 here are orer 100
-iilitropical regions, ex-
t' ;m .N'orth America, where
1 iron tile Atlantfccoast,
n* rush-like herbs
itc or tall and ro.
with rigid prick-
1 -to S. fiagel-
scleriaais (skle-ri'B-.-tiH), «. [NL., < Gr. on^jjpio-
rrir. a liardenitig (of the eyelid), < ak>Jip6i, hard,
rnticli : SIC Ki-lire.} Sclerodermia.
Scleriex (>klv-ii'e-e), n. pi. [NL. (Nees von
Ksniliii-k. isit), < Scleria + -««.] A tribe of
lilaiits. of the order Cmerofiem. It la chantcterixed
\<y u tiiseiual flowers. In siAeleti ooropoaed of two or more
staniiiiate flowers above and a solitary pistillate flower
at the base, or In panicles with the lower part composed
of one-flowered pistillate spikeleta. It includes the wide-
sprta'l type genus Sderia, with Kobmia and Briotpora,
perirrjnial herbs of the Old World, and two leaa-known
genera.
sclerite (skle'rit). n. [< Gr. aKX^/>6c, rough,
lianl. -I- -itf'^.] In ro»7. : (o) Any separate
skiliial element or definite hard part of the
iiii'^'iinient of arthroiwda; a piece of the chiti-
iiou^ ski'Ieton or cm.st, as of an insect, in any
way distinguished from other parts. In InsecU
the regular or constant iclerites, of which there are many,
receive for the most part special names, as aternite, pku-
riu, IfT^riir. rpimeroH, epifUurun, etc., or are identifled by
qualifying terms, as ilemal, ional, etc. .See cat I. under
tiurela. and cut under Uymenopttra, (ft) A scleroder-
matous spicule in the substance of a polyp,
'•specially of an alcyonarian. (c) A sponge-
-|ii(iil<-; a sclere.-Cemcal, Jugular, etc., sde-
ntes. See the adjectives.
acleritic (skle-rit'ik), a. [< self rite + -ic.^ 1.
Sclerous: hardened or chitinized, as a definite
tract of the body-wall of an arthropod; of or
pertaining to a sclerite. — 2. Silicious or cal-
careous, as a sclerite or spicule of a polyp or a
sponge.
aclerltis (skle-ri'tis), ». [NL., < sclera + -ifw.]
Inflammation of the sclera or sclerotic coat of
till' < ye; sclerotitis.
Bclerdbase (skle'r^-bas), n. [< NL. sderobasig,
< Gr.aa/j;^, hard, + ^({', base.] Adensecor-
5401
neons or calcareous mass into which the axial
part of the ccenosarc of a compound actinozoan
may be converted, as it is iu the red coral of
commerce, for example. See cut under Coral-
ligena.
It is in these Octocoralla that the form of skeleton
which is termed a gderobase, which is formed by coniifl-
cation or calcification of the axial connective tissue of the
zoanthodeme, occurs. Huxley, Anat. Invert., p. 14a.
sclerobasic (skle-ro-ba'sik), a. [< sclerobase +
-iV.] 1. Of or pertaining to the Sclerobasica.
— 2. Of or pertaining to a sclerobase; contain-
ing or consisting of a sclerobase : as, a sdero-
ba-fic skeleton. The epithet notes the corallum,
which forms a solid axis that is invested by the soft
f)art8 of the animaL The sclerobasic corallum is in real-
ty an exoskeleton, somewhat analogous to the shell of a
crustacean, being a true tegumentary secretion. It is
termed /oof-»«r«eu>n by Dana. The sclerobasic corallum is
produced by a compound organism only, and can be dis-
tinguished from a sclerodermic corallum by being usually
more or less smooth, and invariably devoid of the cups
or receptacles for the separate polyps always present in
the latter.— Sclerobaalc Zoanthariat. Same as Carti-
cata, 1.
Sclerobasica (skle-ro-ba'si-kii), n. pi. [NL. :
see sill roha>iic.'] The sclerobasic zoantharians,
a division of Zoantharia, the black corals. Also
called Aiitipiitliaria.
sclerobasis (skle-rob'a-sis), n. [NL. : see sde-
rohiisi.] Same as sclerobase.
SCleroblast (skle'ro-blist), n. [< 6r. mAtipd^,
hard, + ^Aaardc, a germ.] The cell of a sponge-
spicule; the blastema or formative tissue in
which the sclerous elements of sponges arise.
A superficial spiral thickening in the wall of a spicule-
cell or lelfrMaiL SoUiu, Encyc. Brit, XXII. 417.
Bcleroblastic (skle-ro-blas'tik), a. [< sclero-
blast + -if.] Forming sclerous tissue, as a
spicule-cell of a sponge; of or pertaining to
scleroblast.
Sclerobrachia (skle-ro-bra'ki-a), n. pi. [NL. , <
(ir. CH/iiiiiK:, hard, + fi/Mxii-n', the arm.] An or-
der of Iiracliiopods, including the Spiriferidee
and llhi/iirlioiirllidse.
Sclerobraclliata.(skle-ro-brak-i-a'tii), M. pi.
[NL., < (Jr. mt^pfSf, hanl, + /i/jo^/wv, the arm, +
-//<«-.] In some systems, an order of brachio-
pods. n'presented by the beaked lamp-shells, or
W/iynWiowe/ZiVte-, having the oral arms supported
))V a shelly jilate of the ventral valve.
scierobrachiate (skle-r^-bra'ki-at), a. Of or
pertaining to the fklerohrachiata.
BCleroclase (skle'ro-klaz), n. [< Gr. atcXtipd^,
hard, -*- \>o<T(f, fracture: ace clastic.'} Same as
siirt4trite.
sclerocomeal (skle-ro-kftr'nf-al), a. [< NL.
silerii + lorniii + -al.) Of or pertaining to the
sclerotica and the cornea of the eye.
BCleroderm (skle'ro-dferm), n. and a. [< Gr.
OK/r/poc, hard, + i^ipfia, skin: see iterm.'j I. m.
1. The hard or stony external skeleton of scle-
ro<lermatou8 zoantharians, or corals in an ordi-
nary sense; corallum; coral. — 2. A member of
the Scleroiterniata, as a madreJ)ore. — 3. A plec-
tognath fish of the group Sclerotlermi, having
the skin rough and hard, as the file-fish, etc.
n. a. Of or pertaining to the Sclerodermi ;
sclerodcrmous.
scleroderma^ (skle-ro-dSr'mil), n. [NL.: see
sill iiiitirm.] Same ajs scleroSermia.
Scleroderma- (skle-ro-d6r'mft), n. pi. [NL.:
sec .s(/</o</<rm.] Same as Scferodermota, 1.
8clerodermata(skle-ro-d*r'ma-tS),»i.j)/. [NL.,
neut. pi. of sclerixlcrmatus : see sclerodemia-
tnus.'] 1. The Bouaraate or scaly reptiles; rep-
tiles proper, as distinguished from Malacoder-
matn. Mao •Scleroderma. — 2. One of the divi-
sions of Zoeintharia, containing the stone-corals
or madrepores. See cuts under brain-coral,
coral, Madrepora, and madrepore. — 3. A sub-
order of thecoBomatous pteropods, represented
bv the family Kuryhiidte.
sclerodermatous (skle-ro-d^r'ma-tus), a. [<
NL. sikrnitermatus, < Gr. aK'/.r,pii(, hard, -f fl/p-
fa(T-), skin: see derma.'] 1. Having a hard
outer covering; consisting, composed of,or con-
taining scleroderm ; of or pertaining to the
Srleroderm<tta. — 2. Pertaining to, having the
character of, or affected with sclerodermia.
Sclerodnrml (skle-r6-<lcr'mi), n. pi. [NL., <
(ir. (lA/z/^wir, hard, + ti'V/za, skin: see derma.'] In
irhth., a division of plectognath fishes, to which
different limits and values have been assigned,
(o) In ("nvler'B system of classification, the second family
of plectognath Hsbes, dlstinguisheil by the conical or py-
ramidal snout. i>rolonge<l from the eyes and terminated
by a small mouth, armed with a few distinct teeth in each
iaw, and with the skin rough or invested with hard scales.
t included the true Selerodertni and the Ogtracodtrmi.
sclerosed
(b) In GUnther's system it was also regarded as a family
of plectognath fishes, distinguislied by having jaws with
distinct teeth, and the same limits were assigned to it. (c)
In Bonaparte's later systems it was raised to ordinal rank,
but contained the same fishes as were referred to it by
Cuvier. (d) In Hill's system, a suborder of plectognath
fishes with a spinous dorsal or single spine just behind or
over the cranium, with a normal pisciform shape, scales
of regular form or more or less spiniform, and distinct
teeth in the jaws. It is thus restricted to the famUies
TriacaiUhidx and BalMidee.
sclerodermia (skle-r^-der'mi-a), w. [NL.. <
Gr. aK'/-!/i>ui;, hard, + Sip/ia, skin.] A chronic
non-inflammatory affection of the skin, in which
it becomes very firm and firmly fixed to the un-
derlying tissues. The disease may present it-
self in patches, or involve the entire skin. Also
called scleroderma and dermatosclerosis.
sclerodermic (skle-ro-der'mik), a. [< sclero-
derm + -ic] 1. Sanie as sclerodermatous, 1. —
2. In ichth., having a rough, hard skin, as a
fish; of or pertaining to the Sclerodermi.
sclerodermite (skle-ro-der'mit), n. [< sclero-
derm + -ite^.] The hard skeletal element or
chitinous test of any somite or segment of the
body of an arthropod.
SClerodennitic(skle"ro-d6r-mit'ik),a. l<selero-
dermite -(- -ic] In arthropods, of or pertaining
to a sclerodermite.
SClerodermons (skle-ro-d6r'mu8), a. [< Gr.
OKh/pdf, hard, + iip/ia, skin.] Same as sclero-
dermatous.
sclerogen (skle'ro-jen), w. [< Gr. OKlripdc, rough,
hard, -t- -jfw/f, producing: see -gen.] In bot.,
the lignifying matter which is deposited on the
inner surface of tlie cells of some plants, con-
tributing to their thickness, as in the shell of
the walnut; lignin.
A more complete consolidation of cellular tissue is ef-
fected by deposits of Sclerogen.
W. B. Carpenter, Micros., | 366.
Sclerogenidae (skle-ro-jen'i-de), M. pi. [NL.,
< Gr. an'/iipiir, rovigh, hard, + yiw^, the lower
jaw, the check, = E. chin, -t- -idx.] In ichth., a
family of acanthopterygian fishes; the mailed-
cheeks: same as Scleroparise. See Cottoidea.
SClerogenous^ (skle-roj'e-nus), a. [< Gr. mAr/-
/)oc, hard, rough, + ->ctw, producing: see -gen.]
In -o<>7., producing or giving origin to a scle-
rous or seleritic tissue or fonnation ; hardening
or becoming sclerous.
SClerogenous'^ (skle-roj'e-nus), a. [< Gr. ok/Ii?-
/xif, hard, rough, + yew^, the lower jaw, cheek.]
Mail-cheeked, as a fish ; belonging to the Scle-
rogen id/e, or mailed-cheeks.
SCleroid (skle'roid), a. [< Gr. nK^TipotiS^^, of
a hard nature or kind, < an/.ijpo^, hard, + cMof,
form.] 1. In hot., ha'ving a hard texture, as
the shells of nuts. — 2. In zool., hard, as a sclere
or sclerite ; seleritic ; sclerous.
sclero-iritis (skle''ro-i-ri'tis), «. [NL., < sclera
+ iri.i (see iris, 6) + -itis.] Inflammation of
the sclerotic coat and iris.
scleroma (skle-ro'ma), n. [NL., < Gr. aK^ii>a/ia,
an induration, < 'aKfripovv, harden, indurate, <
BK/.Tip6f,\\a.T<i: aee sclere,] Sclerosis; also, scle-
rodermia or sclerema.
scleromeninx (skle-ro-me'ningks), n. [NL., <
(ir. rtK/t/piif, hard, + p^vi}^, a membrane.] The
dura mater.
sclerometer (skle-rom'e-tfer), n. [< Gr. oKkrjpdg,
hard, + perpov, a measure.] An instrument
for determining with precision the degree of
hardness of a mineral. The arrangement is essen-
tially as follows: the crystal to be examined is placed,
with one surface exactly horizontal, upon a delicate car-
riage movable below a vertical rtxl which ends in a dia-
mond or hard steel point. The rod is attached to an arm
of a lever, and the weight is determined which must be
placed above in order that a scratch shall be made upon
the given surface as the carriage is moved.
scleromucin (skle-ro-mii'sin),H, [< Gv. <jK^!/p6(,
hard, + E. mnciti, q. v.] An inodorous, taste-
less, gummy nitrogenous substance found in
ergot, said to possess ecbolic qualities.
Scleroparise (skle'ro-pa-rf'e), .«. vl. [< Gr.
aK'/.rjpoc, hard, + Trapeia, cheek.] A family of
acanthopterygian fishes, it Is characterized by the
great developniciit of the third sul)orbital bone, which ex-
tends across the cheek, and articulates with the inner edge
of the preopercular bone, thus strengthening and hard-
ening the cheeks. Also called Scleroijeuulw, Cnttoiifea,
hucca" loricatse, joues cuirass^eg, and mailed-cheeks. See
Citttoidi'a.
SCleropathia (skle-ro-path'i-a), n. [NL., < Gr.
rrk'/.)ip6r, liard, + ffafof, a suffering.] Same as
scleroma.
sclerosal (skle-ro'sal), a. [< scleros(is) + -al.]
Pertaining to or of the nature of sclerosis.
sclerosed (skle'rost), n. [< selerosis + -ed'^.]
Rendered abnormally hard ; affected with scle-
rosis. Also sclerotized.
sclerosed
Nerre fibres were aftenrards found in the tclfrosed tis-
sue. Lancet, No. 'H6\, p. 1071.
sclerosis (skle-ro'sis), «. [NL., < Gr. an'/iipuai^,
au iuiliiratioh, < *aK'/j)povi; harden, iudurate, <
oitAz/pcH', hard: see sclere.'] 1. A hardening or
induration ; specitieally, the increase of the sus-
tentaeular tissue (neuroglia, or connective tis-
sue) of a part at the e.\peuse of the more active
tissue. — 2. In bot., the induration of a tissue
or cell-wall either by thickening of the mem-
branes or by their lignifieation (that is, by the
formation of lignin in them). Goehcl Amyo-
trophic lateral sclerosis. See nmyofropAw.— Annular
sclerosis, sclerosis of tlie peripiiei-y of the spinal cord.
Also calleti chronic annular myelitis. — Lateral Sclerosis
Of the spinal cord. Same as primarii .yxtMic jxtrapl'i/ia
(wliii-h see, under pflmpi*'(;ta).— Multiple sclerosis, a
chronic progressive disease of the eerel)rospinal axis,
chanicterized by the presence of multiple areas of scle-
rosis scattered more or less generally over this organ, and
producing symptoms corresponding to their location ; hut
very frequently there are present nystagmus, intention
tremor, and scanning speech, combined with other exten-
sive and serious, but less characteristic nervous derange-
ments. Also called diftseininated sclerosis, insndar sclerosis,
focal sclerosis, Mu\ multilocular sclerosis. — Posterior scle-
rosis, sclerojiisof the posteriorcoluninsof the spinal cord,
such as is cxliiliitcd in tabes dorsualis.
scleroskeletal (skle-ro-skel'e-tal), «. [< sclcro-
likelet(on) + -al.'] Ossified in the manner of
the scleroskeleton; formingapart of the sclero-
skoleton.
scleroskeleton (skle-ro-skel'e-ton), n. [< Gr.
ciOjii>6i;, hard, -t- cKc'/^Tdv, a dry body: see skele-
ton.] Those hard or skeletal parts, collectively
considered, which result from the ossification
of tendons, ligaments, and similar sclerous tis-
sues, as sesamoid bones developed in tendons,
ossified tendons, as those of a turkey's leg, the
marsupial bones of marsupials, the ring of
bonelets in the eyeball, etc. Such ossifications are
generally considered apart from the bones of the main
endoskeleton. To those named may be added the bone
of the heart and of the penis of various animals. Tendons
of birds are specially prone to ossify and form scleroskeletal
parts. See cuts under irmrsupial and sclerotal.
sclerosteous (skle-ros'te-us), a. [< Gr. aK?.tip6c,
hard. + bcTiov, bone.] Consisting of bone de-
veloped in tendon or ligament, as a sesamoid
bone; scleroskeletal.
There are two such sclerogteovs or ligament-bones in the
external lateral ligament.
Cmies, Key to N. A. Birds, p. 168.
Sclerostoma (skle-ros'to-ma), n. [NL., < Gr.
anA^poc, hard, + arofia, mouth.] 1. In Vermes,
a genus of strongles, or nematoid worms of the
family Stronyi/lklx. S. duoderude (or Dochmim ari-
ckylostomus) is a very common parasite of the human in-
testine, about i of an inch long. S. syngamus is one which
causes the disease called the gapes in fowl. Also written
Sderostomum. De Blainville, 1828. Also called Syngamus.
2. [/. e.'i A strongle of the genus Sclerostoma.
sclerotal (skle-ro'tal), a. and n. [< sclerot(ic)
+ -a?.] I. «. 1. Having the character of, or per-
taining to, a sclero-
tal: di stingui shed
from sclerotic. — 2.
Same as sclerotic,
[Rare.]
H. «. 1. In 2067., a
bone of the eyeball ;
one of a number of
scleroskeletal ossifi-
cations developed
in the sclerotic coat
of the eye, usually
consisting of a ring
of small flat squar-
ish bones encircling
the cornea, having slight motion upon one an-
other, but collectively stiffening the coat of the
eye and preserving the jjeculiar shape which it
has, as in an owl, for instance. In birds the
sclerotals are usually from twelve to twenty in
number.
The sclerotic coat is very dense, almost gristly in some
cases; and it is reinforced by a circlet of bones, the scle-
rotals. These are packed alongside each other all around
the circumference of one part of the sclerotic, like a set
of splints. . . . The bony plates lie between the outer and
middle coats, anterior to the greatest girth of the eyeball,
extending from the rim of the disk nearly or quite to the
edge of the cornea. Coues, Key to N. A. Birds, p. 182.
2. Same as sclerotica. [Rare.]
sclerote (skle'rot), n. [< NL. sclerotium, q. v.]
In hot., same as sclerotium.
Sclerotliainnidse (skle-ro-tham'ni-de), «. pi.
[NL., < tSclerothamnus + -idse.] A family of
hexactinellidan sponges, typified by the genus
Sclerothamnus, characterized by the arbores-
cent body perforated at the ends and sides by
narrow round radiating canals.
Sclerothamnus (skle-fo-tham'nus), n. [NL.
(Marshall, 1875), < Or. aa'Aripd^, hard, + dd/ii>o(,
Sclerotals of Eye of Bald Eagle
{HaiiaiHus teucocephatus), natural
size.
5402
a bush, shrub.] The typical genus of Sclero-
thamnidee.
sclerotia, ». Plural of sclerotium.
sclerotic (sklf-rot'ik), a. and n. [< NL. "sclero-
ticus, < sclerosis {-ot-}: see sclerosis.'} I. a.
1. Pertaining to or of the nature of sclerosis.
— 2. Related to or derived from ergot. Also
sclerotiiiic — Sclerotic acid, one of the two most active
constituents of ergot. It is a yellowish-brown, tasteless,
inodorous substance with a slight acid reaction; used hy-
podermically for the same purposes as ergot.— Sclerotic
coat. Same as sclerotica.— Sclerotic myelitis, highly
chronic myelitis with much development of firm connec-
tive tissue.— Sclerotic parenchyma, in bol., certain
parenchyma-cells with more or less thickened walls, found
associated with Viirious other elements in woody tissues,
'i'he grit-cells in pears and many other fruits are examples.
— Sclerotic rink. See ring^, and cut under sclerotal.
II. 11. 1. Same as sclerotica. — 2. A medi-
cine which hardens and consolidates the parts
to which it is applied.
sclerotica (sklf-rot'i-ka), n. [NL., fern, of
'.•<cleroticus : see sclerotic.'] An opaque white,
dense, fibrous, inelastic membrane, continuous
with the cornea in front, the two forming the
external coat of the eyeball; the sclerotic coat
or tunic of the eye. See first cut under eye'^.
You can not rub the sclerotica of the eye without pro-
ducing an expansion of the capillary arteries and corre-
sponding increase in the amount of nutritive fluid.
E. D. Cope, Origin of the Fittest, p. 19.5.
scleroticochoroiditis (skle-rot'i-ko-ko-roi-di'-
tis), H. \^h., <. sclerotic + choroid + -His.] In-
flammation of the sclerotic and choroid coats
of the eye.
SClerotinic (skle-ro-tin'ik), a. [< sclerot{ic) +
-iiie^ + -ic] Same as sclerotic, 2.
sclerotitic (skle-ro-tit'ik), a. [< sclerotitis +
-ic] Inflamed, as the sclerotic coat ; affected
with sclerotitis.
sclerotitis (skle-ro-ti'tis), n. [N'L.,<. sclerot{ic)
-I- -itis.] Inflammation of the sclerotic coat of
the eye.
sclerotium (skle-ro'shi-um), n. ; pi. sclerotia
(-il). [NL., < Gr. (T/i?.7p(5f, hard: see sclerosis.]
1. In bot.: (a) A plurieellular tuber-like reser-
voir of reserve material forming on a primary
filamentous mycelium, from which it becomes
detached when its development is complete.
It usually remains dormant for a time, and ultimately
produces shoots which develop into sporophores at the
expense of the reserve material. The shape is usually
spherical, but it may be horn-shaped, as in Claviceps pur-
purea. In the Mycetozoa the sclerotium is formed out of
a Plasmodium, and after a period of rest it develops again
into a Plasmodium. De Bary. (6) [cfljj.] An old ge-
nus of fungi, comprising hard, black, compact
bodies which are now known to be a resting-
stage of the mycelium of certain other fungi,
suen as Peziza tuberosa. See ergot^, 2. — 2. In
zoiil., one of the peculiar quiescent cysts or hyp-
nocysts of Mycetozoa, not giving rise to spores.
Dryness, low temperature, and want of nutriment lead
to a dormant condition of the protoplasm of the Plasmo-
dium of many Mycetozoa, and to its enclosure in cyst-
like growths known as sclerotia. Encyc. Brit, XIX. 841.
SClerotized (skle'ro-tizd), a. [< sclerosis (-ot-) +
-ize + -ed'-^.] In bot., same as sclerosed.
sclerotome (skle'ro-tom), n. [< Gr. OKkripiQ,
hard, -f- Ttfiveiv, Ta/ulv, out.] 1. A sclerous or
scleroskeletal structure intervening between
successive myotomes; a division or partition
of muscles by means of intervening sclerous
tissue, as occurs in the muscles of the trunk
of various amphibians and fishes. — 2. A knife
used in incising the sclerotic.
sclerotomy (skle-rot'o-mi), n. [< NL. sclera +
(Jr. TOjiia, < TCfiveiv, rafielv, cut.] Incision into
the sclera or sclerotic coat of the eyeball.
sclerous (skle'rus), a. [< Gr. cKAripd^, hard,
rough : see sclere.] Hard, firm, or indurated,
in general ; ossified or bony, as a part of the
scleroskeleton ; seleritic.
Sclerurinae (skle-ro-ri'ne), n. pi. [NL., < Scle-
rurus + -inee.] Aauhtamilyot Vendrocolaptidee,
represented by the genus Sclerurus. Sclater,1862.
sclerurine (skle-ro'rin), a. [As Sclerurus +
-(«cl.] Having
stiff, hard tail-
feathers, as a
bird of the ge-
nus Sclerurus.
Sclerurus
(8kle-r6'rus),n.
[NL. (Swain-
son, 1827), <Gr.
OK/.^pdc, hard, +
ovpd, tail.] The
only genus of
Selerurinx. It
resembles Fuma- ScUrurus eaudacutut.
scoffer
rius, but has stiff acuminate tail-feathers. There are
about 10 species of .South and Central America and Mex-
ico, of various brown and gray coloration, as S. caudacxi-
tu8, S. ttmbretta, and S. mexicamts. One is olivaceous,
S. olivascens, of western Peru. Also called Tinactctr and
Oxypyga.
scleyt, "• A Middle English form of sly.
sclicet, scliset, «. Obsolete forms of slice.
sclide, sclidere. Obsolete forms of slide, slid-
der.
sclopettet, ". [OF.: see escopette.] A hand-
culveriii of the end of the fourteenth century.
See escopette.
sclopust, ". [ML.] A hand-gun of the earliest
form, used in the fourteenth century.
scoat, '(. and r. See scote.
scobby, scoby (skob'i, sko'bi), n. [Origin not
ascertained.] The chaffinch, Fringilla ccelebs.
[Prov. Eng.]
scobiform (sko'bi-form), a. [< L. scobis, scobs,
sawdust, filings, etc. (see scobs), + forma,
form.] Having the form of or resembling saw-
dust or raspings.
SCObinat (sko-bi'na), n. [NL., < L. scobina, a
r&ap, <. scobis, scobs, sawdust, filings: aee scobs.]
In bot., the pedicel or immediate support of the
spikelets of grasses.
scobs (skobz), n. [< ME. scobes, < L. scobis, also
scobs, sawdust, scrapings, raspings, < scabere,
sciSL^e: aee scab, scabies.] Sawdust; shavings;
also, raspings of ivory, hartshorn, metals, or
other hard substances; dross of metals, etc.
Eke populer or flr is profitable
To make and ley among hem scobes able.
Palladim, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 93.
scoby, 11. See scobby.
SCOchont, «. An obsolete form of scutcheon.
scoff (skof), n. [< ME. scof, skof {woi found in
AS.) = OFries. schof, a scoff, taunt; cf. MD.
schobbe, a scoff, sarcasm, schobbeu, schoppen,
scoff, mock, schoffieren, schojferen, disgrace, cor-
rupt, violate, ruin, Dan. skuffe, deceive; Icel.
skaup, later skop, mockery, ridicule {skeypa,
skopa, scoff, mock, skopan, railing) ; the forms
seem to indicate a confusion of two words;
perhaps in part orig. ' a shove,' • a rub ' ; cf . AS.
scyfe, scife, a pushing, instigation, Sw. skuff,
a push, shove, skuffa, push; hG. schubben, rub,
= OHG. scupfen, MHG. schu}ifen,schupfen, push :
see scuff^, shove. Not connected with Gr. mu--
reiv, scoff: see scomm.] 1. An expression of
contempt, derision, or mocking scorn ; a taunt ;
a gibe ; a flout.
If we but enter presence of his Grace,
Our payment is a frown, a scof, a frump.
Greene, James IV'., it.
With scoffs and acorns and contumelious taunts.
Sliak., 1 Hen. VI., i. 4. 39.
So he may hunt her through the clamorous scoffs
Of the loud world to a dishonored grave !
Shelley, The Cenci, iv. 1.
I met with scoffs, I met with scorns.
From youth and babe and hoary hairs.
Tennyson, In Memoriam, Ixix.
2. An object of scoffing or scorn; a mark for
derision ; a butt.
The principles of liberty were the gcoffot every grinning
courtier, and the Anathema Maranatha of every fawning
dean. Macaulay, Milton.
scoff (skof), V. [Cf. MD. schoffieren, scoff, schob-
ben, schoppen, scoff, = Icel. skopa, scoff: see
scoff, n.] I. intrans. To speak jeeringly or de-
risively; manifest mockery, derision, or ridi-
cule ; utter contemptuous or taunting lan-
guage; mock; deride: generally with « i before
the object.
They shall scoff at the kings. Hab. i. 10.
It is an easy thing to scoff at any art or recreation ; a
little wit, mixed with ill-nature, confidence, and malice,
will do it. /. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 22.
The vices we scoff at in others laugh at us within our-
selves. Sir T. Brou-ne, Christ Mor., iii. 15.
Truth from his lips prevail'd with double sway,
And fools who came to sco/' remain'd to pray.
OoldmnUh, Des, Vil., 1. 180.
= Syil. Gi6p, ./cer, etc. ^qq sneer.
II. trans. 1. To treat with derision or scorn;
mock at; ridicule; deride. [Rare.]
Within the hollow crown
That rounds the mortal temples of a king
Keeps Death his court ; and there the antic sits,
Scoffing his state and grinning at his pomp.
Shak., Eich. II., iii. 2. 163.
To «;o/ religion is ridiculously proud and immodest.
Glanville, Sermons, p. 213. (Latham)
2. To eat hastily ; devour. [Naut. slang.]
scoffer (skof'Sr), «. [< scoff + -erl.] One who
scoffs ; one who mocks or derides ; a scorner.
They be readie scoffers, priuie mockers, and euer ouer
light and mer[r]y. Ascham, The Scholemaster, p. 38.
scoffer
There shall come in the last days ecofferi, walking after
their own lusts, and saying, "Where is the promise of his
coming?" 2 Pet. iii. 3.
Let him that thinks fit scoH on, and be a Scofer still.
/. WtMon, Complete Angler, p. 23.
SCOfferyt (skof er-i), n. [< geoff + -ery.] The
act of scoffing ; mockery. [Rare.]
King Henrie the flft in his beginning thought it a meere
tcoferie to pursue anie fallow deere with hounds or grei-
hounds.
Uarrifm, Descrip. of England, liL 4. (Holinshed'a Chron.)
SCOffingly (skof 'ing-li), ade. In a scoffing man-
ner ; in mockery or scorn ; by way of derision.
Wordsworth, being asked his opinion of the same poem
[Keats s" Hyperion ), called it, tapngty, "a pretty piece
of paganism." LantU>r, Southey and Landor, ii.
BCOganismt (sko'gan-lzm), n. [< Scogan, the
name of a famous' jester, + -»»m.] A scurri-
lous jesting.
Bat what do I trouble my reader with this idle Scogan-
itmt Scolds or jesters are only fit for this combat.
Bp. Hail, Works, IX 183. (Docvm.)
SCOganlyf (sko'gan-Ii), a. [< Scogan (see sco-
ganism) + -/^l.J Scurrilous.
He so manifestly belies our holy, reTerend. worthy Mas-
ter Fox, whom this tcogatUy pen dare say plays the goose.
Bf. Hatt. Works, IX. 262. iDaviea.)
BCOgie (sko'gi), M. [Origin obscure.] A kitchen
drudge ; a maid-servant who performs the dirti-
est work; a scuddle. [Scotch.]
8COke(sk6k),». [Origin unknown. Ct.coakum.']
Same as pokeweed.
SCOlaiet, r. ♦• See scoley.
scold (skold), r. [Early mod. E. also scould,
scoulc ; Sc. scald, scauld : < ME. xeoldert, < MD.
echeJdan (pret. schold), scold, = OFries. skelda,
schelda = MLG. LG. schelden = OHG. sceltan,
MHG. schelten, G. ichelten (pret. schalt, pp.
gescliolten), scold, revile; prob. orig. 'goad,'
more lit. push, shove, < OHG. scaltan, MHG. G.
schalten = OS. skaldan, push, shove. The word
can hardly be connected with Icel. skjalUi (pret.
skal, pp. skoUinn), clash, clatter, slam, make a
noise, = G. scliallen, resound, or with the deriv.
Icel. skelUi, clash, clatter, = Sw. skdila, burk
at, abuse, = Dan. nkjselde, abuse.] I. iHtrang.
To chide or find fault, especially with noisy
"!:imor or railing ; utter harsh rebuke, railing,
r vituperation.
I'he angred man doth bat diacooer his minde, bat the
liurce woman to $eoid, yell, and exclame can finde no end.
(hueara. Letters (tr. by Uellowea, U77X p. SOS.
I had rather bear them Moid than fight.
Shak., M. W. of W., It 1. «4a
I jDst put my two arms roond ber, and said, " Come,
Bessie : don't KcU." CharlotU Bnnte, Jane Eyre, iv.
n. trans. To chide with railing or clamor;
berate ; rail at.
she had icoldtd ber Hoabend one Day oat of Doon.
HoutU, Letteta, U. 7.
She mxlded Anne, . . . bat so softly that Anne fell asleep
In the middle of the little lecture.
Mn. Oliphant, Poor Oentleman, xlli.
scold (skold), n. [Early mod. E. also scould,
sroiile; < scold, r.] 1. One who scolds; a
scolder; especially, a noisy, railing woman; a
termagant.
I know she is an irksome brawling teotd.
Shot., T. of the 8., L 2. 188.
II undertake a dram or a whole kennel
»t mxUM cannot wake him.
Bromt, Tbe Queen's Exchange, iii.
The Bully among men, and the SecU among women.
SIteU, TaUer, No. 217.
2. A scolding: as, she gave bim a ronsing scold.
[Rare. ]— Common scold, a woman who, by tbe practice
of frequent scolding, disturbs tbe peace of the neighbor-
hood.
A common teoUi Is Indictable at common law as a nui-
iuicc. Bishop, Crim. Law, 1 1101.
Scold's brtdls. Same as branit, 1.
scoldenore (skol'de-nor), ». [Cf. scolder^.']
Tlir oliiwife or south-southerly, a duck, Harelda
gtariali.i. Also called scuUter. See cut under
nlthrifr. [New Hampshire.]
scolder' (skol'd^r), n. [< scold, v., + -<t1.]
One who scolds or rails.
ScUd^rt, and aowen of diacord between one person and
an'ither. Cranmtr, Articles of Visitation.
scolder'"* (skol'der), n. [Also chaldriek, ckalder;
origin obscure.] The oyster-cateher, Htema-
topuK ontrilegus. [Orkneys.]
scolder^ (skol'dfer), n. [Origin obscure.] Same
as Kriildenore. [Massachusetts.]
scolding ( skoi'ding), n. [Verbal n. of seold, e.]
liHilingor vituperative language; a rating: as,
to get n good urohling.
Was not mamma often in an lll-hnmor : and were they
not all use<l to her Knldinytr Thadtny, Philip, xx.
^BriL See rail^, i.
5403
scolding-stoolt (skol'ding-stol), n. A cucking-
stool. Halliwell.
SCOldstert, »• [Also scolster, skolster ; < scold
+ -.s-fcr.] A scold. ^-1. S. A. Hamilton's Quarter
Sessions, p. 85.
SCOle^f, «. An obsolete form of school^.
SCOle^t, "• An obsolete form of schooP.
SCOle^, «. An obsolete or dialectal form of
.H-ale^.
SCOleces, ". Plural of scolex.
Scolecida (sko-les'i-da), n. pi- [NL., < Gr.
OKu'/.r]^, a worm, + -iVfa.] A class of Annuloida
or worms, contrasting with Echinodermata, con-
sisting of the wheel-animalcules, the turbella-
rians, and the trematoid, cestoid, andnematoid
worms, including the gordians and Acantho-
cephala. This group was tentatively proposed, and the
terra has scarcely come into use. Huxley, 1869. See cuts
under HhabdoccAa and Rot\fera.
SCOleciform (sko-les'i-f6rm), a. [< Gr. okuIti^
{oKu'/.rjK-), a worm, + Ij. forma, form.] Having
the form or character of a scolex : specifically
noting an early larval stage of tapeworms.
Thus, the measle of pork is the scoleciform
stage of Txnia solium. T. S. Cobbold.
Scolecimorphat (sko-les-i-mor'fa), «. pi. [NL.,
< Gr. cKfj'/.tj^. a worm, + i^op^, form.] A group
of worms containing the turbellarians, trema-
toids, and cestoids: synonymous vrithPla<yA«/-
mintha.
SCOlecimorpMc (sko-les-i-mor'fik), a. [< Sco-
kfimorjiliii + -ic] Worm-like in form or struc-
ture ; of or pertaining to the Scolecimorpha-
Scolecina (skol-e-si'nS), n. pi. [NL., < Gr.
OKu/.r/^ {oKuAr/K-), a worm, + -ina^.'\ A group of
annelids, typified by the earthworm, corre-
sponding to the lumbricine, terricolous, or oli-
gochiBtous annelids. Also called Scolcina.
SCOlecine (skol'e-sin), a. Of or pertaining to
the Scoleeina; bimbricoid, terricolous, or oligo-
chietous, as an annelid.
SCOlecite (skol'e-sit), n. [In def. 1 also skolc-
cite (so called because it sometimes curls up
before the blowpipe, as if it were a worm) ; <
Gr. o»<i/j?f (o/cu/j?*-), a worm, + -i(e2.] 1. One
of the zeolite group of minerals, a hydrous sili-
cate of aluminium and calcium, occurring in
acicular crystals, also fibrous and radiated mas-
sive, commonly white. Early called lime-meso-
iype. — 2. In 6of.,the vermiform archiearp of the
fungus Ascobolus, a name proposed by Tulasne.
It is a structure composed oi a chain of cells
developed from the end of a branch of the my-
celium.
SCOlecoid (sko-le'koid), a. [< Gr. anuhiKuiiK,
contr. for enu/qiiotti^, worm-like, < OKiilrj^ (oku-
X^-), a worm, + tliof, form.] Resembling a
scolex; cysticercoid; hydatid.
Scolecomorpha (sko-le-ko-mor'fa), n. pi.
[NL., < Gr. (7MJ>.7/f (oKui^riK-), a worm + iiop^,
form.] A class of Mollusca, represented by
the genus Neomenia (or Solenopus), further
distinguished as a special series Lipoglossa,
contrasting with the gastropods, cephalopods,
pteropods, etc., collectively. E. R. Lankester.
Bcolecophagat (skol-e-kof'a-gtt), n. pi. [NL.,
neut. pT. of smlcrophdgus : see scolecophaqous.']
An Aristdtfliau group of insectivorous birds,
contiiining most of the present (hcines.
SCOlecophagOOS (skol-e-kof'a-gus), a. [< NL.
scolecophagus, < Gr. odu/^no^yof, worm-eating,
< OKu'/ri^ (nKuh/K-), a worm, + (payeiv, eat.]
Wonii-fating, as a bird.
Scolecopliagas (skol-e-kof'a-gus), n. pJL.
(SwttiiiKon, 1831): see'scolecoplmgous.'] A ge-
nus of IcteridK of the subfamily Quiscalinir,
having a rounded tail shorter than the wings,
and a thnish-like bill; the maggot-eaters or
rusty grackles. Two species are very common birds
of the Uiiited aUttrt —S./rrruffinetu and S. cyanocephahu,
of eastern and western >orth America respectively
latter is the blae-headed or Brewer's blackbird.
The
The name
natygraeUe of tbe former is only descriptive of the females
and young, the adult malea being entirely iridescent-black.
See cut under rutty.
Scolecophidia (sko-le-ko-fid'i-a), n. pi. [NL.,
< (ir. aKu'/rj^ (aiajhiii-), a worm, + o^if, a snake:
see Ophidia."] A series or superfamily of worm-
like angiostomatous snakes, having the opis-
thotic fixed in the cranial walls, palatines
bounding the choante behind, no ectoptery-
goids, and a rudimentary pelvis. It includes
the Epanodonta or T)iphlopidte, and the Cato-
dnnla or Stenostomatidee.
SCOlecophidian (sko-le-ko-fid'i-an), a. and n.
[< Sriifiri'iihiilia -l-'-rtM.] I, a. Worm-like or
vomiifonn, as a snake; of or pertaining to the
Scolecophidia.
Scolopacidse
II. «. A worm-like snake; a member of tho
Scolecophidia.
Scoleina (skol-e-i'nil), n.pl. Same as Scoleeina.
scolert, «• An obsolete form of scholar.
scolex (sko'leks), n. [NL., < Gr. oKu'Xr)^, pi.
mu/.jy/cff, a worm.] 1. Pi. scoleces (sko-le'sez),
erroneously scolices (skol'i-sez). In Scolecida,
the larva produced from the egg, which may by
gemmation give rise to infertile deutoscoleees,
or to ovigerous proglottides; the embryo of
an entozoic worm, as a fluke or tape; a cystic
worm or cysticereus ; a hydatid. See cuts un-
der Tsenia.
The $colex, which develops the chain or strobila by a
process of budding. Encye. Brit., XXIII. fj2.
2t. [<'«/'.] An old genus of worms.
SColez-iorm (sko'leks -form), n. The form,
state, or condition of a scolex.
In some stages, as. for example, in the scolex-fomi of
many Cestoda, this differentiation of the secondary axes
is not expressed. Gegenbaur, Comp. Anat. (trans.), p. 128.
SCOleyt, «'• i- [ME. scolaicn, seoleyen, attend
school, study, < OF. escoler, instruct, teach, <
eseole, school : see school^, ti.] To attend school ;
study.
He . . . bisily gan for the soules preye
Of hem that gaf hym wherewith to scoteye.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 302.
Scolia (sko'li-a), n. [NL. (Fabricius, 1775),
said to be < Gr. oku?j>c, a pointed stake, a thorn,
prickle; but perhaps < oKoMdi, bent, slanting,
oblique.] An important genus of fossorial
hymenopterous insects, typical of the family
Scoliida; having the eyes emarginate within,
and the fore wings with only one recurrent
ne^^'U^e. It is a large cosmopolitan genus, containing
species which have the normal burrowing habit of the
digger-wasps, as well as some which are parasitic. Thus,
S. flavifroHg of Europe is parasitic within the body of the
lamellicorn beetle OrycUs nasiconiis. Thirteen species
are found in the I niled States and fourteen in Europe,
wliile many are tropical.
scoliastt, «. An obsolete form of scholiast.
scolices, «. An erroneous plural of scolex.
Scoliidse (sko-li'i-de), w. jjJ. [NL. (Westwood,
1840), < Scolia + -idm.'\ A family of fossorial
hymenopterous insects, containing large, often
hairy, short-legged wasps, which abound in
tropical countries, and in sunny, hot, and sandy
places. Tiphia, Myane, and Eli» are the principal North
American genera. 'I'he adult wasps are found commonly
on flowers, and the larvee either live normally in burrows
prepared by the adults or they are parasitic, usually on
the larva; of beetles. Some are called sand-u-asp«. Also
Scotiada (Leach, 1817), ScolieUl (Ijitreille, 1S02), Scoliites
(Newman. ISMX and Scolida (Leach, 1812). See cuts under
ii'/w and Tiphia.
Scoliodon (sko-li'o-don), n. [NL. (Miiller and
Henle, 1837), < Gr. OKoltdg, oblique, + oiSoif
(o<!ovr-) = E. tooth.'} A genus of sharks of
the family Galeorhinidse ; the oblique-toothed
sharks. S. Urra-nmee of the Atlantic coast of America,
common southward, is the sharp-nosed shark, of slender
form and gray color, with a conspicuous black edging of
the caudal fln.
scoliosis (skol-i-o'sis), n. [NL., < Gr. ckiMubk;,
a bending, a curve, < bkoXiovv, bend, crook, <
<woX/of , bent, crooked, curved. ] Lateral curva-
ture of the spinal column : distinguished from
lordosi.'t and kjipho-tis — Scoliosis brace, a brace for
treating lateral curvature of the spine.
scoliotic (skol-i-ot'ik), a. [< scoliosis (-ot-) +
-ic] Pertaining to or of the nature of scoliosis.
BCOlite (sko'llt), n. [< Gr. aKo>u6i, bent, crooked,
+ -itc'i.'] A tortuous tube or track, which may
have been the burrow of a worm, found fossil
in the rocks of nearly all ages ; a fossil worm,
or the trace of one, of undetermined character.
Also scolithtts.
scollard (skol'jird), n. A dialectal variant of
■scholar.
scollop, scolloped, etc. See scalloji, etc.
SCOlopaceOU8(skol-o-pa'shius), a. [< NL. scolo-
paceu.i, < L. scolopax, a large snipe-like bird:
see Scolopax.'] Resembling a snipe : specifical-
ly noting a courlan, Arainus scolopaceus. (See
Araniiis.) The resemblance is slight, as may be Judged
from the figure (see following page) ; but courlans in some
respects depart from their allies (cranes and rails) in the
direction of the snipe family.
Scolopacidse (skol-o-pas'i-de), n.pl. [NL., <
Scolopax + -ida:] A family of limicoline preco-
cial wading birds, named from the genus Scolo-
pax, containing all kinds of snipes and wood-
cocks, sandpipers, tattlers orgambets, godwits,
and curlews; the snipe tribe. It is one of the two
largest limicoline families (the other being Charadriidx
or plovers), characterized l)y the length, slenderness, and
sensitiveness of the bill, which is in some genera several
times as long as the head, grooved for (me half to nearly
the whole of its length, and forming a delicate probe with
which to explore the ground in search ot food. The legs
Scolopacidae
Scolopaceous Coiirlan i.-tramus sci^lapactHj)^
are more or less lengthened, usually bare above the suf-
frago, scutellateor partly rfticulate; there are four toes,
with few exceptions, cleft to tlie base or furnished with
one or two basal webs, never full-webbed nor lobate. Tlie
Scolopaciilff- &vtifdge of small size, like plovers ; tliey nest
almost always on the ground, and lay four pointedly pyri-
form eggs ; the young are hatched downy, and run about
atonce. Thefamily is of cosmopolitan distribution. See
gnipe, and cuts under Limma, ntf, lihi/acophiius, lihyn-
choea, sandpiper, sanderling, and redshank.
Scolopacinse (skol"o-pa-si'Lie), «. i^l. [NL., <
Scolopux (-pac-) + -(««.'] A subfamily of Scolo-
pacidsE, represented by the genus Scolopax and
its immediate relatives; the true snipes and
woodcocks. The bill is at least twice as long as the
head, straight, with closely contracted gape, very long
nasal grtwves, and great sensitiveness. Theleadinggenera
besides Scolopax are PhUoheta (the American woodcock),
GaUinago (the ordinaiy snipe), and Macrorhamphvs. See
these words.
SCOlopacine (skol'6-pas-in), a. [< Scolopax
(-pac-) + -iwcl.] Suipe-like; resembling, re-
lated to, or characteristic of snipes; belonging
to the Scolopacidx, and especially to the Scolo-
pacinx.
SCOlopacoid (skol'o-pak-oid), a. [< Gr. nKoldira^
(-iroK-), a snipe, + f«Sof, form.] Resembling a
snipe, plover, or other limieoline bird ; limico-
line ; enaradriomorphie ; belonging to the Sco-
lopncoidcse.
Scolopacoideae (skol"o-pa-koi'de-e), n./?;. [NXi.,
< Scolopax (-pac-) + -oideie.'] A' superfamily of
wading birds, the snipes and their allies; the
plover-snipe group : synonymous with Limicola
and Charadriomorphx. [Recent.]
Scolopax (skol'o-paks), n. [NL.,< LL. scolopax,
< Gr. <T/(o/l(5iraf, a large snipe-like bird, perhaps
a woodcock.] A Linnean genus of Scolopaeidas,
formerly including most of the scolopacine and
some other birds, but now restricted to the ge-
nus of which the European woodcock, S. rusti-
cula, is the type : in this sense synonjTnous only
with Rusticola. The birds most frequently
called snipe belong to the genera Gallinago and
Macrorhamphus. See snipe.
scolopendert, ». Same as scolopendra.
SCOlopendra (skol-o-pen'dra), n. [Also scolo-
peiider; < F. scolopendre = Sp. Pg. cscolopendra
= It. scolopendra, < L. scol*>pendra, a niilleped,
also a certain iish supposed, when caught by a
hook, to eject its entrails, remove the hook,
and then take them in again ; < Gr. OKoUnevipa,
a milleped, also the sea-scolopendra, an animal
of the genus Nereis, or Aphrodite, 2.] 1. Some
imaginary sea-monster.
Bright Scolopendraet arm'd with silver scales.
Spenser, ¥. Q., II. xii. 23.
2. leap.'] [NL. (LinnfBus, 1735).] A Linnean
genus of myriapods, approximately the same
as the class Myriapoda, subsequently variously
restricted, now the type of the limited family
Scolopendridss, and containing such centipeds
as have the cephalic segments imbricate, four
stemmatous ocelli on each side, attenuated an-
tennse, and twenty-one pairs of feet. Among
them are the largest and most formidable centipeds,
whose poisonous claws inflict very painful and even dan-
gerous wounds. Such is S. castanixxps, of a greenish color
with chestnut head, and ft or 6 inches long, justly dreaded
In southerly portions of the United States. See cuts un-_
der bojrilar, centiped, cephalic, and epUabrum.
Scolopendrella (skol"o-pen-drel'a), n. [NL.,
< Sc,oloj/i:>iilra + -ella.'\ The typical genus of
Scf>lopin dri.Uidx.
Scolopendrellidse (skoFo-pen-drel'i-de), n. pi.
[NL., < Scolopendrella -f- -id/e.'j A family of
centipeds, named from the genus Scolopendrella,
having the body and limbs short, the antennsB
long with more than sixteen joints, and sixteen
imbricated dorsal scutes. Alsfi Scolopendrel-
linee, as a subfamily. Newport.
5404
Scolopendridse (skol-6-pen'dri-de), n. pi.
[NL., < Scolopendra + -((?«.] Afamily of ehilo-
pod myriapods, typified by the genus Scolopen-
dra, and variously restricted, in a now usual ac-
ceptation it includes those centipeds which have from
twenty-one to twenty-three limb-bearing segments, uni-
serial scutes, few ocelli if any, and the last pair of legs
thickened and generally spinose. There are many genera.
The family is contrasted with Cermatiidse, IdthoMidle,
Scolopendrellidie, and Geopkilidse,
Scolopendrie8e(skol"o-pen-dri'e-e), n.pl. [NL.,
< Srolojiendrium + -e«.] A tribe of ferns, typi-
fied by the genus Scolopcndrinm. The sori are the
same as in the Aspleniem, except that they are arranged
in pairs and open toward each other.
SCOlopendriform (skol-o-pen'dri-fdrm), a. [<
NL. scolopendra + L. forma, form.] Resem-
bling or related to a centiped; scolopendrine.
Applied in entomology to certain larva;; (a) carnivorous
elongate and depressed larvie, having falcate acute man-
dibles, a distinct thoracic shield, and the rudiments of an-
tenna;, as those of certain beetles ; and (h) depressed and
elongate spinose caterpillars of some butterflies. Also
called chilvpodij'onn.
Scolopendrinae (skol"o-pen-dri'ne), n.pl. [NL.,
< Sc(>l<ipciidra + -inse.] 1. A subfamily of
Scolojiindridx : contrasted with Lithobiinse and
didpliilinx : same as Scolopendridee in the usual
sense. — 2. A restricted subfamily of Scolopen-
dridse, characterized by nine pairs of valvular
spiracles.
scolopendrine (skol-o-pen'drin), a. [< Scolo-
pendra + -iKcl.] Resembling or related to a
centiped ; pertaining to the Scolopendridss or
Scolopendrinie ; chilopod in a narrow sense. —
Scolopendrine scaleback, a polycheetous marine anne-
lid of tlie genus PoIi/wh', as P. scolopendrina ; a kind of
sea-centipcd. See cut under Polynoii.
Scolopendrium (skol-o-pen'dri-um), n. [NL.
(Smith, 1791), < L. scolopendrion = Gr. amlo-
mrilpiov, a kind of fern, < c!Ko?.6ir€v(ipa, a mille-
ped: see scolopendra.'] A genus of asplenioid
ferns, closely allied to the genus Asplenium,
from which it differs in having the sori linear,
and confluent in pairs, opening toward each
other. The fronds are usually large, and coriaceous or
subcoriaceous in texture. The genus, which is widely dis-
tributed, contains 7 or 8 species. S. vulgare, the only spe-
cies found in North America, is also found in England,
Gothland to Spain, Madeira, the Azores, Caucasus, Persia,
Japan, and Mexico. It has entire or undulate fronds that
are oblong-lanceolate from an auricled heart-shaped base.
They are 6 to 18 inches long and from 1 to 2 inches wide.
The plant is commonly called harts-tongue, but has also
such provincial names as adder's-tongue, buttonhole, .fox-
tongue, lamb'g-tongue, snake-leaveg, etc. he& finger-fern.
SCOlopendroid (skol-6-pen'droid), a. [< scolo-
pendra -\- -Old.] Scolopendriform or scolopen-
drine in a broad sense.
SCOlopsite (sko-lop'sit), n. [< Gr. aK6%oip, any-
thing pointed, a pale, stake, thorn, -t- -ite^.] A
partially altered form of the mineral hauynite.
scolstert, n. See scoldster.
Scoljrtidae (sko-lit'i-de), «. pi. [NL. (Kirby,
]s;!7),< Scoli/tus + -idse.] A very large family of
Coh'optera, typified by the genus Scolytus, con-
taining bark- and wood-boring beetles of small
size, having the pygidium surrounded at the
edge by the elytra, and the tibise usually ser-
rate, the head not rostrate, the maxillre with
one lobe, and the antennte short, claviform or
perfoliate. In their larval state these insects do im-
mense damage to forest- and fruit-trees, under the bark of
which they bore long galleries, as do the Bostrgchidsc, with
which they have been sometimes confounded! Their color
is black or brown, and they are almost exclusively lignivo-
rous in habit. Nearly 1,000 species have been described,
of which 150 belong to temperate North America. Xylo-
b(/rtis dispar, the shot-borer or pin-borer, and Tomicus
calligraphus, the fine-writing bark-beetle, are familiar ex-
amples. See Xylophaga, and cut under pin-borer.
SCOlytoid (skol'i-toid), a. [< Scolytus + -oid.]
1. Resembling, related to, or belonging to the
Scolytidse. — 2. Specifically, noting the sixth
and final larval stage of those insects which
undergo hyperraetamorphosis, as the blister-
beetles (Meloidsc). The scolytoid follows the
eoarctate stage of such insects. C. V. Miley.
Scolytus (skol'i-tus), n. [NL. (Geoffroy, 1762),
also Scolyttus, prop. *Scolyptus, irreg. < Gr.
oKoVvnTuv, crop, strip, peel; cf. KiiAof, docked,
clipped.] A genus of bark-beetles, typical of
the tamWj Scolytidse, having the ventral surface
of the body flattened or concave. The spe-
cies are mainly European and North American.
S. riif/nlosus is the so-called pear-blight beetle.
SCOmberlf, ". An obsolete form of scumher.
Scomber^ (skom'bfer), n. [NL. (Linnreus, 1758),
< L. scomber, < Gr. OKd/ifipoc, a mackerel, a tun-
ny.] A Linnean genus of aeanthopterygian
fishes, used with varying limits, and typical of
the family Scomhridse and subfamily Scomhri-
nse. As at present restricted, it includes only the species
of true mackerels which have the spinous dorsal fin of
less than twelve spines, short and remote from the second.
Scombridae
or soft dorsal, teeth on both palatines and vomer, and the
corselet obsolete, as S. scojnfmts, S. pneumatophorns, etc.
This excludes the frigate-mackerels (,Aum), the Span-
ish mackerel (Scmnlferomorus), the horse-mackerels, boni-
tos, tunnies, etc. Hee mackerel^ .
Scomberesoces (skom-be-res'o-sez), n. 2)1.
[NL., pi. of Scomberesox.] Same as Sconibe-
resocidse.
Scomberesocidae (skom'be-re-sos'i-de), n. pi.
[NL., < Scomberesox {-esoc-'j + -idee.'] A family
of syneiitognathous fishes, typified by the genus
Seotnbercsox, to which varying limits have been
assigned. They are physoclistous fishes, with the Imdy
scaly and a series of keeled scales along each side of the
belly, the margin of the upper jaw foinied by the inter-
maxillaries mesially and by the maxillaries laterally, the
lower pharyngeals united in a single bone, and the dor-
sal fln opposite the anal. In a broad sense, the family
consists of about 8 genera and 100 species, including the
belonids or gars, the lieniu-hamphines or halfbeaks, and
tile exoccetines or flying-fish. In a restricted sense, it
includes the flying-fishes and hemirhamphines as well &»
the sauries, the belonids being excluded. Also Scwnbre-
socidx. See cut under saury.
Scomberesocinse (skom-be-res-o-si'ne), n. pi.
[NL.,< Scomberesox (-esoc-)' + -inee.] Asubfam-
ily of synentognathous fishes, represented by
the geniin Scomberesox, yvhiah has been various-
ly limited, but is generally restricted to those
Scomberesocidse which have the maxillary an-
kylosed with the premaxillary, both jaws pro-
duced, and both anal and dorsal fins with finlets.
SCOmberesocine (skom-be-res'o-sin), a. Per-
taining to the Scomberesocinse, or having their
characters.
Scomberesox (skom-ber'e-soks), n. [NL. (La-
e^pede, 1803), < Scomber^ -h JCsox, q. v.] The
typical genus of Scomberesocidse ; the mackerel-
pikes, saury pikes, or sauries. The body is long,
compressed, and covered with small deciduous scales ; the
jaws are more or less produced into abeak ; the gill-rakers
are long, slender, and numerous ; the air-bladder is large ;
and there are no pyloric caica. The dorsal and anal fins are
opposite as in Esox, and finlets are developed as in Scom-
ber. In S. saurus, the true saury, also called skipper and
bill-fish, the beak is long ; the color is olive-brown, silvery
on the sides and belly ; and the length is about 18 inches.
This species is wide-ranging in the open sea, S. brevirosfris
is a smaller saury, with the jaws scarcely forming a beak ;
it is found on the coast of California. Also Scombresox.
See cut under saury.
Scomberidae(skom-ber'i-de),n.pi. ['KL.,<Scom-
ber2 + -idse.] Same as Scombridse. Yarrell, 1836.
SCOmberoid (skom'be-roid), a. and n. [< NL.
Scomber'^ + -oid.] Same as .scombroid.
Scomberoides (skom-be-roi'dez), 71. [NL., < L.
scomber, mackerel, + Gr. eiih(, form.] Same as
Scombroides.
Scomberoidinse (skom"be-roi-di'ne), n. pi.
[NL., < Scomberoides -t- -inse.] A subfamily of
Caranf/idse, typified by the genus Scomberoides,
with the premaxillaries not protractile (except
in the very young), the pectoral fins short and
rounded, the second dorsal like the anal, and
both much longer than the abdomen, it contains
a few tropical sea-fishes, one of which (Oligoplites saurtis)
sometimes readies the southern coast of the United States.
Scomberomoras(skom-be-rora'o-rus), n. [NL.
(Lae^pede, 1802), < L. scomber, mackerel (see
Scomber'^), + Gr. upopoc, bordering on, closely
resembling.] A genus of scombroid fishes, con-
taining the Spanish mackerel, S. maculatus, and
related species. They are fishes of the high seas, grace-
ful in form, beautiful in color, and among the best for the
Spanish Mackerel iScofnberoniorus inaculatus).
table. A technical difference from Scomber is the length
of the spinous dorsal fin, which has more than twelve spines
and is contiguous to the second dorsal, the presence of a
caudal keel, the strength of the jaw-teeth, and the weak-
ness of those on the vomerine and palatine bones. This
genus used to be called Cybium; its type is the cero, S.
regalis, which attains a weight of 20 pounds. S. caballa
sometimes weighs 100 pounds. All the foregoing inhabit
the Atlantic, S. concolor the Pacific.
Scombresocidae (skom-bre-sos'i-de), «. pi.
[NL.] Same as Scomberesocidse.
Scombresox (skom'bre-soks), n. [NL.] Same
as Scomberesox.
SCOmbrld (skom'brid), n. and a. I. «. A fish
of the family Scombridse ; any mackerel, or one
of several related fishes.
II. a. Of or pertaining to the .VoiwftrMa; re-
sembling or related to the mackerel ; scombroid ;
seombrine.
Scombridse (skom'bri-de), n. pi. [NL., < Scom-
ber'^ + -idse.] A family of carnivorous physn-
clistous aeanthopterygian fishes, tj-pified by tlio
Scombridae
genus S<-omlier, to which very different limits
liave been ascribed, (a) In Ounther's system, a fam-
ily of AcanthopUrygii eottoseoinbriformeg, with unarmed
cheeks, two dorsal^ tins, either flnlets or the spinous dor-
sal composed of free spines or modified into a suctorial
disk, or the ventrais jugular and composed of four rays,
and scales none or very small. (6) By Bonaparte, first
used as a synonym of Scmnberoides of Cuvier; later re-
stricted to such forms as liail two dorsal fins or several
of the first rays of the dorsal spintfonu. (c) By Gill, lim-
ited to Scvnihroidea of a fusiform shape, with the first
dorsal fin elongate, or separated by a wide interval from
th^- s«jft dorsal, with posterior rays of the second dorsal
and of the anal generally detached as special finlets, and
with numerous vertebrce. The body is elongate, not
much compressed, and covered with minute cycloid scales,
or quite ualted ; the scales sometimes united into a kind
of corselet anteriorly ; the lateral line is present ; the
branchiosteguis are seven ; the dorsal fins two, of which the
first has rather weak spines, and the second resemtdes the
anal : the caudal iR'duncle is very slender, usually keeled,
and tile lobes of the caudal fin are divergent and falcate,
pnxlucing the characteristic deeply forked tail; the ventral
fins are thoracic in position, of moderate size, with a spine
and several soft rays; the vertel)rw are numerous (more
than twenty-five); pyloric c«ca are many; the air-bladder
is pn-.st-nt or absent ; the coloration is metallic and often
brilliant, lliere are 17 genera and about 70 species, all of
the hiizh seas and wide-ranging, in some cases coBmopoli-
tan ; and among them are extremely valuable food-fisbea,
as mackerel of all kinds, bonitits, tunnies, and others. See
cuts under hmito, inaekrrel, Scombermiwrus, and temnbroid.
SCOmbridal (.skom'bri-dal), a. [< scombrid +
-«/.] Same as .f(v»ni6r«ifi.
Scombrina (skom-bri'na), n. pi. [NL., < Scom-
ber- + -iiKi-.] In Guntner's early system, the
first group of Scombrida, having the dorsal fin
witli the spinous part separate and less de-
veloped than the soft, and the body oblong,
gealeles.s or with very small scales : later raised
to family rank, an<l same as Scombridee (a).
Scombrihse (skom-bri'ne), «. pi. [NL., < Seom-
Ur- + -iiix.'\ A subfamily of Scumbrida, to
which various limits have been assigned, (o) By
Gill, limited to those Scotnbridje wliich have two dorsals
wid'jiy distant, and tlius including only the typical mack-
.1 frigate- mackerels. (6) By Jordan and Gilliert,
i to embrace those with flnleta, and with the dor-
' s less than twenty in number. It thus includes
tti<.' ni.t< kert-t^ frigate-mackerels, tunnies, Ijonitos, and
Spanish ni:ickerel.
scombrine (skom'brin), n. and a. I. n. A fish
f the subfamily Seombrinm.
n. 'I. Of or having characteristics of the sub-
family Sriinibriii/e or family Scombrida.
Bcombrini (skom-bri'ni), «. pi. [NL., < Scorn-
Itir- + -iiii.] A subfamily of scombroid fishes,
tvpilieil hy llii- ;:enus Scombir. It was restricted
by Iloiiaparte to Snnnbridte with the anterior dorsal fln
continuous, and tin- |>o8t«rior as well as the anal separat-
ed o-.-hitid into .>it-vt-nd spurious Unlets, and with the body
fusiform : it jncluiied most of the true Scombridm of re-
cent ii-tithyologists.
scombroid ( skom'broid), a. and ii. [< Gr. OKdfi-
ipoi, a mackerel, + eldof, form.] I. a. Besem-
' 'Tccn Mackerel iCAifirojrem^TMt ehryturmj), a ScomtieiMd Hbh.
bling or related to the mackerel ; pertaining or
belonging to the Scombridje or Scombroidea.
Also ncombridal.
n. n. A scombroid fish ; a scombrid.
.\]sn srniiiheroitl.
Scombroidea (skom-broi'de-ft), n.pl. [NL., <
-I iimhci'^ + -oidea.'] A superfamily of uncer-
iin limits, but containing the families Sctim-
iinilii, HiitiiiphoridiP. XiphiUlte, LepidopodUliB,
Trii'liniriilir, ('araiiijidie, etc.
Scombroides (skoni-broi'dez), H. [NL. (Lac6-
pede, 1M02), < Gr. aK6fi:ipu(, mackerel, + eiAof,
liirm.] A genus of caranpoid fishes, typical of
■ family .Sc i-. They are nnmeroas
il seas. By -t two subdivisions are
- L''ii.ni. I; — -oecies the dorsal spines
• I yguius are armed with teeth,
leveloped. But in the Ameri-
le no pterygoid teeth, and the
Ided. Such is the character of the
', to which belongs the well-known
i'leittntit. of Uith C4iasts of Centra]
Amentj.i antl north Ut New York and Caltforula. It Is
bluish alMjve, silvery Ijelow. with yellow fins.
SCOmet, SCOmert, ». Obsolete forms of scum,
srntfiiti/ r.
scomfish fsknm'flsh), r. [Corruption of scom-
Jit-] I. trans. 1. To discomfit. [North. Eng.]
— 2. To sufTocate, as by noxious air, smoke,
etc.; stifle: choke. [North. Eng. and Scotch.]
My cousin, Mrs. Class, has a braw house here, but a'
thing is aae poisoned wi' snulf that I am like to t>e acwnt-
M»d whiles. Sealt, Heart of Mid-Lothisn, xxilx.
5405
ni scomfish you if ever you go for to tell.
Jfr». Gaskelt, Ruth, xviil. (Davtes.)
II. intrans. To be suffocated or stifled.
[North. Eug. and Scotch.]
scomfltt, !'■ t. [ME. scomfiten, skomfiten, scom-
feteii, seumfiten, scowmfiten; by apheresis from
discomJit.'\ To discoinfit.
That Arke or Hucche, with the Relikes, Tytus ledde
with hym to Rome whan he had scmnfytM alle the Jewes.
MatidevilU, Travels, p. 85.
And to flenerydes I will retume.
So rebukyd and skomfite as he was.
He cowde not make no cherebut alwey mourn.
Generydes (E. E. T. S.), 1. 670.
SCOmfitnref, «. [ME.; by apheresis from dis-
comfiturc] Discomfiture ; defeat.
Ful strong was Grimold in werly scomfilure.
Horn, of I'arUnay (E. E. T. S.), 1. 414S.
SCOmmt (skom), n. [< L. scomma, < Gr. oho/i/ia,
a jest, joke, gibe, scoff, taunt, jeer, < oKum-eiv,
mock, scoff, jest.] 1. A flout; a jeer.
His vain ostentation is worthily scoffed with [the]«com»ie
of the orator. Fotherby, Atheomastix (ie22), p. l!S9.
2. A buffoon.
The scammes, or buffoons of quality, are wolvish in con-
versation. Sir H. L'Estrange.
scommatict (sko-mat'ik), a. [Also seo»i-
nialique; < Gr. oiuj/i/iaTtKdc, jesting, scoffing, <
oKu/j/ia, a jest, scoff: see sconim.^ Scoffing;
jeering; mocking.
The heroiqne poem dramatique is tragedy. The scorn-
matique narrative is satyxe ; dramatique is comedy.
Hobbs, Ans. to Pref. to Uondibert.
scon', f. A variant of satti^.
scon- (skon), n. A Scotch form of scum.
sconce^ (skons), w. [Early mod. E. also sconse,
skonce, scons, < ME. sconne, sconce, skonce, scons,
a lantern, candlestick, = Icel. skons, a dark lan-
tera, skonsa, a dark nook ; < OF. esconse, esconce,
a dark lantern, F. dial, econse, a lantern, < ML.
absconsa (also nbsconsum), also (after Rom.)
sconsa, a dark lantern, fem. (and neut.) of L.
abseonsus, pp. of abscondere, hide away : see ab-
scond. Cf. sconce^.'] 1. A lantern with a pro-
tecting shade ; a .dark lantern ; any lantern.
It wexyth derke, thoa nedyst a scans.
PolitietU Poems, etc. (ed. Fumivall), p. II.
ITood. Yonder 's a light, master-constable.
Blurt. Peace, Woodcock, the sconce approaches.
Middtetan, Blurt, Master -Constable, iv. 3.
The windows of the whole citty were set with tapers
put into lanterns or sconces of seversl ccdour'd oyl'd paper.
Evelyn, Diary, Nov. 22, 1644.
2. A candlestick having the form of a
bracket projecting from a
wall or coliunn; also, a
group of such candlesticks,
forming, with an appliqu^
or flat, somewhat orna-
mented disk or plaque
which seems to adhere to
the wall, a decorative olj-
ject. These were most
commonly of brass during
the years when sconces
were most in tise.
I have put Wax-lights in the
Sconces; and placed the Footmen
In a Row in the Hall.
Congrete, Way of the World, iv. 1 .
3. The socket for the can-
dle in a candlestick of any
form, especially when hav-
ingaprojectingrimarouiul '■ " ^
it.
sconce- (skons), n. [Early mod. E. also sconse,
skonce; = MD. Hchaiitxe, D. schans = MLG.
»fAa«/;c, a fortress, sconce, = late MHG.scAanzc,
a bundle of twigs, intrenchmeut, G. schanre, G.
dial. *cAonr, bulwark, fortification ('>lt. scancia,
bookcase), = Dan. skandsc, fort, quarter-deck,
= 8w. skans, fort, sconce, steerage, < OF.
esconse, esconce, t., escons, m., a hiding-place, a
retreat, < L. absconsa, t., absconsum, neut., pp.
of abscondere (reg. pp. absconditus), hide: see
abscond. Cf sconce^, from the same source.]
1. A cover; a shelter; a protection; specifi-
cally, a screen or partition to cover or protect
anything; a shed or hut for protection from
the weather; a covered stall.
If you consider me in little, I
Am, with your worship's reverence, sir, a rascal ;
One that, upon the next anger of your brother.
Must raise a sconce by the highway, and sell switches.
Beau, anil Ft., .Scornful Lady, v. 3.
The great pine at the root of which she was sitting
was broken off Just above her head, and blown to the
ground; and, by its fall, enclosed her in an impenetrable
•ronce, under which alone in the general wreck could her
life have been preserved. ^. Judd, Margaret, I. Ifi.
scone
2. A work for defense, detached from the
main works for some local object ; a bulwark ;
a block-house; a fort, as for the defense of a
pass or river.
Basilius . . . now had better fortified the overthrown
sconce. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, ill.
Tush, my Lords, why stand you upon terms?
Let us to our sconce, and you, my Lord, to Mexico.
Greene, Orlando Furioso.
No sconce or fortress of his i-aising was ever known
either to have bin forc'd, or yielded up, or quitted.
Milton, Hist. Eng., ii.
They took possession, at once, of a stone sconce called
the Mill-Fort, which was guarded by fifty men.
MoOey, Hist. Netherlands, II. 11.
3. A cover or protection for the head; ahead-
piece ; a helmet.
An you use these blows long, I must get a sconce for my
head, and insconce it too. S/utk., C. of E., ii. 2. 37.
Hence — 4. The head; the skull; the cranium,
especially the top of it. [CoUoq.]
To knock him about the sconce with a dirty shoveL
Sliak., Hamlet, v. i. 110.
Though we might take advantage of shade, and even
form it with upraised hands, we must by no means cover
our sconces. R. F. Burton, El-Medinah, p. 367.
6. Brains; sense; wits; judgment or discre-
tion.
Which their dull seonses cannot easly reach.
l>r. B. More, Psychozoia, iii. 13.
6. A mulct; a fine. See sconce"^, v. t., 3.
When I was at Oriel, some dozen years ago, sconces were
the fines, of a few pence, inflicted in the "gate-bill" upon
undergraduates who *'knocked-in" after Tom had tolled
his hundred-and-one strokes. The word was traditionally
supposed to l)e derived from the candlestick, or sconce,
which the porter used to light him while opening the
door. N. and Q., 6th ser, XII. 523.
7. A seat in old-fashioned open chimney-places ;
a chimney-seat. [Scotland and the north of
Eng.] — 8. A fragment of an ice-floe.
As the sconce moved rapidly close alongside us, McGary
managed to plant an anchor on its slope and hold on to it
l)y a whale-line. Kane, Sec. Grinn. E.\p., I. 72.
To build a sconcet, to run up a bill for something, and
decamp without paying ; dodge ; defraud ; cheat.
These youths have been playing a small game, cribbing
from the till, and buHdiivj sconces, and such like tricks that
there was no taking hold of. Jotinston, Chrysal, xxviii,
A lieutenant and ensign whom once I admitted upon
trust , , . built a sconce, and left me in the lurch.
Tom Brotcn, Works, ii. 282. (Davies.)
sconce^ (skons), V. t.; pret. and pp. sconced,
ppT. sc(mHHg. [^i sconce^, n.'\ 1. To fortify or
I
efend with a sconce or block-house.
They set uptin the town of Jor, for that was sconced
[palisaded] and contpaseed alK>ut with wooden stakes, most
of the houses being of straw.
Linaehoteny Diary, 1594 (Arber's Eng. Gamer. III. 328).
[{Davies,)
2. Same as ensconce.
Ill gcorux me even here. Shak., Hamlet, iii. 4. 4.
3. To assess or tax at so much per head; mulct;
fine ; specifically, in the universities of Oxford
and Cambridge, to put the name of in the col-
lege buttery -books by way of fine; nmlct in a
tankard of ale or the like for some offense. See
the quotations.
I have had a head in most of the butteries of Cambridge,
and it has been sconced to purpose.
Shirley, Witty Fair One, iv. 2.
AritA. . . . Drinking college tap-lash . . . will let them
have no more learning than they size, nor a drop of wit
more than the )>utler avts on their heads.
2d Sekol. 'Twere charity in him to sconce *em soundly;
they would have but a poor quantum else.
Randolph, Aristippus (Works, ed. Uazlitt, 1875, p. 14).
Dn ring my residence at Brasenose — say 1835-1840 — I
remember the college cook, being sent for from the kitchen,
appearing in the hall in his white jacket and paper cap,
and being sconced a guinea by the vice-principal at the
high table, on the complaint of some bachelor or under-
graduate members of the college, for having sent to table
meat in an unfit state, or some such culinary delinquency.
W. E. Buckley, N. and Q., 7th ser., I. 216.
SCOncheon (skon'ahon), w. [Also scuncheoUj
gquinch : see scmice^.'] In arcU.y the part of
the side of an aperture from the back of the
jamb or reveal to the interior of the wall.
(hcilt.
scone (skon), n. [Also scon, skon; prob. < Gael.
sgonUy a shapeless mass, a block of wood, etc.]
A soft cake (resembling the biscuit of the Unit-
ed States, but of various shapes and sizes) made
from dough of barley-meal or of wheat-flour,
raised with bicarbonate of soda or with yeast,
and "fired" on a griddle. [Scotch.]
Leeze me on thee, John Barleycorn,
Thou king o' grain!
On thee aft Scotland chows her cood.
In Bouple scoties, the wale o" food !
Burns, Scotch Drink.
scone
Hoo mony men, when on parade, or when Bingin' sangs
aboot the war. are gran' hands, but wha lie flat as scones
on the grass when they see the cauld iron !
A'. Madeod, The Starling, ii.
sconner, r. and ». See seunner.
sconset, «. and V. An obsolete spelling of
.<(■()«<■< I, sconce^.
scoolt, "• Ah earlier spelling of schooU, school'^.
SCOOn (skon), V. i. [A var. of Se. and E. dial.
sciiH, scon: see seun^.'] I. intrans. To skim
along, as a vessel on the water. See schooner.
[Prov. or colloq.]
II. trans. To cause (flat stones) to skip or
skim on the surface of water. [Scotch and
New Eng.]
scoop (skop), n. [< ME. scope, skope, skoupe =
MD. schoepe, schuppe, a scoop, shovel, D. schop,
a spade (schoppeii, spades at cards), = MLG.
schuppe, LGr. schiippe (> G. schuppe), a shovel,
also a spade at cards, = Sw. skopa, a scoop;
of. G. schiipfe, a scoop, ladle, schoppen, a pint
measure ; perhaps connected with shove, shovel.
Some compare Gr. oKvipo^, a cup, om^c, a hol-
low vessel, < OKdirTcw, dig : see shave. In senses
6-8 from the verb.] 1. A utensil like a shovel,
but having a short handle and a deep hollow
receptacle capable of holding various small ar-
ticles. Especially— (o) A large shovel for grain, (b) A
small shovel of tin-plate for taking flour, sugar, etc., from
the barrel, (c) A banlvers' shovel for talking coin from a
drawer, used where checljs are commonly paid in specie.
(d) A kind of light dredge used in scooping or dredging
oysters ; a scraper.
Hence — 2. A coal-scuttle. [Eng.] — 3. Aba-
sin-like cavity, natural or artificial; a hollow.
Some had lain in the scoop of the rock.
With glittering ising-stars inlaid.
J. R. Drake, Culprit Fay.
The conduits round the gardens sing.
And meet in scoops of milk-white stone.
D. G. Mossetti, Dante at Verona.
Of a sudden, in a scoop of sand, with the rushes over-
hanging, I came on those two little dears, fast asleep.
B. D. Blackmore, Maid of Sker, x.
4. An instrument used in hollowing out any-
thing, or in removing something out of a hol-
low or so as to leave a hollow: as, a eheese-scoo;).
Specifically — (a) A spoon-shaped surgical instrument for
extracting foreign bodies, as a bullet from a wound, etc.
(6) An implement for cutting eyes from potatoes, the core
from apples, or the like, (c) The bucket of a dredging-ma-
chiue.
5. The vizor or peak of a cap. [Scotland.] —
6. A big haul, as if in a scoop-net ; in particu-
lar, a big haul of money made in speculation or
in some similar way. [Colloq.]— 7. The act
of scooping ; a movement analogous to the act
of scooping.
A scoop of his hands and a sharp drive of his arm, and
the ball shot into Anson's hands a fraction of a second
ahead of the runner.
Walter Camp, St. Nicholas, XVII. 947.
8. The securing aud publishing by a newspaper
of a piece of news in advance of its rivals; a
"beat," especially a "beat" of unusual success
or importance. [Slang.]
scoop (skop), V. [< ME. scopen, < scoop, n. Cf.
OS. skeppian = D. scheppen = MLG. scheppen,
schepen, LG. scheppen = OHG. scaphan, scephan,
sceffan, skcpfcH, MHG. schephen, schepfen, G.
schopfen, scoop, ladle out; from the noun.] I.
trans. 1 . To take with or as with a scoop or a
scoop-net: generally with out, up, or in : as, to
scoop up water.
He scoop'd the water from the crystal flood. Vryden.
Finishing his breakfast of broad beans, which he scooped
out of a basin with his knife.
W. Collins, Sister Rose, ii. 3.
One attends to keeping the canoe's head up stream
while the other watches for a flsh ; on seeing one he scoops
it out with a small net attached to a pole six feet long.
W. F. Roc, Newfoundland to Manitoba, vi.
2. Figuratively, to gather up as if with a scoop ;
hence, to gain by force or fraud. [Chiefly col-
loq.]
If you had offered a premium for the biggest cold caught
up to date, I think I should have scooped the outfit.
Amer. Angler, XVII. 334.
The Irish are spreading out into the country, and scoop-
ing in the farms that are not picturesque enough for the
summer folks. Uowells, Annie Kilburn, xi.
3. To empty as with a scoop or by lading; hence,
to hollow out; excavate: commonly with oat.
Those carbuncles . . . the Indians will scoop, so as to
hold above a Pint. Arbvthnot, Anc. Coins, p. 176.
To some dry nook
Scooped out of living rock.
Wordsworth, FiCcles. Sonnets, i. 22.
A niche of the chalk had been cleverly enlarged and
scooped into a shell-shaped bower.
R. D. Blackmore, Erema, xliv.
4. To form by hollowing out as with a scoop.
5406
love scooped this boat, and with soft motion
Piloted it round the circumfluous ocean.
Shdley, Witch of Atlas, xxxiii.
5. To take with a dredge, as oysters; dredge.
[U. S.] — 6. In newspaper slang, to get the
Scopelidas
Old World. They are herbs or shrubs, with very numer-
ous branched, opposite or whorled, and dotted leaves, and
rather small flowers, commonly in pairs, either white, yel-
low, or pale-blue. S. dulcis is used as a stomachic in the
West Indies, aud is called ^weet broomu-eed and licorice-
weed.
better of (a rival or rivals) by securing and Scopariidae (sko-pa-ri'i-de), «. jji. [NL. (Gue-
publishing a piece of news in advance of it or
them; get a "beat" on. See scoop, «., 8.
II. intrans. 1. To use a scoop; dredge, as
for oysters. [U. S.] — 2. To feed; take food,
as the right or whalebone whale. See scoop-
ing, n. [Sailors' slang.]
Again, the whale may be «cooj»7i(7 or feeding — a more scoparin (sko'pa-rin).
nfie, 1854), < Scoparia + -idee.'] A little-used
family name for the plicate pyralid moths re-
lated to Scoparia. They have the body slender, legs
long, smooth, and slender; fore wings long, narrow, cloud-
ed, obtuse at tips, and with very distinct markings ; hind
wings broad, plicate, without markings. The family in-
cludes 5 genera, of which ,Sco^ana is the most important.
horrible sight has never been witnessed ashore or afloat
than a large right whale with contracted upper lips, ex-
posing the long layers of baleen, taking his food.
Fisheries of IT. S., V. ii. 264.
Scooping avoset. See avoset, I.
SCOOper (sko'per), «. [< scoop, v., + -erl.] 1.
One who or that which scoops; specifically, a
[< Scoparium (see
def.) + -i»'^.] A crystalline principle found
in the flowers of Spartium Scoparium, used in
medicine for its diuretic properties.
SCOparious (sko-pa'ri-us), a. [Cf. LL. scopa-
riiis, a sweeper ; < L. scopa, a broom, brush : see
scope'^.'] Same as scopiform.
tool used by engravers on wood for cleaning scopate(sk6'pat),«. [<.'KL.*scopatus,<.1-i. scopa,
out the white parts of a block. It somewhat
resembles a small chisel, but is rounded under-
neath instead of being flat. — 2. The scooping
avoset: so called from the peculiar shape of
the bill.
scooping (sko'ping), n. [Verbal n. of scoop, f .]
a broom, brush: see scope'^.'] In entom.: {a)
Having a dense brush of stiff hairs, as the legs
of bees. (6) Densely covered with stiff hairs:
as, a scopate surface.
scope^ (skop), n. An obsolete or dialectal form
of scoop.
The action of the right whale when feeding. SCOpe^t, »
When it gets into a patch of feed or brit (which resembles
sawdust on the surface of the water), it goes through it
with only the head out and the mouth wide open. As
soon as a mouthful of water is obtained, the whale closes
its lips and ejects the water through the layers of baleen,
the feed being left in the mouth and throat. [Sailors'
slang.]
SCOOp-net (skop'net), n. 1. A net so formed
as to sweep the bottom of a river, when in use
it is allowed to trail in the rear of the boats, which are
permitted to drift slowly down the stream.
2. A form of not used to bail out fish collected
in a pound; also, a small hand-net, used for
catching bait ; a scap-net.
SCOOp-wneel (skop'hwel), «. A wheel made
like an overshot water-wheel, with buckets
upon its circumference. This, being turned by a
steam-engine or other means, is employed to scoop up the
water in which the lower part dips and raise it to a height
equal to the diameter of the wheel, when the buckets,
turning over, deposit the water in a trough or reservoir
prepared to receive it. Such wheels are sometimes used
for irrigating land. Compare tympanum.
SCOOtl (skot), V. [A var. of shoot. Cf. skeet'^.'\
I, intrans. 1. To flow or gush out suddenly and
with force, as from a syringe. [Scotch.] — 2.
To run, fly, or make off with celerity and direct-
ness; dart. [Colloq., U. S.]
The laugh of the gull as he scoots along the shore.
Quarterly Rev., CXXVI. .S71.
W'en ole man Rabbit say "scoot," dey scooted, eu w'en
ole Miss Rabbit say "scat," dey scatted.
J. C. Harris, Uncle Remus, xxii.
II. trans. To eject with force, as from a
syringe; squirt: as, to scoot water on one.
Also skite. [Scotch.]
SCOOtl (skot), n. [< scoot^, ».] 1. A sudden gust
or flow, as of water ; hence, a quick, light mo-
tion as of something suddenly ejected from
a confined place: as, a sudden scoot. — 2. A
syringe or squirt. [Scotch in both senses.]
SCOOt^ (skot), re. [Cf. scoter.'] A scoter: as in
the names batter-scoot, bladder-scoot, and blath-
erscoot of the ruddy duck, Erismatura rubida, in
Virginia. G. Trumbull.
SCOOt'^t, n. Same as scout*.
SCOOterl (sko'ter), n. [< scoot^ + -erl.] 1.
One who or that which scoots. — 2. A scoot; a
squirt or syringe. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.]
scooter^ (sko'ter), ». Same as scoter.
scopa (sko' pa), re. [NL.,<L.«copa, twigs, shoots,
a broom, besom: see scope^.] In entom., a mass
of stiff hairs like a brush ; specifically, masses
of bristly hairs on the outside of the tibiee and
tarsi, or on the lower surface of the abdomen, of scope^t:
Halliwell.
[ME., < L. scopa, usually in pi. sco-
pa, twigs, shoots, branches, a broom, besom,
brush.] A bundle, as of twigs. [Rare.]
Every yere in scopes hem to brenne,
And thicker, gretter, swetter wol up renne.
PaUaditts, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 84.
SCOpe^ (skop), re. [Early mod. E. also skope;
= Pg. scopo, aim, object, < It. sco2)0, a mark or
butt to shoot at, aim, scope, purpose, intent,
< LL. ' Scopus, scopos, a mark, aim, < Gr. okotto^,
a mark, also a spy, a watcher, < ckottcIv, see, <
OKETT- in cKCTTTecBai, see, view, consider, = L.
specere, see: see skeptic, sxiy.] If. A mark to
shoot at ; a target.
And, shooting wide, doe misse the marked scope.
Spenser, Shep. Cal., November.
2. That which is aimed at ; end or aim kept or
to be kept in view; that which is to be reached
or accomplished; ultimate design, aim, or pur-
pose; intention.
Your scope is as mine own,
So to enforce and qualify the laws
As to your soul seems good.
Shak., M. for M., i. 1. 66.
Thy coming hither, though I know thy scope,
I bid not, or forbid. Milton, P. R., i. 494.
3. Outlook; intellectual range or view: as, a
mind of wide scope. — 4. Eoom for free outlook
or aim; range or field of free observation or
action; room; space.
O, cut my lace in sunder, that my pent heart
May have some scope to beat.
Shak., Rich. III., iv. 1. 36.
All the uses of nature admit of being summed in one,
which yields the activity of man an infinite scope.
Emerson, Nature.
5. Extent; length; sweep; (naut.) length of
cable or anchor-chain at which a vessel rides
when at anchor: as, scope of cable.
The glorious Prince, whose .Scepter ever shines,
Whose Kingdom's scope the Heav'n of Heav'ns confines.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii.. The Lawe.
When out to a good scope, from forty-five to sixty fath-
oms, according to the depth of water, let go the weather
bower and veer away roundly. Luce, Seamanship, p. 525.
6t. A wide tract.
The scopes of land granted to the first adventurers were
too large. Sir J. Davies, State of Ireland.
7t. A liberty ; a license enjoyed ; hence, an act
of riot or excess.
As surfeit is the father of much fast.
So every scope by the immoderate use
Turns to restraint Shak., M. for M., i. 2. 131,
V. An obsolete form of scoup'^.
many bees, used to collect and carry grains of scopefult (skop'ful), a. [< scopes -f -ful.'] Ex-
pollen which become entangled in them. Also
called pollen-brush and sarothrum.
Scoparia (sko -pa 'ri -a), re. [NL., < L. scopa,
twigs, shoots, a broom: see scopa.l 1. A ge-
nus of pyralid moths of the family Botidx, or
type of a family Scopariidas, having porrect
fasciculate palpi and short antenuEe. (Ha
tensive ; with a wide prospect,
Amplo [It.], ample, large, scopefiil. great, Florio.
Sith round beleaguer'd by rough Neptune's legions.
Within the strait-nookes of this narrow He,
The noblest volumes of our vulgar style
Cannot escape unto more scope/uU regions.
Sylvester, Sonnet to Master R. N. (.Davies.)
[< scope^ + -less.]
'ess; useless.
worth, 1812.)- About 40 species are known, mostly Eu- SCOpcleSS (skop'les), a. [< seoj
ropean and Asiatic. The larvse live mainly in moss. Also Having no scope or aim ; purposel
called Gesneria. Scopeless desire of searching into things exempt from
2. A genus of gamopetalous plants, of the order humane inquisition. Bp. Parker, Platonick Philos., p. 81.
Scrophtdarinem, tribe Digitalex, and subtribe gcopelidse (sko-pel'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Seo-
Sibthorpiex. (Linneeus, Y!53.) It is characterized
by flowers with a four- or flve-parted calyx, a spreading
four-cleft densely bearded corolla, four nearly equal sta-
mens, and a dry and roundish septicidal capsule, with en-
tire valves and obovoid seeds. There are 5 or 6 species, na-
tives of South America and .Mexico, with one species, 5, dul-
ifis, also very widely dispersed through warmer parts of the
j>clits + -idee.] A family of iniomous teleos-
tean fishes, typified by the genus Scoj)elus,
and admitted with various limits, (a) In Qiin-
ther's system of classiftcation, a family of physostomous
fishes, witli the margin of the upper jaw formed liy the
intermaxillary only, preopercular apparatus sometimes
Scopelidse
gUl-op«ninKS very
diler,
incompletely developed, no barbels^
wide, paeudubranehife well developed, no air-bladiler, adi'
pose tin present, pyloric appendages few or absent, and
eggs inclosed in the sacs of the ovarium and excluded by
an oviduct. (6) By tiill restricted to iniomous fishes with .. ,, , . / . , , .
the supraniaiillaries elongate, slender, and separate from SCOptlcallyt (SKop tl-kal-l), adv.
the intemiaxillaries, which alone form the mai-gin of the seofl&ngly.
upper jaw, the dorsal fln occupying the middle of the n„„„/„ w .• i. m. , ^^ . ^ .
length, and short or of moderate extent, and with an _,Hon«r (speaking »«5)(MMjJ!/)breiikesopen^thefountalne
5407 scorch
None but the professed quack, or mountebank, avowedly sr>nrhnt«+ Cslcnr'hfif \ « r^ V o^r,^r,„t np „.„v-
ings the zanv noon the staue with him : such iindnnht SCOrOUTOnslior but), ». L< * • SCOrOut, Oi . SCOT-
brings the zany upon the stage with him : such undoubf
edly is this gcoptical humour.
Hammond, Works, II. 167. (Latham.)
Mockingly ;
ailipose fin : the body is generally covered with scales, and
of his ridiculous humour.
Chapman, Biad, ij., Com.
phosphorescent spots are usually developed. The mouth scopula (skop'u-lii), n. ; p\. scoptclieiAe). [NL.,<
is very wide, and when those tlshes were brought near or
among the .Saimonidx they were sometimes called uide-
mouthtd Salmon. The genera are more than 10, and the
species over 50, mostly inhabiting deep water.
scopelifonn (skop'e-U-f6rm), a. [< NL. Sco-
peliis + L. forma, form.] Having the form or
character of the Scopelidse ; gcopeloid.
Scopelinae (skop-e-li'ne), .1. pi. [NL.. < Scope-
lus + -iiiie.\ The Scopelidse, in the narrowest
sense, ranked as a subfamily.
SCOpeline (skop'e-lin), a. [< Scopeliis + -ine'^.^
Of or relating to the Scopelinie; scopeloid.
scopeloid (skop'e-Ioid), a. and n. [< Scopelus
+ -<»i(/.] I. a. Of or relating to the Scopelidie.
II. II. A member of the ^opelidie.
Scopelns (skop'e-lus), n. [NL. (Cuvier, 1817),
<. Gr. <7K6Tre/j)(, a high rock : see scopuloiig.] The
typical genus of Scopelidse. Varloaa llmlU have
been assigned to this genus, some aathors referring to it
L. scopulse, a little broom, dim. of scopa, scopse,
a broom: see scopa, scope^.^ 1. In entom. : (a)
A small scopa or brush-like organ. Specifically—
(1) A series of bristles or bristly hairs on the tarsi (usually
the hind tarsi) of certain hymenopterous insects. These
are well marked on the first joint of the hind tarsi of
honey-bees, forming a part of the corbiculum. (See cut un-
der eorbiculum.) The drones of honey-bees and the para-
sitic bees have scopulse, not for pollen-bearing, but for
cleansing the body. These are called bnmhletg. and a group
but, scurbut = Sp. Pg. escorbuto = It. scorbuto
(LG. scorbut), < ML. scorbutus, seorbatus, Latin-
ized form of MLG. schorbuk, LG. schorbock,
seharbock, scharbuuk = MD. schorbuyck, scheur-
buyck, D. scheurbuik = G. seharbock, scurvy,
tartar on the teeth, = Dan. skorbug = Sw.
skorbjugg, scurvy; appar., from the form, orig.
'rupture of the belly,' < MD. schoren, scheuren,
tear, rupture, schorc, scheure (D. scheur), a cleft,
rupture, + buyck (D. buik = 6. bauch), belly
(see bouk^, bnlk^); but the second element is
uncertain.] Scurvy, See scurvy'^.
The Scorbule so weakened their men that they were not
able to hoise out their boats, except in the Generalls ship,
whose men (drinking euery morning three spoonefuls of
the iuice of Umons) were healthfull.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 692.
of solitary bees is named ScopuKpf'rfM from this character, aonrhiifi/* (»knr llfi'f^V^ /» or..) « r/ w „„, ..i,..
A bee-8 leg so furnished is said to be »«>;)»to(^. (2) A simi- SCOrDUUC (SKor-bu tik), o. and n. [< F.scorbu-
1..1 — v.....-«t_. ..^ . . .. ^ ' . .. ttque = isp. escorbuttco = Pg. escorbutico =z It
scorbutico, < NL. *scorbuticus, < ML. scorbutus,
Srgfetmt boSfs.
many species which by others are aegregftted among dif-
ferent genera. The name is bjr tome anUiori replaced by
the older Mydophum of Raflnesque.
Scopidse (skop'i-de), n. j,l. [NL., < Scopus
lar brush of stiff hairs on the legs of many spiders. In this
case the scopula is usually on the under side of the tarsus,
sometimes on the metatarsus, rarely also on the tibia.
(6) [cap.] A genus of pyralid moths. Schrank,
1802. — 2. In sponges, a fork- or broom-shaped
spicule, consisting of a long axial shaft to the
distal end of which generally four slender rays
are attached.
BCopularia^ (skop-u-la'ri-a), n. ; pi. seopularise
(-e). [NL., < L. scopulse,' a little broom: see
scopula.'] In Sollas's nomenclature of sponge-
spicules, a scopulate or besom-shaped spicule
with tylolate or knobbed rays which vary in
number from two to eight; a' scopula.
Scopulaiia^ (skop-u-la'ri-a), n. pi. [NL.,< L.
srii/iula', a little broom: see scopula.] In Sol-
las's classification of sponges, a tribe of dictyo-
nine bezactinellidan Silieispongise, having un-
scurvy: see scorbute.] I. a. 1. Pertaiuingto of
of the nature of scurvy.— 3. Affected, tainted,
or diseased with scurvy ; suffering from scurvy :
as, scorbutic persons.
Violent purging hurts scorbutic constitutions.
Arbuthnot.
Scorbutic dysentery, a form of dysentery which aflects
those having scurvy.— ScorbutlC fever, a name given to
the febrile condition seen in some cases of scurvy.
II. n. A pei'son affected with scurvy.
scorbuticalt (skOr-bu'ti-kal), a. [< scorbutic +
-«/.] Same as scorbutic. Bailey.
SCOrbutically (sk^r-bii'ti-kal-i), adv. With the
scurvy, or with a tendency to it.
A woman . . . tcorbuticttUy and hydropically affected.
Wiseman, Surgery.
cinate spicules in the form of seopularise." It is scorbutus (sk6r'bu-tus),n. [ML. : see «cor6Mte.]
divided into ^ families— furetute, MeUittonida, Chmtlas- Same as scurvy^,
matidte, Volnilinidm, and ScUrothamnidtf. SCOrcef V. See scourse^.
bltl^v.'^i'L^/dT." !t™"j.£^l'".''rArf °^ '^°P?.^^'^^?,ll''2?±l!;!^J*">Vu°: [< f^r?"'"-^ SC0rcll>k6rch)., .. [< ME. scprcker,, scorgen,
birds, typified by the genus Scopus; the shadow- + -an .] Of or pertaining'to the Scoputaria.
birds, umber-birds, umbers, or nmbrettes. They SCOpolate (skop'u-lat), a. [< NL. 'scopulatus,
are related on the one band to the storks or Ciconlidm,
and on the other to the AnUidje or herons. See cat un-
der Scopus.
SCOpiferoas (sko-pif'e-rus), a. [< L. scopa, a
lii-oom, bnish (see scoped), + ferre = E. feearl.]
Bru.sliy ; having a tuft or tufts of hair; scopu-
liferoiis, as an insect.
scopiform (sko'pi-f drm), a. [< L. scma, a broom,
lirush, + forma, form.] Broom-shaped; hav-
ing the form of a broom or brush ; 8(A)pulif orm ;
scopulate. Kirtcan. Also scoparious.
scopioust (sko'pi-us), a. [< seope^ + -i-oiw.]
.Soupeful; spacious. [Kare.]
L'ntil their full-stuft gorge a paaaage makea
Into the wide maws (rf more toopimu lakea.
MiddUUm, Micro-Crnlcon, L 4.
scopiped (sko'pi-ped), a. and n. [< L. seqpa, a
broom, brush, + pes (ped-) = E. fool.] In en-
lorn., .same as $e)^mlipid.
scopperil («kop'e-ril), n. [Also scopperill, scop-
perell, < ME. seoperelle; < feel, skoppa, spin like
a top (skoiipara-kriHgla, atop).] 1. A top; a
•totiim.— 2. The bone foundation of a but-
.. [Pro v. Eng.]
bcoppett (skop'et), V. t. [Appar. < 'seoppet, n.,
saini' as nriipi>et, n., dim. of seoop: see scoop,
scopiA, and scuppct.] To lade out.
Vain man ! can he poaalblr hope to seoppet It (the chan-
nel] out so fast a* It fills? Bp. Hott, Sermon on i's. U. 2.
Scops (skops), n. [NL., < Gr. okuiIi, a small owl,
piob. the little homed owl. In the earlier use
(dcf. 1) |)erha|>s intended, like Scopus, to re-
fer to Gr. aK4ii, shadow.] If. An old fcenna name
of the African cranes now called Anthropoides.
ilnehring, 1752.— 2. A genus of Strigidse, the
screech-owls, characterized by small" size and
the presence of plumicorns. {liriiiinicli, 1772.)
There are numerous speciea, of moat countries. The
European species Is S. ffiu; the United States species la
S otto, the common grajr, red, or mottled owl, of which
there are many varieties. These fonn a section now called
Mfffaxop*. See red owl, under ndl.
3. [I. r.] An owl of this genua; a acops-owl.
scops-owl (skops'oul), n. A scops, especially
the small seops of Europe, Scops giu. Yarrell.
sceptic (skop'^tik), a. [< Gr. aKuirriKiif, given to
mockery, < OKuKretv, mock, jest: 8e« teomm.]
Mocking; scoffing.
Luclan and other teopUck wita.
Bp. Ward, Scnnooa (1070X p. 57.
SCOptlcalt (skop'ti-kal), a. [< scoptic + -al.]
Same as scoptic.
Another most ingenioos and spritefnll ImlUtion . . I
must needs note here, because it files all his Translators
and Interpreters, who take it mecrely for serious, when It
u apparently teopUeaU and ridiculous.
Chapman, Iliad, itL, Com.
< L. scopulse, a little broom: see scopiUa.] 1.
Broom-shaped ; scopiform or scopuhform. — 2.
Having a scopula, a.s the leg of a bee.
SCOpuIifonn (skop'u-li-fdrm), a. [< L. scopulse,
a little broom, -f forma, form.] Shaped like a
broom; scopulate in form; scopiform.
scopollped (skop'u-li-ped), a. and n. [< L.
scopulse, a little broom, + pes (ped-) = E. foot.]
I. a. Having brushy feet: specifically applied
to a group of solitary bees.
II. n. A member of the ScopuUpedes.
Also scopiped.
ScopoIipCiles (skop-S-lip'e-dez), n. pi. [NL. :
see nciipuliimi.] In Latreille's classification, a
group of solitary bees: so named from the
thick coating of hairs of the hind legs. It in-
cludes such genera as Eucera, Anthophora, and
Centrit. Also Scopulipedinse.
BCOpnloUSt (skop'ti-lus), a. [< L. scopulosus, full
of rocks, rocky, < seopulus, < Gr. OKcMre/oc, a high
rock, cliff, promontory ; perhaps orig. a look-
out, < OKOirdc, a lookout : see scope^.J Full of
rocks; rocky. Bai7<^y, 1731.
Scopus (sko'pus), i». tNL. (Brisson, 1760), de-
rived by the namer < Gr. aiun. shadow, with ref .
to its somber color.] The only genus ot Scopidse.
S. umtrstta, the shsdow-hird, is the only species. The
colmen is carinatr, high at the base and hooked at the
tip; the sides of the bill are compressed and grooved
throughout ; the long gonys ascends ; the nostrils have a
schorchcn, scrochen, scorch ; prob. an assibilated
form of "scorken, in other forms scorcJen, scor-
klen, skorclen, scorkelen, scorcnen, scorch, prob.
orig. shrink, < Norw. skrokkna, shrivel, Sw. dial.
skrakkla, wrinkle : see shrug, shrink. The mean-
ing does not suit the usual derivation < OF.
escorcher, escorcer, flay, skin, F. Scorcher, ecor-
cer, flay, skin, fig. rasp, grate, fleece, = Sp.
Pg. escorchar = It. scorticare, flay, < ML. excor-
ticare, also, after Rom., scorticare, strip off the
bark or rind, shell, flay: see excorticate. The
sense' 'skin, flay' does not appear in the E.
word, and the sense 'scorch' does not appear
in the OF. word.] I. trans. 1. To burn super-
ficially; subject to a degree of heat that changes
the color, or both the color and the texture, of
the surface ; parch or shrivel up the surface of
by heat ; singe.
Sh.il-jn-birl or Uinbrctte K^tofut umbretSd).
membranous opercle; the tarsus is reticulate; the toes
are webbed at the base; the middle claw is pectinate;
there are intrinsic syringed muscles, and two cseca; the
plumage lacks pulvlplumes, is of somber color, and pre-
sents an occipital crest
What Gaflray v.'ith long toth thy son hath don I
A hundred monkes scroched and brend plain.
Rum. 0/ ParUnay (E. E. T. ».), I. 366L
So Deuly ther came owt of the Chlrche wall with in forth,
ny ther the .Sowdon was, an howge gret Serpent that ranne
endlong vpon the ryght Syde of the Chirche wall, and
»eorged the seyd wall as it had be sengid with fyer all the
wey that he wente. whyche schorchuny ys sene in to thys
Day. Torkington, Diarie of Eng. ll-avell, p. 47.
Summer drouth or singed air
Never scorch thy tresses fair.
Milton, Comus, 1. 929.
2. To bum or consume, as by the direct appli-
cation of fire.
He made cast her in to the riuer, and drenche her and
her childe, and made to scorche the knight quicke [alive].
Book oj the Kniyht of La Tour Landry, p. &
I rave,
And, like a giddy bird in dead of night
Fly round the fire that scorches me to death.
Dryden,
8. To give the sensation of burning; affect with
a sensation or an effect similar to that produced
by burning; figuratively, to attack with caustic
invective or sarcasm.
The corns of the ordinarie wheat Tritlcum, belngparched
or rosted upon a red hot yron, are a present remedie for
those who are scorched and sindged with nipping cold.
Holland, Pliny, xxii. 25. (Hichardson, under singe.)
To begin an economic discussion by scorching one's
opponent with "moral indignation,' seems a womanish
rather than a scientific mode of procedure.
A'. A. Rev., CXIJI. 527.
= Syn. 1. Scorch, Singe, Sear, Char. Parch. To scorch is to
bum superficially or slightly, but so as to change the color
or Injure the texture ; sometitncs, from the common eifect
of heat, the word suggests shriveling or curling, but not
generally. .Singe Is one degree more external than scorch;
we speak of singeing the hair and scorching the skin ; a
fowl is singed to remove the hairs after plucking out the
feathers. Sear has primary reference to drying, but more
commonly to hardening, by heat, as by cauterization;
hence its figurative use, as when we speak of seared sensi-
bilities, a seared conscience, heat not being thought of as
scorch
5408
a part of the fipire. To char is to reduce to carbon or a 3. Areekoningoraccoiint kept byscores, marks,
black .iiider especJaljy on the surface : when u timber is o^ otherwise, as the reokoning for unpaid pota-
cAorrod It IS Imrned black on the outside and to an uncer- j. ^nm-lfB.! with r-liHik on tlm tan ?r.nm\lnr.r
Uin depth. Piireh has a i)os8il>le meaning of bmniiiR su- tW"S maikeU witn elidlK on tue tap-room aoor
perflcially or roasting, as iu parched corn or peanuts, but ot a public house ; henee, a reckoning or account
almost always refers to drying or shriveling.
IL hitraiia. 1. To be burned on the surface ;
become parched or dried up.
Scatter a little mungy straw or feni amongst your seed-
lings, to prevent tlie roots from scorchittij,
Moftimer, Husbainlry.
2. To ride very fast on a bicycle. [CoUoq.]
scorched (sk6rcht),2>. a. 1. Burned; parched
with heat.
As the xorch'd locusts from their fields retire,
While fast behind them runs the blaze of lire.
Pupe, Iliad, xxi. 14.
2. In :uiU., colored as if scorched or singed.
scorched-carpet (skorcht'kar"pet), 11. A Brit-
isli geometrid moth, Liijdia (idustuta.
scorched-wing (skoreht'wing), n. A British
geometrid moth, Eurymeite dolabraiid .
scorcher (skor'cher), «. [< scorch, v., + -er^.']
1. Anything that burns or parches ; anything
that is very hot : as, this day has been a scorcher.
— 2. Anything caustic, biting, or severe: as,
that critique was a scorcher. [Chiefly slang in
both uses.] — 3. One who rides very fast on a
bicycle. [Colloq.]
scorching (skdr'ching), n. [Verbal n. of scorch,
v.] 1. In j/fetai-icorAi'Wjif, the process of roughing
out tools on a dry grindstone before they are
hardened and tempered. It is so called from
the great heat produced. £. H. Knight. — 2.
Fast riding on a bicycle. [Colloq.]
scorching (skor'ehing),^. o. 1. Burning; tor-
rid; very hot.
He again retir'd, to slniti
The scorching Ardour of the Mid-day Sun.
Congreve, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love.
2. Causing a sensation as of burning ; sting-
ing; henee, figuratively, bitterly sarcastic or
upbraiding; caustic; scathing.
The first senior to the bat made first-base on a sc&rch-
inff grounder past third. St. Nicholas, XVII. 945.
SCOrchingly (sk6r'ehing-li), ado. In a scorch-
ing manner; so as to scorch or burn the sur-
face.
SCOrchingness (skor'cMng-nes), n. The prop-
erty of scorching or burning.
scorclet, scorklet, f . f. [ME.: see score/;.] To
scorch; biun.
Ek Nero governede alle the poeples that the vyolent
wynd Nothus scarklUh, Chaucer, Boethius, ii. meter 6.
SCOrcnet, ''• *• [ME.: see scored.] To scorch.
Ox . ._ _, For thatt te land wass dri^sedd alle
. '^,* ,">>Tcrt^dd thurrh the druhhthe.
A scoop of his haBu Onmilum, 1. 8626.
the ball shot into Anso..
ahead of the runner. n,. [It., prop. pp. of SCOr-
Walter Cwi.a, discord.^ In music,
8. The securing and publishuxi unusual manner
of a piece of news in advancearticular eljects.
" beat," especially a " beat " of i [It. , < scordare,
or importance. [Slang.] stringed musi-
SCOOp (skop), V. [< ME. scopen, < leviation from
OS. skeppian = D. scheppen = Ml: some special
schepen, LG. scheppen = OHG. scop/w ceordatura.
sceffan, skcpfen, MHG. schephen, si. Tdafwra than
schiipfen, scoop, ladle out; from the n.xxiv. 245.
trans. 1 . To take with or as with a sec .gj-fHon
scoop-net: generally with out, up, or in : , -gj.'
scoop up water. ' f^^
He scoop'd the water from the crystal fiood. VrycU^j..
Finishing his breakfast of broad beans, which he scooped
in general : as, to keep the score.
E'en now the godlike Brutus views his score
Scroll'd on the bar-boai-d, swinging with the door.
Crabbe.
We reckon the marks he has chalked on the door,
Pay up and shake hands and begin a new score.
0. W. Holmes, Our Banker.
4. The marks, or the sum of the marks, placed
to one's debit ; amount due; debt.
They say he parted well, and paid his score.
Shak., Macbeth, v. 8. 52.
Now when in the Morning Matt ask'd for the Score,
John kindly had paid it the Ev'ning before.
Pnor, Down-Hall, st. 24.
The week's score at the pnblic-house is paid up and a
fresli one started. Contemporary Res., L. 80.
5. The aggregate of points made by contes-
tants in certain games or matches : as, he makes
a good score at cricket or base-ball ; the score
stood 5 to 1. Hence — 6. The detailed record
or register of the various points or items of play
made by players in a game or by competitors
in a match. — 7. Account; reason; ground; mo-
tive.
I see no reason for disbelieving one attested story of
this nature more than another on the score of absurdity.
Lamb, Witches.
The habitual scowl of her brow was, undeinably,too fierce,
at this moment, to pass itself off on tlie innocent score of
near-sightedness. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, viii.
8. A line drawn ; a long superficial scratch or
mark.
A letter 's like the music that the ladies have for their
spinets — naething but black scores, compared to the same
tune played or sung. Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xxvii.
Specifically, the line at which a marksman stands in tar-
get-sliooting, or which forms the *' scratch " or starting-
point in a race.
In case of breech-loaders, the party called to the score
shall not place his cartridge in the gun until he arrives at
the score. W. W. Greener, The Gun, p. 506.
9. In music, a written or printed draft or copy
of a composition on a set of two or more staffs
braced and barred together, in b. full ov orchestral
score, a separate staff is assigned to eacli instrument and
voice, so that it contains all tliat is indicated in all the in-
strumental or vocal parts taken together. A vocal or piano
score is one in which the voice-parts are given in full, usu-
ally on separate staffs, while the accompaniment is con-
densed into two stalls for performance on a pianoforte or
organ. An organ score is either the same sis the last or
one in which three stafi's are used, as in regular organ
music. A score in which more than one part is wTitten on
a staff is called short, close, or compressed, especially in the
case of four-part vocal music when written on two staffs ;
but these terms are also occasionally applied to an abridged
or skeleton transcription. In an orchestral score the vari-
ous parts are usually grouped, so tlnit instruments of the
same class appear together. The usual arrangement is
(read downward) wood wind (flutes, oboes, clarinets, bas-
soons), brass wind (horns, trumpets, trombones), percus-
sives (tympani, cymbals), upper strings (violins, violas),
voices (soprano, alto, tenor, bass), lower strings (violon-
cellos, double basses); but considerable vai-iations from
this order occur. The arts of reading from a full score,
and of transcritiing for the pianoforte from such a score,
are among the most difficult branches of musical accom-
plislmient. Also partition.
I use the phrase in score, as Dr. .Tohnson has explained
it in his Dictionaiy : "A song in score, the words with the
musical notes of a song annexed." But I understand that
in scientific propriety it means all the parts of a musical
composition noted down in the characters by which it is
exhibited to the eye of the skilful.
BosweU, Life of .Tohnson, ret. 66, note.
10. The number twenty, as being marked off
out of a basin with his knife. S> ^y ^ special score or tally, or a separate series
W. Collins, Sister Rose, ii. 3. ggj)f marks ; twenty.
One attends to keeping the canoe's head up stream ^^^^ Southamptone on the see es sevene skore chippes,
while the other watches for a fish ; on seeing one he scoops . awghte fulle of ferse folke, owt of ferre landes.
it out with a small net attached to a pole six feet long. 01 St b Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3540.
W. P. Roe, Newfoundland to Manitoba, vi. ot br. , . ,
„ „. .. 1 . .V -c ii- toT-tii , munday aftyr Palme sonday I cam to Lyon, which
2. Figuratively, to gather np as if with a scoop ; tarsi, t. ^ jo^ey, xlj scor myie and x.
hence, to gain by force or fraud. [Chiefly col- many t, Torkington, Dlarie of Eng. Travell, p. 2.
loq.] pollen w^^^gg divers scores men, who had no learning nor
If you had offered a premium for the biggest cold caught called po which might fit them for those alf aire.
up to date, I think I should have scooped the outfit. Scoparia Wiuthrop, Hist. N ew England, I. 844.
Ainer. Angler, XVII. 334. twigs, sho^rcAery, twenty yards: thus, a mark of twelve
The Irish are spreading out into the country, and acoop- " • . .< -.- ' j-
ing in the farms that are not picturesque enough for the
summer folks. Howells, Annie Kilburn, xl.
3. To empty as with a scoop or by lading ; hence,
to hollow out; excavate: commonly with o«<.
Those carbuncles . . . the Indians will scoop, so as to
hold above a Pint. Arlmthnot, Anc. Coins, p. 176.
To some dry nook
Scooped out of living rock.
Wordsworth, Eccles. Sonnets, 1. 22.
A niche of the chalk had been cleverly enlarged and
scooped into a shell-shaped bower.
R. D. Btachtnore, Erema, xliv.
4. To form by hollowing out as with a scoop.
nus of pyr.* mark at the distance of 240 yards,
type of a ififteene score your marke shall be.
fasciculate '^'^ Queen Katkerine (Child's Ballads, V. 316).
worth 1812 ) "^ clapped i' the clout at twelve score, and
ropean'and A'siaf"''*"'' *aft a fourteen and fourteen and
called Gesneria. »"•<• '""^^ done a man s heart good to see.
2. A genus of f ^*"*- ^ «<="• i^., ".- 2. 52.
Scrophularinea^^ weight : as, a score of meal. [Ireland
b'^flowefs w?th a^^''^ groove cut in the side andbot-
fo^ur-cilfrdlisely'f "r deadeye for the strapping to
mens, and a dry an notch or groove made in a piece
tire valves and oboietal to allow another piece to be
fives of South Ame- i.^ i j.
cis, also very widelj
scorer
The semes are then cut on the upper side of the keel to
receive the floors and filling floors.
Thearle, Naval Arch., § 178.
Supplementary score, in mvsic, an appendix to a full
score, giving a part or parts that had been omitted for
lack of space upon the page.— To go off at score, in pe-
destrianism, to make a spirited start from the score or
scratch ; hence, to start off in general.
He went off at score, and made pace so strong that he cut
them all down. Lawrence, Sword and Gown.
To pay off old scores. See jmij/1.— To quit scores.
See quit^.
I'll soon with Jenny's Pride quit Score,
Make all her Lovers fall.
Prior, The Female Phaeton, st. 7.
SCOre^ (skor), ('. ; pret. and pp. scored, ppr. ,scor-
//!(/. [< ME. scoren, skoren, notch, count, = Icel.
skora = Dan. skaarc, score ; from the noun.]
1. trans. 1. To make scores or cuts in or upon;
mark with incisions, notches, or grooves ; fur-
row ; slash ; specifically, to make a long shallow
cut in (cardboard or very thick paper), so that
the card or paper can be bent without break-
ing, as for book-covers or folded cards.
Let us sc(/re their backs.
And snatch 'em up, as we take hares, l>ehind.
Shak., A. and C:., iv. 7. 12.
The scored state of the grooves in almost every large
planing machine testifies to the great amount of friction
which still exists between the sliding surfaces.
C. P. B. SheUey, Workshop Appliances, p. 251. -
2. To incise; engrave.
Upon his shield the like was also scored.
Spenser, F. Q., I. i. 2.
3. To stripe; braid.
A pair of velvet slops scored thick with lace,
Middleton, Black Book.
4. To mark or record by a cut or score; in
general, to mark; note; record.
Draw your just sword.
And score your vengeance on my front and face.
B. Jonson, Volpone, iii. 1.
Or shiill each leaf,
"Which falls in autumn, score a grief?
G. Herbert, The Temple, Good Friday.
An hundred Loves at Athens score,
At Corinth write an hundred more.
Cowley, Anacreontics, vf.
5. To set down, enter, or charge as a debt or
debtor: sometimes with jij).
Ther-fore on his gerde [tally] skore shalle he
Alle messys in halle that seruet be.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.X p. 312.
Score a gallon of sack and a pint of olives to the Uni-
corn. Beau, and Fl., Captain, iv. 2.
It was their [the crusaders'] very judgment that hereby
they did both merit and supererogate, and, by dying for
the cross, cross the score of their sins, score up God as
then' debtor. Fuller.
6. To succeed in making or winning and hav-
ing entered to one's account or credit, as points,
liits, runs, etc., in certain games ; make a score
of : as, he scored twenty runs ; to sc/tre another
victory.
She felt that she had scored the firet success in the en-
counter. J. Hau-thorne, Dust, p. 159.
In the four games [base-ball] between New York and
Chicago, New York scored 37 runs to Chicago's 31.
X. Y. Evening Post, June 28, 1889.
7. In mus-ic : (a) To write out in score ; tran-
scribe, (b) Same as orchestrate : as, the move-
ment is scored for brass and strings only, (c)
To arrange for a different instrument. — 8.
Milit., to produce erosion of (tlie bore of a gun)
by the explosion of large charges Scored pul-
ley. See pulley.
II, intrans. 1. To keep the score or reck-
oning; act as scorer. — 2. To make points or
runs in a game ; succeed in having points or
runs entered to one's credit or account; also,
to be a winner or have the advantage : as, in
the first inning he failed to score; A struggled
hard, but B scored. — 3. To run up a score; be
or become a purchaser on credit.
It is the commonest thing that can bee for these Cap-
taines to score and to score ; but when the scores are to lie
paid, Non est inventus.
Heytvood, Fair -Maid of the West (Works, II. 275).
SCOre-t, '•• A Middle English form of scour^.
scorer (sk6r'er),fl. [< «cof'tl,«'., + -f»"l.] l.One
who or that which scores or notches, (a) An in-
strument used by woodmen in marking numbers, etc.. on
forest-trees. (6) An instrument for cutting across the face
of a board, so that it can be planed without slivering. E.
H. Knight.
2. One who scores or records a score ; specifi-
cally, one who keeps the score or marks the
game in cricket, base-ball, a shooting-match,
or the like.
There is one scorer, who records the order in which
contestants finish, as well as their time.
Tlie Century, XL. 206.
scorer
The umpires were stationed behind the wickets ; the
teoren were prepared to notch the runs.
Dickem, Pickwicls, vii
scoria^ (sk6'ri-a), n.; pi. «con> (-e). [=:F.sco-
rie = Sp. Pg. escoria = It. scoria, < L. scoria,
< Gr. OKupia, refuse, dross, scum, < OKup (aKar-,
orig. *mapr-), dung, ordure, akin to L. stercus.
Skt. qakrit, dung, AS. scearn = leel.skarn, dung:
.see scam, sham.] Dross; cinder; slag: a word
of rather variable and indefinite meaning, gen-
erally used in the plural, and with reference to
volcanic rocks. See scoriaceous.
The loose, rough, angular, cindery-looking fragments
[of lava] are termed tarrUe. J. W. Judd, Volcanoes, p. 70.
Scoria- (skd'ri-ii), «. [NL. (Stephens, 1829).]
A genus of geonietrid moths, containing such as
the black-veined moth, S. dealbata.
scoriae (sko'ri-ak), a. [< scoria^ + -ac]
^coriaceous. [Bare.]
These were days when my heart waa Tolcanie
As the Koriac rivers that roll —
As the laras that restlessly roll
Their sulphurous conents. • Poe, Ulalume.
scoriaceous (sko-ri-a'shius), a. [< scoria^ +
-iiceou-i.^ Made up of or resembling scoriw:
having a coarsely cellular structure : used
chiefly with reference to lava.
Portions [of lava] where the cells occupy about as much
space as the solid part, and vary much in size and shape,
are called aeoriac«otu, this being the character of the rough
clinker-like scoria of recent lava streams.
A. OtOne, Text-Book of Oeol. (2d ed.), p. 9i.
scoriae, ». Plural of scoria^.
scorie fsko'ri), n. Same as scaury.
scorification (sko'ri-fi-ka'shon), n. [< scorify
+ -ation (see -fieation).'\ 1'. In assai/ing, a
method of assay of the precious metals, per-
formed by fusion of the ore with metallic lead
and borax in a so-called scorifier. in this opera-
tion, the silver with the gold is taken up by the lead, the
superfluous lead and the base oxids being separated in the
form of a slag or scoria. The metallic mass obtained is
afterward treated by the cupeUation process to separate
the gold and silver.
2. In metal., the treatment of a metal with lead
in the refining process. Copper inUnded for rolling
into sheets is sometimes thus treated in order that traces
of antimony and other foreign metals may be removed.
These combine with the oxld of lead, which rises to the
surf.tee of the molten copper in the form of a slag or
scoria, whic-li is then sldmmed off before casting.
scorifier (sko'ri-fi-^r), n. [< scorify + -^1.] 1.
In assaying, a small flat dish made of a refrac-
tnry substance, used in the atssay of various
ifs according to the method called scorifica-
"Xi. Such dishes are usually from two to three
inches in diameter. — 2. An apparatus used in
c.vtracting gold and silver from jewelers' sweep-
ings, and in various other chemical operations.
It consists essentially of a Urge or small liimace with
appliances whereby all combustible matCTials may be
burned, leaving scorte consisting chietly of Insoluble car-
bonaceous material, from which the contained gold, sil-
ver, or other substance to be separated is dissolved out
by u}ua regis or other solvent.
flcoriform (sko'ri-fdrm), a. [< L. scoria, scoria,
+ .forma, form.] Like scona; in the form of
dross. Kincan.
acorify (»k6'ri-fi), r. (. ; pret. and pp. scorified,
ppr. scorifying. [< L. scoria, scona, + fa'cere,
make, do: see -fy.] To reduce to scoria, slag,
or ilross.
scoring (skor'ing), n. 1. Same as score, n., 8.
In the sandstone west of New Haven, Connecticut, the
deep broad teoring$ can be plainly seen, running toward
the southeast. St Niehclat, X VIII. 60.
2. In founding, the bursting or splitting of a
casting from uneuual contraction in cooling.
This accident is eapemlly likely to happen to cylinders
and similar works if the core does not give wsy when the
casting cooUl S. B. Kn/gU.
3. In music, the act, process, or result of writ-
ing out in score, of orchestrating in some par-
ticular manner, or of arranging for a different
in.Htniinent : same as instrumentation, orchestra-
tion, or transcription. — 4. In racing, the act of
bringing a horse and his rider over and over
again to the score or starting line, so as to
iiiitke ii fair start.
He is a very nervous horse, and It required months of
i»ract(ce_ before he became accustomed to tearing, so that
he was fit to start in a race.
> tearing, so
Tlui AOanUe, LJUn. 706.
scoring-engine (skor'ing-on'jin), n. A scoring-
niiicliiiic.
scoring-machine (8k6r'ing-ma-flben'),n. 1. A
machine for cutting in blocks the grooves to
receive I lie ropes or straps by which the blocks
are slung. — 2. In paper-hor maniif., an appara-
tu.H witli an adjustable knife which cuts away
from the blank the superfluous material, and
scores the cardboard where the edires of the
340
5409
box are to be, so that the material will bend as
desired at these places.
scorious (sko'ri-us), a. [< scoria^ + -ous.'\
Drossy; recremeatitious. [Rare.]
For by the Are they emit not only many drossy and
scorioug parts, but whatsoever they had received from
either the earth or loadstone.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., iL 2.
scorklet, v. t. See scorcle.
scorn (sk6rn), n. [Early mod. E. also skorn ; <
JIE. scorn, assibilated schorn, with orig. vowel
scam, skarn, assibilated scharn, rarely also
scare, < OF. escarn, assibilated escharn, eschern,
with loss of terminal consonant escar, eschar =
Pr. esquern = Sp. escarnio = Pg. escarneo = It.
seherno, scorno, mockery, derision, scorn, <
OHG. skern, scern, MHG. schern = OLG. scern
= MD. scheme, mockery, derision; cf. OBulg.
skrienja, scurrility, L. scurra, a jester (see scur-
ril). The change of the vowel (ME. scam to
scorn) arose in the verb, which became confused
in OF. and It. with another word: see scorn,
r.] 1. Mockery; derision; contempt; disdain.
Among men such as be modest and grane, & of little
conueraation, nor delighted in the busie life and vayne
ridiculous actions of the popular, they call him in seorne a
Philosopher or Poet,
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 14.
The red glow of tc&m and proud disdain.
StMlc., As you Like it, iii. 4. 57.
See kind eyes, and hear kind words, with scorn.
William florrit. Earthly Paradise, II. 214.
2. The expression of mockery, derision, con-
tempt, or disdain ; a scoff ; a slight.
And if 1 unto yow myn othes hede
for myn excuse, a gcom shai be my mede.
Chaucer, Anelida and Arcite, I. 305.
If sickly ears ...
Will hear your idle tcoms.
Shale., L. L. L, T. 2. 875.
And every sullen frown and bitter gcom
But fanned the fuel that too fast did burn.
Vryden, tr. of Idylls of Theocritus, zxill.
3. An object of derision, contempt, or disdain ;
a thing to be or that^is treated with contempt;
a reproach or disgrace.
Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn
and a derision to them that are rotmd about us.
Pa. iliv. 13.
Thou . . . art confederate with a damned pack
To make a loathsome abject tcom of me.
5Ao*.,C. of E., Iv. 4. 106.
They that revsrenoe too much old times are but a teom
to the new. Bacon, Innovations.
Inhuman teom of men, hast thou a thought
T" outlive thy murders? Ford, Tls Pity, v. 6.
To laugh to scorn. See laugh.— To take or think
acomt, to disdain ; scorn.
Takt thoa no teom to wear the horn.
Shak., As you Like it, iv. 2. 14.
I as then esteeming my self bom to rule, and thinking
foul team willingly to submit my self to be ruled.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, I
To think scorn of), to regard with contempt ; despise.
I know no reason why you should IMnli tcom o/ him.
.Sir P. Sidney.
scorn (skdm), v, [Early mod. E. also skorn ;
< ME. fcomM, skomen, assibilated schomen,
with orig. vowel scarnen, skarnen, < OF. cscar-
nir, eskarnir, eskemir, esquiemir, assibilated
escharnir, eschernir, echarnir, echernir, achar-
nir, achemir, transposed escrenir, also later es-
eorner = Pr. esquernir, escarnir, schirnir = Sp.
Pg. escarrieeer = It. schemire, scomare, mock,
scoff, scorn, < OHG. skirnon, skernon, scernon,
MHO. »c*eme» = MD. schernen, mock, deride,
< OHQ. skerti, etc., mockery, derision, scorn:
see scorn, ». The later forms of the verb, OF.
eteomer, It. scomare, scorn, were due to confu-
sion with OF. escorner = It. scomare, deprive
of the horns, deprive of honor or ornament, dis-
grace (< L. ex-, out, + eornu, horn); hence the
change of vowel in the E. verb, to which the
noun then conformed.] I. trans. 1. To hold
in scorn or contempt; disdain; despise: as, to
scorn a hypocrite ; to scorn all meanness.
.Surely he teometk the scomers; but he giveth grace
unto the lowly. Prov. iii. 34.
Fame Is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise . . .
To teom delights and live laborious daya
Mttton, Lycldas, 1. 70.
With all those Optic Miracles I leam'd
Which Kom by Eagles eyes to be discem'd.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, 11. 46.
The poorer sort, who have not a Slave of their own, will
yet hire one to carry a Mess worth of Rice for them, tho
not one hundred paces from their own homes, seorTtin^
to do it themselres. Dampier, Voyages, II. i. 131.
2. To bring to scorn ; treat with scorn or con-
tempt; make a mock of; deride.
scorodite
There made thei the Croune of Jonkes of the See ; and
there thei kneled to him, and skornede him.
MandevUle, Travels, p. 11.
His felawe that lay by his beddes syde
Gan for to lawghe, and scorned him ful faste.
Chaucer, Nun's Priest's Tale, L 267.
Think you, my lord, this little prating York
Was not incensed by his subtle mother
To taunt and scorn you thus opprobriously?
Shak., Klch. III., iii. 1. 163.
3t. To bring into insignificance or into con-
tempt.
Fortune, . . .
The diapitouse debonaire.
That scometh many a creature.
Chaucer, Death of Blanche, 1. 626.
=Syn. 1. Contemn, Despise, Scorn, Disdain. Contemn, scorn,
and disdain less often apply to persons. In this they
differ from tlie correspoiuilng nouns and from despise,
which apply with equal freedom to persons and things.
Contemn is the generic term, expressing the fact ; it is not
so strong as contempt. To despise is to look down upon
with strong contempt from a superior position of some
sort. To scorn is to have an extreme and passionate con-
tempt for. To disdain is to have a high-minded abhor-
rence of, or a proud and haughty contempt of. See arro-
gance.
What in itself is perfect
Contemns a lx>rrow'd gloss.
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, iii. 3.
No man ever yet genuinely despised, however he might
hate, his intellectual equal.
Jlfatn«, Village Communities, p. 254.
I am that maid that have delay'd, denied,
And almost scom*d the loves of all that tried
To win me but this swain.
Fietcfier, Faithful Shepherdess, iv. 4.
Be abhorr'd
All feasts, societies, and throngs of men !
His semblable, yea, himself, Timon disdains:
Destruction fang mankind !
Shak., T. of A., iv. 3. 22.
n. intrans. 1. To feel scorn or contempt. —
2t. To point with scorn; scoff; jeer: generally
with at.
Thei teamen whan thei seen ony strange Folk goynge
clothed. MandevUle, Travels, p. 178.
He said mine eyes were black and my hair black ;
And, now I am remember'd, scom'd at me.
Shak., As you Like it, iii. 5. 131.
He scorned at their behavioor, and told them of it.
(3ood News from New-England, in Appendix to New Eng-
[land's Memorial, p. 365.
SCOmer (skdr'n^r), ». [< ME. scornere, scorn-
are; (.scorn + -eri.] 1. One who scorns; a
despiser.
They are . . . great <com<r> of death.
Spenser, State of Ireland.
Not a teomer of your sex.
But venerator. Tennyton, Princess, iv.
2. A scoffer ; a derider ; one who scoffs at re-
ligion, its ordinances and teachers.
When Christianity first appeared, it made no great pro-
gress among the dispnters of this world, among the men
of wit and subtlety, for this very reason ; because they
wereseanwrrs. Bp. Attertmry, Sermons, I. v,
scornful (skom'ful), a. [< scorn + -/it?.] 1.
Full of scorn or contempt ; contemptuous; dis-
dainful; insolent.
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of
the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sit.
teth in the seat of the scornful. Ps. L 1.
Unknit that threat'ning unkind brow.
And dart not scornful glances from those eyes.
Shak., T. of the S., v. 2. 13T.
Th' enamour'd deity pursues the chace ;
The scornful damsel shuns his loathed embrace.
Dryden, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., L
2. Provoking or exciting scorn or contempt;
appearing as an object of scorn.
The teornful mark of every open eye.
Shak., Lucrece, L 520.
=8yii. See scorn, t>.
SCOmfuUy (skom'ful-i), adv. In a scornful
manner; with proud contempt ; contemptuous-
ly; insolently.
The sacred rights of the Christian church are scornfully
trampled on in print. Bp. Attertmry, Sermons.
SCOmfulness (skdm'fiil-nes), n. The quality
of being scornful or contemptuous.
scorning (skdr'ning), M. [< ME. seorninge,
skorning, schornunge, scxrninge, schorning ; ver-
bal n. oi scorn, t'.] Mockery; derision.
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and
the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate know-
ledge? Prov. i. 22.
SCOmyt (skdr'ni), a. [< scorn + -y^ .'] Deserv-
ing scorn. [Rare.]
Ambition . . . scrapes for icomie drosse.
Mir. far Mags., p. 606.
scorodite (skor'o-dit), n. [Also skorodite; so
called in allusion to the arsenical fumes given
off before the blowpipe ; < Gr. OKApodov, contr.
OKdpdov, garlic. -I- -I'te*.] A hydrous arseniate
of iron, usually occurring in orthorhombic crys-
scorodite
tals of a pale leek-green or liver-brown color.
It occurs in many localities, associated with arsenical
ores, especially with arsenopyrite : it has also been ob-
served as a deposit about some hot springs, as in the Yel-
lowstone region.
Scorp8ena(8k6r-pe'na), n. [NL. (Artedi; Lln-
na?us, 1758), < L. scorpxna, < Gr. ondpiran'o,
a lish. Seorpgsna scrofa, so called in allu-
sion to the dorsal spines, which are capable
of inflicting a stinging wound; < OKopTno^, a
scorpion: see scorpion^] A Linnean genus of
fishes, used with varying latitude, now closely
restricted and made the type of the family
Scorpsenklee. The original flsh of this name is S. scro/a,
of European waters. Another is S. porcus, known as pii/-
Scorpers (def. i).
with a sharp edge, set in
K^.i,v
5410
SCOrper (sk6r'p^r), n. [A misspelling of scau-
pcr.'] 1. In wood- and metaUiiorky a form of
gouging-chisel for
working in hol-
lows, as in forming
bowls and in un-
dercutting carv-
ings, etc. — 2. A
pointed, flat, or
rounded steel tool
I, wooden or other
handle, used by the jeweler for drilling holes
and cutting away parts of the metal-work
around settings to hold precious stones.
SCOrpiact (sk6r'pi-ak), a. [< MGr. OKopmaKdc,
pertaining to a scorpion, < Gr. oKopTviog, a scor-
pion: see scorpion.] Of or pertaining to a
scorpion ; figuratively, stinging.
To wound him first with arrows of sharp-pointed words,
and then to sting him with a scorpiack censure.
Hacket, Life of Williams, i. 82. (Dairies.)
Scorpidin8e(sk6r-pi-di'ne),?(.j>Z. p>ih.,<Scorpis
i-pid-) + -inse.] A subfamily of fishes, typified
by the genus Scorpis. it was introduced by Gill for
Pimelepteridse with the front teeth incisor-like but without
scorpion
Scorpene (Scorpaena guttata).
foot, found in southeni Europe. 5. guttata is a Californian
representative known as scorpion or scorpenet also sculpin ;
and other species are called in Spanish-speaking countries
rascacios. See hogfiih.
Scorpaenidae (sk6r-pe'ni-de), w. j)?. [NL., <
Scorpiena + -id^.'] A family of acanthoptery-
gian fishes, typified by the genus Scorpsena, to
which different limits have been assigned, (a)
In Giinther's system, a family of Acantfwpterygii perci-
ftfrmes with perfect or nearly perfect ventrals, and a bony
stay for the angle of the preoperculum, which is armed,
this stay arising from the infraorbital ring. (6) In Gill's
system, those Scorpserundea which have the dorsal fin con-
sisting of an elongated spinigerous and short arthropteroua
section; well-developed thoracic orpost-thoracicventrals;
head moderately compressed ; branchial apertures extend-
ing forward and not separated by an isthmus ; and a dor-
sadiform (or nuchadifomi) trunk. The scorpsenoids re-
semble percoids, having the body oblong, more or less
compressed, with usually large head and wide terminal
mouth, and ridges or spines on the top and also on the
opercles. A bony stay extends from the suborbital to the
preopercle ; the gill-slits are wide ; the scales are ctenoid
(sometimes cycloid) ; and the lateral line is single. The
ventrals are thoracic, with one spine and typically five
rays ; the dorsal is rather long with numerous (from eight
to sixteen) spines and about as many soft rays ; the anal
is rather short, with three spines and from five to ten rays.
The pseudobranchise are large, the pyloric ca;ca few (less
than twelve in number), and an air-bladder is present.
Over 20 genera and 200 species inhabit all seas; they
are speci^ly numerous in temperate regions of the Pacific
ocean, where they form a large, conspicuous, and econom-
ically important feature of the piscifauna. The northern
siwciea mostly live about rocks, and hence their most gen-
eral name is rockfish or rock-cod. Many are viviparous, the
young being born alive when about a fourth of an inch long ;
80me of them attain a lai^e size, and all are used for food.
Besides Scorpxna, notablegenera which include American
forms are Sebaetes, Sebastodes, and Sehasiichthyg, includ-
ing a great variety of rockflsh or rock-cod, mainly of the
Pacific coast, known as rose-Jish, redjish, snapper, boccac-
cio, merou, priest-fish, viuva, gamipa, fiiaum, rasher or
rasciera, tainbor, corsair, fiy-fish, rena, Spanish- flag, tree-
fishy etc. See the generic and vernacujar names, and cuts
under priest-flsh, rockfish, Sebastes, Spaiiish-flag, corsair,
and Scorpaena.
ScorpseninaB (sk6r-pe-ni'ne), n. pi. [NL., <
Scorpsena + -inse.~\ Asubfamily of *Scorp^p«irf«,
exemplified by the genus Scorpsena, with three
pairs of epipharyngeals, vertebrae in variable
number, and the dorsal commencing above the
operculum. The species are mostly tropical and most
numerous in the Indo-Paciflc region. Some of them are
remarkable for brilliancy of color and the development
of spines or fringes.
SCOrpSBnoid (skdr-pe'noid), a. and n. [< Scor-
pmna + -old.'] I, a. Resembling, related to,
or belonging to the Scorpsenidw or Scorpse-
noidea.
II. n. A member of the family Scorpsenidse.
Scorpaenoidea (sk6r-pe-noi'de-a), n. pi. [NL.,
< Scorpsena + -oidea.]' A supeirf amily of mail-
cheeked fishes, with the hypercoracoid and hy-
pocoracoid bones normally developed, a com-
plete myodome, and post-temporals normally
articulated with the cranium, comprising the
families Scorpmnidse^ Synanceidsej Hexagram-
midge, and Anoplopomidse.
scorpene (skor'pen), «. [< It. scorpina = OF.
scorpene, < L. scorpsena, a fish, Scorpsena scrofa :
see Scorpsena. The name for S. scrofa was
transferred by the Italian fishermen on the
Californian coast to S. guttata.'} A scorpse-
noid fish, Scorpasnu guttata. Tlie cheeks, opercle,
and top of the head are naked, the breast is scaly, and the
color is brown mottled and blotched with rosy purplish
and pale ulive. It is about a foot long, and is abundant
on the southern Californian coast, where it Is also called
ac^pin. See cut under Scorpsena.
Medialuna {Casstosoma cal\fomiensis), one of the Scorpidinse.
roots extending backward, with teeth on the vomer, and the
soft fins densely scaly. Few species are known. One, C«-
siosoma califomiensis, occurs along the Californian coast.
Scorpio (sk6r'pi-d),?i. [L.NL.: see^corpioM.] 1,
In zooL, a Linnean genus of arachnidans, equiv-
alent to the modern order Scorpionida, used
with various restrictions, now the type of the
limited family Scorpionidse. See scorpion. — 2,
A constellation and the eighth sign of tne zodiac,
represented by the
character TlX. The con-
stellation, which is prom-
inent in early summer in
the skies of the south-
ern United States (where
the whole of the magnifi-
cent tail clears the hori-
zon), contains the first-
magnitude red star An-
tares and several of the
second magnitude. With
the Chaldeans and Greeks
it extended over one
sixth of the planetaiy
circle, the scorpion being
represented with exag-
gerated claws embracing
a circular space where
Libra is now placed.
From this irregularity it
may be inferred that the
constellation is older than
the zodiac, which was
formed before 2000 B. C.
Libra, though later, is of
no small antiquity, since
it appears in the Egyp-
tian zodiacs. Its adop-
tion by Julius Csesar in
his calendar made it fa-
miliar. Ptolemy, how-
ever, though living in
Egypt nearly two centu-
ries later, follows Baby-
lonian and Greek astron-
omers in covering the place of Libra with the scorpion's
claws. In designating .the stars of this constellation by
means of the Greek letters, the genitive Scorpii (from the
alternative Latin form scorpitts: see scorpion) is used : thus,
Antares is a Scorpii.
Scorpiodea, Scorpioidea (sk6r-pi-o'de-a, -oi'-
de-a), n. pi. [NL. : see scorpioid.'} Same as
Scoipionida.
scorpioid (sk6r'pi-oid), a. [< Gr. aKopmoetd^g,
contr. <jK0pTn66r]gy like a scorpion, < oKopKioc, a
scorpion, + eldoc, form.] 1. In zool.x (a) Re-
sembling or related to a scorpion ; belonging
to the Scorpionida. (&) Rolled over or curled
like the tail of a scorpion; eincinnal; coiled in
a flat spiral. — 2. In bot.j curved or eircinate at
the end, like the tail of a scorpion ; rolled up
toward one side in the manner of a erozier,
unrolling as the flowers expand, as in some of
the Boraginacese. See cut in next column.
scorpion (sk6r'pi-on), H. [< ME. scorpion, scor-
piouHf scorpiuHj < OF. scorjnon, scorpiun, escor-
pioHy F. scorpion = Pr. Sp. escorpion = Vg.es-
corpiok) = It. scorpionCj also Scorpio = D. schor-
pioen = MLG. schorpion, schorpie = OHG. scor-
pjo, scorpo, MHG. schorpe, schorp, scorpe, scorpj
G. scorpion = Sw. Dan. skorpion,<'L. scorpio{n-)j
Scorpion), with Libra.
Scorpion (Scorpio a/er), seen
from above.
At, the chelicerae, or chelate-
antennae ; the lai^e claws are
chelate pedipalpi ; Ci'A, cephalo-
thorax ; the first two legs are
cephalic appendages, the next
two thoracic ; 7"«, the telson or
sting.
Scorpioid Inflorescence of Symphytum (^fficinaU.
also scorpius, < Gr. GKopmoq (later also aKopnionr
in sense of, a military engine), a scorpion, also
a prickly sea-fish, a prickly plant, the constel-
lation so called, a military engine.] 1. In zooL^
an arthropod of the or-
der Scorpionida. it has
an elongated body: the
cephalothorax is continuous
with the abdomen, which
ends in a long slender post-
abdomen, which latter can
be curled up over the back
and is armed at the end with
a sharp sting or telson, more
or less hooked like a claw,
and connected with a venom-
gland, so that its puncture in-
flicts a poisoned wound. (See
also cuts under Buthus and
Scorpionidse.) The sting of
a scoi-pion is painful, and is
said to paralyze the organs
of speech. The scorpion has
also a lai^e pair of nippers
in front, like the great claws
of a lobster, and the whole
figure is suggestive of a little
lobster,an inch or a f ewinches
long. Scorpions abound in
tropical and warm temperate
countries. In the former
they attain the maximum
size of 8 or 10 inches, and are
very formidable. They com-
monly lurk in dark retreats,
as under stones and logs, and
are particularly active at
night. They are carnivorous
and predaceous ; they seize
their prey with their nippers,
and sting it to death. Scor-
pions are justly dreaded, but
some popular beliefs respecting them have no foundation-
in fact, as that when the creature is surrounded by fire it
stings itself to death rather than be burned, or that some
fluid extracted from a scorpion will cure its sting.
Thes is the scorpioun thet maketh uayr mid the beauede,.
and enueymeth mid the tayle.
Ayenbite of Inwyt (E. E. T. S.), p. 62.
I lykne her to the scorpioun,
That is a fals flatering beste ;
For with his hede he maketh fest^
But al amyd his flateringe
With his tayle he wol stinge
Andenvenyme.
Chattcer, Death of Blanche, 1. 636.
And though I once despair'd of woman, now
I find they relish much of scorpions,
For both have stings, and both can hurt and cure too.
Beau, and FL, Custom of the Country, v. 5.
'Tis tnie, a scorpion's oil is said
To cure the wounds the vermin made.
S. Butter, Hudibras, III. ii. 1029.
Hence — 2. Some creature likened to or mis-
taken for a scorpion, and poisonous or supposed
to be so. (o) A false scorpion ; any memberof thepjvu-
doscorpiones. Among these arachnidans, belonging to the
same class as the true scoi-pion, but to a different order, the
members of the genus Cheti/er are known as book-scorpions.
(See Chdiferidie, and cut under Pseudoscorpiones.) Those
called whip-scorpions are of the family Thehjphonidfe.
(See cut under Pedipalpi.) Closely related to these, and
sometimes sharing the name, are the Phrynidfe. (See cut
under Phrynidfe.) (6) Centipeds and tarantulas are often
confounded in the popular mind with scorpions, as are
also (c) various small lizards, in the latter case probably
from the habit some of them have of carrj'iug their tails
up. Thus, in the United States, some harmless lizards or
skinks, as of the genera Sceloporus and EinneceSy are com-
monly called scorpions, (d) Same as scorpion-bug.
3. In ichth.^ a scorpion-fish or sea-scorpion;
one of several different members of the Scor-
psenidse, some of which are also called scorpene
and sculpin. See cut under Scorpsena, and
etymology of Scolopendra. — 4. leap.} In as-
tron.y the eighth sign of the zodiac, which the
sim enters about October 23d. See Scorpio, 2.
Th' Eternal, to prevent such horrid fray.
Hung forth in heaven his goldLMi scales.
Yet seen betwixt Astnea and the Scor2non sign.
Milton, P. L., iv. 9QS.
scorpion
6. A kind of whip said to have been armed with
points like that of a scorpion's tail ; a scourge,
described as having a handle of iron, or of wood
braced and ferruled with iron, and two, three,
or more chains attached, like the lashes of a
whip, and set with balls, rings, or angled and
]>ointed masses of iron.
My father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chas-
tise you with «corpwn*. 1 Ki. xii. 11.
If the people resisted [Rehoboam], they should be pun-
ished not with whips, but with aoorpioiw; that is, rods of
Itnotted wood furnished with barbs, producing a wound
like the bite of a scorpion.
Von Rante, Univ. Hist (trans.X p. 57.
6. An old military engine, used chiefly in the
5411 scot
innumber. The falces or chelicer«e are well developed and scortatorv ("slrflr'ta.tri inl n
Bincer-like. There are four nairsnf niilmntia^hfii Tl,n SCOnaiwry (SKor ta-to-n;, a.
pincer-like. There are four pairs of pulmotrachei. The
long postabdomeii or tail is verj' He.xible. and is generally
carried curled up over the back ; the hook with which it
ends is perforated for a poison-duct, and constitutes a sting.
sometimes of very formidable character. The order is very
homogeneou8,and all theformsof it wereformerly included
ina single family, Scorjnonidsp, or even in the genus Scor-
pio. It has been divided, according to the number of eyes
(six, eight, ten, or twelveX into SmrpionicUe, Teleyonidie,
Vejovidx, and Atidroctonida, and in other ways. From
1 to more than 30 genera are recognized. See cut for
ScDrpiniiui^ above, and those under Bvthxa and acorpion.
Scorpionidse (sk6r-pi-on'i-de), «. pi. [NL., <
Scorpio(n-) + -irf«.] A restricted family of
scorpions, typified by the genus Scorpio.
cut in preceding column.
defense of the walls of a town. It resembled the SCOrpion-lobster (skor'pi-on-lob'ster), n. A
■ ■ " long-tailed decapod crustacean of the family
Tlmlonxinidse.
Inllista in form, conaiating euentially of two beams with
ropes stretched between them, from the middle of which
ropes rose a third beam, call«1 the styitoi so disposed as ---__,.„„ ••! /„.,a./ ■ •i\
to be pulled back and let go at pleaiore ; to thVtop of SCOrpiOn-OU (sk6r pi-on-oil), n
this beam were fastened iron hooks to which a sling of "* " "" ' ^ '
iron or hemp for tlirowing stones was hung.
Heer crooked Coruies, fleeing bridges tall,
Their scathfull Scorpioru, that ruynes the wall.
UudKm, tr. of Du Bartas's Judith, ill
He watched them at the points of greateat danger fall-
ing under the shots from the teorpiom.
Frmdt, Cnar, p. S49.
7t. An instrument for grappling a battering-
ram. — 8t. A gun wl<)se dolphins represented
the scorpiou.— Falae scoiplon. See del. 2.
scorpion-broom (.skdr'pi-on-brOm), n. Same as
urorjtion-pliint, 2.
BCOrpion-bl]£ (sk6r'pi-on-bug), n. A large
preilaceou.s water-beetle whose raptorial fore
legs suggest a scorpion; a water-scorpion. See
Xepa.
scorpion-dagger (skdr'pi-on-dag'^r), n. [Tr.
Hind, birhliicd, a small stiletto with a curved
blade, < biehchhu, a scorpion.] A small dagger,
sometimes poisoned, used by the people of In-
dia.
Bcorpiones (skdr-pi-d'nez), n. pi. [NL., pi. of
L. scorpio(ii-), scorpion: see scorpion.'] True
scorpions as a suborder of Aradtnida : distin-
guished from I'seudoteorpiones : aynonymous
with Scornionida.
scorpion-nsh (skdr'pi-on-flsh), n. A fish of the
family SinrptenUlie&ni'gemuiSeotpiena; a sea-
scorpion : so called on account of the spines of
the ficad and flns. See cut under Scnrpeena.
scorpion-fly (skflr'pi-on-fli), n. A neuropteroua
insect of the family Panorpidx, and especially
of the genus Panorpa : 8o called from the for-
ceps-like apparatus at the end of the slender
abilomen of the male, and the tendency of the
"iKiomen to curl like the tail of a scorpion. P.
inmunis is a European example. See cut un-
. T I'anorpa.
Bcorpion-graw (akAr'pi-on-grte), n. A plant
of ttie genus MyoaoUt; the forget-me-not or
moose-ear.
Seefnicm^Hram, the cdd nam* of the plant now called
Forvet-me-DOt. ... It was called tcorpum^gmu from be-
'" >sed, OD the doclriDe of aignatiirea, brom its apike
ig a ioocvlon'i tail, to be good a^Onit the Ming
: pion.
An oily sub-
stance formerly prepared from scorpions, and
supposed to be capable of curing their sting.
scorpion-plant (skor'pi- on -plant), 11. 1. A
Javan orchid, ArachnuntH'e moschifera (Reimn-
tkera arachnitis), it has large creamy-white or lemon-
colored flowers, resembling a spider, continuing to bloom
long from tbe summit of the spike,
2. Genista Seorpiiig of southwestern Europe.
More specifically called scorpion-broom and
scor}>ion-thorn.
scorpion-senna (skdr'pi-on-sen'a), n. See Cor-
onillii".
scorpion-shell (skdr'pi-on-shel), n. A gastropod
of the family Strombida and genus Pteroeeras,
distinguished by
the development
of long tubular or
channeled spines
from the outer
lip of the aper-
ture. About adosen
species are known,
some a foot long,
all inhabitanU of
the Indian seas and
the Pacific, as P.
lambit.
scorpion-spider
(skflr'pi-ou-spi'-
d*r), «. Any
arachnidan of
the order Pedi-
palpi ; a whip-
scorpion: a sort
of false scorpi-
on. Those of the
family TMyphoni-
dm, with a long slen-
der whip-like poat-
abdomen, resemble
scorpions verr doae-
I7 In nperflcial ap-
pearanoe. The like-
naaa ol th« PAryni-
de, which have mere-
ly a bnttonlike poat-
abdomen, la leas
•trlklDK. See cuts
undar Pktvii<da and
PtMfmifL
.. . ,, [< L. scor<rt<or, a
fornicator, < scortari, associate with harlots, <
xcortum, a harlot.] Pertaining to or consisting
in lewdness.
scortcht, ('. An obsolete form of scotch^.
scorza (skor'za), n. [< It. scorza = Pr. escorsa
= OF. escorce, escorsse (> MD. schorsse), F.
ecorce, bark ; from the verb. It. scorzare = Pr.
eseorsar = OF. escoreer, F. ecorcer, < L. excorti-
care, strip the bark from : see excorticate.] A
variety of epidote occurring near Muska, Tran-
^ ^^ sylvania, in a form resembling sand.
See Scorzonera (skor-zo-ne'ra), n. [NL. (Toume-
fort, 1700) ; cf . Sp. escorzonera = Pg. escorcio-
neira = F. scorsonere, F. dial, escorsionere, scor-
sonere = G. gkorsonere = Sw. slorsonera = Dan.
skorsonere, < It. scorzonera, appar. lit. 'black
bark,' < scorza, bark (see scorza), + ncra, black,
fem. of Mcro, < L. niger, black (see negro) ; said
by others to be orig. Sp. escorzonera (so named
from the use of the root as a remedy for snake-
bites), < eseorzon, snake-poison.] 1. A ge-
nus of composite plants, of the tribe Cichori-
aeese, type of the subtribe Scorzonerex. it is
characterized by flowers with involucral bracts of many
ScofpfofMhell {PUroceras iamUit).
See Scor-
I*/-, ^. ;-nor. Popular N'aroesofBrltlahPhuita. (Latham.) SCOrpion's-tail (sk6r'pi-onz-tal), «i.
Monse-earicorpion-graa, jryt>«iMf}Ki<ui(r>«. pinni/i.
SCOrpionic (sk6r-pi-on'ik), rt. [< scorpion + -ic] SCOrpion-thom (skdr'pi-on-thdm), n. Same as
Of or jiertaining to the scorpion. [Rare.] KiiTjiiini-pUiiit. 2.
Below the .SetpentBearerwe And the 8eoi!ploa(8coraioX ■COrpionwort(skdr'pi-on-w*rt), w. 1. Sameas
w fully risen and ihowing tmljp aesn><«m f arm. georpion-grats. — 2. A leguminous plant, Omi-
SeL Amtr., S. 8., LV. s. thoDus seorpioidet, native of southern Europe
Scorpionida (skdr-pi-on'i-dtt), n. pi [NL., <
SmrjiiniieM + -irfa.J An order of Arachnida,
having pulmotracheate resjuration, the ceph-
alothorax indistinctly segmented from the ab-
domen, a long jointed postabdomen ending in a
hook or telson. an<l long maxillary palpi, or pedi-
palps, ending in a usually large chelate claw, or
pincer; the true scorpions or IhMrpiolM*. Theam-
and related to the scorpion-senna.
Scorpis (skdr'pis), n. [NL. (Cuvier and Va-
lenciennes, 1831), < Gr. anopTTif, a kind of sea-
fish.] In ichth. , a genus of pimelepteroid fishes,
variously limited, containing species of the
southern Pacific. The northern fish formerly referred
to the genus, the medlaluna of California, a handsome Ssb
a foot long and valued for food, belongs to the genus
CmtUmmta. tiee cat under Scorpidinx.
bulatory legs are seren-lointed, and o( >odstat« i^Tp. li^JX^-TrvA; „? ,V,^?^ rvr /T ■
proximately equal lengths. Tb^eyaavafma^to twelve *'?"3?'''™ (s^dr-pi-u rus), n. [NL. (Lmnreus,
Otacna gf StncnH* o(,Ior/*aMa (moM of the appcadans
lemoved), *
/>' •oT.r.,ftnft>ik>t>mlelb9i>niita:/»'.,bulsordM
Kreatclawi; K, ^/. . of two toccecJiag ctphalk Maiwial
or i«io|[: ,7.niotith; '. altmcntarycaaal: r.aoM; dLheafti #.'a pal-
nwiianr ••£;/. luw of tiM raatial gaagUauSMl cndi f.anCtD-
1737), < Or. oKopKiovpof, a plant so called, lit!
'scorpion-tailed,' < OKopirio^, scorpion, + ovpa,
tail.] A genus of ^eguminous plants, of the ,
suborder PapHionaccte, tribe Htfli/sarese, and gQQf,2 (skot) n
subtribe Coronillea. It is characterized by flowers '•
solitary or few on a leafless peduncle with beaked keel-
petals, and a cylindrical, furrowed, and circinately coiled
pod, which la commonly warty or prickly and does not split
opso, but breaks serosa Into joints containing roundish
seeds with remarkably twisted and elongated seed-lesves.
There are about 6 species, natives especially of the Medl-
tamnean region, extending from the Canary IsUnds into
western Asia. They are stemless or decumbent herbs, with
entire and simple leaves, unlike most of the family in this
last respect, snd with small yellow nodding flowers. They
are cnrtoaa but not ornamental plants ; their rough coiled
gradually increasing series, plumose and unequal pappus
of many rows, and many-ribbed achenes without a beak
and commonly without wings. There are about 120 spe-
cies, natives especially of the Mediterranean region, ex-
tending into central .\sia. They are smooth, woolly, or
bristly plants, generally perennials, bearing alternate and
grass-like or broader and dissected leaves, and rather large
long stalked heads of yellow flowei-s. The best-known
species is S. Uitpanica, the lilack salsify, much cultivated,
chiefly in Europe, for its root, which is used as a vegeta-
ble, and has, when moderately boiled, the remedial prop-
erties of dandelion, S. dfticiosa of Sicily is said to be
equal to salsify, and S, crocyfolia in Greece is a favorite
salad and spinach. 5. tuberom and perhaps ottier eastern
speciee afford an edible root An old name of S. Hitpanica
iM vmr't-gratt.
2. \l. c] A plant of this genus.
Colonel Blunt presented the company . . . with excel-
lent tcorzmienu, which he said might be propagated in
England as much as parsnips.
Oldenburg, To Boyle, Nov. 16, 16««.
Scoti (skot), ». [Early mod. E. also Scott; <
ME. Scot, Scott, Scotte, pi. Scottes, < AS. Scot,
usually in pi. Scottas, Sceottas = D. Schot =
OHG, Scotto, MHG. G. Schotte = Icel. Skotr,
usually in pi. Skotar = Sw. Dan. Skotte, a Scot;
cf. OP. Escot = Sp. Pg. Escoto = It. Scoto (<
LL.) = Ir. Scot = W. Fsgotiad « E.) = Pol.
Szkot =r Bohem. Skot (< G. or E.); first in LL.
Scotus, also Seottus, usually in pi. ScoU, Scotti,
HGr. NGr. Xkuto^, pi. 'ZkCitoi, a people in the
northern part of Britain, called thence Scotia
(AS. Scotland, Scotta land, E. Scotland). As
with most other names of the early Celtic and
Teutonic tribes, the origin of the name is un-
known ; it has been variously referred — (o) to
Gael, sguit = Ir. scuite, a wanderer; (6) to Gr.
XkI^k, L. Scytha, Scythes, a Scythian, said to
mean 'wanderer,' 'nomad,' or, according to an
old view, 'an archer' (see Scythian) ; (c) to Gr.
omSrof, darkness (the LL. Scotus, prop. Scotus,
being taken in this view as Scdtus, with a short
vowel) (see scotia). Hence the surname Scott,
formerly also spelled Scot, ME. Scott, Scot, D.
Schot. 6. Schott, OP. Scot, Escot, etc., ML. Sco-
tus (as in I>uns Scotus)j etc., one of the few
mod. surnames orig. tribal or national names
(others are Britt, Brett, or Bret, Briton, Britton,
or Britten, Saxon, Dane) ; cf. the surnames Eng-
lish, Irish, French, G. Dcutseh, Deutscher, etc.,
orig. adj.] 1. A member of a Gaelic tribe,
which came from the northern part of Hiber-
nia. and settled in the northwestern part of
Britannia (Scotland) about the sixth century.
— 2. A native or an inhabitant of Scotland, a
country lying north of England, and forming
part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland.
That hot termagant Scot had paid me scot and lot too,
Shak., 1 Hen. IV,, v. 4. 114.
poda, called "caterpillars, "are sometimes used to garnish
dishes. The species have been named tearpian'ttail and
ealerpOiar-pttMt.
SCOrset, r. See acourse^, scourse^.
Scot*, wha hae with Wallace bled,
Scots, wham Bruce has oftealed. Bwm.
[Also assibilated shot; < ME.
scot, scott, < AS. scot, scott, sceot, also gcscot,
contribution, payment (= OFries. skot, schot,
a payment, = MI). D. schot = MLG. LG. schot
= G. schoss = Icel. shot, a contribution, pay-
ment, tax; cf. Gael, sgot = OF. escot, F. icot
= Pr. escot = Sp. Pg. escote = It. scotto (ML.
scotum), soot, payment, < LG. or E.); lit. that
which is 'shot' or thrown in, < sc^ofav, pp.
scoten, shoot: see shoot, and cf. shot^.] 1. A
payment; contribution; fine; mulct; reckon-
ing; shot.
Vor altberuerst [flrst] he becomth tauernyer; thanne
he playth ate des [dice] ; thanne he zelth bis ojen [own
scot
Eoods] ; thanne he becointh . . . thyef ; and thanne me
hlne {bimj anhongeth. This is thet scot; thet me ofte
payth. Ayenbite qf Imcyt (E. E. T. S.), p. 51.
Specifically — 2. In old law, a, portion of monej'
assessed or paid ; a customary tax or contribu-
tion laid on subjects according to their ability ;
also, a tax or custom paid for the use of a
shenflf or bailiff — Scot and lot. [ME. scot and lot,
teotte and lottt. AS. scot and htot (cited as Mot et scot in
the Latin Laws of William the IVinqueror) ; MD. schot ende
lot ; a riming formula, lit. ' contribution and share,' the
words, as in other riming formulas, being not very defi-
nitely discriminated.] Parish or borough rates or taxes
assessed according to the ability of the person taxed :
hence, to pay scot and lot is to pay one's share of the rates
or taxes. Scot implies a contribution toward some object
to which others contributed equally ; lot, the privilege and
liability thereby incuiTed. Sometimes in the older writ-
ers lot and scot.
And that alle and euei-y man in y« for sayd fraunches
beyng, and the fnmnches and fre custumes of the same
cyte wyllyng to reioyse, be in lotte and scott and partiners
of alle maner charges for the state of the same francheis.
. . . .\nd yt all and euery man of the fraunches of y^' same
cite being, and wtout ye sayd cite dwellyng and haunten
her marchaundices in ye same cite, that they be in scotte
and lotte wt our comonars of ye same citee or ellis yt they
lese her fraunches.
Charter of London (Rich. II.), in Arnold's Chron., p. 25.
I shalbe redy at scott and lotte, and all my duties truly
pay and doo. English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 189.
I have paid scot and lot there any time this eighteen
years. B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, iii. 8.
BCOt^ (skot), r. i.; pret. and pp. scotted, ppr.
scottinn. [= OF. escoter, < ML. "scotare, seottare;
from the noun.] To pay scot. Jamieson.
Scot. An abbreviation of Scotland, Scotch, or
Scottish.
scotalt, «• See scotale.
scotalet <skot'al), M. [Also scotal (ML. reflex
scotald, scotale, scotalium, scotallum); < scot^ +
ok.] In laiv, the keeping of an ale-house within
a forest by an officer of the forest, and drawing
people (who fear to incur his displeasure) to
spend their money there.
Part of the immunity which the outlaws enjoyed wasjio
doubt owing to the connivance of the ofHcers of the for-
est, who levied forced contributions from them, and com-
pelled all who feared their displeasure to drink at ale-
houses which they kept, this extortionate pi'actice being
known as Scothala or Scotteshale. These exactions were
curbed by the Statute of Fines Levied (27 Ed. I,, A. D. 1299),
which enacted that, "No Forester or Bedel from hence-
forth shall make Scotal, or gather garb, or oats, or any
corn, lamb, or pig, nor shall make any (gathering but) by
the sight and upon the (view) of the twelve Rangers, when
they shall make their (range)."
Ribton-Turner, Vagrants and Vagrancy, p. 31.
Scotch^ (skoch), a. and n. [Also (So.) Scots (=
D. Schots) ; a eontr. of Scottish : see Scottish.']
I. a. Same as Scottish. [The form Scotch, usual in
England and the United States, is little used in Scotland,
where either Scottish or Scots prevails, and where the pref-
erence for Scotsman instead of Scotchman is still more de-
cided.)—Scotch asphodel. See rq/ieWin.— Scotch at-
torneys. See (i«or/ic;yl.— Scotch barley. Seebarleyl.—
Scotch bluebell, or Uuchell of Scotland. See bluebell (a)
and C'«i/i;/(( «»(«. — Scotch bonnets, the fairy-ring mush-
room, Marasmius oreades. — Scotch broojn, an Ameri-
can designation of the common broom, Ciftisiis scopari-
vs. — Scotch cambric, a line cotton textile, sometimes
white, and sometimes printed, used especially for women's
dresses. — Scotch camomile. See camcnnile.— Scotch
cap. See bomiet, 1.— Scotch carpet, see carpet.—
Scotch catch or snap, in music, the rhythmic figure
usually represented by FH —that is, the division of a
beat into a short part under the accent followed by a long
part; the reverse of the common division, in which the
dotted note precedes. So called because frequently oc-
curring in Scotch songs and dances. It is characteristic
of the strathspey.— Scotch curlles, a variety of kale, so
called from its curled leaves.— Scotch dipper or duck.
Seerftwjt-. — Scotch douche, a douche of hot water, be-
ginning at a temperature of 40" C, increased gradually to
45-50° C, and immediately followed by cold water ; more
generally, a succession of alternate hot and cold douches.
— Scotch dumpling, elm, fiddle. See the nouns.-
Scotch fir. Same as Scotch pine, — Scotch fomace, a
simple form of ore-hearth used in smelting lead ores.—
Scotch gambit. See gambit. — Scotch grass. Same as
Pard'jrass. [West Indies.]— Scotch hearth, a small ore-
hearth or furnace used in Scotland and the north of Eng-
land for smelting lead ore. The hearth-bottom and all
the parts adjacent to it are of cast-iron. It is very simi-
lar to the ore-hearth in general use for the same purpose
in the Mississippi valley. See ore-hearth.— Scotch heath
or heather, most properly. Erica cinerea (see heath, 2) ;
also |C S.]. the common heather, Calhtna vulgaris. —
Scotch Jewelry, lovage, marriage, mist, nightin-
gale. See the nouns. — Scotch kale, a variety of kale
with light-green lobed leaves which are much curled and
crinkled on the margins; green borecole. — Scotch peb-
ble, a semi-precious stone of a kind found in Scotland, and
used in inexpensive jewelry, the mounting of weapons,
and the like : the name is especially given ito varieties of
agate anri jas^per. Compare cairngorm. — Scotch pine,
Srimrose, rose, saw-fly, scale. See the nouns. —
COtch ptarmigan, the connnon red game of Great
SritjiUi, Laj'/piis scoticuy. ScOtch snap, i^atne an Scotch
ea/cA— Scotch spur, stone, thistle, turbine, etc. See
the nouns. — Scotch teal. Same as Scotch dipper or duck.
II. «. 1. Collectively, the people of Scotland.
Also Scots, as plural of Scot. — 2. The dialect or
5412
dialects of English spoken by the people of Scot-
land. Aiao Scots. — 3. Scotch whisky. [Colloq.]
scotch'*' (skoch), V. t. [A contraction, perhaps
due in part to association with the unrelated
scutch, of early mod. E. scortch, which stands
for 'scartch, a transposed form of scratch, as
scart is a transposed form of scrat, the orig.
source of scratch : see scratch, scroti, scart.']
1. To scratch; score or mark with slight inci-
sions; notch; hack. See .scotching.
Afore thy meat, nor afterward,
"With knyfe scortchc not the Boorde.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 80.
He scotched him and notched him like a carbonado.
Shak., Cor., iv. 6. 197.
Hence — 2. To wound slightly.
We have scotch'd the snake, not kill'd it.
Shak., Macbeth, iil. 2. 13.
3. To dock; fine; amerce. [Prov. Eng.] —
Scotched collops, in cookery, a dish consisting of beef cut
or minced into small pieces, and stewed with butter, flour,
salt, pepper, and a finely sliced onion. Also erroneously
scotch-couops.
A cook perhaps has mighty things profess'd.
Then sent up but two dishes nicely dressd :
What signify scotcht-collops to a feast?
W. King, Art of Cookery, L 21.
scotch^ (skoch), «. [< scotch"^, V.'] 1. A slight
cut or shallow incision; a scratch; a notch.
I have yet
Room for six scotches more.
Shak., A. andC, iv. 7.10.
Give him [a chub] three or four cuts or scotches on the
back with your knife, and broil him on charcoal.
/. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 67.
2. A line drawn on the ground, as in hop-scotch.
— Out of all BCOtCht, excessively. Ualliwell.
scotch"* (skoch), n. [An irreg. extension of
scote (due to confusion with scotch'^).'] 1. A
prop or strut placed behind or before a wheel,
to prevent its moving, or placed under a log to
prevent it from rolling.
Some bits of old rails lying near might have been used
as scotches, but no one thought of this.
The Engineer, LXVIII. 415.
2. In tcell-boring, a slotted bar used to hold up
the rod and tools while a section is being at-
tached or detached from above.
scotch'* (skoch), V. [< scotch^, «.] I. trans.
To prop or block, as the wheel of a coach or
wagon, with a stone or other obstacle; hence,
to put on the brake or drag to.
Stop, dear nature, these incessant advances of thine ; let
us scotch these ever-rolling wheels.
Emerson, New England Reformers.
Il.t intrans. To hold back.
For when they come to giving unto holie and necessarie
uses, then they will sticke at a pennie, and scotch at a
groat, and every thing is too much.
Dent's Pathway, p. 74. {HdlliweU.)
Scotch-amulet (skoch'am''''u-]et), n. A British
geometrid moth, Dasydia ohfttscata.
Scotch-and-English (skoch'and-ing'glish), n.
The boys' game of prisoner's base as played in
Great Britain : so called in the north of Eng-
land, probably in allusion to the old border
wars.
Scotch-cap (skoch'kap), «. The wild black
raspberry. [U. S.]
Scotch-coUops. See scotched collops, under
scnlcli^.
scotch-hop (skoch'hop), n. Same as hop-scotch.
Clarke, Phraseologia Puerilis (1655), p. 322.
(HalUwell.)
scotching (skoch'ing), n. [Verbal n. of scotch^,
v.] In masonri/, a method of dressing stone
either with a pick or with pick-shaped chisels
inserted into a socket formed in the head of a
hummer. Also scutching.
Scotchman! (skoch ' man), n. ; pi. Scotchmen
(-men). [Also Scotsman (see Scotch'^, a.) ; early
mod. E. Scotcheman; < Scotch'^ + man.'] A na-
tive of Scotland; a Scotsman.
Scotchman^ (skoch 'man), n. ; pi. Scotchmen
(-men). [< scotclfi + mgin.] iVa«<., a wrap-
ping of stiff canvas or apiece of wood or metal
fitted to a shroud or any other standing rigging,
to save it from being chafed.
At sea there is generally an ugly chafe between the
lower and the futtock shrouds, to prevent which good
iron Scotchmen should be seized to the former.
Luce, Seamanship, p. 118, note.
scote (skot), n. [Also scoat; prob. < OF. escot,
F. ecot, a branch or stump of a tree, F. dial.
ascot, a prop, < OHG. scuz, a shoot, MHG.
schuz, a. schnss, a shot: see sfto<i.] A prop.
[Prov. Eng.]
scote (skot), V. t. [Also scoat; prob. < OF. *as-
coter, ascouter, F. dial. (Wall.) ascoter, prop,
Scotist
< ascot, a prop, escot. a branch of a tree: see
scote, n. 'The word is usually referred to Bret.
scouzya, shoulder, prop, scoaz, shoulder, W.
ysgwyddo, shoulder, ysgwydd, a shoulder. Hence
later scotch^.] To stop or block, as a wheel, by
placing some obstacle, as a stone, under it to
prevent its rolling; scotch.
SC0ter(sk6'ter), )(. [Also, in comp., scoo<er(also
scoter-duck, scooter-duck) ; also scoot, perhaps <
Icel. skoti, shooter, < slcjota, shoot : see shoot.
Cf. scoot^, scooter^.] A large sea-duck of the
genus (Edemia, belonging to the subfamily
Fuligulinee, having in the male the plumage
Male Black Scoter ISEdetnia nigra).
black and a red gibbosity of the bill, as (Edemia
nigra of Europe. The corresponding American spe-
cies is (E. americana. The name is extended to the velvet
or white-winged scoter, (E. fusca or O'j. velvetina, and to
the surf-scoter, (E. perspicillata. In the United States all
three species are commonly called coot, or sea-coot, with
various qualifying terms and some very fanciful names.
See (Edemia, and cut under PeZio;l«»a.— Double scoter,
the great black scoter, (Edemia fusca.
scoter-duck (sko'ter-duk), n. Same as scoter.
scot-free (skot'fre), a. [< scot^ + free.] 1.
Free from payment of scot ; untaxed.
By this light, a cogging cheater ; . . . hefumishethyour
ordinary, for which he feeds scot-free.
Marston, What you Will, v. 1.
2. Unhurt ; clear ; safe. In this sense also «/io(-
free, with the intention of a pun.
They'll set me scot-free from your men and you.
Crreene, Alphonsus, v.
I, at whom they shot, sit here shot-free.
B. Jonson, Apol. to Poetaster.
SCOtia (sko'ti-a), n. [= F. scotie, < Gr. cKoria,
darkness, < ckoto^, dai'kness, gloom.] A con-
cave molding,
used especial-
ly beneath the
eye, as in the
bases of col-
umns between
the fillets of the
tori. It takes its
name from the
dark shadow form-
ed by it. It is fre-
quently formed in
the best work by
the junction of
curved surfaces of
different radii, or
of curves which are not segments of a circle. Sometimes
called casement (erroneously casemate), and often, from its
resemblance to the gnx>ve of a common pulley, trochilus.
See also diagram under hase^, 3.
ScotiC^ (skot'i-se), adv. [NL., < LL. Scoticus,
Scottish, < Scotus, Scot: see Scot^.] In the
Scotch manner; in the Scotch language.
Scoticism, Scoticize. See Scotticism, Scotticize.
SCOtino (sko-te'no), n. [It.] The smoke-tree
or Venetian sumac, Rhus Cotinus; also, its pul-
verized foliage used as a tanning material.
Scotish, a. An erroneous form of Scottish.
Scotism (sko'tizm), «. [< Scotus (see def.) +
-ism.] The metaphysical system of John Duns
Scotus (bom probably at Duns in Berwick-
shire, Scotland, though the place is doubtful:
died at Cologne in 1308), the most accurate
thinker of the middle ages. Hisraethodisthelogical
analysis of the elements of existence. His fundamental
doctrine is that distinctions which the mind inevitably
draws are to be considered as real, although they do not
exist in the things apart from their relations to mind.
Such distinctions were called formal, the abstractions
thence resulting /onnaK(fe», and those who insisted >ipon
them .formalists or .formaUzers (Middle Latin .fonnnfcan-
tes). He taught the important principle of hiecceity — that
individual existence is no quality, is capable of no descrip-
tion or general conception, but is a peculiar element of be-
ing. He held that the natures of genera and species, as
animal and horse, are real, and are not in themselves either
general or particular, though they camiot exist except as
particular nor be thought except as general. The teach-
ing of Scotism in the English universities was prohibited
by the royal injunctions of 1535.
Scotist (sko'tist), n. [= F. Scotiste = Sp. Pg.
Kscotista = It. Scotista, < ML. Scotista, < Sco-
Base of Column (Ionic) of the Erechthcum,
Athens. <T, scotia.
Scotist
Ills (see Seotism): see Scot^.'] A follower of
Uuns Scotus. See Seotism.
Dun's disciples, and like dratf called Scotigtg, the chil-
dren of darkness, raged in every pulpit against Greek,
Latin, and Hebrew.
TjfndaU, Ans. to Sir T. More, etc. (i'arker Sec, 1850), p. 7.1.
ScotisU and Thomists now in peace remain.
Pope, Essay on Criticism, 1. 444.
Scotistic (sko-tis'tik), a. [< Scotist + -ic] Of,
pertaiiiiiig to, or characteristic of the Scotists.
Scotize (skot'iz), r. I. ; pret. and pp. Scotised,
ppr. Scoti:iHg. [< Scot^ + -i>e.] To imitate
the Scotch, especially in their opposition to
prelacy.
The English had ScMued in all their practices.
Ueytin, Lite of Laud, p. 32». {Dana.)
BCOtograph (skot'o-graf), n. [< Gr. okAto^,
darkness, + ypai^iv, write.] An instnunent
by which one may write in the dark, or for aid-
ing the blind to write.
scotoma (sko-to'ma), n. ; pi. scotomata (-ma-ta).
[NL., < Gr. oKUTufia, darkness: see acotomy"] A
defect in the \'isual field.
BCOtome (skot'om), n. [< NL. scotoma, q. v.] A
scotoma.
BCOtomy (skot'o-mi), n. [< F. scotome = Sp.
Pg. escotomia = It. scolomia, < NL. "scotomia, ir-
reg. < Gr. CKdru/ia, darkness, dizziness, vertigo,
< OKoroeiv, become dark, < okotoc, darkness.] Im-
I>erfeet vision, accompanied with giddiness.
I shall shame you worse, an I stay longer.
1 have got the tcotomy in ray head already : , . .
You all turn round — do you not dance, gallants?
MiddUton, Manlnger, and ttoviey. Old Law, iii. 2.
Scotophis (skot'o-fis), «. [NL. (Baird and 6i-
raud, 1853), < Gr. ok6toc, darkness, gloom, +
ifi(, snake.] A genus of colubrine serpents of
North America, having carinated scales only
on the meilian dorsal rows, and the plates on
the head typical. There are severail species, as 5. al-
Icghanientit, among the largest serpents of the l'nite<l
States, bat perfectly harmless. The characteristic color
is brown or black in square blotches on the back and sides,
separated by lighter intervals.
ScotomiS (sko-tor'nis), n. [NL. (Swainson,
1837, as ScortorniSy appar. by misprint, corrected
by same author in same year to Scotomis), <
Gr. (Txo-of, darkness, gloom, + Itpvir, a bin!.]
A B'^nus of Afrieiiu Viiprimulijidie, eharaeter-
ized by the great length of the tail, as in N. loii-
aicauflits, the leading species, of western Africa.
The geniis is also named Climacunu (Qloger,
1842) from this characteristic.
8COtoscop« (skot'o-skop), n. [< Or. (worof, dark-
ness, gloom, + am-eiv, examine, view.] An
•Id optical instrument designed to enable one
to discern objects in the dark ; a night-glass.
There conies alio Mr. Reeve, with a microccope and
imtotrnpe. For the first I did give him £5. lOf. . . . The
other he gives me, and Is of value ; and a curious curios-
ity t( ii to look object* Id a darke room with.
PepDt. Diary, Aug. 13, 1M4.
Scots (skots), a. and n. [A contracted form of
MK. Srottis, dial, form of Scottish: see Scottish,
Scotch^.'] I. a. Scotch; Scottish: as, Scots law;
five pound Scots. [Scotch.]
We think na on the lang Seott mOea.
Bvnu, Tam o' Sbanter.
Scots Grays. See (/ray, i.
II. «. The Scottish dialect.
Scotsman (skots'man), n.; pi. Scot»men (-men).
A iiiilivp of Scotland ; a Scot. Also Scotchman.
Scott't, n. An obsolete spelling of Scot^.
8C0tt-'t, n. An obsolete spelling of scot^.
BCOttering (skot'<-r-ing), n. [Verbal n. of
'xiotfcr, r., ]>erhaps a var. of scatter."] The
burning of a wad of pease-straw at the end of
harvest. Bailiy, \T.i\. [Prov. Eng.]
Scotticism (skot'i-sizm), n. [< LL. Scoticus,
ScolUcus, Scottish (see Scottish), + -ism.] An
5413
idiom or expression peculiarto Scotland. Also
Scoticism.
Scotticize (skot'i-siz), v. t.; pret. and pp. Scotti-
ci:ed, ppr. Scotticising. [< LL. Scoticus, Scoiti-
cus, Scottish, + -i-e.] To render Scottish in
character or form. Also Scoticise.
Scottification (skot"i-fi-ka'shon), Ii. [< Scoftify
+ -icatloii.] The act of Scottlfying something,
or of giving a Scottish character or turn to it;
also, th&t which has been Scottified or rendered
Scottish in character or form. [CoUoq.]
Which scottijication I hope some day to print opposite
Caxton's own text.
F. J. Fumivatl, Forewords to Booke of Precedence
[(E. E. T. S., extra ser.), p. xvii.
Scottify (skot'i-fi), v. t. ; pret. and pp. Scottified,
ppr. Scottlfying. [< LL. Scoticus, Scotticus, Scot-
tish, + -/y.] To render Scotch in character or
form; give a Scottish turn to. [Colloq.]
Adam'Loutfut, Sir Wm. Cummyn's scribe, had copied
the poem from an English original, and scottified it as he
copied.
F. J. Fumivall, Forewords to Booke of Precedence
((E. E. T. S., extra ser.)^ p. xvii.
Scottish (skot'ish), a. [Also contracted Scotch,
Sc. Scots; < ME. Scottish, Scotyssh, Sc. Seottis,
< AS. "Scottisc, by reg. umlaut Scyttisc, Scittisc
(= D. Schotsch, Schots = G. Schottisch = Icel.
Skotzkr = Sw. Skottsk = Dan. Skotsk), Scottish,
< Scot, pi. Scottas, Scot, + -isc, E. -wftl. Cf . LL.
Scoticus, = MGr. NGr. Ikutikuc, Scottish ; OF.
Escossais, F. £eossais = Sp. Hscocis = Pg. Es-
cossez = It. Sco::ese (> NGr. X/torC^oof), < ML.
as if "Scotiensis, Scottish, a Scotchman, < LL.
Scotia (> OF. Eseosse, F. £cosse = Sp. Escoeia =
Pg. Escossia = It. Scozia), Scotland, < Scotus,
a Scot: see Scot^.] Of, pertaining to, or char-
acteristic of Scotland or its inhabitants; per-
taining to the form of English peculiar to Scot-
land, or to the literature written in it; Scotch :
ae, Scottish aceneTy; Scottish tTnits. SeeScotch^.
It was but XX icotyuh myle fro the Castell of Vandes-
blres. Merlin (E. E. T. 8.), ii. IS".
Scottish dance, the achottische.— Scottlali school.
SeescAooil.
SCOQg, «. See skugl.
SCOUIt, I', and >i. An obsolete form of scowl.
SCOnld, I', and «. An obsolete form of scold.
Scoulton pewit. See pewit.
scoundrel (skoun'drel), n. and a. [With ex-
crescent d (iis in thunder, tender, etc.), for ear-
lier 'scouurcl, 'scounerel, with suffix -el, denot-
ing a person, < seouner, scunner, disgust, cause
loathing, also feel disgust at, loathe, shun ; or
from the related noun, 'seouner, scunner, scan-
ner, an object of disgust, also one who shrinks
through fear, a coward: see scunner, v. and n.,
and the ult. source shun. This etjinology,
due to Skeat, is no doubt correct; but the ab-
sence of early quotations leaves it uncertain
whether the orig. sense was 'one who shuns or
shrinks,' i. e. a coward, or 'one who causes
disgust,' 'one who is shunned.'] I. n. Abase,
mean, worthless fellow; a rascal; a low vil-
lain; a man without honor or virtue.
By this hand, they are tcoundrels and substractors.
Shak., T. N., L 8. 86.
=8yn. Knave, rogue, cheat, swindler, sharper.
u, a. Belonging to or characteristic of a
scoundrel; base; mean; unprincipled.
"A penny saved Is a penny got."
Firm to this teoundrel maxim keepeth he.
Tlumuon, Castle of Indolence, L SO.
SCOUndreldom (8koun'drel-<ium), n. [< scoun-
drel + -</>>;».] Scoundrels collectively, or their
ways or habits; scoundrelism.
High-bom teoundreldom. Fr&ude.
scoundrelism (skoun'drel-izm), n. [< scoun-
dril + -ixm.] The practices of a scoundrel;
baseness; turpitude; rascality.
Thus . . . shall the Bastille be abolished from our
Earth. . . . Alas, the seouTufre^timi and hard usage are not
so easy of aliolitiun I Carlyle, French Kev., I. v. fl.
scoundrelly (skoun'drel-i), a. [< scoundrel +
-/yi.] Characteristic of a scoundrel; base;
mean; villainous; ra.scally.
I had mustered the moundreUy dragoons ten minutes
sgo in order to beat up Hurley's quarters.
Sentt, Old Mortality, xxvill.
BCOnner (skou'nfer), »'. and n. Same &% scunner.
scoupi (skoup), V. A dialectal variant of scoop.
SC0Up2 (skoup), t!. «. [Also scoicp; early mod.
E. seoupe, scope, < ME. scopen, < Icel. skopa, take
a run ; perhaps connected with Icel. skoppa,
spin like a top, and with E. skip.] To leap or
move hastiljr from one place to another ; run ;
scamper; skip. [Scotoli.]
scour
I seoupe as a lyon or a tygre dothe whan he doth folowe
his praye. Je vas par sault^es. Palsgrave.
That it ne can goe scope abrode where it woulde gladly
goe. DraiU, Horace (1667), fo. E. ilij. (Cath. Ang., p. 324).
The shame scoup in his company,
And land where'er he gae !
Fair Annie (Child's Ballads, III. 194).
SCOUrl (skour), V. [Early mod. E. also scoure,
t^cower, scowre, skour, skoure ; < ME. scouren,
scowren, scoren (= D. schuren = MLG. schuren,
LG. schueren, schoeren = MG. schiiren, G. scheu-
ern = Dan. skure = Sw. skura), scour, pvob. <
OF. esciircr = Pr. Sp. escurar = It. scurare (ML.
reflex scurare), scour, rub, < L. excurare, used
only in pp. excuratus, take great care of, < ex-
intensive + curare, care for: see cure, v.] I.
trans. 1. To cleanse by hard rubbing; clean by
friction; make clean and bright on the surface
by rubbing; brighten.
Therthei . . . gcowredhauberkesandfurbisshedswerdes
and helmes. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 313.
Scourinff and forbishing his head-piece or morion.
Holland, tr. of Plutarch, p. 809.
2. To cleanse from grease and dirt by rubbing
or scrubbing thoroughly with soap, washing,
rinsing, etc. : cleanse by" scrubbing and the use
of certain chemical appliances: as, to scour
blankets, carpets, articles of dress, etc.; to
scour woolens.
In some lakes the water is so nitrous as, if foul clothes
be put into it, it scoureth them of itself.
Laeon, Nat. Hist., § 362.
Every press and vat
Was newly scoured.
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, I. 29S.
3. To cleanse or clean out by flushing, or by
a violent flood of water.
Augustus, hauing destroyed Anthonte and Cleopatra,
brought Egypt into a Prouince, and scoured all the
Trenches of Mlus. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. RS6.
The Britisli riiannel. with its narrow funnel opening at
the straits of Dover, is largely scotired hy the Atlantic
rollers or tidal waves. X. and Q., 7th ser., II. 63.
4. To purge thoroughly or with violence;
purge drastically.
What rhubarb, cyme [in some eds. senna), or what pur-
gative drtig.
Would scour these English hence?
Sliak., Sfacbeth, v. 3. 66.
I win scoure thy gorge like a hawke.
Marston and JBarksted, Insatiate Countess, v.
6. To cleanse thoroughly in any way ; free en-
tirely from impurities, or whatever obstructs
or is undesirable ; clear; sweep clear; rid.
The kings of Lacedemon having sent out some gallies,
under the charge of one of their nephews, to scour the sea
of the pirates, they met us. Sir P. Sidney.
And, like a sort of true-born scavengers.
Scour me this famous realm of enemies.
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Burning Pestle, v. 2.
6. To remove by scouring ; cleanse away ; ob-
literate; efface.
Never came reformation in a flood.
With such a heady currence, scouring faults.
SItttk., Hen. V., i. 1. 84.
Sour grief and sad repentance scours and clears
My stains with tears.
Quartes, Emblems, it 14.
7. To run over and scatter; clean out.
And Whacknm in the same play ("The Scowrers"! de-
scribes the doings of the fraternity of Scourers. "Then
how we Scour'd the -Market People, over-threw the Butter
Women, defeated the Pippin Merchants."
Ashton, Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne, II. 171>.
How many sail of well-mann'd ships before us . . .
Have we pursu'd and scot^r'tf .'
Fletcher, Double Marriage, ii. 1.
Scoured wool, wool which has been thoroughly cleansed
after shearing,
H. intrans. 1. To rub a surface for the pur-
pose of cleansing it.
Speed. She can wash and scour.
Launce. A special virtue. Shot., T. O, of V., iil. 1. 818.
2. To cleanse cloth; remove dirt or grease
from a texture.
Warm water . . , scoureth better than cold.
Bacori, Nat. Hist, } 862.
3. To be pureed thoroughly or violently; use
strong purgatives.
And although he [Greene] continually scoured, yet still
his belly sweld, and neuer left swelling vjjward, vntiU it
sweld him at the hart and in his face.
Repentance a/ Robert Greene (1592), SIg. D. 2.
SCOUr'^ (skour), n. [< scour^, v.] 1. The clear-
ing action of a strong, swift current through a
narrow channel; the removal of more or less
of the material at the bottom of a river or tidal
channel by the action of a current of water
flowing over it with sufficient velocity to pro-
duce this effect.
SCOUT
There is a low water depth of only about 4 ft., but this
is to be increased by about 20 ft. by dredging and scour.
The Engineer, LXVIH. 452.
2. A kind of diarrhea or dysentery among cat-
tle or other animals; violent purging. — 3. The
material used in scouring or cleansing woolens,
etc.
The wool was then lifted out and drained, after which
it was rinsed in a current of clean water to remove the
teour, and then dried. Encyc. Brit, XXIV. 657.
SCOUT- (skour), r. [Early mod. E. also scoiccr,
scoicrc; < ME. scoureii, scoren, schoureii, < OF.
escourre, escorre, rush forth, run out, scatter,
diminish, = It. scorrere, run over, run hither
and thither, < L. excurrere, run out, run forth:
see excur, of which sconr^ is a doublet. Scour
in these senses is generally confused with
scour^. Hence scur (a var. of scour^), scurry.
Cf. scourse^.'] I, intrans. 1. To run with ce-
lerity ; scamper ; scuiTy off or along.
Hit is beter that we to heom schmcre.
Kitvj AlUaunder, 1. 3722.
In plesorys new your hert dooth score and raunge.
PasUm Letters, III. 186.
The Moon was kind, and as we scoured by
Shew'd us the Deed whereby the greiit Creator
Instated her in that large Monarchy.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, i. 101.
2. To rove or range for the purpose of sweep-
ing or taking something.
Barbarossa, scouring along the coast of Italy, struck an
exceeding terror into the minds of the citizens of Home.
KnoUes, Hist. Turks.
U. trans. To run quickly over or along, espe-
cially in quest or as if in quest of something.
Kot so, when swift Camilla scours the plain.
Pope, Essay on Criticism, 1. 372.
We ventured out in parties to scour tlie adjacent coun-
try. B. Franklin, Autobiog., p. 235.
SCOUTage (skour'aj), n. [< scour^ + -age.] Eef-
use water after cleaning or scouring.
SCOUTer^ (skour'er), «. [< scour^ + -eel.] 1.
One who scours or cleans by rubbing or wash-
ing.— 2. A form of grain-cleaner in which
smut, dust, etc., are removed from the berry
by a rubbing action. H. H, Knight. — 3. A
drastic cathartic.
SCOUrer^t (skour'Sr), n. [Early mod. E. also
scowerer; < ME. *scoiire); scorer; < scour^ +
-crl.] 1. One who runs with speed. — 2. One
who scours or roams the streets by night ; a
rover, robber, or footpad; specifically, one of
a band of young scamps who, in the latter half
of the seventeenth century, roamed the streets
of London and committed various kinds of mis-
chief.
Bullies and icowerers of a long standing.
Steele, Spectator, No. 324.
Who has not heard the scowerer's midnight fame ?
Who has not trembled at the Moliock's name?
Gay, Trivia, iii. 325.
scourge (skferj), n. [< ME. scourge, scowrgc,
scorge, scurge, schorge, schurge, < OF. escorge,
escurge, = It. scoreggla, a whip, scourge ; cf .
the deriv. OF. escorgie, escurgie, escourgee, a
whip, scourge, thong, latchet, F. escourgee, a
scourge ; prob. < L. ex- intensive + corrigia, a
thong, latchet for a shoe, LL; rein, < corrigerc,
make straight: see correct. In this view the
Olt. scoriata, scoriada, scuriata, scuriada, It.
seoriada, a whipping, a whip, scourge, is unre-
lated, being connected with scoria, a whip, sco-
riare, whip, lit. 'flay,' < L. excoriare, flay: see ex-
coriate.'] 1. A whip for the infliction of pain
or punishment; a lash. Hee flageUum, 1.
A scourge; flageum, flagellnm. Cath. Ang., p. 324.
In hys sermon at on tyme he had a balys in hys hond, a
nother tyme a schortje. the iijde tyme a Crowne of thorne.
TorHivjton, Diarie of Eng. Travel!, p. 3.
And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he
drove them all out of the temple. John ii. 15.
Hence — 2. A punishment; a punitive afilie-
tion; any means of inflicting punishment,
vengeance, or suffering.
Famine and plague . . . are sent as scourges for amend-
ment. 2 Esd. xvi. 19.
Wars are the scourge of God for sin.
Burton, Anat of Mel., To the Reader, p. 41.
3. One who or that which greatly afflicts, har-
asses, or destroys.
The Nations which God hath made use of for a scourge
to others have been remarkable for nothing so much as
for the vertues opposite to the most prevailing vices
among those who were overcome by them.
Stillingfieet, Sermons, I. x.
scourge (skferj), v. t. ; pret. and pp. scourged,
'ppr. scourging. [< ME. scourgen, scorgen,
schorgen, < OF. escorgier, eacourgier, escorjier.
whip, < escorge, a whip : see scourge, n.] 1 . To
5414
whip with a scourge ; lash ; apply the scourge
to.
A philosophre upon a tyme . . . broghte a yerde to
scourig}e with the cliild. Chaucer, Parson's Tale.
From thens we went vnto ye hous of Pylate, in ye
whiche our 8auyoure was scorged, betyn, crowned with
thome. Sir Ji, Guyl/orde, Pylgrymage, p. 29.
Is it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman ?
Acts xxii. 25.
2. To punish with severity; chastise or cor-
rect ; afilict for sins or faults, and for the pur-
pose of correction.
Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth
every sou whom he receiveth. Heb. xii, 6.
3. To afflict greatly ; harass ; torment.
Bashaws or governors have been allowed to scourge and
impoverish the people. Brougham.
scourger (sker'jer), n. [< scourge + -eci.] One
who scourges or punishes ; specifically, a
flagellant. ,
The sect of the scmtrgers [i. e. flagellants} broached sev-
eral capital errours. N. TindaZ, tr. of lUpin's Hist. Eng.
SCOUTge-Stick (skferj'stik), n. A whip for a
top.
If they had a top, the scourge-stick and leather strap
should be left to their own making.
Locke, Education, § 130.
scouring (skour'ing), n. [Verbal n. of scour'^, v.]
The act expressed by the verb to scour in its
various senses. Specifically— (a) In woolen-manuf.,
the process of beating a fabric in water to clean it from
the oil and dirt incident to the manufacture. The work
is sometimes performed in a scouring-stock or sconring-
machine. (6) The cleaning of metal as a preliminary pro-
cess in electroplating or tin-plate making, (c) In hy-
draul. engin., sumesis flushing'^, (d) A method of treating
grain by rubbing and brushing in a grain-cleaner or
scourer to free it from smut, mildew, etc. (e) In leather-
manxif., a method of treating green hides to remove the
flesh or the bloom. The hides are set closely on a slop-
ing table, and treated witli stitf brushes and water. {/)
In angling, the freshening and reddening of angleworms
for bait, by placing them for a while in clean sand, tlieir
wriggling in which rubs off the earth.
scouring (skour'ing), p. a. Having an erosive
action on the hearth of the furnace : said of
slag which is very fusible and fluid when melt-
ed, highly vitreous when cooled, also generally
very silieious and feiTuginous in composition.
If the slag becomes more or less of a scouring character
through incomplete reduction of considerable amounts
of iron, notable quantities of phosphorus are . . . present
therein. Encyc. Brit,, XIII. 296.
SCOUring-ball (skour'ing-bal), n. A ball com-
bined of soap, ox-gall, and absorbent earth,
used for removing stains of grease, paint, fruit,
etc., from cloth.
S<JOUring-barrel (skour'ing-bar"el), n. A ma-
chine in which scrap-iron or small articles of
metal are freed from dirt and rust by friction.
SCOUring-basin (skour'ing-ba"sn), n. A res-
ervoir in which tidal water is stored up to a
certain level, and let out from sluices in a rapid
stream for a few minutes at low water, to scour
a channel and its bar. E. H. Knight.
SCOUring-dropS (skour'ing-drops), n. pi. A
mixture in equal quantities of essential oil of
turpentine and oil of lemon-peel, used to re-
move stains of grease, paint, fruit, etc., from
cloth.
scouring-machine (skour'ing-ma-shen"), n. In
woolen-manuf., a machine tor cleansing the
cloth from oil and dirt, it consists of two large
rollers by means of which the cloth is passed through a
trough containing dung and stale urine. Compare scour-
ing-stock.
SCOUring-rush (skour'ing-msh), M. One of the
horsetails, Erjuiset'um hiemale : so called on ac-
count of its silieious coating, being used domes-
tically and in the arts to polish wood and even
metals. Other species may to some extent be so era-
ployed and named. E. hiemale is reputed diuretic, and
is used to some extent for dropsical diseases, etc. Also
called shave-grass, and, as imported into England from
the Netherlands, Dutch rush. See Equisetum, horse-pipe,
pewterwort.
SCOUring-stickt (skour'ing-stik), n. A rod used
for cleaning the barrel of a gun: sometimes
the ramrod, sometimes a different implement.
SCOUring-Stock (skour'ing-stok), n. In woolen-
tii (I II nf. , an apparatus in which cloths are treated
after weaving to remove the oil added to the
wool before carding, and to cleanse them from
the dirt taken up in the process of maimf acture.
The cloth is put into a trough containing a solution in wa-
ter of hog's dung, urine, and soda or fullers' earth, and
pounded with heavy oaken mallets which oscillate on an
axis, and are lifted by tappet-wheels. Compare scouring-
machine.
SCOUTing-table (skour'ing-ta'bl), n. In Icather-
manuf., a large strong table used for scouring.
It has "a top of stone or some close-grained wood, slightly
inclined away from the workman so that the water may
run o9 at the side opposite to him.
scout
scourse^ (skors), v. [Early mod. E. also scorse,
scorce, scoss, dial, scoce; supposed by some to
be an aphetic form of discourse, taken in the
sense 'exchange words,' hence "exchange,
trade' (see discourse, v.). The word seems to
have been used chiefly with ref. to trading in
horses, and prob. arose by confusion from
course^, also written coarse, and the orig.
courser^, esp. in the comp. horse-courser, which
alternated with horse-scourser : see course*,
courser^.] I. trans. To exchange ; barter; trade ;
swap : as, to scourse horses.
I know the barber will scourse [the fiddle] . . . away for
some old cittern.
Middleton, More Dissemblers Besides Women, v. 1.
In strength his equal, blow for blow they scorce.
Drayttm, Battle of Agincourt, p. 56.
This done, she makes the stately dame to light.
And with the aged woman cloths to scorse.
Sir J. Uarington, tr. of Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, xx. 78.
II. intrans. To make an exchange ; exchange ;
trade.
Or cruel, if thou canst not, let us scorse,
And for one piece of thine my whole heart take.
Drayton, Idea, Iii.
Will you scourse with him ? you are in Smithfield ; you
may fit yourself with a fine easy-going street-nag.
B. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, iii. 1.
[Now only prov. Eng.]
scourse^t (skors), n. [See scourse'^, v.] Dis-
course. [Rare.]
Yet lively vigour rested in his mind.
And recompenst them with a better scorse.
Spenser, ¥. Q., II. ix, 65.
SCOUrse^t ( skors), v. i. [Early mod. E. also scorse;
< OF. cscourser, escorser, escourcier, escoreier,
run, run a course, < L. excurrere, pp. excursus,
runout: see scour^, excursion.] To run; scam-
per; hurry; skurry.
And from the country back to private farmes he scorsed.
Spenser, F. Q., VL ix. 3.
scouse (skous), n. [Origin obscure.] Same as
lobscouse.
The cook had just made for us a mess of hot scouse.
B. H. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 34.
SCOUt^ (skout), n. [Early mod. E. also skout,
skowt; < ME. scoute, < OF. escoute, a spy, scout,
watchman, F. ecoiite, a watch, lookout (= Sp.
escucha = Pg. escuta = It. ascolta, scolta, a spy,
scout, watchman), < escouter, ascouter, escoltcr,
esculter, P. ecotiter = Pr. escoutar = OSp. ascii-
char, Sp. escuehar = Pg. escutar =It. ascoltare,
scoltare, listen, < L. auscultare, listen: see aus-
cultate. Cf. schout.] 1. A person sent out to
gain and bring in information ; specifically, one
employed to observe the motions and obtain
intelligence of the numbers of an enemy.
Are not the speedy scmUs return'd again
That dogg'd the mighty army of the Dauphin?
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., iv. 3. 1.
2t. A scouting party.
Mount, What were those pass'd by ?
Bocca. Some scout of soldiers, I think.
Mount. It may be well so, for I saw their horses.
BeatL and Fl., Knight of Malta, iv. 2.
3t. A spy ; a sneak.
I'U beg foryou, steal for yon, go through the wide world
with you, and stai-ve with you, for though I be a poor cob-
ler's son I am no scout.
Smollett, Roderick Random, xv. (Davies.)
4. A college servant or waiter. [Oxford and
Harvard universities.]
No scout in Oxford, no gyp in Cambridge, ever matched
him in speed and intelligence.
Scott, Fortunes of Nigel, xvl
5. In cricket, a fielder.
It [the ball] fell upon the tip of the bat, and bounded
far away over the heads of the scouts.
Dickens, Pickwick, vii.
6. The act of looking out or watching; look-
out; watch.
While the rat is on the scout.
And the mouse with curious snout.
Couper, The Cricket (trans.).
7. One of various birds of the auk family (Al-
cidse) which are common on the British islands,
as the razor-billed auk, the common or foolish
guillemot, and the puffin or sea-parrot. — 8t. In
the Netherlands, a bailiff or magistrate. See
schout.
For their Oppidan Government, they [the United Prov-
inces] have Variety of Oilicers, a Scout. lUngmasters, a
lialue, and Vroetschoppens. The Scout is chosen by the
States. HoiceU, Letters, I. ii. IJJ.
SCOUtl (skout), V. [< ME. skovten; < scout^, «.]
I. intrans. To observe or explore as a scout;
watch the movements of an enemy.
Ho [the dove] skyrmez vnder skwe & skouiez aboute,
Tyl hit waz nyse at the nast A Noe then sechez.
Alliteratice Poems (ed. Morris), 11. 483.
scout
Oft on the bordering deep
Encamp their legions ; or with obscure wing
Scout far and wide into the realm of night.
MUton, V. L., ii. 133.
n. trans. 1. To watch closely ; observe the
actions of; spy out.
Take more men.
And teout him round.
FUteher, Bonduca, Iv. 2. (RichardKm.)
2. To range over for the purpose of discovery.
One sorTejra the region round, while the other «c<mf» the
plain. Swift, Battle of the BoolfB.
SCOUt^ (skout), r. t. [Appar. < 'scout^, n., a
taunt (not recorded in the dictionaries), < Icel.
skuti, skfita, a taunt ; cf. skot-yrthi, scoffs, taunts,
skoUi, shove, < skjota (pret. pi. skutu), shoot:
Bee shoot. Ct.seoiitS.'] To ridicule ; sneer at ;
treat with disdain and contempt ; reject with
scorn: as, to scout a proposal.
Flont 'em and tcout 'em,
And scout 'em and flout 'em.
Shak., Tempest, ill. 2. 13a
SCOUt^t (skout), n. [< ME. scoute, a, cliff, < Icel.
skuti, a cave formed by projecting rocks, <
skuta, jut out; akin to skjota, shoot: see shoot,
and cf. «C0Mf2.] A high rock.
The 8kwe3 of th« tencUi ukayned (ukayned ?] hym thost
Sir Gamayne and Ike Onm Knight (E. E. T. S.), L 2167.
8C0Tlt*f (skout), B. [Also skoutt, scute, skute,
skut (also schuit, schuyt, < D.); < Icel. sk-uta =
Sw. skuta = Dan. sk-ude = MD. schuyt, D. schuit,
a small boat ; perhaps named from its quick mo-
scragged
SCrab^ (skrab), V. t. ; pret. and pp. serabhed, ppr.
scrubbing. [Var. of scrap, scrape; cf. scrabble,
t'.] To scratch ; scrape Scrabbed eggs, a lenten
dish consisting of eggs boiled hard, chopped, and seasoned
with butter, salt, and pepper.
5415
SCO'^an (sko'van), n. [Com.; cf. scove'^.'] A
vein of tin. [Cornwall.]— Scovan lode. Seelodei.
SCOVany (sko'van-i), a. [< scoi-an + -y^.} Not-
ing a lode in which the working is not made
easy to the miner by selvages or seams of gouge g™V"'(;<=£.^'^) „. - fOf. c,-a62.] a crab-apple,
fluean, or any other kind of decomposed or sof^^ the common wild apple.
material which could be easily worked out v,nth i^^j (skrab'l),^ ; pret. and pp. scrabbled,
the pick. [Cornwall, Eng.] r.r^v. scrnhhlhw. rvAvW mod. K^lso scrable:
SCOVe^t, «. [Corn.; cf. scovan.j Tin stuff so
rich and pure as it rises out of the mine that it
has scarce any need of being cleansed by water.
Pryce. [Cornwall, Eng.]
SCOVe^ (skov), V. t. ; pret. and pp. scoved, ppr.
sewing. [Cf. scory."] To cover or smear the
sides of with clay, in order to prevent the es-
cape of heat in burning: as, to scove a pile of
bncks in a kiln, preparatory to firing.
SCO'yel (skuv'l), w. [< W. ysgubell, a whisk, be-
som, broom, < ysgub, a sheaf, besom (cf . ysgubo,
sweep), < L. scopa, scopiB, twigs, a broom: see
seop^.'] A mop for sweeping ovens; a mal-
kin. Withals, Diet.; Minsheu.
SCOTillite (sko'vil-it), n. [< Scorille (see def.)
+ -(<f2.] A hydrous phosphate of didymium,
yttrium, and other rare earths, found in pink-
ish or yellowish incrustations on limonite at
the Scoville ore-bed at Salisbury in Connecti-
cut: probably identical with the mineral rhab-
dophane.
Bcovy (sko'vi), a. [Cf. «co»e2.] Smeared or
blotchy, as a surface unevenly painted. [Corn-
wall, Eng.]
D.«cAoMtti, a ferry-boat, punt, scow.] 1. A kind
of large flat-bottomed boat used chiefly as a
lighter; a pram. — 2. A small boat made of
willows, etc., and covered with skins; a ferry-
boat. Imp. Diet.
These ScotB vsed commonlie to steale ouer into Britaine
in leather ttewes.
Uarruon, Uewrlp. of Britain, It. (Holinshed'a Chron., I.).
[< scow, ».] To transport in
tion; from the root of Icel. skjota, etc., shoot: gcow (skou), ». [Also sometimes «A;oic,s)te«!; <
see shoot, gcoot^, scud. A similar notion ap- -- - ■ --...,
pears in schooner, cutter, and other names of
vessels.] A gwlft Dutch sailing boat.
Where <tu('« forth Uanched tbesre now the great wajm
is entred. Stanihurtt, Couceitee, p. 136. (Davif.)
It (the alicunde>tree) semes them also for boats, one of
which cut out in proportion of a ScuU will hold hundreths
of men. Pwnluu, Pilgrimage, p. 698.
scout' (skout), r. ». [A Tar. of seoot^, ult. of gco'w(8kou), r. t.
shoot (< Icel. skjota, shoot): see shoot."] To pour a scow.
forth a liquid forcibly; eject liquid excrement, gcowder (skou'd^r), v. t. Same as scoutherl.
[Scotch.] SCOWert, '•. An obsolete form of scour^, scour^.
SCOnt" (skout), n. [Also written skout; an Ork- scowerert, "• An obsolete form of scourer^.
ney name; < scout^, eject liquid excrement: scow-house (skou'hous), n. A scow with a
SCO .sTOHfS. Cf. seouty-aulin.} The guillemot, house or hut built on it ; an ark.
[( Irkiieys.] SCOWkt, «'• An obsolete form of skulk.
SCOUter (skou't6r), n. In stone-working, a work- gco'wll (skoul), i'. [Early mod. E. also scoul;
man who uses jumpers, feathers, and wedges < jjj;. scoulen, scowlen, skoulen, < Dan. skule,
in the process of removing large projections by scowl, cast down the eyes (cf. Dan. skiule, hide,
boring holes transversely in order to scale off Jcel. skolla, skulk, hold aloof), = D. schuilen,
larf.'f (lake-
Scoutotten's operation. See operation
scouth (skouth), H. [A\so seotcth, skoutJi ; per-
haps < led. skotha, view, look about (skotlu
a viewing), = Sw. sk&da = ODan. »*;od<, view,
lookabout; akintoE.sAow; Bee«*«iri.] Koom;
liberty to range ; scope. [Scotch.]
If he get lemdh to wield bis tree,
I fesr roall both be paid.
fInMn Hood and Us Beggar (ChOd's DalUdt, V. IIK).
scouther^ (skou'THdr), r. t. [Also scowder,
-/.oWir, overheat, scorch; ori^n obscure.] To
^c-orch; fire hastily on a gridiron. [Scotch.]
scoutherl (skou'TH^r), «. [<scouther^,r.] A
hasty toasting; a slight scorching. [S<?otch.]
SCOUther- (»kou'TlU-r), »i. [Also seowther; ori-
^'iii olisiMirc] A flying shower. [Prov. Eng.]
scoutingly (skou'ting-li), adv. Sneeringly;
with riaicule.
Foreigners spesk leouHngly of as.
Annate qf Pm. and Penn., I. 243.
SCOUt-niaster (skout'mis't^r), n. An officer
who has the direction of scouts and army mes-
sengers.
An admirable teout-maeUr, and Intrepid In the pamitt of
plunder, he nerer commanded a brigade or took part In
a genctrd action. The Academy, No. 891, p. 372.
scout-watcht (skout'woch), ». [< ME. skoate-
iciicrhi- : < oroMfl + watch.] 1. A scout or spy.
other feris opon fer the trelkes withoute.
With slroie<< mieehe tot skathe & skeltjmg of harme.
take shelter, hide, skulk, lurk, = MLG. LG,
schulen, hide oneself, G. dial, schuten, hide the
per- eyes, look slyly ; prob. akin to Sw. Dan. skjul = 8^af i^d with a diff
f««, Icel. skjoL shelter, cover: see skeaP. dence 'i:''-^'i„n<.7X a gie,
lew ,t„u-.] f,<«fr««*. To lower the brows as in ^^'..fl:,* 1^84^111
anger or displeasure ; frown, or put on a frown
inglook; lookgloomy, severe, or angry: either
literally or figuratively.
Ala wode lyons tbsl [devils] sal than fare,
And niumpe on h]rm, and tkoul and stare.
llampcU, Pricke of Conscience, L 222S.
abe teould and trownd with froward countenaunce.
Speneer, F. Q., II. IL 85.
The skies likewise began to eeoide;
It hayld and raind in pittioas sort
Duteheee nf Su/olke Calamity (Child's Ballads, VIL 801).
n. trans. 1. To affect with a scowl: as, to
scoicl one down or away.— 2. To send with a
scowling or threatening aspect. [Rare.]
The louring element
Seoule o'er tbe darken'd landskip snow, or shower.
MiUon, P. L., a 491.
SCOWU (skoul), n. [Early mod. E. also scoul;
< scoicU. r.] A lowering or wrinkling of the
brows as in anger or displeasure; a look of
anger, displeasure, discontent, or sullenness;
a frown or frowning appearance or look.
A ruddy storm, whose tcoul
Uade heaven's radiant face look foul.
ppr. scrabbling. [Early mod. E. also scrable;
var. of scrapple^, freq. of scrape: see scrape,
scrab, and cf. scraffle, scrapple^, scramble. The
word in def. 3 has come to be associated with
scribble^ (of. scrawl^), but there is no orig. con-
nection with scribble or its source, L. seribcre.]
1. intrans. 1. To scrape, scratch, or paw with
the hands ; move along on the hands and knees ;
crawl ; scramble : as, to scrabble up a cliff or a
tree. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
They . . . wente their way, leaving him for dead. But
he scrabled away when they were gone.
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 363.
2. To scramble or struggle to catch something.
True virtue ... is in every place and in each sex of
equal value. So is not continence, you see ; that phantom
of honour which men in every age have so contemned,
they have thrown it amongst the women to scrabble for.
Vanbrugh, Provoked Wife, iii. 1.
3. To make irregular, crooked, or unmeaning
marks; scrawl; scribble. Imp. Diet.
And he [David] . . . feigned himself mad in their hands
and scrabbied [or, made marks, margin] on the doors of the
gate. . 1 Sam. xxi. 13.
"Why should he work if he don't choose?" she asked.
"He has no call to be scribbling and scrabbling."
Thackeray, Adventures of Philip, vi.
II. trans. To scrape or gather hastily: with
ty), together, or the like.
Great gold eagles and guineas flew round the kitchen
Jest as tliick as dandelions in a meadow. I tell you, she
scrabbled them up pretty quick, and wo all helped her.
U. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 188.
Every spectator can see and count the thirty pieces of
silver as they are rung down upon a stone table, and the
laugh is loud as Judas greedily scrabbles them up one by
one into his bag. ft. S. Uatt, German Culture, p. 87.
scrabble (skrab'l), »i. [< scrabble, v. Cf. scram-
ble, «.] A moving on the hands and knees; a
scramble. Dnp. Diet.
scrack (skrak), ». [Var. of crake^.] A crake :
as, the eom-scrack (the corn-crake, Crexpraten-
sis). [Local, Scotch.]
scraffle (skraf '1), v. i. [A form of scrabble or
scramble.] 1. To scramble; struggle; hence,
to wrangle or quarrel. Halliuell. — 2. To be
busy or industrious. Brockett. — 3. To shuffle ;
use evasion. Grose. [Obsolete or provincial
in all uses.]
1 (skrag), M. [Also scragg, assibilated
vowel scrog, shrog ; <
great dry tree, a long lean
man ; akin to Sw. dial, skrokk, anything wrin-
l^led or deformed, skrugeg, crooked, skruggug,
wrinkled; cf. Dan. skrog, carcass, the hull of a
ship; Icel. skriiggr, a nickname of the fox,
skroggs-ligr, lean, gaunt; Fries, skrog, a lean
person ; prob. from the root of Sw. skrukka,
shrink, Norw. skrekka (pret. skrakk), shrink,
Dan. skrugge, skrukke, stoop: see shrink and
shrug. The Gael, sgreag, shrivel, sgrcagach,
dry, rocky, sgreagag, a shriveled old woman, Ir.
sgreag, a rock, are appar. unrelated: see scrog,
shrog.] 1. A crooked branch. [Prov. Eng.] —
2. Something thin or lean, and at the same time
rough. — 3. A scraggy or scrawny person. — 4.
A scrag-whale.
A whale, of the kind called scragg, came into the harbor,
and continued there three days. Fisheries 0/ If. S., V. ii. SO.
6. A remnant, or refuse part; specifically, the
neck, or a piece of the neck, of beef or mutton.
They sat down with their little children to a little scrag
of mutton and broth with the highest satisfaction.
Fielding, Amelia, v. 3.
acragl (skrag), a. [< scragg, n.] Scragged or
scraggy : said of whales.
By ICOWl of brow, by sheer thought ; by
application : as, to work it out by scowl nf bri
mere mental
■ow.
i>e*n<«to»o/IV<i»(E.B.T. 8.), 1.6042. u^^j2(glc'oul),N. [Origin obscure.] Old work
2. The act of scouting or spying: as, to be in
scout-watch (that is, on duty as a scout).
Vpon lighting In the tree, this saide, this file —
Being in Joou/iroteA. a spider splying me.
J. Beymod, Spider and VXy (1656). (A'oret.) gco'^ylingly (skou'ling-li), adv. In a scowling
SCOUty-anlin (skout'i-a'lin), n. [Also scouti- manner; with lowering brows; frowningly;
tiulin, srouti-fillin, and transposed aulin-scouty : with a sullen look.
< 'scouty, adj., < scout^, eject liquid excrc- scowp, ''. >. See scoup^.
merit (see wom(5), -f- aulin, q. v.] The arcti(! scowtner, n. Bee scouther^.
gull, .stercorarius parasiticus. Also called dirty scoymust, a. A Middle English form of squeam-
auliii, or simply aulin, also skait-bird. See i-ih.
aulin. scr. jVn abbreviation of scruple, a weight.
Craehaw, Delights of the Muses, scrag- "(skrag), t'. t. ; pret. and pp. scragged,
ppr. scragging. [Prob. < scragg 5, taken as
simply 'neck' (see scragg) ; biit cf. Gael, sgrog,
the head, side of the head, the neck (in ridi-
cule), also a hat or bonnet.] To put to death
by hanging; hang. [Slang.]
" He'll come to be scragged, won't he?" " I don't know
what that means," replied Oliver. "Something in this
way. old feller," said Charley. As he said it, Master
Bates caught up an end of his neckerchief, and holding it
erect in the air, dropped his liead on llis shoulder, and
Jerked a curious sound through his teeth ; thereliy indi-
cating by a lively pantomimic representation that scrag-
ging and hanging were one and the same thing.
Dickens, Oliver Twist, xvlll.
scragged (skrag' ed), a. [(.scragg + -ed"^.] 1.
Kough with irregular points or a broken sur-
ings at the outcrop of the deposits of iron ore.
Some of these are of large dimensions, and
are ascribed to the Romans. [Forest of Dean,
Gloucestershire, Eng.]
scragged
face ; full of asperities or surface irregularities ;
scraggy; ragged.
Fed with nothing else but the scragged and thorny lec-
tures of monkish ami miserable sophistry.
Miitoti, Church-tiovernmeiit, ii.. Conclusion.
2. Lean; tliin and bony; showing angularity
of form; lacking in plumpness; ill-conditioned.
Scraggedness (skrag'ed-nes), n. The state or
chann'ter of being scragged; leanness, or lean-
ness with roughness; roughness occasioned by
broken, irregular points.
scraggily (skrag'i-li), adv. With leanness and
roughness.
scragginess (skrag'i-nes), n. The state or
quality of being scraggy; leanness; rugged-
ness; roughness.
scragglingt (skrag'ling), a. [Prop. *scragUng,
< scrag^ + -/iMf/l.] Scraggy.
The Lord's sacrifice must be fat and fair ; not a lean
tcroffgling starved creature.
Sev. T. Adamt, Works, 1. 124. (Davies.)
Scraggly (skrag'Ii), a. [Prop. *scraghj, < scrag^
+ -///I.] Ha\'ing or presenting a rough, ir-
regular, or ragged appearance : as, a scraggly
beard.
The tough, scraggly wild sage abounds.
T. Roosevelt, Hunting Trips, p. 93.
scraggy (skrag'i), a. [Early mod. E. also sJcrag-
t/!/,slcraggie;<. scragl + -ij^. Ct. scraggy.'] 1.
Having an irregular, broken surface ; rough
with irregular points ; rugged ; scragged.
A scraggy rock, whose prominence
Half overshades the ocean. J. Philijts, Cider, L
2. Lean; thin; bony; poor; scrawny.
A bevy of dowagers stout or scraggy.
Thackeray, Book of Snobs, xviii.
Mary's throat, however, could not stand the severe test
of laceless exposure. It was too slender and long. . . .
Miss Erroll announced that she looked scraggy.
Harpers Mag., LXXVI. 224.
scrag-necked (skrag'nekt), a. Having a scraggy
neck.
scrag-whale (skrag'hwal), n. A finner-whale
of tlie subfamily AgapheUnee, having the back
scragged instead of finned. Agapheliis gibbosus
is the common species of the North Atlantic.
scraich, scraigh (skrach), v. i. [< Gael, sgreach,
sgreiich, screech, scream, = Ir. sgreach, shriek,
= W. ysgrechio, scream; ef. screech, shriek,
s/irjiel.] To scream hoarsely ; screech; shriek;
cry, as a fowl. [Scotch.]
Paitricks scraichin' loud at e'en.
' Burns, First Epistle to J. Lapraik.
scratch, scraigh (skrach), n. [< scraich, v.] A
hoarse scream; a shriek or screech. [Scotch.]
scrallt, f. and n. See scrawl^, scrawl^.
scramasax (skram'a-saks), n. [Old Prankish
*scramasacs, 'scraniasax (cited in ML. ace. pi.
scramasaxos), < *scrama (MHG. schrame, G.
schramme, a wound: see scrawm) + *sacs (OHG.
sahs = AS. seax), knife : see saxi.] A long and
heavy knife used by the Franks in hunting and
in war, having a blade sometimes 20 inches in
length.
scramb (skramb), v. t. [A var. of scramp. Cf .
scramble.'] To pull or scrape together with the
hands. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
scramble (skram'bl), v.; pret. and pp. scram-
bled, ppr. scrambling. [Preq. of scramb, scramp;
or a nasalized form of scrabble, a freq. verb from
the same ult. source : sea scrabble.] I, intrans.
1. To struggle or wriggle along as if on all
fours ; move on with difficulty or in a flounder-
ing manner, as by seizing objects with tlie hand
and drawing the body forward : as, to scramble
up a cliff; to scramble on in the world.
The cowardly wretch fell down, crying for succour, and
«(TamM{n{; through the legs of them that were about him.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, ii.
Up which defatigating hill, nevertheless, he scrambled,
but with difficulty. Sir T. Herbert, Travels, p. 200.
The hissing Serpents scrairMed on the floor.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, ii. 130.
Make a shift and scramble through
The world's mud. Browning, Ring and Book, I. 23.
2. To struggle rudely or in a jostling manner
with others for the purpose of grasping or get-
ting something; strive eagerly, rudely, and
without ceremony for or as if for something
thrown on the ground : as, to scramble for pen-
nies; to scramble for a living; to scramble for
office.
The corps de garde which kept the gate were scrambling
to gather them [walnuts] up. Coryat, Crudities, I. 21.
Now no more shalt thou need to scramble for thy meat.
nor remove thy stomach with the court ; but thy credit
shall command thy heart's desire.
Beau, and Fl., WomanrHater, ii. 1.
5416
The Bishops, when they see him (the Pope] tottering,
will leave him, and tall to scrambling, catch who may.
Milton, Reformation in Eng., i.
You must expect the like disgrace,
Scrambling witli rogues to get a place ;
Must lose the honour you have gain'd.
Your numerous virtues foully stain'd.
Swift, Answer to Mr. Lindsay.
II. trans. 1. To stir or toss together in a
random fashion; mix and cook in a confused
mass.
Juliet, scrambling up her hair, darted into the house to
prepare the tea. Bulwer, My Novel, viii. 5.
2. To throw down to be scrambled or strug-
gled for: as, to scramble nuts. [Colloq.]
The gentlemen laughs and throws us money; or else
we pelt each other with snowballs, and then they scram-
bles money between us.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II. 663.
3. To advance or push in a scrambling way.
A real, honest, old fashioned boarding-school, where
. . . girls might be sent to be out of the way, and scram-
ble themselves into a little education, without any danger
of coming back prodigies. Jane Austen, Emma, liL
Scrambled eggs, eggs broken into a pan or deep plate,
with milk, butter, salt, and pepper, mixed together slightly
and cooked slowly.
scramble (skram'bl), n. [< scramble, v.] 1.
A walk or ramble in which there is clambering
and struggling with obstacles.
How often the events of a story are set in the frame-
work of a country walk or a bumside scramUe.
Saturday Rev., April, 1874, p. 610.
2. An eager, rude contest or struggle for the
possession of something offered or desired ; an
unceremonious jostling or pushing for the pos-
session of something.
Somebody threw a handful of apples among them, that
set them presently together by the ears upon the scramble.
Sir R. L'Estra7ige.
Several lives were generally lost in the scramble.
E. W. Lane, Modern Egyptians, II. 266.
There was much that was ignoble and sordid : a scram-
ble for the ssilaried places, a rush to handle the money pro-
vided for arms. The Century, XXXVIII. 663.
scrambler (skram'blfer), n. [< scramble + -e)l.]
One who scrambles.
All the little scramblers after fame tall upon him.
Addison.
scrambling (skram'bling), p. a. Straggling;
rambling; irregular; haphazard; random: as,
scrambUtig streets.
Farewell, my fellow-courtiers all, with whom
I have of yore made many a scrambling meal
In corners, behind arrases, on stairs.
Beau, and Fl., Woman-Hater, iii. 3.
Peter seems to have led a scrambling sort of literary ex-
istence. Stubbs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 137.
SCramblingly (skram'bling-li), adv. In a scram-
bling or haphazard manner.
scramp (skramp), V. t. [Prob. a nasalized
form of scrape, conformed to the series scrimp,
scrump, etc. Cf. scramb, scramble.] To catch
at ; snatch. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
scran (skran), n. [Also skran; prob. < Icel.
skran, rubbish, also marine stores. Cf. scran-
nel, scranny.] 1. Scraps; broken victuals ; ref-
use. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.]
Most of the lodging-house keepers buy the scran . . .
of the cadgers ; the good food they either eat themselves
or sell to the other travellers, and the bad they sell to par-
ties to feed their dogs or pigs upon.
Mayhew, London Laboui" and London Poor, I. 466.
2. Food in general. [Military slang.]— Bad
scran to you ! bad luck to you ! may you fare badly !—
a mild imprecation used by the Irish.— Oilt on the scran,
begging. [Beggars' slang.]
SCranch (skranch), V. t. [Also scraunch, scrunch;
prob. < D. schransen, MD. sehrantsen, = LG.
schransen = G. schramen, eat heartily; cf. G.
dial, schranz, a crack, report, bang. In effect
scranch, scraunch, scrunch are intensified forms,
with prefixed s, of cranch, craunch, crunch.] To
grind with the teeth, with a crackling sound;
craunch. [Colloq.]
scranky (skrang'ki), a. [Appar. a nasalized
form of scraggy; cf. scranny.] Scraggy; lank.
J. Wilson. [Scotch.]
scrannel (skran'el), a. [Appar. < 'scran (hard-
ly identical with scran, refuse) + -el, here an
adj. suffix with dim. effect. Ci. scranny.] Slight;
slender; thin; squeaking.
When they list, their lean and flashy songs
Grate on their scrannel pipes of wretched straw.
Milton, Lycidas, 1. 124.
In its [the palm-squirrel's] shrill gamut there is no string
of menace or of challenge. Its scrannel quips are pgint-
less— so let them pass.
P. Robinson, Under the Sun, p. 41.
SCranning (skran'ing), n. [< scran + -ing^.]
The act of begging for food. [Slang.]
scrape
scranny (skran'i), a. [Also, and now usually,.
scrawny; appar. < 'scran (see scrannel) + -yl.}
Same as scrawny. [Prov. Eng.]
scrapi (skrap), n. [< ME. scrappe, < Icel. slrap,
scraps, trifles, = Norw. skriip = Sw. 'skrap in
af-skrap, off-scrapings, refuse, di-egs, = Dan.
skrab, scrapings, trash, < Icel. Sw. Norw. skrapa
= Dan. skrabe — E. scrape: see scrape.] 1. A
small piece, properly something scraped off; a
detached portion; a bit; a fragment; a rem-
nant : as, scraps of meat.
They have been at a great feast of languages, and stolen
the scraps. Shak., L. L. L., v. 1. 40.
You again
May eat scraps, and be thankful.
Fletcfier (and another), Elder Brother, v. 1.
He is a Fool with a good Memory, and some few Scraps
of other Folks Wit. Congreix, Way of the World, i. 6.
The girl ran into the house to get some crumbs of bread,
cold potatoes, and other such scraps as were suitable to-
the accommodating appetite of fowls.
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, vi.
2. A detached piece or fragment of something
written or printed ; a short extract : as, scraps
of writing; scraps of poetry.
A scrap of parchment hung by geometry
(A great refinement in barometry)
Can, like the stars, foretell the weather.
Swift, Elegy on Partridge.
This is a very scrap of a letter. Walpole, Letters, II. 434.
Clive is full of humour, and I enclose you a rude scrap-
representing the bishopess of Clapham, as she is called
Thackeray, Newcomes, iii.
Scraps of thundrous epic lilted out.
Tennyson, Princess, ii.
3. A picture suited for preservation in a scrap-
book, or for ornamenting screens, box:es, etc. :
as, colored scraps; assorted scrajis. — 4. i)l. Fat,
after its oil has been tried out; also, the refuse
of fish, as menhaden, after the oil has been ex-
pressed: as, blubber scraps. See graves'^. — 5.
Wrought iron or steel, in the form of clippings
or fragments, either produced in various pro-
cesses of manufacture, or collected for the pur-
pose of being reworked.
In the manufacture of laminated steel barrels, the best
quality of steel scrap is mixed with a small proportion of
charcoal iron. Sci. Amer., N. S., LV. 51.
Dry scrap, the refuse of menhaden or other fish, after
the oil has been expressed, dried in tlie sun or by artificial
heat, for use as manure.— Green scrap, crude fish-scrap
or guano, containing 60 to 60 per cent, of water ; chum or
crude pomace.— Scrap-cutting machine, a machine in
which long metal scrap is cut to size for bundling and re-
working.
seraph (skrap), r. t. ; pret. and pp. scrapped, ppr.
scrapping. l< seraph, n.] 1. To consign to the
scrap-heap, as old bolts, nuts, spikes, and other
worn-out bits of iron. — 2. To make scrap or
refuse of, as menhaden or other fish from which
the oil has been expressed.
seraph (skrap), V. A dialectal variant of scrape^.
scrap'-^ (skrap), n. [< seraph, r. Cf. scrape^, «.,
3.] A fight; a scrimmage. [Slang.]
SCrap'* (skrap), n. [Also scrape, and assibi-
lated shrap, shrape; perhaps due to seraph =
scrape^, scratch, grub, as fowls; but cf. Icel.
skreppa, a mouse-trap, perhaps same as skrep-
jja, a bag, scrip : see script.] A snare for birds ;
a place where chaff and grain are laid to lure
birds. [Prov. Eng.]
scrap-book (skrap'buk), n. A book for holding
scraps; a volume for the preservation of short
pieces of poetry or prose, prints, engravings,
etc., clipped from books and papers.
scrap-cake (skrap'kak), n. Fish-scrap in mass.
Also scrap-cheese.
scrap-cinders (skrap'sin"derz), n. 2>l. The ash
or residue of whale-scrap burnt in the try-
works, used for scouring decks, etc.
SCrapel (skrap), V. ; pret. and pp. scraped, ppr.
scraping. [< ME. scrapien, scrapen, also assibi-
lated shrapen, shrapien, shreapien, < Icel. Norw.
Sw. skrapa = Dan. skrabe = D. sch rapen, scrajie ;
AS. scearpian, scarify: a secondary form of a
strong verb, AS. screpan, screopan (pret. sera'}),
pp. screpen), scrape, also in comp. dscrepan.,
scrape off (screopc, a scraper) ; connected with
AS. scearp, etc., sharp: see sharp. Cf. scrap,
scrapple"^, scrab, scrabble, scramble.] I. trans.
1. To shave or abrade the surface of with a
sharp or rough instrument, especially a broad
instrument, or with something hard; scratch,
rasp, or shave, as a surface, by the action of a
sharp or rough instrument; grate harshly over.
A hundred footsteps scrape the marble hall.
Pope, Moral Essays, iv. 152.
Somebody happened to scrape the floor with his chair
just then ; which accidental sound has the instantaneous
effect that the cutting of the yellow hair by Iris had upon
infelix Dido. 0. W. Holmes, Autocrat, iiL
scrape
2. To make clean or smooth by scratching,
rasping, or planing with something sharp or
hard.
And he shall cause the house to be (cra^d within round
about. Lev. xiv. 41.
No more dams 111 make for fish,
Sot fetch in firing
At requiring.
Nor gerape trencher, nor wash dish.
Shak., Tempest, 11. 2. 187.
3. To remove or take off by or as by scratching
or rubbing; erase: with out, off, or the like.
Offerings to be made at the shrine of saints, or a little
to be tcraped offirom men's superfiuity for relief of poor
people. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, vi. 6.
1 will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like
the top of a rock. Ezek. xxvi. 4.
Like the sanctimonious pirate, that went to sea with the
Ten Commandments, but scraped one out of the table.
Shak., M.forM., L2. 9.
4. To collect by careful effort ; gather by small
earnings or savings : with together or up, or the
like : as, to scrape enough money together to buy
a new watch.
Yon shall not think, when all your own is gone, to spend
that I have been gcraping up for MichaeL
Beau, arid Ft., Knight of Burning Pestle, L 4.
What if in forty-and-two years' going about the man
had scraped to'jether enough to give a poiftioD to his child ?
Lamb, Decay of Beggars.
I wish I could book up to you at such a moment as this,
but 1 haven't got it. 1 send you all 1 can scrape together.
C. Lever, A Rent in a Cloud, p. 172.
To scrape acqnaintance with a person, to get on terms
of a<-«|iiaint:ince by careful elf ort ; insinuate one's self into
acquaintance with a person.
Presently afterward the sergeant arrived. ... He said
he had scraped an acquaintance with Murphy.
Fielding, Amelia, v. 4.
To BCrape down, to express disapprobation of and to
silence by scraping the feet on the floor : as, to scrape
(f&u-H an unpopular speaker. [Eng.]
When the debate was resumed, the tide ran so strongly
against the accused that his friends were coughed and
scrapfd down. Maeaulay, Warren Hastings.
= Syn. 1. Scrape, Scratch, Chcffe, Abrade, Erode. Scraptng
is dune with a oomparatlvely broad surface : as, to scrape
the ground with a hoe ; scratching is done with that which
ia somewhat sharp : as, to scratch the ground with a rake ;
ehaflnn and abrading are done by preaaore or friction : ss^
a chnfrd heel. Erode is chiefly a geological term, mean-
in)i to wear away by degree* as thoogn by gnawing or
bitinK out small aroounta. ^SiTajjin^geoeraUy removes or
wears the surface ; scratching make* lines upon the sur-
face; chafing produces heat and finally aoreness; abrad-
ing wears away the surface ; eroding may ciit deep holes.
OnW c/ui/e may be freely flgaratlre.
U, intrann. 1. To scratch, or grub in the
ground, aa fowls. Prompt. Parv., p. 450. — 2.
To rub lightly or gratingly: as, the branches
scraped a^inst the windows. — 3. To draw back
the foot m making obeisance: as, to bow and
scrape. — 4. To play with a bow on a stringed
instrument: a more or less derogatory use.
You shall scrape, and I wfll stag
A scarry diltv to a scurvy tune,
Bepine who dare*.
Massinger, Duke of Milan, U. 1.
The symphonloos scraping of flddle*, the tinkling of
triangles, and the beating of tambourinea.
T. L. Peacock, Headlong Hall, xL
5. To save; economize; hoard penuriously.
8be scraped and scraped at pleasure, till I was almost
starveil U> death. OMsmith, CitUen of the World, Ixv.
A tCTaplnx acquaintance, a mere bowing acquain-
tance.
scrape^ (skrap), n. [< scrape^, v. In def. 3 a
particular use ('a tight place,' 'a squeeze');
but it may have arisen from the dial, scrape^,
a snare: see serape'^i, scrap^.'] 1. The act or
noise of scraping or rubbing, as with some-
thing that roughens or removes a surface;
hence, the effect of scraping, rubbing, or scratch-
ing: as, a noisy scrape on a floor; tne scrape of
a pen. — 2. A scraping or drawing back of the
foot in malting obeisance.
Every moment, alao; he took oil his Highland-bonnet,
and performed a bow and scrape.
Uaicthonu, Seveo Oabln, xL
3. An embarrassing position, usually due to im-
prudence and thoughtlessness.
Trust me, Yorlck. thU unwary pleasantry of thine will
sooner or later bring thee Into scrapes and dilllcultie*.
Sleme, 'Tristtam Shandy, L 13.
The Xaybe Musa . . . found into what a terrible scrape
he hail got ; but hunger did not leave him for a moment
to deliberate. Bruce, Source of tlie .Nile, II. US.
<) mercy I have they drawn poor little dear Sir Lucius
Into the scraper Sheridan, The Kivals, v. 1.
When a thinker Is compelled by one part of philosophy
to contradict another part, he cannot leave the conmct-
ing assertionn standing, and tlimw the responsibility for
his scrape on the arduousness of the subJecL
JfiU, <m Hamilton, vili.
4. The concreted turpentine obtained by
scraping it out from incisions in the trunks of
5417
Pinus australis. Eneyc. Brit., IX. 711. — 5. A
shave. [Slang.]
scrape- (skrap), n. Same as scraps.
scrape-good (skrap'giid), a. [< scrape^, v., +
obj. j/tiy</.] Miserly; avaricious; stingy.
None will be there an usurer, none will be there a
pinch-penny, a scrape-good wretch, or churlish hardheart-
ed refuser. Urquhart, it. of Rabelais, iii. 4. (Dames.)
scrape-penny (skrap'pen'i), ti. {,<sera2)c^, r.,
+ obj. penny. ^ An avaricious or
penurious person ; a miser.
scraper (skra'p^r), ti. [< scrape^ +
-er^.} 1. An instrument with which
anything is scraped. Specifically— (a)
An iron implement placed at or near the
door of a house, on which to scrape the
dirt from the soles of the shoes.
Never clean your shoes on the scraper, but in the entiy,
or at the foot of the stairs ; . . . the scraper will last longer.
Suifl, Advice to Servants (Footman).
"Bad!" echoed Mrs. Briggs. "It's death's-door as
you've been nigh, my dear, to the very scraper."
Whyte Melville, White Rose, I. xix.
(b) An apparatus drawn by oxen or horses and used for
scraping earth in making or repairing roads, digging cel-
lars, canals, etc., and generally
for raising and removing loos-
ened soil, etc. In use the scraper
is held with the handles slight-
ly elevated till it scoops up its
charge of earth, which is held by
the sides and back. The han-
dles are then pressed downward,
which elevates the edge so that
it no longer scrapes; the scraper
being then drawn along, sliding
on the hot torn, to the place of dis-
charge, the handles are suddenly
and sharply raised, which engages the edge with the
ground, and the draft then turns the scraper bottom-side
upward, dumping the contents, (c) A large broad hoe
used in cleaning roads, courtyards, cow-houses, etc. (d)
An Instrument having two or
three sides or edge«,for cleaning
the decks, mast*, or planking of
ships, etc. (<) In engraving: (1)
A toree-sidea and Huted tool set
in a wooden handle, used to re-
move the ridge or bur raised
by the burin or dry-point from
the sides of furrows cut into the surface of a copperplate.
(2) A three-slded tool with a lozenge-shaped point, used
by wood-engraver* to iower the edges in the light parts of
a block in order to protect the edges In preaswork. (/) In
llthog., the angled edge In a press against which the pro-
tected sheet la drawn by a scraping movement, and which
give* the required Impression. 0?) A marble-workers' tool
(or oatting flute* and channels. (A) A stucco-workers'
shaplng-t<lbL (t) A
tool used by miners
for removing the
dust or so-called
"bore-meal" from
the drill-hole, (j)
A wood-working
tool with a straight
or a curved blade
and with one or
two handle^ used to remove address-marks from pack-
Ing-boxe* and In flniahlng fine woodwork. (Ar) A tool used
by cabinet-makers In dre**-
Ing off and amoothing ve-
neers, etc. (0 A planing-
machine In which the wood
is forced against a stationary
scraper or cutting-bar. (m)
An Implement of wood with
a thin blade shaped like an
ordinary knife-blade, used to
scrape sweat from horses.
Scraper, i (*).
Scraper, i (^).
Wood-scrapers.
e, haiMlles ; S, bUdcs ; r, scraper, t IJ}.
Cabioct-makers* Scrapers^
khowing forms of edges.
(n) In sron-icorHn^, a tool
used after the planer to give a true face, (o) A road-
scraper, (p) Mitit., an instrument for scraping powder
from the bore* of mortan and howitzers. It consist* of a
handle of Iron, having a acraper at one end and a spoon
tor collecting dirt at the other, both made of steeL (a) A
thumb-flint (r) A small dredge or scoop used for taking
oyBters,scallopSLetc,andalsoforcleaningonthebeds. It
Is shaped something like a stout scythe, with a bag of Iron
ring-work on one side of the blade, (s) An instrument
with which to clean the tongue by scraping off *he fur.
2. One who scrapes, specifically— (a) Amiser; one
whose po*(e*slon* are acquired by penurious diligence
and small aavlngs ; a scrape penny.
Be thrtftv bot not covetous. Therefore give
Thy need, thine honour, and thy friend his due.
Never waa scraper brave man.
G. Herbert, The Temple, The Church Porch,
(fr) A fiddler, as one who scrapes the strings.
Out ! ye sempiternal scrapers. Coicleij.
3. pi. The seratchers or gallinaceous birds of
the old order UasorcD. MacgiUivray — Crumb-
icniper, a utensil with a broad flat blade, usually of metal,
for removing crumb* from the table-cloth.
scraper-bar (skra'per-biir), «. In a lithographic
press, a piece of wood the lower edge of which
18 bevele<l on both sides to an edge about one
fourth of an inch in width, beneath and against
which tlie tympan of the press is dragged under
great pressure.
scraper-machine (skra'per-ma-shen'), n. A
form of lithographic press which gives impres-
sion by the 8<-raping of the protected sheet
against an angled platen. [Eng.]
scrat
scrape-scallf (skrap'skal), ». [< scrape'^, v., +
obj. «<■«//.] A miser; a scrape-penny.
That will draw unto him everything, goode, badde,
precious, vile, regarding nothing but the gaine, a scraper,
or scrape-scall, trahax.
Withals, Diet. (1608), p. 80. (Nares,)
scrap-forging (skrap'f6r'''jing), n. A piece of
scrap-iron piled, heated, and drawn into a
bar.
scrap-heap (skrap'hep), n. A place in a rail-
road yard where all old iron, such as bolts,
nuts, odd bits of metal, and spikes, is collected.
— To go to the scrap-heap, or to be fit for the scrap-
heap, to iio to ruin, or to be tit for no useful purpose.
scrap-house (skrap'bous), H. Au establishment
in which fish-scrap is prepared.
scrapiana (skrap-i-an'a), n.pl. [Pseudo-NL.,
< E. scrap'^ + -i-ana.'] A collection of literary
scraps or fragments. Eclectic Rev. [Bare.]
scraping (skra'ping), n. [< ME. scrapynge;
verbal n. of scrape^, v.'] X. The act of one who
scrapes. — 2. That which is scraped off from a
substance, or is collected by scraping or rak-
ing: generally used in the plural: as, the scrap-
ings of the street ; pot-scrapings.
All thy tricks
Of cozening with a hollow cole, dust, scrapings.
B. Jonson, Alchemist, 1. 1.
They [the pastry-cooks) buy also scrapings, or what re-
mains in the butter-firkins when emptied by the butter-
sellers in the shops.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I. 208.
Z. pi. Savings; hard earnings; hoardings.
Trusted him with all,
AU my poor scrapings from a dozen years
Of dust and deskwork. Tennyson, Sea Dreams.
scraping-ground (skra 'ping-ground), n. A
place to which deer resort to scrape or rub the
velvet off their antlers.
When the leaves are falling, the nights cool, and the
October moon is full, the lordly bucks begin tlieir noc-
turnal rambles over their favorite runways and scraping-
grounds. Sportsman's Gazetteer, p. 80.
scrapingly (skra'ping-li), adv. By scraping.
scraping-plane (skra'ping-plan), n. A plane
liaviiig a vortical cutter or bit with an edge
giound at an angle of 70° or 80°, adjusted by a
vertical screw, and held in place by an end-
screw and block, used by workers in iron, steel,
brass, ivory, and hard woods.
scrapire (skrap'ir), n. [Manx.] The Manx
shearwater, Puffinus anglorum.
scrap-iron (skrap'i'em), n. Old iron, as cut-
tings of plates and other miscellaneous frag-
ments, accumulated for reworking. Wrought
scrap-iron consists of cuttings, clippings, and worn-out
small articles, such as horseshoe-nails; when carefully
selected and rewrought, the product possesses superior
toughness and malleability.
scrap-metal (skrap'met'al), M. Fragments of
any kind of metal which are of use only for
reworking or remelting.
SCrappily (skrap'i-li), adr. In scraps or frag-
ments; fragmentarily ; desultorily. [Colloq.]
He [Carlyle] was still a raw, narrow-minded. scrappUy
educated Scotchman. Contemporary Rev., XLIX. 770.
SCrappiness (skrap'i-nes), n. Scrappy charac-
ter or condition; fragmentariness; disconnect-
edness. [Colloq.]
The extracts are taken from the works of Dumas, Ber-
quin, Gautier, Guizot, Victor Hugo, and the Comtesse de
Scgur; they are well graduated, and sufficiently long to
avoid scrappiness,
Tlie Academy, April 12, 1890, p. iv. of adv'ts.
scrapping-machine (skrap'ing-ma-shen'), n.
A device for carrying off from a biscuit- or
cracker-cutting machine the scraps of the sheet
of dough from which the cakes have been cut.
scrapple^ (skrap'l), v. i. [Freq. of scrape^, ».]
To grub about. IlalUwell. [Pro v. Eng.]
scrapple'^ (skrap'l), n. [Dim. of scrapi.] An
article of food something like sausage-meat,
made from scraps of pork, with liver, kidneys,
etc., minced with herbs, stewed with rye- or
corn-meal, and pressed into large cakes. When
cold It Is cut In slices and fried. It is of Pennsylvania-
Dutch origin.
scrappy (skrap'i), a. [< scraj) -t- -jl.] Con-
sisting of scraps; made up of odds and ends;
fragmentary. [Colloq.]
The balanced sing-song neatness of his speech . . . waa
the more conspicuous from its contrast with good Mr.
Brooke's scrappy slovenliness.
George Eliot, Middlemarch, 11.
SCrat^ (skrat), V. [Also, transposed, scart; <
ME. seratten, orig. "searten, scratch : see scart^
and shear. Cf. scratch^, scrattlc.] I. trans. To
scratch. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
I will serat ont those eyes
Ihat taught him first to lust.
Oaseoigne, Philomene (Steele Glas, etc., ed. Arber), p. 106.
Bcrat
H, in trans. 1. To scratch.
Thet child . . . thet tcrtUteth asenn, and bit [biteth]
upon the ^erde. Aneren Riwle, p. 186.
2. To rake ; search.
Ambitious mind a world of wealth would haue,
So »craUt and scrapes, for scorfe and sconiie drosse.
Mir. /or Mags., p. 506.
[Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
SCrat^t (skrat), n. [Early mod. E. also skrat;
< ME. scrat, sl:rat, skratt, scratte, seart, scrayte,
< AS. *gcriet, an assumed form, for which is
found the appar. deriv. scritta (for *scrctta f )■ in
a once-occurring gloss, a hermaphrodite, appar.
or^. a 'monster,' = OHG. scraz, also scraz,
MHG. schraz, schrdz, also OHG. scrato, MHG.
gchrate, schrat, G. schratt, also OHG. MHG.
screz, a goblin, imp, dwarf, = leel. skratti, a
goblin, wizard. Hence, from G., Slovenian
shkrat, Boliem. slrzhct, shlratel; shtrzliitek =
Pol. skrzot, a goblin. Cf. scratclfi. It is possible
that the AS. and E. sense is due to some literary
association with L. scratta, scraUia, scratia,
serapta, an epithet applied to an unchaste wo-
man.] 1. A hermaphrodite. Holland, tr. of
Pliny, xxxix. 22. — 2. A devil: in the phrase
Ami Scrat, Old Scratch. See scratch^.
scratch^ (skraeh), v. [An extended form of
scrat, due to confusion with cratch^: see scrawl
and cratch^, and cf. scoich^.^ I. trans. 1. To
mark or wound slightly on the surface by the
scraping or tearing action of something rough,
sharp, or pointed.
Daphne roaming through a thorny wood,
Scratchin<f her legs that one shall swear she bleeds.
Shak., T. of the S., Ind., ii. 60.
A sort of small sand-coloured stones, so hard as to scratch
Slass. if. Grew, Museum.
2. To rub or scrape, as with the finger-nails
or with a seratcher, but without wounding or
marking, as for the purpose of relieving itch-
ing or irritation.
When he read, he scratch'd his head,
And rav'd like one that 's mad.
Jiobin Hood and the Golden Arrow (Child's Ballads, V. S88).
Enlarge, diminish, interline;
Be mindful, when invention fails.
To scratch your head, and bite your nails.
^ Swift, On Poetry.
3. To write or draw hurriedly or awkwardly ;
scribble.
If any of their labourers can scratch out a pamphlet,
they desire no wit, style, or ai'gument Swift.
4. To dig, scrape, or excavate with the claws :
as, some animals scratch holes in which they
burrow. — 5. To erase or blot out; obliterate;
expunge.
His last act is to try and get his name scratehed, so that
he may not die in the service of a stranger.
W. H. Russell, Diary in India, I. 189.
Specifically — (a) In horse-racing, to erase, as the name of
a horse, from the list of starters.
How's the horse? . . . You haven't scratched him, have
ye, at the last minute ? I tell ye, he'll carry all the money
to-morrow ; and he ought to be near winning, too — see if
he won't ! Whyte Melmlle, White Rose, I. xiil.
(&) In U. S. pontics, to erase (the name of a candidate on a
printed ballot) by drawing a line through it ; hence, to re-
ject (a candidate).— To scratch out, to erase ; rub out ;
obliterate. =:SyiL 1. Chafe, Abrade, sic. ^ee scrape.
U. intrans. 1. To use the nails, claws, or the
like for tearing the sm-face, or for digging, as
a hen.
Dull tame things . . . that will neither bite nor scrateA.
Dr. H. More.
The indefatigable zeal with which she scratched, and her
unscrupulousness in digging up the choicest flower or
vegetable for the sake of the fat earth-worm at its root.
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, x.
2. To relieve cutaneous irritation by the scrap-
ing action of the nails or claws or of a seratcher.
If my hair do but tickle me, I must scratch.
Shak., M. N. D., Iv. 1. 28.
3. In U. S. politics, to expunge or delete a name
on a voting-paper or ballot ; reject one or more
candidates on a regular party ticket, by cancel-
ing their names before casting the ballot.
The greatest scolds are notoriously partisans who have
themselves scratched and bolted whenever it was their in-
terest or pleasure to do so. The Century, XXXVII. 314.
4. In billiards, to make a scratch or fluke. —
To scratch alons, to scramble on : get along somehow.
tCoUoq.]
"Oh, I suspect we'll scratch along all right," Macarthy
replied. H. James, Jr., Harper's Mag., LXXVII. 88.
Where the hen scratches. See hen.
BCratchl (skraeh), n. and a. [< scratch''; ».] I.
«. 1. A break in the surface of a thing made by
scratching, or by rubbing with anything point-
ed; a slight furrow; a score: as, a, scratch on
wood or glass.
5418
The coarse file . . . makes deep scratches in the work.
J. Moxon, Mechanical Exercises,
2. A slight wound ; a laceration ; a slight in-
cision : as, he escaped with a mere scratch on
the face.
My greatest hurt
Is but a scratch conipjir'd to moi-tal wounds.
Beau, and Fl. (?), I'aithful Friends, iii. 3.
3. pi. A disease in horses, consisting of dry
chaps, rifts or scabs between the heel and
the pastern-joint. — 4. In various contests: (a)
The line from which the contestants start.
The runners stand with their toes on the scratch, the
starter calls " set," and the men assume the positions which
they think will get them into their best speed tlie quick-
est. Scribner's Mag.,Vll.m.
The report reached us, and with a scurry the five ponies
came away from the scratch, followed by a cloud of dust.
The Century, XXXVIII. 403.
The scratch, or line from which the jump is taken, is a
joist, some five inches wide, sunk (lush with the ground.
The Century, XL. 207.
(6) A line drawn across a prize-ring, to which
boxers are brought in order to join fight. See
to come up to the scratch, under come, (c) The
starting-point or time of starting of a player
or contestant who has to make the full score
or who is allowed no odds in a handicap game
or contest; also, a player or competitor hold-
ing such a position. — 5. In billiards, a stroke
wMch is successful, but not in the way in-
tended; a fluke. — 6. A kind of wig covering
only a part of the head ; a scratch-wig.
When I was last at Paris, no person of any condition,
male or female, appeared but in full dress, . . . and there
was not such a thing to be seen as a peruque ronde; but
at present I see a number of frocks and scratches in a morn-
ing in the streets of this metropolis.
SnwUett, Travels, vi. (Davies.)
7. A calcareous, earthy, or stony substance
which separates from sea-water in boiling it for
salt. liees. — 8. A scrawl. [Colloq.]
"This is Chichely's scratch. What is he writing to you
about?" said Lydgate, wonderingly, as he handed the note
to her. George Eliot, Middlemarch, Ixxv.
To come up to the scratch. See come.— To toe the
scratch, to come to the scratch ; be ready to meet one's
opponent. [Colloq.]
II. a. 1 . Taken at random or haphazard, or
witliout regard to qualifications; taken indis-
criminately; heterogeneous: as, a scrateft crew.
[Colloq.]
The corps is a family gathered together like what jock-
eys call a "scratch team" — a wheeler here and a leader
there, with just smartness enough to soai- above the level
of a dull audience. Lever, Davenport Dunn, Ivi.
2. Without handicap or allowance of time or
distance : noting a race or contest in which all
competitors start from the same mark or on even
terms, or a competitor who receives no handi-
cap allowance.— Scratch division. See division.
scratch^ (skraeh), H. [In the phrase Old Scratch,
a var. of scrat^, as in the dial. Aud Scrat, the
devil: see scrat^. Cf. scratch^, var. of scrat^.^
A devil: only in the phrase Old Scratch, the
devil.
scratch-awl (skrach'al), re. A scriber or scribe-
awl.
scratch-back (skrach'bak), re. Same as back-
scratcher, 1.
scratch-brush (skrach'bmsh), re. A name of
various brushes, (a) A brush of hard, flne brass wire,
used in met-il-working, particularly by workers in flne
metals and ^loys and electroplaters, for operating upon
metal surfaces to remove dead luster and impai-t bril-
liancy. (&) A brush of iron or steel wire, used by brass-
and iron-founders for cleaning sand from castings, (c) A
brush of flne spun glass, sometimes used by electroplaters
for imparting brilliant surfaces to articles of extreme deli-
cacy.
scratch-coat (skrach'kot), 11. In plastering,
the rough coat of plaster first laid on. in two-
coat plastering, it is also called, when laid on lath, the
laying-coat, and when laid on brick the rendering-coat.
In three-coat plastering, it is called the pricking-up coat
when laid on lath, roughing-in coat when laid on brick.
It is named scratch-coat from the fact that it is usually
roughened by scratching the surface with a pointed in-
strument before it is set hard, in order that the next coat
may more strongly adhere to it.
scratch-comma (skraeh'kom'''a), re. In print-
ing, a diagonal line of the form /, used as a
comma by Caxton. Compare soUdus.
scratch-cradle (skraoh'kra''dl), ». Same as
cafs-rradle.
scratched (skracht), a. [< scratch + -ed'^.'] In
ceram., decorated with scratches or rough in-
cisions in the paste. — Scratched lacquer. See
lacquer.
seratcher (skraoh'6r), «. [< scratch^, v., +
-erl.] One who or that which scratches. Spe-
cifically — (a) An implement for scratching to allay irrita-
tion. Hti*iback-scratcher,l. {b) pi. In omith., the Jiasores or
gallinaceous birds ; the scrapers, (c) In U. S. politics, one
scrawl
who erases a name or names from a ballot before voting
it ; one who rejects one or more names on a ticket, (d) A
day-book. [U. S.]
He la bank-teller] would not enter deposits in his seratcher
after a certain hour. Phila. Ledger, Dec. 30, 1887.
scratch-figure (skraeh'fig'-^r), re. In printing,
a type of a figure crossed by an erasing line:
used in elementary arithmetics to illustrate
baneeling.
scratch-finish (skrach'fin'''ish), n. A finish for
decorative objects of metal-work, in which a
surface otherwise smooth is diversified by small
curved scratches forming irregular scrolls over
the whole field.
scratch-grass (skraeh ' grfi,s), re. 1. The ar-
row-leafed tear-thumb. Polygonum sagittatum,
[U. S.] — 2. Same as scratchweed.
scratchingly (skraeh'ing-li), adv. With scratch-
ing action. [Kare.]
Like a cat, when scratchingly she wheels about after a
mouse. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, iL
SCratchingS (skrach'ingz), «.j:);. [Cf. scratch'^-,
re., 7. Possibly it may be a corruption of sear-
cings,< scarce, a sieve.] Refuse matter strained
out of fat when it is melted and purified;
scraps. [Prov. Eng.]
She'd take a big cullender to strain her lard wi', and then
wonder as the scratchins run through.
Oeorye Eliot, Adam Bede, xTllL
scratch-pan (skrach'pan), ». A pan in salt-
works to receive the scratch.
scratchweed (skraeh'wed), n. The cleavers or
goose-grass, Galium Aparine. The stems are prick-
ly backward, and the leaves rough on the margin and
midrib. [Prov. Eng.]
scratch-wig (skrach'wig), re. A kind of wig
that covers only a jiart of the head; a scratch.
His scratch u>ig on one side, his head crowned with a
bottle-slider, his eye leering with an expression betwixt
fun and the effects of wine. Scott, Guy Mannering, xxxvi.
scratch-work (skraeh ' werk), re. Wall-deco-
ration executed by laying on the face of a
building, or the like, a coat of colored plaster,
and covering it with a coat of white plaster,
which is then scratehed through in any design,
so that the colored ground appears; graflito
decoration.
scratchy (skrach'i), a. [< scratch + -yi.] 1.
Consisting of mere scratches, or presenting the
appearance of such ; ragged ; rough ; irregular.
The illustrations, though a little scratchy, are fairly
good. The Nation, XL VII. 461.
2. Scratching; that scratches, scrapes, or
grates: as, a, scratchy -pen; a, scratchy noise. — 3.
Of little depth of soil ; consisting of rocks barely
covered with soil : as, scratchy land. [Prov.
Eng.] — 4. Wearing a scratch-wig.
Scratchy Foxton and he [Xeuberg] are much more toler-
able together. Carlyle, in Froude (Life in London, xxiv.).
scrattle (skrat'l), v. i. ; pret. and pp. .icrattled,
p-pT.scrattling. [Freq. of scrat^, v.] To scram-
ble ; scuttle. [Prov. Eng.]
In another minute a bouncing and scrattling was heard
on the stairs, and a white bull-dog rushed in.
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, I. ill.
SCrault, ''. An obsolete form of scrawl^.
scraunch (skraneh), v. t. Same as scranch or
scrunch.
Scraw (skra), n. [< Gael, scrath, sgraith, a turf,
sod, greensward (sgrathan, a little peeling or
paring), = Ir. scrath, a turf, = W. ysgraireti, a
hard crust, what forms a crust.] A turf; a
sod. [Ireland and Scotland.]
Neither should that odious custom be allowed of cut-
ting scrau's (as they call them), which is flaying off the
green surface of the ground to cover their cabins or make
up their ditches. Suift, Drapier's Letters, viL
SCrawet, re. An obsolete form of scrow.
SCrawllf (skral), V. i. [Early mod. E. also scraul,
scrall; < ME. scrauUn, crawl; a form of crawl
with intensive s prefixed: see crawl^-.'] To
creep ; crawl ; by extension, to swarm with
crawling things.
Y" ryuer scrauled with the multitude of frogges in
steade of fyszshes. Coverdale, Wisdom xii. 10.
The ryuer shall scravle with frogges.
Coverdale, Ex. viii. 3.
scrawl^ (skral), re. \<.scrawl^,r. Indef. 2 per-
haps suggested by ?row/.] 1. The young of the
dog-crab. [Prov. Eng.]
On thy ribs the limpet sticks,
And in thy heart the scrawl shall play.
Tennyson, The Sailor Boy.
2. A trawl. [Newfoundland to New Jersey.]
scrawl^ (skral), V. [Early mod. E. also scrall,
a contr. form of scrabble, perhaps confused with
scrav)P-.'\ I. trans. 1. To draw or mark awk-
wardly and irregularly with a pen, pencil, or
scrawl
other marking implement ; write awkwardly,
bastily, or carelessly ; scribble : as, to scruirl^ a
letter ; also, to make irregular lines or bad writ-
ing on: as, to scratcla. piece of paper.
Peruse my leaves through ev'ry part,
And think thou seest its owner's lieart,
Scraid'd o'er with triHes tlius, and quite
As hard, as senseless, and as light. Sw^ft.
2. To mark ^vith irregular wandering or zig-
zag lines : as, eggs scrawled with black (natu-
ral marking).
n. inlrans. To write unskilfully and inele-
gantly.
I gat paper in a blink.
And down gaed stnmpie in the ink. . . .
Sae I've begun to «rroiW.
Bums, Second Epistle to J. Lapraik.
scrawl^ (skral), n. [Early mod. E. also scroll;
< scrawP, r.] A piece of unskilful or inelegant
writing; also, a piece of hasty, bad writing.
I . . . should think myself exceeding fortunate could
I make a real discovery of the Cardinal's ashes, of which,
Ac, more another time, for I believe I have tired you now
with my teraU.
B. wmis, hi Letters of Eminent Men, n. 20.
Mr. Wycherley, hearing from me how welcome his let-
ter* would be, writ to you, in which I inserted my Kravd.
Pope.
SCra'Wl'' (skral), n. [Prob. a contraction of
'seraijfile, dim. of «era(/l.] A ragged, broken
branch of a tree ; brushwood. [New Eng.]
scrawler (skr&'lfer), «. [< scratcl'^, v., + -^rl.]
One who scrawls ; a hasty or awkward wrriter.
SCra'Wly (skr&'li), a. [<»crnir/2-f -yl.] Scrawl-
ing; loose; Hi-formed and irregular: noting
writing or manuscript. [Colloq.]
scrawm (skram), V. t. [Prob. < D. schrammen
= yiLG. schrammen, scratch; from the noun, D.
schram, a wound, rent, = G. Schramm, schram,
schramme, a wound, = Icel. skrdma = Sw. skrd-
ma = Dan. skramme, a scar ; prob. iJt. < >/ skar,
cut: see shear^J] To tear; scratch. [North.
Eng.]
He $erawm'd an* scratted my fa&ce like a cat.
Tennyton, Northeru Cobbler.
SCra'Wniness (skr&'ni-nes), n. Scrawny, raw-
boned, or lanky character or appearance.
SCra'Wny (skra'ni), a. [A dial, form of scranmj,
now prevalent: see scranny.'] Meager; wasted;
raw-boned; lean: as, a «craicny person; scraicny
hens.
White-livered, hatchet-faced, tlilivblooded, aerawny re-
formers. J. <i. Holland, Timothy Tifcomb.
SCray, scraye (skra), ». [< W. yngraell, i/sgrden,
the sea-swallow, = Bret, skrav, > F. screau, the
small sea-gull, Larus ridibundus.] The com-
mon tern or sea-swallow, Sterna hirundo. See
cut under tern. [Eng.]
screabl&t (skre'a-bl), a. [< L. screare, hawk,
hem, + -ble.] That may be spit out. Bailey,
1731.
screak (skrek), r. 1. [Early mod. E. also sereek,
scriek ; now usually assibilated terminally
screech or initially shriek, being subject, like
other supposed imitative words, to consider-
able variation: see screech, and scrike, shriek,
shrike^.'} To utter a sharp, shrill sound or out-
cry; scream or screech; also, to creak, as a
door or wheel.
I would become a cat.
To combat with the creeping moaae
And scratch the $cre«kin0 rat.
rurfenab, The Loner.
screak (skrSk), n. [Early mod. E. also lerike;
< f creak, v. Cf. screech, shriek, shrike^, ».] A
creaking; a screech; a creaking sound.
scream ( skrem), I'. 1. f < ME. scrcmen, screamen,
< Icel. skrsenM = Sw. skrdmma = Dan. sk-rxmrne,
scare, terrify;, cf. Sw. skrdn, a scream, skrdna,
whimper; prob. ult. akin to Sw. skrika, Dan.
skrige. shriek (see screak, shriek, shrike^), Dan.
skrtekke, scare, E. shrill, So. skirl, cry aloud,
G. schreien, D. schreijen, Sw. skria, cry aloud,
shriek, etc. (see skire).] 1. To cry out with
shrill voice; give vent or utterance to a sharp
or pierci ng outcry ; utter shrill cries, as in fright
or extreme pain, delight, etc.
I heard the owl tertam and the crickets cry.
Shot., Macbeth, iL 2. 16.
Xerer peacock against rain
Sertam'd as you did for water.
Temtyon, Qneen Marjr, liL 5.
2. To give out a shrill sound : as, the railway
whistle screamed^= gyn. See icream. n.
scream (skrem), n. l<scream, c] 1. A sharp,
jiien-ing sound or cry, as one uttered in fright,
pain, etc.
Dismal tereanu, . . .
Sbrielcs of woe.
Pope Ode, St Cecilla'i Day, I. 67.
-1J419
2. A sharp, harsh sound.
The gcream of a madden'd beach dragg'd down by the
wave. Tennyson, Maud, lit
= Syn. Scream, Shriek, Screech. A shriek Is shai-per,
more sudden, and, when due to fear or pain, indicative of
more terror or distress than a scream. Screech emphasizes
the disagreeableness of the sharpness or shrillness, and
its lack of dignity in a person. It is more distinctly figu-
rative to speak of the shriek of a locomotive than to speak
of its scream or screech.
screamer (skre'mer), n. [< scream, v., + -erl.]
1. One who or that which screams.
The screamer aforesaid added good f eatores and bright
eyes to the powers of her lungs.
Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xxvL
2. In ornith., specifically, one of several dif-
ferent birds, (o) The cariama or seriema, Cariama
cristata, more fully called crested screamer. See cut under
seriema. (6) Any member of the family Palamedeidx.
The homed screamer is Palamedea comtUa; crested
screamers are Chauna chacaria and C. derbiana. See cut
under Palamedea. (c) The European swift, Cypsdus apus.
See cut under Cypsdus. (Local, British.]
3. Something very great, excellent, or exciting;
a thing that attracts the attention or draws
forth screams of astonishment, delight, etc.; a
whacker; a boimcer. [Slang, U. S/]
If he 's a specimen of the Choctaws that live in these
parts, they are screamers. Thorpe, Backwoods.
screaming (skre'ming), p. a. 1. Crying or
sounding shrilly. — 2. Causing a scream: as,
a screaming farce (one calculated to make the
audience scream with laiighter).
SCree^ (skre), n. [< Icel. skritha (= Sw. Dan.
sired), a landslip on a hillside (frequent in
Icel. local names, as Skritha, Skrithu-klaustr,
Skrith-dalr, etc.; skrithu-fall, an avalanche), <
skritha, creep, crawl, move, glide, = AS. »<t«-
than, go: see scrithe.'i A pile of debris at the
base of a cliff ; a talus. [Used in both the sin-
gular and ttie plural with the same meaning.]
A landslip, a steep slope on the side of a mountain cov-
ered with sliding atones, in Westmoreland called screes.
Calh. Aug., p. 326, note.
Before I had got half way up the screes, which gave way
and rattled beneatli me at every step. Southey.
SCree2(8kre), n. [Adiul.abbr. of screen.] Arid-
die or coarse sieve. [Scotch and North. Eng.]
screech (skrpch), v. [Early mod. E. also skreech,
.ftricc/i, dial, also «crtfc/t ; < ME. schrichen, scrik-
cn, shryken. schriken, shriken, < Icel. skrakja,
shriek, sk-rUja, titter, = Sw. skrika = Dan.
skrige, shriek: see shriek and screak, other
forms of the same ult. imitative word.] I. in-
irans. To cry out with a sharp, shrill voice;
scream harshly or stridently ; shriek.
And the synfuUe thare-with ay cry and skryke.
Hampole, Pricke of Conscience, L 7S47.
The screech-owl screeching load.
Shak., M. N. D., t. 1. SU.
= Byn. Bee scream, n.
11. trans. To utter (a screech).
And when she law the red, red blude,
A loud akriech Arieched she.
Lammikin (ChUd's Ballads, IIL SlOX
screech (skrech ), n. [Early mod. E. also skreech,
skricch, scriteh; < screech, v. Cf. Sw. skri, skrik
= Dan. skrig, a shriek : see shriek.] 1 . A sharp,
shrill cry ; a harsh scream.
Forthwith there was heard a great lamentation, accom-
panyed with groans and skrteclus.
Sandys, Tnrailes, p. 0.
The birds obscene . . .
With hollow screeches fled the dire repast.
Pope, tr. of Statius's Thebaid, L
2. Any sharp, shrill noise : as, the screech of a
rail way- whistle.
She heard with silent petulance the liarsh screech of
FhDlp's chair as he hearOy dragged it on the stone floor.
Mrs. OadreU, Sylvia's Lovers, iv.
3. In omitt., the mistlethrush, Turdus viscivo-
rus. [Prov. Eng.] =8yn. SArie*, etc See scream.
screech-cock (skrech kok), ». Same as screech,
'.i. [I'rov. Kng.]
SCreecher (.skre'chfer), n. 1. One who or that
which screeches ; a screamer. — 2. Specifically,
in ornith. : (a) The swift, Cypselus apus. Also
screamer, squealer, (b) pi. The Strepitores.
screech-hawk (skrech'h&k), n. The night-
jar or churr-owl, a goatsucker, Caprimulgus ett-
rop^us. See cntundi'T night-jar. [Local, Eng.]
screech-martin (skrech'iniir'tin), n. The swift,
Ci/ji.iiIk.v iipiis. [Local, Eng.]
screech-owl (skrech'oul). ». [Also formerly
or dia,]. scritch-nirl (= Sw. slrik-uggla) ; < screech,
seritch^, + owl^.] An owl that screeches, as dis-
tinguished from one that hoots: applied to va-
rious species. In Great Britain it is a common name
of the bamnnrl. In the United States it is specifically
applied to the small horne<l owls uf the genus Scops (or
Megateop$). See red owl (under redl), and compare saw-
screen
Battes, Owles, and Scritch-owles, birds of darknesse, were
the obiects of their darkened Deuotions.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 697-
A screech-owl at midnight has alarmed a family more
than a band of robbers. Addison, Spectator, No. 7.
screech-thrush (skreeh'thmsh), w. The mistle-
tlu'ush, Tvrdus viscivorus. MacgilUvray.
screechy (skre'chi), a. [< screech, «., -I- -jl.]
1. Shrill and harsh, like a screech. Cock-
burn. — 2. Given to screeching ; screamy ; loud-
mouthed : as, a screechy woman.
screed (skred), ». [A var. of shred; < ME. screde,
AS. seredde, a shred : see shred, an assibilated
form, with shortened vowel.] 1. A piece torn
off ; a shred : as, a screed of cloth. [Now chief-
ly Scotch.] — 2. A long strip of anything;
hence, a prolonged tirade; a harangue.
.Some reference to infant-schools drew Derwent Cole-
ridge forth from his retirement in an easy-chair in a cor-
ner, and he launched out into a Coleridgean screed on edu-
cation. Caroline Fox, Journal, p. 46.
Shall I name these, and turn my screed into a catalogue?
D. O. Mitchell, Bound Together, ilL
3. In plastering : (a) A strip of mortar about
6 or 8 inches wide, by which any surface about
to be plastered is divided into bays or compart-
ments. The screeds are 4, 6, or 6 feet apart, according to
circumstances, and are accurately formed in the same
plane by the plumb-rule and straight-edge. They thus
form gages for the rest of the work, the interspaces being
filled outfiush with them, (ft) A strip of wood simi-
larly used. — 4. The act of rending or tearing;
a rent ; a tear.
When . . . lasses gi'e my heart a screed, . . .
1 kittle up my rustic reed ;
It gi'es me ease. Bums, To W. Simpson.
A screed O' drink, a supply of drink in a general sense ;
hence, a drinking-bout. [Scotch.] — Floating screed.
Seejloatinff.
screed (skred), V. t. [A var. of shred, v., as
screed, «., is of shred, »i. : see screed, «., and
shred, ».] 1. To rend; tear. — 2. To repeat
glibly; dash off with spirit.
Wee Davock 's turn'd sae gleg, . . .
Hell screed you alf Elfectual Calling
As fast as ony in the dwalling.
Burns, The Inventory.
screed-coat (skred'kot), n. In plastering, a coat
made even or flush with the screeds. See
screed, «., 3.
screeket, r. i. An obsolete form of screak.
screen (skren), M. [Early mod. E. also skreen,
skreine, scriene, < ME. scren, a screen (against
fire or wind), < OF. escren, escrcin, escran, a
screen (against a fire), the tester of a bed, P.
ccran, a screen ; origin uncertain ; perhaps re-
lated to OF. escrene, escriene, escrcnne, escreigne,
ecreigne, ecraigne, ecraine, screigne, etc., P.
4craigne, a wattled hut, < OHG. scranna, skran-
na, MHG. schranne, a bench, court, G. schranne,
bench, shambles, a railing, rack, grate, court.
The word is glossed in ME. hy scriniiim, scrine-
uni, as if identified with L. scrinium, a shrine:
see shrine.] 1. A covered framework, parti-
tion, or curtain, either movable or fixed, which
Fire-screen, covered with tapestiy.— Louis-SeUe style.
serves to protect from the heat of the sun or
of a fire, from rain, wind, or cold, or from
other inconvenience or danger, or to shelter
from observation, conceal, snut off the view,
or secure privacy: as, a fire-«crccM; a folding
screen ; a window-screen, etc. ; hence, such a
covered framework, curtain, ebe., used for some
screen
other purpose : as. a ttcreen upon which images
may be cast by a magic lautern; in general,
any shelter or means of concealment.
Your leafy tcreent. Shak., Macbeth, v. 6. 1.
There ia . . . great use of ambitious men in being
tereens to princes in matters of danger and envy.
Bacon, Ambition.
MUL Mincing, stand between me and his Wit.
If it. Do, Mrs. ^lincing, like a Sicreen before a great Fire.
Congrevet Way of the World, ii. 4.
Specifically, in arch, : (a) An ornamental partition of wood,
stone, or metAl, usually so placed in a church or otlier
building as to shut ont an nisle from the choir, a private
chapel from a truiiscpt, the nave from the choir, the high
-LaJy Chapel of Gloucester C tthnlril En^,! in 1
looking toward the nave
altar from the east end, an altar-tomb from a public pas-
sage, or to fill any similar purpose. See perclose, and cut
under organ-screen, (b) In some medieval and similar
halls, a partition extending across the lower end, forming
a lobby within the main en trance- doors, and having often
a gallery above, (c) An architecturally decorated wall
inclosing a courtyard or the like. Such a feature as the
entire fat^ade of a church may be considered as a screen
when it does not correspond with the interior structure,
as is commonly the case in Italian and frequent in Eng-
lish churches, but is merely a decorative mask for the
building behind it. See cut under reredog.
The screeii of arches recently discovered in the h6tel of
the Prefecture at Angers.
J. Fergu88on, Hist. Arch., I. 490.
The western fai;ade ... of Lincoln consists of a vast
arcaded screen unbroken by upright divisions, with a level
cornice terminating its multiplied horizontal lines.
C. H. Moore, Gothic Architecture, p. 162.
2. A kind of riddle or sieve. Especially— (a) A
sieve used by farmers for sifting earth or seeds. Other
screens for grain and other substances are in the shape
of cylinders, some having knockers or brushes as in a
flour-bolt. See cuts under pearling-milL (b) A wire
sieve for sifting sand, gravel, et<;. See sand-screen (with
cut), (c) In metal., a perfoi-ated plate of metal, used in
the dressing of ores. The screens of a stamp-mill are
placed in front of the mortars, and regulate the fineness to
which the material has to be reduced before it can pass
through, and thus escape further comminution, (d) An
apparatus for sizing coal in a coal-breaker. Screens of
cast-iron are used for the coarser sizes, and of woven wire
for the very smallest, (e) A device to prevent the passage
of fish up a stream, made of common wire painted with tar,
or strips of laths planed and nailed to a strong frame : em-
ployed by fish-breeders.
3. A large scarf forming a kind of plaid.
[Scotch.]
'the want of the screen, which was drawn over the head
like a veil, she supplied by a bongrace, as she called it:
a large straw bonnet, like those worn by the English
maidens when labouring in the fields.
Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xxviii.
Folding screen, (a) A screen consisting of several leaves
or tlatsninged together in such a way that when they are
opened at an angle the screen will stand firmly, (b) A
screen supported on cross-mils, feet, or the like, enabling
it to stand firmly, and with hinged flaps which when open-
ed increase its width. — Ladder- screens, coverings put
underneath ladders on board ship to prevent the feet of
those going up and down from being seen. The ladders
when so covered are said to be dressed.— Magazine-
BCreen (naw*. ), a curtain made of baize, flannel, or fear-
naught, and having an aperture closed by aflap. In time
of action, or when the magazine is open, this curtain is
hung before the scuttle leading from the magazine, and
the cartridges are passed through the aperture for distri-
bution to the guns. — Magnetic screen. See magnetic.
— Screen bulkhead. See bulkhead.
screen (skren), r. t. [FjSLrly mod, 'E. &\so sJcreen ;
< sereen^ n.] 1. To shelter or protect from in-
convenience, injury, danger, or observation;
cover; conceal.
5420
Back'd with a ridge of hills,
That screen d the fruits of the earth.
Milton, P. R., iv. 30.
The Romans still he well did use.
Still screen'd their Roguery.
Prior, The Viceroy, st. 30.
2. To sift orriddle by passing through ascreen:
as, to screen coal. =8301. 1. To defend, hide, mask,
cloak, shroud.
screener (skre'nfer), n. One who screers, in
either sense.
Engine men, bank hands, screeners, all wanted a rise,
and in most cases got it The Engineer, LXX. 259.
screening-machine (skre'nlng-ma-shen''''), n.
All apparatus having a rotary motion, used
for screening or sifting coal, stamped ores, and
the like.
screenings (skre'niugz), n. pi. [Verbal n. of
screciijXK] 1. The refuse matter left after sift-
ing coal, etc. — 2. The small or defective grains
of wheat separated by sifting.
screes (skrez), n. j}l> Same as screed.
screeve (skrev), v. [Prob. < Dan. skrivey write :
see scribe.'] To write or draw ; write a begging
letter, etc. [Thieves' slang.]
SCreever (skre'ver), n, [Prob. < Dan. skriver,
scribe, < skrivCj write: see screeve.'] One who
writes begging letters, or draws colored-chalk
pictures on the pavements. [Thieves' slang.]
The screevers, or Writers of Begging-letters and Peti-
tions. Mbton-Tumer, Vagrants and Vagrancy, p. 649.
scree ving (skre'ving), «. [Verbal n. of screeve,
V.J prob. < Dan, strive, < L. scrihere, wi-ite : see
shrive.] Begging by means of letters, petitions,
or the like; writing false or exaggerated ac-
counts of afflictions and privations, in order to
receive charity; drawing or writing on the pave-
ments with colored chalks. [Thieves' slang.]
I then took to screeving (writing on the stones). I got
my head shaved, and a cloth tied round my jaws, and
wrote on the flags " Illness and Want," though I was never
better in my life, and always had a good bellyfull be-
fore I started of a morning.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I. 461.
SCrefet, ^t. An obsolete form of sherijf^.
Scremerston crow. The hooded crow.
screnet, »• A Middle English form of screen.
screw^ (skro), n. [Formerly also scrue; = MD.
schroeve, D. schroef, scruve, schruve = MLG.
schruve, LG. schruve, schruwe = MHG. schrube,
G. schranbc, G. dial, schranf, schraufen (cf. Buss.
shchurnpu, < G.) = Icel. skrufa = Sw. skrnf =
Dan. skrue, a screw (external screw) ; < OF. es-
croue, escroe, escro, F. ecrou, the hole in which
a screw turns, an internal screw, a nut; prob,
< L. scrobis, rarely scrobs, a ditch, trench, grave,
in ML. used also of the holes or furrows made
by rooting swine (cf . L. scrofa, a sow) : see scro-
biculate, scrofula. The Teut. forms are all de-
rived (through the LG.) from the OF., with
change of sense, as in E., from ^ internal screw'
to 'external screw.' In defs. 5, 6, 7, etc., the
noun is from the verb.] If. The hole in which
a screw (in sense 2) turns. — 2. A cylinder of
wood or metal having a spiral ridge (the thread)
winding round it, usually turning in a hollow
cylinder, in which a spiral channel is cut cor-
responding to the ridge. These convex and concave
spirals, with their supports, are often called the screw and
mit, and also the external or male screiv and the internal or
/ernale screw respectively. Tlic screw forms une of the six
Samplesof variously formed Screws used in Canriage-inakinEf and
Carpentry: a, b, c, d, e are special forms of wood-screws in common
use.
mechanical powers, and is virtually a spiral inclined plane
— only, the inclined plane is commonly used to overcome
gravity, while the screw is more often used to overcome
some other resistance. Screws are ri^hi or left according
to the direction of the spiral. They are used (1) for bal-
ancing forces, as the jack-screw against gravity, the pro-
peller-screw against the resistance of water, ordinary
screws against friction in fastening pieces together, the
screw-press against elasticity, etc. ; and (2) for magnify-
ing a motion and rendering it easily manageable and mea-
surable, as in the screw-feet of instruments, micrometer-
screw
screws, etc. For the pitch of a screw, see pitch^, 7 (6). See
also leading-screw, leveling-screw.
3. A spiral shell; a screw-shell.
His small private box was full of peg-tops. . . . screws,
birds' eggs, etc. T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, i. 3.
4. A screw propeller. — 5. [Short for screw
steamer.] A steam-vessel propelled by means
of a screw propeller. — 6. A small parcel of
tobacco done up in paper with twisted ends,
and usually sold for a penny. [Great Britain.]
I never was admitted to offer them [cigars] in a parlour
or tap-room ; that would have interfered with the order
for screws (penny papers of tobacco).
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I. 494.
7. A turn of a screw.
strained to the last screw he can bear.
Cowper, Truth, 1. 885,
8. A twist or turn to one side : as, to give a
billiard-ball a screw by striking it low down or
on one side with a sharp, sudden blow. Com-
pare Enijlish, 5,
The nice Management of . . . [the beau's] Italian Snuff
box, and the aif ected Screw of his Body, makes up a great
Part of his Conversation.
Quoted in Ashton's Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne,
[1. 14a
9. Pressure: usually with iAc. [Slang.]
However, I will put the screw on them. They shall have
nothing from me till they treat her better.
//. Kingdey, Geotfry Hamlyn, xxvii.
10. A professor or tutor who requires students
to work hard, or who subjects them to strict ex-
amination, [College slang, U. S.] — 11. Wages
or salary. [Slang.]
He had wasted all his weekly screw.
And was in debt some sixpences besides.
Australian Printers' Keepsake. (Leland.)
12. In math., a geometrical form resulting
from the combination of an axis, or straight
line given in position, with a pitch or linear
magnitude — Archimedean screw. See Archimedean.
— A screw loose, something defective or wrong, as with
a scheme or an individual.
My uncle was confirmed in his original impression that
something dark and mysterious was going forward, or, as
he always said himself, '* thsct there was a screw lease some-
where." Dickens, Pickwick, xlix.
Auxiliary screw, a screw propeller in a vessel having
sail-power as her main reliance, generally so fitted that it
can be hoisted clear of the water when not in use. See
cut under banjo-J'ratne.—AaxXdaTy Steerlng-Bcrew, a
secondary screw exerting its force at an angle with the
plane of symmetry of a vessel, and used to increase a ves-
sel's manageableness.— Back-center SCrew. See back-
cenf^r.— Backlash of a screw. See backlash.— Bl&ke's
screw, a screw-holt having an eye in one end and a
screw-tliread cut in t!ie other ; an eye-bolt.— Compound,
ooreciprocal screw. See the adjectives.— DlSferen-
tial screw, an arrangement consisting of a male screw
working in a female screw and having a female screw
cut through its axis with a ditferent pitch, a second male
screw working in this. If the hollow screw is turned
while the inner one is prevented from turning, the
latter advances proportionally to the difference of the
pitches. — Double SCrew, a screw which has two consecu-
tive spiral ridges or threads, both having the same pitch.
—Endless screw. See enrf^ess.— Female screw. See/e-
male.—TlaX screw, a spiral
groove cut in the face of a disk,
which by its revolution com-
municates a rectilinear mo-
tion to a sliding bar carrying a
pin which works in the groove.
— Fossil screw. See fossil
and screwstone. — Hlndley'S
screw, a screw cut on a solid,
of such form that if any plane
be taken through its longitu-
dinal axis, the intersections of
the plane by the perimeter are
arcs of the pitch-circle of a
wheel into which the screw is
intended to work. It is so
named from having been first
employed by Mr. Hindley of
York in England.— Himter'S
screw [named from its inven-
tor, Dr. .Tohn Hunter], a double
screw consisting of a princi-
pal male screw that turns in a nut, hut in the cylinder of
which, concentric with its axis, is formed a female screw
of different pitch that turns
on a secondary but fixed male
screw. The device furnishes
a screw of slow but enormous
lifting power without the ne-
cessity of finely cut and conse-
quently frail threads. Every-
thing else being equal, the
lifting power of this screw in-
creases exactly as the differ-
ence between the pitches of
the principal male screw and
the female screw diminishes,
in accordance with the princi-
ple of virtual velocities.- In-
terior screw. See ititerior.
—Interrupted screw, in
mach.. a screw part or parts
of whose thread are cut away,
rendering it discontinuous;
specittcaily, a screw whose
exterior is divided into six L^U Hunter's Screw.
Hlndley'S Screw,
(7, screw; 6, toothed wheel
itiebhing with a. When a turns
as indicated by straight arrow,
* turns as indicated oy ctirTed
arrow.
screw
equal parts, with the screw-threads removed from alter-
nate sectors, used to form the closure of a breech-loading
cannon. In some cases the interruptions extend entirely
around the screw, so that, in the common parlance of
mechanics, "every other thread" is removed. Such a
screw will turn perfectly in a nut of sufficient length.
See cut under can/ion.— Involution of six screws. See
tnro^iiti'i^j.— Left-handed screw, a screw which is ad-
vanced by turning from right to left, in contradistinction
to the usual or riyht-handed screw, which turns in the
opposite direction. — Male screw. See inafcl.— Metric
screw, a screw in which the pitch is commensurable in
units or fractions of a unit of the French metric system.
— Milled screw, a screw with a flat broad head the edge
of wliich is fluted, crenated, or roughened, to afford a
firm hold for the fingers. Such screws are much used in
chemical, pliilosophical, and electrical instruments, and
in small machines.— Perpetual screw. Same as cndlets
tcreiv (which see, under endleea). — Plane SCreW. See
pfaiK-i.— Portland screw, the cast of the interior of
a fossil shell, Cerithiutii portlandicum, ^e »crewgtone. —
Principal sere w of inertia. See inertia. — Quadruple
screw, a screw with fnur consecutive tlireads, all of the
same pitch. — Reciprocal screws, see reciprocal. —Reg-
ulating screw, a screw used to detenninc a motion ; a
screw «hicli guides the slides and moving parts of ma-
chinerj-.— Riggers' screw. See nj^per.— Right-and-left
■crew, a screw of wliicli the threads upon the opposite
«Qda run in dirte rent directions. See cuts under compound
and lathe.— Screw propeller, a propeller acting on the
principle of the screw, attached to the exterior end of a
shaft protruding through the hull of a vessel at the stem-
It consists of a number of spiral metal blades either cast
together in one piece or bolted to a hub. In some special
cases, as in ferry-boats, there are two screws, one at each
end of the vessel. In some war-vessels transverse shafts
with small propellers have been used to assist in turn-
ing quickly. An arrangement of screws now common is
the twin screw system, in which two screws are arranged
at the stem, eacli on one of two parallel shafts, which are
driven by power independently one of the other. By stop-
ping or lowing up one shaft while the other maintains its
Scww Propeller.
A, sectjoaal elcTation, the lection beiac throosh Aaft and llab,
sliowiatE nseUiod of anachinff blades A l>y Doki ( ; £, side elevation ;
C, croH-KCtloo of blade, on larger icale : P. dlagramroatlc view of
hull of a icrew-propeller ihip, fo whir-h k shows potttloo of boilers i
/, the ei^iaes ; /, propeller-snaft i t, Ihrtttt-block ; ^, propeller.
Telocity, very rapid turning can be effected by twin screws,
wlilch have, moreover, the advantage that, one being dis-
abled, the vessel can still make headway with the other.
Some vessels designed to attain high speed have been
coristructel with three screws. A very great variety of
forms have been proposed for screw-propeller blades ; bat
the principle of the original true screw is still in use. Vari-
ations in pitch and modifications of the form of the blades
have been adopted with sacceas by individual construc-
tors. The actual area of the screw propeller is measured
on a plane perpendicular to the direction in which the
ship roorea. The outline of the screw prt>jected on that
plane is the actual area, bat the effective area is, in
ffood examples, from 0.2 to 0.4 greater than this; and
It Is the effective area and the mean velocity witli which
the water is thrown astern that detenninc the mass
thrown backward. The mass thrown backward and the
Telocity with which it is so projected determine the pro-
pelling power. A kind of feathering propeller has also
been used, but has not been generally approved. Cora-
pare /«atA<r<n{^«cr«u'. See also cat under oanjo-frame. —
teMwrnatwee, a heiicoid.— Setting-np screw, a screw
for taking np space caused by wear in journal-boxes, etc. ;
an adlnstingacrew.— Society screw, a screw by which
an objective hi attache<i to the tuhv of a microscope, of a
standard size adopted (in lHoi) by the Boyal Microscopical
Society of London and now almost anlversally used.—
Spiral BCraw, a screw formed upon a conical or conoldal
core.— Transport screw,a screw working In a trough or
paaaage for transferring grain or other granular rir pul-
Terolent material. Compare conveyer. — Triple screw,
a screw having three consecutive threads, all u! the same
pitch-— Under the screw, subjected to or infln. mcl by
strong pressure; compelled; coerced.— Variable screw,
in lathes and rither machines, a feed-acrew which by the
varying velocity of its rotation gives a Tariable feed.—
V-tbreaded screw, a screw haTlng a thread of trian-
gular cross-section. Sec diagram of screw-threads under
tereic thread. -Winged screw, a screw with a broad flat-
tened head projecting in a line with its axis so as to be
conveniently graspeil by the ends of the fingers for turn-
ing it. (See also lead-KTew, Uvelinj-terew, mxcrameter-
tcrew, Ihnmhurreip, wood-nerew.)
BCrewl (.skro), r. [Formerly also scrue; = D.
schritercn = MLG. xchrtiven = Q. gchraubcn =
Icel. Hkrufn ^ tiw. skrufva = Dan. skrue, screw;
from the noun.] I. tram. 1. To turn, move,
tighten, fasten, press, or make firm by a screw,
or by trivinR a turn to a serew; apply a screw
to, for the purpose of turning, moving, tighten-
ing, fastening, or pressing: as, to screw up a
braeket; to gcrew a lock on a door; to screw a
press.
«421
Screw np the heighten'd pegs
Of thy sublime Theorlw four notes high'r.
Qttarles, Emblems, i., Invoc.
2. To turn or cause to turn, as if by the appli-
cation of a screw; twist. — 3. To force; espe-
cially, to force by the application of pressiu-e
similar to that exerted by the advancing action
or motion of a serew ; squeeze: sometimes with
up or out: as, to screw up one's courage.
We fail!
But screw your courage to the sticking-place,
And we'll not fail. Shak., Macbeth, i. 7. 60.
Fear not, man ;
For, though the wars fail, we shall screw ourselves
Into some course of life yet.
Beau, and FL, Captain, ii. 1.
He served up his poore old father in law's accounte to
above 200^'. and brought it on ye generall accounte.
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 289.
4. To press hard upon; oppress as by exac-
tions or vexatious restrictions or conditions.
Our country landlords, by unmeasurable screicing and
racking their tenanta, have already reduced the miserable
people to a worse condition than the peasants in France.
Suift.
In the presence of that board he was provoked to ex-
claim that in no part of the world, not even in Turkey,
were the merchants so screwed and wrung as in England.
Ballam. {Imp. Diet.)
5. To twist; contort; distort; turn so as to
distort.
Screw your face at one side thus, and protest.
B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, v. 1.
The self-important man in the cocked hat . . . screwed
down the comers of his mouth, and shook his head.
IrHng, Sketch-Book, p. 63.
TL. intrant. 1. To turn so as to serve for tight-
ening, fastening, etc. : as, a nut that screws to
the right or to the left. — 2. To have or assume
a spiral or twristing motion : as, the ball screwed
to the left. — 3. To move or advance by means
of a screw propeller. [Rare.]
Screwing up against the very muddy boiling current.
W. H. Bumell, Diary in India, vIL
4. To Inquire students to work hard, or sub-
ject them to strict examination.
8Crew2 (skrO), n. [< ME. screwe, assibilated
shrewe, mod..E. shrev : see shretc^.] 1. A stingy
fellow ; a close or penurious person ; one who
makes a sharp bargain ; an extortioner ; a miser ;
a skinflint.
The ostentations said he was * screw; but he gave away
more money than tar more extravagant people.
Thadxray, Newcomes, viii.
2. A vicious, unsound, or broken-down horse.
Along the middle of the street the main business was
[trse-dealing, and a gypav
ceaslon of the weedleat M screw that ever kept out of
horse-dealing, and a gypav hostler would trot out a suc-
the kennds. Harpers Mag., LXXVI. 626.
What serem they rode !
Lawrence, Gay Livingstone, UL
screwable (skr8'a-bl), a. Capable of being
screwed : as, a screwable bracket. The Engi-
nctr, LXIX. 411.
screw-alley (skrS'al'i), n. In a screw steam-
er, a passageway along the shaft as far aft as
the stem tubing, affording an opportunity for
thorough examination of the shaft and its bear-
ings: known in the United States as shaft-
alletj. Also shaft-tunnel. [Eng.]
screw-anger (skro'&'gtr), n. SeeoKi/er, 1.
screw-bean (skro'Wn), «. The screw-pod mes-
<liiit ; also, one of its pods. See mesquit^, Pro-
.sojti.t.
screw-bell (skrO'bel), n. An instrument re-
sembling a bell in shape, with a screw-thread
cut on the interior surface : used for recovering
lost tools in a bore-hole.
screw-blank (skrii'blangk), «. Apiece of metal
cut from ii bar preparatory to fonning it into a
screw.
screw-bolt (skrd'bolt), ti. A sqnare or cylin-
drical piece of iron, with a knob or flat head at
one end and a screw at the other, it is adapted
to pass throogb holes made for its reception in two or
more pieces of timber, metal, etc, to fasten them together
by means of a nnt screwed on the end that is opposite to
the knob or head. See cuts under bott and screw.
screw-box (skrS'boks), n. A device for cutting
the external threads on wooden screws, simi-
lar in construction and operation to the screw-
plate.
8CreW-btimer(8kr8'b6r''n6r), «. In lamps: (a)
A burner having a screw to raise and lower the
wick, (h) A burner which is attached by a
screw-thread to the socket of the lamp-top.
K. H. Knif/ht.
screw-caliper (skr6'kal'i-p6r), n. A caliper
ill which the adjustment of the points is made
by a screw. Ii. B. Knight.
screw-feed
screw-cap (skrS'kap), n. A cover to protect
or conceal the head of a screw, or a cap or cover
fitted witli a screw.
screw-clamp (skro'klamp), n. A clamp which
acts by means of a screw.
screw-collar (skro'kol'Sr), n. In microscopy,
a device for ad justing the distance between the
lenses of an objective so as to maintain defini-
tion with varying thickness of the cover-glass.
Jour. Roy. Microti. Soc, 2d ser., VI. ii. 317.
screw-coupling (skro'kup'ling), n. A device,
in the form of a collar with an internal screw-
thread at each end, for joining the ends of two
vertical rods or chains and giving them any
desired degree of tension ; a screw-socket for
uniting pipes or rods.
screw-cut (skro'kut), )(. A cut made in a spiral
direction; specifically, a spiral cut in the tip
of horn to form a plate which, pressed out flat,
may be used for comb-making.
screw-cutter (skro'kut'fer), m. l. A hand-
tool or die for cutting screws, it consists of a re-
volvable head (into which the material to be operated on
is inserted), to the interior of which cutters, adjustable by
screws from the outside, are attached radially.
2. A screw-cutting machine, or one of the cut-
ting-tools used in such a machine.
screw-cutting (ski-o'kut'ing), a. Used in cut-
ting screws — Screw-cutting chuck. See chuck*.—
Screw-cutting die, the cutting-tool in a screw-cutting
niai-liine ; a screw-plate. £!. II. Knight. — Screw-CUt-
ting gage, a gage with angles, by which the inclination
of the point of the screw-cutting tool can be regulated, as
well as the inclination of the tool itself, when placed in
position for cutting the thread. E. U. Knight. See cut
under cenler-gage.- Screw-cuttlng lathe, (a) A lathe
with a slide-rest, with change-gears by which screws of
different pitch may be cut. ib) Same as screw-cutting
machine. — Screw-cutting machine, a form of lathe for
cutting 8crew-threa*U upon rods. The rod is caused to
rotate against a cutting-t(X)l while being thrust forward at
a fixed rate. The pitch of the screw is determined by the
relative speeds of rotation and advance of the bar, wliich
are controlled by suitable gearing ; and the size and depth
of the thread are controlled by the cutting-tool employed.
Also called scrav-cittting lathe.
screw-die (skro'di), «. A die used for cutting
screw-threads.
screw-dock (skrb'dok), n. A kind of graving-
dock furnished with large screws to assist in
raising and lowering vessels.
BCrew-Sog (skrS'dog), H. In a lathe, etc., a
clamp, adjustable by means of a screw, for
holding the stuff securely in the carriage.
screw-dollar (skrO'dol'fir), «. A medallion of
which the obverse and reverse are in separate
plaques which can be screwed together so as
to form a very small box. Also called screw-
medal.
screw-driver (skre'dri'vir), «. A tool, in
form like a blunt chisel, which fits into the nick
in the head of a screw, and is used to turn the
screw, in order to cause it to enter its place or
to withdraw it.
screwed (skred), p. a. [Pp. of screic^, ».]
"Tight"; intoxicated; drunk. [Slang.]
Alone it stood, while its fellows lay strew'd.
Like a four-bottle man in a company screw'd,
Not firm on his legs, but by no means subdued.
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, I. 161.
She walked so unsteadily as to attract the compassion-
ate regards of divers kind-hearied boys, who . . . bade
her be of good cheer, for she was "only a little screwed."
Dickens, Martin Chuzxlewit, xxt.
SCrewed-WOrk (skrod'wferk), n. In wood-turn-
ing, work ill which the cutting is done in a
spiral direction, so as to leave a spiral fillet,
bead, or other ornamental spiral pattern upon
the finished article, as in balusters, etc.
Chestnut or sycamore is far more suitable for the pro-
duction of screwed-work. Campin, Hand-turning, p. 267.
screw-elevator (skr6'el*e-va-tor), n. 1. A
form of passenger-elevator in wliich the cage is
lifted by a screw. — 2. A dentists' tool, con-
sisting of a staff having a gimlet-screw on the
end to screw into the root of a tooth in order
to pull it out. — 3. In surg., a conical screw of
hard rubber used to force open the jaws of
maniacs or persons suffering from lockjaw.
E. H. Knight.
screwer (skrd'^r), n. [< screw'^, v., -I- -crl.]
One who or that which screws.
screw-eye (skro'i), «. 1. A screw having a
loo)) or eye for its head: a form much used to
furnish a means of fastening, as by a hook, a
cord, etc. — 2. A long screw with a handle,
used in theaters by stage-carpenters in secur-
ing scenes.
screw-feed (skro'fed), n. 1 . The feeding-mech-
anism actuating the lead-screw of a lathe. —
2. Any feed-mechanism governed or operated
by a screw.
screw-flsh
screw-fish (skrS'fish). n. Fish packed under a
siTow-pivss. [Trade-name.]
screw-forceps (skro'for'seps), n. A dentists'
instrument with jaws between which is a screw,
which is caused to protrude into and till the
nerve-canal, to obviate risk of crushing the
tooth when the jaws of the instrument are
closed upon it. E. H. Knight.
screw-gage (skrS'gaj), n. A device for testing
the diameter, the pitch, and the accuracy of
the thread of screws, it consists of a steel ring cut
with an internal screw of the standard gage. Also called
tcreie-thread gaffe.— Internal SCrew-gage, a steel screw
with an external thread cut to an accurate gage, used to
test intemal-tlu-eaded or female screws.
screw-gear (skro'ger), «. In mech., a worm-
screw and worm-wheel, or endless screw and
pinion. £. U. Knight.
screw-hoist (skro'lioist), n. A hoisting-appa-
ratus consisting of a large toothed wheel, with
which is geared an endless screw.
screwing (skro'ing), a. Exacting; close; care-
ful; economical.
Whose leremTig iron-handed administration of relief is
the boast of the parish. HowitL {Imp. Diet.)
SCrewing-engine (skr6'ing-en''jin), n. A ma-
chine for cutting wooden screws and for the
making of screwed-work.
screwing-machine (skro'ing-ma-shen'), n.
Same as screw-machine.
screwing-stock (skro'ing-stok), n. Same as
screw-stoci: — Guide screwing-stock, a common form
of die-stock for cutting threads on pipe or rods. It has a
guide in the form of a bushing with screws, to clamp the
exterior of the pipe or rod and cause the die to turn in
a plane at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the ob-
ject upon which the screw-thread is to be cut.
Screwing-table (skro'lng-ta^bl), n. Same as
.icreic-tidile.
screw-jack (skro'jak), ». In dentistry, an im-
plement, consisting of two abutments with
screws between them, for regulating displaced
or crowded teeth Traversing screw-jack. See
tra cerHnff'Jack.
screw-key (skro'ke), «. A key for turning a
screw. It may be a form of screw-driver, or a
form of wrench. See cut under screw-stock.
screw-lock (skro'lok), n. A type of lock hav-
ing a movable opening bar, which is secured
by a screw when the lock is closed. It is made
' in various forms, and is used for handcuffs,
fetters, padlocks, etc.
screw-machine (skro'ma-shen'), n. A machine
for making screws. For metal screws it is a form of
lathe similar to a bolt-machine. For wooden screws it is a
machine, or a series of machines, working more or less
automatically, for trimming, nicking, and threading screw
blanks, which are fed in by a hopper, and are turned out
as ttnished screws. The name is also given to scretc-cut-
tiivj machines (which see, under screw-cutting).
screw-mandrel (8kr6'man"drel), n. A man-
drel of the head-stock of a lathe provided with
a screw for attaching chucks.
screw-medal (skro'med'''al), n. Same as screw-
dollar.
screw-molding (skr6'mol''ding), n. 1. The
molding of screws in sand for casting. A
cylindrical mold is made, and a pattern screw
run through it to form the thread. — 2. The
process of forming screws of sheet-metal for
collars or caps, by pressing upon a former.
screw-nail (skro'nal), n. A screw used to fas-
ten pieces of wood together.
screw-neck (skro'nek), n. A neck of a bot-
tle, flask, etc., provided with a male screw for
the reception of a screw-cap.
screw-pile (skro'pil), n. A pile with a screw
at the lower end, sunk by rotation aided by
pressure if necessary. See sheet-pile. Also
called boring-anchor.
screw-pillar (8kr5'pU'''ar), n. The tool-post of
an engine-lathe.
screw-pin (skro'pin), n. A screw which has an
extension in the form of a pin, the screwed
part being used to hold the pin firmly in its
socket.
screw-pine (skro'pin), «. A plant of the genus
I'andanus, or more broadly of the order Pan-
danese: so called from the spiral arrangement
of the leaves and their resemblance to those of
the pineapple. The best-known species is P. odi/ra-
tuttmtu, found from the East Indies to the Pacific islands.
Its richly scented male flowers are the source of the keora-
oil of perfumers. In India it is sometimes planted for
hedges, and to fix the banks of canals. Its leaves and
those of other species are made into matting and sacking.
It has a large compound fruit of a bright.orange color,
which is edible, though insipid, and bears the name of
bread/ruit. .See chandelier-tree, and cut under Pandaitug.
screw-plate (skrO'plat), ». l. A holder for
tlie dies used in cutting screw-threads. — 2. A
small steel plate containing dies by which
5422
screws of various sizes may be formed. See
cut under screw-stock. — 3. A tool for cutting
external screw-threads upon wire, small rods,
or pipes. See die-stock, and cut under screw-
stock.
screw-pod, screw-pod mesq.uit (skro'pod,
skro'pod mes'kit), n. The screw-bean, Proso-
j)is 2»il>cscens. See mesquit.
screw-post (skro'post), n. Naut., the inner
stern-post through which the shaft of a screw
propeller passes.
screw-press (skro'pres), n. A simple form of
press producing pressure by the direct action
of a screw : used by printers and bookbinders
for dry-pressing, or removing the indentations
of impression from printed sheets, and for mak-
ing bound books more compact and solid.
screw-propeller, «. See screw propeller, under
screw — Screw-propeller governor. See governor.
screw-punch (skro'punch), n. A punch in
Screw-punch.
a, bed ; b, yoke, on the inner sides of which are slides for the cross-
head c; rf, the punch proper : e, nut for the screw : /, weighted lever
by wliich the screw is made to exert its power upon the punch d.
which the operating pressure is applied by a
screw.
screw-quoin (skro'koin), n. In printing, a quoin
of two or more parts which widens and tiglitens
composed types by means of a screw which con-
nects these parts. Many forms are in use.
screw-rod (skro'rod), n. A rod with a screw
and nut at one or both ends, used principally
as a binding- or tightening-rod.
screw-rudder (skr6'rud"er), n. An applica-
tion of the screw to purposes of steering, tak-
ing the place of a rudder. The direction of its axis
is changed, by means of a joint in the shaft, to give the
required direction to the vessel, and the efficiency of this
device does not depend upon the motion of the vessel, as
with a rudder. E. H. Knight.
screw-shackle (8kr6'shak"l), n. A shackle of
which the shackle-bolt is screwed into place.
screw-shell (skro'shel), n. A gastropod of the
family Turritellidx. P. P. Carpenter.
screw-spike (skro'spik), n. A cylindrical spike
having a screw-thread cut on a part of its stem.
It is driven partly in, and then screwed home.
E. H. Knight.
screw-stair (skro'star), n. A spiral or winding
staircase ; a hanging-stair.
He was a bachelor, and lived in a very small house,
above his shop, which was reached by a screw-gtair.
N. McLeod, The Starling, xxv.
screw-stem (skro'stem), n. A plant of the
genus Bartonia of the gentian family. These
plants are low, delicate herbs, sometimes with
a twisted stem. Wood.
screw-stock (skro'stok), n. A handle for hold-
ing the threaded
die by which the
thread is cut on
a bar or bolt; a
screw-plate. E.
H. Knight.
screwstone
(skro'st6n),n. A
wheelstone ; an
entrochite ; one
of the joints of
the stem of an
encrinite, stone-
lily, or fossil ori-
noid ; a fossil
screw. See cuts
under Encrinidee
and encrinite.
screw-table
(8kro'ta"bl),n. A
form of screw-
stock used for
forming the
threads of screw-
bolts or wooden
screws. E. H.
Knight.
screw-tap (skro'-
tap), n. A tool
for cutting
screw-threads on
the inside of
pipes, or mak-
Screw-stocks, Screw-taps, and Dies.
a, screw-stock in which the dies c are
forced by the screw s inw.ird against the
rod r upon which the screw-thread is to be
cut; the dies are also shown in enlarged de-
tail at c and {f . f, another form of die-stock
in which three dies are used, two of them
being forced toward a third by a screw-key
/, moved by a nut o. b. a screw-plate,
comprising variously sized dies for cutting
small screws ; f and f^, chasers for cut-
ting screws in a lathe, 7" being for male
screws and g for feinafe screws; i. taps
for cutting threads of female screws and
nuts, a cross-section tx:ing shown at h, and
the form of tap prior to cutting out the
longitudinal channels or clearances being
shown at k.
Bcribacious
ing interior screw-threads of any form. It is
the reverse of the external screw-cutter, or
screw-plate. Compare plng-taj> and taper-tap.
screw-thread (skrij'thred), «. l. The spiral
ridge formed on the cylinder of a male screw,
or on the inner surface of a
female screw or nut. A screw- VVWW o-
thread has the same slope through-
out relatively to a plane at right '^ v^^-v^n,^s^ ft
angles to the longitudiital axis of aaaaaa/
the screw, and all points on it are /VVWW c
equidistant from that axis.
2. A single turn of the spi-
ral ridge of a male or female
screw: used by mechanics
to designate the number of
such turns in a unit of length
of the axis of the screw.
Commonly called simply
thread — Screw-thread gage.
Same as screw-gage.
screw-tool (skro ' tol), n.
Any tool, as a tap, a die,
a chaser, or a machine, for
cutting screws.
screw-tree (skro'tre), n.
See Bclicteres.
screw-valve (skro'valv), ».
1. A stop-cock furnished
with a puppet-valve opened
and shut by a screw instead
of by a spigot. — 2. A screw
with a conical point form-
ing a small valve, fitted to
a conical seat and used for
regulating flow.
screw-ventilator (skro '-
ven"ti-la-tor), n. A ven-
tilating apparatus, consist- agatast withdrawal is se.
ing of a screw-wheel set in <=""='' •. '• German wood-
y . , screw thread; k, rectan-
a irame or a window-pane, guiar thread, much used
etc., which is caused to ro- ^ 'L'^^.^'frTniatdTn!
tate by the passage of a
current of heated air. it ex-
erts no mechanical force to pro-
mote the discharge of vitiated air, but it can be made to
rotate in only one direction, so that it will not yield to a
cold current impinging upon it from the outside, and will
thus oppose its entrance.
screw-well (skro'wel), n. A hollow in the stem
of some ships into which the propeller can be
lifted after being detached from the shaft,
when the ship is to run under canvas only.
screw-wheel (skro'hwel), n. A wheel which
gears with an endless screw.
screw-wire (skro'wlr), ». In shoc-manuf., a,
cable-twisted wire used for fastening soles to
uppers. It is applied by means of a machine which, with
great rapidity of action, fits the parts together, forces the
pieces of wire into place, and cuts them from the coil at
the proper lengths.
screw-worm (skro'wferm), «. The larva of a
blow-fly, Lucilia macellaria, which deposits its
eggs or larvsB on sores on living animals. The
larvee, usually in great numbers, develop rapidly and
cause serious, often fatal, results. Horses, cattle, sheep,
and swine are attacked, and there are cases on record in
which human beings have suffered severely, death result-
ing in some instances. The best remedy is a free use of
pyrethrum powder, followed by carbolic acid. [South-
western U. S.]
screw-wrench (skro'rench), n. 1. Any form
of wrench, as one with fixed jaws or one in
the form of a spanner, adapted for turning
square- or polygonal-headed screws or bolts. —
2. A wrench of which the jaws are opened or
drawn together by means of a screw.
screwyl (skro'i), a. [< screw'^ + -«/l.] Tortu-
ous, like the thread or motion of a screw : as, a
screwy motion.
screwy^ (skro'i), a. [< screw'^ + -j/l.] 1. Ex-
acting; close; stingy; mean; oppressive. [Col-
loq.]
Mechanics are capital customers for scientific or trade
books, such as suit their business. . . . But they're not so
screwy. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, 1. 319.
2. Worn out; worthless. [CoUoq.]
The oldest and screwiest horse in the stables.
if. Broughton, Red as a Rose, xix.
scribt, ».
miser.
XAAAJIAA i
"LTLTLn *
\nj\ni
0 p q r
Screw-threads,
a, *", V-threads; ^.shal-
low thread ; rf, tmncated
thread ; g, angular thread,
rounded top and bottom ;
y, thread with bottom
angles truncated (wood
screws) ; £', rounded
thread, sometimes used
in joinery ; A, thread bev-
eled more on the inner
side than the outer, by
which a finner hold
gles ; fn, rounded thread ;
". /. ?. ''• special types of
thread.
[Appar. a var. of 5C?*w6i.] A scrub; a
Promus magis quam condus : he is none of these miser-
able seribs, but a Uberall gentleman.
Withals, Diet. (ed. 1634), p. 575. {Xares.}
scribablet (skri'ba-bl), «, [< ME. scrihahil ; <
scribe 4- -ahle.'] Capable of being written, or
of being written upon.
Paper scribabU the bale, vi. d*. Paper spendable the
reme, q'. Arnold's Chron., p. 74.
Scribacious(skri-ba'shus), a. [< L. as if ^scrihax^
(scribac-), given to ■writing (< scribcrCj write:
scribacioos
see scribe), + -i-ou«.] Given to writing; fond
of writing. [Rare.]
We have some letters of popes (thoagh not many), for
popes were then not very scriodeious, or not so pragiuati-
caL Barrow, Pope's Supremacy.
SCribacionsness (skri-ba'shus-nes), n. Scriba-
oious chariicter, habit, or tendency; fondness
for writing. Also scribatiousness. [Bare.]
Out of a hundred examples, Cornelius Agrippa "On the
Vanity of Arts and Sciences" is a specimen of tliat scriba-
tiotunea which grew to be the habit of the gluttonous
readers of his time. Smergoit, Uoolis.
scribal (skn'bal), a. [< scribe + -al.'j 1. Of
or pertaining to a scribe or penman ; clerical.
This, according to palieographera who know their busi-
ness, stands for haberet, and is, no doubt, a scribal error.
The Aeademy, No. 901, p. 8S.
2. Of or pertaining to the scribes, or doctors
of the Jewish law.
We must look back to what is known of the five pairs
of teachers who represented the tcribat succession.
A". H. Plumptre, Smith's Bible Diet. (Scribes, § S).
SCribbetf (skrib'et), ». [Appar. dim., ult. < L.
scrihcrc, write : see serifte.] A painters' pencil.
BCribblage (skrib'laj), ». [< scribble^ + -«(/e.]
Scribblings; writings.
A review which professedly omitted the polemic Krib-
Hage of theology and politics.
I*'. Taylor, Survey of German Poetry, L S52. (Dana.)
scribble^ (skrib'l), r. ; pret. and pp. scribbled,
ppr. scribbling. [Early mod. E. scrible ; freq.
of scribe, v. Cf. OHG. scribilon, write much,
G. scltreibler, a scribbler, < OHG. scriban, schrei-
ben, write: see scribe, r.] I. trans. X. To write
with haste, or without care or regard to cor-
rectness or elegance: as, to scribble a letter or
pamphlet.
I cannot forbear sometimes to KribbU something In
poe^y. John Cotton, in Letters of Eminent Men, L 28.
2. To cover or fill with careless or worthless
writing, or unintelligible and entangled lines.
Every margin leribbUd, crost. and cramm'd.
Tmnymm, Merlin and Vivien.
n. ill trans. To write without care or regard
for correctness or elegance ; scrawl ; make tin-
intelligible and entangled lines on paper or a
slate for mere amusement, as a child does.
If Mevias mrOibU in Apollo'a spite.
Pope, Essay on Criticism, I 84.
scribble! (skrib'l), n. [Early mod. E. scrible;
< scribblel, r.] Hurried or careless writing; a
scrawl ; hence, a shallow or trivial composition
or article: as, a hasty scribble.
O that ... one that was bom but to spoil or tran-
scribe good Authors should think himself able to write
any thing of bis own that wUl reach Posterity, whom to-
gether with his frivolous Scribtet the very next Age will
bury In oblivion. Milton, Ans. to Salroaslos, Pref." p. 19.
(In the following quotation the word is used tlguratlvelv
for a hnnried, scrambling manner of walking, oppoaed to
" a set pace," as a scribble Is to " a set copy."
0 you are come .' Long look'd for, come at last What!
you have a slow Kt pace as well as your hasty Kribble
sometimes. Sir/(.£foi«ird,TheCommlttee,L 1. (Daae$)]
scribble- (skrib'l), ». t. ; pret. and pp. scribbled,
piir. scribbling. [< 8w. skrubbla, card, freq. of
skriibba = Dan. tkrubbe, scrub, mb, etc. : see
scriih'i.] To card or tease coarsely; pass, as
cotton or wool, through a scribbler.
Should any slight ineqoaUty, either of depth or of tone
occur, yet when the whole of the wool ha* been taibbui
together such defecU disappear, and the nullce of the
woven cloth wUI be foand to exhibit a colour atMolntelr
alike in all parts. '
W. Crooket, Dyeing and Callco-printinj;, p. «5i.
scribblement (skrib'1-ment), ». [< scribble^ +
-mcnQ A worthless or careless writing; scrib-
ble. [Rare.] Imp. Diet.
scribbler 1 (skrib'l^r), ». [< scribble^, v., + -<frl.]
One who 8cril)hle» or writes carelessly, loosely,
or badly ; bence, a petty author ; a writer of no
reputation.
Venal ami licentloua ja«Mm with Just sufficient talent
to clothe the thoughts of a pander in the style of a bell-
man, wire now the favourite writers of the sovereign and
°' ""■ P"'"''^- Macavlai,, Milton
scribbler- (skrib'lfer), n. [iscribhle^, v., + -«-l ]
1. A machine used for scribbling cotton or
wo(, .-n fiber.— 2. A person who tends such a
iria<>liine and is said to scribble the fiber.
8cribble-8crabble(8krib'l-8krab'l), n. [A varied
r.-. iipl. of scrithhlc.'] A shambling, ungainly
By your grave and high demeanour make yourself an-
pe<ir a hole above obadiah, lest your mistress should take
yon for another tmbbU-KrabhU as be Is.
.«r A'. Hamsrd, The Committee, 1. (,Dmtet.)
scribbllngi fskrib'ling), «. [Verbal n. of scrib-
letsi " ""* °' writing hastily and care-
8423
scribbling^ (skrib'ling), ». [Verbal n. of »m6-
ble'^, c] The first coarse teasing or carding
which wool or cotton receives.
scribbling-engine (skrib'ling-en"jin), «. A
form of earding-eugine having one main cylin-
der, and a number of small rollers in contact
with the upper surface of this cylinder in place
of top-cards : used for fine, short wool. E. H.
Knight.
scribblingly (skrib'ling-li), adv. In a scribbling
way.
SCribbling-machine (skrib'ling-ma-shen^), n.
In wooleii-manuf., a coarse form of earding-ma-
chine, through which oiled wool is passed one
or more times, preparatory to treatment in the
carding-niachine proper. E. M. Knight.
scribe (skrib), r. ; pret. and pp. scribed, ppr.
scribing. [= OF. eserire, F. ecrire = Sp. es-
cnbtr = Pg. escrever = It. scrivere = OHG. scri-
ban, MHG. schriben, G. schreiben = MLG. schri-
ren = D. schrijien = OFries. sl<riva = OS.
scribhan, write, = Ifcel. skrifa (not "skrifa),
write, scratch, embroider, paint, = Sw. skrifm
= Dan. skrive, write (in OFries. skriva, and AS.
scrifan, impose a penance, shrive); = Gael.
sgriob, sgriobh, write, scratch, scra,pe, comb,
curry, etc.; < L. scribere, pp. scriptus, write,
draw (or otherwise make letters, lines, figures,
etc.), write, compose, draw up, draft (a paper),
enlist, enroll, levy, etc. ; orig. 'scratch'; prob.
akin to scrobis, scrobs, a ditch, trench, grave,
to scalpere, cut, to sculpere, cut, carve, grave,
etc.: see screw^. scalpK sculp, etc. Connec-
tion with Gr. yfMi^nv, write, and with AS. gra-
mn, E. grave, is not proved: see graved. The
Tetit. forms were from the L.'at a very early
period, having the strong inflection; they ap-
pear to have existed earlier in a different sense,
for which see shrive, shrift. For the native
Teut. word for 'write,' see write. The verb
scribe in E. is later than the noun, on which it in
part depends: see .icribe, n. From the L. scri-
bere are also ult. E. scribble^, script, script, scrip-
ture, teriven, scrivener, ascribe, describe, inscribe,
etc., conscript, manuscript, transcript, etc., as-
cription, conscription, descriptitm, etc.} 1. trans.
1. To write; mark; record. [Rare.]
^e »PP«»> to Samuel Pepys years hence is unmistaka-
We. He dealres that dear, though unknown, gentleman
. . . to recall ... the very line his own romantic self
was Bcnbing at the moment
A L. Stevenson, Samuel Pepys.
Specifically— 2. To mark, as wood, metal,
bncks etc., bv scoring with a sharp point, as SCriggle (skrig'l), v. i. ; pret. and pp. scriqqled,
an awl, a scnbe or scriber, or a pair of com- '^''- " — ;..„/.•..- rr>__T. J" „..'^^ . •'J '
passes. Hence— 3. To fit closely to another
piece or part, as one piece of wood in furniture-
making or joiners' work to another of irregular
or uneven form.
n. intrana. To write.
It's a hard case, you must needs think, madam, to a
mother to see a son that might do whatever he would if
he d only set about It. contenting hhnself with doing no-
thing but scribble and eeribe.
Mia Bumey, CeciUa, x. 8. (,Daiiiet.)
scrimer
4. A pointed instrument used to mark lines on
wood, metal, bricks, etc., to serve as a guide in
sawing, cutting etc. 8peciflcally-(a) An'awlora.
pomt inserted in a block of wood, which may be adjusted
to a gage, used by carpenters and Joiners for this pur-
pose (b) A spike or large naU ground to a sharp point,
used to mark bricks on the face and back by the taperinir
edges of a mold, for the purpose of cutting them and r^
aucmg them to the proper taper for gaged arches.
SCribe-awl (skrib'al), n. Same as scribe, 4 (a).
SCnber (skri'ber), n. [< scribe, v., + -erl.l
Same as scribe, 4.
scribing (skn'bing), n. [Verbal n. of scribe, ».]
1. Writing; marks or marking.
The heading [of a cask] has been brought on board, but
the scnhny upon it is very indistinct
Capt. M'Clintock, Voyage of the Fox, liii.
2. In carp. : (a) Marking by rule or compass ;
also, the marks thus made. (6) The adjust-
ment of one piece of wood to another so that
the fiber or grain of the one shall be at right
angles to that of the other.
scribing-awl (skn'bing-ai), n. Same as scribe,
4 («). '
scribing-block (skn'bing-blok), n. A metal
base for a scribing- or marking-tool.
A scriMngUock, which consists of a piece of metal Joint-
ed to a wooden Week at one end, and having at the other
a point ; it is useful for marking centres, and for similar
purposes. F. Campin, llech. Engineering, p. 66.
scribing-compass (skri'bing-kum'pas), n. In
saddlerij and cooper-work, a compass Having one
leg, pointed and used as a pivot, and one scoop-
edge, which serves as a marker. It has an arc
and a set screw to regulate the width of open-
ing.
scribing-iron (skri'bing-i'Srn), n. Same as-
scribe, 4.
scribism (skri'bizm), n. [< scribe + ■ism.'] Th&
functions, teachings, and literature of the an-
cient Hebrew scribes.
'Then follows a section on Scribiem, giving an account
of the Jewish canon and its professional interpretation
British Quarterly Met., LXXXIII. 497.
SCrid (skrid), n. Same as screed. [Rare.]
scrienet, n. An obsolete spelling of screen.
scrieve (skrev), t;. i.; pret. and pp. scrieved, ppr.
serieving. [< Icel. skrefa = Sw. skrefva = Dan.
skrseve, stride, < Icel. Sw. skref = Dan. skrav,
a stride; perhaps akin to scrithe, stride, mover
see scrithe.'] To move or glide swiftly along;
also, to rub or rasp along. [Scotch.]
The wheels o' life gae down-hill «cr»et>in',
Wr rattlln" glee. Bums, Scotch Drink.
scribe (skrib), n. [< ME. scribe, < OP. (and F. )
scribe = 8p. Pg. escriba = It. scriba, < L. scriba,
a writer, scribe, < scribere, write: see scribe, v.
In def . 4 the noun is Of mod. E. origin, from the
verb.] 1. One who writes; a writer; a pen-
man ; especially, one skilled in penmanship.
O excellent device ! was there ever heard a better.
That my maater, being tribe, to himself should write the
'«t*«' Shak., T. G. of V., il. 1. 140
He la DO great teribe ; rather handling the pen like the
pocket itaff he Carrie* about with him. ,
Dickens, Bleak House, IlIL shriek.] To shriek.
-"•oo«>' v-^'s '/I "• '■ t piou. oiiu pp. svriygtea,.
ppr. scnggling. [Prob. a var. of 'scruggle, freq.
of 'scrug, the earlier form of shrug, q. v. ; with
the sense partly due to association with wrig-
gle. Otherwise, perhaps ult. < Icel. skrika, slip,
=^^^-^<^eee>t(»t, orig. spring up, jump, hop,
MHG. G. schrtcken = D. schrikken, cause to
iump, startle, terrify; cf. G. hcii-schrecke, grass-
hopper.] To writhe; struggle or twist about
with more or less force; wriggle. [Prov. Eng.]
They skriggled and began to scold.
But laughing got the master.
Bloomfield, The Horkcy. {Davies.)-
scriggle (skrig'l), «. [< scriggle, v.] A wrig-
gle ; a wnggling.
A flitter of spawn that, unvlvlfled by genial spirit, seems
to give for a time a sort of ineffectual crawl, and then sub-
sides into stinking stillness, unproductive of so much as
the scriggle of a single tadpole.
A'octes Ambroeianje, April, 1882.
SCriket, ». ». [Early mod. E. also skrike and
scriek (also screak, q. v.); the earlier (unas-
sibilated)_form of shrike, shriek: see shrike^,
2. An official or public writer; a secretary;
an amanuensis; a notary; a copyist.
There-at Jove wexed wroth, and in his spright
Did Inly grudge, yet did it well conceale ;
And bade Dan Phosbas scribe her Appellation scale
Spenser, i: Q., VII. vi. 35.
Among other Officers of the Court, Stephen Gardner, af-
terward Blahop of Winchester, ut as chief .'icribe.
Baker, Chronicles, p. 276.
3. In Scripture usage : (a) One whosedutyitwas
to keep the official records of the Jewish nation,
or to act as the private secretary of some dis-
tinguished person (Esther iii. 12). (6) One of
a body of men who constituted the theologians
and jurists of the Jewish nation in the time of
Christ. Their function was a threefold one — to develop
the law, iHith written and traditional, to teach it to their
pupils, anil to administer It as learned interpreters in the
courts of justice.
And he gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the
people, & asked them where Christ shnlde be bom.
Bible of 15S1, Mat it 4.
The title babe did loudly scnke and squall
Spenser, F. Q., VI. Iv. 18.
Woe, and alas ! the people crye and skrike,
Why fades this flower, and leaues nee fruit nor seede?
Puttenham, Parthenlades, ix.
scrim (skrim), n. [Origin obscure.] 1. Thin,
strong cloth, cotton or linen, used in uphol-
stery and other arts for lipings, etc. — 2. pi.
Thin canvas glued on the inside of a panel to
keep it from cracking or breaking. E. S. Knight.
SCrime (skrim), v. i. ; pret. and pp. scrimed, ppr.
scriming. [< F. escrimer, fence: see skirni,
skirmish.] To fence ; play with the sword.
The fellow did not flght with edge and buckler, like a
Christian, but had some newfangled French devil's de-
vice of scryming and folnlng with his point, ha'ing and
stamping, and tracing at me, that I expected to be full of
eyelet holes ere I close with him.
Kingsley, Westward Ho, ill.
SCrimert (skn'mfer), n. [< F. escrimeur, a fencer,
a 8word.sman,< escrimer, fence : see scrime. The
AS. scrimbre, a gladiator (Lye), is appar. a late
scrimer
form, < OF.] One practised in the use of the
sword; a skilful fencer.
• The «T>m«rs of theirnation,
He swore, had neither motion, guard, nor eye,
If you opposed them. Shak., Uamlet, iv. 7. 101.
scrimmage (skrim'ilj), ». [Also scrummaije,
skrimmatjc ; early mod. E. 'scrimmish, scri/iii-
myslic, a var. of skirmish, q. v.] A skirmish ; a
contused row or contest; a tussle.
If everybody 's caranting about to once, each after his
own men, nobody '11 find nothing in such a »:rimina(/e as
that KinffsUy, Westward Ho, xxx.
SpeciBcally, in /ootbaU: (a) A confused, close struggle
round the ball.
And then follows rush upon rush, and scrumiiMfje upon
«erum»uiy«, the ball now driven through into the school-
house quarters, and now into the school goal.
T. Uughei, Tom Brown's School-Days, i. 5.
(6) The act on the part of the two contesting teams of
forming in opposing lines, and putting the ball in play.
scrimp (skrimp), V. [Also skrimp, assibilated
shrimp; < ME. *scrimpen, < AS. *scrimpan (pret.
"seramp, pp. "scrumpen) = OSw. "skrimpa (in
pp. slrumpen = Dan. skrumpen, adj., shrunken,
shriveled) = MHG. schrimpfen, shrink; equiv.
to AS. scrimman (pret. *scraH(, pp. "scrvmmen),
shrivel, shrink, and akin to scrincan, shrink : see
shrink. Scrimp exists also in the assibilated
form shrimp, and the secondary forms shram,
scritmp, shrump, these forms being related as
crimp, cramp, crump, which may, indeed, as-
suming a loss of initial s, be of the same ori-
gin. With crimp^, crimple, crumple may be com-
pared rimple, rumple.^ I. trans. 1. To pinch
or scant; limit closely; be sparing in the food,
clothes, money, etc., of; deal sparingly ^vith;
straiten.
I trust you winna skrimp yoursell for what Is needfu'
for your health, since it signifies not muckle whilk o' us
has the siller, if the other wants it.
Scott, Heart of Mid- Lothian, xxxix.
2. To be sparing in ; narrow, straiten, stint, or
contract, especially tlirough a niggard or spar-
ing use or allowance of something; make too
small, short, or scanty; limit: as, to scrimj) a
coat, or the cloth for making it.
Do not scrimp your phrase.
But stretch it wider.
Tenrtyson, Queen Mary, iii. 3.
H. intrans. To be parsimonious or miserly :
as, to save and scrimp.
scrimp (skrimp), a. and n. [< scrimp, v.'] I. a.
Scanty; narrow; deficient; contracted.
II. n. A niggard; a pinching miser. [U. S.]
scrimped (skrimpt), p. a. Narrow ; contracted ;
pinched.
'A could na bear to see thee wi' thy cloak scrimpit.
Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, vi.
The women are all . . . ill-favored, scrimped; that
means ill-nurtured simply.
C. -D. Warner, Their Pilgrimage, p. 71.
SCrimping-bar (skrim'ping-bar), 11. In calico-
printing, a grooved bar which smooths the
fabric right and left to facilitate its proper
feeding to the printiiig-machine.
The scrimping-bar is made of iron or brass with a curved
surface furrowed by grooves, cut right and left from the
centre. IK. Crookes, Dyeing and Calico-printing, p. 558.
scrimply (skrimp'li), adv. In a scrimp man-
ner; barely; hardly; scarcely.
Down flow'd her robe, a tartan sheen,
Till half a leg was scrimjily seen ;
And such a leg I my bonnie Jean
Alone could peer it. Burns, The Vision.
Scrimpness(skrimp'ne8), n. Scantiness; pinch-
ed appearance or state; smallness of allow-
ance.
scrimp-rail (skrimp'ral), n. Same as scrimp-
ing-bar.
The cloth then passes over the corrugated scrimp rails.
Spans' Encyc. Manv/., I. 493.
scrimption (skrimp'shon), 11. [Irreg. < scrimp
+ -tion.'] A small portion ; a pittance : as, add
just a scrimption of salt. Halliwell. [Local.]
scrimpy (skrim'pi), a. [<«mwj> + -yl.] Scrimjj.
[CoUoq.]
Four acres Is scrimpy measure for a royal garden, even
for a king of the heroic ages whose daughter did the
family washing. N. and Q., 7th ser., X 8.
scrimshaw (skrim'sha), V. t. and i. [A nautical
word of unstable orthogi-aphy ; also scrimshon,
scrimschon, skrimshon, scrimshorn, skrimschont,
skrimshander ; origin unknown. If the form
scrimshaw is original, the word must be due to
the surname Scrimshaw.'] To engrave various
fanciful designs on (shells, whales' teeth, wal-
rus-tusks, etc . ) ; in general, to execute any piece
of ingenious mechanical work. [Sailors' lan-
guage.]
5424
One of the most fruitful sources of amusement to a
whale-fisherman, and one which often so engrosses his
time and attention as to cause him to neglect his duties,
is known as scrinuhawiny. Scrimshawiny, which, by the
way. Is the more acceptable form of the term, is the art,
if art it be, of manufacturing useful and ornamental arti-
cles at sea. Fisheries of U. S., V. ii. 231.
scrimshaw (skrim'sha), H. and a. [< scrimshaw,
!'.] I. n. A shell or a piece of ivory scrim-
shawed or fancifully carved. [Sailors' lan-
guage.]
II. a. Made by scrimshawing.
Let us examine some of the scrimshaw work. We find
handsome writing desks, toilet boxes, and work boxes
made of foreign woods, inlaid with hundreds of other
pieces of precious woods of various shapes and shades.
Fisheries of U. S., V. ii. 2:J2.
scrimshon, scrimschon, scrimshorn, etc., v.
and n. See scrimshaw.
serin (skrin), n. [Origin obscure.] In mining,
a small vein or string of ore; a crack filled witli
ore branching from a larger vein . [North . Eug.]
SCrinet (skrin), n. [Early mod. E. also scryne ;
< ME. "serine, < OF. escrin, F. ecrin = It.
scrignio, < L. scrinium, a box, chest, shrine:
see shrine, which is derived from the same
source, through AS. serin.'] A chest, bookcase,
or other place where writings or curiosities are
deposited ; a shrine. [Bare.]
Lay forth out of thine everlasting scryne
The antique rolles which there lye hidden still.
Spenser, F. Q., 1. 1., Prol.
scringe (skrinj), v. i. ; pret. and pp. scringed,
ppr. scringing. [Also skringe ; a weakened
form, with terminal assibilation, of *scrink,
shrink (< AS. scrincan), as cringe is of *crink
(< AS. crinean).] To cringe. [Prov. Eng. and
U. S.]
'Twunt pay to scringe to England ; will it pay
To fear that meaner bully, old "They'll say"?
Lowell, Biglow Papers, 2d ser., ii.
scrinium (skrin'i-um), ». ; pi. scrinia (-a). [L.
scrinium (see def.) : see serine, shrine.] In Bom.
antig., a ease or box, generally cylindrical in
shape, for holding rolls of manuscript.
SCripl (skrip), n. [< ME. scrippe, schrippe, <
leel. skreppa, a scrip, bag, = OSw. slreppa,
Sw. dial. skrdp2)a, a bag, a scrip, = Norw.
skreppa, a knapsack, = MD. scharpe, schaerjye,
scerpe, a scrip, pilgrim's wallet, = LG. schrap,
a scrip, = OHG. scharpe, a pocket, perhaps
akin to OHG. scirhi, MHG. schirbe, scherbe, G.
scherbe = D. scherf, a shred, shiver, scrap,
shard: see seraph and scarp^, scarf ^.] 1. A
wallet ; a bag ; a satchel, as for travelers ;
especially, a pilgrim's pouch, sometimes rep-
resented as decorated with scallop-shells, the
emblems of a pilgrim.
Horn tok burden and scrippe,
And wrong his lippe.
King Horn (E. E. T. S.), p. 80.
He [the friar] went his wey, no lenger wolde he reste.
With scrippe and tipped staf, ytukked hye.
Chaucer, Summoner's Tale, 1. 29.
David . . . chose him five smooth stones out of the
brook, and put them In a shepherd's bag which he had,
even in a scrip. 1 Sam. xvii. 40.
2. In her., a bearing representing a pouch or
almoner, and supposed to be a pilgrim's scrip.
It is often combined with a pilgrim's staff, or
bourdon. See staff.
script (skrip), n. [A corruption of script, appar.
by vague association with script : see script.]
1. A vpriting; a certificate, deed, or schedule;
a written slip or list. '
Call them generally, man by man, according to the scrip.
Shak., M. N. D., i. 2. 2.
No, no, my soueraign ;
He take thine own word, without scrip or scrowle.
Heywood, If you Know not me (Works, I. 318).
2. A scrap of paper or parchment.
I believe there was not a note, or least scrip of paper of
any consequence in my possession, but they had a view
of it. Bp. Spratt, Harl. Misc. (Davies.)
It is ridiculous to say that bills of exchange shall pay
our debts abroad ; that cannot be till scrips of paper can
be made current coin. Locke, Considerations on Interest.
3. In com., an interim or provisional docu-
ment or certificate, to be exclianged, when cer-
tain payments have been made or conditions
complied with, for a more formal certificate, as
of shares or bonds, or entitling the holder to the
payment of interest, a dividend, or the like ;
also, such documents or certificates collectively.
Lucky rhymes to him were scrip and share.
Tennyson, The Brook.
There was a new penny duty for scrip certificates.
5. Doicell, Taxes in England, III. 330.
4. Fractional paper money: so called in th6
United States during and after the civil war.
— Bailway scrip, scrip issued by a railway.
scriptural
scrip-company (skrip'kum"pa-ni), n. A com-
pany having shares which pass by delivery,
without the formalities of register or transfer.
scrip-holder (skrip'h61"dfT). n. One who liolds
shares in a company or stock, the title to which
is a written certificate or scrip.
scrippaget (skrip'sjj), n. [< scn>l + -age.]
That which is contained in a scrip: formed
jocosely, as baggage is from bag. [Bare.] See
the quotation.
Though not with bag and baggage, yet with scrip and
scrippaye. .Shak., As you Like it, lit 2. 171.
script (skript), n. [< ME. script, scrit, < OF.
escript, cscrit, F. ecrit = Sp. Pg. escrito = It.
seritto, a writing, a written paper, < L. scriptum,
a writing, a written paper, a book, treatise,
law, a line or mark, neut. of scriptus, pp. of
scribere, write: see scribe. Cf. mannscript,
postscript, prescript, rescript, transcript, etc.]
It. A writing; a written paper.
I trowe it were to longe yow to tarie.
If I yow tolde of every scrit [var. script] and bond
By which that she was feffed in his lond.
Chaticer, Merchant's Tale, 1. 453,
Do you see this sonnet.
This loving script? do you know from whence it came too?
Fletcher, Wife for a Month, 1. 2.
2. In laip, an original or principal document.
— 3. Writing; handwriting; written form of
letter ; written characters ; style of writing.
A good deal of the manuscript . . . was in an ancient
English script, although so uncouth and shapeless were the
characters that it was not easy to resolve them into letters.
ilauihome, Septimius Felton, p. 122.
4. In printing, types that imitate written let-
ters or writing. See example under ronde. —
Lombardic script. See Lombardic. — Mirror script.
.See mirror-«crip(. — Scripts Of martt. Same as letters
of marque (which see, under marque).
Script., script. An abbreviation of scripture or
scriptural.
SCription (skrip'shgn), n. [< L. scriptio(n-), a
writing, < scribere, pp. scriptus, write: see
scribe.] A handwriting, especially when pre-
senting an.v peculiarity by which the writer or
the epoch of the writing may be fixed: as, a
scription of the fourteenth century.
Britain taught Ireland a peculiar style of scription and
ornament for the writing of her manuscripts.
Rock, Church of our Fathers, L 275.
SCriptitious (skrip -tish' us), a. Written: as,
scriptitious testimony. Bentham.
scriptor (skrip'tgr), n. [< L. scriptor, a writer,
< scribere, pp. scriptus, write: see scribe.] A
writer; scribe.
scriptorium (skrip-to'ri-um), n.; pi. scripto-
riums, scriptoria (-umz, -a). [= OF. eseriptoire
= It. scrittojo,< ML. scriptorium, a writing-room,
LL. a metallic style for writing on wax, prop,
neut. of scriptorius, pertaining to writing or a
writer: see scriptory.] A writing-room ; spe-
cifically, the room set apart in a monastery or
an abbey for the «Titing or copying of manu-
scripts.
The annalist is the annalist of his monastery or his
cathedral ; his monastery or his cathedral has had a his-
tory, has records, charters, a library, a scriptorium for
multiplying copies of record.
Stubbs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 79.
scriptory (skrip'to-ri), a. [= OF. scriptoire, <
L. scriptorius, pertaining to writing or to a
writer, < scriptor, a writer, < scribere, pp. scrip-
tus, write : see scribe, script.] 1. Expressed in
writing ; not verbal ; ■written.
Of wills duo sunt genera, nuncupatory and scriptory.
Swift, Tale of a Tub, IL
2. Used for writing. [Bare.]
With such differences of reeds, vallatory, sagittary, scrip-
tory, and others, they might be furnished in Judea.
Sir T. Browne, Tracts, L
scriptural (skrip'tu-ral), a. [< scripture + -al.]
It. Of or pertaining to writing ; written. ■
An original is styled the protocol, or scriptural matrix ;
and if the protocol, which is the root and foundation of
the instrument, does not appear, the instrument is not
valid. Ayliffe, Parergon.
2. Pertaining to, contained in, or in accordance
with the Scriptures: as, a scriptural phrase;
scriptural doctrine. [Less specific than Bibli-
cal, and more commonly without a capital.]
The convocation itself was very busy in the matter of
the translation of the Bible and Scriptural fornmlaj of
prayer and belief.
Stubbs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 288.
=S3m. 2. Biblical, Scriptural. Biblical relates to the Bible
as a book to be known or studied ; as, a Biblical scholar ;
Biblical exegesis or criticism. Scriptural relates to the
Bible as a book containing doctrine : as, the idea is not
scriptural; it also means simply contained in the text of
the Bible : as. a scriptural phrase. We speak of a Biile
character, a Bible hero.
scripturalism
BCripturalism (skrip'tu-ral-izm), ». [< scrip-
tural + -ism.] The doctrine of a, scripturalist ;
literal adberenee to Scripture. Imp. ZHct.
scripturalist (skrip'tu-ral-ist), «. \_< scri2)tural
+ -ist.] One who adiieres literally to the
Scriptures, and makes them the foundation of
all philosophy ; one well versed in Scripture ;
a student of Scripture.
The warm disputes among some critical ScripturaliMs
of those times concerning the Visible Church of Christ
upon Earth.
D^oe. Toot through Great Britain, n. Z14. (Damo.)
scriptnrality (skrip-tu-mrj-ti), n. Scriptural-
ness.
Scripturality is not used by authors of the flrst class.
AusUn Phelpt, Eng. Style, p. %1.
SCriptnrally (skrip'tu-ral-i), adv. In a scrip-
tural manner ; from or in accordance with the
Scriptures. Bailey.
BCriptoralness (skrip'tu-ral-nes), B. Scrip-
tural character or quality. Imp. Diet.
scripture (skrip'tur), n. and a. [< ME. scrip-
ture, scriptour, scryptour, < OF. escripture, es-
eriture, F. ecriiure = Sp. Pg. escritiira = It.
scrittura, a writing, scripture, < L. scriptura, a
writing, written character, a line, composition,
something written, an inscription, LL. (N. T.
and eecl.) scriptura, or pi. scripturte, the writ-
ings contained m the Bible, the Scriptures,
scriptura, a passage in the Bible, ^ seribere,
fut. part, scripturus, write : see script, scribe.']
1. «. 1. A writing; anything written, (at) A
document ; a deed or other record ; a narratire or other
matter committed to writing ; a manuscript or boolt, or
that which it contains.
And many other niarreylles ben there; that it were to
combrous and to long to putten it in tcriphm of Bokea.
MandmUe, TniTels, p. 272.
Uf that Kriptun,
Be as be may, I make of it no cure.
Ctuauxr, Good Women, 1. 1144.
(it) An inscription or snpencription ; a motto or legend ;
the vot) of a ring, or the like.
FleTjmge entrecbangeden hire rynges.
Of which I can noght tellen no teriptm.
Cliaueer, Troilua, lU. I8n».
I will that aconvenyentstoonof marbill andaflatfygtire,
aftyr the tacion of an armyd man, be made and craryn in
the seyd stoon in Uton In memorjrall of my fadyr, John
Kastolf , . . . with a KTiplun aboate the atoon makynge
mencion of the day and yeer of Use oMte.
PcuUm Lettert, A. 464.
2. [cap.] The books of the Old and New Tes-
taments; the Bible: used by way of eminence
and distinction, and often in the plural pre-
ceded by the definite article ; often also Holy
Scripture. See Bible.
Holy tcryptour thus it aeyth
To the that arte of cristen feytb,
** Yfle thou labour, tlion muste etc
That with thi hondes thou donte gete."
Babea Book (E. E. T. S.X p. lilt
nUy Krif^wr spekytb moche of thys Temple whlcfae
war to longe to wryte for this purpose.
Torkingtan, DUrie of Eng. Trarell, p. 71.
All KTipture la given by Inspiration of God, and Is prof-
itable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for Instruc-
tion In rigbteonanen. 2 Tim. ill. 1&
There is not any action that a man ought to do or to
forbear, but th» Seriftttra wDl glTe him a clear precept
SmtOi.
or prohibition for It.
8. A passage or quotation from the Scriptures ;
a Bible text.
How dost tboo nndentand the SerMant The &Tip-
(im says "Adam digged." Skat., Hamlet, t. 1. 41.
4. [rap.] Any sacred writing or book: as, a
catena of Buddhist Scriptures.
Host men do not know that any nation but the Hebrews
hare had a wri|i(ure. 7Aoreau, Walden, p. 116.
Canonical Scilptarea. See emumteal bookt, nodkr ea-
wmieal.
n. a. [cap.] Relating to the Bible or the
Scriptures; scriptural: as, "Scripture history,"
Locke.
Why are Seriftwn maxims put upon oa, witboat taking
notice of Serijture examples? Bp. Atterbmy.
scriptured (skrip'tiird >, a. [< scripture + -ed"^.]
Knip-avi'd ; covered with writing. [Rare.]
Tliose nrriptured flanks it cannot see.
/>. O. JbmetU, The Burden of Nineveh.
Scripture-reader (skrip'tOr-re'd^r), n. An
evangelist of a minor grade who reatls the Bible
in the houses of the poor and ignorant, in hospi-
tals, barracks, etc.
scripturewort (skrip'tur-wfert), n. Same as let-
I'T-hrhrli.
BCripturian (»krip-tii'ri-an), n. [< scripture +
-Kill.] A Bit)licalscholar';'a8cripturist. [Rare.]
Plo. Cursed be he that niakctb debate twlit man and wife.
A*. Oh, rare teripturian ! you hare R«*nle(l up my liiw.
Chapman, liumorons l)ay's Mirth.
341
■K425
SCripturientt (skrip-tu'ri-ent), a. and n. [< LL.
scriptiirieii{t-)s. ppr. of scripturire, desire to
write, desiderative of L. seribere, pp. scriptus,
write: see scribe.] I. a. Having a desire or
passion for writing; having a liking or itch for
authorship.
Here lies the corps of William Prynne — . . .
This grand scripturient paper spiller,
This endless, needless margin filler,
Was strangely tost from post to pillar.
A. Wood, Athense Oxon., 11. 453.
IL ». One who has a passion for writing.
They seem to be of a very quarrelsome humour, and to
have a huge ambition to be esteemed the polemical scrip-
turtentt at the age. Bp. Parker, I'iatonick Philos., p. 76.
SCripturist (skrip'tur-ist), n. [= It. scritturis-
tii ; as scripture + -ist.] One who is versed in
the Scriptures.
Pembroke Hall, . . . noted from the very dawn of the
Reformation for scripturigtg and encouragers of gospel
learning. Ridley, quoted in Blog. Notice of Bradford
KParker Soo., IS&S), n. xvii.
SCritt, n. A Middle English form of script.
SCritchl (skrich), f. i. [A var. of screech, ult.
an assibilated form of scrike : see scrike, shrike^,
shriek.] To screech; shriek.
That dismal pair, the taritching owl
And buzzing hornet ! B. Jonton, Sad Shepherd, i. 2.
On that, the hungry curlew chance to $mteh.
Browning, Sordello.
scritch^ (skrich), w. [< scritch'i-, v.; a var. of
screech, ult. of scrike, shrike, shriek.] A shrill
cry ; a screech.
Perhaps it is the owlet's seritcA. Coleridge, C]uri»M>e\,i.
scritch'- (skrich), n. [< ME. 'scHch, < AS. seric,
a thru.sh : see shrike^. Cf . scritch-owl, sereedi-
iiirl.] A thrush. See screech, 3. [Prov. Eng.]
scrithet. V. i. [E. dial, also scride; < ME. scri-
tlicn, < AS. scrithan = OS. skridan = D. schrijden
= OHG. scritan, MHG. schriten, G. schreiten =
Icel. skridha = 8w. skrida = Dan. skride, move,
stride.] To stride; move forward. Hampole,
Prose Treatises (E. E. T. S.), p. 2, note 3.
SCritoire (skri-twor'), ». A variant of escritoire.
scrivanot, »■ [< It. serirano, a writer, clerk: see
scrivcn.] A writer; clerk; one who keeps ac-
counts.
The captain gane order that I should deliuer all my
mony with the goods Into tlio hands of the aertuano, or
parser of the ship. Uakluyt'e Voyaget, II. 248.
You do not know the quirks of a scriniTto,
A daah undoes a family, a point.
Shirley, The Brothers, iv. 1.
BCrlve (skriv), r. t.; pret. and pp. scrived, ppr.
scriving. [A var. of scribe; cf. descrive, describe.]
If. To write ; descrite.
How roanklnde dooth bigynne
la wondir for to eeryue so.
Bymnt to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. 8.X p. 68.
2. To draw (a line) with a pointed tool: same
as scribe, 2.
When the lines of the sections or frames are accurately
drawn, they are scratched or eeritxd in by a sharp-pointed
toil. TAearb, Naval Arch., { 144.
SCrive-board (sknv'bord), b. In ship-building,
a number of planks clamped edge to edge toge-
ther and p&inted black, on which are marked
with a sharp tool the lines of the sections or
frames of an iron ship, which have been pre-
viously outlined.
SCriveUO (skri-vel'6), n. [Origin obscure.]
An elephant's tusk of less than 20 pounds in
weight. Imp. IHet.
SCrlTent (sknv'n), H. [< ME. 'scriven, scrivein,
< OF. escrirain, F. ^/rirain = Sp. escribano = Pg.
escHvSo = It. scrivano, < ML. scribanus, a writer,
notary,clerk(cf. L.»crifca,a scribe), < h.scribcre,
write: see scribe. Hence scrivener. The word
scriren survives in the surname Scriven.] A
writer; a notary.
Thlae leritieuM . . . aaeweth guode lettre ate glnnynge,
and efterward maketh wycked.
AyetMU of Inwyt (E. E. T. 8.X p. 44.
BCrivent (skriv'n), v. t. and i. [< scriven, n. ; or
< scrivener, regarded as formed with suffix -crl
from a verb: see scrireticr.] To write; espe-
cially, to write with the expansive wordiness
and repetitions characteristic of scriveners or
lawyers.
Here'a a mortgage terieened np to ten skins of parch-
ment, and the kinrs attorney general is content with six
lines. Boger North, Lord Guilford, 11. S02. (Daviei.)
SCrlTener (skriv'ner), n. [Early mod. E. also
scrivenour; < ME. scrirencr, scryrener, serevener,
ekriven^e, with superfluous suffix -ere (E. -ct-i,
■«r3) (as in musicianer, parishioner, etc. ), < »cn'r-
en, a notary: see scriven. Hence the surnames
Scrivener, Scrihner.] 1. A writer ; especially,
a public writer; a notary; specifically, one
scrofula
whose occupation is the drawing of contracts or
other writings.
As God made you a Knight, if he had made you a Serie-
ener, you would haue bene more handsome to colour
Cordouan skinnes then to haue written processe.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 83.
2. One whose business it is to receive money
and place it out at interest, and supply those
who want to raise money on security ; a money-
broker ; a financial agent.
How happy in his low degree ... is he
Who leads a quiet country life, . . .
And from the griping scrivener free !
Vryden, tr. of Horace's Epodes, ii.
Scriveners' cramp or palsy, writers' cramp. See uriter.
SCrivenership (skriv'n6r-shi^), n. [< scrivener
+ -shi}).] The office of a scrivener. Cotgrave.
SCrivenisht, a. and adv. [< ME. scryvenyssh; <
scriven + -i',9Al.] Like a scrivener or notary.
Ne scryvenyuh or craftily thow it write.
Cliaueer, Troilus, ii. 1026.
scriven-liket, a- Like a scrivener.
scrivenourt, ". An obsolete form of scrivener.
scrivenry (skriv'n-ri), «. [< scriven -f -ry. Cf.
OP. escrivainerie (also escrivainie), the office of
a scrivener, < escrivain, a scrivener: see scHven.'}
Scrivenership.
scrobif, «. A Middle English form of scrulA.
SCrob"t, f ■ A Middle English form of scrub^.
scrobe (skrob), n. [< L. scrobis, a ditch, dike,
trench. Hence ult. serohicula, etc., and prob.
ult. screw'^.] In entom.: (a) A groove in the
side of the rostrum in which the scape or basal
joint of the antenna is received, in the weevils
or cureulios. These aerobes may be directed straight
forward, or upward or downward, and thus furnish char-
acters much used in classifying such beetles. (6) A
groove on the outer side of the mandible, more
fuUv called mandibular scrobe.
scrobicula (skro-bik'u-la), n. ; pi. scrobictdte
(-le). [NL.: seescroWcu/ws.] Inro67.,asmooth
space surrounding a tubercle on the test of a
sea-urchin.
scrobicular (skro-bik'u-lflr), a. [< scrobicula
+ -iir^.] Pertaining to oir surrounded by scro-
biciila\ lis tubercles on a sea-urchin.
Scrobicularia (skro-bik-u-la'ri-a), n. [NL., <
L. scruhiculiis, a little ditch: see scrobiculiis.]
In conch., the typical genus of Scrobiculariidie:
same as .irenaria. Schumacher, 1817.
Scrobiculariidie (skro-bik'u-la-ri'i-de), n. pi.
[NL., < ScrnhiciiUirid + -idse.] A family of
tiimyarian bivalves, typified by the genus Scro-
bicularia. They have only one branchial leaf on each
side appeiidiculate behind, large labial palpi, and the
shell telllniform with an external ligament and an in-
ternal cartihige lodged in a special fussa below the urn-
bones. The species mostly inhabit warm or tropical seas.
ScrnbiciUnrin pijjerata is the well-known mud-hen of Eng-
]an<l. Thry iire sometimes called mud-lnaclraK.
Bcrobiculate (skro-bik'u-lat), a. [< NL. "scro-
biculatus, < L. scrobiculus, a little ditch or
trench : see scrobiculus.] In bot. and zool., fur-
rowed or pitted ; having small pits or furrows ;
specifically, in pntom., having well-defined deep
and rounded depressions which are larger than
punctures; foveate.
SCrobiculated (skro-bik'u-la-ted), a. [< scro-
biciilatr -t- -eiP.] Same as scrobiculate.
scrobiculus (skro-bik'u-lus), n. ; pi. scrobiculi
(-11). [NL., < L. scrobiculus, a little ditch or
trench, dim. of scrobis, scrobs, a ditch, trench :
see scrobe.] In anat., a pit or depression; a
fossa.— Scrobiculus cordis, the pit of the stomach :
same as antieardium.
SCrod (skrod), V. t. ; pret. and pp. serodded, ppr.
siTodding. [A var. of shred or shroud^ (AS.
'scrcudan = MD. schrooden, etc.): see shred,
shroud".] To shred ; prepare for cooking by
tearing in small pieces : as, serodded fish.
SCrod (skrod), «. [< scrod, ».] 1. Serodded
fish, or a dish prepared by scrodding fish. —
2. A young codfish, especially one that is split
and fried or boiled. [New Eng.]
Serod is the name for a young codfish split and pre-
pared for boiling. Awer. Angler, XVII. 333.
SCrodgill(8krod'gil),»!. [< scrod + gill^.] An
instniment for taking fish, made of four fish-
hooks with the shanks laid together and the
points projecting at right angles, to be dragged
or jerked through the water; a pull-devil.
scrodgill (skrod'gil), ti. «. [< scrodgill, n.] To
take or catch with a scrodgill.
scrofula (skrof'u-18), n. [Formerly errone-
ously scrophula, also scrofules, scrophules, < F.
scrofules, pi., = Sp. escrifula = Pg. escrofulas =
It. scrofula, scrofola = G. skrofeln = Sw. Dan.
skroflrr, pi., scrofula, < L. scrnfulse, pi., scrofu-
lous swellings, scrofula; perhaps so called from
scrofula
the swollen appearance of the glands, prop. pi.
of 'scrofula, a little sow, dim. of scioj'o. a sow,
so called with ref. to the rooting habit of swine,
lit. a ' digger' ; cf. serobis, a ditch, from the same
root as scriberc, write, orig. scratch : see scrobe,
screw^, etc.] A constitutional disorder, espe-
cially in the young, expressing itself in lym-
phadenitis, especially glandular swellings in the
neck, with a tendency to cheesy degeneration,
inflammations of various joints, mucous mem-
branes, and other structures, together with
other less distinct indications of feeble health.
The inflammations have Iteen shown to be in most cases
tubercular, and due to bacillary invasion. Also called
strutna and kiti(f'^ ecii. See evUi.
scr ofulest, « • i''- [Also erroneously scrophules ;
< F. scrofules, < L. serofulx, scrofulous swell-
ings: see scrofula .1 Scrofulous swellings.
A cataplasme of the leaver and hogs grease incorporat
togither doth resolve the scrophules or swelling kernels
calletl the king's evill. Holland, tr. of Pliny, xxii. 14.
scrofulide (skrof 'u-lid), n. [< F. scrofulide.l
Any affection of the skin regarded as of scrof-
ulous origin.
scrofulitic (skrof-u-lit'ik), a. [< scrofula + -itt^
+ -jc] Scrofulous.
Scrofuloderm (skrof'u-lo-dferm), n. [< scrofula
+ derm.] A skin-lesion regarded as of scrof-
ulous origin.
scrofulous (skrof'u-lus), a. [< F. scrofuleux,
earlier scrophuleux = Sp. Pg. escrofuloso = It.
serofoloso, < NL. "scrofulosus, < L. scrofulm: see
scrofula/] 1. Pertaining to scrofula, or partak-
ing of its nature ; having a tendency to scrof-
ula: as, scro/w^oifcs tumors; a scro/wtoM* habit of
body. — 2. Diseased or affected with scrofula.
Scrofulous persons can never be duly nourished.
Arhuthnot, Aliments.
Scrofulous abscess, suppurative l\mi)hadenitis of chil-
dren, especially in the neck.— Scrofulous bubo, a scrofu-
lous lympluidcnitis— Scrofulous ceratitls, a form of
parenchymatous inflammation of the cornea seen in scrof-
ulous subjects.
scrofulously (skrof'u-lus-li), adv. In a scrofu-
lous manner ; with scrofula.
scrofulousness (skrof 'u-lus-nes), n. Scrofulous
character or condition.
scrog (skrog), «. [Also assibilated shrog; < ME.
scrog, skrogge, shrogge; a var. of scrag^. Cf.
Gael, sgrogag, stunted timber or undergrowth,
sgreag, shrivel, sgreagach, dry, parched, rocky,
etc.; Ir. screag, a rock.] 1. A stunted bush;
also, a tract of stunted bushes, thorns, briers,
etc.; a thicket; underwood.
I cam in by yon greenwud,
And doun amang the scrags.
Jnhnie of Cocldesmuir (Child a Ballads, VI. 18).
At the foot of the moss behind Kirk Yetton (Caer Ket-
ton, wise men say) there is a scroq of low wood and a pool
with a dam for washing sheep. JR. L. Stevenson, Pastoral.
2. A small branch of a tree broken off; broken
boughs and twigs; brushwood.
"Scrogie Touchwood, if you please," said the senior;
"the scrog branch first, for it must become rotten ere it
become touchwood." Scott, St. Sonan's Well, xxxvi.
3. In her., a branch of a tree: a blazon some-
times used by Scottish heralds.
[Scotch and prov. Eng. in all uses.]
scroggy (skrog'i), a. [< ME. scraggy, covered
with underwood or straggling bushes; < scrog
-I- -^1. Ct. scraggy.] 1. Stunted; shriveled. —
2. Abounding with stunted bushes or brush-
wood. [Scotch or prov. Eng. in both uses.]
SCrolar (skro'lar), a. Pertaining to a scroll.
— Scrolar line, a'line lying in a surface, but not in one
tangent plane.
scrolet, «. An obsolete foi-m of scroll.
scroll (skrol), n. [Early mod. E. also scrowl,
scrole, scrolls (also sometimes escroll, after
escrow) ; < ME. *scroUe, scrowle, scrawle, < OF.
escrouelle, escroele, a strip, roll (cf. escrouete,
escrowete, escroete, f ., escrouet, m., a roll, scroll),
dim. of escroue, escroe, a strip, scroll : see scrow,
of which scroll is thus ult. a dim. form.] 1. A
roll of parchment or paper, or a writing formed
into a roll ; a list or schedule.
The heavens shaU be rolled together as a scroU.
Isa. xxxiv. 4.
Here is the scroll of every man's name.
Shak., M. N. D., i. 2. 4.
2. In a restricted sense, a draft or outline
of what is afterward to be written out in full :
also used attributively : as, a scroll minute. — 3.
.An ornament of a spiral form ; an ornament or
appendage resembling a partly unrolled sheet
of paper, (a) In arch., any convolved or spiral orna-
ment : speciflcally, the volute of the Ionic and Corinthian
capitals. See cuts under lineTi-scroll and Vitruvian. (b)
Thecurvedheadof instruments of the violin class,in which
are inserted the pins for tuning the strings, (c) Same as
seroUhead. (d) A flourish appended to a person's signa-
Hydraulic Scroll.
a, case, mclosinj; center-discharge turbine
water-wheel ; A. openings for inflow of water ;
r, c', gates for adtnitting water to central
whcei-space rf ithe wheel is not shown);
■ gate-shafts: /, shaft by which the
two gates are operated simultaneously and
equally from
gate-shafts.
I -gearing at the top of the
5426
ture or sign manual, (c) In law, a spiral or seal-like char-
acter, usutdly in ink, permitted in some states to be atiixed
to a signature to serve the purpose of a seal. (/) Any or-
nament of curved interlacing lines.
A large plain Silver hilted Sword with Scrowls and gilt
in part^ with a broad gutter'd hollow Blade gilt at the
shoulder. Quoted in Ashton's Social Life in Reign of Queen
[Anne, I. 157.
(g) In furniture and woodwork, a carved volute or spiral,
especially such an ornament forming the arm of a sofa,
rocking-chair, or the like, {h) The ribbon-like label pro-
ceeding from the mouths of speakers in old tapestries
and illustrations, (t) In her., the ribbon-like appendage
to a crest or es-
cutcheon on
which the motto
is inscril)ed. Also
escroll.
4. In hydraul.,
a spiral or con-
verging aju-
tage or water-
way placed
around a tur-
bine or other
reaction wa-
ter-wheel to
equalize the
rate of flow of
water at all
points around
the circumfer-
ence, by means
of the progres-
sive decrease
in the capacity
of the waterway. E. H. Knight. — 5. In geom.,
a skew surface, or non-developable ruled sur-
face.— 6. The mantling or lambrequin of a tilt-
ing-helmet. [Rare.] — 7. In aj««*., a turbinate
bone ; a scroll-bone.
scroll (skrol), V. [< .scroll, n.] I. tra7is. 1. To
write down in a scroll or roll of parchment or
paper; commit to writing; inscribe. — 2. To
draft; write in rough outline. See scroll, n., 2.
Ill scroll the disposition in nae time.
Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, viii.
3. To roll up or form into a scroll. — 4. To or-
nament with scrolls or scrollwork.
II. intrans. To roll or curl up.
When gum mucilage is used, the addition of a very lit-
tle glyceiine will make it hold better, and diminish its ten-
dency to separate or scroll. Lea, Photography, p. 4"28.
scroll-bone (skrorbon), «. In anat., a scroll,
or scrolled bone. The principal scroll-bones
are the ethmoturbinals, maxilloturbinals, and
sphenoturbinals.
scroll-chuck (skrol'ehuk), n. A form of lathe-
chuck in which the dogs are caused to approach
or recede from the center simultaneously by
the revolution of a grooved scroll.
scrolled (skrold), p. a. [i scroll + -ed"^.] 1.
Consisting of scrolls ; decorated over much of
the surface with scrolls. — 2. In anat., turbi-
nated, as a bone; scroll-like.
scroll-gear (skrol'ger), n. See scroll-wheel.
scroll-Bead (skrol'hed), n. An ornamental
piece at the bow of a vessel, finished off with
carved work in the form of a volute or scroll
turned outward. .Also called billet-head and
scroll.
scroll-lathe (skrol'laTH), n. Alathe especially
adapted for spiral work, or objects of scroll-
shaped outline, as piano-legs and balusters.
scroll-saw (skrol'sa), n. A saw or sawing-ma-
chine for cutting thin boards, veneers, orplates
into ornamental scrollwork, or for preparing
wood for inlaying. The smaller foot-power machines
consist of narrow saw-blades fitted to a spring frame, and
operated by a treadle. The larger machines include both
reciprocating saws or jig-saws and band-saws. In all the
saw passes through a hole in the table, and the material,
laid on the table, is pushed against the saw. See cut under
hand-saw.
SCroU-'Wheel (skrol'hwel), n. A cog-wheel in
the form of a scroll, the effect of
which is to cause the gearing to
rotate more slowly when engaged
with its main parts than when it
is working in the outer parts. It
is used in some machines, as harvesters,
as a means of converting rotary into re-
ciprocal motion by rapid reversals of the
motion of the scroll-wheel.
scrollwork (skrol'werk), n. Or-
namental work of any kind in
which scrolls, or lines of scroll-
like character, are an element.
The name is commonly given to ornamen-
tal work cut out in fanciful designs from
thin boards or plates with a scroll-saw.
Scrooge (skroj), v. t. Same as
scrouge.
The Inflorescence of Higwort {Scro-
phularia ttodosa). a, the flower ; *, the
irui
fruit ; c, a seed ; al, a leaf.
rt, scroll -wheel,
intermeshingwith
the pinion />,
which, sliding by
a feather on the
shaft, c, imparts
a gradually de-
creasing velocity
to the latter as *
is moved toward
the center of n.
Scrophularinese
scroop (skrop), r. i. [Imitative. Cf. hoop"^,
U'lioop, roo2).] To emit a harsh or grating
sound ; grate ; creak.
scroop (skrop), n. [< scroop, v.] 1. A harsh
sound or cry.
This man could mimic every word and scroop and shout
tliat might be supposed proper to such a scene [the pull-
ing of teeth]. Dickens, Household Words, XXX. 139.
Specifically — 2. The crisp, crunching sound
emitted when a bundle of silk yarn is tightly
twisted and pressed together.
scrophulat, «. A former erroneous spelling of
.'•■crofiila.
Scrophularia (skrof-u-la'ri-a), n. [NL. (Ki-
vinus, 1690), so called because reputed a rem-
edy for scrofula, or perhaps on account of the
knots on the roots resembling scrofula; < L.
scrofulse, scrofula: see ,<<crofula.] A genus of
gamopetalous plants, type of the order Scrophu-
InrinciB, belonging
to the tribe Chelo-
nea:. it is character-
ized by flowers with a
deeply ttve.cleft ca-
lyx, a nearly globose
corolla with four
short, flat, erect lobes
and one spreading in
front, four stamens
with one-celled an-
thers, and often a
scale-like staminode
representing a fifth
stamen. The fruit is
a rigid two-celled sep-
ticidal capsule, round-
ish and commonly
sharp-pointed, con-
taining vei-y numer-
ous wrinkled seeds.
There are about 120
species, chiefly Old
W^orld plants of the
MediteiTanean re-
gion, also extending
widely through the
nortli temperate zone,
but very sparingly in
America, where 3 8i)e-
cies occur in the west-
ern United States, one
of whicli, S. nodosa,
flgwort, extends to the
Atlantic and to Canada. They are smooth or bristly herbs,
sometimes shrubby, and often fetid. They bear leaves
which are chiefly opposite, and are often covered with
pellucid dots, and loose cymes of greenish, purplish, or
yellow flowers disposed in a terminal thyrsus, 'i'he spe-
cies are known as figwort, especially S. aqvatica of Eng-
land, also called watcr-betony, bidlu'ort, and bishop's-leaves,
and S. nodosa, a widely diffused species of Europe and
America, used formerly in medicine in the treatment of
scrofula, and occasionally still in making ointments for
ulcers, etc. See broumwort.
Scrophulariaceae (skrof-u-la-ri-a'se-e), n. pl.
[NL. (Lindley, 1835), < Scrophularia -^■ -acese.]
Same as Scrophularinem.
scrophulariaceous (skrof-u-la-ri-a'shius), a.
Same as scroph>iliiri)ieous.
SCrophularin (skrof'u-la-rin), n. [< Scrophu-
laria + -!h2.] a proximate principle found in
Scrophularia nodosa.
Scrophularinese (skrof"ii-la-rin'e-e),«.j9/. [NL.
(Bentham, 1835), < Scrophularia -f -ineee.] An
important order of gamopetalous plants, of the
cohort Personates in the series Bicnrpellatse,
distinguished by a completely two-celled ovary
with its plaeentse on the middle partition, and
by numerous seeds with fleshy albumen. The
flowers have usually a persistent flve-lobed calyx, a per-
sonate and irregularly infljlted two-lipped corolla, four
didynamous stamens liorne on the corolla-tube, often with
a staminode representing a fifth stamen, and an entire and
sessile ovary which becomes a capsule opening by lines or
terminal chinks, or rarely succulent and forming a beiry.
The order includes about 2,000 species, of Ifiti genera
and 12 tribes, by many grouped in 3 series — the Pseu-
dosdanete, with alternate leaves and flattish flowers, as
the muUen, transitibnal to the Solanacese or nightshade
family ; the typical section, the Antirrhiiiidese.sm the snap-
dragon, with opposite lower leaves and the upper lip ex-
terior in the bud; and the lihinanthideie, including the
foxglove and Gerardia, with various leaves and the lower
lip exterior. The species are mainly herbs — a few, as
Paulownia, becoming trees. Their leaves are entire or
toothed, seldom lobeii, and always without stipules. The
inflorescence is either perfectly centripetal, commonly
racemose, or primarily centripetal, the branches iiowever
bearing centrifugal clusters, either axillaiy or forming to-
gether a thyrsus. In some exceptional genera the corolla
is spreading and nearly flat (see Veronica, Verbascinn, Li-
mosella); in many others tlie typical personate form be-
comes altered to a funnel-shaped or bell-shaped body, or
to an inflated pouch or sac, often with a conspicuous spm-.
The order is well distributed through all parts of the
world : it is most frequent in temperate and montane re-
gions, but is also found within both arctic and tropical
climates. About 50 genera are peculiar to America, over
half of which belong to North America only ; abtmt 23 are
conflned to South Africa, 15 to Asia, and the others are
mostly more widely diffused ; 38 genera and about 340 spe-
cies occur in the United States— one, Veronica, extending
within the arctic circle. Most species are acrid and bit-
Scrophularineae
tar, ftnd of suspicions or actively poisonous properties;
many, u Serophidaria (tlie type), Franciscea^ etc., yield
nmediea formerly or at present in repute. Several gen-
en, as Buchnera and Gerardia. show a marked tendency to
parasitism, dry black, resist cultivation, are in various spe-
cies leafless, and connect with the parasitic order Oroban-
ehacex. Others yield some of the most ornamental flow-
ers of the garden. For the priiicipal types of tribes, see
Verixueum, Calceolaria, Antxrrhinumy Chelone, Gratiola,
Digitalis, Gerardia, and Euphrasia. See also Collinsia,
CatiUeia, Herpestis, Maurandia, Melampjfrum, Mivixdus,
llymtUhes, Peiilstemon, Ptdieularis, Hhinanthus, ScHkoI-
bea, and Sibthorpia.
scrophularineons (skrof'ti-la-rin'e-us), a. Of,
pertaiuing to, or characterizing the iScrophu-
lariiHse (Scrophulariacesp),
SCrophnlarosmin (skrof'u-la-ros'min), n. [<
Scrnphulitria + osmium + -Vn^.] A principle
found by Walz in Scrophiilaria nodosa.
scrophulest, «• pf- See scrofules.
scrota, " ■ Plural of scrotum.
scrotal (skro'tal), «. [=Y. scrotal; &s scrotum
+ -<(/.] Of or pertaining to the scrotum. —
Long scrotal nerve, the superficial perineid and the
inferior pudendal.— Posterior scrotal nerve, the deep
perineal branch of the pudic. — Scrotal hernia, inguinal
hernia into the scrotum. — Scrotal hypospadia, a form
of arrested development in which the two sides of the
scrotum are not united, but form as a cleft, into which
opens the urethra.
SCTOtiform (skr6'ti-f6rm), a. f< L. scrotum,
scrotum, + forma, form.] In hot., formed like
a double bag, as the nectary in plants of the
genus Satyrium.
scrotitis (skro-ti'tis), n. [NL., < scrotum +
-I'l.-.J Inflammation of the scrotum.
scrotocele (skro'to-sel), n. [< L. scrotum, scro-
tutn. + Gr. K^>.);, a tumor.] A scrotal hernia.
scrotum (skro'tum), n.; pi. »<TOf<i (-ta). [NL.,
< L. scrotum, scrotum, perhaps a transposed
form, < scortum, a skin, a hide, prob. akin to
cnrium, skin, hide : see coriaceous, corium.'] The
purse-like tegumentary investment of the testes
and part of the spermatic cord: the cod. The
■crotani la a double bag, whose two carities are separated
by the septum scroti, which is Indicated on the sanace by
a median seam or raphe. It consists of two layers — the
skin, or inteipimentary layer, and the contractile layer, or
dartos. The integument Is rery thin, brownish, provided
with hairs and sebaceous follicles, and more or less corru-
gated or rugose, owing to the contraction of the dartos,
which Is a Tsscalar layer containing a large amount of
non-striated muscular tlasne. All mammals whose testes
leave the abdominal cavity have a acrotiim, bat In posi-
tion, as well as in other particulars. It differs much In dif-
ferent cases. It Is perlnnl, as in man, monkeys, dogs, etc ;
or inguinal, as In the horse, bull, etc. ; or abdominal, as In
marsupials. In the position of the mamiwmr poach of the
female. It may be sessile and little protuboant, or pen-
dulous by a narrow neck, as In the boll, marsupials, etc.
— Baphe of the fcrotom. See raphe.
scrouge (skrouj), V. t. ; pret. and pp. serouged,
ppr. scriiuginq. [Also Scrooge, serudge, early
mod. E. also scruze. scruse ; mal. forms, tenm-
nally assibilated, of 'scrug, shrug, with sense
partly imported from croirrfl: see shrug. 2 To
squeeze ; press ; cro*d. [Prov. Eng. and tl. S.]
Yon know whati am — a good, stiddy-golng, hard-work-
ing farmer, shore to get n^r sheer of what 's to be had In
the world without aenmauw anybody else.
S. ^mUion, The Qrayaona, xnlU.
scronger (skrou'jfer), n. One who scrouges;
figuratively, something big; a whopper; a
screamer. [Slang, U.S.]
scrow (skron), n. [< ME. scrorc, serowe, tkrowe,
scrour, < OF. encrouf, escroe (ML. reflex escroa),
f., a strip, slip of paper or parchment, a label,
list, re^ster, roll, schedule, brief, warrant, a
jail-register, also escrou, m., F. ecrou, m., a jail-
register; < MD. schroode, a strip, shred, slip of
paper, = AS. scredde, a strip, piece, shred : see
shred and screed, of which »cr«ic is thus a dou-
blet. Cf. Icel. skratha, an old scroll, an old
book.] If. A strip or roll of parchment or pa-
per; a scroll; a writing.
This tcrnwe is mad only for the Informadon of the
worthy and worshipfull lordes the arbitrores.
Pailm Letters, I. 18.
2. Curriers' cuttings or clippings from hides,
as the ears and other redundant parts, used for
making glue.
BCrowl (skroul), n. [A var. of scro}l.'\ If.
Same as scroll. — 2. A thin incrustation, some-
times calcareous and sometimes silicious, upon
the wall of a lode : so called as peeling off like
a scroll. R.Hunt. [Cornwall, Eng.]
scroylef (skroil), n. [Appar. orig. applied to a
scrofulous person; < OF, eseroeUes,eserouelles,
ecroucllcs (ML. reflex scroella), < ML. scrafellte,
scrofula, dim. of L. scrofula, pi., gcromlous
swellings: sec scrofula.'] A fellow; especially,
a mean fellow; a wretch.
These seroyUa of Anglers float yoa, kings.
Shai., K. John, 11. 1. 873.
'^27
I cry thee mercy, my good scroyle.
B. Janson, Poetaster, It. 1.
scrubl (skrub), n. and a. [< ME. "scrob, assibi-
lated shrob, schrub, < AS. scrob = D. dial, skrub,
a shrub, = Norw. shrubba, the comel-tree : see
shrub, the common form of the same word.
Hence ult. scrub^. In def. 4 (and perhaps 3)
from the verb scrK62.] I_ n. 1. Abush; shrub;
a tree or shrub seemingly or really stunted. —
2. Collectively, bushes ; brushwood ; under-
wood ; stunted forest.
He . . . threw himself on the heathery scrub which met
the shingle. T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, IL 8.
Twas his boast
That through thickest of scrub he could steer like a shot.
And the black horse was counted the best on the coast.
A. L. Gordan, From the Wreck.
3. A worn-out brush; a sttinted broom. Imp.
Diet. — 4. One who labors hard and lives mean-
ly; a drudge; a mean or common fellow.
They are esteemed scrubs and fools by reason of their
carriage. Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 188.
We should go there in as proper a manner as possible;
not altogether like the scrubs about us.
Goldsmith, Vicar, x.
5. A worn-out or worthless horse, ox, or other
animal, or one of a common or inferior breed.
Observation, and especially conversation with those
farmers who get on the trains, convinces me that raising
scrubs can be set down against the East rather than against
the middle section, or even the West
Sci. Amer., N. S., LV. S7S.
6. Anything small and mean. [Colloq.]
H. a. Of inferior breed or stunted growth ;
ill-conditioned; hence, scraggy; shabby; mean;
scurs-y ; contemptible ; small.
With a dozen large vessels my vault shall be stor'd ;
No little scrub joint shall come on my board. Sursfl.
He finds some sort of scrub acquaintance.
Suift, Journal to !<telta, xxrlli.
With much difficulty we got together a scrub wagon
team of four as unkempt, dejected, and vlcious-looking
broncos as ever stuck fast In a quicksand.
T. RooteveU, The Century, XXXVL 200.
Scrub Urcli. See WrcA.— Scrub crew, nine, etc., in
contests or games, a crew, nine, or the lilve. the members
of which have not trained lieforehand.— Scrub race or
game, a race or game for which the contestants have not
trained beforehand ; an impnjmptu race or game entered
into for amusement, not for a prize.
BCmb^ (skrub), r. ; pret. and pp. scrubbed, ppr.
scrubbing. [< ME. 'scrubben, scrobbcn = D.
tchrohben, scrub, wash, rub, chide (>G. schrtib-
hen, scour, scrub), = Dan. skrubbe = Sw. skrub-
ba, rub, scrub (cf. Norw. sK-rubb, a scrubbing-
brush), orig. to rub with a scrub or small bush,
i. e. a handful of twigs : see scrulA, shrub.
Cf. hroom^, a brush, likewise named from the
plant.] I. trans. To rub hard, either with a
Drush or other instrument or a cloth, or with
the bare hand, for the purpose of cleaning,
scouring, or making bright; cleanse, scour, or
polish by nibbing with something rough.
We lay here all the day, and sertibb'd our new Bark, that
if ever we should be chiMd we might the better escape.
iSampler, Voyages, 1. 4.
Now Moll' had whlrl'd bar mop with dextrous airs,
Prepar'd to ier%it the entry and the stairs.
Swift, Homing.
n. intrans. 1. To cleanse, scour, or polish
things by rubbing them with something rough
or coarse; rub hard. — 2. To drudge; grub: as,
to scrub hard for a living. [Colloq.J
SCmb^ (skrub), n. [< scrub'^, v.] A scrubbing,
scrubbed (staiib'ed), a. [< scrub'^ + -edP.]
.Same as scrubby.
A Utile scrubbed hoy.
No higher than thyself.
Shot., M. of v., T. 1. 182.
scrubber^ (skmb'^r), n. [< scrub^ + -erl.] An
animal which breaks away from the herd, and
runs wild in the scrub, generally coming out at
night to feed in the open ; in the plural, scrub-
cattle. [Australian.]^
The Captain was getting in the scrubbers, cattle which
had been left, under the not very careful rule of the Dono-
vans, to run wUd In the mountains.
H. KinfftUy, Oeollry Hamlyn, xxix. (Davies.)
scrubber^ (skrub'^r), «. [= D. sehrobber, a rub-
ber, scraper, scrub-brush; as scrub^ + -«■!.]
1. One who scrubs ; specifically, one of a scrub-
gang aboard ship. — 2. A scrubbing-brush.
— 3. An apparatus for freeing coal-gas from
tarry impurities and ammonia. It consists of a
tower filled with loose materials over which water trickles.
The gas Is caused to rise through the falling water, and is
purified during the ascent. The tar-impregnated water is
subsequently mated to recover the ammonia.
4. In leather-manuf., a machine for washing
leather after it comes from the tan-pits.
scrubbing (skrub'ing), ». [Verbal n. of scrub'^,
v.] A cleansing or scouring accomplished b.y
scruff
hard rubbing, as with a brush or something
rough ; a scrub.
The floor was yellow and shining from immemorial
tcrubbini/s. Harper's Mag., LXXX. 282.
scrubbing-board (skrub'ing-bord), n. A cor-
rugated board on which clothes are scrubbed
in the course of washing; awash-board.
Her great black, muscular arms drooped towards the
scrubbing-board that reclined in the tub.
The Century, XXXVIII. 84.
scrubbing-brush (skrub'ing-brush), n. Abrush
with stiff, short bristles for cleaning wood-
work, or the like, with water and soap, and
sometimes sand.
scrub-bird (skrub'b^rd), n. A bird of the fam-
ily Atrichiidee (ox Atriehornithidm) : so called be-
cause it inhabits the dense scrub of Australia.
Scniti-bird (Atrichia or Atrithornis ru/isceni).
The best-known is A. daviosa of western Australia ; A.ru-
/escens has been lately described by Ramsay, from Rich-
mond river. New South Wales. See Atrichia. Also called
brush-bird.
scrub-boxwood (skmb'boks'wud), w. See Hy-
miiKiiitlicrti.
scrub-broom (skrub'brom), n. A coarse broom
used on board ships for scrubbing decks.
scrubby (skrub'i), o. [< scrwftl -I- -yl.] 1. Of
inferior breed or stunted growth ; stunted ;
hence, small; shabby; contemptible; mean:
as, a scrubby cur ; a scrubby tree.
I could not expect to be welcome In such a smart place
as that — poor scrubby midshipman as I am.
Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, xxr.
2. Covered with scrub or underwood: as,
scrubby land.
scrub-cattle (skrub'kat'l), ». Cattle that stray
from the herds and run wild in the scrub ;
scrubbers. [Australian.]
scrub-gang (skrub'gang), «. Sailors engaged
in cleaning or dressing down the decks.
scrub-grass, scrubby-^ass (skrub'gr&s, sknib'-
i-gras), n. The scouring-rush. [Prov. Eng.]
scrub-oak (skrub'6k),n. A name of three Tow
American oaks, (a) Quercus Catesbai of the south-
eastern United States, a small tree useful chiefly for fuel.
Also called Turlcey oak and btack-jack. (6) Q. undulata,
var. GambeUii, of the Rocky Mountain region southward :
sometimes a tree over 40 feet high, often a low shrub
spreading by underground shoot^ and forming dense
thickets, (c) The black scnib-oak, Q. Uic\folia, a straggling
bush found on sandy barrens from New England to Ken-
tucky. Also called bear-oak.
scrub-pine (skrub'pin), n. Seepine^.
scrub-rider (skrub ri'd^r), ». One accustom-
ed to ride through the scnib; specifically, a
rancher who rides out in search of scrub-cattle.
[Australian.]
A favourite plan among the bold scrub-riders.
A. C. Grant, Bush Life in (Jueensland, I. 278.
scrub-robin (skmb'rob'in), w. A bird of the
genus Drymodes (Drymaoedus), inhabiting the
Australian scrub. Four species are described.
[Australian.]
scrubstone (skrub'ston), n. [< scrub^ + stone.]
A species of caleiferous sandstone, used in some
localities for scrubbing stone steps, flagstones,
etc. [Prov. Eng.]
scrub-turkey (skrub'tdr'ki), n. A megapod or
mound-bird. See cut under megapod.
Look at this immense mound, a scrub turkey's nest!
thirty or forty lay their eggs in It.
A. C. Grant, Bush Life in Queensland, I. 214.
SCrubwood (skmb'wud), n. A small composite
tree. Cnmmidendron rugosum, of St. Helena.
serudge (skruj), ». t. Same as scrouge.
scruffi (skruf), H. Same as scurfs.
scruff- (skruf), n. Same as shruff.
scruff'' (skruf), «. [Also skruff; variant (with
intrusive r) of scuff, ult. of scuft: see scuff^,
scmff
scufW] The nape of the neck ; the nape ; tech-
nically, the nucna or cenTX.
He 's what I call a real gentleinan. He says if I ever go
to him tipsy to draw, and says it quite solemn like, he'll
take me by the scmff ol the neck and kick me out.
Mayheic, London Labour and London Poor, II. 335.
"She'd take your honour's fcruff" said he,
"And pitch you over to Bolong."
W. S. Gilbert, Babette's Love.
SCrufl^(skriif' i),o. [Avar, of SOI//)/; cf.«cr«/l.]
Same as scurfy. [Obsolete or colloq.]
The seroent goes to fenell when he would clear his sight,
or cast oil his old gcntffy skin to wear a new one.
Hotrell, Parly of Beasts, p. 78. (Domes.)
The sheep [in South Africa) becomes scruffy and ema-
ciated. U. S. Com. Hep., No. IviiL (1886X p. 160.
scrummage (skmm'aj), n. Same as scrimmage.
[Prov. Eng.]
scrumptious (skrump'shus), a. [Perhaps <
'scrumpti(on) for scrimpti(pn) + -oiis, simu-
lating a L. origin.] 1. Fine; nice; particu-
lar; fastidious. [Slang.]
Times are mopish and norly. I don't mean to be
scrumptimu about it. Judge ; but I do want to be a man.
S. Judd, Margaret, ii. 7.
Bethought his "best hat" would be "more scrump-
tious," and he shuffled off to bring it.
The Century, XXXVIII. 673.
2. Delightful; first-rate: &», scrumptiou* wea-
ther. [Slang.]
And we've got all the farther end of the wing down
stairs — the garden bedrooms ; you've no idea how scrump-
tious it is I Mrs. Whitney, Leslie Goldthwaite, vi.
scrunch (skrunoh), V. [A var. of scranek,
scraunch, ult., with unorig. prefixed «-, of
craunch, crunch : see scranch, craunch, crunch.']
1, iratis. 1. To crush, as with the teeth; crunch;
hence, to grind or keep down. [Colloq.]
It's the mme . . . with the footmen. I have found
out that you must either scrunch them or let them scrunch
you. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, iii. 6.
2. To squeeze; crush. [Oolloq.]
I packed my shirt and coat, which was a pretty good
one, right over my ears, and then scruntcTted myself into a
door-way, and the policeman passed by four or five times
without seeing on me.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II. 666.
H. intraiis. To crunch; make a crushing,
crunching noise. [Colloq.]
We boys clapped our hands and shouted, '* Hurrah for
old Heber ! " as his load of magniflcent oak, well-bearded
with gray moss, came scrunching into the yard.
H. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 480.
scrunch (skrunch), w. l<. scrunch, v."] A harsh,
crunching sound. [Colloq.]
At each step there is a scrunch of human bones.
FortnighUy Rev., N. S., XLIII. 627.
scruplei (skrS'pl), n. [< OF. "scruple, scriipulc,
F. scrupulc = 8p. escrtipulo = Pg. escrupulo,
escrupolo = It. scrupolo, scrupulo = D. scrupcl
= G. Dan. Sw. skrupel, a scruple of conscience,
in OF. and Olt. also lit. a sharp stone, < L. scru-
pultis, uneasiness of mind, trouble, anxiety,
doubt, scruple, lit. a small rough or sharp stone
(so only in a LL. grammarian), dim. of scru-
pus, a rough or sharp stone, also fig. anxiety,
doubt, scruple; cf. Gr. oKvpog, chippings of
stone, (vp6v, a razor, = Skt. kshura, a razor.
Cf. seriqilc^.'] Perplexity, trouble, or uneasi-
ness of conscience; hesitation or reluctance
in acting, arising from inability to satisfy con-
science, or from the difficulty of determining
what is right or expedient; doubt; backward-
ness in deciding or acting.
Amongest Christians there is no warre so instifled but
in the same remayneth some scruple.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1677% p. 67.
I have only err'd, but not
With the least scruple of thy faith and honour
To me. Shirley, Traitor, i. 1.
A man without truth or humanity may have some strange
scruples about a trifle. Macaulay, Hallam's Const. Hist,
To make scruple, to hesitate ; be reluctant on conscien-
tious grounds ; dout>t, or have compunction of conscience.
Ceesar, when he went first into Gaul, made no scruple to
profess "that he had rather be first in a village than
second at Rome."
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 342.
Some such thing
Cesar makes scruple of, but forbids it not
B. Jonson, Sejanus, iv. 6.
Then said Matthew, I made the scruple because I a
while since was sick with eating of fruit.
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 305.
To stand on scruple, to hesitate on punctilious grounds.
I had made up my mind to lift up the latch, and to walk
in freely, as I would have done in most other houses, but
stood on scruple with Evan Thomas.
R. D. Blackmore, Maid of Sker, vi.
BCmple^ (skro'pl), V. ; pret. and pp. scrupled, ppr.
scrupling. [< scrwpfcl, «.] I. «« iraws. To have
scruples ; be reluctant as regards action or de-
5428
cision; hesitate about doing a thing; doubt;
especially, to have conscientious doubts.
But surely neither a father nor a sister will scruple in a
case of this kind. Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xviii.
= Syn. Scruple, Hesitate, Waver. We waver through ir-
resolution, and hesitate through fear, if only the fear of
making a mistake. Scruple has tended more and more to
limitation to a reluctance produced by doubt as to the
right or the propriety of the thing proposed.
II. trans. To have scruples about; doubt;
hesitate with regard to; question; especially,
to have conscientious doubts concerning : chief-
ly with an infinitive as object (now the only
common use).
Some scrupled the warrantableness of the course, seeing
tlie major party of the church did not send to the churches
for advice. Winthrop, Hist. New England, II. a38.
He [David] scrupled the killing of God's anointed ; Must
the People therefore scruple t<j condemn their own anoint-
ed 1 Hilton, Ans. to Salmasius.
scruple^ (skro'pl), «. [< ME. 'scruple, scriple,
< OF. 'scruple, 'scriple, scrupule, scriptule = Sp.
escrtipulo = Pg. escrupulo, escrupolo = It. scru-
polo, scrupulo, Olt. also scrittulo = D. scrupel =
&. Sw. Dan. skrupel, a scruple (weight or mea-
sure), < L. scrupulus, generally in neut., scru-
pulum, more commonly scripulum (sometimes
scriptulum, scriptlum, as if < scrihere, pp. scrip-
tus, write, like Gr. ypafijia, a gram, < yp6.(peiv,
write), the smallest division of weight, the 24th
part of an ounce, a scruple, also the 24th part
of an uncia of land, the 24th part of an hour,
any very small measure ; usually identified with
L. scrupulus, a small stone (see scruple'^), but
by some referred, as 'a part cut off,' directly to
y skar, cut : see shear.'] 1 . A unit of weight, the
third part of a dram, being ^ ounce in apothe-
caries' weight, where alone it is now used by
English-speaking people: this is 20 grains (=
1.296 grams). With the ancient Romans a scruple
was ,1, ounce or „Jb pound (= 1.137 grams), and thence
jJh of anything duodecimally subdivided, as a jiigerum
or acre, a heredium or lot of land, a sexiarius or measure
of capacity. The scruple is denoted now, as anciently,
by the character 9.
Wrynge oute the myrte and dense it ; put therein
A scriple of foil and halt a scriple of fyn
Saffron. PaUadius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. !i9.
2. A small fraction. Specifically— (a) One sixtieth ;
a minute — the expressions /irst, second, and third scruple
being used for the first, second, and third power of one
sixtieth.
As touching the Longitude of this city, it is 2.5 Degrees
and 62 Scruples : and for the Latitude, it is 52 Degrees and
26 Scruples. Holland, tr. of Camden, p. 568. (Davies.)
(6) Eighteen seconds of time.
Sir Christopher Heydon, the last great champion of this
occult science [astrology!, boasted of possessing a watch
so exact in its movements that it would give him with un-
erring precision, not the minute only, but the very scruple
of time. Southcy, The Doctor, Ixxxvi.
(c) One twelfth of an inch ; aline, (d) One tenth of a geo-
metrical inch, (e) A digit ; the twelfth part of the sun's
or moon's diameter.
Hence, figuratively — 3. A small part; a little
of anything, chiefly in negative plirases : some-
times confused with scruple'^.
Nature never lends
The smallest scniple of her excellence
But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines
Herself the glory of a creditor.
Shak., M. forM., i. 1. 38.
Scruples of emergence. Same as scruples of incidence,
except that it refers to the end of an eclipse, not the
beginning.— Scruples of half duration, the arc of the
moon's path from the beginning to the middle of an
eclipse. The early astronomers also spoke of scrupula
morie dimidise, being the same thing for the total pliase.
— Scruples of Incidence, the arc of the moon's path
from its beginning to enter the earth's umbra to its being
completely within it.
scruplenesst (skro'pl-nes), n. Scrupulousness.
Tu.'i.'scr.
SCrupler (skro'plfer), «. [< scruple^, v., + -erl.]
One who scruples; a doubter; one who hesi-
tates.
Away with those nice scruplcrs.
Bp. Hall, Bemains, p. 295.
scrupulist (skro'pu-list), n. [< L. scrupulus, a
scruple (see scruple'^), + -ist.] One who doubts
or scruples ; a serupler. Shaftcshury. [Rare.]
scrupulize (skro'pu-liz), )). t. and i. ; pret. and
pp. scrupulized, ppr. scrtipuUcing. [< L. scru-
pulus, a scruple, + -ire.] To scruple. [Rare.]
Other articles that eyther are or may be so scrupulized.
Bp. Mountagu, Appeal to Csesar, xviii.
scrupulosity (skro-pii-los'i-ti), n. [< L. scru-
pulosita(t-)s, < scrupulosus, scrupulous: see
scrupulous.'] Scrupulousness ; especially, over-
scrupulousness.
scrupulous (skro'pu-lus), a. [= D. skrtqnileus
= G. Bw. Dan. skrupulos, < OF. (and F.) scru-
puleux = Sp. Pg. escrupuloso = It. scrupoloso,
t h. scrupulosus, nice, exact, careful, full of
scrutine
scruples, scrupulous, < scruj^ulus, a scruple : see
scruple'^.] 1. Inclined to scniple ; hesitating to
determine or to act ; cautious fi'om a fear of en'-
ing; especially, having scruples of conscience.
Abusing their liberty and freedom to the offence of their
weak brethren, which were scrupulous. Hooker.
For your honest Man, as I take it, is that nice scrupu-
lous conscientious Person who will cheat no Body but
himself. Congreve, Double- Dealer, ii. 8.
The Italians are so curious and scrupulous . . . that
they will admit no stranger within the wals . . . except
he bringeth a bill of health. Coryat, Crudities, I. 73.
Yet, though scrupulous in most things, it did not go
against the consciences of these good brothers to purchase
smuggled articles. Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, iii.
2t. Given to making ob.jections; captious.
Equality of two domestic powers
Breeds scrupulous faction.
Shak., A. and C, i. a 48.
3t. Nice; doubtful.
If your waiTC had ben upon Jerusalem, it were to be
holden for iust, but for that it is upon Marsillius, alway
we hold it for scrupulous.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 66.
4. Exact; precise; rigorous; punctilious.
William saw that he must not think of paying to the
laws of Scotland that scru2>ulom respect which he had
wisely and rigliteously paid to the laws of England.
Macaulay, H ist. Eng. , xiii.
A diligent and scrupulous adherence to approved mod-
els is, therefore, for most persons, not only the best lesson
to leiirn, but the only lesson they are able to learn.
F. Hall, Mod. Eng., p. SO.
Terrace, walks, and flower beds were kept in scrupulous
order. Froude, Two Chiefs of Dunboy, L
scrupulously (skro'pu-lus-li), adv. In a scru-
pulous manner.
scrupulousness (skro'pu-lus-nes), «. 1. Scru-
pulous character or disposition ; conscientious
regard for duty, truth, propriety, or exactness ;
specifically, regard for or attention to the dic-
tates of conscience in deciding or acting.
Others, by their weakness and fear and scrupulousness,
cannot fully satisfy their own thoughts with that real be-
nignity which the laws do exhibit.
T. Puller, Moderation of Church of Eng., p. 10.
2. Punctilious preciseness ; exactness ; rigor-
ousness ; punctiliousness.
The scrupulotisness with which he paid public notice, in
the street, by a bow, a lifting of the hat, a nod, or a mo-
tion of the hand, to all and sundry his acquaintances, rich
or poor. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, xv.
scrutable (skro'ta-bl), a. [= It. scrutabile, <
ML. scrutahilis, that may be examined, < L. scru-
tari, search or examine thoroughly, < scruta =
Gr. ypiiTJj: see scrutiny.] Capable of being sub-
mitted to scrutiny; discoverable by scrutiny,
inquiry, or critical examination. [Rare.]
Shall we think God so scrutable, or ourselves so pene-
trating, that none of his secrets can escape us?
Decay of Christian Piety.
scrutation (skro-ta'shon), n. [< L. scruta-
tin{n-), a searching or examining, < scrutari, pp.
scruta tus, examine or search thoroughly: see
scrutiny.'] Search; scrutiny. [Rare.]
scrutator (skrij-ta'tor), n. [= F. scrutateur =
Pr. cscruptador = Sp. Pg. escrutador = It. scru-
tatore, < L. scrutator, < scrutari, examine: see
scrutiny.] One who scrutinizes ; a close exam-
iner or inquirer ; a scrutineer.
In process of time, from being a simple scrutator, an
archdeacon became to have jurisdiction more amply.
Ayliffe, Parergon.
In order to secure fairness in this examination [for sci-
entific adviser to one of the great communal councils],
the Central Educational Board of Whitechapel sent down
two Scndators, who were required to affirm that they did
not know any of the candidates even liy name.
Harpers Mag., LXXIX. 99.
SCruthing-bag, «. A utensil for straining cider,
made of plaited meshes or coarse canvas. Hal-
liwcll. [Prov. Eng.]
scrutinatet (skro'ti-nat), V. t. [< ML. scrtiHna-
tus, pp. of scrutinare, scrutinize: see scrutiny,]
To examine; investigate.
The whole affair [was) scrutiiwted by the Court, who
heard both the prosecution and the defence that was
made. Roger North, Examen, p. 404.
scrutin de liste (skrii-tan' de lest). [F., voting
by list: scrutin, voting, balloting, lit. 'scru-
tiny'; de, of; liste, list.] A method of voting
practised at certain recent periods in the elec-
tions to the French Chamber of Deputies. Each
elector votes on one ballot for the whole number of depu-
ties to which his department is entitled, and can choose
the candidates by writing in the names, or by using the
party lists (as selected by the party electoral committees),
with the privilege of making any combination of names
at his pleasure. The opposite method is the scrutin d'ar-
rondissement; in which the arrondissement is the basis of
representation, and an elector votes only for the candidate
or candidates of his immediate locality.
scrutinet, v. i. [< F. scrutiner = It. scrutimire,
< ML. scrutinare, investigate, scrutinize, < LL.
scmtine
scrutiniiim, scrutiny: see scrutiny.'] To make
an investigation or examination; investigate.
They laid their handes on the booke and were sworne,
and departed to tcrutine of the matter by Inquh-ie amongst
themselves. Greene, Quip for an Upstart Courtier.
SCrntineer (skro-ti-ner'), «. [< scrutin-y +
-eer.] One who scrutinizes; specifically, one
who acts as an examiner of votes, as at an elec-
tion, etc., to see if they are valid.
Is my Lord Chamberlain, and the scrutineers that suc-
ceed him, to tell us when the King and the Duke of York
are abused? Dryden, Vind. of Duke of Guise.
Only the votes pronounced bad by the bureau in pres-
ence of representative scnttineers are preaened, in case
these should be called for during the " Session pour veri-
fication dea Poovou^" Eneyc Brtt., III. 291.
scrutinize (skro'ti-niz), v.; pret. and pp. scru-
tinized, ppr. scrutitti:nng. [< scrutin-y + -i>e.]
I. trans. To subject to scrutiny; observe or in-
vestigate closely; examine or inquire into criti-
cally; regard narrowly.
A« all good history deals with the motives of men's ac-
tions, so the peculiar business ... of religious history is
to scrutinize their religious motives.
Warbwrton, Divine Legation, v.
We seruHnise the dates
Of long-past human things.
M. Arnold, Empedocles on Etna.
Syn. Exftort, etc. See searcK
n. intrant. To make scrutiny.
Every thing about him is, on some account or other, de-
clared to be good ; and he thinks it presumption to scru-
tinize into its defects, or to endeavour to imi^e how it
might be better. OMmMh, Hist Earth, lit
Also spelled scrutinise.
scmtinizer (skr5'ti-ni-ztr), n. [< scrutinize +
-<ri.] One who scrutinizes; one who examines
with critical care; a scrutineer. Also spelled
scrutiniser.
SCrutinizingly (skrS'ti-ni-zing-li), adv. With
due scrutiny or observation ; searchingly. Also
sp<'lled ncrutinisingly.
SCratinons (skro'ti-nus), a. [< scrutin-y +
-oM.v.] Closely inquiring or examining; scru-
tinizing; carefully critical.
Love ha* an Intellect that rans through all
The wrultnoiu sciencea.
MiddUton, Cbancellng, UL a.
But age Is froward, nneuy, terutinou;
Hard to be pleased. Sir F. DetUtam, Old Age, lit
BCTUtlnously (skrO'ti-nus-li), adv. With strict
or sliarp scrutiny; searchingly. Imp. Diet.
scmtiny (skro'ti-ni), n.; pi scrutinies (-niz).
[= 0¥. scrutine, scrutiny, V. scrutin, scrutiny,
balloting, = 8p. pg. escrulinio = It. scruttinio,
scrutinio, < LL. scrutinium, a search, an inquiry,
< L. scrutari, search or examine thoroughly,
prob. orig. search among rubbish, < scrutti (=
Or. ypi-TJt), rubbish, broken trash. Cf. A8. »<t«-
dinan, examine. Cf. teruiable, scrutine, etc.]
1. Close investigation or examination ; minute
inquiry; critical examination.
Thenceforth I tbonsht thee wortb my nearer view
And narrower scmOty. MOlon, P. R., It. bli.
6429
A oltlien had advertised a reward for the discovery of a
person who had stolen sixty guineas out of his scriitnire.
Walpole, Letters, II. 237.
Bid her open the middle great drawer of Ridgeway's
scrutare in my closet. Suift, Letter, Sept. 18, 1728.
scnizet (skroz), V. t. [Also scruse; a var. of
Scrooge, scrouge: see scrouge.] To crowd ; com-
press; crush; squeeze.
Whose sappy liquor, that with fulnesse sweld,
Into her cup she scruzd with daintie breach
Of her fine fingers. Spenser, f . Q., II. rii. 66.
scry If (skri), V. t. [By apheresisfrom (tscry, es-
cry, descry.] To descry. Also sAry.
They both arose, and at him loudly cryde.
As it had bene two shepheards curres had scryde
A ravenous Wolfe amongst the scattered flockes.
Spenser, F. Q., V. ill. 38.
8Cry2 (skri), V. [Also skry; < ME. *scrye«, < OF.
escrier, F. Verier (= Pr. csgridar = It. sgridare),
cry out,< es- (< L. ex), out, -I- crier, cry: see cry.]
I.t intrans. To cry out.
n. trans. To proclaim; announce publicly
or by way of advertisement : as, to scry a sale.
[Scotch.]
scry^t (skri), n. [Also skry; < ME. scrye; <
scry^, v.] 1. A cry.
Whyche me semyth better than alle the noyse of houn-
dys, the blaates of hornys, and the scrye of foulis that hun-
ters, fawkeners, & foulers can make.
Juliana Bemers, Treatyse of Fysshynge, p. 5.
And so, with the scry, he was fayne to flye in his shirte
barefote and barelegged. ... in great dout and feare of
taking by the frenchmen.
Bemers, tr. of Frolsaart's Chron., I. cclxxii.
2. A flock of wild fowl,
scrymet, v. i. See serime.
scrynet, ». See serine.
scnchonf.n. AMiddleEngli8hformof»ctt<c*eoji.
scud (skud), f. ; pret. and pp. scudded, ppr. scud-
ding. [< Dan. skyde, shoot, push, shove, scud
(ong. 'skude, as in comp. skud-aar, leap-year,
etc.), = Sw.«I;«Ma,leap; secondary forms of 8w.
skjuta = leel. skjota, shoot, slip, or scud away,
abscond, = AS. sceotan, shoot: see shoot, and
cf. seoot^, scuddle^, scuttle^, v., from the same
source. The alleged AS. scOdan, ' run quickly,'
'flee,' does not occur in that sense; it occurs
but once, prop, 'scuddan = OS. skuddian, shake,
and belongs to another group, only remotely
connected with scud, namely shudder, etc.: see
shudder.] I. intrans. 1. To run swiftly; shoot
or fly along with haste.
Sometime he teuds far olf , and there he itares.
Shot., Venus and Adonli, 1. 301.
O how the scudded / O aweet scud, how she tripped !
B. Jonsan, Case Is Altered, It. 4.
Beside a pleasant dwelling ran a brook.
Scudding along a narrow channeL Bryant, Sella.
2. Xaut., to run before a gale with little or no
sail get.
We «rad<iail, or ran before the Wind very swift, tho'
only with car hue Folea : that l^without any Sail abroad.
Iktmpier, Voyages, I. 415,
2. Spccifioally— (o) In the early church, the
examination in Lent of catechumens, including
instruction in and questions upon the creed,
accompanied with prayers, exorcisms, and other
ceremonies, prior to their baptism on Easter
day. The days of scrutiny were from three to seven In
number, according to dllTerent cnstonu, the laat osaallv
occurring on the Wedneeday before Ihiaaloa Sunday, (ft)
One of the three methods used in the Soman
Catholic Church for electing a Pope, in It each
cardinal who is present at the oondave caat* a Tote in
•trlct seclusion from hit oolleagoet ; the Totet are then
oollect«l, and if two thirds pint one are for the aam» can-
didate he Is dxclared elected. The other canonical modes
are acclamation and accetaion.
3. In canon law, a ticket or little paper billet
on which a vote is written.— 4. An examina-
tion by a competent authority of the votes
given or ballots cast at an election, for the pur-
pose of rejecting those that are vitiated or im-
perfect, and thus correcting the poll.
The flrtt KTuKny for Mr. Sparket and Mr. Boileau, con-
iS7, W aJXS hta:" "^ '»"»»"°»- "» « •fflrmaUon.t
Dr. Sytet, in Letten of Eminent Men, I. 4a
scrutinyt (skro'ti-ni), v. t. [< scrutiny, n.] To
scnitimze. Johnson. (Imp. Diet.)
scrnto (skrS'to), «. In theaters, a movable trap
or doorway, constructed of strips of wood or
whalebone, which springs into place after be-
ing used for quick appearances and disappear-
ances. "^"^
Bcrutoiret, scmtoret, n. Obsolete erroneous
lorras of scritoirc for escritoire.
3. To throw thin flat stones so that they skip
over the surface of water. [Scotch.]— 4. In
tanning, to remove remaining hairs, dirt, etc.,
from (skins or hides) with a hand-knife after
depilation.
II. trans. 1. To paiss over quickly.
Hit leaaenlng flock
In tnowy groups dillatlTe scud the vale.
Shemtane, Kulned Abbey.
The ttartled red-deer seuds the plain.
SeoU, Cadyow Cattle.
2. To beat or chastise, especially on the bare
buttocks; skelp; spank. [Scotch.]
send (skud), n. [< scud, «.] 1. The act of
scudding; a driving along; a running or rush-
ing with speed or precipitation.— 2. Small de-
tached clouds driven rapidly along under a
mass of storm-cloud: a common accompani-
ment of rain.
The clonda, at if tired of their furious chase, were
breaking asunder, the heavier volumes gathering In black
masiet about the horizon, while the lighter seud still
hurried above the water, or eddied among the topt of the
monntaint like broken flights of birds hovering round
their rooett. J. F. Cooper, Last of Mohicans, xli.
3. A slight flying shower. Halliu-ell. [Prov.
Eng.]— 4. A small number of larks, less than
a flock. [Prov. Eng.] — 6. A swift runner; a
soudder. [Now school slang.]
"I >ay." said Eatt at toon at he got his wind, looking
with much Increated retpect at Tom, " you ain't a bad
scud, not by no means."
T. Bughes, Tom Brown at Kugby, i. 6.
6. A smart stroke with the open hand ; a skelp ;
a slap: as, to give one a scud on the face.
[Scotch.] — 7. A beach-flea or sand-flea : some
small crustacean, as an isopod or amphipod.
scuff
Chie of the largest scuds is Gammarus ornatus
of the New England coast.
SCUddawn (sku-dan'), w. Young herring. [Lo-
eal, Iri.sli.]
SCUdder (skud'fer), «. [< scud -i- -crl.] One
who or that which seuds.
SCUddick (skud'ik), n. [E. dial, also seuttuck;
prob. < scut, short (see scuti), -t dim. -ock.] 1
Anything of small value. Halliwell. fProv
Eng.] — 2. A shilling. [Slang, Eng.]
SCudding-stone (skud'ing-ston), ». a thin flat
stone that can be made to skim the surface of
a body of water. [Scotch.]
SCUddle^ (skud'l), V. i. ■ pret. and pp. scuddted,
ppr. scuddhng. [A weakened form of scuttle^,
after the related scud: see scuttle^.] Same as
scuttle^. Bailey, 1731.
scuddle^ (skud'l), v.; pret. and pp. scuddled,
ppr. scuddhng. [Appar. a back-formation, <
scudler: see scudler.] I. intrans. To act as a
kitchen-drudge. Jamieson.
11. trans. To cleanse; wash. Jamieson.
[Scotch in both uses.]
SCUddle2 (skud'l), n. [Cf. scuddle'^, v.] A
kitchen-drudge; a scullion. Jamieson. [Scotch 1
SCUdi, n. Plural of scudo.
scudler, scudlar (skud'Wr, -lar), n. [Prob. a
var. of sculler'^. Hence scudd'le^, cleanse.] A
scullion. Jamieson. [Scotch.]
scudo (sko'do), n. ; pi. scudi (-di). [It. (=P. 4cu :
see ecu), a coin
so named, lit. a
shield, so called
as bearing the
heraldic shield
of the prince by
whom it was is-
sued; < L. scu-
tum, a shield:
see setitel.] I.
A silver coin
current in va-
rious parts of
Italy during the
eighteenth and
nineteenth cen-
turies, lu val-
ue has varied
slightly in differ-
ent slates, but has
utmUly been about
4t. (about 96 centa).
The tcudo of Sar-
dinia In 1817 was
worth if. OJd.
(about 97 cents);
of Naplet, In 1818
and 1869, 41. lid.
(about 99 cents):
of the I'apal .States,
inl845and !8,M), 4<i.
41d. (about »1.05).
Toe scudo wat oc-
casionally struck
In gold. The gold
scudir of I'lus IX.
(18.".9) was worth 4«.
SJd. (about «1.0.'i>
2. The space
inclosed within the outer rim of the bezel of a
ring; also, a bezel in sense 3 (b). used espe-
cially for rings of classical antiqmty in which
there is an engraved device upon the metal
itself. See bezel, 3 (6).
scuet, V. An obsolete spelling of skew.
scuff 1 (skuf), V. [< 8w. skiiffa = Dan. skuffe,
push, shove, jog; a secondary form of the verb
represented by E. shave: see shove. Hence
freq. scujfle'^, shuffle.] I. intrans. To walk with-
out raising the feet from the ground or floor;
shuflle : rarely used of an analogous action of
the hands.
A good masseur ought to be able to keep both hands
going ... at the same time, one contracting as the other
relaxes, without scraping, scuffing, shaking the head, or
turning a hair. Bucl^s Handbook of Med. Sci., IV. 669.
U. trans. To graze slightly. [Scotch.] — 2:
To roughen the surface of by hard usage ; spoil
the gloss, polish, or finish of. [CoUoq.]
How to restore scuffed gloves.
Jfew York Tribune, Dec. 12, 1879.
scuff- (skuf), «. [A corruption (also in another
corrupt form scruff) of scuft: see scuft.] Same
as scuft and scruff^. [Prov. Eng.]
One . . . was seized by thesra/of the neck, and literally
hurled on the table In front.
BultKT, What will he Do with It? x. 7.
" John Fry, you big villain ! " I cried, with John hanging
up in the air by the scuff ot his neckcloth.
if. D. Blackmore, Loma Doone, xxix.
scuff 3t (skuf), n.
a scale.
Reverse.
Sctido of Pope Gregory XVI,— Briti!,h
Museum. (Size of orif;in.il.)
[Cf. «c«r/i, scruff\] A scurf ;
scuS
Other seruiiycmen there were with the sayd Bassas,
with red attire on their heads, mucli like French hoods,
but the long tlappe somewhat smaller towardes the end,
with seufes or plates of meltall, like vnto the chape of an
ancient arming sword, standing; on tlieir foreheads.
HaHuyt'8 Voyages, II. 169.
scuffle^ (skuf'l), r. *. ; pret, and pp. scuffledy
ppr. scuffling. [Formerly also shuffle; freq. of
scuf^^, Cf. shuffle.'] To push or fight in a dis-
oroerly or serambliug maiinei*; struggle con-
fusedly at close ciuartors.
A gallant man had rather fight to gi-eat disadvantages
for number and place in the field in an orderlie waie then
gkuffie with an undisciplined rabble. Eikon Bcisilike, iv.
They [shipsl being waited for by fifteen or twenty Dun-
kirkers, which are not like to let them pass without some
teuffiing. Court and Times of Charles /., II. 3.
Talbot Twysden always arrived atBays's at ten minutes
past four, and scuffled for the evening paper, as if its con-
tents were matter of grejit importance to Talbot,
Thackeray, Philip, xxi.
= 8511. See quarrel^, n.
scuffle^ (skuf'l), H. [< scuffle^y r.] A confused
pushing or struggle ; a disorderly rencounter or
fight.
There was a scuffle lately here 'twixt the D. of Nevers and
the Cardinal of Guise ; . . . they fell to Blows, the Cardinal
struck the Duke first, and so were parted.
Howell, Letters, I. il. 19.
Bill's coat had been twisted into raai'vellons shapes in
the scuffle. J. T. Trowbridge, Coupon Bonds, p. 121.
=SyiL Affray, Bratvl, etc. See quarrel^.
scuffle'' (skiif 1), n. [A dial. var. of shovel (AS.
Dcofl): see shovel^. '\ 1. A form of garden hoe or
thrust-hoe wliieh is pushed instead of pulled,
and commonly has a narrow, sharp blade set
nearly in line with the handle : used for cutting
off weeds beneath the surface of the ground.
Where so much is to do in the beds, he were a sorry
gardener who should wage a whole day's war with an iron
scuffle on those ill weeds that make the garden-walks of
life unsightly. Lowell, Biglow Papers, 1st ser., iii., note.
2. A child's pinafore or bib. [Prov. Eng.]
BCuffle-liarrow (skuf'l-har'o), n. A form of
harrow in which cutting-shares are substituted
for the ordinary teeth.
SCUffler^ (skuf'l^r), «. [< scHj^cl + -cfl.] One
who scuffles, or takes part in a scuffle.
SCUffler^ (skuf'lfer), n. [< scuffle'^ + -erl.] In
agri. , a kind of horse-hoe, or plow with a share
somewhat like an arrow-head, used between
drills of turnips or similar plants for rooting
out weeds and stimng the soil.
SCUffy (skuf'i), a. [< scuj)'^ + -yl.] 1. Lack-
ing or having lost the original finish and fresh-
ness, as from hard usage ; shabby : as, a scuffy
hat; a scuffy book. — 2. Shabby-looking; out-
at -elbows; seedy: as, a scuffy fellow; a scuffy
appearance. [Scotch or coUoq. in both uses.J
SCt^t (skuft), w. [Also corruptly sc«_^" and scruff;
< Icel. skopt, pron. and better written skoft,
mod. assimilated skott, hair (of the head), also
a fox's tail, = Groth. skufts, hair. Cf. Icel.
skupla, a hat for old women, = MHG. sckopf,
hair on top of the head ; cf . also scut^."] . The
nape of the neck; the scruff. [Obsolete or
prov. Eng.]
Down-stairs came Emily, . . . dragging after her the
unwilling Keeper, . . . held by the "seitft of his neck,"
but growling low and savagely all tlie time.
Mrs. Gaskelt, Charlotte Bronte, xii.
SCng, n. and v. See skuj/'^.
sculuuddery, «. See skuUluddery.
Bculjo, sculhoe (skul'jo), n. A haddock not
split, but with the belly cut off, slack-salted, and
dried hard. [Proviucetown, Massachusetts.]
SCUlk, sculker. See skulk, skulker.
BCUlllf, «. See sktiU^.
scull^ (skul), V. [Also skull; a particular use
of scull^, skull^, a bowl (the oar being named
from the slightly hollowed blades, like the dish
of a balance) : see scaled (and skoal) and skult^.
SculV^ is etym. identical with sculfl-, which is
now more com-
monly spelled
skull: Beeskult^.']
1. A short, light,
spoon-bladed
oar, the loom of
which is com-
paratively short,
80 that one per-
son can row
open-handed
with a pair of
them, one on
each side.
Never mind the
rudder ; we don't
want it, nor the wa-
terman. Uand us
5430
that right-hand scull. That 's a smart chap ! 'Sow shove
off ! H'hyte MelvUle, White Rose, II. vii.
2. An oar used to propel a boat by working it
from side to side over the stern, the blade,
which is always kept iu the water, being tiu-ned
diagonally at each stroke. See cut in preced-
ing column. — 3. A small boat for passengers;
a skiff; a wherry.
The wherries then took the places in a great measure of
our present cabs; and a cry of " Next Oai-s " or "Sculls,"
when anyone made his appearance at tlie top of "the Stairs,"
was synonyinons with " Hansom " or *' Four Wheeler."
./. Ashtan, .Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne, 11. 144.
Not getting a boat, I was forced to walk to Stangate,
and so over to White Hall in a scull.
Pepys, Diary, llaroh 21, 1669.
SCUlP (skul), v. [< scum, «.] I. trans. 1. To
propel with one oar worked at the stem : as, to
scull a boat. — 2. To propel with sculls.
II. intraus. 1. To work an oar against the
water, at the stern of a boat, in such a way as
to propel the boat. See sculling.
Around him were the goblin train —
But he scull'd with all his might and main.
And foUow'd wherever tlie sturgeon led.
J. R. Drake, Culprit Fay, st. 20.
2. To be sculled, or capable of being propelled
by a scull or sculls: as, the boat sculls well.
SCUlFt (skul), n. An obsolete form of school"^.
scull*, n. See skulH.
SCUllerl (skul'er), n. [Formerly also scullar,
sknller; < scull^, v., + -e*-!.] 1. One who sculls
a boat.
You have the marshalling of all the ghosts too that
pass the .Stygian ferry ; and I suspect you for a share with
the old sculler there, if the truth were known.
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, i. 1.
A sculler's notch in the stern he made.
An oar he shaped of the bootle-blade.
J. R. Drake, Culprit Fay, st. 18.
2. A boat rowed by one man with a pair of
sculls or short oars.
Who chances to come by but fair Hero in a sculler?
B. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, v. 3.
By water, at night late, to Sir G. Carteret's, but, there
being no oars to carry me, I was fain to call a skuller that
had a gentleman already in it. Pepys, Diary, July 12, 1065.
The little Boats upon the Thames, which are only for
carrying of Persons, are light and pretty ; some are row'd
but by one Man, others by two ; the former are call'd
Scullers, and the latter Oars.
Misson, in Ashton's Social Life in Reign of Queen .\nne,
|IL 146.
SCuUer^t (skul'er), w. [Found in mod. E. use
only iu the Sc. var. scudler, .scudlar, and as in-
volved in scullery, q. v. ; < ME. squylloure, squyl-
lare, squyler, < AF. scuiler, sculier, < OF. escuelier,
escuellier, escueillier, escuillier, esculier, escullier,
esculer, esquelier, an officer who had charge of
the dishes, pots, etc., in a household, usually
(in OF.) a maker or seller of dishes and pots, =
It. scodcllaio, scudellaio, a dish-maker (Plorio),
< ML. scutellarius, an officer who had charge of
the dishes, pots, etc., in a household, a maker
or seller of dishes and pots, < L. scutella, a sal-
ver, tray, ML. also a platter, plate, dish (> OF.
escuele, escuelle, F. ccuelle, a dish) : see scutella'^;
and cf . scuttle^ and skillet, from the same source.
Cf . scullery. According to Skeat, the ME.squyler,
squyllare, etc., are variants of an orig. swillcr,
a washer ; but this is disproved by the forms
cited above.] An officer or servant who had
charge of the dishes, pots, etc., in a household,
to keep them clean; a dish-washer. Prompt.
Parv., p. 471.
How the squyler of the kechyn
. . . went furth out at the ^ate.
Robert of Brunne, Handlyng Synne, 1. 5913.
All such other as shall long unto the squyllare.
Rutland Papers, p. 100. (Ualliwell.)
scullery (skul'er-i), n. ; pi. sculleries (-iz).
[Early mod. E. also skullery, earlieT squillary ;
< ME. squylerey, < OF. *escuelcrie, escueillerie,
esculerie, f., the office of a servant who had
charge of the dishes, etc., *escucUer, escuellier,
m., a place or room where dishes were kept, a
scullery, < ML. scutellarium, neut., a place or
room where dishes were kept, < L. scutella, a
salver, ML. a platter, plate, dish : see sculler^,
scuttle^. The word has no orig. connection with
scullion, with which it is now commonly asso-
ciated in thought.] 1. A place where dishes,
kettles, and other kitchen utensils are kept and
washed, and where the rough or slop work of a
kitchen is done ; a back kitchen.
The pourvayours of the buttlarye and pourvayours of
the squylerey. Ordinances and Regulations of the Royal
[Household (1790), p. 77. (Skeat.)
He shall be published . . . with cuts of the basting-
ladles, dripping-pans, and drudging-boxes,.A-c., lately dug
up at Rome out of an old subterranean skullery.
W. Kinij, Art of Cookery, Letter v.
sculpin
2f. Slops; garbage; offal.
The soot and skullery of vulgar insolency, plebeian pet-
ulancy, and fanatick contempt.
Bp. Gauden, Teais of the Church, p. 258. (Vavies.)
sculling (skul'iug), «. [Verbal n. of scidl-, v.']
The act or operation of propelling a boat with
one oar at the stem. The oar is moved sidewise
with a peculiar twist or feathering by which the hamlle
describes a figure of 8, and the blade presses against the
water alternately on the one side and the other. The ac-
tion of the blade resembles that of a screw propeller, but
the motion is alternating or reversed at each stroke, in-
stead of a continuous revolution. See cut under sculh.
scullion (skul'you), n. [Early mod. E. xcolion,
scoulynn; <.WE. scul^on, sctdione, a dish-washer;
appar., with transferred sense (due perhaps to
the association with scullery), < OF. csconiUon,
escouvillon, a dish-clout, a malkin or drag to
sweep an oven, F. ecouvillon, a malkin or drag to
sweep an oven, a sponge for a gun, < Sp. eseo-
billon, a sponge for a gun, < escohiUn, a small
blush, dim. of cscoha, a brush, broom, = It. sco-
pa, a broom, = OF. escouve, escouhe, F. ecoure,
a broom, < L. scopa, pi. scopee, twigs, a broom
of twigs : see scope^. The word is now gener-
ally associated in thought with scullery, which
is, however, of different origin.] 1. A servant
who cleans pots and kettles, and does other
menial service in the kitchen or scullery.
Then out spoke the young seuUi<m boy.
Said, '■Here am I, a caddie."
The Rantin' Laddie (Child's Ballads, IV. 99X
For hence will I, disguised, and hire myself
To serve with scullions and with kitchen-knaves.
Tennyson, Gareth and Lynette.
Hence — 2. A low, disreputable, mean fellow.
Wilt thou prostrate to the odious charms
Of this base scullion? Quarles, Emblems, v. 8.
The meanest scullion that followed his camp. South.
SCuUionly (skul'yon-li), a. [< scullion + -ly'^.']
Like a scullion ; vile ; mean.
But this is not for an unbuttoned fellow to discuss in
the garret at his trestle, and dimension of candle by the
snuff ; which brought forth his scuUionly paraphrase on
St. Paul. MUton, Colasterion.
SCUllionry (skul'yon-ri), n. [< scullion + -n/.]
The work of a scullion; drudgery. Cotgrave.
SCUlljoe, n. See sculjo.
sculp (skulp), V. t. [= It. scolpire, < L. sctil-
pere, cut out, carve in stone, akin to scalpere,
scratch, grave, carve (see scalp^), and prob. to
Gr. y?.i''0E;v, hollow out, engrave (see ylyph).'\
1. To cut; carve; engrave; sculpture. [Now
coUoq.]
O that the words I speak were registred, . . .
Or that the tenor of my just complaint
Were sadpt with steel on rocks of adamant !
Sandys, Pai*aphrase of Job, xix.
Architect Palloy sent a large model of the Bastille
sculped in a stone of the fortress to every town in F'rance.
Harper's May., LXXVII. 836.
Vou pass under three spacious rest-houses, consider-
ately erected by the monks, and are struck by the bold
inscriptions in Chinese characters sculped on the face of
the big stones and boulders which fringe the path.
Fartniyhtly Rev., N. S., XLIU. 759.
2. To flense, flay, or take the skin and blubber
from, as a seal. [Newfoundland.]
Having killed or at least stunned all they see within a
short distance, they skin, or, as they call it, sculp them
with a broad clasp-knife, called a sculping-knife.
Fisheries of IT. S., V. ii. 480.
sculp (skulp), n. [< sculp, v., 2.] The skin of
a seal removed with the blubber adhering to it.
The legs, or flippers, and also the head, are then drawn
out from the inside, and the skin is laid out Hat and entire,
with tlie layer of fat or blubber firmly adhering to it ; and
the skin in this state is called the "pelt," and sometimes
the sctdp. Fisheries o/ U. S., V. iL 480.
SCulper (skul'per), II. See scorper.
sculpin, skulpin (skul'pin), «. 1. A calliony-
moid fish, Callionymus lyra, having at the angle
of the preoperculum a strong compressed den-
tate spine; a dragonet: more fully called yel-
low sculpin. See dragonet, 2, and cut under t'aif-
lionymus. — 2. A mean or mischief -making fel-
low. [Local slang, New Eng.]
Ye see the miser'ble sctdpin thought I'd never stop to
open the goods. Sarah O. Jewett, Deephaven, p. 88.
3. A cottoid fish, especially of the genus fot-
ius (or Acanthocottus), as C. scoiyius of the
northern Atlantic ; C. grcenlandicus, the daddy-
sculpin ; C. seneus, the grubby of the New Eng-
land and New York coasts. One of the commonest
on the Atlantic coast of the United States is C. octodecim-
spinosus. All these fishes are of ugly aspect, unshapely,
with very large spiny bead, wide mouth, comparatively
slender tapering body, and irregularly mottled coloration.
'They inhabit the northern seas, and are especially numer-
ous in the northern i'acific. They are used by the native
Indians as food, but are generally held in contempt by the
sculpin
ConunoD Daddy-sculpin iCoffuJ erarii/afidicits).
white& In California a marketable cottoid, the bighead
or cabezon, SanrjutiiicAlhyg marmoratus, is also called sad-
pin.
4. A hemitripteroid fish, Hemitriptenis acadia-
n ux, occurring in deeper water than the true
seulpins off the uorthea'stem coast of America.
Also called deep-water sculpin, yellow sculpin,
and sea-raven. See cut under sea-raren. — 5. A
scorpeenoid fish. Scorptena ffulUiUi, of the south-
em Californian coa.st, there called seorpene.
See cut under Scorpa-na.
SCnlping-knife (skul'ping-nif), «. A kind of
knife used for sculping seals. See quotation
under nculp, r., 2.
scnlpsit (skulp'sit). []j.. 3d pers. sing. perf.
ind. of sculpere, carve, grave: see sculp.'] He
(or she) engraved or carved (it): a word fre-
quently put at the foot of an engraving or the
base of a piece of sculpture after the engrav-
er's or sculptor's name: as, A. B. sculpsit. It
is often abbreviated to sc, and sometimes to
sculps., and corresponds to pinxit (pit.) on
paintings.
SCnlptile (skulp'til), a. [< L. sculptUis, formed
by earring or graving, etc.: see sculp.'] Gra-
ven; carved.
Tb..' same deflcriptlon we And in a sQver medal; that
Is, upon one side Homs horned, and on the reverse the
commandment against leu/plSe images.
Sir T. BrowM, Vnlg. Err., r.fi.
sculptor (skulp'tor), n. [=r F. sculpteur = Sp.
escHllor = 'Pg. esculptor = It.seulUire, scolpitore,
< L. sculptor, a sculptor, < sculpere, cut out,
carve in stone: see sculp.'] One who practises
the art of sculpture, which includes mo<leIing
in clay or wax, casting or striking in bronze
or other metal, and carving figures in stone.
" The iculflart," nj% Mazlmas Tjrrias. in his 7th dis-
sertation, "... chose oat of many bodies thos« part*
which apiieared to them the most Deautifni, and oat of
that divursity made but one statue."
Dryden, ObserratlODS on Du Fremoy's Art of Painting,
(p. S».
sculptress (skulp'tres), n. [< sculptor + -ess.]
A fiiiialc sculptor.
Perhaps jroo linow the Kutptret$, N'ejr ; If not, jroa bare
lost a great deal
Zimmem, Arthur Hchopenliauer, p. 243. (Dalies.)
sculptliral (»kulp'tu-ral), a. [< sculpture +
-«/.] 1. Pertaining to sculpture.
Some fine forms there were here and there : models
of a peculiar style of beauty : a style. I think, never seen
in Eoglaod ; a solid, Brm-set tculptural style.
ChariolU Brontr, VUlette, xx.
2. Pertaining to engraring. — 3. In zoiil., per-
taining to the ornaments of a sculptured sur-
face: as, sculptural marks or lines,
scnlpturally (skulp'tu-ral-i), adv. By means of
seulpture.
The quiiint heaaty and ctuu'acter of many natural ob-
jects, such aa intricate branches, graaa, Ac as well as
that i>r many animals plumed, sptned, or bristled, is
KulptitraUy expressible. AiuHm.
SCalptnre (skulp'tur), n. [< ME. sculpture, <
OK. scoulplure, ¥.' sculpture = Pr. sculptura =
Sp. escultura = Pg. escultura, esculptura = It.
scultura, sroltura = Q. Sw. Dan. skulplur, < L.
sculptura, sculpture, < scutperr. pp. sculplus, cut
out, carve in stone: see sculp.'] 1. The act
or art of graving or carving: the art of shap
ing figures or other objects in the round or in
relief out of or upon stone or other more or less
hard substances. Besides the cutting of forms in
marble, stone, wood, et^:,, the ancient chryselephantine
work, etc.. it includes modeling in clay, wax, etc., and
castinK in hmnxtoor any other metal. Sculpture includes
also the deslKrilnt; of coins and medals, and Klyptics,or the
art of Keni-cnKraving. .See cut In next column, and cuts
under Atjij/rian, Chnldtan, Hiu/jitian, (/nek, Paittltban,
Peloponnenan, I'hidian, and lih'tdian.
As the materinlfi used for writir»g in the flrst rude ages
were only wixkI or Htone, the convenience of nculpture re-
quired that the strokes should run chiefly In straight lines.
Fire Pieca of Hunie Poetry (17B3), I*ref.
Sadpturf, ... a sliapiiig art, of which the business is
to imitar' • — ' ejects, and principally the human
body, h> in solid form either their true nrn-
wjrtidtiK . -ions, or else their true proportions
In the tw„ •! iiHii>tiA of length and breadth only, with a
6431
diminished proportion in the third dimension of depth or
thickness. Eitcyc. Brit, IX. 200.
2. Carved work; any work of sculpture, as a
figure or an inscription cut in wood, stone,
metal, or other solid substance.
Nor did there want
Cornice or frieze with bossy sculptures graven :
The roof was fretted gold. Milton, P. L., i. 716.
On another side of the stone is a very extraordinary
tculpture, which has been painted, and from which I con-
cluded that it was a temple dedicated to the sun.
Pococke, Uescrlption of the East, I. 77.
Some sweet sculpture draped from head to foot.
Tennyson, Princess, v.
3t. An engraring ; an illustration.
The Publishers thought a Piece so well writ ought not
to appear abroad without the usual and proper ornament
of Writings of this kind, variety of Sculptures.
Maundretl, Aleppo to Jerusalem, Pref.
Settle had not only been prosperous on the stage, but,
in the confidence of success, had published his play with
tteulpturet, and a Preface of defiance.
Pr^. to Note* on the Empress o/ Jf orocco( Dryden *s Works,
(ed. ilalone, II. 272).
4. In zo(>l., markings resulting from irregu-
larity of surface or difference m texture of a
part; tracery: as, the sculpture of an insect's
wing-covers; the sculpture of the plates or
shields of a fish ; the sculpture of a turtle's shell.
The term specially indicates in entomology the arrange-
ment or disposition of such markings, as by furrows, strlse,
tul)ercle8, punctures, etc.. or the pattern of the resulting
ornamentation ; It is much used in describing beetles, and
all the leading forms of sculpture have technical descrip-
tive names. Also sculpturing.
The coarse part of the sculpture tof a fossil] is also simi-
lar. Ainer. Jour. Sci., 3d ser., XXI.X. 4<i5.
There is an evident tendency to divide species [of bee-
tles] upon small details of sculpture, fortunately checked,
as the author admits, where the specimens are numerous.
Science, IV. 6«2.
jEginetan sculptures. See jEginetan. — C<Blanaglyi>h-
ic sculpture. .Same as cavo-rilievo.— Foliate BCiUpture,
sculptured foliage ; especially, decorative sculpture con-
FoUate Sculpture, ijlh century.— Ftoa Notre l>sine CmthediaU Paris.
ventlonalised more or less from foliage, or based on the
tumlamental forms or habit of vegetation. Greek, Be-
nalSS&nce, etc., BCUlptnre. See thequallfylng words.—-
Rhodlan school of sculpture. See ithodian.
sculpture (skulp'tur), r. t.; pret.and pp. »cu/p-
turid, ppr. sculptnrinij. {i sculpture, n.] 1.
To rejiresent in sculpture; carve; grave; form
with the chisel or other tool on or in wood,
stone, or metal.
On the base (of the HeraUei] la sculptured a composition
in very low relief, representing the capture of the cattle
of Ooyon. C. T. Newton, Art and Archteol., p. 308.
Fair with seulptvrtd stories It was wrought.
By lapse of time unto dim ruin brought.
wmiam Morris, Earthly Paradise^ I. 32S.
2. To ornament or cover with sculpture or
carved work; carve.
Gold, silver, ivory vases sculptured high.
Pope, Imlt. of Horace, II. IL 264.
BCnlptored (skulp'tiird), «. [< sculpture +
-eiP.] In :ool. andliiit., having elevated or im-
pressed marks on the surface: as, sculptured
elytra: .•truliitiin il s('P<\»; a sculptured caT&paee.
—'Sculptured tortoise, a common land-tortoise of the
I'nlted States, Ghrjtteinys insculpta.
sculpturesque (skulp-tu-resk'), a. [< sculpture
-4- -empif.] Possessing the character of sculp-
ture ; resembling sculpture; chiseled; hence,
clean-cut and well-proportioned; statue-like;
grand rather than beautiful or pretty: as, sculp-
turesque features.
An impressive woman. . . . her figure was slim and
snUlciently tall, her face rather emaciated, so that its
sculpturesque l>eaoty was the more pronounced.
Oeorye Eliot, Daniel Deronda, xlil.
sculpturing (skulp'tur-ing), n. [Verbal n. of
sculpture, v.] In zooil., same as sculpture, 4.
scumber
These imperforate portions are harder than the porous
shell, and often project aa ridges or tubercles, forming a
more or less regular sculpturiny of the surface.
Encyc. Brit., IX. 381.
SCUlsh (skulsh), n. [Origin obscure.] Rub-
bish; discarded stuff of all kinds: most gener-
ally used in England with reference to the un-
wholesome things children delight to eat, as
lollj-pops, etc. [Prov. Eng. and New Eng.]
Scultelus's bandage. Pieces of bandage which
are long enough to go one and a half times
around the limb, and are applied successively
in shingle fashion.
SCUlyont, «. A Middle English form of scullion.
scum (skum), H. [Formerly also si«;« ,• < ME.
scum, scorn, < AS. *scrum (not found, the ordi-
nary word being fdm, foam) = D. schuim =
MLG. schum, schume, LG. schum = OHG. scUrn,
MHG. schUm, G. schaum = Icel. skum (Haldor-
spn) = Sw. Dan. skum (ef. OF. escume, F. ^cuvie
= Pr. Pg. escuma = It. schiuma (< LG. or G.),
Ir. sgum (< E.) ), foam, froth, scum ; perhaps lit.
a 'covering.' with formative -m, < y/ sku, cover:
see sky. Hence sKm.] 1. Foam; froth: as, the
scum of the sea.
The br>-stelede boor marked with scomes the shuldres
of Hercules. Chaucer, Boethius, iv. meter 7.
Those small white Fish to Venus consecrated.
Though without Venus ayd they be created
Of th" Ocean scum.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, 1. 5.
2. The impurities or extraneous substances
which rise to the surface of liquids, as in boil-
ing or fermentation, or which form by other
means; also, the scoria of molten metals; hence,
by extension, any film or surface of foul floating
matter: as, the scum of a stagnant pond.
When God kindles such fires as these, hee doth not usu-
ally quench them till the very scum on the pot sides be
boyled cleane away, N. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 14.
3. Refuse; dross; offscourings.
Did anything more aggravate the crime of Jeroboam's
profane apostjwy than that he chose to have his clergy the
scum and refuse of his whole land ?
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. 81.
A scum of Bretons, and base lackey peasants.
Shak., Rich. III., v. 3. 817.
Such rascals.
Who are the scum and excrements of men !
B. Jonsun, Staple of News, iv. 1.
We are most miserably dejected, the scum of the world.
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 362.
BCnm (skum), V. ; pret. and pp. scummed, ppr.
scumming, [Early mod. E. also skum, scorn; <
ME. seummen, skommen, scomen = D. schuimcn =
MLG. schumen = OHG. sciimen, MHG. schumen,
6. schaumen = Sw. skumma = Dan. skumme,
scum, skim; from the noun. Doublet of skim.']
1, trans. 1. To remove the scum from ; clear off
the froth, dross, or impurities that have risen
to or formed on the surface of; skim.
Con boileth water salt and skommeth [it] cleue,
Therinto colde his peres wol he trie.
Palladius, Husbondrie(G. E. T. a), p. 90.
Some scurmf the drosse that from the metall came.
Spenser, ¥. Q., II. vii. 36.
A second multitude
With wondrous art founded the massy ore,
Severing each Idnd, and scumm'd the bullion dross.
JftJton, P. L.,i. 704.
2t. To sweep over; move swiftly upon; skim.
They liv'd by seuTumin^ those Seas and shoars as Pyrats.
Milton, Hist Eng., 11.
H. intrans. If. To arise or be formed on the
surface as foam or scum ; be thrown up as scimi.
Golde and siluer was no more spared then thoughe it
had rayned out of the clowdes, or scorned out of the sea.
Bemers, tr. of Froissart's Chron., II. xlix.
2. To be or become covered with scum : gener-
ally with over.
Life and the interest of life have stagnated and scummed
over. A. K. II. Boyd.
3t. To skim lightly: with over.
Thon hast skumed ouer the schoole men, and of the froth
of theyr folly made a dish of diuinitie brewcsse which the
dogges will not eate. Nashe, Pierce Peniiesse, p. 46.
scumber (skum'b^r), v. i. [Also scomber, scum-
mer; perhaps < OF. cscumbrier, disencumber; cf.
exonerate in similar use.] To defecate; dung:
a hunting term applied especially to foxes.
[Prov. Eng.]
And for a monument to after-commers
Their picture shall continue (though Time scummsrs
Vpon th' Efflgie).
Dames, Commendatory Verses, p. 18. (Davies.)
Just such a one [an airing] as you use to a brace of grey-
hounds.
When they are led out of their kennels to fcum&er.
Massinger, The Picture, v, L
BCtunber
Scnmber (skum'b^r). ». [< acumber, »•.] Dung,
especially that of the fox. [Prov. Eng.]
scumble (skum'bl), ('. (. ; pret. and pp. scum-
bled, ppr. sciinihiing. [Freq. of «•»>».] In
oil-paiiitittg, to blend the tints or soften the
effect of, bv lightly passing a brush charged
with a small quantity of an opaque or semi-
opaque coloring over the surface; in chalk- or
peiteil-draiciiu), to rub lightly the blunt point
of the ohalk over the smrface of, or to spread
and soften the harder lines of with the stump :
as. to licunible a painting or a drawing.
SCIunble (skum'bl), ». [< scumble, v.] A soft-
ened effect produced by scumbling. See satm-
bling. T. JS. Lister.
scumbling (skum'bling), n. [Verbal n. of scum-
bit: c] 1. In painting, the operation of lightly
rubbing a brush charged with a small quantity
of an opaque or semi-opaque color over the
surface, in order to soften and blend tints that
are too bright, or to produce some other special
effect. Owing to the dryness of the brush, it depositfl
the color in minute !;ranules on the ground-tint instead
of covering it completely ,is in glazing.
ScittnbHitg is painting in opaque colours, but so thin that
they become semi-transparent
P. G. HamerUm, Graphic Arts, xxi.
Seumblinff resembles glazing in that a very thiu coat is
spread lightly over portions of the work.
Encyc. Bril., XVIII. 138.
2. In chalk- and pencil-drawing, the operation
of lightly rubbing the blunt point of the chalk
over the surface, or spreading and softening
the harder lines by the aid of the stump.
scummerl (skum'6r), n. [< ME. scomowre, sciim-
tire; < scum + -er^. Cf. skimmer, a doublet of
scmnmer.'] One who scums ; an implement used
in skimming; specifically, an instrument used
for removing the scum of liquids ; a skimmer.
Pope Boniface the Eighth, a scummer of pots.
Urquhart, tr. of Rabelais, ii. 30. (Davies.)
The salt, after its crystallizing, falls down to the bot-
tom, and they take it out by wooden scmmiwrs, and put it
in frails. Ray, Remains, p. 120.
scmnmer^, v. and n. Same as scumber.
scummings (skum'ingz), n. pi. [Verbal n. of
.■icuin, v.] Skimmings : as, the scummings of the
boiling-house. Imp. Diet.
scummy (skum'i), a. [< scum + -yi.] Covered
with scum.
And from the mirror'd level where he stood
A mist arose, as from a scurmny marsh.
Keats, Hyperion, i.
SCUn^ (skun), V. t. ; pret. and pp. scunned, ppr.
scunning. [< ME. scunien, sconnen, < AS. scu-
nian, shun, on-scunian, detest, refuse : see shun.
Cf. scunner.'] To reproach publicly. Halliwell.
[Prov. Eng.]
SCUn^ (skun), v.; pret. and pp. scunned, ppr.
scunning, [Also scon, scoon; < Norw. skunna
= Sw. refl. skynda, dial, skynua = Dan. skynde
= loel. skunda, skynda, hasten, hurry, = AS.
scyndan, hasten : see shunt, and cf. shun. Cf.
scoon, schooner.] I. intrans. To skip or skim ;
pass quickly along, as a vessel on the water.
H. trans. To cause to skip or skim, as a stone
thrown aslant on the water ; skip.
scuncbeon (skun'chon), n. See sconcheon.
scunner (skun'er), v. [Also skunner, scanner,
scouner; freq. of scun^, < ME. scunien, sconnen, <
AQ.scunian: see scwnl. Hence ult.«co«w(?rrf.]
1. intrans. 1. To be or become nauseated ; feel
disgust, loathing, repugnance, or abhorrence.
An' yill an' whisky gi'e to cairds.
Until they ecunner.
Bums, To James Smitli.
2. To shrink back with disgust or strong repug-
nance : generally with at before the object of
dislike.
H. trans. To affect with nausea, loathing, or
disgust; nauseate.
They [grocers] first gie the boys three days' free warren
among the figs and the sugar-candy, and they get scun-
nered wi' sweets after that. Kingdey, Alton I^cke, iii.
[Scotch in all uses.]
scunner (skun'fer), n. [Also skunner, scanner,
scouner; < scunner, v.] A feeling of nausea,
disgust, or abhorrence; a loathing; a fantastic
prejudice.
He seems to have preserved, ... as it were, in the
pickle of a mind soured by prejudice, a lasting scunner,
as he would call it, against our staid and decent form of
worship. Lowell, Biglow Papers, 2d ser., iii.
There gaed a scunner through the flesh upon his banes ;
and that was Heeven's advertisement.
R. L. Stevenson, Thrawn Janet.
BCUpl (skup), n. [< D. schop, a swing, shovel,
= OHG. scupha, scopha, a swing-board, MHG.
sdmpfe, G. schupf, a push, schupp, swinging mo-
5432
tion, a push, jerk; cf. 6. schupf en, shove, = Sw.
skubba, scrub, = Dan. skubbe, shove, push (a sec-
ondary form from the orig. verb), = D. schuiren
= G, schieben, etc., shove : see shove.] A swing:
a term derived from the Dutch settlers. [New
York.]
"What'll you give me if I'll make you a scup one of
these days?" said Mr. Van Brunt. ... "I don't know
what it is," said Ellen. "A settp! — may be you don't
know it by that name; some folks call it a swing."
S. Warner, Wide, Wide World, I. ii.
SCupl (skup), V. i. ; pret. and pp. scupped, ppr.
scupping. [< scupi, n.] To swing; have a
swing. [New York.]
SCUp'^ (skup), n. [Said to be contr. < Amer. Ind.
(Connecticut) mishcup, < mishe-kuppe, largo,
thick-scaled; cf. scuppaug, pi. mislicuppaiiog,
scuppaug. Ct.porgee, porgy.] Asparoidfish,
the scuppaug or porgy, Stcnotomus argyrops,
Scup, or Northern Porgy l,Sienotonttts argyrops).
attaining a length of a foot, and a valued food-
fish, found from Cape Cod to Florida. The front
teeth form narrow incisors, and the molars are in two rows.
The body is compressed, with high back ; the head is deep,
witli small mouth ; the color is brownish, somewhat sil-
very below, everywhere with bright reflections, but with-
out distinct markings in the adult, though the soft parts
of the vertical fins are somewhat mottled; the young are
faintly barred and with dusky axils. This fish is a near
relative of the sheepshead, and of the pinfish or sailor's-
choice {Lagodon rkomiioides). It has had many technical
names, as Spams or Pa(jrus or Diplodtts argyrops, and Sar-
gus anibassis. A southern scup is sometimes specified as
S. aculeatus.
Tile warm-water fisheries include the pursuit of a variety
of fishes, but the scup . . . and the "blue-fisb," both mi-
gratory species, are those whose capture is thought of
most value. Encyc. Brit., IX. 267.
scuppaug (sku-pag'),«. [Amer. Ind.: seescup'^.]
A fish, the scup.
scupper (skup'er), n. [Prob. so named because
the water seems to 'spit' forth from it; < OF.
escopir, escupir = Sp. escupir, spit out; per-
haps < L. exspuere, spit out, < ex, out, + spuere,
spit: see spew.] A'awt, an opening in the side
of a ship at the level of the deck, or slanting
from it, to allow water to run off ; also, the gut-
ter or channel surrounding the deck, and lead-
ing to such openings : often in the plural.
Many a kid of beef have I seen rolling in the scuppers,
and the beai-er lying at his length on the decks.
R. H. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 34.
Scupper-leather (na«t.), a piece of leather placed on the
outside of a vessel, under the scupper, to prevent the fiow
from it from soiling the paint on the vessel's side. In
modern ships it is commonly replaced by a guard of
metal.
scupper-bole (skup'er-hol), ». A scupper.
SCUpper-bose (skup'er-hoz), n. A leather or
canvas pipe formerly attached to the outer end
of a scupper to protect the ship's side from dis-
coloration there, and also to prevent the en-
trance of water from the outside.
scupper-nail (skup'er-nal), n. Naut, a short
nail with a very broad head.
SCUppernong (skup'er-nong), n. [Amer. Ind.
name of Vitis vulpina.] A cultivated variety
of the muscadine, bvdlace, or southern fox-
grape, Vitis rotundifolia (V. vulpina), of the
southern United States and Mexico. It is a val-
ued white- or sometimes purple-fruited grape. Its large
berries are well flavored, and peculiar in that all on a
bunch do not ripen at once. The ripe berries fall from
the vine, and are gathered from the ground.
scupper-plug (skup'fer-plug), n. Naut., a plug
to .stop a scupper.
scupper-valve (skup'6r-valv), n. Naut., a flap-
valve outside of a scupper, to prevent the sea-
water from entering, but permitting flow from
the inside. It is usually held in place by a
lanyard.
SCUppett, SCUppitt (skup'et, -it), ji. [Cf. scop-
pet.] A shovel or spade of uniform width, with
the sides turned a little inward. Halliwell.
What scuppet have we then to free the heart of this
muddy pollution? Rev. T. Adams, Works, I. 267.
SCUppett, 1!. t. [< scuppet, n.] To shovel, as
with a scuppet: &s, to scuppet sand. Nashc.
SCUr^ (sker), v. ; pret. and pp. scurred, ppr. scur-
ring. [Also siirr ; a var. of «coMr*. Ct. scurry.]
scurfy
1. trans. 1. To graze, skim, or touch lightly;
jerk. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
The broader puddles, though sHrred by the breeze,
found tlie net>work of ice veiling over them.
R. D. Blackmore, Cripps, The Carrier, ii.
2. To scour; pass over rapidly, as on horse-
back.
Mount ye, spur yo, sHrr the plain.
That the fugitive may flee in vain !
Byron, siege of Corinth, xxii.
II, intrans. To run or fly ; flit hurriedly ;
scour. [Obsolete or provincial.]
You shall have a coachman with cheeks like a trum-
peter, and a wind in his mouth, blow him afore him as far
as he can see him ; or skirr over him with his bat's wings
a mile and a half ere he can steer his wry neck to look
where he is. B. Jonson, World in the Moon.
The light shadows.
That in a thought scur o'er the fields of corn.
Halted on cruixjhes to 'em. Fletcher, Bonduca, i. 1.
SCUr^ (skfer), n. [Origin obscure.] A dwarfed
or stimtedhorn. See the quotation. [Scotch.]
A heifer with only scurs, as the modified horns sometimes
found in polled cattle and in cross-bred offspring of polled
and horned breeds are called in Scotland. They are little
bits of flat horn, loose at the roots, so that you can twist
them al)0ut, and quite hidden in a mass of hair, continued
from a thick, long tuft, which grows upon a pointed crown-
ridge, and falls over the forehead and sides of the head ;
and I have seen similar scurs and top-knots on several fe-
male short-horns. Quoted in Avier. Nat., XXI. 1083.
scurf 1 (sk6rf), n. [Formerly also skurf, and
transposed scruff; < ME. scurf, scorf, scrof, <
AS. scurf, sceorf = MD. scorf, schor/t, schurft,
schroft, D. schurft (with excrescent t) = OHG.
scoif, MHG. G. schorf=: Icel. skurfur, pi., = Sw.
skorf = Dan. skuro, scurf; from the verb rep-
resented by AS. sceorf an (pret. pi. scurf on),
scrape, gnaw; cf. OHG. scurfan, MHG. G. schiir-
fcn, scratch, MHG. schrephen, G. schropfen, cup
(bleed) ; prob. akin to scrape : see scrape^. The
OHG. form scorf, scurf, is not exactly cognate
with AS. scurf, which would require OHG.
J'scorb, but goes with the verb scurfen, which
is a secondary form, cognate with AS. sceor-
pan. The words of this gi'oup, scrape"^, sharp,
scarp^, scarf ^, etc., are numerous, and more or
less complicated in their foi-ms and senses.]
1. Scaly or flaky matter on the surface of the
skin; the scarf-skin or epidermis exfoliated in
fine shreds or scales. Scurf is continually coming
from the human skin, being removed by the friction of the
clothes, in the bath, etc. The scurf of the head, where it
may remain held by the hair in considerable quantity, is
known as dandruff. In some diseases affecting the skin,
scurf comes oif in lai'ge flakes or layers, as in the desqua-
mation or "peeling " after scai-let fever.
Well may we raise jars.
Jealousies, strifes, and heart-burning disagreements.
Like a thick scurf o'er life. Middleton, 'I'he Witch, i. 2.
Then are they happy, when by length of time
The scurj is worn away of each committed crime.
Dryden, ^Eneid, vi.
2. Any scaly or flaky matter on a surface.
There stood a hill not far. whose grisly top
Belch'd fire and rolling smoke ; the rest entire
Shone with a glossy scurf. Milton, P. L., i. 672.
Specifically — (a) In hot, a loose bran-like scaly matter that
is found on some leaves, as in the genus Elseaynus, etc. (b)
A growth of polyps on oysters.
3. Scum; offscouring.
Priscian goes yonder with that wretched crowd.
And Francis of Accorso ; and thou hadst seen there,
7f thou hadst had a hankering for such scurf,
That one who by the .'>ervant of the ."Servants
From Arno was transferred to Bacchiglione.
Longfellow, tr. of Dante's Inferno, xv. 111.
scurf 2 (skirf), n. [Also scurff, skurf; < ME.
scurffe; perhaps so called from the scaly or
scabby appearance : see seurf^.] A gray bull-
trout; a variety of the trout, Salmo trutta cani-
bricus. [Local, Eng.]
There are two sorts of them [Bull-trouts], Red Trouts
and Gray Trouts or Slcurffs, which keep not in in the Chan-
nel of Rivulets orRivei-s, but lurk like the Alderlmgs un-
der the roots of great Alders.
Moffett and Bennet, Health's Improvement <ed. 1746),
[p. 283.
SCUrfer (sk6rf'6r), n. One who removes scale
from boilers.
The Sci-apers' and Scurf ers' Union. Engineer, LXX. 293.
SCUrflness (skfer'fi-nes), n. [Early mod. E.
scorffynesse ; < scurfy + -ness.] The state of
being scurfy; scurfy condition.
And euer to reraayne
In wretched beggary.
And raaungy misery, . . .
And scabbed scorffynesse.
Skelton, Duke of Albany, etc., 1. 140.
scurf-skin (skerf'skin), n. Same as scarf-skin.
scurfy (skcr'fi), a. [< ME. scurfy (= D. schurftig
= G. schorjig = Sw. skorfvig, scurfy) ; < scurff +
-^1. In another torm scurvy : see scurvy'^.] 1.
I
scnriy
Covered with scurf : exfoliating in small scales ;
scurvy; scabby. — 2. Resembling or consisting
of scurf — Scurfy scale. See xxUei.
scurget, «. and v. An obsolete spelling of
■iriinn/c.
scurrer (sk^r'fer), n. [Sc. also or formerly scur-
roiir, skoiiriour, skurriour ; a var. of scourer^
The word seems to have been confused with
i . coureur. E. cornier, etc.] One who scours ; a
scout. [Obsolete or provincial.]
And he seiite for the tmrrerg to aduyse the deiUyuee of
their ennemyes, aiid to se where they were, and what
noiubre they were of.
Bernen. tr. of Froissart's Chron., II. iixiiL
SCUrril, scunlle (skur'il), «. [Early mod. E
aisoscunill. .tkurril; = It. seurrile, < Uscurri-
lis, buffoon-like, < scurra, a buffoon. Cf . scorn.^
Befitting a \nilgar jester ; grossly opprobrious ;
scurrilous; low: as, scuiril scoffing; scurril
taunts.
6433
Flatter not greatnesse with your KurrOt praise.
Timea' Whittle (E. B. t. a), p. 136.
This, in your mntrra dialect ; but my inn
Knows no such Ungnage. B. Janxm, Sew Inn, L 1.
Their wiu indeed serve them to that sole purpose, to
make sport, to break a KurriU: Jest
Biattm, Anat of Mel., p. 208.
It had bin plainly partiall, Brst, to correct him forfrrave
( icero, and not for teurriU Plautus.
Milton, Areopagitlca, p. 15.
"Bring the unfortunate girl to her father'a and break no
tcuml JesU here, " said the Sub- Prior.
SeUt, Monacteiy, xxxlv.
scurrility (sku-ril'j-ti), n. [Early mod. E. also
xKurnlUly; < F. scurrilite = Vt. scurilitat = It
■-■eiirnli/a, < L. scurrilita{t-)s, < scitrrilis, scurril :
-see «ci/rn7.] 1. The qualitv of being scurril
or scurrilous; low, v-ile, buffoon-like scoffing
or jeenng; indecent or gross abusiveness or
railing; vulgar, indecent, or abusive language.
Vet wiU je see in many cases how pleasant speeches
and sauoaHng some tkurriUOy and vnshamefastnVhaue
now and then a certalne decencie, and well become both
the speaker to say, and the hearer to abide.
PvUenham, Arte of Eng. Poeale, p. 224.
So it shall please yoo to abrogate KurrOt^.
5*11*., L. L. L, It. 2. 55.
2. A scurrilous remark, attack, or outburst ;
an abusive tirade.
*2?."°'S.f"?*''"'" "PPly*"* ">«*' "«»• to SewnUMa
A other noiculous matters.
PuttenMam, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 50.
I loathed snoTOMtra in conrenatlon, and bad a natural
aversion to Immoderate drinking. n«Mai
T. BUwood,Uie (ed. IlowellsX p. 185.
SCniTiloiU (skur'i-lus), a. [< scurril + -o«,,.]
1. Lsing or given to the use of low and inde-
cent language ; scurril; indecently or grossly
abusive or railing. ■> b j
One would suspect him (John .SUndishJ not the same
man <^led bv Bale a teurriUout fool, and admired by HU
for pieUand learning. Jealous lest another man shoiUd be
more wise to salvation than himself.
fuller. Worthies, Lancashire, n 208.
Though a flerce, unscrupulous, and singularly teurrOoui
gWltica writer, he [Swift] was not, in th" geneVd^harac-
ter of his politics, a violent man. »•"«■«/-
i«*V, Eng. in 18th Cent, L
2. Containing low indecency or abuse; foul-
vile: as, «ci(m7oM« language. '
„ ?L'* f!" T.*^' ''°' •*"' ""xJ^t; not dia«>lved into
undecent Uught«r, or tickled with wit seurram. oTinJ^
""■^ «a««W«<m,Cast«a,{il.
A comMnlon that Is cheerful, and free from swearing
and KumlouM discoane, is worth gold. *
/. Walton, t'omplete Angler, p. 87.
3. Opprobrious; abusive; offensive.
hu7r5i'tl^° Z' .T » ""S""' ""«*> Intentions are vi.|.
Myto do good by the works he poblUhes, tnated In as
•mrriloa. a manner as if be were an enemy to mankind '
Aidimm, rreeholder. No. 40.
= S^ Ribald, blackguard. Indecent, coarse, vulgar,
scnrrilously (sknr'i-lus-li), adv. In a scurri-
lous manner; with scurrility.
Poets have fancied the footprints of the wind in those
light ripples that sometimes scurry across smooth water
with a sudden blur. Lmcell, Study Windows, p. 42.
scurry (sknr'i), n.; pi. scurries (-iz). [Also
skurri/; < scurry, t-.] 1. Hurry; fluttering or
bustling haste.— 2. A flurry.
The birds circled overhead, or dropped like thick sctir-
rtes of snow-flakes on the water.
B. Taylor, Northern Travel, p. 305.
3. In sporting, a short race run for amusement
by inferior horses or non-winners. Krik's
Guide to the Turf.
SCUrvily (sker'vl-U), adv. In a scurvy manner ;
meanly; shabbily.
How tcurvay thou criest now, like a drunkard !
Fletcher, Wife for a Month, i. 2.
When I drew out the mony, he returnd it as scurmly
»K»'n- Evelyn, Diary, Oct. 2, IWl.
scurviness (sk6r'vi-nes), n. Scurvy character;
meatmess; baseness; shabbiness. Jiaileu
SCUTVyl (sker'vi), a. [< ME. scim^y. a var. of
scurfy (with the usual change of/ to r, as in
ici/e, tcices, etc.): see scurfy. For the fig
senses 2, 3, cf. scabby, shabby, in like uses.] 1
bciu-fy ; covered or affected with scurf or scabs ;
scabby ; diseased with scurvy ; scorbutic.
Whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, ... or be
l^aHfH^'rr^ ■ ■ ■ he shall not come nigh to ofler the
bread of bis God. Lev.11i.2e.
2. Vile; mean; low; vulgar; worthless; con-
temptible; paltry; shabby: as, a«eurry fellow.
A very scurry tune to sing at a man's funeral.
Shak., Tempest, iL 2. 4<i.
"Twaa but a little letirvy white money, hang it I
B. Jomon, Bartholomew Fair, II. 1.
«,^,"*J't '"f .*.' '^'^°' "e had "ke to have had a
««n>y trick plaid us by a pretended Merchant from
Psjiama, who came, as by stealth, to trafflck with us pri-
'* ^' Dampier, Voyages, 1. 188.
3. Offensive; mischievous; malicious.
, . , Nay, but he prated.
And spoke such leurvy and provoking terms
Against your honour. Shot., Othello, i. 2. 7.
scurvy"- (skfer'vi), n. [Formerly also scunHe,
scurrey; appar. abbr. of scurvy disease or some
similar phrase; prob. confused also with scor-
bute.Mh. scorbutus : see scorbute.] A disease
usually presenting swollen, spongy, easily
bleeding gums, fibrinous effusion into some of
the muscles, rendering them hard and brawny
hemorrhages beneath the skin, rheumatoid
pains, anemia, and prostration, it occurs at all
agea and in all climates, and usually develops in those em
pIoTing an unvaried diet, especlaUy one from which vege-
Ubles are excluded. Also called jeorfttrtiu.-Button-
iCUTVy an epidemic of cachectic disease observed in the
south ..fir. land, cliaractirized by button-likeexcrescenoes
on the »kiri.~ Laad-scurvy, purpura.
scurvy-grass (skcr'vi-gris), «. [A corruption
ot scurry-cress, so named because used as a cure
fo^ scurvy.] 1 . A cruciferous p\&nt,Cochlcaria
officinalis, of northern and western Europe and
arctic America: an antiscorbutic and salad
plant. Locally called scrooby- or scruby-grass.
A woman cniniL "Boy any tcuny-gramt"
MiddteUm and Dekter, Koaring Girl, lit 2.
2. One of the winter cresses, Barbarea prxcox
a European plant cultivated as a winter salad,
becoming wild in parts of the United States
scuse (skus), »i. and v. [By apheresis from ex-
cuse.} Same as excuse.
scutcher
.i J.?"/"""?,!*'"''''"'' "'e acceptance of a money compo-
sition for militaiy service, dates from this time (ll,i9).
£. A. Freeman, Norman Conquest, V. 461.
SCUtal (sku'tal), a. [< NL. '•scutalis, < L. scu-
tum, a shield : see scutum.;} In ^o67., of the na-
ture of or pertaining to a scute ; in entom., spe-
eifacally, of or pertaining to the scutum of any
segment of the notum.
scutate (sku'tat), a. [< NL. scutatus, shield-
sliaped (L. scutatus, armed with a shield) < L
«CM«MTO, a shield: see«c«fei.] 1. In soot.: (a)
Provided with scutes, sliields, plates, or large
scales; squamate; squamous; scaly; seutel-
late. (6) Resembling a scute or shield; broad
and somewhat convex.— 2. In hot., formed like
an ancient round buckler: as, a scutate leaf
r^fA'ilJi^.'i'^*""/^*"'?- Scutate tarsus, in e,a<nn.:
i^r^^ nl,t Tm "l"." ""«^''' J"'"' '" "ilated si as to forii,
a broad plate, (b) A tarsus covered with large flat scales
as m the genus Lepisma. ot-nies,
SCUtatiform (sku'ta-ti-f6rm), a. [< NL. scuta-
tus, shield-shaped (see scutate), + L. forma,
torm.J Same as sciitiform.
scutch (skuch), V. t. [Prob. < OF. escousser, es-
cosser, escoucer, shake, swing, shake off, strip, <
LL. excussarc, shake frequently or much, freq. of
excutere, shake off: see excuss, and cf. rcscotis
rescue, from the same L. source, with an added
prefix. Ct. scutcher. The word may have been
confused with forms allied to Norw. skoka,skoko,
skuka, a swingle for beating flax, or Sw. skiikta,
swingle, prob. akin to E. shake, shock. Not relat-
ed to scotch^.} 1. To beat; drub. [Old Eng. and
Scotch.]- 2. To dress (fibrous material) by
beating The particles of woody matter adhering to the
flbers are detached, and the bast is partially separated into
its constituent flbers. The waste fiber obtained is called
scutching-UnvotcudOla. Speciflcally-(o) In flax-maimf.,
to beat olf and separate the woody parts of, as the stiilks
of flax ; swingle : as, to >cutch flax. ((,) In cotton-inamij.,
to separate, as the individual fibers after they have been
loosened and cleansed, (c) In inlk-manxtf., to disentangle
straighten, and cut into lengths, as floss and refuse silk.
scutch (skuch), H. [< scutch, v.} 1. Same as
scutcher, 1. Imp. Diet.— 2. A coarse tow that
separates from flax during scutching.
scutch-blade (skuch'blad), n. A piece of hard,
tough wood used in beating flax.
SCUteheon (skuch'on), n. [Formeriy alsoscttfcA-
lOH, scut<-hin; < ME. scotchyne, scochone, by
apheresis from fsci/Wifow; see escutcheon.} 1.
A shield for armorial bearings ; an emblazoned
shield; an escutcheon.
Scotchyne (var. leochone). SeuteUum.
Prompt. Pan., p. 449.
I saw the monument of the CardinaU of Bourbon, and
tVt, "^ty ""'■'onsly made over it in Cardinals habites
with bis armesandsciUcAt'n. Coryat, Crudities, 1. 4S, sig. D.
Tbey bane no Scutchiont or biasing of .Amies.
Purchtts, Pilgrimage, p. 294.
h^thi^^" "° •™''*«^«' "' yotL I h«l no patience to
near mm. WyekerUy, Country Wife, ii L
BCurrilonsness (skur'i-lus-nes), «. Scurrilous
ctiru.ter; indecency of language or manners ;
scumlity. liniley. '
scurry (sknr'i). r. i. ; pret. and pp. scurried,
ppr. scurrying. [Also skurry; an extended fomi
otscur or the orig. scour^, perhaps due in part
to skumour and similar forms of scurrer, and
in part to association with hurry, as in hurni-
scurry.} To hurry along; move hastily and
precipitately; scamper.
mirfuL^;"""^' "'"'."'•"'led the horsemen of the No-
midiaos to Kurry to the trenches.
.VorU, tr. of Plotarcb, p. 882.
^^ £SfS?"^'?i'*C<"'*'' "») » '»^'>« «*" "»»> none.
... I will the trutbe know een as It Is.
ITdall, Roister Dolster, v. 2.
Tliat 'antw serves many men to save their gift*.
Shalr., M. of V., Iv. 1. 444.
SCUtl (skut), a. [Perhaps a mixture of cut,
cutty, short, with short (AS. sceort), and further
with scuts. «.] Short, as a garment, etc. Balli-
well. rP>rov. Eng.]
SCUt2 (sknt), «. [Also skut; appar. < scufi, a.,
but perhaps confused with Icel. skott. a fox's
tail (see scuft), or ult. = L. cauda = W. CKt, a
tail (with orig. initial »).] 1. A short tail, as
that of the rabbit or deer.
My doe with the black teut I
Shot., M. W. of W., V. 5. 2a
Watch came, with his little scut of a tail cocked aa sharp
" "n'y- «■ D. Blaekmort, Loma Doone, xllt
2. In her., the tail, as of a cony: used only
when the tail is of a different tincture from the
rest.
scuta, n. Plural of scutum.
scutage (sku'taj), n. [< ML. scutagium, < OF.
iKcuoj/e (> E. escuage: see escuage), F. fcuage ;
<L. scutum, a shield: see scute^.} In feudal law :
(a) A tax on a knight's fee or scutum: same
as escuage. (b) A commutation for personal
service.
2. In medieral arch., etc.. a shield or plate on a
door, from the center of which hung the door-
handle.—3. The cover of a keyhole, usually
pivoted at the top, so as to drop over the kev-
hole by its weight. A sliding scutcheon is call-
ed a sheave.— 4. A plate for an inscription, es-
pecially a small one for a name, as on a knife or
a walking-stiek.— 6. In her., same as escutch-
eon, 1 .
SCUtcheoned (skuch'gnd), a. Emblazoned; or-
namented or surmounted by a scutcheon or em-
blazoned shield.
The tcutcheon'd emblems which It bore.
Scott, Bridal of Triermain, ill. 16.
Far oflf her lover sleeps as still
Within bis tcuteheoned tomb.
WhitHer, The Countess.
scutcher (skuch'^r), «. [< OF. escoussour, a
nail, < escousser, shake, beat: see scutch.} 1.
Scutchinp-macllltie or Scntclier for Flax.
<r, fce.l-lable on whkh the ll.ix is ft.! to the fl„lr,l rollfn * V
which seiM It .ind present it to the scutches or lieater, r, fastened b»
mpjports rf to the rotHt.ng .inim ,. The latter revolvei in a caie/
with a Ktoting .nt the iKjItom. The feed roll, are driven byVeari^j'^
Scutcliiii^-sword iiiid Stand.
scutcher
An implement or a macliiiu> for scutching fiber.
Also scutch. — 2t. A whip.
Verge, , . . a rod, wand, . . . awitch, oraniteAcrtoride
with. Cotgrave.
3. One who scutches fiber.
BCntch-grass (skuch'gris), n. 1. A variant
of quitch-<ir(iss. — 2. By transfer, the Bermuda
or Indian couch-grass, Cynodon Dactylon. See
Bermuda grass, under grass,
Bcutchillg (skuch'ing), n. Same as scotching.
SCatcMng-maclline (skuch'ing-ma-shen'), n.
A machine for scutching or rough-dressingfiber,
as flax, cotton, or silk. See cut under scutcher.
scutching-mill (skuch'ing-mil), w. Same as
sculcliiiui-iiKK'liiiie.
SCUtchirig-shaft (skuch'ing-shaft), n. In a cot-
ton-scutching machine, the revolving shaft
which carries the first beater.
SCUtching-stock (skueh'ing-stok), n. In a
seutcliing-machine, the part on which the hemp
rests during the opera-
tion of scutching. E.
H. Knight.
scntcUhg-sword
(skuch'ing-sord), n.
A beating-implement
used in scutching flax
bj' hand. The sword a
(see cut) is held in the right
hand, while with the left a
handful of the bruised
stems is introduced into
the groove g in the stand b.
A band stretched from the
stand to a stake A causes
the sword to rebound after
each downward blow.
scutei (skit), H. [< late ME. scute, < OF. escnt,
later <?^CM, F. ^CM, a buckler or shield, a coin, etc.,
= Pr. escut = Sp. Pg. escudo = It. scudo, < L. scu-
tum, rarely scutus, a shield, cover, = 6r. mSrof,
a skin, also a buckler, < ■»/ sku, cover, = Skt.
y/ sku, cover: see sky, scum, obscure, etc. Cf.
scutum, scudo, ecu, from the same source.] If.
A shield or buckler; also, a heraldic shield ; an
escutcheon.
Confessing that he was himselfe a Mountacute,
And bare the selfe same armes that I dyd quarter in ray
gcute. GoMoigne, Deuise of a Maske.
2t. An old French gold coin, of the value of
3x. id. sterling, or 80 cents.
And from a pair of gloves of half-a-crown
To twenty crowns, will to a very scute
Smell out the price. Chapman, All Fools, v. 1.
3. In zooL, a scutum or scutellum,in any sense;
a squama; a large scale; a shield, plate, or
buckler : as, the dermal scutes of a ganoid fish,
a turtle, an armadillo, a scaly ant-eater, etc.
See cuts under carapace and Acipenser Clavic-
ular scute. See damciUar.
SCUte^t, «. An obsolete form of scouf^.
SCUtel (sku'tel), ». [< NL. scutellum, q. v.] A
little scute; a scutellum. Imp. Diet.
ScutsUal (sku-tel'ii), H. [NL. (Lamarck, 1816),
< L. scutella, a salver, tray, ML. a platter, dish,
dim. of scutra, a flat tray, a platter: see scut-
tle'^, skillet, sculler^, scullery, etc.] 1. A ge-
nus of flat sea-urchins, or cake-urchins, giving
name to the family Scutellidee. — 2. {l. c; pi.
scutellx (-e).] Same as scutellum (c).
scutella^, ». Plural of scutellum.
SCUtellar (skii'te-lar), a. [< NL. scutellum +
■ar''i.'\ Of or pertaining to a scutellimi, in any
sense — Scutellar angle, in entom. -. (a) The angle of a
wing-cover adjoining the scutellum, or next to the oppo-
site elytron if the scutellum is concealed. (6) The basal
posterior angle of a wing.— Scutellar striaa, short im-
pressed lines on the elytra, near the scutellum and paral-
lel to its margins. They are found in many beetles.
Scutellaria (sku-te-la'ri-a), n. [NL., < L. scu-
tella, a salver, dish, + -aria^.l A genus of
gamopetalous plants, of the order Lahiatx and
tribe Stachydex, type of the subtribe Scutella-
riese. it is distinguished by its peculiar two-lipped
calyx, which is enlarged and closed in fruit, bearing a
scale or projecting appendage above, with both lips en-
tire, the lower persistent, the other falling with the in-
closed fruit. From Perilomia, which alone has a similar
calyx, it is distinguished by its corolla with an eidarged
and hooded orgaleate upper lip, its roundish nutlets, and
its transverse seeds. There are about 100 species, widely
dispersed through temperate regions and among tropical
mountains, and abundant in the United States, which con-
tains one quarter of the species. They are chiefly known
as skullcap and helmet-fimver, and are annual or perennial
herbs, spreading or erect, and rarely shrubs. They bear
Scuteilatc— Foot of
Bluebird, with lamiiii-
pl.tntar and mostly
twoted tarsus, showiny
sciitell.'ition of lower
part of t.irsus and of
the toes.
opposite and commonly toothed leaves, and rather large
blue, violet, sc.trlet, or yellow flowers in the axils or dis-
posed in a terminal spike or raceme. See skullcap; also
madweed, hoodwort, and hedge-hyssop, 2,
BCntellate (skii'te-lat), a. [< NL. 'scutellatus,
< scutellum, q. v.] In zooL: (a) Provided with
scutella; scutate; squamate. Specifically, in or-
5434
nithology. noting the foot of a bird when it is provided
with the special plates t>r scales cidleit Rcntetla : opposed to
reticulate: as, a scuteltate tarsus; toes
teulellate ou toy. (ft) Formed into
a scutellum; shaped like a
plate or platter; divided into
scutella.
SCUtellated (skti'te-la-ted), a.
[< scuicUatc + -c(J2.] Same
as SCUtel late. Woodward.
SCUtellatiou (sku-te-la'shon),
n. [< scutcllate + -ion.] In
ornitli., the condition of the
foot when the homy covering
is fashioned into scutella; the
state of being scutellate, or
provided with scutella ; the ar-
rangement of the scutella: op-
posed to rcticidation.
&;utellera (sku-tel'e-ra), n.pl. [NL. (Lamarck,
1801), < scutellum, q. v.] A group name for the
true bugs now known as ficiitelleridse, subse-
quently used as a generic name by several au-
thors, but not now in use.
Scutelleridse (skti-te-ler'i-de), n. pi. [NL.
(Westwood, 1840), < Scutellera + -idm.] A very
large family of true bugs or Hetcroptera, con-
taining tortoise-shaped species in which the
scutellum covers nearly the whole surface of
the abdomen. They are often highly colored,
and abound in the tropics.
SCUtellid (sku'te-lid), n. A clypeastroid or
shield-urchin of the family Scutellidse.
Scutellidae (sku-tel'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Scutella
+ -idee.'] A family of irregular or exocyclie
sea-urchins, typified by the genus Scutella; the
shield-urchins, with flat, discoidal shell, often
perforated or fissured, and with ramified
grooves on the under side. See Echinarachnius,
Mcllita, sand-dollar, and cuts under cake-urchin
and Encope. Also called Mellitidse.
SCUtelliform (sku-tel'i-form), a. [< NL. scutel-
lum, q. v., + Ij. forma, form.] Scutellate; in
hot., sliaped like a scutellum.
SCUtelligerous (sku-te-lij'e-rus), a. [< NL.
scutellum + L. gerere, carry.] Provided with
a scutellum or with scuteUa ; scutellate ; scu-
tigerous.
SCUtelline (skii'te-lin), a. Pertaining to Scu-
tella, or to the family Scutellidee.
The SCUtelline urchins commence with the Tertiary.
Phillips, Geol. (1888), I. 490.
SCUtelliplautar (skii"te-li-plan'tar), a. [< NL.
scutelliplantaris,<. scutellum, q. v., -I- Ij. jjlanta,
the sole of the foot (in birds
the back of the tarsus) : see
jtUtnt^.] In ornitli., having
the planta, or back of the
tarsus, scutellate : said es-
pecially of certain passerine
birds, in distinction from
laminiplantar.
Scutelliplantares (skii"te-
li-plan-ta'rez), «. j)Z. [NL. :
see scutelliplantar.'] In or-
nith., in Sundevall's system
of classification, a series of
his order Oscines (nearly
equal to Passeres of most
authors) which have the integument of the
planta, or back of the tarsus, divided by trans-
verse sutures, or furnished with small scutes,
variously arranged. The Scutelliplantares are divided
into five cohorts, Holaspidese, Endaspidete, Exaspidete,
Pycnaspidess, and Taxaspidese. The series corresponds
in general, though not precisely, with the mesomyodian
or clamatorial Passeres.
SCUtelllplantation (skii"te-li-plan-ta'shon), «.
[As scHtelliplant{ar) + -ation.'] The scutelli-
plantar state of a bird's foot, or the formation
of that state : correlated with laminiplantation.
Amer. Naturalist, XXII. 653.
scutellum (skii-terum), n.; pi. scutella (-a).
[NL., dim. of Ij. scutum, a shield: see scutum.]
A little shield, plate, or scute, (a) In hot. : (1) In
grasses, a little shield-like expansion of the hypocotyl,
which acts as an organ of suction through which the nu-
trient substance of the endosperm is absorbed by the em-
bryo. (2) In lichens, a rounded apothecium having an
elevated rim. (6) In entom., the third from before (or the
penultimate one) of four j)ieces or sclerites composing any
segment of the tergum of an insect, situated between the
scutum and the postscutellum. There are three scutella,
respectively of the pronotum, mesonotum, and metano-
tum, or one to each of the thoracic segments. That of the
mesonotum (specifically the mesoscutellnm, which see)
is the most important in classification, and is generally
meant when scutellum is said without qualifying term. It
is variously modified ; triangular in Coteoptera, sometimes
invisible, at other times (as in some Hemiptera) large and
covering the elytra and abdomen, (c) In omith,, one of
the large special horny plates, scales, or scutes with which
Scutelliplantar Foot of
Horned Lark ; the tarsus
srutellate before and be-
hind, and the toes all scu-
tellate on top.
scutigerous
the feet of most birds are piovided, and which are gen-
erally arranged in a single vertical series upon the front,
often also upon the back, of the tarsus and the tops of the
toes : distinguished from the smaller or irregular plates
which collectively constitute reticulation. The presence
of such scutella constitutes scutellation, and a tarsus so
furnished is said to be scutellate, as opposed to either a
1« lilted or a reticulate tarsus. The presence of scutella upon
tlie back of the tarsus constitutes scutelliplantation — a
conilition rare in oscine birds, though usual in noii-oscine
Passeres, in PlcnriH', etc. Also written scutella, with a
plural sCTiWLr- Abdominal scuteUa, distinct scu-
tellum, received scutellimi. Sec the adjectives.
SCUtibranch (skii'ti-brangk), a. and «. I. a.
Pertaining to the Scutibrunchiata, or having
their characters.
II. n. A member of the Scutibranchiata.
Also scutibranchian, scutihrancliiate.
Scutibrancllia(sku-ti-brang'ki-a), n.pl. [NL.,
< Ij. scutum, shield, -t- braucltiee, gills.] A group
of rhipidoglossate gastropods, with the gills in
a spiral line on the left side of the gill-cavity,
the eyes pedicelled, and the shell and opercu-
lum spiral. It was limited by Gray to the families A'ert-
tidfe, Rotellidse, Turbinidx, JAoUidse, Troclddee, and Sto-
matellidee,
scutibranchian (skii-ti-brang'ki-an), a. and n.
[< sculihraucli + -ian.] Same as sculibranch.
Scutibranchiata (skii"ti-brang-ki-a'ta), n. pi.
[NL., neut. pi. of scutibranehiatus : see scuti-
branchiate.] In De Blainville's classification
(1825), the second order of his Paracephalo-
phora hermaphrodita, divided into the two
families Otidea and Calyptracea, or the ear-
shells and various limpet-like shells. See cuts
under abalonc and sea-ear.
SCUtibranchiate (skii-ti-brang'ki-at), a. and w.
[< NL. scutibranehiatus, < L. scutum, a shield,
-t- branchiae, gills.] Same as scutibranch.
SCUtifer (skii'ti-fer), n. [< L. scutum, a shield,
-I- ferre = E. bear^.] A shield-bearer ; one who
bears the shield of his master ; a sort of squire ;
also, a person entitled to a shield (that is, to
armorial bearing). [Rare.]
He now became a "squire of the body," and truly an
" armiger" or ''scut\fer," for he bore the shield and ar-
mour of his leader to the field. Encyc. Brit., XIV. 118.
SCUtiferous (sku-tif'e-ms), (I. [As scutifer +
-ous.} 1. CaiTying a shield or buckler. — 2.
In zoiil., same as scutigerous.
SCUtiform (skti'ti-form), a. [< OF. scutiforme,
< L. scutum, a shield, + forma, form.] Shield-
shaped, (a) Properly, of the form of a Roman scutum
in one of its varieties (see cuts under scutum) ; most com-
monly, like the triangular or heater-shaped shield of the
fourteentli century, (b) In bot, peltate: as, a scut\form
leaf. Also scutati/orm.
SCUtiger (skii'ti-jer), n. [< Scutiger-a.] In
zooL, a eentiped of the genus Scutigera; any
member of the family Scufigcridee.
Scutigera (skii-tij'e-ra), n. [NL. (Latreille,
1802): see scutigerous!] The tyincal genus of
Scutigeridee : same as Cermatia. A common North
American species is
S. (or Cermatia)
forceps, ordinarily
known as tUou-
sand'leijs, eentiped,
and earwig, which
abounds in houses
in the southern
United States. It
is carnivorous and
preys upon house-
flies, small cock-
roaches, and other
household insects.
It is ordinarily re-
puted to bite human
beings with danger-
ous effect, but there
is no reason to be-
lieve that this repu-
tation is deserved.
5*. colertptrata is a
small species, scarce-
ly an inch long, in-
habiting southern
Europe and northern
Africa. 5. nobUis is
about 2 inches long,
found in India and
Mauritius.
Scutigeridae
(sku-ti-jer'i-de),
n.pl. [NL.(J.E.
Gray, 1847, after
Gervais, 1837), <
Scutigera + -idee.]
A family of een-
tipeds. named
from the genus Scutigera: same as Cermatiidm.
scutigerous (sku-tij'e-ms), a. [< NL. scutiger
(cf. L. sculigerulus, a shield-bearer), < L. scu-
tum, a shield, + gerere, carry.] In zool., pro-
vided with a scute or with scuta. Also scu-
tiferous.
Scuti^ra (or Cermatia) forceps,
of the Scutigeridee, one and a half ti
natural size.
sctitiped
scntiped (sku'ti-ped), a. [< L. scutum, a shield,
+ pes (ped-)=E. foot.'] In ornith., having the
shanks sealy; having seutellate tarsi : distin-
guished from plumiped. See cuts under seutel-
late and scutellipUintar.
scatter (skut'er), r. «'. [A var. of «cu«/e-*.] To
scoot or run hastily; scurry; scuttle. [Prov.
Eng. and Scotch.]
A sound behind the tapestry which was more like the
teuUmng of rata and mice than anything else.
Jfr». OatkeU, Curious if True. (Davia.)
scntter (skut'^r), n. [< scutter, ».] A hasty,
precipitate run. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.]
The dog's endeavour to avoid him was unsuucessful, as
I guessed by a KutUr downstairs, anti a prolonged piteous
yelping. E. Bronte, Wuthering Heights, xiii.
scuttle^ (skut'l), ». [< ME. scotile. scotylle. <
AS. sfutel, a dish, bowl, = T>. schotel = OHG.
scu::zilfi, MHG. schii::el, G. sehiissel, a dish, =
Icel. skutill, a plate, trencher, = OF. escuelle,
F. ecuelle = Sp. escudilla = Pg. escudella = It.
scodella, scudella, a plate, bowl, porringer, < L.
geutella, a salver or tray nearly square, also
LL. a stand for vases, ML. also a platt«r, plate,
dish, dim. of scutra, also scuta, a tray, platter,
dish ; prob. allied to scutum, a shield : see scutc'^.
Cf. scutclla, and cf. skillet, ult. a dim. form of
the same word, and sculler-, scullery, from the
same L. source.] If. A broad, shallow dish ; a
platter. Compare scuttle-dish.
The earth and stones they are fain to carry from under
their feet in teuttta and baaliets. Hatewill, Apology.
Alas ! and what 's a man ?
A KtUUe full of dust, a measur'd span
Of Oitting time. (jvarla, Emblenu, iiL 8.
2. A deep vessel of sheet-iron, copper, or brass,
used for holding coal in small amounts; a coal-
scuttle or coal-hod. See coal-scuttle. — 3. A
swabber used for cleaning a bakers' oven,
scuttle'" (skut'l), n. [Also shuttle; < OF. escou-
tille, F. ecoutilie (of a ship) = Sp. escotilla = Pg.
escotilha, the scuttle of a ship ; a dim. form, con-
nected with Sp. escotar, out (clothes so as to fit),
slope, orig. cut a hole in a garment to fit the
neck or bosom, < escote, the sloping of a jacket,
a tucker (cf. escoUt, the sheet of a sail), < D.
school = MLG. schot. lap, sloping of a jacket, =
OHG. scoz, scogo, sc6:a, MHG. seho:, G. schoss,
lap, flap of a coat, bosom, = Sw. skote = Dan.
skjrkl, lap, flap of a coat, = Goth, skauts, hem
of a ^rment, = AS. scedt, comer, fold, sheet of
a sail: see sheets. ] 1. Naut., a small hatch-
way or opening in the deck, with a lid for cover-
ing it ; also, a like hole in the side of a ship,
or through the coverings of her hatchways; by
extension, a hole in general.
The Mght was something lightish, and one of the Sailors
was got into the StnUOe (so I think they call it) at the
Main-Tup. Hast, looking out if he could see any Land.
X. Bailey, tr. of ColloquiM of Erasmus, L 276.
2. A square hole in the wall or roof of a house,
covered with a lid; also, the lid that covers
such an opening Floall scuttle, a scuttle In which
the framework is flush with the deck.— Fore-acntUe, a
hatch by which the forecastle Is entered. (!iee also air-
icuttU.)
scuttle- (skut'l), r. t. ; pret. and pp. scuttled, ppr.
■sruttliiif/. [< scuttle^, ».] Naut., to cut holes
through the bottom or sides of (a ship) for any
purpose ; specifically, to sink by making holes
through the bottom.
He was the mildest msnner'd man
That ever smltfed ship or cut a thrnat.
Ayrm, Don Joan, ill. 41.
I wondered whether some amoDC them were even now
below aeuttUngthe ship.
w. C. RvmM, Wreck of the Orosrenor, xril.
scuttle'* (skut'l), r. i. ; pret. and pp. scuttled,
ppr. scuttling. [Formerly also shuttle; also
.fcud'llf (also assibilsted shnttUi); freq. of scud,
or of the more orig. scoot, shoot: see scud,
scnot^, and shoot.'] To run hurriedly, or with
short, hurried steps; hurry.
I have no Inclination to tmUU barefoot after a Duke of
WolfenbutUe's army. Walpote, Letters, IL 476.
No mother nor brother viper of the brood
•Shall KuttU olf without the instructive bruise.
browning. Ring and Book, I. 286.
scuttle-'' (skut'l), n. [Formerly also skuttle ;
< ««/We3, r.] A qniek pace; a short, hurried
run; a mincing, affected gait.
From Twelve to One. Shut myself up in my Chamber,
practised Ladv Bettv Modely's SkuttU.
Quoted In AMan'i Soclsl Life in Belgo of ()ue«n Anne,
1L92.
8he wrnt with an easy teutUe out of the shop. Spectator.
scuttle-butt (skut'1-but), n. Naut., a cask or
butt having a touttle or bole out in it for the
Varioos fonns of die Roinan Scu-
tum.
6435
introduction of a cup or dipper, and used to
hold drinking-water. Also called scuttle-cask.
The rest of the crew filled the sadUedlnM.
It. H. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, xxiii.
scuttle-cask (skut'l-kask), n. Same as scuttle-
butt.
SCUttle-disllt(skut'l-dish),n. A wooden platter.
She, . . . wen the pan was brimful,
Would mess you up in scutUe disheg,
Syne bid us sup till we were fou.
Earl Richard (Child's Ballads, III. 273).
SCUttlefish (skut'1-fish), n. A cuttlefish.
SCUttler (skut'lfer), n. The streakfield, or striped
lizard, Cuemidophorus sexlineatiis. Trans. Amer.
I'hiM. A.fS., XVH. 46. [Local, U. S.]
scuttling (skut'Ung),./!. See the quotation.
Manchester is becoming notorious for a form of street
nifiiaiiism known locally :is ''scuttling," It consists of
gangs of youths going about certain districts ostensibly
to fight with similar gangs of adjacent districts.
Lancet, No. 3499, p. 643.
SCUtulnm (skii'tu-lum), H. ; pi. scutula (-la).
[L., dim. ot scutum, a shield: see scutum.] A
small shield; specifically, one of the shield-
shaped crusts of favus ; a favus-eup.
scutum (skii'tum), n. ; pi. scuta (-ta). [< L. scu-
tum, a long shield: see scMfcl.] ' 1. In Itom.
antiq., a large ob-
long shield of heavy-
armed Roman legion-
aries, as distinguished
from the small round
shield, or clypeus. It
was generally oval or semi-
cylindrical in shape, made
of wood or wickerwork
covered with leather, and
defended with plates of
Iron.
2. In anat., the knee-
pan; the rotula or
patella. See cut wa-
dier knee-joint. — 3. In
:o6l., a plate, shield,
buckler, or some
similar part; a large
scale; a scute; ascu-
tellum ; especially,
some piece of dermal armor or exoskeletal for-
mation, as one of the bony plates of a sturgeon
or a crocodile, a piece of the shell of a tiirtle,
a nng or plate of an armadillo, one of the great
scales of a pangolin, the frontal shield of a
coot, etc. See cuts under Acipenter, armadillo,
carapace, coot, crocodile, pangoUn, and shield.
SpecUlcaUy— (a) In tntom., the second of the four scle-
ritee Into which the teivum of each of the three thoracic
segments of an Insect Is divisible, situated between the
pr»soutiun snd the scutellam. There are three such scuta,
respectlvdy of the pronotum, mesonotum, and roetano-
tnm, and respectively specified as the proteutum, m«su.
teutum, and meltueutum. The last two are each some-
times separated Into two or three parts, (b) In Myria-
poda, one of the hard plates of any of the segments, (c) In
Vennet. one of the <Sotial scales of certain annelids, as
the scalebacks of the genus Potynoe; an elytnun. See
cut under Polynoe. (d) In Cirriptdia, one ot the lower or
proximal pieces ot which the multlvalve shell or carapace
of the barnacles sod aoom-shells consists, and by which
the cirri pass oat See diagrams under Balanv* and Lt-
padidM. («) In echlnoderms, a buccal scute : one of the
five large Interradlal plates about the mouth, as in the
ophlnrlans, more fully cslled sntto ftueeoiia. (/) In or-
m(A., a Bcntellum of a bh-d's foot. SundevaU. (Bare.)
4. In old taw, a penthouse or awning — Ab-
dominal scutum, in tne Amehnida, a more or less seg.
mented plate covering the abdomen, especially In the
/■*a<an0i<i<«.—Ceplialotlioraclc scutum. ScKcepluiio-
tharaeie.
Scutum Sobiescianum. A constellation made
by Ilevelius late in the seventeenth century,
and representing the shield of the King of Po-
land, John Sobic'ski. with a cross upon it to sig-
nify that he had fought for the Christian reli-
gion at the siege of Vienna. It lies in the brightest
part of the Hllky Way, over the bow of SagitUrius. Its
brightest star Is of the fourth magnitude.
SCybala (sib'a-ltt), n. pi. [NL., < Gr. aiciifiahn',
dung, offal, 'refuse.] In pathol., small hard
balls into which the feces are formed in certain
deranged conditions of the colon.
SCTbaloua (sib'a-lus), a. [< scybala + -otw.] Of
the nature of of resembling scybala.
It (mucus) may be found as a covering of teybaloiu
masses. Bueki nandlxiok of Med. Sdeneet, IV. 796.
Scydm8BnId8B(Kid-me'ni-de),».pJ. [NL. (Leach,
1819). < Scydmienus + -W«.] A family of clavi-
com beetles, allied to the Silphidte, but having
coarsely granulated eyes. They are small, shining,
usually ovate, sometimes slender beetles of a brown color,
more or less clothed with erect hairs. They are found
near water, under stones, in ants' nests, and under )>ark,
and are freciuently seen Hying In the twilight. About 300
species sre known. The family is represented in all parts
of the world.
Scyllams
Scydmaenus (sid-me'nus), n. [NL. (Latreille,
1S02), < Gr. OKiid/iaivo^, angry-looking, sad-col-
ored, < aKvd/iaivFiv, be angry; cf. cKi^taOai, be
angr}'.] The typical genus of Scydmsenidse. A
large and wide-spread group, comprising about 200 spe-
cies, of which about 35 inhabit America north of Mexico.
scye (si), n. [Appar. a misspelling of Sti.sey, the
opening in a garment through which the arm
passes (this being appar. another use of sey, a
slice: see sey^), simulating F. scicr, saw, OF.
sier, cut, < L. secure, cut, from the same root as
sey, a slice : see scion, sey^, saw^, etc. Cf . arm-
seye.'] The opening left in a garment where
the sleeve is to be attached, and shaped by cut-
ting so as to regulate the fit and adjustment of
the sleeve. Also called arm-scye.
scyelite (si'e-lit), n. [< Loch Scye (see def.).]
A variety of hornblende picrite, characterized
by the presence of a considerable amount of a
peculiar micaceous mineral: it occurs in Acha-
varasdale Moor, near Loch Scye, in Caithness,
on the border of Sutherland, Scotland. Judd.
scylet, V. An obsolete form of skill.
Scylla (sil'ii), «. [NL., < L. Scylla, < Gr. XkvUo,
X/civUi?, in (jreek fable, a female monster with
twelve arms and six necks, the presiding genius
of a rock highly dangerous to navigation in the
straits of Sicily, opposite Charybdis ; the name
and fable being associated with aKv?M^, a young
dog. whelp, in general a dog (it being fabled
that Scylla barked like a dog); cf . anv/.lnv, rend,
mangle.] A dangerous rock on the Italian
side of the Strait of Messina, between Italy and
Sicily, abode of a legendary monster Scylla.
On the opposite side of the narrow strait was the whirl-
pool Charybdis ; hence the allusive use of these names to
imply great danger on either side.
Thus when I shun Scylla, your father, I fall into Cha-
rybdit, your mother. Sltak., M. of V., iil. 6. 19.
Scyllsea (si-le'ii), w. [NL., < L. Scyllxus, per-
taining to Scylla, <.Ij. Scylla,< Gr. Sto/tIo, Scylla:
see Scylla.] A genus of nudibranohiate gastro-
pods, typical of the f&mWy Scyllxidee. The animal
Is elongate, compressed, with long naiTow channeled foot,
branchial tufts on two pairs of lobate processes, and Blen-
der retractile dorsal tentacles. There are several species,
marine, a-s S. pelayica, which is found on gulfweed.
Scyllseldae (si-le'i-de), h. i)l. [NL., < Scyllaea -H
-lite.] A family of nudibranohiate gastropods,
typified by the genus Scylliea. The body is com-
pressed, and the mantle produced into lateral lobes which
bear the branchial plumes ; the anus is lateral ; the odun*
tophore has one central tooth and numerous spinous den-
ticulated teeth on each side. The species are pelagic,
and mostly live on ttoating seaweed, the appearance of
which they mimic.
Scyllarian (si-la'ri-an), o. and n. [< NL. Scyl-
larus -t- -i-n«.] I. a. Of or pertaining to the
Scyllaridfe.
II, H. A member of the ScyUaridse.
ScyllaridaB(8i-lar'i-<le), »!.;)/. [NL.,< Scyllarus
-H -idte.] A family of long-tailed ten-footed
marine crustaceans, typified by the genus Scyl-
larus. They have a wide flat carapace, large foUaceous
antennte, eyes in excavated orbits, trichobranchiate gills.
Paribttcus iiHtarcticus. a typical member of the family Styttaridm.
reduced.
mandible with a slngle.jolnted synaphopod, and mostly
simple pereiopods. They live in nio<ierately shallow water,
where the bed of the sea is soft and muddy. Here they
burrow rather deeply, and they issue from their retreats
only to seek food. 'They are sometimes called focfMt-fo6-
Hert. The principal genera besides the type are Ibacut
(or IbaeeUJiX Pariiacus, Thenut, and Ardm.
scyllaroid (sil'a-roid), a. Of or pertaining to
the .S<7//i<(rKte,- scyllarian: as, scyllaroid crus-
taceans.
Scyllarus (sil'a-rus), n. [NL. (Fabrioius), <
Gr. o)rfi/U«/)Of, also KiXhtpo^, a kind of crab.]
Scyllams
The typical geims of Scyllaridse, of which there
are sivoral species, some of them edible.
Scylliidae (si-li'i-<ie), n.pl. [NL., < Scylliiim +
■ idle.'] A family of selachians, tj'pified by the
genus Scylliiim : the roussettes. They are mostly
of warm seas, with aliout 30 species of 8 or 9 g«iicra, hav-
ing two spineless dorsal tins, the tirst of which is above or
behind the ventrals, spiracles anil anal tin present, tail
not keeled, and no nictitating membrane. They are ovip-
arous, and oft«n of variegated coloration. Varying limits
have been assigned to the family, (a) In Giinther's system
of classification it was & family of sharks with no nictitating
membrane, the first dorsal above or behind the ventrals, an
anal fin. mouth inferior, and teeth small, several series be-
ing generally functional at ouce. (6) Same as ScyUivrhi-
nida.
Bcylliodont (sil'i-o-dont), n. A shark of the
family Scylliodontes.
Scylliodontes (sil'i-o-don'tez), n. pi. [NL., <
Gr. dKv'/dov, a dogfish,'+ oiioff (u6mT-) = E. tooth.']
The Triacinie ranked as a family of sharks. See
TVirtc/Hai'.
Scylliodontidae (sil'i-6-don'ti-de), n.pl. [NL.,
< ScijUiodontes + -ida;.] Same as Scylliodontes.
scyllioid (sil'i-oid), a. and n. [< ScylHum +
-Old.] I. «. Pertaining to the Seyllioidea, or
having their characters.
II. «. A scyllioid shark.
Scyllioidea(sil-i-oi'de-a), Ji. p/. [NL., < Scyl-
Hum + -oidea.] A superfamily of Squnli, in-
cluding the selachians of the families Scylliidse
(or Seylliorhinidse), Crossorhinidx, and Gingly-
mostomidee.
Scylliorhinidae (sil'i-o-rin'i-de), n.^)?. [NL.,
< ScyUiorhinus + -idee.] A family of selachi-
ans, typified by the genus Scylliorhinus. In Gills
earlier system it included all the sharks with the first
dorsal fin above or behind the ventrals, the anal fin pres-
ent, the caudal fin not bent upward, and the mouth infe-
rior. In his later system it was restricted to such forms
as have the nostrils closed behind by the intervention of
the skin between them and the oral cavity. About 15 spe-
cies are known from different seas, and 3 occur along the
European coasts, but there are none on most of the Ameri-
can coasts. Also Scylliidse.
SCylliorhinoid (sil'i-o-ri'noid), n. and a. [<
Scylliorhinus + -oid.] I, ». A shark of the fam-
ily Scylliorhinidte.
II. a. Of, or having characteristics of, the
Scylliorh iitidsi.
Scylliorhinus (sil"i-o-ri'nu8), n. [NL., < Gr.
OKfAiov, a dogfish, + pivr/, a shark.] In ichth.,
a genus of sharks, giving name to the Scyllio-
rhinidee, to which different limits have been
given: synonymous with ScylHum, 1. See cut
under mermaid's-purse. De Blainville, 1816.
Scyllium (sil'i-um), «. [NL. (Cuvier, 1829), <
Gr. oki'mov, a dogfish; cf. ami'Xa^, a dog, nKv'k-
'Aeiv, rend, mangle: see Scylla.] A genus of
sharks including the common dogfishes of Eng-
land, and representing a special family, the
Seylliidee : distinguished from Scylliorhinus by
the separate nasal valves. S. ventricomm is the
swell-shark, a small voracious species found on the Pacific
coast from California to Chili.
SCjraietart, scymitart. »»■ Variants of simitar.
scynunetnant (si-met ri-an), a. [Irreg. < *scym-
mctcr, ■icymctar{see simitar), + -ian.] Simitar-
like. [Bare.]
Chase brutal feuds of Belgian skippers hence, . . .
In clumsy fist wielding scym-metrian knife.
Oay, Wine.
Scymnidse (sim'ni-de), n.pl. [NL., < Scymnus
+ -idle.] A family of selachians, typified by
the genus Scymnus; the sleeper-sharks. They
have two dorsal fins, neither with spines, and no anal flu ;
all the fins are small ; the gill-slits are small, in advance
of the pectoral fins ; and there is a long deep straight
groove on each side of the arched mouth, and spiracles
are present. The absence of dorsal spines chiefly distin-
guishes this family from Spinaciidse. There are 6 gen-
era and few more species, the best-known of which is the
aberrant sleeper-shark, Somniosu^ microcep/ialtts, of the
arctic seas (by some referred to a distinct family), which
often reaches a length of more than 1^ feet, and generally
approaches whaling-vessels, when whales are taken, to
feed upon the blubber.
SCymnoid (sim'noid), a. and n. J. a. Of, or hav-
ing characteristics of, the Scymnidse.
II. «. A member of the Scymnidae.
Scymnus (sim'nus), n. [NL. (Kugelann, 1794),
< Gr. oKv/ivoc, a cub, whelp; cf. okv'/m^, a young
dog,awhelp: aeeScylla.'] 1. In en<om.,alarge
and wide-spread genus of ladybirds of the fam-
ily Coccinellidse, comprising species of small
size, inconspicuous coloration, and short an-
tennae. More than 200 species are known, while many
more remain undescribed. ITiey are active, predaceous
insects, and several are noted destroyers of well-known
insect pests, such as the chinch-bug and the grape-phyl-
loxera.
2. In ichth., a genus of sharks, typical of the
family Seymnidse. Cuvier, 1817.
SCypha (si'fa), n. Same as scyphus.
scyphert. ». -An obsolete form of cipher.
5436
scyphi, ». Plural of scyphus.
Scyphidium (si-fid'i-um), «. [NL. (Dujardin,
1841), < Gr. CKi(pog, a cup: see scy2>hus.] A ge-
nus of peritrichous eiliate infusorians of the
vorticelline p'oup. These animalcules are solitary,
elongate or pyrifomi, highly contractile, and adherent by
means of a posterior sucker, with the integument often
obli(iuely or transversely furrowed, and the mouth-parts
as in a vorticella. There are several species, as 6'. lima-
etna, all found in fresh water. Also Scyphidia.
SCyphiferous (si-flf'e-rus), a. [< NL. scyphus,
q. v., + h.ferre = fi. bear^.] In hot., bearing
scyphi.
SCjrplliform (si'fi-fdrm), a. [< NL. scyph us, q. v.,
+ Li.formo,ioria.] 1, In 6oi., goblet-shaped,
as the fructification of some lichens. Also
scyphosc. — 2. In 2od7., boat-shaped; scaphoid;
navicular.
scyphistoma (si-fis'to-ma), «.; pi. seyphistoma-
ta (si-fis-to'ma-ta). [NL., prop. * scyphostoma,
< Gr. (TKi'^of, a cup, + arofia,
mouth.] A generic name
applied by Sars to certain
polyps, imder a misappre-
hension; hence, the ae-
tinula or fixed embryo of
some hydrozoans, as a dis-
cophoran, which multiplies
agamogenetieally by bud-
ding, and gives rise to per-
manent colonies of hydri-
form polyps; an ephyra.
See Scyphomedusse, and cut
under strobila. Also scy-
phistomc, scyphostnmc.
scyphistome (si'fis-tom),
«. Same as scyphistoma.
scyphistomous (si-fis'to-
mus), a. [< scyphistoma +
-Otis.] 1. Of or pertaining
to a scyphistoma or ephyra.
— 2. Provided with or characterized by scy-
phistomata or ephyrce, as a stage in the devel-
opment of an acaleph ; forming or formed from
seyphistomata ; soyphomedusan ; ephyromedu-
san.
scyphobranch (si'fo-brangk), a. and n.
Of or pertaining to the Scyphohranchii.
II. n. One of the Scyphohranchii.
Scyphobranchii (si-fo-brang'ki-i), n.pl.
< Gr. CTKr^of, a cup, -h jipayxM, gills.] A group of
percomorphic fishes which have the post-tem-
poral bone furcate, the epipharyngeals saucer-
shaped, and the basis cranii simple. The group
includes the blennies, gobies, and related fishes.
E. D. Cope.
Scyphistoma stage of
Cyanaea capillaia., show-
ing two ordinary hydrm
tuba, between which are
two others, a, b, undergoing
fission (the strobila stage).
I. a.
[NL.,
se), n. pi. [NL.,
Scjrphomedusae (si"f6-me-dti'
< Gr. CTKti^of, a cup, + l^TL. I
prime division of hydrozoans, or a subclass of
rfydrozoa. it contains those medusifonns which have
four or eight intermedial groups of gastric fdaments, or
phacella), and interradial endodermal genitalia, and whose
young or hydriforms are short polyps with a broad hypo-
stome or scyphistome giving rise to the medusiforms by
strobilation or transfission. or, as in Lvcernarida, devel-
oping genitalia directly. They are also called Pttanero-
carpsR (Eschscholtz, 1829), IHscophora (Kblliker, 18fi3), Lu-
cemaridx (Huxley, 1856), Medugx (Carus, 1867), Steganoph-
thalmia (Forbes), Acalephse (Glaus, 1878), and Ephyrome-
dusse. By Haeckel the term was restricted to the Lucer-
narida.
scyphomedusan (si"fo-me-du'san), a. and n.
[<. Sri/jiliDvicdusse + -an.] 1. a. Of or pertaining
to tlie Scyphoincdusee, or having their charac-
ters; ephyromedusan.
II. 11. A member of the Scyphomedusse; an
ephyromedusan.
scyphomedusoid (si"fo-me-dti'soid), a. and n.
[< Scyphomedusse + -oid.] Same as scyphome-
du.tan.
scyphophore (si'fo-for), a. and n. I. a. Scy-
Ijhophorous.
II. n. A fish of the order Scyphophori.
Scyphopliori (si-fof'o-ri), n. pi. [NL. (Cope,
1870), <rGr. GKinpoQ, a cup, + iptpsiv = E. hear^.]
In ichth., an order of physostomous fishes with
a precoraeoid arch, no coronoid or sj^mplectic
bone, the pterotie annular and including a cav-
ity closed by a special bone, parietals distinct,
and vertebrse simple. The name refers to the pte-
rotie cavity. The group contains the families Mormyridx
and (ryinnarchidse.
scyphophorous (si-fof'6-rus), a. Of or per-
taining to the Scyphophori.
scyphose (si'fos), a. [< L. scyphus, a cup, +
-nse.] In 'bot., same as scyphiform, 1.
scyphostome (si'fo-stom), n. [< NL. "scypho-
stonui : see scyphistoma.] Same as scyphistoma.
scyphulus (s'if'u-lus), 51.; pi. scyphuli (-li).
[NL.,< LL. scyjiiulus, dim. of L. scyphus, a cup:
scythe
see scyphus.] In hot., the cup-like appendage
from which the seta of Uepaticse arises.
scyphus (si'fus), m. ; pi. sc-yphi (-fi). [L. (in
def. 2 NL.) scyphus, < Gr. rati^of, a drinking-
eup.] 1. In Gr. antiq., a large drinking-cup
shaped like the kylix, and, like it, with two
handles not extending above the rim, but with-
out a foot. — 2. In bot. : (a) A cup-shaped ap-
pendage to a flower, etc., as the crown of the
narcissus, (b) In lichens, a cup-like dilata-
tion of the podetium or stalk-like elongation of
the thallus, bearing shields upon its margin.
[Rarely used.]
Also scypha.
SC3rtal (si'tal), n. A snake of the genus Scytale.
scytale (sit*a-le), «. [NL. (Boie), < L. scytale,
scytala, .scutiila, < Gr. anvra'AT], a staff, rod, pole,
a cudgel, a band of parchment wound round a
staff (def. 1), also a kind of serpent.] 1. In Gr.
antiq., a band of parchment used by the Spar-
tans for the transmission of secret despatches.
It was rolled spii-ally upon a rod, and then written upon ; to
read the communication, it was necessary that it should
be wound about a rod of the same diameter as the first.
2. [cap.] The typical genus of 6'c»/(a//rf«, or of
Scytalinse, colubriform snakes having the an-
terior teeth short, the rostral plate not pro-
tuberant, one row of subeaudal scutes, one
preoeular plate, and the body cylindrical. E.
D. Cope. — 3. The technical specific name of a
coral-snake, not related to the foregoing. See
Tortrix. — 4. Erroneously, a venomous serpent
of the family Crotalidse.
Scytalidse (si-tal'i-iie), n.pl. [NL., < Scytale +
-idse.] In Giinther's system, a family of colu-
briform snakes, typified by the genus Scytale.
Scytalina (sit-a-li'na), n. [NL. (Jordan and
Gilbert, 1880), oiim. of L. scytale, < Gr. aKin-a/.ri, a
kind of sei-pent: see scytale.] A remarkable
genus of eel-like fishes of the family Congroga-
didse, having canines, and the dorsal fin begin-
ning near the middle of the body. The form is
very long and slender, and the head is shaped like that of
a snake. 5. cerdale, 6 inches long, is found burrowing
among rocks at low-water mark in the straits of Juan de
Fuca.
Scytalinse (sit-a-li'ne), n. pi. [NL., < Scytale
+ -inse.] In Cope's classification of Ojihidia
(1886), a subfamily of Cohibridse, named from
the genus Scytale, with 18 genera, of no defina-
ble common characters. These serpents most
resemble the Coroiiellinse.
SCytaline (sit'a-lin), a. Resembling or per-
taining to the Scytalinse.
Sc3rtalopus (si-tal'o-pus), n. [NL. (J. Gould,
1836), < Gr. aKVTakri, a kind of serpent, lit. a
staff, a cudgel (see scytale), + nov^ (Trod-) = E.
foot.] A genus of South American formieari-
Scytalopus magettanicus.
oid passerine birds, of the t^iXaWy Pteroptochidse.
There are several species, as S. mayetlanicus, curiously
similar to wrens in general appearance and habits, though
belonging to a different suborder of birds. Also called
Sylviaxis.
SCjrthe (sSth), n. [Early mod. E. sithe, sythe,
tlie proper spelling being sithe (the c being ig-
norantly inserted after the analogy of scent,
scituate, and other false spellings, prob. in this
case to simulate a derivation from F. sder, saw,
orig. cut, scier being itself a false spelling for
sier), < ME. sithe, sythe, < AS. sithe, contr. of
sigthe, a scythe, = Fries, sid, sied = MLG. se-
gede, sichtc, LG. seged, sicht, segd, seed, seid —
icel. sigdhr, sigdh, a sickle ; with formative -the
■(in sense equiv. to OS. segisna = D. zeis, eeisen
= OHG. segansa, segisna, MHG. segense, sense,
G. sense, a scythe, with formative -ansa, etc.),
. < Tent. •/ sag, cut (whence ult. E. saw'^, q. v.),
= L. secure, cut (whence tilt. E. sickle) : see se-
cant, section, sicl'le, saw'^.] 1. An instrument
used in mowing or reaping, consisting of a long
scythe
curving blade with a sharp edge, made fast
at an angle to a handle or sudth, which is bent
Scythe.
A, Wade : /?, tanif ; C.C, rastcniog bv which the scythe is attached
rigitlly to the snath; D, snath ; £, A', handles grasped by the oper-
ator in mowing
into a convenient form for swinging the blade
to advantage. Most Bcythes have, fixed to the princi-
pal handle, two projecting handles by which they are held.
Ue rent the sail with hokes like a »ythe.
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 046.
Every one had his tithe and hooke in his hand.
Coryat, Crudities, I. 14&
2. A curved sharp blade anciently attached to
the wheels of some war-chariots.
scythe (sith), c. i.; pret. and pp. scythed, ppr.
gcythhuj. [Early mod. E. sithe, sythe (prop.
sithe, as with the noun); < scythe, »i.] 1. To
mow; cut with a scythe, or as with a scythe.
Time bad not teythed all that yonth begnn.
Shak., Lover's Complaint, I. 12.
2. To arm or furnish with a scythe or scythes.
Chariots, teythed.
On thundering axles rolled.
Qlater, Leonidas, iv.
Oorgou-headed targes, and the wheels
m KnAed chariota.
Shelley, Prometheus Unbound, iv. 1.
8cytheniail(8iTH'man),». ; pl.scythemen{-iaeii).
[Early mod. E. also 'sitheman, sytheman ; <
Hcythe + tfkzn.] One who uses a scythe ; a
mower.
The stooping tytheman, that doth t>arb the field.
Thou mak'st wink sure : in night all creatures sleep.
Martton and Webtler, Malcontent, iil. 2.
scythe-stone (siTU'ston), n. A whetstone for
KMiirpciiiiiK scythes.
scythe-whet (sjTH'hwet), n. The veery, Tur-
(liisfiisnnccnn ( Wilson's thrush) : so named from
thi'sharpmetallicringof itsnote. LoveU. [Lo-
cal, r. s.]
Scythian fxith'i-an), a. and n. [< L. Scythia,
< (if. :LnMa, Scythia, < ij(tft?r,> L. Scythes,
Scylhii, a S<!ythian, as adj. Scythian; ult. ori-
gin unknown. The word has been compared
with LL. iScotits, Scottus, LOr. 2«curof, Scot : see
.SVv(/l.] I. a. 1. Pertaining to the Scythians, or
to Scythia, an ancient region of indefinite ex-
tent north of the Black S<'a, or in the northern
and central parts of Asia.
I heartDy congratulate your Return to England, and
that you so lately eroased the Scythian Vale.
BoaM, Letter*, Iv. 40.
2. Pertaining to the family of languages
sometimes called Ural-Altaic or Turanian. —
gcjrtblan lamb. See agmu Set/tUeut (under agnut\ and
barmixetz.
II. II. A member of an ancient noma<lic
race, found in the steppe regions from the Car-
pathian mountains eastward. The Scythians
nave been thought to be of Mongolian or more
probably of Aryan descent.
The barlmrous Scythian . . . shall to my boaora
Ite as well neighbour' d. pitied, and relieved,
As thou iny sometime daughter. .SAa;^., Lear, L 1. 118.
Scythic (sith'ik), a. [< L. ScutMcus, < Gr. Ikv-
tlmiir, of the .Scythians, < ZKimic, Scythian: see
HcythiaH.} Scythian.
The SeytMc settlement was not effected without a
struggle. Biuye. Bril., XII. 78».
ChannclbtU f.V^/Jir /t n - ir kollaiutim).
Scythrops (si'throps), n. [NL. (John Latham,
1790), < Gr. cKWpd^, angry, + &% face, eouii-
teuance.] A remarkable genus of Austra-
lian Cnctilid<e; the ehannelbills, or horn-billed
cuckoos. There is but one species, S. novx-hollandue,
notable for its large size and elegant plumage, the singu-
lar shape of the bill, and the naked scarlet sides ol the
head. See cut in preceding column.
scytodepsic (si-to-dep'sik), a. [< Gr. amn-oSefi-
KCH,; pertaining to a tanner (f em. aKVTo6E-fiidi, se.
Tixvt, the art of tanning), < OKmoStT^q, a tan-
ner, currier, < aKvToc, skin, hide, anything made
of hide, + diifKtv, soften, make supple, < 6£<peiv,
soften, esp. by moisture.] Pertaining to the
business of atanner. [Rare.]— Scytodepsic add,
gallic acid.— Scytodep^c principle, tannin.
Scytodermata (si-to-der'ma-ta), n. pi. [NL.,
neut. pi. otscytodermatus: seescytodermatovs.^
In Leuckart's classification (1848), the third
class of Echinodermata, distinguished from
Petmaiosoa and Actinozoa, and containing the
two orders Bolothuriee and Sipunculhla.
SCytodermatOUS (si-to-d^r'ma-tus), o. [< NL.
scylodcrnidlus, < Gr. mirof, skin, hide, + Sepfa,
skin.] Having a tough, leathery integument,
as a holothurian ; of or pertaining to the Scyto-
dermata.
Scytodes (si-to'dez), n. [NL. (Walckenaer,
1806), also incorrectly Scytode, < Gr. (tkitoc, skin,
hide, + eltJbc, form.] A genus of spiders, typical
of the family Scytodidx.
Scytodids (si-tod'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Scytodes
+ ■ida.'] A family of dipneumonous spiders,
typified by the genus Scytodes. Also called
.Srytodides.
Scytomonadina (ra-to-mon-a-di'na), n. pi.
[NL., < Sci/tomonas (,-a'd-) + -iria^.'i In Stein's
classification (1878), a family of flagellate in-
fusoriaiis. represented by Scytomonus and nine
other ^I'licra.
Bcytomonadine (si-to-mon'a-din), a. Of or
pertaining to the Scytomonadina.
Scytomonas (si-tom o-nas), n. [NL. (P. Stein),
< Gr. OKvTOi, skin, hide, + NL. Monas, q. v.] A
genus of pantostomatous monomastigate fla-
gellate infiisorians, containing free-swimming
animalcules of minute size and persistent ovate
form, without distinct oral aperture, dividing
by transverse fission, and found in fresh water,
as iS. pasilla.
Scytonema (si-to-ne'ma), n. [NL. (Agardh),
HO callid because the filaments are inclosed
in a »heath ; < Gr. oxiTOf, skin, hide, + %Vfa, a
thread.] A genus of fresh-water algie, of the
class Cyanophycea, subclass yostocninete., and
typical of the order Scytonemaceie. They are com-
poaed of branching filaments which produce interwoven
mat* of greater or leu extent. Each sheath incloses a
single trichome, and the heterocysta are scattered here
antl there In the trichome without particular relation to
the branches. There are more than iO American species.
Scytonemaceae (si'to-ne-ma'sc-e), n. pi. [NL. ,
< Scyloiieiiia + -acex.'] An order of fresh-water
algte, of the class Cyanophycete, typified by the
genus Scytonema. They much resemble the IHvulari-
aeem In consisting of branched filaments, inclosed, either
singly or in numben, In a mucilaginous sheatli, but differ
from that family in exhibiting no differentiation of the
two eitremitlea. The ordinary mode of propagation is
by means of restlng.spores or hormogonea, but they also
multiply by the individual filamenta escaping from their
sheath and investing themselves with a new mucilaginous
envelop. It Is divided into 2 suborders, the SeyUmemex
and Siroeiphonem.
scytonematoid (si-to-nem'a-toid), «. [< Scyto-
uciiiiiit-) + -o»rf.] tn feof.i resembling or be-
longing to the genus Scytonema or to the order
Scytiiiitmiireie. Also tcyUmemoid, sq/tonematous.
scytonematons (d-to-nem'a-tus), a. [< Scyto-
nimii(l-) + -oiw.] Tn &ot.,"same as scytonema-
tiiiil.
Scytonemese (si-to-ne'me-e), n. pi. [NL., <
Scytiiiicwii + -<"«.]' A suborder of fresh-water
nlgii'. of tlu" class Vyanophycese and order Scyto-
iifmiiaiF, typified by the genus Scytonema.
scytonemin (a-to-ne'min), «. [< Scytonema +
-in-.] In bot., a'yellow or dark-brown coloring
matter found in scytonematoid algte.
SCytonemoid (si-to-ne'moid), a. [< Scytonema
+ -nirl.] In bot.. same as seytonevHitoid.
Scytosiphon (si-to-si'fpn). n. [NL. (Thuret),
< Gr. CKvTor, skin, tide, + (ri^i',atube.] A genus
of marine algte, of the class Phieosporex, typical
of the order Scytosiphoname. The fronds are sim-
ple, cylindrical, usually constricted ataintervals, hollow,
the cortex of small colored cells ; paraphyses single-celled,
oblong-obovate, ' intersperse*! among the sp>rangfa. S.
lomeniariut, found nearly all over the world, is common
on stones between tide-marks along the New England
coast.
Scytosiphonaceae (si-to-gi-fo-na'se-e), n. pi.
[NL.,< ScyU/siphon + -dcete.] An order of ma-
rine algte, typified by the genus Scytosiphon.
The fronds are unbranching, either membranaceous or
tubular ; plurilocular sponingia in siiort filaments, densely
covering tht? whole under surface of the fronds ; unilocular
sporangia not perfectly known.
Sc3rtosiphoneae (si-to-si-fon'e-e), n. pi. [NL.,
< Scytosiphon + -c«.] Same as Seytosiphona-
cese.
sdaint, v. t. [Early mod. E. also sdayn, sdeigne,
sdeign, sdein; < It. sdegnare, disdain, etc.: see
disdain and deign.'] Same as disdain.
Yet durst she not disclose her fancies wound,
Ne to himselfe, for doubt of being sdayned.
Spenser, V. Q., V. v. 44.
sdaint, «. [< sdain, v. Cf. disdain, «.] Same
as disdain.
So she departed full of griefe and gdaine.
Spenser, ¥. Q., V. v. 61.
sdainfult, a. [Also sdaignefull, sdeinful ; < sdain
+ -ful. Cf. disdainful.^ Same as disdainful.
She shrieks and fumes away her 'edeigne/ul eyes
From his sweet face.
Fair/ax, tr. of Tasso's Godfrey of Boulogne, xx. 128.
sdaynt, «'. See sdain.
'sdeath(sdeth), infer/. [Anabbr. of God's death.
Cf. 'sblood, sounds, etc.] An exclamation, gen-
erally expressive of impatience.
'Sdeath !
The rabble should have first unroofd the city.
Shak., Cor., i. 1. 221.
Sdeignt, Sdeint, r. See sdain.
se't, «'. -An obsolete form of «eei.
se^t, n. An obsolete form of seal.
se^ (se),^on. [L. se,acc. and abl. (with sui,gen.,
sibi, dat. ) of the refl. pron., = Goth, sik = G. sich
= Icel. sik, dat. ser, etc. (see serc2).] A Latin
reflexive pronoun, occurring in some phrases
used in English, as in j'cr se (compare amper-
sand), in se, se defendendo.
Be* (sa), prep. [It., if, < L. si, if.] In music, if:
occurring in some directive phrases, as se bi-
sogna, if it is necessary.
se-. [= F. se-, se- = Sp. Pg. It. se-, < L. se-, also
serf-, without, apart, away, prob. 'by oneself,'
orig. *s«!arf, abl. of the ren. pron. se, oneself (>
S1III.S, one's own), = Skt. sra, one's own self: see
se-'.] A Latin prefix, meaning 'apart,' 'away,'
occurring in many English words, as in secede,
secure, segregate, seclude, select, secret, seduce,
separate, sever, etc., and in the form scd- in sedi-
tion.
Se. In chem., the symbol of selenium.
S. E. An abbreviation of southeast or sotitii-
eautem.
seal (ge), n. [Formerly also see, se; < ME. see,
se, earlier ste, < AS. «« (fem., in some forms
maso.: gen. sm, sawe, seti, t., smes, sM.% m.,_dat.
sS, t. and m. ; pi. s«, r., sMs, m., dat. sMm, smmn,
SKWum, t. and m.), the sea, water (as opposed
to air or to land), a sea, a lake (glossed by L.
»Kire, sequor, pontus, pelagus, marmor), = OS.
SCO, sen, se (aco. seo, se, dat. setca, seice), m., =
OBVies. se = MD. see, D. zee = MLG. se, LG. see
= OHG. seo, sen, se, MHG. se, m. and f., sea,
lake, Q. see, f., the sea, m., a lake, = Icel. smr
= 8w. s;d = Dan. so = Goth, saiws, m., sea,
lake, also swamp-land, also in comp. marisaiws
(marei = E. mere^), a lake. Some coinpare the
word with L.sa'»MS,wiId, cruel, or with Gr.aMof,
movable ; but there is no evidence to show that
the name orig. inrnlied ' raging water ' or ' mov-
ing water.'] 1. The salt waters that cover the
greater part of the earth's surface; the ocean.
[The wortiwa in compound words always has the meailing
of *ocean.' In this sense, with a hyphen, the word is the
first element of numerous names, especially of animals and
filanta, the more noteworthy of which are entered iu the
ollowing columns.]
The thridde day thei rode forth to the Rochell, and ther
entred the tee. Merlin (E. E. T. S,.), ilL 419.
"Here is a royal belt," she cried,
"I'hat I have found in the green tea."
Kemp (hfyius (Child's Ballads, I. 144).
The snn 's a thief, and with his great attraction
Robs the vast seo. Shak., T. of A., iv. 3. 440.
2. A great body of salt water ; a more or less
distinctly limited or landlocked part of the
ocean having considerable dimensions. Such
seas are frequently limited or separated from each other
by linear groups of islands; this is especially the case on
the Pacific coast of Asia, and in the East Indies, where
there are more teas in this sense than anywhere else.
Smaller areas thus more or less completely inclosed by
land are known as bays, gulfs, Sftunds, etc. Thus, we speak
of the Mediterranean Sea and, as a smaller division of this,
the Adriatic .*^'ea ; but of the Qui/ of Taranto, and the
Hay of Naples. "The name sea is not now usually given to
entirely landlocked sheets of water— stich use being either
traditional, as in the Dead Sea, Sea of Galilee, or excep-
tional, as in the Caspian Sea, .Sea of Aral. .Sea, bay, and
ffu^are more or less synonymous terms. Thus, the Ara-
bian Sea and the Bay of Bengal do not differ csaeiitiully in
the extent to which they »re landlocked ; the same may
be said of the Gut.f of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea; and
Hudson s Buy might equally well, or even more properly,
be called Hudson Sea.
And this deed See hathe in brede est and west .vj.
legf^es, and in lengthe northe and southe .v. dayes jour-
ney ; and nyghe unto the sayd see it is comonly darke as
hell. Sir if. Guyl/orde, Pylgrymage, p. 53.
Northwardis to the kingdom of Surr, And to the se of
Cipres, in sum place.
Torlntiffton, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 38.
3. Any widely extended or overwhelming mass
or quantity ; an ocean ; a flood : as, a sea of di£-
ficulties ; a sea of upturned faces.
So she. deep-drenched in a sea of care,
Hdlds disputation with each thing she views.
Shale., Lucrece, I. 1100.
4. The swell of the ocean, or the direction of
the waves: as, there was a heavy sea on; to
keep the boat's head to the sea.
His first Lieutenant, Peter, wa«
As useless as could be,
A helpless stick, and always sick
When there was any ma.
W. S. Oilbert, The Martinet.
5. A large wave ; a billow ; a surge : as, to ship
a sea.
The warriors standing on the breezy shore,
To dry their sweat and wash away the gore,
Here paus'd a moment, while the gentle gale
Convey'd that freshness the cool «eas exhale.
Pope, Iliad, xi. 761.
The broad gea» swell'd to meet the keel.
And swept behind. Tennymn, The Voyage.
A long sea, a sea having a uniform and steady motion of
long and extensive waves. — Arm Of the sea, a stretch of
the sea extending inland : in law it is considered as ex-
tending as far into the interior of a country as the fresh
water of rivers is propelled backward by the ingress and
pressure of the tide. Angell, On Tide Waters, iii.— At
full sea, at high water ; hence, at the height.
A satyricall Romane in his time thought all vice, folly,
and madnesse were all at/idl sea.
Burton, Anat. of Mel., To the Reader, p. 28. (Dames.)
God's mercy was at full sea. Jer. Taylor.
At sea. (a) Voyaging on the ocean ; out on the ocean ;
away on a voyage : as, her husband is now at sea; vessels
spoken at sea.
Those that (at Sea) to see both Poles are wont,
Vpon their Compass two and thirty count.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 2.
(6) Out on the ocean, and out of sight of land ; hence, in
the condition of a mariner who has lost his bearings ; in
a state of uncertainty or error ; astray ; wide of the mark ;
quite wrong : as, you are altogether at sea in your guesses.
— Beyond the sea or seas. See beyond. — Brazen sea.
.See brazen. — Closed sea. See mare clausmn. — Cross sea,
chopping sea. See crossi.— Gothland sea laws. See
iawi.— Great sea. See yreat.— Half seas over, tipsy.
[Slang.) — Heave of the sea. See /(caie.— Heavy sea,
a sea in which the waves run high ; also, a wave moving
with great force. — High seas. See AfV/ft. — Inland sea.
See i/iZaiirf. — Main sea, the ocean; that part of the sea
which is not within the body of a country. —Molten sea,
in Scrip., the great brazen laver of the Mosaic ritual.
IKi.vii. 23-26.— On the sea. (a) Afloat. (6) By the mar-
gin of the sea ; on the sea-coast.
A clear-waird city mi the sea. Tennyson, Palace of Art.
Over seas. See over. — Perils of the sea. See peril.—
Pustules of the sea. See pustule.— Sargasso Sea, See
sarrjasm.—Sea. laws. See iawi.— Short sea, a sea in
which the waves are irregular, broken, and interrupted,
so as frequently to break over a vessel's bow, side, or
quarter. — The fotir seas, the seas hounding Great Brit-
ain on the north, east, south, and west. — The narrow
sea. See narrowL—To go to sea, to follow the sea,
to follow the occupation of a sailor. — To quarter the
sea. See quarteri.
sea^t, «• An obsolete spelling of see^.
sea-acorn (se'a'''k6rn), n. A barnacle; one of
the BalanidsE.
sea-adder (se'ad''er), n. 1. The fif teen-spined
stickleback, Spinachia vulgaris : same as adder-
fish. [Local, Eng.] — 2. One of certain pipe-
fishes, as Nerophis xquoreus and N. ophidiort.
[Local, Eng. (Cornwall).]
sea-anchor (se'ang'''kor), n. 1. The anchor
lying toward the sea when a ship is moored. —
2. A floating anchor used at sea in a gale to
keep the ship's head to the wind : same as drag-
sheet. Also called drift-anchor.
sea-anemone (8e'a-nem'''o-ne), n. An actinia;
a eoelenterate of the class Actinozoa and order
Malacodermata, of which there are several fam-
ilies besides the Actiniidse, many genera, and
numerous species. They are distinguished by the
cylindrical form of the body, which is soft, fleshy, and
capable of dilatation and contraction. The same aper-
ture serves for mouth and vent, and is furnished with
tentacles, by means of which the animal seizes and secures
its foo<l, and which when expanded give it somewhat the
appearance of a flower. The tentacles may be very numer-
ous, in some cases exceeding 200 in number. When fully
expanded the appearance of the sea-anemones in all their
varieties of color is exceedingly beautiful ; but upon the
slightest touch the tentacles can be quickly retracted with-
in the mouth-aperture. Sea-aneraones are all marine, and
arc found on the sea-shore of most countries. See cuts
under Actinozoa, eancritoeial, Edwardna, and Metridium.
5438
sea-angel (se'an''''jel), ». The angel-fish, Squa-
1iii(( aiigeliis. See cut under angel-fiah.
sea-ape (se'ap), «. l. Same m sea-fox. — 2. The
sea-otter : so called from its gambols.
When holdhig a fore-paw over their eyes in order to
look about them with more distinctness, they are called
sea-apes. H. Partridge.
sea-apple (se'ap'l), n. Same as sea-cocoanut.
See cocoaiivt.
sea-apron (se'a'prun), n. A kind of kelp or
marine plant {Laminaria) liaving broad flat-
tened fronds. See kelp^.
sea-arrow (se'ar"6), n. 1. A squid or calamary
of elongated form, as of the genus (hnmastre-
phcs; a flying-squid : so called from their dart-
ing out of the water. — 2. An arrow-worm ; any
member of the Sagittidse. See cut under Sagitta.
sea-ash (se'ash), n. The southern prickly-ash,
Xanilioxyhtm Clava-Hercidis. See prickly-ash.
sea-asparagus (se'as-par"a-gus), n. A soft-
shelled crab, as Callinectes hastatus.
sea-bank (se'bangk), M. l. The sea-shore.
In such a night
Stood Dido with a willow in her hand
Upon the wild sea-banks, and waft her love
To come again to Carthage.
SAo*.,M. ofV., V. 1. 11.
2. A bank or mole to defend against the sea.
sea-bar (se'bar), w. The sea-swallow or tern.
sea-barley (se''''bar'li), «. See Hordcnm.
sea-barrO'W (se'bar"6), n. The egg-ease of a
ray or skate : so called from its shape, like tliat
of a hand-barrow: same as mermaid's-purse.
sea-basket (se'bas'''ket), n. Same as haskct-
fish.
sea-bass (se'bas), n. 1. A fish of the family
Serranidie, Centropristis funus, distinguished
by its peculiar caudal fin and its conspicuous
Sea-bass ( Centropristis /urvt4s).
colors, the body beingbrown or black and more
or less mottled with pale longitudinal stripes
along the rows of scales, it is one of the most com-
mon fishes in the New York markets, and is locally called
black sea-bass, black perch, blackjish, blue bass, and hluefish.
2. A scisenoid fish, Cynoscion nohilis, related to
the weakfish of the eastern United States, but
much larger. It occurs along the coast of Cali-
fornia, where it is also called ivhite sea-hass, and
sea-salmon. — 3. The sturgeon, Acipenser trans-
moiitantis. Jordan and Gilbert. [Pacific coast,
U. S.] — 4. Same as druni'^, 11 (c).
sea-bat (se'bat), n. 1. A fish of the family
I'lataeidee. See cut under Ptotox. — 2. A mal-
theoid &sla,Malthe vespertilio : same as bat-fish, 1 .
sea-bean (se'ben), n. 1. The seed of a legu-
minous climbing plant, Entada scandens, grow-
ing in the tropics of both hemispheres, and re-
markable for the size of its pods. (See similar-
pod. ) The seeds or beans are some two inches broad and
half an inch thick, have a hard polished exterior, and are
often converted into trinkets. They are sometimes carried
by ocean carrents to the shores of Scotland and Norway.
2. One of numerous different species of small
univalve shells of the family Triviidx, as Trivia
pediculus of the Westlndies, T. californica, etc.
These somewhat resemble coffee-beans in size and shape,
but are of various pretty colors, as pink, and used for
ornamental puriwses, fancy shellwork, etc.
3. The operculum or lid of the aperture of any
shell of the family Turhinidse, as the common
Turbo pkaraonis of the East Indies. These objects
vary in size with the several species, and are of different
colors, as red, green, brown, etc., or variegated. They are
thick, solid, and somewhat stony, generally plano-convex,
the fiat side showing subspiral lines, the other smooth.
They are gathered and sold in large quantities forvarious
superstitions and imaginary medicinal purposes, being
worn about the neck as amulets or carried in the pocket
as "lucky stones." They are also polished and used for
watch-charms, jewelry-settings, etc.
sea-bear (se'bar), ». l. The white or polar
bear, UrsKS or Thalassarctos maritimus. See cut
under bcar'^.-^Z. The fur-seal Callorhinns ur-
sinus, of the North Pacific, which affords the
sealskin of commerce. (Beefnr-scal.) Thename
is also common to the various smaller otaries or fur-seals
of southern and antarctic waters (species of Arcincepha*
lus), as distinguished froni the larger hair-seals called sea-
lions.
3. See seiche.
se^i-bream
sea-beard (se'berd), n. A marine plant, Cla-
(liiphora rupestris.
sea-beast (se'best), n. A beast of the sea.
That sea beast
Leviathan, which God of all his works
Created hugest that swim the ocean stream.
MUton, P. L., i. 200.
sea-beat (se'bet), o. Beaten by the sea ; lashed
by the waves.
Darkness cover'd o'er
The face of things ; along the seabeai shore
Satiate we slept. Pope, Odysaey.
sea-beaten (se'be''tn), a. Same as sea-beat.
sea-bea'Ver (se'be'''ver), «. The sea-otter, £h-
hi/dris luariiia.
sea-beet (se'bet), n. See beet^.
sea-bells (se'belz), n. pi. A species of bind-
weed, Calystegia (^Convolvulus) Soldanella, bear-
ing pink funnel-shaped flowers, and growing ta
sea-sands on European and Pacific coasts.
sea-belt (se'belt), n. A plant, the sweet fueus,
Laminaria saccharina, which grows upon stones
and rocks by the sea-shore, the fronds of which
resemble a belt or girdle. See Laminaria and
kamboH.
sea-bent (se'bent), n. See Ammophila.
seaberry (se'ber'''i), n. ; pi. scaieme.s(-iz). See
Htdorugi.^ and Khagodia.
sea-bindweed (se'bind'''wed), n. Same as sea-
bells.
sea-bird (se'berd), n. A marine or pelagic web-
footed bird ; a sea-fowl : a name of no specific
application.
sea-biscuit (se'bis"kit), n. Ship-biscuit; sea-
broad.
sea-blite (se'blit), n. See blite^.
sea-blubber (se'blub'''er), n. An acaleph or
sea-nettle; a jellyfish; a sea-jelly. Also sea-
blub. See cuts under acaleph and Discophora.
seaboard (se'bord), «. and a. [Early mod. E.
also sca-bord; < .sea + bourd.'\ I. ii. The sea-
shore ; the coast-line ; the sea-coast ; the coun-
try bordering on the sea.
II. a. Bordering on or adjoining the sea.
There shall a Lion from the sea-bord wood
Of Neustria come roaring.
Spenser, F. Q., III. iii. 47.
sea-boat (se'bot), n. 1. A vessel considered
with reference to her sea-going qualities or be-
havior at sea : as, a good or a bad sea-boat. —
2. A sea-bug.
sea-bookt (se'buk), «. An old name for a nauti-
cal map. See the quotation.
When the loxodromic maps first came into existence,
hand-books with sailing directions were written to accom-
pany them; hence the titles "sailing-directions," "sea-
hooks," portulani (by which word actual maps were after-
wards meant), or cartas da marear. Encyc. Brit., XV. 519.
sea-bordt, n. and «. An obsolete form of sea-
board.
sea-bordering (se'b6r"(ler-ing), a. Bordering
or lying on the sea.
Those sea-bord'ring shores of ours that point at France.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xvii. 358.
sea-born (se'b6rn), a. Bom of the sea; pro-
duced by the sea.
But they.
Like Neptune and his sea-bom niece, shall be
The shining glories of the land and sea.
Waller, To My Lord Admu^l.
sea-borne (se'bom), a. Cai-ried on the sea.
This ordinance regulates, in five clauses, the sale of the
common sea-borne articles of food.
English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 342.
sea-bottle (se'bofl), n. A seaweed, Valouia
utricularis : so called from the vesicular fronds.
sea-bound (se'bound), a. 1. Bounded by the
sea. — 2. On the way to or bound for the sea.
sea-bow (se'bo), n. A prismatic bow formed
when the sun's rays strike the spray of break-
ing waves, being reflected and refracted there-
by just as by drops of rain. See rainbow.
sea-boy (se'boi), «. A boy employed on board
ship ; a sailor-boy. [Rare.]
Canst thou, O partial sleep, give thy repose
To the wet sea-boy in an hour so rude.
And in the calmest and most stillest night . . .
Deny it to a king? Shak., 2 Hen. IV., iii. 1. 27.
sea-brant (se'brant), n. 1. The brant- or brent-
goose.— 2. The velvet-duck or white-winged
scoter. [Portsmouth, New Hampshire.]
sea-breach (se'brech), «. IiTuption of the sea
by breaking banks, dikes, etc.
Let me stand the shock
Of this mad sea-breach, which I'll either turn.
Or perish with it. Beau, and Fl., Philaster, v f.
sea-bream (se'brem), H. 1. One of several spa-
roid fishes : with some authors, the Sparidse in
general. The common sea-bream is Pagellui centrodon-
sea-bream
Ha. The Spanish sea-bream is P. bogaraveo. The black
sea-bream is CaiUhanis lineatug. The becker, P. erythri-
mu, is known as king of the sea-breains.
2. A fish of the family Bramidse, Brama or Le-
Sea-bream {Britma or Lefodus rayi),
podus raiji, distantly related to the mackerels
and dolphins.
sea-breeze (se'brez), n. A breeze blowing from
the sen toward the land; specifically, in meteor.,
a diuriiul breeze felt near the sea-coast, setting
in from the sea about 10 A. M., reaching its
greatest strength from 2 to 3 P. M., and dying
away about sunset. The sea-breeze and the corre-
sponding land-breeze together constitute a local to-and-
fro circulation due to the heating of the land above the
ocean temperature during the day and the cooling below
it during the night. The upper strata of the air that
have become heated and expanded flow off seaward, and
f>roduce an increased pressure a short distance front the
and. This increment of pressure initiates the sea-breeze,
which extends a few roflee inland, with a strength de-
pending on the temperatore-gradient and on the local
topography. Hence it is nMwt strongly marked in equa-
torial and tropical regions, where the diurnal range of
temperature and the contrasts between ocean and land
temperatures are greatest; bat traces of it hare been found
even in arctic regions. .Steep slopes and mountain-ranges
near the coast intonsify the sea-nreeze by increasing the
energy of convection-currents, which in turn create a de-
mand for a greater local surface indraft. By balloon ob-
servations the depth of the sea-breeze at Coney Island
has been found to be between 300 and 400 feet It is
mainly the dally aea-breeze which renders the summer
climate of the sea-sbora markedly InTigorating and re-
freRhfnc.
sea-brief (se'bref), n. Same as sea-letter.
sea-bristle (se'bris'l), n. A sertularian polyp,
I'liiiiiiiliirin Ketosa.
sea-buckthorn (se'buk'thdm), n. See Bippo-
pluie.
sea-bug (se'bug), n. A eoat-of-mail shell. See
cuts uiiiler Chiton and Polyplacophora.
sea-buglo88 (se'bii'glos), h. 8ee Mertensia.
sea-bmltfse'bilt), a. 1. Built for the sea.
The lea-imU forts in dreadful order move.
Drydta, Annas Mlrabills, st 57.
2. Built on the sea.
sea-bumblebee (se'bum'bl-be), n. The little
auk. .Ml rijuliiK alle or .tUe nigricant: also called
sea-dorr, dnrckie^otehe, pine-knot, etc. See cut
under donkif. [Proviocetown, Massachusetts.]
sea-bun (se'bun),n. A spatangoid sea-urchin;
a hi'iirt-urchin.
sea-burdock (se'b^r'dok), n. Clotbur, Xan-
thiuiti .\lnnnarium.
sea-butterfly (se'but'fer-flJ), ». See butterfly.
sea-cabbage (se'kab'aj), It. l. SeeCramo«, 2;
iiUi) si,i-kale, under kiue. — 2. See kambou.
sea-cactns (se'kak'tus), n. A pedate bolothu-
riaii of the family Thyonidte.
sea-calf (se'kaf), «. The common seal, Phoca
cilulina ; the harbor-seal. See cut under Phoca.
The tea-eaif, or seal, [Is] to called from the noise he
mnkL-s like a calf. K. Ortw, Mnseom.
sea-campion (sg'kam'pi-on), n. See campion.
sea-canary (se'ka-na'n), n. The white wbale.
Scf heliiijn.
sea-cap (xe'kap), n. 1. A cap made to be worn
at sea.
I know your favour well.
Though now you have no tea-cap on your head.
Shak., T. N'., tlL 4. 864.
2. A basket-shaped sponge which sometimes
attiiins (Treat size, found in Florida,
sea-captain (se'kap'tan), n. The commanding
officer of a sea-going vessel ; a master mariner :
a t«-nn more frerjuently used in connection with
the merehant service than with the navy.
Martin, her son, had gone to be a na-eaptain In coni-
manil of a goodly bark which his fond mother had built
for hlin with her own dowry increased by years of h'jard-
ing«. The AOantie, LXV. m.
sea-cardt (se ' kiird ),n. 1 . The card of the mari-
ners' compass.
The strclgbt line* in ta^arda, representing the S2.
points of the compaase. Hakluyti Voyaga, I. 417.
2. A chart or map of the ocean or of some part
of it.
The point to the north which makes this bay (Con-
•aa] (• not brought out far enough to the east In the
9
common maps, for it appears to me that there was an-
other bay to the north of this; the whole, according to
the gea-cards, being the bay of Contessa.
PiKocke, Description of the East, II. 11. 148.
sea-carnation (se'kar-na"shgn), K. A kind of
sea-aneniime ; a sea-pink.
sea-cat (se'kat), «. A name of various animals,
(a) The sea-bear or fur-seal. (6) The chimera. Chiin^era
moiuCroM, a &sh. (c)Thewolf-flsh, .^norrAicAasiupiM. See
cut under Anarrhu:has. (d) The greater weever, Trachi-
ma draco, a fish, (e) A squid or cuttlefish : translating an
old Dutch name {zeekat) of Rumphiua. (/) Any sea-catfish.
sea-caterpillar (se'kat*er-pil-ar), n. A marine
wonn of the genus Polynoe; a scaleback.
sea-catfish (se'kat "fish), n. A marine siluroid
fish of any of the genera Tachisurtis or Arius,
Galeichthys, and 3siurichthys (or Felichthys).
The eastern American sea-catfish is Tachisurux /elis,
found along the coast of the Vnited States from Cape Cod
to Florida, and attaining a length of 2 feet, .iElunchihys
(or Feiichthyg) marinus is another eastern American sea-
cat. See cuta under Ariinx and gaff-topsail.
sea-catgnt (se'kat "gut), ». A common sea-
weed. Chorda filum: same as sea-lace. [Ork-
ney.]
sea-cauliflower (se'ka'li-flou-6r), n. A polyp,
.ilcyonium miiltiflorum.
sea-centiped (se'sen'ti-ped), n. 1. One of sev-
eral large marine errant annelids, as of the ge-
nus Eunice : so called from the resemblance of
the numerous parapodia to the legs of centi-
peds. — 2. An isopod of the family Idoteidse.
sea-change (se'chauj), n. A change wrought
by the sea.
Nothing of him that doth fade
Bat doth suffer a tea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Shak., Tempest, L 2. 400.
sea-chart (se'chart), n. A marine map. See
chart, 1.
Some say that it [Cyprns) was a hundred and seventy-
flve miles long, others two hundred ; but the mcdem »ea
ettrtt make it oidy one hundred and thirty-five in length,
and sixty-two miles broad in the widest part.
Poeoctt, Description of the East, II. L 2ia
sea-chestnut (se'ches'nut), n. A sea-urchin :
so called from the rough spines, like the
prickles of a chestnut-bur.
sea-chickweed (se'chik'wSd), n. A seaside
species of sandwort, Arenaria pcploideg, with
very flesh}' leaves. Also sea-purslane.
sea-clam (se'klam), n. 1. The surf-olam,
.\factra xolidismma, a large heavy bivalve, used
for food, sharing with some others the names
of hen-clam, round clam, etc. — 2. A clam,
clamp, or forceps closed by a weight, for use
with deep-sea sounding-lines Arctic sea-dam,
Mya truneata, the chief food of the walrus.
sea-cloth (se'kldth), n. Theat., a painted cloth
used on the stage to represent the water of the
i-ea.
sea-coalt (se'kol), n. [< ME. 'seeole, < AS. "see-
col (glossing L. gagaies, jet), < ste, sea, -I- col,
coal.] Fowil coal, or coal dug from the earth :
so called because it was first brought to Lon-
don from Newcastle by sea. such coal was also
called vit-eoal and Hurtk-eoal, to distinguish it from cAar-
eoal. As the use of fossil coal became general In England,
so that it came to rank as the most important of fuels,
these preflzea were dropped, and the material is now
called simply eoal, while the combustible prepared from
wood by charring It in pits or kilns is called charcoal.
Well have a posset for 't soon at night. In faith, at the
latter end of a tea-co<U Ore. Shak., il. W. of W., L 4. 9.
sea-coast (se'kdst), n. The land immediately
adjiK'ont to the sea ; the coast Sea-coast artil-
lery. See artaiery.
sea-cob (se'kob), n. A sea-gull. Hoy.
sea-cock (se'kok), n. 1. A fish of the genus
Trigia, as T. cuculus; a gurnard. — 2. The sea-
plover, Squatarola helvetica. [Maine.] — 3. In a
marine steam-engine, a cock or valve in the in-
jection water-pipe which passes from the sea
to the condenser, it is supplementary to theordinary
cock at the condenser, and is intended to serve in case
this should be Injured.
4. Any co<-k or valve communicating through
a vessel's hull with the sea. — 6. A sea-rover
or viking, h'ing.ilct/.
sea-COCboach (se'kok'roch), n. An anomu-
rouH crustacean of the genus Bemipes.
sea-cocoanut (se'ko'ko-nut), n. See cocoannl.
sea-colander (se'kul'an-tlfer), n. The popular
name for .igarum Turneri, a large oljve sea-
weed: so called on account of the roundish
holes in the fronds. The fronds are oblong-ovate in
general outline, with a cordate and crisped base, and grow
from 1 to 4 fci-t long. The perforations begin to be formed
after tht- frond has attained a length of 2 or :^ inches.
sea-colewort (se'kol'wfert), n. Sea-kale (which
see, under kale).
sea-compass (se'kum'pas), n. The mariners'
compass.
sea-dog
sea-cook (se'kuk), «. A cook on board ship:
used chiefly in opprobrium;
sea-coot (se'kot), «. l. A scoter; a black sea-
duck of the genus (Edemia. See cuts under
(Edemia, scoter, a,nd surf -duck. — 2. The Ameri-
can coot, Fulica americana.
sea-cormorant (se'k6r*mo-rant), n. A cormo>-
rant ; a sea-crow.
sea-corn (se'kdm), «. The string of egg-cap-
sules of the whelk or some similar gastropod :
so called from its likeness to maize on the cob.
Also sea-ear, sea-ruffle, sea-honeycomb, sea-neck-
lace, etc. Stand. Nat. Hist., I. 333.
sea-cow (se'kou), «. 1. The walrus. Also sen-
ox, sea-horse. — 2. A lately extinct sirenian of
the North Pacific, Rhytina stelleri : more fully
called arctic, northern, or Steller's sea-cow. See
Shytina. — 3. Any sirenian, as the manatee,
dugong, or halicore. — 4. The hippopotamus:
translating a name of the Dutch colonists.
sea-crab (se'krab), n. A marine crab; any
salt-water crab, as distinguished from a river-
crab or land-crab.
sea-craft (se'kratt), H. 1. In ship-building, a
former name for the uppermost strake of ceil-
ing, which is thicker than the rest of the ceil-
ing, and is considered the principal binding
strake. Now usually called clamp. — 2. Skill
in navigation.
sea-crawfish (se'kra'fish), «. A shrimp or
prawn ; especially, any member of the Palinuri-
d«, as Palinurus vulgari.s, or in California P.
interruptus. See cut under Palinurus.
sea-crawler (se'kr&'lfer), n. Any marine gas-
tropod.
The young snails do not undergo any transformation
like that of the pteropo<iou8 infants of the sea-cratderg.
P. P. Carpenter, Lect. on Moliusca (1881), p. 76.
sea-crow (se'kro), «. l. A local name of various
birtls. (a) A sea-cormorant ; the cormorant Phalacro-
eorax carbo : so called from its color. (6) A kind of sea-
gull ; the mire-crow or pewit-pull. Chroicocephalus ridi-
bundut. [Local, British.] (c) The razor-billed auk. (Ork-
ney.) (d) The common skua. [Local, British.] (e) The
chough, Pyrrhocorax graculut. [Ireland.] (/) In the
United States: (1) The American coot, [New Eng.) (2)
The black skimmer, Rhynchops nigra. [Atlantic coast.]
2. A fish, the sapphiriue gurnard, Trigia hi-
ruiidn. [Local, Eng.]
sea-cucumber (se'kti'kum-bfer), n. Some or
any holothurian; a trepang or beche-de-mer :
also called sea-pudding, etc. The name refers to
the shape of some of the species. It is sometimes re-
stricted to the Ptoiidse, but is the most general popular
name of holotburians. See cuts under Pentactida and
Hotothwrioidta.
sea-cudweed (se'kud'wed), «. A cottony com-
posite herb, IHotis maritima, found in the Old •
World on Atlantic and Mediterranean shores.
sea-cunny (se'kun'i), «. A helmsman in ves-
sels manned by lascars in the East India trade.
sea-cushion (se'kiish''un), n. Same as lady's-
cushion,
sea-dace (se'das), n. 1. A sea-perch. [Local,
Eng.] — 2. The common English bass. Seecut
under Labrax. [Kent, Eng.]
sea-daffodil (se'dafo-dil), w. A plant belong-
ing to species of the related amaryllidaceous
genera Pancratium and Hynienocallis, which
produce showy fragrant flowers. The plant spe-
cifically so called is H. {Itmene) calatkina of Peru. An-
other species is P. inaritirnum, found In salt-marshes In
southern Europe and the southeastern United States. See
Pancratium.
sea-daisy (se'da'zi), n. The lady's-cushion,
.irmrria rulgaris. [Prov. Eng.]
sea-devil (se'dev'l),M. A name of various fishes,
(a) A devil-fish ; an enormous ray, Ceratoptera vampynu
or Manta birottrit: so called from its huge size, horned
head, dark color, and threatening aspect. See cut under
devU-Ath. (b) The ox-ray, Dicerobatix giam/e. Encyc. Diet.
(c) The angler, fishing-frog, or toad-fish, I.ovhiug pigcato-
itut. See cut under angler, (d) The angel-fish, Sgitaiina
angelua. See cut under anget-figh. [Local, Eng.] (e) A
giant squid or large poulp. See the quotation under
poiilp.
sea-dog (se'dog), ». 1. The harbor-seal, Phoca
vitulina; the sea-calf ; also (in California), one
of the eared seals, Zalophus californianus. See
cuts imder Phoca and Zalophus. — 2. The dog-
fish, Siiuahis acanthias, a kind of shark. — 3. A
sailor who has been long afloat; an old sailor.
What Englishman can forget the names of Benbow,
Rooke, and Cloudesley Shovel? They were not always
successful — as in the case of the first-named old sea-dog.
J. AshUm, Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne, II. 206.
4t. A pirate ; a privateer.
The Channel swarmed with tea-dogt, as they were called,
who accepted letters of marque from the Prince of Condt^.
J. R. Green, Short Hist. Eng., vil.
6. In her., a bearing representing a beast nearly
like a talbot or alan, but with the addition
sea-dog
of a tail like that of a triton, and sometimes
with a sort of serrated fin along the back, con-
tinued down the tail. The body is covered with
scales.
sea-dotterel (se'doffer-el), n. l . The tumstone,
StnpsiUu^ iiiterpres. — 2. Same as ring-dotterel.
fLocal. British.]
sea-dove (se'duv), ii. The dovekie or rotche,
Allf iiiyricam; the little auk. See cut under
dortl'ic.
sea-dragon (se'drag'on), ». 1. A fish, Pej/asH*-
draco ; a flying sea-horse. See cut under Pepa-
sidx. — 2. A kind of dragonet. See cut under
CalNonymus.
sea-drake (se'drak), n. 1. A sea-crow or sea-
5440
cormorant. Encyc. IHct. [Local, British.] — sea-eringO (se'e-ring"g6), «. K-p\aiat.Eryngiii
2. The male eider-duck. [New Eng.]
sea-duck (se'duk), «. 1. A duck of the family
Anatidx and subfamily Fuligulinee, having the
hind toe lobate, and often found on salt water.
(See Fttlwulinie. ) There are many species, to only one
of which the name pertains without a qualifying word.
(See rtef. 2.) The antithesis is river-duck; but many sca-
duclis — that is, Fulvj\ditise — BXQ found inland. See cuts
under Nyroea, (Edemia, eider, canvattback, redhead, pied,
acaup, sc^ar, and surf-duek,
2. Specifically, the eider-duck. [New Eng.]
sea-eagle (se'e'gl), n. 1. Any eagle of the ge
uus Hn?JaeY««, having the shank scaly. The bird geafarine (se'far"ing), a. [< ME. sxfarinde,
to which the name most frequently attaches is H. alMciUa
the white-tailed sea-eagle. The bald eagle, //. leticocepka-
lut, is another. The largest and most magnificent sea-
sea-guU
See/roth the flrthe is goo
To honge upp, and the Vth he saithe a sithe
Made for lupyne is upp to honge aswithe.
Palladium, liusbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 126.
sea-furbelow (se'fer"be-16), n. A name of
various seaweeds, especially of the genus La-
mitiaria.
sea-gage (se'gaj), n. 1. The depth that a
vessel sinks in the water. — 2. A form of sound-
ing-instrument in which the depth is ascer-
tained by the registered pressure of a column
of air or liquid. A tide-gage and a sea-gage are essen-
tially different. A tide-yage is an instrument to register
the amount of the rise and fall of the tide at a place; a
sea-gaije is any instrument for determining the depth of
the sea.
sea-gasket (se'gas"ket), n. Same as furling-
liiic.
sea-gates (se'gats), ». pi. In liydraul. eiigin., a
supplementary pair of gates opening outward,
sometimes placed at the entrance of a dock or
tidal basin in exposed situations, as a safe-
guard against a lieavy sea.
sea-gherkin (se'ger"kin), n. One of several
small liolothurians; a sea-oucumber.
sea-gilliflower (se'iil"i-flou-er), n. The com-
mon tlirift, Armeria vulgaris.
sea-ginger (se'jin"jer), n. Millepore coral, as
Millepora alcinus, which bites the tongue like
„ , „., - . . ginger. [West Indies and Florida.]
seafaring: see sea and /arel, «.] Followingthe sea-girdle (se'ger"dl), n. A seaweed, the iami-
Sca-elephant {Macrerhintes froboscidnti).
maritimitiii. See eringo and Eryngium.
sea-fan (se'fan), «. An alcyonarian polyp of
the suborder Gorgoniacea, and especially of tlie
family Gorgoniidee, as Shipidogorgia flabelliim.
See cuts under Alcyonaria, coral, and Bhipido-
gorqia.
seafarer (se'far'er), ». [< sea + fare^ + -er'^.
Cf . seafaring.'] One whose life is spent in voy-
aging on the ocean; a sailor; a mariner.
Some mean sea-farer in pursuit of gain.
W. Broome, in Pope's Odyssey, vlii. 180.
eagle is H. (Thalassoaetug) pdagieus ot Kamchatka and
other localities. This is over 3 feet long, 7 feet or more
in extent of wings, the wing 2 feet, the tail 14 inches, cu-
neate and of 14 feathers ; the adult is dark-brown, with
white shoulders and tail, bright-yellow bill and feet, and
pale-yellow eyes. See also cut under eagle.
2. The white-tailed fishing-eagle of India, I'a-
lioaetus ichthyaetus.—S. The osprey or fishing-
hawk, Pandion haliaetus. See cut under osprey.
— 4. The eagle-ray, Myliobatis aquila, abatoid
fish. See cut under eagle-ray.
sea-ear (se'er), n. 1. A mollusk of the famUy
Haliotidee ; an or-
mer or abalone :
so called from
the shape of the
shell. Among the
American species
used or available for
pearl-aheU and for
food are Haliotis
ru/esoens, the red sea-ear; H. splendent, the splendid sea-
ear; and H. corrugata, the rough sea-ear. See also cut
under abalone.
2. Same as sea-corn.
sea-eel (se'el), n. [< ME. "se-ele, < AS. .sw-ibI, <
sx, sea, -I- sbI, eel.] Any eel caught in salt wa-
ter; specifically, a conger-eel.
sea-egg (se'eg), n. 1. A sea-urchin; a sea-
hedgehog or echinus ; a whore's-egg. See cuts
under Echinoidea and Echimis. — 2. A species
of medic, Medicago Echitivs, with an echinate
pod: more fully, sea-egg clover.
sea-elephant (se'el'f-fant), n. The seal Mae-
rorhinus elephaniinui or prohoscidcus, or Mo-
runga prohoscidea. It is the largest of the otaries;
the snout is prolonged Into a proboscis suggestive of an
It is confined tothe higherlatitudesof
business of a seaman; customarily employed
in navigation.
My wife, more careful for the latter-born,
Had fasten'd him unto a small spare mast,
Such as geafarirw men provide for storms.
Skak., C. of E., i. 1. 81.
sea-feather (se'feTH"er), «. 1. A polyp of the
family PennatuUdx; a sea-pen. — 2. A polyp,
Virgillaria grandiflora ; the plumed sea-feather.
sea-fennel (se'fen"el), «. Samphire.
sea-fern (se'fern), n. Any alcyonarian polyp
resembling a fern.
sea-fight (se'fit), 11. An engagement between
ships at sea; a naval battle or action.
sea-fir (se'fer), n. A hydroid polyp of the fam-
ily tiertulariidx, as Sertularia ahictina.
sea-fire (se'fir), «. Phosphorescence at sea, as
that produced by noctilucas, or by salps, etc.
sea-fish (se'fish), n. [< ME. *se-fishc, earlier
su'fixc, < AS. ssefisc (= Icel. seefiskr), < see, sea,
+ fisc, fish.] Any salt-water or marine fish.
sea-flea (se'fle), «. Same as sand-flea. B, Spen-
cer, Prill, of Sociol., § 60.
sea-flier (se'fli"er), n. One of the longipennine
natatorial sea-birds, as gulls, terns, petrels, etc.
sea-flower (se'flou"er), «.
some similar zoantharian.
sea-foam (se'fom), n. 1. The froth or foam of
the ocean.
The merry seamen laugh'd to see
naria digitata: same as hanger, 7.
sea-girt (se'gert), a. Girt or surroimded by the
water of the sea or ocean : as, a sea-girt isle.
Pass we the joys and sorrows sailors find,
Coop'd in their winged sea-girt citadel.
Byron, Childe Harold, iL 28.
sea-god (se'god), n. A marine deity; a divin-
ity looked upon as presiding over the ocean or
sea, as Neptune.
The syrens
. . . there the highest-going billows crown,
I'ntil some lusty sea-god pulled them down.
B. Jonwii, Masques, Neptune's Triumph.
sea-goddess (se'god'es), n. A female deity of
the ocean ; a marine goddess. Pope.
sea-going (se'g6"ing), a. 1. Designed or fit
for going to sea, as a vessel.
In the model of the sea-going vessels there has appa-
rently been little change from the first.
Howells, Venetian Life, XX.
2. Seafaring.
Subsequently the Greeks themselves became a sea-going
people, and little by little drove the Phcenicians back from
the coasts of European Greece.
B. V. Head, Historia Numorum, Int., p. xxxvii.
, - 3. Catadromous, as a fish.
A sea-anemone or gga-goose (se'gos), n. 1. A dolphin: so called
from the shape of the snout. — 2. A phalarope,
either Phalaropus fulicarius or Lohipes hyper-
boreus. [New England to Labrador.]
Both known by the . . . inappropriate though curious
name of sea-geese. Coves, Proc. Phila. Acad., 1S61, p. 229.
sea-goosefoot (se'gSs'-'fut), «. See goosefoot.
' ----- „_ Any member of the
Sea-car {Haliotis tuberculata).
Their gallant ship so lustily
Furrow the green sea-/oatn.
Scott, Marmlon, ii. 1.
2. Meerschaum: a translation of the German sea-gOurd (se'gord),
name, which is due to a popular idea that the Ilhopaladinidie.
substance is solidified sea-froth.
sea-fog (se'fog), n. A fog occurring near the
coast, extending only a mile or two inland, pro-
duced by the mixture of a current of cold air
with the warmer saturated air over the sea.
sea-folk (se'fok), n. [= D. zeevolk = Sw. sjo-
/o^A- = Dan. sojoifc, sea-folk; as sea + folk.] Sea-
faring people.
The types of this humble company of shore and seafolk,
assembled to do honour to a homely bride and bridegroom,
are English. The Academy, No. 890, p. 365.
Seaforthia (se-for'thi-a), n. [NL. (Robert
Brown, 1810), named after Francis, Lord Sea-
forth.] A former genus of palms, now in-
cluded in Pti/cliosperma. _
sea-gown (se'goun), w. A skirted garment or
wrapper meant to be worn at sea.
Up from my cabin.
My sea-govm scarf'd about me, in the dark
Groped I to find out them. Shak. , Hamlet, v. 2. 13.
My Guide carried my Sea-gouii, which was my covering
in the night, and my Pillow was a Log of Wood : but I
slept very well, tho the weakness of my body did now re-
quire better accommodation. Dampier, Voyages, II. i. 91.
sea-grape (se'grap), H. 1. Seegrajie. — 2. The
grape-tree or seaside grape, Coccoloba urifera.
See grape-tree. — 3. A glasswort, Salicornia
herbacea. — 4. pi. The clustered egg-cases of
squids, cuttles, and other cephalopods. Some-
times they are numerous enough to choke the
dredges and interfere with oystering.
fugcl (=
A sea-bird; collectively, sea-birds.
sea-fox (se'foks), n. The fox-shark or thrasher,
Alopias vulpes: so called from the long tail,
likened to the brush of a fox. It attains a
length of 12 or 15 feet. Also called sea-ape.
See cut under Alopias.
sea-front (se'frunt), «. The side or edge of the (se'eren)
land bordering on the sea; also, the side, as of ^«^f^^®^^ blui!h-Sr.
a building, which looks toward the sea. luminous blui&n gr.
We can trace out the long line of the sea-/ront of the
vulgaris, and also one of the glassworts, Sali-
palace which became a city.
K A. Freeman, Venice, p. 142.
elephant's trunk. ^„ ,„ ^„„„„^^ ..,.,... ...„ , . . ,^ r, t.t^ .r ^i y
the southern hemisphere, and is much hunted for its skin sea-froth (se'froth), n. [< ME. seefroth ; < sea
and blubber. A similar though distinct species, Jf. on- + froth.] 1 The froth or foam of the sea.^-
giuUrostrin, is found on the coast of Oalifornia; but the „ •' a„owoo/lo
other large otaries of the North Pacific are of different '«t. oeawet-us. , ^ ^. , ,,
genera (Eumet«pias and Zaluphus\ and are called sea-liant. Other so dolven kesteth 8e«/ro«A ynne.
Also called <!^epAan^«ea^. See cut in next column. Ptritoditw, Hu8bondrie(E. E. T. S.), p. 115.
cornia herbacea, both seaside plants ; also, the
eel-grass (.Zostera marina),the tassel-grass(7?H;(-
pia maritimn), the gulfweed (Sargasuvm), and
probably other marine plants. — 2. A variety of
cirrus cloud whose form suggests the name : it
is a forerunner of stormy weather.
; a. and?!. I. a. Having a
■green color, suggesting that
sometimes seen in sea-water.
II. n. 1. A rich bluish green of high lumi-
nosity.— 2. Ground overflowed by the sea in
spring tides.
sea-gudgeon (se'guj''on), n. See gudgeon^.
sea-gull (se'sul), n. "A gull; any bird of the
subfamily Larinse, most of which fly, over the
sea as we'll as inland waters. Some of the larger
sea-gull
terns (Sterninse) receive the same name. See
cut under giilP.
seah (se'a). n. [Heb.] A Jewish dry measure
coiitaiuiug nearly 14 pints. Simmonds.
Sea-haar (se'har), «. A chilly, piercing fog or
mist arising from the sea. [Scotch.]
sea-hair (se'har), ». A sertularian polyp, as
Sertiilariii opereulata.
sea-hanger (se'hang'6r),n. Same as Aanj/er, 7.
sea-hare (se'har), n. A moUusk of the family
Aiih/.ttiil^'. See Aplygia.
sea-hawk (se'hak), n. A rapacious gull-like
bird of the genus StercoraHus or Lestris; a ja-
ger: a skua. See cut under -SteroorarJM*. Mac-
ilillifrd'/.
sea-heath (se'heth), n. See Frankenia.
sea-hedgehog (se'hej 'hog), n. l. Some or any
sea-iircniu. e.speeially one having long or large
spines; a sea-egg. — 2. A globe-fish; a swell-
fish : a porcupine-fish ; any plectognath with
prickles or spines, as that figured under Diodon.
sea-hen (se'hen), n. 1. The common murre
or guillemot. [Local, British.] — 2. The great
akiia, Stercorarius skua. [NewEng.] — 3. The
piper-gurnard. [Scotch.]
sea-hog (se'hog), n. A porpoise; a sea-pig.
The old popular idea whioh alRxed the name of Sca-
Hoy u> tht Porpoise contains a lar^r element of truth
than the speculations of many accomplished zoologfsta of
niudt-rti times. W. H. Flower, Encyc. Brit., XV'. 394.
sea-holly (se'hol'i), n. The eringo, Eryntfium
mariUmum. Also sra-holm tkud sea-hulver. See
eringo and Eri/nffium.
sea-holm' (se'holm), n. [< sea''^ + holml. Cf.
AS. xieholm, the sea.] A small uninhabited
isle.
sea-holm^ (se'holm), «. [< sea^ + holm'^.'] Sea-
holly.
ComewaJl natanlly brlngeth forth greater store of tea-
hohn and sampire then is found in any other county.
R. CareWt Survey of Comwall, p. 19.
sea-honeycomb (se'huu'l-kom), ». Same as
sen -cum.
sea-horse (se'hdrs), n. 1. A fabulous animal
Ueiiicted with fore part* like tliose of a horse,
and with hinder parts like those of a fish. The
Xereids arc faltled to have uaed ieA-boraefl as riding-
steeds, and Neptune to have employed tbem for drawing
his chariot. In the aea-borae of heraldry a scalloped fin
runs down the back.
There in the Tempest Is Neptane with his Tritons in
his Chariot drawn with Sea Honei and Mslnnalds stnsing.
Quoted in AMon't Social Life In Keign of Qneen Anne,
[L 264.
2. A hippopotamus. — 3. A morse or walrus. —
4. A hippocampus ; any syngnathous fish of the
family Hipporampidte. See cut under Hippo-
campidee. — 6. The acanthopterygian fish Agri-
o]>i(ii (or (otujiDiiiiiliui) torvus. See .igriopus.
— Flying sea-borses, the PmaMm. See cut under Pe-
Hatidir. — Sea-borse tootll, the Ivoiy-yielding tooth of
the walnis or of tiie hippopotamas.
sea-hotmd (se'houud), n. The dogfish, a kind
of sli.'irk.
sea-hnlver (se'hul'v^r), n. Same as sen-holly.
sea-island (se'i'land), a. An epithet applied
to a fine long-stapled variety of cotton grown
on the islands off the coast of South Carolina
and (ieorgia. See cotton-jilant.
sea-jelly (se'jel'i), n. A jellyfish; a sea-blub-
ber.
sea-kale (se'kal), n. See kale and Crambe, 2.
sea-kelp (se'kelp), n. See kelp^.
sea-kemp (se'kemp), n. See kemp*.
sea-kidney (se'kid'ni), n. A pennatulaoeoas
alcvonarian polvp of the genus Kenilla : so
called from iU shape. These polyps bear the poly-
6441
reniform disk, they are free or very loosely attached to the
sand where they live at or near low-water mark. Some are
common on the Atlantic coast of the United States.
sea-king (se'kin^), u. One of the piratical
Scandinavian chiefs who with their followers
ravaged the coasts of Europe during the early
medieval period.
The gea-kings' daughter as happy as fair,
Blissful bride of a blissful beh'.
Tennyson, Welcome to Alexandra.
sea-kittie (se'kit'i), «. The kittiwake, a gull.
See cut under kittiwake. [Norfolk and Suffolk,
Eng.]
seal' (sel), «. [Also Se. (retaining orig. gut-
tural) sealgh, selch, silch (see sealgh) ; < ME. sele,
< AS. seol, siol, seolh = Icel. selr = 8w. sjel (also
sjel-hund, 'seal-hound') = Dan. sail (also siel-
hund) = OHG. selach, selah, MHG. seleh, seic,
a seal; perhaps = Gr. ac?Mxoc, mostly in pi.
oO-dxv, a sea-fish (applied to all cartilaginous
fishes, including the sharks), a fish (see selachi-
an); perhaps orig. 'of the sea'; cf. Gr. aJ-f, L.
sal, the sea : see saP and salt'^.'] 1 . A marine car-
nivorous mammal of the order Ferse, suborder
Pinnipedia, and family Phocidx or Otariidie;
any pinniped not a walrus — for example, a hair-
seal, a fur-seal, an eared seal, of which there are
n umerous genera and species. Seals are regarded as
carnivores modified for aquatic life. The modification is
profound, and somewhat parallel with that which causes
certain other mammals, the cetaceans aiid sirenians, to re-
semble fishes in the form of the t>ody and in the nature of
the limbs. But seals retain a coat of hairor furlike ordinary
quadrupeds, and an expression of the face like that of other
carnivores. The body is more or less fusiform, tapering
like that of a fish. It is prone, and can scarcely be lifted
from the ground, so abort are the limbs. These are reduced
to mere nippers, especially in the true Phocidse, in which
the hind legs extend backward and cannot be brought into
the position usual to mammals, but resemble the tlukes
of a cetacean. In the otaries (ptariida) the limbs are
freer and less constrained. Tlie latter have small but
evident external ears, wanting in the former. The monk-
seal, MonaehuM albioenUr, lives in the Mediterranean and
neighboring Atlantic, and a related species, Manachta
tropiealis, is found between the tropics in Cenfarel Ameri-
can and West Indian waters. Another seal, Phoea eat-
picOj inhabits Inland waters of the Caspian, Aral, and
Baikal, but with few exceptions all seals are maritime
and also extratropical. They are especially numerous in
high Imtitades of the northern hemisphere. Among the
Phoddm may be jioted Phoea Txtulina, the ordinary har-
bor-seal or seaH:alf, common in British waters and alonv
the Atlantic coast of the United States : it is often tamed
and exhibited in aquaria, being gentle and docile, and ca-
pable of being taught to perform some amusing tricks ; it
Is one of the smaller species, usually from S to 6 feet long,
and being the beat-known, as weU as wide-ranging, it
has many local and fanciful names. PAoca groenlandi-
ea {Pttgif^iSlui mmUandicvi) Is the Greenland seal, or
lian>-(eal or saddleback, peciillarly colored, of lai;ge size,
ana an important object of the chase. Pagomyt faetidwi
Is a smaller species, the ringed seal or floe-rat of Green-
land. Brignatlau bitrbatui Is the great bearded or square-
flippered seal of Greenland, attaining a length of s or 10
feet. Haliehcenu ffrypktit Is a great gray seal of both
Igloo, or Seal's House (shown
in section).
(;re.it Gray Se.il (//a/icMofrtis ^ryM'"^'
coasts of the Noiib Atlantic, of about the dimensions of
the laat named. Hittriophcea Is a genus containing the
banded seal or ribboo-seal, U. /atciala or H. equatrit.
All the foregoing are members of the subfamily Pnoeinse.
CytlophomeritUUaU the hooded, crested, or bladder-nosed
Setkidaty (Knai^rtn//armO>.a*tiin\tia. Sm , «>
A tingle polyplte, enlaf^fed.
pitea only on one side of the flat expansive polypldom.
Though there is a stem from the hilam or notch of the
342
Hooded Seal (Cysttphtra cristata't.
seal : this is a large seal, but the largest Is the sea-ele-
phant, MaxTfrrhinua proboteidev^, of southern seas; and
these two genera form the subfamily Cyttophorin». Cer-
tain seiiU of the sontbem hemisphere, of the genera Lobo-
seal
d<m, Sten&rhynckus (or Ogtiwrhinus), Leptonycholes (for-
merly Leptonyx), and Oinmatophoca, form the subfamily
Sien&rhynchinje; some of these are known as sea-leopards
from their spotted colora-
tion, and others as sterrincks.
All the foregoing are Pho-
cidie, or earless seals, and
they are also hair-seals. But
the distinction between h-iii--
seals and fur-seals is not.
properly, that between Pbu-
cidie and Otariidfe, but be-
tween those members of the
latter family which do not
and those which do have a
copious under-fur of com-
mercial value. The larger
otaries are of the former
character ; they belong ti ■
the genera Otaria, Euiu-
topias, and Zalnphus, lu-e ol
great size, and are common-
ly called sea-lions; they are
of both the northern and the
southern hemisphere, chiefly
in Pacific waters, and do not
occur in the North Atlantic.
The southern fur-seals or
sea-bears are species of Arc-
■ ocephalus, and among the
smaller otaries. The fur-seal
of most economic impor-
tance is the North Pacific sea-bear, CafforAtntM um'nti^.
Some genera of fossil seals are described. The most im-
portant seal-fisheries are those on the Alaskan coast of the
United States. On account of the attacks made by Ca-
nadians and others upon the seals in the open sea during
their migrations to the Prilij loft Islands for tlie purpose
of breeding, the I'niteii Stales endeavored to secure by
agreement with Great Britain a season during which the
seals should not be mtdesteil. This effort failed thrmigh
the opimsition of Canada. The United States then ciaihied
that the waters within which the depredations were com-
mitted are witbin their jurisdiction, and on this ground
seized several Canadian vessels. The dispute was sub-
mitted to arbitrators who met at Paris in 1893. Tliey de-
nied the United States claim of jurisdiction, awarded dam-
aL'es to Great Britain for the captured vessels, established
a close season (May 1-July 31), and probiljited pelagic
sealing within sixty miles of the I'ribyloff Islands, and
sealing in steam-vessels or with firearms. See cuts under
Cystophorina, EriffnathuSj Eumetopias, fur-seal, harp-seal,
otarj/, Pa^omySj Phoca, nbbon-seai, sea-elephant, sea-leop-
ard, sea-lwn, and Zalophxts.
2. In her., a bearing representing a creature
something like a walrus, with a long fish-like
body and the head of a carnivorous animal. —
Pied seal. Same as monk-teal. See def. 1.
seal' (sel), V. i. [< scal\ n.] To hunt or catch
seals.
seal'^ (sel), H. [< ME. seel, sele, seale, seall,
seyalle, < OF. seel, seel, pi. seaux, seaus, seaulx,
F. sceau = Sp. sella, sigilo = Pg. sella = It.
sigillo, a seal, = AS. sigel, sigil, sigl, a seal, an
ornament, = D. zegel = MLG. segel, LG. segel
= OHG. sigil, MHG. sigel (earlier insigel, iiisi-
gele, OHG. iusigili), G. siegcl, a seal, = Icel.
sigli = Sw.sii/i/i = Dan. segl = Goth, sigljo, a
seal, < L. sigillum, a seal, mark, dim. of signum,
a mark, sign : see sign, Cf. si<;i7, directly from
the L.] 1 . An impressed device, as of a letter,
cipher, or figure, in lead, wax, paper, or other
soft substance, affixed to a document in con-
nection with or in place of a signature, as a
mark of authenticity and confirmation, or for
the purpose of fastening up the document in
order to conceal the contents, in the middle ages
seals were either impressed in wax rnn on the surface of
the document, or suspended by cord or strips of parch-
ment, as In the papal bulls. (See fctiWn, 2.) In some juris-
dictions an impression on the paper itself is now sufficient,
and in others the letters L. .9. [locus sujUli, the place of the
seal) or a scroll or a mere bit of colored paper (see def. 3)
are equivalent. In the United States the seal of a corpo-
ration or of a public officer may be by impression on the
paper alone.
I hadde Lettres of the Soudan, with his grete Serf; and
comonnly other Men ban but his Signett.
Mandeville, Travels, p. 82.
The word seal is often used to denote both . he impres-
sion made and the object that makes the impress. .More
correctly the latter is called the " matrix, " and only the
impression is called the "seat." Encyc. Brit, XXI. 588.
2. The engraved stone, glass, or metal stamp
by which such an impression is made. Seals
are sometimes worn as rings, aud frequently as
pendants from the watoli-chain or fob.
A teuatte of sylver of the brotherredyis.
English GUdt (E. E. T. S.), p. S27.
If you have a ring atiout you, cast it off,
Or a silver seal at your wrist.
B. Janmn, Alchemist^ tit 2.
3. A small disk of paper, or the like, attached
to a document after the signature, and lield
to represent the seal of wax, which is in this
case dispensed with. — 4. That which authenti-
cates, confirms, or ratifies; confirmation; as-
surance; pledge.
But my kisses bring again, bring again ;
Seal* of love, but seai'd in vain.
Shak., M. for M., iv. 1. e.
seal
It oomes now to yoa sealed, and with it as strong and
aasared »eai» of my service and love to you,
Donne^ Letters, i.
5t. A sealed instrument ; a writ or warrant
given under seal.
On Thorisday last was ther wer browt unto this towne
manyFrevyS«i«, and onof hem was indosyd toyow, . . .
and anodyrwas sent onto yowr sone, and indosyd to hym
selfe alone, and asynyd wythiune wyth the Kynggys howyn
hand. Paston Letters, I. 438.
He gaf Johne the uel in hand.
The scheref for to here,
To brynge Kobyn hym to,
And no man do hym dere.
RMn Hood and the Monk (ChUd's Ballads, V. 11).
6t. The office of the sealer or official who au-
thenticates by affixing a seal.
As for the commission from the king, we received only
a copy of it, but the commission itself staid at the geeU for
want of paying the fees.
Winthnp, Hist. New England, L 276.
7. The wax or wafer with which a folded let-
ter or an envelop is closed ; also, any other sub-
stance similarly used to assure security or se-
crecy, as lead for sealing bonded cars, etc. See
leaden seal, below.
As soone as Gawein herde speke of tho childeren, he lepe
on his feet, and toke the letter and brake the seall and hit
radde all to the ende as he that well hadde lerned in his
yowthe. Merlin (E. E. T. «.), ii. 280.
Arthur spied the letter in her hand,
Stoopt, took, brake seai, and read it.
Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine.
8. Figuratively, that which effectually closes,
confines, or secures ; that which makes fast.
Under the seal of silence. Milton, S. A. , 1. 49.
9. In plumbing, a small quantity of water left
standing in a trap or curve of tubing connected
with a drain or sewer in order to prevent the
escape of gas from below. — 10. Eccles.: (a)
The sign of the cross. (6) Baptism, (c) Con-
firmation, (rf) Same as holy lamb (which see,
under lamb). — 11. In old med., the so-called
sigil or signature of a plant, mineral, etc. See
signature Broad seal See &road-«e<ri.— Clerk of
the privy seal See cferAr.— Collation of seals. See
co^^a/iom— Common seaL Seecojn/non. — Fisher's SeaX
Seal of the Fisherman, the papal privy seal impressed
on wax and not on lead (see bull'-i and buUa), representing
St. Peter Ashing.
Everything that appears in the Osservatore Romano may
be taken as having been sealed with the Fisher's Seal.
FortnighUy Rev., N. S., XLL 642.
Great seal, a seal of state. The great seal of the United
Kingdom of England and Scotland is used in sealing the
writs to summon Parliament (Irish members included), also
in sealing treaties with foreign states, and all other papers
of great importance affecting the United Kingdom. The
Lord Chancellor is the official custodian of the great seal ;
during a vacancy in the chancellorship it rests with an
officer of equal dignity styled the Lord Keeper. The great
seal of Ireland is used in the same manner as before the
Union in 1800, except in the matter of summoning Parlia-
ment, etc. There is also a seal in Scotland for sealing
grants and writs affecting private rights there. The great
seal of the United States is placed in the custody of the
.Secretary of State ; State seals usually are in the charge of
the State secretaries.— Hermetic seal. See hermetic.
— Keeper of the Privy Seal, or Lord Privy Seal. See
keeper. — Leaden seal, a disk of lead pierced perpendicu-
larly to its axis with two holes, through which are passed
the ends of a twisted wire connecting two objects, as a hasp
and staple. When the lead has been stamped down, the
fastening cannot be removed without cutting the wire or
defacing the seal. —Manual seaL See ?no««ai.— Me-
tallic seal. Same as ieadcrt *eal — Our Lady's seal. See
/"oJj/£/(»M(wm. — Privy seal, (a) In England, the seal ap-
pended to grants which are afterward to pass the great
seal, and to documents of minor importance which do not
require the great seal. There is a privy seal in Scotland
which is used to authenticate royal grants of personal or
assignable rights, (6) [caps.] Same as Lord Privy Seal.
(c) In Eng. hist., an instrument imposing a forced loan :
so called because it was authenticated by the clerk of the
privy seal.
I went againe to his Grace, thence to the Council, and
mov'd for another privy seale for £20,000.
Evelyn, Diary, June 8, 1665.
Seal of an altar, a small stone placed over the cavity in
an altar containing relics.— Seal of baptism. See bap-
tism.— Seal of cause, in Scotg law, the grant or charter
by which power is conferred on a royal burgh, or the supe.
rior of a burgh of barony, to constitute subordinate cor-
porations or crafts, and which defines the privileges and
powers to be possessed by a subordinate corporation. —
Seal of confession, see cori^e««ion.— Solomon's seal.
See ,SofOTrton'»-«eai.— Testimonial of the great seaL
See quarter seal. — to pass the seals. See pom.—lo set
one S seal to, to give one's authority or imprimatur to ;
give one's assurance of.— Under seal, authenticated or
confirmed by sealing.
If the agreement of the grantee is considered as under
teal, by reason of the deed 'being sealed by the grantor, it
falls within the settled rule of the common law.
Supreme Court lieporter, X. 832.
seal^ (sel), V. [< ME. seelen, selen, < OF. sceler,
F. sceller, < L. sigillare, seal, < sigillum, seal : see
seaP, n. Of. AS. sigelian = D. zegelen = MLG.
segelen = G. siegeln = Goth, sigljan (in eomp.)
(cf . OHG. bisigiljan, MHG. besigelen = Sw. 6c-
5442
segla = Dan, besegte, seal); from the noun.] I.
trans. 1. To set or affix a seal to, as a mark of
authenticity, confirmation, or execution : as, to
seal a deed.
Lord Scroop was deposed from the Chancellorship for
refusing to seal some Grants which the King had made.
Baker, Chronicles, p. 140,
I gi-ant a free pardon,
"Well seal'd by my own ban'.
Young Akin (ChUd s Ballads, I. 186),
2. To stamp, as with a seal.
But that which is sold to the merchants is made into
little pellets, and sealed with the Turkish character,
Sandys, Travailes, p. 19,
Specifically — 3. To certify with a stamp or
mark ; stamp as an evidence of standard exact-
ness, legal size, or merchantable quality : as, to
seal weights and measures; to seal leather. —
4. To attest ; affirm ; bear witness to the truth
or genuineness of, by some outward act : as,
to seal one's loyalty with one's life ; hence, to
confirm ; ratify ; establish ; fix.
But who will lay downe his life to seale some Politicians
authoritie ? Purchas, PUgrimage, p, 32.
Jove seals the league, or bloodier scenes prepares ;
Jove, the great arbiter of peace and wars !
Pope, Iliad, iv. 113.
He [Grenville] would seal it with his blood that he never
would give his vote for a Hanoverian.
Walpole, Letters, II. 15.
One in fire, and two in field.
Their belief in blood have seaid.
Byron, Prisoner of Chillon.
5. To grant authoritatively or under seal.
Scorn him, and let him go ; seem to contemn him.
And, now you have made him shake, seal him his pardon.
Fletcher, Pilgrim, ii. 2,
Immortalitie had beene sealed, both in soule and bodie,
to him and his for euer, Purchas, Pilgrimage, p, 24,
At all times remission of sins may be sealed to a peni-
tent soul in the sacrament. Donne, Sermons, xv.
6. To fasten or secure with a seal, or with some
fastening bearing a seal ; close or secure with
sealing-wax, a wafer, or the like : as, to seal a
letter.
She sealed it [a letter] wi' a ring.
Sti-eet William (Child's Ballads, IV, 262).
The rector sealed his epistles with an immense coat of
arms, and showed, by the care with which he had per-
formed this ceremony, that he expected they should be cut
open. Mrs. Gaskelt, Cranford, v.
7. To shut up or close : as, to seal a book ; to
seal one's lips or eyes ; hence, to establish ; de-
termine irrevocably.
Now pleasing sleep had seal'd each mortal eye.
Pope, Iliad, ii. 1.
Something seal'd
The lips of that Evangelist.
Tennyson, In Memoriam, xxzi.
How I tremble for the answer which is to seal my fate !
Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xvL
8. To mark ; designate ; appoint.
Hath some wound.
Or other dire misfortune, seal'd him for
The grave '/ Shirley, Grateful Servant, iii. 1.
9. To set apart or give in marriage, according
to the system of plural marriages prevalent
among the Mormons of Utah. This use is apparent,
ly derived from such phrases as — "I pronounce you legally
and lawfully husband and wife for time and for all eter-
nity ; and I seal upon you the blessings of the holy resur-
rection," etc., in the Mormon formula for marriage.
Hence the necessity and justification of polygamy, and
the practice of having many wives seated to one saint.
Encyc. Brit., XVI. 828.
10. To inclose; confine; imprison.
Back to the infernal pit I drag thee chain'd.
And seal thee so as henceforth not to scorn
The facile gates of hell, Milton, P, L,, iv. 966.
Be blown about the desert dust.
Or seal'd within the iron hills,
Tennyson, In Memoriam, Ivi,
11. In hydraul., sanitary engin., etc., to secure
against a flow or escape of air or gas, as by the
use of a dip-pipe in any form. A vessel is thus
sealed when a shallow channel formed around the neck is
filled with water, into which dips the rim of a cover or
cap inclosing the orifice. Such a device is said to form a
water-seal. The principle has many and various applica-
tions, as in the different forms of plumbers' traps,
12. In arch., to fix, as a piece of wood or iron
in a wall, with cement, plaster, or other bind-
ing material for staples, hinges, etc. Hence
— 13. To close the chinks of, as a log house,
with plaster, clay, or the like.
The house . , . was constructed of round logs sealed
with mud and clay, S. Judd, Margaret, i, 3.
14. To accept; adopt: as, to seal a design.
[Eng. Admiralty use.]
This design was seeded by the Ordnance Committee, who
did so, stating at the time that they had no opportunity
of considering the design. Contemporary Rev., LI. 271,
sea-leopard
15. Eccles.: (o) To sign with the cross. (6)
To baptize, (e) To confirm — Sealed earth, terra
sigillata, an old name for medicinal earths, which were
made iip into cakes and stamped or sealed.
II. intrans. To make the impression of a seal;
attach a seal.
Yes, Shylock, I will seal unto this bond,
Shak., M. of V„ i, 3. 172.
To White Hall, to the Privy Seale, as my Lord Privy
Seale did tell me he could seale no more this month, for
he goes thirty miles out of towne, to keep his Christmas.
Pepys, Diaiy, I. 241.
To seal undert, to become surety, as on a bond.
I think the Frenchman became his surety, and sealed
under for another. Shak., M. of V,, i, 2, 89,
seaFt, V. See seel"^.
sea-lace (se'las), n. A species of algse. Chorda
filum, the frond of which is blackish, slimy,
perfectly cylindrical, or cord-like, and some-
times 20 or even 40 feet in length. Also called
sea-catgut.
sea-lamprey (se'lam'pri), «. A marine lam-
prey; any species of Petromyzon, specifically
P. marinus : distinguished from river-lamprey
{Ammoccetes) . See cuts under lamprey.
sea-lark (se'lark), M. l. A sandpiper of some
kind, as the dunlin, the sanderliug, etc.; also,
the turnstone. — 2. A ring-plover of some kind,
as the ring-dotterel. — 3. The sea-titling, An-
thus obscnrus. See rock-pij)it. [Local, Eng.]
sea-la'Vender (se'lav'en-der), n. A plant of the
genus Statice; most often, S. Linionium, in the
United States called marsh-rosemary. The com-
mon species is a salt-marsh plant with radical leaves and
a wiry stem, bearing at the top a pardcle of extremely nu-
merous small lavender-colored flowers. Several species
are cultivated, the finest being S. latifolia, from Siberia,
a plant similar in habit to the last. The flowers of the
genus are of dry texture, and retain their color long after
being cut.
sea-lawyer (se'la'^yfer), n. 1. A querulous or
captious sailor, disposed to criticize orders ra-
ther than to obey them; one who is always
arguing about his work, and making trouble.
— 2. The gray or mangrove snapper. See.snaj)-
per. — 3. A shark.
[Nautical slang in all senses.]
seal-bag (sel'bag), «. The bag in which the
Lord High Chancellor of England formerly kept
the great seal and other state seals.
seal-bird (sel'bferd), n. The slender-billed
shearwater, Puffinus tenuirostris, of the North
Pacific.
seal-bro'wn (sel'broun), a. and «. I. a. Hav-
ing the color of prepared seal-fur.
II. n. The rich dark brown of the dressed
and dyed fur of the fur-seal.
seal-club (sel'klub), n. A club used for killing
seals.
sealed (seld), p. a. l. Certified or authenti-
cated by seal.— 2. Closed by sealing, or by
clasping or fastening securely as with a seal ;
hence, inaccessible ; unknown. — 3. In textiles,
same as nail-headed, 2 Sealed book, a book the
contents of which are unknown or cannot be known;
hence, anything unknown or undiscoverable.
The Disciplina Clericalis long remained a sealed book,
known only to antiquaries. Ticknm, Span. Lit, I. 64.
Sealed Books of Common Prayer, certain copies of
the English Book of Common Prayer, certified under the
seal of England as the standard text, and by actof Parlia-
ment in 1662 ordered to be placed in all cathedral and col-
legiate churches.— Sealed proposals. See proposal.
sea-leech (se'lech), n. A marine suctorial an-
nelid of the genus Pontobdella. Also called
skate-sucl'er.
sea-legs (se'legz), n.pl. Le^s suited for use at
sea : a humorous term implj'ing ability to walk
on a ship's deck when she is pitching or roll-
ing: as, to get one's sea-legs. [Colloq.]
In addition to all this, I had not got my Sea legs on, was
dreadfully sea-sick, with hardly strength enough to hold on
to anything. R. H. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p, 7.
sea-lemon (se'lem'''on), n. A doridoid ; a nudi-
branchiate gastropod of the family Dorididee :
so called from some resemblance in shape and
color to a lemon. See cuts under Doris, Gonio-
dorididse, and JEgitys.
seal-engra-Ting (sel'en-gra'ving), n. The art
of engraving seals, crests, coats of arms, and
other designs on precious stones, gems, etc.
Bloodstone, carnelian. and sard are most extensively used.
The work is done liy holding the stones against circular
and disk-shaped small tools revolving veiy rapidly in the
quill or lathe-head of a seal-engravers' engine.
sea-lentil (se'len"til), «. The gulfweed, Sar-
(la.tsum vrdgare.
sea-leopard (se'lep'^iird), «. A spotted seal of
the southern and antarctic seas, belonging to
the family Phocidx and either of two different
genera. One of these has been generally known as
Stetuyrhynehm, and it has given name to the subfamily
sea-leopard
S«a-leopard iLtftonychdts ■wtddetli).
Slenorhi^nehinx ; but, thU generic name being preoccu-
pied in entomology, it was changed by Peter* in 1«75 to
0</morhinus. The other genua, commonly known as Lep-
tonyx, is in like case, being preoccupied in ornithology,
and was changed by Gill in 1«T2 to LeptonychoUs.
sealer^ (se'l^r), «. [<. <«(/!, r., + -erl.] A man
or a ship engaged in the seal-fishery.
A fleet of tealen in Bering Sea.
Fur-Hal Fitheritt of Altuta, p. 1«1.
sealer^ (se'lfer), n. [< seal^, v., + -<-ri.] 1.
One who seals ; one who stamps with a seal.
On the right, at the table, is the ttalrr prewing down
the matrix of the great seal with a roller on the wax.
Archxolajia, XXXIX. S58. (Davia.)
In 1414 the indenture for Somersetshire states that the
Kalert made the election " ex aasensu totius commonita-
tls," a form borrowed no doubt from the ancient return by
the sheriff. Sttibbt, Const Hist., i 421.
2. In the United States, an officer appointed
to e.xamine and test weights and measures, and
set a stamp upon sueh as are true to the stan-
dard; also, an officer who inspects and stamps
leather; also, one who inspects brick-molds,
sealing such as are of proper size.
sealery (se'ler-i), ». ; pi. sealeries (-iz). [< seal^
+ -fry.'i A place in which seals abound, or in
which they are caught ; a seal-fishing establish-
ment or station.
sea-letter (se'lef^r), n. A document formerly
issued by the civil authorities of a port in which
a vessel is fitted out. It certified her nationality, and
specified the kind, quantity, ownership, and destination
of her cargo. Also called tea-bri^. Uamerdy.
sea-lettnce (se'let'is), «. See lettuce.
sea-level (sS'lev'el), n. The surface of the sea,
supposed to be level : commonly used as equiva-
lent to mean sea-lerel, the level gorface half-way
between mean high and low water. The word
assume* that the sonace of the sea is level, which Is
not true where strong current* exist, nor where the
trade-winds blow the water into partially closed seas.
The ses-leTcl must be considered as bolging out under
the continents and whererer graTlty Is In exoew (after
due allowance fur latitude): cHherwIse, rery large cor-
rections would have to be applied to the results uf level-
ing operations,
seal-fishery (sel'fish'ir-i), h. The art or in-
dustry of taking seals; also, the place where
Hials are taken ; a sealery.
seal-flower (sel'flou'^r), n. A name of the
bleciliii;/-beart, Direntra tpectabilis.
sealgh (seldh), ». [Also *etek, tilek; < MK.
•wo/j, < AS. seolh, a seal: see »e«i/i.] A seal
or sea-calf. [Scotch.]
Te needna torn away your head sae ioarljr, like a Kolfh
when he leaves the shore. Seott, Pirate, Ix.
seal-book (sel'hftk), n. An iron hook inserted in
the liasp of a railway freight-car door, fasteneil
with a wire, and sealed, to secure the door,
sea-light (se'lit), n. A light to guide mariners
during the night. See Ughthouse, harhor-lu/ht.
sea-lily (se'lif'i), n. A living erinoid; a Uly-
star; a feather-star. The fossil encrinites are
commcmly distinguished as sttme-liliet.
sea-line (se'lin), n. l. The horizon atsea; the
line where sea and sky seem to meet.
Her face was evermore uoaeen
And flxt upon the far ma-Hne.
Tennymm, The Voyage.
A strange sight, and a beautiful, to see the fleet put
silently out uninaf i rising moon, the sm-fina rough as a
wood with iuu. R. L.SIemtitmttAaetiion of an Engineer.
2. pi. I-iong lines used for fishing in deep water.
At first there waa a talk of getting sea lines and going
after the bieun. IT. SUuik, In Far Lochaber, xili.
f Bealingl (se'ling), B. [Verbal n. of *ea/l, r.]
The ojxTation of catching seals, curing their
skins, and obtaining the oil.
It was the height of the maUng season.
C. M. Scamnum, Marine Mammals, p. 90.
sealing- (se'ling), II. [Verbal n. of seaP, r.]
The act of impressing with a seal; confirmation
by a Sfal.
sealing-wax (se'ling-waks). n. and a. I. n.
Shellai- and rosin melted with turpentine, col-
ored with Huital)le coloriuK matters, usually
vermilion, and run iiit<i molds: used for mak-
ing seals.
5443
n. a. Resembling red sealing-wax: specifi-
cally said of the peculiar tips of the feathers of
the waxwings. See waxwing, Ampelis — Seal-
ing-wax varnisb, a varnish made of red sealing-wax
ana shellac dissolved in alcohol : used especially to coat
parts of electrical machines.
sea-lintie (se'lin'ti), «. The sea-titling or sea-
lark, Anthui ohscurus. Also rock-Untie. See
roek-pipit. [Local, Scotland.]
sea-lion (se'U'on), n. 1. One of several large
eared seals, or otaries. (a) Eumelopia* stelleri, the
largest otary of the North Pacific, the male attaining a
length of 11 to 13 feet, a girth of 8 to 10 feet, and a weight
of about 1,200 pounds. It is a hair-seal, not a fur-seal.
See cut under Euinetopias. (6) A species of Zalophugj as
Z. lobcUus of Australasian waters, and Z. cali/omiantts, a
quite distinct species of the Pacific coast of North America
•and thence to Japan. The latter is the sea-lion which
attracts much attention on the rocks off San Francisco,
and which barks so loudly and incessantly in traveling
menageries. See cut under Zalophut. (c) Cook's otary,
^)>:^%f^
Sea-lioa [Ottria Juiotal.
Olarla JubaUi, of the antarctic seas : more fully called
Pataffonian sea-fion. It Is related to the sea-bear figured
under otery, but Is lar^.
2. In her., a beanng representing a creature
having a head like that of a lion, but sometimes
without the mane, two paws with long claws,
and fish-like body. Also called lion-poisson and
mmrsr.
sea-liqnort, »• [ME. see-Ueoure; < sea^ + liquor.']
Sea-water; brine.
Weefae hflin in sm lieoure whenne thai be clene.
Or water aaJt, and white thai longe endure.
PaUadiiu, Husbondrie (E. E. T. 3.), p. 68.
sea-lizard (se'liz'ard), n. 1. A nudibranchiate
gastropod of the genus Olaucus. See cut un-
der (llaueu.1. — 2. An enaliosaur; afossil reptile
of the group Enaliosauria. — 3. A mosasanrian ;
any member of the itosasaurida.
seal-lance (sel'lftns), h. A lance designed or
used for killing seals.
seal-lock (sel'lok), n. 1. SeeJocfcl. — 2. A form
of pennutation-lock.
sea-loach (K<"''16ch), «. A gadoid fish, Onos tri-
cirrntuK or Miitella vulgaris, also called whistle-
fish, three-boarded rockling, three-bearded cod,
three-bearded gade. See .\tolella.
sea-longWonn(«e'16ng'w6rm),n. Anemertean
worm of the family lAneidie.
sea-louse i se'lous), ». l. One of various para-
sitic isopod irusta-
ceans, as those of the
family CjfmotMoidx.
— 2. The Molucca
crab, or horseshoe-
crab of the East In-
dies, L4mulus moluc-
eentia: translating an
old book-name, ''pe-
dinihis marinus."
sea-luce (se'lus), n.
The hake, Merlucius
vulgaris. Day.
seal-pipe (sel'pip), n.
A pipe so arranged
that tne open end dips
beneath the surface
of a fluid so as to pre-
vent reflux of gases,
etc.; a dip-pipe.
seal-press (sel'pres),
n. A press or stamp
bearing dies on its
jaws, or a die and a
bed, for imprinting
or embossing any <le-
vice u])on paper or a plastic material, as lead.
It is much used to form the^eals of seal-locks,
and may be a kind of heavy pincers.
Seal-press.
a and o'. dies ; i (dotted outline),
bar sli'litig in i;uide r / <i (dotted out-
line), abutment for coiled tprtnf^ e ;
/, lever witli cam j^ at the bottom.
Tite lever moved in the direction in-
dicatcil by the arrow forces a down
u|M>o a' ; when it is released the
sprint; reverses the motion.
seam
seal-ring (sel'ring), n. A finger-ring in which
a seal is inserted as the chaton or bezel ; hence,
by extension, a ring in which is set a piece of
hard stone upon which a seal may be engraved.
I have lost a seal-rinff of my grandfather's, worth forty
marlt. Shak., 1 Hen, IV., lit 3. 94.
seal-rookery (sel'ruk'er-i), n. A place where
many seals breed together ; a sealery.
sealskin (sel'skin), «. [< ME. seelskin = Icel.
seUkinn, selaskinn = Dan. seelskind; as seaP- +
«i-i«.] The skin of a seal, tanned or otherwise
dressed as material for clothing (as boots,
shoes, and caps), and for many other uses; es-
pecially, the prepared fur of the fur-seal, used
for women's jackets or sacks ; by extension, a
garment made of this fur Sealskin cloth, a cloth
made of mohair with a nap, and dyed to resemble the fur
of the seal : used by women for outdoor garments.
sea-lnngS (se'lungz), «. A comb-jelly; a cte-
nophoran or comb-bearer : so called from the
alternate contraction and expansion, as if
breathing. See outs under Saccate.
sea-lungwort (se'lung'w6rt), n. See Mertensia.
seal-waxt (sel'waks), n. Same as sealing-tcax.
YouT organs are not so dull that I should inform you
'tis an inch. Sir, of red seal-tcax.
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, ii. 2.
sealwort (sel'wfert), n- The Solomon's-seal,
Folygonattim multifiorum, and perhaps other
species.
seam^ (sem), n. [< ME. seem, seme, < AS. seam =
OFries. sum = D. zoom = MLG. som, LG. soom
= OHG. MHG. sowrn, saum = Icel. saumr =
Sw. Dan. som, a seam; with formative -m, < AS.
*iir»an, etc. (-v/^m), sew: seesetoi.] 1. The line
formed by joining two edges; especially, the
joining line formed by sewing or stitching toge-
ther two different pieces of cloth, leather, or
the like, or two edges of the same piece ; a line
of union.
At Costantynoble is the Cros of our Lord Jesu Crist,
and his Cote withouten Semet. XandevUte, Travels, p, 9.
The coat was without seam, woven from the top through-
out. John xix. 23.
2. A piece of plain sewing; that on which
sewing is being or is to be done; sewing.
Lady Margaret sits in her bower door.
Sewing at her silken seam.
Young AHn (Child's Ballads, I. 179).
Oae mind your seam. Sums, To a Tailor.
Be asked her to put down her seam, and come for a
walk. Harper's Mag., LXV. 117.
3. A line of separation, as between two strata, or
two planks or the like when fastened together ;
also, the fissure or gap formed by the imper-
fect union of two bodies laid or fastened to-
gether: as, to calk the seams of a ship. — 4. A
fissure; a cleft; a groove. — 6. The ridge in a
casting which marks the place where two parts
of the mold have been in contact, as in a plas-
ter cast or a molded piece of earthenware. — 6.
A cicatrix or scar. — 7. A bed or stratum: so
used especially in speaking of coal : as, a seam
of coal (a bed or continuous layer of coal). —
8. pi. See the quotation.
The rags known technically as seams, being the clip-
pings which fall from woolen rags under the scissors of
the sorters, who prepare them for the machine by which
they are ti>rn into " rag-wool." These pieces are cut off
and withheld from the tearing machine, precisely because
they have a sewing thread running along then), or por-
tions of cotton lining adherent, or other vegetal admix-
ture. Ure, Diet., II. 360.
9. In anat., a suture; a raphe.
If any thought by flight to escape, he made his head to
fly in pieces by the lambdoidal commissure, which is a
seam in the hinder part of the skull.
Urquhart, tr. of Rabelais, i. 27.
Bight seam (naut.), a seam formed by doubling over the
canvas in the middle of a cloth, and stitching it down.—
False seam, (a) A ridge produced on castings wliere the
mold is joined. F. Campin, Mech. Engineering, Oloss., p.
4(Kl. (ft) In sail-makiivj, a seam run In the middle of a cloth
longitudinally, by overlaying a fold of the canvas on it-
self, so as to give the appearance of a regulai- seam as
between two separate cloths. This is done for appear-
ance ill yiicht-sails, and to make the sail stand flatter.—
Overhead seam. See overhead.— Sound seam (no«(.),
a seam formed by sewing the edges of canvas together
without lapping. This method is used In the United
States with only the lightest kind of canvas.— To toe a
seam, to stand on dick with the toes touching one of the
seams. Such standing is imposed as a punishment for
slight offenses. - White seam, underclothing in the pro-
cess of making. [Scotch. I
Miss Becky was invited; . . . and, accordingly, with
... a large work-bag well stuffed with white-seam, she
took her place at the appointed hour.
Miis Ferrier. MaiTiage, xiv.
seam' (sem), v. [= Sw. somma = Dan. sdm-
iiie : from the noun.] I. trnns. 1. To join
with a seam; unite by sewing. — 2. In kiiittini/,
to make an apparent seam in with a certain
seam
stitoh: as, to seam a stocking. — 3. To mark
with a seam, fissure, or furrow; scar: as, a
face seamed with wounds.
It is yet a most beautifull and sweete countrey as any
is under lieaven, $mmed tlirougliout witli many goodly
rivers. Speit^r, State of Ireland.
Dusky faces seamed and old.
Whittier, What tlie Birds Said.
H. intrans. 1. To crack; become fissured or
cracked.
Later their lips began to parch and genm.
L. Wallace, Ben-Hur, p. 400.
2. In knitting, to work in a particular manner
so as to produce a seam.
seam*t (sem), ». [< ME. seem, seme, saem, <
AS. seam, a horse-load, = OHG. MHG. soum,
G. saum = Icel. saumr = It. salma, soma = Sp.
salma = Pr. sauma = OF. somnie, some, saiimc,
same, a pack, burden, F. somme. < L. sagma,
ML. sauma, salma, a pack, burden, < Gr. adyfia,
a pack-saddle, < aaTTeiv, pack, put a load on a
horse, fasten on a load, orig. fasten, allied to
Skt. ■\/ sanj, adhere. Cf. summer'^, sumpU'r,
saum, sag ma. 'i A horse-load; a load for a pack-
horse; specifically, eight bushels of grain or
malt. A seam of glass, according to the old statute de
ponderibus, was 28 stone of 24 pounds each ; but later it
was 24 stone, understood by Young as .S80 pounds, but by
Kelly as 120 pounds. A seam of dung in Devonshire was
286 pounds.
1 Bbal aaeoille the my-selue for a sejne of whete.
Piers Plowman (B), iii. 40.
Th* encrease of a senm is a bushel for store.
Bad else is the barley, or huswife much more.
Tusser, November's Husbandry, st. -2.
Seam^ (sem), n. [Alsosfli/M, saijme; early mod.
E. seme, < OF. sain, seyn, F. sain, grease, lard (in
sain-dotix, melted lard), = Pr. sain, sagin = Sp.
sain = It. saime = Wall, sayen, seyen, < ML. sagi-
men, fat, < L. sagina, grease, orig. a Stuffing,
cramming, fattening, food ; perhaps akin to Gr.
odr-ffv, stuff, pack, cram : »e&seam'^.'] Tallow;
grease ; lard. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
The proud lord . . .
Bastes his arrogance with his own seam,
And never suffers matter of the world
Enter his thoughts. Shak., T. and C, ii. 3. 196.
Qrammmue, a dish made of slices of cold meat fried
with hogs seame, Cotgrave.
seam^ (sem), v. t. [Also saim, sayme; < seanfi, m.]
To cover with grease; grease. [Obsolete or
prov. Eng.]
On the other side, Dame Niggardize . . . sate barrelling
vp the droppings of her nose, in steed of oyle, to sayme
wool withall. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse, p. 15.
sea-magpie (se'mag"pl), ». A sea-pie; the oys-
ter-catcher. See cut under Hwmatojpus.
sea-maidt (se'mad), n. 1. A mermaid. See
mermaid.
To hear the sea-maid's music.
Shak., M. N. D., ii. 1. I.'i4.
2. A sea-nymph. P. Fletcher.
sea-mall (se'mal), n. A sea-gull.
The lewer guU, or seamall.
Uill, Hist, of Animals, p. 448.
sea-mallow (se'mal"6), n. See Lavatera.
seaman (se'man), »j.j pi. seamen (-men). [<
ME. sm-mon, < AS. s^man (= D. zeeman = G.
seemann = Icel. sjomathr = Sw. sjoman = Dan.
somand), < sM, sea, -f- man, man: see .seal and
man.'] 1. A man whose occupation it is to
coSperate in the navigation of a ship at sea; a
mariner; a sailor: applied to both officers and
common sailors, but technically restricted to
men below the rank of officer.
With 29. as good sea men, and all necessary provisions
as could possibly be gotten, we put to sea, and the 24 of
Aprill fell [in] with Flowres and Coruos.
Quoted in Copt. John Smith's Works, I. 109.
2t. A merman; a male corresponding to the
mermaid. [Rare.]
Not to mention mermaids or seamen. Locke.
Able-bodied seaman or able seaman. Heeahlei. lYe-
quently abbreviated ^ . /J. — Merchant seamalL See
merchant captain, under tnerchant. — Ordinary seaman.
See ordinary. — Seaman's Cheat. See cA^-xf i .— Seamen's
register. See reywf(cri. = 8yn. 1. Mariner, etc. See
saUor.
seaman-gunner (se'man-gun"6r), n. A grade
in the naval service for seamen especially
trained for gunnery duties.
seamanly (se'man-li), «. [< seaman + -ly'^.']
Characteristic o? or befitting a seaman.
But for the seamanly foresight of Nipper in anchoring
a line to warp along with, we shouldn't nave been able to
stir the raft from the ship's side.
W. C. iiussell, A Strange Voyage, xlvii.
seamanship (se'man-ship), n. [< seaman +
-ship.] The skill of a good seaman; aoquain-
5444
tance with the art of managing and navigating
a ship at sea.
sea-mantis (se'man'' tis), n. A squill; a sto-
raatopod crustacean of the family tSquillidx : so
called from resembling the praying-mantis in
general shape and posture. See SquiUa, and
cuts under SquiUidie and mantis-shrimp.
sea-marge (se'miirj), n. The border or shore
of the sea.
Thy sea-marge, sterile and rocky-hard.
Shak., Tempest, iv. 1. 69.
sea-mark (se'miirk), «. Any elevated object
on laud which serves for a direction to mari-
ners in entering a harbor, or in sailing along
or approaching a coast; a beacon, as a light-
house, a mountain, etc.
They . . . were executed, some of them at London, . . .
the rest at divers places upon the Sea-Coast of Kent, Sus-
sex, and Noi-folke, for Sea-marks, or Light-houses, to teach
Perkins People to avoid the Coast,
Bacon, Hist. Hen. VII., p. 142.
It [Fishers Island] is not only a Sea-mark for the Kiver,
but a secure place to ride in, and very convenient for
Ships to anchor at. Dampier, Voyages, II. i. 10.
sea-mat (so'mat), «. A polyzoan of the family
Flu.itridee, forming a flat matted coralline. See
cut under Flustra.
sea-matweed (se'mat'''wed), «. See niatweed, 1.
sea-maw (se'ma), ». A Scotch form of sea-mew.
The white that is on her breast bare,
Like the down o' the white sea-maw.
The Gay Goss-Uawk (Child's Ballads, III. 278).
seam-blast (sem'blast), n. In stone-blasting, a
blast made by filling with powder the seams or
crevices produced by a previous drill-blast.
seamed (semd), a. [Appar. < seanfi, n., + -erf2.]
In falconry, not in good condition; out of con-
dition: said of a falcon.
sea-melon (se'mel"on), n. A pedate holothu-
rian of the family Pentactidse, as Pentacta fron-
dosa. See cut under Pentactidse.
seamer (se'm^r), n. [< ME. semere, earlier
seameere, < AS. sedmcre, a sewer, < seam, seam:
see seam^ .] One who or that which seams ; a
seamster. See seaming-machine, 2.
sea-mew (se'mii), n. [< ME. semewe, semowe,
sae-mawe ; < «e«l + mewl.] The common gull,
or mew-gull, Larus canus; any sea-gull. See
cut under gull.
Se-mow, hryd. Aspergo, alcedo. Prompt. Pary., p. 452.
The Night-winds sigh, the breakers roar,
And shrieks the wild sea-meiv.
Byron, Childe Harold, i. 13 (song).
seam-hammer (sem'ham''''6r), n. In sheet-metal
working, a form of hammer used for flattening
seams or joints.
sea-mile (se'mii), n. A nautical or geographi-
cal mile. See mile.
sea-milkwort (se'milk''''wert), n. See milkwort,
2, and Glaux.
seaming-lace (se'ming-las), n. 1. See lace. —
2. A galloon, braiding, gold lace, or other trim-
ming used to sew upon seams in upholstery,
carriage-making, etc., the edges or hems being
especially decorated with it. Also seam-lace.
seaming-machine (se'ming-ma-shen'''), n. 1.
In sheet-metal icork, a hand- or power-tool for
Seaming^-inachine.
. vertical shaft and support, horizontally adjustable, and carrying
at the top a former^,- *, a counterpart former working at right angles
withy* on the support c ; d, screw with crank by which b can be set
toward or away from // e, crank keyed to the shaft of b. The edge
of the metal is passed under b and over/* while the crank e is turned.
bending sheet-metal to form seams or joints
in making tinware, cans, etc. it consists essen-
tially of a pair of rollers of appropriate form, which bend
the metal over wire or double it into joints.
2. A kind of sewing-machine used to join fab-
rics lengthwise neatly and smoothly, prepara-
tory to printing, bleaching, dyeing, etc. Also
called seamer.
sea-mnd
sea-mink (se'mingk), H. The soieenoid fish
Mcnticirrus saxatilis, a kind of American whit-
ing. Also called harh.
seam-lace (sem 'las), «. Same as seaming-
larc, 2.
seamless (sem'les), a. [< ME. semlesse, seme-
Ics; < sefirml -t- -less.] Having no seams; with-
out a seam.
sea-monk (se'mungk), M. The monk-seal. See
.sm/l, 1.
sea-monster (se'mon'''ster),n. 1. A huge, hide-
ous, or terrible marine animal.
Where luxury late reign'd, sea-monsters whelp'd.
Milton, P. L., xi. 761.
2. Specifically, the chimera, Chimsera monstro-
sa. See cut under chimera.
sea-moss (se'mos), n. 1. A kind of compound
polyzoan or bryozoan ; an aggregate of moss-
animalcules forming a mossy mat or tract ; any
such bryozoan or moss-animal. See cuts under
Polyzoa and Plumatella. — 2. In hot.: («) Irish
moss, or carrageen, {b) Same as seaweed.
Sea-moss ... to cool his boiling blood.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xviiL 761.
sea-monse (se'mous), ?*. l. A marine dorsi-
iirinicliiiito annelid of the famWy Aplir<iditida;.
The ctmiiiion sea-mouse, Aphrodite aevleata, of the British
and French coasts, is from (i to 8 inches long and 2 or 3 .
in width. In coloring it is one of the most splendid of
animals.
2. Same as sand-mouse. [Local, Eng.]
seam-presser (sem'pres'''er), K. 1. \n agri.,&ji
implement, consisting of two cast-iron cylin-
ders, which follows the plow to press dowu the
newly plowed furrows. Sometimes called seam-
roller. — 2. A goose or sad-iron used by tailors
to press or flatten seams in cloth.
seam-rendt (sem'rend), V. t. [< seam^ ■^■ rend;
first in seam-rent, a.] 'To rip or separate at the
seams. [Rare.]
I confesse, I see I have here and there taken a few finish
stitches, which may haply please a few Velvet eares ; but
I cannot now well pull them out, uulesse I should seame-
rend all. A'. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 89.
seam-rent (sem'rent), a. Rent or ripped at
the seams.
A lean visage, peering out of a seam-rent suit, the very
emblems of beggary. B. Jonson, Poetaster, i. 1.
seam-rent (sem'rent), n. A rent along a seam.
seam-rippedt (sem'ript), a. Same as seam-
rent. Fuller, Worthies, Sussex, III. 243.
seam-roller (sem'r6''ler), n. 1. In agri., same
as seam-presser, 1. — 2. In leather-working, abur-
nisher or rubber for flattening down the edges
where two thicknesses are sewed together. See
seam-rtihber. F.H. Knight.
seam-rubber (sem ' rub '■' er), n. In leather-
manuf.. a machine for smoothing or flattening
down a seam, consisting essentially of a roller
reciprocated mechanically on an arm or a bed
over which the seam is adjusted. E. H. Knight.
seam-set (sem 'set), n. 1. A grooved punch
used by tinmen for closing seams. — 2. In Ita-
ther-mannf., a tool for flattening down seams.
seamsterf, sempstert (sem'ster, semp'stc^r), n.
[Early mod. E. also semster ; < ME. semster,
semestre, < AS. sedmestre, ssemestre, fem. of scd-
mere, m., a sewer: see seamer.] A man or
woman employed in sewing: in early use ap-
plied to those who sewed leather as well as
cloth.
Ooldsmythes, Glouers, Girdillers noble ;
Sadlers, souters, semsteris fyn.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. l.'>85.
In some of the seamgters' shops, the new tobacco-office,
or amongst the booksellers.
Dekker, Gull's Hornbook, p. 96.
[Enter] Wassel, like a neat sempster, and songster ; her
page bearing a brown bowl drest with ribands and rose-
mary before her. B. Jotison, Masque of Christmas.
As the fellow [Trim] was well beloved in the regiment,
and a handy fellow into the bargain, my uncle Toby took
liiin for his servant, and of excellent use was he, attending
my uncle Toby in the camp and in his quarters as valet,
groom, barber, cook, sempster, and nurse.
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, ii. 5.
seamstress, sempstress (sem'stres, semp'-
stres), n. [< .seamstrr -\- -ess.] A woman whose
occupation is sewing.— seamstresses' cramp or
palsy, a neurosis, similar to writers' cramp, to which
seamstresses are subject.
seamstressyt (sem'stres -i), «. [< seamstress +
-y'i.] Sewmg; the occupation or business of a
seamstress. [Rare.]
As an HppendAge U) seamstressy, the thread-paper might
be of some consequence to my mother.
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, iiL 42.
sea-mud (se'mud), n. A rich saline deposit
from salt-marshes and sea-shores. It is also
. called sea-ooze, and is employed as a manure.
sea-mussel
sea-mussel (se'mus'l). «. A marine bivalve
of the family Mi/tilidx and one of the genera
MytHut!, Modiolu, etc., asMi/tilusedulis: distin-
guished from the fresh-water or river mussels
(rnioiiidse). See cut under Mytilus.
seamy (se'mi). a. [< ME. semy; < .seam^ + -yl.]
Ha\'ing a seam or seams ; containing or show-
ing seams.
A one-eyed woman, with a scarred and teamy face, the
most notorious rebel in the workhouse.
George Eliot, Amos Barton, ii.
The seamy aide, the side of a garment on which the
seams or edges appear ; the under side ; hence, figura-
tively, the fdde that is less presentable or pleasing to the
Tiew.
Some such squire he was
That tum'd your wit t/u^ seamy tide without.
And made you to suspect me.
Shak., Othello, iv. 2. 146.
Cannot one enjoy a rose without pulling it up by the
roots? I have no patience with those people who are al-
ways looking on the »eamy side.
C. D. Warner, Their Pilgrimage, p. 112.
sean, »■ See seitte.
Stance (sa-ona'), n. [< F. s^nee, < s^nt, < L.
sedcnit-)!,; ppr. of gedere, sit: see »|7.] A sit-
ting or session : as, a spiritualistic seance, iu
which intercourse is alleged to be held with
spirits.
There is scarcely any literature, not even the records of
trials for witchcraft, that la more ud and ludlcrona than
the acoonntaof "spiritual atenees." Bncye. Brit., II. 202.
Massage waa given for fifteen mtnntea twice daily —
much more sensible than the glances of an hoar each
every three or four days.
Buck'i Handbook of Med. Seienea, IV. 667.
sea-necklace (se'nek'las), n. Same as sea-corn.
sea-needle (se'ne'dl), n. Same as garfish (a):
so calleil from the slender form and sharp snout.
sea-nest (se'nest), n. The glass-sponge Hol-
tcniii ctirpenteria.
sea-nettle (se'net'l), n. A jellyfish; any aca-
lepli tluit stings or urticates when touched. —
Fixed sea-nettle, a sea-anemone.
seannachie (sen'a-che), n. [Also seannaehy,
sennachy, sennaehie, < Gael, seanachaidh, a his-
torian, chronicler, genealogist, bard ; Cf. seana-
chas, history, antiquities, story, tale, narration,
< sean, old, ancient. -I- cuis, a matter, affair, cir-
cumstance.] A Highland genealogist, chron-
icler, or bard.
The superb Gothic pillan by which the root wai sap-
prjrted were . . . large and . . , lofty (said my $tan-
tuuhy). F. C. BmctaHd (Chtld't Ballads, L 249, expL note).
Sprung op from the fames of conceit, folly, and false-
hood fermenting in the brains of some mad BIghland
•eannackie. Scott, Antiquary, tL
sea-nnrse (se'n^rs), n. A shark of the familv
.Scijlliiirliinidie, Scylliorhinus eanicula. [Ijocaf,
Kiig. (Yorkshire).]
sea-njnnpll (se'nimf), n. A nymph or goddess
of the scH ; one of the inferior classical divini-
ties called Ooeanids.
Her maidens, dressed like ma-ntfrnpha and gracea, han-
dled the silken tackle and steered the veaseL
.S'. Slutrpe, Hist. Egypt from Earliatt Times, xiL 1 29.
sea-oak (se'ok), n. The seaweed Fueus vesi-
culosus: same as hiadder-icrack. See cut un-
der FVurux.— Sea-oak coralline, a •ertularlan polyp,
Hertulnria ptemUa. Compare —yir.
sea-onion (se'un'yun). n. See tmUm.
sea-ooze (se'Sz), n. Same as sea-mud.
All tta-ocmt, or ooqr mud, and the mad of rivets, are o(
great advantage to all aorta of land.
JforttnMT, Haabandry. (Latlmm.)
sea-orach (se'or'ach), n. See orach.
sea-orange (se'or'ani), n. A holothnrian, Lo-
jih'ilhiirut fabricii, of large size, with globose
gr»nuliited body of an orange color, and a mass
of bright-red tentacles.
sea-orb (se'drb),M. A swell-fish or globe-fish.
Set; iirb-fish.
sea-oret (se'or), n. Same as seaware.
They have a method of breaking the force of the waves
here [soithamptoni by laying a bank of Sea-ort, aa they
call it. It is composed of long, slender, and itrong flla-
nienta like plllil hemp, very tongh and durable; 1 sup-
p)«e, thrown up liy the sea ; and this performs Ita work
better than walls ut stone or natural clfll.
Define, Tour through Oreat Britain, I. 228. (Aiviet.)
sea-otter (se'ot'tr), n. A marine otter, Enhy-
driK mnrinn, belonging to the family Mustelida-
and subfamily Enhydriuie : distinguished from
Innd-ntlrr or ririr-ottrr. n inhabits the .North Pa-
cini- ; Ita fur is of great value, anil its chase Is an impor-
tant indurtry. .See cut under £nAy>fru. — Sea-Otter's
cabbage, » glgantlr seaweed of the North Pacillc, \erro-
cuMit LuUeana, Its huge fronds are a favorite resort tor
the sea-otters. .See A'ereoevstu.
sea-owl (se'oul), ». The lump-fish, Cyclopterus
himpiiK.
sea-ox (se'oks), H. The walrus. See the quo-
tation from I>urchas luder morse^, 1.
1f?45
sea-oxeye (se'oks'i), n. A plant of the com-
posite genus Borrichia, especially B. frutescens.
There are 2 or 3 species, shrubby and somewhat
fleshy sea-shore plants, with large yellow heads.
sea-packed (se'pakt), a. Packed at sea or dur-
ing a voyage, as fish to be sold on arrival in
port.
sea-pad (se'pad), n. A starfish or fivefingers.
seapage, «. See seepage.
sea-panther (se'pan'th^^r), ». A South African
fish, Agriopus tortus, of a brown color with
black spots.
sea-parrot (se'par''ot), ». Apuflin; an auk of
the genus FratercuTn, as J^. arctica or F. conii-
culata : so called from its beak. The crested
sea-parrot, or tufted puflin, is Lunda cirrata.
See cuts under jiuffin.
sea-parsnip (se'pars'nip), ». A plant of the
umbelliferous genus Echinophora, especially E.
ajiiitosa of the Mediterranean region.
sea-partridge (se'piir'trij), «. The English
Conner, Crenilabrus melops, a labroid fish.
[Moray Firth, Scotland.]
sea-pass (se'pis), n. A passport carried by neu-
tral merchant vessels in time of war, to prove
their nationality and secure them against mol-
estation.
sea-pay (se'pa), n. Pay received or due for
actual service in a sea-going ship In sea-pay,
in commission, as a ship ; in actual service on the sea, as
a sailor.
The fleet then left by Pepys in 9ea-pay comprised 76
vessels, and the men numbered 12,040.
If. and Q., 7th ser., VU. 81.
sea-pea (se'pe), n. The beach-pea, Lathyrus
tnaritimus.
sea-peach (se'pecb), n. An ascidian or sea-
squirt, Cynthia pyriformis : so named from the
globular figure and reddish or yellowish color.
sea-pear (se'par), ». An ascidian or sea-squirt
of the genus Boltenia or family Bolteniidse: so
called from the pyriform shape.
sea-pen (se'pen), ji. A peiinatulaceous polyp,
especially of the family I'ennatuUd-te ; a sea-
feather. See cut under .4/cyonnria.
sea-perch (se'p6rch), n. 1. A pereoideous fish,
lAibriix lupus,'0T some species of that genus; a
sea-dace ; a bass. lu iptnea, emeclally the dorsal
spines, are strong and sharp, and thegtU-covers are edged
with projecting teeth that cut like lancet*, so that It grasp
ed carel^aly It Infllcta severe woands. It la voracious in
Ita habits. See cat under iMUma.
2. A serranoid fish of the genus /S^rraniui; any
serranoid. — 3. The redfishor rose-fish, Sebastes
viviparus or martniw. See cut under Sebastes.
[New York.] — 4. Same as cunner.
sea-pert (se'pirt), n. The opah,/-<impri« /«na.
sea-pheasant (se'fez'ant), n. The pintail or
sprigtail iluek, Dafila acuta: so called from
the shape of Uie tail. See cut under Dafila.
[Local, Eng.]
sea-pie^ (se pi), n. [< sea^ + )>ie^.'] A sailors'
dish made of salt meat, vegetables, and dump-
lings baked with a terust.
sea-pie'^ (se'pi), ». [< sea^ -I- 7>te2.] 1. The
oyster-catcher or sea-magpie: so called from
the pied coloration. Also sca-pye, sea-piet, sea-
pilot.
We foond plenty of young tonle, aa OuUes, Seapiet, and
otben. HaUuyfi Voyages, I. 279.
Half a doien lt€^fy*s, with their beaatUul black and
white plumage and scarlet beaks and feet, Hew screaming
out from the rocks and swept in rapid circles above the
boat. W. Black, Mncefs of Thule, ii.
2. In her., a bearing representing a bird with
the back and wings dark-brown, neck and
breast white, and head red.
sea-piece (se'pes), n. A picture representing
a scene at sea.
Qreat palnten . . . very often employ their pencils
upon sea-pieess. Addison, Spectator, No. 489.
sea-piet (se'pi'et), n. Same as sea-pie'^, 1.
sea-pig (se'pig), n. 1. A porpoise or some simi-
lar cetacean. — 2. The dugong.
sea-pigeon (se'pij'on), n. 1. The black guille-
mot. L'ria or t'epphiis grylle. See cut under
qmllemot. [New England and northward.] — 2.
The dowitelier, or red-breasted snipe : a misno-
mer. (I. Trumbull. [Cape May, New Jersey.]
sea-pike (se'pik), ». 1. A garfish or sea-
needle. See Beliine, and cut under Belonidx.
— 2. The hake, Merliiciiis vulgaris. — 3. Any fish
of the family. Sphyrmnidie. — 4. A fish of the
family Centropomidee, of An elongate form with
a projecting lower jaw like a pike, and with two
dorsal fins, the first of which has eight spines.
lliey also resemble the pike in the elongation of their
form, and attain a large size. The color is silvci^-white,
with a green tinge on the back. The species are peculiar to
sear
tropical America, and most of them ascend into fresh
water. The oldest known species is Centropomtts und^ci-
irudi^. .See cut under Centropotnus.
sea-pilot (se'pi'lot), «. Same as sea-pie^, 1.
sea-pimpernel (8e'pim"per-nel), n. See pim-
pernel.
sea-pincushion (se'pin"ku8h-un), ». 1. A sea-
barrow or mermaid's-purse. — 2. A starfish
whose rays are joined nearly or quite to their
ends, thus forming a pentagon.
sea-pink (se ' pingk), «. 1. See pink'^ and
thrift'^. — 2. A sea-carnation.
sea-plant (se'plant), n. A plant that grows in
salt water ; a marine plant ; an alga.
sea-plantain (se'plan*tan), «. See plantain^.
sea-plashf (se'plash), n. Waves of the sea.
And bye thye good guiding through geaplash stormye we
marched, Stanihurgt, Ji^neid, iii. 161.
sea-plover (se'pluv"er), «. See plover.
sea-poacher (se'po'eher), n. Any fish of the
family Agoniilse; specifically, the armed bull-
head, pogge, lyrie, or noble, Agoniis cataphrac-
tus or Axpidophorus europeeus, a small marine
fish of British waters, about 6 inches long.
See cut under pogge.
sea-poker (se'po'kfer), n. Same as sea-poacher.
sea-pool (se'p61), n. A pool or sheet of salt
water.
Soe have I . . . heard it often wished . . . that all that
land were a sea-poole. Spenser, State of Ireland.
sea-poppy (se'pop'i), n. See poppy.
sea-porcupine (se'p6r'ku-pin), «. Some plec-
tognathoiis fish, so called from the spines or tu-
bercles; specifically, Diodon hystrix. See cut
tmder Diodon.
sea-pork (se'pork), n. An American compound
ascidian, Amorcecium stellatum. it forms large,
smooth, irregular, or crest-like masses, attached by one
edge, which look something like slices of salt pork. [Lo-
cal, U. S.)
seaport (se'port), «. l. A port or harbor on
the sea. — 2. A city or town situated on a har-
bor, on or near the sea.
sea-potato (se'po-ta'to), n. An ascidian of
some kind, as Boltenia reniformis or Ascidia
m<illi.i. [Local, U. S.]
seapoy, «. An improper spelling of sepoy.
sea-pudding (s6'pud''ing), «. A sea-cucumber.
See hiiliithurian, trepang. [Local, U. S.]
sea-pumpkin (se'pump'kin), n. A sea-melon.
sea-purse (se'p6rs), «. l. A sea-barrow, or
sea-pincushion ; a skate-barrow. See cut un-
der niermai(rx-pursc. — 2. A swirl of the under-
tow making a small whirlpool on the surface of
the water; a local outward current, dangerous
to bathers. Also called sea-pouce and sea-puss.
[New Eng. and New Jersey coasts.]
sea-purslane (se'p^rs'lan), n. Bee purslane.
sea-pye, ». See sea-pie'^, 1.
sea-quail (se'kwal), «. The tumstone, Strep-
sitan inlrrpres. [Connecticut.]
sear^ (scr), a. [Also sere; early mod. E. also
seer, scare, seere ; < ME. seer, seere, < AS. *sedr,
dry, sear (found in the derived verb sedrian, dry
up), = MI), sore, score, D. zoor = MLG. sor, LG.
soor, dry (cf. OF. sor, F. saure = Pr. sor, saur =
It. sauro (ML. saurus, sorius), dried, brown, sor-
rel : see sor<'^, xorrcft), < Tent. •/ saus = Skt.
■\/<;ush = Zend -//ittsA, become dry or withered;
Gr. <Aeiv, parch, awrnipoc, dry, rough, > E. aus-
tere: 6ee austere.'] Dry; withered: used espe-
cially of vegetation.
With setr bruunches, blossoms ungrene.
Ram. of the Rose, 1. 4749.
My way of life
Is tall'n Into the sear, the yellow leaf.
Shak., Macbeth, v. 8. 28.
Ye myrtlea brown, with ivy never sere.
Milton, Lycidas, L 2.
November's sky is chill and drear,
November's leaf is red and sear.
Seott, Marmion, Int., L
sear^ (ser), v. [Also sere; < ME. seeren, seven,
< AS. sedrian, dry up, wither away, = MD. so-
ren, D. zooren = ML(j. sorenj LG. soren, OHG.
soren, become dry, wither; cf. OF. saurir, F.
saurer = Pr. sauvar, sfaoke-dry (herrings, etc.);
from the adj.] I.t intrans. To become dry;
wither. Prompt. Parv., p. 453.
n. trans. 1. To make dry; dry up; wither.
A scatter'd leaf,
Sear'd by the autumn blast of grief.
Byron, The Giaour. .
Frost winds sere
The heavy herbage of the ground.
Bryant, Hunter of the Prairies.
2. To wither or dry up on the surface by the
application of heat or of something heated;
scorch ; bum the surface of; burn from the sur-
sear
face inward; eauterize: as, to searthe flesh with
a hot iron.
I would to God that the inclusive verge
Of ^Iden metal that must round my brow
Were red-hot steel, to sear me to the brain !
Shak., Rich, in., iv. 1. 61.
Hence — 3. To deaden or make callous ; deprive
of sensibility or feeling.
Yet Shalt thou feel, with horror
To thy sear'd conscience, my trutli is built
On such a firm base that, if e'er it can
Be forc'd or undermin'd by thy base scandals.
Heaven keeps no ^uard on innocence.
Fletcher {and Ma8sin{/er ?X Lovers' Progress, iii. 6.
But so inconsistent is human nature thM there are ten-
der spots even in seared consciences.
Macaxday, Hist. Eng., vii.
4. To blight or blast ; shrivel up.
For calumny will sear
Virtue itself. Shak., W. T., ii 1. 73.
To sear up, to close by searing or cauterizing ; stop.
How, how ! another?
You gentle gods, give nie but this 1 have,
And sear up my embracements from a next
With bonds of death ! Shak., Cymbeline, i. 1. 116.
Cherish veins of good humour, and sear up those of ill.
Sir W. Temple.
= Syn. 1 and 2. Singe, etc. See search.
sear'-^ (ser), «. [Early mod. E. also seare, sere;
< OF. serre, F. dial, gerre, a lock, bolt, bar, < L.
sera, ML. also serra, a bar for a door: see sera.'\
The pivoted piece in a gun-lock whieli enters
the notches of the tumbler and holds the ham-
mer at full or half cock. See cuts under gun-
lock and rifie — Light or tickle of the seart, easy to
set off; easily excited; wanton.
The clown shall make those laugh whose lungs are tickle
0/ the sere. Shak., Hamlet, ii. 2. 336.
Discovering the moods and humours of the vulgar sort
to be so loose and tickle o.f the seare.
Howard's Def emotive (1620), quoted by Douce. (Halliwell.)
sear^t, «. An obsolete spelling of seefi.
sea-radish (se'rad'ish), n. See radish.
sea-ragwort (se'rag^wfirt), n. Same as dusUj-
III i tier. 2.
sea-rat (se'rat), n. 1. The chimera, Chimseia
moihstrnsa. [Local, Eng.] — 2. A pirate.
sea-raven (se'ra*vn), «. l. The cormorant. —
2. The fish Bcmitripterus acadianus or ameri-
canus, type of the family HemitrqHcridee, of large
Sea-raven {HtTnitripterus americanus).
size and singular appearance, common on the
coast of North America, chiefly from Cape Cod
northward, and known also as, Acadian bullhead,
deep-water sculpin, and yellow sculpin. it is dis-
tinguished by its long spinous dorsal fin, having about
seventeen spines, of which the first two are highest and
the fourth and fifth shorter than the succeeding ones, tiie
fin being thus deeply and sigmoidally emarginated.
searce (sera), n. [Formerly also searse, sarce,
sarse; < ME. sarce, saarce, sarse, sars, cers
(with intrusive r, as in hoarse), < OF. seas,
saas, sas, sasse, F. sas, a sieve, = Sp. cedazo, a
hair-sieve, searce, = Pg. sedago, lawn for sieves,
a sieve, bolter, = It. staceio, setaccio, a sieve, <
ML. setaeiitm, setatium, setacius, sedacium, prop.
setaceum, a sieve, prop, a hair-sieve, neut. (sc.
cribrum, sieve) of "setaceus, of hair or bristles,
< L. seta, a hair, a bristle : see seta, setaceous.']
A sieve, especially a fine sieve. Prompt. Pan).,
p. 441. [Prov. Eng. or Scotch.]
All the rest must be passed through a fine searce.
The Countess of Kent's Choice Manual (1676). (Nares.)
searce (sers), v. t. ; pret. and pp. searced, ppr.
searcing. [Formerly also searse, sarce, sarse;
< ME. sareen, saarccn, sarsen, < OF. (and F.)sas-
ser = It. stacciare. < ML. setaciare, sift ; from the
noun.] To sift through a searce. [Prov. Eng.
or Scotch.]
To sarse, syf te, and trye out the best greyne.
Arnold's Chron., p. 87.
Bete all this sraal, and sarce it smothe atte alle.
PaUadius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 202.
Sublimate and crude mercury, air, well prepared and
dulcified, with the jaw-bones of a sow, burnt, beaten, and
searced. B. Jonson, Cynthia's Bevels, v. 2.
scarcer (ser'sfer), n. [Formerly also sercer; <
searce + -eri.] 1 . One who uses a searce ; a win-
nower; a bolter. — 2. A fine sieve; a strainer.
5446
To sift them (pieces of hellebore] through a sercer, that
the bai-k or rind may remain. Holland, tr. of Pliny, xxv. ^.
search (sirch), i'. [Early mod. E. also scrch;
< ME. serchen, cerchen, < OF. ccrcher, cerchier, F.
chercher, search, seek for, = Pr. cercar, serquar
= Sp. cercar, encircle, surround, = Pg. cercar,
encircle, surround, OPg. also search through,
= It. cercaie, search, < LL. circare, go round, go
about, explore, < L. circus, a ring, circle, circum,
round about : see eirctw, circum-, circle. Cf . re-
search^.'] I. trans. 1. To go tlirough and ex-
amine carefully and in detail, as in quest of
something lost, concealed, or as yet undiscov-
ered; explore: as, to search a ship; to search
one's baggage or person at the custom-house.
That have passed many Londes and manye Yles and Con-
trees, and cerched manye fulle straunge places, and have
ben iu many a fulle gode honourable Companye.
Mandeiille, Travels, p. 315.
Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan.
Num. xiii. 2.
Help to search my house this one time. If I find not
what 1 seek, show no colour for my extremity.
Shak., M. W. of W., iv. 2. 167.
2. To examine by probing ; probe : as, to
search a wound.
The wounded lete hem be ledde to townes, and serched
theire sores. Merlin (E, E. T. %.\ iii. 664.
You search the sore too deep.
Fletcher, Valentiniau, i. 3.
Such engines of terror God hath given into the hand of
his minister as to search the tenderest angles of the heart.
Milton, Church-Government, ii. 3.
3. To test; put to the teat; try. [Rare.]
Thou hast searched me, and known me. Ps. cxxxix. 1.
Prosperity does search a gentleman's temper
More than his adverse fortune.
Beau, and Fl., Custom of the Country, ii. 1.
4. To look for; seek out; make search for; en-
deavor to find.
He hath been search'd among the dead and living,
But no trace of him. Shak., Cymbeline, v. 6. 11.
He bids ask of the old paths, or for the old wayes, where
or which is the good way ; which implies that all old
wayes are not good, but that the good way is to be searclit
with diligence among the old wayes.
Milton, On Def. of Humb. Kemonst.
To search a meaning for the song.
Tennyson, Day-Dream, L'Envoi.
5. To explore or investigate.
Enough is left besides to search and know.
Milton, P. L., vii. 126.
6t. To reach or penetrate to.
Mirth doth search the bottom of annoy.
SJiak., Lucrece, 1. 1109.
= Syn. 1. To sift, probe.— land 2. Search, Scrutinize, Ex-
plore. We search a place or search /or a thing by looking
everywhere with a close attention ; we scrutinize a thing
with a close attention, without emphasizing the idea of
looking throughout ; we explore that which is unknown
and outside of our ordinary travels or knowledge. See
examination.
II. intratis. 1. To make search ; seek ; look :
with for before the object sought.
But euer Grisandols serched thourgh the forestes, oon
hour foreward, another bakke, that so endured viij dayes
full. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 423.
Satisfy me once more ; once more search with me.
Shak., M. W. of W., iv. 2. 172.
2. To make strict or careful inquiry; inquire.
Thou mayest do well enough in ... the next world, and
■bea glorious saint, and yet never »earcA intoCJod's secrets.
Donne, Sermons, vii.
He [an antiquary] never thinks of the beauty of the
thought or language, but is for searching into what he calls
the erudition of the author. Addison, Ancient Medals, i.
search (sereh), n. [Early mod. E. also serch ; <
.search, v. Cf. V. cherche, < chercher, search.] A
seeking or looking, as for something lost, con-
cealed, desired, etc.; the act of going through
a receptacle, place, collection of things, or the
like, with the view of finding something loat,
hidden, or undiscovered; exploratory exami-
nation; quest; inquiry; investigation: as, to
make search ; in search of a wife ; to give up the
search.
After long search and chaulf he turned backe.
Spenser, F. Q., VI. ii. 21.
There 's a place
So artificially contriv'd for a conveyance
No search could ever find it.
Middleton, Women Beware Women, iii. 1.
Some time ago, in digging at Portici, they found ruins
under ground, and since that they have dug in search of
antiquities. Pococke, Description of the East, II. ii. 205.
Right of search, in maritime law, the right claimed by
one nation to autriorize the commanders of their lawfully
commissioned cruisers to enter private merchant vessels
of other nations met with on high seas, to examine tlieir
papers and cargo, and to search for enemies' property,
articles contraband of war, etc. — Search for eticum-
brances, tlie inquiry made in the public records by a
purchaser or mortgagee of lands as to the burdens and
state of the title, in order to discover whether his pur-
search-light
chase or investment is safe. =Syll. Inquiry, Scrutiny, etc.
(see examination), exploration.
searchable (st^r'clia-bl), «. [< search + -able.]
Capable of being searched or explored. Cot-
grave.
searchableness (ser'cha-bl-nea), n. The char-
acter of being searchable.
searchant (aer'chant), a. [< OP. cerchant, ppr.
of cercher, seareli: see search.'] Searching: a
jocose word formed after the heraldic adjec-
tives in -ant. [Rare.]
A civil cutpurse searchant; a sweet singer of new bal-
lads allurant : and as fresh an hypocrite as ever was
broached rampant. B. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, Ind.
searcher! (ser'cher), ». [< search + -er'^.] 1.
One who searches, in' any sense of that word.
That our love is sound and sincere . . . who can pro-
nounce, saving only the Searcher of all men's hearts, who
alone intuitively doth know in this kind who are His?
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, iii. 1.
'Tis endless to tell you what the curious searchers into
nature's productions have observed of these worms and
flies. /. WalUm, Complete Angler, p. 96.
The Searcher follows fast; the Object faster files.
Prim, Solomon, i.
In particular — (o) A customs officer whose business it is
to seai'ch ships, baggage, goods, etc., for prohibited or un-
declared dutiable articles, etc.
At the townes end certain searchers examined us for
money, according to a custome ... of Italy.
Coryat, Crudities, I. 93.
(6) A prison official who searches or examines the cloth-
ing of newly arrested persons, and takes temporary pos-
session of the articles found about them, (c) A civil ofli-
cer formerly appointed in some Scottish towns to appre-
hend idlers on the street during church hours on the Sab-
bath.
If we bide here, the searchers will be on us, and carry
us to the guardhouse for being idlers in kirk-time. Scott,
(d) A person employed to search the public records of
conveyances, mortgages, judgments, etc., to ascertain
whether a title be good, or to find instruments attecting
a title, (et) A person formerly appointed in London to
examine the bodies of the dead, and report the cause of
death.
Knowe, in my rage I have slaine a man this day.
And knowe not where his body to conveigh
And hide it from the searchers inquisition.
Times' Whistle (E. E. T. S.), p. 121.
if) An inspector of leather. [Local, Eng.]
2. Something used in searching, examining,
testing, etc. (o) An instrument for examining ord-
nance, to ascertain whether guns have any defects in the
bore. (6) An instrument used in the inspection of but-
ter, or the like, to ascertain the quality of that contained
in firkins, etc. (c) In »urg., a sound for searching the
bladder for calculi, (d) An ocular or eyepiece of vei-y low
power, used in finding particular points of interest, to be
examined then with higher powers of the microscope.
Also called searching-eyepiece.
searcher^ (ser ' cher), n. [A var. of scarcer,
simulating .learcher'^.] A sieve or strainer.
The [orange-] pulp is boiled, and then passed through a
searcher, to remove the tough skin and pits.
Workshop Jteceipts, 2d ser., p. 446.
searcheresst (sfer'cher-es), n. [< searcher^ +
-e.ss.] A female searcher ; an iuventress.
Of theese drirye dolours eeke thow (Jueene luno the
searchresse. Stanihurst, ^neid, iv.
searchership (aer'cher-ship), 11. [< ME. serchor-
ship : <.searclier^ + -ship.] The office of searcher
or examiner.
Wherfor I beseke youre maistirshipp that if my seid
Lord have the seid office, that it lyke you to deayre the
nomynacion of on of the officez, eythyr of the countrolier
or serchorship of Pernemuth, for a servaunt of yowrez.
Paston Letters, II. 97.
searching (sfer'ehing), p. a. 1. Engaged in
seeking, exploring, investigating, or examin-
ing: as, a searching party. — 2. Keen; pene-
trating; close: as, a searching discourse; a
searching wind ; a searching investigation.
That 's a marvellous searching wine.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., ii. 4. 30.
Loosening with searching drops the rigid waste.
Jones Very, Poems, p. 105.
searchingly (s6r'ching-li), adv. In a searching
manner.
searchingness (si'^r'ching-nes), «. The quality
of being searching, penetrating, close, or try-
ing.
searchless (serch'les), a. [< search + -less.]
Eluding search or investigation ; inscrutable ;
unsearchable.
Tlie modest-seeming eye,
Beneath whose beauteous beams, belying heaven.
Lurk searchless cunning, cruelty, and death.
Thmnson, Spring, 1. 990.
search-light (serch'Ut), «. An electric arc-
light having a lens or reflector, mounted on
shipboard or on land on a vertical axis in such
a way that the beam of light may be made to
traverse in a liorizontal path. It is used on mer-
chant ships to light up intricate channels at night, and
on men-of-war to detect the approach of torpedo-boats or
search-light
other enemies. It is also used in military operations and
for other purposes,
search-party (sereh'piir'ti), «. A party en-
gaged in searching for something lost, con-
cealed, or the like. Xineteenth Century, XXVI.
773.
search-warrant (s6rch'wor'ant), n. In law, a
warrant granted by a justice of the peace to a
constable to enter the premises of a person
suspected of secreting stolen goods, in order
to discover, and if found to seize, the goods.
Similar warrants are granted to search for property or ar-
ticles in respect of which other offenses are committed,
such as base coin, coiners' tools, also gunpowder, nitro-
glycerin, liquors, etc., kept contrary to law.
sear-clotht, »• A bad spelling of cerecloth.
sea-reach (.se'rech), n. The straight course or
rt'inh of a winding river which stretches out
toward the sea.
searedness (serd'nes), n. The state of being
seared, cauterized, or hardened; hardness;
hence, insensibility.
Delivering up the sinner to a stupidity or $earednett of
conscience. Soutkt Sermons, IX ii.
sea-reed Cse'red), n. The marram or mat-grass,
Aiiimiij'hila arundinacea.
sea-reeve (se'rev), n. An officer formerly ap-
pointed in maritime towns and places to take
care of the maritime rights of the lord of the
manor, watch the shore, and collect the wrecks.
searing-iron (ser'ing-i'em), n. A cautery.
sea-riuc (se'risk), n. Hazard or risk at sea;
danger of injury or destruction by the sea.
He was so great an encourager of commerce that he
charged himself with ail the ma-riaiiue of such vessels as
carried com to Rome in the winter. ArbuUmoL
seaimess (ser'ues), n. [Also sereness; < ME.
aecriiexKC, semesse ; < sear^ + -ness.'] Dryness;
ariilitv. Prompt. Pan:, p. 453.
sea-robber (se rob'tr), n. A pirate; one who
robs on the high seas. Compare sea-rover.
Trmde ... is mncb distarl>ed by pirates and tearobbert.
Milton, Letters of SUte.
sea-robin (se'rob'in), n. 1. A fish of the fam-
ily TriijUdie. In the United States, one of TarioussMcies
of the genus Prianotut, which is distinguished from Trigla
by the longer pectoral flns and the development of teeth
on the palatine bones. They are more or leas red in color,
Sca-roUn IPritMotut ^almi^t').
and are distinguished by the development of three rays
below the pectoral flns on each aide, serving as organs
both of progression and of sensstlon. Several species are
found along the eastern coast of the United States, as P.
emiant, P. ilrigattu, and P. palmtpet.
2. The red-breasted merganser, Mergu* terra-
tor. [Rowley, Msssschasetts.]
sea-rocket (Ȥ'rok'et), n. A cruciferous plant
of the genus CakUe. There sre 2 species, fleshv
shore-planta, with few leares and a two-Jointed pod, each
Joint with one seed, the U|>p«r deciduous at maturity, the
lower persistent. C. nuiritima is found in Europe, also
in Australia ; C. Americana, in the United States on the
Atlantic coast northward and along the Oreat Lakes.
sea-rod (se'rod), n. A kind of sea-pen ; a pen-
natiilaceous yolyp of the family I'irgularUtUe.
sea-roll (se'rol), n. A holothurian.
sea-room (se'rOm), n. Sufficient room at sea
for a vi'ssel to make any required movement ;
space free from obstruction in which a ship
can be easily raanoeuvered or navigated.
Bomilcar gat forth of the haven of Saracoee with S5
ships, and, having Mm-ronnu, halsed up satla, and away he
went with a mery gale of wind.
BoOand, tr. of Livy, p. ses.
sea-rose (se'roz), n. A sea-anemone, Urticina
hii'losii. found on Newfoundland, etc.
sea-rosemary (se'roz'ma-ri), n. 1. Same as
ncn-laviiidcr. — 2. A saline plant, Siueda fruti-
COHft.
sea-rover (se'ro'ver), n. 1. A pirate; one
who cruises for plunder.
A certain island . . . left waste by SM-rniMn.
MiUm, Hist Eng., i.
2. A ship or vessel that is employed in cruis-
ing for plunder.
sea-roving (se ' ro ' ving), ». Roving over the
sea in (iu»'st of booty ; piracy.
5or was it altogether nothing, even that wild tea-rrro-
ing and battling, through so many generations. Cariyle.
searsef , n. and r. See searce.
8447
sear-spring (ser'spring), «. The spring in a
gun-lock which causes the seiw to catch in the
notch of the tumbler. See cut under gun-lock.
sea-ruflf (se'ruf), n. A sparoid fish of the ge-
nus PagcUus, inhabiting most European coasts,
including the Mediterranean ; a sea-bream.
sea-mffie (se'rufl), «. Same as sea-corn.
sea-run (se'run), «. Migration into the sea:
also used attributively.
The group without hyoid teeth includes fontinalis,
known in the searun condition as immaculatus, and in its
northern habitat varying into hudsonicus of Suckley.
Science, V. 4>4.
sea-running (se'run'ing), a. Catadromous, as
a fish.
searwoodt (ser'wud), «. [Also geerwood, sere-
wood; < «enrl -I- wood^.'\ Wood dry enough to
bum ; dry sticks.
And ferewood from the rotten hedges took.
And seeds of latent Are from flints provoke.
I>ryden, Flower and Leaf, 1. 413.
sea-salmon (se'sam'un), n. See salmon.
sea-salt (se'salt), «. Sodium chlorid, or com-
mon salt, obtained by evaporation of sea-water.
See s(dl.
sea-sandwort (se'sand'wfert), n. See sand-
icort.
sea-saurian (se'sa'ri-an), «. Any marine sau-
rian. Pop. Sd. Mo., XXVII. 611.
seascape (se'skap), n. [< sea^ -f- -scape, as in
landseape.'\ A picture representing a scene at
sea; a sea-piece. [Recent.]
Seatcape—u painters affect to call such things.
Dickeru, Household Words, .XXXIV. -236.
On one of these happy days ... he found perched on
the cliff, his flngera blue with cold, the celebrated Andrea
Fitch, employed in sketching a land or a tea scape on a
sheet of grey paper. Thackeray, .Shabby Genteel Story, v.
Mdme. , as a mateape painter, is placed on the
line — which is nothing new to her.
Conletnporary Rev., LIV. 86.
Several of the once-admired interiors and aea-geapet of
Engine Isabey. Saturday Ren. , Oct. 2S, 1890, p. 381.
sea-scorpion (se'skor'pi-on), n. 1. Inichth.,a
scorpion-ti.sli ; any member of the Scorptmulse.
See scurpeiif. — 2. A cottoid fish, Cottus scor-
piuii. Also called sculpin.
sea-scurf (se'sVerf), n. A polyzoan of the genus
Lcpr(dia or other incrusting sea-moss.
seaset, <"• An obsolete spelling of »e«je.
sea-sedge (so'sej), n. X. Seealta marina. — 2.
Thi' .ho(Ujc ( Virer arenaria. Also called German
mirxajKirdla.
sea-serpent (se's^r'pent), n. 1. An enormous
marine animal of serpentine form, said to have
been repeatedly seen at sea. Most stories of the
sea-serpent are obviouBly mythical. The few accounts
which appear to have some foundation in fact have ex-
liauBted all possible conjectures respecting any actual
creature. Some natoralists have suspected that a huge
marine reptile may have sorrived from a former fauna ;
bat certainly no animal is known which answers to any
current conception of Uie sea-serpent, nor has such an ani-
mal ever been captured. The popular statements regard-
ing sea-setiients are generally believed to be baaed on in-
accurate observations of various large marine animals or
of schools of snlmsls
2. In herpet., a general name of the marine
venomous ser-
pents or sea-
snakes of the
family Hydro-
phida. There sre
several genera and
species, of warm
seaa^ and especially
of the Indian ocean,
all extremely poi-
sonous. The best-
known belong to
the genera twu-
nu. PMamU, sod
Hydrophit, and
have the tall more
or leas compressed
like a fin. See also
cuts under Hydro-
rand Platurut.
A chain of
salps linked to-
gether.
sea-service (se'-
K^r'vis), n. Service on the sea, or on board of
a ship or vessel, (a) In the United States nary, ser-
vice at sea or on board of a sea-going ship, as distinguished
from thare-eerviee. (f>) Service in the British navy ; naval
service.
Yon were pressed for the lea-ttrtiiee, . . . and you got
off with much ado. Swifl, Directions to Servants.
sea-shark (se'sh&rk), n. A large shark of the
family iMmnidse, also known as man-eater.
sea-shell (se'shel), n. The shell of any salt-
water mollusk; a marine shell, such as may
be found on the sea-shore. See Oceanides, 2.
Sea-«erpent {Petamit hicotcr).
season
Sea-shells ai-e great improvers of sour or cold land,
Mortimer, Husbandry.
sea-shore (se'shor), n. 1. The coast of the
sea ; the land that lies adjacent to the sea or
ocean. — 2. In law, the ground between the
ordinary high-water mark and low-water mark.
sea-shrimp (se'shrimp), «. A shrimp.
sea-shrub (se'shrub), n. A gorgoniaceous al-
cyonarian polyp ; a sea-fan. See cuts under
cornl and Khipidogorgia.
seasick (se'sik), a. Affected with nausea from
the motion of a vessel.
seasickness (se'sik'nes), «. The state or con-
dition of being seasick.
seaside (se'sid), «. [< ME. see-side, see-side; <
sea^ -f AJrfel.] The land bordering on the sea ;
the country adjacent to the sea or near it: of-
ten used adjectively : as, a seaside residence or
home.
On the Seesyde Men may fynde many Kubyes.
Mandeville, liavels, p. 29.
There disembarking on the green seaside.
We land our cattle, and the spoil divide.
Pope, Odyssey, ix. 639.
Seaside balsam, a balsamic juice which exudes from
the branches of Croton flavens, var. balsaviifer, a shrub 3
or 4 feet lii^h, found in the Bahamas and West Indies, —
Seaside bean, finch, grape, pine, etc. See the nouns-
sea-skimmer (se'skim'fer), «. The skimmer, a
bird. See Khynchops.
sea-slater (se'sla'ter), n. The rock-slater,
Ligia occnnica, and other isopods of the same
geniis.
sea-sleeve (se'slev), n. A cuttlefish: same as
atlamary, 1.
sea-slug (se'slug), n. 1. A marine opisthobran-
chiate gastropod whose shell is rudimentary or
wanting; a iiudibranch, as a doridoid. These
creatures resemble the terrestrial pulmonates known as
slugs, whence the name. There are many species, of dif-
ferent genera and families, some of them known as sea-
haret, sea-lemons, etc. See cuts under Polycera, Berm«a,
and .dSmnu.
2. A holothurian of any kind.
sea-snail (se'snal), n. [< ME. see-snail, < AS. ««-
sneegl.s^sn^l, sea-snail, <s«,sea, + sn«gl,aBail.'\
1. in iciitli., any fish of the family Liparididee,
and especially a member of the genus Lipnris,
of which there are several species, found in
both British and American waters. The common
sea-snail or snaii-flsh of Great Britain is
L. mdijarig, the unctuous sucker, a few
inches long. See cut under imaU-fish.
2. In conch., a marine gastro-
pod whose shell resembles a
neli.\, as those of the family
Littorinidx, of which the pen-
winkle, Littorina littorea, is a
familiar form, and those of the
family yaticidse, of which Lv-
natia heros and related species . , »
, , f, , Sea-snail or Pen-
are good examples. See also winUe (Liiiorma
cuts under Xatica, Littorinidx, i^j.'/""^' °"'""''
Xerita. and Xeritidse.
sea-snake (se'snak), n. A sea-serpent, in any
sense.
That great sea-snalce under the sea.
Tennyson, The Mermaid.
sea-snipe (se'snip), n. 1. Tringa aljiina : same
as dunlin. [North of Eng. and East Lothian.]
— 2. The knot, a sandpiper, Tringa canutus.
[Ireland.] — 3. The snipe-fisn, Centriscus sco-
lopax.
sea-soldiert (se'sol'jtr), n. A marine.
Six hundred sea-soldiers, under the conduct of Sir Rich-
ard Levison. Holland, tr. of Camden, 11. 136. (Davies. ) *
season (se'zn), n. [< ME. scysoun, seson, sesun,
sesoun, cesoun, < OF, seson, scison, saison, F, sai-
son = Pr. sadons, sazon, sasos, sazos = Sp. sazon
= Pg, sazdo, < L. satio(n-), a sowing, planting,
ML. sowing-time, i. e, spring, regarded as the
chief season for sowing crops, hence any sea-
son, < serere, pp, satiis, sow, prob. orig. *sesere,
redupl, of -y/ sa, sow: see somjI, Cf. sation, a
doublet of season. In def. 3 the noun is from
the verb.] 1. A particular period of time.
SpeclHcally — (o) One of the peridds into which the year
Is naturally divided by the annual motion of the sun in
declination, or by the resulting characteristics of temper-
ature, moisture, conditions of vegetation, and the like.
Astronomically the year is divided into four nearly equal
seasons, spring, summer, autumn, and winter, reckoned
solely with respect to the sun's motion^ spring beninniiig
when the sun crosses the eqiiator goin? northward, sum-
mer when it reaches the summer solstice, autnnm when
it crosses the equator going southward, and winter when
It reaches the winter solstice. But popularly and histori-
cally the seasons refer to the four well-marked periods
which in temperate regions are exhibited in the annual
changes of climate and stages of vegetation. In conse-
quence, the times of division and the duration of the sea-
sons are entirely conventional, and are adjusted in terms
of the monthly calendar in accordance with the local cU-
season
mate. In the United States ami Canada spring is consid-
ered to begin with the first of iiaivli, and summer, autumn,
and winter with tlie first of June. September, and Decem-
ber respectively. In Great Britain spring is regarded as
beginning with February-, summer with May, etc. In the
southern hemisphere the summer season is simultaneous
with the northern winter, and the periods of the other
seasons are similarly interchanged. Within the tropics
Uie annual variation of temperature is not so marked as
that of humidity and rainfall, anil, according to the local-
ity, sometimes two, sometimes three, and sometimes four
climatic seasons are distinguished, termed the rainy sea-
son, the dry season, etc.
In a somer aeeotif whan soft was the sonne.
Piert Plowman (BX Prol., 1. 1.
The Turks do cnstomably bring their galleys on shore
every year in the winter seawn.
Hunday (Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 204).
I shall not int«nd this hot teanon to bid you the base
through the wide and dusty champaine of the Councels.
Uaton, On Def. of Humb. Remonst.
(i) The period of the year in which something is more in
Togue than at others, as that in which a particular place
is most frequented by visitors, or shows most bustling
activity, or when a particular trade, business, or profession
is in its greatest state of activity : as, the holiday mason;
the hop-picking season; the London season; the Newport
season; the theatrical season; the peach season.
o448
The good gardiner seasons his soyle by sundrie sorts of
compost. Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 254.
Men are more curious what they put into a new vessel
than into a vessel seasoned.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, i. 28.
A clavestock and rabbetstock carpenters crave,
And seasoned timber for piiiwood to have.
Ttisser, Husbandly Furniture, st 20.
4. To fit for the taste ; render palatable, or
give a higher relish to, by the addition or mix-
ture of another substance more pungent or
pleasant : as, to season meat with salt ; to sea-
son anything with spices.
And every oblation of thy meat offering Shalt thou sea-
son with salt. Lev. ii. 13.
5. To render more agreeable, pleasant, or de-
lightful ; give a relish or zest to by something
that excites, animates, or exhilarates.
You season still with sports your serious hours.
Dryden, To John Dryden, 1. 60.
She had an easy fluency of discourse, which, though
generally of a serious complexion, was occasionally sea-
soned with agreeable sallies.
Preseott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 16.
6. To render more agreeable or less rigorous
The seoson was advanced when I Hist put the play into ', ^ , , ,..-,,
Mr. Harris's hands : it was at that time at least double the and severe ; temper ; moderate ; quality by ad-
length of any acting comedy. Sheridan, The Rivals, Pref. ' '
The London season extended from October to May, leav-
ing four months during which the theatres were closed
and all forms of dissipation suspended.
Ledcy, Eng. in 18th Cent., iv.
(c) A convenient or suitable time; the right time; period
of time that is natural, proper, or suitable. See phrases
below.
2. A period of time, in general; a while; a
time.
Than stode y stille a litile sesone,
And constred this lettres or y wente thens.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 1.
Thou Shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season.
Acts xiii. 11.
Yon may be favoured with those blessed seasons of uni-
versal light and strength of which good men have often
spoken. Channing, Perfect Life, p. 24.
3t. Seasoning; that which gives relish, or pre-
serves vigor or freshness.
Salt too little which may season give
To her foul-tainted flesh.
Shak., Much Ado, iv. 1. 144.
All fresh humours . . .
Bearing no season, much less salt of goodness.
B. Jonmn, Cynthia's Revels, v. 1.
Close-season. SameascJosc-ftme.— In season, (a) Ready
for use ; on the market ; usable ; edible : as, cherries are
now in season; oysters are not tn«ea«on during May, June,
July, and August.
In that Contree, and in othere also. Men fynden longe
Apples to selle, in hire c«80u«; and Men clepen hem Apples
of Paradys. Mandeville, Travels, p. 49.
Now Cometh May, when as the eastern morn
Doth with her summer robes the fields adorn :
Delightful month, when cherries and green peason.
Custards, cheesecakes, and kisses are in season.
Poor Robin aWS). (Nares.)
(ft) Having the pelage in good order, as fur-bearing ani-
mals. This is usually in winter, (c) In good flesh, as
beasts, birds, fishes, shell-flsh, etc. (d) Affording good
sport, as birds well grown and strong of wing, (e) Mi-
grating, and therefore numerous, or found where not oc-
curring at some other time, as birds or flsh. (f) Allowed
mixture.
Earthly power doth then shdw likest God's
When mercy seasons justice.
Shak., M. of V., iv. 1. 197.
'Tis a pride becomes 'em,
A little season'd with ambition
To be respected, reckon'd well, and honour'd
For what they have done.
Fletcher, Loyal Subject, ii. 1.
7. To gratify ; tickle.
Let their beds
Be made as soft as yours, and let their palates
Be season'd with such viands.
Shak., M. of V., iv. 1. 97.
8. To imbue ; tinge or taint.
There 's no mirth
Which is not truly season'd with some madness.
Ford, Lover's Melancholy, iv. 2.
Then being first seasoned with ye seeds of grace and ver-
tue, he went to ye Courte, and served that religious and
godly gentlman, M^. Davison.
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 409.
By degrees to season them with Principles of Rebellion
and Disobedience. StUlingJleet, Sermons, I. iii.
9t. To presei've from decay; keep sweet or
fresh.
All this to season
A brother's dead love, which she would keep fresh
And lasting in her sad remembrance.
Shak., T. N., i. 1. 30.
lOt. To impregnate. Holland Seasoning fever.
See/euerl.
II. intrans. 1. To become mature ; grow fit
for use ; become adapted to a climate, as the
human body. — 2. To become dry and hard by
the escape of the natural juices, or by being
penetrated with other substance.
Carpenters rough plane boards for flooring, that they
may set them by to season. Moxon, Mechanical Exercises.
3t. To give token ; smack ; savor.
Lose not yoiu" labour and your time together ;
It seasons of a fool. Fletcher, The Chances, i. 9.
by law to be killed, as any game, to) Seasonably ; oppor- vi / -t -uin r,- \n-i t,
tunely ; at the right time ; soon enough : as, to go to the Seasonable (se^ zn-a-bl), a. [<. ME. seasonable.
-In season and out
theater in season for the overture.
Of season, at all times ; always,
A Church-mans jurisdiction is no more but to watch
over his flock in season and o\U of season.
Milton, On Def. of Humb. Remonst.
Out of season, (a) Unseasonable ; inopportune, (ft) Not
in season, as game ; not in good condition for the table.
In general, animals are out of season when breeding.—
Season ticket. See ticket. — The Four Seasons {ecdes. ),
the ember days.— To take a seasont, to stay for a time.
From heuen til erthe his sone be sent
In mankinde to take a cesoun.
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. 42.
season (se'zn), v. [= F. saisonncr, have a good
season, = 8p. Pg. sazonar, season with condi-
ments j from the noun.] I. trans. If. To ren-
der suitable or appropriate ; prepare ; fit.
And am I then revenged,
To take him in the purging of his soul.
When he is fit and season'd for his passage?
SML, Hamlet, iii, 3. 84.
2. To fit for any use by time or habit; habit-
uate; accustom; mature; inure; acclimatize.
How many things by season season'd are
To their right praise and true perfection !
Shak., M, of V., v. 1. 107.
Aman should. . . harden and season himself beyond the
degree of cold wherein he lives.
Addison, Guardian, No. 102.
3. To bring to the best state for use by any
process: as, to season a cask by keeping liquor
< 0P\ "sesonable, < seson, season : see season and
-able.] Suitable as to time or season; oppor-
tune; occurring, happening, or done in due
season or proper time for the purpose ; in keep-
ing with the season or with the circumstances:
as, a seasonable supply of rain.
Thay sailed furth soundly with seasonable wyndes.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.X 1. 2810.
Then the sonne reneweth his finished course, and the
seasonable spring refresheth the earth.
Spenser, Shep. Cal., Gen. Arg.
'Tis not seasonable to call a Man Traitor that has an
Army at his Heels. Selden, Table-Talk, p. 111.
seasonableness (se'zn-a-bl-nes), n. Season-
able character or quality ; the quality of fitting
the time or the circumstances ; opportuneness
of occurrence.
Seasonableness is best in all these things, which have their
ripeness and decay. Bp. Hall, Holy Observations, § 15.
seasonably (se'zn-a-bli), adv. In due time or
season; in time convenient ; sufficiently early:
as, to sow or plant .•seasonably.
Time was wanting ; the agents of Plymouth could not
be seasonably summoned, and the subject was deferred.
• Bancroft, Hist. U, S., I. 339.
seasonaget (se'zn-aj), n. [< season + -age.']
Seasoning; sauce.
Charity is the grand seasonage of every Christian duty.
South, Sermons, IX. v.
in it; to season a tobacco-pipe by frequently seasonal (se'zn-al), a. [< season + -al.'\ Of
smoking it ; to season timber by drying or hard- or pertaining to the seasons ; relating to a sea-
ernng, or by removing its natural sap. son or seasons.
sea-swallow
The deviations which occur from the seasonal averages
of climate. Encyc. BrU.,\'l. 6.
The rainfall of the British Islands has been examined
with reference to its seasonal distribution in relation to
the physical configuration of the surface.
Nature, XXXIII. 356.
Seasonal dimorphism, in zool., a dimorphism or change
of form occurring at stated seasons: applied especially
to the changes observed in successive generations of cer-
tain insects, those appearing at one season being remark-
ably different from the other broods of the year, so that
they have frequently been described as distinct species.
Seasonal dimorphism has been observed in the Cynipidse
or gall-flies, in Aphididse or plant-lice, in some Chalcididie,
and In some butterflies and moths,
seasonally (se'zn-jil-i), arff. Periodically; ac-
cording to the season.
He believed that the fact of the moth being seasonally
dimorphic was likely to introduce disturbing elements
into the experiments.
Proc. ofEnl. Soc., Nature, XXXV. 463.
seasoner (se'zn-er), n. [< season -¥ -frl.] 1.
One who seasons. — 2. That which seasons,
matures, or gives a relish. — 3. A seaman or
fisherman who hires for the season ; by exten-
sion, a loafer; a beach-comber. [U. S.]
seasoning (se'zn-ing), n. [Verbal n. of season,
«.] 1. The act by which anything is seasoned.
— 2. That which is added to any species of food
to give it a higher relish, usually something
pungent or aromatic, as salt, spices, etc.
There are many vegetable substances used by mankind
as seasonings which abound with a highly exalted aromat-
ick oil, as thyme and savourj- and all spices.
Arbuthnot, Aliments, iii. 4.
3. Something added or mixed to enhance plea-
sure or enjoyment, or give spice and relish:
as, wit or humor serves as a seasoning to elo-
quence.
Political speculations . . . are of so dry and austere a
nature that they will not go down with the public with-
out frequent seasonings [of mirth and humour].
Addison, Freeholder, No. 46.
There was a seasoning of wisdom unaccountably mixed
up with his strangest whims.
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, v. 42.
4. In diammid-cntting, the charging of the laps
or wheels with diamond-dust and oil.
seasoning-tub (se'zn-ing-tub), n. In baling, a
troufjh in which dough is set to rise.
seasonless (se'zn-les), a. [< season + -less.']
1. Unmarked by a succession of seasons. — 2t.
Without seasoning or relish ; insipid.
And when the stubbome stroke of my harsh song
Shall seasontesse glide through alnlightie eares.
Vouchsafe to sweet it with thy l)lessed tong.
G. Markham, Tragedy of Sir R. Grinuile.
sea-spider (se'spi'''d6r), n. Some marine ani-
mal whose appearance suggests a spider, (o) A
pycnogonid. See cuts under Kymphon and Pycnogonida.
(6) A spider-crab; any maioid, as Maia squinado. See
cuts under Leptojtodia, Maia, and Oxyrhyncha.
sea-spleenwort (se'splen weit), «. A fem,
Jsplenium marinum, native alongthe west coast
of Europe.
sea-squid (se'skwid), n. Any squid; a cuttle
or calamary.
sea-squirt (se'skwert), n. Any asoidian or tu-
nicate: so called from their squirting water
when they contract.
sea-staff (se'staf), ». Same as hanger, 7.
sea-star (se'stiir), n. A starfish of any kind.
sea-starwort (se'stiir'''wert), «. See starwori.
sea-stick (se'stik), ». A herring cured at sea as
soon as it is caught, in order that it may be first
in market and bring a high price. [Eng.]
The herrings caught and cured at sea are called seaslicks.
In order to render them what are called merchantable
herrings, it is necessary to repack them with an additional
quantity of salt. A. Smith, Wealth of Nations, III. 81.
sea-stickleback (se'stik"l-bak), n. A marine
gasterosteid, Sj)inacl>ia vulgaris.
sea-stock (se'stok), «. Fresh provisions, stores,
etc., placed on board ship for use at sea.
With perhaps a recruit of green turtles for a sea-stock
of fresh meat. Scammon.
sea-strawberry (se'stra^ber-i), n. A kind of
polyp, Aleijiiniiim rnbiforme.
sea-sunflower (se'sun"flou-er), n. A sea-anem-
one.
sea-sureeon (se'ser'jqn), n. The surgeon-flsh.
sea-swallow (se'swol'''o), ». 1. A tern; any
bird of the family Laridse and subfamily Ster-
ninie: so called from the long pointed wings,
long forked tail, and slender foim of most of
these birds, whose flight and carriage resem-
ble those of swallows. See cuts under Sterna,
tern, roseate, Gygis, Hi/drochelidon, and Inca. —
— 2. The stormy petrel, Proeellaria pelagica.
See cut under petrel. [Prov. Eng.] — 3. In Jier.,
same as aylet.
sea-swine
sea-swine (se'swin), ». 1. A porpoise. Also
sea-liixj, sea-pig.
Most nations calling this fish Porcus marinas, or the gea-
twine. J. Jtaij, PhUos. Trans., Abridged (1700), II. !yt&.
2. The ballau-wrasse : in allusiou to a supposed
sucking noise like that of a pig made by the
fish. See cut under Labrus. F. Day. [Moray-
Firth, Scotland.]
seat (s^t), n. [< ME. sete, seete; (a) in part <
AS. sMt, a place where one sits in ambush, =
MD. saete, sate, a sitting, seat, chair, station,
port, dock, = OHG. sasa, gesd:e, MHG. sarr, a
seat, = Icel. sat, a sitting in ambush, an am-
bush ; (6) in part < Icel. sxti = Sw. sate = Dan.
siede, a seat ; from the verb, AS. sittan (pret. siet,
pi. s«ton). etc., sit: seesi*. Cf. «frt/el, from the
same verb, and et. L. sedes, a seat (> E. see^,
siege), sedile, a seat, chair, sella, a seat, throne,
saddle (> E. seJP), etc., from the cognate L.
verb.] 1. A place or thing on which to sit ; a
bench, stool, chair, throne, or the like.
Priam by purpos a pales gert make
Within the CiU full Solempne of a wee riall.
DatrucHon oj Troy (E. E. T. 8.), L 1630.
The tables of the moneychangers, and the »ttU» of them
that sold doves. Hat. xxi 12.
2. That part of a thing on which one sits, or
on which another part or thing rests, or by
which it is supported: as, the seat of a chair;
the seats in a wagon ; the seat of a valve.
The teat of a valve is the fixed surface on which it rest^.
or against which it presses. Rankine, Steam Engine, Sill.
3. That part of the body on which one sits ;
the breech, buttocks, or fundament ; techni-
cally, the gluteal region. — 4. That part of a
garment which covers the breech : as, the seat
of a pair of trousers.
His bine Jean tiowiers, very full in the teat, might sug-
gest an idea of a bluebottle fly.
W. M. Baker, Sew Timothy, p. 53.
6. Site; situation; location: as, the seat of
Eden ; the seat of a tumor, or of a disease.
This cuUe bath a pleanot mat. Shak., Macbeth, L & 1.
Silver-street, the region of money, a good leat for a
usurer. B. Jotuon, Staple of News, iii. 2.
6. Abode; place of abode or residence; spe-
cifically, a mansion: as, a family seat; a coun-
try-»ea<.
In an vie that was negh the noble kyngea tete.
This clene fleae was indosede all with clere water,
Euon a forlong therfro, A fully nomore.
DutntclSon of Troy (E. E. T. B.\ 1. 848.
Prusia, now called Buraia, which wa* the abiding teat
of the kings of Bithynia.
tiuemra. Letters (tr. by Hellowea, 1577X p. 830.
It is the teat of an Archblabopy having been first an
Eptaoipel cite before it was graced with tne dignity of an
Archbishopricke. Coryal, Cmditiea, I. 100.
1 caird at my cousin Eveivn's, who has a very pretty
ttale in the forest, 2 miles bebither CUfden.
Bvelyn, Diary, July 23, 1670.
7. Regular or appropriate place, as of rest, ac-
tivity, etc. ; the place where anything is settled,
fixed, or established, or is carried on or flour-
ishes ; the matter in which any form inheres :
as, the seat of war; a seat of learning or of com-
merce.
Remember tbee !
Ay, thou poor ghost, while memoir holds a teat
, In thU dbtracled globe. SAat., Hamlet, L 6. 06.
The nature of man includes a mind and understanding,
which is the teat of l*rovidence.
Baeon, Physical Fables, IL, ExpL
It is an interesting, but not a surprising fact, that the
circumstances of the flnt planting of Christianity in
filacea which were later among its most powerful teatt,
ncluding Borne and Carthage, are not known.
a. P. FUher, Begin, of Christianity, p. Sl«.
8. A right to sit. (a) Membership, ss in a legislative
or deliberative body, or in the f.Utck or Produce Exchange :
as, a asot in Parliament. (It) Sitting-room ; sitting accom-
miMlation for one person ; a sitting : as, a mat in a church ;
teatx frjr the play.
9. Mctluxl or posture of sitting, as on horse-
back; hold in sitting: M, to have a firm seat
in the saddle.
The ordinary Eastern asat, which approaches more or
leas the ttat of a croas-coontiy rider or fox-hunter, is
nearly as dilterent from the cowboy's teat as from that of
a man who rides bareback.
T. ttooieteU. The Century, XXXV. 6A8.
10. A clutch or sitting (of eggs). [Prov. Eng.]
— 11. A place or situation in a shoemaking
establishment: as, a seat of work; a seat of
stuff (that is, an engagement to make stuff
shoes). [Prov. Eng.]
After having worked on stufl work in the country. I
could not bear the idea of retun)ing to the leather-branch ;
I attempted and obtained a teal of stufl In Bristol.
Menwin of J. txuHngton, letter xvlL (Daviet )
12. Same as scatearlh. [Yorkshire, Eng.] —
CnnUeaeat see euru2<.—DeaconB' seat. Seedsown.
6449
— High seat Same as riting-seat. - Redistribution of
Seats Act. See redts(riftu(ion.— Seat Of the SOUl, that
part of the body wtiich most dualistic psychologists sup-
pose to be in direct connection with the soul ; the senso-
rium.— To take a seat, to sit down. [Colloq.]
seat (set), V. [< seat, «.] I. trans. 1. To place
on a seat; cause to sit down: as, to seat one's
guests: often used reflexively: as, to seat one's
self at table.
The guests were no sooner seated but they entered into
a warm debate. Arbuthnot.
The young ladies seated themselves demurely in their
rush-bottomed chairs, and knit their own woollen stock-
ings. Iroing, Knickerbocker, p. 170.
2. To furnish or fit up with seats: as, to seat a
church for a thousand persons. — 3. To repair
by renewing or mending the seat: as, to seat a
chair or a garment. — 4. To afford sitting accom-
modation for; accommodate with seats or sit-
tings: as, a room that seats four hundred. — 5.
To fix; set firm.
Thus RodoU was seated againe In his Soi^raignty, and
Wallachia became subject to the Emperour.
Capt. John Smith, True Travels, I. 20.
In youth it perpetually preserves, in age restores the
complexion ; teicUs your teeth, did they dance like virginal
jacks, firm as a wall. B. Jonson, Volpone, il. 1.
6. To locate ; settle ; place definitely as in a
permanent abode or dwelling-place ; fix : often
reflexively.
Kiery diseases, lealed in the spirit, embroile the whole
frame of the body. X. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 7.
The greatest plagues that human nature suffers
Are seated here, wildness and wants innumerable.
Fletcher, Sea Voyage, i. 3.
Perhaps it was with these three Languages as with the
Frankes Language when they first leatM themselues in
Oallla. PvTchat, Pilgrimage, p. 48.
7. In mech., to fix in proper place, as on a bed
or support ; cause to lie truly on such support ;
fit accurately. — 8t. To settle; plant with in-
habitants: as, to seat a country.
Their neighbours of y* Massachusets . . . had some
yean after seated a towne(called Hingam) on their lands.
Brad/ord, Plymouth PUntation, p. S«a
Plantations which for many years had been teated and
improved, under the encouragement of several charters.
Beverley, Virginia, 1. % 93.
n.t intrans-. 1. To fix or take up abode; set-
tle down permanently; establish a residence.
The Dutch demanded what they intended, and whither
they would gfw ; they answered, up y« river to trade (now
their order was to goe and seat above them).
Brad/ord, Plymouth Plantation, p. 313.
The Allingtons teated here liefore 1239.
Evelyn, Diary, July V), 167a
2. To rest ; lie down.
The folds where sheepe at night doe teat,
Spenser, F. Q., VL ii. 4.
sea-tang (se'tang), n. A kind of seaweed;
tang; tangle.
Drove the cormorant and curlew
To their neats of sedge and tta4ang.
UmgfeUow, Hiawatha, ii.
sea-tangle (se'tang'^l), n. One of several spe-
<'ies of seaweeds, principally of the genus Im-
minaria. See cut under seatreed.
seat-back (set'bak), n. A piece of tapestry or
other textile fabric, leather, or the like made
for covering the back of a sofa, chair, or other
piece of furniture : especially used of decora-
tive pieces made of the size and shape required.
seat-earth (set'ferth), ». In coal-mining, the bed
of clay by which many coal-seams are underlain .
The composition of this clay varies much in various regions.
Sometimes it is a phutic clay, oft^-n refractory, and much
used as fire-clay ; sometimes it is more or less mixed with
silica, or even almost entirely silicious, as in some of the
midland counties of England, when it is called s/anister.
Also called teat-tlons, teat^elau, or simply teat, eluneh,
pouiumL bind, tpavin, and (in Leinster) buddagh; in the
United States generally known as under■^iay.
seated (se'ted), p. a. Placed; situated; fixed
in or as in a seat; located.
In the eyes of David it seemed a thing not fit, a thing
not decent, that himself should be more richly seated ttian
Ood. //oo*er, Eccles. Polity, vli. 23.
A pretty house, ye see, handsomely teated,
Sweet and convenient walks, the waters crystal.
Fletcher, Eule a Wife, iv. 3.
Never trust me, but you are most delicately teated here,
full of sweet delight and blandishment ! an excellent air I
B. Jonton, Poetaster, ii. 1.
sea-tench (se'tench), n. The black sea-bream.
Cantharus lineatus. [Dublin county, Ireland.]
sea-term (se'term), n. A word or term used
especially by seamen, or peculiar to the art of
navigation.
I agree with you in your censure of the tea-terms in
Drj'dcn's Vinrll, because no terms of art, or cant words,
suit the nmjisty of eplck poetry. Pope.
seat-fastener (set'fis'n^r), ». In a wagon, a
screw-clamp for securing the seat to the Dody.
sea-turtle
sea-thong (se'thong), n. One of several species
of cord-like or thong-like seaweeds, as Uiman-
thalia lorea. Chorda filum, etc. See Chorda, Hi-
manthalia, Laminariacex.
sea-thorn (se'thom), «. Same as pustule of the
sea (which see, under pustide).
sea-thrift (se'thrift), «. See thrift.
seating (se'ting), n. [Verbal n. of seat, f.] 1 .
The act of placing on a seat ; the act of furnish-
ing with a seat or seats. — 2. Textile material
made for upholstering the seatsof chairs, sofas,
and the like; especially, haircloth. — 3. pi. In
mech., collectively, the various fitted supports
of the parts of a structure or of a machine. —
4. In ship-building, that part of the floor which
rests on the keel.
When the frames are perpendicular to the keel, the
bevelling of the seatitig of the floors, i. e. the angle be-
tween the plane of the side of timber and the keel, is a
right angle. Thearle, Naval Arch., § 40.
sea-titling (se'tit'ling), n. The shore-pipit or
sea-lark, Anthus aquatictis or obscurus. See
roclc-pipit. [Local, Eng.]
seat-lock (set'lok), «. In railroad-cars, etc., a
foi-m of lock for holding the back of a reversi-
ble seat in position.
sea-toad (se'tod), n. 1. The sea-frog, fishing-
frog, or angler, Lophius piscatorius, a fish. See
cut under awjfZfr. — 2. The toadfish, Bo(rrtcA»s
tau. — 3. The sculpin. — 4. The great spider-
crab, Hiias araneus. Wood.
sea-tortbise (se'tor'tis), n. A marine tor-
toise ; a sea-turtle.
sea-toss (se'tos), M. A toss overboard into the
sea: as, give it a sea-toss. [Colloq.]
sea-tossed, sea-tost (se'tost), a. Tossed by
the sea.
In your imagination hold
This stage tlie sliip, upon whose deck
The sea-tost Periclt^s appears to speak.
Shak., Pericles, iii., Prol., 1. Oft
seat-rail (set'ral), «. In furniture, one of the
horizontal members of the frame which forms
or supports the seat, as in a chair or a sofa.
sea-trout (se'trout), n. 1. Any catadromous
trout or char, as the common brook-trout of
the United States, Salvelinus fontinalis. — 2. A
kind of weakfish ; any one of the four species
of scioenoid fishes of the genus Cynoscion which
occur along the coast of tlie middle and south-
ern United States. One of them is the sque-
teague. Also, sometimes, salmon-trout. See
outimder weakfish. — 3. Another scia>noid fish,
Atractoscion nobilis, related to the weakfish of
the Atlantic States. Also called white sea-bass.
[California.] — 4. A chiroid fish, as Hexagram-
mus decagrammus, of the Pacific coast of the
United States: same as rock-trout, 2.
sea-trumpet (se'trum'pet), n. l. A medieval
musical instrument essentially similar to the
monochord, but suggestive of the viol, it con-
sisted of a wooden body al>ont 6 feet long, flat in fl"ont,
polygonal behind, and tapering from a somewhat large
flat base, which could be rested on the floor, to a short
thick neck, terminating in a head with a tuning-screw.
It had but one large string, made of gut, stretched over
a peculiar bridge, and tuned to a low pitch, usually about
that of the second C below middle C, The bridge was
made so as to rest firmly on only one foot, the other be-
ing free to vibrate upon the body. The instrument was
played with a large bow, like that of a violoncello. The
tones used were the natural harmonics of the string, pro-
duced by lightly touching tlie nodes. Its scale therefore
coincided with tliat of the trumpet; and this fact, taken
in connectii>n with its general shape, probably snggested
Its name. It was used for both sacred and secular music,
both alone and in sets of three or four. It was especially
common in nunneries as an accompaniment for singing,
since its tones corresponded in pitch with those of the
female voice. The latest specimens date from early in
the eighteenth century. The instrument is important in
connection with the development of the viol. Also ma-
rine trumpet^ tromba marina, nuwt' -fiddle, etc.
2. In bot., a large seaweed, Ecklonia bticcinalis,
of the southern ocean. It has a stem often more
than 20 feet in height, crowned by a fan-shaped cluster
of fronds, each 12 feet or more in length. The stem is
hollow in the upper part, and when dried is frequently
used as a trumpet by the native h^dsmen of the Cape of
Good Hope, whence the name. It is also used as a siphon.
Also called trumpettceed.
3. A large marine gastropod of the genus
Triton.
seat-stand (set'stand), n. In a railroad-car, a
support, generally made of metal, for the end
of the seat next the aisle.
seat-stone (set'ston), n. Same as seat-earth.
sea-turn (se't6m), n. A gale or breeze coming
from the sea, generally accompanied by thick
weather.
sea-turtlel (se'ter'tl), n. [< scfll -I- turtle'^.']
The sea-pigeon, or black guillemot, Uria grylle.
See cut under guillemot.
S6a*tartl6
sea-ttirtle- (se'terUI), w. [< mil + turtle^.']
Any marine ehelonian ; a sea-tortoise. These
all hare the limbs fornuHl as flippers. Some furnish the
t«Ktoise-sheU of commerce ; others are famous among epi-
cures. The leading forms are the hawkbiU, leatherback,
loggerhead, and green turtle.
seat-worm (set'w^rm), H. A pinworm eoin-
nioiily infesting the fundament. See cut un-
der Oxffuris.
sea-nmbrella (se'um-brel'S), «. A pennatu-
laeeous polyp of the gennsUmbeUularia.
sea-nnicorn (se'u'ni-kom), n. The narwhal,
Monodoti mouoceros: so called from the single
horn-like tusk of the male, sometimes 8 feet
long. See cuts imder Monodon and narichal.
sea-urchin (se'^r'chin), «. An eehinoid; any
member of the Echinoidea ; a sea-egg or sea-
hedgehog. Many of the leading forms have popular
designations or vernacular book-names, as heart- urchins,
Spatmxijids ; helmet-urchins. Galeriiidfe; shield-urchins,
ScHteliuije; turban-urchins, Ct(/ar?"rf«. The common green
sea-urchin of New England is Stroivjijlocentrotus drobachi-
etuit (figured under the generic word), A purple sea-ur-
chin is Arbacia punctulata. Toxopjievstes /rancisconim
is a Californian sea-urchin used for food by Indians, and
the common Europenn one figured under Echinus is classic
in the anuals of gastronomy. The species here figured is
/tifu/eftiutn).
flatter and less prickly than usual ; still flatter ones are
those known as cake-urchins, sand-dollars, etc. (See sand-
dollar,) Some sea-urchins have spines several inches long,
and in others the spines become heavy clubs. Sea-urchins,
like sea-anemones, are common objects on most sea-coasts,
and their dry tests, usually lacking the spines, are often of
beautiful tints. See Echinus, also cuts under ambulacrum,
AnanchyteSy cake-urchin. Cidaris, Clypeaslridee, Echinoi-
dea. Echinoineira, Echinoihunidie, Echinus, Encope, lan-
tern. pelalosti^hotiH, and Strongylocentroius.
sea-valve (se'valv), h. Any one of several
valves in the bottom or side of a steamship
communicating with the sea below the water-
line.
sea-vampire (se'vam^pir), «. A devil-fish or
manta.
seave (sev), n. [Also written seive; < ME. seyfe
= Icel. sef = Dan. siv = Sw, sdj\ a rush. Cf.
sieve.^ 1. A rush. Cath, Ang.y p. 327.-2. A
wick made of rush.
seavent, seaventeent, etc. Obsolete spellings
of sefen, seventeen, etc,
sea-view (se'vii), n. A prospect at sea or of
the sea, or a picture representing a scene at sea ;
a marine view.
Sea-walls.
A. nyroouOi (Ei^land) breakwater: a. a, level of the top; *, *,
low water at spring tide ; c, tx/ttom ; d, foreshore ; e, sea-slope ; /. top.
Ji. Sea-dike ; e, the sea-bottom ; a, rubble ; d, core ; c, facing of stone ;
J, sea-leveL C and D. Sectional diagrams of inclosure of Zuid Plas,
near Rotterdam, Holland. £. Dutch polder-bank, consisting of sheet-
piling with earth filling, and an apron of rubble on the side toward the
sea. F. Wall of sheet-piling at Havre, France, with earth embank-
joent behind the piles.
5450
seavy (se'vi), a. [< seave + -yi.] Overgrown
with rushes : as, seavy ground. May, Gloss, of
North Country Words. [Prov. Eng.]
sea-waU (se'wal), «. [< ME. "sewall, < AS.
.txwetill (poet.), a cliff by the sea, a wall formed
by the sea, < sM, sea, + weall, wall.] 1 . A strong
wall or embankment on the shore, designed to
prevent encroachments of the sea, to form a
breakwater, etc. See cut in preceding column.
— 2. An embankment of stones thrown up by
the waves on a shore.
sea-walled (se'wald), a. Surrounded or de-
fended by the sea. [Kare.]
When our sea-walled garden, the whole land.
Is full of weeds, her fairest flowers choked up.
Shak., Rich. II., iii. 4. 43.
sea-wand (se'wond), n. See hanger, 7.
seawane, seawant (se'wan, -want), «. [Amer.
Ind.] Wampum.
This [Indian money] was nothing moi-e nor less than
strings of beads wrought of clams, periwinkles, and other
sbell-tish, and called seawant or warapun.
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 232.
seaward, seawards (se'ward, -wardz), adv.
[< sea + -ward.'] Toward the sea.
The rock rush'd seaward with impetuous roar,
Ingulf'd, and to th' abyss the boaster bore.
Fenton, in Pope's Odyssey, iv. 681.
seaward (se'ward), a. [< seaward, adv.] 1.
Directed toward the sea.
Those loving papers, where fHends send
With glad grief to your sea-ward steps farewell.
Donne, Poems, Epistles, To Sir Henrj' Wotton, at his going
[Ambassador to Venice.
2t. Fresh from the sea.
White herynge in a dische, if hit be seaward & fresshe.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 161.
seaware (se'war), w. [Also seawore, dial, sea-
ore; < ME. *seeware, < AS. «««)ar (found only
in the form ssemaur, an error for *seewaar), < sie,
sea, + war, weed: see ware^.] Seaweed; es-
pecially, the larger, coarser kinds of algse that
are thrown up by the sea and used as manure,
etc.
sea-washballs (se'wosh"b&lz), ». pi. The egg-
eases of the whelk Buccinwm undatum. [Local,
Eng.]
sea-water (se'wa"ter), n. [< ME. seeivafcr, <
AS. smwxtcr, < s«, sea, -I- wieter, water.] The
salt water of the sea or ocean. See ocean.
Sea-water shalt thou drink. Shak., Tempest, i. 2. 462.
sea-wax (se'waks), n. Same as maltha.
seaway (se'wa), n. Naut., progress made by a
vessel through the waves — In a seaway, in the
position of a vessel where a moderately heavy sea is run-
ning.
seaweed (se' wed), ». Any plant or plants grow-
ing in the sea ;
more particu-
larly, any mem-
ber of the class
Algie. They are
very abundant, es-
pecially in warm
seas, and are often
exceedingly deli-
cate and beautiful.
See Algse. See also
cuts under air-
cell, eonjitgatum,
Fitclis, gidfweed,
and Macrocyxtis.
Also called sea-
mois. — Seaweed-
bath, a bath made
by adding to sea-
water an infusion
of Fucus vesicU'
losus.— Seaweed-
fern, the fern
Scolopendrium vul-
gare.
sea-whip (se'-
hwip),M. Agor-
goniaceous al-
cyonarian po-
lyp of slen-
der, straight
or spiral, and
little -branched
or branchless
shape; any al-
cyonarian of such form, as black coral.
Antipathes.
sea-whipcord (se'hwip"k6rd), n. The common
seaweed Chorda filum. See sea-thong, sea-lace.
sea-whiplash (se'hwip'lash), n. Same as sea-
whipcord.
sea-whistle (se'hwis"l), n. The common sea-
weed Ascophyllum nodosum (Fucus nodosus of
authors) : so named because the bladders or
Seaweeds.
I. Laminaria digitata. a. A. lottgicruris.
See
sebaceous
vesicles in the continuity of the frond are used
by children as whistles.
sea-wife (se'wif), «. 1. A kind of wrasse, La-
In-vs retula, a labroid fish. — 2. The fish Acan-
tlioluhrus yarrelli.
sea-willow (se'vfil"6), n. A gorgoniaceous
polyp of the genus Gorgonia, as G. anceps and
others, with slender flexible branches like
withes or osier.
sea-wind (se'wind), «. A wind blowing froD
the sea. See sea-breeze.
sea- wing (se'wing), n. 1. A wing-shell. See
I'inna'^. — 2. A sail. [Bare.]
Antony
Claps on his sea-wing, and, like a doting mallard,
Leaving the fight in height, flies after her.
Shak., A. and C, iii. 10. 20.
sea-Withwind (se'with"wind), n. A species of
bindweed. Convolvulus Soldanella ; sea-bells.
sea-wold (se'wold), n. A wold-like tract under
the sea. [Rare.]
We would run to and fro, and hide and seek.
On the broad sea-wolds. Tennyson, The Mermaid.
sea-wolf (se'wulf), n. 1. The wolf-fish, .^Hctr-
rhictis lupus. — 2. The bass Labrax lupus. See
bass^ (a). — 3. The sea-elephant or the sea-
lion. [Now rare.] — 4. A viking; a pirate.
Sullenly answered flf ,
The old sea-wolf.
Longfellow, Wayside Inn, Musician's Tale, xii.
sea-woodcock (se'wud"kok), n. The European
bar-tailed godwit. See cut under Limosa.
sea-WOOdlouse (se'wiid"lous), ra. l. Anisopod
of the family ^seHjf7«; a sea-slater. Also se«-
louse. — 2. A chiton, or coat-of-mail shell: so
called from resembling the isopods named
wood-lice. See out under Chitonidie.
seawore (se'wor), «. Same as seaware.
sea-worm (se'werm), n. A marine annelid; a
free errant worm of salt water, as distinguished
from a sedentary or a terrestrial worm; a
nereid. The species are very numerous, and
the name has no specific application.
sea-wormwood (se'werm"wud), rt. A saline
plant, Artemisia maritima, found on the shores
of Europe and North Africa, also occupying
large tracts in the region of the Black and
Caspian seas.
sea-worn (se'wom), a. Worn or abraded by
the sea. Drayton.
seaworthiness (se'wer'THi-nes), n. Seaworthy
character or condition ; fitness as regards struc-
ture, equipment, lading, crew, etc., for encoun-
tering the perils of the sea.
seaworthy (se'wer"THi), a. In fit condition to
encounter stormy weather at sea ; stanch and
well adapted for voyaging: as, a seaworthy
ship.
Dull the voyage was with long delays,
The vessel scarce sea-worthy.
Tennyson, Enoch Arden.
sea- wrack (se'rak), «. 1 . Same as grass-wracl:
— 2. Coarse seaweeds of any kind that are cast
upon the sea-shore, such as fuel, Laminariaceee,
etc.; oreweed. See wracl; fucus.
seax, n. [AS. seax, a knife: see sai^.] 1. A
curved one-edged sword or war-knife used by
Germanic and Celtic peoples ; specifically, the
largest weapon of this sort, having a blade
sometimes 20 inches in length. *
They invited the British to a parley and banquet on Sal-
isbury Plain ; where suddenly drawing out their seaxes,
concealed under their long coats— being crooked swords,
the emblem of their indirect proceedings — they made
their innocent guests with their blood pay the shots of
their entertainment. Fuller, Ch. Hist., I. v. 2.S.
Their arms and weapons, helmet and mail-shirt, tall
spear and javelin, sword and seax, the short, broad dag-
ger that hung at each warrior's girdle, gathered to them
much of the legend and the art which gave color and
poetry to the life of Englishmen.
J. JR. Green, Hist. Eng. People, I. i.
2. In her., a bearing representing a weapon
more or less like the above, but often ap-
proaching the form of a simitar, to distin-
guish it from which it is then engrailed at the
back.
sebaceous (se-ba'shius), a. [= F. sebaee, < L.
scbaceus, of tallow, < sebum, serum, tallow, suet,
grease.] 1. Pertaining to tallow or fat; made
of, containing, or secreting fatty matter ; fatty.
— 2. In bot, having the appearance of tallow,
grease, or fat : as, the sebaceous secretions of
someplants. Henslow. — 3. In rtwflt and ro67. :
(o) Fatty ; oily ; greasy ; unctuous : as, seba-
ceous substances : specifically noting the secre-
tion of the sebaceous follicles. (6) Secreting,
containing, or conveying sebaceous matter: as,
a sebaceous follicle, gland, or duet — Sebaceous
cyst, a tumor formed from a sebaceous gland. Its duct
sebaceous
having been obstructed and the secretion accumulated,
this \^iug aceouipatiied by overjjrowth of the epithelial
lining of the sac and the stirroundiiiK connective tissue. —
Sebaceous gland, crypt, or follicle, a cutaneous aci-
nose gland of small size, upeniMj; usually into a liair-folli-
cle, and secreting a greasy substance which lubricates the
hair and the skin. Sucli structures are almost univei-sal
among the higher vertebrates, and of many special kinds,
though all of one general character. In man they are es-
pecially notable on the face, being represented by the ix>res
in the skin, which when stopped with amorbidly consistent
secretion produce the unsightly black specks called come-
dones. The Meibomian follicles of the eyelids, the prepu-
tial follicles of the penis, the anal or subcaudal pouch of
the badger, etc., ai-e similar structures. The nnnp-gland
of birds is an enormous sebaceous gland. (See elxodochon.)
The mammary glands are allied structures, and apparently
derived from sebaceous glands. The scent-glands of va-
rious animals, as the musk, beaver, civet, badger, etc.,
are all of like character. They serve to keep the skin in
order, attract the sexes, repel enemies, etc. See cagtor^,
civets, musk, and cut under Aair.— Sebaceous humor,
an oily matter secreted by the sebaceous glands, which
serves to lubricate the hairs and the skin. Also called
sebum, sebum eutaneum, and smegma — Sebaceous tu-
mor. (a) A sebaceous cyst^ See above. (6) Same as
peaH-tumor, 2.
sebadc (se-bas'ik), a. [= F. sebacique ; as se-
bac(eou») + -ic] Of or pertaining to fat; ob-
tained from fat : as, sebadc acid (CiqHi QO4), an
acid obtained from olein. It erystallizes in
white, nacreous, verv light needles or laminae
resembling those of benzoic acid. Also sebic.
Se-Baptist (se'bap'tist), n. [< L. se, oneself,
+ LL. baptistes, baptist : see baptist.'] One who
baptizes himself; specifically, a member of a
small religious body which separated from the
BroNvnists early in the seventeenth century:
said to have been founded by John Smv-th, who
first baptized himself and then his followers.
Sebastes (sf-bas'tez), n. [NL. (Cuvier, 1829),
< Gr. aCf3aoT6c, reverend, august, < mfiaieadat,
be afraid of, < aijia^, reverential awe, < af^ea-
6cu, feel awe or fear.] A genus of scorpsBnoid
fishes, with few species, of northern seas. It
wax employed first for Seorpsenidte with a scaly head and
withont fllamenu, bat by recent ichthyol<»1sts It Is re-
stricted to species with 15 doraal splnea and SI rertebrc,
inhabiting the North .\t1:iii'ic. and typical of the SAaM-
Ro«e-«ilu or Norway lta<ldock iSftaiU*
tue. S. marbnu, of both coaata of the North Atlantic, i>
the re<insh, roae-flah, red-snapper, Norway haddi>ck, or
hemdurgan, d a nearly oniforro orange-red color.
Sebastiania (8e-ba8-ti-a'ni-&), n. [NL. (Spren-
gcl, I>ii;i ), named after Antonio Seoastiani, who
wrote ( 1813 -19) on the plants of Rome.] A ge-
nus of apetalous plants of the order Euphorbia-
cese, tribe Crotonete, and subtribe Hipvomanete,
It is chaiBCterlied by monoecioiu flowers witooat a disk
and witb roinate flonu bracta, a three- to live-parted calyx,
the atameiu nsaally two or three, the ovary three-celled,
with spreading or revolttte andivided styles and with three
ovale*. There are aboat 40 speciea, naUrea chiefly of Bra-
tO, with two Id the tropica of the Old World, and another,
& tueida, known as erabmod or po^aonwwd, In the West
Indies and Florida. They are nsaally (lender shraba, with
small and narrow alternate leaves and slender racemes,
which are terminal or also lateral, and consist of many
minute stamlnate flowers, usually with a single larger soli-
tary pistillate flower below.
Bcbastichthys (se-bas-tik'this), n. [NL. (Gill,
1862), < (ir. i7r,3aaT6i, reverend, august, + ix^lv,
a fish.] A genus of scorpsenoid fishes, with 1.3
dorsal spines, 27 vertebrae, and moderate lower
jaw. About 40 species Inhabit the North I>aclflc. They
are chiefly known as roekfish and rtjck-cod. They are of ra-
ther large sixe and varied, often brilluuit, colors. All are
ovovlTl-raroas, and bring forth yoang about half an Inch
long. They have many local designations. See cats un-
der enrmir, prieH-JUk, and roekfish.
Sebastins (se-bas-ti'no), u.pl. [NTj., < Sebaxteg
+ -iii.r.] A 8uV>fainily of scorpHjnoid fishes,
typified by the genus Scbimten, liaWiig the verte-
brte increased in number (12 abdominal, 15 to
19 catidal), and the dorsal commencing over
the operculum. The species are Pararctalian,
and most numerous in the North Pacific. See
rod- fish.
sebastine (se-bas'tin), n. and a. I. ». A scor-
pa>iioid fish of the subfamily Seba»tinx.
n. a. Of, or having characteristics of, the Se-
bnxtinie.
Sebastodes (se-bas-to'dez), «. [NL. (Gill.
1H61 ). < SflHiMtts + Gr. rliof, form.] A genus of
scorpipiioid fishes, containing one species, dif-
fering from Stbugtirh thys by the very prominent
chin and minute scales.
6451
sebastoid (se-bas'toid), a. Of, or having char-
acteristics of, the Sehastinse; like the genus iS'c-
//«,v(c.s-.
sebastomania (se-bas-to-ma'ni-a), n. [< Gr.
ct\iu(rruQ, reverend, august, + /lavia, madness.]
Reli<;io>is insanity. Wharton. [Rare.]
Sebastopol goose. See goo-se.
Sebat, Shebat (se-, she-bat'), «. [Heb.] The
fifth month of the Jewish civil year, and the
eleventh of the sacred or ecclesiastical year,
corresponding to the latter part of January and
the first part of February. Zech. i. 7.
sebate (se'bat), n. [= F. sebate = Sp. Pg. se-
bato ; as L. sebum, tallow, + -ate^.~] In chem., a
salt formed by sebacic acid and a base.
sebesten, sebestan (se-bes'ten, -tan), n. [Also
sepistan; = OF. .lebeste, P. sebeste = Sp. sebesten,
the tree, sebasta, the fruit, = Pg. sebeste, sebes-
teira, the tree, sebesta, the fruit (NL. sebesten),
= It. sebesten. < Ar. sebestan, Pers. sapistdn, the
fruit sebesten.] A tree of the genus Cordia;
also, its plum-like fruit. There are two species. C.
Myxa, the more important, is found from Egjpt to India
and tropical Australia ; the other is the East Indian C. ob-
liqua (C latifolia). In the East their dried fruit is used
medicinally for its demulcent properties; it was formerly
so used in Europe. In India the natives pickle the fresh
fruit. Also called Assyrian or sebesten plum.
sebic (se'bik), a. [< L. sebum, tallow, grease,
+ -IC. J Same as sebacic.
sebiferons (se-bif'e-ms), a. [< L. sebum, tal-
low, grease, + ferre = E. ftearl.] In anat., bot.,
and zool., sebaceous; sebiparous Sebiferous
gland. .Same as sebaceous fflatid (which see, under geba-
ceousj.
sebilla (se-bil'a), n. [= OF. sebille. F. sebile, a
basket, pannier, wooden bowl; origin imknown.]
In stone-cutting, a wooden bowl for holding the
sand and water used in sawing, grinding, pol-
ishing, etc.
sebiparous (sf-bip'a-rus), a. [< L. sebum, tal-
low, grease, +'parere, produce.] Producing se-
baceous matter; sebiferous; sebaceous, as a
follicle or gland.
sebka (seb'kS), ». [Also sebkha; Ar. (t).] A
name given in northern Africa to the dry bed
of a salt lake, or to an area covered with an
incrustation of salt; a salt-marsh. Compare
shott.
At last lt« dwindling current bends westward to the
asUAa (salt marsh) of Debiaya. Eneye. Brit. , XVI. 8S2.
seborrliea, seborrhcea (seb-o-re'a), n. [NL.
xehorrhan, < L. sitiiim, tallow (see sebaceous), +
Or. poia, a flow, < jxiv, flow.] A disease of the
sebaceous glands, characterized by excessive
and perverted excretion, it is divisible Uito sebor-
rhea oleoaa and seborrhea sicca, the former covering the
skin with an oOy coating, and the latter presenting crusts
of the dried secretion.— Seborrhea genltalium, the ac-
cumulation of a cheesy excretion under the prepuce In the
male, and within the labia in the female.
seborrheic, seborrhoeic (seb-o-re'ik), a. [< seb-
orrhea + -ic] Oif the nature of, or pertaining
to, seborrhea.
8ebnSBan(8eb-u-e'an), ». [< LGr. ££j3tia<oi.] One
of a sect of Samaritans who kept the sacred
festivals at dates different from those pre-
scribed in the Jewish ritual.
sebnm (se'bum), n. [NL., < L. sebum, tallow:
see gebaceous. Cf. strum.'] The secretion of
the sebaceous glands. Also sebum cutaneum.
— Sebnm palpebrale, the secretion of the Meibomian
glands. " Sebum proputlale, smegma.
sebnndy, sebnndee (so-bim'di, -de),n. [Also
sibbendy; < Hind, sibaniii, Tolugu sibbandi, ir-
regular soldiery.] In the East Indies, an irreg-
ular or native soldier or local militiaman, gen-
erally employed in the service of the revenue
and police departments; also, collectively, lo-
cal militia or police.
1 found him in the command of a regiment of sebuTuieet,
or mitlve miUtla. Hon. R. Lindsay, Anecdotea of an
{Indian Life, II., note.
The employment of these people ... as sebundu la ad-
vantageooa. WeUinffton Despatches (ed. 1837)^ II. 170.
{(YuU and BumM.)
Sec, sec. An abbreviation of secretary, secant,
.leconil, section, etc.
sec. An abbreviation of secundum, according to.
secability (sek-a-bil'i-ti), n. [< LL. secabili-
tn(t-).i, capacity for tieing cut, < seeabilis, that
may be cut, < L. secare, cut.] Capability of be-
ing cut or divided into parts.
It Is possible that It [matter] may not be Indefinitely
divisible ; that there may be a limit to the successive divi-
sion or secability ot Its i»rt«. Oraham, Chemistry, 1. 133.
Secale (sf-ka'ie), «. [NL. (Linnasus, 1737),< L.
si'cale, rye, K secare, cat: see secant.] A genus
of grasses, including rye, of the tribe Bordete
and subtribe IViticete. It Is characterized by its
crowded cylindrical spike of compressed splkelets, which
secern
have the flat side sessile against a hollowed joint of the
main axis of the plant, and wliich are commonly but two-
flowered. The flowering glume is tipped with a long awn
formed from the tive nerves, of which the lateral are ob-
scure on the inner face and conspicuous on the outer. The
2 species have been long spontaneous in western and cen-
tral Asia, and also in tlie Mediterranean region, where 3
or 4 native varieties are by some considered distinct spe-
cies. All are erect annual grasses with flat leaves and
dense terminal bearded spikes. The secale cortiutuin of
pharmacy, used i]i obstetric practice, is merely the com-
mon rye aiffected with ergot. See rye.
Secamone (sek-a-mo'ne), «. [NL. (E. Brown,
1808).] A genus of gamopetalous plants, of
the order Asclepiadacese, type of the tribe Seca-
motiese. it is distinguished from the other genus, Toxo-
carpus, by the usually dextrorsely overlapping lobes of the
wheel-shaped and five-parted corolla, and by the simple
scales of the crown with distinct straight or incurved tips.
There are about 24 species, natives of the tropics in Afri-
ca, Asia, and Australia, extending to South Africa and the
Mascarene Islands. Tliey are much-branched shrubby
climbers, bearing opposite leaves which are often punc-
tate with pellucid dots. The small flowers are borne in
axillary cymes. Some species secrete an acrid principle,
useful in medicine. The roots of 5. emetica are employed
in India as a substitute for ipecacuanha.
Secamonese (sek-a-mo'ne-e), n.j)L [NL. (End-
licher, 1836), < Secamone + -ese.] A tribe of
gamopetalous plants, of the order Asclepiada-
CCfP. It is characterized by the two minute globular pol-
len-masses within each anther-cell and by the inflexed
membrane which terminates each anther. It includes the
2 genera .'secamone (the type) and Toxocarpus, both natives
principally of Asia and Africa within the tropics, with per-
haps a third genus, GeriarUhus, of the East Indies.
secancy (se'kan-si), n. [< secan{t) + -cy.] A
eiittitig or intersection : as, the point of secancy
of one lino with another.
secant (se'kant), a. and n. [= P. secant = Sp.
Pg. It. secante = D. secans = G. secante = Sw.
Dan. sckant, < L. sfcan(f-)s, ppr. ot secare, cut,
= Teut. -^ sag, seg, in AS. sagu,
a saw, sigthe, a scythe, etc. From
the L. secare are also ult. section,
sector, etc., bisect, dissect, exsect,
intersect, prosed, resect, trisect,
insect, scion, sickle, risk, etc.] I.
a. Cutting; dividing into two
parts.— Secant plane, a plane catting
a surface or solid,
II. n. 1. A line which cuts a
figure in any way. — 2. Specifi-
cally, in trigon., a line tToxa the
center of a circle through one ex-
tremity of an are (whose secant andAB is"the se'
it is said to be) to the tangent gg' °' '^' ""
from the other extremity of the
same arc ; or the ratio of this line to the radius ;
the reciprocal of the cosine. Abbreviated sec.
— Double secant. See double.— Secant of an angle, a
trigonometrical function, the reciprocal of the cosine,
etiual to the ratio of the liypoteinise to a leg of a right
triangle when these include the angle.— Secant of an
arc, a line drawn normally outward from one extremity
of the arc of a circle until it meets the tangent from the
other extremity. This use of the term was introduced in
1688 by the Danish mathematician Thomas Fluke.
secco (sek'ko), n. and a. [It., = F. sec, dry, <
L. siccus, dry.] I. n. In the fine arts, same as
tempera painting (which see, under tempera).
Also called fresco secco.
U, a. In music, unaccompanied ; plain. See
recitative.
secede (se-sed'), v. i. ; pret. and pp. seceded, ppr.
seceding. [< L. secedere, pp. secessiis, go away,
withdraw, < se-, apart, 4- cedere, go, go away :
see cede.] To go apart ; retire ; withdraw from
fellowship, communion, or association; sepa-
rate one's self from others or from some asso-
ciation; specifically, to withdraw from a po-
litical or religious organization : as, certain
ministers seceded from the Church of Scotland
about the year 1733 ; certain of the United
States of America attempted to secede and forpi
an independent government in 1860-61.
Seceder (se-se'd^r), «. K secede + -erl.] 1.
One who secedes or withdraws from commu-
nion or association with an organization. — 2.
[cap.] A member of the Secession Church in
Scotland. See Secession Church, under seces-
sion— Original Seceders, United Original Seceders,
religious denominations in Scotland, offshoots, more or
less remote, from branches of the Secession Church.
secern (se-sern'), V. t. and )'. [< L. seccrnere,
pp. secreius, simder, separate, < se-, apart, +
cenierc, divide, separate: see concern, decern,
discern, etc., and cf. secret, secrete.] 1. To sep-
arate.
A vascular and tubular system, with a secerning or sep-
arating cellular arrangement.
B. W. Richardson, Prevent. Med., p. 96.
2. To distinguish.
Averroes secerns a sense of titillatlon and a sense of
hunger and thirst. Sir W. Hamilton, Metaph., xxrii.
Secant.
The r.ittoof AB
to Al) is the secant
of the angle A ;
secern
8. Inphjisiol.. to secrete.
The pitiiite or mucus itcemed In the nose . . . ia not an
eicremeiititious but a laudable humour.
ArlniVinot, Aliments, vi.
secernent (se-s^r'nent), fl. and n. [< L. sc-
cerHen(t-)g, ppr. of seeernere, sunder, separate:
see secern.'] I. a. Separating; secreting, or
having the power of secreting.
TT n. 1. That which promotes secretion.
Daricin. — 2. In aiiat., an organ whose func-
tion is to secrete or separate matters from the
Wood.
secemment (se-s^m'meut), n. [< secern +
-iiieiit.] The process or act of separating or
secreting; secretion.
secesh (se-sesh'), H. and a. [Abbr. of secession-
ist, also, as n., of the pi. secessionists.] Seces-
sionist ; also, secessionists collectively. [Col-
loq. or slang, XJ. S.]
You are unloyal — you are wcesA against your birthright.
S. Bowles, In Merriam, I. 335.
secesher (sf-sesh'er), n. [< secesh + -er^.] A
secessionist. [CoUoq. or slang, U. S.]
Schoolin 's wut they can't seem to stan' ; they're tu con-
sarned high-pressure ;
An* knowiu' t" much might spile a boy for beiu' a Secesher,
Lowell, Biglow Papers, 2d ser., i.
secesst (se-ses'), n. [= Sp. seceso, < L. seccssits,
a going away, withdrawal, retirement, < sece-
dere, pp. secesstis, separate, withdraw: see se-
cede.] Retirement; retreat.
Silent secesse, waste solitude.
Dr. H. More, Philos. Poems, To the Reader.
secession (se-sesh'on), n. [< OF. secession, F.
secession = Sp. secesion = It. secessione, < L.
secessio(n-), a going aside, separation, schism,
< secedere, pp. secessus, go aside: see secede.]
It. The act of seceding or withdrawing; with-
drawal; retirement; seclusion; detachment;
separation.
No desire, or fear, or doubt, that troubles the air ; nor
any difficulty, past, present, or to come, that the imagi-
nation may not pass over without offence, in that sweet
taxmon [sleep]. Sterne, 'i'ristram Shandy, iv. 15.
But we must not take an abatement for an emptiness, a
aecesHon for a destitution. Reo. T. Adams, Works, II. 55.
2. Specifically, the act of seceding or with-
drawing from a religious or political organiza-
tion or association; formal withdrawal.
After the infallibility of the pope had been proclaimed
as a dogma by the Vatican council in 1871, several com-
munities as well as individuals declared their secession
from the Roman Church. They are called Old Catholics,
and they have selected a bishop who has been acknow-
ledged by most of the states. Encye. Brit, X. 469.
The doctrine of «ece«^n — the right of a State, or a com-
bination of States, to withdraw from the Union —was born
of that war [1812], . . . They (New England States] had a
convention [1814], famous under the name of Hartford, to
which the design of secession was imputed. . . . The ex-
istence of that convention raised the question of secession,
and presented the first instance of the greatest danger in
the working of the double form of our government — that
of a collision between a part of the States and the federal
government. T. H. Benton, Thirty Years, I. 4.
(a) In Scottish eccles. hist., the separation from the Estal>
lished Church of Scotland which originated in 1733 ; hence,
the whole body of the members of the Secession Church
(which see, below), (b) In U. S. hist., the attempted with-
drawal, in 1860-61, of eleven States from the Union. See
Cm\federate States, under confederate. — Ordinances of
secession, in U. S. hist., ordinances passed by conven-
tions of eleven Southern States, in 1860-61, declaring their
withdrawal from the Union.— Secession Church, a re-
ligious denomination in Scotland wliich took its rise in the
secession of four ministers (Ebenezer Erskine, William
Wilson, Alexander Moncrieff, and James Fisher) from the
Church of Scotland in 1733. A "breach" in 1747 resulted
in the formation of the Burgher and Antiburgher Synods
(see Anlibur</ker); but these were reunited in 1820 imder
the name of the United Secession Church, which in turn
united with the Relief Synod in 1847 to form the existing
United Presbyterian Church.— War Of secession, in
U. S. hist., the civil war which resulted from the attempted
withdi-awal, in 1860-61, of eleven Southern States from the
United States of America. It lasted a little over four
years, and terminated in the defeat of the seceding States,
with the attendant abolition of n';gro slaveryin the United
States. The seceding States were subsequently recon-
structed as States of the Union. Also called the ivar of
ttie rebellion, the rebellion, and the civU war.
secessionism (se-sesh'on-izm), n. [< secession
-¥■ -ism.] The doctrine of secession ; the prin-
ciple that affirms the right of a person or party
to secede, separate, or withdraw from a politi-
cal or religious organization, or the right of a
state to secede at its pleasure from a federal
. union.
secessionist (se-sesh'on-ist), n. and o. [= F.
sncesfAoniste ; as secession + -ist.] I, n. One
who maintains the principle of secessionism;
specifically, in U. S. hist., one who took part
in or sympathized with the attempt of the
Southern States, in 1860-65, to withdraw from
the Union ; an inhabitant of a Southern State
5452
who aided or sympathized with the secession
movement.
II. a. Of or pertaining to secession or seces-
sionists.
secessive (sf-ses'iv), a. [< L. secessus, pp. of
secedere, go' aside, + -ive.] Set apart; sepa-
rated ; isolated. Urquhart, tr. of Rabelais, i. 40.
[Rare.]
sechet, v. A Middle English assibilated form of
secWno (se-ke'no), «. [It.] See sequin.
Sechium (se'ki-uin), n. [NL. (P. Browne, 1756),
so called, it is said, because used to fatten hogs
in Jamaica ; prop. "Seeium, < Gr. OT?K(5f, a pen,
fold, inclosure.] A genus of gourds, of the or-
der Cucurbitaeeee and tribe Sicyoidese. it is char-
acterized by monoecious flowers with a saucer-shaped ca-
lyx marked with ten radiating ridges, a five- parted wheel-
shaped corolla, five free anthers (four with two flexuous
cells and the other with but one), a six-lobed stigma, and
a bristly and spindle-shaped one-celled ovary with a sin-
gle ovule which matures into a smooth woody roundish
seed with very large cotyledons. The only species, S. edule,
is an annual climbing vine with roughish stems, native of
the West Indies, cultivated in southern I^n-ope and trop-
ical America and Asia for its large edible fleshy fruit,
which is oblong or pear-shaped and conspicuously fur-
rowed. It bears thin heart-shaped and five-angled leaves,
tendrils with two to five branches, and small yellow flowers
in long racemes, the solitary fertile flower in the same ra-
ceme with the very immerous staminate ones. The fruits
are very prickly, green and shining, white within, and
about 4 inches long, and, like the large starchy roots, are
eaten boiled with meat or as a vegetable. They are called
vegetable pears in the British colonies. The large green
seed protrudes from one end and often genninates before
falling. See clieyote, the native name.
seckel (sek'el), n. [So called from its originat-
ing on the farm of Mr. Seckel, near Philadel-
phia.] A small delicious pear, ripening about
the end of October, but keeping good for a
short time only. These pears are often called
sickle-pears. Seej)earl, 2.
secleti »• [^ OF. secle, siecle, F. siecle = Pr.
secle, segle = Cat. sigle = Sp. siglo = Pg. se-
culo = It. secolo, an age, century, < L. sxcu-
lum, seculum, poet, syncopated seeclum, seclmn,
a race, generation, usually of time, a lifetime,
generation, an age, the age, the times, esp. a
hundred years, a century, LL. eecl. this world,
the world, worldliness : root uncertain. Hence
ult. secular, etc.] A century.
It is wont to be said that three generations make one
secle, or hundred years. Hammond, Pract. Catechism.
seclude (se-klod'), v. t. ; pret. and pp. secluded,
ppr. secluding. [< L. secludere, shut off, < se-,
apart, -I- claudere, shut: see close^.] 1. To
sfmt off or keep apart, as from company, so-
ciety, etc.; withdraw from society or into soli-
tude: as, to seclude one's self from the world.
Sundrie Hon^i: Lords had obtained a large grante from
y« king, for ye more northerly parts of that countrie, de-
rived out of ye Virginia patente, and wholy secluded from
their Govermente. Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 44.
Let Eastern tyrants from the light of heav'n
Seclude their bosom slaves. Thomson.
Miss Hepzibah, by secluding herself from society, has
lost all true relation with it, and is, in fact, dead.
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, xiv.
2t. To shut or keep out; exclude; preclude.
He has the doores and windowes open in the hardest
frosts, secluding only the snow.
Evelyn, Diary, Aug. 7, 1686.
Upon the opening of the Parliament, viz. letting in the
seduded members, he girt on his long rustic sword (longer
than ordinary). Sir William Wallermarching behind him.
Aubrey, Lives, William Prinne.
secluded (se-klo'ded), p. a. Separated from
others ; withdrawn from public observation ;
retired; living in retirement: as, a secluded
spot ; to pass a secluded life.
secludedly (se-klo'ded-li), adv. In a secluded
manner. Imp. Diet.
secluset (se-kl6s'), «• and n. [< L. seclnsus, pp.
of secludere, shut off: see seclude.] I. a. Se-
cluded; isolated. [Implied in the derived noun
secluseness. ]
U. n. Seclusion. [Rare.]
To what end did our lavish ancestors
Erect of old these stately piles of ours,
For threadbare clerks, and for the ragged muse.
Whom better fit some cotes of sad sechtse ?
Bp. Hall, Satires, II. U. 4.
seclusenesst (se-kl6s'nes), n. [< secluse + -ness.]
The state of being secluded from society ; se-
clusion. Dr. H. More. [Rare.]
seclusion (se-klo'zhon), n. [< ML. sechisio(n-),
< L. secludere, pp. seclustis, shut off: eee.seclude.]
1 . The act of secluding, or the state of being se-
cluded; a shutting out or keeping apart, or the
state of being shut out, as from company, socie-
ty, the world, etc. ; retirement ; privacy ; soli-
tude : as, to live in seclusion.
second
A place of sedimon from the external world.
Bp. Hordey, Works, II. xx.
2. A secluded place.
A seclusion, but seldom a solitude.
Hawthorne, Marble Faun, viii.
Sweet seclusions for holy thoughts and prayers.
Longfellow, Hyperion, L 8.
= Syn. 1. Betiretnent, Loneliness, etc. See solitude.
seclusionist (se-klo'zhon-ist), n. [< seclusion
+ -ist.] One who favors seclusion, or the prin-
ciple or policy of refusing intercourse with
others: as, Chinese sechisionists ; monkish se-
clusionists.
Throughout the length and breadth of the land [Japan]
it would pi-obably be difficult to find so much as one gen-
uine seclusionist or obstructionist.
Fortnightly Bev., N. S., XLI. 677.
If the progressionists had not seized the reins of gov-
ernment, the sedusionists would soon have had everything
their own way. The Atlantic, LVIII. 604.
seclusive (se-klo'siv), a. [< L. seclusus, pp. of
.'secludere, shut off (see seclude, secluse), + -ive.]
Disposed to shut out; inclined to dwell apart;
retiring, or affecting retirement, privacy, or
solitude; exclusive.
Charleston, . . . from its very foundation to the present
day, has ever been conservative ; it has also been seclusive,
in the sense that it has never had a large floating popula-
tion of mixed nationality like so many of our American
cities. Amer. Jour. Phitot., IX. 200.
secohm (sek'om), n. [< sec{ond)^, the unit of
time, + ohm, the unit of resistance.] A name
proposed for the unit of electrical self-induc-
tion. See quotation under secohmmeter.
secohnuneter (sek'6m-me-ter), n. [< secohm
+ Gr. f/irpov, measure.] An instrument for
measuring the coefficient of electrical self-in-
duction .
As the first three letters in second are common to the
name in English, French, German, Italian, »fcc., and ohm
Is also common, we venture to suggest " secohm " as a
provisional name, and our instrument we will therefore
call a secohmmeter.
W. E. Ayrton and J. Perry, Nature, XXXVI. ISl.
second^ (sek'und), a. and «. [< ME. second,
secound, secund, < OF. (and F.) second = Pr.
segon = Sp. Pg. segundo = It. secondo, second,
< L. secundus, following, next in order, second,
also of water, winds, etc., following, i. e. fa-
vorable to the vessel, hence in general favor-
able, propitious ; with gerundive suffix -undus, <
.scqui {■\/ scqu, sec), follow : see sequent. Cf. .lec-
oruft.] 1. a. 1. Next after the first in order,
place, time, rank, value, quality, etc. : an ordi-
nal numeral : as, the second day of the month ;
the second Yolinne of a book; the second audi-
tor of the treasury ; the second table of the law.
Jhesu dide eft this secunde tokene, whanne he cam fro
Judee into Galilee. Vi'yclif, John iv. 54.
And he slept and dreamed thesecond time. Gen. xli. 5.
A secimd fear through all her sinews spread.
Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 903.
Hence — 2. Secondary; not primary; subordi-
nate ; in music, lower in pitch, or rendering a
part lower in pitch: as, second fiddle; second
soprano.
I shall not speak superlatively of them [the laws of
the land], lest I be suspected of partiality in regard of my
own profession ; but this I may truly say, they are second
to none in the Christian World.
Bacon, Advice to Villiers.
3. Other; another: as, a second Daniel; his
second self.
You have bestow'd on me a secofnd life.
For which I live your creature.
Beau, and Fl., Custom of the Country, iv. 1.
As mine own shadow was this child to me,
A second self, far dearer and more fair.
Slielley, Revolt of Islam, ii. 24.
There has been a veneration paid to the writings and to
the memory of Confucius which is without any second ex-
ample in the history of our race. Brougham.
4. Favorable; helpful; aiding or disposed to
aid.
Nay, rather, good ray lords, be second to me ;
Fear you his tyrannous passion more, alas.
Than the queen's life? Shak., W. T., ii. 3. 27.
5. In math., noting a function derived from the
performance of the same operation twice in
succession : thus, the second difference is the
difference of the difference ; so second differen-
tials, derivatives, differential coefficients, etc.
— Atsecond hand. See ftcmrf.— Proposition of second
adjacent. See nd/nc«»(.— Second act, that act by wliich
a power is exercised. See energy, 4. — Second advent,
cabin, cause, etc. See the nouns.— Second base. See
base-ball. — Second childhood, a condition uf mental
weakness, like that of a child, which often accompanies
physical weakness in the final period of old age.
After knocking and calling for a time an old man made
his appearance. He was in his second childhood, but knew
enough to usher us into the kitchen, and asked us to wait
for the landlord's arrival.
B. Taylor, Northern 'I'lavel, p. 415.
I
Two-handed Sword, with Second
Guard a/ tsth century.
See
second
Second coming, i» theol., the second coniinc of Thrist; the
gecoiiii advent. Second controller. See coiitriUler.-l.—
Second cousin, see cougin^, 2.— Second curvature.
See nircatuTe.- Second-dav, -Monila.v, the second day of
the week: so called li.v members of the .■<cieiety of Friends.
— Second death, "see rfralA. — Second dentition, in
diphyodont mammals, the set of teeth which replaces the
first or mill< dentition ; the permanent dentition of any
such mammal ; also, the periixl during which this denti-
tion is acquired, in man ranging from the sixth to the
twentieth year, or later, when the last molar (wisdom-
tooth) comes into functional position. — Second dis-
tant^, in painiiiiff, the part of a picture between the fore-
ground and baclcground.— Second ditch, energy, ex-
treme. seethenouns.-Secondflgureof syllogism. See
jiifurf, !i.— Second flour, fluxion, furrows, intention,
inversion, Iron, Joint,
man, matter, notion, ped-
al, -'^ee the nouns. — Second
guard, an additional or out-
er guard of a sword, (a) In
the two-handed swopd, or
spadone, a pair of hooks or
projections slightly curved
toward the point,forged with
the blade itself, and separat-
ing the heel from the sharp-
ened part of the blade. See
tpadoiie. (6) In rapiers of
the sixteenth and seven-
teenth centuries, the outer
defense beyond the cross-
guard, formed of a ring sur-
rounding the blade, a cross,
pair of shells, or the like-
Second nerve. Same as
optic txrrvt (which see, under
<^i<:).— Second position.
See pti^tioH, i and 10. — Sec-
ond probation, a second
trial which some theologians
suppose will be given in an-
other life to those who have
refused t*) repent and accept
the gospel in this life. See
prohaiuin. — Second scent,
shift, sight. See the nouns,
— Second substance,agen-
eral sulistance ; athinggen-
erally considered, as man in
general.— To get one's second Iireatli or wind.
breath.— To play second flddle. See fiddle.
II. H. 1. The one next after the first in order,
place, time, rank, value, quality, or impor-
tance; that one of any two considered rela-
tively which follows or comes immediately af-
ter the other.
TIs great pity that the noble Moor
■■should hazard such a place as his own teeond
With one of an ingraft Inflrroity.
Shak., OtheUo, IL S. 143.
2. Inmumc: (a) A tone on the next or second dia-
tonic degree above or below a given tone ; the
next tone in a diatonic series. (6) The interval
between any tone and a tone on the next de^e
above or below, (c) The harmonic combina-
tion of two tones at the interval thus describiMl.
(rf) In a scale, the second tone from the bot-
tom : solmizated re. The typical Inlenral of the sec-
ond is that between tlie first and second tones of the
major scale, which Is acoustically represented by the ra-
tio H : 9. Such a second Is called mckjor, and also the great-
er oraetUe major tecand, to distinguish It from the second
between the second and third tones of the scale, whose
ratio is 9 : 10, and which is called the lem or grave major
eecond. Both of these contain two half-steps. A second
a half-step shorter than the above Is called mlnar; and
one a half -step longer is called migma^ltd. All kinds of
seconds are classed as dltsonaneea. BoUi varieties of
major second are also called vheU Itp*, vhaU tana, or
simply lima; and a minor leiynid Is also nlled a kalf-ttep
or snmlon«. See inteml. (e) A second voice or
instrument — that is, one whose part is subordi-
nate to or lower than another of the same kind ;
speciflcally, a second violin or second soprano;
popularly, an alto. (/) Same as seeondo.
Sometimes he sings tecond to her, sometimes she sings
9ectmd to him ; and it Is a fragmentary kind of thing — a
line, or a verse, or merely the humming of the tnne.
W. Btaek, In Far Lochaber, 111.
3. pi. That whieh is of second grade or quality ;
hence, any inferior or baser matter.
Take thou my oblation, poor hot tree^
Which is not mix'd with teeandt.
Shak. , Sonnets, czxv.
Speciflcally— (a) A coarse kind of flour, or the bread made
from It.
We buys a pound of bread, that *s two-pence farthing —
best tecond*, and a farthing's worth of dripping.
MayheiTy l.ondon Labour and London Poor, II. 663.
(6) Acetic acid made from acetate of lime.
4. In haM'-lmll, n&rae SM second base. See base-
ball.— 5. Another; another person; an in-
ferior.
He which setteth a aecond in the place of God shall go«
Into hell. Ai. 31.
The Koran, trans. In Purchas's I'llgrlmage, p. 2.M.
6. One who assists and supports another;
specifically, one who attends a principal in a
duel or a pugilistic encounter, to advise or aid
him, and see that all proceedings between the
J combatants are fair, and in accordance with
B453
the rules laid down for the duel or the prize-
ring.
I'll be your gecond with all my heart — and If you should
get a quietus, you may command ine entirely.
Sheridan, The Rivals, v. S.
The seconds left off fighting, and went to the assistance
of their principals ; and it was then, it was averred, that
Gen. Macartney treacherously stabbed the Duke.
J. Ashton, Social Life in Eeign of Queen Anne, II. 196.
7t. Aid; help; assistance.
This tecond from his mother will well urge
Our late design, and spur on Ctesar's rage.
B. Jonson, Sejanns, ii. 2.
Second of exchange. Sec first of exchange, under ex-
change.
second! (sek'und), V. t. [< OF. (and F.) secon-
der = Pr. segondar = Cat. sectindar = Sp. Pg.
gegiindar = It. secondare (= D. sekonderen = G.
teciindiren = Dan. sekiindere = Sw. sektindera),
second, < L. secundare. direct favorably, adapt,
accommodate, favor, further, second, < secun-
dus, following, favorable, propitious : see sec-
ond^, a.'] 1. To follow up; supplement.
You some permit
To second Ills with ills, each elder worse.
And make them dread it, to the doers' thrift.
Shak., Cymbellne, v. 1. 14.
They intend to second thir wicked Words, if ever they
liave Power, with more wicked Deeds.
Milton, Free Commonwealth.
2. To support ; aid ; forward ; promote ; back,
or back up ; specifically, to assist in a duel.
We have supplies to second our attempt.
Shak., 2 Men. IV., iT.2.45.
Come, follow me, assist me, second me !
B. Jonson, Poetaster, v. 1.
It Is a mortifying circumstance, which greatly perplexes
many a painstaking philosopher, that nature often refuses
to second his most profound and elaborate efforts.
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 40.
3t. In mvsic, to sing second to.
Hoarse Is my voice with crying, else a part
Sure would I beare, though rude ; but, as I may,
With sobs and sighes I second will thy song.
L. Bryskctt, Pastorall .£glogue.
4. In legislative and deliberative bodies, pub-
lic meetings, etc., formally to express approval
and support of (a motion, amendment, or pro-
posal), as a preliminary to further discussion or
to formal adoption. — 6. In the British Koyal
Artillery and Koyal Engineers, to put into tem-
porary retirement, as an oflScer when he accepts
ci\il employment under the crown. Hels seconded
afterslxmontbsof such employment —that is, he loses mili-
tary pay, bnt retains his rank, seniority, eto., in his corps.
After being seconded for ten years, he must elect to return
to military duty or to retire alt^jgether, (Among military
men generally pronounced sv-kond't;d or s<'-kund't;d.)
second- (sek'und), n. [= D. sekondf,<. P. seconde
= Pr. .segonda = 8p. Pg. segundo = It. seetmdo
= G. sekunde = Icel. sekunda = Dan. 8w. sckund,
<ML.»ec«nrfa,a8econd, abbr. of niiiiHtewcMBrffl,
'second minute,' i. e. second small division,
disting^shed from minuirt prima, ' first minute,'
prime (see minute'^) ; fem. of L. seeundus, sec-;
ond: see second^. Cf. prime.'] The sixtieth
part of a minute, (a) The sixtieth part of a minute
of time — that Is, the second division, next to the hour;
hence, loosely, a very short time, (b) The sixtieth part of
a minute of a degree — that Is, the second division, next to
the degree. A degree of a circle and an hour of time are
each divided Into 60 minntea, and each minute Is divided
Into 60 seconds, usually marked 80" for subdivisions of the
degree, and 60s. for seconds of time. See degree, 8 {b\ and
viinute'^, a.
8econd-adventiBt(8ek'und-a<rven-ti8t), w. One
who l>olievos in the second coming of Christ to
establish a personal kingdom on the earth ; apre-
tnillenariaii ; more specifically, one of an organ-
ized body of such believers, embracing several
branches, with some differences in creed and
orKuiii/.iition. See second advent, under advent.
secondarily (sek'un-da-ri-li), adv. [< ME. sec-
undarilie; < secondary + -ly^.] 1. In a secon-
dary or subordinate manner; not primarily or
originally.
These atoms make the wind primarily tend downwards,
though other accidental causes impel them seeondarHy to
a sloping motion. Sir K. Digby.
2. Secondly; in the second place.
Baymonde swere agayn seeundarUie
That nener no day forswome wolde he )>e.
Bom. qf Partenay (E. E. T. S.), I. 512.
First apostles, aeeondarfly prophets, thirdly teachers.
1 Cor. xii. 2».
8econdarine88(sek'un-da-ri-nes),»i. Secondary
or Mulicirdiiiate character, quality, or position.
The primariness and tecondarinas of the perception.
A'orrw.
Full of a girl's sweet sense of secondariness to the ot>-
Ject of her love. The Cmtury, XXVII. 70.
secondary
secondary (sek'un-da-ri), a. and «. [Early
mod. E. secondarie, secundarie, < ME. secun-
duric (in adv.); = Gr. secunddr = Sw. sekundiir
= Dan. sekuudser, < OF. secondaire, F. sccon-
daire = Pr. sccundari = Sp. Pg. secundaria =
It. secondario, < L. secundarius, of or belonging
to the second class, second-class, second-rate,
inferior, < secundics, second: see second^.'] I.
a. 1. Of a second class or group; second, not
merely as so counted, but in its own nature ;
appropriately reckoned as second ; fulfilling a
function similar to that which is primary, but
less important: opposed to primary ov princi-
pal. That which is secondary, properly speaking, differs
from anything subsidiary or subordinate in that the latter
only serves to enable the primary to fulfil its function,
while the secondary thing fulfils a similar but less impor-
tant function. Thus, a subsidiary purpose is a means to
an ultimate end; but a secondary purpose or end Is a
weaker motive reinforcing a stronger one.
Qualities calde elementarie,
Knowne by the names of first & secundarie.
Times' Whistle (E. E. T. S.), p. 117.
The supreme power can never be said to be lodged In the
original body of electors, but rather in those assemblies
of secondary or tertiary electors who chose the represen-
tative. Brougham.
Hence — 2. Subordinate; inferior.
The work
. Of secondary hands by task transferr'd
From Father to his Son. Milton, P. L., v. 854.
3. In ornith. : (a) Of the second order, rank,
row, or series,, between the primary and the ter-
tiary, as remiges or flight-feathers. See cuts
under covert, n., 6, and bird^. (6) Pertaining
to the secondaries : as, the secondary coverts.
These are the largest and most conspicuous of the tec-
trices of a bird's wing, and are divided into greater, me-
dian or midtlie, and lesser. See cut under covert, n., 6.
4. In mineral., subsequent in origin ; produced
by chemical change or by mechanical or other
means after the original mineral was formed :
said of cleavage, twinning, etc.: as, the secon-
dary twinning sometimes developed in pyroxene
ami other species by pressure. — 5. [_cnp.'\ Inpa-
leon., same as Mesozoic Secondary acids, acids
derived from organic adds by the sulistitution of two equiv-
alents of an alcoholic radical for two of hydrogen. — Sec-
ondary alcohol. See alcohol. :!.- Secondary ampu-
tation, amputation of a limb, etc.. performed after inflam-
matory complication or suppuration has set in. — Secon-
dary battery, in dect. see tmiimj. — Secondary caplt-
ulum, in (n>t., one of the six smaller cells Iwrne by each
of the eigiitcapitula in the antheridinm of the Characeee.
- SecOndaiT cause, a partial cause producing a small
part of the effect; also, a less principal cause ; one which
aids the principal cause to prodtlce the effect, as a pro-
egiinienal or procatarctical caU8e,ornn instrument.— Sec-
ondary caustic. See caxiftic. — Secondary charge, in
her.. Si small charge of which a number are borne upon
the field, originally as a mark of cadency and not of the
achievement of the head of the family : these have gener-
ally decreased in number, sometimes to six or even fewer;
but In some cases the escutcheon remains covered with
them, and they are then blazoned san$ nombre or semi.
- Secondary circle. See circk. - Secondary coll, that
coll of an Inductoriuni in which the secondary currents are
Induced. It Is of fine or coarse wire, and long or short,
according as the potential of the induced current is to be
higher or lower than that of the primary. See induction, 6.
-Secondary colors, in a fanciful theory of colors for-
merly in some vogue, colors produced by themixtureof any
two primary colors in equal propi>rtions. as green, formed
of blue and yellow, orange, of red and yellow, or purple,
of red and blue. All this, however, is now discarded as in-
consistent with fact ; since yellow Is not a primary color,
themixtureof blue and yellow is never more than greenish,
and often pink, etc. Secondary consciousness, reflec-
tive conseiousne.Hs; eoiiseii)Usness trained to self-observa-
tion. - Secondary conveyance, in taw, same as deriva-
tive conveyance. See conrfj/aiice. — Secondary creditor.
See (T«W/»'. — Secondary current, in eiec'., a momentary
current Induceil in a closed circuit l>y a current of elec-
tricity passing througb the same om contiKUons circuit
at the beginning and also at tile end of the pjissage of the
primitive current.- Secondary deviation, dial. See
the nouns.- Secondary education. See education, 1.
- Secondary embryo-sacs, in hot., certain chambers
within the enibryo-sae of cyniiiosiierms within which
the female elements are directly develojjed. See corpus-
cle, ;<.- Secondary end. See def. 1— Secondary en-
largement (of mineral fragments), the growth of grains
of quartz, feldspar, hornblende, etc., as in a fragmental
rtK'k, by gradual deposition of the material about the ori-
ginal fragment, the newer i>arts (secondary (|Uartz, etc.)
ordinarily having the same cryslallograjihic orientation
as the old : in this way conii)leteiMiartz-crystals are some-
times formed from rounded graiiis in a sandstone.— Sec-
ondary evidence. See tfti'rfenrc. ■ Secondary fever, a
febrile condition which recurs in eertiiiii iilfections. as in
the maturation of smallpox.- Secondary hemorrhage,
hemorrhage occurring several days after a wound or op-
eration.-Secondary llher, in («>(., liber formed on the
outer face of a lil)erbnndle.— Secondary linkage, me-
ridian, motion. Sec the nouns. — Secondary myceli-
um, in hot., certain rhizttid attachments developed from
the base of a sporophore, which are soinewliat like the
normal mycelium of the species. We /j'nTi/.— Secondary
plane, in crystal., any plane on a crystal which is not one
of theprima'ry planes. — Secondary planet. See planet,
1.— Secondary prothallium, in hot., the supplementary
or second iirothalliuni develoi>ed from the mucilaginous
Srotoplasin which liils the basal part of the nnicrospore
I the SelagineUeae. It is frequently separated from the
secondary
true prothallium by a diaphragm. The secondary pro-
thallium is called the endospertn by some writers.— ^ Sec-
ondary pulse- wave, see ptuse-wave.-SecoTi6.gLry
QUall^es. (o) In the Arii^totelian phUos,, derivcii qual-
ities of bodies : that is to say. all except hot and cold,
wet and drj". which are the primary qualities of the ele-
ments —fire, earth, water, and air. The secondary qualities
are properly fourteen in number — namely, heavy and
light, dense and rare, tliick and thin, hard and soft, sticky
and friable, rough and smooth, coherent and slippery.
Color, smell, and taste are also secondary qualities. (6)
In modem phUos., since Galileo (who in 1623 calls the
qualities known as primarj- "primiaccidenti ") and Boyle
(who in 1666 uses the term " secondary qualities, if I may
BO call them," in precisely the modern signiticationX af-
fections of botlies; affective, patible, sensible qualities;
imputed qualities ; qualities of bodies relative to the or-
gans of sense, as color, taste, smell, etc. : opposed to those
characters (called priinary qimlUus, though properly
speaking they are not qualities at all) which we cannot
imagine bodies as wanting. Sometimes called secondary
properties.
Such qualities— which in truth are nothing in the objects
themselves, but powers to pmduce various sensations in
us by theii- primar>' qualities, i. e. by the bulk, figure,
texture, and motion of their insensible parts, as colours,
sounds, tastes, etc. — these I call secomiartj (pialities.
Locke, Human Understanding, II. viii. § 10.
Secondary queen-posts. See qiteen-pont. — Secondary
redistribution, a redistribution among the parts of an
animal body and among the relative motions of the parts ;
an alteration of structure or function going on within the
body. — Secondary root, in hot. See roo(i.— Secondary
sexual characters. See aarMa/.— Secondary spores,
in &o(., slender branches produced upon the prumycelium
of certain fungi, as TUIetia caries, which give rise to
small sporidia. They are the same as the »poridia of De
Bary. — Secondary stems, in hot., branches; the rami-
fications of the stem.— Secondary strata, in geol., the
Mesozoic strata. See Mesozoic. — Secondaiy syphilis.
See *ypAtiw. — Secondary tints, in paintiufj, tnits of a
subdued kind, such as grays. — Secondary tone, in inn-
sic, same as harmonic. — Secondary truth, demonstra-
tive truth.— Secondary use. See t/^e. — Secondary
wood, in hot., wood formed on the inner face of a liber-
bundie.
n, ».; -pi. secondaries {-v\z). 1. A delegate
or deputy; one who acts in subordination to
another; one who occupies a subordinate or in-
ferior position ; specifically, a cathedral digni-
tary of the second rank, such as a minor canon,
precentor, singing clerk, etc. The application
of the title varies in different cathedrals.
I am too high-bom to be propertied,
To be a secondary at control.
Shak., K. John, v. 2. 79,
2. A thing which is of second or secondary
position or importance, or is dependent on a
primary: said of circles, planets, etc.
A man's wages, to prevent pauperism, should include,
besides present subsistence, what Dr. Chalmers has called
his secondares.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II. 265.
Specifically — 3. A secondary remex or flight-
feather; one of the large quills of a bird's wing
which are seated on the forearm, and intervene
between the primaries and the tertiaries. They
vary in number from six (in humming-birds) to
forty or more (in albatrosses). See cuts under
ftirrfi and covert. — 4. In entom., one of the pos-
terior or hind wings of an insect, especially of a
butterfly or moth. See cut under Cirrophanus. —
5, [c«p.] In f/co?., that part of the series of fossi-
liferous formations which lies between the Pri-
mary or Paleozoic and the Tertiary or Ctenozoie.
Sune as Mesozoic, a word introduced by John Phillips after
PcUeozoie had become current Paleozoic and Mesozoic are
now terms in general use; but Cxnozoic, coiTesponding
to Tertiary, is much less common. Secondary as at pres-
ent used by geologists has a quite different meaning
from that which it originally had when introduced by
Lehmann, about the middle of the eighteenth century.
According to his classification, all rocks were divided
into primitive, secondary, and alluvial. This classifica-
tion was improved by Werner, who intercalated a "Transi-
tion series" between the primary and the secondary. See
Mesozoic, Paleozoic, Tertiary, and Transition.
6. In meteor, y a subsidiary cyclonic circulation,
generally on the border of a primary cyclone,
accompanied by rain, thunder-storms, and
2a9
Typical Arrangement of Isobars in a Secondary.
squalls: indicated on a weather-map by tlio
bulging of an isobar toward the region of
higher pressure.
second-best (sek'und-best), a. Next to the
best; of second quality; best except one.
5464
Item — I give unto my wife my second-best bed, with the
furniture.
Studc., Last Will and Testament (Life, xiii., Knight).
I come into the second-besl parlour after breakfast with
my books . . . and a slate. Dickens, David Copperfield, iv.
It is one of the prime weaknesses of a democracy to be
satisfied with the secotid-best if it appear to answer the
purpose tolerably well, and to be cheaper — as it never is
in the long run. Loipetl, Oration, Harvard, Nov. 8, 1886.
To come off second-best, to be defeated ; get the worst
of a contest. [Humorous.]
second-class (sek'uud-klas), a. 1. Belonging
to the class next after the first: specifically
noting railway-carriages, steamer accommo-
dations, and the like: as, second-class passen-
gers; a secoH(f-c/a4"« ticket. — 2. Inferior, in any
sense : as, a second-class hotel Second-class
matter, in the postal system of the United states, mail-
matter consisting of newspapers and other periodical pub-
lications, issued at stated intervals, and sent from the ofllce
of pul>licatioii.
second-cut (sek'und-kut), a. In hardware,
noting files of a grade between bastard files
and smooth files.
seconde (se-kond'), n. [F., < *eeoMrf, second :
see second^.] hn fencing, a parry, thrust, counter,
etc., on the fencing-floor. Probably it was at first
the second defensive position assumed by a swordsman
after drawing his weapon from the scabbard held in his
left hand. Also spelled 8e(/oo7i. Seepnme, n., 5.
We'll go through the whole exercise : carte, tierce, and
seffoon. Colman, Jealous Wife, iv.
seconder (sek'un-der), n. [< second'^ + -erl.]
One who seconds ; one who approves and sup-
ports what another attempts, affirms, or pro-
poses: as, the seconder of a motion.
second-hand^ (sek'und-hand), a. and n. [<
second hand, in the phrase at second hand (which
see, under hand).] J. a. 1. Received from an-
other or a previous owner or user, (a) Notoriginal.
Some men build so mucli upon authorities they have
but a second-hand or implicit knowledge. Locke.
Those manners next
That fit us like a nature second-hand ;
Which are indeed the manners of the great.
Tennyson^ Walking to the Mail.
(6) Not new ; having been used or worn : as, a second-hand
book ; second-hand clothes.
My bricks, being second-hand ones, required to be
cleaned with a trowel. Thoreau, Walden, p. 259.
2. Dealing in second-hand goods: aa, a second-
hand bookseller.
To point out, in the first instance, the particulars of the
greatest of the Second-Hand trades — that in Clothing.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II. 52ti.
Second-hand witness, a witness who can give only Iiear-
say evidence.
II. )(. Matter derived from previous users.
I expected to find some hints in the good second-hand
of a respectable clerical publication.
De Morgan, Budget of Pai-adoxes, p. 217.
second-hand^ (sek'und-hand), )(. [< ,<iecond^
-\- hand.'] A hand for marking seconds on a
clock or watch.
secondinet, n. An obsolete form of secundine.
secondly (sek'und-li), adv. [< second^ + -ly^.]
In tlie second place.
First, she hath disobeyed the law of the most High ; and,
secondly, she hath trespassed against her own husband.
Ecclus. xxiii. 23.
second-mark (sek'und-miirk), «. The charac-
ter ", used in mathematics as the mark for a
second of are, in architecture as the mark for
inches, and as the sign for a second of time.
The last use is unusual and objectionable.
Secondo (se-kon'do), n. [It. : see .lecond^.] In
music, the second performer or lower part in a
duet, especially a pianoforte duet : opposed to
prima. Also second.
second-rate (sek'und-rat), a. and n. [< second
rate, in the phrase of the second rate.] I. a.
Of the second rate, as to size, rank, quality, im-
portance, or estimation; as, a second-rate ship;
second-rate works; a second-rate actor.
II. n. Anything that is rated or classed as
second.
These so-called second-rates are more powerful than the
best ironclads the French have afloat.
British Quarterly Rev., LVIL 113. (Enajc. Diet.)
second-sighted (sek'und-si"ted), a. Possess-
ing the faculty of second sight; gifted with
second sight. See second sight, under sight.
Then second-siffhted Sandy said,
" We'll do nae good at a', Willie."
Up and War Them A', WUUe (Child's Ballads, VII. 26.'')).
A peculiar oi-ganisation, a habit of haunting the desert,
and of fasting, combine to produce the inyanga or second-
siifhted man [among the Zulus). Eneyc. lirit., II. 204.
seconds-pendulum (sek'undz-pen'''di'i-lum), «.
A peiiduhnn whicli makes one oscillation per
second of mean time. See pendulum.
secret
seconic (se-kon'ik), n. A conic section. Cayley.
secoundelyt, adv. A Middle English form of
secoiidhj.
secret, secreet, «• andw. [ME., < OF. secre, also
.secret, ^E. secret: see secret.] I. a. Secret.
Bote vndur his secre seal Treuthe sende a lettre.
And bad hem bugge boldely what hem best lykede.
Piers Plomnan (A), viii. 25.
Be not wroth, though I the ofte praye
To holden secre swich an heigh matere.
Chaucer, Troilus, iiL 286.
II. «.- A secret, or secrets collectively; a
matter or matters of secrecy.
This false theef , this somonour, quod the frere,
Iladde alwey bawdes redy to his hond
As any hank to lure in Engelond,
That tolde hym al the secree that they knewe.
Chaucer, Friar's Tale, 1. 41.
secret, secreet, adv. [ME., < seo-e, secree, a.]
Secretly.
It be doon secre that noo man see.
Palladius, Husboudrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 20.
secrecy (se'ki'e-si), n. [Formerly also secrecie,
sccresy; <secre(t) + -cy.] 1. The state of be-
ing secret or concealed; secret, secretive, or
clandestine manner, method, or conduct ; con-
cealment from the observation or knowledge
of others: as, to carry on a design in secrecy ;
to secure secrecy.
This to me
In dreadful secrecy impart they did.
Shak., Hamlet, i. 2. 207.
Most surprising things having been managed and
brought about by them [the TurljsJ, in Cairo, with the
utmost policy and secrecy.
Pococke, Description of the East, I. 178.
2. Privacy ; retirement ; seclusion ; solitude.
Thou in thy secresy, although alone.
Best with thyself accompanied, seek'st not
Social communication. Milton, P. L., viii. 427.
3. Ability to keep a secret or secrets ; fidelity
in keeping secrets; strict silence regarding
matters intended to be kept secret.
Constant you are.
But yet a woman ; and, for secrecy.
No lady closer. Shak., 1 Hen. IV., ii. 4. 112.
4. Secretive habits; secretiveness ; lack of
openness.
The man is peremptory and secret : his secret vexes me.
Charlotte Bronte, Shirley, xviii.
5t. A secret; also, secrets collectively.
The subtle-shining secrecies
Writ in the glassy margents of such books.
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 101.
In nature's infinite book of secrecy
A little I can read. Shak., A. and C, i. 2. 9.
secreet, a., n., and adv. See secre.
secrelyt, secreelyt, adv. [ME., < secre, secree,
+ -ly'^. Doublet of secretly.] Secretly; in
secret.
I can hyde and hele thynges that men oghte secreely to
hyde. Chaucer, Tale of Melibeus.
For Melusine, the woman off Fary,
Which thar-after cam full many a nyght
Into the chambre right full secrely
Wher nourished was Terry suetly to ryght.
Rom. of Partenay (E. E. T. S.), L 4019.
secrenesset, »• [< ME. secrenesse, < secre +
-ncss. VioabXet of secretness.] Secrecy ; privacy.
Thou biwreyest alle secrenesse.
Chaucer, Man of Law's Tale, 1. 675.
secret (se'kret), a. and n. [< ME. secret, secrete,
.lelcret, usually secre, secree, < OF. secret, secre,
F. secret = Pr. secret = Sp. secreto = Pg. secreto,
segredo = It. secreto, segreto, secret; as a noun,
< OF. secret, secre, etc., m., a secret, secrete,
secrette, segrette, a secret place, a cap of fence,
etc. ; < L. seeretus, separated, removed, solitary,
lonely, hidden, concealed, secret; in neuter as
a noun, secretiim, retirement, solitude, secrecy,
also a thing hidden, a mystery, secret, secret
conversation; pp. of secernere, separate, set
apart, < se-, apart, + ccrnere, separate : see
secern. Cf. secre, secree, and secrete, v.] I. a.
1. Set or kept apart; hidden; concealed, (a)
Kept from the knowledge of others ; concealed from the
notice or knowledge of all except the person or persons
concerned ; private ; not revealed.
Ye shal not dyscouer the counsell of the bretherynhod
or of the crafte, that ye have knowlych of, that shold be
sekret withyn ouer-self e. English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 31 7.
They will send the enemye seerett advertisement of all
their purposes. Spenser, State of Ireland.
I have a secret errand to thee, O king. Judges iii. ID.
Nor shall he smile at thee in secret thought.
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 1066.
Cleanse, O cleanse my crafty soul
From secret crimes. Quarter, Emblems, i., Invoc.
(6) Privy ; not decent to be exposed to view.
He smote the men of the city, both small and great, and
they had eraerods in their secret parts. 1 Sam. v. 9.
secret
(c) Occnlt ; mysterious : not seen ; not apparent : as, the
secret operations of physical causes.
Physic, through which secret art ... I have,
Together with my practice, made familiar
To me and to my aid the beat infusions
That dwell in Tcgetives, in metals, stones.
Shak., Pericles, UL 2. 32.
2. Affording privacy; retired; secluded; pri-
vate.
Abide in a teeret place, and bide thyself. 1 Sam. xix. 2.
3. Close, cautious, or discreet in speech, or as
regards the disclosure of one's own or another's
a&irs; faithful in keeping secrets; not given
to blabbing or the betrayal of confidence; se-
cretive; reticent.
I bane founde yow, in emest and in game,
Att all tymes full tecrtte and full trew.
Oenerydet (E. E. T. S.X 1. 720.
Be true and meret, thou shalt want no gold.
Marlom, Jew of Malta, iL 2.
He was . . . very frailly built, with a singular tall fore-
head and a tecret eye.
K. L. SUvetmm, Master of Ballantrae, p. 197.
Letters secret. See letter^ — Secret block, a block or
pulley open at only two orifices to permit the rope to be
passed round the sheave. Its use is to prevent other ropes
from being accidentally drawn into the score of the block.
See cut under Woe*.— Secret dOVetalL See dovetail.—
Secret serrice, a department of govei-nment service con-
cerned with the detection of counterfeiting and other
offenses, civil or political, committed or threatened by per-
sons who operate in secrecy. =8jnQ. Iand2. Secret, Latent,
Private, Covert, Occult, Ctandettirie, bidden, concealed, cov-
ered, shrouded, veiled, obscure, recondite, close, unknown.
The last four of the italicized words, and in their primary
sense the participles, eipreas intentional concealment ; the
others do not. Secret is the most general, but expresses
complete concealment. LaterU, literally lying concealed,
may mean hidden from those most concerned : as, I had a
latent sense, feeling, or desire ; hence its appropriateness
in the expression latent heal. Private (as, it was kept
strictly private) emphasizes the fact that some know the
thing in queatiuo, while others are kept in ignorance.
Cocerf — that Is, eowml — suggests something nnderhaod
or well put out of sight : as, a eaeert motive, sneer, irony:
it Is opposed to fnmk at avowed. Occult suggests mystery
that cannot be penetrated ; as, the oeevlt operations of
nature; oceuU aria, Clandettine Is now always used for
studious or artful concealment of an objectionable or dis-
honorable sort ; as, a dandeatine correspondence : it ap-
plies especially to action.
H. n. 1. Something studiously hidden or con-
cealed; a thing kept from general knowledge;
what is not or should not be revealed.
A talebearer revealeth secret*. Prov. xL 1.3.
It is a kind of sicknesse for a FTenclmuui to keep a se-
cret long, and all the drugs of Egypt cannot get It out of
a Spaniard.
BoteOl, rorreine Trarell (1660i rep. I80»), p. 31.
She had no secret places to keep anything in, nor bad
she ever known what it waa to have a tecret In ail her In.
n<«ent life. Mrs. OHphant, Poor Gentleman, xllL
2. A hidden, onrevealed, unexplained, or unex-
plainable thing; a mystery.
The merti* of natore
Have not more gift in tacltnmlty.
S*ak.,T. andC, Iv. 2. 74.
3. The key or principle by the application of
which some difficulty is solved, or that which
is not obvious is explained or made clear; hid-
den reason or explanation.
At length critlca condescended to inquire where the as.
eret of so wide and so durable ajpopularity lajr.
Maeaulay, Hist. Bng., vU.
The tecret of this trick Is rerv simple.
B. W. Lam, Modem EgyptUns, n. 108.
4. Secrecy. [Kare.]
Letters under strict lecret were at once written to blah-
ops selected from various parts of Eorope.
Cord. JToimAw.
5. In liturgicii, a variable prayer in the Roman
and some other Latin liturgies, said secretly
(see KKcrcUij) by the celebrant after the offer-
tory, etc., and immediately before the preface.
After saying to himself a prayer, which was hence called
the Secret, the bishop raised his voice, and began the
" Preface.'' Rude, Ihurch of our Fathers, IIL IL S&.
6. pi. The parts of the bo<ly which propriety
rp«iuire8 to be concealed. — 7. A concealed
piece or suit of armor. Persons fearing assassi-
nation sometimes wear such defenses beneath
their ordinary dress.
He . . . wore under his Jerkin a aeervf; or coat of chain-
mall, made ao light and llexible that it Interfered aa little
with his movements as a modern under-waistcoat, yet of
such proof aa he might safely <)(-peii<l upon.
Scott, Fair Maid of Perth, Iv.
8. A skull-cap of steel worn sometimes under
and sometimes over the camnil.
— 9. A skeleton cap of slemlir
steel bars, affonling a good de-
fense against a blow, worn with-
in a hat or other heafl-covering.
It was sometimes made with the bars
pivoted In such a way as to fold up. and
could be easily carri^ alMrtit the peraon.
^Sm «<n hat, under win. Seoet, s.
5455
10. A secret device or contrivance.
Below the stage thus formed a vast room, where was
installed the machinery for the traps, counterpoises, and
other strange engines and secrets, as they were called.
Harpers Mag., LXXVIII. 74.
Discipline of the secret, see discipline.— la secret, in
privacy or secrecy ; without the knowledge of others ; pri-
vately.
Bread eaten in secret is pleasant. Prov. ix. 17.
Open secret, a matter or fact which is known to some,
and which may be mentioned to others without violating
any confidence ; a secret which all who care to inquire
into may learn.
It is an open secret to the few who know it, but a mys-
tery and a stumbling-block to the many, that Science and
Poetry are own sisters.
F. PoUock, Int to W. K. Clifford s Lects.
The mask [of anonymity) was often merely ostensible, a
sufficient protection against legal prosecution, but in real-
ity covering an open tecret, Leslie Stephen, Swift, iv.
secreta (sf-kre'ta), n.pl. [NL., neut. pi. of se-
cretus, sejiarated, secreted: see secrete, secret.^
The products of secretion. Compare excreta.
secretage (se'kret-aj), n. [< F. secretage; as
.secrete + -age.'] In furriery, a process in pre-
paring or dressing furs, in which mercury or
some of its salts are employed to impart to
the fur the property of felting, which it did not
previously possess. Also called secreting, and
improperly carroting, from the similarity of
the manipulation to that of carroting. See car-
rot, V. t.
secretaire (sek-re-tSr'), n. [< F. secretaire : see
secretary.'] Same as secretary, n., 4.
He . . . opened a secretaire, from which he took a
Grchment-covered volume, . . . which, in fact, was a
nker's book. Thaclreray, Philip, xxxvili.
secretarial (sek-re-ta'ri-al), a. [< secretary +
-«/.] Of or pertaining to a secretary or secre-
taries: as, secretarial work; a secretarial posi-
tion.
The career likeliest for Sterling . . . would have been
. . . some wervtoruif, diplomatic, or other oflBcial training.
CarlyU, Sterling, i. 6.
secretariant (sek-re-ta'ri-an), ((. [< secretary
+ -an.] Secretarial.
We may observe In his book In most years a catalogue
of pref enuents with datea and remark^ which latter by
the Seeretarian touchea show out of what shop he had
them. Roger North, Examen. p. 33. (^Davies.)
secretariat (sek-re-ta'ri-st), n. Same as secre-
tariate.
secretariate (sek-re-ta'ri-at), n. [< F. secreta-
riat = It. segretariato, < ML. secrctariatus, the
office of a secretary, < secretarinn, a secretary:
see secretary.] 1. The office or official position
of secretary. — 2. The place or office where a
secretary transacts business, preserves records,
etc.
secretary (sek're-ta-ri), n. and a. [< ME. see-
relarg,secretarye,a,lao erroneously secretory, sec-
ratitry, < OF. secretaire, F. secretaire = Pr. secre-
tari = Sp. Pg. secretario = It. secretario, segre-
tario, < ML. secretarius, a secretary, notary,
scribe, treasurer, sexton, etc. (a title applied
to various confidential officers), prop, adj., pri-
vate, secre^ pertaining to private or secret
matters (LL. «ecre(<irtum, neut., a council-
chamber, conclave, consistory), < L. secretus,
private, secret: see secret.] 1. n.; pi. secreta-
ries (-riz). It. One who is intrusted with pri-
vate or secret matters ; a confidential officer or
attendant; a confidant.
Ralph. Nay, Ned, neuer wincke vpon me ; I care not, I.
jr. Hen. Baphe tela all ; you shall haue a good aeen-
larie at him. Oreeru, Friar Bacon, p. 86.
The great tecretary of nature and all learning, Sir Ftan-
cla liacon. /. Walton, Life of George Herbert
A faithful lecrttary to her sex's foibles. Seolt
2. A person who conducts correspondence,
keeps minutes, etc., for another or others, as
for an individual, a corporation, a society, or a
committee, and who is charged with the gen-
eral conduct of the business arising out of or
requiring such correspondence, or the making
of such records, etc.: as, a private secretary.
Abbreviated Sec, sec.
Raymounde thp writyng.
Paper and wexe toke to hys secretory.
Anon a letter conceued hastily,
Rom. of Partenay (E. K. T. 8.), 1. 3185.
And, Sir, unpen Pryday last paasyd, Blake, the Kynges
teeratory, tolde me that there was delyvered a supersedyas
for all men in that snte. Paiton Letters, I. 222.
II Is (Bacon 's| only exense was. that he wrote (the book]
by command, that be considered himself as a mere secre-
tary. Maeaulay, Lord Bacon.
3. An officer of state who is charged with the
superintendence and management of a particu-
lar department of government, (a) In the British
government there are five secretaries of state — namely,
secretary-bird
those for the home, foreign, colonial, war, and Indian de-
partments. The Secretary of State for the Home Depart-
ment has charge of the privy signet office, and is respon-
sible for the internal administration of justice, the main-
tenance of peace in the country, the supervision of prisons,
police, sanitarj' alfairs, etc. The Secretary of State for
Foreign Alfairs conducts all correspondence with foreign
states, negotiates treaties, appoints ambassadors, etc.
The Colonial Secretary performs for the colonial depen-
dencies similar functions to those of the Home Secretary
for the Vnited Kingdom. The Secretary of .state for \N ar,
assisted by the commander-in-chief, has the entire control
of the army; the office dates from lb55, when the office
of Secretaiy at War was merged into it. The Secretary for
India governs the affairs of that country with the assis-
tance of a council. Each secretary of state is assisted by
two under-secretaries, one permanent and the other con-
nected with the administration. The Chief Secretary for
Ireland is not a secretary of state, though his office en-
tails the performance of duties similar to those performed
by the secretaries of state. (&) In the United States gov-
ernment six of the executive departments are presided
over by secretaries — namely, the Secretary of State, the
Secretary of the 'lYeasury, the Secretary of War, the Secre-
tary of the Navy, the Secretary of the Interior, and the Sec-
retary of .Agriculture — all members of the cabinet; their
duties are described under the names of their respective
departments. (See departTnetU.) Each State has also its
Secretary of State, or corresponding officer.
4. A piece of furniture comprising a table or
shelf for writing, and drawers, and pigeon-
holes for the keeping of papers: usually a high
cabinet-shaped piece, as distinguished from a
writing-table or desk.
We have always believetl a Secretary (the word had been
used in sense 2] to be a piece of furniture, mostly of ma-
hogany, lined with green baize or leather, with a lot of
little drawers in it. Dickens, Uur Mutual Friend, i. 15.
5. Inprintiiifl, a kind of script type in imitation
of an engrossing-hand. — 6. The secretary-bird
or oraiio-vulture, Hcrpentarius secretarius cor-
responding secretary, a secretary of a society or other
body who conducts correspondence on matters relating
to that body.— Recording secretary, a secretary of a
society or other bt)dy who is charged with noting the pro-
ceedings and keeping the minutes of that l>o<ly. — Secre-
tary at War, an officer of the British .Ministiy prior to
1855, who had the control of the financial arrangements
of the army. The title was abolished in ls6:j.
At court all is confusion : the King, at Lord Bath's in-
stigation, has absolutely refused to make Pitt Secretary
at War. Wolpole, Letters, II. 5.
Secietarv of Agriculture, of the Interior, of War,
etc. See def. 3, and deportment.— Secretary Of embas-
sy or of legation, the principal assistant of an ambassa-
dor or envoy.
H. a. Of a secretary ; clerkly : .noting a style
of handwriting such as is used in engrossing.
Alas, Sir, that a fair hand should make such blots ! what
hand Is Itf Secretarie. Koman. Court, or Text?
Brmnc, Northern Lass, ill. 2.
The document from which I have transcribed the fol-
lowing varn Is contemporary with the date of the events
referred to. It is written in a fine secretary hand, and Is
endorsed "A Sad Relation of a Ship in Extremity. "
S. and Q., 7th ser., X. 23.
secretary-bird (sek're-ta-ri-b^rd), n. A remark-
able raptorial bird of Africa, with very long
legs; the serpent-eater or crane-vulture. This
bird appears to have been first named Sagittarius by Vos-
maer in 17d& ; It Is fo tecrHaire, le mettage, and U mangeur
de ttrpcni of early French writers, and Falco serpentarius,
Vultur terjperttariut, Otii secretarius, and I'uf^wr secretarius
of ornithologists of the lastcentnry. Between 17ii7 and 1817
tour dinerent generic names were based upon this type
(see Sagittariui); and since 1800 five specific names have
been added (r^itilivorut, afrieanus, capensis, gamlncuKis,
and, erroneously, pAiftpprnsis) — the various combinations
of the New Latin generic and specific names being now
about twenty, llie earliest tenable generic name (see
onum) Is Serpentarius ot Cuvier ; the earliest tenable spe-
cific name la serpentarius (Miller, US.'i). Some strict con-
structionists of nomenclatural rules would combine thef e
In the tautology of Serpentarius serpentarius, a form which
has been Introduced sparingly into the present work, sim-
ply to recognize its existence. The next specific name In
chronological order is tecretariut of Scopoli, 178«, yield-
ing with the proper generic name the unexceptionable
Secretary-bird {Ser^attmriut xeerteariiU),
onyni Serpentarius secretarius. The name secretary refers
to the bird's crest, which when lying smoothly on the head
has been likentMl to a scribe's pen stuck over the ear; and
this Is also the explanation of Sagittttrius. The term crane-
5456
physiology, the process by which substances
are separated from the sap of vegetables. The
deseeuding sap of plants is not merely subservient to nu-
trition, but furnislies various matters which are secreted
or separated from its mass, and afterward ehiborated by
palticulai- organs. These secretions are exceedingly nu-
merous, and constitute the great bulk of the solid parts
of plants. They have been divided into — (1) i/ewero; or
ntUritunis secretions, the component parts of which are
gum, sugar, starch, lignin, albumen, and gluten ; and (2)
special or non-assiviUable secretions, which may be ar-
ranged under the heads of acids, alkalis, neuter princi-
ples, resinous principles, coloring matters, milks, oils,
resins, etc.
2. A substance or product secreted, or elabo-
rated and emitted — Pancreatic secretion. See
^^^^^ ^ - -^ , pancreatic. =%ya. Excretion, Secretion, 'i^Q excretion.
about 4 feeUoiig from the tip of the bill to the end of the gecretional (se-kre'shon-al), fl. [< secretion +
tail ; the wing from the ciu-pal joint to the point measures ^y -i j,j ii/o/.s-io/., same as «ecretor«l. [Rare.]
25 inches; the tall is about as long as this, the tarsus 13J „.„_i+,-<i+t fa'sa-rpt-lRt^ « f— V ireretitte —
inches. The general color is ashy-gray; the flightfeathers, SBCretlStt (se Kret-isi;, n. I- r . secrcnsie -.
the feathered part of the legs, and the lower belly are Sp. seeretista = Pg. segredista; < secret + -ist.]
black : the breast and under wing- and tail-coverts are X dealer in secrets.
whitish, more or less shaded with ashy ; the two luiddle secretists, that will not part with one secret but In
tail-feathers are longer than the rest, wlute-tipped and ^^ j„^ another. Boyle, Works, I. 815.
with subterminal black bar. There is a bare orange-yel- eAi,ua..»cii^i » , . ^. , , ^ "' .' , ,
low space about the eyes ; the iris is hazel ; the shanks secretltlOUS (se-kre-tish us), a. [< secrete'- +
are flesh colored. The long crest of black or gray black- .jtioiis.! Produced by secretion,
tipped feathers springs from the hindhead and nape ; these -■ . ^ .44 *!,„„„,,.•(.•.«..
fea?hers are somewhat sp.^tulate, and dispart when the They have a similitude or contrariety to tbesecrMwm
crest is erected under excitement. The serpent-eater has humours in taste and quality. Floyer, On the Humours,
a very capacious gullet and crop, capable of holding at once ggcretive (se-kre'tiv), a. [< secre^el + -itic] 1.
several snakes two or three feet long; it also eats other rep- rjig^^j^g to' secrete or keep secret; given to
secretary-bird
wMwre (a reflection of Illiger's genus Oiipogeranus) indi-
cmtea the long legs like those of a grallatorial bird ; Ser-
petttariut, (^huMurreji, and reptilivorw describe the birds
characteristic habit of feeding upon snakes. .Most of the re-
maining designations are place-names (one of them, philip-
pensis. a blunder). The systematic position of this isolated
type has been much discussed. It has usually been put
In the Raptores. as a member of either of the families Fal-
tmddx or VuUuridie. or as forming a separate family
called SerpentarOdx or Gmotjeranidx. Cuvier put the
bird among waders, next to the boat-billed herons (Canero-
tna). The late Dr. H. Schlegel of Leyden thought it was a
goshawk, and called it Astur seeretarius. The expert of the
British .Museum in the latest ottlcial lists locates it next to
the cariama (which is transferred to the family Falconidx
on the strength of the supposed relationship). The appear-
ance of the secretary-hint is somewhat suggestive of the
hoactzin (see cuts under hoactzin and Opisthoconnus). It is
tiles, as lizards, frogs, toads, and young tortoises. It is said
to attack large serpents by grasping them in its talons and
striking blows with the wings until it can deal a decisive
thrust with the lieak upon the head of its prey. The bird
has often been tamed by the Dutch colonists, and kept to
rid their premises of vermin.
secretaryship (sek're-ta-ri-ship), n. [< secre-
turii + -ship?] The office of secretary.
secretel (se-kref), v. t. ; pret. and pp. secreted,
secrecy or concealment; reticent or reserved
concerning one's own or another's affairs.
The power of the newspaper is familiar in America, and
in accordance with our political system. In England it
stands in antagonism with the feudal institutions, and it
is all the more beneficent succor against the secretive ten-
dencies of a monarchy. Emerson, English Traits, xv.
2. Causing or promoting secretion.
ppr. secreting. [< F. secfeter = Sp. secretar, < secretively (se-kre'tiv-li), adv. In a secretive
L. secretus, pp. of secernere, separate: see se- manner; with a tendency to secrecy or con-
cern, secret.] 1 . To make or keep secret ; hide ; eealment.
conceal ; remove from observation or the know- gecretiveness (se-kre'tiv-nes), n. The charae-
ledge of others : as, to secrete stolen goods; to ter of being secretive; tendency or disposition
secrete one's self.
He can discern what things are to be laid open, and
what to be secreted.
Bacon, Simulation and Dissimulation (ed. 1887).
As there is great care to be used lor the counsellors
themselves to be chosen, so there is of the clerks of the
■■ ■• IS.
k'illiers.
council also, for the secreting of their consultations.
Bacon, Advice to Vi
to conceal; specifically, in phreii., that quality
the organ of which, when largely developed, is
said to impel the individual toward secrecy or
concealment. It is located at the inferior edge
of the parietal bones. See cut under phrenology.
Secretiveness Is quite often a blind propensity, serving
no useful purpose. W. James, Psychology, xxiv.
2. In animal and vegetable physiol., to -produee, secretly (se'kret-li), 0(ft). [< ME. secretin; <
prepare, or elaborate by the process of secre- secret + -ly'^. Cf.secrely.'] 1. In a secret or
tion — the product thus "derived from the blood hidden manner; without the observation or
or sap being a substance not previously exist- ' '-^ " " ■ — -*• *■ '"
ing, the character of which depends upon the
kind of organ which acts, or on the manner in
which the secretory operation is carried on.
Chaucer had been in his grave one hundred and fifty
years ete England had secreted choice material enough
for the making of another great poet.
Lowell, Among my Books, 2d sen, p. 126.
Pearl secreted by a sickly flsh.
Browning, Ring and Book, II. 134.
Secreting frtnges, synovial fringes. See synovial, and
mucilagitunis aland (under gland).— Secreting glands,
knowledge of others ; in secret; not openly.
And thel dide all his commaundement so secretly that
noon it perceyved, ne not the lady her-self.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 180.
Now secretly with inward grief she pin'd. Addison.
2. In secrecy, concealment, or retirement.
Let her awhile be secretly kept in.
And publish it that she is dead indeed.
Shak., Much Ado, iv. 1. 205.
3. In liturgies, in a low or inaudible voice. See
ecvhonesis, 2. Also secreto.
those glands whirfi give rise to a secretion; true glands, secretness (se'kret-nes), n. 1. Secret, hid-
den, or concealed character or condition.— 2.
Secretive character or disposition; secretive-
ness.
There were thre or foure that knewe y secretnes of his
mynde. Berners, tr. of Froissart's Chron., I. xxix.
For I could muster up, as well as you,
My giants and my witches too.
Which are vast Constancy and Secretness,
But these I neither look for nor profess.
Donne, The Damp.
They suppose two other divine hypostases superior „_„_„,.„ /„- VT■a'tS^ n^r, r< T. ^pcrefiio- spb
lereunto, which were perfectly «■«•<■(« from matter. seCretO (se-kre to), artti. l^ Li. sea etus . see
CittiwortA, Intellectual System (ed. 1846), i. 4. secrete^.] Same as secretly, d.
secrete^t n. and «. An obsolete form of secret, secretor (se-kre' tor), n. [< secrefd + -orl.] One
secret-false (se'kret-fals), a. Faithless in se-
cret. [Bare.]
Teach sin the carriage of a holy saint ;
1 distinguished from the lymphatic and other ductless
glands.— Secreting organs, in hot, certain specialized
organs, tissue systems, of plants, whose function is the se-
cretion of various substances, such as the nectar-glands of
flowers, the stigmatic surface of a pistil, the resin-cells and
-ducts of the Conljeree. etc. =Syn. 1. Hide, etc. See co7>-
ceal, and list under hide''.
secrete^t (se-kref), a. [< L. secretus, pp. of se-
cernere, separate : see secern and secret. Cf . dis-
crete.'] Separate; distinct,
Be secret-false. SAa*., C. of E., ill. 2. 15.
secreting (se-kre 'ting), n. [Verbal n. of se-
crete^, r.] in furriery, same as sccretage.
secretion (se-kre'shon), n. [< OF. secretion, F.
secretion = Sp. secrecion = Pg. secreqUo = It. se-
crezione, < L. secretio(n-), a dividing, separation, secujtary.
< secernere, pp. secretus, separate: see secern, secrisuanet, »
secret.] X. In physiol.: («) In animal physi- ""I'l",-,^. „
ology, the process of preparing and separat- seci (seKb;, n.
ing substances by glandular activity. The prod- «ec™i ««cte
act or secretion usually consists of substances previously
existing in the blood, such as water, salts, etc., combined
with others which have been elaborated by the glandular
epithelium from more or less different substances in the
blood. The secretion may be eliminated from the body as
detrimental, as urine, or it may be used, as the digestive
secretions, to serve requirements of the organism or (as
the milk) those of its offspring. Secretions which are
merely eliminated as detrimental are called excretions.
The act of secreting seems, in most instances at least, to be
a vital act of the glandular epithelium, and is often, if not
always, under direct nervous control, (ft) In vegetable
who or that whieli secretes; specifically, a se-
creting organ : as, the silk-secretor of a spider.
Westwood.
secretoryi (se-kre'to-ri), a. [< F. sicritoire =
Sp. Pg. "it. secretorvo, secretory; as secrete^ +
-ory.] Of or pertaining to secretion; perform-
ing the office of secretion : as, secretory vessels.
secretory^t, n. An obsolete erroneous form of
A Middle English form of sac-
[< ME. secte (= D. sclcte = MLG.
MHG. secte, G. secte, sekte =
Sw. Dan. seU, < F. or L.), < OF. secte, F. secte
= Pr. Sp. secta = Pg. sccta, seita = It. sctta,
a sect in philosophy or religion, < LL. secta,
a sect in philosophy or religion, a school,
party, faction, class, gild, band, particularly a
heretical doctrine or sect; in ML. in general a
following, suite, a suit at law, a part, train,
series, order, suit of clothes, etc.; L. secta, a
school or set of doctrines (in philosophy), in
earliest use a mode of Ufe, a way, most fre-
sect
quently in the phrase sectam {alicujus) sequi
01 persequi, 'follow (some one's) way' (whence
sectam (alicujus) secuti, 'those following (some
one's) way,' one's party, sect, or faction), where
secta is prop, 'a way, road,' lit. 'a way cut
through,' being orig. pp., secta (se. via, way),
fem. of sectus, pp. of secare, cut, as used in the
phrase secare viam, take one's way, travel one's
road, lit. 'cut one's way' (cf. Gr. rkfiveiv o66v, cut
one's way, take one's way) : see secant, sect^, sec-
tion. Of. ML. rupta, a way, road, orig. a road
broken through a forest : seerowfS, >0!<(el, rut^.
The L. secto has been explained otherwise: (a)
According to Skeat and others, lit. ' a follower'
(= Gr. tizi-rii, a follower), with formative -ta, <
sequi {■\/sequ, sec- as in secundus, etc.) (= Gr.
imaOai), follow : see sequen t. But sectti is never
used in the sense of 'follower,' and the phrase
sectam alicujus sequi cannot be translated ' fol-
low some one's follower.' (6) L. secta, lit. 'a
following,' formed from sequi as above ; but
this is equally untenable. The notion of 'a fol-
lowing,' however, has long been present in the
use of the word, as in the ML. senses : see above,
and cf. sectator, suit, suite, ult. < L. sequi, fol-
low, (c) The notion that L. secta is lit. ' a party
cut off,' namely from the true, orthodox, or es-
tablished church, and thus implies schism and
heresy (cf. sect^), is entirely groundless. Cf.
scpt^.] 1. A system or body of doctrines or
opinions held by a number of persons and con-
stituting the distinctive doctrines of a school,
as propounded originally by the founder or
founders of the school and (usually) developed
or modified by later adherents ; also and usual-
ly, the body of persons holding such doctrines
or opinions; a school of philosophy or of phi-
losophers : as, the .^ect of Epicurus ; the sect of
the Epicureans.
As of the secte of which that he was born
He kepte his lay, to which that he was sworn.
Chaucer, Squire's Tale, 1. 10.
The academicks were willing to admit the goods of for-
tune into their notion of felicity ; but no sectis of old phi-
losophers did ever leave a room for greatness. JJryden.
When philosophers in after-times embraced our re-
ligion, they blended it often with the peculiar notions of
those sects in which they had been educated, and by that
means corrupted the purity and simplicity of the Chris-
tian doctrine. Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, I. iv.
2. A party or body of persons who unite in
holding certain special doctrines or opinions
concerning religion, which distinguish them
from others holding the same general religious
belief; a distinct part of the general body of
persons claiming the same religious name or
origin ; especially, such a party of innovators,
differing in their beliefs from those who sup-
port the older or orthodox views; a party or
faction in a religious body; a separate ecclesi-
astical organization ; an ecclesiastical denom-
ination : as, the sects of the Jewish religion
(which were not separately organized); the
sects of the Christian church (usually separately
organized); Mohammedan .secte; Buddhist sects.
The Latin word secta, from which the English word sect is
derived, did not at first become limited in Christian usage
to a specific meaning. It was used for 'way,' 'mode of
life,' etc., but also for the Greek olpecru (Latin hieresis. the
original of the English word heresy), signifying ' a school of
philosophy, opinion, or doctrine,' especially peculiar or
erroneous doctrine. A familiar application was to the
sect of Christians, as distinguished from Jews and pagans.
In four of the nine passages in which a'cpctris is found
in the New Testament, the Vulgate has hxresis, in the
other five secta. In Acts xxiv. 14 it has " the way {sectam)
which they call heresy (hieresim)." The use of secta in these
passages led to the meaning of 'a separate or heretical
body,' which is found in writers of the fourth century, and
by desynonymization secta emphasized the organization
and hieresis the doctrine. Afterward it came to be sup-
posed that the word secta meant, etymologically, ' a party
cut off ' ; hence the more or less opprobrious use of sect
by many writers. It is often used, however, unopprobri-
ously, in a sense substantially identical with the original
sense, to signify 'a body of persons who agree in a partic-
ular set of doctrines.'
This newe secte of LoUardie. Oower, Conf. Amant., ProL
After the most straitest sect of our religion I lived a
Pharisee. Acts xxvi. 6.
Slave to no sect, who takes no private road.
But looks through nature up to nature's God ;
Pursues that chain which links the immense design.
Joins heaven and earth, and mortal and divine.
Pope, Essay on Man, iv. 331.
We might say that the massacre of St. Bartholomew
was intended to extii-pate, not a religious sect, but a politi-
cal party. Macautoy, Hallani's Const. Hist.
The eighty or ninety sects into which Christianity speed-
ily divided hated one another with an intensity that ex-
torted the wonder of Julian and the ridicuU of the Pagans
of Alexandria. Lecky, Europ. Morals, II. 207.
3. A religion. [Rare.]
sect
Wherfore methinkethe that Cristene men schoMen ben
more devoute to serven onre Lord (!od than oriy other n»en
of ony other Secte. MandeoUU, Travels, p 261.
4. In a general sense, a number of persons hold-
ing the same opinions or practising the same
customs, or having common associations or in-
terests; a party; following; company; faction.
We'll wear out.
In a wall'd prison, paeks and sects of great ones.
That ebb and flow by the moon. Shak., Lear, T. 3. 18.
But in this ft^e a sect of writers are,
That only for particular likings care.
B. Jonsotif Epiccene, Prol.
5. Kind; sex: originally merely a particular
use of KCCt in sense 4. but now regarded as a
form of sex, and as siieli avoided as incorrect.
The wives love of Bathe
Whos lif and al hire $eele God maintene.
Chaucer, C. T., 1. 9046.
So is all her se^^ ; an they be once in a calm, they are
sick. Shot., 2 Hen. IV., ii. 4. 41.
When she blushes.
It is the holiest thing to look upon.
The purest temple of her sect that ever
Made Nature a blest foutuier.
Fletcher, Valeutinlan, I. 1.
6t. Apparel; likeness.
Many tyme God hath ben mette aroonge nedy peple.
There neuere segge hym seigh iu »ecte of the riche.
Piers I'loicman (BX xL 237.
Ionic sect. See Ionic.
sect-t (sekt), M. [< L. metum, a part cut (in pi.
SI eta, parts of the body operatea on), neut. of
mrtun, cut, pp. of scrare, cut : see secant, section.
Cf. .%cfl, witii which sect'^ has been confused.]
A part cut off; a cutting; scion.
But we have reason to cool our raging motions, our car-
nal stings, our unbitted lusts, whereof I take this that you
call love to be a seel or scion. Shak., Othello, L 3. 336.
sectant (sck'tant), H. [< L. Kectii.1, pp. of secure,
cut, + -ant. Cf. secant.'] A portion of space
cut off from the rest by three planes, but ex-
tending to infinity.
sectarial (sek-ta'ri-al), a. [< sectary (ML. sec-
tariiis) + -nl.'\ Same as sectarian Sectarial
marks, embleuu marked ou the forehead of the men)-
Iwrs of the different sects, or wonhipers of the different
g'xls, in India. Tbey are painted or tattooed on the skin
in the middle of the forehead. Representations of the
gods have usually also a distingniabliiit mark of this kind.
More than forty different sectarial marks are in common
USf.
sectarian (sek-ta'ri-an), a. and n. [< sectary
(Ml,, sectariiis) + -an.l I. a. 1. Of or per-
taining to a sect or sects; peculiar to a sect:
as, sectarian interests; sectarian principles. —
2. That inculcates the particular tenets of a
sect: US, sectarian instruction; a sectarian book.
— 3. Of or pertaining to one who is bigotedly
attached to a particular sect; characterized by
or characteristic of bigoted attai-hment to a par-
ticular sect or it« teachings, interests, etc.
Zeal for some opinion, or some party, beareth out men
of sectarian and factious spirila in such practices [as slan-
derl. Barrow, WorltB, Sermon xvtiL
Tile chief cause of melarlan animosity Is the incapacity
of most men to conceive systems in the fight in which tliey
appear to their adherents, and to enter inti> the enthusi
asm thejr Inspire. litcky, Europ. Morals, I. 141.
H. H. One of a sect; especially, a person who
attaches excessive importance or is bigotedly
attached to the tenets and interests of a sect.
But hardly less censurable, hanlly less contemptible, Is
the tramiuilly arrogant «crfarian. who denies that windom
or honesty can exist iK'yuud tile limits of his own ill-light-
ed rhamber.
Laiulnr, Imaginary Conversations, Lucian and TImotheua.
= 83m. See heretic.
Sectaxianise, '■• '. See secUiriunize.
sectarianism (sek-ta'ri-an-izm), n. [< sectarian
+ -/.v/H.] The state or character of being sec-
turian; adherence to a separate religious sect
or party : especially, excessive partizan or de-
nniniiiational zeal.
There was in Foster's iistare no sMterianinn. religious
or political. BdMmrgh Rev., CLXVIII. 5S4.
sectarianize (sek-ta'ri-an-iz), r. f. ; pret. and
pp. siitiirianiccfl, ppr. stctarinnicing. [< sccta-
ruin + -(-(.] To render sectarian ; imbue with
sectarian principles or feelings. A\so spelled
sirtarianisc.
SectarianizinQ the schools.
Jour. <i/ BducatioH, XVIII. 83.
sectarismt (sek'tA-rizm), «. [< sectar-y + -i»»i.]
1. Sectarianism.
Nor iH ttieraiiy thing that hath more marks of Seism and
Sectarvnn tliiri Ktiglish Episcopacy.
iliUon. ElkonoUastes, xlil.
2. A sect or sectarian party. [Rare.]
Towards Quakers who came here they were most cruelly
Intolerant, driving them fmnilhe colmiy by the severest
penalties. In pnH-ess of lime, however, othi-r iiertarimu
were InlroduccJ, chiefly of the Presbyterian family.
Jeffermm, Autobiog., p. 81.
343
5457
sectarlst (sek'ta-rist), n. [< sectar-ij + -ist.']
A sectary. [Rare.]
Milton was certainly of that profession or general prin-
ciple in which all sectarutts agree : a departure from estab-
lishment. T. Warton, >'otes on Milton's Smaller Poems.
sectary (sek'ta-ri), «. and a.; pi. sectaries (-nz).
[< F. sectaire = Sp. Pg. sectario = It. settario, <
ML. sectarius, < L. secta, a sect: see «tcil.] I.
w. 1. A member of a particular sect, school,
party, or profession.
Then he would scoffe at learning, and eke scome
Tlie Sectaries tllereof, as people base.
Spenser, Mother Hub. Tale, 1. 833.
How long have you been a sectary astronomical?
Stiok., Lear, i. 2. 162.
Specifically — 2. A member or an adherent of
a sect in religion; a sectarian: often used op-
probriously by those who regard as mere sects
all bodies of Christians outside of their own.
Sects may be in a true Church as well as in a false, when
men follow the l>octrin too much for the Teachers sake,
whom they think almost infallible; and this becomes,
through Infirmity, iinpUcit Faith ; and the uma^ Sectary
pertains to such a Disiple. Milton, True Keligion.
Anno 166;*, divers sectaries in religion beginning to spread
theinselvestheretin the Virginia colonies), great restraints
were lai<l upon them, under severe penalties, to prevent
their increase. Beceiieif, Virginia, t U 79.
He had no party's rage, no sect'ry's whim ;
Christian and countiyman was all with him.
CnMn; Works, I. 115.
=8yn. Dittenter, Schiamatie, etc. See heretic
n. o. Sectarian.
These sectary precise preachers.
L. Bacon, Genesis of Xew Eng. Chnrches.
sectatort (sek-ta'tor), n. [= F. sectateur; < L.
scctatiir, a follower, < sectari, follow eagerly,
accompany, frecj. ot sequi, toUovr : see sequent .1
A follower; a disciple; an adherent of a sect,
school, or party.
The best learned of the philosophers were not igiiorant,
as Cicero wftnesseth for them, gathering the opinion of
Aristotle and his 9eetaior$ with those of Plato and the
Academicks. Maleigh, Hist. World, i. 1.
Tlie philosopher bnsies himself in accommodating all
her (.Nature's) appearances to the principles of a school of
which he has sworn himself the $Ktatnr.
Warburton, Prodigies, p. 92.
sectile (sek'til), a. [= P. sectile = Pg. sectil;
< L. sectitis, ciit, divided, < secare, pp. sectus,
cut: see sectant, section.] Capable of being cut;
in mineral., noting minerals, as talc, mica, and
steatite, which can be cut smoothly by a knife
without the particles breaking, crumbling, or
flying about; in bot., appearing as if cut into
small particles or pieces. Also sectire. —Sectilt
mosaic, inlaid work the jiiecesof which are notably larger
than the tessene uf ordinary mosaic. See optu aeetile, un-
der ouus.
sectiJlty(sek-tiri-ti),B. [< wcttte + -tfy.] Sec-
tile character or property ; the property of be-
ing easilv cut.
sectIof«<'k'slii-6),«. [L.] A section or cutting.
Sectlo alta, suprapubic lithot4)my. — Seotio cada-
verlfl, an auU»i>sy ; a piwt-mortera oi>eration.^8ectlO
lateralis, lateral perineal lithotou))-.
section (^sek'shon), n. [< OK. (and F.) section
= .'>p. stccion = Pg. scc<;3o = It. scMnc, < L.
secti'i(n-), a cutting, cutting off. excision, am-
putation of diseased parts of the body, a dis-
tribution by auction of confiscated property, in
geom. a division, section, < secare, pp. sectus,
cut: see secant.] 1. The act of cutting or di-
viding; separation by cutting: as, the section
of one plane by another.
In tbetetionot bodies we And man, of all sensible crea-
tures, to have the fnllest brain to his proportion, and that
it was so provided by the Supreme Wisdom, for the lodg-
ing of the Intellective faculties.
Sir a. Wotton, Reli>|Ulss, p. 80.
2. A |)art cut or separated, or regarded as sep-
arated, from the rest ; a division ; a portion.
Specillcally— (a) A distinct part or division of a book
or writing; a sulHlivision of a chapter; a division of a
law or other writing ; a paragraph. (&) In music, one of
the eiiiial and more or less similar divisions or parts of a
melody or movement. The term is used inconsistently to
describe either the half of a phrase or a doulile phrase,
(c) A distinct part of a country or nation, coininnnity, class,
or the like ; a p<ut of territory separated by geographical
lines or of a people coiwldered as distinct.
The extreme section of one class consists of bigoted do-
tards, the extreme section of the other consists of shallow
and reckless empirics. Macaulaii.
I adil, too, that all the protection which, consistently
with the Constitution and the laws, can be given, will be
cheerfully given to all the States, when lawfully demanded.
for whatever cause — as cheerfully to one sect jon^as to an-
other. LiuaAn, In Baymond, p. 113.
(rfl One of the snnares, each containing 640 acres, Into
which the public lands of the United .States are divided ;
the thirty-sixth part of a township. («) A certain propor-
tion of a battalion or compaiiy txild off forniilitary move-
ments and evolutions. (/) In tnech., any part of a ma-
chine that can be readily detached from the other parts,
as one of theknlvesof a mower, (g) Adivlsion In asleep-
sectionalism
ing-car, including two seats facing ea^h other, and de»
signed to he nmde into two sleeping-berths. A double
section takes in four seats, two on each side of the car.
(A) In bookbinding, the leaves of an intended book that
are folded together to make one gathering and to prepare
them for sewing, (i) In printing, that part of a printed
sheet of book -work which has to be cut oflf from the full
sheet and separately folded and sewed. On paper of
ordinary thickness, the section is usually of eight leaves
or sixteen pages ; on thick paper, the section is often of
four leaves or eight pages.
3. The curve of intersection of two surfaces.
— 4. A representation of an object as it would
appear if cut by any intersecting plane, show-
ing the internal structure ; a diagram or pic-
ture showing what would appear were a part
cut off by a plane supposed to pass through
an object, as a building, a machine, a biologi-
cal stnicture, or a succession of strata. In me-
chanical drawing, a longitudinal section usually presents
the object as cut through its center lengthwise and ver-
tically, a cross-section or transverse seetimi as cut cross-
wise and vertically, and ahorizotttal section slb cut through
its center horizontally. Oblique sections are made at vari-
ous angles. Sections are of great importance in geology,
as it is largely by their aid that the relations and positions
of the various members of the different formations, both
stratified and unstratified, are made intelligible. The
geological structure of any region is best indicated by one
or more cross-sections on which the groups of rocks are
represented in the order in which they occur and with the
proper dips, as well as the irregularities due to faults,
crust-movements, and invasions by igneous masses, by
which causes the stratigraphy of a region may be made so
complicated and obscure as to be unintelligible without
such assistance to its comprehension as is afforded by
cross- sections.
6. A thin slice of an organic or inorganic sub-
stance cut off, as for microscopic examination.
— 6. In rooV., a classiflcatory ^oup of no fixed
grade or taxonomic rank; a division, series, or
group of animals : used, like ijronji, differently
by different authors. Sections, cohorts, phalanges,
tribes, etc., are frequently intriMlnced between the family
and the order, or between the family and the genus ; but
it is commoner to speak of sections of a genus (i. e., sub-
genera). The sense corresponds to that of the word coup
as much used liy French Z(X)loglsts. The sections of many
English entomologists often correspond to families as they
are understood In continental Europe and the United
States.
7. In bot., a gi'oup of species subordinate to a
genus: nearly the same as siibgcnvs (which
see). — 8. In fort., the outline of a cut made
at any angle to the principal lines other than
a right angle. — 9. The sign ^, used either (n)
as a mark of reference to a foot-note, or (6),
prefixed to consecutive numerals, to indicate
divisions of subdivisions of a book Abdominal
section, laparotomy.— Angular sections. 8eeoni/«for.
— Csesarean, conic, dominant section. See the ad-
jectives,—Frontal section. See frontal plane, .under
frotUal. — TTOzeu section, a cutting of frozen parts, or
that which is cut while frozen ; especially, the surface of
sach cutting. It is inncb used in anatomy to show the
exact relations of soft parts which might be disarranged
or distorted If cut in tlielr natural slate.— Golden, mac-
rodlagonal, principal section. See the adjectives. —
Harmonic section, tlie cutting of a straight line at four
points harmonically situate<l. — Microscopic section.
See def. :>, antl sirtion-cntter.— Normal section. See
lutnnat. 4. — PublC Section, synililiyseotdiny.- RhlnO-
cerotlc section, ribbon sections, sagittal sections,
serial sections, Slgaultlau section, subcontrary
section, etc. .see the adjectives. —Vertical section.
See irrlhoirraph.-iyii. 2. Division, Piece, etc. See part, n.
section (sek'shon), r. t. [< section, «.] To
make a section of; divide into sections, as a
ship; cut or reduce to the degree of thinness
required for study with the microscope.
The embryt>s may then be embedded in parafflne and
sectioned lengthwise. Amer. A'aturalist, XXIII. 829.
sectional (sek'shon-al), fl. [= F. sectionnel; <
section + -al.] 1. Composed of or made up in
several independent sections : as, the sectional
hull of a ship. — 2. Of or pertaining to some
particular section or region ; for or in regard
to some particular part of a country as distinct
from others; local: as, sectional interests;
sectional prejudices; sectional spirit; sectional
legislation.
If that government be not careful to keep within its own
jin^IKrr sphere, and prudent to stiuare its policy by rules cf
national welfare, sectittnal lines must and will be known.
W. Wilson, Congressional Government, vL
Sectional dock. See dock'-i.
sectionalism (sek'shon-al-izm), «. [< sectional
+ -ism.] The existence, development, or ex-
hibition of sectional prejudices, or of a section-
al spirit, arising from the clashing of sectional
interests, whether commercial or political ; the
arraying of one section of a country against an-
other on questions of interest or policy, as. in
the United States, the Northern States against
the Southern, or the contrary; sectional preju-
dice or hatred. [U. 8.]
Their last organic act was to meet the dark wave of this
tide of sectionalism on the strand, breast high, and roll ft
back upon its depths. J?. Choate, Addresses, p. 427,
sectionality
sectionality (sok-sho-nal'j-ti), H. [<. sectional
+ -ity.] The quality of being sectional ; sec-
tdonaUsm.
sectionalizatioil (sek'shon-al-i-za'shon), «. [<
itection(iU::e + -fl^lt>».] *rhe act of rendering
sectional in scope or spirit.
Cincinnati gathered the remains of a once powerful na-
tional party, and contributed to it« further sectiotuUizatioti
and destruction. S. Bowlet, in Merriam, I. 152.
sectionalize (sek'shon-al-iz), ». t. ; pret. and pp.
sectionali^ed, ppr. secti6tiaH,:iiig. [< sectional +
-i>e.] To render sectional in scope or spirit.
The principal results of the struggle were to aectiojiaiize
parties. The Century, XXXIV. 524.
sectionally (sek'shon-al-i), adv. In a sectional
manner ; in or by sections. N. A. Sev., CXXVI.
316.
section-beam (sek'shon-bem), n. In warping,
a roller whicli receives the yarn from the spools,
either for the dressing-machine or for the loom.
In the latter case, also called yarn-beam. E. S.
Knight.
section-cutter (sek'shon-kuffer), n. An instru-
ment used for making sections for microscopic
work. Some forms have two parallel blades; others
work mechanically, and consequently with more precision.
The specimen from which the section is to be taken is
often frozen by means of ether-spray or otherwise. Also
called microtome.
sectionize (sek'shon-iz), V. t. ; pret. and pp. sec-
tionized, ppr. sectionizing. [< section + -ize.']
To cut up, divide, or form into sections.
The tectionized parts became perfect individuals on the
day of their division.
T. Oai, Smithsonian Report, 1885, p. 766.
This whole region was sectionized by the general land
office several years previously. Science, VIII. 142.
section-liner (sek'shon-li"ner), n. A drafts-
man's instrument for ruling parallel lines. It
Section-Itner.
a, a. straipht-edffe ; d, triangle moving on tj for a distance determined
by the set of the micrometer-scale c; a, spring for releasing triangle
and keeping it in the end of its slot.
consists of a triangle so attached to a straight-edge that
it can be moved back and forth on it a distance prede-
termined by the adjustment of a set-screw.
section-plane (sek'shon-plan), n. A cut sur-
face ; a plane exposed by section.
The secUonplane, as made by the saw, passed just sinis-
trad of the meson.
Buck's Handbook of Med. Sciences, VIII. 109.
sectioplanography (sek"shi-o-pla-nog'ra-fi), n.
[< L. sectio(n-), a cutting off, + planus, plane, -i-
Gr. -ypaipia, < -jpd<fieiv, write.] A method of lay-
ing down the sections of engineering work, as
railways, in which the line of direction is made
a datum-line, the cuttings being plotted on the
upper part and the embankments on the lower
part of the line.
sectism (sek'tizm), n. [< sect^ + -ism.'] Sec-
tarianism; devotion to a sect. [Rare.] Imp.
Diet.
sectist (sek'tist), n. [< seet^ + -ist.] One de-
voted to a sect; a sectarian. [Rare.]
The Diuell . . . would maintaine,
By sundry obstinate Sectistg (but in vaine).
There was not one Almighty to begin
The great stupendious Worke.
Heywood, Hierarchy of Angels, p. 19.
sectiuncle (sek'ti-ung-kl), n. [< L. as if *sec-
tiunculu, dim. of sectio{n-), a section; but in-
tended as a dim. of sect: see secf^.] A petty
sect. [Rare.]
.Some new sect or sec^it/Ticfe. J.Martineau. (Imp. IHct.)
sective (sek'tiv), a. [< L. sectivus, that may
be cut, < secare, pp. sectus, cut, divide : see se-
cant.'] Same as sectile.
sect-nxastert (sekt'mas't^r), n. The leader or
founder of a, sect. [Rare.]
How should it be otherwise, when a blind company will
follow a blind sect-mofiter ? Rev. S. Ward, Sermons, p. 76.
That nect-magter [Epicurus]. J. Howe, Works, I. 28.
sector (sek'tor), «. [= P. secteur = Sp. Pg.
sector = It. settore = D. G. Dan. Sw. sektor, < L.
5458
sector, a cutter, LL. a sector of a cii'cle (tr. Gr.
To/iei'(), < secare, pp. sectus, cut: see secant, sec-
tion.] 1. In (/eoJH. : (o) A plane
figure inclosed between the are
of a circle; ellipse, or other cen-
tral curve and two radii to its
extremities from the center.
Thus, in the figure, CDB is a sec-
tor of a circle. (6) A solid gen-
erated by the revolution of a
plane sector about one of its
radii. — 2. A mathematical rule
consisting of two flat pieces connected by a
stiff rule-joint so that the broad sides move in
their own planes, and bearing various scales,
especially double scales which are scales of
trigonometric functions, etc., duplicated on the
two pieces and radiating from the center of the
joint. The joint is opened until the distance between
two certain corresponding points is equal to the indi-
cated trigonometric line for a given radius, when the
distances between all the corresponding points on all the
double scales are equal to the respective trigonometric
lines for the same radius.
Bp. Seth Ward, of Sarum, has told me that he first sent
for Mr. . . . Gunter, from London (being at Oxford uni-
veisity), to be his Professor of Geometric ; so he came and
brought with him his sector and quadrant, and fell to re-
solving of triangles and doeing a great many tine things.
Aubrey, Lives, Henry Savill.
3. An astronomical instrument consisting of a
telescope turning about the center of a gradu-
ated arc. It was formerly used for measuring
differences of declination. See zenith-sector. —
4. In mech. , a toothed gear of which the face
is an arc of a circle, intended for reciprocating
action. Bee cut taiAev operating-tahle. — 5. In
entom., one of the veins of the wing of some in-
sects, as the ephemerids; a branch of the cubi-
tus— Sector of a sphere, the solid generated by the
revolution of the sector of a circle about one of its radii,
which remains fixed ; a conic solid whose vertex coincides
with the center of the sphere, and whose base is a segment
of the same sphere. (See also dip-sector.)
sectoral (sek'tor-al), a. [< sector + -al.] Of
or belonging to a sector: as, a sectoral circle.
— Sectoral barometer, an instrument in which the
height of the mercury is ascertained by observing the
angle at which it is necessary to incline the tube in order
to bring the mercury to a certain mark on the instru-
ment.
sector-cylinder (sek'tor-sil"in-d6r), n. A cyl-
inder of an obsolete form of steam-engine
(never widely used), called the sector-cylinder
steam-engine, it has the form of a sector of a cylin-
der, in which, radially to the axis of the cylinder, a rec-
tangular piston oscillates on a rocking-shaft — a lever on
the outer end of the shaft being connected to a crank for
converting oscillating into continuous rotary motion.
sector-gear (sek'tor-ger), H. 1. See sector, i.
— 2. Same as variable wheel (which see, under
wheel).
sectorial (sek-to'ri-al), a. and n. [< NL. secfo-
rius, pertaining to a cutter, < sector, a cutter:
see sector.] 1. a. 1. In «««<. and «o67., adapt-
ed for cutting, as a tooth; carnassial: specifi-
cally said of a specialized molar or premolar,
as the flesh-tooth of a carnivore : not said of in-
cisors.— 2. In math., of or relating to a sector.
— Sectorial harmonic. See harmonic.
II. n. A sectorial tooth; a flesh-tooth; a
scissor-tooth.
sectorillS (sek-to'ri-us), «.; pi. sectorii (-i).
[NL. (se. den{t-)s, tooth) : see sectorial.] A sec-
torial tooth: more fully called dens sectorius.
Owen.
sector-wheel (sek'tor-hwel), ». Same as sector-
gear.
sectourt, n. See seautour.
secular (sek'S-lilr), a. and n. [Formerly also
siecular ; < MlE. secular, secidcr, sectderc, < OF.
seculier, seeuler, F. seculier = Pi'. Sp. seglar,
secular = Pg. secular = It. secolare, < L. smcula-
ris, secularis, of or belonging to an age or period
(pi. ssBculares, siecularia, the secular games),
also LL. of or belonging to the world, worldly,
secular, < sseculum, seculum, a generation, age,
LL. the world: see »ecte.] I. a. 1. Celebrated
or occuiTing once in an age or a century.
The secular year was kept but once in a century.
Addison.
secularism
2. Going on from age to age ; accomplished or
taking place in the course of ages; continued
through an indefinite but long period of time ;
not recurrent or periodical, so far as known:
as, secular change of the mean annual temper-
ature; the secular cooling or refrigeration of
the globe; the secular inequality in the motion
of a planet. The last, however, is known to be periodi-
cal. It is called secular because, being dependent on the
position of the orbits of the disturbing and disturbed
bodies, not on the positions of the planets in the orbits,
its period is excessively long.
So far as the question of a secular change of the tem-
perature is concerned, no definite result appears to have
been reached by Plantaniour.
J. D. Whitney, Climatic Changes, p. -227.
Shrinkage consequent on the earth's secular cooling led
to the folding and crushing of parts of the crust.
Athxtiaeum, Ho. 3071, p. 298.
3. Living for an age or ages; permanent.
Though her body die, her fame survives
A secidar bird ages of lives. Milton, S. A., 1. 1707.
Nature looks provokingly stable and secular.
Emerson, Essays, ist ser., p. 275.
4. Of or pertaining to the things of time or of
this world, and dissociated from or having no
concern with religious, spiritual, or sacred
matters or uses ; connected with or relating to
the world or its affairs; concerned with mun-
dane or temporal matters ; temporal ; worldly ;
profane : as, secular affairs ; the secular press ;
secular education ; secidar music.
WTien Christianity first appeared, how weak and de-
fenceless was it, how artless and undesigning ! How ut-
terly unsupported either by the secular arm or secular
wisdom ! Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, I. iii.
The secular plays . . . consisted of a medley of ditfer-
ent performances, calculated chiefly to promote mirth,
without any view to instruction.
Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 24*2.
A secular kingdom is but as the body
Lacking a soul. Tennyson, Queen Mary, iv. 1.
5t. Lay, as opposed to clerical ; civil. See def . 4.
He which that hath no wyf I holde him shent ;
He lyveth helpless and al desolat —
I speke of folk in secular estaat.
Chaucer, Merchant's Tale, I. 78.
6. Living in the world, not in the cloister;
hence, not bound by monastic vows or rules,
nor subject to a monastic order : used especially
of parish priests and other non-monastic clei^,
as distinguished from the monastic or regular
clergy.
Those northern nations easily embraced the religion of
those they subdued, and by their devotion gave great au-
thority and reverence, and thereby ease, to the clergy, both
secular and regular. Sir W. Temple.
The Spanish Archbishop of Santa F^ has for his diocese
the wild territory of New Mexico, which supports only
thirty-six secular priests, nearly all of whom are Spaniards
or Mexicans. Nineteenth Century, XXVI. 811.
Abandonment to the secular arm. See abandonment.
— Secular atibot, benefice, change, equation, per-
turbations, etc. See the nouns.— Secular games (ludi
seecidares), a festival of imperial Rome, celebrated at long
but (despite the name, which would imply a fixed period
or cycle) irregular intervals in honor of the chief among
the gods anil the prosperity of the empire. The festiviU
lasted three days and nights, and was attended with sac-
rifices, illuminations, choral hymns, and games and dra-
matic representations of every description. This festival
was a survival in a profoundly modified form of the Taren-
tine or Taurian games of the republic, a vei-y ancient fes-
tival in propitiation of the infernal deities Dis and Proser-
pine.—Secular refrigeration, in geoL, the cooling of
the earth from its supposed former condition of igneous
fluidity. = Syn. 4. Temporal, etc. See worldly.
II. «. If. A layman.
Whether thou be male or female, . . . ordred or unor-
dred, wys or fool, clerk or seculeer.
Chaucer, Parson's Tale.
The clergy thought that if it pleased the seculars it might
be done.
Hales, Letter from the Synod of Dort, p. 6. (Latham.)
2. An ecclesiastic, suen as a parish priest,
who lives in the world and not in a monastery,
is not subject to any monastie order or rule,
and is bound only to celibacy ; a secular priest.*
opposed to religious or regular.
If cloistered Avarice scruple not to wrong
The pious, humble, useful Secidar,
And rob the people of his daily care.
Wordsworth, Eccles. Sonnets, ii. 19.
While the Danish wars had been fatal to the monks —
the " regular clergy " as they were called — they had also
dealt heavy blows at the seculars, or parish priests.
J. B. Green, Conq. of Eng., p. 332.
3. An unordained church officer.
secularisation, secularise. See secularization,
secularize.
secularism (sek'u-lSr-izm), n. [< secular +
-is7n.] Exclusive attention to the present life
and its duties, and the relegation of all con-
siderations regarding a future life to a second-
ary place; the system of the secularists; the
secularism
ignoring or exclusion of religious duties, in-
struction, or considerations. See secularist.
Seeularism is the study of promoting liuman welfare by
material means, measuring human welfare by the utilita-
rian rules, and malting the service of otliers a duty of life.
Secutarigm relates to the present existence of man, and
to action. B. J. Uinton, Eng. Rad. Leaders, p. 317.
In »eculari»}n the feeling and iniaeination, which in the
religious world are bound to theological belief, have to
attach themselves to a positive natural philosophy.
E. B. Tylor, Prim. Culture, H. 407.
secularist (sek'fl-lar-ist), H. and a. [< secular
+ -ist.] I. ». Oiie who theoretically rejects or
ignores all forms of religious faith and wor-
ship established on the authority of revelation,
and accepts only the facts and influences which
are derived from the present life ; one who main-
tains that public education and other matters
of ci^-il policy should be conducted without the
introduction of a religious element.
What is the root-notion common to Secularists and De-
Dominationalists, but the notion that spread of knowledge
Is the one tUng needful for bettering behaviour?
n. Spencer, Sociology, p. 361.
n. a. Holding the principles of secularism.
There is a section of the London working classes which
is tec^arist or agnostic. Contemporary Bee., LI. ti89.
secularity (sek-u-lar'i-ti), n. [< F. secularite =
Sp. secularidad 1= Pgl seeularidade = It. seco-
larita, < ML. sieeularita(t-)s, seculamess, < L.
sxcularis, secular: see »ec«J<ir.] Exclusive or
paramount attention to the things of the pres-
ent life; worldUness; secularism.
Littleness and secularity of spirit is the greatest enemy
to contemplation. T. Burnet, Theory of the Earth.
The practical question of the present day la how to de-
fend the very principle of religion against naked secularity.
J. B. Sesley, Nat. Kellgton, p. 111.
secularization (sek'u-lar-i-za'shon), M. [< p.
Kt'ruUtri.idlion = Sp. seciUarizacion = Pg. secu-
larisa^So = It. secolarizzazione ; as secularize +
-ation.] The act of rendering secular, or the
state of being secularized, (o) Conversion to secu-
larism : as, the seeutariialion of the manes. (6) Conver-
sion to merely secular uses or purposes ; as, the aeeulari-
xoNon of church property, especially called alienation
(see ^ienation (6)); the teeularization of the Ssbbatb;
on the Continent, especially in the former Oemuin em-
pire, the transfer of territory from ecclesiastical to tem-
e>nil rulers: as, the secularization of the bishopric of
alberstadt in the Peace of Westphalia, (e) Absolution
or release from the vows or rales of a monastic order;
change from the status of reKolar to that of secular : as,
the seexdariaition of a monk, (d) The exclusion of religion
and ecclesiaaticiam from civil or purely secular affairs ; the
exclusion from the atTaira of this life of considerations re-
garding the life to come ; the divorce of civfl and sacred
matters : as, the secularization of education or of politics.
Also spelled secularisation.
secularize (sek'u-liir-iz), v. t.; pret. and pp.
nerularizeil, ppr. secularizing. [= F. g^eulanser
= Sp. Pg. secularizar = It. secolarizaare ; as
secular -t- -ize.'\ 1. To make secular, (a) To
change or transfer from regular or monastic Into secoUr :
as. to secularize a monk or priest. (6) To change or de-
grade from religious or ecclesiastical appropriation to
secular or common use : ss, the ancient abl>eys were secu-
larized; especially, to tnuisfer, as territory, from eccle-
siastical to temporal rnleti.
The celebrated proposal of the " Unlearned Parliament "
of Henry IV., to secuHsriM all Church property, was kept In
mind by its socoeaaor.
R. W. Dixon, Hist Church of Eng., L, note.
2. To make worldly or unspiritual; divest of
religious observances or influences: as,to««CM-
larize the Sabbath; to secularize the press;
to secularize education. — 3. To convert to or
imbue with secularism: as, to secularize the
ma.sses.
A secularized hierarchv, ... to whom the theocracy
was only a name, and whose whole interests were those
of their own selfish politics. Encye. BriL, X\1. &5.
Also spelled secularise.
secularly (sek'u-lar-U), adv. In a secular or
worldly manner,
seculamess (8ek'u-lar-ne8),n. Secular quality,
chiirai'ti-r, or disposition; worldliness; worldly-
raindednoss. Johnson.
secund (se'kund), a. [< L. seeundus, following:
Hfv second^.] If. An ob.solete form of «eco«<|i.
— 2. In bot. and zmil., arranged on one side
only: unifarioiis; unilateral, as the flowers of
the lily-of-the- valley (Conrallaria majalis), the
false wintergreen (I'l/rola secunda), etc.: as,
sirunil processes of the antennae,
secundariet, «. An obsolete form of secondary.
secundarius ^^sek-un-da'ri-us), n. ; pi. seeun-
f/flrii (-1). [ML.: see secondary.} Alayvjear.
Sec Inifi.
secundate fse-kim'dat), r. t. ; pret. and pp.
serundnlcd, ppr. secuudatinij. [(, L. secundalus,
pp. of secundareO It. secondare = 8p. secundar
5469
= F. second^, direct favorably, favor, further,
< secundufi, following: see second^.'} To make
prosperous; promote the success of; direct fa-
vorably. Bailey, 1731. [Rare.]
secundate (sf-kmi'dat), «. [< NL. Secundates.']
A ineinbfT of the Secundates.
Secundates (sek-un-da'tez), n.pl. [NL. (form-
ed on the type of Primates), < L. secundus, sec-
.ond: see second^.'] A term applied by De
Blain^^lle to the Ferse of Linnaeus (as a correl-
ative of the Linneau term Primates). It is equiv-
alent to the Camassia or Canmria of Cuvier, and there-
fore to the modern Camivora or Fene proper (with the
litsecticora). The Secundates were divided by Blyth (1849)
into Cynodia and £canina(= Fera and Insectivora): but
none of these terms are now in use, though the divisions
they indicate are retained.
secundatiou (sek-im-da'shon), n. [^<. secundate
+ -ion.] Prosperity. Bailey, 1731. [Rare.]
secundelicht, adv. A Middle English form of
secondly.
Secundian (se-kun'di-an), n. [< Secundus (see
def.) + -ian.'i A member of a dualistic gnos-
tic sect of the second century, followers of
Secundus, a disciple of Valentinus. See Valen-
tin ion.
secundine (sek'un-din), n. [Formerly secon-
dine; < F. «econrftne = It. secondina, < LL. secun-
dinse, afterbirth, < L. secundus, following: see
second^.'] 1. The afterbirth ; what remains in
the womb to be extruded after the birth of the
fetus, being the fetal envelops, placenta, and
part of the navel-string: generally used in the
plural.
The secundine that once the infant cloth'd.
After the birth, is cast away and ioath'd.
Baxter, Self- Denial, Dialogue.
2. In hot., the second (or inner) coat or integu-
ment of an ovule, lying within the primine. It
is really the first coat of the ovnle to be formed, and h^
some authors is (advisedly) called the primine. See prv-
mine, ovule, 2.
secundipara (sek-un-dip'a-ra), n. [L., (.secun-
dus, second, + parere, bring forth, bear.] A
woman who is parturient for the second time.
secundly (se'kund-H), adu. In bot., arranged
in a secund manner: as, a secundly branched
seaweed.
secundogeniture (se-kun-do-jen'i-tur), n. [<
L. secundus, tollowmg{Beesecond^), + genitura,
generation: see geniture. Cf. primogeniture.']
The right of inheritance pertaining to a second
son ; also, the possessions so inherited.
The kingdom of Naples . . . was constituted a aseimdo-
gemturt ot Spain. Banent/t.
secundo-priinary (se-kun-do-pri'ma-ri), a. In-
termediate hi'twicii primary and secondary. —
Secnndo-prlmary quality. See quality.
secundum (se-kun'dum). [L., orig. neut. of «e-
(■HH»/«.«, following: seeseconrfi.] ALatin prepo-
sition, meaning 'according to,' 'by rule or prac-
tice of': used in some phrases which occur in
English books Beenndam artam, according to art
or rule, (a) Artincially ; not naturally. (6) Artistically ;
skilfally ; aclentiflcallv ; professionally : used especially as
a direction to an apothecary for compounding a prescrii>-
tion. Secundum nataram, naturally ; not arttflcially.
— Secundum quid. In some respect only.— Secundam
Terltatem, universally valid. A refutation secundum veri-
tatem, contradistinguished from a refutation ad haminem,
is one drawn from tru e principles, and not merely one which
satisfies a given individual.
securable (se-kiir'a-bl), a. [< secure + -able.]
Capable of being secured. Imp. Diet.
securance (se-kur'ans), n. [< secure + -ance.
t'f. surance.] Assurance ; confirmation.
After this, when, for the securance of Thy Besnrrection,
upon which all our faith Justly dependetb. Thou hadst
spent forty days upon earth, I find Thee anon Mount
Olivet Bp. Uatl, Mystery of Godline8^ i la
secure (s«-knr'), o. [= F. »i<r, OF. seUr (> E.
sure) = rt. segur = Sp. Pg. seguro = It. sicuro,
secure, sure, < L. sectirus, of persons, free from
care, quiet, easy ; in a bad sense, careless, reck-
less ; of things, tranquil, also free from danger,
safe, secure; < »<?-, without, + euro, care: see
cure. Older E. words from the ^ame L. adj.
are sidcer (through AS. ) and sure (through OF. ),
which are thus doublets of secure.] 1. Free
from care or fear; careless; dreading no evil;
unsuspecting; hence, over-confident.
Bnt we be secure and uncareful, as though false prophets
could not meddle with us.
Latimer, Bemains (ed. iS*S), p. 305.
But thoo, secure of sonl, unbent with woes. Dryden.
Resekiah, king of Jerusalem, caused it to be taken away,
beouise It made the people secure, to neglect their duty in
calling and relying upon God. Burton, Anat of Mel.
2. Free from apprehension or doubt ; assured;
certain ; confident ; sure : with of or an infini-
tive.
securely
To whom the Cretan thus his speech addrest ;
Secure o/ me, O king ! exhort the rest
Pope, Iliad, iv. 303.
I'nder thy friendly conduct will I fly
To regions unexplored, secure to share
Thy state. Dryden, Sig. and Guls., L 678.
3. Free from danger; unexposed to danger;
safe: frequently with against ov from, and for-
merly of: as, secure against the attacks of the
enemy.
Secure (/thunder's crack or lightning flash.
Shak., Tit And., ii- 1- 8-
For me, secure from fortune's blows.
Secure of what I cannot lose,
In my small pinnace I can sail
Dryden, tr. of Horace's Odes, i. 29.
It was thought the roads would be more secure about
the time when the great caravan was passing.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. 1. 5.
4. In safe custody or keeping.
In iron walls they deem'd me not secure.
Skak., 1 Hen. VI., i. 4. 49.
I suppose yourown prudence will enforce the necessity
of dissembling, at least till your son has the young lady's
fortune secure. QoldjftnUh, Vicar, ii.
5. Of such firmness, stability, or strength as to
insure ssJety, or preclude risk of failure or ac-
cident; stanch, firm, or stable, and fit for the
purpose intended: as, to make a bridge secure;
a secure foundation. = Syn. 3. See stf/e.
secure (se-kiir'), t'. ^; pret. and pp. secured,
ppr. securing. [= Sp. Pg. segurar = It. sicu-
rare; from the adj. Cf. sure, v.] If. To make
easy or careless; free from care, anxiety, or
fear.
Why dost thou weep? Canst thou the conscience lack
To think I shall lack friends? Secure thy heart.
Shak., T. of A., ii. 2. 185.
2. To make safe or secure; guard from dan-
ger; protect: as, a city «eci/rc(J by fortifications.
If this come to the governor's ears, we will persuade him,
and secure yon. Mat. xxviii. 14.
We'U higher to the mountains ; there secure us.
Shak., CymbeUue, iv. 4. 8.
For Woods before, and Hills behind,
Secur'd it both from Rain and Wind.
Prior, The Ladle.
You and your Party fall in to secure my Rear.
Steele, Grief A-la-Mode, v. t.
3. To make certain ; assure ; guarantee : some-
times with of: as, we were secured of his pro-
tection.
He secures himself o)' a powerful advocate.
W. Broovu, Notes to Pope's Odyssey.
How are we to secure to labor Its due honor?
Gladstone, Might of Right, p. 273.
4. To make sure of payment, as by a bond,
surety, etc. ; warrant or guarantee against loss :
as, to secure a debt by mortgage ; to secure a
creditor. — 6. To make fast or firm: as, to se-
cure a window ; to secure the hatches of a ship.
— 6. To seize and confine ; place in safe cus-
tody or keeping: as, to secure a prisoner. — 7.
In surg., to seize and occlude by ligature or
otherwise, as a vein or an artery, to prevent
loss of blood during or as a consequence of an
operation. — 8. To get hold or possession of;
make one's self master of; obtain; gain: as, to
secure an estate for a small sum ; to secure the
attention of an audience ; to secure a hearing
at court.
They adapted their tunes exactly to the natiuv ot each
person, in order to captivate and secure him.
Bacon, Moral Fables, vt
The beauteous Lady Tragabigzanda, when I was a slaue
to the Turkea, did all she could to secure me.
Capt. John Smith, Works, I. 68.
There was nothing she would not do to secure her end.
Mrs. Oliphant, Poor Gentleman, xxl.
9t. To plight; iiIpdK'>: assure — Secure piece, a
command in artillery directing that the piei-e be moved in
battery, tlie nnizzie depressed, the tompion inserted in the
muzzle, and the vent-cover placed on the vent.— To se-
cure arms, to hold a ritle or nnisket with the muzzle
down, and the lock well up under the arm, the object be-
ing to guanl the weapon nrom the wet
securefult (se-kur'fiU), a. [Irreg. < secure +
-/«/.] Protecting.
I well know the ready right-hand charge,
I know the left and every sway of my secureful targe.
Chapman, Iltod, vil. 209.
securely (se-kflr'li), adv. In a secure manner,
(o) Without care or thought of evil or danger ; with con.
fldence; confidently.
Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwell-
eth aecurrfj^ by thee. Prov. lit 29.
We see the wind sit sore upon oar sails,
And yet we strike not, but securely perish.
Shak., Rich. II., ii. 1. 266.
(4) Without risk or danger; in security ; safely : as, to lie
matr^y hidden.
securely
The excellent nocturnal Government of oar City of Lon-
don, where one may pass and repass secureli/ all Hours of
the Night, if he gives good Words to the Watch.
HouxU, Letters, I. i. 17.
(c) Firmly ; In such a manner as to prevent failure or ac-
cident; 80 that loss, escape, injury, or damage may not
result: as, to fasten a thing tecurety; lashed securely to
the rigging.
Gren gnats, if they rest on the glands (of Drosera ro-
tundifolia] with their delicate feet, are quickly and secttre-
ly embraced. Darwin, Insectiv. Plants, p. 204.
secorement (se-kur'ment), n. [< secure +
-ment. Ci. suretiient.'] If. Security; protection.
They, like Judas, desire death; . , . Cain, on the con-
trary, grew afraid thereof, and obtained a securenient from
it Sir T. Broume, Vulg. Err., i. 2.
2. The act of securing, obtaining, or making
sure.
The tecitrtment .
of perpetual protection.
The CeiUury, XXVI. 475.
secnreness (se-kur'nes), n. The state of being
secure or safe, (a) The feeling of security ; confidence
of safety ; exemption from fear ; hence, want of vigilance
or caution.
Which omission was a strange neglect and secureiiess to
my understanding.
Bacon, Letters (1657), p. 2a (Latham.)
(b) Safety ; security.
securer (se-kiir'fer), n. One who or that which
secures or protects.
securicula (sek-u-rik'u-la), n. ; pi. securicula
(-le). [L., dim. of securis, an ax or hatchet
with a broad edge, < secare, cut: see secant,
and ef. saici, scythe, from the same ult. root.]
A little ax ; specifically, a votive offering, amu-
let, or toy having the shape of an ax-head, with
a tongue or with an entire handle attached.
Securidaca (sek-u-rid'a-kil), n. [Nil. (Eivinus,
1G99), < L. secKri(l«cn, an erroneous reading of
seciiriclata, a weed growing among lentils, fein.
(sc. hcrba)ot securiclatus, shaped like a hatchet,
< securicula, a hatchet, a little ax : see securic-
ula.'} If. A former genus of plants : same as
Securigera. — 2. A genus of polypetalous plants
(LinnsBus, 1753), of the order PolygaJeee. It is
characterized by two large, wing shaped sepals, a one-
celled ovarj-, and a samaroid or crested fruit usually with
a long wing. There are about 30 species, natives of the
tropics, mostly in America, with 4 or 6 in Africa or Asia.
They are shrubs, often of climbing habit, with alternate
leaves and terminal or axillary racemes of violet, red,
white, or yellow flowers. Many South American species
climb upon trees to a great height, and are veiy beautiful
in flower. S. lontripedunctUata (Lophostylis pallida, etc.)
Is a shrub of the Zambesi region, 6 or 10 feet higli, form-
ing impenetrable thickets near water, and contains a
very tough fiber, there used for fish-lines and for nets. See
buaze-fiber.
securifer (sf-ku'ri-f er), n. [< L. securifer : see
Seciirifera.] A hymenopterous insect of the
division Securifera; a seouriferous insect, as a
saw-fly.
Securifera (sek-u-rif e-ra), n.pl. [NXi., neut. pi.
of L. securifer, ax-bearing, < securis, an ax, +
ferre = E. 6eari.] In Latreille's system of clas-
sification, the first
family of Hymenop-
tera, divided into
two tribes, Tenthre-
dinidse and Uroce-
rata, the saw-flies
and horntails. It in-
cluded the forms with
sessile abdomen, and is
equivalent to the Terebrantia of modem systems. (See
Terebrantia.) Also called Phytophaga, Serrifera, and Ses-
giliventres.
securiferous (sek-u-rif 'e-rus), a. [As securifer
+ -fjuH.'] Of or pertaining to the Securifera.
securiform (se-ku'ri-form), a. [< L. securis, an
ax, -I- /orwin, form.] 1. Shaped like an ax or
a hatchet; dolabriform. — 2. In ejjtom., subtri-
angular or trapezoidal and attached by one of
the acute angles, as a joint or other part.
Securigera (sek-u-rij'e-ra), n, [NL. (A. P. de
CandoTle, 1815), from the shape of the pod; <
L. securis, a knife, -I- gerere, bear.] A genus
of leguminous plants of the suborder Papilioiia-
cese and tribe Lotese. it is characterized by the elon-
gated linear flat and tapering pod, which is nearly or quite
indehiscent. is curved and sickle-shaped, and has broadly
thickened margins. The flowers bear a short, broad, and
somewhat two-lipped calyx, a nearly circular banner-petal,
an incurved keel, diadelphous stamens, and a sessile ovary
with numerous ovules which ripen into flat squarish seeds.
The onlyspecies, S. Coronilla, a smooth, spreading herb, is a
native of the Mediterranean region. See hatchet-vetch and
axjitch.
Securineea (sek-u-rin'f-ga), n, [NL. (Jussieu,
1789), alluding to the' hardness of the wood,
which withstands the ax; < L. securis, a knife,
an ax, + neyo, deny.] A genus of apetalous
plants of the order Kuphorbiacex and tribe Phyl-
lanthese. it resembles Phyllanthus in habit and charac-
ter, but is distinguished by the presence In the staminate
Securifera.
Saws of Saw-fly {Lophyrus siijftt-
sus), tjreatly enlarged.
5460
flowers of a rudimentary ovary which is often long and two-
or three-cleft. It includes about 8 species, natives of South
America, Spain, and Africa, and of otlier temperate and
tropical regions. They are branching shrubs, bearing
small entire alternate leaves, and numerous small stami-
nate flowers in axillary clusters, with the few pistillate flow-
ers borne on longer stalks, on separate plants or on the
same. 5. nitida is the myrtle of Tahiti and Mauritius,
sometimes cultivated for its white flowers.
securipalp (se-ku'ri-palp), n. A beetle of the
section Sccur'ipalpi.
Securipalpi (se-ku-ri-pal'pi), n. 2>l. [NL. (La-
treille, 1825), <L. securis, an ax, -I- KL. palpus,
q. v.] In Coleoptcra, a group corresponding to
Stephens's family Melandryidee, and character-
ized by the large size of the three terminal
joints of the maxillary palpi, which are often
serrated and deflexed. Also called Serripaljn.
securitant (se-kii'ri-tan), n. [< securit-y + -an.']
One who dwells in fancied security. [Rare.]
The sensual securitan pleases himselfe in the conceits of
his owne peace. Bp. Hall, Sermons. (Latham.)
securite (sek'u-rit), n. [A trade-name.] A
modern high explosive, said to consist of 26
parts of metadinitrobenzol and 74 parts of
ammonium nitrate, it is a yellow powder, emitting
the odor of nitrobenzol. There are also said to be three
modiflcations, respectively containing trinitrobenzol, di-
nitronaphthalene, and trinitronaphthalene. Also called
gecurit.
security (se-kii'ri-ti), n. ; pi. securities (-tiz).
[< F. securite = Sj). seguridad = Pg. seguridade
= It. sicurita, sicurtd, < L. securila(t-)s, free-
dom from care, < securus, free from care : see
secure. Cf . surety, a doublet of security, as sure
is of secure.'] 1. The state of being secure.
(a) Freedom from care, anxiety, or apprehension ; confi-
dence of safety: hence, unconcernedness ; carelessness;
heedlessness; over-confldence.
And you all know, security
Is mortals* chiefest enemy.
Shak., Macbeth, iii. 5. 32.
The last daughter of pride is delicacy, under which is
contained gluttony, luxury, sloth, and security.
Nash, Christ's Tears Over Jerusalem, p. 137. (Trench.)
The array, expecting from the king's illness a speedy
order to return, conversed of nothing else within their
camp, with that kind of security as if they had already re-
ceived orders to return home.
Bruce, Source of the Nile, II. 37.
(6) Freedom from annoyance, harm, danger, or loss ; safety.
The people neither vsed vs well nor ill, yet for our se-
curitie we tooke one of their petty Kings, and led him
bound to conduct vs the way.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, I. 196.
What greater security can we have, than to be under the
protection of infinite wisdom and goodness?
Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, II. xxii.
The right of personal «ec«ri(y is, . . . that no person, ex-
cept on impeachment, and in cases arising in the militaiy
and naval service, shall be held to answer for a capital or
otherwise infamous crime, or for any ortence above the
common-law degree of petit larceny, unless he shall have
been previously charged on the presentment or indictment
of a grand jury ; that no pei-son shall be subject, for the
sajne offence, to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb ;
nor shall he be compelled, in any criminal case, to be a wit-
ness against himself ; and, in all criminal prosecutions,
the accused is entitled to a speedy and public trial, by an
impartial jury ; and upon the trial he is entitled to be con-
fronted with the witnesses against him, to have compul-
soiy process for obtaining witnesses in his favour, and to
have the assistance of counsel for his defence ; and as a
furtlier guard against abuse and oppression in criminal
proceedings, it is declared that excessive bail caimot be
required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and un-
usual punishments inflicted.
Kent's Commentaries (12th ed.), II. 12.
2. That which secures or makes safe ; protec-
tion; defense; guard.
Anjou is neighbouring upon Normandy : a great Security
to it, if a Friend ; and as great a Danger, if an Enemy.
Baker, Chronicles, p. 44.
There are only two or three poor families that live here,
and are in perpetual fear of the Arabs, against whom
their poverty is their best security.
Pococke, Description of the East, IT. i. 59.
(o) A guaranty or pledge ; something given or deposited
as surety for the fulfilment of a promise or an obligation,
the payment of a debt, or the like.
This is no time to lend money, especially upon bare
friendship, without security. Shak., T. of A., iii. 1. 46.
Ten. Well, sir, your security >
Amb. Why, sir, two diamonds here.
Dekker and Webster, Westward Ho, iv. 1.
We obliged him to give his son Mahomet in security for
his behaviour towards us. Bruce, Source of the Nile, 1. 46.
(b) A person who engages or pledges himself for the per-
formance of another's obligations ; one who becomes surety
for another.
3. An evidence of debt or of property, as a
bond or a certificate of stock : as, government
securities.
Exchequer bills have been generally reckoned the sur-
est and most sacred of all securities. Svrift, Examiner.
Collateral, heritable, personal security. See the ad-
jectives.—infeftment m security. See infeftment—
To go security. See go.—lo marshal securities.
SecmcrsAuil.
sedately
secutourt (sek'u-tor), «. [Early mod. E. also
scclour; < M.E. secutour, secutour, sekctowrc, sec-
tour, secture, <. OF. executour, F. executeur, am
executor: see executor.] An executor.
If me be destaynede to dye at Dryghtyns wylle,
I charge the my sektmtr, chelf e of alle other.
To mynystre my mobles.
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 665.
Mery. Who shall your goodes possesse ?
Jtoyster. Thou shalt be my sectour, and haue all more
and lesse. Udall, Koister Doister, iii. 8.
sedlf, «• A Middle English form of seed.
sed^ (sed), n. [Origin obscure.] A line of silk,
gut, or hair by which a fish-hook is fastened to
the line ; a snood. J. W. Collins. [Maine.]
sedan (se-dan'), n. [Said to be so named from
Sedan, a town in northeastern France. Cf. F.
sedan, cloth made at Sedan.] 1. A covered
chair serving as a vehicle for carrying one per-
son who sits within it, the inclosure being
therefore of much greater height than width:
it is borne on two poles, which pass through
rings secured to the sides, and usually by two
bearers. These chairs were first introduced in western
Europe in the sixteenth century (first seen in England in
l.'iSl, and regularly used there from 1G34), but their use was
greatly extended in the eighteenth centuiy, wlien they were
the common means of transportation for ladies and gen-
tlemen in the cities of England and lYance. They were
often elaborately decorated, with paintings by artistsof
note, panels of vernis Martin, and the like, and lined with
elegant silks. Similar chairs, carried on the shoulders of
two or more bearers, have long been in use in China.
If your wife be the gentle woman o' the house, sir, shee 's
now gone forth in one o' the new Hand-litters : what call
yee i^ a Sedan. Brome, The Sparagus Garden, iv. 10.
Close mewed in their sedai^, for fear of air ;
And for their wives produce an empty chair.
Dryden, tr. of Juvenal's Satires, i. 186.
Sedans, from hence [Naples] brought first into England
by Sir Sanders Duncomb. Evelyn, Diary, Feb. 8, 1646.
2. A hand-barrow with a deep basket-like bot-
tom made of barrel-hoops, used to cany fish.
It has been used since the eighteenth centuiy to cany fish
from the beach over the sand to the flakes. [Provincetown,
Massachusetts.]
Sedan black. See blaclc.
sedan-chair (se-dan'char), n. Same as sedan, 1.
when not walking, ladies used either a coach or sedan
chair, and but seldom rode on horseback.
J. Ashtmi, Social Life in Eeigu of Queen Anne, I. 98.
sedant (se'dant), a. [F. *sedant, < L. seden(t-)s,
sitting: see sedent, sejant.] In her., same as
sejant.
sedate (se-daf), a. [= It. sedato, < L. sedatus,
composed, calm, pp. of sedare, settle, causal of
sedecc, sit, = E.«ii; seesii.] <^uiet ; composed ;
placid; serene; serious; imdisturbed by pas-
sion: as, a senate temper or deportment.
With countenance calm, and soul sedate.
I>ryden, ^Eneid, ix. 91)9.
The Italians, notwithstanding their natural fleriness of
temper, affect always to appear sober and sedate.
Addison, Remarks on Italy (Works, ed. Bohn, I. 373).
He was about forty -eight— of a sedate look, something
approaching to gravity.
Sterne, Sentimental Journey, p. 78.
A mind
Of composition gentle and sedate.
And, in its movements, circumspect and slow.
Wordsuorth, Excursion, vL
When he touched a lighter string, the tones, though
pleasingly modulated, were still sedate.
Gifford, Introd. to Ford's Plays, p. 1.
= Syil. Impei-turbable, serious, staid,
sedatet, '■• '■ [_< sedate, a.] To calm ; compose.
To sedate these contests. Dr. John Oiven, Works, VIII.,
[pref., p. 48. (N. and Q.)
sedately (s6-dat'li), adv. In a sedate manner ;
calmly; serenely; without mental agitation.
She took the kiss sedately. Tennyson, Maud, xil. 4.
sedateness
sedateness (se-<lat'iies), «. The state or quality
of being sedate ; calmness of mind, manner, or
countenance; composure; placidity; serenity;
tranquillity: as, »e<fej?cne«« of temper; sedateness
of countenance.
There is a particular atdaUnea in their conversation and
behaviour that qualiflea them lor council.
Additon, SUte of the War.
sedation (se-da'shon), n. [< L. aedatio(n-), an al-
laying or calmingj < sedare, pp. «eda<«-s,^ettle,
appease : see sedate.'] The act of calming.
The anevenness of the earth is clearly Providence. For
since it is not any fixed sedation, but a Moating mild varie-
ty that pleaseth, the hills and valleys in it have all their
special use. Feltham, Resolves, ii. 86.
sedative (sed'a-tiv), a. and «. [< OF. sedatif,
F. sedatif = 8p. Pg. It. sedatiro, < NL. *sedati-
vus, < L". sedare, pp. sedatus, compose: see se-
date.] I. a. Tending to calm, tranquilize, or
soothe; specifically, in mcd., having the power
of allaying or assuaging irritation, irritability,
or pain — Sedative salt, boracic acid.— Sedative wa-
ter, a lotion composed of ammonia, spirit of camphor,
salt, and water.
n. H. Whatever soothes, allays, or assuages ;
specifically, a medicine or a medical appliance
which has the property of allaying irritation,
irritability, or pain.
All its little griefs soothed by natural tedativa.
0. W. Holma, Autocrat, vt
Cardiac sedatives, medicines which reduce the heart's
action, such as veratria, aconite, hydrocyanic acid, etc.
sedelt, ". and V. An obsolete form of seed.
sede'-'t. A Middle English form of said.
se defendendo (se de-fen-den'do). [L.: se, abl.
of jxrs. proii. 3d pers. sing. ; df/endeiido, abl.
sing, of gerundive of de/endcre, avert, ward off:
see defend.] In late, in defending himself: the
plea of a person charged with slaying another
tliat he committed the act in his own defense.
sedellt, n. A Middle English form of schedule.
sedent (se'dent), a. [< L. seden(t-)s, ppr. of se-
dtri-.fiil: see sit.] Sitting; inactive; at rest.
Sedentaria (sed-en-ta'ri-a), n. pi. [NL., neut.
pi. of [j. sedentarius, sedentary: see sedentary.]
1. In Lamarck's classification (1801-12), one
of three orders of Annelidti, distinguislied from
Apoda and ^n(e»na<a,andcontaining the seden-
tary or tubicolous worms : opposetl to iJrrantfa.
— 2. The sedentary spiders: same as Seden-
taria.— 3. A suborder of peritrichous ciliato
infnsorians, containing those which are seden-
tary, as the Vortieellidie: distinguished from
Sdtitntia.
Sedentaria (sed-en-ta'ri-e), n. pi. [NL., fem.
pi. of L. sedentarius, sedentary: see sedentary.]
A division of Araneina, containing those spi-
ders that spin webs iu which to lie in wait for
their prey; the sedentary spiders: oppose*! to
Erriintiti. It includes several modem families,
and tniinv of the most familiar species.
sedentarily (sed'en-ts-ri-li), ado. In a seden-
tary liiiinuir. Imp. IHct.
sedentariness i.sed'en-ta-ri-nes), n. The state
or till- habit of being sedentary.
Thow that live in great towns . . . are Inclined to pale-
ness which maybe Imputed to their wdrateHiMst, or want
of motion ; tor ther seldom stir abroad.
L Adduan, Welt Barbary (l«n), p. IIS.
sedentary (sed'en-ta-ri), a. and n. [< OF. seden-
taii'-, y. sedcntaire = Sp. Pg. It. sedentaria, < L.
srilinUiriuK, gedentaiy, sitting, < seden{t-)s, ppr.
of Milire, sit: see sedent.] I. <>• 1. Sitting; be-
ing or continuing in a sitting posture ; working
habitually in a sitting posture. [Kare.]
She sits unmoved, and freezes to a stone.
But stni her enrloas hue and sullen mien
Are In the tedentary flgure seen.
Additon. tx, of Ovid's Hetamorph., IL
When the text of Horoer had once become frosen and
settletl. MO man could take liberties with it at the risk of
beinK trippeil up himself on its glassy surface, and landed
in a lugubrious sedentary poature, to the derision of all
critics. De Qii<noey, Homer, i.
Hence— (a) Fixed; settled; permanent; remaining In the
same place.
The sedentary (owl
That seek yon pool, and there prolong their stay
In silent congress. WortUumlh, Excursion, Iv.
(/') Inactive ; idle ; sluggish : as, a aed^nlary life.
The great Hxpence it [travel upon the king's service]
will re<|iiire, l>cing not to remain mdenlary In one Place as
other Agents, but to be often In Itinerary Motion.
nowell. Letters, I. It. 2.1.
f!461
a rotifer, polyp, cirriped, mollusk, ascidian, etc. ; specifl-
cally, belonging! to the SedetUaria. (5) Encysted and mo-
tionless or quiescent, as a protozoan. Compare resting-
gpore.
2. Accustomed to sit much, or to pass most of
the time in a sitting posture ; hence, secluded.
But, of all the barbarians, this humour would be least
seen in the Egyptians : whose sages were not sedentary
scholastic sophists, like the Grecian, but men employed
and busied in the public affairs of religion and govern-
ment. Warburton, Divine Legation, ill. § 4.
3. Characterized by or requiring continuance
in a sitting posture : as, a sedenttiry profession ;
the sedentary life of a scholar.
Sedentary and within-door arts, and delicate manufac-
tures (that require rather the finger than the arm), have
in their nature a contrariety to a military disposition.
Bacon, True Greatness of Kingdoms, etc. (ed. 1887).
4. Resulting from inactivity or much sitting.
Till length of years
And sedentary numbness craze my limbs.
MMon, S. A., 1. 571.
n. n.; pi. sedentaries (-riz). 1. A sedentary
person; one of sedentary habits. — 2. A mem-
ber of the Sedentariie; a sedentary spider.
sederunt (se-de'mnt). [Taken from records
orig. kept in Latin : L. sederun t, 3d pers. pi. perf .
ind. ot sedere, sit: see sedent.] 1. There sat:
a word used in minutes of the meetings of courts
and other bodies in noting that such and such
members were present and composed the meet-
ing: as, sederunt A. B., C. D., etc. (that is, there
sat or were present A. B., C. D., etc.). Hence
— 2. n. A single sitting or meeting of a court ;
also, a more or less formal meeting or sitting of
any association, society, or company of men.
'TIS a pity we have not Bums's own account of that long
sederunt. J. WOson.
That fable ... of there being an Association . . . which
. . . met at the Baron D'Holbach's, there had Its blue-
light sederunts, and published Transactions, . . . was and
remains nothing but a fable. Cariyle, Diderot.
Act! of Sederunt, (a) Ordinances of the Scottish Conrt of
Session, underauthorltyof thestatute 1540, xclli, by which
the court is empowered to make such regulation as may be
necessary for the ordering of processes and the expediting
of justice. The Acts of Sederunt are recorded In books
called Books of Sederunt (6) A Scotch statute of 1682 re-
lating to the formalities of pablicity in conveying lands.
sedes impedlta (se'dez im-pe-dl'ta). [L.:
sedes, a seat ; imjiedita. fem. of impeditus, pp.
of impedire, entangle, hinder, hold fast : see (;«-
pede, impedite.] A term of canon law to desig-
nate a papal or an episcopal see when there is a
partial cessation by the incumbent of his epis-
copal duties.
sedes vacans (se'dez va'kanz). [L. : sedes, a
seat; vacans, ppr. of vacare, be vacant: see va-
cant.] A term of canon law to designate a pa-
pal or an episcopal see when absolutely vacant.
sedge^ (sej), M. [Also dial, (common in early
mod. E. use) set/; < ME. seflge, segg, < AS. secg
= MD. segghe "= MLG. LO. segge, sedge, lit.
' cutter,' so called from the shape of the leaves;
< Teut. y seq, sag, cut : see saici. Cf. Ir. seasg,
setsg = W. iiesg, sedge. For the sense, cf. E.
gvord-grass ; t. glaieul, < L. gladiolus, a small
sword, sword-lily, flag (see gladiolus); G.
sehvertel, sword-Uly, schmertel-gras, sedge, <
Sedillot's operation
schwert, a sword.] A plant of the genus Carex,
an extensive genus of grass-like cyperaceous
plants. The name is thence extended, especially in the
plural, to the order Cyperaceje, the sedge family. In pop-
ular use it is loosely comprehensive of numerous flag-
like, rush-like, or grassy plants growing in wet places.
See Carex and Cyperacese.
The meads, the orchards, and the primrose-lanes.
Instead of sedge and reeds, bear sugar-canes.
Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iv. 4. 103.
Thirtie or fortie of the Kapahanocks had so accommo-
dated themselues with branches, as we tooke them for lit-
tle bushes growing among the 'sedge.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, 1. 186.
No more thy glassy brook reflects the day,
But, choked with sedges, works its weedy way.
Goldsmith, Des. Vil., 1. 41.
Beak-sedge. See Mj/iicAogporo.- Myrtle sedge. See
wiyrtfe.- Sweet sedge. Same as sioeet-flag. (See also
cotton-sedge, hammer-sedge, nut-sedge.)
Sedge^ (sej), H. [Avar, oisiege (ME. sege), seat,
sitting: see siege.] A flock of herons or bit-
terns, sometimes of cranes. =Syii. Covey, etc. See
fiocki.
sedge-bird (sej'bferd), n. A sedge-warbler.
Yarrcll.
sedged (sejd), o. l<.sedge^ + -ed^.] Composed
of flags or sedge.
You nymphs, called Naiads, of the windring brooks,
With your sedged crowns and ever-hannless looks.
Shttk., Tempest, iv. 1. 129.
sedge-fiat (sej'flat), n. A tract of land lying
below ordinary high-water mark, on which a
coarse or long sedge grows which cattle will
not eat.
sedge-hen (sej'hen), n. Same as marsh-hen (h).
[Maryland and Virginia.]
"I've never fished there," Dick interrupted; "but last
fall I shot over it with Matt, and we had grand sport. We
got forty-two sedge-hens, on a high tide."
St. Nicholas, XVII. 688.
sedge-marine (sej'ma-ren'), «. The sedge-
warbler. ('. Swainson. [Local, Eng.]
sedge-warbler (sej'w4r'bl6r), ». An acro-
ceplialine bird; a kind of reed-warbler, specifi-
cally iS'i/friVj or Calantoherpe or Salicaria oiAero-
cephaliis phragmitis, or A. schwnobmnus, a sedge-
bird widely distributed in Europe, Asia, and
I imputed .
living.
their corpulency to a sedentary way of
GaldimUh. Citiicn of the World, Ivlil.
<c) In vhA,'. (1) Abiding in one f>lacc; not migratory, as
a bini. ^*2) Kixe<I in a t^ibe ; not errant, as a worm:
belonging to th.- Sfdentaria. (;0 Spinning a web and ly-
ing in wait, as a snider ; belonging to the Sedentariie. <4)
Affixed ; attached ; not free-swlmrolng, as an Inf uaorlan,
Sedges,
t. the male plant of Carrx scirfoidea ; a, the female plant of Ca-
rfx stirpcitUa: X, tlie inflorescence of Cnrtx zmlpmoi4ea ; i, the
indMrcscetKe of Carex criMita; 5, »chetn.itjc view of the fcniale
tloHcr ^Ax. axis: /?r, liract; A pcrigynluin ; R, rachis: F, fnitt).
a fruit with the pefigyniuni of Cartx ttirfiiritita ; b. a bract ; f , peri-
gyniuni of C. troitia ; d, the acbene : e, a bract.
Sedge-warbler iAcrvcffhaltti fhragmitis).
Africa, about 5 inches long, rufous-brown above
and buffy-brown below, frequenting sedgy and
reedy places. There are many other species of this
genus, all sharing the name. Also called reed-iearbler,
resd-wren, seito-wren, etc. See reed-thrush, and quotation
under reetsr, 2.
sedge-wren (sej'ren), n. Same as sedge-warbler.
sedgy (8ej'i),«. l<sedgel + -y^.] l.Oforper-
tainmg to sedge: as, a sedgy growth.
If they are wild-ducks, parboil them with a large carrot
(cut to pieces) inside of each, to draw out the fishy or
ted^ taste. Miss LeUie, Cook-book (ed. 1864X p. 94.
8. Overgrown or bordered with sedge.
Oentle Severn's sedgy bank. Shak., 1 Hen. IV., I, 3. 98.
To the right lay the sedffij point of Blackwell's Island,
(Irest In the fresh garniture of living green.
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 116.
sedigitated (se-dij'i-ta-ted), a. [< L. sedigitvs,
having six fingers on one hand,< sex, six (=E.
six), + digitus, a finger (see digit), + -ate^ +
-crf2.] Same as scxdigitate. Darwin.
sedile (se-di'le), n. ; pi. scdilia (-dil'i-a). [L.
sedile, a seat, bench, < sedere, sit: see sit.] Ec-
cles., one of the seats within the sanctuary pro-
vided originally or specifically for the celebrant
of the mass (or holy communion) and his assis-
tants. The sedllla are typically three in number, lor the
use of the priest, the deacon, and the subdeacon, and in
England are often recesses constructed in the south wall
of the chancel, and generally enriched with carving. The
name is sometimes also used for non-structural seats serv-
ing the same purpose. The singular sedile Is little used.
See cut on following page.
Sedillot's operation. See operation.
sediment
5462
Sedum
The vicioas examples of ages past poison the curiosity of
these present, affording a hint of sin unto gedticible spirita.
Sir T. Brmvue, Vulg. Err., vii. 19
The hope of impunity is a strong incitement to sedition ;
the dread of punishment, a proportionably strong dis-
couragement to it. A. Hamilton, Federalist, >'o. 26.
Sedition Act. See alien and sedition laws, under alien, seducingly (se-du'sing-li), odv
=Syn. Rebellion, Revolt, elc. See iiuurrection. or seductive manner.
sedltionary (se-dish'oii-&-ri), a. and «. [< se- geducive (be-du'siv), a.
dition + -ary.'\ I. a. Pertaining to sedition • -■-
In a seducing
[< seduce + -ive.'] Se-
Sedili... --1- -1- ;;_:._._:, England.
sediment (sed'i-ment), n. [< OF. sediment, F.
sediment = STp. Pg. tt. sedimento, (.ti.sedimenttim,
a settling, subsidence, < sedere, sit, settle, = E.
sit: see sit.] The matter which settles to the
bottom of water or any other liquid ; settlings ;
lees ; dregs ; in geol., detrital material mechani-
cally suspended in or deposited from water; the
material of which the sedimentary rocks are
composed.
It is not bare agitation, but the sediment at the bottom,
that troubles and defiles the water. South, Sermons.
In recent years it has been attempted to calculate the
amounts of sedimetit worn off by various great rivers from
the surface of the regions drained by them.
J. Fiske, Evolutionist, p. 18.
Laterlceous sediment, see latericecfus.
sedimental (sed-i-men'tal), a. [< sediment +
-al. ] Pertaining to or of the nature of sediment
or dregs.
For if the ratified and azure body of this lower heaven
be folded up like a scroll of parchment, then much more
this drossy, feculent, and sedimental earth shall be burnt.
Rev. T. Adams, Works, I. 336.
sedimentary (sed-i-men'ta-ri), a. [= F. sedi-
vien tnire; as sediment + -ary.] In geol., formed
by deposition of materials previously held in
suspension by water: nearly synonymous with
aqueous, a rock is mmsive when it has no stnicture
indicating an aqueous origin ; it is sedimentary when its
appearance indicates that it is made up of the detritus of
other rocks, eroded and carried away by watery currents,
to be deposited in another place. All sedimentary rocks
are made up of the fragments of the original crust of the
earth, of eruptive materials which have come up through
this crust from below, or of other sedimentary beds which,
having been deposited, have again in their turn been
subjected to erosion and redeposition. It is in sedimen-
tary rocks that organic remains are found ; in the original
crust of the earth, or in volcanic materials, traces of life
could not be expected to occur.— Sedimentary cata-
ract, a soft catai-act, in which the denser parts have sub-
sided.
sedimentation (sed"i-men-ta'shon), n. [< sed-
iment + -ation.'] The deposition of sediment;
the accumulation of earthy sediment to form
strata.
sediment-collector (8ed'i-ment-kq-lek"tor), n.
Auy apparatus in vessels containing fluids for
receiving deposits of sediment and impurities,
with provision for their removal.
sedition (sf-dish'on), n. [Early mod. E. also
sedicion; < ME. sedicioun, < OF. sedition, sedi-
cion, F. sedition = Pr. sedicio = Sp. .sedicion =
Pg. sedi<;So = It. sedizione, < L. seditio{n-), dis-
sension, civil discord, sedition, lit. 'a going
apart,' hence dissension, < *sedire (not used), go
apart, < sed-, apart, + ire, go: see j^erl, etc. Cf.
ambition, redition, transition.'] A factious com-
motion in a state; the stirring up of such a
commotion; incitement of discontent against
government and disturbance of public tran-
quillity, as by inflammatory speecnes or writ-
ings, or acts or language tending to breach of
public order: as, to stir up a sedition; a speech
orpamphlet abounding in sedition. 5edi(ion, which
is not strictly a legal term, comprises such offenses against
the authority of the state as do not amount to treason, for
want of an overt act. But it is not essential to the offense
of sedition that it threaten the very existence of the state
or its authority in its entire extent. Thus, there are se-
ditious assemblies, seditious libels, etc., as well as direct
and indirect threats .ind acts amounting to sedition — all
of which are punishable as misdemeanors by fine and im-
prisonment
Thus have I evermore been burdened with the word
of sedition. Latimer, 3d Sermon bef. Edw. VI., 1549.
And he released unto them him that for sedition and
murder was cast into prison. Luke xxiii. 2.5,
If the Devil himself were to preach sedition to the
world, he would never appear otherwise than as an Angel
of Light. StiUingfleel, Sermons, I. vii.
seditious.
II. n.; -pi. seditionaries {-liz). An inciter or
promoter of sedition.
A sedltionary in a state, or a schismatick in the church,
is like a sulphureous fiery vapour in the bowels of the
earth, able to make that stable element reel again. .
Bp. Halt, Remains, p. 71.
seditious (se-dish'us), a. [Early mod. E. also
sedicious; <"0F. seditieux, sedicieus, P. seditieux
= Sp. Pg. sedicioso = It. sedizioso, < L. seditio-
sus, factious, seditious, < seditio(n-), sedition:
see sedition.] 1. Partaking of the nature of
sedition ; tending to the promotion of sedition :
as, seditious strife ; seditious speech ; a seditious
harangue.
This sedicious conspiracye was not so secretly kept, nor
so closely cloked. Hall, Henry IV., an. 6.
We weaken the Keins of the Government of our selves
by not holding them with a stricter hand, and make our
Passions more seditious and turbulent by letting them
alone. Stillingjleet, Sermons, III. vii.
It was enacted "that such as imagined or spoke any
seditious or scandalous news, rumours, sayings, or tales of
ductive. [bare.]
There is John Courtland — ah! a sedueive dog to drink
witli. Bvlwer, Eugene Aram, I. IL
seduction (se-duk'shon), «. [< OF. seduction,
F. seduction = Pr. seduction = Sp. seduccion =
Pg. seduc^So = It. seduzione, < L. seductioin-),
a leading astray, < seducere, pp. seductus, se-
duce: see seduce.] 1. The act of seducing;
enticement, especially to evil ; seductive influ-
ences : as, the seductions of wealth.
The seductions of such Averroistic pantheism as was
preached by heretics like Amalric of Bena.
Sncye. Brit., X. 649.
2. The act of persuading a woman to surrender
her chastity.
A woman who is above flattery, and despises all praise
but that which flows from the approbation of her own
heart, is, morally speaking, out of reach of seduction.
Richardson, Clarissa Harlowe.
Specifically, in law: (a) The tort committed against a wo-
man, or against her parent or master, by enticing her to
surrender her chastity. (6) In some jurisdictions (by stat-
ute), the criminal offense of so doing, especially under
promise of marriage.
the King or the Queen should be set upon the pillory if soductivC (se-duk'tiv), a. [= Sp. seductivo, <
--_» J i_ 1 .-J ......u^..* .:.., „. . ^ seductus, pp. of seducere, lead astray (see
seduce), + -ive.] Tending to seduce or lead
aside or astray ; apt to mislead by flattering
appearances.
Go, splendid sycophant ! No more
Display thy soft seductive arts.
Langhome, Fables of Flora, L
it fortuned to be said without any city or town corpo-
rate." Strype, Memorials, Queen Mary, an. 1554.
2. Engaged in sedition ; guilty of sedition ; ex-
citing or promoting sedition : as, seditiotis per-
sons.
While they lived together in one city, their numbers
exposed them to the delusions of seditious demagogues.
=Syil. Incendiary. See insurrection.
y. ^dams. Works, IV. 496. ggductivoly (se-duk'tiv-li), adv. In a seduc-
tive manner; with seduction.
seditiously (se-dish;us-li)adt). In a seditious seductiveness (se-dnk'tiv-nes), n. Seductive
character, influence, or tendency : as, the seduc-
tiveness of sin.
manner; with sedition. Xocfec, On Toleration
seditiousness (se-dish'us-nes), n. The state or
charat'ter of beiig seditious. seductor (se-duk'tor), m. [= V . sMucteur =
Sedlltz powder. See Seidhtz powder, under g^ p^ gerfj/g^j- = It. seducitore, < LL. seductor.
poivder.
seduce (se-dils'), "• *• ; pret. and pp. seduced, ppr.
seducing.' [= F. seduire = Pr. seduire = Sp. se-
ducir = Pg. seduzir = It. sedurre, seducere, < L.
seducere, lead apart or astray, < se-, apart, -t-
ducere, lead: see duct. Cf. adduce, conduce, de-
duce, etc.] To lead aside or astray; entice
L. seducere, pp. seduc-
One who
a misleader, seducer, <
tus, mislead, seduce : see seduce.]
seduces or leads astray; a leader of sedition.
[Rare.]
To suppress
This bold seductor.
Massinger, Believe as you List, iL 2.
away from duty, legal obligation, or rectitude, seductress (se-duk'tres), n. [< seductor -I- -ess.]
' " ' '" A female seducer; a woman who leads a man
astray. Imp. Diet.
sedulity (se-du'li-ti), n. [< OF. seduUte = It.
sedulita, < IJ. seduUta(t-)s, sedulousness, assidu-
ity, < sedulus, sedulous: see sedulous.] Sedu-
lous care and diligence ; diligent and assiduous
application ; constant attention ; unremitting
industry.
Let there be but the same propensity and bent of wOl
to religion, and there will be the same sedulity and inde-
fatigable industry in men's enquiries into it. South.
Sedulity . . . admits no intermission, no interruption,
no discontinuance, no trepidity, no indifferency in reli-
gious offices. Donne, Sermons, xxiil.
That your Sedulities in the Keception of our Agent were
so cordial and so egregious we both gladly understand,
and earnestly exhort ye that you would persevere in your
good Will and Affection towards us.
Milton, Letters of State, May 31, 1650.
sedulous (sed'u-lus), a. [< L. sedulus, diligent,
prob. lit. 'sifting fast, persistent' (cf. assidiius,
busy, occupied, assiduous), < sedere, sit (cf. se-
des, a seat) : see sedent, sit. In another view,
lit. ' going, active, agile,' < V «'"'i go, seen in
Gr. 6a6c, a way, ddtveiv, travel.] Diligent in ap-
plication or in the pursuit of an object; con-
stant, steady, and persevering; steadily indus-
trious; assiduous.
The sedulous Bee
Distill'd her Honey on thy purple Lips.
Prior, First Hymn of t'allimachns.
The laziest will be sedulous and active where he is in
pursuit of what he has much at heart.
Swift, Against Abolishing Cluistianity.
Sjra. See assiduity.
as by promises, bribes, etc.; corrupt; specifi-
cally, to entice (a woman) to a surrender of
chastity. See seduction, 2.
For me, the gold of France did not seduce;
Although I did admit it as a motive.
Shak., Hen. V., ii. 2. 155.
Beware of them, Diana; their promises, enticements,
oatlis, tokens, and all these engines of lust, are not the
things they go under : many a maid hath been seduced by
them. Shak., All's Well, ilL 6. 22.
The best historians of later times have been seduced
from truth, not by their imagination, but by their reason.
Atacaulay, History.
O Popular Applause 1 what heart of man
Is proof against thy sweet seducing charms?
Cowper, Task, ii. 482.
= Syn Lure, Decoy, etc. See allure^, anA Mat UDder entice.
seduceable (se-du'sa-bl), a. [< seduce + -able.]
Capable of being seduced or led astray; seduci-
ble.
seducement (se-diis'ment), n. [= It. seduci-
mento; as sedtice -I- -ment.] 1. The act of se-
ducing; seduction.
Court-madams,
Daughters of my seducement.
Iffiddleton, Game at Chess, iv. 2.
He made a very free and full acknowledgement of his
error and seducement.
Wirdhrop, Hist. New England, II. 74.
2. The means employed to seduce; the arts of
flattery, falsehood, and deception.
'Twas a weak Part in Eve to yield to the Seducement of
Satan ; but it was a weaker Thing in Adam to suffer him-
self to be tempted by Eve. Howell, Letters, ii. 24.
seducer (se-dii'ser), n. [< seduce + -cr^.] One
who seduces; one who entices another from sedulously (sed'u-lus-li),arf«. In a sedulous
the path of rectitude and duty; specifically, one manner; diligently; industriously; assidu-
who, by solicitation, flattery, or promises, per- ously. , ,,- ^ „ \ „ rri,„ „t„+o „,
suades^a woman to ;urrendTr her^hastity. ^^^^^^J^:^,^:!^^^^Z
Grant it me, O king! . . . otherwise a »ed«c«- flourishes, steady diligence; continued industry or
and a poor maid IS undone. SAo*., All s Well, v. 3. 146. cc I - „ ■ j -j-.
. . en^ort. = S3m. See comparison under a««ioimj/.
God's eye sees in what seat there sits, or in what cor- e»j„— , rsp'diim'l « TNTi CTournefort. 1700^.
ner there stands, some one man that wavers in matters ''f^^j^*' ^ i'JLv 1 i ^ A Jmf,,« of \^nlv
of doctrine, and inclines to hearken after a seducer. < L- sedum, houseleek.] 1. A genus Of poly-
petalous plants, of the order Crassidacex. It
Donne, Sermons, x.
seducible (sf-dii'si-bl), a. [< .leducc + -ible.]
Capable of being seduced, or drawn aside from
the path of rectitude; corruptible.
is characterized by flowers with a four- or flvelobed
calyx, the same number of separate petals, twice as
many stamens alternately adnate to the petals, and a
number of small scales inserted beneath the four or
Sedum
Ave ovaries, the latter containing numerouB ovules and
ripening into separate follicles. There are about 150 spe-
cies, natives of north temperate and frigid regions, rare
in America, where one occurs in Peru, and in the Tnited
States Iti or more, chiefly in the mountains, with 3 others
naturalized in the east. They are usually smooth herbs,
either erect or decumbent, often tufted or mosa-llke, and
remarkable for their fleshy stems and leaves. The latter
are of very varied shapes, usually entire or but slightly
toothed, and either opposite, alternate, or whorled. The
flowers are borne in cymes, usually white, yellow, or pink,
Bometimes purplish or blue. Many species are common
in flry, barren, or rocky places where little else will grow.
The 10 British species and some of the American are known
aB gUmecrop. Many others, known in cultivation by the
generic name, and favorites for ornamenting rockwork,
filling vafles, and covering walls, are valued for the penua-
nence of their foliage, which resists drought. Several with
stifl! rosettes of thick leaves are used for bedding out in
summer, or employed for decorative borders and to form
permanent designs, mottos, and lettering. Many similar
.Mexican plants so used, and commonly confused with
these, belong to the subgenus Echerxria of the related ge-
nus Cotyledon, and are distinguished by their united flve-
f urrowed corolla-tube. A similar habit occurs in the related
genus Sempervivum. Several other species are in culti-
vation for their pink, purple, or scarlet flowers, and others
for their variegated leaves raottle<l with white or yellow.
A few are dicecious, and have flat, thinner leaves, form-
ing the suljgenus Hhodioia. the rhodia of medieval shops.
(See TOieroot and heal-<Ul.) Many species are remark-
able for persistence of life, cut stems growing and even
flowering when fastened on a wall, deriving nourish-
ment from reserves in their lower leaves and succulent
stem, especially S. Telephium (for which see orpine, 2),
also called Utje-for-erer and lirdong, and known as Aa-
ron'g-rod because sometimes growing when pressed and
apparently dried, and as miditumjn^r-men because former-
ly used for divination on midsummer eve by setting up
two stems to see if the one repreneiiting the lover will
turn to the other. .9. acre, the English wall-pepper, biid's-
bread, creepitig jack, or pricket, an emetic and cathartic,
is often cultivated in .America as most, golden-mou, or
loxeiUangle, and S. Sielialdii, a Japanese species Talued
tor its grayisb-green whorled leaves, as anutaney; S. nt-
pettre it known in England ujealoiuy; and for S. Ana-
eamptfrtu, see herh of friendihip, under herb. S. album,
formerly esteemed in medicine and eaten cooked or as a
salad, is known as vorm-gratt and pridrmadatn. S. put-
ehetlum of the southern United States is sometimes ciilti-
vated under the name ot miauft-cnm. S. Umatmn, tbe
wild stonecrop of rocky places In Pennsylvania and soath-
ward, with white flowers and ronnded ornamental leaves
in threes, is also often cultivated. S. feiephwidet, from
the Potomac southward, and the roseroot, in the Rocky
Mountains and arctic America, are conspicuous on ac-
count of their growth In multitudes ou high ledges of
dr>- mountain-clilfs.
2. [I. c] A plant of the genus Sediim : extend-
ed by very early writers to the houseleek and
other crassulaceous plants. Sometimes writ-
ten cedum.
Yf be«tes barme It that beth in tbe groonde.
Let mynge Juce of eedum thoaseleek] smal ygrounde
With water, and oon nyght tht seede ther stepe.
And beestes wicke away thus m» ne kepe.
PaUadiut, Busbondrfe ( E. E. T. 8.X p. 180.
see* (80), r. ; pret. xatc, pp. seen, ppr. seeing.
[< ME. seen, sen, without inf. term, see, se (pret.
saw, saugh, xawgh. miuh, stitch, say, saygh, sey,
set, seigh, seih, seyh,seig, sigh, sy, etc., pp. sein,
seyn, seven, segen, seien, ten, tHe, etc.), < AS.
ie6n, ti&n (pret. »eah, pi. idwtm, sSgon, pp. ge-
segen, gesewen) = OS. sehan, sean = OFnes. sia
= MD. sien, D. zien = MLO. sen, LO. seen =
OHG. sehan, IIHO. sehen, G. sehen = Icel. aja
= 8w. Dan. ne = (Joth. saihican (pret. sahiD, pi.
slhwum, pp. saihaann), gee, Teut. -^ sehtc (>
segw, setc), gee ; accordant in form, and prob.
identical in origin, with }j. sequi = Gr. tTreadai,
follow, = Lith. sehti, follow (•/ seq, follow):
see sequent, sue, etc. The transfer of sense is
not certain; prob. 'follow with the eyes.'] I.
trans. 1. Toperceiveby the eye; become aware
of (an object) by means of light- waves emitted
by it or reflected from it to the organs of sight ;
behold : as, to see a man coming ; no man can
see God.
He almde, tille the Daniysele tauohe the Rchadewe ot
him in the Myronr. MandeviUe, Travels, p. 24.
This we MIT with our eles, and reioyced at it with our
hearts. Quoted In CapL John AnOA'i Works, II. 42.
2. To examine with the eyes ; view ; behold ;
observe ; inspect : as, to see the games ; to see
the sights of a town.
But as some of vs visyted one place and some an other,
so yt whan we mette eche reported mto other as we bad
fouuden and mne. Sir R. Guy{forde, Pylgrymage, p. 47.
And euery wight will hsue a looking glaaae
To tee bimselfe, yet so he seeth him not.
Qaaeirigne, Steele Olas (ed. Arber), p. 64.
He 's awa to tbe wedding boose.
To tee what be could tee.
Catherine Johmtone (Child's Ballads, IV. 3SX
How can any Body be happy while they're In perpetoal
Fear of being teen and censur d ?
Congreve, Love for Lore, IL 9.
3. To perceive mentally, disceni; form a con-
ception or idea of; distinguish; understand;
comprehend: as, to nee the point of an argu-
ment ; to see a joke.
5463
William & his worthi make, whan thei sei time,
Told theraperour treuli that hem tidde hadde.
WiUiam of Paleme (E. E. T. S.), 1. 4917.
Lady Eagy. ... To be in love, now, is only to have a
design upon a woman. . . .
Lady Betty. Ay, but the world knows, that is not the
case between ray lord and me.
Lady Easy. Therefore, I think you happy.
Lady Betty. Now, I don't tee it.
Cibber, Careless Husband, iL 1.
The sooner you lay your head alongside of Mr. Bruff's
head, the sooner you will see your way out of the dead-
lock. W. Collins, The Jloonstone, iii. 6.
4t. To keep in sight ; take care of ; watch over ;
protect.
TTnnethes myghte the frere apeke a word, ^
Till atte laste he seyde, "God you see."
Chaucer, Summoner's Tale, 1. 469.
5. To bring about as a result ; superintend the
execution or the performance of a thing so as
to effect (a specified result); make sure: with
an object-clause with that specify ing the result.
The that is often omitted, and the clause'may suffer further
ellipsis : as, tee that it is done ; or, 8e« it is done ; or, tee
It done.
See that ye fall not out by the way. Gen. xiv. 24.
See tbe lisU and all things fit. Shak., 2 Hen. VL, IL 3. 64.
Farewell ; and see this business be afoot
With expedition.
Fletcher (and ancther\ Noble Gentleman, L 1.
Tis his Business to see that they and all other about the
House perform their Duties. Stlden, Table-Talk, p. 23.
Take him away now, then, you gaping idiot, and see thai
he does not bite you, to put an old proverb to shame.
Scott, Old Mortality, xxxir.
6. To wait upon ; attend ; escort : with an ob-
jective predicate : as, to see a friend off to Eu-
rope ; to see a lady home.
AnL Bat, hark ye, Ferdinand, did you lesTe yoor key
with them?
Ferd, Yes ; the maid who taw me out took It from the
door. Sheridan, The Duenna, L 2.
She was with him, accompanying him, seeing him off.
Jfrt. Otiphant, Poor Gentleman, xxvlii.
7. To call on; visit; have an interview with.
Come, Cases, yon and I will yet ere day
.Sw Brutus at his bouse. SAa*., J. C, 1. 3. 154.
8. To meet and speak with ; receive : as, I can-
not see any one to-day.
I was to tte Monsienr Baudelot, whose Friendship I
highly ralne. I received great Civilities from him.
Litter, Journey to Paris, p. 46.
Assert yoor right boldly, man < ... tee what company
yon like ; go out when you please ; return when you
please. Colman, Jealnos Wlfe^ L
9. To consult for a particular purpose ; some-
times, euphemistically, to consult as a lobbyist
for the purpose of influencing by a bribe or the
like. See the quotation under lobbyist. [Col-
loq.] — 10. To find out; leam by observation
or experience.
Tbe people bad come rudely to the boat when I was
sbsent, ana bad said that they would tee whether this
stranger would dare come out another day, having taken
great umbrage at my copying the inscriptions.
Poeoete, Description of tbe East, 1. 10&.
11. To feel; stiffer; experience; know by
personal experience. See seen, p. a.
If a man keep my saying be tball never tee death.
John viU. 61.
When remedies are past, the griefs are ended
By te*6»g tbe worst. Shak., Othello, 1. 3. 203.
Let one more attest
I have lived, sssn God's band tbro' a lifetime, and all was
for best. Broummr/, Sanl.
12. In poker and other gambling games, to
meet and accept by staking a similar gum : as,
to see a bet Not to see the fun of. See /un.— To
have seen one's (or its) iMst days, to have begun to
decline ; be on tbe wane.
True wit hat teen Ht bet dayt long ago.
Dryden, Llmberham, Prol., 1. 1.
To have seen service. Pee Kz-rnV*'' . To have seen the
day. ><ec rfo.vi— To see one through, to aid one in
accomplishing. (Colloq.) — Tosee out (o) To see or hear
to tbe end.
I had a mind to tee blm out, and therefore did not care
for contradicting him. Addison, Freeholder, No. 22.
(6) To outdo, as in drinking ; beat
I have beard blm say that he could tee the Dundee peo-
ple out any day, and walk home afterwards without stag-
gering. Diekem.
To see the back of. See 6aci:i . — To see the elephant
See elephaiil.—To Bee the light. Sec ;i;;A( 1 . = Syn, 1-3.
See, Perceire, Obmrix, Notice, Behold, Witness. The first
five express either the physical sight or the result of re-
flection ; vjUnem expresses tight only. See is the general
word ; It represents often an involuntary act ; to perceive
Implies generally or always the intelligence of a prepared
mind : to otuerte implies the purpose of Inspecting mi-
nutely and taking note of facts connected with the ot)ject.
IfoUee applies to the involuntary discovery of some object
by tbe sight, or of some fact by the mind ; it has also the
meaning of observe : as, to notice the operation of a steam-
engine. To behold is to look at a thing for some time,
to see plainly, or to see that which is interesting, remark-
see
able, or otherwise worth seeing. To icitness is to see a
thing done or happening : as, to witness a surgical opera-
tion ; hence, legally, to wUness a sigtiature is to certify
that one saw it made.
How he should be truly eloquent who is not a good man
1 tee not. Milton, Apology for Smectymnuus.
Lo, she is one of this confederacy !
Now I perceii>e they have conjoin'd all three
To fashion this false sport, in spite of me.
Shak., M. N. D., iii. 2. 193.
He who through vast immensity can pierce.
See worlds on worlds compose one universe.
Observe how system into system runs, . . .
May tell why Heaven has made us as we are.
Pope, Essay on Man, i. 25.
When he lay dying there,
I noticed one of his many rings, . . . and thought,
It is his mother's hair. Tennyson, 31aud, xxiv. 8.
Haste hither. Eve, and worth thy sight behold.
Eastward among those trees, what glorious shape
Comes this way moving. Milton, P. L., v. 308.
You ask if nurses are obliged to witness amputations
and such matters, as a part of their duty. 1 think not,
unless they wish. L. M. Alcott, Hospital Sketches, p. 90.
n. intrans. 1. To have the power of per-
ceiving by the eye; have the power of sight;
perceive or discern objects or their apparent
qualities by the organs of sight.
Though neither eyes nor ears, to hear nor see.
Yet should I be in love by touching thee.
Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 437.
We went on thro' clouds of dust to Akmiro, for, the
wind being high, it raised the sands to such a degree
that we could not see before us any further than in a very
thick fog. Pococke, Description of the East, I. 80.
2. To perceive mentally ; apprehend ; discern ;
understand : often with into or through.
1 see itito thy end, and am almost
A man already. Shak., Cyrabeline, iii. 4. 169.
Many sagacious persons will . . . see through all our
fine pretensions. Tillotson.
3t. To look : with after, for, on, up, or upon.
She was ful moore blisful on to see,
Than is the uewe pereionette tree.
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1. 61.
I gae up to my tapmast.
And see for some dry land.
Sir Patrick Spent (Child's Ballads, HI. 341X
4. To examine or inquire ; consider.
See now whether pure fear and entire cowardice doth
not make thee wrong this virtuous gentlewoman to close
with us. SAo*.,2Hen. IV., ii. 4. S52.
We'll take three men on either side.
And tee If we can our fathers agree.
Grame and Bewick (Child's Ballads, III. 82).
6t. To meet ; see one another.
How have ye done
Since last we saw in France?
Shak., Hen. VIII., i. 1. 2.
IiOt me see, let us see, let 'S see, are used to express con-
sideration, or to introduce the particular consideration of
a subject.— See to It, look wtll to it; attend; consider;
take care. — To see about a thing, to pay some attention
to it; consider it. — To see after. See a/ter.~To see
double. See (/dhWc— To see good. See i/oorf.— To see
Into or through a millstone. See millstone.— To see
through one, to understand one tli(/roughly.
He is a mere piece of glass : I tee through him by this
time. B. Jonson, Cynthia's Eevels, v. 2.
To see to. (at) To look at or upon ; behold.
An altar by Jordan, a great altar to see to. Josh. xxil. lOi
A certain shepherd lad.
Of small regard to see to!
Milton, Comns, L 620.
(fe) To attend to or care or arrange for ; look after ; take
care of.
The Sick . . . they see to with great affection.
Sir T. More, Utopia (tr. by Robinson), 11. a
I will go and purse the ducats straight.
See to my house, left In the fearful guard
Of an unthrifty knave. Shak., M. of V., i. 3. 17&
See is used Imperatively, or as an interjection, to call the
attention of others to an object or a subject, signifying
■loI'Mook!" 'behold!'
seel (se), n. [< «eet, t'.] What one has to see.
[Rare.]
May I depart In peace, I have seen my m<.
Brouming, King and Book, 11. 128.
see^t, «• An obsolete spelling of sea^.
see* (se), n. [Early mod. E. also sea; < ME. see,
se, < OF. se, sed, siet = Sp. sede, see, = Pg. sede,
se = It. sede, a seat, see. < L. scdes, a seat, < se-
dere = E. sit: see sit. Cf. seat.'] If. A seat of
power or dignity; a throne.
And smale harpers with her glees
Saten under hem in sees.
Chaucer, House of Fame, 1. 1210.
In the Koofe, ouyr the popes tee,
A saluator may thou see,
Neuer peynted with bond of mon.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. FumivallX p. 128.
Scho lifte me up lightly with hir leve hondes.
And sette me softely In the see, the septre me rechede,
MorU Arthure (E. E. T. S.)y 1. 3861.
Jove laught on Venus from his soverayne see.
Spenser, F. Q., III. vl 2
see
2. The seat of a bishop, whetlier an ordinaiy
bishop, or a bishop of higher rank (metropoli-
tan, etc., patriarch, pope); the local center of
a diocese and of diocesan authority, or of a di-
ocese and other subordinate dioceses ; the city
or locality from which ecclesiastical jurisdiction
is exercised ; hence, episcopal rank, authority,
and jurisdiction as exercised from a permanent
local center. The word »e€, from meaning any seat of
diirnlty, came to apply specifically to the cathedra, or epis-
cof^ throne, situated in a cathedral, thence to the city
which contained the cathednxl and was the chief city of
a bishop's diocese, and so in modern usage to the dio-
cese itself. It ditf ers from dvKcse, however, in that diocese
represents the territorial province for the care of which the
bishop is responsible (that is, where his duties lie), whereas
get is the locil seat of his authority, dignity, and episcopal
privileges, lioth woitis differ from Inshopric, in that bishop-
ric represents the bishop's otfice, whether actual or nomi-
nal. See throne.
The church where the bishop is set with his college of
presbyters alwut him we call a see.
Hooker, Ecclcs. Polity, vii. 8.
Apostolic see. See apostolic.SoXy see, the see of
Rome. — See Of Rome, the papal office or jurisdiction;
the papal court.
Others, that would to high preferment come.
Leave vs, & flie vnto the Sea of JRome.
Times' WhisUe (E. E. T. 8.X p. 61.
seeable (se'a-bl), a. and n. [< late ME. sea-
bijllc; < seeX'+ -a/rfc] I. a. Capable of being
seen; to be seen.
H. «. That which is to be seen. [Rare.]
We shall make a march of it^ seeing all the seeables on
the way. Southey, Letters, II. 271. {Davies.)
seebacM'te (se'bak-it), n. [Named after Karl
von Scebach, a German geologist (1839-78).]
A zeolitie mineral from Richmond, near Mel-
bourne, Victoria, probably identical with her-
schelite.
see-bright (se'brit), n. The clary, Salvia Sda-
rcii. See elari/^ and sage^.
seecatchie (se'kach'"i), n. [Local name: Rus-
sian or Aleutian.] The male fur-seal or sea-
bear of Alaska, CaUorhiniis nrsinus.
What catholic knowledge of fish and fishing banks any
one of those old seecatchie must possess which we observe
hauled out on the I'ribylov rookeries each summer !
Fisheries of U. S., V. ii. 354.
seeca'wk (se'k4k), n. [Cree Indian.] The com-
mon American sktuik, Mephitis mephitica.
seed (sed), n. [< ME. seed, sede, sed, sad, < AS.
s^d, seed, sowing, offspring, = OS. sad = OFries.
sed = MD. *'«(?, D. zaad = MLG. sat = OHG.
MHG. sat, G. saat = Icel. sxthi, sdth = Sw. siid
= Dan. sarf = Goth.*ie(fts (in eomp. mana-seths,
mankind, the world), seed ; with formative -d
{-th), from the root of AS. sawan, etc., sow : see
sow'^-.'l 1. The fertilized and matured ovule of
the higher or flowering plants. It is a body within
the pericarp or seed-vessel, containing an organized em-
bryo, or nucleus, which, on being placed under favora-
ble circumstances, develops into an individual similar
to that from which it came. The reproductive bodies of
the lower or tlowerless plants (cryptogams) differ in their
mode of germination and in other ways, and are not called
true seeds, but «pores. {Seespore.) The seed-coats are those
of the ovule — two, or rarely only one. The outer, answer-
ing to the primine, is the more firm and is not rarely crus-
taceous in texture, and takes the name of tesUi (also sper-
moderm and episperm). The inner, answering to the sec-
nndine, is called teamen (sometimes eyidopleura); when
present, it is always conformed to the nucleus, and is
thin or soft and delicate in texture. The seed-stalk or
podosperm, when there is one, is the pedicel or attach-
ment of the seed to the placenta, and answers to the fu-
niculus of the ovule. The chalaza, raphe, and hilum of the
ovuJe retain the same names in the seed. The foramen of
the ovule is called the inicropyle in the seed. The terms
which denote the position of the ovule, such as orthotro-
jxmg, anatropous, amphitropous, etc., also apply equally
to the resulting seed. The nucleus may consist of the
embryo alone, or of the embryo and the albumen, which
is the nourishing substance upon which the developing
plant is to feed until it is capable of maintaining itself.
See the various terms, and cuts under anatropous, campy-
lotropal, Cruciferte, ovary, and plurmde.
Oute of thaire kynde eke seedes wol renewe.
And change hemself, as writeth clercs trewe.
PaUadim, Husbondrle (E. E. T. S.), p. 6.
2. The male fecundating fluid ; semen ; sperm
or milt, as of fish ; spat, as of oysters : without
a plural. — 3. Very yoting animals, as oysters.
Now the Wareham district gives little else except seed:
that is. young oysters intended to be transferred to other
localities where they may pursue their growth under
more favorable conditions. Fisheries of U. S., \. ii. 515.
4. Progeny; offspring; children; descendants:
as, the seed of Abraham ; the seed of David.
In this sense, chiefly scriptural, the word Is applied to one
person or to any number collectively, and is not used in
the plural.
The seed of Banquo kings ! Shak., Macbeth, iii. 1. 70,
His faithfull eyes were flxt upon that incorruptible re-
ward, promis'd to Abraham and his seed in the Messiah.
Milton, Apology for Smectymnuus.
We, the latest tud of Time. Tennyson, Godiva.
5464
6. Race; generation; birth.
O Israel, O household of the I.ord,
O Abraham's brats, O bi-ood of blessed seed,
O chosen sheep that loved the Lord indeed !
Gascoiffne, De Profuudis.
Of mortal seed they were not held.
Waller, To Zelinda.
6. That from which anything springs; first prin-
ciple; origin: often in the plural : as, the ;•■<■«/*'
of virtue or vice ; to sow the seeds of discord.
Seeds and roots of shame and iniquity.
Shak., Pericles, iv. 6. 93.
These fruitful seeds within your mind they sowed;
'Twas yours to improve the talent they bestowed.
Dryden, Cym. and Iph., 1. 495.
7. Same as red-seed: a fishermen's term. — 8.
Tlie egg or eggs of the commercial silkworm-
moth, Sericana mori.
The egg of the silk-worm moth is cjilled by silk-raisers
the "seed." It is nearly round, slightly flattened, and in
size resembles a turnip-seed.
C. V. Riley, A Manual of Instruction in Silk-culture.
9. In glass-malnng, one of the small bubbles
which form in imperfectly fused glass, and
which, when the glass is worked, assume elon-
gated or ovoid forms, resembling the shapes of
some seeds. —Angola seeds, crabs'-eyes. See Afmts.
— Cevadilla seeds. See cemdilla.— ColA seeds. See
eold. — Coriander-seed. See coriander. — Cumin-seed.
Seecwnn'H, 2.— Holyseed. See Aoii/.— Musk-seed. Same
as m/jf/cr-scerf.— Niger or ramtll seeds, see Guizotia.—
To run to seed. Seenml, ». i.— To set seed. .Seese(i.
(See also amber-seed, bawchan-seed, bonduc-seeds, canary-
seed, fern-seed, mustard-seed.) _
seed (sed), V. [< ME. seeden, seden, < AS. swdi-
an, provide with seed, < sMd, seed : see seed, «.]
I. intrans. To go to seed ; produce seed ; grow
to maturity : as, plants that will not seed in a
eold climate.
The floure nel seeden of my corn.
Jiom. of the Rose, 1. 4344.
Your chere floureth, but hit wol not sede.
Chaucer, Anelida and Arcite, 1. 306.
They pick up all the old roots, exeept what they design
for seed, which they let stand to seed the next year.
Mortimer, Husbandi-y.
The tree [teak] seeds freely every year.
Eneyc. Brit., XXIII. 103.
The old are all against you, for the name of pleasure is
an atfront to them ; they know no other kind of it than
that which has flowered and seeded, and of which the with-
ered stems have indeed a rueful look.
Landor, Imag. Conv., Epicurus, Leontion, and Ternissa.
II. trans. 1. To sow; plant; sprinkle or sup-
ply with or as with seed. — 2. To cover with
something thinly scattered ; ornament with
small and separate figures.
A sable mantle seeded with waking eyes.
B. JoTison, Part of the King's Entertainment.
3t. To graft. [Rare.]
Or thus I rede
You doo : with gentil graft es hem [vines] to sede.
PaUadius, Husbondrle (E. E. T. S.), p. 107.
4. In lard-rendering and -refining, to granulate
by slow cooling, or cooling -without stirring, as
stearin in lard To seed down, to sow with grass-seed.
seed-bag (sed'bag), n. A bag designed to eon-
tain seeds ; specifically, a bag filled with flax-
seed, put around the tubing in a bore-hole, in
order that by its swelling it may form a water-
tight packing : formerly extensively used in the
oil-region of Pennsylvania.
seed-basket (sed'has-'ket), n. In agri., a bas-
ket for holding the seed to be sown.
seed-bed (sed'bed), n. A piece of ground pre-
pared for receiving seed: often used figura-
tively.
The family, then, was the primal unit of political soci-
ety, and the seed-bed of all larger growths of government.
W. Wilson, State, § 26.
seed-bird (sed'bferd), n. The water-wagtail.
HalUwell. [Prov. Eng.]
seedbox (sed'boks), n. 1. In hot., a seed-vessel
or cai)sule. — 2. See Ludwigia.
seed-bud (sed'bud), n. The germ, germen, or
rudiment of the fruit in embryo; the o^vule.
seed-cake (sed'kak), n. A sweet cake contain-
ing aromatic seeds.
seed-coat (sed'kot), n. In bot., the covering
of a seed, usually the testa, or exterior coat.
seed-cod (sed'kod), n. A basket or vessel for
holding seed while the husbandman is sowing
it ; a seed-leap. [Prov. Eng.]
seed-coral (sed'kor'al), n. Coral in very small
and irregular pieces as used in the arts. Com-
pare negligee heads, under negligee.
seed-corn (sed'k6m), n. Corn or grain for seed ;
seed-grain ; ears or kernels of maize set apart
as seed for a new crop.
Who else like you
Could sift the seedcorn from our chaif ?
Lowell, To Holmes.
ft
Seed-com Maggot iAnlhotnyia jstu).
a, maggot (line snows natural size); d,
pupa, natural size.
Kernels of M-i
seeding
Seed-com maggot,
the grub of a fly which
injures corn. Sce?««^-
ffot and Anthoinyia.
seed-crusher (sed '-
krush"er), n. An
instrument for
crushing seeds for
the purpose of ex-
pressing their oil.
seed-do^wn (sed'-
doun), n. The down
on certain seeds,
as the cotton.
seed-drill (sed'-
dril), n. A ma-
chine for sowing
seed in rows or
drifts; a drill. _ n>'KK"i
seed-eater (sed'e'''ter), w. A granivorous bird ;
specifically, a bird of the geniis Spermopliila or
Sporophila (as S. moreleti of Texas and Mexico)
and some related genera of small American
finches. See also Spermestes, and compare Chon-
destes Little seed-eater. See grassquu.
seeded (se'ded), «. [< seed + -«/2.] 1. Bearing
seed; hence, matured; full-grown.
The seeded pride
That hath to this maturity blown up
In rank Achilles must or now be cropp'd.
Shak., T. and C, L 3. 316.
The silent seeded mellow-grass.
Tennyson, I'elleas and Ettarre.
2. Sown ; sprinkled with seed. — 3. In her.,
having the stamens indicated : used only when
they are of a different tincture from the rest of
the flower : as, a rose gules seeded or — Fleur-de-
lis seeded. ?>ee fleur-de-lis.
seed-embroidery (sed'em-broi'''der-i), n. Em-
broidery in which the seeds of certain plants
are fastened upon the ground and form parts of
the design, as pumpkin-, melon-, and cucum-
ber-seeds.
seeder (se'dfer), n. [< seed + -erl.] 1. One
who or that which sows or plants seeds ; a seed-
planting tool or machine ; a seeding-machine or
sower; a seed-drill. — 2. An apparatus for re-
mo-ving seeds from fruit: as, a raisin-seeder. —
3. A breeding or spawning fish ; a seed-fish.
seed-field (sed'feld), n. A field in which seed
is raised, or a field ready for seeding.
lime is not sleeping, nor Time's seedfleld.
Carlyle, French Rev., II. iii. 2.
seed-finch (sed'finch), n. A South American
finch of the genus Oryzohorus. F. L. Sclater.
seed-fish (sed'fish), n. A fish containing seed,
roe, or spawn ; a ripe fish.
seed-fo-wlt (sed'foul), n. [< ME. sede-foul; <
seed + /<m'?l.] A bird that feeds on grain, or
such birds collectively.
The sede-foul chosen hadde
The turtel trewe, and gan hir to hem calle.
Chaueer, Parliament of Fowls, 1. 576.
seedful (sed'ful), a. [< seed + -ful.'\ Full of
seed; pregnant; rich in promise.
She sits all gladly-sad expecting
Som flame (against her fragrant heap reflecting)
To bum her sacred bones to seedfull cinders.
Sylvester, tr. of Uu Bartas's Weeks, i. 5.
seed-gall (sed'gal), n. A small gall, as if a
seed, raised on any plant by one of various in-
sects, as the phylloxera,
seed-garden (sed'gar'''dn), n. A garden for
raising seed.
seed-grain (sed'gran), ». Com or grain used as
seed for a new crop; hence, that from which
anything springs.
The primary seed-grain of the Norse Eelfgion.
Carlyle, Hero- Worship, L
In 1876 and 1877 the grasshoppers ruined the wheat crops
of Minnesota, and reduced many farmers to a condition of
distress. The LegisLiture accordingly made profuse seed-
TTOtftloans to individuals, to be refunded gradually in the
form of special taxes. Contemporary Rev., LI. 700.
seediness (se'di-nes), M. l< seedy + -ness.'] The
character or condition of being seedy, (a) The
state of abounding in seed. (6) .Shabbiness ; worn-out ap-
pearance.
A casual visitor might suppose this place to be a Tem-
ple dedicated to the Genius of Seediness.
Dickens, Pickwick, xliii.
(c) Exhausted or worn-out condition as regards health or
spirits. [Colloq.]
What is called seediness, after a debauch, is a plain proof
that nature has been outraged, and will have her penalty.
J. S. Blackie, Self -Culture, p. 95.
seeding (se'ding), n. [Verbal n. of seed, ».]
The sowing of or with seed.
"Blessed is he that considereth the jxior"; there is the
seeding: " the Lord shall deliver him in the time of trou
ble; tiiere is the harvest." i?ec. T. .<tdaiiis, Works, 11. 373.
seeding-machine
seeding-machine (se'ding-ma-shen'), n. An
agricultural machine for sowing or planting
seeds, including machines for planting seeds in
hills, drills, or broadcast ; a seeder. Many of these
machines form the furrow, deposit the Bee<ls, and cover
them by means of a following wheel or other device.
seeding-plow (se'ding-plou), «. A plow fitted
with anopper. from which seed is automatically
deposited in the furrow as it is turned.
seed-lac (sed'lak), «. See tac2, 1.
seed-leaf (sed'lef), n. In 6o<., a cotyledon. Also
called SI mitwil leaf. See cuts under exogen and
plumnh.
seed-leap (sed'lep), n. [Also seed-Up, seed-lop;
< ME. seed-leep, seed-lep, sedlepe, < AS. sSdlsep,
ssdledp, a seed-basket, < sxd, seed, -I- leap, a
basket: see seed a.niletip^.'] A seed-basket ; a
vessel in which a sower carries seed. Bailey,
1731.
seedless (sed'les), a. [< seed + -less.'] Having
no seeds : as, a seedless orange.
seedling (sed'ling), w. and a. [C seed + -Zoi^l.]
1. H. A plant reared from the seed, as distin-
guished from one propagated by layering, or
from a budded or grafted tree or shrub.
IL a. Produced from the seed: as, a seedling
pansy.
seed-iip, seed-lop (sed'lip, -lop), n. Same as
iiiil-leiip.
seed-lobe (sed'ldb), n. In hot., a seed-leaf; a
cotvlfdon.
seedman (sed'man), n. Same as seedsman.
seednesst (sed'n'es), n. [< ME. sedness; < seed
+ -ness.] Sowing.
TrTmenstre mdnea eke ii to respite
To pUoe* colde of winter snowe* white.
PaUaOim, HuBbondrie (E. E. T. 9^\ p. 10.
BlosAominff time
That from the terdnem the bare fallow brlnga
To teeming foiaun. Skak., M. for H., L 4. 42.
seed-oil (sed'oil), «. See oil and jntilsa-oii.
seed-oysters (sed'ois'tirz), n. pi. Very yoang
oystii-. tit for planting.
seed-pearl (sed p*rl), n. See pearl.
seed-planter (sed'plan't^r), n. A seeding-ma-
chine or seeder. The term is applied espe-
cially to machines for planting seen in hills.
seed-plat (sed'plat), ». Same as seed-plot.
seed-plot (sed'plot), n. A piece of ground in
which Kceds are sown to produce plants for
transplanting; a piece of nursery-ground ;
hence, figuratively, a nurserj- or hotbed.
Id Fhuice ! that garden of homanitj,
Hie Tery medptat of all coorteales.
B. Jotuon, Uagnetlck Ladjr, Ul. 4.
seed-sheet (sed'shet), ». The sheet containing
th<' scid which a sower carries with him. C'ar-
li/h.
seedsman (sedz'man), n. ; pi. seedsmen (-men).
[< seed's, poss. of seed, + man.'] 1. A sower;
one who scatters seed.
Stnnge, untrue, and unnatural oonceita set abroad by
mtdimm of rebellion, only to animate unquiet spirits.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, vtlL 2.
TheaMdniian
Upon the slime and oose scatten the grain.
And shortly comes to barrest.
Skak., A. mdC, in. tt.
2. A dealer in seeds.
seed-sower (sed'so'fer), n. A broadcast seeding-
niHi-liiiU' or seeder, used especially for grain-
aud ^rrasH-planting.
seed-stalk (scd'stak), n. In hot., the funiculus.
«<•<■ .v<"/, 1.
seedsterf (sed'st^r), n. [< seed + -ster.'] A
MowiT. [Uare.]
Fell Man (the SetdM»r of debate).
HylvuUr, tr. of l>n Baitaa'a Weeks, it. The Columnes.
seed-tick (sed'tik), n. A young or small tick:
applied to any species of Ixodes, especially the
cattle-tick, /. bovU. [U. 8.]
With Meed-tiek coffee and ordinary brown sugar cost-
ing fabulous sums and almost impossible to be obtained,
it is small matter of wonder that the unsatisfied appetite
of the rebel sbarpabooter at his post far to the front often
impelled him ... to call a parley with the Yankee across
the line. Tl>e Century, XXXVI. 768.
seed-time (sed'tim). n. [< ME. 'sedtime, < AS.
sied-lima (= Icel. sdth-timi), seed-time, time for
sowing, < sad, seed, sowing, -t- tima, time: see
seed ami time.] The season proper for sowing
seed.
While the earth remaineth. leedtime and harreat, and
cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and ni«ht
shall not cease. Oen. Till. 2-2.
Too forward ued-time» make thy harreat lame.
(itiarlet, Kmblems, It. 4.
seed-vessel (sed'ves'el), i». In hot., the peri-
carp which contains the seeds. See cuts under
dehiscence, flax, and follicle.
^65
Seed-wccTil t^Apion rostrum), (Cross shows natural size.)
seed-weevil (sed'we'vl), «. A small weevil
which infests seeds, as a species of Apion. See
ApiixtiHse.
seed- wool (sed'wid), n. Raw cotton when
freshly taken from the bolls, before the seeds
have been separated from the fiber.
seedyl (se'di), a. [< seed + -yl.] 1. Abound-
ing with seeds; running to seed.
Of human weeds I shall not now speak except to observe
how eeedy they are, bow they increase and multiply over
the more valuable and highly cultivated plants.
The Century, XIX. 689.
2. Having a peculiar flavor, supposed to be
derived from weeds growing among the vines :
applied to French brandy. — 3. Full of spawn,
as a seed-fish. — 4. Run to seed; no longer
fresh, new, or prosperous ; worn-out ; shabby ;
poor : as, a seedy coat ; to look rather seedy.
However »eedy Mr. Bagshot may be now, if he hath really
played this frolic with yon, yovmay believe he will play it
with others, and when he is in cash you may depend on a
restoration. PieUvng, Jonathan Wild, i. 12. (Daviee.)
He la a little tetdy, . . . not well in clothes.
Ooldeinith, Oood*natured Man, iiL
6. Looking or feeling wretched, as after a de-
bauch; not well; out of sorts. [Colloq.] — 6.
In glass-^making, containing the bubbles called
seed.
The mixture will melt from the top only, the lower part
not being sufllcienMy hcuteti ; and, whatever efforts the
founder msy make sutise^iuently, Ids found will be pro-
longed, and his glass will be medy. Uiasa^making, p. 120.
seedy-, ». See sidi.
seedy-ioe (se'di-to), n. A diseased condition
of a horse's foot, in which the hoof-wall near
its lower margin is separated from the bone by
the formation of imperfect horn.
Any horse with the least tendency to uedy-toe, thnuh,
or any such disease ai the feet.
The Field (London^ Jan. 90^ 1886.
seeing (s6'ing), ew^. [Orig. ppr. of »eei, v.,
agreeing with the subject expressed or under-
stood.] Because; inasmuch as; since^ con-
sidering; taking into account, or in view of
the fact (with that expressed or understood).
Wherefore come ye to me, —eing ye hate meT
Oen. xiTi 27.
Ifeeirtg I have now mentioned' the gnarde, I will make
Konie larKC relation thereof. Coryat, Crudities, 1. 40, sig. D.
seeing-stonet (se'ing-stdn), n. A looking-glass ;
a mirror.
They roust look into that true teeing-ttone, the teaching
of Christ's Church, whose holy volumes they beheld be-
fore them, spsrkllng with the emblematical ball of crys>
tsL Rock, Church of our Fathers, L 296.
seek^ (sek), v. ; pret. and pp. sought, ppr. seek-
ing. [< ME. seken, also assibilated .leechen,
seehen (pret. touhte, sogkte, sohte, pp. soM, sogt,
sowt), < AS. sican, sicean (pret. sohte, pp. ge-
soht) = OS. sokian = OFries. seka = D. zoeken
z= MLO. soken, LG. soeken = 0H6. suohhan,
MHG. suoehen, Q. suchen = Icel. ssekja (for
'sakja) = Sw. soka = Dan. soge = Goth, sokjan,
seek; prob. connected with saean (pret. soc),
fight, contend, sacu, strife, etc. (see sake^), and
akin to Ir. sdigim, lead, perhaps to L. sagire,
Serceive quick'ly or acutely, Gr. ^elodai, lead,
[ence in comp. beseek, now only heseech."] I.
trans. 1. To go in search or quest of; look or
search for; endeavor to find: often followed
by out.
To the whiche onre Lord sente aeynt Peter and seynt
James, for to seeAe the Asse, npon Palme Sonday, and rode
upon that Asse to Jerusalem. MandevtOe, Travela, p. 07.
Antonio . . . did range the town to aeek me md,
Shak.,T.S., iv. 3.7.
2. To inquire for; ask for; solicit; desire or try
to obtain.
seeker
The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their
meat from God. Ps. civ. 21.
Others, tempting him, sought of him a sign. Luke xi. 16.
Charles was not imposed on his countrymen, but sought
by them. Macaiday, Sir J. Mackintosh.
3. To go to; resort to; have recourse to.
And to vysyte ayen suche other holy place as we had
deuocion vnto, and also to seke and vysyte dyuers pylgtym-
ages and holy thynge that we had not sene byfome.
Sir R. Guylforde, Pylgrymage, p. 46.
Seek not Beth-el, nor enter into Gilgal. Amos v. 5.
The Queen, not well pleased with these Proceedings,
seeks all Means to incite the Lords of her Party, and they
as much seek to incite her to make Opposition.
Baker, Chronicles, p. 194.
4. To aim at; pursue as an object; strive af-
ter; attempt: as, to seek a person's life or his
ruin.
I do forgive you ;
And though you sought my blood, yet I'll pray for you.
Beau, and Fl., Thierry and Theodoret, v. 2.
5. To try; endeavor: with an infinitive object.
Lying report hath sought to appeach mine honour.
Greeiw, Pandosto (1588X
A thousand ways he geeks
To mend the hurt that liis unkindness marr'd.
Shak., Venus and Adonis, I. 477.
Why should he mean me ill, or seek to harm ?
Haton, P. L., ix. 1152.
Some, covetous
Above the rest, seek to engross me whole.
And counter-work the one unto the other.
B. Jonaon, Volpone, i. 1.
6. To search; search through.
Whan thei weren comen azen fro the Chace, thel wenten
and soughten the Wodes, zif ony of hem had ben hid in
the thikke of the Wodes. MandeviUe, Travels, p. 226.
Have I sought every country far and near.
And, now it is my chance to find thee out.
Must I behold thy timeless cruel death?
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., v. 4. 8.
They've sought Clyde's water up and doun.
They've sought it out and in.
rot<n<7 Redin (Child's Ballads, III. 16).
7t. To look at; consult. Minsheu SeekdeadI
the order given by a sportsman to a dog to search for and
retrieve killed game.
II. intraus. If. To go; proceed; resort; have
recourse; apply: with to.
The soudiours by assent sogkttn to the tempnll.
Destruction qf Troy (E. E. T. S.X 1. 3821.
Now, Queen of Comfort ! sithe thou art that same
To whom I meehe for my medicyne,
Lat not my foo no more my wounde entame.
Chaucer, A. B. C, \. 78.
And all the earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom,
which God had put in his heart. 1 Ki. x. 24.
Wisdom's self
Oft seekt to sweet retired solitude.
MiUon, Comns, 1. 376.
2. To search, or make search or inquiry.
Ask and it shall be given you, seek and ye shall find.
Mat vil. 7.
Ill not seek far ... to And thee
An honourable husband. Shak., W. T., v. 3. 141.
Sought after, in demand ; desired ; courted : as, his com-
pany is grently sought aSUr.
Vou see, my good wenches, bowmen of merit ^T^sought
after. Shak., 2 Hen. IV., ii. 4. 405.
To seek, (a) To be sought ; desired but out of reach or
not found : as, the work has been decided on, but the man
to carry it out is still (o seek.
Cure counseil was nat longe for to seche.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 784.
This King hath stood the worst of them in his own
House without danger, when his Coach and Horses, in a
Panic feare, have bin to seek. Milton, Eikonoklastes, iv.
(6t) At aloss : without knowledge, experience, or resources:
helpless: used adjectively, usually with be.
So shall not our English Poets, though they be to seeke of
the Oreeke and Latin languages, lament for lack of know-
ledge snffictent to the purpose of this arte.
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Pocsie, p. 131.
For, if you reduce usury to one low rate, it will ease the
common Iwrrower, but the merchant will be to seeke lot
money. Bacon, Usury.
I that have dealt so long in the Are will not be to seel
in smoke now. B, Jonson, IMrtholoroew Fair, ii. 1.
Does he not also leave us wholly (o seek in the art of po-
litical wagering? Swift, Tale of a Tub, v.
To seek for, to endeavor to find.
The sailors sought for safety by our boat
Shak,,C. of E., il.77.
To seek OUtt, to withdraw.
An you engross them all for your own use, 'tis time for
me to seek out. B, Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, iv. 1.
To seek upont, to make trial of.
Sometyme be we suff red for to seke
Upon a man, and doon his soulennreste,
And nat his body, and h1 is for the beste.
Chaucer, Friar's Tale, 1. 196.
seek'-'f, a. A Middle English form of sieJcX.
seeker (se'k6r), n. [< ME. seker, sekere; < seek^
+ -cri.] 1. One wboseeks; an inquirer: as, a
seeker
seeker after truth. — 2t. One who applies or re-
sorts : with to.
Cato is represented as a eeeier to oracles. Bentley.
3. A searcher.
So the bisynesse of the seken was scorned.
Wydif, Gen. xxxi. 35.
4. [fflJJ.] One of a sect in the time of Cromwell
which professed no determinate religion, but
claimed "to be in search of the true church,
ministry, sacraments, and Scriptures.
Others, held very good men, are at a dead stand, not
knowing what to doe or say; and are therefore called
SeeJtei% lookiiiff for new Nuntio's from Christ, to assoile
these benighted questions. N. H'ard, Simple Cobler, p. la
These people were called Seekers by some, and the Family
of Love by others ; because, as they came to the know-
ledge of one another, they sometimes met together, not
formally to pray or preach at appointed times or places,
in their own wills, as in times past they were accustomed
to do ; but waited together in silence, and, as any thing
rose in any one of their minds that they thought favoured
of a divine spring, they sometimes spoke.
Penn, llise and Progress of Quakers, i.
5. In anat., same as tracer.
Insert a seeker into it [the pedal gland of the common
snail] — it can be readily introduced for a distance of more
than an inch,
Uwdey and Martin^ Elementary Biology, p. 281.
seekingt (se'king), p. a. Investigating; search-
ing for the truth.
A student . , . informed us of a sober and seeking man
of great note in the city of Duysburgh ; to him we gave
some books. There was one more who was tender and
inquiring, to whom also we gave some books.
Penn, Travels in Holland, Works, III. 402.
seek-no-further (sek'no-ffer'THfer), «. A red-
dish winter apple, with a subacid flavor. Also
yo-no-further. [U. S.]
seek-sbrrowt (sek'sor'6), n. [< seek, v., + obj.
sorrow. '\ One who contrives to give himself
vexation; a self -tormentor.
Afield they go, where many lookers be,
And thou seek-sorrow Claius them among.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, 1.
seeUt, o. [ME. sel, < AS. sel, sMl, good, fortu-
nate, happy, = OHG. 'sal (in MHGr. sdUiche) =
Icel. saell = 8w. sail = Dan. seel = Goth, sels,
good, useful; prob. = L. sollns, whole, entire,
solus (prob. orig. identical with sollus), alone
(see so/ei), salvus, salvos, orig. "solvos, whole,
sound, weU, safe (see safe), = Gr. oAof, dial.
ov/oc, whole, = Skt. sarva, whole, all. Hence
«ee/l, J!., and, by extension from seeV-, a., seely
(which only partly depends on the noun seel)
(cf. holy, similarly extended from hole, now
spelled ichole), and from that the mod. silly.']
Good; fortunate; opportune; happy. Laya-
mon, 1. 1234.
seel^ (sel), n. [< ME. sele, cele, sel, ssel, < AS.
sxl, time, season, happiness, < sM. sel, fortunate,
opportune : see seeV-, a.] 1. Good fortune ; hap-
piness; bliss. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.]
I is thyn awen clerk, swa have I seet Ivar. hele].
Chaucer, Reeve's Tale, 1. 319.
Take droppyng of capone rostyd wele
With wyne and raustarde, as have thou cele,
With onyons smalle schrad, and sothun [sodden] in grece,
Meng alle in fere, and forthe hit messe.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 288.
2. Opportunity ; time ; season : as, the seel of
the day : used frequently as the second element
in a compound: as, hay-«eei (hay-time), barley-
seel. etc. [Prov. Eng.]
seel^ (sel), v. t. [Also ceel; early mod. E. also
seele, seal, cele; < OF. siller, ciller, sew up the
eyelids of, hoodwink, wink, P. ciller, open and
shut the eyes, wink, < cil, eyelid, < L. cilium, an
eyelid, eyelash: see cilium.] 1. To close, or
close the eyes of, with a thread. The eyelids of a
newly taken hawk were thus sealed in falconry, to keep
them together, and aid in making it tractable.
She brought a seeled dove, who, the blinder she was, the
higher she strove. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, i.
He shall for this time only be seeVd up,
With a feather through his nose, that he may only
See heaven, and think whither he is going.
Beau, and Ft., Philaster, v. 4.
So have I seen a harmless dove made dark with an ar-
tificial night, and her eyes sealed and locked up with a lit-
tle quill. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835X I. 860.
Hence — 2. To close, as a person's eyes ; blind;
hoodwink.
She that, so young, could give out such a seeming,
To seel her father's eyes up close as oak.
SAa*., Othello, ill. 3.210.
Cold death ... his sable eyes did seel. Chapman.
SeeF (sel), V. i. [Prob. < F. .liller, run ahead,
make headway, < OF. siffUr, singler, F. cinfiler,
sail, make sail (= Sp. sini/lar), sail, < Icel. sigla,
sail: see sail^, single'^, v.] To lean; incline to
one side ; heel; rdU, as a ship in a storm.
5466
When a ship seels or rolls in foul weather, the breaking
loose of ordnance is a thing very dangerous. Raleigh.
seeF (sel), H. [<.seel^,v.] A roll or pitch, as of
a ship in a storm.
All aboard, at every seele.
Like drunkards on the hatches reele.
Sandys, Piiraphrase of the Fsalms (ed. 1636), p. 181.
In a mighty storme, a lustie yonge man (called John
Howland), coming ujpon some occasion above y graftings,
was with a sede of y« shipe throwne into [y^] sea.
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 76.
seel^t, "• and V. A Middle English form of seal^.
seelilyt (se'li-li), adv. In a seely or silly man-
ner.
seelinesst, »• The character of being seely;
happiness ; blissf ulness.
Worldly selytiesse,
Which clerkes callen fals felicite,
Ymedled is with many a bitternesse.
Chaucer, Troilus, ill. 813.
seelyt, «• [Early mod. E., also seele y ; < ME.
sely, sell, < AS. sxlig, fortunate, prosperous,
happy, blessed (= OS. sdlig = OFries. selich,
silieh = MD. salifi, D. salig, blessed, MLG. sd-
lich, selich = OHG. sdlig, MHG. sselee, fortu-
nate, blessed, happy, G. selig, blessed, = Icel.
seelUgr, happy, wealthy, blissful, = Sw. Daji.
salig, blessed) ; extended, with adj. suffix, < sail,
sel, fortuBate, happy: see seeP-, a. Hence in
later use silly, in a restricted sense : see silly.']
1. Happy; lucky; fortunate.
For sdy is that deth, soth for to seyne,
That oft ycleped cometh and endeth peyne.
Chaucer, Troilus, iv. 503.
0 noble prince, that god shall blesse so farre as to be
the onely meane of bringing this seely frozen Island
into such everlasting honnour that all the nations of the
World shall knowe and say, when the face of an English
gentleman appeareth, that he is eyther a Sowldiour, a
philosopher, or a gallant Cowrtier.
Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 11.
To get some seeley home I had desire. Fairfax.
2. Good.
Seli child is sone ilered [taught].
Life of Beket (ed. Black), p. 168. {Stratmann.)
For sdy child wol alday sone lere.
Chaucer, Prioress's Tale, 1. 60.
3. Simple; artless; innocent; harmless; silly.
See silly.
O sely womman, ful of innocence,
Knl of pitee, of truthe and Conscience,
What maked yow to men to trusten so?
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 1254.
I, then, whose burden'd breast but thus aspires
Of shepherds two the sedy cause to show.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, i.
A face like modest Pallas when she blush'd ;
A sedy shepherd should be beauty's judge.
Greene, Description of Silvestro's Lady.
Honest foole duke, . . . seely novice Ferneze !
I do laugh at yee.
Marstim and Webster, Malcontent, i. 7.
4. Poor; trifling.
And for to apparaylle with oure Bodyes, wee usen a
sdy litylle Clout, for to wrappen in oure Careynes.
Mandeville, Travels, p. 293.
seem (sem), v. [< ME. semen; not from the AS.
seman, geseman, satisfy, conciliate, reconcile,
but from the related Scand. verbs, Icel. ssema
(for *swma), honor, bear with, conform to, soma,
befit, beseem, become (=Dan. somme,t)e becom-
ing, be proper, be decent) ; ef . s^mr, fit, becom-
ing, < sama, beseem, befit, become, conform to
(= Goth, sanyan, please), < samr = Goth, soma,
the same: see same, and cf. seemly, heseem.] I.
intrans. If. To be fit or suitable.
To the tempuU full tyte toke he the gate.
Ff uU mylde on his nianer meuit within.
On a syde he hym set, as semyt for a straungior.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2879.
2. To appear; have or present an appearance
of being ; appear to be ; look or look like ; in
a restricted sense, be in appearance or as re-
gards appearance only.
And I have on of tho precyouse Thomes, that semethe
licke a white Thorn, and that was zoven to me for gret
Specyaltee. ' Mandeville, Travels, p. 13.
This is to seeme, and not to bee.
Ascham, The Scholemaster, p. 29.
She seemd a woman of great bountihed.
Spenser, F. Q., III. i. 41.
So shall the day seem night.
Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 122.
Some truths seem almost falsehoods, and some false-
hoods almost truths. Sir T. Browne, Christ. Mor., ii. 3.
In every exercise of all admired.
He seemed, nor only seemed, but was inspired.
Dryden, Cym. and Iph., 1. 221.
3. To appear ; be seen : show one's self or itself;
hence, to assume an air: pretend.
For lone made I this worlde alone,
Therf ore my loue shalle in it seme.
York Plays, p. 16.
seeming
As we seme best we shall shewe our entent.
Generydes (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1768.
There did seem in him a kind of joy
To hear of it. Shak., Hamlet, ill. 1. 18.
4. In an impersonal reflexive use, to appear:
with the person in the dative, later apparently
in the nominative as the quasi-subject of seem
in the sense of 'think, consider': as, me seem,
him seemed, they seemed, the people seemed, it
seems to me, it seemed to him, them, or the
people {meseems being often written as a single
word).
The peple com to the gate, and saugh apertly the Duke,
as hem seined. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), 1. 77.
"Sir," sais syr Sextenonr, "saye what the lykez,
And we salle suffyre the, als us h&^ie semes."
Morle Arthur (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1701.
It was of f airye, as the peple seined.
Ctiaucer, Squire's Tale, 1. 193.
Me seemeth good that, with some little train,
Forthwith from Ludlow the young prince be fetch'd
Hither to London, to be crown'd our king.
Shak., Rich. III., ii. 2. 120.
5. To appear to one's self ; imagine; feel as if:
as, I still seem to hear his voice ; he still seemed
to feel the motion of the vessel.
Gazing I seem to see
Thought folded over thought ... in thy large eyes.
Tennyson, Eleanore, vi.
It is habitual with the New-Englander to put this verb
to strange uses, as, "I can't seem to be suited," "I couldn't
seem to know him." Lowell, Biglow Papers, 2d ser., Int^
It seems, it appears: often used pai-eiithetically, and
nearly equivalent to ' as the story goes, as is said, as we
are told.' Often used sarcastically or ironically : as, this,
it seems, is the man you call good 1
I am abus'd, betray'd ! I am laugh'd at, scorn'd.
Baffled, and bor'd, it seems I
Ftetctier, Spanish Curate, iv. 5.
It seems to me that the true reason why we have so few
versions which are tolerable is because there are so few
who have all the talents requisite for translation.
Dryden,
The river here is about a quarter of a mile broad, or
something more. /( shmUd seem it was the Angyrorum
Civitas of Ptolemy. Bruce, Source of the Kile, I. 80.
It seems a countryman had wounded himself with his
scythe. Steele, Tatler, No. 248.
= Syn. 2. Seem, Look, Appear. Look differs from seem
only in more vividly suggesting the use of the eye, literally
or figuratively : as, it looks (or seems) right. Appear is some-
what stronger, having sometimes the sense of coming into
view or coming to seem. Each may stand for that which
is probably true, or in opposition to that which is true ;
not to seem, but to fee ; the seeming and the real. Should
seem and would seem are equally correct, but differ in
strength. To say that a thing should seem to be true is
to say that it ought to seem so or almost necessarily
seems so ; to say that it 2vould seem true is to say that,
while there are reasons for holding an opposite view, the
preponderance of evidence is on the side of its being true.
Il.t trans. To become ; beseem; befit; be
fit, suitable, or proper for.
Amongst the rest a good old woman was,
Higbt Mother Hubberd, who did farre snrpas
The rest in honest mirth, that seem'd her well.
Spenser, Mother Hub. Tale, 1. 35.
seemer (se'mfer), ». One who seems ; one who
makes a show of something; one who carries
an appearance or semblance.
Hence shall we see.
If power change purpose, what our seemers be.
Shak., M. for M., i. 3. 54.
seeming (se'ming), n. [Verbal n. of seem, v.]
1. Appearance; show; outward appearance
or looks; semblance; especially, a false ap-
pearance.
And to raze out
Rotten opinion, who hath writ me down
After my seeming. Shak., 2 Hen. IV,, v. 2. 129.
He concludes with a sentence faire in seenning, but fal-
lacious. Milton, Eikonoklastes, vi.
2t. Fair appearance.
These keep
Seeming and savour all the winter long.
Shak., W. T., iv. 4. 75.
3t. Opinion; judgment; way of thinking; es-
timate; apprehension.
Nothing more clear unto their seeming than that, a
new Jerusalem being often spoken of in scripture, they
undoubtedly were themselves that new Jerusalem.
Hooker.
His persuasive words impregn'd
With reason, to her seeming, and with truth,
Milton, P. L., ix. 737.
seeming (se'ming), p. a. [< ME. semyng; ppr.
otseem,v.] If. Becoming; befitting; proper;
seemly.
As hym thought it were right wele semj/ny
Ffor to do hym seruice as in that case.
And rather ther thanne in a stranger place
Generydes (E. E. T. S.), L 327.
It wer farr more seeming that they shoulde wt the, by
good liuing, begin to be men, then thou shouldest with
them, by the leaning of thy good purpose, shamefully be-
gin to bee a beast. Sir T. More, Works, p. 12.
seeming
2. That appears to be (real, proper, or the
like); having a semblance or appearance of
being real, or what is purported ; ostensible ;
apparent: as, seeming happiness; a seeming
friend.
We have very oft awaked him, as if to carry him to ex-
ecntion, and showed him a teeming warrant for it.
Shak., M. for M., iv. 2. 160.
To your court
Whiles he was hastening, . . . meets he on the way
The father of this teeming lady. Shak., W. T., v. 1. 191.
All things seek their own good, or at least seetmn^good.
Burton, Anat of MeL, p. 103.
seemingt (se'ming), adv. [< seeming, p. a.] In
a beconung or seemly manner; seemly.
Bear your hody more Kerning, Aadrey.
Shak., As you Like it, v. 4. 72.
seemingly (se'ming-li), adv. In a seeming
manner; apparently; ostensibly; in appear-
ance ; in show ; in semblance.
This the father aeemingiy complied with.
AddiMm, Freeholder, No. 43.
This teemingly simple feeling.
H. Speneer, Prin. of Psychol. (2d ed.X S «0.
seemingness (se'ming-nes), n. Fair appear-
ance; pliiusibility; semblance.
The authority of Aristotle and his learned followers
{Jf?7
2. Experienced; versed; skilled.
It is verie rare, and niaruelous hard, to proue excellent
in the Latin tong, for him that is not also well aeetus'ln
the Ureeke tong. Ascham, The Scholemaster, p. 157.
He 's affable, and seetie in many thinges ;
Wscourses well, a(good compiinlon.
Heywood, Woman Killed with Kindness.
She was teene in the Hebrew, Greeke, and Latin tongues.
Haktuyt's Voyages, II. 2.
Arithmetic and Geometry I would wish you well seen in.
Sir P. Sidney (Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 808).
For he right well in Leaches craft waS seene.
Spender, F. Q., VI. vL 3.
seenet, ». [ME., also cene, Se. seinye, seiiye, <
OP. sene, a synod, prop, a senate: see senate,
and el. synod.] A synod. Prompt. Parv., p. 453.
seep (sep), r. t. [Also seap, seip ; a var. of sipe,
q. v.] 1. To ooze or percolate gently; flow-
gently or drippingly through pores; trickle.
The melting waters of summer are diffused through the
unconsolidated snow of the preceding winter, and slowly
seep through the soft slush, bat have not a motion sof-
flciently rapid to cause them to gather into streams and
erode well-deflned channels.
Amer. Jour. Sci., 3d ser., XL. 122.
2. To drain oS : said of any wet thing laid on
a grating or the like to drain: as, let it seep
there,
jesses us on the one side, and the teeminmeuot those seepage (se'paj), n. [Also seapane ; < seep +
reasons we have already mention d perswadea us on the „„„ f Poi-onlotJ^n • r,T^»ir.,. fl,.M „. ™„:o»„_„.
otherside. SiVX i)^6». Bodies, viL -'Ji/^-J, ^Prco'a"0°i oozmgHu^J or moisture;
[< seem + -less.'] Un-
seemlessf (sem'les), a.
seemly; unfit; indecoroiis. [Kare.]
The Prince ... did his father place
Amids the pav^d entry, in a seat
Seemlefs and abject. Chapman, Odyssey, xx. 397.
seemlihead (»em'li-hed), n. [Also seevUihed; <
MK. .temilylirde ; < seemly + -head.] Seemli-
ness; becomingness; fair appearance and bear-
ing. [Obsolete or archaic]
A yong man f ul of temelyhede. Ham. cifthe Rote, L IISO.
Yet nathemore hi* meaning she ared, , . .
And by his penons secret teenUyhed
Well weend that he had beene some man of place.
Speruer, ¥. K., IV. viiL 14.
Then his tongue with sober memtihed
Gave utterance. Keats, Endymion, Ir.
seemlily (sem'li-li), adv. In a seemly or be-
loiiiiiig manner; decently; comelily. Imp. Diet.
seemliness (sem'li-nes), n. [< ME. seemfinetse ;
< neniily + -ness.] Seemly character, appear-
ance, or bearing; comeliness; grace; beautiful
appearance or bearing; fitness; propriety; de-
cency; decorum.
Womanhod and troothe and mevUineue.
Chaueer, Good Women, 1. 1041.
And memlinem complete, that iwajs
Thy coDitedea, aboot thee plays.
WonUmrO, To a Highland GIrL
seemly (sem'U), a. [< ME. semly, semli, semely,
semeli, semUeh, gemliche, semelich, semelike,< Icel.
sseiniligr = Dan. sommelig, seemly, becoming,
fit, < siemr, fit, becoming, < soma, beseem : see
seem.] 1. Becoming; fit; suited to the object,
occasion, purpose, or character; suitable; de-
cent; proper.
Hit were sittyng for aotlML A tnOy tot wemen,
Thaire hooae* to haunt A. holde hom with in.
DmtmeOm^TnyCi. E.T. i).),L 2962.
A eemtly man oure luxxt was withalle,
For to ban been a marshal In an balle.
Cha%uer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., L 751.
Are theae uemly company for thee?
B. Jmton, Poetaster, It. S.
A tiemly gown of Kendal green.
With gorget cloeed of silver sheen.
SeaU, Rokeby, v. 16.
2t. Comely; goodly; handsome; beautiful.
By that same hade he sonnes, tmUy men all.
DeKiSutftm 0/ Troy (E. E. T. S.\ 1. 1474.
Bit maketh myn herte light
Whan I thenke on that swetc wight
That is so semely on to se.
Chaiuxr, Death of BUncbe, L 1177.
The erle buskyd and made hym jrare
For to rjrde orft the revere.
To see that imdy nvht
StrBgUtmmr (TbomtoD Bomancea), 1. 198.
seemly («era'li),o<fr. \< seemly, a.] In a decent
«r suitable manner; becomingly; fitly.
There, seemly ranged In peacefnl order, stood
Ulyaaee' anna, now long disuaed to blood.
Pope, Odyssey.
Not rastlc as before, bnt memlier clad.
jraton,p. B.,u.2sa.
seemlyhedt, seemlyhoodf, n. Same as seemli-
h"i<l.
seen sen), j). ami ti. I. j,. Past participle of «cel.
U.t >i. 1. Manifest; evident.
Al was forgeten, and that was sene.
Chaueer, Death of Blanche, I. 41.S.
as.
also, the amount of a fluid that percolates
the seepage is great.
We might call the vast streams which then filled the
valleys ordinary rivers, since they were not bordered im-
mediately by ice. Yet the seepage of ooie and flow of
(iletscherrailch, sUt, and sand, which had helped fill the
broad channels of the osar-plains period, still continued
from the uphinds with even greater rapidity.
Amer. Jour. Set., 3d ser., XL. 144.
seepy (se'pi), a. [< seep + -yi.] Oozing; full
of moisture : specifically noting land not prop-
erly drained.
seerl (ser or s6'er), n. [Early mod. E. also sear
(with distinctive term, -ar for -er. as in forebear,
beggar, etc.); < ME. seere = D. zientr (with
irreg. », from the inf.)= MHG. seher (iastern-
teker, star-gazer), G. seher = Dan. seer = 8w.
siare, a seer, prophet; as «eei -I- -eri.] 1. One
who sees.
A dreamer of dreams, and a seer of visions.
Addison, Spectator.
2. A prophet ; a person who foresees or fore-
tells future events.
So also were they the first Prophetes or teears, VIdentea
— for io the Scripture tearmeth them in Latine, after the
Hebnie word Pvttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. &.
Beforetime In Israel, when a man went to enquire of
God, thus he spake. Come, and let us go to the seer : for be
that is DOW called a Prophet was beforetime called a Seer.
1 Sam. Ii. 9.
How soon hath thy prediction, Seer blest.
Measured this transient world, the race of time,
TUI time stand flxd ! MUtan, P. L., xlL SSS.
3. Specifically, one supposed to be gifted with
second sight.
Go preach to the coward, thou death-telling seer!
Campbell, Lovhiel's Warning.
= 8yn. 2. Soothtantr, ttc See prophet.
Beer^t, a. An obsolete spelling of sear^.
8eer*t, a. See sere^.
seer* (ser), n. [Also saer, and more prop, ser;
< Hind, ser.] An East Indian weight, of vary-
ing value in dififerent places, but oflBcially de-
termined in the Presidency of Bengal to be
equal to 80 tolas, or about ij pounds troy.
He reoeiTe* about one dollar and sixty Ave cents tor a
seer (one pound thirteen ounces) of the poppy-Juice.
5. W. Wittiams, Middle Kingdom, n. 87S.
seerfish (ser'fish), «. [Also «eir/«A ; a partial
translation of Pg. petxe serra, lit. * saw-fish,'
applied to various species of the genus Cybiuin:
peiie, < L. piscis, = E. fish ; serrn, < L. serra, a
saw: see serrate.] A scombroid fish, Scombe-
romorus guttatus, of an elongate fusiform shape,
and resembling the Spanish mackerel, S. macu-
la t us. It inhabits the East Indian seas, and Is a valuable
food-fish, much esteemed for Its asToriness.
seerpaw (ser'pa), n. [Formerly also serpnw,
serjiow ; < Hind, mr-o-pd (also sar-td-pd), from
head to foot: sar, also sir, head (< Pers. sar,
head, = Gr. ra^«, head: see cheer^); pa, < Pers.
pd, foot: see/oo<.] In India, a robe of honor
or state suit, presented by way of compliment
or as a token of either favor or homage. Com-
pare lilhit,
seership (ser'ship), n. [< seer^, »., + -ship.]
The offic-p or character of a seer.
seersucker (ser'suk-^r), n. [E. Ind.] A thin
linen fabric, usually imported from the East
Indies, though sometimes imitated in Europe.
seethe
Its surface is irregularly crinkled, producing an effect
somewhat like crape ; it is usually imported in narrow
stripes of grayish blue and white.— India seersucker,
a thin cotton cloth having alternate smooth and puckered
stripes running lengthwise, which are usually about a
quarter of an inch in width. The puckering Is produced
by holding the threads in the warp of the puckered sec-
tions more loosely than the other threads during the pro-
cess of weaving.
seerwoodt, ». See searwood.
see-saw (se'sa), n. and a. [A varied redupli-
cation of satc^, in allusion to the action of two
men sawing wood or stone : see saw^.] I, n. 1.
A sport in which two children sit one at each
end of a board or long piece of timber balanced
on some support, and move alternately up and
down. This amusement is of remote antiquity; it is
familiar in Greek vase-paintings as a pastime, especially of
girls older than the children who usually resort to it now.
The butt-ends of the three old streets that led down to-
wards the sea-ground were dipped as if playing see-saw in
the surf. R. D. Blackmore, Erenia, liv.
2. A board adjusted for this sport. — 3. Any
process resembling directly or indirectly the
reciprocating motion of the see-saw.
The sovereignty was at see-saw between the throne and
the parliament — and the throne-end of the beam was gen-
erally uppennost.
W. WUson, Congressional Government, vL
Especially— (o) A circular definition or proof; the defini-
tion of a word or thing by means of another which is itself
defined by means of the first ; the proof of a proposition by
means of a premise which is itself proved from the first
proposition as a premise.
The ancients called the circular definition also by the
name of diallelon, as in this case we declare the definitum
and the definiens reciprocally by each other. In proba-
tion, there is a similar vice which bears the same names.
We may, I think, call them by the homely English appella-
tion of the see-saw. Sir W. Hamilton, Logic, xxiv.
(6) In whist, the playing of two partners so that each alter-
nately trumps a low non-trump card led by the other; a
double ruff ; a cross-ruff.
II. a. Reciprocating; reciprocal; back and
forth, or up and down : as, a see-saw motion.
His wit all see-saw, between that and this.
Pope, ProU to Satires, 1. 323.
see-saw (se's4), v. [< seesaw, n.] I. intrans.
To move as in the see-saw; move backward
and forward, or upward and downward ; teeter :
literally or figuratively.
So they went seesawing up and down, from one end of
the room to the other. Atinithnot.
n. trans. To cause to move or act in a see-
saw manner.
Tis a poor idiot boy.
Who alts in the sun and twirls a bough about.
And, staring at his bough from morn to sunset.
See-saws his voice in inarticulate noises. Coleridge.
He ponders, he see-saws himself to and fro.
Butwer, Eugene Aram, 1. 9.
seethe (selPn), r. ; pret. seethed (formerly sod),
pp. seethed (formerly sodden, sod), ppr. seething.
[Also seeth ; < ME. sethen (pret. secrt, pi. soden,
sudon, sothen, pp. soden, sothen), < AS. sedlhan
(pret. sedth. Tip. soden) = OFries. siatha = D.
sieden = MLG. seden, LG. seden = OHG. siodan,
MHG. G. sieden = Icel. sjotha = Sw. sjuda =
Dan. syde, boil, seethe; hence Icel. saudhr. a
sheep, orig. a burnt-offering, = Goth. south.<i. a
burnt-offering ; akin to Icel. svitha (pret. sveith),
bum, singe {svitha, a burning, roasting), = Sw.
sveda = Dan. svide, srie, burn, singe, = OHG.
stcedan, burn in a smoldering fire, whence MHG.
swadem, swaden, 6. schwadem, schwaden, steam ;
AS. swathiil, smoke; < Teut. V suth, •/ swith,
burn. Hence ult. sod, suds.] I. trans. 1. To
boil ; decoct, or prepare for food by boiling : as,
to seethe flesh.
Wortes or othere herbes tymes ofte
The whiche she shredde and seeth for hir livinge.
Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, 1. 171.
Of the fat of them [serpentsj, beinge thus sodde, is made
an excedinge pleasaunte brothe or potage.
Jt. Bden, tr. of Peter Martyr (First Books on America, ed.
[Arber, p. 86).
Jacob sod pottage. Gen. xxv. 29.
Thou Shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.
Ex. xxiil. 19.
Can sodden water,
A drench for sur-rein'd jades, their barley-broth.
Decoct their cold blood to such valiant heat?
Shak., Hen. V., iii. B. 18.
2. To soak.
They drown their wits, seethe their brains in ale.
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 840.
There was a man — sleeping — still alive; though
seethed in drink, and looking like death.
D. Jerrotd, St. Giles and St. James.
II. intrans. 1. To boil; be in a state of ebul-
lition, literally or figuratively.
Tho the gode mon nolde don after him, a caudrun he lette
fnlle
With oyle and let hit setheti faste and let him ther-Inne
putte. Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 81.
seethe
tovers and madmen have such trething brains.
Shak., M. N. D.,v. 1. 4.
Will virtue make the pot setth, or the Jack
Turn a spit laden?
HnnMod, Fortune by Laud and Sea (Works, ed. Pearson,
'^^ tlS74, VI. 374).
8. To boil ; prepare food by boiling.
He cowde roste and lethe and broille and We.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 383.
seether (se'THtr), «. One who or that which
seethes; a boiler; a pot for boiling.
Tlie Are thus form'd, she sets the kettle on
(Like bumish'd gold the little seether shone).
Drijden, Baucis and Philemon, 1. 57.
seetulputty (se'tul-pufi), ». [Also scctulpatti ;
< Hind, sital-pdti, sital-patti, a fine cool mat, esp.
the Assam mat, < sital, cool, + pdti, a mat, the
side of a bed.] A kind of mat made especially
in Bengal of fine gi'ass or reeds, used to sleep
on.
Sefton cake. Same as ramskin.
segi(seg),«. [Also segg, sag; unassibUatedform
oi sedge: see sedgc^.] 1. Sedge (which see).
First Car comes crown'd with osier, segs, and reed.
Drayton, Polyolbion, i. 220.
2. The yellow flower-de-luce, Iris I'seudacorus.
[Now only prov. Eng.]
seg2 (seg), n. [Also segg; not found in early
use ; prob. < Teut. ^/ 'sag, cut : see sajpi, secant,
etc.] A castrated bull ; especially, a bull cas-
trated when full-grown ; abuU-segg. [Scotch.]
seg*t, segge^t, «■ [ME., < AS. seeg, a man, war-
rior.] A man ; a warrior.
He slow of oure gegge^ sothli alle the best,
& conquered with clene mist the king & his sone.
WiUiam oj Falerne (E. E. T. &.), 1. 4234.
5468
times called the base of the segment. An angle in a seg-
ment is the .mgle contained by two straight lines drawn
from any point in its aic to the extremities of its chord or
base.
3. In her., a bearing representing one part only
of a rounded object, as a coronet or wreath:
usually a piece less tlutn half of tlie circle. —
Abdominal, basilar, maxillary, postoral, etc., seg-
ments. See the adjectives.— Calcifying or calcine
segment, see calcify.— Segment of a line, the piirt
incUided between two points.— Segment Of a sphere,
iinv part of it cut off by a plane not passing through the
center.— Similar Segments of circles. See similar, 3.
segment (seg'ment), V. [< segment, «.] I.
intrans. To divide or become divided or split
up into segments, (o) In embryol., to undergo seg-
mentation, as an ovum or vitellus. See segmentatio7i. (6)
In physiol., to reproduce by semitission or budding.
Before this occurs, however, the vegetal unit, if it does
not divide, may segment or bud ; the bud grows into a unit
similar to its parent, and this in its turn may also segmeiU.
or bud. Baslian, The Brain as an Organ of Mind, L
II. trans. To separate or divide into seg-
ments : as, a segmented cell,
segmeuta, «. Plural of segmentum.
segmental (seg'men-tal), a. [< segment + -al]
1. Having the form of the segment of a cir-
cle; being a segment: as, a segmental a,Teh.—
2. Of or pertaining to segments or segmenta-
tion: as, a sefl"TOC((te/formula; ser/meKtoi parts;
segmental organs. — 3. Specifically, in embryol.,
noting the primitive and rudimentary renal or-
gans which occur in all vertebrates and some
invertebrates, consisting in the former of
branched tubules opening at one end into the
somatic cavity and at the other by one or more
main duets into the cloaca orhindgut. The seg'
. organs of a vertel
parts, anterior, middle, and posterior,
the head-kidney or pronephron, whose duct becomes a
Miillerian duct. The next is the Wolfllan body proper, or
meaonephron, whose duct is the Wolffian duct. The last
or hindmost is the rudiment of the permanent kidney,
whose duct is the ureter ; this is the tnetaiiepliron. The
epithet segmental in this sense was originally used to
note the kind of renal or excretory organs which annelids,
as worms and leeches, possess, in more or fewerof the seg-
ments of the body, whence the name ; it was subsequently
extended to the above-described embryonic renal organs
of vertebrates which are replaced by permanent kidneys —
these segmental organs being thus loosely synonymous
with primitive kidney, Wolffian body, and protonephron.
See cut under leech.
(Caijies.) segmsntally (seg'men-tal-i), adv. In a seg-
mental manner; in segments: as, the spinal
nerves are arranged segmentally.
These organs, being . . . segmentally arranged, are
termed segmental orgiins or nephridia.
Huxley and Martin, Elementary Biology, p. 244.
segreant
writers; the foregoing is nearly Haeckel's nomenclature.
See egg'l, omnn, littihat, and cuts under gasirula and go*-
(rufofum.— Segmentation rhythm, the rate of produc-
tion of successive cleavage-cells, or their numerical ratio
of increase, whether 2, 4, «, 16, 32, etc., or any other mode
of multiplication.— Segmentation sphere, a ball of
cleaviige-cclls ; a blaatosphere ; a morula.
segmented (seg'men-ted), a. [< segment +
-t'((2.] Divided into segments, segmenta, or
segmenteUa; characterized by or exhibiting
segmentation; somitic; metamerie: thus, the
body of a vertebrate is segmented according to
the number of vertebrtB, whether any actual
division of parts may be evident or not.
segmentellum (seg-men-tel'um), «. ; pi. seg-
menteUa (-ii). [NL., dim. of L. .legmentum, a
cutting: see segmenf] One of the cleavage-
cells which result from segmentation of the vi-
tellus of a fecundated ovum: same as blasto-
mere. See cut tm- „
der gastrulation
segment-gear '
ment-ger), n. A
gear extending over
an arc only of a cir-
cle, and intended to
provide a reciprocat-
ing motion.
segment-rack (seg'-
ment-rak),M. Acog-
geJl surface differing
from an ordinary
rack in that it is
curved, and works
by oscillating on a center instead of recipro-
D^
3_4-L-AwSMwiwyi)tS^
E
Segment -gear and Racle.
A, rack ; t>. seffmcnt-gear ; r, lever
connected with f and pivoted to frame
at d; e, connecting-rod shown as join-
ed to and operating/, the follower of
a hand-press.
^ _ eating in slides or guides. E. H. limgM.
mentiU organs of a vertebrate are divisible into three segment-SaW (seg'ment-sa), «. 1. A circular
parts, anterior, middle, and posterior. The foremost is ^^ ^^^^ ^^^ cutting veneers from squared logs,
consisting of a conical disk having the apex cen-
tral with the arbor, and very thin firmly toothed
segmental saw-plates fastened to the outer mar-
gin of the disk. Such a saw having a diameter of 60
inches would be about 16 inches thick at the arbor — the
object being to bend the veneers out like a thin shaving
as they are sawed from the log.
2. In surq., same as Bey^s saw. See saici.
segment-shell (seg'ment-shel), n. A modern
projectile for artillery, usually in the form of
a conical or oblong shell for rifled guns, in
which an inner cylinder of thin iron contains
the bursting-charge, and this is contained m
an outer shell composed of segmental pieces
which are either thrown in all directions on the
bursting of the shell, or thrown forward, accord-
ing to the arrangement made: the whole is
cased in lead for transportation and loading.
Eury segge (var. seg, C] shal seyn I am sustre of jowre
hous. Piers Plowman (B), iii. 63.
seg**t, V. An obsolete form of saj/i.
segar, n. An improper spelling of cigar.
seget, "• An obsolete form of siege.
segg, n. A dialectal variant of sei/i.
seggan (seg'an), n. [A dim. form of scj/l.]
Sedge. [Scotch.]
seggar (seg'iir), n. Same as saggar.
seggent, segge^t, v. Obsolete forms of say^.
seggont, n. [Gt.seg^.'] A man; a laboring man.
Poore seggons halfe starued worke faintly and dull.
Tusser, Husbandry, p. 174. (Davit
seggrom, seggrom (seg'rum), ». The ragwort,
Senecio Jacobxa. Prior, Pop. Names of Brit.
Plants.
seghol (se-gol'), n. [< Heb. seghdl (so called
from its appearance), lit. ' a bunch of grapes.'] ^ ^.- .-s „ r^ o^/, >„/.«/ -i- casea inieau lor uauBpuroauiuii aim ^.o^i^.g.
men, corresponding to successive segments, as ^X°e^ea\iacTinorere,' a somite, etc.
'"o^r^ '^ "^ ^~ ^^^^ ^^*°" segment-Valve (seg'ment-valv), n. See valve.
segmentate (seg'men-tat), a. [< L. segmenta- segment-wheel (sfg'ment-hwel), n.
tu.% ornamented with strips of tinsel, lit. hav-
ing segments, < segmentum, a segment: see seg-
ment.'^ Having segments ; segmented. Encyc.
Brit., II. 292.
of three dots placed
— , and indicating the sound of an open c, usu-
ally short, as in English met, but also long,
nearly as in there. (6) The sound represented
bv this vowel-point.
segholate (seg'o-lat), n. [NL. segolatum; < se-
ghol + -atel.] In Heb. gram., a noun or noun-
form (adjective, infinitive, etc.) of a type usu-
ally represented by dissyllables pointed with a
long tone-vowel in the first and a short seghol
A wheel
01 which only a part of the pe
riphery is utilized to perform
any function. Applications of it
^^^ appear in the segment-gear and
(e) in the second syllable. Segholateshaveamono- •' • . • ,„„„ „,p^ tS'shon) n r< sea- segment-rack.
syllabic primitive form with one short vowel (8, 1, 0), be.- Segmentation ,(seg;men-ta_ shQn)^, Ji. J<. seg ^^^.^^^^^ (seg'ni-tud), n. [<
ML. segnitudo, for L. segnitia.
r
syllabic priL-
longing u.sually to the fli-st radical. By giving the second
radical a short seghol as helping vowel, the form becomes
dissyllabic. The first syllable then becomes open, and, tak-
ing the tone, appears as long e (seghol or tsere) or long o.
segm. An abbreviation for segment, used in bo-
tanical writings. Ch'ay.
segment (seg'ment), n. [= F. segment = S;
Pg. segmento = It. segmenta, semmento, <
segmentum, a piece cut off, a strip, segment
of the earth, a strip of tinsel, ML. in geom.
(tr. Gr. Tftijiia) a segment, < secure, cut: see
secant, and cf. section, sector.'] 1. A part cut
off or marked as separate from others ; one of
the parts into which a body naturally divides
itself; a section: as, the segments ot a calyx;
the segments of an orange ; the segments of a
leaf. Specifically, in zoiil. and anat. : (a) One of the rings,
somites, or metameres of which the body of an animal
is theoretically or actually composed, as an arthromere of
a worm or crustacean, or a diarthromere of a vertebrate.
See cuts under Callimarpha, cephalic,, Podnphthalmia,
prxstomium, and prrrmetheus. (h) One of the three pri-
mary divisions of either fore or hind limb of a vertebrate,
corresponding to the parts known in man as the upper
arm, forearm, and hand, or the thigh,
leg, and foot. See cut under pin-
toni. (c) One of the three rings or
divisions of the skull ; a cranial seg-
ment, which has been by some con-
sidered a modified vertebra.
2. In geom., a part cut off from
any ^ure by a line or plane.
A $egment of a circle is a part of the
area contained within an arc and its segment of a Circle,
chord, as ACB. The chord Is some- ACS.
nTent + -ation.'] The act of cutting into seg-
ments; a division into segments; the condi-
tion of being divided into segments ; the man-
ner in which a segmented part is divided. —
Segmentation cavity, in embryol., the central space in-
closed by the blastomeres of the embryo, before the for-
mation of a gastrula by invagination ; the hollow of a blas-
tosphere; a blastocosle.- Segmentation nucleus, the
nucleus of an impregnated ovum or germ-cell, resulting
from fusion of a male and a female pronucleus, and ca-
pable of undergoing segmentation.— f "'"
the vitellus, in emirryol., yolk-cleavagi
first process of germination of the ovum of any metazoic
animal, by which the original single cell of which the
ovum primitively consists becomes converted, wholly or
in part, into a mass of similar cells, constituting a morula
or mulbei-ry-mass. The cells thus formed are specified as
cleavar/e-cells, blastomeres, or segmenteUa. Segmentation
goes on in different cases with some variations, chiefly
due to the presence of food-yolk and the position of this
yolk relatively to the formative yolk (see centrolecithal, eeto-
lecithal). Total segmentation is necessarily restricted to
holoblastic ova ; it is distinguished from the partial seg-
mentation of meroblastic ova (see holoblastic, meroWastic),
the terms meaning respectively that all, or that only some,
of the yolk segments. Total segmentation is equal or regu-
lar when the whole germ-cell divides into two similar
cleavage-cells, and these into four, and so on, the resulting
gastrula being the archigastrula. Total segmentation is
unequal or irregular when the cleavage-cells are unlike
one another ; it results in the amphigastrula. The partial
segmentation of meroblastic eggs is always unequal, and
either discoidaZ with formation of a discogastrula, or su-
perficial and forming a perigastrula. Total equal segmen-
Cation is also styled primitive, primordial, and palinge-
rtetic, the modifications introduced in unequal and partial
segmentation being described as kenogenetic. Other terms,
descriptive rather than definitive, are used by different
scgnities, slowness, tardin'ess, < segmen.-wheeis.
scgnis, slow, slack, sluggish, tardy: usually re-
ferred to sequi, follow : see scqueti «.] Sluggish-
ness; dullness; inactivity. Imp. Diet.
segnityt (seg'ni-ti), n. [< L. as if *segnita{t-)s,
for segnitia, segnities, slowness: see segnitude.]
Same as segnitude. Imp. Diet.
Segmentation of gegno (sa'nyo), n. [It., a sign, < L. signum,
;c ; morulation ; the mark, token, sign : seesign.] In musical nota-
tion, a sign or mark used to indicate the begin-
ning or end of repetitions. Abbreviated S. See
al segno, dal segno.
segO (se'go), n. [Ute Indian.] A showy flow-
ered plant, Calochortus Kuttallii, widely dis-
tributed in the western United States.
segoon, n. Same as seconde.
segra-seed (se'gra-sed), n. The seed of Feuil-
lea cordi folia, or the plant itself. See Feuillea.
segreant (seg're-ant), a. [Written sergreant in
" Guillem's Heraldry " (ed. 1638), and there ex-
plained as an epithet of the griffin, meaning
' of a twofold nature,' because the griffin pas-
sant combined parts of the eagle and the lion;
perhaps an error for a form intended to repre-
sent L. surgen{t-)s (>OF. sourdant), rising: see
surgent.] In her., rising on the hind legs, usu-
ally with the wings raised or indorsed : an epi-
thet noting the griffin : equivalent to rampant
and salient.
segregant
segregantt (seg're-gant), a. [< L. S€gregan(t-)s,
ppr. of seijregarc, set apart: see segregate.']
Separated ; divisional ; sectarian.
My heart hath naturally detested . . . tolerations of
divers Religions, or of one Religion in segregant shapes.
N. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 5.
Segregatat (seg-re-ga'ta), ». pi. [NL., neut.
pi. of L. segregatiis, pp. of segregare, set apart:
see segregate.'] In Cuvier's systfem of classifi-
cation, the first family of his shell-less acephals :
the simple or solitary ascidians : distinguished
from Aggrcgata.
segregate (seg're-gat), v. ; pret. and pp. segre-
gated, ppr. segregating. [< L. segregatus, pp.
of segregare (> It. segregare = Sp. Pg. segregar),
set apart from a flock, separate, < se-, apart, +
grex \greg-), a flock: see gregarious. Cf. aggre-
gate, congregate.'] I. trans. 1. To separate or
detach from the others, or from the rest; cut
off or separate from the main body ; separate.
.Such never came at all forward to better themselTCs,
neither by reputations for vertues which they were care-
lesse to possesse, nor for desire they had to purge or segre-
gate themselvea from the soft vices they were tint infected
witball. Kenetworth Parke (1594), p. 10. (Hattiuva.)
According to one account, he [Sir T. More] likened his
predecessor (Wolseyl to a rotten sheep, and the King to
the good shepherd who had jndiciniisly se<rregated it.
n. W. Dixon, Hist. Church of Eng., t
Specifically — 2. In zool., to set apart or dis-
sociate (the members of a group) : as, species
segregated under another genus ; faunal regions
of tlie sea segregated from those of the land
in zoogeography. — 3. In geol., to separate out
from the mass of a rock, as in the case of cer-
tain accumulations, pockets, or nodules of met-
alliferous ore, or of mineral matter in general,
which appear from the jihenomena which they
present to have been gradually separated out
or segregated from the adjacent rock by molec-
ular action — Segregated veliL See can.
H. intrans. To separate or go apart; specifi-
cally, in crystal., to separate from a mass and
cf>Ilcct about centers or lines of fracture,
segregate (seg're-gat), a. and n. [<. li. segrega-
tus, pp. of segregare, set apart: see segregate,
v.] I. a. 1. -Apart from others; separated;
set apart ; separate ; select.
Often sajtb he that he was an q>oftle legrtgale o( Ood
to preach the gospel.
J. Dract/ord, Work* (Parker Soo., 1868), n. 289.
Human Philosophy, or Humanity, . . . hath two parts :
the one considereth man tegregaU, or distributlrely ; the
other congregate, or in society.
Baeon, Advancement of Learning, iL
2. In zool., simple or solitary ; not aggregate,
compound, colonial, or social : specifically, jK-r-
taining to the Sigregata — Segregate polygamy,
in btit.. a mode of inflorescence in which seTenu florets
comprehended within an anthodium or a common calyx
are f urnlabed also with proper perlaotlu, aa In the dande-
lion.
H. n. In math., one of an asyzygetio system
of covariants of a given degorder. capable of
expressing in their linear functions with nu-
merical cooSicients all other covariants of the
same dft;or'ler.
segregation (seg-rf-ga'shon), ». [< OF. segre-
g<ili()ii. y. segregation = Sp. segregaeion = Pg.
segngarao, < LL. segregaUof^n-), a separating,
dividing,< L. segregare, pp. segregatus, separate:
see sifirtgnte.] 1. The act of segregating, or
the state of being segregated; separation from
others; a parting; a dispersion.
A mgregaUm ot the Tnrklah fleet
Otak., Othello, IL 1. 10.
S. In crystal., separation from a mass and gath-
ering about centers through crystallization. —
3. In geol. and mining, a separating out from
a rock of a band or scam, or a nodular mass of
some kind of mineral or metalliferous matter,
diflerinj; more or less in texture or in composi-
tion or in both respects from the material in
which it is inclosed. Many important metaUUeroas
deponlts appear to be of the nature of aegregattona. See
jivyf' ;/"''■'/ rein, under vein.
segregative (seg're-ga-tiv), a. [= p. Bigr6ga-
ti/=Hp.segrrgatiro; tia segregate + -ire.] Tend-
ing to or characterized by segregation or sepa-
ration into clusters.
The influences of barbarism, beyond uuTow limits, are
prevailingly tiffngative.
Whitney, Life and Growth of I^uig., p. IM.
segne (sa'^e), v. i. [It., it follows, 3d pers.
sing. pres. ind. of seguire. follow, < L. seqvi, fol-
low: see sequent, sue.] In music, same as at-
lacca.
segnldilla (seg-i-ilerya), n. [= F. siguidMe,
slpuedille, < Sp. senuidilla (= Pg. seguidilha), a
kind of song with a refrain or recorring se-
5469
quence, dim. of seguida, a succession, continu-
ation, < segtiir, follow: see sequent, suit, suite.]
1. A Spanish dance, usually of a lively char-
acter, for two dancers. Three varieties are distin-
guished, the manchega, the bolera, and the gitana, the
first being the most vivacious, and the last the most state-
ly. A characteristic peculiarity of the dance is the sud-
den cessation of the music after a number of figures,
leaving the dancers standing in various picturesque atti-
tudes.
2. Music for such a dance or in its rhythm,
which is triple and quick, resembling the bo-
lero.
From the same source he [Conde] derives much of the
earlier rural minstrelsy of Spain, as well as the measures
of its romances and seguidillas.
Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., i. 8, note 49.
segurt, n. An obsolete form of saggar.
seit, seiet. A Middle English preterit and past
participle of see^. Chaucer.
seiant (se'ant), a. In her., same as sejant.
seiche (sash), «. [F. seche, fem. of sec, < L.
siccus, dry.]- A name given in Switzerland,
and especially on the Lake of Geneva, to cer-
tain irregular waves or fluctuations of the level
of the water, which may be raised or lowered
to the amount of several feet. The origin of these
waves is generally considered to be sudden local variations
in the barometric pressure, attended with the develop-
ment of local cycloiiiu winds, A sinuLar phenomenon on
the shores of the Baltic is called (in German) eee-biir, as
meaning a sudden and temporary oscillation or fluctua-
tion of the water-level in a lake or nearly or quite land-
locked parts of the sea : it has been (incorrectly) Englished
9ea-beaT.
Seidlitz powder. Seejjoioder.
seigneur, «. See seignior.
seigneunal, a. See seigniorial.
seigneuryt, »■ An obsolete form of seigniory.
seignior, seigneur (se'nyor), m. [Also signior,
signur (after It.); < ME. seignour, < OF. sei-
gnor, aeifinur, segnor, segnour, saignor, sain-
gnor, seigneur, etc., senhor, senior, etc., F. sei-
gneur = Pr. senhor, senher = Cat. senyor = Sp.
seSior = Pg. senhor = It. signore, segnore, < L.
senior, ace. seniorem, an elder lord; prop, adj.,
elder: see senior, also sir, sire, sicur, signor,
seHor, senhor. The word seignior also appears in
comp. monseigneur, monsignor, etc.] 1 . A lord ;
a gentleman ; tised as a title of honor or custom-
ary address, 'sir.' See sir, signor, seHor. — 2.
Jn/eudal laui, the lord of a fee or manor Grand
seignior, (a) [cons.] a title sometimes given to the Sul-
tan of Turkey. Ueuce — (b) A great personage or digni-
tary.
Whenever roa atomble on a grand aeignevr, even one
whowaswortli millions jrou are sure to flnd bis property
a desert The Academy, July 12, 18UU, p. i&.
Seignior in gross, a lord without a manor, simply enjoy-
ing superiurity and servicea.
seigniorage (se'nyor-aj), n. [< OF. "seignorage,
< ML. senioraticum, lordship, domination, < ,ve-
«iV>r, lord: 8ee«e»</»i»<>r.] 1. Something claimed
by the sovereign or by a superior as a preroga-
tive; specifically, an ancient royalty or pre-
rogative of the crown, whereby it claimed a
percentage upon bullion brought to the mint to
be coined or to bo exchanged for coin ; the dif-
ference between the cost of a mass of bullion
and the face-value of the pieces coined from it.
It government, however, tlirows the expense of coin-
age, u is reasonable, npon the holders, by making a
charge to cover the expense (which is done by giving
back rattier lea* in coin than is received in bullion, and
I* cadled "levying a aei^morage"), the coin will rise to
the extent of the migniorage aoove the value of the bul-
Uon. J. S. UiU.
2. A royalty; a share of profit ; especially, the
money received by an author from his pub-
lisher for copyright of his works.
seignioralty (se'nyor-al-ti), ». [< seignior +
-III + -tfi.] The jurisdiction or territory of the
lord of a manor. Milman.
seigniorial (sf-nyo'ri-al), a. [Also seigneurial,
< P. seigneurial; na seignior + -i-al.] 1. Per-
taining to the lord of a manor; manorial.
Those lands weiB letgneurial. Sir W. Temple.
A century since, the English Manor Court was very much
what it now Is ; but the tignorial court of Vnace was a
comparatively flourishing Institution.
Maine, Early Law and Custom, ix.
He (the tenant] was re<iuirerl to bake his bread In the
geigneuriai oven. Amer. Jour. Phiiot., VII. 153.
2. Vested with large powers; independent.
seignioriet, "• An obsolete form of seigniory.
seigniorize (se'nyor-iz), v. t. ; pret. and pp. sei-
gniorized, ppr. seigniorized. [Also signorise; <
seignior + -trc] To lord it over. [Rare.]
As faire he was as Clthereas make.
As proud as he that gignorixelh hell.
Fairfax, tr. of Taaao, Iv. 4fi.
seigniory (se'nygr-i), n. ; pi. seigniories (-iz).
[Formerly also "seignory, seignorie, seigneury.
seine
signiory, signory ; < ME. seignory, seignorie, sei-
gnurie, < OF. seigneurie, seignorie, F. seigneurie=:
Sp. seiloria, also seHorio = Pg. senhoria, senhorio
= It. signoria, < ML. senioria (segnoria, senho-
ria, etc., after Rom.), < senior, lord: see senior,
seignior.] 1. Lordship; power or authority as
sovereign lord; jurisdiction; power.
She hath myght and seignurie
To kepe men from alle folye.
iioni. of the Ro»e, L 3213.
The inextinguishable thirst for signiory. Kyd, Cornelia.
The Earl into fair Eskdale came.
Homage and seignory to claim.
Scott, L. of L. M., iv. 10.
2t. Preeminence ; precedence.
And may thy floud haue seignorie
Of all fiouds else ; and to thy fame
Meete greater springs, yet keep thy name.
W. Browne, Britannia's Pastorals, L 2.
3. A principality or province ; a domain.
Diuers other countreis and seigneuries belonging as well
to the high and mighty prince. Bakluyt's Voyages, I. 208.
Eating the bitter bread of banishment.
Whilst you have fed upon my signories.
Shak., Rich. II., ill. 1. 22.
Which Signiory [of Dolphinie and Viennois] was then
newly created a County, being formerly a part of the
kingdome of Burgundy. Coryat, Crudities, I. 46, sig. E.
The commune of Venice, the ancient style of the com-
monwealth, changed into the seigniory of Venice.
Encyc. Brit., XVII. 527.
4. The elders who constituted the municipal
council in a medieval Italian republic.
Of the Seigniory there be about three hundreth, and
about fourtie of the priuie Counsell of Venice.
Haktuyt's Voyages, II. 151.
The college [of Venice] called the signory was originally
composed of the doge and six counsellors.
J. Adains, Works, IV. 353.
5. A lordship without a manor, or of a manor
in which all the lands were held by free ten-
ants: more specifically called a seigniory in
gross.
seignioryt, r. t. [ME. seignoricn ; < seigniory, n.]
To exercise lordship over; be lord of. [Rare.]
Terry seignoried a full large contre,
Hattyd of no man.
Bom. qf Partenay (E. E. T. 8.), 1. 6090.
Selk, n. See Sikh.
seil't, "■ and V. A Middle English form otsaiP-.
seil'^, n. A Scotch form of seel^.
seiP, V. A Scotch form of sile^.
seint. A Middle English form of the past par-
ticiple of see^.
seindet. A Middle English form of the past
jiarticiple of singe^.
seine^ (san or sen), «. [Formerly also sein,
scan; early mod. E. sayne ; < ME. sdne, saine,
partly (a) < AS. segne = OLG. segina, a seine,
and partly (6) < OF. seine, seigne, earlier saynie,
saime, F. seine = It. sagetta, a seine ; < L. sagcna,
■ < Gr. aayr/vti, a fishing-net, a hunting-net. Cf.
sagene^, from the same source.] A kind of net
used in taking fish; one of the class of encir-
cling nets, consisting of a webbing of network
provided with corks or floats at the upper edge,
and with leads of ^eater or less weight at the
lower, and used to inclose a certain area of wa-
ter, and by bringing the ends together, either
in a boat or on the shore, to secure the fish that
may bo inclosed. Seines vary in size from one small
enough to take a few minnows to the shad-seine of a mile
or more in length, hauled by a windlass worked by horses
or oxen or by a steam-engine. The largest known seine
was used for shad at .stony Point on the Potomac in 1S71 ;
it measured 3,400 yards, or nearly 2 miles ; the lines and
seine together bail a linear extent of 5 miles, and swept
1,200 acres of river-bottom ; this net was drawn twice in
24 hours.
The sayne is a net, of about fortie fathome in length, with
which they encompasse a part of the sea, and drawe the
same on land liy two ropes fastned at his ends, together
with such flsli as lightetb within his precinct
H. Carew, .Survey of Cornwall, fol. 80.
They found John Oldham under an old seine, stark na-
ked, his head cleft to the brains, and his hands and legs
cut Winthrop, Hist New England, I. 226.
Cod-selne, a seine used to take codfish near the shore,
where they follow the capUn.— Drag-seine, a haul-ashore
seine. — Draw-selno, a seine which may be pursed or
drawn into the shape of a bag.— Haul-ashore seine, a
seine that is hauled or dragged from the shore ; a drag-
seine.— Shad-selne, a seinespecially adapted or used for
taking shall, and generally of great size. See def.— To
blow up the seine, to press against the lead-llne of a
seine in the endeavor to escape, as fish. — TO boat a
setae, to stow the seine aboard of the seine-boat in such
a manner that it may be paid out without entangling. A
seine may be boated as It is hauled from the water, or
after it has been hauled and piled on the beach. (See
&\iM purse-seitic.)
seine^ (san or sen), v. t. • pret. and pp. seined,
ppr. seining. [< seine^, »!.] To catch with a
seine : as, fish may be seiried.
seine
seine-t. A Middle English form of sain and of
seine-boat (san'bot), n. A boat specially de-
signed or used for holding, carrying, or paying
out a seine.
seine-captain (san'kap''tan), n. The overseer
of a seine-gang. [U. S.]
seine-crew (san'kro), «. The crew of a seine-
gang ; the men as distinguished from tlieir gear.
seine-engine (8an'en''jin), n. A steam-engine
employed in hauling seines. [U. S.]
seine-fisher (san'fish "er), ». A seiner.
seine-gang (san'gang), n. A body of men en-
gaged in seining, together with tlieir boats and
other gear. Sucli a gang is a sailing-gang or a steamer-
gang, as they may work from a sailing vessel or to a
steamer.
seine-ground (san'ground), n. Same as sein-
in<j-ground.
seine-hauler (san'ha'lfer), «. A fisherman us-
ing the seine : in distinction from giller or gill-
netter.
seine-man (san'man), n. A seine-hauler; one
of a seine-gang.
seine-needle (san'ne'dl), n. A needle with
which the meshes of a seine are netted: same
as hanging-needle.
seiner (sa'ner), n. [Early mod. E. also sayner;
< seine^ + -erl.] One who makes a business of
seining ; also, a vessel attending seine-fishery :
applied very generally to vessels engaged in
purse-seining for menhaden and mackerel.
Sayners complayne with open mouth that these dro-
uers worke much prejudice to the commonwealth of fisher-
men, and reape thereby small gaine to themselves.
B. Carew, Survey of Cornwall, fol. 32.
seine-roller (san'ro'ler), n. A rolling cylinder
or drum over which a seine is hauled.
seining (sa'ning), «. [Verbal n. of seine^, v. f.]
The act, method, or industry of using the seine.
seining-ground (sa'ning-ground), n. The bot-
tom of a river or lake over which a seine is
hauled. Also seine-ground.
seintlf, a. and re. An obsolete form of saint^.
seint^t, «. [< ME. seint, seynt, saint, for *ceint,
< OF. ceint, ceinet, < L. einctus, cinctmn, a girdle,
< cingere, pp. ductus, gird: see cincture.'] A
girdle or belt.
He rood but hoomly in a medlee cote.
Girt with a geynt of silk, with barres smale.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 329.
seintuariet, «• A Middle English form of sane-
tuari/.
seip (sep), V. i. Same as seep,
seirt, a. A variant of sere^.
seirnsh, n- See seerfish.
Seirospora (si-ro-sp6'ra), n. [NL. (Harvey), <
Gr. aiijM or aetpdv, a garment, + airopa, a spore.]
A former genus of florideous algse, now re-
garded as a subgenus of the large genus Cal-
lithamnion. S. Gnfithsimia, now Calltttmmnion seiro-
spermum, is a beautiful little alga with capillary diujcious
fronds, 2 to 6 inches high, pyramidal in outline, with
delicate, erect, dichotomo-multifid, corymbose branches.
The American specimens are easily distinguished by the
presence of the so-called seirospores.
seirospore (si'ro-spor), n. [< NL. *seirosporum,
< Gr. atipd, garment, + airopa, seed: see spore.]
In hot., one of a special kind of non-sexual
spores, or organs of propagation, occurring in
certain florideous algse. They are branched monili-
form rows of roundish or oval sjiores, resulting from the
division of terminal cells of particular branches, or pro-
duced on the main branches.
seirosporic (si-ro-spor'ik), a. [< seirospore +
-ic] In hot., possessing or characteristic of
seirospores.
seise, v. t. An obsolete or archaic form of seize.
seisin, n. See seizin,
seismal (sis'mal), a. [< Gr. aetofidg, an earth-
quake {< aeieiv, shake, toss), + -al.] Same as
seismic.
seismic (sis'mik), a, [< Gr. asuj/id^, an earth-
quake, -I- -Jc] Pertaining to or of the nature
of an earthquake ; relating to or connected
with an earthquake, or with earthquakes in
general. To a considerable extent, seimnic takes the
place of earthquake used as an adjective or in compound
words. Thus sevimic center is the equivalent of earthquake
center, etc.— Seiamic area, the region or part of the
earth's surface affected by the shock of an earthquake. —
Seismic center, or seismic focus, the point, line, or re-
gion beneatli the earth's surface where an earthquake-
shock is started or originated. — Seismic vertical, the
5470
part of the earth's surface which is directly over or nearest
to the seismic focus. Sometimes called the epitxnter or
epicentrum.
seismical (sis'mi-kal), a. [< seismic + -a7.]
Same as seismic.
seismogram (sis'mo-gram), n. [< Gr. aunftoi;.
an earthquake, -f- ypati/ia, that which is drawn
or written : see gram'^.'] The record made by
a seismograph or seismometer; the result of
an earthquake-shock as exhibited on the in-
strument or instruments emjiloyed, these vary-
ing in character and in the manner in which
the elements of the shock are recorded. See
seismometer,
seismograph (sis'mo-grfcf), n. [< Gr. ana/i6g,
an earthquake, -1- ypa^uv, write.] Same as
seismometer (which see). The more complicated
forms of instruments contrived for the purpose of re-
cording the phenomena of earthquakes are sometimes
called seimioffraphs, and sometimes seismometers. The
name seismograph was first employed in reference to the
elaborate seismometer contrived by Palmieri and used at
his station on Mount Vesuvius. This was called by him
a "sisniografo," and this name has generally been Eng-
lished as seismograph, which is also the designation most
generally applied by the members of the Seismological
Society of Japan to the seismometers there contrived and
used within the past few years.
seismographer (sis-mog'ra-f6r), n. Same as
seismologist. [Bare.]
seismographic (sis-mo-graf 'ik), a. [< seismog-
raph-y + -jc] Of or pertaining to seismogra-
phy; connected with or furnished by the seis-
mograph: as, seismographic records, observa-
tions, studies, etc.
seismographical (sis-mo-graf 'i-kal), a. [< seis-
mographic + -a/.] Same as seismographic.
seismography (sis-mog'ra-fi), re. [< Gr. aucii6(;,
an earthquake, + -ypa<piaj'<. ypa^civ, write.] The
study of earthquake phenomena, with the aid
of seismographs, or instruments specially con-
trived for recording the most important facts
regarding the direction, duration, and force of
these disturbances of the earth's crust.
seismological (sis-mo-loj'i-kal), a. [< seismol-
og-y + -ic-al,] Eelating to or connected with
seismology, or the scientific investigation of
the phenomena of earthquakes.
The object of all seismological investigation should be,
primarily, to determine both the true direction and ve-
locity of motion of the particles set in motion by the
earthquake-wave. Oldham, Cachar Earthquake, p. 90.
seismologically (sis-mo-loj'i-kal-i), adv. In a
seismological aspect.
seismologist (sis-mol'6-jist), re. [< seismolog-y
+ -ist.] A scientific investigator or student of
earthquake phenomena; one who endeavors,
by the aid of seismometric observations, to
arrive at the more important facts connect-
ed with the origin and distribution of earth-
quakes.
seismologue (sis'mo-log), re. [< Gr. asiafio^, an
earthquake,-!- -/Idyof, < /teyeiv, speak : see-ologi/.]
A catalogue of earthquake observations ; a de-
tailed account of earthquake phenomena.
The labour of collecting and calculating further and
future seimnologues will be in a great degree thrown away,
unless the cultivators of science of all countries . .. shall
unite in agreeing to some one uniform system of seismic
observation.
R. Mallet, in Trans. Brit. Ass. for Adv. of Sci., 1S58, p. 1.
seismology (sis-mol'o-ji), n. [< Gr. auap-oq, an
earthquake, -I- -loyiaji Aeyeiv, speak : see -ology.]
The branch of science which has for its object
the investigation of the causes and effects of
earthquakes, and, in general, of all the condi-
tions and circumstances of their occurrence.
The objects and aims of Seismology are of the highest
interest and importance to geology and terrestrial physics.
jR. Mallet, in Admiralty Manual of Scientific Enquiry (3d
[ed.), p. 32V.
seismometer (sis-mom'e-ter), n. [< Gr. (T^(7/i6g,
an earthquake, -I- /lerpov, a measure : see >«ete>'l.]
An instrument by the aid of which the data are
obtained for the scientific study of earthquake
phenomena. The forms of instruments used for this
purpose are varied, and more or less complicated, in ac-
cordance with the wishes and means of the observer. A
common bowl partly filled with a viscid fluid, like mo-
lasses, which, on being thrown by the earthquake-wave
against the side of the bowl, leaves a visible record of the
event, is one of the simplest forms of seismometer which
have been proposed, as giving a rude approximation to the
direction of the horizontal element of the wave. Another
simple form of seismometer consists of two seta of cylin-
ders, each set numbering from six to twelve, and the in-
dividual cylinders in each uniformly decreasing in size.
These are placed on end, one set at right angles to the
other, on plates resting on a hard horizontal floor, sur-
rounded by a bed of dry sand, in which the cylinders when
overthrown will rest, exactly in the position originally
given by the shock. This instrument is theoretically ca-
pable of giving the velocity of the horizontal componentof
the shock, its surface-direction in azimuth, or the direc-
Seisura
tion of the horizontal component of the seismic wave,
and also the direction of translation of the wave. In prac-
tice, however, the results given by this simple and inex-
pensive apparatus have not been found satisfactoiy. The
seismometer now most generally used in large observa-
tories, or those where accurate work is expected, involves
ZoUner's horizontal pendulum, the use of which was
proposed many years ago, but which was put into the
present practical form by Messrs. Ewing and Gray. The
group of instruments constituting the seismometer of Prof.
J. A. Ewing is arranged to give a complete record of every
particular of the earthquake movement, by resolving it into
threerectangular components — one vertical and two hor-
izontal—and registering these by three distinct pointers
on a sheet of smoked glass which is made to revolve uni-
formly by clockwork, the clock being started by an ar-
rangement similar to that of the Palmieri seismoscope.
To this is added another clock which gives the date of the
shock and the interval which has elapsed since it took
place. Another and simpler form of seismometer de-
signed by Mr. Ewing, and called the "duplex-pendulum
seismograph," does not show the vertical element of the
disturbance, nor exhibit anything of the relation of time
to displacement ; but it is in other respects satisfactory in
its performance. Of this latter form, fifteen sets were in
use in Japan in 1886, and others were being made for other
countries. Compare seismograph, and see cut under seig,
moscope.
Instruments which will in this way measure or write
down the earth's motions are called seismometers or seis-
mographs. Millie, Eaithquakes, p. 13.
seismometric (sis-mo-met'rik), a. [< seismome-
tr-y + -ic] Of or pertaining to seismometry
or the seismometer ; used in or made, produced,
or observed by means of a seismometer: as,
seismometric instruments; seismometric obser-
vations.
seismometrical (sis-mo-met'ri-kal), a. [< seis-
mometric + -ah] Sanie a,s seismometric.
seismometry (sis-mom'e-tri), n. [< Gr. Buaitd^,
an earthquake, -1- -/lerpia, < /terpeiv, measure.]
The theory and use of
the seismometer; more
generally, the scientific
study of earthquake
phenomena by the aid
of observations made
either with or without
the use of seismometric
instruments.
seismoscope (sis ' mo-
skop), n. [< Gr. aeiafidq,
an earthquake, -1- ckuttcIv,
view.] A name of the
simpler form of seis-
mometer. It is generally so
arranged that the exact mo-
ment of passage is noted by
stopping a clock, either by
direct mechanical means or
by the use of an electric cur-
rent. The epoch may also be sdsmosccpe.
registered on a revolving cyl- „, ,, ^^^ supported by
inder or other similar device, loop at point near center of
The essential part of a seismo- gravity ; fi, point on which upper
scope usually consists of a sideol loop rests ; r, long needle
delicately suspended or bal- Z'pT'S^ tonl-af^-Jie' "-
anced mass, the configuration - -^^ - --
of which is readily disturbed
on the passage of the seismic
wave.
To construct an instrument Avhich at the time of an earth-
quake shall move and leave a record of its motion, there
is but little difficulty. Contrivances of this kind are called
seismoscopes. Milne, Earthquakes, p. IS.
seismoscopic (sls-mo-skop'ik), a. [< seismo-
scope + -ic.] Relating to or furnished by the
seismoscope: as, seismoscopic data, observa-
tions, etc.
Seison (si'son), ». [NL. (Grube, 1859), < Gr.
(T£(E(v(incomp. aeia-), shake; cf. aeiauv, an earth-
en vessel for shaking beans in.] A remarkable
genus of parasitic leech-like rotifers. S. neha-
Uae is a wheel-animalcule which is parasitic
upon the crustaceans of the genus Nebalia.
seistt. A Middle English fonn of sayest, second
person singular indicative present of say'^.
Seisnra (si-sti'ra), «. [NL. (Vigors and Hors-
field, 1826),
more prop. <S(«!(-
ra (Strickland,
1841),<Gr.<7£/«i;
(in comp. acta-),
shake, + mpd,
tail. Cf. Sein-
rus.] A notable
genus of Aus-
tralian Musci-
cupidee or fly-
catchers. The
best-known species
is S. inquieta, 8
inches long, slate-
colored withglossy-
black head and
white under parts.
.\mong its English
Restless Flycatcher {SezsJtra inquieta-). bOOk-uamCS are tJOi-
binding-tx)st : f, long arm of
lever pivoted at k; g, point
where end of lever rests on end
of needle; A, mercury-cup.
Seisura
atOe, rettlat, and doubtful thnuh, and it is known to the
Anglo-Australians as dish-washer and ffriiuier. A second
species is .9. nana.
seity (se'i-ti), n. [< L. se, oneself, + rity.^
.Something peculiar to one's self. [Bare.]
The learned .Scotas, to distinguish the race of mankind,
gives every individual of that species what he calls a Seity,
something peculiar to himself, which makes him different
from all other persons in the world. This particularity
renders him either venerable or ridiculous, according as
he uses his talents. Steele, Tatler, So. 174.
Seinrinae (si-u-ri'ne), «. pi. [NL., < Seiurus
+ -(»*.] A subfamily of Syh'icolidse or Mnio-
tiltidie, typified by the genus Seiurus. Also
oalleil Enicocichlime or Henicocichlinie.
Seinms (si-u'rus), «. [NL. (Swainson, 1827),
more prop, .'iiunis (Strickland, 1&41), < Gr. adav,
shake, + oipd, tail.] A genus of Sylricolidx or
Mniotiltida, giving name to the Seiurinie; the
American wagtails or water-thrushes. Three spe-
cies are common in the United States. S. auricapiUxu is
the golden-crowned thrush or oven-bird. (See cut under
New York Water-lfarash ^Seiurtu nmvius).
oven-Mrd.) S. lunwtorawnm or umiu is the New York
water tbrush, dark olive-brown above with conspicuous
Bupercllian stripe, and sulphuryyellow below with a pro-
fusion of dusky spots In several chains. .S. mataeiUa or
ludorieianxu is the Louisiana water-thrush, like the last,
but larger, with a longer bill and lighter coloration. Also
called Bniaxichla or HemeoeicAta and Exochodehla.
seive, «. See seate.
seizable (se'za-bl), o. H geise + -able.'] Pos-
sible to be seized; liable to be taken posses-
sion of.
The cartas wiggoni, and every attainable or teiiabU
vehicle were unremlttlnglT in motion.
Mmt. D'AtiU^, DUry, VII. 177. (Daciet.)
seize Csez), r. ; pret. and pp. seized, ppr. seizing.
[Early mod. E. also (and still archaically in
legal use) seise; < H£. «ei«0ti, «ey«en, seten,
ceesen, saisen, savsen, < OP. saitir, seitir, put one
in possession of, take possession of, seize, P.
saisir, seize, = Pr. sazir, sayzir = It. aagire (not
in Florio), < ML. «a«tre (8th century), later sai-
sire (after OF. ), take possession of,' lay hold of,
seize (another's property), prob. < OHG. saz-
zan, nezzan, G. aetzen, set, put, place, =E. set,
of which seize is thus a doublet: see »e<l, v.
Cf. seizin, seizure.] L trans. 1. To put in pos-
session; make possessed; possess: commonly
with of before the thine possessed: as, A. B.
was seized and possessed o/ the manor; to seize
one's self of an inheritance.
Be tomed on his pDwee ofte.
And wald of that be myaaed ban ben fed.
Chaucer, Trollus, 111. +45.
A (he] lent h|j stlward as swithe to seat him therlnne.
WiUiam of Pateme (E. E. T. S.X 1. MM.
They could scarcely understand the last words, for death
began to leize himself qf his heart
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, UL
AU those hto lands
Which he stood miud of.
Shak,, Hamlet, I. 1. 8».
(He) staiideth teixed of that Inheritance
Which thou that slewest the sire hast left the son.
TVnnyson, Oareth and Lynette.
2. To take possession of — (a) By virtue of a
warrant or legal authority: as, to seize smug-
gled goods; to arize a ship after libeling.
II was Judged, by the highest kind of Jndgment, thathe
should be banished, and his whole estate conllacated and
, •««' Batm.
(b) By force, with or without right.
The CItle to sms In the same tyme.
We shall found by my felth. or ellls fay worthe.
DeMruetion of Troy (E. E. T. 8. X L 11S4.
The peple of (landas recouered. . . . and of Bn force
made hem forsake place, and the tentea and pavllouns that
thel hadden take and $eted. Merlin (E. E. T. 8.), ill. 402.
The grand Carnman, the Turcoman, ruler of Caramania,
3. To lay sudden or forcible hold of; grasp;
clutch : either literally or figuratively.
There is an hour in each m.in's life appointed
To make his h.ippiness, if then he seize it.
Beau, and Fl., Custom of the Country, iL 3.
To seize his papers, Curll, was next thy care ;
His papers, light, fly diverse, toss'd in air.
Pope, Dunciad, ii. 114.
The predominance of horizontal lines . . . sufficiently
proves that the Italians had never seiMd the true idea of
Gothic or aspiring architecture.
J. A. Synwnds, Italy and Greece, p. 47.
4. To come upon with sudden attack ; have a
sudden and powerful effect upon: as, a panic
seized the crowd ; a fever seized him.
Such full Conviction sei^d th" astonish'd King
As left no entrance for the least Deniurr.
./. Beaumont, Psyche, L 24V. . ,
All men who are the least given to reflection are seized seiZOr (se zor), n^
with an inclination that way. Steele, Spectator, No. 386.
A horror seized him as he went.
WiUiam Morris, Earthly Paradise, II. 169.
8t. To fasten; fix.
So downe he fell before the cruell beast,
Who on his neck his bloothr clawes did seize.
Spenser, F. Q., L vlii. 16.
6. Naut., to bind, lash, or make fast, as one
thing to another, with several turns of small
rope, cord, or small line ; stop : as, to seize two
fish-hooks back to back; to seize or stop one
rope on to another.
8un, by this time, was seized up, as it is called —that is,
8 laced against the shrouds, with his wrists made fast to
lem, his Jacket off, and his back exposed.
Jt B. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 113.
Covenant to stand seized to uses. See covenant. ^Syn.
S and 3. To snatch, catch, capture, apprehend, arrest, take,
attach.
H. intrans. 1. To lay hold in seizure, as by
hands or claws: with on or upon.
The mortall sting his angry needle shott
Quite through his shield, and in his shoulder teatd.
Spenser, F. Q., L IL 38.
Thee and thy vlrtoes here I seize upon.
Shak., Lear, I. 1. 255.
The Tartan in Tarkeman Tie to catch wilde horses with
hawkes tamed to tliat purpose, which seising on the necke
of the liorse, with his Ixatting, and the horses chafing,
tireth him, and maketh him an easie prey to his Master.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 422.
This last Siiip had been at Merga a considerable time,
having been seized on In the Siamltea, and all the men
imprisoned, for some difference tliat liappened between
the English and them. Dampier, Voyages, II. 1. ISl.
The text which had "seized upon his heart with such
comfort and strength " abode upon him for more tlian a
year. Southey, Bunyan, p. xxi.
2. In metallurgy, to cohere.
seizer (s6'z6r), n. [< seize + -eri.] One who
or that which seizes.
seizill, seisin (se'zin), n. [Early mod. E. also
seasin, seysin; < ME. saisine, seisine.seysyne,
sesyne, < OF. seisine, saisine, saizine, F. satsine
(= Pr. sazino, saieina, sadina = It. sagina ; ML.
reflex snigina, teisina), seizin, possession, <
saisir, seisir, seize: see seize.] In law: (a)
Originally, the completion of the ceremony of
seker
lashing with several turns of a
cord, or the fastening so made;
also, the cord used for that pur-
pose; seizing-stuff. See also out
under rose-lashing.
Several sailors appeared, bearing among
them two stout, apparently very heavy
chests, which they set down upon the
cabin floor, taking care to secure them
by lashings and seizings to the stanchions.
W. C. RusseU, Death Ship, ixi.
Seizing-Stu£f (se'zing-stuf), w.
Naut., small tarred cord used for
seizing.
seizlingt (sez'Iing), n. The year-
ling of the common carp. Holme,
1688.
Setziogs, 3.
In law, one
feudal investiture, by which the tenant was
admitted into his freehold. Angell.
A soldier, plucking a handful of thatch from a cottage,
placed It in the Duke's band ~ "
[<. seize + -or'^.]
who seizes or takes possession.
seizure (se'zur), n. [< seize + -ure.] 1. The
act of seizing; the act of taking or laying hold;
a taking possession, either legaUv or by force :
as. the seizure of smuggled goods by revenue
oflScers ; seizure of arms by a mob.
All things that thou dost call thine
Worth seizure do we seize into our hands.
Shale., As you Like it, ill. 1. 10.
First Guyne, next Pontien, and then Aquitain,
To each of which he made his title known.
Nor from their seizure longer would abstain.
Drayton, Barons' Wars, iii. 28.
After the victory of the appellants in 13S8, royal letters
were issued for the seizure of heretical books and the im-
prisonment of heretical teachers.
Stubbs, Const. Hist., | 404.
Say, is not bliss within oar perfect seizure >
Keats, Endymlon, iv.
2. The fact of being seized or in possession of
anything; possession; hold.
In your hands we leave the queen elected ;
She hath seizure of the Tower.
Webster and Dekktr, Sir Thomas Wyatt
If we had ten years agone taken seizure of our portion
of dust, death had not taken ns from good things, but
from inflnite evils. Jer. Taylor, Holy Dying, Hi 7.
3. The thing seized; the thing taken hold or
possession of.
Sufficient that thy prayers are heard, and Death,
Then due by sentence when thou didst transgress.
Defeated of his seizure many days.
MiUon, P. L., xl. 264.
4. A sudden onset or attack, as of some mal-
ady, emotion, panic, or the like ; a spell ; a turn.
Myself too had weird seizures. Heaven knows what.
Tennyson, Princess, 1.
sejant, seieant (se'jant), a. [Also sdatit, se-
dant; < OF. 'seiant, seant, < L. seden(t-)s, sitting,
Epr. of «<'rf<T<!(>F.»fo«>),sit: aeesedent,sMnce.]
a her., sitting, like a cat, ^ —7
with the fore legs upright : ap- ""
plied to a lion or other beast.
Assis is a synonym. _ Sejant
adorsed, sitting back to back : said of
two animals.— Sejant affront^, in
her., sitting and facing outward, the
whole body being turned to the front.
See cut under crest,- Sejant gardant,
in her., sitting and with the body seen
sidewise, the head looking out from the field.— Sejant
rampant. See rampant sejant, under rampant.
Lion sejant.
held within it. B. A. Freeman, Norman Conquest, III. 271.
Hence — (6) Possession as of freehold — that is,
the possession which a freeholder could assert
and maintain by appeal to law. Digby. (c) Pos-
session of land actual or constructive tinder
of all that Engianii Sejoint (sf-join'), tJ. t. [< ME. sejoynen, < OF.
'srjoindre, < L. sejungere, separate, disjoin, < i
apart, + jungere, join : see join. ] To separate ;
part.
The arrow . . . doth sejoin and Join the air together.
Middleton, Solomon Paraphrased, v.
rightful title. Seizin is either «nanin/<K<(or<n deed), sejointt (se-joinf), p. a. [< ME. «f;ojnte,< OF.
actual occupation of the land either by the freeholder 'gejoint <L seiunetwi t>ti nt seiunnere BpnuratA-
himseU or by aome one claiming under him, or srion in *9'«»^'> ^- smncius, pp. or sejungere, separate .
law, the constructive seizin which arises when a person *6« Se)Ol».\ Separated.
acqnlres the title and there ia no adverse poaseaaion ; thus, Devyde hem that pith be fro pith terjoinle (read sejointeX
one talcing a deed of vacant lands is aeiaed in law before In tbende of .March thaire graffyng is in pointe.
he takea poaseaaion. Palladius, Uusbondrie (E. E. T. S.X p. 117.
(They shain take setyna the same daye that laste waste sejugoos (se'jij-gus), a. [< L. sejugis, a team of
aaaygnele,
Or ellea alle the oatage withowttyne the wallys.
Be bynggyde hye appone hyghte alle holly at ones 1
Jfortc Arthurt (K E. T. 8.X 1. 3S88.
The death of the |>redecessor putteth the successor by
blood in seisin. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, vlil. 2.
(d) The thing possessed. (r\) Ownership and
possession of chattels — Equitable seizin, such a
poMiHilon or enjoyment of an e<|nitahle interest or right
In lands aa may be treated In equity, by analogy tn Itgiil
seizin. Thus, where a trustee holds the legal estate, the
ceatni que trust, though in possession and enjuying the
rente and pmflts, cannot be said tn hold the seizin in the
legal sense, because that is In the tnistee ; but he is pro-
tected by courts of equity as holding an e<initable seisin.
— Uvery of seizin. ' See livery^. —Seizin by hasp and
staple. See Aosp. — Seizin OZ,ln Scots law, same as
saeCne ox (which see, under sasine).
took the oprK.rtni,ity\rf thescquar^Uto irttoo5???ut ^*^,* ("^'zing), n. [Verbal n. of seize, r.]
"■■'—'""■ ■ • 1. The act of ta
the last Frank Btn.nghuld of Armenia.
StMH, Medieval and Modem HUL, p. 202.
taking hold or possession. — 2
SIX (so. currus, a chariot, a vehicle), < «ca;, six (=
E. six), + jugum, a yoke, = E. yoke.] In bot.,
having six pairs of leaflets.
sejnnctiont (se-jungk'shon), n. [< L. sejunc-
ti<)(ii-). a separation or division, < sejungere, pp.
sejunctus, disjoin: see sejoin.] The act of se-
Joining or disjoining ; separation.
A sejunetion and separation of them from all other na-
tions on the earth. Bp. Pearson, Expos, of Creed, ii.
sejangiblet (se-jun'ji-bl), a. [< L. sejungere,
separate, divide (gee sejoin), + -ibie.] Capable
of being sejoined or separated. Bp. Pearson,
Expos, of Creed, i.
sek't, n. A Middle English form of saofcl.
sek^t, ft. A Middle English form of sick^.
seket. A Middle English form of seek^, sick^.
sekelt, »■ A Middle English form of sickle.
Saut., the operation of fastening, binding, or sekert, n. A Middle English form of seeker.
I -I
I ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ m\^
.:a
ti
I IL
sekere
sekeref, sekerlyt. Middle English forms of
,sicA( r. sickcrli).
sekirnessf , ". A Middle English form of sicker-
ness.
seklii, a. A Middle English form of sickly.
seknest, »• A Middle English form of sickness.
sekos (se'kos), ?i. [< Gr. er/Koc, a pen, iuclosure.]
In Gr. antiq., any sacred
inelosure ; a shrine or
sanctuary; the cella of a
temple; a building which
none but those initiated
or especially privileged
might enter: as, the SeA-os
of the Mysteries at Eleu-
sis: used of churches
by some early Christian
writers.
sektoort, "• A variant of
secutour.
self, a. and n. A Middle English form of secl'^.
sel', «. A Scotch variant of self.
Selacha (sera-kit), n. pi. [NL. : see Selachc.']
Same as SelacMi. Bonaparte, 1837.
Selache (sel'a-ke), n. [NL. (Cuvier, 1817), < Gr.
ce/Mx<K, a seorfish, including aU cartilaginous
fishes, esp. the sharks: see scaU.'\ A genus of
sharks whence some of the names of selachians
are derived. It has been variously used, but oftenest
for the common dusky or preat basking-shark, S. maxima.
(See cut under baslnnff-shark.) It is now superseded by
the prior genus Cetorhinus of De BlainvUle (1816). Also
Siiachiig.
Selachia (se-la'ki-a), n. pi. [NL.] Same as
Sclachii.
selachian (se-la'ki-an), a. and n. [< NL. Sela-
clie, Selacha,' + -i-ari.'i I, a. Resembling or re-
lated to a shark of the genus Selaclw; pertain-
Sekos.— Plan of the Great
Hall of the Mysteries, Eleusis,
as excavated in 1888.
Port Jackson Shark {Hetfratt<mfus ^ateatus), a Selachian.
ing to the Selachii, or having their characters;
squaloid or raioid; plagiostomous; in the broad-
est sense, elasmobranchiate. See also cuts un-
der Elasmohranchii, saw-flsh, shark, and skate.
H. n. A shark or other plagiostomous fish;
any elasmobranch.
Selachii (se-la'ki-i), n. pi. [NL., < Gr. ae'AaxcK,
a cartilaginous fi.sh, a shark. Ct.seaU.'] A large
group of vertebrates to which different values
and limits have been assigned; the sharks and
their allies, (a) In Cuvier's system of classification, the
first family of Chondropteryini braiichiis fixi^, having the
palatines and lower jaw alone armed witn teeth and sup-
plying the place of jaws (the usual bones of which are re-
duced to mere vestiges), (b) In Cope's system, a subclass
of fishes characterized by the articulation of the hyoman-
dibular bone with the cranium, the absence of opercular or
pelvic bones, and the development of derivative radii ses-
sile on the sides of the basal bones of the limbs and rarely
entering into articulation, (c) In Gill's system, a class of
ichthyopsid vertebrates characterized by the absence of
dermal or membrane bones from the head and shoulder-
girdle, the existence of a cartilaginous cranium, a well-
developed brain, and a heart composed of an auricle and
a ventricle. It includes the sharks, rays, and chimeKts,
the first two of these constituting the subclass Plagiastmni,
the third the subclass Holocepfiali. (d) In Jordan's system,
a subclass of Elasiiwbranchii, containing the sharks and
such other selachians as the rays or skates, or the Sqiutli
and the Jiaife, together contnisted with the chimeras or
Boltjcepftali. They have the gill-openings in the form of
slits, five, six, or seven in number on each side ; and the
jaws distinct from the rest of the skull. The Selachii
correspond to the Pta(/io8toinata. Also Selacha, Sela-
chia.
selachoid (sel'a-koid), a. and n. [< Gr. (tc?mx<k,
a shark, -I- cldoc, form.] I. a. Shark-like ; se-
lachian ; plagiostomous ; of or pertaining to the
Selachoidei.
n. n. A selachoid selachian ; any shark.
Selachoidei (sel-a-koi'de-i), n. pi. [NL.: see
selachoid.^ In GUnther's classification, the first
suborder of plagiostomous fishes, contrasting
with the Batoidei ; the sharks, in a broad sense,
or Squall, as distinguished from the rays. It has
been divided by Haswell into the PaUeoselachii
and the Neoselachii.
selachologist (sel-a-kol'o-jist), n. [< selachol-
og-y + -ist.'] One who is devoted to the study
of selachology.
selachology (sel-a-kol'o-ji), n. [< Gr. atlax<K,
a shark, + -Xoyla, < ?£yeiv, speak : see -olor/y.']
, That department of zoBlogy which relates to
the selachians.
5472
selachostome (sel'a-ko-stom), n. A ganoid fish
of tlio t;i'(iup .Stliichostomi.
Selachostomi (sel-a-kos'to-mi), II. pi. [NL.,
pi. of selacliostoniui : see selachostomous.'] A
superfamily of ganoid fishes, of the order Vhon-
drostci, or an order of the class Chondrostei,
containing sturgeon-like fishes which have the
maxillary and interopercle obsolete and have
teeth, or the family I'olyodontidse : thus distin-
guished from Glaniostomi. See Polyodontidse,
aud cut imder paddle-fish.
selachostomous (sel-a-kos'to-mus), a. [< NL.
sclachostomus, < Gr. ck'^x^i^ a shark, + ardjia,
mouth.] Shark-mouthed; specifically, of or
pertaining to the Selachostomi.
Selachus (sel'a-kus), k. Same as Sdache.
selagid (sel'a-jid), n. A plant of the order
Schij/iiiae. Lindley.
Selaginese (sel-a-jin'e-e), 11. pi. [NL. (Jussieu,
180()), < Selago (-gin-) + -f«.] A small order
of gamopetalous plants, of the cohort Laniia-
Ics. It is characterized by flowers with a corolla of five
or sometimes four equal or unequal spreading lobes, four
didynamous or two equal stamens, one-celled anthers,
and a superior one- or two-celled ovary, forming one or
two sm.ill nutlets in fruit, often with a flesliy surface and
corky furrowed or perforated interior, investing a pendu-
lous cylindrical seed with fleshy albumen. It is distin-
guished from the related order Scrophvlarinete by its soli-
tary ovules, from Labiatie and Verheiuicefe by an embryo
with a superior micropyle and radicle, and from its ally
the Myoporinex by habit and terminal inflorescence. It
includes about 140 species belonging to 8 genera, of which
Selago is the type. They are natives of the Old World
beyond the tropics, chiefly diminutive lieath-like shrubs
of South Africa, with alternate, narrow, and rigid leaves,
and small flowers grouped in terminal spikes or dense
globular lieads, commonly white or blue, rarely yellow.
Selaginella (se-laj-i-nel'ii), n. [NL. (Spring),
dim. of L. Selago, a genus separated irovn Lyco-
podinm (-gin-), lycopodium : see Selago.'] A ge-
nus of heterosporous vascular cryptogams, typ-
ical of the Sclaginellaceee and Selaginellcx. They
have the general habit of
Lycopodium (the ground-
pine, club-moss, etc.), dif-
fering from it mainly by
the dimorphic spores. The
stems are copiously branch-
ed, trailing, suberect, sar-
mentose, or scandent; in
shape they are more or
less distinctly quadrangu-
lar, with the faces angled
or flat. The leaves are
small, with a single central
vein, usually tetrastichous
and dimorphous, and more
or less oblique, the two
rows of the lower plane
larger and more spreading,
the two rows of the upper
ascending, adpressed, and
imbricated; spikes usually
tetrastichous, often sharply
square, at the end of leafy
branches ; microsporangia
numerous ; macrosporangia
few, and confined to the
base of the spike. About
335 species have been de-
scribed, from the warmer parts of the globe. Many spe-
cies are cultivated in conservatories, and numerous forms
have resulted. 5. lepidophylla is well known under the
name re8urrecfion'pla7it, and is also called rock-lily or rock-
rose.
Selaginellaceae (se-laj"i-ne-la'se-e),».7>/. [NL.,
< Selaginella + -accx.} A group of heteros-
porous vascular cryptogamous plants, by some
called an order, by others raised to the rank of
a class coordinate with the Bhizocarpcie, Lyco-
podiacem, Filices, etc. It embraces only 2 gen-
era, Selaginella and Isoetes (which see for char-
acterization).
Selaginellese (se-laj-i-nel'e-e), ». pi. [NL., <
Selaginella + -cse.] A group of heterosporous
vascular cryptogams. By many writers employed
as an Interchangeable synonysn with SelagineUacem, by
others regarded as an order under the class Selaginellaceie.
It embraces the single genus Selafjiiiclla.
Selago (se-la'go), w. [NL. (Linneeus, 1737), <
L. selago, a similarly dwarf but unrelated plant,
Lycopodium Selago.] A genus of gamopetalous
plants, type of the order Selagincee. it is charac-
terized by flowers with a two- to flve-lobed calyx, nearly
regular or somewliat two-lipped corolla, four didynamous
and perfect stamens, and a two-celled ovary which sepa-
rates into two nutlets in fruit. There are about 95 spe-
cies, all South African excei)t one in tropical Africa and
one, S. muratis, growing on the walls of the capital of
Madagascar. They are dwarf heath-like shrubs, some-
times small annuals, often low and diffuse, and with many
slender branchlets. They bear naiTow leaves, commonly
alternate and clustered in the axils, and sessile flowers in
dense or slender spikes.
Selah (se'la). [IjL. (Vulgate), < Heb. seldh, of
unknown meaning; connected by Gesenius with
sdldh, rest.] A transliterated Hebrew word,
occurring in the Psalms frequently, and in Ha-
bakkuk iii. : probably a direction in the musi-
l-ertile VXanX. oi Setagirtella
lepiiiophytla.
seldom
cal rendering of the passage. It is explained by
most authorities as meaning ' Pause,' V)ut oc-
curs also at the end of psalms.
Selandria (se-lan'dri-a), n. [NL. (Leach,
1817); formation uncertain.] An important
genus of saw-flies or Tcnthrcdinidfe. They have
a short tluck body, costa of the fore wing thick and di-
lated before the stigma, and the lanceolate ceil petiolate,
open, and without a cross-vein. Their larvaj ai e stout,
slimy, slug-like creatures, and feed upon the leaves of va-
rious trees. That of S. cerasi is the pear- or eheri-y-slug,
now placed in the genus Eriocampa, and thatof 5. rogx is
the rose-slug, now placed in the genus Motiosteyia. See
cut imder ruge-elug.
Selasphorus(se-las'f9-rus),?i. [NL. (Swainson,
1831), < (JJr. ai/.a(, light, brightness, + -<j>opoq, <
<pepeiv = E. 6ert)'l.] A genus of Trochilidse ; the
flame-bearers or lightning-hummers, s. mfus is
the red-backed or Nootka Sound humming-bird, notable
as the species which goes furthest north, being found in
Alaska. S. platycercvs is the broad-tailed huniming-l>ird.
Both are common in western North America, and several
others occur in Mexico and Central America.
selbite (sel'bit), n. [< C. J. Sell), a German
mineralogist (1755-1827), -I- -ite^.] An ash-
gray or black ore of silver, supposed to contain
silver carbonate, but later shown to be a mix-
ture of argentite with silver, dolomite, etc. It
was found at Wolfach in Baden. A similar mineral mix-
ture is found at some Mexican mines, where it is called
ptata azul.
selch, n. See seaJgh.
selcoutht (sel'koth), a. andn. [< ME. selcouth,
selkoulh, selkowth, selciith, sclknth,<. AS. selcHth,
seld-cuth, strange, wonderful, < seld, rarely, -I-
cuth, known: see seld and couth. €f. uncouth.']
I. a. Rarely or little known ; unusual ; uncom-
mon; strange; wonderful.
I se gondyr a ful selcmdh syght,
Wher-of be-for no synge was scene.
York Plays, p. 74.
Now riden this folk and walken on fote
To seche that seint in selcoidhe londis.
Piers Ploivman (A), vi. 2.
Yet nathemore his meaning she ared.
But wondred much at his so selcouth case.
Spenxer, l\ Q., IV. viii. 14.
II. n. A wonder; a marvel.
And sythen I loked vpon the see and so forth vpon the
sterres.
Many setcouthes I seygh ben nought lo seye nouthe.
Piers Plowman (B), xi. 355.
Sore longet the lede lagher to wende.
Sum selkowth Ui se the sercle with-in.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 13506.
selcouthlyt (sel'koth-li), adv. [ME. sclcoutheli;
< selcouth 4- -ly'^.] Strangely; wonderfully;
uncommonly.
The stiward of spayne, that stem was * bold,
Hadde bi-seged that cite selcouiheli hard.
Waiiam qf Palerne (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3263.
seldt (seld), adv. [Early mod. E. also selde,
seelde;. < ME. seld, < AS. seld, adv. (in eompar.
seldor, seldre, superl. seldost, and in comp. : see
selcouth, seldseen, selly, etc.), = OHG. MHG. G.
sell- = Sw. sail- = Dan. seel- = Goth, silda- (only
in comp. and deriv.); prob. from an orig. adj.
(the E. adj. appears much later and evidently
as taken from the adverb), with formative -d
(see -ed'^, -fJ2)^ perhaps from the root of Goth.
silan in ana-silan, become silent, = L. silere, be
silent: see *(7ent. Ct. seldom.] Rarely; seldom.
For grete power and moral vertu heere
Is selde yseyn in o person yfeere.
Chaucer, Troilus, ii. 168.
Goods lost are seld or never found.
Shak,, Passionate Pilgrim, 1. 175.
seldt (seld), a. [< ME. selde, orig. seld, adv.,
as used to qualify a verbal noun, or in comp.,
aud not directly representing the orig. adj.
from which seld, adv., is derived : see seld, adih]
Scarce ; rare ; uncommon.
For also seur as day cometh after nyght.
The newe love, labour, or other wo.
Or elles selde seynge of a wight,
Don olde afieccions alle overgo.
Chaucer, Troilus, iv. 423.
Honest women are so selde and rare,
'Tis good to cherish those poore few that are.
Tourtwur, Revenger's Tragedy, iv. 4.
seldent, adv. An obsolete form of seldom.
seldom (sel'dum), adv. [Early mod. E. also
seldomc, also "selden, seelden ; < ME. seldom, sel-
diim, selden, selde, < AS. seldan, seldon, seldum
(= OFries. sielden = MD. selden, D. cclden =
MLG. selden, LG. selden, sellen = OHG. seltan,
MHG. G. selten = Icel. sjaldan = Sw. sdllan (for
*saldan) = Dan. sjelden), at rare times, seldom,
orig. dat. pi. (suffix -urn) or weak dat. sing,
(suffix -an) of 'seld, a., rare: see seld, adv. The
term, -om is the same as in whilom : it once ex-
isted also, in part, in little, muckle (litlum, mic-
lum), adv.] Rarely; not often ; infrequently.
seldom
For udden is that hous poore there God is steward.
Bdbeti Book (E. E. T. S.X p. 37.
Tis seldom seen, in men so valiant,
Kinds so devoid of virtue.
Beav. and Fl., Knight ol Malta, ii. 1.
Experience would convince us that, the earlier we left
our beds, the aeidomer should we be confined to them.
Steeie, Guardian, No. 65.
seldom (sel'dum), a. [Early mod. E. also scl-
diiiiie, iteldoome ; < late ME. seldome, seJdone (=
3LD. Seidell); < seldom, adv.'} Rare ; infrequent.
Catli. Aug., p. 328. [Obsolete or archaic]
The leUoome faule of rayne.
Peter Uartyr (tr. in Eden's First Books on America,
(ed. Arber, p. 176).
A spare diet, and a thin coarse table, seldom refreshment,
frequent fasts. Jer. Taylor, Holy Living, ii. 3.
seldomness (sel'dum-nes), H. Bareness; Infre-
quency; uncommonness. [Rare.]
The geldiminexs of the sight increased the more unquiet
lonsinK. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, ill.
seldom-timest (sel'dum -timz), adv. Barely;
hardly ever.
Which is teldome times before 15 yeeres of a«e.
Brindey, Orammar Schoole, p. 307.
seldseent, «. [< ME. seldsene, seldcene, seltsene
(= ili). seldjtaem, D. zeldzaam = MLG. sclsen,
nelt,seii, seltseiii, seltmim = OHG. seltsdiii, MHU.
seltmeiie, G. nelUam = Icel. sjaldxenn = Sw. ndll-
nam = Dan. sselsom — the G. Sw. Dan. forms
with the second element conformed to the term.
-nam, -som, = E. -nome), rarely seen, < geld, rare-
ly, + sene, in comp., < sedn, see, + adj. forma-
tion -lie {seiie being thus nearly the same as the
pp. neweii, -with an added formative vowel).]
Rarely seen; rare.
Our sptche ichal beseldeene. Ancren Rixde, p. 80.
seld-shownf (seld'shon), n. [< »eW. adv., +
sUoirn. Cf. selcouth, seUigeen.l Rarely shown
or exhibited.
Seld-skown flamena
Do pre« amons the popular throngs, and puff
To win a vulgar Btotfon. Shot., Cor. , iL 1. 220.
selef . An obsolete spelling of «ea/l, geaP, geell.
select (se-lekf), V. [< L. selectug, pp. of «e/i-
</<rt, pick out, choo8e,< »<?-, apart, -I- leijere, pick,
choose: see legend. Ct. elect, collect.^ I. trtinn.
To choose or pick out from a number ; pick out ;
choose : as, to gelect the best ; to select a site for
a monument.
To whom does Mr. niadatone assign the office of select-
ing a religitm for the state from among hundreds of reli-
gions ? Macaulay, Gladstone on Church and State.
= Syn. To Beet, Prefer, etc (see ehoote), dngle out, Bx
upiHi, pitch upon.
II. intrans. To conduct artificial selection
methoilically. See second quotation under me-
tlindiciil selection, below,
select (se-Iekf), a. and n. [< Sp. Pg. seleeto, <
L. seleet'iu, chosen, pp. of selifjere, choose: see
select, e.] I. a. 1. Chosen on account of spe-
cial excellence or fitness ; carefully picked or
selected ; hence, choice ; composed of or con-
taining the best, choicest, or most desirable:
as, select poems; a select party; a select neigh-
borhood.
To this must be added industrious and select reading.
MiUan, Church-Oovenimcnt, Pref., ii.
We found a diary of her solemn resolutions tending to
firactlcal virtue, with letters from teUa friends, all put
nto exact nietliiMl. Ecetjfn, Diaiy, Sept 17, ie7S.
2. Careful or fastidious in choice, or in asso-
ciatiiiK with others; exclusive; also, made with
or exhibiting carefulness or fastidiousness.
[Colloq.]
And 1 have spoken for Owendoleii to t>e a merobOT of
nor Archery Club — the Brackensbaw Archery Club — the
most select thing anywhere.
Otorge gUct, Daniel Dettinda, iii.
Select committee, ▼estiy, etc. See the nouns.— select
Meeting, in lli'- Society of Friends, a meeting u( niiiils-
tvTn ati<t t'MtTK. In some yeariy meetings the name has
n( late been Bupenede<l by that of Meeting <if Ministry and
Ormnijht. with some additions to the memberahlp. sSyn.
L Picked. See chooee.
H. «. 1. That which is selected or choice.
[Colloq. or trade use.] — 2. Selection. [Bare.]
H4>rrow of the profligate speech-makers or lyani of the
time in print, and make a select out of a select of them to
adorn a jiarty. liotjer Surth, Rxamen, p. 32. {Varies.)
selected (!*e-lek'ted), p. n. 1. Specially chosen
or ^iroterreil; choice; select: as, selected ma-
terials.
Great princes are her slaves ; selected beaatlM
ilow at her l)eck.
Fletcher (and anotherT), rropheteai, UL 1.
8t. Specially set apart or devoted.
The limbs they sever from th' Inclosing hide.
The thighs, selected to tlie gods, divide.
Pope, Iliad, 11. 504.
344
5*73
selectedly (se-lek'ted-li), adv. With selection.
Prime workmen . . . selectedly employed.
Ueywood, Desciip. of the King's Ship, p. 4S. (Latham,)
selection (se-lek'shou), «. [= F. selection =
Sp. selecekni = Pg. selecfSo, < L. selectio(,n-), a
choosing out, selection, < seligere, pp. selectiis,
choose: see select. 'i 1. The act of selecting,
choosing, or preferring ; a choosing or picking
out of one or more from a number; choice.
He who is deficient in the art of selection may, by show-
ing nothing but the truth, produce all the effect of the
grossest falsehood. Macaulay, History.
2. Athingornumberof thingsohosenorpicked
out.
His company generally consisted of men of rank and
fashion, some literary characters, and a selection from the
stage. W. Cooke, S. Foote, I. 143.
The English public, outside the coteries of culture, does
not pretend to care for poetry except in selections.
Contemporary Rev., LII. 479.
3. In biol., the separation of those forms of
animal and vegetable life which are to survive
from those which are to perish ; the facts, prin-
ciples, or conditions of such distinction between
organisms ; also, the actual result of such prin-
ciples or conditions; also, a statement of or a
doctrine concerning such facts ; especially, nat-
ural selection. See phrases below Artlflclal
selectlozi, man's agency in modifying the processes and
so changing the results of natural selection ; the facts or
ftrincipies upon which such Interference with natural evo-
utiouary processes is based and conducted. This has beeu
going on more or less systematically since man has domes-
ticated animals or cultivated plants for his own benefit.
Such selection may be either unconscious or methodical
(see below). It has constantly tended to the latter, which
is now systematically conducted on a large scale, and has
resulted in numberless creations of utility or of beauty, or
of both, which would not have existed had the animals and
plants thus improved been left to themselves — that is, to
the operation of natural selection- Examples of artificial
selecUon are seen in the breeding of hurees for speed, lK>t-
totn, or strength, or for any conii>iiiation of these <|ua1ities ;
of cattle for beef or milk ; of slieep for mutton or wo'd ; of
dogs for speed, scent, courage, docility, etc. ; of pigs for
fat pork ; of fowls for flesh or eggs ; of pigeons for fancied
shapes and colors, or as carriers ; in the cultivation of ce-
reala fmita, and vegetables to improve their respective
aualities and increase their yiel<), and of tlowers titeiiliiince
>elr beauty and fragrance.— Hethodlcal selection, arti-
ficial selection methodically or systematically carried on
to or toward a foreseen desired result ; the facta or prin-
ciples upon whicli such selection la baaed, and the means
of its accomplishment Bee above.
MetModical selection t* that which guidei a man who sys-
tematically endeavours to modify a breed according to
some predetermined standard.
Darmn, Var. of Animals and Plants, xx. 177.
In the case of methodical Hlectioa, a breeder selects for
some definite object, and tree intercrossing will wholly
stop his work. Darvin, Origin of Species, p. 103.
Natural selection, the preaerration of some forms of
aidnial aii<l vegetable life and the destruction of others,
in the natural order of such things, by the operation of
natural causes which. In the course of evolution, favor
some oi(anUms instead of some others In consequence of
diflerencea in the organisms themselves, (a) The fact of
the sarrlval of the fittest in the struggle for existence —
whioh means that those animals and plants which are beat
aduted, or have tlie greatest adaptability, to the conditions
of toeir euTlronment do sorrive other organisms which are
leaa adapted, or leaa capable of being adapted, to such
conditions. This fact rests upon observation, and is un-
questionable. (6) The means by which or the conditions
under which some forms survive while others perish ; the
law of the survival of the fittest ; the underlying princi-
ple of such survival, and the agencies wiiich effect that
result These seem to be mainly intrinsic, or inherent in
the organism ; and they are correlated, in the most vital
manner possible, with the varying plasticity of different
organisms, or their degree of auaceptibility to modifica-
tion by their environment Those which respond most
readOy to external influence are the most niodif1ai)le under
even circnnutancea, and consequently the most likely to
I modified in a way that adapt* them to their surround-
ings, which adaptation gives them an advantage over
less favored organisms in striving to maintain themselves.
Hencetand thia lathe gist of Darwinian natural selection)
— (c) The gradual development of individual differences
which are favorable to the preservation of the life of the
Individual, with oorresponding gradual extinctiuu of those
pecallaritles which are unfavorable to that end ; also, the
tnuumiaslon of such modified characters to offspring, and
so the perpetustion of some species and the extinction of
others — a fact In nature reapectlng which there li no Ques-
tion, since we know that more species, genera, etc., nave
periahed than are now living, (a) The theory of natural
selection ; any statement of opinion or belief uii that 8ul>-
Ject, which may or may not adequately reflei-t the facts in
the caae. Ignorance alike of these facts and of this theoiy
haa been fruitful of misunderstandings and objections re-
specting the latter. Some of Its supporters have made of
the theory a cause of the facts whicn It is simply designed
Ui explain ; some of Its opponents, unconsciously biased
perhaps by such other extremists, have denied that the
theory has any validity. Between these extremes, the
author of the theory states explicitly that It neither ori-
ginates variability, nor accounts for the origin of varia-
tions. In Individuals, still less in species ; but that, given
the origination and existence of variations. It shows that
some of these are preserved while others are not ; that
favorable variations tend to be jierpetuated and unfavor-
able variations to become extinct ; that those variations
which beet adapt an organism to Its environment are most
favorable to Ita preservation ; and, conseiiuently, that the
selector
theory of natural selection is adequate to explain, to some
extent, the observed fact of the survival of the fittest in
the struggle for existence — that is, natural selection in
sense (a) above. Natural selection , in so far as sex is con-
cerned, is specified as sexual selection (see below). The
facts and principles of natural selection, as recognized and
used by man for his own benefit in his treatment of plants
and animals, come under the head of artificial selection
(see above). An extension of the theory of natural selec-
tion to the origination (aa distinguished from the preser-
vation) of individual variations has been named physical
selection (see below).
This preservation of favourable variations and the re-
jections of injurious vai-iations I call Natural Selection.
Variations neither useful nor injurious would not be af-
fected by natural selection, and would be left a fluctuating
element, as perhaps we see in the species called poly-
morphic. Darwin, Origin of Species (ed. 1880), iv.
Natural selection . . . implies that the individuals
which are best fitted for the complex and in the course
of ages changing conditions to which they are exposed
generally survive and procreate their kind.
Darwin, Var. ol Animals and Plants, xx. 178.
Physical selectlozi, the law of origin for differential
changes or moditlcations in organisms wliich have arisen
through the action of physical causes in the environment,
in habits, etc. It is distinguished from natural selection,
which relates not to the origin but to tlie preservation of
these changes. A. Hyatt.— Sexual selection, that prov-
ince or department of natural selection in wnich sex is
especially concerned, or in which the means by which
one sex attracts the other conies prominently into play.
Thus, anything which exhibits the strength, prowess, or
beauty of the male attracts the female, and decides her
preference for one rather than another individual of the
opposite sex, with the result of affecting the offspring
for the better: and this principle of selection, operative
through many generations, may in the end modify the
specific characters of animals, and thus become an im-
portant factor in natural selection.
If It be admitted that the females prefer or are uncon-
sciously excited by the more Iteautiful males, then the
males would slowly but surely be rendered more and more
attractive through sexual selection.
Darwin, Descent of Man (ed. 1881X p. 496.
For my own part, I conclude that of all the causes which
have led to the differences in external appeiu"ance between
the races of men. and to a certain extent between man
and the lower animals, sexual selection has been by far the
most efficient. Daniin, Descent of Man (ed. 1871X II. 367.
Unconscious selection, artificial selection effected un-
knowingly, or carrie<l on without system or metho*! ; man'i^
agency in unmethodical selection, or the result of that
agency. See the extract.
Unconscious selection in the strictest sense of the word —
that [a, the saving of the more useful animals and the neg-
lect or slaughter of the less useful, without any thought
of the future — must have gone on occasionally from the
remotest period and amongst the most barbarous nations.
Dantin, Var. of Animals and Plants, xx. 199.
selective (se-lek'tiv), a. [< select + -t'rc] Of,
pertaining to, or characterized hy selection or
choice; selecting; using that which is selected
or choice.
Who can enough wonder at the pitch of this selective
providence of the Almighty?
Bp. Hall, Contemplations, iil. 122.
Selective breeding through many generations has suc-
ceeded In producing inherited structural changes, some-
times of very remarkable character.
W. U. Flower, Fashion in Deformity, p. 6.
Strange to say, so patent a fact as the perpetual pres-
ence of selective attention has received hardly any notice
from psychologists of the English empiricist school.
W. James, Prin. of Psychology, I. 402.
Selective absorption, the absorption of substances
which arrest certain parts only of the radiation of heat
and light froni any source: as, the selective absorption of
the sun's atmosphere, wldch is the cause of the larger
part of the dark lines in the solar spectrum. See spectrum.
This power of absorption Is selective, and hence, for the
most part, arise the phenomena of color.
Tyndall, Light and Elect, p. 69.
selectively (se-lek'tiv-li), adv. By means of
selected specimens; by selection.
There Is no varhition which may not be transmitted,
and which, if selectively transmitted, may not become the
foundation of a race. Huxley, Lay Sermons, p. 269.
selectman (se-lekf man), n. ; pi. selectmen
(-men). [< se)ect + man.} In New England
towns, one of a board of officers chosen annual-
ly fo manage various local concerns. Their num-
l>er Is usually from three to nine in each town, and they
constitute a kind of executive authority. In small towns
the office is frequently associated with that of assessor
and overseer of the poor. The ofllcc was derived originally
front that of select vestryman. See vestry.
He soon found, however, that they were merely the se-
lectmen of the settlement, armed with no weapon but
the tongue, and disposed only to meet him on the Held of
argument. Irving, Kniekerlwcker, p. 235.
As-early as 163.f, the office of townsman or selectman ap-
pears, who seems first to have been appointed by the Gen-
eral Court, as here, at Concord, in l(!;l!>.
Emerson, Hist Discourse at Concord.
selectness (se-lekt'nes), n. Select character
or (luality. 6ailey.
selector (se-lek'tor), n. [< LL. «c?cc<or, a chooser,
< L. seligere, pp. selectus, choose : see select.'] 1.
One who selects or chooses.
Inventors and selectors of their own systems.
Knox, Essays, No. 104.
selector
8. In maeh., a device which separates and se-
lects.
A sbatUe with jaws that take hold of each hair as it is
preaent^d, and a device which is known as the selector.
Xature, XLII. S57.
Selenaria (sel-f-na'ri-fi), «. [NL. (Busk), < Gr.
treA^i"?, the moon: see SeleneJ] The typical ge-
nns of Selenariidte.
Selenariidse (sel'e-na-n'i-de), n. pi. [NL., <
Scloiiirid + -idie.'i A family of chilostomatous
polyzoans, typified by the genus Selenaria. They
are orbicular or irregular in outline, convex on one side
and plane or concave on the other ; the zooecia are im-
mersed and (lustrine.
selenate (sel'e-nat), n. [< selen(ic) + -ate'^.l
A compound of selenic acid with a base: as,
sodium selenate.
Selene (se-le'ne), J*. [< Gr. Y.e^rjvri, the Moon,
a personification of fffXiyv^, dial. acXava, aeT^dvva,
the moon, also a month, a moon-shaped cake ;
cf. <Tt/laf, brightness.] 1. In Gr. myth., the
^ddess of the moon, called in Latin Luna. She
ft the daughter of Hyperion and Theia, and sister of He-
lios (the sun) and Eos (the dawn), but is also a double of
Artemis (Diana). She is also called Phoebe.
2. [NL. (Lac^pMe, 1803).] Inicfe(A.,agenusof
carangoid fishes; the moonfishes, whose soft
dorsal and anal fins have the anterior rays much
produced in the adult. S. vomer is known as
the lookdoum and horseliead. See out under
horsehcad.
seleniate (sf-le'ni-at), n. [< 8eleni(um) + -afei.]
Same as selenate.
selenic (se-len'ik), a. [< selcn{ium) + -ic]
Of or pertaining to selenium : as, selenic acid,
HoSeO^. This acid is formed when selenium is oxidized
by fusion with niter. It is a strong corrosive dibasic acid,
much resembling sulphuric acid. The concentrated acid
has the consistence of oil, and is strongly hygroscopic.
Its salts are called selenaies.
selenide (sel'e-nid or -nid), n. [< selen{ium)
+ -i(fel.] A compotmd of selenium with one
other element or radical : same as hydroseli-
nate.
Selenidera (sel-e-nid'e-ra), ». [NL. (J. Gould,
1831), also prop. SelenoSera, < Gr. ae.'ki)vri, the
moon, -f- (stpr), neck : so called from the cresoen-
tie collar characteristic of these birds.] A ge-
nus of Bha7nphastidse, containing toucans of
small size, as S. macuHrostris of Brazil ; the tou-
eanets, of which there are several species. See
cut under toucanet.
seleniferous (sel-e-nif'e-rus), a. [< NL. sele-
nium + L. ferre = E. feeorl.] Containing sele-
nium; yielding selenium : a,s, seleniferous o-rea.
selenious (se-le'ni-us), a. [< seleni(mn) + -ous.2
Of, pertaining to, or produced from selenium.
— Selenious acid, H2Se03, a dibasic acid derived from
selenium. It forms s^ts called selenites.
seleniscopet (se-len'i-skop), n. [Prop. *seleno-
scope; < Gr. aeif/vri, the moon, + okokuv, view.]
An instrument for observing the moon.
Mr. Henshaw and his brother-in-law came to visit me,
and he presented me with a seleniscope.
Evelyn, Diary, June 9, 1863.
selenite (sel'e-nit), n. [= F. selenite = Sp. Pg.
selenites, selenite (Sp. Selenita, an inhabitant
of the moon), = It. selenite, selenite, < L. sele-
nites, selenitis, moonstone, < Gr. ae'Aj^lTK, of the
moon (?.i6oc aelrjviTrjg, moonstone; ol 'LelrrvlTai,
the men in the moon), < aekrp)ri, the moon: see
Selene.'l If. \cap.~\ A supposed inhabitant of
the moon. — 2. A foliated or crystallized and
transparent variety of gypsum, often obtained
in large thin plates somewhat resembling mica;
also, specifically, a thin plate of this mineral
used with the polarizing apparatus of the mi-
croscope.— 3. In chem., a salt of selenium.
Selenites (sel-e-ni'tez), n. [NL., < Gr. ae^-
viTTK, of the moon: see selenite.'] 1. la entom.,
a genus of coleopterous insects. Hope, 1840. —
2. In conch., the typical genus of Selenitidee.
Fischer, 1879.
selenitic (sel-e-nit'ik), a. [= F. sSlenitiqne =
Sp. selenitico = It. selenitico; < selenite + -ic]
1. Of or pertaining to the moon. — 2. Of, per-
taining to, resembling, or containing selenite :
as, selenitic waters.
Selenitidse (sel-e-nit'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Sele-
nites + ■ddse.'] A family of geophilous pul-
monate gastropods, having a spiral heliciform
shell, the mantle submedian or posterior and
included within the shell, and the jaw ribless,
with aculeate teeth, much as in Glandinidm.
selenitiferous (sel"e-ni-tif'e-rus), o. [< L. se-
lenites, moonstone, + ferre"= E. 6earl.] Con-
taining selenite.
seleninin (sf -le'ni-um), n. [NL. , < Gr. acArivri, the
moon (ef. oi)Jiviov, moonlight) : see Selene. The
5474
element was so called (by Berzelius) because
associated with tellurium (< L. telliis, earth).]
Chemical symbol, Se ; atomic weight, 79. A
non-metallic element extracted from the pyrite
of Fahlun in Sweden, and discovered in 1818 by
Berzelius. In its general chemical analogies it isrclated
to sulphur and tellurium. It is found in combination with
native tellurium, as in selen-tellurium, with sulphur in
selen-sulphur ; also in very small quantity in some of the
varieties of iron pyrites, and in several rare selenides, as
clausthalite, or lead selenide, etc. When precipitated it
appears as a red powder, which melts when heated, and
on cooling forms a brittle mass, nearly black, but trans-
mitting red light when in thin plates. When heated in
the air it takes fire, burns with a blue flame, and pro-
duces a gaseous compound, oxid of selenium, which has
a most penetrating and characteristic odor of putrid
horse-radish. Selenium undergoes a remarkable change
in electrical resistance under the action of light : hence the
use of selenium-cells. See resistance, 3, and photopktytw.
seleniuret (sf-le'niu-ret), n. [< NL. selenium
+ -urct.'] Same as selenide.
seleniureted, seleniuretted (se-le'niti-ret-ed),
a. [< seleniuret + -ed^.] Containing selenium ;
combined or impregnated with selenium Se-
leniureted hydrogen. Same as hydroselenic acid (which
see, under h>/droselenic).
selenocentric (se-le-no-sen'trik), a. [< Gr. tre-
'Ar/vr/, the moon, + Kevrpov, center: see centric.']
Having relation to the center of the moon, or
to the moon as a center; as seen or estimated
from the center of the moon.
selenod (sel'e-nod), n. [< Gr. mAipii, the moon,
-1- od, q. v.] The supposed odic or odylic force
. of the moon ; lunar od ; artemod. KeichenhaeJi.
selenodont (se-le'no-dont), a. and n. [< NL.
selenod ns (-odont-), < Gr. ackrivr), the moon, -I-
oSoi)^ {bdovT-) = E. tooth.] I. a. 1. Having
creseentic ridges on the crowns, as molar teeth ;
not bunodont. In this form of dentition the molar
tubercles are separated, or united at angles, elevated, nar-
rowly creseentic in section, with deep valleys intervening.
2. Having selenodont teeth, as a ruminant; of
or pertaining to the Selenodonta.
II. n. A selenodont mammal.
Selenodonta (se-le-no-don'ta), n. pi. [NL.,
neut. pi. of selenodus (-odont-): see selenodont.']
One of two primitive types of the Artiodactyla,
the other being Bunodonta, continued from the
Eocene Anoplotherium through a long line of
descent with modification to the ruminants of
the present day. Existing selenodonts are divisible
into the three series of Tylopoda, or camels, TraffiUaidea,
or chevrotains, and Pecora or Cotylophora, or ordinary ru-
minants, as cattle, sheep, goats, deer, antelopes, etc.
selenograph (se-le'no-graf), ». [< Gr. aM/vr/,
the moon, -f- ypa<j>eiv, write : see selenography.]
A delineation or picture of the surface of the
moon, or of part of it.
selenographer (sel-e-nog'ra-ffer), ». [< selenog-
raph-y + -e/-i.] A' student of selenography;
one who occupies himself with the study of the
moon, and especially with its physiography.
He [Mr. Oughtred] believed the sun to be a material fire,
the moon a continent, as appears by the late Selemgra-
phers. Evelyn, Diary, Aug. 28, 1656.
selenographic (se-le-no-graf'ik), a. [< sclenog-
raph-y + -ic] Of or pertaining to selenogra-
phy— SelenograpUc chart, a map of the moon.
selenographical (se-le-no-graf'i-kal), «. [< se-
lenographic -f -al.] Same as sclcnographic.
selenographist (sel-e-nog'ra-fist), n. [< sele-
nograph-y + -ist.] Same as selenographer.
selenography (sel-§-nog'ra-fi), n. [= F. seleno-
graphie = Sp. selenografid = Pg. selenographia
= It. selenografia, < Qt. ae'li/vi], the moon, + -ypa-
(pia, < ■ypa<peiv, write.] The scientific study of
the moon: chiefly used with reference to study
of the moon's physical condition, and especially
the form and disposition of the elevations and
depressions by which its surface is character-
ized.
selenological (se-le-no-loj'i-kal), a. [< selenol-
off-y + -ic-al.] Of or relating to selenology,
or the scientific study of the moon, and espe-
cially of its physiography ; selenographic.
With the solidification of this external crust began the
"year one" of selenological history.
Naemyth and Carpenter, The Moon, p. 18.
selenologist (sel-f-nol'o-jist), ». [< selenolog-y
+ -ist.] Sa,me as selenographer. Nature, XJA.
197.
selenology (sel-e-nol'o-ji), n. [< Gr. oeArrinj, the
moon, -I- -?.oyia, < ?.eyeiv, say, speak: see -ology.]
Same as selenography.
selenotropic (se-le'no-trop'ik), a. [< Gr. oe/z/w?,
the moon, -I- rpeTreiv, turn: see tropic] In hot.,
curving or turning toward the moon: said of
certain growing plant-organs which under fa--
vorable conditions are influenced in the direc-
tion of their growth by moonlight.
self
selenotropism (sel-e-not'ro-pizm), n. [< sele-
notrop-ic ■¥ -ism.] The quality of being sele-
notropic.
selenotropy (sel-e-not'ro-pi), ,n. [< selenotrop-ic
+ -,'/■*.] In hot., same as selenotropism.
selen-sulphur (se-len'sul"fer), «. [< stlen{ium)
+ sulphur.] Avarietyof sulphur, of an orange-
yellow color, containing a small amount of se-
lenium.
selen-tellurium (se-len'te-lu'ri-um), n. [< se-
leii{ium)-{- tellurium.] Amineralof ablackish-
gi-ay color and metallic luster, consisting of
selenium and telluriiun in about the ratio of
2 : 3, found in Honduras.
seler^t, n. A Middle English form of celure.
seler'-^t, «. A Middle English form of seller^.
Seleucian (se-lii'si-an), n. [< L. Seleucus, < Gr.
2t/,niKof, Seleucus (see def.), + -ian.] One of
a sect of the third century, which followed Se-
leucus of Galatia, whose teaching included the
doctrines, in addition to those of Hermogenes
(see Hcrmogenean), that baptism by water is
not to be used, and that there is no restirrection
of the body and no visible paradise.
Seleucid (se-lii'sid), n. One of the Seleucidse.
Seleucidse (se-lii'si-de), n.pl. [< L. Selencides,
< Gr. '^tltvKiSTjg, a descendant of Seleucus, < 2^-
/iemof, Seleucus.] The members of a dynasty,
founded by Seleucus (a general of Alexander
the Great), which governed Syria from about
312 B.C. to the Roman conquest (about 64 B.C.).
Seleucidan (se-lu'si-dan), «. [< Seleucid + -ox.]
Pertaining to the Seleucidts Seleucidan era.
See era.
Seleucides (se-lii'si-dez), n. [NL. (Lesson,
183,5), < L. Seleucides: see Seleueidse.] A genus
ot Paradiseidse, suhtamily Epimachinse, contain-
ing the twelve- wired bird of paradise, the male
of which has the flank-feathers long and fluffy,
with some shafts drawn out into six long wiry
filaments on each side of the body. The single
species inhabits New Ouinea. It is variously call^l S,
Twelve-wired Bird of Paradise (Seleucides nigfr).
niger, S. albus, S. acantkylis, S. resplendent, and by other
names, as manucode, or prmmrope d douze fileU of the
French ornithologists. The male is about 12 inches long ;
the "wires " are sometimes drawn out 10 inches ; the gen-
eral color is velVety-black, glancing in different lights oil-
green, coppery or bronze, violet and fler>- purple ; the black
breastplate is set in an emerald-green frame; the belly,
vent, and silky flank-plumes are tawny-yellow. The fe-
male is quite different, with much of the plumage bright
chestnut, and she has no "wires." This is one of the slen-
der-billed paradise-birds, ranging with the genera PtUo- *
rhis. Drepanomi^, and Epimachxis. The genus is also
called Netnatophora.
self (self), a., pron., and n. [Also Sc. seP, sell; <
ME. self, silf, seolf, sulf (pi. selfe, seolfe, scire,
sulre, seolve, later selves; in oblique cases sel-
ven), < AS. self, seolf, silf, siolf, sylf, same, self,
= OS. self= OFries. self, selva = OD. self, T>. celf
= MLG. self, sulf, LG. sulv = OHG. sell), MH(J.
selp, G. selh (inflected selber, etc.), sclist (unin-
flected) = Icel. sjeelfr, sjdlfr = Sw. sjelf ■= Dan.
selv = Goth, silha. same, self; origin unknown:
(a) in one view (Skeat) the orig. form "selba is
perhaps toT*seliba, 'left to oneself,' < se-, si-
(Goth. si-k = L. se, oneself, = Skt. sva, one's own
self), + lib-, the base of AS. lifan, be left, Idf
= Goth, laiba, a remnant, etc. (see leare^, life,
Kt)el). (?>) In another view (Kluge) perhaps
orig. 'lord, possessor, owner,' akin to Ir. ,selb,
possession; cf. Skt.patis, lord, with Lith. pats,
self; cf. also 0M,'«1, v., owner, with the related
0H!«1, a., which in some uses is nearly equiv.
to self. The use of self in comp. to foi-m the
reflexive pronotms arose out of the orig. in-
dependent use of self following the personal
pronouns, and agreeing with them in inflec-
tion, in AS. as follows: ic selfa (ic self), 'I
self (I myself), min selfes, 'of me self' (of
self
myself), me self urn, 'to me self (to myself), me
selfne, 'me self' (myself), pi. ire selfe, 'we self
(we ourselves), etc.; so thu selfa (tku self), 'thou
self (thyself), thin selfes, 'of thee self (of thy-
self), etc., he selfa (he self), 'he self (himself),
his selfes, 'of him self (of himself), etc., the
adj. self becoming coalesced with the preceding
pronoun in the oblique eases mine, my, me, our,
thine, thy, thee, your, his, him, her, their, them,
etc., these being ultimately reduced in each
instance to a single form, which is practically
the dative me, thee, him, her, them, etc. (in
which the ace. was merged), mixed in part with
the genitive mine, my, our, thine, thy, your, etc.,
these orig. genitives in time assuming the ap-
pearance of mere possessives, and «e(/'thu8 tak-
ing on the semblance of a noun governed by
them, whence the later independent use of self
as a noun (see III.). Tlie refle.xive combination
me selfe, him selfe (selre), etc., came to be used,
as the dative of reference, to indicate more dis-
tinctly the person referred to — 'I (for) my self , '
'he (for) him self,' etc., thus leading to the em-
phatic use. The former (AS. ME.) adj. pi. -e
has now changed to the noun pi. -es (selves, as
in tcolres, wives, etc.). Itself And oneself retain
the original order of simple juxtaposition: it +
self, one + self. In the more common on^s self
self is treated as an independent noun.] I. a.
1. Same; identical; very same: very. [Obso-
lete or archaic except when followed by same.
See selfsame.^
She was alayn. ri^ht in the 9elv€ place.
Chaucer, FranUln'a Tale, 1. 666.
Than hit semet, for-sothe, that the te(fe woman
Wold haue faryn hym fro.
DeMruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.\ 1. 13888.
As It [discretio] U commanely used, it is nat only like to
Hodestie, bat it is the Kl/e niodestie.
Sir T. Elyot, The Oovemour, L 25.
To shoot another arrow that i^ way
Which you did shoot the first
Shak., H. of V., i. 1. 148.
2t. Own; personal.
Thy adve nelghelMr wol thee despyse.
Ckaueer, Man of Law's Tale, L 17.
Who . . . hyse^and violenthands
Took olf her Ufe. 5A<rir., Macbeth, t. 8. 70.
3. Single; simple; plain; unmixed with any
other : particularly noting colors : as, »ey-col-
ored.
The patterns, huge bold scrolls, pUln and emboeaed,
generally in blue, upon a nif-Anh ground.
J. Armnmuth, Paper-Hanger's Companion, p. 82.
n. pron. A pronominal element affixed to
certain personal pronouns and pronominal ad-
jectives to express emphasis or distinction, or
to denote a reflexive use. Thus, for emphasis, I my-
Ki/ will write ; I will examine for myel/: thou thytelf
slult go; thou Shalt see for thyutf; the writing itvlf
shall be exhibited. " I mye{f will decide " not only ex-
presseft my dt^tcmiination to decide, but my determina-
tion that no other shall decide. Ketlexively, 1 abhor t)W-
itt/; he admires himself; it pleases aae(A Himttif. hertet/,
tKnntttet are used in the iiuminative case a* well as in
the objective. When the element* are separated liy an
adjectlre, ael^ becomes a mere noun : as, my own tel/, our
two Klvet, hU Tery §eV; so on«'» te(/ tor onaetf. See III.
Now obese yomAvm whether that you liketh.
Chaucer, Wife of Bath's Tale, I. STL
Je*iuMiius(^baptizednot,buthlsdisciples. Johnir.Z.
in. ».; \i\. selves {te\yz). 1. A person in his
relations to that very same person. 8M dilTers
from ego as being always relatlYe to a particular Indi-
vidual, and as referring to that jterson In all his relations
to himself and not merely aa given in consciousness.
!90 they loved, as love In twain
Had the easence but In one;
Two distlncts, division none; ...
Property [individuality | was thus appalled,
That the mlf waa not the same.
Single nature's double name
Neither two nor one was called.
Shak., Phienix and Turtle, I. S8.
.%//is that conscious thinking thing . . . which is sen-
sible or conscious of pleasure and pain, capable of hap-
piness or misenr.
Locke, Human Understanding, II. xxvll. 17.
The best way of separating a man's telf from the world
is to give up the desire of being known to it.
SUOt, Spectator, Ko. 2«4.
The consciousness of Se{^ involves a stream of thoUKht,
each oart of which as 'I' can (1) remember those which
went before, and know the things they knew ; and (2) em.
phasize and care paramountly for certain ones among them
aa ' me,' and appropriate to these the rest
W. Jama, Prln. of Psychology, I. 400.
2. A thing or class of things, or an attribute or
other abstraction, considered a.s precisely dis-
tinguished from all others: as, the separation
of church and state is urged in the interest of
religion's self.
Nectar's telj grows loathsome to tliem.
Burton, Anst of UeL, p. 366.
5475
3. Personal interest and benefit; one's own
private advantage.
The circle of his views might be more or less expanded,
but ieJJ waa the steady, unchangeable centre.
Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 24.
Love took up the harp of Life, and smote on all the chords
with might ;
Smote the chord of Set/, that, trembling, pass'd in music
out of sight. Tennyson, Locksley Hall.
4. In hort., a flower with its natural plain col-
or ; a self-colored flower, as distinguished from
one which has become "rectified" or varie-
gated. Compare self-colored. [Self is the first ele-
ment in numerous compounds, nearly all modern. It
may be used with any noun having an associated verb, or
with any participial ailjective (in -inr/'-i or -eda or -eni), or
other adjective Iniplyinj? action. It indicates either the
agent or the object of the action expressed by tiie word
with which it is joined, or the person on behalf of whom
it is performed, or the person or thing to, for, or toward
whom or which a quality, attribute, or feeling expressed
by the following word belongs, is directed, or is exerted,
or from which it proceeds ; or the subject of, or object
affected by, such action, quality, attribute, feeling, and the
like; and the meaning is frequently negative, implying
that the relation exists toward self only, not toward
others : as, gelf-actiruf, etc. Most of these compounds are
of obvious meaning ; only the more Important of them are
given below (without etymology, except when of early
formation). In words compounded with self, the element
telfioji a certain degree of Independent accent, generally
less than that of the following element, but liable to be-
come by emphasis greater than the latter.] — By one's
self. See 6;/ 1.— To be beside one's self. 9ee5e«w«.—
To 1)6 one's self, to be in full possession of one's powers,
both mental and physical.
self-abandonment (self-a-ban'don-ment), n.
Disregard of self or of self-interest.
self-abasement (8elf-a-bas'ment),«. 1. Abase-
ment or liumiliation proceeding from guilt,
shame, or consciousness of unworthiness. — 2.
Degradation of one's self by one's own act.
Enough — no foreign foe could quell
Thy soul, tlU from itself it fell;
Yes ! Sel/-ab<uement paved the way
To villain-bonds and despot sway.
Byrm, The Qiaour.
self-absorbed (self-ab-sdrbd'), a. Absorbed in
one's own thoughts or pursuits.
He was a dreamy, silent youth, an omnivorons reader,
retiring and w^-oAsorbed. Atherueum, No. 3276, p. 184.
self-abuse (self-a-biis'), »• 1. The abuse of
one's own person or powers.
My strange and $eif^ibuie
Is the initiate fear that wants hard use.
Shak., Macbeth, ilL 4. 142.
2. Masturbation.
self-accnsation (self-ak-u-za'shon), n. The act
of licciising one's self.
He asked, with a smile, it she thought the lifaccma-
lion should come from him. Scribner'i Mag., VIII. 346.
self-accusatory (self-a-ku'za-to-ri), a. Self-
accusing.
He became sensible of confused noises In the air ; in-
coherent sounds of lamentation and regret ; waillngs in-
expreaaltdy sorrowful and «e<^<ieciua(ory.
Dickmi, Christmas Carol, I.
self-accnslng (self'a-ku'zing), a. Accusing
one's self.
'I'hen held she her tongue, and cast down a te^f-aceunng
look. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, U.
self-acting (self-ak'ting), a. Acting of or by
itself: noting any automatic contrivance for
superseding the manipulation which would
otherwise be required in the management of a
machine: as, the self-aetimj feed of a boring-
mill, whereby the cutters are carried forward
bv the general motion of the machine,
self-activity (self-ak-tiv'j-ti), n. An inherent
or intrinsic power of acting or moving.
If it can intrinsically stir itself, ... It must have a
principle of teif-aetivity, which is lite and sense. Boyle.
SeV-oeti'itll may undoubtedly be explained as identical
with self-conadons intelligence.
J, Watton, Schelling's Transcendental Idealism, p. 20a
self-adjusting (self-a-jus'ting), a. Designed
or contrived to adjust itself; requiring no ex-
ternal adjustment m the performance of a spe-
cific operation or series of operations: as, a
self-ailjunting screw.
This is an adjustable and leif^idjutting machine.
Sci. Amer., N. 8., LXII. 92.
self-affected (self-a-fek'ted), a. Well-affected
toward one's self; self-loving.
nis sail is swell'd too full ; he is grown too insolent.
Too mif-affteted, proud. Fletcher, Loyal Subject, 1. 2.
self-appointed (self -a-poin 'ted), a. Appoint-
ed or nominated by one's self.
Leigh Hunt himself was. as Mr. Colvin has observed, a
kind of telf-appoinUd poet laureate of Hampstead.
Alhenxum, No. 3277, p. 'il.").
self-approving (self-a-pro'ving), a. Implying
approval of one's own conduct or character;
also, justifying such approval.
self-command
One self -approvinf/ hour whole years outweighs
Of stupid starers, and of loud huzzas.
Pope, Essay on Man, iv. 255.
self-asserting (self-a-s^r'ting), a. Given to
asserting one's opinions, rights, or claims; put-
ting one's self forward in a confident or pre-
sumptuous maimer.
self-assertion (self-a-s^r'shon), n. The act of
asserting one's own opinions, rights, or claims ;
a putting one's self forward in an over-confi-
dent or presumptuous way.
self-assertive (self-a-s6r'tiv), a. Same as self-
assertiiu/.
self-assertiveness (self-a-s6r'tiv-nes), ». The
quality or character of "asserting confidently
or obtrusively one's opinions or claims; self-
assertion.
His own force of character and self-assertiveness.
Nineteenth Century, XXI. 463.
self-assumed (self-a-sumd'), a. Assumed by
one's own act or authority : as, a self-assumed
title.
self-assumption (self-a-sump'shon), n. Self-
conceit.
In self-assumption greater
Than in the note of judgement.
Shak., T. and C, ii. 3. 133.
self-baptizer ( self- bap -ti'zfer), n. One who
performs the act of baptism upon himself; a
Se-Baptist.
self -begotten (self-be-got'n), a. Begotten
by one's own powers; generated without the
agency of another.
That self-tegotten bird
In the Arabian woods. Milton, S. A., I. 1700.
self-binder (self-bin'dfer), n. The automatic
binding machinery attached to some harvesters
or reapers, by means of which the grain as it is
cut is collected into sheaves and bound up with
wire or twine before it leaves the machine;
also, a harvester fitted with machinery of this
nature.
self-blinded (self-blin'ded), a. Blinded or led
astray by one's self.
Seif-blinded are you by your pride,
Tennyson, Two Voices.
self-bloodt (self-blud'), H. 1. Direct progeny
or ofl'spring. [Rare.]
Though he had proper issue of his own.
He would no less bring up, and foster these.
Than that self-blood. B. Jonson, Sejanus, lii. 1.
2. The shedding of one's own blood; suicide.
[Rare.]
Do you know
What 'tis to die thus? how you strike tlie stars
And all good things sbove? do you feel
What follows a self-blood? whither you venture,
And to what punishment?
Beau, and PI., Thierry and Theodoret, iv. 1.
self-bom (self-b6m'), a. Begotten or created
by one's self or itself; self-begotten.
From himself the phcenix only springs,
Self-bom.
Dryden, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., xv. 680.
self-bountyt (self-boun'ti), n. Inherent kind-
ness and benevolence.
I would not have your free and noble nature.
Out of teif-bounty, be abused.
Shak., Othello, lii. 3. 200.
self-bow (self'bo), 11. See 6omj2.
self-centered (self-sen't6rd), a. Centered in
self.
self-charityt (self-char'i-ti), n. Charity to one's
self.
Nor know I aught
^ me that 's said or done amiss this night ;
Unless self.charUy be sometimes a vice.
Shak., Othello, 11. 3. 202.
self-closing (self-klo'zing), a. Closing of it-
self; closing or shutting automatically: as, a
self-closing bridge or door — Self-closing faucet.
^ee/attcet
self-collected (self-ko-lek'ted), a. Self-pos-
sessed; self-contained; confident; calm.
Still in his stern and se^-collected mien
A conqueror's more than captive's air is seen.
• Byron, Corsair, ii. 8.
self-colored (self-kul'ord), a. 1. In textile fab-
rics: («) Of the natural color. (6) Dyed in the
wool or in the thread; retaining the color which
it had before weaving: as, a self-colored fabric.
— 2. Colored with a single tint, usually in the
^laze, as Oriental porcelain. — 3. In hort., hav-
ing the natural seedling color unmodified by
artificial selection; uniform in color: noting
flowers.
self-command (self-ko-mind'), «. That equa-
nimity which enables one in any situation to bo
reasonable and prudent, and to do what the cir-
cumstances require ; self-control.
self-command
SafFering had matiireil liis [Frederic'sJ uiulerstanding,
while it had hanlened his heart and soured his temper.
He had learnt sel/-command and dissimulation : he af-
fected to conform to some of his father's views.
Macaulay, Frederic the Great.
self-complacency (self-kom-pla'sen-si), n. Tlie
state of being self-complaceut ; satisfaction
with one's self, or with one's own opinions or
conduct.
What is expressed more particularlv by Seif'ComjAa-
cency is the act of taking pleasure in the contemplation
of one's own merits, excellenoes, productions, and various
connexions. A. Bain^ Emotions and Will, p. 103.
self-complacent (self-kom-pla'sent), a. Pleased
with one's self ; self-satisfied.
In counting up the catalogue of his own excellences the
self-complticent man may beguile a weary hour.
A. Bain, Emotions and Will, p. 103.
self-conceit (self-kqn-sef), «. An overweening
opinion of one's self ; vanity.
Thyself from flattering seif-conceit defend.
Sir J. Denham, Prudence.
Self-conceit comes from a vague imagination of possess-
ing some great genius or superiority ; and not from any
actual, precise knowledge of what we are.
J. F. Clarke, Self-Culture, p. 105.
= Syn. Pride, Vanity, etc. See egotism.
self-conceited (self-kon-se'ted), a. Having self-
conceit ; having an overweening opinion of one's
own person, qualities, or accomplishments ; con-
ceited; vain.
Others there be which, self-eonceUed wise,
Take a great pride in their owne vaine surmise,
That all men think them soe.
Times' Whistle (E. E. T. S.), p. 34.
Some men are so desperately sel/'Conceited that they take
every man to be self-conceited that is not of their conceits.
Baxter, Self-Denial, xiv.
self-conceitedness (self-kon-se'ted-nes), n.
Conceited character or manner; an overween-
ing opinion of one's own person, qualities, or
accomplishments; vanity; self-conceit.
Because the papists have gone too far in teaching men
to depend on the church and on their teachers, therefore
self-conceitedness takes advantage of their error to draw
men into the contrary extreme, and make every infant
Christian to think himself wiser than his most experienced
brethren and teachers. Baxter, Self-Denial, xiv.
self-condemnation (self-kon-dem-na'shon), n.
Condemnation by one's own conscience or con-
fession.
self-condemned (self - kon - demd' ), a. Con-
demned by one's own conscience or confes-
sion.
self-condemning (self-kon-dem'ing), a. Con-
demning one's self.
Johnson laughed at this good quietiat's selfcondemning
expressions. Boswell, Johnson, II. 155.
self-confidence (self-kon'fi-dens), «. Confi-
dence in one's own judgment or ability ; reli-
ance on one's own observation, opinions, or
powers, without other aid.
The preference of self to those less esteemed, the respect
for our own good qualities, is shown in various ways, and
perhaps most conspicuously in the feature of Self-confi-
dence. A. Bain, Emotions and Will, p. 103.
self-confident (self-kon'fi-dent), a. Confident
of one's own strength or qualifications ; relying
on the correctness of one's own judgment, or
the capability of one's own powers, without
other aid.
self-confidently (self-kon'fi-dent-li), adv. With
self-confidence.
self-confiding (self-kon-fi'ding), a. Confiding in
one's own judgment or powers; self-confident.
To warn the thoughtless self-conjiding train
No more unlicens'd thus to brave the main.
Pope, Odyssey, xiii. 174.
self-congratulation (self-kon-grat-u-la'shqn),
n. The act or state of congratulating or felici-
tating one's self.
But the crowd drowned their appeal in exclamations of
self-congratvXation and tiiumph. St. Nicholas, XVII. 920.
Self-congratulation that we do not live under foreign
criminal law. Athenaeum, No. 3272, p. 61.
self-conjngate (self-kon'-
jo-gat), a. Conjugate to
itself — Self-conjugate pen-
tagon, a pentagon every side
of which is the polar of the
opposite vertox relatively to a
given conic. Every plane pen-
tagon is self-conjugate relative-
ly to some conic. — Self-COn-
jugate subgroup, a subgroup
of substitutions of which each
one, T', is related to some other
T by the transformation T' =
8TS~', where S is some opera-
tion of the main group. — Self-
conjugate triangle, a trian-
gle of which each side is the polar of the opposite vertex
relatively to a given conic.
Self-conjugate Triangle.
The vertices of LMN, the
self-conjugate triangle, are
each the pole of the opposite
side. This is shown oy the
fact that they are at the in-
tersections of the sides of
the quadrangle, ABCD, in-
scribed in the conic.
5476
self-conscious (self -kon'shus), rt. 1. Aware of
one's self; having self -consciousness.
Speculation and moral action are co-ordinate employ-
ments of the same se{f-coii^cious soul, and of the same
powers of that soul, only differently directed.
T. H. Greett, Prolegomena to Ethics, § 149.
2. Conscious of one's self as an object of ob-
servation to others; apt to think of how one
appears to others.
Barcelona is the only town in Spain where the inhabi-
tants do not appear self-coiiscimis, the only one that has at
all the cosmopolitan air.
C. D. Warner, Roundabout Journey, xxi.
self-consciousness (self-kon'shus-nes), n. 1.
In pliilos., the act or state of being aware of
one's self, (a) The state of being aware of the subject
as opposed to the object in cognition or volition ; that ele-
ment of a sense of reaction which consists in a conscious-
ness of the internal correlative. Many psychologists deny
the existence of a direct sense of reaction, or of any im-
mediate knowledge of anything but an object of know-
ledge. (&) An immediate perception by the soul of itself.
This is denied by almost all psychologists, (c) A direct
perception of modifications of consciousness as such, and
as discriminated from external objects ; introspection.
Many psychologists deny this.
Perception is the power by which we are made aware of
the phienomena of the external world ; Self-consciousness
the power by which we apprehend the phsenomena of the
internal. Sir W. JJamiUon, Metaph., xxix.
(d) An instinctive idea of a self, or element of cognition,
subject to correction or amplification, and thus distin-
guished from objective reality, (e) An acquired know-
ledge of a self as a center of motives.
2. A state of being self-conscious ; the feeling
of being under the observation of others.
That entire absence of 8el<f-conseiousness which belongs
to keenly felt trouble.
George Eliot, Mill on the Floss, iii. 3.
Over self-coTisciousness, too much inwardness aiiicl painful
self-inspection, absence of trust in our instincts and of the
healthful study of Nature. Amer. Jour. Psychol., I. 636.
= Syil. 2. Pride, Egotism, Vanity, etc. See egotism.
self-considering (self-kon-sid'er-ing), a. Con-
sidering in one's own mind ; deliberating.
In dubious thought the king awaits.
And self-considering, as he stands, debates. Pope.
self-consistency (self-kon-sis'ten-si), H. The
quality or state of being self -consistent.
self-consistent (self-kon-sis'tent), a. Consis-
tent or not at variance with one's self or with
itself.
self-constituted (self-kon'sti-tu-ted), a. Con-
stituted by one's self or by itself: as, self-con-
stituted judges; a self-constituted guardian,
self-consuming (self-kon-su'ming), a. Consum-
ing one's self or itself.
What is loose love? a transient gust, . . .
A vapour fed from wild desire,
A wandering, self-consuming fire.
Pope, Chor. to Tragedy of Brutus, ii.
self-contained (self -kon-tand'), a. 1. Contained
or wrapped up in one's self; reserved; not sym-
pathetic or communicative.
The queen . . . thought him cold,
High, self-contmn'd, and passionless.
Tetmyson, Guinevere.
2. Having an entrance for itself, and not ap-
proached by an entrance or stair common to oth-
ers : as, a self-contained house. [Scotland.] —
3. Complete in itself : as, a self-contained motor.
— Self-contained engine, an engine and boiler in one,
complete for working, similar to a portable engine, but
without the traveling-gear. E. H. Knight.
self-contempt (self-kon-tempf), n. Contempt
for one's self.
Perish in thy self-contempt ! Tennyson, Locksley Hall.
self-content (self-kon-tenf), n. Satisfaction
with one's self; self-complacency.
There is too much self-complacency and se^-content in
him. Portfolio, K. S., No. 6, p. 126.
self-contradiction (self-kon-tra-dik'shon), n.
1 . The act or fact of contradicting one's self :
as, the self-contradiction of a witness. — 2. A
statement, proposition, or the like which is con-
tradictory in itself, or of which the terms are
mutually contradictory: as, the self-contradic-
tions of a doctrine or an argument.
self-contradictory (self-kon-tra-dik'to-ri), a.
Contradicting or inconsistent with itself.
Men had better own their ignorance than advance doc-
trines which are self -contradictory. Spectator.
self-control (self-kon-trol'), n. Self-command ;
self-restraint.
Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control,
These three alone lead life to sovereign power.
Tennyson, CEnone.
self-convicted (self-kon-vik'ted), a. Convicted
by one's own consciousness, knowledge, or
avowal.
Guilt stands setf-convicted when arraign'd.
Savage, The Wanderer, iii.
self-denying
self-conviction (self-kon-vik'shon), n. Con-
viction proceeding from one's own conscious-
ness, knowledge, or confession.
No wonder such a spirit, in such a situation, is provoked
beyond the regards of religion or self-conviction. Sivift.
self-correspondence (self-kor-e-spon'deus), n.
A system of correspondence by which the points
of a manifold correspond to one another.
self-corresponding (self-kor-e-spon'ding), a.
Corresponding to itself: thus, in a one-to-one
continuous correspondence of the points of a
surface to one another, there are always two
or more self-corresponding points which corre-
spond to themselves.
self-covered (self-kuv'erd),a. Covered, clothed,
or dressed in one's native semblance.
Thou changed and self-cover'd thing, for shame.
Shak., Lear, iv. 2. 62.
self-creation (self-kre-a'shon), n. The act of
coming into existence by the vitality of one's
own nature, without other cause.
self-criticism (self-krit'i-sizm), n. Criticism
of one's self.
self-culture (self-kul'tur), n. Culture, train-
ing, or education of one's self without the aid
of teachers.
Self-culture is what a man may do upon himself : mend-
ing his defects, con-ecting his mistakes, chastening his
faults, tempering his passions.
H. Bushnell, Sermons on Living Subjects, 2d ser., p. 65.
self-dangert (self-dan'jer), «. Danger from
one's self.
If you could . . . but disguise
That which, to appear itself, must not yet be
But by self-danger. Shak., Cymbeline, iii. 4. 149.
self-deceit (self-de-sef), ". Deception respect-
ing one's self, or which originates from one's
own mistake ; self-deception.
This fatal hypocrisy and self -deceit ... is taken notice
of in these words : Who can understand his errors ? cleanse
thou me from secret faults. Addison, Spectator, No. 399.
self -deceiver (self-de-se'ver), n. One who de-
ceives himself.
self-deception (self-de-sep'shon), «. Deeep--
tion concerning one's self; also, the act of de-
ceiving one's self.
self-defense (self-de-fens'), n. The act of de-
fending one's own person, property, or reputa-
tion; in law, the act of forcibly resisting a for-
cible attack upon one's own person or property,
or upon the persons or property of those whom,
by law, one has a right to protect and defend.
Rohinson — The art of self-defense, boxing; pugilism.
self-defensive (self-de-fen'siv), a. Tending to
defend one's self; of the nature of self-defense.
self-delation (self-de-la'shon), n. Accusation
of one's self.
Bound to inform against himself, to be the agent of the
most rigid self-delation. MUman.
self-delusion (self-de-Wzhgn), n. The delud-
ing of one's self, or delusion respecting one's
self.
Are not these strange self-delusions, and yet attested by
common experience? South, Sermons.
self-denial (self-de-ni'al), n. The act of deny-
ing one's own wishes, or refusing to satisfy
one's own desires, especially from a moral, reli-
gious, or altruistic motive; the forbearing to
gratify one's own appetites or desires.
Another occasion of reproach is that the gospel teaches
mortification and self-denial in a very great degree.
Walts, Works, I. 220.
One secret act of self-denial, one sacrifice of inclination
to duty, is worth all the mere good thoughts, warm feel-
ings, passionate prayers, in which idle people indulge
themselves. J. H. Newman, Pai'ochial Sermons, i. 188.
= Syn. Self-denial. Self-sacrifice, Austerity. Ascetidsrin,
self-abnegation, setf-forgetfulness. The italicized words
agree in representing the voluntary refusal or surrender
of personal comfort or desires. Self-denial is to be pre-
sumed wise, necessary, or benevolent, unless indication
is given to the contrary ; it may Ite the denial of selfish-
ness; it may be not only the refusal to take what one
might have, but the voluntary surrender of whatone has ;
it may be an act, a habit, or a principle. Self-sacrifice
goes beyond self-denial in necessai-ily including the idea
of sun-ender, as of comfort, inclination, time, health,
while being also presumably in the line of a real duty.
The definition of austerity is implied in that of austere
in the comparison under austere; it stands just at the
edge of that frame of niind which regards self-denial as
good for its own sake ; it pushes simplicity of living and
the refusal of pleasure beyond what is deemed necessary
or helpful to right living by the great mass of those who
are equally earnest with the austere in trying to live
rightly. Asceticism goes beyond austerity, being more
manifestly excessive and more clearly delighting in self-
mortification as a good in itself ; it also generally Includes
somewhat of the disposition to retire from the world.
See aiiMere.
self-denying (self-df-ni'ing), a. Denying one's
self ; characterized by self-denial.
self-denying
A devout, humblf, siii-abliomiig, self-denying frame of
spirit. South, Sermons.
Self-denying Ordinance. See ardinaiux.
self-denjringly (self-de-ui'ing-li), adt: In a
Sflf-ili'iiyiiifj; inauuer.
To the Oxford Press and the lalwurs xelf-denifingly and
generously tendered of hard-worked tutors we owe the
translation of Ranke's History of England.
Stubbs, Medieval and Modem Hist., p. 57.
self-dependence (self-de -pen 'dens), n. Re-
liance on one's self, witt a feeling of indepen-
dence of others.
Such self-knowledge leads to self-dependence, and self-
dependence to equanimity.
Edinburgh Rev., CI,X\^II. 362.
self-dependent (.self-<le-pen'dent), a. Depend-
ing on one's self ; characterized by self-depen-
dence.
While self-dependent pow'r can time defy.
As rocks resist the billows and the sky.
CMdninU, Dec. Vil.
self-depending (self-de-pen'ding), a. Same as
sclf-'lfj't xilt nt,
seliF-depreciation (self-de-pre-shi-a'shon), n.
Deprcciiitioii of one's self.
self-depreciative (self-de-pre'shi-a-tiv), «.
Miirkoil by self-depreciation.
self-despair (self-des-pSr'), n. Despair of one's
self ; a despairing view of one's character, pros-
pects, etc.
The history of evangelical theology, with its conviction
of sin, its self-de9pair, and its abandonment of salvation
by works. W. James, Prin. of rtychology, I. 311.
self-destmction (self-de-struk'shon), «. The
ileslniitioii iif one's self, or of Itself.
self-destructive (self-de-struk'tiv), a. Tend-
ing to the destruction of one's self, or of it-
self.
self-determination (self-de-tfer-mi-na'shon), «.
Detenuiiiatioii liy one's self or itself; deter-
mination liy one's own will or powers, without
extraneous impulse or influence. •
Each intermediate idea agreeing on each side with those
-two, it is imnifdiately placed between ; the ideas of men
and self-determination appear to be connected.
LMcke, Unman Understanding, IV. xvU. 4.
self-determined (self-de-ttr'mind), a. Par-
ticularized or determined by its own act alone:
thus, the will, according to the sectaries of
free-wil!, is nelf -determined.
self-determinijig (self-de-t^r'mi-ning), a. Ca-
pable of self-detennination.
Every animal is conscious yf some individual, self-mov*
ing, ttclfd'ti-rniining principle. MartinuM Seriblerus, t. 12.
self-development (self-de-verup-ment), n.
spoil tiineous development.
If the alleged cases of mlf-^etttopment be examined. It
will be found, I believe, tbat the new truth afflrms in
every case a relation between the original subject of con-
ception and some new subject conceived later on.
W. Jamet, Prin. ot Psychology, I. 466.
self-devoted (self-de-v6'ted), a. Devoted by
Hill's sell ; iilso, cliaraeteriied by self-devotion.
self-devotement (»elf-de-v6t'meut), ». Same
as M'If-ilii-iition.
self-devotion (seU-de-vo'shon), n. The act of
devoting one's self;' willingness to sacrifice
one's own interests or happiness for the sake
of others: self-sacrifice.
self-devonring (self-de-vour'ing), a. Devour-
iiiK oiii''s self or itself. .Sir ./. Denham, The
self-disparagement (self-dis-par'aj-ment), n.
Disparagement of one's self.
Inward mlf-di*pa,Tagefment affords
To meditative spleen a grateful (east.
Wordmnrtk, Excursion, iv. 478.
self-dispraise ■(8elf-<li»-praz'), n. Dispraise,
censure, or disa|>probation of one's self.
There is a luxury In self-ditpraise.
Wordmvnh, Eicnrsion, iv. 477.
self-distmst (self-dis-trusf ), ». Distrust of, or
want of confidence in, one's sejf or one's own
powers.
It is my shyness, or ray teff-ditnuL
Tennysm, Edwin Morris.
self-educated (self-ed'u-ka-ted), a. Educated
by one's own efforts alone, without regular
training under a preceptor.
self-elective (self-e-lek'tiv), n. Having the
right to ele<!t one's self, or (as a body) of elect-
ing its own members; of or pertaining to this
right.
An oligarchy on the Kif-eleetive principle was thus es-
laliliihed. Brougham.
self-endt (self-end'), n.
one's self alone.
An end or good for
«477
The sick man may be advertised that in the actions of
repentance lie sepai-ate low, temporal, sensual, and self-
ends from his thoughts. Jer. Taylor, Holy Dying, iv. 6.
But all Self-ends and Int'rest set apart.
Congretx, tr. of Ovid s Art of Love.
self-endeared (self-en-derd'), «. Enamored of
one's self; self-loving. [Kare.]
She cannot love.
Nor take no shape nor project of atfection.
She is so self-endeared.
Shak., Much Ado, iii. 1. 66.
self-enjoyment (self-en-joi'ment), ». Internal
satisfaetiou or pleasure,
self-esteem (self-es-tem'), «. Ksteem or good
opinion of one's self; especially, an estimate
of one's self that is too high.
Oft-times nothing profits more
Than self-esteem. ilttton, P. U, viil. 572.
self-estimation (self-es-ti-ma'shon), ». Self-
esteem.
self-evidence (self-ev'i-dens), n. The quality
of being self-evident.
Any . . . man knows, that the whole is equal to all its
parts, or any other maxim, and all from the same reason
of self-evidence. Locke, Human Understanding, IV. vil. 10.
self-evident (self-ev'i-dent), a. Evident in it-
self without proof or reasoning; producing
clear conviction upon a bare presentation to
the mind.
Where . . . agreement or disagreement tof ideas] is
perceived immediately l)y itself, without the intervention
or help of any other, there our knowledge is s^-evident.
Locke, Human Understanding, IV. vil. 2.
self-evidentlv (self-ev'i-dent-li), adv. By
means of se If -evidence : without extraneous
proof or reasoning.
self-evolution (self-ev-o-lu'shon), n. Devel-
opment by inherent power or quality.
self-exaltation (self-eks-al-ta shgn), n. The
exaltation of one's self.
self-ezaminant (self-eg-zam'i-nant), n. One
who examines himself.
The humiliated stUf-eaaminant feels that there is evQ In
our nature as well as good. Coleridge.
self-examination (self-eg-zam-i-na'shon), n.
An examination or scrutiny into one's own
state, conduct, or motives, particularly in re-
gard to religious affections and duties.
Preach'd at St Oregories one Darnel on 4 Psalms, v. 4.
concerning y' bene&t of seife examitMlion.
Evelyn, Diary, Sept le^ 1666.
self-example (self-eg-zam'pl), n. One's own
example or precedent. [Rare.]
If thou dost seek to have what thou doat bide,
By seif-exampU mayst thou be denied !
Shtik., Sonnets, cxUL
self-executing (self-ek'se-ku-ting), a. Needing
no legislation to enforce it: as, a self-executing
treaty.
A constitutional prorision mav be said to be »df -execut-
ing if it suppliea a infflclent rule by means of which the
right given may be enjoyed and protected, or the duty im-
posed may be enforced.
T. M. Cooley, Constitutional Limitations, Iv.
self-existence (self-eg-zis'tens), «. The prop-
erty or fiiet of being self-existent.
self Existent (self-eg-zis'tent), a. Existing by
one's or its own virtue alone, independently
of any other cause.
self-explanatory (self-eks-plan'a-to-ri ), a. Ex-
plaining itself ; needing no explanation ; bear-
int: its iiieaiiing on its own face; obvious.
self-explication (self-eks-pli-ka'shon), «. The
act or power of explaining one's self or itself.
A thing perplex'd
Beyond m(f-Ktpliettiion.
Shak., Cymbellne, ilL 4. 8.
self-faced (self-fast'), a. Undressed or unhewn :
noting a stone having its natural face or sur-
faee.
self-fed (self-fed'), a. Fed by one's self or itself
alone.
It (evil I shall be In eternal restless change
Sctt-fei and self-consumed. MilUm, Comus, 1. 597.
self-feeder (self-fe'dfer), n. One who or that
wiiich feeds himself or itself, and does not re-
qtiire to be fed ; specifically, a self-feeding ap-
paratus or machine: as, in ore-dressing, an ar-
rangement for feeding ore to the stamps auto-
matically, or without the employment of hand-
lal)or; or a stove having a reservoir for coal
which is fed gradually to the fire.
self-feeding (self-fe'ding), a. Capable of feed-
ing one's self or itself ; keeping up autoinati-
eally a supply of anything of which there is a
constant consumption, waste, use, or applica-
tion for some purpose : as, a self-feeding boiler,
furnace, printing-press, etc.
self-importance
self-fertility (self-fer-til'i-ti), H. In hot., abil-
ity to fertilize itself, possessed by many her-
maphrodite flowers.
The degree of self-fertility of a plant depends on two
elements, namely, on the stigma receiving its own pollen
and on its more or less efficient action when placed there.
Darwin, Different Forms of Flowers, p. 48.
self-fertilization (self-f6r"ti-li-za'shoii), «. In
hot., the fertilization of a flower by pollen from
the same flower. Compare cross-fertilization.
Self-fertitisatioH always implies that the flowers in
question were impregnated with their own pollen.
Darwin, Cross and Self Fertilisation, p. 10.
self-fertilized (self-fSr'ti-lizd), a. In hot., fer-
tilized by its own pollen.
self-flattering (self-flat'^r-ing), a. Too favor-
able to one's self ; involving too high an idea
of one's own virtue or power.
Self-flattering delusions. WatU.
self-flattery (self-flat'er-i), V. Indulgence in
reflections too favorable to one's self.
self-focusing (self-fo'kus-ing), a. Brought into
focus, as an eyepiece, by simply being pushed
in as far as it will go.
self -forgetful (self-fOr-get'ful), a. So much de-
voted to othei-s as to subordinate one's own
interests or comfort to theii-s.
self-forgetfnlly (self-f$r-get'£ul-i),'ade. 'With
self-forgetf Illness.
self-forgetfulness (self-f Qr-get'f ul-nes), «. The
state or character of being self -forgetful.
self-gathered (self-ga?H'^rd), a. Gathered,
wrapped up, or concentrated in one's self or
itseU.
There In her place she did rejoice,
Self-gather'd in her prophet-mind.
Tennyson, Of Old sat Freedom.
self-glazed (self-glazd' ), o. Covered with glaze
of a single tint: noting Oriental porcelain.
Compare self-colored.
self-glorious (self-glo'ri-us), a. Springing from
vainglory or vanity; vain; boastful. [Rare.]
Then you may talk, and be believ'd, and grow worse,
And have your too self-glorious temper rock'd
Into a dead sleep.
Beau, and Fl., King and No King, iv. 2.
self-governed (self-guv'femd), a. Governed by
one's self or itself: as, a self-governed state.
self-governing (self-guv'6r-ning), rt. That
governs itself: as, a .sc(/'-</orerHiM(/ colony.
self-government (self-guv'tm-ment), n. 1.
The government of one's self; sett-control. —
Z. The government of a nation, province, dis-
trict, or town by itself, either in all points or
in certain particulars (as local afl'airs).
It is to self-government, the great principle of popular
represeutation and administration — the system that lets
In all to participate in the counsels that are to assign the
good or evil to all — that we may owe what we are and
what we hope to he. D. Webgter.
self-gratulation (self-grat-ii-la'shon), n. Re-
flection iiiion one's own good fortune or success
as such.
self-harming (self-har'ming), a. Injuring or
hurting one's self or itself.
self-heal (sclf'hel), «. A name of two or three
plants, reput«d panaceas, so called as enabling
one to do without a phy-
sician. The plant most com-
monly Ijearing the name is Bru-
neUa (Prunetta) tndgaris (see
Prunella^, 2). The sanicle. Sani-
euia Buropsta, and the buniet-
mxitnge.IHmpinetlaSaxifraga,
have also been so named.
self-healing (self-he'-
ling), «. Having the pow-
er or property of becom-
ing healed without exter-
nal a))plication.
self-help (self-help'), w.
Working for ones self
without assistance from
others.
selfhood (self'hud), n. [<
Kflf -t- -Aoorf.] The mode .
of being of an individual
person ; independent ex- seir-t\eat(Srunrii<nPmitei-
Unce ; personality ^^^ :;U7Xt,. -.
self-idolized (Self-l aol- with aowcrs. a,lhecalyx:«,
izd), a. Regarded with LfLX'.'nJhe'iSflL'.^l^.ncc':
extreme complacency by
one's self. Cowper, Expostulation, 1. 94.
self-imparting (self-im-par'ting), a. Impart-
iiiR by its own powere and will. Norris.
self-importance (self-im-por'tans), H. The
feeling or the manner of one who too much
obtrudes his sense of his own importance ; ego-
tism; pomposity.
self-importance
Oar gf{f'impi>rtaiice ruins its own scheme.
Coicper, Conversation, 1. 368.
self-important (self-im-p6r'tant), a. Impor-
tant in one's own esteem; pompous.
self-imposed (self-im-pozd'), o. Imposed or
taken voluntarily on one's self: as, a sclf-im-
pinird task.
self -impotent (self -im'po-tent), a. In 6o<., un-
able to fertilize itself with its own pollen : said
of a flower or a plant.
self-induction (self-in-duk'shon), ». See iii-
diictioii.
self-inductive (seK-in-duk'tiv), a. Of or per-
taining to self-induction.
The felf-inductite capacity of non-magnetic wires of
different metals. Scietice, VII. 442.
self-indulgence (self-in-dul'jens), n. The habit
of undue gratification of one's own passions,
desires, or tastes, with little or no thought of
the cost to others.
self-indulgent (self-in-dul'jeut), a. Given to
the undue indulgence or gratification of one's
own passions, desires, or the like.
self-infection (seU-in-fek'shon), n. Infection
of the entire organism or of "a second part of
it by absorption of virus from a local lesion.
self-inflicted (self-in-flik'ted), a. Inflicted by
or on one's self: as, a self-inflicted punishment;
self-inflicted wounds.
self-interest (self-in'tfer-est), «. 1. Private in-
terest; the interest or advantage of one's self,
without regard to altruistic gratification. — 2.
Selfishness ; pursuit of egotistical interests ex-
clusively, witnout regard to conscience.
From mean tdfinteretH and ambition clear.
Cowper, Expostulation, 1. 439.
self-interested (self-in'ter-es-ted), a. Having
self-interest ; particularly concerned for one's
self; selfish. Addison, Freeholder, No. 7.
self-involution (self-in-vo-lii'shon), n. Involu-
tion in one's self; hence, mental abstraction;
reverie.
Heraclitus, as well as psychologists of recent times,
seemed to appreciate the dangers of self-involution.
Atner. Jour, Psychol,, I. 630.
self-involved (self-in-volvd'), a- Wrapped up
in one's self or in one's thoughts.
The pensive mind
Which, all too dearly self-involved,
Yet sleeps a dreamless sleep to me.
Tennyson, Day-Dream, L'Envoi.
selfish (sel'fish), a. [= G. sclbstisch = Svv. sjeljv-
isk = Dan. selvisk; as self -(- -jsftl.] 1. Caring
only for self; influenced solely or chiefly by
motives of personal or private pleasure or ad-
vantage : as, a selfish person.
What could the most aspiring or the most selfish man
desire more, were he to form the notion of a being to whom
he would recommend himself, than such a knowledge as
can discover the least appearance of perfection in him ?
Addison, Spectator, No. 257.
Were we not selfish, legislative restraint would be un-
necessary. H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 243.
2. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of one
who cares solely or chiefly for his own personal
or private pleasure, interest, or advantage;
proceeding from love of self : as, selfish motives.
His book
Well chosen, and not sullenly perus'd
In selfish silence, but imparted oft.
Cowper, Task, iii. 394.
The extinction of all selfish feeling is Impossible for an
individual, and if it were general it would result in the
dissolution of society. Lecky, Europ. Morals, I. 103.
Selfish theory of morals, the theory that man is capa-
ble of acting only from calculation of what will give him
the greatest pleasure. =Zya, Mean, illiberal, self-seeking.
selfishly (sel'fish-li), adv. In a selfish manner ;
with regard to private interest only or chiefly.
Who can your merit selfishly approve.
And 8ho\- the sense of it without the love.
Pope, ProL to .Satires, 1. 293.
selfishness (sel'fish-nes), n. Selfish character,
disposition, or conduct; exclusive or chief re-
tard for one's own interest or happiness. =syn.
!lfishn£ss. Self-love. See the quotations.
Not only is the phrase self -lave used as synonymous with
the desire of happiness, but it is often confounded . . .
with the word selfishness, which certainly, in strict propri-
ety, denotes a very ditferent disposition of mind.
D. Stewart, Philos. of Active and Moral Powers, ii. 1.
The mention of Selfishness leads me to remind yon not
to confound that with Self-love, which is quite a ditferent
thing. Self-love is ... a rational, deliberate desire for
our own welfare, and for anything we consider likely to
proinot* it. Selfishness, on the other hand, consists not in
the indulging of this or that particular propensity, but
In disregarding, for the sake of any kind of personal grati-
fication or advantage, the rights or the feelings of other
men. Whately, Morals and Chr. Evidences, xvi. § 3.
selfism (sel'fizm), -n. [< self + -ism.'] Devot-
edness to self; selfishness. [Rare.]
6478
This habit [of egotism] invites men to humor it, and, by
treating the patient tenderly, to shut him up in auan-ower
selfisin. Emerson, Culture.
selflst (sel'fist), n. [< self + -ist.'] One de-
voted to self; a selfish person. [Rare.]
The prompting of generous feeling, or of what the cold
setfist ciUls quixotism. Jer. Taylor.
self-justification (self-jus^'ti-fi-ka'shon), )/.
Justification of one's self.
self-kindled (self-kiu'dld), a. Kindled of itself,
or without extraneous aid or power. Dryden.
self-knowing (self-no'ing), a. 1. Knowing of
one's self, or without communication from an-
other.— 2. Possessed of self-consciousness as
an attribute of man.
A creature who, not prone
And brute as other creatures, but indued
With sanctity of reason, might erect
His stature, and upright with front serene
Govern the rest, setf-knowiny.
Milton, P. L., vii. 610.
self-knowledge (self-norej), «. The know-
ledge of one s own real character, abilities,
worth, or demerit.
self-left (self-left'), a. Left to one's self or to
itself. [Bare.]
His heart I know how variable and vain.
Self-left. MiUan, P. L., xi. 93.
selfless (self 'les), a. [< self + -less.'] Having
no regard to self ; unselfish.
Ix), now, what hearts have men ! they never mount
As high as woman in her selfless mood.
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien.
selflessness (self'les-nes), n. Freedom from
selfishness.
self-life (self-lif), ». Life in one's self ; a living
solely for one's own gratification or advantage.
self-liket (self' lik), a. [< self -I- like^, a. Cf.
sclflij.] Exactly similar ; corresponding.
Till Strephon's plaining voice him nearer drew.
Where by his words his self-like case hee knew.
Sir P. Sidi}ey, Arcadia, i.
self-limited (self-lim'i-ted), a. Limited by it-
self only; in pathol., tending to spontaneous
recovery after a certain course : applied to cer-
tain diseases, as smallpox and many other
acute diseases.
self-love (self-luv'), n. That instinct by virtue
of which man's actions are directed to the pro-
motion of his own welfare. Properly speaking, it
is not a kind of love ; since A is said to love B when B's
gratification affords gratification to A, In this sense, love
of self would be a meaningless phrase.
Selfe-loue is better than any guilding to make that seeme
gorgious wherein our selues are parties.
Sir P. Sidney, Apol. for Poetrie.
Self-love is, in almost all men, such an overweight that
they ai-e incredulous of a man's habitual preference of the
general good to his own ; but when they see it proved by
sacrifices of ease, wealth, rank, and of life itself, there is
no limit to their admiration. Emerson, Courage.
Self-love is not despicable, but laudable, since duties to
self, if self -perfecting — as true duties to self are — must
needs be duties to others.
MaudOey, Body and Will, p. 166.
Self-love, as understood by Butler and other English
moralists after him, is . . . an impulse towards pleasure
generally, however obtained.
//. Sidgwick, Methods of Ethics, p. 77.
We see no reason to suppose that self-lave is primarily
or secondarily or ever love for one's mere principle of con-
scious identity. It is always love for something which,
as compared with that principle, is superficial, transient,
liable to be taken up or dropped at will.
W. James, Psychology, x.
= Syn. Selfishness, Self-love. See selfishness.
self-loving (self-luv'ing), a. Having egotisti-
cal impulses, with deficiency of altruistic im-
pulses or love of others.
With a joyful willingness these self-lovi-n^ reformers
took possession of all vacant preferments, and with re-
luctance others parted with their beloved colleges and
subsistence. /. Walton.
self-luminous (self-lu'mi-nus), a. Luminous
of itself; possessing in itself the property of
emitting light : thus, the sun, fixed stars, flames
of all kinds, bodies which shine in consequence
of being heated or rubbed, are self-luminous.
selfly (self'li), adv. [Cf. AS. selflic, selfish, <
self, self, + -lie, E. -lyt.] In or by one's self or
itself. [Rare.]
So doth the glorious lustre
Of radiant Titan, with his beams, emhright
Thy gloomy Front, that selfiy hath no light.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 4.
self-made (self 'mad), a. 1 . Made by one's self
or itself.
How sweet was all ! how easy it should be
Amid such life one's self-made woes to bear !
WUtiam ilorris, Earthly Paradise, II. 171.
Hence — 2. Having attained success in life with-
out extraneous advantages, especially without
self-perception
material aid from one's family : as, a self-made
man.
The proud Roman nobility had selected a self-made law.
yer as their representative. Froude, Ctesar, p. 136.
self-mastery (self-mas't6r-i), «. Mastery of
one's self ; self-command; self-control.
self-mettlet (self-met'l), n. One's own fiery
temper or mettle ; inherent courage.
Anger is like
A full-hot horse, who being allow'd his way,
Self-mettle tires him. Shak., Hen. VIII., i. 1. 134.
self-motion (self-mo'shon), n. Motion or ac-
tion due to inward power, without external im-
pulse ; spontaneous motion.
Matter is not endued with seJf-nwtion.
G. Cheyne, Philos. Prin.
self-moved (self-movd'), a. Moved or brought
into action by an inward power without exter-
nal impulse.
By mighty Jove's command,
Unwilling have I trod this pleasing land ;
For who self-mov'd with weary wings would sweep
Such length of ocean? Pope, Odyssey, v. 123.
self-moventt (self-mo'vent), a. Same as self-
movinfi.
Body cannot be self-existent, because it is not self-
movent. N. fjrew.
self-moving (self-mo'ving), a. Moving or act-
ing by inherent power without extraneous in-
fluence.
self-murder (selt-mer'der), n. [Cf. AS. sylf-
myrthra, a self-murderer, sylf-myrthrung, sui-
cide ; D. zilf-moord = G. selbst-mord = Sw. sjdJf-
mord = Dan. selv-mord, self-murder : see se(/and
murder.] The killing of one's self; suicide.
By all human laws, as well as divine, self-murder haa
ever been agreed on as the greatest crime.
Sir W. Temple.
self-murderer (self-mer'dfer-fer), n. One who
voluntarily destroys his own life; a suicide.
Palvy.
self-neglecting (self-neg-lek'ting), «. A neg-
lecting of one's self.
Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin
As self -neglecting. Shak., Hen. V., ii. 4. 75.
selfness (self'nes), Ji. i<self-i--ness.'l 1. Ego-
tism; the usurpation of undue predominance
by sentiments relating to one's self.
Who indeed infelt affection bears,
So captives to his saint both soul and sense ;
That, wholly hers, all selfness he forbears.
Sir P. Sidney (Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 533).
2. Personality.
The analogical attribution to things of selfness, efficien-
cy, and design. J. Ward, Encyc. Brit., XX 81.
In that religious relation the relation ceases ; the self
loses sight of its private selfness. and gives itself up, to
find itself and more than itself.
F. U. Bradley, Ethical Studies, p. 19.
self-offense (self -o-f ens'), n. One's own offense.
Grace to stand, and virtue go ;
More nor less to others paying
Than by self-ofences weighing.
Shak., M. for M., iii. 2. 280.
self-opiniatedt (self-o-pin'i-a-ted), a. Same as
self-opinivnated.
self-opinion (self-o-pin'yon), n. 1. One's own
opinion. — 2. The tendency to form one's own
opinion without considering that of others to
be worth much consideration.
There are some who can mix all . . . together, Joyning
a Jewish obstinacy, with the pride and self. opinioi^ of the
Greeks, t<> a Roman unconcernedness about the matters
of another life. StiUingfleet, Sermons, I. iii.
self-opinionated (seU-o-pin'yon-a-ted), a.
Holding to one's own ^^ews and opinions, with
more or less contempt for those of others.
For there never was a nation more self-opinionated fts to
their wisdom, goodness, and interest with God than the
Jews were when they began their war.
Stillingfieet, Sermons, I. viii
self-opinioned (seU-o-pin'yond), a. Same as
self-opinionated.
When he intends to bereave the world of an illustrious
person, he may cast him upon a bold self-opinioned physi-
cian, worse than his distemper, who shaU make a shift to
cure him into his grave. South.
self-originating (self-o-rij'i-na-ting), a. Ori-
ginating in, produced by, beginning with, or
springing from one's self or itself.
self-partiality (self-par-shi-al'i-ti). «. That
partiality by which a man overrates his own
worth when compared with others. Lord
Karnes.
self-perception (self-per-sep'shpn), n. The fac-
ulty of immediate introspection, or perception
of the soul by itself. Such a faculty is not univer-
sally admitted.* and few psychologists would now hold
that the soul In Itself can be perceived.
self-perplexed
self-perplexed (self-per-pleksf), a. Perplexed
by one's (iwn thoughts.
Here he look'd «o self-perplext
That Katie laugh'd. Tennyson, The Brook.
self-pious (self-pi'us), a. Hj-pocritieal. [Rare.]
This* hill top of sanctity and goodnesse above which
there is no higher ascent but to the love of God, which
from this self-pioui regard cannot be assunder.
Milton, Church-GoTemment, ii. 3.
self-pity (self-pit'i), «. Pity on one's self. .
.Self-pity, ... an unequivocal etfusion of genuine tender
feeliiig towards self —a most real feeling, not well under-
stood by superficial observers, and often very strong in
the sentimentally seltish, but quite real in all who have
any tender susceptibilities, and sometimes their only out-
let A. Bain, Emotions and Will, p. IM.
self-pleached (self-plechf or -ple'ched), a.
Pleached or interwoven by natural growth.
[Kare.]
Kound thee blow, tetf-pUaehed deep,
Bramble ruses, faint and pale,
And long purples of the dale.
Tennyvm, A Dirge.
self-pleasing (self-ple'zing), a. Pleasing one's
self; gi'atifying one's own wishes.
With such m(fe-pU<uing thoughts her wound she fedd.
Spemer, F. Q., III. iv. 6.
self-poised (self-poizd'), «. Poised, or kept well
balaueed, by self-res])eot orother regard forself .
Self-poited they live, nor pine with noting
All the fever of some diHering soul.
M. Arnold, .Self- Dependence.
self-pollution (self-po-lu'shon), n. See pollu-
tion, w.
self-possessed (self-invzesf), a. Composed;
not disturbed.
She look'd ; bat all
Suflusetl with blushes — neither tdfponaii
Nor startled, but betwixt this mood and that.
Tennyson, Gardener's Daughter.
self-possession (self-pfvzesh'on), n. The con-
trol of one's powers; presence of mind; calm-
ness; self-command,
self-praise (self-praz'), n. The praise of one's
self; self-applause: asj self-praise is no com-
mendation.
Sdf-pravie is sometlmea no fault W. Broome.
self-preservation (self-prez-er-va'shon), H.
The pre.servatiou of one's self from destruction
or injury.
This desire of existence is a natural affection of the soul :
'tis lelf-praereation in the highest and truest meaning.
Bentley.
All institutions have an instinct of ttj-prttrvation,
growing out of the selflshDeaB of those connected with
them. B. Spencer, Social Statics.
self-preservative (self-pre-z^r'va-tiv), a. Of
or pertaining to self-preservation.
The self iiresercalire instinct • ■ rejects such
art A» doi-s not contribute Ut it- nutrition and
moral sustenance. The Acii .' i. IWO, p. 167.
self-preserving (self-pre-zer'ving), a. Tend-
ing to preserve one's self.
self-pride (self-i>rid'), n. Pride in one's own
charaeter. abilities, or reputation ; self-esteem.
Ciillnii.
self-profit (self-profit), n. One's own profit,
gain, or advantage; self-interest.
Thy mortal eyes are fraU to Judge of (air,
Unbiass'd by teff-pnJU. Tstmystm, (Enone.
self-propagating (self- prop '»-g»- ting), a.
Projiagatin^ one's self or itself,
self-protetrtion (seU-pro-tek'shgn), n. Self-
def.Mlse.
self -raker (self-ra'kir), n. A reaper fitted with
a series of rakes, which gather the grain into
gavels as it falls on the platform, and sweep
these off to the ground.
■elf-reallzation (»elf-re'al-i-za'shon), i». The
making, by an exertion of the will, that actual
which lies dormant or in posse within the depths
of the soul.
The mj to leV-realitation is through self-renunciation.
E. Cairii, Hegel, p. 211.
The final end with which morality Is identified, or ander
' which it Is included, can be expressed not otherwise than
by self-realization. F. //. BradUy, Ethical Studies, p. 74.
elf-reciprocal (self-re-8ip'ro-kal),o. Self-«on-
jugate.
elf-recording (»elf-re-k6r'ding), a. Making,
as an instnitnent of physical observation, a rec-
onl of its own state, either continuously or at
definite intervals: as, a si:1f-rerordinii liarom-
eter. tide-gage, anemometer, etc Belf-reoord-
Ing level. .SeekreJi.
sell-regard (self-re-gftrd'), n. Regard or con-
sideration for one's self.
But sel/e.-retjard of private good or ill
Moves me of each, so ss I found, to tell.
Sftntr, CoUn Clout, L 682.
5479
self-regarding (self-re-gar'ding), o. Having
regard to one s self.
self-registerinf (self-rej'is-ter-ing), (I. Regis-
tering automatically : as. a self-registering ther-
mometer— Self-registering barometer. Same as
barotjraph.
self-regulated (self-reg'ii-la-ted), a. Regulated
by one's self or itself.
self-regulating (self-reg'u-la-ting), a. Regu-
lating itself or one's self.
self-regulative (self-reg'fi-la-tiv), a. Tend-
ing or serving to regulate one's self or itself.
IVhewell. (Imp. Diet.)
self-relation (self-rf-la'shon), n. See relation.
self-reliance (self-rf-li'ans), ». Reliance on
one's own powers.
self-reliant (sclf-re-U'ant), a. Relying on one's
self; trusting to one's own powers.
It by no means follows that these newer institutions
lack naturalness or vigor ; in most cases they tack neither
— a 8ti/-retiant race has simply re-adapted institutions
common to its political habit. W. WUson, State, § 997.
self-relying (self-re-li'ing), a. Depending on
one's self; self-reliant.
self-renunciation (Belf-rf-nun-si-a'shon), n.
The act of renouncing one's own rights or
claims ; self-abnegation.
In the Christian conception of sel/renuneiation, to live
no longer to ourselves is, at the same time, to enter into
an intlnite life that is dearer to us than our own.
Faiths 0/ the World, p. 59.
self-repellency (self-re-pel'en-si), »i. The in-
herent jiower of repulsion in a body.
self-repelling (self-re-pel'ing), a. Repelling
bv its own inherent power.
self-repression (self-re-presh'on), n. Repres-
sion of self; the holding of one's self in the
background.
Seff-represtion is a long step toward the love for his
fellow-men that made Ben .Adhem's name lead all the rest.
ScrOmer's Mag., VIII. «ao.
self-reproach (self-re-proch'), n. A reproach-
ing or condemning of^one's self; the reproach
or censure of one's own conscience.
It was quite In Masgie's character to be agitated by
lagae teff-reproaeh. Owrifsffurf, Mill on the Floss, vi. 7.
self-reproaching (self-re-pro'ching), o. Re-
proaching one's self.
self-reproachingly (self-re-pro'ching-li), adv.
Bv reproaching one's self.
self -reproof (selt-re-prof), n. The reproof of
one's silf : the reproof of conscience.
self-reproving (self-re-prS'ving), a. Reprov-
ing one's self.
self-reproving (self-re-pr6'ving), n. Self-re-
proach.
He 's fnn of alteration
And sdf-reproving. Shak., tear, T. 1. 4.
self-repugnant (self-rf-pug'nant), a. Repug-
nant to itself; self-contra<lictory ; inconsistent.
A single tyrant may be found to adopt as inconsistent
and teff-repuffnant a set of principles as twenty could
agree upon. • Brougham.
self-respect (self-rf-spekf), n. Respect for
one's self or for one's own character ; a proper
regard for and care of one's own person and
character; the feeling that only very good ac-
tions are worthy of the standard which one has
generally maintained, and up to which one has
acted.
With the consciousness of the lofty nature of our moral
tendencies, and our ability to fulfil what tlie law of duty
prescritMSk there Is connected the feeling of self-respect.
Sir W. Hamilton, Metaphysics, Lect, xlvi.
The return of telfrapeet will, in the course of time,
make them respectable.
B. Taylor, Lands of the Saracen, p. 104.
self-respectful (self-re-spckt'ful), a. Self-re-
specting.
His style, while firm and vigorous, is selfretpeetfxd with
that reticence which in manners we call breeding and In
art distinction. Tht Aeademy, Sept. 6, 1880, p. 192.
self-respecting (self-re-spek'ting). a. Actu-
ated by or s]iringing from a proper respect for
one's self or character: a.a, a, setf -respecting va&n.
One of the roost valuable traits of the true New England
woman — which had impelled her forth, as might be said,
to seek her fortune, but with a ttif-retpeeting purpose to
confer as much benefit as she could anywise receive.
Hatdhome, Seven Gables, v.
Every tAt-retptMng nation had, they noticed, a con-
stitution. The AtlanlU, LXVI. 682.
self-restrained (self-re-strand'), a. Restrained
by itself or by one's' own power of will; not
controlled by external force or authority.
Fewer i^-restrained the people best obey.
JDryden.
self-restraint (self-re-stranf), n. Restraint or
control imposed on one's self ; self-command;
self-control.
self-slaughtered
self-reverence (self-rev'e-rens), n. Very high
or serious respect for one's own character, dig-
nity, or the like ; great self-respect. Tennyson,
Ulysses.
sell-reverent (self-rev'e-rent), a. Having very
serious respect for one's self.
Self-reverent each, and reverencing each.
Tennyson, Princess, vii.
self-righteous (self-ri'tyus), a. Righteous in
one's own esteem ; pharisaical.
self-righteousness (self-ri'tyus-nes), «. Re-
liance on one's own supposed righteousness;
righteousness the merits of which a person at-
tributes to himself; false or pharisaical right-
eousness.
self-righting (self-ri'ting), a. That rights itself
when capsized : as, a self-righting life-boat.
self-rolled (self-rold'), a. Coiled on itself.
In labyrinth of many a round self-rolled.
Milton, P. L., ix. 183.
self-sacrifice (self-sak'ri-fis), n. Sacrifice of
what commonly constitutes the happiness of
life for the sake of duty or other high motive ;
the preference for altruistic over egotistical
considerations. The sacrifice of the happiness of one's
life to an ignoble passion, or to any mere transient motive,
is not called self-sacrifice.
Give unto me, made lowly wise.
The spirit of self-sacrifice.
Wordsworth, Ode to Duty.
=83^1. Austerity, Asceticism, etc. (see self-denial), self-ab-
negation, self-forgetfulness.
self-sacrificing (self-sak'ri-fi-zing), a. Yield-
ing up one's own selfish interest, feelings, etc. ;
sacrificing one's egotistical to one's altruistic
desires.
selfsame (self'sam), a. [= Dan. selvsamme;
a.s self, a., + same.'] The very same; identical.
And his servant was healed the selfsame hour.
Mat. Till. 13.
I am made
Of the self-same metal that my sister is.
Shak., Lear, i. 1. 70.
SelfsameneSS (self'sam-nes), n. The fact of
being one and the same, or of being the very
same self ; sameness as regards self or identity.
Now the first condition of the possibility of my guilti-
ness, or of my l>ecoming a subject for moral imputation,
is my self-mmeness ; I must be throughout one identical
person. F. U. Bradley, Ethical Studies, p. 5.
self-satisfaction (self-sat-is-fak'shon), H. Sat-
isfaction with one's own e.xcellence.
In her self-saiisfaction, she imagined that she had not
been inlluenced by any unworthy motive.
St. Nicholas, XVII. 591.
Even the sake seemed gifted to produce the maximum
of teifsatisfaetion with the minimum of annoyance to
others. The AUantie, LXVI. 888.
self-satisfied (self-sat'is-fid), a. Satisfied with
one's abilities and virtues.
No cavern 'd hermit rests self-satisfied.
Pope, Essay on Man, iv. 42.
self-satisfying (self-sat'is-fi-ing), a. Giving
satisfaction to one's self.
self-scorn (self-sk6rn'), n. A mood in which
one entertains scorn for another mood or phase
of one's self.
Deep dread and loathing of her solitude '
Fell on her, from which mood was bom
Scorn of herself ; again from out that mood
Laughter at her xlf -scorn.
Tennyson, Palace of Art.
self-seeker (self-se'k^r), «. One who seeks his
own selfish interest, to the detriment of justice
and mercy.
All great self-seekers trampling on the right.
Tennysoji, Death of Wellington.
self-seeking (self-se'king), ». Undue attention
to one's own interest.
All your petty self-seekings and rivalries done,
Bound the dear Alma Mater your hearts beat as one !
Whittier, The Quaker Alumni.
self-seeking (self-se'king), a. Seeking one's
own interest or happiness unduly; selfish.
self-setting (self-set'ing), a. 'Working auto-
matically to reset itself after being sprung, as
a t ra p . — Self-setting brake. See car-trrake.
self-snining (self^i'ning), a. Self-luminous.
liniih.
self-slaughter (self-sia't&r), n. The slaughter
of one's self.
Against self daughter
There is a prohibition so divine
That cravens my weak hand.
Shak., Cymbeline, 111. 4. 78.
self-slaughtered (8elf-sl4't«rd), a. Slaughtered
or killed by one's self.
Till Lucrece' father, that beholds her bleed,
Himself on her setf-daughter'd body threw.
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 1783.
self-sterile
self-sterile (solf-ster'il), a. In hot., unable to
fertilize itself : said of certain flowers or plants.
I have often found that plants which are tielf-ttterile, uu-
lesa aided by insects, remained sterile when sevei-al plants
of the same species were placed under the same net.
Dartrin, tYoss and Self Fertilisation, p. 22.
self-sterility (self-ste-ril'i-ti), H. In bot., the
inability of a flower or plant to fertilize itself.
But the strongest argument against the belief that se^-
gterSity in plants has been acquireti to prevent self-fertil-
isation, is the immediate and powerful elTect of changed
conditions in either causing or in removing ae^sterility.
Danrin^ Cross and Self Fertilisation, p. 346.
self-styled (self-stild'), n. Called or styled by
one's self; pretended; wotild-be.
Vou may with those g^^ttylfd our lords ally
Your fortunes. Tennysmt, Princess, iL
self-snbdued (self-sub-dud'), a. Subdued by
one's own power or means.
He . . . put upon tiim such a deal of man
That worthied him, got praises of the king
For him attempting who was seif-gubdued,
SA<a-.,Lear, ii. 2.129.
self-substantial (self-sub-stan'shal), o. Com-
posed of one's own substance. [Rare.]
But tliou, contracted to thine own bright eyes,
Feed'st thy light's flame with self-gubstanlial fuel.
SAo*., Sonnets, i.
self-sufficience (self-su-fish'ens), n. Same as
seif-fiiiffieiency.
self-SB&ciency (self-su-flsb'en-si), «. The state
or quality of being self-sufficient, (n) Inherent
fitness for all ends or purposes ; independence of others ;
capability of working out one's own ends.
The philosophers, and even the Epicureans, maintained
the ge^'guffieiency of the Godhead, and seldom or never
sacrificed at alL Bentley.
(&) An overweening opinion of one's own endowments or
worth ; excessive confidence in one's own competence or
sufficiency.
S^fsuj^eieiwy proceeds from inexperience. Addison,
self-snfficient (self-su-fish'ent), a. 1. Capable
of effecting all one's own ends or fulfilling all
one's own desires without the aid of others.
It is well marked that in the holy book, wheresoever
they have rendered Almighty, the word is gelf^sugicient.
Donne, Letters, xxxvii.
Neglect of friends can never be proved rational till we
prove the person using it omnipotent and edf-tuffidetU,
and such as can never need mortal assistance. South.
2. Having undue confidence in one's own
strength, ability, or endowments; haughty;
overbearing.
This is not to be done in a rash and Klf-mfficient man-
ner, but with an humble dependence on divine grace.
WatU.
self-sufficing (self-su-fi'zing), a. Suflicing for
one's self or itself.
He had to be $el/-guMcing : he could get no help from
the multitude of subsidiary industries. Xature, XLII. 492.
self-suggested (self-su-jes'ted), a. Due to self-
suggest lou.
Whether such 8^-guggesUd paralysis would be on the
opposite side to the head-injury in a person familial- with
the ph>-siology of the centra] nervous system is an inter-
esting point for observation. Alien, and Neurol., X. 444.
self-suggestion (self-su-jes'ehon), w. Deter-
mination by causes inherent in the organism,
as in idiopathic somnambiilism, self-induced
trance or self-mesmerization, etc. See sugges-
tion.
self-support (self-su-porf), Ji. The support or
maintenance of one's self or of itself.
self-supported (self-su-p6r'ted), a. Supported
by itself without extraneous aid.
Few telf-mpported flowers endure the wind.
Cowper, Task, iiL 65".
self-supporting (self-su-p6r'ting)j a. Support-
ing or maintaining one's self or itself without
extraneous help : as, the institution is now self-
supporting.
State-organised, aeif.*upporting farms.
Fortnightly Bee, N. S., XLin. 146.
The revenue derived from the increased sale of charta
will finally result in making the (hydrographic] office «e^-
mpporting. Science, XIV. 301.
self-surrender (self-su-ren'dfer), w. Surrender
of one's self; the yielding up of one's will, affec-
tions, or person to another.
If Goddess, could she feel the blissful woe
That women in their te{f-^urrtnder know!
LouM, Endymion, ii.
seK-sustained(self-8U8-tand'), a. Sustained by
one's own efforts, inherent power, or strength
of mind,
self-sustaining (self-sus-ta'ning), a. Self-sup-
porting.
The strong and healthy yeomen and husbands of the
land, the 9el/.9uMaimng claiss of inventive and industri-
oos men, fear no competition or superiority.
Kmerton, West Indian Emancipation.
5480
self-sustenance (self-sus'tf-nans), «. Self-
support.
Life, unless your father is a millionaire, and does not
spend or lose his millions before he dies, sums up practi-
cally in an activity in some profession — an activity aiming
at a decent self-suMenance. Pop. Set. Mo., XXXIIl. 391.
self-SUStentation (self-sus-ten-ta'shon), n.
Self-sTipport.
There must be conformity to the law that benefits re-
ceived shall be directlyproportionate to merits possessed :
merits being measured by power of self-sustentaHon.
H. Spencer, Pop. ScL Mo., XXXVIL 21.
self-taught (self 'tat), a. Taught by one's self
only: as, a, self-taught genius.
self-thinking (self-thiug'king). a. Thinking
for one's sell ; f oi-miug one's owai opinions, and
not borrowing them ready-made from others,
or merely following prevalent fashions of
thought ; of independent judgment.
Our nelf-thinHng inhabitants agreed in their rational
estimate of the new family. Mrs. S. C. Hall.
self-torture (self-tor'tur), n. Pain or torture
inflicted on one's self: as, the self-torture ot the
heathen.
self-trust (self-trust'), n. Trust or faith in
one's self ; self-reliance.
Then where is truth, if there be no idS-trwitf
Shuk., Lucrece, \. 158.
self-'Tie'W (self-vu'), ». 1. A view of one's self,
or of one's own actions and character. — 2. Re-
gard or care for one's personal interests.
self-'Tiolence (self-vi'o-lens), n. Violence in-
flicted upon one's self.
Exact your solemn oath that you'll abstain
From all gelf-violenee.
Young, Works (ed. 1767), II. 153. (Jodrell.)
self-will (self-wil'), H. [< ME. selficille, < AS.
selfirill, self-will, adv. gen. selfwiUes, silfu-illes,
sylfwilles, wilfully (OHG. selb-uiUo, self-will);
as self+ iCf'Wl, n.] One's own will ; obstinate or
perverse insistence on one's own will or wishes ;
wilfulness; obstinacy.
If ye haue sturdy Sampsons strength and want reason
withall,
It helpeth you nothing, this is playne, gelfe-will makes you
to falL Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 95.
A king like Henry VII., who would be a tyrant oidy in
self-defence, to be succeeded by a son who would be a ty-
rant in very gelf-icill.
Stubbs, Medieval and Modem Hist., p. 227.
self-willed (self -wild' ), a. Obstinately unmind-
ful of the will or wishes of others ; obstinate :
as, a self-willed man ; self-willed rulers.
Presumptuous are they, sel/-u^led. 2 Pet. it 10.
self-'Willedness (self-wild' nes), n. Self-will;
obstinacy.
That is a fitter course for such as the Apostle calls wan-
dring Starres and Meteors, without any certaine motion,
hurryed about with tempests, bred of the Exhalations of
their own pride and gelf-willednesse.
if. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 21.
And much more is it gelf-wUlednegg when men contra-
dict the will of God, when Scripture §aith one thing and
they another. Baxter, Self-Denial, xv.
self-willinesst, «■ Self-willedness. Cotgrave.
self-'willyt, «• [< self + will + -yl.] Self-willed.
Votgrave.
self-worship (self-wfer'ship), n. The idolizing
of one's self.
self-worshiper (self-w6r'ship-*r), n. One who
idolizes himself.
self-wrong (self-rong'), «. Wrong done by a
person to himself.
But lest myself be guilty to »df^wTong,
I'll stop mine ears against the mermaid's song.
Shak., C. of E., lit 2. 168.
selictar (se-lik'tar), JI.. [< Turk, silihddr, silah-
ddr, an armor-bearer, squire, < Pers. silahddr,
an armed man, < Ar. sildh, arms (pi. of silh, a
weapon, arm) (> Turk. *»/«/(, a weapon), -I- Pers.
-ddr, having.] The sword-bearer of a Turkish
chief.
Selietar! unsheathe then our chief's scimitar.
Byron, Childe Harold, it 72 (song).
selilyt, adv. A Middle English spelling otseelily.
Chaucer.
Selinum (sf-li'num), n. [Nil. (Linnteus, 1737),
< Gr. ai^jvon, a kind of parsley, said to be Apium
graveolens : see celery and parsley.'] A genus of
umbelliferous plants, type of the subtribe Seli-
nefe in the tribe Seselinese. It is characterized by
white flowers having broad or wedge-shaped petals with
a slender infolded apex, short or moderately long styles
from an entire, conical, or flattened base, and ovoid fmit
slightly compressed on the back, with solitary oil-tubes,
the ridges prominent or winged, the lateral broader than
the dorsal. There are about 25 species, natives of the
northern hemisphere, with one species in South Africa and
one in the Ot>lombian Andes. They are smooth and tall
much-branched perennials, with pinnately decompound
leaves, the flowers in many-rayed umbels with few or no
sell
involucral bracts, but numerous bractlets in the involu-
cels. See milk-pardey.
selion (sel'you), «. [< ML. selio(n-),sellio(n-),
seillum, a certain portion of land, a ridge, a
furrow, prob. < OF. seillon, silton, F. .lillon, a
ridge, furrow.] A ridge of land rising between
two furrows: sometimes applied to the half-
acre strips in the open-field system, which were
separated by such ridges.
Seljuk (sel-jok'), H. [Turk.] A member of a
Turkish family which furnished several dynas-
ties of rulers in central and western Asia, from
the eleventh to the thirteenth century. The chief
Seljuks were Toglirul Beg. who defeated the Abbasid califs
of Bagdad in the eleventh centur>', and his successors Alp
Arslan and Melik Shah. In distinction from the Ottoman
Turks, often called Seljuk Turks.
Seljukian (sel-jo'ki-an), a. [< Seljuk + -ian.']
Pertaining to the Seljuks.
selkt, selket, «. Middle English forms of silk.
selkoutht, selkowtht, «• and n. Middle English
forms of selcouth.
selli (sel), V. ; pret. and pp. sold, ppr. selling.
[< ME. sellcn, sillen, sullen (pret. solde, salde,
sealde, sselde, pp. sold, rarely selled), < AS. sel-
Ian, sillan, syllan (pret. sealde. pp. geseald), give,
hand over, deliver, sell, = OS. sellian = OFries.
sella = OD. sellen = MLG. sellen = OHG. saUan,
MHG. sellen = Icel. selja = Sw. salja = Dan.
sielge, give, hand over, sell, = Goth, saljan,
bring an offering, offer, sacrifice; ef. Lith. »«-
lyti, proffer, offer, pa-sula, an offer: root un-
known. Hence ult. sale^.'\ I. trans. If. To
give; furnish.
Dispitous Day, thyn be the pyne of helle ! . . .
What ! profrestow thy light here for to adlef
Go tieUe it hem that smale seles grave.
We wol the noght, us nedeth no day have.
Chaucer, Troilus, iiL 1461.
2t. To give over; give up; deliver. — 3. To
give up or make over to another for a consid-
eration ; transfer ownership or exclusive right
of possession in (something) to another for an
equivalent; dispose of for something else, es-
pecially for money: the correlative of buy, and
usually distinguished from barter, in which one
commodity is given for another.
At Oayre, that I spak of before, sellen Men comonnly
bothe Men and Wommen of other Lawe, as we don here
Bestes in the Markat. MandetOle, Travels, p. 49.
If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and
give to the poor. Mat. xix. 21.
Jack, how agrees the devil and thee aljout thy soul, that
thou sUdesl him on Good-Friday last, for a cup of Madeira
and a cold capon's leg? Shak., 1 Hen. IV., I 2. 127.
4. To make a matter of bargain and sale; ac-
cept a price or reward for, as for a breach of
duty or trust ; take a bribe for ; betray.
Ne sule thu neuer so etheliche . . . his deorewnrthe
. spuse that costnede him so deore. Ancreri Bitcle, p. 290.
You woold have said your king to slaughter.
Shak., Hen. V., U. 2. 170.
Hence — 5. To impose upon; cheat; deceive;
disappoint. [Slang.]
We could not but laugh quietly at the complete success
of the Rajah's scheme ; we were, to use a vulgar phrase,
"regularly sold." W. H. Russell, Diar}' in India, ll.
Sold notes. See bought note, under wofel. — To sell a
bargain*. See bargain.— To sell one's life dearly, to
cause great loss to those who take one's life ; do great in-
jury to the enemy before one is killed. — To sell one up
or out, to sell a debtor's goods to pay his creditors. — To
sell out. (a) To dispose entirely of : as, to sell out one's
holding in a particular stock : sometimes with a view of
closing business in a commodity or a place. (6) To betray
by secret bargains : as, the leaders sold out their candidate
for governor. [U. S. political slang.)— To sell the beart.
See bears, 5 (o).
TT, intrans. 1. To dispose of goods or prop-
erty, usually for money.
The mayster dyhseres of peyntours in the Citee, that
tweyse godmen and trewe be y-chose by commune assent,
and y-swore to assaye the chaffare of straunge chapmen
that Cometh in to the towne to selle, and to don trewleche
the assys to the sellere and to the byggere.
English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 859.
Men ete and drank, shortly to tell,
nkan with other, and solde and boght.
Uampde, Pricke of Conscience, L 4849.
I will buy with you, sell with you, . . . hut I will not
eat with you. Shak., M. of V., L 3. 36.
2. To be in demand as an article of sale ; find
purchasers ; be sold.
.K turpentine drops from the fruit of this sort [of fir],
which they call mastic, and sells dear, being used in sur-
gery for wounds.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. iL 12a
Few writings tdX which are not filled with great names.
Addison, Spectator, No. 567.
To sell out (o) Formerly, in the British army, to sell
one's commission and retire from the senice. (6) To dis-
pose of all one's shares in a company, all of one's interest
in a business, or all of one's stock as of a given commodity,
(c) In ttod-^mking, to dispose in open exchange of shares
contracted to l>e sold, but not paid for at the time speci-
seU
fled for delivery, the original purchaser being required to
make pood the dilference between the contract price and
the price actually received.— To sell short. See short.
Sell^ (sel), "■ [< *eWi, I-.] All imposition; a
cheat; a deception; a trick played at another's
ejcpense. [Slang.]
In a little note-book which at that time I carried about
with me, the celebrated city of .\ngers is denominated a
ttU. U. Jama, Jr., Little Tour, p. 96.
86112 (sel), n. [< ME. selle, < OF. selle, sele, F.
selle = Pr. sella, selha, cella = Sp. silla = Pg. It.
sella, < L. sella, a seat, chair, stool, saddle, for
'sedla, < sedere, sit: see sit. Cf. saddle.^ 1. A
seat, especially an elevated or dignified one ; a
place of honor and dignity.
The tyrant jtronA frown'd from hia lofty «H.
Pttir/ax, tr. of Tasso's Godfrey of Boulogne, It. 7.
Where many a yeoman bold and free
Berell'd a* meirily and well
A< thoie that aat in lordly ttlU.
Scott, L. of I. M., vL 8.
2. A saddle.
HIr lelU it was of reele bone.
Thomu of Ertteidmme (Chad's Ballads, I. 89X
What mlghtle warrioor that mote bee
That rode in golden »eU with single spere.
Spenter, F. Q., U UL 12.
(Some commentators on Shakspere think that the passage
in Macbeth, i. 7. 27,
I have ncApnr
To prick the sides of my intent, but only
Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps ittelf
And falls on the other,
shonld read, "Vaulting ambition, which o'erieaiw its •<({."]
[Obsolete or archaic in both nses.]
selPt, ». An obsolete variant of sUO-.
sell 't, R. A Middle English form of ceU.
sell'' \ae\), n. A Scotch form of self.
111 bae tools ready, and well gang quietly about oar ]ob
oar twa selb, and uaebody the wiser for 't.
Seott, Antiquary, xxir.
sella (sel'l), n.; pi. sella (-e). [NL., < L. seUa,
a seat: see seVP^ In anat., the pituitary fossa
(which see, nnder /o«<iai): more fully called
sella turcica, sella equina, and sella sphenoidalia.
sellable (sel'a-bl), a. [< seia + -able.} That
i-iiM be gold; "salable. Colgrare.
8Cllablyt(8era-bli),ndr. [<. sellable + -li/^.} By
s:iU-. Cotgrace. [Rare.]
sellaite (sel'a-it), n. [Named after Quintino
•V llii, an Italian statesman and mineralogist
( 1H27-84).] Magnesium fluoride, a rare mineral
occurring in tetragonal crystals with anhydrite
and sulphur near Moutiers, in the department
of Savoip. France.
sellanders, sellenders (sel'an-derz, -en-dferz),
«. [.Mso stiUiiiilers and solander; < F. sola»-
f/ri , scllaiiilirs; origin uncertain.] An eczem-
atoiis ('rtiptir>u in the horse, occupying the re-
gion of the tarsus.
sellary't, »• An obsolete form of celery.
I*ray aak Mr. Synge wbatber Us f enooehki be grown ; It
is now lit to eat bertv and we eat it like tBary, eltber with
ur without oiL awVt, To Dr. Sheridan, July 1, 1717.
sellary'-H, «. [< L. sellarius, < sellaria, a room
fimiished with chairs, a sitting-room, drawing-
room, < sella, a seat, chair: see selP.] A lewd
I>er8on. [Bare.]
KaTished henoe, like eaptlre*, and, in sight
Of their moat griered parents, dealt away
Unto bii spintrlea, aaBoriai^ and slaves.
B. Jomon, Sejanos, ir. 6.
sellet. An obsolete or Middle ElngUsh form of
>«in,seiri,sUP;eeU.
sellenders, n. See gellanders.
seller'^ (sel'ftr), n. [< ME. seller, leUere, siller,
.««//« r, »«//«•« (=Icel.M>(/ari = Sw.«dWore=Dan.
sH'lyir); (.sell^ + -eri.] If. One who gives; a
giver; afnniisher.
It is Dot honest. It may not araance,
For to delen with do such potaille.
Bat al with riche and seOsn of TitaOle.
ahwesr, Oen. ProL to C. T., L 2I&
2. One who sells; a vender.
To thingi of sale a ttUet'i praise belonci.
skat., I. I. L., It. S.Ma
Seller's option, in Exchange transactiona. the option
which a seUer tUL or has reaerred to himself, of deliTer-
inK the thing sold at any time within a certain nomber
of days speeiBed : usaauy abbreriated to t. o. (as s. o. 3,
for a three-days' option), flee frmsr's optfoa, nnder tivn-.
sellerst, ». [< OF. wHier, F. »eflW = 8p. »<«m>
= I'g. seUeiro =z It. sellajo, < ML. geliarius, a sad-
dlcr. < L. sella, a saddle: see selP."] A saddler.
York- I'liiys.
sellert (s«r*r), b. [Earlymod.E.al80«rf/nr(T);
< ME. seler, saler, crlere, < OF. 'selere, salierc,
snlliere, F. snliire = Pr. salivra, saleira = It. «a-
litra, a vesm-l for salt, < L. salaria, tern, of
salfirius, of salt, < sal, salt: see salt^, »o/ar»l,
talaryi, and cf. salt-cellar.'] A small vessel for
Mil
holding salt : now only in composition salt-sel-
ler, misspelled salt-cellar.
The salte also touche nat in his salere
Withe nokyna mete, but lay it honestly
On youre 'Irenchoure, for that is curtesy.
Babees Book(E. E. T. S.), p. 7.
seller*^, n. An obsolete spelling of cellar^, 1.
Then straight into the seller hee'l them bring ;
Tis sweetest drinking at the verry spring.
Times' WhiMe (E. E. T. S.), p. 60.
sellifonn (sel'i-form), a. [< L. sella, a saddle,
+ forma, form.] In bot., zool., and awaf., sad-
dle-shaped.
sellok (sel'ok), n. A variant of sillock.
sellyt, a- and n. [ME., also selli, sellich, sillich,
sullifh, sellic, < AS. sellic, sillic, sijUic, orig. 'seld-
lic, wonderful, strange, rare, excellent, = OS.
seldlik, wonderftil, rare, = Goth, sildaleiks, won-
derful; as seld + -ly^. See seM.] I. a. Won-
derful; admirable; rare. Layamon.
n. «. A wonder; marvel.
sellyt, adv. [ME., also sellicke, < AS. sellice, sil-
lice, wonderfully, < sellic, sillic, wonderful : see
selly, a.] Wonderfully.
SIknrly I telle the here
Thou sh&l hit bye ful telly dere.
Cunor Mundi. (HaUimll.)
Selninger sandpiper. See sandpiper.
selort, H. Same as celure. _
seltbet, n. [ME., < AS. gesxlth, happiness, < ge-
+ sMl, happy: see weP.] Blessedness.
seltzogene (selt'so-jen), ». [< F. selzogene; as
Selt:\er), Sellers (see Sellers water, under tcater),
+ -geii.'\ Same as gazogene.
selnret, »■ See celure.
selvage, selvedge (sel'vaj, -vej), n. [Early
mod .E. also selvidge, selveg'e; < Mif. selvage, < MD.
selfegge, selfcgghe (Kilian), D. zelfegg (&wel) =
MLG. self-egge, sulf-egije, selvage, < self, sulf, ex-
treme, extremity (Kilian), appar. a particular
nse of self, D. :elf, same, self, 4- egqe. edge : see
selfmAedge^. Ct.WD.self-endejUUi.selfcndc,
snlf-endejende = E. end), MD. self-kani, D. zelf-
kant = LG. self-kant (leant = E. canfi), selvage,
similarly formed.] 1. The edge of a web or
textile Mtbric so finished that it does not allow
of raveling out- the weft.
Tho oner nape schalle dowballe b« layde.
To tbo Tttar syde the mliiag* brade;
• Tho oaer mluage he schalle replye^
As towelle bit were fayrest In nye.
JJotees Boolr (E. E. T. S.X p. 321.
I end with the prayer after my text, whiclvis like a rich
garment, that hath facing, gnarda, and tdmge of its own.
Bm. S. Ward, Sermons, p. 112.
The trees have ample room to expand on the water aide,
and each sends fortli its most Tigorous branch in tbmt di-
rection. There Natare has woTen a nataral sefaof*.
T^oreau, Walden, p. Uti.
2. That part of a web at either edge which is
not finished like the surface of the cloth, and
which is meant to be torn away when the ma-
terial is made up, or for use in making the seam.
See list*, 2. — 3. In mining, the part of a vein
or lode adjacent to the walhi on each side, and
generally consisting of flucan or gouge, it is
usoally formed In part by the decompositton of the rock
adjacent to the vein, and in part by the washing in of
clayey material to fill any vacancy wmch may occur along
the walls of the Sasoie. See w«i.
4. The edge-plate of a lock, through which the
bolt shoots. — 8. Same as selragee.
selvage, selvedge (sel'vaj, -vej), r. To hem.
MinslieH.
selvaged, selvedged (sel'vajd, -vejd), a. [<
srlni;i<\ sclcedge, + -etP.} Having a selvage.
selvagee (sel-va-je'), n. [< seltage + -ee (here
appur. a mere extension).] Xaut., an untwist-
ed skein of rope-yam marled together and used
for any purpose where a strong and pliant strap
is required. Also selvage. See cut under nip-
Kailway Semaphore.
a, lever, which operates
both d, blade, and *■, Ian-
Same as sema-
perl, 8.
selvet, a. An obsolete variant of self.
selvedge, selvedged. See selvage, selvaged.
selvert, «. A Jliadle English form of silver.
selves,". Plural of »«//■.
Selyt, ''. Sec srili/, silly.
sel3messt, ". S.f .leeliness, silliness.
seniaeologyt, ». See semiology.
semantron (so-man'tron), «.; pi. semantra
(-tra). [< Gr.' a^/javrpov, a seal, signet, MGr.
a semantron, < rnifiaiveiv, show by a sign, give
a signal, MGlr. strike the semantron, < a^/ia,
a mark, sign: see sematic.] In the Gr. Ch., a
long bar or piece of wood or metal struck with
a mallet, and used instead of a bell to summon
worshipers to service. The use of semantra seems
older than that of church-bells, and they hare contlnned
In use in Mohammcilan countries, as In these the ringing
of bells is usually forbidden. The mallet with which the
large semantron Is strock Is also called a annaatnm (a
semblable
harul-semanlron, xeipo<r^»»<i>Tpoi). The iron semantra are
c&W^A luKjiogidera, {^an hagio«i4eron.) A wooden seman-
tron is called the wood or the holy wood (to Upby (vKov).
Also hoi/iosemanlron, semanterion.
semantUS (se-man'tus), n. [NL.,< Gr. oTi/iavToi,
marked, emphatic, < aeuaiveiv, mark : see seman-
tron.] Inane, pros. See trochee semantus, un-
der trochee.
semaphore (sem'a-for), «. [= F. semaphore; ir-
reg. < Gr. af/fia, a sign, 4- -(jio-
po(, < ^peiv = E. feearl.] A
mechanical device for dis-
playing signals by means of
which information is con-
veyed to a distant point.
The word is now confined almost
entirely to apparatus used on rail-
ways employing the block system.
The blade is a day signal, the lan-
tern is used at night. A vertical
position of the blade or a white
light exhibited by the lantern in-
dicates safety; a horizontal posi-
tion of the blade or a red light indi-
cates danger; an intermediate po-
sition of the blade or a green light
demands a cautious approach with
lessened speed.
semapliore-plant (sem'a-
for-plant), «. The tele-
graph-plant, Desmodium gy-
rans.
semapboric (sem-a-for'ik),
a. [i semaphore + -ic.'] Re-
lating to a semaphore or to
semaphores; telegraphic.
semaphorlcal (sem-a-for'i-
kal), a. [< semaphoric + -al.]
phoric.
semaphorically (sem-a-for'i-kal-i), adv. By
means of a semaphore.
semaphorist (sem'a-for-ist), n. [< semaphore
+ -ist.] One who has charge of a semaphore.
semasiological (se-ma'si-o-Ioj'i-kal), a. Per-
taining to semasiology or meaning. Athenseum,
No. 32H4, p. 450.
semasiology (sf-ma-si-oro-ji), n. [< Gr. cnifia-
aia, the signification of a word (< ari/jaivtiv, show
by a sign, signify: see semantron), + -Xoyia, <
Xtyttv, speak: see -ology.] The science of the
development and connections of the meanings
of words; the department of significance m
philology.
Semarieiogy in all Its various aspects does not offer
much that Is as regular even as the phonetic life of
words : so much more worthy of attention are the paral-
lelisms in the development of meanings, which repeat
themselves oftentimes in most varied surruundinga, in-
viting even to a search for a psychological cause for this
persistence. Amer. Jour. Philol., Vll. 100.
semasphere (sem'a-sfer), «. [Irreg. < Gr. af/ua,
a sign, + oi^ipa, a ball.] An aerostatic sig-
naling apparatus, consisting of a powerful elec-
tric light attached to a balloon which is stead-
ied by kites or parachutes, and secured by
ropes. The latter may also serve as conductors.
sematic (se-mat'ik), a. [< Gr. av/ia, a sign,
mark, token.] Significant; indicative, as of
danger; serving as a sign or warning; ominous;
monitory; repugnatorial.
The second great use of colour is to act as a warning or
signal (semottc colour), repelling enemies by the indica-
tion of some unpleasant or dangerous quality.
i/ature, XUL 867.
sematology (sem-a-tol'o-ji), n. [< Gr. af/fia(T-),
a sign, + -?j>yia, i ^iytiv, say, speak: see -olo-
gy.] The science of signs, particularly of ver-
bal signs, in the operations of thinking and rea-
soning; the science of language as expressed
by signs.
For the proper understanding of Hebrew a knowledge
of the related tongues is indispensable ; and in every com-
Krehenslve Hebrew dictionary all the new facts that can
e gained from any of them to illustrate Hebrew phonol-
ogy, etymology, or aematoloffy must be accurately and ju-
diciously presented. Amer. Jour. Philol. , IV. 848.
sematrope (sem'a-trop), n. [< Gr. afj/ia, a mark,
sign, + -rpoirof,' < rpiiTuv, turn.] Milit., an
adaptation of the heliotrope to the purpose of
transmitting military signals in the day-time
by means of the number and the grouping of
the flashes,
semawet, «• A Middle English form of sea-mew.
semblablet (sem'bla-bl), a. and n. [< ME. sem-
blable, < OF. (and F.) semblable (= Pr. sembla-
ble, semlable = lt. sembiabile, semblabile, sembra-
bile), Uke, resembling, < sembler, be like, re-
semble: see semble, v.] I. a. Like; similar;
resembling.
I woot wel that my lord can moore than I ;
What that he seith I holde it femie and stable;
I seye the same or elles tliyng nemblable.
Chaucer, Uetchant's Tale, 1. 2S6.
semblable
5482
And the same tynie, in seiiMabie wise, there to be redde And all is gtmblative a woman's part.
the Malres Commission of the Staple. Shak., T. K., i. 4. 34.
BiifflM Gadi,(E. E. T. s.), p. 419. semblatUltt, »■ See semblant.
It is a wonderful thing to see the senMable coherenee semble^ (sem'bl), V. i. ; pret. and pp. sembled,
of his men's spirits and his. Shak., 2 Hen. IV., v. 1. 72. ppj. ,s(»ffc/i«flr. [< ME. semblen. semhelen, seem,
H. M. Likeness; resemblauee ; representa- < OF. (and F.)se»j()to', resemble, appear, seem
tion ; that which is like or represents a certain
thing.
Hl« ttmblabU is his mirror. Shak., Hamlet, v. 2. 124.
semblablyt (sem'bla-bli), adv. [< ME. sembla-
bly : < semblable + -t'y'^.'] In a similar manner;
similarly.
After hys hoires semblably werkyng,
Regnyng after hym as men full myghty.
Rom. 0/ ParUnay (E. E. T. S.X 1. 533a
A gallant knight he w.as, his name was Blunt ;
SenMaUy furnlsh'd lilie the kmg hjmself.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., v. 3. 21.
SenMably he Intended for to winne the plaine earth.
Hakluyt's Voyages, II. 88.
semblance (sem'blans), ». [< ME. semblance,
semblaiince, < OF. semblance, F. semblance (= Pr.
semblaiisa, semlansa = Sp. semblanza = Pg. seme-
Ihan^a = It. sembianza), < semblant, appearing,
seeming: see semblant.'] 1. The state or fact
of being like or similar ; likeness ; similarity ;
resemblance.
I thought nobody had been like me ; but I see there was
some lemblance betwixt this good Man and me.
Bwiyati, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 298.
The Reins were cloath'd in whitest silk, to hold
Some eeiiManee to the Hand that them controlled.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, iii. 67.
2. Likeness ; image ; exterior form.
And Merlyn com to Vlfyn, and ti-ansflgured hym to the
temUaunce of lurdan, and than sente hym to the kynge.
And whan the kynge saugh Vlfyn, he hym blissed, and geinble''^l, v. t. and i.
= Pt. scniblar, semlar = Sp. semblar (obs.),
semejur = It. sembrare, sembiare, < L. sinmlarc,
simulate, resemble: see simulate, and cf. dis-
semble, resemble.] If. To appear ; seem.
Ite gcmbcles that he slepand is.
Old Eng. Metr. Horn. (ed. Small), p. 134.
2. In law, used impersonally (generally abbre
semi-ape
paleog., a mark, such as the eoronis, asterisk,
diple, etc., used to indicate metrical and other
divisions.
semelantt, semelauntt, «. Middle English
forms of scmhidiii.
semele'^t, ''■ A Middle English form of semble^.
Semele- (sem'e-le), n. [C, < Gr. 2f/if/.)?.] 1.
In classical myth., the mother of Bacchus, by
Zeus (Jupiter). — 2. In conch., a genus of bi-
valves, regarded by some as typical of the fam-
ily Scntclidse.
semelichet, semelyt, «■ Middle English forms
of seemly.
viated sent, or semb.) as Old Fveneh, jenible, it Senieli(iae(se-meri-de),n.^i. [< Semele^ + -idse.']
A family of bivalves, typified by the genus
Semele, generally united with the family Scro-
Iriculariidee.
semeline (sem'e-lin), n. [< L. semen lini, flax-
seed (from the form of the crystals): semen,
seed; lini, gen. of Hnum, flax.] A variety
of titanite found in volcanic rocks near the
/f. m 1 11 f „ j.i.„ „-f «f Laacher See near the Eifel.
4t. To make a likeness; practise the art of ggmeiiuesst, «. A Middle English form of see»i-
appears, it seems, preceding a statement of
opinion, thus qualified, on a point of law (not
necessary to be decided in the case) which has
not been directly settled.— 3t. To dissemble.
He tell thee what, thou wilt even semble and cog with
thine own father,
A couple of false knaves together, a theefe and a broker.
Three Ladies o/ London (1584). (Nares.)
seide, " Mercy God! how may eny man make oon man so
"'"'""'" ■' ' ■'. 76.
■cy - - - --
like a-nother?" Merlin (E. E. T. S.),
No more than wax shall be accounted evil
Wherein is stamp'd the semblance of a devil.
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 1246.
3t. Face ; countenance ; aspect.
Their semblance kind, and mild their gestures were.
Fairfax.
4. Appearance; outward seeming; show.
His words make a semblance as if hee were magnani-
mously exercising himself. Milton, Eikonoklastes, xxvii.
If you could be alarmed into the semblance of modesty,
you would charm everybody.
Sydney Smith, To Francis Jeffrey.
semblandf, ». See semblant.
semblant(sem'blant),a.and». [I. o. <ME.*se»i-
btunt, "semblaunt'ionly a,s a noun?), < OF. (and
F. ) semblant (= Pr. semblant, semlant = Sp. sem-
blante = Pg. semelhante = It. sembiante), like,
similar, apparent, ppr. of sembler, seem, simu-
late: sea semble. II. ». Early mod. E. «c»i6teM»<,
< ME. semblant, semblaunt, sembland, semlant,^
semblant, semelaunt, < OF. semblant, *semlant,
P. semblant (= Pr. semblant, semlant = Sp. sem-
biante = Pg. sembiante = It. sembiante, sem-
biante), resemblance, appearance, aspect, coun-
tenance, < semblant, like, apparent : see I.] I.
a. It. Like; resembling.
Comparing them together, see
How in their semblant Vertues they agree.
Heywood, Hierarchy of Angels, p. 27B.
Thy Picture, like thy Fame,
Entire may last, that as their Eyes survey
The semblant Shade, Men yet unborn may say
Thus Great, thus Gracious look'd Britannia's Queen.
Prior, An Epistle, desiring the Queen's Picture.
2. Appearing; seeming, rather than real ; spe-
cious.
Thou art not true ; thou art not extant — only semblant.
Carlyle.
n.t »• !■ Appearance; aspect; show; sem-
blance.
Mekely she leet her even falle,
And thllke semblant sat her wel withalle.
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 1736.
It semes by his sembland he had leuere be sette
By the feruent Are, to fleme hym fro colde.
York Plays, p. 257
Be of fayre $emelaunt and contenaunce.
For by fayre manerys men may thee a-vaunce.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 401.
Tho, backe returning to that sorie Dame,
He shewed semblant of exceeding mone
By speaking signes, as he them best could frame.
Spenser, F. Q., VI. v, 4.
2. Face ; countenance ; aspect.
Sothli whenne thei dredden, and bowiden her semelant
in to erthe, thei seiden to hem, Wliatseke yethelyuynge
with deede men? Wycli/, Luke xxiv. 5.
With glad semblaunt and pure good cher.
Babees Book (E. E. T. 8.), p. 305.
All dreri then was his semblaunte.
VytM GesU of Robyn Hode (ChUd's Ballads, V. 48).
semblativet (sem'bla-tiv), a. [< semble'^ -I-
-ative.] In simulation or Ukeness; like (to).
[Bare.]
imitation
Let Europe, sav'd, the column high erect,
Than Trajan's higher, or than Antonine's,
Where semblinf/ art may carve the fair ettect,
And full atchievement of thy great designs.
Prior, Ode to the Queen.
semblelf (sem'bl), a. [Irreg. < semble^, v., as if
ult. < L. si»«fe, like : see similar.'] Like; simi-
[Rare.]
A tyrant vile,
Of name and deed that bare the semble stile
That did this King.
Hudson, tr. of Du Bartas's Judith, 1.
[< ME. semblen, semelen, by
- ■ - - To
lar.
apheresis from asscmblen: see assemble^, v.]
assemble; meet; gather together.
Than aswithe thei sembled to-gader,
& alle maner mensti-acie maked was sone.
. William of Paleme (E. E. T. S.), L 3811.
He sembled all his men full still.
Specimens of Early English{ed. Morris and .Skeat), II. 129.
semble'^f, n. [ME. semble; by apheresis from as-
semble: see assemble^, n., assembly.] A gather-
ing; a meeting; an assembly.
Barouns and burgeis and bonde-men also
I sau3 in that semble as je schul heren hcr-aftur.
Piers Plowman (A), Prol., 1. 97.
semet. An obsolete spelling of seem, seam"^.
sem6 (se-ma'), «• and n. [F., pp. of semer, <
li. seminare, sow. see seminate.] I. a. laher.,
covered with small bearings
whose number is not fixed, and
which form a sort of pattern
over the surface : said of the
field or of any bearing. Where
the bearings are distributed equally,
and those which come next to the
edges of the escutcheon are cut off,
it is held by some writers that the
blazon must be sct/k", and not sans
nmnbre (see sans nombre). Also pow-
dered, aspersed.
Heralds in blew velvet semie with
fleurs de lys.
Evelyn, Diary, Sept. 7, 1651.
II. n. In decorative art, a
powdering; a small, constant-
ly repeated figure; a decora-
tion of which the different
units do not touch one another, but are sepa-
rated by the background.
semelyhedet, « . A Middle English form of seem^
lihca'l.
semen (se'men), n. [NL., < L. semen, seed, <
severe, pp. s^us {■\/ se, sa), sow: see sow.] 1.
In hot., the seed of plants, or the matured ovule.
— 2. A thick whitish fluid of a peculiar odor,
the combined product of the testes and acces-
sory generative glands, containing spermato-
zoa as its essential constituent — Semen contra.
Same as semencinc.
semencine (se'men-sin), n. [< F. semencine, <
NL. semen cinx: L. semen, seed; cinx, gen. of
cina, a local name of santonica, 1.] Same as
santonica, 2.
semen-milltiplex (se'men-mul"ti-plek8), ». In
hot., same as sporidesm.
semese (se-mes'), a. [< li.semcsns, half -eaten,
< .icmi-, half, -I- esus, pp. of cdere, eat, = E. eat.]
Half-eaten. [Rare.]
No ; they're sons of gyps, and that kind of thing, who
feed on the semese fragments of the high table.
Farrar, Julian Home, vii.
semester (se-mes'tSr), n. [< F. semestre = 6.
semester, < L. semestris, half-yearly, < sex, six
(see six), + mensis, a month: see month.] A
period or term of six months ; specifically, one
of the half-year courses in German and many
other Continental universities, and hence in
some colleges in the United States: as, the
summer and winter semesters.
[< L. semestris, half-
half-
semestral (se-mes'tral),
yearly, + -dl.] Relating to a semester ;
yearly ; semiannual.
semi- (sem'i). [F. semi- = Sp. Pg. It. semi-, <
L. semi- = Gr. ^/u-, half, = Skt. sdmi, half-way,
= AS. sdm-, half : see hcmi- and savi-.] A pre-
fix of Latin origin, meaning 'half: much used
in English in the literal sense, and, more loose-
ly, to mean ' in part, partly, almost, largely, im-
perfectly, incompletely.' It may be used, like half,
with almost any adjective or noun. Only a few com-
pounds are given below (without etymology, if of recent
formation in English).
semiacid (sem-i-as'id), n. and a. Half-acid;
subacid.
semi-adherent (sem"i-ad-her'ent), a. In hot.,
having the lower half adherent, as a seed, sta-
' •-• , / N r-vTT /T • men, etc.
Semecarpus(sem-e-kar pus),». [NL. (Lmnajus geniiamplexicanl(sem"i-am-plek'si-kal),n. In
A Shield Semi of
Fleurs-de-lis.
filius, 1781), so called from the use of the un-
ripe fruit in Ceylon in marking cotton cloths ;
irreg. < (Jr. mj/ielov, a- mark or badge, -f KapTv6(,
fruit.] A genus of polypetalous trees, of the
order Anacardiacese and tribe Anacardicx. It is
characterized by simple flowers with Ave imbricated pet-
als, five stamens, a one-celled ovary with three styles, and
a single ovule pendulous from the apex. There are about
40 species, chiefly natives of the East Indies, especially in
Ceylon. They are trees with alternate coriaceous leaves,
and small flowers in tenniiial or lateral bracted panicles,
followed by hard kidney-shaped nuts with a thick resinous
cellular pericarp, the source, in the leading species, of an
indelible ink, and, after ripening, of a varnish and of a cor-
rosive application used by the Hindus for rheumatism.
See marking-nut, and Oriental cashew-nut (under cashew-
nut).
semeia, «. Plural of semeion.
semeiography, semeiologic, etc. See semiog-
raphy, etc.
semeion (se-mi'on), «.; pi. semeia (-ii). [< Gr.
i7ti/ieluv, a mark, sign, token, < ay/xa, a mark, sign,
token, etc. : see sematic] 1. In anc. pros. : (a)
The unit of time ; a primary time, or mora. See
time, (b) One of the two divisions of a foot,
known as tliesis and arsis, or an analogous
division of a measure or colon — for instance,
^1^. i^l-s... ^^-w |_w-w._2. In
hot., half-amplexicaul ; embracing half of the
stem, as many leaves.
semianatropal, semianatropous (sem'i-a-
nat'ro-pal, -pus), a. In bot., same as amphit-
ropous.
semiangle (sem'i-ang-gl), n. The half of a
given or measuring angle.
semiannual (sem-i-an'u-al), a. Half-yearly.
semiannually (sem-i-an'u-al-i), adv. Once
every six months.
semiannular (sem-i-an'u-lar), a. Forming a
half-circle ; semicircular.
Another boar tusk, somewhat slenderer, and of a semi-
annular figure. iV. Grew, Museum.
semi-anthracite (sem-i-an'thra-sit), n. Coal
intermediate in character between anthracite
and semibituminous coal. In anthracite the vola-
tile matter is usually less than 7 per cent, in quantity ; m
semi-anthracite, less than 10 per cent.
Semi-anthracite is neither as hard nor as dense as anthra-
cite, its luster not so brilliant ; its percentage of volatile
matter is greater, and the cleavage planes or "cleats" are
much closer, the fracture often approaching the cuboidal.
Penn. Survey, Coal Mining, p. 18.
semi-ape (sem-i-ap'), «• A lemur or allied ani-
mal ; a prosimian ; any one of the Prosimite.
senuacLuatic
seinla(}Uatic (sem'i-a-kwat'ik), a. In zool. and
l)ii/.. living close to water, and sometimes en-
tering it, but not necessarily existing by it: as,
the semiaqtuitic spiders, which run over the
surface of water, or dive and conceal them-
selves beneath it; scmiaqiintic plants, which
grow between tides, or in pools that periodi-
cally become dry, etc.
Semi-Arian (sem-i-a'ri-an), a. and n. I. a. Per-
taining to Semi-Arianism.
H. II. In ecdes. hist., a member of a body of
the Arians which arose in the fourth century.
The .Semi- Arians heUi the strict Arian doctrine that the .Son
was created by the will of the Father, but maintained that
the Father and the .Son are of similar and not of ditferent
substances. See .trianl, fumwioumin, and homoowfian.
Semi-Arianism (sem-i-a'ri-an-izm), H. [< tiemi-
Arian + -ism.'} The doctrines or tenets of the
Semi- Arians.
semi-articulate (sem'i-ar-tik'u-lat), a. Loose-
jointed; half-invertebrate.
A most indescribable thin-bodied itmi.artieulaU bat al-
together helpful kind of a factotum manserrant.
CaHyh, In Froude, I. 256.
semi-attached (sem'i-a-tachf), «• Partially at-
tached or united; partially bound by affection,
interest, or special preference of any kind.
We would have been gemi-attacheii, as it were. We
would have locked up that room in either heart where tlie
skeleton was, and said nothing about it.
Thackeray, Lovel the Widower, fL
Semi-Augnstinianism (sem-i-a-gus-tin'i-an-
izm). II. A niodcratc form of Augustiniauism,
prevalent in the sixth century.
semi-band (sem'i-band), n. In entom., a band
of color extending half-way around a part or
half-way across a wing: as, semi-hands ot black
on the fore wings. Also semi/nscia. [Rare.]
semlbarbarian (sem'i-bar-ba'ri-an), o. and n.
I. II. Hiilf-savage ; partially civilized.
II. II. One who is but partially civilized.
semibarbaric (sem'i-bar-bar'ik), a. Half-bar-
barous; i)artly civilized: aa, semibarbaric dia-
play.
semibarbarism (sem-i-bftr'ba-rizm), n. The
state or (juality of being semitiarbarous or half-
civilized.
SemibarbarOTU (sem-i-bar'ba-rus), a. [< L.
similiarharus, < semi-, half, + barbarus, bar-
barous.] Half-civilized.
semibituminons (sem'i-bi-tu'mi-nus), a. Part-
ly hiturninous, as coal.
semibreTe (»em'i-brev), n. [Also semibrief; =
F. .seiiii-brixe = .Sp. Pg. semibrme, < It. semibrere,
< nemi-, half, + breve, a short note: see #e»ni-
and brere, brief. ] In music, a whole note, or the
space of time measured by it. Bee notel, 13.
— Semllirere rest. See rati, 8 (6\
semibrief (scm'i-bref), n. Same as semibrere.
5iSS
semichoric (sem-i-ko'rik), a. Partaking some-
what of the character of a chorus, or noting an
utterance half sung, half spoken.
semichoniS (sem'i-ko-rus), «. In music: (a)
Either a small number of singers selected for
lighter effects from all the parts of a large
chorus, or a chorus made up of fewer than the
full number of parts, as a male chorus or a fe-
male chorus: opposed to full chorus. Also
called small chorus. (6) A movement intended
to be performed by such a partial chorus.
semichrome, «. Same as scmicrome.
semicircle (sem'i-ser-kl), n. [= Sp. semicirculo
= Pg. xtmieirculo = It. semicircolo, < L. semi-
circulus, a semicircle, as adj. semicircular, <
setni-, half, + drculus, circle: see circle.'] 1.
The half of a circle ; the part of a circle com-
prehended between a diameter and the half of
a circumference ; also, the half of the circum-
ference itself. — 2. Any body or arrangement
of objects in the form of a half-circle.
Looking back, there is Trieste on her hillside, . . .
backed by the rast gemicirde of the Julian Alps.
B. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 97.
3. An instrument for measuring angles ; a spe-
cies of theodolite with only half a graduated
circle ; a graphometer.
semicircled (sem'i-s^r-kld), a. [< semicircle +
-ftf-i.] Same as semicircular.
The firm fixture of thy foot would give an excellent mo-
tion to thy gait in a semi-circled farthingale.
Shak., M. W. of W., Ui. S. 68.
semicircular (sem-i-scr'ku-lar), a. [= F. semi-
cirruluire = Sp. semicircular = Pg. semicircular
= It. semicircolare, < L. srmicirculus, semicircle :
see semicircle.'] 1. Having the form of a half-
circle. — 2. Specifically, in anat., noting the
three canals of the internal ear, whatever their
actual shape. They are usually horseshoe-
shaped or oval, and sometimes quite irregular.
See canal^, and cuts under Crocodilia, ear^, and
periotic.
semicircnlarly (sem-i-sir'ku-lSr-li), adv. In
the fonn of a semicircle.
semicirqne (sem'i-s^rk), ». A semicircle; a
semicircular hollow.
Upon a temieirque of turf-clad ground,
The hidden nook discovered to our view
A mass of rock. Wordtumrth, Excursion, ill.
semiclosure (sem-i-klo' jnr), n. Half or partial
closure.
had the effect
lip and amtiejoflurv of the nostril."
Ferrier's experiments on monkeys
of " Ufnion of the " '
Pop. Sei. Mo., XXXVII. 519.
[Obsolete or archaic]
flr<
bri^,
rireat red coal* roll oat on the hearth, iMrUe > mmt-
. and then dissolve into bn>wn ashes.
& Judd, Margaret, L 17.
semi-bull (sem'i-bAl), n. Eecles., a bull issued
by a pope between the time of his election and
that of lii.H coronation. A semi-bull ha* an impres-
sion on only one side of the seal. After the consecration
the name of the pope and the date are stamped on the re>
verse, thus constituting a double bull.
semi-cadence (setn-i-ka'dens), n. In music, same
as iiiijifrfirt radciice (which see, under cadence).
semicalcareons (sem'i-kal-ka're-us), a. Partly
chalky; imperfectly calcareous; approaching
chalk in substance or appearance. Compare
cornrnralrareous.
semi-calcined (sem-i-kal'sind), a. Half-cal-
cined : as. semi-calcined iron.
semi-canal (sem'i-ka-nar)< "• In zoiil., a chan-
neled sheath open at one side, so that it does
not form h complete tube.
semicartilaginous (sem-i-kiir-ti-lai'i-nus), a.
Gristly; imperfectly cartilaginous.
semicastrate (sem-i-kas'trat), v. t To deprive
of one testicle.
semicastration (sem'i-kas-tra'shon), n. De-
privation of one testicle.
For one [testicle! suffleeth unto generation, as hath been
observed in $em*caMrati/jn, and ofttiroes in camoos rap.
tares. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., Iv. 5.
semicaudate (sem-i-k&'dat), a. Having a small
or rudimentary tail, as man. See tailed, a.
Semicell (sem'i-sel), n. In hot., one of the two
parts of a cell which is constricted in the mid-
dle, as in the I)e.*<midiarefe.
semi-centennial (sem'i-sen-ten'i-al), a. and h.
I. It. Occurriin; at the end of, or celebrating the
completion of, fifty vears, or half a century: as,
a semi-centeniiial celebration.
II. n. A semi-centennial celebration.
semicolon (sem'i-ko-lon), n. [= F. Sp. semicolon
=z a. Sw. Dan. semikolon; as semi- + colon^.]
In qriim. and punctuation, the point (;). It is
U8e<i to mark a division of a sentence somewhat more in-
dependent than that marked by a comma. (.See pitnelua-
Hon.) In old books a mark like the semicolon was often
used a* a mark of abbreviation, being In fact another form
of the abbrerlatfve character 3, z. In oz., viz., ete. : thus,
"Senato* popoluaq: RomanI"; and in Oreek the aemico-
lon mark (;) i* the point of interrogation.
Caxton had the merit ot Introducing the Koman point-
ing a* used In Italy ; . . . the more elegant comma sup-
planted the long, uncouth | ; tlie colon was a refinement ;
. . . but the «nnieiil<m was a Latin delicacy which tbeob-
toae English typographer resisted.
/. D'ltraeli, Amen, of Lit., I. 242.
MmiCOlOn bnttertly, the butterfly Polygonia irUerroga-
tionie: so called from a silver
mark on the under side of the
lower wings which resembles a
semicolon. (U. S.l
semi-column (sem'i-kol-
uni), n. A half column; an
eugaged column of which
one naif protrudes from
the wall.
semi-columnar (sem'i-ko-
lum'niir), a. Like a half
column ; Sat on one side
and rounded on the other :
applied in botany to a
stem, leaf, or petiole.
semi -complete (sem'i-
kgm-plet'), a. In entom.,
incomplete : applied by
Linnteus and the older en-
tomologists to pupsB which
have only rudiments of
wings, but otherwise re-
semble the imago, as in the
Orlhiiptirii, 1lniiii>lira,e\c.
Semi-complete metamor-
ph08lB,nietaniorpho8iB in which
the pupa Is semi-complete. The
tenns ineompleU ma lubineom- »e«"-co\umas (Romam -
/>fato»jrt<««SS^«renowased SS.'" i'i!^'S.r N,„,t
tnstean. Be* MminwtaoMy. fcucc.
II !| «l ! II
semldiapente
semiconfluent (sem-i-kon'flo-ent), a. In pa-
tliol., half-confluent : noting specifically certain
cases of smallpox in which some of the pustules
run together but most of them do not. See
confluent, 4 (h).
semiconjugate (sem-i-kon'jo-gat), a. Conju-
gate and halved: thus, semiconjugate Ai&vaeteTS
are conjugate semi-diameters.
semiconscious (sem-i-kon'shus), a. Imper-
fectly conscious; not fully conscious. De
Quincey.
semiconvergent (sem"i-kon-v6r'jent), a. Con-
vergent as a series, while the series of moduli
is not convergent: thus, 1 — \ + i — J+ . . .
is a semiconvergetit series.
semicopet (sem'i-kop), n. [< ME. semi-cope,
semy-cope; < semi- + cope^.] An outer garment
worn by some of the monastic clergy in the
middle ages.
Of double worsted was his semy-cope.
That roundede as a belle out of the presse.
Chaucer, Gen. rtol. to C. T., 1. 262.
semicomeous (sem-i-k6r'ne-us), a. Partly
homy ; imperfectly corneous ; intermediate
between horn and ordinary skin or hair, as
the horns of the giraffe and American ante-
lope.
semicoronate (sem-i-kor'o-nat), a. In entom.,
having a semicoronet ; half surrounded by a line
of spines, bristles, or other projections Semi-
coronate prolegs, prolegs with a semicircle of crotchets
or little hooks on the edge of the apical surface or sole.
semicoronet (sem-i-kor'o-nct), «. In entom., a
line of spines, bristles, or other projections half
surrounding a part, especially at the apex.
semicostiferous (sem'i-kos-tlf'e-ms), a. Half
bearing a rib ; having a costal demifacet — that
is, sharing with another vertebra a costal artic-
ulatioti. Most vertebra which bear ribs are
semicostiferous.
Seventh cervical semicostiferous, without vertebrarterial
canal. Coues, Monographs of N. A. Rodentia (1877), p. 549.
semicritical (sem-i-krit'i-kal), a. Related to
a differential equation and its criticoids as a
seminvariant is related to an algebraic equation
and its invariants.
semicroma (sem-i-kro'mS), n. A variant of
SI micniine.
semicrome (sem'i-krom), n. [< It. semicroma,
< semi-, half, + croma, croma.] In music, a
sixteenth-note. Some old writers apply the
name to the eighth-note. Also semichrome,
semicroma.
semi-crotchett, ». [Early mod. E. semie crochet;
<. siini- -i- crotchet.] S&me as semicrome. Florio.
semicrustaceous (sem'i-kms-ta'shius), a.
Half hard or crusty (and half membranous):
said of the fore wings of hemipterous insects.
semi-crystalline (sem-i-kris'ta-ltn), a. Half or
imperfectly crystallized.
semicubical (sem-i-ku'bi-kal), a. Of the de-
gree whose exponent is f : libw used only in the
expression semicubical parabola — that is, a pa-
rabola whose equation is?/ =x'. Bee parabola'^.
semicubium, semicupium (sem-i-kti'bi-um, -pi-
um), n. [= It. scniiciipio, < ML. semicupium, <
L. semicupsp, a half tun, < setni-, half, + cupa, a
tub, tun : see cup, coop.] A half bath, or a bath
that covers only the legs and hips. [Bare.]
semicylinder (sem-i-sil'in-d^r), n. Half a cyl-
inder in longitudinal section.
semicylindric (sem'i-si-lin'drik), a. Same as
scmiiylniilriral.
semicylindrical (sem'l-si-lln'dri-kal), a.
Shaped like or resembling a cylinder divided
longitudinally; of semicircular section Seml-
cyUadrtcal leaf, in bol., a leaf that is elongated, flat
on one side, and round on the other. — Semicylindrical
vaulting. See cylindrical vaulting, under cyliiidric.
semide&nite (sem-i-def'i-nit), a. Half definite.
~ Semidefinlte some, some in the sense of an exclusion
of all ; S(.inie. I>ut not all ; some only.
semidemisemiQuaver (sem - i - dem - i - sem - i -
kwa'ver). «. In musical notatioh, same as hemi-
dimisemiqiiiirer.
semidependent (sem'i-df-pen'dent), a. Half
dependent or depending.'
semidesert (sem-i-dez'6rt), a. Half-desert;
mostly Ijarren, with a sparse vegetation.
semi-detached (sem'i-de-tachf), a. Partly sep-
arated : noting one of two houses joined toge-
ther by a party-wall, but detached from other
buildings: a,s, a. semi-detached yiWa,.
semidiapason (sem-i-di-a-pa'zon), n. In viedi-
eiiil miislr, a diminished octave.
semidiapente (sem-i-di-a-pen'te), ». lamedie-
val music, a diminished fifth.
semidiaphaneity 5484
semidiaphaneity (sem-i-di'a-fa-ne'i-ti), n. semifascia (sem-i-fash'i-il), n. Inentow.,same
Halt"-traiisi)areucy; imperfect'trauspafeney. as semi-botKJ.
pi. seini-
TlietiansDirencv or «™«du.p/ian««y of the superficial Semifibularis (sem-i-fib-u-la'ris), n
coSusI^lero'fTiggLLXmirhave^ .tihuUins (-rez). In anat., same as peroxeus semilunar (sem-i-lu'nar)
semimembranous
'Twas Sleep slow jimrneying with liead on pillow, . . .
His litter of smooth semilucenl mist
Diversely tinged with rose and amethyst.
Keats, Endymion, iv.
production of their colours. Boyfe, On Colours, hreri^.
semidiaphanous (sem'i-di-af'a-nus), a. Partly semi-figure (sem-i-fig'ur), n. A partial human
aiav,hanous; somewhat transparent. figure in ornamental design, as a head and
^ „m^«^mdiaphanom torso with or without ai-ms, ending in scroll-
Woodward, On Fossils, work, leafage, or the like.
In semiflex (sem'i-fleks), v. t. To half -bend ; place
andji. [<F.semi-
Another plate, finely rariegated with a tetnidiaphanom
grey.
semidiatessaron (sem-i-di-a-tes'a-ron), ».
iiietlifi-dl «ii(,s(C, a diminished fourth.
semiditast, ». la medieval music, the reduction
of the time-value of notes by one half. See
(liminiitioH, 3.
semi-ditone (sem-i-di'ton). «. In medicviil mu-
sic, a minor third.— Diapason semi-ditone. See di-
apamn.
lunmre = Sp. Pg. .semilunar = It. semilnnarc, <
NL. *semilunaris, < L. semi-, half, + Imia, moon :
see lunar.'] I. «. Eesembliiig a half -moon in
form; half -moon shaped; loosely, in anat, hot.,
and zool, crescentic in shape; crescentiform ;
meniscoid; concavo-convex: noting several
in a position midway between extension and structures, without much regard for precision
complete flexion, as a limb or joint.
After the accident he could more than semi-flex the
forearm. Lancet, No. 3466, p. 242.
semiflexion (sem-i-flek'shon), H. The posture
of a limb or joint half-way between extension
and complete flexion.
Semidiuma (sem'i-di-Sr'na), n. pi. [}^- g^xai-Qoret (sem-i-&6'iet), n. In Joi., same as
(Stephens, 1829), < semi- + Diurrui, q. v.] In en- gcui-floscule.
torn., a group of lepidopterous insects, corre- gemi-floscular (sem-i-flos'ku-lar), a. Same as
spending to Latreille's Crepuscularia, and m- f,emi-/losculous.
eluding the hawk-moths. Semi-floscule (sem-i-flos'kul), n. In bot, a
semidiurnal (sem'i-di-er'nal), a. 1. Pertain- floret or floscule with a strap-shaped corolla,
ing to or accomplished in half a day (either j^g j^ ^j^g Composita'.
twelve hours or six hours); continuing half a gemi-flosculous, semi-flosculose (sem-i-flos'-
day.— 2. In entom., partly diurnal; flying in ku-lus, -16s), a. [< semi- + 1j. Jlosculus, a little
twilight ; crepusciilar ; specifically, of or per-
taining to the Semidiuma Semidiurnal arc, in
astron., the arc described by a heavenly body in half the
time between its rising and setting.
semi-dome (sem'i-dom), H. Half a dome, es-
pecially as formed by a vertical section; less
flower.] In bot, having the corolla split, flat-
tened out, and turned to one side, as in the
I. a. Fluid,
Semi'dome, exterior.
Apse of Suleimani6 Mosque, Constantinople (A. D. 1550).
ligular flowers of composites
semi-fluid (sem-i-flo'id), a. and n.
but excessively viscous.
II. ». An excessively viscous fluid.
semifluidic (sem"i-flQ-id'ik), a. Same as semi-
fluid. ,
semi-formed (sem'i-f6rmd), a. Half-formed;
imperfectly formed: as, a semi-formed crys-
tal. „ / T
semi-frater (sem-i-fra'ter), n. [ML., < b.
semi-, half, -I- frater, brother: see f rater.] In
monasticism, a secular benefactor of a reli-
gious house who for his services is regarded
as connected with its order or fraternity, and
has a share in its intercessory prayers and
masses.
semi-fused (sem'i-fiizd), a. Half-melted.
By grinding the semi-fmed mass and treating it with
, ^. water Ure, Diet., IV. 599.
properly, any feature of form or construction ^•''■°'- ' «„„+!,
more or less similar to half a dome. The term semigeometer (sem"i-]e-om e-t6r), n. A motn
applies especially to such quadrantal vaults as those or caterpillar of the section henmjeometrse.
SemigeometraB(sem"i-je-om'e-tre), n.pl. [NL.
(Hiibner, 1816), < L. semi-, half, + NL. Geome-
trx, q. v.] In entom., a section of noetuid moths
resembling the Geometridse in general appear-
ance.
semigeometrid (sem"i-je-om'e-trid), a. and n.
I. a. Of or pertaining to the Semigeometrse.
II. n. A member of the Semigeometrx ; a
semigeometer ; a semilooper.
semiglobose (sem-i-glo'bos), a. Having the
shape of half a sphere: applied especially to
the eggs of certain insects.
semiglobularly (sem-i-glob'u-liir-li), adv. So
as to form a half -sphere : as, a surface semi-
(/lobularly expanded,
whlchcoverintheapseofmostltalianmedievalchurches, s'emi-god (sem'i-god) n. [J^;^^ «««m|«^ <
and of many French and German Romanesque churches, semt-, half, -I- dcus, god.J A demigoa. L«are. J
See also cut under ap»e. Yonder souls, set far within the shade,
One of the most beautiful features of French vaulting, That in Elysian bowers the blessed seats do keep,
almost entirely unknown in this country, is the great That for their living good now semt-ffoite are made,
polygonal vault of the semi-dome of the chevet, which as
?i^^x m
^m
^^11
1
m
^S
^
^
T)
[.
Semi-dome, interior.
Apse of Suleimani^ Mosque, Constantinople ( A. D. 1550).
B. Jonson, Golden Age Eestored.
in the implied meaning.
The eyes are guarded with a semilunar ridge. N. Grew.
Semilunar aortic valves, the three pocket-like valves
at the origin of the aorta. The free margm la strengtli-
ened by a fibrous band, and is thickened at a middle
point called the corpus Arantii. The valves are attached
by their convex borders to the arterial wall at its jioint of
Junction with the ventricle.— Semilunar bone, the sec-
ond bone of the proximal row of the carpus, in man a small,
iiTegularly cubic bone articulating with the radius, sca-
phoid cuneiform, magnum, and unciform. Also called
lunare,ii\iermedium,&\\(i os tmtare, semiluuare.or lunalum.
See semtfunare.— Semilunar cartilage. See carltlarie,
and cut under knee-joint.— Semilunar cavity, in anat.,
the sigmoid cavity at the lower end of the radius. See
«i(/moi<f.— Semilunar fascia, a strong, flat, aponeurotic
band which passes downward and inward from the inner
side of the lower part of the biceps tendon to blend with
the deep fascia of the forearm. Also called bicipital fascia
(which see, under biciirital). See cut under wedian.— Semi-
lunar fibrocartllage. Same as sanilunar cartilage.—
Semilunar fold of the eye, the plica semilunaris or ru-
dimentary third eyelid of man and many other mammals.
— Semilunar fold of Douglas [James Douglas, Scot-
tish physician and anatomist (1676-1741)]. (o) The low'er
concave border of the posterior layer of the sheath of the
rectus muscle, lying about midway between the umbilicus
and pubis, (b) Same as rectovesical fold (which see, under
rectocmcaf).— Semilunar folds of the peritoneum,
the recto-uterine folds. See cut under peritoneum.—
Semilunar fossa or depression, in (miah., one of a pair
of large crescentic cavities on top of the sknll, one oyer
each orbit, lodging a supraorbital gland whose secretion
is conducted into the nasal cavity. It is very commonly
present in water-birds, as loons for example.— Semi-
lunar ganglion. See ganglion.— Semilunar lobes of
the cerebellum, the superior posterior and inferior pos-
terior lobes. - Semilunar membrane, in ornith. See
jn<!mfrra««.— Semilunar notch, in anat.: (a) The inter-
clavicular notch. ((<) The suprascapular notch.— Semi-
lunar pulmonary valve, one of three pocket-like valves
which guard tlie opening of the pulmonary artei-y into
the right ventricle of the heart. They are very like the
aortic valves of the same name (see above). = S3m. Semi-
lunar, Sigmoid. In anatomy, formerly (as still sometimes)
these words described the same crescentic figure, for the
reason that a later form of the Greek letter sigma, 2, was
like a C. The two forms are distinguished in structures
later named. Compare sigmoid (cavity of the ulna) with
eigmmd (flexure of the rectum), under sigmoid, a.
II. n. The semilunar or lunar bone of the
wrist. See semilunare.
semilunare (sem"i-lii-na're), ». ; pi. semihinaria
(-ri-a). Itih.: nee semilunar.] The semilunar
bone of the wrist ; the second bone of the proxi-
mal row of earpals, between the scaphoid and
the cimeiform : so called from its concavo-con-
vex shape in the human wrist. More fully
caXlei OS semilunare. Also luvare and hmalum.
See scapltolunare, and cuts under Artiodactyla,
hand, Perissodactyla, pisiform, and seaplwlu-
nar.
semilunary (sem-i-lii'na-ri), a. [As semilunar
+ -y.] Same as semilunar. [Kare.]
The Soldania Bay is of a semi-lunary forme.
Sir T. Ueriert, Travels in Africa (ed. 1638X p. 13.
semilunate (sem-i-lu'nat), a. [< NL. *senii-
luna, half-moon, + -ate^ (cf. lunate).] Same as
S- 'l^JSr^SroJ-'paLted g^asstd'^ semiheterocercal («T-i:?^t"S--?-«^^2ftl)' "• semtaaUgnant (sem"i-ma-lig'nant), a Some-
«v Ji'v.f a Smore beautiful thin^ than tl.e plain semi- Partly heterocercal. Smithsonian Report, 1880, ^,.^^^^ but not very malignant : said of tumors.
semimature (sem"i-ma-tiir'), a. [ME. semyma-
ture, < LL. scmimaturiis, half-ripe, < semi-, half,
-t- maturus, ripe.] Half-ripe.
Semymature also me may hem glene.
And dales V in salt water hem lene.
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.X p. 123.
tly
p. 371.
semihoral (sem-i-ho'ral), a. Half-hourly.
semi-independent (s'em-i-in-de-peu'dent), a.
Not fully independent; half or partly depen-
dent.
semi-infinite (sem-i-in'fi-nit), o. Limited at
tive ro<jf, a far more beautiful thing than tlie plain semi-
dome of the basilican apse, notwithstanding its mosaics.
J. t'ergusson. Hist. Arch., I. 573.
There is an apse at each end of the building, . . . cov-
eredwlth a semi-dome.
C. U. Moore, Gothic Architecture, p. 171.
semi-double (sem-i-dub'l), o. and n. I. a. In
hot., having the outermost stamens converted
into petals, while the inner ones remain per-
fect: said of a flower.
n. «. A festival on which half the antiphon
is repeated before and the whole antiphon after
the psalm. See double.
semi-ef&gy (sem-i-ef'i-ji), «. A portrait or other _^
representation of a figure seen at half length gemi-liciuid (sem-i-lik' wid), a
only, as in certain tombs of the fifteenth and semi-fluid
sixteenth centuries, monumental brasses, etc.
semi-elliptical (sem'i-e-lip'ti-kal), a. Having
the form of half an ellipse which is cut trans-
versely; semioval.
semi-fable (sem-i-fa'bl), ». A mixture of truth
and fable; a narrative partly fabulous and
partly true. I)e Quineey. [Rare.]
semi-faience (sem'i-fa-yons'), «• Inceram., . ,-, ^.n
pottei-y having a transparent glaze instead of semilucent (sem-i-lu sent),
the opaque enamel of true faience. parent.
one end and extending to infinity away from it. gemimembranose (sem-i-mem'bra-nos), a
-Semi-lnflnlte quantity. See quantity. ^.-^.^^ ^^ semimembranous.
semi-ligneous (sem-i-hg ne-us),a. Halt or par- ggmjjuemijranOSUS (sem-i-mem-bra-nd'sus),)i.;
tially ligneous or woody : in botany noting a
stem which is woody at the base and herba-
ceous at the top, as in common rue, sage, and
thyme.
' ^ HaH-Uquid;
pl.semimcmbraiiosi (-si). [NL. (se. muscvhi.i)-
see semimcmhrtiniius.] A long muscle of the
back of the thigh, or postfemoral region, aris-
ing from the ischial tuberosity, and inserted
chiefly into the back part of the inner tuber-
.,.^ , ,,.,.1 -i/i-s rrt, „4.„f„ osityofthe tibia: so called from its semimem
semi-liquidlty (sem''i-li-kwid i.:ti), »-^ l he state ^,ranous character in man, retained in few other
of being semi-liquid ; partial liquidity.
semilogical (sem-i-loj'i-kal), a. Pertaining to
the expression of ordinary or idiomatic lan-
guage m strict logical form — Semilogical fal-
Sicy. SeefaUacy.
semilooper (sem-i-lo'per), n. A semigeometer.
semilor (sem'i-16r), M. Same as similar.
a. Half-trans-
animals. Its tendon forms one of the inner hamstrings,
and also expands to enter into the formation of the pos-
terior ligament of the knee-joint. Its action flexes the
leg upon the thigh. Also called membranosus and ischio-
poplititihiali^-
seniimembranous(sem-i-mem'bra-nus), a. In
anat., partly membranous; intersected by sev-
eral broad, flat tendinous intervals, as the semi-
membranosus.
semi-menstmal
semi-menstmal (sem-i-men'strS-al), a. [< L.
gimi-, half, + menxtrualis, monthly.] Half-
monthly : specifically noting an inequality of
the tide which goes through its changes every
half-month.
Bemi-metal (sem-i-met'al), n. In old chem., a
metal that is not mallealjle, as bismuth, arsenic,
antimony, zinc, etc. The semi-metals were at first
called " bastards " of the metals proper : thus, antimony
was considered to be the bastard of lead, bismuth of tin,
etc. The number, character, and relations of the semi-
metals were quite differently given by the older chemists :
Boerhave classed various ores among them ; Brandt (1735)
maile them six in nomber— namely, quicksilver, antimony,
bismuth, cobalt, arsenic, and zinc. His putting cobalt (a
malleable and ductile metal) among the semi-metals was
due to the fact that the nature of this metal was only very
imperfectly known at that time.
semi-metallic (sem'i-me-tal'ik), a. Pertaining
to or having the character of a semi-metal ; im-
perfectly metallic in character.
semi-metamorphosis (scra-i-met-a-mor'fo-sis),
H. ln(iil'iiii..>»ime aaiiemi-metaniorpliosit. See
also himiimidbdly.
Semiminim (sera'i-min-im), n. [< ML. semi-
mininui ; as Hemi- + minim.} In medieval mu-
Ktciil notation, same as crotchet, or, with a hook
added to the sign, same as quaver, the former
being called major, the latter minor.
semiminima (sem-i-min'i-ma), M. Same as
vriililiitititit.
semimonthly (sem-i-munth'li), a. Occurring
twice ill each month.
semi-mute (sem-i-miit'), a. and n. I. a. Noting
a i)ers()u who, owing to the loss of the sense of
hearing, has lost also to a great extent the fac-
ulty of speech, or who, owing to congenital deaf-
ness, has never perfectly acquired that faculty.
H, n. A person thug affected.
seminal (sem'i-nal), a. and n. [< OP. seminal,
F. .■"■minal = Pr. Sp. Pg. seminal = It. seminale,
< L. .fiminaliK, relating to seed, < semen (semin-),
seed : see .femen.] I. a. 1. Of or pertaining to
seed or semen or the elements of reproduction.
— 2. Containing the seed or elements of repro-
duction ; germinal: as, «em<«w>2 principles.
Till' spirit of Ood prodaced them [wbale*] then, and es-
tablislu'd. and conserTes ever since, that tenUtuU power
whicti we call nature, to pfodace all creaturee ... In a
perpetual succeeaioD. Donns, Sermoni, zxix.
3. Kudimentary; original; primary.
Theae are very imperfect mdiments of " Paradiae U>it ";
bat It is pleasant to see great works in their »eminal state,
preffnant with latent poasibUltles of excellence.
JoKntm, Uilton.
Seminal anlmalcole, a spermatowbn.— ««"<''»i cap-
sule. Same as vejticida temifuUit. — fff?*H7ya| caitrldgO,
seminal rope, In cephalopoda. See qwriMitapAon.—
Seminal cyst, a cyst of the teeticle near the epuldymla.
—Seminal fluid, semen. —Semlnalleal Sameasaawi-
Uttf or ciJijMi'n. Seminal receptacle. See tpema-
thiea.— Seminal vesicle, .same aa ve^aUa mmincM:
H.t N. A seed ; a seminal or rudimentary
element.
The imninaU of other Inlqaltlea.
Sir T. Broume, Christ. Mar., ill. 4.
seminality (sem-i-nal'i-ti), ». [< seminal +
-iiy.] Seminal, germinal, or reproductive qual-
ity or principle.
There was a tndiuUitv and coattaeted Adam In the rib,
which, by the informatioo of a aoa], waa indlvldiiated into
Eve. Sir T. Browne, Valg. Err., tI. 1.
IKor explanation of this extract, see tkeary <^ imeai&mad
(under ineturmenl), and fpermitU\
seminally (sein'i-nal-i), adt. As a seed, germ,
or reproductive element; as regards germs or
gennination.
I*re»liyterH can couft-rre no more upon any of Bishop
than is rsdirally, «-mtmi//j/, and eminently in themselves.
np. Onwlen, Tears of the (Church, p. 470. (Daviet.)
It ifi the same Ood that we know and love, here and
tliuri' : and with a knowledge and love that la of the same
nature mniiutUji. Baxter, tMvlne Life, L 1.
seminar (sem-i-nar'), n. [< G. seminar, < L.
.1' niiiiiiriiiiii, a seed-plot : see seminary.'] Same
us srmtiuJnj. 5.
seminarian (sem-i-na'ri-an), n. [< semtiMiry +
-ail.} Same as HCminarixt.
seminarist (sem't-na-rist), n. [< F. siminariste
— Sp. Pg. It. seminaristit = D. 6. Sw. Dan. semi-
nnrixt ; as seminar-y + -ist.} A member of a
-■'•miliary ; sjH-cifically, a Komau Catholic priest
lui-ated in a foreign seminary.
Srminarigtg now come from Bome to pervert souls.
SlirUlm, Miracles (1«18X p. 170. (Latham.)
seminary («em'i-ua-ri), a. and n. [I. a. = Pg.
It. seminario, < L. scniinarius, of or pertaining
to seed, < semen {semin-), seed : see semen. U.
«. < MK. srmijnairic, < OK. scminaire, F. s4mi-
naire = Sji. Pg. It. siminnrio, a s»'ed-plot, a
seminary, = O. seminar, a seminary, < L. semi-
narium, a seed-plot, nursery-garden, NL. a
6*8B
school, seminary, neut. of seminarius, of or per-
taining to seed: seel.] I. a. 1. Oforpertain-
Lng to seed or semen ; seminal.
They [detractors] so comprehend those seminarie ver-
tues to men vnknown that those things which, in course
of time or by growing degrees. Nature of itselfe can effect,
they, by their art and skil in hastning the works of Na-
ture, can contriue and compasse in a moment.
Na^tie, Pierce Penilesse, p. 76.
Seminary vessels, both preparatory and ejaculatory.
J. Smith, On Old Age (1666), p. 117.
2. Of or pertaining to a seminary (def. II., 3) :
said of a Roman Catholic priest.
In 1584, a law was enacted, enjoining all Jesuits, semt-
nary priests, and other priests, whetherordained within or
without the kingdom, to depart from it within forty days,
on pain of being adjudged traitors.
HaUam, Hist. Eng., I. 153.
3. Of or pertaining to a seminary (def. II., 5) :
aSjB seminary course.
II. ». ; pi. seminaries (-riz). If. A seed-plot;
ground where seed is sown for producing plants
for transplantation; a nursery: now only in
figurative use.
But in the gemynairie mooat thai roote
With dounge and moolde admixt unto thaire roote.
Palladium, HU9bondrie(E. E. T. 8.), p. 78.
Some, at the first transplanting trees out of their senu-
nariea, cut them off about an inch from the ground, and
plant them like quickset. Mortimer, Husbandry.
That precious trainment {artj is miserably abused which
should be the fountain of skill, the root of virtue, the
teminaryot government, the foundation of all private and
public good. O. Harney, Four Letters.
Figuratively — 2. The original place or original
stock whence anything is brought.
But the Arke preuaUeth oner the preuailing waters, a
figure of the t-hurch, the remnant of the Church, the rem-
nant of the elder and Seminatie of the new world.
Purcha*, Pilgrimage, p. 40.
Whoever shall look Into the seminar*/ and beginnings
of the monarchies of this world he shall find them founded
on poverty. Baeon, Speech for Naturalixatiun (Works,
[ed. Spedding, X 324).
The council chamber at Edinburgh had been, during a
quarter of a century, a $tminary of all pulilic and private
vice*. Macatday, Hist Eng., vi.
3. A place of education ; any school, academy,
college, or university in which persons (espe-
cially the young) are instructed in the several
branches of learning which may qualify them
for their future employments; specifically, a
school for the education of men for the priest-
hood or ministry.
Certalne other Schooles In the towne farre remote from
this CoUed^e, which serueth for another Seminary to in*
struct their Noulces. Coryat, Crudltlea, I. en.
He (Cardinal Allen] procor'd a Seminary to be set up In
Doway for the English. Baker, Chronicles, p. 381.
I cloaed the conne at our Seminary here just two weeks
before yon returned. W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. S3.
4. A seminary priest; a Roman Catholic priest
educated in a seminary, especially a foreign
one; a seminarist.
Able christians should rather tnme Jesulteaand Semi-
nariet than run into Conventa and Frieriea.
JV. ITanf, Simple Cobler, p. 40.
A while agone, they made me, yea me, to mistake an
honeet aealoua punulvant for a geminary.
B. Joneon, Bartholomew Fair, 11. 1.
Of a long time I have not only been stipposed a Papist,
Imt a mmbtary, a Jeeull, an emiaaary of Home.
Penn, Speech, March 22, 1678.
6. In some universities and institutions, a group
of advanced students pursuing some branch by
real research, the writing of theses, etc. ; also,
the coiurse of study engaged in by such stu-
dents; a seminary course : imitated from Ger-
man use. Also seminar.
geminate (sem'i-nat), r. t. ; pret. and pp. sem-
inated, ppr. seminating. [< L. seminatus, pp.
of seminare, sow, engender, also beget, bring
forth, produce, propagate, < semen (semin-),
seed: see semen. Cf. disseminate.'] To sow;
spread; propagate; inseminate; disseminate.
Thus all were doctors who first geminated learning in
the world by special Instinct and direction of G(k1.
Waterlunut, Apology, p. 19. (f/atAam.)
Hir Thomas More, and others who had intended to gem-
inate, engender, and breed among the people and sub-
jects of the King a most mischievous and seditious opin-
ion. R. W. Dixon, Hist Church of Eng., iv.
semination (sem-i-na'shon), n. [= P. setnina-
tiim = It. scminazione, seminaijione, < L. semi-
ntitio(n-), a sowing, propagation, < seminare,
pp. seminatus, sow, propagate: see seminate.'}
1 . The act of sowing ; the act of disseminating ;
insemination.
If the place you sow in be too cold for an autumnal
gemination. Eoelyn.
2t. Propagation; breeding.
semiology
Thus thay endtiring in lust and delyte
The spreetes of tham gat that were gyauntes tyte.
With the nature of themeselves and syminacion,
Thay wer brought forthe by there yinaginacion.
MS. Lamdouite 208, f. 2. (HaUiwetl.)
3. In bot., the natural dispersion of seeds ; the
process of seeding.
seminet, «'• *• [= P. semer = It. seminare, < L.
seminare, sow, < semen (semin-), seed : see sem-
inate.'} To sow; scatter.
Her garments blue, and semined with stars.
B. Jonson, Masque of Hymen.
seminiferous (sem-i-uif'e-rus), a. [< L. semen
(semin-), seed, -I- ferre = E. bear^.} 1. Seed-
bearing; producing seed. — 2. Serving to caiTy
semen; containing or conveying the seminal
fluid — Seminiferous scale, in 6o(., a scale above the
bract-scale in the Coii\ferx, upon which the ovules, and
ultimately the seeds, are placed.
seminific (sem-i-nif 'ik), a. [< L. semen (semin-),
seed (see semen), -I- -jicu-s, < facere, make (see
-r?p).] Producing semen ; forming the seminal
fluid.
seminifical (sem-i-uif'i-kal), a. [< seminific +
-«/.] Same a.s setninific.
seminiflcation (sem-i-nif-i-ka'shon), n. [< L.
semen (semin-), seed, -t- -ficatio(n-), < facere,
make.] Propagation from the seed or seminal
parts. S'ir J/. -HaJe, Orig. of Mankind. [Kare.]
seminist (sem'i-nist), H. [< L. semen (semin-),
seed, + -ist.'i In bioL, one who believes that
the embryo is formed from admixture of male
semen with the so-called seed of the female. The
theory is an old one, and in its original form was crude ;
in its present exact form, it declares one of the most fun-
damental and comprehensive of t>iolugical facts, and has
been minutely worked out in detail by enibiyologists. The
use of the word ovum for need wotdd adapt the old theory to
the most exacting of modern conceptions respecting the
parts taken by the male and female elenients of generation.
A geminigt is in no sense to be confounded witli a spermitit
(which see). See also nucleus, pronucleus, feiiiinonuclevg,
mageulonueleug, gamete, gamogenesis, generation, repro-
duction, eggi, ovum, gpermatotoon, and sex.
Seminole (sem'i-nol). n. and a. [Ind, (Flor-
ida).] I. «. A member of a tribe of Amer-
ican Indians, allied to the Creeks, and formerly
resident in Florida. They were defeated by United
States troops in two wars, 1817-18 and 1835-42, and the
greater part are now on reservations in the Indian Terri-
tory, though a small number stiU inhabit some parts of
Florida.
II, a. Of or relating to the Seminoles.
semi-nude (sem-i-nud'), «, [< L. seminudus,
half-naked, < .semi-, half, + midus, naked: see
nude.'} Half-naked.
seminolnm (se-min'u-lum), n. ; pi, seminula
(-la). [NL., dim. of L. semen (semin-), seed:
see semen.] A little seed; a spore.
seminvariant (sem-in-va'ri-ant), n. [< sem^i)-
+ iinariant.] A function of the coefficients of
a binary quantic which remains unaltered but
for a constant factor when x -I- Hs substituted
for X, but not when y + I is substituted for y.
A seminvariant is the leading coefficient of a covariant.
Otherwi.se called peiiinvariant.
seminvariantive (sem-in-va'ri-an-tiv), a. [<
semincariant + -ive.] Having the character of
a seminvariant.
seminymph (sem'i-nimf), n. The nymph or
pujia of an insect which undergoes only semi-
metamori>hosis; a hemiinetabolic nymph; a
propuiia.
semi-ODSCUre (sem'i-ob-sklir'), a. In entom.,
noting the wings of hymenopterous or other in-
sects when they are deeply tinged with brownish
grav, but seniidiaphanous or semi-transparent.
semi-official (sem'i-g-fish'al), a. Partly official ;
having some degree of official authority; made
upon information from those who have official
knowledge: as, a ««H(-o^>io/ confirmation of a
report ; a simi-official organ.
semi-officially (sem"i-o-fish'al-i), adv. With
semi-official authority; as if from official
sources or with official autliority; iii a semi-
official manner: as, it is semi-officially an-
nounced; the statement is made semi-officially.
semiography, semeiography (se-ml-og'ra-fi),
«. [^ Gr. m//ieiov, a mark, a trace, + -) pa^ia, <
■fpai^eiv, write.] The doctrine of signs in gener-
al ; specifically, in patliol., a description of the
marks or symptoms of diseases.
semlologic, semeiologic (se'mi-9-loj'ik), a. [<
SI iiiiiiliiii-y + -i<'.] Same as scmiological.
semiolbgical, semeiological (se'mi-o-loj'i-
kal), a. [< semiologic + -<d.] Kelating to se-
miology, or the doctrine of signs; specifically,
pertaining to the symptoms of diseases. Also
scm ioloffir, scinciologic.
semiology, semeiology (se-mi-ol'o-ji), n. [For-
merly improp. scimeoloyy; < Gr. oTi/uiov, a mark.
semiology
sign, + -/Myla, < Aiytw, say, speak: see -ology.]
1. The logical theory of signs, of the eoudi-
tions of their fulfilling their functions, of their
cliief kinds, etc. — 2t. The use of gestures to ex-
press thought.
These ways of signifying our. thoughts by gestures,
called by the learned Bishop Wilkins semxaloi/y.
Urquhart, tr. of Rabelais, Pref.
3. The sum of soientific knowledge concerning
morbid symptoms and their pathological sig-
nificance; symptomatology; semiotics.
Semeiology infers, from the widening of one pupil, which
of internal doul)le organs is most diseased. Mind, IX. 97.
Semi-Opacoust (sem"i-o-pa'kus), a. Semi-
opaque.
Semiopacmts bodies are such as, looked upon in an or-
dinary light, and not held betwixt it and the eye, are not
wont to be discriminated from the rest of opacous bodies.
Boyle.
semi-opal (sem-i-d'pal), n, A variety of opal
not possessing opalescence.
semi-opaoue (sem'i-o-pak'), a. Half-transpa-
rent; nalt-opaque.
Semioptera (se-mi-op'te-ra), n. [NL. (G. K.
Gray, 1859), < Gr. ati/ulo'v, a mark, standard, -I-
iTT£p6v, wing.] A genus of Paradiseklee, char-
Seniipalmate Foot of Willet {Sjf^n-
f hernia semifalntata).
Wallace's Standard wing {Semicptera wallacei).
acterized by the two long white plumes which
project from each wing of the male, and by the
extension of a burnished green pectoral shield
into long lateral tufts ; the standard wings. The
only species known is S. wallacei, 114 inches
long, inhabiting the islands of Batchian and
Jilolo.
semi-orbicular (sem"i-6r-bik'u-lar), a. 1.
Having the shape of a half-orb or -sphere. — 2.
In entom., bounded approximately by half a
circle and its diameter.
semi-ordinate (sem-i-6r'di-nat), n. In conic
section/1, half a chord bisected by the transverse
diameter of a conic.
semiosseons (sem-i-os'e-us), a. Partly bony;
somewhat or incompletely ossified.
Semlotellus (se'mi-o-tel'us), n. [NL. (West-
wood, 1840), dim. of Semiotus, a generic name,
< Gr. cnnieiuToc, noted, < m/fieiov, a mark : see sc-
meion.} A genus of hymenopterous parasites of
SefftioteUus chalcidipha^s.
a, female, from side ; 6, male, from above. (Hair-lines indicate
natural sizes.)
the family Chalddidse and subfamily Pteroma-
linee, of few species, but wide distribution, s.
chaZcidipfuif/us is a notably beneficial insect, as it is a com-
mon parasite of the destructive joint-worm of the United
States {lifmmna hordei). Hee joint-worm and Isosmrui.
Semiotic, semeiotic (se-mi-ot'ik), a. [< Gr. ati-
fieu^cKOi, fitted for marking, portending, < a?/-
/lecovv, mark, interpret as a portent, < ar//ielov, a
mark, sign: see semeion.'] Relating to signs;
specifically, relating to the symptoms of dis-
eases; symptomatic.
semiotics, semeiotics (se-mi-ot'iks), ». [Pi.
of semiotic, semeiotic (see -ics).'i 1. The doc-
trine or science of signs ; the language of signs.
5486
— 2. Specifically, that branch of pathology
which is concerned with the significance of
all 'symptoms in the human body, whether
healthy or diseased; symptomatology; semi-
ology.
semioval (sem-i-6'val), a. In zool, having the
form of half an oval ; semi-elliptical.
semiovate (sem-i-6'vat), a. In zool., having
tlie form of half an ovate surface or plane.
semioviparous (sem"i-o-vip'a-rus), a. Imper-
fectly viviparous, as an implaeental mammal :
noting the marsupials and monotremes (the
latter, however, have been ascertained to be
oviparous).
semiovold (sem-i-6'void), a. In zool., having
tlie form of half an ovoid solid.
semipalmate(sem-i-parmat), a. Half-webbed,
as the toes of a bird ;
ha vingpartly webbed
or imperfectly pal-
mate feet, as a bird:
applied to many
species whose toes
are webbed at the
base only, or not
more than half-way
to their ends. Com-
pare cuts under bi-
colliijate andpalmate.
semipalmated (sem-i-pal'ma-ted), a. Semipal-
mate ; mostly used of the birds themselves : as,
the semipalmated plover, snipe, sandpiper, etc.
See cut under Ereunetes.
semipalmation (sem"i-pal-ma'shon), )(. Half-
webbing of the toes, as a bird's; the state of
being semipalmated.
Such basal webbing of the toes is called semipahruition.
It . . . occurs in many birds of prey, in most gallinaceous
birds, etc. ; the term is mostly restricted, in descriptive
ornithology, to those wading birds, or grallatores, in which
it occurs. C&ues, Key to N. A. Birds, p. 131.
semi-parabola (sem"i-pa-rab'o-la), n. In math.,
a curve of such a nature that the powers of its
ordinates are to each other as the next lower
powers of its abscissas.
semipause (sem'i-paz), n. In medieval musical
notation, a semibreve rest. See rest^, 8 (6).
semipectinate (sem-i-pek'ti-nat), a. Same as
(Icmi-pcctitiate.
semiped (sem'i-ped), n. [< L. semipes (-ped-), a
half-foot, < semi-, half, + pes (jied-) = E. foot.']
In pros., a half -foot.
semipedal (sem'i-ped-al), a. [< semiped + -al.]
In pros., pertaining to or constituting a half-
foot.
Semi-Pelagian (sem"i-pe-la'ji-an), a. and n.
I. a. Half -Pelagian ; pertaining to the Semi-
Pelagians or their tenets.
II. n. One who holds to the system of Semi-
Pelagianism.
Semi-Pelagianism (sem"i-pe-la'ji-an-izm), n.
The compromise between Augustinianism and
Pelagianism attempted in the fifth century by
Cassian in southern Prance, who maintained
that man is morally sick, in opposition to Au-
gustine, who asserted that he is morally dead,
and to Pe]agius,who held that he is morally well.
The Semi-Pelagians believe that the free will of man co-
operates with divine grace in the attainment of salvation,
and that God determines to save those who he sees will
of themselves seek salvation. Semi-Pelagianism therefore
denies unconditional election, and substitutes a doctrine
of predestination conditioned upon man's exercise of his
free will to choose the good.
semipellucid (sem"i-pe-lii'sid), a. Partially
pellucid; imperfectly transparent: as, a semi-
pellucid gem.
semipenniform (sem - i -pen 'i- form), a. Half
penniform; penniform on one side only; in
anat., specifically, noting a muscle whose fleshy
fibers converge on one side of a tendon, like
the web on one side of the shaft of a feather.
semiperfect (sem-i-per'fekt), a. In entom.,
nearly perfect; deficient in some parts: as,
semiperfect limbs; a semiperfect neuration.
Semipliyllidia (sem'''i-fl-lid'i-a), n. pi. [NL. :
see Semiphyllidiana.] Same as Semiphyllidi-
ana.
Semiphyllidiacea (sem'^i-fi-lid-i-a'se-a), n. pi.
[NL., < ,Siiiiipl()/tlidi(ana) + -acea.]' Same as
Semijihi/lliditina.
semiphyllidian (sem'''i-fi-lid'i-an), a. and n. I.
a. Of or pertaining to the Semijihyllidiana.
II. )). A semiphyllidian or monopleurobran-
chiate gastropod.
Semiphyllidiana (sem"'i-fi-lid-i a'na), n. pi.
[NL., < L. ,<ietm-, half, + Gr. (fiv'/'Kov, a leaf.] In
Lamarck's classification, a family of gastropods
having the gills in a row on the right' side of
semireflex
the body, containing the genera Pleurohranchus
and Umbrella.
Semiphyllididse (sem"i-fi-lid'i-de), n. pi. [NL.,
< ,Sci)iiiihi/lli<l{i(ina) + -irte.] Same as Semi-
pliyltidiana. More correctly Sciitipliyllidiidee.
semipiscine (sem-i-pis'in), a. Half fish-like:
as, the semipiscine form of Oannes or Dagon.
See cut under Dagon.
Semiplantigrada (sem"i-plan-tig'ra-da), n. pi.
[NL., neut. pi. of .semiplaiitigradns : see semi-
plantigrade.] A division of tV/niw-oca, includ-
ing those carnivores which are semiplantigrade.
It corresponds to the family Mustelidie.
semiplantigrade (sem-i-plan'ti-grad), a. [<
NL. semiplantigradus, < L. semi-, half, + NL.
plantigradus : see plantigrade.] Incompletely
plantigrade ; partly digitigrade ; subplanti-
grade; of or pertaining to the Semiplantigrada.
semiplastic (sem-i-plas'tik), a. Imperfectly
plastic ; in a state between full plasticity and
rigidity.
These impurities had been gathered while the glass was
in a semi-plafitic condition. Sci. Anner., N. h., LIV. 184.
The falling body [meteoric iron] was partly se7niplastic.
Amer. Jour. Sci., 3d ser., XXi. 236.
Semiplotina (sem''''i-plo-ti'na), n. pi. [NL., <
Semiplotus + -ina^.] In Giinther's classifica-
tion of fishes, the sixth group or subfamily of
cyprinoids, typified by the genus Semiplotus.
They have the air-bladder developed into an anterior and
posterior section ; the pharyngeal teeth in a single, dou-
ble, or triple series (the outer never containing more than
seven teeth) ; the anal fin short or of moderate length, with
from eight to eleven branched rays not extending forward
to below the dorsal tin ; the lateral line, if complete, run-
ning in or nearly in the middle of the tail ; and tile dorsal
fin elongate, witli numerous branched rays and one osse-
ous ray. They are found in Asiatic streams.
Semiplotinae (sem"i-plo-ti'ne), n. pi. [NL., <
Semiplotus + -ime.] Same as Semiplotina.
Semiplotus (sem-i-pl6'tus), n. [NL., < L. semi-,
half, + Gr. nAuror, sailing, floating: see Plotus.]
A genus of cyprinoid fishes, typical of the sub-
family Semiplotina. The sundaree, S. macclel-
laiull, of Assam, is a species.
semipluma (sem-i-plo'ma), !i.; pi. semiplumee
(-me). [NL. : see semiplume.] In ornith., a
semiplume. See feather.
semiplumaceous (sem"i-plo-ma'shius), a. In
ornith., having or partaking of the character of
a semiplume : noting a feather of partly penna-
ceous and partly plumulaeeous structure.
semiplume (sem'i-plom), n. [< NL. scmipltima,<
L. semi-, half, -I- plunia, a small soft feather: see
plume.] In ornith., a feather of partly downy
structure, possessing a pennaceous stem and a
plumulaeeous web. See feather.
semipupa (sem-i-pti'pa), «. ; pi. semipupx(-pe).
[NL., < L. semi-, half, + NL. pupa, pupa.] In
entom., same as pscudo2>iqxi or propupa.
semipupal (sem-i-pu'pal), a. [< semipupa +
-al.] Of the character of a semipupa; semi-
n}Tnphal.
semiquadrate (sem-i-kwod'rat), ??. In astrol.,
an aspect of two planets when distant from each
other 45 degrees, or lialf a quadrant.
semiquartile (sem-i-kwar'til), n. Same as
.fcmiquadrate.
semiquaver (sem'i-kwa-ver), H. 1. In musical
notation, same as sixteenth-note.— 2. Figura-
tively, something of very short duration ; a very
short space of time.
Till then, earth's semiquaver, mirth, farewell.
Quartes, Emblems, iv. 15.
Semiquaver rest. Same as gixteenth-note rest. !^ee resti ,
8(6).
semiquaver (sem'i-kwa-ver), v. t. [< semi-
quaver, n.] To play or sing in, or as in, semi-
quavers.
With wire and catgut he concludes the day,
Quav'ring and semiquav'ring care away.
Cowper, Progress of Error, 1. 127.
Semi-Quietism (sem-i-kwi'et-izm), n. The doe-
trine of the Semi-Quietists.
Semi-Quietist (sem-i-kwi'et-ist), n. One of a
sect of mystics which maintains with the Quiet-
ists that the most perfect state of the soul is
passive contemplation, but holds that this state
is incompatible with external sinful or sensual
action.
semiquintile (sem-i-kwin'til), n. In astrol., an
aspect of two planets when distant from each
other half of the quintile, or 36 degrees.
semirecondite (sem"i-re-kon'dit), a. Half-
hidden or half-concealed'; specifically, in zooL,
noting the head of an insect half-concealed
within the shield of the thorax.
semireflex (sem-i-re'fleks), a. Involuntarily or
irreflectively performed, yet not altogether be-
yond the influence of the will.
Early
semi-regular
semi-regular (sem-i-reg'u-liir), a. [< NXi. semi-
rejiiilaris (Kepler); as semi- + regular.'} Per-
taining to or containing a quadrilateral which
has four equal sides, but only pairs of equal
angles. A gemi-regular solid is one whose faces are all
alike and semi-regular, whicli has dissimilar solid angles,
distinct in tiie number of their lines, but not more than
two Itinds of them, lying on the surfaces of not more than
two concentric splieres, and of each class of angles there
are the same number as in a regular solid. Of semi. regu-
lar solids, so deflned, tliere are but two — the rhombic do-
deeaheiiron and the triacontaliedron ; but modem writers
often intenti by the semi-regular solids the Archimedean
bodies.
semi-retractile (sem-i-rf-trak'til), a. Retrac-
tile to some extent, as the claws of various
carnivores, but incapable of being completely
sheathed like a cat's. Encyc. Brit., XV. 440.
semirhomb (sem'i-romb), n. One half of the
pectinated rliomb or hydrospire of a cystic
crinoiil, each half being a separate piece. See
li!f(iri)!<i)ire.
seini-ring (sem'i-ring), n. In zool., a tracheal
or broncnial half-ring. See tracheal rings (un-
der ringi), and cut under pessii/w*.
semis (sf'mis), n. [L., < semi-, half, -i- as, as:
see «.<».] A bronze coin of the ancient Roman
republic, half the value of the as. The obverse
type is a head of Jupiter, the reverse tj-pe the
prow of a vessel, and the mark of value S.
semisaglttate (sem-i-saj'i-tat), a. In entom.,
shaped like the longitudinal half of a
barbed arrow-head, or like the barbed
end of a fish-hook; acuminate, recti-
linear on one side, and spreading to a
sharp projection on the other: noting
color-marks, especially on the wings
of lA'piilojilcra.
semi-sava^e (sem-i-sav'aj), a. and n.
I. a. Semibarbarian ; half-civilized.
n. ». A half -civilized person; a
semibarbarian.
Semi-Saxon (.sem-i-sak'sn), a. and n.
Middle Knfilish: an inexact term applied to
Middle English in its first stage, the period
from about 11.50 to about liW, when the oaion
infleitions had not wholly fallen away.
semisection (sem-i-sek'shon), n. Same as hemi-
isection.
Hoin^n also, after temSmctiim of tJie ccrrlol region in
dogs, found distinct degenerating flbres in the oppoeite
lateral tract. Lancet, No. 3424, p. 720.
semiseptate (sem-i-sep'tat), a. tn hot. and
zoiil., half-partitioned; having a dissepiment
which does not project into the cavity to which
it belongs sufficiently to separate it into two
entire cells.
semisextile (sem-i-seks'til), n. In astrol., an
aspect of two planets when they are distant
from each other the half of a sextile, or 30
degrees.
semi-smile (sem'i-snul), n. A faint smile; a
suppressed or forced smile. [Rare.]
Ur. Besofort pat on a doleful and doubtful jmti-muZt
of welcome. Bulwtr, Night and Morning, Ir. 3.
semisolid (sem-i-sol'id), n. and a. I. n. A sur-
face compo8e<l of facets, like a geometrical
solid, but not closing so as to inclose space.
II. ". Half-solid.
gemisospire (sem'i-s6-spir), n. [< ML. semmi-
gpiruim, q. v.] In medieval musical notation,
same as rinhth-note rent. Also semisuspitium.
semi-sotmd (sem'i-sound), ». [< ME. semisoun;
as .«c«a- -(- iountfi.'i A half-sound; a low or
broken tone. [Rare.]
Softe he coagheth with a wmy Kmn.
Chaueer, Miller's Tale, 1. 51L
semispata (sem-i-spa'tft), n. [ML., also semi-
simlhiiim, LL. aemispaika, < L. semi-, half, +
ritha, a broad two-«dged sword: see »pathe.'\
Prankish dagger about 2 feet long, having a
single edge, and several grooves in the back of
the blade. See »«xl, I.
semi-spherical (sem-i-sfer'i-kal), a. Having
tlie ti^nne i>f a half-sphere; hemispherical,
semispinalis (sem'i-spi-na'lis), n.; pi. semigpi-
nahs (-lez). [NL. (se. musculus).] A deep
muscular layer of the back, in the vertebral
groove beneath the complexus, splenitis, spina-
lis dorsi. and longissimus. It coniUsU of oblique
Ia«cicle» eiteniling acrou aeveral rertebne, from the
ttanarerse and articular procewea to the spinous pro-
Thc series extend In man from the lower part of
54«^
semi-steel (sem'i-stel),H. Puddled steel. [U.S.]
semisubstittition (sem-i-sub-sti-tu'shou), «. A
linear transformation of two variables in which
one of them remains unaltered.
semisupematnral (sem-i-sii-per-nat'u-ral), a.
Half-di\-ine and half -human : used of the classic
demigods or heroes.
The Greeks . . . were surrounded with a world of wtni-
gupemalurai beings,
R. S. Perrin, Keligion of Philosophy, p. 442.
semisupinated (sem-i-su'pi-na-ted), a. Placed
in a position between supination and pronation,
as the hand.
When the hand is semigupijiated, i. e, with the radius
and ulna parallel.
Buck's Handbook of Med. Sciences, VIII. 634.
semisuspirium (sem'i-su-spir'i-um), M. ; pi.
scmi.swpiria (-a). [ML., < L. semi-, half, -f- sii-
sl>irium, a breathing, < suspirare, breathe: see
sugpire.} Same as semisospire.
semita (sem'i-ta), n.; pi. semitie (-te). [NL., <
L. semita, a narrow way, a path.] Ih echino-
derms, a fasciole; a sort of
lesser ambulacrum (having,
however, nothing to do with
the ambulacral organs proper),
consisting of a band of minute
close-set tubercles which bear
ciliated clubbed spines. Sem-
itSB are characteristic of the
spatangoid sea-urchins. See
also cut under Spatangoida.
semital (sem'i-tal), a. [< NL.
semita + -al. di. L. semitalis,
of or belonging to a path.] Of
or pertaining to a semita: as, a
semital spine; a semital tuber-
cle— Semital spine, the peculiar J^J,
clarate ciliated spine borne upon a ac
j4. Semita, ma^i-
tied, or a Sp.itai^roid,
Amphidotus corda-
tus : a, minute semi-
tubercles; b, b, or-
nary tubercles B.
A Scrnital Spine, more
highly maipiified.
borne upon one of the
semital tubercles: a.
its clubbed end ; b, its
ciliated stem.
the thoracic to the upper part of the cervical region, and
Uioae of the back and neck reapectirely are sometimes
distinguished as lemiminalis dnrn and lemitpinalui aili,
— Semliplnalls capltU, Same as complexus-i.
semisquare (sem'i-skwar), n. In astrol., an as-
peet of two planets when they are 45 degrees
distant from each other.
semital tut)ercle.
semi-tangent (sem-i-tan'jent),
M. In ;«(! (A., the tangent o/lialf
an arc.
semitaryt, ». An obsolete form of simitar.
Here, disarm me, take mj semitary.
B. Jonion, Case is Altered, r. 2.
semitanr (sem'i-tAr), n. [Formerly semitaure,
seniitawre ; < L. semi-, half, + taurus, a bull.]
A fabulous animal, half bull and half man.
Semltaors are among the commoneat representations in
Hindu religious art. The ordinary form is figured under
Durga, which goddess Is usually depicted spearing or
cutting oH the baman head o( a semitaur. Also semitaure.
Be see* Chlmetas, Oorgons. Hino-Tanres,
Ueduaaa, Basgs, Alectoa, Semi-Taures.
i^veiter, tr. o( Betbulla's Bescoe, vi.
Some semUsneret, and some more half e a beare,
Other halfe swine deepe wallowing in the miers.
Breton, PUgrimsge to Paradise, p. 8. (Davies.)
Semlte(sem'it),n.and a. [< NIj. *.s'ewi«te«,< LL.
•ScHi, < Gr. 1^/j, Shem.] I. n. A descendant or
supposed descendant of Shem, son of Noah.
n. a. Of or belonging to Shem or his de-
scendants.
Also Shemite.
semitendinose (sem-i-ten'di-nos), a. Same as
simitfndinous.
8emitendinosus(Bem-i-ten-di-n6'sn8), n.; pi.
■irmitcndiniisi (-si). [NL. (sc. masctdus): see
semitendinoMs.^ A fusiform muscle with a re-
markably long tendon, on the back of the
thigh, at the inner side of the biceps femoris,
arising from the tuberosity of the ischium in
common with the biceps, and inserted at the
inner anterior side of the shaft of the tibia be-
neath the insertion of the sartorius. This muscle
Ilexes the leg, and its tendon forms one of the inner ham-
strings. Also called tendinomt and ischiopretibiaiis.
semitendinous (sem-i-ten'di-nns), a. Tendi-
nous for half its length or thereabouts, as a
mascle; having a tendon about as long as its
fleshy part, as the semitendinosus.
semiterete(8em'i-t«-ret'),n. Half-round; semi-
cyliiulric, like a cheese-scoop.
semitertian (sem-i-t^r'shan), a. and n. I. a.
Partly tertian and partly quotidian : applied to
intermittent fevers.
II. n. A semitertian fever.
semitesseral (sem-i-tes'e-ral), a. Exhibiting
the liemiliedrism characteristic of forms of the
tesseral or isometric system,
^rniitessmiri forms [of crystals]. Eneye. Brit., ZVX 356.
Semitic (se-mit'ikV, a. and n. [= F. Simitique
= Sp. Semiticn = Pg. It. Semitico (cf. G. Semit-
isch = Dan. Sw. Semitisk), < NL. 'Semiticus, <
Semita, Semite: see Semite.'] I. a. Relating to
the Semites, or the descendants of Shem; per-
taining to the Hebrew race or any of those kin-
semi-uncial
dred to it, as the Arabians and the Assyrians.
Also Shemitic, Shemitish.
The term [Semitic] , . . was not in general use until the
first quarter of this century, having been used in Germany,
as it is alleged, by Schlozer in 1781, , . , It could not, how-
ever, have been general, since Eichhorn claims to have
introduced it in place of Oriental in 1794, , . . It may not
improperly be said that the term Semitic is authoritative,
J. S. Blackwell, in Proc. Amer. Philol, Ass., 1881, p, 28.
Semitic languages, an important family of languages
distinguished by triliteral verbal roots and vowel-inflec-
tion. It comprises two principal branches, the northern
and the southern. To the northern branch belong the
Assyrian, Aramean (including SyrianX and Palestinian (in-
cluding Hebrew and Phenician) ; to the southern belong
the Arabic (including Sabean) and its derived subbrancb,
the Ethiopic.
II. H. The Semitic languages collectively.
Semitisation, Semitise. See Semitization, Semi-
fi:-e.
Semitism (sem'i-tizm), n. [< Semite + -ts?n.]
1. A Semitic word or idiom.
So extensively had Semitic influences penetrated Egypt
that the Egyptian language, during the period of the
nineteenth dynasty, is said by Brugsch to be as full of
Semitisms as Gennan is of Gallicisms.
Huxley, Nineteenth Century, XIX. 498.
2. Semitie ways, life, thought, etc.; especially,
the religious doctrines and principles or prac-
tices of the Jewish people.
Also Shemitism.
Semitist (sem'i-tist), ». [< Semite + -ist.] A
Semitic scholar; one versed in Semitic lan-
guage, literature, etc.
Possibly, like some other Semitisis, Prof. Driver may
not regard the results of Assyriology with pre-eminent
favour. The Academy, July 26, 1890, p. 60.
Semitization (sem'i-ti-za'shon), n. [< Semi-
tize + -ation. ] The act of rendering Semitic in
character, language, or other attribute. Also
spelled Semitisation.
The partial Semilization of the southern districts of
Abyssinia. Encyc. Brit., XXI. 866.
Semitize (sem'i-tiz), v. t.; pret. and pp. Semi-
tized, ppr. Semitizinq. [< Semite + -ize.'] 1.
To render Semitic in character, language, or
religion.
That they (the Philistines] were a Semitic or at least a
thoroughly Semitized people can now hardly be made
a matter of dispute. Encyc. Brit., XVIII. 766.
2. To convert to the Hebrew religion.
Also spelled Semitise.
semitone (sem'i-ton), n. [= F. semiton = Sp.
semitono; < LL. semitonium, a half-tone, < L.
semi-, half, -t tonus, tone.] In music, an inter-
val approximately equal to half of a tone; a
minor second ; a half-step. The typical semitone
is that between the seventh and the eighth tone of the
major scale ; this is called diatonic, and its ratio is 15 : 16.
That between any tone and its flat or its sharp is called
chromatic; its ratio is either 24 : 25 or 128 : 135 — the for-
mer being called the temt, and the latter the theater. The
semitone resulting from a doubly diminished third is
called enharmonic. The semitone produced by equal tem-
perament is called tempered or mean; its ratio is l:2iV
The semitone is not tne same as the ancient hemitone
(sometimes called the Pythagorean semitone), which was
the remnant left from a perfect fourth after subtracting
two tones. See limma, 1. Rarely called demiUme.
semitonic (sem-i-ton'ik), a. [< semitone + -tc]
Pertaining to a semitone ; consisting of a semi-
tone or of semitones.
semi-transparency (sem^'i-tr&ns-par'en-si), «.
Imjierfect transparency ; partial opaqiieness.
semi-transparent (sem'i-trans-par'ent), a.
Half-tran,'<|iment or imperfectly transparent. —
Semi-transparent clllna,a namegiven to a fine pottery
maile at .stoke-upon-Trent in the early years of the factory
whicii afterward produced the famous Spode porcelain.
semi-tropical (sem-i-trop'i-kal), a. Belonging
in part to the tropics and in part to more tem-
perate regions; characteristic of regions bor-
dering on the tropics ; subtropical : as, semi-
tropical vegetation ; a semi-tropical climate.
semitubular (sem-i-tu'bO-liir), a. Like the
half of a tube divided longitudinally ; elongate,
with parallel margins, one surface being strong-
ly convex and the other strongly concave.
semitychonic (sem'i-ti-kon'ik), o. Approxi-
mating to the astronomical system of Tycho
Brahe. The semitychonic system supposes the earth to
revolve on its axis daily, hut the sun to revolve around
the earth, and the other primary planets to revolve around
the sun.
semi-uncial (sem-i-un'sial), a. and n. I. a. In
pakngranhy, intermediate between uncial and
minuscule: noting a method of writing Latin
and Greek characters found in the sixth or
seventh and succeeding centuries.
Where contracting is the main business, it is not well
to write, as the fashion now is, uncial or semiuncial let-
ters, to look like pig's ribs,
Roger North, Lord Guilford, 1. 20. (Davies.)
Scholia, in two or more fine semiuncial hands, are fre-
quent through the entire book. Classical Rev. ,111, 18.
semi-imclal
n. n. One of the characters exhibiting the
transition from uncial to minuscule writing.
It [Irish script] is usually called the Irish uncial or gemi-
uneuU, but its connection with the nonnal uncial script
has never been explained.
Isaac Taylor, The Alphabet, t. ii. 173.
semivitreous (sem-i-vit'rf-us), a. Partially
vitreous; having more or less of a vitreous
structure : a term used in describing the struc-
ture of various minerals, constituents of rocks,
especially of volcanic rocks. See vitreous.
Finely vesicular rhyolitic rock with compact semivUre-
mts green-prey base. Quarl. Jour. Oeol, Soc., XLVI. 74.
semi-vitriflcation (sem-i-vit'ri-ti-ka'shon). «.
1. The process of partly vitrifying anything,
or the state of being partly vitrified. — 2. A
substance or mass in the state of being scmi-
\'itritied. or partially converted into glass.
semi-vitrified (sem-i-\'it'ri-fid), a. Half-vitri-
fied, or imperfectly vitrified; partially converted
into glass.
semiviveti "• [ME. scmivyf, < OF. *semivif = It.
semiviro, < L. semivivu.^, half -alive, half-dead, <
semi-, half, + virus, alive, living: see vivid.'\
Half -alive ; half-dead.
He mygte neither steppe ne stonde ne stere fo'te ne handes,
Ne heipe hym-self sothely for semiuyf he semed.
Piers Floimum (B), xvii. 55.
semivocal (sem-i-v6'kal), a. [< L. scmivocalis,
half-sounding, half-vocal, as a noun a semi-
vowel, < semi-, half, + vocalis, vocal: see vo-
cal, vowel.'] Of or pertaining to a semivowel;
half-vocal ; imperfectly sounding.
semivowel (sem-i-vou'el), n. [< F. semivoyelle
= It. semivocale, < L. semivocalis, se. litera
(translating Gr. ijfiii^vov, sc. aroixtiov), semi-
vowel: see semivocal.] A half -vowel; a sound
partaking of the nature of both a vowel and a
consonant ; an articulation lying near the line
of division between vowel and consonant, and
so capable of being used with either value ; also,
the sign representing such a sound. The name
is very variously applied by different authorities ; w and y
are oftenest called semivowels, also I and r, and some-
times the nasals »n and n.
semi-weekly (sem-i-wek'li), a. and n. I, a.
Made,"issued, or occurring twice a week, or once
every half -week: as, a semi-weekly tour of in-
spection ; a semi-weekb/ newspaper.
II. n. A journal that is issued twice a week.
Semla gum. See gum'^.
semlandt, «• A Middle English form of sem-
blant.
semly^t, a. A Middle English form of seemly.
semly'-^t, »• A Middle English form of scmUe^.
semmit (sem'it), n. [Prob. orig. a form of sam-
ite, q. v.] An undershirt. [Scotch.]
semnablet (sem'na-bl), a. [A corrupt form of
semblablc.] Similar.
"From Berwick to Dover, three hundred miles over."
That is, from one end of the land to the other. Semnable
the Scripture expression, *'From Dan to Beersheba."
FuUer, Worthies, Northumberland, II. 642. (Davies.)
semnopithece (sem'no-pi-thes'), «• [^ Semno-
pitliecus.] One of the so-called sacred monkeys,
as the entellus or hanuman ; any member of the
Semnopithecime.
Semnopithecidae (scm*no-pi-the'si-de), n. pi.
[NL., < Semnopithecus +' -idee.] The Semno-
pithecime advanced to the rank of a family.
Semnopithecinae (sem-no-pith-e-si'ne), n. pi.
[NL., < Scmnopitliecus + -inse.] A suljfamily
of catarrhine monkeys. The stomach is complex and
sacculated, with a dilated cardiac and elongated pyloric
aperture ; there are no cheek-pouches and no vermiform ap-
pendix of the colon ; the limbs and tail are long ; the ster-
num is naiTow ; the third lower molar tooth is tlve-tuber-
culate ; and ischial callosities are present. It includes
many large monkeys, most nearly approaching the apes of
the family Simiidse. The leading genera, besides Semno-
pUhecus, are Nasalis, Coltibiis, and Quereza. These monkeys
are found in Africa and Asia. They date back to the Mio-
cene, Also called Colobiiue. See cuts under entell'us,
yuereza, and NasalU.
semnopithecine (sem-no-pith'e-sin), n. and n.
I. a. Of or pertaining to the ^emnojnthednee ;
semnopithecoid.
II. n. A monkey of the subfamily Semnopi-
tliecus ; a semnopithecoid.
semnopithecoid (8em"no-pi-the'koid), a. and n.
Same as semnopithecine.
Semnopithecus (sem'no-pi-the'kus), n. [NL.,
< Or. at/ivdi;, revered, honored, sacred (< aefiea-
0ai, revere), + vidr/Koc, an ape.] The typical ge-
nus of Semnopitheoime, the so-called sacred mon-
keys of Asia, having a thumb, and not found
in Africa. (Covapare Colobus.) Kumerous species
inhabit wooded portions of the Oriental region, from the
Himalayas southward, and extend into Borneo and Java.
They are of large size and slender-bodied, with long limbs
and tail and often handsome coloration. The best-known
5488
is the hanuman, or sacred monkey of the Hindus, S. eniel-
lus. One species, S. roxellana, inhabits Tibet, See cut
under eiiUlUts.
semola (sem'o-la), n. [= F. semouU, OF. semole
= Sp. simola = tg. semola, fine flour, < It. semo-
la, bran, < L. simila, fine wheaten flour ; cf.
ML. simella, wheaten bread ; Gr. ccfiidali^, fine
wheaten flour. Cf. OHG. semala, simila, fine
wheat, flour, bread, MHG. scmel, semele, simel,
G. scmmel (>Sw. semla), wheaten bread, a roll;
appar. an independent word, < OHG. semon,
eat (but influenced by the L. word).] Same
as semolina.
semolina, semolino (sem-o-le'na, -no), ». [<
It. semolino, grits, a paste for soups, etc., small
seed, dim. of semola, bran: see semola.] The
large hard grains retained in the bolting-ma-
chine after the fineflourhasbeen passed through
it. It is of various degrees of fineness, and is often made
intentionally in considerable quantities, being a favorite
food in France, and to some extent used in Great Britain
for making puddings. Also called manna-croup. Com-
pare Olyceria.
Semostomse (se-mos'to-me), n. pi. [NL., fem.
pi. of semostomus : see semostomoiis.] A subor-
der of Ltiscomeduste, containing ordinary jelly-
fishes or sea-jellies with the parts in fours and
eights, having four genital pouches arranged
about the single centric mouth, which is pro-
vided with long arra-likc(or flag-like) processes.
The families Pelagiidx, Cya-neidx, miAAurcliidie illustrate
this group, which is also called Monostomea, The name
would be preferably written Sematostonuita or Semiosto-
mata. See cuts under Aurelia and Cyanea.
semostomous (se-mos'to-mus), a. [< NL. se-
mostomus, < Qr. aij/m, sign, mark, + ord^a,
mouth.] Having long oral processes, as a
jellyfish ; pertaining to the Semostomse, or hav-
ing their characters.
semotedt (sf-mo'ted), a. [< L. semotus, pp. of
scmovere, move apart, separate (< se-, apart, -I-
mdvere, move : see move), + -ed^.] Separated ;
removed; remote.
Is it enough if I pray with my mind, the heart being se-
moled from mundane affairs and worldly businesses?
Becon, Works, p. 136, (HalliweU.)
Semotilus (se-mot'i-lus), «. [NL. (Eafinesque,
1820), < Gr. ' af/iia, a mark, + nrtkov, feather,
wing (with ref. to the dorsal tin).] An Ameri-
can genus of leueiscino fishes. The species are
variously known as cfiub and dace. S. ctyrptyraUs is the
horned chub or dace, 10 inches long, abounding from New
England to Missouri and Georgia, S. bullaris is the fall-
fish or silver chub, the largest of the Cyprinidie in the re-
gions it inhabits — east of the AUeghanies from Massa-
chusetts to Virginia, It reaches a length of 18 inches ;
the coloration is brilliant steel-blue above, silvery on the
sides and belly; in the spring the males have the belly
and lower ftns rosy or crimson.
semper idem (sem'per i'dem). [L. : semper
(> Pr. OF. sempre), always, ever (< sem-, sim-,
in semel, once, simul, at once, E. same, etc., +
-per, akin to per, through: see per-); idem, the
same: s^e identic] Always the same.
sempervirent (sem-per-vi'rent), a. [< L. sem-
per, always, + viren{t-)s, ppr. of virere, be
green or verdant: see virid.] Always green
or fresh; evergreen.
sempervive (sem'per-viv), «. [< OF. sempervive,
< L. semperviva, scmpervivum, fem. or neut. of
sempervivus, ever-living, < semper, always, +
vivtis, living, < vivere, live.] The houseleek.
See Sempervivum.
The greater semper-vive . . . will put out branches two
or three years; but . . . they wrap the root in a cloth
besmeared with oil, and renew it once in half a year.
Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 29.
Sempervivum (sem-per-^i'vum), n. [NL. (LLu-
niBus, 1737), < L. sempervivum, also semperviva,
in full semperviva herha, houseleek, lit. the
' ever-living plant' (tr. Gr. adi^um), so called be-
cause it is evergreen and of great vitality ; neut.
or fem. of sempervivus, ever-living: see semper-
vive.] A genus of polypetalous plants, of the
order Crassulaceee. it is characterized by flowers with
numerous or more than five calyx-lobes, as many acute
narrow petals, which are entirely sep.arate or united only
at the base, usually twice as many stamens, and as many
carpels as petals, the fruit consisting of many-seeded folli-
cles. There are about 50 species, natives especially of cen-
tral and southern Europe, also extending to Madeira and
the Canaries, into Asia Minor and the western Himalayas,
and into Africa in Nubia and Abyssinia. They are plants
of peculiarly fleshy habit, in some species with a leaf-
bearing stem, but in most stemless and consisting of a
rosette of short and broad alternate fleshy and commonly
revolute leaves. The flowers are white, red, green, yellow,
or purple, and borne in panicled and commonly compactly
flowered cymes. They are remarkable, like the related
Sedum, for tenacity of life: S. csespUosum is said to have
grown when planted after being for eighteen months
pressed in a herbarium. Those with shrubby stems have
yellow or rarely white flowers, are all from the Canary
Islands, are cultivated under glass, and show many di-
vergences from the typical structure — some, as the sub-
genus Greeiwvia, having as many as thirty-two petals. The
sen
best-known species of outdoor cultivation are ,S. <jl6bife-
r^nn (see hen-and-chicke lis) and S. tectormii {the houseleek).
The latter is in England a familial- plant, with such old
names as homeworl, bullock's-eye, imbreke, jo\d>arb, etc.
See hintseteek, houselcek-tree.
sempiternt (sem'pi-tern), a. [< ME. scmpitcrne,
< OF. semanteme = Sp. Pg. It. sempiterno, < L.
senqnternus, everlasting, < sempi-, for semper,
always, + -termis, as in eevitcrnus, seternus,
etem, eternal.] Everlasting.
To fle fro synne and derk fire sempUeme.
Palladius, Uusbondrie (E, E, T. S.), p, 186.
The god whose . . . beinge is sempiterjie.
Gower, Conf. Amant., viL
sempiternal (sem-pi-ter'nal), rt. [< ME.semjn-
tcrnal, < OF. (and F.) sempiternel, < ML. semjri-
ternalis (in adv. sempiternaliter) ; as sempitern
+ -al.] Eternal; everlasting; endless; having
no end.
As thou art cyte of God, & sempiternal throne,
Here now, blessyd lady, my wofulle mone.
Political Poems, etc, (ed, I'urnivall), p. 82.
TheScmpt^emaW, Immortall, Omnipotent, Inuisible, and
the most consummate and absolute l>eitie,
Ileywood, Hierarchy of Angels, p, 90.
All truth is from the sempiternal source
Of light divine, Cowper, Task, ii, 499,
sempiternity (sem-pi-ter'nj-ti), n. [< LL.
scmpiternHa{t-)s, < L. senipiternus, everlasting:
see sempitern.] Duration without end; end-
less duration ; perpetuity.
The future eternity or sempiternity of the world.
Sir M. Hale, Orig, of Mankind, p, 94.
sempiternizef (sem-pi-ter'niz), V. t. [< sempi-
tern + -ize.] To perpetuate.
Nature, nevertheless, did not after that manner provide
for the sempiterniziny of the human race, but, on the con-
traiy, created man naked, tender, and frail,
Urquhart, tr, of Rabelais, lil, 8,
sempitemousf (sem-pi-ter'nus), a. [< L. «em-
j)(terHi(«, everlasting: aee sempitern.] Sempi-
ternal.
A sempitemous crone and old hag was picking up and
gathering some sticks in the said forest.
Urquhart, tr, of Rabelais, ii, 15.
sempiternumt (sem-pi-ter'num), n. [< L. sempi-
ternum, neut. of sempitemus, everlasting: see
sempitern.] A stuff formerly in use in England,
named from its durability. It is described as
a twilled woolen material used for garments.
Draper's IHct.
semple (sem'pl), a. A dialectal (Scotch) form
of simjile.
semplice(sem'ple-che), a. [It., ^E. simple.] In
music, simple ; unaffected : noting passages to
be rendered without embellishments or rhyth-
mic liberties.
sempre (sem'pre), adv. [It., < L. semper, al-
ways: see semper idem.] In music, in the same
style throughout; similarly: used with some
other direction, to prevent this from being for-
gotten, or its force suspended : as, sempre j'iano,
softly throughout. Compare simile.
sempstert, »■ See seamster.
sempstress, n. See seamstress.
semseyite (sem'si-it), «. [Named after A. von
Semsey.] A sulphid of antimony and lead,
near jamesonite in composition, occurring in
monoelinic crystals of a gi'ay color and me-
tallic luster: it is found at Felso-Banya in
Hungary.
semstert, n. See seamster.
semuncia (se-mun'shi-a), «.; pi. semuncise (-(s).
[L.,< semi-jhsM, + uncia, a twelfth part, an
ounce : see ounce^.] A small Roman coin of
the weight of four drachmas, being the twenty-
fourth part of the Roman pound.
Semuncial (se-mun'shial), a. [< semuncia +
-«/.] Belonging to or based on the semuncia.
Small bronze pieces belonging to the Semuncial system.
ii. V. Head, Historia Numorum, p, 43,
sen^t, adv. and coiij. A Middle English variant
of *-i«el.
sen'-^ (sen), n. [Jap,] A Japanese copper or
bronze coin, equal to the one-hundredth part
of a yen or dollar ; a Japanese cent. One- and
Sen. CSize of original.)
sen
two-gen copper pieces and five-, ten-, twenty-,
and fifty-sen silver pieces are in circulation.
sen.-'' or Sen.-' An abbreviation of senior.
senal (se-nyal'), ti. [Sp., a mark, landmark, =
E. signal : see sitjnalJ] In parts of the United
States acquired from Mexico, a landmark.
senaxins (se-ua'ri-us), «.; pi. senarii (-i). [L.,
8C. versus, a verse of six feet: see senary.'] In
Lat. pros., a verse of six feet; especially, an
iambic trimeter.
senannontite (se-niir'mont-it), n. [Named
after H. H. de Senarmoni (ISOS-m), a French
mineralogist and physicist.] Native antimony
trioxid (Sb203), occurring in isometric octahe-
drons, also massive : it is colorless or grayish,
of a resinou.s to subadamantine luster.
senary (sen'a-ri), a. [= F. senaire = Sp. Pg.
It. senario, < L. senarius, consisting of six each,
< seni, six each, < sex = E. six: see sir.] Of
six; belonging to six ; containing six. Bailey.
senate (sen'St), n. [< ME. senat, < OF. senat,
also senr, F. senat = Pr. senet = Sp. Pg. scnailo
= It. senato = D. seniiat = G. Dan. Sw. senat, <
L. senatus, council of elders, a senate. < sencx
(sen-), old, an old man (compar. senior, old-
er; senium, old age), = Skt. sana = Gr. evoi\ old,
= Goth, sineigs, old (superl. sinista, eldest),
= Lith. scnws = W. hen = Ir. Gael, sean, old.
From the same L. adj. senex (sen-) are ult. E.
senile, senior, signor, seignior, etc., sir, sire, sir-
rah, etc. ; and the same element exists in sene-
schal, q. v.] 1. An assembly or council of eiti-
lens invested with a share in the government of
a state. Especially — (n) In ancient Some, a body of
citizens appointed or elected from among ttie patricians,
and later from among rich plebeians also, or taking seats
by virtue of holding or of having held certain high offices
of state Originally the senate had supreme authority in
religioas matters, much legislative and judicial power,
the management of foreign atTairs, etc. At the close of
the republic, however, and under the empire, the author-
ity of the senate ms little mure than nominal apart from
certain administrative functions, chiefly fiscal, and from its
sittings as a high court of Justice and as an appellate tri-
bunal. The original senate of the patricians numbered
100; after tlie adjunction of the trir>es Titles or sabines
and I.uceres, the number beciime ax», and remained at
this figure for several centuries, with the exception of
some temporary changes, until the supremacy of .Sulla.
Julius CKsar made the numtier Suo, and after his death it
became over 1,000, but was reduced to 600 by Augustus,
and varied under sub8e<iuent emperora. (M The upper or
leas uumeroas branch of a legialatare in Tuious cou ntrlea,
as In Prance, Italy, the United States, and In all the sepa-
rate States of the Union. The Senate of tlie l'nite<l »Utes
oonsists of two senators from each State, and numbers(in
U9S) M membera. A senator miut be at leaat thirty years
of age, nine yeara a citizen of the country, and a resident
of the State from which he is chosen. iSenators are elected
by the State legislatures, and sit for six years, but the terms
Of olDoe are so arranged that one third of the members retire
ereiy two years. In addition to its legislative functions, the
Senate has power tocontlrm or reject nominations and trea-
ties made by the l^resiiient, and also tries impeachnieiils.
The vice-president of the United i4tates ifl the president r,f
the :ienate ; In his al>sence a senator is chosen president
Ero tempore. I'he upper house of the Canadian Parliament
I also calieil the Senate; its Hi members are appointed
by the crown for life. Hence — (e) In general, a legislative
body ; a state council ; the legislative department of a
government.
I am with-owte deffence dampned to proecripcion and
t4, tlie dcth fur tlic stmlie and bowntes that 1 haue doon
t4) the jieiutt. Cfiaur'-r. lioethiU8(ed. Fumirall), L proae 4.
2. In an extended use. a body of venerable or
distinguished persons.
There sate on many a sapphire throne
The great who had departed from mankind,
A mighty fnalt. SheUey, Revolt of Islam, L 64.
8. (a) The governing body of the University
of Carat>ridge, and of some other institutions
of learning.
The legislative body of the University Is called the Sen-
(it. , ;i'i'l tlie place In which it assembles Is called the
>- r. if, H..ii**e. 'I'he Chancellor, Vice-chancellor, Doctors
"f I'lvi'.itv. lAW, Medtcine, Science, and Letters, Hache-
li'i • .-f l)ivinity, and .Masters of Arts, Law, and Surgery,
li.iwTig their names up«,n the University Register, have
VMt''» in this aasentbly.
Cambridge UnicerHti/ Calendar /or 1880, p. 1.
(6) In certain .\tnerican colleges, where the
students take part in the discipline of the in-
stitution, a disciiilining and advisory body com-
posed of members of the faculty and represen-
tatives of the students. - Courtesy of the senate.
See murUiii. - Prince of the senate. See princepe $ena-
tun, under jrrinfrpti.
senate-chamber (sen ' at - cham ' b6r), n. A
eliHuilMi- or liall in whicfi a senate assembles.
senate-house (son'at-hous), n. A house in
which a .senate meets, or a place of public
council.
Sic. The people do admit you, and are summon 'd
To meet anon, upon your approbation.
Cor. Where? at the tenate-hmue t
Shak., Cor., U. 3. 168.
Benate-Hoose examination. See taamttiaHoH.
senator (sen'a-tor), n. [< ME. genatour, sena-
tur, < OF. senatour, F. senateur = Sp. Pg. sena-
tor = It. senatore = D. G. Sw. Dan. senator, <
L. senator, a senator, < senex (sen-), old, an old
man: see senate.'\ 1. A member of a senate.
(See senate, 1.) In Scotland the lords of session
are called senators of the College of Justice.
But God wot, quod this genatour also,
So vertuous a lyvere in my iyf
Ne saugh I never.
Chaucer, Man of Law's Tale, I. 926.
The tyrant custom, most grave senators,
Hath made the fliuty and steel couch of war
My thrice-driven bed of down.
SItak., OtheUo, L 3. 230.
2. In old Eng. late, a member of the king's coun-
cil ; a king's councilor. Burrill.
senatorial (sen-S-td'ri-al), a. [= F. senatorial
= D. senatoriaal ; as < L. senatorius, pertain-
ing to a senator (< senator, a senator: see sena-
tor), + -al.'\ 1. Of or pertaining to a senate
or senators; appropriate to a senator; consist-
ing of senators : as, a senatorial robe ; senatorial
eloquence.
Go 00, brave youths, till In some future age
Whips shall become the senatorial bailge.
T. Warton, Newmarket (1751).
2. [cap.^ Entitled to elect a Senator: as, a
Senatorial district. [U.S.] — 3. Controlled by
a senate. [Rare.]
The other [Roman] provinces, however, remained seyui-
toruU, their affairs directed by the Senate's decrees, their
pro-consuls or propraetors appointed by the Senate, as of
old. W. WUsm, State, { 167.
senatorially (sen-a-to'ri-al-i), adv. In a sena-
torial manner; in a way appropriate to or be-
coming a senator; with dignity or solemnity.
The mother was cheerful ; the father senatoriaUy grave.
A. Drummond, Travels, p. 17.
senatorian (sen-a-to'ri-an), a. [= F. senato-
rien ; as L. senatorius, pertaining to a senator:
see senator. 'i Same as senatorial.
Propose yoor acbemea, ye amoforian band.
Whose ways and means support the sinking land.
Johnson, Imit. of Third .Satire of Juvenal.
senatorlonst (sen-a-to'ri-us), a. [< L. senato-
rius, pertaining to a senator, < senator, a sena-
tor: see senator!] Senatorial. Imp. Vict.
senatorship (sen'a-tor-ship), n. [< senator +
-.vAi/j.] The office or dignity of a senator.
senatoryt (sen'a-to-ri), n. [< ML. 'senatorium,
a place of meeting of senators, neut. of L. sena-
torius, of senators : see senatorial.'] A senate.
As for the commetis vnlnersally.
And a greate parte of the senaiory
Were of the same intencion.
iioy and Bartow, Rede me and be nott Wrothe, p. 40.
[(Danes.)
senatns (se-ua'tus), M. [L.: see senate.'] A sen-
ate; also, a governing body in certain uni ver«i-
ties.— 8enatus academlcus, one of the govendng hoil-
lea In Sc<<tcli universities, cnnsiftting (tf the principal and
professors, and cliarged with the superintendence and
regulation of discipline, the administration of the univer-
sity property and revenues (subject to the control and
review of the university court), and the conferring of de-
grees through the chancellor or vice-chancellor.— Sena-
tns COnsnltum, a decree of the ancient Roman senate,
pronounced on some question or point of law,
BenatnsconBlllt (se-na'tus-kon-eulf), n. [< L.
senalusconsultum, prop, two words, senatus con-
sultum, a decree of the senate: senatus, gen. of
senatus, senate (see senate); eonsnltum, a de-
cree: gee consult, ».] A senatus eonsnltuni.
It waathe amatuaRmmtts that were the principal statu-
tory factors of what was called by both emperorc aud Ju-
rists the jus novum. Eneyc. Brit-, XX, 704.
sence', adv., prep., and <y>»/. An obsolete or
dialectal form of since.
sence-t. An obsolete spelling of sensed and of
SI'ttSI '-.
sencelesst, a. An obsolete form of senseless.
sencht, ''• '■ [< M£. senchen, < AS. senean, cause
to sink, causal of sincan, sink: see sink.] To
cause to sink.
senclont, n. [ME., also senekion, < OF. (andF.)
senr^on = Olt. seneccione, senezone, < L. sene-
cio(n-), groundsel: see Seitecio.] Groundsel.
For to take fysche with thy handys. — Take groundis
walle, that ys senchion, and hold yt yn thi hsndes, yn the
water, and all fysche wylle gaddar theretoo.
Kelig. Antiq., I. 324. (BaUiweU.)
send (send), r.; pret. and pp. sent, ppr. sending.
r< ME. senden (pret. sonde, scnte, pp. send, sent),
< AS. sendan (pret. srndr, pp. sended) = OS.
sendian = OFries. senda, sandn, seinda = MD.
senden, D. zendfn = MLtJ, senden = OHG. «aM-
tan, sentan, MHG. senden, senlen, G. senden =
Icel. senda = Sw. sdnda = Dan. sende = Goth.
sandjan, send, lit. ' make to go ' (associated with
send
the noun, AS. sand, etc., a sending, message,
embassy: see sand"^), causal of AS. as if 'sindan
= Goth, 'sinthan (pret. santh), go, travel, =
OHG. sitinan (for *sindan), MHG. sinnen, go,
go forth, 6. sinnen (pret. sann), go over in the
mind, review, reflect upon (cf. L. sentire, feel,
perceive: see scent, sentient,sensc^); hence Goth.
sinth, a time, = AS. sith (for *sinth), ME. sithe,
a journey, time: see sithe^. Cf. OLith. suntu,
I send.] I. trans. 1. To cause to go or pass
from one place to another; despatch: as, to
send a messenger.
The Citizens finding him [Jack Cade] to grow every Day
more insolent than other, they sent to the Lord Scales for
Assistance, who sendeth Matthew Gout, an old Soldier, to
them, with some Forces and Furniture out of the Tower.
Baker, Chronicles, p. 191.
God . . .
Thither will send his winged messengers
On errands of supernal grace.
Milton, P. L., Til. 672.
2. To procure the going, carrying, transmis-
sion, etc., of; cause to be conveyed or trans-
mitted ; forward : as, to send one's compliments
or a present; to senrf tidings.
And he wrote in King .\ha8ueni8' name, . . . and^^it
letters by posts on horseback. Esther viiilVo.
Dr. M sent him [Moll^reJ word he would come to him
upon two conditions. Lister, Journey to Paris, p. 173.
To your prayer she sends you this reply.
Jf. Arnold, Balder Dead.
3. To impel ; propel ; throw ; cast ; hurl : as,
a gun that sends a ball 2,000 yards.
In his right hand he held a trembling dart,
Whose fellow he before had sent apart.
Spenser, F. Q., VI. ii. 6.
There is a physical excitation or disturbance which is
sent along two different nerves, and which produces two
different disturbances in the brain.
H'. K. Clifford, Lectures, II. 41.
4. To direct to go and act; appoint; authorize.
I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran.
Jer. xiiii. 21.
6. To cause to come; dispense; deal out;
bestow; inflict.
God send them more knowledge and charity.
J. Bradford, Works (Parker Soc., 1853), II. 843.
He . . . setideth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Mat. V. 45.
Great numbers regard diseases as things that come arbi-
trarily, or are sent by Divine Providence as judgments or
punishments for sins.
Hwdey and Youmans, Physiol., ! 869.
6. To cause to be ; grant. [Obs. or archaic]
Ood tend him well ! Shot., All's Well, i. 1. 190.
Send her victorious,
Happy and Glorious.
II. Carey, God save the Queen.
God keep you all. Gentlemen ; aud setid you meet, this
day, with another Bitch-otter.
/. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 61.
7. To turn ; drive.
He had married a worthless girl, who robbed him of all
he possessed, and then ran away ; this sent him mad, and
he s4>on afterwards died.
J. Ashlon, Social Life In Reign of (jueoii Anne, II. 45.
8. To cause to go forward doing an act in-
dicated by a verb in the present participle : as,
to send one packing.
His son . . . flung hira out Into the open air with a vio-
lance which sent him staggering several yards.
Warren, Now and Then, i.
The royal troops instantly fired such a volley of musketry
as sent the rebel horse flying in all directions. Macavlay.
To l)e sent up Salt River. See Salt Jtiver.~To send
about one's business. See i>««nf»i.— To send down,
in the I niviTMityiif<>xfonI, to send away from the univer-
sity for a perioiC by way of puniahment.— To send forth
or out. (fl) 'I'o produce ; to pat or bring forth ; as, a tree
ssnds /orf A brunclies. (ft) To emit: as, flowers send forth
fragrance— To send owls tO Athens. See rmlK'—To
send salaam, see m/uum. — To send to CJoventry, to
send to an iniagiimry pl.ice of s^n-ial bitnislinient; exclude
from society ; treat with conspicuous neglect or contempt,
on account of offensive or objectionable conduct; ostra-
cise socially; cut: originally a military phrase implying
exclusion from the society of the mess. The reason for
this use of the name Ck>ventry is matter of conjecture.
The skilfnl artisan, who In a given time can do more
than his fellows, but who dares not do it because he
would be sent to Cneenlry by them, and who consequently
cannot reap the benefit of his superior powers.
//. Spencer, .Study of Socio!., p. 248.
To send to prentice. .See prentice.— To send to the
right-about. Seert;;At-o!)o«(. — To sendup. MXaut.,
tohoist (:i must or yard) into its place aloft on shipboard.
(6) To convict of crime and imprison. [Colloq., U. S.]
Some of them seem rather proud of the number of
times they have been *'sent up."
Scribner's Mag., VIII. 619.
H. intrans. 1. To despatch a missive, mes-
sage, or messenger ; despatch an agent for some
purpose.
See ye how this son of a murderer bath sent to take
away mine head? 2 KL vi. 32.
Bend
5490
So greet physicians cannot all attend,
But some they visit, and to some they tend.
Dnjdeyi^ Hinit and Panther, ii.
sending (sen'dingj, n. [< ME. sendynge (=
MHG. G. seitduiige, Q. sendutig); verbal n. of
send, I-.} 1. The act of causing to go forward;
despatching. — 2. Nattt., pitching bodily into
_ the trough of the sea, as a ship.
, to pit«h or plunge precipitately into send-oflf (send'of), n. A start as on a journey
h of the sea^ (In thfs nautical use partly «>• ^'f''." "^^^^ •' "' % "^"T^T T ."J-
~ - - - ^ .'. good-will on the occasion of such a departure ;
a speeding : as, his friends gave him a hearty
.fcnd-of ; an enthusiastic send-off to an actor.
[CoUoq.]
sendonyt, «■ Same as sindon.
sene^t. A Middle English foiin of seen.
sene'-t, ». A Middle English form of seene.
sene'^t, «• A Middle English form of sign.
sene'^t, «• An obsolete form of senna.
Senebiera (sen-e-be'rii), w. [NL. (Poiret, 1806),
named after Jean Senebier (1742-1809), a Swiss
naturalist.] A genus of cruciferous plants, of
the tribe Lepidineae. It is distinguished by the fruit,
a didymoua pod of which the rugose and nearly spherical
valves separate at maturity into two one-seeded nutlets.
There are 6 species, widely diffused through warm and
temperate regions of both hemispheres. They are an-
nual or biennial herbs, nearly prostrate and very much
branched, bearing alternate entire or dissected leaves,
and minute white or rarely purple flowers in short racemes
opposite the leaves. S. NUotica of Egypt has been used
as a salad, as has S. Coronopus, the wart-cress of England,
also known as ^mie-cress, herb-ivy. and buck's-h&rn. S.
didyma, the lesser wart-cress, a weed often covering waste
ground in western England, is occasionally found natural-
ized in parts of the Atlantic States.
Seneca (sen'e-ka), n. [Amer. Ind.] 1. A mem-
ber of an InAan tribe which formed part of the
former Iroquois confederacy of the Five Na-
tions.— 2. [i.e.] Same as «<;«e(/n.
seneca-grasS (sen'f-kii-gr&s), «. See Hic-
rochloe.
Seneca-oil (sen'e-ka-oil), n. [Also (formerly ?)
Senega-, Sen^ka'qi}, etc. ; < Seneca, name of a
33a
The Cashif smt to me to come to him, and I presented
him with the liquor I brought for him, and sat with him
lor some time. Poeodce, Description of the East, I. 56.
2. yaut.
the trough
differentiated, with former variant sond, and with preterit
teitded.]
She mndt or wndf. when the ship's head or stem falls
deep in the trough of the sea.
J. H. Moore, Practical Navigator (18th ed., 1798). p. 286.
She tetided forth heavily and sickly on the long swell.
She never rose to the opposite heave of the sea again.
M. Scott, Tom t>ingle's Log, ii.
To send for, to request or require by message to come
or be brought: as, to send for a physician; to send /or a
coach.
Let not my lord be amused. For to this end
Was I by Ciesar sent for to the isle.
B. Jonson, Sejanus, v. 6.
I was civilly received in a good private house, and setU
ont for every thing I wanted, there being no inn.
Poeocke, Description of the East, IL ii. 201.
Next day the Queen tried the plan which the Whigs
had for some time cherished, and sent. for Lord L .
Quarterly Jiev., CXXVII. 537.
sAd (send), n. [< ME. send, a variant, con-
formed to the verb, of sand, sond : see satuft.
In mod. iise directly < send, ».] It. That which
is or has been sent; a missive or message. —
2. A messenger; specifically, in some parts of
Scotland, one of the messengers sent for the
bride at a wedding.
It 's nae time for brides to lye in bed
When the bridegroom's sertd 's in town.
There are four-and-twenty noble lords
A' lighted on the green.
Smet Willie atid Fair Maisry (Child's Ballads, II. 334).
He and Rob set off in the character of " Sen's" to Sarnie
Pikshule's, duly to inquire if there was a bride there.
W. Alexander, Johnny Gibbof Gushetneuk, jtxxix.
3t. That which is given, bestowed, or awarded;
a gift ; a present.
Thurgh giftes of our goddys, that vs grace leuys.
We most suffer all hor senndes, & soberly take.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3330.
Ye're bidden send your love a send,
For lie has sent you twa.
The Jolly Goshauk (Child's BaUads, III. 286).
4. The impulse of a wave or waves by which a
ship is carried bodily.
The May Flower sailed from the harbor, . . .
Borne on the send of the sea.
Lonfffellow, MUes Standish, v.
5. Same as scend.
sendablet, «• [M.E. sendahylle; < send 4- -flfc/c]
That may be sent. Cath. Aug., p. 329.
sendal (sen'dal), n. [Early mod. E. sendall,
sendell, cendai, cendell, syndale, sometimes san-
dal; < ME.«en(Jei, sendal, sendale, sendalle, sen-
dell, cendel, < OF. sendal, cen'dal = Sp. Pg. cen-
dai = It. zendalo, zendado, " a kind of fine thin
silken stuffe, called taffeta, sarcenett, or sen-
dall" (Florio) (> Turk, sandal, brocade), < ML.
"sendalum, cetidalum, sendal, also cindadiis, cin-
datiis, eindatum, sendatum, etc, equiv. to Gr.
atviav, fine linen : see sindoti.'i A silken ma-
terial used in the fourteenth and fifteenth cen-
turies for rich dresses, flags, pennons, etc. ; also,
a piece of this material. It was apparently of two
kinds : the first a thin silk, like sarsenet, used for linings,
flags, etc. ; the other much heavier and used for cere-
monial vestments and the like.
loseph Ab Arimatliia asked of Pylate the bodye of our
Lorde and leyde it in a clene Sendell, and put it in a 8e-
pulcre that no man had ben buryed in.
Joseph of Arimalhie (E. E. T. S.), p. 33.
In sangwin and in pers he clad was al,
Lined with taflata and with sendal.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 440.
Sendale . . . was a thynne stuffe lyke sarcenett, . . .
but coarser and narrower than the sarcenett now ys, as
myselfe can remember.
Thynne, Anim. on Speght's Chaucer (1598). (Fairholt.)
Thy smock of silk both fine and white.
With gold embroider'd gorgeously.
Thy petticoat of sendall right,
And this I bought thee gladly.
Greensleeves (Ellis's Specimens, III. 328). (Nares.)
Sails of silk and ropes of sendal.
Such as gleam in ancient lore.
Longfellow, Secret of the Sea.
sender (sen'dfer), «. [< ME. sendere; < send +
-trl.] 1. One who sends.
Exe. This was a merry message.
E. Hen. We hope to raiike the sender blush at it.
Shak., Hen. V., L 2. 299.
2. In telegraphy and telephony, the instrument
by means of which a message is transmitted, as
distinguished from the receiver at the other end
of the line ; also, the person transmitting. See
curb-sender.
senescent
close down ; from it the native dusty-niiller of the Atlantic
coast, Artemisia Stelleriana, is distinguished by its short,
roundish, less deeply cut leaves. S. mikanioides. Cape ivy,
a tender climber with smooth and shining bright-green
angled leaves, from the Cape of Good Hope, is a favorite
in cultivation. Several species are cultivated for their
flowers under the generic name Senecio, as the orange S.
Japonicus, and the purple and yellow S. pulcher, which
reach nearly or quite 3 inches in diameter. & argetiteus,
the silvery senecio, a dwarf 2 inches high, is valued for
edjiings, and several others for rock-gardens. The most
important species, perhaps, are those of the section Cine-
raria, cultivated under glass, some of which have deep-
blue rays, a color elsewhere absent from this genus as
from most other composite genera.
2. [^ <'.] A member of this genus.
senecioid (se-ne'si-oid), a. [NL., < Senecio -h
-01(1.2 Kesembling Senecio.
Senecionidese (se-ne''''si-o-nid'e-e), n. pi. [NL.
(Lessing, 1832), < ^ene«o(«-)+' -id-rm7] A tribe
of composite plants, characterized by usually
radiate flower-heads, nearly equal involueral
bracts in one or two rows, pappus composed
of bristles, anthers with a tailless base or with
two short points, and penciled, truncate or ap-
pendaged style-branches in the perfect flowers.
It includes 4 subtribes, of which Liabum, TussUago, Sene-
cio. and Othonna are the types, and comprises 43 genera
and about 1,300 species, which extend into all parts of
the world. They are mainly annual and perennial herbs
with alternate leaves and yellow disk-flowers, often also
witli yellow rays. Among other genera, Petamtes, Arnica,
Doronicmn, and Erechthites are represented in the United
States.
senectitude (se-nek'ti-tud), n. [< ML. senecti-
tudo for L. scn'ectus (senectttt-), old age, < senex,
old: see senate.'] Old age. [Kare.]
Senectitude, weary of its toils. H. Miller.
senega (sen'e-ga), «. [NL. : see Sencca-oi'?.] A
drug consistingof the root Folygala Senega, the
Seneca suakeroot. The drug is said to have been used
as an antidote for the bite of the rattlesnake. It is now
almost exclusively used as an expectorant and diuretic.
Also 8ev£ca.
tribe of the Five Nations (Latinized as (Se/iCfiia), Senegal (sen'e-gal), a. and «. [< Senegal (see
+ oil.'] Petroleum in a crude state : so called
from its having been first collected and used,
in their religious ceremonies, by the Seneca
Indians.
Seneca's microscope. A glass globe filled with
water, used as a magnifier.
Senecio (se-ne'si-6), n. [NL. (Toumefort,
1700), < L.' senecio^n-), a plant, groundsel, so
called in allusion to the receptacle, which is
naked and resembles a bald head ; < senecio{n-),
an old man,< senex, old: see senate. Cf. sencion.]
1 . A genus of composite plants, type of the tribe
Senecionideee and subtribe Eusenccioness. It is
characterized by terminal flower-heads with a broad or
cylindrical involucre of one or two rows of narrow bracts,
numerous regular and perfect disk-flowers with truncate
and cylindrical recurved style-branches and nearly cylin-
drical Ave- to ten-ribbed achenes, smooth or but slightly
downy, and little or not at all contracted at the summit,
which bears a copious soft white pappus of slender simple
bristles. Some species have flower-heads calyculate with
a few bractlets below, and the majority bear spreading pis-
tillate rays, which are, however, minute in some and in
others absent. This has been esteemed the largest genus
of flowering plants, containing (including Cacalia, with
Durand, 1888) at least 960 clearly distinct species ; it is yet
uncertain whether or not it is surpassed by the leguminous
genus Astragahts, under which 1,300 species have been
described, but perhaps not over 900 of these are genuine.
The species of Senecio are mostly herbs, of polymorphous
habit, either smooth or woolly, and bear alternate or radi-
cal leaves which are entire, toothed, or dissected. Their
flower-heads are either large or small, corymbed, panicled,
or solitary, and are in the great majority of species yellow,
especially the disk-flowers. The genus is of almost uni-
versal distribution, but the range of individual species is
remarkably limited. They are most abundant in temper-
ate climates; probably about two thirds of the species
belong to the Old World, and of these half to South
Africa and over a fourth to Europe and the Mediter-
ranean region. About 66 species are found in the United
States, including the 9 species of Cacalia (Toumefort,
1700), separated by many authors ; the others are chiefly
low or slender herbs with bright-yellow rays, most nu-
merous in the central States. American species are
much more abundant in the Andean region, where they
assume a shrubby habit and in three fourths of the species
develop no ray-flowers, the reverse of the proportion else-
where. Many of the Andean species grow close to the
def.f.] I. a. Of or pertaining to Senegal, a river
in western Africa, and the region near it. Com-
pare Scnegamhian Senegal crow. See cruw'^.—
Senegal galagO, Galago senegalen.s-i.i.— Senegal gum.
See (jiim arable, under gum'i.— Senegal Jackal, a variety
of the common jackal, Canis rt*i(/ii(s. - Senegal mahog-
any. See Khaya.— Senegal parrot, Palieornii senegalus.
— Senegal sandplpert, senna, shrike. See the nouns.
II. n. II. c] A dealers' name of the small
African blood-finehes of the genus Lagono-
stieta. They are tiny birds, averaging under 4 inches
long, and would be taken for little finches, but belong to
the spermestine
group of the Ploce-
idm (not to Fringil-
lidse). More than
20 species of La-
gonosticta are de-
scribed, all Afri-
can; they are close-
ly related to the
numerous species
of Spemiestes, all
likewise African,
and of Estretda
and its subdivi-
sions, mainly Afri-
can, but also Indi-
an, some of which
are known to the
dealers as ama-
davafs, strawberry-
finches, etc. The
blood-finches (Lagonosticta proper) are so called from their
leading color, a rich crimson, shaded into browns, grays,
and black, and often set off with pearly white spots. Sev-
eral different birds share the name Senegal. That to which
it specially pertains inhabits Senegambia ; it is the si'ne-
gali of the early French and the tire-bird or Jire-Jinch of
the early English ornithologists, the Fringilla seneyala of
Linnffius, and the Estrelda senegala of many writers ; it is 3|
inches long, the male mostly crimson, with black tail and
brown belly, and the back brown washed over with crim-
son. L. nnnima is scarcely dift'erent, but slightly smaller,
and has a few white dots on the sides of the breast.
Senegambian (sen-e-gam'bi-an), a. [< Senegal
+ Gambia, the two chief rivers of the region.]
Pertaining to Senegambia, a region in western
Africa, belonging in great part to France and
other European powers.
Senegal Blood-finch {Lagonosticta >
Hima).
snow-line, and have leaves quite glossy and glutinous ■ i','r, ct^r,^ ■» Same hs imhinnline
above and clothed with warm wool beneath; some gummy. SenOgin (sen e-gm), n. same &s potygaune
leaved species have been used for firewood by the Bolivians senOSCenCe (se-nes ens), ». \_<.scncscen(t)-i- -ce.]
under the name Wa. In St, Helena and New Zealand a
number of species become small trees. (See he-cabbagetree
and puka-puka.) (For the principal British and American
species, see ragwort, Hferoot, anil jacobiea ; for the original
species, S. milgaris, a weed sold for cage-birds in London
under the names bird-seed and chickenweed, and also called
The condition of growing old, or of decaying by
time; decadence.
The world with an unearthly ruddy Hue ; such might
be the color cast by a nearly burnt-out sun in the saies-
cence of a system. Ilarpers Mag., LXXVII. 6'20.
sencion mi simmn, see groundseH.) Several species have senescent (se-nes'ent), a. [= It. scncscentc. <
been in repute as remedies forwounds, as S. Saraceniem(!or
which see Saracen' scomfrey, under Saracen). S. paludoms
is known as bird's-tongtu, S. hieraci.foKuK as haivkweed,
and S. Lyallii, of New Zealand, as mountain-marigold. S.
lobatm, a tall and rather showy species of the southern
irnited States, is known as butterweed, from its fleshy
leaves. S. Cineraria, a bushy yellow-flowered perennial
of Mediterranean shores from Spain to Greece and Egypt,
is the dusty-miller of gardens, valued tor its numerous
long and pinnately cleft leaves, remarkably whitened with
L. senescen{i-)s, ppr. of scnescere, grow old, <
senere. be old, < senex, old: see senate.] Grow-
ing old; aging: a.^, a. senescent 'bea.M.
The night was senescent.
And star-dials pointed to mom. Poe, I'lalunie
It |the Latin of the twelfth century] is not a dead but a
living language, senescent, perhaps, but in a green old age.
Stubbs, Medieval and -Modern Hist., p. 163.
seneschal
seneschal (sen'e-shal), n. [Early mod. E. also
sciifshiill ; < ME. seiieifchal (= It. senesciallo), <
OF. seiieischal, senesral, F. seiiechal = Pr. Sp. Pg.
senescul — It. siniscalco, seniscalro, < ML. seiie-
scalcun, siiiixcalfus. later also sc)i(:iciillu.f, scne-
gcaldiis (> MHG. seiicxehitlt, .ii)itiiclialt, G. sene-
schall), a steward, prefect, majordomo, as if <
Goth, 'ginaslciilkti, ' old servant,' < *si)is (super!.
sinMa), old (= L. sen-ex, old: see senate), +
akalks, servant: see slialk. The same element
-shal occurs in marshal^, q. v.] Formerly, an of-
ficer in the household of a prince or dignitary,
who had the superintendence of domestic cere-
monies and feasts; a majordomo; a steward.
In some instances the seneschal was a royal officer serving
as the presiding magistrate of a district or province.
The disorders of seaeKhalta, captaynea, and theyr soul-
diours, and many such like. Speiiser, State uf Ireland.
Thrusting in his rage
To right and left each sene»chal and page.
Lomj/ellw, Wayside Inn, Sicilian's Tale.
geneschalship (sen'e-shal-ship), «. [< sene-
xrlidl + -x/((/).] The office of seneschal.
seneshallf, «. See seneschal.
senett, "• See sennet.
Senex (.se'neks), H. [NL. (J. E. Gray, 1839), <
L. senex, old: see senate.'] 1. A South Amer-
ican genus of polyborine hawks, the tj-pe of
which is S. leucurus. — 2t. A South American
genus of Vi/pselidie. the type of which is <'i/;iap-
liis senex or Senex temmineki, a Brazilian swift.
Streuhd, 1&48.
senget, r. An obsolete (the original) form of
sengellyt, senglelyt, adv. [ME., also sengilly,
aenijeley, < A.S. siiiijallicc, continually, < singal,
continual, continuous.] Continually.
Ouere-so-euer I logged gemmez gaye,
I sett« hyr lenqeUy in synglure.
AiUUratice Poemi (ed. UorrisX L 8.
Bot I am iengiUy here, with sei iiim of knyghtes.
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. .S), L 471.
■eng-gnni
The tele.
See cut under teledii.
senglet, ". An obsolete form of single^.
sengreen (sen'gren), n. [< ME. sengrene, sin-
grene, evergreen, < AS. sin-grene (= D. sene-
groen = MHG. singruene, G. singriin = Dan. sin-
gron, periwinkle), < sin-, an intensive prefix,
exceeding, very, great (sin-byrncnde, ever-burn-
ing, sin-grim, exceeding fierce, »in-niht, eternal
Qg (seng'gung), n. [Sunda Javanese.]
edu or Javan badger, Mydaus meliceps.
night, sin-here, immense army, etc.) (= MD.
OHG. sin- = Icel. si- ; perhaps akin to E. same,
and L. semper : see semper idem), + grene, green :
8ee<;rc<-nl.] 1. A plant, the hi>u.seleek, .Sf («i»cr-
rii'Mw tertoriim. — 2. In her., a figure n^sembling
the houseleek, used as a bearing Water-san-
green, the water soldier, Stratiata aloidet. Also tnvjhU
waUrr-Kewjreetu
genhor (se-nyor'), n. [Pg. : see senior, seHor,
signor, sir.] The Portuguese form correspond-
ing to the Spanish seSor and Italian signor.
See seilnr, signor.
senile (se'nil), a. [<OF. senile, F. «'Hi7c = Pr.
Sp. I'g. xenil = It. senile, < L. senilis, of or be-
longing to an old man or old age, < senex {sen-),
ol<l, an old man: see senate, senior.] Of, i>er-
taining to, or characteristic of old age ; pro-
ceeding from age; especially, pertaining to or
proceeiling from the weaknesses that usually
attend old age : as, «em7e garrulity ; «eNi7e petu-
lance.
Loss of coloar of the hair may be accidental, premature,
or tenile. Copland, Diet. Pract. Ued.
A person In whom nature, education, and time have hap-
pily matched a wei^U maturity of Judgement with youth-
ful vitfour uf fancy. Boyte, On Colours. (Latham.)
C'oniiider briefly the striking phenomena of loss of mem-
ory in what is called midU imbecility.
MaudMry, Mind, XII. .''lOS.
Senile atrophy, thccmaoiatlnn of uld age.— Senile atro-
phy of bones, wi.le-»jn-t';iit lactiiinr resorption of bone in-
cl'iint t<< iM av:t'. Senile bronctUtla, the subacute or
chn>T)ii;)>r(iii(-iiiti4of old people.— Senile dementia, see
dementia. Senile InTolotion, the shriiikini; or shrivel-
ing up of ttic \Hn\y or any organ in a^eil iK-opli'. — Senile
tremor, the shaking movement or tremor seen in old
senility 'se-uil'i-ti), ». [= Y.seniliti- : as senile
+ -i-tij.] The state of being senile; old age;
especially, the weakness or imbecility of old age.
\Ir. \ A'-s iF'U \^ t ■! '.'..ing away, again recurred to his
' ^ /. aii«l. liKiking full in .lohnson's
t:i' • -i; 1 '■! ii r; 1 << I 11 tinU iu Ut. Youug, O my c«>evals !
rennmuts (.f juursclves." BatweU, Johnson, an. 1778.
It is wonderful to see the anseasonal>lu nertitity of what
»ia called the Peace Party.
Kmermn, Emancipation Proclamation.
Mnlor (se'nior), a. and n. [Early mod. E. se-
niour; < L. senior, older; aa a noun an elder,
5491
elderly person, old man, eeel. an elder, ML. a
lord, chief; compar. of senex {sen-), old: see
senate. From the L. senior are also ult. seignior,
signor, seilor, senhor, sire, sir; also the second
element in »io»wieMr and fflOJmfl'nor.] I. a. 1.
Older; elder: when following a personal name,
as John Smith, senior (usually abbreviated Sr.
or Sen.), it denotes the older of two persons in
one family or community of that name. — 2.
Older in office or service : as, a senior judfje,
colonel, etc. — 3. Belonging or pertaining to the
fourth or last year of the curriciilum of an Amer-
ican college, seminary, or other institution : as,
the senior class — Senior optime. See opKm«.— Se-
nior sopb. See tophister, 3.— Senior wrangler. See
wranffter.
H. H. 1. A person who is older than another;
one more advanced in life ; an elder.
libicepte they washe their handes ofte, eate not, observ-
inge the tradicions of the seniours, Tyndale, Hark vii. 3.
He [Pope] died in May, 1744, about a year and a half be-
fore his mend Swift, who, more than twenty years his ge-
nior, had naturally anticipated that he should be the first
to depart. Craik, Hist. Eng. Lit., II. 241.
2. One who is older in office or service, or whose
first entrance upon such office or service was
anterior to that of another. — 3. An aged per-
son ; one of the older inhabitants.
A Knior of the place replies.
Well read, and curious of antiquities. Dryden,
4. In the universities of England, one of the
older fellows of a college. See seniority, 3. —
6. In the United States, a student in the fourth
year of the curriculum in colleges or semina-
ries; also, one in the last or most advanced
year in certain professional schools ; by exten-
sion, a student in the most advanced class in
various institutions.
seniority (se-nior'j-ti), n. [< ME. senyoryte, <
ML. seniorita(t-)s,X senior, elder: see senior.]
1. The state of being senior; priority of birth:
opposed to juniority : as, the elder brother is
entitled to the place by seniority.
Mr. Treatali, upon the serving up of the supper, desired
the ladies to take their places according to tiieir ditferent
age and rnniority, for that It was the way always at his ta-
ble to pay respect to years.
' Additon, Trial of Ladies' Quarrels.
2. Priority in office or service : as, the seniority
of a surgeon or a chaplain. — 3. A body of se-
niors or elders ; an assembly or court consist-
ing of the senior fellows of a college.
The Duke Satt In Seynt Markes Churche in tyght hys
astate in theQwer on the ryght syd with KnyoryU, which
they call lords, In RIche aparell, as purpyll velvet, cremsyn
velvet. Syne Scarlett
Tortington, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 14.
The dons . . . regarded the matter in so serious a light
that they summon^ a teniorily for its immediate Investi-
gation. Farrar, Julian Home, zxiit
seniorizef (se'nior-iz), f. i. [<. senior + -ize.] To
exercise lordly authority; lord it; rule. Pair-
fax.
senioryt (se'nior-i), n. [< ML. senioria, < L.
w«ior, senior: see «en»or. C{. seigniory.] Same
as seniority.
If ancient ioiTow be most reverend,
Olve mine the benefit of rnntoru.
Sltak., Rich. lU., ir. 4. 30.
senium (se'ni-um), ». [L.] The feebleness of
old age.
senna (sen'a), n. [Formerly also sena, seny,
senie, sene; i OP. senne, sene, F. sen^ = Sp. sen,
sena = Pg. senne = It. sena (= I), zeneblad = G.
senesbldtbsr = 8w. sennctsblad = Dan. sennes-
blad) = Hind. send,K Ar. sena, sana, senna.] 1 .
A drug consisting of the dried leaflets of several
species of Cassia. The ofllcinal species are C. acutifo-
Ita and C. cmguiUfoUa, the former being known as Alexan-
Flowcfing Brancli of ScnDa {CaiSta itbffvata). a, a pod.
se&or
drian, the latter as Indian genna. The product of some
other species is more or less used. (See names below.)
Senna is a prompt, efficient, and very safe purgative, espe-
cially suited to fevers and febrile complaints. It was in-
troduced into medicine by the Arabs.
2. Any species of Cassia yielding the above
drug. The name is extended more or less to
other species of Cassia, and to a few similar
plants — Aleppo senna, the product of Cassia obovala,
an inferior kindi wild in Syria, Egypt^ and Senegambia,
formerly cultivated in Italy, etc., but now out of com-
merce except as an adulterant. The same plant is called
Italian and Senegal senna. — Alexandrian senna, one
of the officinal sennas exported by way of Alexandria,
derived from Cassia acutifolia, a species which grows wild
abundantly in Upper Egypt, ^ubia, etc. — American
senna. Cassia Marilandiea, an erect herb 3 or 4 feet high,
with from six to nine pairs of leatiets and yellow flowers,
abounding southward in the eastern United States. Its
leaves are a safe and etlicient cathartic, but less active
than the Oriental kinds. Also wild senna. — Bastard
senna. Same as bladder-senna. — India or Indian
senna, the product of Cassia anf/ust\folia (C. elongata,
etc.), obtained chiefly in Arabia, but reaching western
lands by way of liombay and other Indian ports. Some-
times also called Mocha senna, as originally from that
port. The same jilant in cultivation yields Tinnevelly
senna.— Mecca senna, the product of Cassia anffust\folia
exported through Slccca. — MoCha Senna. See India
sentia. — Scorpion-senna. See C»ro/tt/;«2,— Senegal
senna, ."^ee .ileppc senna, alx)ve.— Tinnevelly senna.
See India senna, above. — Tripoli senna, an article as-
cribed to Cassia .flthiapica, and thonplit to be obtained in
Fezzan.— Wild senna. See American senna, above.
Sennachie, sennachy, n. Same as seannachie.
senna-tree (sen'ii-tre), n. An arborescent spe-
cies of Cassia, C. emarginata of the West Indies.
sennet^t (sen'et), ». [Also written senttit, senet,
scnnate, synnet, cynet, signet, signate: see signet,
signate.] A particular set of tones on a trum-
pet or comet, different from a flourish. The
word occurs chiefly in the stage directions of
old plays.
Trumpets sound a flourish, and then a sennet.
Dekker, Satiromastix.
Comets sound a eynet.
Martton, Antonio's Revenge. {Naret.)
sennef (sen'et), ». Stime as sennight. [Prov.
Eng.]
sennight (sen'it), n. [E. dial, sennet; early
mod/E. senyght, sevenyght, < ME. seve-niht, sove-
nyht, sevennyghte, sefennahht, a week, < seven +
night: see seveti and night, and cf. fortnight (for
'foitrteennight).] The space of seven nights
and days; a week.
I chanced to show you, most lionorable audience, this
day sennigtU, what I heard of a man that was slain.
Latimer, Cth Sermon bef. Edw. VI., 1549.
She shall never have a happy hour, unless she marry
within this ten'niffht. B. Jotwtn, Bartholomew Fair, L 1.
We agreed to meet at Watertown that day sen'night.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 46.
My love for Nature is as old as I ;
But thirty moons, one honeymoon to that.
And three rich senniglits more, my love for her.
Tennystm, Edwin Morris.
sennif^ (sen'it), ». [Also sinnet, formerly sin-
nctt ; said to be < seven (contracted
to sen- as in sennight) + knit: see
knit, and for the sense 'seven-knit-
ted' cf. similar formations, as dimity
('two-threaded') and samite ('six-
threaded').] Naut., a sort of flat
braided cordage used for various pur-
poses, and formed by plaiting rope-
yams or spun yam together; also,
grass or straw plaited by seamen for making
hats.
Trent. A threefold rope, cord, string, or twist, called
by Mariners a Sinnet Colgrave.
The boys who could not sew well enough to make their
own clothes laid up grass into sinnet for the men, who
sewed for them in return.
R. H. Dana, Two Years Before the Mast, p. 269.
Sennif'^t, «. See sennef^.
senocillar (sf-nok'u-lar), a. [< L. seni, six each
(< sex, six),' + ocultis, eye, + -ar^.] Having
six eyes.
Most animals are binocular, spiders for the most part
octonocular, and some . . . setwadar.
Derham, PhysicoTheology, viii. 3, note.
Senonian (se-no'ni-an), n. [< L. Senones, a
people in central Gfaul, + -tan.] In geol., a
division of the Upper Cretaceous in France
and Belgiims. The term is also used to some extent
in English geology. The Senonian lies between the Tu-
ronian and the Oanian, and is subdivided into the San-
tonian and Campanian : it corresponds to the "Upper
Chalk with flints "of the English Cretaceous, which is there
essentially a white pulvenilent mass of chalk, with flints
arranged in nearly parallel layers. Although exhibiting
in England a remarkable uniformity of lithological char-
acter from top to bottom, it has been shown to tie paleon-
tnlogically separable Into several distinct zones closely
resembling those into which the chalk of the northern
Cretaceous basin of France has been divided.
sefior (se-nyor'), n. [Sp. «c|{or, a gentleman, sir,
< L. senior, elder, ML. a lord : see senior, sir.']
sefior
A gentleman ; in address, sir ; as a title, Mr. :
in Spanish use.
senora (se-nyo'ni), H. rSp. (fem. of seilor), a
ladv, madam : see sefior.] A lady ; in address,
maJlam ; as a title, Mrs. : the feminine of seiior:
in Spanish use.
senorita (sen-yo-re'tS), n. [Sp., dim. otseilora :
see seilor.] 1. A young lady ; in address, miss;
as a title, Miss : in Spanish use. — 2. In ichth.,
a graceful little labroid fish of California, Pseu-
dojulis or Oxyjulis modestus. It is 6 or 7 Inches
long, prettily marked with iudigo-blue, orange, and black
upon an olive-brown ground, cream-colored below.
SenOUSi (se-no'si), n. [Algerian: see quot. un-
der /!<eiiousian, ».] A Mohammedan religious
and political society, especially influential in
northern Africa. See the quotation.
The Mussulman confraternity of Semnisi. This sect,
which is distinguished by its austere and fanatical tenets,
arose forty -six years ago under an Algerian, and appeai-s
to have in a greater or less degree permeated tlie Monam-
med.<ui world, and acquired vast political importance. It
flourishes especially in Northern Africa, reaching as far
south as Timbuctoo. Nature, XXK. 478.
Senousian (se-no'si-an), a. and n. [< Setiousi
+ -an.] I. a. Of or pertaining to the Senousi.
Ready at a moment's notice to convey to the interior the
persons and property of the SeTumsian authorities.
Science, IV. 459.
H, n. One of the Senousi.
Serunaians, or the Brotherhood of Sidi Mohammed Ben
All es-Senousi, the founder of the order. Science, IV. 457.
Senoyst, a. and n. [< OF. *SieHois = It. Sie-
nese, Sienese : see Sienese.] Sienese.
The Florentines and Senoys are by the ears.
Shak., All's Well, i. 2. 1.
senst, «'• t. Same as scnsc^ for incense'^.
sensable (sen'sa-bl), a. [< sensed + -able.] In-
telligible. [Bare.]
Your second [sort of figures] serues the conceit onely
and not th' eare, and may be called sensable, not sensible,
nor yet sententious.
Putten/tam, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 133.
sensart, «• An obsolete form of censer.
sensate (sen'sat), a. [< L. sensatus, endued
with sense, < sensus, sense: see sense'^.] Per-
ceived by the senses.
sensatet (sen'sat), v. t. \_< sensate, a.] To have
perception of, as an object of the senses; ap-
prehend by the senses or understanding.
As those of the one are sensated by the ear, so those of
the other are by the eye.
/(oo*e. Hist. Royal Soc, iil. 2. (Eneyc. Diet.)
sensated, a. Same as sensate.
sensation (sen-sa'shon), n. [< OF. sensacion,
F. sensation = Pr. sensation = Sp. sensacion =
Pg. sensaqUo = It. sensazione,<. ML.*se««oWo()i-),
< L. sensatus, endued with sense: see senmte.]
1. The action, faculty, or immediate mental re-
sult of receiving a mental impression from any
affection of the bodily organism ; sensitive ap-
prehension; corporeal feeling; any feeling;
also, the elements of feeling or immediate con-
sciousness and of consciousness of reaction in
perception ; the subjective element of percep-
tion. Sensation has to be distinguished from feeling
on the one hand, and from perception on the other. All
are abstractions, or objects segregated by the mind from
their concomitants, but perception is less so and feel-
ing more so than sensation. Sensation is feeling toge-
ther with the direct consciousness of that feeling forcing
itself upon us, so that it involves the essential element of
the conception of an object ; but sensation is considered
apart from its union with associated sensations, by which
a perception is built up. Sensations are either peripheral
or visceral. Among the latter are to be specially men-
tioned sensations of operations in the brain. No approach
to a satisfactory enumeration of the different kinds of sen-
sations, even of the peripheral kind, has been made.
Those that make motion and sensation thus really the
same, they must of necessity acknowledge that no longer
motion, no longer sensation, . . . and that every motion
or reaction must be a new sensation, as well as every ceas-
ing of reaction a ceasing of sensation.
Dr. H. More, Immortal, of Soul, II. L 12.
The perception which actually accompanies and is an-
nexed to any impression on the body made by an external
object, being distinct from all other modifications of
thinking, furnishes the mind with a distinct idea, which
we call sensation.
Locke, Human Understanding, II. xix. 1.
Sensation, so long as we take the analytic point of view,
differs from perception only in the extreme simplicity of
its object or content. . . . From the physiological point
of view both sensations and perceptions differ from
thoughts in the fact that nerve-currents coming in from
the periphery are Involved in their production.
W. James, Prin. of Psychology, xvil.
Impressions may be divided into two kinds, those of
sensation and those of reflexion. The first kind arises in
the soul originally, from unknown causes.
llume, Treatise of Human Nature, I. ii.
The feelings which accompany the exercise of these
sensitive or corporeal powers, whether cognitive or ap-
peteot, wUl constitute a distinct class, and to these we
5492
may with great propriety give the name of sensations:
whereas on the feelings which accompany the energies of
all our higher powers of mind we may with equal pro-
priety bestow the name of sentiments.
Sir W. Hamilton, Metaph., xlv.
Unlucky Welsted ! thy unfeeling master.
The more thou ticklest, gripes his flst tlie faster.
While thus each hand promotes the plejising pain.
And quick sensations sliip fram vein to vein.
Pope, Danciad, ii. 212.
Sensations sweet.
Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart.
Wordsworth, Tintern Abbey.
She was hardly conscious of any hoAWy sensation except
a sensaHon of strength inspired by a mighty emotion.
George Eliot, Mill on the Floss, vii. 5.
2. A state of interest or of feeling ; especially,
a state of excited interest or feeling.
The sensation caused by the appearance of that work is
still remembered by many. Brougham.
The actor's dress had caught fire, and the house had a
sensation not bargained for.
J. C. Jeaffreson, Live it Down, xxii.
An intellectual voluptuary, a moral dilettante tPe-
trarch], the first instance of that character, since too com-
mon, tile gentleman in search of a sensation.
Lowell, Among my Books, Ist ser., p. 366.
3. That which produces sensation or excited
interest or feeling: as, the greatest sensation
of the day Muscular sensations. See muscular.—
Perverse temperature-sensations, the production of
a sensation of lieat liy a cold body applied to the skin,
and of cold Ijy a hot body. - Sensation novels, novels
that produce their effect by exciting and often improbable
situations, by taking as their groundwork some dreadful
secret, some atrocious crime, or the like, and painting
scenes of extreme peril, high-wrought passion, etc.
sensational (sen-sa'shon-al), a. [< sensation +
-0?.] 1. Of or pertaining to sensation; relating
to or implying sensation or perception through
the senses.
With sensational pleasures and pains there go, in the
infant, little else but vague feelings of delight and anger
and fear. II. Spencer, Prin. of Psychol., § 482.
This property of Persistence, and also of recurrence in
Idea, belonging more or less to sensational states, is their
[t. e., sensations'] intellectual property.
A. Bain, Emotions and Will, p. 17.
2. Having sensation ; serving to convey sensa-
tion; sentient. Dunglison. — 3. Intended, as a
literary or artistic work, to excite intense emo-
tion ; appealing to the love of being moved, as
a chief source of interest.
T\iQ sensational history of the Paston letters, rather than
the really valuable matter contained in them, has been
the chief element in the demand for their production.
Slubbs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. ,')6.
4. Of or pertaining to sensationalism; adher-
ing to philosophical sensationalism.
Are we then obliged to give in our adherence to the
. sensational philosophy '?
Farrar, Origin of Language, p. 148.
He never forgot that Berkeley was a sensational, while
he was an intellectual, idealist.
A. J. Balfour, Mind, IX. 91.
sensationalism (sen-sa'shon- al-izm), n. [<
sensational + -ism.] 1. In'pkilos., the theory
or doctrine that all our ideas are solely derived
through our senses or sensations ; sensualism. ■
Sensationalism at once necessitates and renders impos-
sible a materialistic explanation of the universe.
Caird, Philos. of Kant, p. 13.
2. Sensational writing or language ; the pres-
entation of matters or details of such a nature
or in such a manner as to thrill the reader or
to gratify vulgar curiosity: as, the sensational-
ism of the press.
There was an air of sensalionaXism about its news de-
partments that was new in that field.
Harper's Mag., LXXVII. 695.
sensationalist (sen-sa'shon-al-ist), n. [< sen-
sational + -ist.] 1. In metaph., a believer in
or an upholder of the doctrine of sensationalism
or sensualism : sometimes used adjectively.
Accordingly we are not surprised to find that Locke was
claimed as the founder of a sensationalist school, whose
ultimate conclusions his calm and pious mind would
have indignantly repudiated. . . . We consider this on
the whole a less objectionable term than "sensualist" or
"sensuist"; the latter word is uncouth, and the former,
from the things which it connotes, is hardly fair.
Farrar, Origin of Language, p. 150, and note.
2. A sensational writer or speaker.
sensationalistic (sen-sa-shon-a-lis'tik), a. [<
sen.^ationalist + -ic] Of or pertaining to sen-
sationalists, or sensationalism in philosophy.
ICnci/c. Brit., XXI. 40.
sensationally (sen-sa'shon-al-i), adv. In a sen-
sational maimer.
sensationary (sen-sa'shon-a-ri), a. [< sensa-
tion + -ary.] Possessing or relating to sensa-
tion ; sensational.
sensationism (sen-sa'ahgn-izm), n. Same as
sensationalism.
sense
sensative (sen'sa-tiv), a. [< sensate + -ire.]
Oi or pertaining to sensation; sensatory.
[Kare.]
Force vegetiue and sen^atiue in Man
There is. Heywood, Hierarchy of Angels, p. 13.
sensatorial (sen-sa-to'ri-al), fl. [< .sensate +
-orij + -at.] Of or pertaining to sensation;
.sensational. [Bare.]
A brilliantly original line of research, which may pos-
sibly . . . lead to a restatement of the whole psycho-
physical theory of sensatorial intensity as developed by
Weber. The Academy, Aug. 16, 1890, p. 136.
sense^ (sens), n. [Early mod. E. also sence ;
leel. sansar, pi., the senses, Sw. sans = Dan.
sands, sense, < OF. (and F.) sens = Pg. It. scnso,
< L. sensus, feeling, sense, < scntire, pp. sensus,
feel, perceive : see scent.] 1. The capacity of
heing the subject of sensation and perception ;
the mode of consciousness by which an object is
apprehended which acts upon the mind through
the senses; the capacity of becoming conscious
of objects as actually now and here ; sense-per-
ception ; mental activity directly concerned in
sensations.
Sense thinks thelightning bom before the thunder :
What tells us then they both together are? . . .
Sense outsides knows, the soul tiirough all things sees.
.Sir J. Davies, Immortal, of Soul, ii.
We adore virtue, though to the eyes of sense she be in-
visible. Sir T. Browne, Religio Medici, ii. 14.
Wherever there is sense or perception, there some idea
is actually produced, and present in the understanding.
Locke, Human Understanding, II. ix. 4.
These two doctrines of Leibnitz — that sense is confused
tliought, and that existence in space and time is a phe-
nomenon rejde — have a special importance when viewed
in relation to the ideas of Kant.
E. Caird, Philos. of Kant, p. 91.
En'ors of sense are only special instances where the
mind makes ita synthesis unfortunately, as it were, out
of incomplete data, instantaneously and inevitably inter-
preting them in accordance witli the laws which have
regulated all its experience.
G. T. Ladd, Physiol. Psychology, p. 455.
2. A special faculty of sensation connected
with a bodily organ; the mode of sensation
awakened by the excitation of a peripheral
nerve, in this signification, man is commonly said to
have five senses — sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch —
a correct enumeration, perhaps, according to organs, but
each of these organs has several different qualities of sen-
sation. A sixth sense is often specified as the muscular
sense (distinguished from touch) ; a seventh is sometimes
spoken of, meaning the inner sense, the common sense of
Aristotle, an unknown endowment, or a sexual feeling ;
and further subdivisions also are made. The seven senses
are also often spoken of, meaning consciousness in its
totality.
Whiles every sence the humour sweet embayd,
Spenser, F. Q., I. ix. 13.
The filly was soon scared out of her seven senses, and
began to calcitrate it, to wince it, to frisk it.
Motteux, tr. of Rabelais, iv. 14.
In June 'tis good to lie beneath a tree.
While the blithe season comforts every sense.
Lowell, Under the Willows.
The five senses just enumerated — sight, hearing, smell,
taste, and touch — would seem to comprise all onr per-
ceptive faculties, and to leave no further sense to be ex-
■ plained. Aristotle, De Aninia (tr. by Wallace).
3. Feeling; immediate consciousness; sensa-
tion perceived as inward or subjective, or, at
least, not decidedly as objective; also, vague
consciousness or feeling.
Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense.
Lie in three words — health, peace, and competence.
Pope, Essay on Man, iv. 79.
A sense of pleasure, subtle and quiet as a perfume, dif-
fused itself through the room. C. Bronte, Shirley, xxxv.
Dim and faint
May be the sense of pleasure and of pain.
Bryant, Among the Trees.
Such expressions as the abysmal vault of heaven, the
endless expanse of ocean, &c., sunmiarize many computa-
tions to the imagination, and give tlie sense of an enor-
mous horizon. W. James, Mind, XII. 209, note.
At the same time he [Manzoni] had that exquisite cour-
tesy in listening which gave to those who addressed him
the sense of having spoken well. Encyc. Brit., XV. 515.
Then a cool naked sense beneath my feet
Of bud and blossom.
A. C. Surinbume, Two Dreams.
4. A power of perceiving relations of a partic-
ular kind ; a capacity of being affected 'by cer-
tain non-sensuous qualities of objects; a special
kind of discernment ; also, an exertion of such
a power: as, the religious sense; the sense of
duty ; the sense of humor.
Sense of Right and Wrong [is] as natural to us as natural
affection itself, and a first principle in our constitution
and make.
Shaftesbury, Inquiry, I. iii. § 1, quoted in Fowler, p. 7a
Tempests themselves, high seas and howling winds.
The gutter'd rocks and congregated sands —
Traitors ensteep'd to clog the guiltless keel —
As having sense of beauty, do omit
Their mortal natures. Shak., Othello, ii. 1. 71.
I
sense
And this arrangement into schools, and the deflnitenesa
of the conclusions reached in each, are on the increase,
so that here, it would seem, are actually two new senses,
the scientific and the artistic, which the mind is now in
the prtjcess of forming for itself.
W. K. Cliford, Conditions of Mental Development.
And full of cowardice and puilty shame,
I grant in her some iefise of shame, she tlies.
Tentiyson, Princess, Iv.
These investigations show not only that the skin is sen-
sitive, hut that one is able with great precision to dis-
tinguish the part touched. This latter power is usually
called the genge of locality, and it is inlluenceti by various
conditions. Encye, Brit,, XXIII. 4S0.
From a genae of duty the Phoenicians burned their chil-
dren alive. J. F. Clarke, Self-Culture, p. 202.
5. Mind generally ; consciousness; especially,
understanding; cognitiTC power.
And cruell sword out of his fingers slacke
Fell downe to ground, as if the Steele had tence.
Spenter, F. Q., IV. vi. 21.
Are you a man? have you a soul or tetuef
Shak., Othello, ill. 3. S74.
And for th" Impression God prepar'd their Setiae;
They saw, believ'd all this, and parted thence.
Cowley, Davideis, L
6. Sound or clear mind, (a) Ordinary, normal, or
clear mental action : especially in the plora), with a col-
lective force.
MHien his lands were spent,
Troubled in his aeneee.
Then he did repent
Of his late lewd life.
CoMtanee o/ Cimefand (Child's Ballads, IV. 230).
Their Battle-axes was the next; whose piercing bils
made sometime the one, sometime the other to have scarce
teme to keepe their saddles.
Capt. John Smith, True Travels, I. IT.
He [George Fox] had the comfort of a short illness, and
the blessing of a clear wnw to the last.
Penn, Rise and Progress of Quakers, v.
The patients are commonly brought to their aeruet in
three or four days, or a week, and rarely continue longer.
Poeocke, Description of the East, II. i. lia.
(6) Good Judgment approaching sagacity ; sooud practical
intelligence.
The latter is most cried up : bat he is more reserved,
seems sly and to have tetue. WalpoU, Letters, II. 302.
".Say, madam," said I, "I am Judge already, and tell
you that you are perfectly in the wrong of It ; for, if it was
a matter of importance, I know be has better tentt than
you.' SteHt, Tatler, No. 86.
(c) Acuteness of perception or apprehension; discern-
ment.
This Basillus, having the qnlck tnet of a lover, took, as
though his mistress had given hlro a secret reprehension,
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, L
7. Discriminative perception; appreciation; a
state of mind the result of a mental judgment
or valuation.
Abundance of imaginary great men are pat io straw to
bring them to a right sense of thenselvei.
aUtU, TaUer, No. 125.
Beware of too sablime • tenm
Of yoar own worth and conseqnence.
Couyer, The Retired Cat.
She dusted a chair which needed no dusting, and placed
It for Sylvia, sitting down herself on a threelegsea stool
to mark her true of the difference in their coaoitions.
Jfra. OatkeU, gylvU's Lovers, xliil.
8. Meaning; import; signification; the concep-
tion that a word or sign is intended to convey.
Whereof the allegoi; and hid sniM
Is that a well erected conBdence
Can fright their pride.
B. Jotmm, Poetaster, Ind.
We cannot determine in what exact snuc oar bodies on
the resurrection will be the same as they are at present.
J. U. Sevman, Parochial Sermons, L 277,
9. The intention, thought, feeling, or meaning
of a body of jH-rsons, as an assembly; judg-
ment, opinion, determination, or ■will in refer-
ence to a debated question.
It was the universal and ananlmous *nu> of Friends
"That joining in marriage is the work of the Lord only,
and not of priest or magiatnte.'
Penn, Travels in Holland, etc.
The tentf of the House waa so strongly manifested that,
after a closing speech of great keenness from Halifax, the
courtiers did not venture to divide.
Maeaulay, Hist Eng,, vi.
10. That which is wise, judicious, sound, sen-
sible, or int4>lligent, anil accords with sound
reason : as, to talk gengc.
As you have put the words together, they are neither
Latin nor Sente. MOton, Ana. to Salmasius.
When waa there ever better and more weighty seine
spoken by any than by the Apostles after the day of Pen-
tecost? StiUini/Jleet. Sermons, L Ix.
I no more saw terue in what she said
Than a lamb does in people clipping wool ;
<n\y lay down and let myself lie clipped,
Broumtng, Ring and Book, II. 10.
Chemical aenne, the sense of taste or of smell, as oper-
ating by means uf the chemical action of sobstances on
ttl« organ.
5493
In the case of the so-called chemical genses, taste and
smell, we have as yet no method of reckoning the degree
of the physical force which constitutes the stimulus.
J. Sully, .Sensation and Intuition, p. 47.
Collective, common, dl'vlded sense. See the adjec-
tives.—Composite sense, that sense of a modal proposi-
tion in which the mode is considered as predicated of the
indicative proposition ; opptisedtocHi-my^ *icH5f ; thus, that
it is possible for that whioli is hot to be cold is true in a di-
vinvesenJie, hut not in & composite senge.—jyVnaiye sense.
See composite sense, above. — Esthetic senBe. See esthetic.
— Exterior sense, one of the senses by whicll the outer
world is perceived. — Fixed sense, one of the five more
deflnitesenses — Good sense, sound judgment.— Illative
sense. See illative. — In all Senset, in every respect.
You should in all sense be much bound to him.
Shak., M. of v., V. 1. 136.
Inner sense. Same as internal sense. — In one's senses,
in one's right mind ; in the enjoyment of a sound mind ;
of sound mind. — In sense Oft, in view of ; impressed with.
In seme of his [Mr. Thompson's) sad condition, [the el-
ders) offered up many prayers to God for him, and, in
God's good time, they received a gracious answer.
N. Morton, New England's Memorial, p. 324.
Interior sense, self-consciousness ; thepowerof perceiv-
ing what is in our own minds ; also, the noetic reason ;
the source of first truths.— Internal sense. See inter-
nal.—VlagneUc, moral, muscular, mystical sense.
See the adjectives. — Out of one's senses, of unsound
mind, or temporarily deprived of a sound use of one's
judgment.
Puff. You observed how she mangled the metre?
Dannie. Yea — egad, it was the first thing made me sus-
pect she was out o/her senses. Sheridan, "The Critic, iii. 1.
Pickwickian sense. See Piekmckian.— Proper sense,
the original or exact meaning of a word or phrase, as dis-
tinguished from later or looser uses.— Reflex Sense. See
re/t«. Sense of effort, ."ee «/w(.— Special sense,
one of the five l>odily senses. — Spiritual sense of the
WonL Same as interruU sense of the Word (which see, un-
der intertial). — Strict sense, the narrow sense of a word
or phrase, which it takes as a well-recognized and estab-
lished term, as of philosophy, or exact science, as dis-
tinguished from wider and looser senses.- To abound
In or with one's o'wn senset. See abound.— To be
ftlKbtened out of one's (seven) senses, to be so
frightened ;is t/j lose <nie's understanding for the time
being. -Vague sen8a,tlie less specialized and less objec-
tive of the bodily senses, as the sense of heat, the sense
of cold, various visceral sensations, et<-. — Vital sense.
See vital.
Sense^ (sens), v. t.; pret. and pp. sensed, ppr.
sensing. [= Dan. sandse, perceive, = Sw. sa)isa
(refl.), recover oneself; m>m the noon.] 1. To
perceive by the -senses.
Is be sure that objects are not otherwise sen$ed by
others then they are tqr him?
aianvOU, Vanity of Dogmatizing, xxll.
2t. To give the sense of; expound.
Twaa writ not to be understood, but read ;
He tliat expounds it must come from the dead ;
Get undertake to sense it true.
For he can tell more than himself e'er knew.
CatturiijhVs Poems (1651). (.yores.)
3. To perceive ; comprehend ; understand ;
realize ; take into the mind. [Ptov. or coUoq.,
Eng. and U. 8.]
He button-holed everybody, and offended nobody; found
oat the designs of every clique, the doings of every secret
caucus, got at the plans of the leaders, the temper of the
crowd, sensed the whole situation.
a. S. Merriam, S. Bowles, 1. 101.
sense^t, n. and V. [< ME. sensen, sencen, by
apheresis from eii«mw0ii, incense: sec <n«en«e3.]
Same as incense^.
Whan thei comen there, thel taken Ensense and other
aromatyk thinges of noble Smelle, and sensen the Ydole,
as we wolde don here Goddes precyouse Body.
MandemUe, Travels, p. 174.
An image otOwr Lady with IJ awngellis SCTuyn<7, gilthe.
Paton Letters, III. 433.
sense-body (sens'bod'i), n. One of the various
peripheral sense-organs or marginal bodies of
the disk, bell, or umbrella of acalephs, supposed
to have a visual or an auditory function, as a
lithocyst, an ocellicyst, or a teniae ulicy at. See
cut under lithocyst.
There are eight sense-bodies arranged at regular inter-
vals aroand the margin of the umbrella, alternately with
which ariae the tentaclea. Amer. XaturtUist, XXIII. 692.
sense-capsnle (sens'kap'sfil), n. A hollow or-
gan (if H special sense; a special stnicture or
organ exclusively devoted to the reception of a
particular kind of impression, or sensory per-
ception, from without, as the nose, eye, and
ear; in the simplest form, a receptive cham-
ber connected by a nerve-commissure with a
nerve-coiiter. In man three sense-capsules are distin-
gaished, of the nose, eye, and ear respectively. Tlie ex-
cavation of the ethmoid bone Is the first; the eyeball is
the second ; and the petrosal part of the temporal l>oiie is
thethiid; the last is also called aHcaipnife. Manyanalo-
goas sense-organs of Inrertebrates are commonly called
sense-capsules.
sense-cavity (sens'kav'i-ti), n. Same as sense-
ritj>sule.
sense-cell (sens'sel), n. Any cell of an organ
of special sense; specifically, one of the cells
entering into the formation of the nerve-hil-
sense-rhythni
locks or neuromasts of the lower vertebrates
(batraehians and fishes). See neuromast.
The sense-cells found in the skin : f. e., differentiated
Ectoderm cells. Claus, Zoology (trans.), p. 45.
sense-center (sens'8en'''t6r), n. A center of
sensation ; a ganglion of gray nerve-tissue, or
a part of the cortex of the brain, having im-
mediate relations with some special sensation.
sensed (senst), p. a. Considered or chosen as
to sense or meaning conveyed or to be con-
veyed. [Rare.]
Words well sens'd, best suting subject grave.
Marston, Sophonisba, Epil.
sense-element (sens'el'e-ment), n. An exter-
nal sensation regarded as an element of a per-
ception.
A percept is a complex psychical product formed by a
coalescence of sense-elements.
J. Sully, Outlines of Psychol., p. 336.
sense-epithelium (sens'ep-i-the'li-um), n. A
sensory or specially sensitive tract of ectoderm,
epiderm, or cuticle which functions as an organ
of sense, as in hydrozoans.
sense-filament (sens'fil'a-ment), w. A filament
having the function of ah organ of sense : as,
the peculiar sense-filaments of the Pauropoda.
A. S. Packard.
sensefnlt (sens'fvil), a. [< sensed + -fuW] 1.
Perceptive.
Prometheus, who celestial Are
Did steal from heaven, therewith to inspire
Our earthly bodies with a sense/ul mind.
Marston, Satires, v, 19,
2. Full of sense ; hence, reasonable ; judicious ;
sensible; appropriate.
The Ladle, hearkning to his sens^idl speach.
Found nothing that be said unmeet nor geason,
Spenser, F. Q., VI, Iv. 37.
And gaae thee power (as Master) to impose
Fit senae-fuU Names vnto the Hoast that rowes
In watery Regions ; and the wandring Heards
Of Forrest people; and the painted Birds.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, L 8.
sense-impression (sens'im-presh'pn), n. A
sensation duo to the excitation of a peripheral
organ of sense.
The higher and more revlvable feelings are connected
with well-discriminated sense-impressimis and percepts,
whereas the lower feelings are the accompaniments of
vague undiscriminated mental states.
J. Sully, Outlines of Psychol., p. 487.
senseless (sens'les), a. [Formerly also senee-
Icss (= IJan. sandsesliis = 8w. sanslos) ; < sensed
+ -less.'] 1. Destitute of sense ; having no
power of sensation or perception ; incapable of
sensation or feeling; insensible.
Their lady lying on the seneelesse grownd.
Spenser, F. Q., III. 1. 63.
The ears are senseless that should give us hearing.
Shak., Hamlet, v. 2. 380.
2. Inappreciative ; lacking in appreciation;
without perception.
His wits are dull.
And seneelesse of this wrong.
Times' Whistle (E. E. T. 8.X p. 66.
I would thank you too, father; but your cruelty
Hath almost made me senseless of my duty.
Fletcher, Hlgrim, I. 1.
O race of Capernaitans, senstesae of divine doctrine, and
capable onely of loaves and belly-cheere.
Milton, On Def. of Humb. Remonst.
3. Lacking understanding; acting without
sense or judgment; foolish; stupid.
Like senseless Chymista their own Wealth destroy.
Imaginary Gold t' enjoy. Cowley, Reason, St. 2.
They were a stupid senseless race.
Swift, Cadenus and Vanessa.
4. Without meaning, or contrary to reason or
sound judgment; ill-judged; unwise; foolish;
nonsensical.
Seneelesse speach, and doted Ignorance.
Spenser, F. Q., L viii. 34.
We should then have had no memory of those times
but what your Josippus would afford us, out of whom you
transcribe a few senseless and useless Apothegms of the
Pharisees. Milton, Answer to Salmasius.
senselessly (sens'les-li), adv. ' In a senseless
manner; stupidly; unreasonably: as, a man
senselessly arrogant.
senselessness (sens'les-nes), n. The character
or idiidition of being senseless, in any sense.
sense-organ (sens'or'gan), n. Any organ of
sense, as tlie eye, ear, or nose.
sense-perception (Bens'p^r-sep''shon), n. Per-
ception by means of the senses; also, a per-
ception of an object of sense.
sensert, «. An obsolete spelling of censer.
sense-rhythm (sens'riTHm), «. An arrange-
ment of words characteristic of Hebrew poetry,
in which the rhythm consists not in a nse and
sense-rhythm
fall of accent or quantity of syllables, but, as
it were, in a pulsation of sense rising and fall-
ing through the parjillel, antithetic, or other-
wise balanced members of each verse; paral-
lelism. Jr. Robertson Smith.
sense-seta (sens'se'ta), n. A bristle-like ap-
pendage acting as an organ of sense. A» iS.
Packani.
sense-skeleton (sens'skeFe-ton), n. The sup-
port or framework of a 8en8eK)rgan, especially
when harti or bony.
sensibility (sen-si-bil'i-ti), v. ; pi. sejtsibiUiies
(-tiz). [< ME. setisibiliteey < OF. sensibilite, F.
sensibility = Pr. sensibilitat = Sp. sensibilidad
= Pg. sensibiHdade = It. sensibilitd, sensibil-
ity, < LL. s€iisibiUta{t')Sy the sense or meaning
of words, sensibility, < sensibiliSy sensible : see
sensible*'] 1. The state or property of being
sensible or capable of sensation ; capability of
sensation.
Having now been exposed to the cold and the snow
near an hour and a half, some of the rest began to lose
their sensibUity. Cook, Voyages, i. 4.
There are accidental fluctuations in our inner sensibiUty
which niatie it impossible to tell just what the least dis-
cernible increment of the sensation is without taking the
average of a lai^e number of appreciations.
W, Jatnes, R-in. of Psychology, I. 539.
2. Mental receptivity or susceptibility in gen-
eral.
We call sensibility the receptivity of our soul, or its
power of receiving representations whenever it is in any-
wise affected.
Kant, Critique of Pure Reason (tr. by Max Miiller), p. Bl.
If my granddaughter is stupid, learning will make her
conceited and insupportable ; if she has talent and setm-
bility, she will do as 1 have done — supply by address and
with sentiment what she does not know.
The Century, XL. 649.
3. Specifically, the capacity of exercising or
being the subject of emotion or feeling in a re-
stricted sense ; capacity for the higher or more
refined feelings.
As our tenderness for youth and beauty gives a new and
just importance to their fresh and manifold claims, so the
}\ke seimbilUy gives welcome to all excellence, has eyes
and hospitality for merit in corners. Emerson, Success.
Her sensiinlUy to the supreme excitement of music was
only one form of that passionate sensibiUty which be-
longed to her whole nature.
George Eliot, Mill on the Floss, vi. 6.
4. In a still narrower sense, peculiar suscep-
tibility of impression, pleasurable or painful;
unusual delicacy or keenness of feeling; quick
emotion or sympathy; sensitiveness: in this
sense used frequently in the plural.
Modesty is a kind of quick and delicate feeling in the
soul ; it is such an exquisite sensibility as wai'ns a woman
to shun the first appearance of everything hurtful.
Addison, Spectator.
Virtue and taste are built upon the same foundation of
sensibility, and cannot be disjoined without offering vio-
lence to both. Goldsmith, Taste.
The true lawgiver ought to have a heart full of sensibil-
ity. Burke.
'Twere better to be born a stone.
Of ruder shape, and feeling none,
Than with a tenderness like mine.
And sensibilities so fine.
Cowper, Poet, Oyster, and Sensitive Plant.
By sympathetic sensihility is to be understood the pro-
pensity that a man has to derive pleasure from the happi-
ness, and pain from the unhappiness, of other sensitive
beings. Bentham, Principles of Morals, vi. § 20.
5. The property, as in an instrument, of re-
sponding quickly to very slight changes of con-
dition; delicacy; sensitiveness (the better word
in this use). [Kare.]
All these instruments have the same defect, that their
sensibility diminishes as the magnets grow weaker.
Science, XIII. 294.
6t. Sensation.
Philosophres that hyhten Stoyciens that wenden that
ymages and sensibilitees, that is to seyn sensible ymagina-
cions or elles ymagynacions of sensible thinges, weeren
enpreynted into sowles fro bodies withouteforth.
Chaucer, Boethius, v. meter 4.
7t. Feeling; appreciation; sense; realization.
His soul laboured under a sickly sensibUiiy of the mis-
eries of others. Goldsmith, Vicar, iii.
Recurrent sensibility. See recurrent. = ^yTL 3 and 4.
Taste. Sensibility. See taste.
sensible (sen'si-bl), a. and n. [Early mod. E.
also sencible; < ME. sensible, < OF. (and F.) sen-
sible = 8p. sensibile = Pg. sensivel = It. sensi-
bile, < L. sensibiliSf perceptible by the senses,
having feeling, sensible, < sentirej pp. sensus,
feel, perceive : see sensed, sce^it] I. a. 1. Capa-
ble of affecting the senses ; perceptible through
the bodily organs.
Reason, vsing sense, takethhls pHnciplesandfyrstsedes
of thinges sensyble, and afterwarde by his owne discourse
and searching of causes encreaseth the same from aseede
to a tree. B. Eden (First Books on America, ed. Arber, p. 9).
5494
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling as to sight 't Or art thou but
A dagger of the mind, a false creation?
Shak., Macbeth, ii. 1. 30.
Return, fair soul, from darkness, and lead mine
Out of this sensible hell.
Webster, Duchess of Malfl, iv. 2.
Wherever God will thus manifest himself, there is hea-
ven, though within the circle of this sensible world.
Sir T. Browne, Religio Medici, i. 49.
When we take a simple sensible quality, like light or
sound, and say that there is now twice or thrice as much
of it present as there was a moment ago, although we seem
to mean the same thing as if we were talking of compound
objects, we really mean something different.
W. James, Prin. of Psychology,!. 540.
2. Perceptible to the mind through observation
and reflection; appreciable.
The disgrace was more sensible than the pain.
Sir W. Temple.
In the present evil world, it is no wonder that the opera-
tions of the evil angels are more sensible than of the good
ones. C. Mather, Mag. Chris., vi. 7.
No sensible change has taken place during eighty years
in the coral knolls [of Uiego Garcia].
Darwin, Coral Reefs, p. 92.
3. Capable of sensation ; having the capacity
of receiving impressions from external objects;
endowed with sense or sense-organs; sensitive:
as, the eye is sensible to light.
I would your cambric were as sensible as your finger,
that you might leave pricking it for pity.
Shak., Cot., i 3. 95.
4. Appreciative; amenable (to); influenced or
capable of being influenced (by).
If thou wert sensible of courtesy,
I should not make so dear a show of zeal.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., v. 4. 94.
5. Very liable to impression from without;
easily affected ; highly sensitive.
With affection wondrous sensible
He wrung Bassanio's hand.
Shak., M. of V., ii. 8. 48.
Of a sensible nostritl. Milton, Areopagitica, p. 29.
Sunderland, though not very sensible to shame, flinched
from the infamy of public apostasy.
Macavlay, Hist. Eng., vi.
6. Perceiving or having perception either by
the senses or by the intellect; aware; cogni-
zant ; persuaded ; conscious : generally with of.
In doing this I shall be sensible of two things which to
me will be nothing pleasant.
Milton, Apology for Smectymnuus.
I am glad you are so sensible of my attention.
Sheridan, The Rivals, ii. 1.
Hastings, it is clear, was not sensible of the danger of
his position. Macaulay, Waixen Hastings.
7. Capable of responding to very slight changes
of condition ; sensitive (in this sense the better
word) : as, a sensible thermometer or balance.
[Rare.] — 8. Possessing or characterized by
sense, judgment, or reason; endowed with or
characterized by good or common sense; in-
telligent; reasonable; judicious: nSf a se^isible
man ; a sensible proposal.
To be now a sensible man, by and by a fool, and presently
a beast ! O strange I Shak., Othello, ii. 3. 309.
No sensible person in Arrowhead village really believed
in the evil eye. O. W. Holmes, A Mortal Antipathy, iv.
Sensible calorict, an old tei-m for sensible heat.— Sen-
sible form, heat, matter. See the nouns.— Sensible
horizon. See horizon, 1.— Sensible idea. Same as sen-
sual idea. See se;iswai. — Sensible note or tone, in mu-
sic, same as leading toiu (which see, under leading^). —
Sensible perspiration, quality, etc. See the nouns.
= Syn. 1 and 2. Sensible, Perceptible. Literally, these
words are of about the same meaning and strength, the
difference depending chiefly upon the connection; for
example, a sensible dift'erence, a perceptible difference.—
3 and 4. Be Sensible, Be Conscious, etc. See/eeH.— 3 and 7.
Sensible, Sensitive, Sentient. Sensible in it« first meaning
was passive, but is now quite as often active. As active,
it is both physical and mental, and is unemphatic: as,
to be sensible (that is, aware) of heat or cold, of neglect
or injury. Sensitive means feeling acutely, either in body
or in mind. A sensible man will school himself not to
be too sensitive to criticism. Sentient is a physiologically
descriptive word, indicating the possession or use of the
sense of feeling: as, the fiy is a sentient being.— 6. Ob-
servant, aware, conscious.— 8. Sensible, Jtidicious, discreet,
sage, sagacious, sound. As compared v/ith jttdiciotis, sen-
sible means possessing common sense, having a sound and
practical reason, whtte judicious means discreet in choos-
ing what to do or advise ; the one applying to the under-
standing and judgment, the other to the judgment in its
relation to the will. Sensible, Intelligent, Common-sense.
As compared with int£lligent, sensible means possessed of
the power to see things in their true light, the light of a
correct judgment, a large, sound, roundabout sense, while
intelligent means possessed of a clear and (luick under-
standing, so as to apprehend an idea promptly and see it
in its true relations. The relation between cause and ef-
fect is here so close that intelligent, often seems to mean
essentially the same as well-in/ormed. Where the sense
implied in sensible is thought of as peculiarly general or
level to the experience, conclusions, or notions of the mass
of men, commmi-sense is, by a new usage, sometimes em-
ployed : as, he was a common-sense person : he took a cmn-
mon-sense view of the matter. All these words apply both
to the person afid to his opinions, words, writings, etc.
sensitive
Il.t ». 1. Sensation; sensibility.
Our torments also may in length of time
Become our elements; these piercing fires
As soft as now severe, our temper changed
Into their temper ; which must needs remove
The sensible of pain. Milton, y. L., ii. 278.
2. That which produces sensation ; that which
impresses itself on the senses; something per-
ceptible; a material substance.
We may them [brutish mannersl read in the creation
Of this wide Sensible. Dr. U. More, Psychozoia, ii. 35.
3. That which possesses sensibility or capa-
bility of feeling; a sensitive being.
This melancholy extends itself not to men only, but even
to vegetals and sensibles. Burton.
sensibleness(sen'si-bl-nes), n. The character
or state of being sensible, in any sense of that
word.
sensibly (sen'si-bli), adv. In a sensible man-
ner, in any sense of the word sensible.
sensifacient (sen-si-fa'shient), a. [< L. sensuSj
sense, + facien{t-)s, ppr. of facer e, make: see
fact.^ Producing sensation ; sensific. [Rare.]
The epithelium may be said to be receptive, the nerve
fibers transmissive, and the sensorium sensifacient.
Httxley, Science and Culture, p. 2C4.
sensiferous (sen-sif'e-rus), a. [< L. sensns,
sense, + ferre = E. bear^.'] Producing or con-
veying sensation; acting as an organ of sense.
The sense-organ, the nerve, and the sensorium, taken
together, constitute the sensiferous apparatus.
Huxley, Science and Culture, p. 267.
The most important functions of the proboscis are of a
sensiferous, tactile nature. Encyc. Brit., XVII, 327.
In speaking of the antennce and palpi, I have called
them sen*(/'er(m« organs. Shuckard, British Bees, p. 55.
sensific (sen-sif'ik), a. [< LL. sensificus, pro-
dticing sensation, < L. sensus, sense, perception,
+ facer€y make (see -fie).'] Producing, causing,
or resulting in sensation. Imp. Diet.
sensificatory (sen-sif 'i-ka-to-ri), a. [< LL.
sensijicatorj that which produces sensation, <
sensifcare, endow with sensation, < sensifcus,
producing sensation: see s€nsific.'\ Sensifa-
cient; sensific. Huxley. {Imp. Diet.)
sensigenous (sen-sij'e-nus), a. [< L. senstis,
sense, + -f/enns, < gignere, -produce : see -ge-
nons.'] Giving rise to sensation ; sensific ; ori-
ginating a sensory impulse : noting the initial
point of a series of molecular movements which
are ultimately perceived as a sensation.
And, as respects the ectodermal cells which constitute
the fundamental part of the organs of the special senses,
it is becoming clear that the more perfect the sensory ap-
paratus the more completely do these sensigetioits cells take
on the form of delicate rods or filaments.
Huxley, Anat. Invert., p. 64.
sensigerous (sen-sij'e-rus), a. [< L. sensus,
sense, + gerere, carry.] Sensiferous.
sensile (sen'sil), a. [< L. sensilis, sensible, <
senstiSj sense : see sense'^.'\ Capable of affecting
the senses Sensile quality. See quality.
sension (sen ' shon), n. [< ML. sensio{n~\
thought, lit. perception, < L. sentire, pp. sensits,
perceive: see sensed. ^ The becoming aware of
being affected from without in sensation.
sensism (sen'sizm), n. [< sense'^ + -isw.] In
philos., same as sensualism, 2.
sensist (sen'sist), n. [< sensed + -isf} Same
as scn.^ationalist, 1.
sensitive (sen'si-tiv), a. and n. [Early mod. E.
also scncitive ; < OF. (and F. ) sensitif = Pr. sen-
sititi = Sp. Pg. It. sensitivOj < ML. *sensitiints, <
L. sentire, pp. sensus, perceive : see sense^.^ I.
a. 1. Of, pertaining to, or affecting the senses ;
depending on the senses.
The sensitive faculty may have a sensitive love of some
sensitive objects. Hammond.
All the actions of the sensitive appetite are in painting
called passions, because the soul is agitated by them, and
because the body suffers through them and is sensibly
altered. Dryden, Obs. on Dufresnoy's Art of Painting.
2. Having sense, sensibility, or feeling; capa-
ble of receiving impressions from external ob-
jects: often extended, figuratively, to various
inanimate objects.
Wee haue spoken sufficiently of trees.herbes, and f rutes.
We wyll nowe therefore entreate of thynges seneitiue,
Peter Martyr (tr. in Eden's First Books on America, ed.
[Arber, p. LSI).
When in the most sensitive condition, the tendril is ac-
tively circumnutating, so that it travels over a lar^e area,
and there is considerable probability that it will come
into contact with some body around which it can twine.
Encyc. Brit, XIX. 60.
3. Of keen sensibility; keenly susceptible of
external influences or impressions; easily and
acutely affected or moved by outward circum-
stances or impressions: as, a sensitive person,
I
sensitive
or a person of setwitice nature : figuratively ex-
tended to inanimate objects.
She was too senHtive to abuse and calumny. Macmday.
We are sentitiw to faults iu those we love, while com-
mitting them ourselves as if hy chartered right.
Siedman, Vict. Poets, p. 137.
What is commonly caUe<l a geitsitive person is one whose
sense-organs cannot go on responding as the stimulus in-
creases in strength, but become fatigued.
J. Sully, Outlines of Psychol., p. 145.
Specifically — (o) In etUoin., noting parts of the surface of
the antennae which are peculiarly modified and, it is sup-
posed, 8ubser\-ient to some special sense. These surfacesex-
Dibit an immense number of microscopical pores, covered
with a very delicate transparent membrane ; they may be
generally diif used over the joints or variously arranged in
patches,'the position of which has been used in the classi-
fication of certain families of Coleopteru. (b) Susceptible
in a notable degree to hypnotism ; easily hypnotized or
mesmerized.
I borrow the term gengitive, for majTneto-physiological
reaction, from vegetable physiology, in which plants of
definite irritalnlity . . . &re called »engitiee.
Reichenback, Dynamics (trans., 1851X p. 58.
(c) Noting a condition of feveri.^h liability to fluctuation :
said of markets, securities, or commodities.
4. So delicately adjusted as to respond quickly
to very slight changes of condition: said of in-
struments, as a balance. — 5. In chem. and pho-
tog., readily affected by the action of appro-
priate agents: as, iodized paper is geiisitite to
the action of light. — 6t. Sensible ; wise ; ju-
dicious.
To Princes, therefore, connsaylours, rulers, goaemoarSy
and mnKistrates, as to the most intellectine and termliue
partes of the societie of men, hath God and nature genen
preeminence.
R. Eden (First Books on America, ed. Arlier, p. xhX
Sensitive brier. .See .%Araniia.— Sensitive cognl-
tiOll. Set- C'>:iHiti'in.-- Sensitive fern, the fern Onoclfa
tenxOtUU : in citllfd from the sliu'ht tentlcncy of the seg-
ments of the froiiils, after being detached and while wilt-
ing, to fold togetliLT. D. C. EaUm, Ferns of North Amer-
ica, n. ]»'<.— Sensitive flames, flames which are easily
aflected by s^iunda, being made to lengthen out or contract,
or change their form In various ways. The most sensi-
tive flame is priHluced by burning gas issuing from a small
taper jet. Such a flame will be affected by very small
noises, as the ticking f>f a watch held near it, or the clink-
ing of coins at a considerable distance. The gas must be
turncil 4>ii f^:i that the flame is just at the point of flaring.
Sensitive Joint-vetch. See reteA.- Sensitive love,
pea, power. .See the nouns.— Sensitive plant. See
KiiyiiiK-iUaiU. =Syn. 2 and 3. SentUiU, ett. See teruHiU.
II. "■ It. Something that feels; asensoriiun.
— 2. A sensitive person; specifically, one who
is sensitive to mesmeric or nypnutic influences
or experiments. See 1., 3 (6).
For certain experiments it is much to be desired that
we should And more sensAives o( every kind.
Pnc. Soe. Ptieh. Raeareh, n. 48.
First sensitive* Itr. fJr. irpiroi' al<r*ritiiiir\ the common
sense in the Aristotelian use.
sensitively (seu'si-tiv-U), adt. In a sensitive
mimncr.
sensitiveness (sen'si-tiv-nes), n. The proper-
ty or character of being sensitive; especially,
tendency or disposition to be easily influenced
or affected by external objects, events, or oir-
curastances: as, a,haonna,\ snixitireiuns ; the .«(•«-
fititenegg of a balance or some fine mechanism.
Farts of the body which lose all temUivenem come to l>e
regarded as external things.
O. T. Ladd, Physiol. Psychology, p. ML
sensitive-plant (sen'si-tiv-plant), ». The trop-
ical and greenhouse plant Mimosa pudiea ; the
huml>l<,'-7)Iant. It is mechanically irritable In a higher
degree than almost any other plant. The leavee are bl-
plnnate, the very nninerons linear leaflets ranked on two
pairs of branches which are Inserted close to the end of
the conunon petiole, thus appearing digitate. At night
eacti ]c:tf curves downward and the leaflets fold together,
an<l in the daytime a slight touch causes them to assume
the santc position. It has purple flowers in heads on long
pctlunclcs. It i- will. ]y <lilfu<«ed through the tropics, na-
tive :it least III s..iitb .tmerica and natoralized In the
H"utle r ;, 1 1'-! states. The name Is extended to other
^•-Ti ^, as if. mruitiva, which is Irritable In a
\'-*- inetimestothtfwhole genus. — Bastard
sen^:: . /., .l-^xehifnomeru Americaiui. [West In-
'le- Wild .sensitive-plant, (a) Mimiuia MrigUlottt tyt
t i!h ih III: .f the I'nited States. (&) Same as
n^nythr. y,. ,( tuluth sLc, under /xai).
sensitivity (»en-»i-tiv'i-ti), ». [< sensitive +
-it!t.'\ The state of being sensitive; sensitive-
ness. Spedflcally — (o) In cAem. and phnlon., the quality
of being readily affected by the artion of appropriate
agents : as. the ttntOivity of silvered paper. More usniil-
ly expressed by geiuiticentf. (6) In phytioL, sensibility :
irritability, especially of the receptive organs, (e) I n fti/.
chol., acuteness of sense-discrimination; the difference of
sensations produced by any two fixed excitations of like
quality but diflerent Intensity.
If the netwtirity of women were superior to that of men,
the self interest of merchants would lead to their iK-ing al-
ways employed [as pianoforte-tuners, wine- and tea-t.'tsters,
W(»ol-BorterB, etc. ). Oalton, Human Faculty, p. 30.
sensitization (s'^n'si-ti-za'shon), H. [< sensi-
tize + -alion.] The act, process, or result of
.'.ensitizing, or rendering sensitive.
5495
After sensitization — which occupies from thirty to fifty
seconds — the plate is removed from the bath by raising
it first with a bent silver hook, and then seizing it by one
corner with the hand. Silver Sunbeam, p. 236.
sensitize (seu'si-tlz), v. t. ; pret. and pp. neiwi-
ti::ed, ppr. sensitizing. [< seimt{ive) + -i>e.]
To render sensitive; specifically, iu photog., to
render capable of being acted on by actinic
rays of light: as. sensitized paper, or a sensitized
plate. See sensitized paper, under paper.
It was as if the paper upon his desk was tamtized, tak-
ing photographs of nature around.
W. if. Baker, New Timothy, p. 5.
sensitizer (sen'si-ti-ztr), ». One who or that
which sensitizes ; specifically, in photog., the
chemical agent or bath by which films or sub-
stances are rendered sensitive to light. *
sensitometer (sen-si-tom'e-ter), )i. [< sensi-
t{ire) + (ir. nhpov, measure.] An apparatus
or device of any kind for testing or determin-
ing the degree of sensitiveness of photographic
films, emtusions, etc.; also, loosely, the sensi-
tiveness of aplate (generally expressed in num-
bers) as indicated by a sensitometer.
sensitory (sen'si-to-ri), n. ; pi. sensitories (-riz).
[< sense''- + -it-ory'.'] Same as sensorium, 1.
sensivet (sen'siv), a. [< sense'- + -ice.] Pos-
sessing sense or feeling ; sensitive.
Shall tensive things be so sensless as to resist sense?
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, i.
The Infection,
Which as a subtle vapour spreads itself
CTonfasedly through every gejigiee part.
B. Jonson, Every Man In his Humour, ii. 1.
sensomotor (sen'so-mo'tor), a. [< h. sensus,
sense (see sense'), + motor, a mover: see mo-
tor.'] Same as sensor.motor.
sensor (sen'sor), (I. [(.'Sh.'sensorius: seesen-
xory.] Sensory.
Various combinations of dlsturlmnces in the s«n<or tract
lead to the appropriate combinations of disturbances in
the motor tract. If'. K. Cliford, Lectures, II. 108.
sensoria, «. Plural of sensorium.
sensorial (sen-s6'ri-al), a. [< sensory or senso-
ri(um) + -a/.] Of or pertaining to the senso-
rium : as, sensorial power or effect; also, of or
pertaining to sensation; sensory: opposed to
motorial: as, a iejworia/ nerve.
Sensorial images are stable psychic facts ; we can bold
them still and look at them as long as we like.
W. James, Mind, IX. 14.
sensoridigestive (sen'so-rMi-jes'tiv), a. [<
NL. 'sensorius (see sensory) + E. digestive.']
Partaking of digestive functions and those of
touch or other senses, as the tongue of a ver-
tebrate animal, the maxills of insects, etc. A.
S. I'aekard.
sensorimotor (sen'so-ri-mo'tfir), a. Sensory
and motor; pertaining both to sensation and
to motion. Also sengomotor.
We have seen good reason to believe that certain areas
of the cerebral cortex are especially connected with cer-
tain corresponding antsory-motor activities.
a. T. Ladd, Physiol. Psychology, p. 637.
Sensorimotor nerve, a mixed nerve^ composed ot both
sensory and motor flben.
sensoriolum (.i(-n-8o-ri'6-Ium),n.; ■pX.sensor'tola
(-Iji). [NL., <liin. of LL. sensorium : see senso-
rium.'] A little sensorium. See second extract
under sensorium.
sensorium (sen-so'ri-um), n. ; pi. sensoria, sen-
snriiims (-ii, -umz). [= F. sensorium = Sp. Pg.
It. sensorio, < LL. sensorium, the seat or organ
of sensation, < L. sewrus, sense : see sensed. Cf .
sensory.'] 1 . A supposed point in or part of the
brain where sensation resides or becomes mani-
fest; the so-called "seat of the soul"; hence,
the undetermined part of the nervous system iu
which molecular activity of certain kinds and
certain grades of intensity immediately causes
sensation ; loosely, the brain, or the brain and
spinal cord ; especially, the gray matter of these
organs, or any nervous ganglion regarded as a
center of sensation. Also sensory, sensitory.
The ringing of the bell, and the rap at the door, struck
likewise strong upon the sensorium of my 0ncle Toby.
Sleme, Tristram Shandy, ii. 10.
The noblest and most exalted way of considering . . .
Inflnitc space is thst of Sir Isaac Newton, who calls it the
gensorium of the Oodhead. Brutes and men have their
sensorlola, or little sensmums, by which they apprehend
the presence, and perceive the actions, of a few objects
that lie contiguous to them. Addism, Spectator, No. 565.
2. In biol., the whole sensory apparatus of the
body, or physical mechanism of sensation, in-
cluding the skin and entire nervous system as
well as the special sense-organs; all the parts,
organs, and tissues of the body which are capa-
ble of receiving or transmitting impressions
from without, in this sense, sensorium Is correlated
with the other three principal apparatus, the motor, nu-
sensualist
tritive, and reproductive ; and sensorium and motorium
are together contrasted, as the "animal organ-system,"
with the nutritive and reproductive apparatus which
constitute the •'vegetative organ-system.
sensorivolitional {sen'so-ri-v6-Ush"on-al), o.
Pertaining to sensation and volition, "or volun-
tary motion: as, the sensorivolitional nervous
system.
sensory (sen'so-ri), a. and n. [< NL. *sensorius,
pertaining to sense or sensation (cf . LL. senso-
rium, neut., the seat or organ of sensation: see
sensorium), < L. sensus, sense : see sense'.'] I. a.
1. Of or pertaining to the sensorium, in either
sense. — 2. Conveying sensation, as a nerve;
pertaining to sensation ; sensorial; giving rise
to sensation ; sentient ; sensitive : as, a sensory
surface of the body — Sensory aphasia. See apha-
sia.—Sensory nerve, a nerve conveying sensory impulses,
or, more strictly, one composed exclusively of sensory
fibers : nearly equivalent to afferent nerve.
n. «.; pi. sensories (-riz). 1. Same as senso-
rium, 1.
Is not the sensory of animals the place to which the
sensitive substance is present, and into which the sensi-
ble species of things are carried through the nerves of the
brain, that there they may be perceived by their imme-
diate presence to that substance? Newton, Opticks.
2t. An organ or a faculty of sense.
God. who made this sensorie [the eye], did with the great-
est ease and at once see all that was don thro' the vast
universe. Evelyn, Diary, March 9, 1690.
Common sensory. See common.
sensual (sen'su-al), a. [= F. sensuel= Pr. Sp.
Pg. sensual = Itl scnsuale, < LL. sensualis, en-
dowed with feeling, sensual, < L. sensus, feeling,
sense: see«cn«el.] 1. Pertaining to, consisting
in, or affecting the senses or bodily organs of
perception ; relating to the senses or sensation ;
sensible.
Far as creation's ample range extends
The scale of sensual, mental pow'rs ascends.
Pope, Essay on Man, i. 208.
Scepticism commonly takes up the room left by defect
of iniagination, and is the very quality of mind most
likely to seek for si;nsual proof of supersensual things.
lAnceU, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 149.
2. Relating to or concerning the body, in dis-
tinction from the spirit ; not spiritual or intel-
lectual; carnal; fleshly.
The greatest part of men are such as prefer . . . that
good which Is sensual before whatsoever is most divine.
Hooker.
This wisdom descendeth not from above, but Is earthly,
sensual, devilish. Jas. ill. 15.
These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having
not the Spirit. Jude 19.
There is no Religion so purely spiritual, and abstracted
from common natural Ideas and sensual Happiness, as the
cniristlan. UoKeU, Letters, II. 9.
8. Specifically, pertaining to or consisting in
the gratification of the senses, or the indul-
gence of appetite : as, sensual pleasures.
You will talk of the vulgar aatlsfactlon of soliciting
happiness from sensual enjoyment only.
Goldsmith, Citizen of the Worid, vL
4. Given to or characterized by the indulgence
of appetite ; devoted to the pleasures of sense
and appetite ; especially, voluptuous ; lewd.
No small part of virtue consists in abstaining from that
in which sensual men place their felicity. Bp, Atterbury.
5. In philos., asserting sensation to be the
only source of knowledge; pertaining, relat-
ing, or peculiar to sensualism as a philosophi-
cal doctrine. — Sensual Idea, an idea in the mind, as
distinguished from an Idea in the brain, or material idea;
an idea which exists in the mind by virtue of a sensa-
tion. Also sensible idea. = Syn. Seiisuous, Sensual, Car-
nal, Voluptuous. .Sensttmis has taken the not unfavorable
meanings connected with the use of the senses, and sen-
sual the unfavorable ones, implying degradation or gross-
ness ; hence we speak of setisuous perception or delight,
and of sensual pleasures. Carnal, connected with the flesh,
gratifying the animal nature, sometimes is the same as
sensual, and sometimes, fnmi its frequent use in the Bible,
especially conveys the idea of the sinfulness of the act,
character, etc. Volu-^uous expresses the disposition to
gratify the nicer tastes In the pleasures of sense, and to
carry this gratification to softness or an elegant sensuality.
A vtiuj)tuous beauty is sueti as to excite this disposition in
him who sees it and to stimulate sexiial desire.
sensualisation, sensualise. Secsenstialization,
seiisuaiize.
sensualism (8en'§fi-al-izm), n. [= F. sensua-
lisme = Sp. Pg. sensttalismo ; < sensual + -ism.]
1. A state of subjection to sensual feelings and
appetites; sensuality; especially, lewdness.
Tyrants, by the sale of human life,
Heap luxuries to their sensualism.
Shelley, Queen Mab, v.
2. In philos., the doctrine that the only source
of knowledge is sensation ; sensationalism.
Also ,<ir«.yi,s7H.
sensualist (sen'su-al-ist), n. [= F. sensualiste
= Sp. Pg. sensualista ; as sensual + -ist.] 1,
sensualist
A person given to the indulgence of the ap-
petites or senses ; one who places his chief hap-
piness in carnal pleasures.
There must be some meanness and blemish in the beauty
which the seiwiuUist no sooner beholds than he eovets.
Buluxr, What will he Do with itV vii. 23.
The short method that Plato and others have proposed
for deciding the issue between the Philosopher and the
Sei\sualitt is palpably fallacious.
//. Sidgicick, Methods of Ethics, p. 127.
2. One who holds the sensual theory in philoso-
phy; a sensationalist. Mso sensuist.
Sensualistic (sen'su-a-lis'tik), a. [< sensualist
+ -ic.'] 1. Upholding the doctrine of sensual-
ism.— 2. Sensual.
sensuality (sen-su-arj-ti), «. [< OF. sensualite,
F. sensualiU' = P'r. setwualitat = Sp. sensualidad
= Pg. sensuaJidade = It. sensitalita, < LL. sensii-
alita{t-)s, capacity for sensation, sensibility,
ML. also sensuality, < seusualis, endowed with
feeling or sense : see smsi(al.'\ If. Sensual or
carnal nature or promptings ; carnality ; world-
liness.
A great number of people in divers parts of this realm,
following their own sensuality, and living without know-
ledge and due fear of God, do wilfully and schisniatically
abstain and refuse to come to their own parish churches.
Act qf Unifonnity (1661). (Trench.)
2. Unrestrained gratification of the bodily ap-
petites; free indulgence in carnal or sensual
pleasures.
Those pamper'd animals
That ntge in savage sensuality.
Sliak., Much Ado, iv. 1. 62.
If some pagan nations deifled sensuality, this was simply
because the deification of the forces of nature, of which
the prolific energy ia one of the most conspicuous, is among
the earliest forms of religion, and long precedes the iden-
tification of the Deity with a moral ideal.
Lecky, Europ. Morals, 1. 112.
Sensnalization (8en''8u-al-i-za'shon), n. [<
sciisuaJi:e + -atioti,'\ The act of sensualizing,
or the state of being sensualized. Also spelled
sensualisation. Imp. Diet.
sensualize (sen'su-al-iz), r. ; pret. and pp. sen-
sualized, ppr. sensualizing. [< sensual + -ize.']
1. trans. To make sensual; debase by carnal
gratifications.
Sensualized by pleasure, like those who were changed
into brutes by Circe. Pope.
H.t intrans. To indulge the appetites.
First they visit the tavern, then the ordinary, then the
theatre, and end in the stews ; from wine to riot, from
that to plays, from them to harlots. . . . Here is a day
spent in an excellent method. If they were beasts, they
could not h^ii&T sensualise. Rev. T. Adams, Works, I. 310.
Also spelled sensualise.
sensually (sen'su-al-i), adv. In a sensual man-
ner.
sensualness (sen'su-al-nes), n. Sensual char-
acter; sensuality. Sailey, VTil.
sensuism (sen'su-izm), n. [< L. sensus, sense,
+ -WHi.] Same as sensualism, 2.
sensuist (sen'sS-ist), n. [< L. sensus, sense,
-f -ist.'] Same as sensualist, 2.
SenSUOSity (sen-su-os'j-ti), n. [< sensuous +
-t<y.] Sensuous character or qualitv. Imp.
Diet.
sensuous (sen'su-us), a. [< L. sensus, sense,
-f- -OKS.] 1. Of, pertaining to, derived from,
or ministering to the senses; connected with
sensible objects: as, sensuous pleasures.
To which [logic] poetry would be made subsequent, or,
indeed, rather precedent, as being less subtile and fine,
but more simple, sensumis, and passionate.
Milton, Education.
To express in one word all that appertains to the per-
ception, considered as passive and merely recipient, 1 have
adopted from our elder classics the word sensuous.
Coleridge.
The agreeable and disagreeable feelings which come
through sensations of smell, taste, and touch are for the
most part sensumts rather than strictly sesthetic.
G. T. Ladd, Physiol. Psychology, p. 621.
2. Readily aflfected through the senses ; alive to
the pleasure to be received through the senses.
Too soft and senmums by nature to be exhilarated by the
conflict of roo<lern opinions, he [Keats] found at once food
for his love of beauty and aii opiate for his despondency
in the remote tales of Greek mythology. Quarterly Rev.
Sensuous cognition, cognition through the senses.—
Sensuous indistinctness. See indistinctness, 2. =Syn.
1. Carnal, etc. See sensual.
sensuously (sen'gu-us-li), adv. In a sensuous
manner. Coleridge.
sensuousness (sen'su-us-nes), n. Sensuous
character or disposition.
The leruunusness of all perception, and its inability to
supply as with the conception of an object.
E. Caird, Philos. of Kant, p. 323.
sent^ti V. and n. An old, and historically more
correct, spelling of scent.
5496
senf'^t, n. [ME. sent; an aphetie form of as-
sent.^ Assent.
Alle the lordes of that lond lelli at o sent
Sent William to seie so as was bi-falle.
William 0/ Palerne (E. E. T. S.), 1. 6253.
sent'' (sent). Preterit and past participle of send.
sent*t. A Middle English contracted form of
sendeth, third person singular present indica-
tive of send.
senft, ». An obsolete spelling of saint^.
sentence (sen'tens), n. [< ME. sentence, sen-
tens, scentcnce, < OF. (and F.) sentence = Pr.
sentencia, sentensa = Sp. sentencia = Pg. sentenga
= It. sentenza, sentenzia, < L. sententia, way of
thinking, opinion, sentiment, for "sentientia, <
scntiet^t-)s, ppr. of sentire, feel, think : see sen-
tient, sensed, scent.'] 1. Way of thinking; opin-
ion; sentiment; judgment; decision.
When thow me hast geven an audience,
Therefter maistow telw alle thi sentence.
C/iaucer, Troilus, iv. 646.
I have no great cause to look for other than the selfsame
portion and lot which your manner hath been hitherto
to lay on them that concur not in opinion and sentence
with you. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, Pref., i. § 1.
My sentence is that we trouble not them which from
among the Gentiles are turned to God. Acta xv. 19.
My sentence is for open war. Milton, P. L., ii. 51.
2. A saying; a maxim; an axiom.
Who fears a sentence or an old man's saw
Shall by a painted cloth be kept in awe.
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 244.
Thou speakest sentences, old Bias.
B. Jonson, Poetaster, i. 1.
3. A verdict, judgment, decision, or decree ;
specifically, in law, a definitive judgment pro-
nounced by a court or judge upon a criminal ;
a judicial decision publicly and officially de-
clared in a criminal prosecution, in technical
language sentence is used only for the declaration of judg-
ment against one convicted of a crime or in maritime
causes. In civil cases the decision of a court is called a
judgment or a decree. In criminal cases sentence is a judg-
ment pronounced ; doom.
Than the archebisshop yaf the scentence full dolerouse,
and cursed of god and with all his power alle tho that in
the londe dide eny forf et, or were a-gein the kynge Arthur.
Merlin (E. B. T. S.), i. 116.
But it is to be observ'd that in Egypt many causes are
carried before leading men, who absolutely decide, even
against the sentefice of the magistrate.
Pococke, Description of the East, I. 171.
4. Ingram., a form of words having grammati-
cal completeness; a number of words consti-
tuting a whole, as the expression of a state-
ment, inquiry, or command ; a combination of
subject and predicate. A sentence is either assertive,
as he is good; or interrogative, as is tie good? or impera-
tive, as be good! Sentences are also classed as simple,
compound, or complex; simple, if divisible into a single
subject and a single predicate; compo^ind, if containing
more than one subject or predicate or both ; and complex,
if including a subordinate sentence or clause ; as, he who
is good is happy; I like what you like : he goes when I
come. Sentences are further classed as independent and
as dependent or subordinate (the latter being more often
called a clause than a sentence); a dependent sentence is
one which enters with the value of a single part of speech
— either noun or adjective or adverb — into the structure
of another sentence.
5t. Sense; meaning.
I am nat textuel ;
I take but the sentens, trusteth wel.
Chaucer, Prol. to Parson's Tale, 1. 58.
Go, litel bille, bareyn of eloquence,
Pray yonge children that the shal see or reede,
Thoughe thow be compendious of sentence,
Of thi clauses for to taken heede.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 32.
Now to the discours it selfe, voluble anough, and full
of sentence, but that, for .the most part, either specious
rather then solid, or to his cause nothing pertinent.
Milton, Eikonoklastes, iv.
6t. Substance; matter; contents.
Tales of best sentence and most solas
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., I. 798.
7. In music, a complete idea, usually consist-
ing of two or four phrases. The term is used some-
what variously as to length, but it always applies to a di-
vision that is complete and satisfactory in itself. — Book
of the Sentences, one of the four Books of Sentences,
or dicta of the church fathers, compiled by Peter Lombard
("Master of the Sentences") in the twelfth century, or
the whole collection of four Iwoks. This formed the
great text-book of theology in the middle ages; and most
of the treatises on scholasticism during that period are in
the form of questions following the divisions of this work.
— Cumulative sentence. .See cumulative. — Loose sen-
tence, a sentence so constructed as to be grammatically
complete at one or more points before its end. — Master
of the Sentences, see master'^ , and Book of the SciUences
(above).— Sentence arbitrale, in French law, award. —
To serve a sentence. See served.
sen'tence (sen'tens), r. t. ; pret. and pp. sen-
tenced, ppr. sentencing. [< OF. (and F.) senten-
cier = Pr. Sp. Pg. sentenciar = It. sentenziare,
< ML. sententiare, pronounce judgment or sen-
sententious
tence upon, judge, decide, assent, < L. sententia,
opinion, judgment, sentence: see sentence, n.j
1 . To pass or pronounce sentence or judgment
on ; condemn ; doom to punishment.
Nature herself is sentenced in your doom.
Dryden, Aurengzebe, ill. 1.
Dredge and his two collier companions were sentenced to
a year's imprisonment with hard labor, and the more en-
lightened prisoner, who stole the Debarrys' plate, to trana
portation for life. George Eliot, Eelix llolt, xlvi.
Thirty-six children, between the ages of nine and six-
teen, were sentenced to be scourged with rods on the palms
of their hands once a week for a year.
Lowell, Among my Books, Ist ser., p. 105.
2t. To pronounce as judgment ; express as a
decision or detei-mination ; decree.
Let them . . .
Enforce the present execution
Of what we chance to sentence.
SAa*:.,Cor.,iii. 3. 22.
One example of iustice is admirable, which he sentenced
on the Gouemour of Casbin, conuict of many extortions,
briberies, and other crimes. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 387.
3t. To express in a short, energetic, senten-
tious manner.
Let me hear one wise man sentence it, rather than twenty
fools, garrulous in their lengthened tattle.
Fellham, Resolves, i. 93.
sentencer (sen'ten-ser), n. [< OF. sentencier,
sentcnchier, < ML. sententiarius, one who passes
sentence, < L. sententia, sentence : see sentence.']
One who pronounces sentence; a judge.
He who can make the best and most differences of things
by reasonable and wittie distinction is to be the fittest
fudge or sentencer of [decency].
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 220.
Haruth and Maruth went.
The chosen seniencers ; they fairly heard
The appeals of men to their tribunal brought,
And rightfully decided. Southey, 'Thalaba, iv. 9.
sentential (sen-ten'shal), a. [< L. sententialis,
in the form of a sentence, < sententia, a sen-
tence: see sentence.'] If. Authoritatively bind-
ing or decisive.
There is no doubt but our pardon, or constituted justi-
fication in covenant title, is a virtual, sentential justifica-
tion. Baxter, Life of Faith, iii. 8.
2. Of or pertaining to a sentence, or series of
words having grammatical completeness: as,
a sentential pause; sentential analysis.
sententially (sen-ten'shal-i), adv. 1. By way
of sentence; judicially; decisively.
We sententially and definitively by this present writing
judge, declare, and condemn the said Sir.lohn Oldcastle,
Knight, and Lord t'obham, for a most pernicious and de-
testable heretic. Bp. Bale, Select Works, p. 42.
2. In or by sentences.
sententiarian (sen-ten-sM-a'ri-an), n. [< sen-
tcntiary + -an.] A commentator upon Peter
Lombard (twelfth century), who brought all
the doctrines of faith into a philosophical sys-
tem in his four Books of Sentences, or opinions
of the fathers.
sententiary (sen-ten'shi-a-ri), «.; pi. senten-
tiurics (-riz). [< ML. sententiarius, one who
passes sentence, one who writes sentences,
also one who lectured upon the Liber Scntenti-
arum, or Book of Sentences, of Peter Lombard,
< Ij.scntentia, a sentence, precept: see sentence.]
Same as i'CH^PHfmj'i'aH. — Sententiary bachelors,
See bachelor, 2.
sententiosityt (sen-ten-shi-os'j-fi), «. [< sen-
tentious + -ity.] Sententiousness.
Vulgar precepts in morality, carrying with them nothing
above the line, or lieyond the extemporary sententiusity of
common conceits with us. Sir T. Brmme, Vulg. Err., i. 6.
sententious (sen-ten'shus), a. [< ME. senten-
ci/orcic, < OF. scntentieux, sentencieux, F. sentcn-
cieux = Sp. Pg. sentencioso = It. sentenzioso. <
L. sententiosus, full of meaning, pithy, senten-
tious, < sententia, opinion, precept, sentence :
see sentence.] 1. Full of pithy sentences or
sayings; pithy; terse: a,s, a. sententious style or
discourse; sententious Xrath.
Your third sort serues as well th* eare as the conceit,
and may be called sententimis figures, because not only
they properly apperteine to full sentences for bewtifying
them with a currant it pleasant numerositie, but also
gluing them etficaeie.
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 133.
2. Given to the use of pithy or axiomatic say-
ings or sentences.
How he apes his sire !
Ambitiously scnien^iows.' Addison, Cato, i. 2.
He was too sententious a person to waste words on mere
salutation. Scott, Kenilworth, xii.
3t. Same as sentential, 2.
The making of figures being tedious, and requiring much
room, put men first upon contracting them : as by the
most ancient Egyptian monuments it appears they did ;
next, instead of sententious mai'ks, to think of verbal, such
as the Chinese still retain. N. Grew, Cosmologia Sacra.
= Syn. 1. Laconic, pointed, compact
sententionsly
sententiously (sen-ten'shus-U), a<li\ In a sen-
tentious maimer ; in short, expressive periods ;
with striking brevity.
The poets make Fame a monster ; they describe her in
part finely and elegantly, and in part gravely and senten-
tiouMy. Bacon, Fragment of an Essay on Fame (ed. 1867).
sententiousness (sen-ten'shus-nes), n. The
quality of being sententious or short and ener-
getic in expression ; pithiness of sentences ;
brevity of expression combined nith strength.
That curious folio of secret history, and brilliant ten-
Untiougne«t, and witty pedantry, the life of Archbishop
Williams by Bishop Uacket
/. ly Israeli, Amen, of Lit., II. 33a
genteryt, ». An obsolete form of sentri/^. Mil-
ton.
sentience (sen'shi-ens), H. [< settti€n(t) + -ce.]
Sentient character or state; the faculty of
sense; feeling; consciousness.
This opinion, in its general form, was that of the senti-
ence of all vegetable things. Poe, Tales, I. 301.
Since, therefore, life can And its necessary mobility in
matter, can it not also acquire its necessary sentience from
the same source ? Xineteentk Century, XX. 346.
If the term tentience be employed as preferable to con-
sciousness, it must be understood as equivalent to con-
sciousness in the broader sense of the latter word.
G. T. Ladd, Physiol. Psychology, Int., p. 3.
sentiency (sen'shi-en-si), «. [As sentience (see
-cy).] Same as sentienee.
There are substances which, when added to the blood,
render eentiency less vivid.
U. Spencer, Prin. of PsychoL, i 42.
sentient (sen'shi-ent), a. and h. [= F. sentant
= Sp. scnciente = tg. getiMente = It. sentiente, <
L. *c«ficn(<-)», ppr. of sentire, feel, perceive : see
scent, sensed.} I. a. 1. Capable of sensation
or of sense-perception; having the power of
feeling.
The series of facts by which Socrates manifested himself
to mantEind, and the series of mental states which consti-
tuted his aentient existence, weut on simultaneously with
I the serie* of tact* known by the name of the Peloponne-
•ian war. J. S. Mm, Logic, I. v. { 6.
How the happiness of any part of the ttntient creation
would be in any respect dirniniabed if. for example, chil-
dren cut their teeth without pain, we cannot understand.
MacaiUay, Sadler's Ret. Kefuted.
2. Characterized by the exercise of sense or
Bense-perception.
A itntUnt and rational life without any self-intereat In
tbe examination of its own permanent characteristics,
and of the grounds upon which it rests, would be an ai>-
surdlty. G. T. ImiM, PhysioL Psychology, p. 585.
3. In physiol., noting those parts which on
stimulation give rise to sensation.— Sentient
BonL Hee touli .•=Syn. 1. SenttHee, etc SoeientibU.
H. ». The minil as capable of feeling.
If the Kntient l>e carried, "passibus lequis," with the
body, whose motifin it would observe, snppoalng it rufu-
lar, the remove is insensible. GUxndUe, Seep. &L
sentiently (sen'shi-cnt-li), adr. In a sentient
or jicri'iptive manner,
sentiment (sen'ti-ment), n. [< ME. sentement,
< OK. srntcmcnt, sentiment, F. sentiment = Pr.
sentiment = Sp. srntimicnto = Pg. It. sentimento,
< MIj. sentimenlum, f<'cling, affection, senti-
ment, opinion, < L. //entire, feel, perceive: see
sensed, scent.'i If. Feeling; sensation; senti-
ence; life.
She colde was and withoaten tentemenU,
For oght be woot, for breth ne felt he non.
Chaucer, Troilna, i». 1177.
2. Higher feeling: emotion, (a) In p^ekot., an
emotional Judgment ; also, the faculty for • special emo-
I tion.
I am apt to suspect . . . that reason and mntiment con-
etir In almost ail moral determinations and conclusions.
Hume, Prin. of Morals, I L
We speak of tentiments of reapect, of esteem, of grati-
tude ; but I never heard the pain of the gout, or any other
mere feeling, called a tenUmeni.
Reid, Active Powers, v. 7.
The mental or internal feelings — the senftmentf — may
be divided into cHintemplative and practical. The former
are tbe oncoinitants of our Cf>gnitive powers, the latter
of our iK)wers <>( conation. Sir W. Ilamuton, Hetaph., xlv.
Sentitnent is nothing but thought blended with feeling ;
thought made affectionat*?, i*ymp»thetic. moral.
J. F. Clarice, .SeK-Cultilre, p. 238.
But immediately that the proper stimuli bring them
into acti<in there will be a certain pleasure from the moral
exercise, as there is from the exercise of other functions ;
and that pleasure is naturally felt as moral mnliment.
Mauddry, B<xly and Will, p. 172.
Mi I have perceived in belief something more
t)i>' ''-ration of ideaa. He speaks frequently
"fth, ''<>n asawft^tm^n^, andhe appears to have
r> ujirdcd it aj* an ultimate fact, though governed by the
'Mtiititions of asH'H'tatlnn and habit.
J. SuHif, .Sensation atid Intuition, p. 75.
(6) Sensibility, or a tendency to make emotional Judg.
meot* ; tender susceptibility.
I
5497
Inasmuch as religion and law and the whole social or-
der of civilized society, to say nothing of literature and
art, are so founded on sentiment that they would all go to
pieces without it, it is a word not to be used too lightly in
passing judgment, as if it were an element to be thrown
out or treated with small consideration.
O. W. Holme), Poet at Breakfast-Table.
3. Exhibition or manifestation of feeling or
sensibility, as in literature, art, or music; a
literary or artistic expression of a refined or
delicate feeling or fancy.
Sentiment is intellectualized emotion, emotion precipi-
tated, as it were, in pretty crystals by the fancy.
Louvtt, Among my Books, Ist ser., p. 365.
The grace and sentiment of French design [medieval
painting] are often exquisite, but are less constant than
m the work of the early Italian painters.
C //. Moore, Gothic Architecture, p. 306.
4. Thought ; opinion ; notion ; judgment ; tlie
decision of the mind formed by deliberation or
reflection: as, to express one's sentiments on a
subject.
On questions of feeling, taste, observation, or report, we
define out tentimentx. On questionsof science, argument,
or metaphysical abstraction, we define our opinions.
WiUiam Taylor, English Synonyms Discriminated (1850).
It has always been i. sentiment of mine that to propa-
gate a malicious truth wantonly is more despicable than
to falsify from revenge. Sheridan, School for Scandal, iL 2.
5. The sense, thought, or opinion contained in
words, but coD.sidered as distinct from them: as,
we may like the sentiment when we dislike the
language. Hence — 6. A thought expressed in
striking words; especially, a sentence expres-
sive of some particularly important or agree-
able thought, or of a wish or desire; in par-
ticular, a toast, often couched in proverbial
or epigrammatic language.
Come, Mr. Premium, 111 give you a sentiment; here's
Bucoesa to usury ! Sheridan, School for Scandal ilL 3.
This charming sentiment, recommended as much by sense
as novelty, gave Catherine a most pleasing remembrance
of all the heroines of her acquaintance.
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, xv.
7. pi. In phren., the second division of the moral
or affective faculties of the mind, the first be-
ing termed propensities. See phrenology. — 8t.
Taste; qtiaUty..
other Trees there ben also, that beren Wyn of noble sen-
tement. MandevOU, Travels, p. 1S9.
Practical sentiments. :<«epraelieaL=ijn.i-i. Senti-
ment, Thought, Feeing. Sentiment has a peculiar place
between thought and /eeling, in which it also approaches
tbe meaning of principle. It is more than that feeling
which is sensation or emotion, by containing more of
thought and by being more lofty, while it contains too
mucn/H^iiy to he merely thought, and it has large influ-
ence over the will : for example, the sentiment of patriot-
ism ; the sentiment of honor ; tbe world is ruled by senti-
ment. The thought In a sentiment is often that of duty,
and is penetrated and exalted hj/eeting.
sentimental (sen-ti-men'tal), a. [= F. senti-
mental = Sp. Pg. sentimental = It. sentimentale
= D. sentimenieel = 0. Sw. Dan. sentimental ;
as sentiment + -a/.] 1. Swayed, or apt to be
swayed, by sentiment; of a tender and suscep-
tible heart; mawkishly tender or susceptible:
as, a sentimental person. This quality was highly
valaed about the third quarter of the eighteenth century,
but later waa regarded almost with disgust. Hence the
word at one time l>ore a favorable, at a later time an unfa-
vorable implication.
A sentimental mind Is rather prone to overwrought feel-
ing and exaggerated tendemesa. Whately.
Some of the mott sentimental writers, such aa Sterne (and
Byron)^ seem to have had their capacities of tenderness ex-
cited only by ideal objecta, and to have been very hard-
hearted towards real persons.
A. Bain, Emotions and Will, p. 208.
2. Containing or characterized by sentiment ;
appealing to the feelings rather than to reason :
as, a sentimental song; sentimental works.
I have aomethlng else tor you. which I am fabricating at
a great rate, and that is my Sentimental Journey, which
shall make yoa cry as much as it has affected me, or I will
give up the business of sentimenteU writing, and write to
the body. Sterne, Letters, cxiiL
Perhape there is no lesa danger In works called sentimen-
tal. They attack the heart more sacceaafally because
more cautiously. V. Knox, Essays No. 171.
= Syn. Rcmantie, .tentimenlal (see romantic), hysterical,
gushing, etc. (in style).
sentimentalise, sentimentaliser. See senti-
mrntiili:r, sentimvntalizer.
sentimentalism (sen-ti-men'tal-izm), n. [<
HentimintiU + -Mm.] Tendency to be swayed by
sentiment; affected sensibility or sentiment;
mawkish susceptibility; specifically, the phi-
losophy of Rousseau and others, which gave
great weight to the impulses of a susceptible
heart. The French revolution, with its terror, was re-
garded as in some measure the consequence of this phi-
losophy, which thenceforward fell more and more into con-
tempt. At present, the fact that it was a deliberately de-
fended attitude of mind is almost forgotten, the current
of sentiment running now strongly the other way.
sentinel
Eschew political sentimet^talism.
Disraeli, Conlngsby, Iv. 15.
In German sentiment, which runs over so easily into
seniimentalistn, a foreigner cannot help being struck with
a certain incongruouaneas.
Lowell, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 296.
sentimentalist (sen-ti-men'tal-ist), n. [< sen-
timental + -ist.'\ One who is guided by mere
sentiment; a sentimental person; in a better
sense, one who regards sentiment as more im-
portant than reason, or permits it to predomi-
nate over reason.
For Burke was himself also, in the subtler sense of the
word, a sentimentalist — that is, a man who took what
would now be called an aesthetic view of morals and poli-
tics. Lou-ell, .\mong my Books, 1st ser., p. 350.
sentimentality (sen"ti-men-tari-ti), n. [< sen-
timentdl -t- -ity.'] The quality of being senti-
mental ; affectation of fine or tender feeling or
exquisite sensibility; sentimentalism.
The false pity and sentimentality of many modern ladies.
T. Warton, Hist. Eng. Poetry, II. 201.
They held many aversions, too, in common, and could
have the comfort of laughing together over works of false
sentimentality and pompous pretension.
Cliartotte Bronte, Shirley, lit
sentimentalize (sen-ti-men'tal-iz), v.; pret.
and pp. sentimentalised, ppr. sentimentalizing.
[< sentimental + -ire.] I. intrans. To indulge
in sentiment ; talk sentiment ; play the senti-
mentalist.
And so they reproach and torment themselves, and re-
fine and sentimentalize, till gratitude becomes burdensome,
. . . and the very idea of a benefactor odious.
Miss Edgexcorth, Emilie de Coulanges.
n. tran.s. To render sentimental ; give a sen-
timental character to.
The adapters . . . sfnh'm^ntoZize the character of Lydia,
and almost humanize the hero.
Athenseum, No. 3284, p. 457.
-Also spelled .^lentimentalise,
sentimentalizer (sen-ti-men'tal-i-z6r), n. One
who sentimentalizes. Also spelled sentimen-
taliser.
A preacher-np of Nature, we now and then detect under
the surly and stoic garb [of Thoreauj something of the
sophist and the sentimentalizer.
Lomll, Study Windows, p. 203.
sentimentally (sen-ti-men'tal-i), adv. In a
sentimental manner; as regards sentiment ; to-
ward or in reference to sentiment: as, to be •
sentimentally inclined; to speak scHtimentally.
sentinet (sen'tiu), n. [< OF. sentine, F. sentine
= Pr. Sp. Pg. It. sentina, < L. sentitia, water in
the hold of a ship, bilge-water.] A place into
which dregs, dirt, etc., are thrown; a sink.
I can say grossly . . . the devU to be a stinking sentine
<d all vices, a foul filthy channel of all mischiefs.
Latimer, Sermons (Parker Soc), p. 42.
sentinel (sen'ti-nel), n. and a. [Formerly also
sentinell. rentinel, centineV, centonell; = MD. sen-
tinelle = Sp. centinela = Pg. seniinella = It. sen-
tinella, a sentinel, < OF. sentinelle, P. sentinelle,
a sentinel, a watch, a sense transferred from
the earlier meaning 'a watching at a particu-
lar post.' not given by Cotgrave, but apparent
from Kiliau's def. (MD. '•sentinelle, excubire,
vigilia!, priraee excubisB, excubitor exstans, sta-
tic, stationes" — Kilian, Appendix), and from
the phrase lever de sentinelle, relieve from sen-
tinel's duty, lit. 'take from his beat,' sentinelle
being originally, it appears, the post itself, a
sentinel's beat, the same as sentinelle, a path,
a little path, dim., like the equiv. sentelle, a
little path, of OF. sente, a path (cf. OF. sente-
ret, a little path, dim. of sentier, F. sentier, a
path, < ML. semitarius, a path), < L. semita, a
path, foot-path, by-path, prob. < se-, apart, -t-
meare(-\/ mi), go: see meatus. This view agrees
with a similar explanation of sentry^, q. v.] I.
n. If. Watch or guard kept by a soldier sta-
tioned for the purpose at a particular place.
Counsellors are not commonly so united but that one
counsellor keepeth sentinel over another.
Bacon, Counsel (ed. 1887).
Vpon the verge of the Rluer there are fiue houses,
wherein Hue the honestcr sort of people, as Farmers in
England, and they keepo continuall centinetl for the
Quoted In Copt. John Smith's Works, II. 12.
2. A soldier stationed as a guard, either to
challenge persons drawing near and to allow
to pass only those who give a watchword, and,
in the absence of this, to resist them and give
an alarm, or for display or ceremony only.
I was employ'd In passing to and fro,
About relieving of the sentinels.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., 11. 1. 70.
3. .\ sentinel-crab.
II. a. Acting as a sentinel; watching.
sentinel
Onr bugles sang truce, for the night-cloud had lowered,
And the irtMnel stars set their watch in the sky.
Campbell^ Soldier's Dream.
sentinel (sen'ti-nel), r. *. ; pret. and pp. senti-
neled or sentinelled, ppr. scntinclinfl or sentinel
ling. [< sentinel, w.] 1. To watch over as a
sentinel.
All the powers
That sentinel just thrones double their guards
About your sacred excellence.
Ford, Lover's Melancholy, ii. 1.
2. To furnish with a sentinel or sentinels ;
place under the guard of sentinels. B. Pollok.
[Rare.]
sentinel-crab (sen'ti-nel-krab), n. A crab of
the Indian Ocean, Podophthalmns vigil; a sen-
tinel : so called from the remarkable length of
the eye-stalks.
sentisection (sen-ti-sek'shgn), n. [<L. scntire,
feel, -1- seetio(n-), cutting.'] Painful vivisec-
tion ; the dissection of living animals without
recourse to anesthetics or other means of pre-
venting pain: opposed to callisection. li. O.
Wilder. [Rare.]
sentoree, n. See siindoree.
sentry^ (sen'tri), «. and a. [Formerly also cen-
trij, earlier sentrie and in fuller form sentery,
prob. a transferred use of OF. senteret, a path
(in the same manner as sentinelle, a sentinel,
from sentinelle, a path), senteret being dim. of
sentier (It. sentiero), a path, < ML. semitarius, a
path, < L. semita, a path: see sentinel.'] I. ». ;
pi. sentries (-triz). If. A place of watch; a
watch-tower. [Rare.]
Querite, ... a sentry or watch-tower. Cotgrave.
2. Watch; guard: same a.s sentinel, 1.
What strength, what art can then
Suffice, or what evasion bear him safe
Through the strict senteries and stations thick
Of angels watching round? Milton, P. L., ii. 412.
Thou, whose nature cannot sleep,
O'er my temples sentry keep.
Sir T. Browne, Religio Medici, ii. § 12.
3. One stationed as a guard : same as sentinel, 2.
— Sentry go, originally, the call made to announce the
time of changing the watch ; hence, by loose colloquial
extension, any active military duty.
II. a. Acting as a sentry ; watching,
sentry-t, «• Same as centry^, center^.
Pleasure is but like gentries, or wooden frames set un-
der arches till they be strong by their own weight and
consolidation to stand alone.
Jer. Taylor, Apples of Sodom. (Latham.)
sentry-board (sen'tri -bord), n. A platform
outside the gangway of a. ship for a sentry to
stand upon.
sentry-box (sen'tri-boks), n. A kind of box
or booth intended to give shelter to a sentinel
in bad weather.
sentuaryt, sentwaryt, «• Middle English forms
of xanctuiiry.
senveyt, senviet, "• See senvy.
senvyt, «• [Early mod. E. senvye, senrie ; < ME.
senvey, < OF. seneve = It. senape, senapa = AS.
senep, senap = OFlem. sennep = OHG. senaf,
MHG. senef, sen/, Q. senf = Sw. senap = Dan.
senep, sennep, < L. sinapi, also sinape, sinapis
= Goth, sinap, < Gr. aivavi, also aivr/m, aivairv,
aivrirrv, aiv7/7Tv^, in Attic vdrrv, mustard: see
sinapis.] Mustard; mustard-seed.
Senvey lete sowe it nowe, and cool sede bothe,
And when the list, weelwrought fatte lande thai love.
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. a.), p. &3.
Senvie ... is of a most biting and stinging tast, of a
flerie effect, but nathe-
lesse very good and
wholsom for man's
HoUatxd, tr. of Pliny,
[xix. 8. (Davies.)
senza (sen'tsa),
prep, [i It. senza,
without: seesaw*.]
In music, without:
as, senza sordino or
sor(ZinJ,without the
mute (in violin-
playing), or with-
out dampers (in
pianoforte-play-
ing); senza tempo,
without strict
rhythm or time ;
senza organo, with-
out organ, etc. Ab-
breviated S.
Sep. An abbrevia-
tion used by bo-
tanical writers for
sepal.
Honns of Sepals.
a, flower of Caltha falustris, show-
ing the petaloid sepals s; b, one of the
sepals, on larger scale ; c, flower of
Ctrastiu,n nutans, seen from below:
*. one of the sepals ; d. calyx of the
same, showing the five free sepals.
5498
sepal (sep'al or se'pal), n. [= F. sepale, < NL.
sepalnm, formed (after the analogy of petal,
lepal) < L. separ, separate, different: see sepa-
rate. Cf. ML. sepalis, a dubious form, unde-
fined, appar. an error for separalis, several : see
several. The term was proposed by Neeker, and
adopted by A. P. de CaudoUe and all later bot-
anists.] In hot., a ealy.\-leaf ; one of the indi-
vidual leaves or parts that make up the calyx,
or outer circle of floral envelops. See calyx,
cut in preceding column, and cuts under anti-
sepalous and dimerous.
The term sepal was devised by Neckar to express each
of the divisions of the calyx.
M^hewell, Philos. Inductive Sciences, I., p. xciv.
Sepaled (sep'ald or se'pald), a. [< sepal + -crf2.]
In hot., proviiied with sepals.
Sepaline (sep'a-lin), a. [< sepal + -ine^.] In
hot., relating to a sepal or sepals; having the
nature of a sepal.
sepalody (sep'a-16-di), n. [< sepal + -ode, a
form of -Old, -f -j/3.] In hot., metamorphosis
or change of petals or other organs into sepals
or sepaloid organs.
sepaloid (sep'a-loid), a. [< septal + -oid.] Like
a sepal, or distinct part of a calyx.
sepalous (sep'a-lus), a. [< sepal + -ous.] Re-
lating to or having sepals.
separability (sep"a-ra-biri-ti), n. [< L. sepa-
rabilis, admitting of separation, < separare,
separate : see separate.] The property of be-
ing separable, or of admitting separation or
disunion; divisibility. Glanville.
separable (sep'a-ra-bl), «. [< OF. separable, F.
separable = St^ y separable = Pg. separavel = It.
separabile, < L. separahilis, that can be sepa-
rated, < separare, separate: see separate.] 1.
Capable of being separated, disjoined, or dis-
united: as, the separable parts of plants ; quali-
ties not separable from the substance in which
they exist.
We can separate in imagination any two ideas which
have been combined ; for what is distinguishable insepa-
rable. Leslie Stephen, Eng. Thought, i. § SI.
2t. Separative.
In our two loves there is but one respect,
Though in our lives a separable spite.
Shak., Sonnets, xxxvi.
separableness (sep'a-ra-bl-nes), n. The char-
acter or property of being separable; separa-
bility.
Trials permit me not to doubt of the separableness of a
yellow tincture from gold. Boyle.
separably (sep'a-ra-bli), adv. In a separable
manner.
separata, n. Plural of separatum.
separate (sep'a-rat), v. ; pret. and pp. separated,
ppr. .separating. [< L. .separatns, pp. of sepa-
rare (> It. separare = Sp. Pg. separar — Pr. sepu-
rar, sehrar = F. separer and serrer (> E. sever) ),
separate (ef. separ, separate, different), < se-,
apart, + parare, provide, arrange : see se- and
parc^. Cf. sever.] I. trans. 1. To sever the
connection or association of; disunite or dis-
connect in any way ; sever.
Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me. Gen. xiii. 9.
They ought from false the truth to separate.
Error from Faith, and Cockle from the Wheat.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, 1. 7.
In the darkness and confusion, the bands of these com-
manders became separated from each other.
Irving, Granada, p. 95.
I think it impossible to separate the interests and edu-
cation of the sexes. Improve and refine the men, and you
do the same by the women, whether you will or no.
Emerson, Woman.
2. To divide, place, or keep apart; cut off, as
by an intervening space or body ; occupy the
space between : as, tlie Atlantic separates Eu-
rope from America.
We are separated from it by a circumvallation of laws
of God and man. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 18S5), I. 728.
Separated flowers, flowers in which the sexes are sepa-
rated ; diclinous flowers. =Syn. 1. To disjoin, disconnect,
detach, disengage, sunder, cleave, distinguish, isolate.—
2. To dissociate.
II. iutrans. 1. To part; be or become dis-
united or disconnected; withdraw from one an-
other.
When there was not room enough for their herds to feed,
they by consent separated, and enlarged their pasture.
Locke.
The universal tendency to separate thus exhibited [by
political parties and religious sects] is simply one of the
ways in which a growing assertion of individuality comes
out. U. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 47(i.
2. To cleave; open; come apart — separating
post-offlce, a post-office where mail Is received for dis-
tribution and despatched to other post-ofllces. {V. S.1
separation
separate (sep'a-rat), a. and n. [< L. separatiis,
pp. of separare, separate: see separate, v.] I.
a. 1. Divided from the rest; disjoined; dis-
connected: used of things that have been united
or associated.
Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith
the Lord. ' 2 Cor. vi. 17.
Nothing doth more alienate mens affections than with-
drawing from each other into separate Congregations.
Stillinyjleet, Sermons, II. vi.
2. Specifically, disunited from the body; in-
corporeal: as, the separate state of souls.
Whatever i<lea8 the mind can receive and contemplate
without the help of the body it is reasonable to conclude
it can retain without the help of the body t(»o ; or else the
soul, or any sejmrate spirit, will have but little advantage
by thinking. Locke, Human Understanding, II. i. § 15.
3. By its or one's self; apart from others; re-
tired; secluded.
Beyond his hope. Eve separate he spies.
Milton, P. L., ix. 424.
Now in a secret vale the Trojan sees
A separate grove. Lyryden, ^neid, vi. 9,54.
4. Distinct; unconnected.
Such an high priest became us, who is holy, hannless,
undeflled, and separate from sinners. Heb. vii. 26.
Have not those two realms their separate maxims of pol-
icy? Swift, Conduct of the Allies.
One poem, which is composed upon a law of its own,
and has a characteristic or separate beauty of its own, can-
not be inferior to any other poem whatsoever.
De Quincey, Style, ilL
5. Individual; particular.
While the great body [of the empire], as a whole, was
torpid and passive, every separate member began to feel
with ", sense, and to move with an energy, all its own.
Macaulay, Lord Clive.
flepzibah did not see that, just as there comes a warm
sunbeam into every cottage window, so comes a love-beam
of God's care and pity for evei-y separate need.
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, xvi.
Separate coxse. See coxa, 3.— Separate estate, sep-
arate property, (a) The property of a maiTied woman,
which she holds independently of her husband's interfer-
ence and control. (6) An estate held by another in trustfor
a married woman.— Separate form. See /orni.— Sepa-
rate maintenance, a provision made by a husband for
the sustenance of his wife in cases in which they decide
to live apart. = Syn. IHstinct, etc. (see different), disunited,
dissociated, detached. See the verb.
II. ». It- One who is or prefers to be sepa-
rate; a separatist ; a dissenter.
Chusing rather to be a rank Separate, a meer Quaker,
an arrant Seeker.
Bp. Gauden, Tears of the Church, p. 41. (Davies.)
2. A member of an American Calvinistie
Methodist sect of the eighteenth century, so
called because of their organization into sepa-
rate societies. They maintained that Christian be-
lievers are guided by the direct teachings of the Holy
Spirit, .and that such teaching is in the nature of inspira-
tion, and superior though not contrary to reason.
3. An article issued separately; a separate slip,
article, or document; specifically, in bibliogra-
phy, a copy of a printed article, essay, mono-
graph, etc., published separately from the vol-
ume of which it forms a part, often retitled and
repaged.
It will be noticed that to the questions 16, 17, and 18,
in the separate of January 18, 18S(i, no reply is given by
the superintendent of the mint.
Rep. o/Sec. of Treasury, 1886, p. 405.
separately (sep'a-rat-li), adv. In a separate
or unconnected state; each by itself; apart;
distinctly; singly: as, the opinions of the coun-
cil were separately taken.
If you are constrained by the subject to admit of many
figures you must then make the whole to be seen together,
. . . and not everj'thing separately and in particular.
Dryden, tr. of Dufresnoy's Art of Painting.
The allies, after conquering together, return thanks to
God separately, each after his own form of worship.
Macaulay, Gladstone on Church and State.
separateness (sep'a-rat-nes), w. Separate or
distinct character or state. Bailey.
separatical (sep-a-rat'i-kal), a. [< separate +
-ie-al.] Pertaining to separation in religion;
schismatic. [Rare.] Imp. Diet.
separating-disk (sep'a-ra-ting-disk), n. In
detitistry, an emery-wheel used with a dental
engine ifor cutting a space between teeth.
separating-funnel (sep'a-ra-ting-fun'''el), H.
See funnel.
separating-sieve (sep'a-ra-ting-siv), n. Ini;K«-
pou-der-mauuf., a compound sieve by which the
grains are sorted relatively to size.
separating-weir (sep'a-ra-ting-wer), H. A weir
which permits the water to flow off in case of
flood, but nnderordinarycireumstances collects
it in a channel along the face of the weir.
separation (sep-a-ra'shgn), n. [< OF. separa-
tion, separacion, scparaison, F. separation = Pr.
separatio = Sp. separacion = Pg. separa(;ao =
I
separation
It. separazione, < L. separatio{n-), a separating,
< separare, pp. separatun, separate : see sepa-
rate.} 1. The act of separating, removing, or
disconnecting one thing from another; a dis-
joining or disjunction: as, the separation of
the soul from the body; the separation of the
good from the bad. — 2. The operation of dis-
uniting or decomposing substances ; chemical
analysis.
1 remember to have heard . . . that a fifteenth part of
silver, incorporate with gold, will not be recovered by any
water of teparation, except you put a greater quantity of
silver, . . . which ... is the last refuge in geparationt.
Bacon, Kat. Hist, S 798.
3. The state of being separate ; disunion; dis-
connection; separate existence.
Remove her where you will, I walk along still ;
For, like the light, we make no geparation.
Ftttclier (and another). Elder Brother, iiL 5.
The soul is much freer in the state of separation ; and it
it hath any act of life, it is much more noble and expedite.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1S36), U. 85.
4. Specifically, a limited divorce, or divorce
from bed and board without a dissolution of
the marriage tie. This may be by common consent
or b^ decree of a court ; in the latter case it is called a
judicial teparoHon. See ditoree.
Afeparation
Between the king and Katharine.
Shai., Hen. VUI., U. 1. 148.
5. In music: (a) A passing-note between two
tones a third apart. (6) In organ-building, a
contrivance introduced into instruments where
the great organ keyboard has a pneumatic ac-
tion, enabling tlie player to use that keyboard
without sounding the pipes belonging to it,
even though its stops may be more or less
drawn. It Is particularly useful where the action of
the other keyboards when coupled together is too hard
to be cunvenient,
6t. A body of persons separated in fact or doc-
trine from the rest of the commimity; a botly
of separatists or nonconformists; specifically,
in the seventeenth century, the Puritans col-
lectively.
Tbeae cbasttseraents are common to the aalnta.
And such rebukes we of the teparoHon
Host bear with wflUng sboaldera.
B. Jotuon, Alchemist, lii. 1.
If thei come over any honest men that are not of y
mfaratioH, they will quickly distast them.
Brad/ord, Plymouth Hantation, p. 177.
Dry separation, the cleaning of ccal or concentration
of ore by the aid of fl strong current or blast of air, or by
the so-called "wind niethixl " ; concentration wlthont the
use of water. — Separation of the roots of an equation.
See rfiotl.
separationist (sep-a-ra'shon-ist), n. [< separa-
tion + -(*(.] One who advocates or favors sep-
aration, in some special sense.
No excellence, moral, mental, or physical, inborn or at-
tained, can buy for a " man of colour, from these mpara-
tioniMJt, any distinction between the restrictions of his
clrll liberty and those of the stupidest and wiualidest of
bis race. G. W. Catie, Contemporuy Eev., LIIL 462.
separatism (sep'a-rS-tizm), n. [< separate +
-i^ni.} Separatist i)rinciples or practices; dis-
position to separate or withdraw from some
combination or imion.
separatist (scp'»-ra-tist), «. and a. [< separate
+ -M(.] I. H. (Jne who withdraws or separates
himself; one wlio favors separation. Eipecially
— (a) One who withdraws from an eatablished or other
church to utii'Ii hr hxs tu'longc'l ; a dissenter: as, the
KparaHjci .nth and aeventeenth
centurio 1 4 of varlooa speoiflc
sects, e»p' . 'land.
Afterafaint 9trui<glebe[Lliarlrs II. 1 yielded, and passed,
with the show of alacrity, a series of odious acts against
the teparatittt. Macaulay, Hist. Kng., ii.
But at no time in his history was the Nonconformist or
Puritan a SeparaliM or Dissenter from the rimrch of Eng-
land. /{. W. tHxnn, Hist. Church of Eng.xvii.
(6) In recent British jiolitics, an cplthit app1ie<l by the
Cnionist party to their opponents, whom they charge with
favoring the sepvatlon of Ireland from the United King-
dom.
The Home Rule party are properly teparatilt, tat their
policy leads inevitably to separation.
Coatemporary Rev., L. IS8.
Til.- tmnsfer of votes from Unionists to .Irparatitit at
S,Mil li I,:; was not so large as was the trtmsfcr in the oppo-
Biti- .lii.ction in the St. Austell division of Cornwall.
QuarUrty Jlev., CXLV. 25S.
n. a. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic
of separatists or separatism; advocating sepa-
ration : as. ,«»7;nrn<i*^ politics; w/mrrtfw/ candi-
dates for Parliament; a separatist movement.
This majority, so long as they remain onlted, can always
defeat the .SeparaliM minority.
Sineteenth Century, XX. 9.
separatistlcfsep'a-ra-tis'fik), fl. [< separatist
+ -ic] Uflating to or characterized by sepa-
mtism; schismatical. Imp. Diet.
o499
separative (sep'a-ra-tiv), a. [a= F. separatif=
Pr. sepurutiu = Sp. Pg. It. separatiro,< LL. sepa-
ratirus, pertaining to separation, disjunctive, <
L. se/>ar«rf, separate : see separate.] 1. Sepa-
rating; tending to separate; promoting sepa-
ration.
I shall not insist on this experiment, because of that
much more full and eminent experiment of the separative
virtue of extreme cold that was made against their wills
by the forementioned Dutchmen that wintered in Nova
Zembla. Boyle, Works, I. 491.
The spirit of the synagogue is essentially separative.
Lamb, Imperfect Sympathies.
God's separative judgment-hour.
Mrs. Brouming, Aurora Leigh, i.
2. In na*. *»«(., distinctive; serving for distinc-
tion of species or groups: as, separative char-
acters.
separator (sep'a-ra-tor), n. [< LL. separator,
one who separates, < L. separare, separate : see
separate.'] 1. One who separates. — 2. Any
implement, machine, or contrivance used for
separating one thing from another : as, cream-
separators; grum-separators ; magnetic separa-
tors (for separating valuable ores from the rock
or sand by means of powerful magnets); etc.
Specifically — (a) In affri., a machine for separating from
wheat imperfect grains, other seeds, dirt, chaff, etc. The
most common fonn appears in the fanning-mill or fanning
attachment to a threshing-machine, and employs a blast of
air to blow the light dust out of the grain. Another form
of separator uses graduated screens, either flat or cylindri-
cal, the cylindrical screens being made to revolve as the
grain passes through them, and the flat screens having often
a reciprocating motion to shake the dust out as the grain
is passed over the screen. A recent form of separator em-
ploys cylinders of dented sheet-metal, the good grain being
caught in the indentations and carried away from the chatf ,
which sllpa past the cup-like depressions. In still another
form, the gnin slides down a revolving cone, the round
weed-seeds fly off by centrifugal force, while the grain
slides into a spout provided to receive it. A variety of
screens for sotting fruit and roots according to sizes are
also called separators: aa, a potato-separator. There are
also special separators for sorting and cleaning barley,
grass-seed, oata, etc (&) In weaving, a comb-like device
for spreading the yams evenly upon the yam-
i
respective levels, or (In tre form here figured)
the denser liquid may be first drawn off com-
pletely through the stop-cock at the bottom,
the narrow neck allowing the separation to
be almost exactly performed. (<t) A name _
given to varloaa modem and more or less separator (r).
complicated forms of apparatus used for
dressing ore.— Chop separator, In milling, a machine
for separating the flour from iiuantities of cracked grain
as the meal comes from the roller-mill. S. H. Knight.
Separatory (sep'a-ra-to-ri), a. and ». [< sepa-
ratt: + -unj.] I. a. Causing or used in separa-
tion ; effecting separation; separative: as, ««pa-
ratonj ducts.
The most consplcuoiu gland of an animal is the system
of the guts, where the Uctesls are the emissary vessels or
separatory ducts. O. Cheyne, Phil. Prin.
In distilling with steam, a large quantity of water passes
over with the product ; as this continues during the whole
operation, the distillate is received in a separvlory appa-
ratus, so as to allow the water to escape.
Spam' Encyc. Manuf., I. 64S.
Separatory ftannfil, a form of fnnnel fitted with one or
more stopKMwks, like the separator, of which it Is a form,
and usea for separating liquids of different specific grav-
ity. See teparator, 2 (c)l
H. n. A chemical vessel for separating li-
quids of different specific gravity; a separa-
tor. See separator, 2 (c).
separatrix (sep'a-ra-triks), n. [NL., fem. of
LL. siparator: gee separator.] Something that
separates ; 8x>ecifically, the line separating light
and shade on any partly illuminated sunace.
separatum (sep-a-ra'tum), «. ; pi. separata (-tS).
[NL., prop. neut. of separatus, pp. of separare,
separate: see separate.] A separate copy or
reprint of a paper which has been published
in the proceedings of a scientific society, it is
now a very general custom to issue such separata for the
benefit of speciallata who do not care for the complete pro-
ceedings.
separlstt (sep'a-rist), n. [< separiate) + -ist.]
A separatist.
Jove separate me from these Separitts,
Which think they hold heavens kingdome In their fists.
Time^ WltistU (E. E. T. S.X p. 16.
sepawn, «. Same as supawn.
sepeliblet (sep'g-li-bl), a. [< L. sepeVbilis, that
may be buried or concealed, < sepelire, bury:
see sepuleher.] Fit for, admitting of, or in-
tended for burial ; that may be buried. Imp.
Diet.
sepelltiont (sep-e-lish'on),. n. [< ML. sepeti-
tw{7i-), misspelleil sepelieio(n-), < L. sepelire, pp.
sepidaceons
sepultus, bury: see sepuleher.] Burial; inter-
ment.
The other extreme is of them who do so over-honour the
dead that they abridge some parts of them of a due sepe-
Ittian. Bp. Hall, Works, V. 416. (Davies.)
Sephardic (se-far'dik), a. [< Sephardim + -ic.]
Of or pertaining to the Sephardim: as, Sephar-
dic ritual. Also Sepharadic.
The Sepfiardic immigration is best known by the con-
verts to Christianity whom it supplied, as Isaac D'israeli
and his son Lord I'.eaconsfteld (who was baptized at the
age of twelve). Encyc. Brit., Xlll. 684.
Sephardim (se-filr'dim),w.|)/. [Heb.] Spanish-
Portuguese Jews, as distinguished from Ash-
kenazim, or German-Polish Jews. See Ashlce-
nazim.
The Sephardim, or Jews descended from the refugees
from Spain after the expulsion in 1492, are generally dark-
er in complexion and have darker hair than other Jews.
Jour, of Anttiropological Inst., XIX. 83.
sephen (sef'en), n. [< Arabic] A sting-ray
ot the Indian Ocean and Eed Sea, Trygon (or
Dasybatis) sepheii, of commercial value for sha-
green.
Sephiroth (sef 'i-roth), ». pi. [Heb., lit. ' enumer-
ations.'] In the cabala, the first ten numerals,
as attributes and emanations of the Deity,
compared to rays of light, and identified with
Scripture names of God. By the Sephiroth
the first and highest of four worlds was said
to be formed. See cabalist.
sepia (se'pi-ii), n. and «. [= P. seche, seiche
(OF. seche)! a cuttlefish, sejna, its secretion,
= Pr. sepia = Cat. sipia, cipia = Sp. sepia, jibia
= Pg. siba = It. seppia, a cuttlefish, its secre-
tion, < L. sepia, < Gr. apTria, a cuttlefish, also
ink derived from it, sepia.] I, n. 1. A black
secretion or ink produced by the cuttlefish;
also, in the arts, a pigment prepared from this
substance. The Sepia ofieinalis, common in the Medi-
terranean, is chiefly sought for the profusion of color which
it alfords. Tills secretion, which is insoluble in water,
but extremely diffusible through it, is agitated in water
to wash it, and then allowed slowly to
subside, after which the water is poured
off, and the black sediment is formed
into cakes or sticks. In this form it is
used as a common writing-ink in China.
Japan, and India- When prepared
with caustic lye it forms a beautiful
brown color, with a fine grain, and has
given name to a species of mono-
chrome drawing extensively cultivat-
ed. See cuts under DibranchiaUx, ink'
bag, belemnite, and BeUmniiida.
2. [cap.] fNL.] A genus ot
cuttles, typical of the family Se-
piidie, anil containing such spe-
cies as the common or officinal
cuttle, S. officinalis. See also
cuts under cuttlejisk, Dibranchi-
ata, and ink-hag. — 3. A cuttlefish. — 4. Cut-
tlebone: more ftilly called os sepise. It is an
antacid, used in dentifrices, and given to cana-
ries. See OS and sepiost Roman sepia. Same
as warm sepia, but with a yellow instead «)f a red tone. —
Warm sepia, a water-color used by artists, prepared by
mixing some red pigment with sepia.
H. a. Done in sepia, as a drawing.
Sepiacea (se-pi-a'se-a), n.pl. [NL., < Sepia +
-acca.] A group of cephalopods : same as Sej)i-
ida' in a broad sense.
Sepiacean (se-pi-a'se-an), a. [< Sepiacea +
-an.] Of or pertaining to the Sepiacea.
Sepiadariidse (se'pi-a-3a-ri'i-de), n. pi. [NL.,
< Sejiiiidiirimn + -idee.] A family of decaeerous
cephalopods, typified by the genus Scpiadari-
vm. They have the mantle united to the neck or back,
the fins narrow, developed only along the smaller part of
the length, and no internal shell. The only two known
species are confined to the Pacific.
Bepiadarium (se'pi-a-da'ri-um), n. [NL., <
Gr. mfKia^ (mpriaS-), a cuttlefish (see sepia), +
dim. -apiov.] A genus of cuttles, typical of the
family .'iepiadariidee.
sepiarian (se-pi-a'ri-an), a. and n. [< sepiarg
+ -an.] Same as sejiiary.
sepiary (se'pi-ii-ri), a. and n. . [< sepia -{- -ary.]
I. a. Of or pertaining to the Sepiidie : as, a se-
piary cephalopod.
IL n. ; pi. sepiaries (-riz). A member of the
Scpiidse.
sepic(8e'pik), a. [<. sepia + -ic] 1. Oforper-
taining to sepia. — 2. I)one in sepia, as a draw-
ing.
sepicolons (se-pik'o-lus), a. [< L. ssepes, sepes,
a hedge, a fence, -f colere, inhabit.] In Sot.,
inhabiting or growing in hedge-rows.
SepidaceoUS (sep-i-da'shius), a. [Irreg. < NL.
scjiia + -d- (f) -aceoiis, or more prob. an error
for sepiaceous.] In zool., of or relating to sepia
or the genus /Sepia.
Cuttlefish tSe/ia
qfficirtatis).
[NL., dim. of Sepia,
Sepidse
SepidSB^ (sep'inle), M. pL [NL., < Sepia + -irfa'.]
In conch., same as Stpiidx.
Sepids- (sep'i-de), «. pi. [NL., < Seps (Sep-) +
-i<&.] In herpet., a family of sciiicoid lizards,
named from the geniis Seps. Also Sepsidx.
Sepidea (sf-pid'e-a), «. pi. [NL., < Sepia +
-irf«i.] A group of deeaeerous eephalopods:
same as Scpimdea.
Sepididae (se-pid'i-de), «. pi. [NL., prop. Sepi-
(liiila; < Sepidium + -»d«.] In entom., a family
of coleopterous insects, named from the genus
Sepidium.
sepiform (sep'i-form), a. [< NL. Seps + L.
forma, form.] Resembling or related to the
lizards of the genus Seps : as, a sepiform lizard.
Sepiidse (se-pi'i-de), 11. pi. [NL., < Sepia +
-irfa?.] A family of deeaeerous eephalopods,
typified by the genus Sepia. They have eyes covered
by transparent skin, and lidless; tlie fourth pair of anus
hectocotylized; and an internal flattened calcareous gla-
diu8. the sepiost or cuttlebone. The mantle is supported
by a cartilaginous button and corresponding pit; the tins
are lateral, and extend along most of the body. Cuttles
of this family furnish both sepia and the bone which is
given to canaries. The family, in a wider or narrower
sense, is also called Sepiacea, Sepiada, Sepidse, Sepiaria,
SepiaHi, and Sepiophora. See cut under Sepia.
sepiment (sep'i-meut), n. [< L. sxpimentum,
sepimentum, a hedge, a fence, < ssepire, sepire,
hedge, fence, < ssepes, sepes. a hedge, fence.] A
hedge ; a fence ; something that separates.
[Rare.]
sepioid (se'pi-oid), a. and n. [< Sepia + -oid."]
I. a. Resembling a cuttlefish; pertaining to
the Sepioidea, or having their characters.
H. H. A member of the Sepioidea.
Sepioidea (se-pi-oi'de-a), n. pi. [NL., < Sepia +
-oideu . ] 1 . A superf aniily of deeaeerous eepha-
lopods with eyes covered by transparent skin
and lidless, the fourth pair of arms hectocoty-
lized, and an internal flattened calcareous gla-
dius. the sepiost or cuttlebone. — 2. An order
of dibranchiate eephalopods, contrasted with
Belenmoidca. A. Hyatt.
Sepiola (se-pi'o-la), H.
q.v.] A genus of squids,
typical of the family
SepiolidsB, having the
body short, and the fins
broad, short, and lobe-
like, as in <S'. atlantica.
Sepiolidae (se-pi-ol'i-
de), H. pi. [NL., < Sepi-
ola -t- -k/cB.] a family
of deeaeerous cephalo-
poda, typified by the ge-
nus Sepiola. They have
a small cartilaginous or cor-
neous gladius or cuttle-
bone, and the first pair of
arms hectocotylized.
Sepiolidea (se "pi-o-lid'-
^-a,),H.pl. [NL.,<-Sepi-
oia + -idea."] Same as
Sepioloidea.
sepiolite (se'pi-o-lit), n.
of the cuttlefish (< m/iria, the cuttlefish), + Vdog,
stone.] The mineralogical name for the hy-
drous magnesium silicate meerschaum. See
meerschaum.
Sepioloidea (se-'pi-o-lol'de-S), n. pi. [NL., <
Sepiola + -oidea.'] ' A superfamily of deeaee-
rous eephalopods with eyes covered by a trans-
parent skin but with false eyelids more or less
free, arms of the first pair hectocotylized, and
the gladius corneous and rudimentary or ab-
sent. Also Sepiolidea.
Sepiophora (se-pi-of'o-ra), n. pi. [NL., < Gr.
atfKta, sepia, -I- -^pof, '< (fcpew = 'E. bear^.^ The
Sepiidee as a group of decapod eephalopods
characterized by a calcareous internal bone.
Also Sepisephora.
sepiophore (se'pi-o-for), n. [< Sepiophora.'] A
member of the Sepiophora, as a cuttlefish.
sepiost (se'pi-ost), n. [< Gr. o^Tnov, the bone of
the cuttlefish, + barkov, a bone.] The bone or
internal skeleton of the cuttlefish; cuttlebone.
See cuts under IHhranchiata and calamarij.
sepiostaire (se'pi-os-tar'), «. [< F. sepiostaire :
see sepiost.'] Same as sepiost. W. B. Carpeti-
ter, Micros., $ 575.
sepistan, n. Same as sebesten.
Sepiom (se'pi-nm), n. [NL., < Gr. atjiriov, the
bone of a cuttlefish, < arima, the cuttlefish:
ncb-vpia.] Cuttlebone; sepiost or sepiostaire.
sepometer (se-pom'e-ter), w. [< Gr. aijirtiv,
make rotten or putrid, H- filrpov, a measure.]
An instrument for determining, by means of
the decoloration and decomposition produced
Sefiola aftantica.
[< Gr. af/mov, the bone
5500
in sodium permanganate, the amount of or-
ganic impurity existing in the atmosphere.
Sepon, ". Same as siipawn.
seposet (se-p6z'), V. [After the analogy otpose'^,
depose, etc., < L. seponere, pp. sepositus, lay
apart, put aside, < se-, apart, -I- ponere, put,
place: see pose'^. Cf. seposit.] I. trans. To
set apart.
God geposed a seventh of our time for his exterior wor-
ship. Dmne, To Sir H. O.
H, intrans. To go aside ; retire.
That he [a Christian] thinlc of God at all times, but that,
besides that, he sepose sometimes, to think of nothing but
God. Donne, Sermons, xix.
sepositt (se-poz'it), V. t. [< L. sepiositus, pp. of
seponere, put aside : see sepose.] To set aside.
Parents and the neerest bloud mu«t all for this [mar-
riage] be laid by and gepogiJUd. Feltham, Letters, i.
sepositiont (sep-o-zish'on), n. [< L. seposi-
tio(n-), a laying aside, a separation, < seponere,
pp. sepositus, put aside : see sejwse.] The act
of setting aside or apart ; a setting aside.
We must contend with prayer, with actual dereliction
and gepogition of all our other affairs.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 230.
sepoy (se'poi, formerly and better se-poi'), "•
[Also seapoy, formerly also sipoy, and (more
nearly like the Hind.) sipahee, spahi (G. sepoy,
< E.) = P. spahi, cipaye, a sepoy, = Sp. espahi,
a cavalryman (in Turkej^ or Algeria); < Hind.
sipdhi, a native soldier in distinction from a
European soldier, a beadle, peon or messenger
of a court, < Pers. sipdhi, a horseman, soldier, <
sipdh, supdh (> Hind, sipdh), soldiers, an army,
military force.] In India, a native soldier dis-
ciplined and uniformed according to European
regulations ; especially, a native soldier of the
British army in India. The officers of sepoys
have usually been European, and those of the
higher ranks are exclusively so.
As early as A. D. 1692, the chief of Sind had 200 natives
dressed and armed like Europeans ; these were tlie first
Sepoyg.
R. F. Burton, Camoens : a Commentary, II. 445, notes.
Sepoy mutiny. See mutiny.
seppuku (sep"puk'g), n. [Jap., colloquial pro-
nunciation of setsA puku, 'cut the belly' (the
syllable tsU, except when initial, being assimi-
lated in mod. Jap. and Chin, words to a k, p, or s
following): setsu,<. Chin, ts'ieh, ts'it, cut; fukii,
puku, < Chin, fuh, fuk, belly, abdomen.] Same
as hara-kiri. Seppiiku, which is of Chinese origin, is
considered more elegant than the purely native term ?iara-
kiri.
Seps (seps), n. [NL. (Oken, 1816), < L. seps, <
Gr. Bt/ip, a kind of lizard, also a kind of serpent
the bite of which was alleged to cause putre-
faction, < aTjnuv, make rotten: see septic] 1.
A genus of scineoid lizards, of the family Scin-
cidse, giving name to the Sepidx. They have an
elongate cylindric body, with very small limbs, and im-
bricated scales. They are sometimes known as gerpent-
lizardg.
2. II. c.] A lizard of this genus.
Like him whom the Numidian sepg did thaw
Into a dew with poison.
Shelley, Prometheus Unbound, iii. 1.
Sepsidae (sep'si-de), n. pi. [NL., prop. Sepi-
die, < Seps (Sep-) + -idie.] Same as Sepidafi.
sepsine (sep'sin), n. [< seps(is) + -ine^.] 1. A
name loosely applied to the ptomaines of septic
poisoning. — 2. A toxic crystalline substance
obtained by Sehmiedeberg and Bergman from
decaying yeast.
sepsis (sep'sis), n. [NL., < Gr. af/ipi^, putrefac-
tion, < rninecv, make rotten: see Seps.] 1. Pu-
tridity or putrefaction ; decomposition; rot. —
2. Contamination of the organism from ill-
conditioned wounds, from abscesses, or certain
other local ptomaine-factories or bacterial semi-
naries ; septicemia. It includes of course simi-
lar conditions produced experimentally by in-
oculation.— 3. [cap.] In ento»»., a genus of dip-
terous insects of the family Muscidee. Fallen,
1810.
sept^ (sept), n. [Early mod. E. also septe; usu-
ally regarded as a corruption of sect (perhaps
due to association with L. sxptum, septum, a
fence, an inclosure: see sept"^): see secf^.] A
clan: used especially of the tribes or families
in Ireland.
•
For that is the evill which I nowe flnde in all Ireland,
that the Irish dwell togither by theyr septe and severall
nations, soe as they may practize or conspire what they
wIlL Spenser, State of Ireland.
The .'Sept, or, in phrase of Indian law, the Joint Undi-
vided Family — that is, the combined descendants of an
ancestor long since dead.
Maine, £arly Hiat of Institutions, p. 231.
Septembrist
The Celtic tenure of land, which disallowed all indi-
vidual possessions, making it the common property of the
gept, almost necessitated a pastoral rather than an agri-
cultural society. Edinburtjh Rev., CLXIII. 444.
sept^ (sept), n. [< L. sseptum, septum, a fence,
an inclosure.] An inclosure ; a railing.
Men . . . have been made bold to venture into the
holy gept, and invade the secrets of the temple.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), IL 421.
Sept. An abbreviation (a) of September; (ft) of
Septuagint.
septa, n. Plural of septum.
septsemia, »■ See septemia.
septall (sep'tal), a. [< sept^ + -al.] Of or be-
longing to a sept or clan.
He had done much to Normanize the country by mak-
ing large and wholly illegal grants of geptal territory to his
followers. J. U. McCarthy, Outline of Irish History, iii.
septal'-* (sep'tal), a. [< sept"^, septum, + -ah]
Of or pertaining to septa ; having the character
of a septum; septiform; partitioning, or form-
ing a partition.
septan (sep'tan), a. [< L. sept(em), seven, -t-
-an.] Recurring every seventh day — Septan
fever. See/ever^.
septangle (sep'tang-gl), ». [< Ij. septem, seven,
+ angulns, an angle: see aiuile^.] In yeom., a
figure having seven sides and seven angles; a
heptagon.
septangular (sep-tang'gu-lar), a. [< L. septem,
seven, -I- angulus, angle, + -ar^.] Having
seven angles.
Septaria^ (sep-ta'ri-ii), n. [NL., < L. sseptum,
septum, a fence, an inclosure: see septxim.] In
conch., a genus of shipworms : synonymous with
Teredo. Lamarck; Ferussac.
septaria^ (sep-ta'ri-a), n. Plural of septarium.
septarian (sep-ta'ri-an), a. [< septarium +
-an.] Having the character of, containing, or
relating to a septarium.
The "Tealby Beds" are (l)the iron stone, . . . (2) clays
with thin sand stones, geptarian nodules, selenite, and py-
rites. Geol. Mag., V. 32.
septarium (sep-ta'ri-um), n. ; pi. sepiaria (a).
[NL.: see Sepiaria^.] A concretion or nodule
of considerable size, and roughly spherical in
shape, of which the parts nearest the center
have become cracked during the drying of the
mass, the open spaces thus formed having been
subsequently filled with some infiltrated min-
eral, usually calcite. Such septaria or septa-
rian nodules are abundant in various shaly
rocks, especially in the Liassic beds in England.
Septata (sep-ta'ta), «. pi. [NL., neut. pi. of
L. septatus, seeptatus: see septate.] An order
of gregarines in which the medullary substance
is separated into two chambers — an anterior
smaller one called protomerite, and a posterior
larger one called deutomerite, which contains
the nucleus. The genera Gregarina and Hojylo-
rhynchus are representative of the order. E.
B. Lankester.
septate (sep'tat), a. [< L. sseptatus, septatus,
surrounded with a fence or inclosure,< ssejttum,
septum, a fence : see septum.'] Having a septum
or septa; partitioned; divided into compart-
ments; septiferous; loeulate; specifically,' be-
longing to the Se])tata — Septate spore. Same as
gporidegm. — Septate uteruSj a uterus divided into two
sections by a septum or partition.
septated (sep'ta-ted), a. [< septate + -ed'^.] In
goiil. and hot., provided with septa or parti-
tions; septate.
septation (sep-ta'shgn), n. [< septate + -ion.]
Partition ; division iiito parts by means of septa
or of a septum.
sept-chord (sept'k6rd), n. [< F. sept, seven, -I-
E. chord.] Same as .seventh-chord.
September (sep-tem'ber), n. and a. [< AfE.
Septembrc, Scptembyr, < OP. Septembre, Setem-
ire, P. Septembre = Pr. Septembre, Setembre =
Sp. Setiembre = Pg. Setembro = It. Settembre =
D. G. Dan. Sw. September, < L. September (>
LGr. ^eirre/ilipio^), Septemhris, sc. mcnsis, the
seventh month of the Roman year, < septem,
seven, = E. seven : see seren.] I. n. The ninth
month of the year. When the year began with
March, it was the seventh month (whence the
name). Abbreviated Sept.
II. a. Occurring, appearing, or prevailing in
September: as, the September gales — Septem-
ber tbom, Ennomog erogarCa, a British geometrid moth.
Septembral (sep-tem'bral), a. [< September -t-
-ol] Of September.
There were few that liked the ptisane, but all of them
were perfect lovers of the pure gepteinbral jnice.
ilrquhart, tr. of Rabelais, ii 1.
Septembrist (sep-tem'brist), II. [< F septem-
briste (see def.), < Septembre, September.] One
Septembrist
of those who, in the first French Revolution,
took part in the massacre of the prisoners in
Paris in the beginning of September, 1792 ;
hence, any malignant or bloodthirsty person.
septemfluoUS (sep-tem'flij-us), a. [< L. seji-
tem. seven, + fluere, flow, + -o««.] Flowing
in seven streams or currents; having seven
mouths, as a river. [Bare.]
The town is seated on the eaat side of the river Ley
[Lea], which not only parteth Hertfordshire from Essex,
but also seven times parteth from its self, whose gepleni-
fiumu stream in coming to the town is crossed again
with so many bridges.
FidUr, Hist. Waltham Abbey, i. 83. (Davies.)
The main streams of this septemjluous river [the Nilel.
Dr. H. More, Mystery of Iniquity, I. ivi. § 11. (Treitch.)
septemia, septaemia (sep-te'mi-ii), n. [NL. sep-
ta-mid, < (Jr. nj/-roc, verbal adj. of aijTziw, make
rotten, + a'lua, blood.] Septicemia; sepsis.
septempartite (sep-tem-par'tit), a. [< Ij. sep-
ieiii, seven, + partitus, di\'ided: see partite.']
Dirtded into seven parts; in hot., so divided
nearly to the base.
septemtriont, ». See septentrion.
septemvious (sep-tem'vi-us), a. [< L. septem,
seven, + via, a way.] Going in seven different
directions. [Rare.]
Officers of state ran teflemvimu, seeking an ape to coun-
teract the bloodthirsty tomfoolery of the human species.
C. Reade, Cloister and Hearth, Ixiiii.
septemvir (sep-tem'ver), «.; pi. septemrirs, sep-
temiiri (-verz, -vi-ri). [L. septemviri, a board
of seven men; orig. two words: septem, seven;
riri, pi. of rir, man. ] One of seven men joined
in any office or commission: as, the septemviri
epulones, one of the four chief religious cor-
porations of ancient Rome.
septemrirate (sep-tem'vi-rat), «. [< L. «•/)-
lemriralit.i (see def.), < septemriri, geptemvirs:
see septemvir.] The office of a septemvir;
government or authority vested in seven per-
sons.
septenaiias (sep-te-na'ri-us), n. ; pi. seplenarii
(-i). [L.,sc.rer»M«, averse of seven feet; prop,
adj., consisting of seven: se* septenary.] In
Latin pros., a verse consisting of seven feet.
The name is used especially for the trochaic tetrameter
catalectic {vemu qaadratwiX which In the older Latin
writers admits a spondee or anapest In the first, third,
anil tifih, as well as In the second, fourth, and sixth places,
and fur the iambic tetrameter catalectic.
septenary (sep'te-nS-ri), a. and n. [= F. sej>-
tenaire = I*r. setenari = Sp. setenario = Pg. sep-
tfnario = It. settenario, (. L. septenarius, con-
sisting of seven, < septeni, pi., seven apiece,
by sevens, < septem, seven: see seven.] I. a.
1. Consisting of or relating to seven: as, a
septenanj number.
They (Muhammedan Arabs] have discovered or Imagined
an initncnM- number of t^enaru groups In religion, his.
"eed i" '
tory, art, phitusophy, and Indeed all branches of human
knowledge. J. UadUy, Eaaajra, p. SW.
2. Lasting seven years; occorring once in
seven years: as, a septenary tenn; a septenanj
council.
II. n. ; pi. septenaries (-riz). 1. The num-
ber seven; the lieptad. [Rare.]
Tliese constitutions of Uoaea, that proceed so much
upon a vplrnarn, or number of leven, nave no reMoo in
the nature of the thing. Burnet
2. A group of seven things.
The modem literature of Persia abounds In sevens.
Native dictionaries enumerate above a hundred tefUna-
ria, groups of objects designated as the seven Bo-snd-so.
J. Badtey, Eaaaya^ p. S2».
8eptenate (sep't«-nat), a. [< L. septeni, seven
apiece (see septenfiry), + -<tte^.] In bot., hav-
ing seven parts, as a compound leaf with seven
Icatlits springing from one point.
septennate (»ep-ten'at), ». [= F. septennat;
as LL. srplennium, a period of seven years (see
xiptennium), -t- -ate^.] A period of seven years,
or an arrangement lasting or intended to last
through seven years.
In sticking to the term of three years theyfthe Opposl-
tion] shitwtMl themselves bad tacticians, the more so as
the tradition of a double renewal of the Septennate was In
favour o( the (Jovemment demand.
Conlempnrary Rev., LI. BBS.
septennial fsep-ten'i-al), a. [Cf. F. septennal
= Sp. HirleaHnl = Pg. scptenal ; < L. seplennium,
a period of 8e%'en years: see septennium.] 1.
Lasting or continuing seven years: as, septen-
nial parliaments. — 2. Occurring or returning
once in every seven years: as, septennial elec-
tions.
Being dispensed with all for his aeptennial visit,
° sutMdtem mlnlsto*.
mcM, Vocsll Forrest, p. 18.
5501
Septennial Act, a British statute of 1716 fixing the ex-
istence of a parliament at seven years from the date of
the writ summoning it, unless previously dissolved,
septennially (sep-ten'i-al-i), adv. Once in
seven years-
septeniuum (sep-ten'i-um), n. [=It. settennio,
< L. septennium, a period of seven years, < sep-
tennis, of seven years, < septem, seven, + an-
nus, a year.] A period of seven years.
septentrialt (sep-ten'tri-al), a. [< septentri-on
-(--«'.] Of or pertaining to the north ; septen-
trional. [Rare.]
Waveny in her way, on this Septentriai side.
That these two Eastern Shires doth equally divide.
From Laphamford leads on her stream into the East.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xx. 19.
Septentrio (sep-ten'tri-o), n. [L., one of the
Septentriones, tne seven stars forming Charles's
Wain, or the Great Bear : see septentrion.] In
astron., the constellation Ursa Major, or Great
Bear.
septentriont (sep-ten'tri-on), n. and a. [< ME.
i!:eptemirii>n, septemtrioun, septcmptrion, < OF.
septemtrion,F. septentrion = Pr. septentrio = Sp.
setentrion = Pg. septcntrido = It. settentrione, <
L. septentrio{n-), septemtrio(n-), usually in pi.
septenthones, septemtriones, tlie seven stars of
the Great Bear near the north pole, hence the
north; lit. the seven plow-oxen, < sepfcrn, seven,
+ trio(n-), a plow-ox.] I. n. 1. [cap.] Same
as Septentrio. — 2. The north.
But from the colde Septemptrion declyne.
And from northwest there chylling sonnes shyne.
PaUadiut, Husbondrie(E. E. T. S.Xp. 12.
This wyde world hadde in subjeccionn.
Both Est and West, .South and Septemtrioun.
Chaucer, Monk's Tale, L 477.
And also that other parte of Indien is aboute Septen-
tryon, and there is great plenty of wyne, bredde, and all
maner of vytayle.
R. Eden (Fint Books on America, ed. Arber, p. zxxIL).
Thou art as opposite to every good . . .
As the south to the anitentrion.
Shak., 3 Hen. VL, L 4. 136.
n. a. Northern; septentrional. [Bare.]
A ridge of hills.
That Bcreen'd the fruits of the earth, and seats of men.
From cold Septentrion blasts. Jf itton, P. R. , Iv. 31.
septentrional (sep-ten'tri-o-nal), a. [< ME.
seplen trioiiul, septentrionel, septentrionelle, < OF.
septentrionel, F. septentrional = Sp. seientrional
= Pg. septentrional = It. setlentrionale, < L. sep-
tentnonalis, pertaining to the north, < septen-
trio(n-), the north : see septentrion.] Northern ;
boreal; hyperborean.
That Is at the Norihe parties, that men clepen the Sep-
letUrionette, where it is alle only cold.
kandevHU, Travels, p. 131.
In the same maner mslstow wyrke with any latitude
teptentrionai In alle slgnes. Chaucer, Astrolabe, II. i 40.
The parts SrptetitrumaU are with these Sp'ryts
Hucn haunted.
lleyvood. Hierarchy of Angels, p. 56S.
Not only oar Saxons, but all the mptentriomU Nations,
adored and sBcriflced to Thor, a Statue resembling a
crown'd King. Baker, Chronicles, p. S.
septentrionallty(8ep-ten'tri-o-nal'i-ti), h. [<
seittentriiiual + -i-fy.J The state of being north-
ern : nortlierliness. Bailey.
septentrionally (sep-ten'tri-o-nal-i), adv.
Northerly ; toward the north.
For If they be powerfully excited and equally let fall,
they commonly sink down and break the water at that ex-
tream whereat they were »eptentrionaUy excited.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., li. 2.
septentrlonate (sep-ten'tri-o-nat), V. 1. ; pret.
and pp. septentrionated, vpr. septentrionating.
[< septentrion + -ate^.] To tend, turn, or point
niai
I^B one
^B tioi
H
L
he resolved to govern them by sutMdtem mlnlst««.
flff - - - -
toward the north. [Rare.]
True It is, snd conflrmable by every experiment, that
steel and good Iron never excited by the loadstone dis-
cover In themselves a vertlclty : that is, a directive or po-
lary facnltle, whereby, conveniently placed, they do septon-
trionafa at one extream, and australize.
Sir T. Broxme. Vulg. Err., 11. 2.
Septentliones (sep-ten-tri-6'nez), n. pi. [L.,
pU of Srptcntrio: see septentrion.] The seven
stars belonging to the constellation of the Great
Bear; hence, this constellation itself.
Tlds Nero governed by ceptre alle the poeples that ben
under the oolde sterres that hyhten Hi tyryonet.
Chaucer, Boethius, ii. meter 6.
septet (sep-tef), "• [< L. septem, seven, + -eU]
In music: (a) A work for seven voices or in-
struments. Compare quartet and quintet. (A)
A company of seven performers who sing or
play septets. Also septette, septtmr.
septfoil (sept'foil), n. [< F. sept (< L. septem),
seven, + fenille {(.folium), a leaf: see foil^.]
1. A plant, Potentilla Tormentilla. See tormen-
til. — 2. A figure composed of se^en lobes or
septilateral
leaves. Compare cinquefoil, quatrefoil, sexfoil.
Specifically — 3. A figure of seven equal seg-
ments of a circle, used as an ecclesiastical sym-
bol of the seven sacraments, seven gifts of the
Hol^ Spirit, etc.
septic (sep'tik), a. and n. [< Gr. arrKTiKdQ, char-
acterized by putridity, < btitttoq, verbal adj. of
OTjTttiv, make rotten.] I. a. Of or pertaining to
sepsis in general; putrefactive or putrefying;
septical : opposed to antiseptic.
If hospitals were not overcrowded, if the system of ven-
tilation were perfect, if there were a continuous water sup-
ply, a proper isolation of wards and distribut ion of patients,
the causes of septic diseases would not be generated.
X. A. Reo., CXXIII. 2S6.
Septic fever, pentonitis, etc. See the nouns.— Septic
poisoning. See sepgig.
II. H. A substance which causes sepsis.
septicaemia, septicsemic. See septicemia, sep-
ticemic.
septical (sep'ti-kal\ a. Same as septic.
septically (sep'ti-kal-i), adv. In a septic man-
ner ; by means of septics.
septicemia, septicsemla (sep-ti-se'mi-a), n.
[5{L. isejitiavmia. iireg. < Gr. <n/7rr(i>of, putrefy-
ing (see •f;)?iV), -t- ai^o, blood.] Sepsis. Pyemia
is the term used to designate cases in which there are
multiple nietastiitic abscesses. Also septemia, septamia,
— Mouse septicemia, an infectious disease of mice, first
described by R. Koch in 1878, who produced it by in-
jecting under the skin minute quantities of putrescent
liquids. These contained a very small, slender bacillus,
which rapidly multiplies in the body of mice and pigeons,
and causes death in a few days. The bacillus closely
resembles that of rouget in swine. — Pasteur's septice-
mia, the malignant edema of Koch, produced in rabbits
by inserting garden-mold under the skin of the abdo-
men. Death follows in one or two days. A delicate mo-
tile bacillus is found in the edematous tissues.— Puerpe-
ral septicemia, see pucritcral.
septicemic, septicaemic (sep-ti-se'mik), a. [<
siptio mi<i,.i('iiliarmia, + -ic] Pertaiuiugto, of
the nature of, or affected with septicemia.
A specific septicftmic micrococcus not necessarily always
present in the sputum and lungs of human croupous pneu-
monia. E. Klein, Mlcro-Organlsms and Disease, p. 60.
septicidal (sep'ti-si-dal), a. [< septicide +
-«/.] Dividing at the septa or
partitions : in botany, noting a
mode of dehiscence in which the
pericarp or fruit is resolved into
its component carpels by split-
ting asunder through the dis
sepiments. See dehiscence, 2, and
compare loculicidal.
septicidall^ (sep'ti-si-dal-i), adv.
In a septicidal manner.
The fruit Is described as teptxcidatty
septlfragal. Eneye. Brtt., IV. 149.
septicide (sep'ti-sid), a. [< L.
s/eptum, septum, a fence, an in-
closuro (see septum), + -eida, <
cfedere, cut.] Same &% septicidal.
septlcine (sep'ti-sin ),n. [Irreg. < septic + -tne*.]
A name given by Hager to a ptomaine resem-
bling conine, obtained from putrefying bodies.
Septicity (sep-tis'j-ti), «. [< septic + -ity.]
Sept ic character or quality ; tendency to pro-
mote putrefaction; sepsis.
septlfarions (sep-ti-fa ri-us), a. [< LL. septi-
JariuSf sevenfold, < L. septem, seven, -I- -farius,
as in bij'arius : see bifarious.] Turned seven
different ways.
septiferous (sep-tif'e-ms), a. [< L. sseptum,
septum, an inelosure, + ferre = E. bear^T] In
zoiil. and liot., having a septum ; septate.
septlfluous (sep-tif'lij-us), a. [< L. septem,
seven, -I- fluere, flow : see fluent. Cf . septem-
fluous.] Flowing in seven streams.
septifolious (sep-ti-fo'li-us), a. [< L. septem,
seven, + folium, \e&f.] Having seven leaves.
septifonn*^ (sep'ti-form), a. [< L. sseptum, sep-
tum, an inelosure, + forma, form.] Having
the cliaracter of a septum ; forming a septum ;
septal.
septifonn^ (sep'ti-f6rm), a. [< L. septem, seven,
-I- forma, form.] Sevenfold. -^Septlfonn litany,
a litany said to have been instituted by St. Gregory the
Oreat, A. I>. 5flO, and used on St. Clark's day (April 25thX
Seven processions starte<l, each from a different church,
all meeting at one church (whence the name).
septifragal (sep-tif'ra-gal), a. [< L. sBe^ytum,
septum, an inelosure, 4- franijere (y/ "frag),
break, + -al.] In bot., literally, breaking from
the partitions : noting a mode of dehiscence in
which the backs of the carpels separate from
the di.ssepiments, whether formed by their sides
or by expansions of the placenta. See dehis-
cence. 2, and compare septicidal and locnlicidal.
septilateral (sep-ti-lat'e-ral), a. [< L. septem,
seven, + latiis (later-), side: see lateral.] Hav-
ing seven sides : as, a septilateral figure
Septicidal Deht*.
cence.
V, valves; d,
dissepiments; c,
axis.
septile
septile (sep'til), a. [< L. sseptum, septum, an
inelosure, + -i/c] In hot., of or belonging to
septa or dissepiments.
septUlion (sep-til'yon), n. [< L. septem, seven,
+ F. {m)illion, milUon: see million^.] 1. In the
British system of numeration, a million raised
to the seventh power; a number expressed by
unity followed by forty-two ciphers. — 2. In the
French numeration, generally taught in the
United States, the eighth power of a thousand ;
a thousand sextillions.
septimal (sep'ti-mal), a. [< L. Septimus, sep-
tumus, seventh (< septem, seven), + -al.] Re-
lating to the number seven.
septimanarian (sep'ti-ma-na'ri-an), n. [< ML.
septimnuarius (see def.) (< LL." septimana, a
week, < L. septimanus, pertaining to the num-
ber seven, < septem, seven) + -a«.] A monk
on duty for a week. Imp. Diet.
septime (sep'tem), n. [< L. septhnus, the
seventh, < septem, seven, = "E. seven: see seven.'\
The seventh position assumed by a swordsman
after drawing his weapon from the scabbard.
The hand being kept opposite the right breast with the
nails upward, the point of the foil is directed a little down-
ward and in a section of a circle to the left, thus causing the
opponent's point to deviate, and pass the body. I'raotl-
cally this parry ia only quart with the point lowered to
protect the lower part of the body. Also thrust or point
in geptime — that is, defended by the parry called geptime.
septimole (sep'ti-mol), n. [< L. septem, seven
(Septimus, seventh), + -ole.'] In mimo, a group
of seven notes to be played in the time of four
or six of the same kind. It is indicated by the
sign <;~^ placed over the group. Also septole.
Septinsular (sep-tin'su-lar), a. [< L. septem,
seven, 4- insula, island : see insular.'] Pertain-
ing to or made up of seven islands: as, thesej)-
tinsular republic of the Ionian Islands. [Rare.]
A Septitisvlar or Heptanesian history, as distinguished
from the individual histories of the seven islands.
Ewyc. Brit., XIII. 206.
septisyllable (sep'ti-sil-a-bl), ». [< L. septem,
seven, + syllaba, syllable : see sylUMe.] A word
of seven syllables.
septole (sep'tol), H. [< L. septem, seven, + -ole.']
Same as .^cntimole.
septomaxillary (sep-to-mak'si-la-ri), a. and n. ;
pi. septnmaxilluries (-riz). [< NL. septum, q. v.,
+ E. maxillary.] I. a. Combining characters
of a nasal septum and of a maxillary bone;
common to or connecting such parts, as a bone
or cartilage of some vertebrates.
II. H. In ornith., a bone which in some birds
unites the maxillopalatines of opposite sides
across the midline of the skull with each other
or with the vomer. Nature, XXXVII. 501.
septonasal (sep-to-na'zal), a. and re. [< NL. sep-
tum, q. v., + L. nasus, nose : see nasal.] I. a.
Forming a nasal septum; interuasal: as, the
septonasal cartilage of an embryonic skuU.
II. n. A bone which in some birds forms a
nasal septum. W. K. Parker.
septuagenarian (sep-tii-aj-e-na'ri-an), n. [<
septuafjenury + -an.] A person seventy years
of age, or between seventy and eighty.
septuagenary (sep-tu-aj'e-na-ri), a. and n. [=
1 . septuageuaire = Sp. Pg. septuagenarlo = It.
settuagenario, < L. septuagenarius, belonging to
the number seventy, < septuageni, seventy each,
distributive form of septuaginta, seventy: see
septuagint.] I. a. Consisting of seventy, espe-
cially of seventy years; pertaining to a person
seventy or seventy odd years old.
Nor can the three hundred years of John of times, or
Nestor, overthrow the assertion of Moses, or afford a rea-
sonable encouragement beyond his septuagenary deter-
mination. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., iii. 9.
H. n. ; pi. septuagenaries (-riz). A septuage-
narian.
septuagesima (8ep"tu-a-jes'i-ma), n. [= F.
septuagcsimc = Sp. Pg. septuagesima = It. set-
tuagesima = G. septuagesima, < L. septuagesima
(dies), seventieth (day), fem. of septuagesimus,
seventieth, < septuaginta, seventy: see septua-
gint.] 1. A period of seventy days. — 2. [cap.]
The third Sunday before Lent: more fully
called Septuagcfima Sundny. The original history
of this name and of SexafjeHnna (applied to the Sunday
following) is not known ; and any direct reference to sixty
and seventy in these periods of sixty-tliree and fifty-six
days before Easter is not to be traced. The probability
is that the use of Quadraffegima Sunday for the first Sun-
day in Qnadragesinia or Lent, and the independent use
of QvxnquagegiTna for the fiftieth day before Easter (both
included), led to the extension of the series by the inexact
application of the names .Sexof/enma and Septuayenmu to
the two Sundays preceding. Also called Lost Sunday,
Alleluia Sutvlay. .See Sunday.
Septnageslmal fscp'tu-a-jes'i-mal), a. [< sep-
tuagesima + -al.] Consisting of seventy, es-
5502
pecially of seventy (or between seventy and
eighty) years.
Our abridged and septtioffegimal ages.
Sir T. Brmcne, Vulg. Err., vi. 6.
Septuagint (sep'tu-a-jint), «. and a. [F. les
septante; G. septuaginta (def. 2); < L. septua-
ginta (Gr. kliSoiirjKovTa), seventy: see sei'enty.]
1. 11. It. The Seventy — that is, the seventy (or
more) persons who, according to the tradition,
made a translation of theHebrew Scriptures into
Greek. The rounded legend is that the translation was
made by seventy-two persons in seventy-two days. In
another view, the Seventy were members of the sanhe-
drim (about seventy in number) who sanctioned the trans-
lation.
The Septiiayinis translation. Minsheu.
2. A Greek version of the Hebrew Scriptures
made by the Seventy (see def. 1): usually ex-
pressed by the symbol LXX ('tlie Seventy').
This version is said by Josephus to have been made in the
reign and by the order of Ptolemy Philadelphus, King of
Egypt, about 270 or 280 years before the biith of Christ.
It is supposed, however, by modern critics that this ver-
sion of the several books is the work, not only of different
hands, but of separate times. It is probable that at first
only the Pentateuch was translated, and the remaining
books gradually ; but the translation is believed to have
been completed by the second century B. c. The Septua-
gint is written in the Hellenistic (Alexandrine) dialect, and
is linguistically of great importance from its effect upon
the diction of the New Testament, and as the source of a
large part of the religions and theological vocabulary, of
the Greek fathers, and (through the Old Latin version of
the Bible (see Italic) and the influence of this on the Vul-
gate) of that of the Latin fathers also and of all western
nations to the present day. In the (ireek Church the
Septuagint has been in continuous use from the earliest
times, although other Greek versions (see flexapla) were
anciently also in circulation, and it is the Old Testament
still used in that church. The Septuagint contains the
books called Apocrypha intermingled among the other
books. It is the vei-sion out of which most of the citations
in the New Testament from the Old are taken. Abbre-
viated Sept.
II. a. Pertaining to the Septuagint; con-
tained in the Greek copy of the Old Testament.
Septuagintal (sep"tu-a-jin'tal), a. [< Septua-
gint + -at.] Pertaining or relating to the Sep-
tuagint; contained in the Septuagint.
The Septuagintal tradition was at length set aside.
Smith, Diet, of the Bible, III. 1701.
septuaryt (sep'tu-a-ri), n. [< L. septem, seven
(after septua(gint)), + -ary.] Something com-
posed of seven ; a week. Ash.
septulate (sep'tii-lat), a. [< NL. *septulatus, <
septulum, a little partition, inelosure: see se})-
tulum.] 1. Jn zoiil. and anat., having a septu-
lum or septula. — 2. In hot., noting fruits hav-
ing imperfect or false septa.
septulum (sep'tu-lum), «.; pi. septula (-la).
[NL., dim. of 1j.' sseptum, septum, a partition:
see septum.] A little septum or small parti-
tion Septula renum, inward prolongations of the
cortical substance of the kidneys, extending between the
pyramids as far as the sinus and bases of the papillte.
Also called columnte Bertini or columne of Berlin, and
cortical columns.
septum (sep'tum), )!.; pi. septa (-til). [NL., <
L. sseptum, septum, fence, inelosure, partition,
< ssepire, sepire, pp. sseptus, septus, hedge in, in-
close, < siepes, sepes, a hedge, a fence.] A par-
tition; a wall separating two cavities.
It is found upon experiment that hydrogen goes through
a septum or wall of graphite four times as fast as oxygen.
W. K. Clifford, Lectures, I. 205.
Specifically— (a) In hot., any kind of a partition, whether
a proper dissepiment or not : as, the septum in a seed ; the
septum of a spore. (6) In atuit. and zool., a partition ; a wall
between two cavities, or a structure
which divides a part or an organ into
sepai-ate portions ; a dissepiment. In
vertebrates the formations known as
septa al'e most frequently situated
in the vertical longitudinal median
line of the body, but may be trans-
verse or otherwise disposed. A num-
ber of them are specified by quali-
fyingwords. Seephrasesfollowing.
(c) In corals, a calcified mesentei-y ;
one of the six or more vertical plates
which converge from the wall to the
axis of the visceral space, dividing
this into a number of radiating locu-
li or compartments. Each septum
appears single or simple, but is real-
ly a duplicature of closely apposed
plates, just as the mesentery itself
is a fold. They are to be distinguish-
ed from the horizontal dissepiments,
or tabulffi, which may cut them at
right angles. They are variously
modified in details of form, may be
connected by synapticulaj, and are
divided, according to their forma-
tion, into primary, secondary, and
tertiary, (rf) In conch., one of the
transverse partitions which separate
the cavity of the shell of a cephalo-
pod into chambers, (e) In Vermes, a
port of diapljfagm, a series of which
I. Fruit of Poppy, cut
transversely to show the
12 septa {S) with the
seeds. 2. Diagram of
same, the seeds omit-
ted.
sepulcher
may partition a worm into several cavities. (/) In Pro-
tozoa, the wall between any two compartments of the
test, as of a foraminifer. — Branchial, crural, inter-
muscular, nasal, pectiniform, pericardial septum.
See the adjectives. — Septum aoftlcum, the aortic or
anterior segment of the mitral valve. — Septum atrium,
or septimi aurlcularum, the paitition between the
right and left auricles of the heart. It is perfect in the
adults of the higher vertebrates, as mammals and birds,
but in the embryo is perforated by an opening called
foramen ovale, from its shape iu man. — Septum cere-
belli. Same m falx cerebelli. — Septum cordis, the
partition between the right and left cavities of the heart.
— Septum crurale, a layer of condensed areolar tissue
which closes the femoral ring in man, serves as a barrier
to the protrusion of a femoral hernia, and is perforated
for the passage of lymphatics: badly so named by J.
Cloquet, and better called septum /emorale. — Septum
femorale, the septum crurale. H. Gray, Anat. (ed. 18S8).
— Septum linguae, the partition of the tongue ; a verti-
cal median layer of fibrous tissue dividing the tongue into
right and left halves. It sometimes includes a cartila-
ginous rod, as the ly tta or so-called '* worm " of a dog's
tongue. See J.i/tta.— Septum lucidwn, the median par-
tition of the lateral ventricles of the brain, inclosing the
camera, pseudocoele, or so-called fifth ventricle. Also
called septum pellucidum, septum medium, septum ventri-
culoruin, ventricular septum, septum inedutlaretrianyulare.
See cut under corpi/K.— Septum narlum, the partition
between the right and left nasal cavities or meatus of the
nose. In man it is formed chiefly by the mesethmoid, or
perpendicular plate of the ethmoid, the vomer, and the tri-
angular cartilage of the nose.— Septum nasi. .Same as»cj)-
tu7n narium. In zoology it is often restricted to the surface
between the openings of the right and left nostrils, which
may be of this or that character, deeply cleft as in the hare,
hairy or naked, etc.— Septum orbitale or orbitarum,
the orbital partition ; any formation which separates the
right and left eye-sockets. The term is less frequently used
in relation to mammals, whose eyes are generally small and
far apart, than among lower vertebrates, as birds, whose
orbits are very large comparatively, and separated oidy
by a thin vertical plate of bone, which may be perforated,
or so far defective that the opposite orbits are thrown into
one large cavity.— Septtmi pectiniforme, the pectinated
septum of the penis, a median vertical partition between
the right and left cavernous bodies of that organ. In man
it is a dense, firm fibrous structure with many vertical
slits, through which the blood-vessels of the opposite sides
communicate freely, this comb-like appearance giving the
name. It sometimes includes an ossification, the os penis
or penis-bone, as in the dog, racoon, etc. Also called septum
penis. — SeptUTa pontis, the septum of the pons Varolii.
—Septum rectovaglnale, the wall which separates the
rectal from tlie vaginal cavity.— Septum scroti, the par-
tition between the riglit and left cavities of tlie scrotum.
— Septum sphenoidale, the mesial partiti(m between
the sphenoidal sinuses.— Septum transversum, the di-
aphragm; the transverse partition between the thoracic
and abdominal cavities.- Septum ventriculorum, or
ventricular septum, (a) The partition between the
right and left ventricles of the heart. (6) Same as septum
Ixicidum.
septuor (sep'tu-6r), re. [F., < L. sept(em), seven,
-I- (quatt)uor, four.] Same as septet.
septuple (sep'tu-pl), a. [< F. septuple, < LL.
'septuplus (in neut. as a noun septuphim, a sep-
tuple) (= Gr. ETTTOTr/'iOtif, sevenfold), < L. septem,
seven, + -plus, akin to -fold. Cf . duple, quadru-
ple, etc.] Sevenfold; seven times as much.
septuple (sep'tu-pl), V. t.; pret. and pp. sep-
tupled, ppr. septupling. [< septuple, a.] To
multiply by seven ; increase sevenfold.
And the fire in an oven whose heat was septupled touch-
ed not those three servants of the Lord.
Rev. T. Adams, Works, I. 91.
septuplet (sep'tu-plet), n. [< LL. septuplum,
a septuple : see septu2ile.] Same as septimole.
Compare triplet, deeiniole, etc.
septuret, «• A Middle English spelling of scep-
ter.
sepulcher, sepulchre (sep'ul-kfer), n. [< ME.
sepulcre, sepulchre, sepulcur, < OF. scpulcre, later
sepulchre, F. sepulcre = Pr. scpulcre = Sp. Pg.
sepulcro = It. sepolcro. < L. sepulcrum, also er-
roneously spelled sepulchrum, a burial-place,
grave, tomb, sepulcher; with formative -erum
(as in fulcrum, simulacrum, etc.), < sepelire, pp.
sepulius, bury, prob. orig. ' honor,' or ' show re-
spect to,' = Skt. saparya, worship, < "sapas,
honor, < -1/ «"Pi honor, worship.] 1. A tomb;
a cave, building, etc., for interment; a burial-
vault.
The sepulcur that therinne was layde
His blessud bodi al be-bled.
Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 190.
It is not longe sithen the Sepulcre was alle open, that
Men myghte kisse it and touche it.
Manderille, Travels, p. 75.
He rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and
departed. Mat. xxvii. 6<i.
2. In cedes, arch., a recess in some early
churches, in which were placed on Good Fri-
day, with appropriate ceremonies, the cross,
the reserved sacrament, and the sacramental
plate, and from which they were taken at high
mass on Easter, to typify the burial and resur-
rection of Christ — Kiiglits of the Holy Sepul-
cher. See tmiyht.—OiAeT of the Holy Sepulcher, the
name of several orders. One, said to have i>een founded
by the Crusaders, but in reality probably hy Pope Alexan-
der VI., was by Pope Pius IX. divided into three classes.
sepulcher
— The Holy Sepulctier, the sepulcher in which the body
of Christ lay liftwcen his liuriiU ami resurrection. Its site
is now ti'.'uhtfiil or ilisputeii, thoujrli professedly marl^ed
siiK-e very early times Ijy a church at Jerusalem.
sepulcher, sepulchre (sep'ul-ker, formerly also
se-pul'ker), c. t. ; pret. and pp. sepulchered, sep-
tiMired, ppr. sepiilchering, sepulchring. [< sep-
ulcher, ».'] To bury; inter; entomb.
But I am glad to see that time survive
Where merit is not geptdchred alive.
B. Jomon, Epigrams, To Robert, Earl of Salisbury.
And so tepulchered, in such pomp dost lie.
That kings, for such a tomb, would wish to die.
mUon, Ep. on Shakspeare, L 16.
sepnlehral (se-pnrkral), a. [< OF. sepulchral,
F. sepulcral = Sp. Pg. sepulcral = It. sepolcrale,
sepiilcrale, < L. sepulcralis, of or belonging to a
sepulcher, < sepulcrum, sepulcher: see sepul-
cher.'\ 1. Of or pertaining to a sepulcher or
tomb; connected with burial or the grave;
erected on a grave or to the memory of the
dead: as, a sepulchral stone or statue.
Our wasted oil unprofltably bums.
Like hidden lamps in old aepuichral urns.
Cowper, Conversation, 1. 358.
2. Supffjestive of a sepulcher or tomb. Hence—
(o) Deep ; grave ; hollow in tone : as, a tepulchral voice.
(6) (.>Io,jmy; funereal; st^lemn.
A dismal grove of sable yew.
With wtioee sad tints were mingled seen
The blighted flr's lepuUhrai green.
Seatt, Rokeby, ii. 9.
Sepulchral cone, a small conical reuel, especially Egyp-
tian, in which the mummy of a bird or other small animal
has been interred. They are nsaally furnished with cov-
ers.—Bepttlchral croia. See eronl, 2.— gepolchral
mound, ."^ee barrow^, 3.
sepulchralize (se-pul'ltral-iz), r. t.; pret. and
pp. scpukhralized, wr. sepulchrali^ng. [< se-
pulchral + -ire] To render sepulchral or sol-
emn. [Rare.] Imp. Diet.
sepulchre, ». and r. See sepulcher.
sepultural (se-pul'tu-ral), a. [< sepulture +
-«/. j Of or pertaining to sepulture or burial.
Belun published a history of oonifert and a treatise on
the funeral ntonuments and mpuUunU usages of the an*
cients and the sobatancei used by them for the preserva-
tion of bodies. Pop. Sei. Mo., XXXIV. e97.
sepulture (sep'ul-tiir), «. [< ME. sepulture,
sejiidtur, < OV . sepulture, sepouture, F. sepulture
= I'r. K'pultura, sehultura = 8p. Pg. scpultura =
It. sf-piiltura, sepultura, < L. scpultura, burial,
< sept lire, pp. sepultus, bury : see sepulcher.'] 1.
Burial; interment; the act of depositing the
dead Iwdy of a human being in a burial-place.
That blissed man nener had tepuUure;
WUt)eloQid sir, this you say sertain.
Bam. qf PoTtenay (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3404.
He foretold, and Terlfled it that himself would rile
t^m the dead after three days $evuiture.
Jrr. Taylor, Works (ed. 183&X L *S8.
The common rites of tepuUure bestow,
To soothe a father's and a mother's woe.
Popt, Iliad, ziiL 42B.
2t. Grave; btirial-place ; sepulcher; tomb.
Bnt whan ye comen l>y my KpuUure^
Kemembreth that youre felowe restetb there.
Chaucrr, Troll u^ It. 327.
Oh my loaie ! what be all these thingea, hut certeine
cniell suiiimiiners, that dte my life to iubabite the sor-
rowful iepuituref
Ouevara, Letten (tr. by Bellowes, 1577X p. 13S.
Euripides had his tomb In Africa, bnt his tvultun in
Msceiiiinla. air T. Brmcne, Um-bnrial, ilL
sepulture (sep'ul-tur), v. t.; pret. and pp. sep-
ulturcd, ppr. sepuliuring. [< OF. sepiuturer,
bury, < sepulture, burial: see sepulture, n.] To
bury; entomb; sepulcher. CoKjter. [Kare.]
sepiirtnre (sep'tr-tfir), a. [Origin ol»enre.]
in her., raised above the back and opened: not-
ing the wini;s of a bird: as, a falcon's wings
xriiiirliirr. lierry,
sequacious (se-kwd'shns), a. [<.'L.seqwxx(-ac-'),
following or seeking after, < sequi, follow, pur-
sue: see sequent.'] 1. Following; attendant;
adhering; disposed to follow a leader.
Trees tmrootad left their place,
SequaeUiuM at the lyre.
Drvdm, 8t Cecilia's Day, 1. 50.
The scheme of pantheistic omniscience so prevalent
among the mguaeiouM thinkers of the day.
Sir W. UamOUm.
And now, its strings
Boldlfer swept, the long •equaei/rus notes
Over delicious surges sink and rise.
Cottridge, The Eolian Harp.
2t. Ductile; pliant; manageable.
In the greater i>odieB the forge was easle, the matter
tieing ductile and wtfuacitirui, ot)edient t<i tlie hand and
8tr(>ke of the artificer, apt to lie drawn, formwl, or moulded
into such shapes and macliiries, even l>y clumsie Angers.
Rail, \V<.rk8 of Creation, ii.
8. Logically consistent and rigorous; consec-
ntivc in development or transition of thought.
6603
[This use of the word is peculiar to Coleridge
and his admirers.]
The motions of his mind were slow, solemn, and sequa-
cious. De Quiiuxy.
sequaciously (se-kwa'shus-li), adv. In turn or
succession ; one after another.
sefiuaciousness (se-kwa'shus-nes), 11. Sequa-
cious character or disposition; disposition to
follow; sequaeity.
The sei-vility and sequaciouxness of conscience.
Jer. Taylor (?), Artif. Handsomeness, p. 181.
sequaeity (sc-kwas'j-ti), «. [< ML. sequaci-
Ui(t-)s, following, obsequiousness, < L. sequax
{-ac-), following or seeking after: see sequa-
cious.] 1. A following, or disposition to fol-
low; sequaciousness.
Liberty of judgement seemeth almost lost either in lazy
or blind sequanty i)f other men's votes.
Whitttxk, Manners of English People, p. 207.
It proved them to be hypotheses, on which the credu-
lous Mquaeity of philosophers had iiestowed the prescrip-
tive authority of self-evident truths. Sir W. HamilUm.
2t. Ductility; pliableness.
All matter whereof creatures are produced by putrefac-
tion have evermore a closeness, sentour, and sequacitie.
Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 900.
sequannock (se-kwan'ok), n. [Amer. Ind.]
Same as poquauhock. Soger Williams.
sequel (se'kwel), n. [Formerly also sequell, se-
quels; < OF. sequelle, sequele, sequel, conse-
quence, following, train, F. sequelle, a band,
gang, series, string, = Pr. sequela = Sp. seeuela
= Pg. sequela = It. sequela, sequela, sequel, con-
sequence, < LL. sequela, sequella, that which
follows, a follower, result, consequence, sequel,
ML. also a following, train, etc., < L. sequi,
follow: see sequent.] 1. That which follows
and forms a continuation; a succeeding part:
as, the sequel of a man's adventures or his-
tory.
O, let me say no more !
Gather the lequtl by what went before.
Shak.,C. of E.,i. 1.96.
The tequel of the tale
Had toacb'd her.
Tennyson, Princeaa, Conclusion.
2. Consequence; result; event.
The commodites and good temide of vertue, the dlscom-
modles and euyll conclusion of vicious licence.
.Sir T. Elyot, The tiovemour, i. 11.
Adversity, ... an occasion of many men's falling from
God, a sefWf of God's indignation and wrath, a tiling
wUch Satan desireth and would be glad to behold.
Hooter, Eccles. Polity, T. iS.
I anne thns : The World agrees
That he writes well who writes with Ease :
Then he, by Sequel logical,
Writes beat who never thinks at alL
Prior, To Fleetwood Shepherd.
The chaunces of this present life haue in themseiues
alone no more goode or euil than according to their $equele
and effect tliey bring.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes^ 1677% p. 322.
The aequel of to-day unsolders all
The goodliest fellowship of famous knighta
Whereof this world holds record.
Tennymm, Horte IfArthnr.
3. Consequence inferred; consequentialness.
[Bare.]
Wb%t mguel Is there In this argument? An "archdea-
con Is the chief deacon ": ergo, he is only a deacon.
Wlatain, Works (Parker Soc.X I. 306.
4t. Saccession; order.
The king hath granted every article :
His daughter flrst. and then in itequei ail.
According to their firm proposed natures.
Shat., Hen. V., v. 2. 801.
5f. Those who follow or come after; descen-
dants.
A goodly mesne both to deterre from crime
And to her steppes our eequeU to enHame.
Surrey, Death of Sir T. W.
6. In Sa>ts law. See Ihirlage.
sequela (se-kwe'la), n.; pi. sequelte (-IS). [L.,
that whicfi follows, a follower: see »equel.]
That which follows; a following, (o) A band of
adherents. (6) An inference ; a conclusion ; a corollary.
SequeUe; or thoughts snggested by the preceding apho-
rism.
Coleridge, Aids to HeUection, Aphorisms on Spiritual
IReligion, iz.
(e) In pathnl.. the consequent of a disease ; a morbid af-
fection which follows another, as cardiac disease after
acute rheamstism, etc— Sequela caussB, the process and
depending issue of a cause frjr tiial. Sequela curlfla, in
taw, same as suif qf court (wiiich see, under suU).
sequence (se'kwens), «. [< ME. sequence, <
( )K. sequence, a sequence at cards, answering
verses, F. sequence = Sp. secuencia = Pg. se-
quencia = It. aeguema, < LL. sequentia, a follow-
ing,< L. ««?««»( t-)s, following: Bee sequent] 1.
sequent
A following or coming after ; connection of eon-
sequent to antecedent in order of time or of
thought: succession.
How art thou a king
But by fair sequence and succession ?
SAa*., Rich. II., ii. 1. 199.
Arms and learning, whereof the one correspondeth to
the body, the other to the soul of man, have a concurrence
or near eequx^ice in times.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, i. 16.
The idea of Time in its most primitive form is probably
the recognition of an order of sequence in our states of
consciousness.
J. Clerk Maxwell, Matter and Motion, art, xvii.
We cannot frame ideas of Co-existence, of Sequence, and
of Difference without there entering into them ideas of
quantity. H. Spencer, Prin. of Psychol., § 93.
Causality, which, as a pure conception, expresses the
relation of reason and consequent; becomes schematised
as invariable sequence. E. Caird, Philos. of Kant, p. 412.
2. Order of succession or following in time or
in logical arrangement ; arrangement; order.
Athens, in the sequence of degree
From high to low throughout.
Shak., T. of A., v. 1. 211.
Writing in my dungeon of Micham without dating, have
made the clironology and sequence of my letters perplexed
to you. Donne, Letters, vL
Wel)er next considers the sequence of tenses in Homeric
final sentences.
B. L. GUdersleeve, Amer. Jour. Philol., IV. 425.
3. An instance of uniformity in successive fol-
lowing.
He who sees in the person of his Redeemer a fact more
stupendous and more majestic than all those observed se-
quences which men endow with an imaginary omnipo-
tence, and worship under the name of Law — to him, at
least, there will he neither diflicuity nor liesitation in sup-
posing that Clirist . . . did utter his mandate, and that
the wind and the sea obeyed.
Farrar, Life of Christ, I. xxliL
4. A series of things following in a certain or-
der, as a set of cards (three or more) immedi-
ately following one after another in order of
value, as king, queen, knave, etc. ; specifically,
in poker, a "straight."
In the advertisement of a book on America, I see in the
table of contents this sequence, "Republican Institutions,
American Slavery, American Ladies."
Mttrg. Fuller, Woman in 19th Cent, p. 30.
The only mode by which their ages [those of caves at
Ellora] could be approximated was by arranging them in
sequences, according to our empirical or real knowledge
of the history of the period during which they were sup-
posed to have iieen excavated.
J. Fergutson, Hist. Indian Arch., p. 440.
To deal snd shuffle, to divide and sort
Her mingled suits and sequences.
Cowper, Task, i. 476.
8. In music, a series of melodic or harmonic
phrases or groups repeated three or more times
at successive pitches upward or downward,
usually without modulation or chromatic devia-
tion from the key. The interval between the repe-
titions may be uniformly a half-step, a whole step, or even
a longer interval, or it may vary uiatonicaily ijetween a
step and a half-step. Wiien the repetition is precise, in-
terval for interval, tlie sequence is called exact, real, or
chromatic; when it uses only the tones of the key, it is
towU or diatonic. Compare rosalia. Also called progres-
sion and sequenHa.
Melodious sequence owes a considerable part of its ex-
pressive character to its peculiar pleasurable effect on the
mincL J. Sully, Sensation and Intuition, p. 226.
6. In liturgies, a hymn in rhythmical prose or
in accentual meter sung in the Western Church
after the gradual (whence the name) and be-
fore the gospel. The sequence is identical with the
prose (which see), or the name is given to such a hymn
as used in this part of tlie liturgy. In medieval times a
great numl>er of sequences were in use, and a different
selection of them in dilferent places. At present in the
Roman Catholic Church only four are retained.
Ther clerkis synge her sequens.
Uoly Jtood(E. E. T. S.), p. 218.
Hallelulatic sequence. See /in(Wi/m(i'c.— sequence
of tenses, a rule i>i- usage by which, in deviation from
the strict refjuireineiits of sense, one tense is followed liy
another according with it: as, he thougtit it was so; one
mvjH know it was true. Also consecution o/ tenses.
sequent (se'kwent), a. and n. [< L. sequen(t-)s,
ppr. of sequi, follow, < Gr. cmadai, follow, = Skt.
y/sach, follow; prob. = Goth', saihwan = AS.
se6n, see: see see^. From the L. sequi are also
ult. E. consequent, subsequent, consequence, exe-
cute, persecute, prosecute, consecutive, executive,
etc., exequies, obsequies, sequel, sequester, sec-
ond'^, second-, secondary, etc., sue. ensue, pursue,
suant, pursuant, suit, suite, suitable, suitor, pur-
suit, pursuivant, etc.] I. a. 1. Continuing in
the same course or order; following; succeed-
ing.
Hie galleys
Have sent a dozen sequent messengers
This very night at one another's heels.
Shot., Othello, i. 2. 4L
seauent
Kither I am
The fore-horee in the team, or I am none
That draw i' the sequent trace.
Fletcher (and another). Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 2.
There he dies, and leaves his race
Growing into a nation, and now grown
Suspected to a sequent king.
MUton, P. L., xii. 165.
2. Following by natural or logical consequence.
Indeed your "O Lord, Blr!" is very seqvent to your
whipping. Shak., All's Well, ii. 2. 66.
Those enemies of the table, heat and haste, are joy-
killers, with sequent dyspepsia.
A. Rhodes, Monsieur at Home, p. 35.
A torpor of thought, a stupefaction of feeling, a purely
negative state of joylessness sequent to the positive state
of anguish. G, W. Cable, The Grandissimes, p. 335.
H. H. If. A follower. [Bare.]
He hath framed a letter to a sequent of the stranger
queen's. Shak., L. L. L., iv. 2. 142.
2. A sequence or sequel; that which follows
as a result. [Rare.] — 3. That which follows
by an observed order of succession : used, in
opposition to antecedent, where one wislies to
avoid the implication of the relation of ellect
to cause that would be conveyed by the use of
consequent.
We can find no case in which a given antecedent is the
only antecedent to a given sequent.
W. R. Oroce, Corr. of Forces, p. 16.
sequentia (sf-kwen'shi-a), ?! . [LL. , a following :
see sequence.l In music, same as sequence, 5.
sequen'tial (sf-kwen'shal), a. [< LL. sequentia,
sequence, + '-al.~i Being in succession ; suc-
ceeding; following.
Both years (1688, 18881 are leap years, and the sequen-
tial days of the week in relation to the days of the month
exactly correspond. N. and Q., 7th ser., IV. 183, note.
sequentiality (se-kwen-shi-al'i-ti), m. [< se-
quential + -itij.'\ ' The state of being sequen-
tial; naturalconnectionandprogressof thought,
incident, or the like.
The story is remarkable for its fresh naturalness and
setjuentiality. Harper's Mag., LXVIII. 158.
sequentially (se-kwen'shal-l), adv. By se-
quence or succession.
sequestt, v. t. [Abbr. of sequester. \ Same as
sequester.
Pemissapan sequesting hiraselfe. I should not importune
him for victuall, and to draw his troupes, found not the
Chawonesta so forward as he expected.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, 1. 92.
sequester (se-kwes'ter), v. [Early mod. E.
.lequestre; < OF. sequestrer, F. sequestrer = Pr.
Pg. sequestrar = Sp. secuestrar = It. seques-
trate, < LL. sequestrare, surrender, remove, lay
aside, < L. sequester, a mediator, trustee, agent;
prob. orig. a 'follower,' one who attends, <
sequi, follow, attend: see seq-Mint.'] I. trans.
1. To put aside; remove; separate from other
things; seclude; wdthdraw.
So that I shall now sequester the from thj-ne euill pur-
pose. William Thorpe (1407), Trial of Thorpe, 1 Howells
(.State Tr., 176.
Why are you gequester'd from all your train ?
Shak., 'i'it. And., ii. 3. 75.
The rest of the holy Sabbath, I sequester ray body and
mind as much as 1 can from worldly affairs.
Howell, Letters, I. vi. 32.
There are few that know how to sequester themselves
entirely from perishable creatures.
Thoinas a Kempis, Imit. of Christ (trans.), iii. 31.
The virtue of art lies in detachment, in sequesterinrj one
object from the embarrassing variety.
Umerson, Essays, Ist ser., p. 320.
2. In law : (a) To separate from the owner for
a time; seize or take possession of, as the
property and income of a debtor, until the
claims of creditors be satisfied.
The process of sequestration is a ^vrit or commission
issuing under the (jreat Seal, sometimes directed to the
sberitf or (which is most usual) to certain persons of the
plaintiff's own nomination, empowering him or them to
enter upon and sequester the real and personal estate and
effects of the defendant (or some particular part or parcel
of his landsX and to take, receive, and sequester the rents,
Issues, and profits thereof.
E. R. Daniell, Chancery Pleading and Practice, § 1256.
(b) To set aside from the power of either party,
as a matter at issue, by order of a court of law.
For use in Scots law, see sequestrate. See also
sequestration. Hence — 3. To seize for any pur-
pose; confiscate; take possession of; appro-
priate.
Witherings was superseded, for abuses in the exertion
of t)oth his offices, in 1640 ; and they were sequestered
into the hands of Philip Burlamachy.
Blackstone, Com., I. viii.
The liberties of New York were thus sequestered by a
monarch who desired to imitate the despotism of France.
Bancroft, Hist. U. S., II. 416.
n. intrans. If. To withdraw.
5504
To sequester out of the world into Atlantick and Euto-
plan polities, which never can be drawn into use, will not
mend our condition. Milton, Areopagitica, p, 25.
2. In law, to renounce or decline, as a widow
any concern with the estate of her husband.
[Rare.]
sequester (se-kwes't6r),». [<. sequester, r.'] It.
Tlie act of sequestering ; sequestration ; sepa-
ration; seclusion.
This hand of yours requires
A sequester from liberty. Shak., Othello, iii. 4. 40.
2. In law, a person with whom two or more
parties to a suit or controversy deposit the
subject of controversy; a mediator or referee
between two parties; an umjiire. Boitvicr.
[Rare.]
Kynge lohn and pope lulius dyed both in one day,
wherbv he [Basilius] lacked a conuenient sequester or so-
licitonre. S. Eden, tr. of Paolo Giovio (First Books on
[America, ed. Arber, p. 309).
sequestered (se-kwes'terd), p. a. 1 . Secluded ;
private ; retired.
Along the cool sequesfer'd vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.
Gray, Elegy.
I sing in simple Scottish lays,
The lowly train in life's sequester' d scene.
Burns, Cottar's Saturday Kight.
2. Separated from others; being sent or hav-
ing gone into retirement.
To the which place a poor sequester'd stag.
That from the hunter's aim had ta'en a hurt.
Did come to languish.
Shak., As you Like it, ii. 1. 33.
Mr. Owen, a sequester'd and learned minister, preach'd
in my parlour. Evelyn, Diary, March 5, 1649.
sequestra, i>. Plural ot sequestrum.
sequestraole (sf-kwes'tra-bl), a. [< sequester
+ -able.] Capable of lieing sequestered or
separated; subject or liable to sequestration.
Boyle.
sequestral (se-kwes'tral), a. [< sequestrum +
-al.'] Pertaining to a sequestrum.
Around the sequestral tube the bone has the involucral
thickening which has been felt in the stump.
Buck's Handbook of Med. .Sciences, V. 128.
sequestrate (se-kwes'trat), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
sequestrated, ppr. sequestrating. [< LL. seques-
tratus, pp. of sequestrare, surrender, lay aside :
see sequester.'] If. To set apart from others;
seclude.
In general contagions more perish for want of necessa-
ries than by the malignity of the disease, they being se-
questrated from mankind. Arbvthnot, Effects of Air.
2. In law, to sequester. Especially— (o) In Scots
law, to take possession of, as of the estate of a bankrupt,
with the view of realizing it and distributing it equitably
among the creditors. (6) To seize for the use of the state.
See sequestration, 1 (/).
sequestration (sek-wes- or se-kwes-tra'shon),
n. [< OF. sequestration, F. sequestration =:h]i.
secuestracion = Pg. sequestraqSo = It. sequestra-
zione, < LL. sequestratio{n-), a sequestration:
see sequestrate, sequester. 1 1. The act of se-
questering, or the state of being sequestered or
set aside; separation; retirement; seclusion
from society.
Ourcomfort and delight expressed by . . . sequeslration
from ordinary lafjours, the toils and cares whereof are not
meet to be companions of such gladness.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. 70.
The sacred Book,
In dusty sequestration wrapt too long.
Wordsworth, Eccles. Sonnets, ii. 29.
There is much that tends to give them [women] a reli-
gious height which men do not attain. Their seqiiestra-
tion from affairs, and from the injury to the moral sense
which affairs often inflict, aids this. Emerson, Woman.
2+. Disunion; disjunction; division; rupture.
[Some commentators are of opinion that in
the quotation from Shakspere the word means
'sequel.']
It was a violent commencement [i. e., the love of Des-
demona for Othello], and thou shalt see an answerable se-
questration. Shak., Othello, i. 3. 351.
Without any sequestration of elementary principles.
Boyle.
3. In laio : (a) The separation of a thing in
controversy from the possession of those who
contend for it. (6) The setting apart of the
goods and chattels of a deceased person to
whom no one was willing to take out admin-
istration, (c) A writ directed by the Court of
Chancery to commissioners or to the sheriff,
commanding them or him to enter the lands
and seize the goods of the person against whom
it is directed. It might be issued against a defendant
who is in contempt by reason of neglect or refusal to
appear or answer or to obey a decree of court, (d) The
act of taking property from the owner for a
time till the rents, issues, and profits satisfy
Sequoia
a demand; especially, in ecclesiastical prac-
tice, a species of execution for debt in the case
of a beneficed clergyman, issued by the bishop
of the diocese on the receipt of a writ to that
eiiect, under which the profits of the benefice
are paid over to the creditor until his claim is
satisfied, (c) The gathering of the fruits of a
vacant benefice for the use of the next incum-
bent. (/) The seizure of the property of an in-
dividual for the use of the state : particularly
applied to the seizure by a belligerent power
of debts due by its subjects to the enemy,
(jr) The seizing of the estate of an insolvent or
a bankrupt, by decree of a competent court,
for behoof of the creditors. — 4. The formation
of a sequestrum; the separation of a dead piece
of bone (or cartilage) from the living bone (or
cartilage) about it.
sequestrator (sek'wes- or se'kwes-tra-tor), n.
[< LL. sequestrator, one who hinders or impedes,
< sequestrare, put aside, sequestrate: see se-
quester.'] 1. One who sequesters property, or
who takes the possession of it for a time, to
satisfy or secure the satisfaction of a demand
out of its rents or profits.
He is scared with the menaces of some prating Seques-
trator. Bp. Gauden, Tears of the Church, p. 238.
I am fallen into the hands of publicans and sequestrators,
and they have taken all from me.
Jer. Taylor, Holy Living, il. 6.
2. One to whom the keeping of sequestered
property is committed.
A sequestration is usually directed to four sequestrators,
and care ought to be taken that the persons named be
such as are able to answer for what shall come to their
hands, in case they should be called upon to account.
E. R. Daniell, Chanceiy Pleading and Practice, § 1256.
sequestrotomy (se-kwes-trot'o-mi), m. [< NL.
sequestrum + Gr. -ro/iia, < re/jveiv, rafielv, cut.] A
cutting operation for the removal of a seques-
trum. '
sequestrum (se-kwes'trum), n.; pi. sequestra
(-tra). iNLi., i'Mlj. sequestrum, something put
in sequestration: see sequester.] A necrosed
section of bone (or cartilage) which separates
itself from the surrounding living bone (or car-
tilage).—Sequestrum forceps, in sttrg., a forceps for
use in removing a sequestrum.
sequin (se'kwin, formerly and better sek'in),
n. [Also zechin, chequin, secchin, sechino (= Or.
gechine, < It. ) ; < P. sequin = Sp. cequi, sequi =
Pg. sequim, < It. zecchino, a Venetian coin, <
gecca = Sp. zeca, seca, a place of coining, a
mint, < Ar. sU'l^a, a die for coins: see sicca.]
A gold coin of Venice (Italian zecchino or zec-
chino cPoro), first minted about 1280, and issued
by the doges till the extinction of the Venetian
republic. (See zeccliino.) It was worth rather more
than 9s., about S2.18, and bore on the obverse a representa-
tion of St. Mark blessing the banner of the republic held
by the doge kneeling, and on the reverse a figure of Christ.
This citie of Ragusa paieth tribute to the Turke yerely
fourteene thousand Seehimis, and euery Seehino is of Vene-
tian money eight liners and two soldes.
Hakluyt's Voyages, II. 102.
Sequoia (se-kwoi'ii), n. [NL. (Endlicher, 1847),
named from Sequoiali, Sequo "yah (also called
George Guess), an Indian of the Cherokee tribe,
who invented an alphabet and taught it to his
tribe.] A genus of coniferous trees, of the tribe
Abietincx and subtribe Taxodinee. It is character-
ized by an oval cone, with persistent woody scales each
bearing about five ovules, and dilated upward in fruit into
a rhomboidal wrinkled and flattened slightly prickle-tip-
Part of one of the Big Trees {Sec^oia gigantta'), Mariposa Grove,
California. (Diameter, 30 feet.)
Sequoia
ped apex. The flowers are monoecious, tenninal or aiUlary
on young shoots, with their scales spirally set The small
and involucratestaminate flower consists of an oblong col-
umn of united stamens, bearing crowded ovate connective
scales, each with three to t!ve anthers. The compressed
seed bears a thick spongy margin, and contains four to six
seed-leaves. There are but two species, both Californian,
and ranking amung the most remarkable of trees, growing
straight, tall, and columnar, with short densely spreading
branches, soft red wood, and very thick tlbrous and spongy
biu-k. They bearacute. compressed, and keeled decurrent
narrow leaves, which are alternate and spirally inserted,
or spread in two rajiks on the younger branches. Their
smi^l cones ripen in the second year. For S. gemperm-
rem, discovered by ilenzies about 1794, see redwood. The
other species. .S". fii'jantea. by some formerly separated as
a genus, H'axhiiii/tonia {Winslow, 1854), and the WeUingto-
nia of English gardens, is the manmiotb tree or big tree of
California. It is a less graceful tree, with shorter branches,
pendulous branchlets, paler appressed leaves, its wood a
duller red, with thin white sapwood. its bark near theground
1 to 2 feet thick, and its cones much larger (2 or x inches
long). It forms a seriea of forests in Tulare county, tali-
fomia, isolated groves extending 260miles northward, and
it has lieen recently reported from southern Oregon,
The tallest tree now known, one of the Calaveras grove,
is 32.'i feet hiirh ; one in the King's Kiver forest is 35 feet
8 Inches in diameter inside the bark 4 feet from the ground,
mud its age is estimated at over 4,000 years. Both species
were early classed under Taxodium (which see), their
nearest American living relative ; a chaser ally, however,
is Athrolaxia (Don, 1S39). a genus of three Tasmanian
trees distin^iished by a cone with ruucronate or umbonate
scales; their other living relatives are a few distant and
mostly monutypic genera of Japan and China. (Comjiare
Taz'Ainjt.) A very large numlH-r of fossil specie-s are
known with certainty, showing that ttie genus was much
more abundant in late Cretaceous and Tertiary time than
at present
serf. -Aji obsolete spelling of seaA, sere^, sir,
sure, seer*.
SOT. An abbreviation of the word series. See
series, «., 10.
sera (se'rii), n.; pi. sera (-re). [L., < serare,
binil together, join, < serere, join, bind: see se-
riin.'\ In AoiH. anfi^., a lock of any kind. See
S^ac (sa-rak'), ». [Swiss F. sirac. serac (De
Saussiire), prop, a kind of cheese put up in cu-
bii- or parallelepipedal lumps.] A name cur-
rent in the Swiss Alps, and commonly used by
writers in English on the glaciers of that re-
;0n, to designate the grand cuboidal or paral-
^ripedal masses into which the n^\6 breaks
passing down a steep incline, in consequence
the intersection of the transverse and longi-
dinal crevasses to which the descent gives
lio (se-ral'yo). n. [Formerly also serail,
'. (}. Dan. serail = Sw. seralj, < OF. serrail,
rrail, an inclosure, seraglio, a bolt, P. serail,
seraglio, = Sp. serrallo = Pg. serralho, a se-
lio; < It. serraglio, an inclosure, a close, se-
lio, formerly also a padlock; < ML. serracu-
found only in the sense of ' a faucet of a
ik,' lit. a ' small bolt ' or ' bar,' equiv. to LL.
seraeula, a small bolt, dim. of L. sera, ML.
also serra. a bar, bolt: see sera. The word se-
raglio in def. 2 has been confused with Turk.
Pent, saray, serai, a palace, court, seraglio: see
serai.'] If. An inclosure ; a place to which cer-
tain persons are confined, or where they are re-
stricted within prescribed bounds.
I went to the Ghetto, where the Jewsdwellaslna suburb
S themselves. ... 1 passed by the plasza Jude*. where
eir ifragUo begins, for being Invlron'd with walls, they
are lock'd up every night. Evelyn, Diary, Jan. 15, 164&.
2. A walled palace; specificallv, the chief or
oflfieial palace of the Sultan of 'turkey at Con-
stantinople. It is of great size, and contains
gov<Tnment buildings, mosques, etc., as well
as the sultan's harem.
On the 1st hill |of Stamhoall the most easterly, are
situated the remains of the Seraglio, former palace of the
Ottoman snltans. £neye. Brit., VI. SOi.
3. A place for the seclusion of concubines;
a harem ; hence, a place of licentious pleasure.
We've here no sandy femlnlnes to show.
As you have had in that great teraglia.
W. BrootM, To Mr. J. B.
Back to their chamber*, those long galleries
In the neraijliit, where the ladles lay
Their delicate limbs. Byron, Don Jnan, tL 20.
He (tnarendon) pined for the decorous tyranny of the
old Whitehall, . . . and could scarcely reconcile himself
to a court with a mraglio and without a .Star-chamber.
Macmlay, Sir W. Temple.
serai (se-ril'i), n. [Formerly also serray, sar-
raif. Slimy, serauee, serahee; = Turk, saray =
Ar. srrdy, snrdya = Hind, serai, < Pers. sarai,
a palace, court, seraglio. The word as used
K. is partly from Turk., Hind., or Pers., ac-
cording to circumstances. Hence ult. in comp.
' raransary. Cf. neratjlio.'] 1. In Kastemcoun-
ies, an inclosed place for the accommodation
of travelers; a caravansarj- ; a khan; acholtry.
346
~ ofi
5Sdo
The whole number of lodgers In and about the serai
probably did not fall short of 500 persons. What an ad-
mirable scene for eastern romance would such an inn as
this alTord !
Bp. Heber, Journey through India (ed. 18-29X III. 70.
The Kuniharsen Serai is the great four-square sink of
hmuanity where the strings of camels and horses from the
North load and unload.
Rudyard Kipling, The Man who would be King.
2. A seraglio, or place of seclusion for women.
Not thus was Hassan wont to fly
When Leila dwelt in his Serai.
Byron, The Giaour.
serailt (se-ral'), H. [Also seraile; < OF. serail,
F. serrail, serail, an inclosure, seraglio : see se-
raglio.] Same as seraglio.
Of the most part of the Cloister (because it was neare the
Seraile) they made a stable for Horses.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 298.
The purest monotheism, they discovered, was perfectly
compatible with bigotry and ferocity, luxury and tyranny,
serails and bowstrings. Kingsiey, fiypatia, xxxi
Serai (se'ral), n. [< L. senis, late, -I- -al.] In
geol., according to the nomenclature proposed
by H. D. Rogers for the Paleozoic series in
Pennsylvania, same as the Pottsville Conglomer-
ate or Millstone-grit; No. XII. of the numerical
designation of these rocks by the Pennsylvania
.Survey.
seralbumin (ser-al-bu'min), n. [NL., < serum
+ alhiimin.'] Serum-albumin; albumin of the
blood: so called to distinguish it from ovalbu-
min, or the albumin of the white of an egg,
from which it somewhat differs in its chemical
reaction.
seralbuminOUS (ser-al-bii'mi-nus), a. [< seral-
humin + -ous.] Composed of or containing
seralbumin.
serang (se-rang'), n. [Anglo-Ind., < Pers. sa-
rhang, commander, overseer.] In the East In-
dies, the boatswain of a lascar crew ; also, the
skipper of a small native vessel.
serape (se-ra'pe), H. [< Mex. serape.] A Mexi-
can shawl or wrap for men, often of gay colors,
worn by Spanish Americans.
A very fancy $erttpe hanging on a hook, with a ranchero's
bit and lariat. J W. Palmer, The Sew and the Old, p. 85.
Serapeum, Serapeium (ser-a-pe'um), n. [< LL.
iSerapeum, < Gr. XefMireiov, io/wnriov, a temple
of Serapis, < Zipamf, Xapa-mc, L. Serdpis, Sera-
pis: see Serapis.'] A temple of Serapis ; espe-
cially, the great Egyptian sanctuary near Mem-
phis, where the series of Apis bulls were buried.
This sanctnaiy is distinct from trie Greek temple and cult
of Serapis, which were attached to it by the Ptolemies.
See Serapie.
The Serapeum was at the same time a sanatory institu-
tion. C. 0. Matter, Manoal of ArchKoL (trans. X i 2(10.
seraph (ser'af), n.: pi. seraphs, but sometimes
the Hcl)rew plural seraphim is used (formerly
also seraphims). [= D. Sw. Dan. seraf = Cf.
seraph ; < Heb. seraphim, pi., seraphs (Isa. vi. 2)
(for Kom. forms, see seraphin ; LL. seraphim,
seraphin, pi., LGr. aepa^lfi, pi.), < »dr«p/i, bum.
From the etym. of the name, seraphs have usu-
ally been regarded as 'burning or 'flaming'
angels, consisting of or like fire, and associated
with the ideas of light, ardor, and purity; but
some authorities suppose the seraphim, 'ser-
aphs,' of Isa. vi. 2 to be of mythical origin,
orig. denoting serpent forms (though this does
not agree with the description in the passage,
which indicates a shape in the main human),
and identify them with the seraphim, 'buniing
serpents,' of Num. xxi. 6. Cf. seraphin.'] One
of the celestial beings described in Isaiah vi.
1-6 as surrounding the throne of Jehovah, in
angelology the seraphs are regarded as the highest order
of angels (see eeltmal kierareky, under hierarchy), and as
having a twofold ofllce, that of celebrating Jehovah's holi-
ness and power, and serving as messengers and ministers
between nearen and earth. See the etymology.
Above it {the throne of Ood) stood the teraphims; each
one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and
with twain be covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
Isa. vi. 2.
To thee, Chenibim and Seraphim (in the English Book,
Chei'ublu and Seraphin] continually do cry.
Book 0/ Common Prayer, Te Deum.
The flaming seraph (Abdiel], fearless, though alone.
MiUon, P. L, V. 876.
As full, as perfect, in vile man that mourns
As the rapt eeraph that adores and burns.
Pope, Essay on Man, I. 277.
Order of the Seraphim, a Swedish order which was
founded in the fourteenth century, or less probably in the
thirteenth century, but which remained dormant for many
years, until in 1748 it was reorgaiiizerl as a most limited and
exclusive order. The .Swedish inenil)ers must have been
members first of the Order of the Polar Star or of that of
the 8word, anil on obtaining the Seraphim they become
commanders In the other order. The badge is an eight-
pointed cross of white enamel, v ,itb winged angelic heads
Serapias
of red enamel between the arms. Every arm of the cross
is charged with a patriarchal cross in gold, and the cen-
ter is a medallion of blue enamel, bearing the implements
of the Passion, the letters I. H. S., and three crowns.
The collar consists of alternate winged angelic heads of
gold and patriarchal crosses in red enamel.
seraphic (se-raf 'ik), a. and n. [< F. seraphique
= Sp. serdfico = Pg. sernphico = It. seraflco, <
LL. *seraphicus, < LGr. aepa(j)iK6g, pertaining to
seraphs, < aepa<jieifi, LL. seraphim, seraphs : see
seraph. 'i I. a. 1. Pertaining to a seraph or
seraphs; angelic; celestial: as, seraphic tro-
phies; «eraj)AiC harmonies.
The great seraphic lords and cherubim
In close recess and secret conclave sat.
Milton, P. L., L 794.
Pierces the keen seraphic flame
From orb to orb, from veil to veil.
Tennyson, In Memoriam, xix.
2. Worthy of a seraph ; superhuman ; pure ; re-
fined from grossuess.
Lloyd tells me that, three or 400 yeares ago, Chymiatrey
was in a greater perfection much than now. 'The proces
was then more seraphique and universall. Now they looke
only after medicines. Aubrey, Lives, Saint Dunstan.
Whether he at last descends
To act with less seraphic ends . . .
Must never to mankind be told.
Smft, Cadenus and Vanessa.
Seraphic intellect and force
To seize and throw the doubts of man.
Tennyson, In Memoriam, cix.
He has learned not only that art ... is alluring, but
that, when used as a means of expressing what cannot
otherwise be quite revealed, it becomes seraphic.
Stedman, Vict Poets, p. 160.
Seraphic hymn, the Sanctus. (See Isa. vL S.)
II. n. A zealot ; an enthusiastic sectary : in
allusion to the burning zeal of such persons.
[Bare.]
I could never yet esteem these vapouring Seraphicks,
these new Gnosticks, to be other than a kind of Gypsy-
Christians, or a race of circulators. Tumblers, and Taylers
in the Church. Bp. Gauden, Tears of the Church, p. 200.
seraphical (se-raf 'i-kal), o. [< seraphic + -al.]
Same as sei-aphic.
An thou wert in heaven, I would not pray to thee, for
fear of disturbing thy seraphical devotion.
Shirley, Grateful Servant, ii. 1.
Love is curious of little things, desiring to be of angeli-
cal purity, of perfect innocence, and seraphical fervour.
Jer. Taylor.
seraphically (se-raf'i-kal-i), adv. In the man-
ner of a seraph ; with exalted and burning love
or zeal.
seraphicalness (se-raf'i-kal-nes), n. The state
or enaractcr of being seraphic. Bailey. [Bare.]
seraphicismf (se-raf'i-sizm), H. [< seraphic +
-WW.] The character of being seraphic. Cud-
wiirth .
seraphim, seraphims (ser'a-fim, -fimz), n.
Plural of seraph .
seraphim (ser'a-fim), n. [< seraphim, pi., used
as sing.] 1. In entom., the geometrid moth
Lobophora halterata, or L. hexaptera : an Eng-
lish collectgrs' name. The small seraphim is L.
sexalisata. — 2. A fossil crustacean of the genus
Pterygotus, as /'. anglieus: said to be so called
by Scotch quarrymen, from some fancied re-
semblance of the creatures to their notion of
seraphs.
seraphim-moth (ser'a-fim-m6th), ». Same as
seraphim, 1.
seraphint (ser'a-fin), n. [< OF. seraphin, F.
seraphin = Pr. seraphin = Sp. serafin = Pg. sera-
phim = It. serafino, a seraph ; dim. in form, but
orig. an adaptation as a singular of the LL.
seraphim, pi. : see seraph.] A seraph.
Those etemall burning Seraphint
Which from their faces dart out flerie light.
Spemer, Hymn of Heavenly Beauty, 1. 94.
seraphina (ser-a-fe'njl), n. [NL. : see sera-
phinc] Same as serapliine.
seraphine (ser'a-fen), n. [< seraph + -inc.] A
musical instrument essentially similar to the
harmonium, of which it was the precursor. It
was invented in 1833 by John Green. See
rerd-organ.
seraphot, «• [Appar. an erroneous form of
serif.] Same as serif.
Coinage of the early Saxon period, when the serapho of
the letters were formed by a triangular punch: thus, an
E was formed of a straight line with three such triangles
before it, more or less elongated according to the slope of
the blow in the die. Fairholt.
Serapias (se-ra'ni-as), »i. [NL. (Linneeus, 1737),
< L. *'(ra/> w, an Egyptian god : see Serapi*.] A
genus of orchids, of the tribe Ophrydeie, tj-pe of
the subtribe Serapiese. It resembles the genus Or-
chis In habit and structure, but Is distinguished by flowers
with a prolonged antber-connective, and a spurless lip with
the middle lobe usually tongue-shaped and appendaged
at the base with a glandular lamina. The four or Ave spe-
cies are natives of the Mediterranean region, one extend-
Serapias
ing to the Azores. They are terrestrial herbs, growing
from undivided tubers, and bearing narrow leaves and a
spike of a few handsome Bowers. S. Liihjtm is Itnown as
the toiiguejioufred and .S. cordigera as the hmrt-floutred
orchis, both of which are occasionally cultivated in gar-
dens.
Scrapie (se-ra'pik), a. [Cf. LL. Serapictis, »e-
rapiaeus, Sarapiactis, Gr. only as personal name,
lapairiOKdi, 'LepamaKdi.'] Of or pertaining to
Serapis or his cult.
They include various types of the god Abraxas, Cnuphic
and Serapic emblems, Egyptian types.
Pop. Sri. Mo., xxxn. 6«0.
Serapis (se-rti'pis), n. [< L. Serapis, < Gr. ^apa-
m(, aiso^pcKiU Serapis.] 1 . The Roman name ^ ^ ^_ ^ ^
of a deity of Eeyptiau origin whose worship was ^ . i, j ii- / j ,i
officially promoted under the Ptolemies, and was sereclotllt^«j. A bad spelling of cm-ctoW^
introduced into Greece and Rome
5506
And thankyd God olte sythe
That sche sawe hur lorde so dere
Comyn home bothe hoole and sere.
MS. CanUtb. If. ii. 38, f. 222. (HaUiwell.)
sere^t (ser), n. [< OF. (and P.) serrc, F. dial.
sarre = Pr. It. serra, a talon, < L. sera, a bar to
close a door, lock: see sear'^, seraglio.1 A claw
or talon.
In spite of all your eagles' wings, well work
A pitch above ye ; and from our height we'll stoop
As fesu-less of your bloody sere^, and fortunate.
As if we prey'd on heax'tlessdoves.
Fletcher, Bonduca, iv. 4.
Of lions it is said, and eagles.
That, when they go, they draw their seres and talons
Close up. Chapman, Eevenge of Bussy D' Ambois, iii. 1.
serein (s6-ran'), «. [F. : see secenc^.] A mist
or exceedingly fine rain which falls from a
cloudless sky, a phenomenon not unusual in
tropical climates.
By local refrigeration, after sunset, the vapour invisibly
diffused through the atmospliere is condensed at once into
excessively flue drops of liquid water, fonning the rain
called serein. Huxley, Physiography, p. 40.
serelepest, adv. [ME.,< sere, separate (seesere^),
, .' ,^, , -, -, N + -te;;f,9, an adv. gen. form of -Zepi in antej)!, <
'^''JV: = ^s-^'^'^^''''l^^r^fl"f7^?"'''ttZl' AS. anlepig, single.] Separately; by them-
< (Pers.) sor, A'(T, head, + (At.) 'asfcer, 'a«fcar, ^^j^ -^ -" ^ J
army.] A Turkish general or commander of
Serapis was
the dead Apis honored under the attributes of Osiris ; he
was lord of the under-world, and identified with the Greek
Hades. His worship was a combination of Egyptian and
Greek cults, and was favored by the Ptolemies for political
reasons.
2. In conch., a genus of gastropods. — 3. In
en torn., a genus of hymenopterous insects.
sera^er (ser-as-ker' ), "• [Also scrasquier, sir-
askier ; < F. scrusquier, sirasUer = Sp. Pg. seras-
land forces. This title is given by the Turlis to every
general having command of an army, but especially to the
commander-in-chief and miniater of war.
The Seraskier is knock'd upon the head.
But the stone bastion still remains, wherein
The old Pacha sits among some hundreds dead.
Byron, Don Juan, viii. 98.
seraskierat (ser-as-ker'at), n. [< seraskier.]
The central office of the ministry of war at
Constantinople.
The great tower of Galata, like that of the Seraskierat
(War Office) on the opposite height in Stamboul, is used
as a flre-tower. Encyc. Brit., VI. 307.
Serb (Serb), a. and «. [= F. serbe = G. Serbe,
Serbier = Dan. Serier = Turk. Serp, a Servian, <
Serv. Serb, lit. 'kinsman': see Servian.'] I. a.
Of or pertaining to Servia or the Servians.
To oppose the Serb advance on Sofia, the Prince of Bul-
garia had but three battalions on the frontier.
Conteviporary Rev., L. 603.
n. n. 1. A native of Servia; a Servian. —
2. The language of the Servians; Servian.
Serb became a proscribed tongue.
FminighUy Bev., K. S., XXXIX. 146.
Serbian (s6r'bi-an), a. and n. Same as Servian.
There is no Serbian original of the Memoirs of a Janis-
sary. The Academy, Jan. 18, 1890, p. 41.
Serbonian(s6r-b6'iii-an), a. [< L. Scrbonis or Sir-
bonis + -ian.] Noting a large bog or lake in
Egypt, lying between the Delta and the Isthmus
of Suez. It was surrounded by hills of loose sand, which,
being blown into it, afforded a treacherous footing, whole
armies attempting to cross it having been swallowed up.
Hence the phrase Serbonian bog has passed into a proverb.
selves.
Thus it is, nedeth no man to trowe non other.
That thre thinges bilongeth in owre lorde of heuene,
And aren serelepes by hemself, asondry were neure.
Piers Plowman (B), xvii. 164.
serelyt, adv. [< ME. serelych; < sere'^ + -ly^.']
Severally.
Sone haf thay her sortes sette & serelych deled,
& ay the lote, vpon laste, lymped on lonas.
Alliterative Poems (ed. MorrisX iii. 193.
Serenalt(se-re'na),n. [Seeseretie'^, serein.] The
damp, unwholesome air of evening.
They had already by way of precaution armed themselves
against the Serena with a caudle.
Oentleman Instructed, p. 108. {Davies.)
serena^ (se-ra'na), n. [< Pr. serena : see sere-
nade.] Same as serenade in its original sense:
opposed to auhade.
serenade (ser-e-nad'), n. [Formerly also sere-
nate (= D. G. Dan. serenade = Sw. serenad); <
OP. serenade, P. serenade — Sp. Pg. serenata =
It. serenata, "music given under gentlewomens
windowes in a morning or evening" (Florio)
(cf. Pr. serena, a serenade), < serenare, make
serene, < sere no, serene: see serene^, and cf. se-
rene^, soiree.] 1. In music, an evening song;
especially, such a song sung by a lover at the
window of his lady.
Shall I the neighbours' nightly rest invade
At her deaf doors with some vile serenade?
Dryden, tr. of Persius's Satires, v. 239.
Be not lond, but pathetic ; tor it is a serenade to a
damsel in bed, and not to the Man in the Moon.
Longfellow, Spanish Student, i 2.
2. An instrumental piece resembling such a
song ; a nocturne. — 3. Same as serenata.
signifying a difBcuU or complicated situation from which serenade (ser-e-nad'), v.; pret. and pp. sere
it is almost impossible to extricate one's self; a distract-
ing condition of affairs.
A gulf profound as that Serbonian bog.
Betwixt Damiata and Mount Casius old.
Where armies whole have sunk.
Milton, P. L., ii. 592.
I know of no Serbonian bog deeper than a £6 rating
would prove to be.
Disraeli, in London Times, March 19, 1867. (Eneye. Diet.)
sercel (sfer'sel), n. 1. Same as sarcel. — 2.
Same as sarcelle.
serdab (s6r'dab),». lA.T.serdab, a subterranean
chamber.] In the funereal architecture of an-
cient Egypt, the secret cell of the mastaba (the
naded, ppr. serenading. [< serenade, «.] I.
trans. To entertain with a serenade or noc-
turnal music.
Oh. the fiddles, the fiddles ! I sent for them hither to
oblige the women, not to offend 'em ; for I intend to sere-
nade the whole Park to-night.
Wycherley, Love in a Wood, ii. 1.
II. intrans. To perform serenades or noc-
turnal music.
What, I suppose, you have been serenading too ! Eh,
disturbing some peaceable neighbourhood with villainous
catgut and lascivious piping 1 Sheridan, The Duenna, i. 3.
Ood grant he may soon be married, for then shall all
this serenading cease. Lorujfellaw, Spanish Student, i. 2.
most ancient and archeeologically important gerenader(ser-e-na'der),». \ < serenade + -er^.]
form of monumental tomb), m which were pre- q^^ .^^Jjq serenades, or performs nocturnal
served statues and other representations of the ^,ygjg
defunct, to serve as "supports" to the soul, in gg-g,,,*, (ser-e-na'ta), n. [< It. serenata, a sere-
order to assure its continued existence in the
event of the crumbling of the mummified body.
sere^, a. and V. See seari.
sere^t, a. [Also seer; < ME. sere, ser, < Icel. ser,
for oneself, separately, prop. dat. refl. pron., to
oneself; cf. Icel. acc.sifc(=G. sJc/t = L.se, etc.),
oneself.] Separate ; several ; many.
I haf seten by your-self here sere twyes.
Sir Oawayne and the Oreen Knight (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1622.
Be-halde now, ser, and thou schalt see
Sere kyngdomes and sere contre ;
Alle this wile I giffe to the. I'or* Plays, p. 183.
Therefore I have seen good shooters which would have
for every bow a sere caae, made of woollen cloth.
Aseham, Toxophilus (ed. 1864), p. 112.
sere**, a. [ME. sere, ser, mod. E. dial, seer; ap-
par. a var. of sure, ME. seur, suir : see sure.]
Safe; secure.
serenely
Or serenate, which the starved lover sings
'To his proud fair, best quitted with disdain.
MUUm. P. L., iv. 769.
serene^ (se-ren'), a. and n. [= P. serein = Pr.
seren, sere = Sp. Pg. It. sereno, < L. serenus,
bright, clear, calm (of weather); akin to Gr.
otAaf, brightness, ac?.-r/v?i, the moon (see Selene),
Skt. svar, sun, sunlight, heaven.] I. a. 1.
Clear, or fair, and calm.
Spirits live insphered
In regions mild, of calm and serene air.
Milton, t'omus, 1. 4.
The moon, sererte in glory, mounts the sky.
Pope, Winter, 1. 6.
Full many a gem of purest ray »TPn«
The dark, unfathom'd caves of ocean bear.
Gray, Elegy.
2. Calm; placid; unruffled; undisturbed: as,
a serene aspect; a serene soul.
Unruffled and serene I've met
The common accidents of life.
Addison, Cato, iii. 2.
He who resigns the world has no temptation to envy,
hatred, malice, anger, but is in constant possession of a
serene mind. Steele, Spectator, No. 282.
Thine eyes are springs, in whose serene
And silent waters heaven is seen.
Bryant, Fairest of the Rural Maids.
^ Serene, and resolute, and still,
And calm, and self-possessed.
Longfellow, The Light of Stars.
3. An epithet or adjunct to the titles of some
persons of very high rank : it is not given t»
any noble or official in England, and is used
chiefly (in the phrase Serene Higliiiess) in ren-
dering the German term Durchkiucht (given to
members of certain mediatized houses, and to
some other princes) and the French epithet
serenissime.
To the most serene Prince Leopold, Archduke of Aus-
tria. Milton, Letters of State.
Noble adventurers travelled from court to court; . . .
they . . . became the favorites of their Serene or Royal-
Highnesses. Thackeray, Four Georges, George I.
Drop serene. See tZrop. =Syn. 1. Bright, peaceful. — 1
and 2. Tranquil, Placid, etc. Seeco/mi.— 2. Sedate.
II. n. 1. Clearness; serenity; a serene ex-
pause or region.
As winds come whispering lightly from the west,
Kissing, not ruffling, the blue deep s serene.
Byron, Childe Harold, ii. 70,
How beautiful is night! ...
No mist obscures, nor cloud, nor speck, nor stain
Brealis the serene of heaven. Southey, Thalaba, i. 1.
2. Serenity; placidity; tranquillity; calmness.
[Rare.]
The serene of heartfelt happiness has little of adventure
in it. BrooA-e, Fool of Quality, II. 241. (Dames.)-
My body is cleft by these wedges of pains
From my spirit's serene.
Mrs. Browning, Khapsody of Life's Progress.
serene^ (se-ren'), v. t.; pret. and pp. serened,
p^r. serening. \<sereneX,a.] 1. To make clear
and calm ; tranquilize.
The Hand
That hush'd the thunder, and serenes the sky.
Thomson, Summer, 1. 1240.
A smile serenes his awful brow. Pope, Iliad, xv. 178.
2. To clear; clarify. [Rare.]
Take care
Thy muddy beverage to serene, and drive
Precipitant the baser ropy lees.
J. Philips, Cider, ii.
serene^t (se-ren'), n. [Also in mod. technical
use serein '{< mod. P.); formerly also syrene; <
OF. serein, earlier serain, P. serein = Pr. seren
= Sp. Pg. sereno, the night-dew, the damp of
evening, appar. orig. applied to a clear, beau-
tiful evening, < L. screnum, neut. of serenus, se-
rene (see serene^, but taken later as a deriva-
tive of serns, late (see soiree).] The chilly damp
of evening; unwholesome air; blight.
The fogges and the Syrene olfends vs more
(Or we made thinke so), then they did before.
Daniel, Queen's Arcadia (ed. Grosart), i. 1.
Some serene, blast me, or dire lightning strike
This my offending face ! B. Jonson, Volpone. iii. 6.
1. Calmly: quietly;
nade : see serenade."] In music, either a variety
of secular cantata, or (more usually) an instru-
mental work consisting of several movements,
like a suite, and intended more or less dis- serenely (se-ren'li), adv.
tinetly for performance in the open air by a placidly,
private orchestra or band. The serenata forms an
intermediate link between the suite and the symphony,
being more emancipated from the control of mere dance-
forms than the one, and much less unified and technically
elaliorate than the other. It was a favorite form of com-
position with Mozart. Also cassation and divertimento.
On Saturday we had a serenata at the Opera-house,
called Peace in Europe, but it was a wretched perform-
ance. Walpole, Letters, II. 162.
June the 10th will be performed Acis and Galatea, a
serenata, revised with several additions.
Bumey, Hist. Music, IV. 361.
serenatet (ser-e-naf), n. [< It. serenata, a sere-
nade: see serenade,] A serenade.
He dyed at his house in Q. street, very serenely; asked
what was o'clock, and then, sayd he, an hour hence I shall
depart • he then turned his head to the other side and ex-
pired. Aidyrey, Lives, Edward Lord Herbert.
The moon was pallid, but not faint, . . .
Sereiuly moving on her way.
Longfellow, Occultation of Orion.
2. Without excitement ; coolly ; deliberately.
Whatever practical rule is, in any place, generally and
with allowance broken, cannot be supposed innate : it
being impossible that men should, wifliout shame or feai\
confidently and serenely break a rule which they could
not but evidently know that God had set up.
Locke, Human Understanding, I. iii. §13.
sereneness
sereneness (se-ren'nes), n. The state of being
serene or tranquil ; serenity.
The geretienegse of a healtlUull coiiscieuce.
Fdthamy Resolves, i. 5.
sereness, «. See seanwivi.
serenifyt, <■'• •• [^ ML. serenificare, make serene,
< L. serenus, serene, + facere, make.] To be-
come serene.
It 's now the faire, vinuilion, pleasaut spring,
When meadowes laagh, and heaven gerenejies.
BenvenuU/, Passengers' Dialogues (1612). {Nans.)
serenitude (se-ren'i-tud), n. [< ML. serenitudo,
for L. serenitas, serenity : see serenity.'] Tran-
quillity; serenity.
A future quietude and strenitucU in the affections.
Sir H. WotUm, Reliquia;, p. 79.
serenity (se-ren'i-ti), H. ; pi. serenities (-tiz).
[< OF. serenite, F. serenite = Pr. serenitat = Sp.
serenidad = Pg. serenidade = It. serenita, < L.
serenit<t(t-)s, clearness, serenity, < serenus, clear,
serene: see serene^.] 1. The quality or con-
dition of being serene; clearness; calmness;
quietness ; stillness ; peace : as, the serenity of
the air or sky.
They come out of a Country which never hath any Rains
or Fogs, but enjoys a constant gerenity.
Daiitpitr, Voyages, I. 186.
2. Calmness of mind ; tranquillity of temper ;
placidity.
I cannot see how any men should ever transgress those
naoral rules with confidence and serenity, were they innate.
Locke, Human Understanding, I. iii. ( 13.
Like to a good old age released from care.
Journeying in long an-«?i{(vaway. A^ant, October.
3. A title of dignity or courtesy given to cer-
tain princes and high dignitaries. It is an ap-
proximate translation of the German Ihtrch-
lauebt, more commonly rendered Serene High-
ness. See serene^, 3.
There Is nothing wherein we have more frequent occa-
sion to employ our Pens than in congratolating your Se-
renitin [the Duke and Senate of Venice] for some signal
Victory. MiUm, Letters of SUte, Oct., 1667.
The army (of PumpemickelJ was exhausted In provid-
ing guards of honor fur the Highneasea, Semite; and
Excellencies who arrived from all quarters.
Thadcemy, Vanity Fair, IxiiL
serenizet (se-re'niz), r. t. [< serene^ + -ize.] To
make serene; hence, to make bright; glonfy.
And be my Grace and Ooodnesse most abstract.
How can I. wanting both, leremxe Thee?
Davie*, Muses' .SacriUce^ p. 33. (/Jamu.)
Serenoa (se-re'no-ii), ». [NL. (Sir J. D. Hooker,
1883), named afteir Dr. Sereno Watson, curator
of the herbarium of Harvard University.] A
genus of palms, of the tribe Corypkete. it is dis-
tinguished from the genus Sabal, the pdroetta^ In which
it was formerly Included, by its valvate corolla, and fruit
tipped with a slender terminal style, and containing a
somewhat cylindrical seed with sub-basilar embryo and
solid albumen. I'he only species. & wrrutoCo, is a native
of Florida and 8oii th Carolina, known as mw-palvieUo from
the spiny edged petioles. It is a dwarf palm growing In
low tufts from a creeping branching caudex. which UcUd
with a network of fibers. The oorlaceoos leaves are termi-
nal and orbicular, deeply parted into many narrow two-
cleft segments. The white flowers are borne on a long,
woolly, and niuch-bmnchcd spadix which Is sheathed at
the base Ity numerous spathes. The fruit is black, and
about an inch in diameter.
serenoast (se-re'nus), a. [< ME., < L. serenus,
serene : see serene.] Serene.
In lande plesaont and termout thai cheve.
In every kynde as easy is to preve.
PaOadiut, Hnsbondrle (E. E. T. 8.X p. 63.
serewoodt, ». See searwood.
sereynt, ». An obsolete form of siren.
serf (86rf), n. [< OF. (and P.) serf, tern, serve
= P^. serf = Sp. sierro = Pg. It. servo, < L.
»emM, aslave: aeeserrei.] 1. A villein; one
of those who in the middle ages were incapa-
ble of holding prop«>rtv, were attached to the
land and transferred with it, and were subject to
feudal services of the most menial description ;
in early Kng. hist, one who was not free, but
by reason of being allowed to have an interest
in the cultivation of the soil, and a portion of
time to labor for himself, had attained a status
superior to that of a slave.
The slave, indeed, still remained |ln the fourteenth cen-
tury!, though the number of pure mr/i bore a small pro-
portion to the other cultivat^irs of the soil. . . . But even
this class had now aniuireil deflriite rights of its own;
and. althouKh we stiU tliiil iiislances of the sale of terft
"with their litter." or lainily, apart from the land they
tilled, yet. In the bulk of caws tlic amount of servire due
from the Merf had become limited by cust^im, and, on its
due rendering, his holding was practically as secure as
that of the fre«!St tenant on the estate.
J R. Oreen. Short Hist, of Eng. People, v. | 4.
The terf was bound to the soil, had fixed domestic rela-
ttons, and participated in the religious life of the society ;
and the tendency of all his circumstances, as well as of
I^B tk>n
^^B and
»S07
the opinions and sentiments of the time, was In the direc-
tion of liberation. Encyc. Brit., XIX 352.
2. A laborer rendering forced service on an
estate under seigniorial prescription, as for-
merly in Russia.
In Russia, at the present moment, the aristocracy are
dictated to by their emperor much as they themselves
dictate to their ser/g. U. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 401.
The next Important measure was the emancipation of
the ger/g in 18«1. . . . The landlords, on receiving an in-
demnity, now released the ser/g from their seigniorial
rights, and the village commune became the actual pi-op-
erty of the ger/. Encyc. Brit., XXI. 102.
3. Figuratively, an oppressed person ; a menial.
= 8yn. Serf, Slave. The gerf is, in strictness, attached to
the soil, and goes with it in all sales or leases. The glave
is absolutely the property of his master, and may be sold,
given away, etc.. like any other piece of personal property.
See definitions of peon and coolte. See also gervitude.
serfage (ser'faj), H. [_< serf + -age. Cf. servage.]
Same as serfdom.
The peasants have not been Improved by liberty. They
now work less and drink more than they did in the time
of gerf age. D. M. Wallace, Russia, p. 40.
serfdom (s^rf'dum), ». [< serf + -dom.] The
state or condition of a serf.
Whenever a lord provided his slave with an outfit of
oxen, and gave him a part in the ploughing, he rose out
of slavery Into terjdam.
^seioAin, Eng. VQ. Community, p. 405.
The Tories were far from being all oppressors, disposed
to grind down the working-classes into serSdirm.
George Eliot, Felix Holt, iii.
serfhood (sferfhud), n. [< «er/-f -hood.] Same
as xerfdom.
serflam (str'flzm), n. [< serf + -ism.] Same
as .serfdom.
Serg, An abbreviation of sergeant.
sergantt, n. A Middle English form of sergeant.
serge^ (s6rj), «. [< ME. 'serge, sarge (= D. ser-
gie = (i. sersche, sarsehe = Dan. Sw. sars), < OF.
serge, sarge, F. serge = Pr. serqa, sirgua = Sp.
sarga = Pg. sarja = It. sargia (ML. reflex serga,
sarga, sargea), cloth of wool mixed with silk or
linen, serge (ef. ML. serica, sariea, a silken tu-
nic, later applied to a coarse blouse), < L. seri-
ca, fem. of serious, silken, neut. pi. serica, silken
garments: see Seric, sericeous, silk.] If. A
woolen cloth in use throughout the middle ages,'<'
apparently of coarser texture than say.
By ordinaunce thurghout the citee large,
Hanged with cloth of gold, and nat with gorge.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. ino.
Ah, thou say, thou terge, nay, thou buckram lord I
Sluik., 2 Hen. VL, Iv. 7. 27.
2. A kind of twilled fabric, woven originally
of silk, but now commonly of worsted. It is re-
markably strong and durable. Silk serges are
used chiefly for tailors' linings Sage d* Berry,
a soft woolen material used for women's dresses, — SlDc
■erge. .See gilt.
serge-t, «• See cerge.
The candelstik . . . wat; cayred ttiideraone; . . .
Hit wat3 not wonte in that wone [place! to wast [bum] no
gerggg. AaHerative Po»mt (ed. lianU), IL Itaa.
Sergei, t>. An obsolete variant of search.
Prompt. Part., p. 453.
8erge''t, ». An obsolete variant of scarce. Hal-
liirrll.
sergeancy, serjeancy (sftr'- or s6r'jen-si), n.
[< yrriiiaii(l) + -cy.] Same sls sergeaiitahip.
The lord keeper who congratulated their adoption to
that title of gtrftaney.
Bp. Hadctt, Abp. Williams, p. 110. {Latham.)
sergeant, serjeant (siir'- or s^r'jent), «. [Early
mod. E. also scrjant : < ME. sergeant, sergeaunt,
serjant, serjaunt, serjawnt, sergant, < OF. ser-
geant, Btrgent, serjant, sergieiit. sergant, F. ser-
gent a: Pr. tervent, sirvcni = Sp. Pg. sargenlo,
also Sp. sirvienie = Pg. serrente, a servant, = It.
sergente, sergeant, also servente, servant, < ML.
servien{t-)s, a servant, vassal, soldier, apparitor
(of. servient ad legem, 'sergeant at law'; servi-
ens armorum, 'sergeant at arms'), prop, adj., <
L. serTien(t-)s, ppr. of sirrire, serve : see served.
Doublet of servant. For the variations of spell-
ing. «erjreant,<0t;^n(, see below.] It. [In this
and the next four senses usually spelled ser-
jeant.] A servant; a retainer; an armed at-
tendant; in the fourteenth century, one holding
lands by tenure of military service, commonly
used as not including those who had received
knighthood (afterward called esquires). Ser-
jeants were called to various specific lines of
duty besides service in war.
Holdest thou thahne hym a myhty man that hath envy-
rowned hyse sides with men of amies or geriauntz.
Chaucer, Koethlus, 111. prose &,
A maner gergeant was this privee man.
The which that faithful ofte he founden hadde
In thinges grete, Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, 1. 663.
sergeant
Than com oute of the town knyghtes and gergeaunieg
two thousande, and be-gonne the chase vpon hem that
turned to flight. Merlin (E. E. T. S.', ii. 211.
Hence — 2t. An officer of an incorporated mu-
nicipality who was charged with duties corre-
sponding to those previously or elsewhere per-
formed by an officer of the crown.
And the xxiiij. Comyners that cheseth the lawe Bailly,
at that tynie beyiige present, to chese the ij. seriaunts for
the lowe Bailly. Engligh Oildg(E. E. T. S.), p. 396.
He gave Licence to the City of Norwich to have Coro-
ners and Bailiffs, before which Time they had only a Ser-
jeant for the King to keep Courts.
Baker, Chronicles, p. 50.
Hence, also — 3t. A substitute upon whom a
Serjeant was allowed to devolve the personal
discharge of his duties ; a bailiflf.
SeriawrU, undyr a domys niann, for to a-rest menn, or
a catchepol (or baly). Apparitor, satelles. angarius.
Prompt. Parv., p. 463.
This fell sergeant, death,
Is strict in his arrest. Shak., Hamlet, v. 2. 347.
4. One of a body or corps attendant on the
sovereign, and on the lord high steward on the
trial of a peer ; a serjeant-at-arms. — 5. [In this
sense the modem spelling is serjeant.] In
England and Ireland, a lawyer of high rank.
Serjeants at law are appointed by writ or patent of the
crown, from among the utter hamsters. While they have
precedence socially, they are professionally inferior to
queen's counsel ; formerly, however, the Iving's (or queen's)
premier serjeant and ancient serjeant had precedence of
even the attorney-general and solicitor-general. Till the
passing of the Judicature .\ct, 1873, the judges of the su-
perior English coninion-law courts had to be Serjeants;
but this is not now required. No Serjeants have been
created since 1868, and the rank will In all likelihood
soon become extinct.
Seriaunteg hij semede that semen atte barre,
To plede for penyes and poundes the lawe.
Piers Plomnan (CX I. 160.
A Sergeant of the Lawe, war and wys, . . .
And every statut coude he pleyn by rote.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 309.
"Serjeant Buzfoz and Mr. Sklmpin for the plaintiff,"
said the judge. Dickeng, Pickwick, xxilv.
6. In Virginia, an officer in towns having pow-
ers corresponding to those of constable ; in
cities, an officer having powers connected with
the city court oorresponuing to those of sheriff,
and also charged with collecting city revenues.
— 7. A non-commissioned officer of the army
and marines in the grade next above corporal,
and usually selected from among the corporals
for his intelligence and good eonduot. He is ap-
pointed to preserve discipline, to teach the drill, and to
command detachments, as escorts and the like. Every
company has four sergeants, of whom the senior is the
eolor.gergeant. A superior class are the gtaff-gergeantg (see
<(<uf-s«rj;pcan(); and above all Is the gergeant-major. See also
eour^ergearU, enrnmigmtrytergeanl, drUl^geryeant, lance-
gergeant, juartermatUr-gergeant. Abbreviated Serg.
Why should I prnv to 8t George for victory when I may
go to the Lord of Hosts, Almighty God himself ; or con-
sult with a gerjeant, or corporal, when I may go to the
genersl? Donne, Sermons, Ix.
Two color-SCT^^nts, selxing the prostrate colors, con-
tinued the charge. PrebU, Hist Flag, p. 154.
8. A police officer of superior rank.
The gergtanig are presented. . . . We have the whole
Detective Force from Scotland Yard, with one exception.
Dickeng, The Detective Police.
9. A servant in monastic offices. — 10. In
ichth., the sergeant-fish Common sergeant or
■eijeant. See common. — Covering sergeant, a ser-
geant who, during the exercise of a battalion, stands or
moves behind each ofllcer coninianding or acting with a
platoon or company. |Eng.| — Inferior sergeants or
(preferably) Serjeants, Serjeants of the mace In corpora-
tions, officers of the county, etc. There are also Ser-
jeants of manors, etc. [Eng. I — King's or queen's ser-
geant or (preferably) serjeant, the name given to one or
more of the Serjeants at law (see def. .■>), whose presumed
duty is to plea(l for the king in causes of a public nature,
as indictments for treason. [Eng.]— Orderly sergeant.
See orrfn-fi/.— Pay-sergeant, a sergeant appointed to pay
the men and to account for all disbursements. — Prime or
premier sergeant or (prefiiably) serjeant, the queen's
(or king's) first serjeant at law. (Eng.; — Provost ser-
geant. Seepropont.— Sergeant-at-arms, serjeant-at-
arms, (a) An armed att<-ndant ; specifically, a member
of a corps said to have been instituted by Richard I. of
England. It consisted originally of twenty-four persons,
not under the degree of knight, whose duty it was to be In
Immediate attendance on the king's person. One is as-
signed by the CR>wn to attend each house of parliament.
The loni chancellor, the lord treasurer, and on great occa-
sions the lord mayor of London were each thus attended.
One, usually the one attending the House of Lords, is an
officer of the Supreme Court, to make arrests, etc.
For the bailiffes of a Cite purvey ye must a space,
A yemafi of the crowne, Sargeaunt of armeg with mace.
Bahees Book (E. E. T. 8.), p. 187.
Each house had also itagerjeatU-at-amu, an officer whose
duty it was to execute the warrants and orders of the
house while In session. Stubbg, Const. Hist., § 434.
(6) A similar attendant on the king's person in France,
(c) An executive officer In certain legislative bodies. In the
United States Senate he serves processes, makes arrests.
sergeant
uid aids in preserving order ; the sergeant -at-arms in the
House of Representatives has similar duties, and also has
charge of the pay-accounts of the members. — Sergeant or
(usually 1 Serjeant at law. see det. :: ahove. — Sergeant-
(or serjeant-'tat-mace. an otlk-er of a corporation bear-
ing a mace as a stall of office.— Sergeant's (or serjeant'8)
mace. See hkioc'.— Sergeants or (usually) seijeants
of the household, officers who execute several functions
within the royal household in England, as the serjeant-
surgeon, etc. — Sergeant's or (usually) Serjeant's ring,
a ring which an English Serjeant at law presented on the
occasion of his •' taking the coif." or assuming the rank of
Serjeant. The custom seems to have e.\isted since the four-
teenth century. The rings were presented to the eminent
persona who might be present, their value differing great-
ly : thus, in 14-.it>, Sir John Foitescue mentions the most
costly rings as being given to any prince, duke, or arch-
bishop, and to the lord chancellor and lord treasurer of
England, rings of less value to earls, bishops, and certain
officials, of less value again to members of Parliament, and
so on.— Sergeant trumpeter, an officer of the British
royfd household since the sixteenth century, originally
charged with the direction of a band of sixteen trumpeters.
(The two spellings serjeatU and serjeaiit are both cor-
rect, and were formerly used indifferently. Seri^eant, how-
ever, is more in accordance with modern analogies, and
now generally prevails except in the legal sense, and as
applied to feudal tenants, to certain otficers of the royal
household, and, in part, to officers of municipal and legis-
lative bodies, where the archaic spelling Serjeant is re-
tained. See defs. 1-6, above.]
sergeantcy, serjeantcy (sar'- or ser'jent-si), n.
Same as seriicanlship.
sergean't-fisil (siii'jent-fish), w. The oobia, Ela-
cate Canada : so called from the lateral stripes,
suggesting a sergeant's chevrons. It is of a fusi-
form shape, with a broad depressed head, with a few free
dorsal spines in advance of the dorsal fin, and of a grayish
or brownish color with a longitudinal blackish lateral
band. The sergeant- fish is common in the West Indies and
along the southern coast of the United States. It is vora-
cious, but quite savory, and along the coast of Virginia
and Maryland is commonly called bonito. Also called crab-
eater nud snook. See cut under coWa. [Florida.]
sergeant-major (sar'jent-ma'''jor), ». 1. In the
army, the highest non-commissioned officer in
a regiment. He acts as assistant to the adju-
tant.— 2. The cow-pilot, a fish.
sergeantry, serjeantry (sar'- or sfer'jen-tri),
II. [< OF. sergentcrie, serjanterie (ML. servien-
taria, sergentcria), the office of a sergeant, a
tenure so called, < serpent, serjant, etc., ser-
vant, sergeant, etc. : see sergeant.} Same as
sergeanti/.
sergeantsUp, serjeantship (sar'- or sfer'jent-
ship), M. ['sergeant + -ship.'] The office of a
sergeant or Serjeant.
sergeanty, serjeanty (sar'- or s6r'jen-ti), n. [<
OF. sergentie, serjantie, serjeantie (ML. serri-
entia, sergentia), equiv. to sergenterie, etc.: see
sergeantry.} An honorary kind of feudal ten-
ure, on condition of service due, not to any
lord, but to the king only Grand sergeanty or
serjeanty, a particular kind of knight service, a tenure
by which the tenant was bound to attend on the king in
person, not merely in war, but in hiscourt, and at all times
when summoned. — Petit sergeanty or serjeanty, a ten-
ure in which the services stipulated for bore some relation
to war, but were not required to be executed personally by
the tenant, or U) be performed to the person of the king,
as the payment of rent in implements of war, as a bow, a
pair of spurs, a sword, or a lance.
serge-blue (s^rj'blo), «. Same as soluble blue
(which see, under blue).
sergeduBOyt (s6rj'du-soi), n. [F. serge de soie,
silk serge: see serge^, de^, say^.} A material
of silk, or of silk and wool, used in the eigh-
teenth century for men's coats. Planche.
sergette (sfer-jef), n. [¥., dim. of serge, serge:
see serge^.} A thin serge.
serial (se'ri-al), a. and n. [= F. seriel; as series
+ -al.} I. a. 1. Arranged or disposed in a se-
ries, rank, or row, as several like things set one
after another; placed seriatim ; successive, as
beads on a string. Also seriate. — 2. Charac-
terized by or exhibiting serial arrangement;
having the nature or quality of a series ; of or
pertaining to series : as, serial homology (see
homology).
Subjects . . . specially adapted to serial preaching.
Austin Fhelps, Theory of Preaching, p. 600.
3. Published at regularly recurring or succes-
sive times; periodical, as a publication; per-
taining to a serial — Serial sections, in microscopic
anat.j sections arranged in consecutive order as cut from
the object.— Serial symmetry, in biol., the relation be-
tween like parts whicn succeed one another in the long
axis of the body ; the resemblance of metameric divisions,
as the rings of an annelid ; metamerism (which see). This
kind of symmetry is distinguished from bilateral sym-
vMtry, from actinomeric or radial symmetri^, and from
dorsabdominal symmetry. It is concerned with the same
disposition of parts as is anteroposterior symmetry, but
views them differently. The appreciation or recognition
of this symmetry constitutes serial homology.
H. n. 1. A tale or other composition pub-
lished in successive numbers of a periodical.
— 2. A work or publication issued in succes-
sive numbers; a periodical.
5508
The quality of the shilling serial mistakenly written for
her amusement, . . . and, in short, social institutions
generally, were all objectionable to her.
George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, vii.
seriality (se-ri-al'i-ti), n. [< serial + -ity.}
Succession or sequence ; the quality of a series ;
the condition of being serial.
No apparent simultaneity in the consciousness of the
two things between which there is a relation of coexis-
tence can be taken as disproving their original seriality.
U. Spencer, Priu. of Psychol., § 'MS.
serially (se'ri-al-i), adv. So as to be serial ; in
the manner of a series ; seriatim. Also seriatcly.
Serian (se'ri-an), a. [< L. Seres, < Gr. ^ypeg,
Chinese: see Seric, silk.} Same as Seric.
No Serian worms he knows, that with their thread
Draw out their silken lives.
P. Fletcher, Purple Island, xii. 3.
seriate (se'ri-at), v. t.; pret. and pp. seriated,
ppr. seriating. [< ML. seriatus, pp. of seriare,
arrange in a series, < series, a row, series : see
series.} To put into the form of a series, or a
connected or orderly sequence.
Feeling is Change, and is distinguishable from Cosmic
Change in that it is a special and seriated group of changes
in an organism,
O. B. Lewes, I'robs. of Life and Mind, Ist ser., VI. iv. § 56.
The gelatinous tubes or sheaths in which the cells are
seriated are very obvious.
H. C. Wood, Fresh- Water AlgK, p. 227.
seriate (se'ri-at), a. [< ML. seriatusjpp. : see the
verb.] Arranged in a series or order; serial.
seriately (se'ri-at-li), adr. [< ME. 'serially,
ceriatly; < seriate + -ly'^.} Same as serially.
With-out tariyng to wash ther handes went ;
After went to sitte ther ceriatly.
Horn, of Partenay (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1836.
seriatim (se-ri-a'tim), adv. [ML., < L. series, a
series, -f- -atim, as in verbatim, q. v.] Serially
or seriately; so as to be or make a series ; one
after another.
seriation (se-ri-a'shon), w. [='F.seriation; as
seriate + -ion.} The formation of an orderly
sequence or series.
Thinking is seriation.
O. H. Lewes, Probs. of Life and Mind, I. ii. § 36.
Seric (ser'ik), a. [< L. Sericus, < Grr. Xr/piadf, of
the Seres, < Xr/p, pi. S^pef, L. Seres, the Seres
(see def.). Hence ult. E. silk and serge^.} Of
or pertaining to the Seres, an Asiatic people,
from whom the ancient Greeks and Romans got
the first silk. The name Seres is used vaguely, but
their land is generally understood to be China in its north-
ern aspect, or as known by those approaching it from the
northwest.
Serica (ser'i-ka), «. [NL. (MacLeay, 1819), < Gr.
atipiKdc, silken: see Seric, silk.} A genus of
melolonthine beetles, giving name to a disused
family Sericidee. having an ovate convex form
and the tarsal claws cleft. S. brunnea is a Brit-
ish species.
Sericaria (ser-i-ka'ri-a), «. [NL. (Latreille,
1825), < Gr. aripiKdQ, sillien: see Seric, silk.} A
genus of bombycid moths, important as con-
taining the mulben-y-silkworm, or common
silkworm of commerce, S. mori. Many authors,
however, retain the old generic name Bomhyx
for this species. See cut under Bombyx.
serica'te (ser'i-kat), a. [< L. sericus, < Gr. ar/pi-
k6s, silken, -I- -ate^.} Same as sericeous.
sericated (ser'i-ka-ted), a. [isericate + -ed^.}
Covered with a silky down.
sericeous (se-rish'ius), a. [< LL. sericeus, of
silk, < L. sericum, silk: see serge^, silk.} 1.
Containing, pertaining to, or consisting of silk ;
having the character of silk ; silky. — 2. Re-
sembling silk; silky or satiny in appearance;
smooth, soft, and shiny, as the plumage of a
bird, the surface of an insect, etc. — 3. In hot.,
silky; covered with soft shining hairs pressed
close to the surface : as, a sericeous leaf.
sericicultural (ser'i-si-kul"tur-al), o. [< seri-
ciculture + -al.} Of or pertaining to sericieul-
ture. Also sericultural.
sericiculture (ser'i-si-kul'''tur), n. [= F. serici-
cnliure, < LL. -sericum, silk (see silk, sericeous),
+ mdtura, culture.] The breeding, rearing,
and treatment of silkworms ; that part of the
silk-industry which relates to the insects that
yield silk. Also sericulture.
sericiculturist (ser'i-si-kul"tur-ist), n. [< seri-
ciculture + -ist.} One who breeds, rears, and
treats silkworms; one who is engaged in seri-
ciculture. Also sericulturist.
Sericidae (se-ris'i-de), «. /;/. [NL.,< Serica +
-idie.} The Sericides rated as a family of scar-
abeeoid Coleoptera.
Sericides (se-ris'i-dez), n. pi. [NL., < Serica
+ -ides.} A section or series of melolonthine
seriema
beetles, including the genus Serica and related
forms.
sericin (ser'i-sin), n. [< LL. serieitm, silk, -l-
-/«'-.] The gelatinous substance of silk; silk-
gelatin.
sericite (ser'i-sit), n. [< LL. sericum, silk, -I-
-ite'^.} A variety of potash mica, or muscovite,
occtu'rbig in fine scales of a greenish- or yellow-
ish-white color: so named from its silky luster.
It forms an essential part of a silky schist called sericite-
schit^, which is found near Wiesbaden in Germany.
sericite-gneiss (ser'i-sit-nis), w. Gneiss con-
taining sericite in the place of the ordinary
micaceous constituent.
sericite-schist (ser'i-sit-shist), «. A variety
of mica-schist, made up of quartzose material
through which sericite is distributed, in the
manner of muscovite in the typical mica-schist.
sericitic (ser-i-sit'ik), a. [< sericite + -ic.}
Made up of, characterized by, or containing
sericite — Sericitic ^elss. Same as seridte-ffneiss.
Sericocarpus (ser"i-k9-kiir'pus), n. [NL. (C. G.
Nees, 1832), so called in allusion to the silky
hairs covering the achenes ; < Gr. a?/ptK6c, silken,
-f- Kap-irdg, fruit.] A genus of composite plants,
of the tribe Asteroidese and subtribe Hetcrochro-
mese. it is distinguished from the closely related genus
Aster by the usually ovoid involucre with coriaceous whit-
ish green-tipped squamose bracts, imbricated in several
ranks, by few-flowered heads with about five white rays,
and by always silky hairy achenes. The 4 species are na-
tives of the United States, and are known as white-topped
aster. They are erect perennials, usually low, and spread-
ing in colonies by horizontal rootstoclis. They bear alter-
nate sessile undivided leaves, and numerous small heads
of whitish flowers, borne in a flat corymb. S. asteroides
and S. linifoli\u, respectively the 5. conyzoides and S. so-
lidaurineus of many American authors, are the common
species of the Atlantic States.
sericon (ser'i-kon), n. [Origin obscure.] In
alchemy, a red tincture: contrasted with bufo,
black tincture. The words were used to terrify
the uninitiated.
Out goes
The fire ; and down th' alembecs, and the furnace ;
Both sericon and bufo shall be lost.
Piger Henricus, or what not Thou wretch !
B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1.
Sericostoma (ser-i-kos'to-ma), n. [NL. (La-
treille, 1825), < Gr. cripiKO^, silken, -I- aroita,
mouth.] The typical genus of Sericostomatidie.
Seventeen species are known, all European. The adults
are elongate, appear in summer, and do not stray from
the margins of their breeding-places. The larva; live in
cylindrical cases in small and moderately swift streams.
S. personatum is a British species.
Sericostomatidse (ser"i-ko-sto-mat'i-de), n. pi.
[NL. (Stephens, 1836, as Sericostomidse), < Seri-
costoma{t-) + -idx.} A family of trichopterous
neuropterous insects or caddis-flies, typified by
the genus Sericostoma. it is a large and wide-spread
group, represented in nearly all parts of the world, and
comprises (usually) excessively hairy insects, for the most
part uniform in color or with few markings. The larvse
generally inhabit streams, and their cases, usually formed
of sand or sm:dl stones, vary greatly in form.
sericterium (ser-ik-te'ri-um), n.; pi. sericteria
(-a). [NL., in-eg. < Gr. aripmdv, silk, + term.
-Hiptov.} A spinning-gland; a glandular appa-
ratus in insects for the secretion of silk. Seric-
teria have been compared to salivary glands when consist-
ing of larger or smaller tubes opening near the mouth.
Such organs occur in various insects, and in different parts
of their bodies. The most important are those of silk-
worms.
The larva of the antlion has its spinning organs at the
opposite end of the body, the wall of the rectum . . . tak-
ing the place of the sencteria. Claus, Zobl. (trans.), p. 632.
sericultural (ser'i-kul-tur-al), n. Same as seri-
cicuUural.
sericulture (ser'i-kul-tur), n. Same as serici-
culture.
sericulturist (ser'i-kul-tur-ist), n. [< sericul-
ture + -ist.} Same as sericiculturist.
Sericulus (se-rik'u-lus), n. [NL. (Swainson,
1825), dim. of LL. sericuvi, silk : see Seric, silk.}
An Australian genus of Oriolidee or of Paradi-
seidx, with sericeous black and golden-yellow
plumage; regent-birds, as S. 7nelinus or chryso-
cephalus, the common regent-bird. The posi-
tion of the genus has been much questioned.
See cut under regent-bird.
seriet, «. [ME., also serye, < OF. *serie, < L. se-
ries, a row : see series.} A series.
What may I conclude of this longe serye,
But after wo I rede us to be merye ?
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 2209.
seriema (ser-i-e'ma), m [See cariama.} A
remarkable South American bird, whose name
is as unsettled in orthography as is its position
in the ornithological system. It is usually regard-
ed as grallatorial, and related to the cranes, but some-
times placed with the birds of prey, next to the African
secretary-bird, which it resembles in some respects. It is
3 feet long ; the wing 15 inches, the tail 13, the tarsus 7^ ;
Seriema iCtriapna crtstata).
senema
the legs are bare above the suffrago ; the head is crested
with a frontal egret : the bill is rml ; the bare orbit bluish ;
the iris yellow; the
plumage is dark, but
somewhat variegat-
ed with lighter col-
ors, and the tail is
tipped with white.
The seriema inhabits
the canipos of Brazil
and northern Para-
guay, and may be do-
mesticated. For it«
technical names, see
Cariama and Caria-
midje.
series (se'rez or
se'ri-ez), n.; pi.
series. [In earlier
use (ME.) serie,
< OF. 'serie, F.
serie = Sp.Pg. It.
serie; < L. series,
a row, succes-
sion, course, se-
ries, connection,
etc., < serere, pp.
sertus, join toge-
ther, bind, = Gr.
elpeiv, fasten, bind; cf. aeipa, a rope, Skt. -^ si,
bind. From the same L. verb are also ult. E. as-
sert, (lesert, dissert, exert, exsert, insert, seraglio,
serial, etc.] 1. A continued succession of simi-
lar things, or of things bearing a similar rela-
tion to one another; an extended order, line, or
course ; sequence ; succession : as, a .series of
kings; a series of calamitous events; defini-
tions arranged in several distinct series.
A dreadful «en«« of int«stlne wura,
Inglorious triumphs and dishonest scars.
Pope, Windsor Forest, 1. 32.S.
AsnoMof unmerited mischances had pursued him from
that moment. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, tL 13.
2. In geol., a set of strata possessing some com-
mon mineral or fossil characteristic : as, the
greensand series; the Wenlock series. — 3. In
chem., a number of elements or compounds
which have certain common properties and re-
lations, or which exhibit, when arranged in or-
derly succession, a constant difference from
member to member. Thus, the elemenU lithium,
sodium, potassium, rubidium, and csslnm form a natural
aeries having the familiar properties of the alkalis, and
certain striking physical relations to the other elements.
The hydrocarbons methane <CH4X ethane (CjHs). propane
(CaHn), etc., form a series having the constant (lifference
CHa between successive members, but all the members
having in common great chemical stability, slight reac-
tive properties, and Incapacity to unite directly with any
element or radicaL
4. Ill niiniis., a set of coins made at any one
place or time, or issued by any one sovereign
or government.
In the Thraclan Chersonese the most Important teHa
is one of small autonomous silver pieces, probably of the
town of t'ardla. Bneye. Brit., XVIL 840.
5. In philately, a set of similar postage- or reve-
Due-stamps. — 6. In math., a progression; also,
more usually, an algebraic expression appear-
ing as a sum of a succession of terms subject
to a regular law. in many cases the number of terms
Is Infinite, in which case the addition cannot actually be
performed ; it Is, however. Indicated.
7. In systematic bot., according to Gray, the
first group l)elow kingdom and the next above
class: equivalent to subhingdom or dieision
(which see). In actual aawe, however, this rule U bv
no means always obsenred. In Bentham and Hooker's
"Oenera" it is a group of cohorts with two stages t>e-
tween it and kingdom : and in the same and other good
works It may be found denoting the first snbdirlsion of an
order, a tribe, a aubtrihe, a genus, and doubtless still other
groups. It appears, however, always to mark a compre-
hensive and not very strongly accentuated division.
8. In soiil., a number of genera in a family, of
families in an order, etc.; a section or division
of a taxonomic group, containing two or more
groups of a lower grade : loosely and variably
used, like grade, group, cohort, phalanx, etc. —
9. In a»r. pros., game as co/oiil, 2. — 10. In
bihliogriiphy, a set of volumes, as of periodical
publications or transactions of societies, sepa-
rately numbered from another set of the same
publication. Abbreviated ser Al)el's series, the
serl*"«
tz = to+tr$ -H*LJ?)rw) + .
if.z - «9)"-
I
■
i!
n:
Arithmetical lerles, a succession of quantities each dif-
fering from the preceding by the addlticm or subtraction
of a constant difference, as 1,.H, .I, 7, 9. 11, etc., or 10. s, (l,
4. 2, 0, - % — 4, _ (1, etc. : algebraically, a, a d, a + !d,
a+3d,a fr*d, etc., or z.z — d. z—2d. z :fd. z -4rl, etc..
where a represents the least term, z the greatest, atid d the
common difference. Ascending series, a series accord-
ing to ascending powers of the variable, utt„ + a,x + a^'
5509
+ 03X'4-(r,a:*-f . . . — BemouUian series. SeeBemoul-
fian.— Binet's series, the series
1 /-l
+ hfL(^+l)...(,ji+n-l)Jx(l-x)...(,n-l-x)(,x-i)AxT...,
o
where i^) is defined by the equation
TM=y2ir^^''-' e-t' + W
Binomial series, the series of the binomial theorem.—
Biirmann'S series, the series of BUrmann's theorem
(whicti see, under ttieorem). — Cayley'S series, the series
t(x + a + bT-c + e + . . .) = Hx -b^e + e^. . .)
+J ia.r(x + e + e + ...)
o
iaj d(o -h 6) f (x + «-(-...) + . ..
Circular series, a series whose terms depend on circular
lunctions, as sines, cosines, etc. — Contact series of the
metalB. .Same as eieetrotnotiir ^^t^nVji. ~ Continued se-
ries, a continued fraction.— Converffent or converging
series. See eoneerging.— Descending series. See de-
tcendi)tg.—Oe StalrvUle's series, the series
(l-fe)""/* =l + a2 + tt(a + k)z^!2<.
+ a(a r *) (a t 2i)z='/3 ! i . . .
Determinate series, a series whose terms depend on
different powers or other functions of a constant. — Dl-
rtchlet's series, the series s|-^j-, where ( — 1 is the
Legendrian symbol.— Discontinuous series, a series
the value of the sum of which does not vary continuously
with the independent varialtle, so that for certain values
of the variable the series represents one function and for
other values another. Thus, the series
sin (^ — i sin 2(^ + J sin 3<^ — . . .
is equal to Hi (or values of <^ between — ir and -|- ir ; but
(or values between ir and 2ir, It Is equal to *<>r —*).— Di-
vergent series. See di^trgent. — Double series, a series
the general term of which contains two variable integers.
Such a series is the following :
a„„ +a«,z +Oo.*' +• • ■
+ o,„coB* ta,,zcosx -^a.^'cosz +■. . .
+ a-„, cos 2x r Oj.icos 2z + a,,z* COB 2x r. . .
Elaenstein's series, the double series the general term
of which is 1 (M- - S'= - . . .y, where M, N. are integers
raiying indeperuleritly from 1 to a. — Electrochemical,
electromotive, equldlfferent series, see the adiec
tlvei — Exponential series, a mrii-s whose tcrmsdepend
on expoin iitial iiuantitiis— Factorial series, a series
proceeding by factnrials instead >f powers of the variable.
— Faiey seriei, a succession uf all |>ru[>er vulgar frac-
tions whose tenns do not exceed a given limit, arranged
in order o( their magnitudes.— Fibonacci's series, the
phyllotactic saccesslon of numbers : 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 18, Jl ,
34, 5.5, t», etc. These numbers are such that the sum of any
two successive ones gives the next, a property possessed
also by the series 2, I, 3, 4, 7, 11, 18, 29, 47, 76, etc., and by
no other series except derivatives of these. The series Is
named from the Italian mathematician Fibonacci or I.eo-
nardo of Pfan (Arst part of the thirteenth century), who
flrst considerea It. Also called Lamp's seriM.—Flgurate
serial, • regular succession of Hgurate numbers. ^^Inlte
■ariea, a polynomial consisting of all the terms which sat-
1^ a certain general condition, especially when, by virtue
of that condition, they have a determinate linear order.
Fluent by aeriea. See /lumt.— Fourier's series, the
series
seringa
That the nth differential coefficient relatively to x should
be equal to in ! is the necessary and suftlcient condition
of n being prime. — Lamp's series. Same as Fibonacci's
«nV«.— Laplace's series, tlle series of Laplace's theorem
(which see, under theorem).— LsiW of a series, that rela-
tion which subsists between the successive terms of a se-
ries, and by wliich their general term may be expressed.—
Leibnitz's series, the series
D^W) = uD'"v + ml>u.D'"-'v
m(m — 1)
Vu.l>'"--V +
Logarithmic series, a series whose terms depend on
logarithms. — Maclaurln's series, the series of Mao-
laurin's theorem (which see, under /A€or«m). — Malaco-
zolc series. See malacozoic. — Mixed series, a series
whose summation partly depends on the quatirature of
the circle and partly on that of the hyperi)ola. — Num-
mtilitlc series, see nmnmuiuic. — Oolitic series, see
ooiitf. — Osborne series, in <jeol., a division of the Lower
Tertiary series, forming a subgroup in the Older iliocene,
or Oligocene, of the Hampshire basin, England, and the
Isle of Wight. It consists of clays, marls, sands, and
limestones, with fresh-water shells, and is about 70 feet
in thickness. Also called St. Helen's 6<"d«.— Pea-grit
series. Seepea grit.— Reciprocal series, a series each
term of which is the reciprocal of the corresponding
term of another stries.- Recurrent series, a series in
which each term is a given linear function of a certain
number of those which precede it. — Recurring series.
See reci/rriiisr. - Red Marl series. seeiddWi. Rever-
sion of series. See revergion.— Rhizoristlc series.
See rhizorislic.— Schwab's series, the succession of posi-
tive numbers A, B, C = J(A i B), D = )/Bt\ E = J(C -)- D),
F = y'ue, etc.— Semi-convergent series, (a) A series
which is at flrst convergent and afterward divergent.
Such series are of great value, and frequently afford ex-
tremely close approximations. (6) A series which is con-
vergent although if the signs of all the terms were the
same (or their arguments considered as imaginaries were
the same) it would be divergent. — Series dynamo. See
electric machine, under electric. — Summation of Series,
the metho<l of finding the sum of a series whether the
number of terms is finite or infinite. See progresnon.—
Syllogistic series, a logical sorites.— Taylors series,
the series of Taylor's theorem (which see, under theorem).
-The general term of a series, a function of some
indeterminate ^luantity x, which, on substituting succes-
sively the iniml^ers 1, 2. .s, etc., for x, produces the terms
of the series.- Thermo-electric series. See thermo-
electricity. To arrange in series, as voltaic cells. See
battery, 8 (d) — To revert a series. See rfiv>r(.— Trigo-
nometric series, a series in which the successive terms
are sines and c.isines of successive multiples of the varia-
bles nuiltiplit'd by coefficients — tllat is, tile series
Ao-f-A|COSZ rA3COS2x + . . .
+ B, sin X ■ Bj sin ix-i . . .
series-'WOUIld (se'rez-wound), a. Noting dyna-
mos or motors wound in series, or so that the
wire of the field-magnets forms a part of the
armature and exterior circuit. See electric ma-
chine, under electric.
serif (ser' if ), «. [Also ffri;)/i and «m;)ft; origin
obscure.] The short cross-line put as a fiiiisli
at the ends of the terminating or unconnected
strokes of roman or italic types, as in H, 1, d,
and y. its form varies with the style of the type: In
the Elzevir it is short and stubby ; in some French styles
IHL IHL IHL
ivJ-w
fO)d^ + COS X.
nj -ir
(O)cos0.d3
-l-slnz.
(O) tin ^.d^ -t- cos 2z
nj-w
(0)COS2«.d/3
-t-sinet.
wj-n
((^)sln2/9.d/9-|-. ..
Fnnctlonal leriM, a series in which the general term
contains a variable operational exj>oiient. — OaUBSlan
aeries, see GaMitan — Oeometrical series, a series in
which the terms Increase or decrease by a common multi-
plier or common divisor, termed the common ratio. See
progremon Oregory'B series, the series arc tan z =
z-iz"-(-lx»— Jz'h . . .- Harmonic series, the finite
series l-|-J-fJ-i-J-t-...-i-l/n, which is nearly equal to
nst log ynin ^l>-fl/9n<n -h 1) . 0.677215*649. -Heine's
aeries, or Helnean series, the series
l-q 1
\-q
q-< + ' 1
<j» 1
r 1-
Invented by Heine In 1847.— Hyperbolic series, a series
whose sum depends upon the quadrature of the hyper-
bola, as the bannonlc series — l^pergeometric series.
Same as (Jiausrian smes.— Indeterminate series. See
indeterminatM. — Infinite series, an algebraical expres-
sion appearing as a sum nf teritis, but ditfering therefrom
In thatthe termsare infinite ill number. The most usual
way of writing an Infinite series is to set down a fe.w of
theflrsttermsadded together, and then to append " f. . .,
or -I- etc.," which Is not addition, certainly, but Is the In-
dication of something analogous to the addition of the
terms given. Another way is to write a general expression
for any one of the terms of the series, and to prefix to this
S, the sign for Hiiininatioii. — In series. See in jtarallel,
under parnltrl - Jet-rock series. s,e> /-'. ' Karoo se-
ries. See Ji-arrKi.- -Lagrange's series, the series of Ia-
grange's theorem (which see, umiar theorem), — Lambert's
series, the series
it is long. flat, and slender; in the Scotch-face it Is curved
like a bracket on the inner side. See gans-gerif.
Seriform (se'ri-form), o, [< L. Seres, Gr. l^ptc,
the Chinese, + forma, form.] Noting a section
of the Altaic family of languages, comprising
the Chinese, Siamese, Burmese, etc. [Rare,]
serigraph (ser'i-grAf), w. An instrument for
testing the luiiformity of raw silk.
Serilophus (se-ril'o-fus), «. [NL. (Swainson,
1837), emended to Sericolophiis (Reichenbach,
18,50), < Gr. tniptKd^. silken, -I- /(<i^of, crest.] An
Indian genus of broadbills of the subfamily
EuryUeminse, containing such species as S. lu-
natus, the lunated broadbill, which ranges from
Tenasserim to Rangoon. S. rubropygins is a
Nepaulfse species.
serimeter (se-rim'e-t^r), n. An instrument for
testing the tensile strength of silk thread.
serin (ser'in), N. [< F. serin, m., serine, f. (NL.
Serinvs), OF. serin, .terein = Pr. serin (ML. Se-
rena), according to some < L. citrinus, citrine,
i. e. yellow (see citrine), according to others a
serin, canary; lit, a siren, =i OF. serene; see
siren.'] A small fringilline bird of central and
soutliem Europe, the finch Fringilla serinvs or
Serinits hortiilan us, closely related to the canary.
It very closely resembles the' wild canary in its natural
coloration, and the canary is In fact a kind of serin-finch.
See Sflrintai (with cut).
serinette (ser-i-nef), «. [F.. ^ serincr, teach
a iiiril to sing, < serin, a serin: see serin.'] A
small hand-organ used in the training of song-
birds; a bird-organ.
serin-finch (ser'in-finch), n. The serin or other
finch of the genus Serinus, as a canary-bird.
seringa (»e-ring'ga), w. [So called because
caoutchouc was used to make syringes; < Pg.
seringa
seringa = Sp. xeriuga = It. sciringa, scilinga =
OP. siringue. si/riiigue, F. seringuc, a syringe:
see .tyriiige.'i A name of several Brazilian trees
of the gemis Heiea. yielding india-rubber. —
Seringa-oil. Same as giringa-oil (which see, under ml).
seringhi i.se-ring'ge), H. [E. Ind.J A musical
instruiuent of the viol class, used in India.
Serinos (se-ri'nus), H. [NL. (Koch, 1816), from
the specific name of Fringilla seriwis, < F. serin,
a serin: see serin.'] A genus of birds of the
family Fringillidie ; the serins, serin-finches, or
canaries. The common serin is S. horttdantie; the ca-
Serin (.?^n«wr horfulanus).
nary is S eanarixa of Madeira and the Canary Islands and
Azores — in its wild state hardly more than a variety of
the foregoing; a third species, S. aurifrons or canonicug,
inhabittr I^estine. There are more than a dozen other
species.
serio-comic (se'ri-o-kom'ik), a. Having a mix-
tui-e of seriousness and comicality.
serio-comical (se'ri-o-kom'l-kal), a. Same as
serio-comic.
serio-comically (se''ri-o-kom'i-kal-i), adv. In a
half-serious, half-comic manner.
Sejriola (sf-n'o-la), ». [NL. (Cuvier, 1829), from
an Italian name of the 'type species, S. dn-
merili.~i A genus of earangoid fishesj the am-
ber-fishes, of moderate and large size, often
of showy coloration, and valuable for food. s.
zoiuxta Is the rudder-Hsh ; S. rivoliana and S. .faZcata are
known as rock-satmon in Florida ; -S". lalandi or dorsalis is
called yellowtail. These fishes inhabit warm waters of
the Atlantic, the rudder-fish Koing as far north as Cape
Cod. See cut under amber-fish.
SeriolinaB(se'ri-o-li'ne),».p;. [<-SerJoto +-!««.]
A subfamily of Carangidx, typified by the ge-
nus Seriola, with the premaxillaries protractile,
the pectoral fins short and not falcate, maxil"-
laries with a distinct supplemental bone, and
the anal fin shorter than the second dorsal. It
includes the amber-fishes, pilot-fish, etc. See
cuts under amber-fish and Naucrates.
serioline (se-ri'o-lin), a. and n. I, a. Of, or
having characteristics of, the SerioUme.
II. «. A earangoid fish of the subfamily Sc-
riolinee.
Serioso (sa-ri-6's6), arfi). [It.: see serious.'] In
music, in a serious, grave, thoughtful manner.
serious (se'ri-us), a. [Early mod. E. serialise,
seryouse; < ME. seri/ows, < OP. serieux, P. seri-
eux = It. serioso, < ML. seriosus, an extension
of L. serius (> It. Sp. Pg. serio), grave, earnest,
serious; perhaps for "sevrius, and in effect an-
other form of severus, grave, serious, austere,
severe: see severe. Some compare AS. swmr,
swdr = OS. »war = OPries. swere = MD. sroaercj
D. zwaar = MLG. swdr = OHG. smdri, swar,
MHG. swxre, G. schwer, heavy, weighty, = Icel.
svd.rr = Sw. svdr = Dan. svser, heavy, = Goth.
steers, esteemed, honored (lit. 'heavy'?); cf.
Lith. stcarus, heavy, svdras, svdras, weight.]
1. Grave in feeling, manner, or disposition;
solemn; earnest; not light, gay, or volatile;
of things, springing from, expressing, or indu-
cing gravity or earnestness of feeling.
Away, you fool ! the king is serimt^,
And cannot now admit your vanities.
Beau, and Fl., King and No King, iii. 3.
I am more serimix than my custom ; you
Must be so too, if heed me.
Shah., Tempest, ii. 1. 219.
Whether thou choose Cervantes' gerioiu air,
Or laugh and shake in Eabelais' easy chair.
Pope, Dunciad, i. 21.
Retracing step by step our homeward walk.
With many a laugh among our serious talk.
Lowell, Agassiz, iv. 1.
2. In earnest; not jesting or making pretense.
I hear of peace and war in newspapers ; but I am never
alarmed, except when I am informed that the sovereigns
want treasure ; then I know that the monarchs are seri
out. IHsraeli.
5510
3. Important; weighty; not trifling.
Socrates . . . was nat ashamed to account daunsinge
anionge the seriouse disciplines, for 'the commendable
beautie, for the apte and proportionate nieuinge, and for
the craftie disposition and facionyng of the boiiy.
Sir T. Elyot, Tlie Governour, 1. 20.
I'll hence to London on a serious matter.
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., v. ,5. 47.
The State of Ireland being thus in combustion, a serious
Consultation is holden whom to send to quench it.
Baker. Chronicles, p. 387.
4. Attended with danger; giving rise to ap-
prehension : as, a serious illness.
With serious lung-coraplication a full rash fof measles]
may recede. Qimin, Med. IJict., p. 1)26.
5. Deeply impressed with the importance of
religion; making profession of or pretension
to religion. [Now cant.]
And Peter Bell . . .
Grew serious — from his dress and mien
*Twas very plainly to be seen
Peter was quite reformed.
Shelley, Peter Bell the Third, i. 1.
Serious family — . . . each female servant required to
join the Little Bethel Congregation three times every
Sunday— with a serious footman.
Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, xvi.
— Syn. 1. Solemn, etc. See graved. — 1 and 2. Sedate, staid,
sober, earnest — 3. Great, momentous,
seriouslyl (se'ri-us-li), adv. 1. In a serious
manner ; gravely ; solemnly ; in earnest ; with-
out levity : as, to think seriously of amending
one's life.
Juno and Ceres whisper seriously.
Shak., Tempest, iv. 1. 125.
2. In a grave or alarming degree or manner ;
so as to give ground for apprehension.
The sounder side of a beam should always be placed
downwards. Any flaw on the lower surface will seriously
weaken the beam.
It. S. Ball, Experimental Mechanics, p. 188.
Seriously^t (se'ri-us-li), adv. [< * serious"^ (< L.
series, series) + -ly'^.~] In a series; seriatim.
Thus proceeding to the letters, to shewe your Grace
summarily, for rehersing everything seriously, I shal over
long molesie your Grace.
StaU Papers, i. 299. (Halliwell.)
seriousness (se'ri-us-nes), w. The condition
or character of being serious, in any sense of
that word.
seriph, n. See serif.
Serj. An abbreviation of Serjeant.
Serjania (ser-ja'ni-a), «. [NL. (Plumier, 1703),
named after Paul Serjeant, a French botanist.]
A genus of polypetalous shrubs of the order
Sapindacex and tribe I'anllinicse. It is character-
ized by irregular flowers with Ave concave sepals (or with
two of them united), four petals, a wavy disk enlarging
into fourglands, eight stamens united at the base, a three-
celled ovary containing three solitary ovules, and ripening
into three indehiscent wing-fruits bearing the seed at the
apex. About 155 species have been described, all South
American, and mostly tropical. They are climbing or twin-
ing shrubs, with alternate compound leaves, often pel-
lucid-dotted, and yellowish flowers in axillary racemes or
panicles, frequently tendril-bearing. Some of the species
are narcotic-poisonous, S. lethalis, of Brazil, there called
timboe, being used as a flsh-poison. ForS. polyphylla, see
hasket-wood.
serjantt, "■ An obsolete spelling of sergeant.
serieant, serjeancy, etc. See sergeant, etc.
serkt, »• A Middle English spelling of sari-.
serkelt, "• A Middle English spelling of circle.
serlichet, '"?'■• Same as serely.
sermocinal (ser-mos'i-nal), a. [Irreg. < L. ser-
mocinari, talk, discourse, + -al.] Pertaining to
speech.
sermocination (s6r-mos-i-na'shon), II. [< F.
sermocination, < L. sermocinatioln-), < sermoci-
nari (> It. sermocinare), talk, discourse, ha-
rangue, < scrmo(n-), speech, talk, discourse: see
sermon.] It. Speech-making.
Sermocinatiom of ironmongers, felt-makers, cobblers,
broom-men. lip. Hall, Free Prisoner, § 2.
2. A form of prosopopoeia in which the speaker,
having addressed a real or imaginary hearer
with a remark or especially a question, im-
mediately answers for the hearer: as, "Is a
man known to have received foreign money?
People envy him. Does he own it? They
laugh. Is he formally convicted? They for-
give him."
sermocinatort (sfer-mos'i-na-tor), n. [< LL. ser-
mocinator, a talker, < Ij. sermocinari, discourse:
see sermocination.] One who makes speeches ;
one who talks or harangues.
These obstreperous sermocinators make easy impression
upon the minds of the vulgar. Howell.
sermologUS (sfer-mol'o-gus), n.; pi. scrmologi
(-ji). [NL., < L. sermo, a speech, + Gr. llyeiv,
speak: aoe -ology.] A volume containing vari-
ous sennons by the church fathers and the
sermoning
popes, or that section of the ' ' Legends " which
contains such sermons. F. G. Lee.
sermon (ser'mon), n. [< ME. sermon, sermone,
scrmoun, serrmm, sarmon, sarmoun, < OF. ser-
mon, sermun, sermotin, F. sermon = Pr. sermon,
sermo = Sp. sermon = Pg. sermSo = It. sermone
= Icel. sermon, < L. sernio(n-), speaking, speech,
talk, conversation, discourse, discussion, a
speech or discourse, report, rumor, a conversa-
tional satire, style, a word, etc., ML. a sermon;
perhaps akin to AS. su-erian, speak: see swear,
answer.] If. A speech, discourse, or writing.
But what avalleth suche a longe sermoun
Of aventures of love up and doune ?
Chaucer, Complaint of Mars, 1. 209.
Yelverton mad a fayir sermone at the Sesschyonys, and
seyd ... so that the Kyng was informyd that ther was a
ryotows felawschep in thys contre. Paston Letters, 1. 178.
2. A discourse delivered by a clergyman, licen-
tiate, or other person, for the purpose of reli-
gious instruction and edification, during divine
service, usually founded upon or in elucidation
of some text or passage of Scripture.
For alle cunnynge clerkis siththe Crist gede on erthe
Taken ensaumples of here sawis in sarmonis that thei
maken,
And be here werkis and here werdis wissen vs to Dowel.
Piers Plowman (A), xi. 266.
So worthy a part of divine service we should greatly
wrong, if we did not esteem Preaching as the blessed ordi-
nance of God, nermons as keys to the kingdom of heaven,
as wings to the soul, as spurs to the good atf ections of man.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. 22,
A verse may find him who a Sermon flies.
6. Herbert, The Temple, The Church Porch.
Upon this occasion . . . he [Sydney Smith] preached in
the cathedral two remarkable sermons, upon the unjust
judge, and the lawyer who tempted Christ.
Lady Holland, Sydney Smith, viiL
Hence — (a) A written dissertation of similar character.
(b) Any serious address on a moral or religious theme,
whether delivered or published, by a clertryman or by a
layman : as, a lay sermon, (c) Any serious exhortation,
counsel, or reproof : usually in an admonitory or reproba-
tory sense.
Perhaps it may tui-n out a sang.
Perhaps turn out a sermon.
Burns, Epistle to a Young Friend.
Baccalaureate sermon. iy^ehaccalnureate.—ZQTxnoTi.
on the Mount, the discourse reported in the flfth, sixth,
and seventli chapters of .Matthew and in the sixth chapter
of Luke, as delivered by Christ. =Syn. 2. Sermon, Htunily,
Exhortation. Sermon is the standard word for a formal
address on a religious subject, founded upon a text of
Scripture. Homily is an old word for the same thing, es-
pecially for an exposition of doctrine, but is now more
often used for a conversational address, shorter than a
sermon, of much directness and seriousness, perhaps upon
a point of duty. Exhortation is occasionally used for a
religious address appealing to one's conscience or calling
one to the performance of duty in general or some speciflc
duty.
sermon (ser'mon), V. [< ME. sermonen, < OT*.
scrmoner, P. sermonner = It. sermonare, dis-
course, lecture, < LL. .sermonari, talk, discourse,
< sermo{n-), speech, talk, LL. a sermon : see ser-
mon, «.] I. trans. If. To discourse of, as in a
sermon .
To some, I know, this Methode will seeme displeasaunt.
which had rather liave good discipline delivered plainly
in way of precepts, or sermoned at large.
Spenser, To Sir Walter Kaleigh, Prefix to F. Q.
2. To tutor; lecture.
Come, sermon me no fiuther. Shak., T. of A., ii. 2. 181.
Il.t intrans. To compose or deliver a sermon ;
discourse.
You sermon to vs of a dungeon appointed for offendors
and miscredents.
Hotinshed, Chron., I., Descrip. of Ireland, iv.
sermoneer (ser-mo-ner'), n. [< sermon + -rer.]
A preacher of sermons; a sermonizer.
The wits will leave you if they once perceive
You cling to lords; and lords, if them you leave
For sermoneers. B. Jonson, Underwoods, Ixviii.
sermoner (ser'mon-er), H. Same as sermonizer.
This [grandiloquence] is the sin of schoolmasters, gov-
ernesses, critics, sermonen, and instructors of young or old
people. Thackeray, Roundabout Papers, Be Finibus.
sermonet, sermonette (ser'mon-et), «. [< ser-
mon + -rt.] A little sermon. [Recent.]
It [the Rule of Benedict] opens with a sennorut or hor-
tatory preface. Encyc. Brit.. XVI. 704.
It was his characteristic plan to preach a series of week-
day sermonets.
PaU Man Gazette, Dec. 27, 1883. (.Eneye. Diet.)
sermonic (sfer-mon'ik), a. [< sermon + -tc.]
Having the character of a sermon. [Rare.]
Conversation . . . grave or gay, satirical or sermonie.
J. Wilson.
sermonical (str-mon'i-kal), a. [< sermonic +
-III.] Same as sermonic.
sermoning (sfr'mon-ing), «. [< ME. sermoning ,
verbal n. of sermon, v.] The act of preaching
I
sermoning
or teaching; hence, homily; instmotion; ad-
vice.
But berof was so long a aeniwninff.
Hit were to long to make rehersing.
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 1184.
If the like occasion come againe, hee shall lesse need
the help of breviatea, or historicall rhapsodies, than your
reverence to eek out your iermonings shall ueed repaire
to PostiUs, or Polianthea's.
MUton^ On Def. of Humb. Remonst.
sermonise, sermoniser. See sermonize, sermon-
i:er.
senuonish (ser'mon-ish), a. [< sermon + -ish^.']
Jjike a .sermon. [Rare.] Imp. Diet
sermonist (s&r'mon-ist), n. [< sermon + -ist.1
A writer or deliverer of sermons.
sermonimn (s<^r-m6'ni-um), h. ; pi. sermonia (-S).
[NL. (see def.), < L. sermoln-), a speaking, djs-
coiirse: see sermon.'] An interlude or histori-
cal play formerly acted by the inferior orders of
the Roman Catholic clergy, assisted by youths,
in the body of the church.' Bailey.
sermonize (s^r'mon-iz), v. ; pret. and pp. ser-
moni:t(l, ppr. sermonizing. [< ML. sermonizari,
< L. sernw(ii-), a discourse: see sermon.'] I.
intrans. 1. To preach; discourse; harangue;
use a dogmatic or didactic style in speaking or
writing.
In sailor fashion roughly sermonizing
On providence and trust in Heaven.
TennygoH, Enoch Arden.
I feel as if I ought to foUow these two personages of my
termoniaruj story until they come together or separate.
O. W. Holmes, Atlantic Monthly, LXVI. 668.
2. To lecture ; lay down the law.
The dictates of a morose and sermonizing father.
Chesterfield. (LaOunn.')
Though the tone of it is distinctly religious, there Is very
little sermonizing and no false sentiment
St. Jame^s Oazette, Dec. 22, 1S86. (Eneye. Diet.)
3. To make sermons; compose or write a ser-
mon.
II. trans. To preach a sermon to ; discourse
to in a formal way; persuade, affect, or influ-
ence by or as by a sermon.
We have entered into no contest or competition which
of us shall sing or sermonize the other fast asleep.
Landor, Imag. Conv., Lord Brooke and .Sir Philip Sidney.
Also spelled sermonise.
sermonizer (s6r'mon-i-zfrr), n. [< sermonize +
-<(■'.] A preacher or writer of sermons: used
chiefly in a depreciatory sense. Also spelled
sermoniser.
He [Crowley} was not leas a favorite sermonizer. He
touched a tremulous chord in the hearts of the people, and
his opinions found an echo in their breasts.
/. If Israeli, Amen, of Lit., I. 877.
sermount, ». A Middle English form of sermon.
sermountain (s^r'moun'tan), n. [< OF. ser-
iiioiitniii. "slier mountain, bastard loveage "
(Cotgrave): see Siler.] A European umbel-
liferous plant, said to be a kind of Laserpitium
or .^'i/'T.
sermnncle (ser'mung-kl), w. [< L. sermuneu-
lii!<, a little discourse, common talk, tattle, dim.
of sermoin-), discourse, talk: see sermon.'] A
little sermon or discourse.
The essence of this devotion ii a series of mrvumeUs,
meditations, hymns, or prayers.
Church Times, April 2, 188* (Xneye. Diet.)
serofibrinous (se-ro-fi'bri-nus), a. [< h. serum
+ E. fibrin : nee fibrinous.] Consisting of serum
which contains fibrin.
seron, n. [Trade-name; cf. teroon.] An ob-
long package of mate, or Paraguay tea, holding
about 200 pounds, of which the outer wrapping
material is raw hide put on and sewed together
while green, the subsequent shrinkage in dry-
ing compacting the mass.
seroon (se-rSn ), n. [Also ceroon, seron, se-
riinr ; < Sp. seron, a hamper, crate (= Pg. eei-
rHo, a great basket), aug. of sera, a large
pannier or basket, also a rush, = Pg. ceira, a
basket used by porters, a frail, also a rush.
Cf. Cat. Sp. sarria, a net or basket woven of
rushes, = OF. sarrie, a pannier ; origin uncer-
tain.] A hamper, pannier, or crate in which rai-
sins, figs, almonds, and other fruit, seeds and
other iirtielcs, especially from Spain or the Med-
iterrarii'iin, are eomnionly packed.
seropneumothorax (se-ro-nil-mo-thd'raks), n.
[< L. srrnm. serum, + Gr! Trveifiuv. lung, + Ou-
liai. breast.] The presence of serous fluid to-
gether with gas or air in a pleural cavity: same
as jmeumiihtidriithorax,
MTOpurulent (se-ro-pu'r§-lent). a. [< L. se-
rum, scrum, -I- /i«r«/en<iM,"purulent.] Com-
posed of serum mixed with pus.
^^^> rum,
^^^k pose<
5511
serosanguinolent (se'ro-sang-gwin'o-lent), a.
[< L. Heritm, serum, + sanguinolentus, bloody:
see sanguinolent.] Pertaining to or of the na-
ture of bloody serum.
seroset (se'ros), a. [< NL. 'serosus: see se-
ron.'!.] Same as serous. Dr. H. More.
serosity (se-ros'j-ti), ». [= F. serosite = Sp.
serosidad = Pg. serosidade = It. serosita, siero-
sita ; as serous + -iti/.] 1. The state of being
serous or watery. — 2. That which is serous or
watery; a serous fluid; serum. [Rare.]
In Elephantiasis Arabum . . . the other tissues, for ex-
ample, of the lower limbs or neck become changed in struc-
ture, intumescent, Ixard, and at times loaded more or less
with serosity. J. M. Carnochan, Operative Surgery, p. 10.
serotina (ser-o-ti'nii), n. [XL., fem. of seroti-
nus, late: see serotine.] The decidua serotina
(which see, imder decidua).
serotine (ser'o-tin), n. [= F. s&otine, < L.
serotinus, late, backward, < sero, late, at a late
time, prob. abl. neut. of serus, late.] A small
European bat, Vcspertilio or Vesperugo seroti-
nus, of a reddish-brown color above and paler
grayish- or yellowish-brown below, about 3
inches long: so called because it flies late in
the evening.
serotinous (se-rot'i-nus), a. [= It. serotine,
serotina, < L. serotinus, late, backward: see
.serotine.] In bot., appearing late in a season,
or later than some allied species.
serous (se'rus), a. [< OF. sereux. P. s6reux =
Sp. Pg. seroso =. It. sieroso, < NL. 'serosus, <
L. serum, whey, serum: see serum.] 1. Hav-
ing the character or quality of serum; of or
gertaining to serum or serosity: as, a serous
uid; serott* extravasation. — 2. Secreting, con-
taining, or conveying serum; causing serosi-
ty; concerned in serous effusion: as, a serous
membrane; a serous surface. — 3. Consisting
of whey.
Bland, a subacid liquor made out of the serous part of
the milk. Scott, Pirate, vi.
Serous liquid or fluid, any liquid formed in the body
similar to blood-aerum, such as that which moistens se-
rous membranes, or as the cephalorachidian fluid, or as
that which accumulates in tissues or cavities in dropsy.
But the liquid part of uncoagulated blood is called plasma,
and the contents of lymphatic vessels are called lymph,
and the latter word is used in application to other serous
iiqulils, especially when they are normal in quantity and
quality. — Serous membrane. See membrane.
serpedinoUS (ser-ped'i-nus), a. [< ML. serpe-
do {-din-), equiv. to serpigo (-gin-), ringworm:
see serpiginous.] Serpiginous. [Rare.]
The Itch is a corrupt humour between the skin and the
flesh, running with a serpedinouz coarse till it hath deflled
the whole body. Rev. T. Adams, Works, L 601.
Serpens (sSr'penz), n. [Ij.: see serpent.] An
ancient northern constellation intimately con-
nected with, but not treated as a part of, Ophi-
uchus (which see).
serpent (sir'pent), a. and m. [Orig. adj., but in
E. first used as a noun; also formerly and dial.
sari>ent; < ME. serpent, < OF. ser/ient, sarpent, F.
serpent, dial, sarpent, sarpan, a serpent, snake,
a musical instrument so called, = Pr. sarpent
= 8p. serpiente = Pp. It. serpente, a serpent, <
L. serpen(t-)s, creeping, as a noun a creeping
thing, a serpent (also applied to a louse), ppr.
of serpere, creep. = Or. ipTreiv, creep, = Skt.
• sarp, creep ( > sarpa, a snake) ; usually iden-
tified also with L. repcre, creep (see repent"^,
reptile), the -^ sarp being perhaps seen also in
E. salve: see satvci^.] 1, a. 1. Crawling on the
belly, as a snake, or replant, as an ophidian;
of or pertaining to the Serpentia: correlated
with salient and gradient. — 2. Having the form
or nature of a serpent; of a kind similar to
that which a serpent has or might have.
Back on herself her serpent pride had curl'd.
Tennyson, Palace of Art.
3. Serpentine; winding; tortuous.
Their serpetU windings and deceiving crooks.
P. Fletcher, Pun>le Island, U. 9.
n. n. 1. A scaly creature that crawls on the
belly; a limbless reptile; properly, a snake;
any member of the orcier 0]>liidia (which see for
technical characters). Serpent and mate now mean
precisely the same thing ; but the word serpent is some-
what more forma] or technical than snalce, so that It seldom
applies to the limbless lizards, many of which are popu-
larly mistaken for and called snakes, and snake had origi-
nally a speciflc meaning, (fiee snake.) .Serpents are found
all over the world, except in very cold regions. Most
of them are timid, inoffensive, and defenseless animals:
others are among tbo most dangerous and deadly of all
creatures. Some are very powerful, in consenuenceof their
great size and faculty of constriction, as boas, pythons,
and anacondas. Those which are not venomous are known
as innocuous serpents, or Inn/icua ; those which are poison-
ous are noxious serpents, or Sncua, sometimes collectively
called Tharuxtophiaia. All ore carnivorous ; and most are
serpent
able, by means of their dilatable mouths and the general
distensibilityof their bodies, to swallow animals of greater
girth than themselves. In cold and temperate countries
sei-pents hibernate in a state of torpidity. They are
oviparous or ovoviviparous, and in some cases the young
take refuge from (laijger by crawling into the gullet of the
mother, whence the common belief that snakes swallow
their young. Host serpents can be tamed, or at least ren-
dered gentle, by handling; others, as the rat-snake of In-
dia, are almost domestic ; but the more venomous kinds
can be safely handled only when the fangs have been re-
moved. There is a very general misapprehension respect-
ing the comparative numbers of venomous and harmless
serpents. Out of more than 300 genera of ophidians, only
about 50, or one sixth, are poisonous, and more than half of
these belong to the two families Najidlr and Crolalidx {the
cobra and the rattlesnake families). The true vipers (Ki-
p«rirf«) and the sea-serpents (Hydrophidee), all venomous,
have six or eight genera apiece ; and four other venomous
famiUes have but one to three genera apiece. The pro-
portion of venomous to non-venomous species is still
smaller than that of the genera, as the latter will average
more species to a genus than the former. Poisonous ser-
pents are mainly conltned to tropical and warm temperate
countries : they are more numerous and diversified in the
Old World than in the New, and rather more foi-ms are
Proteroglypha than Solenoglypha (see these words). Ser-
pents large enough to be formidable from their powers
of constriction belong to the Boidx and Pythonidx. A
few families contain very small species, worm-like in ap-
pearance and to some extent in habits. A majority of all
serpents belong to one family, the harmless Colulyrida.
See cuts under the various popular and technical names.
And hadde not ben the doublet that he hadde of a ser-
pentes skyn. deed hadde he ben withoute recouer.
Merlin (E. E. T. 8.), ii. 336.
Now the seiifient was more subtil than any beast of the
field. Gen. iiL 1.
2. [cap."] Inastron.,aoon8tellationinthenorth-
em hemisphere. SeeOphiuchtis. — 3. A musical
instrument, properly of the trumpet family,
having a cupped mouthpiece, a conical jvood-
en tube bent
to and fro
several times
and usually
covered with
leather, and
nine finger-
holes very ir-
regularly dis-
posed. Its com-
pass extended
from two to four
octaves upward
from about the
third C below
middle C, and included more or less diatonic and chro-
matic tones according to the skill of the performer. Its
tone was pervasive, though somewhat harsh. It is said
to have been invented by a canon of Auxerre in 1590 for
use In church nmsic. It was retained in orchestras until
the Invention of the contrafagotto, and is still occasion-
ally used In French churches.
A serpent was a good old note : a deep, rich note was
the serpent. T. Hardy, Under the Greenwood Tree, iv.
4. In organ-building, a reed-stop similar to the
trombone. — 6. Figuratively, a person who in
looks or ways suggests a serpent ; a wily, treach-
erous person ; rarely, a fatally fascinating per-
son.
Ve serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape
the damnation of hell'.' Mat. xxlli. SS.
He 's speaking now.
Or murmuring. " Where 's my serpent of old Nile?"
For so he calls me. Shak., A. and C, I. 6. 28.
6. A kind of firework which burns with a zig-
zag, serpentine motion or light.
In fire-works give him leave to vent his spite,
lliose are the only serpents he can write.
Dryden, Abs. and Achit., ii. 452.
7. In firearms, same as serpentin Naked ser-
pents. See naktd.— Pharaoh's serpent, a chem ical toy
consisting of a small (luantity of sulphocyanide of mer-
cury enveloped in a cone of tinfoil. The cone is placed
upright on a flat dish, and is ignited at the apex, when a
bulky ash is at once formed which issues from the burning
mass in a serpent-like fonn. —Rat-tailed serpent. See
rat-tailed.— Serpent starfish. Same as serpent-star. —
The old serpent, Satan.
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which
is the Devil, and Satan. Rev. xx. 2.
Some, whose souls the old serpent long had drawn
Down, as the worm draws In the wither'd leaf.
Tennyson, Geralnt.
serpent (s^r'pent), v. [< OF. serpenter, crawl
like a serpent, wriggle (= If. serpentare, im-
portune, tease), < serpent,a, sei^jent: seesei-pent,
».] I. intrans. To wind along like a snake,
as a river; take or have a serpentine course;
meander.
A circular view to ye utmost verge of ye horizon, which
with the serpenting of the Thames is admirable.
Evelyn, Diary, July 28, 1879.
n. trans. To entwine ; girdle as with the
coils of a serpent.
The feilds, planted with fruit-trees, whose boles are
serpcnted with excellent vines.
Evelyn, Diary, Jan. 29, 1645.
[Rare in both uses.]
Forms of Scrp«at (def. 3). The lert-haiid figure
ts an early form of the tnstnitiieDt.
serpentaria
serpentaria (ser-pen-ta'ri-|i). H. [XL., < L. ser-
^(CHtanVi, snakeweed: see serpewton/.] The offi-
cinal name of the rhizome and rootlets of Arig-
tolochui Serpentaria, the Virginia snakeroot;
serpentary-root. It has the properties of a
stimulant" tonic, acting also as a diaphoretic or
diuretic. See snakeroot.
Serpentariidae (s^r'pen-ta-n'i-de), w. ]>l. [NL.,
< StrpfiitHriiiS + -/rfcf.] An African family of
raptorial birds, named from the genus Serpen-
tariiis: ottener called Gypogeranidx.
Serpentariinae (ser-pen-ta-ri-i'ne), n.pl. [Nil.,
< Serpentarius + -inx.'] The Serpentariidae as a
s)ibfamily of Falconidie.
Serpentarius (ser-pen-ta'ri-us), n. [NL., < L.
*serpcntari\is (fem. serpentaria., as a noun: see
serpentary), < serpen(t-)s, a serpent: see ser-
pent.'] 1. The constellation Ophiuchus. — 2. In
ornith., the serpent-eaters or secretary-birds:
Cuvier's name (1797-8) of the genus of Falco-
ttidee previously called Sagittarius, and subse-
quently known as Seeretarius, Gypogeranus, and
Ophiotheres. See cuts under secretary-bird and
desmognathous.
serpenitary (s^r'pen-ta-ri), ». [< ME. serpen-
tarie, F. serpentaire = It. serpentaria, < L. ser-
pentaria, snakeweed, fem. of "serpentarius, adj. ,
X serpen{t-)s, a sei-pent: see serpent.'] 1. The
Virginia snakeroot, Aristolochia Serpentaria. —
2t. A kind of still.
Do therto a galtm of good reed wyne, . . . and thanne
distille him thorow a serpriitarie.
MS. in Mr. Pettiffreiv's possemon, 15th cent. (Balliivdl.)
serpentary-root (ser'pen-ta-ri-rot), n. Same as
ser})cntaria.
Serpent-bearer (ser'pent-bar"er), n. Same as
Serpentarius, 1, or Opiiiuchtis.
serpent-boat (ser'pent-bot), «. Sameasjiam-
bau-manche.
serpent-charmer (s6r'pent-char'''m6r), n. One
who charms or professes to charm or control
serpents by any means, especially by the power
of music; a snake-charmer. The practice is of very
ancient origin, and is best known in modern times by its
application to the cobra-di-capello in India. This most
venomous of serpents is allured by the simple monoto-
nous music of a pipe, and easily captured by the expert
charmer, who then extracts its fangs and tames the snake
for exhibition.
serpent-cliamiing (ser'pent-char"ming), «.
The act or practice of fascinating and captur-
ing serpents, especially by means of music. See
serpent-charmer.
seri>entcleide (ser'pent-klid), «. [Irreg. < ser-
pent (L. serpen(t-)s, equiv. to Gr. bipiq) + {ophi)-
cleide.] A musical instrument invented in Eng-
land in 1851, which was essentially an ophicleide
with a wooden tube. It was too large to be
carried by the player.
serpent-cucumber (s6r'pent-ku'kum-ber), n.
Same as snake-cucumber ; also, a long-fruited
variety of the muskmelon. See cucumber.
serpent-deity (ser'pent-de"i-ti), n. The deity,
divinity, or god of the Ophites, otherwise known
as the god Abraxas. He is commonly represented
in the form of a man with a hawk's head, legs like twin
serpents, and holding in one hand a scourge and in the
other a shield. This figure is one of the commonest and
most characteristic of the so-called Gnostic gems, and is
modified from a conventional figure of Horns or Osiris.
Also called ophig, serpent-god, snake-deity, etc. See cuts
under Abraxas.
serpent-eagle (ser'pent-e"gl), ra. A book-name
of hawks of the genus Spilornis.
serpent-eater (ser'pent-e"t6r), ». 1. One who
or that which eats serpents ; specifically, a
large long-legged raptorial bird of Africa, the
secretary-bird (which see, with cut). — 2. A
kind of wild goat found in India and Cashmere,
Capra megaceros, the markhor: so called from
some popular misapprehension.
serpenteau (ser-pen-to'), «• [< F. serpenteau,
a young serpent, a serpent (firework), dim. of
serpent, a serpent : see serpent.] An iron circle
having small spikes to which squibs are at-
tached, employed in the attack or defense of a
breach.
Serpentes (ser-pen'tez), n.pl. [NL., pi. of L.
serpen(t-)s, a, Berpent: see serpent.] If. In the
Linnean system, the second order of the third
class (Amphibia), containing limbless reptiles
referred to six genera, Crotalus, Boa, Coluber,
Anguis, Amphisbxna, and Ciecilia, the first three
of which are properly serpents, or O/ilntlin, the
fourth and fifth are lizards, or Laccrtilia, and
the sixth is amphibian. See Amphibia, 2 (a).
— 2. Same as Ophidia.
serpent-fish (ser'pent-fish), n. The bandfish or
snake-fish, Cepmki' rubescens. See cut under
Cepolidw.
5512
serpent-god (sf r'pent-god), n. A serpent-deity :
a snake-god.
serpent-grass (ser'pent-gras), «. The alpine
bistort. Polygonum vhiparum. it is a dwarf herb,
4 to 8 inches liigh, with a spike of flesh-culored ttowers, or
in their place little red bulblets which serve for propaga-
tion. It grows well northward or on mountains in both
hemispheres.
Serpentia (ser-pen'shi-a), n.jil. [NL., < L. ser-
pentia, serpents, neut. pi. ot serpen(t-)s, creep-
ing: see serpent.] An old name, originating
with Laurenti (1768), of serpents (ophidians),
or limbless scaled reptiles. Laurenti included some
limbless lizards in this order Serpentia, which excepted,
the term is the same as Ophidia. In Slerrem's system
(18"20) Serpentia are the same as Ophidia, but included the
amphisbienians. See Serpentes.
serpentiform (ser-pen'ti-f6rm), a. [< L. ser-
pcn(t-)s, a serpent, -I- forma, form.] Having
the form of a serpent ; serpentine ; ophidian in
structure or affinity; snake-like: said chiefly
of reptiles which are not serpents, but resemble
them: as, a serpentiform '\iza.v(i or amphibian.
serpentinize
The great feature [of the match-lock gunl consisted in
holding the match in a serpentin or cock (or rather, the
prototype of what afterwards became the cock in a gun-
lock). W. W. Greener, The Gun, p. 46.
2t. A cannon in use in the sixteenth century.
The serpentine proper is described as having a bore of IJ
Serpentifonn Lizard l.Llttrotfs t tfinhcutatus)
The one here figured is an amphisbsenian, with a small
pair of limbs like ears just behind the head. (See Chi-
rotes.') Other examples are figured under amphisbsemi,
blind-worm, glass-snake, Pseudopux, and schelUy^msilc.
serpentigenOUS (ser-pen-tij'e-nus), a. [< L.
scrpcntigena, serpent-born, < serpen(t-)s, a ser-
pent, -I- -genus, produced (see -genous).] Bred
of a serpent. [Rare.] Tmj). Diet.
serpentine (ser'pen-tin or -tin), a. and ». [I. a.
< ME. serpentyne,< OF. serpentin, F. serpentin
= Sp. Pg. It. serpentina, of a serpent, < LL. ,ser-
pentinus, of a serpent, < L. serpen(t-)s, a ser-
pent : see serpent. II. « . < ME. serpentin, a can-
non, < OF. serpentin, m., the cock of a harque-
bus, part of an alembic, serpentine, f., a kind of
alembic, a kind of cannon, F. serpentine, ser-
pentine (stone), grass-plantain, = It. serpentina,
f., a kind of alembic; ML. serpentina, f., a kind
of cannon, serpentine (stone); from the adj.]
I. a. Of orpertaining to or resembling a serpent.
The bytter galle pleynly to enchace
Of the venym callid serpentyne.
Lydgale, MS. Ashmole 39, f. 6. (Halliwett.)
Especially — (a) Having or resembling the qualities or
instincts ascribed to serpents ; subtle ; cunning ; treach-
erous or dangerous.
I craved of him to lead me to the top of this rock, with
meaning to free him from so serpentine a companion as I
am. Sir P. Sidney.
It is not possible to join serpentine wisdom with the
columbine innocency.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 282.
Being themselves without hope, they would drive all
others to despair, employing all their force and serpentine
craft. Evelyn, True Religion, I. 142.
(b) Moving like a serpent; winding about; writhing;
wriggling ; meandering ; coiling ; crooked ; bent ; tortu-
ous ; sinuous ; zigzag ; anfractuous ; specifically, in the
manege, lolling out and moving over the bit, as a horse's
tongue.
The not inquiring into the ways of God and the strict
rules of practice has been instrumental to the preserving
them free from the serpentine enfoldlngs and labyrinths of
dispute. Jer. Taylor, Great Exemplar, Ded., p. 3.
Till the travellers arrived at Vivian Hall, their conver-
sation turned upon trees, and avenues and serpentine ap.
proaches. Miss Edgeieorth, Vivian, i.
(c) Beginning and ending with the same word, as a line of
poetry, as if returning upon itself. See serjtentine verse.
— Serpentine nervure, in entom., a vein or nervure of
the wing that forms two or more distinct curves, as in
the membranous wings of certain beetles. — Serpentine
verse, a verse which begins and ends with the same word.
'The following are examples ;
Crescit amor numml, quantum ipsa pecunia crescit.
[Greater grows the love of pelf, as pelf itself grows greater. ]
Juvenal, Satires (trans.), xiv. 139.
Ambo florentes cetatibns. Arcades ambo.
[Both in the bloom of life. Arcadians both.]
Virgil, Eclogues (tr. by Conington), vii. 4.
Serpentine ware, a variety of pebbleware. The name
is generally given to that variety which is speckled gray
and green.
II. n. It. In French usage, part of the lock of
an early form of harquebus ; a match-holder,
resembling a pair of nippers, which could be
brought down upon the powder in the pan.
Serpentine. (From an etching by Albert Durer.)
inches, and the cannon serpentine as having a bore of 7
inches and a shot of bZ^ pounds. Compare organ-gun.
Item, iij. gounes, called serpentina.
Paston Letters, Inventor}', I. 487.
The Serpentin, a long light cannon of small bore, and
semi-portable, with tlie mouth formed to resemble the
head of a serpent, griffin, or some fabulous monster.
W. H'. Greener, The Gun, p. 31.
3t. A kind of still ; a serpentary.
Serpe-ntina^Jt.^ . . . a kind of winding limbecke or still
called a serpentine or double S.S in English. Florid.
4. A hydrous silicate of magnesium, occurring
massive, sometimes fine, granular, and com-
pact, again finely fibrous, less often slaty. It is
usually green in color, but of many different shades, also
red, brown, or gray, sometimes with spots resembling a
serpent's skin. There are numerous varieties, differing in
structure and color. The most important of these are —
precious or noble serpentine, under which term are com-
prised the more or less translucent serpentines, having a
rich oil-green color; foliated varieties, including marmo-
lite and antigorite ; fibrous varieties, as chrysotile (some-
times called serpentine, asbestos) and nietaxite. Other
minerals more or leas closely allied to or identical with
serpentine are picrolite, williamsite, bowenite, retina-
lite, baltimorite, vorhauserite, hydrophite, jenkinsite,
villarsite, etc. Serpentine occurs widely distributed and
in abundance, forming rock-masses, many of which were
formerly regarded as being of eruptive origin, but which
are now generally conceded to have been formed by the
metamorphism of various rocks and minerals; indeed, it
has not been proved that serpentine has ever been formed
in any other way than this. The peridotites appear to
have been peculiarly liable to this kind of alteration, or
serpentinization, as it is called. Massive serpentine has
been extensively used for both interior and exterior archi-
tectural and decorative purposes, but in only a few locali-
ties is a material quarried which stands outdoor exposure
without soon losing its polish, and eventually becoming
disintegrated. The serpentinous rock commonly called
verd-antique, and known to lithologists as ophicalcite, is a
very beautiful decorative material, and has been extensive-
ly employed for ornament in various parts of the world.
See verd-antique.
The Stones are ioyn'd so artificially
That, if the Mason had not checkered fine
Syre's Alabaster with hard Serpentiiie, . . .
The whole a whole Quar one might rightly tearm.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Magnificence.
serpentine (s^r'pen-tin or -tin), V. i. ; pret. and
pp. serpentined, ppr. serpentining. [< serpentine,
».] To wind like a serpent; move sinuously
like a snake; meander; wriggle.
In those fair vales by Nature form'd to please,
Where Guadalquiver serpentines with ease.
W. Ilarte, Vision of Death.
The women and men join hands until they form a long
line, which then serpentines about to a slow movement
which seems to have great fascination.
J. Baker, Turkey, p. 80.
serpentinely (s6r'pen-tin-li or -tin-li), adv. In
a serpentine manner ; serpentiningly.
Serpentinian (ser-pen-tin'i-an), n. [< LL. ser-
pentinus, pertaining to a serpent: see serpent.]
One of an ancient Gnostic sect : same as Ojihite^.
serpentinic (ser-pen-tin'ik), a. [< serpentine
+ -ic.] Same as .lerpentinous.
Have studied . . . the *'blue ground," and have shown
that it is a serpentinic substance. Geol. Mag., IV. 22.
serpentiningly (s^r-pen-ti'ning-li), adv. With
a serpentine motion or appearance. [Rare.]
What if my words wind in and out the stone
As yonder ivy, the god's parasite?
Though they leap all the way the pillar leads.
Festoon about the marble, foot to frieze,
And serpentiningly enrich the roof.
Browning, Balaustion's Adventure.
serpentinization (ser-pen-tin-i-za'shon), «. [<
serpentinize + -ation.] Conversion into ser-
pentine, an extremely common result in the
course of the nietamorphic changes which rock-
forming minerals have undergone. It is espe-
cially the rocks made up wholly or in part of olivin which
have become converted into serpentine. ?>eep€ridotite.
The mineral [olivin] is quite colorless, . . . andistrav-
ersed by irregular cracks, along which serpentinization.
may frequently be seen to have commenced.
Amer. Jour. Set., Sd ser., CXXXI. 34.
serpentinize (ser'pen-tin-iz), «>. i. ; pret. and
pp. serpentinizcd. ppr. .icrpentinizing. [< serpen-
tine + -ize.] To convert into serpentine.
serpentinize
A specimen of the variety of picrite known as scyelite
was discovered by Bonney in tlie island of Sark, British
Channel. It consists of gerpeiitinizyd olivine, altered au-
gite, bleached mica. Amer. Xat, Sov., 18s9, p. 100".
seri)entinoid (s6r'pen-tin-oid), a. [< serpen-
tine + -oid.^ Having in a more or less imper-
fect degree the character of serpentine.
The prevalence of serpentines and obscnre gerpentinoid
rocks in great masses in these altert«l portions (the Toast
ranges of California] is also a fact of much geological in-
terest. J. D. Whitney, Encyc. Brit., X-KlII. 801.
8erpeiltin0U8(ser'pen-tiu-us), a. [< serpentine
+ -OK.'.-.] Relating to, of the natiie of, or re-
sembling serpentine.
So a£ not ... to disturb the arrangement of the ser-
peiUinous residuum. IT. B. Carpenter, Micros., § 495.
serpentivet (ser'pen-tiv), a. [< serpent + -ire.}
Serpentine. [Rare.]
And finding this iterpeniice treason broken in the shell —
do but lend your reverend ears to his next designs.
Shirley, The lYaitor, iii. 1.
serpentize (s^r'pen-tiz), v. i. ; pret. and pp. ser-
penti'zed, ppr. serpentining, (^(serpent + -ize.']
To wind; turn or bend, first in one direction
and then in the opposite ; meander. [Rare.]
The path, 9erpentixing through this open grove, leads us
by an easy ascent to a . . . small bench.
ShenMone, Works (ed. 1791X II. 298.
Even their bridges mast not be straight ; . . . they ser-
pentite as mucll as the rivulets.
WaJpole, On Modem Oardening.
serpent-like (s6r'pent-lik),fldi-. Like a serpent.
She hath . . . struck me with her tongue,
Most terpent4ike. upon the very heart.
Shak., Lear, it 4. 163.
serpent-lizard (s^r'pent-liz'ard), n. A lizard
of the genus Seps.
Sen>ent-in0SS (s^r'pent-mds), n. A greenhouse
plant, Selaf/inella serpens, from the West Indies.
serpentry (s^r'pen-tri ), «. ; pi. serpentries(-tTiz).
[< serjiciit -i- -n/.] 1. A winding about, or turn-
ing this way and that, like the writhing of a
serpent; serpentine motion or course; a mean-
dering. Imp. Diet. — 2. A place infested by
serpents. Imp. Diet. — 3. A number of serpents
or serpentine beings collectively. [Rare.]
Wipe away all slime
Left by men-slugs and human terpeiUrjf.
KeaU, Endymion, i.
serpent-star (s6r'pent-stftr), n. A brittle-star :
an ophiuran. Wio serpent starfish.
r serpent-stone (s^r'pent-ston), n. 1. A porous
substance, frequently found to consist of char-
red bone, wliich is supposed to possess the vir-
tue of extracting the venom from a snake-bite
when applie<i to the wound. It has been often used
for this purpose by ignorant or soperstitioua people in all
parts of the world Also called makeMon*.
2 . Sa 1 11 o a s « dder-stone.
serpent'8-tongue(s^r'pent8-tung), n. 1. Afem
of the gcnu.'f Ophioglossum, especially O. vul-
yatum, so called from the form of its fronds;
adder's-tongue. See cut under Ophioglossum.
— 2. A name given to the fossil teeth of a spe-
cies of shark, because thej' show resemblance to
tongues with their roots. — 3. A name given to
a short sword or dagger whose blade is (livide<l
into two points, especially a variety of the In-
dian kuttnr — Serpent'B-tongne drill SeerfriHi.
serpent-turtle (str'pent-ter'tl;, n. An eualio-
saur.
serpent-withe (s6r'j>ent-with), ». A twining
plant, .iri.itolnchin odoratissima, of tropical
America. It is said to have properties analo-
gous to those of the Virginia snakeroot.
serpentwood (str'pent-wiid), n. An East In-
dian shrub, KnuKolfin (Ophitiiylon) serpentina.
The nM)t is used in India medicinally, as a febrifuge, as an
antidote to the bites of poisonous reptiles, in dysentery,
and otherwise.
serpett (s^^r'pet). «. [Appar. < OF. 'serpet (f),
dim.. I'quiv. to L. dim. sir/ticHlus, srirpieulut,
a basket made of rushes, < sirpus, scirpus, a
rush.] A basket.
So the troupe returning in order a* they came ; after
are carried In Serpett their presents and apparell.
Sandye, TraraUes, p. 62.
serpette (s6r-pet'), n. [F., dim. otserpe, a bill,
pruning-knife.] A carved or hooked pruning-
knifc.
serpierite (s^-r'pi-^r-it), n. [Named from M.
Sirjiiir, an explorer at Laurion.] A basic sul-
phate of copper and zinc, occurring in minute
tabular crystals of a greenish-lilue color at the
ziiic-miiiPH of Lnurioii in (Jreece.
Serpiginons fser-pij'i-nus), a. [< ML. serpii/o
i-i/iK-). ringworm: see serjngo.'i 1. Affected
witli siTpigo. — 2. In nifd., noting certain affec-
tions which creep, as it were, from one part
another: as, serpiginoux erysipelas.
Mass of SeitwU Tnbes, from
one of which taetenuclesof the
worm are shown ezp«nded.
■.'
serpigo (ser-pi'go), n. [ML., ringworm, < L.
atrpere, creep, crawl: see serpent. Cf. herpes,
from the same ult. source.] One or another
form of ierpes. See shingles.
Thine own bowels . . .
Do curse the gout, serpigo, and the rheum,
For ending thee no sooner.
Shak., M. for M., iii. 1. 31.
serplath (ser'plath). n. [A corrupt form of
"serpler, sarplar: see sarplar.] A weight equal
to 80 stones. [Scotch.]
serplius (s^r'pli-us), «. Same as supples.
serpolet (s^r'po-let), n. [< F. serpolet, OF. ser-
pouUet, dim. of 'serpoul = Pr. Sp. Pg. serpol =
It. serpello, serpillo, < L. serpillum, serpyllum
serpuUum, v/ild thyme,< Gr. fpTrn/./'of ,wild thyme,
< epireiv, creep: see serpent.} The wild thyme,
Thymus SerpyUum.
Pleasant the short slender grass, . . , interrupted . . .
by little troops of serpolet running in disorder here and
there. Landar, Imag. Conv., Achilles and Helena.
Serpolet-oU, a fragrant essential oil distilled from the
wild thyme for perfumery use.
Serpula (sfr'pu-la), «. [NL., < L. serpere,
creep, crawl: seeseipent.} 1. A Linnean (1758)
genus of worm.«, subse-
quently used with va-
rious restrictions, now
type of the family Ser-
puHdse. They are cephalo-
hranchiate tubicolous anne-
lids, inhabiting cylindrical
and serpentine or tortuous
calcareous tubes, often muss-
ed together in a confused
heap, and attached to rocks,
shells, etc. , in the sea. These
tubes are so solid as to re-
semble the shells of some
niollusks, and are closed by
an operculum formed by a
shelly plate on one of the ten-
tacles. They are In general
beautifully colored. Thelarg.
est are found in tropical seas.
2. [I. c] A worm of this or some related genus ;
also, a tube or bunch of tubes of such worms ;
a serpulian or serpulite.
serpnlan (s^'r'pii-lan), n. [< Serpnla + -an.}
Same as serpulian.
serpulian (str-pu'li-an), «. [< Serpula + -ian.}
A member of the genus Serpula.
Serpulidse (s^-r-pu'li-de), «. pi. [NL., < Serpula
+ -ida.} A family of marine tubicolous cepha-
lobrancniate annelids, tj-jiified by the genus
Serpula, to which different limits have been
assigned. See cuts tinder I'rotuia and Serpula.
serpnlidan (sfer-pti'Ii-dan), a. and n. [< Serpn-
litue + -an.} I. a. Of or pertaining to the
family Serpulidie.
II. ». A worm of this family,
serptilite (ser'pii-Ut), n. [< NL. Serpula +
-itc-.} A fossil oif the family Serpulidte, or some
similar object; specifically, one of the fossils
upon which a genus Serpulites is founded. Such
formations are tubes, iometunea a foot long, occurring in
the Silurian rocks, soppoied to have been Inhabited by
worms.
serpnlitlc (s^r-pu-lit'ik), a. [< serpulite + -ic.}
Resembling a serpulite ; containing or pertain-
ing to serpulites.
serprtloid (ser'pu-loid), a. [< Serpula + -<rid.}
Resembling the genus Serpula; like or likened
to the Serpulidie.
serrt (air), v. t. [< OF. (and F.) serrer, close,
compact, press near together, lock, = Pr. sar-
rar, serrnr = 8p. Pg. cerrar = It. serrare, < LL.
serare, fasten with a bolt or bar, bolt, < L. sera,
a iMr: see sera. Hence serried, serry.} To
crowd, press, or drive together.
Let US, semd together, forcibly breake into the river,
and we shall well enough ride through it
KnoUes, Hist. Turks (1603)- (Xares.)
The heat doth attenuate, and . . . doth send forth the
spirit and moister partof a body ; and, upon that, the more
gross of the tangible paiti do contract and serre themselves
together. Bacm, Nat Hist, i 82.
serra (ser'J), n. ; pi. serrse (-e). [NL.,< L. serra,
a saw: see serrate.} In zool., annt., and hot.,
a saw or saw-like part or organ; a serrated
structure or formation ; a set or series of serra-
tions; a serration, pectination, or dentation:
as, (o) the saw of a saw-fish (see cut under Pris-
tis), (ft) the saw of a saw-fly (see cuts under
rose-slug and Seeurifera), (c) a serrate suture of
the skull (see cuts under cranit^m and parietal).
serradilla (ser-a-dira). n. [Pg., dim. of ser-
rndo, serrate : see serrate.} A species of bird's-
fnot clover, Omithopus satirns, cultivated in
F.urope as a forage-plant. Also serradella.
Serranidse (se-ran'i-^e), n. pt. [NL. (Richard-
son, 1848), < Serranus + -ids:} A family of
Serrasalmonlnae
acanthopterygian fishes, typified by the genus
Serranus, related to the Percidse and by most
ichthyologists united with that family, and
containing about 40 genera and 300 species of
carnivorous fishes of all warm seas, many of
them known as groupers, sea-bass, rockfish, etc.
(a) By Sir John Kichardson, the name was applied in a
vague and irregular manner, but his family included all
the true Serranidm of recent ichthyologists. (6) By Jor-
dan and Gilbert, the name was applied to all acanthop-
terygians with the ventral tins thoracic and perfect, the
lower phar>'ngeal bones separate, scales well developed,
pectoral fins entire, skull not especially cavernous, max-
illary not sloping under the preorbital for its whole
length, mouth nearly horizontal, and anal fin rather short.
The family thus included the Centropomidje and Jihypti-
eidse, as well as true Serranidse. (c) In Gill's system,
the name was restricted to serranoids with the body ob-
long and compressed and covered with scales, the head
compressed and the cranium normal, the supramaxil-
laries not retractile behind under the sulK>rbitals, the
spinous part of the dorsal fin about as long as the soft
or longer, and three anal spines developed. The family
as thus restricted includes about 800 fishes, which chiefly
inhabit the tropical seas; but a consideratile contingent
live in the temperate seas. It includes many valuable
food-flshes. The jewfish or black sea-bass is Stereolepis
gifjas ; the stone-bass is Folyprion cemiutn. The groupers
or garrupas are fishes of this family, of the genera Epi--
nephelus and THsolropis. Other notable genera are Promt-
crops and Ihdes. See cuts under sea-bass, Serranus, and
grottper.
Serrano (se-ra'no), n. [< Sp. (Cuban) Serrano,
< NL. Serranus.} A fish, Serranus or Diplectrum
fascictilare, the squirrel-fish of the West Indies
and southern Atlantic States. See squirrel-fish.
serranoid (ser'a-noid), a. and n. [< Serranus +
-oid.} I. a. Resembling a fish of the genus
Serranus; of or pertaining to the Serranidse in
a broad sense.
H. n. A member of the Serranidfe.
Serranus (se-ra'nus), n. [NL. (Cuvier and
Valenciennes, 1828), < L. serra, a saw: see ser-
rate.] 1. The typical genus of Serranidse: the
sea-perches or sea-bass. The maxillary Is not sup-
plemented with another bone, and the lateral canines are
stronger than those in front The type of the genus is the
Mediterranean S. scriba. S. cabrilla is a British species.
Smooth Serranus iSerrtiMMS cabrilla).
Among American species related and by some referred to
Arranturoay be noted Centroprittii atrarius, the black sea-
bass or blackfish, from Cape Cod to Florida, V2 inches long ;
the squirrel-tlsh or serrano, Divlectrum fasciculore. West
Indies to South * 'arolina ; f'araMn-ax dathratus, the rock-
bass or cabrilla of California, attaining a lengthof 18 inches;
and P. lubvlifer, the Johnny Verde of the same region.
See also cut under sea-bass.
2. [J. c] A member of this genus: as, the let-
tered serranus, S. seriba; the smooth serranus, S.
cabrilla.
Serrasalmo (ser-a-sal 'mo) , n. [NL. (Lac6p6de,
1803), < L. serra, a saw, + salmo, a salmon.] A
genus of characinoid fishes having an adipose
Plraya or Carit>e {Serratalma cUnticMtatHS),
fin like a salmon's, and the belly compressed
and armed with scales projecting so as to give
it a saw-like appearance : typical of the sub-
family Serrasalmoninse. See piraya.
Serrasalmoninse (ser-a-sal-mo-ni'ne), n. pi.
[NL.. < .Vi(((.s/(/;wo(»-) + -insc.} A subfamily
of characiiiiiid fishes, typified by the genus .S'cr-
rasalnio. They have a compressed high body, with the
belly sharply compressed and the scales developed to give
a serrated appeai-ance toit ; the branchial apertures wide ;
the branchial membrane deeply incised, and free below; the
ilorsal ttn elongated, and an ailipose tin. The teeth are well
developed and mostly trenchant. The species are char-
acteristic of the fresh waters of tropical South America.
Among them are some of the most dreaded and carnivorous
of fishes. By means of their sharp teeth they are enabled
to cut the flesh of animals as with a pair of scissors, and
where they are found it is impossible for an animal to go
into the water without danger. They are attracted by the
smell of bl(M)d, ami congregate from considerable distances
to any spot where blood has been spilt. They are best
known by the name of caribe. Many species have been
Serrate Leaf of American Lin-
den (Tilia .-tmericiiHa).
Serrasalmoninse
described, some of which attain the length of 2 feet, but
most are much smaller. See piraya.
serrate (ser'at), a. [= Sp. serraio, < L. serratus,
saw-shaped, saw-like (ci. serrare, pp. serratus,
saw, saw up), < serra, a saw, prob. for "seera, <
secare, cut. and thus akin to AS. saga, E. saw,
from the same root: see secant and soipl.]
Notched on the edge like a saw ; toothed ; specifl-
eal ly , in 6o<. , having small
sharp teeth along the
margin, pointing toward
the apex: as, a serrate
leaf. When a serrate leaf has
small serratures upon the large
ones, it is said to be doubly ser-
rate, as in the elm. The word
is also applied to a calyx, corol-
la, or stipule. A serrate-cilwte
leaf is one having tine hairs,
like the eyelashes, on the serra-
tures. A ferrate-dentate leaf
has the serratures toothed. In
zoology and anatomy serrate is
applied to very many struc-
tures much unlikeone another,
but having more or fewer similar teeth. — Serrate an-
tennse, in entom., antennae whose joints are triangular
and compressed, presenting a serrate outline on the Inner
margin : sometimes the outer joints vusually three in num-
ber) are enlarged, forming a serrate club. See cuts under
Serrieornia and ierricorn. — Serrate palpi, in etitmn.,
palpi whose joints are flat, produced, and pointed on one
side.— Serrate preoperculum, a preoperculum with
numerous parallel denticles on its posterior border. — Ser-
rate suture, one of several kinds of cranial sutures in
which a large number of small irregubir teeth of the edge
of one bone interlock or interdigitate with similar teeth
on another bone, as in the sagittal, coronal, and lambdoidal
sutures. The phrase is sometimes restricted to the inter-
frontal suture, the sagittal being called dentate^ and the
coronal lunbose, but the difference is slight, if any, and
holds for few animals besides man. See cuts under cra-
nium and parietal.— Serrate tlbiSS, in entmn., tibia;
which have a row of sharp teeth along the greater part
of the outer edge, as in the Scolytidx.— Serrate ungues,
in entmn., ungues or claws having a row of sharp teeth on
the lower edge. See cut/ under Mordella.
serrated (ser'a-ted), a. l<serrate + -ed^.2 Same
as serrate.
serrati, «. Plural of serratus.
serration (se-ra'shqn), n. [< serrate + -ion.'\
1 . The state of being serrate ; a serrated con-
dition; formation in the shape of the edge of a
saw.
Far above, in thunder-blue eerration, stand the eternal
edges of the angry Apennine, dark with rolling impen-
dence of volcanic cloud. Ituskin.
Z. In zool., anat., and hot. : (a) A serra; a for-
mation like a saw in respect of its teeth; a
set or series of saw-like teeth. See cuts under
Friacanthus and serratirostral. (6) One of a
set of serrate or dentate processes: as, one
of the nine serrations of the serratus magnus
muscle.
serratirostral (ser'a-ti-ros'tral), a. [< L. ser-
ratus, saw-shaped, 4- ros-
trum, a bill: see rostral.]
Saw-biUed,asabird; hav-
ing the cutting edges of
the bill serrate, as a saw-
bill or motmot.
Serratirostres (ser"a-ti-
ros'trez), ii. pi. [NL.
see serratirostraJ.']
Blyth's system (1849), a
superfamily of his Halcyoides, consisting of
the single family Momotidm, the motmots or
saw-bills, as distinguished from Angulirostres
and Cylindrirostres. See also cut under Momo-
tus.
serratodenticulate (ser'a-to-den-tik'u-lat), a.
In entom., serrate with teett which are them-
selves denticulate.
Serratula (se-rat'ii-la), n. [NL. (Dillenius,
1719), named in allusion to the rough, sharp-
edged, and toothed leaves; < L. serratula, bet-
ony, fem. of *serratulus, dim. of serratus, saw-
shaped: see serrate.'] A genus of composite
plants of the tribe Cynaroidese and subtribe Ceii-
taureCte. It is characterized by involucral bracts with
the tip acute, awned, or prolonged by a narrow entire
appendage, and destitute of any floral leaves beneath,
and by flowers with the anthers usually somewhat tailed,
and the achenes smooth and nearly cylindrical. There are
about Hb species, natives of Europe, northern Africa, and
central and western Asia. They are perennial herbs, bear-
ing alternate toothed or pinnatifld leaves without spines,
and either green or hoary with dense wool. The flowers
are usually purple or violet, and solitary or grouped in
loose corymbs. See sawwort.
serratnre (ser'a-tur), ». [< NL. serratura, a be-
ing saw-shaped (cf. L. serratura, a sawing, <
serrare, pp. serratus, saw): see serrate.] In
anat., zooh, and hot., same as serration.
These are serrated on the edges ; but the serratures are
deeper and grosser than in any of the rest. Woodward.
[< L. serra, a
I. A serricorn beetle (an
elater). 2, 3. Enlarged an-
tenna: of other serricoms
(species of Phyliacerus And
of Pachyderms).
[NL. : see
J Serratirostral Bill of Motmot
in {Motntttus nattereri).
5514
serratus (se-ra'tus), n. ; pi. serrati {-ti). [NL.
(sc. mxsculits), a serrate muscle: see serrate.]
In anat., one of several muscles of the thorax:
so named because they arise by a series of digi-
tations from successive ribs, and are thus ser-
rate— Great serratus. Same as serrat-us magmis.—
Serratus magnus, a broad quadrilateral muscle occu-
pying the side of the chest, aTi important muscle of res-
piration. It arises by nine serrations from the outer
surface of the eight upper ribs, and is inserted into the
whole length of the vertebral border of the scapula.
Also called f^reat serratus, magniserratitti, costoscapidaris.
See cut under imtscfei.— Serratus posticus inferior, a
thin, flat muscle on the lower part of the thcn-ax, beneath
the latissinms doi-si. Also called iii/raserratus.SeTra.-
tus posticus superior, a thin, flat quadrilateral mus-
cle on the upper part of the thorax, beneath the rhom-
boidei. Also called supraserratus.
serraye (se-ra'), «• [F.] The reciprocal pres-
sure exerted between the component parts of
any built-up gun, assembled in any manner
whatever, in order to produce compression on
the inner member with a view to increasing the
strength of the system. It is a more compre-
hensive term than shrinkage.
serricorn (ser'i-kom), a. and n
saw, -t- cornti, horn.] I. a.
Having serrate antennee;
of or pertaining to the <Ser-
ricornia.
II. n. A serricorn bee-
tle ; a member of the Ser-
ricornia.
Serricornes (ser-i-kdr'-
nez), ti.pl. [NL. : see ser-
ricorn.] The Serricornia;
in Latreille's system, the
third family of pentamer-
ous Colcoptera, divided into
Stcrnoxi, Malacodermi, and
Xylott-ogi.
Serricornia (ser-i-k6r'ni-a), n.
serricorn.] A tribe of pen-
tamerous Colcoptera, having
the fourth and fifth tarsal
joints not connate, the first
ventral segment visible for
its whole length, and the an-
tennse as a rule serrate, rare-
ly clavate or capitate. Among
leading families are Buprestidse-,
Blateridm, Ptinidse, Cleridse, and
Lumpyridse. The group is modi,
fled from Latreille's Serricornes.
See also cuts under Buprestis, dick-
beetle, and serricorn.
serried (Ser'id), p. a. [See (Lineshowsnaturalsize.)
serry.]. Crowded; compacted in regular lines.
But now
Foul dissipation follow'd, and forced rout ;
Nor served it to relax their serried files.
Milton, P. L., vi. 599.
Like reeds before the tempest's frown.
That serried grove of lances brown
At once lay levelled low.
Scott, L. of the L., vi. 17.
Serrifera (se-rif 'e-ra), n. pi. [NL. (Westwood,
1840), neut. pi. of sern/er; see serriferous.] In
entom., a group of hymenopterous insects: same
as Phytopliaga and Securifera, the saw-flies
and horntails (Tenthredinidse and Uroceridee).
serriferous (se-rif'e-rus), a. [< NL. serrifer, <
L. serra, a saw, + ferre = E. hear^.] Having
a serra, or serrate part or organ ; provided with
serration; serrated.
serriform (ser'i-f6rm), a. [< L. serra, a saw, -t-
forma, form.] In entom., toothed like a saw.
— Serriform palpi, those palpi in which the last joint
is securiform and the two preceding ones are dilated in-
ternally, thus giving a serrate outline to the organ.
serripalp (ser'i-palp), a. [< NL. serripalpus, <
L. serra, a saw, + NL. palpus, q. v.] Having
serrate palpi ; of or pertaining to the Serri-
palpi.
Serripalpi (ser-i-pal'pi), n. pi. [NL. (Redten-
bacher, 1845), pi. ot serripalpus : see serripalp.]
Same as Securipalpi.
serriped (ser'i-ped), a. [< L. serra, a saw, -1-
pes (ped-) = E. foot.] Having the feet serrate,
or serrations on the feet, as an insect.
serrirostrate (ser-i-ros'trat), a. [< L. serra. a
saw, + rostrum, bill.] Having the bill ser-
rated with tooth-like processes; odontorhyn-
chous. See serratirostral.
serro-motor (ser'o-mo-tor), n. In marine en-
gines, a steam reversing-gear by which the
valve is rapidly brought into the position of
front gear, back gear, or mid gear. The serro-
motor has a small engine-cylinder, the piston of which is
connected with the reversing-lever, the movement of the
latter requiring so much power in large marine engines
as to render the reversal by hand difficult, and too slow of
action in a sudden emergency.
Lampyris noctiluca,
: of the Serricornia.
serum
seiTOUS (ser'us), a. [< L. serra, a saw, -I- -ous.]
Like the teeth of a saw; irregular; rough.
[Rare.]
If while they |bees and flies] hum we lay our finger on
the back or other parts, thereupon will be felt a serrous or
jarring motion, like that which happeneth while we blow
on the teeth of a comb through paper.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., ill. 27.
serrula (ser'g-la), n.; pi. scrrulx (-le). [NL.,
< L. serrula, dim. of serra, a saw: see serra.]
One of the seiTated appendages of the throat
of the mudfish (Amia). The anterior one is
called preeserrula ; the posterior, postscrrula.
Each is paired and placed on either side of the copula or
Isthmus which connects the shoulder-girdle with the hyoid
arch. Also caWedJUtbellum.
The serrated appendages (semUss) of the throat of Amia.
B. G. Wilder, Amer. Assoc. Adv. ScL, XXV. 259.
serrulate (ser'o-lat), a. [< NL. *serrulatus, < L.
serrula, Jim. of serra, a saw : see serrate.] Fine-
ly serrate ; having minute serrations. See cut
under rough-winged.
serrulated (ser'o-la-ted), a. [< serrulate +
-ed".] Same as serrulate.
serrulation (ser-o-la'shon), n. [< serrulate +
-ion.] 1. The state of being serrulate ; forma-
tion of fine serration, minute notches, or slight
indentations. — 2. One of a set of such small
teeth; a denticulation.
serrurerie (se-rti-re-re'), n. [P., ironwork, lock-
smithing, < serrure, a lock, < serrer, lock: see
scrr.] In decorative art, ornamental wrought-
metal work.
serry (ser'i), v. t.; pret. and pp. serried, ppr.
serrying. [First and chiefly in the pp. or p. a.
serried, which is an accom., with pp. -eift, of
F. serre, close, compact, pp. of serrer, close
firmly or compactly together: see scrr, which
is the reg. form from the F. infinitive.] To
crowd; press together. [Chiefly in the past
participle.]
sertant, sertaynt, serteynt, a. Obsolete spell-
ings of certain.
sertest, adv. An obsolete spelling of certes.
Sertularia (ser-tu-la'ri-a), n. [NL., < L. serta,
wreaths or garlands of flowers, < ser-
tus, pp. of serere, plait, interweave,
entwine : see series.] A Linnean
genus of polyps, corresponding to
the modern Sertnlariidee or Sertu-
larida ; the sea-firs, with small ses-
sile lateral hydrothecse, as S. pu-
mila or S. ahietina.
sertularian (s^r-tu-la'ri-an), a.
and «. [< NL. Sertularia + -an.]
I. a. Pertaining to the genus Ser-
tularia'in a broad sense, or having
its characters. Also sertularidan.
II. n. A member of the group
to which the genus Sertularia be-
longs.
sertularid (s6r'tu-lar-id), a. and n.
scrtidaridan.
Sertularida (ser-tii-lar'i-da), n.pl. [NL., < Ser-
tularia -\- -ida.] An order or suborder of ca-
lyptoblastic hydroid polyps, comprising those
whose hydrosoma (or entire organism) becomes
fixed by an adherent base, called a hydrorhiza,
developed from the end of the coenosaro, or the
common medium by which the various polypites
constituting the compound animal are united.
These polypites are invariably defended by little cup-like
expansions called ttydrothecse. The ccenosarc generally
consists of a main stem with many branches, and it is so
plant-like in appearance that the common sertularians
are often mistaken for seaweed, and are often called sea-
firs. The young sertularian, on escaping from the ovum,
appears as a free-swimming ciliated body, which soon loses
its cilia, fixes Itself, and develops a co^nosarc, by budding
from which the branching hydi-osoma of the perfect or-
ganism is produced.
sertularidan (ser-tu-lar'i-dan), a. and n. [<
Sertularida + -an.] I. a. Same &s sertularian.
II. n. A member of the Sertularida.
Sertulariidae (sfer'tu-ls-ri'i-de), n.jil. [NL., <
Sertularia + -idle.] A family of sertularian hy-
droid polyps or calyptoblastic HydromeduKX,
typifled by the genus Sertularia, having sessile
polypites in hydrotheese alternating on either
side of the finely branched polyp-stock, and
fixed gonophores.
serum (se'rum), n. [= F. sirnm = Sp. suero =
It. siere, siero, < L. serum, whey, = Gr. opcif,
whey, < -y/ sar, flow: see salt^.] 1. The thin
part of milk separated from the curd and oil ;
whey. A\so called serum lactis. — 2. The clear
pale-yellow liquid which separates from the
clot in coagulation of the blood; blood-serum.
— 3. Any serous liquid, as chyle or lymph.-- Se-
rum-albumln, albumin of the blood, simirar to but dis-
Sertularia
tubitkeca
Same as
serum
tinct from egg-albumin. — Serum globulin, the globulin
which is found in the blood-seruni. Also called para-
giofndin and ierum-caxein.
serv. An abbreviation (a) of servant; (6) in
phar., of the Latin serva, 'keep, preserve'; (<;)
[(•o/).] of Seri'ian.
servable (ser'va-bl), a. [< served + -able.']
Capable of being served. Bailey, 1731.
servaget (ser'vaj), «. [< ME. sen-age, < OF.
(and F.) servage (ML. serragium) = It. servag-
gio; < serf, serf: see serre^, serf.] Servitude;
subjection; service; specifically, the service of
a lover.
Servant in love and lord in mariage —
Thanne was he bothe in lordship and servage.
Chaucer, Franklin's Tale, 1. 66.
Aftre that theComaynz, that weren in Servage in Egj'pt,
felten hem self that thei weren of gret Power, thei chesen
hem a Soudaln amonges hem. MandevUle, Travels, p. 36b
serral (sfer'val), n. [= F. Sp. Pg. G. nerval,
from aS.Africannativename(f).] TheAfrican
tiger-cat, Felis serval. it U long-bodied and ahort-
Scrral (Fetil
tailed, without penciling of the ears, of a tawny color
spotted with black, and about 30 inches long, exclusfre
of the tail, which is 10 inches long and ringed. Also
calle<l butthcat.
senraline (s^r'val-in), a. K serval + -tnel.]
Kescnibling or related to the serval: as, the
x/'rrdliiie cat, Felis servalina, of western Africa.
Bervandt, «. A Middle GngUsh form of serrant.
t^ servant (s^r'vant), n. [< ME. servant, lervaunt,
.lervinrnt, servand, < OF. (and F.) servant, serv-
ing, waiting (as a noun, OF. servant, m., usu-
ally sergeant, etc., an attendant, servant, ser-
vante, F. servante, f., a female servant), = Pr.
tervente, sirvente = 8p. sirvienle = Pg. It. ser-
vente, a servant, < ML. servien(t-)s, a servant,
retainer, officer of a court, sergeant, appren-
tice, etc., < L. sercien(t-)s, serving, ppr. of ser-
vire, serve: see aerrel. Doublet of sergeant,
Serjeant, servient.] 1. One who serves or at-
tends, whether voluntarily or involuntarily; a
person employed by another, and subject to his
orders; one who exerts himself or herself, or
labors, for the benefit of a master or an employ-
er; an attendant; a subordinate assistant; an
agent. The earlier a««» of this word seem to Imply pro-
tection on the part of the sovereign. Ion], or maater, and
the notion of clientage, the relation involved being one in
no sense degrading to the inferior. In modem use It de-
notes speciHcally a domestic or menial helper. {*<x <c),
below.) In law a servant is a person who, for a connid-
eration. is Imund to render service ander the legal anthur-
ityof another, such other being called the ni<u(«r. Agents
of various kinds are sometime* Included in the genera]
desieimliiin of wrmn^; bat the term agent implies dis-
cretionarj- power, and responsibility In the nio4ie of per-
fomiitig duty, such as is not usually implied In the term
tervani : as, the uniformed tervantJi of a railway-company.
See nuMt«rl, 2.
Thou schalt not desire thi neijboria feere,
N'e falsi] his sfrwiunt from him hent.
Uymai to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. 8.^ p. 106.
If I sent oner see my teruatiU to Hmgea,
iyr in-to Pruslonde my prentys my profit to wayten,
To marchaunden with niunoye.
Pien Plowman (B\ xIlL 892.
My leam'd and well-beloved tervant, Oranmer,
Prithee, retam. Shak., Hen. VIII., li. 4. 238.
Menatonon sent messengers to me with Pearic^ and
Okisco King of Weopomeoke, toyeelde himMUe Mntont
to the (Jueene of England.
Quoted In Capt. John Smiik't Work*, L 91.
The flag to be used by H. M.'s Diplomatic ServanU, . . .
whether on shore or emtiarked In Doat* or other veesela^
1* the Union nag. with the Royal Arms In the centre.
Foreign Office Ut, 1890, p. 446.
Specifically— (a) A bondman or bondwoman ; a slave.
Kemember that thou wast a Kmant in the land of Egypt.
DeuL V. 15.
I
He that is called in the Ix)rd, being a lervant, is the
Lord's freeman. 1 Cor. vIL 22.
In all India were no scruants, but all freemen.
PurehoM, Pilgrimage, p. 462.
Mr*. M had Inherited a numtier of negroe* from her
tatlMr'* eatate. It is recorded of her that she never al-
5515
lowed any of these iervants to be punished for any offence
whatever.
5. Z). Smede^, Memorials of a Southern Planter, viii.
(6) A person hired for a specified time to do manual or
field labor ; a laborer.
Penalty of 40. s. a month for useing the Trade of a Join-
er or Carpenter, not having served a seven years appren-
ticeship and been free of the Company, except he work as
a Servant or Journeyman with a iYeeraan of the Company.
Englisk Gilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 209.
Dr. Plott, speaking of the Statutes for hiring servants,
says that at Bloxham the carters stood with their whips
in one place, and the shepherds with their crooks in
another. Hone, Table-Book, p. 202.
(c) A person in domestic service ; a household or personal
attendant; a domestic; a menial. An upper servant is
one who has assistants under him or her, as a butler, a
head cook, or a head coachman ; an under servant is one
who takes orders from an upper one, as an under-nurse,
a scullery-maid, or a groom.
A servant, with this clause,
Makes drudgery divine :
Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws
Makes tliat, and th' action, fine.
G. Herbert, The Eliilr.
Time was, a sober Englishman would knock
His servants up, and rise by five o'clock.
Pope, Imit of Horace, II. i. 162.
The servants [at a dinner-party] are not servai^, but
the Ijefore-mentioned retail tradesmen.
Thackeray, Book of Snobs, xz.
2. One in a state of subjection.
The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is ser-
vant to the lender. Prov. xxiL 7.
3. One who dedicates himself to the service
of another; one who professes himself ready
to do the will of another. See phrases below.
ODaDiel,sn-t>an< of the living God. I>*n.vl. 20.
Pan], a servant of Jesus Christ. Rom. L 1.
4t. A professed lover. The correlative teirm
mistress is still in use.
If any servaunt durst or oghte aryght
Upon his lady pitously compleyne,
Than wene 1 that I oghte be that wyght
Chaucer, Troilus, v. 1345.
VaUntine. Madam and mistress, a. thousand good-mor-
rows. . . .
SUvia. Sir Valentine and tenant, to you two thousand.
Shak., T. G. of V., li. 1. 106.
Phil. Peace to your fairest thoughts, dearest mlstres* I
Are. Oh, my deare*t servant, I have a war within me '.
Beau, and Ft., Philaster, iU. 2.
Where the first question Is how soon you shall die'/ next,
if her present sennn< love her? next. If she shall have a
new stramtf and bow many? B. Jonton, Epica^ne, 11. 1.
Civil sarraat. see rfra.— Company's servant, an
oOlcia] attached to the civil service of tlie Ea-st liidia Com-
pany.—His or Her Majesty's Servants, the Klner'B Ser-
vants, a name sometinit-sKivcn to the tlranmtic profession
in Great BritaitLln allusion to the names formerly given
to acton— (Ac King's or Bis Majetty's Servants, etc.
This comcedie w«* flnt acted in the yeere 1605 by the
King's Maietties Servant*.
Title page of B. Jarmm's Volpone (ed. 1616).
Soon after Cliaries II. 's entry into Ixmdon, two theatri-
cal companies are known to have l)«en acting in the capi-
tal. For these companies patents were soon granted, un-
der the names of "the Duke (of York)'s " and "the King's
Servants." Encye. Brit., VII. tM.
The King's Servttnts acted then, as they do now, at the
Theatre Koyal in Drury Lane.
Hfe of Quin (reprint 1887), p. 12.
Proctors' servant Same as bulldog, 3.— Kellglons
Servants of the Holy Virgin, see Smite. — Servant
of servants, one degraded to the lowest condition of
sen'itude.
And he [Noah] said. Cursed t>e Canaan ; a servant qfter.
vants shall he l)e unto his brethren. Gen. ix. 26.
Servant of tbe servants of God, a title (ijitin servus
servorwn Dei) assumed by tlit-- jjoik-s since the time of
Gregory the Great.— Servant out of livery a servant
of a higher grade, as a majordonio or liutler, who does not
wear the livery of his employer. — Servants' ball, the
room in a bouse set apart for the use of the servants In
common, In which they take their meals together, etc.
Whoever should happen to overhear their character dls-
ca**ed in their own servants' hall, must prepare to un-
dergo tbe scalpel of some such an anatomist as Mr. Falr-
•ervice. Scott, Bob Roy, xxL
By the time he had told his tale twice or thrice in the
servantit'haU or the butler's private apartment, he was
pretty perfect and consistent. Thackeray, Virginians, xvi.
. Solomon's servants, a certain class of the returned ex-
iles ermmenited in .Scripture after the Levites and the
Nethlnim. Tlu-y wt-re prohat)ly connected in some Infe-
rior capacity with the temple serv'ice. Ezra li. 55, .58.—
Tour (nnmble or obedient, etc.) servant, a phrase of
courtesy, used especially in closing a letter, and now pure-
ly formal.
Sir, I can nothing say.
Bat that I am your most obedient servarU.
SA<i*.,An's Well,lL6.77.
111 make haste home and prevent her. Your s^rvaTtf,
sir Congreve, Way of the World, IL 7.
They (the Blount family] are extremely yottr servants, or
else I should not think them my friends.
Pope, To the Duchess of Hamilton.
servantt (s'sr'vant), r. t. [< servant, n.] 1. To
subject; suborilinate.
serve
My affairs
Are servanted to others. Shak. , Cor. , v. 2. 89.
2. To furnish with one or more servants.
The uncles and the nephew are now to be double-senjan^
ed (single-«enja?ited they were before), and those servants
are to be double-armed when they attend their masters
abroad. Richardson, Clarissa Harlowe, xxxi. (Davies.)
servant-girl (ser'vant-gerl), n. A female ser-
vant, or maid-servant.
seirvant-maid (ser'vant-mad), n. A maid-ser-
vant.
servant-man (s6r'vant-man), n. A male ser-
vant, or man-servant.
servantry (s6r'vant-ri), n. [< servant + -ry.]
Servants collectively ; a body of servants.
The male servantry summoned to do homage by the
blast of the cows' horns.
W. H. Russell, Diary in India, II. 206.
servant's-call (s^r'vants-kal), n. A whistle or
small horn used to call attendants: such a call
is often found combined with a table-utensil,
tobacco-stopper, or the like, of manufacture as
late as the eighteenth century.
servantsUp (ser'vant-ship), n. [< servant +
-ship.] The post, station, or relation of a ser-
vant.
Usurpation of servantship coincides necessarily with
wrongful imposition of mastership.
Bejitham, Introd. to Morals and Legislation, xvi. 43.
servatoryt, «. [< LL. servatorium, conserva-
tory, magazine (glossing Gr. fv^KTr/piov, phy-
lactery), < L. servare, keep: see served. Cf.
conserva toru. ] That which preserves, keeps, or
guards. [Rare.]
Their Phylacteries or Seruatories, Defensiues (so the
word signifleth), In Hebrew Totaphoth, they vsed as Pre-
seruatines (read -tiuesl or Rememorancersof the Law, and
ware them larger then other men.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 141.
seirve^ (s6rv), v. ; pret. and pp. served, ppr. serv-
ing. [< ME. serven, servien, serfen, < OP. (and
F.) servir = Pr. servir, sirvir = Sp. Pg. .servir
= It. servire, < L. servire, serve; allied to L.
servus, a slave, servare, keep, protect, < -y/ ,^ar,
protect, = Zend Anr, protect, hatirva, protecting.
From the same L. source (servus, servire) are
also ult. E. serf, servant, sergeant, deserve, dis-
serve, misserve, subserve, desert'^, etc. In the
ME. sense, 'deserve,' the word is in part an
aplketic form of deserve.] I. trans. 1. To at-
tend or wait upon ; act as servant to ; work for ;
be in the employment of as a slave, domestic,
hired helper, or the like.
His master shall bore his ear through with an aul ; and
he shall serve him for ever. Ex. xxi. 6.
No man can serve two master*. Mat. vi. 24.
I serve the king ;
On whose employment I was sent to you.
Shak., Lear, IL 2. 1S6.
2. To render spiritual obedience and worship
to; conform to the law and do the will of.
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose
you this day whom ye will serve. Josh. xxiv. 15.
For ye serve the Lord Christ. CoL iii. 24.
For a whole century
Had he been there.
Serving God In prayer.
Longfellow, Golden Legend, ii.
3. To be subordinate or subservient to ; min-
ister to.
How happy is he bom and taught
That serveth not another's will.
Sir U. Wotton. The Happy Life.
Bodies bright and greater should not serve
The less not bright. Milton, P. L., vlil. 87.
4. To wait, on or attend in the services of the
table or at meals.
Make ready wherewith I may sup. and gird thyself, and
serve me, till I have eaten and drunken. Luke xvit. 8.
Others, pamper'd in their shameless pride,
Are servd In plate. Dryden.
With diligence he'll serve us while we dine.
Congreve, tr. of Juvenal's Satires, xi.
5. To bring forward and place or arrange, as
\nand8 or food on a table : often with up, for-
merly with fiyrth or in.
Serve hym [a pheasant] /ourtA ; no sawse but salte.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 375.
Bid them cover the table, serve in the meat, and we will
come in to dinner. Shak., M. of V., iii. 6. 63.
Thy care is, under polish'd tins,
To serve the hot-and-hot.
Tennyson, Will Waterproof.
6. To administer the service of; perform the
duties required for: as, a curate may serve two
churches.
In 1823 he [Keble] left Oxford. ... to serve one or two
small and poorly endowed curacies.
Kiusye. Brit., XIV. 24.
serve
7. To contribute or conduce to ; promote.
Th^ make Christ and his Gospell oiielie serue Ciuill
pollicie. Ascham, The Scholemaster, p. 82.
Sir Modred . . . sought
To make disruption in the Table Round
Of Arthur, and to splinter it into feuds,
Sertdtig his traitorous end. Tennyson, Guinevere.
Evil can but serve the right.
Over all shall love endure.
Whittier, Calef in Boston.
8. To aid by good offices ; minister to the wants
or well-being of.
For David, after he had served his ovm generation by the
will of God. fell on sleep. Acts xiii. 36.
He would lose his life to serve his country, but would
not do a base thing to save it
Sumiier, True Grandeur of Nations.
Not less, tho' dogs of Faction bay,
Would serve his kind in deed and word.
Tennysoti, Love thou thy Land.
9. To be of use to instead of something else :
with /or; as, a sofa may serve one for a bed.
The cry of Talbot serves me for a sword.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., ii. 1. 79.
Not far from the Castle is an old unfinish'd Palace of
Faccardine's, serving however the Bassa /or his Seraglio.
Maundrell, Aleppo to Jerusalem, p, 45.
10. To regulate one's conduct in accordance
with the spirit, fashion, or demands of; com-
ply with.
Men who think that herein we serve the time, and speak
in favour of the present state, because thereby we either
hold or seek preferment Hooker, Eccles. Polity, I. i. § 1.
The Man who spoke,
Who never sold the truth to serve the hour,
Nor palter'd with Eternal God for power.
Tennyson, Death of Wellington.
11. To behave toward; treat; requite: as. he
served me very shabbily.
If Pisanio
Have . . . given his mistress that confection
Which I gave him for cordial, she is served
As I would serve a rat Shak., Cymbeline, v. 5. 247.
12. To suffice; satisfy; content.
Less than a pound shall serve me for carrying your let-
ter. Shak., T. G. of V., i. 1. 111.
Nothing would serve them then but riding.
Sir R. L' Estrange.
The 2l8t day we sent out our Moskito Strikers for Tur-
tle, who brought aboard enough to serve both Ships Com-
panies. Dampier, Voyages, I. 146.
A polite country squire shall make you as many bows in
half an hour as would serve a courtier for a week.
Addison, Spectator, No. 119.
Never let me hear you utter any thing like a sentiment ;
I have had enough of them to serve me the rest of my life.
Sheridan, School for Scandal, v. 2.
13. To be of use or service to; answer the re-
quirements of ; avail.
Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well,
When our deep plots do pall.
ShaJc., Hamlet, v. 2. 8.
Sir, you have now at length this question for the time,
and, as my memory would best serve me in such a copious
and vast theme, ftUly handi'd.
Stilton, Reformation in £ng., ii.
14t. To be a professed lover of ; be a suitor to.
Syn I have trouthe hire bight
I wol nat ben untrewe for no wight,
But as hire man I wol ay lyve and sterve.
And nevere noon other creature serve.
Ckattcer, Troilus, iv. 448.
15. To handle; manipulate; work; manage:
as, the guns were well served.
But the garrison of Sumter, being destitute of the proper
accessories, could only serve a small number of guns, and
was already suffering from want of provisions.
Comte de Paris, Civil War in America (trans.), I. 138.
16. Xautj to bind or wind tightly with small
cord, generally spun-yarn or marline : as, to
serve a backstay. — 17. In law, to deliver or
send to ; present to in due form ; communicate
by delivery or by reading, according to differ-
ent methods prescribed by different laws : often
with on or upon before the person : as, to serve
a notice upon a tenant.
They required that no bookseller should be allowed to
unpack a box of books without notice and a catalogue
served upon a judge. Brougham.
18. To supply; furnish: usually said of regu-
lar and continuous supply: as, a newsman
serves families with papers ; a reservoir serves
a town with water.
The watir cometh all by condite, in grett plente, ffrom
Ebrom and Bedelem. which condites serve all the Citee
in every place. Torkington, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 38.
And, although the sea be so deep between it [the tower!
and the shore that a ship may sail through, yet is it served
with fresh water. Sandys, Travalles, p. 30.
19. To earn. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] — 20.
To copulate with; cover: used of male ani-
mals, as stallions, jacks, orVjulls, kept for breed-
ing purposes at a price. — 21. To deliver, as a
5516
ball, in the manner of the first player in tennis
or lawn-tennis, or the pitcher in base-ball: as,
he served a swift ball. — 22t. To deserve.
Haf I prys wonnen ?
Haue I thryuandely thonk [thanks] thurg my craft serued ?
Sir Qaicayne and the Green Knight (K. E. T. S.), 1. 1380.
I gyfe the grace and graunt, thof e thou hafe grefe servede!
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2591.
To serve a cable (natu.). See cable. ~to serve a
hawk, in falconry, to drive out a quarry which has taken
refuge or concealed itself.~To serve an apprentice-
ship, to perform the service or fulfil the legal condi-
tions of an apprentice. -To serve an attachment or
writ of attachment, in law, to levy such a writ on
the person or goods by seizure. — To serve an execu-
tion, to levy an cvecutlon on the person, goods, or lands
by seizure.— To serve an office, to discbarge tlie duties
incident to an office.— To serve a person heir to a
property, in Scots law, to take the necessary legal steps
for putting him in possession. See service of an lieir, under
servicei.—To serve a process or writ, to communicate
a process or writ to the person to whom it is directed, as
by delivering or reading it to him, or by leaving it at his
place of residence or business, as the law may direct.
The person is said to be served with the process or writ.
— To serve a sentence, to undergo the punishment pre-
scribed by a judicial sentence : as, to serve a sentence of
eighteen months' hard labor. — To serve a turn, one's
turn, or the turn. See («rn.— To serve one a trick,
to play a trick upon one.
Well, if I be served such another tr^k, 111 have my brains
ta*en out. Shak., M. W. of W., iii. 5. 6.
To serve one OUt^ to punish or take revenge on one ;
make an example of one.
The Right Honourable Gentleman had boasted he had
served his country for twenty years. Served his country !
He should have said served her out !
Bulwer, My Novel, xii. 25.
To serve one right, to treat one as he deserves: often
used interjectionally.
Webb dated all his Grace's misfortunes from Wynen-
dall, and vowed that Fate served the traitor right
Thackeray, Heniy Esmond, iii. 5.
Workhouse funeral — serve him right!
JHckens, Pickwick, xlii.
To serve one's self of, to avail one's self of; use. [A
Gallicism.]
If they elevate themselves, it is only to fall from a higher
place, because they serve themselves o/ other men's wings,
neither understanding their use nor their virtue.
Dryden, Obs. on Dufresnoy's Art of Painting.
To serve one's time, to complete one's apprenticeship.
At first there was a very general desire to reestablish
the apprentice system of the middle ages. The tradi-
tions of the past were still strong. The lad must serve
his time — that is, be legally bound to remain with his
master for a term of four or five years.
The Century, XXXVII. 402.
To serve one (with) the same sauce. See sauce.— To
serve out, to deal out or distribute in portions: as, to
serve out ammunition to soldiers ; to serve out grog to sail-
ors.—To serve the purpose of, to take the place of in
use; do the work of; serve for: as, a bent pin seryerf the
purpose of a fish-hook.— To serve the vent, in gun., to
stop the vent of a gun while it is being sponged.— To
serve time, to undergo a term of imprisonment.
The under-world, with the police and detective forces
practically in its interest, holds in rigorous bondage ev-
ery unfortunate or miscreant who has once served time.
Science, VIII. 287.
==Syn. 1. To labor for, attend, aid, assist, help.— 7. To
advance, forward, benefit.
II. intrans. 1. To be or act as a servant or
attendant; be employed in services or minis-
trations for another: formerly with to.
Blessed Angels he sends to and fro,
To serve to wicked man. Spenser, F. Q., II. viii. 1.
Serve by indenture to the common hangman.
Shak., Pericles, iv. 6. 187.
They also serve who only stand and wait.
Milton, Sonnet on his Blindness.
When a man can say I serve — Ut the whole extent of
my being I apply my faculty to the service of mankind in
my especial place — he therein sees and shows a reason
for his being in the world, and is not a moth or incum-
brance in it. Etnerson, Fortune of the Republic.
Specifically — (a) To perform domestic offices for another ;
wait upon one as a servant.
For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he
that serveth? . . . but I am among you as he that serveth.
Luke xxii. 27.
And now, Mrs. Cook, I proceed to give you my instruc-
tions, . . . whether you serve in town or country.
Sivift, Advice to Servants (Cook).
(b) To discharge the duties of an office or employment ;
do duty in any capacity under authority, especially as a
soldier or seaman.
Under what captain serve you ? Shak., Hen. V., iv. 1, 95.
Leontius, you and I have serv'd together,
And run through many a fortune with our swords.
Fletcher, Humorous Lieutenant, iii. 7.
His talk is all of war and pleasure, and he longs to sen^e
in the next campaign. Thackeray, Henry Esmond, ii. 6.
"Uashe served in the army?" "Yes — no— not, strictly
speaking, served; but he has been . . . trained to arms."
Scott, Rob Roy, x.
Is na' this Hester, as serves in Foster's shop?
Afrs. Gaskell, Sylvia s Lovers, vii
Likewise had he served a year
On board a merchantman, and made himself
Full sailor. Tennyson, Enoch Arden.
server
(c) To be in subjection or servitude.
And the Egyptians made the cliildren of Israel to serve
with rigour; and they made their lives bitter with hard
bondage. Ex. i. 13.
Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven.
Milton, P. L., i. 263.
(d) Eccles., to act as server at the celebration of the eu-
charist. See server, 1 (a).
" Canstow seruen," he seide, " other syngen in a churche? "
Piers Ploivman (C), vi. 12.
2. To answer the pui-pose ; accomplish the end ;
avail; be sufficient; suffice: often followed by
a present infinitive of purpose.
liom. Courage, man ; the hurt cannot be much.
Mer. No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a
church-door ; but 'tis enough, 'twill serve.
Shak., R. and -T., iii. 1. 101.
For they say The Riches of the Church are to serve as
Anchors in Time of a Storm. Howell, Letters, ii, 61.
The Indians make use of no more Land than serves to
maintain their Families in Maiz and to pay their taxes.
Dampier, Voyages, II, ii. 119.
Learning itself, received into a mind
By nature weak, or viciously inclin'd,
Serves but to lead philosophers astray.
Cowper, Progress of Error, L 433.
Short greeting serves in time of strife!
Scott, ilarmion, vi. 24.
3. To suit; be convenient; be favorable: said
especially of a favoring wind or current.
There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the fiood, leads on to fortune: . . .
And we must take the current when it serves.
Shak., J. C, iv. 3, 223.
His Ships were readie, but the wind serv'd not for many
days. Milton, Hist. Eng., vi.
The tide serving at half-past two, we got clear of the
docks at that hour. W. C. Russell, Sailor's Sweetheart, ii.
The sportsman, narrating his feats when opportunity
serves, keeps such spoils of the chase as he conveniently
can. H. Spencer, Prin. of Sociol., § 349.
4t. To be a professed lover or suitor.
Code godely JCryseyde], to whom serve I and laboure
As I best can. Chaticer, Troilus, i. 458.
5. To deliver or bat the ball, as done by the
player who leads off in tennis or lawn-tennis.
serve^ (s6rv), h. [< served, «?.] In tennis or
lawn-tennis: (a) The act of the first player in
striking the ball, or the style in which the ball
is then delivered: as, a good serve, {b) The
right of hitting or delivering the ball first : as,
it is my serve.
He lost his serve, and the next game as well, and before
five minutes had passed he was two games to the bad in
the last set. St. Nicholas, XVII. 920.
serve^t (serv), n. [< ME. serve: appar. < OF.
"^sorhe, F. sorbe = Sp. sorha, serha = Pg. sorva
= It. sorhay t, service-berry, sorbo, m., service-
tree, < L. sorbnSj f., the service-tree, sorbum,
neut., its fruit: see sorb, and cf. service^.'] 1.
The service-tree.
He may ont graffe atte Marche in thorn and serve.
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 98.
2. The fruit of the service-tree.
Crato . . . utterly forbids all maner of fruits, as peares.
apples, plumms, cherries, strawberries, nuts, medlers,
serves, &c. Burton, Anat. of Mel., p, 69.
serveet, '*. [ME., < OF. *servie, serve, service,
<. servir, serve: seeserrei.] Service.
And make goure selfe sogettys to be
To hem that owvn 30W servee.
MS. Harl. 1701, f. 8. (HaUiweU.)
server (ser'ver), n. [< ME. server; < serve'^ +
-eri.] 1. One who serves.
So are ye image-servers — that is, idolaters.
Tyndale, Ans. to Sir T. More, etc. (Parker Soc., 1850), p, 52.
Specifically— (a) In the Roman Catholic and Anglican
churches, an attendant on the priest at a low celebration
of the eucharist, who helps the priest to vest and unvest.
arranges the service-book, lights and extinguishes the al-
tar-lights, places the elements and cruets on the credence
and brings them to the priest at the offertoiy, brings the
priest the basin and towel and pours the water at the
lavabo, pours out the ablutions of wine and water, and
ministers ii] other ways. The server is usually a boy or
other layman, and represents, as far as a layman can, the
priest's assistants and the choir at a high celebration. (6)
One who serves up a meal, or sets the dishes on table.
Byfore the cours thostuarde comes then.
The seruer hit next of alle kyn men
Mays way. Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 316.
The medieval baron removed from one to another of his
castles with a train of servants and baggage his chaplains
and accountants, steward and carvers, servers, cupbearers,
clerks, squires, yeomen, grooms and pages, chamberlain,
treasurer, and even chancellor.
Stuhbs, Const. Hist, § 473.
(c) In the game of teimis or of lawn-tennis, the player who
serves or strikes the ball first. See laicn-tennis.
The game begins by serving the ball upon the left wall
of the Hazard Court (which the server faces>.
Tribune Book of Sports, p. 105.
2. That which serves or is used in serving.
Specifically — (o) A salver or small tray. (6) A utensil for
t
server
distribnting articles of food at the table, differing from the
ordinary implement, such as spoon or fork: as, an oyster-
server; an asparagus-«rri?er. (ct) A conduit.
They . . . derived rilles and servers of water into every
street. Holland, tr. of Camden, p. 248. (Dames.)
Servetian (ser-ve'shan), «. [< Servetus (see
def.) + -ian.] A follower of Servetus (died
1553), who maintaiaed substantially the views
regarding the nature of Christ afterward known
as Socinianigm. [Bare.]
serTiablef, a. Same as serviceable. Cath. Ang.,
p. 331.
Servian (s^r'vi-an), a. and n. [< NL. Servia (F.
Serrie = G. Serbieii = Euss. Serbii/a ; < E. Serb
= F. Serbe = G. Serbe = Buss. Serbu, < Serv.
Srb, a Servian) + -ian.] I. a. Pertaining or
belonging to Servia, a kingdom of Europe, situ-
ated south of the Austrian empire, and former-
ly subject to Turkey; pertaining to the Ser-
vians or to their language.
II. H. 1. A native or an inhabitant of Servia ;
a member of a branch of the Slavic race dwell-
ing in Servia: the term is applied by extension
to inhabitants of Bosnia, Herzegovina, Monte-
negro, Croatia, etc., allied in race and language
to the inhabitants of Ser%-ia. — 2. A Slavic lan-
guage spoken in Servia, Bosnia, Herzegovina,
Montenegro, Dalmatia, Croatia, etc. The dialect
spoken in Croatia is often called CrooHan, Servian being
restricted to the other dialects ; the whole group of dia-
lects is sometimes called Serbo-Croatian. Abbreviated
Sen.
Also Serbian.
service' (ser'™), «. [Early mod. E. (and dial.)
also sarrice ; < ME. nerviee, servi/cr, serriie, ser-
ryac, < OF. seri-isc, xerricc, F. service = Pr. scr-
visi = Sp. serricio = Pg. serti^o = It. serri.:i(), <
L. serritium, ML. also servicium, service, servi-
tude, < «emre, serve : see serrel.] 1. The act
of serving, or attendance, in any sense; the
rendering of duty to another; obedience; the
performance of any office or labor for another.
Ab glad, aa humble, as bisy in arrryae,
And eek in love, as she was wont to be,
Was she to him in every maner wyse.
Chatieer, Clerk's Tale, L 649.
Upon your oath of service to the pope.
"i. John, 1
1.23.
I
SluUr.. K.
Reason, however able, cool at beat.
Cares not for service, or bat serves when press 'd.
Pope, Essay on Man, UL 86.
Bhoold tbis first master claim
HiBserriee, whom does it belong to? him
Who thrtist him out, or him who saved his life?
Tenrtyson, Lover's Tale, Iv.
8peoi6eally — 2. Spiritual obedience, rever-
ence, and love.
Present your bodies as a living sacriBce, holy, accepta-
ble unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Kom. xii. 1.
Ood require* no man's service upon bard and unreason-
able terms. TUlotson, Sermons.
3. The duty which a tenant owes to a lord for
his fee : thus, personal service consistg in hom-
age and fealty, etc. ; annual service in rent, suit
to the court of the lord, etc. ; accidental services
in heriots. reliefs, etc. — 4. Place or position of
a servant ; employment as a servant ; state of
being or acting as a servant; menial employ
or capacity : as, to be out of service.
To leave a rich Jew's «>ni<et^ to bfloome
The follower of so poor a gentleman.
Skat., M. of v., ii. 2. leo.
To the Judge's house sbee did enquire,
Atid there shee did a service get.
The Merchants Dttughter (ChUif s BalUuls, IV. 3S6X
Answer that ... a poor servant is not to be blamed if
he strives to better himself ; that service is no inheritance.
Svcifl, Advice to Servant* (General Directions).
5. Labor performed for another; assistance
rendered; obligation conferred; duty done or
required ; office.
As thou lovest me, Camillo, wipe not oat the rest of thy
services by leaving me now ; the need I have of thee thine
own goodne** bath made. Shot., W. T., iv. 2. 12.
He [Temple] did not betray or oppreas his country : nay,
he rendered considerable services to her.
MacmUay, Sir W. Temple.
6. Duty performed in, or appropriate to, any
office or charge ; official function : as, the diplo-
matic serriiv : the consular service; hence, spe-
cifically, military or naval duty; performance
of the duties of a soldier or sailor; formerly,
a bold and daring performance of such duties ;
also, the army or navy as a profession.
At this day, that Vocation [the esquire's] is grownetobe
the first degree of gentry, taken out of the ssrmoe In the
warrs. from whence all the other degree* of nobility are
borowed. Boi^e n/ I'recedence ( E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 38.
He waylays the reports of services, and cons them with-
oot book, damning himself he came new from Ihciii.
B. Jonsm, Every Man out of his Humour, Pref.
5 517
The best room in the dilapidated house was put at the
service of the commanding officer of the impress service.
Mrs. Gaskell, S.vlvia's Lovers, xiiii.
Men in professions of any kind, except the two services,
could only belong to society by riglit of birth and family
connections. W. SesaM, lilty Years Ago, p. 85.
7. A useful office ; an advantage conferred or
brought about ; benefitorgoodperformed,done,
or caused: use; employment.
He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for
the service of man. Ps. civ. 14.
I have done the state some service, and they know 't.
Shot., Othello, v. 2. 339.
All the vessels of the king's house are not for uses of
honour ; some be common stuff, and for mean services, yet
proflUble. Spelman.
Tell Roderick Dhu I owed him naught,
Not the poor service of a boat,
To waft me to yon mountain side.
S(»t<,L.of theL.,ii. 37.
8. Profession of respect uttered or sent: as,
my service to you, sir.
Pray do my service to his majesty.
Shak., Hen. VIH., 111. 1. 179.
Pray, give my service to . . . all my friends and acquain-
tance in general who do ask after me.
SteeU, Tatler, No. 87.
9. Suit as a lover; professed love. [Archaic]
Wel I woot ray servyce is in vayn,
My gerdoun is but brestyng of myn heite.
Chaucer, t'ranklins Tale, 1. 244.
Has Arthur spoken aught? or would yourself.
Now weary of my service and devoir,
Henceforth be truer to your faultless lord?
Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine.
10. Public religious worship and instruction
conducted according to the forms or methods
prescribed by ecclesiastical law, precept, or
custom in any given communion : as, the ser-
vices for the following week are, etc.
The congregation was discomposed, and divine service
broken off. Watts.
1 1 . A liturgical f onn prescribed for public wor-
ship; also, a form prescribed for public wor-
ship or ceremonial of some special character;
an office: as, the marriage service.
Ther was also a Nonne, a Prloresse, . . .
Pol wel she song the service divyne.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., I. 122,
The next daye, Ftrday, we went to Mounte Syon to
maiae, and there sayde our semyoe.
Sir R. OuiH/crdt, Pylgrymage, p. 36.
On Days of Faating and Thanksgiving, ... the Min-
ister may appoint inch Ptalms as he sball think At, . . .
anlesa any shall have been appointed by the Ecclesiasti-
e*X Aatbority in a Service set oat for the Occasion.
Book o^ Common Pntyer.
We should profane the service of the dead
To sing a requiem and such rest to her
As to peace-parted aoals. Shak. , Hamlet, v. 1. 268.
12. A full set of musical settings of the con-
gregational or choral canticles, chants, etc., of
a liturgv, especially of the Anglican liturgy. It
does not fnclude metrical hymns or special anthema The
full list of parts for the Anglican morning prayer, comma-
nion ofUce, and evening prayer include* the Venite, Te
Denm, Benedicite, Benedlctus (Dominas), Jubilate, Kyrie,
Nicene Creed, Kanctus, Agnus, Benedlctus (qui venitX
Gloria In Excelsis, Magniflcat, Cantate, Nunc Dimlttis,
and Deus Mlsereator ; tnt all of these are not usually con-
tained in any on* (anrice.
13. Things required for use ; furniture. Espe-
cially—(a) A set of things required for table use: **, a
dinner-«f rrtce ; a service of plate.
A dinner-party [was] given by a certain noble lord, at
which the whole servies waa of silver, a sOver hot-water
dish being placed under every plate.
W. Besant, Pifty Ye*n Ago, p. 120.
(fr) An aaaortxnent of table-linen.
14. That which is served, (o)- A course served up
at table.
Your fat king and your lean beggar is but variable ser-
vice, two di*he*, bat to one table ; that s the end.
Shak., Hamlet, iv. 3. 26.
Service la ready to go up, man ; you must slip on your
coat, and come in ; we laclc waiters pitifully.
B. Jonton, Case is Altered, L 1.
The entertainment is of a pretty substantial kind. Be-
side* tM, there is a service of cheese, of bacon and beef
fried, eto. Jamieson, Diet, (under rockinr/).
(6) The portion lerred to an individual ; an allowance of
food or drink.
And whanne thou seeat afore thee thi service.
Be not to haati upon breed to bite.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.X p. 2)>.
The women, having eaten, drank, and gossiped sulflcient-
ly, were each presented with "a Service of Sweetmeats,
which evenr Gossip carried away in her Handkerchief."
J. AMon, Social Life in Beign of Queen Anne, I. 6.
With farthing candles, chandeliers of tin.
And services of water, rum, and gin.
Cliatterton, Kew Gardens.
I'll spread yonr service by the door.
That when you eat you may heboid
The knights at play where the bowls are rolled.
B. B. Stoddard, The Squire of Low Degree.
serviceable
15. In law. See service of a writ, etc., below,
and serve, v. t., 17. — 16. In lawn-tennis, that
striking of the ball with the racket which
commences a turn of play ; also, the ball thus
struck: as, he made a swift service. — 17. The
small cordage wound round a rope in serving.
Also serving. — 18. That which is supplied or
furnished ; the act or means of supplying some-
thing which is in general demand, or of furnish-
ing specific accommodation : said of transpor-
tation: as, railway or mail service; cab service:
also of the distribution of water and light: as,
electric-light service.
A short squat omnibus, . . . which was then the daily
service between Cloisterham and external mankind.
Dickens, Edwin Drood, vL
19. A service-pipe.
I had taken up about a dozen services when I approached
one that had been only a comparatively short time in duty.
Sci. Amer. Supp., p. 9100.
Active Service. See active.— At one's service, placed
at one's disposal : free for one to use or enjoy. — At your
service, ready to serve you : a phrase of civility.
I am, sir, a practitioner in panegyric, or, to speak more
plainly, a professor of the art of puffing, at your service —
or anybody else's. Sheridan, The Critic, L 2.
Breakfast-service, a set of utensils required for the
bre:\Iifast-table. Compare dinner-service. — BUTlal, CllO-
ral, churcll, civil service. See the qualifying words. —
Civil-service reform. See re/onn,— Claim in a ser-
vice. .'*ee liaimi.— Constructive service. See^jcrson-
al service (a), under personal. — Covenanted civil ser-
vice. Seeririi.— Dessert-service. See rfewiert.— Din-
ner-service, a set of dishes, plates, and other table-uten-
sils, usually of porcelain or of fine earthenware, sometimes
of plate, etc., intended for use at the dinner-table. It may
include what is needed for all the courses of an elaborato
dinner, but more generally excludes the dessert-service,
and also the silverware, knives, etc. — Divine service.
See divine. — jyry service. See dry mass, under mass^. —
Free services. See.frfe.— Full service, (a) A setting of
the musical parts of a church service for a chorus, without
solos. Conipare./'t*// on/A«?n, under a7it/i«7rt. (6) A service
in which music is used as much as possible.- General
service. See service o/ an heir, below. — Harlequin,
herlot, honorary, life-saving service. See the quali-
fying words. — Lunch-service, a set uf the utensils re-
qnireil for the luneli tiihie.- Merchant, personal ser-
vice. See tile adjectives. — Plain service, in Anglican
usage, an office which is simply read, sung on one note, or
pronounced without any musical or choral accompani-
ment.—Predial services. See ;<r<-<iin;— Preventive
service, see r<'<ixf-.7i/nr(/.— Real services. Sameaspre-
dial services. Revenue-CUtter Service, i^t-vrei-enue.—
Secret service. See secrft. — Service of an heir, in .Scots
law, a priK;eeding before a jury for ascertaining and deter-
niiiiinK tile heir of a person deceased. It is either general
or special. A general service determines generally who is
heir of another ; a special service ascertains who is heir to
him in respect of particular lands, etc.— Service of a
writ, process, etc., in law. the communication of it to
the person concerned in the manner required by law, as
by lielivering it to him, or by reading it to him, or by leav-
ing an attested copy with him. Service of the Horn.
Same as c«»r/iff,';f, 1. Service paste. See/'ax/ci.- Sub-
stituted ser'Tlce, or service by substitution, a mode
of serving a process upon a defendant by posting it up In
some conspicuous or public place, or delivering it to a
neighboring person, or both : allowed when entrance to
his dwelling cannot l>e etfected. The phrase is also ap-
plied to publication and mailing when allowed (as in some
case* of absence, etc.) as substitutes for personal service.
—Table-service, a set of utensils for the table, of any
one kind or material : as, a cut-glass table -service, a silver
taUe-serrice, etc., in any case including the articles com-
m'Uily made of tlie material in question or required for the
pur^)8e in question.— Tenure by divine service. See
dinne. —Three hours' service. See hmn. -To have
seen service, (a) To have been in active military or na-
val service ; to have made campaigns. (6) Figuratively,
to have been put to hard use or wear.
If this be a horaeman's coat, it hath seen very hot ser-
vice. Shak., W. T., iv. 3. 71.
Uncovenantetl civil service. See ritif.- Yeoman's
service, see yeoman.
service- (ser'vis), H. [An extended form of
served, due to some confusion with service^ : see
served. The word has nothing to do, as some
have supposed , with L. cerevisia, beer. ] 1 . Same
as service-tree. — 2. The fruit of the service-tree.
October is drawn in a garment of yellow and carnation ;
In his left hand a basket of services, medlars, and other
frnlta that ripen late. Peacham.
serviceability (s^r'vi-sa-birj-ti), n. [< service-
able + -ill/ (see -bility).'] Same as serviceable-
ness. [Becent.]
There are adjustments by which serviceability . . . has
power still further to improve all adaptations by some pro-
cess of self-ediflcation. Pop. Sci. Mo., XXXIII. 73.
serviceable (s^r'vi-sa-bl), a. [< ME. servisabU,
serrici/ablc, scrvysiabylle, < OF. servisable, < ML.
servidabilis, serving, < L. srrvitium, ML. also
servicium, service: see service'^ and -aftte.] 1.
Disposed to be of service; willing; diligent; at-
tentive.
Ciuleys he was. lowely and servysable.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to c. T, 1. 9a
The servants [were] not so many in number as cleanly in
apparel and serviceable in behaviour.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, L
serviceable
And Enid . , . boU'd the flesh and spread the board,
And stood behind and waited on tile three ;
And, seeing her so sweet and serviceable,
Geraint had longing in him evermore
To stoop and kiss the tender little thumb
That crossed the trencher. Tennyson, Geraint.
2t. Connected with service ; proffering service.
There is an inward reasonable, and there is a solemn
outward tertieeabU worship belonging unto God.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. 4.
And all about the courtly stable
Bright-hamess'd Angela sit^ in order serviceable.
Miltoti, Nativity, 1. 244.
8. Capable of rendering useful service; pro-
moting happiness, interest, advantage, or any
good; useful; beneficial; advantageous.
Religion hath force to qualify all sorts of men, and to
make them, in public affairs, the more serviceable.
Hooker.
His gold-beaded cane, too — a serviceable staff, of dark
polished wood — had similar traits.
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, iv.
4. Durable ; admitting of hard or long use or
wear: as, a serviceable fabric,
serviceableness (ser'vi-sa-bl-nes), n. 1. The
state or character of being serviceable ; useful-
ness in promoting good of any kind ; benefieial-
ness.
All action being for some end, its aptness to be com-
manded or forbidden must be founded upon its service-
ableness or disserviceableness to some end. Norris.
2. Helpfulness ; readiness to do service.
He might continually be in her presence, shewing more
humble aerviceableness and joy to content her than ever
before. Sir P. Sidney.
seiTViceably (sfer'vi-sa-bli), adv. In a service-
able manner; so as to be serviceable.
serviceaget (sSr'vi-saj), «. [< service^ + -age.']
A state of servitude.
His threats he feareth, and obeyes the raine
Of thraldome base, and seruiceage, though loth.
Fair/ax, tr. of Tasso's Godfrey of Boulogne, viii. 83.
service-berry (ser'vis-ber"i), n. [Early mod.
E. also service-berrie, sarvice-berrie ; < service'^
+ ften-yl.] 1. A berry of the service-tree. —
2. The fruit of the whitebeam, Pyrus Aria.
[Scotch.] — 3. A North American shrub or
small tree, Amelanchier Canadensis, or its berry-
Seniix-berry iAtnetanchi€r Canadensis).
t, branch with flowers ; 2, branch with fruit ; a, flower ; b, fruit.
like subacid fruit; the shad-bush or June-
berry. The name extends to the other species of
the genus, especially the western A. alnifolia.
service-book (ser'vis-buk), n. A book contain-
ing the forms for public worship appointed for
any given church ; an office-book. The service-
book of the Anglican Church is the Book of Common
Prayer. Among the service-books of the Roman Catholic
Church are the Missal, Breviary, Ritual, Pontifical, etc.
Among those of the Greek Church are the Euchologion,
Horologion, Typicum, Menjea, Triodion, Pentecostarion,
Paracletice, Octoechus, and Meriologion. A much greater
numlier of service-books was formerly in use in the West-
em Church than now, such as the Gradual, Epistolary,
Evangeliary, etc.
Although to forbid the service-book there be much more
reason, as being uf itself superstitious.
Milton, Elkonoklastes, xvi.
service-box (sfer'vis-boks), n. A form of ex-
pansion-joint used in street-mains of steam-
heating systems, serving at once to provide for
expansion and contraction in the main pipes,
and to supply a convenient connection for the
service-pipes of distribution to houses.
serviceHileaner (s6r'vis-kle"n6r), n. A port-
able air-compressing pump and receiver used
to free gas service-pipes from obstructions.
The holder is filled with compressed air, and connected
with the obstructed pipe by a short piece of hose. On
5518
turning a cock, the compressed air suddenly escapes into
the pipe, and blows the obstruction before it.
service-line (ser' vis-lin), n. In lawn-teiDiis, one
of the two lines drawn across the court twenty-
one feet from the net. See lawn-tenns.
service-magazine (s6r'vis-mag-a-zen"), «.
ililil., a niaga/ine for the storage of auimtmi-
tion intended for immediate use. It may be con-
structed either wholly or partly under ground or entirely
above ground. Its size is regulated by the number of
rounds to be held in readiness.
service-pipe (ser'vis-pip), n. A pipe, usually
of lead or iron, for the supply of water, gas,
or the like from the main to a building.
service-tree (ser'vis-tre), ». [< service'^ + tree.]
1. A tree, Pyrus (Sorbns) domestica, native in
continental Europe. It grows from 20 to 60 feet high,
has leaves like those of the mountain-ash, and yields a
small pear-shaped or apple-shaped fruit which, like the
medlar, is pleasant only in an overripe condition. Its
wood is hard and close-grained, and is sought after for
mill-work and other purposes — being preferred to all
other woods for making the screws of wine-presses. Old
or local names are conne and checker-tree.
2t. In some old books, apparently, the common
pear. —Wild service-tree, Pyrus tarminalis, native
southward in Great Britain and on the continent of Eu-
rope. It bears a fruit, which in England is locally pro-
duced for market, of similar character to that of the ser-
vice-tree. See sicaltow-pear, under pearl.
servicioust, a. [ME. servycyows, < ML. servi-
tiosus, serviciosns, serving, < L. servititim, ser-
vice : see service^.] Doing service.
Serv[yc\yowse or servyable [var. servycyows or servicya-
ble, servysablej, obsequiosus, serviciosns, servilis.
Prompt. Parv., p. 453.
servient (ser'vi-ent), a. [< L. servien{t-)s, ppr.
oisenire : see serve'^. Cf. servant, sergeant, from
the same source.] Subordinate.
My soul is from me fled away.
Nor has of late inform'd my lx)dy here.
But in another's breast doth lie.
That neither is nor will be I,
As a form servient and assisting there.
Cowley, The Soul.
Servient tenement, in law, a tenement which is subject
Ui an easement in favor of another than its owner, the
dmniTiant tenement being that to which or to the owner of
which the service is due.
serviette (ser-vi-ef), n. [< F. serviette, OP.
serviette = Sp. servilleta = It. salvieta, a nap-
kin : origin uncertain, the forms being discor-
dant and appar. in part perverted, (a) In otie
view, orig. It. , salvieta, ' that which preserves
one's garments from soiUng,' < salvare, pre-
serve, save (see satiel), being in P. conformed
to servir, serve. (6) In another view (Diez),
orig. P., serviette, for "servitette, with dim. -ette,
< OP. servit (= Pr. servit = It. serrito), pp. of
servir, serve : see served, (c) Orig. P., serviette,
directly < servir, serve (cf. serviable, service-
able), + -ette. None of these explanations is
free from difficulties.] A napkin.
servile (s^r'vil), a. and n. [< ME. servile, < OP.
(and F.) servile = Pr. Sp. Pg. servil = lt. servile,
< L. servilis, of a slave, servile, < servus, a
slave: see serf a.uA served. ] I. a. 1. Of or per-
taining to slaves or servants.
Let not the Chairman with assuming Stride
Press near the Wall, and rudely thrust thy Side :
The Laws have set him Bounds ; his servile Feet
Should ne'er encroach where Posts defend the Street.
Gay, Trivia, iii. 153.
The servile wars of Sicily, and the still more formidable
revolt of Spartacus, had shaken Italy to its centre, and
the shock was felt in every household.
Lecky, Europ. Morals, I. 320.
2. Consisting or made up of slaves ; belonging
to the class of slaves; held in subjection; de-
pendent.
Every servile groom jests at my wrongs.
Marlmoe, Doctor Faustus, iy. 11.
The unfree or servile class is divided by Tacitus into
two : one answering to the coloni of Roman civilisation,
and the other to slaves. Stuhbs, Const. Hist., § 14.
The employment of servile cultivators implies an in-
equality in the shares of the arable which they cultivate
for their respective masters, Stubbg, Const. Hist., § 14.
3. Pertaining or appropriate to a slave or de-
pendent ; fit or proper for a slave.
Leue seruile werkis & nyce aray ;
This is the thriddc comaundement.
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T, S.), p. 104.
Yet there is nothing of rigour used by the Master to his
Slave, except it be the very meanest, such as do all sorts
of servile work. Dampier, Voyages, II. i. 141.
4. EesembUng a slave or dependent ; charac-
teristic or worthy of a slave ; slavish ; hence,
mean-spirited; cringing; base; lacking inde-
pendence.
Scarce their Words of Insolency were out of their
Mouths when they fell to Words of most servile Submis-
sion. Baker, Chronicles, p. I3fl.
serving-man
Such as our motive is our aim must be ;
If tills be servile, that can ne'er be free.
Cttwper, Charity, 1. 668.
A servile adoption of received opinions.
Story, Oration at Cambridge, Mass., Aug. 31, 1826.
Political talent andambition, having no sphere for action,
steadily decay, and servile, enervating, and vicious habits
proportionately increase. Lecky, Europ. Morals, II. 276.
5. Obedient; subject.
A breath thou art
Servile to all the skyey influences.
Shak., M. for M., iii. 1. 9.
He is a merchant, a mere wandering merchant.
Servile to gain.
Fletcher {and another). False One, iv. 2.
6. In gram., of secondary or subordinate char-
acter; not independent, but answering an or-
thogi'aphic purpose.
One of the three is ... a weak or servile letter, hardly
more than a hiatus.
Whitney, Lang, and Study of Lang., p. 302.
Case relations are denoted by added syllables, some of
which retain their form and sense as independent words,
and others have been degraded into servile particles.
John Avery, IVans. Amer. Philol. Ass., XVI., App., p. xvii.
II. n. 1. A slave; a menial.
From his foot, in sign of degradation, sprang the Sudra^
or servites, doomed to menial duties.
L. Wallace, Ben-Hur, p. 19.
2. In gram., a servile element, whether sound
or character; a non-radical element.
servilely (s6r'vil-li), adv. In a servile manner,
in any sense of the word servile.
servileness (ser'vil-nes), n. Same as .servility.
sei'Vilism (ser'vil-izm), n. [< servile + -ism.]
The existence of a servile class, regarded as an
institution. [Recent.]
The remnants of domination and of serviligm |in the
southern United States] will soon take themselves hence.
Congreyatioiialist, Nov. 17, 1880.
servility (ser-vil'j-ti), n. [< F. servility = Sp.
servilidad = Pg. servilidade = It. senililA ; < L.
as if *servilita(t-)s, < servilis, servile: see ser-
vile.] The state or character of being servile.
Especially — (a) The condition of a slave or bondman ;
slavery.
To be a queen in bondage is more vile
Than is a slave in base servility.
Shak., 1 Hen, VI., v. 3. 113.
Servility with freedom to contend.
Milton, P. L., vi. 169.
(6) Mean submission ; baseness ; slavishness ; obsequious-
ness ; slavish deference.
This unhappy servility to custom.
Oovemment of the Tongue.
Loyalty died away into servUity.
Macaulay, Hallani's Const, Hist.
The servility and heart-burnings of repining poverty.
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 161.
A desire to conform to middle-class prejudices may pro-
duce quite as real a servility as the patronage of aristocra-
cies or of courts. Lecky, Eng. in 18th Cent., iii.
serving (ser'ving), n. [Verbal n. of serrel, v.]
1. Same as service^, 1. — 2. Naut., same as ser-
vicifi-, 17.
The core travels through another set of machines, which
first wrap it with a thick serving of tarred jute.
Scribiier's Mag., VIII, 403,
serving-board (s^r'ving-bord), «. Xaut., a
piece of hard wood fitted with a handle, used
for serving spun-yam on small ropes.
The second mate . . . has charge of the boatswain's
locker, which includes serving-boards, marline-spikes, etc.
R. H. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 12.
serving-maid (ser'ving-mad), n. A female ser-
vant.
serving-mallet (sfer'ving-maFet), n. 2i^a«t., a
semieylindrieal piece of wood, fitted with a
handle, and having a groove on one side to fit
(?, serviiiij-niallct; ^, '
wormed " rope " parceled " with canvas ;
c, servinc-yarn.
the convexity of a rope. It is used for con-
venience in serving ropes, or wrapping them
round with spun-yarn, etc., to prevent chafing.
serving-man (ser'ving-man), n. 1. A male
servant ; a menial.
If ye will be a Seruitirnncin,
With attendannce doe begin,
Babees lSmik(K. E. T. S.), p. 82.
serving-man
Where 's the cook ? is supper ready ? . . . the Krmngmtn
In their new fustian? Shak., T. of the S., iv. 1. 49.
2t. A professed lover. See servant, 4.
A terving-man, proud in heart and mind, that curled
my hair, wore gloves in my cap, served the lust of my
mistress' heart Shak., Lear, iii. 4. i>7.
servioust, «. [< ME. servyoiese, < OF. serveux,
seiviug (used as a noun), < sen-ir, serve: see
.swf'.] Obsequious. Prompt. I'arr.. -p. ^53.
servisablet, serviset. Middle English forms of
.scrriceable, service^.
Servite (sfer'vit), ;i. [< ML. Servitm (also called
seri-i beatee Marix), < L. serrus, servant: see
serf, serrfl.] One of a mendicant order of
monks and nuns, entitled the Keligious Servants
of the Holy Virgin, founded in Italy in the thir-
teenth century, and following the Augustine
rule. By Innocent VIII. it was granted privi-
leges and prerogatives equal to those enjoyed
by the other mendicant orders.
senritium (ser-rish'i-um), H. [L. : see gerviee^.'i
In Uiic, service^ servitude.
servitor (ser'vi-tor), n. [Early mod. E. also
servitour; < ME. serritfiur, serrytour, < OF. >ier-
vitour, serviteur, < F. serriteur = Pr. Sp. Pg. ser-
vidor = It. serridore, serci tore,<. LL. serritnr, one
who serves, < L. scrmrr, serve: see serce^.'\ One
who serves or attends; a subordinate; a fol-
lower; an adherent.
"No 'master/ sire," quod he, "but gerritrntr."
Chaucer, Summoner's Tale, 1. 485.
Come, 1 have heard that fearful commenting
Is leaden terviUjr to dull delay.
SAak., Rich. III., iv. .s. 52.
His words fby trhat I can expres8«) like so many nimble
and airy aervUort trip about him at command.
Milton, Apology for Smectymnuus.
Specifically —(a) A male domestic servant ; a menial.
.Se that ye hane teruyUmn semely the disches for to
bere. Baieet Book (E. E. T. S.X p. 163.
There sat the lifelong creature of the house.
Loyal, the dumb old lenilor.
Ttnnyaon^ Lancelot and Elaine,
(tt) One who Hire* in the amy ; a Midler.
Of these souldlers thus trained the Isle it selfe is able
to bring forth into the Held 4<)0n. And at the instant uf
all aasaies appointed there bee three thousand mure of
most expert and practiced ^erxli»our^ out of Hampshire.
UnUand, tr. of Camden, p. 275. (Dame*.)
I have been a poor termtor by sea and land any time
this fourteen years, and followefl the fortunes of the beat
commanders in Christendom.
B. JotiMon. Every )fan in his Humour, it 2.
(c) Formerly, at Oxford rnlversity. an undergiadaate who
was partly supported by the college funds, wno was distin-
gnished by peculiar dress, and whose duty it was to wait
at tat>le on the fellows and gentlemen commoners. Tills
class of scholars no longer exists, and practically has not
existed for a century. The statement of Tliackeray l>elow
is inexact, inasmuch as the <Mord servitor* did not corre-
spond to the Cambridge sizars, but to the subsixara.
The term subsixar l>ecame forgotten, and the sizar was
supposed to be the same as the aerviior.
QtntUman'g Magazine for 1787, p. 1147.
The unlucky boys who have no tassels to their caps ar*
called sizars — sCT*ntor« at Oxford — (a very pretty and gen-
tieman like title). A distinction is made in their clothes
because they are poor: for which reason they wear a
badge ill pt.verty, and are not allowed to take their meals
with their iellow-studenta Thackeray , Book of Hnobs. xiiL
(<f t) One who jirolesses duty or serrtce : formerly aaed in
piinues of civility.
With a constant Perseverance of my hearty desires to
terre your Lordshipv I rest, my Lord, Voar moat humble
Servitor. HowtU, Letters, I. tL 23.
irvitorship (8^r'\i-tor-8hip), n. [< servilor +
-nhiji.^ The position of a servitor. 8ee servi-
tor (c).
Dr. Johnson, by his Interest with Dr. Adams, master of
Pemlnnke College, Oxford, where he was educated for
tome time, obtained a SffrauorsMp for young M'Aulay.
BoeweU, Tour to the llebridea.
irvitude (»6r'vi-tud), «. [< ME. srrritute, <
OF. strriliite, serrituit, serritu, servitude, F. ser-
rituile = Pr. serritiit = OSp. .tervititd = Pg. ser-
riddo = It. s(Tritn,<, L. serritudo (-din-), mixed
in Koin. with servitu{t-)s, senitude, < serrus, a
slave: see wr/, wrrel.] 1. The condition of a
slave or servant; the state of subjection to a
master; slavery; bondage.
Jeroboam and all Israel came and spake to Rehobnam,
saying. . . . l^ase thou somewhat the grievous ternlude
of thy father, and his heavy yoke that he put upon ua
2 Chron. X. -1.
Yon would have sold your king to slaughter.
His princes and bis peers to servitude.
Shak.. Hen. V., 11. 2. 171.
To the victor. It was supposed, belonged the lives of bis
captives: and. hy consequence, he might bind them in
perpetual tervitude. Sumitrr, iimtions, 1. ^14.
The right of the citizens of the i'nited .states to vote
shall not be denied or abrldgml by the I'nited States or
I any .state on account of race, color, or previous condition
of iTTcUuiie. Conel. of U. S, 1.1th Amendment, ( 1.
S. Menial service or condition.
!
5519
Sesamum
Sheila . . . devoted all her time to waiting upon her scrvulatet (s^r'vu-lat), V. i. [< L. servi
two guests, until Lavender could scarcely eat, through
the embarrasjinient produced Ity her noiile gerntude.
W. Black, A Princess of ihule, v.
3. Compulsory service or labor, such as a crim-
inal has to undergo as a punishment : as, penal
servitude. See penal.
When you were a little familiar with colonial phraseol- „.___„.. „ • M;,irii„ t'^™!;,,!, f«m,, ^* oz>^<„>o
ogy you at once understood that . . . Giles had - left his servycet,". A Middle English form of service.
country for his countrys good,' not of his own free will, seSt, ". A Middle English form of eease.
young servant (dim. of servus, a slave, servant),
+ -<ite^.'\ To do obsequious service. [A eu-
phuistic use.]
Bri. I embrace their loves.
E<jre. Which we'll repay with germilating.
Fletcher {and another). Elder Brother (ed. 1637X i. 2.
and was what was called a " free by servitude man " — i. e.,
a convict whose sentence of transportation liad expired.
Sinfteenlh Century, XX\'l. 766.
4. Service rendered in duty performed in the
army or navy. Compare service^, 6. [Specifie
Anglo-Indian use.] — 5. A state of spiritual,
moral, or mental bondage or subjection ; com-
pulsion ; subordination.
In greet lordshipe, if I wel avyse,
Ther is greet servitute in sundry wyse :
1 may nat don as euery plowman may.
sesame (ses'a-me), n. [ME. sysame; < OF.
sesame, sisanie, F. sesame = Sp. segamo = Pg.
sesaiHO = It. sesamo, sisanio = 1). sesam(-kruid)
= G. Sw. Dan. sesam, < L. sesamum, sisamum,
sesama, neut., sesinia, sesama, f. (= Turk. «i-
sdm, susam), sesame, < Gr. a^aa/tov, Laconiau
aaa/jov, neut., the seed or fruit of the sesame-
plant, the plant itself, OT/od/i^, f., the sesame-
plant. Cf. Ar. simsim, > Pers. simsim = Hind.
The E. word is pronounced
samsani. sesame.
Chaucer, Herk's Tale, 1. 742. as if directly from the Gr. m/aafirj.'] An annual
Though it is necessary that some persons in the world herbaceous plant, Sesamum Indicum (S. orien-
should be in love with a s|den.lid serrinid--, yet wrtainly ^^/^j widely cultivated and naturalized in trop-
they must l)e ranch beholdmt: t'.» theirown fancy that the.v ■ , , -u. . , . • „
can be pleased at it. South, icrtl and subtropical Countries. Its value lies chiefly
«, ,. . ,,* ..„ , ,,.,. r> T .:; no in its seeds, from which is expressed the gingili-, sesame-,
6t. Servants collectively. J/i;toH,P.L.,XI1.132. or til-oii. The seeds are also variously used as f.iod. The
— 7. In 2<IUi, the burden of an easement; the con- oil in large doses is laxative, and the leaves when macer-
dition of a tenement which is subject to some atcd yield a mucilaginous remedy, useful in cholera in-
right of enjoyment by another than the owner 'antum, dysentery etc. The plant is simple of culture,
P^t i ^ •' . . ■'. " , , . , . , and thrives in sterile soil. It is somewhat grown m the
of the tenement, m virtue of his ownership Ot goutheni Uiuted states. Also called benne.
another tenement. (See ea.^ement.) inKomanlaw,
Sysame in fatte soil and gmvel is sowe.
Sex sester in oon acre lande is throwe.
PaUadim, Husbondrle (E. E. T. S.), p. 181.
Open sesame, the charm by which the door of the rob-
bers'dungeon in the tale of "All Baba and the Forty
Thieves" (in the "Arabian Nights' Entertainments") flew
open ; hence, a speciflc for gaining entrance into any
place, or means of exit from it.
It [a poet's philosophy! is rather something which is
more energetic in a word than in a whole treatise, and
our hearts unclose themselves instinctively at its simple
Open rtmme .' Louell, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 237.
a right to use or deal with, in a given and definite man-
ner, a thing belonging to another. As to real estate, it is
nearly e<juivalent or correlative to the easement of the
common taw, except that it also embraces rights to take
the fruits of the servient estate, which in English law are
not called easements, but projite d prendre. — AfQrmatlve
servitude. See negative servitude, below. —Discontinu-
ous serritude, in Mir, an easement which cun^i^^ig in the
right to perform a aeries of distinct acts, as a right of way
or of common, or the servitude answeting thereto, such
as cannot be enjoyed but by the intervention of man : dis-
tinguished from A cotUinuous servitude, which consists in
a constant servitude, or in the reservation of some char- „ , ., . ., , ^xtt /a r> j«
acteristic of the servient tenement, as a right of view or Sesamea (se-sa me-e), n. pi. [ISLi. (A. P. de
a right to a watercourse.— Nefative servitude, a servi- CaudoUe, 1819), < Sesamum -I- -<■«.] A tribe of
tade or easement which consists in the right merely Ui tmmopetalous plants, of the order I'edaUneee.
restrict the enjoyment of the owner of the serv lent tene- f^ ,, characterized W a two-celled ovary divided into four
roent, as distlnguishwl from one which entitles one to do ^^,1, ^y false partitions, each cell containing numerous
an act which with.,nt the existence of the easement would ovules. It includes 4 genera, chiefly African and tropical,
be a positive wrong to the owner of that tenement. Thus, „, ^^ich Sesamum is the type.
tjje right to receive light and sir by windows over tbu J, /„p(,'„.m5 «Ti\ „ Oil of RfiRftmum
land 3 another U a HegaHte serritwfe, whereas the right sesame-Oll (ses a-me-ou), n. uii oi sesamum.
to discharge water upon the land of another is an ayr>n/i(i. See ,'((,vo/«<- and o»/.
ties servitude.— tvnimal servitude, a right constituted sesaminet (ses'a-min), a. [< F. sesamin, < L.
over a subject in favor of a person, witliout reference ,sr.v«;«i)iM«, < Gr.'TOoduivof, of sesame (Baim arj-
'^oSSSSSToZ'SX^i^i^^^^^^^'X ""I ■• «esame-oil), < ,nM,ov, avoa,,, sesame:
owner ol aoother sabject or tenement Predial servi see se.tome.] Derived from sesame,
tudes are either rurof or urfton, according as they aH.-ct j^^ , nrachmancsl were annointed with Sesamine oyle,
hind or hoosea. i'he usual rurat semtudes are passage wherewith, and with hony, they tempered their bread,
or road, or the right which a person has to pass over ' Purchas Pilgrimage, p. 454.
another's land ; pasture, or the right to send cattle to
graze on another's land; fail and divot, or the right to sesamoid (ses'a-moid), a. and «. [Cf. li. seso-
cut turf and peata on another s land; aqueduct, or the moides, a plant resembling sesame; < Gr. o^oa-
rlght to have a stream of water conveyed througli an.v ^Mk, like sesame or its Kee.l8,< avad/iov, m/eifi?,,
ther stand; thirlage, or the right to have otiier people s " ' i .i * -it tV • *i i _
torn sent to one's own mill to be ground. Urban servi- sesame, + f/doc, form.] I. a. Having the shape
(u/<e< consist chiefly In the right to use a pariy-wall, or of a grain of sesame: especially applied in
a common drain, or to have the rain from one's roof anatomy to small independent osseous or car-
drop on another s land or house ; the right to prevent an- ,:i„„:,,-,,,„ hoHies npcurrintr in tendinnns stnie-
otherfrom buUding soaa toobstruct the windows of one's tuaginous Doaies occurring in lentiinons srruc
house ; the right of the owner of a flat above to have his
tiires — Sesamoid bones, bony nodules developed in
tendons where they ita.s.s over an angular projection. The
patella, in the teniluii of the 'luadriceps extensor, is the
largest in the human inxly.- Sesamoid cartilage of the
laiynz, a small cartilaginous nodule occa^ionnTly devel-
oped at the side of each arytenoid, near tlie tip, in the i>eri-
cnondriuni.— Sesamoid cartilages, cartilaginous nod-
ules which develop in tendons under the same conditions
as do the sesamoid liones.— Sesamoid flbrocartUages.
Same as g'^mtiid (artUaije)(.— Sesamoid nasal carti-
laifes, small noilnles of cartilage found on llic npj>er mar-
gin of the alar cartilages. Also called cpactal cartilages.
n. H. In anat., a bone developed in the ten-
flat supported by the flat beneath, etc. =8yn. 1. Serfdom,
thraldom, vassalage^ peonage.—! and S. Servitude, Slavery,
BmuUsffe. These words express involuntary sabjection,
and are in the order ot strength. Servitude is the general
word, its application to voluntary service being obsolete.
Slavery empossizes the completeness and the degradation
of the state. Bondage, literally the state of being boand,
is used chiefly in elevated style or figurative senses : as,
bondage to appetite ; Egyptian bondage. Servitude is the
only one of these words that applies to compulsory and
unpaid service requirol as a legal penally ; the phrase ^-
nal servitude Is vwy common. .See serf and captivity.
aervltoret (sfer' vi-tur), m. [< ML. serritura, ger- don of a muscle at or near a joint'; a scleroskel-
vice, < L. Berrire, serve: see «frt'el.] 1. The etal ossification, usually of a nodular shape.
condition of servant or slave ; slavery. [Rare.] The largest sesamoid of the"human body is the patella
A very senMur, ot Egypt is to be in danger of these pa- "J kneepan Smaller sesamoids in pairs, are "o'mal^
niatic hfihona Tin Bale Select Works n 170 developed in the metacar pophnlnngeal and metatarso-
plstlcwshopa Jip Bale select works, p. i,i>. p,,„,„„,j^.g| j„j„„„f „,i.i„ner digil8(thumbandgrcat toe),
2. Servants collectively; the whole body of and in the Idack races of men, and many other animals, at
servants in a family. [Rare.] these joints of all the digits. Sesamoids may be devel-
—.. .Ltj I. I.1.I oped at any Joint, as the shoulder-joint of some birds. The
'Thechomsof shepherds prepare resistance In theirmas- ^c„ii,.,| navicular lione of the horse's foot is a sesamoid.
ter s defence, caUing the rest of thewrnfure. j^^ cuts under AriitHlacliila, hand. hoo,f, knee-jmiU, Peritm-
MOlon, Plan of a Tragedy called Sodom, jactyla, pisiform, scaphdunar, and solidungilale.
8. Same as OCTTifor (c). [Erroneous use.] sesamoidal (ses-a-moi'dal), a. li sesumoiil -¥■
Trim 's a Critick ; I remember him a Sercidme at Oxon. -'('.] Same as sesamoid.
Steele, Grief A-la-Mode, 11. 1. sesamoiditis (ses-'a-moi-di'tis), n. [NL., < sega-
Servitas (sSr'vi-tus), ». [LL., service, servi- moid + -itis.'i Disease of the sesamoid bones
tuiit^ : nee servitude.] In Horn, law, the right ot and enveloping tissues situated behind the
a person not the owner of the thing to use it or metacarpophalangeal or metatarsophalangeal
have it serve his interest in a particular man- articulation (fetlock) in the horse,
ncr not wholly exclusive, but by way of e.xcep- Sesamum (ses'a-mum), «. [NL. (Linnseus,
tion to the eeneral power of exclusive tise be- 1753), < L. sesamum, < Gr. a^a/iov, sesame: see
longing to the owner. se.iame.] A genus of gamopetalous plants, type
servo-motor (sf-r'vd-mo'tor), n. In a White- of the tribe Se.inmeie in the order Pedalinese.
head torpeilo a small auxil'iary motor designed " '« characteriicil by flowers with a corolla-tube curved
. ..„ n. !,„„;.. ,..f..l .....l.lo,. i.n.la,. fl.o ,.».. down and dialed above a fhort oblique base, terminating
to move the horizontal rudder under the con- ,„ ^ ^„„ewbat twi^llpped limb; with a regular ovai^
trol (if the apparatus in the balance-chamber, which becomes a usually four-angled oblong capsule, par-
Urvt. An abbreviation of servant. tlally locullcidal, and at the apex unarmed, compressed,
an elegant but soft-
Sesamnm
and obtuse or shortly acuminate. There are 9 or 10 species,
all natives of tropical or st.)tithern Africa, though one, 5.
Indicum, is thought by some
to be of Asiatic origin. They
are ei«ct or prostrate herbs
with a rough and gummy
surface. They bear opposite
leaves below, alternate alx^ve,
and either entire or cleft. The
pale or violet ilowers are soli-
tary in the axils. The one im-
portant species is 5. Iitdieum,
the sesame, widely natural-
ized and eultivated. 8ee.se«a-
w»f. andcut under &<■»«<'. — ftll
ofsesamuiu. See«e«am«and
oa.
sesban (ses'ban), n. [<
F. sesban, < Ar. seisebdn,
saisabdn, < Pers. sisaban,
the plant Sesbania jEffyp-
tiaca.'] A plant, Ses-
bania Mgyptiaca, native
throughout the tropics
of the Old World. It is
wooded and short-lived shrub, from 6 to 10 feet
high. Also called ^y»tee.
Sesbania (8es-ba'ni-a),n. [NL. (Persoon, 1807),
< sesban, q. v.] A genus of leguminous plants,
of the tribe Galegese and subtribe Robiniex.
It is characterized by a beardless style with a small stig-
ma, and a long linear and compressed roundish or four-
winged pod which is within divided by cross-partitions
between the seeds. There are about 80 species, widely
dispersed through warm regions of both hemispheres.
They are herbs or shrubs, or small short-lived trees, bear-
ing abruptly pinnate leaves with numerous and entire
leaflets, and loose axillary racemes of yellow, white, or
purplish flowers on slender pedicels. They are known
as givamp pea-tree. S. macrocarpa. a smooth annual of
the southern United States, bears very slender pendulous
and curving pods about a foot long, and yellow and red
purple-dotted flowers : it is thought to be the source of
the fiber known as Colorado-river hemp. For S. ^Egypti-
aca, see sesban and jyntee. For other species, see pea-tree,
2, and dhunchee.
sescuncia (ses-kun'shi-a), n. [L., < sesqiii-, one
half more, + uncia, an "ounce: see ounce^.'\ In
Bom. antig., a weight of an ounce and a half;
in the sextantal system of coinage, a piece of
one and a half ounces, or one eighth of an as.
sescuple (ses'ku-pl), a. In anc. pros., same as
Iiemiolic.
sese^t, V. A Middle English spelling of seize.
sese^t, V. A Middle English form of cease.
seseli (ses'e-li), n. [Formerly also seselie, sis-
5520
sesiid (ses'i-id), a. and n. I. a. Of or pertain-
ing to the family Sesiidse.
II. H. A moth of the family Sesiidse.
Sesiidae (se-si'i-de), n.pl. [NL. (Speyer, 1843,
as Sesiilse), < Sesia + -idsc.] Same as ^<ieriid/B.
Sesiidse is adopted by most late writers. Also S4ws«(Hiib-
ner, 1816), Sesiariie (Boisduval, 1829), Sesiatica (Graven-
horst, 1843X Sesiades, and Sesiada.
Sesleria (ses-le'ri-a), II. [NL. (Seopoli, 1772),
named after L. Sesl'cr, a botanist of the 1 8tli cen-
tury.] A genus of grasses of the tribe Festucese,
type of the subtribe Seslerieee. it is characterized
sesquisextal
sesQUiocellus (ses"kwi-o-sel'us), n.; pi. sesgui-
ocetU (-5). [< L. sesqiii-, one half more, + ocel-
lus, a little eye : see ocellus.'] In entoiii., a large
oeellate spot which has a smaller one within it,
as on the wings of certain butterflies ; a sesqui-
alter. See sesquialteral (c) (1).
sesquioctava (ses"kwi-ok-ta'va), n. [< LL. scs-
quioctava, fem. of sesqmoctavus,< L. sesgui-, one
half more, + octavus, eighth : see octave.} In
music, an interval having the ratio 1 : IJ or 8 : 9
that is, a greater major second.
by two- to six-flowered spikelets crowded into globose or SeSQUiOCtaval (ses-kwi-ok'ta-val), a. [As ses-
cylindrical spike-like panicles, and by usually three- to quioctava -)- -al.} Being in the'ratio of 9 to 8
flve-nerved flowering glumes which are toothed or pomted seSQUiOXid, SeSQUioXidC (ses-kwi-ok'sid, -sid
or short-awned. There are about 10 species, natives of
Europe and western Asia. They are perennial turf-form-
ing grasses with flat or convolute leaves, and usually with
short bluish or silvery-shining spikes. See moor-grms.
sesonlf, «■ and V. A Middle English form of
season.
Sesame is,s«mum Indicum). gesoil-t, «. A Middle English f orm of seizin.
sesount, «. A Middle English form of season.
sesourst, ». A Middle English form of scissors.
sesqui-(ses'kwi). [=F. Sp. Pg. It. sesgvi-, < L.
sesgui-, usually as a prefix, rarely as an inde-
pendent word, also sesqite, one half more, more
by one half; perhaps contracted < *semisque, <
semis, a half (see semi-), + -que (= Gr. kqj),
and.] A Latin prefix, meaning 'one half
more' — that is, an amount equal to one and a
or -sid), H. [< sesqui- + oxid.} A compound
of oxygen and another element in the propor-
tion of three atoms of oxygen to two of the
other: as, iron sesquioxid, F'e203.
sesquipedal (ses'kwi-ped-al), a. and n. [< L.
sesquipedalis, of a foot and'a half, < sesqui-, one
half more, + jies {ped-) = E./oo*; see pedal.}
I. a. Same as sesquipedalian.
IfMstian, big sesquipedal words.
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 660
II. n. A person or thing a foot and a half
high. [Bare.]
I am but a sesquipedal [compared with the giants of the
club], having only six foot and a half of stature.
Addison, Spectator, No. 108.
half times some unit, as in sesquitone ; or an sesouinpdalian Csps'/kwi-ne da'lianl '« s<
amountHnnH.lt,oaiiTiitT,l„«onmonoW:^f i+coif seBqiupeaaiian (ses Kwi-pe-tta iian), a. [<
Icij, cicely (see cicely); < OF. seseli, sesel, P. se-
sSli = Sp. Pg. It. seseli, < L. seselis, < Gr. aeaeXi,
acac/u^, also aih, name of a plant, Tordijliuin offi-
cinale, or, according to others, of several um-
bellifers of different genera, one of them Seseli
tortuosum.} 1. A plant of the genus Seseli;
cicely. See cicely. — 2. [cap.} [NL. (Linnseus,
1737). ] A genus of umbelliferous plants, type
of the tribe SeselinesB and subtribe Euseselese.
It is characterized by flowers with broad petals notched
and deeply inflexed at the apex, and smooth, woolly, or
bristly beakless fruit with mostly solitary oil-tubes, and
obtuse and nearly equal primary ridges, but without
corky thickening or secondary ridges. There are about
60 species, or only 40 which are clearly distinct, natives
of north temperate regions of the Old World, with 2 in
mountains of Australia. They are usually smooth peren-
nials with erect branching stems, tall or slender or rigid,
bearing ternately dissected leaves with narrow and often
thread shaped segments. The white flowers are disposed
in compound umbels, usually with numerous undivided
bracts and bractlets, and often with prominent calyx-teeth,
an uimsual feature in the order. Some species are known
H&meadow-saxifraije&nifi&hartwort. (Compare oce^i/.) S.
Hippomarathrum is known as Aorge-poppi/ and horse-/ennel.
Seselineae (ses-e-lin'e-e), n. pi. [NL. (Koch,
1824), < Seseli + -inex.} A large tribe of poly-
petalous plants, of the order Umbelliferx. it is
characterized by a fruit which is roundish "in transverse
section or compressed on the back, with a broad commis
amount equal to a unit plus some part of itself,
as in sesgiiialtera, sesquitertin, etc. (o) In chem.,
it is used to designate compounds in which there are one
and a half times as many at<^ms or radicals of one mem-
ber of the compound as of the other ; thus, sesquioxid of
iron is an oxid containing two atoms of iron to three of oxy-
gen. (6) In arUh.,H, expresses a superparticular ratio — that
is, a ratio in which the greater term contains the less once,
and one aliquot part over: thus, the ratio of 3 to 2 is ses-
quialteral, that of 4 to :j sesquitertial, that of 5 to 4 sesqui-
quartal, etc. But these words are rare in an English form.
Thus, T. Hills in 1600 writes : "If the quotient be IJ then
it is named sesquialtera, if 1,\ then sesquitertia, if l{ then
sesquiqimrta, it 1 ! then sesquiquinla, and so foorth infinite-
ly, which names cannot be englished otherwise but thus,
once and a lialfe, once and a third, once and a quarter,
once and a fift, etc."
sesquialter (ses-kwi-al'ter), n. [NL., < L. ses-
quialter, one half more, < sesqui-, one half more,
+ alter, another.] In entom., a large spot in-
closing a smaller one ; a sesquiocellus.
sesquialtera (ses-kwi-al'te-rii), }i. [L., fem. of
sesquialter, one half more : see sesquialter.} In
sesquipedal -h -ian.} 1. Containing or measur-
ing a foot and a half: as, a .sesquipedalian pyg-
my: often humorously said of. long words, in
translation of Horace's sesquipedalia verba
(words a foot and a half long).
This " ornate style " introduced sesquipedalian Latin-
isms, words of immense dimensions, that could not hide
their vacuity of thought.
1. D'Israeli, Amen, of Lit., I. 195.
2. Addicted to the use of long words.
The words gathered size like snow balls, and toward
the end of her letter iliss Jenkyns used to become quite
sesquipedalian. Mrs. Gaskell, Cranford, v.
sesquipedalianism (ses''kwi-pe-da'lian-izm),
n. [< sesquipedalian -i- -ism.} 'The condition
of being sesquipedalian ; the practice of using,
or fondness for using, long words ; also, a long
word, or a style abounding in long words.
Are not these masters of hyperpolysyllabic sesquipeda-
lianism using proper language? F. Hall, .Mod. Eng., p. 39.
sesquipedal + -ism.} Same a,s sesquipedalian-
ism.
music : (a) An interval having the ratio 1 : 1^ or
2:3— that is, a perfect fifth. (6) A rhythm in sesquipedalism (ses-kwi-ped'al-izm), n.
which three minims are made equal to a pre- " '" ' ^
ceding two. Compare hemiolia. (c) In organ-
building, a variety of mixture.
sesquialteral (ses-kwi-al'te-ral), a. [< L. ses-
quialter, one half more (see'sesguialter), + -al.} . , , . .
One and a half more; onehalfmore. Specifically- sesquipedallty (ses"kwi-pe-dal'i-ti), n.
The era of galvanized sesquipedalism and sonorous ca-
dences, inaugurated by Johnson.
F. Hall, Mod. Eng., p. 14a
- - . - . ., , , [^ se,s-
quipedul + -ity.} 1. The condition or property
of being sesquipedalian ; hence, the condition
of being over-large.
Imagine to yourself a little squat, uncourtly figure of a
Doctor Slop, of about four feet and a half perpendicular
height, with a breadth of back, and a sesqtdpedality of
belly, which might have done honour to a sei-jeant in
the horse-guards. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, ii. 9.
rch smaller- as(l)an ocellated spot having „^. The practice of using long words
close to it, the two being generally inclosed SesquipllCate (ses-kwip li-kat), a. [< L. sesqui-
. .: . ..,._ ,_. .,.j -•_■ J 2ilex (-jilic-), taken one and a half times, < ses-
qui-, one half more, + plicare, pp. jjlicatus, fold :
see plicate.} Noting the ratio of a cube to a
square : as, the sesquiplicate proportion of the
periodical times of the planets.
sesquialterate (ses-kwi-al'te-rat), a. [< L. ses- sesquiquadrate (ses-kwi-kwod'rat), n. [< L.
(a) In math., noting a ratio where one quantity or number
contains another once and a half as much more : thus, the
ratio 9 to 6 is sesquialteral, (b) In bot, noting that there
is half as much more as the number of some other part to
which a given pait bears special relation, as where the sta-
mens are one half as many more as the petals or sepals, or
that a fertile flower is accompanied by an abortive one, as
in some grasses; also, noting a large fertile floret accom-
panied by a small abortive one. (c) In entom., noting any
part or ornament which is accompanied by another half
as large, or much smaller
a smaller one close to it, t „^
by a common ring of color (also called sesquialter and
sesquiocellus) ; (2) a colored band crossing both of the out-
spread wings, and accompanied on either the primary or
the secondary wing alone by another band ; or (3) a cell or
areolet of the wing to which a much smaller one is ap-
pended.
quialter, one half more,
quialteral.
+ -ate^.} Same asses-
sure, without conspicuous secondary ridges, and with its SesquialtCrOUS (ses-kwi-al'te-rus), a. [< L. ses-
lateral ridges either distinct or united into a nerve-like or
corky margin, but not dilated. It includes about 46 gen-
era, principally of the Old World, classed In 7 subtribes,
of which Seseli, Thecocarpus, Cachrys, (Enanthe, Schultzia,
Selinum, and Anrjelica are the types. See also Fcenieu-
lum, Prajvjos, Silaus, Ligustieum, and Thaspiuin.
Sesha (sa'sha), n. [< Skt. gesha.} In Hind,
myth., the king of the serpents, with a thousand
Same as ses-
quialter, one half more, + -bus.}
quialteral.
sesquibasic (ses-kwi-ba'sik), a. [< L
one half more, + basis, a base : see basic.} In
chein., noting a salt containing one and a half
equivalents of the base for each equivalent of sesquiquartal (ses-kwi-kwar't^l), a. [As ses-
- .- , . acid. quiquarta + -al.} Being in the ratio of 5 to 4.
heads, on which the world rests, and on which sesquiduple (ses-kwi-du'pl), a. [< L. sesgui- -\- sesquiquinta (ses-kwi-kwin'ta), n. [< L. ses-
Vishnu reclines while asleep: it was also used E. duple: a modem irregular formation.] Of qui-, one half more, + quintusl'fitth.} In music,
three and a half times. an interval having the ratio l:l| or 5:6— that
sesqui-, one half more, + quadratus, square:
see quadrate.} In astrol., an aspect of two
planets when distant from each other 135°, or
a quadrant and a half.
sesquiquarta (ses-kwi-kwar'ta), n. [<L.sesg«i-,
one half more, + quartns, fourth: see quart'^.}
In music, an interval having the ratio 1 : IJ or
4:5 — that is, a ma,ior third.
as a rope in churning the ocean
Sesia (se'shi-a), «
"TC (gen. fffof, later
[NL. (Fabricius, 1775), < Gr. sesquiduplicate (ses-kwi-dfi'pli-kat), a. [<
anroe:), a moth.] A notable ,se,squi- + E. duplicate.} Being in' the ratio
gentis of clear-winged moths, typical of the 2^ to 1, or 5 to 2
family Sesiidx. it contains small or medium-sized sesquih. In med., an abbreviation of L. sesqui-
gpecieg, with antenme slightly thickened externally, or hora, an hour and a half.
with a brush of hair at the tip. The fore wings have two _„„-,„•„__- /„„„ i,„,: .,s/„h\ „ r/T „«»™ ■
or three clear spots, and the hind wings are hyaline. Most SesqUinOUa (ses-kwi-no na), n. [< U. sesqui-,
of the European and North American species of the fam- one half more, + nanus, ninth : see none^.} In
ily belong to this genus. jEgeria is a synonym. music, an interval having the ratio 1 : IJ or 9 : 10
Sesiades (se-si'a-dez), ?«. />;. [NL., < Sesia + —that is, a le.sser major second.
-ades.} A division of sphinxes, approximately sesquinonal (ses-kwi-no'nal), a. [As sesquiiio-
equivalent to the modern family Sesiidx. na + -al.} Being in the riatio of 10 to 9.
L. is, a minor third.
of sesquiquintal (ses-kwi-kwin'tal), a. [As ses-
quiquiiitii -t- -al.} Being in the ratio of 6 to 5.
sesqniquintile (ses-kwi-kwin'til), a. At a dis-
tance in the zodiac of about 108°. [Bare.]
sesquiseptimal (ses-kwi-sep'ti-mal), a. [< L.
sesqui-, one half more, + sepiimtis, seventh, +
-al.} Being in the ratio of 8 to 7.
sesquisextal (ses-kwi-seks'tal), a. [< L. sesqui-,
one lialf more, + scxtus, sixth, + -al.} Being
in the ratio of 7 to 6.
sesquisulphid
sesquisulpUd, sesquisulphide (ses-kwi-sul'-
fid, -tid or -fid), «. [< sesqiii- + sidphid.] A
basic compound of sulphur with some other ele-
ment in the proportion of three atoms of sul-
phur to two of the other element.
sesquitertia (ses-kwi-ter'shia), ». [NL., < L.
sesiiuitertia, fem. of srai/Mt^criiMS, containing one
and a third, bearing the ratio of four to three,
< sesqui-, one half more, + tertius, third, < tres,
three.] In music, an interval ha\-ing the ratio
1 : IJ^ or 3:4 — that is, a perfect fourth.
sesquitertial (ses-kwi-t^r'shal), a. [As sesqui-
tertia + -/(/.] Same as sesquitertian.
seSQUitertian (ses-kwi-tfer'shan), a. [As scs-
iiniti rtiii + -<!«.] Being in the ratio of 4 to 3.
sesquitertianal (ses-kwl-ter'shan-al), a. [<
sisijiiilrrliiiii + -«/.] Same as xcaqiiitertian.
sesquitone (ses'kwi-ton), k. [< L. sesqui-, one
lialf more, 4- tonus, tone.] In music, a minor
third — that is, an interval equal to a tone and a
lialf.
sess't (ses), ». *. [Alsoniis8pelledce««; by apher-
psis from assess: see assess and cess^.'\ To as-
sess; tax.
The Grecians were contented a tax should be levied,
and that every city should be reasonably gessed accord-
ing to their wealth and ability.
North, tr. of Flutwch, p. 286.
sess' (ses), «. [Also misspelled cess ; < sess^,
(v.«.«2, I-. : see cess^, assess.'] A tax.
sess- (ses), n. [Perhaps a variant form and par-
ticular use of suss, soss, as in cesspool: see soss,
cesspiHil.] In soap-makiiKj, one of a number of
rectangular frames which are fitted one on an-
other, and secured together with screw-rods so
as to form a kind of well, in which the soap is
left to cool and solidify.
sessat (ses'a), interj. [A variant of sa sa, < D.
sii ! sfi .' "come on, cheer up, quickly: an in-
terjection much used to stir up fighting dogs"
(Sewel); a repetition of the sibilant syllable
sa, come on ! used to excite or encourage dogs,
etc.] A word used by Shakspere with uncer-
tain and disputed meaning.
Let the world slide : maa !
Shot., T. of the 8., Ind., i. 6.
Still through the hawthorn blows the cold wind. . . .
Dolphin, my boy, my boy, saga ! let him trot by.
Shak., Lear, ill. 4. 104.
sessile (ses'il), a. [= P. sessile = 8p. sesil
= Pg. sestil =z It. sessile; < L. sessitis, pertain-
ing to sitting, < sedere, pp. sessus, sit: see »e-
(lent, session.'] 1. In hot., attached without
any sensible projecting support ; sitting di-
rectly on the body to which it belongs witnout
a support; attached by the base: sa, a sessile
1. S«sule Flower of Trittium MttiiU. a.
ttstiti/otia.
leaf, one issuing directly from the main stem
or branch without a petiole or footstalk ; a »e»-
sHc flower, one having no peduncle; a sessile
Btignia, one without a style, as in the poppy. —
2. In coiil. iind nnat.: (a) Seated flat or low;
fixed by a broad base ; not stalked or peduncu-
lated.
.Such ootgrowtbi ... are at first mniU, but become
elongated. Quoin, Med. Diet, p. 12.
(fc) Fixed; not free; sedentary. [Bare.]
It Is now Important to observe that mat nombers of
centrifugal animal* are sedentary or taSU, while the lon-
gitudinal are vagrant moving from place to place.
E. D. Cope, Origin of the Fittest, p. 198.
(c) Specifically, in Crustacea: (1) Having no
peduncle, as a cirriped ; belonging to the Ses-
-ilin. (2) Having no stalk or ophthalmite, as
:in eye. (d) In conch., having no stalk or om-
matophore, as an eye. (e) In entom., not petio-
late. as an abdomen. (/) In Hydroida, not de-
fmliiiMf or separable, as a gonophore.
sessile-eyed (wes'il-id), a. Having sessile eyes.
(») lilrioplithalmuus, as a crustacean: opposed to tUUk-
eyttl. Hkk Arthroitrttca. (ft) Basommatophoroas ; not sty-
kimiiiattiphuroos, as a gastropod.
awn.
Sessiliat (se-sil'i-S), n. pi. [NL., neut. pi. of
L. sesmlis, pertaining to sitting: see sessile.'}
1. A group of fixed rotifers; the Flosculari id«
and Melicertidse : opposed to Natantia. See
Pedata. — 2. In Lamarck's classification (1801-
1812), one of two orders of Cirripedia, dis-
tinguished from Pedunculata, and containing
the sessile as distinguished from the peduncu-
late cirripeds; the sessile barnacles, as acorn-
shells.
Sessiliventres (ses'i-li-ven'trez), n. pi. [NL.,
< L. sessilis, pertaining to sitting, -t- venter
(ventr-), the belly.] In entom., same as Securi-
fera.
session (sesh'qn), n. [< OF. (and Y.)session =
8p. sesion = Pg. sessSo = It. sessione, < L. ses-
sio{n-), a sitting, session, < sedere, pp. sessus,
sit, = E. sit: see sit, sedent.'] 1. The act of
sitting, or the state of being seated : now rare
except in the si)ecific theological sense of
Christ's sitting or enthronement at the right
hand of God the Father. Also assession.
Christ . . . hath as Man, not as God only, supreme do-
minion over quiclc and dead, for so much his ascension
into heaven and his seggimi at the right hand of God do
import Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. 55.
The French and Italian translations, expressing neither
position of gesgion or recubation, do only say that he
placed himself at the table. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., v. 6.
But Vivien ...
Leapt from her geggion on his lap, and stood.
Tennygon, Merlin and Vivien.
2. The sitting together of a body of individu-
als for the transaction of business; the sitting
of a court, academic body, council, legislature,
etc., or the actual assembly of the members
of these or any similar body for the transac-
tion of business: as, the court is now in ses-
sion (that is, the members are assembled for
business).
This gesgionM, to our great grief we pronounce.
Even pushes 'gainst our heart : the party tried
The daughter of a king. SAo*., W. T. , Hi. 2. 1.
The Stygian council thus dissolved, . , .
Then of their geggion ended they bid cry
With trumpets' regal sound the great result
JfiSon.P. L.,li. 614.
3. The time, space, or term during which a
court, council, legislature, or the like meets
daily for business, or transacts business regu-
larly without breaking up. Thus, a OMnon of the
legislature commonly means the period from its assem-
bling to its adjournment for the year or season, in contra-
distinction to its daUy gegsiong during that period. So a
•Mno» of Parllamentcomprises the time from its meeting
to Its prorogation, of which there is in general but one in
each year. Technically at common law it was held that
a meeting of Parliament could not be called a geggion un-
less the sovereign passed an act The session of a Judicial
oourt Is called a tmn. Also applied in the United States
to the daily or half-daily perioda of work of a school.
Onrins tbe twenty-Bve years of the Vork dynasty . . .
the asnwm of tboae parliaments which really met ex-
tended over a very few months. Stubbg, Const. Hist, J 378.
The gegtiimg of the Reichstag must be public ; it is not
within its choice to make tbem private. A private tmitm
is regarded as, legally, only a private conference of tbe
members of ttie Beichstag, and can have no public author-
ity wliatever. W. WiUon, State, § 417.
4. pi. In law, a sitting of justices in court, ori-
ginally, as in England, upon commission: as,
the sessions of oyer and terminer. See oyer.
God la the Indge^ who keeps continuall Settiont
In vitTj place to punish aU Transgressiona
Stflvetler, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 7.
6. Eeeles., the lowest court of the Presby-
terian Church, composed of the pastor and rul-
ing or lay elders of the local church, it has
tbe power to admit and discipline members, regulate the
times of service, and administer all the spiritual affairs
of the local church, and is answerable for its acts to the
preabytefy. In the F.stablished Church of Scotland it
u speclBcally called the Hrk gegtion (which see, under
Hrk).
VfV pinch I pat a .'Sunday's face on,
An' soooved awa' before the Setgion.
Bumg, To a Tailor.
Oterk of the Session, see cfT*. - County twssions.
SeecowH///'. — Court of Session, the stiiirenic civil ctmrt
of Scotland, having jurisdiction in all civil tjuestions,
and an appellate Jurisdiction over the principal inferior
courts. It was instituted in 1582, and consists of a lord
president a lord Justice-clerk, and eleven ordinary lords.
They sit In two divisions, the lord president and three
ordinary lords forming the first division, and the lord
Justice-clerk and other three ordinary lords the second
division. The first and second divisions form what is
called the inner houge. There are five permanent lords
ordinary, each of whom holds a court, the courts of the
lords ordinary forming what Is called the outer house.
The Junior lord ordinary oftiiiates in the bill-chamber
during session. See lMehaml)ir. — Court of Sessions,
Court of Oeneral Sessloiu, Court of Special Ses-
sions, In tlie rnittMi States, Idcil c-riininal ('i)Ult.s wlmse
iurisdiction does not generally cvteiid to olfctiKcs of tlie
lighest grades.— Ctoneral session of the peace, in
Great Britain, a meeting of the justices held for the pur-
sestina
pose of acting judicially for the whole district comprised
within their commission. The sessions that are held once
every quarter of the year are called the general quarter-
sessiong of the peace. — Lords of Council and Session.
See cou/iciZ— Ordinary of assize and sessions. See
ordinary, 1 (&). — Petty sessions, the meeting of two or
more justices for trying otfenses in a summary way under
various acts of Parliament empowering them to do so. —
Quarter sessions. See gwartcr-*c««o/w.— Session of
Christ, in theol., the perpetual presence of the human
nature of Christ at the right hand of God.— Sessions Of
the peace, in Great Britain, the name given to sessions
held by justices of the peace, whether petty, special,
quarter, or general. Similar judicial arrangements pre-
vailed in most of the American colonies, also in some of
the States subsequently to the Revolution. — Special
sessions, sessions held by justices acting for a division
of a county or riding, or for a burgh, for the transaction
of spechU business, such as granting licenses, etc.
sessional (sesh'on-al), a. [< session + -al.']
Relating or belonging to a session or sessions.
Each [English] county is divided by its Quarter Sessions
into petty sessional districts, and every neighborhood is
given thus its own court of Petty Sessions — from which
in almost all cases an appeal lies to Quarter Sessions.
W. B'tfeon, State, | 744.
Sessional orders, in Parliament, certain orders agreed
to by both Houses of Parliament at the commencement
of each session, which are renewed from year to year, and
not Intended to endure beyond the existing session. -Sir
E. May.
session-clerk (sesh'on-klerk), n. In Scotland,
an officer who officially records the transactions
and keeps the books and documents of a kirk
session.
sesslet(ses'l),t).». [Origin obscure.] Tochange
seats very often. Halliwell.
sesspoolt, "• See cesspool.
sester, «• A variant of sexter.
sesterce (ses't^rs), «. [< F. sesterce = Sp. Pg.
sctitfrein = It. .'icsterzio, < L. sestertius : see ses-
tertius.'] A Roman coin : same as sestertius.
Put twenty into his hand, twenty segterces I mean, and
let nobody see. B. Jongon, Poetaster, ill. 1.
A donative of ten sesterties,
I'll undertake, shall make 'em ring your praises
More than they sang your pleasures.
Fletcher, Valentlnian, i. 3.
sestemet, « • A Middle English form of cistern.
sestertitun (ses-t^r'shi-um), n. ; pi. sestertia
(-ii). IL. : aee sestertius.] A money of account
used by the ancient Romans in reckoning large
sums : it was equal to a thousand sestertii.
sestertius (ses-t^r'shi-us), «.; pi. sestertii (-i).
[L., a silver coin (see def.), prop. adj. (sc. h«j»-
nius, coin), two and a hall, for ' semistertius, <
semis, half (see semi-),
+ tertius, third, < tres,
three.] 1. A silver
coin of the Roman
republic, first issued
in 269 B. c. It was
the quarter of the
denanus. See dena-
rius. In the quotation
there is a confusion of sestertius and sestertium.
The aegterHug was a small silver coyne marked H. .S. or
rather LL", valu'd 2 pound and half of silver, viz. 250 de-
narii, about 25 golden ducati. Evelyn, Diary, May 6, 1645.
2. The largest coin of copper alloy of the Roman
empire. It was coined in orichalc, or brass, a finer al-
loy than the bronze of the as and of the usual coinage
of antiquity. It was issued by Augustus and 1>y some
of his immediate successors, and was equivalent to four
asses.
sestet (ses'tet), n. [< It. scstetto, dim. of scito,
sixth, < L. sextus, sixth, < sex, six : see sixth, six.]
1. In music, same as sextet. — 2. The two con-
cluding stanzas of a sonnet, consisting of three
lines each ; the last six lines of a sonnet.
Milton . . . frequently disregards the law which makes
separate sections of octave and gegtet, and welds the two.
Atheruevm, Ko. 3253, p. 278.
sestetto (ses-tet'to), ». [It.: see sestet.] Same
as sextet.
sestina(ses-te'na), n. [It. : see »e«Hnc.] Apoem
in fixed form, borrowed from the French, and
said to have been invented by the Provencal
trouba<IourArnaut Daniel (thirteenth century).
It consisted originally of six stanzas- of six unrimed
lines, with a final triplet or half-stanza, also unrimed —
all the lines lieing of the same length. The terminal
words of stanzas 2 to 6 were the same as those of stanza
1, but arranged ditTerently; and they were repeated in
the triplet or envoy, partly at the end and partly in the
middle of the lines. The modern sestina is written on
two or three rimes, and the formula for a two-riraed ses-
tina is thus given in the ** Vers Fran^ais et leur Prosodie "
of the best French authority, M. de Gramont : 1, 2, 3, 4, 5^ 6 ;
«, 1, 5, 2, 4, 3; 3, 6, 4, 1, 2, 6; 5, 3, 2, 0, ), 4 ; 4, 6,
1, 3, 6, 2 ; 2, 4, 6, .% 3, 1 ; triplet 2, 4, 6 at the end, and
1, 8, .S at the beginning of the lines. In stanza 1, lines 1,
'.i, and 4 rime, and 2, 5, and tf rime. Sestinas were written
in Italy by Dante and Petrarch, in Spain and Portugal by
Cervantes and Camoens, and in England by Drunnnond of
llawthornden (1585-1649X Mr. Switibnrne (in " I'oems
and Ballads," 2d ser.) has achieved a double sestina.
Obveise. Reverse.
Sestertius (silver).— Britisli Mu-
seum. (Size of original.)
sestina
A «e«Cina is a poem written neither in rhyme nor blank
verse, bat in so-called six-line stanzas, each one of which
has to take the last word of the stanza preceding it, and
twist it about Into some new and faiitjistic meaning.
Athen/eiivit No. 3141, p, 14.
sestine (ses'tin), «. [< It. sestiimj a kind of
poem, = Sp. sexUnay sextiUu = Pg. sextinay sex-
lilha = F, sextine, < L. sextus, sixth, ordinal of
sexj six : see six^ sixth. Doublet of sextain.'] In
pros., same as sestina.
The day was so wasted that onely his riming Sestine,
delivered by one of great account among them, could ob-
tain favor to bee heard. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, iv.
sestole (ses'tol), n. [< It. sestOj sixth, + -oleJ]
In music, same as sextuplet, 2,
sestolet (ses'to-let), n. [< sestole + -eW] Same
ftp sextuplet, 2.
sesun^t, H. A Middle English form of season,
sesun*4, ». A Middle English form of seizin.
Sesuvium (se-su'vi-um), «. [NL. (Linneeus,
1762).] A genus of apetalous plants, of the or-
der Ficoidcie and tribe Aizoidcse, it is character-
ized by flowers with a flve-lobed calyx, five or more sta-
mens, and a three- to five-celled ovary with axillai-y pla-
centae, numerous ovules, and a clrcumscissile capsule.
There are 4 species, natives of tropical shores throughout
the world. They are erect or prostrate branching and
succulent herbs, sometimes slightly shrubby. They bear
opposite, fleshy, lineai' or oblong leaves without distinct
stipules, and with axillary, solitaiy or clustered, usually
reddish or purplish flowers. They are known as sea-purs-
lane. S. PorttUacastrum is a widely diffused species, use-
ful with others in binding sea-sands, and in western Asia
eaten as a salfid. See purdane.
set^ (set), r. ; pret. and pp. set, ppr. setting.
[Early mod, E. also sett, sctte; < ME, setten (pret.
sette, ssettCj a,\HO settide, pi. settiden, pp. set, sett^,
i-set, y-setj i-sett, i-sette), < AS. settan (pret.
sette, pp. geset)y set, = OS. settian = OFries.
setta = MD. setten, D. zetten = MLG. LG. set-
ten = OHG. sazzan, sezzan, setzan, MHGr. G.
setsen = Icel. setja — Sw. sdtta = Dan. siette =
Goth, satjan, set, put, place, etc. (in a wide
variety of applications), lit. cause to sit, causal
of AS. sittan (pret. sset), etc., sit: see sit. Cf.
bes€t,seiz€. The verb 5ef,orig. transitive, byrea-
son of its refleixive use, and ult., by omission of
the object, its intransitive use, and by reason of
its phonetic similarity or identity in some forms
with the primitive verb sit (also dial, set, obs.
or dial. pret. and pp. set), has become more or
less confused and involved in its later uses. In
the sense ' sink/ as the sun or stars, it is partly
of Scand. origin, < Icel. refl. setask, set, as the
sun, etc. Many uses are highly idiomatic, the
verb, like pitt, its nearest equivalent, and do,
make, get, etc., having become of almost uni-
versal application, and taking its distinctive
colorfrom the context.] I, trans. 1. To make
or cause to rest as on a seat; cause to be put,
placed, or seated ; place in a sitting, standing,
or any natural or normal posture; put: as, to
set a box on its end or a table on its feet : often
with up or down : as, to set up a statue or a flag-
staff; to set down a burden. ^
Thei, castynge her clothis on the colt, setten Jhesu on
bym. Wyclif, Luke xix. 35.
He tooke, he tooke him up a,
All by the lilly-white hand,
And set him on his feet.
By Lands-dale Hey Ho (Child's Ballads, V. 432).
The dishes have feet like standing belles, and are so set
one upon another that you may eat of each without re-
moving of any. Sandys, Travailes, p. 51.
No man, when he hath lighted a candle, coverethi^ . . .
but setteth it on a candlestick. Luke viii. 16.
Lo ! as a careful housewife runs to catch
One of her feather'd creatures broke away.
Sets down her babe and makes all swift despatch.
Shak., Sonnets, cxliiL
2. To put in a certain place, position, direc-
tion, or relation; put; place; nx; establish.
With mete & drynke be-fore the sette,
Hold the plesyd, & aske no bette.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 23,
Roben set hes home to hes mowthe,
And blow a blast that was foil god.
RoMn Hood and the Potter (Child's Ballads, V. 29).
I do set my bow in the cloud. Gen. ix. 13.
He set his horse head to the water.
Just thro' it for to ride.
Earl Richard (ChUd's Ballads, III. 260).
Come, boy, set two chairs ; and ... we will, if you
please, talk of some other subject.
Cotton, in Walton's Angler, ii. 239.
A design to beguile thee of thy salvation, by turning thee
from the way in which I had set thee.
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 97.
More specifically— (a) To arrange; dispose; adjust; place;
Btation ; post.
They went and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the
stone, and setting a watch. Mat. xxviL 66.
Set we our sfiuadrons on yond side o' the hill,
In eye of Ceesar's battle. Shak., A. and C, iii. 9. 1.
0522
If his Princely wisedome and powerfull hand, renowned
through the world for admirable government, please but
to set these new Estates into order, their composure will
be singulai-. Capt. John Smith, True Travels, I. 59.
Then she cast off her lad's attire ;
A maiden's weede upon her backe she seemely set.
The Merchants Daughter (Child's Ballads, IV. 335).
I . . . could not effecte yt which I aimed at, neither
can yet sett things as I w ished.
Cushman, quoted in Bradford's Plymouth Plantation, p. 36.
(6) To place or plant firmly : as, he set his foot upon his op-
ponent's neck.
To lond he him sette,
And fot on stirop sette.
King Horn (E. E. T. 8.), I. 757.
Set him breast-deep in earth, and famish him.
Shak., Tit. And., v. 3. 179.
In mosses mixt with violet
Her cream-white mule his pastern set.
Tennyson, Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere.
(c) To establish, as in a certain post, office, or relation ; ap-
point; ordain: as, to «e( a person over others; to^efaman
at the head of affairs.
Theose sixe ben i-set to sane the castel ;
To kepe this wommon this wyse men ben charget.
Piers Ploieman (A), x. 22.
Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of
many in IsraeL Luke ii. 34.
We'll set thee to school to an ant. Shak., Lear, ii. 4. 68.
I look upon myself as one set to watch the manners and
behaviour of my countrymen and contemporaries.
Addison, Spectator, No. 436.
(d) To place before the mind : often with a direct and an
indirect object.
Herein she sets me good example of a patience and con-
tentment hard for me to imitate.
B. D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone, xx.
(e) To adjust, as an instrument ; as, to set a clock, a tele-
scope, an alarm, or a metronome ; to set the feed of a sew-
ing-machine ; to set the focus of a microscope.
Hath some frolic heart set back the hand
Of fate's perpetual clock ? Quarles, Emblems, v. 7.
The Overseer of the Poor
Is setting the Workhouse Clock.
Hood, The Workhouse Clock.
3. Specifically — {a) To put (a domestic fowl
when broody) in position for incubation ; place
(a broody hen or other fowl) on a nest con-
taining eggs, for the purpose of hatching them.
What woman cannot sette an hen on broode
And bryng her briddes forth?
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 22.
(b) To place (eggs) under a broody hen or other
bird in a nest, or in an incubator, for the pur-
pose of hatching them. — 4. To cause or pro-
cure to be or do ; dispose ; put from one state
into another : followed by an object with a pred-
icate to it: as, to set at ease; to set in order;
to set matters right. See also phrases below.
I am come to seta, man at variance against his father.
Mat. X. 35.
Law addressed herself to set wrong right
Brotvning, Ring and Book, I. 152.
5. To make or cause to do, act, or be ; start ; be-
stir; employ; busy: followed by an object with
a further predicate determining the object's ac-
tion : as, to set a faucet running ; to set a man to
work; to set one's self to improve matters.
A wys womman wol sette [var. busy] hire evere in oon
To get hire love ther as she hath noon.
Chaucer, Prol. to Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 209.
Where be , . . your flashes of merriment, that were
wont to set the table on a roar? Shak., Hamlet, v. 1. 210.
We were set to wipe the feet of the kings horses, and to
become ordinarie slaues in the said Court.
Webbe, Travels (ed. Arber^ p. 18.
Come, what's here to do? you are putting the town-
pleasures in her head, and setting her a-longing.
Wycherley, Country Wife, iii. 1.
How utterly they are at a stand until they are set a-going
by some paragraph in a newspaper.
Steele, Spectator, No. 4.
Blow, bugle, blow, se( the wild echoes flying.
Tennyson, Princess, iii. (song).
When now
The good things of the hall were set aglow
By the great tapers.
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, II. 151.
The twilight that sends the hens to roost sets the fox to
prowl. J. Ward, Encyc. Brit., XX. 42,
6. To fix, (a) To make rigid or immovable : as, rust had
set the weathercock.
Peace, set your countenance then, for here he comes.
Middleton (and others). The Widow, v. 1.
Set are her eyes, and motionless her limbs.
Oarth, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., xlv.
(b) To make stiff, firm, or solid : as, to set milk with ren-
net.
They [liquors] are then evaporated to crystallizing point,
. . . When set, . . . the masses of crystals are drained.
Spans' Encyc. Manvf., I. 33.
The coated plate is then left on the stand until it [the
gelatin] is quite set. Workshop Receipts, 1st ser., p. 279.
set
(c) To make fast or permanent, as a color : as, to «et a blue
with alum, (d) To fix for preservation ; prepare for exam-
ination, as a specimen of natural history : technically said,
especially in entomology, of transfixing an insect on a pin,
and adjusting its wings, legs, and feelers so that these
shall dry in a desired position ; also, of placing insects thus
set in rows in proper boxes ; also, in taxidermy, of mount-
ing or posing a stuffed specimen, as a bird on its perch.
In some of these processes a simple iiistrumeut called a
setting-needle is much used.
7. To fix or settle authoritatively or by arrange-
ment, (a) To appoint or determine, as a time or place
for a specific purpose.
The king said unto me, . . . Kor how long shall thy
journey be? and when wilt thou return? So . . . Iset him
a time, Neh. ii. 6.
I am to bruise his heel ;
His seed, when is not set, shall bruise my head.
Milton, P. L., X. 499.
Lord Dingwall courted this lady gay,
And so he set their wedding-day.
Lard Dingtvall (Child's Ballads, I. 289).
(6) To assign or prescribe, as a copy or a task.
Set him such a task, to be done in such a time, as may
allow him no opportunity to be idle.
Locke, Education, § 127.
8. To fix, determine, or regulate beforehand, as
a price, value, or amount: as, to set a price on
a house or a horse.
And as for these whose ransom we have set,
It is our pleasure one of them depart.
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iv. 1. 139.
Do you not see what feigned prices are set upon little
stones or rarities? Bacon, Riches (ed. 1887).
9. To put in order or trim for use ; make ready:
as, to set a razor (that is, to give it a fine edge) ;
to set a saw (to incline the teeth laterally to the
right and left in order that the kerf may be
wider than the thickness of the blade) ; to set a
trap ; to set the table for dinner ; to set a scene
on the stage.
She gan the hous to dyghte.
And tables for to sette and beddes make.
Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, 1. 839.
Yeomen of Chambre, IIII, to make beddes, to here or
hold torches, to sette bourdes.
Quoted in Babees Book, p. 313, note.
Sir, the scene is set, and everything is ready to begin, if
you please. Sherman, The Critic, ii. 1.
An elaborate scene is set when it is arranged upon the
stage, and " struck " when it is removed.
New York DaUy Tribune, July 14, 1889.
10. To plant, as a shrub, tree, or vegetable:
distinguished from soto : often with out : as, to
set out strawberry-plants.
To serue hym for euere,
Botbe to sowe and to sette, the while I swynke myghte.
Piers Ploivman (B), v. 548,
I'll not put
The dibble in earth to set one slip of them.
Shak., W. T., iv. 4. 100.
An honest and laborious servant, whose skill and pro-
fession was to set or sow all wholesome herbs.
Milton, On Def. of Humb. Kemonst
11. To frame or mount, as a precious stone in
gold, silver, or other metal: as, to set a dia-
mond.
Onyx stones, and stones to be set, glistering stones, and
of divers colours. 1 Chron. xxix. 2.
He had flue emrauds set in golde, which were woorth
flue hundred or sixe hundred crownes.
Hakluyt's Voyages, II. 249.
Never so rich a gem
Was set in worse than gold.
5Aa*.,M. of V.,ii. 7. 55.
12. To adorn with or as with one or more
precious stones, or with ornaments of any kind ;
stud : as, to set a miniature with diamonds ; to
set a snuff-box with pearls or gold beads ; a lawn
set with statues and vases.
Oon or two
With gemmes fele aboute on hem ysette.
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 74.
High on their heads, with jewels richly set.
Each lady wore a radiant coronet.
Dryden, Flower and Leaf, 1. 167.
A cup o' the good red goud,
Weel set wi' jewels sae fair to see.
Alimn Gross (Child's Ballads), I. 169.
He had a most rich George in a sardonyx set with dia-
monds. Evelyn, Diary, Feb. 9, 1705.
The old Knight . . . bid me observe how thick the
City was set with Churches. Addison, Spectator, No. 383.
A rosebud set with little wilful thorns.
Tennyson, Princess, Prol.
13. To reduce from a state of dislocation or
fracture, and fix, if necessary, in a position suit-
able for recovery: as, to set a bone or a leg.
In order to get firm osseous union in a case of fracture,
the great points to attend to are accurate apposition of
the fragments and complete rest of the broken bone. Ac-
curate apposition is termed "setting the fracture"; this is
best done by the extension of the limb and coaptation of
the broken surfaces. Encyc. Brit, XXIL 682.
set
14. To fix with settled or earnest purpose ; di-
rect or fix intently, as the hopes or affections;
bend: as, she had set her heart on going.
In you haue I sette all my hope.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), la 68a
I have get my affectiou to the house of my God,
1 Chrou. xxix. 3.
K. John baring now gotten a Vacation, and a Time of
Ease, which agreed much better with his Nature than
Wars, wCs his Uind wholly upon Pleasures.
Baker, Chronicles, p. 69.
Minds altogether tet on trade and profit Additmi.
15. To stake at play; wager; risk; also, to bet
with.
I have tet my life upon a cast,
And I will stand the hazard of the die.
Shak., Rich. III., v. 4. 9.
Give you him all you play for ; never set him ;
For he will have it. B. Jonwn, Alchemist, L 1.
16. To embarrass; perplex; pose; bring to a
mental standstill.
Learning was pos'd ; Pbilosophie was «et;
Sophistera taken in a flsht-r's net.
a. Herbert, The t^hurch .Militant
To shew bow bard they are get in this particular, there
are several who for want of other materials are forced to
represent the bill ... as a kind of grievance.
Additon, Freeholder, No. 2a
1 was hard tet what to do. It was rudeness to refuse,
but I could not itand It, and sent it away.
Tke Century, XXXVIII. 662.
17. In muxic: (a) To fit, as words to music or
music to words ; adapt ; arrange for musical
[>er(ormance ; also, to arrange or transcribe for
a particular voice or instrument.
Set thy own aongs, and sing them to thy late. Ihyden.
He had been very sacceasfal in tetUng such old songs
as "Orpheus with bia late."
Tetmyton, The Window, Prefatory Note.
In the Mme year Porcell tet Sir Cbarlea Sedley's Ode
for the qaeen'i birtbday, " Love's Ooddeaa sure was blind. "
OroM, Diet Music, III. 49.
Moilc, let to madrigal^
Loitered all day throngh grore* and balla
D. a. Rottetti, Dante at Verona.
(6) To pitch.
I had one day tet the hundredth paalm, and was singing
the Ont line, in order to put the congregation into tune.
Spectator.
18. To hold; keep (see keep, v. t. and »'., 1);
heed; regard: followed by an object noun or
pronoun expressing value {store, much, etc., es-
pi'cially small value, mite, groat, ha«!,i>traw, tare,
erisH (kern), etc., lite, little, naught, short, etc.),
with the thing in question, preceded by by
(sometimes of), in tne sense of 'about, con-
cerning.' The object pronoana hmmA, Ule, ItitU, noivM
were taien later as sdverba, and the tnndtlTe verb, bj
reas4>n of this construction and by reaaon also of the mere
omission of the object, became intransitive (in the then
idiomatic phrase to tet by) — tet by in the tranaitive use
being er|ufvalent to a unitary verb, * value, eateem,' and
taking as sach a paaaive ootiairuction.
I tette nat an haw qf bis proverliea.
Chaucer, ProL to Wife of Bath's Tale, \. 860.
He that good manner* seeme* to lack.
Mo wyae man doth tet by;
Wythout condlclons vertaoaa,
Tbon art not worth a flye.
BoteM £ooi (E. E. T. SX p. 72.
Set nought by golde ne grotea,
Theyr namea U I durat tell.
Skelton, Colyn aoate, L 16a
1 do not tet my life at a pin's fee.
Shak., Hamlet, L 4. «T.
Mir Thomas Clifford, who appears a very Hne gentleman,
an<l much tet by At Court for his activity In going to sea,
and atuntneas every where, and stirring ap and down.
Pepyi, Diary, II. 4S6.
Ood knows bow hard It is to help tetUng a good doal by
one's children. S. Judd, Margaret, IL 1.
19t. To assume; suppose; posit.
I tet the werste, leat that ye dreden this;
Men wolde wondfen sen bym come or gon.
Chaucer, Trollas, II. 387.
20. To contrive; plan.
Moat freely I confess, myself and Toby
St* tbla device against Malvollo here.
Shak., T. N., V. L 368.
21. To put in opposition ; oppose; offset.
tWni you act your wit to a fool's ?
Shak., T. and C, 11. 1. 94.
3. To let to a tenant; lease. [Now prov.
ng. and Scotch.]
Kor to save bym in his rrght
My goodea betb tette and solde.
Robin Hood, 1. II. (BaUiweU.)
They care not ... at how anreasonable rates they tet
their grounds. Bp. UaU, Cases of Conscience, I. I.
About this time 117.00] the custom of tetting or leasing
a mine on tribute came into use.
R. Hunt, BrltUb Mining, p. 107.
^H^3. To write ; note ; enter, as in a book. Com-
^^^bare (o net down (6), below.
5698
All his faults observed,
Set in a note-book, learu'd, and conn'd by rote.
Shak., J. C.,iv. 3.98.
24t. To flute or crimp; adjust the plaits of:
as, to set a ruff with a poking-stick.
His linen collar labyrinthian get.
Whose thousand double turnings never met.
Bp. HaU, Satires, III. vii. 39.
25t. To point out or mark, as game-birds, by
crouching, or standing stifBy, with the muzzle
directed toward the scent ; point : as, a dog sets
acovey of partridges. See setter^. Hence — 26.
To mark or designate for prey, in allusion to a
dog which sets birds ; hunt, as game, with a set-
ter ; formerly, also, to take, as birds, with a net.
He with his squadron overtakes a coach which they
had set overnight, having intelligence of a booty of four
hundred pounds in it.
Mevwin o/ Du Vail, 1670 (Harl. Misc., III. 311). (Davia.)
A combination of sharpers, it seems, had long set him
as a man of fortune.
Richardson, Sir Cliarles Qrandlson, IV. 294. (Dames.)
27. 'See the quotation.
A hell of about 52 cwt at Hereford, which he and some
other boys used to raise and set (i. e. ring till it stands
mouth upwards).
Sir E. Beckett, Clocks and Watches, p. 370.
28. To push ; propel by pushing with a pole
against the hajik or bottom of the stream : said
of boats. See setting-pole. [Local, Eng., and
U.S.]
With rowing, drawing, and setting [our boats], we went
this day 7 miles mor«. HaJduyt's Voyages, I. 366.
29. To direct or accompany part or all of the
way : as, to set one home ; to set one on one's
way.
Be directed me to the Wicket-Gate, which else I should
never have found, and so tei me into the way that bath
led me directly to this house.
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 118.
He went out with Will ; he said he were going to set him
a part of the way. ... So the two lads set olT together.
Mrs. OaskeU, Mary Barton, xiil.
30. To form, after fertilization, for develop-
ment, as fruit or seed.
Flowers legitimately fertilised set seeds under condi-
tions which cause the almost complete failure of illegiti-
mately fertilised flowera.
Danoin, DUerent Forms of Flowers, p. 28.
31. In printing: (a) To place in the proper
order for reading, as types representing let-
ters, spaces, punctuation-marks, etc. ; compose.
(6) To put into type : as, to set a manuscript :
sometimes with up. (c) To put (newly printed
sheets) aside untu the ink is perfectly dry, and
sets in the paper. — 32. \aut.: (a) To loosen
and extend ; spread to the wind : as, to set the
sails. (6) To observe the bearings of, as a
distant object by the compass : as, to set the
land. — 33. In leather-manuf., to treat (leather)
by wetting it, spreading it on a stone or table,
and beating it with the slicker until it adheres
to the table by atmospheric pressure. — 34. To
become; suit.
Tak down, tak down the maat o' goad ;
Set ap tne maat o' tree ;
lU sttf It a tonaken lady
To sail ne gallanUle.
fair Annie n/ Ixxhroyan (Child's Ballads, 11. 103).
Lath floated and set fair, lath laid and set See
foJtAl. — Set close, a printing-house urdcr to compose
type* In a compact style. Set ber, him, or you up, a
phraae of contempt applictl to a i>erson who makes undue
show or pretenalon : as, she must have her new carriage ;
let her ml ut you up with your fine company! (Prov.
Eng. and SootcLl-Set out, in printing: (o) [set, pp.]
Said of a caae or a font of type that has been exhausted,
(t) [tet, ImpT.) An order to compose types so as to occupy
much space.— gattinc-oat rod. See rod i.— Setting
the wort same m pitching, 4.— Setting-up screw.
See »ereirl.— Set wide, a priiiting-hou«c urilcr to Riiace
words widely In oonii>o8ing.— To be dead set against
See dead.—To let abroacll. See abroach.— To set a
case, to assume; sappose; take for granted. Compare
put the ease, under puO.
Vet telle I coat ye have botbe myght and licence for to
vengc yow. Chauoer, Tale of Melibeus.
To let against («) To set in comparison ; oppose ; also,
to set in wager.
If he (Edward III.) would tet his Kingdom of Englan^
thoagh mnch meaner, against his of France, he would
then accept the Challenge, and meet him In the Field In
single Combat Baker, Chronicles, p. 119.
Setting the probabilities of the story against the credit
of the witnesses. Brougham,
(b) To prejudice against ; Incline to an nnfrlendly opinion
of : as, to set one friend against another.
To set an example, to do that which may or should serve
as a pattern or model, as In conduct manners, or morals.
Their Master Christ gave them this precept, and tet
them tAif example. MUton, Apology for Smectymnuus.
And say, to which shall our applause belong, . . .
Or he who bids tbee face with steady view
Proud fortune, and look shallow greatness through,
And, while he bids thee, tett Ih' example too?
Pope, Imlt of Horace, I. L lOt.
set
To set a paper, in univemlty use, to prepare or formu-
late an examination-paper.
We are informed that at the Universities there is a
difficulty in finding persons capable of setting papers in
Spanish. Quarterly Rev., CLXII. 43.
To set apart. See aparl^, 1 (6).— To set a pole, in fish-
ing, to fasten a pole (with a line and baited hook attached)
to some support, to be left (generally over night) for fish
to take the bait,— To set aside, (a) To omit for the
present ; leave out of the question.
Setting aside all other considerations, I will endeavour
to know the truth, and yield to that. TUlotson.
It must not be forgotten that, setting aside the coast
cities, the land in which Trieste stands has for ages been
a Slavonic land. E. A. Freevmn, Venice, p. 75.
(i>) To reject
ITl look Into the pretensions of each, and shew upon
what ground 'tis that 1 embrace that of the deluge, and
tet a^de all the rest.
Woodward, Essay towards a Nat. Hist, of the Earth.
(c) To discard; annul : as, to set aside a verdict.— To set
at deflance. See defiance.— To set at ease, to quiet;
content : as, to set the mind at ease. — To set at liberty,
to release from confinement or imprisonment ; free.
At the same time that I was Released there were set at
liberty about xx English men.
Webbe, Travels (ed. Arber), p. 29.
To set at naught See rMught-lo set before, (o)
To present to the view of ; exhibit or display to.
Behold, I have set be/ore tbee an open door. Rev. 111. 8.
(6) To serve up to, as food or drink.
Whatsoever is tet before you, eat. 1 Cor. x. 27.
The bishop shewed me the convent with great civility,
and set before us an elegant collation of dryed sweetmeats,
prunellas, and pistachio nuts.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. 96.
To set by. («) To put aside or away.
It is a custom with the Arabs never to set by any thing
that comes to the table, so that, when they kill a sheep,
they dress it all. call in their neighbours and the poor
to finish every thing.
Pococke, Description of the Bast, I. 57.
(6) See def. 18.— TO set by the ears. See fori.— To
set down, (a) To place upon the floor or ground ; de-
posit : &S, to set down one's burden ; to set down a passen-
ger at the station.
The Dorchester man being set doum at Connecticut, near
the Plimouth trading bouse, the govcrnour, Mr. Bradford,
wrote to them, complaining of it as an injury.
Winthrop, Hist New England, I. 198.
(A) To enter In writing ; make a note of ; note.
My tables— meet It Is I set it doum •
That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain.
Shak., Hamlet, 1. 5. 107.
Even the great Islands, E. Indies many of them, are
without Names, or at least so variously set down that 1
find the same Islands named by divers Names.
Dampier, Voyages, I. 308.
(ct) To ordain ; fix ; establish.
This law . . . which God before all others bath set down
with himself, for himself to do all things by. Hooker.
(d) To ascribe ; attribute : as, you may set bis silence
doim to diindence. («) To count ; consider ; regard.
Set it doim that a habit of secrecy Is both politic and
moral. Bacon, Simulation and Dissimulation (ed. 1887).
You may tet It down as mere bewilderment.
Fitch, Lects. on Teaching, p. 189.
(/t) To lower.
O, you are well tuned now !
Bat 111 tet doum the pegs that make this music.
Shak., OtbeUo, II. 1. 203.
(g) To take to task; rebuke; snub. (CoUoq.]— To set
eyes on. See eyei.
No single soul
Can we tet eye on.
Shak., Cymbellne, Iv. 2. 131.
To set fire ont, set Are to, to apply fire to ; set on Are.
Thenne,
Though fire be sette on It It sbal not breime.
Palladiiu, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S,), p. 141.
To set forth, (o) To present to view or consideration ;
represent by words ; make known fully ; declare.
When we assemble and meet together ... to set forth
his most worthy praise, to hear bis most holy Word.
Book of Common Prayer, Exhortation to Confession.
I ought diligently to hear and to learn the gospel, and
to set it forth both In word or talking and also in example
of living. J. Bradford, Works (Parker Soc. , 1853), II. 258.
We wish to tet forth that we In our Ishind, you on your
continent we In Middle England, you In New, are breth-
ren In one common heritage.
E. A. Freeman, Amer. Lects., p. 54.
(b) To publish ; Issue.
All the fforesald publlquc Readers of arte and the com-
mon lawes shall once within every six yeares tet forth
some new hookes in printo.
Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. 3., extra ser.), L 9.
Mr. Rogers hath tet forth a little book of faith.
Winthrop, Hist New England, L 415.
(ct) To prepare and send out ; equip ; funiisb ; fit out
They are very curious and ambitious in setting forth their
Funeralls. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 632.
We hope to sete forth a ship our selves with In this
month.
Quoted in Brailford's Plymouth Plantation, p. 120.
(df) To adorn ; decorate.
Every other day higbthcrto she hath a newe devyce of
heade dressyng without any coste and yett setteth forthe a
woman gaylle well. Quoted In N. and (j , 7th ser., V. 'i3.
set
(«) To uTsnge : draw up : display.
lip higher to the plain, where well ttt forth
In best appointment all our regiments.
Shat., K. John, 11. 1. 295.
(/) To praise ; recommend.
Beauty itself doth of itself persuade
The eyes of men without an orator;
What'needeth then apologies be made
To set forth that which is so singular?
Shak. , Lucrece, 1. 32.
Tto set forward, to further the interest of ; aid iu advan-
cing : help onward.
Amongst them there are not those helps which others
have to (.(•( them foruard in the way of life. Hooker.
To set hajid to flstt. See Aan/f.— To set in, to put in
the way to do something ; give a start to.
If you please to assist and tet me in. Jeremy Collier.
To set in order, to adjust or arrange ; attend to.
The rest will I set in order when I come. 1 Cor. xi. 84.
To set off. («) To adorn ; beautify ; enhance the appear-
ance of : as, a garment sets of the wearer.
Does . . . [she] want any jewels, in your eyes, to set off
her beauty? Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, HL
What strange Dress is this? It is all over set off with
Shells scoUop'd, full of Images of Lead and Tin, and Chains
of Straw- Work.
A". BaOey, tr. of Colloquies of Erasmus, 11. 2.
(6) To act as foil to ; display to advantage by contrast : as,
a dark beauty sets off a fair one.
My reformation, glittering o'er my fault,
Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes
Than that which hath no foil to set it off.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., i. 2. 239.
(c) To put forward or plead as an equivalent; reckon
against.
It was also felt that though, in the ordinary course of
criminal law, a defendant is not allowed to set off his good
actions against his crimes, a great political cause should
be tried on different principles.
Macaxday, Warren Hastmgs.
It [the English sparrowl must be regarded as an instance
of reciprocity, and be set off against the American weed
(choke-pondweed, Anacharis Canademi»\ which chokes
our rivers. Athenieum, No. 8068, p. 204.
(d) To mark off ; separate, as by a mark or line : as, this
clause is set offhy a colon ; one field was set offtrom an-
other.
In modern wit all printed trash is
Set o/with numerous breaks and dashes.
Sirift, On Poetry.
(«) To explode; discharge: as, to set of fireworks.— To
sdt on, to incite ; instigate ; put up.
Thou, tiaitor, hast set on thy wife to this.
Shak., W. T., ii. 3. 181.
To set one's capt. See capi.— To set one's cap at or
for See copi.— To set one's face, to turn, direct, or ad-
dress one's self ; hence, to resolve ; determine resolutely.
He rose up, and passed over the river, and set his face
toward the mount Gilead. Oen. xxxi. 21.
For the Lord God will help me; . . . therefore have I
set my face like a flint. Isa. 1. 7.
When a minority of two hundred, or even of eighty mem-
bers, set their faces to stop all legislation unless they get
their will, no rules of procedure which the wit of man can
devise will prevent waste of time.
Edinburgh Rev., CLXV. 295.
To set one's face against, to discountenance ; disap-
prove of ; oppose.
I will even set my, face agaitist that soul, and will cut him
off from among his'people. Lev. xx. 6.
To set one's hand to, to sign ; affix one's signature to.
Lady Wishfort. You will grant me Time to consider?
Fainall. Yes, while the Instrument is drawing to which
you nmst set your Hand.
Congrem, Way of the World, v. 6.
To set one's heart at rest, to set one's heart on. See
heart. — To set one's seal to. Seewois.— To set ones
shoulder to the wheel. See shoulder.— To set one's
teeth, to press them togetlier forcibly or passionately ;
hence, to take resolute or desperate measures.— To set
one to the door. See door.— To set on fire. See jire.
—To set on foot. See/oo«.-Tosetongroundt. Same
as to l>rino to ground (which see, under ground^). — To set
out (rt) To assign; allot: as, to set out the portion of
each heir of an estate. (6) To publish, as a proclamation.
That excellent proclamation set out by the king. Bacon.
The other ministers also set out an answer to his sermon,
confuting the same by many strong arguments.
WirUhrop, Hist. New England, I. 264.
(c) To mark by boundaries ; define.
Determinate portions of those infinite abysses of space
and duration, set out, or supposed to be distinguished from
all the rest by known boundaries. Locke.
id) To adorn; decorate; embellish.
A goldsmith's shop setx out a city maid.
Middleton, Chaste Maid, i. 1.
In this Church are two Altars set out with extraordinary
splendour, being deck'd with rich Miters, Embroider'd
Copes. Maundrell, Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 99.
This day Mrs. Eussel did give my wife a very fine St.
George in alabaster, which will set out my wife's closet
mightily. Pepys, Diary, II. 71.
{<) To equip and send out.
They set out a ship the last year with passengers and
goods for ITovidence.
Winthrop, Hist. Sew England, II. 15.
The Venetians pretend they could set out, in case of great
necessity, thirty men-of-war.
Addition, Remarks on Italy (Works, cd. Bohn, I. 389).
5524
(/) To show ; display ; demonstrate ; indicate.
What doe they else but, in the abounding of mans
sinne, set out the superabounding grace of God?
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. lOS.
Thus have I attempted to describe this duty [of praise],
to set out the great reasonableness, and to stir you up to
the practice of it. Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, I. i.
(o) To recite; state at large : as, to gefowf one's complaint.
Qi) In engineering, to locate, (t) To place, as a stone in
masonry, so that it projects beyond the stone next ad-
joining, especially the stone or course next beneath;
cause to jut out ; corbel out.
The early Byzantine architects — in Sta. Sophia for in-
stance—did fit pendentives to circular arches, but It was
with extreme difticulty, and required very great skill both
in setting out and iu execution.
J. Fergusson, Hist. Arch., I. 450.
To set over, (a) To appoint or constitute as director or
ruler over.
I have set thee ot)er all the land of Egypt. Gen. xli. 41.
(6) To assign ; transfer ; convey. — TO set right, to rec-
tify ; correct ; put right.— To set sail (naut). See sail\.
— To set seed, to form seed within the ovary: said of
ovules which develop and become seeds— that is, do not
abort. See II., 3, below.— To set Shortt. See short.—
To set the hand to. See hand.— to set the head-
hand, in boohbindii\g , to adjust the leather of the cover
so as to lap over the head-baiul. — To set the heather on
fire, to set the land, to set the palette. See heather,
lamb palette.— To set the river on fire. Secure.- To
set the teeth on edge. See edge.— To set the tem-
perament, in tuning a pianoforte, organ, or other instru-
ment in which tempered intonation is used, to tune a sin-
gle octave in accordance with the temperament desired,
so that the remaining octaves may be tuned at pure oc-
taves therewith.— To set to rights. See right.— To set
to salet. See safei.- To set up. (a) To erect ; place up-
right ; put together in an upright or naturaT form, espe-
cially by means of articulating, stuffing the skin, or similar
processes ; mount : as, the skeleton of a mammoth has
been set up for the museum.
Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold: ...
he set it up in the plain of Dura. Dan. iii. 1.
(6) In the army, to fit (a man) by drill for military move-
ments and parade. Wilhelm. (c) To begin, as a new enter-
prise, institution, or arrangement; put in operation ; es-
tablish ; found ; institute : as, to set up a factory ; to set up
a school.
There was another printer in town, lately set up.
Franklin, Autobiog., p. 4,5.
Is Perry going to set up his carriage, Frank? I am glad
he can afford it. Jane Austen, Emma, xli.
The large number of ice-making machines which have
recently been set up. Sci. Amer., N. S., LXIII. 16.
(d) To provide adequately ; supply ; furnish ; fit out ;
stock : as, I bane enough capital to set me up in trade ; she
is set up in winter gowns.
Two Deskes and a quire of Paper set him vp, where he
now sits in state for all coram ers.
Bp. Earle, Micro-cosmographie, An Aturney.
Some ends of verse his betters might afford.
And gave the harndess fellow a good word.
Set up with these, he ventur'd on the town.
And with a borrow'd play outdid poor Crowne.
Pope, Macer.
(c) To raise ; promote ; exalt.
Whom he would he set up, and whom he would he put
down. Dan. v. 19.
(f) To place in view ; display : as, to set up a notice or a
signal.
Set this [paper] up with wax
Upon old Brutus' statue. Shak., J. C, i. 3. 145.
On all her olive-hills
Shall men set up the battle-sign of fire.
Mrs. Hemans, Siege of Valencia.
It appears unlikely that Asoka would have been allowed
to set up two copies of his edicts in the dominions of such
powerful kings as Aira and his father seem to have been.
J. Fergusson, Hist. Indian Arch., p. 189.
(g) To utter loudly ; raise, as a noise, or as the voice.
I'll set up such a note as she shall hrar.
Dryden, Amaryllis, 1. 88.
Wherever in a lonely grove
He set up his forlorn pipes,
Tlie gouty 6ak began to move,
And flounder into hornpipes.
Tennyson, Amphion.
(A) To advance ; propose for reception or consideration :
as, to set up a new doctrine, (t) To raise from misfortune
or dejection ; encourage ; restore : as, this good fortune
quite set him up. (i) To exhilarate: as, he was a little set
up. [Colloq.] (k) Naut., to haul taut, or take in the slack
of, as the standing rigghig. (0 In printing: (1) To put
in type : as, to set up a page of copy.
He had only written the opening pages, and had them
set up. H. James, Jr., Harper's Mag., LXXVII. 107.
(2) To arrange in the proper order of words,lines, etc. ; com-
pose : as, to set up type, (m) To offer to bidders at auction :
as, the next three lots were set up together, (n) To bring
al)out ; produce ; establish : as, a permanent curvature of
the spine was set up.
Sometimes it [eczema] is set up as the result of local or
general irritation of the skin in certain occupations.
Encyc. Brit., XXII. 122.
(o) To place (an instrument) on its support : as, to set up
a theodolite.— To set up a sidet, to become partners at
cards.— To set up one's hirse. See fctrw.— To set up
one's restt. (a) To make up one's mind ; resolve ; deter-
mine ; stake one's chances. [The origin of this phrase is
obscure, but is generally referred to the old game of pri-
mero, in which, it is alleged, a player who stood upon the
cards in his hand in the hope that they might prove
set
stronger than those held by his opponent was said to «tand
upon his rest. Compare re«(i, ?i., 14.]
On which resolution the soldier sets up his rest, and com-
monly liaziirds the winning or loosing of as great a thing
as life may be worth.
Churchyard's Challenge, p. 62. (Sares, under rest.)
I have set up my rest to run away.
Shak., M. of V., 11. 2. 110.
Could I set up my rest
That he were lost, or taken prisoner,
I could hold truce with sorrow.
Middleton, Spanish Gypsy, Iv. 2.
(5) To pause for rest ; make a halt ; sojourn.
'Tis also cheape living which causes travellers to set up
their rest here more than in Florence.
Evelyn, Diary, May 21, 164.5.
=8TO- 1 ^'"J 2. Place, Lay, etc. Seepirfl.
n. intrans. 1. To sink downward; settle
down; especially, to decline toward and pass
below the horizon, as the sun, moon, or stars.
Now, when the sun was setting, all they that had any
sick . . . brought them unto him. Luke iv. 40.
His smother'd light
May set at noon and make perpetual night.
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 784.
This day the ship heaved and set more than before, yet
we had but few sick.
Witithrop, Hist. New England, I. 11.
He keeped her sae late and lang.
Till the evening set, and birds they sang.
Lord Dingwall (Child's Ballads, I. 288).
2. To become fixed or fii-mly joined.
Maketh the teeth to set hard one against another.
Bacon.
(a) To become motionless or immovable.
The device [a car-brake] has a brake with a shoe con-
nected to a main body, combined with an interposed spring
or springs, to prevent the setting and sliding of the wheels.
Sci. Amer., N. S., LVIII. 74.
(6) To become flrm, stiff, or solid : as, the jeUy would not
set.
The frequent application of heat to gelatine destroys its
setting powers. Workshop Receipts, 1st ser., p. 278.
3. labot. and liort., to develop the ovaries after
fertilization; begin the growth of fruit : as, the
blossoms were abundant, but failed to set; the
peaches set well, but were blasted ; in fish-cul-
ture, to begin to germinate : said of eggs.
It appears that the setting of the flowers— that is, the
production of capsules, whether good or bad — is not so
much influenced Ijy legitimate and illegitimate fertilisa-
tion as is the number of seeds which the capsules contain.
Daruin, Different Forms of Flowers, p. 47.
4t. To engage in gambling; gamble, (a) To stake
money in gambling ; wager ; bet
From six to eleven. At basset. Mem. Never set again
upon the ace of diamonds. Addison, Spectator, No. 323.
(6) To take part in a game of hazard ; play with others
for stakes.
Throw boldly, for he sets to all that write ;
With such he ventures on an even lay.
For they bring ready money into play.
Dryden, Secret Love, Prol., ii. (1667).
Sir John Bland and Offley made interest to play at
Twelfth-night, and succeeded — not at play, for they lost
1400(. and 1300?. As it is not usual for people of no higher
rank to play, the King thought they would be bashful
about it, and took particular care to do the honours of his
house to them, set only to them, and spoke to them at his
levee next morning. Walpole, Letters, II. 419.
5. Tobegina journey, march, or voyage; start:
commonly with on or mtt (see phrases below).
The king is set from London.
Shak., Hen. V., ii., Prol., 1. 34.
She gies the herd a pickle nits . . .
To watch, while for the barn she sets.
In hopes to see Tam Kipples.
Bums, Hallowe'en.
6. To have motion in a certain direction ; flow ;
tend : as, the tide sets to the north ; the current
sets westward.
The old bookseller with some grumbling opened his
shop, and by the twinkling taper (for he was setting bed-
wards) lighted out the relic from his dusty treasures.
Lamb, Old China.
And his soul set to grief, as the vast tide
Of the bright rocking Ocean sets to shore
At the full moon.
M. Arnold, Sohrab and Rustum.
Trust me, cousin, all the current of my being sets to thee.
Tennyson, Locksley Hall.
7. To point game by crouching, in the original
manner, now obsolete, of a setter dog ; more
rarely, to hunt game with the aid of a setter ;
also, formerly, to catch binls with a large net.
When I go a-liawking or setting, I think myself beholden
to him that assures me that in such a field there is a
covey of partridges. Boyle. (Johnson.)
8. To make a beginning; apply one's self: as,
to set to work.
If he sets industriously and sincerely to perform the
commands of Christ. Hanwiojid.
The gale set to its work, and the sea arose in earnest.
R. D. Blackmore, Maid of Sker, x.
9. To face one's partner in dancing.
u
set
They very oft«n made use of a . . . Step called SetUng,
which I know not liow to describe to you but by telling
you that it is the very reverse of iJack to Back.
Budgell, Spectator, No. 67.
She . . . sometimes makes one in a country-dance, with
only cue of the chairs for a partner, , . . and sets to a
corner cupboard. Goldsmith, citizen of the World, xxriii.
A propensity on the part of that unlucky old lady . . .
to amble about, and set to iuanimate objects, accompany-
ing herself with a chattering noise, as iu a witch dance.
IHckens, Bleak House, xxxiii.
10. To acquire a set or bend ; get out of shape ;
become bent; warp: said of an angler's rod. —
11. To sit, as a broody hen: a wrong use, by
confusion with nit To set about, to take the first
steps in ; begin : as, to set alx/ut a business or enterprise.
Why, as to reforming. Sir I'eter, I'll make no promises,
and that I take to be a proof that I intend to set about it.
Sheridan, School for Scandal, v. 3.
\o nation in any aj^e or in any part of the globe has
failed to invent for itself a true and appropriate style of
architecture whenever it chose to set tuKfUt it in the right
way. J. Fergxumm, Hist. Arch., I. 40.
To set alandt, to steer landward.
He made his ship aioiide for to sette.
Chaucer, Good Women, L 2166.
To set ar6and a pod. see pod.— To set fortb or for-
ward, to begin to march ; advance.
The sons of liershonand tlie sons of Mertiri set /orioard.
Num. I. 17.
I must away this night toward Padua,
And it is meet I presently set/orth.
Shak., M. of V., ir. 1. 404.
1 take this as an unexpected favour, that thou shouldst
set forth out of doors with me, to accompany me a little in
my way. Bunyan, Pilgrim s Progrew, p. 2:i7.
To set In. (a) To begin : as, winter in England naoally
sets in about December.
Yet neither doe the wet or dry Seasons Kt >n or go oat
exactly at one time in all Years: neither are all places
subject to wet or dry Weather alike.
* Dampier, Voyages, II. ill. 77.
(6) To become settled in such or such a state.
When the weather was wf tn to be very bad. Addison,
(e) To flow toward the shore: as, the tide sets in: ofteu
used figuratively.
A tide of fashion set in In favoiu of French in the Eng-
land of the thirteenth ceiitory.
JS. A. Freeman, Amer. Lecta., p. 169.
((f) To reappear after temporary absence or disappearance,
as a school of fish, (et) To go in ; make an onset or as.
sault.
Nenertheles the! sette in a-monge hem. for thei were
moche peple and stronge, and the cristin hem resceyved
full fiercely. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ill. 588.
They had allready devoured UncaBs & his in their hops ;
and surly they had done it in deed, if the English had not
timly sett in for his aide.
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 431.
To set Oir. (a) To start, as on a journey.
Is it true . . . that yon are setting of without taking
leave of your friends'/ Ooldsmith, Uood-natured Man, v.
(6) In prinHnfj, to deface or soil the next sheet: said of
the ink on a newly printed sheet when another sheet
comes in contact with it before it has had time to dry.
To prevent setttng^of, the leaves after copying should be
removed by blotting paper.
Workshop Receipts, 2d ser., p. 331.
(et) To make a show or appearance ; appear.
I, now, but thhik how poor their spite sets of,
Wbo, after all their waste of sulphurous tenna, . . .
Hare nothing left but the unsavoory smoke.
B. Jonson, Apol. to Poetaster.
TO let on. (a) [On, adv.] To begin ; start; set ouL
In the dawnynge of the day loke ye sette on alle to-geder
tber as ye shull here an home blowe right high and lowde.
iir«rb'n(E. E. T. S.X iiL 383.
Ha! what strange music? . . .
How all the birds set on! the fields redouble
Their odoriferous sweets !
Fletcher (and another 1), Prophetess, v. 3.
(6) [On (or upon), prep.] (1) To begin, as an enterprise.
He that would seriously sei upon the search of truth
ought to prepare his mind with a love of It. Loclie.
(2) To make an attack ; assault : as, they all set upon him
at once. See assail.
We met with t. Rovers or men of war. whom vre set vp-
von, and burnt their Admirall, and brought those ships
into Narr. Webbe, Travels (ed. Arberi p. 19.
Oather we our forces out of hand.
And set upon our boasting enemy.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., ill. 2. loa
It seems to me the time to ask Mr. Lyon to take a little
rest, instead of setting on him like so many wasps.
Oeorge Rint, Felix Holt, xxiv.
To set out. (a) To begin a journey, proceeding, or career :
tts, Uj set uut lor London : to sr( out in business or in the
world.
Some there be that set out for this crown, and, after they
have gone far for it, another comes in and takes it from
them. Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 151
Thus arm'd, he set out on a ramble - alack !
He set trut, poor dear Soul 1 --but he never came back !
Itarham, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 3;iO.
After residing at CambridKetwo years, he ITemple] de-
parted without taking a degree, and set out upon his trav-
ds. Hacaulay, Sir William Temple.
5525
ib) To flow out ; ebb: as, the tide «ete oirf at 4 P. M.— To
set to, to apply one's self ; go at a piece of work.
I wish you were a dog ; I'd set to this minute, and . . .
cut every strip of flesh from your bones with this whip.
Charlotte Bronte, Professor, v.
To set up. (a) To begin business or a scheme of living :
as, to set up in trade ; to set up for one's self.
They say [she has gone] to keepe a Taverne in Foy, and
that M. Spencer hath given her a stocke to set up for her
selfe. Ueywood, Fail- Maid of the West (Works, II. 270),
If not the tradesman who set up to-day.
Much less the 'prentice who to-morrow may.
Pope, Epll. to Satires, ii. 30.
At Bologna he had got into debt, and set up as tutor to
the young archdeacons.
StuMs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 140.
(b) To make pretensions ; claim to be recognized, admired,
or esteemed : as, he sets up for a man of wit.
There is nothing more absurd than for a Man to set up
for a Critick without a good Insight into all the Paits of
Learning. Addison, Spectator, No. 291.
Besides, it is found by experience that those men who
set up for morality without regard to religion are gener-
ally virtuous but in part. Sui/t, Testimony of Conscience.
To set upon. See to «e« on (6). = Syn. Attack, Set upon,
etc. See assail.
setl (set), j>. a. 1. Placed; located; station-
ary ; fixed : as, a set range ; set tubs ; a set smirk.
Why do you frown ? good gods, what a set anger
Have you forc'd intoyour face ! come, I must temper you.
Fletcher {and another^, False One, iv. 2.
His love-fit 's upon him ;
I know it by that set smile and those congees.
How courteous he 's to nothing I
Fletcher {and anotherl), Nice Valour, L 1.
2. Fixed; immovable.
0 he 's drunk. Sir Toby, an hour agone, his eyes were set
at eight i' the morning. Shak., T. N., v. 1. 205.
On coming up to him, he saw that Marner's eyes were
set like a dead man's. Oeorge Eliot, Silas Mamer, i.
3. Regular; in due form; formal; deliberate:
as, a set discourse ; of a battle, pitched.
RaiI'd on Lady Fortune in good terms.
In good set terms, and yet a motley fool.
Shak., As you Like it, 11. 7. 17.
I do not love set speeches nor long praises.
Shirley, Love in a Maze, ii. 1.
She had been ... to bright hay-making romps in the
open air, but never to n set stately party at a friend's
house. Jfr«. Oaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, xxx.
4. Fixed in opinion ; determined; self-willed;
obstinate: as, a man.vefia his opinions or way.
1 se thoa art sette my solace to reue (take away).
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), lit 487.
No woman 's yet so fiercely set
But she'll forgive, though not forget.
Lady Anne BathwM's Lament (Child's Ballads, IV. 127).
He was an amazing set kind of man, the csp'n was, and
would have his own way on sea or shore.
S. O. Jewett, Deepbaven, p. 153.
5. Established; prescribed; appointed: as, «e<
forms of prayer.
Do a season isett assembled they bothe.
Alisttttnder qf Maeedoine (E. E. T. S.), 1. 339.
An old Colledge Butler Is none of the worst Students in
the bouse, for he keepes the set houres at his booke more
duly then any.
Bp. Earle, Micro-cosmographie, An Old Colledge Butler.
We might now have expected that his own following
Praler should add much credit to set Formes ; but on the
contrary we find the same Imperfections in it, as in most
before, which he lays heer upon Extemporal.
Milton, Eikonoklastes, xri.
And ail sorts of set Mourning, both Black and Oray, and
all other Furniture sutable to It, fit for any person of
Quality. Quoted in Ashton's Social Life in Reign of Queen
(Anne, I. 50.
The town of Berne Is plentifully furnished with water,
there being a great miUtitade of handsome fountains
planted at set distances from one end of the streets to the
other.
Addison, Remarks on Italy (Works, ed. Bohn, I. 519).
6. Formed ; built ; made : noting the person :
as, well set; thick-.yef. See set up, below.
He [Butler] is of a middle stature, strong sett, high col-
oured, a head of sorrell haire, a severe and sound judge-
ment ; a good felluwe. Aubrey, Lives, S. Butler.
7. Astounded; stiuxned. Htilliteell. [Prov.
Eng.]— A set matcbt. see matchi.— Of set purpose,
with deliberate intention ; designedly.
For how should the brightness of wisdom shine where
the windows of the soul are of very set purpose closed ?
Hooker, F.ccles. Polity, v. 2.
She would fall out with, and anger him of set purpose.
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 48.5.
Set duster. See duster— set piece (Iheat.), a piece of
scenery only moderately high, aMiri)ennitting more distant
pieces to be seen over it. - - Set scenes. See scene. — Set
speedl, a speech carefully prepared beforehand ; elabo-
rated discourse.
1 Mfect not set speeches in a Historle.
Maton, Hist. Eng., U.
He [Pitt] was no speaker of set speeches. His few pre-
pared discourses were complete failures.
Macaulay, William litt.
Setup, (a) Built; formed: noting tlie person : as, a tall
man, and well set up.
Very pretty damsels, and well set up.
Ji. D. Blachmore, Lorna Doone, xxvii.
(6) In the aimy, noting a man fitted by drill for military
movements and parade.
The scouts . . . are lithe, and naturally well set up, as
the soldiers phrase it. The Century, XXXVIII. B44.
(c) Unduly uplifted or elated, as by successor prosperity.
[CoUoq.]
Our nineteenth century is wonderfully set up in its own
esteem. The Century, XXVIII. lie.
Sharp-set, keen, as a saw; hence, figuratively, eager;
keen in the pursuit of any end; keenly resentful ; also, very
hungry ; ravenous.
The News of this Massacre, adding a new Edge of Re-
venge to the old Edge of Ambition, made the Danes
sharper set against the English than ever they had been
before. Baker, Chronicles, p. IS.
The perplexity of mannerlinesse will not let him feed,
and he is sharps set at an argument when hee aliould cut
his meate.
Bp. Earle, Micro-cosmographie, A Downe-right Scholler.
By this light she looks as sharp-set as a sparrow-hawk I
Fletcher, Wit without Money, v. 4.
It is a well-known sporting-house, and the breakfasts
are famous. Two or three men in pink, on their way to
the meet, drop in, and are very jovial and sharp-set, as in-
deed we all are. T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, L 4.
setl (set), II. [Early mod. E. also sett (still used
archaicaWy), sette ;< sel^,v. According to Skeat,
set, iu the sense of 'a number of things or per-
sons belonging together,' etc., is a corruption
of sepf^ and ult. of sict^.] 1. A young plant fit
for setting out ; a slip; shoot: as, »'e^« of white-
thorn or other shrub; onion sets.
Syon, a yong sette. Palsgrave.
2. A rudimentary fruit: used especially of ap-
ples, pears, peaches, etc. : as, the peaches set
well, but the sets all dropped off. Compare
se<l, V. i., 3. — 3. The setting of the sun or other
luminary; hence, the close, as of a day.
The weary sun hath made a golden set.
Shak, Rich. III., v. 3. 19.
If the sun shine pale, and fall into blacke clouds in his
set, it signifieth the winde is shifting into the North
quarter. Heywood, Hierarchy of Angels, p. 1S3.
Thou that faintly smilest still,
As a Naiad in a well.
Looking at the set of day.
Tennyson, Adeline.
4t. A venture; a wager; a stake; hence, a
game of chance; a match.
When we have match'd our rackets to these balls.
We will, in France, by God's grace, play a set
Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard.
Shak., Hen. V., i. 2. 262.
I would buy your pardon.
Though at the highest set; even with my life.
Beau, and Fl., Maid's Tragedy, iv. 1.
I give o'er the set, throw down the cards.
Middleton, Chaste Maid, ii. 1.
6. General movement ; direction ; drift ; ten-
dency: used both literally and figuratively.
Individuals, alive to the particular evils of the age, and
watching the very set of the current. De Quincey, Style, L
The set of opinion in England at present.
Dawson, Nature and the Bible, App. C, p. 244.
When the storm winds prevail, the set is strong from the
east. ScrOmer's Mag., VIII. 101.
6. Build ; conformation ; form; hence, bearing ;
carriage : said of the person.
A goodly gentleman.
Of a more manly set I never look'd on.
Beau, and Ft., Custom of the Country, v. 6.
Should any young lady incline to imitate Gwendolen,
let her consider the set of her head and neck.
George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, viL
He was a young man, and not over middle height ; but
there was something effective and picturesque in the set
of his strongly built frame. Harpers Mag., LXXVI. 291.
7. A permanent change of shape caused by
pressure or by beiug retained long in one po-
sition; a bend, warp, or kink; hence, figura-
tively, a mental or moral warp or bias of char-
acter.
The behaviour of men to domestic animals must have
been, on the whole, more kind than the reverse. Had it
been otherwise, the set of the brute's brains, according to
modern theory, would have been that of shyness and dread
of us. F. P. Coftiw,- Peak in Darien, p. 137.
8t. A settled state.
Y« heate with a long set of faire and warm weather had
even ignited the aire and prepar'd the materials to con-
ceive the fire. Evelyn, Diary, Sept. 3, 1686.
9. The lateral deflection of a saw-tooth ; the
effect produced in a saw hy bending alternate
teeth slightly in opposite directions. See cuts
under saw-set.
The less set a saw has, the less wood it wastes.
Ure, Diet, IV. 9«1.
lOt. One of the plaits or flutings of a ruff; also,
such plaited or fluted work.
The set of my ruff looked Uke so many organ pipes.
Randolph, Hey for Honestie.
set
11. In plastering, the last eoat of plaster on
walls prepared for papering. — 12. \ oung oys-
ters, planted or fit for planting: occasionally
used improperly for ttpat or spawn; also, a bed
or plant of young oysters. Compare strike, need.
At only a few places does a breed of oysters, or a set, as
it is termed, occur with any regularity, or of any conse-
qaence. Fisheriet c/ U. S., V. ii. !>15.
13. ^mining: (a) A mine or number of mines
(including the area necessary for their work-
ing) taken on lease : used with this meaning in
Cornwall and Devon chiefly, but also to some
extent in other coal-mining districts of Eng-
land. Not used in the United States. (6) One
of the frames of timber which support the roof
and sides of a level : same as diiriis, durnz, or
dunize (see duriA) ; also, one of the horizontal
members of the timbering by wliich a shaft is
supported.
A gallery requires what are called frames (sets or
dumzes) for its proper support. A complete frame con-
sists of a sole-piece (foot-piece, sill, or sleeperX two side
props flegs or arms), and a crown (cap or collar).
Gallon, Lectures on Mining (trans.), i. 257.
(c) In some coal-mining districts of England,
nearly the same as Hft^, 6 (6). (d) A measure
of length along the face of a stall by which
holers and drivers are paid: it is usually from
6 to 10 feet. Gresley. [Midland coal-fields,
Eng.] In all these senses commonly spelled
sett. — 14. The pattern or combination of col-
ors of a tartan. [Scotch.]
A tartan plaid, spun of good hawslock woo,
Scarlet and green the sets, the borders blew.
Ramsay, Gentle Shepherd (ed. 1862X i. 1.
The petticoat was formed of tartan silk, in the set or pat-
tern of which the colour of blue greatly predominated.
Scott, Legend of Montrose, ix.
15. In theaters, a set scene. See set^,p. a., and
scene. — 16. In type-founding, the type-founder's
adjustment of space between types of the same
font. Types witli too much blank on one or both
sides are wide-set ; with too little space, close-
set. — 17. Imchaling: (a) Astroke; athrust: as,
a set of the lance. (6) A chance or opportunity
to strike with the lance : as, he got a good set,
and missed. — 18. In mach.: (a) A tool used to
close the plates around a rivet before upsetting
the point of the latter to form the second head.
(6) An iron bar bent into two right angles on
the same side, used in dressing forged iron. E.
H. Knight, (c) A hook-wrench having three
sides equal and the fourth long, to serve as a
lever. It is a form of key, spanner, or screw-
wrench for turning bolts, etc. — 19. In saddle-
ry, the filling beneath the ground-seat of a sad-
dle, which serves to bring the top seat to its
shape. E. H. Knight. — 20. A number of things
which belong together and are intended to be
used together, (o) Such a collection when the arti-
cles are all alike in appearance and use : as, &set of chairs ;
a set of table-knives ; Sisetot buttons ; aset ot dominoes ;
a set of teeth.
I'll give my jewels for a set of beads.
Shak., Rich. II., lil. 3. 147.
AsetoT pack of cards, but not equally ancient with those
above mentioned, were in the possession of Dr. Stukeley.
Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 432.
(b) Such a collection when of varied character and pur-
pose, but intended to be used together and generally of
similar or harmonizing design : as, a set of parlor furni-
ture ; a dinner-«e( ; a toilet-8e£. Set was formerly used spe-
cifically of horses, to mean six, as distinguished from a pair
or four-iu-hand.
He found the windows and streets exceedingly throng-
ed, .. . and in many places sets of loud music.
England's Joy (Arber's Eng. Gamer, I. 30).
.Shortly after, Bourchier, returning into England, he
bought a most rich Coach and ('urlous Sett of Six Horses
to it. T. Lucas, in Ashton's Social Lite in llelgn of Queen
[Anne, 1. Hi.
Here to-day about five o'clock arrived Lady Sarah Sad-
leir and Lady Betty Lawrence, each in her chariot-and-
six. Dowagers love equipage, and these cannot travel ten
miles without Sisett. Sichardson, Clarissa Harlowe, VI. 226.
21. A number of things having some other re-
lation to each other, as resemblance or natu-
ral affinity.
There are A set of heads that can credit the relations of
mariners, yet question the testimonies of St. Paul.
Sir T. Browne, Religio Medici, i. 21.
I say a set rather than a "series," because the articles
were written on various occasions, and have therefore lit-
tle formal connection, or necessary logical sequence.
Nineteenth Century, XIX. 50.
22. A number of persons customarily or offi-
cially associated : as, a .set of bankers ; a set of
officers ; or a number of persons drawn together
by some affinity, as of taste, character, posi-
tion, or pursuits; hence, a clique or coterie:
as, he belonged to the fast set.
5526
There's nothing we Beaus take more Pride in than a
Sett of Rented Footmen.
Tunbridge M'alks, quoted in Ashton's Social Life in Reign
(of Queen Anne, I. 76.
We should be as weary of one Set of Acquaintance, tho'
never so good, as we are of one Suit tho' never so line.
Congreve, Way of the World, ill. 10.
This set of ladies, indeed, as they daily do duty at court,
are much more expert in the use of their airs and graces
than their female antagonists, who are most of them bred
in the country. Addison, Meeting of the Association.
Choose well your set ; our feeble nature seeks
The aid of clubs, the countenance of cliques.
0. W. Holmes, Urania.
23. A number of particular things that are
united in the formation of a whole : as, a set of
features. — 24. In music and dancing: (a) The
five figures or movements of a quadrille or a
country-dance. (6) The music adapted to a
quadrille.
Then the discreet automaton [at the piano] . . . played
a blossomless, tuneless set.
Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, i. 11.
(c) The number of couples required to execute
a square dance.
Emma was . . . delighted to see the respectable length
of the set as it was forming, and to feel that she had so
many hours of unusual festivity before her.
Jane Austen, Emma, xxxviii.
Quadrilles were being systematically got through by two
or three sets of dancers. Dickens, Pickwick, ii.
25. One of a number of games or matches
which together make up a series: as, A won
the first set, B the second and third sets. —
26. In ornith., specifically, the number of eggs
found in one nest at any time ; especially, the
full number of eggs laid by any bird before
incubation; a clutch A dead set. (a) The act of
a setter dog when it finds the game, and stands stiffly
pointing; a point (originally, the crouching attitude of
the setter when making a point, now wholly obsolete).
(&) A state or condition which precludes further progress,
(c) A concerted scheme to defraud a player in gaming.
Grose, (d) A determined stand in argument or in pro-
ceeding; a determined attack. [Colloq.]
There should be a little filagree about a woman — some-
thing of the coquette. . . . The more of a dead set she
makes at you the better. George Eliot, Middlemarch, x.
Clock-set, a set of three or more decorative pieces of
which the centerpiece is a clock, usually of bronze or
porcelain wholly or in part.— Egg-set, a set of egg-cups
and spoons with a stand for holaing boiled eggs, or, in
some cases, an egg-boiler with sand-glass and often sepa-
rate salt-cellars, the whole forming a more or less decora-
tive set.— First set, in whaling. See /r««.— Harlequin
set. See Mrlequin.—'RenAei and set; render, float,
and set. See render^.— Set or sett of a burgh, in
Scots law, the constitution of a burgh. The sets are either
established by immemorial usage, or were at some time or
other modeled by the convention of burghs. — Set Of ex-
change, the different parts of a bill of exchange (the bill
and its duplicates), which are said to constitute a set.
Each part is complete by itself, but the parts are num-
bered successively, and when one part is paid the others
become useless. — Set of the reed. Same as number of
the reed (which see, under nuiiiber). — Sets and eyes Of
potatoes, slices of the tubers of the potato for planting,
each slice having at least one eye or bud.
set^ (set), V. i. A dialectal variant of sit, com-
mon in rustic use.
set^ (set). A form of the preterit and past par-
ticiple of sit, now usually regarded, in the
preterit, as an erroneous fonn of sat, or, in the
past particijjle, as identical with set, past par-
ticiple of «eii. See sit.
When he was set, his disciples came unto him.
Mat. T. 1.
set^ (set), n. [A var. of sit.'] Fit; way of con-
forming to the lines of the figure.
"The Marchioness of Granby," with her graceful figure
in profile, her hands at her waist, and her head turned
towards you as though she were looking at the set of her
dress in a glass. The Academy, May 25, 1889, p. 866.
set^t- A Middle English contracted form of set-
teth, third person singular present indicative
of sct^.
seta (se'ta), n.; pi. setse (-te). [NL., < L.
seta, ssetd, a thick stiff hair, a bristle; etym.
doubtful.] 1. In zoiil. and anat., a bristle; a
cheeta; a stiff, stout hair; a fine, slender spine
or prickle ; any setaceous appendage, (a) One
of the bristles of swine and other mammals. See Setifera.
(6) One of the rough hairy appendages of the legs or other
parts of crustaceans. See cut under Podophtfialmia. (c)
One of the mouth-parts characteristic of hemipterous
insects; a bristle. These lie within the rostrum; the
upper pair, or superior setse, are the mandibles, and the
lower pair, or inferior sette, are the maxillte. See cut un-
der mosquito, (d) A vibrissa ; a rictal bristle, as of a bird,
or one of the whiskers of a cat. Such seta) show well in
the cut under Platyrhynchus. See also setirostral, and cuts
under Antrostomus, panther, and serval, (e) A choita ; one
of the setaceous appendages of tlie parapodia of a ciiaito-
pod worm. These are supposed to be tactile aet«e in some
cases. See cuts under Pdynoi' and pygidium. (/) In In.
fusoria, a hair-like flexible but non-vibratile cilium. W.
S. Kent.
2. In hot., a bristle of any sort; a stiff hair; a
slender, straight prickle; also, the stalk that
Sethite
supports the theca, capsule, or sporangium of
mosses.
setaceous (se-ta'shius), a. [< NL. setaceus, <
L. seta, sset'a, a hair, bristle: see seta. Ct.
scarce.'] 1. In anat. and zoiil.: («) Bristly; seti-
form; having the character of a seta, eheeta,
or bristle. (6) Bristling; setiferous or seti-
gerous; setose; provided with bristles or stiff,
stout hairs. — 2. In hot., bristle-shaped; hav-
ing the character of setse : as, a ■•cetaceous leaf
or leaflet — Setaceous antennae or palpi, in entom.,
antennaj or palpi in which the joints are cylindrical, and
closely fitted together, and the outer ones are somewhat
more slender than the others. They are a variety of the
filiform type.
setaceonsly (se-ta'shius-li), adv. In hot., in a
setaceous manner; so as to form or possess
setsB.
setal (se'tal), a. [< seta + -ah] Of or pertain-
ing to setbe : as, the setal bands of a brachio-
pod, which may run along the pallial margin
and denote the site of the setse. T. Davidson.
Setaria (se-ta'ri-a), n. [NL. (Beauvois, 1807),
so called from the awned flower-spikes: see
setariot(s.] A genus of grasses, of the tribe
Panicex. It is characterized by flowers with four
glumes, all crowded into a dense cylindrical spike or a
narrow thyrsus, the joints of which are set with rigid
bristles much longer than the ovate spikelets. There
are about 10 species, very variable and difiicnlt of distinc-
tion, widely scattered through both tropical and temper-
ate regions, and some of them now cosmopolitan weeds of
cultivated land. They are annuals with flat leaves and
bristly spikes which are sometimes long and tail-like,
whence their popular names foximl and pusstail. (For
S. Italica, see Italian millet (under millet) and Bengal
grass (under grass). For 5*. glauca. also known as boUle-
grass, see pigeon-grass.) S. viridis, the green foxtail-grass,
which accompanies the last, also furnishes an inferior
hay, and its seeds are a favorite food of poultry.
setarious (se-ta'ri-us), a. [< NL. sctarius, < L.
seta, a bristle: see seta.] In entom., ending in
or bearing a bristle; aristate: specifically not-
ing aristate antennee in which the arista is
naked: opposed to j);M»w<e.
set-back (set'bak), n. 1. Same as backset, 1.
[U.S.]
Every point gained by the political conservative is a
set-back and a hindrance to the attainment of the liberal's
greatest ends. Pop. Sci. Mo., XXXIII. 166.
2. Same as 5aci«e/, 2. [U.S.] — 3. A pool or
overflow setting back over the land, as from a
freshet. [U. S.] — 4. In arch., a flat plain set-
off in a wall.
set-bolt (set'bolt), n. In ship-huilding, an iron
bolt for faying planks close to each other, or
for forcing another bolt out of its hole.
Set-dO'Wn (set'doun), n. A depressing or hu-
miliating rebuke or reprehension ; a rebuff ;
an unexpected and overwhelming answer or
reply.
Seteif. A Middle English spelling of scat and
sat. Chaucer.
sete^t, a. [ME., also sety, < Icel. saett, endura-
ble, suitable, <.•.■»(/«, sit: see si*.] Suitable; fit.
Take ij. of the ffysshniongers, to be indifferently chosen
and sworn, to se that alle suche vytelle be able and sete
for mannys body. English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 397.
And his Alekonner with hym, to taste and vndirstand
that the ale be gode, able, and sety.
English GUds (E. E. T. S.),p. 426.
sete*+, ». A Middle English form of city.
setee, «. See settee"^.
Setelt, n. A Middle English form of settle^.
setenf. A Middle English form of the past par-
ticiple of sit.
Seterdayt, «. An obsolete form of Saturday.
setewalet, «• An obsolete form of setwall.
set-fair (set'far), ». 1. The coat of plaster used
after roughing in, and floated, or pricked up
and floated. — 2. A word sometimes inscribed
on barometers at a point where the instrument
is supposed to indicate settled fair weather.
Al.so set fair.
set-foil (set'foil), n. Same as sfj)*/"oi7. [Rare.]
set-gun (set'gun), n. A spring-gun.
seth't, <idv. Same as sitliX for since.
setll^, n. Same as saith^.
set-hammer (set'ham''er), H. A hammer of
which the handle is not wedged, but merely in-
serted or set in. It is the form used for being
struck on the work with a sledge-hammer.
setbe^t, "• A Middle English form of seethe.
sethe'-^t, «• An obsolete form of saith^.
setbent, adv. Same as sithen for since.
Setbian (seth'i-an), n. Same as Sethite.
Setbite (seth'it); «. [< LL. *Scthita', Sethoitsp,
< Scth (see def . ). ] One of a branch of the Gnos-
tic sect of Ophites. They received theh' name from
the fact that they regarded Seth, the son of Adam, as the
Sethite
flret pneumatic (spiritual) man, and believed tliat he reap-
peart-d as Cllrist. Also Sethian.
Setifera (se-tife-ra), «. pi. [NL., neut. pi. of
setij'er: see setiferoiis.~i A superfamily of artio-
dactyl ungulates, whose body is covered with
stiff hairs or bristles ; the swine. They are unguli-
grade and cloyen-footed, with false hoofs not functional-
ized. The snout is more or less discoidal, and the nostrils
open forward in it. The mammae are from four to ten,
ventral as well as inguinal. The Setifera comprise the
living families Phacochomda, or wart-hogs ; Suidee, or
swine proper ; Dieotylida, or peccaries ; and probably the
fossil Anthraeotheriida. Also Settgera. See cuts under
babimmt, boar, peccary, Phacochcerta, and Potamochcena.
setiferous (se-tif'e-rus), a. [< NL. setifer, < L.
scia, nieUi, bristle" + ferre = E. ftearl.] Bris-
tling; having bristles or bristly hairs; seta-
ceous; specifically, of or pertaining to the Se-
tifera, as swine. Also setigerous.
setiform (se'ti-fdrm), a. [< L. seta, gseta, a
bristle, + forma, form.] Having the form of
a seta; shaped like or resembling a bristle; se-
taceous Setiform antennse, in etuom. : (a) Antennse
having a short and thick basal joint, the rest of the organ
being reduced to a bristle-lilie appendage, as in the
dragon-flies. (6) Same as setaeetna atUenna (which see,
under setaceoui). — Setiform palpl, palpi that are minute
and brisUe^haped, as in the bedbug.
setiger (se'ti-jSr), ». [< L. setiger, sseliger: see
generous.'] A setigerous or chsetopodotis worm;
a member of the Setigera.
Setigera (se-tij'e-rS), «. pi. [NL., neut. pi. of
L. setiger, ««rt<;er, bristle-bearing : see setige-
rous.'] It. Id Vermes, savae as Vheetopoda. — 2.
In niiger's classification (1811), a family of his
Multungulata ; the swine or Setifera.
setigeroas (se-tij'e-rus), a. [< L. setiger, sae-
liger, bristle-bearing, having coarse hair, <seta,
sseta, a bristle, + gerere, bear.] Same as setif-
erous.
The head is bare of frontal horns, but carries a pair of
tetifferoxu tnteante. W. B. CarpeiUer, Micros., (SOg.
■et-in (set'in), n. A beginning; a setting in.
The early and almost immediate aef-tn of the drift.
Virginia Car. A'. Y. Tribune. (BartteU.)
setiparons (se-tip'a-ms), o. [< L. seta, steta, a
bristle, -t- parere, War, bring forth.] Giving
rise to setae ; producing bristles : applied to cer-
tain organs of annelids.
T1>e tetiparoia glands of the Inner row of setjc.
RoOeMon, Forms of Anim. Life, p. 12S.
setireme (se'ti-rem), n. [< L. seta, sseta, a
bristle, a coarse stiff hair, + remus, an oar.]
The fringed or setose leg of an aquatic insect,
aer\'ing as an oar.
setirOBtral (se-ti-ros'tral), a. [< L. «eta, sxta,
a bristle, + rostrum, bill.] Having the bill
furnished with conspicuous bristles along the
ga|>e ; having long rictal vibrisss : opposed to
i/ltihrimslriil. P. L. Sclater.
^tirostres (se-ti-ros'trez), n. pi. [NL.: see
setirostral.l In ornith., a division of Capri-
mulgime, including those which are setiros-
tral, as the true goatsuckers or night-jars: dis-
tinguished from Glahrirostrcs. See cuts under
fissiros&al and night-jar. P. L. Sclater.
setlingf (set'ling), n. [Also, erroneously, set-
tliug; < «etl + -rtH(/l.] A sapling; a young set
or shoot.
For such as be yet Infirm and weak, and newly planted
in the religion of Christ, and have taken no sure root In
the aaune, are eaailr moved aa jroong tetling; and carried
away. Beem, Early Works (Parker Soc.X p. 18.
For tetUingt — they are to be preferred that grow near-
eat the stock. Bttiyn.
aetneSB^t (set'nes), n. [< ME. setnesse, < AS.
gesetnes, constitution, statute, appointed order
(cf. G. geset:, a law, statute; cf. also ME. aaet-
nesse, < AS. asetnis, institute), < settan, set: see
«efi.] A law; statute.
setness^ (set'nes), n. [<«e<, pp. of »efl,-l- -nc«».]
The state or character of being set, in any sense.
set-net (set'net), n. A net stretched on a coni-
cal frame, which closes the outlet of a fishway,
and into which fish may fall.
Bet-off(8et'df),».;pl.»ete-o/(setz'6f). 1. That
which is set off atgainst another thing; an off-
set.
An example or two of peace broken by the public voice
la a poor aet^cff against the constant outrages upon hu-
mamty and habitual Inroads upon the happiness of the
ooontry labject to an abaolnte monarch. Broui/ham.
He pleaded his desertion of Pomper a* a tel-of tgtintt
his faults. FnutU, Cmar, p. 4M.
2. That which is used to improve the appear-
ance of anything ; a decoration ; an ornament.
This coarse creature,
That has no more set-o/but his Juggllngs,
His traveU'd tricks.
rUUher, WOdgoose Chase, 111. 1.
5527
3. In arch., a connecting member interposed
between a lighter and a more massive structure
projecting beyond the former, as between a
lower section of a wall or a buttress and a sec-
tion of less thickness above ; also, that part of
a wall, or the like, which is exposed horizon-
tally when the part above it is reduced in thick-
ness. Also called offset.
The very massive lower buttres^ c, is adjusted to the
flying buttress, b, by a simple set-off, d.
C. II. Moore, Gothic Architecture, p. 78.
4. A counter-claim or -demand; a cross-debt;
a counterbalancing claim.
If the check is paid into a diflerent bank, it will not be
presented for payment, but liquidated by eet-off against
other checks. J. S. MiU, Polit. Econ., III. lii. § 6.
5. In law: (a) The balancing or countervailing
of one debt by another. (6) The claim of a
debtor to have his debt extinguished in whole
or in part by the application of a debt due from
his creditor, or from one with whom his creditor
is in privity. ,Se(-o/isthat right which exists between
two persons each of whom, under an independent con-
tract, owes an ascertained amount to the other, to set otf
their respective debts, by way of mutual deduction, so
that the person to whom the larger debt is due shall re-
cover the residue only after such deduction. (Kerr.) Set-
off, counter-claim, and recoupment are terms often used ui-
^scriminately. Counter-claim is more appropriate of any
crosa-demand on which the claimant might if he chose
maintain an independent action, and on which, should
he establish It as a cause of action, either in such inde-
pendent action or by way of counter-claim when sued, he
would be entitled to an afllrmative judgment in his own
favor for payment of the claim except so far as his adver-
sary's claim might reduce or extinguish it, Ttiis use of
the word distinguishes it from such claims aa may be set
off in favor of a person, which yet would not sustain an
action by him, nor any affirmative judgment in his favor.
Heeoupmcnt is appropriate only to designate a cross-de-
mand considered as dependent on the concession of plain-
tiff's demand, subject to a right to cut down the amount
recoverable by virtue of It. In these, which are the strict
senses of the words, a reeoupmeiU only reduces plain-
tiff's demand, and leaves him to take judgment for what
remains after the deduction ; a let-of extinguishes the
smaller of two independent demands and an eiiual amount
of the larger, but may leave the residue of the latter un-
enforced ; a eounler-i3aim is one that may be established
IrreqiecUve of the adversary's success or failure in estal)-
llshlng his claim, and, althoagb subject to be reduced or
extinguished by the adversary's success, may otherwise
be enforced in the same action.
6. In /iriiiting, same as offset, 9. Also setting off.
— Set-off SllMt, In printing, paper laid between newly
printed sheets to prvvant the transfer or set-off of moist
ink ; the sheet of liasne-paper put before print* In books.
seton (sS'tgn), n. [< OF. seton, sedon, P. siton
(cf . Sp.»edo/, aseton) = It. »eton<;,< LL.»«eto(»i-),
< L. seta, uela, a bristle, thick stiff hair, also
(LL.) silk: see «ay3, satin.'] In surg.: (a) A
skein of silk or cotton, or similar material,
passed under the true skin and the cellular tis-
sue beneath, in order to maintain an artificial
issue.
Sekm (in SnrReiy) ii when the Skin of the Neck, or other
Part, Is taken up and run thro' with a kind of Pack-Needle,
and the Wouna afterwards kept oi>en with Bristles, or a
Skean of Thread, Silk, or Cotton, which is moved to and
fro, to discharge the 01 Hamoun by Degree*.
B. PUa^ 1708.
(h) The issue itself.
seton-needle (se'ton-ne'dl), n. In surg., a
needle l>y which a seton is introduced beneath
tlio skin.
Setophaga (se-tof 'a-0), n. [NL.,< Gr.ir^, later
OT/rdf, a moth, -I- (paye'iv, eat. ] The leadin g genus
of Setophaginx. The bill is broad and flat, with long
rictal bristle* (as in the Old World Muteicapiila); the
wings are pointed, not shorter than the rounded tail ; the
slender tani are scntellate in front ; and the coloration Is
varioas, usually bright or strikingly contrasted. ,S. nit«-
eiUa is the common redstart. S. picta and ,S. miniata are
two painted fly-catching warblers, black, white, and car.
mine-red. Numerous others inhabit subtropical and trop-
ical Ameri<». 'They are all small biriis, alwut 5 inches
long. Insectivorous, and with the habits and manners of
flycatchers. See second cut under redttarU
Setophaginae (se-tof-a-ji'ne), «. pi. [NL., <
■ .SiUijihagit + -inm.] American fly-catching war-
blers, a subfamily of Sylrirolidse or Mniotiltidie,
chiefly inhabiting the warmer parts of America,
represented by several genera besides Seto-
phaga, as Myiodioctes, Cardellina, Basilenterxts,
and about 40 species.
setophaglne (se-tof 'a-jin), a. Pertaining to the
,Si tiijiliaginx, or having their characters.
setose (se'tos), a. [< L. setosus, .itetosns, aboimd-
iiig in bristles, < seta, sieta, a bristle, a coarse
stiff hair: see seta.'] 1. In 6o«., bristly; hav-
ing the surface set with bristles : as, a .setose
leaf or receptacle. — 2. In zoiil. and anat.,
bristling or bristly; setaceous; covered with
sete, or stiff hairs ; setous. See cut under Hi/-
niiiioptera.
setous (se'tus), a. [< L. setosus, saetosus: see
setose.] Same as setose. [Bare.]
settee
set-out (set'out), K. 1. Preparations, as for be-
giixning a journey.
A committee of ten, to make all the arrangements and
manage the whole set-out. Dickens, Sketches, Tales, vU.
2. Company; set; clique. [Rare.]
She must just hate and detest the whole set-oiU of us.
Dickens, Hard Times, i. 8.
3. A display, as of plate, or china, or elabo-
rate dishes and wines at table; dress and ac-
cessories; equipage; turn-out.
"When you are tired of eating strawberries in the gar-
den, there shall be cold meat in the house." "Well, as
you please', only don't have a great set-out."
Jane Austen, Emma, xliL
His " drag " is whisked along rapidly by a brisk chestnut
pony, well-harnessed ; the whole set-out, I was informed,
pony included, cost £50 when new.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II. 46.
4. In leather-manuf. , the act or process of
smoothing out or setting a moistened hide with
a slicker on a stone or table. See set^, v. t., 33.
[CoUoq. in all senses.]
set-pin (set'pin), n. A dowel.
set-pot (set'pot), n. In varnish-making, a cop-
per pan heated by a pipe or flue wound spirally
about it : used to boil oil, gold-size, japans, etc.
/;. H. Knight.
set-ring (set'ring), H. A guide above the main
frame of a spoke-setting machine, on which the
spokes are rested to be set and driven into the
hub.
set-screw (set'skro), »». (a) A screw, as in a
cramp, screwed through one part tightly upon
another, to bring pieces of wood, metal, etc.,
into close contact, (ft) A screw used to fix a
pulley, coUar, or other detachable part to a
shaft, or to some other part of a machine, by
screwing through the detachable part and bear-
ing against the part to which it is to be fas-
tened. Such screw^s have usually pointed or
euji-shaped ends, which bite into the metal.
set-stitcned (set'sticht), a. stitched accord-
ing to a set pattern. Sterne.
sett, ». See .vetl, set^.
settable (set'a-bl), a. [< sell + -able.] That
may be set, in any sense of the verb.
They should only lay out settable or tillable land, at
least such of it as should butt on y^' water side.
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 216.
Settet, V. and n. An obsolete fomi of set^.
settee' (se-te'), «. [A fanciful variation, per-
haps orig. in trade use, of settle^, n. (with sub-
stitution of suffix -ee2) : see settle'^.] A seat or
bench of a particular form, (o) A sofa ; especially,
a sofa of peculiar pattern, as a short one for two persons
only (compare t^le^-t^lc), or one having two or three chair-
backs Instead of a continuous back.
Ingenious Fancy . . . devised
The soft settee: one elbow at each end.
And in the midst an elbow it received,
United yet divided, twain at once.
Cou-per, Task, i. 75.
There was a green settee, with three rockers l)eneath and
an arm at each end. £. Egylestnn, The Uraysons, I.
(6) A small part taken off from a long and large sofa by a
kind of arm : thus, a long sofa may have a settee at each
end partly cut off from the body of the piece.
settee'-^ (se-te'), ». [Also sctee, < F. scHie, setie,
also scitie, setie, prob. < It. saettia, a light ves-
sel : see salty.] A vessel with one deck and a
very long sharp prow, carrying two or three
settee
masts with lateen sails, used on the Mediter-
ranean,
setterl (set'er), (1. [= D. eetter = G. set:er =
Sw. stittare =:I)an. saetter; as set^ + -er^.] 1.
One who or that which sets : as, a setter of pre-
cious stones ; a setter of type (a compositor) ; a
setter of music to words (a musical composer):
chiefly in composition. Specifically— (o) In hort.,
a plant which sets or develops fruit.
Some of the cultivated varieties are, as gardeners say,
"bad wa«r»"— i. e.,do not ripen their fruit, owing to im-
perfect fertilization. Eneyc. Brit., XXIV. 237.
(6) In the game of hazard. See hazard, 1.
2. An implement or any object used in or for
netting. Specifically— (a) In gun., a round stick for
driving fuses, or any composition, into cases made of pa-
per. (6) In diamond-cutting, a wooden handle into the end
of which is cemented the diamond to be cut. It is held in
the left hand of the workman, while the cutter is held in
the right, (c) In seal-engraving, a steel tool provided with
square wrench-like incisions, used in setting the tools in
the quill of the lathe-head, (d) In ceram., a variety of sag-
gar used for porcelain, and made to hold one piece only,
which it nearly tits, whereas the saggar often holds several
pieces.
The setters for china plates and dishes answer the same
purpose as the saggers, and are made of the same clay.
They take In one dish or plate each, and are "reared " in
the oven in *' bongs" one on the other.
Ure, Diet., III. 614.
3. A kind of hunting-dog, named from its origi-
nal habit of setting or crouching when it scented
game. These dogs are now, however, trained to stand
rigidly when they have found game. The setter is of about
the same size and form as the pointer, from which it differs
chiefly in the length of the coat The ears are well fringed
with long hair, and the tail and hind legs are fringed or f ija-
thered with hair still longer than that on the ears. There
are three distinct vaiieties of setters — the Irisfi, which are
of a solid dark mahogany-red color ; the Gordon, black with
red or tan marks on each side of the muzzle from set on
of neck to nose, on the hind legs below the hocks, and on
the fore legs below the knees ; and the English, which
are divided into two classes, Llewelyns and Laveracks, the
former being black, white, and tan in color, the latter black
and white.
Ponto, his old brown getter, . . . stretched out at full
length on the rug with his nose between his fore paws,
would wrinkle his brows and lift np his eyelids every now
and then, to exchange a glance of mutual understanding
with his master. George Eliot, Mr. Oilfll's Love-Story, i.
Hence — 4. A man who is considered as per-
formiug the office of a setting-dog — that is,
who seeks out and indicates to his confederates
persons to be plundered.
Sods. Stand.
Fal. So I do, against my will.
Poins. 0, 'tia our setter : 1 know his voice.
5A«*.,lHeu. IV., ii. 2. 63.
Another set of men are the devil's setters, who continu-
ally beat their brains how to draw in some innocent un-
guarded heir into their hellish net. South.
We have setters watching in corners, and by dead walls,
to give us notice when a gentleman goes by.
Suri/t, Last Speech of Ebenezer Elliston.
Clock-setter (naut.), one who tampers with the clock to
shorten his watch ; hence, a busybody or mischief-maker
aboard ship ; a sea-lawyer.— Kough-setter, a mason who
merely builds rough walling, in contradistinction to one
who is competent to hew as well.— Setter forth, one who
sets forth or brings into public notice ; a proclaimer ; for-
merly, a promoter.
He seemeth to be a setter forth of strange gods.
Acts xvii. 18.
One Sebastian Cabota hath hin the chiefest setter forth
of this iourney or voyage. UakluyVs Voyages, I. 268.
Setter off, one who or that which sets off, decorates,
adorns, or recommends.
They come as refiners of thy dross ; or gilders, setters
off, of thy graces.
Whitlock, Manners of the English, p. 30. (Latham.)
Setter on, one who sets on ; an instigator ; an inciter.
I could not look upon it but with weeping eyes, in re-
membering him who was the only setter-on to do it.
Ascham.
Setter out, one who sets out, publishes, or makes known,
as a proclaimer or an author.
Duke John Frederick, . . . defender of Luther, a noble
setter out, and as true a follower of Christ and his gospell.
Ascham, Affairs of Germany.
Setter up, one who sets up, in any sense of the phrase.
Thou setter up and plucker down of kings.
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., ii. 3. 87.
Old occupations have
Too many setters-up to prosper ; some
Uncommon trade would thrive now.
Beau, and Ft., Honest Man's Fortune, ii. 1.
I am but a young setter up; the uttermost I dare ven-
ture upon 't is threescore pound.
Middleton, Michaelmas Term, ii. 3.
setter^ (set'er), r. t. [Appar. < "setter"^, n. (as in
setter-grass, setterwort), a corruption (simulat-
ing setter^) of seton (f).] To cut the dewlap
of (an ox or a cow), helleboraster, or setter-
wort, being put into the cut, and an issue there-
by made for ill-humors to vent themselves.
Compare setterwort. UalUwell. [Prov. Eng.]
5528
Husbandmen are used to make a hole, and put a piece
of the root [setterwort] into the dewlap ... as a seton
in cases of diseased lungs, and this is called pegging or
settering. Gerarde, Herbal, p. !)79.
setter-grass (set'er-gras), n. [< late ME. setyr-
grycic; appar. < *setter^, n. (see setter^, v.), +
(jrags.~\ Same as setterwort.
Setyr grysse, eleborua nlger, herba est
Cath. Ang., p. 331.
setterwort (set'er-wert), n. [< *setter'^,n. (see
setter'^, v.), + wort'^.'] The bear's-foot or fetid
hellebore, HcUeboriis fcetidus. its root was former-
ly used as a "setter" (seton) in the process called settering
(see setter'.^). The green hellebore, //. mridis, for a similar
reason was called peg-roots. (Date, Pharmacologla (Piior).)
The former has adso the names setter-grass, helleboraster,
and oxheal.
settima, settimo (set'ti-ma, -mo), n. [It., fem.
and mase. respectively of settimo, < L. Septimus,
seventh, < septem, seven: see seven.] In music,
the interval of a seventh.
settimetto (set-ti-met'to), n. [It., dim. of set-
timo, q. v.] A septet.
setting (set'ing), n. and a. [< ME. settynge;
verbal n. of set^, «;.] I. «. 1. The act of one
who or that which sets, in any sense.
She has contrived to show her principles by the setting
of her commode ; so that it will be impossible for any
woman that is disaffected to be in the fashion.
Addison, The Ladies' Association.
Specifically — 2. The adjusting of a telescope
to look at an object by means of a setting-cir-
cle or otherwise ; also, the placing of a raicrome-
ter-wire so as to bisect an object. — 3. In music,
the act, process, or result of fitting or adapting
to music, or providing a musical form for: as,
a setting of the Psalms.
Arne gave to the world those beautiful settings of the
songs "Under the greenwood tree," "Blow, blow, thou
winter wind," . . . which seeni to have become indissol-
ubly allied to the poetry. Grove, Diet Music, I. S4.
4. Tlieat., the mounting of a play or an opera
for the stage ; the equipment and arrangement
of scenery, costumes, and properties ; the mise
en scene. — 5. The adjusting of the teeth of a
saw for cutting.
The teeth fof a saw] are not in line with the saw-blade,
but . . . their points are bent alternately to the riglit
and left, so that their cut will exceed the thickness of the
blade to an extent depending upon the amount of this
bending, or set, as it is called. Without the clearance
due to this setting, saws could not be used in hard wood.
C P. B. Shelley, Workshop Appliances, p. 55.
6. The hardening of plaster or cement; also,
same as setting-coat.
Setting may be either a second coat upon laying or ren-
dering, or a third coat upon floating.
Workshop Receipts, 1st ser., p. 121.
7. The hardening process of eggs : a term used
by fish-culturists. — 8. The sinking of the sun
or moon or of a star below the horizon.
I have touched the highest point of all my greatness.
And from that full meridian of my glory
I haste now to my setting. Shak., Hen. VIII., iii. 2. 226.
The setting of a great hope is like the setting of the sun.
Longfellow, Hyperion, i. 1.
9t. The sport of hunting with a setter-dog. See
the quotation under se<l, v. i., 7. — 10. Some-
thing set in or inserted.
And thou shalt set in it settings of stones, even four
rows of stones. Ex. xxviii. 17.
1 1 . That in which something, as a jewel, is set :
as, a diamond in a gold setting ; by extension,
the ornamental surrounding of a jewel, seal,
or the like: as, an antique setting; hence, fig-
uratively, that which surrounds anything; en-
vironment.
Nature is a setting that fits equally well a comic or a
mourning piece. Emerson, Nature, i.
Heliacal setting. See Arfioca!.- Setting off. (a) Adorn-
ment ; becoming decoration ; relief.
Might not this beauty, tell me (it's a sweet one).
Without more setting-off, as now it is.
Thanking no greater mistress than mere nature.
Stagger a constant heart ?
Fletcher, Double Marriage, iii. 3.
(6) In printing), same as offset, 9. — Setting out. (a) An
outfit; an equipment. [Now provincial.]
Perseus's setting out is extremely well adapted to his un-
dei-taking. Bacon, Fable of Perseus.
(6) Same as location, 3.
II. a. Of the sunset; western; occidental.
[Hare.]
Conceiv'd so great a pride.
In Severn on her East, Wyre on the setting side.
Drayton, Polyolbion, vii. 266.
setting-back (set'ing-bak'), n. In glue-making,
the vessel into which glue is poured from the
caldron, and in which it remains until the im-
purities settle.
setting-board (set'ing-bord), n. A contrivance
used by entomologists for setting insects with
settle
the wings spread, it is generally a frame made of
wood or cork, with a deep groove in which the bodies of
the insects lie while the wings are spread out on flat sur-
faces at the sides, and kept in position with pins and card-
boai'd braces or pieces of glass until they are di"y.
setting-box (set'ing-boks), n. A box eontaia-
ing the setting-boards used by entomologists.
Several such boards may be fitted in the box like shelves,
and the box itself may resemble a dummy book to stand
on a shelf.
setting-circle (set'ing-ser"kl), n. A gi'aduated
circle attached to a telescope used in finding a
star. For a motion in altitude, the most con-
venient form of setting-circle is one caiTying
a spirit-level.
setting-coat (set'ing-kot), n. The best sort of
plastering on walls or ceilings ; a coat of fine
stuff laid over the floating, which is of coarse
stuff.
setting-dog (set'iug-dog), n. A setter.
Will is a particular favourite of all the young heirs, whom
he frequently obliges . . . with a setting-dog he has made
himself. Addison, Spectator, No. 108.
setting-fid (set'ing-fid), n. See fid.
setting-gage (set'ing-gaj), n. In carriage-build-
ing, a machine for obtaining the proper pitch
or angle of an axle to cause it to suit the wheels ;
an axle-setter. E. H. Knight.
setting-machine (set'ing-ma-shen"), ». A ma-
chine for setting the wire teeth in cards for the
card-clothing of carding-machines.
setting-needle (set'ing-ne"dl), n. A needle,
fixed in a light wooden handle, used in setting
the wiug.s of insects in any desired position.
setting-pole (set'ing-p61), )(. See pole^, and
set^, V. t., 28.
Setting-poles cannot be new, for I find " some set [the
boats] with long poles " in Hakluyt.
Lowell, liiglow Papers, 2d ser.. Int.
setting-punch (set'ing-punch), n. In saddlery,
a punch with a tube around it, by means of
which a washer is placed over the shank of a
rivet, and so shaped as to facilitate riveting
down the shank upon the washer. E. H. Knigtt t.
setting-rule (set'ing-rol), «. In printing, same
as composing-rule.
A setting-rule, a thin brass or steel plate which, being
removed as successive lines are completed, keeps the type
in place. Eneyc. Brit., XXIII. 700.
setting-stick (set'ing-stik), n. If. A stick used
for adjusting the sets or plaits of ruffs.
Breton (Pasquil's Prognostication, p. 11) says that Dooms-
day will be near when "maides will use no setting sticks."
Davies.
2. In printing, a composing-stick.
setting-sun (set'ing-sun'), n. A bivalve mollusk
of the family Tellinidee, I'samrnobia vespertina.
It has a shell of an oblong oval shape, and of a whitish
color shading to a reddish-yellow at the beaks, and diver-
sifted by rays of carmine and purplish or pinkish hue. The
epidermis is olivaceous brown. It inhabits the sandy
coast, and where it is abundant in some parts of Europe
it is used as manure, while in other places it is exten-
sively eaten.
settle^ (set'l), n. [< ME. settle, setle, setel, setil,
seotel, < AS. setl = OS. sedal = MD. setel, D. zetel
= MLG. setel = OHG. sedal, sezal, sezzal, MHG.
sedel, sezzel, G. sessel = Goth, sitls, a seat, throne,
= L. sella (for *sedla) (> E. selV^), a seat, chair,
throne, saddle (see selV^), = Gr. cSfm, a seat,
base; from the root of Sit: see sit. Ct. saddle.]
1. A seat; a bench; a ledge. [Obsolete or
archaic]
Opon the seiit of his mageste.
Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 1. 6122.
Then gross thick Darkness over all he dight. . . .
If hunger driue the Pagans from their Dens,
Ones [sic] 'gainst a settle breaketh both his shins.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii.. The Ijiwe.
From the high settle of king or ealdorman in the midst
to the mead-benches ranged around its walls.
J. R. Green, Hist. Eng. People, i.
2. Specifically, a seat longer than a chair; a
bench with a high back and arms, made to ac-
commodate two or more persons. Old settles
were usually of oak, and were often made with a chest or
coffer under the seat. Compare box-settle and long settle,
below.
On oaken settle Marmion sate.
And view'd ai'ound the blazing hearth.
Scott, Mai-mion, iii. 3.
By the fireside, the l)ig arm-chair . . . fondly cronied
with two venerable settles within the chimney corner.
J. W. Palmer, After his Kind, p. 46.
3t. A seat fixed or placed at the foot of a bed-
stead.
Itm. an olde standing bedstead wth a settle unto it.
Archseologia, XL. 327.
4. A part of a platform lower than another
part. — 5. One of the successive platfonns or
stages leading up from the floor to the great
altar of the Jewish Temple.
settle
From the bottom [of the altar) upon the ground even to
the lower tigttle shull be two eiibits, and the breadth one
cubit : and from the lesser settle even to the greater settle
shall be four cubits. Ezek. xliii. 14.
The altiir (independently of the bottom) was composed
of two stages called settle^f, the base of the upper settle
being less than that of the lower.
BMe Commentary^ on Ezek. xliiL 14.
Box-settle, a settle the seat of which is formed by the
top of a chest or coffer. — Long settle, a bench, longer
than the ordinary modem settle, with a high solid back
which often reached to the floor. As a protection against
drafts, these settles were ranged along the walls of an-
cient halls, and drawn toward the fire in cold weather,
settle' (set'l), t'.; pret. and pp. settled, ppr.
settling. [< ME. settlen, setlcn, also sattelen, sat-
tleii, satlen, tr. cause to rest, intr. sink to rest,
subside, < AS. setlan, fix, = D. zetelen, < setel, a
seat (sett-gang, the setting of the sun), = Icel.
sjotliisk, settle, subside: see settle^, n. This
verb has been confused with another verb,
which has partly conformed to it: see seH/e'^.]
1. trans. 1. To place in a fixed or permanent
position or condition ; confinn ; establish, as
for residence or business.
Til that yoore [restoredl sigbte yxMed be a while,
Ther may ful many a 8ight« yow bigile.
Chaucer, Merchant's Tale, 1. 1161.
But I will »etlle him in mine house, and in my kingdom
for CTer. 1 Chron. xvii. 14.
The God of all grace . . . stablisb, strengthen, teUU
you. 1 Pet. V. 10.
The land Salique is in Oermany, . . .
Where Charles the Great, having subdued the Saxona,
There left behind and settled certain French.
5A«*.,Hen. V.,1. 2.47.
Settled In his (ace I see
Sai resolution. Maton, P. L, vL 540.
That the glory of the City may not be laid upon the tears
of the Orphana and Widows, but that its foundations may
be setled upon Justice and Piety.
Stillinfffleet, Sermons, 1. L
2. To establish or fix, as in any way of life, or
in any business, office, or charge : as, to settle
a young man in a trade or profession; to settle
a daughter by marriage ; to settle a clergyman
in a parish.
The father thought the time drew on
Of KtUinff in the world his only son. Dryden.
I therefore have resolved to settle thee, and choaen a
young lady, witty, prudent, rich, and fair.
Steele, Lying Lover, U. 1.
3. To set or fix, as in purpose or intention.
Settle It therefore in your heart*, not to meditate before
what ye shall answer. Luke xxi. 14.
Hoping, tbroogh the blewlng of God. It would be a
means, in that unsettled state, to tettU their affections
towards ns. Oood News from New-En^nd, la Awea^ix
(to New England's Memorial, p^ S67.
4. To adjust; put in position; cause to sit
properly or fimily: as, to settle one's cloak in
the wind; to settle one's feet in the stirrups.
Yet scarce he on his back could get,
So oft and high he did curvet.
Ere he himself could settle.
Drayton, NymphkUa.
6. To change from a disturbed or troubled
state to one of tranquillity, repose, or security;
quiet; still; hence, to calm the agitation of;
compose : as, to settU the mind when disturbed
or agitated.
How stUl he aiU < I hope thU song has -ttled him.
FleUker, Had Lover, Iv. 1.
'Sfootc,
Tbe Dttke's Sonne ! rnUU your lookea.
Taumntr, Berenger's Tragedy, L S.
King HIchard at his going out of England had so well
titled the Government of the Kingdom that it might well
have kept in good Order during all the Time of his Ab-
sence. Baker, Chronicles, p. 04.
Sir Paul, if yon please, we'll retire to the Ladies, and
drink a Dish of T^ to settle our heads.
Con^rew, Double- Dealer, L 4.
6_. (a) To change from a turbid or muddy con-
dition to one of cleamegs; clear of dregs;
clarify.
Soworidngi
ess settle and purge the wine.
Sir J. Daeiet, ImmortaL of Soul, Int.
(6) To cause to sink to the bottom, as sedi-
ment.— 7. To render compact, firm, or solid;
hence, to bring to a dry, passable condition:
as, the fine weather will settle the roads.
Thou waterest her furrows abundantly ; thou seUlett
(margin, loirerest] the ridges thereof.
Pa liv. 10 (revised version).
Cover anthills up, that tbe rain may settle tbe turf be-
fore tbe spring. Mortitner, Husbandry.
8. To plant with inhabitants; colonize; peo-
ple : as, the Puritans settled New England.
No colony In America was ever srffi«d under such favor-
able auspices as that which has Just commenced at the
Uunkinguni.
Washington, quoted in Bancroft's Hist Const., II. 117.
Provinces HrstivrUeif ofter the flood. MU/ord,
5529
9. To devolve, make over, or secure by formal
or legal process or act : as, to .settle an annuity
on a person — Settled estate, in Imc, an estate held
by some tenant for life, under conditions, more or less
strict, defined by tlu- deed.— Settled Estates Act, any
one of a number of modern Englisli statutes (Xs56, 1S74,
1876, 1877), facilitating the leasing and sale, through the
Court of Chancery, etc., of estates held subject to limita-
tions or in trust. See settlement. — Settled Land Act,
either of the English statutes of 1882 (4.i and 46 Vict,
c. 38) and 1884 (47 and 48 Vict., c. 18), which authorize the
sale, exchange, or leasing of land, including lieirlooms,
limited or in trust by way of succession. — To settle the
land, to cause it to appear to sink by receding from it. —
To settle the topsail-halyards cmut.), to ease oit the
halyards a little so as to lower the yai-d slightly. =Syn. L
To fix, institute, ordain.
H. intrans. 1. To become set or fixed; as-
sume a continuing, abiding, or lasting position,
form, or condition; become stationary, from a
temporary or changing state ; stagnate.
Out, alas ! she 's cold;
Her blood is settled, and her joints are stiff.
Shot., R. and J., iv. 6. 2a
I was but just settling to work.
Dampier, Voyages, II. ii 128.
The Heat with which thy Lover glows
Will settle into cold Respect. Prior, Ode, st 6.
The Opposition, like schoolboys, don't know how to
settle to their books again after the liolidays.
WiUpcle, Letters, II. 498.
And ladies came, and by and by the town
Flow'd in, and settling circled all the lists.
Tennyson, Geraint.
The narrow strip of land ... on which the name of
Dalmatia ha&settled down has a history which is strikingly
analogous to its scenery. E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 8.S.
2. To establish a residence; take up perma-
nent habitation or abode.
Before the introduction of written documents and title-
deeds, the people spread over the country and settled
wherever they pleased.
D. W. Ross, German Land-holding, Notes, p. 171.
Now, tell me, could you dwell content
In auob a baseless tenement'? . . .
Because, it yon would settle in it,
"Twere built for love in half a minute.
F. Locker, Castle in tbe Air.
3. To be established in a way of life; quit an
irregular and desultory for a methodical life ;
be established in an employment or profession ;
especially, to enter the married state or the
state of a householder, or to be ordained or in-
stalled over a church or congregation: as, to
settle in life: often with doum. [Largely coUoq.]
Having flown over many knavish professions, be settled
only in rogue. .SAaJ-., W. T.,iv. 3. 106.
Why don't you marry, and settle f
Smyft, Polite Conversation, I.
Hy landlady had been a lady's maid, or a nurse, in tbe
family of tbe Biabon of Bangor, and bad but lately mar-
ried away and settled (as such people express it) for life.
De Qttineey. Opium Eater (reprint of 1st ed.X p. 25.
4. To become clear; purify itself; become
clarified, as a liquid.
Moab hath been at ease from bis youth, and he hath
mUUd on his leea, and hath not been emptie<l from vessel
to vessel : . . . therefore bis taste remaineth in him.
Jer. xlviii. 11.
6. To sink down more or less gradually; sub-
side ; descend : often with on or upon,
Hnntyng hoUiche that day . . .
TiU the semli aonne was settled to rest
WHKam <^ Paleme (E. E. T. S.\ 1. 2452.
Mache aor^e tbenne satteled vpon segge [the man] lonas.
AllHeraHtx Poems (ed. Morris), IIL 400.
As doth tbe day light settle in the west.
So dim is David's glory and his gite.
Peele, David and Bethsabe.
Speciflcally — (a) To fall to the bottom, as sediment.
BytbeatttUnpof mud and limous matter brought down
by the river Nlms, that which was at first a continued sea
was raised at Isst into a firm and habitable country.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., vi. 8.
This reservoir is meant to keep up a stock, and to allow
mnd, etc, to settle out.
O'Neal, Dyeing and Calico Printing, p. 450.
(6) To sink, as the foundations or floors of a building ; be-
come lowered, as by the yielding of earth or timbers be-
neath : as, the house has settled, (e) To become compact
and bard by drying : as, the roads settle sfter rain or the
melting of snow, (d) "To alight, as a bird on a bough or
on the ground.
And, yet more splendid, numerous flocks
Of pigeons, settlinff on the rocks.
Moore, Lalla Bookh, Paradise and tbe Peri.
6. To become calm ; cease to be agitated.
Then, till the fury of his highness eetUe,
Come not before him. Shak., W. T., iv. 4. 482.
7. To resolve; determine; decide; fix: as, they
have not yet settled on a house.
I am settled, and bend up
Each corporal agent to this terrible feat.
Shak., Macbeth, i. 7. 79.
8. To make a jointure for a wife.
He sighs with most success that settles well. Oarth,
settled
settle^ (set'l), i'. ; pret. and pp. settled, ppr. set-
ttiiKj. [< ME. sagtlen, sahtleti, saghetcleii, sauzt-
leii, reconcile, make peace, also become calm,
subside, < AS. sahtlian, reconcile, < saht, recon-
ciliation, adjustment of a lawsuit: see saught.
This verb has been confused in form and sense
with settle"^, from which it cannot now be
wholly separated.] I. trans. If. To reconcile.
For when a saweie is sallied & sakred to drystyn,
Ue holly haldes hit his & haue hit he wolde.
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), ii. 1139.
2. To determine; decide, as something in
doubt or debate ; bring to a conclusion ; con-
clude : confirm ; free from uncertainty or wa-
vering: as, to settle a dispute; to settle a vexa-
tious question ; to settle one's mind.
I am something wavering in my faith :
Would you settle me, and swear 'tis so !
Fletcher (and another), Noble Gentleman, iii. 1.
The governour told them that, being come to settle peace,
etc, they might proceed in three distinct respects.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 81.
It will settle the wavering, and confirm the doubtful.
Swift.
When the pattern of the gown is settled with the milli-
ner, I fancy the terror on Mrs. Baynes's wizened face when
she ascertains the amount of the bill.
Thackeray, PhUip, xxiii.
We are in these days settling for ourselves and our de-
scendants questions which, as they shall be determined
in one way or the other, will make the peace and prosper-
ity or the calamity of the next ages.
Emerson, Fortune of the Republic.
3. To fix; appoint; set, as a date or day.
The next day we had two blessed meetings ; one amongst
friends, being the first monthly meeting that was settled
for Vrieslandt. Penn, Travels in Holland, etc.
4. To set in order; regulate; dispose of.
Men should often be put in remembrance to take order
for tbe settling of their temporal estates whilst they are in
health. Book of Common l^ayer, Visitation of the Sick.
I several months since made my will, settled my estate,
and took leave of my friends. Stetle, Tatler, No. 164.
His wife is all over the house, up stairs and down, set-
tling things for her absence at church.
W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 69.
5. To reduce to order or good behavior ; give
a quietus to: as, he was inclined to be insolent,
but 1 soon settled him. [Colloq.] — 6. To liqui-
date; balance; pay: as, to settle an account,
claim, or score To settle one's hash. See hash^.
TI, intrans. If. To become reconciled; beat
peace.
I salle hym surelye ensure that saghetylle salle we never.
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 330.
The se sajtled ther-with, as sone as ho mo3t.
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), Iii. 232.
2. To adjust differences, claims, or accounts ;
come to an agreement: as, he has settled with
his creditors.
" Why, hang it all, man, you don't mean to say your
father has not settled with youT' Philip blushed a little.
He had been rather Burpriseci that there had been no set-
tlement between him and his father.
Thackeray, Philip, xiv.
Hence — 3. To pay one's bill ; discharge a
claim or demand. [Colloq.]
settle-bed (set'l-bed), n. 1. A bed which forms
a settle or settee by day; a folding bed. Com-
pare sofa-bed.
Our maids in the coachman's bed, the coachman with
the boy in his settle-hed, and Tom where he uses to lie.
Pepys, Diary, IV. 112.
But be kept firm bis purpose, until his eyes involunta-
rily rested upon the little settle-bed and recalled the form
of the child of his old age, as she sate upon it, pale, ema-
ciated, and broken-hearted.
Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xix.
2. A small bed having a narrow canopy: prob-
ably so called from the Resemblance of this
to the small canopy sometimes attached to a
settledi (set'ld), p. a. [Pp. of sfiHei, v.] 1.
Fixed; established; steadfast; stable.
Thou art the Rocke, draw'st all things, all dost guide,
Yet in deep setled rest do'st still abide.
Beywood, Hierarchy of Angels, p. 107.
All these being against her, whom hath she on her Side
but her own .Subjects, Papists yesterday and to-day Prot-
estants ! who being scarce settled In their Religion, how
shall they be settled in their lx)yalty ?
Baker, Chronicles, p. 330.
His virtuous toil may terminate at last
In settled ha))it and decided taste.
Cowper, Tirocinium, I. 778.
A land of settled goverrmicnt,
A land of just and old renown.
Where Freedom broadens slowly down
From precedent to precedent.
Tennyson, You ask me why, tho' ill at ease.
Z. Permanently or deeply fixed; firmly seated;
decided; resolved: as, a settled gloom; a set-
tled conviction.
settled
This outwartl-sainted deputy.
Whose tetUed visage and deliberate word
Nlpe youth i' the head, and follies doth euunew.
Shak., M. for M., ili. 1. 90.
Why do you eye me
With such a setUed iool: 1
Fletcher, Valentinian, iU. 3.
I observed a tettled melancholy in her countenance.
Addison, Omens.
8. Quiet; orderly; steady: as, he now leads a
settled life.
Mercy on me ! — he "s greatly altered —and seems to have
a witM married look ! SA«ndon, School for Scandal, ii. 8.
4. Sober; grave.
Youth no less becomes
The light and careless livery that it wears
Than eettUd age his sables and his weeds.
Shak., Hamlet, iv. 7. 81.
settled^ (set'ld), p. a. [Pp. of settle'^, v.'] Ar-
ranged or adjusted by agreement, payment, or
otherwise : as, a settled account.
settledness (set'ld-nes), n. The state of being
settled, iu any sense of the word.
We cannot but imagine the great mixture of innocent
distiu-bances and holy passions that, in the first address
of the angel, did . . . discompose her settledness.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), I. 27.
When ... we have attained to a settledness of disposi-
tion . . . our life is labour.
Bp. Ball, Occasional Meditations, § 67.
settlement! (set'l-ment), n. [< settle^ + -ment.
Cf. cctttement'i.] 1. ''The act of settling, or the
state of being settled.
I went to Deptford, where I made preparation for my
settlement, no more intending to go out of England, but
endeavour a settl'd life. Evelyn, Diary, March 9, 1652.
(o) Establishment in life ; especially, establishment in a
business or profession or in the married state.
Every man living has a design in his head upon wealth,
power, or settlement in the world. Sir R. L'Estrange.
(6) The act of colonizing or peopling; colonization: as,
iha settlement ot a new country.
The settlement of Oriental colonics in Greece produced
no sensible effect on the character either of the language
or the nation. W. Mure, Lit. of Greece, I. v. § 1.
The laws and representative institutions of England
were first introduced into the New World in the settlement
of Virginia.
J. R. Green, Short Hist. Eng. People, viii, § 4.
(c) The ordination or installation of a minister over a
church or congregation. [Colloq.] (d) Adjustment of af-
fairs, as the public atfairs of a nation, with special refer-
ence to questions of succession to the throne, relations of
church and state, etc. ; also, the state of affairs as thus ad-
justed. Compare the phrase Act of Settlement, below.
Owning ... no religion but primitive, no rule but
Scripture, no law but right reason. For the rest, always
conformable to the present settlement, without any sort of
singularity. Evelyn, To Dr. Wotton, March 30, 1696.
2. In Uiw : (a) The conveyance of property or
the creation of estates therein to make future
provision for one or more beneficiaries, usually
of the family of the creator of the settlement,
in such manner as to secure to them different
interests, or to secure their expectancies in a
different manner, from what would be done by
a mere conveyance or by the statutes of descent
and distribution. (See striet.) Ttms, a marriage
settlement is usually a gift or conveyance to a wife or in-
tended wife, or to trustees for her benefit or that of her-
self for life and her husband or children or both after her,
in consideration of which she waives her right to claim
dower or to succeed to his property on his death.
An agreement to make a marriage settlement shall be
decreed in equity after the marriage, though it was to be
made before the marriage.
Blackstone, Com., I. xv., note 29.
Mr. Casaubon's behaviour about settlements was highly
satisfactory to Mr. Brooke, and the preliminaries of mar-
riage rolled smoothly along.
George Eliot, Middlemarch, ix.
(6) A bestowing or granting under legal sanc-
tion ; the act of conferring anything in a formal
and permanent manner.
My flocks, my fields, my woods, my pastures take,
With settlement as good as law can make.
Dryden, tr. of Idylls of Theocritus, xxvii.
3. A settled place of abode; residence; a right
arising out of residence ; legal residence or es-
tablishment of a person in a particular parish
or town, which entitles him to maintenance if
a pauper, and pledges the parish or town to his
support. *
Theyll pass you on to your settlement. Missis, with all
speed. You're not in a state to be let come upon strange
parishes 'ceptin' as a Casual.
Diekens, Our Mutual Friend, lii. 8.
4. A tract of country newly peopled or settled;
a colony, especially a colony in its earlier
stages: as, the British settlements in XustraXia,;
a \>a,c\i settlement.
Kaleigh . . . now determined to send emigrants with
wives and families, who should make their homes in the
New World ; and ... he granted a charter of incorpora-
tion for the settlement. Bancroft, Hist. U. S., I. 83.
5530
6. In sparsely settled regions of the United
States, especially in the Soutli, a small village,
as opposed to scattered houses.
There was a clearing of ten acres, a blacksmith's shop,
four log huts facing indiscriminately in any direction, a
small store of one story and one room, and a new frame
court-house, whitewashed and inclosed by a plank fence.
In the last session of the legislature, the Settlement had
been made the county-seat of a new county ; the addi-
tional honor of a name had been conferred upon it, but as
yet it was known among the population of the mountains
by its time-honored and accustomed title [i. e., the Settle-
ment]. M. Jf. Mur/ree, In the Tennessee Mountains, p. 91.
6t. That which settles or subsides; sediment;
dregs; lees; settlings.
The waters [of the ancient baths] are very hot at the
sources ; they have no particular taste, but by a red set-
tlement on the stones, and by a yellow scum on the top of
the water, I concluded that there is in them both iron
and sulphur. Pococke, Description of the East, II. ii. 41.
7. In building, etc., a subsidence or sinking,
as of a wall or part of a wall, or the effect of
such subsidence, often producing a cracked or
unstable condition, binding or disadjustment
of doors or shutters, etc. — 8. A sum of money
formerly allowed to a pastor in addition to his
regular salary. [U. S.]
Before the war began, my people punctually paid my
salary, and advanced one hundred pounds of my setUe-
ment a year before it was due by contract.
Rev. Nath. Emmons, Autobiography. {Bartlett.)
9. A pastor's homestead as furnished by a
parish, by a gift either of land, with or with-
out buildings, or of money to be applied for its
purchase. [IJ. S.]
I had just purchased a settlement and involved myself
in debt Rev. Nath. Emmons, Autobiography. (Bartlett.)
Act of Settlement. Same as Limitation of the Croiim
Act (which see, under limitation). — Disposition and
settlement. See disposition. — Family settlement, in
En^. law, the arrangement now used instead ot entail, by
which land is transferred in such maimer as to secure its
being kept in the family for a considerable period, usually
by giving it to one child, commonly the eldest son, for his
life, and then to his sons and their issue if he have any,
and on failure of issue then to the second son of the settlor
for his lite, and then to his sons, and so on. Under such
a settlement a son to whom the land is given for life, and
his son on coming of age, can together convey an absolute
title and thus part with the family estates.
settlement'-^ (set'l-ment), n. [< settle^ + -ment.']
The act or process of determining or deciding;
the removal or reconciliation of differences or
doubts ; the liquidation of a claim or account ;
adjustment; arrangement: &s,t\ie settlement ot
a controversy; the settlement of a debt.
Taking the paper from before his kinsman, he [Rob
Roy] threw it in the fire. Bailie Jarvie stared in his turn,
but his kinsman continued "That's a Hieland settlement
of accounts." * Scott, Rob Roy, xxxiv.
Ring settlement. See ring\ .
settler^ (set'ler), n. [< settle^ + -crl.] 1. One
who settles; particularly, one who fixes his
residence in a new colony.
The vigor and courage displayed by the settlers on the
Connecticut, in this first Indian war in New England,
struck terror into the savages.
Bancroft, Hist. TJ. S., I. 316.
2. A separator; a tub, pan, vat, or tank in
wliieh a separation can be effected by settling,
(a) In metal., a tub for separating th& quicksilver and
amalgam from the pulp in the Washoe process (which see,
under i)an^, 3). (o) In the manufacture of chlorin and
bleaching-powders, a tank for the separation of calcium
sulphate and iron oxid from the neutral solution of man-
ganese chlorid after treatment of acid manganese chlorid
with sodium carbonate, or one in which the manganese
peroxid formed by the treatment of the neutral manganese
chlorid with milit of lime settles in the fonn of thin black
mud. The former is technically called a chlorid of man-
ganese settler, and the latter the mud settler. — Settlers'
clock. Same as laughing jackass (which see, under Jack-
ass).
settler^ (set'ler), «. [< settle^ + -eri.] That
which settles or decides anything definitely;
that which gives a quietus: as, that argument
was a settler; his last blow was a settler. [Col-
loq.]
settUngi (set'ling), n. [Verbal n. of settle\ v.]
1. The act of one who or that which settles, in
any sense of that word. — 2. jil. Lees; dregs;
sediment.
Winter Yellow Cotton Seed Oil, to pass as prime, must
be brilliant, free from water and settlings.
Nem York Produce Exchange Report, 1888-9, p. 292.
settling^ (set'ling), n. [< ME. sagtlyng; verbal
n. of settle^, v.] Reconciliation.
Ho [the dove] brogt in hir beke a bronch of olyue, . . .
That watg the syngne of sauyt<5 that sende hem oure lorde,
& the sagUyng of hymself with tho sely bestej.
Alliterative Poems (ed. MoitIs), ii. 490.
settling-day (set'ling-da), n. A day set apart
for tho settling of accounts ; specifically, in the
stock-exchange, the fortnightly account-day for
shares and stocks.
seven
settlor (set'lor), n. [< settW^ + -or^. Cf. set-
tler^.] In law, the person who makes a settle-
ment.
set-to (set'to'), n. A sharp contest; especial-
ly, a fight at fisticuffs; a pugilistic encounter;
a boxing-match; also, any similar contest, as
with foils. [Slang.]
They hurried to be present at the expected scene, with
the alacrity of gentlemen of the fancy hastening to a set-to.
Scott, St. Ilonan's Well, xxx.
As prime a set-to
And regular turn-up as ever you knew.
£ar/iain, Ingoldsby Legends, I. 817.
set-trap (set'trap), n. A trap which works with
a spring or other device to be released and set
in operation by means of a trigger, the animal
being caught when the trap is sprung. Most
traps are of this description.
setula (set'u-la), n. ; pi. settilx (-le). [NL., dim.
of L. seta, sseia, a bristle : see seta.] A small
seta; a little bristle ; a setule.
setule (set'iil), n. [< NL. setula : see setula.]
A setula.
setuliform (set'u-li-f6rm), a. [< NL. setula, a
setule, + L. forma, form.] In but., having the
form of a setule, or little bristle; filamentous;
thready.
setulose (set'u-los), a. [< setule + -ose.] Finely
setose ; covered with setules.
set-up (set'up), n. 1. Build; bearing; carriage.
[Colloq.]
They [English soldiers] have a set-up not to be found in
any of the soldiers of the Continental armies.
T. C. Crawford, English Life, p. 147.
2. In metal., the steam-ram of the sqtieezer,
which operates on the ball of iron from the
puddling-f urnaee. it serves to upset or condense the
bloom longitudinally after it has been lengthened by the
action of the squeezer.
3. In baking, one of the wooden scantlings
placed like a frame around the loaves in the
oven to hold them in position. E. H. Knight.
— 4. A favorable arrangement of the balls in
billiards, croquet, etc., especially when left so
by one player for the next. — 5. Atreat. [Slang,
U. b.]
set'wall (set'wal), n. [Formerly also setywaU;
< ME. setwale, setewale, setuale, cetewale, setwaly,
also sedwale, sedewale, seduale, valerian, zedo-
ary, < AF. cetewale, OF. citoual, citoal, citouart,
P. z6doaire (> E. zedoary), < ML. eedoaria (AS.
sideware), < Pers. zadwar, zidioar, alsojadwar,
zedoary: see zedoary, another E. form of the
same name.] A name early transfeiTed from
the Oriental drug zedoary to tlie valerian. The
root was highly popular for its sanatory properties, mixed
with many dishes to make them wholesome. The original
species was Valeriana Pyrenaiea, a plant cultivated in
gardens, now naturalized in parts of Great Britain. Lat.
terly the name has been understood of the common offi-
cinal valerian, V. officinalis.
se't-work (set'werk), n. 1. In plastering, two-
coat work on lath. — 2. In boat-building, the
construction of dories and larger boats in which
the streaks do not lap, but join edge to edge,
and are secured by battens upon the inside of
the boat. See lapstreak.
seurementt, »'• See surement.
seurtet, seureteet, «■ Obsolete variants of
siircti/.
se'vadilla, n. A variant of cevndilla.
seven (sev'n), a. and n. [Early mod. E. also
seaven; < ME. seven, sevene, seoven, seofen, sere,
seove, seofe, < AS. seofon, seofone = OS. sibun,
sivuti z= OFries. soren, saven, savn, siugun, sigun,
sogcn = MD. seven. D. zeven = MLG. LG. seven
= OHG. sibun, MHG. siben, G. sieben = Icel.
sjau, mod. sjo = Sw. *;'« = Dan. syv = Goth, sibun
= L. septem ( > It. sette = Sp. siete = Pg. sete, sette
= Pr. set = OF. set, sept, F. sept) = Gr. t ttto = W.
snith = Gael, seachd = Ir. seacht, seven, = OBulg.
sebd- in *sebdnm, sedmii, seventh, sedmi, seven,
= Bohem. scdm = Pol. siedm = ORuss. seme,
sedmi, Russ. semi = Lith. seplini = Itett. septini
= Zend hapta = Skt. saptan, seven: ulterior
origin unknown.] I. a. One more than six;
the sum of three and four: a cardinal numer-
al. Seven is a rare number in metrology, perhaps its
only occurrences being in the seven handbreadths of the
Egyptian cubit (for the probable explanation of which, see
cubit), and in the seven days of the week, certainly early
connected, at least, with the astrological assignment of the
hours in regular rotation to the seven planets. This as-
trological association explains the identification by Pytha-
goras of the number seven with the opportune time (xai-
po';), as well as the fact that light was called seven by the
Pythagoreans. That they tenned it " motherless " may be
due to the "seven spirits "of the Chaldeans — that is, the
planets — being called ** fatherless and ntotherless." The
astrological association further explains why the number
seven has so frequently been suggested by the concep-
tion of divine or spiritual influence, and why it was
seven
made the number of intelligence by Philolaus. The com-
mon statement that seven implies perfection has no fur-
ther foundation than that the cabiUistic meanings of all
odd numbers are modes of perfection. One is the first,
and was with the Pythagoreans the number of essence
(oucrioX Two involves otherness, and was the number of
opinion, " because of its diversity." Three involves medi-
ation, and was the number of beginning, middle, and end.
Four naturally suggests a si^uare, and so equity, and was
commonly considered the number of justice ; but it fur-
ther carries the suggestion of system, and often has that
signification. Five connects itself with the five fingers,
used in counting, and thus is an ordinary synecdoche for
a small group ('' Five of you shall chase an hundred " —
Lev. xxvi. 8) ; but the Pythagoreans, for some unknown
reason, made it the number of marriage. Six played an
important part in the sexagesimal system of the Chalde-
ans ; but its Pythagorean meaning is doubtful. In the
Apocalypse 666 is the number of the beast Eight, being
the first cube, would naturally suggest solidity ; but ac-
cortUng to Dr. Wordsworth it is the dominical or resurrec-
tion number. Nine, or three triads, was the number of
the great gods of Egypt, and was considered efficient in
all magical operations. Ten, for reasons connected with
the histor>' of the Pythagorean brotherhood, was consid-
ered by them as the great number of power. To eleven no
particular significance isattached. Twelve was important
in the Chaldean division of the circle, and was the num-
ber of the great gods. Thirteen, according to Dr. Mahan,
is the number of schism. Seven was formerly used gener-
ally and vaguely to indicate a large number.
I can then thanke Sensuall Apetyte ;
That is the best dannce without a pype
That I saw this ^evenvere.
Interlude vf the Four EUmenlt, n. d. (BalHiKll.)
And thou shalt number teven sabbaths of years unto
thee, amen times teven years. Lev. xzv. 8.
Tears seven times salt
Bam out the sense and virtue of mine eye !
Shak., Hamlet, iv. 6. 154.
Case Of tile seven blsbops. See fruAop.— Seyen-
bnmcbed candlestick. See candletUck.—Se'ven-Aa.y
fever. .■<.i;.r''t<-i-i.— SevengreatliynmB. SccA.vmn.—
Seven Psalins. .^eu peitUetiUal peaime^ under jtrnifen-
(K/i. - Seven-shilling piece. SeerttHtn^.— Seven wise
men of Greece. Same as tAe teven sageg. — Seven won-
ders of the world. See wonder.— tUm bodies seven.
See (Mtfj/.— The seven artst. Same as (A* teven liberal
teienceg.
Eny science vnder Sonne, the tevene art [vat. artz] and
alle. Piers Plounitan (C), xlil. ft).
The aeren cUef or principal virtues, faith, hop*!,
charity, prudence, temperance, cha.stity, and furtitude.
See cardinal »nd theotogieai.— The seven churches of
Asia, the churches Ut which special epistles are addres-sed
In the sec'Mid anil third chapters of the Book of Revela-
tion. The seven deadly sins. See »ini.— The seven
dolors of Uary. .See doltfn of the Virgin Mary, un-
der dtiirrr.- The seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, wis-
dom, understanding, counsel, ghostly strength or forti-
tude, knowledge, gixillness, an<l the fear of the Lord.—
The seven liberal sciences, .see science.— Th» leven
rlshls. Seeri»Ai.— The seven sages. See»ri^i.— The
■even sleepers (of Ephesos), seven ChristiaD jtm\.\a
who »re said to have concealed themselves in a cavern
near Ephesns during the peneontlon under Deelos (A. i>.
S49-2S1) and to have fallen asleep there, not awaking till
two or three hundred vesrs later, when Christianity h.id
become the religion or the empire.— The seven Stars,
(at) The planets — that II the sun, the moon. Mercury,
Venos, Mars, Jupiter, and Sstaro.
Onre sire [Lord] In his see abone the tevene tterrli
Sawe the many mysscbeuvs that these men dede.
Aiehard tjte Jiedelett, UL 362.
(it) The constellation Ursa Major.
We that take parses go by the moon and the teven ttart.
Shot., 1 Hen. IV., I. % 16.
The Stuen Starrtt, called Charles walne in the North.
Mintheu, 1617.
(«) The Pleiades.— Tobe frlgbtened out of one's seven
n. n. 1. The numbf^r greater by one than
six; a group of things amounting to this num-
ber.
Of evoy clean beast tlioa shalt take to thee by tevent.
Gen. vlL 2.
Of every beast and bhd, and insect small.
Came tevent and pairs. JTOton, P. L., zL 736.
Of all numbers, there Is no one which has exercised in
this way a wider inilaence, oo one which has commanded
in a higher degree tile aatwm and reverence of mankind,
than the number Settn. J. BadUy, Essays, p. 825.
2. The symbol representing this number, as 7,
or VII, or vii. — 3. pi. In Eng. hymnology, a spe-
cies of trochaic meter having seven syllables to
the line, and properly four Ones to tne stanza.
Severn double (7s, D.) has eight lines, and other varieties
are marked by the nnmber of lines, as 7s, SI, or 7s, 31.
Sevemt and taet is a trochaic meter having three lines of
seven syllables with one of Ove. Severn and ttatt is a
meter, nsoally of eight lines, in which trochaic lines of
seven syllables alternate with iambic lines of six syl-
lables. Other varieties occur. See meters, 8.
4. A pliiyiiit'-'"irii with Hfvcn spots or pips on it.
—At sizes and sevens. See nic.— Cannon of sevent.
Bee catuum — The Seven, the Pleiades. TO Set on
•event, (a) To set in order.
Maria. The fader of heven, God omnypotent,
That tett alle m sraan, his son has he sent
Tomuley Mytteriet (Snrtees' Soc.), p. 118.
(f>) To set in confusion.
Thus he tellez on tevene with his sekyre knyghttez ; . . .
And thus st the Joyenyge the geauntes are dystroyede.
MorU Arthure (E. E. f. ti.\ I. 2131.
5531
seveneyes (sev'n-iz), n. Same as sevenholes.
sevenfold (sev'n-fold), a. [< ME. scovenfald,
sefenfiild, scmxvald, seovevold, sevefeald, < AS.
seofon-feald = OFries. savnfald = D. zeven-vond,
zeven-votidig = MLG. sevenvalt, scvenvolt, seven-
valdieh, sevenvohjich = OHG. sihenfaltig, MHG.
siben-valt, sibenvaltic, G. siehenfaltig = Icel.
sjaufaldr = Sw. sjufaldig = Dan. syv-fold; as
seven + -fold.'] 1. Having seven plies, folds,
or thicknesses.
He said, and, rising, high above the field
■Whirl'd the long lance against the sevenfold shield.
Pupe, Iliad, vii. 296.
2. Repeated seven times; multiplied seven
times ; increased to seven times the size or
amount.
The light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of
seven days. Isa. xxx. 26.
3. Consisting of seven ; having seven parts.
A high and stately Tragedy, shutting up and intermin-
gling her solemn Scenes and Acta with a sevenfold Chorus
of halleluja's and harping symphonies.
M^^m, Church-Government, 11., Int
From Heaven itself though sevenfold Nilus flows.
Pope, Windsor Forest, I. 359.
sevenfold (sev'n-fold), ad». 1. Seven times as
much or often; in the proportion of seven to
one.
Whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on
him »evej\fold. Gen. iv. 15.
2. In seven coils or folds. [Rare.]
Till that great sea-snake under the sea . . .
Would slowly trail himself sevenfold
Bound the hall where 1 sate.
Tennyson, The Mermaid.
seven-foldedt, o- Same as sevenfold.
The upper marge
Of his tevei^oUed shield away it tooke.
Speruer, F. Q., II. v. 6.
seven-gilled (sev'n-gUd), a. Having seven gill-
slits on each side: specifically noting a cow-
shark or sevengills.
sevengills (sev'n-gilz), n. A shark of the ge-
nus Tliptitnchus or Notidanus; a cow-shark.
See cut under Hexanchus.
sevenholes (sev'n-holz), n. The river-lamprey :
so called from the branchial apertures of each
side. Also seveneyes. [Local, Eng.]
sevennlght (sev'n-nit or -nit), n. [< ME.*seven-
nilit, seveniht, sovenyht, < AS. seofon niht: see
seve)i and night. Cf. contr. se'nnight.'} The pe-
riod of seven days and nights ; a week, or the
time from one day of the week to the next day
of the same denomination preceding or follow-
ing. See sennight.
Thllke day that she was tevennight old.
Chaucer, Nun's Priest's Tale, 1. 63.
Having given this public notice of my court, I must fur-
ther add that I intend to open it on this day teven-night,
lieing Monday the twentieth instant
Additon, Tatler, No. 250.
seven-point (sev'n-point), a. Related to seven
points: as, the «fren-7>oi»< circle. See circle.
seven-shooter (sev'n-sho't^r), n. A revolver,
or other form of firearm, having seven cham-
bei-s or barrels. [CoUoq.]
seven-shooting (sev'n-shS'ting), a. Discharg-
ing from seven chambers or barrels; firing
seven shots without reloading: as, a seveit-
shooting rifle. [CoUoq.]
sevensome (sev n-sum), a. [< seven + some.
See »««(«.] Consisting of seven things or parts ;
about seven. [Prov. Eug. or Scotch.]
Thair was hot anwnsum of thame all.
Wyf of Auchtirmuehty (C^iUd's Ballads, Vni. 118).
SevenS0ineness(sev'n-sum-ne8), n. The quality
of >)oiiiK sevensome ; arrangement or gradation
by sevens. Xorth British Rev. [Rare.]
seven-spotted (sev'n-spot'ed ). a. Having seven
spots : as, the seven-spotted laiaybird, Coccinella
siptinputtcUitn.
seventeen (sev'n-ten'), «• and n. [< ME. seuen-
leiie, scicintiiic, < AS. seofon-tyne = OS. sivontein
= OFries. siuguntine = D. zeventien = MLG.
scventein = MHG. aiben-zehen, G. siebzehn =
Icel. yaiitjdn, sautjan, seytjan = Sw. sjutUm
= Dan. xytten = L. septenaecivt = Gr. £7rTa(«2/)-
iena = Skt. septadaga; as seven + ten: see ten
and -tccn.] 1. a. One more than sixteen or
less than eighteen, being the sura of seven and
ten: a cardinal numeral — Seventeen-day fever.
ScefeverK— Seventeen-year locust. See toctidi , 3, and
cut under Cieadidx.
n. ». 1. The number greater by one than
sixteen; the sum of ten and seven. — 2. A
symbol representing this number, as 17, or
XVII, or xvii.
seventeenth (sev'n-tenth'), a. and n. [With
restored n in the last syllable, < ME. "seventethe,
seven-thirty
seventithe, < AS. seofon-tedtha = OFries. sitigun-
tinda = D. zeven-tiende = MHG. sihen-zehende,
G. siebzehnte = Icel. seytjandi, sau-ljdndi, »jau-
tjdndi = Sw. sjuttonde = Dan. syttende; as
seventeen + -<7i2.] J_ o. 1. One next in order
after the sixteenth ; one coming after sixteen
of the same class : an ordinal numeral : as, the
seventeenth day of the month. — 2. Constitut-
ing or being one of seventeen equal parts into
which a thing may be divided.
n. re. 1. The next in order after the six-
teenth ; the seventh after the tenth. — 2. The
quotient of unity divided by seventeen; one
of seventeen equal parts of a whole. — 3. In
music, the melodic or harmonic interval of two
octaves and a third; or an organ-stop giving
tones at such an interval from the normal pitch
of the digitals ; a tierce.
seventh (sev'nth), a. and n. [< ME. seventhe,
seuend, sevende, sefende, with restored re, for ear-
lier «ei'eWie, seorcthe, seofethe, sefthe, < AS. seofo-
tha = OS. sibhondo = OFries. sigunda = D. ze-
vende = MLG. sevende = OHG. sibunto, MHG.
sibende, G. siebenie = Icel. sjaundi = Sw. sjunde
= Dan. syvende = Goth. *sibunda = Skt. septa-
tha, seventh; sls seven + -tlfi. The L. Septimus,
Gr. cj36o/joc, seventh, have a diff. suffix, the same
as that in 'Lj>rimus ( AS./onna), first: see prime,
former'^.] I. a. 1. Last in order of a series of
seven ; preceded by six of the same kind ; next
in order after that which is sixth : an ordinal
numeral. — 2. Constituting or being one of seven
equal parts into which a whole may be divided :
as, the seventh part. — Seventh-day, the name used
by the Society of Friends for Saturday, the seventh day
of the week.— To be In the seventh heaven. See
heaven, 3.
II, n. 1. One next in order after the sixth.
— 2. The quotient of unity divided by seven;
one of seven equal parts into which a whole is di-
vided.— 3. In music: (a) A tone on the seventh
degree above or below a jgiven tone ; the next
tone to the octave. (6) The interval between
any tone and atone on the seventh degree above
or below it. (c) The harmonic combination of
two tones at the interval thus defined, (d) In
a scale, the seventh tone from the bottom ; the
leading-tone : solmizated si, or, in the tonic
sol-fa system, ti. The typical interval of the seventh
is that between the first and the seventh tones of a major
scale, which is acoustically represented by the ratio 8 : l.^i.
Such a seventh is called major. A seventh a half-step
shorter is called minor ; and one two half-steps shorter is
called diminished. All kinds of sevenths are classed as
dissonances, the minor seventh being the most beautiful
and the most useful of dissonant intervals. The seventh
produced by taking two octaves downward from the sixth
harmonic of the given tone is sometimes called the natu-
ral seventh; it is sometimes used in vocal music, and
on instruments, like the violin, whose Intonation is not
fixed.
4. In early Eng. law, a seventh of the rents of
the year, or of movables, or both, (granted or
levied by way of tax Chord of the diminished
seventh, in mueic, a chord of four tones, consisting in
its typical form of the seventh, second, fourth, and sixth
tones of a minor scale, and made up, therefore, of three
minor thirds superposed. It is usually regarded as a
chord of the ninth with the root omitted. Several differ-
ent resolutions of it are possible. Such a chord on a key-
board instrument like the pianoforte is capable of four
enharmonic interpretations, so that it is possible to mod-
ulate immediately from it into any one of the keys of the
keyboard. Thus, In
the key of 0 minor,
the typical chord of
the diminished sev-
enth is (a), which on
the keyboard is iden-
tical with either (6)
in the key of B(? mi-
nor, or (c) in that of
CJ minor, or (d) in that of E minor.— Clhord of the
seventh, in mueic, a chord of foiu tones, comprising a
root with its third, fifth, and seventh ; a seventh-chord
or sept-chord. The most important seventh-chord is
that whose root is the dominant of the key ; it is often
called the chord of the dominant seventh. The resolution
of seventh-chords is highly important to the close and
satisfactory structure of a composition : usually the sev-
enth itself progresses downward. See chord, 4. — Essen-
tial seventh- See essential. .
seventh-chord (8ev'nth-k6rd), n. In music,
same as chord of the seventh (which see, under
seventh and chord, 4). Also sept-ehord.
Seventh-day (sev'nth-da), a. Pertaining to,
occurring upon, or observing in some special
manner the seventh day of tlie week, the Sab-
bath of the Jews — Seventh-day Adventlsts. See
Adventist.- Seventh-day Baptists. See DapUa.
seven-thirty (sev'n-th6r'ti), a. and n. I. a.
Bearing interest at 7.30 per cent.: used of cer-
tain notes issued by the United States Govern-
ment. See II.
II. «• pi- The popular name for certain
notes issued by the government of the United
seven-thirty
States in 1861, 1864. ami 1865, redeemable in
three years, and bearing interest at 7.30 per
oent. — that is, l! cents a day on jilOO.
seventMy (sev'uth-li), adv. In the seventh
place.
seventieth (sev'n-ti-eth), a. and «. [< ME.
seientietlie, < AS. *{hund)seofontigotha = D.
zecentigste = G. siehemigste, sicbsigste = Icel.
^utugti = Sw. sjuttionde, seventieth ; as seven-
ty + -eth^, -fA2.] I, a. 1. Next in order after
the sixty-ninth: an ordinal niunei-al. — 2. Con-
stituting or being one of seventy parts into
which a whole may be divided.
H. H. 1. One next in order after the sixty-
ninth; the tenth after the sixtieth. — 2. The
quotient of unity divided by seventy; one of
seventj- equal parts.
seventy (sev'u-ti), «. and n. [< ME. seofentig,
acofcnti. serenti, < AS. hundseofontig (the ele-
ment Aunrf- being later dropped: see hundred)
= OS. sibuntig = OPries. siuguuUch = D. ze-
ventig = MLG. seventich = OH6. sibunzug, sibun-
z6, MHG. siben-zic, G. siebenzig, siebzig = Icel.
sjautugr = Sw. sjuttio = Norw. sytti = Goth.
sibnn-tehund, seventy: cf. L. septuaginta (> E.
Scptuayint), Gr. e fidofiTiKovra, Skt. saptati, seven-
ty; as seven + -%l.] I, a. Seven times ten;
one more than sixty-nine : a cardinal nu-
meral— The seventy disciples. Seerfwnj^ie.
H. ». ; pi. .seifiifes (-tiz). 1. The number
which is made up of seven times ten. — 2. A
symbol representing this number, as 70, ,or
LXX, or Ixx — The Seventy, a title given— (o) to
the Jewish sanhedrim ; ib) to the body of disciples men-
tioned in Lulse x. as appointed by Clirist to preach tile
gospel and heal the sick ; (c) to the body of scholare who,
according to tradition, were the authors of the .Septuagint :
so called from their nnniber seventy-two (see Septiuif/iiU) ;
(d) to certain oMcials in the Monnon Church whose duty
it is, under the direction of the Twelve Apostles, " to travel
into all the world and preach the Gospel and administer
its ordinances " (Monnon CcUechigm),
seventy-four (sev'n-ti-for'), ». A ship of war
rated as carrying 74 guns ; a 74-gun ship.
seven-up (sev'n-up'), n. A game, the same as
all-fours.
sever (sev'^r), «. [< ME. severen, < OF. (and F.)
sevrer, also later securer, F. separer = Pr. se-
brar = Sp. Pg. separar = It. severare, sevrare,
also separare, < L. separare, separate : see sepa-
rate, of which sever is a doublet, without the
suffix.] I. trans. 1. To separate; part; put or
keep distinct or apart.
And vynes goode of IV or V have mynde,
And severed by hemself sette everie kynde.
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 66.
Here are sever'd lips
Parted with sugar breath.
Shak., M. of V., ill. 2. 118.
We see the chaff may and ought to be severed from the
com in the ear. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii. 367.
2. To part, sunder, or divide; separate into two
or more parts : as, to sever the body or the arm
at a single stroke.
Our state cannot be aever'd; we are one.
MUUm, P. L., Ix. 968.
The nat'ral bond
Of brotherhood is gever'd as the flax
That falls asunder at the touch of fire.
Cowper, Task, ii. 10.
3. To separate from the rest: said of a part
with reference to the whole or main body of
anything : as, to .sever the head from the body.
Tiian he seuered a part of his peple, and seide to Pounce
Antonye and to ffroUe that thei sholde haue mynde to do
well, and breke her enmyes. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ill. 402.
The angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from
among the just. Mat. xlii. 49.
A second multitude
With wondrous art founded the massy ore,
Severing each kind, and Bcumm'd the bullion dross.
Milton, P. L., i. 704.
His sever'd head was toss'd among the throng,
And, rolling, drew a bloody trail along.
Pope, Iliad, xi. 189.
4. To separate ; disjoin : referring to things that
are distinct but united by some tie.
No, God forbid that I should wish them sever'd
Whom God hath join'd together ; ay, and 'twere pity
To bunder them that yoke so well together.
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., iv. 1. 21.
Death's proper hateful ofHce 'tis to sever
The loving Husband from his lawful Wife.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, iii. 159.
5. To distinguish; discriminate; know apart.
Expedient it will be that we sever the law of nature ob-
served by the one from that which the other is tied unto.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, i. 3.
VUp. Am I then like him?
Mos. O sir, you are he :
No man can sever you.
B. Jonson, Volpone, v. 3.
He la a poor Divine that cannot sever the good from the
twd. Selden, Table-Talk, p. 31.
5532
6. In MiP, to disunite; disconnect; part posses-
sion of.
We are, lastly, to inquire how an estate in joint-tenancy
may be severed and destroyed. Blaekstone, Com., II. ,\ii.
II. intrans. 1. To separate; part; go asun-
der; move apart.
They seuerid and sondrid, Hor somere hem ffaylid . . .
All the hoole herde that helde so togedir.
Richard the Bedeless, ii. 14.
Ho sweje [stooped) doun, & semly hym kyssed,
Sithen ho seueres hym fro.
Sir GauHtyne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1797.
What envious streaks
Do lace the severiiuj clouds in yonder east !
ShaJc., R. and J., iii. f,. S.
Ae fond kiss, and then we sever;
Ac farewell, alas ! for ever !
Burns, Ae Fond Kiss.
2. To make a separation or distinction ; dis-
tinguish.
The Lord shall secer between the cattle of Israel and the
cattle of Egypt^ Ex. ix. 4.
3. To act separately or independently.
Preston, Ashton, and Elliot had been arraigned at the
Old Bailey. They claimed the right of severing in their
challenge. It was tlierefore necessary to try them sepa-
rately. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xvii.
severable (sev'er-a-bl), a. [< sever + -uhle.'\
Capable of being severed.
several (sev'er-al), a. and n. [< ME. severallc,
< OF. several, < ML. "separalis (also, after OF.,
severalis), adj., separate, as a noun in neut.
separale, a thing separate, a thing that sepa-
rates, a dividing line, equiv. to L. separabilis,
separable (see separable), < separare, separate :
see separate, sever.'] I. a. If. Separated; apart;
not together.
So be we now by baptism reckoned to be consigned unto
Christ's church, several from Jews, paynims, &c.
Tyndale, Ans. to Sir T. More, etc. (Parker .Soc, 1850), p. 246.
If the King have power to give or deny any thing to his
Parlanient, he must doe it either as a Person several from
them or as one greater. Milton, Eikonoklastes, xi.
2. Individual; not common to two or more;
separate; particular.
Let euery line beare his seuerall length, euen as ye
would haue your verse of measure.
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 74.
They haue neuerthelesse seuerall cloysters and seuerall
lodgynges, but they kepe all tlieyr dyuine seruyce in one
quere al togyther. Sir R. Guyljorde, Pylgrymage, p. 79.
Both Armies having their several Reasons to decline the
Battel, they parted without doing any thing.
Baker, Chronicles, p. 118.
So different a state of things requires a several relation.
Milton, Hist. Eng., ii.
Let every one of us, in our several places and stations,
do our best to promote the kingdom of Christ within us,
by promoting the love and practice of evangelical purity
and holiness. Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, I. iv.
3. Different; diverse; various: as, they went
their several ways ; it has happened three sev-
eral times.
For on his back a heavy load he bare
Of nightly stelths, and pillage severall,
Which he had got abroad by purchas eriminall.
Spetiser, F. Q., I. iii. 16.
A long coate, wherein there were many severall peeces of
cloth of divers colours. Coryat, Crudities, I, 11.
I thank God I have this Fruit of my foreign Travels,
that I can pray to him every Day of the Week in a several
Language, and upon Sunday in seven.
Howell, Letters, I. vi. 32.
Through London they passed along,
Each one did passe a severall streete.
Dutchess of Suffolk's CalamUy (Child's Ballads, VII. 300).
4. Single ; particular ; distinct.
Each several ship a victoiy did gain.
Lryden, Annus Mirabilis, st. 191.
Each several heart-beat, counted like the coin
A miser reckons, is a special gift
As from an unseen hand. 0. W. Holmes, Questioning.
5. In law, separable and capable of being
treated as separate from, though it may be not
wholly independent of, another. Thus, a several
obligation is one incurred by one person alone, as a bond
by a single obligor, or concurrently with otllers, as in a
subscription paper, in which latter case, though his prom-
ise is in a measure dependent on that of the other sub-
scril)ers, the obligation of each may be several ; while, on
the other hand, in a contract l>y partners or an instrument
expressed to l)e joint, the obligors are not at common law
severally liable, but either has the right to have the oth-
ers joined in an action to enforce payment. So aseveral es-
tate is one which belongs to one person alone, and, although
it may in a sense be dependent on otliers, it is not shared l>y
others during its continuance, (^ee estate, 5.) A joint and
several obligation is one which so far partakes of both quiili-
ties that the creditor may in general treat it in either way,
by joining all or suing each one separately.
6. Consisting of or comprising an indefinite
number greater than one; more than one or
two, but not many; divers.
Adam and Eve in bugle-work ; . . . upon canvas . . .
several tUligrane curiosities. Steele, Tatler, No. 245.
severalty
At Paris I drove to several hotels, and could not get ad-
mission. Sydney Smith, To Mrs. .Sydney Smith.
A Joint and several note or bond, a note or bond exe-
cuted l)y two or more persons, eacli of whom binds himself
to pay tlie whole amount named in the document. — Sev-
eral fishery, inheritance, etc. See the nouns.— Sev-
eral tenancy. See entire tenancy, under entire.=Syn.
2-4. Distinct, etc. See different.
II. H. It. That which is separate ; a particu-
lar or peculiar thing ; a private or personal pos-
session.
All our abilities, gifts, natures, shapes,
Severals and generals of grace exact, . . .
Success or loss, what is or is not, serves
As stutf for these two to make paradoxes.
Shak., T. and C, i. 8. 180.
Truth lies open to all ; it is no man's several.
B. Jonson, Discoveries.
2t. A particular person ; an individual.
Not noted, is 't.
But of the finer natures ? by some severals
Of head-piece extraordinary ?
Shak., W. T., L 2. 226.
3t. An inclosed or separate place ; specifical-
ly, a piece of inclosed gi-ound adjoining a com-
mon field ; an inclosed pasttire or field, as op-
posed to an open field or common.
We have in this respect our churches divided by certain
partitions, although not so many in number as theirs (the
Jews'], They had tlieir several for heathen nations, tlieir
several for tlie people of their own nation, their several for
men, their several for women, their several for the priests,
and for the high priest alone their several.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. 14.
Of late he 's broke into a several
Which dutli belong to me, and there he spoils
Both corn and pasture.
Sir John Oldcastle, ill. 1. (Nares.)
4. An outer garment for women, introduced
about 1860 and named in France from the Eng-
lish word, in allusion^to the difllerent uses to
which the garment could be put : its form could
be changed by folding, buttoning, etc., so that
it should make a shawl, a burnoose, or other
garment at pleasure — in several, in a state of sepa-
ration or partition.
More profit is quieter found.
Where pastures in severall be,
Of one seely acre of ground,
Than champion maketh of three.
Tusser, Husbandry (Champion Counti-y and Severall).
severalt (sev'6r-al), adv. [< several, a.} Sepa-
rately; individually; diversely; in different
ways.
We'll dress us all so several.
They shall not us perceive.
Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow (Child's Ballads, V. 385).
severalt (sev'er-al), r. t. To divide or break up
into severals; make several instead of com-
mon.
Our severaUing, dlstincting, and numbring createth no
thing. Dee, Pref. to Euclid (1670).
The people of this isle used not to severall their grounds.
Harrison, Descrip. of England, x.
severalityt (sev-e-ral'i-ti), n. [< several +
-ity.'] The character of being several ; also,
any one of several particulars taken singly ; a
distinction.
All the severalities of the degrees proliibited run still
upon the male. Bp. Hall, Cases of Conscience, iv. 5.
severalizet (sev'er-al-iz), V. t. [< several +
-ise. ] To separate ; make several or individual ;
distinguish.
There is one and the same church of Christ, however
far disterminate in places, however segregated and infi-
nitely severalized in persons.
Bp. Hall, The Peace-Maker, i. 3.
severally (sev'er-al-i), adv. [< several -f -hfi.]
Separately ; distinctly ; individually ; apart
from others — Conjunctly and severally, in ScoU
law, collectively and individually.
severalty (sev'er-al-ti), «. [< ME. severalte,
< OF. *severaUc, < several, several: see several.
Cf. severaUtii.'\ A state of separation from the
rest, or from all others : used chiefly of the ten-
ure of property.
And thi land shal be, after thi discesse plain.
Parted in partes I beleue shal be,
Neuer to-geders hold in seueralte.
Rom. of ParteiMy (E. E. T. S.), L 3640.
Further, there were lands of inheritance held in severalty
by customary titles, and derived originally, as it is pre-
sumed, out of common land.
F. Pollock, Land Laws, App., p. 190.
Estate in severalty, ownership by one without being
joined with other owners connected with him in point of
interest during his ownership : as distinguished from
joint tenancy, coparcenary, and tenancy in common. —
Land in severalty, the system of ownership by individ-
uals, as distinguished from ownership or occupancy in
connnon. Tlie phrase is used in reference to recent legis-
lation in tlie United States, under which Indian reserva-
tions in the occupancy of tribes of Indians witliout any
individual proprietorship have been divi<ied, and specific
holdings allotted to the respective members of the tribe
severalty
to be held in severalty, leavin}: the residue of the tribal
possession to be sold by the government^ in part or in
whole, for the benetit of the tribe or members of it.
severance (sev'er-aus), n. [< seecr + -ance.
Cf. disseverance.'] 'The act of severing, or the
state of being severed; separation; the act of
dividing or disuniting ; partition.
A God, a God their severance ruled !
And bade betwixt their shores to be
The onplumb'd, salt, estranging sea.
M. Arnold, Switzerland, v.
Sevenince of a Joint tenancy, in law, a severance
made by destroying the unity of interest. Thus, when
there are two joint tenants for life, and the inheritance
is purchased by or descends upon either, it is a severance.
— Severance of an action, the division of an action, as
when two persons are joined in a writ and one is non-
suited : in this case severance Is permitted, and the other
plaintiff may proceed in the suit.
severe (se-ver'), «• [< OF. nerere, F. severe =
Sp. Pg. It. secero, < L. sereriis, severe, serious,
grave in demeanor; perhaps orig. 'honored,'
• reverenced,' being prob. < ■/ sei\ honor, = Gr.
aifkaSm, honor, reverence. Cf. serious, < L.
nerins, prob. from the same root.] 1. Serious
or earnest in feeling, manner, or appearance ;
without levity; sedate; grave; austere; not
light, lively, or cheerful.
Then the justice, . . .
With eyes tevere and beard of formal cnt.
Shak., As you Like it, 11. 7. 165.
Happy who in his verse can gently steer
From grave to light, from pleasant to sttyere.
Dryden, Art of Poetry, 1. 78.
2. Very strict in judgment, discipline, or ac-
tion ; not mild or indulgent ; rigorous ; harsh ;
rigid; merciless: as, severe criticism; severe
punishment.
Come, yon are too inere a moraler.
Shak., OtheUo, iL 3. 301.
The bo^, that bloody beast,
Which knows no pity, but la still Kvere.
Shak., Vennii and Adoni^ 1. 1000.
In Hadagaacar . . . the people are governed on the tt-
txrat maxima of feudal hiw, by abaolute chieftains under
an abaolDte monarch. H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 480.
I was sorry not to meet a well-known character In the
mountains, who has killed twenty-one men. ... He U
called, in the language of the country, a levert man.
Barpert Mag-, LXXVUI. 270.
3. Strictly regulated by rule or principle ; ex-
actly conforming to a standard; rigidly me-
thodical; hence, in lit., art, etc., avoiding, or
not exhibiting or permitting, unnecessary or
florid ornament, amplification, or the like; re-
strained; not luxuriant; always keeping mea-
sure; pure in line and form; chaste in concep-
tion ; subordinated t« a high ideal : as, a severe
style of writing; the severest style of Greek ar-
chitecture; the severe school of Gorman music.
The near scene,
In naked AnAmeere simplicity.
Made contrast with the universe.
SkMcji, Alastor.
The habits o( the household were simple and letiere.
Pnmde, Onaar, vL
A small draped female flgure, remarkable for the M-
vere architectonic composition of the drapery.
C. f. Neuton, Art and Archteol., p. 91.
4. Sharp; aflflictive; distressing; violent; ex-
treme: as, severe pain, anguish, or torture; se-
vere cold ; a severe winter.
See bow they have aafely snrvlv'd
Tbe frowns of a sky lo $mere.
CoKper, The Winter Noaegay.
This action was one of tbe tmrttl which occurred in
tbeae wan. Praectt, Ferd. and laa., ii. 14.
6. Difficult to be endured; trj-ing; critical; rig-
oroim: as, a severe test; 8 severe examination.
I And yon have a Genius for tbe moat aolid and tnerat
•ort o( .Studies. UotKll, Lettera, IL 40.
Olympla and the other great agonistic festivals were, aa
It were, the universities where this elaborate training waa
teated by competitive examinations at tbe mveral kind.
C. T. NncUm, Art and Archieol., p. 823.
= Syn. 1 and X llarth. Strict, etc. (tee outCcrsX unrelent-
ing. 3. Exact, accurate, unaoomed, cbaate. — 4. Cutting,
keen, bltinK.
severely (se-ver'li), adv. In a severe manner,
in any Mcnse of the word severe.
severeness (sf-ver'nes), n. Severity. Sir W.
Ti iiijile. United Provinces, i.
severer (»ev'er-er), n. One who or that which
Hi-Vt'TS.
Severian (se-ve'ri-an), n. [< Severiis, a name,
+ -i«M.] Jiecles.: (a) A member of an Encra-
tite sect of the second century, (ft) A member
of a Gnostic sect of the second century: often
identified with (a), (c) A follower of Severus,
Monophysite patriarch of Antioch A. D. 512-
.519. still" honored by the .Jacobites next after
Diosi-orus. iiee Monophysite.
severity (se-ver'i-ti), ». ; pi. severities (-tiz).
[< OF. sefmite, F. s^irite = Bp. severidad =
5533
Pg. severidade = It. severity, < L. severita(t-)s,
earnestness, severity, < severu,i, earnest, severe :
see severe.] The character or state of being
severe. Especially— (a) Gravity; austerity; serious-
ness : the opprt)site of levity.
It is too general a vice, and severity must cure it.
Shak., M. for M., ill. 2. 106.
Strict Age, and sour Severity,
With their grave saws in slumber lie.
Milton, Comus, 1. 109.
(6) Extreme rigor ; strictness ; rigidity ; harshness.
Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God : on
them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness.
Rom. xi. 22.
Severity, gradually hardening and darkening into mis-
anthropy, characterizes the works of Swift.
Maeaiday, Addison.
(c) Harshness; cruel treatment; sharpness of punish-
ment; as, severity practised on prisoners of war.
The Pharisaical Superstitions, and Vows, and Severities
to themselves in fetching blood and knocking their heads
against the walls. Stillingflcet, Sermons, II. 1.
(d) In lit, art, etc., the quality of strict conformity to an
ideal rule or standard : studied moderation ; freedom from
all e.\uberance or tlorid ornament ; purity of line and form ;
austerity of style.
I thought I could not breathe in that fine air,
That pure severity of perfect light —
I wanted warmth and colour, which I found
In Lancelot. Tennyson, Guinevere.
(e) The quality or power of afflicting, distressing, or pain-
ing; extreme degree ; extremity; keenness: as, the««pcr-
ity of pain or anguish ; the severity of cold or heat ; the
severity of the winter.
Lib'ral in all things else, yet Nature here
With stem severity deals out the year ;
Winter invades the spring.
Coivper, Table-Talk, 1. 209.
We oorselvea have seen a large party of stout men trav-
elling on a morning of intense severity. De Quineey, Plato.
(/) Exactness: rigor; niceness: as, the aei>rn<!/ of a test
ij)) Strictness ; rigid accuracy.
I may say it with all the severity of truth, that every line
of yours Is precious. Dryden, Orig. and Prog, of Satire.
= B7IL (o) and (6) Asperity, llarshness, etc. (seeaerimtiny),
nnkindneas.— ((>X (<^)> lU"! (e) Sharpness, keenness, force.
See list under harshnes*.
severyt, «■ S«8 dvery. Also spelled severey,
sercrie, .sereree.
Sevillan (se-vil'an), a. [< Serine (Sp. Sevilla)
+ -an.] Pertaining to Seville, a city and
Srovince in southern Spain Beyillan ware, pot-
!ry made In Seville ; specifically, an imitation of Italian
majolica, differing from the original in being coarser and
having a thinner glaze.
sevocationt (sev-o-ka'shon), M. [< L. serocare,
pp. sn-DcatHS, call apart or aside, < »<•-, dis-
junct, prefix, + voaire, call.] A calling aside.
Bailey.
Bi/mB (savr), n. [< Sivres, a town of France,
near Paris, noted for its porcelain manufac-
tures.] Sevres porcelain. See porcelain^. —
Jeweled Siyres, a variety of S*vres porcelain decorated
with small bubbles or drops of colored enamel, translucent
and brilliant, like natural rubies, emeralds, etc., or opaque,
like turouoisea out en cabochon. This decoration was in-
troduced about 1780^ and is confined to the richest pieces
the jewels belnc tet in hands of gold slightly in relief, and
serving to frame medallion pictures.
sevnm (se'vum), «. [NL., < L. seimm, sebum,
suet: see sebaceous, seic^, suet.'] Suet; the in-
ternal fat of the abdomen of the sheep (Ovis
aries), purified by melting and straining. It
is used in the preparation of ointments, etc.
V. S. Pharmacopaia.
sew^ (so), r. ; prct. sewed, pp. sewed or sewn, ppr.
seiring. [Early mod. E. also sow (in accordance
with the pronunciation go, the proper historical
spelling being sew, pron. sii; cf. shev, now
written show, pron. sho), < ME. sewen, sowen,
souicen (pret. sewide, souwede, sewede, pp. sewed,
sowed), < AS. simian, siwigan, seovian (pret.
siwode) = OFries. sia = OHG. siuwan, siwan,
MH6. siuwen, suven, suen = Icel. syja = 8w.
sy = Dan. sye = Goth, siiijan = L. suere (in
comp. ronsuere, sew together, in ML. reduced
to 'cosire, eosere, cusire, > It. cucire, citscire =
Sp. Pg. coser, cusir = Pr. eoser, cuzir = F. cou-
dre, sew) = OBulg. 'sjiUi, shiti = Serv.Bohem.
shiti = Pol.xr^c = Russ. shiti = Lith. siuti =
Lett, shit = Skt. -y/ sir, sew. From the Teut.
root are ult. seanA, seamster, seamstress, etc.;
from the L. are ult. suture, consute, consutilc,
etc.: from the Skt., «utra. The historical form
of the pp. is sewed; the collateral form sewn
is modem, due, as in shown, worn, and other
(■ases, to conformation with participles histori-
■ illy strong, as xoicn, 6/oirn, etc.] I. trans. 1.
To unite, join, or attach by means of a thread,
twine, wire, or other flexible material, with or
without the aid of a needle, awl, or other tool.
The wounde to seuv fast he began to spede, . . .
And Uiey yet say that the stytches brake.
Joseph of Arimathie (E. E. T, S.), p. 4S.
sew
" Myself to modes [for my reward] wol the lettre soive,"
And helde his hondes up, and fll on knowe ;
" Now, gode nece, be it never so lite,
Gif me the labour it to sowe and plyte [fold]."
Chaucer, Trollus, 11. 1201.
Till over the buttons I fall asleep.
And sew them on in a dream !
Hood, Song of the Shirt.
2. To put together or construct, or to repair, as
a garment, by means of a needle and thread.
And seouweth and amendeth chirche clothes.
incren Biwle, p. 420.
And ge, lonely ladyes, with goure longe fyngres,
That 3e han silke and sendal, to sowe [var. seweti], whan
time is,
Chesibles for chapelleynes, cherches to honoure.
Piers Plowman (B), vi. 11.
I sew'd his sheet, making my mane.
The Lament of the Border Widow (Child's Ballads, III. 87).
Sewing at once, with a double thread,
A Shroud as well as a Shirt.
Hood, Song of the Shirt.
Sewed flexible, noting a book with unsawed sections,
on the back of which the cross-bands are placed, project-
ing outward, giving more flexibility. — Sewed on bands,
noting a book on the back of which bands of tape or strips
of parchment are used instead of twine.— Sewed on false
iMOlds, noting a book sewed on bands that are drawn out
after the sewing has been done.— Sewed on sunk bands,
noting a book that has its bands of twine sunk in the
grooves made by saw-cuts in the backs of the sections. —
Sewn ail along, noting a hook sewed the whole length
of the back.— To be sewed, or sewed up. (a) Naut., to
rest upon the ground, as a ship, when there is not suf-
ficient depth of water to float her. A ship thus situated
is said to be sewed, or geuvd tip, by aa much as is the
difference between the surface of the water and her float-
ing-mark or -line. Also spelled sue in this sense. (6) To
be brought to a standstill ; be rained or overwhelmed.
(Slang.]
Here 's Mr. Vinkle reglarly sewed up vith desperation.
IHcketis, Pickwick, xl.
(c) To be Intoxicated. [Slang.]
He . . . had twice had Sir Rumble Tumble (the notile
driver of the nash-o'-lightning-Iight-four-inside-post-
coach)up to his place, and took care to tell you that some
of the party were pretty consideralily seicn up too.
Thackeray, Shabby Genteel Story, i.
To sew up. (a) To secure or fasten within some envel-
oping fabric or substance by means of stitches. (6) To
close or unite by sewing : as, to sew up a rent.
I commanded the sleeves should be cut out and sewed
up again. SAn*., T. of the 8., iv. 3. 148.
To sew up one's stocking, to put one to silence ; dis-
comfit one ; confute one! (Prov. Eng.l
At this home thrust Mrs. Wilson was staggered. . . .
"Eh! Miss Lucy, "cried she, . . . "but ye've got a tongue
in your head. Ye've sewed up my slocking."
C. Reads, Love me, Little, xxvi.
n. intrans. 1. To practise sewing; join
things by means of stitches.
A time to rend, and a time to sew. Eccl. ill. 7.
Fair lady Isabel sits in her bower sewing,
Aye as the gowans grow gay.
Lady Isabel and the El/Knight (Child's Ballads, I. 196X
2. Naut., to be sewed, or sewed up. See phrase
above.
sew^t, "• [(a) < ME.seic, seeto, sewe, stew, juice,
broth, gravy, < AS. sedw = OHG. MHG. sou
(SOUW-), juice, sap, = Skt. sara, juice, < ■/ su,
press out (see soma). The ME. word has also
been referred to (6) OF. stii, sue, F. sue = Pr.
sue = Sp. suco = Pg. sumo, succo = It. suceo, <
L. sucus, suceus, juice, sap (see sew^), or to (c)
OF. seu, suis, suif, F. suif = Pr. seu = Sp.
Pg. sebo = It. sevo, < L. sebum, also scvum, tal-
low, suet, fat, grease (> ult. E. suet, formerly
sewet) ; perhaps akin to L. sapo, soap, and to
sapa, sap, juice: see soap, sap^, sevum, suet.
Some confusion with these OF. forms may have
occurred. Cf. W. sewion, gravy, juice, jelly.]
Juice; broth; gravy; hence, a pottage; a made
dish.
Fele kyn flscheg, . . .
Summe sothen [boiled] summe in sewe, sauered with
spyces.
Sir (iawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.), 1. 892.
I wol nat tellen of her strange selves.
Chaucer, Squire's Tale, 1. 69.
Droppe not thi brest with seew & other potage.
BoftcM Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 31.
Sew^ (su), V. [< ME. .leuen, dry, wipe (the
beak), for "essewen, < OF. essuicr, essuyer, essuer,
also in partly restored form essucquer, P. es-
suyer, dry (pp. essuyi, > E. dial, assue, drained,
as a cow), = Pr. eisugar, essugar, echucar, is-
sugar = Sp. enjugar = Pg. enxugar = It. asciug-
are, < L. exsucare, exsuccare, exucare, dry, de-
prive of moisture, suck the juice from, < ex-,
out (see ex-), + sucus, suceus, juice, sap, mois-
ture: see sew'^. succulent. Cf. sewer^.] I. trans.
1. To drain dry, as land; drain off, as water.
[Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
Bather breake a statute which Is but penall then sew a
pond that maye be perpetuall.
Lyly, Eupbues and his England, p. 414.
2t. In falconry, to wipe : said of a hawk that
cleans its beak. Bcrners. (Halliicell.)
n. intrixns. To ooze out. [Prov. Eng.]
sew^ (su), H. [Also dial, seugh; < sew^, ».] A
drain; a sewer. [Prov. Eng.]
The town sinke, the common sew.
Nommdator (ed. IbSS), p. Sil. (Skeat.)
8ew*t, f. *'. [< ME. setcen, serve at table, lit.
act as a sewer, or bearer of dishes; a back-for-
mation, < sewer, one who sets the table, etc.:
see sewer^.'] To serve at table, as by carving,
tasting, etc. Palsgrave.
To tewe at y< mete ; deponere. Cath. Ang., p. 331.
The sewer muste seioe, & from the borde conuey all
maner of potages, metes, & sauces.
Babees Book (K E. T. S.X p. 270.
seW'"'t, *'■ An obsolete spelling of sue.
sew". An obsolete or dialectal preterit of sow^.
sewage (sii'fij), «. [< setc-, the apparent base
of .veirerS, +'-age. Cf. sewerage.'] 1. The mat-
ter which passes through sewers ; excreted and
waste matter, solid and liquid, carried off in
sewers and drains. Also sewei-age.
Rivers which have received sewage, even if that sewage
has been purified before ita discharge into them, are not
safe sources of potable water.
E. Frankland, Chemistry, p. 55S.
2. Same as sewerage, 1. [An objectionable use.]
= Syn. See sewerage.
sewage (sii'aj),t;. t.; pret. and yp.sewaged, ppr.
sewaging. [< sewage, «.] 1. To fertilize by
the application of sewage. [Eecent.]
In irrigated meadows, though in a less degree than on
seipaged land, the reduction of the amount, or even the ac-
tual suppression, of certain species of plants is occasion-
ally well-marked. EiKyc. Brit., XIII. 364.
2. To furnish with sewers ; drain with sewers ;
sewer. Encyc. Diet.
sewage-funglis (su'aj-fung'gus), n. A name
applied, especially by engineers, to Beggiatoa
alba, a schizomycetous fungus found in sul-
phureted waters and the waters discharged
from manufactories and sewage-works, it has
the remarkable power of extracting sulphur from the
water and storing it up in the form of minute refringent
globules.
sewage-grass (sii'aj-gras), n. Grass grown upon
se waged land; grass manured by the applica-
tion of sewage.
That sewage-grass is very Inferior to normal herbage.
Science, XI. 168.
sewantt, n. and n. See suant.
sewelt, sewellt, «• See shewel.
sewellel (se- wel'^el), «. [Amer. Ind. : see quot. ]
A rodent mammal of the family Haplodontidx,
Haplodon rufus, inhabiting Washington and
Oregon and parts of California. It is most nearly
related to the beaver, but resembles the muskrat in size,
shape, and general appearance, except that it has almost
no tail. The length is about a foot. The color is uniform
rich dark brown, paler and grayer below. It is not aquat-
ic, lives in burrows, and feeds on roots, herbs, and seeds.
A second species is sometimes distinguished as H. catifor'
nicus. The name sewellel first appears in print in this
form in the "Travels" of Lewis and Clarke, where the
authors say "setmllel is a name given by the natives to a
small animal found in the timbered country." On this
animal Rafinesque based his Anisonyx rufa (whence Hap-
lodon rv/us of CouesX and Richardson his Aplodoniia lepo-
rina. See Haplodon. Also called boomer and Trwuntainr
beaver.
Its name, in the Nisqually language, is showt'l (show-
kurll, Suckley). . . . The Yakima Indians call it squallah.
. . . The Chinook name for the animal itself is o-gwool-lal.
She-wal-lal {sewellel, corrupt) is their name for the robe
made of its skins.
Quoted in Coues, Monographs of North American
[Bodentia (1877), pp. 596, 597.
sewen, ». See setcin. ,
sewentt, a. See suant.
seweri (s6'6r), n. [< ME. sewer, soicare, sawere;
<.seK;l + -erl.] One who sews oruses the needle.
Euery semant that ys of the forsayd crafte [tailors] that
takyt wagys to the waylor of xx. s. and a-boff e, schall pay
xz. d. to be a ffre sawere to us.
English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 314.
A sewer, fllator, sutor-trlx. Cath. Ang., p. 331.
Specifically — (a) In bookbinding, the operator, usually a
woman, who sews together the sections of a book. (6) In
entom., the larva of a tortricid moth, one of the leaf-
rollers or leaf-folders, as Pkoxopleris nubectdana, the ap-
ple-leaf sewer.
sewer^t (sii'er), n. [Early mod. E. also sewar ;
< ME. sewer, seicare, prob. short for assewer, as-
seour, which also occur, in household ordinances
and accounts: < AP. asseour (ML. adscssor),
one who sets tne table, < asseoir, set, place, orig.
intr., Bit by, < ML. assidere, sit by, assess, < L.
ad, to, by, + sedere, sit: see sit, assize, assess.
Cf . sew*. The word seems to have been eon-
fused with sew^, now sue, follow (as if 'an at-
tendant'), or with sew^, juice, broth (as if 'a
kitchen officer ' or ' a cook ') .] A person charged
5534
with the service of the table, especially a head
servant or upper servant in such a capacity.
To be a sewere y wold y bed the connynge ; . . .
y wold se the sijt of a Sewere what wey he shewethe in
sernynge. Babees Book (E. E. T. 8.), p. 161.
Why are not you gone to prepare yourself?
May be you shall be seicer to the first course,
A portly presence ! Fletcher, Rule a Wife, iiL 1.
Sewer^ (su'fer), n. [Early mod. E. also sewar,
sure, also shore (where sh is due to the pron. of
s before the diphthongal ew or u); also dial.
(Sc.) siner (like skiver = skewer); < late ME.
sewer, earlier "sewere (AL. sewera, sucra), <
OF. seuwiere, a canal, as for conducting water
to a mill, or for draining a pond, < ML. as if
"cxaquaria, equiv. to cxaquatorium, a canal for
di'aining, < L. ex, out, + aqua, water: see cwe^.
Similarly, E. ewer^, a water-bearer, is ult. < L.
aquarius, and ewer^, a water-pitcher, ult. < ML.
aquaria: see ewer^, ewer^. The word scwer'^
has appar. been confused with sew^, drain.]
1. A conduit or canal constructed, especially
Qonoo
Cross-sections of Sewers.
A, B, C, D, E, forms used in London, Paris, and other Eurxipean
cities ; F, G, H, I, J, K, L, special forms used in New York and other
American cities. F shows a method of repairing with tiles the Ixittom
of an oval sewer : n, concrete ; />, i', tiles. G, tile-bottomed sewer ;
tj, tile bottom. H, barrel sewer, also called truni: snuer, of wood
bound with iron, for outlets at river-fronts, with a manliole at the top,
used under piers, etc. I, a form used for large sewers : e, foundation ;
a, stonework ; *, concrete ; r, an inverted arch of brickwork ; d, aic\\.
f. section of pipe-sewer. K, half-section of sewer having section shni-
ar to B.but also provided with a spandrel, (7. L, the aqueduct form,
used for large sewers only ; it rests on a bed of concrete, c.
in a town or city, to carry off superfluous water,
soil, and other matters; a pxiblic drain.
Hect Goodnight, sweet lord Menelaus.
Thcr. .Sweet draught : sweet quoth-a? sweet sinke, sweet
sure. Shak., T. and C. (ed. 1628), v. 1. 83.
Ay, marry, now you speak of a trade [informer] indeed ;
. . . the common-sAore of a city ; nothing falls amiss into
them. Shirley, Love Tricks, i. 1.
Thither flow.
As to a common and most noisome sewer.
The dregs and feculence of every land.
Cowper, Task, i. 683.
2. In anat. and zool., a cloaca Courts of Com-
missioners of Sewers, in England, temporary tribunals
with authority over all defenses, whether natural or arti-
ficial, situate by the coasts of the sea, all rivers, water-
courses, etc., either navigable or entered by the tide, or
which directly or indirectly communicate with such rivers.
— Open sewer, a sewer of which the channel is open to
the air, instead of being concealed underground or covered
in.
sewer^ (sti'er), t). f. [< sewer^, n.] To drain by
means of sewers ; provide with sewers.
A few years ago the place was seivered, with the result
of a very substantial saving of life from all causes, and
notably from phthisis. Lancet, No. 3430, p. 1056.
sewerage (sii'er-aj), n. [< sewerS -h -age.] 1.
The process or system of collecting refuse and
removing it from dwellings by means of sewers.
2. A system of sewers : as, the .sewerage of Lon-
don.— 3. Same as sewage, l.=Syn. Sewerage, Srnv-
age. Sewerage is generally applied to the system of sew-
ers, and sewage to the matter carried off.
sewer-basin (su'er-ba'sn), n. A catch-basin
connected with a sewer, usually by a trap-
device.
sewer-gas (sii'er-gas), ». The contaminated
air of sewers.
sewer-hunter (sii'6r-hun"t6r), n. One who
hunts in sewers for articles of value.
The mud-larks, the bone-grubbers, and the sewer-hunt-
ers. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I. 5.
8ewernian(su'er-man), n.; pi. setvermen (-men).
[< sewer^ + man.] A man who works in sew-
ers.
Sewers unhealthy ! Look at our stalwart sewermen.
N. and Q., 7th ser., IV. 191.
sewer-rat (su'fer-rat), ». The ordinary gray
or brown Norway rat, Mus decumanus : so called
as living in sewers.
The sewer-rat is the common brown or Hanoverian rat,
said by the Jacobites to have come in with the first George,
and established itself after the fashion of his royal family.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II. 489.
sewin, sewen (sii'in, -en), n. [< W. sewyn, a
grayling, sewin.] The scurf, Salmo trutta cam-
hricus.
Sewin . . . are the very best fish I catch.
k. D. Blackmore, Maid of Sker, i.
sewing-machine
sewing' (so'ing), n. [< ME. sewynge ; verbal n.
of .se«l, J'.] 1. The act or occupation of one
who sews or uses the needle.
X sewynge; filatura, sutura. Cath. Ang., p. 331.
2. A piece of work with needle and thread. —
3. In bookbinding, the operation of fastening
together with thread the sections of a book.
Tlic thread is passed through the central douljle leaf of
the folded section at intervals of about 1^ inches, and re-
versed around the cross-bands from tlie top to the bottom
of the book. It is distinct from stitching.
4. pi. Compound threads of silk wound,
cleaned, doubled, and thrown, to be used for
sewing. — 5. In lace-making, the operation of
securing one piece of lace to another by any
process, as when fresh threads and bobbins are
introduced into the work, or when finished
pieces are combined by working the background
to both of them — Plain sewing, needlework of a sim-
ple and useful sort, as the manufacture of garments, prepa-
ration of bed-linen, and the like.
sewing^t (su'ing), n. [< ME. sewynge; verbal
n. of sew3, v.] The serving of food; the duty
of a sewer or server.
Than goo to the horde of sewynge, and se ye haue offy-
cers redy to conuey, & seruautes for to here, your dysshes.
Babees Book(E. E. T. S.^ p. 270.
sewing^t, a. and n. See suing.
sewing-bench (so'ing-bench), n. Same as sew-
ing-press.
sewing-bird (so'ing-bferd), «. A clamp used
by women to hold fabrics in position for stitch-
ing by hand . The bird is screwed to the edge of a table
or the like ; and its beak, which closes by a spring and can
be opened by a lever actuated by the tail, holds the mate-
rial. It is now little used. Compare sewing-clamp.
sewing-circle (sd'ing-ser"kl), n. 1. A society
of women or girls who meet regularly to sew for
the benefit of eharital^e or religious objects.
Sewing-circles are maintained in the most populous
neighborhoods. ... A circle sews, not for the poor, for
there are none, but for some public object like an organ
for the Sunday meeting or a library for the Sunday school.
The Century, XL. 663.
2. A meeting of such an organization.
sewing-clamp (so'ing-klamp), n. A clamp for
holding firmly
material to be
sewed ; especial-
ly, in saddlery, a
stout clamp for
holding leather
while it is being
stitched. Com-
pare sewing-bird.
sewing-cotton
(s6'ing-kot"n),
«. Cotton thread
made for plain
sewing in white
or printed cot-
ton goods.
sewing-horse
(so ' ing -.hors),
n. In saddlery,
a sewing-clamp
with its sup-
ports.
sewinglyt, ado.
See suingly.
hf
Sewing-horse,
rt, seat; b, legs; c, c' , clauipin^-jaws,
c' hinged to c at d; e, strap fastened to
c' passing through c, and attached by the
chainyto the foot-lever^, the latter pivoted
at h; i, spring which opens the jaws when
not pulled together by e; k, ratch which ^
engages to hold the jaws together.
sewing-machine (so'ing-ma-shen*), »• 1. A
machine for stitching fabrics, operated by foot
or other power. The sewing-machine is the outgrowth
of a very great number of experiments and inventions made
in France, England, and the Lnited States, and tlrst cul-
minating practically in the machine invented by Elias
Howe. It was developed through the simple type of ma-
chine using a needle which passes through the fabric — a
type which sur-
^ fit 0„ vivesintheBonnaz
* ■ '^ or embroidery ma-
chine. Then fol-
lowed the chain-
stitch machine
and the machines
making an inter-
woven stitch, and
^ lastly came the
lock-stitch ma-
chines, which are
the most approved
type at the pres-
ent day. The va-
rious kinds of sew-
ing-machines are
all essentially
alike, and have
been adapted, by
the aid of numer-
ous mechanical at-
tachments and de-
vices, to perform
almost every kind of sewing that can be done by hand. In
figs. 1 and 2 (Singer sewing-machine) a is the frame and
cloth-plate or bed-plate ; 6, arm ; c, treadle ; e, pitman ; d,
main driving-wheel ; /, band ; g^ small driving-wheel at-
Singer Sewing-machin
sewing-machine
tached to shaft A; i, take-up caia with set-screw ; j, take-
up lever with roller aud stud; k, presser-bar carrying
Singer Sewing-machine.
presser-f oot ; /, needle-bar; m, spool-pin; n, shuttle-pit-
man taking motion from crank o; p, shuttle bell-crank;
a. shuttle-carrier and shuttle ; r, thread-guide ; s, tension-
disk ; t, drawers. In fig. 3 a is
the body of shuttle for the same ^
machine; 6, the tension-spring; ^ *
C, the Iwbbin. In figs. 4 and 5 / ^-c:::^ C^
(Wheeler and Wilson machine) Wf''^^^^\-^ y^
a is the frame; b, shaft-crank ^ ,^^5^
which rocks the hook-shaft e, re-
ceiving its motion from the dou- ^ v^;;;;:::...;.:.jg:::;:'.:iy
ble crank on the upper sliaft e' in I
the arm ^through the shaft-con- '
nection c; d. band-wheel turned ** *
by a tnmd (not shown) from a
wheel on a treadle-shaft below the table ; /, feed-cam ; h,
feed-bar; »\ bobbin-case; j, rotating book which is at-
5535
Ity the looper ^ ; 2, vertically reciprocating needle-bar; n,
needle-bar nut which clamps the needle in the needle-bai;
both parts being moved together by the rock-lever p,
pivoted by the lever-stud ar' and having its shorter end
connected with the crank on shaft b by the connecting-rod
z"; m, presser-foot attached to the vertically movable
presser-bar q, which is raised by the lifter r ; o, needle-bar
screw ; s, take-up, through which and through the pull-off
« (a hole in the side of the lever i)) the thread passes from
a apofll on the spool-pin holder w when the machine is
working; r. spool-pin; x, automatic tension, under the
cap of which the thread is passed on its way from the
spool to the pull-off ; y, tension-rod ; t, embroidery -spring,
used only in embroidering, in which work the thread is
also passed through its loop ; z, ball-joint connecting the
rod z" with the lever p; 2f", cap. See also cuts under
pres8er-/ooU
2. In bookbinding^ a machine used for sewing
together the sections of a book Hand sewing-
macMne. (a) A form of sewing-machine having pivoted
jaws working like scissors, one part containing the twbbin
and looping-hook, imd the other the needle. There are
various forms. (6) A small sewing-machine operated by
hand. — Sewing-machine gage, a device connected with
a sewing-machine for Kuidin^ the fabric to the needle in
a direction parallel with the eflge, hem, etc., at the will
of the operator. — Sewing-macMne hool^ in the mecha-
nism of a sewing-machine, a device by which the needle-
thread is caught and opened beneath the work, so as to
form a loop, through which the next stitch is passed.—
Sewing-machine needle, a needle used in a sewing-ma-
chine. Tlifse needles ditfer widely in size, form, etc., but
agree in having the eye near the point.
sewing-needle (so'ing-ne'dl), ». A needle used
in ordinary sewing, as distinguished from a sail-
needle, ail embroidery-needle, and others.
sewing-press (so'ing-pres), n. In bookbinding,
a platform with upright rods at each end, con-
J'
4 / e o d
Fiff. 4. Wheeler and Wilson Sewinf^Hnachine.
tached to < and a«cillat«s wlUi it ; t, bobbin-bolder ; I,
fttntm; m, praaer-sprini; ; n, needle-bar Unit; o, needle-
bar; p, take-up lever; 7, take-ap cam;
r, spool-holder; «, thread-leader; t,
face-plate covering parta ( to |> inclu-
•lve(Dg. 4); V, preuer thamb-acrew ; v,
thread-check ; Xt tenaion-nat by which
tension is reffalated ; y, tenalou-pulley
aroand which the tbrasd is wound, and
which is cansed to turn less or more
easily by the nut x; z, thread-guide and
-controller; r", preseer-loot In flg. 6
(same machine) a is the bobbin-case;
e, bobbin ; b, thread wound on bobbin ;
d, projection from bobbin-case which
keeps it from turning ; 0, thread leading
out ; and in Dg. 7 a is the bobbin-holder,
pirtly opened to show hix>k b, anil bob-
bin-case c; d, feed-polnt«; c, presser-
foot. In (Ig. 8 (Willcox and (iibbs ma-
chine) a is the frame, which In use Is
fastened to the stand and which sup-
ports all the working parts except the treadle, main driv-
ing-wheel and its crankshaft (not shown in the cut) ; b.
Fig. 5.
Fie. «.
shaft of small driving-wheel c, which Is driven by the belt
d from the main driving-wheel ; e, stitch-regulator, which.
Fig. S. WiUcox and GibU Sewingmachine.
throaghthelinki, regulates thereciprocating motion of the
feed-bar A anil attached feed-surface;' and hence also the
length of the stitches, when it Is tunied Into dilterent posi-
tions nuni}MT<;<l on its perimeter, which show through a slot
In the cloth-plate k; /, rucker carrying at its upper extrem-
<>, table wiUi slot i. through which the cords c pass ; J. staples by
which the lower ends of the cords are held from passing thtouKh the
slot when stretched ; f, adjustable bar around wliicb the upper ends
of tlie cords are looped ; A screw-threaded rods upon whichtfienuts^
are turned, to adjust the bar f ; h, h', boolE-sectuos to be stitched to
the conls : i, grooves cut in the backs of the sections for reception of
the cords : /, iseedle and thread, illustratiiiK roetliod of stitching.
nected by a top crosspiece, on which strings are
fastened, and to which the different sections of
an intended book are successively sewed.
sewin^-silk (»6'ing-silk). n. Silk thread made
for tailors and dressmakers, and also for knit-
ting, embroidery, or other work. The liner and
closely twisted is that which generally bears this name,
the others l>eing called finbroidfry-KUks, flnm-giik, etc.—
China sewlll^-sllk, fine white sewing-silk used by glove-
iM.-ikcrs. !Hrt. of SeedUvDork.
sewing-table (so'ing-ta'bl),n. 1. A table con-
structed to hold all the implements for needle-
work.— 2. In bookbinding, a table for the sew-
ing-press to stand upon.
sewn (son). A past participle of *etpl.
sewster (sd'stir), n. [< ME. sewstare, sowstare,
< sew^ + ster. Cf. seamster and spinster.'] A
woman who sews; a seamstress. [Obsolete or
prov. Eng.]
Smnlare, or sowstare (sowaresX Sntrlx.
Prompt. Pan., p, 464.
At every twisted thrid my rock let fly
Unto the mvnter, who did sit me nigh.
B. Jonton, Sad Shepherd, U. 1.
sewtt, 1. and V. An obsolete spelling of suit.
aexl (seks), n. [< ME. sexe, cexe, < OF. (and F.)
scxe = Pr. sexe = 8p. Pg. sexo = It. sesso, < Li.
sexus, also secus, sex ; perhaps orig. ' division,'
i. e. 'distinction,' < secare, divide, cut: see
secant. A less specific designation for ' sex '
was L. genus = Gr. yivoc, sex, gender: see gen-
der, genus.'] 1. The character of being either
male or female; the anatomical and physio-
logical distinction between male and female,
evidenced by the physical character of their
ffenerative organs, and the part taken by each
in the function of reproduction ; gender, with
reference to living organisms. Sex is properly
predicable only of male or female, those organisms which
are neither male nor female being sexless or neuter. But
the two 81'xes are often contbiiied in the same individual,
then saiil to be hermaphrodite or moixecious. Sex runs
nearly throughout the animal kingdom, even down to the
sezagene
protozoans, with, however, many exceptions here and there
among hermaphrodites. The distiuction of sex is proba-
bly the most profound and most nearly universal single
attribute of organized beings, and among the higher ani-
mals at least it is accompanied or marked by some psycho-
logical as well as physical characteristics. The essential
attribute of the male sex is the generation of spermatozoa,
that of the female the generation of ova. accomplished in
the one case by a testis or a homologous organ, and in
the other by an ovary or a homologous organ. The act
of procreation or begetting in the male is the uniting of
spermatozoa to an ovum ; the corresponding function in
the female is the fecundation of an ovum by spermatozoa,
resulting in conception or impregnation. The organs by
wliich this result is accomplished are extremely varied in
physical character ; and various organs which characterize
either sex, besides those directly concerned in the repro-
ductive act, are known as secondary sexual characters.
See getuter, (fetieration, reproditction, and quotation from
Buck under sexuality, 1.
Under his forming hands a creature grew.
Manlike, but different sex. Milton, P. L., vilL 471.
2. Either one of the two kinds of beings, male
and female, which are distinguished by sex:
males or females, collectively considered and
contrasted.
Think you I am no stronger than my gex,
Being so father'd and so husbanded ?
SAat., J. C.,ii. 1.296.
Which two great sexes animate the world.
MUton, P. L., vUl. 161.
3. Especially, the female sex; womankind, by
way of emphasis: generally with the definite
article.
Twice are the Men instructed by thy Muse,
Nor must she now to teach the Sex refuse.
Conffreve, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love.
Not that he had no cares to vex ;
He loved the Muses and th^ sex.
Byron, Mazeppa, Iv.
4. In bat., the character or structure of plants
which corresponds to sex in animals, there
being, except in the lowest orders, a clear dif-
ferentiation of male and female elements. In
flowering plants the male organ is the stamen, the female
the pistil ; in cryptogams different designations are used
according to the class of plants, as antheridium, archego-
nlum, etc. See mule^, a., 2, and n., 2; female, n., 2(&),and
a., 2 (6); and Linnean system, under Liniiean. — The fair
sex, the gentle (or gentler) sex, the softer sex, the
weaker sex, tlie female sex collectively ; womankind.
H'hiefly colloq.j — The Sterner sex, the male sex collec-
tively : opposed to the genOe (or gentler) sex. [Chietly
coUoq.J
sexi (seks), V. t. [< «exi, m.] To ascertain the
sex of (a specimen of natural history); mark
or label as male or female. [CoUoq.]
The still more barbarous phrase of " collecting a speci-
men ** and then of "sexing" It.
A. Newton, Zoologist) Sd ser., XII. 101.
86X^1 a. and n. An obsolete or dialectal form
of six.
sexadecimal (sek-sa-des'i-mal), a. [Prop.'sea;-
(Itfinidl, < Ij. seidecim, sedecini, sixteen, < sex, =
E. .«)>, + decent = E. ten.] Sixteenth ; relating
to si.xtoen.
sexagecuple (sek-saj'e-ku-pl), a. [Irreg. and
barbarous; < L. sexag(inta), sixty, + -c-tiple, as
in decuple.] Proceeding by sixties: as, a sex-
aiirrnplc T&tio. Pop. Encyc. (Imp. Diet.)
sexagenal (sek-saj'e-nal), a. [< L. sexageui,
sixty each (see sexagenary), -t- -al.] Same as
si'xngoiiir!/.
sexagenariail (sek'sa-je-na'ri-an), a. and n. [<
L. sexagenarius, belonging to sixty (see sexage-
nary), + -an.] I, a. Sixty years old ; sexage-
nary.
n. ». A person sixty years of age, or between
sixty and seventy.
sexagenary (sek-saj'e-na-ri), a. and «. [< OF.
.leiugennire, V . sexaginaire = Sp. Pg. sexagena-
rio = It. sessagenario, < L. sexagenarius, belong-
ing to sixty, < sexageni, sixty each, distributive
of sexaginta, sixty, = E. sixty: see sixty.] I.
a. Pertaining to the number sixty; composed
of or proceeding by sixties ; specifically, sixty
years old; sexagenarian. Also sexagenal.
1 count it strange, and hard to understand.
That nearly all young poets should write old ;
That Vopc was sexagenary at sixteen,
And beardless Byron academical.
Mrs. Browning, Aurora Leigh, I.
Sexagenary arithmetic, same as sexagesimal arithme-
tic (which see, under sexagesimal). — Sexagenary cycle.
See ci/c/ei.— Sexagenary table, a table of proportional
parts for unita ana sixtieths.
II. «. ; pi. sexagenaries (-riz). 1. A sexage-
narian.
The lad can sometimes be as dowlf as a sexagenary like
myself. Scott, Waverley, ililL
2. A thing composed of sixty parts or contain-
ing .sixty.
sexagene (sek'sa-jen), n. [< L. sexageni, sixty
each: s^-c sexagenary .] An arc or angle of 60° ;
a sixth of a circumference. See sexagesimal
fractions, under sexagesimal.
sexagene
Astronomers, for speed ami more commodious calcula-
tion, have devistHl a peculiar manner of ordering numbers
about their cin-ular motions, by sexagenes and sexii^esins,
by si^ns, degrees, miuut«8, etc.
Dm, Preface to Euclid (1.570).
Sezagesima (sek-sa-jes'i-mii), II. [Earlier in
E. fcgrru, ME. sejrageii/m, < OP*, sexa^jesimc, F. sex-
afiesime = Sp. sexagesima = Pg. sexagesima =
It. sesagesima ; < ML. sexagesima, se. dies, the
sixtieth day, fern, of L. seiagesimus,ea,T\\eT sex-
agensimus, sexagensumus, sixtieth, for 'scxagen-
timus, ordinal of sexaginta, sixty: see sexage-
nary, sixty.'] The second Sunday before Lent.
Sec Septuagesima.
sexagesimal (sek-sa-jes'i-mal), <i. and n. [< L.
sexngiaimiis. sixtiet'li (see Sexagesima), + -al.'\
I. a. Sixtietli ; pertaining to the number sixty.
—Sexagesimal or sexagenary arithmetic, a method
of computation liy sixties, as that which is used in divid-
ing minutes into seconds. It took its orisin in Baby-
lon.—Sexagesimal fractions, or sexagesimals, frac-
tions whoee denominators proceed in the ratio of sixty :
**' 1^. lAp nJinj- These fractions .tre also called astro-
iwmictufra^umg, because formerly there were no others
used in astronomical calculations. They are still retained
in the division of the circle and of the hour. The circle
is first divided into six sexagenes, the sexagene into sixty
degrees, the degree intti sixty minutes, the minute into
sixty seconds, and so on. The hour is divided like the
degree ; and in old writers the radius of a circle in the
same manner.
H. n._ A sexagesimal fraction. See I.
sexagesimally (sek-sa-jes'i-mal-i), adv. By six-
tiet!.
So the talent of the 80 grain system was sexaffeximally
divided for the mina which was afterwards adopted by So-
lon. EncDC. Bril., XXIV. 489.
sexagesm (sek'sit-jesm), n. [< L. sexagesimiis,
sixtieth: see Sexagesima.'] A sixtieth part of
any unit. See sexagene.
Sexagesymt, «• A Middle English form of Sex-
(ujcsinia.
sexangle (sek'sang-gl), n. [< L. sexanguhis,
six-cornered, hexagonal, < sex, six, + anguhin,
angle.] In geom., a figure having six angles,
and consequently six sides; a hexagon.
sexangled (sek'sang-gld), a. [As sexangle +
-f'/-'.] Same as sexangular.
sexangular (sek-sang'gu-lar), a. [< L. sexan-
giiliis, hexagonal (see sexangle), + -ar^.'] Hav-
ing six angles ; hexagonal.
sexangularly (sek-sang'gu-lilr-li), adv. With
six angles; hexagonally.
sexation (sek-sa'shon), n. [< sexi -t- -ation.'j
Sexual generation ; genesis by means of oppo-
site sexes. See generation.
sexcentenary (sek-sen'te-na-ri), «. and n. [<
L. xex, six, + E. centenary.'] ' I. a. Relating to
or consisting of six hundred, especially six hun-
dred years ; made up of or proceeding by groups
of six hundred.
Bernoulli's Sexcentenary Table.
PhilmophicaZ Wag., XXV. 2d p. of cover.
Oxford was represented at the sexcentenary festival of
the University of Montpellier.
The Academy, May 31, 1890, p. 371.
n. «.; ■p\. sexcentenaries (,-Tiz). 1. That which
consists of or comprehends six hundred (com-
monly the space of six hundred years). — 2. A
six-hundredth anniversary.
sexdigitate (seks-dij'i-tat), a. [< L. sex, six,
+ digitus, finger: see digitate.] Having six
fingers or toes on one or both hands or feet, as
an anomaly of occasional oeourrence in man ;
six-fingered or six-toed. See cut under poly-
d'lctylism. Also sedigitated.
sexdigitism (seks-dij'i-tizm), n. [< L. sex, six,
+ digitus, a finger, + -ism.] The possession
of six fingers or toes on one or both hands or
feet; the state of being sexdigitate. It is a par-
ticular case of the more comprehensive term
fioli/dactylism.
8exdigitist(8eks-dij'i-tist), n. [^As sexdigit(ism)
+ -ist.] A six-fingered or six-toed person;
one who or that which exhibits or is character-
ized by sexdigitism.
sexed (sekst), a. [< sex^ + -ed^.] 1. Having
sex; sexual; not being sexless or neuter. — 2.
Having certain qualities of either sex.
stay, Sophocles, with this tie up my sight ;
Let not soft nature so transformed be
(And lose her gentle sex'd humanitle)
To make me see my Lord bleed.
Beau, and Ft., Four Plays in One.
Shamelesse double sex'd hermaphrodites,
Virago roaring girles.
John Taylor, Works (1630). (Nares.)
sexennial (sek-sen'i-al), a. [Cf. F. sexennal;
< L. sexennium ( > It. sessennio = Sp. sexenio =
Pg. sexennio), a period of six years, < sex, six,
+ annua, year : see six and annals.] Lasting
5536
six years, or happening once in six years. Imp.
Diet.
sexennially (sek-sen'i-al-i), adv. Once in six
years.
sexfid (seks'fid), a. [< L. sex, six, + findcre, pp.
Jissus, cleave, separate: see bite.] In bot., six-
cleft : as, a sexfid calyx or nectary.
sexfoil (seks'foil), n. [< L. sex, six, + E. fml\
< li. folium, leaf.] 1. A plant or flower with
six leaves. — 2. In her., decorative art, arch.,
Sexfoil.— clearstory window of St. Leu d'Esserent, France.
etc., a figure of six lobes or foliations, similar
in character to the oinquefoil. Also sisefoil (in
heraldry).
sexhindmant (seks-Mnd'man), n. [ML. or ME.
reflex of AS. sixhynde-man, < six, syx, siex, six,
+ hund, hundred, + man, man.] In early Eng.
hist., one of the middle thanes, who were as-
sessed at 600 shillings.
sexiant (sek'si-ant), re. A function whose van-
ishing shows that six screws are reciprocal to
one.
sexifid (sek'si-fid), a. Same as sexfid.
sexillion (sek-sil'yon), n. Same as sextillion.
sexisyllabic (sek'sl'-si-lab'ik), a. [< L. sex, six,
+ syllaba, syllable, + -ic] Having six sylla-
bles.
The octosyllabic with alternate sexisyllabic or other
rhythms. Emerson, Letters and Social Aims, p. 41.
sexisyllable (sek'si-sil-a-bl), n. [< L. sex, six,
+ .sj/Hafea, syllable: see'syllable.] A word hav-
ing six syllables.
sexivalent (sek-siv'a-lent), a. [< L. sex, six,
+ mlcn{t-)s, ppr. of valere, have strength or
power: sexvalent.] Inc7(C»(.,havingan equiva-
lence of six ; capable of combining with or be-
coming exchanged for six hydrogen atoms.
Also .sexvalent.
sexless (seks'les), a. [< ,sexi + -less.] Having,
or as if having, no sex ; not sexed ; neuter as
to gender,
uttered only by the pure lips of sexless priests.
Kingsley, Hypatia, xviii. (Davies.)
sexlessness (seks'les-nes), re. The condition or
character of being without sex ; absence of sex.
sexlocular (seks-lok'fi-lar), a. [< L. sex, six,
+ loculus, a cell : see locular. ] Six-celled ; hav-
ing six cells, loculi, or compartments.
sexly (seks'li), a. [< sex'^ -f- -ly^.] Belonging
to or characteristic of sex, especially of the
female sex. [Rare.]
Should I ascribe any of these things to my sexly weak-
nesses, I were not worthy to live.
Queen Elizabeth. (Imp. Diet.)
sexpartite (seks'par-tit), a. [< L. sex, six, +
partitus, divided: see partite.] Consisting of
sextant
or divided (whether for ornament or in con-
struction) into six parts, as a vault, an arch-
head, or any other structure, etc.
The arrangement and forms of the piers [of Senlis cathe-
dral ! indicate that the original vaults were sexpartite.
C. U. Moore, Gothic Architecture, p. 38.
sexradiate (seks-ra'di-at), a. [< L. sex, six, +
radius, a ray : see radiate.] Having six rays,
as a sponge-spicule.
Growth in three directions along three rectangular axes
produces the primitive sexradiate spicule of the Hexacti-
nellida. Encyc. Brit., XXII. 416.
sext, sexte (sekst), re. [< F. sexte = Sp. Pg.
,vexfa = It. scsta, < ML. sexta, sc. hora, the sixth
hotir, fem. of L. sextus, sixth (= E. sixth), < sex,
six: see six, sixth. Cf. siesta, from the same
source.] 1. In the Roman Catholic and Greek
churches, in religious houses, and as a devo-
tional oflice in the Anglican Church, the oflice
of the sixth hour, originally and properly said
at midday. See canonical hours, mider canoni-
cal.— 2. In music: (a) The interval of a sixth.
(6) In organ-building, a mixture-stop of two
ranks separated by a sixth — that is, consisting
of a twelfth and a seventeenth.
sextactic (seks-tak'tik), a. [< L. sex, six, -1- tac-
tus, touch : see tact.] Pertaining to a six-pointic
contact — Sextactic points on a cvirve, points at
which a conic can be drawn having six-pointic contact with
the curve.
sextain (seks'tan), n. [< F. *scxtain = It. ses-
tano, < ML. as if *sextanus, < L. sextus, sixth,
< sex, six: see six. Cf. sestina.] A stanza of
six lines.
sextan (seks'tan), a. [< ML. *sexta)ius, < L.
sextus, sixth. Cf. sextain.] Recurring every
sixtli day — Sextan fever. Seefeveri.
sextans (seks'tanz), n. [L., a sixth part, < sex,
six: see sextant.] 1. A bronze coin of the an-
cient Roman republic, in value one sixth of the
as. (Seen.?*.) The obverse type is the head of Mercury;
the reverse type, the prow of a vessel, and two pellets ( • • )
as the mark of value.
2. Icaj).] In rt6<)o»., a constellation introduced
by Hevelius in 1690. it represents the instrument
used by Tycho Brahe in Uranienborg (island of Hven,
Sweden), but it is placed between Leo and Hydra, two
animals of a fiery nature according to the astrologers, to
commemorate the burning of his own instruments and
papers in 1679. The brightest star of the constellation is of
magnitude 4.5, Also called Uranies Sextans, and Sextant.
sextant (seks'tant), re. [< F. sextant = Sp. sex-
tante = Pg. sextante, seistante = It. sestante, <
L. sextan{t-)s, a sixth part (of an as), < sextus,
sixth, < sex, six. Cf. quadrant.] 1. In math.,
the sixth part of a circle. Hence — 2. .An im-
portant instrument of navigation and survey-
Sexpartite Vaulting.— Nave of Boutge:, Cathedral, France.
ing, for measuring the angular distance of
two stars or other objects, or the altitude of a
star above the horizon, the two images being
brought into coincidence by reflection from the
transmitting horizon-glass, lettered 6 in the
figure. The frame of a sextant is generally made of
brass, the arc h being graduated upon a slip of silver. The
handle a is of wood. The mirrors 6 and c are of plate-
glass, silvered. The horizon-glass b is, however, only half
silvered, so that rays from the horizon or other direct ob-
ject may enter the telescope e. This telescope is carried
in the ring d, and is capable of being adjusted, once for
all, by a linear motion perpendicular to the plane of the
sextant, so as to receive proper proportions of light from
the silvered and unsilvered parts of the horizon-glass.
The figure does not show the colored glass shades which
may be interposed behind the horizon-glass and between
this and the index-glass c, upon which the light from one
of the objects is first received, in order to make the con-
tactof the images more distinct. This index-glass is at-
tached to the movable arm /. The movable arm is clamped
by the screw i, and is furnished with a tangent screw j.
The arc is read by means of a veniier carried by the arm.
sextant
with the reading-!ens<7. In the hnnds of a competent ob-
server, the accuracy of work with a sextant is surprising.
The first inventor of the geztant (or quadrant) was New-
ton, among whose papers a description of such an instru-
ment was found after his death — not, however, until aft«r
it* reinvention by Thomas Godfrey, of Philadelphia, in
1730, ajid, perhaps, by Hadley, in 1731.
C/uiuvenet, -\stronomy, II. § 78.
3. [cap.^ S&me as Sextans, 2 Box-sextant, a sur-
veyors'inatmment for measuring angles, and for filling in
the details of a survey, when the theo<lolite is used for long
lines and for laying out the larger triangles. — Prismatic
sextant, a sext;int in which a rectangular prism takes the
place of the common horizon-glass, and with which any
angle up to 180° can be measured,
sextantal (seks'tan-tal), a. [< L. scj-ta>i{t-)s +
-III.] Of or pertaining to the aneient Roman
coin called sextans; pertaining to the division
of tlie as into si.\ parts, or to a system based
on such division.
Bronze coins of the end of the third century, with marks
of value and weights which show them U) belong to the
eextantal system. B. W tiead, Historia Numorum, p. 3S.
seztarius (8ek.s-ta'ri-us), 11.: pi. sextarii (-i).
[L. : see sex(«r«l.] A Roman measure of ca-
pacity, one sixth of a congius, equal to 1} United
States pints or ill imperial pint. Several of the
later Eastern systems had sextarii derived from
tlie Roman, and generally somewhat larger.
sextaryl (seks'ta-ri), «.; pi. «ejfarie« (-riz). [<
L. ncxtiiriiis, a sixth part, also a sixteenth part,
< xcxtKs, sixth, < sex, six: see six. Cf. sexier,
sesler.'] A sextarius.
Then mast the quantity be two drama of castoreum, one
aeztary of honey and oyle, and the like quantity of water.
TopMl, KeasU (leOT), p. 49. (UaUimU.)
sextary-t, »• Same as sex try.
sexte, "• See sexl.
sextent, «. An obsolete spelling of sexton.
sextennial (seks-ten'i-al), a. [< L. seitus,
■ ■ Cf.
sexennial.}
si.xth, + nM«H.», a year, + -nl.
Occurring every sixth year.
In the seventh place, the legislatures of the several
stat«s are balanced against the .senate hy atjrtfnniai elec-
tions. J. Adamt, To J. Taylor (Works, VI. 48S).
sexter (seks't^r), «. [Also sextar, .vf.vter; < ME.
sexier, sexiier, sester, < OF. sexlier, srstier, sep-
tier, setter, a measure (of grain, land, wine, etc. )
of varj'ing value, < L. sexinriux, a measure : see
serUirii^, sextariu.i.'i A unit of capacity, ap-
parently a small variety of the French setter.
Weede hem wel, let noo weede in hem stande ;
V $exter shall suffice an acre lande.
I'aUaditu, Husbondrie (E. G. T. S.). p. 100.
In the time of Edward the Confessor the sheriffwick of
Warwick, with the borongh and r*jyal manors, rendered
£<J5. and "thirty-six mxtar* of honey, or £.-iA ti«. instead
of honey (pro omnibus (luse ad mel jiertinetiantx . . . .Vow
... it renders twenty-four texUirt of honcv of the larger
measure." Encye. Brit., -XXIV. 3'«).
Bextem (seks't^m), «. [< L. sex, six, + -tern,
as in iiuiirtern.l A set of six sheets: a unit of
tale for paper. Kncye. Brit., XVIII. \U.
sexteryt, »• Same as sextrp.
sextet, sextette (seks-tet ), h. [< L. sextus,
sixth (s.■c<,s■«xf).+ -<•^-<■«e. Ct.sistet] l.IntWB-
sie: {a) A work for six voices or Instruments.
Compare 7K«rfcf and (/Minfef. AXsosestet, sextunr .
(h) A company of six performers who sing or
play sextets. — 2. A bicycle for six riders.
sextette (seks-tet'to), «. Same as sextel.
Sextian (seks'ti-an), n. [< Sextus (see def.) +
-iiiii.} A meml>er of a philosophical school at
Koine in the period of the empire, followers of
Sextus Rmpiricus. The Sextians held views
intermediate l)etwcen those of the Cynics,
Stoics, anil Prthagoreans.
Seztic (seks'tik). ii. and n. [< L. sextus, sixth,
+ -<'■•] I. "• Of the sixth degree; of the sixth
orilcr.— Sextlc trarve. .See curve.
II. ". A quantic, or e(|uation, of the sixth
degree ; also, a curve of the sixth order An-
barmonlc-ratio sextic, the equation of the sixth degree
which gives the six anharmonic ratios of the rvots of an
e^inatiuti of tlic fourth degree.
Sextile (seks'til). (I. r= F. Sp. Pg. sextil = It.
si'slile, < L. .lextilis, sixth, used only in the cal-
endar, sc. m<H.iix, the sixth month (later called
Amiustiis, August), < sextus, sixth, <j»ex, six: see
six. Cf. ItissKxtile.} In astrol., noting the as-
I>ect or position of two planets when distant
from each other sixtv degrees or two signs.
'Iliis position is marked thus, *. The sextile, like the
trine, was considered one of the good aspects ; the square
or qnartile an evil one. Used also as a noun.
That planet (the moon] receives the dusky light we dis-
cent in its textUr aspect from the earth s beiiigidty.
(ilanrille. Vanity of Ihtglnutlzing, xviil.
And yet the aspect Is not in trine or nextile.
Hut in the quartile radiation
th* tetragon, which shows an inclination
Avene, and yet admitting of reception.
Hand'ilph, Jealous Lovers, v. 2.
348
5537
seztUlion (seks-til'yon), n. [More prop. sexiU
lioH, < Ij.sex, six {sextus, sixth), + E. (»i)i7/ion.]
According to English and original Italian nu-
meration, a million raised to the sixth power ; a
number represented by unity with thirty-six ci-
phers annexed; according to French numera-
tion, commonly taught in America, a thousand
raised to the seventh power; a thousand quin-
tillions. [For a note on the nomenclature, see
trillion.]
sextilllonth (seks-til'yonth), a. and n. I, a.
Last in a series of sextillion; also, being one
of sextillion equal parts.
II. w. One of sextillion equal parts; the ratio
of unity to sextillion.
sextinet, a. [A false Latin-seeming form, with
sense of E. sixteenth.] Sixteenth.
From that moment to this wztiiie centurie (or, let me not
be taken with a lye, live hundred ninety-eight, that wants
but a paire of yeares to make me a true man) they (the
sands] would no more live under the yoke of the sea.
A'ofhr, Lenten StutIe(Harl. Misc., VL 150).
[Naahe seems to have considered that 1,'98 belonged to
the flfteenth century — an erroneous nomenclature which
has only of recent years passed into complete desuetude.)
Sextm7ariailt (seks-tin-va'ri-ant), ». [< scx-
>(ic) + iniarinnt.] An invariant of the sixth
degree in the coefficients.
sextipartite (seks'ti-par-tit), a. [< L. sextus.
sixth, + piirtitus, pp. ot partire, divide.] Made
into six parts; consisting of six parts; sexpartite.
sextiply (seks'ti-pli), c. t.j pret. and pp. sexti-
plied, ppr. sextiplyiny. [Irreg. (after multiply,
etc.) < L. .«rjf«.s, sixth, + plicare, fold.] To
multiply sixfold.
A treble paire doth our late wracke repaire.
And Bextiplieg our mirth for one mishappe.
i)atrii>x, Microco8mos,p. & (Daoies.)
sexto (seks'to), ». [< L. (NL.) sexto (orig. in
sexto), abl. of sextus, sixth: see sixth. Cf. qunr-
to, oetaro.] A book formed by folding each
sheet into six leaves.
sexto-decimo (.seks't6-des'i-m6).w. [L. (NL.)
sexto (lerinio (orig. «» sexto decimo), abl. of sex-
tus decimus, sixteenth: sextus, sixth; decimus,
tenth.] A sheet of paper when regularly fold-
ed in 10 leaves of equal size: also, a pamphlet
or liook made up of folded sheets of 16 leaves:
usually indicated thus, 16wo or 16° (commonly
reail sixteenmo). Also tised adjectively. When
the size of palmer is not named, the 16mo leaf untrfmmed
is supposed to be of the size 4^ by 6i inches. Also dteimo-
ttxto,
sextole (seks'tol), n. [< L. sextm, sixth, + -ole.]
Same as sextuplet, 2.
sextolet (seks to-let), ». l< sextole + -et.] Same
as srxtuplel, 2.
sexton (.seks'ton), ». [Also dial, saxton (which
appears also in the surname Saxton beside Sex-
ton); early mod. E. also srxten, sexlin ; < ME.
sextein, sexteyne, sexesten, sexestein, contr. of sac-
ristan, secristan, a sexton, sacristan: see sacris-
tan. Cf. .icxfry, similarly contracted.] 1. An
under-officer of a church, whose duty it is to act
as janitor, and who has charge of the edifice,
utensils, furniture, etc. In many Instances the sex-
t4>n also prepares graves and attends burials. Usually, in
the church of England, the sexton is a life-offlcer, but in
the United St«te* he Is hired in the same manner as the
Janitor of any pablic building. See laerittan.
The mxttUn went [weened) weUe than
That be had be a wode man.
if 5. Cantab. ¥i. ii. 38, f. 240. (HaUitceU.)
The nexton of our church Is dead.
And we do lack an honest painful man
Can make a grave, and keep our clock in frame.
Detker and ircM«r(?), Weakest Goeth to the Wall, UL 1.
They went and told the aerfon.
And the serfon toU'd the helL
Hood, Faithless Sally Hrown.
2. In fwfnm., a sexton-beetle; a burying-bectle ;
any member of the genus Secrophorug. See
also cut under Necrophortis.
ScstoDS, or Sexton-tieetles (Nicropktrui), buryinf a dead bird.
sexual
sexton-beetle (seks'ton-be'tl), n. A coleop-
terous insect of the genus yecrophorus : same
as hurying-heetle.
sextoness (seks'ton-es), n. [< sexton + -ess.]
A female .sexton. [Rare.]
still the d-arkness increased, till it reach'd such a pass
That the sextoness hastened to turn on the gas.
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 43.
As the sextoness had personally seen it [the coffin of .Tef-
ferys] before 1803, the discovery of 1810 can only be called
the rediscovery in a manner that made it more public.
N. and Q., 7th ser., II. 162.
sextonryt (seks'ton-ri), n. [Early mod. E. also
scxtenry ; a contraction of sacristntiry, a,s sexton
of sacristan; < sexton + -ry.] Sextonship.
The same inaister retayned to hymselfe but a small
lyueng, and that was the sextenry of our lady churche in
Renes, worthe by yere, if he be resydent, a C. f rankes.
Berners, tr. of Froissart's Chron., II. cxcvii.
sextonship (seks'ton-ship), n. [< sexton +
-ship.] 'rlie office of a sexton.
sextryt (seks'tri), n. [Early mod. E. also sex-
tery, scxtary,saxtry ; < ME. sextrye, a corruption
ot sacristy: see sacristy.] A sacristy; vestry.
A Sextnj, sacrarium. Levinn, Manip. Vocab., p. 106.
Sextry laud, land given to a church or religious house
for the maintenance of a sexton or sacristan.
sextubercular (seks-tu-ber'ku-lar), a. [< L.
sex, six, -I- tubercuhim, a boil, tubercle: see tu-
bercular.] Having six tubercles: as, a sextu-
bercnlur molar, hature, XLI. 467.
sextumvlrate (seks-tum'vi-rat), n. [Errone-
ously (after duumvirate) for scxvirate.] The
union of six men in the same office ; the office
or dignity held by six men jointly; also, six
persons holding an office jointly.
A sextiimvirale to which all the ages of the world can-
not add a seventh. Swift, Gulliver's Travels, ill. 7.
sextuor (seks'tfi-6r), «. [< L. sextus, sixth, -I-
(quatt)tior, four.] In fnusic, same as sextet [a).
■extuple (seks'tu-pl). a. [< OF. (and F.) sex-
tuple =iip. sextHjilo = Pf^. sextu2}lo = lt. scstuplo,
< ML. as if *sextuplus, < L. sextus, sixth, + -plus,
as in (/«;)?».*, double, etc. ; cf. duple, quadruple,
septuple, etc.] Sixfold ; six times as much.
Which well agreeth unto the proportion of man ; whose
length — that is, a perpendicular from the vertex unto the
sole of the foot-,- is sextuple unto his breadth.
Sir T. Broume, Vulg. Err., iv. 0.
Sextuple ThTtlun or time, in mime, a rhythm charac-
teri/i'd by si\ heats or pulses to the measure. It has two
distinct furins, the one derived from duple rhythm by sub-
dividing each part into three secondary parts, making a
triply cotnixmnd duple rhythm ; and the other derived
from triple rhythm by sul>dividing each part into two
secondary parts, making a duply compound triple rhythm.
The term is usnjilly applied to the former, especially when
inilicated by the rhythmic signattu-c „ or !;.
sextuple (seks'tu-pl), t'. t.; pret. and pp. sex-
tupled, ppr sexiupling. [< sextuple, «.] To
multiply by si.x.
We have aextupied our students.
Maine, Village Communilffes, p. 248.
sextuplet (seks'tu-plet), ». [< sextuple + -et]
1. A union or combination of six things: as,
a sextuplet ot elliptic springs. — 2. In music, a
group of six notes to be performed in the time
of four; a double triplet. Also scstole, sextole,
sextolet, etc. Compare triplet, dccimole, etc. —
8. A bicycle for six riders.
sextuplex fseks'tu-pleks), v. t. [< "sextuplcx,
a., < L. sextus, sixth, + -plex as in quadruplex,
etc.] In teletf., to render capable of conveying
six messages at the same time.
If the line is already duplexed, the phonophore will
quadruplex it. If it is already (jnadruplexed, the phono-
phore will sextuplex or octuplex it.
Elect. Itee. (Aincr.). XIV. 6.
sextus (seks'tus), n. [ML., sixth: see sext,
si.rlh.] In medieval music for more than four
voice-parts, the second additional voice or part.
sexual (sek'su-al), a. [= F. scxuel = Sp. Pg.
sexual — It. sessuale, < L. sexualis, < sexus
(«(X«-), sex: see «<;j:l.] 1. Of or pertaining to
sex or the sexes in general : as, sexual char-
acteristics.— 2. Distinctive of sex, whether
male or female; peculiar lo or characteristic
of cither sex; genital: as, sexual organs; the
sexual system. — 3. Of the two sexes; done l^y
means of the two sexes ; reprodtictive : as, «ex-
«a/ intercourse ; sexual reproduction. — 4. Pe-
culiar to or affecting the sexes or organs of sex ;
venereal: as. ^exMoT disease or inalfonnation.
— 6. Having .sex; se.xed; separated into two
sexes; monojcious: the opposite of OArxi(«/; as,
a sexual animal — Secondaiy sexual characters,
some or any characteristics, not immediately concerned
in reproduction, which one sex has and the other sex has
not; any structural peculiarity, excejitlng the organs of
generation, which distinguishes male from female. Thus,
the hair on a man's face and breast, the antlers of the
seznal
deer, the train of the peacock or any other difference in
tlie plumage of a bird between the male and the female,
the scent-glands of any male, the claspers of a tlsh, and
many other features are rep;u-ded as secondary sexual
characters, and are concerned in sexual selection.— Sex-
ual affinity. («) 'I'he unconscious or instinctive attrac-
tion of one sex for the other, as exhibited by the prefer-
ence or choice of any one individual, rather than of any
other, of the opposite sex, as a matter of sexual selection.
In man such selection l8oft«D called Waetire ajinitif (after
Goethe). (6) Such degree of afliuity between the sexes of
ditferent species as enables these species to interbreed
or hybridize. — Sexual dimorphism, difference of form
or of other zoological cliaructer in the members of either
sex, but not of both sexes, of any animal. Thus, a species
of cirripeds which has two kinds of males, or a species of
butteiHies whose females are of two sorts, exhibits sexual
dimoi-phism. The term properly attaches to the adults
of perfectly sexed animals, and not to the many instances
of dimorphism among sexless or sexually immature or-
ganisms. Thus, the honey-bee is not a case of sexual
dimorphism, as there is only one sort of perfect males
(the di'ones) and one of perfect females (the queenX
though the hive consists mostly of a third sort of bees
(workers or undeveloped females). Sexual dimorphism
is common among invertebrates, rare in the higher ani-
mals.— Sexual method, in b/^., same as sexual system
(fc). — Sexual organs, organs immediately concerned in
sexual intercourse or reproduction ; the sexual system.
— Sexual reproduction, reproduction in which both
sexes concur ; gamogenesis. — Sexual selection. See se-
ierfio/j. — Sexual system, (a) in zmd. and anal., the
reproductive system ; the sexual organs, collectively con-
sidered, (ft) In bot., a system of classification founded
on the distinction of sexes in plants, as male and female.
Also called sexual nuthod, artijicial system, lAnnean system.
See Lutnean.
sexualisation, sezualise. See sexuaUzation,
sej:ufili::e.
sexualist (sek'su-al-ist), n. [< sexual + -ist.']
One who maintains the doctrine of sexes in
plants ; one who classifies plants by the sexual
system.
sexuality (sek-gu-al'i-ti), n. [< sexual + -ity.'\
1. The character of sex; the state of being
sexual or sexed or ha\'ing sex ; the distinction
between the sexes ; sex in the abstract.
It was known even before the time of Linnteus that cer-
tain plants produced two kinds of flowers, ordinary open,
and minute closed ones : and this fact formei'ly gave rise
to warm controversies about the sexttality of plants.
Darwin, Ditferent Forms of blowers, p. 310.
Sex is a tei-m employed with two significances, which
are often confused, but which it is indispensable to dis-
tinguish accurately. Originally sex was applied to the or-
ganism as a whole, in recognition of the differentiation of
the reproductive function. Secondarily, sex, together
with the adjectives male and female, has been applied to
the essenti^ repro<luctive elements, ovum and spermato-
zoon, which it is the function of the sexual organisms (or
organs) to produce. According to a strict biological defi-
nition sexuality is the characteristic of the male and fe-
male reproductive elements (genoblasts), and sex of the
individuals in which the reproductive elements arise. A
man has sex, a spermatozoon sexuality.
Buck's Handbook of Med. Sciences, VI. 436.
2. Recognition of sexual relations. [Bare.]
You may . . . say again, as I have heard you say ere now,
that the popular Christian paradise and hell are but a
Pagan Olympus and Tartarus, as grossly material as Ma-
homet's, without the honest thoroughgoing sexuality
which, you thought, made his notion logical and consis-
tent. Kiwjdey, Yeast, viii. (Davies.)
sexualization (sek'su-al-i-za'shon), w. [< scx-
uali:e + -<ition.^ The attribution of sex or of
sexuality to (a person or thing). Also spelled
sexualisation. [Rare.]
We are inclined to doubt Pott's confident assumption
that sexualization is a necessary consequence of personifi-
cation. Classical Rev., III. 391.
sexualize (sek'su-al-iz), V. t. ; pret. and pp.
sexualizecl, ppr. sexualizinf/. [< sexual + -ize.'}
To separate by sex, or distinguish as sexed:
confer the distinction of sex upon, as a word
or a thought ; give sex or gender to, as male or
female. Also spelled sexualise.
SexutUizing, as it were, all objects of thought.
Whitney, Lang, and Study of Lang., p. 215.
sexually (sek'su-al-i), adv. By means of sex ;
in the sexual relation; after the manner of the
sexes : as, to propagate sexually.
seXUS (sek'sus), n. ; pi. sexus. [L.] Sex ; also.
either sex, male or female.
sexvalent (seks'va-lent), a. Same as sexiva-
lent.
sey^t, f. An obsolete form of .wyl.
sey^t, A Middle English form of the preterit of
sey3, V. A Scotch form of sie^.
sey*t, «• and V. Same as say^, say^.
sey^ (sa), n, [Prob. < Icel. segi, sirji, a slice, bit,
akin to sag, a saw, saga, cut with a saw, etc. :
see saipi. The word spelled scye appears to be
the same, misspelled to simulate F. seier, cut.]
Same as scye. [Scotch.]
seybertite (si'bert-it), ». [Named after H. Sey-
brrt, an American mineralogist (1802-83).] In
mineral., a&xae as elintonite.
5538
Seychelles cocoanut. Same as double cocoa-
nut (which see, under cocoanut).
seyd, «. Same as sayid.
seyet, seynt. Middle English past participles
of .VC('1.
seyghet. A Middle English form of the preterit
of .seel.
Seymeria (se-me'ri-a), n. [NL. (Pursh, 1814),
named after Henry Scymer, an English amateur
naturalist.] A genus of gamopetalous plants
of the order Scrophularincse, tribe Gerardieee,
and subtribe Eugcrardieie. it is characterized by
bractless flowers with a bell-shaped calyx having naiTow
and slender lobes, a short corolla-tube' with broad open
throat and five spreading lobes, four short woolly stamens,
smooth and equal anther-cells, and a globose capsule with
a compressed pointed or beaked apex. There ai'e 10 spe-
cies, of which one is a native of Madagascar and the rest all
of the United States and -Mexico. They are erect branch-
ing herbs, often turning black in dicing, usually clammy-
hairy, and bearing chiefiy opposite and incised leaves, and
yellow flowers in an interrupted spike or raceme, l-'or
S. macrophytla, of the Mississippi valley, see mullen /ox-
glove, nuder foxglove.
seyndt. A Middle English past participle of
senge, singe.
seyntt, ». A Middle English spelling of saint^.
seyntuariet, «• A Middle English form of sanc-
tuary.
sey-poUack, n. The coalfish. [Local, Eng.]
sf. An abbrevdation of sforzando or sforzato.
sfogato (sfo-gii'to), a. [It., pp. of sfogare, evap-
orate, exhale, vent.] Exhaled ; in music, not-
ing a passage to be rendered in a light, airy
manner, as if simply exhaled Soprano sfogato,
a thin, high soprano.
'sfoott (sfiit), interj. [Also written 'udsfoot,
'odsfoot; abbr. < God's foot; cf. 'sblood.^ A
minced imprecation.
'Slfoot, I'll learn to conjure and raise devils.
Shak., T. and C, iL 3. 6.
'Sfoot, what thing is this?
Beau, and Ft., Laws of Candy, ii, 1.
sforzando (sfor-tsiin'do), a. [It., ppr. of sfor-
zare, force, < L. ex, out, + 'iA'L.fortia, force : see
./orcel.] In music, forced or pressed ; with sud-
den, decided energy or emphasis: especially
applied to a single tone or chord which is to be
made particularly prominent. Abbreviated ,s/.
and sfz., or marked > , a — Sforzando pedal. See
pedal.
sforzato (sfor-tsa'to), a. [It., pp. of sforzarc,
force : see sforzand[o.\ Same as sforzando.
sfregazzi (sfre-gat'si), n. [It., < sfregare, rub,
< L. ex, out, + fricare, rub: see friction.'] In
painting, a mode of glazing adopted by Titian
and other old masters for soft shadows of
flesh, etc. it consisted in dipping the finger in the
color and drawing it once, with an even movement, along
the surface to be painted. Fairholt.
sfumato (sfo-mil'to), a. [It., smoked, < L. ex,
out, +/«/««<««, pp. of /(«Ma/'e, smoke: see fume,
r.] In painting, smoked: noting a style of paint-
ing wherein the tints are so blended that out-
lines are scarcely perceptible, the effect of the
whole being indistinct or misty.
sfz. An abbreviation of sforzando or sforzato.
Sgraffiato (sgraf-fia'to), m. ; pi. sgraffiati (-ti).
Satue as sgraffito.
Sgraffito (sgraf-fe'to), n.; yA. sgraffiti (-ti). [It.:
see graffito.] 1. Same as graffito decoration
(which see, under graffito).
Its [the Austrian Museum of Art and Industry's] exterior
is beautifully adorned by Sf/rajiti frescoes and majolica
medallions of celebrated artists and mastere.
HarjKTs Mag., LXXVIII. 571.
2. (a) Same as graffito ware (which see, under
graffito), (b) A kind of pottery made in Eng-
land, in which clays of different colors are laid
one upon another and the pattern is produced
by cutting away the outer layers, as in cameos
and cameo-glass. [The term is improperly applied in
this case, and is in a sense a trade-mark.] — Sgraffito
painting. See graffito painting, under graffito.
sn. [ME. sh, ssh, sch, occasionally cli, ss, x, ear-
lier sc, partly an assibilated form of AS. sc (as
in most of the following words in sli-, as well,
of course, medially and terminally, in many
others), pai^ly when medial representing OF.
-SS-, as in the verbal termination -islfi; the AS.
sc = OS. sk, sc = OFries. sk = D. sch = MLG.
LG. sch = OHG. sc, sh, MHG. 6. sch = Icel. sk
= Sw. Dan. sk = Goth. sk. The palatalization,
so called, of the orig. c or k, which, when the c
or k was not preceded by s, became OF. and
ME. ch, mod. E. ch (pron. tsh), mod. F. ch (pron.
sh), led to the change of s, as combined with the
palatalized c or k, into another sibilant, which
in the earlier Teut., as well as in L. and Gr.,
was unknown, or was not alphabetically repre-
sented, and which, at first represented by sc.
shack
later commonly by sch and occasionally by ch,
ss, OT X, came to be written reg. sh. The cum-
brous form sch, representing the same sound, is
still retained in German. (See-S'.) Many words
exist in E. in both the orig. form sc- or sk- (as
scab, scot^, scrub'^, etc. ) and the assibilated form
in sit- (as shab, shof^, shrub^, etc.).] A digraph
representing a simple sibilant sound akin to s.
See S, and the above etymology.
sh. An abbreviation of shilling.
sha (shii), «. [Chin.] A very light, thin silken
material made in China; silk gauze.
shab (shab), H. [< ME. shab, *schab; an assibi-
lated form of «c«6, ». Cf. shabby.} If. A scab.
He shrapeth on his skabbes.
Political Songs (ed. Wright), p. 289.
2. A disease incident to sheep; a kind of itch
which makes the wool fall off; scab: same as
rfl//6 or rubbers.
shab (shab), V. [An assibilated form of scab, v. ;
cf. shab, «.] I, trans. To rub or scratch, as a
dog or cat scratching itself To shab off, to get
rid of.
How eagerly now does my moral friend run to the devil,
having hopes of profit in the wind I I have shabbed him
ojf purely. i-'ar^wAar, Love and a Bottle, iv. 3. (Davies.)
II. in trans. To play mean tricks; retreat or
skulk away meanly or clandestinely. [Old
cant.]
shabbedt (shab'ed), a. [< ME. shabhid, shab-
byd, sdiubbcd; < shab + -ed'^.] 1. Scahby;
mangy.
All that ben sore and shabhid eke with synne
Rather with pite thanne with reddour wynne.
Lydyate. {HalliweU.)
Thyne sheep are ner al shahbyd.
Piers Plowman (C), x. 264.
2. Mean; shabby.
They mostly had short hair, and went in a shabbed con-
dition, and looked rather like prentices.
A. Wood, AthensB Oxon,, II. 743. (Todd.)
shabbily (shab'i-li), adv. In a shabby manner,
in any sense of the word shabby.
shabbiness (shab'i-nes), n. Shabby character
or condition. Especially— (o) A threadbare or worn-
out appearance. (6) Meanness or paltriness of conduct.
shabblet, ». See shable.
shabby (shab'i), a. [An assibilated form of
scabby.] 1. Scabby; mangy. Halliwell. — 2.
Mean; base; scurvy.
They were very shabby fellows, pitifully mounted, and
worse armed. Clarendon, Diary, Dec. 7, 1688.
He's & shabby hoAy, the laird o' Monkbarns; . . . he'll
make as muckle about buying a fore quarter o' lamb in
August as about a back sey o' beef. Scott, Antiquary, xv.
3. Of mean appearance; noting clothes and
other things which are much worn, or evidence
poverty or decay, or persons wearing such
clothes; seedy.
The dean was so shabby, and look'd like a ninny.
Swift, Hamilton's Baron, an. 1729. (Richardson.)
The necessity of wearing shabby coats and dirty shirts,
Macaulay.
Her mother felt more and more ashamed of the shabby
fly in which our young lady was conveyed to and from
her parties — of her shabby fly, and of that shabby cavalier
wlio was in waiting sometimes to put Miss Charlotte into
her carriage. Thackeray, Philip, xxii.
They leave the office, the cotton-broker keeping up a
fragmentary conversation with the shabby gentleman.
W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 163.
shabby-genteel (shab"i-jen-ter), «• Retaining
in present shabbiness traces of former gentility ;
aping gentility, but really shabby.
As . . . Mrs. Gann had . . . only 60i. left, she was obliged
still to continue the lodging-house at Margate, in which
have occurred the most interesting passages of theshabby
genteel story. Thackeray, Shabby Genteel Story, ix.
shablet (shab'i), n. [Also shabble; a var. of
sablc'^, itself an obs. var. of sabre, saber: see
saber.] A saber. [It is defined in 1680 as shorter
than the sword, but twice as broad, and edged
on one side only.]
[He was] mounted upon one of the best horses in the
kingdom, with a good clashing shable by his side.
Urquhart, tr. of Rabelais, L 42.
He tugged for a second or two at the hilt of his shabble,
. . . finding it loth to quit the sheath.
Scott, Bob Koy, xrvilL
shabrack (shab'rak), n. [Also schabrack,
schabraquc (< F.); = D. Sw. schabrak = Dan.
skabcrak = F. chabraque, schabraque, < G. schab-
racke, < Pol. czaprak ^Hiiss. chajirakii = Sloven,
chaprag = Lith. shabrakas = Lett, shabraka =
Hung, csdbrdg, < Turk, chnprak.] A saddle-
cloth or housing used in modern European
armies.
shack^ (shak), V. i. [A dial. var. of ,'<hakc.] 1.
To be shed or fall, as corn at harvest. — 2. To
feed on stubble, or upon the waste com of the
shack
field. — 3. To hibernate, as an animal, especial-
ly the bear: also said of men who "lay up" or
"hole up" for the winter, or go into winter
quarters. [Western U. S.]
shack' (shak), H. [<«AacAl, p.] 1. Grainfallen
from the ear and eaten by hogs, etc., after har-
vest; also, fallen mast or acorns. [Prov. Eng.l
— 2. Liberty of winter pasturage. [Prov. Eng.]
—3. In the fisheries, bait picked up at sea by
any means, as the flesh of porpoises or of sea-
birds, refuse fish, etc., as distinguished from
the regular stock of bait carried by the vessel
or other%\ise depended upon. Also shack-bait.
[Xew Eng.] — 4. [< shack^, v., 3.] A very
roughly built house or cabin, especially such
a one as is put up for temporary occupation
while securing a claim under the United States
preemption laws. [Western U. S.]
The only . . . thinp; in the shape of a boat on the little
Missouri was a small flat-bottomed scow in the possession
of three hard characters who lived in a shock or hut some
twenty miles above us. The Century, SiXXYX. 42.
Common of shack, the right of persons occupying lands
lying ti'gutlier in the same common field to turn out their
cattle after harvest to feed promiscuously in that field.
shack- (shak), c. [Origin obscure; perhaps a
particular use of shack'; cf. shake and shoij in
like senses.] I. intratis. To rove about, as a
stroller or beggar.
H. trans. To go after, as a ball batted to a
distance. [Local, U. S.]
shack'^ (shak), ». [Cf. shaek^, r.] A strolling
vagabond: a shiftless or worthless fellow; a
tramp. [Prov. Eng. and New Eng.]
Great ladles are more apt to take sides with talking flat-
taring Gossips than such a fthock as Fitzharris.
Rtiger Sorth, Examen, p. 203. (Dattiet.)
I don't believe Bill would have tame<l out such a miser-
able ghadc if he'd a decent woman for a wife.
Netc Enj^and Talet.
shackaback (shak'a-bak), n. Same as shack-
liiifl. [Prov. Eng.]
shackatoryt (shak'a-to-ri), K. [Origin obscure:
said to l)e "for shake a Tory" (Imp. Diet.),
where Tory is presumably to be taken in its
orig. sense.] An Irish hound.
Hothackatorit comes neere him ; If hee once get the start,
hee's gone, and you gone tiK>.
The Wandering Jeto. {UaUiicell.)
That Irish duukatnry heat the bush for him.
Dekker and Middleton, Honest Whore, ii.
shackbag (sluik'bag), «. [AXno shackaback ; cf.
shiiki -niii and shakc-lHig.'] An idle vagabond.
[Prov. Kng.]
shack-bait (sh.-ik'bat), ». Same an shaek^, 3.
shack-bolt ( shak' bolt), ». Same asshaekle-bolt,3.
shacked (shakt), a. A dialectal variant of
.ihil'lilrll,
shack-fishermaii (shak'fish'^r-man), n. A ves-
sil nincli uses shack for bait.
shack-flshing (shak'fish'ing), n. Fishing with
shack for bait.
shackle' (shak'l), n. [Earlymod. E. al80/>/ra<-it--
il; < ME. sch/ikkyi, schakyltr, schakle, schcakcl.
< AS. sceaciil, scacul, sccacel, scrrel, shackle,
fetter, prob. also in the general sense, 'a link or
ring of a chain ' (= MI), scharckcl, later schakel, a
link of a chain, ring of a net, = Icel. sktikull, the
pole of a carriage, = 8w. skakel, the loose shaft
of a carriage (cf. >Sw. dial, skak, a chain), =
Dan. skatjle, a trace for a carriage); lit. 'a
shakinglhing.'withadj. suffix -<«/, -u/, < sceacan,
scacan, shake: see shake. Cf. ramshackle^.']
1. A bent or curved bar, as of iron, forming a
link or staple used indei>endently and not form-
ing part of a continuous chain. ' (o) The bar of a
padlock which passes thrf>ugh the staple, (ft) An Iron
lliili closeil by a movable bolt. Shackles are mostly used
to omnect lengths of chain cable together. See cuts
ander imMrin'jnritel and anchor^kackU. (e) A long link
securing two ankle-rings or wriat-ring* together, or an
ankle-ring to a wrist-ring, so as to secure a prisoner;
hence, in the plural, fetters: manacles.
What, will thy ihaeklet neither loose nor break?
Arc they too strong, or is thine arm too weak?
^larfM, Emblems, T. 9.
(d) A form of Insulator used for supporting telegraph-
wires where the strain is conslderaliie. It Is usually of
porcelain, with a hole through the center through which
a lH>U passes. This bolt secures the Insulating spool to
two Iron straps l)y which It Is secured to the pole or other
support.
Hence — 2. Figuratively, anything which hin-
ders, restrains, or confines.
The fetters and shaekUn which it (sin] brings to enslave
men with must be lo<ike4l on and admired as ornaments.
SliUing/Urt, .<4ermons, 11. ill.
There Death breaks the ShaekUt which Force had put on.
Prior, Tlilef and Cordelier.
8. In her., some part of a chain or fetter used
as a bearing, usually a single long, narrow
5539
link. — 4. The wrist. [Prov. Eng.]=syn. 1(c).
Shackle. Qyves, Manacle, Fetter. Shackle and ffyves are
general words, being applicable to chains for either the
arms or the legs, or perhaps any other part of the body,
but ffyv€s is now only elevated or poetic. By derivation,
manatUes are for the hands, and/etterg for the feet.
shackle' (shak'l), v. <.jpret. and pp. shackled,
ppr. shackling. [< ME. schakklcn, schakleii ;
< shackle^, w.] 1. To chain; confine with
shackles; manacle or fetter; hence, figura-
tively, to confine or bind so as to prevent or
impede free action; clog; embarrass; hamper;
impede; trammel.
You must not shackle him with rules about indifferent
matters. Locke, Education.
And what avails a useless brand
Held by a captive's shackled hand?
Scott, Rokeby, iv. 17.
2. To join or make fast with a shackle.
shackle- (shak'l), n. [Dim. of shack^, or as if
a diff. application of shackle'^ as 'that which
shakes' in the wind, etc., < shake, v. : see shake,
and cf. ■ihacklel.'i Stubble. [Prov. Eng.]
shackle^* (shak'l), n. A raffle. [Local, U. S.]
(He] stated that he went to defendant's house on Bee.
24, and was as^ked by a young man to Join in a shackle for
live tame ralibits. He consented, and a box was brought
containing three threepenny pieces, and those who threw
the highest gained the rabbits.
Western Gazette, Jan. 30, 1885, quoted in N. and Q., 6th
(ser., XI. 245.
shackle-bar (shak'1-bar), n. The coupling-bar
or link of a railroad-car. [U.S.]
shackle-bolt (shak'l-bolt), n. 1. A bolt hav-
ing a shackle or clevis on the end. — 2. A bolt
which is passed through the eyes of a clevis or
shackle. E. II. Knight. — 3. A shackle. Also
shack-bolt. — 4. In her., a bearing representing
a fetlock for hobbling a horse. Compare span-
celed. Also called prisoner' s-bolt.
"What device does he bear on his shield ? ' replied Ivan-
boe. ".Something resembling a l>ar of Iron, ancl a padlock
painted blue on the black shield." "A fetterlock and
•AaaKr-ftott azure," said Ivanhoe ; "I know not who may
Itear the device, but well I ween It might now be mine
own." SeoU, Ivanhoe, xxix.
shackle-bone (shak'l-bon), n. [Also 8c.«*acWe-
bdiK : ishiirk'le'i + Imne'^.'] The wrist. [Scotch.]
shackle-crow (shak'l-kro), «. A bolt^extrac-
tor having a shackle in place of a claw, used
on shipboard.
shackle-flap (shak'I-flap), n. A cover for a
manhole which is attached to the plate by a
shackle. E. II. Knight.
ghackle-hammedt (shak'I-hamd), a. Bow-
legged. Ilallinell.
A brave dapper Kicke, ... his head was holden uppe
so pert, and his legges nharktf hnm'd, as if his knees had
beene laced to his tlii^hcs v, ith ix)ints.
Greene, l^uip for Upstart Courtier (Harl. Misc., V. 403).
shackle-jack (shak'l-jak), ». An implement
used to attach the thills of a vehicle to the
shackle on the axle when a box of india-rubber
is used to prevent rattling.
shackle-joint (shak'l-joint), H. A joint involv-
ing the principle of the shackle. Speclflcally, in
anat, a kind of articulation,
found In the exoskeleton of
some flshes, formed by the
passing of a bony ring of one
part through a perforation of
another part, the two being thus
movably linked together.
The spines of loine Teleostel
present us wlthapecaliar kind
of articulation — a shackle -j*iint,
the base of a spine forming a
ring which passes through an-
other ring developed from an ossicle supporting It.
Mitart, Elem. Anat, p. 277.
shackle-pin (shak'l-pin), n. The small pin of
wood or iron that confines a shackle-bolt in
Iilace.
lackle-punch (shak'l-punch), n. A punch for
driving out shackle-bolts.
shackle-veint (shak'l-vSn), w. A vein of the
horse, apparently the median antebrachial,
from which blood used to be let.
The care Is thus : let him blood of his two breast vainea,
of his two ihaekte mines, and of his two values above the
cronets of his hinder hooves.
TopieU, Beasts (1607X p. 40a (BalUurOl.)
shackling (shak'ling), a. [< shackle^, taken ad-
jectivfly (cf. ramshackle^), + -ing^. Cf. shaekly.']
Shackly; rickety. [U.S.]
The gate Itself was such a shackling concern a child
couldn't have leaned on it without breaking It down.
J. T. Trmcbridge, Coupon Bonds, p. 387.
shack-lock (shak'Iok), n. [Short for shackle-
lock, < shackle^ + loek^, «.] A shackle-bolt; a
sort of shackle.
shaddock
The swarthy smith spits in his buckehorne fist,
And bids his men bring out the five-fold twist.
His shackles, shacktockes, hampers, gyves, and chaines.
His linked bolts. W. Browne, Britannia's Pastorals, i. 5.
shackly (shak'li), a. [< shack^ + -ly^; cf.
shackle^, shackling.'] Shaky; rickety; totter-
ing; ramshackle; especially, in feeble health.
[U. S.]
A very small man, slender and brittle-looking, or what
old colored nurses call shackly.
J. W. Palmer, The New and the Old, p. 65.
They had come to a short lane, from the opening of
which was visible an unpainted and shackly dwelling.
The Cenlurti, XXXV. 672.
shackragt (shak'rag), w. Same as shake-rag.
shad' (shad), «. sing, and pi. [Early mod. B.
shadde, chad; < ME. *schad, < AS. sceadda, a
kind of fish (explained by Somner, Lye, etc.,
as a skate, but from the form prob. the shad),
= G. dial, schade, a shad. Cf . W. ysgadenyn (pi.
ysgadan) = Ir. Gael, sgadan, a herring.] 1. A
clupeoid fish of the genus Alosa, in which there
are no palatal teeth and the cheeks are deeper
than they are long. The common shad of America, .4.
sapidissinut, is one of the most important food-fishes along
.Shackle-jolot of a Urge
spine with a bony plate at
the skin of a sihuvid Ash.
American Shad {Mipsir sn/iiiissima).
the Atlantic coast of the United States, and has lately been
introduced on the Pacific coast. It is anadromons, ascend-
ing rivers to spawn, it is usually from 1 8 to 28 inches long,
of stout compressed form, the body being comparatively
deep. The color is silvery, becoming bluish on the back,
with a dark spot behind the opercle,and sometimes several
others along the line dividing the color of the l>ack fron»
the white of the sides. The mouth is large, the fins are
comparatively small, and the dorsal is much nearer to the
snout than to the base of the caudal fin. The shad is
taken with the seine, and is highly esteemed for its ex-
cellent flavor. The British shad are of two species: the
allice-shad, A. rulgarin, and the twaitc, A.finla. The Chi-
nese shad is A. reevesi.
And there the eel and shad sometimes are caught.
J. Dennys (Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 171).
2. In the Ohio valley, a clupeoid, Pomolobiis
chrysochloris, with persistent and well-devel-
oped teeth in the premaxillaries and frotit of
the lower jaw. — 3. With a qualifying word,
one of several other fishes. See gi::ard-shad,
and phrases below Oreen-tailed shad, hard-
head or hard-headed shad, the menhaden. (Local,
U. 9.] — Long-honed shad, any food-tish of the family
Gtrridfe or gt-niis th-rres. as found along the Atlantic coast
of the rnited States and in the Bermudas. — Ohio shad,
PomfitolAts chritsochlitris. See def. 2. — Rebel shad, a
small shad a)>f>ut as large as a herring or alewife. (Hud-
son river.]— White-eyed shad. Same as mud-shad. —
White shad, the true shad of America. See def. 1. —
Yellow-tailed shad, the menhaden. (Local, IJ. S.]
shad'-'t. A MiiUlle English past participle of
shalK
shad-bellied (shad'bel'id), a. 1. Having little
abdominal protuberance: as, a, shad-bellied per-
son.
He was kind o' mournful and thin and shad-bellied.
II. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 8.
2. Sloping away gradually in front ; cutaway:
as. a sliad-hellicd coat.
In this Livingston Company many wore three-cornered
hats, shad-bellied coats, shoe and knee buckles.
5. Judd, Margaret, L 18.
shad-bird (shad'b^rd), n. 1. The common
American snipe, (lallinago wilsoni or G. deli-
cata. See cut under Gallinago. [Delaware.]
— 2. The common European sandpiper, Trin-
goides hypoleiicus. [Shropshire, Eng.] Both
ibirds are so called with reference to their ap-
pearance at the shad-fishing season.
snad-blossom (shad'blos'um), n. The flower
or bloom of the shad-bush ; also, the plant it-
self.
shad-bush (shad'bush), «.' The June-berry
or ser\'ice-berry, Amelanchier Canadensis: so
named in New England because it blossoms
just when shad appear in the rivers. {Gray.)
The name Is sometimes given (erroneously) to the flow-
ering dogwood, Cornus fiorida. Also shad-jUmer. See cut
under service-tterrtf.
Shadde't. A Middle English preterit and past
participle of shed^.
shadde^t, «. A Middle English form of shed^.
shaddocK (shad'ok), «. [Prob. first in the comp.
shaddock-tree ; named after a Capt. Shaddock,
who brought it to the West Indies, early in the
18th century.] A tree, Citrus decmnana, of the
orange genus ; also, its fruit. The tree grows 30 or
Leaf of Shad-
shaddock
40 feet high, and Is the most handsome of the Kenns. It
is a native of the Malayan and I'olynesian islands, now
cultivated in many warm countries. The
fruit is globose or pyriform and orange-
like, but very lai-ge, weishing sometimes
15 pounds, and of a pale-yellow color ; the
pulp is yellow, green, pink, or crimson,
and is wholesome : the rind and partitions
are very bitter. There are numerous va-
rieties, some very juicy and refresliing.
The sbaddocic proper is, however, gener-
ally inferior to its smaller variety, the
grape-fruit or iwmelo, whicli is further
distinguished byl)e;iring its fruit in clus-
ters. Both are to some extent grown in
Florida, the latter becoming a considera-
ble article of export to the North. Also
pompelmoia. See ttrape-fruit and pmnelo.
shaddowt.n. An obsolete spelling fZnJ«X""^'
of shadow.
sliadel (shad), II. [< ME. schadc (Kentish ssed),
partly < AS. sceadit (gen. seeadwc, sceade), f.,
partly < scead (gen. sceades, scedes), neut., shade,
the form sceadu (gen. sceadwe, etc.) producing
reg. E. shadow : see shadow, to which shade is re-
lated as iiiead^ is to meadow. Cf . shed^, «.] 1.
The comparative obscurity, dimness, or gloom
caused by the interception or interruption of
the rays of light.
The buschys that were blowed grene.
And leued ful lonely that lent grete schade.
WUUam o/Palenie (E. E. T. S.), 1. 22.
Sit you down lu the shade, and stay but a little while.
/. Wttliont Complete Angler, p. 65.
The fainty knights were scorch'd, and knew not where
To run for shelter, for no shade was near.
Dryden, IHower and Leaf, 1. 382.
2. A place or spot sheltered from the sun's
rays ; a shaded or shady spot ; hence, a secluded
or obscure retreat.
Let us seek out some desolate shade, and there
Weep our sad bosoms empty.
Shah., Macbeth, iv. 3. 1.
These shades
Are still the abodes of gladness.
Bryant, Inscription for Entrance to a Wood.
3. pi. Darkling shadows; darkness which ad-
vances as light wanes ; darkness : as, the shades
of evening.
Then thus I turn me from my country's light
To dwell in solemn shades of endless night.
Shak., Kioh. II., i. 3. 177.
See, while I speak, the shades disperse away ;
Aurora gives the promise of a day.
Addison, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., ii.
4. In painting, the dark part or parts of a pic-
ture ; also, deficiency or absence of illumination.
Tis ov'ry painter's art to hide from sight.
And cast in shades, what seen would not delight.
J>ryden.
5. Degree or gradation of defective luminosity
in a color: often used vaguely from the fact
that paleness, or high luminosity combined with
defective chroma, is confounded with high lu-
minosity by itself: as, a dark or deep shade';
three different shades of brown. See color,
hiie^, and tint.
White, red, yellow, blue, with their several degrees or
shades and mixtures, as green, scarlet, . . . and the rest,
come iu only by the eyes,
Locke, Human Understanding, II. iii. § 1.
Her present winter garb was of merino, the same soft
shade of brown as her hair. Charlotte Bronte, Shirley, vi.
It is when twoshades of the same color are brought side
by side that comparison makes them odious to each other.
0. W. Holmes, Emerson, v.
6. A small or scarcely perceptible degree or
amount; a trace; a trifle.
In the golden hour of friendship, we are surprised with
shades of suspicion and unbelief. Emerson, Friendship.
She takes, when harsher moods remit.
What Blender shade of doubt may flit.
And makes it vassal unto love.
Tennyson, In Memoriam, xlviii.
7. A person's shadow. [Poetical.]
Since every one hath, every one, one shade.
Shak., Sonnets, liii.
Eovy will merit, as its shade, pursue.
Pope, Essay on Criticism, 1. 466.
The soul after its separation from the body:
80 called because supposed to be perceptible
to the sight, but not to the touch; a departed
spirit; a ghost: as, the shades of departed he-
roes.
I shall be made.
Ere long, a fleeting shade ;
Pray come.
And doe some honour to my tomb.
Berriek, To the Veyr and Cypresse to Grace his Fnnerall.
Unknowing to command, proud to obey,
A lifeless King, a Royal Shade I lay.
Prior, Solomon, 11.
Peter Bell excited his [Byron's] spleen to such a degree
that he evoked the shades of Pope and Dryden, and de-
manded of them whether it were possible that such trash
could evade contempt? Macaulay, Moore's Byron.
8.
5540
The ghost or phantasm seen by the dreamer or the
visionai-y is like a shadow, and thus the familiar term of
the shade conies in to express the soul.
is'. B. Tylor, Trim. Culture, I. 388.
0. ^jJ. The departed spirits, or their unseen
abode ; the invisible world of the ancients ; Ha-
des: with the definite article.
See! on one Greek three Trojan ghosts attend.
This, my third victim, to the shades I send.
Pope, Iliad, xlii. 561.
10. A screen ; especially, a screen or protection
against excessive heat or light ; something used
to modify or soften the intensity of heat or
light: as, as7(arfeforthe eyes; a window-A'/mrfc/
a sxmshade.
To keepe vs from the winde we made a shade of another
Mat. Quoted in Capt John Smith's Works, I. 204.
He put on his grey cap with the huge green shade, and
sauntered to the door.
Thackeray, Fitz-Boodle Papers, Dorothea.
.Specifically— (a) A colored glass used in a sextant or
other optical instrument for solar observation, for toning
down and coloring the sun's image, or that of the hori-
zon, in order to make the outlines more distinct and per-
ceptible. (6) A globe, cylinder, or conic frustum of glass,
porcelain, or other translucent material surrounding the
flame of a lamp or candle, a gas-jet, or the like, to conttne
the light to a particular area, or to soften and diffuse it.
(c) A hollow perforated cylinder used to cover a night^
light.
She had brought a rushlight and shade with her, which,
with praiseworthy precaution against Are, she had sta-
tioned in a basin on the floor. Dickens, Pickwick, xxii.
(d) A hollow glass coveringfor protectingomaments, etc.,
from dust.
Spar figures under glass shades.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I. 369.
(e) A more or less opaque curtain of linen, muslin, paper,
or other flexible material, used at a window to exclude
light, or to regulate the amount admitted ; a blind. Shades
are usually attached to a roller actuated by a spring with-
in it, or by a cord.
11. Mil^t.,aa.JneaB^wlI)rel. — 12t. Guise; cover.
So much more full of danger is his vice
That can beguile so under shade of virtue.
B. Jonson, Volpone, iv. 2.
13. In entom., a part of a surface, generally
without definite borders, where the color is
deepened and darkened either by being inten-
sified or by admixture of black: applied espe-
cially to dark, ill-defined spaces on the wings of
moths, which in some cases are distinguished
by specific names: as, the median shade. — 14.
Same as shutter (c): as, the shades of the swell-
box in a pipe-organ.—Medlam shade, in entom. See
mediani. =Syri. 1. Shade, Shadow. Shade differs from
shadow, as it implies no particular form or deflnite limit,
whereas a shadow represents in form the object which in-
tercepts the light. Hence, when we say, let us resort to
the shade of a tree, we have no thought of form or size, as
of course we have when we speak of measuring a pyramid
or other object by its shadow.— 8. Apparition, Specter, etc.
See f/host.
Shade^ (shad), v. t. ; pret. and pp. shaded, ppr.
shading. [< shade''-, n. The older verb is shad-
ow, q. v. ; no ME. *shaden appears.] 1. To
shelter or screen from glare or light; shelter
from the light and heat of the sun.
There, while I went to crop the sylvan scenes.
And shade our altars with their leafy greens,
I pulled a plant. Dryden, Mneid, iii. 36.
Leicester drew the curtain, heavy with entwined silk
and gold, so as completely to shade his face.
ScoU, Kenilworth, xxxii.
2. To hide; screen; shelter; especially, to shel-
ter or screen from injury.
Ere in our own house I do shade my head.
Shak., Cor., ii. 1. 211.
Leave not the faithful side
That gave thee being, still shades thee, and protects.
Milton, P. L., ix. 266.
Let Myrrha weeping Aromatick Gum,
And ever-living Lawrel, shade her Tomb.
Conf/reve, On the Death of Queen Mary.
3. To casta shade over; overspread with dark-
ness, gloom, or obscurity; obscure; cast into
the shade.
Bright orient pearl, alack, too timely shaded .'
Shak., Passionate Pilgrim, I. 133.
The Piece by Virtue's equal Hand is wrought,
Mixt with no Crime, and shaded with no Fault.
Prior, Cai'men Seculare (1700), st. 12.
4. In drawing &nA painting: (o) To paint in
obscure colors; darken. (6) 'To mark with
gradations of color. — 5. To cover with a shade
or screen ; furnish with a shade or something
that intercepts light, heat, dust, etc. — 6t. To
typify; foreshow; represent figuratively.
A Goddesse of great powre and aoverainty.
And in her person cunningly did shade
That part of Justice which is Equity.
Spenser, F. Q., V. vii. 3.
How fain would I paint thee to all men's eyes.
Or of thy gifts at least sltade out some part !
Sir P. Sidney (Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 543).
sbado'w
7. To place something near enough to the top
of (an open organ-pipe) to affect the vibrating
air-column, and thus raise the pitch of its tone.
— 8. To place (a gun-ban'el) so that about half
the interior shall be in shadow, for the purpose
of testing the straightness of the bore.
shade- (shad). A dialectal form of shed^, shcdl,
and sheath.
shaded (sha'ded), p. a. 1. Marked with gra-
dations of color.
Let Thalestris change herself into a motley party-col-
oured animal : the pearl necklace, the flowered stomach-
er, the artificial nosegay, and shaded furbelow may be of
use to attract the eye of the beholder, and turn'it from the
imperfections of her features and shape.
Steele, Tatler, No. 151.
2. Screened ; sheltered.
He was standing with some papers in his hand by a ta-
ble with shaded candles on it.
Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, iii. 6.
shade-fish (shad'fish), n. [Tr. of L. umbra,
shade.] A book-name of the maigre.
shadeful (shad 'ful), a. [< shade'' + -ftd.']
Shady.
The eastern Avon vaunts, and doth upon her take
To be the only child of shadeful Savernake.
Drayton, Polyolbion, iii. 78.
Shadeless(shad'les), «. [< s7Mf7c + -fess.] With-
out sliaile or shelter from the light, heat, or the
like : as, shadeless streets'
A gap in the hills, an opening
Shadeless and shelterless. M^ordsworth.
shader (shsl'der), n. [< shade'', i:, + -cri.]
One who or that which shades.
shade-tree (shad'tre), n. A tree planted or
valued for its shade, as distinguished from one
planted or valued for its fruit, foliage, beauty,
etc.
shad-flower (shad'flou''<"r), «. l. An abun-
dant low herb like a miniature sweet alyssum,
blooming when the shad appear in the rivers ;
the whitlow-grass, Erophila vulgaris, better
known as Draba verna. [Local, U. S.] — 2.
Same as shad-bush.
shad-fly (shad'fli), n. An insect which appears
when shad are running; a May-fly; a day-fly.
The name is given to various Phryganeids, Perlidse, and
especially Ephcmeridie. The shad-fly of the Potomac river
is Palintjenia tnlineata. See cuts under caddis-worm and
day-Jly.
shad-frog (shad'frog), n. A sort of frog, Sana
halecina, of the United States, so called because
it becomes active in the spring at the same time
that shad begin to run. It is a large, handsome,
and very agile frog, able to jump 8 or 10 feet.
shad-hatcher (shad'hach'er), «. One who en-
gages in the artificial propagation of shad.
Shadily (sha'di-li), adv. In a shady manner;
umbrageously.
shadine (sha-den'), n. [< shad' + -ine, in imi-
tation of .'iardiiie' .'] The menhaden, prepared
and put up in oil like the sardine. Also called
American sardine.
shadiness (sha'di-nes), n. Shady character or
quality: as, the shadiness of the forest; the
shadiiie.ss of a transaction.
shading (sha'ding), n. [Verbal n. of shaded, r.]
1. The act or process of making a shade;
interception of light; obscuration. — 2. That
which represents the effect of light and shade
in a drawing; the filling up of an outline.
shading-pen (sha'diug-pen), n. A pen with a
broad flat nib, which when used with the flat
side makes a broad ink-mark, with the edge a
narrow mark. By changing the position a great variety
of marks useful in ornamental penmanship can he made.
shadoeh "• An obsolete spelling of shadow.
shadoof, Shaduf (sha-dof), «. [Ar. shddiif.']
A contrivance extensively employed in Egypt
and the East generally for raising water, it
consists of a long stout rod suspended on a frame at about
one fifth of its length from the end. The short end is
weighted so as to serve as the counterpoise of a lever, and
from the long end a bucket is suspended by a rope. The
shadoof is extensively used in Egypt for lifting water from
the Nile for irrigation. The worker dips the bucket in
the river, and, aided by the counterpoise weight, empties
it into a hole dug on the bank, from whicli a runnel con-
ducts the water to the lands to be iiTigated. In the cut
(see the following page) two shadoofs are shown, employed
side by side.
shadow (shad'6), n. [Early mod. E. also shad-
dow,skadoe; < 'tiiE. schadoice, schadewe, shadwe,
schadue, < AS. sceadu, sceado (gen. sceadwe, scea-
de), f. (also scead (gen. sceades, scedes), neut.),
= OS. skado = MD. schaeduwe, schaeduc, schaede,
D. schaduw = MLG. schaduwe, schadewe, schede
=z OHG. scato, MHG. schate, G. schattcii = Goth.
skadus, shadow, shade, = Olr. scath, Ir. sgalh,
Gael, sgath, shade, shadow, shelter (cf. Olr.
scdil, shadow), perhaps = Gr.<TK<57of (also moria),
darkness, gloom, < ■\/ ska, cover; perhaps akin
shadow
Raising Water by Shadoofs.
also to Gr. oKia, shade, shadow, oKipr^, a tent
(> E. scene), Skt. chhdyd, shade, et<. Hence
the later form ttluide^, q. v.] 1. The fainter
light and coolness caused by the interruption
or interception of the rays of light and heat
from the sun; shade.
Vnder a trl appt-ltre . . .
That was brauiiched (ul brode & bar gret sehadiu.
Waiiam 0/ PaUrne (E. E. T. S.), 1. Ibi.
And for further beautie, besides commoditie of thadow,
they plant trees at their dores, which continue greene all
the yeare long. Pvrchtu, Pilgrimage, p. <3&
2. pi. Same as shaded, 3.
Wight's sable $had(nB9 from the ocean rise.
Sir J. Denham, Destruction of Troy.
3. Shade within defined limits ; the dark figure
or image projected by a body when it int«r-
cepts the light, in optics sAodow may h« deflned as
a portion of space from which light Is shut off by an
opai|ue itody. Every opaque object on which light falls
is accompanied with a shadow on the side opposite to the
luminous body, and the Rhiiduw appears more Intense in
proportion as the illuioiiiatiun is stronger. An opaque
object illunitiiated by the Kim, or any other source of light
which is not a single point, must have an inllnlte number
of shadows, though these are not distinguishable from each
other, and hence the shadow of such an opaque body re-
celred on a plane is always accompanied by a penumbra,
or paiiial shadow, the complete shadow being called the
uniora. See penmnbra.
There is another Hflle, that U clept Athoa, that Is so
hlghe that the Schadnee of hyro rechethe to Lempne,
that Is an He. UandmUe, Travels, p. 16.
The thatloK slta cloae to the dying balL
Emenon, Woodnotes, IL
4. Anything which follows or attends a person
or thing like a shadow; an inseparable com-
panion.
Sin and her ihadow, Death. inUon, P. L., Iz. 12.
5t. An uninvited guest introduced to a feast
by one who is invited: a translation of the
Latin umbra.
I must not have my board peater'd with ihadom.
That under other men's protection bresjc In
Without inviteuient.
Mattinger, Unnatural Combat, HI. 1.
6. A reflected image, as in a mirror or in
water; hence, any image or portrait.
Narclssos so himself himself forsook.
And died lo kiaa bis thadme in the brook.
Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 162.
TheBasntos . . . think that, If a man walks on the rlrer
bank, a crocodile may seize his thadow in the water and
draw him In. E. B. TDtor, Prim. I'ulture, I. 3X8.
7. The dark part of a picture ; shade ; repre-
sentation of comparative deficiency or absence
of light.
Take soch adrantageons lights, that after great lights
great $hadomi may succeed.
Dryden, tr. of Dufresnoy's Art of Painting.
8. Type; mystical representation. Compare
eidolon and jmradigm.
And thadom of that destined seed to bmlae.
Jfitton, P. L., xlL 283.
9. An imperfect and faint representation ;
adumbration; a prefiguration ; a foreshowing;
a dim bodying forth.
The law having a thadoie of good things to come, and
not the very image of the things, can never with those
sacrifices which they offered year by year continually
make the com«n* thereunto perfect. Heb. x. 1.
In the Riorious lights of heaven we perceive a thadow
of his divine countenance. Raleigh.
10. The faintest trace; a slight or faint ap-
pearance : as, without a xlindow of doubt 1 1 .
DiHguisp; pretext; subterfuge.
Their Itlie priests') teaching i« hut a lest and tliadow to
gel money. Purchat, Pilgrimage, p. WS.
5541
12. Anything unsubstantial or unreal, though
having the deceptive appearance of reality; an
image produced by the imagination.
Shadows to.night
Have struck raore terror to the soul of Richard
Than can the substance of ten thousand soldiers.
Shak., Kich. III., v. 3. 216.
What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue I
Burke, Speech at Biistol, Sept. 9, 1780.
13. A phantom ; a shade ; a spirit ; a ghost.
Then came wandering by
A shadmo like an angeL
Shak., Rich. III., i. 4. 53.
Are ye alive? or wandering shadows,
That find no peace on earth till ye reveal
Some hidden secret?
Fletcher (and another), Sea Voyage, L 3.
14. A shaded or shady spot or place; an ob-
scure, secluded, or quiet retreat.
In secret shadow from the sunny ray
On a sweet bed of lilies softly laid. Spenser.
Ill go find a shadow, and sigh till he come.
Shak., As you Like it, iv. 1. 222.
16. Shade; retirement; privacy; quiet; rest.
Men cannot retire when they would, neither will they
• when It were reason, but are impatient of privateness,
even in age and sickness, which re<iuire the shadow.
Bacon, Of Great Place (ed. 1887).
16. Shelter; cover; protection; security.
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High
shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Ps. xci. 1.
1 doubt not but your honours will as well accept of this
as of the rest, A Patronize it under the shadow of your
most noble vertuea. Capt. John Smith, True Travels, Ded.
17t. That which shades, shelters, or protects,
as from light or heat; specifically, a sunshade,
a parasol, or a wide-brimmed hat for women.
Item, for a cale and ahadoe 4 Sh.
Wardship (^Richard Fmnor (1B80).
They [Tailipoles] hane a skin of leather hanging on a
string about their neckes, whereon they sit bare-headed
and bare.footed, with their right armes bare, and a broad
Sombrero or shadow in their hands, to defend them in Sum-
mer from the Sunne, and In Winter from the raine.
Purehae, Pilgrimage, p. 460.
18. A light four-cornered sail used by yachts
in fair winds, it has a special gaif, and is set on the
foremast of schooners and on the mast of cutters and
sloops.
19. In entom., a very slight and undefined dark-
er color on a light ground, a.s on the wings of
Lepidoplera — Eartliquake-shadow. .Sec earthquake.
— Una of sliadows. .Same as ^adrat, 2.— Sliadow of
death, approach of death or dire calamity ; terrible dark-
netis. Job ill. i.; Ps. xzlU. 4. = 8yiL 3. SeesAodel.
shado'nr (shad'o). t;. t. [< ME. shadwen, schadow-
eii, schadewen (Kentish ssedtci), < AS. scead-
man, gcadeteian = OS. skadoian, skadowan = D.
schaduwen = OLG. scadowan = OHO. scatewen,
MHG. gehatewen, G. uberschatten = Goth, skad-
vjan (in comp. ufar-skadwjan, overshadow);
from the noun. Cf. shaded, r.] 1. To cover
or overspread with shade; throw into shade;
cast a shadow over; shade.
With grene trees shadived was his place.
Chaucer, Oen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 607.
The warlike Elfe much wonilred at this tree.
So fayre and great, that shadowed all the gronnd.
Spenser, F. Q., II. vlL 56.
As the tree
Stands In the sun and shadows all beneath,
8o In the light of great eternity
Life eminent crefttea the shade of death.
Tennyson, Love and Death.
2. To darken; cloud; obscure: bedim; tarnish.
MisUke me not for ray complexion.
The sAodotf'd livery of the burnish'd sun.
To whom I am a neighljour and near bred.
Shak., M. of V., IL 1. i.
Vet further for my painee to discredit me, and my call-
ing it New-England, they obscured It and shadowed it with
the title of Cannada.
Quoted in CapL John Smith's Works, II. 262.
3. To mark with or represent by shading; mark
with slight gradations of color or light ; shade ;
darken slightly.
If the parts be too much distant, ... so that there be
void spaces which are deeply shadowed, we are then to
take occasion to place In those voids some fold, to make
a Joining of the parts.
Dryden, tr. of Dufresnoy's Art of Painting, xxiL
It is good to shadow carnations, and all yellows.
Peaeham.
4. To represent in a shadowy or figurative way ;
hence, to betoken; typify; foreshow: some-
times yr'ith forth or out.
The next figure (on a medal] sAo^fm/'S out Eternity to us,
by the sun in one hand and the moon in the other.
Addison, Dialogues on Medals, ii.
The tales of fairy-spiriting may shadow a lamentai>le
verity. Lainb, Chimney-Sweepers.
5. To shelter ; screen ; hide ; conceal ; dis-
gaiae.
shad-spirit
The dere draw to the dale,
And leva the hilles hee.
And shadow hem in the leves grene,
Vndur the grene-wode tre.
Robin Uood and tlie Monk (Child's Ballads, V. 1).
They seek out all shifts that can be, for a time, to shad-
ow their self-love and their own selves.
J. Bradford, Works (Parker Soc, 1863), U. 361.
Let every soldier hew him down a bough.
And bear 't before him : thereby shall we shadow
The numbers of our host. Shak., Macbeth, v. 4. 5.
6. To attend closely, like a shadow; follow
about closely in a secret or unobserved mann er ;
watch secretly and continuously : as, to shadow
a criminal. [Colloq.]
shadow-bird (shad'o-b^rd), n. The African
umbre, umbrette, or hammerhead, Scopus um-
bretta. See cut under Scopus.
shadowed (shad'od), p. a. In her., same as
c» trailed.
shadow-figure (shad'o-fig'Or), n. A silhouette.
The shadow-figures sold this winter by one of my in-
formants were of Mr. and Mrs. Manning, the Queen,
Prince Albert, the Princess Royal, and the Prince of Wales.
Matjhew, London Labour and London Poor, I. 311.
shadow-houset (shad'o-hous), «. A summer-
house.
One gai'den, summer, or shadowe house covered with
blue slate, handsomely benched and waynscotted in parte.
ArchjBoloffia, X. 419. (Davies.)
shadowlness (shad'o-i-nes), w. Shadowy or
unsuh.stantial character or quality.
shado'Wiug (shad'o-ing), n. [< ME. shadowing;
verbal n. of shadow.'] If. Shade.
Narcisus, shortly to telle.
By aventure com to that welle
To reaten hym in that shadowing.
Rom. 0/ the Rose, \. 1603.
2. Shading; gradation of light and shade ; also,
the art of representing such gradations.
More broken scene made up of an infinite variety of in-
equalities and shadowings that naturally arise from an
agreeable mixture of hills, groves, and valleys. Addison.
shado'wish (shad'o-ish), a. [< shadow + -»s/ii.]
Shadowy. [Rare!]
Men will answer, as some have done, "that, touching
the Jews, first their religion was of far less perfection and
dignity than ours is, ours being that truth whereof theirs
was but a sftadowish preflgurativc resemblance."
Uooker, Eccles. Polity, VIII. ill. 1.
shadowless (shad'o-les), a. [< sluidow + -lesK.]
Having no shadow ;hence,weird; supernatural.
She [the nurse] had a large assortment of fairies and
shadowless witches and bansliees.
Miss Edgeworth, Ennui, ill.
shadow-stitch (shad'6-stich), n. In lace-mak-
iiiij, a mode of using the bobbins so as to pro-
duce delicate openwork borderings and the
like, the thread crossing from one solid part
of the pattern to another in a sort of ladder-
stitch.
shadow-test (shad'6-test), n. Same as skias-
e<>l>!l-
shadow-vane (shad'6-van), «. The part of a
back-staff which received the shadow, and so
indicated the direction of the sun.
shadowy (shad'o-i), a. [< ME. shadewy ; < shad-
ow + -y'^. Ct. shady.] 1. Full ofj causing, or
affording shadow or shade ; shady ; lience, dark ;
gloomy.
Of all tliese bounds, even from this line to this,
With shadowy forests and with champains rich'd.
With plenteous rivers and wide-skirted meads.
We make thee lady. Shak., Lear, 1. 1. 65.
The close confines of a shadowy vale.
Wordsworth, Evening Voluntaries, xliL
2. Faintly representative ; typical.
Tliose shadow)/ expiations weak,
The blood of bulls and goats,
MUlan, P. L., xii. 291.
3. Like a shadow; hence, ghostlike; unsub-
stantial ; unreal ; obscure ; dim.
His [the goblin's] shadowy flail hath thresh'd the com
That ten day-labourers could not end.
Milton, L'Aliegro, 1. 108.
And summon from the shadowy Past
The forms that once have been.
LonafeUow, A Qieam of Sunshine.
4. Indulging in fancies or dreamy imagina-
tions.
Wherefore those dim looks of thine,
Shadoury, dreaming Adeline?
Tennyson, Adeline.
shad-salmon (8had'sam"un). w. A coregonoid
fish, Cort-ffoti IIS clupeiformis, the so-called fresli-
water herring of the Great Lakes of North
Anioriea. See cut under whitefish.
shad-seine (shad'san), n. See seine.
shad-spirit (shad'spir'^it), n. The common
American snipe, Galliiiago wilsoni; the shad-
bird. See snipe, and out under Gallinago.
shad-spirit
The ftshermen when dniwiiig their seines at night often
start it from its moist resting place, and hear its sharp
cry as it Hies away through the darkness. They do not
know the cause of the sound, and from the association
they have dubbed its author tlie shad-spirit.
G. B. GritDieU, The Century, Oct., 1883.
shad-splash (shad'splash), M. Same as shad-
irasA.
shadnf, «. See shadoof.
shad-waiter (shad'wa't^r), «. A coregonoid
fish, tlie Meiiomonee whiteflsli, Corefionus qiiad-
riUitcraliii, also called pUot-jUh and roundjish.
Shad-waiter l^Core^tmus quadritateralis).
shad-wash (shad'wosh), ». The wash, swish,
or splash of the water made by shad in the act
of spawning ; hence, a place where shad spawn.
The shad spawn generally at night, and select sliallow
water. They run side by side in pairs, male and female,
and come suddenly out of the water as the female depos-
its her spawn, and the male ejects the milt upon it. .Also
ghad-gploith.
shad-working (shad'w6r''king), n. The arti-
ficial propagation of shad.
shady (sha'di), a. [= G. schattiij; as shade +
-y^. Ct. shadowy.'] 1. Abounding with or af-
fording shade.
Their babble and talk vnder bushes and shadie trees,
the first disputation and contentious reasoning.
PuUenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 30.
Shady coverts yield a cool retreat.
Addison^ tr. of Virgil's Georgics, iv.
2. Sheltered from glare or sultry heat ; shaded :
as, a shady place.
Cast it also that you may have rooms . . . shady for
summer and warm for winter. Bacon, Building (ed. 188").
We will go home through the wood : that will be the
shadiegt way. Charlotte Bronte, Jane Jiyre, xxxvii.
3. Such as cannot bear the light; of doubtful
honesty or morality: as, a shady transaction.
[Colloq.]
There were admirers of Putney: workmen of rebellious
repute and of advanced opinions on social and religious
questions; nonsuited plaintiffs and defendants of shady
record, for whom he had at one time or another done what
he could. Howells, Annie Kilburn, xxv.
His principal business seems to have been a billiard-
marker, which he combined with much shadier ways of
getting money. The Centvry, XXXV. 558.
On the Shady side of, beyond : used with reference to
age : as, to be on the shady side of forty. [Colloq.] — To
keep shady, to keep dark. [.Slang.]
shamet (shaf'l), v. i. [Perhaps in part a dial.
var. of shuffle; but cf. Sc. shachk, shochle. Cf.
a,\so shaffling.] To walk sliamblingly; hobble
or limp.
shaffling (shaf'ling), a. and n. [Cf. shaffle, v.]
1. «. Indolent.
II. n. An awkward, insignificant person.
HalUwell. [Prov. Eng.]
shaffornet, shaffront, «. Obsolete forms of
cUamfron.
Shaflite (.shaf'i-it), n. [< Ar. Shdfi'i, name of
the founder, -t- -ite^.] A member of one of the
four divisions or sects into which the orthodox
Mohammedans, or Sunnites, are divided.
shafnett, «. [A corrupt form of shaftment.']
Same as shaftmond.
shaftl (shaft), n. [< ME. shaft, schaft, scheft,
'saeft, an arrow, shaft, rod, pole (of a spear), <
AS. sceaft, a shaft (of a spear), dart (= OS. sl'aft
= D. schacht = MLG. LG. schaeht (ch for/, as
also in D. lueht for luft, air) = OHG. scaft,
MHG. G. schaft = Icol. skapt, prop, skaft,
shaft, missile, = Sw. Dan. skaft, a handle, haft),
with formative -t, prob. one. pp., lit. 'a shaven
or smoothed rod or stick,' K scafan, shave: see
shave. The L. scaptts, a stalk, stem, shaft, Gr.
OK^Tzurv, (jKavTov, oKrjvTpov, a staff, may be from
the same root : see scape^, scepter. Cf. shafts,
shafts. ] 1 _ A. long slender rod forming the body
of a spear or lance; also, the spear or lance
itself.
Hade he no helme ne hawb[e]rgh nauther, . . .
Ne no schafte, ne no schelde, t(» scheone, ne to smyte.
Sir Oawayne and the Oreen Knigid (E. E. T. 8.X 1. 205.
His Bleep, his mete, his drynk is him byraft.
That lene he wex, and drye as is a Moft.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 604.
2. An arrow ; a long arrow, used with the long-
bow, as distinguished from the bolt, or quarrel,
used with the crossbow. See arrow, broad-
arrow, flight-arrow.
5542
The sent-strong Swallow sweepeth to and fro.
As swift as shafts fly from a Turkish Bowe.
Sylvester, tr. of Uu Bartas's Weeks, i. 5.
From the hour that flrst
His beauty she beheld, felt her soft bosom pierc'd
With Cupid's deadliest shtift.
Drayton, Polyolbion, ii. 311.
Sha/ls
Of gentle satire, kin to charity.
Tennyson, Princess, ii.
3. Something resembling an arrow or a missile
in shape, motion, or effect : as, shafts of light.
A mitre . . .
Was forged all of fyne gold, and fret fulle of perrils,
Stigt statfulle of stanes that strait out hemes
As it ware schemerand schaftis of the schire sonne.
King Aleoeander, p. 53, quoted in Alliterative Poems (ed.
(Morris), Uloss., p. 189.
A thousand shafi» of lightning pass.
Bryant, Legend of the Delawares.
4. A body of a long cylindrical shape ; an un-
branched stem, stalk, trunk, or the like; the
columnar part of anything. Specifically- (a) In
arch, : (1) The body of a column between the base and the
capital; the fust or trunk. It generally diminishes in
diameter, sometimes from the bottom, sometimes from a
quiu'ter or from a third of its height, and sometimes it lias ;j
slight swelling, called the entasis. In Ionic and Corinthian
columns the difference of the upper and lower diameters
of the shaft varies from a fifth to a twelfth of the lower
diameter. See column. (2) In medieval architecture, one
of the small columns often clustered around main pillars,
applied against a wall to receive the impost of a rib, an
arch, etc., or used in the jambs of doors and windows, in
arcades, etc. See cuts under jamb-sAa/tand^'^^ar. (3) The
spire of a steeple. (4) The part of a chimney which rises
above the roof, (b) In omith. : (1) The cora humming-
bird, Thaumastttra cora. See cut under sheartail. (2) Tlie
main stem, stock, or scape of a feather, including both
calamus and rachis. (c) In anat. : (1) The part of a hair
which is tree and projects beyond the surface of the skin,
between the root and the point, or as far as the pith ex-
tends. See hair, n,,l. (2) The continuity or diaphysis of
a long bone, as distinguished from its articular extremi-
ties, condyles, or epiphyses, (d) In eiUom., the cylindri-
cal I>asal part of an organ when it supports a larger head
or apex. Specifically — (1) The basal joint or scape o( an
antenna. (2) The scape or stipe supporting the capit-
ulum in the halter or poiser of a dipterous insect. Also
called scapus and stipes, (e) In mach. : (1) A kind of
large axle : as, the shaft of a fly-wheel ; the shaft of a
steamer's screw or paddles ; the shaft or crank -axle of a
locomotive. See cuts under paddle-wheel, screw propeller,
and seaminy-TnacMne. (2) A revolving bar or connected
bars serving to convey the force which is generated in an
engine or other prime mover to the different working ma-
chines, for which purpose it is provided with drums and
belts, or with cog-wheels. See cuts under scroll-wheel,
shafting, and oU-miXl.
5. A handle, as of a tool, utensil, instrument,
or the like : as, the shaft of a hammer, ax,
whip, etc. — 6. A long lath at each end of
the heddles of a loom. — 7. One of the bars or
trams between a pair of which a horse is har-
nessed to a vehicle ; a thill ; also, the pole or
tongue of a carnage, chariot, or the like.
When Alexander came thither, he had a great desire to
see the tower in which was the palace of Gordius (t M ydas,
that he might behold the shafts or beam of Gordius his
cart, & the indissoluble knot fastned thereto.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 325.
Cloth-yard shaft, see cloth-yard. —'Regala.tOT-sha.tt.
See regvlalor.—to make a shaft or a holt of it, to make
or do what one can with the material in hand ; hence, to
take the risk and make the best of it. The shaft was the
arrow used with the longbow, the bolt that used with the
crossbow.
I'll make a shaft or a bolt on 't.
Slialc., M. W. of W., m. 4. 24.
The Prince is preparing for his Journey ; I shall to it
[my business] again closely when he is gone, or make a
Shaft or a Bolt of it. Hotcell, Letters, I. iiL 24.
shaft'-* (shaft), H. [In this sense not found in
ME. or AS., and due to G. influence (from
German miners in England) ; = Dan. skakt, <
G. schacht, MHG. schnht, shaft (of a mine), prop,
a LG. form, used only in this sense (G. schacht
also a square rood), < MLG. LG.(alsoI).)sc7(ac/((,
a shaft (in a mine), a particular use, appar. in
allusion to its being straight and nan'ow, of
schacht, a shaft or rod (as of a spear) : see
s/io/Yl.] 1. In mining, a vertical or inclined
excavation made in opening the ground for
mining purposes. A shaft may be sunk vertically,
without regard to the dip of the lode, or it may be sunk
by an incline following the lode, either closely or approxi-
mately, according as its dip is more or less regular. When
it is expected that extensive operations will be carried
on, the shafts are usually sunk vertically, and connected
with the lode at various depths by cross-drifts or levels.
When, however, the dip of the lode is pretty uniform and
its thickness considerable, all the shafts of the mine may
be sunk upon it as inclines. This is the case with the
largest mines on LakeSuperior. Shaftshavevariousforms,
gome being round, others oval; but the most common
shape is rectangular. In large mines the shaft is usually
divided into several compartments, one being used for
the pumping-machinery, two or more for hoisting ore, and
another for lowering heavy timbers. In the English coal-
mines the shafts are mostly circular in section ; in Bel-
gium, polygonal; in the anthracite region of Pennsyl-
shafting
vania the winding shafts are always square or rectangular,
and there the largest shafts have a length of from 44 to 52
feet, and a width of 10 or 12.
2. In milit. iiiiiiiiKj, a vertical pit the bottom of
which serves as a point of departure for a gal-
lery or series of galleries leading to mines or
chambers filled with explosives. — 3. The inte-
rior space of a blast-furnace above the hearth,
and especially the part where the diameter re-
mains nearly the same, or that which is above
the boshes. More often called the body of the
furnace — Pumping-shaft, in mining, the shaft in
which is placed the "])it-work," or the puniping-machinei^
used in raising water from the lower portions of the mine.
Shaft^t, «. [ME. shaft, schaft, < AS. sceaft, a
creature, gcsceaft, gescseft, gesceft, the creation,
a created thing or being, a creature, decree,
fate, destiny (= OS. gisefti, decree of fate, =
OHG. gascaft, creation, creature, fate, = Goth.
gaskafts, creation; cf. AS. gesceap, a creation,
creature, decree of fate, destiny, etc.), < r/c-. a
generalizing prefix (see t'-l), + sceapan, shape,
form : see s)iape.'] 1 . Creation ; a creation ; a
creature. Hallmell. — 2. Make; form; figure.
For be a man faire or foule, it falleth nougte for to lakke
The shappe ne the shafte that god shope hymselue ;
For al that he did was wel ydo.
Piers Plowman (B), xi. 387.
shaft-alley (shaffal^i), n. A fore-and-aft pas-
sage iu the after part of a ship, extending from
the engine-room to the stem-bearing, and con-
taining the screw-shaft and couplings: known
in England as screw-alley.
shaft-bearing (shaft'bar"ing), «. In mach., a
bearing for a shaft; a journal-box or pillow-
block for shafting, whether resting on the floor,
on a bracket, or suspended from the ceiling.
When suspended from a ceiling, such bearings are called
shafting-hangers, or simply hangers. See cut under jour-
nal-hearing.
shaft-bender (shaft'ben'''der), «. A person who
beiiils timljer by steam or pressure.
shaft-coupling (shaft'kup''ling), n. 1. A de-
vice for connecting two or more lengths of
shafting together. See coupling. — 2. A de-
vice for connecting the shafts of a wagon to
the front axle — Shaft-coupling Jack, a tool for
bringing the shaft-eye and the axle-clip of a vehicle into
their proper relative position, so that the connecting-bolt
will pass through them.
shafted (shafted), a. [< shnff^ -H -erf2.] Hav-
ing a shaft or shafts. Specifically- (a) In A«r., noting
a spear, an-ow, or similar weapon, and denoting a differ-
ence of tincture in the shaft from that of the head, feathers,
etc. Thus, an anow shafted gules, flighted and barbed
argent, denotes that the head and feathers are of argent,
while the shaft only is of gules. (&) Ornamented with
shafts or small clustered pillars ; resting upon shafts : as,
a shafted arch. See cut under impost.
When the broken arches are black in night,
And each shafted oriel glimmers white.
Scott, L. of L. M., ii. 1.
(c) In omith., having the shafts (of feathers) of a specified
character : used in composition ; as, ^iievshafted. Te<\-sha.1t-
ed, yeUovi-shafted.— Shafted imposts. See impost, 2.
shaft-eye (shaft'i), n. A hole in a shaft of any
kind, through which a pin or bolt is i^assed.
shaft-furnace (shaft'fer'''nas), n. An upright
furnace; one of which the stack or body occu-
pies a vertical position: a term used rarely,
and chiefly in contradistinction to the reverier-
atory furnace, in which the body is horizontal.
Roasting-furnaces in which the pulverized ore falls down
a shaft through an ascending vertical current of flame, as
in the Stetefeldt furnace, are also sometimes called shaft-
.fumaces.
shaft-horse (shaft'hors), «. The horse that
goes in the shafts or thills of a cart, chaise, or
other vehicle.
shafting (shafting), n. [< shaft'^ + -ing^.] In
«/«c7i., the system of shafts which connects ma-
chinery with the prime mover, and through
c
Shafting.
«, shaft ; i, (*', pulleys ; r, c', belts ; rf, rf*, hangers : r, drip^nip to
receive oil dropping from the bearing in rf'.
which motion is communicated to the former by
the latter. See shaft^, i (e) Flexible shafting,
a form of shafting composed of a number of wires wound
spirally one over another, used to convey power for short
distances to tools that require to be moved about, or
changed in position or direction.
shafting-box
Shafting-boz (shiif'tinfi-boks). «. An inclosed
bearing for a shaft. Such a bearing sometimes con-
sists of a perforated box within another box, the latter
being liept tilled with oiL
shaft-jack (shaft'jak), ». In a vehicle, a eoup-
linfr by which the shafts are secured to the
axle : a shaft-coupling jack.
shaft-line (shaft'lin), ». A narrow sharp line
of color produced in plumage by the shaft of a
feather when it is diiterently colored from the
vanes. Cones.
shaft-loop (shaft 'lop), n. In harness, a loop or
tag on a saddle, serving to support a shaft of
a veliicle. Also called shaft-tug.
shaftmentt, shaftmant, »■ Same as skaft-
nitm/l.
shaftmondt, «. [Also shaftmound, shaftmont,
5543
The eye reposes on a secret bridge,
Half gray, half ghagged with ivy to its Hdge.
Wordsworth, Evening Walk.
intrans. To hang in or form shaggy clus-
n.
ters.
With hollow eyes deepe pent,
And long cnrld locks that downe his shoulders shagged.
Spenser, F. (J., V. ix. 10.
shag^ (shag), ». [Prob. < shatjl, with ref. to its
tuft. Cf. Icel. skegg-lingr, mod. skeggla, a kind
of bird, supposed to be the green cormorant.]
In ornifli., a cormorant; especially, the crested
cormorant, or scart, I'haUicrocorax graciilus, of
Europe, so called in Great Britain. It is smaller
than the common cormorant, when adult of a rich dark
glossy green varied with purple and bronze, and in the
breediuK season has the head crested with bundles of long
curly plumes.
shuj'tiiuitt, shaftmon, shaftman, shafman, shaf- shaganappy (shag-a-nap'i), n. [Also shtiggi-
...,, .!.„/■..... _•_ . y -i.T^ -> _^. j_ , .c. iiaiii)i,sliiiggineppi,eie.; AmeT.lnd.] Kawhide;
also, adjecti vely. tough ; rough. [Western U. S.]
Shaganappi in this part of the world does all that lea-
ther, cloth, rope, nails, glue, straps, cord, tape, and a num-
ber of other articles are used for elsewhere.
G. M. Grant, Ocean to Ocean, p. 129.
Shagbark (shag'bark), «. 1. A kind of hick-
ory, Hicoria ovata (Carya alba), which yields
the best hickory-nuts. Also called shellbark
(which see), and shaglxirk irabiut. [U. S.] —
2. Same as satonette', 2. [West Indies.]
shag-bnsht (shag'biLsh), n. A hand-gun. Hal-
liwell.
met, shafuet, etc. ; < ME. schaftmnnde, < AS.
sceaftmnmt, .■iCieflmuHd (Bosworth), a palm, a
palm's length, < sceaft, a shaft, -I- mund, a
hand, also protection, guardianship, = OS.
mund, hand, = OFries. mund, guardian, guar-
dianship, = OHG. MH(t. /«««/, palm, hand,
cubit, nrotection, protector, G. mund = Icel.
mund, hand, a hand's measure : see shafts and
tMOiinrfl.] A span, a measure of about Ginches.
Thorowe scheldys they schotte, and scherde thorowe
males.
Bothe schere thorowe schoulders a febaflmonde large t
MorU ArlhureiE. E. T. S.X 1. 2!i46.
Therefore let your iMw have good big bend, a »/Ktrtmen< shag-dog (shag'dog), n. A dog with shaggy
Same as poppet-
aiid two fingers at the least for these which I have spoken
of. Aseham, Toxophilus (ed. lm4), p. 104.
shaft-monture (shaft'mou'tur), n. See mon-
turf.
shaft-spot (shaft'spot), n. A short shaft-line
of color somewhat invading the vanes. See
shaft-line. P. L. Sclater.
shaft-stripe (shaft'strip), «. Same as ahaft-
Unt .
shaft-tackle (shaft'tak'l), n.
Iieiid. -1.
shaft-tip (shaft'tip), n. A eap or ferrule of
metal forming a finish at the end of a wagon-
shaft. ^
shaft-tng Cshaft'tug), w. Same as shaft-lonp.
shaft-tunnel (shaft'tun'el), ». Same as screu--
itllrij or shiifl-idley.
shag' (shag), «. and a. [< ME. 'shagge. < AS.
sceacga, hair, = leel.skegg = Sw. skiigg, a beard.
= Dan. skieg, a barb, beard, wattle ; perhaps
akin to Icel. skaga, jut out, sktigi, a cape, heail-
land (> E. skaw). Cf. shog'i, shock'^, a rougli-
eoated dog. Hence shagged, shaggi).] I. «.
1. Rough matted hair, wool, or the like.
Of the same kind is the goat liart, and dllTeriug onely
in the tieard and long <Aai/ alHint the shoulders.
ItManri. tr. of Pliny, viii. Xi.
A sturily veteran . . . who had cherished, through
hair. Ford, Lady's Trial, iii. 1
shag-eared (shag'erd), «. Having shaggy ears.
Thou Heat, thou shag-ear d villain !
Shak., Macbeth, iv. a 83.
[Some eilitions read shag-hair'd.]
shagebusht, «. A corrupt form of sackbut.
shagged (shag'ed), a. [< ME. 'shagged, < AS.
sceacgede, sceagode, hairy (= Icel. skeggjathr
= Dan. sksegget, beanled), < sceacga, hair: see
»Aa</l.] 1. Rough, coarse, thick, or unkempt;
long and tangled ; shaggy.
In raging mood
(CoIoa»n>.llke) an armed Giant stood ;
Bis long black locks hung shagged (sluuen-like)
A-down his sides.
Syltxtter, tr. of Du Bartaa's Weeks, li.. The Trophies.
The animal he bestrode waa a broken-down plough-
hone, that had outlived almoit erery thing but his vlcious-
ness. He was gaunt and ihaggtd, with a ewe neck and a
head like a hammer. Irring, Sketch-Book, p. 438.
2. Figuratively, covered with scrub, or with
some siTubby growth ; rugged ; rough : as, shag-
ged hillsides.
shaggedness (shag'ed-nes), n. Same as shag-
giiKss. I>r. H. More.
shaggily (shag'i-li), adv. [< shaggy + -ly^.]
Houghly ; so as to be shagged: as, shaggily pi-
lose.
„- „ _ _... Shagjrines8(«hag'i-ne8), »(. l< sliaggi/ + -ness.']
a long life, a mop of hair not a little resembling the 1. The state of being shagged "or shaeev:
.*a<,of..Newfoundl«,ddog, roughness produced by long Mr or wool ;hir-
suteness. — 2. Roughness of any sort caused
Irring, Knickerbocker, p. 316.
Hence — 2. The nap of cloth, espeeially when
long and coarse.
True Witney Broad floth, with iU .'mag nnshom,
I npiercd is in the lasting Tempest woni.
Be this the horseman s fence. Oay, Trivia, I. 47.
3. Any cloth having a long nap.
(;hiorae, where Buls as big
As Elephants are clad in silken aluff.
Is great Senis Portion.
Sylttester, tr. of Du Bartaa's Week^ ii.. The Colonies.
The King, says Petion, wore a coat of dark shag, and his
Unen was not clean. Fortnighay Rev., S. 8., -XLII. 2W.
4. A strong tobacco cut into fine shreds.
The Hcry and wretched stuff (tobacco) paaaing current
aa the labourer's and the ploughman's "shag" an<l "roll "
of to-day. \inrteenth Century, XXIV. 674.
n. a. 1. Rough and coarse; hairy; shaggy.
Oxen of great strength, with tailes likevnto horses, and
with long shagge haire vpon their l)acke«.
llatduyVs Voyages, 1. 116.
Ketiocks shag and long. Shak.,\enat and Adonis, 1. 285.
2. Made of the cloth called shag.
A new ihag gown, trimmed with gold buttons and twist.
Pepys, Diary, Oct, SI, 1688.
I am going to buy a shag mff.
MiddUUm and DeUer, Roaring GIri, IL 1.
Shag tOlMUSCO. See I. , i.
shagi (shag), r. : pret. and pp. shagqed, ppr.
shagging. [< shagi. n."] I. f ran*. "To roughen
or make shaggy: used chieHy in the past par-
ticiple.
Where very desolation dwells.
By grota and caverns shagg'd with horrid shades.
Milton, Comns, 1. 429.
Where the rude t'lrrent's brawling course
ViU shagg'd with thorn and tjingling sloe.
Scott, Cadyow Castle.
by irregular, ragged projections, as of a tree, a
forest, or a person in rugs.
shaggy (shag'i), a. [= Sw. skdggig, shaggy; as
.ihag" + -yl.] 1. Rough, coarse, or imkempt;
thick, rough, and irregular.
Their maaka were accommmlated with long shaggy
beards and hab-. Scott, Kenilworth, xigcvli.
His dark, s<|aare countenance, with its almost shaggy
depth of eyebrows^ was naturally impressive.
Hatcthome, Seven Gables, viii.
shake
shagreen (sha-gren'), n. and a. [Formerly also
chagrin = D. segrijn = G. schagrin = Sw. scha-
grdng = Dan. chagrin = Russ. shaqrinu, < P.
chagrin, < It. dial. (Venetian) zagrin, It. zi-
grino = Pers. saghri, shagreen, < Turk, saghri,
saghri, shagreen, lit. 'the back of a horse' (this
leather being orig. made of the skin of the back
of the horse, wild ass, or mule). Hence ult., in
a fig. sense, chagrin'^, q. v.] I. n. 1. A kind of
leather with a granular surface, prepared with-
out tanning from the skin of the horse, ass, and
camel, and sometimes the shark, sea-otter, and
seal. Its granular appearance is produced by embed-
ding in the skin, while soft, the seeds of a species of Che-
nopodium, and .afterward shaving down the surface, and
then, by soaking, causing the parts of the skin which had
been indented by the seeds to swell up into relief. It is
dyed with the green produced by the action of sal ammo-
niac on copper filings. Specifically called Oriental sha-
green, having been originally and most extensively pro-
duced in Eastern countries.
A bible bound in shagreen, with gilt leaves and clasps,
never opened but once. Steele, Tatler, No. 245.
2. Specifically, the skin of a shark or some re-
lated selachian, which is roughened with calci-
fied papill» (placoid scales), making the sur-
face harsh and rasping. See cut under scaled,
and compare se2>hen.
The integument (of sharks, etc.] may be naked, and It
never possesses scales like those of ordinary fishes; but
very commonly it is developed into papillse, which be-
come calcified, and give rise to tooth-Iikc structures;
these, when they are very small and close-set, constitute
what is called shagreen. Uitxley, Anat. Vert., p. 111.
3. An imitation of genuine shagreen, made by
passing raw hide in a moist state through roll-
ers in contact with a roughened copper plate. —
4t. Chagrin. See chagrin'^.
II. a. Made of the leather called shagreen.
Two Table-Books In .Shagreen Covers,
FiU'd with good Verse from real Lovers.
Prior, Cupid and (liinymede.
Sbagreen ray, a batoid fish, liaia /utlnnira. iil)out 30
Inches long and a foot or more broad, covered witli sha-
green, common off the British coasts. — Shagreen skate.
Same as shagreen ray.
shagreened (sha-grend'), a. [< shagreen +
-ed'-.] 1. Having a rough surface like that of
shark-skin. — 2. Covered with shagreen.
shah (sha), «. [Formerly schah, shaw ; = F.
schah, a shah, = Ar. Turk. Hind, shah, < Pers.
shah, a king; cf. Skt. hnhatra, dominion (see
satrap). From the Pers. shah, king, are also
ult. E. checks, chcss^, checker^, exchequer, etc.
Cf. also padishah, pasha, bnshair, etc.] In the
Persian language, the ruler of a land, as either
sovereign or vassal. The monarch of Persia
(usually called the Shah by English writers)
is designated by the compound appellation of
padishah.
shaheen (sha-hen'), «. [Also shahin ; < Hind.
shdhin, < Pers. shahin, a falcon.] A falcon of
the peregrine type which does not travel, like
the peregrine, all over the world. The true sha-
heen is Indian, and nearly confined to India. Its techni-
cal names are Fcdco peregrinator (V^wmXasM. 1837); F. sha-
heen (Jerdon, 1839) ; F. stiltauens (Hodgson, 1844) ; and F.
ruber (Schlegel, 1862). The adult female is 16 inches long,
the wing 12, the tail 6J.
shahi (shii'i), n. [< Pers. shdhi, royal, also roy-
alty, < shah, king: see shah.] A current cop-
per coin of Persia. Two-shahi and four-shnhJ pieces,
worth respectively IJ and S United States cents, are also
struck in copper. The shahi was originally struck in sil-
ver, and weighed in the eighteenth century IS grains.
2. Bough ; covered with long coarse or bushy shall •'t(shal), v. i. [Early mod. E. also shayle,
hair, or with something resembling it. « . .
Liberally the shagijy Earth adorn
With Woods, and Buds of fruits, of Mowers and com.
Syltxtter, tr. of Du Bartaa's Weeks, 1. 2.
The sapling tree
Which then was planted stands a shamy trunk,
Moaa-grown, the centre of a mighty shade.
shak; < ME. schaylen, scheylen. also skailen ; cf.
G. achielen = Sw. skela = Dan. skele, squint;
Icel. skelgjask, come askew: see shallow.] To
walk crookedly.
You must walk straight, without skiewing and shaUing
to every step you set. Sir B. L' Estrange.
3. In bot., pubescent or downy with long and
soft hairs; villous. — 4. In embryol., villous:
noting specifically that part of the chorion
which develops long villous processes, and thus
enters into the formation of the placenta, the
rest of the chorion remaining smooth.
shag-haired (shag 'hard), a. Having rough,
shaggy hair.
Full <»ften, like a shag-hair'd crafty kern.
Hath lie conversed with the enemy.
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., ill. 1. 367.
shagling (shag'ling), a. [Appar. a var. of shack-
ling.] Shackling; rickety; tottering: infirm.
Edmund Crispyne of Oriell coll., lately a shagling lec-
turer of physic, now one of the Proctors of the Uiiiversity.
A. Wood, Fasti Oxon., 1. 72.
shagragt (shag'rag), n. Same as shake-rag.
Bryant, Fifty Years. ghaU^f (shal), n. [Appar. a var. of «7ie«T?(ME.
schawlcs) : see shewcl.] A scarecrow.
The good hushande, whan he hath sowen his grounde,
settethe up cloughtes or thredes, wliiche some call shailes,
some blenchars, or other like showes, to feare away birdes.
Sir T. Elyot, The Governour, 1. 23.
shaird (shard), «. A Scotch form of shard.
shairl (sharl), n. [Named from the shairl goat.]
A very fine fabric, a kind of cashmere, made
from the wool of the shairl goat, a variety of
goat domesticated in Tibet.
shakal (shak'iil), «. Same an jackal.
Howling like a hundred shakals.
E. Moor, Hindu Pantheon (1810), p. 118.
shake (shak), v. ; pret. shook (formerly also
shaked), pp. shaken (formerly or dialectally also
shook), ppr. shaking. [< ME. shaken, schaken
(pret. shook, scKook, shok, schok, pp. schaken,
shake
shaken, shake, isehake ; also weak pret. scheked,
etc.). < AS. scfaean, scac^n (pret. scoc. sceot: pp.
sceaceii, scaceii), shake, move, shift, flee, = OS.
skiikaii, move, flee, = leel. sktika (pret. nkok,
pp. skek-inii), shake, = Sw.<.A'nA-a = Dan. skagc,
shift, veer; akin to D. schokken, LG. schueken,
MH6. schocken, shock (> ult. E. shock^), 6.
scbaukeln, agitate, swing. Hence ult. sliack^,
shackle'^, shoek^, shoff^, jof|.^ I. tratts. 1. To
cause to move with quick vibrations; move or
sway with a rapid jolting, jerking, or vibratory
motion ; cause to tremble, quiver, or shiver ;
agitate : as, to shake a carpet ; the wind shakes
the trees ; the explosion shook the house : to
shake one's fist at another; to shake one's head
as in displeasure or negation.
With many a tempest hadde his herd ben shate.
Chaucer, Gen. ProL to C. T., 1. 400.
And as he was thus saylnge he shaked his heade, and
made a wrie mouthe, and so he helde his peace.
Sir T. More, Utopia (tr. by RobinsonX i.
Now the storm in its might wouUi seize and shake the
four comers of the roof, roaring lilte Leviathan in anger.
R. L. Stevenson, The Merry Men.
2. To loosen, unfasten, remove, throw off or
aside, expel, dispel, or get rid of, by a jolting,
jerking, or abrupt vibrating action or motion,
or by rough or vigorous measures: generally
with away, dnirn, off, out, up, etc. : as. to shake
o^drowsiness ; to shake out a reef in a sail ; also,
in colloquial use, absolutely : as, to shake a bore.
And but I it had by other waye atte laste I stale it,
Or prjuiliche his purse shake vnpilced his lokkes.
Piers Plomnan (B), xiii. 368.
Shake of the golden slumber of repose.
Shak., Pericles, iii. 2. 23.
Who is in evil once a companion
Can hardly shake him of, but must run on.
Fletcher (and another), Queen of Corinth, iv. 4.
When he came an hundred miles neerer, his terrible
noyse shooke the teeth out of all the Roman heads.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 223.
At the first reproof he shook of, at once and for ever,
the practice of profane swearing, the worst if not the only
sin to which hfc was ever addicted.
Southey, Bunyan, p. S4.
3. To weaken or impair in any respect; make
less firm, sure, certain, solid, stable, or coura-
geous ; impair the standing, force, or character
of; cause to waver or doubt: as, a searching
cross-examination failed to shake the testimony
of the witness.
His fraud is then thy fear ; which plain infers
Thy equal fear that my firm faith and love
Can by his fraud be shaken or seduced.
Maton, P. L., ix; 287.
1 would not shake my credit in telling an improbable
truth. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, i. 11.
But, though the belief in witchcraft might be shaken, it
still had the advantage of being on the whole orthodox
and respectable.
LoiceU, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 140.
4. To agitato or disturb; rouse: sometimes
with up.
How he fhook the King,
Made his soul melt within him, and his blood -
Kun into whey. Beau, and Fl., Philaater, i. 1.
Sudden he starts,
Shook from his tender trance.
Thomson, Spring, 1. 1023.
The coachman shook up his horses, and carried them
along the side of the school close ... in a spanking trot.
T. Uuijhet, Tom Brown at Rugby, 1. 6.
5. To give a tremulous sound to; trill: as, to
shake a note in music. — 6. To steal. [Slang,
Australia.]
I got betting and drinking, . . . as young chaps will, and
lost my place, and got from bad to worse till I shook a nag
and got bowled out and lagged.
H. Kimjslen, Geoffry Haralyn, xix.
To shake a cask, to knock otf the hoops and pack toge-
ther the staves ai]d head of a cask. — To shake a foot or
a leg, to dance. [Provincial and slang.]
And I'd like to hear the pipers blow,
And shake afvl with Fanny there I
Thackeray, Mr. Molony's Account of the Ball.
To Shake a loose leg. see le<j.— To shake a vessel in
the wind, to bring a ship's head so near the wind as to
shiver the sails. To shake down or together, to shake
into place ; compact by shaking.
Good measure, pressed down, and shaken together.
Luke vi. .IS.
To Shake hands, (a) To greet or salute by grasping one
another's hands ; hence, tO Shake hands With, flgura.
tively, to take leave of ; part with ; say good-by to.
Shake hands with earth, and let your soul respect
iter Joys no farther than her joys reflect
Upon her Maker's glory.
Quarles, Emblems, 111., Entertainment.
Nor can it be safe for a king to tairy among them who
are shaking hanils with their allegiance. Eikon Basilike.
(b) To come to an agreeroeut ; agree fully ; as, to shake
hands over a biirgalu.
5544
When two such personages
Shall meete together to »hake hands in peace.
Heywood, 2 Edw. IV. (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, 1. 106).
To shake off the dust from one's feet, to disclaim or
renounce solemnly all intercourse or dealings with a per-
son or a locality.
And whosoever will not receive you, . . . sJiake off the
very dust from your .feet for a testimony against them.
Luke ix. 3.
To shake out a reef, t(> let it out and thereby enlarge a
sail. '-To shake the hellst. See (wHi,— To shake the
elbow. See elhov!.— To shake the head, to move the
head from side to side — a movement expressing disap-
probation, reluctance, dissent, refusal, negation, reproach,
disappointment, or the like.
When be shakes his head at any piece of public news,
they all of them appear dejected.
Steele, Spectator, No. 49.
To shake up. (a) To restore to shape or proper condition
by shaking : as, to shake up a pillow, (b) To shake or jar
thoroughly or in such a way as to damage or impair ; shock :
as, he was badly shaken up in the collision, (c) To up-
braid ; berate.
Adam. Yonder conies my master, your brother.
Orl. Go apart, Adam, and thou shalt hear how he will
shake me up. Shak., As you Like it, i. 1. 30.
II. intrans. 1. To be agitated with a waving
or vibratory motion ; tremble ; shiver ; quake :
as, a tree shakes with the wind ; the house shook
in the tempest.
But atte laste the statue of Venus shook
And made a signe.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 1407.
The foundations of the earth do shake. Isa. xxiv. 18.
Under his burning wheels
The steadfast empyrean shook throughout.
All but the throne itself of God.
Milton, P. L., vi. 833.
2t. To fall ; jump.
Out of the sadil he schok. Sir Perceval, 1. GJW.
3t. To go quickly; hasten.
Golde and oper goodes gripe it by dene,
And shote into our shippes, shake on our way.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3178.
4. In music, to use shakes or trills ; perform a
shake or trill ; trill.
Bedford, to hear her song, his dice forsakes.
And Nottingham is raptur'd when she shakes:
Lnll'd statesmen melt away their drowsy cares
Of England's safety in Italian Ail's.
Uugfies, Tofts and Margaretta.
A minstrel's fire within me burned ;
I'd sing, as one whose heart must break.
Lay upon lay ; I nearly learned
To shake. C. S. Calveiley, Changed.
5. To steal. [Slang, Australia.] — 6. To shake
hands : usually in the imperative : as, shake,
stranger. [Colloq., western U. S.]— Shaking pal-
sy, paralysis agitans (which see, unAer paralysis). — Shak-
ing prairie. See trembling prairie, under tremble. — To
shake down, to betake one's self to a shake-down ; to
occupy an improvised bed. [Colloq.]
.^n eligible apartment in which some five or six of us
shook down for the night, and resigned ourselves to the
musquitoes and to slumber,
W. II. Rttssell. Diary In India, 1. 40.
To Shake together, to come to be on good terms; get
along smoothly together ; adapt one's self to another's
habits, way of working, etc. [Colloq. ]
The rest of the men had shaken well together.
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, I. xi.
To shalie up. Same .as to shake together.
I can't shake up along with the rest of you. ... I am
used to hard lines and a wild country.
W. Collins, Hide and Seek, ii. 1.
-Syn. 1. Sinng, Boll, etc. See rocfc2.
shake (shak), ». [< ME. schak; < shake, r.] 1.
A rapid jolt or jerk one way and then the other;
an abrupt wavering or vibrating motion : as,
give it a shake; a shake of the head.
Your pencil rivals the dramatic art of Mr. Puff in the
Critic, who crammed a whole complicated sentence into
the expressive shake of Lord Burleigh's head.
Scott, Bride of Lammermoor, I.
2. A shock or concussion ; especially, a shock
that disarranges or impairs; rude or ■violent
attack or treatment.
The great soldier's honour was composed
Of thicker stuff, which could endure a shake.
G. Herbert, The Church Porch.
His brain has undergone an unlucky shake.
Swift, Tale of a Tub, ix.
3. A tremor; a quaver; a shiver.
'Tis he ; I am caught ; I must stand to It stoutly,
• And shew no shake of fear. Fletcher, Rule a Wife, iv. 1.
But Hepzibah could not rid herself of the sense of some-
thing unprecedented at that instant passing, and soon to
be accomplished. Her nerves were in a shake.
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, xvL
4. A trembling-fit; a chill; specifically, in the
plural and with the definite article, the shaJces,
ague; intermittent fever; also, delirium tre-
mens. [Colloq.] — 5. In music, a melodic embel-
lishment consisting of the rapid alternation of a
priijcipal tone with a tone one degree above it;
shaker
a trill: indicated by the mark ti:, with or with-
out the sign ^w. According to modern usage, the prin-
cipal tone is sounded first, and receives the accent through-
out; but in old music the reverse was the case, lithe
subsidiary tone is chromatically altered, this is indicated
by a sharp or a flat added to the sign of the shake. A shake
is usually concluded with a turn, and often preceded by
a prefix of one or more tones ; in the latter case it is said
to he prepared. A shake occurring in two or three voice-
I)arts at once is called double or triple, A succession of
shakes is called a chain. A shake inserted in the midst of
a rapid or flowing melody is called passing.
6. A brief moment; an instant: as, to do a
tiling in a couple or brace of shakes, or in the
shake of a lamb's tail (that is, to do it imme-
diately). [Slang.]
I'll be liack in a couple of shakes,
So don't, dears, be quivering and quaking.
Barhavi, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 106.
Now Dragon [a mastiiT] could kill a wolf in a brace of
shakes. C. Meade, Cloister and Hearth, xciii. (Davies.)
7. A crack or fissm-e in timber, produced dur-
ing growth by strain of wind, sudden changes
of temperature, or causes not well determined,
or formed during seasoning. Nearly all exogenous
woods are in some degree subject to this defect, which
appears in several forms. Heart-shake is a fissure through
the center or pith, slight or serious, in its simplest form
running the length of the trunk in one plane, in some
specimens twisted. Another cleft may cross at right
angles. Star-shake consists of radial fissures, sometimes
even reaching the circumference. Cup-sliake consists of
clefts between the concentric layers, occurring most often
near the root. All these shakes are commonly called
wind-shakes.
It [the teak] shrinks very little in seasoning, and has
no shakes upon the outer surface of the log.
Laslett, Timber, p. 113.
8. A fissure in the earth. [Prov. Eng.] — 9.
A long shingle or stave : same as clapboard, 2.
— 10. In printing, a blurred or doubled print
made by a shaking or moving of the sheet un-
der impression. [Eng.] — 11. The redshank,
Totanus calidris: so called from its constant
nodding or bobbing of the body. See cut under
redshank. C.Swainson. [Connemara, Ireland.]
—Great shakes, literally, a thing of great account; some-
thing extraordinary; something of value or worth: usu-
ally in the negative. [Slang.]
I had my hands full, and my head too, just then, so it
I " Marino Taliero "] can be no great shakes. I mean the
play. Byron, To Murray, Sept. 28, 1820.
It were th' Queen's drawing-room, they said, and th'
carriages went bowling along toward her house, some wi'
dressed up gentlemen ... in 'em, and rucks o' ladies in
others. Carriages themselves were great shakes too.
Mrs. Oaskell, Mary Barton, ix.
shake-bag (shak'bag), v. [< shake, v., + obj.
i»(/l.] A large-sized game-eock. HalUwell.
Wit. Will you go to a cock-match?
Sir Wil. With a wench, Tony? Is she a shake-bag, sirrah?
Congreve, Way of the World, iv. 11.
shake-bucklert (shak'buk"ler), n. [< shake, v.,
+ obj. buckhr.'] A swaggerer ; a swashbuck-
ler ; a bully.
Let the parents ... by no means sufiier them to live
idly, nor to be of the number of such Sim Shake-bucklers
as in their young years fall unto serving, and in their old
years fall Into beggary. Becon, Works, II. 355. {Davies.)
shake-dcwn (shak'doun), n. A temporary bed
made by shaking down or spreading hay,
rushes, or the like, or also quilts or a mattress,
with coverings, on the floor, on a table, etc.
[Colloq.]
I would not choose to put more on the floor than two
beds, and one shake-down, which will answer for five.
Miss Fdgeu'orth, Rose, Thistle, and Shamrock, i. 3.
Ill the better lodging-houses the shake-dou-ns are small
palliasses or mattresses ; in the worst, they are bundles of
rags of any kind ; but loose straw is used only in the conn-
try for shake-doums.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I. 272.
shake-fork (shak'fork), w. [Also dial, shack-
fork; < shake + fork.] A fork >vith which to
toss hay about; in her., a bear-
ing resembling the pall, but not
reaching the edges of the es-
cutcheon: the three extremities
are usually pointed bluntly.
shaken (sha'kn), p. a. 1. Im-
paired; weakened; disordered;
undermined: as, one shaken in
health.
Be mov'd with pitty at the afflicted state of this oar shaken
Monarchy, that now lies labouring under her throwes.
Milton, Refonnation in Eng., ii.
2. Cracked or split: as, shaken timber.
Nor is the wood shaken nor twisted, as those about Cape
Town. Barrow, Travels.
shaker (sha'k^r), u. [< shake, v., + -erl.] 1.
One who or that which shakes.
Thou Earth's drad Shaker (at whose only Word
Th' Eolian Scouts are quickly still'd and stirr'd).
Lift vp my soule.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. ].
Shake-fork.
shaker
2. Specifically, any meehanioal contrivance for
shalun^: as, a carpet-.vA(iter. — 3. [cap.] A
member of a religious denomination founded
in Manchester, England, about the middle of
the eighteenth century: so called, popularly,
from the agitations or movements which form
part of their ceremonial. Its memliere call them-
selves "the United Society of Believers in Christ's Sec-
ond Appearing." which they maintain took place in 1770
through ilother Ann Lee, their founder, and continued in
those who embraced her testimony. They hold that fiod
is male and female, and that he has given to man four
revelations, through the patriarchs as the Great Spirit,
through the law of Moses and the prophets as Jehovah,
thnjugh Christ and the primitive disciples as the Father,
and through .\nn Lee and her successors as the Eternal
Mother: the Last is to \m continuous. They practise oral
confession, celibacy, and community of goods, and hold
the doctrines of continence, non-resistance, and non-par-
ticipation in any earthly government. They wear a pecu-
liaj- dress, and engage chietly in agriculture (especially the
production of heriis) and the manuf-octure of simple arti-
cles, such as brooms and mats. Their principal settle-
ment is at New Lebanon in >'ew York, where they have
been since about 178QL
4. The quaking-grass, Briza media. [Prov.
Eng.] — 5. A breed of domestic pigeons. See
pifieini, 1 (c).
shake-ragt (shSk'rag), ». [Also ahachrag, shak-
raij, iilitiriraf/ ; < shake, v., + obj. r«</l. Cf . shack-
baij.l A ragged fellow ; a tatterdemalion: also
used attributively.
Was ever Jew tormented as I am?
To have a ghwj-roi/ knave to come —
Three hundred crowns — and then Ave hundred crowns!
Marlowe, Jew of Malta, Iv. 6. 83.
I'd hiresome«Aa{7-ra^orotherforhalf azequine tocut 's
throat. Chapman, May-Day, ii. 2.
He was a thakeray like fellow, . . . and, he dared to
■ay, had gipsy blood in his veins.
Scott, Guy Mannering. ixvL
Sbakeress (sha'kfir-es), n. [< Shaker + -ess.]
A fein.ilo Shaker.
Shakerism (sha'k6r-izm), ». [< Shaker + -ism.]
The princii)k-.s and practices of the denomina-
tion callfd Shakers.
Shake-SCenet (shfik'sen), n. [< shake, v., + obj.
scene.] A siciic-.sliifter: so called in contempt
(in the i>iis.sa<;c <|uoted, with a pluming allusion
to the naino of Shakspere).
There is an Tpstart Crow beautlHed with our Feathers,
that with bis Tygres heart, wrapt in a Flayers hyde, nip-
p«ji«es lie- is as wetl able to bombast out a Blanke verse
as the best of you; and, being an abiM^>lut« lohannes fac-
totem, is in his owue conccyt the only Shake-tcfue in a
Countrcy. Greene, Groatsworth of Wit.
Shakespearian, Shakesperian, etc., a. Hee
Slt(il:sinri(tii,
shake-np (shiik'np), n. [< shake up, verb
|)hrase.j A shaking or stirring up; commo-
tion: disturbance. [CoUoq.]
shake-'Willy (shak'wil'i), n. In cotton-matiuf.,
a, willy or willowing-maehine.
shakily (sha'ki-li), adv. In a shaky, trembling,
or totterin<; manner; feebly.
shakiness (sha'ki-nes), n. Shaky character or
coniiilioii.
shaking (sha'king), n. [Verbal n. of shake, r.]
1. The act or process of moving with a rapid
vibratory motion, jolting, agitating, etc.
There are also nodding movements and lateral ihakingi
of the head. Lancet, No. S485, p. 12iH.
Specifically — 2. A violent jolting of agitation :
a.'*, give him a good shaking. — 3. pi. Small
pieces of cordage, rope, yarn, or canvas used
for making oakum or paper.
shaking-frame (sha'king-fram), ». l. Ingun-
poicder-maniif., a form of sifting-machine used
in graining, in which a set of sieves are agi-
tated by means of a crank or otherwise. — 2.
A form of huddle, or ore-sorting sieve.
shaking-machine (shu'king-ma-shen'), n. A
tlllril>lirit;-lio\.
Shaking-ouaker, n. Same as Shaker, 3.
shaking-snoe (sha'king-shS), n. Same as shoe,
■i (/).
shaking-table (sha'king-ta1>l), n. Same as
Joiifiliini-tnhle,
shako (shak'6), n. [Also schako; = F. shako
= G. schako = Pol. tsako, < Hong, csako, a
shako.] A head-dress worn by soldiers, espe-
cially infantry, in the eighteenth and nine-
teenth centuries. Itisin form a cylinder or truncated
cone, stilf, with a vizor In front, and generally has a plume
or pompijn.
He haiLbcen on duty that mondng, and had Just come
In. His sabre was cast upon the Boor before him, and his
tnato was on the tabic.
U. Kinr/tleu, KaTenshoe, xxjil. {Davie:)
shakragt, n. Same at shake-rag.
Shaksperian (shak-s* 'c'ri-an), a. and ». [<
Shakspirr (hch def.) + -tan. The suniame
Shakspere has been va iously written — namely,
5545
Shakspere, Shakespere, Shakespear, Shakespeare,
Shakspeare, Shackespeare, and in many other
ways, the usage in Shakspere's time varying,
as with other surnames. The common forms
are Shakespear (as in Aubrey, Rowe, Pope,
Hanmer, Warburton, and others), Shakspeare
(as in Malone, Steevens, Johnson, Douce,
Drake, Eitson, Bowdler, Boswell, Chalmers,
Coleridge, and others), Shakespeare (as in the
first folio), and Shakspere (as in one of Shak-
spere's own signatures). Shakspere is the form
adopted in the publications of the New Shak-
spere Society of London, and in this diction-
ary. Aceorcling to the etym, (< shake, v., +
obj. spear), the proper mod. spelling is Shake-
spear.] I. a. Of or pertaining to "William Shak-
spere (15()4-1616), the great English dramatist
and poet, or his dramas; foimd in or charac-
teristic of the writings, plays, or poems of Shak-
spere; relating to Shakspere, or in his style.
No one type of character, feeling, or belief occurs as
Shakegpeanan; the word suggests what is vivid and many-
sided, and nothing else. Contemporary Rev., XLIX 67.
U. H. A Shaksperian scholar; a specialist in
the study of Shakspere.
Also Shakspearian, Shakspearean, Sltakespear-
ian, Shakesjyerian, etc. See the etymology.
Shaksperiana (shak-spe-ri-a'na), «. pi. [< Shak-
.sprre (see def.) -t- -i-«h<i.] Items, details, or
colloctions of lore of all kinds pertaining to
Shakspere and his writings.
Shaksperianism (sbak-spe'ri-an-izm), n. [<
•Shiiksperiiin -(- -ism.] Something specifically
relating to or connected with Shakspere ; espe-
cially, a word or locution peculiar to Shakspere.
I think that the spirit of modern Shakepearianixm,
among readers, critics, and actors, is quite false to Shak-
speare, lilmsell, because true to the traditions of our own
timet. Contemporary Sec., XLX. 250.
Shaksperize (shak'sper-iz), v. [< Shakspere
(see Shaksjieriajt) + -ize.] I. trans. To bring
into special relation to Shakspere ; especially,
to imbue with the spirit of Shakspere.
Now, literature, philosophy, and thought are Shakespear-
ized. His mind is the horizon l>eyond which, at present,
we do not see. Smerton, Shakespeare or the Poet.
n. intraiis. To imitate Shakspere.
The Kngllsh dramatic poets have Shaketpearited now for
two hundred years. Emerson, Misc., p. 78.
[Rare in both uses.]
Shaka (shak'Q), n. [Jap., = Chinese chih, a
foot.] The Japanese foot, containing 10 tsiin or
inches, and equal to about 11} English inches.
shakndo (shak'ij-do'), n. [Jap., < Chinese ch'ik
I'liiiij, llcsh-eolored copper: shaku (= Chinese
ch'ih), red, flesh-colorea; do (= Chinese fung),
copper.] A Japanese alloy of copper with
from one to ten per cent, of gold, much used
for ornamental metal-work, it has a bluish-black
patina produced tqr boiling in a solution of copper sul-
phate, alum, and verdigris, which removes some of the
copper and ezpoaes a thin film of gold.
In addition to the castings, the repou8s<^ work should be
mentioned ; . . . tbe iDlaying of this kind of ware is some-
times of extraordinary delicacy and beauty. The dark blue
colour shown by a great number of smaller pieces is that
of the ihaJcudo, composed of copper, and 3 or 4 per cent,
of gold. Workshop Receipts (Sd ser.), p. 28.
shaky(sha'ki), a. [< «/iafce + -ji.] 1. Disposed
to shako or tremble ; shaking; unsteady: as, a
shaky hand. — 2. Loosely put together; ready
to come to pieces. — 3. Pull of shakes or cracks ;
cracked, split, or cleft, as timber. — 4. Feeble;
weak. [CoUoq.]
I feel terribly shaky and dizzy ; . . . that blow of yours
must luive come s^nst me like a battering-ram.
Qtorge Eliot, Adam Bede, xzvlii.
5. Wavering; undecided; uncertain: as, there
are a good many shaky voters in the district.
[CoUoq.]
Four of the latter [delegation] are adverse, and several
other* shaku. ^- ^- TrOmne, Jan. 21, 1858.
6. Of questionable integrity, solvency, or abil-
ity. [Colloq.]
Other circumstances now occurred, . . . which seemed
to show that our director was — what is not to be found in
Johnson's " Dictionary "—rather sAaiy.
Thackeray, Great Hoggarty Diamond, x.
shalder^ (sh&l'dfer), v. i. [Origin obscure ; ef.
sholil, shoaV-, shelve'^.] To give way; tumble
down. UalUwell.
Two hils. betwixt wUcb it ran, did shdUer, and so choke
vp his course.
Ilarrison, Deacrip. of Britain, xv. (Holinshed's Chron., I.).
shalder^ (sh&l'dfer), n. [Origin obscure.] 1.
A kind of slate. — 2. A broad, flat rush. [Prov.
Eng. in both uses.] HalHiecll.
shale' (shal), «. [Early mod. E. also shaile;
< ME. shale, schale, assibilated form of scale, <
shall
AS. sceale, a shell, husk, rind, scale : see scaled-.
Cf. shale^.] A shell or husk.
I saugh him carien a wind.melle
Under a walshe-note ghate.
Chaucer, House of Fame, 1. 1281.
Your fair show shall suck away their souls.
Leaving them but the shales and husks of men.
Shak., Hen. V., iv. 2. 18.
shale' (shal), V. t.; pret. and pp. shaled, ppr.
shaling. [E. dial, alsosheal, sheel; < ME. schalen,
assibilated form of scalen, scale, shell: see scaled,
and ef . shell, v.] To take off the shell or coat of.
I have beene shaling of peascods.
Marston, The Fawne, iv.
shale^ (shal), n. [< 6. schale, a scale, shell, husk,
a slice, a thin layer (schalen-gebirge, a mountain
formed of thin strata), = E. scale, shale: see
scaled, shale^.] Clay, or argillaceous mate-
rial, which has a fissile structure, or which
splits readily into thin leaves. Shale differs from
slate in being decidedly less firmly consolidated ; but there
is often a gradual passable of one into the other. — Alum
shale. See alum. — Bituminous shale, ^eebitu^ninous.
— Kimmeridge shale. See Kimmeridffian.— Lorraine
shale, a local name in New York (.Jefferson county) for
a shaly division of the Hudson River group.— Niairara
shale, a division of the Niagara group, especially interest-
ing from its relation to the recession of Niagara Falls. It
is there a shaly rock, and it underlies a more compact lime-
stone, each division being at the present Falls about 80
feet thick. The shale wears away more rapidly than the
limestone, which is thus undermined and breaks off in
large fragments, greatly aiding the work of the water in
causing the recession of the Falls. — Tarannon shale, a
group of slates and shaly rocks fonning a division of the
Upper I-landovery series in Wales, and from 1,000 to 1,500
feet in thickness. They were first described by Sedgwick
under the name ot paste-rock, and have also been called the
pale slates. They are iiameil from the river Tarannon, on
which (in Montgomeryshire, near Llanidloes) the group is
especially well-developed.
shaledt (shald), a. [< s/ia/fii + -ed^.] Having
a shale or shell.
Hasellnuts, . . . asgood andthin «Aa2<(f asareourFil-
berds. Uakluyt's Voyages, I. 397.
shale-oil (shal'oil). n. The trade-name of a cer-
tain grade of naphtha.
shalkt, »■ [ME., also sehalk, < AS. scedlc =
OS. scale = OFries. skalk, sehalk = D. MLG.
sehalk = OHG. scale, scalk, scaleh, MHG. schale,
sehalch, G. sehalk = Icel. skalkr = Sw. Dan.
skalk = Goth, skalks, a servant. Cf. It. scalco
z= OF. escalque, < OHG. ; see also seneschal and
marshal^.] A servant; man.
He translated it into latyn for likyng to here ;
But he shope it so short that no shalke might
Kane knowlage by course how the case telle.
Destruction qf Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 72.
shall' (shal), originally v. t., now only auxiliary.
Pres. 1 shall, 2 shall, 3 shall, pi. shall; imperf.
1 should, 2 shouldest or shouldst, 3 should, pi.
should. Shall has no participles, no imperative,
and no infinitive. [A defective verb, classed
with caw, may, will, etc.: (1) Pres. 1st and 3d
pers. shall, also dial. (8c.) sail, sal, < ME. shal,
schal, schalle, schel, ssel, scheal,sceal, scaL&lao sal,
sel, ssel, < AS. sceal; 2d pers. shall, < ME. shall,
schalt, ssalt, salt, < AS. scealt; pi. shall, < ME.
shul, shulen, shullen, schulen, schullen, sholen,
sculen, scullen, sulcn, sullen, etc.. < AS. sculon,
sculun, sceolon; (2) pret. 1st and 3d pers. should,
dial. (Sc.) siild, < ME. sholde, scholde, ssolde.
scolde, sculde, solde, < AS. scolde, sceolde; 2d
pers. shouldest, shouldst, < ME. schuldest, etc.;
pi. should, < ME. sholden, scholden, ssolden, scol-
den, sulden, etc., < AS. scoldon, sceoldon; inf.
ME. schulen, < AS. sculan ; = OS. skal, seal (pret.
skvlda, skolda, sculda, scolda, inf. skulan) =
OFries. skil, skel, schel (pret. skolde, inf. skila,
skela, schcia, sela) = D. zal (pret. zoude, inf.
zullen) = OHG. seal, seal, sal, sol (pret. scolta,
solta, inf. sculan, scolan, solan, suln), MUG. sol
(pret. soltc, inf. seholn, soln), G. soil (pret. sollte,
inf. sollen) = Icel. skal (pi. skulum, pret. skyldi,
skyldu, inf. skulu) = Sw. skall (pret. skulle, inf.
skola) = Dan. skal (pret. skuldc, inf. skulle) =
Goth, skal (pi. sktdum, pret. skulda, inf. skulan);
a preterit-present verb, the AS. sccal, etc., be-
ing orig. pret., from Teut. ■/ skal, owe, be in
debt, be liable (whence also AS. scyld — D. G.
schuld = Sw. skuld, skull = Dan. skyld, fault,
debt, guilt); ef. Lith. skelu, I am indebted,
skilti, owe, be liable; L. scelus, guilt (> E. scel-
erate, scelerous. etc.); Skt. y/ skhal, stumble.]
A.t -Ai an independent transitive verb. To
owe ; be indebted or under obligation for.
Lhord, Ich ne habbe huer-of maki the yeldinge ; uoryef
me thet ich the ssel. Ayenbite oflnwyt (E. E. T. S.), p. 115.
By that feith I shal to God and yow.
Chaucer. Trolhls, iii. 1649.
Euerych cart[]oad of wool] y-seld in the town, to men
out of fraunchyse, shal to the kynge of custorae an hal.
peny. English OMs (G. E. T. S.\ p. 365.
shall
B, As an awxiliary. 1. Am (is, are, was, etc.)
obliged or compelled (to); will (or would) have
(to); must; ought (to): used with an infinitive
(without to) to express obligation, necessity, or
duty in connection with some act yet to be car-
ried out.
Men seyii that sche tehaUe so endure in that forme.
MandenUe, Travels, p. 23.
For ye »h%d nat tarye,
Though in this toun is noon apoteciuie,
I fihal myself to herbes techen yow.
Chaucer, Nun's Priest's Tale, L 127.
To folewe that lord we schtdden be fayn,
in what dejrree that euere we stood.
Uymiis to VirfTin, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. 33.
This is a ferly thinge that thow hast seide, I sholde ven-
quyse niyn enmyes in a litere. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), 1. 93.
The baner of a kynge shulde not ben hidde, and namly
in Imtaile, but to be born in tlie forniest fronte.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 405.
I should report that which I say I saw,
But know nut how to do it.
Shak., Macbeth, v. 5. 31.
To subdue or expell an usurper «Ao«irf be noe unjust en-
terprize nor wrongfull warre. SpenseTy State of Ireland.
When Kings rise higher than they shotdd, they exhale
Subjects higher than they would.
N. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 49.
2. Am (is, are, was, et^i.) to (do something spe-
cified by the infinitive): forming verb-phrases
having the value of future and conditional
tenses, and usually (and properly enough)
called such, (a) ShaU is used in direct assertion to
form the first persons singular and plural of the future
and future-perfect tenses, the second and third persons
in these tenses being formed by trill. In this connection
shall simply foretells or declares what is about to take
place : as, I shall go to town to-morrow ; we shall spend
the summer in Europe, The future tense of the verb go
thus becomes
I shaU ) We shall )
Thou tcUt V go ; You wiU >■ go.
He iciU ) They imll }
" The use of shall instead of tcUl in the first person is proba-
bly due to the fact that the act thus announced as about
to take place ensues from the duty or obligation arising
outwardly but contemplated inwardly as proper, and con-
sequently as now al>out to take place in virtue of a tacit
act of the speaker's will. Should the will or resolution of
the speaker intervene, or be prominent in his mind, then
trill would be the proper"word to express the futurity of
the act: thus, 'I will go' means 'I am determined to go,
' I have made up my mind to go.' ' I shall go home this
evening' announces a future event as settled by consid-
eration outside of the speaker's self ; ' I urUl go home this
evening ' announces a future event having both its cause
and its accomplishment in the speaker's own mind." (Dr.
Beard.) In indirect assertion shall may express mere fu-
turity in the second and third persons : as, he says that he
shall go ; he said that he shoidd go : in these sentences
"lie" refers to one and the same person, the one who
"says." If it referred to any other person, vMl would be
used and not shall.
That woman had to water her soup with her furtive
tears, to sit of nights behind hearts and spades, and brood
over her cruslied hopes. If I contemplate that wretched
old Niobe much longer, I shall begin to pity her.
Thackeray, Philip, II. xiii.
" Well, we shall all miss you quite as much as you will
miss us," said the master.
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, ii. 8.
I shaU stay and sleep in the church.
George Eliot, Romola, xiv.
(b) In the second and third persons shall implies author-
ity or control on the part of the speaker, and is used to
express (1) promise : as, you shall receive your wages ; (2)
command : as, thou shalt not steal ; (3) determination :
as, you shaU go.
My glass shall not persuade me I am old,
So long as youth and thou are of one date.
Shak., Sonnets, xxii.
Ne'er stare nor put on wonder, for you must
Endure me, and you shall.
Beau, and Ft., Philaster, i. 1.
But she shall have him; I will make her happy, if I
break her heart for it. Colman, Jealous Wife, ii,
(4) Certainty or inevitability as regards the future.
And if I die, no man shall pity me [that is, it is certain
no man will pity me]. Shak., Rich. III., v. 3. 201.
(c) Interrogatively, shall or wUl is used according as the
one or the other would be used in reply, and accordingly
'shall I go?' 'shall we goV 'shall he go?' 'sfuUl they go?'
a.%k for direction, or refer the matter to the determination
of the person asked — that Is, 'shall I go?' anticipates the
answer 'you shaU go.'
Pan. But will you tell me ? Shall I marry ?
TrouU. Perhaps. Urquhart, tr. of Rabelais, ill. 36.
I was employ'd in passing to and fro,
About relieving of the sentinels :
Then how or which way sftould they first break in?
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., ii. 1. 71.
(d) After conditionals, such as \f or whether, and after
verbs expressing condition or supposition, shall expresses
simple futurity in all persons, the idea of restraint or
necessity involved originally in the word shall being ex-
cluded by the context — thus:
( I (or we) shall
Thoa ghalt, or yon »haU
( He (or they) thaU
[•ay-
5546
1/ then we ghall [that is, are to] shake oflf our slavish yoke,
Imp out our drooping country's broken winp,
Away with me! Shak., Rich. II., ii. 2. 291.
A man would be laugh'd at by most people who should
maintain that too much money could undo a nation.
B. Mandeville, Fable of the Bees, p. 213.
That mati would do a great and permanent service to
the ministry who should publish a catalogue of the books
in history . . .
Soulhey, Wesley, I. 309, note (quoted in F. Hall's False
[Philol., p. 49).
In the older writers, as for instance in the authorized
version of the Bible, shall was used of all three persons.
Whose worcheth bi wil, wraththe niaketh ofte ;
I sigge hit bi thi-seluen, thou schalt hit sone fynde.
Piers Plowman (A), iv. 57.
Lord, howe ge vs lere.
Full wele we take rewarde.
And certis we sehaU not rest.
York Plays, p. 152.
The London fleet of twenty sail (whose admiral shall be
Captain Philpot, a Kentish man, who heretofore fought a
duel between the two armies in the Low Countries), being
all ready, have this fortnight been suing for their despatcli.
Court and Times of Charles I., I. 161.
Shall, like other auxiliaries, is often used with an ellipsis
of the following inlinitive.
Men dreme of thing that nevere was ne shal.
Chaucer, Nun's Priest's Tale, 1. 274.
It shall [sc. gol to the barber's with your beard.
Sliak., Hamlet, ii. 2. 521.
From the Devil they came, and to the Devil they shall
fsc. assuredly go]. Baker, Chronicles, p. 58.
You have not pushed these diseased neither with side
nor shoulder, but have rather strewed their way into the
Palace with flowers, as you should.
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, ii.
3. The past tense should, besides the uses in
which it is merely the preterit of shall, as above,
ha.s acquired some peculiar uses of its own. in
some of these uses should represents the past subjunctive,
not the past indicative. It is not used to express simple
past futui-ity, except in indirect speech: as, I said I should
[was to] go ; I arranged that he should [was to] go. Should
is often used to give a modest or diffident tone to a state-
ment, or to soften a statement from motives of delicacy or
politeness; thus, *I should not like to say how many there
are ' is much the same as ' I hardly like,' or *I do not like,'
etc. Similarly, 'it should seem' is often nearly the same
as 'it seems."
He is no suitor then ? So it sftould seem.
B. Joiison.
Should was formerly sometimes used where we should
now use mifjhL
The scribis and Pharisees aspiedenhym that the! wAw/den
fynde cause whereof thei schulden accuse hym.
Wyclif, Luke vi. 7.
The distinctions in the uses of sfudl and tvill and of
should and would are often so subtle, and depend so much
upon the context or upon subjective conditions, that they
are frequently missed by inaccurate speakers and writers,
and often even by writers of the highest rank. There is a
tendency in colloquial English to the exclusive use of unll
and (except after a conditional word) would. See unll^.
Cajsar should [would] be a beast without a heart
If he stiould stay at home to-day for fear.
Shak., J. C, ii. 2. 42.
I will win for him an I can ; if not. I will [shall] gain
nothing but my shame and the odd hits.
Shak., Hamlet, v. 2. 183.
Nay, if you And fault with it, they shall [will] whisper,
tho I did not like it before; I'll ha' no body wiser than
myself. Wycherley, Gentleman Dancing-Master, iv. 1.
=Syn. Ought, Should. See oughts.
shall2 (shal), n. [Ar.] An African siluroid fish
of the genus Si/nodontis; specifically, S. schal of
the Nile, a kind of catfish with a small mouth,
long movable teeth in the lower jaw, a nuchal
buckler, and six barbels. Also schal.
shalli (shal'i), n. [Also challi, challis; appar.
same as Anglo-Ind. shalee, shaloo, < Hmd.
sdlii, a soft twilled cotton stuff of a Turkey-red
color.] A red or otherwise colored cotton stuff
or piece-goods of soft texture, made in India,
and much worn by the poorer natives. The later
and flner shallis of England and France seem to be modi-
flcations of the Indian fabric.
A large investment of piece-goods, especially of the
coarse ones, Byrampauts, chelloes, and others, for the
Guinea market. Grose, Voyage to the East Indies, I. 99.
shallon (shal'on), )(. [Amer. Ind. (reported in
this form by Lewis and Clarke) ; cf . salal-herry.']
The salal-beri'y, GauUheria Shallon.
shalloon (sha-lon'), n. [< ME. chalon, ehaloun,
a coverlet (see chalon) (= Sp. chalon, chahm =
MHG. schalune, G. schahin, shalloon), < OF.
Chalons (cf. P. ras de Chdlons, Chalons cloth),
so called from Chalons, F. Chdlons-sur-Marne,
a town in France, < L. Catalauni, a tribe that
lived in the neighborhood. For similar cloth-
names of local origin, see cambric, muslin,
worsted, etc.] A light woolen stuff used for
the linings of coats and for women's dresses.
Shalloon, a sort of woolen stuff, chiefly used for the lin-
ings of coats, and so call'd from Chalons, a city of France,
where it was first made. E. Phillips^ 1706.
shallo'w
In addition to the woollen fal)rics, shalloons, caliman-
coes, and tammies were mailein consideralile numbers in
this town and neighl>orhood (of I'olne].
Baines, Hist. Lancashire, II. 30.
shallop (shal'op), n. [= G. schaluppe, < OF.
chalnppe = Sp. Pg. chalupn = It. scialuppa, a
shallop; origin unknown, but prob. Amer. or
E. Ind. Cf . sloop. ^ A light boat or vessel, with
or without a mast or masts ; a sloop.
A little bote lay hoving her before ; . . .
Into the same shee lept, and with the ore
Did thrust the shallop from the floting strand.
Spenser, V. Q., III. vii. 27.
A shallop of one Henry Way of Dorchester having been
missing all the winter, it was found that the men in her,
being live, were all killed treacherously by the eastern
Indians. WitUhrop, Hist. New England, I. 95.
shallot (sha-lof), n. [Also schallot, and for-
merly shalot, schalote, chalot, eschalot (= D.
sjalot = G. schalotte = Sw. schalott = Dan.
skalot) ; < OP. eschalote, eschalotte, F. echalote,
an altered form, simulating a dim. term., of
OF. eschalone, cscalogne, escalone, whence E.
scullion: seescallion.'] A vegetable of the onion
kind. Allium Ascalonicum, native in Syria, and
elsewhere cultivated ; the scallion or cibol. The
bulb forms bulblets or cloves in the axils of the scales,
like the garlic and rocaml>ole. The shallot is considered
milder than the onion, and is used in cookery and esteemed
for pickles.
Insipid taste, old friend, to them who Paris know,
Where rocombole, shallot, and the rank garlic grow.
W. Kiny, Art of Cookery, 1. 336.
shallow! (shal'o), «. and «. [< ME. .s/ia/oif, schal-
owc, shallow, prob. lit. 'sloping, shelving,' for
*schelowe, < AS. "sceolh (in comp. scely-, sceol-,
scul-, scyl-), sloping, oblique, squint (found only
in comp. scelg-cgede, sceol-egede, scul-egede, scyl-
egode, scyl-edgede, sceol-ege, sceol-ige, squint-
eyed), = MD. schelive, saheel, D. scheel = MLG.
schel = OHG. scelah {scclh-, acelaw-), MHG.
schelch, schel (schelh-, schelw-), G. scheel, slop-
ing, crooked, squint, = Icel. sljCilgr, oblique,
wry, squint (as a noun, applied to the crescent
moon, to a fish, and as a nickname of a person),
= Sw. dial, sljalg, oblique, wry, crooked (not
found in Goth. ) ; perhaps, with a formative gut-
tural, from a base *skel = Gr. cko/u6q, crooked,
wry, akin to ana'krivog, uneven, scalene, CKeA'Ai^,
crook-legged : see scoliosis, scalene. The sense
'shallow' appears only in E. The E. foi-ms
are somewhat irregular, the ME. forms shalon;
schaloxce being associated with other forms of
Scand. origin, schald, scliold, etc., early mod.
E. shold, E. shoal, 8c. shaul, shallow, which, to-
gether with the related verbs shail^ and sliehi",
exhibit variations of the vowel, as well as ter-
minal variations due to the orig. guttural. See
shoaU, shaiU, shelve'^, shelj"^.'] I. a. 1. Not
deep; of little depth: as, a shallow brook; a
shallow place; a shallow vessel or dish.
Deep sounds make lesser noise than shallow fords.
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 1329.
Shallofiv water, crisp with ice nine months of the year, is
fatal to the race of worms. Noctes Avibrosianse, Feb., 183*2.
2. Not deep intellectually ; superficial : as, a
shallow person ; a shallow mind.
My wit 's too shaUow for the least Designe
Of thy drad Counsails sacred, and divine.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 7.
In my shallow Apprehension your Grace might stand
more firm without an Anchor. Howell, Letters. I. iv. 18.
Shallow ground, land with gold near the surface. [Min-
ing slang, Australia.]
II. n.
A place where the water is not deep;
a shoal; a shelf; aflat; a bank.
There is a tide in the aifairs of men
"Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune ;
Omitted, all tlie voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
SAa*., J. C.,iv. 3. 221
Thou hast left Life's shaUoies,
And dost possess the deep.
Lou-ell, A Requiem.
shallOTSrl (shal'o), ». l<shallow''^,a. Cf. should,
v., and shelve^, v.] I. trans. To make shallow;
decrease the depth of.
In long process of time, the silt and sands shall . . .
choke and shallow the sea in and about it [Venice].
Sir T. Brmnte, Misc. Tracts, xii.
That thought alone thy state impairs,
Thy lofty sinks, and shallows thy pi-ofoimd.
Young, Night Thoughts, ix.
II. intrans. To become shallow ; decrease in
depth: as, the water shallotcs rapidly as one
approaches the bar.
The involution is regular, being deepest in the centre,
and shallowing in all directions towards the edge.
A icros. Sci., N. S., XXX. 524.
shallow^ (shal'o). «. [if. shallow^.] The rudd,
a fish. [Local, Eng.]
shallow
The mdd, or red-eye, is the ghaUow of the Cam.
Yarrdl, Hist British Fishes. {Latham.)
shallow-brained (shal'o-braiul), a. Of no
depth of intellect ; empty-headed.
To tliis effect the policie of playes is verie necessarie,
however some shaitow-brayned censurers (not the deepest
serchers into the secrets of gouerument) mightily op-
pugne them. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse, p. 59.
shallow-hearted (shal'o-har'ted), a. Incapa-
ble of deep or strong feeling or affection.
Ve sanguine, ibaUov-bearUd boys I
Shak., Tit. And., iv. 2. 97.
shallowling (shal'o-ling), n. [< shallow'^ -f-
-/•H(/l.] A shallow or silly person.
Can Wee suppose that any ShaUmrling
Can finde much Good in oft-Tobacconing?
Sylcuter, Tobacco Battered.
shallowly (sharo-li), adi: In a shallow man-
ner; with little depth; superficially; without
depth of thought or judgment ; not wisely.
Most thaUmUy did yon these arms commence.
Shak., i Hen. IV., ir. 2. 118.
shallowness (shal'o-nes), n. The character of
being sliallow; lack of depth or profundity,
either literally or figuratively; superficiality:
as, the shalloicness of a river; sliatloicness of
mind or wit.
shallow-pated (shal'o-pa'ted), a. Of weak
mind; silly.
Some ithaUinc-pated Pnritan, in reading this, will shoot
his Bolt, and presently cry me up Uy have a Pope in my
Belly UouxU, Letters, It. 36.
shally-shallyt (shal'i-shal'i), adv. [An accom.
adv. form of the repeated question Shall I f
shall It marking hesitation; now by variation
shilly-Khally.'] Same as nhillyshalli/.
Why should I stand ihaUy-ihaUy like a Country Bump-
kin? StMie, Tender Husband, iii. 1.
shalm, «. See .iliatcm.
shalmyt, shalmiet, *>■ Obsolete variants of
sliaiiiii.
shalott, shalotet, ". Obsolete forms of shallot.
shalt (shalt). The second person singular of
shain.
shaltowt. A Middle English reduction of shalt
thoH.
shaly (sha'li), a. [< shaW^ + -yl.] Pertaining
to, containing, or of the nature of shale; re-
sembling shale : as, a shall/ soil.
sham (sham), n. and a. [A dial, form of shame
(like shack for shake, iak for take, etc.). The
noun depends in part on the verb (see sham, v.).
It came into general literary use, in the later
senses, in the last quarter of the 17th century,
as if a piece of slang.] I. n. 1. Shame; dis-
grace; fault. [Prov. Eng.] — 2. A trick put
upon one; a trick or device that deludes or
disappoints expectation; fraud; imposture;
make-believe; humbag: as, an age of shams.
Two young gent that heard S'. H. tell this tham so
gravely riHlu the next day to .St. Alban'a to enquire ; come,
ing there, notMidy had heard of any such thing, 'twas al-
together false. Aubrey, Lives, Henry Blount.
.Shamming is telling yon an Insipid dull Lie with a dull
Face, which the sly Wag the Author only laughs at him-
self ; and, making himself iHslieve 'tis a good Jest, puts the
Sham only upon himself. WyeherUy, Plain Dealer, ill. 1.
That Sham is too gross to pass on me.
Congntt, Way of the World, v. 10.
If peace Is sought to be defended or preaerred for the
safety of the luxnrloas and the timid, it Is a tham, and
the peace will be base. Emerton, War.
3. Some ile\ice meant to give a thing a differ-
ent outward appearance, as of neatness and
finish, or to iniiiate something which it is not.
Speciftcally ' (at) A false shir^front; a dicky.
Vou put upfjM me, when I first came to Town, about
being onlerly, and the l>octrlne of wearing Sham*, to make
Linen last clean a Fortnight. .S^^-W**, Conscious Lovers, L 1.
(i>) A false pillow-cover ; a pillow-sham, (c) A strip of line
linen, often embroidered, put under the upper edge of the
bed-coviringsand turned over, as if formini); the upper end
of the sheet, (d) jit. Oaltera. (Local, Eng.)
n, rt. False; counterfeit; pretended: as, a
sham fight.
The Discovery of your Sham Addresses to her, to con-
ceal your Love to her Neice, has provok'd this Separation.
Vont/reve, Way of the World, I. 1.
The other two packets he carried with him to Halifax,
where he stayed some time to exercise the men in tham
attacks u|K>n tham forts. II. FraiMiu, Autobiog.p. 287.
Sham answer, sham defense, sbam plea, in law, a
plea<ling so clt-iirly false in fact as U} present no substan-
tial issue. The phrase Is commonly taken to Imply a
plca<liiig formally sufficient, and interposed for the mere
pnrp<j»e of delay, agyn. Mock, spurious, make-believe.
sham (sham), r. : prct, and pp. shammed, ppr.
shammiiiji. [i sham n. ; orig. a var of shame,
e.] I. trans. 1. To leceive; trick; cheat; de-
lude with false prettnses.
5547
They find themselves fooled and ghammed into a con-
viction. Sir B. L'Estraiujf.
Laic. Why, I'm sure you joked upon me, and shammed
me all night long.
Man, Shammed! prithee what barbarous law.term is
that? . . .
Free. Shammijig is telling you an insipid dull Lie with
a dull Face, etc. [see this quotation under sham, »., 2].
Wycherley, Plain Dealer, iii. 1.
2t. To obtrude by fraud or imposition.
We must have a care that we do not . . . sham fallacies
upon the world for current reason. .Sir R. L'Estranffe.
3. To make a pretense of in order to deceive ;
feign; imitate: as, to sham illness.
But pray, why does your master pass only for ensign? —
now if he had shamm,d general indeed.
Sheridan, The Rivals, i. 1.
To sham Abraham, to pretend to be an Abraham-man ;
hence, as usetl by seamen, to pretend illness in order to
avoid doing duty In the ship, etc. See Abraham^man.
n. intrans. To pretend; make false pretenses;
pretend to be, do, etc., what one is not, does
not, does not mean, etc.
Then all your Wits that fleer and sham,
Down from Don Quixote to Tom Tram.
Prior, To Fleetwood Shepherd.
He shammed ill, and his death was given publicly out in
the French p:ii>e!-8. Scott, Rob Roy, xzxviL
sham-Abraham (sham'a'bra-ham), a. Pre-
tended ; mock ; sham. See to skam Abraham,
under sham, v. t.
I own I laugh at over-righteous men,
I own I shake my sides at ranters.
Anil treat sham Atfr'am saints with wicked banters.
Hood, Ode to Rae Wilson.
shamalo-grass (sham'a-lo-gr&s), n. [E. Ind.
shamalo + E. grass.'] A cereal grass, Panicum
/rumentafeum, cultivated in India, probably in-
troduced from tropical Africa. It yields a millet-
like grain, a wholesome article of diet, used especially by
the poorer classes, and Is also a good forage-grass. Also
Deecan rrrats.
Shaman (sham'an), w. and a. [< Pers. Hind.
shaman, pi. shamandan, an idolater.] I, ». A
professor or priest of Shamanism ; a wizard or
conjurer among those who profess Shamanism.
"The Cf>nnexiun of the shamans or sorcerers with fetish-
objects, as where the Tatars consider the innimierable
rags and ta^, bells and bits of Iron, that adorn the Shavi-
an's magic costume to contain spirits helpful to their
owner in his magic craft.
B. B. Tylor, Prim. Culture, IL 142.
H, a. Relating to Shamanism.
Shamanic (sha-man'ik), a. [< Shaman + -ic]
( >f or ]iiTtaining to Shamans or Shamanism.
Shamanism (sham'an-izm), n. [< Shaman +
-ism.'i A general name applied to the idola-
troos religions of a number of barbarous na-
tions, comprehending those of the Finnish race,
as the Ostiaks, Samoyeds, atid other inhabi-
tants of Siberia as far as the Pacific Ocean.
These nations seneially believe in a Supreme Being, but
to this they add the belief that the government of the
world is in the hands of a number of secondarr gtxls both
benevolent and malevolent toward man, ana that It is
absolutely necesMuy to propitiate them by magic rites
and spells. The general belief respecting another life
appears to be that the condition of man will be poorer
and more wretched than the present ; hence death is re-
garded with great dread.
The earliest relision of Accad was a Shamanism resem-
bling that of the Siberian or Samoyed tribes of to-day.
Encyc. Brit., IIL 192.
Shamanist (sham'an-ist), n. [< Shaman + -ist.']
A believer in Shamanism.
Shamanistic (sham-a-nis'tik), a. [< Shaman-
ist + -if.] Of, pertaining to, or of the nature
of Shamanism; characteristic of Shamans or
Shamanists.
Colonel Dalton state* that the paganism of the Ho and
Hoondah in all essential features Is shamanistic.
Sir J. LtMoct, Orig. of Civilisation, p. 226.
shamble^ (sham'bl), n. [Early mod. E. also
shammel, shamell ; < ME. schambylle, earlier
shamel, schamel, schamil, sehamylle, scheomel, a
butchers' bench or stall, orig. a stool, < AS.
scamol, scamel, sceamul, a stool (fot-scamel, a
footstool), = OS. scantel, scamil, stool {fot-sca-
mel, a footstool), = OHG. scamal, scamil, MHG.
schemel, schamel, 6. schamel, schemel = loel. ske-
mill = Dan. skammel. a footstool, = OF. scamel,
esehamcl, < L. scamellum, a little bench or stool ;
cf. scabellum, a footstool (> It. sgabello, a joint-
stool, = F. es(^ibeau, escabclle, a stool) ; dim. of
scamnum, a step; cf. L. scapus, a shaft, stem,
stalk, Gr. (tk^-tmv, prop, etc.: see scape'^, scep-
ter, «A«/fl.] It. A footstool.
Vor thi alle the halewen makeden of al the worlde aae
ane seAeonwI to hore net [feet]. Ancren Hiuie, p. 166.
2. A bench ; especially, a bench or stall in a
market on whicL goods are exposed for sale.
Specifically — 3. pi. The tables or stalls on or
shame
in which butchers expose meat for sale ; hence,
a flesh- or meat-market.
Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat.
1 Cor. X. 25.
Many there are of the same wretched Kind,
Whom their despairing Creditors may find
Lurking in Shambles; where with borrow'd Coin
They buy choice Meats.
• Con<p^eve, tr. of Juvenal's Satires, xL
4. pi. A slaughter-house ; a place of butchery :
sometimes treated as a singular.
Far be the thought of this from Henry's heai-t.
To make a sharnhles of the parliament-house !
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., i. 1. 71.
I will therefore leaue their shambles, and . . . will vis-
ile their holies and holy places.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 844.
Straightway Virginius led the maid a little space aside.
To where the reeking shambles stood, piled up with horn
and hide. Macaulay, Virginia, 1. 148.
5t. In mining. See shammel, 2 Clerk of the
market and shambles. See derk.
shamble^ (sham'bl), v. t. ; pret. and pp. sham-
bled, ppr. shambling. [< shamble^, )i.] To
slaughter; destine to the shambles. [Rare.]
Must they die, and die in vain.
Like a flock of shambled sheep?
The Century, XXXVni. 730.
shamble^ (sham'bl), r. i'.; pret. and pp. shain-
bled, ppr. shambling. [An assibilated form of
scamble.] To walk awkwardly and unsteadily,
as if with weak knees.
Such was the appearance of Ichabod and his steed, as
they shambled out of the gate of Hans Van Ripper.
Irving, Sketch-Book, p. 437.
shamble^ (sham'bl), n. [(. shamble^, v.] A sham-
bling walk or gait.
The man in the red cloak put on his old slouch hat,
made an awkwanl bow, and, with a gait which was half
stride, half shamble, went out of the Raleigh, and disap.
peared. J. E. Cooke, Virginia Comedians, I. xviii.
shambling (sham'bling), II. [Verbal n. of
nhaiiible'^, i'.] An awkward, clumsy, irregular
pace or gait.
By that shambling In his walk. It should be my rich old
banker, Gomez, whom I knew at Barcelona.
Dryden, Spanish Friar, i. 2.
shambling (sham'bling), p. a. Characterized
by an awkward, irregular, clumsy, weak-kneed
motion or gait: as, a shambling trot; sham-
bling legs.
He was a tall, tharMing youth.
Lamb, Christ's Hospital.
shambrought (sham'bro), «. [Origin obscure.]
In her., a bearing representing an old form of
ship or caravel, with two or three masts. Berry.
shame (sham), n. [< ME. shame, schame,
shome, scheme, scheome, scome, ssame, same, <
AS. sceamu, scamu = OS. scama = OJ'ries.
skome = D. schaam (in corap. ) = MLG. schame
= OHG. scama, MHG. schame, scham, G. scham,
shame,= Icel. skomm (skamm-), shame.a wound,
= Sw. Dan. skam, shame; akin to AS. sceand,
second, scand, scond = D. G. schande = Goth.
skanda, shame, disgrace (see shand), and per-
haps to Skt. V kshan, wound: see scathe, etc.
Cf . sham, orig. a dial, form of shame.'] 1 . A pain-
ful feeling or sense of degradation excited by
a consciousness of having done something tm-
worthy of one's own previous idea of one's ex-
cellence ; also, a peculiar painful feeling or
sense of being in a situation offensive to de-
cency, or likely to bring contempt upon the per-
son experiencing the feeling.
Also here Book scythe that, whan that sche had childed
undre a Palme Tree, sche had gret schame that sche hadde
a Child. Mandeville, Travels, p. 133.
In all humility.
And with no Uttle shame, I ask your pardons.
Fletcher and Kowley, Maid in the Mill, i. 2.
Shame ... is an uneasiness of the mind upon the
thought of having done something which is indecent, or
will lessen the valued esteem which others have for us.
Locke, Human Understanding, II. xx. 17.
2. Tendency to feel distress at any breach
of decorum or decency, especially at any un-
seemly exposure of one's person.
My nurpos bathe ben longe my hert thus to chast.
And til this yeres day y ne durst for schame.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Funiivall), p. 39.
When a woman shall be inflamed with ire, the man
ought to suffer her, and after the flame is somewhat
quenched, tt> reprehend her; for if f)nce she begin to
loose her shame in the presence of her husband, they will
euery houre cleaue the house with yels.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 805.
Have you no modesty, no maiden shame,
No touch of bashfulness?
Shak., M. N. D., ill. 2. 285.
3. A thing or person to be ashamed of ; that
which brings or is a source or cause of con-
shame
tempt, ignominy, or reproach; a disgrace or
dishonor.
Why, thou shame of women,
Whose folly or whose impudence is greater
Is doubtful to determine !
Fletcher {and another\ Love's Cure, iv. 2.
And then eleven great Stai'S thought it no shame
To crouch before me who admired them.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, i. ill.
It isn't for want of cleverness he looks like a poor man.
Miss l^on. I've left off speaking, else I should say it 's a
sin and a shame. Qeorffe Eliot, Felix Holt, xxii.
4. Grossly injurious or ignominious treatment
or acts ; ignominy ; disgrace ; dishonor ; deri-
sion; contempt; contumely.
Whenue he to his lorde come,
• The lettre sone he hym nome,
And sayde, Alle gose to schome !
And went his way.
MS. Lincoln, A. i. 17, f. 130. CHalKwell.)
Many shames that the lues hym diden ; and after that
he saffred bitter deth for vs upon the crosse.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.X i. 69.
God geve yow botbe on shames deth to dyen.
Chaucer, Merchant's Tale, 1. 1133.
Ye have borne the shame of the heathen.
Ezek. xxxvi. 6.
I think the echoes of his shames have deaf 'd
The ears of heavenly justice.
Fletcher (and another), Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 2.
5. The parts of the body which modesty re-
quires to be covered.
Thy nakedness shall be uncovered, yea, thy sitame shall
be seen. Isa. xlvii. 3.
For shame ! an interjectional phrase, signifying 'you
should be ashamed I ' ' shame on you ! '
For shame now ; here is some one coming.
Sheridan, The Rivals, ii. 2.
To put to shame, to cause to feel shame ; inflict shame,
disgrace, or dishonor on.
Seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh,
and put him to an open shame. Heb. vi. 6.
= Syn, 1. Mortification. —4. Opprobrium, odium, oblo-
quy, scandal.
shame (sham), v. ; pret. and pp. shamed, ppr.
shaming. [< ME. shamen, schamen, schamicn,
schomien, scheomien, scomien, < AS. sceamian,
scamian, scevmian, scomian, intr. be ashamed,
tr. (refl.) make ashamed, = OS. scamian = J),
schamen = OHG. seamen, seaman, MHG. scha-
men. Or. schamen = Icel. skamma = Sw. skdmma
= Dan. skamme = Goth, skaman, refl., make
ashamed; from the noun. Ci.ashame, ashamed.']
1. intrans. To be or feel ashamed.
And thei seyn that God made Adam and Eve all naked,
and that no man scholde shame that is of kyndely nature.
MandevUle, Travels, p. 178.
I do shame
To think of what a noble strain you are.
And of how coward a spirit.
Shak., Pericles, iv. S. 23.
Art thou a man? and sham'st thou not to beg ?
B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, ii. 3.
H. trans. If. To be ashamed of.
For who 80 schameth me and my wordis, mannus sone
schal schame hym, whanne he cometh in his maieste and
of the f adris, and of the hooli aungels.
Wydif, Luke ix. 26.
2. To make ashamed; cause to blush or to
feel degraded, dishonored, or disgraced.
Shame enough to shame thee, wert thou not shameless.
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., i. 4. 120.
WTio shames a scribbler? break one cobweb through,
He spins the slight, self-pleasing thread anew.
Pope, Prol. to Satires, 1. 89.
3. To cover with reproach or ignominy ; dis-
grace.
Alle tho that ben of his kyn, or pretenden hem to ben
his Frendes, and thei come not to that Feste, thei ben re-
preved for evere and schamed, and maken gret doel.
MandeviUe, Travels, p. 202.
Thou hast In a few days of thy short reign.
In over-weening pride, riot, and lusts,
Sham'd noble Dioclesian and his gift.
Fleteher {and another 1), Prophetess, v. 1.
4. To force or drive by shame.
In female breasts did sense and merit rule.
The lover's mind would ask no better school ;
Shamed into sense, the scholars of our eyes.
Our beaux from gallantry would soon be wise.
Sfieridan, The Rivals, Epil.
5t. To shun through shame.
My master sad — for why, he shames the court —
Is fled away. GreeM, James IV., v. 8. (Doric*.)
6t. To mock at ; deride ; treat with contumely
or contempt.
Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor. Ps. xiv. 6.
=SyiL 2. To mortify, humiliate, abash.
shamefaced (sham'fast), a. [A corruption of
shamefast, simulating face: see shamefast.']
Modest; bashful: originally «7iO»ie/as<.
Men shamefaced and of noble mindes bane greate cause
to beware that they begin not to hourd or laye vp mony :
5548
for if he once giue him selfe to hourd, ... he shall euery
day fall into a thousand euils, shames, and confusions.
Quevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 256.
The rose with it« sweet, shame.faced look.
jr. Motherwell, Certahi Pleasant Verses.
shamefacedly (sham'fast-li), adv. Bashfully ;
with excessive modesty.
shamefacedness (sham'fast-nes), n. [A cor-
ruption of shatnefastness, q. v.] Bashfulness;
excess of modesty.
The embarrassed look of shy distress.
And maidenly shamefacedness.
Wordsworth, To a Highland Girl.
shamefast (sham'fast), a. [< ME. shamefast,
schamefast, schamfast, sceomefcst, < AS. sceam-
fxst, scamfiest, modest, lit. 'firm' or 'fast in
shame,' i. e. modesty, < sceaniu, scamu, shame,
+ feest, fast, firm : see shame and fast^.] Mod-
est; bashful. [Obsolete or archaic: see shame-
faced, the form now usual.]
Shamefast she was in mayden's shamefastnesse.
Chaucer, Doctor's Tale, 1. 55.
It is a lamentable thing to see, that a mother shal send
her Sonne to the house of a Gentleman, clad, shod, shame-
fast, honest, solitarie, well manered, and deuoute, and at
the yeares end the poore young man sliall retume ragged,
bare legged, dissolute, . . . and a quareller,
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 151.
I'll not meddle with it [conscience] : . . . 'tis a blush-
ing shamefast [shamefac'd in f. 1623] spirit that mutinies
in a man's bosom. Shak., Kich. III., i. 4. 142.
shamefastness (sham'fast-nes), n. [Early mod.
E. also shamfastnes ; < ME. shamefastnesse,
sehamefastnesse ; < shame + fasO- + -ness.]
Modesty; bashfulness ; shamefacedness. [Ob-
solete or archaic]
And ye, sir clerk, let be your shamefastnesse.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 840.
To blush with a genuine shamefastness.
E. U. Plumptre, Sophocles, xxxiii.
shame-flower (sham'flou''6r), n. Same as
Mushifori.
shameful (sham'fvd), a. [< ME. schamful,
scheomeful (= Sw. skamfull = Dan. skamfuld),
modest; <. shame -i- -ful.} If. Modest; shame-
faced.
AVherein he would have hid
His shamefuU head. Spenser, ¥. Q., III. v. 13.
For certain, sir, his baslifulness undoes him.
For from his cradle he had a shameful face.
Fletcher (and another). Queen of Corinth, iv. 1.
2t. Full of shame ; tinged or permeated with
a feeling of shame.
Shameful reflections on all our past behaviours.
C. Mather, Mag. Chris., iv. 7.
3. That brings or ought to bring or put to
shame ; disgraceful ; scandalous : as, shameful
conduct.
And Phoebus, flying so most shamefull sight.
His blushing face in foggy cloud implyes,
And hydes for shame. Spotser, F. Q., I. vi. 6.
Who submitted himselfe to a death in itselfe bitter,
before men shamefull, and of God accursed.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 32.
A change so shamefvl, say, what cause has wrought?
Pope, Iliad, xiii. 147.
Shameful reeL Same ?i8 shame-reel. [Scotland.]
"Win up, win up, now bride," lie says,
"And dance a shame.fu' reel."
Sweet Willie and Fair Maisry (Child's Ballads, II. 336).
= S3m. 3. Dishonorable, disreputable, outrageous, villain-
ous, heinous, nefarious.
shamefully (sham'ful-i), adv. [< ME. *scham-
fullji, ssamvolliche ; < shameful + -?y2.] in a
shameful manner; with indignity or indecency ;
disgracefully.
But thou in clumsy verse, unlicked, unpointed.
Hast shamefully defied the Lord's anointed.
Vryden, Ahs. and Achit., ii. 603.
shamefulness (sham'f ul-nes), «. [< ME. schame-
fulnes; < shameful + -ness.] If. Modesty; dif-
fidence.
To suche as shall see it to be oner presumptuous, let
them lay the fault upon your honour, whiche did first
write unto me, and not on me, that do annswere with
shamefvlnesse.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 75.
2. Shameful character; disgracefulness. — 3.
Shame; disgrace.
The king debated with himself
If Arthur were the child of shamefulness.
Or bom the son of Gorlois.
Tennyson, Coming of Arthur.
shamelf, shamellt, «■ Obsolete forms of sham-
btei.
shameless (sham'les), a. [< ME. shameles,
shamelees, schameles, schomeles, schomeleas,<. AS.
sceamleds, scamleds (= D. schaamtcloos = MLG.
schamelos = OHG. seamaids, MHG. schamelos,
G. schamlos = Icel. skammlauss = Sw. Dan.
shammy
skamlds), shameless, < sceannt, scamu, shame,
-1- -leds,'E.-less.'\ 1. Having no shame ; lack-
ing in modesty ; immodest ; impudent ; auda-
cious ; insensible to disgrace.
Thanne Mede for here myadedes to that man kneled.
And shroue hire of hire shrewednesse shamelees, I trowe.
Piers Plowman (Ii), iii. 44.
To tell thee whence thou camest, of whom derived,
Were shame enough to shame thee, wert thou not shame,
less. Shak., 3 Hen. VI., i. 4. 120.
2. Done without shame ; indicating or cliarac-
terized by lack of shame : as, a shameless dis-
regard of honest}'.
The shameless denial hereof by some of their friends,
and tlie more shameless justification by some of their flat-
terers, makes it needful to exemplify. lialeiyh.
= Syn. 1. Unblushing, brazen ; profligate, reprobate, aban-
doned, incorrigible.
shamelessly (sham'les-li), adr. In a shameless
manner; without shame ; impudently.
shamelessness (sham'les-nes), «. The state
or character of being shameless ; utter want of
shame; lack of sensibility to disgrace or dis-
honor; impudence.
shamelyt (sham'li), adv. [ME. schameli, schome-
ly, schameliche, schomeliche, < AS. sceamlic (=
OHG. scamalih, MHG. schamelich, schemelich =
Sw. skamlig = Dan. skammeUg), shameful, <
sceamn, shame, + -He, E. -ly'^.] Shamefully.
Bot, I trow, ful tyd, ouer-tan that he [Jonah] were.
So that schomely to schort he schote of his ame.
. Alliterative Poems (E. E. T. S.), ill. 128.
shame-proof (sham'prof ), a. Callous or insen-
sible to shame.
King. They will shame us ; let them not approach.
Biron. We are shame-proof, my lord.
Shak., L. L. L., v. 2. 618.
shamer (sha'mSr), n. [< shame + -erl.] One
who or that which makes ashamed.
My means and my conditions are no shamers
Of him that owes *em, all the world knows that.
And my friends no reliers on my fortunes.
Fletcher, Tamer Tamed, i. 3.
shameragt, «. An obsolete form of shamrock.
shame-reel (sham'rel), n. In some parts of
Scotland, the first reel or dance after tbe cele-
bration of a marriage. It was performed by
the bride and best man and the bridegroom
and best maid. Jamieson.
shamevoust, a. [ME., irreg. < shame + -evons
as in similar ME. forms of bounteous, plenteous.']
Shameful.
Ytf atwixst his handis he hym haue myght.
He wold make hym ende, and shameuous deth dight !
Rom. of Partenay (E. E. T. S.), 1. \AU.
shammatha (sha-ma'tha), n. [< Heb. sham-
mdthd'.] The highest degree of excommunica-
tion among the ancient Jews, consisting in final
exclusion from the Jewish church for life.
shammelt (sham'el), n. 1. An obsolete form
of shambled. Specifically — 2. In mining, a stage
or shelf-like arrangement of boards, or a plat
cut in the rocks, upon which the ore was shov-
eled by the miner in the ancient method of
working a mine, "cast after cast^" as it was
called. The shammels were about six feet apart.
Also called shamble. [Cornwall, Eng.]
If the lode was wide and the walls of it and the adjoin-
ing country very hard, solid ground, it was in such case
more easy lor them to make shammels or stages, with such
timber, &c., as was cheapest and nearest at hand. Pryce.
shammelt (sham'el), v. i. [< shammel, «.] In
mining, to work a mine by throwing the mate-
rial excavated on to a shammel (which see) in
the "cast after cast" method, which was the
usual way before the art of regular mining by
means of shafts and leads had been introduced.
[Cornwall, Eng.]
This, with streaming, I take to be the plain simple state
of mining in general tliree centuries ago, and from hence
is derived the custom of shammeling both above and under
ground at this time. Pryce.
shammer (sham'er), n. [< sham + -crl.] One
who shams; an impostor; a liar; a trickster.
I shou'd make the worst Shammer in England : I must
always deal ingenuously. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, iii. 1.
shammisht (sham'ish), a. [< shatn + -ish^.']
Deceitful.
The overture was very skammish.
Soger North, Examen, p. 100. (Datties.)
shammockf (sham'ok), v. i. [Origin obscure.]
To idle; loaf; lounge.
Pox take you both for a couple of shammocking rascals :
. . . you broke my tavern, and that broke my heart.
Toot Brown, Works, II. 184. (Davies.)
shammy (sham'i), «.; yl. shammies (-iz). [Also
shamoy; formerly shame's, shamoys, chamois, <
F. chamois: see chamoi .] 1. Same as c/ia-
moiSy 2.
shammy •
Love thy brave man of war, aiid let thy bounty
Clap him in shamois.
Beau, and Ft., Scornful I^dy. ii.
The day after to-morrow we go in cavalcade with the
Duchess of Richmond to her audience; I have got my
cravat and shammy shoes.
//. Halpole, To Gen. Conway, Jan. 12, 1766.
2. A bag of chamois leather in which miners
keep their gold-dust. [Australia.]
shamoyt, n. An obsolete form of shammy,
diamoi.f, 2.
shamoy isham'oi), V. t. [< shamoy, «.] To pre-
pare (leather) by working oil into the skin in-
stead of the astringent or ammonium ehlorid
commonly used in tanning ; dress or prepare in
the way chamois leather is prepared.
HlEivers are split grain sides of sheep skins tanned in
sumach, and similarly finished — the flesh split being
ihamoyed for inferior qualities of shamoy or wash leather.
Encyc. Bnt.,S.lV.2»i.
shampoo (sham-p8'), r. t. [Also sAampo, and
more prop, champoo, champo; < Hind, chdmpnd
(impv. champo), shampoo, lit. 'join, press, stuff,
thrust in.'] 1. To rub and percuss the whole
surface of (the body), and at the same time to
extend the limbs and rack the joints, in con-
nection with a hot bath, for the purpose of
restoring tone and vigor to the system : a prac-
tice introduced from the East. Such kneading
and rubbing of the whole body is now com-
monly called massage. Also used figuratively.
Old women and amateurs [at ui auctlon-aalel have in-
vaded the upper apartments, pinching the bea-cnrtaln%
pijking into the feathers, thampooing the mattTeases, and
clapping the wardrobe drawers to and fro.
Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xvll.
2. To lather, wash, and rub or brush (the head)
thoroughly.
shampoo (8ham-p8')» "• [< shampoo, v.] The
act or operation of shampooing, in either sense,
shampooer (sham-po'fer), n. One who sham-
£oo(s. in either sense of the word,
amragt, «. An obsolete form of shamrock.
shamrock (sham'rok), n. [Early mod. E. also
sliamroke, shamrag, shamerag; < Ir. seamrog (=
Gael, seamrag). trefoil, dim. of seamar, trefoil.]
A plant witli trifoliate leaves: the national em-
blem of Irelaiul. Acco'-ding to recent authority (Brit-
ten and Holland, "English Plant Names") the plant at
the present day most in re|>nte aa the true abamrock Is
one of the hn|>-clovers, Tri/olium mirau, • slender trail-
ing species with small yellow heads, perhaps a variety of
T. prficumfjeiui. It is in use in many counties of Ireland,
and forms a great part of the shamrock sold in London
on Ht. Patrick's day. The black medic. Medicaao tupu-
liiM. is also thus used ; but the white clover, T. npem,
is widely undci-st4K>d to be the crvmnion shamrock. The
identity of the original shamrock which, according to tra-
dition. St. I'atrick used to Illustrate the doctrine of the
Trinity is uncertain. It has been varioosly supposed to
be the common white clover, 7*. repens (which, however.
Is believed to be of late Introduction in Ireland); the red
clover, T. praUiute; the wood sorrel, Oxalit Aeeio tdla
Oocally called xAiimroci: in England): and even the water-
cress (though its leaves are not trifoliate^
Yf they founde a plotte of water-cresses or iA«m-ro*M,
there they flocked as to a feast, Speruer, State of Ireland.
Whilst all the Hibernian kerns. In multitudes.
Did feast with thameraqn stew'd in nsquebagh.
John Taylor, Works (1630), II. 4. {UattiuxU.)
Blue-flowered shamrock, see Paroehetut. — TiKHaw
shamrock, the hirthroot, Trillium ere^um.
shamrock-pea (sham'rok-pe), m. HwiParoche-
tifs.
shan' (shan), «. [Cf. shaiid, n.] Xaut.. a de-
fect in spars, most commonly from bad collared
knots; an injurioux compression of fiber in
timber; the turning out of the cortical layers
when the plank has been sawed obli(iuely to
the central axis of the tree,
shan- (shan), n. [fit.shanny^.'] Same as «Aannyi.
shand (shand), n. and a. [< ME. shande,
schond, schonde, sconde, also schend (in comp.), <
AS. sceaiid, scaiid, second, scond = D. schande =
>!!/ ;. schande = OHd. scanta, MHO. G. schande
= Dan. skand (in comp. skand-skrift, libel) =
(ioth. skanda, shame : akin to AS. sceamu, etc.,
shame: »ce shame.] I. ». If. Shame; scandal;
disgrace.
Forr thatt wass, alls be wlaste Itt wet.
Hiss agbenn shiune and ^ndt.
OrmWum, L 11966.
My dere dojttnr.
Thou most vndor-stonde
For to goweme well this bons.
And saue thy selfe frow Khond.
Boolce 0/ Preeedenee (E. E. T. S., extra ler.X L 39.
God shilde his cora fro thonde.
Chaueer, .Sir Tbopas, L 197.
2. Base coin. [Scotch.]
" I doubt Olossln will prove bat thani after a'. Mis-
tress," said Jabos; . . . "but this Is a code half-crown
ony way." SeoU, Ony Hannerlng, xxxlL
n. a. WoHhless. [Scotch.]
6549
shandry (shan'dri), n. ; pi. shandries (-driz). A
shortened form of shandrydan.
In a pause of Mrs. Robson'a sobs, Hester heard the wel-
come sound of the wheels of the returning shandry, bear-
ing the bride and bridegroom home.
Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, xxix.
shandrydan (shan'dri-dan), II. [Also shandery-
dan ; appar. of Ir. origin.] A light two-wheeled
cart or gig; any old rickety conveyance.
An ancient rickety-looking vehicle of the kind once
known as shandrydan. CornbUl Mag.,\. 440.
shandygaff (shan'di-gaf), n. [Origin obscure.]
A mi-xture of bitter ale or beer with ginger-
beer. The original English recipe is a pint of bitter
beer with a small bottle of old-fashioned ginger-beer : but
porter or stout or lager-beer is sometimes substituted for
the bitter beer, and ginger-ale for the ginger-beer.
If the sun is out, one feels, after scrambling over the
rocks and walking home by the dusty road, like taking a
long pull at a cup of shandygaf.
a I). Warner, Their Pilgrimage, p. 187.
shangan, n. See shangie.
shanghai (sLang-M'), n. [So called from Shang-
hai, Shanghae, a city of China.] 1. A very
long-legged hen with feathered shanks, reputed
to have been introduced from Shanghai, China.
The breed (if, despite its great vogue at one time, it could
ever claim to be one) is now obsolete, having been devel-
oped or differentiated into the different varieties of brah-
mas and cochins. Also called brahmaputra, brahmapootra.
Hence — 2. Atall person; especially, a tall dan-
dy. [Slang, U. S.] — 3. A long, slender oj-ster;
a stick-up or stuck-up ; a coon-heel, rabbit-ear,
or razor-blade. [Connecticut.] — 4. A kind of
fish-hook, yorris.
shanghai (shaug-hl'), f • (• [Xit. to ship to Shang-
hai, Shunghae, a port of China, representing any
distant port to which persons so treated are
shipped.] Naut., to render insensible, as a per-
son, by drugs, liquor, or violence, and ship him
on a vessel wanting hands, for the purpose of
fraudulently securing advance-money and any
premium offered for procuring seamen.
snangie, shangan (shang'i, -an), n. [Origin
obscure; perhaps < OF. chaine, F. chaine, a
chain: see fA/ji/i.] 1. A shackle; the shackle
that runs on the stake to which a cow is bound
in a cow-house. Jamieson, — 2. A ring of straw
or hemp put round a jumper by miners to pre-
vent the water in the lx»re-hole from squirting
up. — 3. A stick cleft at one end, in which the
tail of a dog is put by way of mischief. [Scotch
in all uses.]
Shangti (shang'te'), n. [Chin., < shang, high,
supreme, + ti, ruler.] One of the names (liter-
ally, 'supreme ruler') used among Christians
in China for God, the others being .S'/ii» ('god'
or 'gods,' 'spirit 'or 'spirits'), used (sometimes
with the prefix chin, true) by those who object
to the use of Shangti and Tien-chu ('lord of
heaven'), used by Roman Catholics. Also
Shangte.
shaning (shan'ing), n. Same as shanny^.
shank 1 (shangk), n. [< ME. shanke, sehankc,
schitnkr, sceonke, seonke, < AS. sccanca, scanca,
sceonca, the bone of the leg, also a hollow bone,
=r OFries. skunka, schonk = D. schonk, a bone, =
LG. schunke, also schakc, leg, = 8w. skatik =
Dan. skank, leg, shank; cf. dim. D. schenkel =
MHG. G. schenkel, shank, leg, thigh, = Icel.
skekill, shank; allied to OHG. scinclio, scincha,
shank, hollow bone (> It. dial, schinco, stinco,
shin-bone), MHG. schinke, G. schinkcn, ham, =
Sw. skinka = Dan. skinke, ham. From the same
ult. source is derived E. »A-inii.] 1. The leg,
or the part of the leg which extends fi-om the
knee to the ankle ; the tibia or shin-bone.
EttioODet ber white stnlgbt legs were altered
To crooked crawling iKankes, olf marrowe empted ;
And her faire face to fowleand loathsome hewe.
And her flne corpes to a bag of venini grewe.
, Spenser, .Muiopotmos, 1. 350.
His vontbful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank.
Shai., As you Like it, 11. 7. 161.
(a) Technically, In anat and zoiil., the shin, cms, or leg
proper, between the knee and the ankle ; the second seg-
ment of the bind limb, represented by the length of the
tibia. (6) In a hone, popularly, the part of the fore leg
between the so-called kneeand the fetlock, corresponding
to the metacarpus. See cut under horse.
2. In a bird, popularly, the part of the foot be-
tween where the feathers usually end and the
roots of the tOes, commonly held upright and
appearing like a part of the leg, not of the foot,
as it really is ; the tarsometatarsus. — 3. In en-
tnm., the tibia: same as shin, 5. — 4. In hoi., the
footstalk or pedicel of a flower. — 6. A stock-
ing, or the part of a stocking which covers the
leg; specifically, a stocking in the process of
shank-shell
being knitted (a Scotch use); also, a legging
or leg-covering.
AH the riche clothynge was awaye
That he byfore sawe in that stede ;
Hir a [one) schanke blake, hir other graye.
And all hir body lyke the lede.
Thomas of Ersseldoune (Child's Ballads, I. 102).
Four or five pairs of heavy woollen socks cover his feet,
and over them is placed a pair of caribou shajiks (leggings
made of the skin of the caribou worn with the hair out-
side]. Harper'gJfa^., LXXVII. 610.
6. That part of an instrument, tool, or the like
which connects the acting part with a handle or
the part by which it is held or moved. Specifi-
cally — (a) The stem of a key, between the bow and the bit.
(b) The stem of an anchor, connecting the arms and the
stock, (c) The tang of a knife, chisel, etc., or part which
is inserted in the handle, (d) That part of a flsh-hook
which is toward the head; the straight part above the
bend, (c) The straight part of a nail between the head and
the taper of the point. (/) In printing, the body of a type,
or that part which is between the shoulder and the feet.
See cut under type, (ti) The eye or loop on a button. (A)
That part of an ax-head which is between the edge and
the back, which in some old forms is drawn out long and
thin, (i) Of a spur, one of the two cheeks or side-pieces,
(j) Of a spoon, the slender part between the flattened
handle and the bowl.
7. That part of a shoe which connects the broad
part of tne sole with the heel. See cut under
boot. — 8. In metal., a large ladle to contain
molten metals, managed by a straight bar at
one end and a cross-bar with handles at the
other end, by which it is tipped to pour out the
metal. — 9. The shaft of a mine. [Scotch.] —
10. pi. Flat pliers with jaws of soft iron used
for nibbling glass for lenses preparatory to
grinding. See nibbling. — 11. Inarch.: (a) The
shaft of a column. (6) The plain space between
the grooves of the Doric triglyph. — 12t. A kind
of fur, mentioned as used for trimming outer
garments in the sixteenth century, and as de-
rived from the legs of animals. — 13. The latter
end or part of anything. [Colloq.]
Bimehy, to'nlsde shank er de evenin". Brer Rabbit sorter
8tret<;h hisse'f, he did, en 'low hit "s mos' time fer Brer Fox
tergit 'long home. J. C. Harris, Uncle Remus, xv.
Shanks' mare. See mare^.
shanfci (shangk), f. [< shank^,n.'i 1. intrans.
1. To be affected with disease of the pedicel or
footstalk ; fall off by decay of the footstalk : of-
ten with off.
The germens of these twelve flowers all swelled, and ul-
timately six flne capsules and two poor capsules were pro-
duced, only four capsules shanking of.
Darwin, Different Komi of Flowers, p. 83.
2. To take to one's legs : frequently with an
impersonal it: as, to shank it (that is, to make
the journey on foot). [Scotch.]
II. trans. 1. To send off without ceremony.
[Scotch.]
Some say ye suld balth be shankit aff till Edinburgh
Castle. Scott, Antiquary, xxxvi.
2. In the making of lenses, to break off (the
rough edges) with pliers of soft iron To shank
ane'g seV awa', to take one's self off quickly. Scott, An-
tiquary, xxvii. [Scotch.]
shank" (wliangk), n. A shell: same as chank'^.
shank-cutter (shangk'kut''6r), M. In shoe-
manuf., a machine ortool for cutting out shanks.
E. H. Knight.
shanked (shangkt), a. [< «Aan*l -f -ed2.] 1.
Having a sli»nl<; having a shank or shanks of
a kind specified: as, spindle-shanked; yellow-
shanked. — 2. Affected with disease of the
shank or footstalk.
shanker (shang'kfer), ». An Anglicized spell-
ing of chancre.
shanking (shang'king),M. [Verbaln.ofsftanfcl,
p.] The process by which lenses are roughly
brought to a circular form : same as nibbling, 2.
The pressure of the pliers applied near the edges of the
glass causes It to crumble away in small fragments, and
this process, which Is called shanking or nibbling, is con-
tinued until the glasses are made circular.
Ure, Diet., III. 106.
shank-iron (shangk'i'^m), n. In shoe-mannf. :
(a) A shaping-tool or former for shoe-shanks.
(6) A plate of iron inserted as a stiffening be-
tween the leather parts of a shank.
Shank-las'ter (shangk^as't^-r), «. A shoemak-
ers' tool, combining a gripping-jaw and a lever,
for fitting the upper-leather over the shank of
the last. Ji. H. Knight.
shank-painter (shangk'pan'tfer), «. Naut., a
short rope and chain sustaining the shank and
flukes of an anchor against the ship's side, as
the stopper fastens the ring and stock to the
cat-head.
shank-shell (shangk'shel), w. Same as chank^.
The shank'hell is carved by the Cingalese ; when found
reversed it is considered sacred.
P. P. Carpenter, Molluscs, p. 83.
shank-spring
shank-spring (shangk' spring), n. A small piece
of eliistie steel used to join the sole and heel of
a boot or shoe so as to give an elastic support
to the instep.
shank-wheel (shangk'hwel), n. In shoemaking,
a tool for giving an ornamental finish to a
shank.
shanna (shan'a). A Scotch form of shall not.
shanny^ (shan'i), w.; pi. shatinies {-iz). [Also
shan, shaning; origin uncertain.] The smooth
blenny, Blennius (or P/iofis) Isevis, a fish of an
oblong form with a smooth skin, and without
filaments or appendages to the head, it is found
along thecoasts of Englandandof Europe generally, chiefly
lurking under stones and in seaweed between tide-marks.
By means of its pectoral flns it is able to crawl upon land,
and when the tide ebbs will often creep on the shore un-
til it finds a crevice wherein it can hide until the tide re-
turns.
shanny- (shan'i), a. [Origin obscure; cf.
611(111(1.] Giddy; foolish. [Prov. Eng.]
Shanscritt, «. A former spelling of Sanskrit.
sha'n't (shant). A contraction of shall not.
[Colloq.]
shantyi (shan'ti), a. [Also shaxonty, shunty;
var. of jaiity, jaunty, q. v.] Jaunty; gay;
showy. [Prov. Eng.]
shanty^ (shan'ti), n. ; pi. shanties (-tiz). [For-
merly also shan tee ; origin obscure. It has been
variously guessed to be («) of Ir. origin, < Ir.
sean, old (or sion, weather, storm), -I- tig, a
house; (6) < F. chantier, a yard, timber-yard,
< L. canterius, cantherius, a rafter: see cant^,
cantle; (c) < a supposed F. *chiente, as if lit.
'dog-kennel,' < chien, a dog: see Icennel'^.'] 1.
A hut or mean dwelling ; a temporary build-
ing of rough and flimsy character. Compare
hoists.
This was the second season that le Bourdon had occu-
pied *' Castle Meal," as he himself called the shanty.
Cooper, Oak Openings, p. 26.
The diamond town of Kimberley is still a huge aggrega-
tion of shanties traversed by tramways and lit by electric
light. Sir C. W. DUke, Probs. of Greater Britain, iii. 1.
2. A public house, or place where liquor is sold.
[Slang.]— Sly grog-shanty, a place where liquor is
sold without a license. [Slang, Australia.]
shanty^ (shan'ti), V. i.; pret. and pp. shantied,
ppr. shantying. [< shanty"^, ».] To live in a
shanty, as lumbermen do: common in Mani-
toba and the limiber regions of North America.
shanty^ (shan'ti), n. [Also chantey; prob. < F.
chanter, sing: see chant."] A song with a bois-
terous chorus, sung by sailors while heaving at
the capstan or windlass or hoisting up heavy
weights, to enable them to pull or heave to-
gether in time with the song.
shanty-man^ (shan'ti-man), n. [< shanty^ -\-
man.'l One who lives in a shanty; hence, a
backwoodsman ; a lumberer.
shanty-man^ (shan'ti-man), n. [Also chantey-
man ; < shanty'i + man.] The sailor on board
ship who leads the shanty to which the sailors
work in heaving at the capstan, hoisting sail,
etc.
The shanty-7nan~ the chorister of the old packet-ship
— has left no successors. . . . It was in the windlass-songs
that the accomplished shanty-man displayed his fullest
powers and his daintiest graces.
Harper's Hag., IXV. 281, 283.
shapable (sha'pa-bl), a. [< shape + -able.]
1. Caj)able of being shaped.
My task is to sit and study how shapeable the Indepen-
dent way will be to the body of England.
N. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 38.
Soft and shapeable into love's syllables. RusHn.
2t. Having a proper shape or form; shapely.
I made [earthenware] things round and shdpeaMe which
before were filthy things indeed to look on.
t>e Foe, Robinson Crusoe, x.
Also shapeable.
shape (shap), v.; pret. and pp. shaped (pp. for-
merly shapen), ppr. shaping, [(a) < ME. sha-
pen, schapen (pret. shoop, shop, schop, schope,
scop, pp. shapen, schapen, .shape, yshapcn,
yschape), < AS. sceapan, scapan (pret. scop,
sceop, pp. sceapen, scapen), form, make, shape,
= OS. scapan = OFries. sJceppa, scheppa (pret.
shop, schop) = MD. schappen, do, treat, = OHG.
scaffan, MHG. G. schaffen, shape, create, \>to-
duee, = leel. skapa = Sw. skapa = Dan. skabe
= Goth, "skapjan, ga-skapjan (pret. ga-skop),
create, form, shape; also in secondary forms,
partly merged with the preceding, namely (6)
ME. shapen, schapen, schapien, schepien (pret.
shaped, schapide, pp. shaped), < AS. sceppan,
scyppan, scippan = OS. sceppian = OHG. scep-
fen, skeffen, create, form; (c) OHG. scaffon,
MHG. G. schaffen, procure, obtain, furnish, be
busy about, > MD- D. schaffen = Dan. skaffts =-
5550
Sw. skaffa, procure, furnish ; < Teut. y skap,
supposed by some to have meant orig. ' cut
(wood) into shape,' and to be connected with
AS. scafan, etc., shave: see shave. Hence ult.
shaft'i and -ski}).] I. trans. 1. To form; make;
create; construct.
Swithe go shape a shippe of shides and of hordes.
Piers Plowman (B), ix. 131.
O blake Nyght ! as folk in bokes rede.
That shapen art by God this world to hyde
At certein tymes with thy derke wede,
That under that men myghte in reste abyde.
Chaucer, Troilus, iii. 1480.
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity ; and in sin did my mo-
ther conceive me. Ps. 11. 5.
2. To give shape or form to ; cut, mold, or make
into a particular form : as, to shape a garment ;
to shape a vessel on the potters' wheel.
To the forge with it then ; shape it.
Shak., M. W. of W., iv. 2. 239.
But that same weed ye've shaped for me.
It quickly shall be sewed for thee.
John Thomson and the Turk (Child's Ballads, III. 866).
A Ribbon bound and shap'd her slender Waist.
Prior, Colin's Mistakes, viii.
Only those items which I notice shape my mind.
W. James, Prin. of Psychol., I. 402.
Wordsworth was wholly void of that shaping imagina-
tion which is the highest criterion of a poet.-
Lowell, Study Windows, p. 116.
3. To adapt, as to a purpose ; cause to conform ;
adjust; regulate: with to or tinto.
Good sir, shape yourself
To understand the place and noble persons
You live with now. Fletcher, Mad Lover, i. 1.
Charm 'd by their Eyes, their Manners I acquire.
And shape my foolishness to their Desire.
Prior, Solomon, ii.
So, as I grew, I rudely shaped my life
To my immediate wants. Browning, Pauline.
4. To form with the mind ; plan ; contrive ; de-
vise; arrange; prepare.
At which the God of Love gan loken rowe.
Right for despit, and shop to ben y wroken.
Chaucer, Troilus, i. 207.
You may shape, Amintor,
Causes to cozen the whole world withal.
And yourself too.
Beau, and PI., Maid's Tragedy, iii. 2.
I see the bottom of your question ; and, with these gen-
tlemen's good leave, I will endeavour to shape you an an-
swer. Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 166.
5t. To get ready; address (one's self to do
something).
Upon the chaungynge of the moone,
Whan lightlees is the world a nyght or tweyne,
And that the welkin shap hym for to reyne.
He' streight o morwe unto his nece wente.
Chaucer, Troilus, iii. 551.
"ge, certes," quath he, "that is soth," and shop hym to
walke. Piers Plowman (C), xiv. 247.
6. To direct (one's course) ; betake (one's
self) : as, to shape one's course homeward.
He will aray hym full rad with a route noble.
And shape hym to our shippes with his shene knightes.
Destruction of Troy (B. E. T. S.), 1. 1144.
Now to shores more soft
She [the Muse] shapes her prosperous sail.
Drayton, Polyolbion, vii. 5.
Behold, in awful march and dread array
The long-expected squadrons shape their way !
Addison, The Campaign.
7. To image ; conceive ; call or conjure up.
Oft my jealousy
Shapes faults that are not.
S/ioJr., Othello, iii. 8. 148.
Guilt shapes the Terror ; deep within
The human heart the secret lies
Of all the hideous deities.
Whitlier, The Over-Heart.
8t. To dress; array.
Assemble you soudiours, sure men & nobill,
Shapyn in shene ger, with shippis to wynde,
The Grekys to greue, & in grem brynge.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), L 2672.
I wol erly shape me therfore.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 809.
9. To destine; foreordain; predestine.
If so be my destine be shape
By eterne word to deyen in prisoun.
Of oure lynage have sum compassioun.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 250.
To Shape up, to give form to by stiff or solid material,
so that tne shape will be retained ; said of articles covered
with needlework or of textile fabrics.
II. intrans. 1 . To take shape or form ; be or
become adapted, fit, orcomformable. [Kare.]
Their dear loss,
The more of you 'twas felt, the more it shaped
Unto my end of stealing them.
Shak., Cymbeline, v. 6. 346.
2t. To turn out ; happen.
So shop it that hym fll that daye a tene
In love, for whiche in wo to bedde he wente.
ChatKer. Troilua. iL 6?
shapeless
shape (shap), n. [< ME. shape, schape, shap,
schap, schappe, scheap, shape, way, < AS. ge-
sceap, a creature, creation, fate, destiny, form,
figure, shape, pi. gesceapu, the genitals, = MD.
schap = OHG. sedf, form, MHG. geschaf, a crea-
ture, = Icel. skap, state, condition, temper,
mood; from the verb. Ct. shafts.] i_ Form;
figure ; outward contour, aspect, or appear-
ance ; hence, guise : as, the two things are dis-
similar in shape; the shape of the head; in
man's shape.
First a charming shape enslaved me.
An eye then gave the fatal stroke ;
Till by her wit Corinna saved me,
And all my former fetters broke. Addison,
Tulip-beds of different shape and dyes,
Bending beneath the invisible West-wind's sighs.
Moore, Lalla Rookh, Veiled Prophet.
The martyrdom which in an infinite variety of shapes
awaits those who have the heart, and will, and conscience
to fight a battle with the world.
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, vii.
When we say that a body can be moved about without
altering its shape, we mean that it can be so moved as to
keep unaltered all the angles in it.
W. K. CHgord, Lectures, 1. 312.
2. That which has form or figure ; a mere form,
image, or figure ; an appearance ; a phantasm.
"lis strange he will not let me sleep, but dives
Into my fancy, and there gives me shapes
That kneel and do me service, cry me king.
Beau, and Ft., I'hilaster, i. 1.
The other shape.
If shape it might be called that shape had none
Distinguishable in member, joint, or limb.
Milton, P. L., ii. 666.
He hears quick footsteps — a shape flits by.
Whittier, Mogg Megone, i.
3. Concrete embodiment or form, as of a
thought, conception, or quality.
I am so busy with this frivolous project, and can bring
it to no shape, that it almost confounds my capacity.
Ford, Love's Sacrifice, iii. 2.
Yet the smooth words took no shape in action.
Froude, Hist. Eng. (ed. 1804), II. 128.
4. Appearance ; guise ; dress ; disguise ; specifi-
cally, a theatrical costume (a complete dress).
Why, quod the somonnour, ride ye than or goon
In sondry shape, and nat alway in oon ?
Chaucer, Friar's Tale, 1. 172.
Now for her a shape.
And we may dress her, and I'll help to fit her
With a tuft-taffata cloke. B. Jonson, New Inn, ii. 1.
Kinaston, the boy, had the good turn to appear in three
shapes : first as a poor woman in ordinary clothes to please
Morose ; then in fine clothes, as a gallant, and in them
was clearly the prettiest woman in the whole house ;. and
lastly, as a man. Pepys, Diary, Jan. 7, 1661.
A scarlet cloth shape (for Richard).
Sale Catalogue of Covent Garden Theatre, Sept., 1829, p. 33.
5. Way; manner.
But schortly for to telle the schap of this tale,
the duk hade the dougtiere men to deme the sothe.
Waiiam of Palerne (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1160.
But are ye in any shape bound to this birkie Pepper-
cull? 5co«, Fortunes of Nigel, XXXV.
6. In industrial art: (a) A pattern to be followed
by workmen ; especially, a flat pattern to guide
a cutter, (b) Something intended to serve as
a framework for a light covering, as a bomiet-
frame. — 7. In cookery, a dessert dish consist-
ing of blanc-mange, rice, corn-starch, jelly, or
the like cast in a mold, allowed to stand till it
sets or flrms, and then turned out for serving.
— 8. The private parts, especially of a female.
[Obsolete or prov. Eng.]_To lick Into shape.
See lick. — To take shape, to assume a definite form,
order, or plan. =Syn. 1. Form, Fashion, etc. (see figure),
outline, mold, cut, build, cast.
shapet. An obsolete form of the past partici-
ple of .shape.
shapeable, a.
See shapable.
shaped (shapt),
p. a. Having
a varied orna-
mental form:
noting an ob-
ject such as is
usually of sim-
ple form, as a
tray or a panel
of a piece of fur-
niture, which,
instead of be-
ing rectangu-
lar, round, or
oval, is broken
up into various a shaped Minor, iSth century.
curves.
shapeless (shap'les), a. [< ME. schaples, schape-
lesse: <. shave, ti^ + -less.^ 1. Destitute of regu-
shapeless
larform; wanting symmetry of dimensions ; de-
formed; amorphous.
He is deformed, cruokedt old and sere,
lU-faced, worse bodied, ehapelets everywhere.
Shak., C. otE., iv. 2. 20.
The shapeiesa rock or hanging precipice.
Pope, Essay on Criticism, I. 158.
2t. That has no shaping tendency or effect ;
that effects nothing.
Wear out thy gentle youth with ghapele«s idleness.
Shai., T. G. of V., i. 1. 8.
shapelessness (shap'les-nes), n. Shapeless
cliaraeter or condition; lack of regular or defi-
nite form.
shapeliness (shap'li-nes), n. [< ME. schaply-
nixsc ; < shapely + -ness.'\ The state of being
shai>ely ; beauty of form.
shapely (shap'li), a. [< ME. shapely, schaply,
sliaiwlich, schapelieh ; < shajie, «., -I- -/yl.] 1.
Well-formed; having a regular and pleasing
shape; symmetrical.
Tnknown to those primeval sires
The well-arch'd dome, peopled with breathing forms
B>' fair Italia's skilful hand, unknown
The nhapely column. J, Wartmi, Enthusiast.
The moon on the east oriel shone
Through slender shafta of shapely stone.
Seott, L. of L. M., U. IL
2t. Fit; likely.
Tbo aleightea yit that I have herd yow iteen,
Fnl shapely ben to faylen alle yfeere.
Chaucer, Troilaa, Iv. 1460.
shapent. An obsolete past participle of shape.
sbaper (sha'p*r), n. [< ME. shapere, sehapare
(= OHG. scaffari, MHG. schaffxre, G. schopfer =
Icel. skapari = Sw. skapare = Dan. sKaher). <
shape + -«t1.] 1. One who makes, forms, or
shapes.
The Lord thi shapere, that bente heaenes, and foundede
the erthe. Wydif, In. IL la
rnconsciouely, and aa It were in aplte of tbemaelves,
the shavers and transmitters of poetic legend have pre-
served for us maaaea of sound historical evidence.
E. B. Tylor, Prim. Culture, I. 870.
2. In metal-icork, a combined lathe and planer,
which can be used, with attachments, for do-
, 6ame ; #.
Shaper fer Metals.
^. lurUoiital ways: f, r, rertjcal wnys: d, work-
table ; i, ei tra detadiabk work-ubic ; e, screw for ve'rtical adjust.
mcnt of tbe uMe *t ; A adJustiaff.craDl( : g. vi^ f<jr holcliiif work ;
4, screw for vertical adfustnietilofVtse; #. crAak-shaft which operates
Ifcar for adjustment of vise; J, cooc-pulley which drives the feed-
mechanisni aod the culter-bcsd or -stock *, which moves either verti-
cally, or in lines incHned to the vertical, or Inivitudinal ly on the w-iys
b, or transversely in the transverse way Aoe in directions compotiaded
of two or more of these inotiulis : m, vertical hand-adiiistiac scsesr for
cutter-head >,' •, kngkndinally a<»ustliiK kand-wbeel operatlK a
pinion engncinii a rack, fcr kuvtbidlBal aoveneat by haad of the
saddle # on the ways *,• /, quick return transvenc stroke gear : a,
fce(t.ncchaBiBnforsad(lle0,- f. mandrel for boliU;^ work ; j. centers
•or chycktaiK wevk Id be nxated )>y hand-
ing a great variety of work.— 3. A form of
stamping-machine or stamping-press for sheet-
metal. — 4. In icitod-irorking, s paneling- or
mol(liiig-raa<,hine forcutting moldings of irreg-
ular forms.
shaperoont, n. An obsolete form of chaperon.
.1. Tiii/liir.
Shaper-plate (sha'p«r-plat), n. A pattem-
pliiti'. iiH a plate in a lathe, by which the cut of
the toiil is regulated. fC. It.' Knight.
shaper-vise (slui'p/'r-vis), «. A form of vise for
hiililiiig thf work to a planer at any horizontal
an(;lc. A'. //. Knight.
shapesmith (sliiip'smifh), ». [< shape + smith.']
One who undertakes to improve the form of the
body. [Burlesfiiic.]
No shape smith set up shop and drove a trade
To mend the work wise Providence had made.
Oarth, aeremont, L 98.
shapestert, shapstert, n. [< ME. shapster,
slir/i.^Ur, sli(ii,i,islcr: < shape + -ster.] A female
cutter or shaper of garments; a milliner or
dressmaker.
Lyke a shappesters sherea. Piers Plouman (C), vil. 75.
Aaenge me fele tymes other frcte my-selue
Wyth-lnne, as a shepsUr sbere; — l-shrewetl men and
canad 1 fiars Plouman (,B), xlU. SSL
5551
Mabyll the«A«p«(rt*. . . raaketh surplys, shertes, breches,
keverchiflfs, and all that may be wrought of lynnen cloth.
Caxton, 13oke for Travellers. {Nares.)
shaping (sha'ping), n. [< ME. shapyng; verbal
n. of ithape, i'.] 1. The act of forming or re-
ducing to shape. Specifically — 2t. The cutting
and fitting of clothes; tailoring.
Ye [tailors] schall take no howse to okepaey shapyng
unto the tyme ye be aniyttyd, by the M. and Wardens,
gode and abell to okewpy sfiapyn[g].
English (jilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 317.
3. Representation ; imagination ; that which is
formed or imagined.
How oft, my Love, with shapings sweet
I paint the moment we shall meet !
Coleridge, Lines written at Shurton Bars.
shaping-machine (sha'ping-ma-shen'), n. 1.
A shaper. — 2. In block-making, a machine for
turning the outsides of wooden blocks for
tackle and rigging, consisting essentially of a
rotating horizontal wheel to the periphery of
which a series of blocks are fixed, and brought
against a cutter which moves in an arc. When
one face of the block has been cut, the wheel is stopped,
and the blocks are turned one quarter round to receive
the next cut.
3. In hat-making, a machine, adjustable for va-
rious sizes, for giving the final blocking to hats.
shapoumet, ». In her., another form of cha-
pournet.
snaps (shaps), n. pi. [Abbr. of Sp. chaparejos.']
Stiff leather riding-overaUs or -leggings. [West-
em U. 8.]
The spurs, bit, and revolver silver-mounted, the shaps
of sealskin, etc. T. Rooseeelt, Hunting Trips, p. 8.
sharbatt, "• An obsolete form of sherbet.
shard' (shiird), n. [Also sherd, and formerly
sheard (Sc. shaird); < ME. schcrd, schcard, shord,
schord, scheord, < AS. sceard, a broken piece, a
fragment (= MD. schaerde, a fragment, a crack,
D.schaard, a fragment, a shard, = MhG. schart,
LG. schaard, a fragment, a crack, = G. scharte,
a shard) ; < sceard, broken, cut off (= OS. scard
= OFries. skerde = OHG. scart, MHG. schart =
Icel. skardhr, diminished, hacked): with orig.
pp. suffix -d (see -<P, -c<P}, < sceran, cut, shear:
see «A«ar>, and of. shard"^. In the sense of 'shell'
or ' wing-case ' shard^ may be due in part to OF.
escharde, F. icharde, a splinter, = Olt. scarda,
scale, shell, scurf.] 1. A piece or fragment,
as of an earthen vessel ; a potsherd ; a fragment
of any hard material.
For charitable prayers.
Shards, fliots, and pebbles should be thrown on her.
Shat., Hamlet, v. 1. 2&4.
And scarce ought now of that vast City 's found'
But Shards and Rubbish, which weak 8igns might keep
Of forepaat Olory, and bid Travellers weep.
Cmcley, Davideis, 11.
And when the auld moon 'a gaun to lea'e them
The hindmost Oiaird, they'll fetch it wi' them.
Bums, To William Simpson.
2. A scale; a shell, as of an egg or a snail.
A dragon who* seherdes schinen is the Sonne.
Gower, Conf. Amant , III. 68.
3. The wing-cover or elytrum of a beetle.
They are his shards, and he their beetle.
.SAo*., A. andC, ill. 2.19.
Like the ihlning shards of beetlei.
LongfsWnc, Hiawatha, xli.
shard^ (shard), n. [< ME. 'shard (not found in
this sense T), prob. < Icel. skardh = D. schaard
= MLG. schart, a iiotcli, = OHG. scarti, MHG.
(5. scharte, a notch, cut, fissure, saw-wort; of
like origin with shard^ — namely, < AS. sceard
= OHO. »c<ir( = Icel. skardhr, etc., adj., cut,
notched: see /lAarrfl.] 1. A notch. Halliwell.
— 2. A ^p in a fence. Stnnihurst. — 3. An
opening in a wood. Halliwell. — 4. A bourn or
boundary; a division.
here by his maister left, when late he far'd
In Pbsedrlaa flitt barck over that perlous shard.
Upon that shore he spycd Atin stand.
There by his maister left, i " • ■
isedrlaa flItt barck ove
Spenser, F. Q., II. vl. 38.
5. The leaves of the artichoke and some other
vegetables whitened or blanched.
Shards or mallows for the pot.
Dryden, tr. of Horace's Epodea, 11. 82.
[Obsolete or provincial in all uses.]
shard''' (shard), n. [Cf. shard^, sluirn.] Dung;
e-xcrcment; ordure. [Prov. Eng.]
Such souls as shards produce, such )>eetle things.
Dryden, Hind and Panther, I. 321.
shard-beetle (shard'be'tl), n. One of the Geo-
trif}>in;i\
shard-bomet (shiird'bom), <i. Borne along by
shards or scaly wing-covers. [Rare.]
Tbe shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums.
Shak., Macbeth, ilL 2. 42.
share
(.Some take the word here to be shard-bom, 'produced tn
shard or dung.']
sharded (shar'ded), a. [< shard^ + -ed'-*.]
Having shards or elytra, as a beetle ; coleop-
terous.
Often, to our comfort, shall we find
The sharded beetle in a safer hold
Than is the full-wing'd eagle.
Shak., Cymbeline, iii. 3. 20.
shardy (shar'di), a. [< shard^ -I- -^l.] Resem-
bling a shard; like shards; sharded.
The hornet's shardy wings.
J. R. Drake, Culprit Fay, viL
share! (shar), ». [Early mod. E. also schare;
< ME. schare, schere, < AS. scearu, "scant, scaro,
a cutting, shearing, tonsure, also a part or di-
vision (chiefly in comp., land-scearii, a share of
land, /o^c-«cearM, a division of the people, etc.),
< sceran (pret. scser, pp. scoren), cut, shear: see
shearl. Identity of the AS. word with OHG.
skara, MHG. schar, G. schaar, schar, troop,
host, division of an army, is not probable, as
the orig. (OHG.) sense appears to be 'troop.'
Cf. shared, share^.] if. Apiece cut off; a part
cut out; a cut; a slice.
Frae her sark he cut a share.
Clerk CalmU (Child's Ballads, I. 193).
A large share it hewd out of the rest.
Spenser, V. Q., 1. ii. la
2. A part or portion.
I found afterwards they expected I should let them
have a share of everything I had ; for it is the nature of
the Arabs to desire whatever they see.
Poeocke, Description of the East, I. 81.
The gold could not be granted,
The gallows pays a share.
And it 's for mine offence I must die.
William Guiseman (Child's Ballads, III. 52).
3. A part or definite portion of a thing owned
bjr a number in common ; that part of an undi-
\aded interest which belongs to any one of the
proprietors: specifically, oneof the whole num-
ber of equal parts into which the capital stock
of a trading company or corporation is or may
be divided: as, shares in a bank; shares in a
railway ; a ship owned in ten shares. See stock.
I thinke it conscionable and reasonable yt you should
beare your shares and proportion of ye stock.
Sherley, quoted in Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 289.
4. An allotted part ; the part that falls to, or
belongs naturally or of right to, one in any di-
vision or distribution among a number ; appor-
tioned lot: as, to have more than a fair share
of work, responsibility, or blame ; to claim a
share in the profits.
Such oft is the share of fatherlesae children.
Capt. John Smith, True Travels, I. 2.
Their worth and learning cast a greater share of busl-
iiease upon them. Milton, Prelatical Episcopacy.
While Fortune favoured . . .
I made some figure there ; nor was my name
Obscure, nor I without my share of fame.
Dryden, .Kneid, ii. 116.
And, oh ! when Passion rules, how rare
The hours that fall to Virtue s share!
Scott. Rokeby, v. 23.
Deferred shares. See de/et-i, v.t.-~ Lion's share. See
lion. Ordinary shares, the shares which form the com-
mon stock of a company or corporation.— Preference
shares, or preferred shares. See yre/err/ice.— Share
and share alike, in cnual shares : used to indicate a divi-
sion in width all share (dike, or are e<|Ually interested.—
To go Shares. Same aa togo halves (which see, under go).
= Syn. 2. Portion, Division, etc. See part.—Z and 4. In-
terest, allotment, apportionment, quota.
share' (shar), r. ; pret. and pp. shared, ppr.
sharing. [< «Aarel, n.] I. trans. 1. To divide
in portions ; apportion among two or more.
He part of his small feast to her would share.
Spenser, F. Q., IV. viii.6.
The latest of my wealth I'll share amongst you.
Shak., T. of A., iv. 2. 23.
Take one day; share It into sections; to each section
apportion its task. Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xxl.
2. To partake, suffer, bear, or enjoy with
others; seize and possess jointly or in common.
Great Jove with Cwsar shares his sov'reign sway.
Logic. {Latham.)
In vain doth Valour bleed.
While .\varice and Bapine share the land.
Milton, Sonnets, x.
Light is the task when many share the toll.
Bryant, tr. of Homer's Iliad, xil. 498.
3. To receive as one's portion ; enjoy or suf-
fer; experience.
When their brave hope, bold Hector, march'd to field,
Stood many Trojan mothers, sharing joy
To see their youthful sons bright weapons wield.
Sttak., l.ucrece, 1. 1431.
= Syn. ParticiiHite, etc. See partake.
a. in trans. To have part; get one's portion;
be a sharer ; partake.
sHare
And think not, Percy,
To ihare with me in glory any more.
Shai., 1 Hen. IV., v. 4. 64.
In which sickness the seamen shared also deeply, and
many died, to about the one half of them before they went
away. X. Morton, New England's Memorial, p. 51.
A right of inheritance gaveevery one . . . atitletoj>7tar«
in the goods of his father. Lccke, Of Government, § 91.
share'-' (shSr), n. [< ME. share, schare, sliaar,
schar, ssarc, < AS. scear (= OFries. skerc, schere
= D. schaar, in eomp. ploegschaar, plowshare,
= OHG. scnro, MHG. schar, G. schaar, in comj).
pjluff-schaar = Dan. ptorskyxr, plowshare), a
plowsliare, < sceran (,pret. sceer), shear: see
shear^. Cf. shared. '} 1. The broad iron or blade
of a plow which euts the bottom of the furrow-
slice ; a plowsliare. See cut under plow.
He sharpeth shaar and kultour bisily.
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1. S77.
If in the soil you guide the crooked share.
Your early breakfast is my constant care,
Qay, Shepherd's Week, Tuesday.
2. The blade in a seeding-machine or drill
which makes a furrow for the seed.
sba.re'^ (shar), ». [< ME. schare, schore, schcrc,
< AS. scaru, scare, the pubes, < sceran (pret.
soar), cut: see shared, shared. "] The pubis; the
pubie bone ; the share-bone ; the private parts.
Heo thurh-stihten dsboset adun into the schare.
Ancren Riwle, p. 272.
Clad in a coat beset with embossed gold, like unto one
of these kings servants, arrayed from the heele to the
share in manner of a nice and pretie page.
Holland, tr. of Ammianus Marcellinus (1609). (JVores.)
They are vexed with a sharpe fever, they watch, they
rave, and speake they wot not what : they vomite pure
choler, and they cannot make water ; the share becometh
hard, and hath vehement paine.
Barrmigh, Method of Physick (1624). (Nares.)
Share^ (shar), v. t. ; pret. and pp. shared, ppr.
sharing. [A var. of shear^, depending partly
on sharei^, shared.] To cut; shear; cleave.
Hut skarlet sieve he schare of then.
He seyde, lady, be thys ye shalle me ken.
MS. Cantab. J'f. ii. 38, f. 89. (Hallimll.)
Scalp, face, and shoulders the keen steel divides.
And the shar'd visage hangs on equal sides. Dryden.
It was a thin oaten cake, shared into fragments.
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, v.
share-beam (shar'bem), n. That part of a plow
to wliieh tlio share is fixed.
share-bone (shar'bon), «. The pubie bone, or
OS pubis ; tlie pubis.
share-broker rshar'br6''ker), M. A dealer or
broker in the shares and securities of joint-
stock companies^ etc.
shareholder (shar'h61"d^r), n. One who holds
or owns a share or shares in a joint-stock or in-
corporated company, in a common fund, or in
some property : as, a shareholder in a railway,
a mining or banking company, etc.
share-line (shar'lin), n. The summit line of
elevated ground ; the dividing line. Imp. Diet.
share-list (shSr'list), n. A list of the prices of
shares of railways, mines, banks, government
securities, etc.
shareman (shar'man), n. Same as sharesman.
share-pennyt (shar'pen"i), «. [< shared, v., +
obj. penny.] A niggardly person ; a skinflint;
a miser,
ni go near to cosen old father share-penny of his daugh-
WUy Beguiled (Hawkins's Eng. Dr., III. 299). (Dames.)
sharer (shar'er), n. 1. One who shares, di-
vides, or apportions. — 2. One who shares with
others, (o) A shareholder or proprietor ; a stockholder.
They directed a letter to me and my fellow-sAarers.
B. Jonson, Poet^ister, iv. 2.
(b) One who participates in anything with another or
otiiers; one who enjoys or sujfers in common with an-
other or others; a partaker.
But who are your assistants? though I am
So covetous of your glory that I could wish
You had no sharer in it.
Fletctier, Double Marriage, i. 1.
Happy is thy cottage, and happy is the sharer of it.
Sterne, .Sentimental Journey, p. 113.
sharesnian(sharz'man), «.;pl. sharesmen(-vaen).
[< shares, pi. of sltare^, + man.'] A member of
the crew of a fishing-vessel who assumes part
of the risk of a voyage and has a share in the
profits instead of wages.
sharewort (shar'wert), n. [< shared + worfl:
tr. L. inguinalis, sc. herha, a plant supposed to
cure diseases of the share or groin.] An old
plant-name commonly referred to Aster Tripo-
lium, but really belonging to Pallenis spinosa,
a composite plant of southern Europe. Britten
and Jlollnnd, Eng. Plant Names.
shark! (shark), H. [Not found in ME. (the ME.
name therefor being hound-fish): usually de-
5552
rived < L. carcharus, < Gr. Kapxapiac, a kind of
shark, so called from its sharp teeth, < mpxapng,
jagged (of teeth); cf. aapKivog, a crab; Skt.
karhata, a crab, karkura, hard. But the re-
quisite OF. forms intermediate between E.
shark and L. carcharus are not found, and it is
not certain that the name was orig. applied to
the fish; it may have been first used of a greedy
man (see shark"^).] A selachian of the subclass
Plagiostomi, of an elongate form, with the pec-
toral fins moderately developed, the branchial
apertures lateral, and the mouth inferior (rarely
terminal). Over 150 species are known as inhabitants
of the modern seas, and sharks formed a very important
or even predominant contingent to the faunee of early
epochs. The internal dilferencea manifested by species
having a considerable resemblance externally are so great
as to have led some naturalists to propose for them tlu-ee
distinct orders, which have been named Aimrthri, Pro-
arthri, and Opistharthri. Most living sharks belong to the
first order and represent therein 15 families, while of the
I'roarthri only one family with 4 species is known, and of
the Opistfiarthri two families with 6 or 7 species. Most
sharks are carnivorous, and some of them eminently so ;
their dentition corresponds to this character, the teeth
being often compressed, with trenchant and frequently
serrated edges, arranged in many rows, and folded back
on the jaws, leaving only the outermost erect for action.
These rowsof teeth successively come into functional posi-
tion. In others, however, the teeth are flattish and not
erectile. In a few, also, which attain a large size, the teeth
are extremely small, and the animal feeds upon very small
animals, being not truly caniivorous. The skin is generally
covered with small scales or plates firmly adherent to the
skin and overlapping, forming shagreen. (See cut under
scaled.) But various deviations are manifested in different
forms, and in one, Echiiwrhinidse, the surface is mostly
naked, only some thorn-like plates beingdeveloped. Sharks
inhabit for the most part tropical and warm waters ; the
larger ones live in the open sea, but a few species extend
into high north and south latitiides. The largest shark is
Rhinodon typicus, the whale-shark, said to attain a length
of over 50 feet. Next in size is the great basking-shark,
Cetorhinus maximus, which is reported occasionally to
reach a length of 40 feet. (See Cetorhinus, and cut under
basking-shark.) Another large species is Carcharodon ron-
Man-eating Shark (Carchurthiifu rifndelett).
deleti, among those known as man-eaters. The ordinary
carnivorous sharks belong to the family Galeorhinidse or
Carcfiariidas, as the common blue sharks. The topes also
belong to this family, {^eo cnt unAtiv Galeorhimts.) The
hammer-headed sharks belong to the family Sphyrnidse or
Zyymnidse. Fox-sharks or threshers are Alopedidse. The
porbeagles or mackerel-sharks are Lamnidx. (See cut un-
der 7nackerel-shark.) (jiray sharks or cow-sharks are No-
tidanid/e. (See cut under Ilexaiichus.) Dogfishes are
sharks of the families Spinaci^lse. and Scjilliorhinidse. False
sharks are the chimeras or //n^dw/^An;!.— Angel-shaxk,
the angel-fish or monk-tisli, Siiuatiita angelus. See cut
under an!7rf-.^sft.— Beatmiarls shark, the porbeagle,
hmnna comubica. — Blue Shark, a shark of the genus
Carcharhinus of De Blainville, or Carcharias of Cuvier,
as the European blue shark, C. glaucus. See cut under
Carcharhinus. — Bonnet-headed shark, a hannner-
Bonnet-headed Shark [Reniceps tiburo').
headed shark of the genus lieniceps. Also called shovel-
headed shark. — Dog-Shark, Triads or Rhinotriacis semi-
J'asciaUin of California. See also dogfish, Scgltium, and
ScyUiorhinus. — DUfiky shaxk, Carcharhimts obscunts.
one of the blue sharks common on the Atlantic coast of
the United States, of moderate size and not formidable.
— Fresh-water shark, a pike or pickerel. [U. S.] —
Gray shark, the sand-shark, Carcharias amcricanus. —
Hammer-headed shark. See hammerhead, 1, Sphyma,
and Zyjieim. — Hound-shaTk, a shai-k of the geims Mu».
tehis, as M. hinnuliis; also, of Galeorhinus, as G. cams.
— Liver-shark, Cetorhi7ius maximus, the great basking-
shark: so called from its liver, which may afford several
barrels of oil. See def. above, and cut under basking-shark.
— Man-eater shark. See def. above.— Nurse-shark.
Same as nrtrse. 7. See also cut under mermaid' s-purse.
— Oblique-toothed shark, Scdtiodon tcrrsB-nocw. See
Scoliodon.— Port Jackson shark, a shark of the family
lIeterodontid;eorC€.^racu>iitid.r; anycestraciont: notable
from their relationship with extinct forms. See Cestracioil-
tidx, and cut under gptocAwn.— Shark's manners. See
manner'^-.— Sharp-nosed shark, iKngumiihiKhm limha-
tus: aim, Scoliodonterr/e-noi)te,— Shovel-headed shark.
Same as bonnet-headed K/mr/r.— Smooth-toothed shark,
a species of Aprioaadon.— Spinous shark, a ahaikof the
genus Echinorhinus, as E. spinosus. See cut under Echi-
shambod
norhinus. — White shark, a man-eater shark, Carcharodon
rondeleti. (See al.sn baj^Hng-shark, bone-shark, cow-sfiark.
/ax-shark, mackerel-shark, oil-shark, saiul-stiark, sleeper-
shark, thresher -shark, tiger-shark, urhale-shark. See also cut
under Pristiophorus.)
shark^ (shiirk), r. i. [< shark^, «.] To fish for
or catch sharks.
shark^ (shark), n. [Now regarded as a trans-
ferred use of shark^, but prob. orig. of diff.
origin (and perhaps itself the source of .ihark^ ) ;
associated with shark'^, ?;.] 1. A sharper; a
cheat; a greedy, dishonest fellow who eagerly
preys upon others ; a rapacious swindler.
A thread-bare shark; one that never was a soldier, yet
lives upon lendings.
B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, Pref .
We do take away the possibility of a " corner " or of
speculation on the part of the bullion owners, and give the
Secretai-y of the Treasury some opportunity to defend
himself and the Treasury against the sharks who might
attempt at the end of each month to force him to pur-
chase at a fabulous price the amount directed by law.
Congressional Record, XXL 7783.
2t. The sharp practice and petty shifts and
stratagems of a swindler or needy adventurer.
Wretches who live upon the shark.
South, Sermons, II. vi.
Land-Shark, a sailor's name for a sharper.
shark^ (shiirk), v. [Prob. < shark'^, n. (accord-
ing to the usual view, < shark^). Cf. shirk,
which is thought to be a var. of shark^.] I.
intrans. Toplaythe shark orneedy adventurer;
live by one's wits ; depend on or practise the
shifts and stratagems of a needy adventurer;
swindle: sometimes with an impersonal ii ; as,
to shark for a living.
I left the route.
And closely stole away, having defraide
A great part of the reckning ; which I paide . . .
Because they should not think I came to sharke
Only for vittailes. Times' Whistle (E. E. T. S.), p. 85.
Ah, captain, lay not all the fault upon officers 1 you
know you can shark, though you be out of action.
Beau, and Ft., Honest Man's Fortune, 111. 3.
He was one of those vagabond cosmopolites who shark
about the world, as if they had no right or business in it.
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 334.
To shark out, to slip out or escape by low artifices.
[Vulgar.]
II. trans. To pick up; obtain or get together
by sharking: with up or out.
Young Fortinbras . . .
Hath in the skirts of Norway here and there
Shark'd up a list of lawless resolntes.
Shak., Hamlet, i. 1. 98.
If to dig they are too lazy, to beg ashamed, to steal
afraid, to cheat want wit, and to live means, then thrust
in for a room in the church ; and, once crept in at the win-
dow, make haste to shark out a living.
Rev. T, Adams, Works, I. 4b'i.
What a detestable set of characters has Ford here
sharked up for the exercise of his fine talents !
Gifford, note in Ford's Tis Pity, ii. 4.
sharker (shar'ker), n. [< shark'^ + -<>rl.] One
wito lives by sharking; an artful swindler or
adventurer; a sharper.
Though y' are sure of this money again at my hands, yet
take heed how this same Lodovico get it from you ; he 's a
great sAarA-er. Chapman, May- Day, ii. .5.
Men not worth a groat, but mere sharkers, to make a
fortune. Burton, Anat. of jlel., p. 490.
sharking (shar'king), a. [< sUark^, n., + -ing'^.]
Prowlingor voracious like a shark; greedy; al-
ways on the outlook for something to snap up.
Alguazeir ; a sharking panderly constable.
Fletcher (and another). Love's Cure (ed. 1B79), Dram. Pers.
His hair hung in straight gallows-locks about his ears,
and added not a little to his sharking demeanor.
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 334.
shark-moth (shark'moth), n. A noctuid moth
of the stibfamily CucuUiinee: so called popu-
larly in England from their shape when at rest.
Cucultia umbratica is an example. C. chamomillse is the
camomile-shark, C tanaceti the tansy-shark, C. lactvcte
the lettuce-shark, etc.
shark-mouthed (shiirk'moutht), a. Having a
mouth like a shark's; selachostomons.
shark-oil (shilrk'oil), n. Oil obtained from the
liver of sharks: used sometimes in place of
cod-liver oil. See Urer-shark (under shark^),
and cut under hasking-shark.
shark-ray (shark'ra), «. 1. A beaked ray; a
selachian of the family i?/( hi o6«(iVte. — 2. The
angel-fish.
Shark's-mouth (sharks'mouth), n. Naut., the
opening in an awning to admit a mast or stay.
sham (sham), n. [Also scam, shcarn, shern ;
< ME. scharn,*schern, < AS. .•icearn. scseni. seem
= OFries. skem = Icel. Sw. DuTx.skam, dung.]
The dung of cattle. [Scotch.]
sharnbodt. n. [ME. shamhodde, ,<!liartihnde. <
AS. *sc('(imhuMn (in a gloss, "searabreus,
scearnbudoa uel hiidda"), a beetle, < scearn,
shaxnbod
dung (see shorn), + bitdda, beetle.] A dirng-
beetle.
The saamboddet . . . beuleth [avoid) the floures and
louieth thet dong. AyerMte of Imcyt (E. E. T. S.), p. 61.
Nowe shamebodde encombreth the bee.
Pursue on him that slaj'ne anoon he be.
PaUadius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 173.
sharp (sharp), a. and n. [< ME. sharp, scharp,
scherp, ssarp, scserp, < AS. scearp = OS. scarp
= OFries. skerp, scherp, scharp = D. scherp =
MLG. LG. scharp = OHG. scarf, scarph (rare),
MHG. scharf, scharp/, G. scharf = Icel. skarpr
= Sw. Dan. skarp (Goth, not recorded), sharp;
appar. connected with AS.screpan (pret. scrmp),
scrape, seearpan, scrape, and perhaps with
iceorfan, cut up, cut off: see scrape, scarph,
Kiirp, etc. The OHG. MHG. sarf, sharp, Icel.
snarpr, sharp, are prob. not connected with
sharp. The words of similar form and sense
are very numerous, and exhibit considerable
phonetic diversity, indicating that two or more
orig. diff. words have become more or less en-
tangled.] I. a. 1. Having a fine cutting edge
or point; acute; keen: opposed to blunt: as, a
sharp sword ; a sharp needle.
Fynte lol<e that thy bandes be clene,
And that thy knyf be sharpe & kene ;
And cutte thy breed & alle thy mete
Rygth euen as thou doste hit ete.
BcU)ea Boot (E. E. T. 8.), p. 14.
He dies upon my ftcimitar'a $harp point
That touches this my flrst-born son and heir !
SAo*.,Xit And.,lv. 2. 91.
2. Terminating in a point or peak; peaked:
opposed to obtuse, blunt, or rounded: as, a
sharpTooi; & sharp ridge. — 3. Clean-cut; well-
defined; distinct: opposed to 6/Krred, misfy, or
hasni; specifically, in optics and photog., per-
fectly focused.
Sometimes It was carved in tharp relief
With quaint arabesques of ice-fern leaf.
LomU, Vision of Sir Launfal, il., PreL
A'crag Just over as, two thousand feet high, stood out
clear and $karp agaitut the sky. Froudt, Sketches, p. 76.
4. Abrupt ; of acute angle : as, a sharp turn of
the road : said also of the yards of a square-
rigged vessel when they are braced at the most
acute angle with the keel. — 5. Angular and
hard ; not rounded : as, sharp sand.
Two parts clean, iharp sand.
C. T. Daeit, Bricks and TOei, p. 319.
6. Angular; having the bones prominent, as in
emaciation or leanness : as, a sharp visage. — 7.
Keenly affecting the organs of sense, (o) Pun-
gent in taste ; acrid ; acid ; sour ; bitter : as, iharp vinegar.
Sharp physic is the last. Shai., Pericles, i. 1. 72.
In the suburbs of St. Priv^ there is a fonntayne of thorp
water weh they report wholesome against the stone.
Evelyn, Diuy, Sept. 21, 1644.
Its taste is tharp, in vales new-shorn it grows,
Wliere Mella's stream in wateir mazes flows.
Additon, tr. of Virgil's Oeorgics, Iv.
(t) ShriJI or piercing in sound : as, a tharp voice.
Yon shall And the sound strike so sAarp as you can
scarce endure it. Bacon, Nat Hist., ( 138.
The wood-bird's plaintive cry.
The locust's tharp reply.
WhUtier, The Maids of Attitash.
(e) Keenly cold ; piercing ; biting ; severe : as, a tharp
fitMt ; tharp weather.
The Winter is long and tharpe, with much snow in Cibo-
la, and therefore they then keepe in their Cellers, which
are in place of Stones vnto them.
PurdMt, Pilgrimage, p. 778.
I felt the tharp wind shaking grass and vine.
_ , Swinburne, Laus Veneris.
ifl) Intensely bright.
8. Cutting; acrimonious; keen; severe; harsh;
biting: as, «Aaf7) words ; a «Aarp rebuke.
The loss of liberty
No doubt, sir, is a heavy and tharp burden
To them that feel It truly^
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Malta, iU. 4.
Be thy words severe,
Sharp as he merits ; but the sword forbear.
Dtydm, niad. L 317.
(o) Stem ; rigid; exacting. ^ ^^
Apter to blame than knowing how to mend ;
A sAarp, but yet a necessary friend.
DrydenandSnamet,tz. of BoUeau's Artof Poetiy, iv. 1098.
(6) Severe ; intense: violent; impetuous; fierce: as, ti tharp
struggle or contest.
The contention was so tharp between them that they
departed asunder one from the other. Acts xv. 30.
Thonxh some few shrunk at these first conflicts 4 tharp
beginnings (as It was no marvell), yet many more came
on with fresh courage.
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 15.
(e) Poignant ; painful or distressing ; afflictive : as, a tharp
fit of the gout : a sAarp tribulation.
5Aarp mlseiy had worn him U> the bones.
Shak., R. and J., v, L 41.
349
5553
One of those small but tharp recollections that return,
lacerating your self-respect like tiny penknives.
Charlotte Bronte, Shirley, xiL
It was a tharp fever that destroyed him.
0. Ticktwr, Span. Lit., 1. 358.
9. Acute; quick; keen; strong: noting the
senses of sight and hearing: as, a sharp eye;
a sharp ear.
He had a tharp and piercing sight,
All one to him the day and night
Dragtan, Nymphldia.
All ears grew tharp
To hear the doom-blast of the trumpet
Whittier, Tent on the Beach.
Hence — 10. Vigilant; attentive: as, to keep
a sharp lookout for thieves or for danger.
The only way for us to travel was upon the county
roads, always keeping a tharp ear for the patrol, and not
allowing ourselves to be seen by a white man.
The Century, XL. 615.
11. Acute of mind; keen-witted; of quick or
great discernment; shrewd; keen: &a, a sharp
man.
.Skelton a tharpe Satirist but with more rayling and scof-
fery than became a Poet Lawreat.
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 50.
To seem learned, to seem Judicious, to seem tliarp and
conceited. B. Joneon, Epicoene, li. 3.
Hence — 12. Keenly alive to one's interests;
quick to see favorable circumstances and turn
them to advantage ; keen in business ; hence,
barely honest ; "smart": applied to both per-
sons and things: as, sharp practices.
They found that the Dou had been too tharp for them.
Dampier, Voyages, I. 228.
There is nothing makes men tharper, and sets their
hands and wits more at work, than want.
Additon, Remarks on Italy (Works, ed. Bohn, I. 361).
I will not say that he is dishonest, but at any rate he is
Iharp. TroUope, lYamley Parsonage, ix.
13. Disposed to say cutting things; sarcastic.
Your mother is too tharp. The men are afraid of you,
Maria. I've heard several young men say so.
Thackeray, Philip, iv.
14. Subtle; nice; witty; acute: said of things.
Sharp and subtile discourses procure very great ap-
plause. Boater.
Be pleaded still not guilty, and alleged
Many tharp reasons to defeat the law.
Shot., Hen. VIII., U. 1. 14.
Shee liath a wit as tharpe as her needle.
Btywood, Fair Maid of the Exchange.
16. Eager or keen, as in pursuit or quest.
Then he shope hym to tUp in a tliarp hasto.
And dresait tor the depe as hym dere thught
i)«sln<c«>on qf Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1780.
My falcon now is sAarp and passing empty.
Shot., T. of the 9., iv. 1. 193.
To satisfy the tharp desire I had
Of tasting those fair apples.
MOton, P. L., li. 684.
16. Keenly contested: as, a sharp race. — 17.
Quick; speedy: iks, a sAorj) walk ; sharp work.
Away goes the Tally-ho into the darkness, forty-five
seconds nom the time they pulled up ; Ostler, Bouts, and
the Squire stand looking after them under the Peacock
lamp. "Sharp work," says the Squire, ami goes in again
to bis bed, the coach being well out of siKlit and hearing.
r. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, i. 4.
18. In phonetics, noting a consonant pro-
nounced or uttered with breath and not with
voice; surd; non-vocal: as, the sharp mutes,
p, t, k. — 19. In »iM*ic.- («) Of tones, above a
given or intended pitch : as. a piano is sharp.
(6) Of intervals, either major or augmented:
as, a sharp third (a major third) ; a sharp fifth
(an augmented fifth), (c) Of keys or tonali-
ties, having sharps in the signature: as, the
key of D is a sharp key. (rf) Of organ-stops,
noting mutation- or mixture-stops that give
shrill tones. Opposed to flat in all senses but
the last — Sharp dock. See docti, 1— Sharp im-
inression, in printing, a clear print which shows the
sharp edges of every type without any overlapping of ink.
=83^1. 1. Sharp, Keen, Acute. Sharp is the general word,
ana Is applicable to edges, long or short, coarse or fine,
or to poults. Keen is a strong word, and applies to long
edges, as of a dagger, swon), or knife, not to points. Acute
is not very often used to express sharpness ; when used, it
applies to a long, fine point, as of a needle.— 6. (a) Biting,
pungent, hot, stinging, piquant, highly seasoned, (c) Nip-
ping.—8. (c) Poignant, intense. — 11. Astute, discerning,
quick, ready, sagacious, cunning —13. Caustic, tart.
II. H. 1. A pointed weapon; especially, a
small sword ; a dueling-sword, as distinguished
from a blunted or buttoned foil: as, he fences
better with foils than with sharps. [Obsolete
or slang.]
Muny swou^ninge lay thorw schindringe of tcharpe.
Jiiteph of Arimathie (E. E. T. 8.X p. 17.
It butchers lind but the manners to go to iharpt, gen-
tlemen would be contented with a rubber at onSs.
Jerenty Collier, Essays, Duelling.
sharp
The Coast is once more clear, and I may venture my
Carcase forth again — though such a Salutation as the last
wou;d make me very unfit for the matter in hand.— The
Battoon I cou'd bear with the Fortitude and Courage of a
Hero ; but these dangerous Sharps I never lov'd.
Aphra Behn, Feigned Curtizans, iii.
2. pi. One of the three usual grades of sewing-
needles, the others being blunts and betweens.
The sharps are the longest and most keenly
pointed. — 3. A sharper; a shark.
Gamblers, slugging rings, and pool-room sharps of every
shape. Sleet. Rev. (Amer.), XIL 6. .
4. An expert : as, a mining sharp. [Slang.]
One entomological sharp, who is spoken of as good au-
thority, estimates the annual loss in the United States
from this source [insect parasites] at ^300,000,000.
Sci. Amer., N. S., LVn. 249.
5. pi. The hard parts of wheat, which require
grinding a second time : same as middlings. See
middling, n., 3. — 6. A part of a stream where
the water runs very rapidly. C.Kingsley. (Imp.
Diet.) [Prov. Eng.] — 7. An acute or shrill
sound.
It is the lark that sings so out of tune.
Straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharpt.
Shak., R. and J., Hi. B. 28.
8. In music : (a) A tone one half -step above a
given tone : as, the sharp of P (that is, F sharp).
I'he lutenist takes flats and tharps,
And out of those so dissonant notes does strike
A ravishing harmony.
Randolph, Muses' Looking-Olass, iv. 5.
(6) On the pianoforte, with reference to any
given key, tne key next above or to the right.
See flat, »., 7 (6). (c) In musical notation, the
character j, which when attached to a note or
staff-degree raises its significance one half-
step. Opposed to flat in all senses. — 9. A
sharp consonant. See I., 18. — 10. In dia-
mond-cutting, the edge of the quadrant when
an octahedral
diamond is
cleft into
four parts. —
11. Akindof
boat used by
oystermen.
Also sharpie,
sharpu.-jyoxi.
ble Bhaxp, in
mutie : (a) A
tone two half-
steps higher
than a given
Shaip. II.
tone : the sharp of a sharp, (b) On the pianoforte, a key
next but one above or to the right of a given key. (c) The
character X, which when attached to a note or to a staff-
digree raises its significance twohuif-steps. — To fight or
play at sharpt, to fight with swords or similar weapons.
Nay, sir, your commons seldom Jight at sharp,
But buffet in a warehouse.
Fletcher (and another 1), Nice Valour, v. 3.
The devil, that did but buffet St Paul, plays methinks
at sharp with me. Sir T. Browne, Religio Medici, ii. 7.
sharp (shiirp), V. [< ME. sharpen, scharpeii, <
AS. scerpan, scyrpan (= OS. scerpan = MD. D.
scherpen = MLG. scharpen, seherpen = MHG.
scherfen, .icherpfen, G. scharf en = Sw. skdrpa =
Dan. skjierpe), make sharp, < scearp, sharp : see
sharp, a.] I. trans. 1. To sharpen; make keen
or acute.
He sAarpetA shaar and kultour blsily.
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1. B77.
To tharpe my sence with sundry beauties vew.
Spenter, To all the gratious and beautifull Ladies in the
(Court.
Then Lammikin drew bis red, red sword,
And sharped it on a stane.
Lammikin (Child's Ballads, m. 811).
2. In music, to elevate (a tone); specifically,
to apply a sharp to (a note or staff-degree) —
that is, to elevate it a half -step. Also sliarpen.
— To sharp the main bowline. See bouUne.
U. intrans. 1. To indulge in sharp practices;
play the sharper; cheat.
Among the rest there are a sharping set
That pray for us, and yet against us bet.
Dryden, King Arthur, Prol., 1. 3a
Went plungln' on the turf ; got among the Jews ; . . .
tharped at cards at his club.
J. W. Palmer, After his Kind, p. 12a
2. In music, to sing or play above the true
£itch. Also sharpen.
arp (sharp), adv. [< ME. sharpe; < sharp, a.]
1. Sharply.
And cried "Awake!" ful wonderliche and tharpe.
Chaucer, 'I'roilus, 1. 729.
No marvel, though you bite so sharp at reasons.
Shak., T. and C, 11. 2. 88.
2. Quickly.
Knights gather, riding sharp tor cold.
SwiTthume, Laus Venerli.
sharp
3. Exactly; to the moment ; not a minute later.
[CoUoq.]
Captain Osbome . . . will bring him to the 150th mess
at five o'clocli sharp. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xxvii.
4. In music, above the true pitch: as, to sing
sharp — To brace sharp. See 6roce>.— To look sharp.
SeelooH.
shaip-cedar (shai-p'se'dilr), «. A tree, Jiitii-
jx'ruf: Oj-jicednis, of the JitediteiTanean region;
also, a tree, Acacia Oxycedrus, of Australia.
5554
And the best quarrels in the heat are cursed
By those that feel their sharpness.
Shak., Lear, v. 3. 67.
That the Tree had power to glue sharpnesse of wit.
Furchas, Pilgrimage, p. 24.
God sent him sharpness and sad accidents to ensober his
spirits. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 834.
Hans Reinier Oothout, an old navigator famous for the
sharpness of his vision, who could see land when it was
quite out of sight to ordinary mortals.
In*in(j, Knickerbocker, p. 143.
sharp-cut (sharp'kut), a. Cut sharply and sharp-nosed (sharp'nozd), a. 1. Having a
clearly ; cut so as to present a clear, "well-de
fined outline, as a figure on a medal or an en-
graving; hence, presenting great distinctness;
well-defined; clear,
sharpen (shar'pn), v. [< ME. sharpeuen ; <
:iliaip + -*«1.] I. trans. 1. To make sharp or
sharper; render more acute, keen, eager, ac
sharp, pointed, or peaked nose : specifically said
of the common eel, AnguiUa vulgaris, also called
A. oxijrhyncha. See cut under AnguiUa. — 2.
Keen of scent ; having a good nose or faculty
of smell, as a dog.— Sharp-nosed shark. See sharks.
sharp-saw (sharp'sa), n. Same as saw-sharj>-
encr. [Local, Eng.]
Iron sharpeneth iron
nance of his friend.
tive, intensive, quick, biting, severe, tart, etc. : sharp-set (sharp'set), a. Having a sharp ap-
as, to sharpen a sword or a knife; to sharpen Petite.
the appetite ; to sharpen vinegar. what was still more unfortunate, the fare which they
_, . . ..t' were content to live upon themselves was so new to us.
To scharpm her wittes. that we could not eat it, sharp set as we were.
Piers Plowman s Crede (E. E. T. S.), 1. 778. B. Ball, Travels in North America. II. 178.
Good Archers, sharprUng their Arrowes with fish bones sharp-shinncd (sharp'shind), a. Having slen-
and stones. Pt,rchas. Pilgrm.age, p. 431. ^er Thanks : specifically noting a hawk, Acci-
so a man sharpeiuth the counte- piter fusciis, one of the two commonest of the
Prov. xxvu. 17. gmall hawks of North America. The adults are
All this served only to sharpen the aversion of the no- darkplumbous or slate-gray above, barred transversely
bles. PrescoU, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 17.
2. In music, same as sharp, v., 2.
II. intratis. 1. To make something sharp;
put a keen edge or sharp point on some-
thing.
Ores. I prithee, Diomed, visit me no more.
Ther. Now she sharpens; well said, whetstone !
Shak., T. and C, v. 2. 76.
2. To grow or become sharp.
Driven in by Autumn's sharpening air
From half-stripped woods and pastures bare,
Brisk Robin seeks a kindlier home.
Wordsworth, The Redbreast.
3. In JM imc, same as sharp.
sharpener (sharp'ner), n. One who or that
which sharpens.
sharper (shar'p^r), «. [< sliarp + -erl.] 1.
A man shrewd in making bargains; a tricky
feUow ; a rascal ; a cheat in bargaining or gam-
ing.
Sharpers, as pikes, prey upon their own kind.
Sir R. L'Estrange.
A Sharper that with Box and Dice
Draws in young Deities to Vice.
Prior, Cupid and Ganymede.
2. A sharpener ; an instrument or tool used for
sharpening.
Engine lathes, hand lathes, upright drills, milling-ma-
chines, sharpers, etc. Elect. Rev. (Amer.), XV. vii. 10.
3. A long, thin oyster. [Florida to Texas.]
sharp-eyed (sharp'Jd), a. Sharp-sighted.
To sharp-eyed reason this would seem untrue.
Dryden.
Sharpey s fibers. See fiberi-.
sharp-fln (shai-p'fin), «. An aeanthopterygian
fish, f . -S'. Cons. Sep., No. Ixviii. (1886), p. 586.
sharp-ground (sharp'ground), a. Ground upon
a wheel till sharp; sharpened.
Hadst thou no poison mix'd, no sharp-ground knife,
No sudden mean of death, though ne'er so mean,
But " banished " to kill me? Shak., B. and J., iii. 3. 44.
sharp-headed (sharp'hed"ed), a. Having a
sharp head — Sharp-headed finner. Seefinneri.
sharpie (shiir'pi), «. Same as sharpy.
sharpling, sharplin (shiirp'ling, -lin), n. [= G.
scharfling. the stickleback; as sharp + -Ungl.'i
The stickleback, a fish of which there are sev-
eral species. Also jack-sharpling. See stickle-
back and Gasterosteus. [Prov. Eng.]
Th' hidden loue that now-adaies doth holdc
The Steel and Load-stone, Hydrargire and Golde,
Th' Amber and straw ; that lodgeth in one shell
Pearl- ft sh and sharpling.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, li., The Furies.
sharp-looking ( sharp 'lxik'''iug), a. Having the
appearance of sharpness; hungry-looking; ema-
ciated; lean.
A needy, hollow-eyed, sharp-looking wretch.
Sfiak., C. of E., v. 1. 240.
sharply (sharp'li), adv. [< ME. scharply, sharpe-
ly, acliarpKche (= G. scharflich) ; < sharp + -ly^.']
In a sharp or keen manner, in any sense of the
word sharp.
sharpnails (sharp'nals), n. The stickleback,
or shai-pling: more tully jack-sharpnails.
sharpness (sharp'nes), n. [< ME. scharpnes,
scharpnesse; < sharp + -ness.1 The state or , ^„.„.
character of being sharp, in any sense of that sharp-vlsaged (sharp'viz"ajd), a.
"^otA. sharp or thin face.
Shaip shinned Hawk (Accifiter fuscus') ; adult female.
below with rufous on a white ground, and marked length-
wise with blackish shaft-lines. The tail is crossed with
four blackish bars and tipped with whitish ; the primaries
are also barred or indented. The male is 10 or 12 inches
long, and 21 in extent of wings ; the female, 12 or 14 inches
long, and 25i in extent.
sharp-shod (shiirp'shod), a. Having shoes vrith
calks or sharp spikes for safety in moving over
ice : correlated with rough-shod, smooth-shod.
sharp-shooter (shai-p'sho''''ter), n. 1. One
skilled in shootingwith firearms, especially with
the rifle ; specifically, in military use, a skir-
misher, or the occupant of a rifle-pit, posted to
cut off outlying parties of the enemy, artiller-
ists, or the Mke, or to prevent approach by the
enemy to a ford or other object of importance.
— 2. A swift, clipper-built schooner. [Massa-
chusetts.]
sharp-shooting (sharp'sho'ting), n. The act
of snooting accurately and with precise aim;
practice or service as a sharp-shooter. See
sharp-shooter.
sharp-sighted (sharp 'si "ted), a. l. Hav-'
ing quick or acute sight: as, a sharp-sighted
eagle or hawk. — 2. Having or proceeding from
quick discernment or acute understanding: as,
a sharp-sighted opponent; sharp-sighted Judg-
ment.
An healthy, perfect, and sharp-sighted mind.
Sir J. Davies, Immortal, of Soul, iii.
Sharp's rifle. See rifte^.
sharptail (sharp'tal), n. 1. The sharp-tailed
grouse. See Pedkecetes.— 2. One of the many
synallaxine birds of South America. See Sy-
nallaxinm. — 3. The pintail duck, Dafila acuta.
[Local, U. S.]
sharp-tailed (sharp'tald), a. In ornith.: (a)
Having a sharp-pointed tail: as, the sharp-
tailed grouse, Pedicecctes phasianellns or cohim-
hianns, the common prairie-hen of northwest-
ern parts of America. See cut under Pedice-
cetes. (6) Having acute or acuminate tail-
feathers : specifically said of a finch, Ammo-
dromus caudacutus, a small sparrow of the
marshes of eastern parts of the United States
and Canada, and of a sandpiper, Actodromas
acuminata, of Alaska and Asia.
Having a
shaul
The Welch that inhabit the mountains are commonly
sharp-visaged. Sir M. Hale, Orig. of Mankind.
sharp-witted (sharp'wif'ed), a. Having an
acute mind.
The sharpest witted lover in Arcadia.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia.
Yet ... I have known a number of dull-sighted, very
sharp-witted men. Sir H. Wotton, Reliquiae, p. 82.
sharpy (shar'pi), w. ; pi. sharpies (-piz). [Also
sharpie; < sharp -f- dim. -^2.] Same as sharp,
II., 11.
sharrag (shar'ag), n. Same as shearhog.
shasht, ". An obsolete form of sask^.
shaster, shastra (shas'ter, -tra), «. [Also sas-
ira ; < Skt. gastra, < -y/ ^ds, govern, teach.] A
text-book or book of laws among the Hindus :
applied particularly to a book containing the
authorized institutes of their religion, and con-
sidered of divine origin. The term is applied, in a
wider sense, to treatises containing the laws or institutes
of the various arts and sciences, as rhetoric.
shathmontt, «. Same as shaftmuiid.
shatter (shat'er), V. [< ME. schateren, scatter,
dash (of falling water) ; an assibilated form of
scatter: see scatter. 1 I. trans. It. To scatter;
disperse.
I come to pluck your berries harsh and crude.
And with forced Angers rude
Shatter your leaves before the mellowing year.
Milton, Lycidas, L 5.
2. To break or rend in pieces, as by a single
blow ; rend, split, or rive into splinters, flinders,
or fragments.
He raised a sigh so piteous and profound.
As it did seem to shatter all his bulk.
Shak., Hamlet, ii. 1. 95.
Here shattered walls, like broken rocks, from far
Rise up in hideous views, the guilt of war.
Addison, The Campaign.
3. To break; disorder; derange; impair; de-
stroy: as, sAaWered nerves; a constitution s/mJ-
tered by dissipation.
No consideration in the World doth so break in pieces
and confound and shatter the Spirit of a Man, like the ap
prehension of God's wrath and displeasure against him
for his sins. StUlingfleet, Sermons, II. ix.
I was shattered by a night of conscious delirium.
George Eliot, Mill ou the Floss, viL 3.
= S|m. 2. Smash, etc. See dash.
H. intrans. To scatter ; fly apart ; be broken
or rent into fragments.
Some (fragile bodies] shatter and fly in many pieces.
Bacon, Nat Hist, I 841.
In welt'ring waves my ship is tost.
My shattering sails away be shorn.
Sonnet (Arber's Eng. Gamer, I. 460).
shatter (shat'er), n. [< shatter, t).] 1. One
part of many into which anything is broken; a
fragment: used chiefly in the plural, and in the
phrase to break or rend into shatters.
You may likewise stick the candle so loose that it will
fall upon the glass of the sconce, and break it into shatters.
Sici/t, Advice to Servants (Butler>
2. A shattered or impaired state.
If the nerves are to be continually in a shatter with want
of sleep. Carlyle, The Century, XXIV. 23.
shatterbrain (shat'er-bran), «. A careless,
giddy person ; a scatterbrain.* Imj). Diet.
shatter-brained (shat'er-brand), a. Disorder-
ed in intellect; intellectually weak; scatter-
brained.
You cannot . . . but conclude that religion and devo-
tion are far from being the mere effects of ignorance and
imposture, whatever some shatter-brained and debauched
persons would fain persuade themselves and others.
Dr. J. Goodman, Winter Evening Conferences, iii.
shatter-pated (shat'fer-pa'ted), a. Same as
shatter-hrained.
shattery (shat'6r-i), a. [<, shatter + -y'^ ."] Brit-
tle ; that breaks and flies into many pieces ; not
compact; loose of texture.
A coarse gritstone, ... of too shattery a nature to be
used except in ordinary buildings.
Pennant, Journey from Chester, p. 272.
shauchlei, shaughle^ (shach'l), v. i.; pret.
and pp. shauchled, shaughled, ppr. shauchling,
shaughling. [Sc, also schachle, shochel ; ef.
shaffle.'] To walk with a shufiling gait, as one
lame or deformed. [Scotch.]
shauchle^, shaughle^ (shach'l), v. t.; pret.
and pp. shauchled, shaughled, ppr. shauchling,
shaughling. [Sc, also schachle (and shach);
prob. in part < shauchle^, v., but perhaps in part
associated with Icel. skelgja-sk, come askew, <
skjdlgr, wry, oblique, squinting, sloping: see
shallow^, shoal^.'] To distort; deform; render
shapeless or slipshod. [Scotch.]
And how her new shoon fit her auld shachl't feet.
Bums, Last May a Braw Wooer.
Sbawl (sbal), a. and «. A Scotch form of shoal^.
shaup
slump, shawp (shftp), n. [Assibilated form
of iicaiip^.^ A husk or pod: as, a pea-«/iai(p.
[Scotch.]
shave (shav), r. ; pret. and pp. scared (pp. some-
times shaven), ppr. sharing. [< ME. shaven,
schaven (pret. sehoof, schof, also schavyck, pp.
shaven, shave, i-scharen, y-schave),<. AS. sceajan,
scafan (pret. scof, pp. scafen), shave, = D. MLG.
schaven, scrape, plane, = OHG. scaban, scapan,
MHG. G. schaben, scratch, shave, scrape, = Icel.
skafa = Sw. skafva = Dan. skave = Goth, skaban,
scrape, shave; prob. = L. scabere, scratch,
scrape; of. 6r. anxmruv, dig, = Lith. skapoti,
shave, cut; skopti, hollow out; Russ. kopati,
dig; skobli, scraping-iron. From shave are de-
rived shaveling, perhaps shafO-, shaffi ; from the
same ult. source are scab, shab, scabby, shabby.]
1. tratis. 1. To remove by a slicing, paring,
or sliding action of a keen-edged instrument ;
especially, to remove by cutting close to the
skin with a razor: sometimes with off: as, to
shave the beard.
Also thei seye tbat wee sjmne dedly in Khaxrynge onre
Berdes. MandmUe, Travels, p. 19.
Neither aball they thave o/'tbe comer of their beanl.
Lev. xxi. 5.
2. To make bare by cutting off the hair, or the
like: as, to shave the chin or head; also, to re-
move the hair or beard of with a razor: as, to
shave a man : often used figuratively.
Bot war the wel, If thou be waschen wyth water of schryf te,
ft polyaed ala playn as parcbmen tchauen.
AUiterative Poemg (ed. MorriaX il.
tat I am thaw aa nye as any frere.
Chancer, Complaint to his Pone, L 19.
The labourer with a bending Bcythe fs seen.
Shaving the surface of the waving green.
Oay, Bond Sports, L 41.
3. To cut down gradually by taking off thin
shavings or parings: as, to shave shingles or
hoops.
And ten brode arowls held he there,
Of which Ave in his right honde were,
But they were ahacen wel and dight,
Noked and tethered aright
Rom. qf the Rim, L IMl.
The third rule shall be, the making of some medley or
miilure of earth with some other plants bruised or sMosd
either In leaf or root. Auxm, KaU Hist., I 528.
4. To skim along or near the surface of ; pass
very close to ; come very near touching or graz-
ing. Compare shave, n., 3.
He scoan the right-hand coast, sometimes the left ;
Mow stews with level wing the deep.
JfOlon, P. L., IL eS4.
5. To Strip; fleece; cheat; swindle.
I have been thaixd— mischief e and a thousand divells
cease him !— I have been thaved !
ManUm, Dutch Courtezan, ill. 1.
Bbaven latten. See latlen — To sbave note*, to pur-
chase promissory notes at a nt« of discount greater tnan
is customary. [U. 8.]~SyiL 1 and 2. I'eet. Shat* of, etc.
Seeparel, v. L
iL intrant. 1. To remove the beard with a
razor; use a razor in removing the beard or
hair from the face or head. — 2. To be hard or
extortionate in bargains; specifically, to pur-
chase notes or securities at a greater discount
than is common. [V. 8.]
shave (shav), n. [< shave, r.] 1. The act or
operation of shaving; the being shaved.
The proprietors of barbers' ahopa, where a penny thave
had been the staple trade, burst forth as fashionable per-
fumers. FtiilYearqfa3ilkenI{e%ffn,p.74.
2. A shaving; a thin paring. — 3. Motion so
close to something as almost to scrape or graze
it; a very close approach; hence, an exceed-
ingly narrow misg or escape ; often with close
or near.
The next Instant the hind coach passed my engine by a
ihate. Didrent.
" By Jove, that was a Mor stew.'" This ezcbunatlon was
drawn from ns by a ballet which whistled within an Inch
of our heads. W. H. RuMtea, Diary In India, xzL
4. A knife with a long blade and a handle at
each end, for shaving hoops, spokes (a spoke-
shave), etc.; a drawing-knife, used by shoe-
makers.
Wheel la<lder for harrest, light pitch-forks, and tough,
Shaoe, whip-lash well loiotted, and cart-rope enough.
Tuiter, Husbandly Ptuniture, St. 6.
5. In stock transactions, a premium or consid-
eration paid for an extension of time of deliv-
ery or payment, or for the right to vary a con-
tract in some particular. — 6. The proportion of
receipts paid by a local thentricaf manager to
a traveling company or combination. [Theat-
rical cant.] — 7. One who is close or hard in
bargaining; specifically, one wbo shaves notes.
5555
[Colloq.] — 8. A trick; a piece of knavery,
especially in money matters; hence, by exten-
sion, any piece of deception.
The deep gloom of apprehension — at first "a shave of
old Smith's," then a well-authenticated report.
W. H. Russell, DlaJ7 in India, xii.
shavet. A Middle English past participle of
shave.
shave-grass (shav'gras), n. Same as scouring-
nish.
shave-hook (shav'huk), n. A tool used for
cleaning the surfaces of metal preparatory to
soldering, and for smoothing and dressing off
solder. Tinmen use a triangular plate of steel with
sharpened edges ; plumbers have a stouter form of scraper.
See cut under soidering-tool.
shaveling (shav'ling),n. {_< shave + -Ung^.] A
shaven person ; hence, a friar or religious : an
opprobrious term. Compare beardling.
About him stood three priests, true shavelings, clean
shorn, and polled. MotUux, tr. of Rabelais, iv. 4.5.
It maketh no matter how thou live here, so thou have
the favour of the pope and his shavelings.
J. Brad/ard, Works (Parker Soc., 185S), II. 291.
Then Monsieur le Cur^ offers you a pinch of snuff, or a
poor soldier shows yon his leg, or a shaveling bis box.
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, viL 16.
Kews spread fast up dale and flord how wealth such as
men never dreamed of was heaped up in houses guarded
only by priests and shavelings, who dared not draw sword.
J. R. Green, Conq. of Eng., IL 63.
shaven (sha'vn). A past participle of shave.
shaver (sha'vfer), n. [< ME. schavei; a barber:
see shave.] 1. One who shaves, or whose oc-
cupation it is to shave ; a barber.
She *s gotten him a shaver for his beard,
A comber till his hair.
roung BeUe (Child's Ballads, TV. 11%
The bird-fancier was an easy shaver also, and a fashion-
able hair-dresser also ; and perhaps he had been sent for
... to trim a lord, or cut and curl a lady.
Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, xix.
2. One who makes close bargains, or is sharp in
his dealings; one who is extortionate or usu-
rious, or who fleeces the simple.
By these shaven the Txula were stripped of all they had.
KnoUes. Hist. Turks.
Mrhoo I the brace are llinch'd.
The pair of shatirt are aneaJt'd from us, Don.
Ford, Lady's Trial, IL 1.
" He pays well, I bopeT' Mtd Steerforth. " Pays as he
speaks, my dear child— tbroagh the nose. . . . None of
your cKMe steiien the Prince ain'L"
Didcens, David Copperfleld, xxlL
3. A fellow; a chap; now, especially with the
epithet little or young, or even without the epi-
thet, a young fellow ; a youngster. [Colloq.]
Bar. Let ma see, sbrah, are you not an old shaver r
Slave. Alaa, air 1 I am a very youth.
Matioue, Jew of Malta, ill. 3.
If he had not been a merry shaver, 1 would never have
had him. way Beguiled (Hawkins's Eng. Drama, IIL S7&X
And all for a "Shrimp" not as high as my hat —
A little contemptible '* Shaver" like that !
Barham, Ingoldaby Legends, II. 127.
shave-weed (shav'wed), n. Same as scouring-
rugh.
shavie (sha'vi), n. [Also stari'c, perhaps < Dan.
skav, wry, crooked, oblique, = 8w. skef=: Icel.
«Jfce»/r = D. scheef = MLG. schef = G. schief,
skew, oblique : see skew.] A trick or prank.
[Scotch.]
But Cupid shot a shaft.
That play'd the dame a shavie.
Bums, Jolly Beggars.
shaving (sha'ving), «. [Verbal n. of shave, v.]
1. The act of one who shaves; the removal of
the beard or hair of the bead with a razor; the
use of a razor for removing the beard.
As I consider the passionate ^efs of childhood, the
weariness and sameness of sAanna, the agony of corns,
and the thousand other tils to which flesh Is heir, I cheer-
fully say, tor one, I am not anxious to wear It forever
Thackeray, Adventures of Philip, ivii.
Before Alexander's time only the Spartans shaved the
upper Up, but after that shaving became more general.
Bneye. Brit, VI. 455.
2. A thin slice pared off with a sbave, a knife,
a plane, or other cutting instrument; especial-
ly, a thin slice of wood cut off by a plane or a
planing-machine.
Rlppe vp the golden Ball that Nero consecrated to
Jupiter Capitollinus, you shall haue it stuffed with the
thauinges of his Beard. S. Ooetm, The Schoole of Abuse.
3. In leather-manuf., a process which follows
skiving, and consists in removing inequalities
and roughnesses by means of the curriers' knife,
leaN-ing the leather of uniform thickness, and
with a fine smooth surface on the flesh side. —
4. The act of fleecing or defrauding; swin-
dling.
shawl-strap
And let any hook draw you cither to a fencer's supper,
or to a player's that acts such a part for a wager ; for by
this means you shall get experience, by being guilty to
their abominable shamng. Dekker, Gull's Hornbook, p. 166.
shaving-basin (sha'ving-ba"sn), n. Same as
barber's basin (which see, under barber).
shaving-brush (sha'ving-brush), n. A brush
used in shaving for spreading the lather over
the face.
shaving-cup (sha'ving-kup), V. A cup used to
hold the soap and lather for shaving.
shaving-horse (sha'\'ing-h6rs), n. In carp.,
a bench fitted with a clamping device, used to
hold a piece of timber as it is shaved with a
drawing-knife.
shaving-machine (sha'ving-ma-shen"), n. 1.
In hat-manuj'., a pouncing-machine. — 2. A
machine for shaving stereotype plates. E. H.
Knight,
shaving-tub (sha'ving-tub), n. In bookbind-
ing, the wooden tub or box into which the cut-
tings of paper are made to fall when the for-
warder is cutting the edges of books.
shaw^ (sha), w. [< ME. shaw, schaw, schawe,
schowe, schage, < AS. scaga, a shaw ; cf . Icel.
skogr = Sw. skog = Dan. skov, a shaw; per-
haps akin to Icel. skuggi = AS. sciia, scuwa, a
shade, shadow : seesAod'i, si-yi.] 1. Athicket;
a small wood; a shady place; a grove.
A nos on the north syde & nowhere non ellez
Bot al echet in a schawe that schaded ful cole.
. AUiteralive Poems (ed. Morris), 1. 462.
Gaillard he was as goldfynch in the ihatce.
Chaucer, Cook's Tale, L 3.
I have mony steads In the forest schaw.
Sang qf the Outlaw Murray (Child's Ballads, VI. 37).
Close hid under the greenwood shaw.
Fair/ax, tr. of Tasso's Godfrey of Boulogne, vUL 52.
2. A stem with the leaves, as of a potato or
turnip.
[Now only North. Eng. or Scotch in both
senses.]
shaw^ (sha), V. An obsolete or dialectal form
of show^.
shaw^t, «. An obsolete form of shah.
shaweret, ». An obsolete form of shotcer^.
shaw-fowl (sha'foul), n. [< shaw^, show, -I-
J'owl^.] A representation or image of a fowl
set up by fowlers to shoot at for practice.
[Scotch and North. Eng.]
shawl^ (sh&l), a. and n. A Scotch form of
shoal^.
shawl2 (shal), «. [= F. chdle = Sp. chal = Pg.
chale = It. sciallo = D. sjaal — G. schawl, shawl,
= Sw. Dan. schal, ^al (< E.) = Ar. Hind, shdl, <
Pers. shdl, a shawl or mantle.] A square or ob-
long article of dress, forming a loose covering
forthe shoulders, worn chiefly by women, shawls
are of several sizes and divers materials, as silk, cotton,
hair, or wool ; and occasionally they are made of a mix-
ture of some or all of these staples. Some of the East-
ern shawls, as those of Cashmere, are very beautiful and
costly fabrics. The use of the shawl in Europe belongs
almost entirely to the present centurj-. Compare chudder,
awAjn«re.— Camel's-hair shawL See cawiW.— Shawl
danco, a graceful dance originating in the East, and made
effective by the waving of a shawl or scarf.
She's had t" best of education— can play on t' Instru-
ment, and dance t' shawl-dance.
Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, xxxix.
Shawl muscle. Same as trapezius and eucullaris.
shawl^(8hai),t>. f. l<.shawl^,n.] To cover with
a shawl ; put a shawl on. [Rare.]
Lady Clonbrony was delighted to see that her son as-
sisted Grace Nugent most carefully in fhawlimj the young
heiress. Miss hdi/cworth, Absentee, ill.
The upper part of Mrs. McKlllop's body, bonneted and
shawled, cautiously diBplaye<l itself in the aperture.
L. W. M. Lockhart, Fair to See, xxxvlli.
shawl-loom (shal'IBm), n. A figure-weaving
loom.
shawl-mantle (shftl'man'tl), h. A mantle or
cloak for women's wear, made of a shawl, and
usually very simple in its cut, having no
sleeves, and often resembling the bumoose.
Shawl-ma'terial (sharma-te'''ri-al), n. A tex-
tile of silk and wool used' for dresses and parts
of dresses for women. The material is soft and
flexible, and is usually woven in designs of Ori-
ental character.
shawl-pattern (sh&rpat''*m), n. A pattern
having decided forms and colors, supposed to
be like those of an Eastern shawl, applied to
a material or a garment usually of plainer de-
sign: also used adjectively : a,a, a, shawl-pattern
waistcoat.
shawl-pin (shal'pin), n. A pin used for fasten-
ing a snawl.
shawl-strap (sh&r strap), ». A pair of leather
strajis with buckles or automatic catches, fitted
to a handle, for carrying shawls, parcels, etc.
shawl-waistcoat
shawl-waistcoat (sliiU'wasfkot), n. A vest
or waistcoat witli a large prominent pattern
like that of a shawl.
He hadasAatW tratsfeoot of many colors; apairofloose
bine trousers ; . . . a brown cutaway coat.
Thackeray, Shabby Genteel Story, viii.
shawm, shalm (sham), n. [Early mod. E. also
shaume, shaulm, shalme, shaulmc; < ME. slialme,
shaume, shalmie, shalmye = D. scalmei = MLG.
LG. schalmeide = MHG. schalmie, G. schalmei
= Sw. sl-almeja = Dan. slabneie, < OF. chalemie,
F. dial, chalemie (ML. reflex scalmeia), a pipe,
a later form (< L. as if *calamia) for chaleniclle,
f., chalemel, chalumeaii, m., < ML. calamella, f.,
calameHus, m., a pipe, flute, < LL. calaviellvs,
a little pipe or reed, dim. of L. calamus, a
pipe, reed: see calamiis, and Cf. ckalumeau
and calumet.'] A musical instrument of the
oboe class, having a double reed inclosed in
a globular mouthpiece, it was akin to the mu-
sette and the bagpipe, and passed over into the bas-
soon. The word survives in the chaiumeau register of
the clarinet. It is inaccurately used in the Prayer-book
version of the 9Sth Psalm for coniet or horn. Compare
bombard, 6.
Many thousand tymea twelve,
That maden londe menstralcyes
In comemuse and shatmyes,
Chaucer, House of Fame, 1. 1218.
As the miustrelles therefore blewe theyr shaulmeg, the
barbarous people drew neare, suspecting that noyse to
bee a token of warre, whereupon they made ready theyr
bowes and arrowefl.
Ji. Eden, tr. of Sebastian Muiister ^First Books on Amer-
[ica, ed. Arber, p. S.*)).
at What stately music have you ? Have yon shaimns?
Prol. Shawms' No.
CU. Xo? I am a thief if my mind did not give me so.
Ralph has a stately part, and he must needs h&veshaunm:
I'll be at the charge of them myself, rather than that we'll
be without them.
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Burning Pestle, Ind.
shawp, n. See shaup.
shay, n. See chay'^.
shayak (sha'yak), n. [Tripoli.] A coarse
woolen cloth mantif aetured at Tripoli and else-
where in northern Africa.
shaya-root (sha'a-rot), n. [Also cM-root, choy-
root; prop, chaya-root (also simply chay); <
Tamil chaya, a root of Oldenlandia umhellatn, +
E. roo<i.] The root of Oldenlandia umbcllata,
or the plant itself, also called Indian madder.
The outer bark of the roots furnishes a dye, in India in
great repute, the source of the durable red for which the
Indian chintzes
are famous. The
plant grows wild
on the Coroman-
del coast, and is
also cultivated
there. The leaves
are considered by
the native doctors
as expectorant.
shaykh, n.
Same as sheik.
Shaysite (sha'-
zit),». l< Shays
(see def.) +
-ite'^.'] In U. S.
hist., a fol-
lower or sup-
porter of
Daniel Shays,
who in 1786-7
led an unsuc-
cessful insur-
rection against the government of Massachu-
setts, in the western part of that State.
she (she), pron. and n. [< ME. she, scke, sheo,
schee, sho, scho, in the earliest form of this type,
sen (in the AS. Chronicle), she, pron. 3d pers.
fem., taking the place of AS. hed, ME. he, ho,
she, but in form irreg. < AS. se6 = OS. siu =
D. zij = MLG. se, LG. se = OHG. siu, si, MHG.
sie, si, G. sie = leel. sH, sjd = Goth, so, the, fem.
of the def. art., AS. se = loel. sd = Goth, sa, the,
orig. a demonstrative pron. meaning 'that'; =
Russ. siia (fem. of sei), this, = Gr. i?, fem. of 6,
the, = Skt. sd, she, fem. of sas, he, < -y/ sa, that,
distinct from ■\/ ki, > E. he, etc. The change
from AS. se6 to ME. sche, scho, etc., was irreg.,
and due to some confusion with heo, ME. he, ho,
the reg. fem. pron. of 3d pers. fem. of he, he : see
A«l, her.] I. pron. 3d pers. fem., possessive her
or Jicrs, objective her; nom. pi. they, possessive
their or theirs, objective them. The nomina-
tive feminine of the pronoun of the third per-
son, used as a substitute for the name of a
female, or of something personified in the
feminine. Compare he^, especially for the forms
her, hers.
Shaya.root iOtdenlamtia utnbtllata).
a, flower ; d, pistil and cilyx.
5556
And she was cleped Madame E^lentine.
Chaucer, (5en. Prol. to C. T., 1. 121.
Then followeth she; and lastly her slaves, if any have
been given her. Sandys, Travailes (165*2), p. 52.
Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not ; for she was
afraid. Gen. xvUi. 15.
She was the grandest of all vessels,
>'ever ship was built in Norway
Half so fine as she ! LorigfeUmv, King Olaf.
She is often used by people of small education or of com-
paratively secluded lives for the female that is chief in
importance to the speaker, especially a wife; in this case
it has a peculiar emphasis, separating the person referred
to from all other women : as, "Sit down, she'W be here in
a minute." Compare the similar use oiM.
She was formerly and is still dialectally sometimes used
as an indeclinable form.
Yet will I weep, vow, pray to cruel She.
Daniel, Sonnet IV. (Eng. Garner, I. 582).
In the English of the Scotch Highlanders she is commonly
used for he; so her for his.
II. «. 1. A female person; a woman: correl-
ative to he, a man. [Now only humorous.]
Lady, you are the cruell'st she alive.
Shak., T. N., 1. 5. 259.
Whoe'er she be,
That not impossible slie,
That shall command my heart and me.
Crashaw, To hia Supposed Mistress.
I stood and gaz'd at high Mall till I forgot 'twas winter,
so many pretty she's marched by me.
Steele, Lying Lover, i. 1.
2, A female animal ; a beast, bird, or fish of the
female sex : correlative to IWy a male animal :
hence used attributively or as an adjective pre-
fix, signifying ' female,' with names of animals,
or, in occasional or humorous use, of other be-
ings: as, a sAe-bear, a ^Ae-cat, a A7/e-devil, etc.
See he^y «., 2,
You would think a smock were a sA^-angel, he so chants
to the sleeve-hand and the work about the square on 't.
Shak., W. T., iv. 4. 211.
This is a Dopper, a she Anabaptist !
B. Jonson, Staple of News, iii. 1.
They say that . . . the Hee and the She Eel may be
distinguished by their fins.
/. Walton, Complete Angler (ed. 1653), x.
shea (she'a), n. The tree yielding shea-butter:
same as Jcarite. Also shea-tree.
shea-butter (she'a-but''''er), n. See vegetable
butters (under butter'^), gutta-shea, and karite.
sheading (she'ding), n. [< ME. scheding, shsed-
ingj schodinge, division, separation, verbal n.
of scheden^ separate : see shed^,'} In the Isle of
Man, a riding, tithing, or division in which
there is a coroner or chief constable. The isle
is divided into six sheadings.
sheaf ^ (shef), n. ; pi. sheaves (shevz). [< ME.
sheefj scheefj shef, scheffe, schofj shaf (pi. sheves),
< AS. 5cerf/ (pi. scedfas), a sheaf, pile of grain
(= D. schoof= MLG. LG. schdf= OHG. scoub,
scoup, M-HG-sehonp (schoub-), G. dial, schaub =
Icel. sJcanf, a sheaf), lit. a pile of grain ' shoved '
together, < scufan (pret. scedf), shove: see
shore.'] A bundle or collection.
I am so haunted at the court, and at my lodging, with
your refined choice spirit^ that it makes me clean of an-
other garb, another sheaf, I know not how !
B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, ii. 1.
Jermyn, looking gravely and steadily at Felix while he
was speaking, at the same time drew forth a small sheaf
of papers from his side-pocket, and then, as he turned his
eyes slowly on Harold, felt in his waisteoat-pocket for his
pencil-case. George Eliot, Felix Holt, xvii.
Specifically — (a) A quantity of the stalks of wheat, rye,
oats, or barley bound together; a bundle of stalks or
straw.
The Virgin next, . . .
Milde-proudly marching, in her left hand brings
A sheaf of Com, and in her right hand wings.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 4.
The farmers laughed and nodded, and some bent
Their yellow heads together like their sheaves.
LongfeU(m\ Birds of Killingworth.
(b) A bundle of twenty-four arrows, the number furnished
to an archer and carried by him at one time.
A sheef of pecok arwes brighte and kene
Under his belt he bar ful thriftily.
Chaucer, Gen. I'roL to C. T., 1. 104.
And, at his belt, of arrows keen
A f urbish'd sheaf bore he.
Scott, L. of L. M., iil. 17.
(c) A bundle of steel containing thirty gads or ingots.
As for our Steele, it is not so good for edge-tooles as
that of Colaine, and yet the one is often sold for the other,
and like tale vsed in both — that is to sale, thirtie gads to
the sheffe, and twelue shefes to the burden.
Holinshed, Descrip. of Eng., ii. 11.
(d) In geom., a doubly infinite manifold of curves or sur-
faces comprising all which fulfil certain general conditions
and also pass through certain fixed points ; especially, a
manifold of points or planes passing through one fixed
point.— Centerofasheaf. See «»#«•!.= Ssm. (a) Sheaf,
Shock, Stack, Rick, A sheaf is about an armful of the stalks
of any small grain, tied at the middle into a bundle ; a shock
is a pile of sheaves, generally from tea tu twelve, standing
shear
upright or leaning together, sometimes with two or three
laid across the top to turn otf rain ; a stack or rick is a
much larger pile, constructed carefujly to stand for some
time, and thatclied or covered, or so built as to keep out
rain. In the United States the word stack is much more
common than rick.
Oak returned to the stack-y&TA. . . . There were five
wheat-ricArs in this yard, and three gtacks of barley. . . .
"Mrs. Tall, I've come for the key of the granary, to get
at the ncA--cloths." . . . Next came the barley. This it
was only possible to protect by systematic thatching. . . ,
She instantly took a sheaf upon her shoulders, clambered
up close to his heels, placed it behind the rod, and de-
scended for another.
T. Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd, xxxvi., xxxvii.
And he would feed them from the shock
With flower of finest wheat.
Milton, Pb. Ixxxi., 1. 65.
When the wild peasant rights himself, the rick
Flames, and his anger reddens in the heavens.
Tennyson, Princess, iv.
sheaf^ (shef), v. [< sheaf^j n. Cf. sheave^.]
I. trails. To collect and bind; make sheaves of.
II. intrans. To make sheaves.
They that reap must «Aea/and bind.
Shak., As you Like it, iii. 2. 113.
sheafs (shef), n. Same as sheave^.
sheaf-binder (shef'bin''''der), n. A hand-tool
for facilitating the binding of sheaves of grain
with twine. One form consists of a large wooden needle
with a hook at the point, which serves to tighten the
cord round the sheaf and form it into a knot. Another
form consists of a wooden block, which is attached to the
cord and used to make a slip-knot, the block being left on
the sbeaf
Sheafy (she'fl), a. [< sheafl + -yl.] Pertain-
ing to, consisting of, or resembling a sheaf or
sheaves.
Ceres, kind mother of the bounteous year,
Whose golden locks a sheeny garland bear.
Gay, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., vi. 190.
Sheah, «. Same as Shiah.
sheaU (shel), n. [Also shiel ; a dial, form of
shell, partly also of the related shale^.] A
shell, husk, or pod. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.
and Scotch.]
SheaF (shel), v. t. [Also sheel, shill; a dial.
form of shell, v. Cf. sheall, m.j To take the
husks or pods off; shell. [Obsolete or prov.
Eng. and Scotch.]
That 's a shealed peascod. Shak., Lear, 1. 4. 219.
Sheal^ (shel), 71. [Also sheel, sheil, shiel; either
(o) < leel. skdli = Norw. skaale, a hut; or (6) <
Icel. skjol, a shelter, cover, skyli, a shed, shelter
(cf. skyla, screen, shelter, skyling, a screening),
= Sw. Dan. skjul, a shelter, a shed : all < ■/ sku,
cover, Skt. ■)/ sku, cover: see sky'^, shaw^, shaded,
shed^.] A hut or cottage used by shepherds,
fishermen, sportsmen, or others as a tempo-
rary shelter while engaged in their several pur-
suits away from their own dwellings ; also, a
shelter for sheep on the hills during the night.
Also shealing. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.]
A martiall kinde of men, who from the moneth of April
unto August lye out scattering and Summering (as they
tearme it) with their cattell, in little cottages here and
there, which they call sAea^a? and shealings.
Holland, tr. of Camden, p. r»06. {Davieg.)
To be wi' thee in Hieland shiel
Is worth lords at Castlecary.
Ballad of Lizie Baillie, ii. (Chambers's Scottish Song, iii
(144).
The swallow jinkin* round my shiel.
Bums, Bess and her Spinning- WheeL
sheaF (shel), V. t. [< sheaP, b.] To put under
cover or shelter: as, to sheal sheep. [Prov.
Eng. and Scotch.]
shealing^ (she'ling), n. [< sheaU + -ing'^.] 1.
The act of removing the shell or husk. — 2.
The outer shell, pod, or husk of pease, oats,
and the like. [Prov. Eng.]
shealing^ (she'ling), n. [Also sheeling, sheiling,
shielinq ; < sheal^ + -ing^.] Same as sheaV^.
[Scotch.]
You might ha'e been out at the shealin.
Instead o' sae lang to lye.
Lizzie Lindsay (Child's Ballads, IV. 66X
Shealing-hill (she'ling-hil), n. A knoll near a
mill, where formerly the shelled oats were win-
nowed. Scott, Old Mortality. [Scotch.]
Shear^ (sher), r. ; pret. sheared or (archaic) shore,
pp. sheared or shorn, ppr. shearing. [< ME. shc-
ren, scheren, sceren (pret. shar, schar, schare, scar,
pTp.schoren, schorn, schore), < AS. sceran, sciran
(pret. scser, pi. scxron, pp. scoren). shear, clip,
cut, = OFries. skera, schera = T>. scheren =
MlM.liQ. scheren = OHG. sceran, MHG. schern,
a. scheren = leel. skera = Sw. skdra = Dan.
skjsere, shear, cut ; prob. = Gr. Kiipeiv (for *ami-
pcw), shear, < •/ skar = L. scur-, cut, in enrtus
(for *scurtus), short (see short^). From shear^
or its orig. form are ult. E. shared, shared, shared.
shear
gAnrrfl, shar(P, scar^, scored, perhaps scare'^,
shear'^, shears, sheer'^. shred, shored, etc.] I.
trrt/is. 1 . To cut ; specifically, to clip or cut with
a sharp instrument, as a knife, but especially
with shears, scissors, or the like : as, to shear
sheep; to shear cloth (that is, to clip the nap).
The mete that she ichar.
Sir Deffrevant (Thbniton KomancesX L 801.
Eftsoones her shallow ship away did slide,
More swift then swallow sheren the liquid sky.
Speiiser, F. Q., II. vi. .'i.
God tempers the wind, said Maria, to the ghom lamb.
Sterm, Sentimental Journey (Paris).
How strong, snpple, and living the ship seems upon the
billows !
With what a dip and rake she ihearg the flying sea !
R. L. Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisqne, i.
2. To clip off ; remove by clipping : as, to shear
a fleece.
And sleping in hir barm upon a day,
She made U> clippe or shere his heer awey.
Chaucer, Monk's Tale, 1. 77.
How many griefs and sorrows that, like shears,
Like fatal shears, are nhearinff otf our lives still !
Fletcher {and another % Prophetess, iii. 3.
But she, the wan sweet maiden, shore away
Clean from her forehead all that wealth of hair.
Tennyson, Holy Orail.
Hence — 3. To fleece; strip bare, especially by
swindling or sharp practice.
Thus is he thome
Of eight score poundes a year for one poore come
Of pepper. Timet' WhiMte (E. E. T. H.), p. 66.
In his speculation he had gone out to thear, and come
home shorn. Mr$. J. U. Ridddl, City and Suburb, xxvii.
4t. To shave.
Not only thou, bat every myghty man.
Though he were thorn ml hye upon his pan,
Sbolde have a wyf.
Chaucer, ProL to Monk's Tile, 1. 64.
The seventeenth King was Egbert, who after twenty
Tears Rei^ forsook the World also, and shore himself a
Monk. Baker, Chronicles, p. 6.
6. To cut dovra or reap with a sickle or knife :
as, to shear grain. [Old Eng. and Scotch.]
And ye maun thear it wi' your knife,
And no lose a stack [stalk] o' 't for your life.
The Elfin Knight (Chad's Ballads, 1. 129)i
6t. To make or produce by cutting.
Till that I see his body bare.
And sitben my fyngir putte in thare within his hyde,
And fele the wound the spere did sehere ri3t in his syde ;
Are schalle 1 trowe no tales be-twene. York Playt, p. i6!l.
7. To produce a shear in. See shear^, n., 3.
n. intranM. 1. To cut; cut, penetrate, or di-
vide something with a sweeping motion.
This beard (ieraint, and, grasping at his sword, . . .
Made but a single bound, anil with a sweep of it
Shore thro' the swarthy neck. Tennyton, OeiainL
2. In mining, to make a vertical cut in the coal,
or a cut at right angles to that made in "hol-
ing." See Ao/»l, r. t.,'^. — 3. To receive a strain
of the kind called a shear. See shear^, n., 3.
shear' (sher), 11. [<shearl,r. Ct. share^.'] 1.
A shearing or clipping: used in stating the
age of sheep : as, a sheep of one shear, a two-
shear sheep (that is, a sheep one or two years
old), in allusion to the yearly shearing. — 2. A
barbed fish-spear with several prongs. K. H,
Knight. — 3. A strain consisting of a compres-
sion in one direction with an elongation in the
same ratio in a direction perpendicular to the
first. Thus, in fig. 1, suppose a bfjdy in which the axis
AC Is compressed to ae. Suppose there Is an axis of equal
elongation, upon which lake BD equal
to oc, BO that after elongation it will
be brought to M, equal to AC. Then,
all planes perpendicular t<i the plane
of tlie diagram and parallel either to a
A B or to AD will r«main nndlstorted,
beiiiK simply rotated into positions
parallel to no or luj. If the body while
nnderuoing strain be so rotated that
a and 6 remain in coincidence with A fw t.
andB(seellg. 2), the shear will be seen *
a R to be an advance of all planes parallel
to a fixed plane In parallel lines in those
planes by amounts proportional to their
, distances from the fixed plane. A shear
a 0~J C ■' o"«n called a timplt thear, meaning
Pig , a shear uncoropoonded with any other
strain. Any simple strain may be re-
solved into a shear, a positive or negative elongation per-
pendicular to the shear, and a positive or negative ex-
pansion.
4. Deflection or deviation from the straight;
cur\'c or sweep; sheer : as, the shear of a boat.
Some considerable thear to the bow lines will make a
drier and safer boat. Sparttman't Oazetteer, p. 668.
Complex Bhear, a strain rom pounded of two or more
simple shears.— Double shear, (o) In dynam., a com-
pound of two shears, (ii) In praetiaU meeh., a twofold
doubling and welding.
shear'-t, ». [< ME. shere, sehere, < AS. seeara
(also m early gloaaea leerero, sceruru) (=
A
5557
OFries. sl-ere, sehere = D. schaar = OHG. shar,
slara, pi. scdri, MHG. schierc (prob. pi.), G.
scheere, sehere = Icel. slxri, shears; cf. Sw.
skdrn, a reaping-hook, Dan. skjser, skjaere, plow-
share, colter), < sceran (pret. scser), shear: see
shear^. Cf. s/j«re2.] Same as shears.
This Sampson never sider drank ne wyn,
Ne on his heed cam raaour noon ne shere.
Chaucer, Monk's Tale, 1. 66.
shear^t, ''• '• An obsolete form of sheer^.
shearbill (sher'bil), n. The scissorbill, cut-
water, or black skimmer; the bird Rhynchops
nigra : so called from the bill, which resembles
a pair of shears. See cut under Hhyiichojys.
sheardt, ". An obsolete spelling of shard^.
shearer (sher'^r), ». [< ME. scherere. scherer
=z D. scheerder = OHG. scerari, skerdre, MHG.
G. scherer, a barber; as shear^ + -erl.] 1. One
who shears, (o) One who clips or shears sheep; a
sheep-shearer. (6) One who shears cloth ; a shearman,
(e) A machine used to shear cloth, (d) One who cuts
down grain with a sickle ; a reaper. [Scotland and Ire-
land.]
2. A dyadic determining a simple shear.
shear-^ass (sher'gras), n. One of various
sedgy or grassy plants with cutting leaves, as
the saw-grass. Cladium Mariscus.
shearhog (sher'hog), «. A sheep after the first
shearing. Also, contracted, sherrug, sharrag.
[Prov. Eng.]
He thought It a mere frustration of the purposes of
language to talk of thearhogt and ewes to men who ha-
bitually said tharragt and yowes.
George Eliot, Mr. Oilfll's Love Story, i. (fiaviet.)
shear-hooks, ». pi. See sheer-hooks.
shear-hulk, «. See sheer-hulk.
shearing (sher'ing), n. [Verbal n. of shear^,
I'.] 1. The act or operation of cutting by
means of two edges of hardened steel, or the
like, which pass one another closely, as in or-
dinary shears and scissors, and in machines
made on the same principle. — 2. That which
is shorn or clipped off; that which is obtained
by shearing: as, the shearings of cloth; the
whole shearing of a flock. — 3. A shearling. —
4. The act, operation, or time of reaping ; har-
vest. [Scotland and Ireland.]
O will ye fancy me, O,
And gae and be the lady o' Drum,
And lat your thearing abee, O?
Imrd o/ Drum (Child's Ballads, IV. 118X
5. The process of producing shear-steel by
condensing blistered steel and rendering it
uniform. — 6. In geol., the compression, elon-
gation, and deformation of various kinds to
which the components of rocks have frequent-
ly been subjected in consequence of crust-
movements; the dynamic processes by which
shear-structure has been produced. — 7. In
mining, the making of vertical cuts at the ends
of a part of an undercut seam of coal, serv-
ing to destroy the continuity of the strata and
facilitate the breaking down of the mass. —
8. In dynam., the operation of producing a
shear.
shearing-hooksl (sher'ing-huks), n. pi. [Also
shceriug-hooks; iyCE.shcring-hokes.] A contri-
vance for cutting the ropes of a vessel. Com-
pare sheer-h<Hiks.
In goth the grapenel so ful of crokes,
Among the ropes rennyth the iheriim-hotet.
Chaucer, Oood Women, 1. 641.
shearing-machine (sher'ing-ma-shen'), n. 1.
A raaehino u.sed for cutting plates and bars
of iron and other metals. — 2. A machine for
shearing cloth, etc.
shearing-stress (sher'ing-stres), n. A stress
occasioned bv or tending to produce a shear.
shearing-tahle (sher'ing-ta'bl), h. a portable
bench fitted with straps or other conveniences
for holding a sheep in position for shearing.
shear-legs (sher'legz), n. pi. Same as sheers, 2.
ahear-U'jt . . . are now frequently used by marine en-
gineers for the purpose of placing boilers, engines, and
other heavy machinery on board large steamers.
Sd. Amer., N. 8., UV. 39.
shearlesst (sher'les), a. [Also .iheerless; < shear^,
shears, + -lemi.] Without shears or scissors.
And ye maun shape it knife-, theeriett.
And also sew it needle-, threedless.
The Elfin Knight (Child's Ballads, I. 129).
shearling (sher'Iing), ». l<shear^ + -Ung^.] A
sheep of one shear, or that has been once shorn.
the tax
386.
sheartail
name Shearman, Sherman.'] 1. One whose oc-
cupation it is to shear cloth.
Villain, thy father was a plasterer,
And thou thyself a shearman, art thou not?
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iv. 2. 141.
This Lord Cromwell was born at Putney, a Village in
Surrey near the Thames Side, Son to a Smith ; after whose
Decease his Mother was married to a Sheer-man.
Baker, Chronicles, p. 288.
2t. A barber.
Scharman, or scherman. Tonsor, attonsor.
Prompt, Part)., p. 444.
shearn, «. Same as sham.
shears (sherz), «. sing, and pi. [Formerly also
sheers (still used in naut. sense: see sheers); <
ME. sheres, scheres, pi., also sehere, shere, sing.,
Shears for cutting Cloth.
a, screw-pivot on which as a fulcrum each blade with its handle worksL
shears: seeshear^.'] 1. A cutting- or clipping-
instrument consisting of two pivoted blades
with beveled edges
facing each other,
such as is used for
cutting cloth, or of a
single piece of steel
bent round until the
blades meet, the elas-
ticity of the back
caiising the blades to
spring open when the
pressure used in cut-
ting has ceased. The
latter is the kind used
by farriers, sheep-shearers,
weavers, etc. Shears of the
first kind differ from scis-
Implements of similar form
See also
Purchase-shears for catting Metal.
a and c, levere connected by a
Unlc-bar 6, and respectively piv.
oted at/ andy to the frame f.
By the arraDeement of the levere
the movable blade rf. attached to
c, acts with a strong purchase in
comhin-ition with the stationar>'
blade rf", rigidly attached to the
frame ^.
In the European provinces lambs do not pay the
until they are «A<ar<tn^<. J. Baker, Turkey, p.
shearman (sher'man), «. ; pi. shearmen (-men).
[Formerly also sheerman, sherman ; < ME. scher-
man, scharman; < shear^ + man. Hence the sur-
sors chiefly in being larger.
use<l for cutting metal are also' called shears.
cuts unde^ dipping-shears and sheep-shears.
Think you I bear the shears of destiny?
Shak., K. John, iv. 2. 91.
Time waited upon the shears, and, as soon as the thread
was cut, caught the medals, and carried them to the river
of Lethe. Bacun, Advancement of Learning, ii. 132.
Puddled bars are also generally sheared hot, either by
crocodile or guillotine shears, into lengths suitable for
piling. W. H. Greenwood, Steel and Iron, p. 347.
2. Something in the form of the blades of
shears, (at) A pair of wings.
Two sharpe winged sheares,
Decked with diverse plumes, like painted Jayes,
AVere fixed at his backe to cut his ayery wayes.
Spenser, F. Q., II. vlii. 6.
(6) In bookbinding, a long, heavy, curved knife, with a
handle at one end and a heavy counterpoise at the other
end of the blade, which cuts thick millboards, scissors-
fashion, against a fixed straight knife on the side of an
iron table, (c) An apparatus for raising heavy weights.
8ee»A«r»,2.
3. The ways or track of a lathe, upon which
thelathe-head, poppet-head, andrest are placed.
— 4. A shears-moth .—Knight of the shears. See
hi^W.— Perpetual shears, same as revolving shears.
—Revolving shears, a cylinder around which thin
knife-blades are carried in a spiral, their edges revolving
in contact with a fixed straight-edge called the leihjer-
blade. The machine is used to trim the uneven fibers
from the face of woolen cloth.— Rotary shears. See
rotary. — Sieve and shears. See sieve and coscinooiancy.
— There goes hut a pair of shearst. Seepairi.
shears-moth (sherz'moth), n. One of certain
noetuid moths ; a shears or sheartail, as Hadena
dentina : an English collectors' name. Mames-
tra glauca is the glaucous shears; Hadena di-
dyma is the pale shears.
shear-steel (sher'stel), ?i. [So called from its
applicability to the manufacture of shears,
knives, scythes, etc.] Blister-steel which has
been fagoted and drawn out into bars under
the rolls or hammer: a repetition of the pro-
cess produces what is known as double-shear
steel. The density and homogeneousness of the steel
are increased by this process, and it is genei-ally admitted
that a better result is attained by hammering than by
rolling. See steel.
shear-structure (sher'struk'tur), n. In geol.,
a structure superinduced in rocks by shearing;
a structure varying from lamellar to schistose,
somewhat resembling the so-called "fluxion-
structure" often seen in volcanic rocks, but
produced by the flowing, not of molten, but of
solid material, as one of the consequences of
the immense strain by which the upheaval or
plication of large masses of rock has been ac-
companied.
sheartail (sher'tal), v. l. A humming-bird
of the genus Tliauniastnra, having a very long
forficate tail, like a pair of shears, as T. cora,
T. henicura, etc. in the oora hummer (to which the
sheartail
genus Thaum€Utitra is now usually restricted, the others
formerly referrett to it beinc: placed in Doricha) the struc-
ture of the t4ul is peciiliiu- ; for the
middle pair of feathers is so short as
to be almost hidden by the coverts,
while the next pair is suddenly and
extremely lengthened, and then the
other three paii-s rapidly shorten
from within outward. In thrxcha
(/). hemmra, etc.) the shape of
the tail is simply fortlcate, as
the feathers lengthen from the
shortest middle pair to the
longest outer pair, like a
J "
Sheartail [Thaumaslura cora^.
tern's. In all these cases the long feathers are very
narrow and linear, or of about uniform width to their
ends. The peculiar formation is confined to the males.
T. cora has the tail (in the male) about 4 inches long,
though the length of the bird is scarcely 6 inches; it
is golden-green above and mostly white below, with a
metallic crimson gorget reflecting blue in some lights,
and the tail black and white. The female is 3J inches
long, the tail being IJ. It inhabits Pera. Five species
of Doricha range from the Bahamas and parts of Mexico
into Central Anierica.
2. A sea-swallow or tern: from the long forked
tail. See cut under roseate. [Prov. Eng.] —
3. A British shears-moth, as Hadena dentina.
shearwater (sher'wa't^r), n. [Formerly also
sheericater, sJierewater ; < shear, v., + obj. wa-
ter.] 1. A sea-bird of the petrel family, Pro-
cellariidee, and section Piiffincse, having a long
and comparatively slender, much-hooked bill,
short nasal tubes obliquely tnmcate and with
a thick nasal septum, long pointed vrings, short
tail, and close oily plumage. There are many spe-
cies, mostly of the genus Pu^nwi, found on all seas, where
they fly very low over the water, seeming to shear, shave,
or graze it with their long blade-like wings (whence the
name). Some of them are known as hags or hagdens.
Three of the commonest are the greater shearwater, P.
major; the Manx shearwater, P. anglorum; and the sooty
shearwater, P./uliginosus, all of the North Atlantic. They
nest in holes by the seaside, and the female lays one white
egg. See cut under hagden.
2. Same as cutwater, 3. See Rhynchops.
sheat^t, "• An obsolete form of sheet^.
sheat'^ (shet), n. [Prob. a var. of shote^ (ef.
sheat^, var. of shote^). Cf. .iheat-fiah.'] The
shad. Jfright. [Prov. Eng.]
sheat^, ". An obsolete or dialectal form of
shote^.
sheat'^ti «• [Origin obscure.] Apparently, trim,
or some such sense.
Neat, gheat, and fine.
As brisk as a cup of wine.
Greene, Friar Bacon, p. 163.
sheat-fish (shet'fish), «. [Formerly also (er-
roneou.sly) sheath-fish; appar. < sheat^, a shote,
+ fi.ih^.'\ A fish of the family Siluridse, espe-
cially Silurus glanis, the great catfish of central
and eastern Europe, the largest fresh-water fish
of Europe except the sturgeons, attaining a
weight of 300 or 400 pounds. The flesh is edible,
the fat is used in dressing leather, and the sound yields a
kind of gelatin. It is of elongate form with a small dor-
sal, no aulipose fin, a long anal, and a distinct caudal with
a roundish margin ; there are six barbels. It takes the
place in Europe of the common catfish of North America,
and belongs to the same family, but to a different sub-
family. (.See cut under Siluridte.) With a qualifying term,
aheat-figh extends to some related families. See phrases
following.
At borne amigbty gheat-Jish smokes upon the festive board.
KingtHey, Hypatia, x. (Daviefi.)
Electric Bheat-fiBhes, the electric catflshes, or Malaxate-
r!/nV/«. — Flat-headed sheat-fishes, the Anpredinidie.
—Long-headed sheat-fishes, the pteronntidx.—VlaXl-
ed sheat-fishes, the hnricariiilie.—TS(aki& sheat-fishes,
the f'iiftelfjdidm. — True sheat-fishes, the SUurid^e.
sheath (sheth), n. [< ME. shethe, schethe, also
shede, < AS. scseth, scdth, scedth = OS. scethia,
scedia = D. scheede = MLG. schede, LG. schede,
schee = OHG. sceida, MHO. G. scheide = Icel.
gkeithir, fern, pi., also skilhi, a, sheath, = 8w.
5558
skida, a sheath, a husk or pod of a bean or pea,
= Dan. skede, sheath: appar. orig. applied (as
in Sw.) to the husk of a bean or pea, as 'that
which separates,' from the root of AS. scddau,
.sreddflw, etc., separate: see s/icrfl, )\ Ci.shide.]
1. A case or covering, especially one which fits
closely: as, the sheath of a sword. Compare
scabbard^.
His knif he drash out of his gcheihe,
& to his herte hit wolde habbe ismite
Nadde his moder hit vnder hete.
King Ilorn (E. E. T. S.), p. 104.
Put up thy sword into the gheath. . John xvlil. 11.
A dagger, in rich sheath with jewels on it
Sprinkled about in gold.
Tennyson, Aylmer's Meld.
2. Any somewhat similar covering, (a) In hot.,
the part of an expanded organ that is rolled around a stem
or other body, forming a tube, as in the
lower part of the leaves of grasses, the
stipules of the Polygonacefe, the tubular
organ inclosing the seta of mosses, etc.;
a vagina; also, an arrangement of cells
inclosing a cylindrical body, as the med-
ullary sheath. See cuts under Equise-
tum, exogen, and ocrea.
The cleistogamic fiowers are very small,
and usually mature their seeds within
the sheaths ot the leaves.
Darwin, Different Forms of Flowers, p.
[383.
(6) In zool., some sheathing, enveloping,
or covering part. (1) The preputial
sheath into which the penis is retracted
in many animals, as the horse, bull, dog,
etc. This sheath corresponds in the
main with the foreskin of man, and is
often called prepuce. (2) An elytron,
wing-cover, or wing-case of an insect. (3)
The horny covering of the bill or feet of
a bird ; especially, a sort of false cere of
some birds, as the sheathbills, jagers, etc.
See cuts under pujjin. (4) The lorica or
test which envelops many infusorians or
other protozoans, some rotifers, etc. (.S)
The fold of skin into which the claws of
a cat or other feline may be retracted, (c)
In anat., specifically, a membrane, fascia,
or other sheet or layer of condensed con-
nective tissue which closely invests a part or organ, and
serves to bind it down or hold it in place. Such sheaths
may be cylindrical, as when investing a nerve or blood-
vessel and extending in its course ; or flat and expansive,
as when binding down muscles. A layer of deep fascia
commonly forms a continuous sheath of all the muscles
of a limb, as notably in the case of the fascia lata, which
envelops the thigh, and is made tense by a special muscle
(the tensor fasciie latse). See/a«cta, 7.
3. A structure of loose stones for confining a
river within its banks Caiotld, chordal, corti-
cal, crural, femoral sheath. See the adjectives.—
Cirrus-sheath. See cimM.- Dentinal sheath of Neu-
mann, the proper sheath of the dentinal fibers ; the wall
of tlie dentinal canaliculi. Also called dental sheath. —
Leaf-sheath, in ttot.-. (a) The sheath of a leaf. Specifi-
cally— (6) The membranous toothed girdle which sur-
rounds each node of an Equisetum, corresponding to the
foliage of the higher orders of plants. See cut under
£^gt<i»(!(u»ft.— Medullary, mucilaginous, penlal, perl-
vascular, rostral sheath. See the adjectives.— Pro-
tective sheath, in 6o^, the sheath or layer of modified
parencliynia-cells surrounding a flbrovascular bundle.—
Sheath of Henle, a delicate connective-tissue envelop of
a nei-ve-fiber outside of the sheath of Schwann, being a
continuation of the perineurium.— Sheath of Mauthuer,
the protoplasmic sheath underneath .Schwann's sheath,
and passing inward at the nodes of Kanvier to separate
the myelin from the axis-cylinder. It thus incloses the
myelin in a double sac. {Ranvier.) The outer leaf be-
comes thickened about the middle of the internode, in-
closing a nucleus.— Sheath of Schwann. Same as neu-
ritemma, or primitive sheath (which see, under primitive),
— Sheath of the optic nerve, that continusxtion of the
membranes of the brain which incloses the optic nerve. —
Sheath of the rectus, the sheath formed, above the fold
of Douglas, by the splitting of the aponeurotic tendon of
the internal oblique mnscl-e, and containing between its
layers most of the rectus muscle.
sheath (sheth), ». t. Same as sheathe.
sheathbill (sheth'bil), n. A sea-bird of the
family Chionididse. There are two species, Chionis
alba, in which the sheath is flat like a cere, and C. (or
Chittnarchtis) minor, in which the sheath rises up like the
I.e.if of Loliutrt
ptrenne, show-
ing slie.Tth.
pommel of a saddle, r.oth inhiil>it high southern lati-
tudes, as the Falkland Islands and Kerguelen Land ; the
plumage is pure-white, and the size is that of a large
sheave
pigeon. They are known to sailors as kelp-pigeon and
soir-ritt'il ingeon.
sheath-billed (sheth'bild), a. Having the bill
sheiil lu'd with a kind of false cere. See sheath-
hill.
sheathclaw (sheth'kla), n. A lizard of the
Seiius Tltecodactylns.
eathe (she^H), v. t. ; pret. and pp. sheathed,
ppr. sheathing. [Also sometimes sheath, which
is proper only as taken from the mod. noim,
and pron. sheth ; < ME. schethen, schcden = Icel.
skeilha, sheathe; < sheath, n.'] 1. To put into
a sheath or scabbard ; inclose in or cover with
or as with a sheath or case : as, to sheathe a
sword or dagger.
"lis in my breast she sheathes her dagger now.
Dryden, Indian Emperor, iv. 4.
Sheathe thy sword,
Fair foster-brother, till I say the word
That draws it forth.
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, n. 278.
2. To protect by a casing or covering; cover
over or incase, as with armor, boards, iron,
sheets of copper, or the like.
It were to be wished that the whole navy throughout
were sheathed as some are. Jlaleigh,
The two knights entered the lists, armed with sword
and dagger, and sheathed in complete harness.
Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 11.
3. To cover up or hide.
Her eyes, like marigolds, had sheathed their light.
Shak. , Lucrece, 1. 397.
In the snake, all the organs are sheatlied ; no hands, no
feet, no fins, no wings. Emerson, Civilization.
4. To render less sharp or keen ; mask ; dull.
Other substances, opposite to acrimony, are called de-
mulcent or mild, because they blunt or sheathe those sharp
salts ; as pease and beans. , Artmthnot.
To sheathe the sword, figuratively, to put an end to war
or enmity ; make peace.
Days of ease, when now the weary gicord
Was sheath'd, and luxury with Charles restored.
Pope, Imit. of Horace, II. i. 140.
sheathed (sheTHd), J), a. 1. Put into a sheath;
incased in a sheath, as a sword ; specifically, in
hot., zool., and anat., having a sheath; put in
or capable of being withdrawn into a sheath;
invaginated ; vaginate. — 2. Covered with
sheathing or thin material, inside or outside.
sheather (she'THfer), n. [< ME. schethere; <
sheathe + -erl.] One who sheathes, in any
sense.
sheath-fish (sheth'fish), «. A false form of
sheat-fish. Encyc. Brit. ; Web. Int. Diet.
sheathing (she'Tning), h. [Verbal n. otsheathe,
r.] 1. The act of one who sheathes. — 2. That
which sheathes, covers, or protects, or may be
used for such purpose. Specifically— (a; In carpen-
ter-work, boarding applied to any surface, or used to cover
a skeleton frame ; especially, such boarding when forming
the inner or rough covering intended to receive an outer
coating of any sort. (6) Thin plates of metal used for cov-
ering the bottom of a wooden ship, usually copper or yel-
low metal, and serving to protect it from the borinc of ma-
rine animals ; also, a covering of wood applied to the parts
under water of many iron and steel vessels, to prevent cor-
rosion of the metal and to delay fouling of the bottom, (c)
Anything prepared for covering a surface, as of a wall or
other part of a building : applied to tiles, metallic plates,
stamped leather hangings, etc.
Mural skeathings imitative of the finest Persian patterns.
Art Jour., V. S., VII. 36.
(d) A protection for the main deck of a whaling-vessel, as
pine boards, about one inch in thickness, laid over the deck
to prevent it from being cut up by the spades, being burned
while trying out oil, etc.
sheathing (she'THing), v. a. Inclosing by or
as by a sheath : as, the sheathing base of a leaf;
sheathixg stipules, etc. See cut under sheath, 2.
— Sheathing canaL see canals.
sheathing-nail (she'^Hing-nal), ». A nail suit-
able for nailing on sheathing. That used in nail-
ing on the metallic sheathings of ships is a cast nail of an
alloy of copper and tin.
Sheathing-paper (she'THing-pa'per), n. A
coarse paper laid on or under the metallic
sheathing of ships, and used for other like pur-
poses; lining-paper.
sneath-knife (sheth'nif), n. A knife worn in
a sheath attached to the waist-belt, as by mer-
chant seamen and by riggers.
sheathless (sheth'les), a. [< sheath + -less.']
Having no sheath; not sheathed; evaginate.
sheath-winged (sheth'wingd), a. Having the
wings sheathed or incased in elytra, as a beetle ;
sharded; coleopterous; vaginipennate.
sheathy (she'thi), a. [< sheath + -yl. ] Sheath-
like. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., ii'i. 27.
shea-tree, «. Same as shea.
sheavel (shev), r. t. ; pret. and pp. sheared, ppr.
sheaving. [< sheaf\ n. Cf. sheaf^, v., and
sheave
leaves, < /e«/l, etc.] To bring together into
slieaves ; collect into a sheaf or into sheaves.
sheave- (shev), n. [Also sheeve, sheaf; a var.
ot skive: see shire.'] 1. A slice, as of bread ; a
cut. [Scotch.]
She begs one sheave of your white bread,
Bat and a cup of your red wine.
romtg Beiehan and Suae Pye (Child's Ballads, lY. 8).
2. A grooved wheel in a block, mast, yard, etc.,
on which a rope works; the wheel of a pulley;
Block.sheaTe.
a. sheaTc ; 6, brass bushing ; c, pin.
a shiver. See cut under bloek^. — 3. A sliding
scutcheon for covering a keyhole Dumb
Bheave.an aperture through which a rope reeves with-
out a revolving sheave. — Patent Sheave, a sheave fitted
with nu'tal rollers to reduce friction.
sheaved (8hevd),n. l< sheaf^ + -ed^.] If. Made
of straw.
Ber hair, nor loose nor tied in formal plat,
Proclaim 'd in her a careless hand of pride ;
For some, untuck'd, descended her gheared hat.
Hanging her pale and pined cheelE beside.
Sluik., Lover's Complaint, 1. 31.
Z. Finished around the top with a flare, like
that of a sheaf.
A well-sA<aKd wine glass could be made only In Eng-
land. . . . Wine gUuaea with tops as weU-<A«ii»d as the
best English work. JtepartM to Society <y Arte, II. 1S4.
sheave-hole (shev'hol), «. A channel cut in a
raa.st, yard, or other timber, in which to fix a
sheave.
sheaves, n. Plural of shea/l and of sheave^.
she-balsam (she'bil'sam), n. See balsam-tree.
shebander ( sheb'an-dfer), «. [E. Ind. (f).] A
Dutcli East India commercial officer.
shebang (she-bang'), n. [Supposed to be an
irreg. var. of «Ae6«en.^ Ashanty; place; "con-
cern": as, who lives m this «A«6anj/)' he threat-
ened to clean out the whole shebang. [Slang,
There'll be a kerridge for you. . . . We've got a thebanff
fixed up for you to stand behind in No. Is house, and don t
you he afraid. Mark TVwtn, Boughing It, xlvIL
Shebat, n. See Sebat.
shebbel (sheb'el), n. A certain fish. See the
cjuotation.
The catching of the ihebbel or Barbary salmon, a species
of shad, is a great industry on all the principal rivers of
the coast [of Morocco), and vast numbers of the fish,
which are often from 5 to 1$ pounds In weight, are dried
and salted. Bneyc. Brit., XVI. 834.
shebeck (she'bek), n. Same as xebec.
shebeen fshe-ben'), n. [Of Ir. origin.] A shop
or lujiiwe where excisable liquors are sold with-
out the license required by law. [Ireland and
Scotland.]
shebeener (she-be'ntr), n. [< shebeen + -eri.]
One who keeps a shebeen. [Ireland and Scot-
land.]
shebeeninx (she-be 'ning), n. [< shebeen +
-i«f/l.] The act or practice of keeping a she-
been. [IreUiml iind Scotland.]
Shechinah. Shekinah (she-ki'n&), n. [< Cfaal.
and late Heb. shekhfndh, dwelling, < Heb. sha-
khun, dwell (the verb used in Ex. xxiv. 16, Num.
ix. 17, 22, X. 12).] The Jewish name for the
svmbol of the divine presence, which rested in
the shape of a cloud or visible light over the
mercy-seat.
shecklatont, n. Same as ciclaUm.
shed^ (slied), r. ; pret. and pp. shcii, ppr. shed-
(Unij. [Kiii-ly mod. E. also snead, sherlc ; < ME.
sheilen, schedcn, schodcn, skteden (pret. shedde,
shadde, schadde, ssedde, shade, pp. shad, i-sched),
< AS. sceddan, (sceddan), smdan (pret. seed,
sceiUl, pp. seedden, scdden), part, separate, dis-
tinguish, = OS. skethan = OFries. sketha, skeda,
seheda = I), scheidcn = MLG. srheden = OHG.
Hrridan. MHO. O. srheiden, part, sejiarate, dis-
tinguish, = Ooth. ukaidan, separate ; akin to
AS. srki, E. shidc, AS. sr^lh, E. sheath, etc. ;
Tent, y skid, part, separate ; ef, Lith. skedgu.
5559
skedu, I part, separate, L. scindere (perf. scidi),
split, Gr. CT^/feiv, split, axi^a, a splinter, Skt.
y chid, split: see scission, schedule, schism, etc.
Cf. sheath, shide, skid, from the same ult. source.
The alleged AS. 'sceddan, shed (blood), is not
authenticated, being prob. an error of reading.
The OFries. schedda, NFries. schoddjen, push,
shake, G. schiitten, shed, spill, oast, etc., go
rather with E. sAuddcr.] I. trans. 1. To part;
separate; divide: as, to shed the hair. [Now
only prov. Eng. and Scotch.]
Yif ther be any thing that knytteth and felawshippeth
hymselfe to thilke mydel poynt it is constreyned into
symplicite, that is to seyn unto immoeveablete, and it
ceseth to l>en shad and to fletyn dy versly.
Chaucer, Boetbius, iv. prose 6.
But with no crafte of combis brode,
Theymyste hire hore loltkis schode.
Gower. iUaXliuxU.)
Scriminale, ... a pin or t>odkiQ that women vse to di-
ttide and shed their haires with when they dresse their
beads. Florio.
Then np did start him Childe Vyet,
Shed by his yellow hair.
Childe Vyet (ChUd's Ballads, II. 7").
2. To throw off. (o) To cast off, as a natural covering :
as, trees shed their leaves in autumn.
Trees which come into leaf and shed their leaves late
last longer than those that are early either in fruit or leaf.
Saoon, Hist Life and Death, Nature Durable, I 20.
(b) To molt, cast, or exuviate, as a quadruped its hair, a
bird its feathers, a crab its shell, a snake its skin, or a deer
its antlers, (e) 'To throw or cause to flow off without pene-
trating, as a roof or covering of oil-cloth, or the like.
3. To scatter about or abroad ; disperse ; dif-
fuse: as, to shed light on a subject.
"Some shal sowe the aakke," quod Piers, " for shedyng of
the whete." Piers Plmcman (B), vl 9.
Tf there were English shedd amongest thera a.id placed
over them, they should not be able once to styrre or mur-
mure but that it shoulde be knowen.
Spenser, State of Ireland.
The love (t Ood is «A<d abroad In our hearts by the Holy
Qhost. Rom. v. 5.
All heaven.
And bappy constellations, on that hour
Shed their selectest influence ; the earth
Gave ilga ot gratulation, and each hill.
MUton, P. L.,Tiii. 61S.
That still gptiit shed from evening air !
Wordncorth, Prelude, 11.
4. To sprinkle ; intersperse. [Rare.]
Her hair.
That flows so liberal and bo fair.
Is shed with gray.
B. Jonson, Masque of Hymen.
6. To let or cause to flow out; let fall; pour
out ; spill : used especially in regard to blood
and tears : as, to shed blood : to shed tears of joy.
Thou scbalt tehtde the oUe of anoyntyng on his heed.
WyHif, Ex. xilx. 7.
And many a wQde bertes blood she shedde,
Chttuetr, Monk's Tale, I. 2er.
Tbe Copies of those Tears thou there hast sAsd . . . are
Already In Heaven's Casket bottled.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, II. ISa
Bat, after looking a while at the long-tailed imp, he
ras so shocked by his horrible ugliness, spiritual as well
• physical, that he actually began to <A«<i tears.
Hawthorne, Seven Oables, xl.
U. intrang. 1. To cast, part with, or let fall
a covering, vestment, envelop, or seed; molt;
lose, cast, throw off. or exuviate a covering:
as, the bird sheds in August; the crab sheds m
June.
White oats are apt to shed most as they lie, and black
as they stand. Mortimer, Husbandry.
Tbe shedding trees began the ground to strow.
Dryden, Hind and I>anther, ill. 439.
2t. To be let fall ; pour or be poured ; be spilled.
Schyre schedej the rayn in schowre3 ful warme.
Sir Oawayne and the Oreen Knight (E. E. T. &), L S0&
Swich a reyn doun fro tbe welkne shadde
That slow the fyr, and made him to escape.
Chaucer, Monk's 'Tale, L 741.
Faxe fyltered, A felt flosed hym vmbe,
That sehod fro his schulderes to his schyre wykes.
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), IL 1600.
shed^ (shed), w. [Early mod. E. also shead,
shede, also dial, shade; < ME. sheed, schede,
srhend, shade, schode, schnod, schad, shied, sep-
aration, division, the parting of the hair, the
temple or top of the head, < AS. scdde, the top of
the head, a division, separation, gescedd, divi-
sion, separation, = OS. aceth = OFries. skethe,
skid, scheid = OHG. sceit, MHG. G. scheit, dis-
tinction, division, etc. ; cf. D. (haar-)scheel, a
tress of hair, = MLG. schedel = OHG, sceitila,
MHG. G. scheitel, the parting of the hair, the top
of the head, the hair thereon ; from the verb.
The noun shed is most familiar in the comp.
icater-shed.'] 1. A division or parting : as, the
shedding
shed of the hair (obsolete or provincial); a
water-sAerf.
In heed he had a sheed bifom. Cursor Mundi, 1. 18837.
Her wav'ring hair disparpling flew apart
}n seeraly shed.
T. Hudson, tr. of Du Bartas's Judith, iv.
2. In weaving, a parting or opening between
sets of warp-threads in a loom, made by the
action of the heddles, or by the Jacquard at-
tachment, for the passage of the shuttle and
the weft-thread.
A double shed ... is used when two tiers of shuttles
are used at one time. A. Barlow, Weaving, p. 112.
3. The slope of land or of a hill: as, which way
is the shedf — 4t.' The parting of the hair; hence,
the top of the head ; temples.
Ful streight and even lay his joly shade. *
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, I. 13a
shed^ (shed), n. [< ME. *shed, *shad, in pi.
shaddys; perhaps a particular use of ME. 'shed,
written ssed, a Kentishf orm oishade : see shaded.
The particular sense is prob. due to association
with the diff. word shud, a shed: see shud'^.']
1. A slight or temporary shelter; a penthouse
or lean-to ; hence, an outhouse ; a hut or mean
dwelling: as, aanow-shed; a Vfood-shed.
Houses not inhabited, as shoppis, celars, shaddys, ware-
houses, stables, wharfes. kranes, tymbre hawes.
Arnolds Chron. (1602), ed. 1811, p. 72.
Courtesy,
Which oft is sooner found in lowly sfieds
With smoky rafters than in tap'stry halls
And courts of princes, Milton, Comus, 1. 32S.
But when I touched her, lo ! she, too.
Fell into dust and nothing, and the house
Became no better than a broken shed.
Tennyson, Holy GralL
2. A large open structure for the temporary
storage of goods, vehicles, etc. : as, a shed on a
wharf; a railway-sAerf; an engine-«/i«rf.
These (wagons] fllled the inn-yards, or were ranged side
by side under broad-roofed sheds.
Lowell, Cambridge Thirty Years Aga
shed^t, «• [Appar. ult. < L. scheda, a sheet of
paper: see schedule.'] A sheet. [Rare.]
Scheda . . . Angl. ABheetor«A«(iof paper. . . . Sched.
via . . . Angl. A little sheet or scrow of paper.
Calepini Dictionariuin Undecim Linffuarujn, ed. 1590.
shed'' (shed), H. [Origin obscure.] The smolt,
or young salmon of the first year. [Local, Eng.]
She'dder (shed'er), n. [< shed^ + -erl.] 1. One
who sheds, pours out, or spills.
A son that is a robber, a shedder of blood.
Ezek. xviil. 10.
2. In zaol., that which sheds, casts, or molts;
especially, a lobster or crab which is shedding
its shell, or has just done so and is growing a
new one.
I'm going to make a cast, as soon as you drop the anchor
and give me some of that bait — which, by the way, would
be a great deal more tempting to the trout if it were a
shedder or " buster" instead of a hard.sheli crab.
St. Nicholas, XVII. 839.
3. An adult female salmon after spawning.
shedding' (shed'ing), «. [< ME. shcding, shed-
yng,shieding; verhaln. of shcd^, v.'] X. Apart-
mg; separation; abranehingoff, asof tworoads
or a water-shed; hence, the angle or place where
two roads meet. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
Forr Farisew [Pharisee] bitacneth nss shxdinng inn
Ennglissh speeche. Orminn, 16863.
Then we got out to that shedding of the roads which
marks the junction of the highways coming down from
(ilasgow and Edinburgh. W. Black, Phaeton, xxix.
2. A pouring out or spilling; effusion: as, the
shedding of blood.
I thank the, lord, with ruful entent
Of thi peynus and thi turment,
With earful hert and dreri mod,
For schedynd of thi swet biod.
Holy Rood (E. E. T. S,), p. 194.
Almost all things are by the law purged with blood;
and without shedding of blood is no remission. Heb. ix. 22.
3. The act of letting fall, casting off, or part-
ing with something, as a plant its seed when
ripe, or a covering husk: as, the shedding of
wheat.
Promptly with the coming of the spring, if not even in
the last week of February, the buffalo begins the sAeddtni/
of bis winter coat.
W. T. Homaday, Smithsonian Report, 1887, ii. 412.
4. That which is shed, cast off, or exuviated ;
a cast or exuvium.
shedding- (shed'ing), n. [< sked^ + -ing^.']
A collection of sheds, or sheds collectively.
[CoUoq.]
Self-contained Roofs in spans np to 80 ft, of Malleable
Iron Columns requiring no foundations, are the most eco-
nomical forms of durable shedding that can be elected.
The Engineer, T,XIX., p. xv. of adv'ta.
shedding-motion
shedding-motion (shetring-md^'shoii), n. In
iteariuij. the meclianism for separating the
warp-threails in a loom, to form an opening
between them for the passage of the shuttle;
a dobby : more particularly used with reference
to the Jacquard loom. See loom'^,
shed-line (shed'Un), n. The summit line of
elevated ground; the line of a water-shed.
shed-roof (shed'rof), n, Ssune &s pent-roof,
shedulet, «. An obsolete form of schedule.
Sheeah, »• Same as Shiah.
sheeft, ». An obsolete form of sheaf ^,
Sheel. See sheal'^, sheaV^.
sheeling (she'ling), n. Same as sheaJ^,
sheen^ (shen), a, [Early mod. E. also shine
(simulating shine^, v.) ; < ME. sheenCj shene,
schejiCy scheene, sc^nej sceone, scone^ < AS. scene,
8cyn€j8C€6nej scidne =OS. sfconij sconi = OFries.
sh^, schen, schon = D. schoon = MLG. sckoney
LG. scJione, schon = OHG. sconi, MHG. schoency
G. schon, fair, beautiful, = Sw. skon = Dan.
5Ay(?«,beautiful(ef.Icel. sAyoH/, a piebald horse),
= Goth, skaiins, well-formed, beautiful (cf. ibna-
skauns, of like appearance, *sA-aMn^, n., appear-
ance, form, in comp, gutha-skaunei, the form of
God); prob., with orig. pp. formative -n, from
the root of AS. scedwian, etc., look at, show:
see^Aowi.] Fair; bright; shining; glittering;
beautiful. [Obsolete or areliaic]
"After sharpest shoures/'quath Pees, "mo&t sheene is the
Bonne." IHers Plow^nan (C), xxi. 456.
Youre blisful suster, Lucina the sfieene,
That of the see is chief goddesse and queene.
Chaucer, Franklin^ Tale, 1. 317.
So faire and sheene
As on the earth, great mother of us all.
With living eye more fayre was never seene.
Spenser, F. Q., II. i. 10.
By fountain clear, or spangled starlight sheen.
Shak., M. N. D., ii. 1. 29.
sheen^ (shen), v. i. [< sheen^, a.; in part a va-
riant of shine^,'] To shine ; glisten, [Obsolete
or archaic]
But he lay still, and sleeped sound,
Albeit the sun began to sheen.
Clerk Saunders (Child's Ballads, II. 48).
Ye'll put on the robes o* red.
To sheen thro' Edinbruch town.
Mary HamilUm (Child's Ballads, III. 326).
This town,
That, sheening far, celestial seenia to be.
Byron, Childe Harold, i. 17.
Sheen^ (8hGn),n. [isheen^.v. or a.'] Brightness;
luster; splendor. [Chiefly poetical.]
And thirty dozen moons with borrow'd sheen.
Shak., Hamlet, iii. 2. 167.
The sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea.
Byron, Destruction of Sennacherib.
sheen^f (shen), n. An obsolete (Scotch) plural
of shoe.
She lean'd her low down to her toe,
To loose her true love's sheen.
WiUie and Lady Maisry (Child's Ballads, II. 58).
Four-and-twenty fair ladies
Put on that lady's sheen.
Young Hastings the Groom (Child's Ballads, I. 189).
sheenlyt (shen'li), adv. [< ME. scheenely; <
sheetO- + -?y2.] Brightly.
Senin sterres that stounde stoutlich imaked,
Hee showes forthe scheenely shynand bright
Alisaunder of Macedoine (E. E. T. S.), L 631.
sheeny^ (she'ni), a. [< sheen'^ + -v^.] Bright ;
glittering; shining; beautiful. [Poetical.]
Did of late Earth's sons besiege the wall
Of sheeny Heaven, and thou, some goddess fled,
Amongst us here below to hide thy nectar'd head?
Milton, Death of Fair Infant, 1. 48.
Many a sheeny summer-morn
Adown the Tigris I was borne.
Tennyson, Arabian Nights.
sheeny^ (she'ni), w.; pi. sheenies (^-niz). [Origin
obscure.] A sharp fellow: specifically applied
opprobriously to Jews: also used attributively.
rSlang.]
sheep^(8hep), 71. ; pi. sheep. [< ME. sheep, s-hcp,
scheep, schepe, sceap, ssep, sep (pi. sheep, srheep),
< AS. scedp, seep (pi. scedp, seep) = OH. scdp =
OFries. skep, schep = D. schaap = MLGr. schdp,
liG.sehaap = OKGr.scdf, MHG. G.schaf, sheep;
root unknown. Not found in Goth., where lamb
(= E. /am6)i8used,nor in Scand., where Icel./a?r
= Sw. f&r = Dan./rtar, sheep, appears (see Far-
0€se).'\ 1. A ruminant mammal of the family
Bovidse, subfamily Ovinse, and genus Ovis; spe-
cifically, Ovisaries, domesticated in many varie-
ties, and one of the animals most useful to man.
The male is a ram. the female a ewe, and the young a lamb ;
the flesh of the adult is mutton ; of the young, lamb ; the
coat or fleece is wool, a principal material of warm cloth-
tng ; the prepaied hide Is sheepskin, used for many pur-
5560
poses; the entrails furnish sausage-cases, and are also
dried and twisted into strings for musical instruments
("catgut"); the prepared fat makes tallow or suet; and
the twisted horns of the ram are used in the manufac-
ture of various utensils. The milk of the ewe is thicker
than that of the cow, yielding a relatively gi-eater quan-
tity of butter and cheese. The sheep is one of the most
harmless and timid of animals. The artificial breeds of
0. aries are numerous; it is not known from what wild
stock or stocks they are descended. The mouflon is a
probable ancestor of some at least of the domestic va-
rieties, especially those with short tail and crescentic
horns. The principal English varieties of the sheep
are the lai^e Leicester, the Cotswold, the Southdown,
the Cheviot, and the black-faced breeds. The Leicester
comes early to maturity, attains a large size, has a fine
full form, and carries more mutton, though not of
finest quality, in the same apparent dimensions than any
other ; the wool is not so long as in some other breeds,
but is considerably finer. The Cotswolds have been im-
proved by crossing with Leicesters ; their wool is fine,
and their mutton fine-grained and full-sized. Southdowns
have short, close, and curled wool, and their mutton is
highly valued for its fiavor; they attain a large size. All
these require a good climate and rich pasture. The
Cheviot is much hardier, and is well adapted for the
green,grassy hills of Highland districts; the wool is sliort,
thick, and fine. The Cheviot possesses good fattening qual-
ities, and yields excellent mutton. The black-faced is
Iiardiest of all, and adapted for wild heathery hills and
moors ; its wool is long and coarse, but its mutton is the
verj' finest. The Welsli resembles the black-faced, but is
less hardy ; its mutton is delicious, but its fleece weighs
only about 2 pounds. The foreign breeds of sheep are
numerous, some of the more remarkable being (a) the
broad-tailed sheep, common in Asia and Egypt, and re-
markable for its large heavy tail ; (6) the Iceland sheep,
having three, four, or five horns ; (c) the fat-rumped
sheep of Tatary, with an accumulation of fat on the
rump, which, failing down in two great masses behind,
often entirely conceals the tail; (rf) the Astrakhan or
Bucharian sheep, with the wool twisted in spiral curls,
and of very fine quality; (e) the Wallachian or Cretan
sheep, with very large, long, and spiral horns, those of
the male being upright, and those of the female at right
angles with the head. All the wild species of Ovis have
the book-name sheep, and also particular designations.
(See argali, bighorn, moujlon, mnsimon.) The only indi-
genous form in the New World is the Rocky Mountain
sheep, or bighorn, O. montana. Certain Ovinse of modern
genera detached from 0pm are called sheep with a quali-
fying term, as the aoudad, or Barbary sheep. See cute un-
der anudad^ bighorn, merino, Ovis, quadricom, and Rumi-
nantia.
In that Lond ben Trees that beren Wolle, as thoghe it
were of Scheep. Mandeville, Travels, p. 268.
2. Leather made from sheepskin, especially
split leather used in bookbinding. — 3. In con-
tempt, a silly fellow — Barbary sheep, the bearded
ai^li, or aoudad. — Black Sheep, one who in character or
conduct does little credit to the flock, family, or commu-
nity to which he belongs ; the reprobate or disreputable
member : as, the black sheep of the family.
Jekyl ... is not such a black sheep neither but what
there are some white hairs about him.
Scott, St. Uonan's Well, xxxvi.
Indian sheept, the llama.— Marco Polo's sheep, Ovis
poll, one of the finest species of the genus. ^Merino
sheep. See merino. — Peruvian sheept, the llama. —
Rocky Mountain sheep, the bighorn.— Sheep's eye
or eyes, a bashful, dittident look; a wishful glance; a
leer ; an amorous look.
Go to, Nell ; no more sheep's eyes; ye may be caught, I
tell ye ; these be liquorish lads.
Ileyivood, 1 Edw. IV. (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, 1. 51).
Well, but for all that, I can tell who is a great admirer
of miss ; pray, miss, how do you like Mr. Spruce ? I swear
I have often seen him cast a sheep's eye out of a calf's head
at you ; deny it if you can. Sunft, Polite Conversation, i.
Those [eyes] of an amorous, roguish look derive their
title even from the sheep ; and we say such a one has a
sheep's eye, not so much to denote the innocence as the
simple slyness of the cast. Spectator.
A fig for their nonsense and chatter ! — suffice it, her
Charms will excuse one for casting sheep's eyes at her.
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, n. 3:^4.
Sheep's-foot trimmer, a sliears or cutting-pincers for
removing superfluous growth from a sheep's foot.—
Sheep's-head porgy. See ■^wrjry.— Vegetable sheep.
Same as sheep-plant. See liainUia.
sheep^t, «. [ME., also scheep, schepe, < AS.
**scepe, one who takes charge of sheep, < scedp,
sheep: see sheept. Cf. herd^, < herd^.^ A
shepherd.
In a somer seson, whan soft was the sonne,
I shope me in shrondes as I a shepe [var. scheep (A), shep-
herde (C)] were. Piers PlowTnan (B), Prol., 1. 2.
sheep-backs (shep'baks), n.pL Same as roches
moHfonnees.
The rounded knolls of rock along the track of a glacier
have been called sheep-backs (roches mouiomUes), in allu-
sion to their forms.
J. D. Dana, Man. of Geol. (rev. ed.), p. 699.
sheepberry(8hep'ber''''i),H.; ■p\.sheepl}€rries{-\z).
1. A small tree, Viburnum Lentago, of eastern
North America. It bears small white flowers
in cymes, and black edible drupes, — 2. The
fruit of the above tree, so called from its
fancied resemblance to sheep-droppings. Also
nanny-berry.
sheep-bitert (shep'bi''t6r), n. A mongrel or ill-
trained shepherd-dog which snaps at or worries
sheepish
sheep; hence, one who cheats or robs the simple
or those he should guard ; a petty thief, or per-
haps a faultfinding, backbiting, or censorious
person. Compare bite-sheep.
Wouldst thou not be glad to have the niggardly rascally
sheep-biter come by some notable shame?
Shak., T. N., ii. 5. 6.
I wish all such old sheep-biiers might dip their fingers in
such sauce to their mutton. Chapman, May-Day, iii. 1.
There are political sheep-biters as well as pastoral ; be-
trayers of public trust as well as of private.
SirR. L'E^range.
sheep-biting (shep'bi^^ting), a. Given to biting,
snapping at, or worrying sheep or simple or de-
fenseless persons: hence, given to robbing or
backbiting those under one's care.
Why, you bald-pated, lying rascal, you must be hooded,
must you? Show your knave's visage, with a pox to youl
Sliow your sheep-biting face, and be lianged an hour !
Shak., St. forM., v. 1. 359.
Sheep-hiting mongrels, hand-basket freebooters !
Middleton, Chaste Maid, ii. 2.
sheep-bot (shep'bot), n. A bot-fly, (Estrus on.'<,
or its larva. It is a large yellowish -gray fly, which de-
posits its young larvae in the nasal oriflces of sheep. The
larvfe crawl back iuto the passages of tlie nostrils or throat,
and usually into the frontal sinuses, where they remain
Sheep-bot {(Estrus OTJis).
I, adult fly, with wings closed ; 2, same, with wings expanded ; .3.
empW piiparium ; 4, full-grown larva, dorsal view: a, mouth-hooks;
5, full-grown larva, ventral view : b, anal appendages; 6, young larva :
c, analstigmata.
feeding upon the mucous membrane for nine months,
when they crawl out, drop to the ground, and transform
to pupse, issuing as flies in six weeks or more. They are
a source of great damage to sheep, and are frequently the
indirect or even direct cause of death. The sheep-bot is
common to Europe and America, and has been carried in
exported sheep to many other parts of the world.
sheep-cote (shep'kot), n. [< ME. schep-cote; <
sheep'^ + cotel.] A small inelosure for sheep
with a shepherd's house in it; a pen.
Pray you, if you know,
Where in the purlieus of this forest stands
A sheep-cote fenced about with olive trees?
Shak., As you Like it, iv. .3. 78.
sheep-dip (shep'dip), n. Same as sheep-wash.
sheep-dog (shep'dog), n. 1. A dog trained to
watch and tend sheep; especially, a collie. —
2. A chaperon. [Slang.]
" Some men are coming who will only bore you. I would
not ask them, but you know it 's for your good, and now I
have a sheep-dog, I need not be afraid to be alone." " A
sheep-dog — a companion ! Becky Sharp witli a companion I
Isn't it good fun?" thought Mrs. Crawley to herself.
Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xxxvii.
sheep-faced (shep'fast), a. Sheepish: bashful.
sheep-fariner (shep'far'mer), n. A farmer
whose occupation is the raising of sheep.
sheepfold (shep'fold), n. [Early mod. E. sheepe-
fould; < ME. sehepfalde; < sheep'^ + fold^, «.]
A fold or pen for sheep.
sheephead (shep'hed), n. Same as sheepshead,
a fisn.
In fishes which live near the bottom and among the
rocks, such as the sea-bass, red snapper, sheephead, and
perch, the scales are usually thick. Science, XV. 211.
sheep-headed (shep'hed''''ed), a. Dull; simple-
minded; silly; stupid.
And tliough it be a divell, yet is it most idolatrously
adored, honoured, and worshipped by those simple sheepe-
headed fooles whom it hath undone and beggered.
Johti Taylor, Works (1630). (Nares.)
sheepherdef, n. A Middle English form of
shejmerd.
sheep-holder (shep'hdl''''der), n. A cradle or
table for holding a sheep during the process of
shearing; a sheep-table. E. H. Knight.
sheep-hook (shep'huk), «. [< sheep*^ + hook.']
A shepherds' crook.
Thou a sceptre's heir,
That thus affect'st a sheep-hook!
Shak., W. T., iv. 4. 4S1.
sheepish (she'pish), a. [< ME. shepisshe; <
sheep'^ + -t^ftl.] If. Of or pertaining to sheep.
sheepish
Of other shepherds, some were running after their sheep,
strayed beyond their bounds ; . . . some setting a l)ell for
an ensign of a sheepish squadron.
Sir P. Sidney^ Arcadia, L
Of their sheepish Astarte yee heard euen now, and of
their Legend of Dagon. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 91.
2. Like a sheep; having the character attrib-
uted to sheep or their actions ; bashful ; timor-
ous to excess; over-modest; stupid; silly.
I haue reade oner thy sheepish discourse of the Lambe
of God and his Enemies, and entreated my patience to bee
good to thee whilst 1 read it
Nathe, Pierce Fenilesse, p. 45.
Wanting there [at home] changfe of company, ... he
will, when he comes abroad, i)e a sheepish or conceited
creature. Locke, Education, § 70.
I never felt the pain of a sheepish inferiority so misera-
bly in my life. Sterne, Sentimental Journey, p. 20.
Reserved and sheepish, that 's much against him.
GMsinith, She Stoops to Conquer, i. 1.
sheepishly (she'pish-Ii), adv. In a sheepish
manner; bashfully; with mean timidity or dif-
fidence; sillily.
sheepishness (she'pish-nes), n. The character
oflMing.slifepish; bashfulness; excessive mod-
esty or diffidence; mean timorousness.
sheep-laurel Cshep'la'rel), «. The lambkill,
hat mm angustifolia, an American shrub the
leaves of which are reputed poisonous to ani-
mals. Also xheep-poison, cnlfktll, tricky.
sheep-louse (shep'lous), «.' [Cf. ME. schepys
lawn-, 'sheep's louse'; see shecjA and /o««el.]
1 . A parasitic dipterous insect, Melophagus ovi-
nus; a sheep-tick. See ifelophagus, and cut
under sheep- tick. — 2. A mallophagous parasite,
TrichodecUn sphxrocephaliiit, 1 millimeter long,
infesting the wool ot sheep in Europe and Amer-
ica: more fully called red-lieadM sheep-louse.
sheepman (shep'man),n.; pi. sheepmen {-Taen).
A sheep-farmer or sheep-master.
Unless resenred or protected, the whole region will soon
or 1at« be devattAted by lumbermen and sheepmen
The Centiay, XL. 687.
sheep-market (shSp'mar'ket), n. A place
wlierr- slicip are sold. John v. 2.
sheep-master (shep'mfcs'tir), n. An owner of
sheep; u .sheep-farmer.
Snche Tengeaunce Ood toke of their inordinate and Tnaa-
cUble couetouanea, sendiuge amonge the ahepe that pes-
tiferous morrein, wblche much more iostely shouldehsoe
fallen on the shep^^nuutert owne heades.
Str T More, Utopia (tr by RoblnsonX L
I knew a nobleman In England that had the greatest
audits of any man In my time — a great grader, a great
eheepnuuler, a great timber man, a great collier.
Baeon, KIches (ed. 1887).
sheep-pen (shep'pen), n. An inelosure for
slii-ep ; a sheepfolo,
sheep-pest (shep'pest), n. 1. The gbeep-tick.
— 2. In hot., a {>erennial rosaceous herb, Acmna
octna. found in Australia and Tasmania- The
hardened calyi-tube In frtilt is beset with barbed spines,
ni»kJiiK it a serious nuisance in wooL
sheep-pick (shep'pik), n. A kind of hay-fork.
See gUeppick.
Bis servant Perry one evening In Campden-garden
made an hideous outcry, whereat some who heard It com-
ing in met hlro running, and seemingly frighted, with
a sheep-pick in bis hand, to whom he told a formal story
how be nad been set upon by two men In white with naked
■words, and bow be defended himself with bis ikeep-pick,
tbe handle whereof was cut in two or tbree places.
Bzam%nal»on (tf Joan Perry, etc. (1070). {Dmiet.)
sheep-plant (shfip'plant), «. See Baoulia.
sheep-poison (shep'poi'zn), n. 1. Same as
Hluoji-laurel. — 3. A Califomian plant, Lupinux
il'ii.iifliiruji,
sheep-poz fshep'poks), n. An acute conta-
giou.s febrile ilisf-ase of sheep, accompanied by
an eruption flosely resembling that of small-
pox; variola ovina. Itappearsinepl(oOtics,thenioi^
tallty ranging from 10 to 50 percent, atcording to the type
of the disease. The virus Is transmitted thnrngb the or,
as well as by direct contact. The disease, not known in
the I'nited At«t<», has been greatly restricted on tbe con-
tinent of r- "cntyears by the strict enforcing of
sanitary i ■■ measures. Thus, In 1887 it pre-
vailed to i t In France, Italy, and Austria. In
Rumania, ci ti tiM r liand. It attacked during tbe same
yc-ir lU.OK) sheep. Iiii«:ul:ition was practised during the
ftrst half iif the pnsent century, and frequently became
the source uf fresh outbreaks. It la now recommended
only whi'T] the disease has setnally appeared In a flock.
The formidable disorder of ihem-pox Is confined chiefly
to the continent of Europe. Eneye. Krit., XXTV. 204.
sheep-rack (shep'rak). n. 1. A building for
holding sheep, especially for convenience in
feeding them. It Is provided with suitable gates or
doors, and is Rtted with a rack for hay and with troughs.
It Is sometimes mounted on a frame with wheels, so as to
be movable
2. The starling,.S'f«rnH.«rM/<7«nj(; so called from
its habit of perching on the ba(^ks of sheep to
feed on the ticks. [Prov. Eng.]
5561
sheep-range (shep'ranj), n. See range, 7 (a).
sheep-reevet (shep'rev), «. [< ME. shepe-refe;
< slieejA + reeve^.'\ A shepherd.
Item, where as Brorae ys not well wyllyng yn my maters,
whych for the wrong takyng and wyth haldyng my shepe
I ought take a accioun ayenst hym ; for declaracioun in
whate wyse he dyd it, John Bele my shepere/e can enforrae
you best, for he laboured al>out the recuvere of it
Paston Letters, L 175.
sheep-rot (shep'rot), n. A name given to the
bntterwort, Pingiiicula vulgaris, and the penny-
wort, Hydrocotyle vulgaris, marsh-plants sup-
posed to produce the rot in sheep. See rot, 2,
sheep's-bane,Jiukewort, and Hydrocotyle. Bntten
and Holland, Eng. Plant Names. [Prov. Eng.j
sheep-run (shep'run), «. A large tract of graz-
ing-country tit for pasturing sheep. A sheep-run
is properly more extensive than a sheepwalk. It appears
to have been originally an Austi-allan term.
sheep's-bane (sheps'ban), «. A species of pen-
nywort— in England Hydrocotyle vulgaris, and
in the West Indies H. umbellata : so named from
their association with sheep-rot. See Hydro-
cotyle an<l pennyrot.
Sheep's-beard (sheas' berd), n. A composite
plant of the genus Lrospermum (formerly Arno-
pogon), related to the chicory. There are two spe-
cies, natives of the Mediterranean region. U. Dalechampii,
a dwarf tufted plant with large lemon-colored heads, is
handsome in cultivation.
Sheep's-bit (sheps ' bit), n. A plant, Jasione
montana: so called, according to Prior, to dis-
tinguish it from the devil's-bit scabious. The
name is somewhat extended to other species of
the genus. See Jasione. Also called sheep's-
scabious.
sheep's-eye (sheps'i), n. See sheep's eye, under
sheep's-fescne (sheps'fes'kii), n. A grass, Fes-
tuca ociiia, native in many mountain regions,
also cultivated elsewhere. It is a low tutted per-
ennial with fine leaves and culms, perhaps the best of
pasture-grasses in sandy soQs, forming the bulk of the
sheep-pasturage in the Scotch Highlands. It is also an
exceuent lawn-grass.
sheep's-foot (sheps'fut), ». In printing, an
iron hammer with a split
C curved claw at the end
•^^ which serves for a han-
^^ die. The claw is used as
Sbeep'sfooi. a pry for lifting forms
from the bed of a press,
sheep-shank (shep'shangk), n. 1. The shank or
leg of a sheep; hence, something lank, slender,
or weak : in the quotation applied to a bridge.
I doubt na', frien', yell think
ye're nae sheepehank,
Ance ye were streekit o'er
frae Dank to bank!
Bwm$, Brigs of Ayr.
2. .yaut., a kind of knot,
sheepswool
There are two feasts annually held among the farmers,
. . , but not confined to any particulai- day. The first is
the sheep-shearing, and the second the harvest home.
Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 467.
Sheep-shearing macliine, a machine for shearing
sheep. The cutters usually reciprocate between guard-
teeth, like the knives of a mowing-machine.
sheep-shears (shep'sherz), «. sing, and pi. A
Sheep-shears.
Sheep-shank, a.
hitch, or bend made on a rope to shorten it
teniporarilv.
sheepshead (sheps'hed), n. if. A fool; a silly
person.
Ab errant Shttpeehtad. bast thou lln'd thus lon^
And dar'st not looke a Woman in the face?
Chapfman. All Fools (Works, 1878, 1. 186).
2. A sparoid fish, Archosargus or IHplodua pro-
batoceplialus (tormerly known as Sargus ovis),
abimdant on
the Atlantic
coast of the
United States,
and highly es-
teemed as a
food-fish. It Is
a stout- and
very deep-bodied
fish, with a steep
frontal profile, of
a grayish color
with about eight
vertical black bands, and the fins mostly dark. It attains
a length of 80 inches, though usually found of a smaller
size.
3. A scinnoid fish of the fresh waters of the
United States, Haplodtnntuji grunnicns. Also
callfd ilrinii, cronkir, and thunder-pumper. —
Sheepshead (or sheep's-head) porgy. see porgy.—
Three-banded sheepshead. .Same as moonfish (d).
sheepshead (shep.s'hed), v. «. To fish for or
ctttfli sheepshead. [U. 8.]
sheep-shearer (shep'sher'^r), n. One who
shears or dips sheep.
Jndab was comforted, and went up unto his sheep-
shearers to Timnalh. Oen. xxxvlll. 12.
sheep-shearing (shep'shSr'ing), n. 1. The act
of slicariiig sheep. — 2. The time of shearing
sheep; also, a feast ma<le on that occasion.
I must go buy spices for our sheep-shearing.
Skat.,W.T.,{v.3.12S.
Multiple bt-iHed Sheep-she.irs.
ti. a. h.indlcs joined by coiled spring £ ; *, *', plates joined to the
handles and sliifing upon each other, tile niction oeing liuiited by the
screwy working in slot g-; d, d. blades.
kind of shears used for shearing sheep. The
I)ointed blades are connected by a steel bow,
which renders them self -open-
ing.
sheep-silver (shep'sil'v^v), n.
1. A sum of money formerly
paid by tenants for release
from the service of washing
the lord's sheep. — 2. Mica.
Also shcep's-silver. [Scotch.]
The walls and roof . . composed
of a clear transparent rock, incmsted
with sheeps-sUver, and spar, and vari-
ons.bright stones.
Child /(ffirfami(Chlld's Ballads, 1. 249).
sheepskin (shep'skin), n. 1.
The skin of a sheep; especial-
ly, such a skin dressed or pre-
served with the wool on, and
used as a garment in many
?arts of Europe, as by peasants, shepherds, etc.
he skin of a sheep fastened to the end of a long stick Is
used In Australia for beating out bush-fires.
Qet the women and children into the river, and let the
men go up to windward with the shecp-ski^is.
H Kingdey, Geolfry Hamlyn, xxiv
2. Leather made from the skin of a sheep. See
«Aeepl, 2. — 3. A diploma, deed, or the like en-
grossed on parchment prepared from the skin
of the sheep. [Colloq.]
Where some wise draughtsman and conveyancer yet
toils for the entanglement of real estate In the meshes of
sheepOcin. Dickens, Bleak House, xxxll.
sheep-sorrel (shep'sor'el), «. A plant, Rumex
Acetosella, a slender weed with hastate leaves
of an acid taste, abounding in poor dry soils.
Also Md-sorrel. See cut under Sumex.
sheep^S-parsley (sheps'pars'li), n. 1. An um-
belliferous plant, Anthriscus sylvcstris. — 2.
Another umbelliferous plant, Chserophyllum
temulum. [Prov. Eng. in both senses.]
sheep-split (shep'split), «. The skin of a sheep
split by a knife or machine into two sections.
sheep's-scabious (sheps'ska'bi-us), n. Same as
sliiiji's-hit.
sheep's-silver, «. See shee2)-silfer, 2.
sheep-station (shep'sta'shon), n. A sheep-
farm. [Australia.]^
sheep-stealer (shep'ste'lfer), «. One who steals
sheep.
sheep-stealing (shep'ste'ling), «. The steal-
ing of sheep ; formerly a capital offense in
(ireat Britain.
sheepswool (sheps'wul), n. A kind of sponge,
Spongia equina, var. gossypina, of high commer-
cial value, found in Florida. Another sponge,
of unmarketable character, is there called bas-
tard sheepswool.
The riteeptunol sponges are by far the finest in texture
of tile American grades.
of any
Fisheries of U. S., V. ii. 820.
Sbeepsbead \,Arckosargus ^robatgelfhalus's
Sbcep-tick (MllofhagHS er'ttins), eight times natural
sheep-tick
sheep-tick (shep'tik), n. 1. A pupiparous dip-
terous insect of the family Hij)p<)b<).iri<1ie, Me-
lophaflii.t oriiiiis, which infests sheep, it is com-
mon in pasture-grounds aliout the conimencement of
summer. The pupa? laid by the female are shining oval
bodie*, like the pips of small apples, which are to be seen
attached by the pointed ends to the wool of the sheep.
From these issues the tick, which is horny, bristly, of a
rusty-ocher color, and destitute of wings. It fixes its head
in the skin of the sheep, and extracts the blood, leaving
a large round tumor. Also called »beep-louse. See cut on
preceding page.
2. Same as sheep-louse, 2.
sheepwalk (shep'wak), n. A pasture for sheep;
a tract of considerable extent where sheep feed.
See sheep-run.
It is only within the last few years that the straths and
glens of Sutherland have been cleared of their inhabitants,
and that the whole country has been converted into an im-
mense sheep walk.
Quoted in Mayhew't London Labour and London Poor,
[II. 310.
sheep-walker (shep'wa"k6r), n. A sheep-mas-
ter: one who keeps a sheepwalk. Eneyc. Diet.
[Colloq.]
sheep-wash (shep'wosh), M. l. Alotionorwash
applied to the fleece or skin of sheep, either to
kill vermin or to preserve the wool. — 2. A
sheep-washing (preparatory to sheep-shearing),
or the feast held on that occasion.
A seed-cake at fastens ; and a lusty cheese-cake at our
sheepe-wixsh.
Two LancoiMre Lmera (1640), p. 19. (UaUiwdl.)
Also sheep-dip.
sheep-whistling (shep'hwis'ling), a. Whis-
tling after sheep ; tending sheep.
An old sJuep-tchisUing rogue, a ram-tender.
Shak., W. T., It. 4. 805.
sheep-worm (shep ' werm), n. A nematoid
worm, Trichocephalus affinis, infesting the cae-
cum of sheep.
sheepy (8he'pi),o. [< s/ieepl -t- -t/l.] Pertain-
ing to or resembling sheep; sheepish. Chaucer.
sheer^ (sher), a. [< (n) ME. shere, scheere, schere,
skere, < AS. as if "scsere = Icel. slcierr = Sw. sMr
= Dan. skjser, bright, clear, sheer, pure ; merged
in ME. with (6) ME. shire, schire, schyre, shir, <
AS. scir, bright, = OS. skir, skiri = OFries. skire
= MD. schir = MLG. schir, LG. schier = MHG.
schir, G. schier, clear, free from knots, = Icel.
skirr = Sw. skir = Goth, skeirs, bright, clear;
< Teut. ■/ ski, in AS. scinan, etc., shine: see
shine.'] If. Pure; clear; bright; shining.
The blod scbot for scham in-to his schyre face.
Sir Gawat/ne and the Oreen Knight (E. E. T. S.), 1. 317.
Had lifte awey the grave stone.
That clothed was as snow shire.
Cursor Mundi, MS. Coll. Trin. Cantab, f. 106. (HalUwell.)
Thou sheer, immaculate, and silver fountain.
From whence this stream through muddy passages
Hath held his current and defiled himself !
Shak., Kich. II., v. 3. 61.
2. Uneombined with anything else; simple;
mere ; bare ; by itself.
If she say I am not fourteen pence on the score for sfieer
ale, score me up for the lyingest knave in Christendom.
Shak., T. of the S., Ind., ii. 25.
Thou never hadst in thy house, to stay men's stomachs,
A piece of Suffolk cheese, or gamnien of bacon,
Or any esculent, but sheer drink only.
Massitiffer, New Way to Pay Old Debts, iv. 2.
3. Absolute ; utter ; downright : as, sheer non-
sense or ignorance; .s/ieer waste ; .sTieer stupidity.
Poor Britton did as he was bid — then went home, took
to his bed, and died in a few days of sheer fright, a victim
to practical joking.
J. Ashton, Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne, II. 37.
Here is a necessity, on the one side, that I should do that
which, on the other side, it appears to be a sheer impossi-
bility that I should even attempt. De Quincey.
A conviction of inward defilement so sheer took posses-
sion of me that death seemed better than life.
H. James, Subs, and .Shad., p. 126.
Mr. Jonathan Rossiter held us all by the sheer force of
his personal character and will, just as the ancient mari-
ner held the wedding guest with his glittering eye.
//. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 424.
4. Straight up or straight down ; perpendicu-
lar; precipitous; unobstructed: as, a «/icer de-
scent.
This "little cliff" arose, a sheer unobstructed precipice
of black shining rock. Poe, Tales, I. 161.
Upon a rock that, high and sheer.
Rose from the mountain's breast.
Bryant, Hunter's Vision.
6. Very thin and delicate; diaphanous: espe-
cially said of cambric or muslin.
Fine white batistes, French lawns, and sheer organdies
delicately hemstitched.
New York Eveninff Post, March 8, 1890.
Sheer^ (sher), adr. [< ME. *schere (= MLG.
schire = G. schier); <«7teeri, a.] Quite; right;
straight; clean.
5562
You give good fees, and those beget good causes ;
The prerogative of your crowns will carry the matter.
Carry it sheer. Fletcher, Spanish ('urate, iii. 1.
Sturdiest oaks,
Bow'd their stiff necks, loaden with stormy blasts,
Or torn up sheer. Milton, P. R., iv. 419.
Sheer he cleft the bow asunder.
Longfellow, Hiawatha, vii.
She, cut off sheer from every naturiOl aid.
Brouming, Ring and Book, IV. 720.
Then we came to the isle Moliwa, where dwelt jEolus,
... in a floating island, and all about it is a wall of
bronze unbroken, and the cliff runs up sheer from the sea.
Butcher and Lang, Odyssey, x.
sheer^t (sher), v. t. [< ME. (a) slteren, scheren,
skeren (= OSw. skeera = ODan. skxre), (b) also
schiren, skiren, make bright or pure ; < sheer^, «.]
To make pure ; clear ; purify.
sheer'-t, i'- An obsolete spelling of shear^.
sheer'^ (sher), v. i. [Formerly also shear, shere;
a particular use of sheer^, now spelled shear,
due to D. influence, or directly < D. scheren,
shear, cut, barter, jest, refl. withdraw, go away,
warp, stretch, = G. scheren, refl., withdraw, take
oneself off: see shear^.~\ Naut., to swerve or
deviate from a line or course ; turn aside or
away, as for the purpose of avoiding collision
or other danger : as, to sheer off from a rock.
They boorded him againe as before, and threw foure
kedgers or grapnalls in iron chaines ; then shearing off,
they thought so to have torne downe the grating.
Capt. John Smith, True Travels, I. 52.
As yebarke«ft«re(f byyecanow, he shote him close under
her side, in y« head.
Brad/ord, Plymouth Plantation, p. 317.
If they're hard upon you, brother, . . . give 'em a wide
berth, sheer off and part company cheerily.
Dickens, Dombey and Son, xxxix.
To Sheer alongside, to come carefully or by a curving
movement alongside any object.
sheer3(sher), n. l<. shee>-S, v.] 1 . The rise from
a horizontal plane of the longitudinal lines of
a ship as seen in looking along its side. These
lines are more or less curved ; when they do not rise no-
ticeably at the bow and stem, as is most common, the
ship is said to have a straight sheer or little sheer. See
cut under /oreftodi/.
The amount of rise which gives the curvilinear form of
the top side, decks, etc., is termed the sheer of these lines.
Thearle, Naval Arch., § 90.
In side-wheel boats the guards ai'e wide enough to in-
close the paddle-boxes. There is a very slight sheer, or
rise, at the bows, and a smaller rise at the stern, so that
the deck is practically level. The Century, XXVIII. 365.
2. The position in which a ship at single anchor
is placed to keep her clear of the anchor. — 3.
The paint-strake or sheer-strake of a vessel. —
4. A curving course or sweep ; a deviation or
divergence from a particular course.
When she was almost abeam of us they gave her a wide
sheer; this brought her so close that the faces of the peo-
ple aboard were distinctly visible.
W. C. Russell, Sailor's Sweetheart, v.
[Nautical in all uses.]
Sheer draft. Sea drafts. — Sheer plan. SameassAcer
draft. Sheer ratline. See ratline.- To break sheer.
.See break. — To quicken the sheer, in ship-building, to
shorten the radius of the curve. — 'To straighten the
sheer, to lengthen the radius of the curve.
sheer-batten (sher'bat'''n), »!. l. Naut.,%a,me
as sheer-poU, 2. — 2. In ship-building, a strip
nailed to the ribs to indicate the position of
the wales or bends preparatory to bolting the
planks on.
Sheer-hooks (sher'hiiks), n.pl. [Prop, shear-
honk.i; ef. shearing-hooks. Sheer is the old spell-
ing, but retained prob. because of association
with the also nau-
tical S/iCCT-S.] A
combination of
hooks having the
„ _ oneer-nooKS.
inner or concave
curve sharpened, so as to cut through whatever
is caught ; especially, such hooks formerly used
in naval engagements to out the enemy's rig-
ging.
sheer-hulk (sher'hulk), «. An old dismasted
ship, with a pair of sheers mounted on it for
masting ships. Also shear-hulk. See cut in
next column.
Here, a sheer hulk, lies poor Tom Bowling,
The darling of the crew ;
No more he'll hear the tempest howling,
For Death has broached him to.
C. Dibdin, Tom Bowling.
sheering-hookst, ». pi. See sliearing-hooks.
sheer-leg (sher'leg), ». 1. One of the spars
forming sheers. — 2. i)l. Same as sheers.
sheer lesst, a. See shearless.
sheerly (sher'li), adv. [< ME. sehyrly; < sheer^
+ -ly''^.'] Absolutely; thoroughly; quite.
sheet
on
There he schrof hym sehyrly, & schewed his mysdedez
Of the more tt the mynne, <fc merci besechez,
& of absolucioun he on the segge calles.
Sir Oawayne and the Green Knight (B. E. T. S.), 1. 1880.
Turn all the stories over in the world yet.
And search through all the memories of mankind.
And find me such a friend ! h' 'as out^done all,
Outstripp'd em sheerly, all, all, thou hast, Polydore !
To die for me ! Fletcher, Mad Lover, v. 4.
Sheermant, "• An obsolete form of shear-
man.
sheer-mold (sher'mold), ». In ship-building, a
long thin plank for adjusting the ram-line on
the ship's side, in order to form the sheer of
the ship. One of its edges is curved to the ex-
tent of sheer intended to be given.
sheer-pole (sher'pol), n. 1. One of the spars
of a sheers, or a single spar stayed by guys,
and serving as a substitute for sheers of the
usual form. — 2. Naut., an iron rod placed hori-
zontally along the shrouds on the outside, just
above the deadeyes, and seized firmly to each
shroud to prevent its turning. Also sheer-bat-
ten.
sheers (sherz), «. pi. it. An obsolete spelling
of shears. — 2. A hoisting apparatus used in
masting or dismasting ships, putting in or
taking out boilers, mounting or dismounting
guns, etc., and consisting of two or more
spars or poles fastened together near the
top, with their lower ends separated to form
a base. The legs are steadied by guys, and from the top
depends the necessary tackle for hoisting. Permanent
sheers, in dockyards, etc., are sloped together at the top,
and crowned with an iron cap bolted thereto. The sheers
used in masting, etc., are now usually mounted on a
wharf, but were formerly placed on an old ^ip called a
sheer-hulk. The apparatus is named from its resemblance
in form to a cutting-shears. Also shears, shear-legs.
sheer-strake (sher'strak), n. [< sheer^ +
strake.'] In ship-building, same as paint-strake.
Sheer strakes are the strakes of the plating (generally
outer) which are adjacent to the principal decks.
Thearle, Naval Arch., § 298.
Sheer Thursday (sher-therz'da). [< ME. shere
Thursdai, schere Tliorsdai, scere Tliorsdai, <
Icel. skiri-thorsdagr (= Sw. skdr-torsdag =
Dan. skjeer-torsdag), < skira, cleanse, purify,
baptize (< skirr, pure), + thorsdagr, Thursday:
see sheer^, a., and Thursday.] The Thursday
of Holy Week; Maundy Thursday. Compare
Chare Th ursday.
And the nexte daye, that was Shyre Thursdaye, aboute
noone. we landed at Kyryell in Normandy, and rode to
Depe the same nyght. Sir R. Guylfmde, Pylgrymage, p. 3.
sheerwatert, «• An obsolete form of shear-
water.
sheesheh (she'she), n. [< Pers. word signify-
ing ' glass.'] An Eastern pipe with long flex-
ible stem; like the narghile, except that the
water-vessel is of glass.
sheet! (shet), n. [Underthis form (early mod.
E. also shcat) are merged three words of differ-
ent formation, but of the same radical origin:
(a) < ME. shcte, schete, scheete, ssete, < AS. scete,
.scytc (not *scyta as in Lye), pi. scytan, a sheet
(of cloth) ; (6) < ME. schete,<AS. seedta, the foot
of a sail (scedt-line, a line from the foot of a sail,
a sheet), = MD. *schote, D. sc/ioof = MLG. schote,
LG. schote, > G. schote, a line from the foot of
a sail; the preceding being secondary foi'ms of
the more orig. noun ; (c) < ME. -ichete, scei, < AS.
scedt, scet, pi. sccdtas, sccdttas. scetas, a sheet
(of cloth), a towel, the corner or fold of a
garment, also a projecting angle (thry-scedt,
three-cornered, etc.), a part (eorthan scedt,
sheet
foldan scedt, a portion of tlie earth, a region,
the earth; sS^ scedt, a portion of the sea, a
gulf, bay. etc.). = OFries. skat, schdt, the fold
of a garment, the lap, = D. schoot = MLG.
sclt6t= OSG. scoz, also seoco, scosa, MHG. scho::,
G. schoss, schooss, the fold of a garment, lap,
bosom, = Icel. skaut, the comer of a square
cloth or other object, a corner or quarter of
the earth or heavens, a line from the foot of a
sail, the skirt or sleeve of a garment, the lap,
bosom, a hood, = Sw. skote = Dan. skjcid, the
flap of a coat, the lap, bosom, = Goth, skauts,
the hem of a garment ; appar. orig. in sense of
'projecting corner,' so called as jutting out, or
less prob. from the resemblance to the head of
a spear or arrow (cf. gore^, a triangular piece
of cloth or ground, ult. < AS. gar, spear); from
the root of AS. sceotan (pret. scedt), etc., shoot :
see shoot. The forms of these three groups
show mixture with each other and with forms
of shoot, n., and shot^, «.] 1. A large square
or rectangular piece of linen or cotton spread
over a bed, under the covers, next to the sleeper:
as, to sleep between sheets.
Se the thelahe fayre <!t swete, or elles loke ye have clene
tketet; than make ap bis bedde manerly.
Babea Book (E. E. T. S.), P- 283.
>"e ghftis clene to lye betwene,
Made of thred and twyne.
The Xutbrou-ru JTatd^ (ChUd's Ballads, IT. ISI).
How bravely thon becomest thy bed, fresh Illy,
And whiter than the theett !
Shak., Cymbellne, il. 2. 15.
2. In general, a broad, usually flat, and rela-
tively thin piece of anything, either very flex-
ible, as liuen, paper, etc., or less flexible, or
rigid, as lead, tin, iron, glass, etc. (a plate).
Cure lady her hede sche acbette in a ichele.
And 3it lay still doted and dased.
As a womroan mapped and maaed.
Holy Bood (E. E. T. S.\ p. 216.
(o) One of the separate pieces, of definite size, in which
paper is made ; the twent) -fourth part of a quire. In the
ftriDting-trade the sheet is more clearly defined by naming
ts size : as, a theel of cap or a tbeet of royal (see tizet qjf
paper, under paper); in bookbinding tbe sheet is further
defined by specifying its fold : as, a iheet of quarto or a
theet of duodecima
1 would I were so good an alchemist to persuade yon
that all tbe virtue of tbe best affections that one could
express in a theet were in this rag of paper.
Donne, Letters, xxxiii.
tb) A newspaper : so called as being usually printed on a
large piece of paper and folded.
That guilty man would fain have made a sliroud of his
Morning Herald, He would liave flung the cAeef over his
whole lx)dy, and lain hidden Uiere from all eyes.
Thaettray, Philip, xvi.
(e) pi. Leaves and pages, as of a book or a pamphlet.
IKare^l
In sacred tluelt of either Testament
Til liard to flnde a higher Argument.
Syltmler, tr. of Do Bartas's Weeks, i. 1.
The following anecdote is also related of him, Imt with
what degree of truth tbe editor of tbeae Atett will not
pretend to determine. Li/e of Qian (reprint 1887X P- 23.
(d) In vfMtK, a separate portion of a surface, analogous
to tbe branch of a curve ; especially, one of the planes of
a Rlemann's snrface.
{SheH is often used in composition to denote that the sub-
stance to the name of which it is prefixed Is in tbe form of
sheets or thin plates: as, <A«eMron, sAwt-giass, >AMt-tln.)
3. A broad expanse or surface : as, a sheet of
water, of ice, or of flame.
8ucb tkuU of fire, rocta bursts of horrid thunder.
5AaJr., Lear, Ui. 2. M.
We behold oarorchard-treci covered with a white iketi
of bloom In the spring.
DoTvim, CroM and 8«U Fertilisation, p. 400.
When the river and b» are aa smootb as a sAeet of
beryl-green silk. O. IT. Hohne*, Autocrat, p. 186.
4t. A sail.
A deeper Sea I now perforce most saHe,
And lay my tkeaU ope to a freer gale.
Heyunod, Anna and I'hillis.
6. Naitt., a rope or chain fastened to one or both
of the lower coiTiers of a sail to extend it and
hold it extended, or to change its direction.
In the square sails above the courses the ropes by which
the clues are extended are called sAwte. In the conrses
each cine has both a tack and a sheet, the tack being
used to extend the weather clue and the sheet the lee
clue. In fore-and-aft sails — except gaft-topMll^ where
the reverse is the case— the sheet secnres tbe after lower
comer and tbe tack the forward lower comer. In stud-
dingaails the tack secnres the outer clue and the sheet the
inner one.
6. In anal, and roo/., a layer; a lamina or la-
mella, as of any membranous tissue. — 7. In
mining, galena in thin and continuous masses.
The ore itself is frequently called sheet-mineral.
[Upper Mississippi lead region.]— Advance-
■beeta. Sc mimnrt. n , 8.— A sheet m the wind,
somewhat tijwy ; fu'idled ; hence, to l)e or have three
■bavta in the wind, tu be very ti;My ur drunk.
5563
Though S. might be a thought tipsy — a theet or so in
the irind — he was not more tipsy than was customary with
him. He talked a great deal about propriety and steadi-
ness, . . . but seldom went up to the town without coming
down three »heets in the wind.
R. H. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 185.
Flat Sheets. See Manket-depoeit.- Flowing sheets.
i^ee jiovring.— ln sheets, not folded, or folded but not
bound : said especially of printed pages : as, a copy of a
l)Ook in sheets. — Oiled sheets, See oil. — Set-off sheet.
See get-off.— Sheet and a half, in printing, sl sheet of pa-
per, or a folded section, which contains one half more pa-
per or pages than the regular sheet or section. — To flow
a Jib or staysail sheet. See jiowi.— To gather aft a
sheet. See <;o(A«-.— To haul the sheets flat aft. See
flati.
sheetl (shet),r. t. [< sheets, n.] 1. To furnish
with sheets:- as, a sheeted couch. — 2. To fold
in a sheet; shroud; cover with or as with a
sheet.
Like the stag, when snow the pasture thefts,
The bark of trees thou browsed'st.
Shak., A. and C, i. 4. 65.
A little ere the mightiest Julius fell.
The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead
Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets.
Shak., Hamlet, i. 1. 11.1.
The strong door sheeted with iron— the mgged stone
stairs. Bulwer, My Novel, xii. 5.
3. To form into sheets ; arrange in or as in
sheets.
Then sheeted rain burst down, and whirlwinds howl'd
aloud.
ScoU, Vision of Don Roderick, Tbe Vision, st. 36.
To Sheet home (natit. ). See home, adt>.
Our topsails had been sheeted home, the head yards
braced aback, the fore-topmast staysail hoisted, and the
buoys streamed. B. //. Dana, Jr., Before the Aiast, p. 70.
shest^ (shet). An old variant of shoot, used in
sheet-anchor, and common in dialectal speech.
sheet-anchor (shet'ang'kor), n. [Formerly also
xh<>ot-<iiuhor, shoot-artker, shot-anchor; lit. an-
chor to be ' shot ' out or suddenly lowered in
case of great danger ; < shoot, sheets, + anchor'^.']
X, One of two anchors, carried on shores in the
waist, outside, abaft the fore-rigging, and used
only in cases of emergency. The sheet-anchors were
formerly the heaviest anchors carried, but they are now of
tbe same weight as the bowers.
Hence — 2. ' Figuratively^ chief dependence;
main reliance ; last resort.
This saying they make their sAoof-anJter.
Cranmer, Ans. to Gardiner, p. 117.
sheet-bend (shet'bend), n. Nant., a bend very
commonly used for fastening two ropes to-
gether. It is msde by lAasing the end of one rope up
through the bight of another, round both parts of the
bight, and under Its own part.
sheet-cable (shet'ka'bl), n. The chain-cable
belonging to or used with the sheet-anchor.
Also called sheet-chain.
sheet-calender fshet'kal'en-d&r), n. A form
of i-al(ii<lcriiit,'-machine in which rubber, paper,
ami other materials are pressed into sheets
and surfaced. E. II. Knight.
sheet-copper (shet'kop'^r), n. Copper in sheets
or iiroail thin plates.
sheet-delivery (shet'de-liv'6r-i), n. In print-
ing, the act or process oif delivering the printed
sheet from the form to the fly. E. B. Knight.
sheeted (she'ted), p. a. [< sheets + -ed^.] 1.
Having a broad white band or patch around
the body: said of a beast, as a cow. — 2. In
printing, noting presswork which requires the
placing of a clean sheet over every printed
sheet to prevent the offset of moist ink.
sheetent (she'tn), a. [< sheef^ + -«n2.] Made
of sheeting.
Or wanton rigg, or letcher dissolute.
Do stand at Powles-Crosse In a sheeten sute.
DavUs, Paper's (^mplaint, 1. 2.50. (Davies.)
sheet-glass (shet'gUs), n. A kind of crown-
glass made at first in the form of a cylinder,
which is cut longitudinally and placed in a fur-
nace, where it opens out into a sheet — Bheet-
glasa machine, a machine for foraiing glass in a plastic
state into a sheet. It consists of an inclined table, on
which the molten glass is poured, with adjustable pieces
on the sides of the table to regulate the width of the
laver. From the table the sheet of glass passes to rollers,
which bring it to the desired thickness.
sheeting (she'ting), n. [< sheet^ + -»n</l.] 1.
The act or process of forming into sheets or ar-
ranging in sheets: as, the sheeting of tobacco. —
2. Stout white linen or cotton cloth made wide
for bed-sheets: it is sold plain or twilled, and
bleached or unbleached. — 3. lahydraul. engin.,
a lining of timber to a caisson or coffer-<iam,
formed of sheet-piles, or j)ile8 with planking
between ; also, any form of sheet-piling used
to protect a river-bank. — 4. In niilit. engin.,
short pieces of plank used in conjunction with
shekel
frames to support the earth forming the top
and sides of galleries Calico sheeting, cotton
cloth used for bed-sheets. [Eng.]
sheeting-machine (she'ting-ma-shen'), v. A
wool-combiiig machine.
sheeting-pile (she'ting-pil), n. Same as sheet-
pile.
sneet-iron (shet'i'^m), «. Iron in sheets or
broad thin plates.
sheet-lead (shet'led'), «. See leads.
sheet-lightning (shet'lit-ning), n. See light-
)iiiig^, 2.
No pale sheet-liffhtnings from afar, but fork'd
Of the near storm, and aiming at his head.
Tennyson, Aylmer's Field.
sheet-metal (shet'mefal), «. Metal in sheets
or thin plates — Sheet-metal die, one of a pair of
formers between which sheet-metal is pressed into vari-
ous shapes.— Sheet-metal drawing-press, a form of
stamping-machine for forming seamless articles from
shee^metal. — Sheet-metal gage, a gage, usually work-
ing by a screw, for measuring tiie thickness of sheet-metal.
— Sheet-metal polisher, a machine witli scouring sur-
faces, between which metallic plates are passed to remove
scale or foreign matters preparatory to tinning, painting,
etc.— Sheet-metal scourer, a machine in which sheet-
metal is scoured by means of wire brushes, and polished
by rollers covered with an elastic or ilbrous material and
carrying sand.- Sheet-metal straightener, a machine
for straightening sheet-metal by tlie action of rollers or
pressure surfaces applied transversely to the bend or
buckle of the plate.
sheet-mineral (shet'min'e-ral), n. A name
given to galena when occurring in thin sheet-
like masses, especially in the upper Mississippi
lead region. See shect^, 7.
sheet-pile (shet'pil), ». A pile, generally formed
of thick plank shot or jointed on the edge, and
sometimes grooved and tougued, driven be-
tween the main or gage piles of a coffer-dam or
other hydraulic work, either to retain or to ex-
clude water, as the case may be. Also sheeting-
pile. See cut under sea-wall.
sheet-work (shet'w^rk), n. \xx printing, press-
work in which the sheet is printed on one side
by one form of type, and on the other side by
another form : in contradistinction to half-sheet
tcork, in which the sheet is printed on both
sides from the same form.
sheeve, «. See sheared.
shefet, «. An obsolete form of sheaf ^.
sheik, sheikh (shek or shak), n. [Also scheik,
shaik, sliiyk, sheijkh, shaykh, formerly s/iwi ; =
OF. esceque, seic, F. cheik, scheik, cheikh = G.
scheik = Turk, sheijkh, < Ar. sheikh, a chief,
shaykh, a venerable old man, lit. 'old' or 'elder'
(used like L. senior: see senior, sire, seigneur,
etc.), < shdkha, grow old, be old.] In Arabia
and other Mohammedan countries, an old man ;
an elder, (a) The head of a tribe or village ; a chief.
Here wee should have paid two dollars apeice for our
heads to a Sheck of the Arabs. Sandys, Travaiies, p. 119.
We may hope for some degree of settled government
from the native sultans and Meikhs of the great tribes.
Kineteenth CeiUury, XXVI. 862.
I resolved to take a Berberi, and accordingly summoned
a Shaykh — there Is a Shaykh for everything down to
thieves in Asia — and made known my want.
R. F. Burton, El-Medinah, p. 62.
(b) A religious chief among Mohammedans ; a title of
learned or devout men; master. — Sheik ul Islam, the
title of the grand mufti at Constantinople, the chief au-
thority in matters of sacred law of the Turkish empire;
the presiding official of the hierarchy of Moslem doctors
of law.
shell, sheiling, n. Same as sheal^.
shekarry (she-kar'i), n. See shikaree.
shekel (shek'el), «. [Formerly also side (< F.) ;
= D. ^ikkel = G. Sw. Dan. sekel = Icel. sikill, <
OF. sicle, dele, F. side = Sp. Pg. It. sido, < LL.
sicliis, < Gr. ain^Mi, aiy^M;, a Hebrew shekel, a
weight and a coin (expressed by SiSpaxfiov in
the Septuagint, but equal to 4 Attic Spaxfai in
Josephus; the Persian o/y/of was one three-
thousandth part of the Babylonian talent), <
Heb. sheqel, a shekel (weight), < shdqal, As-
syrian shdqual = Ar. thaqal, weigh.] 1. A
unit of weight first tised in Babylonia, and
there equal to one sixtieth part of a mina. As
there were two Assyrian minas, so there were two shekels,
one of 17 grams (2.58 grains troy), the other of 8.4 grams
(129 grains). A trade shekel had a weight of 8.2 grams
(127 grains). Modified both in value and in its relation
to the mina, the shekel was adopted by the Phenieians,
Hebrews, and other peoples. There were many differ-
ent Phenician shekels, varying through 15.2 grams (2.34
grains), 14.5 grams (224 grains), 1-1.1 grams (218 grains),
down to 1.1.5 grams (208 grains). The Hebrew shekel, at
least under the Maccabees, was 14.1 grams. See also
siotos.
2. The chief silver coin of the Jews, probably
first coined in 141 n. c. by Simon Maccabipus.
obverse, "Shekel of Israel," pot of manna or a sacred ves-
sel; reverse, "Jeru<Uem the holy," flower device, sup-
shekel
JewiJ
Reverse.
litish Museum, i Size of original.)
posed to be A&ron's rod budding. Specimens usuiilly
weigh from 212 to 220 grains. Half-shelcels were also
struck in sUver at the same date.
3. pi. Coins; coin; money. [Slang.]
From their little cabinet-piano were evoked strains of
enchanting melody by fingers elsewhere only to be bought
by high-piled nhekeh. The CeiUury, XL. 577.
shekert, «. An obsolete form of checker^.
Shekinah, n. See ShecMimh.
sheldlf, «. An obsolete form of shield.
sheld^ (sheld), a. and n. An obsolete or dialec-
tal form of s/ioWl for shoal^.
Sheld^ (sheld), a. [Also, erroneously, shelled
(Halliwell); appar. only in comp., as in shel-
drake and sheklapple, being the dial, or ME.
sheld, a shield, used of 'spot' in comp.: see
sheld^, sheldapple, sheldrake.'] Spotted; varle-
gated. Coles.
eldaflef, n. See sheldapple.
sheldapple (shel'dap-l), n. [Also in obs. or dial,
forms sheldappel, sheld-aple, sheldafle (appar. by
error), also shell-apple, sheel-apple, early mod.
E. sheld appel, appar. for *sheld-dapple, < shehU,
shield, + dapple. The second element may,
however, be a popular perversion of alp'^, a
bullfinch. Cf. D. schildiHnk, a greenfinch, lit.
'shield-finch.' Cf. sheldrake.'] 1. The chaf-
finch. [Prov. Eng.]— 2. The crossbill, Loxia
ciirrirostra. See cut under crossbill.
Sheld-fowl (sheld'foul), n. [< sheld (as in shel-
drake) + foicl^.] The common sheldrake. [Ork-
ney.]
sheldrake (shel'drak), «. [Formerly also shell-
drake (also .thieldrake, shield-drake, shildrake,
appar. artificial forms according to its orig.
meaning), < ME. scheldrak, prob. for *sheld-
drake, lit. 'shield-drake,' < sheld, a shield (in
allusion to its ornamentation) (< AS. scyld, a
shield, also part of a bird's plumage), + drake:
see shield and droke\ Cf. Icel. skjoldungr, a
sheldrake, skjoldottr, dappled, < skjold, a shield,
a spot on cattle or whales; Dan. skjoldet, spot-
ted, brindled, < skjold, a spot, a shield. Cf . shel-
duck, slield-fowl. The Orkney names skeldrake,
skeelduck, skeelgoose appar. contain a coiTupted
form of the Scand. word cognate with E. sheldX,
shield.] 1. A duck of either of the genera Ta-
dorna and Casarca. The common sheldrake is T.
vulpamer, or T. comuta, the so-called links goose, sly goose,
Sheldrake ( Tadarna cormc :.
.i^/.mser).
$keelgoose or skeelduck, burrow- or barrow-diick. berqan-
der, etc., of Great Britain and o her parts of Europe, Asia,
and Africa. This is a duck, iliough with somewhat the
figure and carriage of a goose, and belongs to the Ana-
tinie (having the hallux unlobedX but is maritime, and
notable for nesting in underground burrows. It is about
as large as the mallard, and has a similar glossy greenish-
black head and neck ; the plumage is otherwise varied with
black, white, and chestnut in bold pattern ; the bill is car-
mine, with a frontal knob, and the legs are flesh-colored.
This bird is half-tamed in some places, like the eider-duck,
and laid under contribution for its eggs. The ruddy shel-
drake or Brahmlny duck is T. casarca, or Casarca rutila,
wide-ranging like the foregoing. Each of these sheldrakes
is represented In Australian, Papuan, and Polynesian re-
gions by such forms as Tadoma radjah, Casarca tadnr-
noides, and C. varUffata. No sheldrakes properly so called
are American.
2. The shoveler-duck. Spatula clypeata. whose
variegated plumage somewhat resembles that
of the sheldrake. [Local, En^.]— 3. A mer-
ganser or goosander; especially, the red-
5564
breasted merganser, also called shelduck. — 4t.
The canvasback duck. [Virginia.]
Sheidrach or canvasback.
Jefferson, Notes on Virginia (1788).
shelduck (shel'duk). ». [Also shellduck, for
orig. "sheld-duck, < sheld (as in shildrake), +
diick^.] 1. 8a,me as sheldrake, 3. — 2. The fe-
male of the sheldrake. — 3. The red-breasted
merganser, Mergus serrator. Tarrell. [Local,
Ireland.]
shelf 1 (shelf), n. ; pi. shelves (shelvz). [< ME.
schelfc, shelfe (pi. schelves, shelves), < AS. sajlfe,
a plank or shelf, = MLG. schelf, LG. schelfe, a
shelf, = Icel. skjdlf, a bench, seat (only in comp.
hlidh-skjdlf, lit. 'gate-bench,' a name for the seat
of Odin); prob.orig. 'a thin piece'; ef.Se.skelve,
a thin slice ; D. schilfer, a scale, schilferen, scale
off, LG. schelfern, scale off, peel, 6. schelfe, a
husk, shell, paring, schelf en, schelfern, peel off;
Gael, sgealb, a splinter, split. Cf. sheip.] 1.
A thin slab or plank, a piece of marble, slate,
wood, or other material, generally long and
narrow, fixed horizontally to a wall, and used
for supporting small objects; in general, a
narrow flat surface, horizontal or nearly so,
and raised above a larger surface, as of a floor
or the ground.
In the southern wall there is a . . . little shelf of com-
mon stone, supported by a single arch; upon this are
placed articles in hourly use, perfume bottles, coffee cups,
a stray book or two. R. F. Burtmi, El-Medinah, p. 188.
2. In ship-building, an inner timber, or line of
timbers, following the sheer of the vessel, and
bolted to the inner side of ribs, to strengthen
the frame and sustain the deck-beams. See
cut under beam, 3.
The ends of the deck-beams rest upon a line of timbers
secured on the inside surface of the frames. This com-
bination of timbers is termed the shelf.
TAearfe," Naval Arch., § 201.
3. The charging-bed of a furnace.
The bed of the furnace is divided into two parts ; the
"working bed," that nearest the flre, is 6 in. or so lower
than the shelf or chaining bed.
Spons' Encyc. Manvf., 1. 290.
4. In scissors, the bottom of the countersink
which receives the head of the screw uniting
the two blades.— To put, lay, or cast on the shelf,
to put aside or out of use ; lay aside, as from duty or active
service; shelve.
The seas
Had been to us a glorious monument.
Where now the fates have cast us on the shelf
To hang 'twix air and^ater.
Heywood, Fortune by Land and Sea.
shelf 1 (shelf), V. t. [< .sheip-, n. Cf . shelve^ the
more common form of this verb.] Same as
shelve'^.
shelf 2 (shelf), M. ; pi. shelves (shelvz). [Re-
garded as a particular use of shelf ^, but in part
at least, in the sense of ' shoal ' or ' sand-bank,'
due to association with shelve"^, and thus ult.
practically a doublet of shoal^, sheld"^, shallow'^:
see shelve^, shoaP-, shallow'^.] 1. A rock, ledge
of rocks, reef, or sand-bank in the sea, render-
ing the water shallow and dangerous to ships ;
a reef or shoal; a shallow spot.
To auoyde the daungiours of suche shalowe places and
shelfes, he euer sent one of the smaulest carauelles before,
to try the way with soundinge.
Peter Martyr (tr. in Eden's First Books on America, ed.
[Arber, p. 89).
What sands, what shelves, what rocks do threaten her !
B. Jonson, Catiline, iii. 1.
On the tawny sands and shelves
Trip the pert faeries and the dapper elves.
Milton, Conms, 1. 117.
Ships drift darkling down the tide,
Nor see the shelves o'er which they glide.
Scott, Rokeby, iv. 27.
2. A projecting layer or ledge of rock on land.
— 3. The bed-rock; the surface of the bed-rock;
the rock flrst met with after removing or sink-
ing through the superficial detritus. [Eng.]
Shelfy (shel'fi), a. [< shelf^ + -yyl.] Pull of
shelves; shelvy. (a) Abounding with sand-banks or
rocks lying near the surface ol the water, and rendering
navigation dangerous : as, a sheify coast.
Advent'rous Man, who durst the deep explore.
Oppose the Winds, and tempt the shelfy Shoar.
Congreve, Birth of the Muse.
(6) Full of rocky up-cropping ledges.
The tillable fields are in some places so . . . tough that
the plough will scarcely cut them, and in some so shelfie
that the com hath much adoe to fasten its roote.
R. Carew, Survey of Cornwall, p. 19.
shell (shel), n. [< ME. schelle, shelle, < AS. seel,
scell, scill, ,<ic;il, scyll, scelle, a shell, = V>. schel,
also schil, shell, cod, peel, rind, web (of the eye),
bell, = Icel. skcl, a shell, = Goth, skalja, a tile ;
akin to scaled. Cf. sheaV-, a doublet of shell]
Shell
1. A scale or husk; the hard outer covering of
some kinds of seeds and fruits, as a cocoanut.
In .■Egypt they fill the sheU with milk,' and let it stand
some time, and take it as an emetic.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. i. 233.
2. In eool., a hard outer case or covering; a
crust; a test; a loriea; a carapace; an indu-
rated (osseous, cartilaginous, cuticular, chiti-
nous, calcareous, silicious, etc.) integument or
part of integument. (See exoskcleton.) .Specifl-
cally— (a) In mummal., the peculiar integument of an ar-
madillo, forming a carapace, and sometimes also a plas-
tron, as in the fossil glyptodons. (b) An egg-shell.
This lapwing runs away with the shell on his head.
Shak., Hamlet, v. 2. 193.
(c) In herpet, a carapace or plastron, as of a tui-tle; spe-
cifically, tortoise shell, (d) In ichth., the box-like integu-
ment of the ostracionts. (e) In MoUitsca, the test of any
mollusk ; the valve or valves of a shell-fish ; the chitinized
or calcified product of the mantle; a conch. A shell in
one, two, or several pieces is so highly characteristic of
moUusks that these animals are commonly called shell-
fish collectively, and many of them are grouped as Testa-
cea, Conchifera, etc. In some mollusks, as dibranchiate
cephalopods, the shell is internal, constituting the pen
or cuttle (see calamary) ; in others there is no shell. The
shell is secreted chiefly by a mantle or folds of the mantle
which are developed around the soft parts, and is usually
composed of carbonate of lime. It is generally univalve
and spiral, as in most gastropods. In chitons there are
eight valves imbricated in a longitudinal series, bound
together by a marginal band. In bivalves two shells are
developed from and cover the sides of the animal, right
and left. (See cuts under bivalve.) Some mollusks other-
wise bivalve have accessory valves. (/) In Brachiopoda
there are two valves, but one covers the back and the other
the abdominal region, so that the valves are dorsal and
ventral. These shells are sometimes composed chiefly of
phosphate of lime, as in lingulas. {g) In Crvstacea, the
hard chitinous or calcareous integument or crust, or some
special part of it : as, the shell of a crab or lobster. (A) In
entoTn. : (1) The wing-case of a beetle ; an elytron ; a shard :
as, "cases or slietls (elytra)," Suaimon and Shuclaird. (2)
The cast skin of a pupa, especially of lepidopteroua in-
sects ; a pupa-shell, (t) In echinodemis, the hard crust
or integument, especially when it coheres in one hollow
case or covering ; a test : as, the shell of a sea-urchin. (J)
In Vermes, the tube or case of a tubicolous woi-m, when
hard, thick, or rigid, like a mollusk's shell: as, the shell
of a serpula. (*) In some Protozoa, a silicious or calca-
reous test or loriea of any kind. Such shells are present
under numberless modifications, often beautifully shaped
and highly complicated, perforated, camerated, etc., as in
foraminifers, radiolarians, sun-animalcules, many infuso-
rians, etc.
3. In anat., some hard thin or hollowed part,
(a) A turbinate bone ; a scroll-bone, (b) A hollow or cylin-
dric cast or exfoliation, as of necrosed bone; a squama.
4. The outer ear, auricle, or conch: as, pearly
shells or pink shells. [Chiefly poetical.]
The whole external shell of the ear, with its cartilages,
muscles, and membranes, is in Man a useless appendage.
Haecket, Evol. of Man (trans.), II. 437.
5. Ashelledortestaeeousmollu.sk; a shell-fish.
In this sense shell may be added, with or without a hyphen,
to numerous words, serving to specify mollusks or groups
of mollusks. Some of the best-established of such com-
binations are noted after the phrases given below.
6. The outer part or casing of a block which
is mortised for the sheave, and bored at right
angles to the mortise for the pin which forms the
axle of the sheave. See cuts under block^.
A block consists of a shell, sheave, pin, and strap (or
strop). The shell is the frame or case.
Qualtrough, Boat Sailer's Manual, p. 13.
7. The thin film of copper which forms the
face of an electrotype, and is afterward backed
with type-metal to the required thickness. — 8.
Something resembling or suggesting a shell in
structure or use. (a) A frail structure or vessel inca-
pable of sustaining rough handling, or of which the inte-
rior has been destroyed : as, the house is a mere shell.
His seraglio, which is now only the shell of a building,
has the air of a Roman palace.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. 1. 91.
The ruin'd sheUs of hollow towers.
Tennyson, In Memoriam, Ixxvi.
(6) Any framework or exterior structure regaided as not
being completed or filled in.
The Marquis of Medina Cidonia, in his viceroyalty, made
the shell of a house, which he had not time to finish, that
commands a view of the whole bay, and would have been
a vei7 noble building had he brought it to perfection.
Addison, Remarks on Italy (Works, ed. Bohn, I. 426).
(c) A kind of rough coffin ; also, a thin coflin designed to be
inclosed by a more substantial one. (rf) A racing-boat of
light build, long, low, and narrow (generally made of cedar
Shell or Shell-ltoat.
A, side-view: B, cross-section : a, shell ; *, sliding-seat; d.if,
outriggers; ^, ^', oars.
orpaper), rowed by means of outriggers, and (as now made)
with the ends covered over to a considerjible di.stance from
both bow and stern, to prevent water from washing in ; a
scull ; a gig.
shell
When rowing alone in a single gig or shftl the amateur
will encounter in his early lessons the novel experience of
consiiierahle difHculty In maintaining the balance of his
boat. TrOmne Book of Sports, p. 320.
(e) Collectively, the outside plates of a boiler,
9. A hollow object of metal, paper, or the like,
used to contain explosives. Especially— (o) In
pyroUchny, a sort of case, usually of paper, thrown into the
afr, often by the explosion of another part of the firework,
and bursting by the ignition of the charge from a fuse
usually lighted by the same explosion. (6) MUit., a metal
case containing an explosive, formerly spherical and
thrown from mortars or smooth-bore cannon, now gener-
ally long and partly cylindrical with a conical or conoidal
Shelt for use in Anny <in(l Navy Brcech-Ioadinff Rifled Ordnance.
a, body of shell, of cast-iron for ordinary use, or of steel for pcne-
tratinK armor ; *, rotaUne rinc of copper, which engages the rifle-
RTOOYes and imparts axial roution to the shell ; c, powder.charge ;
df Hotchkisfi percussion-fuse.
point ; a bombshell. Shells are exploded either by a fuse
calculated to bum a definite length of time and ignited by
the blaze of the gun, or by the concussion of striking.
■Spherical sheila were formerly used also aa hand-grenades.
See cat under pereiusum-/vM.
10. A copper cylinder used as a roller in print-
ing on paper or calico, the design being en-
graved upon the outer surface : so called be-
cause it 18 thin and hollow, and is mounted
upon a wooden roller when in use. — 11. A
part of the guanl of a swonJ, consisting of a
solid plate, sometimes perforated, attached to
the cross-guard on either side. The combina-
tion of the two shells resulted in the cup-guard.
I imagined that his weapon had perforated my longs,
and of consequence that the wound was mortal ; there-
fore, determined not to die unrevenged, 1 seized hisaAeU,
which was close to my breast, before he could disentan-
gle his point, and, keeping it fast with my left hand, short-
ened my own sword with my right, intending to ran him
through the heart.
SmoUett, Boderick Random, lix. (itario.)
A Silver and Gold hilted Sword of a Trophy Pattern,
with a man on Horseback on the Middle of the Pommel,
and the same in the SbeU,
Quoted in Athton'M Social Life In Reign of Queen Anne,
IL 167.
12. A shell-jacket. — 13. A concave-faced tool
of cast-iron, in which convex lenses are ground
to shape. The glass Is attached to the face of a muner,
and Is worked aroncd in the shell with a swinging stroke.
B. B. Knight. •
The grinding and polishing tools . . . for concave lenses
consist of acont^ve rough fi^ndlng-tool of cast Iron, call-
ed a iA«U . . . Ure, Diet, 111 lOt).
14. A gOQge-bit or quill-bit. — 16. In weaving,
the part of the lay into the grooves of which the
reed fits. They are calletl respectively upper
and under shells . E. H. Knight. — 16. A musi-
cal instrument such as a lyre, the first lyre be-
ing made, according to classic legend, of strings
drawn over a tortoise's shell.
When Jubal strnck the corded theO.
Drydm, Song for St Cecilia's Day.
When Music, heavenly maid, waa yoang, . . .
The Fusions oft, to hear her sAeS,
Thronged around her magic cell.
CMint, The Pasalons.
Cheend bj the strength of Bonald's sAeit,
E'en age fofgot his tresses hoar.
Scott, Olenflnlas.
17. In some public schools, an intermediate
class or form.
The sixth form stood close by the door on the left . . .
The fifth form liehind them, twice their number and not
quite so hill. These on the left ; and on the right the lower
fifth, thfU, and all the iunlor forms In order.
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, L .'>.
" The <A«<2 " lat Harrow School), obsenred Bertram,
" means a sort of elass between the other classes. Tkther 's
so glad Johnnie has got Into the iheU."
Jean IngtUnc, Fated to be Free, zlz.
18. Outward show, without substance or real-
ity.
.So devout are the Romanists shout this outward $heU
of religion that, if an altar be moved, or a stone of it
broken, it ought to be reconsecrated. Ayli/e, Parergon.
Baptismal shell. See ftapCisnuit.— Blind IbaU. (a) A
boinb-^h'-ll which, from accident or a bad fuse, has fall-
en withiiut eiplrxling. (6) A shell filled with fusecom-
positi'in, and having an enlarged fnse-hole, used at night
to determine the range, (e) A shell whose bursting-
charge is explodeil by the heat of Impact.— Bombay
lIielL a name In India for the Ctutig ruf a, one of the hei-
met-snells, iniporterl at Bombay In large riuantities from
Zanzibar, iiti'i rrsiiippcd to Rn(;lnnd and tYance to make
canie.)s - Chaml)ered shells, ^inchambrred. -ChanJi-
or shank-iheU. r'aniu as r/ian*-'.- Chasleslan sheU.
See CA<u(«iian. — Coat-Of-mall shell, a rliiton. Sec
cuts under Pdyptaeophora and Chit'<ni'lir. Convolut6
abeU. See eonvoluu.— Incendiary, live, magnetic
5565
shell. See the adjectives.- Left-handed shell, a sin-
istral or sinistrorse shell of a univalve. See sinistral. —
Mask-shell, a gastropod pt the genus Persona, resem-
bling a triton. P. P. Carpenter.— Ketal shell, a car-
tridge-case of thin, light metal charged with powder and
shot (or ball), for use in breech-loading guns and rifles,
and fitted with a cap or primer for firing by percussion.
They are used and loaded like paper shells (see below), and
can be fired and recharged many times. .Similar metal shells
are almost universally used for the fixed ammunition of
revolving pistols, but for shot-guns they are largel); su-
perseded l>y paper shells. See cut under shot-cartridge.
— Money-Sliell, a money-cowry. See court/.- Pallial
shell. See ptmui/.— Panama shell, a certain volute.
Valuta vespertUio. — Paper shell, (a) -^ case made of
successive layers of paper pasted one on another, and
filled with a small bursting-charge of powder, and va-
rious pyrotechnic devices. It is fired from a mortar,
and is fitted with a fuse so rejrulated as to explode it at
the summit of its trajectory. (6) A cartridse-case of paste-
board, containing a charge of powder and shot, to be ex-
ploded by center-fire or rim-fire percussion, now much
used for breech-loading shot-guns instead of metal shells.
ITiey are made in enormous quantities for sportsmen, of
different sizes to fit the usual bores, and of various patterns
in respect of the devices for firing. Some have pretty solid
metal heads, with nipples for percussion-caps, and such
may be reloaded like metal shells, though they are not gen-
erally used after once firing. They are loaded by special
machines for the purpose, including a device for crimping
the open end down over the shot-wad, and take dilferent
charges of powder and shot according to the game for kill-
ing which they are designed to be used. See cut under
shot^artriihie. ic) .\ rowboat made of paper. See def.
8 (d).— Perspective shelL See perspectiee and Solari-
um.—Pilgrim's sheU. See pai/rxm.- Purple-shell, a
gastropodaffording a tlyestnff. See Murex, Pxirimra. and
purple, n Bam'B-hom shell, an ammonite.— Reverse
Bhdl. See r«i»r>e.— Right-tuinded shell, a dextral
or dextrorse shell of a univalve. See dextral. — SheM
couching. See eoucAin^l, 5.— Slit top-Shell^my mem-
ber of the SciuureUidx. P. P. Carpenter. — WnteTiHg-
POt shell. See aipergSlum and u!atering-pot. (See also
aeom-thdL agaU-AeU, amU-eheU, aTk-shm. auger-ihett,
btttket-iheU, haat■^KeU, ouMe-tkeU, eamm-thell, earrier-shell,
dink'SheU, eone-»heU, date-then, ear-shell, eftg-shell, .fan-
theU, fig-iheU, gold-theU, hdmet-theO, idUMeU,iingUsheU,
ladder-then, lamp-theU, lanlem-thelt, nutsAell, pheasant-
shM, ramr-theB, riee-shsB, roek-shell, rosary-sheU, scorpion-
thia, serew-sheO, ^nittle-shdl, sUtxTsheU, tooth-shell, top-
^eil, trumpet-shell, tube-sh^, tulip-shell, tun-shell, turban-
shell, tusk-shell, vnidge-shM, uring-shetl, womnheU.)
shell (shel), V. [< ME. "scMlen, schyllen, shell
(= D. schillen, pare, peel), < shell, n. Ct. sealed,
«/ifa/l.] I. trans. 1. To strip off or remove the
shell or outer covering of ; take out of the shell :
as, to shell nuts.
For duller than a shelled crmb were she. J. BaUlie.
Under the largest of two red-heart cherry-trees sat a
girl shelling peas. She had s professional way of inserting
her small, well-curled thumb into the green shales, oust-
ing their contents with a single movement
Harper's Mag., LXXVX SI.
2. To remove from the ear or cob : as, to shell
com. — 3. To cover with or as with a shell; in-
case in or as in a shell.
SheU tht^e with steel or brass, advised by dread.
Death from the casque will pull thy cautious head.
Cotton, tr. of Montaigne, xvL (Davies.)
4. To cover or furnish with shells, as an oyster-
bed; provide shells for spat to set; also, to
cover (land) wiUi oyster-shells as a fertilizer.
The planter now employs all his sloops, and hires extra
men and vessels, to distribute broadcast, over the whole
tract he propose* to Improve that year, the many tons of
shells that hehasbeen saving all winter. . . . Sometimes
the same plan Is pursued with seed that has grown natu-
rally, but too sparingly, upon a piece of uncultivated bot-
tom : or young oysters are scattered there as spawneis.
and the owner waits until the next season before he AMs
the tract fVskeriex/Cr. £r., V. U. 64S.
8. To throw bombshells into, upon, or among;
bombard : as, to shell a fort or a town.
There was nothing to prevent the enemy shelling the
city from heights within easy range.
Oen. MeClellan, quoted in The Century, XXXVI. 393.
6. See the quotation.
JNgodon. Formerly a beat of drum while men who were
sheUed (a French punishment, the severest next to death)
were paraded up and down the ranksprevlous to their
being sent to their destination. Wilhelm, Mil. Diet
To Shell out, to hand over; deliver up: as, «AeU out
your money! [Slang.]
WUl you be kind enough, sir, to shell out tor me the
price of a daacent horse fit to mount a man like me?
Miss Edgeicarth, Love and Law, 1. 1.
n. intrans. 1. To fall off, as a shell, crust,
or exterior coat. — 2. To cast the shell or ex-
terior covering: as, nuts shell in falling. — 3.
To deal in or have to do with oyster-shells in
anyway; transport, furnish, or make use of
ovster-shells as an occupation. See I., 4. [Lo-
fal, U. S.]
shellac (she-lak' or shel'ak), n. ^Aleo shellack,
.shell-lac, shell-lack; < shell + lae^.'] 8eed-lac
melted and formed into thin plates. This is the
form in which it is generally sold for making
varnish an<l the likp. See lac^ — Shellac finish,
a poIiHh. or a polisbcd surface, produced by the application
01 shellac vamish and subsequeut rubbing of the surface.
sheller
The varnish is usually applied more than once, each coat
being thorouglily rultbetl, so that the pores of the wood
are filled up and the surface is left smooth, but without
any thick coat of varnish covering it. — Shellac vamlsh,
a varnish made by dissolving shellac in some solvent, as
alcohol, with sometimes theaddition of a coloring matter.
shellac (she-lak' or shel'ak), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
shellacked, ppr. shellacking. [Also shellack; <
shellac, n.] To coat with shellac.
In the finishing of this class of rods they are polished
with pumice stone, their pores are filled with whiting and
water, and they are shellacked and varnished.
Set. Arner., N. S., LXII. 196.
shell-apple (shel'ap'l), n. See sheld-apple.
shell-auger (shel'a'ger), n. An auger which
has a hollow shell extending several inches
from the cutting edge toward the handle.
shellback (shel' bak), n. An old sailor; a sea-
dog; a barnacle. [Slang.]
Had a landsman heard me say that I had changed my
name, then, unless I had explained that property was the
cause, he would straightway have suspected me of arson,
forgery, or murder; . . . these two shell-backs asked no
questions, suspected nothing, simply said "Hegerton it
is," and so made an end of the matter. •
W. C. Russell, Jack's Courtship, xx.
shell-bank (shel'bangk), «. A shelly bank or
bar, usually covered at high tide, forming
favorite feeding-grounds for various fishes.
[U. S.]
shellbark (shel'bark), ti. Either of two hick-
ories of eastern North America, so named from
the loose, flat, strap-like scales of the bark on
old trees. The principal one is Carya alba (Hicoria
ovata); the big or bottom shellbark, thriving particularly
on bottom-lands in the west, is C. (//.) sulcata. Both are
important haril-wood timl)er-tree8, and both yield sweet
and oily marketable nuts, those of the former being
smaller, thinner-shelled, and sweeter. Also «Aa^&arAr. See
cut tinder hickory.
shell-bit (shel'bit), n. A typical form of the
bit for boring in wood. It is shaped like a gouge
so as to shear the fibers round the circumfer-
ence of the holes.
shell-blo'W (shel'blo), n. A call sounded on a
horn made of a large shell, usually the conch
or strombus. [West Indies.]
shell-board (shel'bord), n. A frame placed on
a wagon or cart for the purpose of carrying hay,
straw, etc.
shell-boat (shel'bot), «. Same as shell, 8 (d).
shell-box (shel'boks), n. 1. A box divided into
compartments for keeping small shells of dif-
ferent varieties as part of a conchological col-
lection.— 2. A box decorated by the applica-
tion of shells aiTanged in ornamental patterns.
shell-button (shcl'but'n), «. A hollow button
made of two pieces, front and back, joined by
a turnover seam at the edge and usually cov-
ered with silk or cloth.
shell-cracker (shel'lcrak'^r), «. A kind of sun-
fish, Eupomntis speciosns. [Florida.]
shell-crest (shel'icrest), H. Among pigeon-fan-
ciers, a form of crest running around the back
of the heail in a semicircle : distinguished from
snell-dillisk (shel'dil'isk), «. The dulse, Sho-
dymcnia palmata : so called from its growing
among mussel-shells near low-watermark. See
dulse, dillisk, Bhodijmenia. [Ireland.]
shell-dove (shel'duv), H. A ground-dove of the
genus Srardafella, as S. squamata or iS'. inca; a
sciiMMlove, See cut imder Scardafella.
shelldraket, «■ An obsolete form of sheldrake.
shellduck, «. See shelduck.
shell-eater (shel'e'tfer), n. The open-beaked
stork : .same as clapper-bill. See cut under open-
bill.
shelled (sheld), a. Having a shell, in any sense;
as applied to animals, testaceous, conchif erous,
ostracous, ostracodermatous, entomostracous,
thoracostracous, coleopterous, loricate, thick-
skinned, etc. (see the specific words).
Mr. Cumberland used to say that authors must not be
thin-skinned, but shelled like the rhinoceros.
/. D'Jsraeli, Calam. of Authors, p. 216.
sheller (shel'fer),?!. [< shell + -er^.'] One who
shells or husks, or a tool or machine used in
shelling or husking: as, a coTa-sheller ; pea-
shellers.
These young rascals.
These pescod-shellers, do so cheat my master
We cannot have an apple In the orchard
t But straight some fairy longs for 't
Randolph, Amyntas, ill. 4,
Specifically — (o) A machine for stripping the kernels of
maize or Indian com from the cob ; a corn-sheller. (&)
One who makes a business of opening bivalves for market ;
an opener; ashucker; a sticker. [New Jersey.]
The clams are thoroughly washed before they are given
over to the knives of the " sficUers," or "openers" — as they
are sometimes called. Fisheries of U. S., V. It 693.
Shelley's case
Shelley's case. See casei.
shell-fixe (sbel'fir), n. Phosphoresoenoe from
decayed straw, etc., or touohwood. Halliwell.
[Ptov. Eng.]
shell-fish (shel'fish), «. sing, and pi. [Early
mod. E. slielfish, shelJUishe, < ME. slielfi.s)i, <
AS. sceljisc, scj/ljisc (= Icel. skeljiskr), < scell,
scyll, shell, + Jise, fish.] An aquatic animal,
not a fish, having a shell, and especially one
which comes under popular notice as used for
food or for ornament. Specifically— (a) A testa-
ceous or conchiferous moUusk, as an oyster, clam, scallop,
whelk, piddock, etc. ; collectively, the Mollusca.
The inhabitaiites of this Ilande [Molucca], at suche tyme
as the Spanyardes carae thether, toke a shelf ys^he [Tridacna
gigoi] of suche houdge bigiies yat the fleshe thei-of wayed
.ilTij. pound weyght. Wlierby it is apparaunt yat great
pearles should be found there, forasmuch as pearles are
the byrth of certayn ifhelfishes.
R. Eden, tr. of Sebastian Munster (First Books on Amer-
[ica, ed. Arber, p. 34).
(J>) A cmstaceoas animal, or crustacean, as a crab, lobster,
shrimp, or prawn.
shell'flower (shel'flou'^r), «. 1. See Molu-
cella. — 2. The turtlehead or suakehead, (*e-
lone glabra, and other species. — 3. One of va-
rious species of Alpinia of the Zingiheraceai.
shell-follicle (shel'fol"i-kl), «. A shell-sac;
the integument of a moUusk, in the form of an
open follicle or sac in which the shell primarily
lies, out of and over which it may and usually
does extend.
shell-gage (shel'gaj), n. A form of calipers
with curved detachable interchangeable arms
and a graduated arc, for determining the thick-
ness of the walls of a hollow projectile.
shell-gland (shel'gland), n. 1. The shell-se-
creting organ of a moUusk. It appears at a very
early period of embryonic development, and is the active
secretory substance of the shell-sac or shell-follicle. The
original shell-gland of the embryo may be transient and
be replaced by a secondary shell-forming area, or may be
permanently retained in a modified form.
2. An excretory organ of the lower crusta-
ceans, as entomostracans, forming a looped ca-
nal in a mantl«-like fold of the integument, one
end being Cffical, the other opening beneath the
mantle : so called from its position beneath the
shell. See cuts under Ap\is and Daphnia.
At the anterior boundary of the head, the double, black,
median eye . . . shines through the carapace, and at the
sides of the latter two coiled tubes with clear contents,
the so-called shell-fflands, are seen.
Hu3Cley,Anat. Invert., p. 23;'>.
shell-grinder (8hel'grin"d6r), ». The Port
Jackson sliark. See Cestradontidee, and cut
under selachian. Encyc. Brit., XX. 174.
shell-gun (shel'gun), n. A cannon intended to
be used for throwing shells ; especially, such
a cannon used for horizontal firing, as distin-
guished from a mortar, which is used for verti-
cal firing.
shellhead (shel'hed), «. The dobson or hell-
grammite. [Georgia.]
shell-heap (shel'hep),*!. A large accumulation
of shells, usually mixed with bones of animals,
ashes, bits of charcoal, and utensils of various
kinds, the whole being the remains of a dwell-
ing-place of a race subsisting chiefly on shell-
fish. Such accumulations are found in many places in
Europe and America, along coasts and rivers. They are
sometimes of prehistoric age, but similar accumulations
may be forming and are forming at the present time in any
part of the world where savage tribes find the conditions
favorable for the support of life on shell-fish. See kitchen-
midden.
shell-hook (shel'huk), w. An implement for
grappling and carrying projectiles.
ell-ibis (sheri"bis), n. A stork of the genus
Anatitumtis. See cut under openhill.
shell-ice (shel'is), n. Ice left suspended by the
withdrawal of the water beneath. Such ice may
be either over ice formed earlier and then overflowed or
over the land ; the thickness ranges upward from a film,
but the name is generally applied only to ice that is shell-
like in thinness.
shelling (shel'ing), n. [Verbal n. of shell, v.']
1. The act of removing the shell. — 2. The act
of bombarding a place. — 3. A commercial name
for groats. Simmonds.
shell-insectst (sherin'sekts), n. pi. An old
name of entomostracous crustaceans; the in-
sectes a coquilles of the French. Also shelled
insects.
shell-jacket (sherjak"et), k. An undress mili-
tary jacket.
Three turbaned aoldleni in tight nhell-jacketx and baggy
breeches. Harptr's Mag., LXXX. 396.
shell-lac (shel-lak'), n. Same as shellac.
shell-less (shel'les), a. [< shell + -less.'] Hav-
ing no shell; not testaceous ; tunicate: as, the
5566
shell-less mollusks (that is, the ascidians). See
Niula (b). CMii«r (trans.); Huxley.
shell-lime (shel'lim), »). Lime obtained by
burning sea-shells.
shell-limestone (shel'lim'ston), n. A deposit
of shells, in a more or less fragmentary condi-
tion, which has become imperfectly solidified
by pressure or by the infiltration of calcareous
or sandy material. Shell-limestone, or shelly lime-
stone, is called in Florida coquina. The muschelkalk, a
division of the Triassic, is a shell-limestone, and this is
a litei-al translation of the German name for this rock. See
Triassic and muschelkalk.
shellman (shel'man), >i. ; pi. shellmen (-men).
One of a gun's crew on board a man-of-war
whose duty it is to pass shells for loading.
shell-marble (shermar"bl), n. An ornamental
marble containing fossil shells. See viurhle, 1.
shell-marl (shel'marl), n. A white earthy de-
posit, crumbling readily on exposure to the air,
and resulting from the accumulation of more
or less disintegrated fragments of shells. Such
deposits are of frequent occurrence at the bottom of lakes
and ponds, or where such bodies of water have formerly
existed.
shell-meat (shel'met), n. Shelled food; some
edible having a shell, as shell-fish or eggs.
[Rare.]
ShelhneaU may be eaten after foul hands without any
harm. Puller, Holy State, p. 386. (Latham.)
shell-mound (shel'mouud), «. A mound or
heap chiefly made of shells of mollusks which
have in former times been used for food; a
shell-heap (which see).
shell-ornament (sher6r"ua-meut), «. Orna-
mentation of which forms studied from natu-
ral shells form an important part ; any piece of
decoration of which any shell-form is a charac-
teristic part.
shell-parrakeet (sherpar"a-ket), «. The Aus-
tralian undulated, waved, or zebra grass-parra-
keet, Melopsittacus undulutiis. See cut under
Melopsittacus.
shell-parrot (shel'par'ot), «. Same as shell-
parrakeet.
shell-proof (shel'prof), a. Sa.mea,8 bomb-proof.
shell-pump (shel'pump), n. In well-boring, a
sand-pump.
shell-g.uail (shel'kwal), n. An American quail
of the genus CaUipepla, 8,s C.squamata; a scale-
quail. See cut under CaUipepla.
shell-reducer (shel're-dii"s6r), n. A tool
made on the principle of pincers, with which
a die or a plug is used to reduce or expand
a cartridge-shell in order to make it fit the
bullet.
shell-room (shel'rSm), «. A room on board
ship below the berth-deck, constructed and
lighted like a magazine, and used for the stow-
age of loaded shell.
shell-sac (shel'sak), «. Same as shell-follicle.
shell-sand (shel'sand), n. Sand chiefly com-
posed of the triturated or comminuted shells
of mollusks, valuable as a fertilizer.
shell-snail (shel'snal), )i. A snail vrith a shell ;
any such terrestrial gastropod, as distinguished
from slugs, which have a small shell, if any.
Both these forms used to be called snails.
shellum (shel'um), 11. Same as schelm, skellum.
[Old Eng. and Scotch.]
shell-'WOrk (shel'werk), n. Ornamental work
made up of marine shells, usually small, com-
bined in various patterns and glued to a sur-
face, as of wood or cardboard. See sea-bean, 2.
shell-worm (shel'werm), «. 1. A worm with a
shell ; a tubicolous annelid with a hard case, as
a serpula. See cut under /Scrp«te. — 2. A mol-
lusk of the family Dentaliidm; a tooth-shell.
See cut under tooth-shell.
shellyl (shel'i), a. l< shell -I- -j/1.] 1. Abound-
ing in, provided with, or covered with shells.
The Ocean rolling, and the shelly Shore,
Beautiful Objects, shall delight no more.
Prior, Solomon, iii.
Go to your cave, and see it in its beauty,
The billows else may wash its sitelly sides.
J. Baillie.
2. Consisting of a shell or shells ; forming or
formed by a shell.
The snail . . .
Shrinks backward in his shelly cave.
Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 1034.
3. Of the nature of a shell; testaceous; con-
chylious; chitinous, as the carapace of a crab;
calcareous, as the shell of a mollusk ; silicious,
as the test of a radiolariau.
lliis membrane was entirely of the shelly nature.
OM/rmith, Hist. Earth, IV. v.
sheltron
shelly- (shel'i), n. ; pi. shellies (-iz). [Appar.
an abbr. dim. of shell-apple, sheld-apple.] Same
as chaffinch, 1. Macgillivray .
shelm, n. See schelm.
shelook (she-lok'), «. [<. At. shalak.] An Ara-
bian name for any hot, dry, dust-bearing des-
ert wind, excluding the simoom.
shelter (shel't^r), n. [An altered form ot shel-
tron, sheltrum, q. v. The formation of this
word became obscured, and the terminal ele-
ment conformed to the common termination
-ter, the first syllable being prob. always more
or less vaguely associated with shield, ME. and
dial. sheld,its actual origin, and perhaps in part
with sheaV^.'] 1. A cover or defense from ex-
posure, attack, injury, distress, annoyance, or
the like ; whatever shields or serves as a pro-
tection, as from the weather, attack, etc. ; a
place of protection : as, a shelter from the rain
or wind ; a shelter for the friendless.
I will bear thee to soma shelter.
Shak., As you Like it, ii. 6. 17.
The healing plant shall aid,
From storms a shelter, and from heat a shade.
Pope, Messiah, 1. 16.
2. The protection or immunity from attack,
exposure, distress, etc., afforded by a place or
thing; refuge; asylum.
Your most noble vertues, . . . under which I hope to
have shelter against all storms that dare threaten.
Capt. John Smith, True Travels, Ded.
It happened to be a very windy evening, so we took
shelter within the walls of some cottages.
Poeoeke, Description of the East, II. i. 164.
If a show'r approach,
You find safe slielter in the next stage-coach.
Coicper, Retirement, I. 492.
The tribunals ought to be sacred places of refuge,
where . . . the innocent of all parties may find shelter.
MacaiUay, Sir J. Mackintosh.
=SyiL 1. Screen, shield. — 2. Cover, covert, sanctuary,
haven. See the verb.
shelter (shel'ter), V. [< shelter, «.] I. trans.
1. To protect from exposure, attack, injury,
distress, or the like ; afford cover or protection
to ; hence, to harbor : as, to shelter thieves.
The weeds which his broad-spreading leaves did shelter.
Shak., Rich. II., iiL 4. 60.
Why was not I deform'd, that, shelter'd in
Secure neglect, I might have scap'd this sin?
J. Beaumont, Psyche, ii. 142.
In vain I strove to check my growing tlame.
Or shelter Passion under Friendship's Name.
Prior, Celia to Damon.
Near thy city-gates the Lord
Sheltered his Jonah with a gourd.
D. G. Rossetti, The Burden of Nineveh.
A lonely valley sheltered from the wind.
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, I. 326.
2. To place under cover or shelter; seek shel-
ter or protection for ; house ; with a reflexive
pronoun, to take refuge ; betake one's self to
cover or a safe place.
They sheltered themselves under a rock. Abbot
.\nother royal mandate, so anxious was he to shelter
himself beneath the royal shadow, he [Cranmer] caused
to be addressed to his own oflftcers, to cite his own clergy
to Lambeth. R. W. Dixon, Hist. Church of Eng., xxi.
= Syn. 1. To Defend, Proteet. etc. (see keep), shield, screen,
shroud, house, ensconce, hide.
II. intrans. To take shelter.
There oft the Indian herdsman, shunning heat.
Shelters in cool. Milton, P. L., ix. 1109.
shelterer (shel'ter-fer), «. One who shelters,
protects, or harbors : as, a shelterer of thieves
or of outcasts.
shelterless (shel't&r-les), a. [< shelter -i- -less.]
1. Affording no shelter or cover, as from the
elements ; exposed : as, a shelterless roadstead.
No more orange groves and rose gardens ; but the tree-
less, shelterless plain, with the fierce sun by day and frosts
at night. Froude, Sketches, p. 211.
2. Destitute of shelter or protection ; without
home or refuge.
Now, sad and shelterless, perhaps, she lies,
Where piercing winds blow sharp, and the chill rain
Drops from some pent-house on her wretched head.
Rowe, Jane Shore, v. 1.
shelter-tent (shel't6r-tent), n. See tent.
sheltery (shel'tfer-i), a. [< shelter + -y^.] Af-
fording shelter. [Bare.]
The warm and sheltery shores of Gibraltar.
Gilbert White, Nat. Hist Selborne (ed. 1876), p. 114.
sheltie, «. See shelty'^.
sheltopusick, «. See scheltopnsik. Huxley.
Sheltront, sheltrumt, «. [Early mod. E. shel-
tron, occurring in the var. form Jeltron ; < ME.
sheltron, shcllrone, sheltronn, shcltriin, scheltron,
scheltrone, scheltroun, schiltroun, sheltrum, schil-
trum, scheldtrume, sheldtrume, shultrom, Sc. cheK
sheltron
drome, childrome ( AF. ch iltroii), a body of ^ards
or troops, squadron, henee defense, protection,
shelter, < AS. scyld-truma, lit. 'shield-troop,' a
guard of men with shields, < scyld, a shield, +
triima, a band or troop of men (ef. getrtim, a
cohort), < trum, firm, steadfast: see shield and
trim, iienee shelter, q.y.'] 1. A body of troops
in battle array ; a squadron ; a battalion.
Tbaire shippis in ghtUroru shotton to lond,
Kn>'t horn with cables & with Icene ancres.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.X 1. 6033.
His archers on aythere halfe he ordaynede ther-aftyre
To sctialce in a gheltrone, to schotte wheue thame lykez.
MorU Arthure (E. E. T. 8.), I. 199-2.
A-gein hem myght endure noon hameys, ne no kynge,
ne warde, ne sheltron, were it neuer so clos.
Merlin (E. K T. S.X U. 828.
2. Shelter ; refuge ; defense. See shelter.
For-thi mesur* we vs wel and make owre faithe owre Bckel-
troun.
And thorw faith cometh contricioun conscience wote wel.
Pien Ploirman (B), xlv. 81.
sheltyl, sheltie (shel'ti), n. ; pi. shelties (-tiz).
[Also shall, sholt; said to be an abbr. dim. of
Shetland pony.'] A small sturdy horse ; a Shet-
land pony. [Scotch.]
Tbiee ihHtitf . . . were procured from the hill— little
shagged animals, more resembling wild bears than any
thing of the horse tribe, yet possessed of no small degree
of strength and spirit Seott, Pirate, xi.
shelty^ (shel ' ti), n. ; pi. shelties (-tiz). [Cf.
sheaP (f ).] A sheal ; a cabin or shanty.
The Irish turf cabin and the Highland stone Mhelty can
hardly have advanced much duiing the last two thousand
years. A. h. Wallace, Nat Select., p. 212.
shelve^ (shelv), v. t. ; pret. and pp. shelved, ppr.
shelling. [Also shelf ;<. shel/^,n.} 1. To place
on a shelf: as, to shelve books. — 2. To lay by
on a shelf ; put away or a.side as disposed of
or not needed ; hence, to put off or neglect :
as, to shelve a question or a claim.
But eren though he die or be fhHved, the race of trai-
tors will not be extinct. W. Phmipg, Speeches, etc., p. 79.
3. To furnish with shelves, as a room or closet,
shelve- (shelv), v.; pret. and pp. shelved, ppr.
shi-lring. [Prob. ult. < Icel. skelgja-sk; ren.,
become askew, lit. 'slope itself (= 8w. dial.
skjalgds, skjiilgiis, refl., become crooked, twi8t),<
skjalgr, wry, oblique, hence sloping, = Sw. dial.
skjalg, crooked, skjteig, oblique, awry : see shal-
toicl, shiml^, sheld'^, of which «/i«/Fe2 jg thug
practically the verb. The change of the final
guttural g to r appar. took place through v,
which appears in slialloa and some of its cog-
nate forms.] I. intrans. To slope; incline.
After we had, with much ado, conquered this hill, ««
saw in the midst of it the present mouth of Vesurlo,
which goes shelving down on all sides till above a hun-
dred yards deep.
Additon; Kemarks on Italy (Works, ed. Bohn, I. OS).
At Keeling atoll the shores of the lagoon thHjx gradu-
ally where toe bottom is of sediment
Darmn, Conl Beets, p. 40.
In the stUIneas she beard the ceaseless wave* lapping
against the thelving shore.
Mt$. OatMl, SylvUs Lovers, zlv.
n. trans. To incline or tip (a cart) so as to
discharge its load. [Prov. Eng.]
shelve^ (shelv), «. [< shelve'^, v., or a variant
of »AeJ/2.] A shelf or ledge. [Rare.]
Couch'd on a lAefw beneath its [a cUITsI brink, . . .
The wizard watts prophetic dream.
Seatt, L. of the L., iv. 5.
Above her, on a crag's uneasy sAetre,
Upon his elbow raised, all prostrate else,
Shadow'd Enceladus. KtaU, Hyperion, ii.
Shelver (shel'vfer), n. [< shehe'i + -«•!.] A
wagon or truck shelving or sloping toward the
back,
shelves, ». Plural of shelf.
shelving! (shel'ving), H. [Verbal n. ot shelve^,
r.] 1. Materials for shelves, or shelves collec-
tively.— 2. The act of placing or arranging on a
shelf or shelves : as, the shelving of one's books ;
henee, the act of putting away, off, or aside. —
3. In husbandry, an open frame'fitted to a wagon
or cart to enable it to receive a larger load of
some light material, as hay or leaves,
shelving- (shel'ving), n. [Vepbal n. of shelve^,
r.] 1. Sloping.— 2. A shelvy place; a bank or
reef. [Kare.J
He spoke, and speaking, at his stem he saw
The bold Cloanthus near the thetringi draw.
Dryden, Jineid, v. 2111.
shelvy (shel'vi), a. [< shelve^, shelf'', + -yi.]
Shelving; sloping; shallow.
I had been drowned bat that the shore was tMvy and
•hallow. .Shak., M. W. of W., 111. 6. 1.1.
The bat in the tAettry rock is hid.
J. R. Drake, Culprit Fay.
5567
shemeringt, n. A Middle English form of shim-
mering.
Shemite (shem'it), n. [< Shem + -ite^. Cf.
fSemite.] Same as Semite.
Shemitic (she-mit'ik), a. [< Shemite + -40. Cf.
Semitic] Same as Semitic.
Shemitish (shem'i-tish), «. [< Shemite + -tsftl.]
Same as Semitic.
Shemitism (shem'i-tizm), Ji. [< Shemite + -ism.]
Same as Semitism.
shenanigan (she-nan'i-gan), n. [Origin ob-
scure.] Nonsense; humtug; deceit: as, now,
no shenanigan about this. [Slang.]
shendt (shend), V. [< ME. shenden, schenden,
scenden, < AS. scendan, bring to shame, dis-
grace, harm, ruin, = OS. scendan = OFries.
schanda = MD. D. schenden = MLG. schenden
= OHG. scentan, MHG. schenden, G. schanden
= Sw. skdnda = Dan. skjsende, bring to shame,
disgrace; from the noun: AS. scand, sceand,
scond, sceond= OHG. scanta, MHG. G. schande,
etc., = Goth, skanda, shame, disgrace, ruin:
see shartd.] I. trans. 1, To put to shame;
bring reproach, disgrace, or ignominy upon;
disgrace.
We be all ihent.
For so fals a company in englond was nevar.
Political Poerm, etc. (ed. I'uniivall), p. 10.
Debatefull strife, and cruell enmity.
The famous name of knighthood fowly shend.
Spenser, F. Q., II. vi. 35.
2. To blame ; reprove ; reproach ; scold ; revile.
Though that I for my prymer shal be shent.
And shal be beten thryes In an houre,
1 wol it conne, our lady for to honoure.
Chaucer, Prioress's Tale, 1. 89.
For silence kepynge thou shalt not be shent.
Where as thy speache May cause thee repent
Babeet Book(E. £. T. S.), p. 344.
Alas, sir, be patient. What say you, sir? I am shent for
speaking to you. 5*0*., T. N., It. 2. 112.
3. To injure; harm; spoil; punish.
Herowde the kyng has malise ment.
And shappis with ahame yow for to shends,
And for that 30 non harmcs shnlde bente,
Be othir wales God will ye wende.
I'orJ- Plays, p. 137.
Hasty proceaae will thende it euery dele.
Arise yow vela and do be good councell.
Oenerydes (E. E. T. S.X L 1857.
4. To ruin ; destroy.
Of me unto the worldes ende
Shal neither ben y writen nor ysonge
No goode worde, for this bokes wol me Aendt.
Chaucer, Troilua, v. lOMl
Such a dream I had of dire portent
That much I fear my body will be shent ;
It bodea I shall have wars and woeful strife.
Drydm, Cock and Fox, 1. 110.
6. To defeat; outdo; surpass.
Anthony Is <A«i(, and nut hire to the flighte.
Chaucer, Good Women, L 682.
That did excell
The rest, so far as Cynthia doth shend
The lesaer sUrres. SpeTuer, Prothalamlon, L 122.
6. To forbid. EalliweU.—7. To defend ; pro-
tect.
Not the aide they brought.
Which came too late, nor bis owne power could shend
This wretched man from a niuste fearfull end.
Timet' Whittle (E. E. T. 6.), p. 68.
I/it David's harp and lute, his hand and voice,
Ulre laud to him that luvcth Israel,
And sing his praise that thendeth David's fame^
That put away his sin from out his sight,
And sent his shame into the streets of Oath.
Peele, David and Bethaabe.
n. intrant. To be ruined ; go to destruction.
Leas the tender gnuaes ihende.
Kom. Iff the Rote, 1. 1400.
8hendltllt(8hend'ffLl),a. ['iiV:,.sehendful,schind-
ftU; < ahand, 'shend, n., + -ful.] Ignominious.
She is ful glad In hir corage,
If she se any gret lynage
Be brought to nought in schynfid wise.
Rom. qfthe Rote, L 269.
Swuch was Godes death o rode — pinful and shentlful
ouer alle othre. Ancren Riiole, p. S56.
shendfnllyt (shend'ful-i), adv. [ME. schetidful-
liche; (.shendful + -ly^.] Ignominiously ; mis-
erably; shamefully.
Spec hire scheome tchendfuliche. Ancren Riwle, p. 316.
As the Mhle tellcth.
God sende to seye that r^ul schnlde dye.
And al bis seed for that snnne tchendfuUiche ende.
Piers Plowman (A), Hi. 261.
The enemyea of the lande were shertdfuUy chasyd and
utterly confounded. Fattyan,
shendshipt (shend'ship), «. [< ME. shend-
shi/ic, sclundschip, sehenschip, sehenship, schen-
rhij), schend.ihipe ; < shand, 'shend, »., + -ship.]
Shame; punishment; injury; harm.
shepherd
And thair achendichepe salle be mare
Than ever had any man here in thoght
Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 1. 7146.
To much defouled for shendshipe that man is worthy to
have. Chaucer, Parson's Tale.
shenet, a. and v. A Middle English form of
s/iee«l.
Shenshai (shen'shi), «. A member of one of
the two sects into which the Parsees of India
are divided. Compare Kadmee.
shentt. Preterit and past participle of shend.
she-oak (she'ok), »i. [Ct. she-pine.] One of va-
rious shrubs and trees of the peculiar, chiefly
Australian, genus Casuarina. They are without
true leaves, the place of these being supplied by whorls of
slender deciduous branchlets. The latter are of an acidu-
lous taste, and are relished by cattle. The wood is very
hard, excellent as fuel, and valuable for fine or coarse
woodwork ; its appe:u-ance gives to some species the name
of beefwood. The species speciflcally called she-oak are
C. strCcta (C. quadrivalvis}, the coast she-oak (sometimes,
however, called heoak\ C. fflauca, the desert she-oak, and
C. sulierosa, the erect she-oak. See Casuarina.
Sheol (she'ol), n. [Heb. she'dl, a hollow place,
a cave, < shd'al, dig, hollow out, excavate.]
The place of departed spirits : a transliteration
of the Hebrew. The original is in the authorized ver-
sion generally rendered ffrave, hell, or pit; in the revised
version of the Old Testament the word Sheol is substituted.
It corresponds to the word Hades in Greek classic litera-
ture and in the revised version of the New Testament
See heU>.
Sheolic (she-6'lik), a. [< Sheol + -ic] Per-
taining to feheol or hell. N. and Q., 7th ser.
vi. 398. [Rare.]
Shepe^t, «. An old spelling of sheep^, sheep'''.
shepe^t, H. [ME., < AS. scipe, wages.] Wages;
hire.
In withholdynge or abreggynge of the shepe, or the
byre, or of the wages of servauntz.
Chaucer, Parson's Tale.
shepent, n. An obsolete form of shippen.
shepherd (shep'^rd), «. [Early mod. E. also
.shijiliurit, shepheard, sheepherd (also as a sur-
name Sltej)herd, Sheppard, Shepard); < ME.
scheepherde, shepherd, shephirde, schepherd,
sehephiirde, schepphirde, scheperde, .ichepjmrdc,
< AS. scedphyrde, scephyrde (= G. schafhirte),
a keeper of sheep, shepherd (cf . sceaphcorden, a
sheepfold), < scedp, sheep, + hyrde, a herd, a
guardian : see sheep^ and herd^.] A man who
nerds, tends, and guards sheep in pasture; a
pastor.
In the Weye to Jerusalem, half a Myle fro Betheleem,
is a Chirche, where the Aungel seyde to the Scheppardes
of the Birthe of Crist. Mandeville, Travels, p. 72.
The Lord is our shepherd, and so called in more places
than by any other name. Donne, Sermons, vii.
Shepherd kin^, or Hyksos, a race or dynasty probably
of Semitic iiiigiM. who Uxjk Memphis, and rendered the
whulc* of KKJI't tribiitjiry. The con({uest appears to have
taken place about 2200 or '2100 B. c, and dynasties XV.
and XVI. were probably llyksos. Their rule in Ejtypt
may have lasted from 200 to MO years. Attempts have
been made to connect their expulsion with the narrative
in the book of Exodus.— Shepherd's crook, a long statf
having its upper end cur\e(l so as to fonn a hook, used by
shepherds. — Shepherd's dog, a variety of dop employed
by shepherds to protect the llncks and control their move-
ments. It is generally of considerable size, and of power-
ful, lithe build, with the hair thick-set and wavy, the tail
inclined to be long and havinj; a bushy fringe, tlie muzzle
sharp, and the eyes large and bright. The collie or sheep-
dog of Scotland is one of the best-known and most Intelli-
gent dogs of this wide-spread and useful variety. — Shep-
herd's flute, either a flageolet or an oboe of simple con-
struction, sneli as is used by shepherds. Also tthepherd's
pipe. Shepherd's plaid. Same as uttepherd's lartan.—
Shepherd's tartan. See (rtrtan.— Shepherd's wea-
ther-glass, the pimpernel, A na<jaUis art>ensi^. Also poor-
man's weatherglass. These and thu immea shepherd's-dock,
-watch, -calendar, and -sundial, aiitt John-go-Ut-bed-at-noon
allude to the closing of its flowers early in the afternoon
or at the api»roach of bad weafher. See pimpernel, 4. —
The Oood Shepherd, a title given to .Tesus Christ (John
X. 11).— The Shepherds, a fanatical sect which origi-
nated among sbejilierds In northern France about 1251,
professedly for the deliverance of Louis IX. (St. Louis), who
had been prisoner in Egypt. The Shepherds were fiercely
opposed to the clergy and monks, and usurped priestly
functions. They held possession of Paris for a while, and
oommitted many outnHrcs, especially upon the Jews. The
movement was soon suppressed. An outbreak of mendi-
cants similarly named took place under Philip V. in 1320,
but this also soon came to an end.
shepherd (shep'ferd), f. «. l< shepherd, n.] 1.
To tend or guide as a shepherd.
Multitudes of dense white fleecy clouds
Were wandering In thick flocks along the mountains.
Shepherded by the slow, unwilling wind.
Shelley, Prometheus Unbound, II. 1.
2. To attend or wait on ; gallant. [Jocose.]
Shepherding a lady. Edinburgh Rev.
3. To watch over, as a mining claim, and estab-
lish a right to it by doing a certain amount of
work on it : said especially of digging small
pits in the neighborhood of a rich deposit of
gold ; hence, to attend or hang about (a person)
shepherd
on the chance of getting something out of him.
[Slang, Australia.]
The speculators who sat dangling their legs in their in-
fant pits, ghepherdinff their claims, awaiting with anxiety
. . , the run of the vein.
Prrcy Clarke, New Chum in Australia, p. 71.
shepherd-bird (shep'6rd-b6rd), n. A book-
name of the rose-starling, Pastor roseus. See
cut under pastor.
shepherd-dog (shep'ferd-dog), n. [< ME. schep-
erde doge, schepphirde dogg; < sliepherd + dog.2
Same as shcj>herd's dog (which see, under sh(p-
herd).
shepherdess (shep'er-des), n. [< shepherd +
-f*.'.] A woman who tends sheep ; a rural lass.
She put herself into the garb of a shepherdess.
Sir P. SidTiey.
Shepherdia (she-per'di-a), n. [NL. (Nuttall,
1818), named after John Shepherd (died 1836),
curator of the botanic garden at Liverpool.] A
genus of apetalous plants, of the order Eleeag-
nacese. it is distinguished from the two other genera
of the order by its opposite leaves, and by dicecious flowers
with a four-cleft, somewhat spherical or ovoid calyx, and a
thick disk with eight lobes, the male flowers with eight
stamens and the ovary in the female with one cell and one
ovule. There are 3 species, all natives of North America,
chiefly in the western United States — one, 5. Canadensis,
with yellowish flowers and Insipid reddisli fruit, extend-
ing east to Vermont. They are small shrubs covered with
a silvery or rusty shining scurf, and bearing petioled ob-
long and entu-e leaves, small flowers in short spikes or ra-
cemes, and numerous fleshy berries (each formed of the
thickened calyx) persistent around tlie true fruit, which is
a small achene. S. argentea, the buffalo-berry, also known
as rabbit-berry and bee/suet-tree, is an abundant spiny shrub
found from New Jlexico and the Missouri to Hudson's
Bay ; its branches are covered in autumn with clusters of
scarlet berries of the size of currants, cont^iuing an edible
acid and mealy pulp, once an important article of food with
the Utah Indians.
shepherdish (shep'6r-dish), a. [< shepherd +
-1*7(1.] Resembling a shepherd; suiting a shep-
herd; pastoral; rustic.
The fair Pamela . . . had . . . taken on shepherdish ap-
parel, which was of russet cloth. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, i.
shepherdism (shep'er-dizm), 11. [< shepherd +
-I.S7H.] Pastoral life or occupation. [Rare.]
shepherdling (shep'6rd-ling), «. [Formerly
also shephardling, shepkeardling ; < shepherd +
-ling^.'] A little or young shepherd. [Rare.]
The Fourth 's another valiant Shepheardling,
That for a Cannon takes his silly sling,
And to a Scepter turns his Shepheards staff.
Great Prince, great Prophet, Poet, Psalmograph.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii.. The Handy-Crafts.
On a hillock thou mayst sing
TJnto a handsome shephardling.
Herrick, To His Muse.
shepherdlyt (shep'6rd-li), a. [< shepherd +
-ly'.'] Pastoral; rustic.
Their poems were named Eglogues or shepheardly talke.
Putienham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 20.
shepherd's-bag (shep'6rdz-bag), n. Same as
sh eph erd's-purse.
Shepherd's-club (shep'^rdz-Uub), n. The com-
mon mullen, Verhascum Thapsus. See cut un-
der mullen. [Eng.]
shepherd's-cress (shep'erdz-kres), n. A dwarf
European cruciferous plant, I'eesdalia nudi-
catdis. [Prov. Eng.]
shepherd's-joy (shep'erdz-joi), n. A plant of
one or two species, forming the liliaceous genus
Geitonoplesium, found in Australia, New Cale-
donia, and the Pacific isl-
ands. It is an evergreen
twiner climbing to a con-
siderable height, bearing
purplish-green flowers in
cymes. [Australia.]
shepherd s-knot (shep'-
6raz-not), n. The herb
tormentil, Potentilla Tor-
mentilla.
shepherd's-myrtle (shep'-
erdz-mer"tl), n. See Rus-
cus.
shepherd's-needle (shep'-
erdz-ne"dl), n. Same as
lady's-coml).
shepherd-spider (shop'-
erQ-spi"der), n. A harvest-
man or daddy-long-legs ;
any phalangiid.
shepherd's-pouch (shep'-
ferdz -pouch), n. Same as
shej>her(Vs-pnrse.
shepherd's-purse (shep'-
6raz-p6rs), n. A common
cruciferous weed, Capsella Bursa-pastoris. it
has a cluster of toothed or pinnatifld root-leaves, and a
Plant with Flowers and
Fruits of Shepherd's-purse
{,Capietla liursa-pasto.
ris). a, a flower; b, a pod.
5568.
short stem with longer wiry branches upon which small
white flowers are racemed. These ai-e followed by flat
obcordate-triangular pods, suggesting the common name.
The plant has been used as an antiscorbutic and in hema-
turia. It has also been called shepherd's-pouch or -bag^
caseweed, dappede-pouchy mother' g-keart, etc.
shepherd's-rod (shep'erdz-rod), n. A small
kind of teasel, Dipsaciis pilosaSj growing in Eii-
rope.
shepherd's-staff (shep'6rdz-stfii')j «■ Same as
shephe7'(J's~rod.
she-pine (she'pin), n. [Cf. she-oaJc.'\ A large
Australian conifer, Podocarpns elata.
Sheppey argentine. See argentine and pearl-
side.
sheppickt (shep'ik), n. [Also sheppeck; a var.
of slieep'pick,'] A kind of hay-fork. Nares.
sheppy (shep'i), n. ; pi. sheppies (-iz). [Also
sheppey; ef. shepen, shippen.'] A sheep-cote;
a sheep-shed,
I took the two finest and heaviest [sheep 1, and with one
beneath my right arm, and the other beneath my left, I
went straight home to the upper sheppeij, and set them in-
side and fastened them.
H. D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone, xlii.
shepstare (shep'star). n. [Also shepster, chep-
ster; < sheep^ + stare^.'] The starling, Sturnus
vulgaris. Compare sheep-rack, 2. [Prov. Eng.]
Sometime I would betray the byrds
That lyght on lymed tree,
Especially in Shepstare tyme,
When thicke in flockes they flye.
Qooge, Eglogs, vi. (Davieg.)
shepstarling (shep' startling), w. Same as shep-
stare.
shepster^t (shep'ster), n. [< sheep^ + -ster.'] A
sheep-shearer. Palsgrave. {Halliicell,)
shepster^ (shep'ster), n. Same as shepstare.
shepster^t, ^^. See shapester.
Sherardia (she-rar'di-a), n, [NL. (Dillenius,
1719), named after W.'Sherard (1659-1728), an
English botanist.] A genns of gamopetalons
plants, of the order Buhiacese. it is unlike all others
of the tribe. Galiese in having lanceolate and persistent
calyx-lobes, and is characterized by subsessile flowers sur-
rounded by au involucre, and by a two-branched style and
capitate stigma. It has a funnel-shaped corolla with four
ovate spreading lobes, four stamens, and a two-celled ovary
containing two ovules and ripening into twin nutlets. The
only species, S. arvensis, the field-madder, also known as
sgntrwort, is a native of Europe and the Mediterranean re-
gion from Persia westward. It is a slender, roughish, and
procumbent herb, with four-angled branches, and lanceo-
late prickly-pointed leaves four or six in a whorl. The
small pink or blue flowers are borne in clusters surrounded
by an involucre formed of united bracts.
sherbertt, n. An obsolete form of sherbet.
sherbet (sher'bet), n. [Formerly also scherhetf
sherhert, ^erhet; < Turk, sherbet = Pers. Hind.
sharbat, < Ar. sharbatj a drink, sip, beverage,
syrup, < shariba, he drank. Cf. sorbet, a doub-
let of sherbet, and shrub'^, shrab, syrup, from
the same Ar. source.] 1. A favorite cooling
drink of the East, made of fruit-juices diluted
with water, and variously sweetened and fla-
vored. It is cooled with snow when this can be
procured. — 2. A water-ice, variously flavored.
snerbetlee (sher'bet-le), ??. A seller of sher-
bet ; especially, an itinerant sherbet-seller in
the streets of a Levantine city.
sherbetzide (sher'bet-zid), n. An itinerant ven-
der of sherbet, syrup, etc., in Eastern towns.
sherd (sherd), n. Same as shard'^.
shere^t, ^. and w. A Middle English form of
shear^j sheer^, sheer^.
shere^t (sher), n. In minting, the deviation
from standard weight pei*mitted by law, now
called the remedy. Encyc. Brit., XVl. 482.
shereef, n. See sherif,.
shereefee (she-re'f e) , n. [Ar. **shariftf ef . ashrdfi,
a counter of gold, < shartf, noble : see sherif. Cf .
noble, the name of an English coin.] A gold
coin formerly current in Egypt and Turkey, of
the value of 95. 4d. English (about |2.24). Also
called altoon,
shere-grasst, w. An obsolete form of shear-
qrass.
sneregrig (sher'grig), n. An unidentified ani-
mal: so named in the following quotation.
Weasels and polecats, sheregrigs, carrion crows,
Seen and smelt only by thine eyes and nose.
Wolcot (P. Pindar), p. 186.
shereman, n. A dialectal form of shireman.
Shere Thursdayt. See Sheer Thursday.
sherewatert, n. An obsolete spelling of shear-
water.
sherif, shereef (she-ref '), n. [Also sheriff, sche-
rif, sherrife, cherif; = F. cherif = Sp. jerife =
Pg. xarife, xerife, cherif, a sherif (cf. Sp. xarifo,
adorned, well-dressed), = Turk, sherif ■=. Hind.
Sharif noble, illustrious, a prince, a descendant
of Mohammedj = Pers. sharif noble, < Ai'. sha-
sheriffalty
rif, lofty, noble, applied to the descendants of
Moliammed through his daughter Fatima, wife
of Ali; cf. sharaf, elevation, nobility, sharfa, a
pinnacle, etc.] 1. A descendant of Mohammed
through his daughter Fatima.
The relations of Mahomet, called in Arabic Sheri/ or
noble, by the Turks Emir or prince, have the priviledge
of being exempt from appearing before any judge but
their own head. Pococke, Description of the East, I. 171.
2. A prince or ruler; specifically, the chief ma-
gistrate of Mecca.
Mieriff^ (sher 'if), n. [Also sometimes in the
restored or explanatory form shire-reeve; also
sometimes contracted shrieve, early mod. E.
sheriffe, schereff, shireevCy etc., < ME. shereve,
scherreve, shireve, shirreve, schyreve, schirreve,
syrreve (pi. shireves, schirreves, shrives), < AS,
seir-gerefa, * shire-reeve,' < scire, shire, + gere-
fa, a reeve, officer: see shire^ and rceve^. Cf.
iownreeve, portreeve.'] The chief civil ofl&cer
charged with administering justice within a
county, under direction of the courts, or of the
crown or other executive head of the state, and
usually having also some incidental judicial
functions. (a) In England, the chief officer of the
crown in every county or shire, who does all the sov-
ereign's business in the county, the crown by letters pat-
ent committing the custody of the county to him alone.
Sheriffs are appointed by the crown upon presentation of
the judges in a manner partly regulated by law and partly
by custom (see pricking) ; tlie citizens of I-ondon, however,
have the right of electing the sheriffs for the city of Lon-
don and the county of Middlesex. Those appointed are
bound under a penalty to serve the ofRce, except in speci-
fied cases of exemption or disability. As keeper of the
queen's peace, the sheriff is the first man in the county,
and superior in rank to any nobleman therein during his
office, which he holds for a year. He is specially intrust-
ed with the execution of the laws and the preservation of
the peace, and for this purpose he has at his disposal the
whole civil force of the county — in old legal phraseology,
the^o««e comitatits. He has also some judicial functions,
less extensive now than formerly. The most ordinary of
his functions, which he always executes by a deputy called
under-sheriff, consists in the execution of writs. The sher-
iff performs in person such duties only as are either purely
honorary, such as attendance upon the judges on circuit,
or of some dignity and public importance^ such as the pre-
siding over elections and the holding of county meetings,
which he may call at any time.
A shirreve hadde he been and a countour.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., L 359,
Erlez of Ynglande with archers ynewe :
Schirreves scharply schiftys the comouns.
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), L 725.
"Rise vp," he seid, "thou prowde schereff."
Robin Ilood and the Monk (Child's Ballads, V. 5).
The reeve of the shire had doubtless been a fiscal of-
flcer from the beginning. It was the Sheriff who had to
see to the King's profit and his own in every corner of his
shire. E. A. Freeman, Norman Conquest, V. 294.
(6) In Scotland, the chief local judge of a county. There
are two grades of sheriffs, the chief or superior sheriffs
and the sheriffs-substitute (besides the lord lieutenant of
the county, who has the honorary title of sheriff-principaZ),
both being appointed by the crown. The chief sheriff,
usually called simply the sheriff, may have more than one
substitute under him, and the discharge of the greater
part of the duties of the office now practically rests with
the sheriffs-substitute, the sheriff being (except in one or
two cases) a practising advocate in Edinburgh, while the
sheriff-substitute is prohibited from taking other employ-
ment, and must reside within his county. The civil juris-
diction of the sheriff extends to all personal actions on
contract, bond, or obligation without limit, actions for
rent, possessory actions, etc., in which cases there is an
appeal from the decision of the sheriff-substitute to the
sheriff, and from him to the Court of Session. He has
also a summary jurisdiction in small-debt cases where
the value is not more than £12. In criminal cases the
sheriff has jurisdiction in all offenses the punishment for
which is not more than two years' imprisonment. He has
also jurisdiction in bankruptcy cases to any amount, (c)
In the United States, except in New Hampshire and Shode
Island, sheriffs are elected by xwpular vote, the qualifi-
cation being that the sheriff must be a man, of age, a citi-
zen of the United States and of the State, and a resident
in the county; usually he can hold no other office, and
is not eligible for reelection until after the lapse of a
limited period. In all the States there are deputy sheriffs,
who are agents and servants of the sheriff. In New York
and some other States there is, as in England, an under-
sheriff, who acts in place of his chief in the latter's ab-
sence, etc. The principal duties of the sheriff are to
preserve peace and order throughout the county, to at>
tend the courts as the administrative officer of the law,
to guard prisoners and juries, to serve the process and
execute the judgments of the courts, and to preside at
inquisitions and assessments of damages on default. —
High sheriff, the sheriff as distinguished from the under-
sheriff and other deputies.— Joint sheriff, two persons
jointly appointed sheriff, or one of such persons.— Sheriff
of MidcUesex case, a decision in 1S40, noted in English
constitutional history, on the relative powers of Parlia-
nient,to imprison for contempt and the courts to discharge
on habeas corpus.— Sheriff's Jury. See ^wry.— Sheriff
turn, in early Kng. lau\ the periodical court or session
held by a sheriff successively in the various hundreds of
his county, at which the freeholders were bound to appear
as a part of their service.- Statute of Sheriffs. See
statute.
sheriff-, n. See sherif.
sheriffalty (sher'if-al-ti). n. [< sheriff + -alty,
after the equiv. shrievalty.] 1. The office or
sheriffalty
jurisdiction of sheriff; sheriffship ; shrievalty.
— 2. Term or period of office as sheriff.
Sir Rowland Meredith, knighted in his sheriffalty, on
occasion of an address which he brought up to the king
from hi3 county. Jiichardmn, Sir Charles Grandison, viii.
The Year after I had Twins; they came in Mr. Pen t-
wciuils sherifalty- Foote, Taste, L 1.
sheriff-clerk (sher'if-klerk), n. In Scotland,
the clerk of the sheriff's court, who has charge
of the records of the court. He registers the
judgments of the court, and issues them to the
proper parties.
snenfTdom (sher'if-dum), «. [< sheriff + -rfom.]
1. The office of sheriff; shrievalty.
Hereditary sheriffdmm. Stubbs, Const. Hist, i 98.
2. The district or territory over which a sher-
iff's jurisdiction extends.
Wigtown was probably created a therifdotn in the 13th
century. Eneyc Srit.t XXIV. 564.
sheriffess (sher'if-es), n. [< sheriff + -ess.'}
A female sheriff. [Rare.]
Eliiiabeth, widow of Thomas Lord Clifford, was sheriff-
etg of Westmoreland for many years.
T. Warion, HUt. Eng. Poetry (ed. 1871), n. 186, note.
sheriffhood (sher'if-hiid), «. [< ME. sherrf-
lioiie. slioreflitxte ; < sheriff + -hood.'] The of-
fice of sheriff.
The furst Artycle. Weteth that we haue graunted and
by our charter present conferme<i to the citezens of Lon-
rton the Shore/hode of I.i>ndnn and of Middelsex, wj-th all
thlngis and costumes that fallith to the same sher^hold
of l^ndon wt in the cite and wythout, by lande and bi
water.
Charter of London (Rich. U.X In Arnold's Chron., p. 14.
sheriff-oflcer (sher'if-ofi-str), n. In Scotland,
an officer connected with the sheriff's court, who
is charged with arrests, the serving of pro-
cesses, and the like.
sheriftyt, "• [< sheriff + -ry, syncopated form
of -T'/.] Sheriffship.
sheriffship (»her'if-ship), n. [< sheriff + ship.]
The office or the jurisdiction of a sheriff; shriev-
alty.
sheriff-tootht (sher'if-toth), n. A tenure by the
service of providing entertainment for the
slieriff at his county courts: a common ta.^
formerly levied for the sheriff's diet. H'harton.
sheriffwick (sher'if-wik), n. [< sheriff + Kirk,
as in hniliirirk, eonsUMeitiek.] The district un-
der a sheriff's juri.siliction.
sherkt, '■. An obsolete form of shirk.
shermant, ". An obsolete form of shearman.
shern i sliem), n. Same as xham.
sheroot, ». See rhcrmit.
sberris, «. Same as .sherry. [Obsolete or ar-
chaic-.]
The second property of your excellent sherrin is, the
warming of the blood. Shak., 2 HeiL IV., It. 3. 111.
sherris-sackt, ». See sacks.
shermg (slier'ug), n. Same as shearhog.
sherry («her'i),«.: fl. sherries (-iz). [Earlymod.
E. xherris, from which, mistaken as a plural, the
supposed sin^lar sherry was formed (cf. cher-
ry', pial, similarly formed from 'cheris,pease'i,
etc.); abbr. of Sherris-wine (or Sherris-sack) (=
D. .\ercs-wijn = (t. Xeres-wein; F. vin de Xeres =
Pg. rinho de Xerr:), < Sherris, also written Sher-
ries (with sh for Sp. x), also Xercs, Xerez, < Sp.
Xeres, now Jerez, prop. Jerez de la Frontera,
in southern Spain, near Cadiz, where the wine
is still inafle ; < L. Cxsaris, gen. of Ctesar, Ceesar,
after whom the town was named: see Csesar.
Cf. ^p.-Sitrai/ossa, contr. <L. Casarea Augusta.]
1. Originally, the wine of Xeres; hence, a gen-
eral name for the strong white wines of the
south of Spain, of all qualities except the low-
est. It Is a wine that la mil' : : itcd, differences
of color being often pnKlnced i .--nns, and avery
largepartof theexiK»rte<i win- ::i''d with brandy
or alcohol, and otherwise disgiiiii*-<l. Compare avnonfiOaffo.
I hare
A bottle of sherry In my power shall beget
New crotchets In your heads.
Beaa. and Fl , Coxcomb, L 1.
2. .\ small wine-glass of the size and form
commoiilv used for sherry and similar wines.
•herry-cobbler («her'i-kob'l<"r), n. A cobbler
mail'- witli >lierry. See cobbler^, 1.
sherry-vallies (s'her'i-val'iz), n. nl. [Perhaps,
through a F. or Sp. form, ult. < LL. mraballa,
sarnhara, wide trousers such as are worn in
the East, < Heb. (Chaldee) snrhntin (translated
"hosen" in Dan. iii. 21).] Overalls of thick
cloth or leather, buttoned or tied round the legs
over the trousers as a guard against mud or
dust when traveling on horseback; leggings.
[Western U. 8.]
ihertet, n. A Middle English spelling of shirt.
5569
she-sole (she'sol), n. The whiff, a fish. [Irish.]
shet, c. An obsolete or dialectal form of shui^.
shetet. A Middle English form of shoot, shect^.
shetert, ». A Middle English form of shooter.
sheth (sheth), H. The post or standard of a
plow, which is attached at its upper extremity
to the plow-beam, and affords below an attach-
ment for the mold-board and land-side and in-
directly for the plowshare.
shethet, ». A Middle English form of sheath.
Shetland argus. See Argus.
Shetlander (shet'land-er), «. A native or an
inhabitant of Shetland, a group of islands
lying to the north-northeast of the mainland
of Scotland, and forming, with the Orkney Isl-
ands, the most northerly county of Scotland.
Shetland lace. A needle-made openwork or-
namental trimming, like needle-point lace in
all respects except that it is made of woolen
yarn, and is therefore coarse and large in pat-
tern, and capable of being made very Warm.
Shawls, scarfs, etc., are made of it.
Shetland pony. See shelty.
Shetland wool. See wool.
sheuch, sheugh (shueh or shuch), n. [Also
seiieh, Sficch; perhaps a form of seic^.] A fur-
row; a ditch; a gully. [Scotch.]
It neither grew in syke nor ditch.
Nor yet in ony sheuch;
But at the gates o' Paradise
That birk grew fair eneuch.
The Clerk's Tira Sons o' Owsen/ord (Chttd'a Ballads, II. 70).
I saw the battle sair and teugh,
And reekin' red ran mony a sheugh.
Bums, Battle of Sheriff-Muir.
sheva (she-vii'), n. [Also sheica, shiva; < Heb.
sherd', shetcd', prob. same as shdv', shdw', evil,
emptiness, < snd', crash, be destroyed.] In
Heb. gram. : (a) An obscure vowel-sound, simi-
lar to or identical with that known as the neu-
tral vowel. (6) The vowel-point representing
such a sound, simple sheva consists of two dots placed
thus, -r, under a consonant, and represents the neutral
vowel or the absence of a vowel-sound after a consonant.
In the latter capacity it is called sHent sheva. in the former
sheva mabHe. Compound sheva consists of the points rep-
resenting short a, e, and o respectively, with a simple
sbeva placed at the right (thus, -=^, m-, ~ ), and indi-
cates BODnds intermediate in nature between these and
the Deatral vowel. A neutral vowel in the Arj-an lan-
guages is also sometimes called sheva.
1 would soggeat that the original word wasirpwiraAiuciVu
s irpocaAjti^u (the v by labiation for g. and the second a
a sheva, as in naXaxoi). Classieal Rev., II. 251.
shew (sho). An archaic form of «/io«;l, show^.
shewbread, M. See shotcbread.
shewelt, sewelt (sh6'-, sii'el), n. [Also setcell;
early m<xl. E. also shaile, < ME. schavcle, a scare-
crow; perhaps from the root of shy^; usually
referrea to shew, s/ioirl.] A scarecrow.
Thoa (the owl) selst that gromes (men) the ifoth [take].
And hele on rodde the anhoth (hang).
And the to-twicbet and to-schaketb
And snmme of the tekaviet maketh.
OW and XighUngtde (Morris's Spec. Early Eng.X 1. 1648.
Any thyng that la hang up is called a Seieel. And those
are used moat commonly to amaze a Deare, and to make
him refuse to paaae wher they are hanged up.
TurbertOU, Booke of Hunting (ed. 1575), p. 98.
.So sre these bugbears of opinions brought by great
clerks into the world to serve as shewets to keep them
from those faults whereto else the vanity of the world
and weakness of senses might pull them.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, IIL
shewert, ». A Middle English form of shower^.
shewink (she-wingk'), "• Same as chetrink.
sheyk, sheykh, n. See sheik.
Shiah (.she'ii), «. [Also Shcenh, Sheah; = Pers.
Hind. Ar. shi'a, shi'ah, orig. Ar., lit. 'sect.'] A
member of that division of the Mohammedans
which maintains that Ali, first cousin of Mo-
hammed and husband of his daughter Fatima,
was the first legitimate imam or successor of
the Prophet, and rejects the first three califs of
the Snnnis (the other great division) as usurp-
ers. The Shlahs "are also called the Imamiyahs, be-
caasa they believe the Muslim religion consists In the
tme knowledge of the Imam or rightful leaders of the
faithful " (Hughes, Diet. IslamV (See imam and calif.)
They claim to' be the orthodox Mohammedans, but are
treated by the Snnnis as heretics. The Shlahs comprise
nearly the whole Persian nation, and are also found in
Oudh, a province of British India ; but the Mohammedans
of the other parts of India are for the most part Sunnls.
Also ShiiU.
We have seen above that the Shl'a were divided Into
several secta, each holding for one of the direct descen*
dantaof 'Ali, and paying him the reverence due to a deity.
Kncyc. Bra., XVI. .193.
shibboleth (shib'o-leth). H. [= F. schibboleth =
O. srhilinleth = Li., seibboleth, < Heb. shibboleth.
an ear of com, a stream (in the case mentioned
prob. used in the latter sense, with ref. to
shield
the river Jordan), < "shdbhal, increase, flow,
grow.] A Hebrew word, meaning ' ear of corn '
or 'stream,' used by Jephthah, one of the
judges of Israel, as a test-word by which to dis-
tinguish the fleeing Ephraimites (who could
not pronounce the sh in shibboleth) from his
own men, the (Jileadites (Judges xii. 4-6);
hence, a test-word, or the watchword or pet
phrase of a party, sect, or school. Similarly, dur-
ing the massacre of the Sicilian Vespers, the French be-
trayed their nationality by inability to pronounce cor-
rectly the Italian word cicen.
Without reprieve, adjudged to death,
For want of well pronouncing shibboleth.
MUlon, S. A., 1. 289.
So exasperated were they at seeing the encouragement
the Flemish and French tongues met with, that a general
massacre took place of all who had the shibboleth of those
languages upon them.
irotdsmitb. On Propagation of Eng. Language.
Nowadays it is a sort of sibboleth and shibboleth by
which to know whether anyone has ever visited the place
(Tangier] to note whether he adds the final s or not.
The Academy, July 6, 18S9, p. 4.
Shick-shack-day (shik'shak-da), « . [Also Shig-
shiig-dny; origin obscuie.] The 29th of May,
or Royal Oak day. Halliivell. [Local, Eng.]
When I was at the College School, Gloucester, some
twenty years ago, almost every boy wore an oak-apple
(some of which were even gilded) in his buttonhole on
the 29th of May. Those who had not tliis decoration were
called sotto voce in the school-room and yelled after in
the grove, Shig-shag 1 this opprobrious epithet, when ut-
tered at close quarters, being generally accompanied
by three pinches. No boy wlio cared for his peace of
mind and wished to save himself some *• nips and tweaks "
would appear in school without at least an oak-leaf in
honour of the day.
S. R. Townshend Mayer, in N. and Q , 5th ser., IV. 176-7.
shide (shid). n. [Early mod. E. also shyde,
schyde; < ME. shide, schide, schydc, < AS. scid,
a splinter, a billet of wood (scid-ucall, a paling
fence), = OFries. skid = OHG. scit, MnG.scliit,
G. scheit = Icel. skidh, a billet of wood, = Sw.
skid, a wooden shoe or sole, a skate, = Norw.
skid, a snow-shoe, = Dan. ski, a piece of wood,
a billet, a snow-shoe (see ski); cf. Lith. skeda,
skedra, Lett, skaida, a splinter, Gr. axiia, a
splinter (see schedule, schism); related to sheath,
ult. from the root of shed^ : see shrd^. Doublet
of skid^.] A piece of wood; a strip; a piece
split off; a plank. [Old and prov. Eng.]
And (he] come to Noe anon and bad hym nonst lette :
"Swithe go shape a shippe of shides and of hordes."
Piers Plomnan (B), Ix. 131.
Both holmes, and beeches broad, and beams of ash, and
shides of okes.
With wedges great they clive.
Phaer's Virgil (1600). (A'ores.)
shie, »'. See shy^.
shiel, n. Same as sheall, sheal'^.
shield (sheld), «. [Early mod. E. also sheild; <
ME. sheeld, shcelde, schccld, sheld, scheld, sheldc,
scheldc, < AS. .•icild, scield, sccld, .•ici/ld, a sliield, =
OS.«ci7flt=OFries..sA<;W=I)..<rAiM=MLG..v<'/(i7*,
LG. schild == OHG. scilt, MHG. schiit, a shield,
G. schild, shield, coat of arms, tra<le-8ign. = Icel.
skjoldr (pi. skildir) = Sw. skold = Dan. .ikjotd, a
shield, skilt, badge, trade-sign, = Goth, skildits, a
shield: root unknown. Some connect the word
with shell and scaled, as denoting a thin piece of
wood or metal (see shell and scaled), otliers with
lee\. skella,skjaUa, clash, rattle.] 1. A frame
or rounde<l plate made of wood, metal, hide, or
leather, carried by warriors on the arm or in the
hand, as a defense, from remote antiquity until
the perfection of firearms rendered it more an
Sliield of Mounted Man- •
I at-amis.
A.closeofl^th century : B,
close of 13th century ; C, first
llalf of 13th century.
encumbrance than
a safeguard, and by
savage peoples to the
'. present day. Speciflcally,
as distinguished from the buck-
ler, a large implement of the
sort, covering the body at least
on one side, and carried on the
shield
arm, which passed through rings or straps on Its Inner
aide, or hung ari>und the neck by a guige or strap. The
shield of the middle ages was In the tenth century vei-y
long, pointed at the bottom and rounded at the top. (See
Uteshield, below.) At later periods it was changed in size
and shape, becoming shorter and smaller, at tlrst triangu-
lar and afterward broad, short, and pointed. (See i>cu,
and tiilin:M>iMd (below).) In the fifteenth century the
shield proper was relegated to the just, and soon after
disappeared :Utogether. (For the hand-shield used for par-
rying blows, see buckler; for the large sllield used in
sieges, see pariie.) Shields of barbiuous peoples differ
greatly in size, shape, and material: thus, those of the
peoples of South Africa, made of hide, are nearly six feet
long ; those of the ^Mussulman nations are much smaller
and usually rouud. See also cuts under btiMer, enarme,
hopliU, orU, pavite, pelta, rondacJie, and scxUum.
What signe is the levest
To haue schape in thl scheld to schene arraes?
Waiam ofPalerne (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3214.
So to the flght the thick battalions throng.
Shields urg'd on shields, and men drove men along.
Pope, Iliad, iv. 4S6.
2. Anything that protects or is used as a pro-
tection, (o) A movable screen, usually of steel, serving
to protect heavy guns and the gunners while serving th em.
six-inch Breech-loading Rifle on the United States Cruiser Atlanta.
a, shield
A similar contrivance is used by sappers. (6) In mining,
a framework erected for the protection of a miner in work-
ing an adit, pushed forward as the work progresses, (c)
In submarine work, a construction at the head of a tunnel
to keep back the silt or clays as the tunnel is advanced.
In some operations the shield is left permanently in place,
being covered in by the brickwork that follows close be-
hind the excavation.
The work of excavating in the tunnel will be done with
large steel shields, 22 feet in diameter.
Sci. Amer., N. S., LX. 41.
(d) A fender-plate attached to the share of a corn-plow
to prevent clods from roUlng on to the young plants.
E. H. Knight, (e) In zool.: (1) A protective or defen-
sive plate, buckler, or
cuirass, of some deter-
minate size, shape, or
position; a scute, scu-
tum, or scutellum ; a lo-
rica; a carapace: as, the
shields or bucklers of a
ganoid Ush ; the shields
of a turtle, an armadillo,
etc. See cuts under car-
apace, leotf-roller, scale,
armadillo, and coluber.
(2) Some part, place,
or mark likened to a
shield; a thyroid forma-
tion. See cut under lar-
ynx. (/) In dressmak-
ing, a piece or strip of
some repellent fabric used to protect a dress from mud,
perspiration, etc. : as, a ektrt.shield ; an smn-shietd.
3. Figuratively, a shelter, protection, or de-
fense ; a bulwark.
Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding
great reward. Gen. xv. 1.
My counsel Is my shield. Shak., Rich. III., iv. 3. 66.
4. In hot., any flat, buckler-like body that is
fixed by a stalk or pedicel from some part of
the under surface, as the apothecium in certain
lichens. (Qee apothecium.) In the CAarocea each of
the eight flat disk-shaped cells composing the antheridi-
um is called a shield. See shield-shaped.
Someof the species of Platanthera . . . have curious con-
trivances, such as a channelled labellum, lateral shields,
*c., compelling moths to insert their proboscides direct-
ly In front. Danoin, Fertil. of Orchids by Insects, p. 75.
6. In her. : (a) The shield-shaped escutcheon
used for all displays of arms, except when
Frontal Shield of (i) European Galli-
nu\&t.GamHula chloropus), (z) Amer-
ican Gallinule {Gattinitla ^aleata).
Kite-shield, Nor-
man, of loth or nth
century.
Shields.
a, anient, a chevron ffules (that is, the field silver and the chevron
red) ; *, quarterly, first and fourth argent, a chevron gules (as in «),
second and third gules, a cross argent (that is, the field red and the
cross silver or white).
borne by women and sometimes by clergy-
men. See escutcheon and lozenge, (b) A bearing
representing a knightly shield. — 6t. A Frenofi
5570
crown- (in French, ^cu), so called from its hav-
ing on one side the figure of a shield.
He was bounden in a reconyssaunce
To paye twenty thousand sheeld anon.
Chaucer, Shipman's Tale, 1. 331.
7. The semi-transparent skin of the sides of a
boar-pig. which is of considerable thickness,
affording shield-like protection against the at-
tacks of an adversary: apparently used former-
ly to furnish a shield for burlesque or mimic
contests. N. and Q., 2d ser., X. 478.
He looks like a shield of brawn at Shrovetide, out of date.
B. Jonsort, Every Man out of his Humour, iv. 4.
We will drink in helmets,
And cause the souldier turn his blade to knives,
To conquer capons, and the stubble goose ;
No weapons in the age to come be known
But shield of bacon and the 8wor(l of brawn.
Randolph, Jealous Lovers (1646). (Nares.)
8. A breed of domestic pigeons, of which there
are four varieties, black, red,
blue, and silver — Cephalic,
cepbalothoraclc, frontal, pygal
shield. See the adjectives.— Kfle-
sMeld, the tall, long-pointed shield
of the early middle ages.— Norman
Shield, a name given to the kite-shield.
— Sllield k bouche, a shield having
in its right side or upper right-hand
corner an opening or indentation lor
the lance or sword-blade. See bouche, 4.
—Shield of pretense. See pretense,
and escutcheon o.f pretense (under es-
ra«c/ieon).— Shield Of the Passion, a
pretended escutcheon in which the
attributes of the Passion are depicted
like the bearings of a coat of arms.-
Standing sllield. (a) Same as ^amse.
(6) More properly, a mantlet or wood-
en bulwark for crossbowmen and the
like.— Tlltlng-shleld, a shield borne
by a knight in the just or tilting-lists.
shield (sheld), v. [Early mod. E. also sheild; <
ME. shelden, schelden, shilden, schilden, schylden,
scilden, < AS. scildan, scyldan, gescildan = leel.
slijalda, protect, guard, defend, shield; from
the noun.] 1. trans. 1. To protect, defend, or
shelter from danger, calamity, distress, annoy-
ance, or the like : as, to shield one from attack ;
to shield one from the sun ; to shield a criminal.
And sTielde hem fro poverte and shonde.
Chaucer, House of Fame, I. 88.
Shouts of applause ran ringing through the field,
To see the son the vanquished father shield.
Dryden, ^neid, x. 1135.
2t. To ward off.
They brought with them theyr usuall weedes, fitt to
sheUd the cold, and that continuall frost to which they
had at home bene enured. Spenser, State of Ireland.
A cobweb over them they throw, . . .
To shield the wind if it should blow.
Drayton, Nymphidia.
3. To forfend; forbid; avert. [Obsolete or
archaic]
Take what yow list, God shUde that ye spare.
Chaucer, Shipman's Tale, 1. 286.
God shield I should disturb devotion.
Shak., E. and J., iv. 1. 41.
II. intrans. To act or serve as a shield ; be a
shelter or protection.
That schene sayde, that god wyl schylde.
Alliterative Poems (eel. Morris), i. 9(54.
The truly brave.
When they behold the brave oppressed with odds,
Are touch'd with a desire to shield and save.
Byron, Don Juan, viii. 106.
shield-animalcule (sheld'an-i-mal"kul), n. An
infusoriiin of the family Aspidiscidse.
shield-backed (sheld'bakt), a. Having a very
large pronotum extended like a shield over the
next two thoracic segments : specifically noting
a grou^ of wingless grasshoppers (Locustide^
known in the United States as western crickets,
as of the genera Thyreonotus and Anabrus. J.
H. Corns took.
shield-bearing (sheld'bar"ing), a. Ineool, hav-
ing a shield ; scutate or scutigerous ; squamate ;
loricate; cataphraet.
shield-beetle (sheld'be"tl), n. Any coleopter-
ous insect of the family Cossyphidx. A. Adams,
Man. Nat. Hist.
shield-belt (sheld'belt), n. In her., a guige
used as a bearing. This is rare as an independent
bearing, but often occurs in connection with a shiehl,
which is hung by it from a boss, or held up by a sup-
E>rter, human or animal.
ield-bone (sheld 'bon), n. [< ME. sheeld-
bone; (.shield + bone^.'i A blade-bone. [Prov.
Eng.]
Some of his bones in Warwicke yett
Within the castle there doe lye ;
One of his sheeld-bones to this day
Hangs in the citye of Coventrye.
Legend of Sir Quy. (Halliwell.)
shield-toad
shield-brooch (sheld'broch), n. A brooch rep-
resenting a shield. Particularly- (o) A small model,
as of an ancient buckler. (6) At thft present time, a more
elaborate composition, as of a shield suiTounded by wea-
pons, standards, or the like.
shield-budding (sheld'bud"ing), n. Budding
by means of a T-shaped incision, the most or-
dinary method ; T-budding. See budding, 3.
shield-bug (sheld'bug), n. A heteropterous in-
sect of the family Scutelleridee : so called from
the size of the scutellum.
shield-centiped (sheld'sen"ti-ped), n. A oen-
tiped of tlie family Cermatiidee. See cut under
Scuii<ieridee.
shield-crab (sheld'krab), n. Any crab of the
family JJorippidse.
shield-dagger (sheld'dag"6r), n. An imple-
ment of war carried in the left hand, and serv-
ing as a buckler and on occasion as an offensive
weapon ; specifically, a weapon used by certain
Indian tribes, in which a pair of horns of some
variety of antelope are secured together by
crosspieces. It is capable of inflicting formi-
dable wounds.
shield-drake (sheld'drak), «. Same as shel-
drake.
shield-duck (sheld'duk), ». Same as sheldrake.
shielded (shel'ded), a. [< shield + -ed^.] In
^0(J7., shield-bearing; scutigerous; cataphraet;
loricate. See cut uiideT phylloxera-mite.
Shielder (shel'der), n. [< ME. schelder; < shield
+ -eri.] One who shields, protects, or shel-
ters.
shield-fern (sheld'fem), n. Any fern of the
genus Aspidium: so called from the form of
the indusium of the fructification. The sori or
fruit-dots are roundish and scattered or arranged in ranks ;
the indnsia are solitary, roundly peltate or ki(3ney-shaped,
fixed by the middle or edge. For further characterization,
see Aspidium.— CilX\s,tma,s shield- fem, an evergreen
fern, Aspidium acrostichoides, witli rigid lanceolate fronds,
much used in decoration at Christmas-time. The pinnae
are linear-lanceolate, somewhat scythe-shaped or half-
halberd-shaped at the slightly stalked base, the upper
ones only fertile. It is a native of eastern Korth -America
from Canada to Florida.
shield-gilled (sheld'gild), a. Scutibranchiate.
P. P. Carpenter.
shield-headed (sheld'hed"ed), a. In zool. : (a)
Stegocephalous, as an amphibian. (6) Pelto-
cephalous, as a crustacean.
shield- lantern (sheld'lan"t6rn), n. A lantern
so arranged and protected as to throw light
through an opening in a shield outward, so that
the bearer of the shield sees his enemy while
unseen himself: a rare device of the later mid-
dle ages.
shieldless (sheld'les), a. [< shield + -less.]
Without shield or protection.
Are eunuchs, women, children, shieldless quite
Against attack their own timidity tempts?
Browning, Ring and Book, I. 235.
shieldlessly (sheld'les-li), adv. In a shieldless
manner or condition ; without protection.
shieldlessness (sheld'les-nes), n. Unprotected
state or condition.
shield-louse (sheld'lous), ».. A scale-insect;
any coccid, but especially a scale of the sub-
family Diaspinee.
shield-plate (sheld'plat), n. A plate, usually
of bronze and circular, thought to have formed
the umbo of a circular shield the other parts
of which have decayed. Such plates are numerous
in graves of northern Europe ; they are often richly deco-
rated with circular bands, spiral scrolls, and other de-
vices.
shieldrake (shel'drak), re. Same as sheldrake.
shield-reptile (sheld 'rep "til), «. A shielded
or cataphraet reptile ; a turtle or tortoise ; an
alligator or crocodile; any member of the Cata-
phracta. J. E. Gray, Catalogue of the Shield
Reptiles in the British Museum.
shield-shaped (sheld'shapt), a. Shaped like a
shield, or suggesting a shield in figure; scu-
tate; peltate; thyroid. The forms of shields being
various, the terra is equally indefinite ; but in botanical
use it means, specillcally, plane and round or oval, with a
stalk or support attache(l to some part of the under sur-
face, as the leaves of Brasenia, Netumbium, Hydrocotyle
umbellata, the indusia of certain ferns (Aspidium), an(l
the apothecia of many lichens. See scutate, peltate, apothe-
cium, indusium,, and cut under larynx.
shield-ship (sheld'ship), n. A vessel of war
carrying movable shields to protect the heavy
guns except at the moment of firing: super-
seded bv the turret-ship. E. H. Knight.
shield-slater (sheld'sla"t6r), n. A cursorial
isopod of the genus Cassidina.
shieldtail (sheld'tal), n. A snake of the fam-
ily Uropeltidas.
shield-toad (sheld'tod), n. A turtle or tortoise.
sbleld-nrchln
shield-Tircllin (slield'er"chin), n. A elypeas-
troiil sea-urchin ; au echinoid of flattened and
irregular or circular form ; especially, a mem-
ber of the SeuteUidse. See cut under Clype-
astridie.
shieling (she'ling), H. Same as sheaft.
shier, shiest (shi'er, shi'est), a. Forms of the
comparative and superlative of shy.
shift (shift), V. [< ME. shi/ten, schiften, shyf-
teii, < AS. sciftaii, scyfUtn, divide, separate, =
D. schiften = MLG. schiften, schichten, hG.schif-
ten, divide, separate, turn, = Icel. shijita (for
"skifta) = Sw. shifta = Dan. skifte, divide, part,
shift, change ; cf . Icel. skifa, shi ve, cut in slices :
see shive.] I. trans. 1. To divide; partition;
distribute; apportion; assign: as, to,sAi/< lands
among coheirs. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
Witness Tyburces and Valerians shrifte,
To whiclle God of liis bountce wolde gh(fte
Coroiies two of floores wel smellinge.
Chaucer, Second Nun's Tale, I. 278.
2. To transfer or move, as from one person,
Elace, or position to another: as, to shift the
lame; to »//»/< one's quarters; to shift the loaA
to the other shoulder.
For good maner he hath from hym tchifte.
Babeet Boot (£. E. T. 8.X p. 35.
Unto Soathampton do we ski/t our scene.
Shot., Hen. V., ii., ProL, 1. 42.
Yon are a man, and men may ghi/t affections.
Fletcher {and another), .Sea Voyage, iv. 2.
And now supine, now prone, the hero lay.
Now >hiflt his side, impatient for the day.
Pope, niad, ixiv. la
The shepherd shin» his mantle's fold.
And wraps him closer from the ctdd.
Scott, Marmion, f.. Int.
3t. To cause or induce to move off or away ;
get rid of, as by the use of some expedient.
WhUat you were here o'erwhelmed with your grief, . . .
Caaalo came hither ; I shifted him away.
Shak., Othello, Iv. 1. 79.
Then said r'hristian to himself again. These beasts
range in the night for their prey, an<i if they should meet
with me in the dark how should I shift them? how should
I escape being by them torn in pieces?
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 118.
4. To remove and replace with another or
others; put off and replace; change: as, to
shift one's clothes; to shift the scenes on a
stage.
sir, I would adrlse you to Aift a shirt.
Shak.. Cymbellne, I. 2. 1.
It rained most part of this night, yet our captain kept
abroad, and was forced to come in in the night to>A</t his
clothes. Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 26.
6. To clothe (one's self) afresh or anew ; change
the dress of.
As it were, to ride day and night: and ... not to bare
patience to ihifl me. Shot., 2 Hen. IV., t. 5. 28.
6. To alter or vary in character, form, or other
respect; change.
For who obserrea strict policy's true laws
SKifft his ptooeedlng to the varying cauae.
Drayton, Karons' Wan, I. 57.
Every language moat continually change and thift Its
fonu, exhil>lting like an organized being Its phases of
growth, decline, and decay.
C. BUm, Origins of Eng. Hist, p. 103.
Sliift tbe helm. SeeA<{ini.— To lUft a bertli (naui.x
to move to another place in the same harbor— TO shift
Off. (o) To delay ; defer : as, to th(ft of the duties of re-
ligion. (6) To put away ; disengage or disencumber one's
•elf of, as of a burden or inconvenience.
n.t intrans. 1. To make division or distribu-
tion.
Everich H-th of Ood a propre gifte,
.Som this. son. . Chat, as hvm IHtetn to 9h(fU.
Chaueer, Prol. to Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 104.
2. To change, (a) To paaa into a different form ; give
place to something different : aa, the scene M/lt.
The sixth age «A<n<
Into the lean and sllpperd pantaloon.
ShtU., As you Like It, Ii 7. 157.
If ... the Ideaa of our minds . . . constantly change
and thi/t In a continual succession. It would be impossi-
ble, may any one say, for a man to think long of any one
thing. Locke, Human Understanding, II. ilv. f 13.
(*) To change place, position, direction, or the like ; move.
Most of the Indians, |>ercci\ing what they wont atxjut,
thifted overboard, and after they returned, and killed such
aa remained. Winlhrop, II 1st New Englanil, I. 14«.
Thou hast $h\fud out of thy tale Into telling me of the
fashion. Shak., Much Ado, Hi. 3. 161.
You vary your scene with so much ease, and sA^rt from
court to camp with such facility. Steele, Lying Lover, 1. 1.
Here the Balllie thi/ted and fidgeted about In his seat.
.Scott
The wind hardly «A(/t«l a point during the passage.
Jt II. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 28«.
(e) To change dress, particularly the undergarments.
When from the sheets her lovely form she lifts.
She begs you just would trim you, while she ih%ft».
i'ouny, Love of funa, vL 42.
5671
3. To use changing methods or expedients, as
in a case of difficulty, in earning a livelihood,
or the like ; adopt e.xpedients ; contrive in one
way or another ; do the best one can ; seize
one expedient when another fails : as, to shift
for a living ; to shift for one's self.
And dressed them in redynes with suche thynges as
they thought shuld best releue them and helpe theym at
the shore to saue thejT lyues, and wayted for none other,
but euery man to shufte for his escape as Almyghty God
wolde yeue theym grace.
Sir R. Uuylforde, Pylgrymage, p. 60.
I must »hi(ft for life.
Though I do loathe it.
Beau, and Ft., Philaster, iv. 8.
After receiving a very indifferent education, she is left
in Mrs. Goddard's hands to ehi/t as she can.
Jav£ Augten, Emma, viii.
4. To pick up or make out a livelihood ; man-
age to succeed.
She that hath wit may sHfl anywhere.
Middleton, Chaste .Maid, U. 2.
Everyman would be forced to pi-ovide winter fodder for
his teaJn (whereas common garrons gh\ft upon grass the
year round).
Sir W. Temple, Advancement of Trade in Ireland.
6. To practise indirect methods.
All those schoolmen, though they were exceeding witty,
yet l)etter teach all their followers to ih^/t than to resolve
by their distinctions. Raleigh.
6. In playing the violin or a similar instrument,
to move the left hand from its first or original
position next to the nut. -To shift about, to turn
quite round to a contnir>- side or opixisite point ; vacillate.
— To Shift for one's self, to take care of or provide for
one's self.
I will be cheated. . . . Not In groase, but by retalle,
to try mens severall wits, and so leanie to ih\ft far my-
lelfe in time and need be.
Brome, The Sparagus Garden, ii. 3.
Let Posterity Mftfor itself.
Congrete, Way of the World, i. 1.
= Syn. 2. To vary, veer chop.
Bhift (shift), n. r< ME. shift, schift = Icel. skipti
(for "skifti) = Sw. Dan. skifte, a division, ex-
change, shift: 8ee.^hift, r.] 1. Change; altera-
tion or variation in kind, character, place, posi-
tion, direction, or the like ; the substitution of
one thing, kind, position, direction, or the like
for another.
He bad thifle of lodgings, where In euery place his host-
esse writte vp the wofuU remembrance of him.
Greene, Oroatsworth of Wit.
Languages are like I.aws or Coins, which commonly re-
ceive some change at erery Shift of Princes.
Howell, Letters, iv. 19.
With the progreaa of the Teutonic tribes northwestward
they came to use for each smooth mute the corresponding
rough, tor a rough the corresponding middle, for a middle
the corresponding smooth. This flrst shift is believed to
hare been completed during the third century.
F. A. March, Anglo-Saxon Oram., { 41.
2. In playing the violin or a similar instru-
ment, any position of the left hand except
that nearest the nut. when the hand Is close to the
nut, so that the flrst flnger produces the next tone to that
of the open string. It is said to be in the /in* poiifion;
when it is moved so that the flrst flnger falls where the
second was originally. It la in the leeond position or at the
halfikift. The third poeitian 1» called the whoU shift,
and the/ototA position the doiMe shift. When the hand
Is not In the flrst position. It Is said to be on the shift.
3. The substitution of one thing or set of
things for another; a change: as, a shift of
clothes.
They told him their camming was for some extraordinary
tooles, and «A</I of apparell : by which colourable excuse
they <ri>tained sixe or seauen more to their conf ederacle.
Quoted In Capt. John Smith's Works, I. 213.
4. A woman's under-garment ; a chemise.
At home they [the women at Loheia] wear nothing but
a long shift of fine cotton-cloth, suitable to their quality.
Bruce, Source of the Nile, I. 807.
Having more care of him than of herself.
So thai she clothes her only with a shift.
Longfdlow, tr. of Dante's Inferno, xxlil. 42.
6. In mining, a slight fault or dislocation of a
seam or stratum, accompanied by depression
of one part, destroying the continuity. — 6. A
squad or relay of men who alternate with an-
other squad or relay in cairying on some work
or operation ; hence, the time during which such
a squad or relay works : as, to be on the day
shift; a night shift; the day is divided into
three shiftji of eight hours each.
Each shift comprised 1 foreman, 4 drill-men, 4 assistant
drill-men, 1 powder-man, 1 car-man, and 2 laborers.
Appleton's Ann. Cyc, 1886, p. 818.
7. Turn; move; varying circumstance.
Truth's self, like yonder slow moon to complete
Heaven, rose again, and, naked at his feet,
Lighted his old life's every shift and change.
Browning, Sordello, vL
Shifting
8. An expedient, device, or contrivance which
may be tried when others fail ; a resource.
If Paul had had other shift, and a man of age as meet
for the room, he would not have put Timothy in the office.
Tyndale, Ans. to Sir T. More, etc. (Parker Soc, 1860), p. 18.
I'll find a thousand shifts to get away.
Shak., K. John, iv. 3. 7.
The shifts to which, in this difficulty, he has recourse
are exceedingly diverting.
Macaulay, Sadler's Eef. Refuted.
Hence — 9. A petty or indirect expedient;
a dodge ; a trick ; an artifice.
Me thinkes yat you smile at some picasaunt shift.
Lyly, Euphues, Anat. of Wit, p. 82.
I see a man here needs not live by shifts,
When in the street* he meets such golden gifts.
Shak., C. of E., iii. 2. 187.
10. In building, a mode of arranging the tiers
of bricks, timbers, planks, etc., so that the
joints of adjacent rows shall not coincide. —
Shift of crops, in agri., a change or variation in the
succession of crops ; rotation of crops : as, a farm is
wrought on the five years' shift or the six years' shift.—
To make shift, to contrive; find ways and means of
doing something or of overcoming a difficulty.
I hope I shall make shift to go without him.
Shak., M. of v., i. 2. 97.
Acres. Oddscrowns and laurels! your honour follows you
to the grave.
David. Now, that 's Just the place where I could make a
shift to do without it. Sheridan, The Rivals, iv. 1.
= Syn. 8. Device, Resort, etc. (see eicpedient), stratagem.—
9. SiMerfuge, etc. (see eoamon), dodge, ruse, wile, quirk,
shiftahle (shif 'ta-bl), «. [< shift + -able?\ Ca-
pable of being shifted or changed.
snifter (shifter), n. [< shift + -erl.] 1. One
who shifts or changes : as, a scene-shifter. — 2t.
Naut., a person employed to assist the ship's
cook in washing, steeping, and shifting the salt
provisions. — 3. A contrivance used in shifting,
(o) A kind of clutch used in shifting a belt from a loose to
a flxed pulley, (ft) In a knitting-machine, a mechanism,
consisting of a combination of needles or rods, serving to
move the outer loops of a course and to put them on the
next needles, within or without, in order to narrow or to
widen the fabric. E. H. Knight, (c) A locomotive used
for shunting cars.
4. One who is given to change; a fickle person;
also, one who resorts to pett^ shifts or expedi-
ents; one who practises artifice; a dodger; a
trickster; a cozener.
Go, thou art an honest shifter ; I'll have the statute re-
pealed for thee. B. Jonson, Poetaster, ill. 1.
He scornes to be a changeling or a shifter; he feares
nothing but this, that hee shall fall into the Lord your
fathers hands fur want of reparations.
Ueyumod, Royal King (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, VI. 38X
Car-truck shifter, a mechanism for facilitating the
change of car-trucks on railroads where the gage varies, or
where trucks are to be repaired or to be replaced by others.
shifter-bar (shif'tir-biir), w. In a knitting-
machine, a bar having projections or stops
which serve to stop one needle-carrier bolt
while they lift the corresponding one. E. H.
Knight.
shiftiness (shif 'ti-nes), n. The character of be-
ing shifty, in any sense.
shifting (shifting), n. [< ME. schifting ; ver-
bal n. ot shift, !;.] 1. A moving or removal;
change from one place, position, or state to an-
other; change.
^ian therefore compares them to Cranes, & Aristides
to the Scythian Nomades; alway by this jiA^/'^irtf; enioying
a temperate season. Purchas, I'ilgriniage, p. 362.
The . . . vicissitudes and shifHngs of ministerial mea-
sures. Burke, Conciliation with America.
2. Recourse to shifts, or petty expedients ; arti-
fice; shift.
Nought more than subtiU shiftings did me please,
With bloodshed, craftie, undermining men.
Mir. for Mags., p. 144.
shifting (shif 'ting),p. a. 1. Changing; change-
able or changeful ; varying ; unstable : as, shift-
ing winds.
Neither do I know how It were possible for Merchants
In these parts to Trade by Sea from one Country to an-
other, were it not for these shiftily Monsoons.
iMmptffr, Voyages, II. IIL 28.
The great problem of the shifting relation between pas-
sion and duty is clear to no man who is capable of appre-
hending It. Oeorge Eliot, Mill on the Floss, vii. 2.
2. Shifty.
Seducement is to be hindered ... by opposing truth
to errour, no unequal match : truth the strong, to errour
the weak, though sly and shifting. Milton, Civil Power.
Shifting ballast, ballast capable of being moved about,
as pigs of iron or bags of sand. — Shifting bar, in jninting,
a movable crossi-bar that can be IlttL-d in a chase by dove-
tails, as retiuh-ecl. K. II. Knight. Shifting beach, a beach
of gravel that ia shifted or ninvrd by the action of the soa
orthecurrentofariver. Shifting center. i*amcasmeta-
center.— Shifting clause. Secciauw.— Shifting coup-
ling. See coupling, 4 (ft).— Shifting rail, a temporary or
removable back to the seat of a vehicle. — Shifting use,
in fate. See ute.
shifting-boaxds
shifting-boards (sliif ting-bordz), Ji. pi. Fore-
and-aft bulkheads of plank pnt up in a ship's
hold to prevent ballast from shifting from side
to side.
shiftingly (shif'ting-li), adr. In a shifting
maimer; by shifts and changes ; deceitfully.
shiftless (shift'les), «. [< shift + -less.) 1.
Lacking in resource or energy, or in ability to
shift for one's self or one's own: slack in de-
x-ising or using expedients for the successful
accomplishment of anything; deficient in or-
ganizing or executive ability ; incapable; inef-
ficient; improvident; lazy: as, a shiftless fel-
low.
The court held him worthy of death, In undertaking the
charge of a shiftiess maid, and leaving her (when he might
have done otherwise) in such a place as he knew she must
needs perish. WMhrop, Hist. New England, I. 290.
He was a very friendly good-natured man as could he,
but gh\flUe$e as to the world, and dyed not rich.
Aubrey^ Lives, Winceslaus Hollar.
Her finale and ultimatum of contempt consisted in a
very emphatic pronunciation of the word "shiftless " ; and
by this she characterized all modes of procedure which
had not a direct and inevitable relation to accomplish-
ment of some purpose then definitely had in mind. Peo-
ple who did nothing, or who did not know exactly what
they were going to do, or who did not take the moat direct
way to accomplish what they set their hands to, were ob-
jects of her entire contempt.
U. B. Stmce, Uncle Tom's Cabin, xv.
2. Characterized by or characteristic of slack-
ness or inefficiency, especially in shifting for
one's self or one's own.
Forcing him to his manifold shifts, and shiftlesse re-
mouings. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 33.
Yet I was frighten'd at the painful view
Of shiftless want, and saw not what to do.
Crabbe, Works, VII. 78.
shiftlessly (shift'les-11), adv. In a shiftless
manner.
shiftlessness (shift'les-nes), H. Shiftless char-
acter or condition ; lack of resource ; inability
to devise or use suitable expedients or mea-
sures; slackness; inefficiency; improvidence.
.And there is on the face of the whole earth no do-nothing
whose softness, idleness, general inaptitude to labor, and
everlasting, universal sh^tlessness can compare with that
of this worthy, as found in a brisk Yankee village.
H. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 29.
shifty (shif'ti), a. [< shift + -!/!.] 1. Change-
able; changeful; shifting; fickle; wavering:
as, s/iijiy principles. [Bare.] — 2. FuUof shifts;
fertile in expedients; well able to shift for
one's self.
She had much to learn in this extended sphere ; and she
was in many ways ashifty and business-like young person,
who had early acquired a sense of responsibility.
W. Black, In ¥&v Lochaber, xxiii.
3. Given to or characterized by shifts, tricks, or
artifices; fertile in dodges or evasions ; tricky.
His political methods have been shifty and not straight-
forward. The American, VII. 213.
Scholars were beginning to be as shifty as statesmen.
FortnighUy Rev., N. S., XLIII. f,\.
shigram (shi-gram'), «. [< Marathi skir/hr, <
Skt. pi/hra, quick.] A kind of hack gharry:
so called in Bombay.
I see a native "swell " pass me in a tatterdemalion ski-
gram, or a quaint little shed upon wheels, a kind of tray
placed in a bamboo framework.
W. 11. Russell, Diary in India, 1. 146.
Shiism (she'izm), n. [< Shi{ah) + -i«/«.] The
body of principles or doctrines of the Shiahs.
In the course of time, when the whole of Persia had
adopted the cause of the family of 'Ali, Shi'ism became
the receptacle of all the religious ideas of the Persians,
and Dualism, Gnosticism, and Manicheism were to be
seen reflected in it. Encyc. Brit., XVI. 592.
Shiite (she'it), n. [= F. schiite ; as Shi(ah) +
-ffei.] Same as Shiah.
Shiitic (she-it'ik), a. [< Shiite + -ic] Of or
pertaining to the Shiahs or Shiites: as, "Shi-
itic ideas," Encyc. Brit., XVII. 238.
shikar (shi-kar'), n. [Hind, shikar, hunting.]
In India, hunting; sport. Tule and Burnell.
shikaree, shikari (shi-kar'e), n. [Also sM-
karry, shekarry, ahikary, chickary, chikary ; <
Hind, shikari, a hunter, sportsman, < sliikdr,
hunting: see shikar.'] In India, a hunter or
sportsman.
smko (shik'o), n. [Burmese.] In Burma, the
posture of prostration with folded hands as-
sumed by a native in the presence of a supe-
rior, or before any object of reverence or wor-
ship.
shilbe, n. See schilbe, 2.
shilf (shilf ), n. [= OHG. sciluf, MHG. G. schilf,
sedge; prob. akin to or ult. same as OHG.
sceliva, MHG. schelfe, shell or hull of fruit, G.
sehelfe, a husk, shell, paring, = D. scJtelp, a
5572
aheW: see scallop, scalp'^, shelf ^.^ Straw. [Prov.
Eug.]
shill^ (shil), n. and v. A variant of shcal^.
shill-t, !'• '• and t. [ME. schilleii, skillen = OHG.
sccllan, scellen, skellen, schellcn, MHG. schcllcn
= Icel. skella, skjalla = Goth. *skiUan (not re-
corded) (cf. It. squillare, < OHG.), sound loud
and clear, ring. Hence the adj. shill^, and the
noun, OHG. sea?, MHG. schal, G. schall, sound,
tone (whence the secondary verb, MHG. G.
schalleii, sound, resound), and prob. also ult.
'E. shilling.'] To sound ; shrill. Sainte Marhe-
rete (E. E. T. S.), p. 19.
shill^t, a. [ME. shill, schilh, schylle, < AS. scyll
= MI), schel = MHG. schel, sounding loud and
clear, shrill : see shill^, «•.] Shrill.
Schylle and scharpe (var. schille, lowde), acutus, soiio-
rus. Prompt. Parv., p. 44(i.
shillalah (shi-la'lji), n. [Also sltillclah, shillahj ;
said to be named from Shillelagh, a barony in
County Wicklow, Ireland, famous for its oaks;
lit. ' seed or descendants of Elach,' < Ir. siol,
seed (= W. sileu, seedling; silio, spawn), -I-
Elaigh, Elach.] An oak or blackthorn sap-
ling, used in Ireland as a cudgel.
shilling (shil'ing), 11. [< ME. shilling, shillyng,
schilling, < AS. scilling, scylling, a shilling, =
OS. OFries. skilling = D. schelling = MLG.
schillink, LG. schilling — OHG. scilHnc, MHG.
schillinc, G. schilling {yicel. skillingr = Bw. Dan.
skilling) = Goth, skijliggs, a shilling (cf. OF.
schelin, escalin, eskaltin, P. cscalin = Sp. chclin
= It. scellino = OBulg. skulenci, sklenzt, a coin,
= Pol. szelang, a shilling, = Russ. shelegu, a
counter, < Teut.); prob. orig. a 'ringing' piece,
with suffix -ing^ (as also in farthing and orig. in
penny, AS.pening, etc.), < Goth. *skiUan = OtlG.
scellan, etc., E. (obs.) shill, ring: see shill^, i:
According to Skeat (cf. Sw. skilje-mynt = Dan.
skille-mynt, small, i. e. 'divisible,' change or
money), < Teut. ■\/ skil (Icel. skilja, etc.), divide,
-t- -ling^, as in AS. feorthling, also feorthing,
a farthing ] 1. A coin or money of aceoimt,
of varying value, in use among the .Anglo-Sax-
ons and other Teu-
tonic peoples. — 2.
An English silver
coin, first issued by
Henry VII., in whose
reign it weighed 144
grains. Tlie coin has
been issued by succeed-
ing English rulers. The
shilling of Victoria
weighs 87.2727 grains
troy. Twenty shillings
are equal to one pound
(£1 = ¥4.84), and twelve
pence to one shilling
(about 24 cents). (Ab-
breviated s.,sA.) At the
time when the decimal
system was adopted by
tue United States, the
shilling or twentieth part
of the pound in the cur-
rency of Kew England
and Virginia was equal to
one sixth of a dollar ; in
that of New York and
North Carolina, to one
eighth of a dollar ; in
that of New Jersey, Penn-
sylvania, Delaware, and
ilaryland, to two fif-
teenths of a dollar ; and
in that of South Carolina
and Georgia, to three
fourteenths of a dollar. Reckoning by the shilling is still
not uncommon in some parts of the United States, espe-
cially in rural New England. See also cuts uwAar pine-tree,
partcnUis, 4, and accolated. —'Boston or Bay Shillings.
See pitle-tree trwney, under pine-irre. — Mexican shil-
ling. See M(2, 7.— Seven-shilling piece, an English gcild
coin of the value
of seven shillings,
being the third
part of the guinea,
coined by George
III. from 1797 to
1813 inclusive. —
Shrub-slulUni;, a
variety of the pme-
tree shilling. See
pine-tree inmiey,\ii\-
der pine-tree. — To
cut off with a
Bhllling. See c«(. — To take the shilling, or the King's
or Queen's shilling, in Great Britain, to enlist as a sol-
dier by accepting a shilling from a recruiting-officer.
Since the passing of the Army Discipline and Regulation
Act of 1879 this practice has been discontinued.
The Queen's shitting once being taken, or even sworn to
have been taken, and attestation made, there was no help
for the recruit, unless he was Irought out.
J. Ashton, Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne, II. 203.
Shillyt, adv. [ME. schylly; < shill^ + -lyK]
Shrilly.
Shilling of 1
seuiu.
•Dry VIII. -nritish Mu-
(Size of original.)
Obverse. Reverse.
Seven-shilling Piece.— British Museum.
(Size of original.)
shimmer ,
Schylly and scharply (or loudly), acute, aspere, sonore.
Prompt. Parv., p. 446.
Shilly-shallier (shiri-shal'i-i^r), n. One who
shilly-shallies; an irresolute person.
0 mercy! what shoals of silly shallow shilty-shaUyert
in all the inferior grades of the subordinate departments
of the lowest walks of literature overflow all the land !
Nodes Ambrosianx, April, 1832.
shilly-shally (shiri-shal"i), v. i. [Formerly
also shilli, shalli; a variation of shally-shally,
reduplication of shall If a. question indicating
hesitation. Cf. shally-shally, icillij-nilly .] To act
in an irresolute or undecided manner; hesitate.
Make up your mind what you will ask him, for ghosts
will stand no shilly-shallying.
Thackeray, Bluebeard's Ghost.
shilly-shally (shil'i-shal'i), adv. [Formerly
also shill I, shall I: see the verb.] In an irreso-
lute or hesitating manner.
1 am somewhat dainty in making a resolution, because,
when I make it, I keep it; I don't stand shUl J, shall 1
then ; if I say 't, I'll do't.
Congreve, Way of the World, iii. 15.
shilly-shally (shiri-shal"i), n. [< shilly-shally,
v.] Indecision; irresolution; foolish trifling.
[Colloq.]
She lost not one of her forty-five minutes in picking and
choosing. Ko shilty-shally in Kate.
Be Qxdncey, Spanish Nun.
The times of thorough-going theory, when disease in
general was called by some bad name, and treated ac-
cordingly without shilty-shalty.
George Eliot, Middlemarch, xv.
shilpit (shil'pit), a. [Origin unknown ; perhaps
connected with Sw. skall, watery, thin, taste-
less.] 1. Weak; washy; insipid. [Scotch.]
Sherry 's but shilpit drink. Scott, Redgauntlet, xx.
2. Of a sickly paleness; feeble-looking.
[Scotch.]
The laird . . . pronounced her to be but a «Ai^jtrt'( thing.
Miss Ferrier, Marriage, xxiv.
shily, adv. See shyly.
shiml (shim), n. [Formerly also shimm; (a) <
ME. *shimme, *shinie (in adj. shimmed), K AS.
scima, shade, glimmer, = OS. scimo, a shade,
apparition, = MD. schimmc, scheme, shade,
glimmer, dusk, D. schim, a, shade, ghost, =
MHG. schime, scheme, schim, G. schemen, a
shade, apparition; (6) cf. AS. scima, bright-
ness, = OS. scimo = OHG. scimo, skimo, MHG.
schime. brightness, = Icel. skimi, skitna, a gleam,
= Goth, skeima, a torch, lantern ; with forma-
tive -ma, < Teut. ■)/ ski {ski, ski), shine, seen also
in AS. scinan, etc., shine : see shine. Hence ult.
shim^, sMme, v., shimmer.] 1. A white spot, as
a white streak on a horse's face. [Prov. Eng.]
The shimm, or rase downe the face of a horse, or strake
down the face.
More's MS. Additions to Ray's North Country Words.
{(UalliweU.)
2. An ignis fatuus. [Prov. Eng.]
shimit, '•• *• Same as shime.
shim'-^ (shim), n. [Perhaps due to confusion of
shim^, in the appar. sense 'streak,' with shin,
in the orig. sense 'splint.'] 1. Broadly, in
mach., a thin slip (usually of metal, but often
of other material) used to fill up space caused
by wear, or placed between parts liable to wear,
as under the cap of a pillow-block or journal-
box. In the latter case, as the journal and box wear and
the journal gets loose, the removal of one or more shims
allows the cap to be forced down by its tightening bolts
and nuts against the journal to tighten the bearing.
When off Santa Cruz the engines were slowed down on
account of a slight tendency to heating shown by the
cross-head of one of the high-pressure cylinders, and were
finally stopped to put shim under the cross-head to re-
lieve this tendency. New York Evening Post, May 9, 1889.
2. In stone-working and quarrying, a plate used
to fill out the space at the side of a jumper-hole,
between it and a wedge used for separating a
block of stone, or for contracting the space in
fitting a lewis into the hole. — 3. A shim-plow
(which see, under plow).
In the isle of Thanet they are particularly attentive to
clean their bean and pea stubbles before they plough. . . .
For this purpose they have invented an instrument called
a 8hi7n. A. Hunter, Georgical Essays, III. x.
shim^ (shim), V. t. ; pret. and pp. shimmed, ppr.
shimming. [< shim*, ».] To wedge up or fill
out to a fair surface by inserting a thin wedge
or piece of material.
shimef, ''. ». [ME. schimien, < AS. scimian, sci-
man (= OHG. sciman), shine, gleam, < scima,
brightness, gleam: see shim^.] To gleam.
shimmer^ (shim'er), r. i. [< ME. shimeren,
schimeren, shemeren, schemeren, < AS. scimrian,
scymrian (= MD. schemeren, schemelen, D. sche-
meren = MLG. schemeren, LG. schemmeren, > G.
schimmern = Sw. skimra), shimmer, gleam, freq.
shimmer
from scinia, etc., shade, glimmer: see shim'^,
shinie.} To shine with a veiled, tremulous
light ; gleam faintly.
Twinkling faint, and distant far.
Shimmers througll mist eacli planet star.
Scott, L.otL. jr., i. 17.
Tlie beauty ttiat ghiminers in tiie yellow afternoons of
October — who ever could clutch it?
Emerson, Misc., p. 24.
shimmer^ (shim'^r), n. [MD. schemer, schemel
= L). schemer = G. schimmer = Sw. skimmer ;
from the verb.] A faint or veiled and tremu-
lous gleam or shining.
The silver lainpe . . . diffused ... a trembling twi-
light or seeming shimmer ttirough the quiet apartment.
Scott.
shimmer- (shim'er), H. [< s7ii»(2 -I- -er-.] A
workman in cabinet-work or other fine wood-
work who fills up cracks or makes part? fit by
the insertion of shims or thin pieces.
shimmering (shim'^r-ing), n. [< ME. sehimer-
inijt, .slicimriiif/ (D. schemering = MLG. schemer-
infje, shimmering, = Dan. skumring, twilight);
verbal n. of shimmer^, f.] A faint and tremu-
lous gleaming or shining.
nhimmiTig (shim'ing), n. [Verbal n. oishvtfi,
1'.] The insertion of thin pieces of material to
make two parts fit, or to fill out cracks or un-
even places; also, the thin pieces so used.
Shimming tma been used in fitting on car-wheels when
the wheel-seat of the axle was a little too small.
Car-BuHder't Diet.
shim-plow (shim'plou), n. See under 7>/oir.
shin' (shin), «. [< ME. sliinne, sehynne, sliiiie,
slii/iie, acUine, scliene, seine (pi. shinnes, shines),
< AS. scina, scyne, shin (scin-bdn, shin-bone),
= MD. scheiie, D. scheen = MLG. schene, shin,
shin-bone, = OHG. scina, scena, scien/t, MHG.
schine, schin, G. schiene, a narrow slice of metal
or wood, a splint, iron band, in OHG. also a
needle, prickle (MHG. sehinebein, Q. srhienbein,
shin-bone), = Sw. skena, a plate, streak, tiro
(sken-ben, shin-bone), = Dan. skinne, a splint,
band, tire, rail (skinne-bcen, shin-bone); orig.
appar. a thin piece, a splint of bone or metal.
Hence (< OHG.) It. sehiena, the backbone, =
8p. esquenn, spine of fishes, = Pr. esquina, es-
quena = OF. eschine, F. ichine, the backbone,
the chine; It. «o/iiniero, a leg-piece : seec/ii«e2,
which is thus a doublet of x/iihI. Perhaps akin
io skin: see skin.'] 1. The front part of the
human leg from the knee to the ankle, along
which the sharp edge of the shin-bone or tibia
may be felt beneath the skin.
And Shame shrapeth his clothes and his «AynM wasuheth.
Hen Plommm (B), iL 423.
Bat gret harm it was, u It tbooghte me.
That on his thinne (Tar. tekyne) a mormal hadde be.
Ckaueer, Gen. ProL to C. T., L 388.
I shall ne'er be ware of my own wit till I break my
thins against It Shak., As you Like It, IL 4. 80.
Mugfurd led the conversation to the noble lord so fre-
quently that fhllip madly kicked my thins under the ta-
ble. Thackeray, Philip, xxL
Hence — 3. The shin-bone. — 3. The lower leg;
the shank : as, a shin of beef. — 4. In nrnith., the
hard or scaly part of the leg of a bird; the shank.
Hevsharp-shinnrd. [An incorrect use.] — 6. In
entom., the tibia, or fourth joint of the leg. Also
called «/ia«t-. See cut under coxa. — 6. A fish-
plate.
Shin' (shin), V. ; pret. and pp. shinned, ppr. shin-
ning. [< */ii«i, H.] I. intrans. 1. To use the
shins in climbing; climb by hugging with arms
and legs : with up : as, to shin up a tree.
Kuthing for It but the tree : so Tom laid hU bones to it,
thinnini; up as fast, as he could.
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, 1. 9.
2. To go afoot; walk: as, to shin along; to
shin across the field.
I was lip In a second and shinning down the hill.
Mark Txcain, Adventures of Huckleberry Unn, It.
n. trans. 1. To climb by grasping with the
arms and legs and working or pulling one's self
up : as, to shin a tree. — 2. To kick on the shins.
A ring I give him room, or he'll shin you — stand clear !
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, IL 351.
Shin^ (shin), «. [Chin. -Jap.] A god, or the
gods collectively; spirit, or the spirits; with a
capital, the term used by many I'rotestant mis-
sionaries in China, and universally among Prot-
estant Christians in Japan, for the Supreme
Being; God. (See kami.) Sometimes tne ad-
jective chin, ' true,' is prefixed in Chinese. See
Shaiiiiti and Shinto.
Shinbaldet, n. [ME., also schi/nbawde; < shin^
+ -balile, appar. connected with bield, protect.]
In medieval armor, same as greaves^.
5573
shin-bone (shin'bon), n. [< ME. schynbnnc,
skiiihoii. < AS. scinban (= D. schcenbeen = MLG.
schenebein = MHG. sehinebein, G. schienbcin =
Sw. skenben — Dan. skinnebeen), < scina, shin, +
fcoH, bone: see i/iHil and ftoHcl.] The tibia. See
cuts under crus, fibula, and skeleton.
I find I am but hurt
In the leg, a dangerous kick on the shin-bone.
Beau, and Ft., Honest Man's Fortune, ii.
shin-boot (shin'bot), n. A horse-boot with a
long leather shield, used to protect the shin of
a horse from in.jury by interference.
shindig (shin 'dig), n. [Cf. shindi/.'] A ball
or dance ; especially, a dance attended with a
shindy or much uproar and rowdyism. [West-
em U. S.]
shindlet (shin'dl), n. [Early mod. E. also shin-
del; < ME. 'shindel, found only in the corrupted
form shingle (> mod. E. shingle), prob. < AS.
'scindel (which, however, with the other LG.
forms, is not recorded, the notion being gener-
ally expressed by AS. tigel, etc., tile, also of L.
origin) = OHG. scintila, MHG. G. schindel, a
shingle, splint (cf. Serv. shindra, also simla,
Bohem. shindel, Upper Sorbian shindzhel =
Little Russ. shyngla = Hung, zsindel = Turk.
shindere, a shingle, < G.), < LL. scindula, a
shingle, wooden tile, a dim. form, prob. orig.
identical with 'sridula, written schcdula, a leaf
of paper (> ult. E. schedule), dim. of L. scida,
written scheda, a strip of papyrus, schidia, a
chip, splinter, < scindere, split, cleave : see scis-
sion and shide, and cf. schedule, where the ir-
regularities in this group of L. words, due to
confusion with the Gr. axKa, etc., are explain-
ed. The LL. ML. scindula, a shingle (cf. Gr.
<r;f(i«)aA«/i<if, a shingle), may, however, be merely
a later form, simulating scindere, split, of L.
seandula (> It. dial, seandola = F. ^chandole),a,
shingle, which is usually referred to scandcre,
climb (in ref. to the 'steps' which the over-
lapping shingles form), but which is more prob.
a perverted form of scindula, which in turn was
jirob. orig. 'scidula. Hence, by a perversion
which took place in ME., the now exclusive
lorva sliingleK ({. v.] 1. A shingle. Minsheu.
Tlie bourds or shindies of the wild oke called robur be of
all others simply the best Holland, tr. of Pliny, xvL 10.
2. A roofing-slate.
shindlet (shin'dl), r. t. [< shindle, n. Cf. shin-
glei, r.] To cover or roof with shingles. Hol-
land.
shindy (shin'dl), n.; pi. shindies (-diz). [Cf.
ghinly, shinny, shindig.] 1. The game of shinny,
hockey, or bandy-ball. [U. S.] — 2. A row, dis-
turbance, or rumpus: as, to kick up a shindii.
[Slang.]
Yon mar hear them for miles kicking up their wild
sUnay. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 101.
I've married her. And I know there will be an awful
shindy at home. Thackeray, Pendennis, Izxii.
We usen't to mind • Mt of a shindy in those times; if a
boy was killed, why, we said it was " his luck," and that it
couldn't be helped.
Mr. and Mrs. S. C. BaU, Ireland, L 429.
shine' (shin), v. ; pret. and pp. shone, ppr. shin-
ing {shined, pret. and pp., is obsolete or vulgar).
[< ME.«Ain«n, schinen,schfinen (pret. shon,shoon,
schoon, sehim, sckotie, schane, pp. shinen), < AS.
scinan (pret. scan, pi. scinon, pp. scinen) = OS.
skinan = OFries. skina, schina = D. schijnen =
MLG.sc/iinen.LG. «c/iin<"w = OHG. «efnaH, MHG.
sehinen, Q.scheinen = Icel. skina = Sw. skina =
Dan. skinne = Goth, skeinan, shine; with pres-
ent-formative -na, < Tent. V "^''j shine, whence
also ult. E. shim^,shinie, shimmer^, etc., also'E.
(obs.) shire^, and «A«eri, bright, etc.: prob. akin
to Gr. 0104, a shadow (whence ult. E. squirrel),
OKlpov, sunshade, parasol.] I. intrans. 1. To
send forth or give out light or brightness, lit-
erally or figuratively: fts, the sun shines by day,
the moon by night.
But erer the aone shyneth ryght cler and hnte.
Torkington, Diarie of Eng. 1'ravell, p. 21.
After which long night, the .Sunne of Righteousnessc
shone unto the Syrians. Furchas, Pilgrimage, p. 86.
If the Mofin shine they use but few Torches, if not, the
Church Is full of light. Dampier, Voyages, I. 127.
Ye talk of Fires which shine hut never bum ;
In this cold World theyll hardly serve our Turn.
Cowley, The Mistress, Answer to the Platouicks.
2. To present a bright appearance; glow;
gleam; glitter.
His heed was balled, thatscAon as eny glas.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol to C. T. (ed. Morris), I. 198.
A dragon, . . .
Whose scherdes shinen as the sonne.
Oower, Cont. Amant, III. 88.
shine
His eyes, like glow-worms, shine when he doth fret.
Shak., Venus and Adonis, I. 621.
The walls of red marble shitied like fire, interlaid with
gold, resembling lightning, furchas, Pilgrimage, p. 467.
3. To beam forth; show itself clearly or con-
spicuously; be noticeably prominent or bril-
liant.
In this gyfte schynes contemplacyone.
Uampote, Prose Treatises (E. E. T. S.X p. 12.
Her face was veil'd, yet to my fancied sight
Love, sweetness, goodness, in her person shined
So clear as in no face with more delight.
Milton, Sonnets, xviii.
4. To excel ; be eminent, distinguished, or con-
spicuous: as, to shine in society, or in conver-
sation ; to shine in letters.
This proceeds from an ambition to excel, or, as the term
is, to shine in company. Steele, Taller, No. 244.
He bade me teach thee all the ways of war.
To shine in councils, and in camps to dare.
Pope, Iliad, ix. 571.
5t. To present a splendid or dazzling appear-
ance; make a brave show.
He made me mad
To see him shine so brisk and smell so sweet.
S/ia*.,lHen.IV., i.3. 54.
Some put on the gay green robes.
And some put on the brown ;
But Janet put on the scarlet robes.
To shine foremost through the town.
Fair Janet (VMM's Ballads, II. 90).
To cause (or make) the face to sliinet, to he propitious.
The Lord make his/ac« shine upon thee, and be gracious
unto thee. . Num. vi. 26.
To shine up to, to attempt to make one's self pleasing
to, especially as a possible suitor ; cultivate the admira-
tion and preference of : as, to <Atn« up to a girl. |Low,
Mother was always hecterin' me about gettin' married,
and wantin' I should shine up to this likely girl and that,
and I puttin' her otf with a joke.
The Congregationalist, Feb. 4, 1886.
= 8yiL L To radiate, glow. Shine differs from the words
ciimpared under glare, v., in that it generally stands for a
steady radiation or emission of light It is with different
thoughts of the light of the fixed stars that we say that
they shine, sparkle, gleam, or glitter.
II. trans. To cause to shine. (o)To direct or
throw the light of in such a way as to illuminate some-
thing ; flasli : as, the policeman shone his lantern up the
alley. (6) 'i'o put a gloss or polish on, as by brushing or
scouring : as, to shine shoes ; to shine a stove. [CoUoq.]
And thou hintest withal that thou fain would'st «/itn«
. . . These bulgy old boots of mine.
C. 5. Calverley, The Arab.
To shine deer, to attract them with Arc by night for the
purpose of killing them. The light shining on their eyes
makes them visible in the darkness to the hunter. See
jack-lamp, 2.
shine^ (shin), w. [= OS. scin, skin = D. shijn
= OHCj. scin, schin, MHG. schin, G. schein =
Icel. skin = Sw. sken = Dan. skin; from the
verb.] 1. Light; illumination.
The Earth her store, the Stars shall leave their measures,
The Sun his shine.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, 11., The Handy-Crafts.
Ashtaroth . . .
Now sits not girt with tapers' holy shine.
Milton, Nativity, 1. 202.
2. Sunshine ; hence, fair weather.
Be It fair or foul, or rain or «Aine. Dryden.
Their vales in misty shadows deep,
Their rugged peaks in shine.
WhiUier, The Hilltop.
3. Sheen; brilliancy; luster; gloss.
The shine of armour bright.
Sir J. Ilarington, tr. of Ariosto, xxxTlL 16. (.yor«».)
He that has inured his eyes to that divine splendour
which results from the beauty of holiness is not dazzled
with the glittering shine of gold.
Decay of Christian Piety.
4. Brightness; splendor; irradiation.
Her device, within a ring of clouds, a heart with shine
BXnjui it B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, v. 3.
That same radiant shine —
That lustre wherewith Nature's nature decked
Our Intellectual part.
Marston, Scourge of Villanie, vii. &
This addition
Of virtue Is above all shine of state.
And will draw more admirers.
Shirley, Hyde Park, v. I.
6. A fancy; liking: as, to take a shine to a per-
son. [Low, U. S.] — 6. A disturbance; a row;
a rumpus; a shindy. [Slang.]
I'm not partial to gentlefolks coming into my place, , . .
there 'd be a pretty shine made if I was to go a wisiting
them. I think. Dickens, Bleak House, Ivii.
7. A trick ; a prank : as, to cut up shines. [Low,
U.S.]
She needn't think she's goln' to come round me with
any o' her shines, going over to Deacon Badger's with ly-
ing stories about me. //. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 236.
To take the shine out of, to cast into the shade ; oat-
shine; eclipse. [Slang.]
shine
As he goes lower in the scale of Intellect and manners,
so also Mr. Dickens rises higher than Mr. Thackeray —
his hero is greater than Pendennis. and his heroine than
Laura, while "my Aunt" might, alike on the score of ec-
centricities and kindliness, fa*« the shine out qf Lady Rock-
minster.
Phillips, Essays from the Times, II. 333. (Davies.)
shine-t (shin), a. [A var. of slieen^, simulating
skine^.} Bright or shining ; glittering.
These warlike Champions, all in armour shtt)e,
Assembled were in field the chalenge to define.
Sptnser, F. Q., IV. iii. 3.
shiner (shi'n6r), n. [< shine'^ + -crl.] 1. One
who or that which shines. Hence — 2. A coin,
especially a bright coin ; a sovereign. [Slang.]
Sir Qt&rge. He can't supply me with a shilling. . . .
Loader. . . . To let a lord of lands want shiners ! 'tis a
shame. Foote, The Minor, ii.
Is it worth fifty shinert extra, if it s safely done from
the outside? Dickens, Oliver Twist, xix.
3. One of many different small American fresh-
water fishes, mostly cyprinoids, as minnows,
which have shining, glistening, or silvery scales.
(o) Any species of Mlnn\i\u, as M. cormitus, the redfln or
dace. (6) A dace of the genus Squalius, as S. elongatus,
the red-sided shiner, (c) Any member of the genus Note-
migonus, more fully called golden shiner, as M. ehrysoleu-
5574
shinny
rough shingles. E. II. ffiit^/i*.— Shlngle-planlng ma- shinglewood (shing'gl-wud), «. A middle-
'"■'"' ' "■' ■' "'' ■■''"•■■' ' ' '■■• sized West Indian tree, Nectandra leucantha,
of the laurel family.
shingling (shing'gling), n. [Verbal n. of s/ijn-
(//(■l, ('.] 1. The act of covering with shingles,
or a covering of shingles. — 2. In metal., the act
or process of squeezing iron in the course of
puddling. See shingle^, v., 3. Also called bloom-
Chine, a machine in which rough shiii^les :ire fiiced by
planing in tlie direction of the grain of the wood.
sninglei (sliiug'gl), r. t. ; pret. and pp. shingled,
ppr. shingling. [< ME. schinglen; < shingle'^, n. ]
1 . To cover with shingles : as, to shingle a roof.
They shingle their houses with it.
Evelyn, Sylva, II. iv. § 1.
2. To cut (the hair) so that streaks of it over
ing.
shiner or Silverflsh i^Notemi^cttus ckrysoUucus).
cus, one of the most abundant and familiar cj-prinoids
from New England to the Dakotas and Texas. This is re-
lated to the fresh-water bream of England, and has a com-
pressed body, with a moderately long anal fln (having
about thirteen raysX and a short dorsal (with eight rays).
The color is sometimes silvery, and in other cases has gold-
en reflections, (d) A surf-flsh or embiotocoid of the genus
At)eona, as A. nanima and A. aurora; also, the surf-flsh
Cyntatogaster aggregatus. (e) The young of the mackerel.
Day. [Scotch.]
4. In angling, a hackle used in making an arti-
ficial fly. — 5. A fishtail, silvertail, or silver-
fish ; any insect of the genus Lepisma. See cut
under gilverlrsh — Blunt-nosed shiner. Same as
harsefish, 1.— Billky-tailed shiner. See mUky-tailed.
shinesst, «• -Aji obsolete form of shyness.
shing (shing), n. [Chin .] A Chinese measure of
capacity, equal to about nine tenths of a United
States quart.
shinglei (shing'gl), n. [< ME. shingle, shyngyl,
shyngul, scingle, single, a corruption of shindle,
shindel : see shindle. The cause of the change
is not obvious; some confusion with single^, a.,
or with shingle^, orig. "single, or with some OF.
word, may be conjectured. It is noteworthy
that all the words spelled shingle (shingle'i,
shingle^, shingles) are corrupted in form.] 1.
A thin piece of wood having parallel sides and
d
e
lap like rows of shingles; hence, to cut (the gjiingling-bracket (shing'gling-brak'et), n. A
hair, or the hair of) very close. — 3. In 2>i'd- - p f ■ ■ -
dling iron, to hammer roughly or squeeze (tlie
ball of metal). This is done after the ball is taken
from the furnace, in order to press the slag out of it, and
prepare it to be rolled into the desired shape.
shingle- (shing'gl), n. [An altered form, ap-
par. simulating shingle'^ (with which the word
is generally confused), of 'single, < Norw. singel
(also singling), coarse gravel, shingle, so called
from the 'singing' or crunching noise made by
walking on it; < singla = Sw. dial, singla, ring,
tinkle (cf. singla-skdlla, a bell for a horse's neck ;
singel, bell-clapper), freq. form of singa, Sw.
sjunga = Icel. syngja, sing, = AS. singan, > E.
sing: see sing. Cf . singing sands, moving sands
that make a ringing sound.] A kind of water-
worn detritus a little coarser than gi'avel: a
term most generally used with reference to
debris on the sea-shore, and much more com-
monly in the British Islands than in the United
States.
On thicket, rock, and torrent hoarse,
Shingle and scrae, and fell and force,
A dusky light arose.
Scott, Bridal of Triermain, iii. 8.
The baffled waters fell back over the shingle that skirted
the sands. Mrs. Qaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, viii.
Shingle ballast, ballast composed of shingle.
shinglC'^t (shing'gl), n. [A corrupt form of
*single, early mod. E. also .lengle, prop, cingle,
< OF. cengle, sertgle, sangle, F. sangle, < L. cin-
gula, girdle, girth : see cingle, surcingle. Hence
shingles.'] Girth; hence, the waist ; the middle.
She hath some black spots about her shingle.
Howell, Parly of Beasts, p. 61.
Shingled.1 (shing'gld), a. [< shingle + -ed"^.] 1.
Covered with shingles : as, a shingled roof.
devR-e, in the form of an adjustable iron claw
or stand, intended to form a support for a tem-
porary platform on an inclined roof, as for use
in the operation of shingling.
shingling-hanuner (shing'gling -ham'fer), «.
Tlie hammer used in shingling. See shingle^,
f.,3.
Shingling-hatchet (shing'gling -hach"et), TO.
A cai-peuters' tool used in shingling a roof, etc.
It is a small hatchet with which are combined
a hammer and a nail-claw.
Shingling-tongS (shing'gling-tongz), n. sing.
and pi. In metal., a heavy tongs, usually
slung from a crane, used to move a ball of
red-hot iron for a trip- or steam-hammer.
E. H. Knight.
shinglyl (shing'gli), o. \< shingle^ + -y'^.'] Cov-
ered with shingles.
The painted shingly town-house.
WhUtier, Last Walk in Autumn.
shingly^ (shing'gU), a. [< shingU'i + ■
Composed of or covered with shingle.
Along Benharrow's shingly side.
Scott, h. of the L.,
-2/1.]
a, block prepared for sawing into shingles; b, shingles as bunched
for market ; r, a shingle ; d, plain shingles laid on a roof; e, fancy
shingles laid.
being thicker at one end than the other, used
like a tile or a slate in covering the sides and
roofs of houses ; a woodfen tile. In the United
States shingles are usually about 6 Inches in width and 18
inches long, and are laid with one third of their length
to the weather — that is, with 12 inches of cover and 6
inches of lap.
Shyngle, whyche be tyles of woode suche as churches
and steples be covered wyth, ScandiUse. Huloet.
The whole house, with its wings, was constructed of the
old-fashioned Dutch sbingleg — hTo-^d, and with unround-
ed corners. Poe, Lander's Cottage.
Another kind of roofing tile, largely used in pre-Norman
times and for some centuries later for certain purposes,
was made of thin pieces of split wood, generally oak ;
these are called shingles. Encyc. Brit., XXIII. 388.
2. A small sign-board, especially that of a pro-
fessional man: as, to hang out one's shingle.
The peaks of the seven gables rose up sharply; the
shingled roof looked thoroughly water-tight.
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, xiii.
2+. Clincher-built; built with overlapping
planks : as, shingled ships.
AUe shal deye for his dedes bi dales and l)i huUes,
And the foules that fleeghen forth with other bestes,
Excepte onellche of eche kynde a couple,
That in thi shyngled shippe ahul ben ysaued.
Piers Plourman (B), ix. 141.
Shingled2 (shing'gld), a. [< shingle^ + -ed2.]
Covered with shingle.
Round the shiiigled shore.
Yellow with weeds. W. E. Henley, Attadale.
shingle-machine (shing'gl-ma-shen"), ». A
macnine for making shingles from a block of
wood. One form is an adaptation of the machine-saw ;
another splits the shingles from the hlock by means of a
knife. The latter foi-m is sometimes cjdled a shingle-riv-
ing-machine. Also called shingle-mill.
shingle-mill (shing'gl -mil), «. 1. Same as
shingle-machine.— 2. A mill where shingles are
made.
shingle-nail (shing'gl-nal), n. A cut nail of
stout form and moderate size, used to fasten
shingles in i>laee.
shingle-oak (shing'gl-6k), n. An oak, Quercus
imhricaria, found in the interior United States.
It grows from 70 to 90 feet high, and furnishes a timber of
moderate value, somewhat Used for shingles, clapboards,
etc. From its entire oblong shining leaves it is also called
laurel-oak.
shingler (shing'glfer), n. [< shingle^ + -crl.]
One who or that which shingles. Especially— (a)
One who roofs houses with shingles,
machine which cuts and prepares
man who attends a shingling-hammer
A machine for shingling puddled iron, or making it into
blooms.
shingle-roofed (shing'gl-roft), a. Having a
roof covered with shingles.
shingles (shing'glz), n. pi. [PI. of shingle^ (cf.
iii. 7.
shininess (shi'ni-nes), «. Shiny or glossy char-
acter or condition; luster; glossiness; sheen.
Certain makes [of wheels], however, may he considered
practically free from these faults under all general condi-
tions, a slight shininess of surface being the visible indi-
cation. Jour. Franklin Inst,, CXXIX. 193.
shining (shi'ning), H. [< ME. schynyng ; verbal
n. of shine'^, t'.] 1. Brightness; effulgence;
light; sheen.
This Emperour hathe in his Chambre, in on of the Pyl-
eres of Gold, a Rubye and a Charboncle of half a fote long,
that in the nyght sevethe so gret clartee and schynynge
that it is als light as day. Mandemlle. Travels, p. 239.
The stars shall withdraw their shining. Joel ii. 10.
2t. Lightning. — 3. An effort to eclipse others
or to be conspicuous; ostentatious display.
[Rare.]
Would you both please and be instructed too,
Watch well the rage of shining to subdue.
StiUing/Uet.
4. The hunting of deer by attracting them with
fire by night; jack-hunting. See to shine deer,
under .shine'^^.
shining (shi'ning), 7). a. [< ME. schynyng; ppr.
of .s'/iiMt'l, «;.] 1. Emitting or reflecting light ;
bright; gleaming; glowing; radiant; lustrous;
polished; glossy.
And then the whining school-hoy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. Shak., As you Like it, ii. 7. 146.
Fish that with their fins and shining scales
Glide under the green wave. Stilton, P. L., vii. 401.
2. Splendid; illustrious; distinguished; con-
spicuous; notable: as, a shining example of
charity.
Since the Death of the K. of Sweden, a great many Scotch
Commanders are come over, and make a shining shew at
Court. Howell, Letters, I. vi. 23.
I cannot but take notice of two shining Passages in the
Pialogue between Adam and the Angel.
Addiso7i, Spectator, No. 345.
Shining flycatcher or flysnapper, the bird Phainopepla
nitens. See Phainopepla, and cut under Jlysnapper.—
Shining gurnard, a fish, Trigla lueerna, called by Cornish
fishermen the long-finned captain. = Syn. Resplendent,
effulgent, brilliant, luminous. Seeshine^,
shing?L""(crA wo* Shiningiy (shi'ning-li), adv. [< UE.schynyngli;
mer or -machine, (d) ^ .shining -r
L. zona, a girdle, also the shingles): see cingle,
surcingle.'] A cutaneous disease, herpes zoster.
See herpes.
shingle-trap (shing'gl-trap), n. In hydranlie
engin., a row of piles or pile-sheeting sunk on
a beach to prevent the displacement of sand shinnert (shin'fer), n.
and silt, and to protect the shore from the wash jug
of the sea.
/</2.] Brightly; splendidly; con-
spicuously.
shiningness (sM'ning-nes), «. Brightness; lus-
ter; splendor. [Rare.]
The Epithets marnioreus, ebumens, and candidus are
all applied to Beauties by the Roman Poets, sometimes as
to their Shape, and sometimes as to the Shiningness here
spoken of. Spence, Crito, note *.
shinleaf (shin'lef), n. A plant of the genus Py-
rohi, properly P. elliptica : said to be so named
from the use of its leaves for shinplasters.
[< 6-7(fnl -I- -«•!.] Astock-
[CoUoq., U. S.] -Metallic Bhlngle, a thinplate of shingle-tree (shing'gl-tre), n. An East Indian
metal, sometimes stamped with an ornamental design, leguminous tree, Acrocarpus fraxtnitoltns. It
intended for use in place of ordinary wooden shingles.— is an erect tree, .50 feet high below the branches; its
Bhinele-] Dinting machine, a machine, on the princi- wood is used in making furniture, for shingles, and for
pie of the circular saw or plane, for truing the edges of general building purposes.
An hose, a nether stocke, a shinner.
Nomenclator, an. 1685, p. 167.
shinny (shin'i). n. [Also shinnei/, shinnie, also
.shinty , .ihintie, a,\iiO shinnock ; origin obscure; <
Gael, sinteag, a skip, bound.] 1. The game of
sliiimy
hockoy or bandy-ball. See hockey^. — 2. The
elub used in this game.
shinny (shin'i)^ r. i. ; pret. and pp. shi^nied^
ppr. fihinnying, [< shinnyy n.] To play shinny;
knock the ball at shinny.— Shinny on yotir own
side, keeper act within your own lines. [Colfoq.]
Shinotawaro fowls. See Japanese long-tailed
t'otchj under Japanese.
sllin-piece (shin'pes), n. In the middle ages, a
piece of armor worn over the chausses to pro-
tect the fore part of the leg. Compare bain-
berg.
shinplaster (shin'pl&s'ter), ». 1. A small
square patch of brown paper, usually saturated
with vinegar, tar, tobacco- juice, or the like,
applied by poor people to sores on the leg.
[U. S.] Hence, humorously — 2. A small pa-
per note used as money; a printed promise
to pay a small sum issued as money without
legal security. The name came into early use in the
United States for notes issued on private responsibility,
in denominations of from three to fifty cents, as substi-
tates for the small coins withdrawn from circulation dur-
ing a suspension of specie payments ; people were there-
fore obliged to accejpt them, although very few of them
were ever re*leeraed. Such notes abounded during the
financial panic beginning with lec*7, and during the early
part of the civil war of 1861- o. After the latter period
they were replaced by the fractional notes issued by the
government and properly secured, to which the name was
transferred. [Slang, V. .S.)
shinti-yan, shintigan (shin'tl-yan, -gan), n.
Wide, loose trousers or drawers worn by the
women of Moslem nations. They are tied around
the waist by a string running loosely through a hem, and
tied below the knees, but are usually full enough to hang
lower than this, the loose part sometimes reaching to the
feet They are generally made of cotton, or silk and cot-
ton, with colored stripes.
5575
Shinto (shin'to'), n. [Also Sintoo^ Sintu; Chin.-
Jap. Shinto; = Chinese shin taoy lit. 'the way of
the gods'; shiny god (or gods), spirit; taOj way,
path, doctrine. The native Jap. term is kami-no-
michi. See kami.'] The system of nature- and
hero-worship which forms the indigenous reli-
gion of Japan, its gods number about 14,000, and are
propitiated by offerings of food and by music and dancing.
The chief deity is Amaterasfl, the sun -goddess (that is, the
BunX the first-born of Izanagi and Izanami, the divine
creative pair. The system inculcates reverence for ances-
tors, and recognizes certain ceremonial defilements, such
as contact with the dead, for purification from which
there are set forms. It possesses no ethical code, no doc-
trinal system, no priests, and no public worship, and its
temples and shrines contain no idols. See kainu
Sbintoism (shin'to-izm), «. [Also Sintoisnif
Sintooism; = F. sintois^me, sintisme; as Shinto
+ 'ism.'] Same as Shinto.
Sllilltolst(shin'to-i8t), n. [< Shinto + -ist.^ One
who believes in or supports Shintoism.
shinty (shin'ti), n. Same as shinny.
shiny (shi'ui), a. and n. [Early mod. E. shinie;
< shine^ + -^i.] I. a. Clear; unclouded; lighted
by the sun or moon.
The night
Is gJiifiy; and they say we shall emoattle
By the second hour. Shak., A. and C, iv. 9. 3.
From afar we heard the cannon play,
Like distant thunder on a shiny day.
Dryden, To the Duchess of York, 1. 31.
2. Having a glittering appearance; glossy.
Yet goldsmithes cunning could not understand
To frame such subtile wire, so shinie cleare.
Spenser, F. Q., IV. vt 20,
"Bat how come you to be here?" she resumed : "and
in such a ridiculous costume for hunting? umbrella,
shiny boot«, tall hat, go-to>meeting coat> and no horse ! "
Whyte MelviUe, White Rose, II. XT.
ship
n, n. Gold ; money. Also shiyiey, [Slang.]
Well soon fill both pockets with the shiney in Cali-
fornia. C. Jieade, Never too Late, L
ship (ship), n. [< ME. shij), schipy schupy ssipj
schippe (pi. shippesy schipes), < AS. scip^ scyp
(pi, scipu) = OS. skip = OFries. skipy scMp =
D. schip = MLG. schipy schepy LG. schipp =
OHG. scify scefy MHG. schify G. sehiff (hence «
OHG.) It. scUfo z= Sp. Pg. esqtdfe = F. esquify
> E. skiff, a boat) = Icel. skip = Sw. skepp =
Dan. skib = Goth, skij^y a ship ; cf . OHG. scify
a containing vessel, sciphiy a vial (cf. E. vessel, a
containing utensil, and a ship) ; root unknown.
There is no way of deriving the word from AS.
scapany etc., shape, form, of which the secon-
dary form scippany scyppany has no real rela-
tion to sc*p (see shape) ; and it cannot be re-
lated to L, scapha, < Gr. OKatpyj also ff/ca^f, a
bowl, a small boat, skiff, prop, a vessel hol-
lowed out, < aKaTTTEiVy dig (see scajyha).] 1,
A vessel of considerable size adapted to navi-
gation: a general term for sea-going vessels
of every kind, except boats, ships are of various
sizes and fitted for various uses, and receive different
names, according to their rig, motive power (wind or
steam or bothX and the purposes to which they are ap-
plied, as war-ships, transports, merchantmen, barks, brigs,
schooners, luggers, sloops, xebecs, galleys, etc. The name
ship, as descriptive of a particular rig, and as roughly im-
plying a certain size, has been used to designate a vessel
furnished with a bowsprit and three masts — a mainmast,
a foremast, and a mizzenmast— each of which is composed
of a lower mast, a topmast, and a topgallant mast, and car-
ries a certain number of square sails. The square sails on
the mizzen distinguish a ship from a bark, a bark having
only fore-and-aft sails on the mizzen. But the development
of coastwise navigation, in whi'-h the largest vessels have
generally a schooner rig and sometimes foui- masts, has
t. hull : 3, bow ; 3, stern ; 4. cutwater ; s. stem ; 6, ctttrance 1 7, waist ;
8, run; 9, counter; bo. nidaer; ti, davits; la, quarter-boat : 13, cat-
haul ; 14. ancbor ; 15. cable ; 16, bnlwarks ; 17. toffrail ; 18, cnanncb ;
M, dbaia-plates; ao, caUn-tnmk ; si, after aeck-bouae; as, forward
oeck-bouse ;'----'--■"' . _ - . .....
; S7. nu _ ,
lUcentoptnast i » foreiopL— ^ .„ ,__.
)4, mlxxeaiDpirnnaBtasaat : 35, Aateroyalmact i jfi, main-
nijrabnast ; ~^, mixxenrdjnlni
sailmast; 40, niizzeiLskyvi '
sail-pole; ^r. mizzen»ky\-i
mizzen-tniCK : 47> forem.ti>:
head : so, foretotwiast-be^.t ,
i-bouse : 33, bowsprit ; 34, Jit>-booin ; as, flying-Jib boom ; s6, fore*
S7, mainmast ; sfl, mlxaenmast ; agu feretopmast ; jp, mamtop-
jt, mUceniopmast i x*, foretopgaaaatmasl ; 31. malntopfal-
iH. fnrrskysaibnast 1 99, matosky-
--^kjrsall-pole; 42. malnskjr-
iruck ; 45, matn-tntck ; 46.
:':iiiut-beaa; 49, mizzenmast-
. ^-, , ,-, ui.iii>L'^^iiast-hcad; ja, mizzentop-
mast-bead; 53, foretop; 54, maratop; 55, mizzcntop; 56, dolphin-
striker; 57. outriggers; 58. foreyard; 59, malnyard; 60, crossjack-
yard; 61. fore lower topsali-yard : 6», main lower tcmaail-ynrcf ; 63,
mizzen lower iMisail-yBrd ; 64, for= upper topsail-yara ; 65. main up-
per tc^isatl-yara ; 66, mUxen upper topsail-yard : 67, foretopgallant-
yard ; 06, malntopgallant-yard ; 69, mlzzentopffAUAnt'T^rd : 7o, fore-
ioyal-^rd; 71, inaiiirfty.ir-y.ir<l ; 7^. mi/zcnroy.^I yanl ; 7^ foresky-
saJl'yard; 74.mairis- r*^. spanker-
boom; 77. spanker y-gaff: 80,
lower stoddtngsnil ii: 8a, fore-
topmast stDddinvv ....^ „.;! boom: 84.
mahitopmastBliHl4l ,;alUntUu(Wiiiifsail-boom;
80. totetopgallant -.^ imtopgaIlamstuddint[M[l-
boom: 8B,maintoi'. .ri: fl^foreroyal studding-
sail-boom: 90, for'' III; Qi, m-iinroyal sttid'ling-
snil-hnrttn : go, in ■■ ..iil-y.ir ) ; f^^ lH>bst.iy«: (h. tiow-
sprit -throu 'Is; y,. ; </,, martintf.ile-stays ; 97. fore-
owiost 98, matn-i
^'cn-<jiains; 100, fors-sbroui
«. i
ids;
Merchant Sailing Ship.
I I09, mlzzen-throuds ; irri. foretopmast-shrouds ; 104.
maiotofmiast-shroods ; 105, ntizzentopmast-shrouds ; 106, foretopgal-
laot-shroods ; 107, maintopnltam-shrouds ; it>8, intzzentopeafUnt-
shnnids; 109, ruttock-shrooas ; 110. futtock-shrouds ; iii, futtnck-
shroods; izs, forestay : 113. mainstay; 114. mlzzenstay ; 115^ fore-
topmast-stay ; n6. maintopmast-stay ; 1x7, spring-stay; tiS, mizzen-
topmast-stay: 119, J(b-stay ; iso, flying-Jib«tay : isi, foretopgallant-
stay: laa, malnlopgallaiit-stay ; 133, mizzentopgallant-stay ; ru,
foreroyal-stay ; rss. malnioyal-stay ; ia6, mizzenroyal-stay ; i37,fore-
skysafl-stay; laS, mainskysall-stay : laamizzcnskysailslay: i:)o, fore-
topmast-backstays i i3S,maintopmast-back5tays; i^, mizzentopmast-
backstays; 133, R>rett>pgaIIant-t>ackstays ; i^. miimtopgalUnt-back-
stavs ; 135. mfzzentopgslUnt-backslajrs : 136, foreroyal-backslays : 137,
malnroyaf-backstays; 13B. mizzenroyal-backstays: 130, fore&kysail-
backstays : 140. mafnskjrsail-backstays : ui.mizzensk^Kall-backsUys ;
143, foresail or forecourse : 143. mainsail or majncourse ; i44t cross-jack ;
14*;, fore lower topsail ; 146, main lower topsail ; 147, mizzen lower top-
sail: 148, fore upper topsail: 149. main u{^>cr topsail : iw, mizzen tip-
per tops^iil; 151, foretopgall.int-sall: 152, malntopcalianl-sail ; 153,
mizzentopgalUnt-s^ttl ; 154. forcroyal ; tK$, mainroyal ; 156. mizzen-
royal; 157, foreskys^il : 15B. mainskysau; 159, mizzcnskysail ; 160,
spanker; t6t. mizzenstaysall : i6a, (oretopraast-staysail ; 163, main-
topmast lower staysail: 164, maintopmast upper •staysail: 165, nilz-
zentopmast-staysatl : 166. Jib; 167, (lying jin ; 168, jib-topsail; j6g,
malntopgallant-sUxsail ; 170, mizzento^allant-staysail; 171, main-
royal-staysail ; 173. mizzenmyal-slaysail : 171. lower studdingsall:
174. foretopmast-studdingiaH : 175. matntopmast-studdingsall; 176,
foretopg.iMant-irtuddlng^il : 177. inaint.tt>Kallant-stud(lingsaiI ; 178,
forcmy.ll «i!i'l(lincs.Til; i;-*. ni.nnrnyiil-stu'l'iingwiil : r*^, forelift;
»«!. miinltft; 183. cnAsJack-tift : lE^i. fnre lower toiwiil-lift ; 184,
main lower topsail-ltft ; 183. miaaen loiver topsail-lift ; 186, spanker-
boom toppliur-Iift; 187, monkey-gafT lift; 188, tower studdtngsall-hal-
yards; 189, lower studdingsail inner halyards; 190, foretopmast stud-
dingsail-halyards: 191, maintopmast studdlngBail-halyartfs; 102, fore-
topgallant studdingsail-halyards; 193, maintop(^allant studdingsall-
halyards: 194. spanker peak - halyards ; 195. Mgnal-halyards ; 196,
weather Jib-^ect; 197, weather flying-Jib sheet : 198, weather Jib top-
sail-Uieet: 199, weather fore-sheet; 200, weather main-sheet; aor.
weather crossjack-shcet : acw, spanker-sheet; 003. nitzzcntopgallant
staysail-sheet: »4, mainroyal staysail-shftet; 205, mizzcnroyal stay-
sail-sheet; 206, lower studaingsail -sheet ; 207, foretopmast studding-
sail-sheet; ao8, foretopmast studdir^fSJiil-tack : 209, maintopmast
studdingsail-sheet; 310. maintopmast studdinRsail-tack : aii.foretop-
gallant studdingsail-shcct ; 21a, foretoreallant studdingsail-tack ;
313, maintopgaliantstuddingsail-Bhcet; 214, maintnj^allantstudtiing-
sall-tack ; 215, forcroyal 'ituddingsail-shect ; 216, forcroyal stu<l(1ing-
sail-tack ; 217, mainroyal studdingsail -sheet ; 3i8, mainroyal stud-
dingsail-tack : 219. forebrace; 320, niatnbrace ; 23r, crossJack-l>racc ;
312, fore lower topsail-brace ; 223. main lower topsail-brace ; 324, miz-
zen lower topsail-brace ; 225, fore upper topsail-brace ; 226, main up-
per topsail-brace; 227, mizzen upper topsail-brace; 228. foretopgal-
lant-bracc ; 239, maintopgallant-brace : 230, mizzentopgallant brace;
231, forcroyal-brace ; 23a, inatnroyal-brace; 233, mizzenroyalbrace j
234, foreskysail-brace ; 235, mainskysail-brace : 236, mizzenskysail-
brace; 237, upper maintopsail-downhaul : 238, upper mizzentop-
sail-downiiaul : 239, foretopmast studdingsail-downnaul : 240, maln^
topmast studdings.'iil-dnwnhaul ; 241, forctopgallant studdingsail-
downhaut ; 242, main topgallant studding&ail-downhnul : i?At. rhie-
garnets; a44,cluc-lines; 2je. spanker-brails : 346, s|>anker-i:aff vangs:
347, monkey-o'afr v.ini.'s : 348, main bowline ; 349* bowline-bridle; 350,
foot-ropes; 251, reef-points.
ship
Rone *ar toward rendering this restricted application of the
word of little value. (>winj? tc> increase of size, and espe-
cially increase in length, some sailing vessels now liave
lour masts, and this rig is said to have certain advantages.
Until recent times wchkI, snch as oak, pine, etc.. was the
niateriiU of which all ships were constructed, but it is being
rapidly supersevied by iron and steel ; and in (ircat Britain,
which is tlie chief ship-building country in the world, the
tonnage of the wooden vessels constructed is small com-
pared with that of vessels built of iron. The first iron
vessel classed at Lloyd's was built at Liverpool in 1838, but
iron barges and small vessels had been constructed long
before this. Four-masted vessels which are squ:u-e-iigged
on all four masts are catted/our-ma^d ships ; those which
have fore-and-aft sails on the after mast are called /our-
noOed barhi. See also cuts under beam, 3, body plan,
ecwiUr, forebody, forecastle, keel, poop, and proic.
Swithe go shape a shippe of shides and of hordes.
Piers Plownian (B), ix. 131.
Simon espyed a skip of warre.
The Noble Fishemian (Child's Ballads, V. S-IS).
2t. Eccles., a vessel formed like the hull of a
ship, in which incense was kept: same as navi-
cula, 1. Tynduh.
Acerra, a schyp for censse.
Nomiiude MS., xv. Cent. (HaiUwell.)
A ship, such as was used in the church to put frankin-
cense in. Baret, 1580. (HalliweU.)
About ship! See ready about, under about, adu.— Anno
Domini ship, an old-fashioned whaling-vessel. [Slang. ]
— Armed ship. See armed. — Barbette ship. See bar-
bette.— Free ship, a neutral vessel. Formerly a piratical
craft was called si/ree ship. Ilainersly. — General ship,
a ship open generally for conveyance of goods, or one the
owners or master of which have engaged separately with
a number of persons unconnected with one another to
convey their respective goods, as distinguished from one
under charter to a particular person. — Guinea ship, a
sailors' name for Physalia pelagica, a physophorous si-
phonophorous hydromedusan, or jellyfish, better known
as Portugxtese man-o.f-war. See cut under Physalia.—
Merchant ship. See )n('rc7l<TH^— Necessaries of a
ship. See »-('ccs.van'.- Register ship, see rcf;i.sVert. —
Registration of British ships, see reijixtratiuu.—'B.s-
peating ship. Same as repeater, 6 («).— SMp Of the
line, before the adoption of steam navigation, a man-of-
war large enough and of sufficient force to take a place in
a line of battle. A modern vessel of eon-esponding class
is known as a batile-ship. — Ship's company. See com-
pany.—Sbip'S corporal. See corpora^-'.— Ship's hus-
band. See husband.— Sblv'B papers, the papers or docu-
ments required for the manifestation of tile property of
a ship and cargo. They are of two sorts — namely, (1)
those required by the law of a particular country, as the
register, crew-list, shipping articles, etc., and (2) those re-
quired by the law of nations to be on board neutral ships
t<> vindicate their title to that character. — Ship's regis-
ter. Seercytsferl.— Ship's writer, a petty officer in the
United States navy who, under tlie immediate direction of
the executive officer, keeps the watcll-niuster, conduct,
and other books of the ship. — Sister ships. See sister^.
— The eyes of a ship. See eyei . — To bring a ship to
anchor, to clear a ship for action, to drive a snip,
to overhaul a ship, to prick the ship off, to pump
ship, etc. See the verbs. — To take ship, to einl)ark.
ship (ship), V. ; pret. and pp. shipped, ppr. skip-
ping. [< ME. shipeyi, schipen, < AS. scipian =
D. schepen = MLG. schepen = MHG. G. schif-
fen, ship, = Norw. skipa, slcjepa, skeepa = Sw.
slceppa = Dan. skihe, ship: see ship, n. Cf.
eqiiip.'i I. trans. 1. To put or take on board
a ship or vessel: as, to ship goods at Liverpool
for New York.
It was not thought safe to send him [Lord Bury] through
the heart of Scotland ; so he was shipped at Inverness.
Walpole, Letters, II. 18,
The tane is shipped at the pier of Leith,
The tother at the Queen's Ferric.
The Laird o' Lo<pe (Child's Ballads, IV. 113).
2. To send or convey by ship; transport by ship.
This wicked emperor may have shipp'd her hence.
SAo*., Tit. And., iv. 3. 23.
At night, I'll ship yon both away to Batcliff.
B. Jonson, Alchemist, iv. 4.
Hence — 3. To deliver to a common carrier,
forwarder, express company, etc., for transpor-
tation, whether by land or water or both : as, to
ship by express, by railway, or by stage. [Com-
mercial.]— 4. To engage for service on board
any vessel: as, to ship seamen. — 5. To fix in
proper place : as, to ship the oars, the tiller, or
the rudder.— To ship a sea, to have a wave come aboard ;
have the deck washed by a wave. — To ship off, to send
away by water.
They also [at Joppa] export great quantities of cotton
in small boats to Acre, to be ship'd of for other parts.
Pocoeke, Description of the East, II. i. 3.
To ship on a lay. See layi.-To ship one's self, to
. embark.
But, 'gainst th' F.temall, lonas shuts his eare.
And ships himself to sail another-where.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii.. The Schisrae.
The next day, about eleven o'clock, our shallop came to
us, and we shipped ourselves.
Mourt's Journal, in Appendix to New England's Me-
[morial, p. 350.
To ship the oars. Seeoari.
II. intrans. 1. To go on board a vessel to
make a voyage ; take ship ; embark.
Firste, the Wednysday at nyght in Passyon weke that
WM jr« .viij. day of Apryll in the .xxi. yere of the reygne
5576
of our soueraygne lord kynge Henry the .vij., the yere of
our Lorde God .M.D.vj., abonte -x. of yi' cloke the same
nyght, we shypped at Rye in Sussex.
Sir R. Quylforde, Pylgi-ymage, p. 3.
2. To engage for service on board a ship.
-ship. [< ME. -schipe, -schepe, -schitpe, < AS.
-scipc, -«(■)/;)«= OFries. -skipe= OS. -scepi, rarely
-scaft = MD. -scop, D. -schap = OHG. MHG.
-sctlf, also -scaft, G. -schnft = Icel. -skapr = Sw.
-skaj) = Dan. -skab (not found in Goth.) ; < AS.
scapan, etc., E. shape. This suffix also occurs
as -scape and -skip in landscape, landskip, q. v. ] A
common English suffix, which may be attached
to any noun denoting a person or agent to de-
note the state, office, dignity, profession, art, or
proficiency of such person or agent: as, lord-
ship, teWoviship, friends/tip, eXerkship, steward-
ship, horsemansftjp, y/orship (orig. wOTthshi})),
etc.
ship-hiscuit (ship 'bis ''kit), n. Hard biscuit
prepared for long keeping, and for use on board
a sliip ; hardtack. Also called pilot-hread.
ship-board (ship'bord), n. [< ship + board, n.,
l.J A board or plank of a ship.
They have made all thy ship-boards of flr-trees of Senir.
Ezek. xxvii. 5.
shipboard (ship'bord), n. [< ME. schip-hord (=
Icel. skiphorth, skipshorth; < .ship + hoard, n.,
13.] The deck or side of a ship: used chiefly
or only in the adverbial phrase on shipboard :
as, to go on shipboard or a-shipboard.
Let him go on shipboard. Abp. Bramhall.
They had not been a-shipboard above a day when they
unluckily fell into the hands of an Algerine pirate.
Addison, Spectator, No. 198.
ship-boat (ship'bot), ». A ship's boat; a small
boat.
The greatest vessels cast anker, and conueighed al theyr
vytailes and other necessaries to lande with theyr shippe
boates. Peter Martyr (tr. in Eden's First Books on
[America, ed. Arber, p. 111).
The ship-boat, striking against her ship, was over-
whelmed. Milton, Hist. Moscovia, v.
ship-borer (ship'b6r"er), «. A ship-worm.
ship-borne (slilp'born), a. Carried or trans-
ported by ship.
The market shall not be forestalled as to ship-borne
goods. English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 342.
ship-boy (ship'boi), n. A boy who serves on
board of a ship.
ship-breacht (ship'brech), n. [ME. shipbreche,
scliipbruche ; < ship + breach.'] Shipwreck.
Thries Y was at shipbreche, a nyght and a dai Y was in
the depnesse of the see. Wyclif, 2 Cor. xi. 25.
ship-breaker (ship'bra'''ker),n. A person whose
occupation it is to break up vessels that.aro un-
fit for sea.
More fitted for the ship -breaker's yard than to be sent
to carry the British flag into foreign waters.
Contemporary Rev,, LI. 262.
shipbreakingt, n. [ME. schyppbrekynge ; < ship
-\- breaking/] Shipwreck. Prompt. Parv.,
p. 446.
shipbrokent.a- l<.^Ti.*schipbroken,schypbroke;
< ship + broken.] Shipwrecked. Prompit.Parv.,
p. 446.
All schipmen and marinaris allegeing thame selffis to
be schipbrokin without they have sufficient testimoniallis,
salbe takin, adjudged, estemit, and pwnist as sti-ang beg-
garris, and vagabundis.
Scotch Laws, 1579, quoted in Ribton-Turner's Vagrants
[and Vagrancy, p. 346.
ship-broker (ship'br6'''k6r), n. 1. A mercan-
tile agent who transacts the business for a ship
when in port, as procuring cargo, etc., or wlio
is engaged in buying and selling ships. — 2. A
broker who procures insurance on ships.
ship-builder (ship'bil'der), «. One whose oc-
cupation is the construction of ships ; a naval
architect; a ship-vsTight.
ship-building (ship'bil"ding), n. Naval archi-
tecture ; the art of constructing vessels for nav-
igation, particularly ships and other large ves-
sels carrying masts: in distinction from boat-
building.
ship-canal (ship'ka-nal'O, n. A canal through
which vessels of large size can pass ; a canal
for sea-going vessels.
ship-captain (ship'kap'tan), n. The commander
or master of a ship. See captain.
ship-carpenter (ship'kar"pen-t6r), n. A ship-
wright ; a carpenter who works at ship-build-
ing.
ship-carver (ship'kar'''v6r), n. One who carves
figureheads and other ornaments for ships.
ship-chandler (ship'chand'''l^r), n. One who
deals in cordage, canvas, and other furniture
of ships.
ship-money
ship-chandlery(ship'chand"lei'-i), n. Thebus-
ini'ss and commodities of a ship-chandler.
ship-deliverer (ship'df'-liv'er-er), w. A person
who contracts to tinload a vessel. Simmonds.
shipen, «. See shippeu.
ship-fever (slnp'fe"ver), n. Typhus fever, as
couimon on board crowded ships. Qee fever.
shipful (ship'fiil), H. [< ship + -fuL] As much
or many as a ship will hold; enough to fill a
ship.
ship-holder (ship'h61'''der), )(. The owner of a
shi|i or of shipping; a ship-owner.
ship-jack (ship'jak), «. A compact and port-
able form of hydraulic ,iaek used for lifting
ships and other heavy ob.iects. A number of such
jacks may be used in combination, according to the weight
to be lifted. E. //. Knight.
ship-keeper (ship'kg"per), H. l. A watchman
employed to take care of a ship.
If the captains from New Bedford think it policy to
lower for whales, they leave the vessel in charge of a
competent person, usually the cooper — the office being
known as ship-keeper. Fisheries of the U. &'., V. ii. 222.
2. An officer of a man-of-war who seldom goes
on shore.
shipless (ship'les), a. [< ship + -less.] Desti-
tute of ships.
While the lone shepherd, near the shipless main.
Sees o'er the hills advance the long-drawn funeral train.
Rogers, Ode to Superstition.
shiplett (ship'let), n. [< ship + -let.] A little
ship.
They go to the sea betwixt two hils, whereof that on
the one side lieth out like an arme or cape, and maketh
the fashion of an hanenet or peere, whither shiplets some-
time doo resort for succour.
Harrison, Descrip. of Britain, vi. (Holinshed's Chron.).
ship-letter (ship'lef'er), n. A letter sent by a
vessel which does not carry mail.
ship-load (ship'lod), n. A cargo; as much in
quantity or weight as can be stowed in a ship.
shipman (ship'man), n.; pi. shipmen (-men).
[<.\iV.. shipman, sc)iipman (Tpl. shipmen, ssiinncn),
< AS. scipmann (= Icel. skipmat'ir, skipamathr),
< scip, ship, + man, man.] 1. A seaman or
sailor; a mariner.
And the Schipmen tolde us that alle that was of
Schippes that weren drawen thidre be the Adamauntes.
for the Iren that was in hem. Mandeville, Travels, p. 271.
The dreadful spout
Which shipinen do the hurricane call.
Shak., T. and C, v. 2. 172.
2t. The master of a ship. Chaucer Shipman's
Cardt, a chart.
Shypmans carde, carte. Palsgravt.
All the quarters that they [the winds] know
I' the shipnians card. Shak., Macbeth, L 3. 17.
Shipman's stonet, a lodestone.
Aftre that men taken the Ademand, that is the Schij-
mannes Ston, that drawethe the Nedle to him.
Mandeville, Travels, p. 161.
shipmaster (ship'mas"ter), n. [< ME. schyp-
may.ilcr; < ship + master'^.] The captain, mas
ter, or commander of a ship.
The shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What
meanest thou, O sleeper? Jonah i. 6.
shipmate (ship'mat), n. [< ship + mate^.]
One who serves in the same vessel with another ;
a fellow-sailor.
Whoever falls in with him will find a handsome, hearty
fellow, and a good shipmate.
R. U. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 96.
shipment (ship'ment), V. [< ship + -rnent.]
1. The act of despatching or shipping; espe-
cially, the putting of goods or passengers on
board ship for transportation by water : as, in-
voices viseed at the port of shipment; goods
ready for shipment. — 2. A quantity of goods
delivered at one time for transportation, or con-
veyed at one time, whether by sea or by land ;
a consignment : as, large shipments of rails have
been sent to South America.
ship-money (ship'mun'i), n. In old Eng. laic,
a charge or tax imposed by the king upon sea-
ports and trading-towns, requiring them to
provide and furnish war-ships, or to pay money
for that purpose. It fell into disuse, and was included
in the Petition of Right as a wrong to be discontinued.
The attempt to revive it met with strong opposition,
and was one of the proximate causes of the Great Rebel-
lion. It was abolished by statute, 16 Charles I., c. It
(1640). which enacted the strict observance of the Petition
of Right.
Mr. Noy brought in Ship-money first for Maritime
Towns. Selden, Table-Talk, p. 107.
Thousands and tens of thousands among his [Milton's]
contemporaries raised their voices against Ship-money
and the Star-chamber. Macaulay, Milton.
Case of ship-money, the case of the King v. John
Hampden, before the Star Chamber in 1637 (3 How. St. Tr.,
825]h for resisting the collection of a tax called ship-
ship-money
money, which had not been levied for many years, and
whicli Charles I. attempted to revive without the authori-
zation of Parliament, lliough the case was decided in
favor of the king, the unpopularity of the decision led to a
debate in Parliament, and the vlj-tual repeal of the right
to ship-money by I'j Charles I., c. 14 (IWO). Also called
ttamptlen'ji caie.
ship-owner (ship'o'iier), h. A person who has
a right of property in a ship or ships, or any
share therein.
8hippage(ship'aj),H. [<shlj) + -<ige.'] Freight-
age. Uaries. [Rare.]
The catting jind ghippage [of granite] would be articles
of some little consequence. Walp^, Letters, II. 406.
shipped (shipt), p. a. 1. Furnished with a ship
or snips.
Mon. Is he well ghipp'd ?
Cog. His bark is stoutly timber'd, and his pilot
Of very expert and approved alluwance.
Shak., OtheUo, ii. 1. 47.
2. Delivered to a common carrier, forwarder,
e.xpress company, etc., for transportation.
shippen (ship'n), «. [< ME. schupene, schipne,
shepne, a shed, stall, < AS. scypen, with forma-
tive -cti (perhaps dim.), < sceoppa, a hall, hut,
shop: see sAopi.] A stable; a cow-house. Also
xhippon, sitipen. [Local, Eng.]
The thepne brcnnynge with the blake smoke.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 1142.
At length Kester got up from his three-legged stool on
seeing what the others did not — that the dip-candle in
the lantern was coming to an end, and that in two or three
minutes more the nhippon would be in darkness, and so
his paUa of milk be endangered.
Mrs. GatkeU, Sylvia's Lovers, xv.
ship-pendalnin (ship'pen'du-lum), «. A pen-
dulum with a graduated are, used to ascertain
the heel of a vessel. Also called clinametcr.
shipper (ship'^r), ». [< ME., = D. schipjyer {>'E.
shipper) = G. schiffer, a shipman, boatman (in
def. 2, directly < ship, r., + -cr^). Doublet of
skipp€r.'\ It. A seaman ; a mariner; a skipper.
The said Marchnnts sbal . . . bane free libertie . . .
to name, choose, and aaaigne brokers, shippers, . . . and
all other meet and necessary laborers.
Uatluyfi Voyages, 1. 266.
2. One who delivers goods or merchandise to
a common carrier, forwarder, express company,
etc., for transportation, whether by land or wa-
ter or both.
If the value of the property ... is not stated by the
thipper, the holder will not demand of the Adams Express
Company a sum exceeding fifty dollars for the loss.
Expresi Heceipt, in Maguire v. Dinsmore, M) N. Y. 1G8.
3. In a machine-shop, a device for shifting a
belt from one pulley to another; a belt-shipper
or belt-shifter.
shipping (ship'ing),)!. [(.ME.schyppi/nfie; ver-
bal n. of ship, V. (< ship, r., + -imfy; in def. 3
merely collective, < ship, n., + -ini/l.] If. The
act of taking ship; a voyage.
Ood send 'em good ikipjrini/ !
Shot., T. of the S., V. 1. 43.
2. The act of sending freight hy ship or other-
wise.— 3. Ships in general ; ships or vessels of
an^kind for navigation ; the collective body of
ships belonging to a country, port, etc. ; also,
their aggregate tonnage: as, the shipping of
the United Kingdom exceeds that of anv other
country: also used attributively: as, shipping
laws.
The Gouemour, by this meanes T>elng strong in nhippituj,
fitted the CarulU with twelue men, vnder the command of
Edwanl Waters formerly spoken of. and sent them to Vlr.
ginla about such businesse as bee had ooncelued.
Quoted in Capl. John Smith't Works, \l. 142.
Lloyd's Segister of British and Foreign Sblpplng.
.Sec Uuyd't. — 'Io take shipplngt, to take passage on a
ship or vessel ; enili:irk.
The morne aftyr .Seynt Martyn, that was the xlj Day of
novenibr, at J of the clok att aftyr noon, I tokl tlupvynrj at
the Kodia. Torkinyton, I>larle of Eng. Tnvell, p. :'i8.
Take, therefore, shipping; post, my lord, to France.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., v. 5. 87.
An it were not i* good a Deed as to drink to give her
to bim again — 1 woa'd I might never la!:e .Shij/ping.
Conjreve, Way of the \\ orld, v. 9.
shipping-agent (ship'ing-S'jent), «. The agent
of a vi'HMfl or line of vessels to whom goods are
consigned for shipment, and who acts as agent
for tlie ship or ships.
Bhipping-article8(ship'ing-iir'ti-klz), n.pl. Ar-
ticles of iii^rccnient between the captain of a
vessel and the seamen on board in respect to
the amount of wages, length of time for which
they are shipped, etc.
shipping-bill (ship'ing-bil), n. An invoice or
maiiilVsf of goods put on board a ship.
shipping-clerk (ship'ing-kltrk), n. An em-
ployee ill a mercantile house who attends to
the shipment of merchandise.
5577
shipping-master (ship'ing-mas*t6r), n. The
ofii<'ial before whom sailors engaged for a voy-
age sign the articles of agreement, and in
whose presence they are paid off when the voy-
age is finished, in British ports the shipping-master
is under the Local Marine Board, and is subject to the
Board of Trade.
shipping-note (ship'Lng-not), n. A delivery or
receipt note of particulars of goods forwarded
to a wharf for shipment. Simmonds.
shipping-office (ship'ing-of'is), n. 1. The of-
fice of a shipping-agent. — 2. The office of a
shipping-master, where sailors are shipped or
engaged.
ship-plate (ship'plat), n. See plate.
shippo (ship'j)6'), w. [Jap., lit. 'the seven pre-
cious things,' in allusion to the number and
value or richness of the materials used ; < Chi-
nese ts'ih pao : ship (assimilated form of shichi,
shiUu before i>, = Chinese ts'ih), seven ; p6 (=
Chinese pao), a precious thing, a jewel.] Japa-
nese enamel or cloisonne. See cloisonne.
shippon, 'I. See shippen.
ship-pound (ship'pound), n. A unit of weight
used in the Baltic and elsewhere. Its values
in several places are as follows:
Reval . .
Eiga...,
Libau . .
Mitau . .
Liibeck.
Schwerln .
Oldenburg .
Hamburg ..
Local
pounds.
400
400
400
400
280
290
280
S20
Avoirdupois
pounds.
S7»
369
300
84S
S14
360
307
299
342
172
168
167
167
136
167
142
163
139
136
166
See screw
1-] Per-
ship-propeller (ship'pro-pel'^r), n.
j)iop<lli r, under screw^.
snippyt (ship'i), a. [< ship, n., + -y
taining to ships; frequented by ships.
Some shippy havens contrive, some raise faire frames.
And rock nowen pillara, for theatrtck games.
Vicari, tr. of Virgil (1632). (Sores.)
ship-railway (ship'ral'wa), «. A railway hav-
ing a number of tracks with a car or cradle on
which vessels or boats can be floated, and then
carried overland from one body of water to an-
other.
I have already adverted to the suggested construction
of a ship-railway across the narrow formation of the terri-
tory of Mexico at Tehuantepec.
Appleton's Ann. Cye., 1886, p. 214.
ship-rigged (ship'rigd), a. Rigged as a three-
inastcd vessel, with square sails on all three
masts; also, square-rigged: as, a ship-rigged
mast . See ship, 1 .
ship-scraper (ship'skra'p^r), ». A tool for
scraping the bottom and decks of vessels, etc.
It consfsu of a square or three-cornered piece of steel
with sharpened edges, set at right angles to a handle. See
cut under stcraper.
shipshape (ship'shap), a. In thorough order;
well-arranged ; hence, neat ; trim.
Look to the babes, and till I come again
Keep eretythlng shipshape, for I must go.
Tennyson, Enoch Arden.
ship-stayer (ship'sta'tr), ji. A fish of the fam-
ily KiUimididie. ancientlv fabled to arrest the
progress of a ship; in the plural, the Echene-
ididie. See cuts under Echeneis and Rhombochi-
riis. Sir J. Richardson,
shlp-tiret (ship'tir), «. A form of woman's head-
dress. It has been supposed to be so named because it
was adorned with streamers like a ship when dressed, or
it may have been fashioned so as to resemble a ship.
Thou hast the right arched beauty of the brow that be-
comes the ship-tire, the tire-valiant, or any tire of Vene-
tian admittance. Shak., M. W. of W., Hi. 3. 60.
Shipton moth (ship' ton -mdth). A noctuid
moth, Euctidca mi, the larva of which feeds on
clover and lucem : an English collectors' name.
shipway (ship'wa), n. A collective name for
the supports forming a sort of sliding way upon
wliich a vessel is built, and from which it slides
into the water when launched; also, the sup-
ports collectively upon which the keel of a ves-
sel rests when placed in a dock for repairs or
cleaning.
ship-worm (ship'werm), n. A bivalve mollusk
of the genus Teredo, espe-
cially T. navalis, which
bores into and destroys
the timber of ships, piles,
and other submerged
woodwork; a ship-borer. ^^, ^ ^
has very long united ab.^t one irth natural siie.
shire
siphons, and thus looks like a worm. See Tere-
dinidie and Teredo.
shipwrackt (ship'rak), «. and v. An old spell-
ing of .shipwreck.
shipwreck (ship'rek), )(. [Formerly also ship-
wrack; < ME. ship-wracke ; < ship, n., + wreck,
n.] •!. The destruction or loss of a vessel by
foundering at sea, by striking on a rock or shoal,
or the like ; the wreck of a ship.
And so we suffer shipicrack everywhere I
Dryden, Annus Mirabilis, st. 35.
There are two kinds of shipwreck: (1) When the vessel
sinks, or is dashed to pieces. (2) When she is stranded,
which is when she grounds and fills with water.
KeM, Com., IIL 418, note (b).
2. Total failure ; destruction; ruin.
Holding faith, and a good conscience ; which some hav-
ing put away concerning faith have made shipureck.
1 Tim. i. 19.
So am I driuen by breath of her Renowne
Either to suffer Shipwracke, or arriue
Where I may haue fruition of her loue.
Shak., Hen. VI. (foL 162.S\ v. 6. 8.
Let my sad shipicrack steer you to the bay
Of cautious safety. J. Beaumont, Psyche, ill. 192.
3. Shattered remains, as of a vessel which has
been wrecked; wreck; wreckage. [Rare.]
They might have it in their own country, and that by
gathering up the shipwrecks of the Athenian and Roman
theatres. Dryden.
To make shipwreck of, to cause to fail ; ruin ; destroy.
Such as. having all their substance spent
In wanton joyes and lustes intemperate,
Did afterwards make nfiipwrack violent
Both 0/ their life and fame.
Spenser, F. Q., II. xii. 7.
shipwreck (ship'rek), v. t. [< shipwreck, n.] 1.
To wreck ; subject to the perils and distress of
shipwreck.
Shipurreck'd upon a kingdom where no pity.
No friends, no hope ; no kindred weep for me.
Shak., Hen. Vlll., iii. 1. 149.
2. To wreck; ruin; destroy.
I' th' end his pelfe
Shipwraeks his soule vpon hcls rocky shelfe.
rimes' Whistle (E. E. T. 8.), p. 43.
Shall I think any with his dying breath
Would shipwreck his last hope?
Shirley, The Wedding, iii. 1.
shipwright (ship'rit), n. [< ME. schipwrigt,
scliypwrjite. < AS. scipwyrhta, < scip, ship, -t-
wyrhta, wright: see ship and wright.'] 1. A
builder of ships ; a ship-carpenter.
In Isabella he leftc only certeyne sicke men and shippe
wrightes, whom be had appointed to make certeyne cara-
uels. Peter Mariyr (tr. in Eden's first Books on
[America, ed. Arber, p. a2).
Why such impress of shipwrights, whose sore task
Does not divide the Sunday from the week?
Shak., Hamlet, i. 1. 76.
2. A local English name of the spotted ling :
so called because it has "a resemblance to
the spilt pitch on the clothes of these mechan-
ics." Day.
ship-writ (ship'rit), n. An old English writ
issued by the king, commanding the sheriff to
collect ship-money.
shipyard (ship'yard), n. A j^ard or piece of
groimd near the water in which ships or ves-
sels are constructed.
shir, V. and «. See shirr.
Shiraz (she-riiz'), n. [Pers. Shira::.'] A wine
produced ill the neighborhood of Shiraz in Per-
sia. There are a red variety and a white variety, and one
about the color of sherry, sweet and luscious.
Shlre^ (sher or shir ; in the United Kingdom
now usually shir, except in composition), n.
[Early mod. E. also shyre, shiere ; < ME. shire,
shyre, schire, schyre, < AS. scire, scyre (in comp.
scire- or scir-), a district, province, county,
diocese, parish ; a particular use of scire, scyre,
jurisdiction, care, stewardship, business, < sci-
rian, scyrian, scerian, ordain, appoint, arrange
(cf. gescirinn, gescyrian, gescerian, ordain, pro-
vide), lit. ' separate,' ' cut off,' a secondary form
of sceran, sceoran, sciran, cut off, shear: see
shear'^. The AS. .icire, scyre (often erroneously
written with a long vowel, scire, scyre) is com-
monly explained as lit. a 'share' or 'portion'
(i. e. 'a section, division'), directly < sccrnn,
sciran, cut: see shear^, and cf. shared, from the
same source. The mod. pron. with a long vowel
is due to the lengthening of the orig. short
vowel, as in the other words with a short radical
vowel followed by r before a vowel which has
becomesilent (e. g. jnerel, ftrcl).] If. A share;
a portion.
An exact diuision thereof [Palestine] into twelve shires
or shares. Purehas, Pilgrimage, p. 108.
shire
In the earlier use of the word, shire had simply answered
to division. The town of York was parted into seven such
thires. J. R. Greeii, Conquest of England, p. 2a0,
2. Originally, a division of the kingdom of Eng-
land under the jurisdiction of an ealdormau,
whose authority was intrusted to the sheriff
('shire-reeve'), on whom the government ulti-
mately devolved ; also, in Anglo-Saxon use, in
general, a district, province, diocese, or parish ;
in later and present use, one of the larger divi-
sions into which Great Britain is parted out
for political and administrative purposes ; a
county. Some smaller districts in the north of England
retain the provincial appellation of shire, as Richmond-
thire, in the North Riding of Yorltshire, and Haliam«/itV(!,
or the manor of Hallam, in the West Riding, which is near*
ly coextensive with the parish of fiheffleld. See fniight of
tkegMre, under knight.
Of maystres hadde he moo than thries ten.
That were of lawe expert and curious ; . . .
An able for to helpen al a schire
In any caas that mighte falle or happe.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T. (ed. Morris), 1. ,584.
The foole expects th' ensuing year
To be elect high sherif of all the sheire.
Times' WhisUe (E. E. T. S.), p. 48.
The name scir [AS. scire] or shire, whicli marks the divi-
sion immediately superior to the hundred, merely means
a subdivision or share of a larger whole, and was early
used in connexion with an othcial name to designate the
territorial sphere appointed to the particular magistracy
denoted by that name. So the diocese was the bishop's
scire, and the stewardship of the unjust steward is called
in the Anglo-Sa.\on translation of the Gospel his m-ae/scire.
We have seen that the original territorial hundreds may
have been smaller shires. The historical shires or coun-
ties owe their origin to different causes.
Stuhbs, Const. Hist., § 48.
3t. A shire-moot. See the quotation under
shire-day — The shires, a belt of English counties run-
ning in a northeast <iirection fmui Devonshire and Hamp-
shire, the names of which tenninate in shire. The phrase
is also applied in a general way to the midland counties :
as, he conies from the shires; he has a seat in the shires.
shire-t, «. and r. An obsolete form of slieer^.
shire-clerk (shir'kl^rk), n. In England, an of-
ficer appointed by the sheriff to assist in keep-
ing the county court; an under-sheriff; also, a
clerk in the old coimty court who was deputy
to tlie under-sheriff.
shire-day (sher'da), n. A day on which the
sliire-moot, or sheriff's court, was held.
Walter Aslak, ... on the shyre-day of Norffolk, halden
at Norwiche, the xxviij. day of August, in the scyd secunde
yeer, beyng there thanne a grete congregacion of poeple by
cause of the seyd shyre, . . . swiclie and so many manaces
of deth and dismembryng maden. Paston Letters, I. 13.
shireevet, "■ An obsolete form of sheriff'^.
shire-gemot (sher'ge-mof), n. [AS. sciregemot,
scirijeiiiot: see shire-moot.'] Same as shire-moot.
Whether the lesser thanes, or inferior proprietors of land,
were entitled to a place in the national council, as they
certainly were in the shiregemot, or county-court, is not
easily to be decided. Ualtam, Middle Ages, i. 8.
shire-gronnd (sher'ground), n. Territory sub-
ject to county or shire administration.
Except the northern province and some of the central
districts, all Ireland was shire-grmnid, and subject to the
crown [of England], in the thirteenth century.
Leland. Itinerary, quoted in Hallam's Const. Hist., xviii.
shire-host (slier'liost), n. [< shire^ + host^.
There is no corresponding AS. compound.]
The military force of a shire.
When the shire-host was fairly mustered, the foe was
hack within his camp.
J. A Oreen, Conquest of England, p. 85.
shire-houset (sher'hous), n. [< ME. schirehows ;
< .s/i/rt'l + housed-.'] A house where the shire-
moot was held.
And so .John Dam, with helpe of other, gate hym out of
the schire-kows, and with moche labour brought hym unto
Spor>-er Rowe. Paston Lett^s, I. 180.
shire-land (sher'land), n. Same &» shirc-grownd.
A rebellion of two septs in Leinster under Edward VI.
led to a more (complete reduction of their districts, called
[.eix and O'Eally, which in the next reign were made shire-
land, by the names of King's and Queen's county.
Hallam, Cotist. Hist., xviii.
shireman (sher'man), n. ; pi. shiremen (-men).
[Also dial, sheretnan; < ME. shireman (> ML.
schirmanus),<. AS. scireman, scirnmn (also scires-
man), < scire, shire, + man, man.] 1 . A sheriff.
Compare earl.
The shire already has its shireman or shire-reeve.
J. R. Oreen, Conquest of England, p. 223.
2. A man belonging to "the shires" (which see,
under shire).
Skire-mcin.— Any man who had not the good fortune to
be l>om in one of the sister counties, or in Essex. He is a
sort of foreigner to us ; and to our ears, which are acutely
sensible of any violation of the l)eauty of our phraseology,
and the music of our j>ronunciation, his speech 8(Kni be-
wrays hira. "Aye, I knew he must be a shere-man l>y his
tongue." Forby, p. 296. tlalliweU.
5578
shire-moot (sher'mot), n. [Also shiremote; <
AS. sciregemot, scirgemot, also scyrcsmot (>
ML. scyre-motus), shire-moot, < scire, shire, +
(;c»io*, meeting: sees/iw-cl and»«oo<l. Ct. folk-
moot, witena-gemot.'i Formerly, in England, a
court or assembly of the county held periodi-
cally by the sheriff along with the bishop of
the diocese, and with the ealdorman in shires
that had ealdormen.
The presence of the ealdorman and the bishop, who
legally sat with him [the sheriif] Iti the shire-moot, and
whose presence recalled the folk-moot from wliich it
sprang, would necessarily be rare and irregular, wliile
the reeve was bound to attend; and the result of this is
se^n in the way in which the shire-moot soon became known
simply as the sheriff's court.
J. B. Green, Conquest of England, p. 230.
The shiremoot, like the hundredmoot, was competent
to declare folkriglit in every suit, but its relation to the
lower court was not, properly speaking, an appellate juris-
diction. Its function was to secure to the suitor tiie right
which be had failed to obtain in the hundred.
Stubhs, Const. Hist., § 50.
shire-reevet (sher'rev), «. [See sheriff'^.} A
slierifF.
shire-tO'wn (shir'toun), n. The chief town of
a shire ; a county town.
shire-wickt (sher'wik), n. A shire ; a county.
Moll and.
shirk (sherk), V. [More prop, sherk ; appar. tlie
same as sliarlc (cf . clerk and dark, ME. derk and
E. dark^): see shark'^.'] I. intraus. If. To
practise mean or artful tricks ; live by one's
wits; shark.
He [Archbishop Laud] might have spent his timfe much
better . . . than thus sherking and raking in the tobacco-
shops. State Trials (1640), H. Grirastone.
2. To avoid unfairly or meanly the perform-
ance of some labor or duty.
One of the cities shirked from the league.
Byron, To Murray, Sept 7, 1820.
There was little idling and no shirking in his school.
U. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 425.
To shirk OfiF, to sneak away. [Colloq. ]
II. trans. If. To procure by mean tricks;
shark. Imp. Diet. — 2. To avoid or get off
from unfairly or meanly ; slink away from : as,
to shirk responsibility. [Colloq.]
They would roar out instances of his . . . shirking wixne
encounter with a lout half his own size.
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, i. 8.
shirk (sherk), n. [See shirk, v., and shark^, «.]
If. One who lives by shifts or tricks. See
shark'^. — 2. One who seeks to avoid duty.
shirker (sher'ker), n. [< shirk + -c»-l.] One
who shirks duty or danger.
A faint-hearted shirker of responsibilities.
Cornhill Mag., II. 109.
shirky (sher'ki), a. [< shirk + -j/i.] Disposed
to shirk ; characterized by shirking. Imj).
Diet.
shirl^ (shftrl), V. and a. An obsolete or dialec-
tal form of shrill.
shirl^ (sherl), V. t. [Also shurl ; prop. *sherl,
a freq. of shear^.'] To cut with shears. Halli-
well. [Prov. Eng.]
shirP (sherl), v. i. [Perhaps prop. *sherl, freq.
oisheer^; otherwise due to sAJri^.] 1. To slide.
My young ones lament that they can have no more
shirting in the lake : a motion something between skating
and sliding, and originating in the iron clogs.
Sovlhey, Letters, 1826.
2. To romp about rudely. Halliwell,
[Prov. Eng. in both uses.]
shirl* (sherl), n. [< G. .schirl, for schorl : see
schorl, short.] Schorl. [Rare.]
shirly (shfer'li), adv. An obsolete or dialectal
form of shrilly.
shirpf, f. i. [Imitative. Cf. chirp^.'] To puff
with the mouth in scorn.
Buffa, the dispisyng blaste of the mouthe that we call
shirpyng. Thomas, Italian Diet. (Halliwell,)
shirr, shir (sher), t!. <. [Origin obscure; hardly
found in literature or old records; perhaps a
dial, form (prop. *sher) and use of sht-er^, v.]
1 . To pucker or draw up (a fabric or a part of a
fabric) by means of parallel gathering-threads:
as, to shirr an apron. — 2. In cookery, to poach
(eggs) in cream instead of water.
shirr, shir (sher), n. [< shirr, v.] 1. A pucker-
ing or fulling produced in a fabric by means
of parallel gathering-threads. — 2. One of the
threads of india-rubber woven into cloth or rib-
bon to make it elastic.
shirred (sherd), p. a. 1. (a) Puckered or gather-
ed, as Vjy shirring: a,a, a, shirredhOD.net. [U.S.]
(6) Having india-rubiier or elastic cords woven
in the texture, so as to produce sliirring.
[Eng.] — 2. In cookery, poached in cream: said
of eggs.
shirt-frill
shirrevet, "• An earlier form of sheriff'^.
shirring (sh&r'ing), «. [Verbal n. ot shirr, r.]
1. Decorative needlework done by gathering
the stuff in very small gathers, and holding it
at more than one point, either by stitching, or
by cords which pass through it and gather it
more or less closely at pleasure. — 2. Manu-
factured webbing, and the like, in which an
elastic cord or thread gives the effect described
above. Also called elastic.
shirring-string (shfer'ing-string), n. A string
or cord passed between the two thicknesses of
a double shirred fabric, so as to make the small
gathers closer or looser at pleasure. Several
sucli cords are put in side by side.
shirt (shert), n. [< ME. shirte, schirte, schyrt,
sehirt, sherte, sserte, shiirte, scnrte, scorte, either
< AS. 'sceorte or *scyrte (not found), or an as-
sibilated form, due to association with the re-
lated adj. short (< AS. sceort), of skirt, skirte, <
Icel. skyrta, a shirt, a kind of kirtle, = Sw.
skjorta, skiirt = Dan. skjorte, a shirt, skjort, a
petticoat, = D. schort = MLG. schorte = MHG.
schurz, G. schurz, schiirec, an apron; from the
adj., AS. sceort = OHG. scurz, short (cf. Icel.
skortr, shortness) : see short. Doublet of skirt.'}
1. A garment, formerly the chief under-garmeut
of both sexes. Now the niime is given to a garment
worn only by men and a similar garment worn by infants.
It has many forms. In western Europe and the United
States, the shii-t ordinarily worn by men is of cotton, with
linen bosom, wristbands, and collar prepared for stiffen-
ing with starch, the collar and wristbands being usually
separate and adjustable. Flannel and knitted woi-Bted
sliirts or under-shirts are also woi-n.
The Emperour a-non
A-lihte a-doun and his clothus of caste euerichon.
Anon to his schurte. Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 55.
"You must wear my husband's linen, which, I dare say,
is not so fine as yours." "Pish, my dear ; my shirts are
good shirts enough for any Christian," cries the Colonel.
Thackeray, Virginians, xxii.
2t. The amnion, or some part of it.
Affneliere, the inmost of the three membranes which en-
wrap a womb-lodged infant ; called by some midwives the
coif or biggin of the child ; by others, the childs shirt.
Coigrave.
3. In a blast-furnace, an interior lining A
boiled shirt, a white or linen shirt : so called in allusion
to the laundrying of it. [Slang.]
There was a considerable inquiry for "store clothes." a
hopeless overhauling of old and disused raiment, and a
general demand for boiled shirts and the barber.
Bret Harte, Fool of Five Fork».
Bloody Shirt, a hlood-stained shii-t, as the symlwl or to-
ken of murder or outrage. Hence, "to wave the bloody
shirt" is to bring to the attention or recall to mind, in
order to arouse indignation or resentment, the murders
or outrages committed by persons belonging to a party,
for party advantage or as a result of pai-ty passion : spe-
eiflcally used in the United States with reference to
such appeals, often regarded as demagogic and insincere,
made by Northern politicians with reference to murders
or outrages committed in the South during the period of
reconstruction .and later (see Kuklux Klan), or to the civil
war.
Palladius— who . . . was acquainted with stratagems
— invented. . . that all the men there should dress them-
selves like tile poorest sort of the people in Arcadia, hav-
ing no banners but bloody shirts hanged upon long staves,
with some bad bagpipes instead of drum and fife.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, L
The sacred duty of pursuing the assassins of Othman
was the engine and pretence of his [Moawiyah's] ambition.
The bloody shirt of the martyr was exposed in the mosch
of Damascus.
Oibbon, Decline and Fall (ed. Smith, 1855), VI. 277.
He [M. Leon Foucher, reviewing Guizot's translation of
Sparks's Washington] adds : " It is by spreading out the
miseries of the workmen, the bloody shirt of some victim,
the humiliation of all, that the people are excited to take
arms." . . . He then proceeds to state, apparently as a
corollary of what may be called his bloody-shirt principle,
that our Revolution was not popular with what he terms
the inferior classes. . . . But most assuredly the Americans
did not want avisiide signal to push them on ; and he who
should have displayed a bloody shirt for that purpose
would liave been followed by the contempt of the specta-
toi-s, and saluted witli stones by every idle boy in thestreets.
L. Cass, France, its King, etc., p. 44.
Hair shirt. SeeftaiVi.
shirt (shert), v. t. [< shirt, «.] To clothe with
a shirt; hence, by extension, to clothe; cover.
Ah, for so many souls, as but this morn
Were clothed with flesh, and warmed with vital blood.
But naked now, or shirted but with air !
Dryden, King Arthur, ii. 1.
shirt-buttons (shfert'bufnz), n. A kind of
chickweed, Stcllaria Holostea, with conspicuous
white flowers. [Prov. Eng.]
shirt-frame (shert'fram), H. A machine for
kiiittiiig sliirts or guernseys. E. H. Knight.
shirt-frill (shert'fril). n. A frill of fine cam-
bric or lawn, worn by men on the breast of the
shirt — a fashion of the early part of the nine-
teenth century.
shirt-front
shirt-firoat Cshert'fniut), n. 1. That part of a
shirt which is allowed to show more or less in
front; the part which covers the breast, ami
is often composed of finer material or orna-
mented in some way, as by ruffles or lace, or by
being plaited, or simply starched stiffly. Or-
namental buttons, or studs, or breastpins are
often worn in connection with it.
First came a smartly-dressed personage on horseback,
with a conspicuous expansive shir{frotit and figured satin
stock. George Eliot, Felix Holt^ xL
2. A dicky,
shirting (shfer'ting), n. [< shirt -h -iwr/l.] 1.
Any fabric designed for making shirts. Specifi-
cally—(o) A flneboUand or linen.
Cand. Locke you, Gentlemen, your choice: Cambrickes?
Cram. Xo sir, some shirting.
Dtkker and MiddUton, Honest Whore, I. 1. 10.
(6) Stout cotton cloth such as is suitable for shirts : when
used without qualification, the tenn signifies plain white
bleached cotton.
2. Shirts collectively. [Rare.]
A troop of droll children, little hatless Iwys with their
galligaskins much worn and scant »hirtin^ tw hang out.
GfOTffe Eliot, Middlemarch, xlv.
Calico shirting, cotton cloth of the quality requisite for
makinit shirts. lEng.] — Fancy shirting, a cotton cloth
woven in simple patterns of one or two colors, like ging-
ham, or printed in colors in simple patterns,
shirtless (shert'les), n. [< uliirt + -less.'i With-
out a shirt; hence, poor; destitute.
Linsey-wools^ brothers,
Grave mummers! sleeveless some, and shirtless others.
Pope, Dunciad, lii. 116.
shirt-sleeve (sh^rt'slev), «. The sleeve of a
shirt.
Sir Isaac Newton at the age of fourscore would strip up
his shirt-sleeve to shew his muscular brawny ami.
Sir J. Hawkins, Johnson, p. 4-tO^ note.
In one's ililrt-aleeyes, without one's coat.
They arise and come out together in their dirty shirt-
sUms, pipe in month. W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 185.
shirt-waist (sh^rt'wast), n. A garment for
women's and children's wear, resembling a
shirt in fashion, but worn over the undercloth-
ing, and extending no lower than the waist,
where it is belted.
shish-work (shish'wferk), n. [< Hind. Pers.
Hhixhii, glass, + E. work:'] Decoration pro-
duced by means of small pieces of mirror in-
laid in wooden frames, and used, like a mosaic,
for walls and ceilings. Compare ardish, in
■which a slightly different process is followed.
shist, w. See schist.
shitepoke (shit'itok), n. The small green her-
on of North America, Butorides virescens, also
called poA'f, chalk-line, audfli/-up-the-creek. The
poke Is 16 to 18 inches long, and 2f> In alar extent The
plamage of the crest and upper parts is mainly glossy-
KTeen, bat the lance-linear plumes which decorate the back
In the breeding-season have a glaucous-bluish cast, and the
wing-coverts hare tawny edgings ; the neck Is rich pur-
pUab-chestnut, with a variegated throat-line of dusky and
Shttepoke {Buttridts vtrtKetUi.
white ; the under parts are brownish-ash, varied on the
belly with white ; tne bill is greenish-black. with much of
the under mandible yellow, like the lores and irides ; the
legs are grt-enlsh-yellow. This pretty heron abounds in
suitable places in most of the United States; it breeds
throughout this range, sometimes in heronries with other
birds I'f its kind, sometimes by itself. The nest is a rude
platform of sticks on a tree or bash ; the eggs are three to
six in number, of a pale-greenish color, elliptical, 1 \ Inches
long by 1 i br<»d. There are other pokes of this genus, as
B. orunneseens of f'tiba.
shittah-tree (Hhit'il-tre), n. [< Heb. shittali, pi.
shittim, a kind of acacia (the medial letter is
teth).'] A tree generally supposed to be an
acacia, either Acacia Arabica (taken as in-
cluding .4. r(rn) or .(. Sci/nl. These ar« small
gnarle<l and thorny trees suited to dry deserts, yielding
gum arable, and aHordinga hard wood — that of one l>eing,
as supposfil, the shitthn-wood of Scripture. See cut un-
der Acaeta.
657d
I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shitlah tree
and the myrtle, and the oil tree. Isa. xli. 19.
shittim-WOOd (shit'im-wud), n. [< shittim (F.
setini),<.ileb.shittim(seesJiittah-tree), + wood^.\
1 . The wood of the shittah-tree, prized among
the Hebrews, and, according to Exodus and
Deuteronomy, furnishing the material of the
ark of the covenant and various parts of the
tabernacle. It is hard, tough, durable, and
susceptible of a fine polish.
And they shall make an ark of shitHm wood. Ex. xxv. 10.
2. A tree, Bumelia lanuginosa, of the southern
United States, yielding a wood used to some
extent in cabinet-making, and a gum, called
gum-elastic, of some domestic use. The small
western tree Bhamntis Purshiana is also so
called.
shittle^ (shit'l), n. An obsolete or dialectal
form of shuttle^.
shittle'-t, <i. An obsolete form of shuttle^.
shittle-brainedt, shittlecockt, etc. Same as
shuitk-brained, etc.
Shiva, H. Same as Siva.
shivaree (shiv'a-re), «. A corruption of chari-
vari. [Vulgar, southern U. S.]
shivaree (shiv'a-re), v. t. [< shivaree, n.] To
salute with a mock serenade. [Southern U. S.]
The boys are going to shivaree old Foquelln to-night,
tf. W. CabU, Old Creole Days, p. 202.
shive (shiv), w. [< ME. schive, schifc, prob. <
AS. 'scife, 'scif (not recorded) = MD. 'schijve,
D. schijf, a round plate, disk, quoit, counter (in
games), etc., = MLG. sehice, \j(i. schive = OHG.
sciba, scipa, a round plate, ball, wheel, MHG.
schibe, G. scheibe, a round plate, roll, disk, pane
of glass, = Icel. skifa, a slice, = Sw. skijra =
Dan. skive, a slice, disk, dial, sheave ; perhaps
akin to Gr. anolTroc, a potters' wheel, okIttuv, a
staff, L. scipio{n-), a staff. The evidence seems
to indicate two diff. words merged under this
one form, one of them being also the source of
shiver^, q. v. Cf. sheave^, a doublet of shive.]
1. A thin piece cut off; a slice: as, a shive of
bread. [Old and prov. Eng.]
Easy it Is
Of a cut loaf to steal a shive, we know.
Shak., Tit And., 11. 1. 86.
This sort of meat ... Is often eaten in the beer shops
with thick shives of bread.
Mayhew, London lAbour and London Poor, II. 255.
2. A splinter: same as shiver^, 2. — 3. A cork
stopper large in diameter in proportion to its
length, as the flat cork of a jar or wide-mouthed
bottle. — 4. A small iron wedge for fastening
theboltof a window-shutter. Balliwell. [Prov.
Eng.]
shiver^ (shiv'^r), n. [< ME. shiver, schivere,
schuvere, schytyr, sheter, schevir (pi. scivren,
scijrren), prob. < AS. *scifera (not recorded), a
thin piece, a splinter, = OHG. skivero, a splin-
ter of stone, MHG. schivere, schiver, schever, a
splinter of stone or wood, esp. of wood, G.
schiefer (> 8w. akiffer = Dan. skifer), a splinter,
shiver, slate; with formative -er {-ra), < Teut.
V«fc>/, separate, part, whence AS. scif tan, part,
change, etc.: see shift. Prob. connected in part
with shive: see shive. Hence shiver^, v., and
nit. skiver, skewer, q. v.] It. Same as shive, 1.
Of youre softe breed nat but a shyvere.
Chaucer, .Summoiier's Tale, 1. 132.
Tho keruer hym parys a schyuer so fre,
And touches tho louys yn quere a-boute.
Bailees Book (£. £. T. S.X p. 322.
2. A broken bit; a splinter; a sliver; one of
many small pieces or fragments such as are
produced by a sudden and violent shock or
blow. Also shive.
Sclp ame [ran] to-jen scip
Tha hit al to-wode to sajren.
Layamon, 1. 4637.
To fill up the fret with little skivers of a quill and glue,
as some say will do well, by reason must be stark nought
.,4»cAfflm,Toxophilu8(ed. 1864), p. 116.
Russius salth that the rootes of reed, being stampt and
mingled with bony, will draw out any thorne or sAtrer.
Topsell. Bea8U(ie07), p. 421. (BattiweU.)
He woold pun tbee into shivers with his fist, as a sailor
breaks a biscuit Shak., T. and C, II. 1. 42.
Thorns of the crown and skivers of the cross.
Tennyson, Balin and Balan.
3. In mineral., a species of blue slate; schist;
shale. — 4t. Naut., a sheave; the wheel of a
pulley. — 6. A small wedge or key. E. H.
Knight.
shivieri (shiv'fer), v. [< ME. shiveren, sehyveren,
srheveren (=: MD. scheveren, split, = MHG.
schiveren, G. schiefern, separate in scales, ex-
foliate) ; < »*«reri, ».] I, trans. To break into
shivery
many small fragments or splinters; shatter;
dash to pieces at a blow.
And round about a border was entrayld
Of broken bowes and arrowes shivered short.
Spemer, ¥. Q., III. xi. 46.
Shiver my timbers, an imprecation formerly used by
sailors, especially in the nautical drama. =SyiL Shatter,
etc. See dash.
II. intrans. To burst, fly, or fall at onee into
many small pieces or parts.
Ther shyveren shaftes upon sheelJes thikke.
Chaucer, Knights Talc, 1. 1747.
The reason given by him why the drop of glass so much
wondered at shivers into so many pieces by breaking only
one small part of it is approved for probable.
Aubrey, Lives, Thomas Hobbes.
The hard brands shiver on the steel.
The spUnter'd spear-shafts crack and fly.
Tennyson, Sir Galahad.
shiver^ (shiv'6r), r. [Early mod. E. also shever ;
an altered form, perhaps due to confusion with
shiver^, of ehiver, chyver, < ME. chiveren, cheveren,
chyveren, chivelen, chyvelen; appar. an assibi-
lated form of 'kiveren, supposed by Skeat to
be a Seand. form of quiver : see quiver^. The
resemblance to MD. schoereren, "to shiver or
shake "( Hexham ), is appar. accidental ; the verb
istrans. inKilian.] I. intrans. Toshake; shud-
der ; tremble ; quiver ; specifically, to shake
with cold.
The temple walles gan chiuere and schake,
Veiles in the temple a-two thei sponne.
Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 144.
And as a letheren purs lolled his chekes,
Wei sydder than his chyn thei chiueled [var. ychitteled] for
elde. Piers Plowman (B), v. 192.
And I that in forenight was with no weapon agasted , . .
Wow shiuer at shaddows. Stanihurst, Mneid, ii. 754.
At last came drooping Winter slowly on, . . .
He quak'd and shiver'd through his triple fur.
J. Beaumont, Psyohe, iv, 64.
= 8yn. Shiver, tjuake. Shudder, Quiver. We shiver with
cold or a sensation like that of cold ; we quake with fear ;
we shudder with horror. To quiver is to have a slight
tremulous or fluttering motion : as, her lip quivered ; to
quiver in every nerve.
n. trans, yaut., to cause to flutter or shake
in the wind, as a sail by trimming the yards or
shifting the helm so that the wind strikes on
the edge of the sail.
if about to bear up, shiver the mlxzen topsail or brail up
the spanker. Lttce, Seamanship, p. 367.
shiver^ (shiv'6r), n. [< shiver^, v.] A tremu-
lous, quivering motion ; a shaking- or trembling-
fit, especially from cold.
Each sound from afar is caught.
The faintest shiver of leaf and limb.
Whittier, Mogg Megone, L
It was a night to remember with a shiver— lyiiig down
in that far-ort wilderness with the reasonable belief that
before morning there was an even chance of an attack of
hostile Indians upon our camp.
S. Bowles, In Merriam, II. 83.
The shivers, the ague ; chills : as, he has the shivers
evciy second (lay. [CoUoq.]
shivered (shiv'^rd),^.«. In Aer., represented as
broken into fragments or ragged pieces: said
especially of a lance.
shivering^ (shiv'^r-ing), n. [< shiver^ + -ing^.]
A sliver; a strip. [Bare.]
In stead of Occam they vse the ahiuerings of the barke
of the sayd trees. Hakluyt's Voyages, II. 270.
shivering^ (shiv'6r-ing), n. [Verbal n. of s7ii»-
cr", v.] A tremulous shaking or quivering, as
with a chill or fear.
Four days after the operation, my patient had a sudden
and long shivering. Dr. J. Braum, Rab.
shiveringly (shiv'^r-ing-li), adv. With or as
with shivering or slight shaking.
The vei-y wavelets . . . seem to creep shiveringly to-
wards the shallow waters.
Pall Mall Gazette, March 31, 1886. (EtMye. Diet.)
shiver-spar (shiv'6r-spar), n. A variety of cal-
cite or calcium carbonate: so called from its
slaty structure. Also called slate-spar.
shiveryl (shiv'6r-i), a. [< shiver^ + -yl.] Easi-
ly falling into shivers or small fragments; not
firmly cohering; brittle.
There were observed Incredible numbers of these shells
thus flatted, and extremely tender, in shivery stone.
Woodward,
shivery^ (shiv'6r-i), a. [< shiver^ + -yl.] 1.
Pertaining to or resembling a shiver or shiver-
ing; characterized by a shivering motion: as,
a shivery undulation. — 2. Inclined or disposed
to shiver.
The mere fact of living in a close atmosphere begets a
shivery, susce'ptible condition of the body.
Jmir. 0/ Education, XVIII. 149.
The frail, shivery, rather thin a>id withered little being,
enveloped in a tangle uf black silk wraps.
U. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 2M.
shivery
3. Causing shivering ; chUl.
Tbe chill, shivery October morning came ; . . . the Oc-
tober morning of Alilton, whose silver mist« were heavy
fogs. Mr^ Gaskelt, North and South, xxxi.
shizoku (she-zo'ku), «. [Jap. (= Chinese slii-
(or s^e-) tsuh, ' the warrior or scholar class ')> <
ski (or s:e), warrior, scholar, + ;oku (= Chinese
t»«A), class.] 1. The military or two-sworded
men of Japan; the gentry, as distinguished
on the one hand from the kuifa:oliu or nobles,
and on the other from the heimin or common
people. — 2. A member of this class.
shol, pron. An obsolete or dialectal form of she.
sho-(sho), »n<er/. Sameasj)»7iaMJ. [Colloq.,Ne\v
Eng.]
shoad^t, shoad". See skodc^, shode^.
shoal^ (shol), a. and ii. [Early mod. E. also
sliole, Sc.shaiil, shawl; early mod. E. also shoald,
shold (dial, sheld, He. shaidd, schald, shattd,
shatcd),i ME. schold, scholde ; with appar. un-
orig. d (perhaps due to conformation with the
pp. suffix -rf2), prob. lit. ' sloping,' ' slant,' < leel.
skjalgr, oblique, wry, squint, = Sw. dial, skjalg,
OSw. skiilg, oblique, slant, wry, crooked, = AS.
*sceolh (in comp. sceol-, scelg-), oblique : see
shallow, a doublet of shoal^.^ I. a. Shallow;
of little depth.
Schold, or schalowe, nojte depe, as water or other lyke.
Bassa [Tar. bassus]. Prompt. Parv., p. 447.
The 21 day we sounded, and found 10 f adome ; after that
we sounded againe, and found but 7 fadonie; so shoalder
and shoalder water. Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 230.
The River of Alvarado is above a Mile over at the Mouth,
yet the entrance is but shde, there being Sands for near
two Mile off the shore. Dainpier, Voyages, II. ii. 123.
The shoaler soundings generally show a strong admix-
lure of sand, while the deeper ones appear as purer clays.
Amer. Jour. Sci., 3d ser., XXIX. 479.
H. n. A place where the water of a stream,
lake, or sea is of little depth ; a sand-bank or
bar ; a shallow ; more particularly, among sea-
men, a sand-bank which shows at low water:
also used figuratively.
Wolsey, that once trod the ways of glory.
And sounded all the depths and skoals (if honour.
Shak., Hen. VIII., iii. 2. 436.
So full of gholds that, if they keepe not the channell in
the middest, there is no sayling but by daylight.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 707.
The tact with which he [Mr. Gallatin] steered his way
between the shoals that sun-ounded him is the most re-
markable instance in our history of perfect diplomatic
skill. H. Adams, Albert Gallatin, p. 522.
shoaU (shol), V. [< shoaU, o.] I. inlrans. To
become shallow, or more shallow.
A splendid silk of foreign loom,
Where like a shoaling sea the lovely blue
Play'd into green. Tennyson, Geraint.
The bottom of the sea off the coast of Brazil shoals
gradually to between thirty and forty fathoms.
Darwin, Coral Reefs, p. 77.
II. trans. Naut., to cause to become shallow,
or more shallow; proceed from a greater into a
lesser depth of : as, a vessel in sailing shoals her
water. Marryat.
shoal^ (shol), n. [Early mod. E. also shole; an
assibilated form of scole, also scool, school, seoll,
scull, skull, < ME. scole, a troop, throng, crowd,
< AS. scolu, a multitude, shoal: see school^, of
which skoal^ is thus a doublet. The assibila-
tion of scole (scool, school, etc.) to shole, shoal is
irregular, and is prob. due to confusion with
shoaU.I A great multitude ; a crowd; a throng;
of fish, a school: as, a shoal of herring; shoals
of people.
I sawe a shole of shepeheardes outgoe
With singing, and shouting, and jolly chere.
Spenser, Shep. Cal., May.
As yet no flowrs with odours Earth reuiued :
No scaly shoals yet in the Waters diued.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartaa's Weeks, i. 1.
A shoal
Of darting fish, that on a summer morn . . .
Come slipping o'er their shadows on the sand.
Tennyson, Geraint.
shoal^ (shol), V. i. [Early mod. E. also shole;
< shoaV^, ».] To assemble in a multitude ;
crowd; throng; school, as fish.
Thus pluckt he from the shore his lance, and left the waucs
to wash
The waue-sprung entrailes, about which fausens and other
fish
Did shole, to nibble at the fat. Chapman, Iliad, xxl. 191.
shoaldt, a. An obsolete form of shoaU.
shoal-duck (shol'duk), n. The American eider-
duck, more fully called Isles of Shoals duck,
from a locality off Portsmouth in New Hamp-
shire. See cut under eider-duck.
shoaler (sho'l^r), n. [< shoan + -erl.] A
sailor in the coast-trade; a coaster: in dis-
5580
tinetion from one who makes voyages to for-
eign ports — Shoaler-draft, light draft: used with
reference to vessels.
shoal-indicator (sh6rin"di-ka-tor), n. A buoy
or beacon of any form fixed on a shoal as a
guide or warning to mariners.
shoaliness (sho'li-nes), n. The state of being
slioaly, or of aboimding in shoals.
shoaling (sho'ling), p. a. Becoming shallow
by filling up with shoals.
Had it [Inveresk] been a shoaling estuarj', as at present,
it is difficult to see how the Romans should have made
choice of it as a port. Sir C. Lyell, Geol. Evidences, iii.
shoal-mark (shoi'mark), n. A mark set to in-
dicate shoal water, as a stake or buoy.
He . . . then began to work her warily into the next
system of shoal-marks.
S. L. Clemens, Life on the Mississippi, p. 140.
shoalness (shol'nes), n. [Early mod. E. also
sholdnesse; < shoal^ + -ness.'] The state of be-
ing shoal; shallowness.
These boats are . . . made according to the sholdnesse
of the riuer, because that the riuer is in many places full
of great stones. Hakluyt's Voyages, II. 213.
The shoalness of the lagoon-channels round some of the
islands. Darwin, Coral Reefs, p. 168.
shoalwise (shol'wiz), adv. [< shoaV^ + -wise^.]
In shoals or crowds.
When he goes abroad, as he does now shoalwise, John
Bull finds a great host of innkeepers, &c. Prof. Blackie.
shoaly (sho'li), a. [< shoaU + -yi.] Full of
shoals or shallow places; abounding in shoals.
The tossing vessel sailed on shoaly ground.
Dryden, ^neid, v. 1130.
shoarf. An obsolete spelling of shore^ and
shore'^.
shoat, «. See shote^.
Shock^ (shok), n. [Formerly also chock (< P.
choc) ; < ME. "schok (found only in the verb), <
MD. schock, D. schok = OHG. scoc, MHG. sehoc,
a shock, jolt (> OF. (and F.) choc = Sp. Pg.
choque, a shock, = It. cicoco, a block, stump) ;
appar. < AS. scacan, sceacan, etc., shake: see
shake. The varied forms of the verb (shock, >
shog, y jog, also shuck) suggest a confusion of
two words. The E. noun may be from the
verb.] 1. A violent collision ; a concussion; a
violent striking or dashing together or against,
as of bodies ; specifically, in seismology, an earth-
quake-shock (see earthquake).
With harsh-resounding trumpets' dreadful bray,
And grating shock of wrathful iron arms.
Shak., Rich. II., i. 3. 136.
At thy command, I would with boyst'rous shock
Go run my selfe agahist the hardest rock.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., Eden.
One of the kings of France died miserably by the chock
of an hog.
Bp. Patrick, Divine Arithmetick, p. 27. {Latham, under
[chock).
It wa£ not in the battle ;
No tempest gave the shock.
Cowper, Loss of the Royal George.
2. Any sudden and more or less violent physi-
cal or mental impression.
A cup of water, . . . yet its draught
Of cool refreshment, drain'd by fever'd lips.
May give a shock of pleasure to the frame.
Tal/ourd, Ion, i. 2.
With twelve great shocks of sound, the shameless noon
Was clash'd and hammer'd from a hundred towers.
Tennyson, Godiva.
There is a shock of likeness when we pass from one
thing to another which in the first instance we merely
discriminate numerically, but, at the moment of bringing
our attention to bear, perceive to be similar to the first ;
just as there is a shock of difference when we pass between
two dissimilars. W. James, Prin. of Psychology, I. 5'29.
Specifically — (a) In elect., a making or breaking of, or
sudden variation in, an electric current, acting as a stim-
ulant to sensory nerves or other irritable tissues, {h)
In pathol., a condition of profound prostration of volun-
tary and involuntary functions, of acute onset, caused by
trauma, surgical operation, or excessive sudden emotional
disturbance (mental shock). It is due, in part at least, to
the over-stimulation and consequent exhaustion of the
nervous centers, possibly combined with the inhibitory
action of centers rendered too irritable by the over-stimu-
lation or otherwise.
The man dies because vital parts of the organism have
been destroyed in the collision, and this condition of shock,
this insensibility to useless pain, is the most merciful
provision that can be conceived. Lancet (1887), II. 306.
(c) A sudden attack of paralysis ; a stroke. [CoUoq.]
3. A strong and sudden agitation of the mind
or feelings ; a startling surprise accompanied
by grief, alarm, indignation, horror, relief, joy,
or other strong emotion: as, a shock to the
moral sense of a community.
A single bankruptcy may give a shock to commercial
centres that is felt in every home throughout all nations.
Channing, Perfect Life, p. 132.
shock
She has been shaken by so many painful emotions . . .
that I think it would be better, for this evening at least,
to guard her from a new shock, if possible.
George Eliot, Janet's Repentance, xxii.
The sltock of a surprise causes an animated expression
and stir of movements and gestures, which are \eiy much
the same whether we are pleased or otherwise.
A. Bain, Emotions and Will, p. 563.
Erethlamlc shock, in pathol. See erelhismic. — SbOCTi
Of the glottis. See glottis. =Syn. Shock, Collision, Con-
cussion, Jolt. A shock is a violent shaking, and may be
produced by a collision, a heavy ^'oif, or otherwise; it may
be of the nature of a coiuyussion. The word is more often
used of the effect than of the action : as, the shock of battle,
a shock of electricity, theshoelc from the sudden announce-
ment of bad news. A collision is the dashing of a moving
body upon a body moving or still : as, a railroad collision ;
collision of steamships. Concussion is a shaking together ;
hence the word is especially applicable where that which
is shaken has, or may be thought of as having, parts : as,
concussion of the air or of the bl-ain. Collision implies the
solidity of the colliding objects: as, the collision of two
cannon-balls in the air. A jolt is a shaking by a single ab-
rupt jerking motion upward or downward or both, as by a
springless wagon on a rough road. .Shock is used figura-
tively ; we speak sometimes of the collision of ideas or of
minds ; concussion a.TkdJott are only literal.
shock! (shok), V. [< ME. schokken, < MD. schock-
en, D. schokken = MLG. schocken = MHG. schock-
en (> P. choquer), shock, jolt; from the noun.
Ct. shog^, jog, shuck^.^ I. trans. 1. To strike
against suddenly and violently ; encounter with
sudden collision or brunt ; specifically, to en-
counter in battle : in this sense, archaic.
Come the three corners of the world in arms.
And we shall shock them. Shak., K. John, v. 7. 117.
2. To strike as with indignation, horror, or dis-
gust; cause to recoil, as from something as-
tounding, appalling, hateful, or horrible; of-
fend extremely ; stagger ; stun.
This cries. There is, and that. There is no God.
What shocks one part will edify the rest.
Pope, Essay on Man, iv. 141.
A nature so prone to ideal contemplation as Spenser's
would be profoundly shocked by seeing too closely the
ignoble springs of contemporaneous policy.
Lowell, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 144.
= Syn, 2. To appal, dismay, sicken, nauseate, scandalize,
revmt, outrage, astound. See shocks, n.
II. inlrans. 1. To collide with violence; meet
in sudden onset or encounter.
chariots on chariots roll ; the clashing spokes
Shock; while the madding steeds break short their yokes.
Pope, Iliad, xvi. 445.
"Have at thee then," said Kay; they shock'd. and Kay
Fell shoulder-slipt. Tennyson, Gareth and Lynette.
2t. To rush violently.
He schodirde and schrenkys, and schontes [delays] bott
lyttile,
Bott schokkes in scharpely in his schene wedys.
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 4236.
But at length, when they saw fiying in the darke to be
more suerty vnto them then fighting, they shocked away in
diuers companies. J. Brende, tr. of Quintus Curtius, iv.
3. To butt, as rams. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
shock^ (shok), n. [< ME. schokke, a shock,< MD.
schocke = MLG. schok, a shock, cock, heap, =
MHG. schoche, heap of grain , aheap, = Sw. skock,
a crowd, heap, herd; prob. the same as OS. scok
= D. schok = MLG. schok = MHG. schoc, G.
schock = Sw. skock = Dan. skok, threescore,
another particular use of the orig. sense, 'a
heap'; perhaps orig. a heap 'shocked' or
thrown together, ult. < shock^ (cf. shenfl, ult.
<. shove). Ct.shook^.'] 1. In «(/»•«■., a group of
sheaves of grain placed standing in a field with
the stalk-ends down, and so arranged as to shed
the rain as completely as possible, in order to
permit the grain to dry and ripen before hous-
ing. In England also called shook or stook.
The sheaves being yet in shocks in the field.
North, tr. of Plutarch, p. 8.5.
He . . . burnt up both the shocks and also the standing
corn. Judges xv. 5.
2. A similar group of stalks of Indian corn or
maize, not made up in sheaves, but placed sin-
gly, and bound together at the top in a conical
form. Such shocks are usually made by gather-
ing a number of cut stalks around a center of
standing corn. [U. S.] — 3t. A unit of tale,
sixty boxes or canes, by a statute of Charles II.
= Syn. 1 and 2. Stack, etc. See shea/l.
shock^ (shok), V. [< ME. schokken = MD. schock-
en = MLG. schocken = MHG. schochen, heap to-
gether in shocks; from the noun.] I. trans.
To make up into shocks or stooks : as, to shock
com.
Certainly there is no crop in the world which presents
such a gorgeous view of the wealth of the soil as an Amer-
ican corn-fleld when the com has been shocked and has
left the yellow pumpkins exposed to view.
Xew Princeton Rev., II. 184.
n. inlrans. To gather sheaves in piles or
shocks.
I
shock
Bind fast, shock apace, have an eye to thy com.
TusseTj August's Husbandry.
shock-'' (shok), n. an J a. [Early mod. E. also shog,
also shough, showghe ; usually regarded as a va-
riant of sluig ; but phonetic considerations are
against this assumption, except as to shog :
see «A«iri.] I. ». 1. A dog with long rough
hair ; a kind of shaggy dog.
Shmryhes, Water-Rugs, and Demy-Wolues are dipt
All by the Name of Uogges.
Shak., Macbeth (folio 1623), iii. 1. 94.
No daintie ladies flstiiig-hound,
That lives upon our Britaine ground,
Nor mungrell cur or shog.
John Taylor, Works (1630). (Ifarea.)
2. A thick, disordered mass (of hair).
Slim youths with shocks of nut-brown hair beneath their
tiny red caps. J. A, Si/monds, Italy and Greece, p. 70.
n. ". Sliagg}-.
A drunken Dutchman ... fell overboard ; when he
wa» sinking I reached through the water to his»Aodlr pate,
and drew him up. B. Franklin, Autoblog., p. 34.
shock*, ''• t. A dialectal variant of shuck~.
[U. S.]
When brought to the shore, some [oysters] are sent to
market, while others are shocked, and sold as solid nieata.
Stand. A'ot. Hut., I. 259.
shock-dog (shok'dog), n. A rough-haired or
woolly dog ; specifically, a poodle.
You men are like our little shock-dt>ffs: If we don't keep
you off from us, but use you a little kindly, you grow so
addling and go troublesome there is no enduring you.
Wi/cAer/ej/, Gentleman Dancing- Master, ii. 2.
The shock-dog has a collar that cost almost as much as
mine. Steele, Tatler. No. 24.S.
shocker^ (shok'tr), n. [< «Aoe<l + -«rl.] 1.
One who shocks; specifically, a bad charac-
ter, nalliicelt. [Prov. Eng.]— 2. That which
shocks ; specifically, a vulgarly exciting tale or
description. Compare penny dreadful, under
dreadful, n. [CoUoq.]
The exciting scenes have a thrill about them less grue-
some tlian is produced by the shilling shocker.
The Academy, Oct 12, 1889, p. 28S.
shocker- (shok'i'r), ». [< shock^ + -e-rl.] A
inailiuio for shocking corn : same as richer.
shock-head (sbok'hed), a. and n. I. a. Same
as shock-headed; by extension, rough and bushy
at the top.
The skoek-head willows two and two
By rivers gallopaded. Tennymm, Amphion.
n. n. A head covered with btishy or frowzy
hair ; a frowzy head of hair.
A shoek-hcad of red hair, which the hat and periwig of
the Lowland costume had in a great measure concesded,
was seen beneath the Highland bonnet.
ScoU, Rob Roy, xxxii.
shock-headed (shok'hed'ed), a. Having thick
anil Vjushy or shaggy hair, especially when
tumbled or frowzy.
Two small shock-headed children were lying prone and
resting on their elbows.
Georffe Eliot, Hill on the Floa^ 1. 11.
shocking (shok'ing), p. a. Causing a shock of
indignation, disgust, distress, or horror; ex-
tremely offensive, painful, or repugnant.
The growest and most shocking vfllanles.
Seeker, Sermons, I. ixv.
The beasts that roam over the plain
Hy form with iudlfference see ;
Ther are so anacqnatntod with man,
Their tameneai I* shocking to me.
Cowper, Alexander Selkirk.
= Byn. Wicked, Seandalotu, etc. (see atrocioutX trlKhtfnl,
dreadful, terrible^ reroltlng, abominable, execrable, ap-
palling.
shockingly (shok'ing-H), adv. In a shocking
m.'inner; alarmingly; distressingly.
You look most shockingly to-day.
Qoidsmith, Good-natured Man, L
In my opinion, the shortnewof a triennial sitting would
. . . make the member more abamelesaly and shockingly
corrupt. Burke, Daratlon of Parliaments.
shockingness (shok'ing-nes), n. The state of
being shocking.
The shockingness of Intrndon at ancb a time.
The American, IX. 215.
shod' (shod). Preterit and past participle of
shod- fshod), r. A dialectal preterit of shed^.
shodden (shod'n). A past participle of xhoe^.
shoddy (shod'i), n. and a. [Not found in early
UHi'. and presumably orig. a factory word; in
this view it is possible to consider shoddy as a
dial, form (diminutive or extension) of dial.
sbiidr, lit. ' shedding,' separation, shoddy being
orig. made of flue or fluff 'shed' or thrown off in
the process of weaving, rejected threads, etc.:
see */iwfel, */icf/l, n.] I. ». 1. A woolen mate-
rial felted together, composed of old woolen
5581
cloth torn into shreds, the rejected threads from
the weaving of finer cloths, and the like. Com-
pare wuni/oi. — 2. The inferior cloth made from
this substance ; hence, any unsubstantial and
almost worthless goods. The large amount of shod-
dy in the clothing furnished by contractors for the Union
soldiers in the earlier part of the American civil war gave
the word a sudden prominence. The wealth obtained by
these contractors and the resulting ambition of some of
them for social prominence caused shoddy (especially as an
adjective) to be applied to those who on account of lately
acquired wealth aspire to a social position higher than that
to which their birth or breeding entitles them.
Hence — 3. A person or thing combining as-
sumption of superior excellence with actual
inferiority; pretense; sham;. vulgar assump-
tion. [CoUoq.]
Working up the threadbare ragged commonplaces of
popular metaphysics and mythology into philosophic shod-
dy. The Academy, May 11, 1889, p. 325.
A scramble of parvenus, with a horrible consciousness
of shoddy running through politics, manners, art, litera-
ture, nay, religion itself. Lowell, Study Windows, p. 56.
II. a. 1. Made of shoddy : as, sAorfrfy cloth.
Hence — 2. Of a trashy or inferior character :
as, sAodrfy literature. — 3. Pretending to an ex-
cellence not possessed; pretentious; sham;
counterfeit; ambitious for prominence or in-
fluence not deserved by character or breeding,
but aspired to on account of newly acquired
wealth: as, a«Aorfdjaristocracy. Seel., 2. [Col-
loq.] — Shoddy fever, the popular name of a kind of
bronchitis caused by the irritating efTect of floating par-
ticles of dust upon the mucous membrane of the trachea
and its ramifications.
shoddy (shod'i), v. t.; pret. and pp. shoddied,
ppr. snoddying. [< sltoddy, n.] To convert into
shoddy.
While woolen and even cotton goods can be shoddied,
... no use is made of the refuse of silk.
Mayhexc, London Labour and London Poor, II. 33.
shoddyism (shod'i-izm), n. [< shoddy + -ism.']
Pretension, on account of wealth acquirednew-
ly or by questionable methods, to social posi-
tion or influence to which one is not entitled by
birth or breeding. See shoddy, n., 2.
The Russian merchant's love of ostentation Is of a pe-
culiar kind — something entirely different from English
anobbenr and American shoddyism. ... He never affects
to be other than he really is.
D M. Wallace, Russia, p. 170.
shoddy-machine (shod'i-ma-shen'), n. A form
of rag-picker used for converting woolen rags,
etc.. into shoddy.
shoddy-mill (shod'i-mil), «. A mill used for
spinning yam for shoddy from the refuse ma-
terial prepared by the wiUower.
shode't (smod), n. [Also shoad; < ME. shode,
schode, < AS. scedd, 'scdde, "scedde (cf. gescedd),
separation : see »Acrfl , of which shode'^ is a doub-
let. Cf. also «A<«/e2 and sAorfrfy, also «ftoic3.] 1.
Separation; distinction. — 2. Aehasmorravine.
Hem bituen a gret schode,
Of gravel and erthe al so.
Arthour and Merlin, p. 56. (Hattiwell.)
3. The line of parting of the hair on the head ;
the top of the head.
Ful streight and evenc lay his Joly shode.
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1. 130.
shode- (shod), II. [Also «/ioarf; prob. another
use of shode^, lit. ' separation' : see shode^.} In
mining, a loose fragment of veinstone ; a part
of the outcrop of a vein which has been.moved
from its original position by gravity, marine
or fluviatile currents, glacial action, or the like.
[Cornwall, Eng.]
The loads or veins of metal were by this action of the
departing water made easy to be found out by theshoads,
or trains of metallick fragments borne off from them, and
lying In trains from tboee veins towards the sea, in the
same course that water falling thence would take.
Woodtmrd.
Shode^ (shod), V. i. ; pret. and pp. shaded, ppr.
shoding. [< shode'^, m.] To seek for a vein or
mineral deposit by following the shodes, or
tracing them to the source from which they
were derived. rComwall, Eng.]
shode-pit (shod'pit), n. A pit or trench
formed in shoding, or tracing shodes to their
native vein.
shoder (sho'd^r), n. [< shode^ -f- -^rl.] A gold-
beaters' name for the package of skin in which
the hammering is done at the second stage of
the work. See cuteh' and mold*, 11. E. H.
Knight.
shode-S'tone (shod'ston), n. Same as shode^.
shoe' (sho), n. ; pi. shoes(sh6z), archaic pi. shoon
(sh«n). [Early mod. E. shoo, shooe (reduced to
shoe, like doe, now do, for "dooe, doo ; the oe
being not a diphthong, but orig. long o, pron.
o, followed by a silent e), < ME. shoo, acho, sho,
shoe
schoo, sso, schu (pi. shoon, schoon, shon, schon,
schone, scheon, also sceos), < AS. seed (seed),
eontr. of *sce6h Csccoh) (pi. sceos, collectively
gescy) = OS. skoh, scoh = OFries. sko = D.
schoen = MLG. LG. scho = OHG. scuoh, MHG.
schuoch, G. schuh, dial, schuch = Icel. skor (pi.
Kkiiar, skor) = Svv. Dan. sko = Goth. skOhs, a
shoe. Root imknown ; usually refen-ed, with-
out much reason, to the -^ ska or -/ sku, cover,
whence ult. E. s/iyl, L. scutum, a shield, etc.] 1 .
A covering for the human foot, especially an
external covering not reaching higher than the
ankle, as distinguished from boot, buskin, etc.
Shoes in the middle ages were made of leather, and of cloth
of various kinds,
often the same as
that used for other
parts of the cos-
tume, and even of
satin, cloth of gold,
and other rich fab-
rics for persons of
rank. They were
sometimes embroi-
dered, and even
set with precious
stones. The fas-
tening was usually
of very simple
character, often a
strap passing over
the instep, and
Shoe, gth century. (From Viollet-le-Duc's
" Diet, du Mobilier fraiii^ais.")
secured with a button or a hook. Buckled shoes were
worn in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. At
the present time shoes are commonly of leather of some
A, shoe for fore foot : B, shoe for hind foot :
ti, toe-calks; fi, heel-calks.
Duckbill Shoes, close of 15th century.
kind, but often of cloth. For wooden shoes, see sabot; tor
water-proof shoes, see rubber and galosh. See also cuts
under cracoic, jxntlainc, sabbaton, sabot, and sandal.
Two thongede scfteon. Ancren Riwle, p, 362.
His shoon of cordewane. Chaucer, Sir Thopas, I. 21.
Loose thy shoe from off thy foot ; for the place whereon
thou standest is holy. Josh. v. 15.
Her little foot . . . was still incased in its smartly buckled
shoe. Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, iv.
2. A plate or rim of metal, usually iron, nailed
to the hoof of
an animal, as a
horse, mule, ox,
or other beast
of burden, to de-
fend it from in-
jury.— 3. Some-
thing resem-
bling a slioe in
form, use, or po-
sition, (o) A plate
of Iron or slip of
wood nailed to the
bottom of the runner of a sleigh or any vehicle that slides
on the snow in winter. (6) The inclined piece at the bot-
tom of a water-trunk or lead pipe, for turning the course
of the water and discharging it from the wall of a build-
ing, (c) An iron socket used in timber framing to receive
the foot of a rjifter or the end of a strut ; also, any piece,
as a block of stone or a timber, interposed to receive the
thrust between the base of a pillar and the substructure,
or between the end of any member conveying a thrust
and the bearing surface.
Its [an Ionic column's at Bassa;] widely spreading base
still retains traces of the wooden origin of the order, and
carries us back towards the times when a shoe was neces-
sary to support wooden posts on the floor of an Assyrian
hall. J. Fergusson, Hist. Arch., I. 255.
(d) A drag Into which one of the wheels of a vehicle can be
set ; a skid. It is usually chained to another part of the ve-
hicle, and the wheel resting in it is prevented from turn-
ing, so that the speed of the vehicle is diminished : used
especially in going downhill, (e) The part of a brake
which bears against the wheel. (/) An inclined trough
used in ore-crushing and other mills ; speciflcally, a slop-
ing chute or trough below the hopper of a grain-mill, kept
in constant vibratiiin by the damsel (whence also called
shaking-shm), for feeding the grain tinifomily to the mill-
stone. See cuts under mill^. iff) The iron ferrule, or like
fitting, of a handspike, pole, pile, or the like. (A) Mitit.,
the ferrule protecting the butt-end of a spear-shaft, handle
of a halberd, or the like. It is often pointed or has a
sharp edge for planting in the ground, or for a similar
use. (I) In metal., a piece of chilled iron or steel at-
tached to the end of any part of a machine by which grind-
ing or stamping is done, in order that, as this wears away
by use, it may be renewed without the necessity of repla-
cing the whole thing. (}) A flat piece of thick plank slight-
ly hollowed out on the ni)per side to receive the end of
a sheer-leg to serve In moving it. (A-) The step of a mast
resting on the keelson. (I) The outer piece of the forefoot
of a ship, (m) In printing, a rude pocket attached to a
composing-stand, for the reception of condemned type.
(«) In ornith., a formation of the claws of certain storks
suggesting a shoe— Another pair of shoes, something
entirely different. [Colloq.]
shoe
My gentleman must have horses, Pip ! . . . Shalt colo-
nists have their horses (;»nd blood 'uns, if you please, good
Lord II and not my London gentleman ? No, no ! We'll
show em another pair of shoes than that, Pip, won't us?
Dickent, Great Expectations, xl.
Catting slioe. See <Mitt«"n<;-»Aoe.— Dead men's shoes.
See di'nrf.— Piked siioont. See j)*ei, n., 1 (f). -San-
daled shoes. See aindoicrf.— Shoe of an anchor,
(a) X small block of wood, convex on the back, with a
hole to receive the point of the anchor-fluke, used to
prevent the anchor from tearing the planks of the ship's
bow when raised or lowered. (6) A broad triangulai' piece
of thick plank fastened to an anchor-fluke to extend its
area and consequent beai-ing-surface when sunk in soft
ground.— Shoe of silver (or of gold), an ingot of silver
(or of gold), vaguely resembling a boat, used as money in
the far East. See syeee-gUvfr, and the smaller of the two
ingots shown in cut under rfotc/im. (The form shoeo/gold
represents the I), gottdgchuit, in F. form goltschtit, lit. 'gold
boat'; see gold and scout*, schuit]
6682
When you are in lodgings, and no shoe-hoy to be got,
clean your master's shoes with the bottom of the curtains,
a clean napkin, or your landlady's apron.
Suift, Advice to Servants (Footman).
shoe-brush (sho'brush), n. A brush for clean-
ing, blacking, or polishing shoes.
shoe-buckle (sh6'buk''l), «. A buckle for fas-
sbof
shoe-leather (sh5'lewH*6r), n.
shoes.
1. Leather for
Tliis hollow cylinder is fitted with a sucker, . . . upon
which ia nailed a good thick piece of tanned shoe-leather.
Boyle, Spring of the Air.
2. Shoes, in a general sense, or collectively: as,
, . ,, , i, - i „ , he wears out plenty of s/ioe-teaf7i«r. rCoUoq.l
tening the shoe oil the foot, generally by means shoeless (sho'les), a. [< shoe + -less.-] Desti-
of a latchet or strip passing over the instep, tute of shoes, whether from poverty or from
of the same material as the shoo, shoes were se- custom
cured by buckles throughout the latter part of the seven-
teenth century and nearly the whole of the eighteenth. Caltrops very much incommoded the shoeless Moors.
They were worn by both men and women. Such buckles Addison.
were sometimes of precious material, and even set with shocmaket, «. An old spelling of sumac.
mends. In the present century the fa^n^on has l>een shoemaker (sho' marker), «. [= D. schoen-
diamonds. In the present century
restored at intervals, but most contemporary shoe-buckles
I totik with me about sixty pounds of silver shoes and , _ ~, y. ,a ,j s
twenty ounces of gold sewed in my clothes, besides a small ShOe-flO'Wer (sno nou*6r),
assortment of articles for trading and presents. hliick-vlant.
The CetUury, XLI. 6. ■
To be In one's shoes or boots, t<> be in one's place. [Col-
loq.)— To die In one's shoes or boots, to suffer a vio-
lent death; especially, to be hanged. [Slang.]
And there is M'Fuze,
And Lieutenant Tregooze,
And there is Sir Carnaby Jcnks, of the Blues,
All come to see a man die in his shoes!
Ingoldsby Legetuis, I. 285.
To hunt the clean shoe. See Aioif.— Tokno'wrorfeel
where the shoe pinches. See pinch.— To put the
shoe on the right foot, to lay tlie blame where it be-
longs, icolloq.) — To Win one's shoest, to conquer in
combat: said of knights.
It es an harde thyng for to save
Of doghety dedis that base bene done.
Of felle feghtynges and l>atelles sere.
And how that thir knyghtis base ^ooji^ thair schone.
MS. Litwoln A. i. 17, f. 149. (UaUiweU.)
shoe^ (sho), )•. t.; pret. and pp. shod (pp. some-
times shodden), ppr. shoeing. [Early mod. E.
also shooe; < ME. schoen, schon, shon (pret.
sehoede, pp. shod, schod, shodde, ischod, iscod),
< AS. sceoian (also gescygion, < gescy, shoes) =
D. schoeijcn = MLG. schoen, schoien, schoigen
= OHG. scuahan, MHG. schuohen (cf. G. be-
schuhen) = Icel. sTcua, skoa = Sw. Dan. ska,
shoe; from the noun.] 1. To fit with a shoe
or shoes, in any sense: used especially in the
preterit and past participle.
Dreme he barefote or dreme he shod.
Chaucer, House of Fame, i. 98.
For yche a hors that ferroure schalle scho,
An halpeny on day he takes hym to.
Babees Book (E. E. T. 8. ), p. 319.
His horse was silver shod before.
With the beaten gold behind.
Child Noryce (Child's Ballads, IL 40).
What a mercy you are shod with velvet, Jane ! — a clod-
hopping messenger would never do at this juncture.
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xx.
When oar horses were shodden and rasped.
B. D. Blachmore, Lorna Doone, Ixii.
2. To cover or armat a point, as with a ferrule.
The small end of the billiard stick, which is shod with
brass or silver. Evelyn.
He took a lang spear in his hand,
Sfiod with the metal free.
Battle of Otterbourne (Child's Ballads, VII. 20).
To shoe an anchor. See anchori.
shoe2, proH. A dialectal form of she.
shoebeak (sho'bek), n. Same as shoebill.
shoebill (sho'bil), ». The whalehead, Balse-
niceps rex. See cut under Baleeniceps. P. L.
Scia tcr.
shoe-billed (sho'bild), a. Ha-ving a shoe-shaped
bill: iioat-billed : as, the «7ioe-6JWefl! stork.
shoeblack (sho'blak),H. [<.^hoe^ + black,v.'] A
person wlio cleans and polishes shoes and boots,
especially one who makes a living by this.
shoeblack-plant (sho'blak-plant), «. An East
Indian rose-mallow. Hibiscus Rosa-sinensis, of-
ten cultivated in hothouses, it is a tree 20 or 30
feet high, with very showy flowers 4 or 5 inches broad,
borne on slender peduncles. The flowers contain an as-
tringent juice causing them to turn black or deep-pur-
ple when bruised, used by Chinese women for dyeing their
maker = MLG. schomaker, schomeker = MHG.
schuochmacher,(i. schuhmacher = iiifi .skomakare
= Dan. skomuger; as shoe^ + maker.'] A maker
of shoes; one who makes or has to do with
making shoes and boots Coral shoemaker. See
shoe-hammer (sh6'ham''''6r),«. Ahammerwitha i."^"'' , ■ ■ , , , .. , - ,,, .
broad and slightly convex shoemaker s-bark (sho ma'kerz-
are sewed on merely for ornament.
shoe-fastener (sho'fas'ner), «. 1. Any device
for fastening a shoe. — 2. A button-hook.
' ' n. Same as shoe-
Shoe-haramer.
slightly convex
face for pounding leather
on the lapstone to eon-
dense the pores, and for
driving sprigs, pegs, etc.,
and with a wide, thin,
rounded peen used to
press out the creases incident to the crimping
of tlie leather. Also called shoemakers' hammer.
shoe-hom (sho'hom), n. Same as shoeing-
hnni, 1.
shoeing (sho'ing), n. [Early mod. E. also shoo-
ing; < ME. .schoynge; verbal n. of «Aoei, v.] 1.
The act or process of putting on shoes or fur-
nishing with shoes.
Schoynge, of hors. Ferracio. Prompt. Parv., p. 447.
Outside the town you find the shoeing forges, which are
relegated to a safe distance for fear of flre.
Harper's Mag., LXXIX. 13.
2. Foot-covering; shoes collectively. [Obso-
lete or colloq.]
Schoynge of a byschope ; . . . sandalia.
Cath. jln<7 , p. 337.
The national sandal is doubtless the most economical
bark), n.
The trade of
Same as muriixi-bark.
shoemaking (sho'ma'''king)
making shoes and boots.
shoepack (sho'pak), n. A shoe made without
a separate sole, or in the manner of a moc-
casin, but of tanned leather. [Lake Superior.]
shoe-pad (sho'pad), «. in farriery, a pad some-
times inserted between the horseshoe and the
hoof. E. H. Knight.
shoe-peg (sho'peg), «. In shoemaking, a small
peg or pin of wood or metal used to fasten pai^s
of a shoe together, especially the outer and
inner sole, and the whole sole to the upper.
Before recent improvements in shoemaking machinery,
cheap shoes were commonly pegged, especially lu the
United States. See cuts under peg and peg-strip.
shoe-pocket (sh6'pok''''et), v. A leather pocket
sometimes fastened, to a saddle for carrying ex-
tra horseshoes.
shoer (sho'er), n. [Early mod. E. shooer, < ME.
schoer, also .fhoer, horseshoer; < shoc^ + -erl.]
One who furnishes or puts on shoes; especially,
a blacksmith who shoes horses.
A schoer; ferrarius. Cath. Ang., p. 337.
n. See ro«el, 3.
comfortable, and healthy shoeing that can be worn in this shoC-rOSe (slio'roz) „
country. U. S. Com. Bep., No. lix. (1885), p. 234. shoes-and-stockings (shoz'and-s'tok'ingz), n
Shoeing-hammer (sho'ing-ham'''er), n. Alight Tlio bird's-foot trefoil, Lotus cornicuUituji : lesi
hammer for driving the nails of horseshoes.
E. H. Knight.
shoeing-horn (sh6'ing-h6rn), n. [Early mod. E.
also shooiug-horne ; < ME. schoynge-horne; (.shoe-
less
commonly applied to some other plants.
shoe-shaped (sho'shapt),a. Shaped likeashoe:
boat-shaped; slipper-shaped; cymbiform. See
raramccium.
ing + horn.] 1. An implement used in putting shoe-sha've (Sho'shav), «. A tool, resembling a
on a shoe, curved in two directions, in its width spokeshave, for trimming the soles of boots and
to fit the heel of the foot, and in its length to shoes.
avoid contact with the ankle, used for keeping shoe-stirrup (sho'stir'up), ». A stirrup orfoot-
the stocking smooth and allowing the counter rest shaped like a shoe, as the stirrups of side-
of the shoe to slip easily over it. such imple- saddles were formerly made.
ments were formerly made of horn, but are now commonly shoe-StOUe (sho'ston), n. A cobblers' whet-
of thin metal, ivory, bone, wood, or celluloid. Also shoe- stone.
shoe-strap (shS'strap), n. A strap usually pass-
ing over the instep and fastened with a buckle
or button, to secure the shoe on the foot.
shoe-stretcher (sh6'strech'''er), n. A last made
with a movable piece which can be raised or
lowered with a screw, to distend the leather of
the shoe in any part.
horn.
Sub. But will he send his andirons'^
Face. His jack too,
And 's iron shoeing-horn.
B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii. 1.
2. Figuratively, anything by which a transac-
tion is facilitated.
By little and little, by that shoeing-horn of idleness,
and voluntary solitariness, melancholy, this feral flend is shoe-String (sho'string), n. A string used to
•J™*" ""• ^'"■"'»' -^""t- <" *»•='■■ P- 248. draw the sides of a shoe together, so as to hold
Hence — (a) A dangler about young women, encouraged
merely to draw on other atlmirers.
Most of our fine young ladies readily fall in with the
direction of the graver sort, to retain in their service . . .
as great a number as they can of supernumerary and in-
significant fellows, which they use like whifflers, and com-
monly call shoeing-horns. ' Addison, Spectator, No. 536.
(6t) An article of food acting as a whet, especially in-
tended to induce drinking of ale or the like.
A slip of bacon . . .
Shall serve as a shoeing-horn to draw on two pots of ale.
Bp. Still, Gammer Gurton's Needle, i. 1.
Haue some shooing home to pul on your wine, as a rasher
of the coles, or a redde heiTing.
Nashe, Pierce I'enilesse, p. 54.
hair and eyebrows, and in Java for blacking shoes (whence Snoe-jaCK (sho jak), n. An adjustable holder*
the name). Also shoe-JUnaer and Chinese rose.
shoeblacker(sh6'blak"er), n. [(..shoe^
+ liliii-kir.] iisime asshoeblack. [Eare.]
shoe-blacking (sho'blak''''ing), «.
Blacking for boots and shoes.
shoe-block (shS'blok), n. Naut, a
block with two sheaves, whose axes
are at right angles to each other,
used for the buntlines of the courses.
shoe-bolt (sho'bdlt), n. A bolt with
a countersunk head, used for sleigh-
runners. E. H. Knight.
shoeboy (shS'boi), n. A boy who
cleans shoes.
for a last while a shoe is being fitted upon it.
E. H. Knight.
shoe-key (sho'ke), n. In shoemaking, a hook
used to withdraw the last from a boot or shoe.
E. If. Knight.
shoe-knife (sho'nif), «. A knife with a thin shoe-valve (sho'valv), n. A valve in the foot
it firmly upon the foot.
Shoe-strings had gone out, and buckles were in fashion ;
but they had not assumed the proportions they did in af-
ter years.
J. Ashton, Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne, I. 154.
shoe-thread (sho'thred), n. [Early mod. E.
shoothred; < .v/ioci -I- thread.] Shoemakers'
thread.
shoe-tie (sho'ti), «. A ribbon or silk braid for
fastening the two sides of a shoe together, usu-
ally more ornamental than a shoe-string, and
formerly very elaborate: hence used, humor-
ously, as a name for a traveler.
Shoe-ties were introduced into England from France, and
Shoe-tye, Shoo-tie, etc., became a characteristic name for a
traveler. Nares.
Master Forthlight the filter, and brave Master Shooty
the great traveller. Shak., M. for M., iv. 3. 18.
They will help you to shoe-ties and devices.
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, iv. 1.
blade fixed by a tang in a wooden handle, used
by shoemakers for cutting and paring leather.
shoe-lace (sho'las), n. A shoe-string.
shoe-latchet (sho'lach-'et), «. [Early mod. E.
sliiKi-latchet ; ishoe^ + latchet.] A thong, strap,
or lace for holding a shoe on tlie foot; also, in
Scrip., a strap used to fasten a sandal to the
foot. Compare slioe-tie.
of a pump-stock, or in the bottom of a reservoir.
E. H. Knight.
shoe-'WOrker (sh6'w^r''''ker), «. A worker in a
shoe-factory ; one who has to do with the mak-
ing of shoes in any capacity.
The shoeworkers' strike and lock-out.
Philadelphia Ledger, Nov. 23, 1888.
shoft. An obsolete strong preterit of shove.
shofar
' shofar, «. See sliophar.
shofet, A Middle English preterit of share.
shog' (shog), v.; pret. and pp. shogged, ppr.
shoyijing. [< ME. schoggen, a var. of shocken,
shock (perhaps influenced by W. ysgogi, wag,
shake): see »/iocil, and cf. joi;.] I. trans. To
shake ; agitate.
And the boot Id the myddn of the see was schoggid with
walvte. Wydif, Mat. liv. 24.
H. intrans. To shake; jog; hence, with o^or
on, to move off or move on ; be gone.
Shall we ihog /the king will be gone from Southampton.
Shttk., Hen. V., it 3. 47.
N*7, yon mnBtqalt my house ; shog on.
Matsinger, Parliament of love, iv. 5,
Laughter, pucker our cheekes, make shoulders ghog
With chucking lightnesse !
Martton, What you WIU, v. 1.
shog' (shog), n. [< sfto^l, r.] A jog; a shock.
Another's diving bow he did adore,
Which with :i shog casta all the hair before.
Drydeti, Epil. to Etheredge's Man of Mode, 1, 28.
"Lads," he said, "we have had a thog, we have had a
tumble; wherefore, then, deny it?"
R. L. Stevenmn, Black Arrow, U. 1.
shog-t (shog), n. An obsolete variant of shocks.
shogging (shog'ing). H. [Verbal n. of sliog^, r.]
A concussion ; shaking; jogging.
One of these two combs . . . [in machine lace-making]
has an occasional lateral movement called shogging, equal
to the interval of one tooth or bolt. Ure, Diet., IIL 31.
shoggle (shog'l), V. t. ; pret. and pp. shogghd,
ppr. ifhogglhig. [Also (Sc.) schoggle, shogle ;
freq.of «/(0.</l.] To shake; joggle. [Provincial.]
shogtUl (sho'gon'), H. [Jap.(= Chin. tsiang kiun,
handle (orlead) the army ), < sho (=Chin. tMang),
take, hold, have charge of, or lead in fight, +
gun (= Chin. Wmh, kiin), array.] General: the
title of the commander-in-chief or captain-gen-
eral of the Japanese armv during the continu-
ance of the feudal system in that country. More
fully called tai thogun (' gresit general'), or ti-i-tai-sho-
TtnL'barbarian-subduinR-great-generar— the earlier wars
of the Japanese(when this form of the title was flrst used)
having been waged against the ' barbarians ' or atioriginal
inhabitants of the country. The offlce was made tieredl-
taty in the Minamoto family in 1192, when the title was
bestowed on a famous warrior and hero named Yoritomo.
and continued in that family or some branch of it until
' 1S68, when it was alK>ltBhed, and the feudal system virtu-
ally came to an end. From the first a large share of the
governing power naturally devolved on the shogun as the
chief vassal of the mikado. Thia power was gradually
extended by the encroachments of sacoessive shogun^
especially of lyeyasn, founder In 1(103 of the Tokugawa
line, and in course of time the sboguns became the virtual
rulers of the country — always, however, acknowledging
the supremacy of the mikado, and profeaaing to act in his
name. This state of things has given rise to the common
but erroneous opinion and assertion that Japan had two
emperors— "a spiritual emperor"(the mikado), living In
Kioto, and " a temporal emieror " (the shogun), who held
court in Yedo (now called 'Tokio). In the troubles which
arose subsequent to 18&8 In connection with the ratifica-
tion and enforcement of the treaties which the shogunate
had made with foreign natir>ns establlBhing trade rela-
tions, etc., many of the dalnilus, tired of the domination
of the shogun and disapproving of the treaties, sided with
the emperor ; this led in 18«7 to the resignation of the sho-
gun of the time, and In the following year tlie offlce was
al>ollshe<l, the reigning mikado undertaking to govern the
ciiuritry in person. See daifoio and tycoon.
ghogonal (shd'g6n-al), a. [< shogun + -al]
Pertaining to a shogun or the sboguns, or to the
period when they flourished,
Shogtmate (sho'gBn-at). 11. [< gkoffun + -ate^.]
The office, power, or'nile of a shogun ; the gov-
ernment of a shogun.
The succession to the ihAgunate was Tested In the head
branch of the Tokugawa clan. Enene. Brit., XIII. 683.
shola (sho'lK), N. [< Tamil sholai.'] In south-
em India, a thicket or jungle.
shold't, ". an<l (i. An obsolete form of »hoat^.
shold-'t, sholdet. obsolete preterite of thaU.
sholdret, »■ A Middle Englisn form of 8ho%Mer.
Hiilliwell.
shole't, n., a., and v. An obsolete form of
»/lo«'l
shole'-t, ». An obsolete form of shoaP.
shole'* ( shol ), n. [Prob. a var. of solel , confused
with iihore^.] A piece of plank placed under
the sole of a shore while a snip is building, it is
used to increase the surface under the shore, so as to pre-
vent Its sinking Into soft ground.
8holt(8h61t),«. [Ct.Khote^.] 1. A shaggy dog.
Bealde* these also we haue sholU or curs dallle brought
out of Iseland, and much made of among vs bicause of
their sawclnesse and quarrelling.
Uarriton, Descrlp. of England, vll. (Hollnshed'sChron.,1.).
2. Same as sheltie.
Bhomef, n. and v. A Middle English form of
sh/tmt .
shonde'f, n. and «. See nhand.
shonde'-t, ". Same as ahande.
6583
shone (shon, sometimes shon). Preterit and
past participle of shine^.
shongablet, «. See shoongavd.
shooH, ». An obsolete spelling of .5Aoei.
shoo- (shb), interj. [Formerly also shooe, shue,
shu, shee, shough, < late ME. schowe, ssou, etc.;
ef. F. choii. It. scioia, Gr. aov, aov, shoo! a vocal-
ized form of 'sh or 'ss, a sibilation used to attract
attention. Not connected with G. scheucheii,
scare off, etc. (see shi/i, shetvel).'] Begonel off!
away! used to scare away fowls and other ani-
mals.
Scioare, to cry shooe, shooe, as women do to their hens.
Florio, ed. 1611.
Shough, shough ! up to your coop, pea-hen.
Fletcher and Rowley, Maid in the Mill, v. 1.
shoo2 (sh5), r. [<shoo^,iiit€)j.'} I. intrans. To
cryor call out " Shoo," as in driving away fowls.
n. trans. To scare or drive away (fowls or
othef creatures) by calling out "Shoo."
He gave her an ivory wand, and charged her, on her life,
to tell him what she would do with it, and she sobbed out
she would »A«o her mother's hens to roost with it.
The Century, XXXVII. 788.
Shood (shod), n. [Also shade, • prob. a dial. var.
ot shode^, orig. ' separatioji ' : seeshode'^,shode^.
Cf . also »Aoic3.] 1. Chaff of oats, etc. [Scotch.]
— 2. The husks of rice and other refuse of rice-
mills, largely used to adulterate linseed-cake.
Simmonds. — 3. Broken pieces of floating ice.
Jamieson. [Scotch.]
shooft. An obsolete strong preterit of shove.
shook! (shuk). Preterit of shake.
Shook^ (shtik), ». [Cf. sAoc*2.] A set of staves
and headings sufficient for one hogshead, bar-
rel, or the like, prepared for use and boimd
up in a compact form for convenience of trans-
port. Boards for boxes prepared or fitted for use and
packed In the same way bear the same name.
All Empty Barrels must have six hoops, and be deliv-
ered in form, skooks or staves not being a good delivery.
Sew York Produce Exchange Report, 1888-9, p. 280.
shook^ (sliik), r. t. [< shook'i, «.; a var. of
«AocA-2.] To pack in snooks.
shook^ (shak), n. Same as shock^, 1.
shooP, n. and r. A dialectal (English and
Scotch) variant of shorel^.
shool^ (shSI), V. I. [Origin obscure.] To saun-
terabout; loiter idly; also, to beg. [Prov.Enp.]
They went all bands to ihooKng and begging, and, be-
cause I would not take a spell at the same duty, refused
to give me the least assistance.
SnuOeU, Roderick Random, xll. (Daviei.)
shooldarry (shel-dar'i), n. ; p\.shooldarries{-i2).
[ A1.10 xhixildarree; < Hind, chholddri. ] In India,
a small tent with a steep roof and low sides.
shoon (sliiin), n. An archaic plural of »Aoel.
shoongavelt, n. [ME. shongable; < shoon +
gavel'.] A tax upon shoes.
Euerych sowtere that maketh shon of newe rothes le-
ther shai bote, at that teste of Estre, twey pans, in name
of shongaNe. ISttgtish Gilds (E. E: T. S.), p. 359.
Shoopt. A Middle English preterit of shape.
Shooi (shot), r. ; pret. and pp. shot, ppr. shoot-
ing (the participle sAof ten is obsolete). [< ME.
shoten, scholen, also sheten, sheeten, scheten,
sseten (pret. schot, shet, sehet, sset, skette, schette,
pi. shoten, sehoten, pp. shoten, scholen, schuten),
< AS. sccdtan (pret. scedt, pp. scoten) (the E.
form shoot, < AS. scedtan, being parallel with
choose, < AS. eedsan, both these verbs having
ME. forms with e) (ME. also in weak form
shoten, sehoten, schoiien (pret. schotte), < AS.
scotian, shoot, dart, rush) ; = OS. scentan, skeo-
tan = OFries. skiata, srhiata = D. schieten =
ML>(i. scheten, LG. scheten = OHG. scioian,
MHG. schiezen, 6. schiessen = leel. skjota = Sw.
skjuta = Dan. skyde = Goth, 'skiutan (not re-
corded), shoot, i. e. orig. dart forth, rush or
move with suddenness and rapidity; perhaps
akin to Skt. -^ skand, jump, jump upward, as-
cend, L. scandere, climb: see scan. From the
verb shoot in its early form, or from its cog-
nates, are ult. E. sheei^, shot^, shot^, shut, shut-
tlcl, shuttU^, seoti, scud, scuttled, scuttle^, skit^,
skittish, skittle, etc.] I. intrans. 1. To dart
forth; rush or move along rapidly ; dart along.
Certain stars shot madly from their spheres,
To bear the lea-mald's music.
Shak., M. N. D., 11. 1. 168.
As the rapid of life
Shoots to the fall. Tennyson, A Dedication.
2. To be emitted, as light, in darting rays or
flashes: as, the aurora shot up to the zenith.
There shot a streaming lamp along the sky.
Dryden, i£n«ld, II. 042.
There stutt no glance from Ellen's eye
To give her steadfast speech the lie.
Seott, L. of the U, iv. 18.
shoot
Between the logs
Sharp quivering tongues of flame shot out.
M. Arnold, Balder Dead.
3. To dart along, as pain through the nerves;
hence, to be affected with sharp darting pains.
Stiff with clotted blood, and pierc'd with pain,
That thrills my ann, and shoots thro' ev'ry vein.
Pope, Iliad, xvi. 638.
When youthful love, waim-blushing, strong.
Keen-shivering, shot thy nerves along.
Burns, The Vision, ii.
These preachers make
His head to shoot and ache. O. Herbert, Misery.
And when too short the modish Shoes are worn.
You'll judge the Seasons by your shootii\g Corn.
Qay, Trivia, i. 40.
4. To come forth, as a plant; put forth buds
or shoots ; sprout ; germinate.
Behold the flg tree, and all the trees ; when they now
shoot forth, ye see . . . that summer is now nigh at hand.
Luke xxi. 30.
Onions, as they hang, will shoot forth. Bacon.
Delightful task ! to rear the tender Thought,
To teach the young Idea how to shoot.
Thomson, Spring, 1. 1161.
6. To increase rapidly in growth ; grow quickly
taller or larger : often with «p.
I am none of those that, when they shoot to ripeness,
Do what they can to break the boughs they grew on.
Fletcher, Wlldgoose Chase, i. 3.
The young lord was shooting vp to be like his gallant
father. Thackeray, Henry Esmond, xi.
The young blades of the rice shoot up above the water,
delicately green and tender.
J. A. Symonds, Italy and Greece, p. 260.
6. To send out spicula ; condense into spicula
or shoots, as in crystallization.
If the menstruum be overcharged, . . . the metals will
shoot into certain crystals.
Bacon, Physiological Remains, Minerals.
7. To lie as it pushed out; project; jut; stretch.
Those promontories that shoot out from the Continents
on each side the Sea. Dampier, Voyages, II. iii. 7.
Its (Tyrol'sJ dominions shoot out into several branches
that lie among the breaks and hollows of the mountains.
Addison, Remarks on Italy (Works, ed. Bohn, I. .'■>38).
8. To perform the act of discharging a missile,
as from an engine, a bow, or a gun ; fire.
For thel schote well with Bowes.
MandenUe, Travels, p. 154.
Pipen he coude, and fisshe and nettes licete.
And tume coppes, and wcl wrastle and sheete.
Chaucer, Reeve s Tale, 1. 8.
Who's there! . . . speak quickly, or I shoot.
Shak., K. John, v. 0. 2.
9. Specifically, to follow or practise the sport
of killing birds or other game, large or small,
with a gun; hunt — Close-shooting flrearm. See
dosei, adv.—lo thoot ahead, to move swiftly forward
or In frotit ; outstrip competitors in running, sailing,
swlmmiiiK, or the like. To shoot at rovers. See rover.
— To shoot flying, to shoot liinis on the wing.
From the days when men learned to shoot flying until
some forty years ago, dogs were generally if not Invaria-
bly used to point out where the covey . . . was lodged.
Encye. Brit., XVIII. 332.
To shoot over. In sporting language ; (a) To go out
shooting with (a dog or dogs): said of sportsmen.
This holiday he was about to spend in shooting over his
two handsome young setters, presumably now highly ac-
complished. The Century, XXXV. «7I.
(6) To hunt upon: as, to shoot over a moor.— To shoot
over the pitcher, to brag about one's shooting. [Slang,
Australia.]
n. trans. 1. To send out or forth with a sud-
den or violent motion ; discharge, propel, ex-
pel, or empty with rapidity or violence ; espe-
cially, to turn out or dump, as the contents of a
cart by tilting it.
Percevelle sayde hafe It he wolde,
And schott owtt alle the golde ;
RIghte there appone the fnire molde
The ryng owte glade. Sir Perceval, 1. 2114.
Now is he gone ; we had no other means
To shoot him hence but this.
B. Jongon, Vol pone, i. 1.
When sharp Winter shoots her sleet and hardened hail.
Drayton, Polyolbion, ii. 6».
The law requires him to refrain from shooting this soil
In his own yard, and it is sluit on the nearest fai'm to
which he has access.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II. 510.
2. To emit, as a ray; dart..
And Glory shoots new Beams from Western Skies.
Prior, Carmen Seculare (1700), st 6.
The sun obliquely shoots his burning ray.
Pope, R. of the L., iii. 20.
3. To drive, cast, or throw, as a shuttle in
weaving.
An honest weaver, and u good a workman as e'er shot
shuttle. Beau, and Ft., Coxcomb, v. 1.
Other nations in weaving shoot the woof above, the
Egyptiana beneath. A. Bartow, Weaving, p. 67.
shoot
4. To push or thrust sharply in any direction ;
dart forth ; protrude.
All they that see me laugh me to scorn ; they thoot out
the lip, they shake the head. Fs. xxii. 7.
Where Hibernia shoots
Her wondrous causeway far into the main.
Coicper, To the Immortal Memory of the Halibut.
Safe bolta are shot not by the Isey, as in an ordinary
lock, but by the door handle. Ettcyc Brit, XXI. 144.
5. To put forth or extend in any direction by
growth or by causing growth: as, a tree shoots
its branches over the wall: often with uj) or
out.
The high Palme trees ...
Out of the lowly vallies did arise,
And high shoote up their heads into the skyes.
Spenser, Virgil's Gnat, 1. 192.
When it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater
than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches.
JIark iv. 32.
All the verdant grass
The spring shot up stands yet unbruisSd here
Of any foot Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess, ii. 2.
6. To let fly, or cause to be propelled, as an
arrow by releasing the bowstring, or a bullet or
ball by igniting the charge.
Than he shetie a-nothir bolte, and slowgh a malarde.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), it 167.
You are the better at proverbs, by how much "A fool's
bolt is soon shot." Shak., Hen. V., iii. 7. 132.
.And such is the end of all which fight against Ood and
their Soueraigne ; their arrows, which they shoote against
the clouds, fall downe vpon themselues.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 157.
7. To discharge (a missile weapon), as a bow
by releasing its string, or a gun by igniting its
charge : often with off.
We shot off a piece and lowered our topsails, and then
she brailed her sails and stayed for us.
Winthrop, Hist New England, I. 26.
But man . . . should make examples
Which, like a warning-piece, must be shot off.
To fright the rest from crimes.
Dryden, Spanish Friar, v. 2.
8. To strike with anything shot ; hit, wound, or
kill with a missile discharged from a weapon;
put to death or execute by shooting.
Apollo, with Jupiter's connivance, shot them all dead
with his arrows. Bacon, Political Fables, vi.
Oh ! Who would fight and march and countermarch.
Be shot for sixpence in a battle-field ?
Tennyson, Audley Court.
9. To pass rapidly through, under, or over : as,
to shoot a rapid or a bridge.
She sinks beneath the ground
With furious haste, and shoots the Stygian sound
To rouse Alecto. Dryden, vEneid, vii. 460.
10. In mininff, to blast.
They [explosives) are used in the petroleum industry to
shoot the wells, so as to remove the parafflne which pre-
vents the flow of oil. Scribner's Mao., HI- S?''-
11. To set or place, as a net; run out into
position, as a seine from the boat; pay out;
lay out : as, the lines were shot across the tide.
[Drift-nets] . . . are cast out or shot.
Encyc. Brit., IX 261.
12. To hunt over ; kill game in or on. [Col-
loq.]
We shall soon be able to sfwot the big coverts in the
hollow. Daily News (London), Oct 6, 1881. (Encyc. Diet)
13. In(?f/?7?.,toplane straight, or fit by planing.
Two pieces of wood that are shot — that is, planed or
pared with a paring-chisel. Moxon.
14. To variegate, as by spi-inkling or inter-
mingling different colors ; give a changing
color to; color in spots, patches, or threads;
streak; especially, in tceaving, to variegate or
render changeable in color by the intermixture
of a warp and weft of different colors : chiefly
in the past participle. See shot^^p. a.
Her (Queen Elizabeth's] gown was white silk, . . . and
over it a mantle of bluish silk ithot with silver threads.
P. HenUner (1602), quoted in Draper's Diet,, p. 300.
Great elms o*erhead
Dark shadows wove on their aerial looms.
Shot through with golden thread.
Longfellow, Hawthorne.
Her Majesty . . . wore a pink satin robe, shot with sil-
ver. First Year of a Silken Reifjn, p. 60.
As soon as the great black velvet pall outside my win-
dow was shot with gray, I got up.
Dickens, Great Expectations, ii.
Ill be shot, a mild euphemistic imprecation. [Vulgar.]
ru be shot if It ain't very curious ; how well I knew that
pictare ! Dickens, Bleak House, vii.
To be shot of, to get quit of ; be released from. See to be
shut of, under shut. |(.'olloq.l
Are you not glad to fee shot of h!ra? Scott.
To shoot off or out, to remove or separate from its place
or environment by shooting : as, to shoot off the plume
from a helmet ; an arm was shot offhy a cannon-ball, j
i
5584
And Philip the terse King foule was maimed ;
A schaft with a scharp hed sJiet oute his yie.
Alisaunder 0/ Macedoine (E. E. T. S.), L 277.
To Shoot spawn, to spawn, as certain ftsh. For example,
the male and female shad, in spawning, swim about in
circles, pi'obably foUowinK the eddies of tlie stream,
sonjetinies with the dorsal fins out of the water; when
suddenly the whole shoal, as if seized by a common im-
pulse, dart forward and discharge clouds of milt and spawn
into the water.— To slioot the compass (naut.), to go
wide of the mark.— To Shoot the pit. See piti.—'io
shoot the sun, to take the sun's altitude. [Nautical
slang.] — To Shoot to spoil, to dump (excavated mate-
rial) on an inclined surface in sucli a manner that it will
shoot or roll down on the declivity.
The question is simply this — whether it is easier to
chip away 50,000 yards of lock, and shoot it to spoil (to
borrow a railway term) down a hill-side, or to quany
50,000 cubic yards of stone, remove it, probably a mile at
least, to the place where the temple is to be built, and
then to raise and set it.
J. Fergvjsson, Hist. Indian Arch., p. 338.
shoot (shot), 11. [< ME. shote, schotc, a shooting,
throwing, shoot; from the verb. Cf. shot'^,
which is the older form of the noun from this
verb. In senses 8-13 shoot is in part confused
with chute (also spelled shute) of like mean-
ing and pronunciation, but of diff. origin : see
chute.'] 1. The act of shooting ; the discharge,
as of a missile weapon ; a shot.
End thy ill aim before thy shoot be ended.
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 579.
When a man shooteth, the might of his «Aoo(lieth on the
foremost finger and on the ringman.
Ascham, Tojcophilus (ed. 1864), p. 101.
He straight commaunded the gunner of the bulwarke
next vnto vs to shoote three shootes without ball.
Hakluyt's Voyayes, II. 186.
2. A match at shooting ; also, a shooting-party.
And therefore this marcke that we must shoot at, set
vp wel in our sight, we shal now meat for y^ shoot, and
consider how neare toward or how farre of your arrowes
are from the prick.
Sir T. More, Cumfort against Tribulation (1573), fol. 33.
At the great shoots which took place periodically on his
estate he was wont to be present with a walking-stick in
his hand. W. E. Norris, Major and Minor, xxv.
3. A young branch which shoots out from the
main stock; hence, an annual growth, as the
annual layer of growth on the shell of an oyster.
The bourderis about abasshet with leuys.
With shotes of shire wode shene to beholde.
Destruction 0/ Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 330.
Overflowing blooms, and earliest sltoots
Of orient green, giving safe pledge of fruits.
Tennyson, Ode to Memory.
4t. A sprouting horn or antler.
Thou want'st a rough pash [head] and the shoots that I have
To be full like me. ■ Shak., W. T., i. 2. 128.
5t. Range; reach; shooting distance; shot.
Compare ear-shot, and shot^, n., 5.
Hence, and take the wings
Of thy black Infamy, to carry thee
Beyond the shoot of looks, or sound of curses.
Beau, and Fl., Honest Man's Fortune, iv. 2.
Every night vpon the foure quarters of his house are
foure Sentinels, each from otlier a slight shoot.
Capt. John Smith, Works, 1. 142.
6. The thrust of an arch. — 7. One movement
of the shuttle between the threads of the warp,
toward the right or left; also, the thread put into
its place in a web by this movement ; hence,
a thread or strand of the weft of any textile. —
8. In mining : (a) An accumulation or mass of
ore in a vein, of considerable extent and having
some regularity of form ; a chimney. See chim-
ney, 4 (h). In some mines the shoots or chimneys of ore
have, although narrow, a remarkable persistency in depth
and paiallelism with each other, (ft) Any passage-
way or excavation in a mine down which ore,
coal, or whatever is mined is shot or allowed
to fall by gravity : a term used chiefly in coal-
mines, and sometimes spelled chnte and shutc.
It is synonymous with mill and pass in metal-
mines. — 9. A sloping trough, or a long narrow
box vertically arranged, for conveying articles
to a receptacle below, or for discharging ballast,
ashes, etc., overboard from a ship; also, an in-
clined waterway for floating logs: as, a shoot
for grain, for coal, for mail-matter, for soiled
clothes, etc. ; also, a passageway on the side of
a steep hill down which wood, coal, etc., are
thrown or slid.— 10. A place for shooting rub-
bish into.
Two of the principal shoots by the river side were at
Bell-wharf, Shadwell, and off Wappingstreet.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II. 287.
11. A river-fall or rapid, especially one over
which timber is floated or through which boats
or canoes can shoot.
A single shoot carried a considerable stream over the
face of a black rock, which contrasted strongly in colour
with the white foam of the cascade.
Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, 1.
shooting
I have hunted every wet rock and shute from Rillage
Point to the near side of Hillsborough.
Kinosley, 184U (Life, I. 161). {Davies.)
12. An artificial contraction of the channel of
a stream in order to increase the depth of the
water. [U.S.] — 13. A part of a dam perma-
nently open or opened at pleasure for any pur-
pose, as to relieve the pressure at a time of higli
water or to permit the downward passage of tim-
ber or boats.
At the tails of mills and arches small.
Where as the shoot is swift and not too clear.
J. Dennys (Arber's £ng. Garner, I. 171).
14. The game of shovelboard. Halliicell. [Prov.
Eng.] — 15. A crick in the neck. Halliicell.
[Prov. Eng.] — 16. A narrow, steep lane. Bal-
liwell. [Isle of Wight.]
shootable (sh6'ta-bl), a. [< shoot -I- -ahle.'] 1.
That can or may be shot.
I rode everything rideable, shot everything shootable.
M. W. Savage, Reuben Medlicott, iii. 3. (Davies.)
2. That can or may be shot over. [CoUoq.]
If the large coverts are not easily shootable.
Daily News (London), Oct. 6, 1881. (Encyc. Diet.)
shoot-anchort, ». [Early mod. E. shoteancre:
< .'ihoot -I- «»c/(orl.] An obsolete form of sheet-
anchor.
This wise reason is their shoteancre and all their hold.
Tyndale, Works, p. 264.
shoot-board (shot'bord), n. Same as shooting-
board. Encyc. Vict.
shooted (sho'ted), n. [< «/joo< -(- -cd2.] Planed
or pared, as witli a chisel : said of boards fitted
together. Also shot.
Boards without shooted edges (undressed).
II. S. Cons. Hep., No. Iv. (1886X p. 665.
shooter (sho'ter), n. [< ME. shoter, sheter, ssc-
tar, ssietere, < AS. sceotere, a shooter, < sccdtan,
shoot: see «/iOo(l.] 1. One who shoots: most
commonly used in composition, as in the tei-m
shari)-shooter.
The ssetares donward al uor no^t vaste slowe to grounde.
So that Harald thoru the neye (eye] yasotte was dethe's
wounde. Jiob. of Gloucester, 1. 159,
See then the quiver broken and decay'd.
In which are kept our arrows I Rusting there, . . .
They shame their shooters with a random flight.
Cowper, Task, ii. 807.
(Formerly used attributively, in the sense of 'useful for'
shooting, as for bows in archery.'
The shetere ew [yew], the asp for shaftes pleyne.
Chaucer, Parliament of Fowls, L 180.
The shooter ewe (yew], the broad-leav'd sycamore.
Fairfax.]
2. An implement for shooting; a pistol or gun :
usually compounded with some descriptive
word, forming a compound term denoting the
kind of weapon : s\,s, a, pca-shootcr ; Si six-shooter
(a revolver). — 3. A shooting-star. [Rare.]
Methought a star did shoot into my lap; . . .
But I have also stars, and shooters too.
G. Herbert, Artillery.
4. The guard of a coach.
He had a word for the ostler about " that gray mare,"
a nod for the " shooter '' or guard, and a bow for the drags-
man. Thackeray, Shabby Genteel Story, i.
shooter-sun (sho'ter-sun), n. [Prob. an accom.
E. form of some E. Ind. name.] An Indian sea-
serpent of the genus Hydrophis, H. obseura, of
tlie waters off Madras.
shooting (sho'fiug), n. [< ME. shetynge, < AS.
sccotung, verbal n. of sceotan, shoot: see ■<!hoot,
v.] 1. The act of one who shoots. («) The act
or practice of discharging missile weapons.
Thei satte and Iaped,and pi eyed with hym alleto-geder ;
and of the shetynge that thei hadde seyn, and of the wordes
that he hadde seide to the kynge.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 170.
Our king hath provided a shooting match.
Robin Hoods Progress to Nottingham (Child's Ballads,
(V. 291).
lb) Especially, at the present day, the killing of game with
firearms ; gunning.
Some love a concert, or a race ;
And others shooting, and the chase.
Cotvper, Love of the World Reproved.
2. A right, purchased or conf eiTed, to kill game
with firearms, especially within certain limits.
[Great Britain.]
As long as he lived, the shooting should be Mr. Palmer's,
to use or to let, and should extend over the whole of the
estate. George MacDonaZd, What's Mine's Mine, xli.
3. A district or defined tract of ground over
which game is shot. [Great Britain.] — 4. A
quick dart ; a sudden and swift motion.
()uick shootings, like the deadly zigzag of forked light-
ning.
Daily Telegraph (London), Sept. l.^, isa'i. (Enajc. Diet.)
5. A quick, glancing pain, often following the
track of a nerve.
shooting
I fancy we shall have some rain, by the shooting of my
coma. Goldsviith, Vicar, xv.
6. In carp., the operation of planing the edge
of a board straight. =S3m. 1 (!>)• Hunting, etc. See
(runnittg.
shooting-board (sho'ting-bord), n. A board or
planed metiiUic slab with a device for holding
the object fixed while its edge is squared or re-
duced by a side-plane. It is used by carpenters and
joiners, and also by stereotypers in trimming the edges of
stereotj-pe plates. Also ghoot-board.
shooting-box (shii'ting-boks), H. A small house
or lodge for the accommodation of a sportsman
or sportsmen during the shooting-season.
shooting-coat (sh6'ting-k6t),M. An butercoat
commonly used by sportsmen, generally made
of corduroy, dogskin, or duck, and containing
one or more large inside pockets for holding
game. Also called shonlhKj-jaeket.
shooting-gallery (8ho'ting-gal'<T-i), «. Along
room or gallery, having a target of some kind,
and arranged for practice with firearms.
shooting-iron (sho'tlng-i'em), «. A firearm,
especially a revolver. [Slang, U. S.]
Timothy hastily vaulteil over the fence, drew his thool-
ing-iron from his boot-leg, and, cocking it with a metallic
click, sharp and percmplory in the keen wintry air, . . .
Uarpers Mag., LXXVa. 78.
shooting-jacket (shS'tin^-jak'et), n. A short
and plain form of shooting-coat; in general,
same as shooting-coat.
Ainslie'arriyed in barracks . . . without uniforms, and
without furniture, ao he learned a good deal of his drill
in a nhtKitiiyj-jacket. Whgte M'lviUe, White Hose, I. xill.
shooting-needle (sho'ting-ne'dl), ». A blast-
in}.'-iiei(lli' ; a metallic rod used in the tamping
of a drill-hole, with the object of leaving a cav-
ity through which the charge may be fired. It
is "kept in the hole while the tamping is being done, and
withdrawn after thatoperation iscompleted. The general
use of the safety-fuse has almost entirely done away with
the old and m<ire or leM dangerous n:ethod in which the
shooting-needle or pricker was employed. See needle, 3
(ft). Also called nail.
shooting-plane (sho'ting-plan), h. In carp., a
light siiie-jilane for scjuaring or beveling the
edges of stuff. It is used with a shooting-board.
K. //. Kniijhl.
shooting-range (shS'ting-ranj), n. A place used
for practising shooting, especially rifle-shoot-
ing, where various ranges or shooting distances
are measured off between the respective firing-
points and the targets.
shooting-star (sho'ting-stiir'), "• !• Same as
falliiKj-Ktar. See star. — 2. The American cow-
slip, hodecatheon Meailia : so called from the
bright nodiling flowers, which, from the lobes
of the corolla being reflexed, present an ap-
pearance of rapid motion.
shooting-stick (shS'ting-stik), m. Id printing,
ii i)iece of hard wood or _
metal, about ten inches lC>^> Hf
long, which is struck by siioottag-rtck.
a mallet to tighten or loosen the quoins in a
chase.
Small wedges, called quoins, are inserted and driven for-
ward by a mallet and a thocUng-itiek. so that they grad-
ually exert increasing preaaore upon the type.
Bneyc. Brit., XXni. 700.
shootressf (shoVres), «. [< shooter + -ess.'] A
woman who shoots; a female archer.
For that proud thualnm aoomed weaker game.
Fairfax, tr. of Taiao'i Godfrey of Bonlogtie, it 41.
Shooty (sh6'ti), a. [< shoot + -v^.] Of equal
growt h or size ; coraing up regularly in the rows,
as potatoes. [Prov. Eng.]
shopl ( shop), «. [< ME. shoppc, schoppe, ssoppe,
shape (> ML. shni>pa), < AS. sceoppa. a stall or
booth (used to translate LL. gazophylaciiim. a
treasury), = MD. schop = LG. schupve, schoppe,
schup. a shed, = OHG. scopf, seof, JlIIO. schopf
(> OF. eschopfte, eschope, F. ^-choppe), a booth,
G. dial, schopf, a building without walls, a ves-
tibule; cf. G. schoppcn, schuppen (< MD. LO.),
a ghed, covert, cart-house. Hence nit. skippen,
q. v.] It. A booth or stall where wares were
usually both made and displayed for sale.
Ac marchauns metten with hym and made hrm abyde.
And shutten byni in here thoppei to shewen here ware.
Pien Plowman (C"), lit 22S.
A prentys whilom dwelled in cure cftee.
And of a craft of vitaiUierfl was hee; . . .
He loTed bet the taveme than the uwppe.
Chaucer, Cook's Tale, I. 12.
A tnmptnoas Hall, where God (on euery side)
His wealthie Shop of wonders opens wide.
Sylxxtter, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 1.
Hence — 2. X building, or a room or suite of
rooms, appropriated to the selling of wares at
retail.
351
5585
Mr. Hollar went with him ... to take viewes, land-
scapes, buildings, Ac, remarqueable in their journey, w<'i'
wee see now at yf print shopper.
Aubrey, Lives, Winceslaus Hollar.
Miss, the mercer's plague, from shop to shop
"W'and'ring, and litt'ring with unfolded silks
The polish'd counter, and approving none.
Coteper, Task, vi. 279.
[In the rural districts and smaller towns of the United
States the term store takes almost exclusively the place of
the British shop, but the latter word is in occasional and
increasing use in this sense in large cities.
I was amused by observing over one of the stores, as
the shops are called, a great, staring, well-wigged figure
^
shopmate
the thundering old jail so silent that I could almost have
beat my brains out. Dickens, Oliver Twist, xvi.
shop'-^t. An obsolete preterit of shape.
shop-bell (shop'bel), «. A small bell so hung
as to give notice automatically of the opening
of a shop-door.
But, at this instant, the shop.beU, right over her head,
tinkled as if it were bewitched.
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, iii.
shop-bill (shop'bil), n. An advertisement of a
shopkeeper's business, or a list of his goods,
printed for distribution.
paintedon the sign, under which was written Lord Eldon. shop-board (shop'bord), TO. A broad board or
Capt. B. Hall, Travels in J^orth America, I. 8.)
3. A room or building in which the making,
preparing, or repairing of any article is car-
ried on, or in which any industry is pursued :
as, a machine-sAoj) ; a repair-s/iop ; a barber's
shop : a carpenter's shop.
And as for yron and laten to be so drawen in length, ye
shall se it done in xx shoppis almost in one strete.
Sir T. More, Works, p. 127.
Like to a censer in a barber's shop.
Shak., T. of the S., iv. S. 91.
bench on which work (especially tailors' work)
is done.
No Error near his [a tailor's) Shop-board lurk'd ;
He knew the Folks for whom he work'd.
Prior, Alma, i.
shop-book (shop'buk), TO. A book in which a
tradesman keeps his accounts.
I will study the learned languages, and keep my shop-
book in Latin. Beau, and Fl., Woman-Hater, ii. 2.
shop-boy (shop'boi), TO. A boy employed in a
shop.
Hence, figuratively — 4t. Theplace where any- ghopet. An obsolete preterit and past partici-
thing is made ; the producing place or source, pie of shape.
Then [he] gan softly feel
Her feeble pulse, . . .
Which when he felt to move, he hoped faire ■
To call backe life to her forsaken sliop.
Spenser, F. Q., II. i. 43.
Because I [the belly] am the store-house and the shop
Of the whole body. Shak., Cot., i. 1. 1»7.
Galen would have the Liver, which Is the Shop and
Source of the Blood, and Aristotle the Heart, to be the
Shopent. *An obsolete past participle of shape.
shop-girl (shop'gSrl), n. A girl employed in a
shop.
Her personal beauty was an attraction to customers,
and he valued her aid as shop-girl.
S. Judd, Margaret, 1. 12.
shophar (sho'fiir), «. [Heb.] An ancient He-
brew musical instrument, usually made of the
curved horn of a ram. Also written shofar.
A shopkeeper.
llret framed. HoiceU, Letters, I. liL 30.
5. In glass-making, a team or set of workmen, shopholder (shop'hol'd^r), n.
See the quotation. [Rare.]
They [glass-makers] are grouped into sets or shops of Hit ys ordeyned by the M. and Wardens that at euery
three or four, who work together and share profits to- coste of ale that ys geven into the forsayde ffraternyte and
gether on a well-understotHl grade of division. General- Oyld euery shopholder shall spend ther-to j. d.
ly four constitute a shop, the most skilful workman (the Eiujlish Gilds (E. E. T. S.X p. 315.
blower) at the head, the gatherer (a young fellow) next, a-hnntpnnpr (shon'ke"T)er') H r< shoiA + kcev-
and two Niys, one handling moulds cr tols, and the other SnODKeeper (,snop Ke ptr;, v. i\siiop -r htvp-
carrylng the products to the annealing oven. '"''•J ••■• line wno Keeps a SI
annealing (
Harpers Mag., LXXI.X. 259.
6. One's own business, craft, calling, or pro-
fession; also,'talk specifically relating to this:
u.sed in a ludicrous or contemptuous sense.
Compare to talk shop, below.
Had to go to Hartley Row for an Archdeacon's Sunday-
school meeting, three houre useless (1 fear) speechifying
and shop. Kingsley, Letter, May, 185«. {Danes.)
All men, except the veriest, narrowest pedants In their
craft, avoid the language of the shop.
G. r. Marsh, Lects. on the F.iig. Lang., xl.
Chow-cliow shop. See c/i«»-rA"M'.— Fancy Shop. Sie
fancy store, under /nn«i/. — Forfeits In abarber's shop.
See forfeit. — The Other Shop, a rival institution or estan.
lishmeot of any kind. [Ludicrous. ]
"Senior Wrangler, indeeil ; that's at the other shop."
"What is the other shop, my dear child? " said the lady.
" Senior Wranglers at Camnridge, not Oxford, " said the
scholar. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xixiv.
To shut up shop, Hgnratively, to withdraw from or aban-
don any enterprise. [Collo<i.j
I'll quite give o'er, and «A«« up »Aop in cunning. „.-»., x ry i i j. 7 wv oi
Middteton, Women Beware Women, it 2. shoplifter (shop'hf'ttr), n. [< shop^ + lljter^.j
If It go on thus, the commissioners may shut up shop. One who purloins goods from a shop ; partieu-
Court and Times of Charles /., 11. 21. " '
shop for the sale of
goods; a trader who sells goods in a shop or
by retail, in distinction from a merchant, or
one who sells by wholesale ; in general, a
tradesman.
To found a great empire for the sole purpose of raising
up a people of customers may at ilrst sight appear a pro-
ject fit only for a nation of shopkeepers.
Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, IV. vii. 3.
2. An article that has been long on hand in a
shop: as, that chair is an old shopkeejyer. [Col-
loq.]
shopkeeping (shop'ke'ping), n. The business
of keei)ing a shop for the sale of goods by retail.
shopliftt (shop'lift), n. [< shopl + liftK] A
shoplifter.
This is to give notice that those who have sustained any
loss at Sturbridge Fair last, by Pick Pockets or Shop lifts.
If they please to apply themselves to John lionner in Shorts
Gardens, they may receive infoi-mation and assistance
therein. Quoted in Ashton't Social Life in Keign of
[Queen Anne, II. 23'2.
larly, one who under pretense of buying takes
occasion to steal.
Like those women they call shop-lifters, who when they
are challenged for their thefts appear to be mighty angry
and affronted. Sicift, Examiner, No. 28.
To sink the shop, to refrain from talking about one's
business, or matters pertaining to it. [C'olloq.]
There was only one thing he [Story] did not talk about,
and that was law ; as the expressive phrase goes, he sunk
^bjtf'iril.Culnr'"" " """" " """" '"" *"'" ' Shoplifting (shop ' lif ' ting), «,. Larceny of
Joaak Quiney, Figures of the Past, p. 193.
To talk shop, to converse in general society about mat-
ters pertaining to one's own calling or profession. (Col-
goods committed in a shop ; the stealing of
goods from a shop.
More honest, well-meaning people were bubbled out of
their goods and money by it IGravity] In one twelve-month
than by pocket-picking and shop-lifting in seven.
Sterne, Tristram shandy, 1. U.
loq.)
Acton and actreasea aeeiB the only artist* who are never
ashamod of talking shop.
ft-M* *'''<«'. White Rose, IL vii. gtoplike (shop'lik), n. [< shop^ + like^ .] Hav-
shop^ (shop), r. ; pret. and pp. shopped, ppr. jug the manners or ways of a shop; hence,
shopping. [< shop^, w.] I. intrans. To visit tricky; vulgar.
shops or stores for the purpose of purchasing ^ ,,,„ „ever so shop4ike or meretricious,
or examining goods. B. Jonson, Discoveries.
We have been K-thopp(ng, M Mrs. MIrvan calls it, all ghop-maid (shop'mad), TO. A young woman who
tbU morning, to buy sUks, cap^ gauzes, and so forth. j j ) shop-girl. ■
Miss Buriiey, Evelina, x. ' ' . ,„..„,«»„
. . , . , ...... ,, *i The «AOTnn<zirf, who is a pert wench. Spectator, yo. 277.
8hehadgone«Aopjnm/abnut the city, ransacking entire i iie .,k/j/«i«.u, - •■ .1 , , , -,
depots of splendid merchandise, and bringing home a rib- shopman (shop man), H. ; pi. shopmen (-men),
bon. i/oirtAorne, Seven Gables, xiL \<, shop -V man.] A retail trader; a shopkeep-
n. trans. To shut up ; put behind bars ; im-
prison. [Cant.]
A main part of hie la bumbailifl 's] office is to swear and
bluster at their trembling prisoners, and cty, " Confound
ns, why do we wait? Let us shop him."
Four for a Penny (1678) <HarL Slisc , IV. 147X (DotnM.)
They had likewise shopped up themselves In the highest
of their house.
H-. ratten, Exped. into Scotland, 1648 (En«.jOan,er, 3^3,4^ (shop'mat), v. [< shopl + mateK] A
It w„, Bartlemy time when I was shopped. . . . Arter I felfow-workman or a fellow-clerk or -attendant
was locked up for the night, the row and din outside made in a shop.
er; also, a salesman in a shop.
The shopman sells, and by destruction lives.
Dniden, To his Kinsman, John Dryden, 1. 108.
I am sure there are many English in Paris who never
speak to any native above the rank of a waiter or shopman.
Thackeray, Philip, xxi.
A Shopman to a Tradesman in Fore-street.
Quoted in N. and Q., 7th ser., IX. 2.13.
ahopmate
I called the attention of a shopmaU, n grizzled old vet-
eran, to the peculiar behavior of the chisel.
Sci. Amur., N. S., LIX 212.
shopocracy (sho-pok'ra-si), «. [< shop^ + -o- +
-cracj/. after analogy of democracy, plutocracy.}
The body of shopkeepers. [Humorous or con-
temptuous.]
The balls at Cranworth Court, In which Mr. Cranworth
had danced with all the belles of the shopocracy of Ec-
cleston. Mrs. Oaskell, Kuth, xsxiii.
Shopocracy . . . belongs to an objectionable class of
words, the use of which is verj* common at the present
day, but which ought to be carefully avoided.
-V. and Q., 7th ser., V. 92.
shopper (shop'fer), m. [< shop^ + -eri.] One
who shops ; one who visits shops for the pur-
pose of buying or examining goods.
A day's shopping is a sort of campaign, from which the
shopper returns plundered and discomfited, or laden with
the spoil of vanquished shopmen.
Uotcdls, Venetian Life, xx.
shopping (shop'ing), n. [Verbal n. of shop^, D.]
The act or practice of visiting shops for the
purchase or examination of goods : as, she is
very fond of shopping.
What between shopping and morning visits with mam-
ma, ... I contrive to enjoy myself tolerably.
Mrs. H. More, Cielebs, xxiil.
There was an army of dressmalters to see, and a world
of shopping to do. C. D. Warner, Backlog Studies, p. 277.
shoppish (shop'ish), a. [< shop'^ + -i,s/|l.] Hav-
ing the habits and manners of a shopman.
shoppy (shop'i), o. [< sAopl + -1^1.] 1. Per-
taining to or characteristic of a shop or shops;
shoppish; belonging to trade ; commercial: as,
shoppy people.
" His statement about being a shop-boy was the thing
I liked best of all." "I am surprised at you, Margaret,"
said her mother. " You who were always accusing people
of being shoppy at Hilstone ! "
Jfr«. Oaskell, North and South, xi.
2. Characterized by the presence of shops;
abounding with shops: as, a shoppy street.
The street book-stalls are most frequent in the thorough-
fares which are well-frequented, but which, as one man
in the trade expressed himself, are not so shoppy as others.
Mai/heu; London Labour and London Poor, I. 292.
3. Given to talking shop: as, he is apt to be
shoppy in conversation. — 4. Concerning one's
own business, profession, or pursuit.
They (artists) associate chiefly with one another, or
with professeilly art-appreciating people whose conversa-
tion. If not unintellectual, is generally shoppy.
The CeiUury, XXXI. 399.
[Colloq. in all uses.]
shop-ridt (shop'rid), a. [< sAopl + -rkl, as in
bedrid.'] Shop-worn.
May the moths branch their velvets, and their silks only
be worn before sore eyes ! may their false lights undo
'em, and discover presses, holes, stains, and oldneaa in
their stuffs, and make them shop-rid.
Beau, and FL, Philaatar, v. 3.
Shop-shiftt (shop'shift), n. A shift or trick of
a shopkeeper ; cheating.
There 's a shop-shift ! plague on 'em. B. Jonson.
shop-thief (shop'thef ), n. One who steals goods
or money from shops ; a shoplifter.
shop-walker (shop'wa'kSr), n. Same &s floor-
walker.
shop-window (shop'win''do), n. A window of
a snop, especially one of the front windows in
which goods are displayed for sale; a show-
window.
Some may think more of the manner of displaying their
knowledge to a monetary advantage, like goods in a shop-
window, than of laying hold upon the substance.
Gladstone, Gleanings of Past Years, I. 20.
shop-woman (shop'wum"an), n. A woman who
serves in a shop.
shop-worn (shop'wom), a. Somewhat worn or
defeced by the handling received in a shop or
store, or by exposure outside a shop.
shorage (shor'aj), n. [Also shoreage ; < shore"^
+ -age.'] Duty paid for goods brought on shore.
shore! (shor), n. [Early mod. E. also shoar;
< ME. sehore, < AS. "score, shore (Somner, Lye,
etc., without a reference) (=MD. sehore, schoorc,
sehoor, shore, alluvial land, foreland, = MLG.
sehore, schor, schare, shore, coast) ; prob. orig.
land 'cut off' (cf. scoren clif, 'shorn cliff,' a
precipice), < sccra» (pp. scoren), cut, shear: see
shear^, and cf. scored. '] 1. The coast or land
adjacent to a considerable body of water, as an
ocean or sea, or a lake or river; the edge or
margin of the land ; a strand.
On wyther half [the opposite side] water com doun the
ichore. Alliterative Poems (ed. .MorrisX i. 230.
Upon a raw and gusty day.
The troubled Tiber chafing with her shores.
Shak., J. C, i. 2. 101.
5586
shoreweed
He [Canute] caus'd his Royal Seat to be set on the sAoar shore-anchor (shor'ang kor), n. The anchor
while the Tide was coming in. Milton, Hist Ung., vi.
2. In law, the space between ordinary high
water mark and low-watermark; foreshore.
lyiug toward the shore.
shore-beetle (shor'be'tl), «. Any beetle of the
family I'imeliidm : more fully called burrowing
In the Roman law, the shore included the land as high shore-beetle. A. Adorns.
up as the largest wave extended in winter. Burrill. shore-hird (shor'berd), n. 1. A bird that f re-
Lee Shore. See Zcei.-Shore cod-liver oa See cod- queiits the sea-shore, the mouths of rivers, and
firer.— Shore flah. See^sAi.— Shore-grotmds, insliore estuaries; a limieoline wading bird, or any
fishing-grounds. [Gloucester, Massaclmsetts.] — Shore- member of the Liniicolse : so called in distinc-
SewSe"sey l-sroM°B;idrt™r"^ ««" ^'""^ paludieole wading birds. (See Li-
Shorel (shor), v. t.; pret. and pp. shored', ppr. ficolx.) Many of these birds are also called
shorimj. [ishorci,,,.-] To set on shore. bay-birds or bay-smpe.-2 The river-swallow,
, .„ 1. . ,.,, X . ^■. ,,. J , J sand-martin,orbank-swallow, Cofi/eort/tcicom
I will bring these two moles, these blind ones, aboard „■ ,.„ ri.^...i Tj«:+i .i. i « ^, ,. ^± j.
him ; if he think it fit to share them again, ... let him call nparui. [Local, British. J _ Crouching shore-bird,
me rogue for being so far otiicious. SAaJ-., W. T„ iv.4. 869. the pectoral sandpiper, or squatsnipe. .See kruker
Baird, Brewer, and liidyway.
shore2 (shor), n. [Early mod. E. also shoar; < shore-cliff (shor'klif), «. A cliff at the water's
ME. sehore = D. sehoor, a prop, = Norw. shorn, a edge or extending along shore,
prop, = Sw. dial. skSre, a piece of cut wood (cf. [jj^, j,,^ ^nce a great piece of a promontory,
leel. skordha, a prop, esp. under a boat, = That had asapling growing on it, slide
Norw. sfrorrfa, a prop); prob. orig. apiece 'cut From the long sAore-cii/"* windy walls to the beach,
off' of a suitable lcngth,< AS.SCerail (pp.«CO»-C»), Tennyson, Geraint
cut, shear: see shear^, and cf. «ftorci.] A post shore-crab (shor'krab), n. A littoral crab of
or beam of timber or iron for the temporary the family Cnrcinidse; specifically, Carchius
support of something; a prop. maenus. See cuts under Brachyura, Carcinus,
S<;Aore,undursettyngeof athyngethatwoldefalle; . . . McgaUtps, &-a(iZo!ea._ , „ , ,
Suppositoiium. Prompt. Pare., v-iii- shore-grass (shor gras), ». Same as s/forewcerf.
As touching props and shores to support vines, the best shore-hopper (8h6r'hop"er), n. A sand-hopper
(as we have said) are those of the oke or olive tree. or beach-nea ; a small crustacean of one of the
ffoMajK?, tr. of Pliny, xvii. 22.
The sound of hammers, blow on blow.
Knocking away the shores and spurs.
Longfellow, Building of the Ship.
Especially — (a) A prop or timber obliquely placed, acting
as a strut on the side of a building, as when the wall is in
danger of falling, or when alterations are being made in
the lower part of it, the upper end of the shore resting
against that part of the wall on which there is the greatest
families Orehcstiidx, Gammaridie, etc., as Or-
ckcstia Kttorea. See cut under Orchestia.
shore-jumper (sh6r'jum"per), )». A beach-flea.
shore-land (shor'land), Ji. Land bordering on
a shore or sea-beach.
shore-lark (shor'lark), H. A bird of the genus
Ercniophila (or Otocorys); a horned lark, as
E. alpe.stris. See cut under Eremophila.
stress. &<ie dead-shore (6) In sAtp-imtidini;: (1) A prop g^j^j-g^ggg (gho^'les), a. [< shore -\- -less.'] Hav-
iiig no shore or coast ; ot iiidennite or unlimited
extent.
Through the short channels of expiring time.
Or shoreless ocean of eternity.
Young, Night Thoughts, ix.
shore-line (shor'lin), w. The line where shore
and water meet.
Frame of a Vessel sup-
ported by Shores-
fixed under a ship's side or bottom
to support her on the stocks, or
when laid on the blocks on the
slip. See also cut under launch'
ing-ways. (2) A timber set tempo-
rarily beneath a beam to afford ad-
ditional support to the deck when
taking in the lower masts. See
dogshore, skegshore, and sp^ir, (c)
A stake set to prop or bear up a
net in hunting. Halliwell. [Pror. Eng.l (d) A post used
with hurdles in folding sheep. HalliiveU. [Prov. Eng.]
Shore^ (shor), v. i.; pret. and pp. shored, ppr.
shoring. [Early mod. E. also shoar; < ME.
schoren (= D. schoren)} < shore^, «.] To sup- ^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^ „^ „ ^^^^
port by or as by a post or shore ; prop, as a wall, shoreman Vstt^Vmali^j/M. ; TCsho^^emen (-men)
particularly when some more permanent sup- ^ sewerman
port is temporarily taken away : usually with ,^^^ ,^^,.^'^^ however, do not collect thelumps of coal
up : as, to snore up a Duuamg. ^^^ .^q^j ^^^y ^jg^j y,^^^ „„ ^[,^,1^ „;jy^ |,ut leave them as
If I can but flnde the parentall roote, or formall reason the proper perquisites of the mud-larks,
of a Truth, I am quiet; if I cannot, I shore up my slender Mayheio, London Labour and London Poor, II. 168.
judgement as long as I can with two or three the hand- gjiore-oil (shor'oil), Ji. The purest kind of cod-
somest props I can get. N. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 16. Jj"*!? ^" ^ " '■
shore-pipit (shor'pip'it), «. The rock-pipit.
shore-plover (shor'pluv'er), ». A rare book-
Considering the main body of Lake Bonneville, it ap-
pears from a study of the shorelines that the removal of
the water was accomiianied, or accompanied and followed,
by the uprising of the central part of the basin.
Amer. Sat., May, 1890.
shoreling (shor'ling), «. Same as shorling.
The most of his allies rather leaned upon him tlian
sheared him up. Sir U. Wotton, Eeliquia;, p. 238.
A huge round tower . . . shores up with its broad shoul-
ders the beautiful palace and garden-terrace.
hongfeUow, Hyperion, i. 6.
shore^ (shor). An obsolete or archaic preterit
(and obsolete past participle) of shear'^.
shore* (shor). r. t. and i. [An assibilated form
of score^.] To count ; reckon. [Scotch.]
shore^ (shor), v. t. ; pret. and pp. shored, ppr.
[Sc. also sehore, schor, schoir; per-
shoring.
haps an as"sibilated form of scored, in a similar
sense (cf. shore*); or another form of sure, r.,
equiv. to assure (cf. shore'', var. of sewer^).] shore-service (sh6r'ser"vis), n.
name of Esacus magnirostris, an Australian
plover.
Shorer (shor'er), n. [< ME. shorter, shoryer; <
shorc'^ -1- -erl.] That which shores; a prop.
"Thees thre shoryeres," quath he, "that bereth vp this
plonte,
Thei by-tokneth trewely the Trinite of heuene."
Piers Plowman (C), xix. 25.
Then setteth he to it another shorer, that all thinge is in
the Newe Testament fulfilled that was promysed before.
Sir T. More, Works, p. 473.
In the United
1." To
Eng.]
threaten; warn. [Scotch and prov.
But, like guid mithers, shore before you strike.
Bums, Prologue for Sutherland's Benefit Night.
2. To offer. [Scotch.]
A panegyric rhyme, I ween.
Even as I was he shor'd me.
Bums, Petition of Bruar Water.
An obsolete form of shared.
An obsolete or dialectal form of
States navy, any duty not on board a sea-going
ship.
shore-shooting (shor'shS'ting), n. The sport
or practice of shooting shore-birds.
shoresman (shorz'man), n. ; pi. shoresmen
(-men). 1. One engaged in the fisheries whose
duties keep him ashore, as the owner of a ves-
sel, or the proprietor of, or an employee or la-
borer in, a packing-house ; especially, a sole or
part owner of a vessel. — 2. A longshoreman.
snore-snipe (shor'snip), «. The common sand-
piper of Eiirope, Tringoideshypoleueus. [Perth.]
shore^t, n.
shore'', n.
sewer'i.
Shorea (sho're-a), n. [NL. (Roxburgh, 1805), ^^ -,;-,,-,„ s — m, -, ■ -t.-
named after ;rohn Shore, Baron Teignmouth shore-teetan (shor'te'taii), «. The rock-pipit:
(1751-1834),govemor-generalof India.] Age- siuue &fi giitfer-teetan. [Orkney.] . ^ .,. ,
nus of polypetalous plants, of the order Dy)te)o- shore-wainscot (shor wan'skot), n. A British
carped. It is characterized by flowers with a very short |°."/^' ^''««"''« 'ittoralis, found among sand-
calyx-tube unchanged in fruit, and imbricated calyx-lobes, hills.
some or all of which become much enlarged and wing- shoreward(shor'wS-rd),«dfr, [<sAorcl + -/rrtm.J
like and closely invest the hard nut-like fruit, which is Toward the shore."
usually one-seeded, but foitned from an ovary of three
cells and six ovules. There are almut 25 species, all natives
of tropical Asia. They are resin-bearing trees, smooth,
hairy, or scurfy, bearing entire or repand leaves with pe-
culiar parallel veins. The flowers are commonly loosely
arranged in axillary and terminal panicles, usually with
five much-twisted petals and numerous stamens of several
rows. S. rofmsta is the sal-tree, or Indian sal. See sal'-i.
shoreage, n. See shorage.
This mounting wave will roll us sfioreicard soon.
Tennyson, Lotos-Eaters.
shoreweed (shor'wed), n, [< shorc^ + tceed^.']
A low lierb, Littorclla lacustriSj p'owing in mud
and wet sand in northern or mountainous parts
of Europe . it has a tuft of linear radical leaves and monce-
cious flowers, the pistillate bidden among the leaves, the
shoreweed
stamlnate on scapes an inch high with long fllaments the
most conspicuous part of the plant. Also shore-trmd.
snore-Whaling (shor'hwa ling), «. The pur-
suit or capture of the whale uear the shore it
was the earliifflt method practised in America. The twats
Iff*. '"iS"''?' '™"> Jhe beach, and the captured whale
WM towed ashor^ to be cut in and tried out. .Most shore-
wnaung in America is now done on the Pacific coast and
the men employed are mainly foreigners. California shore-
whaling was begun at Monterey in 18.51 by Captain baven.
port, and conducted much as it had been for I.'^O years in
>ewKngIand. This method is distineuished from both
coast, whiiliug and deep-sea whaling. See u-haliiw
snonngi (shor'ing), a. [Appar. < shored +
-'".'/-.] Awry; aslant. Balliicell. [Prov. Eiig 1
Shoring- (shor'ing), n. [Verbal n. of sliorc'^i, ?.]
1. 1 he act of supporting with shores or props.
— 2. A number or set of shores or props taken
follpctively.
shorl, shorlaceous. See xchorl, schorlaceous
Shorling (shor'lmg), n. [Also shoreline; < slioreS
(shoni) + -luif,i.2 1 . A sheep of the ifirst year's
shearing; a shearling; a newly shorn sheep.—
4i. hee the quotation.
.rnf^ift'?? *"/' •?<>'■"''«.<»■ roorUing. are words to distin-
guish fells of sheep. ,Aor/mjF being the fells after the
ieeces are shorn off the sheep's back, and murling the
feUs Bayed off afUr they [the slieepl die or are km«f
_^ . , , T<mHn, taw Diet. (iaMam.)
St. A shaveling: a contemptuous name for a
monk or pnest.
ti-,'*„"*/ *'^' ""'' ^^?^ """^ doctrine of tran.obatantia-
?m. »hiy* ",'k''° '"^'"" .''°' '""■ "•«« »>«»> to receive it
""(It). J. Bradjord, \\ orks (l-arker Soc., 1868), II. 276
/.■Z,''.»r''A'""'''' *''"'"'^ or disguised Bjmagopie'of dtoys!
'tisjrci'.'rkieT^zsr.h': '""• •" p~^" ^ •"^-
Bp. Bait, image of Both Chorebea, xvll 8.
shorn (shorn). Past participle of «/ic,;,l
Short (sh6rt), a. and n. [< ME. short, whorl
*<A<v,rf, ssort,8Ceort, scort, < AS. sceort, scort =
?J 2- *'^?' *ll.*"^' = ^««'- *»*■'"■"■. short (skortr,
shortness); otherwise found only in derivatives
{fieeshort.v., shirt, slcirtl); root unknown. The
W0T.1 represented by E. curt (= OS. k„rt =
OPneS;^ hurt = D. kort = MLG. k.n-t = OHG
cAKrr, G kurc = Icel. kortr = Sw. Dan. kort, < L.
airtus, short) appears to have taken the place,
in L. and (i and Soand., of the orig. Teut. adj.
represented by short. The Teut forms, AS.
f^i\"u ■?*"'■-• "*<'•• »«' commonly gup-
posed to be Identical with L. curlus (assumed
to stand tor'scurtus), but the phonetic condi-
tions do not agree (AS. t = L. d). They are
also supposed to be derive.!, with formative -fa,
tive to be -d E. -rf2 (»« in old, cold, etc.), and
the ad^. word formed from sc<ran with this pp.
suffix 18 in fact AS. sceard (see shardl). ffie
root of sceort remains unknown. Hence ult.
shirt, skirt.^ L a. 1. Not long; havinir little
a short fli^rUt ; a shi/rt stick or string.
llrw&?Morth"?i.:;?iL"SLi7tS;^«.;. '
CAatuwr, Oen. Prol. to (XT., L 890,
What Is right and what is wnuurT
A lAort sword and a lang.
„„.,„, Biinu, fe Jacobites by Name.
^. .iNot tall ; low in stature.
Be merry, be merry, my wife has all •
For women are shrews, both sAorf and tall
_ .. ^ -S***., 2 Hen. I v., V. 8.36.
Ust, when she riuds, she may be thought to sit
vonfrm, tr. of Ovid's Art of Lore, lit
3. Not long in time; of brief duration.
w™^"!'""'.'^' '"'" ''•"'' l'"'* "' ml bale, bl a Khort time.
I am ded as dorenaU. WOUam .!/'/'a&r«(E. RX^llS
The triumphing of the wicked Is sAort Job xx. S
4. Not up to a required sUndard oramoiuit;
not reaching a certain point; lacking; seant-
insuflicient; deficient: Vs, a ,Wf sup^? of
proviHions; short allowance of moneyY short
weight or measure.
She passes praise ; then praise too sAort doth Wot
a™. .... ... ^*^' ^^^- 1»- S- Ml.
oere grow, but ihnrt (n worth unto those of .Smyrna.
v._ ., J . . . Sandyt. Travailes. p. lo.
V^^ul^i^.'^ "> -"■« •*-' -"*" ; you
&nttam, Introd. to Morals and Legislation. XI. «4
eL^'J.i;!'* V?"*" "•*^ predlcatlvely, followed by of. In
eompwatlre sUteinents. (o> Less than • Inferior to- ..
his escape was little »A,rrt o/a n^d" "*
ledlre of ol'J. Vi.; ?h"" "'\ V\'^ '""^ "/ •""• '" ">« know-
In.'.! J ^? " ; though his youtli kept hlin from dnr.
Ing to offer himself to the congregation.
irinMrop, Hist. .Sew England. I. KB.
5587
i^T",?""''*' "'''°" ^ •>«"« detected In a matter Uttle
sAort 0/ forgery. Sheridan, .School for Scandal, ill. i.
(6) Inadequate to ; incommensurate to.
Immoderate praises the foolish lover thinks »Aort o/ his
mistress, thougli they reach far beyond the heavens.
_ Sir P. Sidney.
That merit which with favour you enlarge
Is far, far «Aort of this propos'd reward.
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Malta, i. 3.
(c) On the hither side of; not up with or even with; not
having reached or attained : as, you are short oj the mark.
•The body of the maid was found by an IndUn, about
I L* nf *'■'*'■• \." ""^ ""'•" °' ">''=k swamp, ten mUes
»Aor< 0/ the place he said he left her in.
WiMhrop. Hist. New England, I. 290.
Put a grasshopper on your hook, and let your hook hang
a quarter of a yard sAort of the water.
/. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 68.
5. Deficient in wisdom or discretion; defec-
tive ; at fault ; in error.
My wit is short, ye may wel understonde.
Chaucer, Oen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 746.
th?m "^h^ i, • **°^ '1 '■'''""« °n « ''Sfball order from
them which was now denyd, when it came to a pertlcu-
ler of loss. Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 282, note.
In doctrine they were in some things «Aorf; in other
things, to avoid one extreme they ran into another.
Pnin, Rise and Progress of Quakers, i.
6. Insufficiently provided or supplied (with)-
scantily furnished (with); not possessed of the
required orusual quantity or amount (of): ofteu
with of: as, we have not received our allowance
we are still short; to be short o/ funds, mate-
rials, or tools.
. __ . Achates and his guest,
. . . «Aof< 0/ succours, and in deep despair
Shook at the diamal prospect of the war~
Dryden. .«neid, viil. 690.
»h^ .f"'*'' '«*-«°'''? P«ople were ihort of money alwut
kn^w '."fhT.'!:"*'*°^K'^'»"'^ • • • l<lon'tknow;^SI
know is that there was but one solitary bidding.
Dickem, David Copperfleld, I.
7 lu exchange transactions : (a) Noting some-
thing that has been sold short (see under nhort
'W/P.) ; not in hand or possession when contract
to deliver 18 ma<le: as, «A»r< stocks. (6) Notinir
transactions in values not possessed at the time
of contract, but to be procured before the time
of delivery: as, short sales, (c) Not possessed
or a sufficiency to meet one's engagements-
with of: as, to be short of X preferred, (d) Of
or pertaining to those who have sold short: as,
the sh<n-t interest in the market (that is, the
bears, or those persons who have sold short,
and whose interest it is to depress prices).-!
8. Not far in the future: not distant in time-
nearathand. [Now rare.]
Bote offended that bis deputare should be so sAart
Spmter.
him*. T!'U;!5''^ ""?* *'■" *•" "PPolnted to attend
him to be ready by a .»ort day. '^'^ Clarendm"
0. Limited in power or grasp; not far-reachinir
or comprehensive; not tenacious or retentive-
said of mental faculties: as, a short memory
iSch^stp^.Soiwri"^''' """'"''«• <«)«-<«<"«-*
5»or« t«le to make, we at «alnt Alban'a met
Shot., 3 Hen. VI., IL I. 1«X
Nor grandeur hear with a disdainful smUe
The sAort and simple annals of the poor.
(A) S»ld of a speaker or writer. ''^' *''^-
i„A -_ V I _ What's your business?
And, pray ye, be akoH, good friends ; the time is ptwious.
Iteldmr, .Spanish Curate, II. 2.
wili!^/ H. •V"".'"..*"''^*' "°» "Itogetherso natamU Isa
""«n?e°n'.'u^l^S^at^°" "■""""» ^"^*^
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poeaie, p. liS8.
rt^'^wd exnl^vV """' "";!,!,"• y''"P'««'l''<'« you are
•nan mna expressive. Adduon, Charge to the Jury.
3J[,".tS"'*' •''m®'' "•'"'Pf; 8harp; petulant;
crusty; uncivil: 88, a «A»r< answer.
I will be blttor with him and passing sAorf
Shot., As you Like It Hi 6. 188.
a. K u "P*.' P"'"y »«"enness,
So harsh and nhirrl ! B Jontm, CaUUne U. 1.
Pell!^ \^^r^l^ !'""""'' '*™'"'»««Iors. interceding for a
i cace, bad a «Aojt Answer of Philip II. *
, - , HomU, Letters, I. ii. is.
tile' mark'"''**^*' °"* **"*' '''"" """"K'' *" ""each
short
the presence of coal-cinders makes mortar
short.
T V , .J^**' *"'■ '"'"■ poor father,
I,? i.°2f "l."^ "'"' ««■'"<'• ind rogues foriom,
in »Aort and musty straw'? Shak., Lear, iv. 7. 40
The rogue 's made of pie crust, he s so short.
Middleton, Blurt, Master-Constable I 2.
tasteless. . /. WaiUm, Complete Angler, p. 66
t;^ ^i?* P'°l°°ged in utterance; less in dura-
tion than times or sounds called long: said
of times, vowels, and syllables, speciflcallv-
™^„™ ^■■•""^' «™«ding in duration the uf.it of timl
(moro, semnonl or so regarded. The oidinni-v short
IZ'^^LT^^t P'»"'"«=*«"on varied somewhal i , ac
taal duration, but seems to have usually been ut ere,I
as rapidly as was consistent with ful diStnesI of
gontor effi;.iTde"wl'dT '^"""' '"'"'""'^ "^ »
Ascham. Toxophllus (ed. ISftlX p. 22.
i^'^-?""'*!- '"."'''"J *"'''al<'"g or crumbling
readily; inclined to flake off; defective in point
or coherence or adherence: as, pastry is made
Wmrf with butier or lard; iron is m^de ^oTd^
short by phosphorus, and hot^»Aor< by sulphur;
as e)i«»n th« flVit „» T " "'. ' '^ commonly known
JfidlhJJ. »o« 1.^ "'A"" vowel-sounds, although still
audible, was shortened to such a degree as to be entire! v
disregarded in metrical composition. A syllable con
^ni!.V*.,* ".''•'"^"•r' "•»' ■•os^'ded as short unless the
vowel stood in pofttion (which see). Rhytlmilca or mu
sicai composition occasionally allowed itself he Hbrnv
Pi"'X'"i vv(it"iv). and vice versa. In nietriciil cnnmoBi
tion a short syllable usually did not take the ic us ST
n inodern veisilloation, an unaccented sy l«ble"wha?eve;
ivii^hrf ""' '? "?'? '" "" '*'»•'■ A 8l'0f ' time, vowel of
oVitV\'\h7J'o;!il''^'|.Srj;V'"'' "■^''^" '"''^P^"^^^^^^
^ ton'Sl'er '""■" ° """"^ """ '"""'' "" '"■•'='«"«•■ the
What's long or sAort, each accent where to place?
Pope, Imit of Horace, II. i. '>07
^w'.?."^" ?^'^PV- noting the pronunciation of "the
IS. Unmixed with water; undiluted; neat, as
spirits; hence, strong: as, something short (a
glass of spints as distiuKuished from beer or
other mild beverage). [Oolloq.]
««i7.h??-hil't "" "*"'" ?■' nothing short handy, is there?"
nara lines. Diclceiu, Dombey and Son, xixiL
Come, Jack, shall us have a drop of some'at shortf
, - „ „ Troltope, Dr. Thorne, xvll.
lek bmall (and hence portable). Malliwell.
t^°^; ^"K-]-A short bit. See W(2._a short
home iB soon curried, a simple matter or plain bush°"
bill Hhlch IS payable scwn after being presented to the
acceptor or payer.-At short WOrdSt, briefly ;i„ short
At short tcordes thou shalt trowen me.
CAawcpr, Tioilus 11. 966.
m Short meter. See >ne««-a.— ghort aUowancA i™»
than the usual or regular quantity se"i?NmITthe re
duced allowance to saiioi-sor soldiers during a protracted
vj«i«e, march, siege, or the like, when the s ock of p,o.
IuddW [lllt'^^ir'; ""'" "" P"'»«»t ?™P«ct of a ffe'sh
supply. In the British navy ottlcers and men are paid the
rc^ibJ^i'^"', ''" P"'^'»'"»» «' 'topped, siicli sn be!
Ilig called th„n^ll,mn,we «ion,y. Hence, a scanty snnnlv
»^^').^ji,"'f- ^^°^ "'"O- S*"" « «»>}^Ts„nd.^Sbon
a hill havl.ig less thi... ten days to run.- Short circuit
JlLl "^"/.u' '" <^'«<^tric ci.cuit so as U, cari-y the
i^lS^^a&^V*" "^""""♦-"'ort clothes. («) IJ^l
Will you wear the «Aort clothes
Or will you wear the side?
Barl liichard (Child's Ballads, III. 272).
(6) The petticoaU or the whole dress of young children
coats, the shortened sklrtsof a young child whe.. the 1°^
dothe, of Its earliest infancy are d iscarded.- Short COm-
mlBBure. See rOTn»,w,«rf.- short commons ale
comm-,M. Short cross in ;.ri„^' °"tl,e t"i™ "f.i shor?
W Rhn;:i''Hl';:!,''V ■'*''"'"'«':M shortcut S.e™/X
lu.— snort division, see diri^ini,. Short elvt™ in
«tom, elytra wl.i.h ever less th.-.,, halt of "eXomen"
SiLVhl^''^""""- Shorter Catechism. .See "at":
cAism.— Short fever, see /everi.~ Short Kown a full ,
fe^^^"' '"'"""■'^ *"■•" *"" « »W?"f ^n,"enfi
waWed Zt]^'^' "" s ''""*"■ '" "^"^ <=^"»V>!A caps, long.
r,H n ,' S"""'"' .•"'""■"P'.'n petticoats, with sclssora
a. d pincushions and gay calico pockets hanging on the
""""'''• Jmnff, Sketch-Book, p. 439.
Short hauL See long haul, under lonai.— short hose
the stockings of the Scottish Highlan.ler, reaching ,u°?Iy'
^ e.l-Ml.r- H """v ",■•,'''.'""""« '» "'« sixteenth century
?h. ^.'"' "S*"." Englishmen wore hose covering the
thigh, leg, a..d foot m one plece,jind perhaps used in dis-
crin.lnatlon from the trews. The short hose were com-
monlv cut from tartan cloth, and not k.iltted. — Short lav
Tol,t'-a^-;:J^°'^i''^h "«'"• mordent S"tife
.?.y!,'"~?°°'*, number, In jmuliufl, said „f a., edition
ki^^^'"^ " u'™', 7 ^^°^ °at- octave. See the no..n8.
— BnortOf. .Seedels. 4, II, an. 7.— Short ParllamBiit
S^„^'''"r",'-^8»""1P\!". '" ?'r.';«n."alfg^.t i;!fpr°s:
fi. .^ " 'l?"''j;"''-''>«. wli'ch requires only a short p.ill of
Bhn^KSH''T*-.'^'"j1*°"- '" 'r^' «'« "dHcrton.-
snort rib. (n) One of the lower ribs, which are shorter
than some of the .ipper ones, and do not reach to the
breastbone ; a false rib, or floating rib.
in't "m "Tl". *?; «'ounde<l in a duel : the rapier entered
h^to his right side, sUnting by his shortrih, .inder the
muscles^^ Wiscrnm, .Surgery.
(6) pi. nie right or lef- hypochondrlum ; the hypocho...
driac region, where the short or floating ribs ai-e.-i-gllMt
short
score. See sertrri, <>.— Short sea, shrift, sixes, splice,
Stitcll, suit, waxp,Wllist, etc. Seetlie nouns.— To come
short, to come short of. Sec come. — To cover short
sales. See .■om-i.— To enter a bill short see«ii<«ri.
— To fall short. See/ni/i. — To gO short, (a) To fail
to equal or matcli : generally with u/.
Drake was a DyMapper to Mandeville.
Candish, and Hawkins. Furbislier, all our voyagers
Went $hort qf Mandeville. Brome, Antipodes, i. 6.
(6) On the stock-exchange, to sell largely, expecting to buy
later as many shares as may have been previously sold.—
To heave a cable short. See Araw.— To make short
boards. See (ward.— To make short work of, with,
etc. See icork.
H. H. 1. A summary account: as, the sAor( of
the matter: see the long and the short, under
long^.
The short is this :
"Tis no aiubition to lift up myself
TJrgeth me thus.
Beau, and Ft., Maid's Tragedy, v. 3.
The short is that your sister Gratiana
Shall stay no longer here.
Chapman, All Fools, iii. 1.
2. In pros., a short time or syllable. See long^,
„., 2.
The average long would occupy rather less than twice
the time of the average short. J. Hadley, Essays, p. 264.
The sounds being divided into longs and shorts.
S. Lanier, Sci. of Eng. Verse, p. 68.
3. Whatever is deficient in number, quantity,
or the like.
In counting the remittances of bank uotes received for
redemption during the year, there was found $2.'j,.'>28 in
overs, being amounts in excess of the amounts claimed,
and j8,246 in shorts, being amounts less than the amounts
claimed. Sep. of Sec. of Treasury, 1886, p. 100.
This (coin-package] is a self-counter, in which there can
be no danger of shorts or overs.
Sci. Amer., N. S., LVII. 194.
4. pi. The bran and coarse part of meal, in mix-
ture.— 5. pi. In rope-making, the toppings and
tailings of hemp, which are dressed for bolt-
ropes and whale-lines; also, hemp inferior to
that used in making staple ropes. — 6. p(.
Small-clothes; knee-breeches: a term intro-
duced when but few persons still wore this
dress, trousers being more common.
A little emphatic man, with a bald head, and drab
shorts, who suddenly rushed up the ladder, at the immi-
nent peril of snapping the two little legs encased in the
drab shorts. IHckens, Pickwick, xxxiii.
We can recall a pair of drab shorts worn as part of a
walking dress, with low quartered shoes and white-cotton
stockings, nearly as late as 1829 or 30.
Quarterly Rev., CXLVI. 196.
The little old gentleman . . . follows him, in black
shorts and white silk stockings.
W. BesarU, Fifty Years Ago, p. 49.
7. pi. In printing, the copies that have been or
should be reprinted to make full a deficient
edition. — 8. In exchange dealings : («) A short
sale: as, to cover one's shorts, (b) One who
has made short sales, or has sold short. See
to sell short, below. — 9. In base-ball, same as
short-stop. — Tot short, by way of abbreviation : as, her
name is Elizabeth, but she is called Bet for short. [Colloq. ]
The property-man, or, as he is always called, "props,"
for short. New York Tnimne, July 14, 1889.
In short, in few words ; in brief ; to sum up briefly.
Now I must telle in shorte, for I muste so,
Youre observaunce that ye shalle done at none.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 5.
Qay and sunny, pellucid in air and water, we are sure
that Smyrna is — in short, everything that could be wished.
De Quincey, Homer, i.
To cover shorts. See coveri.
short (short), adv. [< short, a.] In a short
manner, in any sense ; briefly or curtly ; not at
length; insufficiently; friably.
Speak short, and have as short despatch.
Fletcher, Humorous Lieutenant, i. 1.
If the cakes at tea ate short and crisp, they were made
by Olivia. Goldsmith, Vicar, xvi.
He answer'd not.
Or short and coldly.
Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine.
To blow short. See Wouil.— To cut Short. See cut.
— To sell short, in exchange dealings, to sell what the
seller does not at the time possess, but hopes to buy at a
lower rat« before the time specified for delivery. — To
set short*, to regard or treat as of little value. Com-
pare to set h'jht, etc.
For-thy ich consaille alle creatures no clerk to dispise.
No 8eti£ short by here science what so thei don hemselue.
Piers Plowman (C), xv. 65.
To take up short, to check abruptly ; answer or inter-
rupt curtly ; take to task unceremoniously or uncivilly.
When some of their Officers that had been sent to ap-
prehend him came back with admiration of him, and said.
Never man spake like tliis man, they take them up short,
and tell them, 'ITiey must believe as tlie Church believes.
StUlin(jfieet, Sermons, II. x. i.
He was taken up short, as one that spoke irreverently of
a mystery. Swift, Tale of a Tub, iL
5588
shortt (shfirt), V. [< ME. shorten, schortcn, <
AS. sceortian (= OFries. korta, kcrta, kirta =
D. korten — MLG. korten = OHG. ctirzcn, kur-
zen, kiirzen, MHG. schiirzen, kiirsen, G. kiirzen
= Sw. korta = Dan. korte), become short, <
sceort, short: see short, n.] I, inlrans. 1. To
become short; shorten.
His sight wasteth, his wytte mynysheth, his lyf shorteth.
The Book of Good Manners (1486).
2. Naut., to take in the slack; haul in.
We layd out one of those ankers, with a hawser which
he had of 140 fadom long, thinking to haue warpt in, but
it would not be ; for as we shorted vpon yo said warpe the
anker came home. Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 277.
H. trans, 1. To make short; shorten.
And eek I praye. Jhesu shorte hir lyves
That nat wol be governed by hir wyves.
Chaucer, Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 405.
Which affray shorttyd the lyffdayes of the sayd Phil-
lippe, whiche dyed withynue shorte tyme after the said
affray. Paston Letters, I. 278.
But let my loves fayre Planet short her wayes
This yeare ensuing, or else short my dayes.
Spenser, Sonnets, Ix.
2. To make the time appear short to ; amuse ;
divert : used reflexively.
Furth I fure ... to schort me on the sandis.
jStr D. Lindsay.
shortage (shor'taj), n. [< short + -age.'] A
deficit ; deficiency ; the amount by which any-
thing is short.
On all Grain blown and screened to lighters for harbor
delivery, shortage in excess of one bushel per thousand
bushels will not be guaranteed.
New York Produce Exchange Report, 1888-9, p. 236.
short-armed (short'armd), a. Having short
arms; not reaching far ; hence, feeble.
Which short-armed ignorance itself knows.
Shak., T. and C, ii. 3. 16.
short-ax (sh6rt'aks), n. A battle-ax with a
short handle, adapted for wielding with one
hand, and especially for mounted knights : dis-
tinguished from the poleax, which was essen-
tially the ann of a foot-soldier.
short-billed (short'bild), «. In ornith., having
a short bill ; brevirostrate or brevirostral : spe-
cifically applied to many birds: as, the short-
billed kittiwake, Eissa brevirostris ; the short-
billed marsh-wren, Cistothorus stellaris.
short-bread (short'bred), ». Same as short-
cake (a). [Scotch.]
All kinds of cake were there, and soda-scones, short-
lyread, marmalade, black-currant jam, and the like.
W. Black, In Far Lochaber, ii.
short-breathed (shSrt'bretUt), a. Having short
breath or hurried respiration ; dyspnoeic.
One strange draught prescribed by Hippocrates for a
short-breathed man is half a gallon of hydromel with a lit-
tle vinegar. Arbuthnot.
shortcake (short'kak), n. A rich crisp tea-
cake, made short with butter, sweetened, and
baked rather thin, (o) A broad, flat, thin cake made
crisp and short with lard or butter, and served up hot. (6)
Pie-crust or pastry baked in small cakes and eaten with-
out the filling, (c) A thin, light, tender cake, shortened,
sometimes sweetened, and served either hot or cold. It
is often prepared in layers with fruit between them, to
be eaten with cream, as strawberry «Aortcfl*p, peach short-
cake, etc. [U. S.]
Sweet cakes and sliort cakes, ginger cakes and honey
cakes, and the whole family of cakes.
Irving, Sketch- Book, p. 440.
short-circuit (sh6rt'ser"kit), r. i. To complete
an electric circuit by a conductor of low resis-
tance ; introduce a shjmt of low resistance.
short-cloak (short'klok), n. A British geomet-
rid moth, Cidaria picata: more fully called
short-cloak carpet.
short-coarse (short'kors), n. One of the grades
of wool into which a fleece is divided.
short-coat (sh6rt'k6t), v. t. [< short coat-s (see
tinder short, a.).] To dress in the first short
garments, so as to leave the legs free for stand-
ing and walking; put short clothes on: said of
infants.
A spoiled, pettish baby, Just short-coated, could not have
befooled me more. E. S. Sheppard, Counterparts, xxxviii.
"I really do believe," continued the young matron
slowly, . . . "that we shall have to «Ao7^coa( him before
the three months are out."
Mrs. L. B. Walford, The Baby's Grandmother, xxiv.
Manitoba is as yet in its headstrong youth, and the
North-West Territories are waiting to be sh(yrteoated.
Atheneeum, No. 3252, p. 238.
shortcoming (sh6rt'kum''''ing), n. [Verbal n.
of CYW«e s7iw< (see under corwe).] 1. A falling-
off of the usual produce, quantity, or amount,
as of a crop. — 2. A failure of performance, as
of duty ; a coming short ; a deunquenoy.
shortening
It would argue a just sensibleness . . .of our unworthy
shortcomings, in not having more strenuously endeavoured
to prevent this course of defection, ... if for this we
were mourning. M'Ward, Contendings C1723), p. 222.
I , . have not
Completed half my task ; and so at times
The thought of my shortcomings in tills life
Falls like a shadow on the life to come.
Longfettiow, Golden Legend, iv.
Very little achievement is required in order to pity an-
other man's shortcomings. George Eliot, "M iddlemarch, xxL
short-dated (sh6rt'da''ted), a. Having little
time to run.
The course of thy short-dated life.
Sandys, Paraphrase upon Eccles., Ix.
short-dra'wn (short'dran), a. Drawn in incom-
pletely; imperfectly inspired: as, short-drawn
breath.
short-eared (short'erd), a. In ornith., having
sliort plumieorns: as, the short-cared owl, Asia
accipitrinus, formerly Strix brachyotus or Brti-
ehyotus jialiistris.
shortelichet, adv. An obsolete variant of shortly.
shorten (shor'tn), V. [< short + -e«l.] I. iii-
trans. 1. To become short or shorter; con-
tract; diminish in length: as, ropes shorten
when wet.
Futurity still shortens, and time present sucks in time
to come. Sir T. Browne, Christ. Mor., iii. 13.
The short'ning winter day is near a close.
Burns, Cottar's Saturday Night.
2. To make anything short: used with in in
the nautical phrase to shorten in on the cable, to
heave in short or shorter. — 3. To come short;
fail.
They had at that present but one ^Minister, nor neuer
had but two, and they so shortned of their promises that
but onely for meere pity they would hauu forsaken them.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, II. 163.
To shorten In, in hort, to prune.
Some people imajfine tliat when they have taken a pair
of hedge shears or some such instrument, and shorn off
the ends of the shoots on the outside of the tree indis-
■ criminately, they are shortening in; and so they are, as they
would a hedge ! P. Barry, Fruit Garden, p. 257.
II, trans. 1. To make short or shorter;
abridge; curtail: as, to *7ior/e/i hours of work;
to shorten the skii-t of a dress.
I am sorry that by hanging thee I can
But shorten thy life one week.
S/Mi*., W. T., iv. 4. 433.
But here and elsewhere often, when he telleth tales out
of Sclioole, the good mans tongue is shortned.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 90.
In pity to us, God has shortened and bounded our view.
Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, II. xxii.
The race that shortens its weapons lengthens its boun-
daries. 0. W. Holmes, Autocrat, i.
2. To make appear short: as, pleasant com-
panionship shortens a journey; a concave mir-
ror shortens the tace.
We shortened days to moments by love's art.
Suckling, Detraction Execrated.
There, lost behind a rising ground, the wood
Seems sunk, and shorten'd to its topmost boughs.
Cowper, Task, i. 306.
3. Figuratively, to make inefficient or incapa-
ble. Compare short-armed.
Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot
save. Isa. lix. 1.
4. To take in; contract; lessen in extent or
a'lnount: as, to shorten sail; to shorten an al-
lowance.
Grind their joints
With dry convulsions, shorten up their sinews
With aged cramps. Shak., Tempest, iv. 1. 260.
5. To check; confine; restrain.
Here, where the subject is so fruitful, I am shortened by
my chain. Dryden.
6. To deprive.
Dishonest with lopped arms the youth appears,
Spoiled of his nose, and shortened of his ears.
Dryden, .<£neid, vi. 669.
7. To cause to come short or fail.
By the discovery
We shall be shorten'd in our aim, which was
To take in many towns ere almost Rome
Should know we were afoot. Shak., Cor., i. 2. 23.
8. To make short or friable, as pastry with
butter or lard. — 9. To pronounce or measure
as short: as, to shorten a vowel or syllable. —
To shorten sail. See sail^.
shortener (short'ner), «. [< shorten 4- -ei-i.j
One who or that which shortens.
The gout ... is not usually reckoned a shortener of life.
Sivift, Inquiry into the Behaviour of the Queen's Last
[Ministry, ii.
shortening (short'ning), «. In cooker}/, lard,
butter, or other substance used to make pastry
short or flaky.
shorthand
shorthand (short'haud), II. and a. [Formerly
also slwrt-haiul, short hand; < short + hand.']
I. II. A system of writing briefer thau that in
general use (which is distinctively called long-
hand) ; a method of writing in which a'obrevia-
tions or arbitrary simple characters or sym-
bols are more or less systematically employed,
in order to write words with greater rapidity
than in the ordinary metliod of writing; bra-
chygrapliy; stenography; tachygraphy. The va-
rieties of shorthand now in use are nearly all based on
the phonetic principle. The system introduced by Isaac
Pitman in 1S37, and known as phoiwjraphy (which see)
irom 1S40, has, in its various modilications by its origi-
nator and others, a very wide currency wherever the Eng-
lish language is spoken. After the issue of the ninth edi-
tion of his work, in 1853, Pitman introduced extensive
cliangea (especially in the vowel-system). The following
is a comparative view of Pitman's later and earlier systems
and that of a modification of ihem by J.E. Muuson of New
York (18««) :
Pitman, Munson, and Pitman's Ninth Edition:
\p.\b. It. Id. /ch. /j,_lc_g, V^C
V. V, C th, ( dh. )s. ) z, Jsh. Jzh, ^m.^n.
^ng.r'I.^/r.
Pitman: <^w, ^fj ^\\.
Munson : ^w. f y,^„^.
"9th Ed.-: "^w. ry.^h.
5589
are easily fattened, and the flesh ia of excellent quality,
but for dairy purposes they are inferior to some other
breeds. The word is often used aiijectively : as, the ghart-
hom breed. Also called Durham and Teemcater. Biicuc.
Brit., I. 3S7.
short-homed (sh6rt'h6rnd), a. 1. Having short
horns, as cattle : specifically noting the breed of
cattle called shorthorns. — 2. Having short an-
tennae, as an insect.- short-homed flies, the sub-
order BracAi/cra.— Short-homed grasshoppers, the
family Acridiidx. .See grasshopper and locustt, 1.
Shortia (shor'ti-a), H. [NL. (Torrey and Gra\-,
1842), named after Charles W. Short, an Ameri-
can botanist (1794-1863).] A genus of gamo-
petalous plants, of the order Diapensiaceie and
tribe dalacineae. it Is characterized by scaly-bracteo-
late flowers, with a flve-parted persistent calyx, flve-lobed
bell-shaped corolla, Ave stamens and Ave scale-shaped in-
curved staniinodes, and a globose three-celled ovary,
which ripens into a three-valved capsule crowned with
the Hliform style, and containing very numerous small
seeds. There are but 2 species, S. uniflora of Japan, and
Pitman, Munson :
P.M.. "9th EA":
••9th Ed.':
Pitman :
Munson :
••9th Ed.":
Short
.11
Joo
.u
Diphthongs.
1o.
For further comparison, the sentence "my tongue is the
pen of a ready writer," as written in tbeM three lyttems.
Is here given :
Pitman :
Munson :
"9th Ed."
L >» N
■ ^ y
L . \
- /I -^
L " \
. xi ^
Flowering Plant of Sk^tia palaci/tlia. a, the corolla. laid open.
S. galaeifolia of the mountains of western North Caro-
lina, long thonght the rarest of North American plants,
and famed s( .the plant particularly associated with Asa
Gray, who flr«t described It from a fragment seen In Paris
In 18S», with a prediction of Us structiure and relatlon-
•hlp, verifled on Its flrat discorery In flower in 1877. It U
a amootb and delicate stemleas plant from a perennial
root, with lODR-atalked round or cordate erergreen radical
■Mve*. The handaome nodding white flower is solitary
upon a long peduncle which becomes erect in fruit. The
plant grows In extensive patchea In mountain ravines, In
company with Its relatlTe (ialax.
short-jointed (shdrt'join 'ted), o. l. Having «' ™'-P'''e''f = "s- a »AoW-*,ff/,M plan,
short int.-rvals between the joints: said of Short-Slghtedly (short 'si' ted -li), adv.
specifi-
Author of the Art of Memorie, in Latin, IBIS, 12mo.
Inventor of Short-hand— 'tit the best. Bp. Wilkina sayd
'tis only used in England, or by the English.
Aubrey, Uvea, John Willis.
They shewed also a Psalter in the short Notes of Tyro,
Tullius's Libertus ; with a Discourse concerning the nse
of aucb 5Aart Uand in the beginning of the Manuacript.
j:.iiter. Journey to Paria, p. lia v _4, -j ., „ ,,
ITbe following puaage is an early allnalon to the use of snorx-Iaid (8h6rt lad), o. In rope-making, sliort-
"- ■ ' ■"' twi.«tccl.
joints
plants. — 2. Having a short pastern:
cally said of a horse.
Round hoof d, thort-JoiiUed, fetlocks shag and long.
Shot., Venus and Adonis, 1. 295.
Uie word in this sense :
IIUp. He could never And the way to my house.
Chrem. But now he shall at a short-hand.
i(^. What brachygraphy? Thomas 8helton's art?
Ckrein. No, I mean suddenly.
Kandotph, Hey for Honesty, IL 3.J
Phonetic shorthand. See phonttie.
11.11. \. Of writing, contracted; stenograph-
ic; written in shorthand : a.H, shorthand -aoiea. —
2. Of persons, using shorthand ; stenographic.
It must after this be conslgo'd br the Shorthand Writ-
era to the Publick l>reas.
Coname, Way of the World, v. 5.
short-handed (shdrt'han'ded), (I. Not having
the necessary or regular number of hands, ser-
vants, or a.ssistants.
Alston, the owner of the ranch, eyed Mm over from crown
to spur. . . . and. being (A(>r(-Aan(f«f, engaged him on the
'I"" Harper 1 Mag., LX.XIX. 45».
Shorthander (.nhftrt'han'dtr), n. A stenogra-
pher. [Colloq.]
It Is a pity that no English Aorthander has tried the ex-
periment of a purely script basis. In which the blunt an-
gles and other ilefects of the geometric systems shall not
merely be reduced to a minimum, but eliminated altoge-
"""■• The Academy, April 6, 11>89, p. 243.
short-head (shdrt'hed), n. Kaut., a sucking
whale uniier one year old : when near that age.
it is very fat and jields above thirty barrels of
blubl)er. Simmnnds. [Kng.]
short-heeled (short'held), a. Having the hind
claw slioM. us a bird : as, the short-heeled field-
lark (the tree-pipit, Anthus arboreus or trivia-
lis). [.Scotch.]
shorthorn (shflrt'hAm), n. One of a breed of
cattle having very short horns. The breed orlgi
nated m the l)*Kinning of the nineteenth century in the
valley of the Tees in England, but is now spread over all
the richly pastured dIstricU of Great Britain. The cattle
short-legged (shdrt'leg'ed or-legd),a. Having
short legs, as the breed of hens called creepers.
Some pigeons, Davy, a couple of thartAegged bens.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., t. 1. 28.
short-lived (sh6rt'livd), a. [< short + life +
-f'/'-'.j Having a short life or existence; not
living or lasting long; of short continuance: as,
a short-lived race of beings ; short-lived passion.
Sach ihort-tived wits do wither as they grow.
Shak.,L. L.L., U.l.&i.
Some hare . . . sought
By pyramids and mausolean pomp,
ShmHiv'd themselves, t' Immortalize their bonea.
Cowper, Task, r. 184.
Suit lightly won. and <Aort-{tt«d pain,
for monarctu seldom sigh in vain.
Scott, Marmlon, v. 9.
shortly (shdrt'li), adv. [< ME. shorihj, shortii,
schorUy, sehortliche, scheortliche, < AS. sceortlice.
short-toed
Litull Johne seid he had won v shyllyngs.
And Robyn Hode seid schortly nay.
Robin Hood and the J/oii* (Child's Ballads, V. 3).
Shortneck (short'nek), u. The pectoral sand-
piper, Triiiga maculata. See cut under sand-
piper. G. Trumbull, 1888. [Long Island.]
shortness (shdrt'nes), M. [< ME. schortnes,
schortiiesse, < AS. sceortnys, scortnys, < sceort,
scort, short: see short and -ness.l The quality
or state of being short, (o) Want of length or ex-
tent m space or time; little length or little duration.
They move strongest in a right line, which is caused by
the shortness of the distance. Bacon, Nat. Hist.
The shortness of the emperors' reigns ... did not give
the workmen time to make many of their figures ; and, as
the shortness of their reigns was generally occasioned by
the advancement of a rival, it is no wonder that nobody
worked on the figure of a deceased emperor when his en-
emy was on the throne.
Addison, Remarks on Italy (Works, ed. Bohn, I. 496).
(6) Fewness of words ; brevity; conciseness.
I am called awai, I prai you pardon mi shortnes.
Sir J. Cheke, in Aschani's Scholemaster, Int., p. 6.
(c) Want of reach, or of the power of retention: as, the
shortness of the memory, (d) Deficiency ; imperfection ;
limited extent ; poverty : as, the shortness of our reason ;
shortness of provisions.
In case from any shortness of water, or other cause, the
turbine should have to be stopped.
Elect. Rev. (Eng.), XXVI. 121.
r«) Curtness; sharpness: as, her temper was evident from
the shortness of her answers. (/) Brittleness ; friability ;
crispness.
From this pulverized stone, sand, and cement a stronger
mortar was obtained than from sand and cement only •
the mixture also was quite free from shortness.
Set. Amer., N. 8., LX. 276.
short-shipped (short'shipt), a. 1. Put on board
ship in deficient quantity.— 2. Shut out from
a ship accidentally or for want of room.
short-sighted (shdrt'si'ted), a. 1 . Having dis-
tinct vision only when the object is near ; near-
sighted; myopic.
Shortsighted men see remote objects best in Old Age.
Newton, Opticks, 1. 11.
To heshartsighUd. or stao-e. to fleer in the Face, to look
distant, to observe, to overlook.
Steele, Conscious Lovers, I. 1.
2. Not able to look far into futurity ; of limited
intellect; not able to discern remoter conse-
quences or results; not gifted with foresight.
The wise his days with pleasure ends.
The foolish and short-sighted die with fear.
That they go nf>-where.
Sir J. Denham, Old Age, iv.
3. Proceeding from or characterized by a want
of foresight: as, a, short-sighted vl&n.
hort-sightedly (short 'si' ted -li), adv. In a
short-sigliteil manner; hence, with lack of fore-
sight or penetration.
short-sightedness (shdrt-si'ted-nes), n. The
state or character of lieing short-sighted, (o)
Near-sightedness; myopia. (6) Defective or limited In-
tellectual discernment ; inability to see far into futurity
or to discern remote consequences.
We think a thousand years a great matter . . . through
our shortsightedness.
Abp. Leighton, Works (ed. 1867), L 303.
Cunning Is a kiud of shortsightedness.
Addison, Spectator, No. 225.
(e) Lack of foresight; the fact of being characterized by,
or of proceeding from, want of foresight : as, the shortsight-
edness of a proposed policy.
short-spoken (short'spo'kn), a. Speaking in
a short or quick-tempered manner; sharp in
address ; curt of speech.
short-staple (short'sta'pl), or. Having the
fiber short: applied in commerce to the ordi-
nary upland cotton of the United States. See
cotton-plant, and compare long-staple.
short-stop (short'stop). «. A player in the
game of base-ball who is stationed between sec-
ond and third base; also, the position filled by
that player. See base-ball. Also called short.
scorttice, < sceort, 'scort, short': see short and stort-styled (short'stild), a. In bot., having a
-ly'.] In a short manner, (a) In a short time ; pres
ently ; soon : often with &</'or« or a/ler.
To shew unto bis serranU things which must shortly shorttail (shSrt'tal). «.
come to pass. Eev. I. i. atortncid; a roller.
short style. See heterogonous triviorphism. tin-
der hfii rogonous.
A short-tailed snake ;
I shall be shortly in London. Howell, Letters, I. v. 80.
They lost her In a storm that fell shortly after they had
been on board.
y. Morton, New England's Memorial, p. 98.
(i) In few words ; briefly.
And shortly to procede In this mater.
They chase hym kyng by voice of the land.
Oenerydes (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1324.
Are not those circumstances true that this gentleman
h»th so shortly and methodically delivered?
Beau, and Ft., Coxcomb, v. 3.
I may be permitted to indicate shortly two or three fal-
lacies. Lecky, Europ. Morals, II. 220.
(c) Curtly ; abruptly ; aharply.
short-tailed (sh6rt'tald), a. Having a short
tail; having short tail-feathers; brevicaiidate;
brachyurous : specifically said of many animals
and of a few groups of animals Short-tailed
crustaeeans,the/?r(7<-Ai/i/r(7. -Short- tailed field-mice
the voles or .1 rrioilin/e. - Short-tailed snakes, the Trn--
trieid/r. Short-tailed swimmers, the lniuliyuron« or
pygopod natatorial birds, as auks, loons, grebes, and pen-
guins. Short-tailed terns, the terns or sca-swnlfows
of the gennii Ili/ilruchdUliin, as the black tern, H. nigra or
H. tarifuniiis. Sec cut under Hydrachelidon.
short-tempered (sh6rt'te!u"p^rd). «. Having
a hasty tcnijier; easily put out of temper.
short-toed (short'tod), a. Having sliort toes;
brachydactylouB.-Short-toed ea«le, Circaetus gai-
short-toed
Ueus (formerly Faico tjailicwi and Aquiia brachydactt/ta),
« bW of prey iiihal>it'ing all the countries borderins: the
Mediterranean, and thence eastward to the whole of the
Indian peninsula and part of the Malay archipelago. Tile
male is 2t) inches long; the female, 30 inches; the pointed
wings are more than half as long again as the tail ; the tarsi
are mostly naked ; the nostrils are oval perpendicularly ;
the head is crested with lanceolate feathers; and in the
adult the brejist is white, streaked with brown. This bird
is the JeanUBlanc of early French ornithologists; Its
book-name shoHtoed eai/le is not vei7 happy, as it is a
poor example of an eagle, with nothing noticeable about
its toes. .\lso called sitake-buzzard (where see cut).
short-tongued ( short 'tungd), «. Having a
short, thick, fleshy tongue, as a lizaitl ; crassi-
liugual.
Bhort-waisted(sh6rt'was'ted), o. 1. Having a
short waist or body : applied to persons, and also
to dresses, coats, or other garments covering the
body. — 2. Pertaining to garments of this char-
acter: as, sliort-waisted fashion or style. — 3.
Short-tempered; touchy; crusty. [Prov. Eng.]
short-winded (short ' win ' ded), a. [< ME.
shortwynded ; < short + wind^ + -cd^.] l.
Breathing with difficulty; dyspnoeic. — 2. Un-
able to bear long-continued violent exertion,
as running, without difficulty of breathing ; out
of breath.
Whan thei saugh the Saisnes well chased and thart loynd-
ed, thei lete renne at hem. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 245.
Poita. [Reads] "I [Falstaff] will imitate the honour-
able Romans in brevity : " he sure means brevity in breath,
thart-winded. SAo*., 2 Hen. IV., ii. 2. 136.
3. Panting; eharacteiized by difficulty of
breathing.
Find we a time for frighted peace to pant,
And breathe ghort-ieinded accents of new broils.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., i. 1. 3.
short-windedness (sh6rt'win"ded-nes), n. The
character or state of being short-winded ; dysp-
noea.
Balm, taken fasting, ... is very good against short-
mndednesi. Rev. T. Adams, Works, I. 374.
short-winged (shdrt'wingd), a. Having com-
paratively or relatively short wings: speciii-
caUy noting certain hawks used in falconry, as
the goshawk, Astur palumbarius, in comparison
with the true falcons, as the peregrine or ger-
falcon.
shorti-witted (short'wifed), a. Having little
wit ; not wise ; of scanty intellect or judgment.
Piety doth not require at our hands that we should be
either slwrUwilted or beggarly.
Sir M. tittle. Remains, p. 200. (Latham.)
Shory (shor'i), a. [< shore^ + -j/l.] 1. Lying
near the shore or coast. [Bare.] — 3. Shelving.
There is commonly a descent or declivity from the shore
to the middle part of the channel, . . . and those shary
parts are generally but some fathoms deep.
T. Burnet, Theory of the Earth, I. 13.
Shostf. A Middle English contracted form of
shouldest, the second person singular of the pret-
erit of shalV-.
Bhot^ (shot), n. [Early mod. E. also shotte; <
ME. shot, schot, < AS. ge-sceot, ge-scot, imple-
ments for shooting, an arrow or dart (= OFries.
shot, a shot, = D. schot, a shot, shoot, = MLG.
gehot, implements for shooting, an arrow, am-
munition, = OHG. scoz, MHG. schoz, G. schoss,
schuss = leel. shot = Sw. skott = Dan. skud, a
shot, a shooting), < scedtan (pp. scoten), shoot:
see shoot, V. Ct. shoot, n., skot^, n.'] If. A mis-
sile weapon ; an arrow ; a dart.
No man therfore, up peyne of los of lyf,
No maner shot, ne pollax, ne short knyf
Into the lystes sende. or thider brynge.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 168«.
2. A projectile ; particularly, a ball or bullet ;
also, such projectiles collectively. Projectiles for
large guns are seldom called by this name without some
qualifying tenii : as, solid shot, round shot, grape-shot. The
term properly denotes a missile not intended to explode, as
distinguished from ashell or bomb. Projectiles of unusual
character, but solid and not explosive, are usually called
shot with some descriptive word ; as, bar-shot, bitck-shot,
chain-shot.
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Tennyson, Charge of the Light Brigade.
3. A small ball or pellet, of which a number
are combined in one charge ; also, such pellets
collectively. They are made by running molten lead
combined with a little arsenic through a sieve, or pouring
it from ft ladle with a serrated edge from the top of a
high tower (see shot-totoer) into water at the bottom. The
stream of metal breaks into drops which become spheri-
cal. To obviate the use of the high tower, various ex-
pedients have been tried, such as dropping the metal
through a tube up through which a strong current of air
is driven, or dropping it through a column of glycerin or
oil. Such shot is assorted by sizes of the pellets, distin-
guished by letters (as BB, spoken doiMe-B), or by numbers
(usually No». 1 to 10 or 12), or by specific names (as swan-
shot, etc.).
4. The distance passed over by a missile or
projectile in its flight; range: used, in com-
5590
bination with the name of the weapon or mis-
sile, as a rough measure of length.
Therby is an other churche of our Lady, distance from
the churche of Bethlem .v. ari-ow shottes.
Sir R. Quylforde, Pylgrymage, p. 38.
And she went, and sat her down ... a good way off, as
it were a bowsAo^ Gen. xxi. 16.
He show'd a tent
A stone sAo( off. Tennyson, Princess, v.
Hence — 5. Range in general; reach: as, within
eax-shot.
Keep you in the rear of your affection.
Out of the shot and danger of desire.
Shak., Hamlet, i. S. 35.
6. Anything emitted, cast, or thrown forth ; a
shoot.
Violent and tempestuous storm and shotA of rain.
Ray, Physico-Theological Discourses, p. 221.
7. Among fishermen, the whole sweep of nets
thrown out at one time ; also, one cast or set
of the nets; also, the number of fish caught
in one haul of the nets. See shoot, v. t., 11. —
8. A place where fishermen let out their nets.
See shoot, v. t., 11. — 9. The act of shooting;
discharge of, or the discharge from, a bow, gun,
or other missile weapon.
Whan he moughte no lenger sustalne the shotte of dartes
and arowes, he boldly lepte in to the see.
Sir T. Elyot, The Ooveniour, i. 17.
And y had a bow, be the rode.
On [one] schot scholde yow se.
Robin Hood and the Potter (Child's Ballads, V. 26).
That's a perilous shot out of an elder -gun !
ShaJc., Hen. v., iv. 1. 210.
10. One who shoots, especially with a firearm,
(at) A man armed with a musket or harquebus, as dis-
tinguished from a pikeman, bowman, or the like ; also, a
number of men so armed, collectively.
A guard of chosen shot I had,
That walked about me every minute while.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., i. 4. 53.
In his passage from his lodging to the court were set
in a ward flue or slxe thousand shot, that were of the Em-
perors gard. UakluyVs Voyages, I. 459.
(b) A marksman, especially with reference to his skill : as,
a good shot; a crack shot; a viia^-shot.
He was a capital cricketer ; was so good a shot that any
house desirous of reputation for its bags on the 12th or 1st
was glad to have him for a guest.
Mrs. Oaskelt, Wives and Daughters, xiiL
11 . In weaving, a single thread of weft carried
through the warp at one run of the shuttle. —
12. A defect, of the nature of a streak, in the
texture of silk and other textiles, caused by
the interweaving of a thread or threads differ-
ing from the others in color, quality, or size.
Compare shot^, p. a., 3. — 13. In mining, a blast.
— 14. A nook; an angle; a plot of land; spe-
cifically, a square furlong of land; a group of
strips or allotments, each one furlong in length,
and together a furlong in width, in the open-
field system. See field.
The Infield is divided into three shots or parts, much
about eighteen acres in all.
Scott of Rossie (Maxwell's Sel. Trans., p. 32). (Jamieson.)
He claps down an enclosure in the middle of my bit
shot of corn. Scott, Pirate, xxx.
15. A move or stroke in a game, as in curl-
ing or billiards. — 16. A stitch in one's side.
Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]— 17. A handful of
hemp. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] — 18. Sperma-
ceti ; whale-shot — A had shot, a wrong guess ; a mis-
take. [CoUoq.]
" I think he was fair," he said once, but it turned out to
be a bad shot, the person in question being as black as a
coal. Mrs. L. B. Walford, Cousins, i.
A shot in the locker, a reserve of money or provisions;
funds; resources. [Colloq.]
My wife shall travel like a lady. As long as there 's a
shot in the locker she shall want for nothing.
Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xxvi.
A snap shot. See STMip.— Barbed shot. See barbed^.—
Bird-shot, drop-shot of a size used for birds and small
game generally, especially one of the finer sizes, as No, 7
or 8. The finest is usually called mustard-seed or dust-
shot. Some of the largest may also take distinctive names,
as ffwan-sAo(.— Canister-shot. Same as case-shot, 1. —
Chilled shot. See cMtti.— Drop-shot, (a) shot made
by dropping or pouring melted lejid, as opposed to such
as are cast, as buck-shot and bullets. See def. 3, above.
The thick covering of feathers and down with which
they [swans] are protected will turn the largest drop shot.
Sportsman's GazetUer, p. 185.
(6) Same as dropping fire (which see, under drop). Also
called dropping «Aot.— Fancy shot. See, fancy. —Flower-
ing shot. Same as Indian-shot— Fiyine Shot, a shot
fired at something in motion, as a bird on the wijig ; also,
one who fires such a shot; a wing-shot,— Gallery Shot.
See (7a(ieri/, — Head-mold BhOtt. See head-mold.— In-
dian shot. See /»K;t(i7i-s/io(,— Mustard-seed shot. See
mustard-seed.— PSLTtMSLU, random, red-hot, ricochet
Shot. See the qualifying words. — Roimd Shot, a spheri-
cal shot; a cannon-ball.— Shot of a cable (iiaul..). (ot)
The splicing of two cables together, or the whole length
of two cables thus united. (6) A length of rope as it
comes from the ropewalk; also, the length of a ehain-
shot-cartridge
cable between two shackles, generally fifteen fathoms. —
To arm a shot, drop to shot, etc. See the verbs. {See
also bean-shot, buck-shot, dust-shot, feather-shot, snap-shot,
swan-shot, un-ng-shot.)
shoti (shot), V. t.\ pret. and pp. shotted, ppr.
shotting. [< «/(0(i, «.] To load with shot: as,
to shot a gun.
His order to me was " to see the top chains put upon
the cables, and the guns shotted."
R. Knox (Arber's Eng. Gamer, I. 345X
shotl. Preterit and past participle of shoot.
shot^ (shot), I), a. [Pp. of shoot, ti.] If. Ad-
vanced .
Well shot in yeares he seem'd. Spemer, F. Q., V. vi. 19.
2. Firm; stable; secure. Halliwell. [Prov.
Eug.] — 3. Having a changeable color, like that
Ijrodueed in weaving by all the warp-threads
being of one color and all the weft of another;
chatoyant. Silk is the usual material thus
woven, but there are also shot alpaca and other
goods.
Hoarse
With a thousand cries is its stream.
And we on its breast, our minds
Are confus'd as the cries which we hear.
Changing and shot as the sights which we see.
M. Arnold, The Future.
4. Same as shootcd.
shot^ (shot), n. [An assibilated form of scot^:
see scot^, and cf. 4'/ioil.] 1. A reckoning, or a
person's share of a reckoning ; charge ; share
of expenses, as of a tavern-bill.
I'll to the alehouse with you presently ; where, for one
shot of five pence, thou shalt have five thousand welcomes.
Shak., T. G. of V., ii. 5. 9.
*' Come, brothers, be merry," said jolly Robin,
" Let us drink, and never give ore ;
For the shot I will pay, ere I go my way.
If it cost me five pounds and more."
Robin Hood and the Butcher {Child's Ballads, V. 36).
You have had a feast, a merry one ; the shot
Is now to be discharged,
Shirley, Love's Cruelty, iv, 1,
2t. A supply or amount of drink, perhaps paid
for at a fixed rate.
About noon we returned, had a shot of ale at Slathwaite.
Meeke, Diary, Jan. 23, 1691. (Davies.)
Rescue Shott. See rescue.— To pay the shot. See
pay'^. — To stand shot, to meet the expense; pay the
bill.
Are you to stand shot to all this good liquor?
Scott, Kenilworth, xix.
"Bring him some victual, landlord," called out the re-
cruiting Serjeant "I'll stand shot."
Mrs. Gaskdl, Sylvia's Lovers, xizir.
shots (shot), n. [As shote'i-, < ME. 'schote, < AS.
scedta, a trout, < sceotan, shoot : see shof^. Cf .
sfeofcl.] 1. The trout, Salmo fario. [West-
moreland, Eng.] — 2. The grayling, Thynialhis
vulgaris. Also shut, sh-iitt. [Teme river, Eng.]
shot"* (shot), II. [Prob. so called as 'shot' or
rejected: see shot^. Cf. shott^.'] 1. An infe-
rior animal taken out of a drove of cattle or a
flock of sheep. — 2. A young hog; a shote.
shot^t. A Middle English past participle of
shufl.
shot-anchort (shot'ang'''kor), n. Same as shoot-
anchor for sheet-anchor.
shot-belt (shot'belt), »". A shoulder- or waist-
belt, usually of leather, to which a receptacle is
secured, or several receptacles, for small shot:
a common form is that which has but a single
long bag or pouch, with a metal charger at the
lower end. See cut B under shot-jwucJi.
shot-borer (shot'b6r'''er), m. A small lignivor-
ous beetle of the family Scolytidsp, as Xyloboriis
dispar, which bores holes in trees to such an ex-
tent that they seem to have been peppered with
bird-shot; a pin-borer. See cuts under borer
and pin-borer. [U. S. and Canada.]
shot-bush (shot'biish), n. The wild sarsaparilla,
Aralia iiudicaulis: from its shot-like fruit.
shot-cartridge (shot'kiir"trij), n. A cartridge
containing sTiot
instead of a _ o- A
bullet, and in-
tended to serve
various pur-
poses, (a) For
convenience in
loading a breech-
loader, the powder
and shot being
packed in a metal
or paper case which
has the percussion-
cap at the end. See
shell, 10. (b) To
keep the shot toge-
ther and prevent
immediate scatter-
ing as it leaves the
muzzle, the car-
tridge of this kiud
Shot-cartridges,
A, o, copper cnse; />, primer: c. wooden
capsule filled with shot: r, powder chati^e;
d. paper partition between the rear end of
the capsule and the powder, B, u. paper
case to which is fitted the brass base f, with
a reinforcement of layers of paper, r, ce-
mented together: rf, cloth or felt wads; t,
powder : yTshot ; j^, paper shot-wad, half as
thick as one of the wads rf/ A, primer.
shot-cartridge
being made commonly of wire and pasteboard, and the
charge of shot being inclosed in a wire net. Distinctively
called wirt-cartrid^e.
shot-clogt (shot'klog), n. A person who is a
mere clog on a company, but is tolerated be-
cause he pays the shot for the rest.
A gnll, a rook, a thot-dog, to make suppers, and be
laughed at? B. Jonmn, Poetaster, L 1.
Drawer, take your plate. For the reckoning there 's
some of their cloaks ; 1 will be no shot-clog to such.
Amends/or Ladim, p. 61, (UaUiweU.)
shot-compressor (shot'kom-pres'or), n. In
i-iinj., a forceps used to secure the ends of a
ligature by fastening a split leaden shot upon
them, instead of tying them.
shot-corn (shot'korn), H. A small shot. [Rare.]
.\ iruii was levelled at Clarke by some one very near at
hand. One single ghot-corn struck him in the inside of
the right thigh. if. andQ., 7th ser,, III. 221,
shot-crossbow (shot'krds'bo). n. A crossbow
in the stock of which a gun-barrel was inserted,
and which served at will as a firearm or an
arbalist.
shote' (shot), n. [Also shot, a trout (see shot^) ;
< ME. 'srhote, < AS. scedta, a trout, < scedtan,
shoot : see shoot.] Same as shot^.
The «AoC^, peculiar to Devonshire and Cornwall, in shape
and colour resembleth the trout ; howheit, in bigness and
goodness cometh far behind him.
if. Careie, Survey of Cornwall,
shote- (shot), n. [Also shoat, E. dial, also shoot,
shot, formerly also shete: see shot*, and cf . sholt.']
1. A young hog; a pig,
Tong ahoattt oryong hogs, nefrendes.
WiUuiU Diet, (ed, 1608), p, 72, (Xara.)
Coehet, a Cockerel or Cock-chick ; also a sAote, or thetr.
Pig. Cdgraie.
2. A thriftless, worthless fellow : used gener-
ally with some derogatory adjective, as poor or
miserable. [Prov. Eng. and U. S.]
shoterf, n. Same as shatter.
shot-flagon (shot'flag'on), n. The host's pot,
given where the guests have drunk above a
shilling's worth of ale. HallivceU. [Prov.
Eug,]
shot-free (shot'fre), a. Same as scot-free, 2.
As. But pray, why moat they be panlsh'd that cairyoff
the ITlieV
But. Lest their too great Felicity should expose them
to Envy, If they should carry away the Prize and go Shot-
fnt too. .y. BttOey, tr. of Colloquies of Erumns, I, 4S6.
shot-gage Cshot'gaj), n. An instrument for
tcstiiiK ciinnon-projcctiles, .Shot-gage* are of two
kinds — rlng-guges and cylinder-gages. Two sizes of the
first kind are employed for each caliber. The shot or
shell must pass through the larger, but not through the
smalltr. It is afterward rolled throogh the cylinder-
gage, any jamming or sticking In which causes the rejec-
tion of the projectile.
shot-garland (shot'giir'land). n. 1. See shot
garl'inil, umXer garUi ml. — 2. In land-batteries,
an iron or wooden stand on which shot and
shell are piled in order to preserve them from
deterioration.
shot-glass (shot'gla.s). n. In weaving, same as
cloth-prorrr ; so called because fitted for count-
iiig tlif shuts in a given piece of textile.
shot-gromet (shot'grom'et), n. See gromet.
shot-gun (shot'gun), n. A smooth-bore gun
used for tiring small shot, as in the chase of
birds and small quailrupeds; a fowling-piece:
commonly palled gun simply, in implied dis-
tinction from riHf or other small-arm. Some
shot-guns are too heavy to \w brought to the shoulder,
(8eeimnt.^n,diieKn^-aun.) Shot-guns are usually either
ilngfe-baiTeled or dooble-barreled ; rarely a third barrel is
added : sometimes one of the Iwrrels u rifled (see the
Jiuotatlon). Besides being smooth-bored, a shot-gun dif-
ers from any fonii of rifle In having no blnd-elght and
a simple pin as fore-sight 8hot-guna are also distin-
guisheil aa muat£4oadert and tmM4o<uUrt; the former
arc little used now. Though the bore Is always smooth,
it is often contracted toward the roozzle to concentrate
thedischarge. (SeeeAotv-Aon,) The standard shot-gun now
most naed by sportsmen Is the double-barreled breech-
loader c if 7 to lOpoonds weight, about 80 inches length of
I' t ind drop of stock fltting the shooter, often
» ip, caliber usually in, 12, or 14, and taking
'" ,; sizes of paper or metal shot-csirtrtdgea (see
theli) »iili center-flre primer* or percussion-cap* and an
aut/iniHtic ejector; such as have the cock or hammer
conc<-aIe<l in the mechanism of the lock are speclfletl
as hnminerleia. The special make* are nnmberle**, but
deiiilid variations from the standard pattern are rare,
Shrft'ifuns are seldom fltted with halr-tnggers, bat usual-
ly with rebounding locks, in which the hammer flies back
to half.c4N;k on delivering the blow on the plunger. A
special fonu of shot-gun, used by naturalists, is described
under cane-fjun.
The combination of a rifle and tkot'ffun In one doable-
barrel weap*>n is much esteemed by South African sports-
men. W. W. Oreener, The fJun, p, 1»2,
Shot-gun policy, in IT. S. polU. tlawi, a name used by par*
tlian citrcmiits In the North t.i .l-ni.t- the alleged politi-
cal control of negro voters in fhr Soiilli by violence and
Intimidation. - Shot-gun prescrlptloil, in m«( , a pre-
5591
scription which contains a great number of drugs of vary-
ing properties, [CoUoq,]— Shot-gun quarantine. See
quarantine.
shot-hole (shot'hol), H, A hole made by the
passage of a shot fired from a gun ; also, a
blasting-hole or drill-hole charged and pre-
pared for a blast or "shot," as this term is
sometimes used by miners.
shot-ice (shot'is), n. A sheet of ice. Halli-
u-ell. [North. Eng,]
shot-line (shot'lin), «. In the life-saving service,
a light cord attached to a ball which is fired
from a gun or mortar so as to fall over a vessel
in distress. By means of the cord a heavier rope can
then be hauled from the shore to the vessel. In the United
States service a cord of braided linen is used.
shot-locker (shot'lok'^r), n. A compartment
for containing cannon-balls, especially on ship-
board. See locker^.
shot-pepper (shot'pep'er), n. See pepper.
shot-plug (shot'plug), n. A tapered wooden
plug formerly used on board a wooden man-of-
war to stop up holes made by shot. It is often
covered with feamaught or some similar ma-
terial to insure a closer fit.
shot-pouch (shot'pouch), n. 1. A receptacle
for the small shot used in hunting small game.
Such pouches were formerly made of different material
and of many dliTerent forms, but generally of leather, and
shoulder
His heavy ghoU^d hamraock-shroud
Drops in his vast and wandering grave,
Tennyson, In Memoriam, vl.
Shotted line. See ^ine^i.
shotten (shot'n), p. a. [< ME, schoten, < AS,
scoteii, pp. of scedtan, shoot, rush : see shoot, »,]
1. Shot out of its socket ; dislocated, as a bone.
See the quotation under shonlder-shotten. — 3.
Having spawned ; spent, as a fish.
If manhood, good manhood, be not forgot upon the
face of the earth, then am I a ghotten herring,
Shak., 1 Hen, IV,, ii, 4, 142,
Dismally shrunk, as Herrings shotten. Prior, The Mice,
3. Som-; curdled, as milk. Balliivell. [Prov.
Eng,]— Shotten herring, (o)Seedef, 2. (6)SeeA«T-
ring.
shotten-souledt (shot'n-sold), a. Having lost
or got rid of the soul; soulless, [Rare.]
Upbraid me with your benefits, you pilchers,
You shotten-goui'd, slight fellows !
Fletcher, Wit without Money, iii, 4,
shottert (shot'er), n. [Also shoter; appar. <
shoot, shot, + -ej-l ; ef . shout^.] A large fishing-
boat.
Boats *' called ghotterg of diverse burthens between six
and twenty-six tonn, going to sea from Aprill to June for
macrell," are mentioned in a MS. dated 1680 relating to
the Brighton fishermen. Nares.
shot-tower (shot'tou'er), n. A high round tow-
er in which small shot are made by dropping
molten lead from the top. See shoi^, »., 3,
Shotty (shot'i), a. [< sAofl -I- -3^1,] Shot-like;
resembling shot, or pellets of lead.
Purpuric eruptions,
shot-pouches,
A, pouch fnr one size of shot ; a, pouch ; #,'chan^r with gates <*, r':
J, spritiif which holds the g;iite c ck»ed until the lever e, which shuts
the KAte r' and opens r, is depressed, when the change filling the
nozle between the two ^tes is released. The change can be les-
sened by placing the gate c in the slot/. B, pouch (shot-tx-lt) for two
sizes of shot: a, a', pouches; i, strap for att.^chment to the person
at the wortsman : t.c , nozles. each with a sinifle spring gate. The
charge tt measured in the detachable chaiger a.
fltted with a mtetal charger, or device for meaiorlng a de-
sired charge of shot, like the powder-flask or powder-
horn, the shot-poach has almoat disappeared with the
nearly anivenal use of breech-loader*, which take fixed
ammunition In the form of ahot-caitridgca.
He aearehed under his red flannel shirt, beneath the
heavy tangle of sAoC-poueAss, and powder-flask, and dan-
gling charger* of antelope-horn, and the like,
W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p, 118,
2. The ruddy duck, Erismatura rubida: so
called in allusion to the quantity of shot often
retitiired to kill it. See cut under A'rwm«tMro.
[LocHl, U, S,]
shot-proof (shot'prSf), a. Proof against shot
or missile weapons.
Arete 's favour make* any one thai-proof against thee,
Cupid. B. Jonton, Cynthia's Revel*, v. 3.
shot-prop (shot'prop). n. An arrangement for
filling a shot-hole wnich is low in a ship's side
and is likely to admit water. It Is a plug braced
from within by means of a timber or several timbers,
which support It Amily in place.
shot-rack (shot'rak), n. Same as shot-garland, 1.
shotrelt, «■ [Appar, < shoi^ + -er-el, as in piek-
ertl.] A pike in the first year.
As though six mouth* and the oat for a seventh be not
sufficient to eat an harlotry thatrH, a pennyworth of
cheese, and half a Kiore sparlings,
Gaieoigne, Supposes, 11. 3. (Daviet.)
shot-sorter (shot'sftr't^r), n. A frame holding
a scries of rotary screens for sorting shot into
various sizes.
shot-star (shot'stSr), n. The alga Nostoe com-
mune.
shott (shot), n. [Ar.] In northern Africa, the
bed of an old saline lake which has become
dried up by excess of evaporation over pre-
cipitation, and is now filled with deposits of
salt and gypsum mingled with sand blown from
the adjacent <le8ert. The word Is frequently used
by wrlteiK In English and other languages on the physi-
cal u'<-i.uraj)hy of northern Africa,
shot-table (shot'ta'bl), «. A rotating table
having an annular groove or channel in which
a round shot is placed to cool after casting.
It is designed to cause the metal to shrink
equiiUv in all directions.
shotted (shot'ed), ;). a. 1. Loaded with a ball
as well as with the cartridge of powder: said
of cannon.
Once fairly kindled, he [Carlyle) Is like a three-decker
on flre, and his shotted guns go off, as the glow reaches
them, alike dangerous to friend and foe,
Loicell, Study Windows, p, 148.
2, Having a shot attached ; weighted with shot.
, shotty to the fee],
Qttain, Med, Diet,, p, 226,
Weathered barley has a dull and often a dirty appear-
ance, quite distinct from the bright shotty character of
gooti samples, Ure, Diet,, III, 186.
shot-window (shot'win'do), »!. [ME, shotwyu-
dottjc, schottcyndotce ; < sAoi, shooting, -I- window:
prob, ori^, applied to loopholes for archers. The
explanation < shot^, for shut, + tcindotc, is tin-
tenable on various grounds,] A special form
of window projecting from the wall. See the
quotation from Chambers,
He , , , tlressed hym up by a shot tpyndowe
That was upon the carpenteris wal,
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1, 172,
.Then she has ta'en a crvstal wand.
And she has stniken her troth thereon ;
She has given it him out at the ghot window,
Wi' mony a sad sigh, and heavy groan.
Clerk Saunders (Child's Ballads, II, ,«.0),
Go to the shot-window instantly, and see how many there
are of them, Scott, Pirate, v.
By shot-window is meant a certain species of aperture,
generally circular, which used to be common in the stair-
case* of old wooden houses in Scotland, and some speci-
mens of which are yet to
be seen In the Old Town
of Edinburgh. It was cal-
culated to save glass in
those parts of the house
where light was required,
but where there was no
necessity for the exclu-
sion of the air.
Ctuxmbers's Scottish Songs,
[IIL 210, note.
shonght. An obsolete
form of shock^, shoo^.
should (shiid). Pret-
erit of shall^.
shoulder (shol'd^-r),
«. [Early mod. E.
also sholder, Sc , shou-
ther, etc.; < ME.
scholdre, shuldcr,
schulder, schuldere,
shuldre (pi. scholdres,
schylderez, ssoldren,
schuldren), < AS.
sculder, sculdor, scul-
dur (pi. sculdru, sciil-
dra, collectively ge-
scnldru, gesculdre)
= OFries. skulder,
scholder = D, schou-
der = MLG. schul-
dere, schulder. LG,
schulder, schuller =
OHG, .icultarra, scul-
tra, MHO. Q.schulter
= Dan, skulder =
Sw. skuldra, shoul-
der; root unknown.]
1. A part of the bodv
at the side and back
of the bottom of the
neck, and at the side
and t«p of the chest ;
Bones of the Left Shoulder and Up-
per Extremity, from the front.
A, acromion : C, coracoid ; C A.
carpus: CL, clavicle: H, humerus;
M, metacarpals : O, ventral surface
of the scapula : P, phnlani^es, proxi-
mal row : K, radius; T, ' "
merus; U, ulna.
aa)(CA, pruxi'
, head of bu-
shoulder
collectively, the partsabout the scapula or blade-
bone ; the scapular region, including botli bony
and soft parts; especially, in man, the lateral
prominence of these parts, where the upper arm-
bone is articulated, having as its bony basis the
united ends of the collar-bone and the blade-
bone, overlaid by the mass of the deltoid mus-
cle. See also cut under shouldcr-hlMlc.
In another Yle, toward the Southe, duellen folk of foulc
Stature and of cursed kynde, that han no lledes, and here
Eyen ben in here Schdldre^. MandevUU, Travels, p. 20:i.
As did .^neas old Anchises bear,
So bear I thee upon my manly ehoulderi.
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., v. 2. «3.
I commend thy indgement for cutting thy cote so iust
to the bredth of thy shoulders.
Chapnutiiy Masque of the Middle Temple and Lincolns
[Inne.
Amnion's great son one shotdder had too high.
fope, ITol. to Satires, 1. 117.
2. Figuratively, sustaining power ; strengtli to
support burdens: as, to take the work or the
blame on one's own shoulders.
The goremment shall be upon his shoulder. Isa. ix. 6.
Her slanderous tongue,
Which laid their guilt upon my guiltless shmdders.
Shak., Kich. III., i. 2. 98.
3. The shoulder-joint. — 4. The parts of an
animal corresponding to the shoulder of man,
including some other parts, and sometimes the
whole fore quarter of an animal: thus, a shoul-
der of mutton includes parts of the neck, chest,
and foreleg.
ni a^ure your worship,
A shoulder of mutton and a pottle of wine, sir.
Fletcher, Humorous Lieutenant, i. 1.
5. In ornith., the carpal joint, or wrist-joint, of
a bird's wing; the bend of the wing, which,
when the wing is folded, fits against the shoulder
proper, and appears in the place of this. The dis-
tinctively shaded or white parts which show in the cuts un-
der Agelxinx and sea-eagle are the shmdders in this sense.
Robert of Lincoln [the bobolink 1 is gayly drest, . . .
White are his shoulders and white his crest.
Bryant, Robert of Lincoln.
6. Some part projecting like a shoulder; spe-
cifically, in anat., the tubereulum of a rib, sep-
arated from the head by the neck, and usually
articulating with the transverse process of a
vertebra. See tubercuhim, and cut under rib.
— 7. A prominent or projecting part below the
top ; a rounded projection : as, the shoulder of
a hill ; especially, a projection on an object to
oppose or limit motion or form an abutment;
a horizontal or rectangular projection from the
body of a thing.
We already saw the French flag floating over the shoulder
of the mountain. B. Taylor, Lands of the Saracen, i>. 4*2.
Out of the shoulders of one of the towers springs a tall
young fir-tree. Uarper's Mag., LXXVI. 402.
Then they resumed their upward toil, following the
rough path that zigzagged up the mighty shoulders and
slopes [of Ben Nevis]. W. Black, In Far Lochaber, vi.
Specifically — (a) The butting-ring on the axle of a vehi-
cle, (b) The projection of a lamp-chimney just below the
contraction or neck, (c) In carp., the finished end of a
tenoned rail or mullion ; the part from which the tenon
projects, and which fits close against the piece in which
the mortise is cut. See cut under mortise, (d) In print-
ing, the projection at the top of the shank of a type be-
yond the face of the letter. See cut under type, (e) In
archery, the broadest part of a barbed arrow-head : the
width across the barbs, or from the shaft to the extremity
of one of the barbs. (/) The upper part of the blade of a
sword, (y) In a vase, jug, bottle, etc., the projection be-
low the neck.
The body of this vase is richly ornamented : . . . round
the shoulder is a frieze of Scythians.
C. T. Newton, Art and Archa;ol., p. 381.
(A) In a knife, the enlarged part between the tang and the
blade, (i) In angling, a feather to the body of an artificial
fly. 0) The back pai-t of a sail.
The wind sita in the shoulder of your sail.
Shak., Hamlet, i. 3. 56.
8. A projecting edge or ridge ; a bur.
What constitutes a good plate in photo-engraving is deep
sharp lines free from dirt or shoulders.
Scribner's Mag., VIII., p. 90 of Adv'ts.
9. In fori., the angle of a bastion included
between the face and the flank. Also called
shoulder-angle. See cut under bastion. — 10. In
the leather-trade, a name given to tanned or
curried hides and kips. — 11. In entom.: (a) One
of the humeri or front upper corners of an in-
sect's thorax : but in Coleoptera, Hemiptera, and
Orthoptera the term generally denotes the upper
front angles of the wing-covers, (b) A shoul-
der-moth— Head and shoulders. See /wjod, — Over
the left shoulder, see fe/d. — Point of the shoulder,
the acromial process of the scapula ; the acromion. For-
merly also called shoulderj/itch. See cuts under shirtdder
and shtndder-biade. — BhoulAeT-of -mutton sail. See
saU^, and cut under sharpie. — Shoulder to shoulder,
with united action and mutual cooperation and support.
5592
Exchanging that bird's-eye reasonableness which soars
to avoid preference and loses all sense of quality, for the
generous reasonableness of di-awing shoiUder to shoulder
with men of like inheritance.
George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, Ixiii.
To give, show, or turn the cold shoulder. See cutd.
The Countess's dislike didna gang farther at first than
just shou-iny o' the cauld shouther. Scott, Antiquary, xxxiii.
"Does he ever come back?" . . . "Ay, he comes buck,'
said the landlord, "to his great friends now and again,
and gives the cold shmdder to the man that made him."
IHckem, Great Kxpectations. lii.
To put or set one's shoulder to the wheel, to assist in
bearing a burden or overcoming a ditficulty ; exert one's
self ; give effective help ; work personally.
And I then set vty shoulder to the wheel in good earnest.
Sydney Smitit, in Lady Holland, vii.
With one shouldert, with one consent ; with united ef-
fort. Compai'e shoulder to shoulder.
That they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to
serve him tdth one shoulder, Zeph. ill. 9 (margin).
shoulder (shol'der), V. [Early mod. E. also
sholder; < ME. sclmldren = D. schouderen = G.
schultern = Sw. skyldra, skylbra = Dan. skuldre,
shoulder; from the noun.] I. trans. 1. To pusli
or thrust with the shoulder energetically or with
violence.
That new rotten sophistrie began to beard and sholder
logicke in her owne tong.
Aschain, The Scholemaster, p. 130.
Approching nigh unto him, cheeke by cheeke.
He shouldered him from off the higher ground.
Spenser, F. Q., V. ii. 49.
But with his son, our soveraign Lord that is.
Youthful Theodrick was prime man in grace.
And quickly shouldered Ethelswick from Court.
Broome, Queens Exchange, ill.
2. To take upon the shoulder or shoulders : as,
to shoulder a basket ; specifically (milit.), to car-
ry vertically or nearly so, as a musket in one
hand and resting against the arm and the hollow
of the shoulder, the exact position varying in
different countries and at different times.
The broken soldier . . .
Shoulder'd his crutch, and show'd how fields were won.
Goldsmith, Des. Vil., 1. 1.5S.
Playing, at the beat of drum, their martial pranks,
Should'ring and standing as if struck to stone.
Cowper Table-Talk, 1. 137.
At their head came Thor,
Shouldering his hammer. Sf. Arnold, Balder Dead.
Down in the cellars merry bloated things
Shoulder'd the spigots, straddling on the butts
While the wine ran. Tennyson, liuinevere.
3. To form a shoulder or abutment on, by
cutting or casting, as in a shaft or a beam. —
Shoulder arms, the order given to infantry to shoulder
their muskets.
II. intrans. To push forward, as with the
shoulder foremost ; force one's way by or as if
by using the shoulder, as through a crowd.
All [serving-men] tramped, kicked, plunged, shouldered,
and jostled, doing as little service with as much tumult
as could well be imagined. Scott, Rob Roy, v.
Then we shoulder'd thro' the swann.
Tennyson, Audley Court.
shoulder-angle (sh61'd6r-ang"gl), n. In fort,
same as shoulder, 9.
shoulder-belt (shol'der-belt), «. Milit., a belt
worn over the shoulder, for use or ornament.
See bandoleer, baldric, guige, sword-belt.
Up, and put on my new stuff-suit, with a shoulder-helt,
according to the new fashion. Pepys, Diary, May 17, 1668.
shoulder-blade (shol'der-blad), «. [< ME.
schulderblad = D. schouderblad = MLG. schul-
derblat, G. sehulterblatt = Dan. Sw. skulderblad;
&s shoulder + blade.'] The scapula (which see).
The human shoulder-blade is somewhat peculiar in shape,
and some of its parts are named in terras not applicable
or seldom applied to scapulse in gen-
eral. It is a compound bone, includ-
ing a coraeoid as a mere process, and
develops from seven centers of ossi-
fication, two of which are coraeoid.
It is commonly said to have two sur-
faces, three borders, and three an-
gles. Of these, the ventral surface,
which lies upon the ribs, is the ven-
ter; the other surface is the dorsum.
This latter is unequally divided into
two parts Vjythe development of a
high ridge, the spine, extended into
a stout process, the acromio?i. Tlie
fiat part above the spine is the supra-
8pi7wv.s /ossa ; that below the spine,
the in/raspinous fossa; the venter
is also" called the subscapular fossa.
These three fossa; indicate the primi-
tively prismatic and rod-like char-
acter of the bone ; and they corre-
spond respectively to the prescajm-
lar, postscapular, and subscapxdar
surfaces of a more general nomen-
clature. The spine being actually
in the axis of the scapula, it follows
that the long vertebral border (a f toffo in the figure) is the
proximal cTid of the bone. The glenoid fossa is at the other
end of the bone, at its confluence with the coraeoid. The
shouldering
axillary border is one edge of the primitive prism ; the
superior border is another ; and the tliird is along the free
edge of the spine. The suprascapular notch in the superior
border (converted into a foramen by a ligament) <ieiiotes
the passage there of the vessels and nerve called by the
same name. The peculiarities of the human scapula re-
sult mainly from its extensive growth downward to the
inferior angle (02), with consequent lengthening of the
axillary border and of the so-called vertebral " lx)rder,"
and from great developtnent of the spine and acromion,
'this bone, as usual in the higher vertebrates, has two ar-
ticulations—with the clavicle and with the humerus; ex-
cepting the acromioclavicular articulation, it is attached to
the trunk solely by muscles, of which sixteen (sometimes
seventeen) arise from or are inserted into the bone. (Com-
pare the shape of the rabbit's shoulder-blade, figured un-
der ■metacrmnion, and of a bird's, under scapula.) See also
cut under shoulder.
I fear, sir, my shoulder-blade is out.
Shak.,
W.
,77.
Human
blade o
(right), dorsal surface
aj. superior angle;
<T2, inferior angle : nf.
acromion; ax. axillary
border ; c, coraeoid ; js;
glenoid cavity for artic-
ulation with humerus:
I'j. infraspinous fossa ;
tt, neck and supnisc.ip-
ular notch in superior
iMirder ; s, spine : sx,
supraspinous fossa ; T.
vertebral border, ex.
tending from a, to ir^..
T., iv.
As for you and me, my good Sir, are there any signs of
wings sprouting from our shoulder-blades f
TItackeray, Philip, v.
shoulder-block (shol'der-blok), n. Naut., a
large single block having a projec-
tion on the shell to prevent the rope
that is rove through it from becoming
jammed.
Shoulder-bone (shol'der-bon), n. [<
ME. scholdcrbon, schiddirbon, schuldre-
bone; < shoulder + ftowel.] 1. The hu-
merus.— 2. The shoulder-blade.
My sonya hed hath reste none,
But leueth on the schuldre bone.
Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 200.
To see how the bear tore out his shoidder-bone.
Shak., W. T., iii. 3. 97.
shoulder-brace (shol'der-bras), 11. A surgical
aiiiiliance for treating round shoulders.
shoulder-brooch (sh61'der-br6ch),«. Abrooch
such as is used in the costume of the Scottish
Highlanders to secure the plaid on the shoulder.
shoulder-callosity (shol'der-ka-los 'j-ti), «. See
prothoracic shoulder-lobes, undei prothoracic.
shoulder-cap (shol'der-kap). ». The piece of
armor which covers the point of the shoulder,
forming part either of the articulated epaulet
or of the pauldron.
shoulder-clappert (shol'der-klap'''6r), n. One
who claps another on the shoulder, as in famil-
iarity or to arrest him; in the latter sense, a
bailiff.
A back-friend, a shoulder-clapper, one that countermands
The passages of alleys, creeks, and narrow lands.
Shak., C. of E., iv. 2. 37.
shoulder-cover (8h61'd6r-kuv'''er), n. In entom.,
same as shoulder-tippet. See patagium (c).
shouldered (shol'derd), a. [<ME. .(/.s7(HWr(j(J; <
shoulder + -«P.] Having shoulders, of this or
that character: as, broad-s/)o«Wered, round-
shouldered, red-shouldered.
Take oxen yonge, . . .
Yshuldred wyde is goode, and huge brest.
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 129.
BTO&A-shouldered was he, grand to look upon.
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, II. 282.
shoulder-girdle (shorder-ger'''dl), 11. The pec-
toral or scapular arch or girdle. See pectoral
girdle, under girdle, and cuts under epipleura,
interclavicle. omostsrmim, sternum, scapula, scap-
ulocoracoid, and shoulder.
shoulder-guard (shol'der-gard). H. 1. Same
as cpauliere. — 2. Armor of the shoulder, espe-
cially when added to the hauberk or gambeson
as an additional defense. See cuts under ejiau-
let, 2, and;>aMMro«.
shoulder-hitter (shol'der-hit'er), n. One who
hits from the shoulder: one who in boxing de-
livers a blow with the full weight of his body ;
hence, a pugilist; a bully; a rough. [Colloq.,
U. S.]
A band of shoulder-hitters and ballot-box stuflers.
New York Tribune, Sept 30, 1858.
shouldering (shol'der-ing), n. [Verbal n. of
shoulder, v7\ 1 . The act of pushing or crowd-
ing with the shoulder or shoulders.
Some thought to raise themselves to high degree
By riches and unrighteous reward ;
Some by cloae shouldring ; some by flatteree.
Spenser, F. Q., II. vii. 47
Those shoidderings aside of the weak by the strong,
which leave so many " in shallows and in miseries."
H. Spencer, Pop. Sci. Mo., XXV. 151.
2. A shoulder; a sloping projection or bank.
When there is not a kerb there should be a shouldering
of sods and earth on each side to keep the road materials
ill place, and to form with the tiiiished surface th>' water
tables or side channels in which the surface drainage is
collected. Encyc. Bril., XX. 583.
3. In slating, a bed of haired lime placed be-
neath the upper edge of the smaller and thicker
sorts of slates, to raise them and aid in making
the joints water-tight.
shouldering-file
shouldering-file (shol'der-ing-fil). «. A flat,
saft-eiigt'il tile, the narrower sides of which are
parallel and ineline<l. See F-Jile. E.H. Knight.
snoulder-joint (shol'der-joint), )i. The joint
between the humerus and the pectoral girdle.
In most mammals the humerus and scapula are alone con-
cerned, but In the monotreraes and lower animals the
coracoid bone also takes part. The joint is a ball-and-
socket or enarthrodial one. permittiitg extensive move-
ments. .See cut sunder tihoulder, gternum^ and itUerdavicU.
shoulder-knot (sUol'der-not), H. 1. A knot of
ribbon or of metal tece worn on the shoulder.
Hie fashion was introduced from France in the time of
I'harles II. It is now confined to servants in livery.
Sir, I admire the mode of yourshotUder-tiiot; methinks
It hangs very emphatically, and carries an air of travel in
it ; your sword-knot too is . . . modish.
Farquhar, Constant Couple, i. 1.
I could not but wonder to see pantaloons and shoulder
knoU crowding among the common clowns [on a jury].
Koger SorOt, Lord Guilford, I. 289.
It is impossible to describe all the execution that was
done by the thouider-lmot, while that fashion prevailed.
SteeU. Tatler, So. 151.
2. An epaulet. — 3. A piece of Jewelry made
to wear on the shoulder, as a brooch or simple
ornament: most generally a diamond pin set
with many stones. — 4. Oiae of certain noctuid
moths : an EnglLsh collectors' name. Hadeiia
basilhiea is the rustic shoulder-knot Sbovlder-
Imot grouse, the rulfed grouse, Bonata umbella. Also
tipf>ft-jruutfe. J. Latham, 1783; J. Sabine, 1823.
shoulder-knotted (shol'd^r-not'ed), a. [<
Hlioulder-kuot + -«(-.] Wearing a shoulder-
knot.
A thotdder-hwtted Puppy, with a grin,
(Queering the threadbare Curate, let him In.
Caiman tfie Younger, Poetical Vagaries, p. 144. {DavUt.)
shoulder-lobe (shol'd^r-lob), n. Seeprothora-
cic sliniilitir-lobe.-i, under protlioracie.
shoulder-moth (shol'd^r-moth), >i. One of cer-
tain noctuid moths: an English collectors'
name. Aijrolin plerta is the flame-shoulder.
shoulder-note fshol'd^r-not), m. See jiofel, 5.
shoulder-pegged (sliol'dtr-pegd), a. Gourdy,
stilT, ami nliiiost without motion: applied to
horses.
shoulder-piece (shdl'd^tr-pes), r. A shoulder-
strap ; a strap or piece joining the front and
back of a garment, and passing over the shoul-
der.
It [the ephodl shall hare the two tkouldenieeea thereof
joined at the two edge* thereof ; and so it snail be Joined
together. Ex. xxrill. 7.
shoulder-pitcht (sh6l'd6r-pich), n. The point
of the shoulder; the acromion.
Acromion, The thouider pitch, or point, wherewith the
hinder and fore part* of the necke are joyned together.
CotffTttBe,
shoulder-pole (shdl'd6r-pol), n. A pole to be
carried on the shoulders of two persons to sup-
port a burden slung between them.
The doable gate was thrown open to admit a coople of
fettered convicts carrying water In a large wooden backet
slung between them on a thoulder-pole.
Tht Century, XXXVII. S5.
Shotllder-8Crew(8h6rd6r-8kro), «. An external
screw iiiadc with a shotilder which limits the
distaiicf to which it can be screwed in.
shoulder-shield (shol'dt-^r-sheld), n. l. Same
a,spaiil((roH. — 2. An outer and aidditional piece
of armor worn in the just or tourney, general-
ly on the left shoulder only.
sHotllder-shotten (8h6rder-shot'n),a. Sprain-
ed in the shoulder, as a horse.
Swayed in the back and thmildcrihotten.
Shak., T. of the S., UL 2. 56.
shoulder-slip (sholMf-r-slip), n. A slip or
Horain of the shoulder; a dislocation of the
slioulder-joint.
The horse will probably take so mnch care of himself
as U) come off with only a strain or a thouldtr-ttip.
Swifl, Advice to Henrauta (Groom).
shoulder-slipped (shol'der-slipt), a. Having
a slip of the .slioulder; suffering dislocation of
the shoulder-joint.
Mr. Kloyd brought word they could not come, for one
of their horses was thouldertiipt.
Hoger North, Examen, p. 17:t.
He mounted him again upon Raalnant«^ who was half
thoulder-Mipped .
JarviM, tr. of Don Quixote, L L 8. [Datit*.)
shoulder-splayed (sfadl'd^r-splad), a. Same as
Klioidilcr-nliii/ifd.
shoulder-spotted (shol'dfer-spot'ed), a. H&v-
ing sitotted shmilders: as, the shoulder-tpotted
ro<iuet, Uociiiliiibm itrnatug, a tropical Ameri-
can lizard.
shoulder-strap (shol'der-strap), n. 1. A strap
worn over the shouMcr to support the dress or
some article to be carried.
5593
He then mends the ghotdder-gtrap of his powder-honi
and pouches. W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 203.
2. A narrow strap of cloth edged with gold bul-
lion, and in most eases ornamented with gold or
silver bullion, worn on the shoulder by naval
and military commissioned officers as a badge of
rank. The color of the cloth in the I'nited States army
distinguishes the various corps, while in the navy a pecu-
liar ornament in addition to tlie insignia of rank is used
to designate the corps. A strap without a bar signities
a second lieutenant, the corresponding navy grade being
the ensign ; one bar, tlrst lieutenant in the army and ju-
nior lieutenant in the na^-y ; two bars, captain in the army
and lieutenant in the navy ; a gold leaf, major and lieu-
tenant-commander; a silver leaf, lieutenant-colonel and
commander ; a silver eagle, colonel and captain ; a silver
star, brigadier-general and commodore ; two silver stars,
major-general and rear-admiral ; three silver stars, lieu-
tenant-general and vice-admiral ; four silver stars, general
and admiral.
In the army of the I'nited States the rank of officers
is determined by the insignia on the epaulettes and
ihmdderstrapg. WUhelm, Mil. Diet, p. 475.
3. Same as epauUire.
shoulder-tippet (shol'd^r-tip'et), n. In en-
toiii.. ii pntatrium. See patagium (c).
shoulder-wrench (shol'der-rench), «. A
wrench, strain, or sprain of the shotilder.
shouler, «. A dialectal form ot shoveler^.
Shoup (shoup), H. [Also dial. chouj>(-trce); <
ME. schowpe, sco/iei-tre); perhaps ult. connected
with Aip2(AS. /«"o/)e, etc.): see Ay)2.] Same as
Ai>2. Cath. Ang., p. 338. [Prov. Eng.]
shourt, shouret, »• Middle English forms of
.t/ioicerl.
shouf^ (shout), r. [Early mod. E. also shmct,
shoute, shoicte; < ME. shouten, schouieit ; origin
unknown.] I. intrans. 1. To utter a loud sig-
nificant call or outcry, either inarticulate, as
in laughter, calls, signals, etc., or articulate;
speak m a very loud and vehement manner.
It is generally applied to loud utterance or calling out in
order to express joy, applause, or exultation, to give an
alarm, to draw attention, or to incite to an action.
With that gau al hire meyne for to ghoutc:
'* A ! go we se, caste up the gates wide."
Chaucer, Troilus, ii. 814.
All the loaa of God ihouted for joy. Job xxxviii. 7.
2. To order drink for another or others as a
treat. [Slang, Australia and U. S.]
And io I Mouted for him and he thouted tor me, and at
last I says—" Butty," lan I, "who are theae chaps round
here on the lay? " M. Xinyaley, Oeoffry Hamlyn, p. S3S.
lie must drink a nobbier with Tom, and be prepared to
duntt for all hands at least once a day.
A. C. Orant, Bush Life in Queensland, I. 343.
To shout at, to deride or revile with shouts.
That man would be thouted at that should come forth
in his great-grandaire's suit, though not rent, not discol-
oured.
Bp. Uall, Fashions of the World, Sermon, Rom. xll. 2.
II. trans. To utter in a loud and vehement
voice ; utter with a shout ; express with raised
voice.
They threw their caps, . . .
Shouting their emulation. Shak., Cor., i. 1. 21&
The people cried, . . .
Shouting, "Sir Galahad and Sir Perclrale ! "
Tennyton, HolyOraU.
shout' (shout), ti. [< ME. showte, schoicte ; <
xliout^, I'.] A vehement and sudden outcry, ex-
pressing joy, exultation, animated courage, or
other emotion ; also, a loud call to attract atten-
tion at a distance, to be heard by one hard of
hearing, or the like. A shout is generally near a mid.
die pitch of the voices aa opposed to a cry, scream, shriek,
or screech, which are all at a high pitch, and a roar, which
is at a low pitch.
Than a-roos a ahovte and so grete noyse that alle thel
tho turned to Right, and the chase be-gan that looge en-
dured, for from euensonge it lasted vnto nyght.
Mertia (E. E. T. S.), IL 223.
Thursday, the vlj Day of Januarii, the .Maryoners made
a grett Shoiete, sevng to vs that they sey londe,
Torkington. Diarle of Eng. Travel], p. 60.
The universal host up sent
A akout that tore hell's concave.
Milton, P. L., 1. 542.
Great was the thout of guns from the castles and ship.
Pepyt, Diary, April 9, 166a
shout^ (shout), n. [Prob. a var. of scout^ in like
sense; otherwise a dial. var. of shoot, and so
called with ref . to its light movement.] A small
boat, nearly flat-bottomed and very light, used
for passing over the drains in various parts of
Lincolnshire: when broader and larger it is
used in shooting wild ducks in the marshes,
and is then called a gunning-shout. [Brov.
Eng.]
And from two boats, forfeited anew in this year, of
which one dung-boat, called a ghowte. nothing here, be-
cause not yet appraised, but remaining in the custody of
the accouiptant of waifs and estrays.
AnhMologia, X.XIV. 303. (UaUiuxU.)
shove
shouter (shou'tfr), n. 1. One who shouts.
A peal of loud applause rang out.
And thin'd the air, till even the birds fell down
Upon the shuuters' heads. Dryden, CTeomenes, i. 1
Hence — 2. A noisy or enthusiastic adherent
of a person or cause. [Slang, U. S.]
shou'tmant (shout'man), n. [< should + man.']
One who manages or uses a shout. See shout^,
Archmologia, XXIV. 303.
shove (shuv), v.; pret. and pp. shoved, ppr.
shoiHng. [< ME. shoven, scliovcti, shoofen, ssofen
(weak verb, pret. shovede), usually schouren,
showvcii (strong verb, pret. shof, pp. shoien,
shove), < AS. scofiaii (weak verb, pret. scofode),
usually scufun (strong verb, pret. scedf, pi. scu-
foH, pp. scofen) = OFries. skuva = D. schuiven =
MLG. schuven = OHG. sciupan, sceopan, MHG.
G. schiehen = Icel. skufa, skyfa = Sw. skuffa =
Dan. skubbe = Goth, skiuban, shove ; allied to
iikt.-\^kshubh, become agitated, in causal form
agitate, shake, impel; cf. Lith. skiibti, hasten,
OBulg. skiibati, pull, pluck. Hence ult. shovc^,
sheafi, scuffle^, shuffle.'] I. trans. 1. To press or
push along by the direct application of strength
continuously exerted; particularly, to push
(something) so as to make it slide or move along
the surface of another body, either by the hand
or by an instrument: as, to shove a table along
the floor ; to shove a boat into the water.
Brennynge brymstone and lede many a barelle fulle.
They ghoo/edde hit downne ryste as shyre watur.
MS. CoU. Calig. A. ii., f. 116. {Hatliwell.)
The hand could pluck her back that ghoved her on.
Shak., A. and C.,i. 2. 131.
The players [at shovel-board] stand at the end of the ta-
ble, . . . each of them having four flat weights of metal,
which they shove from them one at a time alternately.
Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 385.
The maiden lady herself, sternly inhospitable in her
first purposes, soon began to feel that the d<Kir ought to
be shoved back, and the rusty key be turned in the reluc-
tant lock- Hawthorne, Seven Gables, It.
2t. To prop; support.
Hit [a tree] hadde shorlers to shoue hit up.
Piers Plowman (C), xlx. 20.
3. To push roughly or without ceremony;
press against ; jostle.
Of other care they little reckoning make
Than how to scramble at the shearers' feast,
And ihote away the worthy bidden guest !
Milton, Lycidas, 1. 118.
He used to shove and elbow his fellow-servants to get
near his mistress. Arbuthnot.
4t. To push ; bring into prominence.
If that I live, thy name shal be shove
In English, that thy sleighte shal be knowe.
Chaucer, Good Women, L 1881.
To shove by, to push aside or away ; delay or reject.
Offence's gilded hand may shove bv justice.
Shak., Hamlet, UI. 3. 68.
To shove down, to overthrow by pushing.
And on Friday, after sakeryng, one come fro cherch
warde, and schofe doune all that was thereon, and trad on
the wall and brake sum, and wente over.
Patton Letters, I. 217.
A strong man was going to tAow down St. Paul's cupola.
Arbuthnot.
To shove olT, to thrust or push off or away ; cause to
move from shore by pushing witlT poles or oars ; as, to
shove o/Ta boat.
The country-folk wasted their valor upon entrenchments
which held them easily at bay till the black boats were
shoved uffUi sea again. J. B. Wreen, Conq. of Eng., p. iiit.
To shove the queer. See jueeri. = Syn. L To push, pro-
pel, drive. See thrtisi,
II. intrans. 1. To press or push forward;
push ; drive ; move along.
He sAo/ay on, he to and fro was sent.
Chaucer, Troilus, ill. 487.
And here is greet hevyng an ghovynn be my Lord of
Suffolk and all his counsellfor to aspye hough this mater
kam aboute. Pastan Letters, I. 41.
2. To move in a boat by pushing with a pole or
oar which reaches to the bottom of the water
or to the shore: often with off or from.
Every man must know how mirch water his own vessel
draws, and not to think to sail over, wheresoever he hath
seen another . . . shove over. Donne, Sermons, XIll.
He grasp'd the oar,
Recelv'd his guests aboard, and shov'd from shore.
Garth.
3. To germinate; shoot; also, to cast the first
teeth. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
shove (shuv), n. [< ME. shnffc (= Sw. skuff =
Dan. skub) ; < shore, v.] 1. The act of shoving,
pushing, or pressing by strength continuously
exerted; a strong push, generally along or as
if along a surface.
Than thel ffrusshed in so rudely that thei threwe CCC at
the ftrste shofe In theire comynge.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), U. 219;
shove
1 nstod two minutes, and then f^ave the boat another
ckoM. Sw\ft, Gulliver's Travels, i. 8.
An* *e ligs on "is back i' the grip, wi' noan to lend 'im a
thove, Tennyson, Northern Fanner, New Style.
2. The central woody part of the stem of flax ov
hemp ; the boon. — 3. A forward movement of
packed and piled ice ; especially, such a move-
ment in the St. Lawrence river at Montreal,
caused in the early winter by the descent of the
ground-ice from the Laehine Bapids above,
which, on reselling the islands below the city, is
packed, thus forming a dam. The body of water
lomied by the dam burst* the crust of ice on its surface,
and the current shoves or pushes the ice in great cakes or
blocks, forming in some places nuisaes over 80 feet high.
In the spring the shove is caused by the breaking or honey-
combing of the ice by the heat of the sun and the pressure
of the ice brought from Lake St. I.ouis by the current.
[Local, Canada.]
Some gentlemen were looking at the tons of ice piled
upon the dike Wednesday, and the conversation turned
upon the power of the ice during a shove.
Montreal (Canada) Witness, Feb. 7, 1889.
shove-boardt f shuv'bord), n. [< shove + board ;
appar. suggested by shove-groat, < shove + obj.
groat. The other form, shovel-board, appears to
be earlier.] Same as shovel-board, 1 and 2.
With me (a shilling of Edward VI.] the nnthrifts every day.
With my face downward, do at shove-board play.
John Taylor, Travels of Twelve-pence. (Nares.)
shove-groatt (shuv'grot), n. [< shove + obj.
groat.] Same as shovel-board, 1 and 2.
Pist. Thrust him down stairs ! know we not Galloway
nags?
Fal. Quoit him down, Bai'dolph, like a shove-groat shil-
ling. Shak., ■> Hen. IV., ii. 4. 206.
Made it run as smooth off the tongue as a shove-groat
shilling. B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, iil. 2.
shove-halfpennyt (8huv'ha"pe-ni), n. Same
as shovel-board, 1 and 2.
I remarked, however, a number of parallel lines, such
as are used for playing shove halfpenny, on a deal table in
the tap-room frequented by them.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II. 198.
shovel'^ (shuv'l), n. [< ME. shovele, schovel,
schovele, sltotcell, schoule, shole (> E. dial. s/iom(,
shool), < AS. scofl, scofle, in oldest form scohl (=
D. schoffel = Sw. skofvel = Dan. skovl; cf. (with
long vowel) MLG. schufele, schufle, schuffele, LG.
sehiifel, schuffel = OHG. scuvala, MHG. schu-
fele, schufel, G. schaufel), a shovel, < scufan (pp.
sco/en), shove: see shove.] 1. An instrument
consisting of a broad scoop or concave blade
with a handle, used for taking up and removing
loose substances, as coal, sand, earth, gravel,
com, coin, etc. The most common form of shovel is
that used for removing loose earth, coal, or the like; it
is made of thin iron, the blade square and flat, with low
sides nearly at right angles with it, and a wooden handle
somewhat curved, about two feet si.v inches in length, and
terminating in a bow-handle. Ste fire-shovel.
Tho nome hi spade and schoie and ner the place wende
Depe hi gonne to delue. Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 42.
To knock him about the sconce with a dirty shovel.
Shak., Hamlet, v. 1. 110.
2. A shovel-hat. [Colloq.]
A queer old hat, something like a doctor of divinity's
shovel. T. Uughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, i. 2.
3. In zool., a formation suggesting a shovel.
See cuts under paddle-fish and shaveler^. — 4.
See the quotation. [Slang.]
In the early days after the Crimean War, the engineers
in the Navy were a rough lot. They were good men, but
without much education. They were technically known
as shovels. Tlie Engineer, LXVII. 344.
Mouth of a BhoveL See mouth.— TrongeA shovel, a
shovel made with prongs Instead of an undivided blade :
used for moving broken stone, etc.
shovell (shuv'l), V. ; pret. and pp. shoveled or
shovelled, ppr. shoveling or shovelling. [< ME.
schovelen (= D. schoffelen, hoe, = G. schaufeln
= Sw. slcofla = Dan. skovle, shovel); from the
noun. Ct.shoul.] 1. trans. 1. To take up and
move with a shovel.
In winter, to shovel away the snow from the side-walk.
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, iv.
2. To move or throw in large quantities, hastily
and clumsily, as if with a shovel: as, to shovel
food into the mouth with a knife To shovel up.
(a) To throw up with a shovel. (6) To cover up with earth
by means of a spade or shovel.
Oh I who would fight and march and countermarch,
Be shot for sixpence in a battle-field.
And shoveU'd up into a bloody trench
Where no one knows ? Tennyson, Audley Court.
H. in trans. To use a shovel : &a, to shovel tor
one's living.
shovePt, n. [A particular use of shovel^, or
abbr. of shoveler'^, shorelbill.'] Same as .shovelcr^.
Hollyband, 1593. ( IfnlUivi ll, under shovell.)
shoveFt, V. [< ME. shovcten; a var. of shuffle,
q. v.] An obsolete form of shuffle.
5594
Shoveling [var. gtumUende^^ forth.
Wyclif, Tobit xi. 10. {Strattnann.)
They heard him (juietly, without any shovelling of feet,
or walking up and down.
Latimer, 6th Sermon bef. Edw. VI., 1549.
shovelart, " • An obsolete spellingof shovelcr'^.
shovelardt (shuv'el-ard), n. [< ME. schovelord,
schevelard (cf. contf. shoulerd, < ME. 'schou-
lard, scholarde) ; a var. of shovcler^, with accom.
suffix -nrrf. Cf. shoulerd.] 1. An obsolete form
of shoveler^, 1.
No manner of deer, heron, shovelard — a speAes of duck.
Statute 33 Hen. VIII., quoted in S. Dowell's Taxes in
[England, III. 284.
2. An obsolete form of shovcler^, 2.
shovelbill (shuv'l-bil), «. Same as slwveler^, 1.
[Local, U. S.]
shovel-board, shuffle-board (shuv'l-bord,
shuf'l-bord), n. [Early mod. E. also shoofle-
board, shoofleboord ; < shovel^, shuffle, + board.
Cf. shovehoard, which is appar. later, but on
etymological grounds is prob. earlier.] 1. A
game in which the playera shove or drive by
blows of the hand pieces of money or counters
toward certain marks, compartments, or lines
marked on a table. As the game is played in recent
times, the players strive to shove the counters beyond a
certain line and as near the end of the table as possible,
without shoving them entirely oft. Formerly also shove-
board, and (because often played with silver pieces), shove-
groat, slide-groat, shovel-penny, or shove-half jienny.
On a night when the lieutenant and he for their disport
were plaieing at slidegrote or shoofieboord.
StanihuTst, Chron. of Ireland, an. 1528 (Holinshed's
[Chron.).
The game of shovelboard, though now considered as ex-
ceedingly vulgar, and practised by the lower classes of the
people, was formerly in great repute among the nobility
and gentry ; and few of their mansions were without a
shovel-board. Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 16.
2. The table or board on which the game of
shovel-board is played ; also, the groat, shilling,
or other coin used in the game.
Away slid I my man like a shovel-board shilling.
Middleton and Dekker, Iloaring Uirl, v. 1.
3. A game played on shipboard by pushing
wooden or iron disks with a crutch-shaped
mace or cue so that they may rest on one of
the squares of a diagram of nine numbered
squares chalked on the deck — Edward shovel-
boardt, a shilling of Edward VI., formerly used in play-
ing shovel-board.
Seven groats in mill-sixpences, and two Edward shovel-
boards, that cost me two shilling and twopence a-piece.
Shak., M. W. of W., i. 1. 169.
shoveleri, shovelleri (shuv'l-*r), ?i. [< ME.
schoveler; < shovelX -\- -e?-l.] One who shovels.
The flllers-in, or shovellers of dust into the sieves of sift-
ers. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II. 194.
shoveler^, shoveller^ (shuv'1-er), «. [Early
mod. E. also shovelcr, dial, contr. shonler; < ME.
schoveler (cf . var. shovelar, shovelard, shoulerd) ;
a particular use of shoveler^, or formed indepen-
dently < shovel^ + -ir'^ ; so called with ref . to its
broad bill (from which it is also called broad-
bill and spoonbill).] 1. A duck. Spatula cly-
peata, having a very broad bill which widens
toward the end. It is a medium-sized fresh-water
duck of the subfamily Anatirue, inhabiting Europe, Asia,
show
greenish-gray. The shoveler is one of the best ducks for
the table. Slore fully called blue-uin</ed or red-breasted
shoveler, and mud -shoveler ; also shovelbill. spoonbill, spoon-
billed duck, spoon-billed teal or widgeon, broadbill, broody,
and swaddlebill.
2. Tlie si)oonbill Platalca leucorodia.
The shovelar with his brode beck. Skelton.
shovel-fish (shuv'l-fish), ». Same as sliovel-
hiiid.
shovel-footed (shuv'l-fufed), a. [< ME. schov-
clle-fottde ; < shovel^ + foot + -cfP.] Having
feet like shovels; having broad and flat feet.
Sehovetle-.fotede was that schalke, and schaylaude hynie
semyde,
With schankez unschaply, schowande [shoving, knocking]
to gedyi-s. Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), L 1098.
shovelful (shuv'1-fiU), «. [< shovell -(- ./«;.]
As much as a shovel will hold or will readily
lift at one time.
Not a shovel.fvl of earth had been thrown up in those
three weeks to fortify either the Federal camps or the ap-
proaches to the d^pot of Pittsburg Landing.
Comte de Paris, Civil War in America (trans.), I. 535.
shovel-hat (shuv'1-liat), n. A broad-brimmed
hat, turned up at the sides and projecting in
front, worn by clergymen of the Church of Eng-
land.
The profession of this gentleman's companion was un-
mistakable — the shovel-hat, the clerical cut of the coat,
the neck-cloth without collar. Bulwer, My Novel, xi. 2.
Whereas the English Johnson only bowed to every
Clergyman, or map with a shovel-kat, I would bow to every
Man with any sort of hat, or with no hat whatever.
Carlyle, Sai-tor Kesartus, liL C.
Shovelhead (shtiv'1-hed), «. 1. The shovel-
lieaded sturgeon, Scaphirhynchops platyrhyu-
Shoveler (.Spatula clyptula).
Africa, and America. The male is of showy party-colored
plumage, with glossy dark-green head like a mallard's,
white breast, purplish-chestnut abdomen, sky-blue wing-
coverts, and rich green speculunj set in black and white,
black rump and tail-coverts, blackish bill, orange eyes,
and vermilion or red feet. The female is much less gaudy.
The length is from 17 to 21 inches. The eggs are about 8
in numbei, little over 2 by IJ inches in size, pale-drab or
Sliovel-headed Sturgeon f^Scaphirhynchops platyrhyHcku^.
chus, or another of the same genus. — 2. The
bonnet-headed shark, Sphyrna or Reniceps ti-
buro. See cut under shark'^, n.
shovel-headed (shuv'l-hed"ed), a. Having a
broad, flat snout, like a shovel : specifically
noting the shovelheads Shovel-headed shark.
See sharks.
shoveling-flat (shuv' ling-flat), «. In naval
arch., a flat smfaee in a fire-room or coal-
bunker where coal may be shoveled conve-
niently. It is generally made of thicker iron
to resist the wearing of the shovels.
shoveller, n. See sfioveler'^, shoveler"^.
shovelnose (shuv'l-noz), n. 1. The shovel-
nosed sturgeon. — 2. One of two different
shovel-nosed sharks, (a) The sand-shark, Carehariat
(or OdoiUaspi^) amerieamis. (6) A cow-shark of the Paciflc
coast of the United States, Ilexaiichus (or Nolidanufi) cori-
nus.
shovel-nosed (shuv'l-nozd), a. Same as shovel-
headed.
shovel-pennytCshuv'l-pen'i),*!. Same Sbsshovel-
hoard, 1.
shovel-plow (shuv'1-plou), n. A plow, with a
simple triangular share, used for cultivating
the ground between growing crops.
shover (shuv'er), n. {= D. schuiver = MLG.
schuver; as shove, v., + -erl.] One who or that
which shoves. Specifically— (o)Onewho pushes, poles,
or sets a boat. [Local, U. S.]
The moon is at its full in September or October, and the
perigee, or in shover parlance "pagy," tides take place.
Sportsman's Gazetteer, p. 177.
(6) A pole with which the month of the tunnel of a flsh-
pound is opened and closed. [I.ake Michigan.] — Shover
of the queer, one who passes counterfeit coin. [Slang. )
show! (sho), r. ; pret. showed, pp. shown or
showed, ppr. showing. [Also archaically shew
(the older form); < ME. shewen, schetren,
schaweii, scheawen, scheauwen, seawen, scaicen, <
AS. scedivian (pret. scedtvode, pp. scedwod), see,
behold, also make to see, show, = OS. skawon
= OFries. skauia, skowia, schoia, skua = D.
schouwen, inspect, view, = MLG. schouweu =
OHG. scawon, scauwon, scowon, scouwon, see,
look at, consider, MHG. schowen, .schouwen, G.
schauen, see, behold, = Dan. skuc, behold, =
Goth, 'skawjan (in comp. us-skawjan, awake),
*skag(iw6n. see ; cf. Goth, skuggwa, a looking-
glass; OHG. scMcar, scuchar, a looking-glass;
AS. scna = OHG. scuwo = Icel. skuggi, shade
(seeskug); Icel. skygna, spy, skodha, spy, skyn,
insight, perception ; < Teut. a/ •*«' see, per-
ceive, = L. cavere (%/ *scav), take heed, be care-
ful, orig. look about, = Gr. koiiv, notice ; cf.
Skt. kavi, wise ; OBulg. chiiti. know, perceive. =
Sloven. Serv. chuti, hear, =Bohem. chiti = Fo\.
cmc, feel, = Russ. chuyatt, feel, dial, chuti,
show
hear. From the root otshow^ are vdt.E.scavage'^,
gcafager, scavenger, etc., sheen^, etc., skug, etc.
The pp. shown (like sawn, sewn, etc.) is modern,
conformed to the analogy of sown, bhwn, etc.]
1. trans. 1. To let be .seen; manifest to the
sight ; disclose ; discover.
Than be-gan the day for to clere, and the Sonne to sheuv
out his hemes and dryed theire hameys.
MeHin (E. E. T. S.\ iii. 443.
All the more it seeks to hide itself,
The bigger bullc it showg.
Shak., Tempest, iii 1. 81.
The sportive wind blows wide
Their flutt'ring rags, and «A«k» a tawny skin.
Cowper, Task, I £68.
2. To exhibit or present to the view ; place in
sight; display.
The men, which wonder at their wounds.
And sheice their scarres to euery commer by.
Qancoijne, Steele Olas, etc. (ed. Arber), p 66.
Go thy way, shew thyself to the priest. Mat. viiL 4.
I was thown in it a sketch of bombs and mortars as they
irenowiued.
Additon, Remarks on Italy (Works, ed. Bohn, I. 371).
3. To communicate; reveal; make known; dis-
close.
They knew when he Bed, and did not thev> it to me.
1 Sam. xxii. 17.
O, let me live !
.\nd all the secreta of oar camp 111 thmc.
Shak., All's Well, iv. 1. 93.
Know, I am sent
To thow thee what shall come in future days.
Milton, If. U, xl 3i7.
4. To prove; manifest; make apparent or clear
by evidence, reasoning, etc. ; demonstrate; ex-
plain.
Whan thei berden what he was, the! aeiden as gladde
peple that he thewed well fro whens he wag comen.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), lU. 482.
This continuall coarse and manner of writing or speech
ihttttth the matter and dispoaition of the writers mlnde
more than one or few wordea or sentences can ihtie.
PvOmkam, Arte of Eng. Poeaie, p. 123.
He dnws upon life's map a zigzag line.
That atom how far 'Ua safe to follow ain.
Cowper, Hope, L OOS.
Show yoar good breeding, at leut, tboagh you have for-
got your duty. Sheridan, The Klvala, ir. 2.
8. To inform; teach; instruct.
One of the bla^k onea went with me to carry a quarter
of beef, and I went ... to ihow her how to com It.
W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. aS.
6. To mark; indicate; point out.
"We seche the kynge Arthur." ... At this worde an-
aaerde Nascicn, ... "My feire aonea, lo, hym yonde,"
. . . and theicde hym with tala fynger.
Mertin (B. E. T. .S.), ii. 371.
An altar of black stone, of old wrought well.
Alone beneath a ruined rmjf now showed
The goal whereto the folk were wont to crowd.
Waiiam Morrit, Earthly Paradiie, I. 82S.
7. To point out the way to; guide or usher;
conduct.
Come, good sir, wQI yoa $how me to this house?
Shak., M. of V., Iv. i. 2a
O, gentlemen, I beg pardon for not showing you out ;
this way. Sheridan, School tor Scandal, Iv. 2.
8. To bestow ; confer ; afford : as, to ahotv favor
or mercy.
And eke, o lady myn, Pacecia !
My penne thow guyde, and helpe vnto me ihewe.
Baheee Book (E. E. T. S.X p. 2.
Felii, willing to thew the Jews a pleaaure, left Paul
bound. Acta xiiv. 27.
The Commons of England . . . treated their living cap-
tain with that discriminating justice which is seldom
ih/nni cjcept to the dead. Maeauiaj/, Lord Cllve.
9. To explain ; make clear; interpret ; expound.
What this montaigne bymeneth and the merke dale
And the leide f al of folke, I abal 30W faire lehewe.
Ptert Plowman (BX i. 2.
Interpreting of dreams, and shewing of hard aentencea
and dissolving of donbta. Dan. v. 12.
10. Fitfiiratively, to exercise or use upon,
usually in a slight and superficial way; barely
touch w^ith. [Colloq. and humorous.]
As for hair, tho' It's red. It 's the moat nicest hair when
I've time to Just lAoic it the comb.
Uood, The Lost Heir.
To show a let See lf:i. To show cause. See catm.
— To show fl^t, to irianifeHt a <liK|K>(tition or r^ullneaa
to resist. — To Bhow forth, to manifest; publish: pro-
claim.
O Ix)rd, open thou my lips ; and my mouth shall shew
forth thy praise. p,. h. 15.
To Show off, to set off ; exhibit In an ostentatious man-
ner: as, tosAoui of one's accomplishmenta.— To show
one's colon. .See wV'/r To show one's hand. See
haiul. to show one the door, to cliHiiiiwi om- from the
room ..r hou».. - To sbowthe cloven hoof. ^^Kfclnrm.
— To show the cold shoulder. .•*(■.■ r,././ To show
tneelephant. .s. .■.^7./,o„^ To show the heels, show
a dean pair of heels. See heel 1 . To show the white
feather. See wfiUe feather, under feather. — To show
up, to expose : hold up to animadveision, ridicule, or con-
tempt : as, to show up an impostor.
How far he was justiflej in showing up his friend .Mack-
lin may admit of question.
Jon Bee, Kssay on Samuel Foote, p. Ixxix.
It would be unprofitable to spend more time in disen-
tangling, or ratlier in showing up the knots in, the ravelled
skeins of our neighbours. Huxley, Lay Sermons, p. 30.
II. intrans. 1. To be seen; appear; become
visible or manifest ; come into sight, or, figura-
tively, into knowledge.
The Almykanteras in her astrolabies ben streyhte as a
line so as shewyth in this ligure.
Chaucer, Astrolabe, ii. 26.
The Are i' the flint
Shows not till it be struck.
Shak.,T. of A., L 1. 23.
The painter, whose pictures show best at a distance, but
'^'iry near, more unpleasing.
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, i.
A faint green light began to show
Far in the east
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, I. 23a
Cuckoo, calling from the hill.
Swallow, skimming by the mill,
Mark the seasons, map our year.
As they show and disappear.
M. Arnold, Poor Matthias.
2. To make one's (or its) appearance; be visi-
ble; be present. [Now colloq.]
Sche lyethe in an olde Castelle, in a Cave, and schewtthe
twyes or thryes in the Zeer. Mandeville, Travels, p. 2S.
The ladies. . . . finding the rapid gallops and easy leaps
of the "light landa " greatly to their taste, always showed
In good numbers. J. C. Jeaffreson, Live it Down, xL
To show off, to make a show ; make a conscious and more
or less obvious display of one's accompliahmenta or ad-
vantages ; display one a self. See also showing.of.
Young gentlemen . . . aAoiro^ to advantage beside the
befastianed, rastlc, and inebriate portion of the crowd.
OrenmUe Murray, Round about France, p. 226.
To show np, to appear; put In an appearance ; attend
or be preaent [Colloq.)
Bhowi (sho), B. [Also archaically iAeip; <ME.
sckeipe, < AS. scedwe, a show.
D. schouv) (in
sehouie-spel, a spectacle, show) = MLG. schouwe
= G. schau = Dan. skue, a show, view ; from tlie , , ; ,
verb.] 1. The act of showing or exhibiting to P'a^ard announcing a show
" " to view or no- Show-box (sho'boks), n.
shower
They seem'd a while tobestin- them with ashew of dili-
gence in thir new alfaira. Milton, Hist. Eng., iii.
6. The first sanguinolent discharge in labor;
also, the first indication of the menses. [Col-
loq.]— 7. A sign; indication; prospect; prom-
ise: as, a shotv of petroleum; a ,^how of gold.
[U. S. and Australia.]
The depth to which a well is diilled is generally regu-
lated by tlie depth of the producing wells in the immedi-
ate vicinity, and sometimes by the show, as it is called, of
the oil in the well. Cone and Johns, Petrolia, p. 144.
8. Chance; opportunity. [Colloq., U. S.]
Tom may be innocent ; and he ought to have a fair show,
anyhow. E. Eggleston, The Graysons, xi.
[Used attributively to indicate display or effect : as, this
is a show day at the club ; B was the show figure of the
party. ] — A show of hands, a raising of hands, as a means
of indicating the sentiments of a meeting upon some prop-
osition.—Dumb show. See dumb-show.— Show Sun-
day, the Sunday before Commemoration at Oxford Uni-
versity.—To make a show, to show off ; make a display.
Hee seemes not sincerely religious, especially on sol-
emne dales ; for he comes oft to Church to make a shew.
Bp. Earle, Micro-cosmographie, An Alderman.
= S3m. 1 and 2. Sight, representation. — 3. Display, Parade,
etc. (see ostentation), flourish, dash, pageantry, splendor,
ceremony. — 6. Color, mask.
show-, V. A dialectal variant of shore.
show^ (sho), w. [Also sheir ; prob. a reduced
form of s/iorfel, .ihood, lit. 'separation,' applied
to various uses: see shodcl, shode^, shood.]
Kef use: used in the plural.
He . . . recommends that the ground immediately un-
der the stem of the oak, l)irch, and other trees which de-
mand most attention shall be covered with a substance
called shews, being t^e refuse of a flax-mill, which of
course serves to exclude the drought, like the process
which gardeners call mulching.
Scvtt, Prose Works, XXI. 142.
Coal used to be quarried in Scholes. ... It must . . .
have been worked at a very early period, and the heaps
of shows (refuse and cinders . . .) would naturally give a
name to the place.
Quoted In N. and Q., 7th ser., IX. 256.
show-bill (sho'bil), )(. A placard or other ad-
vertisement, usually printed, containing an an-
nouncement of goods for sale ; also, such a
the view ; exposure or exhibition to view or no-
A box containing
some object or objects of curiosity exhibited
as a show, as the box for a Punch and Judy
show.
tice; manifestation; demonstration
But I have that within which passeth shotc;
Theae but the trappings and the suits of woe.
Shak., Ilandet, i. 2. 86.
Nor doth this grandeur and majestlck show
Of luxury, though call'd magnificence,
. . . allure mine eye. MUlun, P. R., It. 110.
Not long after the Admiral's Death the Protector was Showbtead, shewbread (sho'bred), n. [= G.
Invaded with serenil Accusatlona; wherein the Earl of sclidubrod = H\v. sk&debriid = Dan. skuebrod;
Mankind are his show box — » friend, would yon know
himy
Pull the string, ruling passion the picture will show him.
Bums, Fragment Inscribed to Fox.
Warwick made not always the greatest show, but had yet
always the greatest hand. Baker, Chrouiclea, p. 807.
2. Appearance, whether true or false; sem-
blance; likeness.
Long she thaa travelled, . . ,
Yet never shew of living wight espyde.
Spenser, F. (J., I. iii. 10.
Of their Fmlta, Ananaa la reckoned one of the beat, in
taste like an Aprioocke, In «A«w a farre off like an Arti-
choke, but witboat pricklea, very aweete of sent
Purehas, Pilgrimage, p. 505.
Nor was this opinion destitute of a show of reason.
Maeaulay, Hist. Eng., vL
His Intellectual we piCTcealnatanUy beneath the sAoMi shoW-Card (sho'kard), n. A tradesman's card
of things to the things themselves, and aeems almost to . . ^ " " "'"
behold truth In clear vlalon. Whipj^, Eaa. and Rev., L 22.
3. Ostentatious display; parade; pomp.
Plain without pomp, and rich without a show.
Dryden, Flower and Leaf, I. 187.
In the middle ages, the love of <Aou' waa carried to an
extravagant length. Strvtt, Sporta and Pastimes, p. 24.
I'he city [Geneva] Itself make* the noblest sAoto of any
In the world.
ass/iottil -t- fcrearfl.] Among the ancient Jews,
the bread which was placed every Sabbath
before Jehovah on the table of shittira-wood
overlaid with gold, set in the holy place, on
the north side of the altar of incense, it con-
sisted of twelve loaves, to represent the twelve tribes of
Israel, and was made of fine flour, sprinkled with in-
cense. It waa accounted holy, remained on the golden
table during an entire week, and was eaten In the sanc-
tuary by the priests alone.
Have ye not read . . . how he entered into the house
of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful
for him to eat, ... but only for the priests? Mat. xii. 4.
containing an announcement; also, a card on
wliich patterns are exhibited in a shop.
show-case (sho'kas), «. A case or inclosure of
which all or some of the sides are of glass, in-
tended to keep small and delicate or valuable
objects from dust and injury, while leaving
them in plain sight, whether in a museum or in
a place of sale.
Addison, Remarks on Italy CWork^ ed. Bohn, L S62V shoW-Olld (sho'end), n. That end of a piece of
4. A sight or spectacle; an exhibition; a pa-
geant; a play: as, the Lord Mayor's «/ioir;
specifically, that which is shown for money : as,
a traveling «Aoif; a flower-.«AoK! ; a cattle-.«/K>«!.
Some delightful ostentation, or show, or pageant, or an-
tique, or firework. Shak,, L. L. L., v. 1. 118.
Waa my Lo. Maior's shew, with a number of sumptuous
pageant^ speecbea, and versea.
Evelyn, Diary, Oct. 29, 1662.
Here raree shorn are seen, and Punche's Feats,
And Focket'a pick'd In Crouds and various Cheata.
Oay.
The shrill call, acroaa the general din,
" Roll up yoar curtain ! Let the show begin '. "
Whittier, The Panorama.
5. A feint; a deceptive or plausible appear-
ance; a pretense of something, designed to
mislead; pretext.
In shew to keepe the straits. In deed to expect the enent
Purehas, Pilgrimage, p. .3S6.
Beware of the scribes, . . . which devour widows'
honaea, and for a shew make long prayen. Luke xx. 47.
stuff, as woolen cloth, which forms the outside
of the roll, and is unrolled to be shown to cus-
tomers. It is often ornamented and lettered
with silk or other thre«,d woven into the piece.
shower^ (shou'^r), II. [Early mod. E. also
shoirre; < ME. shour, shoure, schour, schowre,
schur,< AS. scur, a storm, shower (hiegles scfir,
hagal-scur, a hail-shower, regna scur, reii.^cur. a
rain-shower, wotcna scur, ' cloud-shower, ',^aHa
scur, a shower of arrows, scur-boga, shower-
bow, rainbow), also poet, conflict, battle, =08.
skitr, a conflict, battle, = OFries. schur, a fit,
paroxysm, = D. sclioer = MLG. schur = L6.
schure, schuur = OHG. scur, MHG. schur, G.
schauer, a shower, storm, fit, paroxysm, = leel.
skur = Sw. skur = Goth, skura, a storm (skiira
un'ndis, a storm of wind); perhaps orig. 'a thick
dark cloud, rain-cloud'; cf. L. ob.scurvs, and see
«A.V'.] 1. A light, or moderately heavy, fall of
rain, hail, or sleet; used absolutely, a fall of
rain.
shower
Bat gniceles gostis, golours of hem-self,
That neuere had hiuTiesse ne h&yle-schouris,
lUchard the Redelesa, i 26.
Whan that Aprille with his fhottres soote
The droghte of Marche hath pevced to the roote.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 1.
Fiut falls a fleecy ihowr, the downy Hakes
Descending. Cowper, Task. iv. 325.
2. Figuratively, a fall of any liquid iu drops, or
of solid objects in large number.
So fio heuen to belle that hatel schor [of fiends] laste.
AUUeratice PoetasifiA. Morris), ii. :i27.
In the three and twentieth Year a Shower o( Blood rained
in the Isle of Wight two Hours topetlier.
Baker, Clironicles, p. 59.
How quick they wheel'd, and, flying, behind them shot
Shiu'p sleet of arrowy ghowen against the face
Of their pursuers. MUtrnt, P. R., iii. 324.
3. A copious supply bestowed ; liberal distri-
bution.
Sweet Highland girl, a very shower
Of beauty Is thy earthly dower !
Wordsivirrtti^ To a Highland Girl.
4. In pyrotfchny, a device in which small stars
of a slow-burning composition fall from rockets
or shells, presenting the appearance of a shower
of fire. — 5t. An attack; an assault; a conflict;
a battle.
To put the of peril i haue ney perisched oft,
And many a scharp gchour for thi sake tholed.
Waiiam o/Palerne (E. E. T. S.), 1. 4514.
In the laste skour, soth for to telle,
The folk of lYoye heraselven so niysledden
That with the worse at nyght homeward they fledden.
Chaucer, Troilus, iv. 47.
Than thei yaf hem a sharpe »hour that thei were discon-
fited and chaced oute of the place.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 353.
Meteoric showers. See meteoric.
showerl (shou'er), r. [Early mod. E. also
uliowre; < shower^, »(.] I. trans. 1. To water
with or as with a shower ; wet copiously with
rain.
f Or serve they as a flowery verge to bind
The fluid skirts of that same watery cloud.
Lest it again dissolve, and shoicer the earth?
iiaton, V. L., xi. 883.
2. Hence, to wet copiously with water or otlier
liquid in the foi-m of spray or in drops : as, to
shower plants from a watering-pot; to shoioer
one's head in bathing; to shower a convict as
a punishment. — 3. To discharge in a shower;
pour down copiously and rapidly; bestow lib-
erally; distribute or scatter in abundance.
Once more
I shower a welcome on ye.
Ste*., Hen. VIII., i. 4. 03.
We fikower'd darts
Upon them, but in vain ; they reach'd their ships.
Fletcher (and another), false One, v. 4.
On their naked limbs the flowery roof
Shower'd roses. Milton, P. L., iv. 773.
H. in trans. To rain in showers ; fall as a
shower: as, tears showered down his cheeks.
Sir, all the accumulations of honour shovrre down upon
you. Brome, Northern Lass, v. 2.
Before me shower'd the rose in flakes.
Tennyson, Princess, iv.
shower^ (sho'er), n. [ Also, archaically, shetcer;
< 'KE.sheioer, schewer, a shower, a looking-glass,
< AS. scedicere, a looker, spy, < scedwian, look,
see, show: see shoiv^. For the sense 'looking-
glass,' ef . OHG. scucar, seuchar, a looking-glass :
see under sAowl.] 1. One who or that which
shows or exhibits. In Scots law, showers in jury
causes are two persons named by the court, usually on the
suggestion of the parties, to accompany the jurors when
a view of the property which the cause relates to is al-
lowed. See viewer.
It [the star of Rethlehem] schon to the schepherdes a
schewer of blisse. Piers Ploitnnan (B), xii. 153.
To check this, the mayor was commanded, if any such
reports or writings got abroad, to examine as to the first
ihoicers and utterers thereof, whom, when found, he was
to commit to prison and sharply to punish, as an example
to others. J. Qairdner, Kichard III., vi.
2t. A looking-glass ; a mirror.
He made a brasun lauatorye, with his foot, of the shew-
ers of wymmen. Wydif, Ex. xxxviii. 8.
Heputtyth in hys pawtener
A kerchyf and a comb,
A sfiewer, and coyf
To bynd with hys loks.
Poem on the Times of Edwd. II. (ed. Hardwick), st. 16.
shoirer-bath (shou'fer-b&th), n. 1. A bath in
which water is showered upon the person from
above. — 2. An apparatus for pouring a shower
of water upon the body.
showeriness (shou'6r-i-nes), n. The state of
being showery.
showerless (8hou'6r-les),o. [ishower'^ + -less.']
Without showers.
5596
Scarce in a showerless day the heavens Indulge
Our melting clime.
Armstrong, Art of Preserving Health, i.
showery (shou'6r-i), «. [< shower'^, n., + -(/!.]
1. Kaiiiiug in showers; abounding with fre-
quent falls of rain.
Muri-nnus came from Anxur's showery height.
Addison, Remarks on Italy (Works, ed. Bohn, I. 423).
2. Like a shower; frequent or abounding, like
the drops in a shower.
Dew'd with showery drops,
Up-clomb the shadowy pine.
Tennyson, Lotos-Eaters.
showfullyt(sh6'ful-i), adv. [< *shoirfu( {<show'^
+ -fid) + -hj'^.l Gaudily; showily.
The Torch-bearers habits were likewise of the Indian
garb, but more strauagant than those of the Maskers ; all
shmvfully garnisht with seueral-hewd fethers.
Chapman, ilasque of the Middle Temple and Lincoln's
[Inn.
show-glass (sho'glas), «. 1. A glass in which
sometliingisseen; a mirror; especially, a magic
mirror, or a glass in which things not present
are made to appear. — 2. A show-case.
The maid, who views with pensive air
The show-glass fraught with glitt'ring ware.
Sees watches, bracelets, rings, and lockets.
Couper, Pineapple and Bee.
showily (sli6'i-li), adv. In a showy manner;
pompously; with parade.
Showiness (sho'i-nes), n. The state of being
showy; pompousness; great parade.
showing (sho'ing), n. [Also, archaically, shew-
ing ; < ME. shewing, schewynge, < AS. scedwung,
verbal n. of scedwian, look, show: see show''-, v.']
1 . Appearance ; coming into view.
And the child. . . was in the deserts till the day of his
shewing unto Israel Luke i. 80.
2t. Aspect; looks.
Thanne, al abawed in shewing,
Anoon spak Drede, right tnus seiyng.
Rom. of iJie Hose, 1. 4041.
3. A setting forth or demonstration by words :
as, he is wrong by his own showing.
The first remark which . . . suggests itself is that, on
this showing, the notes at least of private banks are not
money. J. S. Mitt, PoL Econ., III. xiL § 7.
4t. A warning; a pi-ophecy. Halliwell.
showing-off (sho'ing-of), n. 1. Ostentatious
display. — 2. In a specific use, technical in or-
nithology, the peculiar actions or attitudes of
many male birds in mating, when such are very
marked or conspicuous ; amatory antics or dis-
play. The showing-oil is a characteristic habit of the
peacock, turkey, and many other gallinaceous birds (see
cut under peafowl); of some pigeons (pouters are devel-
oped from tliis trait, for example); of the bustards, in
some of which the inflation of the neck becomes enor-
mous ; of various waders (the cut under ruff shows the
ruff in the act); and of the sand-hill and other cranes, etc.
showish (sho'ish), a. [< show'^ + -«s7il.] Showy ;
gaudy; ostentatious. [Rare.]
They are as showish, and will look as magnificent, as if
he was descended from the blood royal.
Swift, Bickerstatf Papers.
showman (sho'man), «.; pi. showmen (-men).
[< slioiv'^ + matt.] One who exhibits a show,
especially the proprietor of a traveling exhibi-
tion.
shown (shon). A past participle of show'^.
show-place (sho'plas), n. 1. A place for pub-
lic exhibitions. — 2. A gymnasium (which see).
[Rare.]
The common show-place where they exercise.
Shak., A. and C, iii. 6. 12.
show-room (sho'rom), n. 1. A room or apart-
ment in which a show is exhibited.
The dwarf kept the gates of the show-room. Arlndhnot.
2. A room or apartment, as in a warehouse,
where goods are displayed to the best advantage
to attract purchasers; or, in a hotel, an apart-
ment set aside for the use of commercial trav-
elers, in which they can exhibit samples to their
customers.
Miss Enag darted hastily up stairs with a bonnet in
each hand, and presented herself in the show-room.
IHckens, Nicholas Nickleby, xviii.
show-stone (sho'ston), n. A polished quartz
crystal serving as a magic mirror in certain in-
cantations.
Among these [Dr. Dee's magical .apparatus] was a shmv-
stone, or an angelical mirror, placed on a pedestal. . . .
E. K.. looking into the showstonc, said, "I sec a garland
of white rose-buds about the border of the stone ; they be
well opened, but not full out."
/. D'lsraeli, Amen, of Lit., II. 296, 298.
showtet, V. and n. A Middle English spelling
of shout.
shrapnel
show-up (sho'up), H. Exposure of something
concealed, as a fraud or an absurdity, to ridi-
cule or animadversion. [Colloq.]
We can forgive Samuel Johnson the mode he adopted
of expressing his apprehensions of Poote's satire, because
it was immediate, and treading closely on the heels of a
threatened show up.
Jon Bee, Essay on Samuel Foote, p. Ixxvii.
show-window (sho'win'do), n. A window in
a shop an-anged for the display of goods.
showy (sho'i), a. [< ,s7«om)1 + -»/l.] 1. Making
a sliow or striking appearance ; gay; brilliant;
gaudy; effective.
The men would make a present of everything that was
rich and showy to the women whom tliey most admired.
Addison, spectator. No. i:ii.
In Europe our golden-rod is cultivated in the flower-
gardens, as well it might be. The native species is found
mainly in woods, and is much less showy than ours.
J. Burroughs, The Centui^, XX. 100.
2. Given to show or display ; ostentatious.
The effect of "moral " interests appears in habits with-
out which the scholar or artist is not properly free for his
work, nor exempt from the temptation to be showy instead
of thorough init.
T. II. Green, Prolegomena to Ethics, § 148.
She was so used now to the ways of the Italians, and
their showy affection, it was hard for her to realize that
people could be both kind and cold.
Harper's Mag., LXXVII. 135.
Showy orchis. See Orchis, 2. =Syn. Gorgeous, magnifi-
cent, sumptuous, pompous, grand, flashy, glaring, garish,
dressy.
show-yard (sho'yard), n. An inelosure for the
exhibition of horses, stock, machinery, or other
large objects at a show.
The railway was pitched down, so to speak, anyhow in
the showyard. The Engineer, LXVIII. 13,
The great agricultural societies . . . began ... to offer
prizes at their shows for milch cows and dairy produce;
and to exhibit a working daii-y in the showyard.
Quarterly Rev., C'XLV. 298.
shrab (shrab), ». [< Hind, shurdh, wine, spiritu-
ous liquor, < Ar. sharai : see shrub^, sherbet.]
Sherbet; hence, wine or spirits.
"Of what caste are you?" asked an Englishman of a
native of India. "Oh," replied the native, "I'm a Chris-
tian — I take brandy shrab and get drunk, like you."
Nature, XXXVIII. 26».
When I tasted the brandy, he said it was Shrab (the
general name for wine and spirits).
Proc. Soc. Psych. Research, II. 20.
shrag (shrag), n. [< ME. schragge, an assibi-
lated form of scrag'^.] 1. Something lopped
off ; a clipping; especially, a twig. [Prov. Eng.]
" Yar brum owt ta ha' fine shrags." This was said to a
man about to dress recently thrashed barley for market.
The clippings of live fences. Moor, Suffolk Words.
2. A rag; a jagged piece.
With flatte f erthynges the f reke was floreschede alle over,
Many schredys and schraqges at his skyrttes hynnges.
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3474.
shragt (shrag), v. t. [Also dial, shreg, shiig; <
WE.schraggen; <.shrag,n.] Toclip; lop; shred;
also, to ornament with tags or shreds. Prompt.
Parv., p. 448.
A red hod on hir heved, shragid al of shridis,
W'ith a riche riban gold be-gon.
MS. Annul. Coll. Arm., 27, f. ISO. (Halliwell.)
To shrag trees, arbores putare. Baret.
shraggert (shrag'er), n. [< M'E. schreggare ; <
shrug, v., + -eel.] One who lops; one who
trims trees. Huloet.
shram (shram), V. t. [An assibilated form of
*sc.ram, var. of *scrim, scrimp: see scrimp.]
To cause to shrink or shrivel, as with cold ;
benumb. Halliicell. [Prov. Eng.]
shrank (shrangk). A preterit of shrink.
shrapl (shrap), Ji. [Origin obscure.] A thicket.
HalUwcU. [Prov. Eng.]
shrap^ (shrap), n. Same as seraph.
You fell, like another dove, by the most chaffy shrap
that ever was set before the eyes of winged fowl.
Bp. Bedell, Letters (1620), p. 839.
Setting silver lime twigs to entangle young gentlemen,
and casting foorth silken shraps to catch woodcocks.
Nashe, Pierce Penilesse, p. 15.
shrape (shrap), v. t. and i. [< ME. shrapen,
an assibilated form of scrape^, q. v.] If. To
scrape.
For lat a dronken daffe in a dyke falle, . . .
And Shame shrapeth his clothes and his shynes wassheth.
Piers Plotnnan (B), xi. 423.
Herly in the morowe to shrapyn in the vale,
To fynde ray dyner amonge the wormes sniale.
Lydgate, The Chorle and the Bird.
2. To scold. [Prov. Eng.]
shrapnel (shrap'nel), n. [Named after the Brit-
ish Gen. Shrapnel (died 1842).] A shell filled
with bullets and a small bursting-charge just
sufficient to split it open and release the bullets
at any given point, generally about 80 yards be-
shrapnel
fore reaching the object aimed at. After the
explosion of the shell, the bullets and frag-
ments Sy onward in a shower Boxer shrapnel,
a cylindrical iron siiell, interiorly grooved, lined wifh pa-
per filled with balls and rosin, carrying a bursting-cliarge
In a tin chamber at the base, and having a wooden head
overlaid with sheet-in>n. The charge is connected with
a fuse in an iron tube.
shreadt. ''• f- An obsolete form of shred.
sliread-head( shred'hed ), « . [For 'shred-head ( ?) :
see shred anil liead.'] In arch., same as jerkin-
head. Imp. IHct.
shred (shred), r. t. ; pret. and pp. shred (some-
times shrcdded),ppT. shredding. [Early mod. E.
alsoshread; < ME. shreden,schreden (pret. shred,
schred, schredde, yp.schred, schrede), < AS. screu-
dian (pret. "sereddode) (in comp. be-screddian),
orig. strong, 'screddan (pret. 'screod), cut up,
shred (> serendung, shredding, and scredde, a
shred), = OFries. slcreda = ilD. schroodcn,
schrooijen, shred, clip. = MLG. schrOden, schra-
den, scrOden = OHG. scroUtn, MHG. schroten.
hew, cut, lop.G. schroten, cut, saw, gnaw, nibble,
bruise, grind, = Dan. skraae, cut, lop; not re-
corded in Goth. Hence shred, «., screed, and
ult. shroud^, scroll, scrow. Cf. AS. serudnian,
OHG. scroton, investigate, L. scrutari, investi-
gate : see scrHtiny.'] 1 . To cut or tear into small
pieces; also, to cut or tear pieces from.
Wortes, or othere herbes times ofte.
The wtiiche she thredde and seeth for hir living.
Chawxr, Clerk's I'ale, 1. 171.
One . . . found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild
gourds hi.s lap full, and came and shred them into the pot
of pottage. 2 Ki. Iv. 39.
This sword shall fhrtd thee as small unto the grave
As minced meat for a pie.
B. Jotuon, Tale of a Tub, iv. 3.
2. To tear into pieces, either small and irreg-
tilar, or long in proportion to their width; tear
into ragged bits, scraps, or strips: as, to shred
old linen. — 3. To prune; lop; trim, as a pole
or a hedge. [Now only prov. Eng.]
Then they lemed to thred their rynes, and they lemed
to plant and grafle their olyues.
A. OMiiig, tr. of Justin, foL 17a
The superfluous and waat sprigs of vines, being cut and
threaded oif, are called sarroenta.
WUhaU, Diet. (ed. 1608X p. 103.
shred (shred), ». [Also screed, an unassibilated
form, known chiefly in a differentiated sense;
< >IE. shrede, schrede, sehread, < AS. scredde,
a piece, strip, shred, = OFries. skrcd, schred
= MD. schrooile = MLG. schrode, schrdde, a
piece cut off, = OHG. scrot. a cut, MHG. schrot,
a cut, stroke, wound, a piece cut or sawed off,
G. schrot, a piece, shred, block, = Icel. skrjodhr,
a shred, = Dan. skrot, rubbish ; from the (orig.
strong) verb: see shred, r. .Shred also appears
in the forms screed and scrow, the latter from
LG. through OF. : see screed, scrow, scroll.'] 1.
A bit, scrap, fragment, rag, or strip made by
cutting or tearing; up something: used specifi-
cally of cloth or list for nailing up plants.
Schrede, or clyppynge of clothe or other thynge, Scis-
sura, presegmen. I'rmnpt. Pan., p. 448.
A cutpurse of the empire and the rule, . . .
A king of threds and patches.
Shak., Hamlet, tIL 4. 102.
He munched a $hred of toast, and was off by the omul-
bus to chambers. Thadterai/, Lovel the W Idower, ill
2. Figurativel V, a bit ; a particle ; also, some-
thing that is like a scrap or fragment in being
worn or valueless, or in having a forlorn ap-
pearance.
That poor thred [a tailor]
Can bring more to the making up of a man
Than can b« hoped from thee ; thou art his creature.
Ma-tnoer and field. Fatal Dowry, lU. 1.
There was not asAred of evidence against his client, and
he appealed to the magistrates to discharge him at once.
H. Smart, struck Down, x.
The cockroach has retained some ihred$ of reputation
by eating mosqaltoes.
P. RMnton, t7nder the Sun, p. 208.
shred-cock (shred'kok), n. The fieldfare, a
tlinisli, Tiirdus pilaris. C. Sicainson. [Local,
Eiiir.l
shredding (shred'ing), «. [< ME. schredytige,
srhridijng, < AS. screddung, verbal n. of 'scred-
dan, scrrddian. cut, shred: see shred, r.] 1.
The act of tearing or cutting into shreds; also,
the act of pruning or clipping.
Sehredynge, of trees and other lyke, sarmentaclo, sarcu-
ImIo. Prompt. Part., p. 44S.
2. That which is shred; a ragged strip; a frag-
ment; a scrap.
Vet many things in It (our form of prayer) they say are
amiss ; . . . It hath a numlter of short cuts or thredaingt
which may be better called wishes than prayers.
Hooker, Eccle*. Polity, v. 27.
5597
3. pi. In carp., short, light pieces of timber
fixed as bearers below a roof, fonning a straigli t
line with the upper side of the rafters. Also
caWcAfiirrings.
shredding-knife (shred'ing-nif ), «. A pruning-
kiiife.
shreddy (shred'i), o. [< shred + -J/l.] Con-
sisting of shreds; torn into shreds; ragged.
Small bits of shreddy matter fall to the bottom of the
veaseL J. R. Xichots, Fireside Science, p. 24.
shred-pie (shred'pi), w. Mince-pie: so called
from the shredding or thin shaving of the in-
gredients. [Eng.]
Beef, mutton, and pork, nhred pies of the best.
Pig, veal, goose, and capon, and turkey well drest.
Tusser, Christmas Husbandly Fare.
In winter there was the luxury of a shredpie, which is a
coarse north country edition of the pie abhorred by puri-
tans. Southey, The Doctor, viii. {Davies.)
shreek^t, »■• An obsolete spelling of shriek:
shreek- (shrek), n. Same as shrike^.
shreetalum, shreetaly (shre'ta-lum, -li), n. [E.
Ind.] The talipot-palm, Cori/pha umbraculifera.
shrew^ (shro), n. and a. [Formerly also shrow;
< ME. shrew, shrewe, schrewe, shrowe, also unas-
sibilated screwe, wicked, evil, as a noun a wick-
ed person (the shrewe, the evil one, the devil), <
AS. 'scredwa, a wicked person, found only in
another sense, scredwa, a shrew-mouse (see
shrew^); both supposed to mean lit. 'biter'
(the bite of a shrew-mouse was formerly con-
sidered venomous), i-^skru, cut, seen in shred
and shrotid^. For the later use of the noun as
an adj., and the still later extension of the adj.
with pp. suffix -€(P, -d^, in shrewd, cf. wicked,
which has a similar history in these respects.
Cf. screw^, a doublet of shreic^.'] I. n. If. A
wicked or evil person; a malignant person.
And alle that worche with wronge wenden hij shuUe
After her deth day and dwelle with that shrew [Satan).
Piers Plowman (B), L 127.
For unto shreves Joye it is and ese
To have her Itheirl felawes In peyne and disese.
Chaucer, Prol. to Canon's Yeoman's Tale, 1. 193.
The wlokld aungil bad him be boold
To calle bothe fadir A- modir tchrexcis.
Hymns la Virgin, etc. (E. K T. 8.X p. W.
2. A woman of a perverse, violent, or malig-
nant temper; a scold; a termagant.
Shrevt . . . cannot otherwise ease their cursed hearts
bat by their own tongues and their neighbonn' ears.
O. Harvey, Four Letters, ill.
Tlie man had got atAretr for his wife, and there could
Ik no quiet In the hooae with her. Sir R. L'Bstrange.
3t. An evil thing ; a great danger.
Than seide Dodinell the sauage that it were a shrewe to
go, for in this foreste is noon rescettes, and oure horse
sbolde dyen for the faate and for hungir.
Merlin (1. E. T. S.), lit 5«8.
4t. A planet of evil or malignant aspect or in-
fluence.
That be be nat retrograd, ne combust, ne joigned with
no shrewe in the same atgne. Chaueer, Astrolabe, II. &.
n.t a. Wicked; evil; ill-natured; unkind.
Yet was be to me the nioste shrewe,
That feele 1 on ray ribbes al by rewe.
Chaueer, Prol. to Wife of Bath s Tale. I. 606.
shrew^ (shrS), r. /. [< ME. schrewen, ssrewen,
make evil, curse, < schrewe, an evil person: see
shrew^, n. Cf. beshretc and shrewd.] It. To
make evil; deprave.
Sehretryn, prsva Prompt Part., p. 449.
2. To curse ; beshrew.
O vile pronde cherl, I shrewe his face.
Chaueer, Summoner's Tale, I. 626.
Shrew me
If I would lose It for a revenue
Of any king's In Europe.
Shot., Cymlieline, 11. 3. 147.
shre'W^ (shr6), n. [< ME. "shrewe, < AS. scredwa,
the shrew-mouse: supposed to mean lit. 'biter':
see »*reici. Cf. G. dial, sehermaus, a mole, <
seheren (= E. shear), cut, + niaus = E. mouse.]
A small insectivorous mammal of the genus
Sorex or family Soricidjc: a shrew-mouse. They
are all small, greatly resembling mice in size, form, color,
and general appearance (whence the name shrete-mttuse),
but belong to a different order (/njvrttpora. not Rodentia).
They may l>e distinguished at a glance by the long sharp
snout. They are widely distributed, chiefly in the north-
ern hemisphere, and the species arc numerous, of several
different genera, particularly Sorex, which contains more
than any other. The little animals are very voracious, and
devour great quantities of insects and worms ; but there
is no foundation- in fact for the vulgar notion that shrews
are poisonous, or for anv other of the popular supersti-
tions respecting these harmless little creatures. The
shrews have usually a musky odor, due to the secretion
of some special subcutaneous glands with which they are
provided, and In some of the larger kinds this scent is
very strong. Among the shrews are tlic most diininntive
of ful mammals, with the head and body less than 2 inches
shre'wd
long ; others are two or three times as large as this. The
common shrew of liurope is Sorex vulijaris. The common-
1 1 .-«* ,-^.
4'
American Water-shrew {Necsorex
pclustris).
Coiuiuon Eiifupeaii bhrew \Sor€x vulgaris).
est in the United States is a large short-tailed species.
Blarina hrevicauda. The teeth of shi'ewB are generally
chestnut or reddish-
black, but some
shrews are white-
toothed, as those of
the genus CroHdu-
ra; some are aquatic,
as the oared or oar-
footed shrew, Cros-
sopus fodiens of Eu-
rope, and Neosorex
palugtris of North
America. The name
is extended, with a
qualifying term, to
related animals of a
different ^niily, aa
the shrew-moles and
desmans. See shrew-mole, elephant shretc, marsh-shrew.
mole-shrew, muskshreiv. aqnirrel-shreic, trater shrew, and
cuts under Btan'mi, dennan, Petrodromus, Ptilocercus,
RhynchocyoTiy and Tupaia.
Museragtxo [It. ], a kinde of Aiouse called a shrexc, deadlie
to other beasts if he bite them, and laming any bodieif he
but touch them, of which that curse came, I beslirew thee.
Florio, 1693.
In Italy the hardy shrews are venomous in their biting.
Holland, tr. of Pliny, vlii. 53.
Broad-nosed shrew, the common Sorex platyrhinus of
Nortli America.- Ciliated a'hX&W,Crocidura ntaveoleng,
a very dimJnniive shrew of soutliern Europe.— House
shrew, CnK^'dura aranca, of parts of Europe, Asia, and
Africa.— Indian shrew, the musk-shrew.- Oared or
oar-footed shrews, iutuatic slirewa, of the genera Cros-
sopus and Seo»'rex. See def. — Rat-tailed shreW. the
musk-shrew.— Short-tailed Shrew, any species of the
American genus Blarina, specillcally li. brevicauda.
shrew-ash (shro'aslO, ». All ash-trt'e into a
hole in the body of which a shrew-mouse has
been plu^jjed alive, its twigs or branches, when ap-
plied to the limbs of cattle, were formerly supposed to
give them immediate relief from the pains they endured
from a shrew-mouse having run over them.
shrewd (shrod), a. [Early mod. E. a.\so shroivfi ;
< ME. shretrf'fiy schrcn-eth schrewidy depraved,
wicked, lit. * accursed/ pp. of schrewen^ curse,
beshrew: see shrew^, Cf. atrsedy ntrsU former-
ly used in the sense of Miavinpr a violent tem-
per'; cf. also icirkedi. For the partial elevation
of sense from 'cursed' througa 'mischievous,
cunning,' to * astute, sagacious,' cf. pretty^
which has passed from ' tricky, cunning,' to
'fine, beautiful.'] If. Evil; accursed; malig-
nant; wicked.
God shal take veniaunce on alle swiche preestes,
Wei harder and grettere on suche nhrewede faderes.
Than enere he dude on Ophni and Kinees.
Piers Plouinan (C), 1. 122.
Helle rcpreued tho the deuel sathan,
And horiibli gaii him dispice;
" To me thou art a schrewide captayn,
A combrid wretche in cowardiae."
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. ».), p. 58.
If a man be good and doth or seith a thing to good en-
tente, the bakhlter wol turne al thilke goodnesse up-so-
doun to his shrewed entente. Chaucer, Parson's Tale.
There are «Aretrd books with dangerous Frontiapices set
to sale. Milton, Arcopagitica, p. '24.
2t. Having a eurst temper; scolding; vixenish;
shrewish,
Thowe shalte bettyr chastise a shrode wyfe with myrthe
then with strokes or smytyng.
Politieal Poems, etc. (ed. FurnivallX p. 30,
As curst and shretod
As Socrates* Xantlppe.
Shak., T. of the S., 1.2. 70.
3t. Annoying; mischievous; vexatious; trou-
blesome; malicious.
He may do his enneniy a scherewd tume and never far
the warse in hys huwshotde, ner the lesse men abowthe
hym. Paston Letters, I. 297.
An ant is a wise creature for itself, but It is a shrewd
thing in an orchard or garden.
Bacon, Wisdom for a Man's Self (ed. 1887).
B}Tlady, a shreivd business and a dangerous !
Middleton, More Dissemblers besides Women, iii. 2.
Y*? State was much offended, and his father suffered a
shrowd check, and he had order to apprehend him for it
Brad/ord, Plymouth Plantation, p. 160.
4. Sharp; keen; biting; harsh.
To lift shrewd steel agahist our golden crown.
Shak., Kich. II., ilt 2. 59.
shrewd
■While I spake then, a sting of shreicdest pain
Ban shrivelling thro' me.
Teimyson, St, Simeon Stylites.
The sky is harsb, and the sea shrfwd and salt.
D. G. lit^etti, Ruggiero and Angelica.
6. Sly; cunning; artful: spiteful.
Either I mistake your shape and making quite, .
Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite
CallM Robin Goodfellow. Shak., M. N. 1>., ii. 1. 33.
Is he shrricd and unjust in his dealings with others?
South, Sermons, vi.
6. Astute; sagacious; discriminating; discern-
ing; smart; sharp: as, a shrewd man of tlie
world.
Patriots are grown too tknwd to be sincere.
Cinvper, Taslc, v. 495.
SItmrd was the good St. Martin ; he was famed
For sly expedients and devices quaint.
Bryartt, Legend of St. Martin.
7. Indicating shrewdness ; due to shrewdness ;
involving or displaying sagacity or astuteness :
as, a shrewd remark; a shrewd face.
I know not what he said ; but I have a shrewd guess
what he thought.
B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, in. 1.
We desire to learn Sydney Smith's opinion on any mat-
ter of public interest, . . . because we know it will gener-
ally be shreicd, honest, independent.
Whipple, Ess. and Rev., I. 140.
A shrewd manyt, a great number.
Cast. He threw twice twelve.
Cred. By 'rlndy, a shreicd many. ^ BliriH<»+ I'shridi
Carturight, Ordinary. (Xares.) ^^^"t il. „i;„
=Syn. 6. Arifid. Sly, etc. (see mnningl). wily, subtle.—
6. Acute. Keen, etc. (see acute), discerning, penetrating,
politic, ingenious. •
snrewdly (shrod'li), adv. [Earlyjnod. E. also
hrow
5598
shrewishness (shro'ish-nes), ». The character
of being shrewish ; the conduct of a shrew.
I have no gift at all in shrewishness,
I am a right maid for my cowardice.
Shak., M. N. D., iii. 2. 301.
shrew-mole (shro'mol), ». A North American
insectivorous mammal of either of the genera
Sccihrps and Scupamts. The shrew-moles are the char-
acteristic moles of North America, outwardly resembling
very closely the true Old World moles, but distinguished
by technical characters of the dentition, etc. The com-
mon shrew-mole of the United States is Scalops amtaticus;
others are Townsend's. Scapanus townsendi, and the hairy-
tailed, Scapamts americanus. See cut under Scalops —
Silvery shrew-mole, a variety of the common shrew-
mole, Scalops aquaticus arjeidatus, of a lustrous light
color, common on the prairies of the western t'nited
States.
[< shrcw^ +
shright
ME. shrevaltee; < .s/iritrcl + -aJ-tij.'] 1. The
office or jurisdiction of a sheriff. Arnold's
Chron., p. 42.
It was ordained by statute 28 Edw, I., c. 8, that the peo-
ple should have election of sherilfs in every shire where
the shrievalty is not of inheritance.
Blackstone, Com., I. ix.
Spenser. . . was recommended in a letter from Queen
Elizabeth for the shrievalty of the county of Cork.
Ltmiell, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 152.
2. The period during which the office of sheriff
is held.
For the twelve Sessions, during his Shriei-alty.
Brmne, Antipodes, iii. 2.
That £1000 fine which was imposed upon him |.<ir Wal-
ter Long] in the Star Chamber, for absence out of his coun-
ty in time of shrievalty.
Court and Times of Charles I., II. 162.
shrew-mouse (shro'mous), n. IX o,., <-cv- . ,,,.. _,, , ■ e i. ij
«"«..] The common shrew of Europe; any shrievelf (shrev) «. [Also «/,ne/c; a contracted
- ■ ■•■ mnnse. .See cuts under tovm ot shenfi (WS.. shirreme, etc.): sc& sheri^^ .^
small ti'ue shrew, like a mouse. See cuts under
shrexr'^.
shrew-struck (shro'stmk), a. Poisoned by a
shrew ; smitten with a malady which a shrew
was superstitiously supposed to impart by its
bite or even its touch.
If a child was scalded, a tooth ached, a piece of silver glirieve^t, V-
was stolen, a heifer sAreK-s(n«*, a pig bewitched, a young „i,_if4. r^liTiftl n
damsel crost in love, Lucy [a "white witch"] was called '*™ " i " to' "l
in, and Lucy found a remedy. Kingsley, Westward Ho, iv.
shricht, ». and «. A Middle English form of
shriek.
V. t. [< ME. schryden; a var.
of shred OT shroud^.'] To hew or lop (wood).
Hooke to hewe wode, or schrydynge [vai-. hoke to hev
with woode, or schraggynye], sirculus [var. sarculusj.
Prompt. Parv., p. 242.
dly, shroudly, shroadly ; < ME. shrewedly, shriefet, n. An obsolete form of sheriff^
shrewdc'ly : see shrewd and -ly^.']
manner, (ot) Accursedly; wickedly.
Were it not better that we went alle to dye with good
herte in the servise of oure lorde . . . than to dye as
cowardes shrewdely oon with-oute a-nother?
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 313.
(it) Mischievously; injuriously; maliciously; ill.
What, lo, my cherl, lo, yet how shreimdly
Unto my confessour to day he spak.
Chaucer, Summoner's Tale, 1. 636.
This practice [artifice] hath most shrewdly pass'd upon
thee. Shak., T. N., v- 1- 360-
(c) Sharply ; keenly ; severely. ■
Ham. The air bites shrewdly. It is very cold.
Hor. It is a nipping and an eager air.
Shak., Hamlet, 1. 4. 1.
I knew one shrewdly gor'd by a BulL
Dampier, Voyages, II. u. 99.
(d) Astutely ; in a discerning or discriminating manner ;
sagaciously.
The aforesaid author observes very shrewdly that, hav-
ing no certain ideas of the terms of the proposition, it is
to him a mystery. Waterland, NVorks, I. 219.
shrewdness (shrod'nes), n. [< ME. schretodnes,
shrewedne.s.^r, schrewidnesse ; < .'shrewd + -ness.'\
1. The state or quality of being shrewd, (ot)
Badness ; wickedness ; iniquity.
Thanne Mede for here mysdedes to that man kneled,
And Bhroue hire of hire shrewedjiesse.
Piers Plowman (B), iii. 44.
Thought* I, as greet a fame han shrewes —
Thogh hit be naught — for shrewednesse,
As gode folk han for godenesse.
Chaucer, House of Fame, 1. 1863.
(b) Sagaciousness ; astuteness ; sharpness : as, a man ot
great shrewdness and penetration.
Her impatience, which not wanted
Shrewdness of policy too.
Shak., A. and C, ii. 2. 69.
Not being bred
To barter, nor compensating the want
By shrewdness, neither capable of lies.
Tennyson, Enoch Arden.
2+. A company or group (of apes). [An old
himting term.]
When beasts went together in companies, there was
naid to be ... a shrewdness of apes.
StruU, Sports and Pastimes, p. 80.
=Syn. 1. (&) See shrewd.
shrew-footed (shro'fufed), a. Having feet
like those of a shrew : as, the shrew-footed urop-
sile, Uropsitiis soricipes.
shrewheadt, «■ [ME- schreuhede; < .shrew^ +
-head.'] Wickedness. Early Eng. Poems (ed.
Fumivall), xxiv. 31. {Stratmann.)
shrewish (shrd'ish), a. [< shrew'i -t- -iifti.]
Having the qualities of a shrew; given to ex-
hibitions of ill temper ; vixenish : applied to
women.
My wife ii shrewish when I keep not hours.
Shak., C. of E., iii. 1. 2.
Puppet to a father's threat, and servile to a sArewwA tongue !
Tennyson, Locksley Hall.
shrewishly (shrS'ish-li), adv. In a shrewish
manner; with scolding or rating.
He speaks very shrewishly. Shak., T. N., 1. 5. 170.
In a shrewd shriek (shrek), v. [Early mod. E. also shrike,
schryke; < ME. shriken, shryken, schriken, skrik-
en, seriken (pret. schriked, skriked, skryked,
schrykede, also shrUjhte, shryghte), < leel. skrik-
ja, shriek (found only in sense of 'titter') (cf.
skrselja, shriek), = Sw. skrika = Dan. skrige,
shriek ; cf . Gael, sgreach = W. ysgrechio, shriek,
scream. The word also appears as shrikeA,
screak, screech, q. v. As with other words de-
noting sounds, it was regarded as more or less
imitative, and suffered variation.] I. intrans.
To utter a sharp, shrill cry; cry out more or less
convulsively, at a pitch above that of a scream,
as in great and sudden fright, in horror, or in
extreme pain : used soijietimes, by hyperbole,
of laughter.
Shrighie Emelyn and howleth Palamon.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 1969.
Therwithal they shrykede and they houped.
Chaucer, Nun's Priest's Tale, 1. 680.
Downe in her lap she hid her face, and lowdly shright.
Spenser, F. Q., III. viii. 32.
It was the owl that shriek' d. Shak., Macbeth, ii. 2. 3.
I shriek, start up, the same sad prospect find.
Pope, Eloisa to Abelard, 1. 247.
n. trans. To utter with a shriek or a shrill
wild cry.
On top whereof ay dwelt the ghastly Owle,
Shrieking his baleful! note.
Spenser, Y. Q., I. ix. 33.
Berkley, whose fair seat hath been famous long,
Let thy sad echoes shriek a deadly'sound.
Drayton, Barons' Wars, v. 67.
shriek (shrek), n. [Early mod. E. also shrilie,
< ME. shrike (= Sw. skrik, skri = Dan. skrig);
sheriff (ME.
A sheriff.
Mayors and shrieves may yearly fill the stage :
A king's or poet's birth doth ask an age.
B. Jojison, New Inn, Epil.
Now mayors and shrieves all hush'd and satiate lay.
Pope, Dunciad, i. 91.
An obsolete foi-m of shrive'^.
^ , [< ME. shrift, shryft, schrift,
schryft, < AS. scrifl, confession or absolution
(= Icel. skript = Sw. skrift = Dan. skrifte, con-
fession, absolution ; cf . ORG. scrift, MHG. G.
schrift, a writing: see script), < serif an, shrive;
see «7wjrel.] 1. The penitential act of confes-
sion to a priest, especially in the case of a dy-
ing penitent.
No receipt openeth the heart but a true friend, to
whom you may impart . . . whatsoever lieth upon the
heart to oppress It, in a kind of civil shrift or confession.
Bacon, Friendship (ed. 1887).
Address you to your shrift; . . .
And be yourself ; for you must die.
Howe, Jane Shore, iv. 1.
2. Absolution received after confession ; par-
don.
Enuye with heuy herte asked after schrifte,
And carefullich mea culpa lie comsed to shewe.
Piers Plowman (B), v. 76.
Be plain, good son, and homely In thy drift ;
Riddling confession finds but riddling shrift.
Shale, R. and J., Ii. 3. 66.
3. The priestly act of confessing and absolv-
ing a penitent.
In shrift, in prechynge is my diligence.
Chaucer, Summoner's Tale, 1. 110.
Call your executioner, and off with Baniardlne's head ;
I will give him a present shrift, and advise him for a bet-
ter place. SAa*-.,M. for M.,lv. 2.223.
la shrift, (o) In confession.
Yet I have call'd my conscience to confession.
And every syllable that might offend
I have had in shrift.
Fletcher and another, Love's Pilgrimage, I. 2.
(6t) Figuratively, In strict confidence ; as if in confession.
But sweete, let this be spoke in shrift, so was it spoke to
me. Warner, Albion's Eng., xii. 18. {Nares.)
Short shrift, the infliction of punlshmentwithont delay :
implying execution shortly alter condemnation, as leaving
little time for confession and absolution.
shrift (shrift), V. t. [= Icel. .«kripfa = Sw.
skrifta = Dan. skrifte, give shrift, shrive;
from the noun.] 'To confess and absolve ;
shrive. [Rare.]
I saw a gray Frier shrift a faire Gentlewoman, which I
. . . mention because it was the first shrifting that ever
I saw. Coryat, Crudities, I. 44.
from the verb.] A sharp, shrill outcry : as, the gju-jft-father (shrift'f a"TH&r), n. [< ME. shrift-
shriek of a whistle; sftncfcs of laughter, bee j^^^jg^^ schrift-fadcr (= Sw. Dan. skriftefader);
shriek, v.
Whi made the childe this shrike? wilt thow sleue it?
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), i. 15.
The messenger of death, the ghastly owle,
With drery shriekes did also her bewray.
Spenser, F. Q., I. v. SO.
Not louder shrieks to pitying heaven are cast
When husbands or when iapdogs breathe their last.
Pope, B. of the L., lil. 157.
= Syn. A'creecA, etc. See scream.
shrieker (shre'kfer), «. [= Sw. skrikare; as
shriek + -er^.] 1. One who shrieks.
Again — the shrieking charmers — how they rend
The gentle air — the shriekers lack a friend.
Crahbe, Tales of the Hall, vlL (Richardson.)
2. The bar-tailed godwit, Limosa lapponicn.
[lioeal, Eng.]
shriek-owl (shrek'oul), n. 1. A screech-owl.
— 2. The swift, Cypselus apus. [Local, Eng.]
Shrieval (shre'val), a. [<shrieve^ +-««.] Of
oi- pertaining to a sheriff.
Chaste were his cellars, and his shrieval board
The grossness of a city feast abhorr'd.
Dryden, Abs. and Achlt., 1. 618.
shrievalty (shre'val-ti), w. [Formerly also
shrivalty, shrevalty (also \a,teT sheriffalty); < late
"< shrift -I- father.] A father confessor.
I shrewe thlse shrifte-fadres everychoon.
Chaucer, Friar's Tale, 1. 144.
How and where he doth that synne.
To hys schryffader he mote that mynne.
J. Myrc, Instructions tor Parish Priests (E. E. T. S.), 1. 233.
And virgin nuns in close and private cell.
Where (but shrift fathers) never mankind treads.
Fairfax, tr. of Tasso's .lerusalem, xi. 9.
shrigt (shrig), V. t. [Prob. a var. of shrug.'] To
contract; reduce, as by praning or thinning.
Atticus Is of opinion That the shaddow of elmes is
one of the thickest and most hurtful : . . . raarle, if the
braunches thereof, or of any tree withln-forth, be shngged
(constrlcta;), I thlnke that the shade will doe no hanne at
all. Hnlland, tr. of Pliny, xvii. 12. (.Richardson.)
Those of the other hoped, If all men were shrigged of
their goods, and left bare, they should live in safetic, grew
at length to open proscriptions and hanging of silly Inno-
cent persons.
Holland, tr. of Ammianus Marcellinus (1609). (ATores.)
shrightt. An obsolete preterit of shriek.
shrightt, "• [< ME. .shright; < shriek or shrike,
pret. shright.] Shrieking; sobbing.
with brokyn vols, al hors for shright, Ciyseyde
To Troylus thise like wordes seyde.
Chaucer, TroUus, iv. 1147.
shright
That with their piteous cryea, and yelling shrighUSf
They made the further shore resounden wide.
Spen»er, F. Q., II. TiL 57.
shrike^t, i?. and »• An obsolete form of shriek.
shrike- (shrik), «. [Also shreek; < ME. * shrike,
< AS. scric, a shrike or thrush (glossed by L.
turdiis), = Icel.sk-rikja, a shrike (butcher-bird),
80 called from its cry : see shrike^, v. Cf. shrite,
a thrush.] 1. A dentirostral osoine passerine
bird of the family Laniidee, having a notably
strong hooked and toothed bUl, and of actively
predaceous nature ; a butcher-bird ; a nine-
killer ; a wooii-chat. The species are very numerous,
and are found in most parts of the world. The most char-
acteristic h.ihit of these birds — at lejist of those of the
genus Laniu* and of some allied genera— is to catch and
kill more insects, small birds, and small quadrupeds than
they devour at once, and to impale these victims on a
thorn or sharp twig. The great gray or cinereous shrike
of Europe is Lamux exeutritoTyOt which the corresponding
American species is the northern butcher-bird, L. oorealU.
Theloggerheadshrikeof the United .states in L. ludovicia-
mu. The red-backed shrike of Europe is Lattitu or En-
neoebmut eoUurio (fioe wood-^hat\ See cuts under 6u(cA«r^
Hrd, Lamxu, and Paehyeephala.
Z. One of many different birds that resemble
shrikes, or were held to belong to the genus La-
nius. This was a Linnean genus, of amplitude and elas-
ticity, and all the birds that were put in it used to be re-
corded in the books as shrikes of some stirt. whence many
English phrase-names, now practically obsolete except in
"lyphenated compounds,
various thrushes, aiit-thmshesof both worlds, flycatchers,
Among these birds were
starlings, etc. dee phrases below, and buah-$hrike, dron-
go-»hrike, neoUouf-thrike, ArtamitUe, Diervrida, and Tham-
nophilitwe.—CliblA BhrikO. Same as cubla, — Dubious
llmket. See&un'rosCnim. — Fiscal shrike, » shrike of
the ttcnuB FiKUS, as F. eoUarix: !i Us c;!! Fork-tailed
shrike. 8ee/or*-«o<fcd.— Frontal shrike, I'alcunaiitu
/ronUUut of Australia, with a strong curved and toothed
bill, a crest, abore greenish-yellow, below bright-yt-llow,
the plumage also varied with black and white, the li iiKth 7
inches.— Great northern ahrUce, the American butcher-
bird, Laniutborealif. — Oreen Bbllket, Leptriplerut chabtrt
(not a shrike)of Madagascar.— HOOk-bllled Shrike, Van-
ga c\trviTf<tttru of Madagascar. See VanQa. — Keroula
Shrike*. TephrodorjM pondieerianu* {not a shrike), inhal>-
itiugl[HJiuand China. .See cut under TVpArodoniu. — Ru-
(ous shrike, raufir n<A> of Madagaacar. See Vanga.—
Senegal shrike, TtUphtmv KjugalvM. See Telephomu.
— Spotted shrike, « .south American bosh-shrike^ Tham-
twphilut tum'iu.— Thick-IiMded ahrlkes, the shrikes
of the genus PackycephtUa and relatett fumis. iwimetimea
(roup^ u PocAyo^iAaftiue.— Varied shrike, Lamariut
mumnior of western Africa.— White-headed abrlke,
Attamla Itveoeephala of Madagascar. It la 71 Inches long,
ind greenish-black lu color, with the mmp, head, and un-
der parts white.— YeUow-t>rowed shrike, Lanimrku
aulpkureipeetu*, of the whole F.thiopian region.
shrlke-<TOW (shrik'kro), «. A binl of the genus
liiirila. Swainium.
shrill («hril),r. [Also, by transposition, 8c. »*•>/,
also ima88ibilated«ti>i,-< MBJ. schriUen, icrillen
= G. schrillfH. sound slirill; cf. Norw. skryla,
skrdla, cry shrilly, = 8w. skrAla = Dan. skraale.
squall (of children); Icel. gkroltn, resound
shrilly. = AH. scralletan, cry aloud; partly from
the adj., but mainly original, from a common
root '»krel, 'skrnl. See nhrill, a. Cf. shilP,
shrill.] I. intrant. I. To utter or emit a keen,
piercing, high-pitched sound.
Then gan the bagnypea and the home* to tkrtB
And shrieke aloud. Spentr, V. Q., VL vlii. 46.
like a locust sArfib the imprisoned wp.
LomO, Sb Laanfal, 1.
The ikriUing of the male [cricket] la a sexual call, made
by raising the fore wings snd mhbing them on the hind
wingi. Packard, Guide to the Study of Iniecla, p. BtS.
2. To sound shrilly ; be shrill.
Tlie horrid jrella and thriUiaig wwiiw
Bwrkt, Bar. In France.
Idly list the s/MZUi^ lay
With which the milkmaid cheers her war.
SaM, Marmlon, L, Int
n. trans. 1. To cause to give out a shrill
sound.
Aboat me leap'd and langh'd
The modish Cupid of the day.
And ihriU'd hU tinsel shaft.
Tmnyson, Talking Oak.
2. To utter or prodnee with a shrill sound.
How poor Andromache thriUt her dolours forth I
Shak.,-i. andC.T. S. 84.
The locust ihrOU his song of heat.
irJUttsCT', The Saroroona.
shrill (sbril), a. [E. dial. (Sc.) also, tran-sposed,
shirl; < ME. shril, schriil, Hchrijlle = D. schril =
LG. schrell, > G. dial, schriil, shrill ; appar. from
the verb or noun: see shrill, r.] 1. Snarj) an<l
piercing in souml; high and keen (somewhat
disagreeably so) in voice or note : the common
use of the word.
Sifrle as ones royse Is— . . . trenchant.
Paltgraw, L'Eclalrclssement, p. 32S.
Thy small pipe
Is as the maiden's organ, *hriU and sound.
And all is seroblative a woman's part.
Smk., T. N., L 4. aS.
5599
Some female vendor's scream, belike
The very shrillest of all London cries.
Wordsworth, Prelude, vil.
2. Emitting or capaljle of emitting a sharp,
high, piercing sound.
Hear the shriU whistle which doth order give
To sounds confused. Shak., Hen. V., iil., ProL, 1. 9.
Wind the thriU horn, or spread the waving net.
Pope, Windsor Forest, I. 96.
3. Piercing ; sharp ; affecting the senses sharp-
ly or keenly; bright. [Obsolete or archaic]
Quen glem of glodez agajTiz hem glydez
Wyth schymerjnge schene ful sckryUe thay [silver leaves)
Bchynde. AUUerative Poems (ed. MorrisX L BO.
The Lady's-head upon the prow
Caught the shrill salt, and sheer'd the gale.
Tennyson, The Voyage.
ffhr*^^ (shril), n. [< shrill, e.] A keen or pier-
cing sound. [Rare.]
I heard a voyce, which loudly to me called.
That with the suddein shrill 1 was appalled.
Spenser, Ruins of Time, L 581.
Yon may . . . almost fancy you hear the shrill of the
midsummer cricket
H. James, Jr., Trans. Sketches, p. 151.
shrill (shril), adr. [< ME. sehrille, schirle; <
thrill, a.] In a shrill manner; shrilly.
The hounds and horn
Throtigh the high wood echoing shrill.
Maton, L' Allegro, L 53.
shrill-edged (shrU'ejd), a. Acute, sharp, or
piercing in sound. [Rare.]
I heard
The shrill-edged fbriek of a mother divide the shuddering
night. Tennyson, Maud, I. 4.
shrill-gorged (shrU'gdrjd), a. Having a gorge
or throat that gives a shrill or acute sound;
having a clear or high-pitched voice or note.
Look up a-height ; the skriU.gorged lark so far
Cannot be seen or heard. Shak., Lear, ir. 6. 58.
shrilling (sliril'ing), ». [Verbal n. of shrill, r.]
A shrill noise or cry: as, the shrilling of the lo-
cust.
A* if in revenge, some relative of the murderol katydid
found Its way into the room, and began its vibrant thrill-
ing ne»T her bed. Harper's Mag., tXXVl.S!.
Bhrilllie88(shrirne8), ». The quality of being
shrill ; acuteness of 8oun<l ; higli pitch and
Mhari)ne88 or fineness of tone or voice.
Sure, this voice Is new,
Wboae striBiWM, like the sounding of a bell.
Tells me it Is a woman.
Fleteher, Faithful Shepherdess, U. 4.
shrill-tongned (shril'tungd), a. Speaking in
a high and shrill voice.
Is she <*riB4oiviwd or lowT .Skat., A. and C, UL 3. 15.
Shrill-TOiced (shril'voist), a. Having a shrill
or piercing voice.
What thriU-toiesd lappllant makes this eager cry?
i?Aa*., Rich. IL,v.3.75.
shrilly (shril'i), a. [< shrill + -yi.] Some-
what shrill.
Some kept up a shrilly mellow sound.
KeaU, End^lon, L
shrilly(8hririi),a<lr. [<«*nH + -/y2.] inashriU
manner; acutely; with a sharp sound or voice.
Mount up aloft, my Mnae ; and now more sAriZtytlng.
Dr. U. Mart, Piychathanasla, IL U. 4a
The small philosopher . . . cries out thriUy from his
elevation. Landor, Epicurus, Leontlon, and Temisaa.
shrimp^ (shrimp), r. t. and i. [Assibilated form
of scrimp. Ct. shrump.'i To contract; shrink,
shrimp''* (shrimp), n. [< ME. 'shrimp, shrimp,
schrymp; < 'shrimp, assibilated form of scrimp,
scanty, small: see shrimp'^, v., scrimp, n.] 1. A
salt-water long-tailed
ten-footed crustacean of
the family Crangonidx,
and especially of the ge-
nus Crangon. C. mdgarisit
the common shrimp of Great
Britain, about 2 inches long,
greenish-gray dotted with
brown, of fragile structure,
somewhat translucent, and
esteemed a delicacy as food.
It boUa to a brown color, not
red as Is nsnal with cnista-
ceans. The shrimps are close-
ly related to prawns, and one
of the prawns. Pandalus an-
nuUeomu, a British species,
is often mis<'al)ed shrimp.
The name Is also extended to
various related crustaceana
Among those bearing this
name in the United States are
some Oammaridse, as Oofn-
mmrus faseiatus; species of
Pandalus, as P. annvlieomis,
the deep-water shrimp, and
P. danm. which la dried In
California tor exportatloD to
Sbrfoip iCramjfvM vw/^wrir),
natural size.
shrine
China; the river-shrimp, Palxmoji ohionis; and Penaut
brasUiensis of the Carolinas, Florida, etc. See also cut
under Gamjtmrus.
Schrymp, fysche, Stingus. Prompt. Pan., p. 449.
2. A little wrinkled person ; a dwarfish crea-
ture ; a manikin : in contempt.
We borel men been shrympes;
Of fieble trees ther comen wrecched ympes.
Chaucer, Prol. to Monk's Tale, L 67.
Alas, this is a child, a silly dwarf ;
It cannot be this weak and writhled shrimp
Should strike such terror to his enemies.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., ii. 3. 23.
Fresh-water Shrimp. See /re»A-woter.— Mountebank
shrimp, a beach-flea or sand-hopper : so called from its
agility.
shrimp^ (shrimp), )'. i. [< shrimp'^, «.] To
catch or fish for shrimps.
shrimp-chaff ( shrimp 'chif), n. Refuse 'win-
nowed from dried shrimps by Chinese in Cali-
fornia, and exported to China as a fertilizer
for tea-plants. The meat of the shrimp is an
article of food. [California.]
shrimper (shrim'per), n. [< shrimp^ + -erl.]
A person who catches shrimps; a shrimp-
catcher.
The shrimpers, who wade nearly to thetr middle for
hours. E. P. Wright, Animal Life, p. 536.
Fishers and shrimpers by name, smugglers by opportu-
nity. Harper's Mag., LXXVL 742.
shrimping (shrim ' ping), n. [Verbal n. of
shrimp^, c] The occupation or business of
catching shrimps,
shrimp-net (shrimp'net), n. A fishing-net
iiilaptiHl to the capture of shrimps; a small-
meslicd bag-net or scoop-net with a long wooden
handle.
shrinal (shri'nal), a. [< «*r«Me + -ai.] Of or
pertaining to a shrine; containing a shrine; of
the nature of a shrine. [Rare.]
There appears to hare been a pagan Saxon household
close outside the east gate of the City of Exeter, whereof
the four daughters became Christian — two of them mar-
tyrs, of whom one has left her name, St. Sidwell, in a
shrinal church on the blood-stained spot
N. and Q., 6th ser., IX. 251.
shrine (shrin), n. [< ME. sh)i/ne, schrin, schryne,
scryne, < AS. serin, an ark (used with ref. to
the ark of the covenant), = D. schrijn = MLG.
schrin = OHG. scrini, MHG. schrin, G. schrein
= Icel. skrin = Sw. Dan. skrin = OF. serin,
fsrriM (> E. serine), F. ^crin = Pr. eserin = OSp.
escrinio, eserOlo, a box, shrine, = It. scritjno =
OBulg. skriniya, skrina = Serv. skrinya = Bo-
hem, skrzhine = Pol. skrzynia, kr-ynia = Russ.
skrynya, skrinu = Hung. s:ek-reiiy =z Lith. skrine
= Lett, skrine, skTinis, a shrine, = Ij. serinium,
a chest, box, case, letter-case, escritoire, casket,
ML. (eccles.) a shrine; root unknown. Chest,
box, and ark are also derived through AS. from
L. (box ult. from Gr.) ; cttse is also derived from
L. through F.] 1. A box; an ark; a chest.
She [Cleopatre] . . .
Made hir subtil werkmen make a shryne
Of alle the rubles and the stones fyne
In al Eglpte that she koude espye ; and forth she fette
Thii dede oora, and In the shryne it shctte.
Chaucer, Good Women, I. 672.
2. A l)ox for holding the bones of saints or
other sacred relics ; a reliquary. Portable shrines
containing relics were commonly arched boxes covered
with preclooB metal, enamels, and engraving, and in
cburones were generally placed near the altar. See cut
under monjtrance.
He [Ethelred] bestows the rellques of St Alban In a
tAn°n« of Pearl and Oold. Milton, Hist Eng., iv.
Over the high altar are preserved, in a very large
wrought shrine of massy gold^ the rellcks of St Firmin,
their patron saint Oray, Letters, I. 18.
Hence — 3. A tomb of a canonized or other
sacred person; the mausoleum of a saint; a
tomb of shrine-like configuration.
Howbeit there is a merualous fayre shryne for hym,
wrought all of fyne whyte marble, of wonderful curyous
and sumptuous werke.
Sir R. Ouylforde, Pylgryniage, p. 79.
It was a national as well as a religious feeling that drew
great multitudes to the shrine of Itecket, the fli-st Eng*
lishnian who since the Conquest had been terrible to the
foreign tyrant*. Macavlay, Hist Eng., L
4. An altar, small chapel or temple, or other
sacred object or place peculiarly consecrated
to and supposed to be hallowed by the presence
of some deity, saint, mythological hero, or other
personality reputed sacred. See cut on follow-
ing page, and cut under octastyle.
For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith,
which made silver shrines for [of, R, V.] Diana, brought
no small KMin unt^i the craftsmen. Acts xix. 24.
Forsooth, a blind man at Saint Alban's shrine,
WlUiln this half-hour, hath received his sight.
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., U. 1. 68.
shrine
Shrine of St. Caliniiie. Duke of A,; aid gilded
copper: early i :ui c<_iiu;ry.
(From Violktle-Duc's *' Diet, du Mobilier fran9ais.")
It [scalptured relief with figure of a goddess] is in tlie
form of a smnll shrine (raiVfcos- [a little temple]).
HarruoH and Verrall, Ancient Athens, p. 44.
5t. En-oneously, an image.
From the four corners of the earth they come.
To kiss thissAn'/ur, this mortal-breathing saint.
Shak., M. of v., ii. 7. 40.
Hearing us praise our loves of Italy,
. . . for feature, laming
The tkrine of Venus, or straight-pight Minerva.
Shak., Cymbeline, x. 5. 164.
6. Metaphorically, a thing or place hallowed
and consecrated by its history or past associa-
tions, or supposed to be the incarnation of some
object of worship.
Shrine of the mighty I can it he
That this is all remains of thee?
Byron, The Giaonr, 1. 106.
I . . . worshipped at innumerable shrines of beauty.
WUlis, Florence Gray.
7t. A charnol-house. Uolh/harid. (HalHwell.)
— Bell-shrine, a cover put over a bell when it is not in
use: an ecclesiastical utensil, and as such usually deco-
rated with religious emblems, especially in early Irish art.
shrine (shrin), »•. t.; pret. and \yp. shrined, ppr.
sliriiiiii!/. [< ME. shrynen, schnjncn, enshrine,
canonize; < shrine, n. Cf. enshrine.] 1. To
place in a shrine; enshrine ; hence, figurative-
ly, to deify or canonize.
Ye might be ghryned for your brotelnesse,
Bet than Dalyda, Creseide, or Candace.
Affdimt Women Unconstant.
The Almighty Father, where he sits
Shrined in his sanctuary of heaven secure.
Milton, P. L., vi. 672.
2. To inclose in something suggestive of the
great preciousness of what is inclosed : as, the
jewel was shrined in a velvet casket.
In painting her I shrined her face
'Mid mystic trees. D. G. Rossetti, The Portrait.
shrink (shringk), v. ; pret. shrank and shrunk,
pp. shrunk and shrunken {foTmerly also shrinked),
ppr. shrinking. [< ME. shrinken, schrinken,
scrinken (pret. schrank, schronk, pp. shrunken,
shrunk^), < AS. scrincan (pret. scranc, pp.
scruncen), contract, shrivel up (chiefly in comp.
for-scrincan),= MD. schrinken, shrink; in cau-
sal form OHG. screnchan, screnken, schi-enken,
MHG. schrenken, G. schranken, cause to shrink,
intr. sink, go aside ; cf . Sw. skrynka, a wrinkle,
skri/nkla, wrinkle, rumple, dial, skrnkka, shrink
together, leel. skrenkr, shrunk; prob. akin to
shrimp^, scrimp. Gt. scringe, shrug.'] l.intrans.
1. To contract spontaneously; draw or be
drawn into less length, breadth, or compass by
an inherent property : as, woolen clotli shrinks
in hot water ; a flaxen or hempen line shrinks
in a humid atmosphere.
He touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh In the sinew
that shrank. Oen. xzxU. 32.
Water, water everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink.
Coleridge, Ancient Mariner, ii.
2. To diminish ; reduce.
O mighty Cajsar ! dost thou lie so low?
Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils,
Shrunk to this little measure? Shak., 3. C, ill. 1. 150.
Philosophy, that lean'd on Heaven before,
Shrinks to her second cause, and is no more.
Pope, Dunciad, iv. 644.
3. To shrivel; beeomewrinkled by contraction,
as the skin.
1 am a scribbled form, drawn with a pen
Upon a parchment, and against this fire
Do I shrink up. Shak., K. John, v. 7. 84.
And shrink like parchment in consuming flame.
Dryden, Annus Mirabiiis, st. 266.
4. To draw back or retire, as from danger ; re-
coil physically, as in fear, horror, or distnist;
sometimes, simply, to go aside.
5600
But no way he saw he could so much pleasure them as
by leaving the two friends alone, who being shrunk aside
to the banqueting house, where the pictures were, there
Palladius recounted unto Pyrocles his fortunate escape
from the wreck and his ensuing adventures.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, i.
It is sbamefuU for a King to boast at Table and shrink
In fight. Milton^ Hist. Eng., v.
E'en as a bather might
Shrink from the water, from the naked night
She shrank a little.
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, III. 316.
5. To decline or hesitate to act, as from fear;
recoil morally or mentally, as in fear, horror,
disti-ust, distaste, and the like.
The proud have had me exceedingly in derision ; yet
have I not shrinked from thy law.
Book of Common Prayer, Psalter, Ps. cxix. 51.
I have seen him do such things belief would shrink at.
Fletcher, Humorous Lieutenant, i. 1.
He shrunk from no deed of treachery or violence.
Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 1.
6. To express fear, horror, or pain by shrug-
ging or contracting the body ; wince; flinch.
The gray mare
Is ill to live with, when her whinny shrills
From tile to scullery, and her small good-man
Shrinks in his arm-chair. Tennyson, Princess, v.
= STn. 3. Sea shrivel.— i-6. To flinch, blench.
II. trans. 1 . To cause to contract : as, to
shrink flannel by immersing it in boiling water.
To shrink mine arm up like a wither'd shrub.
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., iii. 2. 156.
The first is merry drunk.
And this, although his braines be somewhat shrunk
I ' th' wetting, hath, they say, but little hart
In his demeanour. Times' Whistle (E. E. T. S.), p. 63.
Keep it from coming too long, lest it should shrink the
corn in measure. Mortimer, Husbandry.
2. To make smaller ; make appear smaller.
He had some other drawbacks as a gardener. He shrank
the very place he cultivated. The dignity and reduced
gentility of his appearance made the sinidl garden cut a
sorry figure. H. L. Stevenson, An Old Scotch Gardener.
3. To withdraw: formerly with in.
The Libyck Hammon shrinks his horn.
Milton, Nativity, 1. 203.
His [Beelzebub's] awful Horns above his crown did rise,
And force his friends to shrink in theirs.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, i. 16.
That the Mountains should shrink in their heads, to fill
up the vast places of the deep.
Stillingjleet, Sermons, I. iii.
Another-while onder the Crystoll brinks
Her alabastrine well-shap't Limbs she shrinks,
Like to a Lilly sunk into a glasse.
Sylvester, tr. of Bu Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Trophies.
To Shrink on, to fix firmly by causing to shrink ; thus, the
tire of a wheel or the Iioop or jacket of a cannon is shrunk
on by making it slightly smaller than the part it is to fit,
expanding it by heat till it can be slipped into place, and
then rapidly cooling it.
This mortar was strengthened by heavy wrought-iron
bands shrunk on it. Eissler, Mod. High Explosives, p. 72.
shrink (shringk), )i. [< shrink, v.] 1. The act
of shrinking; a spontaneous drawing into less
compass.
Although they [horses] be sti-iken cleare through, or
that the bullets do still remaine in them, they after tlie
first shrinck at the entring of the bullet doo passe their
Carrire as tliough they liad verie little or no hurt.
Sir J. Smyth, in Ellis's Letters, p. 55.
2. A contraction.
There is in this a crack, which seems a shrink or con-
traction in the body since it was first formed.. Woodward.
3+. A shrug.
We
That tread the path of public business
Know what a tacit shrug is, or a shrink.
B. Jonson, Magnetick Lady, i. 1.
You cannot blame the Spaniard to be satyrical against
Q. Elizabeth ; for he never speaks of her but he fetcheth
a Shrink in the Shoulder. Howell, Letters, ii. 71.
4. A diminution; a falling away ; shrinkage.
I saw a visil)le shrink in all orders of men among us,
from that greatness and that goodness which was in the
first grain that our God brought from three sifted king-
doms into this land, when it was a land not sown.
C. Mather, Mag. Chris., iii., Int.
5. A withdrawing from fear or horror; recoil.
Not a sigh, a look, or shrink bewrays
The least felt touch of a degenerous fear.
Daniel, Civil Wars, L 52.
shrlnkable (shring'ka-bl), a. [< shri7tk +
-able.] Capable of being shrunk; able or liable
to shrink.
shrinkage (shring'ka,]), n. [< .ihrink + -age.]
1 . The contraction of a material to a smaller
surface or bulk, whether by cooling after be-
ing heated, as a metal, or by drying, as timber
or clay, or by wetting, as cord or fabrics.
There are some grades of imported wool on which the
shrinkage and loss in manufacture are so great that the
compensating duty is not excessive.
Taussig, Tariff History, p. 211.
shrive
I have also subjected the cortex to the action of glyce-
rine, with more remarkable results in the way of shrink-
age. Alien, aiul Neurol., VI. 559.
2. Figuratively, a similar reduction of any
kind, as loss of weight ; especially, loss of val-
ue: as, s7ir*«toye in real estate. — 3. Amount of
diminution of surface or bulk, weight or value :
as, the shrinkage of cast-iron by cooling is one
eighth of an inch to a foot ; the shrinkage on the
goods was 10 per cent. — 4. In gun., the differ-
ence between the outside diameter of the inner
cylinder and the inside diameter of the outer
cylinder of a built-up gun. The quantity by which
tlie former exceeds the latter is often called the absolute
shrinkage, and is expressed in the decimal jiarts of an
inch. Relative shrinkage is the ratioobtained by dividing
the absolute shrinkage by the interior diameter of the
outer cylinder. It is expressed in tliousandths and deci-
mal parts of thousandtlis of an inch, and represents the
absolute shrinkage per linear inch of the iliameter of the
outer cylinder. The theoretical shrinkage for a particular
gun is that deduced by mathematical computation from
known and assumed conditions and ilimensions. The ac-
tual shrinkage is that actually olitained in practice, and
varies from the theoretical shrinkage on account of the
imperfections of manufacture.
shrinkage-crack (shring'kaj-krak), n. One of
various small cracks such as are occasionally
seen to form a kind of network on the surface
of a bed of rock, and which appear to have
been caused by shrinkage soon after that par-
ticular layer had been deposited and while it
was being di-ied by exposure to the sun and
air; a sun-crack.
An entirely different kind of shrinkage-crack is that
which occurs in certain carbonised and flattened plants,
and which sometimes communicates to them a marvellous
resemblance to the netted under surface of an exogenous
leaf. Dauson, Geol. Hist, of Plants, p. 33.
shrinkage-rule (shring'ksj-rol), ». A rule,
used by pattern-makers, in which the gradua-
tions are so much larger than the normal mea-
surements that the patterns measured off by
such a rule will be large enough to allow for
shrinkage, without any computation on the part
of the workman. The rule must be graduated
with reference to the particular metal to be cast.
shrinker (shring'ker), )(. One who shrinks; one
wlio withdraws from danger.
Shrinking-head (shring'king-hed), n. A mass
of molten metal poured into a mold to com-
pensate for the shrinkage of the first casting.
Also called sinking-head and riser.
shrinkingly (shring'king-li), adv. In a shrink-
ing manner; by shrinking.
shrite (shrit), «. [Prob. a var. of shrike, < ME.
"shrike, < AS. serie, a thrush : see shrike^.] The
niistlethrush, Tiirdns riscivorus. Atacgillivray.
See cut under mislleihrvsh.
shrivaltyt, "• An obsolete spellingof«7(riera??^.
shrive^ (shriv), v.; yret. shrore, shrived, pp.
shriven, shrired, ppr. shriring. [Formerly also
shrieve; < ME. shriven, shryven, schrivev, schry-
ven, schryfen (pret. shrove, shrof, schrof, schraf,
pp. shriven, schriren, scriven, screffe, y-shryve),
< AS. scrifan (pret. scrdf, pp. scrifen), pre-
scribe penance, hear confessions, = OFries.
skriva, shrive ; cf. Icel. skripUi, shrive, confess,
impose penance, = Sw. skrifta = Dan. skrifte,
confess (from the noun represented by E.
shrift) ; usually identified, as orig. 'write,' with
OS. scribhan = OFries. skriva = D. ,'ichrijren =
MLG. schriren = OHG. scriban, MHG. schriben,
G. schreiben, write, < L. scribere, write, draw up
(a law, decree, charge, etc.), enroll: see scribe,
V. a. shrift, Shrovetide.] I. ho «,«. 1. To pre-
scribe penance to for sin; impose penance on.
Persie, beleeue me, thou shryvest me verie neere in this
latter demaund, which concerneth vs more deeply than
the former, and may worke vs more damage than thou art
aware of. Nashe, Pierce Peiiilesse. p. 67.
" In the week immediately before Lent, every one shall
go to his confessor," said the Ecclesiastical Institutes,
"and confess his deeds : and his confessor shall so thrive
him as he then may hear by his deeds what he is to do."
Rock, Church of onr Fathers, III. iL 61.
2. To receive a confession from (a penitent)
and grant absolution ; hence, to receive an ac-
knowledgment (of a fault) from, and pardon.
Id that chapelle, yf thou wolte crave,
vii ]tf yere thou myghtest have.
And so many lenttis more
yff thowe lie screffe, thou niayste have soo.
Politieal Poems, etc, (ed. Furiiivall), p. 130.
I had rather he should shrive me than wive me.
Shak.,U. of V.,i. 2. 144.
Let me go hence.
And in some cloister's school of penitence,
Across those stones, that pave the way to heaven.
Walk barefoot, till my guilty soul bo shriven !
Longfellow, Wayside Inn, King Robert of Sicily.
3. To acknowledge a fault; confess to a priest
and receive absolution: used reflexively.
I
shrive
A scolere at Pares had done many full synnys, the
whylke he hade schame to gchryfe hym of.
Hampule, Prose Treatises (E. E. T. S), p. 7.
Thanne Mede for here niystiedes to tliat man kiieled,
And ghroue hire of hire shrewednease shanielees, I trowe.
Piers JHotciium (B), iii. 44.
I am bound, ... if I have hurt my neighbor, to shrive
iiiy«e(^unto him. and to make him amends.
TyndaU, Ans. to Sir 1'. More, etc. (Parlier Soo., 1S50), p. 23.
Bid call the ghostly man
Hither, and let me shrice me clean and die.
Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine.
H. intrans. 1. To receive a confession, im-
pose the necessary penance, and grant absolu-
tion.
Per. It fell upon a holy eve.
Wit. Hey, ho, liallidaye!
Per. When holy fathers went to shrieve ;
Wil. Now ginneth this roundelay.
Spenser, .Shep. Cal., August.
2. To make confession.
And who art thou, thou Gray Brother,
That I should shriK to thee S
ScoU, Gray Brother.
shrive- (.shriv), r. t. ; pret. and pp. shrived, ppr.
shrill ii(/. [Origin obscure; the form suggests
a confusion of shiic with .<ihre(l or shroud'^ in
similar meanings.] To prune (trees). [Prov.
Eng.]
shrivel (shriv'I), r.; pret. and pp. shrircled or
shrirelled, ppr. shrireling or shrivellititi. [Not
found in ilE. ; a freq. form, perhaps ult. based
on ONorth. screpa, pine away; cf. yorw. skrypa,
waste, from tlie adj., Norw. skrife, transitory,
frail, = Sw. dial, -ikryp, weak, feeble, frail, =:
Icel. skrjApr. brittle, frail (cf. Sw. skrOpliij =
l>an. skrobclig, feeble) ; perhaps ult. connected
with shrinqA, .nhrink. The relations of these
forms are not clear.] I. intrans. To contract;
draw or be drawn into wrinkles; shrink and
form corrugations, as a leaf in the hot sun, or
the skin with age.
U hen, ihriKling like a parched scroll.
The darning heavena together roll.
Seott. L. of L. M., Ti 3L
The century iAn'wZf like ft scroll.
The past becomes the present.
0. W. Holmet, Burus's CenteDnial CelebratioD.
Ahd the rinesiAriKUed in the breath o( war.
WlaUier, Mllhridates at Chios,
sgyn. To shrivel is to become wrinkled or corrugated
by contraction ; to shrink Is, as a rule, to contract while
preservInK the same general form.
n. trans. 1. To contract into wrinkles;
cause to shrink into corrugations.
A fire from heaven came and shrivetl'd up
Xh^ IxKlies, eveu to loathing.
Shak., Pericles, ii. 4 9.
Dipping the bough of life, so pleasant once.
In Ore which shrivelled leal and bud alike.
Browning, King and Book, I. 2!jO.
2. To make narrow ; limit in scope.
None but shrivelled souls with narrow vision of the facts
of life can entertain the notion that PhiUisophy ought to
be restricted within the limits of the Logic of .Signs.
«. //. Uires, Probs. of Life and Mind, L L | 221.
3. To wither; blight; render impotent.
Milton was less tolerant ; he shrivelled up the lips of hie
revilers by the austerity uf his scorn
/<ofufor. Imaginary Couversfttioiia. Southeyand Porson.lL
shriven (shriv'n). A past participle of shrive^.
shriver (shri'v<*), n. [< ME. schnj/er, sgrivere;
< shrire^ + -erl.] One who shrives; a con-
fessor.
Be sael zigge his xennes clyerliihe and nskedllche, tao
thet the ssriuere izi |may see] openllcbe the hertc ... of
him that him ssrifth.
AyenbiU of Iniryt (E. E. T. 8.), p. 174.
When he was made a shriver, 'twas for shrift.
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., Hi. 2. 108.
shriving (shri'ving), 11. [Vcrbaln.of«Arircl,t;.]
Shrift; the act of one who shrives, or (as a
priest) hears confession.
Better a short tale than a bad long shrlvinn.
Spenser, Mother Hub. Tale, L 843.
shriving-pewt (shri'ving-pu), ». Same as con-
JVsxiniKll. 1.
To the Juynerfor takyngedowne i\i9»hryvyngpew, and
making another pew In the same place.
Churchwardens AeeounU (lM{j) of St. Michael's. Corn-
lAOI (ed. Overall, p. eo). (Davies.)
shroadly, ade. An obsolete or dialectal form
of sitri irdly.
shrockled (shrok'ld), a. [Pp. of 'shrnrkle, ap-
jmr. a frefj. of "shriirk, var. of shrug, ult. < Sw.
dial, sknikkn, etc., shrink: see shrink, shrug.]
Withered, /lalliicfll. [Prov. Eng.]
shroff 'I, n. See .ihniff.
shroff- (slirof), n. [A gynoopated form of An-
glo-liiil. sh/iriif, saraff, < Hind, siirrdf, common-
ly saraf, vemaculurly sardph, sardpe, snrdpii,
etc., < At. sarrdf, sairdf (initial sad), a money-
352
5C01
changer, a banker (cf. Heb. soref. a goldsmith),
< sarafii, change (money), spend (money).] 1.
In India, a banker or money-changer. — 2. In
China, Japan, etc., a native teller or silver-ex-
pert, employed by banks and mercantile estab-
lishments to inspect and count all dollars that
reach the firm, and detect and tlirovv out the
bad or defaced ones.
shroff- (shrof). V. t. [< shroff^, «.] To inspect
for the purpose of detecting and throwing out
what is bad: as, to shroff dollars. [Ports of
China and Japan.]
shroffage (shrof 'aj), n. [< shroff" + -age.'] 1.
The e.xamiuation of coins by an expert, and the
separation of the good from the debased or de-
faced.— 2. The expense of such expert inspec-
tion.
shrog (shrog), «. [An assibilated form of scrog.]
A shrub : same as scrog.
They cutt them downe two summer shroggs
That grew Imth under a breere,
And sett them threescore rood in twaine
To ^oote the prickes y-fere.
Robin Bood and Guy oj Gishome (Percy's Reliques).
shrood (shrod), V. t. A variant of shroud^.
shroud^ (shroud), H. [Early mod. E. also s/iroif(f,'
< ME. shroud, schroud, schrowde, shrud, schrud,
sriid, < AS. scrud, a garment, clothing, = Icel.
skrHdh, the shrouds of a ship, standing rigging,
tackle, gear, appendages, ornaments, the fur-
niture of a church, also a kind of stuff, = Norw.
skrtid, dress, ornament, = Sw. Dan. skrud, dress,
attire ; prob. orig. a piece of stuff • cut,' < Teut.
■^ skrud, whence also shred: see shred.] 1. A
garment; a covering of the nature of a gar-
ment ; something which envelops and conceals ;
clothing.
I shope me in throudes as I a shepe (shepherd) were,
In habite as an heremite vnholy of workes.
Piers Plowman (B), ProL, I. 2.
Than bycometh the ground so proude
That it wol have a newe shroude.
linn, n/the Rose, I. 04.
Glue my nakedues
Some shroud to shelter it.
Chapman, Odyssey, vL 274.
And Jura answers, through her misty shroud.
Back to the joyous Alps, who call to her aloud !
Byron, Childe Harold, iii. 92.
2. A winding-sheet; a piece of linen or other
cloth in which a dead body ts enveloped ; hence,
by extension, a garment for the dead, as a long
white robe or gown, prepared expressly for the
burial.
The shroud wherein oor Saviours blessed body was
wrapped when It was put into the Sepulchre.
Curyat, Crudities, I. 79.
The kneU, (he shroud, the mattock, and the grave.
Youny, Night Thoughts, iv, 10.
3t. Protection.
But it would warm his spirits
To hear from me you had left Antony,
And put yourself under his sArotrtf,
The universal landlord.
Shak., A. and C, liL 13. H.
4t. A place of shelter; covert; retreat.
To schewe his lyjte in evenr shnmied and shade.
liydgaU, US. Soc. Aiiti(|. 134, f. 23. (UttlKveU.)
Vnto a selly shrowde,
A sheepecote closely builte
Amid the woodds.
Oaseoiffne, Pbilomene (ed. ArberX p. 97.
The iknud to which he won his fair-eyed oxen.
Chapman.
Bun to TOUT sftraiids within these brakes and trees.
Milton, Comus, L 147.
8. A place under ground, as the burrow of an
animm, a vault, the crypt of a church, etc.:
sometimes in the plural, used collectively as a
singular.
The shrottds, ... a covered space on the side of the
church (St. Paul's;, to protect the congregation in inclem-
ent seasons. Pennant, London (ed. 1813X p. 512.
The shrouds or crowds, as we learn from Stow, was a
chapel under the choir of .St. Paul's Church, where sermons
were preached In the winter, and when the weather would
not permit an audience to stand in the churchyard.
Latimer, .Sermon of the Plough, note.
6. One of the two annular plates at the periph-
ery of a water-wheel which form the sides of
the buckets.
shrond^ (shroud), v. [Early mod. E. also shroud;
< ME. srhrouden, schriidm, scruden, also schre-
deii, shrideii. sriden (|>ret. srhnidde, also schred,
srid, pp. shrid, schred. isrhrud, iscrud), < AS.
scrydan, scridan (= Icel. skrytha), clothe, <
scrud, a garment : see shroud^, n. Cf . enshroud.]
I. trans. 1. To cover as with a garment or veil;
especially, to clothe (a dead body) for burial.
Thus shrmvditvj his body in the skinne, by stalking he
approacbeth the Deere.
CapL John Smith, True Travels, L 134.
shrond
The trestle-bearers and the persons who held the flam-
beaux were snroiided from forehead to foot in white sheeta
with holes pierced for tlie eyes.
T. B. Aldrich, Ponkapogto Pesth, p. 33.
2t. To clothe one's self in; put on.
Ugber [Lucifer] he sridde a dere srud.
An he wiythe in him-seluen pnid.
Genesis and Exodus (E. E. T. S.), 1. 271.
3. To cover or deck as with a garment ; over-
spread; inclose; envelop.
Ther is neither busk nor hay
In Muy, that it nyl shrouded ben.
Rom. of the Rose, 1. 55.
Thy Virgin Womb in wondious sort shall shrmed
Jesus tlie God. Couiey, Davideis, it
The portraits of my forefathers, shrouded in dust, like
the forms they represent. Irvituj, Knickerbocker, p. 146.
4. To cover so as to disguise or conceal; veil;
obscure.
Sorrow close shrouded in hart,
I know, to kepe is a burdenous smart.
Sitenser, Shep. Cal., September.
Take heed thou hast not, under our integrity,
Shrouded unlawful plots. Ford, Broken Heart, iiL 1.
And sometimes too he shrmvds
Uis soaring Wings among the Clouds.
Couiey, Pindaric Odes, i. 9.
6. To shelter; screen; hide.
Millions of birds sange shrmvded in the shade.
Puttenham, Partheniades, ix.
Those terrors of slaves, and mirrors of fools, . . . for
all their puissance, are glad to run into a hole, and cow-
ardly shroud themselves. Rev. T. Adams, Works, II. 549.
Beneath an abbey's roof
One evening sumptuously lodged ; the next
Humbly, in a religious hospital ;
Or haply shrouded in a hei-mifs cell. Wordsitorth.
Shrouded gear, shrouded pinion, a gear or pinion in
wliich the ends of the teeth are protected and strength-
ened by flanges extending usually as high as the point of
the teeth.
II. intrans. 1. To put one's self undercover;
take shelter.
I will here shroud till the dregs of the storm be past
Shak., Tempest, ii. 2. 43.
We see a cloud.
And, fearing to be wet, do run and shroud
Under a bush.
Randolph, An Eclogue to Master Jonson.
If your sti"ay attendance be yet lodged.
Or shroud witliiu these limits, I shall know.
Milton, Comus, 1. 310.
2. To gather together, as beasts do for warmth.
Palsgrave. (Halliwcll.)
shroud^ (shroud), ii. [Early mod. E. also
shrotcd; < ME. 'schroud (in naut. sense), < Icel.
skriidh, the shrouds of a ship, standing rigging,
tackle, gear, = Norw. skrud, shrouds, tackle,
orig. ' dress,' = Sw. Dan. skrud = AS. scrHd,
dress: see shroud^.] One of a set of strong
ropes extending from a ship's mastheads to
each side of the ship to support the mast. The
shrouds of the lower masts ana topmasts are generally
spoken of ssrwjTi'no; as, the fore-, main-, or mizzeU'riyffiny.
The topmast-shrouds extend from tlie topmast -heads to the
top-rims. The topgallant-shrouds extend from the top-
gulantmast-heads to the outer ends of the topmast-cross-
trees, and frequently thence to the tops. The bowsprit-
Arouds supp<»ll the Ijowsprit on lx>th sides. The fut-
lock-shrouds, to wliich the lower ends of the topmast- and
topgallant-shrouds are secured, extend from the outer
rims of the tops and crosstrees to a spider-l)and round the
lower mast or topmast The lower ends of the fore-,
main-, and mizzen-shrouds are set up to chain-plates
boltcti to the side of the ship. See cuts under channel'^
and <A>p.
Such a noise arose
As the shrouds make at sea in a stiff tempest
Shak., Hen. VIII., iv. 1. 72.
Twice the Sayloura had essayd
To heaue him o're, . . .
And now the thinl time stroue they him to cast
Yet by the shrou'ds the third time held he fast.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Uartas's Weeks, i. 5.
Bentlnck shroudst. See bentinek.
shroud'' (shroud), v. t. [Also shrowd, shrood ; a
var. of shred (due in part to association with
the ult. related shroud^) : see shred, v.] To lop
the branches from; trim, as a tree. [Prov.
Eng.]
A fellow in North Wales, shroifding of a tree, fell down
on his head, and his braine fractured, and lay for dead.
Aubrey's Wiltshire, MS. Ashmole. (HalliweU.)
By the time the tree was felled and shrouded.
T. Hughes. (Imp. Diet.')
shroudst (shroud), n. [A var. of shred, or di-
rectly from the verb s/irowrf^, q. v.] X. A cut-
ting, as of a tree or plant; a slip.
The lyke they afflrme of plantes or shrnuddes of younge
vines. Peter Martyr (tr. in Eden's First Books on Amer-
[ica, ed. Arber, p. 73).
2. A bough ; a branch ; hence, collectively, the
branching top or foliage of a tree.
A cedar in Lebanon, with fair branches and with a shad-
owing rAroud. Ezek. xxxi. 3.
shroud
5602
Where like a TOoonting Cedar he should beare shrover (shro'vfer), n. One who goes in eom-
Hls plumed top aloft into the ajre, pan V with others from house to house singing
And let these shrubs sit vnderneath his irArowdes, tv.,- ^,lVo<i -it Shrnvetidp FProv Enff 1
WhUst in his annes he doth embrace the clowdes. toi calvPS.lt feniovetiae. L"0>- J^^g.J
Drayton, Queen Margaret to Duke of Suffolk. ShrOVetlde (shrov'tid), n. i ime ot contession ;
Id ellum-«Arotu2« the hangbird clings.
Lowell, Biglow Papers, vi.
shrouding (shrou'ding), n. [< sliroiitH + -Jnj/l.]
The sides of a water-wheel which form the ends
of tlie buckets.
shrouding-gear (shrou'ding-ger), »i. A cog-
gear in wnichthe cogs are protected or strength-
ened by a flange at the side which comes out
even with the face
of the wheel, and
makes the cogs in ef-
fect mortises in the
face of the wheel. E.
H. Knight.
shroud-knot
(shroud'not), n. A
knot by which the
two parts of a shroud
which has been bro-
ken or shot away are
reunited.
shroudless (shroud'les), a. [< shroud^ + -less.']
1. Without a shroud: especially noting a dead
body unburied, or buried hastily.
To where a raangled corse,
Expos'd without remorse.
Lies throudlets, uneutomb'd he points the way.
Dodsleyt Melp^omene.
2. Unveiled; unobscured.
Above the stars in shroudless beauty shine.
C. Sirain, quoted in .Southey's Doctor, Ixxviii. (Davies.)
shroudlike (shroud ' lik), a. Resembling a
shroud; hence, funereal.
shroud-knots.
specifically, the period between the evening of
the Saturday before Quinquagesima Sunday
and the morning of Ash Wednesday, as being
the period when people were shriven in prepa-
ration for Lent: still further restricted to des-
ignate Shrove Tuesday.
And welcome merry Shrovetide.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., v. 3. 38.
In Essex and Suffolk, at Shrovetide or upon Shrove-Tues-
day, after the confession, it was usual for the farmer to
permit his ploughman to go to the barn blindfolded, and
" thresh the fat hen," saying, "if you can kill her then
give it thy men ; and go you and dine on fritters and pan-
cakes." Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 451.
Shrovetide, or the week before Lent, brought along with
it more than one religious and ritual observance.
Rock, Church of our Fathers, III. ii. 81.
shrovingt (shro'ving), n. [Verbal n. of shrove^,
v.] The celebration of Shrovetide ; hence, in
general, any merrymaking or festivity.
All which we on this stage shall act or say
Dotli solemnize Apollo's shruviivj day;
Whilst thus we greete you by our words and pens.
Our shroving bodeth death to none but hens.
W. Hawkins, Apollo Shroving (162(i), p. 8. (Nares.)
Eating, drinking, merry-making, . . . what else, I be-
seech you, was the whole life of this miserable man here,
but in a manner a perpetual shrovinf/ ?
Hales, Sermon on Luke xvi. 25.
shroving-time (shro'ving-tim), n. Shrovetide.
If thir absolute Determination be to enthral us, before
so long a Lent of Servitude they may permit us a little
Shromtiff-ti-fne first, wherin to speak freely, and take our
leaves of Liberty. Milton, Free Commonwealth.
shrovy (shro'vi), a. A dialectal variant, assibi-
. J .v 1, I, J .1 i j;-i. „ „„.. ™„. lated and transposed, of so()-c(/l. Ealliwell.
And thou, whose hands the shroudlike cypress rear. , . ^ ^\. ^\ c ji i
I)r«d«i,tr. of Virgil's Georgics,i. 26. ShrOWt, re. An obsolete form of ^ftrewjl.
shrubi (shrub), n. [< ME. slirob, sdiruh. schrob,
an assibilated form of scrub, *scrob, < AS. scrob
shroud-plate (shroud'plat), «. 1. Naut., same
SkS chain-plate. See cut under c7ia»nei^. — 2. In
mach.. same as shrou(l\ 6.
shroud-rope (shroud'rop), n. Rope fit to make
a ship's shrouds of.
shroud-stopper (shroud'stop"er). «. Nauf., a
piece of rope made fast above and below the
damaged part of a shroud which has been in-
jured by shot or otherwise, in order to secure it.
See stopper.
shroudy (shrou'di), o. [< shroucU + -yl.] Af-
fording shelter. [Rare.]
If your stray attendance be yet lodg'd
Within these shroudie limits.
MUton, MS. of Comus, Trinity College, Cambridge. (Rich.)
shrove^ (shrov), «. [Pound only in eomp. Shrove-
tide, Shrove Tuesday, and the derived verb
shrove; < ME. *shrof (in comp. shrofday : see
Shrove-dap), < AS. serif an (pret. scrdf), shrive :
see shrivei. Cf . shrift.'] Shrift ; shriving : used
only in composition, or in such phrases as iSArore
Tiie-iday. See shrift and .thriving — Shrove Mon-
day, the day before Shrove Tuesday. Also Collop Mon-
day.— Shrove Sunday, the Sunday before Shrove Tues-
day ; Quinquagesima Sunday.— Shrove Tuesday, the
Tuesday before the llrst day in Lent, or Ash Wednesday :
so called from the custom of making confession on that
day, in preparation for Lent. The day formerly was, and
in some places still is, passed in sports and merrymakiuK.
Also called Pancake Tuesday (see pancake}. Fastens Tues-
day, in Scotland Fasterns-een or Fastem E'en, and by the
French Mardi yras. See Shrovetide.
As fit as ... a pancake for Shrove Tuesday.
Shak., All's Well, ii. 2. 26.
Cock-fighting and throwing at cocks on Shrove-Tuesday,
and playing at hand-ball for tansy-cakes at Easter-tide.
StruU, Sports and Pastimes, p. 451.
a shrub; preserved in Scrob-seire, Shropshire,
Scrobbes-byrig, 'Shrewsbury (lit. Shrubsbury),
Scrobbcs-byrig-scyrc, Shrewsburyshire, the older
name of Shropshire ; cf. scrybbe, a shrubbery.
Cf . E. dial, shruff, also scroff, refuse wood. See
scrub^.] A woody plant with stems branched
from or near the ground, and, in general, small-
er than a tree ; a bush, or woody vine. The line
which divides trees from shrubs is to 'a large extent ar-
bitrary, and is often very unsatisfactory in application, but
in general the name shrub may be applied to a woody
plant of less size than a tree, with several permanent
woody stems dividing from the bottom, more slender and
lower than in a tree. The line between shrub and herb
is also indistinct, as msiny herbaceous plants are more or
less woody. For practical purposes shrubs are divided
into tlie deciduous and evergreen kinds. There are many
very ornamental flowering shrubs, among the best-known
of which are those belonging to the genera Rosa, Rhodo-
dendron, Kalmia, Viburnum, Philadelphus, Vacdnium.
Among evergreen shrubs ai'e the box and various heaths.
Compare tree, herb.
If the Cedar be so Weather-beaten, we poor Shrubs must
not murmiu' to bear Pait of the Storm.
Howell, Letters, iL 78.
So thick entwined.
As one continued brake, the undergrowth
Of shrubs and tangling bushes had perplex'd
All path of man or beast that pass'd that way.
MUton, P. L., iv. 176.
Gooseberries and currants are shrtibs; oaks and cherries
are trees. Locke.
Sweetly-smelling Shrubs the Ground o'ershade.
Congreve, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love.
The laurel-sAnrfw that hedge it around.
Tennyson, The Poet's Mind.
High-water shrub. See im. — Sweet or sweet-scent-
ed shrub, the Carolina allspice. See Calycanthus. = Sjm.
Shrovei (Shrov) ..i.; pret. andp.;,rot.c^ppr. ^^f-^^^^^^^
l^:Zllt..[.'«\*rZ4rJ ^ZL\^M''J'^::thl PP- sl^rumng. [< ./,n,61, «.] 1. To prune
down so that a shrubby form shall be preserved.
festivities of Shrovetide ; hence, in general, to
make merry.
As though he went
A shrouing through the city.
Fletcher (and another), Noble Gentleman, iii. 1.
Berlingaccione, one that loueth to shrmie ever and make
good cheere. Florio, 1611.
shrove^ (shrov). Preterit of shrive^.
shrove-cake (shrov'kak), n. 1 . A pancake made
at Shrovetide, and holding an important place
in the meirymaking of the season. — 2. A small
cake made to give to children at Shrovetide.
Balliwell.
Shrove-dayt, n. [ME. shrofday ; < shrorc^ -(-
day.] Same as Shrove Tuesday.
Bhrove-prenticet (shrov'pren'tis), n. One of
a set of ruffianly fellows who took at Shrove-
tide the name of "London Prentices."
More cruell then shrove-prentices. when they.
Drunk in a brothell house, are bid to pay.
Davenant, Madagascar <1648), p. 28. (Halliwell.)
Though they be well shrubbed and shred, yet they begin
even now before the spring to bud, and hope again in
time to flourish as the green bay-tree.
Anderson, Expos, of Benedictus (1573), fol. 64.
2. To reduce (a person) to poverty by winning
his whole stock: a word used at play. Halli-
tvell. [Prov. Eng.]
Shrub^ (shrub) «. [A var. of shrab (< Ar.
shardb), or a transposed form of *shurb, < Ar.
shurb, shirb, a drink, a beverage, < shariba,
drink. Cf. shrab, sherbet, and syrup, from the
same source.] A drink or cordial prepared
from the juice of fruit and various other in-
gredients, (a) A drink made by boiling cuiTant-juice
about ten minutes with an equal weight of sugar, and
adding a little rum : it is also made with other fruits, and
sometimes with brandy.
There never was any liquor so good as ram-shrub, never ;
and ttie sausages had a flavor of Elysium.
Thackeray, Philip, IL
shruff
Shrub, again — rum shrub — is there any living man who
now calls for shrub f W. Besarvt, Fifty Years Ago, p. 170.
(b) A cordial or syrup consisting of the acid juice of some
fruit, as the raspbeiry. cooked with sugar and vinegar,
and diluted with water when used. [U. S.]
"Mr. Peckham, would you be so polite as to pass me a
glass of «Ant6.?" Silas I'eckham . . . took from the table
a small glass cup, containing a fluid reddish in hue and
sul>acid in taste. O. W. Holmes, Elsie Venner, vii.
King and Forbes, sipping their raspberry shrub in a re-
tired corner of the ban-oom, were interested spectators of
the scene. C. D. Warner, Their Pilgrimage, p. 266.
shrub'H, I'. An obsolete form of scrub'^.
"As how, as liow?" said Zadock, shrugging and shrub-
bing. A' a«Ae, Unfortunate Traveller (1504). (Xares.)
shrubbed (shrubd), «. [< shrub'^ + -cd'^.]
Shrubby.
The woods in all these northern parts are short and
shrubbed. Knox (Arber's Eng. Gamer, I. 419).
Neere at hand were growing diuers shrubbed trees.
Warner, Albion's England, ii.
shrubberied (shrub'&r-id), a. [< shrubbery +
-ed'^.] Abounding in shrubbery.
Oxford itself, with its quiet, shady gardens, and smooth,
grassy lawns, . . . and shrubberied "parks," is attractive
to many birds. Atheneeum, No. 3240, p. 747.
shrubbery (shrub'er-i), n. ; pi. shrubberies (-iz).
[ishrub^ + -ery.] 1. Shrubs collectively ; low
shrubby bushes.
While grey evening lull'd the wind, and call'd
Fresh odours from the shrubbery at my side,
Taking my lonely winding walk, I mus'd.
Cowper, Four Ages.
They passed, and, opening an iron gate, came suddenly
into a gloomy maze of shrubbery that stretched its long-
vistas up the valley. H. Kingsley, Ravenshoe, xi.
2. A plantation of shrubs, as in a garden or
pleasure-ground .
A modern shrubbery, formed of a selection of the most
agreeable flowering slirubs. V. Knox, Essays, No. 115.
She would give her advice as to the trees which were
to be lopped in the shrubberies, the garden-beds to be dug,
the crops which were to be cut.
Thackeray, Vanity Fair, x.
shrubbiness (shrub'i-nes), «. The state or
(luality of being shrubby. Bailey, 1727.
shrubliy (shrub'i), a. [< shrub^ + -y'^. Cf.
scrubby.] 1 . Abounding in shrubs.
Lad. Gentle villager.
What readiest way would bring me to that place?
Com. Due west it rises from this shrubby point.
Milton, Comus, 1. 306.
Farther inland, in a sandy and shrubby landscape, is
Kendall Green, a private cemetery.
C. D. Warner, Then- l*ilgrimage, p. 122.
2. Consisting of shi'ubs.
The goats their shrubby hrowze
Gnaw pendent. J. Philips, Cider, I.
These are their bread, the only bread they know :
These and their willing slave the deer, that crops
The shrubby herbage on their meagre hills.
Armstrong, Art of Preserving Health, 1. 314.
3. Shrub-like; scrubby: said of stunted tree-
growths.
The land about it is dry and sandy, bearing only a few
shrubby trees. Dampier, Voyages, vi.
4. Somewhat woody: said of herbaceous plants
with the stem more or less lignified in the older
parts.
The woods began to be very fuU of thorns and shntbby
bushes. Knox (Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 410).
Shrubby althaea, bittersweet, horsetail. See the
nouns.— Shrubby trefoil. SeePtelea.
Shrubless (shrub'lcs), a. [< shrub'^ + -less.]
Destitute even of shrubs.
Among the stones I stood a stone,
And was, scarce conscious what I wist.
As shrubless crags within the mist.
Byron, Piisoner of Chillon, ix.
shrub-shilling (shrub'shil'ing), (I. See shilling.
shrub-snail (shrub'snal), n. A European snail,
lh'li.i- arbustorum.
Shrub-yellowroot (shrub'y<?l"o-rot), n. A low
shrubby ranunculaceous plant, Xnnthorrhi:a
apiifolia, of the Alleghany region. Its bark and its
rootstock are deep-yellow and' bitter, and were once used
by the Indians for dyeing.
Shruffl (shruf), 11. [A foi-m of scruff, which
is a transposed form of scurfs. Cf. shruff-.]
Dross of metals.
shruff 2 (shruf), H. [< ME. schroff; an assibilated
form of scruff, scroff, refuse wood; perhaps
connected with shrufi, scrub'^.] 1 . Light refuse
wood, used as fuel. Halliircll. [Prov. Eng.]
Thus baterid this bred on busshes aboute.
And gaderid gomes on grene ther as they walkyd,
That all the schroff smA schroup sondrid llrom other.
Richard the Redeless, ii. 154.
2. Refuse; i-ubbish.
But these mad legers do besides mixe among their
other sacks of coles store of shruffe dust and small cole to
their great advantage.
Greene, Discovery of Coosnage (1591). (Nares.)
shmg
shrug (shrug), I'. ; pret. and pp. shrugged, ppr.
shrugging. [< ME. gchruggen, shrunken, < Sw.
dial, skrukka, also skrugn, huddle oneself up,
sit in a crouching position, = Dan. skrukke,
skrugge, stoop (skruk-ri/gget, humpbacked; cf.
Icel. skrukka, an old shrimp) ; a secondary
form of the verb represented by AS. scrincan
(pp. seruncen = Sw. assimilated skrukken),
shrink: see «ArinA-.] I. intrans. 1. To shrink
or shiver with or as with cold; draw up the
limbs in a nervous shiver. Prompt. Pan.,
p. 449.
The touch of the cold water made a pretty kind of shrug-
ffinff come over her body, like the twinkling of the fairest
among the fixed stars. Sir P. Sidney^ Arcadia, iL
The French lackey and Irish footboy skruggitiff at the
doors, with their masters' hobby-horses, to ride to the new
play. Dekker, Gall's Hornbook, p. 130.
Robin the bird, in its cage, shrugt and folds itself into
its feathers, as if it were night. & Juddj Margaret, i. 17.
2. To raise or draw up and contract the shoul-
ders with a sudden, nervous movement : an ex-
pression usually of doubt, indiflference, discon-
tent, dislike, contempt, etc. See shrug, n., 1.
Xor pikynge, nor trlfelynge, ne ghrukkynge as thaU3 ye
wold sawe. Babett Book (E. E. T. 8.), p. 135.
Some lew may cry, "Twas pretty well," or so,
"But " and there ghntg in silence.
Ford, Broken Heart, Epil.
What 'g in agitation now.
That all this muttering and $hrvgging, see.
Begins at me ? Browmng, Strafford.
n. trans. If. Beflexively, to draw up the
shoulders of in a shrug.
The good roan of the iiome shrugged Hm for Joy, think*
ing tu himself I will make some pastime with you anon.
Barman, Caveat for Cursetore, p. 94.
2. To draw up with a sudden, nervoas move-
ment ; contract in a shrug.
He thrugt his shoulder* when you talk of securities.
Additan.
Shmg (shrug), n. [< shrug, r.] 1. An expres-
sive drawing up of the shoulders: a character-
istic manner of expressing doubt, indifference,
discontent, contempt, etc., or, rarely, relief or
resignation.
The (Am^, the ham or ha, these petty brands
That calumny doth use. Shot., w. T., iL 1. 71.
Who 's not familiar with the Spanish garbe,
Th' Italian ihntg, French cringe, aod (ierman hoggeT
Bronu, Antipodes, L ft.
As Spaniards talk in dialogues
Of heads aod sboulden, nods and iknm.
S. BuOer, Hudibm, m. a 1492.
With long-drawn breath and gkrug, my guest
His sense of glad relief expressed.
WhUUer, The Meeting.
2t A hitching up of the clothes.
All the effect this notable speech had was to frighten
my uncle, and make him give two or three tkmgt extra-
ordinary to his breeches.
H. WatpoU, To Mann, July T, 1742.
shnunp (shrump), V. i. [A secondary form of
KhrimjA.} To shrug; shrink. HaUiKell. [Prov.
K
nrimj.
■>"«■]
shrank (shrungk). Preterit and past participle
(if shrink.
shronken (shnmg'kn), ». a. [Pp. of shrink, r.]
Having shrunk ; shriveled up; contracted: as,
a shrunken limb.
Shrunken synewea. Sptnter, F. <J., I. Ix- 20.
shmps (shrups), «. The American woo<lcock,
J'hilohela minor. C. S. Westcott, 1874. [Penn-
sylvania.]
abu, interj. Another spelling of «Aoo2.
shnck^ (shiik), r. t. and i. [A dial, form of
shock^ or of shake (through the pret. shook, var.
shurk).^ To shake. Halliicell. [Prov. Eng.]
shuck- (shuk), n. [Origin obscure; the near-
est similar forms, shuck^, shake, shuck^, shock^,
a heap, shock^, shag^, do not explain the word.
If the verb is original, it may perhaps be a
dial, form of shi>ck^, and so belong with sAhc*,!.]
1. A husk or pod: used •■spfM.ially of the epi-
earp of hickory-nuts and walnuts, the prickly
involucre of chestnuts, etc., also, in England,
of the pods of peas, etc., and, in some parts of
the United States, of the husks of matze. — 2.
The shell of the oyster. [U. 8.] — 3. A ca.se or
covering, as that of the larva of a caddis-tly.
LarvB . . . before emerging from the thuek.
The Field, Jan. as, Iswi (Eneyc. DieL)
Not to care shucks, to care nothing. [Vulgar, V. 8.)—
Mot worth gbucks, xood for nothing : worthless. [Vul-
gar, r. i.\
shuck- (shuk), tJ. (. [See shuck^, ».] 1. To re-
move the husk, pod, or shell from: in the United
States said especially of the husking of com or
the shelling of oysters.
5603
To fix the standard of measurement of shucked oysters
in the State. Appleton's Ann. Cyc., 1886, p. 624.
Tom . . . led Rachel's horse to the stable, . . . and
then he delayed long enough to shuck out and give him
eight or ten ears of com.
E. Eggleston, The Graysons, xxx.
2. To take; strip: with off. [Slang, U. S.]
He'd get mad as all wrath, and charge like a ram at a
gate-post ; and, the first thing you knowed, he'd shuck off
his coat to fight.
A. B. Longstreet, Southern Sketches, p. 31. (BarUett.)
shuck^ (shuk), n. [A var. of skock^, shook^.'\
A shock ; a stook. [Prov. Eng.]
shuck^t (shuk), n. [Found only in early ME.
schucke, scucke, < AS. scucca, sceocca, the devil;
cf. G. scheuche, a scarecrow, < MHG. schiech,
G. scheu, shy: see «Ayl.] The devil.
Hire eorthliche modres . . . teameth hire in horedom
of the lathe vnwiht the hellene schucke.
Uali Meidenhad (E. E. T. S.), p. 41.
Al so ase thu wel wutt schenden thene schucke.
Ancren RivUe, p. 31ft.
shuck'' (shuk), interj. [Cf. *tc3.] A call to
pigs. Halliirell. [Prov. Eng.]
shuck-bottom (shuk'bofum), a. Having a
seat made of the shucks or husks of com.
[Local, U. S.]
She sank down on a shuck-boWmt chair by the door of
the tent. E. Eggleston, The Graysons, x.
shuck-bottomed (shuk'bot'umd), a. [AssAmcA:-
bottom + -ed-.'\ Same as shuck-bottom.
He drew up another shuek-bottimud chair in such a way
as to sit beside and yet half facing her.
E. Eggteston, The Graysons, xxxl.
Shucker (shuk'tr), n. [< shuck^ + -<t1.] One
who shucks ; one who shells nuts, com, oysters,
or the like. [U. 8.]
Estimating the average amount made by the shuckert at
te a week, or (192 for the seuon, it is seen that there are
six hundred and forty men steadily employed for nearly
eight months of the year In opening oystera for local con-
sumption in Baltimore. Fisheries of IT. S., V. II. 55S.
shucking (shuk'ing), n. [Verbal n. of shuck^,
I'. ] 1 . The act of freeing from shucks or husks.
[Provincial.]
Lads and lasses mingle
At the shucking of the maize.
' Bim Gauititr Ballads, Lay of Mr. Colt, II.
2. A husking-bee; a husking. [Local, U. S.]
Let me have some of your regular plantation tunes that
you used to sing at cora-skudtiagi.
Musieal Rtcord, No. 344, p. g.
Shnckiah (shuk'ish), a. [< shuck (f) -I- -tsftl.]
Unpleasant; unsettled; showery: generally
applied to the weather. Halliwcll. [Prov.
Lug.]
shucklet, I". An obsolete variant of chuckle^.
Florio.
shucks (shnks), inter/. [Prob. an exclamatory
use ol shucks, pi. of shuck^, used also to denote
something worthless. It can hardly be an ex-
clamatory use of shuck* ('the devil! the
deuce ! '), *s that word became obsolete in early
ME.] An interjection indicating contempt,
especially a contemptuous rejection of some
suggestion or remark: as, oh, shucks! I don't
believe it. [Vulgar, U. S.]
shud't (sh ud), n. [Prob. ult., like shode^,< shed^ :
eeesheifi."] A bosk; that which is shed. Davies.
Bat what shall be done with all the hard refuse, the
long ban% the stalks, the short shuds or shiues ?
Holland, tr. of I'Uny, xlx. 1.
Shud^ (shud), n. [< ME. schudde, prob. < Sw.
skydd, protection, skydda, protect, shelter;
akin to L. scutum, a cover, shield, etc., and to
sky: see sky^. Cf. shed^.l A shed; a hut.
Prompt. Parr., p. 449. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
shudder (shud'ir), r. ♦. [< ME. schuderen,
schudren, shodcren, shoddren, schoderen, scode-
rcn (not recorded in AS.) = MD. sehudderen,
shake, tremble, shiver, sliud<ler, also shake
with laughter. = LG. schuddcrn, shake, shud-
der (> G. schaudern, shudder), also schuddeln,
shake, shudder. = G. schiittem, shake, tremble,
also OHG. scntilon, shake, agitate ( > It. scotolcire,
swingle flax), MHG. schiitein, G.sc/mY^c/n, shake;
f rpq. (with freq. formative -er. -cl) from a simple
verb, AS. 'scuddan (not found except as in the
doubtful once-occurring ppr. scndendc, which
may stand for 'scuddcnde, trembling) = OS.
skuddian, tr., shake, = OFries. schedda, NFries.
schoddjen = MD. D. schuddrn, shake, tremble,
tr. shake, agitate. = MLG. LG. schudden, shake,
shudder, = yHG. scutten, scuten, MHG. schut-
ten, schufen, schuticn, shake, agitate, swing, G.
schiltten, shoot (com, etc.), potir, shed; 'Teut.
V skud, perhaps orig. a var. of •/ skut, whence
shoot: see shhot. Cf. scud.] 1. To shake;
quiver; vibrate.
shuffle
The schafte teodyrde and schott in the schire byeme.
And soughte thorowowte the schelde, and in the schaike
rystez. Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 21B9.
When the strong neighings of the wild white Horse
Set every gilded parapet shuddering.
Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine.
2. Hence, in particular, to tremble with a
sudden convulsive movement, as from horror,
fright, aversion, cold, etc. ; shiver ; quake.
He schodirde and schrenkys, and schontes bott lyttile,
Bott schokkes in scharpely in his schene wedys.
Jforte Arthure(E. E. T. S.), 1. 4236.
She starts, like one that spies an adder, . . .
The fear whereof doth make him shake and shudder.
Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 880.
"Oh, for mercy's sake, stop this!" groans old Mr
Tremlett, who always begins to shudder at the sound of
poor Twysden's voice. Thackeray, Philip, xxi.
3. To have a tremulous or quivering appear-
ance, as if from horror. [Rare.]
O ye stars that shudder over me,
O earth that soundest hollow under me,
Vext with waste dreams !
Tennysm^ Coming of Arthur.
=Syn. Quake, etc. See shijxr2.
shudder (shud'fer), «. [< shudder, ».] 1. A
tremulous motion; a quiver; a vibration.
The actual ether which fills space is so elastic that the
slightest possible distortion produced by the vibration of a
single atom sends a «Audd«r tlu-ough it with inconceivable
rapidity for billions and billions of miles. This shudder
is Light.
W. K. Clifford, Lectures and Essays, The Unseen Universe.
2. Specifically, a quick involuntary tremor or
quiver of the body, as from fear, disgust, hor-
ror, or cold ; a convulsive shiver.
I know, youll swear, terribly swear
Into strong shudders and to heavenly agues
The Immortal gods that hear you — spare your oaths.
Shak., T. of A., iv. 3. 137.
shuddering (sliud'er-ing), J), a. [Ppr. of shud-
der, r.] 1. Shaking; trembling; especially,
shivering or quivering with fear, horror, cold,
etc.
The shuddering tenant of the frigid lone.
Ootdsinith, l"raveller, 1. 6.6.
The goblin . . . deftly strips
The ruddy skin from a sweet rose's cheek.
Then blows the shuddering leaf between his lips.
Hood, Plea of the Midsummer Fairies, st 7.
2. Marked or accompanied by a shudder; trem-
ulous.
How all the other passions fleet to air.
As doubtful thoughts, and rash-embraced despair.
And shuddering fear, and green-eyed jealousy !
Shak., M. of V., lii. 2. 110.
We seem to . . . hear the shuddering accents with which
he tells his fearful tale. Ulacaulay, Dante.
Gaxing down with shuddering dread and awe.
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, I. 178.
shudderingly (shud'^r-ing-li), adv. With a
shudder; tremblingly; tremulously.
The bare boughs rattled shudderingly.
Lmcell, Vision of Sir Launtal, U.
The shrewmouse eyes me shudderingly, then flees.
C. S. Calnertey, Sad Memories.
Shudderyt, ». [E. Ind.] See the quotation.
A small thin shudderyor lawn.
S Clarke, Geog. Descrip. (1671), p. 30.
shnde', n. See shood.
shade- (shod), «. The white bream. [Local,
Ireland.]
shuff (shuf), r. i. [A dial, form (in Halliwell
spelled shuf) of *shough, an unrecorded form,
preserving the orig. guttural (AS. scedh, adj.)
of«;i«.- see«/iyi, f.] To shy. Halliwell. [Prov.
shuffle (shuf '1), p. ; pret. and pp. shuffled, ppr.
shuffling. [Formerly also *shoffle. shoffcl (in
ME. shovelen: see shovepi); = MD. schuffelen,
drive on, mn away, = LG. schuffebi, schiifeln,
move dragging the feet, shuffle," mix or shuf-
fle (cards), play false, eat greedily; a freq.
form, also in unassibilated form scuffle, of shove,
but prob. in part confused with the verb shoreO-,
which is ult. from the same verb shove: see
shove, scuffle^.] I, trans. 1. To shove little by
little; push alonggraduallyfrom place to place;
hence, to pass from one to another: as, to shuf-
fle money from hand to hand.
Yon cottager, who weaves at her own door, . . .
Shuffling her threads about the livelong day.
Cotcfer, I'ruth, I. 320.
2. Specifically, to change the relative positions
of (cards in a pack). This is usually done before
dealing, and with the cards face downward, the object
being to mix tlicm thoroughly, so that they may fall to
the players In random order.
Hearts by Love strangely shuffled are.
That there can never meet a Pair I
Cowley, The Mistress. Distance.
I must complain the cards are ill shuffled till I have a
good hand. Swyft, ITioughts on Various Subjects.
shuffle
3. To thrust carelessly or at random ; change
by pushing from place to place; hence, to con-
fuse; mix; intermingle.
But anon
Bids all be let alone ; and calls for books,
Shofett Divinity and Poetry,
Phyloeophy and Historical together.
And throws all by. Bronte, Queen's Exchange, iii.
4. To put or bring (in, off, out, up, etc.) under
«over of disorder, or in a confused, irregular,
or tricky way.
And she tkuffles up a quantity of straw or hay into some
pretty comer of the barn where she may conveniently lie.
Barman: Caveat for Cursetors, p. 103.
He shall likewise shujfle her aicay.
While other sports are tasking of their minds.
Shak., .M. W. of W., iv. C. 29.
To shuffle up a summary proceeding by examination
without trial of jury. Bacon.
I scorn to speak anything to the diminution of these
little creatures, and should not have minded them had
they been still shuffled among the crowd.
Addison, The Tall Club, Spectator, No. 108.
5. To drag with a slovenly, scraping move-
ment; move with a shufBe.
Men, women, rich and poor, in the cool hours.
Shuffled their sandals o'er the pavement white,
Companion'd or alone. Keats, Lamia, i.
6. To perform with a shuffle.
I remember the time, for the roots of my hair were stirr'd
By a shuffled step, by a dead weight trail'd, by a whisper'd
fright. Tennyson, Maud, i.
To Bhufae off, to thrust aside ; put oS.
When we have shuffled offtbis mortal coil.
Shak., Hamlet, iii. 1. 67.
But they thought not of shufflinq ojTupon posterity the
l)urden of resistance. Everett, Orations, p. 105.
n. intrans. 1. To push ; shove ; thrust one's
self forward.
He that shall sit down frightened with that foolery
Is not worth pity ; let me alone to shuffle.
Fletcher and Shirley, Night- Walker, i. 1.
You live perpetual in disturbancy ;
Contending, thrusting, shuffling for your rooms
Of ease or honour, with impatiency.
Daniel, Civil Wars, viii. 100.
2. To mix up cards in a pack, changing their
position.s so that they may fall to the players
in irregular and unknown order. Compare I., 2.
Mr. Rodney owns he was a little astonished at seeing
the Count shuffle with the faces of the cards upwards.
Walpote, Letters, II. 143.
The paralytic . . . borrows a friend's hand
To deal and shuffle, to divide and sort
Her mingled suits and sequences.
Cowper, Task, i. 474.
3. To move little by little ; shift gi'adually ;
shift.
The stars do wander.
And have their divers influence ; the elements
Shuffle into Innumerable changes.
Shirley, The Traitor, iL 2.
These [tornadoes] did not last long, sometimes hot a
quarter of an hour ; and then the Wind would shuffle about
to the Southward again, and fall flat calm.
Dampier, Voyages, I. 79.
4. To shift to and fro in conduct ; act undecid-
edly or evasively ; hence, to equivocate ; pre-
varicate ; practise dishonest shifts.
I myself sometimes, . . . hiding my honour in mine
necessity, am fain to shuffle. Shak., M. W. of W., iL 2. 26.
If any thing for honesty be gotten.
Though 't be but bread and cheese, I can be satisfied ;
If otherwise the wind blow, stitf as I am,
Yet I shall learn to shuffle. Fletcher, Mad Lover, i. 1.
You sifted not so clean before, but you shuffle as foulely
now. Milton, On Def. of Humh. Kemonst.
The Rajah, after the fashion of his countrymen, shuffled,
solicited, and pleaded poverty.
Macaulay, Warren Hastings.
5. To move in a slow, irregular, lumbering
fashion ; drag clumsily or heavily along a sur-
face; especially, to walk with a slovenly, drag-
ging, or scraping gait.
A shoeless soldier there a man might meet
Leading his monsieur by the arms fast bound ;
Another his had shackled by the feet.
Who like a cripple shuffled on the ground.
Drayton, Battle of Agincourt.
The boy-bridegroom, shuffling in his pace.
Now hid awhile and then exposed his face.
Crabbe, Works, I. 75.
The aged creature came.
Shuffling along with ivory-headed wand.
Keats, Eve of St. Agnes, st. 11.
6. To shove the feet noisily to and fro on the
floor or ground ; specifically, to scrape the floor
with the feet in dancing.
Passengers blew into their hands, and shuffled in their
wooden shoes to set the blood agog.
B. L. Stevenson, Inland Voyage, p. 224.
7. To proceed awkwardly or with difficulty;
struggle clumsily or perfunctorily.
5604
Your life, good master.
Must shuffle for itself.
Shak., Cymbeline, v, .1. lO.'j.
Tom was gradually allowed to shtiffle through his lessons
with less rigor. George Eliot, Mill on the Floss, ii. 4.
While it was yet two or three hours before daybreak, the
sleep-forsaken little man arose, shuffled into his gai-ments,
and in his stocking-^eet sought the corridor.
G. W. Cable, Old Creole Days, p. 265.
= Sto. 4. To equivocate, quibble, sophisticate, dodge.
shuffle (shuf'l), M. [< shuffle, ?■.] 1. A shov-
ing or pushing; particularly, a thrusting out
of place or order; a change producing dis-
order.
A goodly huge cabinet, wherein whatsoever singular-
ity, chance, and the shuffle of things hath produced shall
be sorted and included.
Bacon, Works (ed. Spedding), I. 336.
The unguided agitation and rude shuffles of matter.
Bentley, Sermons.
2. Specifically, a changing of the order of cards
in a pack so that they may not fall to the play-
ers in known or preconcerted order. See slmf-
flc, V. t., 2. — 3. The right or turn of shuffling or
mixing the cards: as, whose shuffle is it? — 4. A
varying or undecided course of behavior, usu-
ally for the purpose of deceiving; equivoca-
tion ; evasion ; artifice.
With a slye shuffle of counterfeit principles chopping
and changing till ifiee have glean'd all the good ones out
of their minds. Milton, On Def. of Humb. Remonst., Pref.
The gifts of nature are beyond all shams and shuffles.
Sir Ii, L' Estrange.
The country had a right to expect a straightforward pol-
icy instead of the shirk and shuffle which had been foisted
upon it. Westminster Ben., CXXV. Hi.
5. A slow, heavy, irregular manner of moving ;
an awkward, dragging gait. — 6. In dancing, a
rapid scraping movement of the feet; also, a
dance in which the feet are shuffled alternately
over the floor at regular intervals. The dmUe
shuffle differs from the shtiffle in each movement being ex-
ecuted twice in succession with the same foot.
The voice of conscience can be no more heard in this
continual tumult then the vagient cries of the infant Ju-
piter amidst the rude shuffles and dancings of the Cretick
Corybantes. Dr. it. More, ImmortaL of Soul, iL 18.
shuffle-board, «. See shovel-hoard.
shuffle-cap (shuf'1-kap), «. A play performed
by sliaking money in a hat or cap.
He lost his money at chuckfarthing, shuffle-cap, and all-
fours. Arbuthnot.
shuffler (shuf 'ler), n. [< shuffle + -er'^.'] 1. One
who shuffles, in any sense of the verb.
Unless he were the greatest prevaricator and shuffler
imaginable. Waterland, Works, III. 150.
2. Same as raft-duck: so called from its shuf-
fling over the water. See cut under scaup. —
3. The coot, Fulica americana. [Local, U. S.]
shuffle-scale (shuf'1-skal), n. A tailors' mea-
sure graduated at both ends, each end admitting
of independent adjustment. E. H. Knight.
shufflewing (shuf'1-wing), n. The hedge-
chanter, ^cce*! tor wotfetom. Macyillivray. See
cut under accentor. [Local, Eng.]
shuffling (shuf 'ling), p. a. 1. Moving clum-
sily; slovenly.
He knew him by his shufflinq pace.
SomervUte, The Happy Disappointment.
2. Evasive; prevaricating.
shuffling (shuf'ling), n. [Verbal n. of shuffle,
f.] The act of one who shuffles, in any sense.
With a little shuffling you may choose
A sword unbated, and in a pass of practice
Requite him for your father.
Shak., Hamlet, iv. 7. 138.
shufflingly (shuf'ling-li), adv. In a shuffling
manner ; with a shuffle. Especially— (o) With an
irregular, dragging, or scraping gait.
I may go shufflingly at first, for I was never before walked
in trammels. Dryden, Spanish Friar, i. 2.
(6) Undecisively ; evasively; equivocatingly.
The death of Hexam rendering the sweat of the honest
man's brow unprofttable, the honest man had shufflingly
declined to moisten his brow for nothing.
Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, L 16.
shuffling-plates (shuf 'ling-plats), n.pl. In lock-
making, a series of isolated slabs or boards
made to advance in a given plane, then to drop
and return on a lower level beneath another
set of advancing plates, and then rise to repeat
the movement. E. H. Knight.
shugl (shug), V. i.; pret. and pp. shugged, ppr.
shugging. [A var. of shog^ ; in def. 2 perhaps
confused with sArw(7 ; see sAo*/! and sAr«p.] If.
To crawl ; sneak.
There I'll shug in and get a noble countenance. Ford.
2. To shrug; writhe the body, as persons with
the itch ; scratch. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
shunt
Shug2 (shug), interj. [Cf. sic^ and shxick^.'] A
call to pigs. [New Eng.]
shuldet, snuldent. Obsolete preterits of shall^.
shuldert, "• An obsolete form of shoulder.
shule, shuU, shol, shul, ". Dialectal forms of
sUoul, a contracted form of shovel.
shuUent, shuUet, shult. Obsolete plural forms
of shalli.
shultromt, n. See sheltron.
shulwaurs (shul'warz), n. pi. A kind of paja-
mas, or long drawers ; also, loose trousers worn
by Asiatics of both sexes.
shumact, shumacht, shumackt, «• Obsolete
spellings of sumac.
shun (shun), V. ; pret. and pp. .shunned, ppr. shu7i-
niug, [<ME. shunncn, shonnen, shunen, schounen,
schunen, schunien, shonen, schonen, shouien, sho7i-
yen, sconnen, scunieii, < AS. scuyiian (not scimian )
(pp. "gescuned, gescunned), shun, usually in
comp. d-scunian, hate, detest, shun, avoid, ac-
cuse, on-scunian, an-scuniau, ou-sceonian, on-
scynian, regard with loathing, fear, or disfavor,
reject, shun, also irritate; connections uncer-
tain; not used in AS. in the physical sense 'go
aside from,' and for this reason and others
prob. not connected with scyndan, hasten, dscyn-
dan, take away; cf. shunt. But the physical
sense appears in scoon, scon'^. skip, which are
appar. variants of scy-n"^, an unassibilated form
of shun: see scun'^, scoon, and cf. scoundrel,
schooner, etc.] I. trans. 1. To detest; abhor;
shrink from. [Obsolete or archaic]
Hu ancren owen to hatien ham, and schunien.
Ancren Biwle, p. 82.
So let me, if you do not shudder at me,
Nor shun to call me sister, dwell with you.
Tennyson, Guinevere.
2. To go or keep away from; keep out of the
neighborhood of ; avoid.
And gif him wrattheth be ywar and his weye shonye.
Piers Plowman (B), ProL, 1. 174.
Which way wilt thou take?
That I may shun thee, for thine eyes are poison
To mine, and I am loath to grow in rage.
Beau, and Fl., Philaster, iv. 2.
See how the golden groves around me smile.
That shun the coast of Britain's stormy isle.
Addison, Letter from Italy.
3. To try to escape from; attempt to elude,
generally with success; hence, to evade; escape.
Weak we are, and cannot shun pursuit.
Shak.,S Hen. VI., ii. 3.13.
No man of woman bom.
Coward or brave, can shun his destiny.
Bryant, Iliad, vL 026.
4. To refrain from ; eschew; neglect; refuse.
If 1 sothe shall sale and shonne side tales.
Richard the liedeless, iii. 170.
I have not shunned to declare unto you all counsel of
God. Acts XX. 27.
Whose Fingers are too fat, and Nails too coarse,
Should always shun much Gesture in Discoui-se.
Congreve, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love.
5. To shove; push. Bailey, 1731; Halliwell.
[Prov. Eng.]
Il.t intrans. 1. To shrink back; fall back;
retreat.
Ne no more schoune fore the swape of their scharpe
suerddes
Then tore the faireste flour thatt on the folde growes !
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 314.
2. To avoid or evade danger or injury.
Whether hade he no helme ne hawb[e)rgh nauther, . . .
Ne no schafte, ne no schelde, to schu-ne ne to smyte.
Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.), 1. 205.
3. To withhold action or participation; re-
frain, as from doing something.
It [Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac] is goddis will, it sail be
myne,
Agaynste his saande sail I neuer schone.
York Plays, p. 63.
shuncht, t?. t [Avar, of «*«».] Same assAM«,5.
Halliwell.
shunless (shuu'les), a. [< shun -I- -less.'i Not
to be shunned, escaped, or evaded; unavoid-
able; inevitable. [Rare.]
Alone he enter'd
The mortal gate of the city, which he painted
With shunless destiny. Shak., Cor., ii. 2. 116.
shunner (shun'^r), n. [< shun -I- -«-i.] One
who shuns or avoids.
Oh, these be Fancy's revellers by night ! . . .
Diana's motes, that flit in her pale light,
Shunners of sunbeams in diurnal sloth.
Hood, Plea of the Midsummer Fairies, st. 99.
shunt (shunt), V. [< 'ME. shunien, sclntnten,
schontcn, shounten, schounten, schotonten, start
aside; prob. a variant (due to some interfer-
ence, perhaps association with shoten, sheten,
shoot, or shutten, shut) of shitndcn, which is
ahnnt
itself prob. a variant (due to association with
shun) of 'shiniien (of. shiitleii, var. of shitten,
8hut),<AS.«cyttrfa«,liasten (incomp. d-seyHrfan,
take away, remove), = OHG. scuntan, urge on,
= loel. skijnda, skunda = Norw. skunda = Sw.
skyitda = Dan. ski/nde, hasten, hurry, speed;
prob. connected (at least later so regarded)
withs/iMn; see sAmh.] I. intrans. 1. To start
aside or back ; shrink back ; flinch ; of a horse,
to shy. [Obsolete or pro v. Eng.]
Ne beo nawt the skerre hors Uiche that schmUes.
Ancren Biuie, p. 242, note d.
With shame may thoo tkunt fro thi shire othes.
So fals to be founden, i thi faithe breike.
Dalnution qf Troy (E. E. T. 8.), 1. 729.
The kynge tehoMe for no schotte, ne no schelde aakys,
Bot schewes hym scbarpely In his schene wedys. ■
Morte Arthun (E. E. T. S.X I. 2428.
2. To turn back or away ; turn aside.
>'e stiamys you not shalkes to ghunl of the Hid,
Ffor the weiknes of wemen woundia a litell !
Tumes yew full tyte, A taries a while.
DetruMm <tf Troy (E. E. T. S.X 1. 10998.
Then I drew me down Into a dale, whereas the dumb deer
Did shiver for a shower ; but I thunUd from a freyke.
LUtU John Nobody (about 1550). {HaUiwtU.)
Specifically —(a) In raU., to turn from one line of rails to
another; switch. [Chiefly Eng.] (6) In elect., to use a
shunt. See tkunt, n., S,
3t. To escape.
3a werpes tham [the gat«8] up quoth the wee, and wide
open settes.
If at 3e schap sow to aehonnt unschent of oure handes.
King Alexander, p. 73.
4. To turn aside from a topic, purpose, line of
thought, course of action, etc.; shift one's
thoughts, conversation, proceedings, etc., into
a different direction. — 5t. To hold back; de-
lay.
Qwene alle was schyppede that scholde, they tclumnU no
lengere,
Bot ventelde theme tyte, as the tyde rynnez.
UorU Arthure (E. K T. 8.X L 73&
6. To slip down, as earth. BalUicell. [Prov.
Eng.]
U. trans. 1. To shun; move from. [Prov.
Eng.] — 2. To move or turn aside. Speciflcally —
(a) In rail., to shift (a raiiway-tnin, or part of it) from the
main line to a siding; switch off. IChiefly Eng.] (d) In
eleet., to shift to another circuit, as an electric current;
carry olf or around by means of a shunt ; Join to points in
a circuit by a shunt : as, to tinmt a current.
This inten)olar resistance is made up of the connecting
wires, of whatever resistance is interposed, and that of
the ihunUd galvanometer.
J. Trotcbridjie, New Physics, p. 26«.
3. To give a start to; shove. Bailey, 1731.
[Prov. Eng.] Hence — 4. To shove off ; put out
of one's way ; free one's self of, as of anything
disagreeable, by putting it upon another.
It is not wonderful that old-fashioned l)elieTer8 In " Prot.
estantism " shtiuld $huiU the subject of I^pal Christian-
ity into the Limbo of unknowable things, and treat its re-
nascent vitality as a fact of carious historical reveralon.
Cardinal Manning.
He had assumed that she had also assimilated htm, and
his country with him — a process which would have for its
consequence that the other country, the ugly, vulgar, su-
perfluous one, would be, as be mentally phrased It to him-
self, thunted. H. Jamet, Jr., Harper's lUg., LXXVII. Vri.
5. To ward off injury, trouble, or danger from ;
remove from a position of trouble or danger.
And let other men aunter, abill therfore,
Hor to f Aunt vs of shame, sbend of our fooi,
And venge vs of velaay A of vile gremy.
Dettnutian oj Troy (E. E. T. 8), 1. 2S+4.
The dislocation of the real and the ideal — the harsh
shock of which comea on most men before forty — makes
him look out all tbe more keenly for the points where he
can safely thunl himself.
Dr. J. Brown, Spare Hours, 3d ser., Poat-Pref.
shunt (shunt), n. [< ME. schtint; < skunt, c]
It. A drawing or turning back.
Oawayn . . . schraoke a lytel with the scholderes, for the
scharpyme.
That other schalk wyth a tehunl the schene wyth-haldei,
& thenne repreued he the prynce with mony prowde
wordet
Sir Oawayne and the Green Kitight (E. E. T. 8.), I. 2268.
2. A turning aside; specifically, in rni/., a turn-
ing off to a siding, or short line of rails, that the
main line may be left clear. — 3. In elect., a con-
dnotor, usually of relatively low resistance, join-
ing two points in an electric circuit, and form-
ing a desired circuit or path through which a
part of the current will pass, the amount de-
pending on the relative resistance of the shunt
and that part of the principal circuit whose ex-
tremities it connects. Any number of shunts may be
applied to a conduct 'ir. and the current distributed among
tneni in any <lesired manner. The current passinff through
a galvanometer or ntlier meaKurine-instninicnt may lie re-
duced in any desired degree by the intrrKluction ofaMhunt;
and the factor by which the current indicated by the in.
5605
strument must be multiplied in order to give the total
current is called the shunt-viultiplier. Seejietd ihunt, un-
der yieW.— Shunt dynamo. See dynavw, and electric
machine (under electric).
shunter (shmi'ter), n. [< shunt + -erl.] 1.
One who or that which shunts; specifically, a
railway-servant whose duty it is to move the
switches which transfer a train or carriage from
one line to another. — 2. A hand-lever used to
start and move a railroad-car. it is fitted with a
hook to be slipped over the car-ajcle, and a lug to press
against the face of the wheel. See pinch-bar and car-
xtarter.
shunt-gun (shunt'gun), n. A muzzle-loading
rifled cannon with two sets of grooves, one
deeper than the other. Bosses or studs on the pro-
jectile fit the deeper grooves loosely and lie in tliese while
the projectile is beinp driven home, and at the breech of
the gun the projectile is revolved slightly, so that the
bosses correspond with the shallower grooves, and it binds
on these strongly when expelled by the charge.
Shtmting-engine (shun'ting-en'jin), ». A yard-
engine or switching-engine. [Eng.]
shunt-off (shuut'of ), «. In elect., a shunt, or a
device for introducing a shvmt.
At present we have to deal simply with the ihunl-offt
and cut-outs. EUct. Rev. (Eng.), XXVI. 143.
shunt-out (shunt'out), «. Same as shunt-off.
In most instances these ghunt-otitg are self-restoring or
permanently acting, and do not break the circuit.
Elect. Km. (Eng.), XXVI. 143.
shnnty (shun'ti), a. Same as shanty^.
shure (shiir). A Scotch form of shore, preterit
otshear^.
Robin shure in hairst^
1 shure wi' him.
Burnt, Kobin Shure in Hairst.
shnrf (shferf), n. [Perhaps a particular use of
scurP-. Cf. «Art«^l.] A puny, insignificant
person; a dwarf . [Scotch.]
When Andrew Pistolfoot used to come stamplin' in to
court me I* the dark, I wad hae cried, . . . Get away wi'
ye, ye bowled-Uke thur/!
Hogg, Brownie of Bodsbeck, IL 228. (Jamitton.)
shnrkti «• •• An obsolete spelling of shirk.
shnrl, V. t. See shirV^.
shut! (shut), r. ; pret. and pp.sAwf, ppr. shutting.
[Also dial, shet; < ME. shutten, schutten, shet-
len, shitten. schitten (pret. shutte, shette, shitte,
ep. shut, shet, etc.), < AS. scyttan, shnt, bar (=
K scliuiten, shut in, lock up, = MLG. schutten
= MHG. schutzen, G. schUtzcn, shut in (water),
dam, protect, guard); a secondary form, lit.
'cause (so. a bar or bolt) to shoot' (push a bar
or bolt into its staple), of seedtan (pret. scoten),
shoot ; or perhaps lit . ' bar, ' ' bolt,' from a noun,
AS. as if "scut, a bar, bolt (cf. 'scytels, scytteU,
a bar, bolt of a door: see shuttle^), = MX), schut,
an arrow, dart, = OHG. scuz, a quick move-
ment, = Dan. skud, a bar, bolt of a door (the
D. schut, a fence, partition, screen, = MHG.
schus, a dam, guard, protection, G. schutz, a
dam, dike, mole, fence, sluice, protection, de-
fense, is rather from the verb); lit. 'a thing
that shoots or moves quickly,' < AS. scedtan
(pp. scoten), etc., shoot: see shoot.'] I. trans.
1. To shoot, as the bar or bolt or other fasten-
ing of a door or gate, or of a chest, etc. ; push
to ; adjust in position so as to serve as a fas-
tening.
This angels two drogen loth [Lot] in.
And tkMen to the dnre-pin.
Oenetit and Exodut (E. E. T. S.), 1. 107a
To the trunk again, and thnt the spring of it.
Shak., Cymbeline, IL 2. 47.
2. To make fast by means of a bolt, bar, or the
like ; hence, in later use, to close, with or with-
out fastening; place in or over a place of en-
trance so as to obstruct passage in or out: as,
to shut a door, gate, lid, cover, etc. : often fol-
lowed by down, to, or up.
As doajti men of dedes defence for to make
xeme tcKttUn here gates <t jemed the walles.
WiUiam o/PaUme (E. E. T. 8.), 1. 3267.
With that word his countour dore he ihelte.
Chaucer, .Shipman's Tale, 1. 249.
This powerful key
Into my hand was given, with charge to keep
These gates forever thut MUton, P. L., IL 776.
3. To prevent passage through; cover; ob-
struct ; block : sometimes followed by up.
Shet was every wyndow nf the place.
Chaucer, Troiius, v. 584.
When the othfer way by the Narve was quite ihutt upp,
. . . they should assure themselves neither to have the
English nor any other Marchant to trade that way to the
Port of .St. Nicholas.
O. Fletcher (Ellis's Literary Letters, p. 83).
Third Watch. Tis to be doubted he would waken him.
Firtt Watch. Unless our halljerds did shut up his passage.
5Ao*., 3Hen. VI.,iv.3.20.
shut
Their success was very near doing honour to their Ave
Marias; for, . . . shutting up their windows to prevent
any of their lights from being seen, they had some chance
of escaping ; but a small crevice in one of the shutters
rendered all their invocations ineffectual.
.47i5o;i, Voyages, ii. 5.
4. To close the entrance of ; prevent access to
or egress from: as, to shut a house ; to shut a
box; to shut one's ears: often followed by iq).
These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the
days of their prophecy. Kev. xL 6.
Hell, her numbers full.
Thenceforth shall be for ever shut.
Milton, F.T^, iii. 883.
She . . . shut the chamber up, close, hush'd, and still.
Keats, Lamia, ii.
5. To bring together the parts of. (a) To bring
together the outer parts or covering of, as when inclosing
something : as, to shut the eyelids, or, as more commonly
expressed, to shut the eyes (hence, also, to shut the sight).
He hedde thet mestier [craft] uor to ssette the porses of
the wrechchen thet iii ne ssolle by open to do elmesse.
Ayenbite of Inwyt (E. E. T. S.), p. 188.
Therwith a thousand tymes, er he lette.
He kiste tho the letre that he shette.
Chaucer, Troiius, it 1090.
Let not the pit shut her mouth upon me. Ps. Ixix. 15.
She left the new piano shut. Tennyson, Talking Oak.
I shut ray sight for fear. Tennyson, CEnone.
(b) To fold or bring together ; bring into narrow compass
from a state of expansion : as, to shut a parasol ; to shut a
book.
The happiest youth, viewing his progress through,
What perils past, what crosses to ensue.
Would sAut the book [of fate], and sit him down and die.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., iii. 1. 56.
"A lawyer may well envy your command of language,
Mr. Holt, said Jermyn, pocketing his bills again, and
thuttiti(f up his pencil. Oeorye Eliot, Felix Holt, xvit
6. To bar or lock in ; hence, to confine ; hem
in ; inclose ; environ ; surround or cover more
or less completely : now always followed by a
preposition or an adverb, as in, into, among,
up, down, etc.
Crysede also, right in the same wise,
Of Troyius gan in hire herte shette
His worthinesse, his lust, his dedes wyse,
Chaucer, Troiius, iii. 1549.
Having shut them vnder our Tarpawling, we put their
hats vpon stickes by the Barges side.
Quoted in Copt. ^oAn Smith't True Travels, 1. 181.
He pass'd, thut up in mysteries,
His mind wrapp'd like his mantle. Keats, Lamia, L
7. To bar out; separate by barriers; put or
keep out ; exclude, either literally or figura-
tively; preclude: followed by an adverb or a
preposition denoting separation.
In such a night
To sAut me out! Shak., Lear, ilL 4. IS.
If anyone misbehave himself, they shut him out of their
Company. Selden, Table-Talk, p. 89.
Shut from every shore and barred from every coast.
Dryden, >Eneid, i. 321.
8. To catch and pinch or hold fast by the act
of shutting something : as, to shnt one's fingers
or one's dress in a door; to shut one's glove in
a window. — 9. To do; manage. Halliwell.
[Prov. Eng.] — 10. To weld (iron). Halliwell.
See tnshutup (c), and shvttinij, n. [Prov. Eng.]
—To shut In the land. See iandi.— To shut of^ to turn
off ; prevent tlie passage of, as pas or steam, by closing a
valve, or in some other way.— To shut One's eyes to, to
be blind to; overlook ordisregaid intentionally: as, to«Au£
on«'« ^e« to disagreeable facts. — To sliut up. (at) To con-
clude; terminate; end.
To shut up wliat I have to say concerning him, which
is sad, he is since t)ecome a sordid man in his life.
A'. Morton, New England's Memorial, p. 206.
I shall now shut up the arguing part of this discourse
with a short application. Bp. Atlerbury, Sermons, I. L
(6) To reduce to inaction or silence, especially the latter.
It thute them up. They haven't a word to answer.
Dickens, Little Dorrit, i. 13.
A mere child in argument, and unable to foresee that
the next "move "(to use a Platonic expression) will "shut
him up." Jowett, tr. of Plato's Dialogues, III. 8.
(c) To unite, as two pieces of metal by welding.— To shut
np shop. SeesAopi.
II. intrans. 1. To be a means of bolting,
locking, or closing.
Two massy keys he bore of metals twain ;
The golden opes, the iron thuts amain.
Milton, Lycidas, 1. 111.
2. To close itself; be closed : as, the door shuts
of itself; certain flowers shut at night and open
in the day.
A gulf that ever shutt and gapes.
Tennyson, In Memoriam, Ixx.
3. To be extravagant. HalUwvll. [Prov. Eng.]
— To shut down, to stop working ; become or be idle:
as, the mill will shut down for the next two weeks. |Co|.
Io<|.] - To shut down on or upon, to put an end to ; sup-
press; stop. [Colioq.]
He shut dmcn upon his wrath, and pleaded with all the
Ingenuity he was master of. The Century, XXXVIL 88k
abut
To shut in, to settle down or around ; fill : said of night,
the close of day, or the like.
This year, on the *2*5th of January, at the shtttlinff in of
the evening, there was a very great earthquake.
X. Mortally New England's ilenrorial, p. 288.
Usually after Supper, if the day was not Bhid «», I took
a ramble about the Village, to see what was worth taking
notice of. Dampier, Voyages, II. i. 90.
To shut up. (at) To terminate; end.
Actions begunne in glory »A«t up in shame.
" Bp. llail, Contemplations, ii. 2.
(d) To desist ; leaye off ; especially, to stop talking. [Col-
loq.l
So, having succeeded in contradicting myself in my first
chapter, ... I shall here shtU up for the present
T. Hughes, Tom lirown at Rugby, i. 1.
"I — want — Harry ! " said the child. " Well, you can't
have Harry ; and I won't have ye bawling. Now shut up
and go to sleep, or I'll whip you !"
H. B. SloxLV, Oldtown, p. lll>.
(c) In gp&rtinff, to give out^ as one horse when challenged
by another in a race. Krik's Guide to the Turf.
shutl (shut), p. a. [Pp. of shut, v.'] 1. Made
fast or close ; closed; inclosed. See shufl,v.
A delicate blush, no fainter tinge is born
I' the shut heart of a bud. Browning, Paracelsus.
In still, shut bays, on windy capes,
He heard the call of beckoning shapes.
WhUtier, Tent on the Beach.
2. Not resonant or sonorous ; diJl : said of
sound. — 3. In orthoepy, having the sound sud-
denly interrupted or stopped by a succeeding
consonant, as the i in pit or the o in got. — 4.
Separated, precluded, or hindered ; hence, free ;
clear ; rid : followed by of: used chiefly in such
phrases as to get shut of, to be shut of. Also
shet. [Prov. Eng. and U. S.]
Ehud the son of Gera, a Benjamite, a man lefthanded
(margin, shut o/ his right hand]. Judges iii. 15.
We are shut of him.
He will be seen no more here.
Massinger, Unnatural Corabat, iii. 1.
We'll bring him out of doors.—
Would we were shut of him.
Shirley, Maid's Revenge, ii. 2.
I never knew how I liked the gray garron till I was shut
of him an" Asia. R. Kipling, The Big Drunk Draf'.
shuti (shut), «. [<s/(«/i, t'.] 1. The act of
shutting, in any sense of the word. — 2. The
time of shutting.
In a shady nook I stood, . . .
Just then retum'd at shut of evening flowers.
Milton, V. L., ix. 278.
It was the custom then to bring away
The bride from home at blushing shut of day.
Keats, Lamia, ii.
3t. That which shuts, closes, or covers ; a shut-
ter.
At Eton I . . . find all mighty fine. The school good,
and the custom pretty of boys cutting their names in the
shuts of the windows when they go to Cambridge.
Pepys, Diary, II. 358.
When you bar the window-«Aw(» of your lady's bed-
chamber at nights, leave open the sashes, to let in the
fresh air. Swift, Directions to Servants, viii.
4. The point or line of shutting; specifically,
the line where two pieces of metal are united
by welding. — 5. A riddance. Hallucell. [Prov.
Eng.] — Cold shut, (o) An imperfection of a casting
caused by the flowing of liquid metal on partially chilled
metal. (6) An imperfect welding in a forging, caused by
the inadequate heat of one surface under working.
slrat^ (shut), n. [Also shtiti; a var. of shnt^,
sho fel . ] The grayling Thyma llus vulgaris. Day.
[Local, Eng. (on the Teme).]
shut-down (shut'doun), n. [< shut down, verb-
phrase under shut^, v.] A shutting down; a
discontinuance, especially of work in a mill,
factory, or the like.
So far from there having been a cave-in of the supply
[of oil I, says "Engineering," there has really been a shut-
down of a large number of wells, to check a wasteful over-
production. Sdenee, XIV. 283.
shute', n. See chute, shoot.
shute- (shot), n. Same as tram in the sense
of ' twisted silk.'
. shntlier, v. and n. A dialectal variant of shud-
der.
shut-off (8hut'6f), n. [< shut off, verb-phrase
under shui^-, ».] That which shuts off, closes,
stops, or prevents ; stoppage of anything ; spe-
cifically, in hunting and fishing, the close-sea-
son for game.
shntt, «. See shiit^.
shuttance (shut'ans), n. [< shut^ + -ance.']
Kiddancp. Hallmell. [Prov. Eng.]
Shutten Saturday! (shut'n sat'^r-da). The
Saturday in Holy Week, as the day on which
the Saviour's body lay inclosed in the tomb.
Halliwell.
shutter (shut'fer), n. [< ahut^ + -erl.] One
who or that which shuts, (a) A lid ; a cover ; a cas-
ing.
5606
This picture is always cover'd with 3 shutters, one of
which is of massie silver. Evelyn, Diary, -May 21, 1645.
Hence, specifically— (fr) A frame or panel of wood or iron
or other strong material used as a cover, usually for a
window, in order to shut out the light, to prevent spec-
tators from seeing the interior, or to serve as a protection
for the aperture. There are inside and outside shutters.
Inside shutters are usually in several hinged pieces which
fold back into a recessed casing in the wall called a box-
ing. The principal piece is called the front shutter, and
the auxiliary piece a back flap. Some shutters are ar-
ranged to be opened or closed by a sliding movement
eitlier horizontiUly or vertically, and others, particularly
those for shops, are made in sections, so as to be entirely
removable from the window. Shutters for shop-fronts
are also made to roll up like curtains, to fold like Vene-
tian blinds, etc.
If the Sun is incommodious, we have thick folding Shut-
ters on the out-Side, and thin ones within, to prevent
that. N. Bailey, tr. of Colloquies of Erasmus, 1. 198.
Surely not loath
Wast thou, Heine ! to lie
Quiet, to ask for closed
Shutters, an,d darken'd room.
M. Arnold, Heine's Grave,
(c) In organ-building, one of the blinds of which the front
of the swell-box is made. By means of a foot-lever or
pedal the shutters of the box can be opened so as to let
the sound out, or closed so as to deaden it. (rf) That which
closes or ends.
That hour,
The last of hours, and shutter up of all.
B. Jonson, Underwoods, cii.
(e) In photog. , a device for opening and again closing a lens
mechanically, in order to make an exposure, especially a
so-called instantaneous exposure occupying a fraction of
a second. The kinds of shutters are innumerable, the
simplest being the drop or guillotine shutter, in which a
thin perforated piece slides in grooves by gravity when
released, so that the perforation in falling passes across
the field of the lens. The more mechanically elaborate
shutters are actuated by springs, and are commonly so ar-
ranged that the speed of the exposure can be regulated.—
Bolt and shutter. See W(i.— Boxed shutter, a win-
dow-shutter so made as to fold back into a recessed box
or casing.- Shutter In. («) A plank, called a stroke, that
is fitted with more than ordinary accuracy to the planks
between which it is placed. All the measurements in re-
gard to its width and bevelings ai-e taken with the greatest
care. (6) Evening. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
shutter (shut'er), V. t. [< shutter, «.] 1. To
provide or cover with shutters.
Here is Garraway's, bolted and shuttered hard and fast !
Mckens, Uncommercial Traveller, xxi.
The School-house windows were all shuttered up.
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, ii. 9.
2. To separate or hide by shutters. [Bare.]
A workman or a pedlar cannot shutter himself off from
his less comfortable neighbors.
R. h. Stevenson, Inland Voyage, p. 75.
shutter-dam (shut'er-dam), n. In hydraul. en-
gin., a form of barrage or movable dam employ-
ing large gates or shutters which are opened
and closed by means of a turbine : used in slack-
water navigation. See barrage.
shutter-eye (shut'er-i), «. An eye or socket for
supporting a shutter. It has a projecting flange,
and is built into the wall. E. H. Knight.
Shutterless (shut'er-les), a. [< shutter + -less.']
Having no shutters.
As they entered the garden they saw through the shut-
terless window two men, one of whom was seated, while
the other was pacing the floor.
Harper's Mag., LXXX. 353.
shutter-lift (shut'er-lif t), n. A handle fixed to
a shutter for convenience in opening or clos-
ing it.
shutter-lock (shut'er-lok), n. In carp., a mor-
tise-lock in the edge of a shutter or door.
E. H. Knight.
shutter-screw (shut'er-skro), n. A screw by
which a shutter is secured, passing through a
socket from the interior to be protected, and
engaging a nut so mortised in the inner side of
the shutter as not to be exposed on the outside.
shutting (shut'ing), n. [Verbal n. of shut'^, r.]
The act indicated by the verb shut in any of its
senses ; specifically, the act of joining or weld-
ing one piece of iron to another. Also called
shutting up or shutting together.
Shuttirig-post (shut'ing-post), n. A post against
which a gate or door closes. E. U. Knight.
shuttle! (shut'l), n. [Early mod. E. also shit-
tle, shyttell; < ME. schyttyl, schytle, schitel, sche-
tyl, ssettel, a shuttle, a bolt of a door, < AS. *scy-
tels, scyttels (pi. scyttelsas), the bolt of a door
(cf. 8w. dial, skytiel, skottel = Dan. skyttel, a
shuttle; cf. also Dan. skyite, G. {u!eber-)schiits,
a shuttle, Sw. skot-spol = D. schiet-spoel = G.
schicss-spuhle, a shuttle, lit. 'shoot-spool'), <
sccdtan, shoot: see shoot, and cf. shuf^. Cf.
skittle.'] It. A bolt or bar, as of a door.
God zayth ine the hoc of loue, "My zoster, my lemman,
thou art a gardin besset myd tuo ssetteles."
Ayenbite of Inwyt (E. E. T. S.), p. 94.
Schyttyl, or [var. of] sperynge. Pessulum vel pessellum.
Prompt. Pan., p. 447.
shuttle-check
2. An instrument used by weavers for passing
or shooting the thread of the weft from one side
of the web to the other between the threads of
the warp. The modern shuttle is a sort of wooden car-
riage tapering at each end, and hollowed out in the mid-
/7, body of shuttle ; />, yam wound on the bobbin rf," tr, eye through
which the yarn is led, and then passed out through holey'/ e, e, metal
points.
die for the reception of the bobbin or pirn on which the
weft is wound. The weft unwinds from this bobbin as the
shuttle runs from one side of the web ^o the other. It is
driven across by a smart blow from a pni called a picker or
drivef. There is one of these pins on each side of the loom,
and the two are connected by a cord to which a handle is at-
tached. Holding this handle in his right hand, the weaver
moves the two pins together in each direction alternately
by a sudden jerk. A shuttle propelled in this manner
is called a tly-shutUe, and was invented in 1738 by John
Kay, a mechanic of Colchester, England. Before this in-
vention the weaver took the shuttle between the finger
and thumb of each hand alternately and threw it across,
by which process much time was lost. There are also a
great variety of automatic picker-motions for driving the
shuttles of looms. Compai-e picker-inotion.
Sc[h\ytyl, webstarys instrument. Prompt. Parv., p. 447.
Their faces run like skittles; they are weaving
Some curious cobweb to catch flies.
B. Jonson, Sejanus, iii. 1.
3. In sewing-machines, the sliding thread-hold-
er which carries the lower thread between the
needle and the upper thread to make a lock-
stitch. See cuts under sewing-tnachine. — 4. The
gate which opens to allow the water to flow on
a water-wheel. — 5. One of the sections of a
shutter-dam. E. H. Knight. — 6. A small gate
or stop through which metal is allowed to pass
from the trough to the mold. — 7t. A shuttle-
cock ; also, the game known as shuttlecock.
Schytle, chyldys game. Sagittella.
Prompt. Pan., p. 447
Positive-motion shuttle, a device, invented by James
Lyall of New York, for causing the shuttle to travel
through the shed with a positive, uniform motion. The
shuttle travels on a roller-carriage drawn by a cord in the
shuttle-race below the warp-threads, and having also a set
of upper rollers. The shuttle has also a pair of under
rollers, one at each end, and travels over the lower series
of warp-threads through the shed, being pushed along by
the carriage while the warp-threads are passed, without
straining them, between the upper rollers of the carriage
and the rollers of the shuttle. Compare positive-motion
loom, under toom..— Weaver's-shuttle, in comh., a shut-
tle-shell, as Radius volva. See cut under shuttle-shell.
shuttle! (shut'l), V. ; pret. and pp. shuttled, ppr.
shuttling. [< shuttle'^, n.] I. trans. To move
to and fro like a shuttle.
A face of extreme mobility, which he shuttles about —
eyebrows, eyes, mouth and all — in a very singular manner
while speaking. Carlyle, in Froude, I. 152.
II. intrans. To go back and forth like a
shuttle ; travel to and fro.
Their corps go marching and shuttling in the interior of
the country, much nearer Paris than formerly.
Carlyle, French Rev., II. vi. 1.
Those [olive groves] in the distance look more hoary and
soft, as though a veil of light cunningly woven by the
shuttling of the rays hung over them.
The Century XXX\T[I. 422.
shuttle^ (shut'l), a. [Early mod. E. also shit-
tle; < ME. schityl, schytyl, schytylle; with adj.
formative -el, < AS. sceotan (pp. scoten), shoot :
see shoot, n. Cf. shuttle'^, shyttell.] It. Head-
long; rash; thoughtless; unsteady; volatile.
Shyttell, nat constant, . . . variable. Palsgrave, p. 323.
2. Slippery ; sliding. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
shuttle-binder (shut'l-bin"der), u. In a loom,
a device in a shuttle-box to prevent the recoil
or rebound of the shuttle after it is thrown by
the picker. Also called shuttle-check. E. H.
Knight.
shuttle-board (shut'l-bord), n. A shuttle-
cock. Balliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
shuttle-box (shut'1-boks), n. A receptacle for
holding shuttles, especially one near the loom
and attached to it, intended to receive the shut-
tle at the end of its race or movement across
the web; a pattern-box. Shuttle-boxes are combined
together so as to form a set of compartments for holding
the shuttles carrying threads of different colors, when such
are in use in weaving.
Shuttle-brainedt (shut'l-brand), a. Scatter-
brained; flighty; thoughtless; unsteady of
purpose.
Metellus was so shuttle-brained that euen in the middes
of his tribuneship he left his oflice in Rome, and sallied to
Pompeius in Syria.
Udall, tr. of Apophthegms of Erasmus, p. 341.
shuttle-check (shut'l-chek), n. Same as
shuttle-binder.
shuttlecock
shuttlecock (shut'l-kok), H. [Early mod. E.
also sliiittel-cock; shittkcock, shyttlecnchc, shyttel-
cocke (also shiitlecork, which some suppose to
be the orig. form); < shuttle^ + cooAl (used
vaguely, as iu other compoumls). Cf . shuttle^,
11., 7.] 1. A piece of cork, or of similar light
material, in one end of which feathers are stuck,
made to be struck by a battledore in play ; also,
the play or game. See phrase below.
But and it were well sought,
I trow all wyll be nought,
Nat worth a shyttel cocke,
Skelton, Why Come ye nat to Court? 1. 3.51.
A thousand wayes he them could entertaine.
With all the thriftles games that may l>e found; . . .
With dice, with cards, with halliards farre unfit.
With shutUlcocki, misseeming nianlie wit.
Spenser, Mother Hub. Tale, 1. 804.
In the " Two Maids of Moreclacke," a comedy printed
in 1609, it is said, " To play at shuttle-cock methinkes is
the game now." Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 401.
2. A malvaceoug shrub, I'eriptera punicea of
Mexico, the only species of a still dubious ge-
nus. It has crimson flowers and a many-celled
radiate capsule, one or other suggesting the
name — Battledore and shuttlecock, a game played
with a 8huttlec<x,'k and battledores by two players or
sides. The shuttlecock is knocked back .ind forth from one
player or side to the other, until one fails to return it.
shuttlecock (shut'l-kok). r. t. [< shuttlecock,
«.] To throw or bandy backward and forward
like a shuttlecock.
*' Dishonour to me ! sir, " exclaims the General. *' Yes,
if the phrase is to be shuttlecocked between us ! " I answered
hotly. Thackeray, Virginians, IxxTiL
On the other hand, that education should be shuttle'
cocked by party warriors is the worst evil that we have to
endure. The Academy, April 6, 1889, p. 233.
flhuttlecorkt (shut'l-kork), n. Same as shuttle-
cock. Also shittlecork.
How they hare shaffled up the rushes too, Davy,
With their short Ugging little MtOeeork heels f
MiddUbm, Chaste Maid, lU. i.
shuttle-crab (shut'l-krab), n. A paddle-crab;
a pinniped or fin-footed crab, having some of
the legs fitted for swimming, as the common
edible crab of the United States, CalUnectes
hastiltus. When taken from the water they flap their
legs energetically, suggesting the flying of shuttles. See
cut ymiivT paddte crab.
Shnttle-headt (shut'1-hed), n. A flighty, in-
considerate person.
I would wish these shuttle-heads, that desire to rake In
the embers of rebellion, to give over blowing the coals
too much, lest the sparks fly in their faces, or the ashes
choke them.
Tom Sash his Ghost, p. 10. (Old Book Coll. Mitcelt.)
shuttle-headedt (shut'l-hed'ed), a. [Early
mod. E. also shittleheaded ; (.shuttle'^ + head +
-«rf2.] Flighty; thoughtless; foolish. HaUi-
well.
shuttle-motion (shut'l-mo'shon), n. An auto-
matic mechanism for controlling the different
shuttles in a shuttle-box. as in figure-weaving,
so that they may pass through the shed in a
E redetermined order.
Uttlenesst (shut'l-nes), M. [Early mod. E.
shittUiiessc, shyttelnesse; < shuttle^ + -ness.'\
Kashuess; thoughtlessness; flightiness; un-
steadiness. Palsgrave.
The vaine shUttentat ot an unoonatant head.
Bant, l&W. (HaUiweU.)
Cuttle-race (shut'l-ras), b. a sort of smooth
shelf in a weavers' lay, along which the shuttle
runs in passing the weft.
shuttle-shaped (shut'l-shSpt), «. Shaped like
a Hhuttlc; fusiform — Shuttle-shaped dart, a Brit-
ish moth, A!rr<itis puia.
shuttle-shell (shut'l-sbel), n. A gastropod of
the family (>ruk(Ue and genus Radius, as li. voU
va. of long fu-
siform shape,
the ends of
the lips being
greatly drawn
out : so called
from the resemblance to a weavers' shuttle,
shuttle-train (shut'1-tran), n. A train running
bai'k iind forth for a short distance like a shut-
tle, as over a track connecting a main line with
a station at a short distance from it.
shuttle-winder (shut'l-win'dt'r), »i. An at-
tachment to a sewing-machine for reeling the
thread upon shuttles. See hohlrin-windcr.
shnttlewise ( sh u t ' I-wiz ) , <Kir. Like a shuttle ;
with the Tnotion of a shuttle.
Life built herself a myriad forms,
Antl, flashing tier flectric spark, . . .
Klew shuttleuise alxjve, beneath,
Weaving the web of life and death.
Atheneeum, No. 3221, p. 87.
iMUiral Mz«.
5607
shuttle-wit (shut'1-wit), ». A shuttle-brained
person.
Now, those poor shuttletcitsot Babbletown, that had been
so a-siiiging that high and mighty gentleman's praises to
the skies, they were a bit took a-back by this behavior —
as one might plainly see. St Sicholas, XVII. 654.
shuttle-witted (shut'l-wit'ed), a. [Early mod.
E. also ■•^liittlcwittcd ; < ME. schyttyl-wyttyd ;
< shuttle- + wit + -«rf2.] Shuttle-brained;
flighty; foolish. [Obsolete or archaic]
I am aferd that Jon of Sparhani is so schyttyl-wyttyd
that he wyl sett hys gode to raorgage to Heydon, or to
sum other of ywre gode frendys. Faston Letters, I. 69.
I wondered what had called forth in a lad so shtittle icit-
ted this enduring sense of duty. R. L. Stevenson, Olalla.
shwanpan, swanpan (shwan'pan, swan'pan),
w. [Chinese, lit. 'reckoning-board,' < shwatt,
sican, reckon, -I- pan, a board.] The abacus
or reckoning-board in use among the Chinese.
Called in JapanesftioroftrtH. See abacus.
shyl (shi), a. ; compar. shyer, superl. shyest
(sometimes shier and shiest^. [Early mod. E.
also shie; Sc. skey, skeigh ; < ME. 'shey, schey,
also skcy, skygg (< Sw.), earlier «ccoM/(,shy,timid,
scrupulous, < AS. secoh = D. schuw = MLG.
schuice = OHG. "scioh, MHG. schiech (G. scheu,
after the verb and noun) = Sw. skygg, dial, sky
= Dan. sky, shy, timid, skittish. Hence shy'^, t:
From OHG. comes It. schiro = Sp. esquiro, shy.]
^ 1. Readily frightened away; easily startled;
skittish ; timid.
Loketb thet ge ne bedh nont lliche the horse thet Is
scheouh, and blencbeth uor one scheadewe upo the heie
brugge. Ancren Riwle, p. 242.
Maggie coost her head fu' heigh,
Look'd asklent an' unco skevjh,
BurnJi, Duncan Gray.
The antelope are getting continually shyer and more dif-
ficult to Hag. T. Kooaetxlt, Hunting Trips, p. 195.
2. Shrinking from familiarity or self-assertive-
ness; sensitively timid; retiring; bashful; coy.
A «Ay fellow was the duke ; and I believe I know the
cause of his withdrawing. Shak., M. for M., ill. 2. l;iS.
She (the Venus de Medicis) Is represented in ... a shy,
retiring posture, and covers her bos<mi with one of her
hands. Additon, Guardian, No. 100.
She had heard that Mis* Darcy was exceedingly proud ;
but the observation of a very few minutes convince<i her
that she was only exceedingly shy.
Jane Austen, I'ride and Prejudice, xllv.
3. Keeping away from some person or thing
through timidity or caution; fearful of ap-
proaching; disposed to avoid: followed by o/.
The merchant hopes for a prosperous voyage, yet he Is
thy of rocks and ph^tes. Bee. T. Adam*, Works, III. 96.
Thtj [negroes] were no way shy of us, being well ac-
quainted with the English, by reason ot our Guinea Fac-
tortes and Trade. Dumpier, Voyages, I. 78.
The two young men felt as shy of the interview with
their master under such unusaal relations of guest and
host as a gtrl does qf her first party.
Mrs. Oaskell, ."Sylvia's Lovers, xlv.
4. Cautious; wary; careful: commonly followed
by ofoT about.
We giant, although he had much wit,
He was very shy oj using it
S. Butler, Hudibras, I. i. 4«.
Opium ... Is prohibited Goods, and therefore, tho many
asked for It, we were shy o/ having it too openly known
that we had any. Dampier, Voyages, II. L 166.
We have no such responsible party leadership on this
side the sea ; we are very shy atmut conferring much an.
thority on anybody. If'. WOson, Cong. Gov,, vL
6. Elusive; hard to find, get at, obtain, or ac-
complish.
The dinner, I own, is shy, unless I come and dine with
my friends ; and then I make up for banyan days.
Thaektray, Philip, xii.
As he [Coleridge] was the first to observe some of the
sky's appearances and some of the shyer revelations of
outward nature, so he was also first in noting some of the
more occult phenomena of thought and emotion.
L(AceU, Coleridge.
6t. Morally circumspect; scnipulous.
Nif he nere scoymus A skyg * non scathe louied.
AUiteratiK Poems (ed. MorrlsX it 21.
7. Keen; piercing; bold; sharp. Halliwell.
[Prov. Eng.J — 8t. Sly ; sharp ; cunning.
Mine own modest petition, my friend's diligent labour,
. . . were all peltingly defeated iiy a shy practice of the
old Fox. a. Harvey, Four Letters.
9. Scant. The wind is said to be shy when it
will barely allow a vessel to sail on her course.
— To light shy of. Sec jight. — To look shy at or on, to
regard with distrust or suspicion.
How will you like going to Sessions with everybody
lookinij shy on you, and you with a bad conscience and an
empty pocket? Oearge Bliot, Middlemarch, vi.
- Syn. 2. Diffident, shamefaced. See bash/ulnets.
shy' (shi), r. ; pret. and pp. shied, ppr. shying.
[Not found in ME. (f); = MD. schuiren, schou-
icen, D. schiiicen = MLG. schuwcu, hO.schuiecn,
Si
schouen = OHG. sciiihen, scuhen, MHG. schin-
hen, schiuwen, G. scheuchen, scheuen, get out of
the way, avoid, shun, = Sw. skygga = Dan. sky;
from the adj. Hence ult. (through OF. < OHG.)
escJiew.'] I. intrans. To shrink or start back or
aside, as in sudden fear: said speeiflcally of a
horse.
" He don't «Ay, does he? "inquired Mr. Pickwick. "Shy,
sir?— He wouldn't shy if he was to meet a vaggin-load of
monkeys with their tails burnt olf . " Dickens, Pickwick, v.
These women are the salt of New England. ... No
fashionable nonsense about them. What 's in you, Forbes,
to shy so at a good woman ?
C. D. Warner, Their Pilgrimage, p. 93.
n. trans. To avoid ; shun (a person). [Prov.
Eng.]
All who espied her
Immediately shied her,
And strove to get out of her way.
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, n. 219.
shyl (shi), n. ; pi. shies (shiz). [< shy'^-, r.] A
sudden start aside, as from fear, especially one
made by a horse.
shy'-^ (shi), V. ; pret. and pp. shied, ppr. shying.
[Also shie ; prob. another use of s%l, v., but
evidence is lacking, the word shy in this sense
being of prov. origin and still mainly colloq.
or slang.] I. trans. 1. To fling; throw; jerk;
toss.
Gyrations . . . similar to those which used to he famil-
iar to one when the crown of a lower boy's hat had been
kicked out and shied about the school-yard.
Nineteenth Century, XXVI. 772.
He has an abject fear of cats — they're witches, he says
— and if he can^A^a stone at one when it doesn't see him,
that is delight. W. Black, In Far Lochaber, vi.
Though the world does take liberties with the good-
tempered fellows, it shies them many a stray favour.
Lever, Davenport Dunn, xx.
2. To throw ofif; toss or send out at random.
I canni 't keep up with the world without shying a letter
now and then. Scott, Diary, March 26, 1827. (Lockhart.)
H. tH <rons. To thro w a missile ; specifically,
to jerk.
The Anglo-Saxon race alone is capable of propelling a
missile in the method known as shying.
Nineteenth Century, XXVI. 801.
shy2 (shi), n. ; pi. shies (shiz). [< shy'^^, ».] 1.
A quick, jerking, or careless throw ; a fling.
Where the cock belonged to some one disposed to make
it a matter of business, twopence was paid for three shies
at It, the missile used being a broomstick.
ChamtKrs's Book of Days, I. 238.
2. A fling; a sneer; a gibe. [Slang.]
" There you go, Polly ; you are always having a shy at
Lady Ann and her relations," says Mr. Newcome, g(K)d-
naturedly. " A shy ! how can yon use such vulgar words,
Mr. Newcome?" Thackeray, Newcomes, xvi.
3. A trial ; an experiment. [Slang.]
I went with my last ten florins, and had a shy at the
roulette. Thackeray, Fendennis, Ixxv.
"An honest man has a much better chance upon the
turf than he has in the city." "How do you know?"
asked Norma, smiling. " Because I've had a shy at both,
my dear." W. E. Karris, Miss Shafto, viii.
shyly (shi'li), adv. [Formerly also shily ; < shy^
+ -(.'/"•] li a shy or timid manner; timidly;
coyly; diflidently.
shynet, f . and n. A Middle English spelling of
shine^.
shyness (shi'nes), n. [Formerly also «*i«fs«; <
.v/i//! -(- -»<•«.«.] The quality or state of being
shy; especially, a shrinking from familiarity
or conspicuousness; diflidence; lack of self-
assertiveness.
Shyness, as the derivation of the word indicates in sev-
eral languages, is closely related to fear ; yet it is distinct
from fear in the ordinary sense. A shy man no doul)t
dreads the notice of strangers, but can hardly be said to
be afraid of them. Daricin, Express, of Emotions, p. 332
=Syil. DiJ/idenee, Coyness, etc. See bash/ulness.
shyn^lt, a. A Middle English form of shendftd.
shyster (shi'sttr), «. [Origin obscure, itsu-
ally associated with shy^, as if < shy^, sharp,
sly. + -ster ; but shy in that sense is not in use
in the U. 8.] One who does business trickily;
a person without professional honor: used
chiefly of lawyers: as, pettifoggers and shy-
sters. [U. S.]"
The Prison Association held its monthly meeting last
night. Hie report was rich in incidents and develop-
ments about the skinners, sharks, and shysters of the
Tombs. New York Express, quoted in Bartlett's
[Americanisms, p. 591.
si (se), n. [See gamut.'] In solmization, the
syllable used for tho seventh tone of the scale,
or the leading tone. In the scale of C this tone is B,
which is therefore called si in France, Italy, etc. This
syllable was not included in the syllables of Guido, be-
cause of the prevalence in his time of tho hexachord the-
ory of the scale ; It is supposed to have been introduced
about 160a In the tonic sol-fa system, ti (t^ is used in-
stead, to avoid the confusion between the syllables of the
seventh tone and of the sharp of the fifth.— Si contra fa,
Same as mi contra /a (which see, under mi).
Si. The chemical symbol of silicon.
siaga, »• Same as ahu.
siagnopod (si-ag'no-pod), M. [Prop. *siago)io-
pod, < Gr. aia}ui', the jaw-bone, + novc {trod-)
= E. /()()^] A maxilla of a crustacean. In C.
Spence* Bate's nomenclature there are three siagnopods,
of which the first and second are the first and second max-
ill8B and the ttiird is the first maxilliped of ordinai'y lan-
guage.
siagon (si'a-gon), n. [NL., < Gr. atayuv, the jaw-
bone.] T'he mandible of a crustacean. West-
wood; Bate.
sialagogic, sialagogue. See sialogogic, sialo-
qoquc.
&alia (si-a'li-a), w. [NL. (Swainson, 1827), <
Gr. aia'MC, a kind of bird.] A genus of turdoid
oscine passerine
birds, commonly
referred to the
family Turdidse
and subfamily
Saxicolinse, m
whichblueisthe
principal color;
American blue-
birds. Three dis-
tinct species are
comoion birds of the
United States — S.
siaiigy S. mexicatia,
and S. arctica.
Sialida (si-al'i-
d.a,),n.pl. [NL.,
< Sialis + -ida.'\
A superfamilyof
neuropterous in-
sects, of the suborder Planipennia, represented
by such families as Sialidse and Rapliidiidee.
Sialidse (si-al'i-de), n. pi. [NL. (Stephens,
1836), < Sialis + -id/e.'] An important family
of neuropterous insects, typified by the genus
Sialis, having a large prothorax and reticulate
wings, the posterior ones with a folded anal
space. They are mostly large insects, whose larva; are
aquatic and carnivorous. Corydaliis cornutus, the hell-
grammite-fly, is a conspicuous member of the family.
(See CorydfUug.) Cbavliodes and Raphidia are other im-
portant genei-a.
Sialidan (si-al'i-dan), a. and n. I. a. Pertain-
ing to the family Sialidx, or having their char-
acters.
H. n. A member of the family Sialidx.
Sialis (si'a-lis), n. [NL. (Latreille, 1809), < Gr.
ocaAic, also auAevSpig, a kind of bird.] The typ-
ical genus of the Sialidx. They have no ocelli, a
quadrangular prothorax, and wings without a pterostigma.
5608
sialolith (si'a-lo-lith), n. [< Gr. aia>Mv, spit-
tle, saliva, + li6o(, stone.] A salivary calcu-
lus.
sialolithiasis (si"a-lo-li-thi'a-sis), n. [NL., <
Gr. aia'Aov, spittle, saliva, + MdiaaiQ, the disease
of the stone : see lithiasis.'] The production of
salivary calculi.
sialorrhea, sialorrhoea (si'''a-lo-re'a), n. [NL.,
< Gr. aia'Aov, spittle, saliva, + poia, a flow, <
peiv, flow.] Excessive flow of saliva ; ptyalism ;
salivation.
sialoschesis (si-a-los'ke-sis), n. [NL., < Gr.
ma?Mv, spittle, saliva, + cxiai^, retention, <
ixciv, axeiv, hold.] Suppression or retention of
the salivary secretion.
siamang (se'a-mang), n. [= F. siamang, < Ma,-
la.y sidmang .'i' The gVahonHylohates syndactylus
or Siamanga syndactyla, the largest of the gib-
bons, with extremely long arms, and the second
Common Eastern or Wilson s Bluebird
{Stalin sialis).
Sialis in/umata, twice natural size.
The larvae are aquatic and predatory, living usually in
swift-running streams, and leaving the water to pupate in
earthen cells under ground. S. lutaria is a common Euro-
pean species, the larva of which is used for bait. S. infu-
mata is a common species in the eastern United States.
sialismus (si-a-lis'mus), n. [NL., < Gr. ata'Aia-
jioQ, a flow of saliva, < ciaXii^eiv, slaver, foam, <
cia'Aov, spittle, saliva.] Salivation; ptyalism.
sialisterium (si"a-lis-te'ri-um), n. ; pi. sialisto-
ria {-&). [NL., <I Gr. ciakujT^piov, a bridle-bit,
< aiaAov, spittle, saliva.] One of the salivary
glands of an insect. Kirby.
sialogogic (si"a-lo-goj'ik), a. and n. [Also siala-
gogic (see sialogbgue) ; < sialagogue ■+■ -ic] I.
a. Provoking or promoting an increased flow
of saliva; tending to salivate; ptyalogogic.
II. n. A sialogogue.
sialogogue (si-al o-gog), a. and n. [Also siala-
gogue, the less common but etymologically more
correct form ; < Gr. aiaAov, Ionic aie'Aov, spittle,
saliva, + ayaydc, leading, drawing forth, < ayew,
lead.] I. a. Producing a flow of saliva; pty-
alogogue.
II. n. A drug which produces a flow of saliva.
Sialoid (si'a-loid), a. [< Gr. aia'Aov, spittle,
saliva, + ei6oi, form.] Pertaining to or resem-
bling saliva.
Siamang {Siatnanga syndactyla'].
and third digits united to some extent. It is
a very active arboreal ape, inhabiting Sumatra
and the Malay peninsula. See gihhon.
Siamanga (si-a-mang'ga), n. [NL. (J. E. Gray),
< .liamang, q. v.] That genus of gibbons, or
subgenus of Hylohates, which the siamang rep-
resents.
Siamese (si-a-mes' or -mez'), a. and n. [= F.
Siamois; fia'Siam (see def.) + -ese."] I. a. Of
or pertaining to the kingdom, the people, or (in
a limited sense) the dominant race of Siam. —
Siamese arcMtecture, that form of the architecture of
the far East which was developed in Siam. The most char-
acteristic edifices are pagodas, of which the apex has a con-
vexly conical or domical shape. On civic buildings slen-
der spire-like pinnacles and combinations of steep gables
are characteristic. The profusion and elaborateness of or-
nament in relief and in color are of a barbarous richness.—
Siamese coupling, in fire-engines, a Y-shaped coupling
by which the power of two or more engines may be united
on one hose. Scribmr's Mag., IX. 63.— The Siamese
twins, two Siamese men, Chang and Eng (1811-74), who
were joined to each other on the right and the left side re-
spectively by a short tubular cartilaginous band, through
which their livers and hepatic vessels communicated, and
in the center of which was their common umbilicus. They
were exhibited in Europe and America, and married and
settled in North Carolina.
II. 11. 1. sing. onApl. An inhabitant or a na-
tive, or inhabitants or natives, of Siam, a king-
dom of Farther India, or Indo-China; specifi-
cally, a member or the members of the domi-
nant race of the kingdom, who constitute less
than half of the population. — 2. The prevalent
language of Siam, which in its basis is mono-
syllabic and inflexible, exceptionally abound-
ing in homonyms distinguishable only by vari-
ations of tone.
Siamese (si-a-mes' or -mez'), v. t. [< Siamese,
»i.] To join in the manner of the Siamese
twins; inosculate. Covipa,T:e Siamese coupling,
under Siamese. [Recent.]
Siam fever. See/eicri.
Siam ruby. A name sometimes erroneously ap-
plied to the dark ruby spinel found with the
rubies of Siam.
sib (sib), n. [Early mod. E. also si'ftJe; < ME.
sib, sihhe, syhhe, relationship, aflinity, peacej a
relation, < AS. sib, sibb, syb, sybb, relationship,
adoption, affinity, peace (ONorth. pi. sibbo, rel-
atives), = OS. sibbia, relationship, = OFries.
.sibba = MLG. sibbe = OHG. sibba, sippa, rela-
tionship, peace, MHG. G. sip]>e, relationship
(G. sippen, pi., kinsmen), = Icel. sif, in sing,
personified Sif, a goddess, pi. sijjar, relation-
ship, affinity (of. sift, affinity), = Goth, sibja,
relationship ; cf . Skt. sabhya, fit for an assem-
bly, trusty, < sablid, an assembly, family, tribe.
Cf. sib, a., sibred, and see gossij).^ 1. Kindred;
Siberian
kin; kinsmen; a body of persons related by
blood in any degree.
Hure frendes sche callid hure to,
Hure sibbe A hure kynnes men,
With reuful steuene sche spak to hem.
King Hum (E. E. T. S.), p. 80.
What *s sib or sire, to take the gentle slip.
And inth' exchequer rot for suretyship?
Bp. Uall, Satires, V. i. 97.
For the division of the clan thei-e are appropriate words-
in the old language. These words are ^b or Kin for the
one part, and for the other part the Wic. ... It is not
clear whether the lower division ought to be called the
kin or the sib. W. E. Hearn, Aryan Household, p. 288.
2. A kinsman; a relative, near or remote;
hence, one closely allied to another; an inti-
mate companion.
Queen, . . . Lord Valois, our brother, king of France^
Because your highness hath been slack in homage.
Hath seized Normandy into his hands. . . .
K. Edw. . . . Tush, Sih, if this be all,
Valois and I will soon be friends again.
Marlowe, Edward II., iii. 2.
Our puritans very sibs unto those fathers of the society
[the Jesuits].
Bp. Montagu, Appeal to Ceesar, p. 139. (LofAam.)
[Obsolete or provincial in both uses.]
sib (sib), a. [Early mod. E. also sibbe; < ME.
sib, sibbe, syb, sybbe, ysyb, < AS. sib, sibb, gesib,
gesibb, gesyb, related, kindred, = OFries. sibbe,
sib = MLG. sibbe = OHG. sibbi, sipjn, sippe,
MHG. sippe = Icel. si/?, related, having kinship
or relation, = Goth. *sibjis (in comp. un-sibjis,
lawless, wicked; ef. AS. unsib, discord, dissen-
sion) ; with orig. formative -ya, < AS. sib, sibb,
etc., kinship, relation: see sib, n. Sib, a., is
thus a derivative of sib, n., with a formative
which has disappeared. In its later use it is-
partly, like kindred, M7i^, a., the noun used ad-
jectively.] Having kinship or relationship; re-
lated by consanguinity; having affinity ; akin;
kindred. [Now only prov. Eng. or Scotch.]
Youre kynrede nys but a f er kynrede, they been but litel
syb to yow, and the kyn of youre enemys been ny syb to-
hem. Chaucer, Tale of Melibeus.
. Let
The blood of mine that 's sib to him be suck'd
From me with leeches.
Fletcher (and another). Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 2.
By the religion of our holy church, they are ower sibb
thegitlier. Scott, Antiquary, xxxiii.
sibt (sib), )'. t. [< sib, n. Cf. AS. sibbian, make
peace.] To bring into relation; establish a re-
lationship between ; make friendly.
Lat's try this income, how he stands.
An' elk us sib by shakin' hands.
T arras. Poems, p. 14.
As much sibb'd as sieve and ridder that grew in the same
wood together. Hay, Proverbial Simile, p. 225. (Nares.y
sibaryt, «■ Same as cii-ery.
Sibbaldia (si-bal'di-a), n. [NL. (Linnaeus,
1737), named after Sir Robert Sibbahl, a Scot-
tish physician (died about 1712).] A former
genus of rosaceous plants, now classed as a
section of Fotentilla, from which its type, con-
nected by intermediate species, is distinguished
by polygamously dioecious flowers with usually
less numerous stamens and cariiels. The 6 spe-
cies are procumbent arctic and alpine perennials, the
chief of which, S. (Potentilla) prociimbens, is a well-known
arctic plant, native of North America from the White and
Rocky Mountains and Sierras to Greenland and the Aleu-
tian Islands, also in northern Asia and Europe, where in
some of the Scotch Highlands it forms a characteristic
part of the greensward. It bears small yellow flowers,
and leaves of three wedge-shaped leaflets.
sibbendy (si-ben' di), n. Same as sebundy.
sibbens, siwens (sib'enz, siv'enz), H. [Also-
sibbins ; said to be so called from its resembling
a raspberry, < Gael, subliag, pi. subhan, a rasjK
berry.] A severe form of sj^ahilis, with skin-
eruptions resembling yaws, endemic in Scot-
land in the seventeenth and eighteenth centu-
ries.
sibboleth, n. See shibboleth.
Siberian (sJ-be'ri-an), a. and n. [= F. Sibdrien ;
< NL. Siberia (> F. Sibcrie, Sw. Dan. Siberien).
G. Sibirien, < Russ. Sibiri, Siberia.] I. a. Of or
pertaining to Siberia, a large Russian posses-
sion in northern Asia, extending from the Chi-
nese empire to the Arctic ocean — Siberian apri-
cot. See PrtmMs.— Siberian aquamarine, the blue,
green aquamarine or bei-yl found in Siberia. The name ir
often incorrectly applied to the light-blue and pale-green
Siberian topaz, which very strikingly resembles aquama-
rine.— Siberian bell-flower, Platycodun ffrandijionan,
of the Campamilaceie, a desirable hardy garden flower
with blue or white blossoms. — Siberian boil-plague,
that form of anthrax of domestic animals which is ac-
companied by cai'buncles on various regions of the body,
in the mouth, and on the tongue. These boils are most
common in the anthrax fever of horses and cattle. — Sibe-
rian buckthorn. See btickthom, 1.— Siberian crab,
Pyrus baccata and (more commonly) P. pruni/olia. They
are cultivated for then- flowers, but more for their abun-
Siberian
5609
dant red and yellow fruit, which is highly ornamental and Siboma (si-bo'ma), n. [NL. (C. Girard, 1856),
also escellentfor jelly, sweet pickles, etc. — Siberian dog,
a variety of the dog which has small and erect ears, li:ui the
hair of its Iwdy and tail very long, and is distinguished
for its steadiness, docility, and endurance of fatigue when
used for the purpose of draft. In many northern countries
Siberian dogs are employed for drawing sledges over the
a made word.] A genus of American cypn
noid fishes related to Plwxinus, variously lim-
ited, by some restricted to S. crassicauda, of
California. The species are sometimes called
cliiih and mullet.
frozen snow.— Siberian oat. .see oo(, l (« ;. - Siberiaji _ji,_„j, /ail>'rofl\ »i r^ MK tihrpde tihredeii
oUseed, pea-tree, Dine. .seethenouns.-Slberianred- Slbredt (sib recy, «• L< ^J^-- ftoreae, S!«»eae) ,
oilseed, pea- ^^ . ^ .
wood. .Same as Sib- riaa buckthorn. — Siberian rnodo-
dendron. Sec rh'"i"den.lrn„. ■.!. -Siberian sable, topaz,
etc. .See the nouns.— Siberian Stone-pine. See sfon*-
pi/K' (cX under i<iml. — Siberian SUbregion, in a)o<7«o<;., a
subdivision of the I'alearctic region, of which Siberia is
the greatest section, approximately represented by Asia
north of the Himalayas.
II. II. An inhabitant of Siberia.
Siberite (si-be'rit), «. [< F. sibMte; as Si-
beria + -i<c"-'.] Rubellite (red tourmalin) from
Siberia.
sibiconjngate {sib-i-kon'j<?-gat), a. and «. [< L.
sibi, dat. sing, and pi. (gen. i«», ace. se), them-
selves (see se), + conjugatug, conjugate.] I.
a. Having parts conjugate to other parts; self-
conjugate — Slblconjugate trlanj^e, a triangle which
with reference to a given conic has each side the polar of
the opposite angle. The modem theory of conies rests
largely upon that of the sibiconjngate triangle. See Bgure
under 9e(f-conjug<U€.
II. ». A value self-conjugate, or conjugate to
itself. Thus, the sibiconjugates of the involution (a, b;
c, d) are the two values of x for which
1 1, ix, l2 i
1, a + b, ab\=0.
Il, c + d, ed\
sibilance (sib'i-lans), n. [< sibilan(t) + -fe.]
The character or quality of being sibilant;
also, a hissing sound.
Sibilancy (sib'i-lan-si), n. [As tibilanee (see
-ey).] Same as sibilance.
Certainly Milton would not have avoided them for their
nMZancy, he who wrote . . . verses that hisslike Medusa's
head in wrath. Loirell, Among my Books, II. 280.
sibilant (sib'i-lant), a. and n. [= F. sibilant
= Sji. I'g. It. siUlantc, < L. sibilan(l-)s, ppr. of
«(6i7(/re, hiss: see sibilate."] I. a. Hissing; mak-
ing or having a hissing sonnd: as, « and z are
sibiUtnt letters.
If a noun ends in a hissing at tibOant aoand, . . . tlie
added sign of the plural makes another syllable.
WMtney, Eaentials of Eng. Grammar, 1 123.
Sibilant Tile, i^ee dry rale, under r<.
II. «. An alphabetic sound that is uttered
with hissing, as s and r, and sh and zh (in azure,
etc.), also eh (tsh) Hvdj (dzh).
The identlflcation of the libOattU U the most difficult
problem connected with the tmumiaaioo of the Phoeni-
cian alphabet to the Greeks.
liaae Taylor, The Alphabet, II. 93.
sibilate (sib'i-lat), »•. t. : pret. and pp. sibilated,
ppr. sibilating. [< L. sihilatits, pp. of sibilare,
LL. also sifilare, hiss, whistle, < sibilus (> It.
Pg. sibilo = S|). silbido), a hissing or whistling;
wjth formative -ilus, < \/ sib, prol>. imitative of
a whistling sound. Cf. OBulg. osipnati, Ktiss.
gipnuti, become hoarse, Bobem. sipeti, hiss,
Buss, siporka, a pipe, sipH, a cockchafer, etc.,
and E. sip, sup, regarded as ult. imitative.
Hence (from L. through F.) E. »»^, q. v.] To
pronounce with a hissing sound, like that of the
letter* or z : also, to mark with a character in-
dicating such a pronunciation.
sibilation (sib-i-Ia'shgn), n. [= F. sibilation, <
L. sibilare, pp. sibilatus, hiss : see sibilate.'] The
act of sibilating or hissing;' the utterance or
emission of sibilant sounds; also, a hissing
sound; in style, predominance or prominence
of the sound of s.
All metalls quenched in water give a tibOaUon or hUilng
•ound.i Bacon, Nat. Illst., 1 176.
If nbUatitm is a defect In Greek odea, where the soften-
ing effect of the vowel sounds is so potent, it is much
more so iu Engliah poetry, where the consonants domi-
nate. Encye. Brit., XIX. 273.
sibilatory (sib'i-la-to-ri), a. [< sibilate + -on/.]
Producing a hissing or sibilant effect. [Rare.]
sibilons (sib'i-lus), a. [< L. sibilus, hissing.
whistling, < sibilus, a hissing: see sibilate.]
Hissing; sibilant. [Rare.]
The graaahopperlark began his tibUmu note in mj
fields last Hatnrday. O. WhiU, Nat Illtt. of Selbome, L 1«.
sibilns (sib'i-lus), n. [NL., < L. sibilus, a hiss-
ing: Hi'e sibilate.] 1. A small fliite or flageo-
ujhredyne, < AS. jibraeden, relationship, < sib,
relationship, + rseden, comlition : see -red, and
cf. kindred, gossipred.] Relationship; kindred.
Ffor the gybredyne of me, fore-sake noghte this offyce
That thow ne wyrk my wylle, thow whatte watte it menes.
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 691.
For every man it schulde drede,
And nameliche in his gibrede.
Gower, Conf. Amant., viil.
sibsib (sib'sib), n. [Imitative; ef. sic^ac, etc.]
A kind of ground-squirrel which occurs in the
southern provinces of Morocco. Encye. Brit.,
XVI. 833.
Sibthorpia (sib-th6r'pi-a), n. [NL. (Linnseus,
1737), named after John Sibtltorp, an English
botanist (1758-96).] A genus of gamopeta-
lous plants of the order Scrophidarinese and
tribe IMgitalese, type of the subtribe Sibthor-
pieie. The flowers have a bell-shaped calyx, a corolla
with very short tube and five to eight nearly equal spread-
ing lobes, and four to seven stamens with sagittate an- q4«i /■gilj") ^
thers. The fruit is a membranous compressed loculicidal "*''_ v _h
capsule, the valves bearing the partitions on theirmiddle.
There are 6 species, natives of western Europe. Africa,
and mountains in Nepal and South America. They are
g rostrate, rough-hairj- herbs, often rooting at the joints,
earing alternate or clustered roundish scalloped or cleft
leaves, and red or yellowish axillary flowers. S. Europsea,
from its round leaves, is known as pennywort, penny-piei,
and C&rnigh moneywort
sibyl (sib'il), n. [Formerly also sibyll; often
misspelled sybil, sybill; also used as L., sibulla ;
= D. sibille = G. sibylle = Sw. Sibylla = Dan.
sibylle = F. sibylle = Pr. sibilla = Sp. sibila =
Biccation
sibylline (sib'i-lin or -lin), o. [= OF. sibylUn,
sibilin, F. sibyllin = Sp. sibilino = Pg. sibillino,
sibyllino = It. sibillino, < L. sibyllinus, of a sibyl
(sibyllini libri or versus, the sibylline books or
verses), < Sibylla, a sibyl: see sibyl.] 1. Per-
taining to tlie sibyls or their productions;
uttered, written, or composed by sibyls; like
the productions of sibyls: as. sibylline leaves;
sibylline oracles ; sibylline verses.
Some wild prophecies we have, as the Haramel in the
elder Edda; of a rapt, earnest, sibylline sort. Carlyle.
2. Prophetical ; especially, obscurely or enig-
matically oracular ; occult; cabalistic.
The sibylline minstrel lay dying in the City of Flowers.
Stedman, Vict. Poets, p. 149.
Sibylline books. Sibylline Oracles. See sibyl, i.
sibyllist (sib'i-list), n. [< Gr. mfivXAtoTK, a
seer, a diviner, < at(iv?.).a, a sibyl: see sibyl,]
A believer in sibylline prophecies; especially,
one of the early Christians who gave forth or
accepted the oracular utterances which were
collected in so-called sibylline books.
Celsus charges the Christians with being sibyllists.
S. Sharpe, Hist. Egypt from Earliest Times, xv. § 66.
To show among some of the Sibyllists a very close ac-
quaintance with the Teaching of the Apostles.
Amer. Jour. Philol., VI. 401.
A Scotch form of such.
Sici' (sik)> "<'''■ [L. sic, OL. seie, sice, so, thus,
< "si, locative form of pron. stem sa, that, +-ce,
a demonstrative suffix.] So; thus: awoi^i of-
ten inserted within brackets iu quoted matter
after an erroneous word or date, an astonishing
statement, or the like, as an assurance that
the citation is an exact reproduction of the
original : as, "It was easily [sic] to see that he
was angry."— 81c passim, so generally or through-
out ; the same everywhere (in the book or writing men-
tioned). See passim.
Pg. Sibilla, Sibylla = It. sibilla, < L. nbylla, &\so sic^ (sik), ihterj. A call to pigs or to sheep.
sibulla, ML. also sibiUa, < Gr. ai,iv/M » sibyl, [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.]
prophetess; formerly explained as 'she who Sic*, f. t. Seesick^.
tells the will of Zeus,' < A<^ aoiAri, the will of Sicambnan (si-kam bn-an), n. [Also «i (/am.
Zeus (Aide, gen. of Zfif, Zeus, Jove ; /3otiX^,
will); or 'the will of God,' < Bedc (Doric m6(),
god, -I- fiov/Jiy will ; but such explanation is un-
tenable. The root is appar. ai^-, which is per-
haps = L. sib- in per-sious, acute, wise, and re-
lated to Gr. 00^, wise (see sophist), and L.
sapere, be wise, perceive: see sapient, sage^.]
1. In ane. myth., one of certain women reputed
to possess special powers of prophecy or divi-
nation and intercession with the gods in behalf
bhan: < L. Sicambri, Sygambri, Sugambri (Gr.
^vyafifipot, Xovyafijipoi, 2,ovKafil}poi), a German
tribe (see def.).] A member of a powerful Ger-
manic tribe in ancient times, afterward merged
in the confederation of the Franks.
Captive epithets, like huge Sicambrians, thrust their
broad shoulders between us and the thought whose pomp
they decorate, loutll. Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 184.
sicamoret, »• An obsolete form of sycamore.
I'aichfim.
of those who resorted to them. Diflferent writer* Sicanian (si-ka'ni-an), a. and w. [< L. Sicanius,
Sicauian,< liicanus,a., Sicani (Gr. Iikovoc, ) zt-
Kavia (L. Sicania), 2«nw)c<if ), the Sicanians (see
def.).] I. n. Of or pertaining to the Sicani-
ans.
n. «. One of the primitive inhabitants of
Sicily, found there on the arrival of the Sicu-
lians, or Sicilians proper.
SicariU8(si-k!i'ri-us), «.; pi. sirnnt (-i). [L. (<
LGr. liKupioi, the Jewish Sicarii), < sica, a dag-
ger.] An assassin; specifically [_cap.], one of
a class of assassins and zealots in Palestine in
the later years of Nero's reign. They are re-
ferred to in Acts xxi. 38.
mention from one to twelve sibyls, but the number com
monly reckoned Is ten, enumerate<l as the Persian or Baby-
lonian, Libyan, Delphian, Chrmerian, Erythncan, .Samian,
Cumican, Uellespoutine or Trojan, Phrygian, and Tibur-
tine. Of these the most celebrated was the Cunuean
sibyl (of CumB in ItalyX who, according to the story, ap-
pdred l)efore Tarquin the lYoud and offered him nine
books for sate. Be reused to buy them, whereupon she
burned three, and offered the remaining six at the original
price. On being again refused, she destroyed three more,
and offered the remaining three at the price she had asked
for the nine. Tarqnin. astonished at this conduct, bought
the books, which were found to contain directions as to
the worship of the gods and the policy of the Komana.
These sibylline boolu<or books professing to have this
origin, written iu Greek hexameters, were kept with
great care at Kome, and consulted from time to time by gicQo (sik'H). rt. [< Hind, sikka, in some dia-
lects sika, Marathi sikka, stka, a com so call-
ed, also a coining-die, a mark, seal, signet, =
Pers. sikkOj < Ar. sikka, a coining-die.] Newly
coined : said of the rupee in India — Sicca rupee,
oracle-keepers under the direction of the senate, lliey
were destroyed at the burning of the temple of Jupiter in
83 & C. Fresh collections were made, which were finally
destroyed soon after A. D. 400. The Sibylline Oracles re-
ferred to by the Christian fathers belong to early ecclesi-
astical literature, and are a curious mixture of Jewish and
Christian material, with prolwbly here and there a snatch
from the older pagan source. In composition they seem to
be of various dates, from the second century before to the
third century after Christ.
SOiylle [F.l, . . . SylnU, one of the Unne SybOUr, . . .
a Ptophetesse. Cotgrate.
Hence — 2. An old woman professing to be a
prophetess or fortune-teller; a sorceress.
A (Ayf, that had number'd in the world
The sun to course two hundred compasses.
Shak., Othello, III. 4. 70.
A siftyi old, bow.bent with crooked sge.
That far events full wisely could presage.
Mitton, Vac. Ex., I. 69.
rupee in inoia — Sicca rupee,
originally, a newly coined rupee, valued at a premium over
those which were worn or supposed to be woni by use ;
later (1783), a rupee coined by order of the government of
Bengal, and bearing the impress of the nineteenth year
of the Great Mogul. The sicca rupee was abolished as
a current coin in 11*36. It was richer in silver than the
"Company's rupee."
Siccan (sik'nu), a. [Formerly also sicken, sickin
(= Dan. silken): see s»cl, such.] Such; such
like; such kind of: as, siccan a man; siccan
times. [Scotch.]
Thair heidis helsit with <tcHn saillls.
MaiUand, Poems, p. 188. (Jamieton.)
And so, ae morning, siecan a fright as I got !
Scott, Waveiley, Ixiv.
let used to teach singiiig birds.-2. A sibilant ^.^ (si-bil'ft), n.; pi. sibyllx (-e). [L.: see
t^le ; the presence of s.bilant_rale8. ^ ^^ »Jf^y)*» ^^^^^ -^^ ^,.^,J' j 1,^^^) ^ Jy^ j 2.
sibnesst (sib'nes), n. [< ME. sibnease,
'gesihness (Lye), relationship, < gesib, related:
tee sib, a.] Relationship; kindred.
I>avld, thou were bore of my kyn ;
For tbi godnesae art thou myn ;
More for thi godnesse
Then for eny nbnesm.
Uarroving of Hell, p. 27. (UaUiaeU.)
I know a maiden aunt of a great family who Is one of glccant (sik'ant), a. \< L. siccan(t-)s, ppr. of
f'^^ore-n'drth^^irSe'orh!:?"" ■"" ""'"""'" fceare dr^:see ^tecafe.] Same as «coa«««.
Addison, Spectator, No. 7. siccar (sik'ar), a. See sicker.
Biccate (sik'at), v. t.; pret. and pp. siccated,
ppr. siccating. [< L. sicca tus, pp. of siccare,
dry, dry up, < .ticcus, dry. Cf. saek^, desiccate.]
To dry ; especially, to dry gradually for preser-
vation in unaltered form, as a plant or leaf.
Siccation (si-ka'shon), n. [< L. siccatio(n-), a
drying, < «iccnre, dify: seesiccafe.] The act or
process of drying; especially, gradual expul-
sion of moisture.
116.
Sibyllic (si-bil'ik), a. [= Pg. sibillico, sibyllico ;
as sibyl + -ic.] Of sibylline character; like a
sibyl. [Rare.]
"H. H." . . . can, when she likes, be tiivQu; enough to
be extremely puzzling to the average mlud.
The NttUon, XI. 390.
siccatiTe
siccative (sik'a-tiv), n. aud n. [= F. siceatif. <
LL. sicaitinis. that makes dry, < L. siccare, dry :
see gicaitcl I. a. Drying; oausing to become
dry, or to dry up.
So did they with the juice of Cedars, which by the ex-
treain bitternesse aiid siccative faculty . . . forthwitlk sub-
dued the cause of interior corruption.
Sandys, Travailes, p. 105,
It is well known that cotton-seed oil is a semi-drying
oil having strong siccative properties at the temperature
of 212° 1'. Set. Amer., N. S., LVIII. 261.
n. II. In painting, any material added to an
oil-pain t to hasten the drying of the oil ; a dryer.
Siecatire is more of a book-word, dryer being
the term commonly used by painters.
siccific (sik-sif 'ik), a. [< L. siccus, dry, -I- /a-
Cf re, make: see -/ic] Causing dryness.
-Siccity (sik'si-ti), «. [< P. siccite = Pr. siccitat
= It. siccita, < L. siccita{i-)s, dryness, < siccus,
dry: see siccate.'] Dryness; aridity; absence
of moisture.
Fire doth predominate in caliditjr.
And the;i the next degree is siccity.
Times' Whistle {E. E. T. S.), p. 117.
They speak much of the elementary quality of siccity or
drieness. Bacon, Hist, life and Death.
sice^ (sis), M. [Also sige, and formerly «^se, syiss,
sis, sise; < ME. sis, sys, < OF. six, < L. sex, six:
see six.] 1. The number six at dice.
Thy sys Fortune hath turned into as.
Chaucer, Monk's Tale, 1. 671.
But then my study was to cog the dice,
And dexterously to throw the lucky sice,
Dryden, tr. of Persius's Satires, iii. 93.
2. Sixpence. Balliwell. [Eng. cant.]
sice^, syce (sis), n. [Also saice; < Hind, sdis,
sdis, < Ar. saw, seyis, a horse-keeper.] In Ben-
gal, a groom; a horse-keeper; an attendant
who follows on foot a mounted horseman or a
carriage.
All visits are made on horseback in Simla, as the dis-
tances are often considerable. You ride quietly along, aud
the saice follows you, walking or keeping pace with your
gentle trot, as the case may be.
F, M, Craw/ord, Mr. Isaacs, iv.
Siceliot (si-sel'i-ot), o. and n. [Also Sikeliot;
< Gr. SiKCAioTiic, a Sicilian Greek or a Siculian,
< 2((if^.ia, Sicily: see Sicilian.'] I. a. Of or per-
taining to the Siceliots.
These Siceliot cities formed a fringe round the Sicell
and Sicani of the interior. Encyc. Brit,, XI. 95.
n. «. 1. A Greek settler in Sicily. — 2. A
Siculian.
sicert, «. [ME. : see cider.] Strong drink.
This Sampson never sicer drank ne wyn.
Chaucer, Monk's Tale, 1. 65.
Sich^ (sich), a. and pron. A variant of such, for-
merly in good use, but now only dialectal.
He . . . rather joyd to bee then seemen sich,
For both to be and seeme to him was labor lich.
Spenser, F. Q., III. vii. 29.
sich^ (sich), r. and n. A Scotch form of sigh'^.
sicht^ (sicht), n. A Scotch form of sii/litX.
sicht^ (sicht), V. and n. A Scotch form of sigh^.
Sicilian (si-sil'ian), a. and n. [= F. sicilien =
Sp. Pg. It. Siciliano (ef. L. Siciliensis), < L.
Sicilia, Gr. line'Ua, Sicily, < Siculi, Gr. 'tmekoi,
the Sicilians, Siculns, Gr. 2i/te/l(5f, Sicilian (a.
and n., adj. usually 2(/c£/.(K(if).] I. a. Of or per-
taining to Sicily (a large island in the Medi-
terranean, south of Italy, now belonging to the
kingdom of Italy) or its inhabitants Sicilian
arctlitecture, a special development of medieval archi-
tecture peculiar to Sicily. It is characterized by a fusion
of the Norman and the later French Pointed styles of the
foreign race dominant from the eleventh to the thirteenth
century, with local Byzantine and Saracenic elements. Sev-
Siciltan Architecture.
Interior of Cathedral of Monreale, near Palermo.
eral of its monuments are of superb effect, particularly in
their interior decoration, notably the Capella dei Pala-
dini in the royal palace at Palermo, and the great cathe-
dral of Monreale, the whole interior wall-surfaces of both
being covered with mosaics which are among the most
magnificent in color that exist. There is also decora-
5610
tive sculpture of great excellence. — Sicilian beet. See
tw^n.— Sicilian embroidery, fancy work ilt>ne with thin
translucent matoriuls. ami consisting in tlie application
of a pattern cut out uf cambric, or the like, upon a back-
ground of similar material, so that the pattern shows
thicker and more opaque than the ground.— Sicilian
pottery. See poft<?ri/. — Sicilian safi^On, an autumnal
crocus, C. tonyifiortts (C. odorit.-f), or the product said to be
obtiined from it. — Sicilian sumac. See sinnac. — Si-
cilian Vespers, the name given to a geneml massacre
of the French residents of .Sicily by the native inhabitants,
in 12S2, in revenge for the cruelties of the former as the
dominant race under the French king of Sicily and Na-
ples, Charles of Anjou. The rising began in Palermo on
Kaster Monday, at the stroke of the vesper-bell, the con-
certed signal, and resulted in the expulsion of Charles and
the introduction of Spanish rule.
II. n. A native or a naturalized inhabitant
of Sicily; specifically, a member of the indige-
nous Sicilian race, now a mixture of many
races who in former times successively colo-
nized parts of the island. See Siculian.
siciliano, siciliana (si-sil-i-ii'no, -na; It. pron.
se-che-li-ii'no, -na), n. [It., maso. and fem. :
see Sicilian. ] 1 . A dance of the peasants of
Sicily in rather slow movement, accompanied
with singing. — 2. Music for such a dance or in
its rhythm, which is sextuple and moderately
slow, resembling the pastorale, and frequently
written in the minor mode. It was common in the
last century in vocal music and as the slow movement
of sonatas. Also marked alia siciliana,
sicilienne (si-sil-i-en'), n, [F., fem. of sicilien,
Sicilian.] A textile fabric of silk with a ribbed
surface ; a superior kind of poplin.
sick^ (sik), a. [< ME. sik, sic, si/k, sike, syke,
seek, seke, sek, seok, < AS. seoc, sick, having dis-
ease or wounds (fyllc-sedc, 'fall-sick,' having
the falling sickness, epileptic, deofol-sedc, 'devil-
sick,' possessed by a devil, demoniac, inonatti-
sedc, ' month-sick' (moon-sick), lunatic), = OS.
sioc, seok, siak, siec = OFries. siek, siak, sek, =
MD. siek, D. ziek = MLG. sek, LG. siek = OHG.
siiih, sioh, MHG. G. siech = Icel. sjiikr = Sw. sjuk
= Dan. syg = Goth, sinks, sick ; from a strong
verb, Goth, siiikan (pret. sank), be siek; per-
haps related to OHG. *swah, MHG. swach, G.
schwach (> Dan. Sw. svag), weak, feeble.] 1.
Affected with or suffering from physical disor-
der; more or less disabled by disease or bad
health; seriously indisposed; ill: as,tofaIl«(Cfc/
to be sick of a fever; a very sick man.
And ther myself lay seke by the space of vj wekys,
TorHn'jton, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 57.
I have been minded many times to have been a friar,
namely when I was sore sick and diseased.
Latimer, Remains, p. 332.
In poison there is physic ; and these news,
Having been well, that would have made me sick.
Being sick, have in some measure made me well.
Shak.,'2 Hen. IV., i. 1. 138.
And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw
his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever. Mat. viii. 14.
A kindlier influence reign'd ; and everj'where
Low voices with the ministering hand
Hung round the sick. Tennyson, l*rince8s, vii.
2. In a restricted sense, affected with nausea;
qualmish ; inclined to vomit, or actually vomit-
ing ; attended with or tending to cause vomit-
ing: as, sick at the stomach. Formerly, and still
generally in the United States, so used witliout conscious
differentiation from sense 1. See syn, below,
I was pitifully sick all the Voyage, for the Weather was
rough, and the Wind untowards. Howell, Letters, I. i. 5.
Whenever a sea was on they were all extremely sick.
W. S. Gilbert, Bumboat Woman's Story.
Figuratively — 3. Seriously disordered, infirm,
or unsound from any cause; perturbed; dis-
tempered; enfeebled: used of mental and emo-
tional conditions, and technically of states of
some material things, especially of mercury in
relation to amalgamation : as, to be sick at
heart ; a sick-looking vehicle.
I charge you, . . . tell him that I am sick of love.
Cant. V. 8.
'Tis meet we all go forth
To view the sick and feeble parts of France.
Shak,, Hen. V., ii. 4. 22.
It was a tone
Such as sick fancies in a new-made grave
Might hear. Shelley, Revolt of Islam, v. 27.
The quicksilver constantly became sick, dragged in
strings after the mullers, and lost apparently all its nat-
ural affinity for gold. Ure, Diet., II. 696.
4. In a depressed state of mind for want of
something; pining; longing; languishing: with
for: as, to be sick for old scenes or friends.
Compare homesick.'
It well may serve
A nursery to our gentry, who are sick
For breathing and exploit.
Shak,, All's Well, i. 2. 16.
5. Disgusted from satiety ; having a sickening
surfeit : with of: as, to be sick of flattery or of
drudgery.
sick
The commonwealth is sick of their own choice ;
Their uver-greedy love hath surfeited.
Shak,, 2 Hen. IV., i. 3. 88.
She 's sick of the young shepherd that bekissed her.
B. Jongon, Sad Shepherd, i. 2.
6. As a specific euphemism, confined in child-
bed; parturient. — 7. Tending to make one sick,
in any sense. [Rare.]
You liave some sick offence within your mind.
Shak., J. C, iu 1. 268.
8. Indicating, manifesting, or expressive of
sickness, in any sense ; indicating a disordered
state ; sickly : as, a sick look. [Now only col-
loq. or slang.]
Why, how now? do you speak in the sick tune?
Shak., Much Ado, iii. 4. 42.
9. Spawning, or in the milk, as an oyster; poor
and watery, as oysters after spawning. — 10.
Naut., out of repair; unfit for service: said of
ships or boats. Sometimes used in compounds,
denoting the kind of repairs needed : as, iron-
sick, nfiil-sick, pamt-sick.
If you put the Limber out to-night she'll be turned over
. . . and sucked down by the swell. And the Shelley, she
lays down at X, sick of paint
E. S. Sheppard, Counterparts, Int.
My boat's kinder giv' out. She ain't nothin' more 'n
nail-sick, though. Harper's Weekly, XXXIV. 554.
Ministers of the sick. See minister. — OU of the sick.
See holy oil, under oil. — The Sick man. See man. — TO
he Sick of the idlest. Sieeidle. (Sic* is used as the first or
the second element of some compounds, the other element
in the former case naming something used for or on ac-
count of the sick or a sick person, and in the latter ex-
pressing the cause or occasion of sickness : as, srcfr-bed,
-room, -diet, etc.; love-sick; bom e«^fr. ] = Syn. Sick, 111,
AUing, Unwell, Diseased, Morbid, Sickly, Stek and ill are
general words for being positively out of a healthy state,
as ailinffimA unwell are in some sense negative and there-
fore weaker words for the same thing. There has been
some tendency in England to confine sick to the distinc-
tive sense of 'nauseated,' but in America the word has con-
tinued to have its original breadth of meaning, as found
in the Bible and in Shakspere. Diseased follows the ten-
dency of disease to be specific, as in diseased lungs, or a
diseased leg — that is, lungs or a leg affected by a certair
disease; butthewordmay beusedin agenerai way. Mor-
bid is a more technical or professional term, indicating
that which is not healthy or does not act in a healthy way ;
the word is also the one most freely used in figurative
senses: as, morbid sensitiveness, self-consciousness, or ir-
ritability. Sick and ill apply to a state presumably tem-
porary, however severe ; sickly indicates a state not quite
equal to sickness, but more permanent, because of an un-
derlying lack of constitutional vigor. See illness, debility,
disease.
My daughter has been sick, and she is now far from well.
Howells, Undiscovered Country, xi.
And now my sight fails, and my brain is giddy.
O me ! come near me ; now I am much ill,
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., iv. 4. 111.
A voice
Of comfort and an open hand of help . . .
To ailing wife or wailing infancy
Or old bedridden palsy.
Tennyson, Aylmer's Field.
The lady on my arm is tired, unwell.
And loyally I've promised she shall say
No harder word this evening than . . . good-niglit.
Mrs, Brovming, Aurora Leigh, v.
Diseased nature oftentimes breaks forth
In strange eruptions. Shak., 1 Hen. IV., iii.l. 27.
Most evidently all that has been morbid in Christian
views of the world has resembled the sickliness of early
youth rather than the decay of age.
J, B. Seeley, Nat. Religion, p. 145.
Then moving homeward came on Annie pale.
Nursing the sickly babe, her latest-born.
Tennyson, Enoch Arden.
sickl (sik), V. [< ME. syken, siiken, seeken, se-
ken = D. zieken = OHG. siuchan, siuhhan, siu-
chen, siuhhen, siuhhon, MHG. G. siechen ; from
the adj. ; ef. Goth, siukan (strong verb), fall
sick: see sick"^, a,] I. iiitrans. To gi-ow sick;
become sick or ill.
Our great-grandsire, Edward, sick'd and died.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., iv. 4. 12a
II. trans. To make sick; sicken.
His piercing beams I never shall endure.
They sicke me of afatall Calenture.
Beywood, Apollo and Daphne (Works, 1874, VI. 289).
sick^ (sik), r. t [A var. pron. of .?ceA-.] 1. To
seek ; chase ; set upon : used in the imperative
iu inciting a dog to chase or attack a person or
an animal: often with prolonged sibilation: as,
sick or s-s-sick 'im, Bose!
"Sic 'em, Andy!" screamed Granny. "Sic 'em. Bud I
Sic 'em ! sic 'em ! " The growls and snarls of the fighting
animals [dogs and racoons] . . . made a terrific din.
erfdenZ)o!/s (Philadelphia), Sept. 6, 1890.
Hence — 2. To cause to seek or pursue ; incite
to make an attack; set on by the exclamation
"Sick!" as, to .'iick a dog at a tramp; I'll sick
the constable on you. [Prov., U. S.]
That thar 'Cajah Green, he sick-ed him [a dog] on all
the time. M. N, Murfree, Great Smoky Mountains, xL
sick-bay
sick-bay (sik'ba), «. A compartment on board
a man-of-war or a troop-ship for the accommo-
dation and treatment of sick and wounded.
sick-bed (sik'bed), H. A bed to which one is
confined by sickness.
Pray, Mother, be careful of yourself, and do not over-
walke yourself, for that is wont to bring you upon a sick
bed. John Strype^ in Ellis's Letters, p. 177.
sick-berth (sik'berth), «. Same as sick-bay.
sick-brained (sik'brand), a. Mentally disor-
dereil.
sick-call (sik'kal), «. 1. A military call, sound-
ed ou a drum, bugle, or trumpet, to summon sick
men to attend at the hospital. — 2. A summons
for a clergj'man to minister to a sick person.
sicken (sik'n), i*. [= Icel. fjiikna = Sw. yukna
= Dan. nygne, become sick ; as sick'^ + -en^. Cf .
«((7.i, c] I. intrans. 1. To fall sick; fall into
ill health ; become ill : used of persons, animals,
or plants: as, the fowl sickened; the vine sick-
ened.
My Lord of Soathampton and his eldest Son stekened at
the Siege, and died at Berghen. Howell, Letters, I. iv. 15.
Some who escape the Fury of the Wave
Sidcm on Earth, and sink into a Grave.
Prior, Ode to George ViUiers.
2. To experience a sickening sensation; feel
nauseated or disgusted : as, to sicken at the sight
of squalor.
The stars awhile withheld their gleaniy light,
And sick'ned to behold the fatal night.
W. L. Letcis, tr. of SUtius's Thebald, v.
I hate, abhor, spit, gieken at him.
Tennyvm, Lacretias.
3. To lose force or vitality; become weakened,
impaired, or deteriorated : said of things (in
technical use, especially of mercury: compare
mortification, 1 (d) ).
When love begins to »idten and decay.
It useth an enforced ceremony.
Shai., J. C, It. 2. 20.
• All pleasures tieten, and all glories sink.
Pope. Essay on Man, Iv. 46.
It [mercury] riekeru, as the miner puts it, and "flours,"
forming Into a sort of scum on the surface.
Sci. Amtr., N'. .S., LXII. 4ia
n. trans. 1. To make sick; brin^ into a dis-
ordered state or condition ; affect with disease,
or (more commonly) with some temporary dis-
order or indisposition, as nausea, vertigo, or
languor : as, the bad odors sickened him.
Why should one Earth, one Clime, one Stream, one Breath,
Baise this to Strength, and ncken that to Death?
Prior, Solomon, 1.
Through the room
The sweetneea riektned her
Of mnak and myrrh.
D. a. Rometti, The Staff and Scrip.
2. To make mentally sick ; cause to feel nau-
seating cont«mpt or disgtist. See sickening.
Mr. Smith endeavored to attach himself to me with such
ofHciouB assiduity and impertinent freedom that he quite
tietened me. JftM Bumey, Evelina, xlvi.
3. To make nauseatingly weary (of) or dissat-
i8fied(with); cause a disgusted dislike in: with
of: as, this mdkeiied him of his bargain. — 4t. To
bring into an unsettled or disordered state ; im-
pair; impoverish: said of things.
1 do know
Kinsmen of mine, three at the least, that have
Bv this so lielcend their estates that never
They shall abound as formerly.
Sluii., Hen. VIIL, 1. 1. 82.
sickener (sik'n-^r), n. Something that sickens,
in any sense; especially, a cause of disgust,
antipathy, or aversion; a reason for being sick
of something. [Rare.]
It was plain this lucky shot had given them a liektner
of their trade. A. L. Steventon, Master of Bailantrae, IL
sickening (sik'n-ing), p. a. Making sick ; caus-
ing; <ir tending to cause faintness, nausea, dis-
gust, or loathing: as, aickening sounds; sick-
eniiiij servility.
Alp tum'd him from the lickttung sight
Byron, Siege of Corinth, xvll.
Life hung on her content; everything else was hopeless,
confused, irickeninff miseiy.
Oemyt BUot, Mill on the Rosa, ri. 18.
sickeningly (sik'n-ing-li), adr. In a sickening
muiinrT; so us to sicken or disgust.
Then ensued a sickening contest, ndreningly described.
Athenmum, No. 3-2.M, p. S02.
sicker (sik'^r), a. [Sc. also sicear, sikker, etc.;
< MK. xiker. nkir, sekir, syker, sicur, < AS. 'sicor,
late AS. I'iker = OS. sicur, sicttr = OFries. siker,
sikur = I), zeker = MLO. seker = OHG. sichur,
sihhar, sichure, sichiure, MH(j. O. sicker = Dan.
sikker = Sw. siiker = W. sicr (< E.), without
care, secure, safe, < L. secHrus (later secHrus,
5611
with recession of the accent, as the Teut. forms
indicate), without care: see secure and sure,
which are thus doublets of sicker. The intro-
duction of a L. adj., having appar. no special
eccl. or legal or other technical meaning, into
Teut. at so early a period (before the 7th cen-
tury ) is remarkable ; prob. a technical use ex-
isted, or the adj. came in through the verb
(OHG. sihhoron, justify, clear (in a court), etc. ).]
Sure; certain; assured; secure; firm; safe.
[Old Eng. and Scotch.]
With me thei lefte alle theire thyng.
That I am sicur of theire comyng.
MS. Cantab. Ft. v. 48, f. 48. (HalliuxU.)
Setting ray staff wi' a' my skill
To keep me sicker.
Burns, Death and Doctor Hornbook.
"I doubt," said Bruce, "that I have slain the Red Co-
myn." "Do you leave such a matter to doubt?" said
Kirkpatricic "I will make sicker."
Scott, Tales of a Grandfather, Ist ser., vL
sickert (sik'^r), adv. [< ME. 'sikere, sekere ; <
sicker, a. '] Certainly; indeed; surely; firmly;
securely; confidently; safely.
That shall help the of thy doloure.
As gekere as bred ys made of floure.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 217.
Sicker, now I see thou speakest of spight.
Spenser, Shep. Cat, May.
The nurice she knet the knot.
And O she knet it sicker.
Laird of Waristmin (Cliild's Ballads, III. IIIX
sickerf (sik'f r), r. t. [< ME. sikeren, sekiren (=
08. sicoron = OFries. sikria, sikeria, sikura
= MLG. sekeren = OHG. sihhoron, MHG. G.
sichem = Dan. sikrc), make safe, secure ; from
the adj.] To secure; assure; make certain or
safe; plight; betroth.
Now be we duchesses, bothe I and ye.
And sikertd to the regals of Athenes.
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 2128.
jife I say the sothely, and tekire the my trowthe,
No surggooe in Salarne salle save the bettyre.
MorU Arlhure (F> E. T. S.X 1. 2586.
Sickerlyt (sik'^r-li), adr. [< ME. sikerly, syk-
erly. sekerly, sikirly, sikerliche, sikerlike (= D.
sekerlijk = MLG. sekerliken, sekerken = OHG.
sichurlicho, MHG. sicherliche, G. sicherlich = Sw.
sakerligen = Dan. sikkerlig); < sicker + -ly^.
Doublet of «ectir«{y and surely.] Same as sicker.
Heere-aftir y hope ful sikirly
For to come to that blls ageyn.
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.X p. 51.
Whoso wills go be Londe thorghe the Lond of Baby-
lone, where the Sowdan dwellethe commonly, he moste
8ete Grace of him and Leve, to go more sikerly thorghe
to Londes and Contnea. ManderiUe, Travels, p. S4.
sickemess (sik'^r-nes), n. [< ME. sikerneste,
sykerncs, sikirnesse, sykirncs, sekirnes ; < sicker
+ -ness. Doublet of secureness and sureness.']
The state of being sicker or secure ; security ;
safety. [Obsolete or Scotch.]
A fnl grete charge hath he withoutyne falle that his
worship kepithe in tlkenusse.
Politieal Potnu, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 7«.
Thus mene I, that were a gret folye.
To pntten that syktmeui in jupartye.
Chmieer, Trollus, Iv. 1612.
In llckemesst, assuredly ; certainly; of a truth.
He Is a foole in sikemease.
That with dannger or stonteneese
Kebelleth there be sbulde plese.
Bom. q/the Bote, 1. 1936.
sick-fallen (sik'f&'lu), a. struck down with
sickness or disease. [Rare.]
Vast confusion waits.
As doth a raven on a sick-faWn beast
Shak., K. John, Iv. 3. 152.
sick-flag (sik'flag), n. A yellow flag indicating
tlie ])re«ence of disease, displayed at a quaran-
tine station, or on board a ship in quarantine,
to prevent unauthorized communication. Also
failed i/iianiiitine-flag.
sick-headache (sik'hed'ak), n. Headache ac-
companied l>v nausea; especially, megrim.
Sicklsh (sik'ish), a. [< sirfi + -i*/ii.] 1. In a
disordered condition or state of health ; out of
proper condition ; sickly.
Not the body only, but the mind too (which commonly
follows the temper of the body), is sickish and Indisposed.
HakewHl, Apology, p. 21KI.
Whereas the soul might dwell in the body as a palace
of delight, she finds it a crazy, sickish, rotten cottage. In
danger, every gust, of dropping down.
ISev. T. Adams, Works, I. S30.
2. Somewhat sickornauseated; slightly qualm-
ish; disgusted: as, a gicA-isA feeling. — 3. Mak-
ing slightly sick ; sickening; nauseating: as, a
sickish taste or smell.
sickishly (sik'ish-li), adv. In a sickish man-
ner.
sickless
The state of being
sickishness (sik'ish-nes), n.
sickish.
sicklatonnf, ». Same as ciclaton.
sickle (sik'l), «. [< ME. sikel, sykel, sykyl, sikul,
side, < AS. sicol, sieul, sicel = MD. sickel, D.
sikkel = MLG. sekele, LG. sekele, sekel = OHG.
sihhila, sikila, sichila, MHG. G. sichcl = Dan.
segl, a sickle, = It. segolo, a hatchet, < L. seeu-
la, a sickle (so called by the Campanians, the
usual L. word being falx: see falx), < secare,
cut: see secant. Cf. scythe (AS. sigthe, sithe)
and saipl (AS. saga), from the Teut. form of
the same verb.] 1. A reaping-hook; a curved
blade of steel (anciently also of bronze) having
the edge on the inner
side of the curve, with a
short handle or haft, for
cutting with the right
hand grain or grass
which is grasped by the
left. The sickle is the oldest
of reaping-Instruments, and
still continues In use for some
purposes, including in certain sickle with Serrated Edge,
localities the gathering of
crops. Sickles were formerly sometimes serrated, or made
with sharp sloping teeth ; the ordinary smooth-edged
sickles are now sometimes called grass-ktiives or grass-
hooks.
Knyves crooked
For Tyne and bough with sithes, eicles hocked.
And croked sithes kene upon the bake.
Pailaditis, Husbondrle (E. E. T. S.X p. 42.
Thou Shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbour's
standing corn. Deut. xxill. 25.
In the vast field of criticism on which we are entering
Innumerable reapers have already put their sickles.
Macaulay, Milton.
2. A sickle-shaped sharp-edged spur or gaff
formerly used in cock-fighting.
Note that on Wednesday there will be a single battle
fought with Sickles, after the East India manner. And on
Thursday there will be a Itattle Koyal, one Cock with a
Sickle, and 4 Cocks with fair Spurs.
Quoted In Ashton's Social Life In Reign of Queen Anne,
[I. 301.
The Sickle, a group of stars In the constellation Leo, hav-
ing the form of a sickle.
sick-leave (sik'lev), h. Leave of absence from
duty granted on account of physical disability.
sir Thomas Cecil was returning on sick-leave from his
government of the Brill.
MoUey, Hist Netherlands, I. 424.
sicklebill (sik'1-bil), ». A name of various
birds whose bill is sickle-shaped or falciform;
a saberbill. (a) Those of the genera Drepanis, Dre-
panomis, and some allied forms, (b) Those of the genus
Bpimachus. <c) The huniminK-birds of the genus Eutox-
erfS, in which the bill is falcated In about the quadrant
of a circle, (rf) The saberbllls of the genus Xiphorhynchus.
ie) The long-billed curlew of the United States, yumenius
toni/irostris. See cuts under Drepanis, Epimaehus, Eu.
toxeres, sabertrill, and evrlew.
sickle-billed (sik'l-bild), a. Having a falcate
or falciform bill, as a bird; saber-billed.
sickled(sik'ld), «. [< *tcWe -f -etp*.] Furnished
with or bearing a sickle.
When autumn's yellow lustre gilds the world.
And tempts the sickled swain into the field.
Thomson, Autumn, 1. 1322.
sickle-feather (sik'l-feTH'^r), n. One of the
paired, elongated, falcate or sickle-shaped mid-
dle feathers of the tail of the domestic cock;
strictly, one of the uppermost and largest pair
of these feathers, which in some varieties at-
tain remarkable dimensions. See Japanese long-
tailed founts, under Japanese.
sickle-head (sik'l -hed), n. In a reaping-ma-
diine, the pitman-head which holds the end of
the ftittor-bar. E. H. Knight.
sickleheal (sik'1-hel), n. See Prunella^, 2.
sickleman (sik'1-man), n. ; pi. sicklemen (-men).
[< sickle + man.] " One who uses a sickle ; a
reaper.
You sunburnt sicklemen, of August weary,
Come hither from the furrow and be merry.
Shak., Tempest, Iv. 1. 134.
Like a field of corn
Under the hook of the swart sickleman.
Shelley, Hellas.
sickle-pear (sik'l-pSr'), «. See seckel.
sicklepod (sik'l-pod), »i. An American rock-
cress, Arabis Canadensis, with flat drooping
po<ls, which are scythe-shaped rather than
sickle-shaped,
sickler (sik'l^r), n. [< sickle + -er^.] A reaper;
a sickleman.
The\T sicklers reap the corn another sows.
Sandys, Paraphrase upon Job, xxlv.
sickle-shaped (sik'l-sha))t), a. Sliaped like a
sickle ; falcate in form ; falciform ; drepaniform.
sicklesst (sik'les), a. [< sick'^ + -less.] Free
from sickness or ill health.
sickless
Give me long breath, young beds, and eicHe$se ease.
Marston, Sophonisba, iv. 1.
sickleweed (sik'1-wed), n. Same as skkJcwort.
sicklewort (sik'l-wiTt), h. The self-heal, £?•«-
iiflla {VrHiielki) rulgari^: from the form of the
flower as seen in profile. See Prunella'^, 2.
Sicklify (sik'li-fi), v. t. ; pret. and pp. sicklified,
ppr. sicklifying. [< sickly + -/i/.] To make sick-
ly or sickish. [Vulgar.]
All I felt was giddy ; I wasn't to say hungry, only weak
and gicktijied.
ilayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II. 8&
sicklily (sik'li-li), adv. In a sickly manner; so
as to appear sickly or enfeebled. [Bare.]
His will swayed siddily from side to side.
Browning, Sordello, ii.
sickliness (sik'li-nes), M. The state or quality
of being sickly, in any sense ; tendency to be
sick or to cause sickness; sickly appearance or
demeanor.
1 do beseech your majesty, impute his words
To wayward sickliness and age in him.
Shttk., Bich. II., li. 1. 142.
The sickliness, healthfulness, and fruitfulness of the sev-
eral years. Graunt.
sick-list (sik'list), n. A list of persons, espe-
cially in military or naval service, who are dis-
abled by sickness. Sick-lists in the army are contain-
ed in the sick-report books of the companies of each regi-
ment, and are forwarded monthly, with particulars as to
each case, to the authorities. On a man-of-wai' the sick-
list is comprised in tlle daily report (the sick-report) sub-
mitted by the senior medical officer to the commander.
See also binnacle-lisL
Grant's army, worn out by that trying campaign, and
still more by the climate than by battle, counted many on
the sick-list, and needed rest.
Comte de Paris, Civil War in America (trans.), I. 600.
Can we carry on any summer campaign without having a
large portion of our men on the sick-list?
The Century, XXXVI. 076.
To be or go on the sick-list, to be or become invalided,
or disabled from exertion of any kind by sickness.
sick-listed (sik'Hs'^ted), a. Entered on the sick-
list ; reported sick.
sickly (sik'li), a. [< ME. sikly. sikliche, sekli,
stckli (= D. eiekelijk = leel. sjukligr = Sw. sjuk-
liff = Dan. sygelig) ; < sick'^ + -Jyl.] 1. Habitu-
ally ailing or indisposed ; not sound or strong
as regards health or natural vigor ; liable to be
or become sick : as, a sickly person, animal, or
plant ; a sickly family.
Ywis thou nedeles
Conseylest me that sikliche I me feyne,
For I am sik in ernest, douteles.
Chaucer, Troilus, ii. 1528.
She was sickly from her childhood until about the age
of llfteen. Sw\ft, Death of Stella.
While he lay recovering there, his wife
Bore him another son, a sickly one.
Tennyson, Enoch Arden.
2. Pertaining to or arising from a state of im-
paired health; characteristic of an unhealthy
condition: as, a sickly complexion; the sickly
look of a person, an animal, or a tree.
And he smiled a kind of sickly smile, and curled up on the
floor. Bret Harte, Society upon the Stanislaus.
3t. Pertaining to sickness or the sick ; suitable
for a sick person.
Give me my Gowne and Cap, though, and set mee charily
in my sickly chaire. Brome, The Sparagus Garden, iv. 6.
When on my sickly coucli I lay.
Impatient both of night and day, . . .
Then Stella ran to my relief.
Swift, To Stella visiting him in his Sickness.
4. Marked by the presence or prevalence of
sickness : as, a sickly town ; the season is very
sickly.
Physic but prolongs thy sickly days.
Shak., Hamlet, iii. S. 96.
Under date of May 4, 1688, by which time the weather
was no doubt exceedingly hot, Capt. .Stanley writes, "Wee
haue a Sickley Shipp." N. and Q., 7th ser., VI. 602.
5. Causing sickness, in any sense; producing
malady, disease, nausea, or disgust ; debilitat-
ing; nauseating; mawkish: as, a sicW^ climate ;
sickly fogs ; sickly fare.
Prithee, let us entertain some other talk ;
This is as sickly to me as faint weather.
Beau, and FL, Captain, i. 2.
Freedom of mind was like the morning sun, as it still
struggles with the siddy dews and vanishing spectres of
darkness. Bancru/t, Hist U. S., II. 458.
6. Manifesting a disordered or enfeebled con-
dition of mind ; mentally unsound or weak : as,
sickly sentimentality.
I plead for no sicHy lenity towards the fallen in guilt.
Channing, Perfect Life, p. 76.
7. Faint ; languid ; feeble ; appearing as if
sick.
The moon grows sickly at the sight of day. Dryden.
5612
Versification in a dead language is an exotic, a far-
fetched, costly, sickly imitation of that which elsewhere
may be found in healthful and spontaneous perfection.
Macaiday, Milton.
= Syn. 1. Unwell, 111, etc. See sicitl.
sickly (sik'li), adv. [< sickly, a.] In a sick,
sickly, or feeble manner; so as to show ill
health or debility.
Bring me word, boy, if thy lord look well,
For he went sickly forth. Shak., J. C, ii. 4. 14.
Altho' I am come safely, I am come sickly.
Howell, Letters, I. ii. 1.
sickly (sik'li), V. 1. ; pret. and pp. sicklied, ppr.
sicklying. [< sickly, a.] To make sickly ; give
a sickly or unhealthy appearance to. [Rare.]
Thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought.
Shak., Hamlet, iii. 1. 86.
They [meteorsl flung their spectral glow upon the
strangely cut sails of the vessel, upon her rigging and
spars, sicldiny [properly sicklying] all things to their starry
color. W. C. Russell, Death Ship, xi.
sickness (sik'nes), n. [< ME. siknesse, seknesse,
secnesse, sykenesse, sekenesse,<. AS. seocness, sick-
ness, < sedc, sick : see sick^ and -ness.'] 1. The
state of being sick or suffering from disease ;
a diseased condition of the system ; illness; ill
health.
I pray yow for that ye knowe wele that I have grete
sekenesse, that he will telle yow what deth I shall deye,
yef he knowe it. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), i. 61.
I do lament the sickness of the king.
Shak., Kich. IIL, ii. 2. 9.
Trust not too much your now resistless charms,
Those age or sickness soon or late disarms.
Pope, To Miss Blount, 1. 60.
2. A disease; a malady; a particular kind of
disorder.
He that first cam doun in to the sisteme, aftirthejnou-
yng of the watir, was maad hool of what euere siknesse he
was holdun. Wyclif, John v. 4.
Of our soul's sicknesses, which are sins.
Donne, Letters, xxvii.
Jili sicknesses . . . made it necessary for him not to stir
from his chair. Bp. Fell, Hammond.
3. A derangement or disturbance of the stom-
ach, manifesting itself in nausea, retching, and
vomiting: distinctively called sickness of the
stomach. — 4. A disordered, distracted, or en-
feebled state of anything.
A kind of will or testament which argues a great sickness
in his judgement that makes it. Shak., T. of A., v. 1. 31.
Look upon my steadiness, and scorn not
The sickness of my fortune.
Ford, Broken Heart, v. 2.
Ceylon sickness. Same as beriberi.— comitisil sick-
nesst. See comitial.— CountTy sickness. .Same as
iwstalgia. — Creeping sickness, a chronic form of ergot-
ism.—Falling Sickness. iiee.falling-siekness.—Y&loyr
Sickness of the hyacinth. See hyacinth, 1.
Wakker has recently described a disease in the hyacinth
known in Holland as tlie yellow sickness, the characteristic
symptom of which is the presence of yellow slimy masses
of Bacteria in tlie vessels. De Bary, Fungi (trans.), p. 482.
=Syn. 1 and 2. Ailment, etc. See dlness and sick^.—Z.
Disorder, distemper, complaint.
sick-report (sik're-port'''), n. 1. A sick-list. —
2. A report rendered at regular or stated inter-
vals, as daily or monthly, by a military or naval
surgeon to the proper authority, giving an ac-
count of the sick and wounded under his charge.
sick-room (sik'rom), n. A room occupied by
one who is sick.
Art . . . enables us to enjoy summer in winter, poetry
among prosaic circumstances, the country in the town,
woodland and river in the sick-room.
Fortnightly Rev., N". S., XLIII. 222.
sick-thoughted (sik'tha"ted), «. Full of sick
or sickly thoughts ; love-sick. [Rare.]
Sick-thoughted Venus makes amain unto him.
And like a bold-faced suitor 'gins to woo him.
Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 5.
siclatouni, «. See ciclatnn.
sicle^t, »• [< F. side, < LL. siclus, a shekel :
see shekel.l Same as shekel.
The holy mother brought five sides, and a pair of turtle-
doves, to redeem the Lamb of God from the anathema.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 64.
sicle^t, n. A Middle English form of sickle.
siclike (sik'Iik), a. and adv. [A Sc. form of
suchlike.'] Of the same kind, or in the same
manner ; similar or similarly. [Scotch.]
sicomoret, «. An obsolete spelling of sycamore.
Sicophantt, n. An obsolete spelling of syco-
phant.
Sicoriet, ". An obsolete spelling of chicory.
Sicsac, ziczac (sik'sak, zik'zak), ii. [Egyp-
tian name, prob. imitative.] The Egyptian
courser, eroeodile-bird, or black-headed plover,
Pluvianus eegyptiiis (formerly and better known
as Charadrius melanocephalus). It is supposed to
be the classic trochilus, a distinction also attached by
some to the spur-winged plover Iloplopterus spinosus.
side
Both are common Kile birds of similar habits, and enough
alike to be uncritically confounded. See cuts under Plu-
vUinus and spur-wiyiged.
Siculian (si-kii'li-an), a. and n. [< L. Sicidi,
<.Gt. 'ZiKe'/.oi, Sicilians, Siculians: see Sicilian .]
1. a. Of or pertaining to the Siculi, an ancient
people, probably of Aryan race, of central and
southern Italy, who at a very early date colo-
nized and gave name to the island of Sicily.
II. n. One of the Siculi; an ancient Sicilian
of the race from whom the island was named.
Compare Sicanian, Siceliot.
Siculo-Arabian (sik"u-16-a-ra'bi-an), a. Modi-
fied Arabian or Arabic as found in Sicily:
noting some Sicilian art.
Siculo-Moresque(sik"u-16-mo-resk'), a. Modi-
fled Moresque or Moorish as' found in Sicily :
noting some Sicilian art.
Siculo-Punic (sik"u-16-pii'nik), a. At once Si-
cilian and Carthaginian or Punic: especially
noting art so characterized, as, for instance,
the coins of Carthage executed by Sicilian-
Greek artists and presenting Sicilian types.
We have still to mention the main characteristics of the
true Siculo-Punic coins — that is, those actually struck by
the Carthaginians in Sicily. Fncyc, Brit., XVII. 63i).
Sicyoideae (sis-i-oi'de-e), «. pi. [NL. (Endli-
cher, 1836), < Sicyos + -oidcse.1 A tribe of
polypetalous plants of the order Cucurhitacese
and series Cremospermcse. It is characterized by
flowers with from three to five commonly united stamens,
and a one-celled ovary with a solitary pendulous ovule,
and includes 6 genera, natives of warmer partsof America,
or more widely distributed in the type Sicyos (see also
Sechium). The others, except Sicyosperma, a prostrate
Texan annual, are high climbing perennials or shrubby
vines of Mexico and further south, bearing heart-shaped
leaves and fleshy fruit.
Sicyonian (sis-i-6'ni-an), a. and n. [< L. Sicy-
onius (Gr. 'S.iiiv6)Vto(),"<. Sicyon, < Gr. 'S.tuvuv, Si-
eyou (see def.).] I. a. Of or pertaining to
Sieyon, an ancient city of northern Pelopon-
nesus in Greece, or its territory Sicyonia, cele-
brated a,s an eai'ly and fruitful center of atrt-
development. Also written Sikyoniaii.
II. n. A native or an inhabitant of Sicyon or
Sicyonia.
Sicyos (sis'i-os), n. [NL. (Linnteus, 1737), < Gr.
akvog, a cucumber or gourd.] A genus of
plants of the order Cucurhitacese, the gourd fam-
ily, and type of the tribe Sicyoidese. it is cliar-
acterized by monoecious flowers, witli broadly bell-shaped
or flattened five-toothed calyx, and five-parted wheel-
shaped corolla, the stamens in the male flowers united into
a short column bearing from two to five sessile curved or
floxuous anthers. Tlie ovary in the female flowers is
bristly orprickly, and is crowned with a short style divided
into three stigmas, producing a small flattened coriaceous
or woody fruit with acute or long-beaked apex, commonly
set with many sharp needles, and filled by a single large
seed. There are about 31 species, natives of warm parts
of America, one, S. angulatus, extending to Kansas and
Canada, found also in Australia and New Zealand. They
are smooth or rough-hairy climbers, or sometimes prostrate
herbs, and bear thin, angled leaves, three-cleft tendrils,
and small flowers, the fertile commonly clustered at the
base of a staminate raceme. For S. angulatus, see one-
seeded or star cucumber, under cucumber.
Sida (si'dii), n. [NL. (LinnaBus, 1737), < Gr.
<yU)ji, the pomegranate, a water-lily, also, in
Theophrastus, a plant of the genus Althsea or
other malvaeeous plant.] 1. A genus of poly-
petalous plants of the order Mahaceee and tribe
Malvese, type of the subtribe Sidex. it is char-
acterized by solitary pendulous ovules and an ovary of a
single ring of five or more carpels, which finally fall away
from the axis and are each without appendages and inde-
hiscent, or are sometimes at the summit two-vaived, bris-
tle-tipped or beaked. There are about 90 species, natives
of wann climates, mostly American, with about 23 in Aus-
tralia and 8 in Africa and Asia. They are either herbs or
slirubs, generally downy or woolly, and bearing flowers
sometimes lai-ge and variegated, but in most species small
and white or yellow. Five or six American species are now
naturalized as weeds in almost all warm countries, among
whicli 5". spinosa, a low yellow-flowered annua], extends
north to >'ew York and Iowa. Several species are known
as Indian mallow; S. Napma, a tall white-flowered plant
with maple-like leaves, occasional in the eastern United
States, is sometimes cultivated under the name Virginian
mallow; S. rhomJbifolia (from its local use named Canary
Island tea-plant), a species widely diffused in the tropics,
witli its variety retusa, yields a fiber considered suitable
for cordage- and paper-making, which, from receiving at-
tention in Australia, has been called Queensland hemp.
2. In zool., the typical genus of Sididee.
siddo'W (sid'6), a. [Origin obscure; appar.
based on seethe (pp. sodden), but the form of
the termination -ow remains to be explained.]
Soft ; pulpy. [Old and prov. Eng.]
They'l wriggle in and in.
And eat like salt sea in his siddowe ribs.
Marston, Antonio and Mellida, II., iv. 2.
In Gloucestershire, peas which become pulpy soft by
boiling are then said to be siddow.
Ualliwell, Note to Marston.
Side'^ (sid), n. and a. [< ME. side, syde, rarely
siHie, < AS. side = OS. sida = OFries. side =
side
MD. sijde, D. zijde = MLG. side, LG. side, siede
= OH(i. sita, sitta, MHG. site, G. seite = leel.
sitha z= Sw. sida = Dan. side (not recorded in
Goth.), side; perhaps orig. that which hangs
down or is extended, < AS. sid, long, wide, spa-
cious, = leel. sithr, long, hanging down: see
side^. Cf . beside, besides. ] I. h. 1 . One of the two
terminal surfaces, margins, or lines of an object
or a space situated laterally to its front or rear
aspect ; a part lying on the right or the left hand
of an observer, with reference to a definite
point of view: as, the sides of a building (in
contradistinction to its front and rear or back,
or to its ends) ; the sides of a map or of a bed
(distinguished from the top and bottom, or from
the head and foot, respectively).
Men fynden there also the AppuIIe Tree of Adam, that
lian a byte at on of the gydes. MandeviUe, Travels, p. 49.
A sylvan scene with various j^reens was drawn,
Shades on iUetides, and in the midst a lawn.
Dryden, PaL and Arc. , li. ffiKl
2. Specifically, with reference to an animal
boay : (a ) Either half of the body, right or left,
which lies on either hand of the vertical me-
dian longitudinal plane; the entirety of any
lateral part or region: as, the right side; the
left side, (h) The whole or a part of the body
in front of or behind a vertical transverse
plane: as, the front *iV/e; the hinder side; the
dorsal side, (c) A part of the body lying lat-
erally with reference to any given or assumed
axis, and opposed to another similar or corre-
sponding yaxi: as, the front or back side of
the arm. (d) A surface or extent of any body,
or part of any body, that is external or inter-
nal, considered with reference to its opposite :
as, the inner or outer side. See inside, outside.
(e) Esp<'cially, that part of the trunk of an ani-
mal which lies or extends between the shoulder
and the hip, and particularly the surface of
such part; the lateral region or superficies of
the cnest and belly.
8«che thre strokes he me gafe.
Yet they cleffe by my »tydya.
Robin Hood and Uu Potter (Child's Ballads, V. 10).
Finch them, anna, legs, backs, sboolden, $id«a, and shins.
Shak., if. W. of W., t. 6. 68.
Nor let voor Sida too strong Concussions shake (with
laughter).
Lest yoQ the Softness of the Rex forsake.
Congrtx, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love, lU.
(/) One of the two most extensive surfaces of
anything, being neither top or bottom, nor end,
nor edee or border. (Since every organism, like any
other solid, has three dimensions, to the extriit nf which
in opposite directions tide may be applied, it fullows that
there are three pairs of sides, the word having thus three
definitions ; a fourth sense is that which relates to the ex.
terior and the (often holtow) interior ; a fifth is a definite
restriction of right and left aide*; and a sixth is a loose
derived application of the word, wltboat reference to any
definite axes or planes.)
3. One of the continuous surfaces of an object
limited by terminal lines; one of two or more
bounding or investing surfaces; a superficial
limit or confine, either external or internal : as,
the six sides of a cube (but in geometry the
word is not thus used for face, but as synony-
mous with edge); the side of a hill or moun-
tain {hiWside, mountain-«iVfc) ; the upper and
under sides of a plank; the right and 'wrong
sides of a fabric or garment (see phrase below) ;
the sides of a cavern or a tunnel. The word tide
may be used either of all the t>ouiiding surfaces of an ob-
ject, as with certain prisms, crystals, and geometrical fig.
ores, or as exclusive of parts that may be called tap, bot-
tom, edge, or end, as with a cubical box, a plank, ^tc
Men seith that dnne-is (hUl'sJ tithen on
Was mad temple salamon.
Oenetie and Exodvt (E. E. T. B.\ 1. 12M.
The tables were written on both their lidea : on the one
tide and on the other were they written. Ex. xxxIL Ih.
I saw them nnder a green mantling vine.
That crawls along the ride of ynn small hill.
MUton, Comus, 1. 205.
4. One of the extended marginal partner courses
of a surface or a plane figure ; one of any num-
ber of distinct terminal confines or lateral divi-
sionsof a surface contiguous to or conterminous
with another surface: as, the opposite sides of
a road or a river ; the east and west sides of the
ocean ; all sides of a field. The outer parts of an otv
long or an Irregular surface may all be called ridet, or dis-
tinguished as the long and short ndea, or ta aidee and enda,
according to occasion, .^de In tbts sense Is more compre-
hensive than warjin, fd;tr, border, or verye (commonly
used in defining it), since it may be use<i so as to include
a larger extent of contiguous surface than any of these
words. Thus, the sides of a room may be all the parts of
Us floor-space not comprised In a central psrt reserved or
dilterentiated in some special way. The sides of a table
are thoae marginal parts upon which food is served. The
east and west aides of a continent may constitute Jointly
the whole of it, or may consist of larger or smaller mar-
5613
ginal strips or divisions, according as they are considered
as separated by a mesial line or by some intervening re-
gion. The amount of latitude with which the word may
be used in particular cases does not admit of definitive
discrimination ; but there is usually no difficulty in de-
termining the intention of a writer or speaker in bis em-
ployment of it.
A great market-place
Upon two other sides fills all the space.
Wiiliam Morris, Earthly Paradise, I. 4.
5. Position or place with reference to an in-
termediate line or area; a space or stretch di-
vided from another by the limit or course of
something: preceded by on and followed by of,
either expressed or (sometimes) understood:
as, a region on both sides of a river ; we shall
not meet again this side the grave.
For we will not inherit with them on yonder side Jordan,
or forward ; because our inheritance is fallen to us on this
side Jordan eastward. Num. x-\xii. 19.
There are a great many beautiful palaces standing along
the sea-shore on both sides o./' Genoa.
Addison, Remarks on Italy (Works, ed. Bohn, I. 362).
They had by this time passed their prime, and got on
the wrong side of thirty. Steele, Spectator, Ko. 282.
6. A part of space or a range of thought ex-
tending away from a central point ; any part of
a surrounding region or outlook; lateral view
or direction; point of compass: as, there are
obstacles on every side; to view a proposition
from ail sides.
The crimson blood
Circles her body in on every side.
Shak., Lucrece, I. 1739.
Fair children, bonie of black-faced ayahs, or escorted by
their bearers, prattled on all sides.
W. H. Riitaea, Diary in India, I. 213.
7. An aspect or part of anything viewed as
distinct from or contrasted with another or
others ; a separate phase ; an opposed surface
or view (as seen in the compounds inside and
outside) : as, the side of the moon seen from the
earth; a character of many sides; to study all
sides of a question ; that side of the subject has
been fully heard.
So turns she every man the wrong suf0 out.
SluUr., Much Ado, iii. 1. es.
Ifou shall find them wise on the one side, and fools on
the other. Burton, Anat, of Mel., To the Header, p. 73.
Uy friend Sir Boger heard them both, upon a round
trot, and, after having paused for some time, told them,
with the air of a man who woald not give bis Judgment
rashly, that much might be said on both tidea.
Addiaon, Spectator, No. 122.
As might be expected from his emotional nature, his
pathetic side is especially strong.
A. Debaon, Selections from Steele, Int, p. xlvi.
8. Part or position with reference to any line
of division or separation ; particular standing
on a subject; point of view: as, to take the
winning side in politics, or one's side of a dis-
pute; there are faults on both sides.
Tho bl-gan that batayle on bothe aidea harde.
Feller saw neuer frek from Adam to this time.
William qf Faleme (E. E. T. S.), 1. 8014.
The Lord is on mjaide: I will not fear. Fs. cxviiL &
We stood with pleasure to behold the surprize and ten-
derness and aolemnihrof this interview, which was excee<l-
ingly aHectionste on l>oth aidet. Dampier, Voyages, L SO.
TheBslismsgssh,onhis>(<fe,madetheretnm with a very
fine horse and mule. Btvee, Source of the Nile, II. 14r>.
In 1289 he (Dantel was present at the battle of Campal-
dino, fighting on the aide of the Ouelphs, who there utterly
routed the Ghibellines.
X/otMO, Among my Book^ 2d ser., p. 9.
9. A party or body separated from another in
opinion, interest, or action; an opposing sec-
tion or division; a set of antagonists: as, to
choose sides for a game or contest of any kind ;
different sides in religion or politics.
Fiety left the field,
Orlered for thst ride, that in so had a cause
They knew not what a crime their valour was.
B, Jonaon, Catiline, v. 6.
More, more, some fifty on a side, that each
May breathe himself. Tennyson, lYincess, v.
10. A divisional line of descent; course of de-
scent through a single ancestor: chiefly with
reference to parentage: as, relatives on the
paternal or the maternal side; to be well bom
on the mother's side.
Brother by the mother's side, give me your hand.
Shak., K. John, i. 1. 103.
I fancy her sweetness only due
To the sweeter blood by the other aide.
Tennyaon, Maud, xlii. 3.
lit. Hespect; regard.
Or ells we er noght« disposede by clennes of lyffynge in
other aydia for to ressayne bis grace.
riampole, Frose Treatises (E. E. T. S.), p. 41.
12. In technical uses: (a) One of the halves
of a slaughtered animal, divided through the
spine : as, a side of beef or mutton, (h) Specif-
ically, the thin part of the side of a bog's car-
side
cass; the flank of a hog: as, to live on side or
side-meat. [CoUoq., western U. S.]
Side-meAt, in the South and West, is the thin flank of a
porker, salted and smoked after the fashion of hams, and
in tliose parts of the Southwest it was . . . the staple ar-
ticle of food. St. SickUas, XVIII. 39.
(c) One half of a tanned hide or skin divided
on a medial longitudinal line through the neck
and butt. Compare diagram of tanned skin un-
der leather, (d) pi. The white fur from the sides
of the skin of a rabbit. Ure. (e) Of cloth, the
right or dressed side. E. H. Knight. (/) In
billiards, a bias or spinning motion given to a
ball by striking it side'svise : in American bil-
liards called English. — 13. In her., a bearing
consisting of a part of the field cut off palewise,
either on the dexter or sinister part : it should
not exceed one sixth of the field, and is usually
smaller than that. — 14. One surface of one fold
of a paper; a page.
Adieu ! here is company ; I think I may be excused leav-
ing oil at the sixth ride. Walpole, To ilann, 1744, July 22.
15. In geom., a line bounding a superficial
figure, whether the latter be considered by it-
self or be the face of a solid. Sense 3, above,
com mou in ordinary language, is strictly exclud-
ed from mathematics, for the sake of definite-
ness. — 16. In arith. and alg., the root or base
of a power. — 17. In alg., position in an equa-
tion cither preceding or following the sign of
equality. — 18. A pretentious or supercilious
manner; swagger. [Recent slang.]
You may know the White Hussars by their "side," which
is greater than that of aH the Cavalrj' Regiments on the
roster. R. Kiplinff, Rout of the White llussars.
The putting on of side, by the way, is a peculiarly mod-
ern form of swagger : it is the assumption of certain qual-
ities and powers which are considered as deserving of re-
spect W. Bernnt, Fifty Years Ago, p. 112.
Blind side. See Wtn<fi.— Bom on the wrong side of
the blanket. See WanA-^t.— Cantoris side. i^nG canto-
ris.—Covmty-Bide, the side or pait of the county con-
cerned ; the people of a particular part of a county. [Eng.]
A mighty growth ! The cmtnty ride
ijimented when the Giant died.
For England loves her trees.
F. Locker, The Old Oak-Tree at Hatfield Broadoak.
Debit, decani, dlstifr, exterior side. See the qualify-
ing wnrd.s.- Epistle side of the altar equity side of
the court, gospel side of the altar. Seu riiiMe, emity,
f;o*pci.— Hanging side. S.inu-a.s han'jin'j (/ff// (which see,
under (ca^). —Heavy side. >^ce A^nr.'/'.— Instance side
of the court. Sec iii.iUiiH-e.— Interior side, in .fart., the
line drawn from the center at one Imstion to that of the
next, or the line of the curtain produced to the two ol>
' lique radii in front. — Jack on both Bidest. See^'dcA-l.
— New side, a name given to a party in the I*re8byterian
Church of the United states, which opjiosed the Old Side,
and attached great importance to practical i>iety. The
breach between the factions was healed in 1768.— North
side of an altar. See north. — Of all sidest, with one
consent; all tttgether.
And BO qfaU sides they went to recommend themselves
to the elder brother of Death. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, 1.
Old Side, a name given to a party in the Presbyterian
Church of the United States, in the middle of the eigh-
teenth century, which insisted strongly on scholarship in
the mlnistr>'. Compare New Side.— On the Shady side.
9,^e shady. — On this Bide, on the side leading hitherward
from a locality; on the hither side: in MiiUlle F.nglish
sometimes written as a single word (at/iissid, a.tfiys ride):
as, athiaride Rome (that is, anywhere).
Full goodly leuid liys lif here entire ;
And as that man non here more wurthy
Was not a-thys.side the Romayns truly.
Rom. o/Partenay (E. E. T. ».% 1. 24W.
Right or wrong side, the side of anything designed to be
turned outwaraor inward respectively; especially, the
side of cloth, carpeting, leather, or the like designed to be
exposed to view or the contrary, on accountof some ditfer-
ence in snrface. Some materials are said to have no right
or wronff ride, from having both surfiices alike, or both
equally fitted foresixjsurc— Shinny on your own Bide.
Sep shinny. — Side bearings. See heariuff.— Side by
Bide, placed with sides near together ; parallel in position
or condition; in juxtaposition.
Ther-of toke the kynge Leodogan goode hede, that by
hem satte side tty ayde at the heede of the table.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), 11. 228.
Two sons of Friam in one chariot ride,
GlittYing in arms, and combat side by side.
Pope, Iliad, V. 205.
Side by side with the intellectual Brahman caste, and the
chivalrous Rajput, are found the wild Bhil and the naked
Oond. J. Fergusson, Hist. Indian Arch., p. 3.
Side of bacon, that part of a hog which lies outside of
the ribs and is cured as bacon. - - Side of work, in coal-
minin;/. See j/iajwi/"- war. '2. — Silver side, ^ee ritver. —
Spear side of the house, spindle side of the house.
See ^war, i^nntll''. — The Beamy side. See seaviy.— To
choose Bides, to select jiarfies for ct)ntpetifion in exer-
cises of any kind. —To one Bide, in a lateral situation ;
hence, out of reach ; out of siglit or out of con.'-ideration.
It must of course be understood that I place his private
character entirely to one ride. Contemporary Rev., LI. 64.
To pull down a sldet. See pull.— To set up a Bidet.
See «c(i. — To take a Bide, to embrace the opinions or
attach one's self to the interest of a party in opposition to
another.
side
H. o. 1. Being at or on one side; lateral.
Take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts
Ihetter, «ia<-postsl. Ex. xii. 7.
Leave on either side ground enough for diversity of side
alleys. Baeoit, Gardens (ed. 1887).
2. Being from or toward one side ; oblique ; in-
direct; collateral: as, a«if/eview; a side blow;
a side issue.
They presame that . . . law hath no side respect to
their persons. Hooker,
One mighty squadron, with a side wind sped.
Dryden, Annus Mirabilis, st. 236.
It is from side glimpses of things which are not at the
moment occupying our attention that fresh subjects of
enquiry arise in scientific investigation.
Tymiall. I'onus of Water, p. 116.
A Side handt. See Aand.— Low side window. Same
as lychiioscope . — Side altar. Same as by-altar, 1. — Side
board. See sideboard, 1. — Side bOne. ^cu side-bone, 1,
4.— Side fillister. See fillister.- Siie glance, a glance
to one side; a sidelong glance. — Side issue, a subordi-
nate issue or concern ; a subject or consideration aside
from the main issue or from the general course of thought
or action.
Any consideration of this aspect of the matter by inter-
ested persons is likely to be complicated by side-issues,
X, y. Med, Jour,, XL. 17.
His successes have been side-issues ot little significance.
The Academy, Jan. 18, 1890, p. 41.
Side Jointer. Seejoij^ier.— side Judge, nee judr/e.—
Side lay, in printing, the margin allowed or prescribed
on the broader end of a sheet to be printed.— Side part-
ner, an equal coadj utor of another in duty or employment ;
one who acts alongside of or alternately with another in
the same function, especially in the police. [U. S.]
The arrest was made by the witness's side part-ner [a
policeman], it being his night off.
Sew York Evening Post, May 23, 1890.
Side post, roller, snipe, tackle. See the nouns. — Side
timber, side waver. Same as purtm.— side view, an
oblique view ; a side look.
side^ (sid), v.; pret. and pp. sided, ppr. siding.
[< Sfrfel, H.] I. in trans. 1. To take part with,
or the part of, another or others ; place one's
self on the same side in action or opinion, as
against opposition or any adverse force ; con-
cur actively: commonly followed by with.
The nobility are vex'd, whom we see have sided
In his behalf. Shak., Cor., iv. 2. 2.
May fortune's lilly hand
Open at your command,
With all the luckie birds to side
With the bridegroom and the bride.
Herrick, An Epithalamie.
The town, without siding with any [party], views the
combat in suspense. Goldsmith, Citizen of the World, cxiiL
2. To take or choose sides ; divide on one side
and the other ; separate in opposition. [Rare. ]
Here hath been a faction and siding amongst us now
more then 2. years.
Quoted in Bradford's Plymouth Plantation, p. 199.
All side in parties and begin th' attack.
Pope, R. of the L., v. 39.
3. In ship- and boat'-building, to have a breadth
of the amount stated, as a piece of timber: as,
it sides 14 inches — To side away, to make a clear-
ance by setting things aside; put encumbrances out of
the way, as in arranging a room. tProv. Eng.]
Whenever things are mislaid, I know it has been Miss
Hilton's evening for siding away ! Mrs. Gaskell, Ruth, ii.
H. trans. It. To be, stand, or move by the
side of; have or take position beside; come
alongside of.
Your fancy hath been good, but not your judgment.
In choice of such to side you.
Fletcher, Double Marriage, i. 1.
Euery one of these horse had two Moores, attlr'd like
Indian slaues, that for state sided them.
Chapman, Masque of Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn.
He sided there a lusty lovely lasse.
Fair/ax, tr. of Tasso's Godfrey of Boulogne, xix. 77.
2t. To be on the same side with, physically
or morally ; be at or on the side of ; hence, to
countenance or support.
But his blinde eie. that sided Paridell,
All his demeasnure from his sight did hide.
Spenser, F, Q., III. ix. 27.
My honour'd lord, fortune has made me happy
To meet with such a man of men to side me.
Beau, and Fl., Thierry and Tlieodoret, ii. ,•).
3t. To stand on the same level with ; be equal
to in position or rank ; keep abreast of ; match;
rival.
Whom he, upon our low and suffering necks,
Hath raised from excrement to side the gods.
B, Jonson, .Sejanus, iv. .■>.
I am confident
Thou wilt proportion all thy thoughts to side
Thy equals, if not equal thy superiors.
Ford, Perkin Warbeck, i. 2.
4t. To place or range on a side ; determine the
side or party of.
King'i had need beware how they side themselveis, and
make themselves as of a faction or party.
Bacon, Faction (ed. 1887).
5614
If there be factions, it is good to side a man's self whilst
he is in the rising, and to balance himself when he is
placed. Bacon, Great Place (ed. 1887).
5. To flatten off a side or sides of (timber) by
hewing it with a side-ax or broadax, or by
sawing.
Frames : Cedar roots, natural crooks of oak, or pieces
of oak bent after steaming, moulded 2 inches at the keel,
sided IJ inches, and tapering to Ii by 1 J inches at the gun-
wale. Tribune Book of Sports, p. 220.
6. To cut into sides; cut apart and trim the
sides of, as a slaughtered animal ; also, to carve
for the table : as, to side a hog.
Syde that haddocke. Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 266.
7. To push aside.
The teiTace is, indeed, left, which we used to call the
parade ; but the traces are passed away of the footsteps
which made its pavement awful ! . . . The old benchers
had it almost sacred to themselves. . . . They might not
be sided or jostled. Their air and dress asserted the
parade. You left wide spaces betwixt you when you
passed them. Lamb, Old Benchers of the inner Temple.
8. To place at one side ; set aside. [Oolloq.]
Mrs. Wilson was siding the dinner things.
Mrs. Qaskell, Mary Barton, x.
Side'^ (sid), a. [Early mod. E. also sijde; < ME.
side, syde, syd, < AS. «jrf, wide, spacious, = MLG.
sit, LG-. sied, low, = Icel. sitlir = Sw. Dan. sid,
long, hanging down; cf. side'^, m.] 1. Wide;
large; long; far-reaching. [Now only North.
Eng. and Scotch.]
All Auffrike & Europe are vnder there power,
Sittyn to hom subiecte, & mony syde londes.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2265.
[A gown] set with pearls, down sleeves, side sleeves, and
skirts, round underborne with a bluish tinsel.
Shak., .Much Ado, iii. 4. 21.
I will not wear the short clothes.
But I will wear the side.
Earl Richard (Child's Ballads, iii. 273).
It 's gude to be syde, but no to be trailing. Jamieson.
2. Far; distant. [Now only Scotch.]
side^t (sid), adv. [< ME. side, syde, < AS. side (=
MLG. side), widely, < sid, wide: see side'^^, «.]
Widely ; wide ; far.
He sende his sonde oueral Burgoynes londe.
And wide and side he somnede ferde.
Layamon, 1. 4953.
And as a letheren purs lolled his chekes,
Wei sydder than his chyn thei chiueled for elde.
Piers Plomnan (B), v. 193.
side-arms (sid'armz), n. pi. Weapons can-ied
by the side or at the belt, in contradistinction
to musket, lance, etc. : especially applied to
the swords of officers, which they are sometimes
allowed to retain in the case of a capitulation,
when other arms are surrendered to the victor.
The gunners in this battery were not allowed side-arms.
The Century, XXXVI. 103.
side-ax (sid'aks), n. An ax so made as to guard
the hand which holds it from the danger ot
striking the wood which is to be hewed, as by
having the bevel of the head all one side, or by
having a bend in the handle, or in both ways :
the broadax is usually of this character.
side-bar (sid'bar), n. 1. In carnages: (o) Alon-
gitudinal side-piece, especially in a military
traveling forge or a battery-wagon, (b) One
of two elastic wooden bars placed one on each
side of the body of some forms of light wagon
or buggy to connect it with the gearing and to
serve both as a support and as a spring. The
device gives the vehicle a motion sidewise in place of
the pitching motion of a buggy with ordinary springs. It
is of American origin, and gives name to a system of car-
riage-suspension known as the side-bar suspeimon.
Light vehicles of the side-bar description.
Set. Amer., N. 8., LVIII. 91.
2. In saddlery, one of two plates which unite
the pommel and cantle of a saddle. Ji. H,
Knight. — 3. In the Scottish Court of Session,
the name given to the bar in the outer parlia-
ment-house, at which the lords ordinary for-
merly called their hand-rolls. Imp. Diet. —
Side-bar rule, in Eng. lan; a common order of court of
so formal a nature (such as to require a defendant to plead,
or the sheriff to return a writ) as to be allowed to be entered
in the records by the clerk or master, on request of the
attorney, etc., without formal application at bar in open
court.
side-beam (sid'bem), n. In marine oif/iii., either
of the working-beams of a side-beam engine.
— Side-beam marine engine, a steam-engine having
working-beams low down on both sides of the cylinder,
and connecting-rods extending upward to the crank-shaft
above.
sideboard (sid'bord), n. [< ME. syde horde,
.tyde hurdc, sidbord ; < sidei + hoard.] 1. A
side-table, as an additional dining-table ; later,
a more elaborate form of side-table, having the
cupboard for plate combined with it. The mod-
ern sideboard usually contains one or more small closets.
side-cutting
several drawers, and a number of shelves, in addition to
the broad top. which is usually of a convenient height from
the Hoor for receiving articles in immediate use in the ser-
vice of the table. Sideboards are often fixed pei-manently,
and form an important part of the decoration of the din-
ing-room.
Thise were digt on the des, & derworthly serued,
& sithen mony siker segge at the sidbordez.
Sir Oawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.), 1. 115.
Pacience and I were put to be macches.
And seten by owre selue at a syde-borde.
Piers Plowman (B), xiii. 36.
No side-boards then with gilded Plate were dress'd.
Congreve, tr. of Juvenal's Satires, xi.
He who has a splendid sideboard should have an ii'on
chest with a double lock upon it, and should hold in re-
serve a greater part than he displays.
Landor, imag. Convers., Southey and Person, i.
2. A board forming a side, or part of a side, of
something. Specifically — (a) One of the additional
boards sometimes placed on tlie side of a wagon to en-
large its capacity.
The sideboards were put up, and these were so adjusted
that when they were on the wagon the inclosing sides
were rendered level at the top and capable of holding
nearly double the load contained without the boards.
E. Eggleston, The Graysons, xxxiii.
(6) A vertical board forming the side of a carpenters'
bench next to the workman, containing holes for the in-
sertion of pins to hold one end of a piece of work while
the other end is held by the bench-screw or clamp, (c)
Same as lee-board.
3. 2'i- (") Standing shirt-collars, (b) Side-
whiskers. [Slang in both uses.]— Pedestal side-
board, a sideboard of which the upper horizontal part,
forming the slab or table, rests upon apparently solid up-
rights, usually cupboards, instead of light and thin legs.
Compare pedestal table, under table.
side-bone (sid'bon), ». 1. The hip-bone. — 2.
An aljnormal ossification of the lateral elastic
cartilage in a horse's foot. Side-bones occur
chiefly in the fore feet of draft-horses, and are
an occasional cause of lameness. — 3. The dis-
ease or disordered condition in horses which
causes the lateral cartilages above the heels to
ossify. See the quotation under ring-bone. — 4.
In carving, eitlier half, right or left, of the pel-
vis of a fowl, without the saerarium ; the hip-
bone or haunch-bone, consisting of the coa-
lesced ilium, ischium, and pubis, easily sepa-
rated from the backbone. The so-called "second
joint" of carvers is articulated at the hip-joint with the
side-bone. The meat on the outside of the side-bone in-
cludes the piece called the oyster, and the concavity of the
bone holds a dark mass of flesh (the kidney). See cuts
under saerarium.
side-box (sid'boks), n. A box or inclosed com-
partment on the side of the stage in a theater.
Why round our coaches crowd the white-gloved beaux?
Why bows the side-box from its inmost rows?
Pope, R. of the L., v. 14.
side-boy (sld'boi), n. One of a number of boys
on board a man-of-war appointed to attend at
the gangway and hand the man-ropes to an
officer entering or leaving the ship.
side-chain (sid'chan), n. In locomotive engines,
one of the chains fixed to the sides of the ten-
der and engine for safety, should the central
drag-bar give way.
side-chapel (sid'ehap'''el), n. A chapel in an
aisle or at the side of a church.
In this cathedral of Dante's there are side-chapels, as is
fit, with altars to all Christian virtues and perfections.
Lowell, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 101.
side-coatst (sid'kots), n. pi. [< side- -i- co«<2.]
The long trailing clothes worn by very young
infants.
How he played at blow-point with Jupiter, when he
was in his side-coats. A. Brewer, Lingua, iii. 2.
side-comb (sid'kom), n. A comb used in a
woman's head-ilress to retain a curl or lock on
the side of the head : before 1850 such combs,
generally of tjiin tortoise-shell, were in com-
mon use, and have again come into fashion.
An inch-wide stripe of black hair was combed each way
over her forehead, and rolled up on her temples in what,
years and years ago, used to be called most appropriately
"flat curls " — these fastened with long horn side-comt>s.
Mrs. Whitney, Leslie Goldthwaite, vii.
side-cousin (sid'^iz^n), w. One distantly or
indirectly related to another ; a remote or pu-
tative cousin.
Here 's little Dickon, and little Robin, and little Jenny
— though she's but a side-cousin — and all on our knees.
Tennyson, Queen Mary, ii. 3.
side-C0'7er (sid'kuv"er), n. In cntotn., same as
epijitenra. 3.
side-cutting (sid'kut^'ing), n. In civil engin.:
(a) An excavation made along the side of a
canal or railroad in order to obtain material to
form an embankment. (6) The formation of a
road or canal along the side of a slope, where,
the center of the work being nearly on the sur-
face, the ground requires to be cut only on the>
side-cutting
upper side to form oue half of the work, while
the material thrown down forms the other half.
sided (si'ded), fl. [< sirfel + -^rf"-^.] 1. Having
a side or sides ; characterized by a side or sides
of a specified kind: almost always in compo-
sition: as, one-sided; many-sided; ehestnut-
sided (that is, marked with chestnut color on
the sides). — 2. Flattened on one or more sides,
as by hewing or sawing : said of timber.
side-dish (sid'dish), n. A dish considered as
subordinate, and not the principal one of the
service or course ; hence, any dish made some-
what elaborate with flavorings and sauce, as
distinguislied from a Joint, pair of fowls, or
other substantial dish.
Affecting aristocratic airs, and giving late dinners with
enigmatic nde-digken and poisonous port.
Oeorge Eliot, Amos Barton, i.
" Don't disli up the gide-duhes," called out Mugford to
his coolc, in the hearing of his other guests. *' Mr. Lyon
ain't a coming" They dined quite sufficiently without
the ride-dishes, and were perfectly cheerful.
Thackeray, Philip, xvi
side-dnun (sid'drum), n. A small double-
headed drum used in military bands for mark-
ing the rhythm of marching and for giving sig-
nals. It is suspended at the player's side by a strap hung
over his shoulder, and is sounded by strokes from two
small wcxlen sticks. It is played only un one head, and
the other or lower head has rattling or reverberating cat-
gut or rawhide strings called snares stretched across upon
it : hence the name snare-drum. Tlie tone is noisy and
penetrating, almost devoid of genuine musical quality.
Side.drums are, however, sometimes used in loud orches.
tral music, either for sharp accents or to suggest militaiy
scenes.
side-file (sid'fil), «. A file used to trim up the
outer edges of the cutting-teeth of saws after
setting. E. H. Knight.
side-fin (sid'fin), n. The pectoral fin or flipper
of a seal, or of a whale or other cetacean.
side-flap (sid'flap), ». In a saddle, a leather
flap whicli hangs between the stirrup-strap and
the skirting. E. H. Knight.
side-fly (sld'tli), n. A parasitic dipterous in-
sect whose larva is a rough whitish maggot in
the rectum of the horse ; a bot-fly, apparently
Oaslrophilus equi.
1 have also seen a rough whitish maggot, alioTe two
inches within the intestinom rectum ofhoraei. ... I
never could l>ring them to perfection, but suspect the
tid£ fy proceeds from it.
Derham, Physico- Theology, viiL 6, note.
side-gnide fsjd'gid), ». See guide.
side-hatchet (sid'hach'et), n. A hatchet of
which only one side of the blade is cham-
fered.
side-head (sid'hed), n, 1. An auxiliary slide-
rest on a planing-machine. — 2. \n printing, a
heading or a subhead run in at the beginning
of a paragraph, instead of being made a sepa-
rate line. See head, 13.
side-hill (sid'hil), «. A hillside; an acclivity;
especially, any rise or slope of ground not too
steep for cultivation or other use: as, a house
built on a side-hill: a side-hill farm. The word
is nearly equivalent to the Scot<!h brae. [U. S. ]
— Slde-UU cut, in engin., a railroad-cut which is part-
ly ill I'Xcavation and partly in embankment. — Slde-hlll
plow. g«tptmc.
Slde-hook (sid'huk), n. In carp., a piece of
woikI having projections at the ends, used for
holding a board fast while being operated on
bv the saw or plane. E. H. Knight.
side-hunt (sid'hunt), ». A competitive hunt,
in which the participants are diWded into
sides. The game killed is scored according to a fixed
Beak' of cTiillts fur each kind, and that side wins which
sons thi- highest total of credit-marks. \V. .S. )
side-keelson (sid'kel'son), ». In ship-build-
ing, same as sister keelson (which see, under
keelson).
Sideless (sid'les), a. [< side^ + -/«««.] Desti-
tute of sides or side-parts : completely open at
tlie side or sides. A sideless and sleeveless' kirtle,
cote-hardle, or over-tunic was worn in many formsby lioth
mtrii and women for nearly two hundred years from the
early part of the fourteenth century. It left the sides,
sleeves, and sometimes part of the front of the under-tu-
nic exposed, and either extended to the feet in a full or a
partial skirt, or terminated at the knees or the waist.
It appears also to have been a never-falling usage in
connection with this fashion of a ridelas kirtle to display
the girdle of the iinder.tunlc. which rested loosely on the
hips, as it passed under the sideless garment both before
and behind. Eneyc. Brit., VI. 4«7.
side-light (sid'lit), «. 1. Light coming from
the side or in a sidewise manner: as, to take
a photograph by side-light. Hence — 2. An ob-
lique or incidental illustration or exposition.
Itta book] throws a valuable side-lvjht upon the charac-
ter and methods of the Emperor.
The Nation, XLVII. 458.
5615
3. A light or window characterized by its posi-
tion beside some other feature, as, especially,
one of the tall narrow windows frequently in-
troduced on each side of the entrance-door of
a house.
The dusty side-lights of the portal.
Hau'thanie, Seven Gables, iv.
4. A window in the wall of a building, in con-
tradistinction to a skylight. — 5. A plate of
glass in a frame fitted to an air-port in a ship's
side, to admit light. — 6. A lantern placed at
the gangway of a man-of-war at night. — 7. One
of the red or green lights carried on the side of
a vessel under way at night.
side-line (sid'lin). «. l. A line pertaining or
attached to the side of something ; specifical-
ly, in the plural, lines by which the fore and
hind feet on the same side of a horse or other
animal are tied to prevent straying or escape.
Farrow; Sportsman's Ga:etteer. — 2. A line or
course of business aside from or additional to
one's regular occupation. [Trade cant.]
Wanted — Salesman to carry as a sideline a new line of
advertisement specialty.
Neu> York Tribune (adv.), March 9, 1890.
side-line (sid'lin), r. t. To hobble, as a horse.
[Western U. S.]
sidellner (sid'li'n^r), n. A sidewinder, side-
wiper, or massasauga.
sideling (sid'ling), adr. [< ME. sideling, sid-
ling, sydljing, sidelinges, sydlyngs (= D. zijde-
lings = MLG. sidelinge = MHG. sitelingen, G.
seitlings), < side^ + -ling^. Cf. sidelong, back-
ling, headlong.'] Sidewise ; sidelong ; aslant ;
laterally ; obliquely.
Prothenor, a pert knight, preset hym ner,
Set hym a sad dynt gydltpvj by.hynd ;
Vnhorsit hym heturly, er he hede toke.
Destruction o/ Troy (E. E. T. 8.), I. 7320.
A fellow nailed up maps in a gentleman's closet, some
sideling , and otheis upside down, the better to adjust
them to the pannels. SvifL
But go sideling or go straight, Uncas had seen the move-
ment, and their trail led us on to the broken bush.
J. F. Cooper, Last of Mohicans, xiL
sideling (sid'ling), a. and n. [< sideling, arfi'.]
1. n. Inclined ; sloping ; having an oblique po-
sition or motion ; sidelong: as, sideling gronmi;
a sideling approach.
Some on the stony star-fish ride, . . .
Some on the sideling soldier-crab.
J. K. Drake, Culprit Fay, xiil.
n. ". The slope of a hill ; a line of country
whose cross-section is inclined or sloping.
[Prov. Eng.]
Side-lock (sid'lok), n. A separate lock of hair
at the side of the head, formerly sometimes
worn as a distinguishing mark.
The wavy tideloek and back hair recall the archsic Greek
•cnlpture* and vaae-palntings. Sature, XXXIX. 128.
Because be bad not reached the throne at the time of
his death, the monuments represent him as a prince and
nothing more, atill wearing the side-lodt of juniority.
The Century, AXXVIIL 7ia
sidelong (sid'16ng), adv. [A later form of ««<f«-
/i«(7, simulating ^nffi.] 1. Laterally; oblique-
ly; sidewise; in the direction of the side.
His frantic chase
Sidelong he turns, and now 'tis bent
KIgbt np the rock's tall battlement.
Seott, Rokeby, ii. 14.
2. On the side; with the side horizontal.
[Bare.]
If It prore too wet, lay your pots sidelong.
Evelyn, Calendarium Hortense, July.
Sidelong as they sat recline
On the soft downy bank damask'd with (lowers.
Haton, P. L., iv. S33.
sidelong (sid'ldng), a. l< sidelong, adv.] Tend-
ing or inclining to one side; sloping; having
a lateral course or direction; hence, indirect;
one-sided; oblique; devious.
The reason of the planets' motions in curve lines is the
attraction of the sun, and an oblique or sidelong impulse.
Locke.
He had a dark and sidelong walk.
Wordswort/i, Peter Bell.
Here was ambition undebased by rivalry, and incapable
of the sidelong look. Lowell, Cambridge Thirty Years Ago.
Place the silo on sidelong ground.
H. Robinmm, Sewage Question, p. 223.
sidelong (sid'lAng), ». <. [<, sidelong, adc] To
fetter, as a preventive from straying or break-
ing pasture, by chaining a fore and a hind foot
of tne same side together. Halliwell. Com-
pare side-line. [Yorkshire, Eng.]
Side-mark (sid'miirk), n. The mark or gage
on a printing-jiress for the narrower side of
a sheet, against which the feeder or layer-on
puts the sheet to be printed.
sidereal
side-meat (sid'met), «. See side\ 11 (6).
Sidenesst (sid'nes), «. [< side^ + -ness.] Length.
l'(il.':<jr(iie,
side-note (sid'not), n. A note at the side of a
printed or written page; a marginal note, as
distinguished from a foot-note.
Dr. Calvert kindly procured us permission to inspect the
MS., whereupon the full significance of these side-notes at
once appeared. The Academy, Jan. 4, 1890, p. 11.
side-piece (sid'pes), «. 1. A piece forming a
side or part of a side, or fixed by the side, of
sometliin^. — 2. In entom., a pleurite.
Side-piefcing (sid'per'sing), a. Capable of
piercing tlie side; hence, affecting severely;
he art-re udiug.
0 thou side-piercing sight ! Shak., Lear, iv. 6. 85.
side-pipe (sid'pip), n. In the steam-engine, a
steam- or exhaust-pipe extending between the-
opposite steam-chests of a cylinder.
side-plane (sid'plan), «. A plane whose bit is
presented on the side, used to trim the edgea
of objects which are held upon a shooting-board
wliile the plane moves in a race. E. H. Knight.
side-plate (sid'plat). n. l. The longitudinal
stick surmounting the posts of a car-body. Car-
Builder's Diet. — 2. In saddlery, a broad leather
trace-strap, which reaches back a little beyond
the point at which it is connected to the breech-
ing. E. H. Knight.
side-pond (sid'pond), n. In hydraul. engin., a
reservoir placed at one side of a canal-lock, at
a higher level thati the bottom, for storing a
part of the water when the lock is operated.
Such ponds are usually in pairs, and when used together
economize a great part of the water needed to pass a boat
through the lock.
side-post (sid'post), H. Bee posl'^.
siderl (.si'd6r), n. [< SKfel -f- -^rl.] 1. One
who sides with or takes the side of anotlier, a
party, or the like ; a partizan. [Rare.]
Such converts . . . are sure to be beset with diverse
sorts of adversaries, as the papists and their riders.
Sheldon, Miracles (1618), Pref. (Latham.}
2. One living in some special quarter or on
some special side, as of a city : as, a west-sider.
—Sydney aider, a convict [Slang, Australia.)
A Sydney sider, sir, very saucy, insists upon seeing you.
H. Kingdey, IlillyaTS and Burtons, xv.
sider^t, ». An obsolete but more correct spell-
ing of eider.
side-rail (sid'ral), «. 1. A short piece of rail
placed beside a switch as a guide for the wheels^
in passing tlie switch. — 2. A hand-rail on the
outside of the boiler of a locomotive.
Sideral (sid'e-ral), a. [< OF. sideral, syderal,
F. sideral, <.'h. .lideralis, pertaining to a star
or the stars, < sidt(s (sider-), a constellation, a
star.] 1. Relating to the constellations ; side-
real. [Rare.]
This would not distinguish his own hypothesis of the
sideral movements from the self.styled romances of Des-
cartes. Sir W. Hamilton.
2. Supposed to be produced by the influence
of certain constellations ; baleful. [Rare.]
These changes in the heavens, though slow, produced
Like change on sea and land : sideral blast,
Vapor, and mist, and exhalation hot.
Corrupt and pestilent. Milton, P. L., x. 693.
The vernal nippings and cold sideral blasts.
J. Philips, Cider, i.
sideratedt(8id'e-ra-ted), a. [< L. sideratiis, pp.
of sidcrari, be planet-struck or sunstruck, in
ML. be palsied (< sidus (sider-), a heavenly
body), -I- -erf2.] Blasted, as if by an evil star;
planet-struck.
So parts cauterized, gangrenated, riderated, and morii-
fied become black. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., vi. 12.
siderationt (sid-e-ra'shon), «. [Formerly also
■•ojderation ; < Ol?". sideration, syderation, the
blasting of trees by heat or drought, the blast-
ing of a part of the body, < L. siderHtio(n-), a
blight or blast produced by the stars or the sun,
also a group or configuration of stars, < sidc-
rari, pp. sideratus, be planet-struck or sun-
struck : see siderated.] The state of being sid-
erated; a blasting, palsy, atrophy, or the like.
Compare cataplexy.
The contagious vapour of the very eggs themselves pro-
ilucing a mortification or syderation in the parts of plants
on which they are laid. Hay, Works of Creation, p. 804.
Siderazote(sid'^r-a-zdt'),H. [< Gr. aiSrii)0^, iron,
-1- a^ote, q. v.] In mineral., a nitride of iron
occurring as a thin coating over lava at Mount
Etna : olisevved by O. Silvestri, and sometimes
called silrr.^trite.
sidereal (si-de're-al), a. [Formerly also side-
rial; < L. sidcrcus (> It. 8p. Pg. sidereo), < si-
dus (sider-), a constellation, a star. Cf. sideral.]
sidereal
PertainiEg or relating to the constellations or
fixed stars ; consisting of or constituted by fixed
stars: as, the sirferfdi regions ; sirferfrt? calcula-
tions; a si'rferfaJ group or system. 5id«rcal distinc-
tively refers rather to stars in the aggregate or as arranged
in constellations or groups than to a star considered
singly. It is, therefore, not a precise synonym of gtellar
or cutral, and still less, of course, of starry; although in
many phrases it is interchangeable with stellar. Thus,
the ''ndereal spaces" are the *'stellar spaces," and "side-
real gold" is "starry spangles. ''
The sun, which is the organ and promptuary of all ter-
restrial and fiderial light. Urquhart, tr. of Rabelais, i. 10.
And o'er the deserts of the sky unfold
Their burning spangles of sidereal gold.
W. Broome, Pai'aph. of Ecclus. xliii.
The conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn is
one of the rarest of sidereal events.
Harper's Mag., LXXVI. 109.
Sidereal clock or chronometer, a clock or chronometer
that keeps sidereal time.— Sidereal day, hour, month.
See the nouns.— Sidereal magnetism, according to the
believers in animal niaprnetisni, the inlluonce of the stars
upon patients. Imp. i>ic(.— Sidereal system, the sys-
tem of stars. The solar system is considered a member of
the sidereal system, in the same sense as the earth with
its moon, and Saturn with its satellites, are considered
members of the solar system. — Sidereal time, time as
measured by the apparent diurnal motion of the stars.
The sidereal' day, the fundamental period of sidereal time,
is taken to begin and end with the passitge over the merid-
ian of the vernal equinox, the first point of Aries, or the
origin of right ascension (three names for the same thing).
There is just one more sidereal than mean solar day in a
sidereal year. Thesidereal day is 'M\\. f»i>.yOI s. shorter tlian
a mean solar day. The sidereal time of mean noon is 0
hours on March 22d (2l8t, leap-years), 6 hours on .1 une 21st,
12 hours on September 20th (21st, years preceding leap-
years), and 18 hours on December 21st (20th, leap-years).
These dates are for the meridian of Washington. For
Greenwich it is 0 hours on March 22d in all years, and
6 hours on June 22d in years preceding leap-years. Side-
real time is the only uniform standard of time-measure-
ment; and this cannot be absolutely uniform, since the
friction of the tides must tend to retard the motion of
the earth. — Sidereal year, the time in which the earth
makes one complete revolution round the sun. The ratio
of the sidereal year to the tropical year is that of unity
to unity minus the quotient of the yearly precession by
360' — that is, it is longer than the tropical year by 20m.
2a.3s. ; its length is thus 365 days 6 hours 9 minutes ».5
seconds.
side-reflector (sid're-flek'tor), n. In microsco-
py, a small concave mirror used to illuminate
the object by directing the light upon it from
the si(le.
sidereoust (sl-de're-us), a. [< L. sidcrctis, per-
taining to a constellation, or to a star or stars :
see sidereal.'] Sidereal.
The genial or the sidereous sun. Sir T. Brovme,
side-rib (sid'rib), n. In a carbine, a rod at the
side, to which the sling is fastened. E. B.
Knight.
siderism'^ (sid'e-rizm), n. [< sidiis (sider-), a
constellation, a star, -I- -ism.'] The doctrine
that the stars influence the destinies of men
and produce other terrestrial eflects.
sidensm^ (sid'e-rizm), n. Same as siderismus.
siderismus (sid-e-ris'mus), m. [NL., < 6r. ai-
dT/poc, iron.] A name given by the believers in
animal magnetism to the effects produced by
bringing metals and other inorganic bodies into
a magnetic connection with the human body.
Imj). Diet.
siderite (sid'e-rit), n. [Formerly also stjderite ;
< OF. sideriie, < L. sideritis, the lodestone, also
a precious stone so called, also vervain, < Gr.
mOTjpiTTif, of iron (m6ijplTi( 'Aido^, the lodestone), <
<T/(5)?pof, iron.] 1. The lodestone. TheLatinword
was also used by Pliny to designate a mineral which he
classed with the diamond, but which cannot be identified
jrom his description. It may possibly have been blende,
iiee siderolite.
>'ot flint, I trowe, I am a Iyer ;
But syderite that feeles noe her.
Puttenham, Partheniades, vii.
a. Native iron protocarbonate, a mineral of a
yellowish or brownish color, crystallizing in
the rhorabohedral system with perfect rliom-
bohedral cleavage, it is isomorphous with calcite
(calcium carbonate) and the other rhombohedral carbon-
ates of magnesium, zinc, and manganese. It also occurs
in granular, compact forms ; in spheroidal concretionary
forms with fibrous structure (sphajrosiderite) ; and in
earthy or stony forms, impure from the presence of sand
or clay, and then called clay ironstone. It is one of the
important ores of iron. Also called chalybite, spathic or
sparry iron, junckerite, junJcerite. The term siderite is used
only as meaning chalybite, spathic iron, or carbonate of
iron by scientific men at the present time.
Sideritis (sid-e-ri'tis), n. [NL. (Tournefort,
1700), < L. sideritis, vervain, < Gr. aidriplTtQ, an
uncertain herb, fem. of cti^riphrj^, of iron : see
siderite.] A genus of gamopctalous plants of
the order Labiatse, tribe Stachydese, and sub-
tribe Marrubieie. It is characterized by flowera with
aflve-toothed tubular calyx within which the corolla-tube,
stamens, and style are all included, a corolla with the up-
per lip flatfish and the lower with a larger middle lobe.
5610
and four didynaraous stamens, the anthers of the forward
or longer pair usually only half-formed, those of the other
pair of two diverging cells. There are about 4,5 species,
natives of the Mediterranean region, abundant in western
Asia and extending west to the Canaries. They are herbs
or shrubs, usually densely woolly or velvety, with entire or
toothed leaves, and small and generally yellowish flowers
in axillary whorls or crowded into a dense spike. The
species are known as ironwort; S. Canarie}isis and S.
Syriaca (S. Cretica), the latter known as sage-lea/ed iron-
vort, are sometimes cultivated in gardens, and are remark-
able for their woolly leaves.
sideroconite (sid-e-rok'o-nit), »t. [< Gr. al^t/-
pof, iron, + Koi'ig, dust, -I- -ite'^.] 'Lamineral., a
variety of calcite colored yellow or yellowish-
brown by hydrated iron oxid.
side-rod (sid'rod), n. In marine cngin. : («)
Either of the rods of a side-beam engine which
connect the cross-head on the piston-rod with
the working-beam. (6) Either of the rods of
a side-beam engine which connect the working-
beams with the cross-head of the air-pump.
siderograph (sid'e-ro-graf), n. [< sidcrogra-
pli-y.] An engraving produced by siderogra-
phy.
Slderographic (sid"e-ro-graf 'ik), a. [< siderog-
ruph-y + -ic] Pertaining to siderography;
produced from engraved plates of steel: as,
siderographic art; sicJero^rop/MC impressions.
siderographical (sid"e-ro-graf'i-kal), a. [<
sidcroiirayihic +-al.] Same as sidcrographic.
siderographist (sid-e-rog'ra-fist), n. [< side-
rograpli-y + -ist.] One who engraves steel
plates, or performs work by means of such
plates.
siderography (sid-e-rog'ra-fi), «. [< Gr. aidi/-
poQ, iron, + --ypaifiiaj < ypdifeiv, write.] The art
or practice of engraving on steel: particularly
applied to the transfer process of Perkins. In
this process the design is first engraved on a steel block,
which is afterward hardened, and the engraving trans-
ferred to a steel roller under heavy pressure, the roller
being afterward hardened and used as a die to impress
the ungravin^j upon the printing-plate.
siderolite (sid'e-ro-lit), n. [< Gr. ci6i;poc, iron,
-1- Wog, stone"] ' 1. A name first given by
N. S. Maskelyne (in the form aero-siderolite) to
those meteorites which G. Rose had previously
called pallasites. For meteorites consisting chiefly of
metallic (nickeliferous) iron the name siderite was J>^o-
posed by C. U. .Shepard, and that of holosiderite by Dau-
br6e ; but the former is not admissible, because this name
was long ago preoccupied by a well-known and widely dis-
tributed mineral species, and thelattercannotbe accepted,
because the majority of the specimens so designated ai'e
not wholly of iron. The name siderolite has therefore
been transferied by M. E. Wadsworth to those meteorites
which are composed chiefly of iron — in most cases, how.
ever, inclosing more or less irregular and nodular masses
of pyiThotite, schreibersite, graphite, etc. The same au-
thor includes in siderolite masses of iron of similar char-
acter although of terrestrial origin, as those of Ovifak in
Greenland. See meteorite, under which the meaning of
jpaUasite is given.
2. In zool,, same as siderolitli.
siderolith (sid'e-ro-lith), 7!. [<Gr. (Ti'(!;?poc, iron,
-t- 2.idoc, stone.'] A fossil nummulito of star-
like or radiate figure.
sideroniagIietic(sid"e-ro-mag-net'ik), o. [< Gr.
aidTlpoc, iron, + payvrjg '(-v-), magnet, + -ic]
Ferromagnetic; paramagnetic.
Some authorities use the terra " f erro-magnetic. " "Side-
ro-magnetic " would be less objectionable than this hybrid
word. S. P. Thompson, Elect, and Mag., p. 300, note.
SideromancyCsid'e-ro-man-si), n. [< Gr. aiSrjpo^,
iron, -f- fiavreia, divination.] A species of divi-
nation performed by burning straws, etc., upon
red-hot iron, and observing their bondings, fig-
ures, sparkling, and burning.
Sideronatrite (sid"e-ro-na'trit), «. [< Gr. aii-ri-
pog, iron, -I- NL. nainihi + -ite"^.] In mineral., a
hydrated sulphate of iron and sodium occur-
ring in crystalline masses of a dark-yellow
color: it is found in Peru.
Siderophyllite (sid"e-ro-firit), n. [< Gr. aiir/-
pof, iron, + <pv?MTrig,"oi or belonging to leaves :
see phyllite.] In mineral., a kind of mica, allied
to biotite, but characterizedby the presence of a
large amount of iron protoxid and the almost
complete absence of magnesia : it is found near
Pike's Peak in Colorado.
sideroscope (sid'e-ro-skop), n. [< Gr. ci&j;po^,
iron, -f- OKoiTuv, look at, examine.] An instru-
ment for detecting small quantities of iron in
any substance by means of a delicate combina-
tion of magnetic needles.
siderosis (sid-e-ro'sis), n. [NL., < Gr. aiSi/po-
oic, ironwork, < mdr/poiiv, overlay with iron, <
aidripoi;, iron.] Pnetimonoconiosis in which
the particles are metallic, especially iron.
siderostat (sid'e-ro-stat), «. [< L. sidns (sider-),
a constellation," a heavenly body, -I- Gr. cTaT6(;,
standing: see static] A heliostat regulated to
sidereal time. See cut under heliostat.
side-slip
siderostatic (sid'e-ro-stafik), a. [< siderostat
+ -ic] Connected with a siderostat: applied
to a telescope which is fixed in a permanent
position, usually horizontal, and receives the
rays from the object by reflection from the mir-
ror of a siderostat.
siderotechnjr (sid'e-ro-tek-ni), n. [< Gr. aiSri-
po(, iron, -f tex^I, art.] The metallurgy of iron.
side-round (sid'round), «. In joinery, a plane
for cutting half-round moldings. Such planes
are made in pairs, a right and a left. £. H.
Knight.
Sideroxylese (sid"e-rok-sire-e), n. pi. [NL.
(Kadlkofer, 1887), (.' Sideroxylon + -eae.] Atribe
of gamopetalous trees and shrubs of the order
Sapotacea, including six tropical genera, and
one genus (Argania) native of Morocco. See
Achras, Sideroxylon (the type), and argan-tree.
Sideroxylon (sid-e-rok'si-!on), 11. [NL. (Dil-
lenius, 1732), lit. 'ironwood,' so called from its
strength, < Gr. ciSripoQ, iron, -I- ^v'Xov, wood.] A
genus of gamopetalous trees or shrubs of the or-
der Sapotaccie, and type of the tribe Sideroxylese.
It is characterized by regular and symmetrical flowera
with both calyx and corolla usually divided into five simi-
lar imbricated broad and obtuse lobes, and commonly
inclosing five stamens, five staminodes, and a five-celled
ovary which ripens into a roundish berry contaiinng fi-om
one to five hard and shining seeds, with fleshy albumen
and broad leaf-like cotyledons. There are 60 or 70 species,
widely scattered through the tropics, a few occurring be-
yond them, in South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand,
and one in Madeira. They are trees or shrubs, either
smooth or hairy, bearing thin and veiny but rigid leaves,
destitute of stipules. The somewhat bell-shaped and usu-
ally small flowers ai'e borne in sessile or pedicelled axillary
clusters, which are commonly white or whitish. The spe-
cies are known in general as ironuood, especially 5. Capense
of Cape Colony. One yellow-flowered species extends into
Florida, for which see mastic-tree. For S. anstralis, the
wycanlie of the native Australians, see wild plum (e), un-
der piwmi. S. rugosum is known in Jamaica as beef-
apple and bull-apple tree, and beara large yellowish berries
with a rigid rind. S. dvlciflcum, of the coast of western
Africa, is there called rniractdous-berry by English resi-
dents, from the duration of its sweet flavor upon the palate.
siderurgical (sid-e-r6r'ji-kal), a. [< siderurg-y
+ -ic-al.] Of or pertaining to siderurgy. Ure,
Diet., IV. 470.
siderurgy (sid-e-rer'ji), n. [< Gr. mir/povpyia,
iron-working, < mSr/povpydg, an iron-worker, <
cidr/poc, iron, -1- Ipyov, work.] The manufacture
of iron in any state ; iron- and steel-working.
side-saddle (sid'sad'l), v. A saddle the occu-
pant of which sits with both feet on the same
side of the horse : used chiefly by women. During
the middle ages and until a late epoch such saddles were of
the nature of a chair, having one or two broad stirrups for
the feet, and the pommel carried along the opposite side of
the saddle so as to constitute a kind of parapet ; the mod-
ern side-saddle has a horn over which the right knee is
put, the left foot resting in a stirrup. See cut under saddle.
The horse came, in due time, but a side saddle is an
article unknown in the arctic regions, and the lady was
obliged to trust herself to a man's saddle.
B. Taylor, Northern Travel, p. 289.
sidesaddle-flower (sid'sad-l-flou"er), «. A
plant of the genus Sarracenia, especially S.
purptirca: from a fancied resemblance of the
flower to a side-saddle. (See Sarracenia and
pitcher-plant.) Darlingtonia Californica has
been called Californian sidesaddle-flower.
side-screw (sid'skro), n. 1. In firearms, one of
the screws by which the lock-plate is fastened
to the stock. These screws pass through the stock,
and are held by side-screw washers or a side-screw plate.
E. H. Knight. See cuts under gun and gun-lock.
2. A screw on the front edge of a joiners' bench,
for holding the work securely.
side-scription (sid'skrip'shon), n. In Scots law,
the mode of subscribing deeds in use before the
introduction of the present system of writing
them bookwise. The successive sheets were pasted
together, and the party subscribing, in order to authenti-
cate them, signed iiis name on the side at each junction,
half on the one sheet and half on the other.
side-seat (sid'set), n. In a vehicle of any kind,
a seat with the back against the side of the
vehicle, as usually in a horse-car or omnibus.
side-show (sid'sho), n. A minor show or ex-
hibition alongside of or near a principal one;
hence, an incidental diversion or attraction; a
by-play.
Presently the gilded dome of the State House, which
marked our starting-point, came into view for the second
time, and I knew that this side-show was over.
The Atlantic, 1.W.2&.
It was a six weeks' f6te, .
and all sorts of sideshows.
. with rifle-galleries, swings,
The Century, XL. 176.
side-slip (sid'slip), n. 1. A slip or twig taken
from the side ; an oblique offshoot ; tence, an
unacknowledged or illegitimate child.
The old man . . . left it to this side-dip of a son that
he kept in the dark. George Eliot, Middlemarch, xL
side-slip
2. A division at the side of the stage of a the-
ater, where the scenery is slipped off and on.
sidesman (sidz'man), ». ; pi. sidesmen (-men).
[< side^s, poss. of side^, + man.'] 1. A person
who takes sides or belongs to a side ; a party-
man or partizan. [Obsolete or rare.]
How little leisure would they [divines] find to be the most
practical sidesmen of every popular tumult and sedition !
Millon^ Tenure of Kings and Magistrates.
2. In the €h. of Eng., an assistant to a church-
warden ; a deputy churchwarden. Sidesmen are
appointed in large pfu-ishes only. The office of sidesman
was a continuatiuii of that of the early synodsman, also
called questman, a layman whose duty it was to report on
the moral condition of the parish and make presentments
of ecclesiastical otfendera to the bishop.
3. In some parts of Great Britain, an assistant
or assessor to a public civil officer.
The Sides-men [of Beaumaris] are assistants merely to
the town stewards, and similarly appointed.
Municip. Corp. Report, 1836, p. 2585.
side-snipe (ad'snip), n. Va joinery, a molding
s-iile-plane.
side-space (sid'spas), n. On a railway, the
spaie left outside of a line of rails,
side-splitting (sld'split'ing), a. Affecting the
sides convulsively or with a rending sensation ;
5617
side-transit (sid'trin"sit), w. A transit-instru-
ment having the eyepiece in the axis, with a
reflecting prism interposed between the eye-
piece and the objective. See transit-instru-
ment.
side-tree (sid'tre), n. One of the principal or
lower main pieces of a made mast. Totten.
side-view (sid'vu), «. l. a view of anything
as seen from the side. — 2. Specifically, in hot.,
of diatoms, that aspect in which the surface of
the valve is turned toward the observer : same
as ralve-view.
sidewalk (sid'wak), «. A f ootwalk by the side
of a street or road; specifically, a paved or
otherwise prepared way for pedestrians in a
town, usually separated from the roadway by
a curb and gutter. Also (in Great Britain near-
ly always) called jjrtfe;«enf.
He loved few things better than to look out of the
arched window, and see a little girl driving her hoop along
the sidewcUkf or school-l)oys at a game of ball.
Uawthorne, Seven Gables, xi.
side-walker (sid'wa'ker), ». A laterigrade
spider; a spider which walks or moves sidewise
or otherwise with apparently equal ease, as
Salliciis .srenieiis. See Laterit/radee.
producing the condition in which a person is Sideward, sidewards (sid'ward, -wardz), adv.
[= G. seittcdrts ; as side^ + -ward, -wards^] In
or from a lateral direction; toward the side;
sidewise.
When it is reqnislte only to make a horse go sidewards.
It will beenough to keep the reins equal in his |the rider's]
hand, and with the flat of his leg and foot together, and a
touch upon the shoulder of the horee with the stirrup, to
make him go sideward either way without either advan-
cing forward or returning backwards.
Lord Herbert of Cherbury, Life (ed. Howells), p. 55.
Frencfed blasts came to buffet the steamer forward,
sideward. Harpers Mag., LXXVI. 740.
sideway (sid'wa), «. and a. I. n. Lateral space
for passage or movement, as by the side of a
carriageway; a sidewalk. [Rare.]
ETery inch of roadway, except the path kept open by
the police for the Premier's carriage, and every Inch of
sideway, . . . was covered by people.
Philadelphia Times, April 9, 1886.
n. a. Pertaining to lateral movement; mov-
ing to or along the side. [Kare.]
This Joint leave* the pipe quite free endwise, and also
allows all neceiuiy sideway freedom.
The Eiujineer, LXVIII. 253.
sideways, sideway (sid'waz, -wa), adv. Same
as sideicisr.
said to "hold his sides": as, side-splitting
laughter; a side-splitting farce. [CoUoq.]
side-step (sid'step), ». 1. A stepping to one
side or sidewise. — 2. Something to step on in
going up or down the side or at the side of
anything. The side-steps of a wooden ship are pieces
of wood bolted to the side, instead of which in iron ships
an iron ladder is used. A side-step of a street-car is usu-
ally a plate of vrought-iron flxed oelow the level of the
platform.
Sidestick (sid'stik), n. In printing, a strip of
wood or metal laid at the side of a form m a
chase, or of type in a galley, having a taper cor-
responding to that of tlie quoins driven be-
tween it and the chase or galley in locking up.
side-stitch (sid'stich), ». A stitch in the side.
See .v(i7</i, H. [Kare.]
For this, be sure, to-night thou shalt have cramps.
Side-stitches that shall pen thy breast up.
Shak.. Tempest, L 2. 320.
side-strap (sid 'strap), n. In saddlery, a strap
wliich passes forward from the breechiiig-rings
to the tut; at the back-band. E. //. Knight.
side-stroke (sid'strok). n. l. A stroke having
or giving a side direction, as one made with a
pen upon paper, with a skate upon ice, with a
bat in striking a ball to one side, or the like. —
2. A stroke given from or upon the side of the
object struck. Compare English, n., 5.
The side-stroke [In billiards] is made by striking the ob-
Ject-ball on the side with the point of the cue.
Encyc. Brit., III. 678.
Side-tahle (sTd'ta'bl), ». r< ME. syd-table; <
sidfi -t- table.] A table made to stand near the
wall of an apartment, especially in a dining-
room; a table smaller than the" dining-table,
used in many ways in the serrice of the house-
hold.
Pacience and Ich weren jpat to be mettes.
And seten by otu aelne at a syd-table.
Piers Plowman (C), xrL 42.
I was then so yonng as to be placed at the iide4al)le
in that large dining-room.
Lady Holland, .Sydney Smith, v.
side-taking (sid'ta'king), «. [< sidel -I- Uiking,
verlial n. of take, r.] A taking of sides; en-
gagement with a party.
What furious sidetakings, what plots, what bloodaheds !
fip. //otf. Remains, p. 72. ., , . , , . ,,, . „ , ,
Side-tool (sid'tpl), ». In meeh., any tool with *f.^f.:!^?i^5J'ii^^!l''±^ ".
a cutting edge at the end and side. Such tools
are made in pairs, and are called respectively
right-side and left-side tools.
Bioie-track (sld'trak), ». A short line of rails
branching off by a switch from the main line
of a railroad, and either returning to it or not
at the further end, for use iij turning out, shift-
ing rolling-stock, etc. ; a siding. [U. 8.]
side-track (.sid'trak), r. [< side-track, n.] I.
trnuK. 1. To put upon a side-track ; shift from
the main line of a railroad to a subsidiary one;
shunt.
But the fair bloaaom hangs the head
Sideways, as on a dying bed.
union, Ep. M. of Win.
The faint gleam . . . showed the blanched paleness of
her cheek, turned sideway towards a comer.
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, vi.
side-wheel (sid'hwel), n. and a. I, n. A
wlieel placed at the side, as of a machine or a
vehicle ; specifically, one of a pair of paddle-
wheels at the sides of a steam-vessel, as dis-
tinguished from the single stem-wheel used on
some steamboats, side-wheels have been superseded
on ocean stesmships and on many smaller stenm-vessels
by the screw propeller. See cuts under pa<fd/e-wA«{.
II. a. Having side-wheels: as, a side-wheel
steamer.
A wagon Is a side-wheel craft [in whalers' Idiom].
The Century, XL. 509.
side-wheeler (sid'hwe'l^r), n. A side-wheel
steamboat.
siding
sidewinder (sid'win"der), n. 1. The small
horned rattler or rattlesnake of the southwest-
em parts of the United States, Crotalus (Mch-
mophrys) cerastes, it is common in the desert region
of the Gila and Colorado rivers in Arizona. The supra-
orbital plate is developed into a little horn over each eye,
much like those of the African horned viper figured under
Cerastes, whence the specific (and also the subgeneric)
name. Compare gidetnper.
2. A heavy swinging blow from the side, which
disables an adversary. Webster.
side-wings (sid'wingz), n. pi. The openings in
the wings of a theater affording side views of
the stage.
It seems as if certain actors in some preceding comedy
of his were standing at the side-icings, and critically watch-
ing the progress of the after-piece.
The Atlantic, XXVIII. 402.
side-wipe (sid'wip), «. An indirect censure.
Htdliiiell. [Prov. Kng.]
Side'Wiper (sid'wi'per), v. One of several
small rattlesnakes, as the massasauga, which
appear to wriggle sidewise with ease ; a side-
winder. [Western U. S.]
sidewise (sid'wiz),arfv. [< side'^ -i- -wise.] 1.
Toward one side; in an inclining position: as,
to hold the head sidewise.
If they beate spice, the morter must lie side-tcise, for
distinctions sake of the day [the Passover].
Purchas, rilgrimage, p. 207.
2. Laterally; on one side: as, the refraction of
light sidewise.
Also sidetcays.
sidewise (sid'wiz), a. [< sidewise, adv.] Di-
rected or tending to one side ; lateral in course
or bearing; sideling: as, a sirfcicf'se glance ; to
make a sidewise leap. [Rare or ooUoq.]
sidi (se'di), n. [Also siddee, seedy, formerly
siddie, syddie, seddee; < Hind, sidi, < Marathi
siddhl, lord, master, < Ar. saiyidi, my lord, <
saiyid, seiyid, lord. Cf. Cid.] 1. In westem
India, an honorific appellation given to African
Mohammedans. — 2. A Moor or .African ; a ne-
gro: so styled in the ports of western India.
Among the attendants of the Cambar Nabob . . . are
several Abyssinian and Caflree slaves, called by way of
courtesy Seddees, or Master.
J. Forbes, Oriental Memoirs, III. 167.
Sididae (sid'i-de), «. pi. [NL., < Sida + -idle.]
A family of dapbniaceous or cladocerous crusta-
ceans, typifletl by the genus Sida, having nata-
torial anteunie with two unequal rami, and the
intestine simple.
Biding (si'ding), n.* [Verbal n. of .«i(iel, ».] 1.
The act of taking sides; the attaching of one's
self to a party ; division into sides or parties.
[Archaic]
Discontents drove men Into sidings. Eikon BasUike.
As here hath been a faction and siding amongst us now
more than two years, so now there is an utter breach and
sequestration amongst us.
Mast. Hist. Soe., Collections, III. 29. (From Gov.
[Bradford's Letter Book.)
2. On railroads, a short additional track placed
at the side of a main line, and connected at
one or both ends with the main lines of rails
by means of switches or points. It serves for ena-
bling trains to pass each other in opposite directions, for
withdrawing a slow train to allow a fast train moving in
the same direction to pass, and for other uses.
3. The covering or boarding of the sides of
a frame building, or the material used for
When the cars retam empty, they are stde-traeked at
the packing house. SH. Amer., N. S., LX. 115.
2. Figuratively, to divert to one side; turn
*"!.'»" '™'° '*"* proper or the practicable course.
II. intrans. To pass to a side-track; come
to rest on a siding.
One train had sidetracked to await the train from the
opposite direction. Harper's Mag., LXXVI. asa
[U. 8. in all uses.]
353
The Miami, a powerful and very fast side-wheeler, suc-
ceeded In einding the Albemarle without receiving a blow
from her ram. The CeiUury, XXXVI. 425.
That part of
a mans beard which grows on the cheek; a
whisker: generally in the plural: as, he wore
side-whiskers, but no beard or mustache. fCol-
loq.]
side- winch (sid' winch), n. A hoisting-appaira-
tus for light weights, consisting of a drum ac-
tuated by a crank and pinion, the whole being
secure<l to the side of a beam or other support.
side-wind (sid'wind), n. 1, A wind blowing
laterally or toward the side of anything, at any
angle; naut., specifically, a wind blowing on
one side so that a ship may lay her course.
Also called beam-tcind.
Wee set saOe agalne, and sayled West alongst the coast
with a fresh side-winde. HoHuyt's Voyages, n. 106.
Taking the advantage of a side-wind, we were driven
back in a few hoius' time as far as Monaco.
Addison, Bemarks on Italy (Works, ed. Bohn, 1. 880).
2. Figuratively, an indirect influence or
agency ; an oblique method or means.
1 am a straightforward man, I believe. 1 don't go beat-
ing about for side-winds. Dicketu, Hard Times, 11. 9.
Sidiaf.
A, siding of vertically matched boards a, with battens ^ nailed
over the vertical Joints; ^.siding of diagonally arranfred matched
tjoards/.' r, studs; rf, sheathing of unmatched boams; e, paper
shealhinff ; c, clapboard stdlnK, £■ being rabbeted at the lower mar.
gins and ^' simply overlapped ; c. ti, e as in B.
that purpose, as weather-boards, or boards or
shingles otherwise prepared. — 4. The dressing
of timbers to their correct breadth, as in ship-
building; also, the timbers so dressed.
The assorting of the sidings is subjected to the same
general principles in the matter of qualities and widths.
U. S. Cons. Rep., No. Ixvili. (1886), p. 597.
siding-hook
siding-hook (si'ding-huk), ». A carpenters'
tool iised for marking accurately lengths of ma-
terial to be fitted into determined spaces, as in
fitting weather-boarding between a window-
frame and a comer-board.
siding-machine (si'ding-ma-shen'), n. A ma-
chine for sawing timber into boards; a resaw-
ing-machine.
sidingst, <idv. [ME. sidinges, syddynges ; with
adverbial gen. sufBx -es, < S4d«2 ■+• -ini;!.] Side-
ways; to one side.
Bot tfaow moste seke more southe, gyddynge» a lyttiUe,
ffor he wille hafe sent hym-selfe Bex myle large.
MorU Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 10S9.
sidle (si'dl), r. ; pret. andj>i>. sidled, i>ipT. sidling.
iKside^, through the adj. sideling, taken as ppr.]
. intrans. 1. To move sidewise or obliquely;
edge along slowly or with effort ; go aslant, as
while looking in another direction.
He . . . then sidled close to the astonished girl. Scott.
'* Bobby, come and sit on my knee, will you?" but
Bobby preferred sidling over to his mother.
Charlotte Brontii, Jane Eyre, x.
This is his [Carlyle's] usual way of treating unpleasant
matters, sidling by with a deprecating shrug of the shoul-
ders. Lowell, Study Windows, p. 146.
2. To saunter idly about in no particular di-
rection. Halliicell. [Prov. Eng.]
II. trans. To cause to move in a sidling man-
ner ; direct the course of sidewise. [Rare.]
Reining up Tomboy, she sidled him, snorting and glow-
ing all over, close to the foot-path.
Whyte MeloiUe, White Rose, II. viii.
Sidlingt, adv. A Middle English form of side-
ling.
Sidbnian (si-d6'ni-an), a. and n. [Also Zidoni-
an ; < L. Sidonius, < Sidon, < Gr. iidav,<. Heb.
Tstdhon (lit. 'fishing-place'), Sidon.] I. a. Of
or pertaining to Sidon, on the coast of Syria,
the most important city of ancient Phenicia be-
fore the rise of Tyre, now called Saida.
II. n. An inhabitant of ancient Sidon ; espe-
cially, a Phenician living in Sidon or in the ter-
ritory subject to it.
siei (si), V. [Also sigh, Sc. sey ; (a) < ME. sien,
syen, sigen, < AS. sigan (pret. sdh, pi. 'sigon, pp.
sigen), fall, sink, slide down, = OS. sigan =
OFries. sign = OHG. sigan, MHG. sigen = leel.
siga, fall, sink, slide down, refl. let oneself
drop; orig. identical with (6) ME. silien, < AS.
*sihan, contr. seon (pret. *sdh, pp. "sigen), flow
through, percolate, filter, ^ft, = MD. sijghen,
D. zijgen = OHG. sihan, MHG. sihen, G. seihen,
let flow or trickle, strain, filter, pass through a
sieve, = leel. sia (weak verb), filter; akin to
AS. sicerian (= G. sickern), trickle, OHG. seih-
han, MHG. G. seichen = LG. seken, make water,
urinate, OHG. MHG. seich, G. seiche, urine;
Teut. root *sihw ; cf . OBulg. sichati, make wa-
ter, sicM, urine, Gr. Ufid(, moisture, Skt. y/ sich,
pour out. Hence ult. sig, sigger, sike^, sile^,
silt. Cf. sag, sink.'\ I. intrans. If. To sink ;
fall; drop; fall, as in a swoon. Prompt. I'arv.,
p. 435.
For when she gan hire fader fer espie,
Wei neigh doun of hire hors she gan to eye.
Chaucer, Troilus, v. 182.
2. To drop, as water ; trickle. [Prov. Eng.]
The rede blod seh ut. Old Eng. How,. (E.E.T.S.), 1.121.
H. trans. If. To sift. Prompt. Parv., p. 455.
— 2. To strain, as milk. Palsgrave. [Prov.
Eng.]
sie^t (si), n. [< *8ei, v."] A drop.
sie'^t. An obsolete preterit of seel.
Sieboldia (se-bol'di-a), n. [NL. (Bonaparte),
named from Philipp Franz von Siehold, a Ger-
man traveler in Japan (1796-1866).] A genus
of urodele amphibians, containing the largest
living representative of the whole order, S.
maximus of Japan, the giant salamander. Also
called Cryptobranchus and Megalobatrachus
(which see).
sieclet, n. See secle.
Many trifling poeraes of Homer, Onid, Virglll, Catullus,
and other notable writers of former ages . . . are come
from many former sieeles vnto our times.
Puttenhain, Arte of Eng. Poesie (ed. Arber), p. 125.
Siegburgite (seg'bferg-it), n. [< Sicgburg (see
def.) -I- -ite^.'] A fossil resin from Siegburg,
near Bonn, in Prussia.
siege (sej), n. [E. dial, also sedge (see sedge^) ;
< ME. seige, sege, < OF. sege, siege, a seat,
throne, P. siege = Pr. setge, sege (cf. Sp. sitio,
Pg. as-sedio, a siege) = It. seggio (cf. sedia), a
chair, seat, < L. as if "sedium (cf. ML. assedium,
L. obsidium, a siege), < sedere, sit, = E. sit: see
sedent. Cf. besiege, see'^. Otherwise < LL. 'sedi-
5618
evm, < L. sedes, a seat.] 1. A seat; a throne.
[Obsolete or archaic]
At the left syde of the Emperoures Sege is the Sege of
his flrste Wlf, o degree lowere than the Emperour.
MandeviUe, Travels, p. 217.
Thow thiself that art plaunted in me chasedest out of
the sege of my corage alle covetise of mortal thinges.
Chaucer, Boethius, i. prose 4.
Besides, upon the very siege of justice,
Lord Angelo hath to the public ear
Profess'd the contrary.
Shale., M. for M., iv. 2. 101.
The knights masquers sitting in their several sieges.
B. Joiison, Masque of Oberon.
2t. A iixed situation or position ; station as to
rank or class; specifically, of the heron, a sta-
tion or an attitude of watchfulness for prey.
I fetch my life and being
From men of royal siege. Shak., Othello, 1. 2. 22.
We'll to the field again ;
... a hearn [heron] put from her siege,
And a pistol shot off in her breech, shall mount
So high that to your view she'll seem to soap
Above the middle region of the air.
Massinger, Guardian, i. 1.
3t. A camp ; an encampment, especially as the
seat of a besieging army.
Thei were loigged at a seige be-fore a Citee cleped Na-
blaise, that was a grete town and a riche, and plentevouse
of alle goodes. . . . The Kynge Leodogan . . . haddenot
peple in his reame sufficient to a-reyse hem fro the sege,
ne to chase hem oute of his reame.
Merlin (E. E. T. .S.), ii. 202.
4. The stationing or sitting down of an attack-
ing force in a strong encampment before or
around a fortified place, for the purpose of cap-
turing it by continuous offensive operations,
such as the breaching, undermining, or scaling
of walls or other works, the destruction of its
defenders, the cutting off of supplies, etc. ; the
act of besieging, or the state of being besieged;
besiegement; beleaguerment : as, to push the
siege; to undergo a siege; hence, figuratively, a
prolonged or persistent endeavor to overcome
resistance maintained with the aid of a shelter
or cover of any kind.
And with the Sunne the Beares also returned, sometime
laying violent siege to their house.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 434.
No fort so fensible, no wals so strong.
But that continnall battery will rive,
Or daCy siege, through dispurvayaunce long.
Spenser, F. Q., III. x. 10.
Love stood the siege, and would not yield his breast.
Dryden, 'Iheodore and Honoria, 1. 33.
5t. Stool; excrement; fecal matter.
How earnest thou to be the siege of this moon-calf? Can
he vent Trinculos? Shak., Tempest, il. 2. 110.
6. In mcch. : (a) The floor of a glass-furnace.
(6) A workmen's table or bench. E. H. Knight.
— 7t. A flock, as of herons, bitterns, or cranes.
A sege of herons, and of bitterns.
Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 97.
Attack of a siege. See aftaci.— To lay siege to. See
Jayi. — To raise a siege. Seeraisei.
siege (sej), T. t. ; pret. and pp. sieged, ppr. .'iieg-
ing. [< siege, n. Cf. besiege.'] To lay siege
to; besiege; beleaguer; beset.
Thrice did Darius fall
Beneath my potencie ; great Babylon,
Mighty in walls, I sieg'd, and seised on.
HeywQod, Dialogues (Works, ed. Pearson, ly74, VI. 141).
siege-basket (sej'bas"ket), n. 1. A variety of
mantlet made of osier or other wattled material.
— 2. A gabion.
siege-battery (sej'bat'"^r-i), n. See battery.
siege-cap (sej'kap), n. A helmet of unusual
thickness and weight, supposed to have been
worn as a defense against missiles thrown from
the walls of a besieged place.
siege-gun (sej'gun), «. A cannon, too heavy
for field-service, employed for battering and
breaching purposes in siege operations. See
cuts under howitzer.
siegenite (se'gen-it), n. [< Sicgen (see def.)
+ -ite'^.'] In mineral.,
a niekeliferous va-
riety of the cobalt
sulphid linnseite,
found at Siegen in
Prussia.
siege-piece (sej'pes),
n. A coin, generally
of unusual shape and
rude workmanship,
issued in a town or
castle during a siege,
when the operations
of the ordinary mints
are suspended. The
English siege-pieces,
made from plate melted Obverse of Newark Siege-piece.
Reverse of Newark Siege.piece
(one shilling). — British Museum.
(Size of original-)
Sierra Leone fever
down, and issued during
the civil war by the fol-
lowers of Charles I. at
some of the chief royalist
cities and castles (Bees-
ton, Carlisle, Colchester,
Newark, Scarborough,
Poiitefract), are note-
worthy examples of the
class.
siege-train (sej'-
tran), n. The artil-
lery, carriages, am-
munition, and equip-
ments which are car-
ried with an army
for the purpose of
attacking a fortified
place.
Siege -works (sej'-
werks), n. pi. The
offensive or protective structures, as breast-
works, trenches, etc., prepared by an investing
force before a besieged place.
Pope . . . surrounded the ijlace by ^(/e-w'orfrs in which
he could protect his men. The Century, XXXVI. (J«o.
sielet, ''• An obsolete form of ceil.
Siemens armature. A form of armature in-
vented by Siemens, and much used in dynamo-
rnachines. it is essentially a cylinder wound longitu-
dinally with copper wires or rods, and having its poles,
when it is rotated in the field of the electromagnets, on
opposite sides of the cylinder.
Siemens-Martin process. See steel.
Siemens process. See steel.
Siena marble. See marble, 1.
siencet, n. An obsolete form of scion. Cotgrave.
Sienese (si-e-nes' or -nez'), a. andji. [< Sietia
(see def.) -I- -ese.] I. a. Of or pertaining to
Siena, a city and a province of central Italy,
the ancient Sena JuUa, formerly an indepen-
dent republic.
The history of Sienese art is a fair and luminous record.
Eneyc. Brit., XXII. 43.
Sienese school of pamting, one of the chief of the
Italian schools of the thirteenth and fourteenth cen-
turies, parallel in development to the early school of
Florence, like which it had its origin in the Byzantine
mannerism and rigidity. In general, this school is char-
acterized by a coloring at once harmonious and brilliant,
by a predilection for rich costumes and accessories, and
by a notable power of sentimental expression. It is in-
ferior to the Florentine school in the grouping of its fig-
ures and in vigor and correctness of drawing. Among
the cliief artists of the school are Duccio di Bnoninsegna,
Simone di Martino, Lippo Memmi, and Ambrogio Loren-
zetti, with the later Sano di Pietro and Matteo di Giovanni.
II. n. sing, and 2>l- -An inhabitant or a native
of the city or province of Siena, or, collectively,
the people of Siena.
sienite, ". See syenite.
sienitic, «. See syenitic.
sienna (si-en'a), n. [< Sienna, < It. Siena, a city
of central Italy; terra di Siena, Siena earth.]
1. A ferruginous ocherous earth, fine and
smooth, used as a pigment in both oil and
water-color painting. The finest is that obtained
from Italy. Baw sienna is the native pigment prepared
by simply drying the material which is taken from the
mine or vein and afterward powdering. In composition
and appearance it somewhat resembles yellow ocher, but
it is deeper in tint and of a browner hue. It gives a high-
ly chromatic orange-yellow, considerably darkened, its lu-
minosity being about half that of a bright chrome-yellow.
Its transparency is one of its important qualities, while
opacity should be the characteristic of an ocher. Burnt
sienna is the raw material roasted in a furnace before
powdering. By this means the color is changed to a
warm reddish brown similar to old mahogany. It is, like
raw sienna, translucent in body.
2. The color of sienna pigment.
Siennese, a. and «. An occasional spelling of
Sienese.
sienst, n. An obsolete form of scion. Cotgrave.
sierra (sier'a), n.. [< Sp. sierra, a saw, a saw-
like ridge oi: mountains, = Pr. Pg. It. serra, a
saw. < h. serra, a saw : see serrate.] 1. A chain
of hills or mountains : used as part of the name
of many mountain-chains in Spanish or for-
merly Spanish countries : as, the Sierra Nevada
(in Spain and in California).
For miles and miles we skirt the Ragusan island of
Meleda, long, slender, with its endless hills of no great
height standing up like the teeth of a saw — a true sierra
in miniature. E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 193.
2. A scombroid fish, Scomheromorus caballa, a
kind of Spanish mackerel. The sides of the body
of the young are relieved by indistinct dark-yellowish
spots, which ai-e lost in the adult, and the spinous doi-sal
has no anterior black blotch. It is the largest species
of its genus, and occasionally reaches a weight of 100
pounds. It inhabits the tropical Atlantic, and rarely
visits the southern coast of the United States.
3. Same as chromosphere.
Sierra Leone fever, peach, etc. See fevcr^,
etc.
siesta
siesta (sies'ta), ». [= F. sieste = G. siesta, < Sp.
siesta = Pg. It. sesta, a nap taken at noon, lit.
'the sixth hour,' < L. sexta, bc. hara, the sixth
hour after sunrise, the hour of noon, fem. of
sextKS, sixth, < sex, six: see six. Cf. «oo»l.] A
midday rest or nap ; an interval of sleep or re-
pose taken in the hottest part of the day: a
common practice in Spain and other hot coun-
tries.
The inhabitants were enjoying their tietta.
W. H. EwsxU, Diary in India, II. 243.
sieur (sifer), n. [F., < L. senior, elder: see
senior, sir.} A title of respect formerly used
by the French, and still extant in law-practice.
Sieva bean. A variety, together with the Lima
bean, of Phaseolus lunatus. a twining species
with broad and curved or simitar-shaped pods
containing few flat seeds.
sieve (siv), n. [Early mod.E. sive, syce; < ME.
sive, syce, sife, syfe, syffe, < AS. sife, in oldest
form sibi (= MD. seve, sef, D. zeef-= MLG. LG.
tece = OHG. sih, MHG. sip. G. aieh, sip), a sieve ;
cf. sifethe, sifetha, bran, siftan, sift: see sift.']
1. An instrument for separatingthe finerfrom
the coarser parts of disintegrated matter, by
shaking it so as to force the former through
meshes too small for the latter to pass. Sieves
are made in many forms for a great variety of
uses. See hair-sieve, searce, screen, bolting-cloth,
etc. — 2. Something for other use shaped like
or in some way resembling the common circular
sieve, (a) A baslcet of coarsely plaited straw or the lilce,
so called because it is made with many small meshes or
openings : locally used as a measure, about a bushel.
Sieta and hiit-tieve$ are baskets to be met with in every
quarter of Coveat Garden market.
SteiTeni, Notes on Shakspere's T. and C, 11. 2.
(b) A wide sheepskin-corered hoop used In aome localities
for holding wooL
There was a woman was cardin' wool, and after she
carded it she put it into her tieve.
Quoted In Pop. Sci. Mo., XXXVII. 240.
3. In calico-printing, a cloth extending over a
vat which contains the color. E. U. Knight.
— 4. Figuratively, a tiling which lacks close-
ness of texture, or a person who lacks closeness
of disposition ; especially, a very frank or free-
spoken person; one who lets out all that he
kjiows.
Why, then, as yon are a waiting-woman, aa yoa are the
sieve of all your lady's secrets, tell it me.
Dryden, Mock Astrologer, L 1.
Dmin-Sleve, a kind of sieve in extensive use among
dniRgists, drysalters, and confectioners : so named from
its form. It Is used for sifting very fine powders, and
consists of three ports or sections, the top and bottom sec-
tions being covered with parchment or leather, and made
to fit over and under a sieve of the usual form, which is
placed between them. The substance to be sifted being
thus cUised in, the (>[>erator is not annoyed by the clouds
of powder whi(Ji wotilii otherwise be produced by the agi-
tation, and the inatiTiii) sifted is at the same time saved
from waste. — Sieve and sliaan, an old mode of divina-
tion. 8ee cotcinomancy.
Th' oracle of sieve and shears,
That turns as certain as the spheres.
S. BuUer, Uudibras, II. ill. 5«e.
Sieve of Eratosthena*, a contrivance for finding prime
numbers. All the numbers from any limit to any other are
written one below another at equal diatances. A piece of
{lapcr is then cut out in a gridiron shape so that it can t>e
aid down to cover all the numbers divisible by t Another
piece covers all those divisible by 3 ; and so on ui^il all but
the prime numbers are covered,
sieve (siv), r. t. ; prot. and pp. sieved, ppr. siev-
ing. [Early mod. E. sive, xyre (= MLG. seven
= G. siehen), sift; from the noun. Cf. sift.']
To cause the finer parts of to pass through or as
if through a sieve; sift.
He . . . busies hlmselfe ... In sj/virta of Muck-hllls
and shop-dust, whereof he will bonit a whole cart loa<l to
gain a Iww'd pinne. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse, p. 15.
It was supposed that in microbic diseaaes the blood
" swarmed " with the specific germs, and, arrived in the
renal circolatlon, they were in turn "sieved oat"
Medical Sews, LII. M&
The fibers of wood . . . arc then sieved according to
fineness. Eneyc. Brit., XVIII. 225.
sieve-beaked (siv'bekt), a. Having a lamel-
late bill ai'ting as a sieve, sifter, or strainer;
lamfUirostral.
sievebeaks (siv'beks), n. pi. The lamelliros-
tral birds, as ducks and geese : a translation of
thf tcclinical name lMmelliro.ilres.
sieve-cell (siv'sel), «. In bot.,a prosenchyma-
tous cell, as, for example, such as occur in the
inner bark of the steins of certain dicotyle-
dons, in which the walls have become thick-
ened retietilately, leaving large thin areas or
panels. After a time these thin areas may become ab-
sorbwi. allriwing the protoplasm of adjacent cells to be-
come stnicturally united. The thin areas or panels are
called sieve-plaUs, and the perforations permitting com-
Sieve-cells oi
Cururbita Ptpo,
highly magnified.
5619
munication between the cells, sieve-pores. Sieve-cells con-
stitute an essential element of flbrovascular bundles, and,
taken collectively, form gieve-tismte, or
cribriform tissue. See cribriform, tissue,
liberl.
These perforations [of the cell-wall!
often occur in groups both upon the cell-
wall and upon the septum between su-
perposed cells, and give rise to a remark-
able sieve-like structure, iu which case
they are termed sieve-cells.
Eneyc. Brit., IV. 87.
sieve-disk (siv'disk), »j. In bot.,
same as sieve-plate, 2.
sieve-hypha (siv'hi'fa), n. la
bot., a hypha which exhibits more
or less perfect sieve-plates, as
in certain laminariaceous sea-
weeds.
sieve-like (siv'lik), a. In anat.,
crilirif.irm; ethmoid.
sieve-plate (siv'plat), h. l. a
bone or other hard, flat part full
of little holes; a foraminulose
plate or surface ; specifically, the
cribriform plate of the ethmoid
bone. — 2. In bot., one of the panels or thin
areas of a sieve-cell. See siere-eell. — 3. In pa-
per-mannf., a strainer for paper-pulp; a knot-
ter; a siftin|;-machine.
sieve-pore (siv'por), n. In bot., one of the pores
or openings through the sieve-plate penmtting
communication between contiguous sieve-cells.
See sieve-cell.
sievest, n. pi. An obsolete form of Hves. See
eiie. Hollyband's IMct., 1593. (Halliicell.)
sieve-tissue (siv'tish'o), «. In bot., tissue
composed of sieve-cells,
sieve-tube (siv'tub), n. In bot., same as sievc-
n It.
sieve-vessel (siv'ves'el), ». In bot., same as
.titrr-c'U.
sieveyert (siv'y^r), n. [Early mod. E. siveyer;
< sieve + -yer.] A maker of sieves.
William Siveyer was bom at ShinclifTe in this bishoprlck,
where his father was a siveuer or sieve-maker.
Fuller, Worthies, Durham, L 486.
Sifac (se'fak'), n. [Malagasy.] The babakoto
or short-tailed indri of Madagascar, Indris bre-
vicaudatHS. it varies to nearly white, when It Is also
called simpoune and venerated by the Malagasies. See
cut under indri.
Sifatite (si-fa'tit), n. [< Ar. sifdt, attributes,
+ -ite^.] A member of a Mohammedan sect or
school which believes that God's attributes are
eternally part of his being.
A third sect, that of the Sifalites (Partisans of the At-
tributesX contended energetically against the two former
IJabaritea and Motazilitesj. Eneyc. Brit., XVL 608.
let (sif'l), P. [< ME. siflen, syflen, < OF. (and
F.) siffler, whistle, = Pr. siblar, ciblar, siular =
Sp. silbar = Pg. tibilar = It. sibilare, sibillare,
< L, sibilare, LL. also sifilare, < sibilus, hissing:
see sibilate.] To breathe or blow with a softly
sibilant sound ; whistle ; hiss.
After the seaoan of somer wyth the soft wyndez,
Qnen ^eferus syjlei bym-self on sedez & erbez.
Sir Gaicayne andOe Oreen Knight (E. E. T. S.X 1- 517.
siffle (sif'l), "■ [< siffle, v.] A sibilant r&le.
See rdlr.
Sifflementt (sif'l-ment), n. [< OP. (and P.)
sifflement, < si^er, whistle: see siffle, v.] The
act of whistling or hissing; a whistling, or a
wbistle-like sound.
Like to the winged chanters of the wood.
Uttering nought else but Idle sifflementt.
A. Brewer^, Lingua, I. 1.
Sifflet (sif'let), n. [< P. sifflet, < siffler, whistle :
see siffle, v.] A whistle or cat-call sometimes
used in plavhouses.
Sifflenr (si-fi^r'), ». [P.: name given by Cana-
dian voyageurs.] The whistler, or hoary mar-
mot, Arctomys pruinosu.1.
siffldt (sif'flfet), M. [With accom. term, (as if <
G. flote, flute), < F. siffloter, whistle, < siffler,
whistle : see siffle, v.] In mtisic, a whistle-riute ;
in the organ, a flute-stop having a whistling
tone.
sift (sift), V. [< ME. siften, syften, < AS. siftan,
syftan = MD. giften, D. ziften = LG. siften, MLG.
LG. also sichten (> G. sichteit = Dan. sigte = Sw.
sikta = Icel. sihta, sigUi), sift (whence Dan.
sigte = Sw. sikta, a sieve) ; connected with sife,
sibi, a sieve: see sieve.] I. trans. 1. To cause
the fiiner parts of to pass through a sieve ; part
or separate the larger and smaller elements of,
by shaking in a sieve; bolt: as, to sift meal,
powder, sand, or lime ; to sift the flour from the
bran.
Sigalphus
I saw about this place, as well as on the spot of the
antient Arsinoe, near Faiume, the people sifting the sand
in order to find seals and medals.
Pococke, Description of the East, I. 58.
2. To pass or shake through or from anything
in the manner of a sieve ; pour out or stir up
loosely, like particles falling from a sieve : as,
to sift sand through the fingers; to sift sugar
upon a cake.
When yellow sands are gifted from below.
The glitfring billows give a golden show.
Dryden.
When you mix two gases together and then pass them
through a thin piece of blaeklead, the lightest gas comes
out quickest, and is as it were sifted from the other.
W. K. Cliford, Lectures, 1. 176.
The deepest pathos of Phcebe's voice and song, more-
over, came sifted through the golden texture of a cheery
spirit, and was somehow interfused with the quality
thence acquired. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, ix.
3. To act upon or about as if by means of a
sieve ; examine with close scrutiny ; subject to
minute analysis : used with a great variety of
applications : sometimes with out: as, to sift the
good from the bad ; to sift out the truth of the
matter; to sift a proposition.
As near as I could s^ him on that argument.
Shot., Rich. II., i. 1. 12.
The actions of men in high stations are nil conspicuous,
and liable to be scanned and sifted.
Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, I. xiii.
You must speak with this wench, Rat — this Effle Deans
— you must sift her a wee bit.
Scolt, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xvii.
A confused mass of testimony, which he did not sift,
which he did not even read. Macautay, Warren Hastings.
= S3ni. 1. Sift, Bolt, Strain, Screen. Sift is used especially
of action by means of a sieve, or of atiything serving as a
sieve, as an independent instrument ; bolt, of the separa-
tion of meal and bran, or of the different grades of meal or
flour, or the like, by the mechanism of a mill. Strain and
screen are used of analogous action upon liquids and
coarser solids.
H. intrans. 1. To pass or fall loosely or scat-
teringly, as if through the meshes of a sieve :
as, the dust or the snow sifted through the
crevices; the light sifts from the clouds. — 2.
To practise detailed scrutiny or investigation ;
make close examination.
With many a courtly wile she pry'd and sifted,
His parentage and family to find.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, L 150.
sift(sift),n. l<.sift,v.i.] Something that falls
or passes as if from the meshes of a sieve ; sift-
ing or sifted material. [Rare.]
sifter (sifter), n. [< sift -H -er^.] 1. One who
sifts, in any sense; especially, one employed in
the operation of sifting loose matter.
Though the stile nothing delight the dalntle eare of the
curious sifter. l^ly, Euphnes, Anat. of Wit, p. 204.
In a dust-yard lately visited the sifters formed a curi-
ous sight; they were almost up to their middle in dust,
ranged in a semi-circle in front of that part of the heap
which was being worked,
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, IL 191.
2. A sieve, particularly one differing in form
and use from the common sieve, as for sorting
matter of differing sizes, sifting ashes from
partly burned coal, or the like. An ashsifter is usu-
ally square or oblong, provided with a handle and some-
times a cover, and shaken over a box or barrel.
3. ;)/. Specifically, in ornith., the lamellirostral
birds, as ducks and geese; sievebeaks.
sifting (sifting), n. [Verbal n. of sift, v.] A
seartTiing or investigating.
sifting-macMne (sif'ting-ma-shen*), n. In
poper-mamif,, a sieve-plate.
slgl (sig), V. A dialectal form of sie^.
sig- (sig), n. [< sig^, v.] Urine; stale urine,
f T'rov. Erg. and New Eng.]
Sigalpbinse (sig-al-fi'ne), n.pl. [NL., < Sigal-
phus + -inie.] A subfamily of hymenopter-
ous parasites of the family Braconidse, division
Cryptogastres. typified by the genus Sigalphus,
and containing onlv this genus and .illnihiriis.
Sigalphus (si-gal'fus),)!. [NL.(Latreille,18U4);
formation not obvious.] A genus of hymenop-
terous parasites, typical of the subfamily Sigal-
Sie^lphHs cuecHtioHts.
H. Urv.-! ; t, cocoon ; /, pupa. (Hair-lines show natural sizes, j
phinse, having the fourth and fifth abdominal
segments concealed under the carapace. Twelve
Sigalphus
species are known in Europe, and six in Nortli America.
5. euTvulionis of ttie Uniteti States is a common parasite
SiffUl/ftMs curcutioHts,
a, male, dorsal view, *, female, side view; r, antenna, greatly en-
laifred. (Hair-lines indicate natural sizes of a and l>.)
of tlie destructive plam-curculio, Conotrachelus nenuphar.
The European species are parasitic upon barlt-boring
Ijeetles and teaf-niining larva;.
Siganidae (si-gan'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Siganus
+ -*(?«.] A family of teuthidoid acanthopte-
rygian fishes, represented by the gemis Sit/aiiiis.
They have tlie abdominal (vertebral) about as long as the
caudal region ; tlie rayed parts of the dorsal and anal fins
subequal and shorter than the spinous parts ; the ventrals
SigaHMS styiotatits, one of the Siganida.
each with two marginal (external and internal) spines, be-
tween which intervene three rays ; the head with its ros-
tral section moderate ; and no epipleurals. They are also
remarliable for the constancy of the number of rays, the
dorsal having thirteen spines and ten rays, and the anal
seven spines and nine rays. About 40 species are Icnown, all
confined to the Indo- Pacific oceans, as Siganus striolatus.
siganoid (sig'a-noid), a. and ». [< Siganus +
-oiiL} I, a. Of or pertaining to the Siganidx.
II. II. A fish of the family Siganidee.
Siganus (sig'a-nus), n. [NL., < Ar. sidjan.']
In iclith., the typical genus of Siganidee. See
cut under Siganidse.
sigaret (sig'a-ret), n. A gastropod of the genus
Sigaretus.
Sigaretidae (sig-a-ret'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Siga-
retus + -!rf«.] A family of pectinibranchiate
gastropods, united by modern conchologists
with Naticidse. Also Sigaretse, Sigaretea, Siga-
reti, and Sigaretina.
Sigaretus (sig-a-re'tus), n. [NL. (Adanson,
1757), < Si'flare/, name of a shell.] In conch.,
SigaretUi {Naticina) papilla.
Sigaretus kaliotaides.
the typical genus of Sigaretidse. Cuvier, 1799.
Sigaultian (si-g&l'ti-an), a. [<. Sigault (see
def.) + -i'-flH.] Pertaining to Sigault, a French
surgeon — Sigaultian section or operation, sym-
physeotomy.
sigget, ". A Middle English form of smj^ .
sieger (sig'fer), t'. «. [Afreq.of S8(/l.] JTo trickle
through a cranny or crevice; ooze as into a
mine; leak. [Prov. Eng.]
sigfai (si), V. [< ME. sighen, syghen, sigen (pret.
sigede, sighede, gighte, syghte, sicht), var. otsiken,
syken (pret. sikede, sykede, syked), < AS. sican,
sgoan (pret. 'sac, pp. "sicen) ; cf . freq. sicetan,
sicettan, siccettan, siccitan, sigh, sob (> ME.
"sihten, sigh, siht, a sigh) ; Sw. sucka = Dan.
sukke, sigh, groan ; prob. ult. imitative.] I, in-
trans. 1. To heave or draw a sigh (see sigh, n.) ;
make an audible inspiration and expiration in-
dicative of some emotion ; make an expressive
respiratory sound : as, to sighvnth grief or dis-
5620
appointment, or (less commonly) from satis-
faction or the sense of relief.
& sche. sore siking, seide that sche wold,
Sche hoped, thurth goddes grace.
William 0/ Palerne (E. E. T. S.), 1. ,1209.
Therwithal she sore gighte.
And he bigan to glad hire as he mighte.
Chaucer, Troiius, iv. 1217.
From out her heart she sighed, as she must read
Of folk unholpen in their utmost need.
Wuliam Morris, Earthly Paradise, III. 110.
Hence — 2. To experience an oppressive mental
sensation ; yearn or long, as from a special ac-
cess of emotion or desire : often with for : as,
to sigh for the good old times.
He sighed deeply in his spirit. Mark viii. 12.
Sighing o'er his bitter fruit
For Eden's drupes of gold.
Whittier, Lay of Old Time.
It was r.ot indeed ever to become sucli a detiniteiy pre-
sentable rule of life as we often sigh for.
T. II. Green, Prolegomena to Ethics, § 263.
3. To make a sound resembling or suggestive
of a sigh ; sound with gentle or subdued mourn-
fulnesa : said of things, especially the wind and
its efi^ects.
Nothing was audible except the sighing of the wind.
J. F. Cooper, Last of Mohicans, xxxii.
II. trans. To emit, use, or act upon or in re-
gard to with sighs or in sighing ; utter, express,
lament, etc. , with sighing utterance or feeling :
used poetically with much latitude : as, to sigh
out one's love, pleasure, or grief.
I lov'd the maid I married ; never man
Sigh'd truer breath. Shak., Cor., iv. 5. 121.
I approach'd the ass.
And straight he weeps, and giglis some sonnet out
To his fair love. Marston, Satires, iii. 63.
Ages to come, and Men unborn.
Shall bless her Name, and sigh her Fate.
Prior, Ode presented to the King (1696), st 3.
sigh^ (si), n. [< ME. sygh, var. of sike, sik (cf.
Sw. suck = Dan. suk); < sigh^, t>.] A sudden
involuntary deep-drawn inspiration of breath,
followed by its more or less audible expiration,
usually expressive of some emotion or sensa-
tion: as, a sigh of grief, chagrin, relief, plea-
sure, or fatigue.
Withinne the temple, of sykea hot as fyr
I herde a swow that gan aboute renne.
Chaucer, Parliament of Fowls, 1. 246.
My sighs are many, and my heart is faint. Lam. i. 22.
She sighed a sigh of ineffable satisfaction, as if her cup
of happiness were now full.
Charlotte Bronie, Jane Eyre, xvii.
sigh''^, V. See sjel.
sigh'''t. A Middle English preterit of seel.
sigher (si'fer), n. [< sigh^ + -erl.] One who
sighs.
I could wish myself a sigh to be so chid, or at least a
sigher to be comforted.
Fletcher (.and another\ Two Noble Kinsmen, ii. 1.
sighful (si'ful), a. [< sigh^, n., + -ful.} Full of
or causing sighs ; mournful. [Rare.]
And, in a Caue hard-by, he roareth out
A sigh-full Song.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Trophies.
sighingly (sl'ing-li), adv. With sighing.
sight! (sit), n. [Early mod. E. also sometimes
site; < ME. sight, sighte, syghte, sihte, syhte,
siht, sihthe, earlier with a prefix, isiht, < AS.
gesihth, gesiehth, gesyhth (= OS. gesiht = MD.
gesicht, D. gesigt = MLG. gesichte, sichte =
OHG. gesiht, gisiht, MHO. gesiht, gesihte, ge-
sichte, G. gesicht, also MHG. siht, G. sicht =
Sw. Dan. sigte), sight, vision, a thing seen, as-
pect, respect ; with formative -th, later -/, < sedn
(jpvet. seah,-p\).gesegen),see: seesecl.] 1. The
power of seeing; the faculty of vision ; ability
to perceive objects by means of the eyes: com-
monly reckoned the fii-st of the five senses.
Extent of the power of seeing is expressed by the phrases
long or (better) far sight, and short or (better) near sight
(in physiology, technically, hypermetropic or presbyopic
vision and myopic vi^on, respectively). Formerly, but
not now, used in the plui-al with reference to more than
one subject.
Grete and huge was the duste that a-roos, that troubled
sore their sightes. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 398.
Why cloud they [the eyes of heaven] not their sights per-
petually.
If this be true, which makes me pale to read it?
SAflA-.,Pericles, i. 1. 74.
0 loss of sight, of thee I most complain I
Milton. S. A., 1. 67.
2. A seeing or looking ; a vision or view ; vis-
ual perception or inspection: with or withotit
an article: as, to get a sight, or catch or lose
sight, of an object; at first sight; a cheerful
sight; to get out of one's sight.
That blisful sight softneth al my sorwe.
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 60.
sight
A cloud received him out of their sight. Acts L 9.
She with her nurse, her liusband, and child.
In poor array their sights beguild.
Dutchess of Suffolk's Calamity (Child's Ballads, VII. 300).
A sight of you, Mr. Harding, is good for sore eyes.
Trollope, Barchester Towers, xii.
3. Scope of vision ; limit of visual perception ;
seeing-distance ; range of the eyes ; open view:
as, to put something out of sight.
Contrariwise, in the Plaines [of Perul, iust by in site,
they haue their summer from October to Aprill, the rest
their Winter. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 874.
4. Gaze ; look ; view ; visual attention or re-
gard : as, to fix one's sight upon a distant land-
mark.
From the depth of hell they lift their sight..
And at a distance see superior light.
Dryden. (Johnson.)
He many Empires pass'd ;
When fair Britannia flx'd his Sight at last.
Congreve, Birth of the Muse.
Hence — 5. Mental regard or consideration;
estimation ; judgment ; way of looking upon
or thinking aijout a subject; point of view.
Let my life ... be precious in thy sight. 2 Ki. i. 13.
1'hou hast made our false Prophets to be found a lie in
the sigtd of all the people.
Milton, On Def. of Humb. Remonst.
6. The state of being seen ; visual presence ; a
coming into view or within the range of vision :
as, to know a person by or at sight; to honor
a draft on sight.
But you, faire Sir, whose honourable sight
Doth promise hope of helpe and timely grace,
Mote I beseech to succour his sad plight? ■
Spenser, F. Q., II. viii. 25.
This is the place appointed for our meeting.
Yet comes she [not] ; I'm covetous of her sight.
Middleton, More Dissemblers besides Women, iv. 1.
7. An insight ; an opportimity for seeing or
studying, as something to be learned.
I gave my time for nothing on condition of his giving me
a sight into his business.
H. Brooke, Fool of Quality, I. 386. (Dames.)
Hence — 8. An opportunity for doing some-
thing; an opening; a chance ; a "show": as,
he has no sight against his opponent. [Colloq.]
— 9t. Look; aspect; manner of appearing.
She sit in halle with a aorweful sighte.
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 1832.
10. Something seen or to be seen ; a spectacle ;
a show ; used absolutely, a striking spectacle ;
a gazing-stock ; something adapted to attract
the eyes or fix attention : as, the sights of a
town ; he was a sight to behold.
Het was a god seyt to se.
Robin Hood and the Potter (Child's Ballads, V. 20)
Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great
sight, why the bush is not burnt. Ex. iii. 3.
It was not very easy to our primitive friends to make
themselves sights and spectacles, and the scorn and deri-
sion of the world. Penn, Rise and Progress of Quakers, it
Hence — 11. A number or quantity wonderful
to see or contemplate ; a surprising multitude
or multiplicity presented to view or attention ;
a great many, or a great deal: as, what a sight
of people ! it must have taken a sight of work
(to accomplish something). [Colloq.]
Where is so great a strength of money, i. where is so
huge a syght of mony.
Palsgrave, Acolastus (1540). (Hallivell.)
Juliana Berners, lady-prioresa of the nunnery of Sopwell
in the fifteenth centui^, informs us that in her time "a
bomynable syght of monkes" was elegant English for " a
lai'ge company of friars"
6. P. Marsh, Lects. on Eng. I.ang., 1st ser., viii.
12. An aid to seeing. Specifically — (a) jrf. Theeyes;
spectacles. [Old or prov. Eng.]
Bought me two new pair of spectacles of Turlington ;
. . . his daughter, he being out of the way, do advise me
two very young sights, and that that will help me most
Pepys, Diary, III. 279.
(b) An aperture through which to look : in old armor, a
perforation for the eye through the helmet; now, espe-
cially, a small piece (generally one of two pieces in line)
with anaperture, either vacant(plain)orcont8iningalen8
(telescopic), on a surveying or otiier instrument, for aid
in bringing an object observed into exact line with the
point of observation : as, the sights of a quadrant or a
compass.
Their beavers down/
Their eyes of fire sparkling through sights of steel.
Shak., •> Hen. IV., iv. 1. 121.
(c) A device for directing the aim of a firearm, the most
common sort being a metal pin set on top of the barrel
near the muzzle. There are often two, one neai- the muz-
zle and the other at the breech, the latter having a notch
or hole through which the former is seen when the gun Is
pointed : in this case they are called .fore-sight or .front
sight, and hind-sight or breech-sight. Firearms intended for
long range are fitted with siglits marked for different eleva-
tions, or adjustable, by the use of which tlie aim can be
taken for distances of several hundred yards. See bead-
sight, peep-sight, and cuts under revolver and guru
Bight
All guns fitted with a front sight on the top of the piece
between the trunnions have what is called a clearance-
angle. Farrow, Mil. Encyc, p. 358.
13. An aim or an observation taken by look-
ing along the course of a gun or an instrument ;
in yuii., specifically, the leveling or aiming of
a gun bythe aid of its sights; naut., an instru-
mental observation of the sun or other heaven-
ly body for determining the position of a ves-
sel ; in surveying, the fixing, by sight with an in-
strument, of the relative position of an object
for the purpose of alinement. Coarse sight, in shoot-
ing, Implies an aim taken by exposing a large part of the
front sight to the eye in covering the object ; fine sight
implies a careful aim taken by exposing only the summit
of the front sight. See bead, n., 4.
Hence — 14. A straight stretch of road, as one
along which a sight may be taken in surveying ;
a line uninterrupted by a bend or an elevation :
as, go on three sights, and stop at the first house.
Also called look. [Western U. S.] — 15. In pic-
ture-framing, that part of a picture of any kind
which is exposed to view within the edge of a
frame or mat; the whole of the space within
the frame — After sight, in ami., after presentation.
—Angle of Hlght. .See an^fe^.— Aperture-sight. Same
as open bead sight {v<\iit:\\ see, under Vrt-Z-W'/^O- -At short
■Ignt. See«/iorf.— At sight, (a) Ininiediatily ; as soon
as seen ; without study or practice : as, to read a piece of
music at sight ; to shoot at sight, ib) In com., on presen-
tation.—BUI Of Sight. .See was.— Buckhom-sight, a
fomi of rear sight used for rifles : so called from a fancied
resemblance of the curved ears adjacent to the sighting-
notch to the horns of a deer. — Field Of sight. 8;ime as
field )tf vision (which see, under /ieJd).— In sight, (a)
Within the power or range of vision ; in or int4> a state of
TfdbUity to an observer or observers : as, the ship hove in
light.
The Spanish fleet thou canst not see — becanse
It is not yet in sight I Sheridan, The CriUc, IL 2.
(b) Within view or seeing distance ; In a position permit-
ting sight or obsenratloD : with </; as, to be in tight of
land.
In light of quiet aandi and seas.
A. C. Swinburne, Fellse.
(e) Within the range of observation or knowledge; known
noni inspection, search, or Inquiry ; that can be calculated
upon as existing or avaUable : as, the ore in sight in a
mine; the amount of grain in sight tor market (<f) In
estimation or consideration ; as seen or judged ; according
to mental perception : with a poueasive pronoun : as, to
do what Is right in one's own sight— JAne Of sight, the
right line Joining the object looked at and the eye of the
obserrer— Natoral angle of sight. In gun., the angle
included between tlie nutunil line of sight and the axis of
the piece prolonged. — Natural line of Bight, the line of
metal of a piece along wliich tlie eye ranged. NoCtumal
Bight. Snn>easd«i/-Wi/Min^wr. — (to or upon Sight. Same
as at sight. — Out of Sight, (a) Beyond or away frotn the
fleld of vision; hidden from view, especially by distance;
not in sight-
Out of sight, out of mind.
PoptUar tayisig.
(b) Beyond all comparison ; to or In a transcendent d^
gree ; In an unrivaled manner : as, to beat an opponent
otU qf sight, as in a game or an election. [OoUoq.]
I took to bed . . . the impression that he [Skobeleffj
was out of sight the most muscular and Independent
thinker of any Ruaslan I had met.
Arch. Forbes, ftouvenirs of some Continents, p. 13.
Point of aixbt See pointi. -Qnarter-slghta, In^n.,
notches or marks made In or on the upper qoarters of
the l>ase-rlng of a gun above a horicontal plane tangent
to the upper parts of the truiinlons, formerly used in
connection with the innzzie sights to give the ^'uii an clt--
vatlon ranging f r'>m point-blank to 3*. — Reflecting sight.
Bee refiecUng.—teeomi llgbt, a (acuity of internal sight
•uppaMd to be poeseaaed by some persons, whereby tbey
see distantobjects or oocnrrences, or foresee (n tore events,
as If present before their eyes : so called because it takes
the place of natural sight, which for the time Is In abey.
ance. Belief in this faculty, and seemingly strong evi-
dences of its reality, have existed among nearly all races
from the earliest period of history. In modem Europe
they almnnd most among people of Celtic origin, and e»-
pecl.illy those of the Highlands and islands of Scotland.
Hki- rli,irr;imnfi: Silt bar-Bight. See 6arl, 10.— Tele-
•coplc sight, :i small tflt'scnjie mounted as a rear sight
or breech-sight upim a 8ni.iII-arin or cannon, 84> as t<j vary
the anitlea of sight in aimitig for loit^ ninges. - To heave
In aiipbt. See heave. To lose Bight of. (a) To cease
to see ; cease to have knowledge of : as. we shortly lost
light qf land ; I lost sight of my friend for many yemra.
(&) To overlook ; omit to take into calculation : as. you
torn sight of my last argument.— To put ont Of si^t.
(o) To place out of the riwge of vision ; hide. (6) To con-
sume. [Slang.]
The raw spirits that they [Pole*] put out of tight without
so much as winking struck me witn abject amazement.
Arch. Forbes, War lietween Prance and Germany, II. 255.
To take sight of something, to bring it into the direct
line ot view by instrumental means, as in aiming or level-
ing a gun or a ouailrant. - Vemler-scale sight. In a rifle,
aback-sight which can be accurately adjusted by means
of a vernier attachment. The liar of the sight carries a
slotted scale, and the peep-sight Is raised or depreased liy
a scn-w.
Bight' (sit). V. t. [= Sw. sigta = Dan. sigte, aim
at; from the noun.] 1. To come in sight or
get sight of; bring into view, especially into
one's own view, as by approach or by search ;
make visible to one's self: as, to sight land; to
sight game.
6621
Spanish ships of war at sea ! we have sighted fifty-three.
Tennyson, The Revenge.
2. To take a sight of; make an observation of,
especially with an instrument: as, to .fight a
star. — 3. In com., to present to sight; bring
under notice: as, to sight a bill (that is, to pre-
sent it to the drawee for acceptance). — 4. To
direct upon the object aimed at by means of a
sight or sights, as a firearm.
The shot struck just as a brave and skilful officer was
sighting the piece. J. K. Hosmer, Color-Guard, xv.
5. To provide with sights, or adjust the sights
of, as a gun or an instrument.
It Is the rifling, sighting, and regulation of the arm that
makes a perfect match-ritle.
W. W. Greener, The Gun, p. 146.
To sight an anchor, to heave it up to see its condition.
sight^t. A Middle English preterit of sigh^.
sight-bar (sit'bar), n. A bar of metal forming
part of the breech-sight of a cannon, having
the range marked on it in yards or degrees.
sight-draft (sit'draft), n. In com., a draft pay-
able at sight — that is, on presentation. Also
sigh t-bilt.
sighted (si'ted), a. [< sights + -e(fi.'\ 1. Hav-
ing eyesight; capable of seeing. [Rare.]
A partially sighted girl dreams repeatedly of a wide
river, and is afraid of i>eing dashed across it, while anx-
ious to secure the flowers on the opposite bank, which
she dimly sees. yew Princeton Rev., V. S3.
2. Having sight of some special character; see-
ing in a particular way : in composition : as, far-
or long-sighted, near- or shortsighted, quiek-
sighted, shsirp-sighted. — 3. Having a sight; fit-
ted with a sight or sights, as a firearm; by
extension, arranged with sights so that a cer-
tain definite distance can be reached by using
the sights: as, a rifle sighted for a thousand
yanls.
Bighten (si'tn), r. <. [<»»3A<l + -e«l.] In calico-
printing, to add a fugitive color to (a paste), to
enable the printer to see whether the figures
are well printed or otherwise.
sightening (sit'ning), n. [Verbal n. of sightcn,
c] A color used temporarily to enable a cal-
ico-printer to judge of the pattern.
sight-feed (sit'fed), a. Noting a lubricator in
wliich tbe feeding of the lubricant is visible
through a tube of glass, uniformity of feeding
being thus assured.
sightrul (sit'fiil), a. i< sights + -/uJ.] Having
full sight; clear-sighted.
TIs paaalng miraculous that yonrdul and blind worship
shoalo BO ioaalnly tume both tightfuU and witfull.
Chapman, Masque o( Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn.
sightfnlnesst (sit'ful-nes), n. Clearness of
sight.
Let us not wink, though void of purest rightfulneu.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, II.
sight-hole (sit'hol), n. A hole to see through.
The generator Is provided with a door, fuel-hopper, and
valve, stoke- and lightholei. Sci. Amer., N. S., LlV. 6«.
sighting-notch (si'ting-noch), M. The notch,
nick, or slot in the middle of the hind-sight of
a lirciirin.
sighting-shot (si'ting-shot), n. A shot made
for ascertaining the qualities of a firearm, and
discovering whether the projeetUe will strike
the spot aimed at, or another point a little above
or to one side of it, as is often the case,
sightless (sit'les), a. [< ME. sighteles; < sight^
■F •Usa.'] 1. LaJcking sight; blind.
Ysaac
Wurthede itghtelei and elde swac.
Otnetii and Exodut (E. K. T. 8.), L 1528.
The lightleu MUton, with bU hair
Around his placid temples curled.
Wardtworth, The Italian Itinerant
2t. Offensive or unpleasing to the eye; un-
sightly.
Full of nnpleasing blots, and sightless stains.
Shak., K. John, Hi. 1. 45.
3t. Not appearing to sight ; invisible.
Heav'n's cherubim, horsed
Upon the ttghtleu couriers of the air.
Shak., Macbeth, 1. 7. 23.
sightlessly (rat'Ies-li), ctdv. In a sightless man-
ner.
sightlessness (sit'les-nes), n. The state of be-
ing siglitlcss ; want of sight.
sightliness (sit'li-nes), «. The state of being
sightly; comeliness; pleasing appearance.
Olaae eyes may be used, though not for seeing, for st^At-
Uneu. Puller, Holy SUte (1048), p. 290.
sightly (sit'li), a. [< .Hightl + -/yl.] Pleasing
to the eye ; affording gratification to the sense
of sight; esthetically pleasing.
Sigillaria
It lies as sightly on the back of him
As great Alcides' shows upon an ass.
Shak., K. John, ii. 1. 143.
A great many brave sightly horses were brought out,
and only one plain nag that made sport.
Sir B. L 'Estrange.
sight-opening (sit'6p"ning), n. In armor, the
opening in the front of the helmet, whether
fixed or movable, through which the wearer
looks out. Greek helmets requiring sight-openings
were less common than some other forms. Koman war-
helmets left the face exposed, but the helmets of the mid-
dle ages, beginning toward the end of the twelfth cen-
tury, unifonnly covered the face, and the management of
the sight-opening was the most important consideration
in the design and construction of these. Compare helmet,
heaume, armet, basinet, lumi^re, oeitlire.
Sight-ponch (sit'pouch), «. A long, slender
case for carrying the breech-sight of a gun,
suspended from the shoulder.
sight-reader (sifre'der), n. One who reads at
sight (something usually requiring previous
study); specifically, a musician who can accu-
rately sing or play musical notes on first see-
ing them, without previous study or practice.
As a sight-reader, he [Reisenauer] was supreme. I have
seen him take a complicated orchestral score in manu-
script and play it off at the first reading.
The CetUtiry, XXXV. 728.
sight-reading (sit're'ding), n. The act or pro-
cess of reading a piece of music, or a passage
in a foreign tongue, at first sight, generally as
a test of proficiency.
sight-seeing (sit'se'ing), n. The act of seeing
sights; a going about for the purpose of seeing
interesting things.
sight-seeker (sit'se'kfrr), n. One who goes
aoout in search of sights.
sight-seer (sit'se'^r), n. One who is fond of,
or who goes to see, sights or curiosities : as, the
streets were crowded with eager sightseers.
Whenever he travelled abroad, he was a busy sight-seer.
R. J. Hinton, Eng. Radical Leaders, p. 166.
sight-shot (sJt'shot), n. Distance to which the
sight can reach; range of sight; eye-shot.
[Rare.]
It only makes me run faster from the place 'till I get as
it were out of sightshot. Cowley, Works (ed. 1707), II. 701.
sight-singing (sit'siug''ing), n. In music, vocal
Hight-reailing. See sight-reader.
sightsman (sits'man), «.; 'p\. sightsmen (-men).
[< .•■■ighl's, poss. of sights, + man.'\ If. One who
points out the sights or objects of interest of a
place ; a local guide.
In the first place our sujhls-man (for so they name cer-
tain persons here wlui get their living by leading strangers
at>out to see the city) went to the I'alace Karnese.
Evelyn, Diary, Nov. 6, 1644.
2. One who reads music readily at sight.
sight-'7ane (sit'van), «. A piece of brass or
other metal, with a hole or slit in it, attached to
a quadrant, azimuth compass, or other instru-
ment, through which aperture the observation
is made. See cut under prismatic.
sight-'WOrthy (8it'w6r''THi), a. Worth seeing.
In our universities, . . . where the worst College is
more sight-wortJiy than the best Dutch Gymnasium.
Fidler. Holy .state. III. iv. 4.
The most sight-worthy and meritorious thing in the
whole drama. New York Tribune, May 14, 186*2.
Sightyt, a. [< ME. mjghtu, sity; < sight + -yl.]
1. Appearing to sight; visible. Prompt. Parv.,
p. 45.'. — 2. Glaring; glittering. Prompt. Parv.,
p. 455.
sigil (sij'il), n. [< L. sigillum, dim. of signum,
a mark, token, sign, the device on a seal : see
sign, Cf . seal'^, ult. < L. sigillum.'] A seal ; an
abbreviated sign or signature ; also, an occult
stamp, mark, or sign, as in magic or astrology.
See signature, 2.
She . . .
. . . gave me charms and sigils, for defence
Against ill tongues that scandal innocence.
Dryden, I'lower and Leaf, 1. 606.
Sign and siifU, word of power,
yrom the earth raised keep and tower.
Scott, Bridal of Triermain, iii. 16.
Sigillaria (sij-i-la'ri-a), M. [NIj. (Brongniart,
1822), < L. sigillum, a seal: see sigil.] A ge-
nus of very important and widely spread fossil
plants which occur in the (Carboniferous) coal-
measures, and which are especially character-
istic of the middle section of the series. Sigil-
laria Is a tree often of large size, and chiefly known by
the peculiar markings on the trunk, which in some re-
spects resemlde those which cliaracterize Lepidodendron.
'These markings are leaf-scars, and they occur spirally dis-
tributed around the stem, and generally arranged on ver-
tical ridges or ribs. Great numbers of species have been
described, the variations in the form and arrangement of
the leaf-scars and of the vascular scars being the points
chiefly relied on for specific distinction. Sigillaria is
but imperfectly known, so far as foliage and fruit are
Sigillaria
concerned, bat most paleobotanists consider It probable
that it will be eventually pitivetl to be closely related
to Lfpidodendrmi ; others refer it to the cycads ; while
there are some who maintain that it is probable that
various plants quite ditfeient from one another in their
systematic position have been included under the name
sigillarian (sij-i-la'ri-an), a. Belonging or re-
lated to Siflillaria.
The author has demonstrated a peculiarity in the ori-
gin of the medulla of the Sii/illarian and Lepidodendroid
plants. Nature, XLI. 573.
sifillaroid, sigillarioid (sij'i-la-roitl, sij-i-la'-
ri-oi(i),rt. [< Sigillaria +-oJd.] Same as sigil-
larian,
Lepidodendroid and gigiUaroid plants abound.
A. Oi-ikie, Encyc. Brit, X. 345.
Sigillary (sij'i-la-ri), «. [< L. "sigillarius (LL.
as a noun, a maWr of seals), < sigillum, a seal :
see sigil.'] Of the nature of a seal ; connected
with a seal or with sealing.
Yr summons for my Court at Warley, with all those
sigillary formalities of a perfect instrument.
Emlyn, To Mr. Thurland.
Sigillate (sij'i-lat), a. [< L. sigillatus, adoi-ned
with figures, < sigillum, a mark, device, seal :
see sigil.'i 1. In ceram., decorated with im-
pressed patterns. — 2. In hot., marked as if with
the impressions of a seal, as the rhizome of
Solomon's-seal, Vohjgonatum. — 3. Expressly in-
dicated— Sigillate distribution, distribution indi-
cated by all, some, etc.
sigillated (sij'i-la-ted), a. [< sigillate + -ed^.']
Same as sigillate — Sigillated ware, hard pottery
decorated with patterns pnnted from stamps.
sigillation (sij-i-la'shon), n. [< sigillate +
-«)«.] The decoration of pottery by means of
molds or stamps applied to the surface.
Sigillativet (sij'i-la-tiv), a. [< OF. sigillatif, <
L. sigillatus, adorned with figures or devices:
see sigillate.'] Fit to seal; belonging to a seal;
composed of wax.
Sigillatif: . . . SigUlative, scalable, apt to scale ; made
of wax. Colgrave (ed. 1611).
Sigillography (sij-i-log'ra-fi), n. [< L. sigillum.
a seal, -t- Gr. -ypaijiia, < ypa^uv, write.] The
study or science of seals; knowledge of the
kinds and uses of seals.
It is only of late years that much attention has been paid
to Byzantine sigillography, Athenseum, No. 3072, p. 341.
sigla (sig'la), n. pi. [LL., abbr. of L. sigilln,
pi. of sigillum, a mark, seal: see sigil, seaV^.] A
monogram, usually an abbreviation of a proper
name, especially one engraved upon the seal
of a seal-ring, as was common in the middle
ages.
siglatont, «. Same as ciclaton.
Siglps (sig'los), n. ; pi. sigli (-li). [< Gr. oiyAof,
aiK/Mc: (see def.): see shekel.'] A silver coin is-
sued by the kings of ancient Persia; a silver
daric. Its normal weight was about 86.46 grains, and
20 sigli were equivalent to one gold daric. (See daric.)
The siglos, like the daric, bore on the obverse a figure of
the King of Persia represented as an archer.
Sigma (sig'mii),)i. [< L. «(/»(«,< Gr. <T('j-//a.] 1.
The name of the Greek letter 2, a, f, equivalent
to the English S, s. (For its early forms, see
under S.) There is also an uncial form (see uncialX
namely C, made from 5 by curving and slighting ; this
has been revived in some recent alphabets of Greek.
2. An S-shaped or sigmoid flesh-spieule of a
sponge — Sigma function, a function used in the
Weierstrassian theory of elliptic functions, and defined
by the formula
log a « = log « + s^s„ [log (1 - ^^^,) + is^iTT^.
5622
The root of the future is got from the root of the pres-
ent (or infinitive) by gigmating it.
T. K. Arnold, First Greek Book, p. 5. (Encyc. Diet.)
sigmate (sig'mat), a. [< sigma + -ate^.] Hav-
ing the form of the Greek sigma or of the let-
ter S ; sigma-shaped or S-shaped.
With sigtnate flesh-spicules [simnges].
Atner. Aaturalist, XXV. 937.
sigmatic (sig-mat'ik), a. [< sigmate + -ic]
lormed with a sigma or s; said of the Greek
first aorist and first future, and also of parallel
formations in other languages, as Sanskrit.
Sigmatic aorists and futures in pure verbs are " new
words." Amer. Jour. Philol., V. 166.
Memini is a different thing from dixi (eSc tf a); the latter
is a sigmatic aorist. The Academy, Kov. 30, 1889, p. SiS.
sigmation (sig-ma'shgn), n. [< sigmate + -ion.]
The adding of a sigma or s at the end of a word
or a syllable.
This fondness for plnralizing ... is constantly showing
itself both in a purely senseless sigmution and in a dupli-
cation of the plural ending. N. and Q., 7th ser., VII. 142.
sigmatism (sig'ma-tizm), n. [< NL. sigmatis-
muji, < MGr. aiy/ia-ii^tiv, write with sigma, < Gr.
ciy/ia, sigma : see sigma.] 1. The use or pres-
ence of sigma or«; repetition or recurrence of
s or of the s-sound.
D read clearly "terrasque citis ratis attigit auris," per-
haps rightly, as the sigmatism is quite Ovidian.
Classical Rev., III. 270.
2. Difficult or defective pronunciation of the
sound s.
sigmatismus (sig-ma-tis'mus), w. [NL.: see
sigmatism.] Same as sigmatism.
There are three inseparable necessities which may be
remembered by a sigmatisTmis — site, soil, and sympathy.
Quarterly Rev., CXLV. 3U9.
Sigmatophora (sig-ma-tof'o-rii), n. pi. [NL.,
neut. pi. of sigmatophorus : see sigmutophorous.]
A suborder of choristidan tetractinellidan
sponges, whose microscleres or flesh-spicules
are sigmaspires. It contains the families Te-
tillirla; and Samiclse.
sigmatophorous (sig-ma-tof 'o-rus), a. [< NL.
sigmatojilioriiii, < Gr. aiy/ia, sigma, -I- -(fiopoc, <
<tiepeiv = E. bear^.] Having sigmaspires, as a
sponge ; of or pertaining to the Sigmatophora.
sigmella (sig-mel'a), n. ; pi. sigmellse (-§). [NL.,
dim. of L. sigma : see sigma.] A kind of sponge-
spicule. Sottas.
Sigmodon (sig'mo-don), n. [NL. (Say and Ord,
1825) : see sigmodont.] 1 . A genus of sigmodont
murines ; the cotton-rats. S. hixpidus is the common
cotton-rat of the southern United States. It is a stout-
bodied species, formerly wrongly referred to the genus
Arvicola, 4J to 5^ inches long, the tail about 3 inches more ;
with large hind feet, 1 ^ inches long, naked, and six-tuber-
culate on the soles ; large rounded ears, nearly naked out-
Ou -I- Ou>'
«2
(0<u + 0iu')2-
The significance of the last terms is that the values m =
n = 0 are t^ be excluded in forming the sura.
sigmaspiral (sig'ma-spi"ral), a. [< sigmasplre
+ -a/.j (Jurved as one turn of a cylindrical
spiral, as a sponge-spicule ; having tlie charac-
ter of a sigmasxiire.
sigmaspire (sig'ma-spir), n. [< Gr. ciyfia, sig-
ma, + (TTTfipa, acoil, spire : see sigma and spire^.]
In sponges, a simple kind of microsclere or flesh-
spicule, whose form is that of a single turn of
a cylindrical spiral, so that it looks like the
letter C, or S, according to the direction from
which it is viewed. Sottas.
sigmate (sig'mat), v. t.; pret. and pp. sigmated,
ppr. sigmating. [< sigma + -ate'^T] To add a
sigma or s to ; change by the addition of an s at
the end, as in upwards, alternative of upward.
The question of the plural treatment, or otherwise, of
some sigmated words [as " means "] is fair matter for dis-
cuision. N. and Q., 7th ser., VIII. 216.
side, hairy inside ; blunt muzzle, furry except on the sep-
tum ; long, coarse pelage, hispid with bristly haij-s, above
finely lined with black and brownish-yellow, below gray*
ish-white ; and the tail scarcely bicolor. It is a very com-
mon and troublesome animal. Similar species, or varie-
ties of this one, extend through most of Mexico to Guate-
mala.
2. [/. e.] An animal of this genus.
sigmodont (sig'mo-dont), a. and «. [< Gr. aly/ia,
Sigma, -I- iidovg (bSovT-) = E. tooth.] I. a. Show-
ing a sigmoid pattern of the molar crowns when
the biserial tubercles of tliese teeth are ground
flat by wear, as a murine ; of or pertaining to
the Sigmodontcs, as any murine indigenous to
America.
II. n. Any sigmodont murine.
Si^modontes (sig-mo-don'tez), 11. pi. [NL., pi.
ot Sigmodon, q. v.] The Neoga;an or New World
murine rodents; a tribe or series of the family
Muridse and subfamily Murinee, peculiar to
America, and containing all tlie American
murines : named from one of the genera,
Sigmodon, and contrasted with Mures. They have
the upper molars tnberculate in double series, and the
bony palate ending opposite the last molars. There are
many genera, and numerous species. The North Ameri-
can genera are Sigm/tdon, Neotoma, Ochetodon, and Hespe-
romys with its subdivisions. See cuts under deer-mouse,
Neotoma, rice-field, and Sigmodon.
sigmoid (sig'moid), a and n. [< Gr. aiy/ioeiS^^,
also aiy/MToetS^i, of the shape of sigma, < aiy/ia,
Sign
sigma, + nSo(, form.] I. a. Shaped like the
Greek capital letter sigma in either of its forms.
(See sigma, 1.) In anat., specifically— (o) Having the
curve of the uncial sigma or the roman C; semilunar;
crescentic : as. the greater and lesser sigmoid cavity of the
ulna; the sigmoid cavity of the radius. [Now rare.] (6)
Kesembling the earlier and now usual form of the sigma,
or the roman S, or the old italic long /; siimous; sinu-
ate : as, the sigmoid flexure of the colon (the last curve
of the colon before it terminates in the rectum); the sig-
moid shape of the human collar-bone.— Great(or greater)
sigmoid cavity of the ulna, a concavity at the superior
extremity of the uluji, which receives the trochlear sur-face
of the humerus. See Uecranon, and cut under forearm.
— sigmoid artery, a branch of the inferior mesenteric
artery which supplies the sigmoid flexure of the colon. —
Sigmoid cavity of the radius, the concave articular
surface of the lower end of the radius, which articulates
with the ulna.— Sigmoid flexure, an S-shaped curve of
several parts. Specifically — (a) Of the colon, at the end of
the descending colon, terminating in the rectum, (p) Of the
spinal column of man and a few of the highest apes, highly
characteristic of the erect attitude. It does not exist in the
infant, (c) Of the cervical vertebite of birds and some
reptiles, as cryptodirous turtles, when the head is drawn
in straight upon the shoulders. It disappears when the
head is thrust forward and the neck thus straightened
out. It is very strongly marked in long-necked birds, as
herons.— Sigmoid fossa, gyrus, notch. See the nouns.
— Sigmoid valve, one of tne aortic or pulmonary semi-
lunar valves : an example of the old use of the term. See
semihmar.— Small (or lesser) sigmoid cavity of the
ulna, a small depression on the outer side of the base of
the coronoid process of the ulna, which receives the head
of the radius. See cut under forearm. — Syn. See semi-
lunar.
II. n. 1. A sigmoid curve. — 2. The region
of the sigmoid flexure of the colon.
Sigmoidal (sig-moi'dal), a. [< sigmoid + -al]
Same as sigmoid — Sigmoidal fold, in gea., a re-
versed or inverted fold ; a mass of strata which, as the
result of crust-movements, have been turned back on
themselves into a form somewhat resembling that of the
Greek letter sigma.
sigmoidally (sig-moi'dal-i), adv. In the shape
of the Greek letter sigina.
The sigmoidally curved folds of the ganoine.
J. W. Davis, Geol. Mag., III. 160.
sign (sin), n. [< ME. signc, si/gne, syng, seine,
sine, syne, < OF. s(<7«e, seing, sign, mark, signa-
ture.F. signe, sign, seing, signature, = Pr. signe =
Sp. Pg. signo = \X. segno, sign, = AS. segen, segn,
a sign, standard, = I), sein = OHG. segan, MHG.
G. segen = Olr. sen, sign, < L. signum, a mark,
sign, token; root uncertain. From L. sJr/nM»i are
alsoult. E. signature, signet, signify, etc., assign,
consign, countersign, design, ensign , resign , insig-
nia, etc. ,sigil,.iigiilate,seal^,sain'^, etc.] 1. A vis-
ible mark or impress, whether natural or artifi-
cial, accidental or purposed, serving to convey
information, suggest an idea, or assist infer-
ence ; a distinctive guiding indication to the
eye.
Nowe nede is sette a sign£ on every vyne
That fertile is, scions of it to take
For setting.
PaUadius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 18a
Ther ys gette a syne of his fote
On a marbuUe stone ther as he stode.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 122.
2. An arbitrary or conventional mark used as
an abbreviation for a known meaning ; a fig-
ure written technically instead of the word or
words which it represents, according to pre-
scription or usage: as, mathematical, astro-
nomical, medical, botanical, or musical signs;
occult signs; an artist's sign. The most common
mathematical signs are those indicating the relations of
quantities in arithmetical and algebraic processes. (See
notation, 2.) The principal astronomical signs are those
representing the names of the twelve divisions or constel-
lations of the zodiac. (See def. 11.) Others symbolize the
sun, the earth, and the other planets, the moon and its
different phases, and the first twenty or more of tiie as-
teroids or planetoids. (See symbol.) All these, as well as
the zodiacal signs, are in form significant of the names or
the bodies for which they stand. The eight aspects have
also signs, as follows: a conjunction, > opposition, i trine,
D quadrature, * sextile, and three others very rarely used.
In zoology two astronomical signs. ?. and j , of Mars and
Vcinis, are constantly used to denote male and female re-
spectively ; to which is sometimes added a plain circle, O,
meaning a young animal of undetermined sex. These
signs for sex are in a good many of the cuts of insects fig-
ured in this volume (see, for example, silk-spider). In bot-
any 0 indicates a monocarpic plant; ®, an annual; a, a
biennial; y , a perennial ; ,5, a shrub; 5, a tree; ^, a male
plant or flower ; s , a female plant or flower ; 9 , a hermaph-
rodite plant or flower; c», indefinitely numerous; 0=,
cotyledons accumbent ; O l| , cotyledons incumbent, etc.
The following signs are in common use in medicine and
pharmacy : ij:, recipe ; 5, ounce ; fs. fluidounce ; 5, dram ;
f3, fiuidrachm ; 3, scruple ; nil, minim.
3. Something displayed to announce the pres-
ence of any one; a cognizance; a standard; a
banner.
When the great ensign of Messiah blazed.
Aloft by angels borne, his sign in heaven.
Maton, P. L, vi. 776.
4. An inscribed board, plate, or space, or a
symbolical representation or figure, serving.
sign
for guidance or information, as on or before
a place of business or of public resort, or along
a road: as, a merchant's or shopman's sign; a
Swinging Sign, style of I8tb century.
tavem-.?iV/n ; a swinging sign ; a tin sign ; a
^»<7/i-board , Places of basiness. and especially tavemB,
were formerly often known by the names of the figures
or representations used by them for siffus. us the Cock
and Bull for a tavern, the Bible and Keys for a bookstore,
etc.
To be solde at his shop in Corn-hill, at the amu of the
Cat and farratg. E. WMk, Travels (ed. Arber), p. 11.
Underneath an alehouse' paltry sign.
The Castle in St Alban's, Somerset,
Hath made the wizard famous in his death.
Shot.. ■> Hen. VI., v. 2. 67.
His natnrall memorle was very great, to w*^h he added
the art of memorie. He would repeate to you forwards
and I>ackward8 aU the sifjnea from Ludgate to Charing-
crosae. Avbrey, Lives, Thomas FuUer.
8. A symbolical representation ; a symbol ;
hence, in absolute use, symbolical significance ;
allusive representation : with tn.
And on her head a crowne of purest gold
I* set, tn agn of bigheat soveraignty.
Spmter, Hymn of Heavenly Beauty, L 191.
Th^e Is Idolatry in worshipping the outward tign of
bread and wine.
J. Bradford, Letters (Parker Soc., 1853), II. 44.
By cross arnia^ the lover's itgn,
Vow.
MiddUton and RouUy, Spaolab Oypqr, iv. 1.
6. A representative or indicative thing; a tan-
gible, audible, or historical token, symbol, or
memento ; an exponent or indicator: as, words
are the tigns of thought ; the ruin is a sign of
past grandeur.
The Are devoured two hundred and fifty men ; and they
became a Mgn. tixua. uvi. in.
This would be to make them [words] Hipu of his own
conceptions, and yet apply them to other Ideas.
Lodre, Human Understanding, ni. IL 2.
That autumn star.
The baleful ngn of fevers.
M. Arnold, Sohrab and Rustnm.
The ampullft were the special tigna of the Canterbury
pilgrimage : the scallop-shell was the tign of the pil-
grimage to Compostella; whilst the tigna ot the Roman
pilgrimage were a badge with the effigies of St. Peter and
St Paul, the cross-keys, or "keyes of rome," . . . and the
vemicle. . . . The proiwr tlgn of the pilgrimage to the
Holy Land was the croaa.
Skeat, Note on Piers Plowman (C), viU. IK<.
7. In general, anything which serves to mani-
fest, stand for, or call up the idea of another
thing to the mind of the person perceiving it;
evidence of something past, present, or future;
a symptom : as, to show signs of life ; a «j<7n of
foul or fair weather; signs of war; signs of a
contagious disease.
0 ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky ; but
can ye not dlacetn the lignt of the times! Hat. xvL 3.
She will rather die than give any tign of affection.
Shot., Much Ado, 11. 3. 236.
We came to a place where there are some <^!;n< of the
foundation of a house.
Pocoekt, Description of the East, n. L 38.
Tliat he make* Love to yon la a tign yoo are handsome ;
and that I am not Jealous Is a tign yoa are virtuous.
rye*«riey, Country Wife, ilL 1.
.Scarce has the gray dawn streaked the sky, and the ear-
liest cock crowed from the cottagea of the hillside, when
the saborbs give tign of reviving animation.
Irving, Alhambra, p. 1S7.
1 have known black men who could read tign and lift
a trail with as much Intuitive quickness as either red or
white. Mayne Reid, Osceola, xxii.
I^ncovering of the head Is a tiipi alike of worship, of loy-
alty, and of respect. U. Spenerr, Prin. nf Sociol., { 345.
8. In Bililical use: («) That by which a person
or thing is known, especially as divinely dis-
tinguished (Luke ii. 12; Rom. iv. 11; 2Cor. lii.
12). Hence — (ft) Kspecially, an appearance or
occurrence indicative of the divine presence or
5623
power, and authenticating a message or mes-
senger (Acts ii. 22, vii. 36; 1 Cor. i. 22) ; a mirac-
ulous manifestation or warning ; a portent ; an
omen.
Except ye see tigns and wonders, ye will not believe.
John iv. 4S.
Signs, both in heaven and earth, were manifested when-
ever an emperor was about to die.
Lecky, Europ. Morals, I. 274.
9. A motion or gesture intended to express
thought or convey an idea ; a movement of the
hand or some other part of the body having a
natural or conventional signifieance: as, the in-
stinctive, artificial, or alphabetical signs of the
deafanddumb; pantomimic sijw*; to manifest
assent by a sign.
Hold up thy hand, make signal of thy hope.
He dies, and makes no tign. O God, forgive him !
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iii. 3. 28.
There din'd this day at my Lord's one S' John Gaudy, a
very handsome person, but quite dumb, yet very intelli-
gent by tignet, Evelyn, Diary, Sept. 7, lti77.
As tign and glance eked out the unflnish'd tale.
Scott, Vision of Don Roderick, The Vision, st 7.
Ho tign.
By touch or mark, he gave me as he passed.
Lowell, Parting of the Ways.
lOt. A spoken symbol; a signal-cry; a watch-
word: a use still seen in countersign.
Thou Saint George slialt called bee,
Saint George of mery England, the tigne of victoree.
Spenter. F. Q., I. x. 61.
11. One of the twelve divisions of the zodiac,
each comprising 30 degrees of the ecliptic, and
marked as to position by a constellation or
group of stars, the name of which is represented
by a symbolical figure or sign of ancient ori-
gin. The sodiacal signs are t Ariet, the Ram ; >< Tati-
rus.the Bull ; n Oentini, the Twins : o Cajicer, the Crab ;
0. Leo, the Lion ; "E Virgo, the Maid ; ,^ Libra, the Bal-
ance; HI Si»i7>io, the Scorpion ; ^ iSdjTtiKarius, the Archer;
\3 Capricomutf the Goat ; s: Aguariitt, the Water-bearer ;
X Piictt, the Fishea Owing to the precession of the equi-
noxes, the signs have now moved quite away from the con-
stellations from which they take their names. See zodiac.
In Aries, the colerik bote tigne.
Chaucer, Squire's Tale,'l. 43.
I was looking very attentively on that tign in the hea-
vens wlilch is called by the name of the Balance, when on
a sudden there appeared in it an extraordinary light
Additon, Tatler, No. 100.
Accessory Bigns. Same as aitident tigni. - Airy sign,
in aKtrii.. a sIkii hot and moist: n, a, ^.— Anastrous
Signs. See a/uii4rou<.— Antecedent sign. Hie sign of
something about t£i come to pii-^s. Sc- (inti-mlent. — As-
cendlng, assldent, austral, autumnal, barren, bes-
tial, blcorporal, cardinal signs, see the adjectives.
— Cold sign, in agtrti., a sign of the ziMliac which receives
an even number when all are numbered in their order : the
cold signs are .« , c. tij, nt, n, K. Also called /etninine,
unfortunate, or noeturrud tign. — Conunemorati ve signs,
In med,, diagnostic Indications of previous disease. — Con-
junct sign, a sign which is coiitciniMjniiieous with the
state of Things it signiflts - Consequent sign, a sign
which signiflcs a thing already c<inn- to pass.— Contin-
gent sign, a siu'n wbicti attoi lis an uiiotTtain indication of
fisoi.j.ct. Descartes's rule of signs. sicrH/ci. — De-
scending sign, or sign of right »r long ascension, one
of the signs of tne zodiac through which the sun passes in
moving south: a sommer or autumn sign: c, k(, ni>, £,,
"l, >.~I>laOTltlO*l tign. See dMKTiVtcaJ.— DouWe-
tMKlled signs. See dotiMe-ftodiRi.— Dry sign. In aMnd..
one of tlie signs T, ',0,^, «, >i.— Earthy sign, in n«-
IrU . a sign cold and dry : - . "li. «.— Equinoctial sign.
In attrol.. ii sign of the zodiac i»eginning at an etjuinox: r,
,-r. — Fiery sign, in nx^rff., a sign liut and dry : r. vj. /.
— Formal, fruitful, human sign. See the adjectives. —
Fonr-footed sign, in attrol., one of the signs f. -, \).,
1 , VI. Hot sign, in aetrol., a sign of the zmliac which re-
ceives an odd number when alt are nunit>ered in their
order: the hot signs are t, ii, .) . ^, t. .-.■. Also called
mateuline, fortunate, or diurnal tvjn — Instituted sign,
in logic. See <njMIiit«.— Intercepted, local sign. See
the adjectivea— Material sign, a sign which represents
Its object by virtue of a real relHtiini or physical connec-
tion with it: an index: such are natural signs and wea-
ther-cocks, alsx) the letters of a geometrical diagram, etc.
— Moist sign, in attrol., one of the si^s n, O, ^, ill,
jr, K. — Mute sign. Same as watery tvm (see belowl —
Hatoral sign. Ste ni/wrn/. Necessary sign. See
n»«««a r;/. -Negative sign, the algehiai.al sign roinos.
—Northern signs, physical signs, radical sign. See
tlic ail jiitivis. -Pilgrim's sign. .See m7,';n'in. — Rosen-
bach's sign, aliiililioTi "f llii- al>dtiniirjal refiex.— Rule Of
signs, rule of the double Sign. See ni2ei.— Sign man-
ual. <a) See manual, a.
A declaration attested by his tign iruinual.
Macaulay, Hist Eng., vl.
(6) Figuratively, an Individual stamp or quality distin-
guishing anything done or produced ny a person. [Often
hyphened.]
All (these lyrics] are stamped with her lign-Tnanual.
SUdman, Viet Poets, p. 125.
Sign Of equality. SeeryinZif!/.— Slgnofreslduatlon.
See renihuilinn.—^ Sign Of the CTOSS. (a) A figure of the
cross ef I'hrlst linrne as a badge, as on a banner, or (as
by the crusaders, pilgrims, etc.) on the breast, back, or
shoulders. See tujn, r. L, 1.
They arm them with the tign of the crott, and of the
wounds. Latimer, Misc. Set
sign
(6) See tign of the cross, under croe»l.— Spring, summer,
winter signs. See the qualifying words.— Tropical
sign, a sign of the zodiac beginning at a tropic : o, \3.—
Watery sign, in astral., a sign cold and moist: G, ni, K.
= Syn. 7. >iote, index, symbol, type, manifestation, signal.
— 7 and 8. Prognostic, Presage, etc. See omen.
sign (sin), V. [< ME. *sign€n, scinen, < OF. si-
gner, seigner, P. signer, F. dial, siner = Pr. si-
gnar, senhar, senar = OSp. sefktr, Sp. signar =
It. segnare, < L. signare, mark, seal, indicate,
signify, < signum, a mark, sign : see sign, n. Cf .
Sfli'nl, derived through AS. from L. signare, and
thus a doublet of *('(/»(.] I. trans. 1. To mark
with a sign, either fixed or (as by a significant
motion) passing ; place a sign or distinguishing
mark upon; marli; specifically, to sign with
the cross. Compare sain^. [Archaic]
We receive this cliild into the congregation of Christ's
flock, and do sign him with the sign of the cross, in token
that hereafter he shall not be ashamed to confess the faith
of Christ crucified.
Book of Common Prayer, Baptism of Infants.
Nothing found here but stones, signed with brasse, iron,
and lead. Holland, tr. of Camden, p. 808. (Davies.)
Here thy hunters stand,
Sign'd in thy spoil. Shak., J. C, iii. 1. 206.
I perswade me that God was pleas'd with thir Restitu-
tion, signing it, as he did, with such a signal Victory.
MUton, Ruptures of the Commonwealth.
He kissed the ground and signed himself with the cross.
J. Gttirdner, Ricliard III., vl.
They . . . wore garments of black, sigjied with a white
crosse. Sandys, Travailes, p. 179.
2. To affix a signature to, as a writing of any
kind, a design or painting, or the like, for veri-
fication, attestation, or assent ; write one's name
upon, or something intended to represent one's
name, or (as by authorization or assumption)
that of another person : as, to sign bills or re-
ceipts with the employer's name and the writer's
initials; the plansweresiiynerf with a monogram.
A legal or other paper, a picture, etc., is said to be signed
if the person has written his own name or initials at any
requisite point in its course, or in the margin ; it is said
to be subscribed only if he has written this at the end.
This Hand of mine shall never be employ'd to tign any
Thing against your Good and Happiness.
Steele, Conscious Lovers, v. 1.
The deed is signed, and the land is mine.
Whittier, Mogg Megone, i.
3. To write as a signature : as, to sign one's own
or another's name to a letter.
In 1837 there were forty per cent of the men and sixty-
flve percent, of thewomen (in London) who could uottign
their own names. W. Betant, Fifty Years Ago, p. 78.
4. To affect by a binding signature; dispose of
by written assignment or release : with away
or off: as, to sign atray one's rights; to sign off
one's interest in a contract. — 5. To procure
the signature of, as to an agreement; engage
by the signing of a contract ; put under written
obligation. [Recent.]
The Athletics have ttgned a new player.
New York Evening Post, June 28, 1889.
6. To communicate by a sign ; make known
by a significant motion; signal, as with the
hand.
Prince John with his truncheon signed to the trumpets
to sound the onset. Scott, Ivanhoe, viii.
She answer'd, " These be secret things," and sign'd
To those two sons to pass and let them be.
Tennyson, Coming of Arthur.
7t. To give or show signs of; display in appear-
ance or manner ; betoken or distinguish by any
indication.
You sign your place and calling, in full seeming,
With meekness and humility.
Shak., Hen. Vin., il. 4. 108.
8t. To assign, as to a place or duty ; direct ; ap-
point; settle; fix.
In thilke place there ye me signe to be.
Court of Love, 1. 642.
H. in trans. 1. To write one's signature ; bind
one's self by a signature ; make a signed agree-
ment or statement: with an adverbial adjunct:
as, to sign off from drinking (that is, to sign the
temperance pledge). [According to Bartlett. to sign
of formerly meant in Connecticut to free one's self from
a parish tax l*y a written declaration of membersiiip of a
church other than that supported liy the commonwealth.]
One set of men signed on after having only seven hours'
absence from work.
St James's Qazetle, Sept 23, 188.5. (Encyc. Diet.)
2t. "To serve as a sign; have significance;
augur.
It [mysterious music) tigns well does it not?
Shak., A. and C, iv. 8. 14.
3. To make a sign or signs; gesture or point
significantly. [Rare.]
"Behold. '
I tigned above, where all the stars were out
Mrs. Browning, Aurora Leigh, viiL
signa
signa, ". Plural of si</iiu»i.
Signable(si'iia-bl),fl." [< kIiju + -able.] 1. Ca-
pable of being signed; requiring to be signed:
as, a deed signable by A. B. — 2. Capable of
signing. [Rare.]
I commit the paper to your discretion. If sifftuibie peo-
ple should fall in your way, or it unsignable, . , . use it.
Canning, To Malniesburyj Diaries and Correspondence,
[IV. 9t).
signal (sig'nal), a. and w. [< ME. signal, n., <
OF. signal, i^. signal = Pr. segnal, senhal, sei/nal
= Sp. seiUil = Pg. sinal = It. scgnale, signal, as
a noun a signal, = D. sigmtal = G. Svv. Dan.
signal, a signal, < SIL. "signalis, belonging to a
sign, neut. signale, a signal, < L. signum, a sign:
see sign. Ct. sefial.] I. a. 1. Constituting, or
serving as, a typical sign or index ; especially
conspicuous or noteworthy; strikingly uncom-
mon : as, a signal example ; a signal failure ; sig-
nal prosperity.
She is gon to receive the reward of her signal charity,
and all other her Christian graces.
Evelyn, Diary, Sept 9, 1678.
The ministers were told that the nation expected and
should have signal redress. Macaulay, Hist Eng., vi.
The state requires thy signal punishment
Landar, Iniag. Convers., Peter the Great and Alexis.
The instinct of the mind, the purpose of nature, betrays
itself in the use we make of the signal nairations of his-
tory. Emerson, History.
2. Of high grade or quality; eminent; great;
elevated: applied to persons and feelings.
[Rare.]
As signal now in low dejected state,
As erst in highest, behold him where he lies.
Milton, S. A., I. 33S.
The signal criminal suffered decently.
U. Walpole, quoted in N. and Q., 7th ser.. III. 416.
= &pL Conspicuous, extraordinary.
11. H. It. Sign; token; indication.
He rode him forth, and in his honde
He bore the signal of his londe.
Oouer, Conf. Amant, vi.
Meantime, in signal of my love to thee, . . .
Will I upon thy party wear this rose.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., ii. 4. 121.
The mercy of God hath singled out but few to be the
signals of his justice. Sir T. Brounie, Christ Mor., ii. 11.
2. A conventional or intelligible sign designed
for information or guidance ; an object dis-
etc.
5624 signal-service
is made to express various meanings.— On-shore sismalitT ('sie-nari-ti). i(. [< signal + -ity.'\
. ,,-,,., , iilngs-- On-shore signality (sig-nal'l-ti), n.
Signal, a s,gn,U fonnerly displayed «». lake ports by the ,^^1,, ^^.J'^^ W being signal; prom'inence; eii"-
nence ; importance.
Of the ways whereby they enquired and determined its
United States Signal-service as a warning to snuill vessels
when the wind was expected to blow in an on-shore di-
rection witli A velocity of from 20 to :i5 miles per hour.—
Signal Corps, a corps of the United States army charged
with the general signal-service of the army, with the erec-
tion, equipment, and management of Held-tckgraphs used . 1. /•/l-^ ,
with military forces in the field, with constructing and Signalize (Slg nal-lz), v.; pret. and pp. signal-
operating military telegraph-lines, and all other duties !-t(/, ppr. signalizing. [< signal + -('re] I.
signality,
causes.
the first waa natural, arising from physical
Sir T. Browne. (Latham.)
usually pertaining to military signaling. By act of Octo-
ber 1st, 1890, the Signal Corps consists of the chief signal
officer, one major, four captains (mounted), four first lieu-
tenants (mounted), and fifty sergeants.— Signal quarter-
master. See quartermaster.— Signal-service Bureau,
from 1871 to July 1st, 1891, a bureau of the United States
War Department, presided over by the cllief signal officer,
having cliarge of military signaling and military telegraph-
lines, and of the collection and comparison of meteoro-
logical observations, and the publication of predictions of
the weather based upon them. By act of October 1st, IslMi,
a Weatlier Bureau was created in the Department of Agri-
culture, and the meteorological duties devolving upon tlie
Signal-service Bureau were transferreti thereto. — Storm
signal, a red Hag with black center, hoisted by the United
States Weather Bureau at sea-coast and lake stations,
warning seamen to expect violent and dangerous gales.—
To repeat signals {naut.). See rc;>ca(.— Weather sig-
nal, a signal designed to give information of the character
of tlie approacliing weather ; especially, one announcing
the forecasts made by a weather-service.
signal (sig'nal), i\ ; pret. and pp. signaled or sig-
nalled, ppr. signaling or signalling. [< OF. si-
gnaler, seynaler, P. signaler = Pr. signalar = Sp.
seilalar= Pg. sinalar= It. segnalare ; from the
noun.] I. trans. 1. To mark with a sign.
Layard. {Imp. Diet.) — 2. To communicate or
make known by a signal or by signals: as, to
signal orders; a vessel signals its arrival. — 3.
To make signals to : as, the vessel signaled the
forts.
II. intrans. 1. To be a sign or omen. Imp.
IHct. — 2. To give a signal or signals; make
communication by signals.
We may conveniently divide circuits, so far as their gi(f.
nailing peculiarities are concerned, into five classes.
trans. 1. To make signal; render conspicu-
ously noteworthy; distinguish in a special or
exceptional manner: used of a person, refle.\-
ively, or of his actions, directly or indirectly:
as, to signalize one's self by great deeds or
great crimes; to signalize one's administration
by reformatory zeal.
A man's memory finds sufficient employment on such
as have really signalized themselves by their great actions.
Addimn, Ancient Medals, i.
He signalized himself by a very remarkable superiority
of genius. Goldsmith, Essay, Taste.
It is this passion which drives men to all the ways we
see in use of signalizing themselves. Burke.
2. To indicate or point out distinctly; make
special note or mention of; specialize. [Re-
cent.]
The MS. of the Roman de la Rose, the presence of which
in a private library in Boston was signalized by Prof. Al-
plionse van Daell. Armr. Jmir. Philol., X. 118.
Children cannot be suitably impressed with such "tre-
mendous ideas as evolution, " and therefore it is useless to
signalize these to them. Pop. Sci. Mo., XXVIII. 342.
3. To signal; make signals to; indicate by a
signal. [Now rare.] Imp. I>ict.
II. intrans. To make signals; hold commu-
nication by signals. [Now rare.]
Twelve oval metal disks, supposed by Wagner to have
been attached occasionally to the commander's staff in
signalizing. O'Curry, Anc. Irish, II. ixxv.
I sigruUized to the fleet Farragut, Life, p. 322.
Also spelled signalise.
London Philos. Mag., 5th ser., XXV. 209. signal-lamp (sig'nal-lamp).
They are signaling night and day from one of the half-
ruined towers of the capitol, by flag and fire.
J. K. Hosmer, Color-Guard, p. 76.
signal-book (sig'nal-buk), n. A book contain-
ing a system of signals, with explanations and
directions for their use.
A complete naval signal book comprehends therefore a
system of evolutionary tactics. Amer. Cyc, XV. 36.
A lamp by
I , , S^ -I'll w - - - - ajrotciii Ui. CPVi^iuiiiutiai J' t>itL; UlViO,
played, a motion made, a light shown, a sound . •■ , , -,,,,, x , » ,, ,
given out, or the like, for direction to or com- Slgnal-box (sig nal-boks), n. 1 A small house
munication with a person or persons (espe- or tower m which rail way-sigiials are worked,
ciallyat a distance) apprised of or able to rec- "^Z ^^"^ alarm-box of a police or fire-alarm
ognize its intended meaning: as, to hoist, system, or the like, usually affordmg a connec-
sound, or make
signals; a warning
tion with a pneumatic or electric system.
' est (sig'nal-ehest), n. A chei
(see signal-hook). "occasions for the use of formal '■'"""'.'' o" sWpboar5i;for,holding signal-flags
) a sianal ■ militarv'and naval *'°° ^^'^*'^ ^ pneumatic or elei
ling sif,na'l; a book of signals signal-chest (sig'nal-ehest)
.\ „ . , „ . . . locker on shipboard tor holdi
signals aI)ound particularly in military operations, navi-
gation, railroading, and telegraphing (especially by means
of semaphores) ; and the methods and devices employeil
are almost innumerable. See cut under semaphore.
Stir not until the signal. Shak., J. C, v. 1. 26.
Presently they gaue the signall to Remand Teillo, that
lay under the towne with his amimscado.
Coryat, Crudities, I. 21.
Ships that pass in the night, and speak each other in pass-
ing.
Only a signal shown, and a distant voice in the darkness.
Longfellow, Wayside Inn, Elizabetll, st iv.
3. An inciting action or movement; an exciting
signal-code (sig'nal-kod), n. A code or system
of arbitrary signals. See code of .signals, under
signal.
signaler, signaller (sig'nal-^r), n. One wlio
or that which makes signals ; a person or an
instrument employed in signaling. Elect. Rev.
(Eng.), XXVI. 83.
signaletic (sig-na-let'ik), a. [< F. signaUtique,
< signaler, signal: see signal, «).] Of or j)er-
taining to the algebraic signs plus and minus.
They are signaletic functions, indicating in what man-
ner . . . the roots of the one equation are intercalated
which signals maybe made, usually fitted with
a lantern and either moved in certain ways, or
combined with other lamps to form certain
groups, or arranged with glasses or slides of
different colors. White usually indicates safety, red
danger, and green caution ; buton the continent of Europe
green is a safety-signal, and also on some American rail-
ways.
signal-lantern (sig'nal-lan"tern), «. A lantern
with plain or colored glass, used in signaling.
Some have working slides which give flashes of light, the
durations of which and the intervals of time between
them correspond to determined meanings. Slides of col-
ored glass are also used to give combinations. See cut
under latdem.
A chest or signaller, «. See signaler.
signal-light (sig'nal-lit), n. A light, shown
especially at night, either alone or with others,
to make signals. Compare signal-lamp.
signally (sig'nal-i), adv. In a signal manner;
conspicuously; eminently; memorably: as,
their plot failed signalli/.
signalman (sig'nal-man), «.; pi. signalmen
(-men). One whose duty it is to convey intel-
ligence, notice, warning, or the like by means
of signals; a signaler; in nautical or military
service, one who makes signals and reads or
interprets the signals received; an expert in
signals.
cause; an initial impulse: as, this tyrannous among those of the other. Cffj/fcy, in .Nature, XXXIX. 218. signalment (sig'nal-ment), n. [< F. signale-
act was the sii/Hf/Z for insurrection. Signaletic ser' " - , . •■ v - - . , . _•
To see the truth first, and to act in accordance with it, ^f^"" '?'« ™7.; ,'. „i «,-,
has been for ages the sigrml for martyrdom. Slgnai-nre (,sig nai-iir;, n.
Signaletic series, a succession of terms considered solely
with reference to their signs as plus or minus.
' .' A fire intended for
a signal ; a beacon -fire. Signal-fires were formerly
often built on high points for the gathering of members
of a clan, tribe, or other organization for hostile or pred-
atory operations. They were also lighted on sea-coasts
for the guidance of vessels, and in semi-barbarous times
or places often as a lure for their destruction for the sake
of plunder. The earliest lighthouses were supplied with
signal-fires instead of lamps. Such fires, or rather the
dense columns of smoke made to arise from them, are still
largely in use for signaling purposes among the Korth
American Indians.
N. A. Rev., CXLII. .'539.
Bellows-signal, in organ-building, a mechanism, con-
trolled from a stop-knob, by which the player indicates to
the bellows-blower when to begin filling the bellows.—
Block-signal system. Same as block sygtem (which see,
under Woc*a)._ Break-signal, in teleg., a signal used to
separate different parts of a message. — Cautionary Sig-
nal, a yellow flag with white center, hoisted by the United
States Weather Bureau at sea-coast aTid lake stations when
winds are anticipated that will be dangerous to light craft
Code of Signals, a system of rules for communication
y means of signals, as between vessels at sea. ']
national Code of Signals for the Use of all Nations," a sig-
nal-book printed in the languages of all maritime countries,
assigns arbitrary meardngs to different arrangements of
flags or displays of lights, which arc thus intelligible to all
possessing the iKiok.— Cold-wave signal, a signal con-
sisting of a white flag six or eight feet square, with a black
center atiout two feet s<iuare, displayed by the United
States Weather Bureau when the temperature is expected . ■, -,■,■, ^
tofal|-20°K.ornioreintwenty-fourh«urs,andtobebelow40° Slgnal-glUl (slg nal-gun), n.
F.— Interlocking system of Signals. »fx interlock.— ' " •-.. -
Nautical signal, a signal serving as a means of communi-
cation between ves.sels at sea, or between a vessel and the
shore. It consists of flags of different colore for use in
the daytime, or of lanterns or flreworks at inght. The
various combinations of flags or of lanterns express each
some phrase or sentence that may be necessary in direct-
ing the movements of a fleet or a single vessel, answering
signals of other vessels, making known the wants of the
vessel displaying it, or simply for comnninicating infor-
mation. On a smaller scale, a single flag, by its position,
by means of signals, as between vessels at sea. The "Inter- Signal-flag (sig'nal-flag), n. A flag used in or
"""'^'" ' " adapted for signaling; especially, one of a set
of flags of different colors, shapes, and mark-
ings, which, singly or in various combinations,
have different significations, intelligible either
in one language or service, or in all languages.
See code of signals, under signal.
A gun fired as a
ment ; as signal + -ment.] 1. A making known
by signs or indications; specifically, a descrip-
tion by external marks or characteristics for
identification. [A Gallicism.]
The foiled police
Renounced me. "Could they find a girl and child?
No other signalment but girl and child ?
No data shown but noticeable eyes,
And hair in masses, low upon the brow?"
Mrs. Brmming, Aurora Leigh, vi.
That bit of DUrer . . . contains a true signalement of
every nut-tree and apple-tree and higher bit of hedge all
round that village. Ruskin, Elements of Drawing, i.
2. The act of signaling. Imp. Diet.
signal-officer (sig'nal-of ■'''i-ser), H. An officer in
the signal-service of an army; an officer of the
signal corps.- Chief signal okcer, an officer of the
United States army charged with the superintendence of
tlio Signal Corps. See Signal Corps, under signal.
signal-order (sig'iial-6r"der), «. An order re-
lating to the display of signals.
signal, or one especially used for firing signals, signal-post (sig'nal-post), n. A post or pole
Well, one day bang went the signal gun for sailing, and upon which movatile arms, flags, lights, or the
blew my day-dreams to the clouds. like are aiTanged, which may be displayed for
D. Jerrold, Retiring from Business, III. 2. the purpose of making signals.
Hark --peals the thunder of the «r7n<ii-i7«n.' Signal-rOCket (sig'nal-rok''et), n. A rocket
It told twas sunset Byron, Corsafr, i. 14. used as a signal "
signal-halyard (sig'nal-haFyiird), ». See Aai- signal-service (sig'nal-s*r"vis), «. 1. The
'/"'•'/. business of making or transmitting signals;
Signalise, v. See signalize. the occupation of signaling, especially in the
signal-service
army: as, to be assigned to signal-service. — 2.
An organization for the business of signaling.
See Signal Corps, under signal.
signal-tower (sig'nal-tou'fer), «. A tower from
which signals are set or displayed, as by a sema-
phore, or by any other means of transmitting
information or orders to a distance.
signatary (sig'na-ta-ri), ». and a. Same as
siijiiiitory.
signate (sig'nat), a. [< L. Mgnatus, pp. of sig-
nare, mark, sign: seest<7n,t'.] 1. Designate; de-
terminate.— 2. In en faw»., having irregular spots
or marks resembling letters; lettered signate
individual, a definitely designated individual.— Slgnate
matter IL. materia tignata, a term of St. Thomaa Aqui-
nas). See inaa«-.— Signate predication. Seejn-edico-
tion.
8ignation(8ig-na'shou),H. [< \j\j. signatio(n-),
a marking, < L. signare, mark, sign: see sign.\
That which is used as a token or sign ; a be-
tokenment; an emblem.
A horeesboe Baptista Porta hatb thought too low a ag-
nation to be raised unto a lunary representation.
Sir T. Browne. (LatAam.)
signatory (sig'na-to-ri), n. and a. [< L. signa-
torius, pertaining to sealing, < signare, pp. sig-
na<u«, mark, sign: see sign.] I. n.; -pi. signa-
tories (-riz). One who is bound by signature to
the terms of an agreement ; speeificaUy, a party
or state bound jointly with several others by
the signing of a public treaty or convention.
The greater the humiliation, too, (or Russia, the more
necessary it was for the other agnatoria to avoid . . .
breaches of the treaty of 1856.
The Xation, XoT. 24, lg70, p. S46.
n. a. 1. Pertaining to or used in sealing:
as, a signatori/ ring. Bailey. [Rare or un-
used.]— 2. That has signed, or signed and
sealed; bound by signature and seal, as to
the terms of a contract or agreement: used
specifically, in the phrase signatory poteers, of
5625
significancy
of goods for sale, or of warning against tres-
pass.
No swinging giyn-hoard creaked from cottage elm
To stay his steps with faintness overcome.
Wordtworth, Guilt and Sorrow, st 16.
Seek out for plants with tfiffnaiure$.
To quack of universal cures.
S. Butter, Hudibraa, III. i. 328.
They believed, for example, that the plant called Jew's-
ear, which does bear a certain resemblance to the human
ear, was a useful cure for diseases of that organ. This . , _, . .
doctrine of nt^nahjrfw, as it was called, exercised an enor- Signer (SJ ner), n. [< sign + -erl.] One who
mous influence on the medicine of the time. signs ; specifically, one who writes his name as
W. K. aigord. Lectures, 1. 130. a signature : as, the signer of a letter ; to get
3. The name of a person, or something used signers to a petition; the signers of the Decla-
as representing his name, affixed or appended ration of Independence.
to a writing or the like, either by himself or by signet (sig'net), n. [= D. G. Sw. Dan. signet,
deputy, as a verification, authentication, or as- < F. signet, a signet, seal, stamp, 0¥. sinet.
sent (as to a petition or a pledge). The initials,
the first or familiar name by which one is known, or the
mark or sign of the cross, and the like, if affixed by tlie
person for that purpose, is a legal signature. A British
peer uses his title as signature: thus, the Marquis of
Salisbury signs himself simply "Salisbury." Prelates of
the Church of England adopt signatures from the Latin-
ized designations of their sees : thus, the Archbishop of
Canterbury (E. W. Benson) signs himself "E. W. Can-
tuar."; the Bishop of Oxford (W. Stubbs), "W. Oxon."
See rign, v. t, 2, 3.
4. In Scots law, a writing formerly prepared and
presented by a writer to the signet to the baron
of exchequer, as the ground of a royal grant
to the person in whose name it was presented.
This, having in the case of an original charter the sign
manual of the sovereign, an<l in other cases the cachet
appointed by the act of union for Scotland, attached to it,
became the warrant of a conveyance under one or other
of the seals, according to the nature of the subject or the
object In view. Irnp. Diet.
6. A letter or figure placed by the printer at
the foot of the first page of every section or
gathering of a book. The letters begin with A. the fig-
ures with 1, and follow in regular order on succeeding sec*
tions. They are intended to aid the binder in folding, col-
lating, and arranging the sections consecutively. In early
printed books the signature-mark was often repeated on
signet = Pr. signet = Pg. sinete = It. segnetto,
< ML. signetum, dim. of L. signum, a sign, token :
see sign.] 1. A seal, especially a private seal,
used instead of signing the name, or in addition
to it, for verification of papers or the like. The
signet in Scotland is a seal by which royal warrants con-
nected with the administration of justice were formerly
authenticated. Hence the title of trriters to the gignet or
derks of the Hgnel, a class of legal practitioners in Edin-
burgh who formerly had important privileges, which are
now nearly abolished. They act generally as agents or
attorneys in conducting causes before the Court of Ses-
sion. In English administration the signet is one of the
seals for the authentication of royal grants, which before
the abolition of the signet-ofllce in 1848 was there affixed
to documents before passing the privy seal, but it is not
now required.
I had my father's gignet in my purse,
Which was the model of that Danish seal.
Shak., Hamlet, v. 2. 49.
2. The stamp of a signet; an impression made
by or as if by a signet.
"But will my lord's commands bear us out if we use
violence?" " Tush, man ! here is his signet," answered
Vamey. Scott, Kenilworth, xli.
Ye shrink from the ngnet of care on my brow.
Bryant, 1 cannot forget.
the 3d, 5th, and 7tb pages of a section of 16 pages as an aiirntitMi rRic'net-edl n r< sinnet A- prf2 1
additional safeguard for the folder : as, A on iVt page, A 1 »i8ne>'eO (8ig net-ea;, a. \S signet + -ed^.J
on 3d, A U on 5th. and A Iv on 7th page? This pmSke has stamped or marked with a signet.
I>een discontinued except for otfcuts of 12moe, which have Signet-ling (sig'net-ring), n. A seal-ring the
^e tlgnatore repeated. seal of which is a signet, or private seal.
e sovereign parties to a general treaty or con- Hence— S. A sheet; especially, in bookbind- signifert (sig'ni-f6r), n. [< ML. signifer, the zo
yention, as that of Paris in 1856, or that of Ber-
Un in 1878.
A European Comnilwlan, In which the tignatary pmotrt
were to be represented each by one delegate, was to be
charged with executing the necessary woAs tor clearing
the moathi o( the baniibe.
E. Sekvyter, Amer. Diplomacy, p. 352.
Her majesty's government ... are compelled to place
on record their view that it [the action of the Bn«.i.n
Kovemment as to Batoum] constitutes a violation otthe
Treaty of Berlin unsanctioned by the rignatory Pow»r$.
British Blue Book, Aug. 21, 188&
signature (sig'na-tur), n. [< F. signature = 8p.
signatura = Pg! aJs-signatura = It. segnatura,
< ML. signatura, signature, a rescript, < L.
signare, sign: see *h/ii.] 1. A distinguishing
sign, mark, or manifestation; an indicative
appearance or characteristic, either physical
or mental ; a condition or quality significant
of something: as, the signatures of a person's
temperament seen in his face. [Formerly used
with much latitude, but now archaic or tech-
nical.]
It Is . . . impossible that the universal and abatract in-
telligible Ideas of the mind, or essences of things, should
be mete stamps or lignaturei Impressed upon the soul In
a gross corporeal manner.
Cudmirth, Eternal and Immutable Morality, IV. UL 1 13.
It pleased God to bind man by lite ilmature of laws to
obsenre tbose great natural reasons without which man
could not arrive at the great end at God's designing.
Jtr. Taylor, Great Exemplar, Pref, p. 9.
They Instantly discover a merciful aspect, and will sin-
gle out a face wherein thnr spy the sanation and mark*
of meroy. Sir T. Bmmt, Eeliglo Iledlel, U. 2.
ers' use, a sheet after it has been folded and
is ready to be gathered. — 7. In musical nota-
tion, the signs placed at the beginning of a staff
to indicate the key (tonality) and the rhythm of
a piece. The- tenn properly Includes the clef (which
see), since It determines the form of the key-signature
diac,< L.*i^»»/"cr,sign-bearing,starry,< sf'j/nMOT,
a mark or token, +ferre, bear, carry.] The zo-
diac. [A common word with the old astrono-
mers.]
Sign\fer his candels sheweth brighte.
Chaucer, Troilua, v. 1020.
keyboard that are to be used : thebr number and posllii
show also the position of the key-note. The key-signa-
ture of a minor key I* the same as that of its relative
major key. A key-signatore made up of sharps Is called a
ikarp lignature; one made up of flats Is called aylat >ig-
nature. The key-signature may be altered In the course
of the piece. In this case a heavy liar Is inserted, and
the sharps or flats that are not to continue in force are
nuUlfled by cancels (naturals) prefixed to the new signa-
ture. The keyslgnatnres most in use with the common
0 and F clefs sre as follows :
The key-signature oonslsta of sharps or flats phiced upon Rijmifiahlfi Csiir'Tii fi n hn n r< stinnH;, + ..nhl,' 1
the degrees corresponding to the bUwk digitals of the S^ma.Die(S\(^ m-n-Or-Ol), a. l<.signtjy + -able.]
■-—•—-■-'--• -^ .... . •» . .. That may be signified ; capable of being repre-
sented by signs or symbols.
Now what is it that is directly tigni/iable in the world
about us? Evidently, the separate acts and qualities of
sensible objects, and nothing else.
WhU)iey, in Encyc. Brit., XVni. 768.
signiflancet, n. [ME. signifiaunce, signefiance,
< OF. signifiance: see significance.] Same as
significance.
A straw for alle swevenes [dreams'] tignifiaunce !
Chaucer, Troilus, v. S62.
And thus ye may knowe whlche were gode men and
worthy, whan ye se the nignifiaunee of the voyde place.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.X i. 60
significance (sig-nif'i-kans), H. [< OF. signifi-
cance, a later form, partly conformed to the
L., of signifiance, segnifiancc, senefiance (> ME.
signifiaunce, signefiance) = Pr. signifiama, sig-
nificansa = It. significama, < L. significantia,
meaning, force, energy, significance, < signifi-
can(t-)s, meaning, significant: see significant.]
1. That which is signified; purport; covert
sense ; real or implied meaning ; that which
may be inferred in regard to any state of things
from any circumstance : as, the significance of a
, . .,„. „ Some slight variations in the above forms occur. (See metaphor, of a chance remark, of a look, of be-
He (the psychologist) recognises In Ouallty a nrlmarv *»l'l. '»J'-«^y™»*«". and aireU o/keyt (under circle^) The havior.— 2. Importance ; more strictly, Lmpor-
fact of Keeling, and In Quantity a (undamenUl t&nature rythmical signature, or tlme-stenature, consisU of two tance as significative of something interesting,
of Feeling. i^ ngnamre numerals, the upper of which Indicates the number of >,ut also freaueutlv imnortance as ftiTpi.tin<J
0. H Uvk. Probs. of Life and Mind II ii s -ii Principal beata in the measure, and the lower the kind "™' ."'SO, rrequeutiy, imponance as anecting
.„ ,, ^7" ™^ "" *"°''' "• "■ ' ^^' of note chosen to represent one such beat (See rhythm, considerable interests: as, the great significance
Hpeeincally — 2. An external natural marking and rAytArafcoJ swnattirs (under rAyeAmioiZ).) The kcy-
upon, or a symbolical appearance or character- a'gnature is usually repeated at the beginning of every
istic of, a plant, mineral, or other object or sub- -""-* ' *"" ""* ""hyhmlcal signature U given but once.
-9 1
r* — 1
ft
,if, ,
,<_», 1
rMa-t-.
t
i
^rf~
^
J^
«J C major.
A minor.
(3 maj.
Emia.
D m^.
Bmin.
K min.
E maj.
Kmin.
B maj.
QSmin.
F? maj.
DfmiD.
&
-»—
^
V-
^E
4#=
4i^
8. In entom., a mark resembling a letter; one
of the marks of a signate surface.
signaturet (sig'na-tur), V. t. [< signature, n.]
To mark out; distinguish.
Those who, by the order of Providence and situation of
life, have t>een tignatured to intellectual professions.
O. CVyn«, Eegimen, p. 30. (Latham.)
"^'S^^)~;*^°''*I^''^*"i^*<^,"t"^ signature-line (sig'na-tur-lin), «. U priming, ^;
SL-'^ffir^Ti^'fl^^^^Si'i^rXl^^ tt line at the bottom- o7 the page in wWth*^; Zi
Uto cMtd tign, leai, md alga. signature-mark is platted.
Some also, pretending themselnes Natures IMnclpall Signature-mark (sig'na-tur-mark), n. Same
Secretaries, hane found out [in certain plants) . . . Si'j- "s Kiijiintnrr. 5.
Stance, formerly supposed by the Paracelsians
(and still by some ignorant persons) to in-
dicate its special medicinal quality or appro-
priate use. The medical theory based upon this con-
ception, known as the doctrine nf ttgnaturet, took note of
color (a* yellow flowers for jaundice and the bloodstone
for hemorrfaageX shape (as that of the roots of mandrake
of many small things.
All their endeavours, either of persuasion or force, are
of little tigni/leanee. Bacon, Moral Fables, v., ExpL
The Rubicon, we know, was a very insignificant strL-am
to look at ; its eigniftcance lay enthely In certain invisible
conditions. Qearge Etiot, Middlemarch, Ixxxii.
You never know what life means till you die :
Even throughout life, 'tis death that makes life live.
Gives it wliatever the ngnificaiice.
Brou'ning, Ring and Book, II. 304.
3. The character of being si^ificant; force
meaning ; distinct signification ; expressive-
ness. =8yn. Significance Signification, Meaning. Mean-
ing Is the most general ; it may apply to persons, but not
the other words; as, what was his meaning? Signilica-
tion la closer than ngni/icance ; nignijicance is especially
notuTM of Natures owne Impression, fitted to their seueril signatUllst (sig'na-tur-ist), n. f< signature + the quality of signifying something, while «Vni/ica(»on is
and speoiall vses In Physlcke. Purchae, Pilgrimage, p. 505. Ztt 1 One who ha\Ak to the doctrine of siimii. KeneraUy that which is signified : as, he attached a great
plS?S"i'^e°sr'?rfl'"''''''^''"'i,r'''-;H"'";;''''- •'"!,■ turi sTeifJr«2°XT^^^^^ dea^of^.>,.a„«t«th,sfact;whatisthe^^.>Jc«tio„
pies that wear the flgure or resemblance (by them termed v,-^ a r ' "*b- ui u,^. u. i
•towrtHTB) of a distempered part are medicinal for that f'"^- "• "• . ,. . , . ,^ , Signiflcancy (sig-nif i-kan-8i), ». [Aa stgnifi-
part of tbatlnflrmlty whose ^onadire they bear. Slgn-DOara (sin bord), n. A board on which cance (s<ee -cy).] iia,me aB significance : chiefly
BoyU, S^le of the Holy Scriptures, a notice is fixed, as of one's place of business, in sense 3 of that word.
significancy
5626
I have been ailmirinn the wonderful sirrnificaticy of that
wonl persecution, and wiiat vallous iuterpretjitions it hath
acquired. Stt\ft, Letter concerning the Sacramental Test.
significant (sig-uif i-kaut), a. and n. [= OF.
*si<jiiijia>it = Sp. Pg. It.' sifltiijicantc, < L. dgiiiii-
eaM(t-)s, ppr. of signijicare, show by signs, in-
dicate, signify: see signify.'] I. n. 1. Signify-
ing something; conveying a meaning; having
a purport ; expressive ; implj-ing some charac-
ter, and not merely denotative : as, a significant sipiiflcatively (sig-nif
word or sound.— 2. Serving as a sign or indi- =■"••;*"•<•<;'"> m!.,„iov
cation; having a special or covert meaning;
suggestive ; meaning : as, a significan t gesture ;
a siynificaiil look.
To add to religious duties such rites and ceremonies as
are significant Is to institute new sacraments.
Hooker. (Johngon.)
In the creation it was part of the office of the sun and
moon to be gignijicative ; he created tliem for signs as well
as for seasons. Donne, Sennons, ii.
2. Significant; serving as a premise from wliicli
some state of things may be inferred; convey-
ing a covert meaning.
On the night of the 8th of September, Egmont received
another most siffnificative and mysterious warning.
Motley, Dutch Republic, II. 122.
ka-tiv-li), «(/(■. In a
sTgniticative manner; so as to represent, ex-
press, or convey by an external sign or indica-
tion.
This sentence must either be taken tropically, th^
bread may be the body of Christ nynijicatively, or else it
is plainly absurd and impossible.
Abp. Umher, Ans. to a Challenge made by a Jesuit, iii.
sike
Pray you siffnifv
Unto your patron I am here.
B, Jonson, Volpone, iiL 2.
5t. To exhibit as a sign or representation;
make as a similitude.
The picture of the greatest of them is si^jnijied in the
Mappe. Capt. John Smith, Worlts, 1. 120.
= Syn. To manifest, intimate, denote, imply, indicate.
II. intrans. To have import or meaning ; be
of consequence; matter.
Well, and pray now— not that it«t<7)i(/ie« — what might
the gentleman say? Sheridan, The Critic, L 1.
Reuben Butler! he hasna in his pouch the value o' the
auld blacli coat he weais — but it disna signify.
Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xxvL
We ask for long life, but 'tis deep life, or grand moments,
that siynify. Einerson, Works and Days.
He [Drummond] lived and died, in t\K siijiaficant Ian- SignificativenesS (sig-nif 'i-ka-tiv-nes), «. The signifying (sig'ni-fi-ing).j). a. Having expres-
gnage of one of his countrymen, a bad Christian, but a
good Protestant -Vooiu/oi/, Hist. Eng., vi.
3. Important; notable; weighty; more strict-
ly, important for what it indicates, but also,
often, important in its consequences : opposed
to insignificant: as, a significant event.
Arsenic acid can be evaporated even to dryness in pres-
ence of hydi-ochloric acid without danger of mjnificant vol-
atilization. Amer. Jirnr. Sci., 3d ser., XL. 66.
Significant figures, the succession of figures in the or-
dinary notation of a number neglecting all the ciphers
between the decimal point and the figure not a cipher
nearest to the decimal point.
II. «. That which is significant; a meaning,
sign, or indication. [Rare.]
Since you are tongue-tied and so loath to speak,
In dumb siffniticants proclaim your thoughts.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., IL 4. 26.
In my glass siijnificants there are
Of things that may to gladness turn this weeping.
Wurdxworth, The Egyptian Maid.
significantly (sig-nif'i-kant-li), adv. In a sig-
nitieaut manner; so as to convey meaning or
q~uality of being significative. Westminster Bev
signiflcator (sig-nif'i-ka-tor), n. [= F. signifi-
catciir = Sp. Pg. significador = It. significatorc,
< ML. signiticator, < L. signifieare, signify: see
signifj/.] One who or that which signifies or
makes known by words, signs, etc. ; in astrol.,
specifically, a planet ruling a house ; espeeiall.y,
the loi-d of the ascendant (which is the signifi-
cmtorof life); the apheta. See the quotation.
The planet which is lord of the house which rules the
matter inquired after is the significat&r of the quesited ■
the lord of the ascendant is the general signijicator of thi
querent. W. Lilly, Introd. to Astrol., App., p. 344.
Significatory (sig-nif'i-ka-to-ri), a. and «. [=
It. -sii/nificdtorio, < LL. significatorius, denoting,
signifying,< L. signifieare, signify: see signify.^
I. a. Having signification or meaning; signifi-
cant or significative. [Rare.] Imp. IMct.
II. «.; -pi. significatories (-Tiz). That which
betokens, signifies, or represents.
Here is a double significatory of the spirit, a word and a
sign. Jer. Taylor.
signification; meaningly; expressively; so as signiflcavit (sig"ni-fi-ka'vit), n. [< L,. signifi
to signify more than merely appears,
Significate (sig-nif'i-kat), n. [= It. significato,
< L. signifieatus, pp. of signifieare, show by
signs, indicate : see signify.'] In logic, one of
several characters (less properly also objects)
signified by a common term.
"All tyrants are miserable," *'no miser is rich," are
universal propositions, and their subjects are, therefore,
said to be distributed, being understood to stand, each,
for the whole of its significates: but "some islands are
fertile," "all tyrants are not assassinated," are particu-
lar, and their subjects, consequently, not distrilnited, be-
ing taken to stand for a part only of their significates.
Whately, Logic, II. ii. § 1.
Formal Significate. See. formal.
signification (sig"ni-fi-ka'shon),n. [< ME. sig-
nificacion, significacioun, < OF. significacion,
signification, F. signification = Pr. significatio =
Sp. significacion = Pg. significaqao = It. signifi-
cazione, < L. significatio(n-), a signifying, indi-
cation, expression, sign, token, meaning, em-
phasis, < signifieare, pp. signifieatus, mean, sig-
nify: see signify.'] 1. The act of signifying
or making known ; expression or indication of
meaning in any manner. [Rare.]
All speaking or signification of one's mind implies an aet
or address of one man to another. South.
2. A fact as signified; an established or intend-
ed meaning ; the import of anything by which
thought is or may be communicated ; connota-
tion, or logical comprehension; implication;
sense: as, the signification of a word or a ges-
ture; the significations of mathematical and
other conventional signs.
Words in their primary . . . signification stand for no-
thing but the ideas in the mind of hnn that uses them.
Locke, Human Understanding, III. ii. 2.
3t. Significance; occult meaning; a fact as in-
ferable from a phenomenon of which it is said
to be the signification.
Neuertheles, the dragon had grete significacion in hym-
self, fifor it be-tokened the kynge Arthur and his power.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 393.
4. Importance; consequence; significant im-
port. Ualliivell. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
Therefore send after alle the gode men of the londe to
se the bataile, for it hath grete significacion.
Merlin (E.%.T. a.), i.S8.
5. In French-Canadian lata, the act of giving
notice; notification Formal si^fnlficatlon. see
fomuU. =Syn. 2. Meaning, etc. See significance.
significative (sig-nif i-ka-tiv), a. [< F. sig7iifi-
catif = Sp. Pg. It. significatiro, < LL. significa-
tivus, denoting, signifying, < L. signifieare, pp.
signi^catus, mean, signify: see signify.] 1.
Serving as an external sign or symbol of some
fact; having a representative signification; in-
tentionally suggestive and almost declaratory;
showing forth an internal meaning.
sive force ; significant. [Rare.]
If the words be but becoming, and signifying, and the
sense gentle, there is juice; but where that wanteth, the
language is thin, flagging, poor, starved.
B. Jonson, Discoveries.
signinum (sig-ni'num), n. [L., abbr. of opni
tUgninum, 'work of Signia'; neut. of Signinus,
of Signia, < Signia, an ancient town in Latium,
now Scgni.] See o))ns signinum, under opus.
signior, ". See signor.
me sigmjicaior oi iiie quesiuju ; sieiiiorize, V. See seiqniorize.
t is the general significator of the gil^ jp^y t, « . See seigniory.
signless (sin'les), a. [< sign + -less.] 1. Mak-
ing no sign or manifestation; quiet; passive.
[Bare.]
Poems . . .
Which moved me in secret, as the sap is moved
In still March l)ranches, signless as a stone.
Mrs. Browning, Aurora Leigh, vilL
2. Having no algebraical sign, or being essen-
tially positive, like the modulus of an imagi-
nary, a tensor, etc.
Matter or mass is signless.
H. Farguhar, in Science, III. 700.
signor (se'nyor), n. [Also signior, signorc ;
< It. signore,"s\T, a lord, = Sp. seHor = Pg.
senhor = F. seigneur : see senior, seignior, sire,
sir, seUor.] 1. An Italian lord or gentleman:
specifically, a member of a class or body of
ruling magistrates or senators in one of the
old Italian republics.
Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors,
My very noble and approved good masters.
Sliak., Othello, i. 3. 77.
The legislative authority of Genoa is lodged in the great
senate, consisting of sign&rs. J. Adams, Works, IV. 346.
Hence — 2. A lord or gentleman in general ; a
man of aristocratic rank or associations.
I have all that 's requisite
To the making up of a signior.
Massinger, Great Duke of Florence, iiL 1.
3. [cap.] An Italian title of respect or address
for a man, contracted from Signore before a
name, equivalent to Scfior in Spanish, Senlior
in Portuguese, Monsieur or il. in French, Mis-
t.er or Mr. in English, Herr in German, etc.
Signora (se-nyo'ra), »(. [< It. signora, a lady,
fem. of signorc; = Sp. sefiora = Pg. senhora:
see signor.] An Italian title of address or re-
spect for a woman, equivalent to Madam, Mrs.
Signorina (se-nyo-re'na), n. [It., a young lady,
miss; dim. of s/f/HOra: see Signora.] An Italian
title of respect for a young woman, equivalent
to Miss in English, Mademoiselle inFrench, etc.
cavif, 3d pers. sing. perf. ind. of signifieare,
signify: see signify.] In ecclcs. law, a writ, now
obsolete, issuing out of Chancery upon certifi-
cate given by the ordinary of a man s standing
excommunicate by the space of forty days, for
the keeping of him in prison till he submit him-
self to the authority of the church: so called
from the first word of the body of the writ.
lyiiarton.
If it be for defect of apparance, take me out a special
significavit. Middleton, The Phoenix, ii. 3.
Signifier (sig'ni-fi-er), n. One who or that which
signifies, indicates, or makes known.
In peace he [King Edwin of Northumberland] was pre-
ceded by his signifier. Preble, Hist. Flag, p. 12*2.
signify (sig'ni-fi), v. ; pret. and pp. .signified, ppr.
signifying. [< ME. signifien, signefien, sygnyfyen,
sinifien, < OF. signifier, F. signifier = Pr. signi-
ficar, signifiar = Sp. Pg. significar = It. signifi-
eare, < L. signifieare, show by signs, signify,
mean, < signum, a sign, + facere, make : see sign
and fact.'] I. trans. 1. To be a sign or token
of (a fact or pretended fact); represent or sug-
gest, either naturally or conventionally; be-
token; mean.
• What thing that signe suld signify.
Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.\ p. 89.
Let him have some plaster, or some loam, or some rough-
cast about bim, to signify wall. Shak., M. N. D., iii. 1. 71.
It is a great mercy, that signifies a final and universal
acquittance. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 664.
The olde Greeke word [cocytus] which signifieth tokeepe giimoryt (se'nj'or-i), TO. See seigniory
Corj/aJ, Crudities, L 86. „,-5„.nX{T.t.er Csin'nan
a noyse.
•John the Baptist is call'd an Angel, which in Greeke sig-
nifies a Messenger. Milton, On I)ef. of Humb. Remonst.
Happiness signifies a gi-atified state of all the faculties.
H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 15.
2. To import, in the Paracelsian sense. See
signature, 2.
Then took he up his garland, and did shew
What every flower, as country-people hold
Did signify.
sign-painter (siu'pan'ter), n. A painter of
signs for tradesmen, etc.
sign-post (sin'post), n. A post holding a sign.
Specifically— (a) A post having an arm from which a sign
hangs or swings, as before a tavern, (h) A guide-jxist.
He |the comic man] turned round signposts and made
them point the wrong way, in order to send people
whither they did not wish to go.
W. Besant, Fifty Years Ago, p. 100.
Beau, and Fl., Philaster, L 2. gign-Symbol (sin'sim"bol), n. A symbol denot-
ing a row or matrix of plus and minus signs.
signum (sig'num), 1).; pi, signa (-nil) [L.. a
mark, sign : see sign.] In Saxon law, a cross pre-
fixed to a charter or deed as evidence of assent.
Sigterite (sig't^r-it), «. A silicate of alumin-
ium and sodium, corresponding in composi-
tion to an anhydrous natrolite. In physical char-
acters it is allied to the feldspars. It occurs in granular
form in elaiolite-syenite in the island of Sigtero in the
I.ange8undflord, southern Norway.
Sikt, a. A Middle English foi'm of siel-^.
Sika (se'kii), II. A kind of deer found in Japan.
'" ' ' '" [Sc. also syle, syk, < ME. .sfA'c,
^ sic, sieh (Somner), a furrow,
gutter, rivulet, but < Icel. s«7', mod. sil-i, a ditch,
trench ; prob. connected with AS. sigon, E. sie,
3. To import relatively; have the purport or
bearing of; matter in regard to (something ex-
pressed or implied) : as, that signifies little or
nothing to us ; it signifies much.
Why should their [the Sadducees'] opposition signifie
any thing against so full a stream miming down from the
first and purest Antiquity? Stillingjleet, Sermons, II. i.
Pshaw I — what signifies kneeling, when you know I
must have you ? Sheridan, The Rivals, iv. 2.
4. To make known by signs, speech, or action ;
communicate ; give notice of ; aimounce ; de-
^ ^^^' sikei (sik) n [
Then Paul . . . entered into the temple, to signify the ~~y, __/'/• 'a a
accomplishmentof the days of purification. Actsxxii. 26. proo. uoi \ Jio.
He sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant
John. Rev. L 1.
site 5627
A small stream silenal (si-le'nal), a. Typified by the genus
A marshy hot- Sileiie : as, the silenal alliance. LindUy.
[Scotch and silence (si'lens), n. [< ME. silence, sylence, <
OF. (and F.) silence = Pr. silenci, m., silencia,
f ., = Sp. Pg. silencio = It. silenzio, < L. silentiutn,
a being silent, silence. < silen(t-)s, silent: see
silent. "j 1. The state of being or keeping si-
lent; forbearance or restraint of so<md; absti-
nience from speech or other noise; muteness;
reticence : as, to listen in silence; the chairman
rapped for silence.
Be check'd for silence.
But never tax'd for speech.
Shak., All's WeU, i. 1. 76.
At one end of the table sat Longfellow, . . . whose «-
lewe was better than many another man's conversation.
0. W. Holmes, Emerson, viii.
2. Absence of sound or noise ; general stillness
within the range or the power of hearing: as,
the silence of midnight ; the silence of the tomb.
The nif;ht'8 dead silence
Will well become such sweet-complaining grievance.
Shak., T. G. of V., iil. 2. 85.
A silence soon pervaded the camp, as deep as that which
reigned In the vast forest by whicli it was environed.
J. F. Cooper, Last of Mohicans, i.
3. Absence of mention : as, the siTfiicc of Scrip-
ture (on a particular subject); oblivion; ob-
scurity.
Eternal »a«i« be their doom. Jf i((en, P. L., vi. 386.
A few more days, and this essay will follow the Defen-
gio Populi to the dust and silence of the upper shelf.
Maeaulay, Milton.
4. In distilled spirits, want of flavor and odor;
flatness; deadness. See silent spirit, under si-
lent. [Rare.]
The Scotch manufacturer may, If he will, employ dam-
aged grain, potatoes, molasses refuse, and various other
waste products to yield the silent spirit, since, owing to
its silence, there is no possibility of detecting afterwards
from what source it has been obtained.
Spans' Bncyc. Uanxtf., I. 229.
6. In mnsic, same as rex/l, 8 — Amyclsean al-
ienee. See Amydmm.—'tarwVT of silence, a tower,
generally built about 25 feet high, on wliii h tlie I'arseca
sw, fall, sink: see si>l,,*i(7.] 1.
of water: a rill; a gutter. — 2.
tom with a small stream in it
North. Eng. in botli uses.]
Sike'^t, ('• and n. A Middle English form of
sifih^.
8ike'*t, c A Middle English form of sicil.
sikert, sikerlyt sikernesst. Middle English
snelliiigs of sicker, sickcrly, sickerness.
SUJl (sek), «. [Formerly also Seikh, Seekh,
.Seek, Sicque, Syc, Syki. Sikc: < Hind. Sikh, lit. 'a
disciple.' the distinctive name of the disciples
of Nanak Shah, who founded the sect.] Amem-
ber of a politico-religious community of India,
founded near Lahore about 1500 as a sect based
on the principles of monotheism and human
brotherhood. I'nder their hereditap' theocratic chiefs
the Sikhs were organized into a political and military
force, and in the eighteenth century formed a confedera-
tion of states in the Punjab, collectively called Khalsa;
their power was greatly developed in the beginning of
the nineteenth century by Runjeet Singh. The Punjab
was atmeied to British India in 1849, after the two .iikh
wars i>f 184i>-0 and 1*18-9.
Sikhism (se'kizm), n. [< Sikh (seedef.) + -ism.]
The religious system and practices of the
Sikhs, as taught in the Sikh Scriptures, the
" Adi-Granth,'' compiled by the immediate suc-
cessors of Nanak, their founder. The system
embodies an attempt to combine the leading
doctrines of Brahmanism and Mohammedan-
ism.
siklatont, ". A variant of ciclaton.
Sikyonian, «. Same as Sieyonian.
Sil (sil), w. [= F. Rp. sil, < L. sil, a kind of
yellowish earth.] A kind of yellowish earth
used as a pigment by ancient painters ; yellow
ocher Sil atticum, an ancient name for red ocher.
silage (si'laj), n. [< silo + ■agc.'i Feed for
cattle prepared by treatment in a silo; ensi-
lage. [Recent.]
.Many agricnltnrists . . . have not the least doubt as
to the superiority of silage over hay.
Xature, XXXVII. 212.
silage (si'laj), r. t. ; pret. and pp. siUiged, ppr.
silaf/ing. (< silage, ».] To make silage of;
treat in a silo. [Recent.]
Any grass In excess of the requirements of the stock
could be tOagvd. The Field, Dec. 19,1885. (Bneue. Diet)
Silaus (si'la-us), «. [NL. (Besser, 1820), < L.
aiUius, an umbelliferous plant, said to be Apium
graceolens.l A genus of i)olvpetalous plants,
of the order I'mbelliferx and tribe Scselinesp,
closely allied to the lovage {Ligustieum), and
distinguished by its yellowish flowers and in-
conspicuous or obsolete oil-tulies. The two spe-
cies are natives of Europe and Sil>eria. Tliey are smooth
perennials, bearing pinnately decompound leaves with
the segments narrow and entire, and compound uml>els
with involucels of many small bractlets, but the bracts of
the involucre are only one or two or abseut. For S. pro-
tensis, sec meadow-sax^/rage,
silch, ». Same as sealgh. [Scotch.]
Silel (sil), r. [Formerly also syle; < ME. silen,
sylen, < MLG. silen, LG. silen, sielen = G. xirlen,
let off water, filter, = Sw. -Hla, filter; with freq.
formative -I, from the- simple verb seen in AS.
'sihan, sedn, etc., let fall, drip, etc.: see «€'.
Cf. silt.'] I. trans. To strain, as milk ; pass
through a strainer or anything similar ; filter.
[Old and prov. Eng.]
Tho euwere thurgh towelle syles clene.
Ills water into tho liaasyngea shene.
Babeet Book (E. R T. S.X p. 322.
n. intrans. 1. To flow down; drop; fall;
sink. [Old and prov. Eng.]
The kyng for that care coldit at his hert,
And siket full sore with sylyng of teris.
Dettnutim qf Troy (8. E. T. 8.X L 1307.
2t. To settle down; compose or calm one's
self.
Than [they] oyien to sttte vppon sllke wedii,
Hadyn wyn for to wale A wordes ynow.
DetrucUtm <if Troy (E. E. T. S.X L 372.
3t. To pass ; go.
Jason full instly and Joly knightes moo, . . .
Wonen vp wynly Vppon wale horses,
Silen to the Citie softly and faire.
Destruction o/ Truy (E. E. T. S.\ 1. 1108.
4. To boil gently ; simmer. Ilalliwell. [Prov.
Eng.]
Silel (sil), n. r= MliO. sil = G. Hel, a drain,
sewer; from the verb.] 1. A sieve. — 2 A
strainer or colander for liquids. — 3. That which
is sifted or strained; hence, settlings: sedi-
ment; filth. HalliKcU.
Slle^ (sil), ». Same as »«/2.
sUC''' (sil), n. A dialectal variant of .toi/i.
sile^ (sil), "• [Also sill; origin obscure.] A
young herring. Day. [Prov. Eng.]
Tower of silence of Paraces. near Teheran.
expow the bodies of their dead to be stripped of flesh by
mTtnre^ These towers are usually so arrangeil that the
denuded bonei tall through a grating ii]to a pit, whence
they are removed for burial. At Bombay, the principal
seat of the Parseea, a number of towers of silence stand
in a garden on a high hill. ==SyiL See tilenL
silence (si'lens), r. t. ; pret. and pp. sileneed,
ppr. silencing. [< silence, «.] 1 . To cause to be
or keep silent ; put or bring to silence ; restrain
from speech ornoise; stop the noise of: as, to
silence a battery or a gun-boat.
still in thy right hand carry gentle peace.
To sOence envious tongues.
Shak., Hen. Vin., Hi. 2. 446.
It U the little rift within the lute
That bf and by will make the music mute,
~ And ever widening slowly silence all.
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien.
2. To restrain from speech about something;
cause or induce to be silent on a particular
subject or class of subjects; make silent or
speecliless, as by restraint of privilege or li-
cense, or by unanswerable argument.
Is it therefore
The ambassador is sileiuxd f
Shak., Hen. VTII., 1. 1. 97.
Complaints being made against him unto the Bishop's
courts, he was for a while then nut under the circum-
sUncesot anleiienf minister. C. Mather, Mag. Chris., IIL 1.
Hence — 3. To make quiescent ; put at rest or
into abeyance; stop the activity of: as, to si-
lence one's conscience.
Had they duly considered the eitent of Infinite know-
ledge and power, these would have silenced their scniples.
D. liogers.
silent
They have made the h.ippy discovery that the way to
sile^ice religious disputes is to take no notice of them.
Jefferson, ^'otes on Virginia (171*7), p. 268.
silency (si'len-si), n. [As silence (see -cy^).]
Same as silence. [Earc]
And, in love's sUenctf,
Whisperd each other. Lord, what a back hath he !
Lenton's Innes of Court Anagrammatist (1634). {Nares.)
Silene (si-le'ne), ». [NL. (Linnseus, 1737^, so
called in allusion to the frequent sticky exuda-
tion on its stems; < 'L.Silenus, Silenus: see Sile-
niis.] A genus of polypetalous plants, of the or-
der Caryophyllaceee, type of the tribe Sileneee. It
is characterized by flowers usually with a ten-nerved five-
toothed clutt-shaped ovoid or inflated calyx, five spread-
ing petals upon erect and slender claws commonly with
two small scales, ten stamens, and a stalked ovary with
one cell, a free central placent^a, and usually three styles,
the capsule opening at the top by six or by three short
valves to discharge the numerous opaque and roughened
seeds. About 480 species have been described, but only
alwut 250ai-e now thought to be distinct. They are annual
or perennial herl>s of great variety of habit, tall and erect,
tufted or pi-ocumbent, or partial climbers, with narrow en-
tire opposite leaves, and pink, scarlet, white, or variously
colored flowers, commonly in cymes or in one-sided spikes
disposed in a terminal panicle. They are abundant in
Asia north of the tropics, and in southern Europe and
northern Africa, and there are about 12 species in .-^outh
Africa. Besides f> or 6 introduced species in the Atlantic
lK>rder, the l'nit«<l States contains about 32 species, chief-
ly in the Rocky Mountain and I'aciflc region, about half
of which are nearly or quite confined to California. Most
of the species are known as catch-fly. Many are cultivated
for their flowers, especially .'?. viscom and S. Schafta, with
5. Artneria, the sweetwilliam or Lobel's catch-fly, native of
the south of Europe. S. Pennrnjlmnica, a glutinous early-
flowering species, is the wild pink of the eastern Tnited
States (see cut under anihophore). (For 5. Yirginica, see
fire-pii^,MH'\eT pink-.) 5lany species with an inflated blad-
dery calyx are known in general as campion, among which
S. Otiles, abundant in sands of eastern Europe and know n as
Spanish campion, is used as an astringent. (For 5. acau-
Its, also known in England as cu)(hion.pink, see moss-cam^
pion.) S. Cvcubalus (S. inflala\ tlie bladder-campion, is a
wide spread species of Europe, central and northern Asia,
now introduced in the Atlantic I nited States. It is also
called behm and spallimjpnpjiy ; also, from the shape of
its calyx, in America coiehetl. in England knapbollle and
wliilehdttle. S. maritima of the English coast (perhaps a
variety of the last) has been called xntches'-thimUe.
Silenese (si-le'ne-e), n. pi. [NL. (A. P. de Can-
doUe, 1824), < Silene + -pa?.] A tribe of poly-
petalous idants of the order Ciiryoplnillaceee. It
IS characterized by flowers with a united and more or less
tubulin- four- or five-toothed calyx, five petals with spi-ead-
ing Imrder and a slender claw often bearing two scales at
its summit, usually ten stamens, two or more styles sepa-
rate to the base — the ovju7, stamens, and petals all com-
monly elevate<l on a stalk-like gynophore or continuation
of the receptacle. It includes 11 genera, all natives of
the Old Wiirld except certain species of IHanthfis and Si-
lene. (iieetilSi>Saponaria, Lychnis, &ui\GitpsophUa.) ilost
of the genera are cultivated for their ornanientid flowers,
as the pink, catchfly, etc., which resemlde salver-shaped
flowers, as phlox, in form, but are composed of separate
petals.
silent (si'lont), a. and n. [Early mod. E. also
sijhnt; = ft. silente, < L. si1en(t-)s, ppr. of sitere,
lie silent; cf. Goth, 'silan, in comp. ana-silan,
become silent: cf.«eW.] I. a. 1 . Not speaking,
or making a noise with the voice; withhold-
ing or restraining vocal sounds ; mute; dumb;
speechless: as, a silent spectator; silent watch-
ers.
O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not ;
and in the night season, and am not silent. Ps. xxii. 2.
Hear me for my cause, and be silent that you may hear.
Shak., J. C, ill. 2. 14.
2. In a restricted use, not given to speaking;
using few words; not loquacious.
Ulysses, he adds, was the most eloquent and the most
silent of men. W. Broome.
3. Not speaking about some specified thing;
withholding mention or statement; saying no-
thing; uncommunicative.
This new-created world, whereof in hell
Fame is not siletU. Milton, P. L., iv. 93a
It is very extraordinary that antient authors should be so
silent in relation to Heliopolis.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. 1. 107.
4. Lacking authority or ability to speak, as
about something of personal concern ; not hav-
ing a voice ; disqualified for speech : as, a *•»-
lent partner in a firm (see partner); the silent
part of creation.— 5. Not uttered orexpressed
with the voice ; unmarked by utterance or de-
monstrative speech ; unspoken ; unsounded :
&s, silent agony or endurance ; «i7e»( opposition;
a silent letter (see below).
I wish, my liege.
You had only In your silent Judgment tried it
Shak., W. T., ii. 1. 171.
Her eyes are homes of silent prayer.
Tennyson, In Memoriara, xzxiL
6. Free from or unattended by noise or sound ;
marked by stillness; quiet: as, sjfcn* woods; a
silent assembly.
significancy
T have been admiring the wonderful frirmificancif of that
word persecution, and what various interpretjitions it hath
acquiretl. Sicift, Letter concerning the .sacramental Test.
significant (sig-nif i-kant), (I. and n. [= OF.
*si(jiiijia)it = Sp. Pg. It.' siffiiificantc, < L. sigiiifl-
caH(,i-)s, ppr. of significarc, show by signs, in-
dicate, signify: see signif;/.] I. a. 1. Signify-
ing something; conveying a meaning; having
a purport ; expressive ; implying some charac-
ter, and not merely denotative : as, si»ignijicfi)it
word or sound. — 2. Serving as a sign or indi-
cation; having a special or covert meaning;
suggestive; meaning: as, a sigwi^crtM t gesture ;
a signijicaiit look.
To add to religious duties such rites and ceremonies as
are gifftujicant is to institute new sacraments.
Hooker. (Johnson.)
He [Drumujond] lived and died, in the «if/nt/ica»( lan-
guage of one of his countrymen, a bad Christian, but a
good Protestant Macaiday, Hist. Eng., vi.
3. Important; notable; weighty; more strict-
ly, important for what it indicates, but also,
often, important in its consequences: opposed
to insignijicant: as, a, significant event.
Arsenic acid can be evaporated even to dr>^ness in pres-
ence of hydi-ochloric acid without danger of siffnificatit vol-
atilization. Ajner. Jour. Sci., 3d ser., XL. 66.
Signiflcant figures, the succession of figures in the or-
dinary notation of a number neglecting all the ciphers
between the decimal point and the figure not a cipher
nearest to the decimal point.
II. «. That which is significant; a meaning,
sign, or indication. [Rare.]
Since you are tongue-tied and so loath to speak.
In dumb sUrnificatvts proclaim your thought*.
Sliak., 1 Hen. VI., U. 4. 26.
In my glass giitnificai\ts there are
Of things that may to gladness turn this weeping.
Wordsworth, The Egyptian Maid.
significantly (sig-nif 'i-kant-li), udr. In a sig-
nificant manner; so as to convey meaning or
signification; meaningly; expressively; so as
to signify more than merely appears.
significate (sig-nif 'i-kat), ». [= It. significato,
< L. significatus, pp. of significare, show by
signs, indicate : see signify.'] In logic, one of
several characters (less properly also objects)
signified by a common term.
"All tjTants are miserable," "no miser is rich," are
universal propositions, and their subjects are, therefore,
said to be distributed, being understood to stand, each,
for the whole of its signijicates : but "some islands are
fertile," "all tyrants are not assassinated," are particu-
lar, and their subjects, consequently, not distriliuted, be-
ing taken to stand for a part only of their significatus.
Whatdy, Logic, II. ii. § 1.
Formal Significate. See formal.
signification (sig"ni-fi-ka'shon),«. [< ME. sig-
nificacion, signiflcacioan, < OP. significacion,
signification, F. signification = Pr. significatio =
Sp. significacion = Pg. significa^ao = It. signifi-
cazione, < L. significatio(n-), a signifying, indi-
cation, expression, sign, token, meaning, em-
phasis, (.significare, pp. significatus, mean, sig-
nify: see signify. 1 1. The act of signifying
or making known ; expression or indication of
meaning in any manner. [Rare.]
All speaking or gignification of one's mind implies an act
or address of one man to another. South.
2. A fact as signified ; an established or intend-
ed meaning ; the import of anything by which
thought is or may be communicated ; connota-
tion, or logical comprehension; implication;
sense: as, the signification of a word or a ges-
ture; the significations of mathematical and
other conventional signs.
Words in their primary . . . signification stand for no-
thing but the ideas in the mind of hnn that uses them.
Locke, Human Understanding, III. ii. 2.
3t. Significance; occult meaning; a fact as in-
ferable from a phenomenon of which it is said
to be the signification.
Neuertheles, the dragon had grete significacum in hym-
self, ffor it be-tokened the kynge Arthur and his power.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 393.
4. Importance; consequence; significant im-
port. Halliwell. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
Therefore send after alle the gode men of the londe to
se the bataile, for it hath grete significacion.
Merlin (E.E.t.S.), I. W.
5. In French-Canadian law, the act of giving
notice; notification Formal sl^ficatlon. See
/omul/. =Syn. 2. Meaning, etc. See signijficance.
significative (sig-nif'i-ka-tiv), a. [< F. signifi-
cat'f = Sp. Pg. It. significatiro, < LL. significa-
tivus, denoting, signifying, < L. significare, pp.
significatus, mean, signify: see signify."] 1.
Serving as an external sign or symbol of some
fact ; having a representative signification ; in-
tentionally suggestive and almost declaratory;
showing forth an internal meaning.
5626
In the creation it was part of the office of the sun and
moon to be significative; he created them for signs as well
as for seasons. Donne, .Semions, ii.
2. Significant; serving as a premise from which
some state of things may be inferred; convey-
ing a covert meaning.
On the night of the 8th of September, Egraont received
another most significative and mysterious warning.
Motley, Dutch Republic, II. 122.
significatively (sig-nif i-ka-tiv-U), adr. In a
significative manner; so as to represent, ex-
press, or convey by an external sign or indica-
tion.
This sentence must either be taken tropically, that
bread may be the body of Christ significatively, or else it
is plainly absm'd and impossil>le.
Abp. Ussher, Ans. to a Challenge made by a Jesuit, iii.
significativeness (sig-nif 'i-ka-tiv-nes), n. The
quality of being significative. Westminster liev .
significator (sig-nif 'i-ka-tor), n. [= F. signifi-
catcur = Sp. Pg. significador = It. significatore,
< Mh. significator, < L. significare, signify: see
signify.] One who or that which signifies or
makes known by words, signs, etc. ; in astrol.,
specifically, a planet ruling a house ; especially,
the lord of the ascendant (which is the signifi-
cator ot life); the apheta. See the quotation.
The planet which is lord of the house which rules the signior,
matter inquired after is the significator of the quesited; -- — - — -
the lord of the ascendant is the general significator of the
querent. W, Lilly, Introd. to Astrol., App., p. 344.
Significatory (sig-nif'i-ka-to-ri), a. and u. [=
It. significatorio, < LL. significatorius, denoting,
signitying,< L. significare, signify: see signify.]
I, a. Having signification or meaning; signifi-
cant or significative. [Rare.] Imp. Diet.
II. «.; p\. significatories (-Tix). That which
betokens, signifies, or represents.
Here is a double significatory of the spirit, a word and a
sign. Jer. Taylor.
significavit (sig'ni-fi-ka'vlt), n. [< L. signifi-
cavit, 3d pers. sing. perf. ind. of significare,
signify : see signify.] In eccles. law, a writ, now
obsolete, issuing out of Chancery upon certifi-
cate given by the ordinary of a man s standing
excommunicate by the space of forty days, for
the keeping of him in prison till he submit him-
self to the authority of the church: so called
from the first word of the body of the writ.
jyiiarton.
If it be for defect of apparance, take me out a special
significavit. Middleton, The Phoenix, ii. 3.
signifler (sig'ni-fi-er), n. One who or that which
signifies, indicates, or makes known.
In peace he [King Edwin of Northumberland] was pre-
ceded by his signifier. Preble, Hist. Hag, p. 122.
signify (sig'ni-fi), V. ; pret. and p\>. signified, ppr.
signifying. [< ME. signifien, signefien, sygnyfyen,
sinifien, < OF. signifier, F. signifier = Pr. signi-
ficar, signifiar = Sp. Pg. significar = It. signifi-
care, < L. significare, show by signs, signify,
mean, < signnm, a sign, + facere, make : see sign
and fact.] I. trans. 1. To be a sign or token
of (a fact or pretended fact); represent or sug-
silicify
'ian, onyx, jasper, flint, hornstone, etc., which
Dc of crystallization and in purity, and bence
■' the form of quartz makes the sand of the
K^ To AYliihit masses as quartzite and sandstone. It
'\ *"^..,."e mineral tridymite, known only in
maKe as a similllliu few meteorites, and as the amor-
'I'he picture ot the grealJJ" and more soluble than quartz
Mappe. CajX'ater. (See quartz, tridyinite,
= Svn. TO manifest, intimate.-'^.p'^^^-Pf ^^0 SiHea
II. tntran.'i. T o have im^ deposits of the latter are
of consequence; matter. s and in some regions
' 'tute the ro
Well, and pray now-
the gentleman say? ..... — ..,tut, t^e roeky
Reuben Butler ! he hasna in his pouch tl jn the waters
auld black coat he wears — but it disna «;;" Vieposited in
Scott, Heart of Mid-Lot.m the sili-
We ask for long life, but 'tis deep life, or grand nid on the
that sign^y. Einerson, Works ant?lue of
.o . ,.,.—., TT ■ acon-
Slgnifying (sig'ni-fi-mg). p. a. Having exp,t. of
sive force ; significant. [Rare.] nu-
If the words be but becoming, and signi/ying, and tT^.
sense gentle, there is juice; but where that wanteth, th^.
language is thin, flagging, poor, starved.
B. Jonson, Discoveries.
signinum (sig-ni'num), n. [L., abbr. of opuS
Signinvm, 'work of Sigiiia'; neut. of Signinns,
of Signia, < Signia, an ancient town in Latium,
now Scgiii.] See opus signinttm, under oims.
n. See signor.
Signiorize, r. See seigniorize.
signioryt, "• See seigniory.
signless (sin'les), a. [< sign + -less.] 1. Mak-
ing no sign or manifestation; quiet; passive.
[Rare.]
Poems . . .
Which moved me in secret, as the sap is moved
In still March branches, signless as a stone,
Mrs. Browning, Aurora Leigh, viil.
2. Having no algebraical sign, or being essen-
tially positive, like the modulus of an imagi-
nary, a tensor, etc.
Matter or mass is signless.
U. Farquhar, in Science, III. 700.
signor (se'nyor), Ji. [Also signior, signore ;
< It. signore, SVC, a lord, = Sp. seiior = Pg.
senhor = F. seigneur : see senior, seignior, sire,
.sir, scfior.] 1. An Italian lord or gentleman:
specifically, a member of a class or body of
ruling magistrates or senators in one of the
old Italian republics.
Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors.
My very noble and approved good masters.
Shak., Othello, i. 3. 77.
The legislative authority of Genoa is lodged in the great
senate, consisting of signors. J. Adams, Works, IV. 346.
Hence — 2. A lord or gentleman in general ; a
man of aristocratic rank or associations.
I have all that 's requisite
To the making up of a signior.
Massinger, Great Duke of Florence, iii. 1.
3. [cap.] An Italian title of respect or address
for a man, contracted from Signore before a
name, equivalent to Senor in Spanish, Senhor
in Portuguese, Monsieur or M. in French, Mis-
ter or Mr. in English, Serr in German, etc.
gest, either naturally or conventionally ; be- Signora (se-nyo'ra), n. [< It. signora, a lady,
fem. of signore; = Sp. seriora = Pg. senhora :
see signor.] An Italian title of address or re-
spect for a woman, equivalent to Madam, Mrs.
Signorina (se-nyo-re'na), n. [It., a young lady,
miss ; dim. of signora : see Signora.] An Italian
title of respect for a young woman, equivalent
to Miss in English, MademoisellciuiPiench, etc.
token ; mean
What thing that signe snld signify.
Holy Rood (E. E. T. 8.), p. 89.
Let him have some plaster, or some loam, or some rough-
cast about him, to signify wall. Shak., M. N. D., iii. 1. 71.
It is a great mercy, that signifies a final and universal
acquittance. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835X I. 654.
The oldeGreeke word [cocytus] which »i(^t/ie<A to keepe sicrnorv+ (se'uvor-i), n. See seianiory.
Con/a«, Crudities, L 85. IJI^^^Jjj^tgj. I -j^^^'^^^tgr), '
a noyse.
.Tohn the Baptist is call'd.an Angel, which in Greeke sig-
nifies a Messenger, Milton, On Def. of Humb. Remonst.
Happiness signifies a gratified state of all the faculties.
H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 15.
2. To import, In the Paracelsian souse. See
signature, 2.
Then took he up his garland, and did shew
What every flower, as country-people hold,
Did signify. Beau, anil Ft., Philaster, i. 2.
3. To import relatively; have the purport or
A painter of
signs for tradesmen, etc.
sign-post (sin'post), n. A post holding a sign.
Specifically — (a) A post having an arm from which a sign
hangs or swings, as before a tavern, (b) A guide-post.
He [the comic man] turned round signposts and made
them point the wrong way, in order to send people
whither they did not wish to go.
W. Besant, Fifty Years Ago, p. 100.
sign-symbol (sin 'sim"bol), n. A symbol denot-
ing a row or matrix of plus and minus signs.
bearing of ; matter in regard to (something ex- signum (sig'iium), «.; pl.signa (-na) [L., a
pressed or implied) : as, that signifies little or
nothing to us ; it signifies much.
Why should their (the Sadducees'] opposition signifie
any thing against so full a stream running down from the
first and purest Antiquity? StUlitvjfleet, Sermons, II. i.
Pshaw I — what signifies kneeling, when you know I
must have you? Sheridan, The Rivals, iv. 2.
4. To make known by signs, speech, or action ;
communicate ; give notice of ; announce ; de-
clare.
Then Paul . . . entered into the temple, to signify the
accomplishment of the days of purification. Acts xxii. 26.
He sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant
John. Rev. L 1.
mark, sign : see .sign.] In Saxon law, a cross pre-
fixed to a charter or deed as evidence of assent.
Sigterite (sig'ter-it), «. A silicate of alumin-
ium and sodium, con-esponding in composi-
tion to an anhydrous natrolite. In physical char-
acters it is allied to the feldspars. It occurs in granular
form in elieolite-syenite in the island of Sigtero in the
Langesundfiord, southern Norway.
Sikt, a. A Middle English form of sieJ:^.
sika (se'ka), n. A kind of deer found in Japan.
Sike^ (sik)', n. [Se. also syl'e, syk, < ME. sil-e,
prob. not < AS. sic, sich (Somner), a furrow,
gutter, rivulet, but < Icel. s«7-, mod. sili, a ditch,
trench ; prob. connected with AS. sigan, E. *ie,
Biiicify
tiM in California, Nevada, and Arizona. It is extenslvelv
used for ornamental and decorative purposes. Table-tops
three feet in diameter have been sawed from a single sec-
II. intrans. To become silica; be imnrec-
nated with silica. ^
silicious, siliceous (si-lish'us, -ius), a. [= F
mhceiix, of or pertaining to flint, < L. silic^us,
of or pertaining to flint, < silex (silk-), flint •
see silex, silim.} 1. Containing or resembling
sihea, or having its general character.— 2 IH
~ool., containing or consisting of silica or si-
licious substance in one or another form : as,
silicMus sponges; *i7i«0M« sponge-spicules ; the
stltctous test or skeleton of various protozoans
especially radiolarians.-sillclotts earth earth
consisting of or especially abonndinc in^ic^lllcl^s
f^lfv f"'" "^."^ W;-SUlcious waters. » "h wa°
ters as conta n sUica In solution in considerable quantity
as many boiling springs^ >iu«uiiijr,
Silicispongia (sil'i-si-spon'ji-e), n. pi. [NL
<h. sdex (sUic-), flint, + spontfia, a sponge.!
bilicious sponges; an order or other group of
sponges characterized by the presence of sili-
cious spicules: used with varying latitude by
S^fnM!?i'n?*''"- ,'" "'« """t «"« the SaM,poi
Src;nS".^*n'"Z^"'^JJ,rr/.!^A'l«?.T''«:''>"^^
6629
Z^'^h ''•»,■""' believed to do by lt« action on the carbon
which the iron contains, an increase of silicon changing
combined carbon to graphitic, and vice versa. Also called
high-alicon iron, and, of late more generally, ferro-gaicon.
»v hen the founder understands its (silicon's) use he
may soften and toughen, or harden and strengthen his
iron to suit his requirements." (Keep and Orton, Trans
dT~ 'l^-'j^'i"- ^"8- (1SS8-9). XVII. 25S.)-Smcon
ware, a kind of stoneware introduced about 1883 by the
Lambeth potteries : it is colored in the body, very slightlv
glazed, and somewhat resembles Wedgwood ware in sur-
face and coloring.
siliconize (sil'i-kon-iz), r. t. and 1. ; pret. and pp.
siliconized, ppr. siliconizing. [< silicon + .iz(\l
10 combine, or cause to combine, with silicon
Silk
n. L-a^au suwuie,^ f. suicule,
tie busk
inlrni™. .r« rT™™, . "j°'~"'<™' ""etner siucious
spicnlen are present or not, and are the same as Saicea 2
i2i2:^^'K*f '"'=*",'": '*■" '*™' '» restricted to^S-^
mulxclora having a skeleton the scleres of which are not
S^"n5£^'"5l'ii'^''"' '"'«'•■"" •PO»«erS^tho''ut the
/J^TiX^y^^""''''''^- See cuu under Porv
Silicium (8i-lish'i-um), n. [NL., < L. silex (silic-),
niiit.J Same as «»«con. '
sUiciuret (si-lis'iu-ret), «. [< L. sUex (silic-),
flint, + -uret.] Same as silicide.
siliciureted, siliduretted (si-lis'iu-ret-ed), a
[< L.s,l,x (silic-). flint. -1- -iiret + -^rf2.] Com-
bined so as to form a siliciuret.-Billclureted
liydroBen hy.lrogen silicide (SiH.), a colorleS gafc.™
posed of sflicon and hydrogen, wtich UkMfcJ'spo S:
whZ fighu'" "'"'*" *"" •"■• *"^''« ""' • •"^'"'
Silicle (8il'i-kl) «. [Also silieule, < F. silicule:
< L,. silieula, a little busk
or pod, dim. of siliqua, a
husk, pod: see siliqua.'\
In bot., in the mustard
family, a short sili
that is, a pod or
vessel the length
which does not more siiicic«.
than twice, or possibly J/.'L^S^Ii^iKTiiii;!
thnce, surpass the sp«°'<<! •<> »!><>" the puccnu:
breadth, as in the shep- ^^^''^ASST^'%^
nerd's-purse, Lttnaria. H!'' ~'«""> (/>»••*• ver.
candytuft, etc. See «! t"',.^^S^-|gS^,:iS3
lique, pouch, i, and fig. 4 """"^
under pod. Also silieula, silieule.
sUlCoborate (sil'i-ko-bd'rat), n. [< sUicoH +
^onilr.] Same an bmrosUicate.
silicoborocalcite (sil'i-ko-bo-ro-kal'sit), n. r<
L. sihx (siNc). flint, + Hh. Won + E. <Jofo»te.l
r>ame as hoirlitc.
silicocalcareous (sil'i-ko-ksl-ka're-us). a.
name as silicirnlcareous
Silicofluoric (Hil'i-ko-fl9-or'ik), a. [< silicon +
nm,r-,n + -,r.] Pertaining to or consistimr of
siiii'on and Hiiorin.
silicofluoride (sil'i-ko-flo'o-rid or -rid), n
[< «/.«>» + fluor + -Mfci.] 'Mg.SiFe, a salt of
sibcofluonc acid. See silicofluoric.
Silicon (sil'i-kon), H. [< NL. silicon, < L. sUex
(«/«•-), flint: 8ee»i/ez,m7.<-<i.] Chemical symbol.
Si; atomic weight, 28.4. A non-metallic ele-
ment which IS obtained in three allotropicforms
—namely, amorphous, as a dull-brown powder
soluble in alkali, which bums when ignited-
graphitic in crystalline leaves having a strong
metallic luster and lead-gray color, insoluble in
alkali and non-combustiSle; and crystalline, in
octahe.Iral needles having a red luster, Md
haniness a little less than that of the diamond.
t^.4 "^."Wen, .lllcon U the most abundant element in na^
ture. It is found only in combination, chieBy with onieS^
^.rn,i„g sil con dioxid.orsilica, which combine wlSK
Ti n£.'^''• "»er P»" °' the rock-crust of the ghXf
Jiu^i;;t«;^?fiA'Se"''.iTr',;^'^p.^^^^^^
ad<"*'- '
^^.^es^nee of alkaline silicates in the furnace pro-
motes the nUiamiang of the iron. Encye. Brit. , XIII. 351.
silicosis (sil-i-ko'sis). n. [NL., < silicon + -osi.?.]
l-iieumonoeoniosis in which the particles are
ot flint: same as chalicosis.
Silicoskeleta (sil'i-ko-skel'e-ta), ». pi. [NL
pi. of silicoskcleton, < L. silex" (silic-), flint, -t-'
lir. (T/cfAo-(ii', a skeleton.] A subclass of Eadio-
laria, containing those radiolarians whose skel-
eton if any, is silicious. Most of these protozoans
?I,w?f„'^^'' °i «««ting silica to form a more or lesl
M^^ Th , "'"5 "^ h»fke<work, as figured under Radio-
lana. The term is contrasted with AaiiUtumetrida.
SlllCOSkeletal (sH'i-ko-skel'e-tal), a. [< silico-
skelefon + -al.] Having a silicious skeleton, as
a radiolarian ; composed of silica, as a skeleton
HUiCOSpongiae (sil'i-ko-spou'ji-e), «. pi. rNL.l
biime as Silii-l.tpongise. ' j- l j
Silicnla (si-lik'u-lii), n.; pi. silieula (-le). [NL.,
< L. stlicula, a little husk or pod: see silicle.'l
In bot., same as silicle.
Silicnlar (si-lik'u-lsr), a. [< silieula -t- -ar^.l
In bot having the shape or appearance of a
silieula or silicle.
Silicule (sil'i-kul), n. Same as silicle.
Slliciilose (si-lik'u-los), a. [< NL. siliculosus, <
U stitcula, a little husk or pod : see silicle.l 1
In bot., same as silicnlar.— 2i. Full of husks;
consisting of husks; husky.— 3. Same as silt-
tuZ-^-Op,^^'^'^'^^'"'^ ^'aiV^ cataract.
Siliculous {si-lik'fi-lus), a. Same as siliculose.
Biliginoset, siliginoust (si-Iii'i-nos, -nus), a.
[< L. siluio (siligin-), a white kind of wheat, -f
-«w.J Made of fine wheat. Bailey, 1727
Sillng-dish (sl'ling-dish), n. Same as siU\ 2.
8lUqiia(sil'i-kwa),».; pl.,«7iV7H«(-kwe). [NL.,<
1... wi/i«i(fl, a husk, pod, also a very small weight :
TO© «/•</««.] 1. In 6o<., same as*>7iV7«c.— 2 A
Roman unit of weight, ^ A, of a pound.— 3. A
weigfht of four grains, used in weighing gold and
precious stones; a carat.— 4. In ana <., a forma-
L"I4TH»i°r
tT^^,^.it^ cpmplefely the inferior olive of the brain:
their outer and Inner p<irt« are called /un«uK Miaum.
Sinquaria (sil-i-kwa'ri-a), «. [NL., < L. sili-
qua, a. husk, pod: see siliqua.-] In conch.:
(a) A genus of twnioglossate holostomatous
gastropods, belonging to the fam-
ily Vermetidte or made type of
the Si/ioHanirfff, having a tubular
shell which begins as a spiral
and ends with irregular separated
whorls or coils, somewhat like
the hard cases of some worms, as
serpulas. 8. anguina is a typical
example. Bruguiires, 1789. (6)
[«. c. ; pi. siliquaria (-e).] A spe-
cies or an individual of this ge-
nus, (c) A genus of bivalve mol-
lusks: same as Solecurtus. Sehu-
niarher. 1817.
Siliqnariida (sil'i-kwa-n'i-de).
n. pi. [NL., < Siliquaria -^- -irf«.]
A family of tonioglossate gastro-
^^'^wll^dieTin ^an"""" ""t *'"° P'^entK, rendering the
^ cut u,'der ;r """""lo"' ^^y- Also ^igua. See
husk, pod, -f forma, form.] Having the fom
ot a sihque.
siliquose, siliquous (sil'i-kwos, -kwus), a. [<
NL. sihquosus,< h. siliqua, a husk, pod : see sili-
l,t,- Vi. 'i '"•' .''earing siliques; having or
forming that species of pod called a silique:
as. siliquose plants.— 2. In med., resembling or
suggesting a silicle. Also siliculose.^smanost,
cataract, in ,ned., a form of cataract with abS1m?of
natiS'of IheTave?' it "^"^ "".-^ *"" calcarersTinp^eg
nation of the layer of the capsule. Also called dni-sheufd
th4?^"°*®, desquamaUon, in nud., the casting off from
aborted? "^ "''''"' "^""^ """1 extents have been
^/il' A^4 "• "^"^ "• , "^^ ^^- *'■*• *2'«^' *"«•' «'^'«.
«eolk,<AS.seolc, seoloc, sioloc, siolue (in comp.)
(for silc, like meolc, milk, for *milc) = Icel
^•. = Sw. Dan silAe silk; cf. Ru J shelku =
White Enss. and Little Euss. sholk = OPruss
*.«:«. silk = Lith. shilkai, shilko.,, silk, silkas,
(< Slav, f) (cf . E. sergel. < F. serge = Pr. serqa,
fjjr Tv^P-/'',:^" = Pg- *«':'•« = It. sargia,
serge silken stuff, = Ir. siric, silken, < L. serica,
fem.) ; < L. sencum, silk, pi. serica, silken gar-
ments, silks, ht. Seric stuff, neut. of SeHcL <
Or. Ir/pucSc, pertaining to the Seres, Seric, < Gr
iW^, L. Seres, a people of eastern Asia cele-
brated for their silks: see Serie. The Chinese
name for silk is szg, szii, sz', with variants sei, si,
whence Corean sa, sil, sir, Mongol screg, silk, < se
« Chinese sr^, sei) -H -reg, a suflJx of Tatar lan-
^r??^ 3,°*' Chinese word is prob. not connected
with the European, except that the Gr. S^pe^ may
mean the Chinese, and be based on the Chinese
name forsilk. For the more common Teut. word
for silk ' see sayi. ] I. ». 1 . A fine soft thread
produced chiefly by the larvag of various bom-
bycid moths, especially of Bombyx (Sericaria)
mon, known as silkworvis, feeding on the leaves
of the mulberry and several other trees. (See
flombyx and silkworm, and compare gut, 4. ) suk
She™ rSf ,h • "T^ '"""'"'■ '"d moTt valuibi; of tertSe
flbere. The thread is composed of several finer threads
drawn by the woni, from two lai^e organs o"g?an<l8 con!
taining a viscid substance, which extend, as in other cS-
LZ;h,'i^.^''*r'"''"''^' »'°''« » K^eat partof the bod, and
terminate in two spinnerets at the mouth. With this sub-
^me^m^Siv '■"■"','?! "'" "Pe™tion of winding olf at 1^^^
aame time several of these cocwhis. after they have been
mZTf '" ""' **'"■• •" ""'en the natHrafgum m, ?he
filament, on a common reel, thereby forming one sin wth
even thread Before it is fit for weaving t is converiea
Into one of three forms, namely «„,,fc«. ,„m, orormnS,^
^»?Jm (a collective noun) is fom..;! of one of tTfredTd
TWriif^^ '?.°'^'"' •" ^""l" ^fength and firmness.
2ram la formed of two or more threads twisted together
J^»^ "2^",'/ """' '." weaving as the shm,t or «•«/?. (For
oraaiuuw, see (Arown gitk. be ow. ) .s jik of various iiualif Ip«
(but none fully equal to the preceding is product by
aiBerent genera of the family S«^,rm4f«.,'^Jart"c,UarlJ
the tusacr.worniof India, AtU,cm mylitta, the y^Zmll
"Joi'SrtCu.'^ '"^'^'- «'*■• '-<""« "" ">eZ
2. A similar thread or fiber spun by various
other insects, especially some spiders; a kind
of cobweb or gossamer. Some such webs are
lustrous, and may be reeled like true silk. See
Septula and cut under silk-spider.— 3. Cloth
made of silk ; by extension, a garment made of
such cloth. In this sense the word has a plural, n»,
rtl*, iUlorJd S ""^ "' y^otie^ ■■ as, black ««*;'wWte
gMt'ma,
}^^L'LP.:?f,l^?:*^« *<«'?''« ««?"«ria, having a
ilit,
S!l?of^i3^;.™,-S;«^^^^^^
Edition of a amall
wire was found by analysis to constat of almost chemlcallT
Cn, 7?*\'""' " *^ per cent of silicon. The Sffi
P? cent oJ^zW 'i'T '"/;! ""-• ?""> ""ker conUIn™^^
ti?.„^f .1 "■ '• ',■* °',""' """l O-OS of silicon. The addl-
i^m^M ^^ "''eon in the manufacture of silicon bronze
seems to have no other effect than that of entirely remo"
tog the oxygen of the copper. - Slllcon-lron. iron con-
iM tS ^nirn^ !.*. per cent.), prepare.1 for use in improv-
log tbe qnallty of caat-lron. especially for foundry use.
tubular shell with a continuous longitudinal s
which at first is spiral,
but later g|rows irregular.
The species are closely
related to the Vermctidie,
and by most concholo-
gists are referred to that
family.
Siliaae (si-lek'), n. [< P.
silique =r Sp. silieua = Pg.
It. siliqua, < L. siliqua, a
husk, pod: see siliqua.]
In bot., the long pod-
like fruit of the mustard
family, it is « narrow two-
valTed capaule, with two parie- Siliques.
tal placenta, from which the '■ of Cardamint rhombot-
valves aepaxate In dehiscence, .t ?■ ^ *«>*<»<><* ^a-
Frequen^aJal«, partition ii MSl^!^: i- or Mu,-
The kynge hyme selfene aette . . .
Undyre a sylure of tijlte.
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. a.), 1. 8196.
And seeing one so ga^ In purple nlks.
„. .^ , Temij/son, Qeralnt.
She bethought her of a faded m. Tennyson, Oeralnt
4 . The mass of long filiform styles of the female
flower of maize: so called from their resem-
blance in the unripe state to silk in fineness
and softness. [U. S.]-6. The silky down in
the pod of the milkweed (hence also called silk-
weed).-6. The silkiness or silky luster often
observed in the sapphire or ruby, due to the
inclusion of microscopic crystals between the
crystalline lavers of the gem. The silk is visi-
ble only on what would be the pyramid faces of
the crystals.
jL?h"\ Kenulue rubles we find a silky structure (caU-
ed «/* by jewellera). Jmr FraiMin Imt., CXXII. MO.
Changeable sUk. Same as shot m(*.- China sUk
See pon^,,.- Corah silk. See «»■«*. -DacSisilkT;
embroidery-silk sold in skeins. That com^^nVS is
?L? T^vr,/"'"""!: "'0"j?h preserving th. Indian name
r^;i£""'"'?r*'~?"°"lne sUk (namt-.l from Niot,
a writer on needlework . .h hind of knitting silk — p5ir
nlture-Bllk. a fabric of ,ilk or having a sKriace,^
Bilk
for furniture-covering and other upholstery. — Qliilan
silk, a raw silk exported from Persia, derived from the
province of Ghihui in northern Persia, from which the
largest anionnt of the material came in the middle ages
and down to the seventeenth centurj'.— Glac6 Silk. See
glac^. — India silk, a soft tliin silk without a twill, woven
uke cotton, of dilferent qualities and manufactures :
loofi^ usea. — Japanese silk, formerly, a fabric made
in England, having a linen warp and a silk weft; now, a
fabric wholly of silk and exported from Japan. — Nas-
pore silk, a kind of India silk, soft and thin, and usually
m plain colors of the dyes peculiar to the far East. — Oiled
Silk. See oiZ.— Pongee silk. See j)o;i(;pf.— Radsimlr
«i1ir_ a rich silk fabric used for mourning garments for
women. Z)ic(. o/iVciiKcKwrJ-.— Raw silk. See def. 1.—
Rtunchunder silk, Indian silk stuff of different quali-
ties and styles of manufacture. — Shot silk. See «/io(l,
p. a.. 4.— silk-degumming macbine, a machine for
eliminating the natural gum from the fiber of silk, by
■ subjecting it to the action of warm water, and beating. —
Silk-doubling machine, a machine for twisting toge-
ther two or more tihunents of twisted silk. E. H. Knight.
— Silk-sizing machine, a silk-sorting machine. — Silk-
softening machine, a maciiine in which silk is softened
and polished after dyeing. The skeins of silk are passed
over reciprocating bobbins.— Silk-sorting machine, a
machine for sorting threads of silk according to thickness,
and winding them upon bobbins. The proper bobbin is
presented to the thread by the action of a lever, which is
governed by the thickness of the thread passing between
gage-rollers.— Silk- testing machine, a device, on the
principle of the spring-balance, for testing the strength of
silk threads or ftlanients, — Sleaved Silk. See deme.—
Spun silk, silk tlu-ead produced by spinning the short-
fibered silk from cocoons which the insect has pierced in
eating its way out, or waste silk of any sort which cannot
be thrown in the usual manner ; it is spun like woolen, and
is used, either alone or with cotton or woolen, for special
fabrics.— Tabby silk. Same as tabby.
Mr. Adolphus Hadlock carried forward the babe, envel-
oped in a long flowing blanket of white tabby silk, lined
with white satin, and embroidered with ribbon of the
same color. S. Judd, Margaret, i. 11.
Thrown silk, silk thread formed by twisting together
two or more threads or singles, the twisting being done
in the direction contrary to that of the singles themselves.
The material so prepared for the loom is generally called
orgatizine.^To take Silk, to become or be appointed
idng's or queen's counsel : in allusion to the silk gown
then assumed. See phrase xitk gown, under II. — Tus-
ser silk. See (t«s^-«i^*.— Virginia silk, the silk-vine,
Peripioca Grseca: so called from the silky tuft of the seed.
It is cultivated and inclines to be spontaneous in Virginia.
See Peripioca. — Wrapping-silk, a fine strong floss em-
ployed in the manufacture of artificial flies.
II. a. 1 . Made of silk ; silken : as, a silk dress ;
silk stockings.
What a disgrace is it tome . . . to take note how many
pair of gilk stockingg thou hast, viz. these, and those that
were thy peach-coloured ones! 5AaAr.,2Hen. IV., ii. 2. 17.
2. Silk-like; silky. [Bare.]
Your inky brows, your black gilTc hair.
Shak., As you Like it, iii. 5. 46.
Silk-bark oak, the silky oak. See Gremllea.—WSs. braid,
a fine and closely worked braid of silk, made for the decora-
tion of garments, and sometimes of furniture, by being laid
upon the surface of the stuff in scrolls and other patterns
and sewed down with fine silk thread. — Silk canvas, fine
canvas of silk, intended for such simple embroidery in the
way of worsted-work as can be done by following the reg-
ular meshes of the canvas. The object of the silk fabric is
to avoid the necessity of filling in a background, as the
canvas itself supplies it. — Silk damask, a silken textile
with elaborate flower-patterns, formerly much used for
fine upholstery. Compare damask, 1 (a) and (6).— Silk
gown, or the silk. ^) The canonical robe of a king's
or queen's counsel in England, differing from that of an
ordinary barrister in being made of silk and not of Btu£f.
Hence — (&) A king's or queen's counsel.
Mr. Blowers, the eminent silk-gown.
Dickens, Bleak House, i.
Silk hat, a high cylindrical hat made with a body of stiff-
ened muslin covered by a kind of silk plush, especially de-
signed for this purpose. Silk hats are worn for common use
by men, also by women as riding-hats and sometimes for
ordinai7 costume. — Silk muslin, a thin and gauzy silk
textile, either plain, or printed in small patterns in color,
or ornamented with raised figures made in the weaving. —
Silk paper, tissue-paper ; especially, a fine quality of tis-
sue-paper used for delicate polishing or cleaning, as for the
glass of lenses, etc.— Silk sealSk^, a fine textile made
of tusser-silk with a long .soft pile imitating sealskin-fur.
Compare sealskin cloth, under sealxkin. — Silk serge, a
twilled silk cloth used especially for the linings of flne
coat«. There is generally a diagonal pattern produced in
the weaving, the stuff being of one color. — Silk shag, a
kind of shag made wholly or in part of silk. — Silk-spray
embroidery, a kind of appliqn6 work in which the orna-
ments applied are small sprays previously embroidered in
filosel or floss-silk on thin stuff and cut out for the pur-
pose.— Silk-stockings, silken hose. They were formerly
regarded as extravagant and reprehensible, and as worn by
men were regarded as an indication of luxurious habits ;
hence, the sUk-stocking gentry or element, the luxurious or
wealthy class ; a silk-stocking, a person of this class. —
Silk-top palmetto. See palmetto.
silk-bunting (silk'biin'''ting), n. An American
bunting of the genus Spiza (formerly Euspiza),
as the black-throated S. americana, whose plu-
mage is peculiarly close and smooth. See cut
under Spiza. Coues.
silk-cotton (8ilk'kot'''n), n. See cotton^ Silk-
cotton tree, a name of numerous trees of the tribe Born-
bacete of the mallow family, whose seeds are invested with
silk-cotton. .Such are the species of the genera Bombax.
Eriodendron, and Ochrmna; also of the genus Pachira of
tropical America. The silk-cotton trees most properly so
5630
called are Bombax Malabaricttm, of the East Indies, and
Eriodendron ai\fractuosutn, of India and tropical Amer-
ica.
silk-dresser (silk'dres"er), «. One who is em-
ployed in the preparation of silk cloth for the
market, as in smoothing, stiffening, and fold-
ing it.
silken (sil'kn), a. [< ME. silken, silkin, selkin,
scolken, < AS. seolcen, siolcen, scolocen, of silk,
< seolc, silk: see silk.'] 1. Of, pertaining to,
or consisting of silk.
Fetter strong madness in a silken thread.
Shak., Much Ado, v. 1. 25.
2. Like silk; soft or lustrous ; hence, delicate ;
tender ; smooth.
Taffeta phrases, silken terms precise.
Shak., L. t. L., v. 2. 40«.
A brown heard, not too sUken in its texture, fringed his
chin. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, UL
3. Dressed in silk ; hence, luxurious.
Shall a beardless boy,
A cocker'd sOken wanton, brave our fields,
And flesh his spirit in a warlike soil?
Shak., K. John, v. 1. 70.
silken (sil'kn), v. t. [< silken, a.] To make
silky or like silk; render soft or lustrous.
[Rare.]
Little care is yours,
. . . if your sheep are of Silurian breed.
Nightly to house them dry on fern or straw,
Silkening their fleeces. Dyer, Fleece, i.
silk-factory (silk'fak"to-ri), n. A silk-mill.
silk-fiigured (silk'iig'''urd), a. Having the or-
namental pattern in silk: noting a woven tex-
tile fabric composed of silk and some other ma-
terial : as, silk-figured terries.
silk-flower (8ilk'flou''''er), n. 1. A Peruvian le-
guminous tree, Calliandra trinervia: so named
from its silky tufts of stamens. — 2. Same as
.•iilk-tree.
silk-fowl (silk'foul), n. A variety of the do-
mestic hen with silky plumage of fringe-like
filaments. The color is white, the legs are well fea-
thered and dark, the head is crested, and the comb is
double and lumpy ; the face, comb, and wattles are pur-
ple. The size exceeds but little that of bantams. In the
United States called sUky.
The silk-fowl breeds true, and there is reason to believe
Is a very ancient race ; but when I reared a large number
of mongrels from a silk-hen by a Spanish cock, not one ex-
hibited even a trace of the so-called silkiness.
Darwin, Variation of Animals and Plants, xiv.
silk-gelatin (silk'jeKa^tin), n. Same as silk-
fllue. See sericin.
silk-gland (silk'gland), n. Any gland which
secretes the substance of silk, as in the silk-
worm or silk-spider ; a sericterium.
silk-glue (silk'glo), n. Same as sericin.
The hanks of silk are worked until the silk-glue swells up
and falls from the fibre.
Benedikt, Coal-tar Colours (trans.), p. 40.
silk-gown, n. See silk gown, under silk, a.
silk-grass (silk'gras), n. 1. The Adam's-nee-
dle or bear-grass. Yucca filamentosn : in allusion
to its fiber, which has been the subject of some
experiment, but has not been brought into use.
— 2. A name given to the istle, karatas, ramie
(see these names), and some other fibers, also
more or less to the plants producing them,
though they are little grass-like. — 3. A grass,
Oryzopsis cuspidata, of the western United
States, whose flowering glumes are densely
covered with long silky hairs; also, the simi-
lar Stipa comata of the same region.
silk-grower (silk'gr6'''er), n. One who pro-
duces silk-ooeoons by raising silkworms and
the mulberries or other plants on which they
feed.
silk-hen (silk'hen), n. The female silk-fowl.
silkiness (sil'ki-nes), n. 1. The state or qual-
ity of being like silk, as to the touch, to the
eye by its luster, or to the ear by its peculiar
rustle. — 2. Softness; effeminacy; pusillanim-
ity. Imp. Diet. — 3. Smoothness to the taste.
The claret had no dlkirtess. Chesterfield.
silkman (silk'man), 11. ; pi. silkmen (-men). [<
silk + man.'] A dealer in silk fabrics; also,
one employed in the manufacture of silks, or
the manufacturer or director of a silk-mill.
He is indited to dinner ... to Master Smooth's the
sUkman. SAat., 2 Hen. IV., 11. 1. 31.
silk-mercer (silk'mfer''s6r), n. A dealer in silk
fabrics.
silk-mill (silk'mil), n. A mill or factory for
reeling and spinning silk thread, or for manu-
facturing silk cloth, or both.
silk-moth (silk'moth), n. 1. A bombycine moth
whose larva is a silkworm, as Hombyx (or Seri-
caria) niori. — 2. i)l. The family Bombyddee.
silkworm
silknesst (silk'nes), n. Silkiness: used hu-
morously, simulating such titles as "your high-
ness," to imply luxuriousness, etc.
Sir, your sUknesse
Clearely mistakes Meecenas and his house.
B. Jonson, Poetaster, ill. 1
silk-printing (silk'prin'ting), n. The art or
practice of printing on smooth and thin silk
fabrics in patterns similar to those used in cot-
ton-printing.
silk-reel (silk'rel), n. A machine in which raw
silk is unwound from the cocoons, formed into
a tliread, and wound in a skein, it consists essen-
tially of a vessel of water heated by a furnace(in which the
cocoons are floated whilebeing unwound), a series of guides
for the filaments of silk, and a reel on which the skein is
wound. The cocoons, stripped of the floss-silk, are thrown
in the boiling water, and, when they have become soft^ the
filaments of several cocoons are united, guided to the reel,
and wound off together. Also called silk-iHnder,
silk-shag (silk'shag), n. A young herring.
[Prov. lOng.]
silk-spider (silk'spi-'der), n. Any spider which
spins a kind of silk ; especially, Nephila plumipes
of the southern
United States,
which spins co-
piously, and is
also notable for
the unusual dis-
parity of the
sexes in size.
silk-spinner
(silk spin '■'er).«.
One who or an
insect which
spins silk.
silktail (silk '
tal), n. [Tr. of
the name Bom-
bycilla, q. v., or
of its Gr. ver-
sion, Seiden-
schwanz.'] Abird
of the restrict-
ed genus Ampelis
(or Bombydlla) ;
a waxwing, as
the Bohemian or
Carolinian ; a
cedar-bird. See
cut under wa^c-
wing.
silk-thrower
(silk'thro'er),*!.
One who pro-
duces or manufactures thrown silk, or organ-
zine.
silk-throwster (silk'thr6''st6r), n. Same as
silk-thrower.
silk-tree (silk'tre), n. An oimamental decidu-
ous tree, Alhizzia [Acacia) Julibrissin, a native
of Abyssinia and eastern and central Asia.
Its leaves are twice-pinnate with very numerous leaflets
which appear as if halved ; its flowers are rather large,
pale rose-purple, with tufts of long shining filaments
(whence the name). Also sUk-ftawer.
silk-vine (silk'vin), n. See Peripioca.
silk-weaver (silk'we''ver), «. One whose oc-
cupation is the weaving of silk stuffs.
silkweed (silk' wed), n. 1. A common name
for the Confervacea; or fresh-water algaj that
consist of long, soft filaments resembling silk.
See I'onfcrvaceie. — 2. Same as milkweed, 1.
silk-'Winder (silk'\vin''''der), ». 1. A silk-reel.
— 2. A winding-machine for transferring raw
silk from the hanks to bobbins in readiness for
spinning.
silkwood (silk'wvid), «. 1. The Tno%s Polytri-
clnim commune. [Prov. Eng.] — 2. A shrub,
Muntingia Calahu'ra. See ealabur-tree.
silkworm (silk'wfrrm), n. [< ME. syl}ce wyrme,
sylke worme, < AS. seolc-wyrvi, siohictcyrm (=
i)an. silkeorm), < seolc, silk, + leyrm, worm :
see silk and worm.'] 1. The larva or cater-
pillar of a bombycine moth or silk-moth which
in the chrysalis state is inclosed in a cocoon
of siik; especially, such a larva, as of Bombyx
(Sericaria) mori and allied species, from which
silk of commercial value is obtained. There
are many species, of different genera. The ordinary
silkworm of commerce, or mulberry-silkworm, is the
larva of Sericaria mori. It is indigenous to China, and
its cultivation spread through India and Persia, reach-
ing Constantinople about h. D. 550. This larva is a large
whitish caterpillar with an anal horn, and the moth is
large-bodied, white in color, with small wings. The best
races have but one annual generation, and are known
as anmials. 'I'here are races, however, which have two
generations (bivoltins), or three (trivoltinsX or four(quad-
rivoltinsl, or eight (dacys). The cocoon varies through
shades of white, cream, green, or roseate, and also greatly
silk-spider {Nefhita plumipes') ; upper
figure. female; iower.male- (Three fourUis
natural size.}
silkworm
ip size. The principal moths of wild silkworms are the
tusaer (Attactu mytuta) of India, the yama-mai {A^xtke-
reea yama-mai) of Japan, the pernyi {Antherxa pernyi) of
China, the ailantus or arrindy {Samia eytithia) of China,
introduced into Europe and America, and the cecropia,
polyphemus, promethia, and luna of North America. See
cuts under Bomhyx and tuna-xUkuxirm,
2t. A shopper who examines goods without
buying. [Old trade slang.]
The sUk-tcorms are, it seems, indulged by the tradesmen ;
for, though they never buy, they are ever talking of new
silks, laces, and ribbons, and serve the owners in getting
them customers. StefU, .Spectator, No. 454.
Silkworm disease, silkworm rot. See flaeeidity,
mu»cardiitei,ilu;r<Ko<xm,Botrytis.—SillCWOTmeat. See
ffut, 4.
silky (sil'ki), a. and n. [< silk + -y^.'i I. a.
1. Having the qualities or properties of silk,
as smoothness and luster; sericeous.
Underneath the silky wings
Of smallest insects there is stirred
A pulse of air that mast be heard.
0. P. Lathrop, Music of Growth.
2. Same as silken. [Rare.]
But Albion's youth her native fleece despise ; . . .
In tUky folds each nervous limb disguise.
Skengtone, Elegies, xviii.
3. In hot., covered with long, very slender,
close-pressed, glistening hairs ; sericeous. — 4.
Smooth to the taste.
A venr enticing mixture appropriately called tUky, . . .
made of rum and madeira.
C. A. Briided, English University, p. 71.
Silky monkey or silky tamarln, a .South .American mar-
moset, Midait rofalia, with long, yellow, silky fur forming
a kind of mane. See ntariKna.— Silky oak. See Gre-
viUta.
H. H. The silk-fowl: the more usual name
in America.
silky- wainscot (sil'ki-wan'skot), n. A British
iioi-tuid moth, Senta maritima.
silky-wave (sil'ki-wav), n. A British geometrid
moth, Aeidalia holosericata.
Silll (sil), H. [< ME. sille, selle, suUe, gyUe, < AS.
syl, syll, a sill, base, support (> ML. gilia), = MD.
suUe = MLG. gul, itulle, LG. sull, siille, a sill, =
leel. sylt, mod. sylUt, a sill, = 8w. a^U = Dan.
gyld, the base of a framework biulding; cf.
OHG. swella, gwelH, MHG. swelle, G. achwelle, a
gill, threshold, beam (> Dan. melle, a railroad-
tie), = Icel. siHl = Sw. dial, xtill, a sill ; cf . Goth.
suljo, the sole of a shoe, qa-suljan, found, L.
notea (for 'seolea f ), the sole of the foot, also a
threshold: 8ee»o/«l. Hence, iii comp., i/roioKJ-
iiill, groundmP.'i 1. A stone or piece of timber
on which a structure rests; a block fonning a
basis or foundation: as, the sills of a house, of
a bridgCj of a loom; more specifically, a hori-
zontal piece of timber of the frame of a buiUl-
ing, or of wood or stone at the bottom of a
framed case, such as that of a door or win-
dow ; in absolute use, a door-sill. See door-
gill, groundsill, mudsill, port-sill, window-sill.
Trauallera, that hum In brane desire
To tee straoge Countries manners and attire.
Make baste enough, if only the First Day
rrom their owne Sill they set bat on their way.
Sylvater, tr. of Un Bwtaa's Weeks, L 1.
Under this marble, or under this fiU,
Or under this turf, or e'en what they will, . . .
Ue« one who ne er cared, and still care* not a pin,
What they said, or may say, nf the mortal within.
Pope, Epitaph on One who would not be Uaried in
[Westminster Abbey.
2. In/orf., the inner edge of the bottom or sole
of an embrasure. See diagram under embra-
sure.— 3. lamining: (a) The floor of a gallerv
or passage in a mine. (6) A t<>rm used by mi-
ners in the lead districts of the north of Eng-
land as nearly equivalent to bed or stratum.
Thus, the basaltic sheets intercalated in the
mountain-limestone are called whin-.s-i7A«. —
Head tUL See htadnlt. - 8Ul-4lre8sing machine, a
form of wood-planing machine used to ilresg the nides of
heavy timben. It is adjustable for stuB of dilferent
widths and thicknesses.— Sill knee-iron, an 1. sha|>e<i
or rectangular iron piece used to strengthen an inner
angle of a car-frame.
sill''' (sil), n. [Also sile ; < Icel. sil, sili, sild, the
young of herring, = Sw. sill = Dan. sild, a her-
ring. Cf. sillocK.'i -A. young herring. Day.
[Prov. Eng.]
SUl^t, «. A variant of selP.
sill-' (sil), n. [Appar. a dial. var. of thill.'i The
thill fir shaft of a carriage. [Prov. Eng.]
sillablet, n. An obsolete form of syllable.
sillabub, r. See sillibub.
silladar (sil'a-dar), M. [Also silledar: < Hind.
niliihditr.K. P'ers. siljilitldr, an armed man: see
stlirltir. the same word derived through Turk.]
In India, a trooper of irregular cavalry, who
funiiHhes his own arms and horse.
Sillaginidae (sil-a-jin'i-<le), n. /)/. [NL.,< SilUigo
(-gill-) + -«/«.] A family of acanthopterygian
5631
fishes, typified by the genus Sillago. They have
the body elongated ; scales pectinated ; lateral line
straight ; head oblong ; pre-orbital bones very lai-gely ex-
panded from the side in front of the eyes; preopereulum
much longer than high, with a prominent longitudinal
fold, incurved below, forming the inferior flattened sur-
face of the head ; dorsal fins two ; anal with two small
spines; pectorals normal; and ventials thoracic and nor-
mal. About a dozen species are known, confined to the
Pacific and East Indian seas.
sillaginoid (si-laj'i-uojd), a. and n. [< Sillago
(-gill-) -h -oid.} i, a. '
ginidte.
. Of or relating to the Silla-
n. n. A fish of the family Sillaginidee.
Sillago (sil'a-go), n. [NL. (Cuvier, 1820).] A
genus of acanthopterygian fishes, confined to
SUiago jiAama.
the Pacific and East Indian seas, typical of the
family SiUaginidm.
siller "(sil'er), «. and a. A Scotch form of
silver.
siller-fish (sil'fir-fish), n. The bib, blens, or
whitinK-pout, Gadus luscus. [Moray Firth.]
Siller-flnke (sil'er-flok), »i. The brill: prob-
ably in allusion to the light spots. [Scotch.]
Sillery (sil'e-ri), n. [< F. Sillery (see def.).] 1.
Originally, one of the sparkling wines of Cham-
pagne produced at Sillery, a village in the de-
partment of Mame: now a mere trade-name
having little signification. Compare cham-
pagne.— 2. A still white wine produced within
a few miles of Rheims. It is the chief of the still
wines of Champagne. To distinguish it from the spark-
ling wines, it is commonly called Sillrry sec.
Sillibaakt, ». Same as sillibouk.
silliboukt, «. [Also sillibouke, sillybauk, a kind
of pos.set ; prob. a humorous fanciful name, lit.
'silly (i. e. happy, jolly) belly' (formed after the
analogy of tne synonymous mcrryhouk. merri-
l>owke, lit. ' merry belly '), < silly, happy ( 'jolly '),
+ bouk, belly: see silly and boiik^, bulk^. The
first element has been variously referred to
swell (cf. MD. sirelbuyck, 'swell-belly,' dropsy),
to E. dial, sifei, strain, milk, and to Icel. sylgr,
a drink (< srelgja = E. sicaHotcl).] Same as M-
libuh. Halliwcll.
Sillibnb (sil'i-bub), n. [Also sillabub, syllabub ;
an altered form (with the second element eon-
formed to 6«6l, a kind of liquor f) of sillibouk,
q. v.] A dish made by mixing wine, ale, or
cider with cream or milk, so as to form a soft
curd: this is sweetened, and flavored wi th lemon-
juice, rose-water, etc. whipped sOlUmb is made by
thoroughly whisking or beating, and skimming or pour-
ing off the froth into glaaws; solid sUlibub is made by
adding gelatin and watCT, and boiling.
Lttiet aigrt, whaj ; alio, a sOlibub or merribowke.
Colgrtm.
Your ale-berries, oaudles, and possets each one.
And sillabubs made at the milklngpail,
Although they be many, beer comes not In any.
But all are oompos'd with a pot of good ale.
Jiandolph, Commendation of a Pot of Good Ale.
Silllk (sil'ik), n. See sillock.
sillily (sil'i-U), adv. [A mod. form of seelily
(cf. silly toTseely): see sielily.] In a silly man-
ner; foolishly.
Jfon*. . . . Come, come, dear Oerrard, prithee don't be
ont of hnmoor, and look so sUlitu.
Oer. Prithee do not talk io sUUly.
WychtrUy, Gentleman Dancing-Jfaster, T. 1.
He had thoee trait* of a man of the world which all silly
women admire, and some sensible women admire riUily.
Harper's May., LXXVII. 316.
Sillimanite (sil'i-man-it), n. [Named after Ben-
jamin SiUiman, an American scientist (1779-
18t>4).] Asilicateof aluminium (AlgSiOn), hav-
ing the game composition as andalusite and
cyanit«. It occurs usually in fibrous or columnar
masses (hence also called fbrolUeX and shows perfect
macrodlagonal cleavage.
silliness (sil'i-nes), ». [A mod. form of seeli-
nrxs (as silly for seely).'] The quality of being
silly; foolishness; senselessness; weaknessof
understanding; extreme simplicity ; absurd or
conterajitible folly.
It is silliness to lire when to live Is tonnent
Shot., Othello, i. S. S09.
Sillite (sil'it), n. [< Sill(berg) (see def.) -(-
-ilf'-,'\ A variety of gabbro occurring at Sill-
b<'rg near Berchtesgaden in Bavaria : so named
by GUmbel. According to Tschermak, it is a
true gabbro.
Silly
sillock (sir ok), n. [Also written sillik, sellok;
appar. < silV^ + -oci-.j A young coalfish. [Lo-
cal, Eng. and Scotch.]
A large quantity of gUlockg, or young saithe, were got
to-day here with the sweep-nets.
London Daily Telegraph, Nov. 26, 1881. (Encyc. Did.)
silloglsmet, «. An obsolete form of syllogism.
sinograph (sil'o-graf), «. [< LL. sillographtis,
< Or. cfU.loypd<foi, < aiA/lof, satire, a satirical
poem, -H jpaijiew, write.] A satirist ; a writer of
satirical poems: an epithet of Timon of Phlius,
author of three books of H?.Xoi in hexameters
against the Greek dogmatic (non-skeptical)
philosophers, of which a few fragments re-
main.
Timon of Phlius, the well-known sinograph and sceptic
philosopher, flourished about 280 B. c.
Encyc. Brit., XXIII. 397.
Sillographist (si-log'ra-fist), n. [As sinograph
+ -i-it.^ Same as sillogiajth.
Sillometer (si-lom'e-ter), V. [Irreg. < F. siller,
make headway (see single^), -f Gr. jiirpov, mea-
sure.] An instrument for determining the
speed of a ship without the aid of a log-line.
Tne various forms include the indication of speed at any
time or for any given length of time, as well as the total
distance passed over.
Sillon (sil'on), H. [< F. sillon, OF. seillon, a
furrow.] \xifort., a work raised in the middle
of a ditch, to defend it when it is too wide:
frequently called an envelop.
sill-step (sil'step), )i. On a railway box-car,
an iron bar on the car-sill below the ladder, so
shaped as to form a step for the ladder.
silly (sil'i), a. and n. [A mod. form, with short-
ened vowel, of early mod. E. seely : see seely.
This is one of the few instances in which an
orig. long e (ee) has become shortened to i.
The same change occurs in breeches, and in
the American pron. of been, with no change
in spelling.] I. a. If. Happy; fortunate;
blessed. Wyclif. — 2t. Plain; simple; rustic;
rude.
Meantime Carinus in this gUly grove
Will spend his days with prayers and orisons
To mighty Jove to further thine intent,
Greene, Alphonsus, i.
Such therefore as knew the poor and silly estate
wherein they [the apostles) had lived could not but won-
der to hear the wisdom of their speech.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, iii. 8.
It is sUty sooth.
And dallies with the Innocence of love.
SA<x*.,T. N.,U. 4.47.
3. Simple-hearted; guileless; ingenuous; in-
nocent. [Archaic]
Provided that yon do no outrages
On silly women or pour passengers.
SAa* , T. O. of v., Iv. 1. 72.
Bat yet he could not keep, . . .
Here with the shepherds and the silly sheep.
M. Arnold, Thyisis.
4. Weak; impotent; helpless; frail. [Obso-
lete or provincial.]
After long storms, . . .
In dreml of death and dangerous dismay.
With which my silly bark was tossed sore,
I do at length descry the happy shore.
Spenser, Sonnets, Ixiii.
6. Foolish, as a term of pity; deficient in un-
derstanding; weak-minded; witless; simple.
For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and
lead captive silly women. 2 Tim. iii. 6.
She, silly queen, with more than love's good will.
Forbade the boy. Shak., Passionate Pilgrim, 1. 123.
What am I ?
The silly people take me for a saint
Tennyson, St. Simeon Stylites.
6. Foolish, as an epithet of contempt ; char-
acterized by weakness or folly; manifesting
want of judgment or common sense ; stupid or
unwise: as, a «t% coxcomb ; a silly iyook; silly
conduct.
This is the silliest stuff that ever I heard.
.Shat.,M. N.D.,v. 1.212.
From most sUly novels we can -at least extract a laugh.
George Eliot, Silly Novels.
7. Fatuous; imbecile; mentally weak to the
verge of idiocy. [Scotch.]
Na, na, Davie 's no Just like other folk, pnlr fallow ; but
he 's no sae sUly as folk tak him for. Scott, Waverley, Ixiv.
8. Weak in body; not in good health; sickly;
weakly. [Scotch.]
To pleise baith, and else baith,
This silly sickly man.
Cherrie and Slae, st. 108. (Jamieson.)
= 8yn.6. DuU.etc. Seesimple.— 6. Absurd, Silly, Foolish,
etc. See absurd.
II. «.; pl. sillies (-iz). A silly person: as,
what a silly you are! [CoUoq.]
aiUy
Some people . . . are always hoping without sense or
reason. . . . Poor stilus^ they have wind on the brain, and
dream while they are awake,
Spuiyeon, John Flonghman's Talk, p, 101.
Sillyhow (sil'i-hou), M, [Also dial. sUlyheic; lit.
' lucky cap ' (a child born with a caul on the head
beiugconsideredbymidwives especially lucky),
< silli/, ' lucky,' happy (see silly), + "how, a dial,
form of houvej] A membrane that in some cases
covers the head of a child when born ; a caul.
See involution, 4. [Old Eng. and Scotch.]
Great conceits are raised of the involution or membra-
nous covering, commonly called the nillif-hoip, that some-
times is found about the heads of children upon their
birth. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., T. 23.
sillytont (sil'i-ton), M. [< silly + -ton, as in sim-
pleton.^ A simpleton.
SiUyUm, forebear railing, and hear what 's said to you.
N. Bailey, tr, of Colloquies of Erasmus, p. 586.
silo (si'16), n. [= F. silo, < Sp. silo, silo, < L.
sirus, < 6r. aipd^, ottp6(, a pit to keep corn in,
an undergrotind granary, a pitfall.] A pit or
chamber in the ground, or a cavity in a rock, or
more rarely a warm air-tight structure above
ground, for the storing of green crops for future
use as fodder in the state called ensilage. The
material is tightly packed in the silo soon after it is gath-
ered (sometimes with addition of a little salt), covered, and
pressed down with heavy weights. Thus it is subjected
to fermentation, which, if not carried too far, is beneficial
rather than injurious. The resulting fodder is analogous
in its nutritious quality to sauerkraut, which is the pro-
duct of fermentation of cabbage. Similar pits or cavities
in the ground or in rock have been used from remote
times, in various parts of the world, for the prolonged
preservation of grain in a dry state, through the careful ex-
clusion of air and moistiu'e.
silo (si'16), r. t. [< silo, n.] To preserve in a
sUo ; make silage or ensilage of.
The crop can be cut and liloed in any weather, however
wet. H. Robinson, Sewage Question, p. 220.
Silometer (si-lom'e-ter), n. An erroneous spell-
ing of sillomet^r.
Silourt, ". A Middle English form of celure.
Silpha (sil'fa), n. [NL. (Linneeus, 1758), < Gr.
ei/jp7i, a beetle, a bookworm.] A large and
important genus of elavicorn beetles, typical of
the family Silphidie; the carrion-beetles. They
have eleven-jointed clavate antennee, the first joint of
normal length, and the head free and mobile. They
^*f^
Carrion-beetle {Silfiha inmqualis).
a, larva; d, same, natural size; /, g, h, mandible, labium, and
maxilla of larva; i',y, anal process and antenna of same; w, one of
the lateral processes, more highly magnified, b, pupa ; e, same, natural
size ; /, anal process of same, f, beetle ; k, anterior tarsus of same.
(Lines show natural sizes of a, b, c.)
are rather large dark-eolored beetles, often with a red or
yellow pronotum, and are found under stones or in dark
places, or about carrion, upon which they feed principally,
although not exclusively. The genus is wide-spread, but
contains less than 100 species, of which 10 inhabit the
United States. S. opaca of Europe feeds to an injurious
extent upon the leaves of the beet and mangel-wurzel.
S. inseqtuilis is a North American species.
silphal (sirfal), a. [< Silpha + -aZ.] Resem-
bbng, related to, or pertaining to the genus
Silpha.
silphid (sil'fid), n. and a. I. n. A necropha-
gous beetle of the family Silphidse; a sexton- or
bury ing-bee tie ; a carrion-beetle ; a grave-dig-
ger. See cuts under Silpha^ hurying-beetle^ and
sexton-beetle.
H, a. Of or pertaining to the family >SiZp?iid«.
Silpllidae (sil'fi-de), n. pL [NL. (Leach, 1817),
< Silpha + -idae.'] A family of elavicorn bee-
tles, having the dorsal segments of the abdo-
men partly membranous, the ventral segments
free, the mentum moderate or small, the palpi
approximate at their bases, the posterior coxse
more or less conical and prominent, and the
eyes finely granulated, sometimes absent. These
beetles are often of considerable size, and live mainly upon
carrion, a few upon decaying or living vegetation. Some
are found in the nests of ants, mice, and bees, while others
inhabit caves. The family is of universal distribution,
and about 500 species have been described, of which about
100 are from America north of Mexico. Also SilpfiM, Sil-
phaies, SUpkiadse, SUphida, SUphideg, Silphina, and SU-
phUes. See cuts under Silpha, buryinff -beetle, and sextoTi-
5632
silphiuill (sirfi-um), n. [L., < Gr, ffil<}>ioVj aplant
(see def. 1), so called in allusion to its resinous
juice; ct. hay-plant &iid Thapsia.'] 1. An um-
belliferous plant the juice of which was used
by the ancient Greeks as a food and medicine :
called in Latin laserpitium. (See laser ^ laser-
pitium.) It has been variously identified^ as
with Tfiapsia Gar ganica. — 2. [ccy?.] [NL, (Lin-
nseus, 1752).] A genus of composite plants, of
the tribe Helianthoideie and subtribe Melampo-
diese. It is distinguished by its large flower-heads with a
broad involucre, sterile disk-llowers, and pistillate and fer-
tile strap-shaped ray-flowers in one or two rows, producing
compressed achenes bordered by two wings which are
toothed or awned at the apex. Twenty species have been
described, of which eleven are now considered distinct.
They are all natives of the United States, chiefly in the Mis-
sissippi valley and Southern States. They are tall rough-
hairy perennials, with a resinous juice, bearing alternate,
opposite, or whorled leaves of various shapes, and either
entire, toothed, or lobed. The yellow flowers (in one spe-
cies the rays are white) are borne in long-stalked heads,
which are solitary or loosely corymbed. S. terebinthina-
ceuniy remarkable for its odor of turpentine, is the prairie-
dock of the west. For S. per/oliatum, see cup-plant ; and
for S. laciniatum, see rosin-weed and conipass-^ant.
Silphologic (sil-fo-loj'ik), a. [< silpholog-y +
-ic. ] Relating to silphology ; pertaining to those
stages of development commonly called larval.
silpnology (sil-fol'o-ji), n. [< Gr. ff/X^??, a bee-
tle, -i- -?ioyia, < Aiyeiv, speak: see -ologyJ] The
science of larvfe, or larval forms; especially.
the doctrine of the morphological correlations
of larval stages, or those which immediately
succeed the last of the embryonic stages. Thus,
the characteristics of prototypembryos, derived from the
adults of a common more or less remote stock of the same
division of the animal kingdom, are matters of silphology.
Hyatt.
silt (silt),«. \WEt.silte, erroneously cilte; with
formative -f, < silen, drain, filter, strain: see
sile^.'] A deposit of mud or fine soil from run-
ning or standing water ; fine earthy sediment :
as, a harbor choked up with silt.
In long process of time the sUt and sands shall . . .
choke and shallow the sea. Sir T. Browne, Tracts, xii.
Oh, that its waves were flowing over me!
Oh, that I saw its grains of yellow gilt
Roll tumbling in the current o'er my head !
M. Arnold, Sohrab and Rustum.
silt (silt), V. [< silt^ w.] I. trans. To choke, fill,
or obstruct with silt or mud : commonly with up.
Like a skilful engineer, who perceives how he could,
fifty years earlier, have effectually preserved an important
harbour which is now irrecoverably silted up.
Whately, Annotations on Bacon's Essays (ed. 1887), p. 223.
II, intrans. 1. To percolate through crev-
ices; ooze, as water carrying fine sediment. —
2. To become obstructed or choked with silt or
sediment: with up.
During the dry months the Hugli silts up.
Nineteenth Century, XXIII. 45.
silt-grass (silt'gras), n. See Paspalum.
Silty (sirti), a. [< silt + -^i.] Consisting of or
resembling silt ; full of silt.
silure^t, w. A Middle English form of celure.
silure^ (si-lur'), w. [< F. s-ilure = Sp. siluro, <
L. silurtts, < Gr. Gi?jyvpocj a river-fish, prob. the
sheat; formerly derived < aeieiVj shake, + ovfydj
a tail ; but the element oi2.- cannot be brought
from GEieiv.'] A silui'oid fish ; specifically, the
sheat-fish. See cut under Siluridse.
Silurian (si-lu'ri-an), a. and n. [< L. Silures
(Gr. ^t?ivp£g)j the Silures (see def. I., 1), + -ian.'}
I. a. 1. Of or belonging to the Silures, a people
of ancient Britain, or their country. — 2. In
geoL, of or pertaining to the Silurian. See II.
II, n. A name given by Murchison, in 1835,
to a series of rocks the order of succession of
which was first worked out by him in that part
of England and Wales which was formerly in-
habited by the Silures. The various groups of fossi-
liferous rocks included in the Silurian had, previous to
Murchison's labors, been classed together as one assem-
blage, and called by the Germans grauivacke, sometimes
Anglicized into graywacke (which see), also the Trans-
ition series or Transition limestone. In England and Ger-
many these lower rocks have been greatly disturbed and
metamorphosed, and have also been frequently invaded
by eruptive masses; hence it was not until after consid-
erable progress had been made toward a knowledge of
the sequence of the higher fossiliferous groups that the
lower (now designated as Silurian and Devonian) began to
be studied with success. Almost contemporaneously with
the working out of the order of succession of these lower
rocks by Murchison in Great Britain, groups of strata of
the same geological age, but lying for the most part in al-
most entirely undisturbed position, began to be investi-
gated on and near the Atlantic coast of the United States,
especially in New York, by the Geological Survey of that
State, and a little later in Bohemia by Joachim Barrande,
Murchison, Barrande, and James Hall, paleontologist of the
New York Survey, are ^1 agreed as to the adoption of the
name Silurian, and in regard to the essential unity of the
series or system thus designated. The Silurian is the lowest
of the four great subdivisions of the Paleozoic, namely
siluroid
Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, and Permian. When
undisturbed and unmetamorphosed, the Silurian is usu-
ally found to be replete with the remains of organic
forms, of which by far the laiger part is marine. The
Silurian is divided into an Upper and a Lower Silurian,
and each of these again is subdivided into gi-oups and sul)-
groups varying in nomenclature in various countries. The
line between the Upper and Lower Silurian is drawn in
Great Britain at the top of the May Hill sandstone or
Upper Llandovery group ; in New York, at the top of the
Hudson River or Cincinnati group. The almost entire ab-
sence of vertebrates and of laud-plants, and the jjaucity
of plant-life in general, are the most striking features of
Silurian life. The most prominent forms of the animal
kingdom were the gi-aptolites, trilobites, and brachiopods,
and of these the first-mentioned are the most characteris-
tic of all, since they range through neaily the whole Silu-
rian, and disappear in the Devonian ; while the trilobites,
which begin at the same time with the graptolites, con-
tinue through the Devonian, and end only with the Car-
boniferous. As the line between the Silurian and Devo-
nian is commonly drawn in England— namely, so as to
include in the former the Ludlow group— the first verte-
brates, in the form of a low type of fishes, appear near the
top of the Upper Silurian ; traces of land-animals (scor-
Sions) have also been found in the Upper Silurian of Swe-
en and Scotland; and in France, in the Lower (?) Silurian,
traces of insect life. A scorpion has also been found in
the United States, at Waterville, New York, in the Water-
lime group, or near the middle of the Upper Silurian. Mr.
Whitfield, by whom the specimen was described, inclines
to the opinion that the species, for which he instituted a
new genus (Proscorpiu^), was aquatic and not aii-breath-
ing, and that it forms a link between the true aquatic
forms like JUurypterus and Pterygotus and the true air-
breathing scoi"pions of subsequent periods. He intimates
that the same is likely to be true of the Swedish and Scot-
tish Silurian scorpions. The traces of land-plants in the Si-
lurian are rare, and for the most part of doubtful identi-
fication. Algaj, on the other hand, are of somewhat fre-
quent occurrence. As the line between Silurian and De-
vonian is drawn in the United States — namely, between
the Oriskany sandstone and the Cauda-galli grit — there
are neither land-animals nor fishes in the Silurian; and
the evidence of the existence of land-plants lower than
the Devonian is for the most part of a very doubtful char-
acter. The Silurian rocks are widely spread over the
globe, with everywhere essentially the same types of ani-
mal life. This part of the series is of importance in the
United States, especially in the northeastern Atlantic
States and in parts of the Mississippi valley.
Siluric (si-lu'rik), a. [< L. Silures (see Silurian)
H- -ic.'] Same as Silurian. [Rare.]
Silurid (si-lu'rid), a. and n. Same as siluroid,
SiluridSB (si-lu'ri-de), n.pl. [NL., < Silurus +
-idse.] A veiy large family of physostomous
fishes, of the order Nematognathi, represented
by such forms as the sheat-fish of Europe and
the catfishes or cats of America, it was the same
as Siluroides of Cuvier. By Cope its name was used for
Nematognathi with the anterior vertebrse regularly mod-
ified, the inferior pharyngeal bones separate, and an oper-
culum developed. It thus contrasted with the A^pre-
dinidse and Hypophthalmidse, and included all the NeTna-
<o^na(Ai except those belonging to the two families named.
By Gill the family was restricted to those Nematognathi
which have the anterior vertebrse regulaily modified; the
lower pharyngeal bones separate; the operculum devel-
oped ; a dorsal fin, in connection with the abdominal por-
tion of the vertebral column, rather short, and preceded
by the spine ; the pectoral fins armed with well-developed
spines having a complex articulation with the shoulder-
girdle ; and the body naked, or with plates only along the
lateral line. The lower jaw has no reflected lip, and there
are usually from four to eight pairs of barbels, maxillary
barbels being always developed. Species of the family
thus limited are very numerous, several hundred having
been described, and referred to many genera. Most of
them inhabit fresh water, especially of tropical and sub-
tropical countries, but many are also found in tropical
seas. In Europe, one, the sheat-flsh, Silurus glanis, oc-
Sheat-fish {Siiurus £rianis).
curs in the central and eastern regions of the continent;
while a second, more southerly, and supposed to be the
glanis of the ancients, has lately (1890) been distinguished
as SUurus {ParasUurus) aristotelis. In North America the
family is represented by a number of species belonging to
different subfamilies, which are generally known under
the name of catfishes. The leading genera of North Amer-
ica are Noturus, stone-cats ; Amiurus,ovdiiiary cats, pouts,
bullheads, etc. ; Ictalurus, channel-cats; Ariiis, sea-cats;
and ^FAurichthys (or Felichthys), gaff-topsails. See also
cuts under catfish, gaff-topsail, pout, and stone-cat.
siluridan (si-lu'ri-dan), a. and n. [< silurid +
-an.l I. a. Of or having characteristics of the
Siluridse; siluroid.
II, n. A silure or siluroid.
silurine (si-lu'rin), a. and n. [< Silurus + -iwtfl.]
I, a. Of or pertaining to the Siluridse.
II. )}. A catfish of the family Silvridsp.
siluroid (si-lu'roid), a. and n. [< Silurus +
-aid,} I. a. Pertaining to the 5i/Mnd«, or ha v-
Sitvanus suriita.
metuis. (Hair-line
show^ natural size.)
siloroid
ing their eharaeters; being or resembling a cat-
fish or sheat-fish ; siluridan.
H. n. A silure.
Silnroidei (sil-u-roi'de-i), H. pi. [NL. : see si-
luroiil.] An order of fishes, conterminous with
Nciiiittoijnnthi.
Silnms (si-lu'nis), «. [XL., < L. silurus, < Gr.
oi/.oipof, a kind of river-fish: see»J/M«'2.] 1. A
Linuean genus of fishes, typical of the family
Siluridee, formerly corresponding to that family,
now restricted to the European sheat-fish, S.
glanis, and a few closely related species of
Asia. See cut under Silurklx. — 2. [/. o.] A
fish of this genus: as, the sly silurtis.
silva, silvan, etc. See sylva, etc.
Silvanns (sil-va'nus), n. [L., < xilra. a wood,
a forest: see sijlea.'i 1. A Koman rural deity.
He is usually represented with a
sickle in his ri^ht tiand and a boash
in his left, and is described as the
protector of herds from wolves and
of trees fn->in lightning, and a patron
of agriculture in general, and as the
defender of boundaries.
2. [XL. (LatreUle, 1807).]
A genus of claviconi bee-
tles, of the family Cucujidse,
consisting of small, slender
species with five-jointed tarsi
in both sexes, the fourth joint
very small, and antennal joints
from nine to eleven, abruptly
enlarged. It contains alxjut 25
species, several of which are cosroo-
[^>litan. They live under the bark
of trees or in stored food-products. S, turinanunti* fa
found all over the world, feeding on many kinds of drugs,
all stored farinaceous products, etc
silvate, ". Bee gi/lrate.
silver (sil'v^r), "«. and a. [Also dial. (Sc.)
aillir; < ME. giiver, gilvere, selcer, tiulver, .teolver,
< AS. seolfor, seolfcr, siolfor, seolofor (seolfr-),
Mercian nylfur (for 'silfor, like seolc for 'silc),
silver, money, = OS. ailuhhar, silufar = OFries.
sclorer, tulrer, sclrir, xilver = MD. silver, D. di-
rer = MLG. silrer, suiter, LG. silrer, siilver, sul-
ver = OHG. silalitir, silbar, MHG. G. silber,
silver, money, = Icel. silfr = Bw. gilfver = Dan.
siilv = Goth, silubr, silver, = OBulg. sfrebro,
Bulg. sreltro, strebro = Serv. srebro = Bohem.
strzhibro = Pol. srebro = Kuss. serebro = Lith.
sidtihras = Lett, sidrabs, siidrabs, silver, = Finn.
silbbu (< G.) ; ulterior origin unknown; appar.
not an Indo-Eur. word (the Slav, forms are prob.
from the Teut.). An Indo-Eur. name, not
found in Teut., appears in Ir. Gael, airgind,
L. aryentum, Gr. Spjt'pof, Skt. rajata. silver, a
name referring to its brightness or whiteness:
see argent. Some attempt to connect silver
with L. sulfur, sulphur (see sulphur), others
with 6r. aidtipoi, iron.] I. n. 1. Chemical svm-
bol, Ag; atomic weight, 107.93. A metal of a
white color, having a specific gravity of 10.4
to 10.7 (according as it is cast, rolled, or ham-
mered), hanler than gold, and softer than coji-
per. having a tenacity about equal to that of
gold, and melting at a temperature a little
lower than copper. lu whiteness U remarkable,
that of tin alone among the common metals nearly ap.
firoaching it; among the rare metals, iridium and lith-
um are equal to silver in color and luster. .Silver crys-
tallizes In the reffular (Isometric) system : hat, although
Dative sliver Is of frequent occurrence, distinct crystals
are very rare. Arliorescent and fllifonn shapes are most
common, but very large solid masses have been found.
Silver occurs in a great variety of ores, l>elng mineralized
by sulphur, antimony, and arsenic, as well as by chlorin^
iodine, and bromine. These orts are widely distributed
over the world. Silver Is very commonly associated with
lead ; and the common ore of the latter metal, galena, al-
ways r^intaiiis some silver, and generally enoogn to make
"" ' ■ " -1 rl'nmnenitlve. Silver has also been de-
t' water of the ocean. The principal silver-
V -i'*ns lire the Andes and Coratlleraa. from
r-iij ,iri<i iMiiiua came an immense supply of this metal
during the sixteenth and seventcentli centuries. Mexico
has twen a l.irge producer of silver since the middle of
the sixteenth centur)-. The mines of the Comstock lode
at Virginia ('ity, in Nevada, pr<xlucod about ^320,000,000
worth ..(bullion from IfWiitolNSO.abont five tweltthsoftlie
value of which was silver, llils metal has always been
aecouDted 'precious," and has Ihcii used for ornament
and as a meiisure of value from the earliest timea of which
there is any hUturical record. lu most marked point of
inferiority to gold, apart from color, is its liability to tar-
nish when ixtHJSed to snlphurnns emanations or brought
Intocontactwithaiiythingi Iphur. Silverist.o
aofttolwnseilin theunall... n The ratio of sii-
vertricopperin the silver I . ;.iiidl»l)2j to7i(or
12itol): fnthat.>( France an. In,, I int. .1 States, 9 to 1; and
In thatof Prussia, 8 to I. The w.irM's jirodnction of silver,
estimated In ilollars (at the ooininK rate of n.2t)2» per
ounceX has increaned fr..ni ?8tl,00"i,0i<l in 1879 to «n6,000 -
OOO In 1WI4. In th.- Inittd Stat, s tb.' proilinaion increased
from A41,o0o.000 in 1879 t.. SS2,noo,00() in Mar'. In 1808 It
was »77,llOO,OiiO, In ISW «»4.<IOO,UJ(|, in 189f> alioilt i?nO,000,-
OOO, sn.l in ISHti almut «70,iioo,(»iii. Kr..m the fi.nndatioii
of the u.ivcnimeut until l»7s, wheu the free coinage of
354
5633
silver was st.ipped (see cohiaij*' ratio, dollar), about $8,000,-
000 were coined. I'nder the silver-purchase acts of 1878
aud I89<> over .*ax),000,000 have been coined, but only
about 860,000,000 are in circulation. (See ttilver certijicate,
below.) The total amount of silver purchased by the gov-
ernment from Feb. 12, 1873, to Nov. 1, 1893 (when the pur-
chase act of 1890 was reiicaled), was 490,984,889 ounces at
a cost of $508,933,975. Political agitation for the resump-
tion of the free coinage of silver at the existing ratio (alwut
16 to 1) has been carried on vigorously in the West and
S.:iuth since about 1878 ; and in 1896 the Democratic party
made this the chief plank in its platform, aud was de-
feate.1 on this issue.
2. Silver coin ; hence, money in general.
Ne thi excecutors wel bisett the giitier that thow hem
leuest Pien PUmman (B), v. 266.
3. Silverware; tableware of silver; plate; a
silver vessel or utensil. — 4. In photog,, a salt
of silver, as the nitrate, bromide, or chlorid,
which three salts are of fundamental impor-
tance as photographic sensitizing agents. — 5.
Something resembling silver; something hav-
ing a luster like silver.
Pallas, piteous of her plaintive cries,
In sluml)er clos'd her silver streaming eyes.
Fentiftt, ill Pope*s Odyssey, i. 464.
Alamininxn silver. seen^om'Hn/m — Antimonlal sil-
ver. Same as ./../i.'crnjnV.'.— Bismuth silver, .^itnie as
ttrgentobimnutit,. -Blsick silver, brittle silver ore.
.Same Asstepfianite. — BromiC Silver. .Same as brmnj/rite.
— Clerk of the king's sUver. see cier*.— Cloth of
silver. See c^..M. — Fulminating silver, a very ex-
plosive p<jwder f.inned by heating an aqueous solution
of silver nitrate with strong nitric acid and alcohol. —
German silver, a white alloy of copper, zinc, and nickel,
used as a cheap substitute for silver, and as a superior
article for plated ware, being covered with silver by
plating as is the cheaper Britannia metal. The rela-
tive prop<irtionB of the metals in the alloy calletl Ger-
man silver vary considerably, according to the desire of
the manufacturer to produce a cheaper or more expen-
sive article. The commonest kind contains aliout eight
parts of copper, two of nickel, and tliree to five of zinc. A
nner kind of alloy is obtained by adding more nickel ; the
metal is then less liable to taniiah, and the resemblance
to silver in color and luster is more striking. Nickel is a
much more expensive metal than copper, and very much
more so than zinc. See niolrf. — King's silver, (o) A name
? liven to silver used in England from about 1700 to 1720
or plate of an unusually high standiu-d : apparently intro-
duced by workmen from the continent, and al>andoned
because not snfHcicntly hard and durable. Compare gter-
ling, (b) In eld Eiuj. law, a payment made to the king for
lilierty to abandon or compromise the judicial proceeding
for the conveyance o( property called a^ne. Also called
pfMfine. See fine^, S, and compare primer Jim (under
primer).— Kocit silver, a white alloy allied to speculum-
metal and Britannia metal ; pewter. It is compounded of
copper, tin, nickel, zinc, lead, and other inetiUs. — Mosaic
sliver, a compounit ma.lc of bismuth and tin melted to-
gether, with the iiildjti.in of .{iiicksilver, useil as a silver
color. rAoinan, .Med. Diet.— Nitrate of Silver. See m'-
frate. — Old silver. In silversmiths' work, silver to which
an appearance of age has l>een imparted by applying a
mixture of graphite and some fatty matter and cleaning
olf with lil..ttinK iiaper. - Oxidized Silver, .see oxidize.
- Red or ruby silver. Same as pmuytUe and pi/rartpjrite.
-Shoe of gllver. see nAwi— To think one's penny
silver. See penny. — Vitreous silver, argentlte or sil-
ver-glance.
II. a. 1. Made of silver; silvern: as, a, siher
cnp; *i7r«T coin or money. — 2. Pertaining or
relating to silver; concerned with silver; pro-
ducing silver: as, silver legislation; a ((jon^
gressioiidl) silver bill; the silrer men; the
silrer States. — 3. Resembling silver; having
some of the characteristics of silver; silvery,
(n) Ulilte like silver; of a shining white hue: as, nli>er
willow (so calleil in allusion to the silveiy leaves); til-
ver dew (referring t^i the appearance of dew In the early
mornlngX (b) Having a pale luster or a soft splendor.
Ton Hiver beams.
Sleep they lea* iweetly on the cottage thatch
Than on the dome of kings ?
Shelley, (jneen Uab, ill.
(e) Bright ; lastrous ; shining : glittering.
Spread o'er the gUver waves thy golden hairs.
Shak.. C. of E., ill. 2. 4a
(d) Having a soft and clear tone, like that fancifully or po-
etically attribnte<l to a silver bell, or a bar of silver when
struck.
When griping grief the heart doth woand, . . .
Then music with her silver sound —
Why "«fl«r sound?" Shot., R. and J., Iv. 8. isa
(e) Soft; gentle; quiet; peaceful.
His lord in silver slumber lay.
Speiuer, K. Q., VI., vii. 19.
Bland Silver BllL See WH^.— silver age. Scen</«m
iniiihiiom and Ustory (o), under aiji: — Silver bronze, a
kin.l ..f bronzei)owder used in printing and in other ways
t.i iiroduce a silver color.— Silver certificate. See aiM
awl rilver ceriifieales. under cfl^7'.■'(/'^ — Silver chick-
weed. See Paronychia^. 2 — Silver cochineal. See
cuchineal, 1.— SUver ChUb. .Same as /a«ft>A. — Silver
darlC. See ddrfc.— Silver flr, a c..niffi-ous tree of the ge-
nus vt Mm; specifically, yi . f/f&a ( /'i/iitK IHrfa, A.pectiiuita):
so called from the two silvery lines on the under side of the
leaves. It Is a native of the mountains of central and south-
eni Europe, planted elsewhere. It grows from 80 to 120 or
even 200 feet high. Itstimticrissoft. tough, and elastic, of
a creamy-white color, useful for many building and cabi-
net purpooea, for makhig the sounding-bottids of musical
silver-barred
instruments, toys, etc. It yields resin, tar, and the Stras-
burg turpentine. This is the "noble fir" (edfer Tannen-
baum) of the Germans. The silver fir of the Alleghany re-
gion, etc., is A. batsamea, mostly called balsavi or halvi-of-
Giiead fir. It is a moderate-sized tree, its twigs sought for
scentea cushions, its bark secreting Canada balsam (see
balsam), also the source of spruce-gum. Pacific -North
America presents several noble silver firs, as A. grandis,
the white fir of Oregon Ijottom-lands, and A. nobilis and
A, ma^jaifica, the red firs of the mountains of Oregon and
California, all trees between 200 and 300 feet in height.—
Silver fox, the common red fox, Vxdpes fvlmt^, in a mela-
nistic vaiiation, in which the pelage is black or blackish,
overlaid with hoary or silver-gray ends of the longer hairs.
It >s an extreme case of the range of variation from the
normal color, of which the cross-fox is one stage. It oc-
curs in the red foxes of both America and Europe, espe-
cially in high latitudes, and constitutes the Vanis or
Vvlpes arr/entatus or ari/enteus of various authora. The
silver fox has sometimes been defined wrongly as a vari-
ety of the gray fox of the I'nited States (Urocyon cinereo-
argejitatu^), perhaps by some misapprehension of Schre-
ber's (1778) specific name, just cited ; but this is a distinct
species of a ditferent genus, and one in which the silver-
black variation is not known to occur. Compare cut un-
der cross-fox.
While the Ooss and Black and Silver Foxes are usually
considered as different varieties, they are not such in the
claasiftcatory sense of that term, any more than are the
red, black, or white wolves, the black marmots, squirrels,
etc. The proof of this is in the fact that one or both of
the " varieties " occur in the same litter of whelps from
normally colored parents. They have no special distribu-
tion, althougli, on the whole, both kinds are rather north-
erly than otherwise, the SUver Fox especially so.
Coxtes and Yarrow, Wheeler's Expl. West of the 100th Me-
[ridian, V. 53.
Silver gar. See gari.— Sliver glass. See i;io««.— sil-
ver grebe, a misnomer of the red-throated diver or loon,
Colytnbtis (or tJriiuttf/r) septentrionalis. — Silver hake,
heather, lace. See the nouns.— Silver ink. See gold
ink, under inA-i.- Silver longe, the namaycush. or great
lake-trout. See cut undertake -trout. — Silver luster.
Siuue as piatinmn luster (which see, under ii/x^^rS). - Sil-
ver maple. Seeinnjrfcl.— Silver moth, iiee ailcer-nwth,
2.— Silver perch, pheasant, pine, plover, pomfret,
poplar. See the n.mn.s. Silver point, a point .ir pen-
cil of silver (somewhat like the "evcr-pointtxl" pencil),
fonnerly much used by artists for making studies and
sketches on a prepared paper ; also, the process of mak-
ing such sketches.
The beautiful head in nUver-poini which appeared in
"TheOraphic Arts " . . . was executed expressly for that
work, in deference to the example of the old masters who
used silver-point so much. The Portfolio. No. 234, p. 101.
Silver powder, a powder made of melted tin and bismuth
combined with mei-cury : usetl in japanning. — Silver
rain, in pyrittechny, a composition used in i-ockets and
bombs. It is made in small cubes, which are set free in
the air, and in buniiiig emit a white light as they fall.—
Silver sand, a fine sharj) sand of a silvery appeimince,
used for grinding lithographic stones, etc.— Silver side,
the choicer part of a round of beef.
Lift np the lid and stick the fork into the beef — such
a beautiful bit of beef, too : silverside — lovely !
liesant and Itiee, This Son of Vulcan, i. 6.
Silver string, wedding, etc. see the nouns.— silver-
top palmetto. See yw/i/K-Mi..- Silver trout. Seefrouf.
- - Silver wattle, an Anstrnlian si>ecics of acacia. Acacia
deathalo.-- Silver Whiting, the surf-whiting. See u-hit-
init.~The silver doors or gates, see the royal doors,
under door. — "The Silver state, Nevada.
silver (sil'vcr), V. [< ME. sylvcren (= D. vcr-
zilveren = MHG. silbern, G. ver-silbcrn = Sw.
fiir-silfra = Dan. for-solre, plate); from the
noun.ll I. trans. 1. To cover the surface of
with a coat of silver; silver-plate: as, to silver
a dial-plate.
On a tribunal sitver'd,
Cleopatra and himself in chairs of gold
Were publicly enthroned.
Shak.. A. andC, ill. 6. 3.
2. To cover with anything resembling silver
in color and luster; specifically, to coat with
tin-foil and (piicksilver, as a looking-glass.
The horizon-glass (of the sextant! Is divided into two
parts, of which the lower one is siltvrcd, the upper half
being transparent. Newctnnb ami Hvtden, Astron., p. 93.
3. To adorn with mild or silver-like luster ; give
a silvery sheen to.
The loveliest moon that ever sitver'd o'er
A shell for Neptune's goblet Keats, Endyniion, 1.
The moonlight silvered the distant hills, and lay, white
almost as snow, on the frosty roofs of the village.
Longjellow, Kavanagh, vi.
4. To make hoary ; tinge with gray.
It [his beard] was, as I have seen It in his life,
A sable sitver'd. Shak., Hamlet, i. 2. 242.
His head was sitver'd o'er with age.
Gay, Shepherd and Philosopher.
Silvered glass. .See glast.
II. iiitniH.f. To assume the appearance of
silver in color ; become of a silvery whiteness.
[Kare.]
All the eastern sky began to silver and shine.
I. Wallace, Ben-Hur, p. 409.
Silverback (sil'vfir-bak), n. The knot or
cmiuti-, a sandpiper. See cut under Trinya.
\ Ipswich. Massachusetts.]
silver-barred (sil'ver-bard), «. Barred with
silvery color — Sllver-barrBd moth, BatMa argen-
silver-barred
Mo, a British speiies.— Silver-barred sable, a British
inrralid moth. Eniitichia cini/tilali^.
BUTer-basS (sil'ver-bas), «. The mooneye, or
toothed herring, HyodoH tergisus. See out un-
der mooneue. [Local, U. S.]
silver-bath (sil'v6r-bath), ». 1. In photog., a,
solution of silver nitrate, used especially for
sensitizing collodion plates or paper for print-
ing.— 2. A dish or tray for the use of such a
solution. That for plates is usually a flat, deep glass
vessel inclosed and supported nearly upright in a wooden
box. The plate is immersed and removed by means of a
slceletou "dipper."
silver-beater (sil'v^r-be'tfer), ». One who pre-
pares silver-foil by beating. Compare gold-
beater.
silverbell (sil'ver-bel), «. A name common to
the shrubs or small trees of the genus Halesia,
natural order 6'(yro<!c«?; the snowdrop-tree. See
Malesia.
silverbell-tree (sil'vfer-bel-tre), n. Same as
silrerbell.
silverberry (sirv^r-ber'i), n. A shrub, Eleeag-
niin (irijenUa, found from Minnesota westward.
It grows six or eight feet high, spreads by stolons, has the
leaves silvery-scurfy and somewhat rusty beneath, and
bears fragrant flowers which are silver)' without and pale-
yellow within, and silvery edible berries which are said to
be a principal food of the prairie-chiclieu in the North*
west
silverbill (sirv6r-bil), n. One of sundry In-
dian and African birds of the genus Munia ; a
waxbUl, as the Java sparrow. P. L. Sclater,
silver-black (sil'v6r-blak), a. Silvery-black;
black sUvered over with hoary-white: as, the
silver-black fox. See silver fox, under silver.
silver-boom (sU'ver-bom), n. [D. zilverboom.'\
Same as silver-tree.
silver-bracts (sU'ver-brakts), n. A whitened
succulent plant, Cotyledon (Pachyphytum) brac-
teosa, from Brazil. It is of ornamental use,
chiefly in geometrical beds.
silver-bush (sil'v^r-bush), n. An elegant legu-
minous shrub, Anthyllis Barba-Jovis, of south-
ern Europe. It has yellow flowers and silvery
pinnate leaves, suggesting this name and that
of Jupiter's-beard.
silver-buskined (sirv6r-bus"kind), a. Having
buskins adorned with silver.
Fair gUver-hutkin'd nymphs. Milton, Arcades, 1. 38.
silverchain (sil'ver-chan), n. The common lo-
cust-tree, Bobinia Pseudacacia : imitated from
goldenchain, a name of the laburnum. Britten
and Holland, Eng. Plant Names.
silver-cloud (sir vfer-kloud), n. A British moth,
Xylomiges conspicillaris.
silver-duckwing (sirv6r-duk"wing), a. Not-
ing a beautiful variety of the exhibition game-
fowl. The coclt has silvery- white neck and bacl£, a wing
showing the so-called duckwing marking, with silvery
bow, metallic-blue bar, and white bay on secondaries,
black breast, under parts, and tail. The hen is of a deli-
cately penciled ashen gray, with darker tail, black-striped
silver hackles, and salmon breast. The legs are dark and
the eyes red. The yellow- or golden-duckwing fowl is of
similar coloration, but with yellow or orange of different
shades in place of the silver or white.
silver-eel (sil'vfer-el), n. 1. The saber-fish or
cutlas-fish, Trichiurus lepturus. Also called sil-
very hairtail. [Texas.] — 2. The common eel,
when noticeably pale or silvery.
silverer (sil'ver-er), K. One who silvers ; espe-
cially, a person employed in silvering glass.
Dr. Arltle exhibited a man aged sixty-two, alooking-glass
siivereVt who was the subject of mercurial tremors.
Latuxt, 1889, 1. 631.
silverette (sil-ve-ref), n. [< silver + -ette.]
A fancy breed of domestic pigeons.
silvereye (sil'vfer-i), n. A bird of the genus
Zosterops, of which there are many species,
whose leading common color-mark is a white
eye-ring; a white-eye. See cut under .Zosferop-s.
By most English-speaking people in various parts of the
world the prevalent species of Zosterops is commonly
called "White-eye," or Si^yer-ei/e, from the feature before
mentioned. A. Neurton, Encyc. Brit., XXIV. 824.
silver-fern (sirv6r-f6m), n. One of numerous
ferns in which the under surface of the frond
is covered with a white or silvery powder, as
in many species of Nothochlsena and Gymno-
gramme. Compare gold-fern. For cuts, see
Gymnogramme and Nothochlsena.
Silverfln (sil'vfer-fin), «. A minnow of the ge-
nus Xoiropis, as N. whipplei, of the fresh waters
of North America.
Silveffish (sil'vfer-fish), n. 1. An artificial va-
riety of the goldfish, Carassius auratus, more
or less nearly colorless, or with silvery-white
instead of red scales on much or all of the body.
— 2. A sand-smelt or atherine ; any fish of the
ia,wiXj Atherinida : sameaasilversides. — 3. The
5634
bream Notemigonus chrysoleucus. See cut under
shiner. — 4. The tarpon (ortarpum) or jewfish,
Megalops atlanticiis or M. thrissoidcs. Also
sabalo, savanilla. See cut under tarpon. — 5.
The charaeinoid Curimatus argenfetis, inhabit-
ing the fresh waters of Trinidad. — 6. Any spe-
cies of Lepisma, as L. saccharina or X. domes-
Silverfish (^Lepisma saccharina'), (Line shows natural size.>
tica, a thysanurous insect occurring in houses
and damaging books, wall-paper, etc. See he-
pisma. Also called M;(i?fce»(;-fefe, bristletail, fish-
tail, furniture-bug, silver-moth, silver-icitch, shin-
er, and silvertail.
silver-foil (sil'ver-foil), n. Silver beaten thin.
silver-gilt (sil'ver-gilt), n. 1. Silver covered
with gilding; also, gilded articles of silver. —
2. A close imitation of real gilding, made by
applying silver-leaf, burnishing the surface, and
then coating with a transparent yellow lacquer.
silver-glance (sil'ver-glans'), n. Native silver
sulphid. See argentite.
silver-grain (sil'ver-gran), n. In boU, the shin-
ing plates of parenchymatous tissue (medul-
lary rays) seen in the stems of exogenous wood
when these stems are cut in a longitudinal
radial direction. They are the little light-colored or
bright bands that give to rock-maple, quartered oak, and
the like their chief beauty, and mfd^e them prized in cabi-
net-work. See medvltary rays, under medullary.
silver-grass (8irver-gras),». 1. See Phalaris. —
2. A variety of a multiform species of meadow-
grass, Poa ceespitosa, of Australia, Tasmania,
and New Zealand.
silver-gray (sil'ver-gra'), a. and n. I. o. Of a
color produced by an intimate combination of
black and silvery white; silvery or lustrous
gray, as hair, fur, or cloth.
Then never chilling touch of Time
Will turn it silver-gray.
Tennyson, the Ringlet.
Silver-gray fox, the silver fox (which see, under silver).
— Silver-gray rabbit, a silver-sprig.
II. ». 1. A silver-gray color. — 2, [_cap.'\
In U. S. hist., one of a body of conservative
Whigs who acted together for some time after
the general disintegration of the Whig party
following its overwhelming defeat in the na-
tional election of 1852^: said to be so called
from the silver-gray hair of their leaders. Also
Silvery Gray.
The conservative Whigs, the so-called Silver Qrays, had
supported them out of fear of the Republicans.
H. von Hoist, Const. Hist, (trans.), V. 200.
In 1855 they [the Americans] were joined by the Silvery
Grays, whom Mr. Fillmore was unable to guide into an-
other harbor. T. W. Barnes, Mem. Thurlow Weed, p. 224.
silver-ground (sil'vfer-gi-ound), a. Having a
silvery ground-color: as, the silver-ground car-
pet, a British moth, Melanippe montanata.
silver-haired (sir v^r-hard), «. Having hair of
the color of silver; having white or lustrous
gray hair.
Sllverhead (sil'v6r-hed), n. The silver chick-
weed, Paronychia argyrocoma.
silver-headed (sil'ver-hed'ed), a. 1. Having
a silver head, as a cane. — 2. Same as silver-
haired.
Mrs. Skewton . . . clapped into this house a silver-
headed butler. Dickens, Dombey and Son, xxx.
silveriness (sil'v^r-i-nes), n. The state or char-
acter of being silvery.
silver-plater
This picture is remarkable for its broad and pure sil-
veriness. Athemeum, Jan. 7, 1888, p. 22.
silvering (sil'ver-ing), H. [Verbal n. of silver,
(!.] 1. The art or practice of covering any-
thing with silver, or with a bright-shining white
surface like that of silver; also, a sensitizing
with a salt of silver, as in photography. — 2.
Silver or plating laid on any surface.
A silver cheese-toaster with three tongues, an ebony
handle, and silvering at the end. Steele, Tatler, No. 245.
Amalgam silvering. See amalgam.
silverite (sil'ver-it), n. [< silver + -ite^.'] One
who favors the free use of silver as money
equally with gold ; a bimetallist; specifically, in
U. S. politics, one who advocates the free coin-
age of silver, particularly one who desires free
coinage at the existing ratio with gold (about
16 to 1).
The attempt is made to cast a slur upon the sUverites
by calling them inflationists, as if to be an inflationist were
the greatest of monetary sins. Science, VII. 267.
silverize (sU'vfer-iz), v. t.; pret. and pp. silver-
ized, ppr. silverizing. [< silver + -ize.'] Same
as silver.
When like age shall sUuerize thy Tresse.
Sylvester, tr. of De Faur's Quadrains of Pibrac, st. 119.
silver-king (sil'vSr-king), n. The tarpon, Me-
galops (itUintictis or thrissoides.
silver-leaf (sil'v6r-lef), n. 1. The thinnest
kind of silver-foil. — 2. A name of the buffalo-
berry (Shepherdia argentea), of the queen's-de-
light (Stillingia sylvatica), and of the Japanese
and Chinese plant Senecio Kfempferi, var. argen-
tea.— 3. The white poplar. See poplar.
silver-leafed (sU'v6r-left), a. Having leaves
with one or both sides sUvery.— Silver-leafed
linden. See linden.
silverless (sil'ver-les), a. [< ME. silverles, seU
verles ; < silver + -less. ] Having no silver ; with-
out money; impecunious.
He sente hem forth selverles in a somer garnement.
Piers Plowman (C), x. 119.
silverling (sil'ver-ling), H. [Early mod. E.
silverling (= D. zilverling = G. silberling) ; < sil-
ver + -ling^.'] An old standard of value in sil-
ver; a piece of silver money; in the passage
cited from the Bible, either a shekel or a half-
shekel.
Here have I purst their paltry silvertings.
Marlowe, Jew of Malta, i. 1.
There were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings.
^ Isa. vii. 23.
The canon's talk about " the censer and olive branch
stamped upon a shekel" is as unwarranted as his name
for the silverlings of the traitor [Judas],
N. and Q., 7th ser., V. 365.
silverly (sil'ver-li), adv. [< silver + -ly^.l Like
silver, as regards either appearance or tone.
Let me wipe off this honourable dew
That silverly doth progress on thy cheeks.
Shak., K. John, v. 2. 46.
Saturn's voice therefrom
Grew up like organ, that begins anew
Its strain, when other harmonies, stopt short,
Leave the dimm'd air vibrating Overly.
Keats, Hyperion, il.
silver-mill (sil'v^r-mil), «. The mill, or metal-
lurgical plant, used in treating silver ores by
either the wet or the diy process.
silver-moth (sir v6r-m6th), «. l. Ageometrid
■moth, Bapta punctata. — 2. The bristletail. See
Lepisma, and cut under silverfish.
silvern (sil'vem), a. [< ME. silveren, selvern,
seolvern, < AS. sylfren, seolfren (= OS. silubrin,
silafrin = OFries. selvirn = MD. silveren, D. zil-
vercn = OHG. silberin, silbirin, MHG. silberin,
Gr. silbern = Dan. solverne = Goth, silnbreins),
of silver, < seolfor, silver: see silver and -en^.~\
Made of or resembling silver ; having any char-
acteristic of or analogy to silver: as, "speech
is silvern, silence is golden."
Silvern orators no longer entertain gentle and perfumed
hearers with predictions of its failure.
A. Phelps, My Study, p. 37.
Spirit of dreams and silvern memories,
Delicate Sleep.
T. B. Aldrich, Invocation to Sleep.
silver-owl (sil'ver-oul), n. The barn-owl: so
called from its whiteness. See cut tmder barn-
owl.
silver-paper (sil'v6r-pa''p6r), n. White tissue-
paper of good quality.
silver-plated (sil'ver-pla'ted), a. Plated with
silver. See j>tete, v. t., and plated ware (under
plated).
Silver-plater (sirvfer-pla't^r), n. One who
plates metallic articles with a coating of silver,
either by direct application or by electrical
deposition.
silver-print
silver-print (sil'ver-priut), h. A photographic
positive made on papersensitizedby a silversalt.
silver-printing (sil'ver-prin'ting)' n. In pho-
tuij., the production of prints by the agency of
a salt of silver as a sensitizer ; especially, any
ordinary "printing ont" process in which the
picture is immediately visible without develop-
ment, as upon albumin-paper.
silver-shafted (sil'vfer-shal'ted), a. Carrying
silver arrows: an epithet of Diana.
Hence had the huntress Dian her dread bow,
Fair tUcersha/led queen, for ever chaste.
MUUrn, I'Omus, 1. 442.
silver-shell (sil'v^r-shel), «. A gastropod,
Anomia ephippium; so called from its glisten-
ing white color. See Anomia. Also called gold-
shell, cliiik-shell, Knd jingk-shell.
silversides (sil'v^r-sidz), n. A silverfish, sand-
smelt, or atherine; any pereesocine fish of the
family Atheriiiidse, having a silvery stripe along
the sides. The most abundant species along the Atlan-
tic coast of the United States is Menidia notata, also called
Silversides or Saod-smelt {Afenidia notata),
frimr, taUor, and tinker^ 5 inches lontt, of a transparent
greenish color with silver band. The brooksilrersides Is
a graceful little fresh- water Bsh, Labidesthet neculxa, 3*
Inches Inng, of ponds and streams from New York anc
Michigan to the Mississippi valley (see iHfjadc).
silversmith (sil'v^r-smith), n. One whose oc-
cupation it is to work in silver, as in the manu-
facture of articles in silver. Compare goldsmith
and coppersmith.
silver-solder (sil'vtr-sod'^r), n. A solder for
uniting olijects of silver, it rariea in composition,
and isaccordingly termedAarff,Aar(fesf,orso/E. HardtUver.
lolder consists of three parts of sterling silver and one of
brass wire. Hardegt nlner-gtjider is ma^e of four parts of
Une silrer and one of copper. So/l laeer-tMer consists
of two parts of fine silver and one of brass wire, to which
arsenic is sometimes added to give greater wUtoneu and
fusibility.
silverspot (sil'v^r-spot), n. A silver-spotted
buttt-rfly, as a fritillary of the genus Arggnnis
and related forms.
silver-spotted (sil'vfer-spot'ed), a. Marked
with spots of silvery color: said especially of
certain butterflies thus spotted on the under
side of the wings. Compare Dilver-striped, sil-
vers tuddfd. silver-washed.
silver-sprig ( sir v6r-sprig), n. The pelt of a sil-
ver-hair<Ml variety of the common rabbit, Lepus
cuniculus ; also, such a rabbit.
The true silver grejr rabbits - tUcrr tprigt, thejr call
them — do you know that the skins of those tUcer tprigt
are worth any money '*
Mia KdgeumtJt, The Will, L (AwiM.)
silver-standard fsil'vfer-stan'dUrd), a. Using
silver money alone as full legal'tender. The sll.
TBT-stanilar.l countries are Mexico, Central America, Co-
loml.iii, Bolivia ICcuador, Ctiina, lIr,iiK.Kc.iig and Straits
«ettl.nieiit». and l.'.K-hin China. ('"Untrles having nom-
inally at icast a doiil.lf kiaiidnrd (ic-M and silver) are
the rnitcd .Slate«, Haiti, Irugiiay, Argentine Bepubllc,
Venezuela, Knincf, If. Igium, Italy, .Switzerland. Greece,
Spain. Servia, Hiilsaria .Sitherlands, Algeria, Tunis, Java,
Philipi.irie Islan.ls, and Hawaii. Many ol these, aa the
Unlti-.i stati-s, are practically on a gold basis. .See gad-
standard.
silver-stick (sU'vSr-stik), n. In 'England, an
officer of the royal palace, so called from the
silvered wand which is his badge,
silver-striped (sil'v^r-stnpt), «. striped with
silvery (•,,r.)r: as, the silrer-striped hawk-moth,
Dihiihil'i hnirnica, a rare British species.
Silver-Studded (sil'vir-stlid'ed), a. Studded
with silvery markings: as, the silver-studdtd
butterfly, I'lili/oiiimatus alcon.
silvertall (Hirvi-r-tal), n. Same as Mherfish, P
Silver-thistle (sil'v^r-this'l), ». A herbaceous
plant. Artndhus siniioKus, the traditional model
of the architectural acanthus. See Acauthus
1 and 4. Also called silvery thistle. '
silver-tongne (sil'vfer-tung), n. The somr-gpar-
row of the United States, Melosjnza f(^aUt or
mrlorlifi. f'oues.
Silver-tongned (sil'v^r-tungd), a. Having a
smooth tongue, or fluent, plausible, or convin
cing speech ; eloquent.
silver-top (sil'v^r-top), n. A disease affecting
grasses. See the quotation.
I '^I^f*"^ Herbert flsborn . . . said the alKr.top in grass
is a whitening of the upper jwrtion of the stalk, especially
the hajd which withers without maturing seed. M«d-
S^^i^."T.^ "";' T'j'lP" ''"•bwo credited with being
the cause of the mischief. ProfenorCOmstock has shown
5635
that Limothrips poaphagus Is often the cause. The inJuiT
may result from any attack upon the juicy base of the ter-
minal node that cuts off the flow of sap t<) the head.
Amer. Sat, October, 1890, p. 970.
silver-tree (sil'v^r-tre), n. 1. See Leucaden-
droii. Also silver-boom. — 2. An Australian for-
est-tree, Tarrietia Argyrodendron.
silver-vine (sil'v^r-vin), «. See Sdndnpsus.
silverware (sil'vfer-war), n. Collectively, man-
ufactures of silver; especially, articles for the
table or other domestic use made of silver.
silver-washed (sil'vtr-wosht), a. Colored as if
washed over with silver ; frosted ; hoary ; pru-
inose : as, the silver-washed fritillary, Argynnis
paphia. a British butterfly.
Sllverweed (sil'vfer-wed), n. 1. A plant, Po-
tentilla Anserina, having pinnate leaves covered
beneath with silvery-silky down. It is a tufted
herb, emitting runners which root at the nodes and send
up peduitcles bearing a single yellow flower. It Is com-
mon In the northern Old World, and Is found In marshes,
on river-banks, etc., northward in North America.
2. A plant of the convolvulaceous genus Argij-
reia, containing some 30 chiefly East Indian and
Malayan species. They are climbing or rarely almost
erect shrubs, bearing showy purple or rose-colored flowers
with funnel-shaped corolla, ana having the foliage often
white-pubescent beneath.
silver-white (sil'v6r-hwit), n. A very pure
form of white lead. Also called Chinese white
and Kremnitz white.
silver-witch (sil'v^r-wich), n. Same as «»/fer-
_ft".vA, 6. Also written silver witch.
silverwood (sil'vfer-wud), n. A tree of the ge-
nus Moiiriria. Guettarda argentea of the Rubi-
aiae and Casearia Isetioides of the Samydacese
are also so named. [West Indies.]
silver-work (sil'vtr-w^rk), n. Ornamental
work in silver in general ; vessels, utensils, etc.,
made of silver.
silvery (sil'vfer-i), n. [< silver + -yK'\ 1. Be-
sprinkled, covered with, or containing silver. —
2. Having the qualities, or some of the quali
Branch of Simaruba
amara, with female flow-
ers, a, a male flower ; *,
a female flower.
ties, of silver. Espdally— (o) Having the lustrous
whiteness of silver. (5) Having a soft and musical sound,
aa that attributed to silver l>ells. (c) In zooL. of a silvery
color ; shining-white or hoary ; frosted; pruinose. (d) In
hot., bluish. white or gray with a metallic luster.— 811-
very-arches, a British night-motli, Ajilrctn tiiu-ia.—
Silvery gade, the mackerel-midge. — Silvery gibbon,
the well «ou, Bylobatet teucwciM.— Silvery gull same
as A«+inff-(«i«.— SUvery halrtall, mtulet, shrew-
mole, etc. See the nouns. — Silvery thistle. Same as
tUtieT-thittle.
silvestrite (sil-ves'tnt), n. See sideraxote.
Silvia, II. See Sylvia. Cuvier, 1800.
silviculture, n. See sylviculture.
Silvius (nil'vi-us), n. See Sylvius.
Silvbum (sil'i-bum), n. [NL. (Vaillant, 1718),
< L. xili/bum, sUlybus, < Gr. ai?.?.vjio( (pi. ai^>.vjia),
a kind of thistle, said to be < Egyptian sobil.} A
genus of thistles, belonging to the order Com-
posita, tribe Cynaroideie, and subtribe Cardui-
nex. It Is characterised by dowers with a flat bristly re-
ceptacle, unequal simple pappus, smooth and united flla-
ments, and a somewlutt gloDolar involucre with Its nu-
merous overlapping outer bracts spiny-fringed at the base.
and tipped with a long, stiff, awl-shaped, spreading spine.
The only 8i>eclea, S. Jfarianum (the niilk-thlstk-). a smooth,
erect perennial with large purple solitary and terminal
flower-heads, is a native of the Mediterranean region, ex-
tending from Apaln to southern Russia, occurring aa a
weed In cultivated grounds northward, and also found In
the Himalayas.
sima, n. In arch., an erroneous spelling of cyma.
Simaba (si-ma'bS), «. [NL. (Aublet, 1775), from
a native name in Guiana.] A genus of polypeta-
lous trees and shrubs, of the order Simarubaceee
and tribe .Sinmrube/e. It Is characterised by flowers
with small calyx of four or Ave imbricated sepals, the same
number of spreading petals and of lobes of the erect nar.
row disk, twice aa many stamens with their fllainents
adnate to elongated scales, and a deeply parted ovary with
four or five cells, ovules, and styles. There are about 14
species, natives of tropical .^uth America. They bear
alternate pinnate leaves with entire coriaceous leaflets
sometimes reduced to three or even to one. and loosely
flowered panicles of small or medium-sized flowers. See
eedrtm.
simagret (sim'a-gfer), n. [< p. simagrie (OP.
cimagree, chimagree); Geneva dial, simagrie =
Wall, simagraw, affected manners assumed to
deceive, grimaces: origin unknown.] A gri-
mace. [Rare.]
Now In the crystal stream he looks, to try
His nmagre*, and rolls his glaring eye.
Drydcn, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., xlli. 31,
simart (si-mftr'), «. [Also simarre, simnre, sa-
mare, samarra, cimar, cumar, cymarr, < P. si-
marre, snmarre, OP. chamarre, a loose and
light gown, F. chamarre, lacework, embroidery,
= Pr. samtirra = lt. riamnrra, zamarn, zamarra,
zimarra, a night-robe; cf. dial. (Sardinian) ac-
ciamarra, a sheepskin garment; < Sp. chnmar-
ra, zamarra, zamarro = Cat. samarra = Pg.
simblot
samarra, ^amnrra, a shepherd's coat of sheep-
skin, Sp. zamarro, a sheepskin; said to be of
Basque origin.] A loose, light robe, worn by
women: only in poetical use, without precise
meaning.
Her body shaded with a slight cymarr.
Dryden, Cym. and Iph., L loa
The profusion of her sable tresses . . . fell down upon
as much of a lovely neck and bosom as a simarre of the
richest Persian silk . . . permitted to be visible.
&Mtt, Ivanhoe, vii.
Simarret, «. See simar.
Simaruba (sim-a-ro'bii), n. [NL. (Aublet,
1775), from a native uanae in Guiana for S. offi-
cinalis; cf. Simaba.'i A ge-
nus of polypetalous trees,
type of the order Simaruha-
cese and tribe Simarubese.
It is characterized by diceclous
flowers with a small flve-lobed
calyx, five petals surrounding a
hemispherical and villous disk
which bears ten stamens, or a
deeply five-parted ovary with a
single short style, a broad flve-
lobed stigma, and five solitary
ovules. It is closely allied to the
well-known genus Ailantus, but
distinguished by a fruit of one to
five sessile spreading drupes in-
stead of as many thin wing-fruits.
There are 3 or 4 species, natives
of eastern parts of tropical Anjer-
ica, for which see mountaiyi-dam-
9on, Qttasna, paraiba, and para-
dise-tree. They beai- alternate and
abruptly pinnate leaves, with en-
tire coriaceous leaflets, and small flowers in axillary and
terminal elongated branching panicles.
Simarubaces (8im"a-ro-ba'se-e), n. pi. [NL.
(L. C. Kichard, 1808), < Simaruba + -acex.'] An
order of polypetalous trees, of the cohort Gera-
niales in the series Disciflorse, closely allied to
the order Ru tacese, from which it is distinguished
by the usual presence of alternate leaves with-
out glands, stamens each augmented by one or
more scales, and but a single ovule in each
ovary-cell. It includes about 112 species, of about 30
genera, mainly natives of warm climates, and classed in
the two tribes Siiiutrubefle and Picramnieie. They are
mostly odorless trees or shrubs, with a bitter bark, alter-
nate pinnate leaves without stipules, and usually small
flowers, commonly axillary, panicled or racemed. See
Qnassia (with cut), Simaba, AilaiUus, Samaiidura, Picrge-
na, and Picramnia.
Simarubaceous (sira'a-ro-ba'shius), a. Of or
pertaining to, or belonging to, the Simarubaceee;
typified by or like Simaruba.
Simarubese (sim-a-ro'be-e), n. pi. [NL. (A.
P. de Candolle, 1811), < Simaruba -*- -««.] A
tribe of polypetalous trees and shrubs, com-
prising those genera of the order Simarubaceee
which have a lobed ovary like the related Rit-
taceee. It includes 21 genera, nearly all tropical and
American, with one from the Mediterranean, the dwarf
shrub Cneurum, and with two in the rnited States, Ciieo-
ridium, a smooth shrub with bitter juice from California,
and Ilulacantha, a leafless spiny shrub of New Mexico.
simballt, ". An obsolete spelling of cymbal.
Minshcu.
simbere, n. Same as simbil.
Simbil (sim'bil), «. An African stork, Ciconia
or Sphenorhynchus abdimi, or Abdimia sphcno-
Simbil (.AMtmia s^ktnorhyncha-).
rhyncha. having rather short legs for this fam-
ily, white under parts, purplish upper parts,
and greenish beak with sharp red tip.
simbUn, simbling (sim'blin, -bling), n. See
simlin.
simbling-cake (sim'bling-kak), n. Currant-
cake made to be eaten on Mid-Lent Sunday.
H'right. See simvel. [Prov. Eng.]
simblot (sim'blot), «. [< P. simblot, also sin-
gliots, n. pi. ; < cingler, singler, trace lines with
simblot
a whitened or blackened cord stretched, also
lash, whip, < OF. eengU, senglc, F. sangle, < L.
cinguluni, a girdle: see eingle, shingle'^.'] The
harness of a weavers' draw-loom. Simmoiids.
simbolee-oil (sim'bo-le-oil), «. See Murraya.
Simenclielyia8B(si-meng-ke-li'i-de),«.j)J. [NL.,
< Simciu-litiys + -»(/«.] A family of eels, repre-
sented by the genus Simcnchelys ; the pug-nosed
eels. They are deep-sea forms parasitic upon otlier iislies.
The form is shorter and more robust than in the common
eels, but the scales are distributed in the same manner.
The head ends in a short and blunt snout, and the lower
jaw is deep and strong. The teetli are blunt, incisor -like,
and in one row on the edge of the jaws. Only one species
is known, 5. parasiticus, which is found in deep water,
and is prone to attack fishes that have been hooked, espe-
cially the halibut, into whose flesh it buiTows. It is very
abundant on the banks south of Newfoundland.
Simenchelys (si-meug'ke-lis), «, [NL., < Gr.
ciu6(, snub-nosed, flat-nosed, + lyx^^'''Ci iy^tf^'Y,
an eel.] The representative genus of Simen-
ehelyidse, having scales like those of the com-
Fug-no5«d Eel (Sittuneketys parasiticus.
mon eel, the osteological characters of the con-
gers, and the snout blunt and rounded (whence
the name). iS. parasiticiis, the only species, is
known as the pug-nosed or snub-nosed eel.
Simeonite (sim'e-on-It), n. [< Simeon (see def.
and Simoman) 4- -ite^.\ 1. A descendant of
the patriarch Simeon. — 2. Eceles., a follower
of the Rev. Charles Simeon (1759-1836), a
clergyman of the Chtirch of England at Cam-
bridge, distinguished for his evangelical views
and as a leader of the Low-church party ; hence,
a name sometimes given to Low-churchmen.
Simeon's degree. See degree.
Simia (sim'i-a), n. [NL., < L. simia, simiiis,
an ape, monkey (> It. simia, soimia, scimmia,
an ape).] It. A Linnean genus (1735-66)
containing the whole of his order Primates, ex-
cepting the genera Homo, Jjemur, and Vesper-
tilio. — 2. Now, the name-giving genus of
Simiidee, containing oidy those apes known as
orang-utans. The common orang is 5. satyrus, and no
other' species is established. .See mias, pongo, and cut
under orang-tdan. Also called Pithecus and Satyrus.
3t. A genus of gastropods. Leach; Gray, 1847.
Simiadae (si-mi'a-de), n.pl. [NL., < Simia +
-adse.] Same as Simiidse.
simial (sim'i-al), a. [< L. simia, an ape, +
-a7.] Same as simian. [Rare.]
We are aware that there may be vulgar souls who,
judging, from their simial selves, may doubt the conti-
nence of Scipio. D. Jerrold, St. Giles and St. James, 1. 94.
simian (sim'i-an), a. and n. [= F. simien = Sp.
simiano, < ^Ti!simianus (cf. ML. simianus, a de-
mon), < L. simia, an ape.] 1. a. 1. Like an ape
or monkey, in any sense ; apish ; rhesian ; simi-
ous: as, simian characters, habits, traits, tricks,
antics, etc. — 2. Technically, of or pertaining
to the Simiidee or Simiinee; anthropoid or man-
like, as one of the higher apes : as, simian an-
cestors.
II. n. 1. An ape or monkey of any kind. —
2. An anthropoid ape of the family Simiidx.
Simiidse (si-mi'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Simia +
-jd«.] The anthropoid apes; the highest fam-
ily of the order Primates and suborder Antliro-
poidea (excepting Hominidx), divided into the
two subfamilies Simiinee and Hyloiatinee, the
former containing the gorilla, chimpanzee, and
orang, and the latter the gibbons. The form is more
nearly human than that of any other animal below man.
The carriage is semi-erect, or capable of becoming so ; the
arms are much longer than the legs ; the tail is rudimen-
tary (in the gorilla with fewer vertebrse than in man) ; the
sacrum is large and solid ; the sternum is short and broad,
with three or four intennediate sternebrse ; and the spinal
column has a slight sigmoid curve, giving a "small of the
back " somewhat as in man ; the teeth are thirty-two, with
the same formula as in man ; and the nose is catarrhine,
as in the rest of the Old World apes. Also Simiadie.
Simiinse (sim-i-i'ne), n. 2)1. [NL., < Simia +
-inse.^ The higher one of two subfamilies of
Simiidse, from which the Hylohatinee or gibbons
are excluded, and which includes the gorilla,
chimpanzee, and orang, having a robust form,
broad haunch-bones, large cerebrum overlap-
ping the cerebellum, and no ischial callosities.
The genera are Gorilla, Mimetes (or Anthropo-
pithecus or Troglodytes), and Simia.
similar (sim'1-lar), a. and n. [< OF. (and F.)
similaire = 8p. tg. similar = It. similare, < ML.
*8imilaris, extended from L. sitniUs, like ; akin
5636
to simul, together, Gr. afia, together, and E.
same: see same. From the L. simiiis are also
ult. E. simile, sitnilitude, simulate, simultaneous,
semble^, semble^, assemble, dissemble, resemble,
semblance, semblant, assimilate, dissitiiilar, dis-
simulation, etc.'} I. n. 1. Having characteris-
tics in common ; like in form, appearance,
size, qualities, relations, etc. ; having a more
or less marked resemblance to each other
or one another; in some respects identical;
bearing a resemblance, as to something im-
plied or specified: as, the general features of
the two landscapes are similar; the plans are
similar.
My present concern is with the commandment to love
our neighbom:, which is a duty second and simitar to that
of the love of God. Waterland, Works, IX. ii.
A captious question, sir (and yours is one).
Deserves an answer similar, or none.
Cowper, Tirocinium, 1. 904.
The mental interests of men were everywhere siinilar
in kind ; their chief topics of thought for the most part
alike. C. E. Norton, Church-building in Middle Ages, p. 9.
The dresses of the female slaves are similar to those of
the Egyptian women.
jB. W. Lane, Modern Egyptians, I. 236.
2+. Homogeneous ; of like structure or charac-
ter throughout.
Minerals appearing to the eye either to be perfectly
similar, as metals; or at least to consist but of two or
three distinct ingredients, as cinnabar.
Boyle, Works, I. 206.
3. [Tr. Gr. b/xoiog.'] Ingeom., of the same shape :
said of two figures which have all their cor-
responding angles equal, whence it will follow,
for ordinary Euclidean space, that all their cor-
responding lengths will be proportional, that
their corresponding areas will be in the dupli-
cate ratio of their lengths, and that their corre-
sponding volumes will be in the triplicate ratio
of their lengths. In the non-Euclidean systems of
geometry these consequences are falsified, so that there
are no similar figures.
Similar solid figures are such as have their solid angles
equal, each to each, and are contained by the same num-
ber of similar planes. Euclid's Elmnents, Bk. xi. def. xi.
4. In biol., alike in some respects ; identical to
some extent. Specifically— (a) Having the like struc-
ture ; of common origin ; homologous (which see), (fe)
Having the like function or use, though of unlike origin ;
analogous (which see). These two senses are respectively
the morphological and the physiological application of
the word to parts or organs of animals and plants.
5. In music, in the same direction: said of the
rising and falling of two voice-parts — Similar
area. See arci.— similar curves or curvlUnear fig-
ures, those within which similar rectilinear figures can
in every case be inscribed.— Similar focl. See focus, 3,
— Similar functions. See/Mjwrtora.- Similarpencils,
polygons, ranges, shieafs, those whose elements corre-
spond so that corresponding distances are proportional. —
Similar quantities. See quantity.
II. n. That which is similar ; that which re-
sembles something else in form, appearance,
quality, etc.; in the plural, things resembling
one another.
If the similars are entitled to the position of apxa-i, the
dissimilars are not
J. Marixmau, Materialism (1874), p. 128.
All [the Indian names are] more flexible on the tongue
than their Spanish similars. Scribner's Mag., II. 505.
The law of similars, (a) The law of mental association
by which similar ideas are connected in the mind and sug-
gest one another. This kind of association is denied by
some psychologists, who forget that without it similarity
would have no possible meaning. When we say that to-
day's idea is like yesterday's, we can only mean that a
sense of aflinity connects them. The kind of association is
the essential condition of generalization. (6) The homeo-
pathic principle of administering drugs. See simUia.
similarity (sim-i-lar'i-ti), n. [= F. similarite
= Sp. similaridad ; as similar + -»%.] 1. The
quality or condition of being similar ; likeness ;
perfect, partial, or general resemblance.
Similarity was defined as the cointension of two con-
natural relations between states of consciousness which
are themselves like in kind but commonly unlike in de-
gree. H. Spencer, Prin. of Psychol., § 371.
Similarity, in compounds, is partial identity.
W. James, Prin. of Psychol., I. 579.
2. A point or respect in which things are simi-
lar.
It is plain that in finding out the similarities of things
we analyse. J, Sully, Outlines of Psychol., p. 336.
Center of slmUarlty. SeeMnterl.=Syn. Analogy, cor-
respondence, parity, parallelism,
similarly (sim'i-lar-li), adv. In a similar or
like manner; with resemblance in certain re-
spects.
As similarly constituted beings, men have certain rights
in common. H. Spender, Prin. of Sociol., § 634.
similaryt (sim'i-la-ri), a. [< ML. *similaris,
like: see simiter.] Similar; like. [Rare.]
similitude
Those more noble ^arts or eminent branches belonging
to that Catholick visible Church, which, being simUary or
partaking of the same nature by the common faitll, have
yet their convenient limits.
Bp. Qaudcn, Teai's of the Church, p. 25. (JJavies.)
Khyming cadences of similary words. South.
simile (sim'i-le), n. [Formerly also similie,
simily; = Sp. simil = Pg. simile, a simile, = It.
simile, a like, fellow, < L. simile, a like thing,
neut. of simiiis (> It. simile = Sp. simil), like:
see similar. Ct. facsimile.'] In Wtet., the com-
paring or likening of two things having some
strong point or points of resemblance, both of
which are mentioned and the comparison di-
rectly stated ; a poetic or imaginative compari-
son ; also, the verbal expression or embodiment
of such a comparison.
Tra. O, sir, Lucentio slipp'd me like his greyhound.
Which runs himself and catches for his master.
Pet. A good swift simile, but something currish.
Shak., T. of the S., v. 2. 54.
In this Simily wee have himselfe compar'd to Christ,
the Parlament to the Devill. Milton, Eikonoklastes, v.
In Argument
Similies are like Songs in Love ;
They much describe ; they nothing prove.
Prior, Alma, iiL
=Syn. SimUe, Metaphor, Comparison, Allegory, Parable,
Fame, similitude, trope. The first six words agree in im-
plying or expressing likeness between a main person or
thing and a subordinate one. Simile is a statement of
the likeness, in literal terms: as, man is like grass ; Herod
is like a fox. Metaphor taxes the imagination by saying
that the first object is the second, or by speaking as though
it were : as, " All flesh is grass," Isa. xl. 0 ; "Go ye and tell
that fox," Luke xiii. 32. There are various combinations
of simile and metaphor: as, "We all do fade as a leaf,"
Isa. Ixiv. 6 ;
"There are a sort of men whose visages
Do cream and mantle, like a standing pool "
(Shak., M. of V., i. 1. 89).
In these the Tnetaph&r precedes ; in the following the simile
isinthemiddleof thein^ta^Aor: " These metaphysic rights,
entering into common life, like rays of light which pierce
into a dense medium, are, by the laws of Nature, refracted
from their straight line." (Burke, Rev. in France.) In
the same way the si^nile may come first. A comparison
differs from a simile essentially in that the former fixes
attention upon the subordinate object, while a simile tlxes
it upon the main one: thus, one verse of Shelley's "Ode
to the Skylark " begins by saying that the skylark is like
a poet, whose circumstances are thereupon detailed.
Generally, on this account, the comparison is longer than
the simile. The allegory personifies abstract things, usu-
ally at some length. A short allegory is Ps. Ixxx. 8-16.
Spenser's " Faeiy Queene " is a series of allegories upon the
virtues, and Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress" allegorizes
Christian experiences. These are acknowledged to be the
most perfect allegories in literature. The allegory is an
extended st?rti/e, with the first object in the simile carefully
left unmentioned. A parable is a story that is or might
be true, and is used generally to teach some moral or re-
ligious truth : as, the three parables of God's great love
for the sinner in Luke xv. Socrates's story of the sailors
who chose their steersman by lot, as suggesting the folly
of a similar course in choosing the helmsman of the state,
is a flue example of the parable of civil life. A fable differs
from sparable in being improbable or impossible as fact,
as in making trees choose a king, beasts talk, or frogs pray
toJupiter; itgenerally is short, and points a homely moral.
See the definitions of apologue and trope.
simile (sim'i-le), adv. [It., < L. simile, simiiis,
like: see similar, simile, n.] In music, in the
same manner; similarly. Compare sevipre.
simile-mark (sim'i-le-mark),?). l-n musical nota-
tion, an abbreviation-mark signifying that the
contents of the last measure that was
written out are to be repeated: as.
See abbreviation, 4.
similia (si-mil'i-a), n. pi. [NL. neut. pi. of L.
simiiis, like : see si7nilar.'] Things which are
similar or alike; like things; similars Slmllia
similillUS CUrantur, or 'like cures like,' ' like things are
cured by like things,' the homeopathic formula, meaning
that medicines cure those diseases whose symptoms are
like the effects of the medicines on the healthy organism.
Thus, belladonna dilates the pupil of the eye ; it is there-
fore remedial of diseases of which dilatation of the pupil
is pathognomonic.
similiter (si-mil'i-ter), adv. [L., < simiiis, like,
resembling.] In like manner: in law, the tech-
nical designation of the common-law form by
which, when the pleading of one party, tender-
ing an issue, demanded trial, the otlier accepted
the issue by saying, "and the [defendant] do-
eth the like."
similitude (si-mil'i-tud), n. [< ME. similitude,
< OF. (and P.) similitude = Sp. similitud = It.
similitudine, < L. similitudo {-din-), likeness, <
simiiis, Vike: see similar. Ci. verisimilitude.'] 1.
Likeness in constitution, qualities, or appear-
ance; similarity; resemblance.
This lie bears a similitude of truth.
Beau, and Fl., Thierry and Theodoret, ii. 4.
The similitude of superstition to religion makes it the
more deformed. Bacon, Superstitioiu
What similitude this dream hath with the truth accom-
plished you may easily see.
T. Shepard, Clear Sunshine of the Gospel, p. IB.
similitnde
It is chiefly my will which leads me to discern that I
bear a certain image and trimiiifude of Deity.
Descartes, Meditations (tr. by Veitch), iv.
2. A comparison ; a simile ; a parable or alle-
gory.
A HmUitnde is a likenesse when twoo thynges or mo
then twoo are so compared and resembled together that
thei both in some one propertie seme like.
Wilson, Rhetorike.
As well to a good maker and Poet as to an excellent
perswader in prose, the figure of Sitniltiude is very neces-
sary, by which we not onely bewtifle our tale, but also
very much infurce & inlarge it
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 201.
He has Itherefore) with great address interspersed sev-
eral Speeches, Rellections, Similitudes, and the like lie-
Uefs, to diversitle his >arration.
Addison, SpecUtor, No. 3S3.
3. That which bears likeness or resemblance ;
ao image ; a counterpart or facsimile.
He knew nat Catoun— for his wit was mde.
That iMd man sholde wetlde bis simutilitde.
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1. 42.
That we are the breath and similitude of God, it is in-
dtopatable. and upon record of Holy Scripture.
Sir T. Browne, Rellgio Medici, I. 34.
The appearance there of the veiy similitude of a green
country gawky raised a shout of laughter at his expense.
Pop. Sd. Mo., Xni. 488.
4. In (teom.. the relation of similar figures to
one another — Axis of similitude of three circles.
See ait»i.— Center of similitude. See c<-h(<ti.— Circle
of similitude, a circle froTu any point on the circum-
ference of wliich two ^'iven circles look ecjually large.
—External and internal centers of similitude for
two circles, the intersections of their ci'ninnni tangents
on tlic line jiiiiiiMi: their centers.— Principle of simili-
tude. >ce;'n/u-i;</..— RatiOOfBimilltUae. See ratio.—
similitude clause or act. See clause.
similitudinary (si-mil-i-tii'di-na-ri), a. [< L.
stiiiililudo (-rfin-), likeness, + -arjr.] Pertaining
to similitude or the use of simile ; introducing
or marking similitude.
"As" is sometimes a note of quality, aometlme* of equal-
ity; hereitisonlynrnWifw/tfuiry; "aslambiL" **aa doves,"
etc. Bet. T. Adams, Works, 11. 118.
similize (sim'i-liz), v. ; pret. and pp. similized,
ppr. .'simiUzing. [< L. similis, like (see simile),
+ -i;e.] I. trans. 1. To liken; compare.
[Rare.]
The beat to whom be maj be limiltzed herein is Friar
Paul the Servtte.
Bp. Uaekel, Abp. Wnilams, L .% {Davies.)
2. To take pattern by; copy; imitate. [Kare.]
Ill nntaiw
These Gabaonitea ; I will myself dlsguixe
To gull thee.
Sylveler, tr. of Dn Bartas's Weeks. IL, The Caplalnea.
n. inlrans. To use similitude. [Bare.]
If I may nmilize in my turn, a dull fellow might aak the
meaning of a problem in Euclid from the Bishop of Salis-
bury without iMfing ever the lietter for hia lemmed tolo-
tion of it. Dryden, Duchess of York's Paper Defended.
Bimilor (sim'i-lor), M. [Also erroneously semi-
lor (as if involving semi-, half) ; = It. similoro
= G. similor, < F. similor, an alloy so called,
irreg. < L. similis, like, + F. or (< L. aurum),
gold.] A (French) synonym of brass, defined
as Mannheim gold. Prince Rupert's metal, etc. :
chiefly applied to very yellow varieties of brass
used instead of gold for jtersonal ornaments,
watch-cases, and the like — that is, for what is
called in English "brass jewelry" and (in the
United States) " Attleboro' jewelry."
simioid (sim'i-oid), a. [< L. simia, an ape, +
Gr. (i(5o{, form.] Same as simian.
simiO'OS (sim'i-us), a. [< L. simia, an ape, -I-
•otis.'i Same as simian.
That strange simious school-boy paasion of Riving pain
to others. Sydney Smith.
But to students of natanl or literary history who can-
not discern the human from the simious element it sog-
gesta ttiat the man thus imitated must needs have been
the ImlUUir of himself, mneleenth Century, XXIV. &4S.
Simiri (si-me'ri), n. [Brit. Guiana.] A tree,
Uj/mensen Courbaril.
simitar, scimitar (sim'i-tar), n. [This word,
owing to its Oriental origin and associations,
to ignorance of its original form, and to the
imitation now of the F. now of the It. spell-
ing, has appeared in a great variety of forms,
of which the first three are perhaps the most
common — namely, mmitnr, scimitar, cimitar,
cimiter, cymiter, cimiterre, cimeter, cymetar,
srymitttr, scimiler, sdmeter, scymeter, scymetar,
semitar, semitary, also smiter, smyter. smeeter
(simulating smite); < OF. cimeterre, r^miterre,
simiterre, semitart/e = 8p. cimitnrra, semitierra
= Pg. rimitarrn = It. rimittirn. rimit/irra, seimi-
tara,seimitarra, mod. seimitiirra; origin uncer-
tain; a<'cording to liarrameudi, < Basque civie-
/errn, with a shari)0ilgi'; but prob., with a cor-
ruption of the termination due to some confor-
Simitar, Pereian, 17th
century.
5637
mation, of Pers. origin (through It. < Turk. <
Pers. f — it does not appear in Turk., where
'simitar'is denoted bypa/a),
> Hind, shanuihir, shavisher,
< Pers. shimshir, shamshir
(in E. written shamsheer (Sir
T. Herbert), in Gr. aafitft^pa),
a sword, simitar ; appar. lit.
' lion's claw,' < sham, a nail,
claw, -I- gliir, shcr, a lion (>
Hind, sher, a tiger).] A
short, curved, single-edged
sword, much in use among
Orientals. It is usually broadest
at the point-end, but the word is
also used for sabers without this
peculiarity, and loosely for all
one-edged curved swords of non-
European nations. See cut under
saber.
He dies upon my scimitar's sharp
point
Shak., Tit And., iv. 2. 91.
Moreouer, they haue painted a
Cimiterre hung in the mitldest, in
memory of Haly.who forsooth with
hia sword cut the rockes in sunder.
Purehas, Pilgrimage, p. 307.
Their Wastes hoop'd round with Turkey Leather Belts,
at which hung a Bagonet, or short SctfinOar.
LondtiH Spi/, quoted in Ashton's Social Life in Reign of
[Queen Anne, I. 84.
When Winter wields
His icy scimitar. Wordsworth, Misc. Pieces.
simitared, scimitared (sim'i-tard), a. [< sim-
itiir + -tfi-.] Shaped like a simitar; acinaoi-
forni.
simi'tar-pod (sim'i -tar-pod), n. The woody
legume of Entada scandens, a strong shrubby
climber of the tropics. Its pods are said to be from
4 to 6 feet long, flat, and often curved so as to resemble a
simitar. The aeeda are 2 Inches long, rounded and hard,
and are made Into •null- and toy-boxes. See MO-Aean.
simitar-shaped (sim'i-tftr-shapt), a. In hot.,
saiiR' as (iiiiKiciform.
simitar-tree (sim'i-tttr-tre), ». See Harpephyl-
lum.
iritn'Hn (sim'kin), n. [A Hind, form of E. cham-
pagne.'} The common Anglo-Indian word for
champagne. Also spelled simpkin.
A basket of simkin, which Is as though one shotild say
champagne, behind {the chariot).
J. W. Palmer, The New and the Old, p. 283.
simlin (sim'lin), n. [Also simblin, simbling ;
»t)raetimes spelled, erroneously, cymlin, cym-
bliii, cymhling; a dial. var. of simnel, q. v.] 1.
A kind of cake: same as simnel, 1. HalUwell.
[Prov. Eng.] — 2. A kind of small squash. See
simnel, 2. [Southern and western U. S.]
"That 'ar lot," said Teague Poteet, after a while, "Is the
ole Mathts lot. The line runs right acrost my simblin'
patch." y. C. Horrw, The Century, XXVI. 14S.
simmer^ (sim'6r), r. [Formerly also simber and
simper, early mod. E. symper (see simper^); a
freq. form of 'sim, < 8w. dial, siimma, hum, buzz,
= Dan. summe = MLG. summen = G. summen,
hum; cf. Hind, sumsum, sunsun, sartsan, the
crackling of moist wood when burning, simmer-
ing: an imitative word, like hum, and 6«»il,
6oo»tl.] I. inlrans. 1. To make a gentle mur-
muring or hissing sound, under the action of
heat, as liquids when beginning to boil; hence,
to become heated gradually: said especially of
liquids which are to be kept, while heating, just
lielow the boiling-point.
Ilacing the vessel in warm sand. Increase the heat by
degrees, till the spirit of wine begin to simmer or to boil a
Utile. Boyle, Works, 1. 712. (Richardson )
A Blat« of hot battered toast was gently simmering be-
fore the fire. Dickens, Pickwick, xxvil.
Between the andirons' straddling feet
The mug of cider simmered slow.
WhiUier, Snow- Bound.'
2. Figuratively, to be on the point of boiling or
breaking forth, as suppressea anger.
" Old Joahway," ai he is irreverently called by his neigh-
bours, is in a state of simmering indiKnation ; but he has
not yet opened his Up*. Qeorge iXiot, Adam Bede, ii.
This system . . . was suited for a period when colonies
in a state of simmering rebellion had to be watched.
ForlmghUy Bev., N. S., XLIII. 177.
n. trans. To cause to simmer; heat gradu-
ally: said especially of liquids kept just below
the boiling-point.
Green wood win at last rimmer itself into a blaze.
a. H. UoUister, Klnley Hollow, xv.
simmer^ (8im'^r),«. [<.jim»i<?rl,i'.] A gentle,
griuliial, uniform heating: said especially of
liquids.
Bread-sauce Is so ticklish ; a simmer too much, and it 's
clean done for. Trollope, iMey Farm, xlvil.
Simonianism
simmer^ (sim'er), «. A Scotch form of stim-
simmetriet, ». An obsolete form of symmetry.
simnel (sim'nel), n. [Early mod. E. also sim-
nell, symnel, cymnel, also dial, simlin, simblin,
simbling (see simlin); < ME. simnel, simncll,
simenal, symnell, sijmnelle, < OF. simenel, simon-
nel (ML. simenellus, also simella), bread or cake
of fine wheat flour, < L. simila, wheat flour of
the finest quality: see semola.] 1. A cake
made of fine flour ; a kind of rich sweet cake
offered as a gift at Christmas and Easter, and
especially on Mothering (Simnel) Sunday.
Simnell, bunne, or cracknell. Baret, Alvearie, 1580.
111 to thee a simnel bring
'Gainst thou go'st a mothering.
Herrick, To Dianeme.
Cakes of all formes, simnels, cracknels, buns, wafers, and
other things made of wheat flowre, as fritters, pancakes,
and such like, are by this rule rejected.
Haven of Health, p. 26. {Nares.)
2. A variety of squash having a round flattish
head with a wavy or scalloped edge, and so re-
sembling the cake so called : now called simlin,
[Southern U. S.]
The clypeatsB are sometimes called cymnels (as are some
others also), from the lenten cake of that name, which
many of them much resemble. Squash or squanter-sqnash
is their name among the northern Indians, and so they
are called in New York and New England.
Beverley, Hist. Virginia, iv. If 19.
Simnel Sunday, Mid- Lent or Refreshment Sunday (which
see, under refreshment).
Simocyon (si-mos'i-on), «. [NL., < Gr. m/zof,
flat-nosed (see simous), + kvuv, a dog.] A genus
of fossil carnivorous quadrupeds, from the Up-
per Miocene of Greece, giving name to the -S'i-
mocyotlidiF. It had (probably) 32 teeth, the last lower
premolar moderate, first molar obtusely sectorial, and the
second one oblong tuberculate.
Simocyonids (sim'o-si-on'i-<le), II. pi. [NL.,
< Simocyon + -idee.'] A family of extinct Car-
nirora, of uncertain affinity, formed for the re-
ception of the fossil called Simocyon.
simoner (sim'o-nfer), n. [< simon-y + -<rl.] A
simonist. [Rare.]
These simoners sell sin, sulTering men and women in
every degree and estate to lie and contiime from year to
year in divers vices slanderously.
Bp. Bale, Select Works, p. 129. (Dairies.)
simoniac (si-mo'ni-ak), n. [< OF. (and F.) si-
moniiiqiic = Pr. simoniac, simoniaic = Sp. simo-
niaco = Pg. It. simoniaco, < ML. simoniacus, re-
lating to simony, < simonia, simony: see si-
mony.'i One who practises simony.
Witches, heretics, sirmniiacs, and wicked persons of
other instances, have done miracles.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 183S), I. 832.
simoniacal (sim-o-ni'a-kal), a. [< simoniac +
-«/.] 1. Guilty of si rnoriy.
If a priest be simoniacal, he cannot be esteemed right-
eous before God by preachiiig well.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. l&'i.'.), II. 8.
What shall we expect that have such multitudes of
Achans, church robbers, simoniacal patrons'?
Burton, Anat of Mel., To the Reader, p. 52.
2. Partaking of, involving, or consisting in
simony: as, a »imo«iocrt? presentation.
Simoniacal comiption I may not for honour's sake sus-
pect to be amongst men of so great place.
Hooker, I^ccles. Polity, vii. 24.
When the common law censures simoniaeal contracts,
It affords great light to the 8ul>ject to consider what the
canon law has adjudged to be simony.
Blackstone, Com., Int., § ii.
simoniacally (sim-o-ni'a-kal-i), adv. In a sim-
oniacal manner; with the guilt or offense of
simony.
simoniacalness (sim-o-ni'a-kal-nes), »». The
state or quality of being simoniacal. Bailey,
1727.
simonialt, n. [ME. symonyal, < OF. 'simonial,
< ML. simonia, simony : see simony.'] A prac-
tiser of simony ; a simonist.
Understoonde that bothe her that selleth and he that
beyeth thynges espirituels been cleped sywtmyalK.
Chaucer, l^arson's Tale.
Simonian (si-mo'ni-an), a. and n. [< LGr. 2(-
/iuvtaviJi, Simonian, a Simonian, < 'S.ijiuv, Simon
(see def .). The Gr. name 'Zinuv is (a) pure Gr.,<
o(//(5f, flat-nosed (see s!»ioM«); (6) an adaptation
of Zvficinv, Simeon, < Heb. Shim'dn, lit. ' barken-
ing,'< s/iama', hear, barken. Ct. simony.'] I. a.
Belonging or pertaining to Simon Magus or the
Simonians : as, Simonian doctrines.
II. «. One of a Gnostic sect named from
Simon Magus : it held doctrines similar to those
of the {Jainites, etc ; hence, a term loosely ap-
plied to many of the early Gnostics.
Simonianism (si-mo'ni-an-izm), n. [< Simo-
nian + -ism.] The doctrines of the Simouiaua.
Simonianism
We have ... in Surwniani^n a rival system to Chris-
tianity, in which the same advantages are otfered, and in
which accordingly Christian elements are emlwdied. even
Christ Uliuself being identified with the Supreme God
(Simon). Eticyc. Brit., XXII. 80.
Simonicalt (si-mon'i-kal), a. Same as simonia-
cal.
Fees exactetl or demanded for Sacraments, Marriages,
Burials, and especially for interring, are wicked, accursed,
limoniaii, and abominable. MiUoii, Touching Hirelings.
simonionsf (si-mo'ni-us). a. [< simony (ML. si-
miinia) + -oits.] Simouiacal.
Deliver us, the only People of all Protestants left still
undelivered, from the Oppressions of a »imonimt^ deci-
mating Clergy. MUton, To the Pailiament.
simonistl (sim'o-nist), «. [< simony + -ist.']
One who practises or defends simony. [Kare.]
Wulfer not without a stain left behind him, of selling
the Bishoprick of London to Wini, the first Simonist we
read of in this story. Milton, Hist. Eng., iv.
He that with observing and weeping eyes beholds . , .
our lawyers turned truth-defraudera, our landlords op-
pressors, our gentlemen rioters, our patrons simmiists —
would surely »ay, This is Satan's walk.
Rev. T. Adams, Works, II. 47.
Simonist^ (si'mon-ist), a. and n. [< Sivwn (see
Simonian) + -isi.'\ Same as Simonian. Encyc.
Brit., XI. 854.
simon-pure (si'mon-pur'), a. [So called in al-
lusion to Simon Pure, a character in Mrs. Cent-
livre's comedy, " A Bold Stroke for a Wife,"
who is thwarted in his undertakings by an im-
postor who lays claim to his name and rights,
and thus necessitates a complete identification
of the "real Simon Ptire" (v. 1).] Genuine;
authentic; true. [CoUoq.]
The home of the Sinum-pure wild horse is on the south-
ern plains. The Century, XXXVII. 337.
Simon's operation. See operation.
simony (sim'o-ni), n. [< ME. simonie, symony,
symonye, < F. simonie = Sp. simonia = Pr. Pg.
It. simonia, < ML. simonia, simony, so called
from Simon Magus, because he wished to pur-
chase the gift of the Holy Ghost with money;
< LL. Simon, < Gr. I,i/juv, Simon: see Simonian.'}
The act or practice of trafficking in sacred
things; particularly, the buying or selling of
ecclesiastical preferment, or the corrupt pres-
entation of any one to an ecclesiastical benefice
for money or reward.
For hit is symonye to sulle that send is of grace.
Piers Plowman (C), x. 55.
The Name of Simony was begot in the Canon-Law ; the
first Statute against it was in Queen Elizabeth's time.
Shice the Reformation Simony has been frequent. One
reason why it was not practised in time of Popery was the
Pope's provision ; no man was sure to bestow his own
Benefice. Selden, Table-Talk, p. 149.
"Simony, according to the canonists," says Ayliffe in his
Parergon, " is defined to be a deliberate actor a premedi-
tated will and desire of selling such things as are spiritual,
or of anything annexed unto spirituals, by giving some-
thing of a temporal nature for the purchase thereof; or in
other terms it is defined to be a commutation of a thing
spiritual or annexed unto spirituals by giving something
that is temporal." Encyc, Brit., XXII. 84.
Simon3rite (sim'o-ni-it), «. [So called after F.
Simony, of Hallstadt, the discoverer.] Same as
blodite.
Simool (si-mol'), n. [E. Ind.] The East Indian
silk-cotton tree, Bombax Malaharica.
simoom (si-mom'), n. [Also simoon; = F. si-
moun, semoun = D. sitnoem = G. samum = Sw.
samum, semum, simum = Dan. samum = Turk.
senium = Pers. Hind, samum, < Ar. samum, a
sultry pestilential wind, so called from its de-
structive nature ; < samma, he poisoned, samm,
poisoning. Cf. samiel.'] An intensely hot dry
wind prevalent in the Arabian desert, and on
the heated plains of Sind and Kandahar, sud-
den in its occurrence, moving in a straight, nar-
row track, and characterized by its suffocating
effects. In the Arabian desert the simoom generally moves
from south or east to north and west, and occupies from
five to ten minutes in its passage ; it is probably a whirl-
wind set in motion in the overheated air of the desert. The
traveler seeks protection against the gusts of sand and
the suffocating, dust-laden air, by covering his head with
a cloth and throwing himself upon the ground : and camels
instinctively bury their noses in the sand. The desiccat-
ing wind parches the skin, inflames the throat, and creates
a raging thirst.
simorg, ». Same as simurg.
Simorhynchus (sim-o-ring'kus), n. [NL., < Gr.
nifidc, flat-nosed, snub-nosed, + {yvyx"^, snout.]
A genus of small gymnorhinal Alcidse of the
North Pacific, having the bill diversiform with
deciduous elements, the head usually crested
in the breeding-season, the feet small with en-
tirely reticulate tarsi shorter than the middle
toe, and the wings and taU ordinary ; the snub-
nosed auklets. They are among the smallest birds of
the family. 8. ptittanilut la the parrakeet auklet; S.
5638
cristnteUug, the crested auklet ; S. pygm^eug, the whisker-
ed auklet; and S. pitmllus, the least auklet. 'The genus
was founded by.Merrem in 1S19; it is sometimes dismem-
bered into Simorhynchus proper, (hnbria or Phaleria, Ty-
lorhamphMS, and Oiceronia. Sec cut under auklet.
simosity (si-mos'i-ti), «. [< simous + -ity.']
The state of being simous. Bailey, 1731.
simous (si'mus), a. [< L. simus = Gr. aifio^,
flat-nosed, snub-nosed.] 1. Snub-nosed; hav-
inga flattened or turned-up nose. — 2t. Concave.
The concave or sintoiis part of the liver.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err.
simpai (sim'pi), n. [Native name in Sumatra.]
The black-crested monkey, Semnopithecus me-
lalophus, of Sumatra, having a long slender
body, tail, and limbs, and highly variegated
coloration.
simpathyt, n. An obsolete spelling of sympathy.
simper^ (sim'per), V. An obsolete or dialectal
variant of simmer''-. Palsgrave; Florio.
simper^ (sim'per), V. i. [Not found in early
use ; prob. ult. < Norw. semper, fine, smart, =
Dan. dial, semper, simper, affected, coy, pru-
dish, esp. of one who requires pressing to eat,
= OSw. semper, also simp, sipp, a woman who
affectedly refuses to eat, Sw. sipp, finical, prim,
= Dan. sippe, a woman who is affectedly coy,
= LG. s'lpp, a word expressing the gesture of a
compressed mouth, and affected pronunciation
(Jumfer Sipp, ' Miss Sipp,' a woman who acts
thus affectedly) ; a particular use derived from
the verb sip, take a little drink at a time, hence
be affected over food, be prim and coy : see sip.
Cf . also prov. G. zivipern, be affectedly coy ;
zipp, prudish, coy ; prob. < LG. The verb has
prob. been influenced by the now obs. or dial.
simper^ (to which simper^ in def. 2 may perhaps
really belong).] 1. To smile in an affected, silly
manner; smirk.
I charge you, O men, for the love you bear to women —
as I perceive by your simpering, none of you hates them
— that . . . the play may please.
Shall., As you Like it, Epil., 1. 16.
All men adore,
And simper, and set their voices lower,
And soften as if to a gu-1. Tennyson, Maud, x.
2t. To twinkle ; glimmer.
Lys. The candles are all out.
Lan. But one i' the parlour ;
I see it simper hither.
Fletcher (and Massinyer ?), Lovers' Progress, iii. 2.
Yet can I mark how stars above
Simper and shine. G. Herbert, The Search.
=8301. 1. Simper and Smirk both express smiling ; the pri-
mary idea of the first is silliness or simplicity ; that of the
second is affectation or conceit. The simplicity in simper-
ing may be affected ; the affectation in smirkini) may be
of softness or of kindness.
simper^ (sim'pfer), n. [< simper'^, «;.] An af-
fected, conscious smile ; a smirk.
No City Dame is demurer than she [a handsome bar-
maid] at first Greeting, nor draws in her Mouth with a
Chaster Simper; but in a little time you may be more
familiar, and she'll hear a double Entendre without blush-
ing. Quoted in Ashton's Social Life in Reign of Queen
[Anne, I, 218.
They should be taught the act of managing their smiles,
from the contemptuous simper to the long laborious laugh.
Ooldsinith, Citizen of the World, Ixxxviii.
simperer (sim'per-er), n. [< simper^ + -erl.]
One who simpers.
Doffing his cap to city dame.
Who smiled and blush'd for pride and shame ;
And well the simperer might be vain —
He chose the fairest of the train.
Scott, L. of the L., v. 21.
simpering (sim^6r-ing), p. a. [Verbal n. of
simper'^, t).] Wearing, or accompanied by a
simper; hence, affected; silly.
Mr. Legality is a cheat ; and for his son Civility, not-
withstanding his simpering looks, he is but a hypocrite,
and cannot help thee. Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, L
Smiling with a gimpring grace.
Times' WhiMe (E. E. T. S.), p. 29.
Forming his features into a set smile, and affectedly soft-
ening his voice, he added, with a nmpering air, " Have you
been long in Bath, Madam?"
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, iii.
simperingly (sim'per-ing-li), adv. In a simper-
ing manner; affectedly.
A marchant's wife, that . . . lookes as simperingly as if
she were besmeared. Nasfie, Pierce Penilesse, p. 21.
simple (sim'pi), a. and n. [Early mod. E. also
symple; Sc. semple, < ME. simple, symple, sym-
pill, sympylle (= D. MLG. G. Sw. Dan. simpel),
< OF. simple, F. simple = Pr. simple, semple =
Sp. simple = Pg. simples = It. semplice, < L. sim-
plex (simplic-), simple, lit. ' onefold,' as op-
posed to duplex, twofold, double, < sim-, the
same (which appears also in sin-guli, one by
one, sem-per, always, alike, sem-el, once, sim-nl,
together), -f- jjiicare, fold: sob same kd.A ply. Cf.
simple
single^, singular, simultaneous, etc., from the
same ult. root. Hence ult. simplicity, simpli-
fy-1 I. "• !• Without parts, either absolutely,
or of a special kind alone considered; elemen-
tary; uncompounded: as, a sin(p?e substance;
a simple concept; a simple distortion.
For compound sweet forgoing simple savour.
Shak., Sonnets, cxxv.
A prime and simple Essence, vncompounded.
Heyxvood, Hierarchy of Angels, p. 75.
Among substances some are called simple, some are com-
pound, whether the words be taken in a philosophical or
vulgar sense. Watts, Logic, I. ii. § 2.
Belief, however simple a thing it appears at first sight,
is really a highly composite state of mind.
J. Sully, Sensation and Intuition, p. 74.
2. Having few parts ; free from complexity or
complication; iminvolved; not elaborate ; not
modified. Hence — (a) Rudimentary ; low in the scale of
organization, as an animal or a plant. Compare defs. 10, 11.
Nevertheless, low and simple forms will long endure if
well fitted for their simple conditions of life.
Darmn, Origin of Species, p. 134.
(&) Without elaborate and rich ornamentation ; not load-
ed with extrinsic details ; plain ; beautiful, if at all, in its
essential parts and their relations.
He rode in symple aray.
Lytell Geste ofltotyn Ilode (Child's Ballads, V. 48).
The simple cadence, embracing but a few notes, which in
the chantsof savages is monotonously repeated, becomes,
among civilized races, a long series of different musical
phrases combined into one whole.
H. Spencer, First Principles, § 114.
The arcades themselves, though very good and simple,
do not carry out the wonderful boldness and originality of
the outer range. E. A. FreeTnan, Venice, p. 249.
(c) Without sauce or condiment; without luxurious or
unwholesome accompaniments : as, a simple diet ; a simple
repast.
After crysten-masse com the crabbed lentoun.
That fraystej [tries) flesch wyth the fysche & fode more
symple.
Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.X L 603.
Bless'd be those feasts with simple plenty crown'd.
Goldsmith, The Traveller, 1. 17.
(d) Mere ; pure ; sheer ; absolute.
A medicine . . . whose simple touch
Is powerful to araise King Pepin.
Shak., All's WeU, ii. I. 78.
If we could contrive to be not too unobtrusively our
nmple selves, we should be the most delightful of human
beings, and the most original.
Lowell, Study Windows, p. 69.
3. Plain in dress, manner, or deportment;
hence, making no pretense ; unaffected ; unas-
suming ; unsophisticated ; artless ; sincere.
With that com the kynge Loot and his knyghtes down
the medowes alle on foote, and hadde don of theire
helmes from theire heedes and valed theire coilfes of
mayle vpon theire sholderes, and com full symple.
Merlin (E. E. T. a), iii. 478.
She Bobre was. ek symple, and wyse withalle.
The best ynorissed ek that myghte be.
Chaucer, Troilus, v. 82a
Arthur . . . neither wore on helm or shield
The golden symbol of his kinglihood,
But rode a simple knight among his knighta.
Tennyson, Coming of Arthur.
4. Of little value or importance ; insignificant ;
trifling.
Thei were so astoned with the hete of the fier that theire
deff ence was but symple. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), i. 116.
For the ill turn that thou hast done
'Tis but a simple fee.
Robin Hood and the Beggar (Child's Ballads, V. 200X
Great fioods have flown
From simple sources. Shak., All's WeU, ii. 1. 143.
5. Without rank; lowly; humble; poor.
Be feistful & fre & euer of faire speche,
& seruisabul to the simple so as to the riche.
William 0/ Paleme (E. E. T. S.), I. 338.
There 's wealth an' ease for gentlemen.
An' simple folk maun fight an' fen.
Bums, Gane is the Day.
6. Deficient in the mental effects of experience
and education; unlearned; unsophisticated;
hence, silly; incapable of understanding a sit-
uation of affairs ; easily deceived.
And oftentymes it hath be sene expresse,
In grete materys, withouten eny fayle,
A sympill mannys councell may prevayle.
Generydes (E. E. T. S.), L 1211.
And though I were but a simple man voide of learning,
yet stil I had in remembrance that Christ dyed for me.
F. Webbe, Travels (ed. ArberX p. 29.
You will not believe that Sir James Grey will be so sim-
ple as to leave Venice, whither with difficulty he obtained
to be sent. Walpole, Letters, II. 101.
7. Proceeding from ignorance or folly; evi-
dencing a lack of sense or knowledge.
Their wise men . . . scoff'd at him
And this high Quest as at a simple thing.
Tennyson, Holy Grail.
8. Presenting no difliculties or obstacles ; easi-
ly done, used, understood, or the like; adapted
simple '
to man's natural powers of acting or thinking ;
plain; clear; easy: as, a simple task; a simple
statement ; a simple explanation.
That is the doctrine, rimpU, ancient, true.
Browning, James Lee's Wife, vii.
In the comment did I find the charm.
O, the results are gimple ; a mere child
Might use it to the harm of anyone.
Tennymn, Merlin and Vivien.
9. In music: (a) Single; not compound: as,
a simple sound or tone. (6) Undeveloped; not
complex: as, simple counterpoint, fugue, imi-
tation, rhythm, time, (c) Not exceeding an
octave; not compound: as, a simple interval,
third, fifth, etc. (d) Unbroken by valves or
crooks: as, a simple tube in a trumpet. — 10.
In bot., not formed by a union of similar parts
or groups of parts : thus, a simple pistil is of
one carpel; a simple leaf is of one blade; a
simple stem or trunk is one not divided at the
base. Compare simple umbel, below. — 11. In
zoiil. and anat. : (a) Plain ; entire ; not varied,
complicated, or appendaged. See simple-faced.
(6) Single; notcoinpound, social, orcolonial: as,
the sim}>le ascidiaiis; the simple (not compound)
eyes or ocelli of an insect, (c) Normal or usual ;
ordinary; not duplex: as, the simple teeth of
ordinary rodents. See simple-toothed, (d) In
entom., more particularly — (1) Formed of one
lobe, joint, etc. : as, a simple maxilla ; the simple
capitulum or club of an antenna. (2) Not spe-
cially enlarged, dilated, robust, etc.: as, simple
femora, not fitted for leaping or not like a
grasshopper's. (3) Entire; not dentate, ser-
rate, emarginate, etc ; having no special pro-
cesses, etc : as, a simple margin. (4) Not
sheathed or vaginate: as, a simple aculeus or
stiug. — 12. In eliem., that has not been decom-
posed or separated into chemically distinct
kinds of matter; elementary. See element, 3.
— 13. In mineral., homogeneous Fee simple.
See /«''!.— Simple acceptation, in logic, the acceptaiiou
of a universal term as sij^ifyinK a general natore aOBtract-
ed fn^m singulars, as when we say, " Animal is the genus
of man. "—Simple act, that activity of a faculty from
which the faculty derives its name. — Simple addition.
See additinn. 1.— Simple affection, in (w/tc, a character
whicti tieldtigs to objects siiiL;t.v, a.^ opposed to a relation.
— Simple apoplenr, apoplexy with noTiiible itnietand
chanife or lesion. — Simple apprehension. See appn.
hemiui.. - Simple ascidiana. See Simjitifet — Simple
astlieiiic fever, se. /.rfr).— simple benefice. f<ce
benefice, 2. — Simple cancer, a fonu of si-ii-rhous cancer
which from excessive cell-growth apprnxiiiiatert to the
characters of encephaloid cancer. — Simple cell, ■'v.-e rdl,
8. — Simple cerate. .sameasciratKin.- Simple cholera.
Same ix xi^inrlii- rhiem. — Simple chuck, .'ee chuck*, h.
Simple commissure of the cerebellum. .Hee commit-
nine. — Simple comparison, the faeulty of judgment by
which we compare the subject and predicate of a proposi.
tion. — Simple concept, a concept in which no plurality of
attributes can be distinguished, which cannot be defined,
and of which nothing can t»c predicated.— Simple con-
clusion, or gimple consequence, an infercnee drawn
from a single premise ; also, a conclusion from a single
premise which Is Tuliil by virtue of the meaning of Uie
terms ased : as, .Socrate.4 is a man, therefore Socratea is an
animal.— Simple concomitance. .See concumitanee.—
Simple constructive dilemma, simple destructive
dilemma. >ii- diUmin't. simple continued fever.
Sec .^Tf^rl.— simple contract. See jmnje cohlract, im-
der c'liiirai-i. — Simple conveislon. See oonvertion, %—
Simple degradation, in eeeUi. lam. See dtgradaUim, I
(a).— Simple dislocation, in mrg. See dUueaUon, i.—
Simple ens. (a) That which is neither composite nor
cjinponible which Is true of (iod alone. (6) The object of
a simple concept, (c) That which Is not composed of dif-
ferent things, eepechUly not of matter and form, but is
either pure matter or pure form, (if) That which is not
composed of diSerent kinds of matter, as an element
Simple enumeration, the colligation of examples upon
whicn to ba-se an iniliiction without the use of any pre-
caution to Insure their being representative samples of
the class from which they are drawn, and without prepara-
tion for any check upon the correctness of the induction.
^e^indueiionbynmpU enumeration, anAer enumrratiim.—
Blmple enunciation, eplthellnm, equation. Hee the
nouns. - Simple ethers. See <<A«-i..t. Simple event.
See «««/.- Simple feast, In the Ham. Calh. Ch., a feast
of the lowest class, the services for which dilfer very little
from the serrtces for ordinary occasions, the other classes
being double and temi-double. — Simple footi In ane. prot. :
(o) According to the earlier rhytbmiclans, a trisemic, tetra-
semlc. or pentasemic foot, or a hezasemlc foot not consist-
ing of two similar trisemic feet : opposed to a compound
foot in the sense of a colon, (b) Later, a dissyllabic or
trisyllabic foot, with incluslim of the pyrrhIc (-' ~): op-
posed to a compound foot In the sense of a foot com-
ponndeil nf these. See pyrrMc— Simple force, form,
miction, fracture. See the noons. — simple fruits.
8ee/ru»«, 4.— Simple ganfllon. Hee •mmjlinn, :i (a).—
simple groiip, barmony, homage, hypertrophy. .'<ee
the nouna— fiinple hypothesis, explanation, or the-
ory, a hypothesis whicn recommends itself to the natural
light of reason, and, lieing easily conceived, appears to us
as Incomplex. ~ Simple Idea, In associatlonaUst psychol-
ogy, a feeling Incapable of analysis. Some psychologists
deny the distinction of rimple and compile idetu, on
the ground that all feelings are simple in themselves;
but by a rimple idea Is not meant a feeling simple In it-
self, but a feeling Incapable of subseiiuent analysis. The
Idea produced oj a oolor and an odor perceived together
5639
Is an example of an idea not simple. — Simjlle intelli-
Srence, understanding not involving a cognition of rela-
tions as such. - Simple interest, see i;*f«re«f, 7. — Sim-
ple interpretation, an interpretation of which no part
signifies anything separately.- Simple mtervaX See
interval, 5.— Simple larceny. See farccny.— Simple
leaf, in bot., a leaf consisting of a single piece. — Simple
mauiine. see machine, 2. — Simple matter, the matter
of an element. — Simple medicine, a medicine consist-
ing of a single drug. — Simple mode, a mode which is
but a variation of a single idea.— Simple necessity,
the necessity of a proposition whose demal would imply
a contradiction; logical necessity. — Simple number.
Same as abstract number (which see, under abstract. 1). —
Simple ointment. See oitUnient.— Simple operation,
an operation considered apart from others, as an operation
of the mind apart from an accompanying operation of the
l>ody. — Simple part, a part which has itself no parts of
thesame kind. — Simple position, in anVA. See^«'(ton,
7. — Simple power, the power of first matter; pure power.
— Simple probation, a probation which involves a single
infereutial step ; one which cannot be analyzed into a suc-
cession of inferences. — Simple proportion. See prop*^-
(ion.— Simple proposition. See j(ropo«(ion.— Simple
quadratic, an equation which contains the unknown
quantity only in its square, which is a factor of one of the
terms. The general fonu is Ax2 = B.— Simple quality
Of an element, the property of the simple matter, fitting
it to receive the substantial form of the element. — Sim-
ple quantity, in math. : (o) A quantity expressible by
means of a single number. (&) A monomial.— Simple
question, the question whether a thing is, or what it is.
— Simple ratio, repetend, science, sentence, singu-
larity, strain. See the nouns.— simple sporophore,
in boL, a sporophore consisting of a single hypna or oranch
of a hypha. De Bary. — Simple time, in ane. prog., a
monosemic as opposed to a greater or compound (dise-
mic, trisemic, etc.) time. — Simple trust, in law, a trust
not (lualified by provisions as to the power or duty of
the trustee, so that in general he is a mere passive de-
pository of possession or legal title, subject to which the
entire right is in the beneflciar]-.— Simple umbel, in
boL, an nml>el having but a single set of rays. — Sim-
ple will, will directed toward an ultimate end, not to-
ward a means. =Syn. 1. Unmixed, elementary. — 2. Un-
studied, unvamishe<l, naive, frank, open, straightforward.
— 6. Simpie, Silly, Dull, shallow, stupid, preposterous,
inept, trifling, frivolous. Of the italicized words, giily
is more active ; the others are more passive. The rimple
perwjn is not only ignorant or lacking in practical wis-
dom, but unconscious of his own deficiencies, so that he
is peculiarly liable to be duped. That which in the
rimple Is unconsciousness Is in the rilty an active self-
satisfaction or conceit : the rimple may be taught wis-
dom by hard experience ; the riUy have much to unlearn
as well. Sminem is a form ot/oUy. (.See abeurd.) He
who Is dvU has do edge npon his mind ; his mind works
Into a sabjeot with the slowness with which a dull knife
cuts into a piece of wood, but his mind can perhaps be
gradnally sharpened, so that the dull boy becomes the
keen man.
n. n. 1. That which is unmixed or uncom-
poimded; a simple substance or constituent;
an element.
It is a melancholy of mine own, compounded of many
rimplee, extracted from many objects.
Skak., As you Like it, iv. 1. 16.
To these noxious rimple* we may reduce an infinite
number of compound, artificial, made dishes.
Burton. AnaL of Mel., p. 141.
2. A medicinal herb, or a medicine obtained
from an herb : so called because each vegetable
was supposed to possess its particular virtue,
and therefore to constitute a simple remedy:
commonly in the plural.
I went to see Mr. Wats, keeper of the Apothecaries gar-
den of $imaUe at Chelsea, where there Is a collection of
Inaumerahle rarities of that sort particularly.
Brdyn, Dtary, Aug. 7, 168S.
Run and fetch rimplet.
With which my mother heal d my arm when last
I was woanded by the boar.
FUteher (and another\ Sea Voyage, IL 2.
3. A person of low birth or estate : used chief-
ly in contrast with qentle: as, gentle and sim-
ple. [Obsolete or provincial.]
She beseches you as hir souerayne that tymple to sane.
York Playt. p. 282.
" I fancy there 'a too much whispering going on to be of
any spiritna] use to gentle or rimple." . . . Accordingly
there wss silence in the gallery.
T. Hardy, Under the Greenwood Tree, 1. 6.
4. pi. Foolish or silly behavior; foolishness:
as, to have a fit of the simples. [CoUoq.] — 8.
A draw-loom. [Archaic] — 6. A set of short
dependent cords, with terminal bobs, attached
to the tail of a part of the harness in a draw-
loom, worked by the draw-boy. — 7. Eecles., a
simple feast.— To cut for the simples, to cure of fool-
ishness, as If by a surgical operation. [Humorous.]
Indeed, Mr. Neverout, you should be cut for the rimplett
this morning ; say a word more, and you had as good eat
your naila Swift, Polite Conversation, i.
simple (sim'pl), V. »'. ; pret. and pp. simpled,
\>TiT. simplinq. [< simple, «.] To gather sim-
ples, or medicinal plants.
I know that here are several sorts of Medicinal Herbs
made use of by the Natives, who often go a rimpling,
seeming to understand their Virtues much, and making
great use of them. Dampter, Voyages, II. I. 126.
Botanists, all cold to smiles and dimpling.
Forsake the fair, and patiently —go rimpling.
Ooldnnith, ProL to Craddock'a Zobetde, L 6.
simplician
simple-faced (sim'pl-fast), «. Having no folia-
ceous appendages on the snout : applied to bats
of the family I'espertHionidw, as distinguished
from leaf-nosed, phyllostomous, or rhinolo-
phine bats. /('. B. Flower.
simple-hearted (sim'pl-har"ted), a. Having a
simple heart ; single-hearted ; ingenuous.
And, as the cageling newly flown returns.
The seeming-injured rimple-hearted thing
Came to her old perch back, and settled there.
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien.
simple-minded (sim'pl-min"ded), a. Lacking
intelligence or penetration ; unsophisticated ;
artless.
Others of graver mien,
. . . bending oft their sanctimonious eyes.
Take homage of the rim.ple-minded throng.
Akenride, Pleasures of the Imagination, iii. 11—
I am a rimple-minded person, wholly devoid of subtlety
of intellect. lluodey. Nineteenth Century, XIX. 191.
simple-mindedness (sim'pl-min"ded-nes), n.
The state or character of being simple-minded.
simpleness (sim'pl-nes), «. [< ME. simplenesse,
sympylnesse, sympylhies ; < simple -I- -ness.'\ The
state or quality of being simple, in any sense
of that word.
Mi labor wil don After my rivipUnegse
Hit for to conuey As I can or may.
Bom. of Partenay (E. E. T. S.), Introd., L 71.
God's wiU,
What rimplenege is this !
Shak., R. and J., ilL 3. 77.
simpler (sim'plfer), n. [< simple, v., + -«ri.]
One who collects simples, or medicinal plants ;
a herbalist ; a simpUst. Minsheu.
The Simpler comes, with basket and book.
For herbs of power on thy banks to look.
Bryant, Green River.
" Look at this blue-flag." she said ; " our neighbor, a
wise ampler, declares it will cure a host of diseases."
£^. Judd, Margaret, ii. 1.
simpler's-joy (sim'pl6rz-joi), n. The common
vervain, Verbena offieiiutlis : so called as a mar-
ketable drug-plant. [Prov. Eng.]
simplesset, n. [< ME. simplesse, < OF. sitnplesse,
simplece, simpleche, F. simplesse (= Pr. Sp. Pg.
simple::a), simplicity, < simple, simple: see «t»i-
ple.] Simpleness; simplicity.
Though that dUfautes apperen in use,
Yut of your mercy ray rimplesse excuse.
Bom. of Partenay (E. E. T. S.), 1. 6600.
Darting forth a dazzling light
On all that come her rimplesse to rebuke I
B. Joneon, Underwoods, xciv.
simpleton (sim'pl-ton), n. [< F. as if *simple-
ton, dim. of simplet, m., simplette, {., simple,
dim. of simple, simple ; cf. Sp. simplon, a sim-
pleton. No P. "simpleton occurs; but -eton, a
double dim. suffix, occurs in other words, one of
which is the source of E. jenneting ; another is
the source of E. musketoon. Cf . sillyton, made
in imitation of simpleton.'] 1 . A person of lim-
ited or feeble intelligence ; a foolish or silly per-
son.
Those letters may prove a discredit, as lasting as mer-
cenary scribblers, or curious rimpletons, can make it
Pope.
The fears of the sister have added to the weakness of the
woman ; but she Is by no means a rivipleton in general.
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, xiv.
2. The American dunlin, purre, or ox-bird.
See cut under dunlin.
simple-toothed (sim'pl-tStht), a. Having one
pair of incisors above and below, as a rodent;
simplioident. See Simplicidentata.
simple-winged (sim'pl-wingd), a. Not tooth-
winged, as a butterfly : noting the Heliconiinse.
Simplices (sim'pli-sez), n. pi. [NL., pi. of L.
simplex, simple : see simple?] The simple ascid-
ians ; a suborder of Ascidiacea contrasted with
Compositm and with Salpiformes, containing or-
dinary fixed aseidians which are soHtary and
seldom reproduce by gemmation, or, if colo-
nial (as in one family), whose members have no
common investment, each having its own case
or test. Here belong the cqmmon forms known as sea-
squirts, and by other fanciful names (as xca-peach, sea-pear,
tea-potato), of at least four families, the Clarelinidir, Aeci-
diiate, Cyntbiidte, and Molgulidte. of which the flrst-named
is colonial or social, and makes a transition from the quite
simple or solitary aseidians (the other three families named)
to the compound forms, or Cfrmporitx.
Simpliciat (sim-pUsh'ia), «. pi. [NL., neut. pi.
of li. simplex, simple: see simple.] In Cuvier's
system of classification, the simple acalephs;
the fii-st order of his Acalepha, distinguished
from ffydrostaUca. It was an artificial group
of raedusans and ctenophorans.
Simpliciant (sim-plish'i-an), n. [< L. simplex
(simplic-), simple (see simple), + -i-an.] A
simpleton.
simplician
Be he a fotile in the esteeme of man,
In worUIly thinges a mecr simpiieiat^
Yet, for ajl this, I boUlly dai-e averre
His knowledge great.
Times' WhUle (E. E. T. 8.X p. 148.
simplicident (sim-plis'i-dent), a. and «. [<
L. gimplex {shnplic-), simple, + den{t-)s = E.
tooth.'] I. n. Simple-toothed, as a rodent; hav-
ing only one pair of upper incisors ; of or per-
taining to the Siniplicidentata,
n. H. A simple-toothed rodent; any mem-
lior of the Simplkident<ita.
Simplicidentata (sira'pli-si-den-ta'ta), n. pi.
[NL. : see simj>licidcnt7\ The simple-toothed
rodents, or simplicident Rodentia, a suborder
containing all living rodents except the Du-
pUcidentata, having only one pair of upper in-
cisors, or the Myomorpha, Sciuromorpha, and
Hijstricomorpha, as rats and mice of all kinds,
squirrels, beavers and their allies, and porcu-
pines and their allies. See Duplicideniati. Also
called Siniplicideiitnti when the order is named
Glire.'! instead ot Itodentia.
simplicidentate (sim^pli-si-den'tat), a. [As
.liiiijilicideiit + -ate^.'] Same as siynplicident,
Simplicidentati (sim'pli-si-den-ta'ti), n. pi.
Same as Sinijiliridentata.
Simplicimane (sim-plis'i-man), a. Of or per-
taining to the ISimplicimani.
Simplicimani (sim-pli-sim'a-ni), n. pi. [NL.,
< 1j. simplex (simplic-), simple, + mamis, hand :
see wraH^.] In Latreille's system of classifica-
tion, a division of caraboid beetles; the fourth
section of his second tribe Carahici, having the
two anterior tarsi only dilated in the males, not
forming a square or an orbicular plate.
Simplicirostres (sim"pli-si-ros'trez), n. pi.
[NL., < L. simplex (simplic-), simple, -t- ros-
trum, bill, beak.] In oniith., in Sundevall's sys-
tem of classification, a group of American coni-
rostral oscine passerine birds, consisting of the
tanagers.
simpliciter (sim-plis'i-ter), adv. [L., simply
(used in philosophy to translate Gr. dxAuf), <
simplex (simplic-), simple : see simple.] Simply ;
not relatively ; not in a certain respect merely,
but in the full sense of the word modified. —
Dictum simpliciter, said simply, without (qualification
or limitation to certain respects: opposed to dictum secun-
dum quid.
simplicity (sim-plis'i-ti), n.; pi. simplicities
(-tiz). [< F. simpliciie = Pr. simplicitat = Sp.
simplicidad = Pg. simpKcidade = It. semplicita,
< L. simplicita{t-)s, < simplex (simplic-), simple:
see simple.] The state or property of being sim-
ple, (a) The state or mode of being uncompounded ;
existence in elementary form.
In the same state in which they [angels] were created
in the beginning, in that they euerlastingly remaine, the
substance of their proper nature being permanent in Sim-
plicitie and Immutabilitie.
Heywood, Hierarchy of Angels, p. 372.
Mandrakes afford a papaverous and unpleasant odour,
whether in the leaf or apple, as is discoverable in their
simplicity or mixture. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., vii. 7.
(6) Freedom from complexity or intricacy.
We are led ... to conceive this great machine of the
world ... to have been once in a state of greater sim-
plicity than now it is.
T. Burnet, Theoiy of the Earth, 1. 45.
From . . . primordial uniformity and simplicity, there
takes place divergence, Ijoth of the wholes and the lead-
ing parts, towards nmltiforraity of contour and towards
complexity of contour. H. Spencer, First Principles, § 119.
(c) Freedom from difficulty of execution or understanding ;
easiness ; especially, lack of abstruseness ; clearness ; also,
an instance or illustration of simple clearness.
Truth by her own simplicity is known.
Herrick, Truth and Falsehood.
The grand eimpliciiies of the Bible.
Imcell, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 246.
(d) Freedom from artificial ornament ; plainness, as of
dress, style, or the like.
Give me a look, give me a face;
That makes simplicity a grace ;
Kobes loosely flowing, hair as free ;
Such sweet neglect more taketh me'
Than all th' adulteries of art.
B. Jonson (tr. from Bonnefons), Epicoene, i. 1.
Thou canst not adorn simplicity. What is naked or de-
fective is susceptible of decoration: what is decorated is
simplicity no longer.
Jjandor, Imag. Conv., Epictetus and Seneca.
(e) Artlessness of mind or conduct ; unaif ectedness ; sin-
cerity ; absence of parade or pretense.
I swear to thee . , .
By the simplicity of Venus' doves, . . .
To-morrow truly will I meet with thee.
SAo*., M.N. D.,i. 1.171.
I, for my part, iiill slack no service that may testify my
timpliaty. Ford, Love's Sacrifice, iii. :i.
He [Madison] had that rare dignity of unconscious sim-
plicity which characterizes the earnest and disinterested
■cholar. J. Fiske, Critical Period of Amer. Hist., v.
,5640
(/) Ignorance arising from lack either of education or of
intelligence ; especially, lack of common sense ; foolish-
ness ; childishness ; also, an act of folly ; a foolish mistake.
Uow long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity?
Piov. i. 22.
To be ignorant of the value of a suit issimplicity, as well
as to be ignorant of the right thereof is want of conscience.
Bacon, Suitors (ed. 1S87), p. 470.
Let it be . . . one of our simplicities to suffer that in-
jui-y which neither impaireth the reputation of the father,
nor abuseth the credit of the sons.
G. Harvey, Four Letters.
Generally, nature hangs out a sign of simplicity in the
face of a fool. Fxdler, lioly and Profane State, III. xii. 1.
= Syn. Seem'wpfe.
simplification (sim''''pli-fi-ka'shon), n. [= F.
simplijicution = Pg. simplificaQiio = It. simpli-
ficazione; as simplifi/ + -ation (see -fication).]
The act of simplifying or making simple; re-
duction from a complex to a simple state : as,
the simplification of English spelling.
The simplification of machines renders them more and
moreperfecl^ but this simplification of the rudiments of
languages renders them more and more imperfect, and
less proper for many of the purposes of language.
Adam Smitti, Formation of Languages.
Where tones coincide, the number of tones actually
present is less than the number of possil)le tones, and
there is a proportionate simplificaiion : so to put it, more
is commanded and with less effort.
J. Ward, Encyc, Brit., XX. 69.
simpliflcative (sim'pli-fi-ka-tiv), a. [< simpli-
fication) + -ive.] Simplifying, or tending to
simplify.
" Simplificative evolution ** as opposed to "elaborative
evolution." E. B. Lankester, Degeneration, p. 71, note c.
simplificator (sim'pli-fi-ka-tor), »(. [< simplifi-
cat{ion) + -o/'l.] One who simplifies, or favors
simplification, as of a system, doctrine, etc.
[Rare.]
This is the supposition of simplificators, who, from the
impulse of a faulty cerebral conformation, must needs
disbelieve, because theology would otherwise afford them
no intellectual exercise.
Isaac Taylor, Nat. Hist. Enthusiasm, p. 92.
simplify (sim'pli-ti), V. ; pret. and pp. simpli-
fied, ppr. simplifying. [<. F. simpUfier = Sp.
Pg. simpUficar = It. (refl.) simplificare ; irreg.,
as simple + -fy.] I, trans. To make simple;
reduce from complexity to simplicity ; also, to
make easy of use, execution, performance, or
comprehension.
Philosophers have generally advised men to shun need-
less occupations, as the certain impediments of a good and
happy life ; they bid us endeavour to simplify ourselves.
Barrow, Works, II. xxxiv.
With no outdoor amusements, and with no summer
holiday, how much is life simplified.' But the simplicity
of life means monotony.
W. Besant, Fifty Years Ago, p. 88.
II. intrans. To produce or eileet simplicity.
That is a wonderful simplification, and science always
simplifies. J. N. Lockyer, Spect. Anal., p. 166.
simplism (sim'plizm), n. [< simple + -ism.]
The advocacy or cultivation of simplicity;
hence, an affected or labored simplicity.
Other writers have to affect what to him [Wordsworth]
is natural. So they have what Arnold called simplism,
he simplicity. The CeMury, XXXIX. 624.
simplist (sim'plist), n. [< OF. simpliste, also
slmpliciste = Sp. simpUsta = It. semplicista ; as
simple + -is*.] One skilled in simples or me-
dicinal plants ; a simpler.
A plant so unlike a rose, it [the rose of Jericho] hath
been mistaken by some good simplist for amomum.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., ii. 6.
simplistic (sim-plis'tik), n. [< simplist + -ic]
1. Of or pertaining to simples or a simplist.
[Rare.] Ijnj). Vict. — 2. Endeavoring to explain
everything, or too much, upon a single princi-
ple.
The facts of nature and of life are more apt to be com-
plex than simple. Simplistic theories are generally one-
sided and partial. J. F. Clarke. {Worcester.)
simplityt (sim'pli-ti), n. [< ME. simpUty, sym-
plete, < OF. simplete, simplicity: see simplici-
ty.] Simplicity.
Thanne shallow se Sobrete and Symjdete-ot-speche.
Piers Plowman (B), x. 166.
simploce, w. See symploce.
simply (sira'pli), adv. [< ME. sympely, sympil-
ly, sympilliche, simpleliche, etc.; < simple + -ly^.]
In a simple manner, (a) Without complication, in-
tricacy, obscurity, or circumlocution : easily; plainly.
He made his complaynt and his clamoure heringe hem
alle, and seide to hem full sympUty, " Lordinges, ye be alle
my liege men, and of me ye holde youre londes and youre
fees. " Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 616.
Evolution, under its primary aspect, is illustrated most
simply and clearly by this passage of the Solar System from
a widely diffused incoherent state to a consolidated cohe-
rent state. H. Spencer, First Principles, § 108-
simulant
(b) Without extravagance or parade ; unostentatiously.
Thei ben fuUe devoute Men, and lyven porely and sympe-
ly, with Joutes and with Dates ; and thei don gret Absty-
nence and Penaunce. Maiideville, Travels, p. 58.
A mortal, built upon the antique plan.
Brimful of lusty blood as ever ran.
And taking life as simply as a tree !
Lowell, Agassiz, 1. 144.
(c) Without pretense or affectation ; unassumingly ; art-
lessly.
Thei dide to Kynge Arthur their homage full debonerly
as was right, and the kynge he receyved with gode herte
and sympUlicfte with wepynge.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), il. 140.
Subverting worldly strong, and worldly wise
By simply meek. Milton, P. L., xii. .')69.
(d) Without wisdom or discretion ; unwisely; foolishly.
And we driven the remenaunt in at the yates, that«ym-
pilly hem deffended whan they hadde loste their lorde.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), i. 78.
(e) Merely; solely; only.
It more afflicts me now to know by whom
This deed is done than simply that 'tis done.
Beau, and Ft,, Philaster, iii. 1.
The attractive force of a stimulus is determined not
simply by its quantity but also by its quality.
J. Sully, Outlines of Psychol., p. 82.
Hence — (/) Absolutely; quite.
He is simply the rarest man i' the world.
Shak., Cor.,iv. 6. 169.
They [the older royal families of Europe] never wanted
a surname ; none attached itself to them, and they simply
have none. N. and Q., 7th ser., II. 414.
(g) Absolutely ; in the full sense of the words ; not in a
piirticular respect merely.
Simpson's operation. See operation.
simptomet, «. An obsolete fonn of symptom.
simpulum (sim'pu-lum), n. ; pi. simpula (-Iii).
[L. : seedef.] In7to?«.antt(7.,asmallladlewith
which wine was dipped out for libations, etc.
A third [relief] which seemed to be ari altar, with two
reliefs on it, one being a person holding a siinpulum;
these were all brought from Buda.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. ii. 249.
simson, simpson (sim'sgn), n. [Var. of obs.
sencion, scncMon, < OF. senecion, < L. senecio(n-),
gi'oundsel : see sencion, Seneeio.] Groundsel.
[Pi'ov. Eng.]
Sims's operation. See operation.
simulacra, n. Plural of .limulacrmn.
simulacret (sim'u-la-ker), n. [Also simula-
chrc ; < ME. symitlacre, symylacrc, < OF. simula-
cre, also simulaire, F. simulacrc = Pr. simulacra
= Sp. Pg. It. sinmlacro, < L. simulacrum, a like-
ness, image, form, appearance, phantom: see
simulacrum.] An image.
Betwene Symtdacres and Ydoles is a gret difference.
For Symulacres ben Ymages made aftre lyknesse of Men
or of Women, or of the Sonne or of the Mone, or of ony
Best, or of ony kyndely thing.
MandevUle, Travels, p. 164.
Phidias . . . made of yuory the simulachre or image of
Jupiter. Sir T. Elyot, The Goverpour, L £.
simulacrum (sim-i"i-la'krum), M.; pi. simulacra
(-kra). [L., a likeness, image, form, appear-
ance, phantom (in philosophy a tr. of Gr. ofioiu-
fia),i simulare, make like, imitate: see simu-
late.] 1. That which is formed in the likeness
of any object; an image.
The mountain is flanked by two tall conical sim.vlacra,
with radiate summits.
B. V. Head, Historia Numorum, p. 634.
He [the author of the De Mysteriis] condemns as folly
and impiety the worship of images of the gods, though
his master held that these simulacra were filled with di-
vine power, whether made by the hand of man or (as he
believed) fallen from heaven. Encyc. Brit., XII. 603.
2. A shadowy or unreal likeness of anything;
a phantom ; a vague, imreal representation.
The sensations of persons who have suffered amputa-
tion show that their sensorium retains a picture or map
of the body so far as regards the location of all its sensi-
tive regions. This simulacrum is invaded by conscious-
ness whenever the proper stimulus is applied.
E. D. Cope, Origin of the Fittest, p. 407.
All the landscape and the scene seemed the simulacrum
of an old romance, the echo of an early dream.
C. D. Warner, Roundabout Journey, xvii.
3. A formal sign; a sign which represents a
thing by resembling it, but does not indicate
it, or stand for the actual presence of the thing.
simulant (sim'u-lant), a. and «. [< L. simu-
lan{t-)s, ppr. of simulare, make like: see simu-
late.] I. a. Simulating (something else); ap-
pearing to be (what it is not) ; replacing (in
position or in aspect) : with of: used especially
in biology: as, a scutum simulant of a seutel-
lum ; cheliceres simulant of chelss; stamens
.timulant of petals, or conversely. A good many
parts and organs, under various physiological modifica-
tions, are thus simulant of others from which they are
morphologically different See similar. 4.
II. n. One who or that which simulates some-
thing else.
stmnlant
These are, indeed, solemn processions, wliicli not even
youtli and beauty, or tlieir gimulaate, can malie gay.
W. II. Riutelt, Diary in India, L 103
simalar (sim'u-lar), a. and n. [Irreg. < L.
Mmutare, make'like, simulate, < similw, like : see
similar. The form is appar. due to association
of the adj. similar with the verb simulate; it
may have been suggested by the OF. simuUiirc,
an image, simulacrum: see simuUiere.'] I. a.
1. Practising simulation ; feigning; deceiving.
[Rare.]
Tlioa perjured, and thou limular man of rirtne.
Shak., Lear, iiL 2. 54.
2. Simulated or assumed; counterfeit; false.
[Rare.]
I retum'd witli gimular proof enongti
To xnake the noble Leouatus mad.
5641
4!, — why, that begins my name ... M, 0, A, I; this
Hmulation is not as the former ; and yet, to crush this a
little, it would bow to me, for every one of these letters
are in my name. Shak., T. N., ii. 5. 151.
4. In French law, a fictitious engagement, con-
tract, or conveyance, made either as a fraud
where no real transaction is intended, or as a
mask or cover for a different transaction, in
which case it may sometimes be made in good
faith and valid. =syn. l. See dissembU.
simulator (sim'u-la-tor), n. [= F. simulateur
= Sp. Pg. simulddor = It. simulatore, < L. sim-
ulator, an imitator, a copier, < simulatus, pp.
of simulare, imitate, simulate, copy: see simu-
late.'] One who simulates or feigns.
They are merely limvlators of the part they sustain.
De Qtaiuxy, Autobiog. Sketches, I. 20a (.Dame».)
Sin .
No fact is more familiar than that there is a simultane-
ous impulse acting on many individual minds at once, so
that genius comes in clusters, and shines rarely as a single
star. 0. W. Holmes, Essays, p. 84.
The combination, whether simiUtaneous or successive
of our conscious experiences is correlated with the combi-
nation of the impressions made.
(J. T. Ladd, Physiol. Psychology, p. 580.
Simultaneous equations, equations satisfied at thesame
♦■"■" that is, with the same system of values of the un
time-
In the old poetic fame
The gfxls are blind and lame,
And the eimtdar despite
Betrays the more abounding might.
Emerton, Monadnoc.
n. n. One who simulates or feigns anything.
[Bare.]
Christ calleth the Pharisees hypocrites, tliat is to say
ibmilart, and white sepulchres. Tyndale.
Sinmlate (sim'u-lat), v. t.: pret. and pp. simu-
lated, ppr. simuUiting. [< L. simulatus. pp. of
simulare, also similare (> It. simulare = Sp. Pg.
Ft. simutar = F. simuler), make like, imitate,
copy, represent, feign, < similis, like : see sim-
ilar. Cf. dissimulate.] 1. To assume the ap-
pearance of, without having the reality ; feign ;
counterfeit; pretend.
She, while he stabbed her, timulaUd death.
Brouming, King and Book, II. 162.
The scheme of rimulated insanity Is precisely the one
he [Hamlet] would have been likely to hit upon, becaose
It enabled him to follow his own bent.
LoweU, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 221.
2. Toact thepart of; imitate; belike; resem-
ble.
The pen which nmulated tongue
On paper, and saved all except the sound.
Which never was. Brawnitig, King and Book, 1. 41.
What proof is there that brates are other than a supe-
rior race of marionettes, which eat without pleasure, cry
without pain, deaira nothing; know nothing, and only
itnudate (ntellitrence as a bee itmulaUt a mathematician ?
Huxley, Animal Automatism.
8. Specifically — (o) In plionoloffu, to imitate
in form. See simulatton, 2. (6) In biol., to
imitate or mimic; resemble by way of protec-
tive mimicnr : as, some insects simulate flowers
orleaves. 8eemimi<Ty,3.=Bjm.l.flivuij«,etc(see
(WmctwMs), affect, sham.
simnlate (sim'u-lat), a. [< L. simulatus, pp.: see
the verb.] Feigned; pretended.
The monkes were not threitened to be undre this cuncL
because thejr bad vowed a HmulaU chastjrte.
Bp. Bale, tag. Votaries, IL
simulation (sim-u-la'shon), n. [< ME. simu-
lariiin, < OP. simulation,' simulaeion, F. simula-
tion = Pr. Sp. simuiacion = Pg. simulajSo = It.
nwmlasione, < L. simulatio(n-), ML. also simila-
<»o(i»-), a feigning, < simulare, pp. simulatus,
feign, simulate: see simulate.] 1. The act of
simulating, or feigning or counterfeiting; the
false assumption of a certain appearance or
character; pretense, usually for the purpose of
deceiving.
Cymbeline,y.5.200. gimulatory (sim'u-la-to-ri), a. [< simulate -t-
-ory.] Serving to deceive; characterized by
simulation.
Jehoram wisely suspects this flight of the Syrians to
be but simulator!/ and politic, only to draw Israel out of
their city, for the spoil of both.
Bp. BaU, Famine of Samaria Relieved.
SimuliidSB (sim-u-li'i-de), n. pi. [NL. (Zetter-
stedt, 1842, as Simulides), < Simulium -f- -idle.]
A family of nematocerous dipterous insects,
founded upon and containing only the genus
Simulium. Also Simulidse.
Simnlinm (si-mu'li-um), n. [NL. (Latreille,
1802), < L. sim ulare, imitate, simulate : see simu-
late.] An important genjfs of biting gnats, typi-
cal of the family Simuliidie. They are small hump-
backed gnats, of a gray or blackish color, with broad pale
wings. Many well-known species belong to this genus.
There be three degrees of this hiding and veiling of a
man's self : the first, closeness, reservation, and secrecy ;
... the seeond, diadmnlatioo In the negatlTe— when a
man lets fall signs and argumenta that be ia not that he
Is : and the third, limvtatbm In the afflrmatlve —when a
man Industriously and expreaaly feigns and pretends to
be tlist he Is not.
Bacon, Simulation and Dissimulation (ed. lgS7).
Tha sfawiaMm ol natorv, aa distingnlahed fft>m the ac-
tual reprodnotlon of nature, la the peculiar province of
»»•«« »rt. Ser&ner's Mag., IV. 438.
2. Specifically— (a) In »*0(M>%y, imitation in
form ; the alteration of the form of a word so as
to approach or agree with that of another word
having some accidental similarity, and to sug-
gest a connection between them : a tendency
of popular etymology. Exaroplea are A<««MP<eee for SimnltaneOOB
FUh-UUiiiK Buffalchcnat iSimuHutn piKicidiumS, much magnified.
A. Unra, dona) view, witb faa-sliaped appendages spread ; i, pupa
donat view ; c. papa, lateral view ; d, pupo. veotnil view ; e, thoracic
ptoleg o* larva ',/, maaiicr in wliicb ttie circular rows of titiltles ai«
arranged at aaalextrauity.
such as the Colnmbatsch midge of eastern Europe, the
bhu;k-By(S. nu)<ei(ini>) of the wooded regions of the north-
em United Statea and Canada, and the buffalo- atid tur-
key-gnaU of the southwestern United States. Their bite
Is very painful, and they sometimes swarm in such num-
bers ss to become a pest. The larva; and pupie are aquatic,
and generally live in shallow swift-running streams. Also
SkMiUa. See cut under 1xakty.gnat.
simultaneity (sim'ul- or si'mul-ta-ne'i-ti), h.
[= F. simultanHU = Sp. simnltaneidad' = Pg.
simultaneidade, < ML. simultaneus, happening at
the same time: see simultaneous.] The state or
fact of being simultaneous.
frmtiipiet (simulating pleee\ emiat.<u tor cuOat (slmu-
tottog ax), mmreign tor mmraln at 'mmren (slmuUtlng
ntgnx mmvagramtar atparaffu* (simulating tparriw and
■ StnuUatiOTi. The feigning a connection with words of
similar sound Is an Important fact In English and other
modem languages : asparagus > sparrow-grasa. jt prob-
ably bad Just aa full play In ancient speech, but I& effects
cannot be so surely traced.
F. A. Marth, Anglo-Saxon Grammar, p. 28.
(6) In biol., unconscious imitation or protective
mimicry ; assimilation in appearance. — 3. Ke-
semblancc; similarity. [Rare.]
The organs (heart, lungs, etc.] of these never-ceasing
functions furnish, Indeed, the most conclusive proofs of
the i<mt^(aneity of repair and waste.
H. Spencer, Prin. of Biol., 162.
In the palmiest days of Sydney Smith and Macanlay . . .
the great principle of iimuUaneity In conversation, as we
may call It, had not been discovered, and it was still sup-
posed that two people could not with advantage talk at
once. The Nation, Nov. 29, 1888, p. 444.
(sim-ul- or si-mul-ta'ne-us), a.
[= F. simultani = Sp. simultdneo = Pg. It. simul-
ttineo, < ML. simultaneus,< simultim, at the same
time, extended < L. simul, together, at the same
time: see similar.] Existing, occurring, or op-
erating at the same time; contemporaneous;
also, in Aristotelian metaphysics, having the
same rank in the order of nature : said of two
or more objects, events, ideas, conditions, acts,
etc.
Our ovm history Interestingly shows limti/taneous move-
ments now towards freer, sna now towards less free, forms
locally and generally. tf.i%i*ne«r, Prin.ot SocloL, |610.
known quantities, or, in tlTe csse'of ' diHereu"tial"equ'a-
tions, with the same system of primitives.
simultaneously (sim-ul- or si-mul-ta'ne-us-li),
adv. lu a simultaneous manner; at the same
time ; together in point of time.
Simultaneousness (sim-ul- or si-mul-ta'ne-us-
nes), n. The state or fact of being simultane-
ous, or of happening at the same time, or act-
ing in conjunction.
Simultyt (sim'ul-ti), M. [< L. simulta(t^)s, a
hostile encounter, rivalry, < sitnul, together: see
simultaneous.] Rivalry; dissension.
Nor seek to get his patron's favour by embarking him-
self in the factions of the family ; to enquire after domes-
tic simtUties, their sports or affections.
B. Jonson, Discoveries.
Simung, ". The otter of Java, Lutra leptonyx.
Simurg, simurgh (si-mOrg'), n. [Also simorg,
simorgk ; < Pers. simurgh, a fabulous bird (see
def.).] A monstrous bird of Persian fable, to
which are ascribed characters like those of the
roc.
But I am an " old bird," as Mr. Smith himself calls me :
a Siinarg, an " all-knowing Bird of Ages " in matters of
cyclometry. De Morgan, Budget of Paradoxes, p. 329.
Sin'^ (sin), n. [< ME. sinne, synne, sunne, senne,
zenne, < AS. syn, synn (in inflection synn-, sinn-,
senn-) = OS. sundca, sundia = OFries. sinne,
sende = MD. sunde, sonde, D. Mnde = MLG.
sunde, LG. sunne, sunn = OHG. suntca, sunta,
sundea, sunda, MHG. sunde, sunde, G. sUnde,
= Icel. syndh, synth, later synd, = Sw. Dan.
sytid (not in Goth.), sin, akin to L. son(t-)s,
sinful, guilty, sonticus, dangerous, hurtful, and
perhaps to Gr. a-n/, sin, mischief, harm. Ac-
cording to Curtius and others, the word is an
abstract noun formed from the ppr. represented
by L. *sen(t-)s, en{t-)s, being, and by AS. soth,
true, sooth, = Icel. sannr, etc., lit. 'being (so)'
(see sooth), Goth, sunja, the truth, sooth.] 1.
Any want of conformity unto or transgression
of the law of God. ( Westminster Assembly's
Shorter Ca techism . ) The true definition of sin is a much
contested nuestion, theologians being broadly diviiled
into two schools of thought, the one holding that all sin
consists in the voluntary and ciinscimis act of the individ-
ual, the other that it also includes the moral character and
disposition of the race ; one that all moral responsibility is
Individual, the other that thire is also a nioml responsibili-
ty of the race as a race, lo these should be added a third
sch(X)l, which reganls sin as simply an imperfection and
immaturity, and therefore reiinirinu for remedy princi-
pally a healthful development under favoralde conditions.
I'heologliins also divide sin into two classes, actual sin and
originalriH. Actual sfn consists in the voluntary conscious
act of the Individual. (.See actual.) Original sin is the in-
nate depravity and corruption of the nature conmion to all
mankind. But whether this native depravity is properlv
called sin, or whether it is only a tendency to sin and
becomes sin only when it is yielded to by the conscious
voluntary act of the individual, is a question upon which
theologians differ. Roman Catholic and other theolo-
gians, following the early church fathers, distinguish be-
tween mortal (or deadlii) and renial sins. Mortal or dead-
ly sins are such as wilfully violate the divine law, destroy
the friendship of Ooii, and cause the death of the soul.
The seven mortal or deadly sins are pride, covetousneps,
lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth. Venial sins are
such transgressions as are due to inadvertence, do not de-
stroy the friendship iiffJod, and, while tending to become
mortal, are not in themselves the death of the soul. The
difference is one of degree, not of kind.
And ye knowe also that It was do be me, and so sholde
myn be the tynne. Merlin (E. E. T. S.X I. 80.
Sure, it Is no sin ;
Or of the deadly seven it is the least.
Shak., M. forM., Hi. 1.111.
At the court of assistants one Hugh Bewett was ban-
ished for holding publicly and maintaining that he was
free from original sin and from actual also for half a year
before. Winthrop, Hist New England, II. 22.
Original sin is the pntduct of human will as yet unindi.
vidusllzed ill Adam, while actnal sin is the product of
human will as individualized In his posterity.
Shedd, Hist. Christian Doctrine, H. 81.
2. A serious fault ; an error; a transgression :
as, a sin against good taste. — 3. An incarna-
tion or embodiment of sin.
Thy ambition.
Thou scarlet sin, robb'd this bewailing land
of noble Buckingham. Shak., Hen. VIII. , ill. 2. 266^
Canonical sins. See cammirnl. Deadly sin. See def. 1.
— Manofsln. .Seemon.— Mortal sin. iSee def. 1.— Ori-
ginal Bin. See def. 1.— Remission of sins. See remi»-
nan.- The seven deadly sins. See def. l.— Venial
Bin. See def. 1. =Byn. 1 and 2. Wrong, Iniquity, etc. Sea
crime.
sin
ain* (sin), r. ; pret. and pp. sinned, ppr. sinning.
[< ME. sinneii, synnen, sinien, siniiien, singen,
singen, sunken, siingcn, sinegcn, < AS. Sjingian,
gesyngian = OS. suiidioii, sitiideon = MT>. sondi-
ghen, D. ;:ondiyen = OHG. sunteoii, sitntoii, smi-
doH, MHG. sundigen, sunden, siindigen, siinden,
G. siiiidigei> = Icel. syndga = Sw. synda = Dan.
synde, sin; from the noun.] I. intrans, 1. To
commit a sin ; depart voluntarily from the path
of duty prescribed "by God ; violate the divine
law by actual transgression or by the neglect
or non-observance of its injunctions.
Thei seyii that wee syntien whan wee eten Flessche on
the Dayes before Assche Weilnesday, and of that that wee
eten tlessche the Wednesday, and Egges and Chese upon
the Frjdayes. MmtdevUle, Travels, p. 20.
All have tinned, and come short of the glory of Ood.
Horn. jii. 23.
The tempter or Uie tempted, who sins most?
Shak., M. for M., li. 2. 163.
That he sinned is not believable ;
For, look upon his face ! — but if he ainn'd,
The sin that practice burns into the blood.
And not tiie one darit hour which brings remorse,
Will brand us, after, of whose fold we be.
Tennyson^ Merlin and Vivien.
2. To commit an error or a fault ; be at fault;
transgress an accepted standard of propriety or
taste; ofifend: followed by against before an
object.
Against thee, thee only, have I ginned. Fs. li. 4.
I am a man
More sinn'd against than sinning.
Shak., Lear, iii. 2. 60.
I think I have never sinned against her ; I have always
tried not to do wliat would hurt her.
George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, xxxlL
*' The Old Well," . . . quite cleverly painted, and sinning
chiefly by excessive prettiness. The Nation. XL VII. 464.
H. trans. 1. To do or commit, contrary to
right or rule : with a cognate object.
And all is past, the sin is sinn'd, and I,
Lo ! I forgive thee, as Eternal GoA
Forgives ; do thou for thine own soul the rest.
Tennyson, Guinevere.
[Also used impersonally, as in the following quotation :
Meanwhile, ere thus was sinn'd and judged on earth.
Within tlie gates of hell sat Hin and Death.
Milton, P. L., X. 229.]
2. To influence, force, or drive by sinning to
some course of procedure : followed by an ad-
' verbial phrase noting the direction of the result
effected.
I have sinned away your father, and he is gone.
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, ii.
We have sinned him hence, and that he lives
God to his promise, not our practice, gives.
Dryden, Britannia Kediviva, I. 2!J2.
Sinning one's mercies, being ungrateful for the gifts of
Providence. (Scotch.]
I know your good father would term this sinning my
Tnereies. Scott.
sin^ (sin), adv., prep., and conj. [< ME. sin, syn,
sen, a contraction of sithen: see sithen, sitlO-,
and cf. sinci, syiie, since.'] Same as since.
sin. All abbreviation of sine^, 2.
sin-absolver (sin'ab-sol"v6r), n. One who ab-
solves from the guilt of sin. [Rare.]
A divine, a ghostly confessor,
A sin-absolver. Shak., R. and J., iii. 3. 60.
Sinaic (si-na'ik), o. [< Sinai + -ic] Same as
Sinuitie.
Sinaitic (si-na-it'ik),a. [< NL. Sinaiticus, < Sinai
(see def.).] Pertaining to Mount Sinai, or to
the peninsula in which it is situated, in Arabia,
between the two arms of the Red Sea: as, Sina-
itic inscriptions; the Sinaitic tables.— Slnaltlo
codex. See codex, 2.
sinamine (si-nam'in), n. [< L. sin(api), mus-
tard, + amine (?).] AUyl cyanide, C3H5CN,
a substance obtained from crude oil of mus-
tard.
sinamonf , sinamonet, «• Obsolete forms of cin-
namon.
sinapine (sin'a-pin), n. [< F. sinapine; as Si-
napis + -jne2.] An organic base, C]^gH23N05,
existing as a sulphocyanate in white mustard-
seed. The free base is quite unstable, and has
not been obtained.
Sinapis (si-na'pis), n. [NL. (Linnaeus, 1737),
earlier Sinapi, < L. sinapis, usually sinapi, < 6r.
aivaiTi, aivTjTTL, tjivairv, <rivr/Trv, clvtj'kv^, in Attic
vaiTv, mustard: see scnvy.] A former genus of
European and Asiatic emciferous plants, in-
cluding mustard, the type of the order. It is
now regarded as a subgenus of Brassica, and as such dis-
tinguished by its spreading petals, and sessile beaked and
cylindrical or angled pods with globose seeds. Tliis is still
the officinal name of mustard, of which the seeds are lax-
ative, stimulant, emetic, and rubefacient. See -mustard.
5642
sinapism (sin'a-pizm), n. [= F. sinapisme, < L.
sina2>ismns, < Gr. aivairiafidQ, a mustard-plaster,
< aivawiCtiv (> L. sinapizarc), cover with a mus-
tard-plaster, < aiTOTTj (>L.s»iaj;t), mustard: see
seiiry.'i A plaster composed wholly or in part
of mustard-flour ; a mustard-plaster.
Tlie places ought, before the application of those topicke
medicines, to be well prepared witli the razour. and tisin-
apirnne or rubicative made of nuistard-seed, untill the place
look red. UoUand, tr. of Pliny, xxix. 6.
sin-bom (sin'boru), a. Born of sin ; originat-
ing in or derived from sin ; conceived in sin.
Thus the sin-born monster answer'd soon :
To me, who with eternal famine pine.
Alike is hell, or paradise, or heaven.
Milton, P. L., X. .196.
sin-bred (sin'bred), a. Produced or bred by sin.
Dishonest shame
Of nature's works, honour dishonourable,
Sin^bred, how have ye troubled all mankind !
Milton, P. L., iv. 316.
since (sins), adv., prep., and conj. [< late ME.
sins, syns, sens (cf. D. sinds, sints), a contrac-
tion of sithence, ult. < sith : see sithence, sith^.]
1. adv. 1. After that ; from then till now ; from
a specified time in the past onward ; continual-
ly afterward; in or during some part of a time
between a specified past time and the present;
in the interval that has followed a certain event
or time ; subsequently.
Saint George, that swinged the dragon, and e'er since
Sits on his horse back at mine hostess' door.
Teach us some fence ! • Shak., K. John, ii. 1. 288.
I hear Butler is made since Count of the Empire.
Howell, Letters, I. vi. 80.
Ireland was probably then [1654] a more agreeable resi-
dence for the higher classes, as compared with England,
than it has ever been before or since.
Macaiday, Sir William Temple.
2. Before now; ago : witli an adverbial phrase
specifying the amount of time separating the
event or time in question from the present:
as, many years since; not long since.
This Church [of Amiens] was built by a certaine Bishop
of this city, about foure hundred years since.
Coryat, Crudities, 1. 16.
You know, if argument, or time, or love,
Could reconcile, long siiKe we had shook liands.
Fletcher (and another). Love's Cure, v. 3.
In the North long since my nest is made.
Tennyson, Princess, iv. (song).
II. prep. Ever from the time of ; throughout
all the time following ; continuously after and
from; at some or any time during the period
following; subsequently to.
You know since Pentecost the sum is due.
Shak., C. of E., iv. 1. 1.
My last was of the first current, siti^e which I received
one from your Lordship. Howell, Letters, I. v. 29.
Sam, who is a very good bottle companion, has lieen
the diversion of his friends, upon account of his passion,
ever since the year one thousand six hundred and eighty-
one. Addison, .Spectator, No. 89.
A waste land, where no one comes,
Or hath come, since the making of the world.
Tennyson, Passing of Arthur.
III. conj. 1 . From the time when ; in or dur-
ing the time after.
A hundereth wyntyr, I watte wele.
Is wente sen I this werke had wrought.
York Plays, p. 49.
Ayenst nyght the wynde fell fayre in our waye, so that
we sayled further that nyght thanne we dyde in any daye
syns we departed from Jaife.
Sir J{. Guyl/orde, Pylgrymage, p. 70.
I have been in such a pickle since I saw you last.
Shak., Tempest, v. 1. 282.
Now we began to repent our haste in coming from the
settlements, for we had no food sitme we came from thence.
DaTnpier, Voyages, I. 20.
2t. When: after verbs noting knowledge or
recollection.
Remember sin^e you owed no more to time
Than I do now : witli thought of such aifections.
Step forth mine advocate. Shak., W. T., v. 1. 219.
3. As a sequel or consequence of the fact that ;
inasmuch as ; because.
Viol. You are very bold.
Jam. 'Tis fit, since you are proud.
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, v. 1.
Perhaps for want of food the soul may pine ;
But that were strange, since all things bad and good,
Siiwe all God's creatures, mortal and divine,
Since God himself is her eternal food.
Sir J. Davies, Immortal, of Soul, xxxi.
= SyTl. 3. Because, Since, As, Inasmuch as. For. Because
(originally by cause) is strong and the most direct. Since,
starting from the idea of mere sequence in time, is natural-
ly less emphatic as to causation : its clause more often pre-
cedes the main proposition. As is still weaker, and, like
since, generally llrings in the reason before tlie main propo-
sition : (M or since tlie mountain will not come to Moham-
med, Moliammed must go to the mountain. Inasmuch as
is the most formal and emphatic, being used only to mark
sincerity
the express reason or condition. For follows the main
proposition, and generally introduces tlint whicli is real-
ly coiitiimative of tlie main proportion and of equal or
nearly equal importance, the idea of giving a reason be-
ing subordinate.
Sinceny ■ware. See tcare^.
sincere (sin-ser'), a. [Early mod. E. also syn-
ccre ; < OF. sincere, syncere, F. sincere = Sp.
Pg. It. sincero, < L. sinccrus, sound, uninjured,
whole (applied in a pliysical sense to the body,
limbs, skin, etc.), clean (applied to a vessel,
jar, etc.), pure (applied to saffron, ointment,
gems, etc.), unmixed (applied to a race, tribe,
etc.), real, genuine (applied to various things) ;
in a fig. sense, sound, uncon-upted; ult. ori-
gin unknown. The word is aiipar. a com-
pound, but the elements are uncertain, and va-
rious views have been held: (o) Sincerus, lit.
'without wax,' < sine, without, -I- cera, wax;
explained as referring originally to clean ves-
sels free from the wax sometimes used in seal-
ing wine-jars, etc. This etymology is unten-
able. (6) Sincerus, lit. 'wholly separated,' < sin-,
' one,' seen also in singuli, one by one, simplex,
single, simple, semcl, once, etc. (see same), + -cer
in ccrnere (pp. crctus), separate: see concern, dis-
cern, (c) Sincerus, lit. 'entirely pure,' < sin-,
' same, ever,' in L. simul, together, etc. (iden-
tical with sin- above), -I- -cents for *scerus = AS.
scir, bright, pure, sheer: see sheer^.] 1. Sound ;
whole ; unbroken ; without error, defect, or in-
jury. [Obsolete. or archaic]
He tried a third, a tough well chosen spear :
The inviolalile body stood sincere.
Though Cygnus then did no defence provide,
But scornful olfer'd his unshielded side.
Lhryden, tr. of Ovid's M etamorph., xii. 133.
2. Pure; unmixed; unadulterated; free from
imitation; good throughout: as, sincere work.
[Obsolete or archaic]
As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word
[the spiritual milk which is without guile, R. V.].
1 Pet. ii. 2.
Wood is cheap
And wine sincere outside the city gate.
Browning, King and Book, JI. 14.
3. Having no admi.xture ; free; clear: followed
by of. [Rare.]
Our air, sincere of ceremonious haze.
Forcing hard outlines mercilessly close.
Lowell, Agassiz, Iv. 26.
4. Unalloyed or unadulterated by deceit or un-
friendliness ; free from pretense or falsehood ;
honestly felt, meant, or intended : as, a sincere
wish ; a sincere effort.
His love sincere, his thoughts immaculate.
Shak., T. G. of V., ii. 7. 76.
The instructions given them [the viceroys] by the Home
Government show a sincere desire for tiie well-being of
Ireland. Lecky, Eng. in 18th Cent., xvi.
5. Free from duplicity or dissimulation ; hon-
est in speech or intention ; guileless ; truth-
ful; frank.
A woman is too sincere to mitigate the fury of her prin-
ciples with temper and discretion.
Addison, Spectator, No. 67.
If he is as deserving and sincere as you have represented
him to me, he will never give yon up so.
Sheridan, The Rivals, i. 2.
Man's great duty is not to be sincere, but to be right ; to
be so, and not to believe that he is so.
H. B. Smith, System of Christian Theol., p. 190.
6. Morally pure; undepraved; upright; vir-
tuous ; blameless.
But now the bishop
Turns insurrection to religion :
Supposed sincere and holy in liis thoughts.
He's followed both with body and with mind.
Stiak., 2 Hen. IV., i. 1. 202.
This Countrie is thought to haue beene the habitation
of . . . Noah and Ills *i»icercr Faniilie. . . . Yethowsoone,
and how much, they degenerated in the wicked off -spring
of cursed Cham. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 78.
A Predicant or preaching Frier, a man of sincere life
and conuersation. Heywood, Hierarchy of Angels, p. 476.
= SyXL 4 and 5. Fair, Open, etc. (see candid) ; Cordial, Sin-
cere, etc. (see hearty), unfeigned, undissembling, artless,
heartfelt.
sincerely (sin-ser'li), adv. In a sincere man-
ner, in any sense of the word sincere; wholly ;
purely ; with truth ; tndy ; really.
Sincereness (sin-ser'nes), w. Same as sincerity.
sincerity (sin-ser'j-ti), h. [< F. sincerite= Sp.
sinccridad = Pg. sinceridade =5 It. sinceritti, <
Ij. sincerita(t-)s, < sincertis, sincere : see sincere.]
The state or character of being sincere, (o)
Fi'eedom from admixture, adulteration, or alloy ; purity.
[Obsolete or archaic]
The Germans are a people that more than all the world,
I think, may boast sincerity, as being for some thousand
of years a pure afid unmixed people.
Feltham, Brief Character of the Low Countries.
(6) Freedom from duplicity, deceit, or falsehood ; honesty ;
truthfulness.
sincerity
I speak not by commandment, but ... to Drove the
nncmly of your love. 2 Cor. vlli 8
Sincerity can never be taken to be the highest moral
sUte. Sinemtji is not the chief of virtues, as seems to be
assumed. H. B. SmUh, tfystem of Christian Theol. , p. 189.
(<;) Integrity ; uprightness ; faithfnliiess.
In the integrity (margin, ancmty] of my heart and in-
nocency of my hands have I done this. Gen. ix. .">.
Order of Sincerity. See Order of Oie Red Eagle, under
eagle. =%jTi. See liiuxre. " • """"
smch (smeh), n. and v. A bad spelling of ciiieh
Sincipital (sin-sip'l-tal). «. [< L. sinciput (-pit-)',
sinciput, + -«/.] Of or pertaining to the sin-
ciput : opposed to occipiUil. DmxjHsoH.
sinciput (sin'si-put), ». [Formerly also synci-
piit; < L. smciput, the head, brain, lit. half a
head (applied to the cheek or jowl of a hog)
< semi-, half, + caput, head. In mod. use op-
posed to occiput, the back part of the head: see
occiput.^ 1. The upper half or part of the
head; the dome of the skull: the ealvarium
including the vertical, parietal, and frontal
regions of the cranium: distinguished from
Sff?'"'^ f* "'"*' restricted sense of the word to fore-
Bead or brow seems to have come from opposition toAind-
head or oeeiput.}
2 In entom., the front of the epieranium, or
that part between the vertex and the clypeus.
SincKt, r. An obsolete spelling of sink.
sinckfoilet, «. An obsolete spellingof cinquefoil
smcopet, «. An obsolete spelling of syncope.
Sindelt, H. Same as sendal.
sinderif, n. An obsolete spelling of cinder.
gnaer- Csin'd^r), V. A Scotch form of sunder.
Blndn carpet. A name given somewhat loosely
to hast Indian carpets and rugs of the poorest
<iualify.
Sindicit, ». An obsolete spelling of syndic.
Sindle (sin'dl), adv. [Also now or formerly
simtyU, sendyll, seindle, seyndiU, seenil, senil;
perhaps < 8w. Dan. simder in i sonder, asunder'
separately : see sunder, sinder'^.^ Seldom ; rare-
ly. [Scotch.] '
wr good white bread, and farrow-cow mUk.
He bade her feed me aft ;
■^i"* *K'* ''*'■ » ""'^ "<* summer-dale wandie.
To ding me tindle and saft.
iMTd Randal (A) (CbUd's Ballads, IL 26).
afaldle (sin'dl), «. [Also seimile; < sindle, orfr.]
Kare. [Scotch.] ■"
sindoc, n. See sintoc.
Sindont (sin'don), «. [< ME. tyndone, sendony,
< L. s,ndon, < (Jr. mi„Suv, fine muslin or muslin
or something made from it, as a garment, nap^
Sw ^"' «tc.; prob. from India or Sind, ult. <
»M. Smdhu, the Indus, a particular use of sin-
Mu, & Tiver: Bee Indian. Ct. sendalKl 1 A
thin fabne, of cotton, linen, or silk.
8o louph layde Ihesu to rest In his Mpultore
And wrapped his body in a clothe called tendimy.
Jmeph 0/ Anmatku (E. K. T. a^ p. »7.
2. A piece of cotton or linen; a wrapper.
A book and a letter, . . . wrapped in rindmu of linen.
. Baeon.
^?i 1 ^^'"^' "«''''■ ^')'\%'^- [Al«» "J^. the usual
with added adverbial termination -e (in part a
«»2, ««,!.] tadf. 1. After that; afterward:
same as stnce, 1.
Seyne bowea of wylde bore* with the brmnne lechyde
i. Before now; ago: same as since.Z: as, lanq
syne, long ago, used also as a noun, especially
ID the phrase auld langsyne, old times (see ton/-
syne). [Obsolete or Scotch in both uses.]
11. eonj. After; since: same as since.
Mne-! (sin), n. [< L. Hnus, a bend, curve, fold,
coil, curl esp. the hanging fold of the upper
part of a toga, a bay, bight, gulf, NL. in math,
a sine: see mitu.] If. A gulf.
a."!"!! It-'i'^?"™"" "'^ •°«'' Pe"'" Sine,
Such tb Indian (iulf, and such th' At«blan Brine
aytwter, it. of Da Bwtu'a Week^ L S.
2. IntrigoH., formerly, with reference to any
arc of a circle, the fine drawn from one ex-
tremity of the arc at right angles to the diame-
ter which passes through its other extremity:
now ordinarily, with ref-
erence not to the arc but
to the angle which it z' «.
subtends at the center
of the circle, the ratio
of the aforesaid line to
the radius of the circle.
Thus, in the dla«rain, BE is the
5643
the^sine is that of Euler, sin x = J,(e-«-.- -e«-) where
fulTv7lPfln*ii .' '' 'he Napierian base. The sine is also
luily defined by the mflnite series
sinz = x — — +— _ . . .
Ul"' deBn'itin„''ThlJ'?K°' ?'"^- "* ■•«'"l"y d«^"<=«» '"">
^anishe"s";i'i?h"th''e1a^Srblt:hUe"'"'' " ""'''""' ""' "
d sin X
dz
= 1/1— (sinx)».
^f I^i^IL ?'.'•• "^ i" 'ormulsB here given.- Arithmetic
fhe^f.^A^^'Vin'^ trigonometry. Its object^SThibil
.v'!ih1i '.'he sines, cosines, tangents, etc., of arcs,
Sa^L^h' T^ etc.-Artlflclal sine, see arHfieial.-Co.
In^" n^th'p"!" ^'^r^'^l^l"" of the complement of an
llf^ • the diagram the ratio of DK to BC is the co-
^f I^ .'r.' fn ''" n"8'* *^? • *■"• »K is the co-versed sir^
SiViL ^"v" ^"^« Of sines. See cKrie.-Lines of
?^?ein »rf.h, ,'■"? "■"*'""' niai-ked with values of an
?r,?.m» frmi ih '"'•*'-P'','«"''^'°"' 'he distances of the di-
theT,,,,^^ o the origin being proportional to the sines of
of a natural „!„■'.'"' wT/'°«^^^1<= «*"«. 'h-^ logarithm
Snti ! fi ^'ne-Natural sine, tlie sine as above de-
as a hainhn?n" H° ^''^,^}r' «'«■ *»« still understood
as a half-chord, and meant the sine for radius unity (or
some multiple of ten).- Sine galvanometer. SeeaS-
eTS^^^'i^e'sfr^eV'* <"^-^'»^ '"•<1«'- ""= "'■"=«-
g*"~' J. aw -I -paw— 1
(m-D! *(^itri)-! +(3m_i)! ± • • •
S^ »,I'fi'''^l •*£"■" '""s-'ted by WronskL-Slne of
three lines which meet In a point, the sine rf the
angle be wee,, the first line and the pK„e of The othe?
two'Ce^""4ln>„'A\'""^^ "'\^'' '-"'Kle between the othef
■ hZtJi^n ,^^J;°®. °^ three planes, the sine of the angle
^1 m?.IH.ii 7 . '''?',"•■ "'"' 'h'^' "'tersection of the other
two, multiplied by the sine of the angle between the
o^two plane,.- subversed sine. %^m.^m,^.
rtiff^„r^f^1 "I*- -Supplemental versed Bine; «ie
Vp™«3 ^iJ,o '^•," '"? '"■'I"* »'"e and the diameter.-
»r^^!r, ♦>• ','•''■ ™"'"' 'h« '='»'ne. Formerly, for the
FA ,l*^Th "" '^'•■«'?™)- " ^^ understood to be the line
angle ACB- Whole sine of a circle, the radius.
'^5,t!i?,^''r-i.M*":''*i''y .1- To strain.
sinew
sinecure (si'ne-kiir), v. t. ■ pret. and pp. siw-
curiil, ppr. smeciiriug. [< sinecure, n.\ To
place m a sinecure. Imp. Diet.
Sinecurism (si'ne-kur-izm), n. [= F siti^cu-
rume; as sinecure + -js,«.] The holding of si-
necures; a state of society or affairs in which
sinecures are of frequent occunence.
evHs to wh^!f,'*nn°i'""^'"'* *"""' ^"'''■ed deeply from
fiklfv .„ hi "° American universities seem at present
likely to be exposed -from clericism, celibacy and sine-
c-urmn, for example. C. W. Eliot, N. A.Rev , CX Jvi. m
Sinecurist (si'ne-kiir-ist), n. [= F. sinecuriste ;
as sttiecure + -,«<.] One who holds or seeks a
sinecure.
bo?o''ueh'*n'!o';fi?l'*'"i'',?f ""■"'' "^'"'ist the placemen, the
oorougn-mongers, and the gineeurists.
Nineteenth Century, XIX 264
^li^!,-^''''?f ^i'^^- ^^- '■ «'««' Without (see
snwi) ; die, abl. of dies, day : see dial.J With-
out day : used m connection with an adjourn-
ment of an assembly, or of any business or
cause, without any specified day or time for
reassembling, or resuming the subject or busi-
ness. When a prisoner is suffered to go sine
die, he is practically discharged.
Sine-integral (sin'in'tf-gral), ». The function
/
sin X
dx.
rhUJ, .a" V," .'i^ (wmetlmea It U defined at half the
JlJ ;'',h""•"^"•^."^'' •■«• ""e mtlo of be tTf^B I. the
rader trigomnn^rical.) A morelS^odeflnlU^
I? II- iiVV. L^^- "■t, oii^-.j X. lo Strain.
Sallmell. [Prov. Eng.]-2. To leave off milk-
ing a cow. Balliwell.
Sine*(si'ne),jjrep. [L., without: %eesans,sine-
'^^f:i „■* ^*t»" preposition, signifying 'with-
out. See sine die, sine qua non.
1^^^ ^/'?^^:"^' "• P^^- (Amyot and ServiUe,
I»4J), < Heb. mic] A genus of predaceous
pugs of the family Bedumids, comprising onlv
8 species, 4 of which are from the wisterb
United States, while 3 are Mexican or South
American. S-diadema, found throughout the United
watM, Is a well-known enemy of the Colorado poUto-
Sin-eatert (sin'e't^r), ». Formerly, in some
parts of England, one who was hired in con-
nection with funeral rites to eat a piece of
bread placed near the bier, and who by this
symbol took upon himself the sins of the de-
ceased, that the departed soul might rest in
peace. The usage is said to have originated in a mis-
Uken interpretation of Hosealv. 8: " They eat up ule sin
oi Tny people
thl'jtl!!^""*'' Ihi the County of Hereford] was that, when
the Corp. wa. hrpaght out of the house and layd in the
fJi^i Si "^"fL** bread was brought out, and delivered
rn.^i^^*^"*^"",*' "■" ^Ts, a. also a Mazar-bowle of
maple (Ooaaip. bowie) full of beer, w^i. he was t« drinke
2£i,t „.1^.'"^,'° money, in consideration whereof he
i?^ S-SS'h.'"'? <'?!"'»«'«) »" the Sinnes of the Defunct,
and freed him (orlier)from walking after thky were dead
Aubrey, Eemalnea of Oentilisme, p. 35 (Folk-Lore Soc
. „ l^bl., IV.35X '
Sin-eating (sin'e'ting), n. The practices of
the siii-catcrs. Hone, Year-Book, July 19
Sine-complement (sin'kom'ple-ment), n. Same
as cosine.
^ecoral (si'ne-kiir-al), a. [< sinecure + -all
Of or relating to a sinecure : of the nature of
a sinecure. Imp. Diet.
(<.t,.),<. ML. smecura, in the phrase beneficium
pne cura, a benefice without the cure of souls :
L. sine, without ; curd, abl. of cura, care : see
mne*,aire,n.'i I. n. 1. An ecclesiastical bene-
ra^^l,*il2♦i I'"""."' f*""'?- I" ="»'«'"' these exist
— (O) where the benefice Is a donative, and is committed
to the incnmbent by the patron expressly without cure
of aouis, the cure either not existing or being intrusted
-f ,".i ?' ^here residence is not required, as In
fi^!."i*"'"'™' "f""* to which no spiritual function is
attached except reading prayers and singing; (c) where
IL*! ^ deatltute of parishioners, having become de-
Hence — 2. Anyofficeor position giving profit-
able returns without requiring work.
Never man, I think,
So moulder'd in a sinecure as he.
Tennyson, Princess, Prol.
n. a. Free from exaction; profitable with-
out requiring labor; sinecural.
Giblmn, whose «n«<rwr« place was swept away by the
Economical Eeform Bill ofl782. ' ^
Lecky, Eng. In 18th Cent., xl.
Sinemurian (si-ne-mu'ri-an), n. The French
name of a dmsion of the Jurassic series; the
equivalent of the Lower Lias of the English
geologists. As typically developed at Semur,
in 1; ranee, it consists of three series, each
characterized by a particular species of am-
monite.
sine qua non (si'ne kwa non). [L. : sine, with-
out (see sinei); qua, abl. sing. fem. of qui,
which (agreeing with re, thing, understood)
non, not: see «on3.] Something absolutely
necessary or indispensable; an indispensable
condition : as, he made the presence of a wit-
ness a.sme qua non; used attributively, indis-
pensable ; necessary.
Publication, in some degree, and by some mode is a
sine qua nan condition for the generation of literature
De Quincey, Style, iv.
Sine-titulax (si'ne-tit'u-lar), a. [< L. sine, with-
out, + titulus, title: see title, titular.;] Without a
title for ordination. Jer. Taylor. Works, II 196
™»ew (sin'ii), n. [Early mod. E. also sinneiv';
<. Mtj. sinewe, synewe, synowe, synow, senewe,
smwe, senwe, sinue, < AS. sinu, seono, sionu
{stnw-, sineu!-) = OFries. sini, sine, sin =MD
senuwe, setiue, D. zcnuw = MLG. setie = OHG'
senaiea, seneica, senuwa, MHG. setiewe, senwe,
sene, G. sehne = Icel. sin = Sw. sena = Dan. sene
= Goth, 'sinawa (not recorded), a sinew ; prob.
Mkt. ^va (for 'sinava), a sinew ; perhaps akin
to AS. sal = OS. sel = OHG. MHG. G. sell =
icel. sell = Goth, "sail (inferred from deriv. m-
sailjan) = OBulg. silo, a cord, rope, and to Gr
i^C, a band ; from a root "si, Lett, sinu, I bind,
bkt. •/ s% (1st pers. pres. siiiomi), bind.] 1 A
cord or tendon of the body. See tendon.
He . . was grete and lene and full of veynes and of
JenjiWM and was also so grym a figure that he was drede-
full for to be-holde. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), 11. 339.
th»^"'«*^1°"^"'^""f ?' his hands and feet, he bore
ir. 1^' ^^"^e JuP'ter behind miserably maimed and
"""^'^ Bacon, Political Fables, viii.
2t. A nerve. Compare aponeurosis.
The feeling pow'r, which is life's root,
Through ev'ry living part itself doth shed
Bynruws, which extend from head to foot
And, like a net, all o'er the body spread.
Sir J. Davies, Immortal, of Soul, xrilt
Hence— 3. Figuratively, muscle ; nerve; ner-
vous energy; strength.
™,, . , , Oppressed nature sleeps :
ThU rest might yet have balm'd thy broken Hnem.
SAa*., Lear, iii. 6. 106.
You have done worthily; I have not seen,
Since Hercules, a man of tougher nnewg
FleUher (and another), Two Noble Kinsmen, 0. 4.
_. . . . ,^^ . .UI the wealth
That nnewa bought and sold have ever eam'd.
Couiper, Task^ U. 32.
4. A string or chord, as of a musical instrument.
His sweetest strokes then sad Arion lent
Th iuchanting ninnews of his Instrument.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartass Weeks, i. 6.
6. That which gives strength or in which
strength consists ; a supporting member or fac-
tor; a mainstay.
■a,^ ^?,' T."h Owen Glendower's absence thence,
who with them was a rated sinew, . .
I fear tlie power of Percy is too weak
To wage an Instant hial with the king.
5Aa*., 1 Hen. iv., Iv. 4. 17.
sinew
He that first s»id that Money was the tinew of all
things spake it chiefly, in my opinion, in respect of the
Warres. Xorth, tr. of Plutarch's Lives ICleomenesl^p. 677.
Go<xl company and good discourse are the very siiietm
of virtue. /. WaltoHy Complete Angler, p. 64.
The whalemen especially have been the stncira of the
American mny. The Centunj. XL. 609.
Sinew-backed bow. See 6oir2. — Sinews of war, money.
Neither is the authority of Machiavel to be despised,
who scorneth the proverb of estate taken flret from a
■peech of Mucianus, that moneys are the sitieirs o/ wars ;
and saith there are no true sinews of wars but the very
sinews of the anns of valiant men.
fioeon. Speech for Naturalization (Works, ed. Spedding,
[X. 824X
sinew (sin'u), v. t. [< sinew, »».] 1. To furnish
with sinews; strengthen as by sinews; make
robust; harden; steel.
He will rather do it (sue for peace] when he sees
Ourselves well nnewed to our defence.
Ska*., K. John, v. 7. 88.
2. To serve as sinews of; be the support or
mainstay of.
Wretches now stuck up for long tortures, lest luxury
should feel a momentary pang, might, if properly treat-
ed, serve to sinew the state in time of danger.
GMsmith, Vicar, xxvii.
3. To knit or bind strongly; join firmly.
[Bare.]
Ask the Lady Bona for thy queen ;
So Shalt thou sinew both these lands together.
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., ii. 6. 91.
sineweyt, «• A Middle English form of senvy.
sinewiness (sin'u-i-nes), «. The state or char-
actir of being sinewy. Bailey, 1727.
sinewisbt (sin'u-ish), a. [< sinew + -is7ti.]
Sinewy. [Kare.]
His [Hugh de Lacie's] neck was short, and his bodie
hairie, as also not fleshie but sinewish and strong com-
pact Giraldiu Cambrensis, Conquest of Ireland (trans.),
[ii. 24 (Holinshed's Chron.X
sinewizet (sin'a-iz), v. t. [< sinew + -ize.'] To
sinew ; make sinewy. [Rare.]
Such an anatomy of wit^ so sineuized and arterized that
'tis the goodliest model of pleasure that ever was to be-
hold. B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, ill. 1.
sinewless (sin'u-les), a. [< sinew + -lessJ]
Having no sinews or muscles ; lacking strength
or vigor, as of sinews ; not sinewy.
Death stood all glassy in his fixed eye ; . . .
His foot, in bony whiteness, glitter d there,
Shrimken and sinewless, and ghastly bare.
Byron, Saul.
sinewoust (sln'u-us), a. [< sinew + -ows.]
Sinewy.
His armes and other llms more ginewovs than fleshie.
Giraidus Cambrensis, Conquest of Ireland (trans.), ii. 10
[(Holinshed's Chron.).
sinew-shrunk (sin'u-shrungk), a. In farriery,
liaving the sinews of the belly-musoles shrunk
by excessive fatigue, as a horse.
sinewy (sin'u-i), a. [< ME. senowy; < sinew +
-^1.] 1. Of the nature of a sinew; resembling
a sinew ; forming a sinew ; tendinous : as, sin-
ewy fibers ; a sinewy muscle, in which the ten-
dinous part is conspicuous.
The sinewy thread my brain lets fall
Through every part
Can tie those parts, and make me one of all.
Donne, The Funeral.
2. Having strong sinews ; hence, muscular ;
strong; brawny; robust.
Take oxen yonge, . . , playne bak and streght,
The thies sadde and senotey,
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 129.
For thy vigour.
Bull-bearing Milo his addition yield
To sinewy Ajax. Shak., T. and C, 11. 3. 269.
3. Pertaining to or due to physical strength;
hence, stout, strong, or vigorous in any way.
Motion and long-during action tires
The sinewy vigour of the traveller.
Shak., L. L. L., iv. 3. 308.
In the literature of Rome it Is that we find the true El
Dorado of rhetoric, as we might expect from the sinervy
compactness of the language. De Quineey, Rhetoric.
sinfonia (sin-fo-ne'a), n. [It. : see symjihony.']
Ill music, same as symphony.
sinfoniet, «• In music, same as symphony.
sinful (sin'ful), a. [< ME. sinful, synful, senful,
suuful, < AS. synful, synfull (= Icel. syndafullr,
syndfullr = 8w. syndfull = Dan. syndefuld), <
syn, sin, -1- full, full: see sin^ and -ful.'] 1.
Full of sin ; wicked ; iniquitous ; unholy.
Thu, a wrecche *U7\A^ mon. Ancren Biwte, p. 56.
Shame attend the sinfvl .'
I know my innocence.
Fletcher, Wife for a Month, iv. 6.
2. Containing or consisting in sin; contrary
to the laws of God: as, sinful action; sinful
thoughts; ain/Mi words.
5644
Nature herself, though pure of sinful thought.
Wrought in her so that, seeing me, she turned.
Milton, V. L., vili. 606.
3. Contrary to propriety, discretion, wisdom,
or the like ; wrong ; blameworthy.
Were it not sin/id then, striving to mend.
To mar the subject that before was welt ?
Sfiak., Sonnets, ciii.
= Syn. Illegal, Imvwral, etc. (see criviinal), bad, evil,
unrighteous, ungodly, impious.
sinfully (sin'ful-i), adv. [< ME. synfuUiche.
sinfuUike; < siyiful + -ly^.'\ 1. In a sinful
manner, (o) So as to incur the guilt of sin ; wickedly ;
inlquitously ; unworthily.
"Sir," seide Hervy, "ye sey euell and synfvlliche, but
soche is now youre talente." Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 497.
The humble and contented man pleases himself inno-
cently and easily, while the ambitious man attempts to
please others sinfvUy and difficultly. South.
(6) Reprehensibly ; wrongly : a weakened sense.
We were a sin/vlly indiscreet and curious young couple
to talk of the aflalrs of others as we did.
D. C. Murray, Weaker Vessel, xiii.
2. By sin; by or in consequence of sinful acts.
[Rare.]
If a son that is by his father sent about merchandise do
sin/ully miscarry upon the sea, the imputation of his
wickedness, by your rule, should be imposed upon his
father that sent him. Shak., Hen. V., iv. 1. 155.
sinfulness (sin'ful-nes), n. [< ME. synfulnesse ;
< sinful + -ness.'] The state or character of
being sinful; especially, the quality of being
contrary to the divine law ; wickedness ; de-
pravity; moral corruption; iniquity: as, the
sinfulness of an action; the sinfuliiess of thoughts
or purposes.
Good with bad
Expect to hear, supernal'grace contending
With sinfulness of men. Milton, P. L., xL 360.
sing (sing), V. ; met. sang or sung, pp. sung,
ppr. singing. [< ME. singen, syngcn (pret. sang,
song, pi. sungen, songc, pp. sungen, songen, songe,
i-sungen, i-songe), < AS. singun (pret. sang, pi.
simgon, pp. sungen), sing, chant, sound (used
of the human voice, also poet, of the howling
of wolves, the sound of a trumpet, etc.), = OS.
singan = OFries. sionga = MD. singen, D. zin-
gen = MLG. LG. singen, sing. = OHG. singan,
sing, crow, MHG. G. singen, sing, = leel. syngja
= Sw. sjunga = Dan. synge = Goth, siggwan (for
"singwan), sing, also read or intone (used of
Christ's reading the Scriptures in the syna-
gogue) ; perhaps orig. imitative, like ring, and
used orig. of the clash of weapons, resonance
of metals, and the rush of a missile through
the air (although in the earliest recorded uses
it denotes human utterance). If imitative, it
has nothing to do with AS. secgan, etc., say:
see sayl. Hence singe^, sonr/.] I. intrans. 1.
To utter words or inarticulate sounds in musi-
cal succession or with a tone that is musical
in quality; chant: said of human beings.
On of the Jewys be gan to syng, and than all the women
daunsed to gedyr by the space of an ower.
Torkington, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 63.
Such musick, as 'tis said.
Before was never made.
But when of old the sons of moniing suTig.
Miiton, Nativity, 1. 119.
2t. Specifically, to intone.
Thel suffre not thel Latynes to syngen at here Awteres.
Mandemlle, Travels, p. 19.
3. To produce tuneful, musical, or rhythmical
sounds : said of certain birds, beasts, and in-
sects, and of various inanimate things : as, sing-
ing sands.
Bestes and . . . Bryddes . . . songen fulle delectabely,
and meveden be craft, that ' it semede that thel weren
quyke. Mandemlle, Travels, p. 278.
When the bagpipe sings I' the nose.
SAo*.,M. of v., iv. 1.49.
At eve a dry cicala sung.
Tennyson, Mariana in the South.
4. To give out a continuous murmuring, hum-
ming, buzzing, or whistling sound.
Another storm brewing ; I hear it sing i' the wind.
Shak., Tempest, 11. 2. 20.
The kettle was singing, and the clock was ticking stead-
ily toward four o'clock. George Eliot, Felix Holt, Ii.
5. To cry out with pain or displeasure ; squeal.
[Humorous.]
Certes, lecchours dide he grettest wo ;
They sholde singen if that they were hent.
Chaucer, Friar's Tale, 1. 13.
6. To compose verse ; relate or rehearse some-
thing in numbers or verse.
Who would not ssfii? for Lycidas? He knew
Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme.
Miiton, Lycidas, 1. 10.
7. To have the sensation of a continuous hum-
ming or ringing sound ; ring.
Sing
Their ears sing, by reason of some cold and rheum.
Burton, Aliat. of Mel., p. 255.
8. To be capable of being sung; bo adaptable
to a musical setting.
I know it [Osfiiaiiic hymn] myself very well, and I know
several old poems that will sing to it.
O'Curry, Anc. Irish, II. xxxviii.
Singing bird. («) -^ bird that sings ; a songster ; a singer.
My old friend ought not to pass the remainder of his
life m a cage like a singing bird.
Addison, Gnardiaii, No. 67.
(6) Technically, an oscine passerine bird, whether it can
sing or not : any member of the Oscines or Cantatores, many
of which are songless.— Singing falCOn. See sitvjiny liawk,
below. — Singing fish, a Californian toad-ttsh of the family
Batrachidie, the midshipnian, PoricldhjiK poroaissimus. It
attains a length of over 16 inches, and abounds on the
Pacific coast of the United States from I'uget .Sou nd south-
ward.— Singing hawk, one of five or six different Afri-
can hawks of the genus Mdierax, as M. ca-iumts or M. po-
lyionus; a chanting-falcon. The name is due to le/aucon
chanteur of Levaillant, 1799, whence Falco canonis of Ris-
lach, 1799, F. mumaxs of Daudin, 1800, chanting-falcon of
Latham, 1S02, together with the genus Melierax of G. R.
Gray, 1840 — all these terms being based upon the South
African bird, M. canorus. The reputation of these liawks
for musical ability appears to rest upon very slight basis
of fact, if any. See cut under Melierax.— Singing mouse,
a mouse that sings. It is not a distinct species. Some
individuals of the common house-mouse, Mits museulus,
and of tlie American wood-mouse, Hesperomys leucopus,
have been Icnown to acquire the trick or Iiabit of warbling
a few musical notes in a high key and with a shrill, wiry
timbre, vocalizing in a manner fairly to be called singing.
—To hear a bird sing. See birdi.— Ho sing out, to
speak or call out loudly and distinctly ; shout. [CoUoq.]
When the call-boy would «r)i^oi(i for Captain Beaugarde,
in the second act, we'd find that he had levanted with our
best slashed trousers. C. Lever, Hany Lorrequer, xvl.
To sing smaU, to adopt a humble tone or pait, as through
defeat or inferiority ; play a subordinate or insignificant
part.
I must myself si^ig small in her company ! I will never
meet at hard edge with her.
Richardson, Sir Charles Orandison, I. 96.
II. trans. 1. To utter in musical sotmds or
with musical alternations of pitch ; chant.
And hy [they] ztrnge thane zang thet none other ne may
zynge. Ayenbite o/Imcyt (E. E. T. 8.), p. 268.
By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.
Marlowe, Passionate Shepherd to His Love.
2t. Specifically, to intone.
The mede that meny prestes taketh for masses that thei
syngen. Piers Ploumum (CX iv. 313.
3. To celebrate with singing, or with some form
of sound resembling singing; proclaim musi-
cally or resonantly ; chant.
I hear a tempest coming,
TtifA sings mine and my kingdom's ruin.
Beau, and Fl., Thieri-y and Theodoret, i. 2.
By what Voice, Sound, what Tongue,
Can this Eteriiall Deitie be sung!
Ueywood, Hierarchy of Angels, p. 80.
4. To frame, utter, or declaim in poetic form.
But now my Muse dull heavy numbers sings;
Cupid, 'tis thou alone giv'st verse her wings.
Randolph, Complaint against Cupid.
6. To celebrate in numbers or verse ; describe »
or glorify in poetry.
That happy verse
Which aptly sings the good.
Shak.,r. of A., 1.1. 18.
Arms, and the man I sing, who, forced by Fate,
And haughty Juno's unrelenting liate.
Expelled and exiled, left the Trojan shore.
Dryden, .^neid, i. 1,
6. To utter with enthusiasm ; celebrate : as, to
sing a person's praises on all occasions.
And I'll
Be bound, the players shall sing your praises then,
Without their poets. B. Jonson, Alchemist, ii 1.
7. To usher in or out, attend on, or accompany
with singing: as, to sing the old year out and
tlie new year in.
Sweet bird, that sing'st away the early hours.
Of winters past or coming void of care.
Well pleased with delights which present are.
Drummond, Flowers of Sion, To the Nightingale.
I heard them singing home the bride ;
And, as I listened to the song,
I thought my turn would come ere long.
Longfellow, Blind Girl of CastM-Cuille, ii.
8. To bring, send, force, or effect, as any end
or change, by singing: as, to sing a child to
sleep.
She will sing the savageness out of a bear.
Shak., Othello, iv. 1. 200.
To Sing another song or tune, to take a different tone ;
modify one's tone or manner, especially with humility or
submissiveness. [CoUoq.]
Constable. Madam,
The Queene must heare you sittg another song
Before yon part with vs.
Elizabeth. My God doth know,
I can no note but truth.
Ueywood, If you Know not me (Works, I. 207).
sing
To Sing out, to shout or call (something) loudly. [CoUoq. ]
"Who's there?" gung out the lieutenant,
"Torches," was the answer.
M. Scott, Tom Cringle's Log, i.
To sing placebot. See placebo.~To sing sorrowt, to
talse a tioleful, lugubrious l4>ue ; hence, to suffer discom-
fort or misfortune with no better remetly than complaints.
Though this were so, and your worship should And
such a sword, it would be of service only to those who are
dubbed knights, like the balsam ; as for the poor squires,
they may nng lorrow. Jarvii, tr. of Don Quixote, i. 18.
=8rn. 1. To caiol, warble, chant, hymn.
sing (sing), ». [< sing, r.] A singing; an en-
tertainment of song. [Colloq.]
sing. An abbreviation of singular.
singable (sing'a-bl), a. [< sing + -able.'\ Capa-
ble of being suiig; suitable for singing.
But for the moat part Mr. Gilbert has addressed him-
self ... to the task of writing, for .Sir Arthur Sullivan's
music, pure twaddle, appropriate twaddle, exquisitely
gimjabU twaddle. The Academy, Oct. 13, 1888, p. 247.
singableness (sing'a-bl-nes), n. The quality
of being singable ; appropriateness for singing.
The Hngatdetiem of poems and hymns.
The \atum, March 30i 1871, p. 223.
singe (sinj), r. t.; pret. and pp. singed, ppr.
singeing. [Early mod. E. also sindge ; an altered
form of senge (see note under Englifh), < ME.
sengen, seengen (pp. scind, seynd. sengid), < AS.
'sengan (in comp. hesengan), singe, bum (= MD.
senghen, D. sengen = OHG. sengan, senkan,
MHG. G. sengen, singe, scorch, parch, bum ; cf.
Icel. sangr, singed, burnt), causal of singan
(pret. sang), sing, ' make to sing,' with reifer-
ence to the singing or hissing noise made by
singeing hair, and the sound given out by a
burning log.] 1. To bum superficially ; espe-
cially, to bum off the ends or projections of:
as, to singe a fowl (to bum off the small downy
or thready feathers left after plucking) ; to singe
cloth or calico (to bum off tne projecting pile
or nap) ; to singe the hair of tlie head.
Thet ucr [Are] . . . length and bernth ofte the hoyte
robe of chastete and of maydenhod.
AyentriU nf Inteyt (E. E. T. a)k p. 229.
Seynd bacoan and somtyme an ^ or twmre.
Chaucer, Nnn'a Frieaf a 'Talc^ L 25.
Heat not a furnace for roar foe ao hot
That it do wiage yooraelf.
Shak., Hen. Vin., L 1. 141.
If yoa want paper to tinge a fowl, tear the first book you
ie« ^wot the bonae.
Swifl, Advice to Serranta (General Directions).
2. To parch ; make arid and dry.
The acorchlns sky
Doth Hnge the sandy wilds of tpicefal Bartwry.
Drayton, Polyolblon, r. Sli.
3. To act on with an effect similar to that of
heat : said of extreme cold. [Rare.]
The oonis of the ordinarie wheat Triticum, being parched
or rested upon a red hot yron, are a present remedie for
tboae who are scorched and ttndged with nipping cold.
Holland, Fliny, xxa 25.
4. Figuratively, to injure superficially; come
near injuring seriously ; harm.
Flirtation, after all, was not necessarily a lingeing pro-
oeas. Qeorge BUat, MiddlemaR-h, uvii.
Twaa troth linaed the lies
And saved me, not the vain swora nor weak speech !
Bromtinff, Ring and Book, II. 57.
Singed cat, a cat disflgiued with burnt for ; hence, a
person of uiiprepossfssing appearance^ bat of good sound
character or qualities, or one whose repatation has been
injured, but who is nevertheless deserving of regard.
Bat I forgive ye, Tom. I reckon you're a kind of a sA^wf
eat, as the saying Is— better 'n you look.
Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer, L
To singe off, to remove by singeing or burning.
My master and his man are both broke loose,
BMten the maids a-row and hound the doctor,
Whose beard they have rin^ o/wlth brands of lire.
Shak..C. of E., v. L 171.
To Singe one's beard, to deal a stinging insult to one.
On the l»th of April I1&87I he (.Sb- Francis Drake] en.
tered the harbour of Cadiz. . . . and in the coarse of two
nights and one day had sunk, burnt, or captured shipping
of ten thousand tons lading. To use his own expressive
phrase, he had tinffed the Spanuh king's beard.
Knight, PopuUr HisL Eng., TIL 215.
==87n. 1. Sear, etc. HeeseoreA.
singe (sinj), n. [< singe, v.] 1. A burning of
the surface; a scorching; hence, a heat ca-
pable of singeing.
An appallini; mystic light —the Hnge and glow of the
name of the pit I J. U. Shorthmue, CJounteas Eve, li.
2. An injury or hurt caused by singeing; a
sufifTficittl bum.
singeing (sin'jing), n. [Verbal n. of singe, «.]
The act or process of burning superficially.
Specifically — (a) Removal by tire of down and thread-fea-
thers from a fowl after plncking. .Sec the quotation under
JUoplume. (b) The removal of the nap by heat in the prep-
aration of calico for printing. See nnge, 1. 1, 1.
5645
singeing-lamp (sin' jiug-lamp), ». A lamp used
to singe tlie liair from a horse, instead of clip-
ping it. It has a flat body, with an opening on
one side of the light-chamber. E. H. Knight.
singeingly (sin'jing-li), adv. With heat suffi-
cient to singe. [Bare.]
The bodies of devils may be not only warm, but sindg-
ingly hot, as it was in him that took one of Meiancthon's
relations by the hand, and so scorched her that she bare
the mark of it to her dying day.
Dr. H. More, Antidote a^inst Atheism, App.
singeing-machine (sin'jing-ma-shen"), n. A
macliiue for singeing textile fabrics in the pro-
cess of finishing them, especially cotton cloth
to prepare it for printing.
Singelt, ». A Middle English form of shingle^.
singer'^ (sing'fer), n. [< ME. synger, syngare (=
MLG. singer = MHG. singsere, singer, G. singer) ;
as sing, v., + -erl. The word took the place of
the earlier noun songcr.'] 1. One who sings;
one who makes music with the voice ; specifi-
cally, a trained or professional vocalist.
1 gat me men singers and women gingers, and the de-
lights of the sons of men, as musical instruments.
Eccl. ii. 8.
I remembered his fine voice ; I knew he liked to sing —
good «<nper> generally do.
Chariotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xiiv.
2. In the early church and in the Greek Church,
a member of one of the minor orders of clergy ;
one who is ordained to sing in the church. The
order existed as early as the third or fonrth century. In
the early church the singers were distinctively called «i-
rumieai singers.
3. One who composes or rehearses anything
in verse.
Let it sufllce me that my murmuring rhyme
Beats with light wing against the ivory gate.
Telling a tale not too importunate
To those who in the sleepy region stay.
Lulled by the singer of an empty day.
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, Int.
4. A bird that sings; a bird that naturally
sings well, or can be trained to sing tunes ; a
singing bird: as, the male mocking-bird is a
singer, but the female is not ; the canary is a
good singer.
milger^ (sin'j^r), n. [< singe + -erl.] One who
or that whion singes. Specifically, in calleo-mannf.:
(a) A penon employed in singeing the nap off the cloth.
(6) A singelng-machine.
singeresst (sing'tr-es), n. [< ME. singerease; <
singcri^ + -ess.} A female singer.
Alle the syngeis and mn^eressM.
Wyelif, 2 Par. [2 Chron.) xzzr. 25.
Singhalese, a. and n. [Also Sinhalese, Cingalese,
(>tc., < SiiihnUi, 'of lions,' whence, through Pali
Kilidltin, Hind. Sildn, etc., come Ceylon and the
otlirr Eur. forms of the name.] See Cingalese.
Singhara nut. See water-nut.
singing (sing'ing), fi. [< ME. syngyng; verbal
n. of sing, v7\ 1. The act, process, or result of
uttering sounds that are musical in quality or
in succession; chanting; cantillation.
.Sche seyd that tbar wer non dyagysyngs, ner harpyng,
ner lutyng, ner %ivy"(fl ner non lowde dysports.
PoKon Letters, in. 3U.
The time of the tinging of birds is come, and the voice
of the turtle is heard in our land. Cant 11. 12.
2. The act of telling, narrating, or describing
anything in verse. — 3. A sensation as of a pro-
longed ringing sound in the ears or bead; tin-
nitus aurinm.
I have a singing In my bead like that of a cartwheel ;
my brains are upon a rotation.
Baringlm, Oceana (ed. n71\ p. 152. {Jodrett.)
Singings in the ear, gorgUngs In the throat: ... all
these were ominous sleep-wamlnga.
AnthrojMogiealJour.iXJX, 119.
Helismatlc slnglllg. See meUematic.
singing (sing'ing). p. a. Of tones, sustained and
sonorous, as if produced by a well-trained
voice; cantabile.
The cantabOe notes (of the skylark] are long-sustained
and delightfully inflected tonea, which have a true sing-
ing character. Appleton's Ann. Cye., 1886, p. M.
singing-bird (sing'ing-b^rd), «. Same as sing-
in<i liiril ill) (which see, under sing, v. «.).
singing-book (sing'ing-buk),«. A book contain-
ing music for singing; a song-book.
When shall we have a new set of tinging^books, or the
viols? A. Brewer (7), Lingua, i. 9.
singing-breadt (sing'ing-bred), ». [< ME. syng-
yng-brede; ^ singing + oreac[^.'] Same as 8«nj/-
ing-cake, 1.
Item, j box of sungyng hrede.
Paston Letters, L 470. Ilnventory of plate belonging to
.(a Chapel]
The altar breads were of two kinds. The larger, called
singing-brsad, were used for the sacrifice ; the smaller,
single
called houseling.bread, were used for the communion of
the people. Myrc, Instructions for Parish Priests
[(E. E. T, S.), Notes, p. 69.
Singing-caket(sing'ing-kak),»!. 1. The larger
altar-bread used by the priest for the fraction
and his own communion: so called from tlie
service of song which accompanied its manu-
facture. Also called singing-bread, singing-loaf.
If the chtirch always professed a communion, why have
you one priest standing at the altar alone, witli one sing-
ing cake for himself, which he showeth to the people to
be seen and honoured, and not to be eaten?
Bp. Cooper, Defence of the Truth, p. 162. (Davies.)
2. A wafer for sealing letters or other docu-
ments.
The letters, finished and sealed up with singing-cake, he
delivered unto us.
Munday's English Sttmayne Life, ISflO (Harl. Misc.,
[VII. 139). (Davies.)
singing-flame (sing'ing-flam), n. A flame, as
a gas-jet. which, when burned in a tube of
propor length, produces a clear, musical note.
Singing-gallery (sing'ing-gal"e-ri), n. A gal-
lery occupied by singers, as in'a church or ca-
thedral: in New England often called the or-
chestra.
The balustrade of a singing-gallery (cantoria) in the Ca-
thedraL C. C. Perkins, Italian Sculpture, p. 139.
Singing-hinny (sing'ing-hin"i), n. A rich
kneaded cake, containing butter and currants,
and baked on a griddle. MalliwcU. [Prov.Eng.]
For any visitor who could stay, neither cream nor finest
wheaten flour was wanting for "turf-cakes" and "singing-
hinnies," with which it is the delight of the northern house-
wives to regale the honoured guest, as he sips tlieir high
priced tea. Mrs. GaskcU, Sylvia's I-overa, iv.
Singlng-loaft (sing'ing-lof), n. Same as sing-
ing-cuke, 1.
singingly (sing'ing-li), adv. In a singing man-
ner ; with sounds like singing.
Counterfaite courtiers — speaking lispingly, and answer-
ing singiiigly. North, Philosopiier at Court (1575), p. ItJ.
singing-man (sing'ing-man), n. A man who
sings or is employed to sing, as in cathedrals.
The prince broke thy head for liking his father to a sing-
ing-man of Windsor. Shak., 2 Hen. IV., it 1. 98.
singing-master (sing'ing-mis''t6r), n. A
teacher of the art of singing ; specifically, the
teacher of a singing-school. Also singing-
teacher.
He . . . employed an itinerant singinginaster ... to
instruct them rightly in the tunes of the Psalms.
Addison, Spectator, No. 112.
singing-muscle (sing'ing-musl), n. In ornith.,
one of the intrinsic syringeal muscles of any
oscine bird, serving to actuate the syrinx and
thus modulate the voice in singing. See syrinx.
singing-school (suig'ing-skol), n. A school or
class in which singing is taught, together with
the rudiments of musical notation and of har-
mony ; a song-school.
Singlng-TOice (sing'lng-vois), n. The voice as
used in singing: opposed to speaking-voice.
These are the limits for the human sitigiTig-vmee.
S. Lanier, ScL of Eng. Verse, p. 28.
singing-woman (sing'ing-wum'an), n. A
woman who sings or is employed to sing.
2 Chron. xxxv. 25.
singlo (sin'ji-6), n. [Native name.] A siluroid
fish of the (Ganges, Saccobranchus singio, having
the opercular gUl so modified that the fish is
able to travel on land, Otven.
single' (sing'gl), a. and n. [Early mod. E. also
sengle (see note under English); < ME. single,
sengle, < OF. single^ sengle = Pg. singclo = It.
singula, singolo, < L. singulus, single, separate
(usually in the pi. singuli, one by one), for 'sin-
culus, "simculus, < sim-, as in sim-plex, simple,
single (akin to E. same : see simple, same), +
dim. suffix -cuius. Hence ult. singular.] I. a.
1. Being a unit, as distinguished from a num-
ber : often used expletively for emphasis : as,
not a single word was said.
No single soul
Can we set eye on.
Shak., Cymbelinc, iv. 2. 130.
My Paper has not in it a tingle Word of News.
Addison, Spectator, No. 282.
2. Alone ; by one's self or by itself ; separate or
apart from others ; unaccompanied or unaided ;
detached; individual; particular.
Each man ap.irt, all single and alone.
Yet an arch-villain keeps him company.
Shak., T. of A., v. 1. 110.
Kirig. What at your meditations ! Who attends you ?
Arethusa. None but my single self ; 1 need no guard ;
1 do no wrong, nor fear none.
Beau, and Fl., Philaster, ill. 2.
3. Unmarried ; also, pertaining to or involving
celibacy: as, single life; the single state.
single
Elles God forbede but he Bente
A wedded man hym grace to repente
Wei ofte rather than a seni^le man.
Chaucer, Merchant's Tale, 1, 423.
But earthlier happy is the rose distill'd
Than that which, withering on the virgin thorn,
Grows, lives, and dies in eitwle blessedness.
Shak., M. N. D., i. 1. 78.
4. Unique; unmatched; singular; unusual.
BaK i^ged and in sengU apparayle.
Sir T. Elyot, llie Governour, iii. 13.
That you may know my gitiffle charity,
Freely I here remit all interest
Ford, 'Tls mty, iv. 1.
I am tingU in my circumstances — a species apart in the
political society. BMngbroke, To Marchmont, quoted in
[Walpole's Letters, II, 1.^9, note.
6. Pertaining to one person or thing ; individu-
al, as opposed to common, general, or univer-
sal ; also, pertaining to one class, set, pair, etc. :
as, a single dory (a boat manned by one person).
Trust to thy gingle virtue. Shak., Lear, v. 3. 103.
Narrower scrutiny, that I might learn
In what degree or meaning thou art call'd
The Son of God ; which bears no single sense.
Matmi., P. R., iv. 517.
Should banded unions persecute
Opinion, and induce a time
When sitigle tliought is civil crime,
And individual freedom mate.
Tennyson, You Ask me Why.
6. Private; relating to the affairs of an indi-
vidual; not public; relating to one's self.
All our service
In every point twice done and then done double
Were poor and gingle business to contend
Against those honors deep and broad wherewith
Your majesty loads our house.
Shak., Macbeth, i. 6. 16.
7. Free from combination, complication, or
complexity ; simple ; consisting of one only.
As simple ideas are opposed to complex, and single to
compound, so propositions are distinguished. Watts.
8. Normal; sound; healthy: often applied to
the eye, and in that connection used figurative-
ly of simplicity or integrity of character or pur-
pose.
If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be
full of light. Mat. vi. 22.
And now, courteous Reader, that I may not hold thee
too long in the porch, I only crave of thee to read this fol-
lowing discourse with a single eye, and with the same ends
as I had in penning it.
N. Morton, New England's Memorial, p. 16.
All readers of his [Matthew Arnold's] know how free he
is from anything strained or fantastic or paradoxical, and
how absolutely single his eye is.
J. Burroughs, The Century, XXVIL 926.
9. Free from duplicity ; sincere ; honest ;
straightforward.
Banish all compliment but single truth
From every tongue and every shepherd's heart.
Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess, v. 5.
Sure, he's an honest, very honest gentleman ;
A man of single meaning. Ford, Broken Heart, iv. 1.
lOt. Not strong or heavy ; weak: noting beer,
ale, etc., and opposed to double or strong bever-
ages.
The very smiths,
That were half venturers, drink penitent single ale.
Beau, and Fl., Coxcomb, ii. 2.
Sack 's but single broth ;
Ale 's meat, drink, and cloth,
Say they that know never a letter.
WiUs Recreations (1654). {Nares.)
lit. Feeble; trifling; foolish; silly.
Is not . . . your chin double? your wit single?
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., i. 2. 207.
He utters such single matter in so infantly a voice.
Fletcher {and another\ Queen of Corinth, iiL 1.
12. In hot., solitary: said of a flower when
there is only one on a stem ; also, in common
usage, noting flowers which have only the nor-
mal number of floral envelops — that is, which
are not double. See double, 6. — 13. In anat.
and zoiil., not double, triple, etc.; not paired;
azygous ; simple ; solitary ; alone ; one : gen-
erally emphatic, in implied comparison with
things or parts of things that are ordinarily
double, paired, several, etc a single blind
(mUit.). 8eeW«idl,4.—Atsingle anchor. Seea?icAori.—
Single action. Sec action.— Single-action harp. See
harp, 1. Single billet. See ti;(<r-'.- single blessed-
ness. See 6;t'**c(;/i«jfK.— Single block. See WocA-i, 11.—
Single-boater, a trawling-cutter not l)elongiiig to a fleet:
used by English fishermen. J. W. Crffj'/w.— Single bond.
See (»or»d 1 , 7. - Single bridging, burton, combat. See
the nouns.— Single-cylinder machine, a printing-ma-
chine that prints witli a sin^'lt; cyliiicler on one side only
of a sheet of p:iper.— Single entry, see bookkeeping. —
Single tile. Seeyifes.- single floor. See .^oor.— single-
fluid battery or cell, in elect. see cell, a— Single
man, a man not married. In law the phrase may ap-
ply to any person not married at the time in question.
A widow is a single man, within a public land act.
saver V. Ladd, 7 Wall. 219.
5646
Single mone^, money in small denominations; small
change. HaUiwell.
Face. What box is that?
Sub. The flsh-wives' rings, I think,
And the ale-wives' single money.
B. Jonson, Alchemist, v. 2.
Single mordent, oyster, poplin. See the nouns.—
Single pneumonia, pneumonia attecting only one lung.
—Smgleproceleusmatic, a pynliic— Single soldiert,
a private.
I'se e'en turn a single sodger mysell, or maybe a ser-
geant or a captain, if ye plague me the mair.
ScoU, Old Mortality, viii.
Single standard, stop, tax. See the nouns.- Single
woman, (o) A woman not married, (bt) By euphemism,
a harlot or prostitute. [Old slang.]
II. II. 1. Tliat which is single, in any sense
of tlie word. Specifically- (a) pi. The twisted threads
of silk made of single strands of the raw silk as wound
from the cocoon. When simply cleaned and wound, the
silk is called dumb singles, and is used for making ban-
dana handkerchiefs, and, after bleaching, for gauze and
similar fabrics. When wound, cleaned, and thrown, the
silk Is tenned thrown singles, and is used for ribbons
and common silks. When wound, cleaned, doubled, and
thrown, and twisted in one direction, it becomes tram,
and is used for the woof or shoot of gros de Naples, vel-
vets, and flowered silks. When wound, cleaned, spun,
doubled, and thrown, so that it resembles the strand of
rope, it is called organzine, and is used for warp. (&) pi.
In lawn-tennis, games played with one on a side : op-
posed to doubles, which are played with two on a side,
(c) In the game of loo, a deposit in the pool of three chips,
made by the dealer before the playing begins, (d) In
base-ball, a safe hit that allows the batter to reach the first
base, but not the second, (e) In cricket, a hit for which one
run is scored.
2. In falconry, a talon or claw.
I grant it not. Mine likewise seisd a Fowle
Within her talents ; and you saw her pawes
Full of the Feathers ; both her petty singles,
And her long singles, grip'd her more then other.
Heywood, Woman Killed with Kindness (Works, II. 99).
3. The tail of an animal ; properly, in hunting,
the tail of the buck. HaUiwell.
There 's a kind of acid humor that nature hath put in
our singles, the smell whereof causeth our enemies, viz.
the doggs, to fly from us.
Howell, I'arly of Beasts, p. 03. (Davies.)
4. A handful of the gleanings of corn tied up.
HaUiwell. [Prov. Eng.]— In single, singly; indi-
vidually ; separately.
Finding therefore the most of their actions in single to
be weak, ... I concluded that, if their single ambition
and ignorance was such, then certainly united in a Coun-
cell it would be much more.
Milton, Apology for Smectymnuns.
single^ (sing'gl), V. ; pret. and pp. singled, ppr.
singling. [< single'^, «.] I. trans. If. To make
single, separate, or alone ; retire ; sequester.
Many men there are than whom nothing is more com-
mendable when they are singled ; and yet in society with
others none less fit to answer the duties which are looked
for at theii- hands. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, i. 16.
2. To select individually from among a num-
ber; choose out separately from others: com-
monly followed by out.
Each singled out his man.
Robin Hood and the Stranger (Child's Ballads, V. 416).
Him Hector singled, as his troops he led,
And thus inflam'd him, pointing to the dead.
Pope, Iliad, xv. 652.
3t. To lead aside or apart from others.
Single you thither then this dainty doe.
And strike her home by force, if not by words.
Shak. , Tit. And., ii. 1. 117.
If we can, single her forth to some place.
B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, v. 1.
4. Kant., to imite, so as to combine several
parts into one : as, to single the tacks and
sheets.
II. in trans. 1. To separate; go apart from
others : said specifically of a hunted deer when
it leaves the herd. HaUiwell (under huniing).
It is indeed a reflection somewhat mortifying to the
author who breaks his ranks, and singles out for public
favour, to think that he must combat contempt before he
can arrive at glory. Goldsmith, Polite Learning.
2. Same as single-foot.
single^t (sing'gl), V. i. [< OP. singlcr, sigler, P.
cingUr = Sp. siiiglar = Pg. singrar (ML. siglare),
sail, cut the water with a full wind, make head
(cf. OF. single, sigle, a sail) : see sail'^, v., and ef.
6-ee?3.] To sail before the wind ; make head.
A royall shippe I sawe, by tyde and by winde,
Single and sayle in sea as sweet as niilke.
Puttenham, Partheniades, x.
single-acting (sing'gl-ak'''ting), a. Of any re-
ciprocating machine or implement, acting ef-
fectively in only one direction : distinguished
from double-acting. Specifically applied to any ma-
chine— as a pump, a steam-engine, etc. — in which work
is performed by, or performed upon, a reciprocating plun-
ger or piston, and in which only one of the two strokes
of the plunger or piston during a single reciprocation is
eflective.— Single-acting pedal See pedal.
single-ltmged
single-banked (sing'gl-bangkt), a. l. Carrying
but one oarsman on a thwart, as a boat. — 2.
Having but one bank or tier of oars, as the
lighter vessels of antiquity. — 3. Having but
one bank or row of keys, as an organ.
single-bar (sing'gl-bar), n. A swingletree.
single-breasted (sing'gl-bres' ted), «. 1. Hav-
ing but one breast. — 2. Haviugbiittons on one
side only and buttonholes on the other : noting
a coat, waistcoat, or other garment. Compare
double-breasted.
A thoroughly single man, single-minded, single-hearted,
buttoning over his single heart a single breasted surtout.
Lowell, Cambridge Thirty Years Ago.
single-brooded (sing'gl-bro'ded), a. Bringing
forth yoimg once annually; having but one
amiual generation, or one brood a year, as an
insect, bird, or other animal. See silkworm.
single-cut (sing'gl-kut), a. Noting a file which
has but a single rank of teeth — that is, has
the teeth cut in one direction only, and not
crossing.
singledt (sing'gld), a. [< single'^ + -ed^.} Hav-
ing a single or tail.
Their sheepe are very small, sharpe singled, handf uU long.
Hakluyt's Voyages, 1. 386.
single-dotted (sing'gl-dot'''ed), «. Having one
dot, point, or mark of color ; unipunctate : as,
the single-dottedv!ave,Acidalia scutulata, a Brit-
ish moth.
single-eyed (sing'gl-id), a. [< single^ + eyel
+ -ef/2.] 1. Having only one eye ; eyclopean;
monoculous ; one-eyed, as the Cyclops Polyphe-
mus figuring in Homer's Odyssey, or as vari-
ous animals. See Cyclops, Monoculus. — 2. Hav-
ing tha.eye single or sound ; earnest ; devoted;
unselfish. Compare single^, a., 8.
You are . . . too noble, single-eyed, self-sacriflcing, to
endure my vanity and meanness for a day.
Kingsley, Two Y'ears Agu, xx.
A sturdy, healthy, single-eyed peasanti-y, from whom the
defenders of the country by sea and land, the skilled ar-
tiflcers, . . . are recruited. Edinburgh Rev., CXLV.SH7.
single-fire (sing'gl-fir), «. Having the fulmi-
nate inside the base or head, and not in-
tended to be reloaded after firing: said of a
cartridge. Such cartridges may be either cen-
ter-fire or rim-fire.
single-foot (sing'gl-fut), n. A gait of horses,
better known as the rack. See rack^. [West-
ern U. 8.]
Most of the time the horse kept on a steady single-foot,
but this was varied by a sharp lope every now and then.
7*. Roosevelt, Hunting Trips, p. 210.
single-foot (sing'gl-fut), v. i. [< single-foot, »i.]
To move with the single-foot gait ; rack. Also
single.
The horse often single-foots faster than he trots.
Harper's Mag., LXXX. 246.
single-footer (sing'gl-fufer), «. [< single-foot
+ -«>•!.] A horse which uses the single-foot
gait ; a racker.
My best single-footer is my fastest trotter.
Harper's Mag., LXXX 247.
single-handed (sing'gl-han'ded), a. [< single^
-I- hand -f- -erZ2.] 1. Having only one hand. —
2. Working without the aid of other hands or
workmen; acting alone; unassisted.
He was left to cope single-handed with the whole power
of France. Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 13.
3. Capable of being used, managed, or exe-
cuted with one hand or by one person: as, a
single-handed fishing-rod; a single-handed un-
dertaking— Single-handed boring. See boring.
single-hearted (sing'gl-har'ted), a. [< single^
-t- heart -t- -erf'-^.] 1. Having a single, sincere,
or honest heart; free from duplicity.
Nor lose they Earth who, single-hearted, seek
The righteousness of Heaven !
Whittier, The Christian Tourists.
2. Proceeding from or characteristic of a siur
cere heart.
Mrs. Lapham came to their help, with her skill as nurse,
. . . and a profuse single-hearted kindness.
W. D. Howells, Silas Lapham, ii.
single-heartedly (sing ' gl - har" ted -li), adr.
With singleness, sincerity, or integrity of heart.
The more quietly and single-heartedly you take each
step in the art, the quicker, on the whole, will your pro-
gress be. Ruskin, Elements of Drawing, ii.
single-loader (sing'gl-16"der), n. A breech-
loading rifle without a magazine, which is
charged and fired with a single cartridge: so
called to distinguish it from a magazine-rifle or
repeating arm that has a reserve of cartridges
supplied to the chamber automatically.
single-lunged (sing'gl-lungd), o. [< single''- -¥■
lung -i- -ed'^.'] Having but one lung: specifi-
single-lnnged
cally noting the genus Ceratodus, or the Mono-
pneumones
The tinglings, or spirits of first extraction.
S. DotceU, Taies in England, IV. 209.
smKle-minded (sing'gl-min'ded), a. [< single^ singlo (sing'glo), n. A sort of fine tea, con
+ miH<A + -e<fi.^ 1. Having a single or honest
minil or heart; free from duplicity; ingenuous;
guileless.
An unpretending, gingU-minded, artless girl — infinitely
to be preferred by any man of sense and Uste to such a
woman as Mrs. Elton. Jaiu AtuUn, Emma, xxiviii.
The eingUminded religious enthusiast, incapable of
dissimulation or procrastination.
. Lecky, Europ. Morals, I. 42.
2. Having but one object or end in view; un-
swerving; undeviating.
No democratic ideas distracted its angle-minded \oj-
tiiy. Bancro/t, Hist. V. S., II. 458.
Single-mindedness (sing'gl-min'ded-nes), n.
Tlie character or state of being single-minded.
Practical morality means Hnglemindednett, the having
one idea ; it means what in other spheres would be the
greatest narrowness.
F. H. Bradley, Ethical Studies, p. 179, note.
singleness (sing'gl-nes), n. The state or char-
acter of being single, in any sense of the word,
singleret, «. [ME. synglere, < OF. sengler, sain-
gler, saitglier, F. sanglier, a wild boar: see san-
glier.'i A wild boar.
Boyes In the subarbis bourdene flnlle heghe,
At a bare tyngUre that to the bente rynnys.
MarU Arthure (E. E. T. 8.), L 3123.
single-soled (sing'gl-sold), a. [< giiigle^ + sole^
+ -t'rf'-.] Having a single sole; hence, poor;
poverty-stricken. In the quotation from Shaktpen a
pun is intended, taming on the double meaolngl of
(■imple, foolisb) and imltd.
OentUhome de has relief. A thredbare or
gentleman, a gentleman of low degree.
Catgrave (under relief)-
Her. Follow me this jest now till thou hast worn oat
thy pump, that, when the single sole of it is worn, the Jest
nwy remain after the wearing sole singular.
Aom. O tbUftt^Utd Jest, solely singular for the single-
neaa ! Shak., K. and J., a 4. tiQ.
■lllgleHrtick (sing'gl-stik), n. 1. A cudgel for
use with one hand, as distinguished from the
quarter-staff. It is usuallv fitte<l with a guard
for the hand, somewhat like that of a saber.
Compare baeksteord. — 2. The play or practice
with such cudgels; the art of attack and de-
fense with them: as, to learn singlestick. — 3.
A wooden sword used on board ship for teach-
ing tlie use of the cntlas.
singlet (sing'glet), «. [< single^ + -eft; appar.
formed in imitation of doublet.} 1. An un-
lined waistcoat : opposed to a doublet, which is
sisting of Targe, flat leaves, not much rolled.
Simmonds.
singly (sing'gli), adv. [< sitijfie'^ + -ly^.'i 1.
As a unit ; as or in the form or capacity of one
person or thing.
The man I speak of cannot in the world
Be singly counterpoised. Shale., Ck)r., ii 2. 91.
Those great acts . . . God had done
Singly by me against their conquerors.
ifittim, S. A., L 244.
2. Individually; particularly; separately; one
at a time.
I beseech you, let me answer to the particular of the
inter'gatories : demand them singly.
Shak., All's WeU, iv. 3. 208.
They tend to the perfection of human nature, and to
make men singly and personally good. TUlotson, Sermons.
3. Without aid or accompaniment; alone.
But great Achilles singly clos'd the gate.
Pope, Iliad, ixiv. 5«0.
4t. Solely; uniquely; singularly.
Thou singly honest man.
Here, take : the gods out of my misery
Have sent thee treasure. Go, live rich and happy.
Shak., T. of A., iv. 3. 530.
An edict singly unjust. Milton. (Todd.)
5. Honestly; sincerely.
sing-sing (sing'sing), n.
Imp. Diet.
[Airican.]
A West
Sinff-SJDK Antelope {K^Ht siMg-sing).
lined. Halliu-ell. [Prov. Elng.] — 2. An under- African kob antelope, Kobus sing-ging. See
shirt or nndervest.
This word waa liwUt, which came up to me printed on
my first washing blU In LiverpooL I had never seen it
before; but its sugKestlon of doublet of course showed
me Uut it must mean an nndervest, as It did — a merino
under-shirt ... It is a I«ncashire word ; ... it Is not
dialectical, which Mng Romanic It could not be.
n. G. WhiU, England Without and Within, p. 384.
Single-taxism (sing'gl-taks'izm), n. [< single^
+ tax + -i)fm.'\ The doctrines or beliefs of the
advocates of the single tax. See tax. [Re-
cent.]
The fourth section of the Knights of Labor declaration
of principles, as last amended, is good enough single tax-
ism tor the present. The Standard (New York), vn. 9.
singlethom (sing'gl-thdm), n. A Japanese
fisn, .Monocentrii japonicus, of the famUy Bery-
cid/e, remarkable for the size of its heatl, its
strong thorn-liko spines, and ita mailed suit of
hard projecting scales. It is of a silvery- white
color, and about 6 or 7 inches long. It is the
only known species of the genus.
singleton (sing'gl-ton), w. [In def. 1 < Kinglet,
a., ll.foolisli, -t- -ton (cl. simpleton). In def. 2 <
tingle^, a., 1, -I- -ton (after the preceding).] 1.
A silly fellow ; a simpleton. Halliicell. [Prov.
Eng.J — 2. In tchist, a hand containing only one
card of some suit; a card which is the only one
of a suit in the hand of a player.
Oolaide the modem signalling sjitem and the abaolute
rejection of the Singleton lead, there Is very little dtlfer-
ence between the wblst of to-dar and the whist of Hoyle
and Matthews. R. A. Proetar, How to Play Whist, Pref.
single-tonch (sing'gl-tuch), n. A method of
niakii]g artificial magnets. See magnet.
singletree (sing'gl-tre), n. Same as suHngle-
Ini.
singlin (sing'glin), n. [For 'singling, < single^
+ -ing^.'\ A handful of gleaned grain; a single
gleaning. Brockett. [Prov. Eng.]
singlingS fsing'glingz), n. [< single'^- + -I'nffl.]
In distilling, the crude spirit which is the first
to come over.
kob.
singsong (sing'sdng), a. and n. [< sing, v., +
obj. Koiig.'] I. a. 1. Making songs, rimes, or
inferior ])oetry.
From hufllng Drjrdeo to tbng-tong IVUrtey.
Tom Brown, Works, III. S9. (DavSet.)
2. Monotonously rhythmical in cadence and
time; chanting.
Prayers were ohanted In the nasal singsong way In
which prayen are said here.
C. B. Norton, Travel and Study In Italy, p. 46.
n. n. 1. Verse intended or suitable for sing-
ing; a ballad; hence, bad verse; mere rime
rather than poetry.
This singsong was made on the English by the Scots,
after they were flushed with victory over us in the reign of
King Edward the .Second.
Fuller, Worthies, Berkshire, 1. 119.
I ne'er with wits or witlings paas'd my days.
To spread about the itch of verse and praue ;
Nor, like a puppy, daggled through the town.
To fetch and carry singsong up and down.
Pope, noL to Satires, L 226.
2. A monotonous rhythmical cadence, sound,
or tone; a wearjing uniformity in the rising
and falling inflections of the voice, especially
in speaking.
A skilled lover of music, he (Collins) rose from the gen-
enl ring-song of his generation to a harmony that had
been silent Jnce ililton. Loipell, Study Windows, p. 387.
8. A convivial meeting, at which every person
is expected to contribute a song. [Colloq.]
The illustrated programme of the forthcoming Singsong,
whereof he was not a little proud.
H. Kipling, Only a Sutwltero.
singsong (sing's6ng), v. [< singsong, n.] L
intrans. To make songs or verses; also, to
make singsong sounds ; utter a monotonous
chant.
There 's no gloty
Like his who saves his country, and you sit
Sing-songing here ; but. If I'm any judge,
Itj God, you are as poor a poet, Wyatt,
Am a good soldier. Tennyson, Queen Mary, II. 1.
singular
n. trans. To express or utter in singsong.
The chorus chattered and singsonged their satisfaction.
Harper's Mag., LXXVI. 688.
singspiel (sing'spel), n. [G., < singen, sing, -I-
spicl, play: see sing and spelV^.'] A semidra-
matic work or performance in which a series of
incidents are related or represented in song.
The form is almost entirely confined to Germany, where it
was the precursor of the opera. Its peculiarity lies in the
strict subordination of the instrumental accompaniments
to the vocal p:u-ts. Originally it included both solo songs
and spoken dialogue ; but duets and part-songs gradually
came in, and the amount of dialogue was steadily reduced.
Compare miracle, 4, mystery'^, 4, etc.
singstert (sing'st^r), n. [< ME. singstere, a
female singer; < sing -h -ster. Cf. songster.']
A female who sings ; a songstress. Wyclif.
singular (sing'gu-lar), a. and n. [Early mod.
E. also singuler; < itE. singuler, synguler, singu-
lar, singulare, < OF. (and F.) singulier = Pr. Sp.
Pg. singidar, singlere = It. singolare, < L. singu-
laris, single, separate (in gram, singularis nu-
merws, translating Gr. hmb^ apid/idc), < singuli,
one by one: see single^.'] I, a. 1. Being a unit,
or one only ; single.
God forbede that al a companye
Sbolde rewe a singider raannes folye.
Chaucer, Prol. to Canon's Yeoman's Tale, 1. 444.
Their manner was to grant naturalization, . . . and this
not to singular persons alone, but likewise to whole fam-
ilies.
Bacon, True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates (ed. 1887).
2. Separate or apart from others; alone. [Ob-
solete or provincial.]
And whenne he was singuler, or by hym sllf, the twelue,
that weren with hym, axiden hym for to expowne the
parable. Wyclif, Mark iv. 10.
It may be said, what profit can redound, what commen-
dation, what reward, for one man to be singular against
many? Ford, Line of Life.
3t. Pertaining to solitude, or separation from
others ; concerned with or involving solitude.
When I had takene my syngulere purpos [of becoming
a hermit^ and lefte the seculere habyte, ... I be-gane
mare to seme <io<l than mane.
Uampole, Prose Treatises (E. E. T. S.), p. 6.
Though naturally a monk must love retiredness, yet a
single monk, a monk always alone, says he [Aquinas), is
plotting some singular mischief. Vonne, Sermons, v.
4. Pertaining to one person or thing; indi-
vidual ; also, pertaining to individual persons
or things; in logic, not general; being only in
one place at one time.
There bo that write how the offer was made by King
Edmond, for the auoiding of more bloudshed, that the two
princes should trie the matter thus togitlier in a singular
combat. HMnshed, Hist. Eng., vii. 10, (Richardson.)
This is (ye will perchaunce say) my singular opinion :
then ye shall seeAow well I can niaintaine it.
Puttenliam, Arte of Eng. I'oesie, p. 101.
That idea which represents one particular determinate
thing to me is called a singular idea, whetlier it be simple,
or complex, or compound. Watts, Logic, I. ill. $ 3.
6. In gram., denoting or relating to one person
or thing: as, the singular mmaber: opposed to
dual and plural. Abbreviated sing. — 6. Hav-
ing no duplicate or parallel ; unmatched ; un-
exampled; unique; being the only one of its
kind.
Some villain, ay, and singular in his art,
Hath done you both this cursed injury.
Shak., Cymbeline, ill. 4. 124.
The small chapel is lined with a composition which is
an imitation of the pletre coraesse of Florence ; it is per-
fectly singular, and very beautiful.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. 11. 514.
We are met to exchange congratulations on the anni-
versary of ao event sir^;ular in the history of civilization.
Emerson, West Indian Emancipation.
7. Out of the usual course ; unusual ; uncom-
mon ; somewhat strange ; a little extraordi-
nary: as, a singular phenomenon.
One urgeth death, . . .
Ihe other bonds, and those perpetual, which
He thinks found out for the more sinmdar plague.
B. Jonson, Catiline, v. 8,
So singular a sadness
Must have a cause as strange as the effect
Dt^tham, The Sophy.
Strange life mine — rather curious history — not extra-
ordinary, but singular. Dickens, Pickwick, ii.
Hence — 8. Of more than average value, worth,
importance, or eminence; remarkable; fine;
choice ; precious ; higlily esteemed.
These reverend fathers ; men
Of singular integrity and learning.
Shak., Hen. VIII., 11. 4. 59.
I acknowledge all your favours
Boundless and singular.
Ford, Perkln Warbeck, iv. 3.
9. Not complying with common usage or ex-
pectation ; hence, eccentric ; peculiar ; odd : af
he was very singular in his behavior.
singular
Hy master is in love with a Inily of a very nn^i/ar taste,
a lady who likes him better as a half-pay ensign than if
she Imew he was son and heir to Sir Authony Absolute, a
baronet of three thousand a year.
Sheridatij The Rivals, i. 1.
10. In math,, exceptional, (a) in oemn^ and alg.,
having peculiar non-metrical properties. See sinijularity,
S. {b) In diferefitial equations, not conforming to the gen-
eral rule. See ^mjular solution and siiujtdar iiiteffral, be-
low.—All and sin^ar. See «//.— Singular cojgni-
tlon, et^nition of a logical singular.— Singular differ-
ence. Same as numerictU difference (6) (wliich see, un-
der if i/<rre»«w>— Singular integral of a partial dif-
ferential epilation, a solution not included under the
complete integral, nor under the general integral. It
represents the general envelop of the surfaces repre-
sentetl by the complete integral.- Singular mood, a
mood or syllogism in which one at least of the prem-
ises is a singular proposition. Otherwise called itiiuru-
lar tyUoffigm or exposttory syftof/twn.- Singular point,
a point of a curve, surface, etc., which presents any
non-metrical peculiarity : such, for instance, are nodes
or points of crossing, conjugate or outlying points not
adjacent to any. other real point, stjitionai-y points or
cnsps, pointsof stopping in certain transcendental cui'ves,
aud points of contrary tiexure. In the same sense tliere
are singular tangents and tangent planes.— Singular
proposition, in to'jic. See pr»posi(i»tt. — Singtilar root
of an equation with one unknown quantity, an equal
root ; a itjot resulting from the coiiiciifence of two roots,
so that, if the absolute tenu were altered by an inflnitesi-
mal amount, there would be either two real roots or two
imaginaiy roots in place of that root.— Singular root Of
an indeterminate equation, a root whicii corresponds
to a double point on uie curve, surface, etc., which the
equation represents.— Singular solution Of a differen-
tial equation, a solution not included in the complete
primitive. This solution is the envelop of the family of
curves represented by the primitive with its ai'bitrary
constant, in the case of a ditferential equation of the first
order. — Singular successor, in Scots Imv, a purchaser
or other disponee, or acquirer by titles, whether judicial
or voluntary, in contradistinction to the heir, who succeeds
by a general title of succession or universal representa-
tion.—Singular syllogism. Same as singular -mood.—
Singular term, a term which stands for one individual.
Seetenn. =^yn. 6 ami 7. Unwonted, exceptional, unparal-
leled.—9, Strange, OddjGic. '^qg eccentric.
n, «. 1. That which is singular, in any sense
of the word ; that which is alone, separate, in-
dividual, unique, rare, or peculiar. See singu-
hiTf a.
Eloquence would be but a poor thing, if we should only
converse with singulars, speak but man and man together.
B. Jonson, Discoveries.
2. In ^rflw., the singular number. — 3t. hxhunt-
ing, a company or pack: said of boars.
A singvlar of boars, Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 80.
4. In logiCj that which is not general, but has
real reactions with other tilings. Scotus and others
define the singular as that which is here and now— that
is, only in one place at one time. The Leibnitzian school
define the singular as that which is determinate in every
respect.
lliere are, besides singulars, other fibjects of the mind
universal. Cudwwth, Intellectual System, p. 854.
Abstraction from singulars but not from matter.
See abstraction.
Singularist (sing'gu-lar-ist), w, [< singular +
-isL] One who affects singularity. [Rare.]
A clownish gingvlarist, or nonconformist to ordhiary
rules. Barrow, Works, III. xxxiv.
singnlarity (sing-gu-lar'i-ti), w. ; yA. singulari-
ties (-tiz), [< OF.' singuldritCj vernacularly
senglierte (> ME. synglerttj), F. singularite =
Pr. singularitat — Sp. singularidad = Pg. singu-
Uiridade = lt. singularitdj < LL. singularita{t-)s,
singleness, < L. singulariSf single: see singu-
lar.'] 1. The state or character of being singu-
lar, (a) Existence as a unit, or in the singular number.
Thou President, of an vnequal'd Parity ;
Thou Plurall Number, in thy Singularity.
Heywood, Hierarchy of Angels, p. 269.
(&) Separateness from others ; solitariness ; specifically,
celibacy.
Celibate, like the fly in the heart of an apple, dwells in
a perpetual sweetness, but sits alone, and is confined and
dies in gingulariiy.
Jer. Taylor, Sermons, The Marriage Ring.
(c) Indiridualism, as in conduct, opinion, characteristics,
etc.
We do perceive great discommodity to the realm of your
grace's [Mary's] singularity, if it may be so named, in opin-
ion. State Trials, Edw. VI., an. 1551.
The at^ument ad crumenam, as it has been called by
jocular logicians, has weight with the greater part of man-
kind, and Andrew was in that pai'ticular far from affect-
ing any trick of singularity. Scott, Rob Roy, xxvii.
(d) Uniqueness ; the state of having no duplicate, parallel,
or peer.
Now for synglerty o hyr dousour,
We calle hyr fenyx of Arraby.
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), i. 429.
St. Gregory, . . . writing against the title of universal
bishop, saith thus : None of all my predecessors ever con-
sented to use this ungodly title ; no bishop of Rome ever
took upon him this name of singularity.
IIooT^r, Eccles. Polity.
(0 Unasnalness ; rareness ; uncommon character ; hence,
specifically, rare excellence, value, cminencei or note.
5648
In this course of setting down medicines, even as I meet
with any hearbe of any singularity, 1 will raunge it there
whereas I know it to be most soveraigne and efifectmill,
Holland, tr. of Pliny, xxv. 9.
It is the singularity of the expression which reigns upon
the face [of the captain] — it is the intense, the wonderful,
the thrilling evidence of old age so utter, so extreme,
which excites within my spirit a sense — a sentiment in-
effable. Poe, MS. Found in a Bottle.
(/) Variation from established or customary usage ; ec-
centricity ; oddity ; strangeness.
Barbarous nations, of ignorance and rude gingularitie.
Ascham, The Scholeraaster, p. 147.
There is no man of worth but has a piece of singularity,
and scornes something.
Bp. Earle, Micro- cosmographie, A Vulgar-spirited Man.
That conceit of singvXarUy ... is the natural recoil
from our uneasy consciousness ol being commonplace.
Lowell, Democracy.
2. That which is singular; a singular person,
thing, event, act, characteristic, mood, or the
like; especially, an individual or personal pe-
culiarity.
Your gallery
Have we pass'd through, not without much content
In many singularities. Shak., W. T., v. 3. 12.
And when afterwards in a singularitie\\Q\mX gone aside
into a Caue, and there mewed vp himselfe, and persisted
in hypocrisie and fasting, he there dyed (as the fame goeth)
thi'ough his wilf nil want of bread and water.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 154.
A man whose virtues, generosity, and singularities are
so universally known. Goldsmith, Vicar, iii.
3. In math.y an exceptional element or char-
acter of a continuum, (a) In geom., a projective char-
acter of a locus consisting in certain points, lines, or planes
being exceptional in their relations to it. (For examples,
see Mnode.) An ordinary singularity is one of a set of
singulai'ities of which all others are modifications or com-
pounds. Thus, an actual node upon a skew curve is a mod-
ification of an apparent node, and ought not to be reckoned
as an ordinary singularity. But cusps and inflections, as
stationary points and tangents, are ordinary singularities.
A higher singularity is one which differs indefinitely little
from anaggregation of ordinary singularities. i^Qetacnode.)
By an ellipsis common in geometrical language, the word
singularity is used for point-singtdarity, or a relation to
some exceptional pouit. Thus, a plane curve with neither
nodes norcuspsissaidtobewithoutsingularitieSjaltliough,
unless a conic, it has inflections, and unless a conic or cubic,
double tangents. The word singulanty is also used to
denote the number of singular points, lines, or planes of
any one kind ; also for any immber characteristic of a pro-
jective property, in which sense the order, class, and rank
of a locus are sometimes termed singularities, (h) In the
theory of functions, a property of a function consisting in
it or its differential coefllcient becoming discontinuous for
a certain value or connected system of values of the vari-
able.—Elliptic, essential, hyperbolic sin^larity.
See the adjectives.— Simple Singularity, a singularity
of a function consisting in it or its differential coefticieiit
becoming ambiguous or discontinuous at an isolated point
or points, while remaining unambiguous and continuous
at all other points sufficiently near to these. = Syn. 1. Un-
commonness, oddness. — 2. Idiosyncrasy. See eccentric.
SingTllarization (siTig''''gu-lar-i-za'shon), 7i. [<
singularize + -ation.] The act of singulariz-
ing; specifically, transfonnation from the plural
to the singular number. For examples, see
cherry, pec^, roe^} Chinee, Also spelled singu-
larisation.
Your correspondent asks for examples of ignorant sin-
gularization. I can supply him with one. A lady of ray
acquaintance entered a shop and asked to see some hose.
The salesman . . . called her attention to a particular stock-
ing, with the remark, "There, madam; that's as fine a ho
as you will find anywhere." JV. and Q., 7th ser., VII. 310.
singularize (sing'gu-lar-iz), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
singularized, ppr. singulanzmg. [< singular +
-ize.] 1. To make singular; change to the
singular number. See sin gularization. — 2. To
signalize; distinguish. [Rare,]
The two Amazons who singularized themselves most in
action.
Smollett, Humphrey Clinker^ Melford to Phillips, April 30.
Also spelled singularise.
singularly (sing'gu-lar-li), adv. [< ME. syngu-
leriy ; < singular + -ty'^.'] In a singular man-
ner, (a) With reference to one only; individually; singly;
specifically, in the singular number ; so as to express the
singular number.
Every man after his phantasy choosing him one saint
Angularly to be saved by.
Tyndale, Ans. to Sir T, More, etc. (Parker Soc.,1850), p. 117.
(6t) Separately ; alone.
These worthy Estates a-foreseid high of renowne,
Vche Estate syngulerly in halle shalle sit adowne.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 189.
(c) Uniquely ; rarely ; unusually ; remarkably ; excep-
tionally.
The affection felt for him [Hastings] by the civil service
was singularly ardent and constant.
Macaulay, Warren Hastings.
(d) Strangely ; oddly ; with eccentricity : as, a person
singularly dressed.
Singularness (sing'gu-lar-nes), n. Singularity.
Jiailey, 1731.
Singulosilicate (sinff''''gii-lo-siri-kat), n. [< L.
singulus, single, + ^.silicate.] A unisilicate.
sinister
singultf (sing'gult), n. [= OF. sanglot, sanglous,
F. sang}ot= Pr. sanglotj sanglutf singlut (cf. Sp.
sollozo = It. singhiozzOj singozzo, < ML. as if
*singuUium), < L, singultus^ sobbing speech, a
sob, hiccup, rattle in the throat.] A sob or
sigh.
There an huge heape of singulis [in some editions errone-
ously singul/s] did oppresse
His strugling soule. J^)enser, F, Q., III. xL 12.
So, when her teares was stopt from eyther eye.
Her singulis, blubberings, seem'd to make them flye
Out at her oyster-mouth and nosethrils wide.
W. Browne, Britannia's Pastorals, it 1.
Singultient (sing-gul'shient), a. [< L. singula
iicn{t-)s, ppr. of singultirej sob, hiccup, < sin-
gultusy a sob, hiccup: see singult.'] Sobbing;
sighing. [Rare.]
Som of ripe age will screech, cry, and howle in so many
disordered notes and singultient accents.
Hoivell, Parly of Beasts, p. 23. {Davies.)
singultous (sing-gul'tus), a. [< F. singultneux;
as singidt + -ous,'] In med.y relating to or af-
fected with hiccup.
singultus (sing-gul'tus), n. [L. : see singult.]
A hiccup.
Sinhalese (sin-ha-les' or -lez'), n. and a. Same
as Cingalese.
Sinian (sin'i-an), n. [< L. Sinse, the Chinese (see
Sinic), + -ia7i.] A name given by Richthofen
to a series of rocks occupying large areas in
China, and containing numerous fossils of the
primordial fauna of Barrande, especially those
trilobites and brachiopods which are character-
istic of the lowest known fossiliferous rocks.
See Silurian,
Sinic (sin'ik), a. [< ML. Sinicus (MGr. 2(vfK<Sc),
Chinese, < Sina (also China), China, L. Singe, Gr.
Xlvai, the Chinese.; cf. Gr. Qiv, China, Qivaiy a
city in China, Hind. Chin^ China, E. Chinaj etc.:
see Chinesej china. The name is not found in
Chinese.] Chinese.
sinical (sin'i-kal), a. [< sine^ + -ic-aJ.] Of or
pertaining to a sine — Sinical quadrant. See qttad-
rant.
Sinicism (sin'i-sizm), n. [< Sinic + -i^m.]
Chinese manners, customs, and principles col-
lectively.
sinioryt, »• An obsolete spelling of seigniory.
Sinism (sin'izm), 71. [< ML. Sina, China, +
-I'sm.] A proposed name for Chinese institu-
tions collectively ; especially, the Chinese an-
cient and indigenous religion.
sinister (sin'is-ter, formerly also si-nis'tfer), a.
[< ME. sinistre, < OF. sinistrCy senestre, P. sinistre
= Sp. siniestro = Pg. sinistro = It. sinestro, sinis-
tro, < L. sinister, left, on the left hand, hence
inauspicious or ill-omened; connections un-
known. The opposite dexter has Teut. and
other connections (see dexter^ deasil), but the
Teut. words for * left' are different : AS. winster,
wynster (winstr-) = OS. ministar = OFries. win-
stei'e = OHG. winistar, Winstar, MHG. wirister =
Icel. vinstri = Sw. venster, venstra = Dan. ven-
stre, left; AS. lyft, left, Ut. 'weak' (see left^);
D. linksch = MLG. link = OHG. "lenc. MHG.
lenc, line, G. link, left; OHG. slinc, left.] 1.
Left, as opposed to right; on the left side;
specifically, in her., noting the left-hand side
of the person who carries the shield on his
arm (therefore the right-hand side of the spec-
tator): the sinister part of the escutcheon is
opposed to the dexter part (see dexter). Bear-
ings such as beasts and bu-ds nearly always turn away from
the sinister and toward the dexter ; when they are turned
toward the sinister, they are said to be reversed. See cut
under potn(i, 21.
The sinistre arme smote he vppon trew,
Kyght as belonged to knightly uertew.
Bom. of Partenay (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3049.
My mother's blood
Runs on the dexter cheek, and this sinister
Bounds in my father's. Shak., T. and C, iv. 5. 128.
2. On or toward the left or unlucky side;
hence, of ill omen; inauspicious; threatening
or suggesting evil.
The victor eagle, whose sinister flight
Betards our host, and fills our hearts with fright.
Pope, Iliad, xii. 257.
3. Bringing evil; harmful; malign; unfortu-
nate in results.
One sinister accident hapned to me.
Coryat, Crudities, 1. 132.
Such a life was sinister to the intellect, and sinister to
the heart. Hawthorne, Twice-Told Tales, Main Street.
4. Unpleasant ; disagreeable.
The weary flatness and utter desolation of this valley
present a sinister contrast to the broad line of the Apen-
nines. J. A. Symonds, Italy and Greece, p. 95.
5. Malicious; evil; base; wrong.
sinister
l8 it so jtrange a matter to And a good thing furtliered
by ill men of a giniMer intent and purpose ?
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, iv. 9.
We take cunning for a ginigter or crooked wisdom.
Bacon, Cunning (ed. 1887).
I liope . . . youTl . . . not impute to me any imperti-
nence or ginister design.
Gdldgmitb, She Stoops to Conquer, iv.
Bend aiulster, I}endlet sinister, etc. See the nouns.—
Sinister aspect, in aetrol., an appearance of two planets
liappeiiiiij; acoiiiding to the succession of the signs, as
Saturn irj .\ii(.s and Mars in the same degree of tiemini.
— Sinister canton, in her., a canton occupying the sin-
ister chief of the escutcheon : a rare bearing. — Sinister
diagonal of a matrix, the diagonal from the upper right-
hand to the lower left-hand corner.
sinister-handed (sln'is-ttr-han'ded), a. Left-
handed: sinister; hence, unlucky; unfortu-
nate. [Kare.]
That which still makes her mirth to flow
Is our ginigter-handed woe.
Lovelace, Lucasta Laagbiug.
sinisterly (sin'is-t^r-li), adi:
5649
position.— 2. In bot., rising from left to right,
as a climbing plant. For the antagonistic
senses in which dextrorse and consequently its
opposite siiiistrorse are used, see dextrorse.
sinistrous (sm'is-trus), a. [< sinister, left, +
-')««.] 1. Same as sinistral, 1, or sinister, 1. —
2. Ill-omened; inauspicious; unlucky.
An English traveller noticed in bis journal, as a stjits-
iroug omen, that when Louis le Desir^ alter bis exile
stepped on France he did not put the right foot foremost.
Jf. and Q., 7tb ser., VIII. 206.
St. Malicious; malignant; evU.
A knave or fool can do no harm, even by the most ginit-
troug and absurd choice. Bentley.
sinistrously (sin'is-trus-li), adv. In a sinis-
trous manner, (o) With reference to the left side;
hence, specifically, with a tendency sinistrad, or an incli-
nation to use the left instead of the right hand. (6) In-
auspiciously ; unluckily, (ct) Wrongly; wickedly; mali-
ciously.
mannpr , ^J t^A- .^ f Sinister gint (singk), V. ; pret. sank or sunk, pp. sunk or
ru°Zo«slV"t?a?'o1?Sl7.'t65"S'rg'i?f'^n"^^^^ -«/-«» (tie second form.rare excep'tXn used
— -■--- ' ' *'• ™"K'""J'' as a participial adjective). [Formerly also
sinck ; (a) < ME. sinken, synken, intr. (pret. sank,
sonk,pl. sunken, 8onken,pp.sunkeyi,sonken, sank),
< AS. sintan, intr. (pret. sane, pi. suncon, pp. sun-
cen), = OS. sinkan = D. ::::inken = MLG.LG. sinkat
= OHG. sinchan, MHG. G. ainken = leel. siikkra
(for 'sonkra) = Sw. gjunka = Dan. sgnke = Goth.
sigkwan, siggkican (for 'sink-wan, 'singkwan),
sink; (b) < ME. 'senken, senchen, < AS. sencan,
tr., cause to sink (= OS. senkian = OHG. sen-
chan, MHG. 6. senken = Sw. sdnka = Dan.
sxnke = Goth, saggkwan, cause to sink, im-
merse), causal of sincan, sink ; prob. a nasalized
form of the root appearing in Skt. as sich (nasal-
ized pres. siHcati), pour out, and in AS. 'sihan,
aigan, etc., let fall, sink: see sie^, sifel.] I. in-
trans. X. To fall or decline by the force of
gravity, as in consequence of the absence or
removal of a support ; settle or be lowered from
a height or surface through a medium of slight
resistance, as water, air, sand, etc. ; specifically,
to become submerged in deep water, as in the
sea.
EHhe denede [quaked] aone in that stede,
And dpnede vnder ere fet;
Held up neither aton ne gret (grit],
Alle be nrntm tbe ertbe with-in.
Omnit and Exadtu (E. E. T. ax I. 8776.
Mrlord Barnard shall knowe of tbia,
Whether I jinJr or swim.
UCtle JtfiutrraMandZ^ufyfianuinfCCbUd'BBalladi,!!. 17X
Thejr had loetioa men in tbe Admlrall, which tbey did
femre would tinkt ere ahe could recover a Port.
Caf^. John Smith, True Travels, I. 54.
Like buoyi, that never gink into the flood.
On Learning's surface we but lie and nod.
Pope, Dunciad, iv. 241.
3. To fall or fail, as from weakness, or luider
a heavy blow, burden, or strain : as, to sink into
a chair ; literally or figuratively, to droop ; suc-
cumb.
He gunk down in bla chariot 2 KL Ix. 24.
Then come* repentance, and, with bis bad legs, falls
into the clnqne pace faster and faster, till he ginkinto his
«""• Shot., Much Ado, il. 1. 83.
So moeh the vital spirit* gink
To aee the vacant cbair, and think,
'■ How good I bow kind ! and he is gone."
Temygttn, In Meraoriam, xx.
3. To descend or decline toward or below the
horizon ; gpeoifically, of the sun. moon, etc., to
set.
O aetting sun,
As in tby red rays thoa doat gink to ntghl,
So in bis red blood Caaaloa' dav is set.
Shak., J. C, T. 3. 61.
4. To be tnmed downward ; be downcast.
The eye of Bonytbon
Sinkg at that low, sepulchral tone.
WhiUier, Mogg Megone, L
wickedly.
You told me you had got a grown estate
By griping means, n'nwteWy.
B. Jmtan, Staple of News, v. 1.
Sinistemess (sin'is-t^r-nes), n. The state or
character of being sinister. Bp. Gauden.
sinisterouslyt, adv. An obsolete form of sinis-
troiishj.
sinistra (si-nis'tra), adr. [It., < L. sinistra, fem.
of sin ister, left : see sirtister. ] In music, with the
left hand : marking a note or passage that is to
be performed with the left hand in preference
to the right. See also M. S. and if. G.
sinistrad (sin'is-trad), adv. [< L. *inw<er, left,
+ ad, toward (see -a^P).] Toward the left ; on
the left hand in relative situation; sinistrally:
opposed to dextrad : as, the arch of the aorta
curves «i«iVr«rf in mammals, dextrad in birds;
the descending aorta lies a little sinistradot the
vertebral column in man.
sinistral (.sin'is-tral), a. [< L. sinister, left, +
-al.} 1. Of or pertaining to the left side ; sit-
uated on the left hand ; not dextral ; sinister ;
sinistrous. — 2. In conch., reversed from the
usual, right, or dextral curve, as tbe whorls of
a spiral shell; whorled toward the left; sinis-
trorse ; heterostrophous. The genus Phyga Is an ei-
ample. Some species, genera, etc., of shells are Dormally
ainistral. In some other caaea, apecimens of shells are sin-
istral as an individual pecallarity. as tn the caie dted un-
der chank^. See cuta under ment and Phyga.
3. In ichth., having both eyes on the left side
of the head, as certain flatfishes. — 4t. Sinis-
ter; wrong.
They gather their giniglral opinion, a* I hear ear, of St
Paul to the Hebrew*. Becon, Work*, p. da. (BameM.)
sinistrality (sin-ig-tral'i-ti), n. [< sinistral +
-ity.] The state or character of being sinistral,
in any sense. Proceedings of U. S. National
Museum. XI. 604.
sinistrally (sin'is-tral-i), adv. Sinistrad; in a
sinistral direction; to or toward the left ; from
right to left.
sinistration (sin-is-tra'shon), B. Hh. ginigter,
left, -t- -titiou.'] A turning to the left; deflec-
tion sinistrad : the state of being sinistral.
Sinistrobranchiat (sin'is-tro-brang'ki-ii), M. nl.
[XL., < L. sinister, left, + SL. branehi'a, gills:
see bronchia, n.«] A group of teetibranchiate
gastropods, supposed to have been based on a
doridoid turned upside down. lyOrbigny, 1835-
Sinistrobranchiate (sin'is-tro-brang'ki-at), a.
Havint; irills on the left 8ide;'of or pertaining
to the •^iiii.-<tri>l>ranchia.
sinistrocerebral (sin'is-tro-ser'e-bral), a. Sit-
uated or occurring in the' left cereBral hemi-
sphere: opposed to deztrocerrbral : as, K tinis-
troeerehral center; a sinistrocirebral lesion.
I'roc. Sor. J'.ii/rhical Research, III. 43.
sinistrogyric (.sin'is-tro-ji'rik), a. [< L. sinis-
ter, left, + yyrnre, pp. gyratus, turn: see pyre.]
Tending, moving, or otherwise acting from
right to left; sinistrorse in action or motion.
All movements of the hand from left to right are deitro-
gyrlc and those from right to left are n/iutromrtc.
..Inter. Jour. PgyeM., I. IIH.
Sinistrorsal (sin-ig-trdr'sal), a. [< sinistrorse
+ -'//.I Same as sinistrorse. G. Johnston, tr.
of Cuvier's Kftgne Animal.
sinistrorse (sin'is-trors), a. [< L. sinistrnrsus,
toward the left, for 'sinistrorersus.< sinisU-r,]e(t,
on the left, + rersus, pp. of rertere, turn.] 1.
Tunied or turning to the left; directed sinis-
trad; sinistrorsal: game as sinistral, but im-
plying motion or direction rather than rest or
355
6. To enter or penetrate deeply ; be absorbed :
either literal or figurative in use; specifically,
near be-
of paint, varnish, and the like, to
low the surface into the .substance of Itie body
to which it is applied, so that the intended effect
is lost.
The atone gunk into his forehead. 1 Sam. rvU. 49.
That which nn*t deepest Into me is the Sense I have of
the common Calamities of this Nation.
Howell, Letters, I. vl. SO.
Theae easy minds, where all Impressions made
At Brat gink deeply, and then qtiickly fade.
Crabbe, Works, IV. 69.
6. To fall in; become or seem hollow: chiefly
used in the past participle: as, sunken cheeks
or eyes.
A lean cheek, ... a blue eye and gunken.
Shai., As you Like it III. 2. 893.
sink
Her temples were gunk, her forehead was tense, and a
fatal paleness sat upon her cheek.
Ooldstnith, Vicar, xxviii.
7. To become lower; slope or incline down-
ward ; slant.
Beyond tbe road the ground ginkg gradually as far as tbe
ditch.
ConUe de Parig, Civil War in America (trans.), II. 572.
8. To decrease or be reduced in volume, bulk,
extent, amount, or the like ; subside ; decline.
Canals are carried along tbe highest paits of tbe coun-
try, that the water may have a fall from them to all other
parts when the Nile ginkg.
Pococke, Description of tbe East, 1. 199.
Down gink the flames, and with a hiss expire.
Pope, Dunciad, i. 200.
The value [of superfluities), as it rises in times of opu-
lence and prosperity, so it ginkg in times of poverty and
distress. Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, L xi. 3.
9. To be lowered in pitch; fall to a lower pitch:
said of musical sounds, or of a voice or instru-
ment.
Mordecai's voice had gunk, but with the hectic bril-
liancy of his gaze it was not the less impressive.
OeoTffe Eliot, Daniel Deronda, xlii.
10. To settle down; become settled or spread
abroad.
It ceased, tbe melancholy sound ;
And silence gunk on all around.
Scotl, Marmion, ilL 12.
With stars and sea. winds in her raiment,
Night ginkg on the sea.
Swinburne, Laus Veneris, Ded.
11. To be reduced to a lower or worse state ;
degenerate ; deteriorate ; become debased or
depraved.
When men are either too rude and illiterate to be able
to weigh and to dispute the truth of it (new religion], or
too much gunk in sloth and vice to be willing to do it.
Bp. Attertmry, Sermons, I. iii.
The favourite of the people [Pitt] rose to supreme power
while bis rival [Fox) gank into insignificance.
Mttcaulay, William Pitt
12. To be destroyed or lost; perish.
Tho that ben ofte drunke.
Thrift is from hem gunke.
Babeeg Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 39.
For every false drop in her bawdy veins
A Grecian's life hath gunk.
Shak., T. andC, iv. 1. 70.
Now for a trick to rid us of this Clowne,
Or oar trade gink; and up our house is blowne.
Brome, Sparagus Garden, iv. 11.
13. To settle or subside, as into rest or indo-
lence.
How, Lucia ! Wouldst thou have me gink away
In pleasing dreams? Addigou, Cato, i. a
Pater-familiaa might be seen or heard linking into a
pleaaant dore. (Jeorge Eliot, Mr. Gilfll s Love Story, I.
14. To swim deep, as a school of fish ; specifi-
cally, to pass below a net.— 15. To squat,
crouch, or cower and draw (itself) into closest
compass, as a game-bird or -animal in order
to witlihold the scent as far as possible. = sy]i.
1-4. To drop, droop.— 11. To lessen, dwindle.
II. trans. 1. To force or drag gradually down-
ward; immerse; submerge; whelm; engulf.
Tbe king has cured me,
. . . and from these shoulders . . . taken
A load would gink a navy.
Shak., Hen. VIIL, 111. 2. 388.
2. To cause to decline or droop ; hence, figura-
tively, to depress.
Doth It [drowsiness] not then our eyelids ginkt I find not
Myself disposed to sleep. Shak., Tempest, ii. 1. 201.
To looke humanly on ye state of things as they present-
ed them selves at this time. It is a niarvell it did not wbuly
discourage them and ginck them.
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 208.
She gank her head upon her arm.
Tennygon, Talking Oak.
3. To excavate downward, as in mining: as,
to sink a shaft ; to sink a well.
AtHasseah, . . . about seven leagues south east of Hems,
I saw a ruined work, like n large pond or cistern, mink a
considerable way down in the rock, and walled round.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. 1. 1S6.
4. To place or set by excavation
post.
She saw that the last tenants bad had a pump gunk for
them, and resented tbe innovation.
Mrg. Oagkell, Sylvia's Lovers, xxxilL
5. To diminish or reduce in tone, volume, bulk,
extent, amount, etc.; lower: as, to st'w A' the voice
to a whisper; the news of war sinks the value
of stocks.
It was usual for bis late most Christian Majesty to gink
tbe value of their louis d'ors about tbe time he was to re-
ceive the taxes of his good people.
Addigon, Freeholder, No. 18.
6. To degrade in character or in moral or social
estimation; debase; lower.
as, to sink a
sink
No Mwi Is so MinJIr in Vice And Ignorance bnt there are
still some nidden Seeds of Goodness and Knowledge in
him. Addigon, Spectator, No. '202.
Impropriety ! Oh, Mrs. Weston, it is too calm a cen-
sure. Much, much beyond impropriety' ! It has 9Uiik
him — I cannot say how it has «unk him m my opinion.
Jant Awiten, Kmma, xlvi.
7. To destroy ; niin ; overwhelm.
And if I have a conscience, let it ginik me.
Even as the axe falls, if I be not faithful I
Shak., Hen. Vin., ii. 1. 60.
8. To lose, as money, by unfortunate invest-
ment.
What can have brought the silly fool to London? Some
lover pressed and sent to sea, or some stock sujxk in the
South-Sea funds, ... I suppose.
Seottj Heart of Mid-Lothian, xxxv.
9. To put out of sight or knowledge ; suppj-ess:
refrain from uttering, mentioning, or using.
To sound or sink, in cano, O or A,
Or give up Cicero to C or K.
Pope, Dunciad, iv. 221.
Augustus . . . has gunk the fact of his own presence on
that interesting occasion.
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, I. 282.
The old man never spoke about the shop himself, . . .
sui\k the black breeches and stockings altogetlier.
Thackeray, Pendennis, ii.
10. In decorative art,to depress, or cut to a lower
level, as by engraving : said of a part of the de-
sign or of a panel — To sink the shop. SeesAopi.
— To sink upont, to keep out of sight or knowledge ;
be reticent about ; refrain from mentioning.
He [Beattie] sunk upon us that he was married ; else we
should have shown his lady more civilities.
Johnson, in Boswell's Life, anno 1772.
= Syn. 3. To excavate, scoop out. — 5 and 6. To abase.-
7 and 8. To waste, swamp,
sink (singk), n. [< ME. synl-e (= MD. sinte) ;
from the verb.] 1. A receptacle and conduit
for foul liquids; a kennel; a sewer; a drain;
a privy.
Pool ! Sir Pool ! lord !
Ay, kennel, puddle, sink; whose filth and dirt
Troubles the silver spring where England drinks.
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iv. 1. 71.
The kitchen and buttery is entire ivory, the very purity
of the elephant's tooth. The sink is paved with . . . rich
rubies and incomparable carbuncles.
Randolph, Hey for Honesty, iv. 1.
Your lady chides you, and gives positive orders that you
should carry the pail down, and empty it in the sink.
Swift, .-Vdvice to Servants (House- -Maid).
2. A kind of box or basin having an outflow-
pipe leading into a drain, and used for receiv-
ing and carrying off dirty water, as in kitchens,
etc. — 3. An abode or resort of depraved and
debauched persons ; slums.
This (suburb] is the sinke of Fez, where euery one may
be a Vintner and a Bawde. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 621.
From the very sinks of intemperance, from shops reek-
ing with vapours of intoxicating drink, has God raised
up witnesses against this vice.
Channing, Perfect Life, p. 70.
4t. Corruption ; debauchery ; moral filth.
Outlaws, thieves.
The murderers of their parents, all the sink
And plague of Italy met in one torrent.
B. Jornxon, Catiline, v. 1.
6. Same as sink-hole, 3. — 6. An area (which
may sometimes be a lake or pond, and at other
times a marsh, or even entirely dry and cov-
ered with more or less of various saline com-
binations) in which a river or several rivers
sink or disappear, because evaporation is in
excess of precipitation: as, the sink of the
Humboldt river, in the Great Basin.
In the interior there are two great systems of drainage,
one leading through the Murray River to the sea, the oth-
er consisting of salt lakes and sinks.
The AUantie, LXIII. 677.
7. In theaters, one of the long, narrow trap-
doors used on the stage for the raising and
lowering of scenery. — 8. In mining, a down-
ward excavation not sufficiently deep or im-
portant to be called a shaft. — 9. A depression
in a stereotype plate ; a bubble of air some-
times formed below the surface of a plate,
which causes the part of the surface affected
to sink under impression.
8inkable(8ing'ka-bl), a. [<. sink + -able.'] Ca-
pable of being sunk.
Life Boat. — A non-sinkable, large, heavy, six or eight-
oared boat, constructed for the life-saving stations on the
ocean coast and great lakes.
Tribune Book of Sports, p. 309.
Sink-a-pacet (singk'a-pas), ». A corrupt form
of cinque-pace.
My very walk should be a Jig ; I would not so much as
make water but in a sink-a-paee. Shak., T. N., i. 3. 139.
sink-dirt (singk'd^rt), M. Gutter-mud. Halli-
well. [Prov. Eng.]
5650
sinker (sing'kfer), «. [< sinV + -e>-l.] 1. One
who or that which sinks or causes to sink.
Particularly- (o) A weight attached to a fishing-line to
make it sink in the water. In bottom- or bait-iishing,
sinkers of various sizes and shapes are used, the weight
being proportioned to the tide or current. Split shot,
closed on the line, are very commonly used as sinkers,
(fc) A weight used for sinking the sounding-line in taking
deep-sea soundings, (c) Same as sink-stuiie, 2.
2. In knitting-machines, stocking-frames, etc.,
one of several flat pieces of metal attached to
the jacks, and also to the sinker-bar, and serv-
ing to form loops in the thread between the
needles. See jnc^i, 11 (d), sinker-bar, and knit-
ting-maeliinc. — 3. A cesspool. HaUiwell. [Prov.
Eng.] — Ad,JU3table sinker, in angling: (a) A hollow
sinker contaniing shot, that may be adjusted to any re-
quired weight. (i>) A sinker with spiral rings, which can
be put on and taken ofi the line without disturbing the
hook or bait. — Ponderating sinker. See ponderate. —
Running or sliding sinker, a sinker in which there is
a hole permitting it to slide along a fishing-line.
sinker-bar (siug'ker-btir), «. 1. In knitting-
machines and s*^ocking-frames, a bar carrying
a series of sinkers, or flat plates, which act in
conjunction with the jack-sinkers to form loops
of thread between the needles. — 2. In rope-
drilling, a heavy bar attached above the jars
to give force to the upwarJ stroke.
sinker-wheel (sing'ker-hwel), n. In a knitting-
machine, a wheel having a series of oblique
wings to depress the yam between the needles.
E. H. Knight.
sinkfield (singk'feld), ?! . [A corruption oicinque-
foil.'] A species of fiveSnger, I'otentiUa reptans.
sink-hole (singk'hol), n. 1. A hole for foul
liquids to pass through; specifically, an orifice
for that purpose in a sink. — 2. Any place given
over to foulness or filth; especially, a resort of
debauched and depraved persons. See sink,
n., 3.
From that Fountaine (or sinek-hole rather) of supersti-
tion, to leade you along the gutters and streames thence
deriued. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 278.
3. One of the cavities formed in limestone re-
gions by the removal of the rock through the
action of rain or running water, or both. The
rock being dissolved away underneath, local sinkingsof the
surface occur, and these are sometimes wholly or partly
filled with water, forming pools. Similar sinkings occur
in districts in which rock-salt abounds. Also called swal-
low-hole, or simply sink.
The caves form the natural drains of the country, all
the surface drainage being at once carried down into them
through the innumerable sink-holes which pierce the thin
stratum overlying the Carboniferous Limestone.
Nature, XLI. 507.
sinking (sing'king), n. [Verbal n. of sink, t\]
1. A falling or settling downward; a subsi-
dence.
In consequence of the numerous deep crevasses, sink-
ings in, and landslips, ... I could not reach the summit
[of the hillj without much difficulty.
Quart. Jour. Oeol. Soc., XLVI. i. 34.
2. The process of excavatingdown ward through
the earth, as in mining, etc.
If the underground passage is vertical, it is a shaft ; if
the shaft is commenced at the surface, the operations are
known as "sinking," and it is called a "rising" if worked
upwards from a previously constructed heading or gallery.
Encyc. Brit., XXIlI. 622.
3. In arch., sculp., etc., a depression ; a place
hollowed out, whether for decoration or to re-
ceive some other feature ; a socket.
On the lace of the tomb Itself are the sinkings for the
architraves and vaults which they supported.
J. Fergusson, Hist. Arch., I. 439.
4. In joinery: (a) An angular groove or rabbet
in the corner of a board, (b) The operation of
making or of finishing rabbets.
sinking (sing'king), p. a. Causing to sink, sub-
side, or gradually disappear: as, a sinking
weight; causing the sensation of sinking or
fainting : as, a sinking apprehension or anxiety.
It fan expected operation] is first looked forward to with
sinking dread, but, if it is deferred, so much mental un-
rest may be produced that we find our present state intol-
erable. F. II. Bradley, Mind, XIII. 17.
sinking-fund (sing'king-fund),i(. See fund''-.
— Sinkmg-fund cases, two cases decided by the United
States Supreme Court in 1878 (99 V. S., 700). which held,
althouj.'h not unanimously, that acts of Congress which
established in the United .States treasury sinking-funds
for the payment of money advanced l)y the government
for interest on the bonds of the Union Pacific and Central
Pacific railroads were constitutional.
sinking-head (sing'king-hed), n. In founding,
same as dead-head, 1 (a).
Sinking-papert(sing'king-pa"p«'r), n. Blotting-
paper, yarcs.
sinking-pump (sing'king-pump), H. A form
of vertical pump of strong and simple construc-
tion, and with parts readily interchangeable in
sinologist
case of wear or damage, used in mining for
sinking shafts or pumping out water,
sinking-ripe (sing'king-np), a. Ready to sink ;
near sinking. [Poetical.]
The sailors sought for safety by our boat,
And left the ship, then sinking-ripe, to us.
Shak., C. of E., i. 1. 78.
sink-room (singk'rom), n. A room containing
a sink, and, in old New England houses, usu-
ally adjoining the kitchen; a scullery.
The apartment known in New England houses as the
sitik-room. U. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 87.
sink-stone (singk'ston), n. 1. A perforated
hollowed stone at the top of a sink. Baltiwell.
[Prov. Eng.] — 2. In archeeol., a stone sinker
primitively used to sink lines or nets_.
sink-trap (singk'trap), «. A trap for a sink,
so constructed as to allow water to pass down,
but not to permit an upward escape of air or
gases.
sinless (sin'les), a. [< ME. sinneles, synneles,
senneles, < AS. synleds (= G. siindenlos = Icel.
syndalauss = Sw. syndaliis = Dan. syndelos), <
syn, sin, -1- -leas, E. -less: see «j«l and -less.~\
1. Guiltless of sin; pure in heart, character,
or conduct.
And Crist cam . . . and seide to the lewes,
" That seeth hym-self synneles cesse nat, ich bote,
To stryke with stoon other with staf this strompet to dethe."
Piers Piotcman (C), xv. 41.
Thou who, sinless, yet hast known
All of man's infinnity.
Q. W. Doane, .Softly Now the Light of Day.
2. Made, done, or existing without sin ; con-
formed to the standard of righteousness.
Thou
Sat'st unappall'd in calm and sinless peace !
iiaton, P. R., iv. 425.
sinlessly (sin'les-li), adv. In a sinless manner ;
innocently.
sinlessness (sin'les-nes), n. The state of being
sinless; freedom from sin.
sinner (sin'er), n. [< ME. synnere, senegere (=
OFiies. sondere = MD. sondatr, D. zondaar =
MLG. sunder = OHG. suntari, MHG. sUndeere,
siindcr, G. siinder = Icel. syndari = Sw. syndare
= Dan. syndcr); < «/«l -t- -erl.] 1. One who
sins; one who disobeys or transgresses the di-
vine law.
Ne is hit nagt grat thing ne grat of seruinge aye God to do
guod to ham thet ous doth guod, . . . vor that deth the
paen and the Sarasyn and othre sene^eres.
AyenWe of Inwyt (E. E. T. S.X p. 114.
God be merciful to me a sinner. Luke xviii. 13.
Forbear to judge, for we are sinners all.
Shak., 2 Hen. VL, ilL 3. 31.
2. One who fails in any duty or transgresses
any law; an offender; a criminal.
» Like one
Who having unto truth, by telling of it,
Made such a sinner of his memory,
To credit his own lie. Shak., Tempest, i. 2. 101.
sinner (sin'er), v. i. [< sinner, n.J To act as
a sinner : with indefinite it. [Rare. ]
Whether the charmer sinner it or saint it.
If folly grows romantick, I must paint it.
Pope, Moral Essays, ii. 15.
Sinneress (sin'fer-es), «. [< ME. synneresse;
< sinner + -ess.'] A woman who sins; a female
sinner. Wyclif, Luke vii. 37. [Rare.]
sinnet (sin'etj, n. Same as sennif.
sinnewt, «• An obsolete spelling of sinew.
sinnowt, v. t. [Origin obscure.] To ornament.
A high towring fanlcon, who, whereas she wont in her
feathered youthfulnesse to looke with amiable eye on her
gray breast, and her speckled side sayles, all sinncwed
with siluer quilles, and to driue whole armies of fearfuU
f oules before her to her master's table ; now shee sits sadly
on the ground. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse, p. 27.
sinnowt, «. [Cf. sinnou-, r.] A woman very
finely dressed. HalliKell.
Sinnyt (sin'i), a. [< ME. synny, < AS. synnig
(= OS. sundig = MD. sondigh, D. zondig =
OHG. suntig, sundig, MHG. siindic, siindec, 6.
sundig), sinful, < syn, synn, sin: see st'nl.] Sin-
ful; wicked.
Unto the Pope cam, and hym gan confesse
With gret repentaunce full deuoutly ;
Oif his synny crfilme lefte not more ne lesse.
Full dolerus was and repentant truly.
Rom. of Partenay (E. E. T. S.), 1. 5218.
sin-offering (sin'of '6r-ing), n. A sacrifice or
other offering for sin. See offering.
And the flesh of the bullock . . . shalt thou burn with
Are without the camp ; it is a sin offering. Ex. xxix. 14.
sinological (sin-o-loj'i-kal), a. [< sinolog-y +
-ic-al.] Pertaining to sinology.
sinologist (si-nol'o-jist), «. [< sinolog-y + -ist.l
A sinologue.
sinologue
sinologue (sin'o-log), n. [< F. sinologue: see
sinoloyy.] A foreigner who is verse J in the
Chinese language, literature, history, etc.
At different times bitter controversies arose between
Jttlien and liis fellow Sinologues. Etieyc. BriL, Xin. 770.
sinology (si-nol'o-ji), n. [< Gr. 'Zlvai, L. Sinx,
the Chinese (see Sinic), + -loyia, < >J:yeiv, speak:
see -ology.'} That branch of knowledge which
deals with the Chinese language and connected
subjects.
Sinopert (sin'o-p^r), ». Same as sinople, 1.
sinopia (si-no'pi-a), ». [NL., < L. sinopis : see
.v(«w/)i.s.] Same as siiio]>is.
sinopis (si-no'pis), H. [< Ij. mnopis, < Gr. aivu-
-((•, sinople: see sinople. 1 A pigment of a fine
red color, prepared from the earth sinople.
sinopite(sin'9-pit),H. [<. sinopis + -ite'^.\ Same
as sinople, 1.
sinople (sin'o-pl), n. [Early mod. E. also sgno-
jile, also sinoper, synoper; < ME. sinoper, syno-
per, synopyr, cinoper, cynoper, cynope,<. OF. sino-
ple, .■iinope, F. sinople = Sp. sinople = Pg. sino-
ple, sinopia, sinopera = It. sinopia, senopiti, red
earth (cf. Sp. ruhrica sinopica, vermilion), < L.
sinopis, a kind of red ocher used for coloring,
ML. (and OF.) also a green color, sinople, <
Gr. otvu:ri(, also aivu-iKTj, a red -earth, earth im-
ported from Sinope, < Suut^, L. Sinope, Sinope,
a port on the south coast of the Black Sea.] 1.
A ferruginous clay, sometimes used as a pig-
ment. Also .yino/>i7e. — 2. A kind of ferruginous
quartz foand in Hungary. — 3. In her., same as
vert.
Sinozylon (si-nok'si-lon), «. [NL. (Duft-
schmidt, 1825), < Gr. <TiVof, hurt, harm, + fi'/ov,
wood.] 1. A genus of serricorn beetles, of the
family Ptinidx and subfamily ISostriehiniE, hav-
ing the antennae with a three-jointed club, and
the tarsi long and slender with a very short
first joint. Aboat 20 species are known. Xenrly all are
North American ; the otiiers occur in Europe, India, and
Sinuate Leaf
of Qwrcus
Prinus.
a i ' c it
Red.fhoiiUef«d Siaoxyloa iSituxylMt imiilar^
«, larva ; i, pup« ; <*, adult. (Lbics show natural lixca.)
Africa. S. batOare of North America I* the red-ahoaldered
sinozylon. which bores Into apple-twigs and grape-canes.
2. [/.<*.] A species of this genus: as, the bam-
boo sinorylon, a wood-boring beetle of China
and the East Indies, frequently imported with
iijimbof).
sinqtiet, sinque-pacet. Same as cinque, cinque-
paic.
Sin-sick (sin'sik), a. Sick or suffering because
of sin.
la there no means but that a rin-fiek land
Must be let blood with such a lioist'rous band ?
Danitl, avil Wara, It. 46.
O Qo<L whose fkroorable eye
The Jtn-jiet soul rerivea.
Cmnper, Olnejr Hymna, IrlU.
sinsiont, ». See timson.
sinsyne (sin-sin'), adr. [< «'n2 + si„el. «yne.]
Since; ago. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.]
TIs I am Peter, and this Is Paul,
And that ane, sae fair to see.
But a twelve-month Wiuyne to paradise came,
To Join with our companle.
Udy Anne (ChUd's Ballads, II. 264).
Sinterl (sin't^r), n. [< G. sinter, OHG. sintar,
MHti. sinter, sinder = Icel. sindr = 8w. Dan. sin-
*r, dross: seecinrfer.] Silicious or calcareous
matter deposited by springs. The sinter deposited
from hot springs is generally slllcloos-. that from cold
ones is often calcareous. Among the former there are
many rarieties, from the very compact to the very crum-
bly. When pure they are perfectly colorless : but depos-
its of this kind are often colored by Iron and other me-
tallic oxids, m that they exhibit various tints of red and
yellow. Calcare^ma sinter is usually more or less porous
In stmcture, and often concentrically laminated. This
material occurs occasionally in sufflcient quantity to form
an imiiortant buildinff-sttjne, as In Italy, where calcareous
sinter is called trarertijut. See travertine.
sinter'-'t, «. .\u obsolete form of eenter^.
Sinto, Sintoism, «. See Shinto.
sintoc, sindoc (sin'tok, sin'dok), «. [Malay.]
.\ ti'ff'. t'innnmomum Sintor, growing in the Ma-
lay archipelago, or its aromatic bark, which re-
sembles culilawan bark (see hark"). The biirk
occasionally enters Western commerce, more,
however, as a spice than a drug. Also syhdoe.
5651
Sintn, n. See Shinto.
sinuate (sin'u-at), V. t. ; pret. and pp. sinuated,
ppr. sinuating. [< L. sinuatus, pp. of sinuare,
bend, curve, swell out in curves, < sinus, a bent
surface, a fold or hollow : see sine^, sinus.] To
bend or curve in and out; wind; turn.
sinuate (sin'u-at), a. [< L. .sinuatus, pp. oisinu-
are, bend: see sinuate, ».] Sinuous; serpen-
tine ; tortuous ; wavy ; irregularly
turning or winding in and out, as
a margin or edge ; indented; notch-
ed. Specifically — (a) In conch., having a
sinus or recess ; notched or incised, as the
pallial line. See sinupaltiate. (p) In bot,
having the margin in a wavy line which
bends strongly or distinctly inward and
outward, as distinguished from repand or
undulate, in which the wavy line bends only
slightly inward and outward : especially
notitig leaves. Compare dentate, crenatel,
repand.
sinuated (sin'u-a-ted), p. a. [< sinuate + -etP.]
Same as .linuate.
sinuate-dentate (sin^u-at-den'tat), a. In bot,
between sinuate and dentat«; having the mar-
gin provided with both teeth and decided sin-
nations.
sinuate-lobate (sin'u-at-lo'bat), a. In bot.,
between sintiate andlobate.
sinuately (sin'u-at-li), adi: In a sinuate man-
ner; so as to be sinuate; sinuously: as. sinu-
attly emarginate. H. C. Wood, Fresh- Water
AlgfP, p. 135.
sinuate-undulate (sin'u-at-un'du-lat), a. In
entom., undulate with regular curves which are
not angulated ; forming a series of sinuses
joined by arcs. Also sinuato-undulate.
sinuation (sin-u-a'shon), n. [< sinuate + ■ion.']
1. The state of being sinuate; a winding or
bending in and out. — 2. T^e formation of a
sinus or recess, as in a margin ; a shallow c urved
regntrance; an emargination. — 3. A cerebral
gyre.
The humane brain Is, In proportion to the body, much
larger than the brains of brutes, having regard to thesixe
and proportion of their bodies, and fnller of antractus, or
titmationa.
Sir M. flale, Orig. of Mankind, p. 66. {Riehardmm.)
sinuato-undulate (sin-u-a'to-un'du-lat), a.
Same as simidle-undulate.
Sinu-auricular (8in'u-&-rik'u-liir), a. [< L. si-
nus, sinus. + auricula, auricle.] Common to
or situated between the sinus venosus and the
auricle proper of the heart of some animals.
The tlxu-eturieular aperture, seen on opening up the
sinua venoeus.
UuxUy and Martin, Elementary Biology, p. 90.
sinuose (sin'u-os), a. [< L. sinuosus: seesinu-
'/H.V.] Same as sinuous.
sinuosely (sin'ii-os-li), adv. Same ussinuously.
II. r. Ilw.rf, Fresh-Water Algse, p. 84.
sinuosity (sin-u-os'i-ti), H. ; pi. sinuosities (-tiz).
[= F. sinuositi = Sp. sinuosidad = Pg. sinuosi-
dade = It. sinuosila; as sinuose + -ity.] 1.
The character of being sinuous or sinuate;
tortuonsness ; anfractuosity.
Notblitt erer crawled across the stage with more accom-
plished flmuossty than this enchanting serpent.
Cumberiand, Memoirs, I. 223. (Jodrett.)
2. That which is sinuous or sinuated; a wavy
line or surface; a sinuation; an anfractuosity.
There may be, even In these late days, more originality
of thought, and flowing In more channels of harmony, more
bursts and breiUcs and tinwmties, than we have yet dls-
corered.
Landor, Imag. Conv., Andrew Marvel and Bp. Parker.
sinuous (sin'iVusj, n. [= F. sinueux = Sp. Pg.
It. sinuoso, < L. sinuosus, full of bendings or
folds, < sinus, a bend, fold: see sinus.] 1.
Sinuate; tortuous; serpentine; full of curves,
bends, or turns ; undulating.
Theae [worms] as a line their long dimension drew,
Streaking the ground with rinutnu trace.
Uatm, P. L, Til. 481.
I hare Hnuou* shells of pearly hue. Landar, Oeblr.
2. Morally crooked ; deviating from right.
We have ln*Mr. Webster the examp^le of a man . . .
who has acquired high station by no nnuous path, , . .
bat by a straight -forward force of character and vigor of
Intellect. Whipple, Ess. and Rev., I. 207.
sinuously (sin'u-us-li). adv. So as to be sinu-
ous: ill H sinuous manner.
sinuousness (sin'u-us-nes), n. Sinuosity. Bai-
ley, 1727.
Sinupallia (sin-u-pal'i-a), n. pi. [NL., < Ij. si-
nu.i. a fold, hollow, + pallium, a mantle: see
iialliinii.] Same as Sinupaltiata.
Sinupallial (sin-ii-pari-al), a. [< NL. *sinu-
paUialis, < L. sinus, a fold, hollow, + pallium,
a mantle : gee pallial.'] Same as sinupalliate.
Sinupatliate Right Valve of
Iphif^ttia brasititnsis, showing
a, the pallial sinus.
sinus
Sinupallialia (sin-u-pal-i-a'li-fi,), n, p/. [NL.,
neut. pi. of * sinuimUialis : see 8%nu'pallia\,'\
Same as Himipalliata.
Sinupalliata (sin-u-pal-i-a'ta), n. pi. [NL.,
neut. pi. of * sinuimXiiatus : see sinupalliate.^ A
subdivision of lamellibranchiate or bivalve mol-
lusks, characterized by the large size of the
siphons, and the consequent emargination of
the pallial impression of the hinder part of the
shell. They are distinguished from Integropal-
liata. Also Sinupallia and SiyiupmlliaUa. See
cut under sinupalliate.
sinupalliate (sin-u-pal'i-at), a. [< NL. "sinu-
])aUiatuSi < L. sinus, a
fold, hollow, + palli'
atus, < pallium, a man-
tle: see j>rt?/i«/c,] Hav-
ing a sinuous pallial
margin and consequent
sinuous impression on
the shell along the line
of attachment of the
mantle, into the sinus
thus formed the siphons,
which are always developed in these bivalves, can more
or less be withdrawn. The epithet contrasts with iiUe-
(/ropalliate. Also sinupallial.
The integropalliate are far more numerous than the
sinupaUiate forms in the older rocks.
Uvjcleyy Anat. Invert,, p. 417.
sinus (si'uus), w.; pi. sinus or sinuses (-ez). [<
Ij. sinus, the fold of a garment, the bosom, a
curve, hollow, bay, bight, gulf: see sine^,'\ 1.
A bend or fold; a curving part of anything; a
sinuosity ; specifically, a bay of the sea ; a gulf.
Plato supposeth his Atlantis ... to have sunk all into
the sea ; whether that be true or no, I do not think it im-
possible that some arms of the sen, or si7iuse^, might liave
had such an original.
T. Burnett Theory of the Earth, I. 149.
2. In rt?m^ and *<>oV., a cavity or hollow of b6ne
or other tissue, in the widest sense; a bay, re-
cess, pocket, dilatation, or excavation, general-
ly deeper and less open than a fossa : used with
either English or Latin context. Specifically— (a)
A hollow or excavation in a bone of the skull ; an air-sinus.
Such sinuses are larger than the spaces which constitute
cancellation, or the spongy tissue of bones (see cancellaie
(6)X and most of them are specitled by qualifying terms.
See phrases below, and cuts under eyeball, cratiio/acial,
and aiploe. (6) A venous channel In the meninges of the
brain : specified by a qualifying term. See phrases follow-
ing' (c) The so-called fifth ventricle or camera of the brain.
(d) A notch or recess of the pallial line of a bivalve mol-
Insk; the emargination or inlet of the posterior part of the
pallial impression ; the siphonal scar. It is pniportionate
to the enlargement of the siphons of the niullusk whose
mantle is thus developed. This sinus is always posterior, so
that when it leaves a trace on the shell a valve may be read-
ily known as right or left. The mark Is seen on mnny of
the valves figured in this work ; and in such cases tlie mark
is to the observer's right or left, according as a right or
left valve Is shown. See cuts under bivalve, dimyarian,
and ginupalliaU. (e) Same as ampxdla, 4.
3. In pathoL, a narrow passage leading to an
abscess or other diseased locality; a fistula. —
4. In bot.j the recess or rounded curve between
two projecting lobes : as. the sinuses of a repand
or sinuate leaf. See cuts under kidne)j~shaped,
pinnatijid, repand, and ^"u/fl''^.— Air-sinuses, ex-
cavations within the ethmoid, frontal, sphenoid, maxil-
lary, etc., bones, communicating with the nasal cavities
through narrow orifices. In man the largest of tliesc is the
maxillary sinus, or antrum of lllghmnri'.— Aortic sinus, a
sinus of Valsalva. See below. — Basilar sinus. Siune as
franwww n'ntw.— Branchial, cavernous, circular, cor-
onary sinus. See the adjectives.- Common sinus of
tne vestibule, same as utricle.- Confluence of the
sinuses, tlie point where six sinuses of tlie dura mater
meet— namely, the superior longitudinal, the two lat-
eml, the two occipital, and tlie straight; the torcular
Herophili.— Cranial sinuses, (a) 8»me as nnu^s of
the dura maier. (ft) The bony nJr-sinuses of the head.
See def. 2 (a).— Diploic slnuses, Irregular branching
channels in the dlploe of the skull for the accommoda-
tion of veins.— Ethmoidal sinuses. Irregular cavities
In the lateral masses of the ethmoid, completed by the
sphenoid, lacrymal, superior maxillary, and frontal bones
in the articulated skull. The anterior, the larger and
more numerous ones, open Into the middle, the posterior
Into the superior meatus of the nose. -^Falciform sinus.
Same aa lontfitudinal nmts.— Frontal slnuses, hollow
spaces between the outer and inner tables of the frontal
bone, over the root of the nose, in man extending outward
from behind the glabella to a variable distance above each
orbit, and opening into the middle meatus of the nose on
each side through the infundlbula. They are wanting in
early youth, and attain their greatest size In old age, but
are always small in comparison with their great develop-
ment in some animals, ss the elephant. — Galactopho-
rous sinuses, the ampnllie of the galactopliorous ducts.
-Genital sinus. See/zpniM/. — Genito-urinary sinus,
the urojjfnitjil sinus, a cavity or recess coninion to the
genital and the urinary passages, often forming a part of
the cloaca.— Great slnus of the aorta, a dilatation,
usually apparent, along the right side of the ascending
part of the arch of the aorta.— Intercavernous sinuses,
two transverse channels, the anteri<»r and the posterior,
which connect the right and left cavernous sinuses, and
thus cqmplete the circular sinus.- Lacrymal, maxil-
lary, occipital, pallial sinus. See the adjectives.—
sums
Lon^ritudiiial slnua, either of two sinuses of the dui-a
mater, respectively occupying the upper and under mar-
gins of the falx cerebri. The superior begins at the fora-
men caecum, and terminates posteriorly at the torcular
Herophili ; it is lodged in the superior longitudinal groove
of the cranial vault. The inferior is contained in the in-
ferior or free margin of the fal.\ cerebri, terminating in the
straight sinus posteriorly. Also called /alc\forin nmt». —
OphtUalmic sinus. Same as cmvrnous sinus. — Petrosal
or petrous sinus. .See/xfnwn;.— Petrosquamous sinus.
Seepffrosgimmoits.— Placental sinus, the venouschaiMK'l
around the placenta, lU'isiiig irom the free anastomoses of
veins.— Portal slnus, tlie sinus of the portal vein. See
below.— Prostatic sinus, .see j)ros(<i/te.— Pulmonary
sinuses, the sinuses of Valsalva in the pulmonary artery.
— Rhomhoidal sinus. («) The fourth ventricle, (ft) The
rhoinboavlia. Also called simts rhomboidalu. — Sagittal
slnus.the superior longitudinal sinus.— Sinus circularis
iridls. Same as C(njrt/<;/"&-/i;e»i?H (which see, under c«H«/i).
— Sinuses of Cuvier, veins or venous channels of the fe-
tus, ultimately tnmsformed into the right and left superior
venffi cav».— Sinuses of the dura mater, channels for
the passage of venous blood, formed by the separation of
the two layers of tlie dura mater, and lined with a con-
tinuation of the internal coat of the veins. They are
specified as the superior and inferior longitudinal,
straight, lateral, occipital, cavernous, circular, superior
and inferior petrosal, and transverse. — Sinuses of veins,
pouch-like dilatations of the venous walls on the cardiac
side of tlie valves, which produce knot-like swellings when
distended.— Sinus-ganglion, a group of nerve cells about
the junction of the venous sinus and the auricle of the
heart. In the frog the siims-ganglion, or ganglion of
Remak, is the collection of groups of nerve-cells on the
venous sinus. — Sinus genitalis. Same Aiprostidic i)e«-
de (which see, under prostatic).— Slnus Of conjunctiva,
the space between the ocular and palpebral conjunctiva:.
— Sinus of Higlunore, the antrum of Highmore. See
aninim. — Sinus of Morgagni, a space at the upper
and back part of the superior constrictor of the pharynx,
just under the base of the skull, where the muscular fibers
of the constrictor are deficient, the pharynx being conse-
quently walled in behind by its own aponeurosis, Ilere
the Eustachian tube opens into the pharynx on each
side, and the levator and tensor palati muscles may be ex-
posed by dissection.— Sinus of the auricle. Same as
anui renociw— Sinus Of the heart, the principal or main
cavity of either auricle.— Sinus Of the Jugular vein, the
dilatation at the origin of the internal jugular vein just
outside of the jugular foramen at the base of the skull. —
Sinus Of the kidney, the concavity or reentrance at the
hilum of the kidney. — Sinus of the larjTlX, the ventricle
of the larynx, leading into the succulus laiyngis, or Ciccal
laryngeal pouch. — Sinus of the portal vein, the en-
largement of the portal vein just before it divides into its
two branches for the liver. Also called portal sinus.—
— Sinus of Valsalva, any one of three pouchings of the
aorta and of the pulmonary artei-y opposite the segments of
the semilunar valves. Also called valvular siims, and respec-
tively aortic and pulmo)utri/ sinus. — Sinus pleurse, the re-
cesses where one layer of the parietal pleura is foldeil over
to become another.— Sinus pocularis. Same asprontatic
vesicle (which see, under prostatic). — Sinus prostatiCUS,
Same as prostatic sinus. See prostatic— Sinns rectus.
Same as straight «ntis.— Sinus rhomholdalis. Same
as rhomhoidxtl «nus (which see, above). — Sinus tentorii.
Same asstraif/Af »im«. — Sinus venosus, in human and a],
lied hearts, the main part of the cavity of either the right
or the left auricle of the heart ; that part into which the
veins pour their blood, as distinguished from the auricular
appendix. Also called atrium, and sinus of the auricle. —
Sinus venosus corneas, Schlemm's canal.— Sphenoidal
sinuses, cavities in the sphenoid bone, like those of the
ethmoid and frontal. — Straight sinus. the venous chan-
nel at the junction of the falx cerebri with the tentorium,
passing from the tennination of the inferior longitudinal
sinus to the torcular Herophili. — Tarsal sinUS, the large
irregular passage between the astragalus and the calca-
neum, occupied by the intertarsal ligament. — Transverse
sinus, a venous network excavated in the dura mater over
the basilar process, opening into the inferior petrosal siims
on each side, and into the inferior spinal veins below. ^ .-Mso
called bwnlar sinus, basilar plexus. — Urogenital sinuS,
the cavity in which the urogenital organs terminate in the
fetal life of man and most mammals ; a permanent com-'
partment of the cloaca in many lower vertebrates. See
doam, 3 (a), and urogenital.— Uterine sinuses, greatly
enlarged veins of the womb during pregnancy. — Valvu-
lar sinus. Same as smwa of Valsalva. — \&a.OViZ Sinus,
any sinus conveying venous blood ; especially (a) one of
the sinuses of the dura mater (see above), or (b) a sinus
venosus (see above).
sinusoid (si'nus-oid), ». [i 8imi8 + -Old.'] The
curve of sines, In
which the abscissas
are proportional to
an angle, and the
ordinates to its sinusoid.
Bine.
sinusoidal (sl-nu-soi'dal), a. [< sinusoid +
-«/.] Of or pertaining to the sinusoid Sinu-
soidal function. See /unction.— Sinusoidal map-pro-
jection. See prqjectix)n.
smusoidally (si-nu-soi'dal-i), adv. In a sinu-
soidal manner; In the manner of a sinusoid.
Philos. Mar/., XXVI. 373.
sin-worn (sin' worn), a. Worn by sin. [Rare.]
I would not soil these pure ambrosial weeds
With the rank vapours of this sin-worn mould.
Milton, ComuB, 1. 17.
siogtin, "■ Same as shogun.
siont, »• An obsolete form of scion.
-sion. See -tion.
Sionite (si'on-it), n. [< Sion (see def.) -I- -ite^.]
One of a Norwegian body of the eighteenth cen-
tury, professing the power of prophecy and
proclaiming the immediate coming of the mil-
5652
lennium. So called from their claim to be con-
sidered children of the King of Sion.
Siouan (so'au), a. [< fSioitx + -an.] Pertain-
ing to the Sioux or Dakotas; Dakotan.
The Simian group [of Indians] had its habitat on the
prairies between the Mississippi and Missouri.
Amer. Sat., XXIII. 75.
Sioux (s6), n. and a. [F. spelling of the Ind.
name.] I. «. ; pi. Sioux (sS or soz). A member
of a family of North American Indians, now con-
fined chiefly to North Dakota, South Dakota,
and parts of Wyoming, Nebraska, and Montana.
II. (I. Of or pertaining to the Siou.x ; Siouan;
Dakotan : as, the Sioux wars ; a Sioux village.
sip (sip), v.; pret. and pp. sipped, ppr. sipping.
[< ME. sippen, syppen, < AS. *siippan (not
found) (cf. "sypian, sipian, soak, macerate : see
sipe) (= MD. sippen, sip, taste with the tip of
the tongue (cf. D. sipperlippcn, taste with the
tip of the tongue), = LG. sippen, sip); a sec-
ondaryformof««j>aH, sup, taste: seesup^. The
form sip is related to .sup (AS. sUpan) much as
slip is related to similar forms (AS. slupan,
etc.).] I. trans. 1. To drink little by little;
take (a liquid) into the mouth in small quanti-
ties; imbibe a mouthful at a time.
A woman moved is like a fountain troubled,
Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty ;
And while it is so, none so dry or thirsty
Will deign to sip or touch one drop of it.
Shak., T. of the S., v. 2. 145.
To sip a glass of wine was considered effeminate, and a
guest was thought ill of if he did not empty his glass at a
draught. FortnighUy Rev., N. S. , XLIII. 377.
2. To take in gradually by some process analo-
gous to drinking; receive or obtain by sucking,
inhaling, absorbing, or the like.
Where I may sit and rightly spell
Of eveiy star that heaven doth shew.
And every herb that sips the dew.
Milton, 11 Penseroso, 1. 172.
3. To drink from by sips.
They skim the floods, and sip the purple flowers.
Dryden, tr. of Virgil's Georgics, iv. 76.
II. intrans. To take a sip or sips.
They could never get her so much as sip on a cup with
the proudest of them all. Shak., M. W. of W., ii. 2. 77.
Modest as the maid that sips alone.
Pope, Dunciad, iii. 144.
sip (sip), n. l<WE.sippe; < sip, v.] 1. The
act of sipping, or drinking by small quantities,
as a liquid.
" Here 's wnssing health to ye, E«bin " (asip\ "and to
your weelfare here and hereafter " (another taste).
Scott, Rob Roy, xxxiv.
2. A very small draught ; a taste (of a liquid).
One sip of this
Will bathe the drooping spirits in delight
Beyond the bliss of dreams, Milton, Comus, 1. 811.
3t. Drink; sup.
Thus serveth he withouten mete or gippe.
Chaucer, Anelida and Arcite, 1. 193.
sipage (si'paj), «. [< sipe + -age.] Same as
.•seepage.
sipahee, ». Same as sepoy.
sipahselar (si-pa'se-lilr), n. [Hind., < Pers.
sipah-sfildr, army-leader.] In India, a com-
mander-in-chief ; a commanding general : as,
the sipahselar Timour.
sipe (sip), V. i. ; pret. and pp. siped, ppr. siplng.
lAXsoscep (also spelled seip, sepe) ; < ME. *sipen,
< AS. *sypian, sipian, soak, macerate; cf. AS.
*sipan (pret. sap, pp. *sipen), drop, trickle (cf.
sipenige, MD. sijpooghe, sijpooghig, with run-
ning eyes), = OFries. *sipa (in comp. pp. hi-
sepen, hi-seppen) = MD. sijpen, D. zijpen, drop,
= LG. sipen, ooze, trickle (freq. sipern = Sw.
sippra, ooze, drop, trickle); appar. not an orig.
strong verb, but related to sipian, etc., and ult.
< siipan, sup, taste : see sip, sup. Cf . seep.] 1 .
To ooze; trickle; soak through or out.
The siping through of the waters into the house.
Granger, On Ecclesiastes (1621), p. 316. {Latham.)
Her throat's sair misguggled, . . . though she wears
her corpse-sheet drawn weel up to hide it, but that can-
na hinder the bluid seizing through.
Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xvii.
2. To steep; soak.
The leaves [of the mullen] are boiled in fresh cow's
milk, and, after boiling a moment, the infusion is allowed
to stand and sipe for ten minutes, when it is strained,
sweetened, and drank while warm.
New York Tribune, Sept. 6, 1886.
[Prov. Eng., Scotch, and U. S. in both uses.]
siphert, «■ An obsolete form of cipher.
siphilis, n. See syphilis.
Siphneinse (sif-nf i'ne), n . pi. [NL. , < Siphneus +
-i»a?.] A subfamily of Muridx, typified by the
genus Siphneus, containing mole-like murine
siphon
rodents with rudimentary external ears and
short limbs and tail. Thegroup combines some
characters of the Arvicolinse (which are Muridee)
with others of the different family Spalacidie.
siphneine (sif'ne-in), a. Of the character of
the Siphncinee, or belonging to that subfamily.
Siphneus (sif'ne-us), n. [NL. (Brants, 1827),
< Gr. CT(^wi'C, a mole.] 1. The typical genus of
Siphneinee. S. armandi is a Tibetan species with
large fossorial fore feet and a mole-like aspect.
— 2t. A genus of reptiles. Fitgingei; 1843.
siphon (si'fon), H. [Also syphon ; < F. siphon
= Sp. sifon = Pg. siphao = It. si/one, < L. si-
pho{n-), perhaps < Gr. ai<jMv, a tube, pipe,
siphon; akin to ai^'/6^, hollow.] 1. A bent
pipe or tube with
legs of unequal
length, used for
drawing liquid out
of a vessel by caus-
ing it to rise in the
tube over the rim
or top. For this pur-
pose the shorter leg is
inserted in the liquid,
and the air is exhaust-
ed by being drawn
through the longer
leg. The liquid then
rises by the pressure
of the atmosphere and fills the tube, and the flow
begins from the lower end. Sometimes an ex-
hausting-tube (a in the figure) is placed on the longer
leg ; the air, in that case, is sucked out through a till the
tube is filled to the cock 6, which is then opened, and the
flow commences — the cock b being so constructed as to
close the suction-tube when the siphon is running. But
the- more general method is to fill the tube in the first
place with the liquid, and then, stopping the mouth of
the longer leg, to insert the shorter leg in the vessel ;
upon removal of the stop, the liquid will immediately begin
to run. The flow depends upon the difference in vertical
height of the two columns of the liquid, measured re-
spectively from the bend of the tube to the level of the
water in the vessel and to the open end of the tube. The
flow ceases as soon as, by the lowering of the level in the
vessel, these columns become of equal height, or when
this level descends to the end of tlie shorter leg. The
atmospheric pressure is essential to support the column
of liquid from the vessel up to the top of the bend of the
tube, and this height is consequently limited, varying in-
versely with the density of the liquid. At sea-level the
maximum height is a little less than 30 inches for mercury
and 34 feet for water.
2. In zoiil., a canal or conduit, without refer-
ence to size, shape, or function ; generally, a
tube or tubular organ through which water or
other fluid passes ; a siphuncle. Specifically — (o)
In Mollusca: (1) A tubular fold or prolongation of the
mantle, forming a tube, generally paired, capable of pro-
traction and retraction, characteristic of the siphonate or
sinupalliate bivalves. It conveys water, and is of vari-
ous shape and size, sometimes several times longer than
the rest of the animal when fully extended, but usually
capable of being withdrawn into the shell. In Teredo
the united siphons are so long that the moUusk resem-
bles a womi. See cuts under ship-worm, Teredo, quahog,
and Mya^. (2) A similar siphon in some gastropods, ex-
tending from the anterior portion of the mantle over the
head. See cut under Siphmwstomata, i. (3) The charac-
teristic siphuncle, funnel, or infundibulum of cephalo-
pods, formed from the mesopodium, and serving as an
organ of locomotion by confining and directing the jet
of water which is forced through it. See siphuncle. (4)
A tubular or canaliculate formation of the shell of any
moUusk which covers or protects the soft siphon ; espe-
cially, the siphuncle of a cephalopod, or the communi-
cation between the compartments of the shell. (6) In
Rotifera, the calcar or tentaculum, a part or process of
the trochal disk, supposed to be a sense-organ, (c) In
Protozoa, one of the tubes which traverse the septa of the
interior of polythalamous tests, as the shells of foramini-
fers. id) In etUom., the suctorial mouth-parts or suck-
ing-tube of some insects, as fleas (Siphonaptera) and bugs
{Siphonata). (e) In Crustacea, the suctorial mouth-parts
of various parasitic forms. See Siphonostomata.l. (/) In
Vermes, a spout-like process of the mouth of gephyrean or
sipunculacean worms. See Gephyrea and Sipuneuloidea.
(f/) In Echinodennata, a tubular formation connected with
the alimentary canal of some sea-urchins.
3. [cap.] [NL.] In<'OHf/(..agenusofgastropods.
Also Sipho (Klein. 1753; Falricius. 1822) and Sy-
pho {Brown, 1827). — 4. In hot., one of the small
peculiar cells surrounding the large elongated
central cell in the frond of certain florideous
algaa. See ntonosiphonous, jmJysiphonnus, Poly-
siphonia. pericentral. — 5. A siphon-bottle. —
Automatic siphon, a siphon which is set in operation by
an alternate vertical movement, by which means the liquid
is forced little by little to the necessary height through a
valve in the short arm — Siphon-fllling apparatus, an
apparatus for filling siphon-bottles with aerated liquids.
It holds the bottle, and by means of a lever opens the valve
and permits the liquid to enter. It is usually provided
with a screen to protect t.ie operator from injuiy in case
the bottle bursts.— Siphon-hlnge cartilage. See rarfi-
ia(7c.— Wiirtemberg siphon (so called from its having
been first used in that country), a siphon with both legs
equal, and turned up at the extremities.
siphon (si'fon). r. [< siphon, n.] I. trans. To
convey, as water, by means of a siphon : trans-
mit br remove by a siphon.
siphon
Water may be tiphoned over obstacles which are less than
32 feet higher than the surface of the water.
Pop. Encyc, (_Imp. Diet.)
n. intrans. To pass or be conducted through
a siphon.
On introducing the bent tube, a little of the zinc solution
will first siphon over and sink to the bottom of the copper
solutiun. Sd. Amer., N. S., LVII. 370.
siphonaceons (si-fo-na'shius), a. [< siphon +
-aceous.^ in hot., possessing or characterized
by siphons: applied to florideous algse. See
siphon, 4.
srphonage (si'fon-aj), ». [< siphon + -age.']
The action or operation of a siphon ; specifical-
ly, the emptying of a siphon-formed trap, for
example in a waste-pipe, by exhaustion of the
pressure below, usually caused by a sudden flow
of water in a connected pipe.
A perfect seal against giphonage and evaporation.
Philadelphia TeUijraph. XLI. 5.
siphonal (si'fon-al), a. [< siphon + -<i/.] 1.
Pertaining to or resembling a siphon. — 2. In
zool. : (a) Pertaining or relating to the siphon
of mollusks, etc. (b) Marked by the siphon of
a bivalve moUusk ; pallial, as a sinus : as, the
siphonal impression of the shell, (c) Bent into
the form of a siphon, as the stomach of certain
fishes, one arm of the siphon being the cardiac
and the other the pyloric part Siphonal fas-
dole, in eoTich., a zone, dilTerentiated by sculpture, which
at ita end fomis the external boundary of the siphonal
notch or groove.— Siphonal SCar, in conch., the pallial
sinus- 8ee pallial, ginvs, 2 id), and cut under nnupalUaU.
Siphonaptera (si-fo-nap'te-ra), n. pi. [NL.
(LatrcilU', 1825), neut. pi.' of 'siphonapterus:
see siphonupterous.'] In Latreille's system of
classification, an order of insects, the fleas, cor-
responding exactly to the family Pulicidtp. The
moat advanced systeinatista, u Braaer and Packard, retain
it as an order, and do not consider the group a mere fain-
Ut of DipUra. The metamorpboaes are complete. The
adnlta are wingleaa, with three- to eleven-jof ntetl antenna,
long serrate mandibles, short maxilUe, four-Juinted max-
Siphon-bottle.
illary and labial palps, distinct labrum, and no hypophar-
jmi. The bodv is ovate and mach compressed. There are
only two simple eyeL and no compound eyes. The edges
of the head and prothorax are armed with stout spines di-
rected backward. The group is oftener called Aphanip-
Ura. See cut under Jlca.
Biphonapterons (si-fo-nap'te-ims), a. [< NL.
'siphonapterus, < Gr. ai^uv, a tube, pipe, + iirre-
poi, wingless: gee apterous.] Siphonate and
apterous, as a flea; baring a sucking-tube and
no wings : of or pertaining to the Siphonaplera.
Siphonana (si-fo-na'ri-a), ». [NL. (Sowerby,
1HJ4). < (ir. <T(^>', a tube, i)lpe: see siphon.] 1.
The typical genus of Siphonariidte, with a pa-
telliform shell having a siphonal groove at one
side. — 2. \l. c] A member of this genus.
The Siphonariat have aolid, conical shells, often over-
grown with sea-weeds and miUeporea. . . . They are
found on almost all tropical shores.
/'. P. CarpenUr, Lect on MoUttsca(18in), p. 82.
Siphonariacea (si-fo-na-ri-a'se-a), n. jiJ. [NL.,
< Sijilioitiiria + -acea.] A family of gastropods:
same as Sijihonariida.
Siphonarildae (sJ'fo-na-ri'i-de), «. pi. FNL., <
SiphoHfiriii -¥ -iflm.] A family of ta?nio0ossate
gastropods, tj-pified by the genus Siphonaria.
They have a broad bilobate bead ; eyes scMile on round-
ed lobes ; and rudimentary branchin, forming triangular
folds of the liidng membrane of the mantle. The shell is
pstelliform, having ■ subcentral apex and a horsesboe-
ahaped muscular Impression divided on the right side by
a deep siphonal groove. Nearly 100 speciea are known,
from different parts of the world : they are roost numer-
ous on the shores of the Pacific. They live chiefly be-
tween tide-marks.
siphonarioid (sl-fo-na'ri-oid), a. and n. I, a.
Of fir ri-liiting to the Siphonariidte.
II. «. A gastropod of the family NipAoiiani'rfa'.
Siphonata (si-fo-na'tji), n. pi. [NL., neut. pi.
of siiihonntus: see siphonate.] If. In entom.,
same as Ilcmiptrra. — 2. In conch., a division
of lamellibranch or bivalve mollusks, contain-
ing those which have one or two siphons. Ma«t
bivalvea are Stphonala, which include all the SinupaUi-
ata and some of the fnUt/ropaUiata ; the famiUea are very
numerous. Mao MacralraMa, Siphoniata, »uA SIphonida.
siphonate (si'fo-nat), a. [< NL. siphonatus, <
E. »i/>/io(m-), a tube, pipe: seesipAon.] IdzooI.,
provided with a siphon or siphons of any kind;
siphoned. SpecificaUy— (a) Having sipbonN as a bi-
valve mollusk ; of or pertaining to the Siphonata. 2 ; sinu-
palliate. (b) Having a siphon, as a cepbalopod : infundlli-
ulate. (e) Having a siphon, as a bug : of or pertaining
to the Siphonata, I ; hemipterous ; rhyiichote. (d) Form-
ing or formed into a siphon; tubular: canaliculate; in-
turiitlbulirorm; siphonal Aito liphoniale.
siphonated (si'fo-na-ted), a. li siphonate +
-til-. ] Sarno as siphonate.
siphon-barometer (si'fon-ba-rom'e-tir), n. A
barometer in which the lower end of the tube
is bent upward in the form of a siphon, in the
5653
newest form the two legs of the siphon are separate tubes
entering a cistern of mercury. By the turning of a screw
in the cistern the mercury may be made to rise in both
tubes, thereby giving surfaces of maximum convexity from
which to determine the height of the mercury in each tube.
See barometer.
siphon-bottle (si'fon-bot'l), «. A bottle for
aerated waters, fitted with
a long glass tube reaching
nearly to the bottom and
bent like a siphon at the out-
let. When the tube is opened by
pressing down a valve-lever, the
liquid is forced out by the pressure
of the gas on its surface. Also called
tiphon.
siphon-condenser ( si ' f on -
kon - den " s^r), n. A form
of condenser involving the
principle of the siphon, used
with some condensing en-
gines instead of the air-pump
and the ordinary condenser.
siphon-cnp (si'fon-kup), H.
fii mach., a form of lubricat-
ing apparatus in which the
oil is led over the edge of the
vessel by capillary action,
ascending and descending in
a cotton wick, and dropping on the part to be
lubricated.
Siphonese (si-fo'nf-e), «. pl. [NL., < L. «•'-
/>Ao(M-), a tube, pipe, + -ea.] A small order of
fresh-water algsD, belonging to the newly con-
stituted group ilultinucleatse, typified by the
genus Vaucheria (which see for characteriza-
tion).
siphoned (si'fond), a. [< siphon + -e<P.] Hav-
ing a siphon; siphonate: as, " tubular ^ipAonrri
Orthoceras," Hyatt.
siphonet (si'fqn-et), ». [< siphon + -«<l.] In
entom., one o^ the two tubes on the upper sur-
face of the abdomen of an aphis from which
honeydew exudes; a honey-tube. Also called
sijihuiirulus.
siphon-gage (si'fon-gaj), n. See gage^.
siphonia, n. Plural of »(p/ioniMni.
siphonial (si-fo'ni-al), a. [< .liphonium + -al.]
Ill ortiith., pertainingto the siphonium; atmos-
teal.
Siphoniata (si-fo-ni-a't^), n.pl. [NL. : see <St-
phtinata.] Same as Siphonata, 2.
SiphoniatiB (si-fd'ni-at), a. Same as siphon-
ate.
siphonic (si-fon'ik), a. [< siphon + -ic] Of
or pertaining to a siphon.
A single reflecting surface is insufflcient to separate the
water entirely from tbe atr, and a strong and long-con-
tinued npkonic action destn>ys its (tbe trap's) seal.
Budft Handbook a} Med. Saeneet, in. iSi.
Siphonida (sI-fon'i-dK), n. pl. [NL., < L. »i-
j)Ao(H-), a siphon, +' -ida.] Same as Sipho-
nata, 2.
siphonifer (si-fon'i-f6r), n. [NL. siphonifer, <
1/. .tiph'i{n-), a tube, pipe, + ferre = E. feear'.]
That which has a siphon ; specifically, a mem-
ber of the Siphonifera,
Siphonifera (si-fo-nif'e-rft), n. pl. [NL. (F. »i-
j'hnnijeres. D'tJrbigu v, 1826). neut. pl. of siphon-
ifer: see siphonifer.] A division of cephalo-
pods, corre8])ondiiig to the Tetrabranehiata.
siphoniferous (si-fo-nife-ms), a. [As siphon-
ifer -I- -ous.] Having a siphon; siphonate;
specifically, of or pertiiining to the Siphonifera.
Siphonifonn (si'fon-i-form), a. [< L. sipho(n-),
a tube, pipe, + forma, form.] Siphonate in
form; having the shape of a siphon.
siphoninm (sl-fo'ni-um), n.; pl. siphonia (-^).
t>JL., < L. sipho(n-), a tube, pipe: see siphon.]
n ornith., the atmosteon or air-bone which
conveys air from the tympanic cavity to the
pneumatic cavity of the mandible.
In some birds the air is conducted from the tympa-
num to the articular piece of the mandible by a special
bony tul>e, the nphantum. Hiadey, Anat. Vert., p. 272.
siphonless (sl'fon-les), a. [< siphon + -less.]
Ilaviiifr no siphon; asiphonate.
siphon-mouthed (si'fon-moutht), a. Having
a mouth fitted for sucking the juices of plants:
specifically noting homopterous insects. See
siphonostomatous.
Siphonobranchlat« (si'fo-no-brang-ki-a'ta), «.
;;?. [XL., < (jr. mi^v, a tube, pipe, + fipayx'a,
gills, + -ata.] In I>e Blainville's classification
(1H25), the first order of his ParacepliiiUijihorii
(iioica, containing the "families" Siphoiioslo-
miita. Entomostomnta, and Angiostomata, and
contrasted with the order Asiphonobranchiata.
See Siphonochlamyda.
Siphonophora
siphonobranchiate (si'fo-no-brang'ki-at), a.
aud II. I. II. Of or pertaining to the Siphono-
branchiatu ; siphonostomatous; siphonochlam-
ydate.
II. n. A member of the Siphonobranchiata
or Sijihonostoiiiatii, 2.
Siphonochlamyda (si'fo-no-klam'i-da), n. ^l.
[NL., < Gr. ai^i>, a tube, pipe, -I- x^-^f^'i (X^"-
fivd-), a short cloak.] A suborder of reptant azy-
gobranehiate gastropods, having the mantle-
margin siphonate. There are many families,
all marine and mostly carnivorous, always with
a spiral shell, which is usually operculate.
siphonochlamydate (si"fo-n6-kiam'i-dat), a,
[As Siphonochlamyda + -ate^.] Having the
mantle-margin drawn out into a trough, spout,
or siphon, and accordingly a notched lip of the
shell; of or pertaining to the Siphonochlamyda.
There are many families, grouped as tsenioglossate, toxo-
gtogmte, and rachigtossate. The term is synonymous with
siphonoiftomaious as applied to the shell.
Siphonocladaces (si'fo-no-kla-da'se-e), «. pl.
[NL., < Siphonocladus + -aceee.] An order of
very remarkable green algte, belonging to the
class Multinucleate. They are inhabitants of warm
and shallow seas, and are characterized by the thallus
consisting of a single cell, which is often of veiy great size,
exhibiting, in fact, the largest dimensions attained by the
single cell in the whole vegetable kingdom. This cell is
often much branched, and is ditferentiated into root-like
and stem-like parts. The ordinary mode of reproduction
seems to be by means of zoospores, which germinate di-
rectly without conjugation ; but in many of the genera
the mode of reproduction is not known. The group in-
cludes the Caxderpex, Valoniaceee, Bryopgidex, etc.
siphonocladaceous (si"fo-n9-kla-da'shius), a.
[< Siphiinoclndiicese + -ous.] In bot., resem-
bling or belonging to the Siphonocladacese or the
genus Siphonocladus.
Siphonocladus (si-fo-nok'la-dus), n. [NL.,
< Gr. aiipuv, a tube, pipe, + /tXdiSof, a branch.]
A genus of algfc, giving name to the order Si-
phonocladacese.
Siphonognathidse (si'fo-nog-nath'i-de), II. pl.
[NL., < Siphonognathus + -idle.] A fami'y of
acanthopterygian fishes, typified by the genus
Siphonognathus. The body is very long; the head is
also elongate and its facial parts are proiluced into a tube ;
the dorsal fin has numerous flexible spines ; the anal fln
is moderate, and veiitrals are wanting. Only one spe-
cies is known, 5. argyrophaneg, of King George Sound,
Australia, which is related to the Labridx, but differs in
the characters specified. It is a rare fish.
Siphonog^athoid (si-fo-nog'na-thoid), n. and a.
l<. SiphiDiofinathiis-i- -aid.] I. «. A fish of the
family Siphoiiognathidse.
II. a. Of or relating to the StpAoHoi/nafAirfa?.
Siphonognathus (si-fo-nog'na-thus), n. [NL.
(Richardson, 1857), < 6r. mipuv, a tube, pipe, +
■yvdfhc, jaw.] In ichth., a genus of acanthop-
terygian fishes, characterized by the long sub-
tubiuar mouth, and typical of the family Si-
phonminathida.
Siphonophora^ (si-fo-nof'o-ril), n. [NL.
(Brandt, 1836), fern, siiig. of 'siphmiophorus, <
Gr. aujiavoi^pog, carrying tubes, \ aiijiui', a tube,
pipe, + -ipopoq, < ipipcw = E. bear^.] 1. A genus
of myriapods, typical of the unused family Si-
phoiiophoridte. — 2. A notable genus of plant-
lice (Aphididie), erected by Koch in 1855, hav-
ing long nectaries, and the antennae usually
longer than the body. It contains numerous species,
many of which are common to Europe and America, as the
grain plant-louse, & avetue, and the rose plant-louse, S.
rma.
Siphonophora'-' (si-f6-nof 'o-rft), «. pl. [NL.,
neut. Y}\.oi'.iiphoiwpbonis: see Siphonophora^.]
Oceanic hydrozoans, a subclass of Hydrozoa or
an order of Hydromedusse, containing free pe-
lagic forms in which hydriform persons and ster-
ile medusiform persons (in one family only the
former) are united in colonies or aggregates
under many special modifications, btit definite
and constant in each instance. The medusiform
or sexual persons are usually only in the form of Bjjoro-
sacs, but sometimes are matured before they are set free
from the colony. The structure is essentially a hollow
stem or stock, budding into many different kinds of ap-
pendages, representing modified hydriinths, hyilriform
persons, or uiidevelopfd medusiforms. The appeiidsges
which a siphonophoran may or does have are tbe float,
pneuniatophore or pneuniatocyst, which may be absent or
replaced by an inflatiun of the whole stem, 1 he soniatocyst,
as ill the rortuguese nianof-war; the swimming-bell or
nectocalyx ; the hydiophyllium, covering some of the
other parts; the dactylozouid, or tent.iciiliform peison:
the gastrozoiiid or nutritive person, which may be highly
differentiated Into oral, pharyngeal, gitstric, and bnsnl
parts, which latter may bear long tentacles; and the
sexual persons, medusiform buds proper, or goliophores.
The arrangement of these elements is very diverse in the
different forms of the order. The Siphinnphf/ra are 8<jme-
tlmes divided into two onlers, Calycojihiira ami Phy-
tojthfjra, or Into four suborders. Kccognized families
are Athorybiid/e. Agalmidte, Apotemiidir, Phynophorida,
Rhizophysidee, Phytaliidse, Uippopodiida, Mtmophyidst,
Siphonophora
Diphyidtt, and VeUUidje. See cute under hydrophyUium,
Phynalui, hydraiUh, tentacular, AthorybiOy gonot^agtidittm,
(joiwphon, and nematocyst.
siphonoplioran (si-fo-nof o-ran), a. and n. [<
NL. Sijijionophora- + -on.] I. a. Of orpertain-
iugto the Siphoiiopliora.
n. «. A member of the subclass Siphono-
phora.
siphonophore (si'fo-no-for), «. [< NL. Siphono-
jihiirii'-^/\ S&mesLSSiphonophoran. Eneyc. Brit.,
XVIIl. 261.
siphonophorons (si-fo-uof'o-ms), a. [< NL.
*>sipli(>iuiplu)rus: see Siphonophora^.'] Same as
.tiplioiioplioran.
Siphonoplaz (si-fon'o-plaks), n. [< Gr. oi<fiav, a
tube, pipe, + ir/ai, a tablet, plate.] One of
several calcareous plates behind the valves of
certain pholads, which combine to form a tube
around the siphons. See Pholadidea.
siphonopod (si-fon'o-pod), a. and n. [< Gr.
aiijxjp, a tube, pipe, + noic (vod-) = E. foot.] I. a.
Having the foot converted into a siphon ; hav-
ing a tubular mesopodium ; of or pertaining to
the Siphonopoda.
H. «. Amembevof the S(j)/iO)ioj)orfa; a eeph-
iilopod.
Siphonopoda (si-fo-nop'o-da), m.^i!. [NL. : see
siphonopod.] 1. 'The Ccj>h(dopoda, in a,n ordi-
nary sense. When the pteropods are included with the
cephalopods in one class, the latter constitute a branch or
division, Siphonopoda, contrasted with Pteropoda. E. H.
LatUcester.
2. An order of scaphopodous moUusks, repre-
sented by the Siphoiiodcntidiidse. 0. Sors.
siphonopbdous (si-fo-nop'o-dus), a. Same as
^^
■\.
Siphonorhis americana.
siphonorhine (si-fon'6-rin), a. [< Gr. (t/^c, a
tube, pipe, + />/f {pw-), nose.] Having tubular
nostrils, as a petrel ; tubinarial.
siphonorMnian (si"fo-n6-rin'i-an), a. and n. [<
siphintorhine + -/«n.] 1. a. Same as siphono-
rliiiic.
II. «. A tube-nosed bird — that is, a bird of
the petrel family.
Siphonorhis (si-fon'o-
ris). «. [NL. {P. L. Scla-
ter, 1861): see siphono-
rhine.] Agenusof Amer-
ican Caprinmlgidx or
goatsuckers, having tu-
bular nostrils. The only
species, S. americana, in-
habits Jamaica.
Siphonostoma (si - f o -
nos'to-mii), n. pi. In zool, same as Siphono-
S til III (ltd, 1.
Siphonostomata (si"f9-no-stom'a-ta), «. pi.
[XL., neut. pi. of siphonosiomatus :' see siphono-
stonMtous.] \. la Crustacea: (a) In Latreille's
classification, the second family of Ms Pcecilopo-
da, divided into Caligides and Lernseiformes, the
former of which is approximately equivalent to
the modem order Siphonostomata, the latter to
the Lernieoidea. All are parasitic crustaceans.
(6) An order of epizoic or parasitic crustaceans,
having the thorax segmented, several pairs of
limbs, three pairs of maxillipeds, and antennffi.
It corresponds to the Caligides of Latreille.
There are several families of these fish-lice.
Also called Siplwnostoma. — 2. In Mollusca, a
division of prosobranchiate gastropods, having
the lip of the shell notched, canaliculate, or
tubular, for the
protrusion of a
respiratory si-
phon : contrast-
ed with Holosto-
mata. This forma-
tion of the shell is
correlated with the
development of the
siphon (see ^ipftono-
branchiata, Sipkono-
chlamyda). In I>e
Blainville's classifi-
cation the Siphono-
stomata were one of three families into which he divided
his Siphoitobranchiata, contrasted with Entomostmnata and
AivjioxUnnatn, and included numerous genera of several
modern families, as Pleurotomidx, Turbiiietlidse, Colum-
bellidse, iluricidte, and others. All these gastropods are
marine, and most are carnivorous.
siphonostomatOUS (si"f9-no-stom'a-tus),o. [<
NL. xiphonostomntuf!, < Gr. ai(j>uv, a tube, pipe,
+ 070110(7-), mouth, front.] Having a sipho-
nate mouth, in anyform; of or pertaining to the
Siphonostomata, in any sense. Specifically— (a)
Having a tubular or fistulous snout, as a pipe-fish. (6)
Having mouth-parts fitted for sucking or holding on, as a
flsh-lonse ; opposed to odontostomatftuif. (c) Having the
lip of the shell canaliculate, as a shell-fish ; not holostom-
atous. Also riphonogtotrwug.
Red Whelk iJ^itsus antiquus'), one of
the Siphonostontaia,
a, branchial siphon ; b, proboscis ; c, oper-
culum ; a, d, tentacles ; /, foot.
5654
siphonostome (si'fo-no-stom), n. [< NL. Si-
phonostoma.] A siphonostomatOUS animal, as
a fish, a lish-louse, or a shell-fish.
siphonostomous (si-fo-nos'to-mus), a. Same
as siphonositomatous.
siphon-pipe (si'fon-plp), n. 1. A pipe with a
curve or bend, acting on the principle of the
siphon, serviug to conduct liquids over inequal-
ities of ground. — 2. In conch., a siphon or si-
phon-tube.
Siphon-ptunp (si'fon-pump), n. A form of
steam ]et-pump placed at the lower end of a
Uelivery-pipe, near the surface of the water
to be raised, having also a short suction-pipe,
and taking its steam at the bottom through a
bent pipe or inverted siphon, which extends
downward, and turns upward at its lower end
to unite with the steam induction-port of the
l>uinp. Compare ejector and injector.
siphon-recorder (si'fon-re-k6r"d6r), n. An
instrument, invented by Sir William Thomson,
for recording messages sent through long tele-
graphic lines, as submarine cables. See re-
corder, 5, and telegraph.
siphon-shell (si'lon-shel), n. .Any member of
the Siphonariidie.
siphon-slide (si'fon-slid), n. In microscopy, a
form of glass slide adapted for holding small
aquatic animals or fish in the field of a micro-
scope. It has a tank which is filled with water and is
connected l>y means of rubber tubes with two bottles.
On one bottle filled with water being placed above the
slide, and the other below it, the tubes act as a siphon, and
maintain a constant current through the tank.
siphon-tube ( si ' f on-tflb ),n. hx conch., a, siphon
or sipliou-pipe.
siphon-worm (si'fon-werm), n. Any member
of the Sipunculidie ; a spoonworm.
siphorhinal (si-fo-ri'nal), a. Same as siphono-
rhinc.
siphorhinian (si-fo-rin'i-an), a. Same as sipho-
norhinian.
SiphOSOme (si'fo-som), «. [< Gr. aiifiuv, a tube,
pipe, + adjia, tHe body.] The nutrient portion
of a siphonophoran stock. See nectosome.
Siphuncle (si'fung-kl), v. [< L. siphunculus, LL.
also sipunculus, dim. of sipho(n-), tube, pipe :
se% siphon.] In zool.: (a) A siphon ; especially,
the siphon orfunnelof tetrabranchiate cephalo-
pods, between the chambers of the shell which
it connects. See cut under Tetrahranchiata .
(h) In cntom., same as nectary, 2. Also called
cornicle, honey-tube, siphonet, and siphunculus.
siphuncled (si'fung-kld), a. [< siphuncle +
-(y/2.] Having a siphuncle.
siphuncular (si-fung'ku-lar), a. [< L. siphun-
culus, a little tube or pipe, + -ar^.] Of or per-
taining to a siphuncle ; siphonal : as, the siphun-
cular pedicle of a pearly nautilus.
siphunculate (si-fung'ku-lat), a. [< L. siphun-
culus (see siphuncle) +' -ate'^.] Having a si-
phuncle; siphuncled.
Siphunculated (si-fung'ku-la-ted), a. [< si-
jihuncuhite + -ed^.] Same as siphunculate.
siphunculus (si-fung'ku-lus), ». [NL., < L. si-
ph uncnlus, a little tube : see siphuncle.] 1 . PI.
siphunculi (-li). In entom., a siphuncle. — 2.
[cap.] See Sipunculus. J. E. Gray, 1840.
sipper (sip'er), n. One who sips.
They are all Hpperg; . . . they look as they would not
drink off two pen'orth of bottle-ale amongst them.
B. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, iii. 1.
sippet (sip'et), n. [Formerly also sippit; early
mod. E. syppet; < sij> or sop (with vowel-change
&& m sip) + -et] It. A little sip or sup.
In all her dinner she drinketh but once, and that is not
pure wine, but water mixed with wine; in suche wise
that with her sippets none may satisfle his appetite, and
much lesse kill his thirst.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1677), p. 98.
2. Anything soaked or dipped in a liquid be-
fore being eaten; a sop; especially, in the
plural, bread cut into small pieces and served
in milk or broth. In modern cookeiy the term is ap-
plied to small pieces of toasted or fried bread served
with soup or with minced meat.
Cut this bread in sippets for brewis.
Urquhart, tr. of Rabelais, ii. 4.
Put then into him [a chub] a convenient quantity of the
best butter you can get, with a little nutmeg grated into
it, and sippets of white bread.
/. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 70.
3. A fragment ; a bit.
What can you do with three or four fools iu a dish, and
a blockhead cut into sippetg?
Middleton and Rowley, Spanish Gypsy, ii. 1.
sipple (sip'l), v.; pret. and pp. sippled, ppr. sip-
pling. [Freq. of sip.] I. intrans. To sip fre-
quently ; tipple.
sipylite
A trick of sippting and tippling. Scott, Antiquary, ix.
II. trans. To drink by sips.
From this topic he transferred his disquisitions to the
verb drink, which he aftirmed wjis improperly applied to
the taking of coffee ; inasmuch as people did not drink,
but sip or sipple that liquor.
Smollett, Roderick Random, xlv. {Davics.)
siprest, ». An obsolete spelling of cypress"^.
Sipunculacea (si-pung-ku-la'se-il), n.pl. [NL.,
< LL. sipunculus, a little tube or siphon (see
Sipunculus, siphuncle), + -acea.] The spoon-
woi-ms, in a broad sense, as a group of echino-
derms : synonymous with Gephyrea. Brandt,
1835.
sipunculacean (si-pung-ku-la'sf-an), a. and n.
I. a. Of or pertaining to the Sipunculacea ; si-
punculoid; gephyrean.
II. n. A member of the Sipunculacea; a
gephyrean worm.
sipunculaceous (si-pung-ku-la'shius), a. Same
as .sip u n c u la cea n .
Sipunculida (si-pung-kii'li-da), n. pi. [NL., <
Sipunculus + -Ida.] The spoonworms: so named
by Leuekart in 1848 as an order of his class Scy-
todermata, contrasted with Holothuriec.
Sipunculidae (si-pung-kti'li-de), n. pi. [NL.,
< Sipunculus + -idee.] 1. The spoonworms
proper, a restricted family of sipuneuloid or
gephyrean worms, typified by the genus Sipun-
culus, having a retractile tentaouliferous pro-
boscis.— 2. The Sipunculoidea as a class of ani-
mals under a phylum Gejj/ij/jca. E.Ii.Lankester.
sipunculiform (si-pung'ku-li-f6rm), a. [< NL.
Sipunculus, q. v., 4- L. forma, form.] Same as
sipuneuloid.
sipuneuloid (si-pung'ku-loid), a. and n. [< Si-
punculus + -oid.] I, a. Resembling a spoon-
worm ; related or pertaining to the Sipuncu-
loidea : as, a sipuneuloid gephyrean.
II. n. A member of the Sipunculoidea.
Sipunculoidea (si-pung-ku-loi'de-a), n. pi.
[NL., < Sipunculus -I- -oidea.] Tho spoonworms,
in a broad sense, as a class of annulose animals :
synonymous with Sipunculacea and Gephyrea.
Sipunculomorpha (si-pung"ku-16-m6r'fii), «.
pi. [NL.,<«-
puneultis, q. v.,
+ Gr. i^ofxjtfi,
form, shape.]
The spoon-
worms as a
subclass of
Gep/(2/rea, con-
trasted with
Echitiromor-
pha, and com-
posed of two
orders, Sipun-
culina and Pri-
apulina.
sipunculo-
morphic (si-
pung "ku-16-
mor'fik), a. [<
Sipunculomor-
pha + -ic]
Having the
form or struc-
ture of a
spoonworm; of
or pertaining
tothe Sip u)i<;u-
lomorpha.
A. Sipunculus nudus, one fourth natural
size, in longitudinal sectJoiL T, tentacles ;
r, r, r, r, four retractor muscles of the probos-
cis, detached from the points r',r' in the body-
walls : a, anus; or, esophagus; t, intestine
with J', j", itsloop.s ; x.jt, appendages of rec-
tum ; z, fusiform muscle ; tv, ciliated groove
H. '1 , - ofintestine: ?, anal muscles ; j.cascal glands
OipUIlCul'uSvSl- of i, caeca, the so-called testes ; >». pore at end
■nuuff'ku-lus) of body ; «. nervous cord.ending in a lobed
" ^„*,-^ ^l eanglienic mass near the mouth, with an en-
largement, £', posteiiorly; /«', w", muscles
associated with the nervous cord,
£. Larval Sipunculus, about one twelfth of an
inch lon^. 0, mouth ; o", esophagus; s. caecal
gland ; ;', intestine with masses of fatty cells;
a, anus ; w, ciliated groove of intestine ; £■,
brain with two pairsof red eye-spots; w, ner-
vous cord ; p, pore ; f, t' , so-culled testes ;
W, W, circlet of cilia.
M. [NL., <
LL. sipuncu-
lus, var. of si-
phunculus, a
little tube or
pipe : see si-
phuncle.] 1.
The typical genus of Sipunculidse, named by
Brandt, in 1835. as a genus of eehinoderms.
The retractile proboscis is as long as the body, and pro-
vided with a circlet of tentacles about the mouth. S.
bemhardus is found on the coast of Europe, living at a
depth of from 10 to 30 fathoms in the shell of some mol-
lusk. Some species burrow in the sand and are used for
bait or as food, as S". edulis.
2. fl. c] A member of this genus.
sipylite (sip'i-lit), «. [So called in allusion to
the associated names niohium and tantalum;
< L. Sipylus, < Gr. liKv?.og, tlie name of one of
the children of Niobe and of a mountain near
Smyrna where Niobe was changed to stone, -I-
->t(fi. Cf. niohium, tantalum.] A rare niobite
of erbium, the metals of the cerium gi-oup,
uranium, and other bases. It occurs iu tetragonal
sipylite
crystals, isomorphous with fergusonite, also massive, of a
browiiish-blacl£ color and resinous luster. It is found in
Amherst county, Virginia.
si Quis (si kwis), II. [L.ni quis, if any one, the first
words of a formal notification or advertisement :
»i, if ; qiiis, any one : see icho.] A public notice ;
specifically, in the Ch. of Eng., a notice public-
ly given in the parish church of a candidate for
the diaconate or priesthood, announcing his in-
tention to offer liimself for ordination, and ask-
ing any one present to declare any impediment
against his admission to orders. " in the case of a
bishop a public notice is afBxed to the door of a church
{Bow church for the province of Canterbury).
Saw'st thou ever ri({uu patcb'd on Paul's church door,
To seel! some vacant vicarage before ?
Bp. Han, Satires, II. v.
My end is to paste up a gi qui*,
J^oriton, What you Will, iii. (Nara.)
Si-quis(si'kwis), r. /. [<si qim,n.'\ To adver-
tise or notify publicly. [Rare.]
I must excuse my departure to Theomachus, otherwise
he may send here and cry after me, and Si quit me in the
next gazette. Qentltman Irutructed, p. 312. {Daciet.)
sir (ser), H. [< ME. sir, syr, ier, pi. sires, seres,
serijs, a shortened form, due to its unaccented
use as a title, of sire, syre = Icel. sira, in mod.
pron. sera, sera, < OF. sire, master, sir, lord, in
F. used in address to emperors and kings (=
Pr. sire, eyre = It. sere, sire, ser), a weaker form
of OF. senre, sendra (in ace. and hence nom.
seigneur, sieur = Sp. seiior = Pr. Pg. senhor =
It. sigiior, a lord, gentleman, in address sir), <
L. senior (ace. seniorem), an elder. ML. a chief,
lord: seescHtor. Ct. sire, signor, seignior, seiior,
etc.] It. A master; lord; sovereign. The use
of nr in this and the next sense is derived in part, if not
wholly, from its use in address (def. S): the regular form
for these senses is sire. (Hee nrt.) The Middle English
forms cannot be discriminated in the plural.
Sole rir o' the world,
I cannot project mine own cause so well
To make It clear. Shak., A. and C, v. 2. 120.
2. A person of rank or importance ; a person-
age ; a gentleman.
A nobler Hr ne'er lived
Twixt sky and ground.
Skak., Cymbeline, v. 6. 145.
Here stalks me by a proud aud spangled or.
That looks three haudfuls higher than his toretop.
B. Jomon, Cynthia's Revels, UL 2.
3. Master; mister: a respectful and formal
title of address, used formerly to men of supe-
rior rank, position, or age, and now to men of
equal rank, or without regard to rank, as a mere
term of address, without etymological signifi-
«aDCe. In emphatic assertions, threat*, or reproaches
the word takes meaning from the tone in which it is ut-
tered. It was used sometimes formerly, and is still dla-
lectally, in addressing women.
"What, $eryt>" heseith, "thiagoth not all aright"
Qeneryda (E. E. T. 8.), 1. 1536.
And tLot] selde, 1 prey aow.nff**, bowith down into the
Aows of goure child, and dwelllth there.
Wydif, Oen. xix. 2.
My noble girls ! Ah. women, women, look,
Onr lamp U spent, it 's out '. Good rir$. take heart.
Shak., A. and C, It. 15. 84.
Fed. Whence come yon. Hr!
San. From fleaing myself, mr.
Soto. Krom playing with fencers, sir; and they have
heat him out of his clothes, or.
Middleton and RmcUy, Spanish (iypsy, 11. 2.
She had nothing ethereal about her. No, tir; she was
of the earth earthy.
ThacieTay, Kits- lloodle Papers, Dorothea.
Speciacally -(o) Icoh.I A title ct honor prefixed to the
Christian names of knights and baronets, and formerly
applied also to those of higher rank, as the king; it was
.also prefixed occasionally to the title of rank Itself ' as
Sir King ; Sir Knight ; Sir Herald.
Syr Edwarde, somtyme Kynge of England, our fader.
Amold't Chrm., p. 81.
But, Sir, is thfs the way to recover your Father's Favour?
Why, Sir Sampwn will be lireconcileable.
Cangme. Love for Love, I. 1.
Sir king, there be but two old men that know.
Tennyton, Coming of Arthur.
(6t) Formerly, a title of a bachelor of arts ; hence, a title
given to a clergyman ; also, a clergyman.
Sir. A title formerly applied to priesU and curates in
general, for this reason : dominns. the academical title of
a bachelor of arts, was usually rendered by tir in English
at the universities. So that a bachelor, who in the books
stood t)r>nilnus Brown, was In conversation called Sir
Brown. . . Therefore, as most clerical persons had taken
that first degree, it became ustial to style them Sir.
Nixrta.
And xxvll Day of August Decessyd Syr ThomaaToppe.
a ptest of the west connlre.
Tarkinntou, Diarie of Eng. Traveli, p. 6«.
I prithee, put on this gown and this beard ; make him
Delieve thou art Sir Topas the curate.
Shak., T. N., Iv. 2. 2.
Voted, .Sept 5th, 17«3, "that Sir Bewail. B. A., be the
Instructor in the Hebrew and other learned languages for
"">• ysMi." l-ttnt, HUt Harv. Univ., p. 2S4.
" 5655
Sir Johnt, a priest ; a clergyman.
Instead of a faithful and painful teacher, they hire a Sir
John, which hath better skill in playing at tables . . .
than in God's word. Latimer.
Sir John Barleycorn. See barleycorn,— Sir Roger de
Coverley. Same as Roger de Coverley.
sir (s^r), r. ; pret. and pp. sirred, ppr. sirring,
[< sir, H.] I. trans. To address as " sir."
My brother and sister Mr. Solraes'd him and Sirr'd him
up at every word.
Richardson, Clarissa Harlowe, I. 47. (Dames.)
II. in trans. To use the word sir.
Oh it looks ill
When delicate tongues disclaim all terms of kin,
Sir-inr/ and Madam-ing. Southey, To Margaret Hill.
Siraballi(sir-a-bari), «. [S. Amer.] A fragrant
timber from British Guiana, the product of an
unidentified tree.
siraskier, «. Same as seraskier.
sircar (ser-kilr'), n. [Also sirkar, cirear, cerear;
< Hind, sarkdr, < Pers. sarkar, head of affairs,
superintendent, chief, < ser, sar, the head, + kdr
= Skt. kara, action, work, business. Cf. sir-
dar,'i In India: (a) The supreme authority;
the government. (6) The master; the head of
a domestic establishment, (c) A servant who
keeps account of the household expenses and
makes purchases for the family; a house-stew-
ard ; in merchants' offices, a native accoimtant
or clerk, (d) A division of a province: used
chiefly in the phrase the Xorthern Sircars, a
former division of the Madras Presidency.
sirdar (s6r-diir'),»i. [Also «orrf«r; < Hind, sar-
ddr, < Pers. sardur, a leader, chief, commander,
< ser, sar, a head, chief, + -ddr, holding, keep-
ing, possessing. Cf. sircar.] In India: (a) A
chief or military officer; a person in command
or authority.
As there are many Janizaries about the country on their
little estates, they are governed by a sardar in every cas-
telUte, and are subject only to their own body.
Pocoeke, Description of the East, II. i. 267.
(6) Same as sirdar-bearer.
A cloae palkfe, with a paasenger : the bearers . . . trot-
ting to a Jerking ditty which the sirdar, or leader, is im-
provising. J. W. Palmer, The New and the Old, p. 266.
sirdar-bearer (s^-r-dar'bSr'fer). ». in India,
originally, the chief or leader of the bearers of
a palanquin, who took the orders of the master;
hence, a head servant, sometimes a kind of head
waiter, sometimes a valet or body-servant.
sire (sir), n, [< ME. sire, syre = Sp. Pg. sire =
(i. Dan. 8w. sire, < OF. sire, master, lord, sir,
sire, lonl (used in addressing a sovereign), < L.
senior, an elder, ML. a chief, lord, ong. adj.,
elder, compar. of setiex, old : see senior, Cf. sir.]
If. A master; a lord; hence, a personage of
importance ; an esquire ; a gentleman.
Ther rede I wel he wol be lord and syre.
Chaucer, Parliament of Fowls, 1. 12.
Oure lire in his see aboue the seuene sterris
Sawe the many mysacheuys that these men dede.
Richard the Reddest, lit S6-2.
2. Master; lord; my lord: a respectful and for-
mal title of address, used formerly to men of
superior rank, position, or age, especially to a
pnnce. (8ee«y.) .S'l'rc is or has been in pres-
ent or recent use only in addressing a king or
other sovereign prince.
Thence to the oonrt he past : there told the King, . .
And added "Sin, my liege, so much I learnt."
Tennyson, Lancelot and Ehiine.
3t. The master of a house ; goodman ; husband.
Upon a nyght Jankin, that was our sire.
Kedde on his book, as be sat by the fire.
Chaucer, Prol. to Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 713.
The only exception known tome is art vi. in the Statuts
des Poalaillers de Paris: " The wife of a prjulterer may
carry on the said mvstery after the death of her husband
quite as freely as If her sin was alive ; and if she marries a
man not of the mystery, and wishes to carry it on, she must
buy the (right of carnring on the) mystery."
Kni/Kth OUdt (E. E. -r. S.X p. cxxxil., note.
4. An old person ; an elder.
He was an aged syre, all hory gray.
Sfenier,F.<i.,I.x.i.
That bearded, staff-supported Sire— . . .
That Old Man, studious to expound
The spectacle, is mounting high
To days of dim antiquity.
Wordturorth, White Doe of Rylstone, L
6. A father; an ancestor; a progenitor: used
also in composition: as, grandsire/great-grand-
OTre.
Lewde wrfcche. wel bysemithe thi sirii Sonne to wedde
me I Oesla Romanorum (ed. Herrtage), p. 124.
He, Imt a duke, would have his son a king.
And raise his issue, like a loving sire.
.Shak., 3 Hen. VI., ii. 2. 22.
Sona, s<rsi, and grandn'ro, all will wear the hays.
Pope, Imit of Horace, II. i. 171.
siren
6. The male parent of a beast : used especially
of stallions, but also of bulls, dogs, and other
domestic animals : generally with dam as the
female parent.
The sires were well selected, and the growing animals
were not subjected to the fearful setbacks attendant on
passing a winter on the cold plains.
The Century, XXXVII. 834.
7. A breed ; a growth : as, a good sire of pigs,
or of cabbages. Hallitcell. [Prov. Eng.]
sire (sir), V. t. ; pret. and pp. sired, ppr. siring,
[< sire, ».] To beget; procreate: used now
chiefly of beasts, and especially of stallions.
Cowards father cowards, and base things sire base.
Shak., Cymbeline, iv. 2. 26.
Siredon (si-re'don), n. [NL. (Wagler), < LL. si-
redon, in pi. siredones, < Gr. aeipniuv, a late col-
lateral form of mtpjiv,'a, siren: see siren.l A
larval salamander; a urodele batrachian with
gills, which may subsequently be lost : original-
ly applied to the Mexican axolotl, the larval or
gilled form of Amhlystoma mexicana, under the
impression that it was a distinct genus. See
cut under axolotl,
sireless (sir'les), a, [< sire + -less.'\ 1. With-
out a sire ; fatherless.
That Mother-Maid,
Who Sireless bore her Sire, yet ever-Maid.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's I'riumph of Faith, iii. 33.
2. Ungenerative: unproereative ; unproductive.
The Plant is leaf-less, branch-less, void of fruit ;
The Beast Is lust-less, sexless, sire-less, mute.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., Eden.
siren (si'ren), n. and a, [Early mod. E. also
syren, sirene; < ME. sirene, syrene. also serein,
sereyn, < OF. sereine, F. sirhie = Pr. serena =
Sp. sirena = Pg. serea, sereia = It. sirena, serena
= I), sireen = G. Dan. sirene = Sw. siren, < L.
iHren, ML. also sirena and serena (by confusion
with L. serena, fem. of serenus, serene), < Gr.
atipiiv, a siren; formerly supposed to mean
'entangler,' < aeipd, a cord; but prob. akin to
oipiyi, a pipe (see syringe), Skt. ^/svar, sound,
praise (> srara, a sound, voice, etc.), and E.
sicear,sicarm.'\ I. n. 1. In^. myth., oneof two,
three, or an in-
determinate
number of sea-
nymphs who
by their sing-
ing fascinated
those who sailed
by their island,
and then de-
stroyed them.
In works of art they
are represented as
having the head,
arms, and general-
ly the bust of a
young woman, the
wings and lower
part of the body,
or sometimes only
the feet, of a bird.
In Attic usage they
are familiar as god-
desses of the erave, personifying the expression of regret
and lamentation for the dead. See Harpy monument (un-
der harpy), and compare cut under cmiolon.
Next whei-e the sirens dwell you plough the seas!
Their song is death, and makes destruction please.
W. Broome, in Pope's Odyssey, xii. 61.
2t. A mermaid.
Though we merniaydens tiepe hem here
In English, as is oure usaunce,
Men clepen hem sereynn in France.
Rom. 0/ the Rose, 1. 684.
Orer-against the creeke Peestanum, there is Leucasia,
called so of a meremaid or sirene there buried.
Holland, tr. of Pliny, lit 7.
3. A charming, alluring, or enticing woman ; a
woman dangerous from her arts of fascination.
This Semiramis, this nymph.
This siren, that will charm Rome's Saturnine.
Shak., Tit And., ii. 1. 23.
4. One who sings sweetly.
In deep of night ... then listen I
To the celestial sirens' harmony.
Milton, Arcades, 1. 63.
6t. A fabulous creature having the form of a
winged serpent.
Ther be also in some places of arabye serpentis named
sirenes, that ronne faster than an horse, A haue wynges to
fie. iio*ee«/ioo*(E. E. T. S.), p. 238.
6. In lierpet,: (a) Any member ot the Sirenidae.
(h) [caj).] [NL.] A Linnean genus of amphibi-
ans,now restricted as the type of the f amily A'jre-
nidee. Also Sirene. — 7. One of the Sirenia, as the
manatee, dugong, halieore.or sea-cow; any sire-
nian. — 8. An acoustical instrument consisting
essentially of a wooden or metallic disk, pierced
sirens.— From a Greek funeral marble
(n Chios. (From Mitttieilungen of the Ger-
man Institute in Athens.)
siren
with holes equidistantly arranged in a circle,
which can be revolved over a jet of compressed
air or steam so as to pro-
duce periodic puffs. When
the revolutions are rapid enoiiKh.
the puffs coalesce into a musical
tone. The revolution of the disk
is effected either by a motor of
some kind, or by setting the
holes at an oblique angle so that
the impact of the jet shall do the
work. In the more complicated
forms of the instrument two or
more tones can be produced at
once, either by having two or
more concentric circles of holes
in the same disk, or by two sepa-
rate disks : the latter form is
called a double siren. The num-
ber of revolutions required to ^ireu.
produce a given tone can be counted and exhibited in
Tarious ways ; and the application of the instrument in
acoustical experiments and demonstrations is wide. In
the cut o is a perforated disk made to revolve by the pres-
sure of the air forced from the bellows beneath through if;
b, vertical shaft revolving with the disk, and, by means of
■ pair of cog-wheels in the box c, turning the two index-
hands on their respective dial-plates, and thus register-
ing the number of revolutions made during the time of
observation. Very large sirens are sometimes made for
use aa fog-signals, the sound being conveyed seaward in a
large trumpet-shaped tube called a /og-hnrn, a name also
given to the whole arrangement. See /og-hom. Also
sirene.
0. An apparatus for testing woods and metals
to ascertain their sonorous qualities. E. H.
Knight. — 10. In her., the representation of a
mermaid, used as a bearing.
II. a. Pertaining to or characteristic of a
siren; dangerously alluring; fascinating; be-
witching.
What potions have I dranlc of Siren tears,
Dis(f J'd from limbecks foul as hell within !
Shak., Sonnets, cxix.
And still false- warbling in his cheated ear.
Her Siren voice enchanting draws him on.
Thomson, Spring, 1. 991.
sirene (si-ren'), n. [< F. sirine, a siren: see
siren.'} Same as siren, 8.
Sirene (si-re'ne), n. [NL. (Oken, 1816): see
siren.'} In zool., same as Siren, 6 (6).
Sirenia (si-re'ni-a), n. pi. [NL., < L. siren, a
siren: see siren.'} The sirenian mammals or
so-called herbivorous cetaceans, an order of
educabilian placental Mammalia, having the
body fish-like in form, with the hind limbs and
pelvis more or less completely atrophied, and
the body ending in a horizontal expansive tail,
either rounded or Uke the flukes of a cetacean.
5656
Alas ! thy sweet perfidious voice betrays
His wanton ears with thy Sirenian baits.
Qitarles, Emblems, ii. 8.
sirenian^ (si-re'ni-an), a. and n. [< NL. Sirenia
+ -an.} I. n. Pertaining to the Sirenia, or
having their characters.
II. H. A member of the Sirenia, as a mana-
tee, diigong, or sea-cow.
sirenical (si-ren'i-kal), a. [Formerly also sy-
renieall; < siren + -ic-al.} 1. Of or pertaining
to a siren ; sirenian. Heywood, Hierarchy of
Angels, p. 547. [Rare.] — 2. Resembling or
having the characters of a siren. [Rare.]
Here 's a couple of sirenical rascals shall enchant ye :
what shall they sing, my good lord ?
Marston, Malcontent, ill. 2.
Sirenidse (si-ren'i-de), n.pl. [NL., < Siren +
-idle.} 1. In lierpet, a family of gradient or
tailed amphibians, typified by the genus Siren,
with external gills persistent throughout life,
maxillaries absent, intermaxillaries and man-
dible toothless, palatines and pterygoids un-
developed, and orbitosphenoids large, anterior,
and forming part of the palate, it contains only
two species, both confined to the southern United .States,
the Siren lacertina, extending up into North Carolina and
southern Illinois, and the Pseudobranchus striatxis, found
only in Georgia. They are popularly known as mud-eels.
2. In (cAWi., a family of dipuoous fishes: same
as Sirenoidei, and including Lepidosirenidas and
Ceratodon tidrn. Giintlwr, Study of Fishes, p. 355
sirenize (si'ren-iz), v. i. ; pret. and pp. sirenized,
ppr. sirenizing. [< siren + -ize.} To play the
siren ; use the arts of a siren as a lure to in-
jury or destruction. Blount, Glossographia.
[Rare.]
sirenoid (si'ren-oid), a. and n. [< Siren + -oid.}
I. a. 1. In fteiye*., resembling or related to the
genus Siren. — 2t. In ichth., of or pertaining to
the Sirenoidei.
Il.t n. A dipnoan fish of the group Sirenoidei.
Sirenoidea (si-re-noi'de-a), n.pl. Same as Si-
renoidei.
Sirenoidei (si-re-noi'de-i), n. pi. [NL.,< Gr.
aeipi/v, a siren, -I- clSog, form.] A group of fishes,
typified by the genus Lepidosiren, to which vari-
ous values have been given, (a) a family of dip-
noans : same as Lepidosirenidm. Giinther. (b) An order
of dipnoans, including the family Sirenoidei or Lepidosi-
renidse, etc.
sirenyt (si'ren-i), n. [Formerly syrenie; < siren
+ -1^1.] The arts and practices of a siren;
fatal allurements.
Eowze vp the watch, luU'd with world's Syrenie.
Toumeur, Transformed Metamorphosis, st 36.
Sirex (si'reks), n. [NL. (Linnaeus, 1767), < Gr.
acipijv, a siren, a wasp.] See Urocerns.
sirgang (ser'gang), n. [E. Ind.] The so-called
green jackdaw of Asia, Cis,ia sinensis. The sir-
gang inhabits the southeastern Himalayan region, and
thence through Burma to Tenasserim, and has occasioned
much literature. It was originally described and figured
by French ornithologists as a roller, whence its earliest
technical name, Coracias chinensis of Boddaert (1783),
with the English synonym Chinese roller of Latham. These
terms being overlooked, the bird was renamed Cormis spe-
ciosus by Shaw, and the genus Oissa (later spelled Kitta)
was founded upon it by Boie in 1826, since which time it
has mostly been called Cissa sinensis, sometimes C. speci-
.-iimt^jc i.ifafi
le of the Stre»ia.
The brain is small and particularly narrow. The periotic
and tympanic bones are ankylosed together, but not with
the squamosal: the foramen magimm is posterior, di-
rected somewhat downward ; the lower jaw has a well-
developed ascending ramus, a coronoid process, and an or-
dinary transverse condyle ; and the teeth are molariform,
adapted to chew herbage. The neck is moderate, and the
axis has an odontoid process. The fore limbs are moder-
ately developed, with a flexure at the elbow ; the carpal,
metacarpal, and phalangeal bones are directly articulated
and of normal number. There are two mamma;, pectoral.
ITie heart is deeply fissured between the ventricles. (See
first cut under heart.) In nearly all the above characters
the Sirenia are contrasted with the Cetacea, which they
resemble, and with which they were formerly classed as
Cetacea herbimra. They are large or huge unwieldy and
ungainly aquatic animals, inhabiting the sea-shores, bays,
and estuaries of various countries, never going out to sea
like cetaceans, nor ascending rivers far. They feed en-
tirely on aquatic vegetation. There are only two living
genera, ifanatus and Flalicore, the manatees and dugongs,
representing two families, Manatidm and Halicoridm. The
sea-cow, Rhytina stelleri, recently extinct, represents a
third family, Rhytinidee. There are several other extinct
genera, s»me of them constituting the family Halitherii-
da. See the technical names, and cuts under dugong and
Rhytina.
sirenian^ (si-re'ni-an), a. [< L. sirenius, of the
sirens, < siren, sireii : see siren.} Pertaining to
or characteristic of a siren.
Sirgai^ iCissa stttetuis).
osa. It is Ibi inches long, the wing 0, the tail 7 to 8J ; the
head is fully crested ; the bill and feet are coral-red. The
fresh-molted plumage in life is a lovely green, but has the
peculiarity of soon changing to verdigris-blue, as it does also
in stuffed specimens, particularly if exposed to the light.
This green or blue is varied with a black fillet encircling
the head, with white tips and black snbterminal bars on
the tail-feathers and inner quill-feathers, and with bright
sanguine red on the wings, which easily fades to a dull red-
dish-l)rown, A variety of the sirgang found in Sumatra is
called C. minor; other species of the same genus are the
Ceylonese C. omata and the Japanese C. thalassina.
Silian (sir'i-an), a. [< Sirius + -an.} Of or
pertaining to Sirius.
sirocco
Free from the fervour of the Sirian star.
Beau, and Fl., Philaster, v. 3.
Siriasis (si-ri'a-sis), n. [NL.. < L. sirimis, < Gr.
aetpiamg, a disease produced by the heat of the
sun, < actpiav, be hot and scorching, < "ceipdg, hot,
scorching: see Sirius.} 1. Sunstroke; coup
de soleil. — 2. Exposure to the sun for medical
purposes ; a sun-bath ; insolation. Also called
heliotherapy.
Siricidse (si-ris'i-de), n. pi. [NL. (Herrich-
Schaeffer, 1840), < Sirex (Siric-) + -idx.} See
Uroceridx.
Siringa (si -ring 'ga), n. Same as seringa. —
Siringa-oll. See oH. "
sirin^et, «. An obsolete spelling of syringe.
siri-Oll (sir'i-oil), n. Lemon-grass oil. See
lemon-grass.
sirippet, "■ A Middle English form of syrup.
siris (si'ris), n. [E. Ind.] One of several
trees of the genus Alblzzia, especially A. Leh-
bek (Aeaeia speciosa, etc.), of tropical Asia
and Africa, sometimes called the siris-acaeia .
It is a shade and ornamental tree, and yields siris-gum.
The pink siris is A. JuliltrissiTi, the silk-tree, which is also
ornamental, and has a dark-brown mottled and shining
wood, used in making furniture. See a^^ed-siris.— Siris-
gum, the exudation of the slris-acacia, employed to adul-
terate gum arable and serviceable for many common pur-
poses, as in some calico-printing.
siritch (sir'ich), n. [Ar. siraj, oil of sesame.]
Oil of sesamum. See oil.
Sirius (sir'i-us), n. [< L. Sirius, < Gr. ^eipio^, the
dog-star, also sometimes applied to the stars
generally, and to the sun (cf. aeip, the sun, in
Suidas) ; said to be < *aap6(, hot, scorching (an
adj. of doubtful status).] A very white star,
the brightest in the heavens, more than half
a magnitude brighter than Canopus, the next
brightest ; the dog-star. Its magnitude is — 1.4.
It is situated in the mouth of the Dog.
sirkar, n. See sircar.
sirloin (s^r'loin), n. [Formerly andprop.swrfoMi,
&a,TlieT surloyn, surloyne; < F. surlongc, surlogne,
a sirloin, < sur (< L. super), over, -t- longe, logne,
loin: see A7(r- and 7«»H. The story that the sir-
loin received its name because it was knighted
as "Sir Loin" by King James I., though evi-
dently a humorous invention suggested by the
erroneous spelling sirloin for surloin, has been
gravely accepted by many as an actual fact.]
The loin, or upper part of the loin, of beef, or
part covering either kidney.
And after evensonge he went agayn to Christeschyrche,
and delivered Master Goodnestoun a ribbe of bef and a
surloin for young monks.
Documents of date 26 Henry VIII., quoted in
[N. and Q., 7th ser., VI. 886.
Let Plutus go ! No, let me return again to onions and
pease-porridge then, and
never be acquainted with
the happiness of a sirloin
of roast-beef.
Randolph, Hey for Hon-
[esty, ii. 2.
sirlyt, a. An obso-
lete form of surly.
sirmark (s6r'mark),
w. See surmark.
sirnamet, «. An obso-
lete form of surname.
Siro (si'ro), n. [NL.
(Latreille, 1804), said
to be derived (in
some allusion not
known) < Gr. aip6g, a
pit, pitfall: see silo.}
The typical genus of
Sironidse. Two species
inhabit Europe, one the
Philippines, and another
(undescribed) is found in
the United States. Also
called Cyphophthalmus.
siroc (si'rok), n. [< F. siroc, < It. sirocco : see
sirocco.} Same as sirocco. [Rare.]
Stream could not so perversely wind
But corn of Guy's was there to grind ;
The siroc found it on its way,
To speed his sails, to dry his hay.
Emerson, Guy.
sirocco (si-rok'6), «. [Formerly also scirocco,
also sometimes siroc; = G. sirocco, sirokko =
Sw. Dan. sirocco = F. sirocco, siroc, formerly
also siroch = Pr. siroc, < It. sirocco, earlier sci-
rocco, scilocco = Sp. siroco, jaloque, xaloqve (cf .
also xirque) = Pg. xaroco, xarmico = Pr. siroc
= OF. sieloc, seloc; also with the Ar. article
(Ar. esh-sharq) Pr. eyssiroc, issalot = OF. yseloc,
the southeast wind,< Ar. sharq, east; cf. sharqi,
eastern (> prob. Sp. xirque, above). From the
same source are Saracen, sarsenet, etc. The
mod. Ar. shelUk, slieluq, sirocco, is a reilex of the.
Siro atneritanus.
(Hair-line shows natural size.)
sirocco
5657
European word. ] The Italian name for a south-
east wind. Two distinct classes of Italian winds are in-
cluded by the term. One is a warm, humid, sultry wind
accompanied by rain. ITiis is the characteristic wind on
the east side of an area of low pressure, and prevails main-
ly during the winter season. I'he other type of sirocco —
that to which the term is generally applied in English
usage — is a hot, dry, dust-laden wind blowing from the
high land of Africa to the coasts of Malta. 8icily, and qirtf u See tiirt
Naples. Daring its preyalence the sky is covered with a „;_,' '•_, -j"^ i a j.
dense haie, persons sulfer from extreme lassitude, and SlTUp, SlTUpea, etc. bee syrup, etc.
regetation is parched and burned. No month is free from SlTVente (sir-vout'), »i. [< F. sirrente, < Pr.
it, but it is most frequent in the spring. lu direction sirniites, serrentes (= OF. sirventois = Sp. ser-
The mess
And half of snitors that attend to usher
Their love's sir-reverence to your daughter, wait.
With one consent, which can best please her eye
In ottering at a dance.
Fletcher {and another). Fair Maid of the Inn, iii. 1.
Marry, out upon him I sir-reverence of your mistress-
ship. Middtelon, Michaelmas Term, ii. 3.
varies from southeast to southwest.
Forth rush the Levant and the Ponent winds.
Earns and Zephyr, with their lateral noise.
Sirocco and Libecchio. Milton, P. L., i. 706.
sirogonimium (si'ro-go-nim'i-um), «.; pi. siro-
gonimia (-a). [NL., < 6r. aecpd, a cord, + NL.
gonimium.} In liclienol., a gonimium which is
scytonemoid or sirosiphonoid and truncated:
it is characteristic of the family £pliebacei. See
gorMium, 3.
Mronldae (si-ron'i-de), n. pi. [NX.., < Siro(n-)
+ -iV/a?.] A family of tracheate arachnidaus of
the order Plialaiigiila or OiiiUoninii. They have an
oval flattened body, comparatively short legs, very long
three-jointed cheliceres, and stalked eyes situated farapart
on each side of the head. The family is typified by the
genus Siro, aud is synonymous with Cyphophthalmidx.
I'he species are of small size and resemble mites.
veittesio = It. serventese), a song (see def.), <
serrir, ser\'e: see served, and cf. serraiU.'] In
music, a service-song (so called in distinction
from a love-song), a kind of song composed by
the trouveres and troubadours of the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries, usually to satirize
the faults and vices of the great and of the
society of their day. with the satire religious or love
poetry was often mingled, forming curious contrasts.
There were also political sirventes, such as those of the
warrior poet Bertrand de Bom, Viscount of Hautefort in
Perigord, who moved peoples to strife, scattered his ene-
mies, or expressed his emotions in verse of strange energy
and consummate skill.
The stream of time, in which so many more precious
things have been submerged, has brought down to us
some few rinenUt or satiric lays that entitle Richard (I.)
to the name of a tronv^.
Stubbi, Medieval and Modem Hist, p. 123.
Siskin {Chrysomitris spiftits'i.
Birop(8ir'op), «. It. A former spelling of syrwp.
— a. Oue'of the kettles used in the open-kettle Bis', siss^ (sis), n. [Also in dim. sissy; a general
process of sugar-making. [Southern U. S.] "se of the fem. name Sis, Siss, formerly also
Cis, Sys, < ME. *Cisse, Cesse, an abbr. of Cicely,
ME. 'Cecilie, Sissilie, Cecile, Sisille (also Cecilia),
< OF. Cecile, a fem. name made familiar in
England as that of a daughter of William the
Conqueror, < L. Caecilia, a fem. name. Cicely
was formerljr a very common fem. name. Cf.
jilP, gilfi, similarly derived from Jillian, Gil-
lian, also formerly a common fem. name, now,
like Cicely, almost disused. From Sis, Siss is
derived the surname Sisson. In def. 2 the
word is commonly regarded as an abbr. of sis-
ter.'] 1. A girl; a sweetheart; ajill: a famil-
iar term.
The cane-Juice . . . in the courseof the boiling is ladled
raccewively into the others [kettles], called, in order, " the
Cp"or "proy," "the flambeau," *'the nrop," and "the
ter>." The Century, XXXV. iia.
Sirosiphon (si-ro-si'fon), n. [NL. (Ktttzing,
1843), < Gr. atipd, a cord, + aiipuv, a tube: see
siphon.] A genus of fresh-water algK, of the
class Cyaiiophycete and order or section Sirosi-
phoneie. The cells of the filaments are In one, two, or
mmny series, by lateral division or multiplication. The
younger forms have one or two series; the older ones
often six to ten. The cells are surrounded by a distinct
membrane, which Is very prominent In the older flla-
ments. Stome of the species partalce largely of the na-
ture of lichens.
Sirosiphoiiaceons (si-ro-si-fo-na'shius), a. [<
Siriisiphon + -ftreous.] ' In bot., same as siroti-
nhimniil,
Sirosiphonex (si'rO-si-fo'ne-e), n. pi. [NL., <
Sirosijihiin -H -<•«>.] An order,
some a section, of fresh-water a
Cyanophyceae. it takes its name from the genas Siro- , ,. . , ,
n>*oa. which has fllamenls destitute of a hair point, and SlSal (S18 al), n. [Also sizal ; short for Sisal
Mchomes inclosed in a sheath, profusely branched. The t/riixs.] Same as Sisal hemp
Sdi:'L"wen''L"^';^r' ^'' ' "■'" •*^'" *"" "" gis*} graSB- Same as Sisai hemp.
sirosiphonoid (si-ro-si'fo-noid), a. [< Sirosi- "l^*! hemp. See hrnequen, and compare istle.
pi,;,, + -.,i,l.] In 6ot.. resembling or belongiug BlSCOWet, siskowet (sis ko-et), n. [Al -
to til.- genus Siroriohon or the Sirosiohonex. V'"' '.."'••''•"""''. siskiu-it ; Amer. Ind. Cf.
The plowman that in times past was contented in rns-
•et mast now adaies have his doublet of the fashion, with
wide cots, hU garten of Bne silke of Oranado, to meet
hla Sit on Sanoay.
_ Lodge, WiU Mlaerie 0598). (.HalliweU.)
or according to 2. A familiar term of address to a little girl.
IgSB, of the class J^- S.]
om the genns Siro- MS^' "•. -^ Obsolete form of sice^.
Sirphus, «. See Syrphus.
sirple (ser'pl), V. t. and i. ; pret. and pp. sirpled,
ppr. sirpliiig. [Appar. a var. of sipple.] To
sipple. Brocket! ; Jamieson. [Prov. Eng. and
Scotch.]
sirrah (sir'il), «. [Formerly also girra, sirrha, ^^
serrha (the last form
the pron. " sar'ra " |
authorities); appar.
Also sis-
cisco.]
A variety of the great lake-trout, Salvelinus
(Cristivomer) namaycush, var. siscowet, found in
Lake Superior, originally described as a dis-
tinct species called Salmo siscowet. See lake-
trout, 2.
An old spelling of sicei, »^^«l
i>rm being indicated 'aUo by "{"efoil (sig'foil), n. [< sise, siee^, + /otH.]
" given bv Walker and other .^ f ^•'. »»!°« »« ^J^/o*'- , .,
»r. an extension of sir, or a ""^l (sis el), n. The suslik, a spermophile of
modified form, in address, of the orig. dissyl-
labic sire (not < Icel. sira, sir, now used, like
eastern Europe and Siberia, Spermophilus citil-
lut. See cut under suslik.
sirrah,in contempt): eee sir, sire.] A wo'nl of siMrary (sis'e-ra-ri), n. [Also siserari, sise
address, generally equivalent to " fellow." or
to "sir" with an angry or contemptuous force.
Now otwolete or arclulc, it was formerly yplied some-
times to children In a kind of playfalnett, or to male ser-
vants in hastiness and sometimes also to females.
Serrha, hea^ io. Ltmtu, Hanip. Vocab., eoL 1, 1. 6.
Sirra, a contemptuous word, irronically compoanded of
Sir and a, ha, as .much to say, oA <<r or $(r boy, Ac.
Mintheu.
Strraklru.go. S»a*., A. and C, t. 2. 22».
Pige, boy, and tirrah: these are all my titles.
B. Joiuou, CyntJila's Kevels, iL L
Oneas bow the Goddess greets her Son :
Come hither. Sirrah ; no, l>egone.
Prior, Capid and Qanymede.
Sir-reverencet («^r-rev'e-rens). n. [A corrup-
tion of saic-rererence, a "translation or transfer
of L. salmrererentia, reverence or decency be-
ing safe, i. e. preserved or regarded: salrd.
fem. abl. of salrus, safe; reverentid, abl. of
reverentia, reverence: see safe and reverence.]
rara, stsserara, sasserary, gasarara, sassarara,
a popular corruption of certiorari : see certio-
rari.] It. A certiorari, a legal writ by which
a proceeding is removed to a higher court.
There are old men at the present that are so poysoned
with the sSectatlon of law-words . . . (that) they cannot
so much as pray but in law, that their sinnes may be re-
mooed with s writ of Error, and their soules fecht up to
heaoen with a latarara.
Toumeur, Revenger's Tragedy, Iv. 2.
Hence — 2. Any effective, telling action ; es-
pecially, a stroke ; a blow. [Prov. Eng.]
I have gi'en the dirty slut a literary.
SmoUett, Humphrey Clinker, p. 83.
He attacked It with such a titerary of Latin as might
have scared the Devil himself. ScM.
Wltll a Siierary, with suddenness, vehemence, or vio-
lence ; with a vengeance.
It was on a .liinday in the afternoon when I fell In love
all at once uith a sisxcrara ; it burst upon me, an' please
your honour, like a bomb.
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, VI. 47. (Dacies.)
SL^L^.-T* *"■ *''r"^J<^'" '•««'«•«?»«?, (which siskawett, n. Same as siscowH.
reverence. ,.,^^.^j. ^,.^^,^_ ^^^/^ ^^ ziseke, sieskc = MHO
And. sir, nrrererence of your manhood and gentry, I'
have brought home such money as you lent ine.
(Jreene and LiKliie, IxMjking (Haas for Lond. and Eng.
A very reverent body : ay. such a one as a man may not
««k of witboat he say ' Sir-reterence."
speak
' Sir.reterenee:
Shot., C. of E., III. 2. m.
:i.icr, ;t.ir, <;. zeisig, zeischen, zeisel, etc., = Dan.
sinf/rn = Sw. siskd = Norw. sisik, sisk, a siskin ;
derived, all prob. through (>., and with the ter-
mination variously conformed to a dim. suffix
(D. .je, Q. -chen), < Slovenian chizhek = Bohem.
sist
chizh = Pol. czyzh = Upper Sorbian chizhik= Lit-
tle Russ. chyzh = Russ. chizhti; cf. Hung. cHz,
OPruss. czilii, a siskin. In view of this origin,
the word is not connected with Sw. dial, sisa,
expressing the sound of the wood-grouse, or
with E. siss, D. sissen, hiss.] A small frin-
gilline bird, Chrysomitris (or Spinus) spinus,
related to the goldfinch, inhabiting the temper-
ate parts of the Palearetie region; the aber-
devine or black-
headed thistle-
finch; the tarin.
The length is 4J
inches, the extent
9 inches ; the male
has the crown and
throat black, the
back grayish green,
streaked with black
shaft-lines, the
breast yellow, the
abdomen whitish,
the sides streaked
with black, the
wings and tail va-
ried with yellow.
Thefemale isduller
and more simply
colored. The bill is extremely acute. The name is ex-
tended, with a qualifying temi, to a few closely related
birds ; thus, the .American siskin is the pine-flnch, Chry-
mmitris (or Spinus) pinus.— Slsldn parrot, one of the
pygmy piu-rots of the genus Nasitema.
Siskin-^een (sis'kin-gren), M. A shade of light
green inclining to yellow, as the color of the
mineral uranite.
siskiwit, siskO'Wet, «. Same as siscowet.
sismograph, n. Same as seismograph.
sismometer, n. Same as seismometer.
Sismondine (sis-mon'din), ». [Named after
Prof. Sismonda, an Italian geologist and min-
eralogist.] A variety of chloritoid from St.
Marcel in Piedmont.
Sisor (si'sor), n. [NL. (Hamilton-Buchanan,
1822).] A genus of Indian fishes, representing
in some systems the family Sisoridx, as A rhab-
dophorus.
Sisorids (si-sor'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Sisor +
-idse.] A family of nematognathous fishes, ex-
emplified by the genus Si.wr. In the typical species
the Doily is elongate, and mostly naked, but with a row of
bony plates along the middle of the back, and rough along
the lateral line: the head is depressed, and the mouth
inferior ; a short dorsal is connected with the abdominal
part of the vertebral column, the anal is short, and the
ventrals are six- or seven-rayed. The few known species
are conflned to the fresh waters of southern Asia.
Bisourt, «. [ME., also«y«o«r, moure, by apher-
esis from *asisour, < AF. 'asisour (vernacularly
asseonr: see seirer^), ML. reflex assisor, prop.
assessor, lit. 'one who sits beside,' an assessor,
etc. : see assize and assessor.] One who is de-
puted to hold assizes.
Ac Symonye and Cyulle and titouret of conrtes
Were moste pryue with Mede.
Piers Plomnan (B), 11. 62.
The xlj. tisoures that weren on the quest
Thel shul ben honged this day so bane I gode rest.
Tale o/Oarrulyn (Chaucer Soc.X I. 871.
sisourest, n.pl. An obsolete variant of scissors.
siss' (sis), t'. i. [< ME. sissen = D. sissen, hiss,
= G. zischen, hiss ; cf. Sw. dial, sisa, ' siss ' like
the wood-grouse ; imitative. Cf. hiss, sizzle.]
To hiss,
siss^, «. See sis^.
sisserskite (sis'ir-skit), n. [< Sissersk (see
def.) + -ite^.] A variety of iridosmium from
Sissersk in the Ural,
sissing (sis'ing), n. [Verbal n. of siss^, v.] A
hissing sound.
.Sibilus est genus serpentis, Angllce a sytsyng.
MS. BiU. Reg. 12 B. I. f. 12 (1400). {HalliweU.)
sissy (sis'i), n. Diminutive of si«l, 2.
sist (sist), V. t. [< ME. sisten (rare), < L. sis-
tere, cause to stand, set, place, put, stop, pre-
sent a person before a court, etc. : see state.]
1 . In Scots law : (o) To present at the bar : used
reflexively : for example, a party is said to sist
himself when appearing before the court to an-
swer. (6) To cause to appear; cite into court;
summon.
.Some, however, hsve preposterously sisled nature as
the first or generative principle, and regarded mind as
merely the derivative of corporeal organism.
Sir W. Hamilton.
2. To stop; stay; delay: now only in Scots
law.
Thus siste it that the graynes stille abide
Inwithe the syve, and floures downe to shake.
Palladius, Ilusbondrie (E. E. T. .H), p. 168.
To slat one's self, to take a place at the bar of n court
where one's cause is to be Judicially tried and determined.
— To Siat parties, to join of her parties In u suit or ac-
tion, and serve them with process.— To sist procedure
sfst
proceedings, or process, to JelHy judicial proceedings
iu a cause ; used in both civil attd ecclesiastical courts.
sist (sist). «. [< iti^'t, I'.] In Scots /air, the act
of legally staving diligence or execution on de-
crees for civil debts — Sist on a suspension, in the
Court of Session, tlie order or injunction of the lord or-
dinary prohil)itiiig diligence to proceed, where relevant
grounds of suspension have been stated in the bill of sus-
pension. See guspetigion,
sistencet (sis'tens), H. [< sis< + -ence.] A stop-
ping ; a stay ; "a halt. [Rare.]
Extraordinary must be the wisdomeof him whofloateth
upon the streame of Soveraigne favour, wherein there is
seldome any gisUnee 'twixt sinking and swiniming.
HoiceU, Vocall Forrest, p. 132. {Davieg,)
sister (sis'ti'r), «. and «. [< ME. gister, sistir,
Sj/ster, soster, suster, sustre, zuster, zoster (pi.
sistris, sistren, sustren, sostren), < AS. sweostor,
siciistor=OS. swestar = OFries. sivester, suster =
MD. suster, I), zuster (dim. zuye) = MLG. suster
= OHG. swester, MHG. su ester, suestcr, suister, G.
schicester = Icel. systir = Sw. syster— Dan. soster
= Goth, swist^lr (Teut. *swestar, with unorig.
t) = Russ. Bohem. sestra = Pol. siostra = Lith.
sesti (for "stcesd) (gen. sescrs) = L. noror (for
older "sosor) (> It. sororc {sorella) = Sp. sor =
Pg. sor, soror = Pr. sor, seror = OF. sorur, se-
rour, suer, seur, sufur, F. soeur), sister, = Skt.
scasar, sister; origin unknown. Cf. brother,
father, mother'^. From the L. soror, through
eonsobrinus, is ult. E. cousm.l I. n. 1. A fe-
male person in her relation to other children
born of the same parents ; a female relative in
the first degree of descent or mutual kinship;
also, a female who has attained a corresponding
relation to a family by marriage or adoption :
coiTelative to brother: often used as a term of
endearment.
Huo thet deth the wyl of myne nader of heuene, he is
my brother and my zoster and my moder.
Ayenbite o/Inwyt (E. E. T. S.), p. 89.
Dvch. FarewelLoldGaunt: thy sometimes brotlier's wife
With her companion grief must end her life.
Gaunt. Sifter [sister-in-law], farewell,
Shak., Rich. II., i. 2. 56.
And the sicli man forgot her simple blusli.
Would call her friend and gUter, sweet Elaine.
Tennygon, Lancelot and Elaine.
2. Metaphorically, a woman of one's own faith,
chtireh, or other religious community.
Whoever seelis to be received into the gild, being of the
same rank as the bretheren and gigteren who founded it,
. . . shall bear his share of its burdens.
Engligh GUds (E. E. T. S.), p. 178.
I commend unto you Phebe our gigter, which is a servant
of the church which is at Cenchrea. Kom. xvi. 1.
The Miss Linnets were eager to meet Mr. Tryan's wishes
by greeting Janet as one who was likely to be a gUster in
religious feeling and good works.
George Eliot, Janet's Kepentance, xxv.
3. In the Roman Catholic and some other
churches, a member of a religious community or
order of women ; a woman who devotes herself
to religious work as a vocation : as, sisters of
mercy. See sisterhood, 2. — 4. That which is
allied by resemblance or corresponds in some
way to another or others, and is viewed as of
feminine rather than masculine character.
There Is in poesy a decent pride
Which well becomes her when she speaks to prose,
Her younger gigter. Young, Night Thoughts, v. 66.
Eaw Haste, half-aster to Delay.
Tennyson, Love thou thy Land.
Deceased Wife's Sister Bill. See bai^.— Lay sister.
See Jaj/4,— Oblate Slaters of Providence. See oblate, i
(«).— Pricket's sister. SeepnVJ-et.- Sister converse.
Same as lay xistcr. — Sisters of Charity. See charily. —
Sisters of Loreto. See />orc«i/w.— Sisters of Mercy.
See nuterhi'ud. The SUent SlstCr. See sUenL—ThS
Three Sisters, the Fatal Sisters, the Fates or Parcae.
The young gentleman, according to Fates and Destinies
and such odd sayings, the Sisters Three and such branches
of learning, is indeed deceased. Shak., M. of V., 11. 2. 66.
Whose thread of life the fatal gigters
Did twist together.
S. BuOer, Uudibras, I. 1. 276.
n. o- Standing in the relation of a sister,
whether by birth, marriage, adoption, associa-
tion, or resemblance; akin in any manner;
related.
Thus have I given your Lordship the best Account I
could of the .?«ter-dlalect8 of the Italian, Spanish, and
French. Howell, Letters, ii. 59.
Sister keelson. See AreeZson.— sister ships, ships built
and rigged alike or very nearly so.
sister (8is't*r),t!. [< sifter, n.'] I, trans. 1. To
be a sister or as a sister to ; resemble closely.
She . . . with her neeld composes
Nature's own shape, of bud, bird, branch, or berry.
That even her art eigters the natural rosea.
Shak., Pericles, v., Prol., 1. 7.
2. To address or treat as a sister.
5658
Sit
An obsolete or dialectal plural of
How artfully, yet, I must own, honourably, he reminds sistren, ''.
her of the brotherly character which he passes under to v/sYerl
hen H--«Srlh^Sch^'iesGrandiso„,ILxxxiL sistrum (sis'trum), n. .[L.,.< Gr. .elarpov, <
aetetv, shake.] A musical instrument much
II. intrans. To be a sister or as a sister; be
allied or contiguous.
A hill whose concave womb re- worded
A plaintful story from a gigtering vale.
Shak., Lover's Complaint, 1. 2.
sister-block (sis'ter-blok), n . A block with two
sheaves in it, one above the other, used on board
ship for various purposes.
sisterhood (sis'tfer-hud), ?i. [< ME. susterhode;
<. sister + -hood.] 1. The state of being a sis-
ter; the relation of sisters; the office or duty
of a sister.
Phedi-a hir yonge suster eke, . . .
For gusterhode and companie
Of lone, whiche was hem betwene.
To see hir suster be made a queue,
Hir fader lefte. Gouier, Couf. Amant., v.
When the young and healthy saw that she could smile
brightly, converse gayly, move with vivacity and alertness,
they acknowledged in her a gigterhood of youth and health,
and tolerated her as of their kind accordingly.
Charlotte Bronte, Professor, xviii.
2. Sisters collectively, or a society of sisters ; in
used in ancient Egypt and other Ori-
ental countries, it was a form of rattle,
consisting of an oval frame or rim of metal
carrying several rods, which were either loose
or Htted with loose rings. In either case the
sound was produced by shaking, so that the
rods might rattle or jingle. It was an attri-
bute of the worship of Isis, and hence was
commonly ornamented with a figure of the
sacred cat.
Mummius . . . said.
Rattling an ancient gigtrum at his head :
"Speak'st thou of Syrian princes? Traitor
base ! " Pope, Dunciad, iv. 374.
Sisura, «. See Seisura.
Sisymbrieffi (sis-im-bri'e-e), n. pi. [NL. (End-
liclier, 18;i6), < Sisymbrium + -eee.'] A tribe of
polypetalous plants, of the order Crimferie. It
IS chaj'acterized by a narrow elongated iwd or silique, with
the seeds commonly in one row, and the seed-leaves incum-
bent and straight or in a few genera convolute or trans-
versely plicate. It includes 21 genera, of which Sisym-
brium is the type, chietiy plants of temperate regions. See
Sigymbrium, Ilegperis, and Erysimum.
religious usage, an association of women who Sisymbrium (si-sim'bri-um), n. [NL. (Tour-
are bound by monastic vows or are otherwise
devoted to religious work as a vocation, in the
Roman Catholic Church the members of a sisterhood
may be bound by the irrevocable vows of poverty, chas-
tity, and obedience, and are then called mijig, or may
be merely under one rule and bound by revocable vows.
In the Church of F.ngland and its offshoots there are
also sisterhoods, the members of which either take a rev-
ocable vow of ohedience to the rule of their association,
or live under the rule of the order without vow. Among
the more important of the sisterhoods are the Sisters
of Charity (see charity), the School Sisters of Notre
Dame, the Little Sisters of the Poor, the Sisters of the
Assumption, the Congregation of Sisters of Notre Dame,
the Anglican Sisterlioods of St. John the Baptist, of the
Holy Communion, of St. -Mary, etc. The Sisters of Mercy
is an order founded in 1827 in Dublin, with purposes
analogous to those of the Sisters of Charity. The vows
are for life. A similar sisterhood in the Church of Eng-
land was founded about 1846 for assisting the poor. It
consists of three orders — those who live in community
actively engaged in assisting the poor, those who live in
community but are engaged in devotions and other se-
cluded occupations, and those not living in the commu-
nity but assisting it as co-workers. There are also a num-
ber of somewhat similar organizations in the Episcopal
Church in the United States.
A very virtuous maid.
And to be shortly of a sisterhood.
Shak., M, forM., ii. 2. 21.
O peaceful Sisterhood,
Receive, and yield me sanctuary,
Tennyson, Guinevere.
sister-hook (sis'ter-huk), )j. Naut., one of a
pair of hooks work-
ing on the same axis
and fitting closely
together : much used
about a ship's rig-
ging. Also clip-hook,
clove-hook.
sister-in-la-w (sis'-
ter-in-la'),H. [<ME.
syster yn lawe, sis-
tir elawe: see sister,
inX, to«)l.] A hus- „, ,. , ^ ^
t -,, „ •£ ) „■« sister-hooks, closed and open.
band's or wife's sis-
ter; also, a brother's wife. See brother-in-law.
sisterless (sis'ter-les), a. [< si.ster -1- -less.'\
Having no sister.
sisterly (sis't6r-li), a. [= D. zmterlijk = G.
schwesterlich = Sw. systerliff = Dan. sosterlir/;
as si.ster + -ly^.l Pertaining to, characteris-
tic of, or befitting a sister.
Release my brother ; .■ . .
My sisterly remorse confutes mine honour.
SAa*., M. forM., v. 1.100.
We hear no more of this sisterly resemblance [of Chris-
tianity] to Platonism.
Warl>urton, Bolingbroke's Philosophy, iii.
Sistine (sis'tin), a. [= F. Sisti>ie, < It. Sistino,
pertaining to Sisto, or Sixtus, the name of five
popes, < L. sextus, ML. also sixtus, sixth: see
sixth.'] Of or pertaining to any pope of the
name of Sixtus, especially to Sixtus IV. (1471-
1484) and Sixtus V. (I.''*') -90). Also Sixfinc.—
Sistlne chapel, the chapel of the Pope in the Vatican at
Rome, famous for its frescoes by Michelangelo.— Slstlne
Choir, the choir connected with the court of the I'ope, con-
sisting of thirty-two choristers selected and drilled with the
greatest care. The effects produced preserve to a remark-
able degree the traditions of thestyle of I'alestrina. It is
now almost disbanded, singing only on the rare occasions
when the Pope himself participates in the ceremonies,—
Slstlne Madonna, or Madonna of San Sisto, a famous
painting by Raphael, in his last manner (1520), represent-
ing the Virgin and Child in glory, with the Pope Sixtus
on the left, St. Barbara on the right, and two cherubs (very
nelort, 1700), < Gr. acavjijipiov, a name applied
to certain odorous plants, one said to be a
crucifer, another Mentha aquatica.] A genus
of cruciferous plants, type of the tribe Sisym-
bricse, it is characterized by annual or biennial smooth
or hairy stems ; flowers with free and unappendaged sta-
mens, and a roundish and obtuse or slightly two-lobed stig-
ma ; and linear sessile pods, usually with three-nerved
valves and many oblong seeds with straight cotyledons.
It is destitute of the two-pai-ted bristles found in the re-
lated genus £ryCT?ftwm, which also differs in its linear or ob-
long leaves. liesides a great number of doubtful species,
about 90 are recognized as distinct. They are natives es-
peciallyof central and southern Europe, Siberia, and west-
ern Asia as far as India ; a few are found in temperate and
subarctic North .\merica, and a very few in the south-
ern hemisphere. They bear a stellate cluster of radical
leaves, and numerous alternate stem-leaves which are usu-
ally clasping and irregularly lobed or pinnately divided.
The flowers are usually borne in a loose bractless raceme,
and are commonly yellow. The various species simulate
the habit of many widely different genera. A few, con-
stituting the subgenus Arabidopsig (A. P. de Candolle,
1821), have white, pink, or puiplish flowers: two others,
by some separated as a genus Alliaria (Adanson, 1763),
have also broad or triangular heart-shaped undivided
leaves, as S. Alliaria, the hedge-garlic. For S. officinale,
see hedge-muMard (sometimes used also for any plant of
the genus); for S. Sophia, see herb-sophia ; and for S. Irio.
see London-rocket. S. canescens is the ta?isy-mustai*d of
the western United States, and S. Thaliana the mouse-ear
cress of Europe, naturalized in the eastern United States.
Sisjrphean (sis-i-fe'an), a. [< Gr. 2«Ti'0E(of, also
2,io'r<piog, pertaining to Sisyphus, < l,i(Jv<pog (sup-
posed to be connected with (Joip6^), L. Sisyphus,
(see def.).] Relating or pertaining to Sisy-
phus, in Greek mythology, a king of Corinth,
whose punishTnent in Tartarus for his crimes
consisted in rolling a huge stone to the top of
a hill, whence it constantly rolled down again,
thus rendering his labor incessant; hence, re-
curring unceasingly: as, to engage in a Sisy-
phean task.
Sisyrinchieae (sis"i-ring-ki'e-e), n. pi. [Nil.
(Bentham and Hooker, 1883), < Sisyrinchium +
-€«.] A tribe of monoeotyledonous plants of
the order Irideee. it is characterized by commonly
terminal or peduncled spathes, by concave or keeled bracts
within the spathe and opposite to the two or more usually
pedicelled flowers, and by style-branches alternate with
the anthers or borne on a style which is longer than the
stamens. It includes 26 genera, classed in 4 subtribes, of
which CrocxM, Cipura, Sisyrinchium, and Aristea are the
types. The first, the Crocex, are exceptional in their one-
flowered spathes ; they are largely .^outh .African and Aus-
tralian. The Cipurex and a few genera besides are Amer-
ican. The tribe includes both bulbous plants, as the cro-
cus, and others with a distinct creeping or upright root-
stock, which is, however, in a larger number reduced to a
cluster of thickened fibers. See Patersonia and Pardan-
thus.
Sisjnrinchium (sis -i- ring 'ki-um), «. [NL.
(Tournefort, 1700), transferred by Linnseus
from the iris; < Gr. awvpiyxiov, a bulbous plant,
said to have been of the iris family.] A genus
of plants of the order Iridcse, tj-pe of the tribe
Si.'oiriiichicrea.wA of the subtribe Ensisyrinchicee.
It is characterized by round or two-edged stems without
a bulbous base, rising from a cluster of thickened fibers;
Howers with the filaments commonly partly united into a
tube, and with three slender undivided style-branches:
and a globose ovary which becomes an exserted capsule in
fruit. There are about .^>0 species, all American, occurring
both in the tropical and in the temperate zones, one species
also indigenous in Ireland. They are tufted plants with nu-
merous flat, long, and narrow upright leaves which are all
or mostly radical, and usually a single spathe with numer-
ous open flatfish flowers. The two species of the eastern
United States, S. angugtifoUum and 5. anceps, are known
as blue-eyed grasg, from the flowers. See rush-lily.
familiar in engravings, etc.. separate from the remainder „ii ^ li-x ,, . ,,.„(. on/ rfnrmprlv also .s-c? now onlv
of the picture) below. It ranks as the chief treasure of Sit (sit), i. , piet. sat (tormeriy aiso .spr, now oniy
the great museum of Dresden. dialectal, and sate, still used archaically), pp.
sit
sat (formerly sitten), T^pr. sitting. [Early mod.
E. also sitt, 'sitte, syt, sytle ; < ME. s(«eM, sytten
(pres. iud. 3d pers. sitteth, sitt, sit, pret. gat, set,
sset, pi. setcn, seeten, setten. sete, pp. siten, seten),
< AS. sittan (pret. siet, pi. sMton, pp. sete») =
08. sittian, sitteaii = OFries. sitta = MD. si«en,
D. bitten = MLG. LG. «i?te« = OHG. si::zaii, siz-
zen, MHG. G. sitzen = leel. sitja = Sw. si7(a =
Dan. sittde = Goth. »i<an (pret. sat, pi. se/am, pp.
sitans) = L. sedere (> It. sedere = Cat. seurer,
OCat. »e«er, s«i(re = Pr. sezer, cezer, seire = OF.
sedeir. seeir, seoir, F. seoir) = Gr. eZeadai (id-),
sit. = OBulg. siediti. siedieti, siedati, siesti =
Bohem. sedati = Pol. siedziec = Euss. sidieti
(Slav. •/ «ad, serf, »i>d, send) = Lith. serfeH, sit,
= Ir. •/ «nrf («arfa, sitting), = Skt. ■/ «nrf, sit.
From this root are numerous derivatives ; from
theTeut. are seat, set^, settle^, beset, inset, onset,
outset, etc. (see also saddle); from the L. (sedere)
are ult. sedeiit, sedentary, sedate, sediment, ses-
sile, session, siege, besiege, etc., preside, reside,
subside, supersede, dissident, resident, resiant,
assiduous, insidious, assess, possess, residue, sub-
sidy, also seize, sess^, assize, size'^, size^, sizar,
etc. The Gr. root (e^^eaOai) is involved in E. ca-
thedral, chair, chaise, etc., octahedron, polyhe-
dron, tetrahedron, etc. The forms of sit, partly
by phonetic confluence and partly by mere con-
fusion, have been more or less mixed with those
otset^. The pret. sat, formerly also safe and »e(
(cf. eat (et). ate, pret. of eat), is still in dial, use
often set, and corruptly sot; the pp., prop, sitten
(HE.siten, seten, AS. seten), is also by loss of the
pp. suffix set, or by confusion with the pret. also
sat, the pp. set being now usually regarded as
belonging only to set, the causal of sit.'] I. in-
trans. 1. To take or have such a posture that
the back is comparatively erect, while the rest
of the body bends at the hips and generally at
the knees, to conform to a support beneath;
rest in such a posture ; occupy a seat : said of
persons, and also of some animals, as dogs and
eats.
With the qaene whan that be had tU.
Chaucer, Oood Women, L 1100.
Twas In the Bunch of Orapet, where Indeed yoa bare a
delight to tU, have you not? Shale, M. for M., IL 1. 134.
Heat, ma'am ! ... it was lo dreadfal here that I found
there waa nothing left for it but to take oif my fleah and
«( in my bonea. Sydney Smith, In Lady Holland, I. 267.
2. To crouch, as a bird on a nest; hence, to
brood; incubate.
TDe partridge lOUth on egga, and hatcheth them net.
Jer. xvIL U.
3. To perch in a crouching posture; roost:
said of birds.
The stockdove nnalarm'd
Silt cooing in the pine-tree.
Cooper, Talk, vL 306.
4. To be or continue in a state of rest; remain
passive or inactive; repose.
Shall your brethren go to war, and ahall ye tU here?
Num. uxU. 6.
We hare iMten too long ; It la full time we were travel-
ling. Ren. T. Adams, Worka, IL 47.
Ye princes of the earth, ye tit aghaat
Amid the ruin which you jtooraelvea hare made.
SheUey, Revolt of Islam, xL 16.
6. To continue in a position or place ; remain ;
stay ; pass the time.
Elyng is the halle vche daye In the wyke,
There the lorde ne the lady llketh nouate to luUe.
Pien Plotrman (fiX x. M.
€. To be located; have a seat or site; be
placed; dwell; abide.
Turn Uiaune thi riet abonte tO the degree of thi aonne
tU upon the we«t orlaonte. Chaueer, AatroUbe, IL 7.
Love tttfia her smile, a wizard ensnaring.
Bunu, True Hearted was He.
Venice sat< In state, throned on her hundred Isles 1
Bynm. Chllde Harold, Ir. 1.
7. To have a certain position or direction; be
disposed in a particular way.
SIU the winde there? blowes there so calme a gale
From a contemned and deaarued anger?
Chaptnan, All Fools (Works, 187S, L XfSy.
The solle (is] drie, barren, and miserably sandy, which
flies in drifU as the wind nU. Hcelyn, Diary, Oct. 18, 1671.
8. To rest, lie, or bear (on ) ; weigh ; be carried
or endured.
Woe doth the heavier tit
Where it perceires it is but faintly Iwme.
Shak., Rich. II., L S. 280.
Vou cannot imagine how much more you will hare of
their flarour, and how much easier they will tit upon your
stomach. W. Kino, Art of Cookery, Letter v.
9. To be worn or adjusteil ; fit, as •» garment ;
hence used figuratively of anything assumed,
as an air. appearance, opinion, or habit.
T5659
Well, may you see things well done there : adieu !
Lest our old robes sit easier than our new !
Shak., Macbeth, ii. 4. 38.
Art thou a knight ? did ever on that sword
The Christian cause sit nobly ?
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Malta, iv. 2.
Her little air of precision gits so well upon her.
ScoU, Kenllworth, vii.
Mrs. Stelling . . . was a woman whose skirt tat well ;
who adjusted her waist and patted her curls with a pre-
occupied air when she inquired after your welfare.
Oeorge Eliot, Mill on the Hoss, ii. 4.
lot. To be incumbent ; lie or rest, as an obli-
gation; be proper or seemly ; suit; comport.
Hit sittet, me semeth, to a sure knyghte,
That ayres into vnkoth lond auntres to seche.
To be counseld in case to comfford hym-seluyn
Of sum fre that hym faith awe, & the fete knoweth.
Destruction o/ Troy (E. E. T. S.X I. 53a
But as for me, I seye that yvel it sit
To essaye a wyf whan that it is no nede,
And putten her in anguish and in drede.
Chaucer, Clerks Tale, 1. 404.
It sitteth with you now to call your wits and senses to-
gither. Spenser, To Gabriel Harvey.
lit. To abide; be confirmed; prosper.
Thou . . . seidest to me mi preyere scholde sitte.
Joseph 0/ Arimathie (E. E. T. 3.), p. 8.
12. To place one's self in position or in readi-
ness for a certain end : as, to sit for one's por-
trait ; to sit for an examination, or for a fellow-
ship in a university.
This day I began to sit, and he (Hale) will make, I think,
a very fine picture. Pepys, Diary, II. 363.
We read that James the Second sat to Varelst, the great
flower painter. Macaulay, Pilgrim's Progress.
13. To be convened, as an assembly; hold a
session ; be officially engaged in deliberative or
judicial business.
You of whom the senate had that hope.
As, on my knowledge. It was in their purpose
Next sitting to restore you.
B. Jonson, Catiline, III. 2.
Conrocatlon daring the whole reign si^at the same time
with the parliament, and generally the Friday in each
week, sometimes the Tuesday also, is marked by adjouni-
ment that the prelates may attend conrocatlon.
SruMs, Medleral and Modern Hist., p. 270.
14. To occupy a seat in an official capacity; be
in any assembly as a member; have a seat, as
in Parliament: occupy a see (as bishop).
Oyre in commission to some sadd father which was
brought up bi the said Uuirenitie of Oxford to syt ther,
andexamyne. . . thenorlcreswhichbenotyetthroughly
cankerd in the said errors [doctrines of Luther).
Abp. Warham, To Cardinal Wolsey (1621). (Ellis's Hist.
[I)etters,3dser., I. 241.)
Stigand the Simonioos Archbishop, whom Edward much
to blame had suffered many years to nf Primate in the
Church. Milton, Hist, Eng., rL
15. To crack off and subside without breaking,
as a mass of coal after holiiifj and removal of
thesprags. Gresley. [Midland coal-fields, Eng.]
—To sit aknset. Same as to rit f'H thf knees. ^To Slt at
Chambers. See chamber. —To sit below the gangway.
Sii- i;n/ir;vni/, 2.— TOSltbOdkln'. St'i' iKxIkiiii.—To alt
close <>r clOMly tot, to devote one's self closely to ; at-
tend strictly to.
The tume that I would have presently serred Is the get-
ting of one that hath already been tryed in transcribing of
manuscripts, and will sitt dose to worke.
Abp. UsAtT, To Sir R. Cotton (1626). (Ellis's Literary
(Letters, p. 132.)
Tosltdown. (a) Totakeaseat; placeone'sself inasit-
ting posture, (ft) To establish one s self ; settle.
The Braintree company (which had begtin to tU down
at Mount WoUaston) by order of court remored to New-
town. Wlnthrop, Hist Mew England, I. I(M.
(e) MHO., to encamp, especially for the purpose of be-
sieging ; begin a siege.
The Earl led his Forces to Montegullinn, and sal down
before It, which after Arc Months .Siege be took.
Baker, Chronicles, p. 181.
(if) To cease (ram action ; pause : rest
Here we cannot tU down, but still proceed In oar search.
Dr. J. Rogers.
(et) To yield passirely ; submit as If satisfied ; content
one's self.
Can It be
The prince should sit down with this wrong?
Fletcher (and another). Queen of Corinth, 1. 1.
To sit In. (at) To take part, as In a game.
We cannot all <ft in at them [the proposed gsmes] ; we
shall make a confusion. B. Jonson, Cynthia's Rerels, ir. 1.
(6) To adhere firmly to anything. Hallimll. — To slt in
judgment. Seenttfj^ment.— To sit loose or loosely, to
be IndiOerenL (Bare.)
Jesus lored and chose solitudes, often going to moun-
tains, gardens, and sea-aides, to aroi<l crowds and hurries,
to shew his disciples it was good to be solitary, and sit
loose to the world. I'enn, Rise and Progress of (Quakers, ri.
To sit on or upon. («) To hold a session regarding; con-
sider or examine in official meeting : as, the coroner's
Jury sat fm the case.
So the Men w c-re brought to examination ; and they that
sat upon them asked. Whence they came? whither they
went? Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 156.
Sitarls
We hare passed ten evenings on the Colchester elec-
tion, and last Monday sat upon it till near two in the
morning. Walpole, Letters, II. 424.
(&) To quash ; check ; repress, especially by a snub.
[.Slang.]— To Sit on brOOdt. see iiroodi.— To Bit on
one's knees, to kneel. [Obsolete or provincial.)
When they cam to the hill againe,
The[y) sett doune one thair knees.
Battle o/i!airinn«8 (Child's Ballads, VII. 229).
I protest, Rutland, that while he sat on his knees before
me ... I had much ado to forbear cutting him over the
pate. ScoU, Kenllworth, xxxii.
In Durham sitting on theknees is an expression still used
for kneeling.
Jf^c'» Instructions /or Parish Priests (E. E. T. S.X Notes,
[p. 74.
To sit out, to make one's self an exception ; take no part,
as in a game, dance, practice, etc.
I bring my zeal among yon, holy men ;
If I see any kneel, and I sit oxU,
That hour is not well spent.
Middleton (and another). Mayor of Queenborough, i. 2.
I hope, Mr. Faulkland, as there are three of us come on
purpose for the game, you won't be so cantankerous as
to spoil the party by sitting out. Sheridan, Rivals, v. 3.
To Bit under, to attend the preaching of ; be a member
of the congregation of ; listen to.
There would then also appear in pulpits other visages,
other gestures, and stuff otherwise wrought than what we
now sit under, oft times to as great a trial of our patience
as any other that they preach to us.
Milton, Education. (Davics.)
At this time he "sot (in puritanical language) under the
ministry of lioly Mr. Gifford. " Southey, Bunyan, p. 26.
To Bit up. (a) To lift the body from a recumbent to a
sitting posture.
He that was dead sat up, and began to speak.
Luke vii. 16.
She beard, she moved,
She moan'd, a folded voice ; and up she sat.
Tennyson, Princess, r.
(b) To maintain a sitting posture ; sit with the back com-
paratirely erect ; not to be bedridden.
There were many rlsitors to the sick-room, . . . and
there could hardly be one who did not retain in after years
a ririd remembrance of the scene there — of the pale
wasted form in the easy-chair (for he sat up to tlie last).
George Eliot, Janet's Repentance, ixrii.
(c) To refrain from or defer going to bed or to sleep.
He studied rery hard, and sate up very late ; commonly
till 12 or one o'clock at night. Aubrey, Lives, Milton.
My dear father often told me they sat up always until
nine o'clock the next morning with Mr. Fox at Brooke's.
Thackeray, Pendennis, xxxix.
Hence — (d) To keep watch during the night or the usual
time for sleeping : generally followed by with.
Let the nurse this night sit up with you.
Shak., R. and J., iv. 3. 10.
To sit upon one's sklrtst. See skirts .
II. fr«HS. 1. To have or keep a seat upon.
He could not sit his mule. Shak., Hen. 'VIII., iv. 2. 16.
She set her horse with a very graceful air.
Steele, Tatler, No. 248.
2. To seat: chiefly in reflexive use.
The kyng syttyng hym sel/e, & his sete helde :
He comauod for to cum of his kynd sons.
Destruction a/ Troy (E. E. T. a), 1. 2564.
Here on this molehill will I sit me down.
SAa*.,3Hen. VI., U. 6. 14.
3t. To rest or weigh on; concern; interest;
affect ; stand (in expense) ; cost.
Cure Borowe wole thsn sitte us so soore
Oure stomak wole no mete fonge.
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. 80.
We ban a wyndowe a wlrchyng (making) wil sitteti vs ful
heigh. Piers Plowman (B), liL 48.
4. To be incumbent upon ; lie or rest upon ;
be proper for; suit; become; befit.
It sittis youe to sette it aside. York Plays, p. 862.
She . . . couthe make in song sich ref reyninge ;
It sat hir wonder wel to synge.
Rom. of the Rose, 1. 760.
It sets not the duke of Gordon's daughter
To follow a soldier lad.
The Duke of Gordon's Daughter (Child's Ballads, IV. 105).
6. To fit, as a garment. [Rare.]
Tbiennette Is this night, she mentions, for the first
time, to put on her morning promenade-dress of white
muslin, as also a satin girdle and steel buckle; but, adds
she, it will not sit her.
Carlyle, tr. of Richter's Quintus Fixlein.
sit (sit), «. [<sif, r. Cf.»e/l,n.] A subsidence
<ir fall of the ropf of a coal-mine.
Sita (se'tii), n. [Skt. sitd, furrow.] In Hindu
myth., the wife of the hero-god Rama, and hero-
itie of the Ramayana.
Sitana (si-tii'na), n. [NL. (Cuvier, 1829) ; from
an E. Ind. name.] A genus of agamoid lizards
of the family .igamidse, containing two Indian
species, with long limbs, five toes before and
four behind, earinate scales, and in the male a
large plicated appendage of the throat.
Sitari8(sil'a-ris), H. [NL. (Latri'ille, 1802).] A
genus of blister-beetles of the family Cantha-
Sitaris
riilse, having filiform anteiinEe and subulate
elytra. They are toiind only In southern Europe and
northern Africa, and only about a dozen species are known.
Sitaris coUetis.
a, first larva ; f . anal spinnerets and clasps of same ; h, second
larva; r-, pupa; d, female imago; t^ pseiidopupa ; y^ third larva.
(AU enlarged ; hair-lines indicate natural sizes.)
In early stages they are parasitic in the nests of wild bees,
aa 5. colletis of southern France in those of bees of the
genus CoUetes, where they undergo hyperraetamorphosis.
site^t, ^- [ME., also syt, syte, cytte, < loel. sut,
jfrief, sorrow, affliction, var. of soH(= AS. suht),
sickness, < sjukr, sick, anxious, = AS. sedc, E.
sick: see sicfcl.] 1. Sorrow; grief; misery;
trouble.
Now, alle-weldand Gode, that wyr scheppez us alle,
Oif the sorowe and syte, . . . the fende liave thi saule !
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1060.
Adam, thy selffe made al this gyU^
For to the tree thou wente full tyte,
And boldely on the frute gan byte my lord for-bed.
York Plays, p. 30.
2. Sinfulness; sin.
He [God] knyt a couenande cortaysly with monkynd . . .
That he schulde neuer for no syt smyte al at ones.
Alliterative Poems (ed. MorrisX ii. 566.
site^t, t'. i- [ME. siten, syten, < loel. syta, grieve,
wail, < siit, grief, sorrow: see site^, «.] To
grieve; mourn.
Bot i site for an other thing.
That we o water has nu wanting ;
Vr water purueance es gan,
And in this wildemea es nan.
Cursor Mundi (E. E. T. S.\ 1. 11675.
site- (sit), n. [Formerly often spelled, errone-
ously, seite; < ME. site, < OF. site, sit, F. site
= It. sito (cf. Sp. Pg. sitio), < L. situs, position,
place, site, < sinere, pp. situs, put, lay, set down,
usually let, suffer, permit (ef. ponere = *]>o-
sinere, put: see position) ; ef. site^. Hence ult.
(< L. situs) E. situate, etc.] 1. Position, espe-
cially with reference to environment; situa-
tion; location.
Cities and towns of most conspicuous site.
B. Jonson, PoetaBter, v. 1.
Its elevated site forbids the wretcll
To drink sweet waters of the crystal well.
Cowper, Task, i. 239.
2. The ground on which any thing is, has been,
or is to be located.
We ask nothing in gift to the foundation, but only the
bouse and scite, the residue for the accustomed rent.
Bp. Burnet, Records, II. ii. 2, No. 30.
The most niggardly computation . . . presents us with
a sum total of several hundreds of thousands of years for
the time which has elapsed since the sea . . . flowed over
the site of London. Huxley, Physiography, p. 295.
3. Posture; attitude; pose. [Rare.]
The semblance of a lover flx'd
In melancholy site, with head declin'd,
And love-dejected eyes. Tlumwon, Spring, 1. 1021.
4. In fort., the ground occupied by a work:
also called plane of site.
sitedt (si'ted), a. [< site'^ + -ecP.'] Having a
site or position ; situated; located; placed.
A farm-house they call Spelunca, gited
By the sea-side, among the Fundane hills.
B. Jonson, Sejanus, iv. 1.
Nuremberg in Germany is sited in a most barren soil.
Burton, Anat. of Mel., To the Reader, p. 59.
sitfast (sit'fast), o. and n. [< sit + fasf^.'] I. a.
Stationary; fixed; immovable; steadfast.
'Tia good, when you have crossed the sea and back,
To find the sit/oitt acres where you left them.
Emerson, Hamatreya.
5660
II. n. In farriery, a circumscribed callosity
of the skin in horses or other saddle- and pack-
animals, due to pressure of the load, it not in-
frequently becomes converted into an ulcer, and is then
the ordinary "sore back" of these animals, which seldom
gets well as long as they are ridden or laden. To prevent
such sores is the chief care of packers.
sith^t (sith), adv., prep., and conj. [< ME. sith,
syth, with earlier final vowel sithe, syihe, sethe,
sithtlic, sytlithe, seththc, seoththe, soththe, suth-
the, with earlier final consonant sitlien, sytlien,
sytliyn, sethen, sethin, sitthen, siththen, sythtlien,
sythethyn, seoththin, < AS. siththan, orig. sith
tham (= MHG. sit clem, G. seitdem (cf. MHG.
sintdem male, G. sintemal) = Icel. sidlian = Sw.
sedan = Dan. siden), after that, since: sith =
OS. silk, sidh, sid = MD. sijd, sind = MLG. sint,
sent, sunt, LG. sint = OHG. sid, sidh, sith, MHG.
sid, sit, G. seit, after, = Icel. sidh, late, = Goth.
*seiths, in ni thana-seiths, no longer (of. neut.
adj. seithu, late); a compar. adv., appearing
also later, with added compar. suffix, in AS.
sithor = OS. sithor = MD. seder, with excres-
cent * sedert, sindert, D. sedert = MLG. LG.
seder, sedder, sedert, ser, seer = OHG. sidor,
sidor, MHG. sider, sider, afterward, since ; tham,
dat. of thxt, that (see tliat). This word ap-
pears in six distinct types: the earliest ME.
type sithen became by reg. loss of its term, sithe.
then sith; the same form sithen became by
eontr. sin, whence with added adverbial term.
sine; and the same form sithen also took on an
adverbial gen. suffix -es, and became sithenes,
later spelled sithence, whence by oontr. the
usual mod. form since. See sin^, sirte^, sithence,
since.2 I. adv. Same as since.
First to the ryght lionde thou shalle go,
Sitttteti to tho left honde thy neghe thou cast.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 300.
Being of so young days brought up with him.
And sith so neighbour'd to his youth and haviour.
Shak., Hamlet, ii. 2. 12.
II. prep. Same as since.
Natheles men seyn there comounly that the Erthe hathe
so ben cloven sythe the tyme that oure Lady was there
buryed. Mandevitle, Travels, p. 95.
Ten days ago I drown'd these news in tears ;
And now . . .
I come to tell you things sith then befall'n.
Shak., S Hen. VI., ii. 1. 106.
III. conj. Same as since.
Why meuestow thi mode for a mote in thi brotheres eye ;
Sithen a beem in thine owne ablyndeth thi-selue?
Pi^rs Plounnan (B), x. 264.
SUh thou hast not hated blood, even blood shall pursue
thee. Ezek. xxxv. 6.
sith^t. An old spelling of side^, sithe^.
Sithe^t, «• The older and proper spelling of
scythe.
sithe'^t (sith), «. [< ME. sithe, syihe, sith, syth,
sithe, time, < AS. sith (for *sinth), .iourney, turn,
time, = OS. sith = OHG. sind, MHG. sint, a way,
time, = Icel. sinni (for *sinthi), sinn, a walk,
journey, time, = Goth, sinihs, a time, = W.
hynt (for ".Hnt), a way, course, journey, expe-
dition, = Olr. set, a way : see send, scent.'] 1.
Way; path; course; figuratively, course of
action ; conduct.
An he [Lucifer] wurthe [became] in him-seluen prud,
An with that pride him wex a nyth [envy]
Tliat iwel weldeth al his sith.
Genesis and Exodus (E. E. T. S.), 1. 274.
2. Way; manner; mode.
No eith might thai suffer the sorow that thai hade.
Destruction of Troy(E. E. T. S.), 1. 9535.
3. Time; season; occasion.
After the deth she cryed a thousand sythe.
Chaucer, Troilus, iv. 753.
Thus with his wife he spends the year, as blithe
As doth the king at every tide or sith.
Greene, Shepherd's Wife's Song.
sithe^t, V. i. [ME. sithen, < AS. sithiun (= OS.
sithon = OHG. sindon, MHG. sinden = Icel.
sinna), journey, < sith, a journey: see sithe'^,
?(.] To journey; travel,
sithe^ (sith), V. i. [Early mod. E. also sythe; a
var. of sit/h^.] To sigh. [Obsolete or prov.
Eng.]
So I say sUhing, and sUhirm say my end is to paste up a
siquis. My masters fortunes are forc'd to cashere me.
Marston, What you Will, ill. 1.
Sithe^ (sith), n. [Early mod. E. also sythe; a var.
of sifjh^.'] A sigh. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
Whilest thou wast hence, all dead in dole did lie;
The woods were heard to waile full many a syihe.
And all their birds with silence to complaine.
Spenser, Colin Clout, 1. 23.
sithent, adv., prep., and conj. Same as sith^ for
since.
sittandly
sithencet, adv., prep., and conj. [Earl.v mod.
E. also sithens; < ME. sithens, sethens, sithenes,
etc. ; a later form, with added adverbial gen.
suffix -es (see -ce), of sithen : see sith^. Hence,
by contr., sinec.] Same as sj(/il for since.
I wil sowe it my-self, and sitihenes wil I wende
To pylgrymage as palmers don pardoun forto haue.
Piers Ploumian (B), vi. 65.
We read that the earth hath beene divided into three
parts, even sithens the generall floud.
Uolinshed, Descrip. of Britain, i. (Nares.y
Have you inform 'd them sithence?
Shak., Cor., ill. 1. 47.
Sithence this is my first letter that ever I did write to
you, I will not that it be ail empty.
Sir H. Sidney (Arber's Eng. Garner), I. 41.
Mine eyes . . . cry aloud, and curse my feet, for not
ambling up and down to feed colon ; sitlience, if good
meat be in any place, 'tis known my feet can smeU.
Massinger and Dekker, Virgin-Martyr, iii. 3.
sitiology (sit-i-ol'o-ji), n. [< Gr. cutiov, dim. of
CT/roc, food, + -'Aoyia,<. Aeyeiv, speak: see -ology.]
Same as sitology.
sitiophobia (sifi-o-fd'hi-a), n. [< Gr. mriov,
dim. of (Ti-of, food, + -<l>o^'ia, < ipO)iela6ai, fear.]
Same as sitophohia.
Sitka cypress, «. See cypress'^, 1 (6).
Sitodrepa (si-tod're-pa), )(. [NL. (Thomson,
1863), < Gr. OTTOf, food, + iptiTEiv, pluck.] A ge-
nus of serricom beetles of the family Ptinid^,
founded upon S. panicea, a small brown convex
insect of cosmopolitan distribution, and often
a serious pest to stored food, to drugs, and to
specimens of natural history in museums. See
out under book-worm.
si'tolet, n. See citole.
sitology (si-tol'o-ji), 11. [< Gr. alro^, food, +
-Aoyia, < },eyeiv, speak: see -ology.] That de-
partment of medicine which relates to the regu-
lation of diet ; the doctrine or consideration of
aliments; dietetics.
sitophobia (si-to-fo'bi-a), n. [NL., < Gr. trirof,
food, + -(po/iia, ^ ^(jtlcSai, fear.] Morbid or in-
sane aversion to food. .Also sitiophobia.
sitophobic (si-to-fo'bik), a. [< sitophobia +
-I'c] Morbidly averse to food ; affected with
sitophobia.
Sit-Sicker (sit'sik'''6r), n. [< sit + sicker.] The
creeping crowfoot, Ranunculus repens: so called
in allusion to its close adherence to the ground.
Britten and Holland, Eng. Plant Names. [Scot-
land.]
Sit'ta (sit'a), n. [NL., < Gr. cittt!, a kind of
woodpecker.] A Linnean genus of birds, the
nuthatches, typical of the family Sittidas. There
are about 15 species, of Europe, Asia, and North America.
The common bird of Europe is S. europsea, of which &
iiuroptaii .\iiihatch {Sitta eurofima).
variety, S. csesia. is recognized. Five species occur in the
United States : the red-bellied, S. canaderms ; the white-
bellied, S. carolinensis ; the slender-billed, S'. acideata;
the brown-headed, S. pumlta; and the pygmy, S. pygmtea.
The first of these inhabits >'orth America at large ; the
second, eastern parts of the continent : the third, western ;
the fourth, southeastern ; and the fifth, southwestern.
See also cut under nuthatch.
sittacine, «• A variant oi psittadne,
sittandt, p. a. [ME., ppr. of sit, v. Cf. sitting,
p. a.'] Same as sitting, 3.
He salu^ede that sorowfulle with eittande wordez,
And fraynez aftyre the fende fairely there aftyre.
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 953.
sittandlyt, adw [ME., < sittand + -ly^.'] Same
as sitiinghj.
That they bee herberde in haste in thoos heghe chambres ;
Sythine sittatidly in sale servyde ther-aftyr.
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), L 169.
sitte
sittet, r. An obsolete spelling of »it.
Sittella (si-ters), «. [XL. (Swainson, 1837), <
•SilUi + dim. -ella. ] An Australian and Papuan
genus of small creeping birds belonging or re-
ferred to the Siitidse. S. chryeoplera, UucopUra, leu-
eoeephala, piieata, Unuirostrig, and striata inhabit Austra-
lia ; 5. papuengis is found in New Guinea.
sitten (sit'n). An obsolete, archaic, or dia-
lectal past participle of »it sitten on, stunted in
stature. HaUiweU.
sitter (sit'6r), H. [< WS.. syttare ; < sit ■¥■ -frl.]
One who or that which sits, (o) One who occupies
a seat, or has a sitting posture.
The two rooms midway were tilled with gittern taking
the evening breeze. C. D. Warner, Their Pilgrimage, p. 34.
(b) A brooding or incubating bird.
The oldest bens are reckoned the best sittert.
Mortimer, Husbandry.
(c) One who takes a certain xKtsture, position, or course in
order to a particular end ; specifically, one who poses to au
artist for a portrait, bust, or the like.
How many times did dive's next door neighbor, little
Mr. Finch, the miniature painter, run to peep ttu-ougb his
parlour blinds, hoping that a gUter was coming !
Thackeray, Newcomes, iliii.
Sitter up, one who sits up. See to git up, under git. (a)
One who stays up late at night.
They were men of boisterous spirits. tUterg up a-nights.
Lamb, Confessions of a Drunkard.
<fr) One who watches during the night.
There 's them can pay for hospitals and nurses for half
the country-side choose to be »itterg-up ni^ht and day.
Oeorge Eliot, M iddlemarch, Ixxi.
Sittidae (sit'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Sitta + -I'da;.]
A family of bird!s, named from the genus Sitta.
See Sittinie.
SittinaeCsi-ti'ne), «.p/. \Tfh.,<. Sitta + -inie.'\ 1.
The Sittitlse as a subfamily of Paridte or of Verthi-
iila. — 2. A subfamily of Sittitlse, chiefly repre-
sented by the genus.Si((rt,- the nut hatches proper.
They have the bill straight, slender, tapering, and acute,
about as long as the head, and hard, fitted for tapping
wood ; rounded nostrils, concealed by bristly tufts ; long,
pointed wings with ten primaries, of which the first is
spurious; short square tail with twelve broad aoft fea-
toen not used in climbing ; small feet, with acutellate
tani and strong curved claws adapted for clinging to
treea. The Sittinx are among the most nimble and adroit
of scaniorial birds, able to scnunble about treea in every
attitude without using the tail as a means of support.
They are insectivorous, and alio feed on small hard miits ;
and they nest in holes, laying many white eggs with red*
dish BpecUea. See cat* under nuMotek and SkUa.
sittine (sit'ln), a. [< NL. Sitta + -»b«i.] Re-
sembling or related to a nuthatch; of or per-
taining to the Sittinm.
sitting (sit'ing), n. [< ME. gittinge, syttinge,
nijtliliiiie: verbal n. of fit, r.] 1. A meeting of
a body for the discussion or transaction of busi-
ness ; an official session.
Hastings rose, declared the gifting at an end, and left
the room. Maeautay, Warren Hastings.
2. The interval during which, at au^ one time,
one sits; specifically, such a period during
which one sits for an artist to take a portrait,
model a bust, etc.; hence, generally, any one
limited portion of time.
1 shall never see my gold again : foorscore ducats at a
tilting! fourscore ducaU! Shot., M. of V., UL 1. 117.
Few good pictures have been flniabed at one tUHng.
Dryden.
3. An incubation; a brooding, as of a hen
upon e^^ ; also, the time for brooding, or dur-
ing which a bird broods.
In the somer seeon whane tttHtwe nyeth, . . .
This brid [partridge] be a bank hlldlth his nest
Btehard the RedeUgg, ill. 30.
Whilst the hen is covering her eggs the male . . .
amuses and diverts her with his song* daring the whole
time of her gitting. Additoit, SpecUtor, No. 128.
4. The number of emu on which a bird sits
during a single hatching; a clutch. — 6. The
place where one sits- a seat; specifically, a
space sufficient for one person in a pew of a
church, or the right to such a seat.
There is a resident rector, . . . (andj the charch is en-
larged by at least live hundred tOtingg,
Ggorge EUd, Janet's Bepentanre, IL
6f. Settlement; place of abode ; seat.
In that ryt«e (aamariai was the gyttinge* of the 12
Tribes of Israel. MandevOle, 'Travels, p. 10ft
7. In Entj. Imr, the part of the year in which
judicial business is transacted. See Easter
term, under Kaater^, and TYinity term, Michael-
miiH term, and IJilary term, unaer term. — 8. In
the Society of Friends, an occasion of family
worship, especially when a minister is a guest.
We were favourefl with a very goo<l family gitting after
breakfast. ... I had to minister to them all. and to pray
earnestly for them.
J. J. Oumey, Journal, 8th mo., 8ht, 1841
A slttlllg In banc. See banc.
5661
sitting (sit'ing), p. a. [< ME. sittynge, ppr. of
sit. Ct. sittatid.] 1. Pertaining to or charac-
teristic of a sitter: as, a sitting posture. — 2. In
hot., sessile — that is, without petiole, peduncle,
or pedicel, etc. — 3t. Befitting; suitable; be-
coming.
This lechecraft, or heled thus to be,
Were wel gittynge, if that I were a fend.
To traysen a wight that trewe is unto me.
Chaucer, Troilus, iv. 437.
Sittinglyf, adv. [Early mod. E. si/ttyiigly; <
sitting + -ly^. Cf. sittandly.] Befittingly; be-
comingly: suitably.
sitting-room (sit'ing-rom), n. 1. Sufficient
space for sitting in : as, sitting-room could not
be got in the haU. — 2. A room in which people
sit ; in many houses, the parlor or room most
commonly occupied by the family.
He expected to And the gitting-room as he left it, with
nothing to meet his eyes but Milly's work-basket in the
comer of the sofa, and the children's toys overturned in
the l)ow-window. George Eliot, Amos Barton, viii.
situate (sit'u-at), i;. t.; pret. and pp. situated,
ppr. situating. [Formerly also, erroneously,
scituate; < LL. situatus, pp. of (ML.) situa're
(> It. situare = 8p. Pg. Pr. situar = F. situer),
locate, place, < L. situs (situ-), a site : see sitt'^.j
1. To give a site or position to ; place (among
specified surroundings) ; locate. [Rarely used
except in the passive or past participle.]
If this world had not been formed, it is more than prob.
able that this renowned island, on which is situated the
city of New York, would never have had an existence.
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 42.
A few public men of small ability are Introduced, to
show better the proportions of the great ; as a painter
would gituate a beggar under a triumphal arch.
Landor, Works, II. (Author to Reader of Imag. Conv.)^
2. To place in a particular state or condition ;
involve in specified relations; subject to cer-
tain circumstances: as, to be uncomfortably
situated.
We are reformers bom — radical reformers ; and it was
impossible for me to lire in the same town with Crims-
worih, to come into weekly contact with him, to witness
some of his conduct to you — . . . I say it was impossible
for me to be thus situated, and not feel the angel or the
demon of my race at work within me.
Charlotte Brontf', The Professor, vi.
situate (sit'u-at), «. [Formerly also, errone-
ously, sdtuaie; < LL. situatus, pp. of (ML.) »i(«-
nre, locate, place: see situate, t'.J Placed, with
reference to surroundings; located; situated.
[Archaic]
There 's nothing gituate under heaven's eye
But hath his bound, in earth, in sea, in sky.
Shak., C. of E., 11. 1. 16.
Physic, taking It according to the derivation, and not
according to our idiom for medicine, Is situate in a middle
term or distance between natural history and metaphyaic.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, IL
Earth hath this variety from heaven
Of pleasure situate in hill and dale.
Milton, P. L., vL 641.
Bergen was well tHueUe upon a little stream which con-
nected it with the tide-waters of the Scheldt.
Motley, Hist. Netherlands, II. 537.
situation (sit-u-a'shon), «. [< P. situation =
Si), siluucion = Pg. silua^Ho = It. situazione, <
ML. situatio(«-), position, situation, < situare,
pp. situatus, situate: see situate.'] 1. Local
position; location.
Beautiful for gUuation, the Joy of the whole earih, is
mount Zion. Ps. xlviii. 2.
It were of use to inform himself, l)efore he undertakes
his voyage, bv the best chorographical and geographical
map, of Uie situation of the country he goes to.
E. Leigh (Arber s £ng. Garner, I. 646).
2. The place which a person or thing occupies.
At once, as far as angels ken, be views
The dismal gituation waste and wild :
A dungeon horrible on all sides round.
Milton, P. L., 1. 60.
The tUuatian {of Samaria] as a whole is far more beauti*
f ul than that of Jerusalem, though not so grand and wild.
Encyc. Brit., XXI. 243.
3. Position with reference to circumstances;
set of relations ; condition ; state.
To be so tickled, they would change their state
And situation with tnose dancing chips.
O'er whom thy flnsrers walk with gentle gait
Shak., .Sonnets, cxxviii.
T>ove, you see. is not so much a Sentiment as a Situa-
tinn. Into which a man enters, as . . . into a corps. No
matter whether he loves the service or no; being once in
It, he acts as If he did. Stenm, Tristram Shandy, vIII. 34.
4. A group of circumstances; a posture of af-
fairs; specifically, in theatrical art, a crisis or
critical point in the action of a play.
This will be delivered to you, I expect, by Col. Thrus-
ton. from whom you will be able to receive a more cir-
cumstantial acc't of the nituatvmot affairs in this Quarter
than can be conveve<l well in a letter.
Oeorge Washington, To Col. Sami Washington.
Sivaistic
Real situations are always pledges of a real natural Ian
guage. De Quincey, Style, i.
The gituationg which most signally develop character
form the best plot. Macaulay, Machiavelli.
5. A post of employment ; a subordinate office ;
a place in which one works for salary or wages.
Hearing about this time that Sir Pitt Crawley's family
was in want of a governess, she actually recommended Miss
Sharp for the situation, firebrand and serpent as she was.
Thackeray, Vanity Fair, 11
6. Settlement; occupation. [Rare.]
On Munday they . , . marched into ye land, & found di-
verse cornfeilds & litle Tuning brooks, a place (as they
supposed) fltt for situation.
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 88.
= Syn. 1 and 2. Site, station, post. — 3. Case, plight;
situation is relation to external objects ; state and con-
dition refer to what a person or thing is inwardly.
situla (sit'u-la), n. » [ML. (see def. 1), also a
liquid measure, < L. situla, a bucket, urn.] 1.
PI. situlte (-le). Eccles., an aspersorium, or mov-
able stoup. — 2. [_cap.'\ A very yellow star of
magnitude 5.5, k Aquarii.
situs (si'tus), ». ; pi. situs. [L. : see sife2.] 1.
Situation; site.
The future situs of the cotton manufacture of the United
States. E. Alkimon, Pop. Sci. Mo., XXXVI. 289.
2. In biol.,arch«ol., etc., the proper or original
site, place, position, or location of a part or
organ, or of any other thing: chiefly in the
phrase in situ, in place — that is, not disturbed
or disarranged by dissection, excavation, or
other process of examination. — 3. In law, sit-
uation in contemplation of law ; locality, actual
or recognized, ilius, the toi-ms of transfer of real
property must confonu to the law of the situs (that is,
thejurisdiction within which the property is actually situ-
ated) ; and when it Is said that personal property lias no
situs, it is meant that for certain purposes the law refuses
to recognixe its actual situs, and inquires for the law ap-
plicable to the person of the owner.— Situs perversus,
abnormal position of organs or parts.— Situs transver-
SUS, lateral transposition of the viscera from right to left,
and conversely.
sit-ye-down (sit'ye-doun'), n. [Imitative of its
note.] The titmouse, P«r»<s»i(7;"or. [Prov.Eng.]
sitz-bath (sits'bath), «. [A partly accom. form
of (i. sit:bad, < sitz, a seat, -t- had = E. bath.'\
1. Sameas/ii/^-ftntfi. — 2. A tub of wood, metal,
etc., adapted for such a bath.
Sium (si'um), n. [NL. (Rivinus, 1699), < Gr. ciov,
a plant found in meadows and marshes.] A
genus of umbelliferous plants, of the tribe J»h-
viines and subtribe Euaniniineir. it is character-
ized by flowers with numerous undivided involucral bracts,
acute calyx-teeth, and slightly notched inflexed petals;
and by fruit with nearly equal obtuse corky or thickened
and somewhat prominent ridges, an undivided or obsolete
carpophore, and numerous oil-tubea or at least one to
three to each interval. There are 6 species, including
the genus Berula (Koch, 1837), separated from Sium by
some on account of its nearly globose fruit with incon-
spicuous ribs and thick corky pericarp. They are natives
mostly of the northern hemisphere, with one in South
Africa, all growing chiefly In watery places. They are
smooth herbs bearing once-pinnate leaves with toothed
leaflets, and white flowers In terminal or lateral compound
umbels with many-l>racted involucres and involucels.
They are known as staler-par snip. Two species occur In
the eastern I'nited States— S. cicutie/oliuvi and 5. Carsonii
— besides Berwio angugt\folia. by many referred here. Com-
Sare ninsi, and for >S. Belenium see jellico. See cuts uu-
er injloregeenee and skirret.
Siva (se'vii'), n. [Also Shiva, (^ira; < Hind.
Siia, < Skt.civa, propitious: a euphemism.]
1. In later Hindu myth., the name of a god of
highest rank, supreme
god In the opinion of
his sectaries, but also
combined with Brah-
ma and Vishnu in a
triad, in which he rep-
resents the principle
of destruction. One of
his principal emblems is
the llngani or phallus, sym-
Iwllcal of creation which
follows destruction ; and
he is represented with sym-
bols of cruelty and carnage.
2. In ornith., a genus
of Asiatic birds, such
as S. cyanuroptera, S.
strigula, and i^. casta-
neiciiuda : so named
by Hodgson in 1838,
and also called by him
Hemiparus (1841) and
loropus (1844). The
species Inhabit the Hima-
layan regions, and south-
ward In Assam and Humia to Tenasserlm. The genus Is
oneof many which have been Itxmted in "families" conven-
tionally called A2githinidee, Liotrichidff, and Tivieliidie.
3. In riitotn., a genus of liemi))terous insects.
Sivaistic (se-va-is'tik), a. [< Sira + -i«Hc.]
Of or jiertaining to the worship of Siva.
(From Moor's "
Pantheon.")
Sivaite
Sivaite (se'va-it), a. and n. [< Sira + -i7e2.]
Adhering to, or an adherent of, the god Siva ;
belonging to the sect or body of Hindus who
worship Siva as highest god.
Here, in historical times, was the home of Sankara
Achaiya, the great SivaiU reformer of the 8th century.
Encyc. Brit., XIII. 816.
Sivalik (si-va'lik), a. Same as Siwalik.
Sivan (siv'an), ». [< Heb. .sii«h.] The third
mouth of tiie Jewish sacred year and the ninth
of the civil year, corresponding to the latter
part of May and part of June.
Slva-snake (se'va-snak), n. A book-name of
Ophiiqihaijus elaps, a very large and deadly
Siva-snake iOfhiofhagus etaps).
eobriform serpent of India: so called from its
powers of destruction. See Ophiophagus.
sivathere (siv'a-ther), n. A sivatherium.
Sivatieriidae (siVa-the-n'i-de), ji.^j?. [NL.,<
Siratliei-iiim + -idee.~\ A family of fossil artio-
daetyl and presumably ruminant mammals, of
uncertain position in the s-aborAev Artiodactyla,
typified by the genus Sivatherium. The skull is
broad behind, contracted forward in front of the molar
teeth, with the facial part shortened and produced down-
ward, and the nasal bones sliort and arched ; it bears two
pairs of horns, supported on bony cores. There are three
molar and three premolar teetli on each side of each jaw,
broad, with inner crescentic plates of enamel running in
large sinuous flexures, 'i'he family has been united by
some with the Giraffidm, and by others considered as find-
ing its nearest living relative in tlie North American An-
tilocapricUe, the horns being similarly furcate and borne on
long bony cores, unlike the antlers of deer.
sivatherioid (siv-a-the'ri-oid), a. [< Sivatheri-
um + -oid.'] Resembling or related to the siv-
atherium ; of or pertaining to the Sivatheriiclee.
Sivatherium (siv-a-the'ri-um), n. [NL. (Fal-
coner and Cautley). < Siva, the Hindu god, +
Gr. dT/piov, a wild beast.] 1. The typical genus
of Sivatheriidee. The species is 5. giganteum, discov-
ered in the Siwalik Hills, of huge dimensions for a rumi-
nant, with a skull as long as an elephant's. The animal
had four horns, and a large tumid muzzie, perliaps some-
what as in the living saiga antelope. Also called Sival-
hippu*.
2. [/. c] An animal of this genus; a sivathere.
sive't, n. and v. An obsolete spelling of sieve.
Sive^ (siv), n. A dialectal variant of scythe,
liulliwell.
siver^t (siv'er), V. i. [An imitative variant of
simmer^, the form perhaps influenced by shiver^
and quiver^.'] To simmer. Holland.
siver^t, ». A Scotch form of sewer'^.
siwens, «. See sibbens.
Siwalik (si-wa'lik), a. [Also Sivalik, in E.
sometimes Sewalick; < Hind. Siwalik, Siwdlikh.']
Pertaining or belonging to or found in the Si-
waliks, the southern outlying range of the Him-
alayas: as, the Siwalik strata; Siwalik fossils.
— Siwalik eroup, an important division of the Tertiary
in the Himalayas. The group is of land and fresh-water
origin, and is extremely rich in fossils, chiefly of Mam-
malia, among which are great numbers of Umjulata, ani-
mals of large size occurring in preponderating numbers.
More than JiO genera of Mammalia are included in the Si-
walik fauna, many of them still existing.
six (siks), a. and n. [Sc. also sax; < ME. six,
sex, sexe, sixc, < AS. six, syx, siex, seox = OS.
sehs — OFries. sex = MD. .?«.«, D. zes = MLG.
ses, ses, LGr. ses = OHG. MHG. sehs, G. seehs =
Icel. Dan. Sw. .sex = Goth, saihs = L. sex (> It.
sei = Sp. Pg. Pr. seis = F. six) = Gr. tf = W.
Bret, chwech = Ir. se = Gael, se = Lith. szeszi
= OBulg. shcstt = Pol. szesc = Bohem. shest =
Russ. .ihesti = Zend khshvash, Pers. shash =
Skt. shash, six. Hence sixth, sixteen, etc. ; from
the L., sext, sextant, sexter, sextet, sextuple, sexa-
genarian, sexagesima, sexennial, senary, sice^,
etc.; and from Gr., hexagon, hexagonal, hexam-
eter, etc.] I. a. One more than five; being
twice three: a cardinal numeral Involution of
5662
six screws. SecmpoJufion.— SlxKations. 9teeTroqu<m.
— Six-Principle Baptists. See bapiia, 2.— Six-year
molar, thf tlrst permanent molar tooth. — The Six Acts.
See ac(— The Six Articles. Sec article.— "the Six Com-
panies, six great organizations of Chinese merchants in
San Krancisco, which control Chinese immigration into the
I'nited States and the immigrants. — The whip with six
Strings. See the Six Articles, under article.
II. II. 1. The number greater by one than
five; twice three. For the cabalistic signifi-
cance of six, see seven. — 2. A symbol repre-
senting this number, as 6, or VI, or vi. — 3. In
games: (a) A playing-card bearing six spots or
pips; a six-spot. (6) On a die, the face which
bears six spots; hence, a die which turns up
that face.
It is a hundred to one if a man fling two nxes and re-
cover all. Cowley, Danger of Procrastination.
4. Beer sold at six shillings a barrel ; hence,
small beer.
Look if he be not drunk ! The very sight of him makes
one long for a cup of six. Rmdey, Match at Midnight, i. 1.
Mr. Steevens . . . aays that small beer still goes by the
cant name of sixes. Nares.
5. pi. Bonds bearing interest at six per cent.
The bonds became known as the sixes of 18(J1.
The Nation, Oct. 10, 1867, p. 295.
6. pi. In Eng. hymnology, a species of trochaic
meter having six syllables to the line, and prop-
erlyfour lines to the stanza — At (formerly on) six
and seven, at sixes and sevens, at odds -, in disagree-
ment ; in confusion. Compare to set on seven, under seven.
Lat not this wreched wo thyne herte gnawe,
But, manly, set the world oii six and sevene.
And if thow deye a martyr, go to hevene.
Chaucer, Troilus, iv. 622.
Alle in sundur hit [the tun] brast.
In six or in seuyn.
Avowyne of King Arther, st. 64. (Kitson's Eng. Metr.
|Eom., p. 89.)
Bot be thay past me by, by Mahowne in heven,
I shalle, and that in hy, set alle on sex and seven;
Trow ye a kyng as I wyll suffre thaym to neven
And to have mastry bot myself fulle even.
Towneley Mysteries, p. 143.
All is uneven,
And every thing is left at six and seven.
Shak., Rich. II., ii. 2. 122.
Continued sixes, six per cent, bonds issued in 1861 and
1863, redeemable in 1881, and at that time continued at 3J
per cent.— Currency sixes, six per cent, bonds issued by
acts of 1862 and 1864, and made redeemable in United
States Treasury notes or any other currency wliich the
United States might declare a legal tender. — Double
Sixes. See double.— LOM sixes, candles about 8 inches in
length, weighing six to iTie pound.
Man found out long sixes; — Hail, candlelight!
Lamb, Elia, Popular fallacies, xv.
Sevens and sixes. See seven, 3.— Short sixes; candles
from 4 to 5 inches ill length, weighing six to the pound.
That sort of a knock on the head which lights up. for
the patient's entertainment, an imaginary general illu-
mination of very bright short-sixes.
Dickenn, Martin Chuzzlewit, ii.
Six clerk, in Eng. Chancery, one of a number of clerks
who, under the Slaster of the Rolls, were charged with
keeping the records of the court — titat is, those proceed-
ings which were engrossed on parchment. They also at
one time had charge of the causes in court, each party
being obliged to employ a six clerk as his representative.
Each six clerk had a number of subordinate clerks. The
office was abolished in 1843. — Sixes and fives, a trochaic
meter, usually of eight lines, alternately of six and five
syllables to the line.— Sixes and fours, either a dactylic
or an iambic meter, of a varying number of lines, contain-
ing either six or four syllables to the line. Other varieties
occur.
sixain (sik'san), n. [< F. sixain, OF. sisain, six-
aiiie, sixain = Pr. seieen = Sp. seiseno, sixth, <
Mh. sexeniis, < L. sex, six: see six."] 1. Astanza
of six verses. — 2. In the middle ages, an order
of battle.
six-banded (siks'ban"ded), a. Having six seg-
ments of the carapace, as an armadillo. See
noyou.
SlX-belted (siks'bel''''ted), a. Having six stripes
or belts: in the jthvase six-belted clcariving, not-
ing a British hawk-moth, Sesia ichnemnonifor-
mis.
sixer (sik'sfer), n. [< six + -e>-i.] Something
possessing or connected with six or a set of six
objects.- Double sixer, a system of twelve straight
lines in space, consisting of two sets of six each, such that
every line cuts every one of tlie other set and none of its own
set : or, in other words, every line is on the same plane with
every line of the other set and with none of its own set.
sixfold (siks'fold), a. [< ME. \iixfold, < AS. six-
feald (= Icel. sexfaldr = Dan. sexfold; cf. D.
zes'voudig = G. sechsfdltig = Sw. sexfaldig), six-
fold; as six + -/oM.] Six times repeated; six
times as much or as many.
The mouth of this fish is furnished with sometimes ttgix-
fold row of teeth.
Pennant, British Zoology (ed. 1776), III. 107.
Sixfold measure or time, in mugic, same as sextuple
rhythm or time (which see, under sextuple).
sixteenth
sixfold (siks'fold), adv. [< sixfold, n.] In a six-
fold degree ; with six times the amount, extent,
value, etc.
six-footer (siks'fut"er), )). Aperson measuring
six feet or more in height. [CoUoq.]
Like nearly all Tennesseans, the centenarian is a six-
.footer, chews tobacco, and loves a good story.
Sci. Amer., N. S., LXII. 73.
six-gilled (siks'gild), «. Having six pairs of
gill-slits, as a shark; hexanchous. See Noti-
damdse.
six-hour (siks'our), a. Pertaining to a quarter
of a day, or six hours — Six-hour circle, the hour-
circle whose hour-angle is six liours.
six-lined (siks'lind), a. Having six linear
stripes: as, the six-lined lizard, scuttler, or
streakfield, Cnemidophorus sexlineatits.
sixling (siks'ling), n. [< six + -ling'^.] A com-
pound or twin crystal consisting of six indivi-
duals.
sixpence (siks'pens), m. [<.six + pence. 1 1. An
Englisli silver coin of the value of six pence
(about 12 cents) ; half of a shilling, it was first
issued by Edward VI., with a weight of 48 grains, and after-
ward by other monarchs. The sixpence of Queen V ictoria
weighs about 43.', grains.
2. The value of six pence, or half a shilling; a
slight value : sometimes used attributively.
In Verse or Prose, we write or chat,
Not sioc-pence Matter upon what.
Prior, To Fleetwood Shepherd.
3t. In the United States, especially in New
York, while the coin was in circulation, a Span-
ish half-real, of the value of 6i cents,
sixpenny (siks'pe-ni), a. l< six + }jenny.2 1.
Worth or costing sixpence : as, a sixpenny loaf.
— 2. Hence, paltry; petty; cheap; worthless.
I am joined with no foot-land rakers, no iong-staff six-
penny strikers. Shak., 1 Hen. IV., ii. 1. 82.
I know them, swaggering, suburbian roarers.
Sixpenny truckers. Massinger, City ifadam, iii. 1.
sixpenny nails. See nail, 6, and poundi.
Have you the hangings and the Sixpenny nails for my
Lord's Coat of Arms'^
Quoted in Aahton's Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne,
U. 47.
six-point (siks'point), a. In math., related in
a remarkable way to six points ; involving six
points — Slx-polnt circle. See Tucker circle, mtder cir-
cle.—Six-point contsict, a contact due to the coincidence
of six points ; in the case of curves, a contact of the fifth
order.
six-shooter (siks'shij^ter), V. A pistol for fir-
ing six shots in succession, usually a revolver
with six chambers.
"The weapons of our warfare are not carnal" — bowie-
knives, six-shooters, an' the like.
W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 177.
six-spot (siks'spot),«. and «. I. a. Having six
spots, as an insect or a playing-card: as, the
six-.wot burnet-moth.
ir. «• A playing-card with six pips.
six-stringed (siks'stringd), a. Having six
strings — Slx-strlnged whip, an old popular name
for the Six Articles (which see, under article).
sixte (sikst), II. [< F. sixte. < L. sextiis, sixth:
see sixth.'] A parry on the fencing-floor, prob-
ably at first the sixth position assumed by a
swordsman after pulling his weapon from the
scabbard held in his left hand. (See prime, se-
conde, tierce, quari^, 2, etc.) The hand is in the nor-
mal position on guard opposite the right breast, with
nails upward, and point of sword I'aised. The parry is
eifected by moving the sword a little to the right, but
keeping the point steady, thus causing the opponent's
thrust to deviate. Sixte is also used for the thrust, coun-
ter, etc., which is parried by this movement: a point in
sixte, for instance.
The authors of " Fencing " prefer tierce to sixte, in which
the masters are against them.
Athenxum, No. 3240, p. 742.
sixteen (siks'ten'), a. and n. [< ME. sixtene,
scrtenc, < AS. sixtene, sixtyne — OS. sestein =
OFries. sextine, sexiene = D. zestien = MHG.
sehsehcn, G. sechszehn, sechzehn = Icel. sextan
= Sw. sexton = Dan. sexten = Goth. *.<<a>listaihun
= L. sexdccim, sedecim (> It. scdici (cf. Pg. dcza-
■leis, transposed) = Pr. sedze — F. seize), sixteen ;
as six + ten.] I. a. Being the sum of six and
ten; consistingof one more than fifteen: a car-
dinal numeral.
II. B. 1. The number made up of si.x and ten;
four times four. — 2. A symbol representing tliis
number, as 16, or XVI, or xvi.
sixteenmo (siks'ten'mo), n. See sexto-dccinio.
sixteenth (siks'tenth'), a. and ti. [< ME. six-
tetithe, earlier sixtethe, sixteothe, < AS. sixteotha,
syxtedthe = OFries. sextinda, sextenda, sextiensta,
sextendesta = D. zestiende = MHG. sehzehcnde,
G. sechszehnt/;, sechzehnte = Icel. sextdiidi = Sw.
sextonde = Dan. sextcnde ; as sixteen + -ih^.]
sixteenth
I. a. 1. Next in order after the fifteenth; be-
ing the sixth after the tenth : the ordinal of six-
teen.— 2. Being one of sixteen equal parts into
which a whole is divided.
H, n. 1. One of sixteen equal parts. — 2.
In music: (a) The melodic or harmonic inter-
val of two octaves and a second. (6) A six-
teenth-note.— 3. lu early Eng. lair, a sixteenth
of the rents of the year, or of movables, or
both, frranted or levied by way of tax.
sixteenth-note (siks'tenth'not), «. In mnsi-
cal notation, a note equivalent in time-value to
one half of an eighth-note: marked by the sign
ft or .^ , or, in groups, P , ^ . Also called
semiquarer Sixteenth-note rest. See rwii, 8 (6).
sixteenth-rest (siks'tenth'rest), n. In musi-
cal iintiiiion, same as sixteenth-note rest.
sixth (siksth), a. and n. [With term, conformed
to -tli'^; < ME. sixt, sexte, sixte, syxte, ssxte,
siste, seste, < AS. sixta = OS. selisto = OFries.
Sixta = ilD. seste, T>. zesde = MLG. seste, seste
= OHG. sehsto, MHG. sehste, G. sechste = Icel.
setti = Sw. Dan. sjette = Goth, saihsta = L.
sextus (> It. sesto = Sp. Pg. sexto = F. sixte); as
six + -(/|3.] I. a. 1. Being the first after the
fifth: the ordinal of six. — 2. Being one of six
equal parts into which a whole is divided. —
Sixth-day, Friday, as the sixth day of the week : so called
amuiiK the Society ot BYiends.— The BiXtbhonr, the sixth
of twelve hours reckuned from sunrise to sunset ; the noon-
tide hour ; specifically, the canonical hour of sexU
Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the rixth
hour. Acta x. 9.
n. n. 1. A sixth part. — 2. In early Kng.
laic, a sixth of the rents of the year, or of mov-
ables, or both, granted or levied by way of tax.
— 3. In music: (a) A tone on the sixth degree
above or below a given tone. (6) The interval
between any tone and a tone on the sixth de-
gree above or below it. (c) The harmonic com-
bination of two tones at the interval thus de-
8Cribed. (d) In a scale, the sixth tone from the
bottom; the submediant: solmizated Ut. The
trpical Interval of the sixth is that between the flnt and
the sixth tones of a major scale, which Is acoustically rep-
resented by the ratio 3 : 5. 8nch a aiith is called major. A
•Ixth a half-step shorter is called minor; one two half-steps
shorter is called diminUhrd ; and one a half -step longer is
called augmei\Ud, eztremt, etc. Uajor and minor sixths
are classed as consonances : other sixths ss dissonances —
Chord Of tlie added sixth, in nwtie, a chord consisting
of the flrat, second, fourth, and sixth tones of a scale, and
usually regarded as a sobdnminsnt triad with a sixth from
the root added. Its derivation is diapated.-- Chord Of
Uie extreme sixth, in music, a chord in which, as typi-
cally arranfced, there is an interral of an extreme or aug-
mented sixth between the upper tone and the lower. It
lias three forms — (a) the French tilth, consisting of the
flnt, second, sixth, and sharped foorth of a minor scale ;
(b) the German Hxth, consist-
ing ot the flrst, third, sixth,
and sharped fourth of such a
scale ; (e) the Italian nxth,
consisting of the first, sixth,
and sharped fourth of soch a scale.— Chord of the sixth,
in mtuie, a chord consisting of a tone with its third and its
sixth : it is usually regarded as simply the first inversion
of a triad.— Neapolitan alXtb. See Xeapolitan.
sixthly (siksth'li), atir. [< sixth + -/y2.] In
the sixth place.
sixtieth (siks'ti-eth), a. and n. [< ME. 'irix-
tiethe, < AS. sixtigotha =l<iel. sextiigandi =Sw.
srxtionde (cf. D. :estigsle = G. sechszigste, sech-
zigste), sixtieth; as sixty + -ef/i3.] I, a. 1.
Next in onler aft<'r the fifty-ninth: an ordinal
numeral. — 2. Being one of sixty equal parts
into which anything is divided.
n. ". One of sixty equal parts.
Sixtine (siks'tin), a. Same as Sistine.
sixty (siks'ti), a. and n. [< ME. tixty, sixti,
texti, texlig, < AS. sixtig, sixteg = OFries. sextieh,
gextech = US. sestig, D. zesUg = OHO. sehszug,
MHG. lehzec, sekrie, G. sechszig, sechzig = Icel.
sextugr, sexttigr, sexiigir,mod. sextiu = 8w. sextio
(cf. Dan. tredtdndstyre) = Goth. «oi7i*-^ig;'M«; as
six + -fyl. Cf . L. sexagintci, < sex, six, + -ginta,
short for 'decinta, tenth, < decern, ten.] I. a.
Being the pro<luct of six and ten; being the
sum fif fifty and ten: a cardinal numeral — Sixty-
knotted gliiptlTe. See gvipure.
n. «. 1. The product of six and ten; the
sum of fifty and ten. — 2. A symbol represent-
ing sixty units, as 60, LX, Ix.
sixtyfotir-mo fsiks'ti-for'mo), M. ^An E. read-
ing of (i4«io, prop. L. IB LXiVmo, i. e. in sexa-
gesimo quarto: sexagesimo, abl. of sexagesimus,
sixtieth (< »*jraf/inf n, sixty: see sixty); quarto,
abl. of quartus, fourth: see quart, quarto.'] A
sheet of paper when regularly folded in 64 leaves
of equal size; a pamphlet or V>ook made up of
foldfd Khi-ets of 64 leaves, when the size of paper
is not named, the e4mo leaf is supposed to be 2^ Dy Si
inches, or about that die.
5663
sixty-fourth (siks'ti-forth'), a. Fourth in or-
der after the sixtieth.
sixty-fourth-note (siks'ti-forth'not), n. In )«!(-
sicul notation, a note equivalent in time-value
toonehalfofa thirty-second-note ; a hemidemi-
fe s ■ S C.'
seimquaver: 5, 5, or, in groups, S, H •
—Sixty -fourth-note rest, see r«««i, 8 (6).
sixty-six (siks'ti-siks'), H. A game of cards
played, generally by two persons, with 24 cards,
the ace, ten, king, queen, knave, and nine
ranking in the order named. Each player receives
six cards, and as fast as one is thrown from the hand re-
ceives another from the undealt pack until it is exhausted ;
each card except the nine-spot lias to the taker a certain
value, as the ace 11, the queen 3, etc., and the object of
the player is to capture as many of these as possible, and
to secure maiTiages — that is. the possession of a king and
queen of the same suit; the player first winning sixty-six
scores one point ; seven points make a game.
six-wired (siks'wird), a. In oriiith., six-fea-
thered. Compare twelce-wired, under Seleucides.
sizable (si'za-bl), a. [Also sizeable; < size^ +
-able.] Of a relatively good, suitable, or desira-
ble size, usually somewhat large.
A . . . modem virtuoso, finding such a machine alto-
gether unwieldy and useless, . . . invented ihat sizeable in-
strument which is now in use. Addison, Tatler, No. 220.
William WottoD, B. D., . . . has written a good sizable
volume against a friend of your governor.
Sicift, Tale of a Tub, Ded.
sizal (siz'al), n. Same as Sisal hemp. See
heneqiten.
sizar (si'zftr), ». [Also sizer; < size'^, an allow-
ance of provisions, -f -«rl for -erl.] At the
University of Cambridge, or at Trinity College,
Dublin, an undergraduate student who, in con-
sideration of his comparative poverty, usually
receives free commons. Compare serriUn- (c).
The distinction between pensioners and titers is by no
means considerable. . . . Nothing is more common than
to see pensioners and sixers taking sweet counsel together,
and walking arm in arm to St. Mary's as friends.
Qradus ad Cantabrigiam (1824).
The sizars paid nothing for food and tuition, and very
little for lo<iging; but they bad to perform some meniiu
services from which they luive long been relieved. They
swept the court; they carried up the dinner to the fel-
lows' table, and changed the plates and poured out the ale
of the rulers of the society, macavlay, Oliver Goldsmith.
Stiars are generally Students of limited means. They
usually have their commons free, and receive various
emoluments. Cambridge UniveTsity Calendar, 1889, p. 5.
sizarship (si'zSr-ship), m. [< sizar + -ship.]
The position, rank, or privileges of a sizar.
Public Schools, where the sons of the lower classes wait-
ed on the sons of the upper classes, and received certain
benefits (in food, clothes, and instruction) from them in
return. In fact the sixorshipt in our modem colleges ap-
pear to be a modified continuation of this ancient system.
O'Curry, Ancient Irish, I. iv.
size' (»z)t "• [Early mod. E. also sise; < ME.
si«e, tyse, tyee, by apheresis from assise, asine,
allowance; hence, generally, measure, magni-
tude: see astiee.] 1. A fixed rate regulating
the weight, measure, price, or proportion of any
article, especially food or drink ; a standard.
See assize, n., 2.
Hit hstb be Tsid, the Maire of Bristow ... to do calle
byfore hym ... all the Bakers of Bristowe, there to vn-
dlrstsud wbate stuff they haue of whete. And after, what
ite they shall bake. English UUds (E. E. T. S.). p. 424.
Also this yere was an acte of parliament for wood and
coal to kepe the fulle n*e after the IHiritlcation of our La-
dle, that shall be in the yere uf our l.orde M. U.xliii. that no
man shall bargaine, sell, bi7ng, or conueigh of any other
(UK, to be vttered or iolde, rpon pain of forfaiture.
Fabyan, Chron. (ed. Ellis), p. 705.
To repiese Drunkenness, which the Danes had brought
In, he nude a Lew, ordaining a Size, by certain Pins in the
Pot, with Penalty to any that should presume to drink
deeper than the Mark. Baker, Chronicles, p. 11.
2. A specified or fixed amount of food and
drink; a ration.
"Tisnotin thee
To grudge my pleasures, to cut off my train.
To bandy hasty words, to scant my sizes.
Shak., hear, il. 4. 17a
A .%» is a portion of bread or drinke, i. Is a farthing,
which Schollers in Cambridge haue at the butterie ; it is
noted with the letter a, as in Oxefnrd with the letter Q. for
halle a farthing and q". for a farthing ; and whereas they
ssy in Oxeford to Battle in the butterie booke, 1. to set
downe on their names what they take in Bread, Drinke,
Butter, Cheese, Ac, so in Cambridge they say to Sixe, i. to
set downe their quantum, L how much they take on their
names in the Butterie booke.
Minsheu, Guide into Tongues(iei7).
3. Hence, in university use, a charge made for
an extra portion of food or drink ; a farthing.
as the former price of each portion. The word
was also used more generally, to note any ad-
ditional expense incurred.
I grew weary of staying with Sir Williams both, and the
more tor that mj Lady &tten and her crew, at least half
Size
a score, came into the room, and I believe we shall pay
size for it. Pepys, Diary, Sept. 4, 16ti2.
4t. A portion allotted by chance or fate; a
share ; a peculiar or individual allotment.
Hast thow wylnet by couetyse
Worldes gode ouer syse?
Myrc, Instructions for Parish Priests (E. E. T. S.),
11. 1282.
Our size of sorrow,
Proportion'd to our cause, must be as great
As that which makes it. Shak., A. and C, iv. IB. 4.
5t. Grade of quality or importance ; rank ;
class ; degree ; order.
Neither was he [Christ] served in state, his attendants
being of the mechanick size.
Penn, Advice to Children, ill.
A plain sermon, for a middling or lower size of people.
Svift.
6. Rate of dimension, whether linear, square,
or solid; material proportions; relative mag-
nitude: now the usual sense.
ilj perchers of wax then shalle he fet,
A-boue tho chynine that is sett.
In syce ichoil from other shalle be
The lengthe of other that men may se.
Babees Boak0i. E. T. S.), p. 814.
Both the cherubims were of one measure and one size.
1 Ki. vi. 25.
7. One of a regularly increasing series of
dimensions used for manufactured articles
which are bought ready-made; specifically,
as used by shoemakers, one third of an inch
in length.
There is not a size of paper in the palace large enough
to tell you how much I esteem myself honoured in yonr re-
membrances. Donne, Letters, xxxii.
This calumnious disguise was crowned and completed
by a soft felt hat of the Tyrolese design, and several sizes
too small. it L. Stevenson, The Dynamiter, p. 98.
8. Extent, or volume, or magnitude in other
respects, as of time, sound, or effort.
And so shall the earth remaine foriie dayes, although
those dayes shall be of a larger size then these.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 305.
Often shrieking undlstlngulsh'd woe,
In clamours of ail size, both high and low.
Shak. , Lover's Complaint, 1. 21.
I have ever verified my friends.
Of whom he 's chief, with all the size that verity
Would without lapsing suffer. Shak., Cor., v. 2. 18.
9. pi. A session of a court of jtistice ; assizes.
See assize, 6. [Obsolete or provincial.]
And there 's the satin that your worship sent me.
Will serve you at a sizes yet.
Fletcher, Wit without Money, ill. 1.
10. An implement for measuring jiearls, con-
sisting of a number of thin leaves pierced with
holes of different diameters, and fastened to-
gether. The test is made by observing how
many of the holes the pearl will pass through.
— Heroic size. SeeA<roi(;.— Pope's size. Seepojwl.—
Sizes of paper. See pop«-. = Syn. 6. .S'i>, Maijnitude,
Bulk, Volume. Size is the general word for things large or
small. In ordlnair discourse magnitude applies to large
things ; but it is also an exact word, and is much used in
science; as, a star of the fourth magnitude. Bulk sug-
gests noticeable size, especially size rounding out into un-
wieldiness. Volume is a rather indefinite word, arising
from the Idea of rolling a thing up fill It attains size,
though with no especial suggestion of shape. We speak
of the magnitude of a calamity or of a fortune, the bulk of
a bale of cotton or of an elephant, the cofume of smoke or
of an avalanche.
size' (siz), I'. J pret. and pp. sized, ppr. sizing,
[(.size^.n.] I. trans. 1. To regulate the weight,
measure, extent, value, etc., of; fix the rate or
standard of; assize.
The Coynes which they had were either of brasse, or else
iron rings sized at a certalne waight, which they used for
their monies.
J. Speed, Hist. Great Britain (ed. 1660), p. 169.
There was also a statute for the dispersing of the stan-
dard of the Exchequer throughout England, thereby to
size weights and measures ; antl two or three more of lesse
importance. Bacon, Hist Hen. VII., p. 101.
2. At Cambridge and other universities, to ob-
tain (food or drink) in extra portions at a fixed
rate of charge; hence, in general, to buy at a
fixed rate ; purchase.
Drinking college tap-lash . . . will let them have no
more learning than they size, nor a drop of wit more than
the butler sets on their heads.
Randolph, Aristi^pus (Works, ed. Hailitt, 1875, p. 14).
When they come into town after commons, they may be
allowed to size a meal at the kitchen.
Laut of Harvard College (17II8), p. Sfl (quoted In College
[Words and Customs, p. 428).
At the close of each quarter the liutler shall make up
his bill against each student. In which every article sized
or taken up by him at the Buttery shall be particularly
charged.
Laws 0/ Yale College (1811), p. 31 (quoted in College Words
* [and Customs, p. 428).
3. To supply with sizes ; hence, to fill or other-
wise affect by sizes or poirtions.
size
To tize your belly out with shoulder fees,
With rumps and kidnies.
Btau. aiid Fl., Wit at Several Weapons, ii. 1.
4. To rate ; rauk.
With proctors and with testers grave
Our bailiffs you may sizf..
Sandotph, Townsmen's Petition of Cambridge.
6. To estimate or ascertain the size of ; mea-
sure ; hence, by extension, to arrange in groups
or ranks according to dimensions.
Pickled Hams and Shoulders shall be gized when packed,
and the green weights and date of packing shall also be
niarketl on each package.
Nevi York Produce Exchange Report, 1888-9, p. 168.
6. To separate or sort according to size. Spe-
ciBcally— (a) In mining, to classify or separate accord-
ing to size, as particles of crushed or stamped ore and
veinstone. See eizing^, 3. (b) To graduate the length of
(a tishing-line) to the depth of water: as, to size a line
(to haul a hand-line from the bottom till the hooks clear).
[Gloucester, Massachusetts. ) — To size up, to take the
size or measure of ; consider thoroughly in order to form
an opinion of ; hence, to consider ; regard : as, to size a
person up as dishonest. [Colloq., I'. S.]
We had to size up our fellow legislators, to find out their
past history and present character and associates.
The Century, XXIX. 821.
II. intrdns. At Cambridge and other univer-
sities, to give an order (for food or drink) over
and above the usual commons : generally with
for. Compare battel*.
.Soup, pastrj-, and cheese can be sized /or — that is,
brt)ught in |)ortions to individuals at an extra charge.
C. A, Bristed, English University, p. 35.
To Size upont, to order extra food at the charge of.
If any one shall size upon another, he shall be flned a
Shilling, and pay the Damage ; and every Freshman sent
(for victuals] must declare that he who sends him is the
only Person to be charged.
Laws o/ Yale College (1774), p. 10 (quoted in College Words
[and Customs, p. 429).
size- (siz), n. [Early mod. E. also sise, syse;
< ME. sise, syse, size (= It. sisa, assisa, size),
prob. another use (prob. also in OF., but not
found) of sise, assise, measure, etc., < OF. assise,
allowance, measure, etc. : see assize. Cf. s-jrel.]
1. A gelatinous wash used by painters, by
paper-manufacturers, and in manj' industrial
arts. It is made of the shreds and parings of leather,
parchment, or vellum, boiled in water and purified ; also
from eoromoti glue, from potatoes, and from scraps and
clippings of hides, horns, hoofs, etc. The finest is made
in Russia from sturgeons' sounds or air-bladders, and
Is known as isinglass. That used for writing-paper is
made of gelatin prepared from leather and parchment
clippings. A clear solution of isinglass is used for sizing
plate-paper intended to receive impressions in color. For
printing-papers the usual size is a compound of alum and
resin dissolved in a solution of soda, and combined with
potato-starch. Stai'ch alone is also used as a size. E. 11.
Kiiight.
2. A material resembling size, but of different
origin, and used for its tenacity as a prepara-
tion for gilding and the like.
Syse, for bokys lymynynge (sise colour).
Prompt. Part., p. 456.
3. A glutinous printing-ink made to receive
and retain the bronze-powder of gold or silver
which is dusted on it. — 4. In physiol.. the buffy
coat observed on the surface of coagulated
blood in certain conditions. — 5. In brickmak-
inr/, plasticity, as of the clay before burning.
size^ (siz), V. t. ; pret. and pp. sized, ppr. siziiH/.
[Earlymod. E. also sise; < size'^, ».] 1. To cover
with size; prepare with size; stiffen by means
of size.
We shall speak of the use of each of the said four Gums
rather when we treat of Sising and Stiffening than now,
in a Discourse of Dying.
Sir W. Petty, Bp. Sprat's Hist. Royal Soc, p. 294.
2. To smear over with any substance acting
like size: occurring chiefly in compounds.
O'er-sized with coagulate gore. Shak., Hamlet, ii. 2. 484.
The blood-sized field,
Fletcher (and another). Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 1.
3. To render plastic: said of clay.
It is necessary to grind the same clay through the pug-
mill several times, the first thing in the morning, before
it comes to the proper degree of plasticity for molding;
this operation is called sizing the clay.
C. T. Davis, Bricks and Tiles, p. 113.
size^, H. Same as sice^.
sizeable, a. See sizable.
size-cue (slz'ka), n. In university use, the
cue or symbol for the value of a size, as en-
tered in the buttery-books. See size'^, n., 2, and
c«e2, 2.
sized/ (sizd), a. [< size^ + -erf2.] Having a
particular size, magnitude, extent, proportions,
etc.: occurring usually in compounds: as, fair-
gized, middle-»!>ed, etc.
As my love is sized, my fear is so ;
Where love is great, the littlest doubts are fear.
Shak.. Hamlet, ill. 2. 180.
5664
A wel\-sized and useful volume might be compiled and
published annually, containing the incorrect expressions,
and omitting the opinions, of our booksellers' boys, the
reviewers. Landor, luiag. Conv., Southey and Porson, i.
Sized^ (sizd), p. a. [< size^ + -ed2.] Having
size in its composition ; covered or washed vvitli
size — Hard-sized, noting paper which has a thick coat
of size.— Machine-sized paper, see jxr^r.— Slack-
sized, noting paper that has not enough of size. — Soft-
sized. Same as x(ocA--»f!z<!rf.— Sour-sized, noting imper-
fect paper on which the size has fermented and soiu-ed.
sizel, II. Same as scissel.
Sizer (si'zSr), «. [< size^ + -erl.] If. An obso-
lete form of sizar. — 2. An instrument or con-
trivance of perforated plates, wirework, etc.,
for sorting articles of varying sizes; a kind of
gage: as, a coftee-sizer ; a bullet-i/^e;-, which
has holes to determine the size of bullets.
size-roll (siz'r61),«. 1. A small piece of parch-
ment added to a roll or record. — 2. In the
British army, a list containing the names of
all the men belonging to a troop or company,
with the height or stature of each specifically
marked. Farrow.
size-stick (siz'stik), n. A measuring-stick used
by shoemakers to ascertain the length of the
foot, etc.
size-iime (siz'tim), ». The time when assizes
are held. Compare size^, n., 9.
Our drowning scap'd, more danger was ensuing ;
'Twas size time there, and Iianging was a brewing.
John Taylor, Works (1630), II. 14. (Halliwell.)
siziness (si'zi-nes), n. The state or quality of
being sizy; glutinousness ; viscosity.
Cold was capable of producing a siziness and viscosity
in the blood. Arbuthnot, Diet, iv.
sizing' (si'zing), n. [Verbal n. of «j-ei, c] 1.
Any act or process indicated by «j>ei, v. — 2.
Specifically, in university use: (o) An order
for extra food or drink from the buttery.
I know what belongs to sizing, and have answered to my
cue in my days ; I am free of the whole university ; I com-
menced with no worse than his majesty's footmen.
Shirley, Witty Fair One, iv, 2.
(6) Any article so ordered ; a size.
We were allowed at dinner a cue of beer, which was a
half -pint, and a sizing of bread, which I cannot describe to
you. It was quite suftlcient for one dinner.
Peirce, Hist. Harvard University, p. 219.
3. In mining, sorting the crushed or stamped
ores into grains of various sizes, in order that a
more perfect separation of the various mineral
and metalliferous substances of which the ore
is made up may afterward be effected by the use
of such ore-dressing or separating apparatus
as maybe considered suitable for the purpose.
The most commonly employed form of sizing apparatus is
the trommel, a revolving cylindrical sieve, used single or
in various combinations. There are various other ma-
chines for sizing or classifying ores; among them are tlie
pointed box (also called pyramidal box and spitzkasten\
the labyrinth, the Engis trough, the Thirian washer,
the Dorr classifier, the siphon separator, etc. The laby-
rinth is the oldest form, but is now much less important
than it formerly was. See labyrinth, .5, and pointed box
(under pointed).— Sizing-bell, a bell rung when the bill of
sizings which may be ordered is posted, — Slzlng-party,
a supper-party where each person orders and pays for
what he likes —To put out of sizing, to punish (a pen-
sioner) by depriving him of the privilege of ordering extra
delicacies.
sizing'-* (si'zing), «. [Verbal n. of size"^, i'.] 1.
The act or process of applying size or prepar-
ing with size. — 2. Size prepared for use in
any mechanical trade Animal sizing, a dissolved
animal glue used for the best writing-papers. — Rosin
Sizing, a sizing composed of a mixture of rosin and soda,
sizy(si'zi),o. [<s(';?e2-t- -(/!.] Containing, con-
sisting of, or resembling size ; glutinous ; thick
and viscous ; ropy ; having the adhesiveness of
size.
The blood let the first time florid ; after a second time
sizy. Arbuthnot, Diet, iv.
sizygium, n. See syzyghm.
sizz (siz), v. i. [An imitative var. of siss'^. Cf.
hizz, hiss."] To hiss ; sizzle : noting a hiss some-
what resembling a buzz.
Mention has been made . . . of a peculiar "singing "or
rather "sizzing " noise on the wire. Nature, XLII. 595.
sizzen (siz'n), v. i. [Cf. sizz.'] To hiss. Halli-
well. [Prov. Eng.]
sizzerst, n- An old spelling of scissors.
sizzing(siz'ing),)!. [Verbaln.ofsfe^,v.] Yeast;
barm. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
It behoveth my wits to worke like barme, alias yeast,
alias sizing, alias rising. Lyly, Mother Bombie, ii. 1.
Sizzing: Yeast or Barm, . . . from the sound Beei- or
Ale makes in working. Pay, Eng. Words, p. 113,
sizzle (siz'l), )■.; pret. and pp. sizzled, ppr. siz-
zling. [A freq. of sizz, like sis.sle, freq. of sj.ssl.]
I. intrans. 1. To make a hissing or sputtering
skate
sound, as a liquid when effervescing or acted
on directly by heat ; make a sound as of frj'ing.
From the ends of the wood the sap fries and drips on the
sizzling coals below, and flies off in angry steam.
S. Judd. Margaret,
The sizzling embers of the Are having about given up
the ghost after a fruitless struggle with the steady down-
pour, T. lioosevelt, The Centuiy, XXXV. 864.
2. To dry and shrivel up with hissing by the
action of fire. Forby. ^Provincial or colloq.]
3. To be very hot, as if hissing or shriveling.
[Colloq.]
We sat, without coats or waistcoats, under the sizzling
leather roof of our tarantas, fanning ourselves with our
hats. The Century, XXXVI. 367.
II. trans. To dry or burn with or as if with
a hissing sound: sometimes followed by up.
[Prov. Eng.]
Sizzle. ... I have heard the word thus used —"If we
heen't rain in another week we shall be all sizzled up."
This evidently meant burnt up.
Moor, Suffolk Words, p. 351.
sizzle (siz'l), n. [< sizzle, v.] 1. A hissing or
sputtering sound. [Provincial or colloq.] — 2.
Extreme heat, as of a summer day. [Colloq.]
sizzling (siz'ling), «. [Vei^al n. of sizzle, ?-.]
A hissing or sputtering.
Sometimes the sounds resembled the stzjfijii;* of a flight
of electric sparks. Harper's Mag., IXX. 226.
S. J. An abbreviation of Society of Jesus.
S-joint (es'joint), n. A mode of joining two sur-
faces by means of a strip with a
double bend, shaped in cross-sec-
tion like the letter S; also, a
joint so made. E. H. Knight.
sk-. For Middle English and early
modern English words so begin-
ning, not entered below, see se-.
skaddle, «. and «. See scaddle " sjoint
and scathel.
skafFautt, skaffoldt, n. Obsolete forms of scaf-
fold.
skag (skag), n. Same as sheg^.
skail, ('. A Scotch form of sealed.
skain, n. See skein'^, skean'^.
skainsmatet, «• [Formation uncertain; ex-
plained as (a) < skain'Sj poss. of skaiii^, skein
("as if associated in winding yarn"), or (6) <
skaiii's, poss. of skaiii^, skean'^, a dagger (''as
if a brother in arms"), -I- mate'i. The word is
found but once ; it is put in the mouth of an old
nurse whose speech is not precise; and tlie sense
is hardly capable of exact definition.] A roaring
or swaggering companion (?). See etymology.
Scurvy knave ! I am none of his flirt-gills ; I am none of
his skaim-mates. Shak., R, and J., ii. 4. 162.
skair, a. and V. A Scotch form ot scared.
skaitn, «. and V. See scathe.
skaldH, "• and n. Same as scald^.
skald'-*, n. See scald^.
skalkt, n. See shalk.
skallt, «. An obsolete form of scall.
skalpt, «• See scalp^.
skart. See scare''-, scari, scar^.
skaret, '■• See scare'^.
skarlett, skarlettt, «• See scarlet.
skart. Same as scarf'-, scarf*, scarfs.
skatt, «. See scafl^.
skate' (skat), n. [Formerly also scale; < ME.
srate, schate, < Icel. Norw. skata, a skate ; cf . Ir.
Gael, sgat, a skate (< E.) ; whetlier these forms
are < LL. squa tiis, 'L.squ^tina,a. kind of shark, the
angel-flsh, is not clear.] A raioid or batoid pla-
giostomous fish of the family Uaiidie and genus
liaia ; a kind of ray. All skates are rnys, but all rays
are not called
skates, this name
being applied
chiefly to certain
small rays of the
restricted genus
Raia, of both ¥a\' ^.
rope and Ameri- ,.^'-.-:
ca. The common ^■''
blue or gray ^;
skate or ray of ^:
the British coast '■
is Raia batis, of
a somewhat loz- V
enge-shaped flg- X
ure, and rather
long tail, with
some fln-like ex-
pansions near its
end, as well as
prominent clasp-
ers and other
processes at the
root. other
skates of British
waters are the
long-nosed an<l
sharp-nosed, nnd
the lliornbrick Barn-door skate (Amii /an^,.
skate
On the Atlantic coast of North America the common little
skate, a foot or two long, is R. eriiutceUt sometimes called
tobacco-box. The big skate or ocfllated ray is It, oceUata,
nearly 3 feet ; the stairy skate. It. radiata^ of medium
size, to found on both coasts; It. egtanteria is the brier-
skate, medium-sized, and not common. The largest is the
barn-door skate. R. Items, about 4 feet long. The com-
mon skate of the Pacific side is R. binocidala, and several
others occur on the same coast Some of these fishes are
edible, and, on the continent of Europe, even esteemed.
Their eirg-cases (skate-barrows) are curious objects. See
alsn cuts \mi\er El(mnabraiu:hii, mermaid's-purae, and ray.
^Burton s)La.te, Rata alba or marginata. [Prov. Eng.]—
Sha^eeu alcate. See ghat/reen.
skate- (skat), «. [Formerly also scate; alater
form, assumed as the sing, of the supposed pi.
skates, also written skeales, seheets, the proper
sing., < D. scluiats, pi. schantsen, earlier schaet-
sen, skates (schaalsrijilir, a* ' skate-rider,' ska-
ter) (cf. Dan. skiiite. a skate, < D. or E.); a later
use of OD. and OFlem. schaetse, a high-heeled
shoe, > OF. esehace, eschasse, F. ecliasse, a stilt,
trestle, ML. seacia, scatia, a stilt: see scotches.
Cf. Iccl. is-leggir, ' ice-bones,' shin-bones of
sheep used for skates ; and see skee, skid.} A
contrivance for enabling a person to glide
swiftly on ice, consisting of a steel runner fixed
5665
skatol (skat'ol), n. [< Gr. OKup (gen. aKarSc),
dung, dirt, -I- -ol.'] A crystalline volatile ni-
trogenous principle, C8Hh(CH3)NH, having
an intense fecal odor, produced in the putre-
factive changes which take place in the intes-
tines.
skavelt, «■ [Appar. a var. of shovel (AS. scofl).'}
A shovel.
Sharpe catting spade for the deuiding of mow.
With skuppet and «kauel that marshnien alow.
Tusser, Husbandry, p. 38. (Daviet.)
skavie, ». Same as shavie.
skaw (ska), )i. [Also scaw; Icel. skagi, a low
cape or ness, < skagn, jut out, project. Cf . Dan.
Skagen, the northern part of Jutland, Skager
Rack, the water between Jutland and Norway.]
A promontory.
A child might travel with a purse of gold from 8am-
bargh-hefld to the Seaw of Unst, and no soul would injure
him. SeoU, Pirate, viil.
The wind failed us.
And with a sudden flaw
Came round the gusty Skatt.
Lan^Mmr, Skeleton in Armor.
skaylest (skalz), n. [Also skailcs, skales; cf.
kaylcf, appar. the same game: see kail^.'] A
game played with pins and balls, something
like ninepins or skittles.
Aliotti, a play called nine pins or keeles, or tkaUet.
Florio (1598).
skean', n. See skeirA.
skean- (sken), n. [Also skain, skeen, skene, for-
merly skein, skeane, skayne, skeyn, sJceyne; < Ir.
Gael, sffian, a knife, = W. ysg'ien, a simitar,
slicer; cf. W. ysgi, a cutting off, a parer; prob.
< -j/ ski (L. scindcre, pret. scidi), cut: see scis-
sion, schism.'] A dagger; specifically, an an-
cient form of dagger found in Ireland, usually
A, Mde Tlew of American club-skate ; B. bottom of the ftkate with
runner removed, a, nioner : b, heel-plate : r. sole-plate ; d, riveting
by wMch the nimcr to attached to the heel- and sole-ptttes : /, €,
cwnpn which Rnup the sole when thev are drawn rearward bv the
octioa of the curved slotsy upon pins fixed firmly In the sole-plate.
Both theae dampa are pivoted at their rear extremities to a bar f.
cotuwcted bf a wis^red iulJustlnK-screw A to a collar r, which to pivot-
ed h> the beet-clamp >,' M, spar which engages the front part M the
heel when the heel-clamp to drawn torward ; /, tocgle-lever, by whkh
the Bole-clanipa are drawn rearward and the beel-clamp forward thn-
ultaneouaiy. In B thu lever n shown turned out : to clamp the skate
to the shoe, it to pressed inwaid under the snle oot of siifht. C to a
tolicz -skate, in wnich a pUte with rollers replaces the rurmcr.
either to a wooden sole providetl with straps
and buckles, or to a light iron or steel frame-
work having adjustable clamps or other means
of attachment to a shoe or boot. See roller-
skate.
To my Lord Sandwich's, to Mr. Moore : and then over
the Parke, where I first in my life, it being a great froet,
dill see people sliding with their tktaUt, which Is a veir
pretty art. Pepij; Dhtry, Dec. J, 1662.
The Canal and Rosamond's Pond fall of the rabble slid-
ing, and with $kaU». if you know what those are.
awVt, Journal to .Stella, Jan. SI, 1711.
skate- (skat), r. i. ; pret. and pp. skated, ppr.
skating. [< skate^, n.] To glide over ice and
snow on skates.
Edwin Morris, . . .
Who taught me how to ^taU. to row, to swim.
Tennyan, Edwin Morris.
skate-barrow (skat'bar'6), n. The peculiar
og(?-<'iisc of s skate, ray, or other batoid fish,
rcseiiibliiig a hand-barrow in shape; a sea-
purse ; a mermaid's-purse. See cut under mer-
miiiiP.'i-purse.
skater (ska't^r), ». [iskate^ + 'er^."] 1. One
who skates.
Careful of my motion,
like the stater on ice that hnnlly bears him.
TennyKH, Exper. in (Quantity, Hendecasyllablcs.
2. One of many different ariuatic heteropterous
insects with long legs which glide over the sur-
face of water as if skating, as Uerrida or Hy-
drol}atiit/e, etc.
skate-sucker (skat'sak'6r), n. Same as sea-
Irnh.
skating (skfi'ting), n. [Verbal n. of skate^, r.]
The exercise or art of moving on skates.
I cannot by any means ascertain at what time KktUing
made its first appearance in Kngl.-ind. i'Ut we find some
traces of such an exercise in the tliirteeiith century.
Strutt, SpfirtH and Pastimes, p. 153.
skating-rink (ska'ting-iingk), n. See rink'^.
356
skeer-devil
The Times remarked on the word [gkedaddle], and Lord
Hill wrote to prove that it was excellent Scotch. The
Americans only misapply the word, which means, in Dum-
fries, "to spill" — milkmaids, for example, saying, "You
are skedaddling all that milk."
Hotten, Slang Dictionary, p. 292.
" Why," they [my English friends] exclaimed, " we used
to live in I^ncashire, and heard skedaddle every day of
our lives. It means to scatter, or drop in a scattering
way. If you run with a basket of potatoes or apples, and
keep spilling some of them in an irregular way along the
path, you are said to skedaddle them. Or if you cany a
tumbler full of milk up-stairs, and what De Quincey would
call the ' titubation ' of your gait causes a row of drops of
milk on the stair-carpet to mark your upward course, . . .
you are said to have skedaddled the milk."
The Attanlic, XL. 234.
II. intrans. To betake one's self hastily to
flight ; run a way ; scamper off, as through fear
or in panic. [Colloq. and ludicrous.]
A special Government train, with a messenger, passed
through Itere to-night. Western troops are expected hourly.
Rebel skedaddling is the next thing on the programme.
yew York Tribune, War Correspondence, May 27, 1862.
skedaddle (ske-dad'l), ». [< skedaddle, ».] A
hasty, disorderly flight. [Colloq. and ludi-
crous.]
Their noisy drums had ceased, and suddenly I perceived
a general skedaddle, as those upon our right tlank started
ott in full speed. .SirS. Baker, Ismailia, p. 211. (Bartletl.)
skee (ske), K. [Also ski; < Dan. ski = Noi-w. ski,
skid, skida = Sw. skid, < Icel. skidh, a snow-shoe,
prop, a billet of wood, = E. shide : see shide, and
cf, skid^, skidder.] A wooden runner, of tough
wood, from five to ten feet long, an inch or an
inch and a half thick at the middle, but thinner
-C^
y
Hi^—
I a »
^^^^s»
Skeans. — From specimens in the Museum of the Royal Irish
Ac»<temy, I>ubUn.
of bronze, doubIe-«'dged, and more or less leaf-
shaped, and thus distinguished from the differ-
ent forms of the seax, or broad-backed knife.
Duryng this siege arrived at Harflew the Lord of Kyl-
mmjne in Ireland, with a band of xTj. hundreth Iryshmen,
armed in mayle with dartes and akaynes, after the maner
of their countrey. //a«, Henry V., f. 28. (IlaUiiceU.)
The fraudulent Saxons under their long Cassocks had
short Skeynes hidden, with which, upon a Watchword
given, they set upon the Britains, and of their unarm'd
Nobility slew three, acme say five hundred.
Baker, Chronicles, p. 4.
skean-dhn (sken'dS), ». [< Gael, sgian duhh,
black knife : sgian, knife (see skean^) ; diibh,
black.] A knife used by the Scottish High-
landers; the knife which, when the Highland
costume is worn, is stuck in the stocking.
Voung Darward . . . drew from his pouch that most
necessary Implement of a Higlilander or woodsman, the
trusty Jtvn« oAu, and . . . cut the rope asunder.
Scott, Quentin Durward, vl.
skeart, />. a. A dialectal form of seared, past
participle of scared.
skeary, skeery (sker'i), a. A dialectal form of
srary^.
It Is not to be marveled at that amidst such a place as
this, for the first time visited, the horses were a little
skeary. it D. Btaekmore, Loma Doone, Ux.
skeatesf, ". pi. See skate^.
skedaddle (ske-dad'l), v.; pret. and pp. ske-
datldled. ppr. skedaddling. [Of obscure provin-
cial origin. It has been variously referred to a
Scand. source, to Celtic, and even to Gr. nuc-
Sawivai, scatter; but the word is obviously of
a free and popular type, with a freq. termina-
tion -le ; it may have been based on the earlier
form of shed^ (AS. sceddan), pour, etc.: see
«Aedi.] I. trans. To spill; scatter. [Prov. Eng.
and Scotch.]
Skee.
a, profile view : b, view from above.
toward the ends, an inch wider than the shoe
of the user, and turned up in a curve at the
front. Skees are secured, one to each foot, in such a way
as to be easily cast off in case of accident, and are used
for sliding down a declivity or as a substitute for snow-
shoes.
Ski, then, as will have been already gathered, are long
narrow strips of wood, those used in Norway being from
three to four inches in breadth, eight feet more or less in
length, one inch in thickness at tile centre under the foot,
and bevelling off to about a quarter of an inch at either
end. In front they are curved upwards and iwinted, and
they are sometimes a little turned up at the back end too.
ifattsen, First Crossing of Greenland, 1. 75.
skee (ske), r. i. [< skee, 7i.] To slide on skees.
skeed (sked), n. Same as skid^.
skeel (skel), n. [.Also (Sc.) skeil, skcill, early
mod. E. also skcele, skaill, skill, skcll; < ME.
skele, < Icel. skjota, a pail, bucket.] 1. A shal-
low wooden vessel.
Bumes berande the the bredes vpon brode skeles,
That were of sylueren syst & seerved ther-wyth.
AUit^ratioe Poems (ed. MoiTis), 11. 1405.
2. A shallow wooden vessel used for holding
milk ; also, a milking-pail.
Skrels—tiTc broad shallow vessels, principally for the
use of setting milk in, to stand for cream ; made in the
tub manner — from eighteen inches to two feet and a half
diameter ; and from five to seven inches deep.
Marshall, Rural Economy, p. 2ti9. {Jamieson.)
The Yorkshire skeel with one handle Is described as a
milking pail.
MarsJialt, Rural Economy, p. 26. (Jamieson.)
3. A tub used in washing.
[Prov. Eng. or Scotch in all uses.]
skeelduck (skel'duk), «. Same as shelduck,
.<<lii'ldr<ike. [Scotch.]
skeelgoose (skel'gos), n. Same as shelduck,
sheldrake. [Scotch.]
skeeling (ske'ling), n. [An unassibilated vari-
ant of x/iea/injil.] 1. Ashed; an outhouse; a
shealing. [Prov. Eng.] — 2. "The inner part of
a bam or garret where the slope of the roof
comes. Halliicell. [Prov. Eng.]
Skeelyl (ske'li), a. [<»Ace/2 + .^1.] Skilful ; in-
telligent; experienced. [Scotch.]
O wharo will I get a skeely skipper
To sail this new ship of mine?
Sir Patrick Spens (Child's Ballads, III. 152).
She was a kind woman, and seemed skeelt/ about homed
beasts. Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xxviii.
skeely- (ske'li), r. i. Same as .ikelly^.
skeen (sken). Another spelling of »A-ea«2,s(j(Meo».
skeer (sker), v. and «. A dialectal form of
srnre^ .
skee-race (ske'ras), «. A race upon skees.
Properly speaking, a skee-race is not a race — not a t«
of speed, but a test of skill.
//. //. Boyesen, in St. Nicholas, X
skeer-devil (sker'dev'l), n. The swift, Cyp^-
apus: so called from its skimming flight, b
skeer-devil
See cut under Cypselus.
swing-deril. See cut under CypseJus. [Prov.
Eng.]
skee-rtmner (ske'run'fer), n. A person travel-
ing oil skees.
In almost every valley In the interior of Norway there
are skee-runmrs who. in consequence of this constant
competition, have attained a skill w^hich wonlil seem al-
most incredible. H. H. Boyesen, in St Nicholas, X. 311.
gkee-numing (ske'run'ing), M. The act, prac-
tiee, or art of traveling on skees; skeeing.
skeery, a. See skeary. „..,<,
skeesicks (ske'ziks), ». [Origin obscure.] A skein'^t, «• An obsolete form of skean^.
5666
The COTS ran into them as a falcon does into a ikein of
ducks. Kingsley, llypatia, xii.
Of Geese, a " string" or "gkein" when flying.
W. W. Greoter, The Oun, p. 533.
3. A shaved split of osier used in wiekerwork.
E. U. Knight. — 4. In a vehicle, the iron head or
thimble upon the end of a wooden axletree, in-
clusive of the straps by which it is attached to
the axle, and which, being set in recesses flush
with the wood, afford bearing surfaces for the
box in the hub.
mean, contemptible fellow ; a rascal: often ap-
plied, like ropite and rascal, as a term of endear-
ment to children. Bartlett. [Western U. S.]
Thar ain't nobody but him within ten mile of the shanty,
and that ar* . . . old skeesicH knows it.
Bret Harte, Higgles.
skeet't, a. [ME., also shete, shot, < Icel. slijotr.
skein-screw (skan'skro), n. A form of screw
in which the thread is open and shallow. E.
U. Kmqht.
skein-setter (skan'seffer), «. A machine for
fitting skeius upon wooden axles. E. U. Knight.
skeldert (skel'der), n. [Origin obscure; of.
skcllum.'] A vagrant ; a swindler. B. Jonson.
swift, fieet,<siyota, shoot: see «?too«.] 1. Swift; skelder (skel'der), «;. [Cf. 6*eWer, ».] 1. in-
fleat.
This Askathes, the skathill, had tket sones thre.
Destruction <^f Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 13434.
2. Keen; bold; brave.
skeet^t, «*'• [ME., also skcte; < skeef^, a.]
Swiftly; quickly.
A steede ther was sadeled smertely and gkeet.
Tale of Qamelyn, L 185.
Thenue ascryed thay [the sailors] liym [Jonah] skete, &
asked ful loude,
"What the deuel hats thou don, doted wrech?"
Auiterative Poeim (ed. Morris), iii. 195.
skeet^ (sket), n. [Prob., like's/ioiei, ult. < AS
sceota, a trout, < sceotan, shoot : see shoot.']
pollack. [Local, Eng.]
skeet^ (sket), «. [Origin obscure.] A scoop.
Specifically — (o) A scoop used in bleaching linen. Wright.
(!)) ^.VaKt., a sort of long scoop used to wet tlie decks and ^ - - . , ,i 7.,,
sides of a ship in order to keep them cool, and to prevent skclet. An old spelling of skeel^, skill.
trans. To practise begging, especially under
the pretense of being a wounded or disbanded
soldier; play the swindler; live by begging.
Also skilder. [Obsolete or local.]
Soldier ? you skeldering varlet !
Middleton and Dekker, Roaring Girl, v. 1.
II. trans. To swindle, especially by assum-
ing to be a worn-out soldier; hence, in general,
to cheat; trick; defraud. [Obsolete or local.]
A man may skelder ye, now and then, of half a dozen
shillings, or so. B. Jonson, Poetaster, iii. 1.
skeldock (skel'dok), n. Same as skeUoclfi.
^he Skeldrake (skel'drak), n. 1. Same as shel-
drake. Also skeeldrake, skeelduck, etc. [Ork-
ney.]— 2. The oyster-catcher,//a5mo<op«sos<ri-
legus: a misnomer. See cut under fl«matoj>tt«.
C. Swainson. [Orkney.]
skeleton
parts or vital organs; connective tissue, espe-
cially when hard, as when fibrous, cuticular,eor-
neous, cartilaginous, osseous, chitinous, calca-
reous, or silicious; an endoskeleton, exoskel-
eton, dermoskeleton, scleroskeleton, splanch-
noskeleton, etc. (See these words.) More spe-
ciflcally — (o) The test, shell, lorica, or set of spicules of
any protozoan, as an infusorian, radiolarian, foraminifer,
or other animalcule, exhibiting the utmost diversity of
form, structure, and substance. See cuts under Forami-
nifera, Jti/usoria, and liadioiaria. (p) In sponges, the
whole sponge except the animalcules which fabricate it.
(See cut under Porifera.) A bath-sponge, for example,
is only the skeleton, from which the animals have been
decomposed and displaced. This skeleton presents it-
self in three principal textures, the fibrous, chalky, and
glassy. In a few cases it is gelatinous. (Siee Fibrosponffiee,
Calcispnngix, SUicispongi^e, Slyxospongix.) A nearly con-
stant and very characteristic feature of sponge-skeletons
is the presence of calcareous or silicious spicules. (See
spicule.) Spicules in excess of fibrous tissue, and espe-
cially when consolidated in a kind of network, form the
glass-sponges, some forms of which are very beautiful.
(See cut under Euplectella.) Certain minute scleres of some
sponges are flesh-spicules, and belong to the individual
sponge-animalcules riither than to the general sponge-
tissue. (Compare microsclere with megasclere.) (c) The
special or general hard parts of echinodemis, as the shell
of a sea-urchin with its spines and oral aj-mature ; the
spicules or scleres in the integument of a holothurian ;
the rigid parts of starfishes, crinoids, and the like. These
skeletons are for the most part exoskeletons. .See cuts
under ClypeastridtE, Echinometra, Echinus, and sea-star.
(d) The chltinized or calcified integument or crust of
arthropods, as insects or crustaceans, as the shell of a
crab, etc. (e) The shell, or valves of the shell, of a mol-
lusk or molluscoid, as an oyster-shell or snail-shell. (/)
The hard parts, when any, as rings, scales, etc., of worms
and worm-like animals. See cut under Polynoe. tg)
In Verlebrala : (I) The internal framework of the body,
usually osseous or bony in the adult for the most part,
sometimes cartilaginous or gristly; the endoskeleton:
the skeleton of ordinary language. In a large series of
them from splitting by the heat of the sun. It is also
employed in small vessels to wet the sails, in order to ren-
der them more efficacious in light breezes.
skeet^, V. i. A dialectal form of scoot.
Skeeter (ske'ter), n. [A dial, reduction of mos-
quito.] A mosquito. [Low, U. S.]
Law, Miss Feely whip ! — Wouldn't kill a skeeter.
H. B. Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin, xx.
skegl (skeg), n. [Also skag; < Icel. skegg, a
beard, the beak or cutwater of a ship; cf. D.
schegge, knee (in technical use) : see shag'^.] 1 .
The stump of a branch. Halliwell. [Prov.
Eng.] — 2. A wooden peg. — 3. The after part
of a ship's keel ; also, a heavy metal projection
abaft a ship's keel for the support of a balance-
rudder. See cut under balance-rudder.
Skeg2 (skeg), n. [Origin uncertain.] 1. A
kind of wild plum, Prunus spinosa or P. insititia.
[Prov. Eng.]
skelea, n. Plural oiskelos.
skelett (skel'et), n. [Also Sc. skellat ; also sce-
let, and sceletos (as if L.); ME. scelet, < OF.
scelete, scelette, schelete, cschelette (< L. sceletus),
also squelete, F. sqnelette (> G. Sw. skelett =
D. Dan. skelet) = Sp. Pg. esqueleto = It. sche-
letro, < NL. skeleton (according to the Gr. spell-
ing), L. sceletus, a skeleton, < Gr. OKEMTdv (sc.
aiifia), a dried body, a mummy, skeleton, neut.
of (TKcXercSf, dried, dried up, parched, < atiiXltiv,
dry, dry up, parch. See skeleton, the usual mod.
form.] 1. A mummy.
Scdet; the dead body of a man artificially dried or tanned
for to be kept or seen a long time.
Holland, tr. of Plutarch's Morals. (Trench.)
2. A skeleton.
For what should I cast away speech upon skelets and
skulls, carnal men I mean, mere strangers to this life of
faith ? Hev. S. Ward, Sei-mons, p. 22.
Sostno, a sloe, a step, a bnlleis. iS'Jorto (1611), p. B1.5. skeletal (skel'e-tal), a. \_< skelct{on) -i- -al.]
Of or pertaining "to a skeleton, in the widest
sense; forming or formed by a skeleton; en-
tering into the composition of a skeleton;
sclerous.
Of the skeletal structures which these animals possess,
some are integuraentary and exoskeletal.
Encyc. Brit., VI. 737.
Skeletal arches. See visceral arches, under visceral.—
Skeletal muscle, any muscle attached to and acting on
some part of the skeleton, in contrast with such muscles
as the sphincters, the heart, or the platysma.— Skeletal
musculature, the muscles attached to the skeleton col-
lectively considered.
In ship-building, gteletOgenOUS (skel-e-toj'e-nus), a. [< Gr.oKe-
lanV mit iin piifl- ;ij.^(i^_ skeleton, "t" -/Ev^f, producing (see -ge-
nous).] Producing a skeleton ; giving rise to
a skeleton;' entering into the composition of
the skeleton; osteogenetic : as, a skcletogenous
layer; skeletogenoas tissue. Gegenhaur, Comp.
Anat. (trans.), p. 427.
That kind of peaches or abricotes which bee called
tuberes love better to be graded either upon a skeg or
wild plumb stocke, or quince.
Holland, tr. of Pliny, xvii. 10.
2. The yellow iris, Iris Pseudacorus. Britten
and Holland, Eng. Plant Names. [Prov. Eng.]
— 3. pi. A kind of oats. Imp. Diet.
skegger (skeg'er), n. [Origin obscure.] A
salmon of the first year; a smolt.
Little salmons, called skeggers, are bred of such sick sal-
mon, that might not go to the sea.
I. Walton, Complete Angler.
skegshoro (skeg'shor), n.
one of the several pieces of plank put up end
wise under the skeg of a heavy ship, to steady
her after part a little at the moment of launch-
ing.
skeigll, a. and n. A Scotch form of shy"^.
Skeil, skeill, n. See skeen. ^^^^^_ _^.^_ ^. „..
Skeinl (skan), ». [Also skatn, skean (in the gbeletogeny (skel-e-toj'e-ni), n. [< Gr. oKcle-
last spelling also pron. sken); early mod. t6v, skeleton, + -yeveia, < -yevr/cproducmg {see
E. skeyne, < ME. skeyne (cf. OF. escagne, F. .^e„»).] The origin and development of the
ecagne (ML. seagna), a skein of thread, etc.); gi^eieton; the formation of a skeleton.
< Ir. sgainne, a skein, clue, also a fissure, gkeletography (skel-e-tog'ra-fi), n. [< Gr.
flaw, cf. Gael, sgeinnidh, flax or hemp, thread, o^eAETiiv skeleton, + -ypa<j>ia,"< ypa.<puv, write.]
small twine, appar. orig. 'something broken ' _ . .
off or split off,' hence a piece or portion, < Ir.
Gael, sgain, split, cleave, rend, burst.] 1.
A fixed length of any thread or yarn of silk,
wool, linen, or cotton, doubled again and again
and knotted. The weight of a skein is generally de-
. termined so that the number of skeins in a given quan-
lli tity of thread can be estimated by the weight. Braid,
pa binding, etc., are sometimes, though more rarely, sold in
Q^skeins.
riz^ Skeyne, of threde. Filipnlum. Prompt. Pan., p. 457.
j God winds us off the skein, that he may weave us up
1 yjY) the whole piece. Donne, Sermons, xi.
i A flight or company : said of certain wild
\ 1, as geese or ducks.
A description of the skeleton.
Skeletology (skel-e-tol'o-ji), n. [< Gr. aKe7ieT6v,
skeleton, + -Aoyia, < leytiv, speak: see -ology.]
The sum of scientific knowledge concerning
the skeleton.
skeleton (skel'e-ton), re. and a. [Early mod. E.
and dial, also sketion ; < NL. skeleton (also scele-
ton.&tterh. sceletus); <Gr.mfXeT(iv,adriedbody,
a mummy, skeleton: see skclet.] I, n. 1. In
anat., the dry bones of the body taken together ;
hence, in anat. and zool., some or any hard
part, or the set of hard parts together, which
form a support, scaffold, or framework of the
body, sustaining, inclosing, or protecting soft
Human Skeleton.
I, frontal bone ; 2, parietal bone : 3, temporal bone ; 4. coronal su-
ture ! 6, nasal l>one: 7,maxiUa; 8, orbital process of malar bone ; 9, oc-
cipital bone ; 10, ramus o( mandible ; 11, angleof mandible : ra.man-
djble. or lower jaw : rg. cervical vertebra; ; 14. thoracic vertebra; : 15,
lumbar vertebrae : 16, sacrum ; 17, coccyx ; 18. costal cartilages : 19.
ribs; 20, prEesternum ; ai.mesosternum: 22, metastemum; 23. clavicle :
24, coracoid ; 25, acromion : 26, scapula ; 27, tuberosity of humerus ;
28, humerus; 29, condyles of humerus; w, head of radius; 31. radius:
32, ulna ; j-t, styloid process of radius and ulna ; 34. ilium ; 35, anterior
superior some of ilium ; 36. anterior inferior spine of ilium ; 37, sym-
physis pubis ; 38. tuberosity of ischiuin ; 39, pubis ; 40, obturator fora-
men ; 41, head of femur; 42, neck of femur; 43, greater trochanter
of femur; 44, shaft of femur ; 45. condyles of femur; 46, patella ; 47.
tuberosity of tibia ; 48, shaft of tibia ; 49, lower end of tibia ; 50, fibula.
fishes the whole skeleton is cartilaginous. In most ver-
tebrates, however, the cartilage forming the skeleton of
the embryo or fetus is mainly converted into bone by the
process of ossification, or deposition of bone-earth, some
parts, especially of the ribs, remaining as a rule cartilagi-
nous. The vertebrate endoskeleton consistsof axial parts,
tlwaxial skeleton, in a series of consecutive segments, the
vertebrae, with their immediate offshoots, as ribs, and at
the head end a skull or cranium (except in the ^rrnmo
or lowest fishes); and of appendages, the appendicular
skeleton, represented by the one or two (never more)
pairs of limbs, if any, including the pectoral and pelvic
arch, or shoulder- and hip-girdle, by means of which
the limbs are attached to the axis or trunk Various
other ossifications may be and usually are developed lij
skeleton
tendinous or ligamentous tissue, or in viscera, and con-
stitute tlie geier(Mkeleton or xplaiichitonkeleton. Teetll are
certainly slceietal parts, though not usually counted with
Endo&ketetnn ( (i> and Exockeleton or Or-
moskelecon (d) of PichiciaKo i^ChtamytUpko-
riti truncatMi]
bkeleton and Outline of Lion iJ^elU /«9).
^, frontal bone : C, cervical vertebra: : A dorsal vertebrae ; i^, lum-
bar vertebrae ; cd, caudal vertebrae ; sc, scapula : pe, pelvis (the letters
ar« at the ischium J: m,3, mandible ; hu, humerus; ra, radius; m/,
ulna ; cf, carpus ; wtr, metacarpus : /e, femur ; tib, tibia \fil>, fibula ;
ca, calcaneum ; tar, tarsus; mt, metatarsus ; /, phalanges.
the bones of the skeleton ; th^ are homy, not osseous
or dentinal, in some animfjs. The human siceleton con-
sists of about 200 bones, without counting the teeth —
the enumeration varying somewhat according as the scle-
rofilteletal sesa-
moid bones are h
or are not in-
cluded. See taa
maid. (2) The ex-
ternal covering of
the body ; the cu-
ticle or epider-
mis; the dermo-
skeleton or exo-
skeleton, includ-
ing aU the non-
vascular, non-ner-
vous cuticular or epidermal stmctures, as horns, hoofs,
claws, nails, hairs, feathers, scales, etc. In man the exo-
skeleton is very slight, consisting only of cuticle, nails,
and hair; hut in many vertebrates it is highly developed
and may be bony, as in the shells of armadillos and of
turtles, the plat^ shields, or bucklers of various reptiles
and fishes, etc. See also cuts under archipteryyium, cara-
paa, Catarrhina, eltumomur, Etephantiiut, endotkeltUin,
fipintra, Bquid»,t$k, IchtkyomU, IcMhyamntria, lehthy-
ommu, MattodimanM, Mytidm. or, PU*io$aunu, plero-
daeti/l, and PUnpodidM; also cut* under <tuU, and others
then named.
A iMelon, ferocious, tall, and gaunt ;
Whose loose teeth la their naked sockets shook.
And grinn'd tetrUlc a Sardonlsn look.
Bart, Vision of Death.
The bore-grinning tMeton of death '.
Tennjfton, Merlin and Vivien.
2. The supporting framework of anything;
the principal parts that support the rest, but
without the appendages.
The great structure itself, and it* great integrals, the
heavenly and elementary liodiea, are nramed in nicb a po-
aitloD and situation, the great iMeton of the world.
Sir M. Bale.
3. An outline or rough draft of any kind ; spe-
cifically, the outline of a literary performance :
as, the nkeleton of a sermon.
The schemes of any of the arts or science* may be ana-
lysed In a sort of nkeUtan. and represented upon tables,
with the variotu dependencies of their several parts.
WiOU.
4. JUilit., a regiment whose numbers have be-
come reduced by camialt.ies, etc.
The numerical strength of the regiments was greatly dl-
miiilshed during their stay in campe, and itonlv required
a single battle or a few nights passed in a malarious lo-
cality to reduce them to iMetont.
ComU de Parit, Civil War In America (tnuuk), I. 274.
6. A very lean or much emaciated person; a
mere shadow of a man.
To paint Daniel Lambert or the living lideton. the pig-
facei] lady or the Siamese twins, so that nobrniy can inU
take them, is an exploit within the reach of a sign(>ainter.
Matauiay, Madame D'Arblay.
6. In printing^ an exceedingly thin or con-
densi'd form of light-faced type Archetype
skeleton. In eamp. anat.. an ideal skeleton, cnM8lnirit.<i
by lYiifessor Owen, to which the endoskeletons of all tlif
VerUbrata were nferrtd as nKnllflcatlona. No animal Is
known to conform vtry ulcisi ly to this assumed arvliilypf.
—Dermal skeleton. >•>' .iirmal, emAOelm, ami M i
to) (2), aliove.™ Family skeleton. Same a» tirleinu in
Oir dimt. Oral skeleton. See ornl.— Skeleton at the
feait, a nniiml.r of tan-, uiiiiety, or grief in the iniilst of
pleasure: soured In allusion tothe Rgvptlan custom of hav.
lug a skcli-t<.n(orritlicr a mummy) at feasts as a renjindvr
of death. Alwi calliil a dralht-head at the /fotl.-^ Skele-
ton in tbe closet, cupboard, or bouse, a secret source
of fear, anxiety, or annoyance : a hiddin ilonlestic trouble.
II. n. 1. Of or pcrtHJninK I" a Hkck'toii; in
the form of a skt^leton ; skeletal ; lean.
Hewashigh shouldered and bony, . . . and had a long,
lank, ikeUton liand. Didcmt, David Copperfleld, xv.
2. CoiisiHtiiig of a mere framework, outline,
or combination of supporting parts: as, a skeU-
ton leaf; a skfletoii crvstal.
He kept a tkrMnn diary, from which to refresh his mind
In narrating the experience of those seventeen daya.
ne Ctntmy, XL. S07.
5667
Skeleton bill, a signed blank paper stamped with a bill-
stamp. The subscriber is held the drawer or acceptor, as
it may be, of any bill afterward written above Iiis name
for any sum which the stamp will cover.— Skeleton boot.
See 6oot2._ Skeleton drill, a drill for ofllcers when men
are wanting to foi m a battalion in single rank. A sicele-
ton battalion is formed of companies of 2, 4, or 8 men each,
representing, if there are 2, the flanks of the company ; if
there are 4, the flanks of half-companies ; if there are 8,
the tianks of sections. The intervals between the tlanks
are presen'ed by means of a piece of rope held at the ends
to its full extent.— Skeleton form, a form of type or
plates, prep.ared for press, in which blanks are largely in
excess of print. — Skeleton frame, in spinning, a form or
frame in which tlle usmd can is replaced by a skeleton.
E. U. A' iiti/W. — Skeleton key. See il-ei/i.- Skeleton
plow. .See /Votc— Skeleton suit, a suit of clothes con-
sisting of a tight-fittinK jacket and pair of trousers, the
trousers being buttoned to the jacket— Skeleton wagon,
a very light form of four-wheeled driving-wagon used with
racinjr-horses.
skeleton (skel'e-ton), V. t. [< skeleton, «.] To
skeletonize.
A recipe for tkdetoning and bleaching leaves.
Sd. Amer., N. S., LVni. 2(B.
skeleton-face (skel'e-ton-fas), n. A style of
ty)>o (if which the stems or thick strokes are
unusually thin.
skeletonize (skel'e-ton-iz), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
skeletonized, ppr. skeletonising. [< skeleton +
-ize.'] 1. To reduce to a skeleton, as by re-
moving the flesh or other soft tissues from the
framework; make a skeleton or mere frame-
work of or from : as, to skeletonise a leaf by eat-
ing out its soft parts, as an insect, or by remov-
ing them by maceration : particularly said of
the preparation of skeletons as objects of study.
One large bull which I tkeletanized had had his humerus
shot squarely in two, but it had united again more firmly
than ever.
If' . T. Bomadai), Smithsonian Report^ 1887, ii. 42«.
It is like seeing a ikeUtmiied leaf instead of a leaf filled
with Its fresh green tissues. The Century, XXX VII. 732.
2. J/i7i7., to reduce the size or numbers of ; de-
plete: as, a sk<'leton)::ed a,Tiay.
skeletonlzer (skel'c-ton-i-zfer), n. In entom.,
an insect which eats the parenchyma of leaves,
leaving the skeleton : as, the apple-leaf skeleton-
i:ir. I'l mjiiHa liammondi.
skeletonless (skel'e-ton-les), a. [< skeleton +
-tev.*.] Iliiving no skeleton. Amer. Xat.,XXll.
894.
skeleton-screw (skel'e-ton-skrS), n. A skele-
ton-sliriiup.
skeleton-shrimp (akere-ton-shrimp), n. A
small, slfuder crustacean of the family Caprel-
Wfte, as Caprella linearis; a specter-shrimp; a
mantis-shnmp. Also called skeleton-screw.
skeleton-spicnle (skel'e-ton-spik'iil), n. In
sponges, one of the skeletal spicules, or sup-
porting spicules of the skeleton ; a megasclere,
as distinguished from a flesh-spicule or micro-
sclere. See spiriile.
skeletonwlse (Kkel'e-ton-wiz), adv. In the
niauiicr of a skeleton, iS-amework, or outline.
Ami r. .finir. Psiirhol., I. S82.
skeletotrophic (skel'e-to-trof'ik), a. [< Gr.
(T«?.fTot', a skeleton, + rpoi^it, nourishment, < rpe-
^(v, nourish.] Pertaining to the skeleton or
framework of the bodv and to its blood-vascu-
lar system. Enruc. U'ril., XVI. 634.
skell (skel), «. An obsolete or dialectal form
of shell. Halliirell.
(Hhir fysch to flet with fyne.
Sum with skale and sum with rkrU.
¥ork Play, p. 12.
skellet (skel'et), n. An obsolete or dialectal
form of skillet.
skellochl (skel'o6h),r. i. [Cf. Icel. skeUa, clash,
clang, rattle, etc., causal of nkjalla, clash, clat-
ter, etc.: seewoW.] To cry with a shrill voice.
.liiniii:ion. [Scot<>h.]
skellochl (skel'odh), n. [<skeHochi,v.^] A shrill
CIV : a squall. Jamieson. [Scotch.]
Skelloch- (8kel'o<ih), n. [Also skeldock; < Gael.
.sgciilldfi, also (as in Ir.) sgeallagach, sqeallitn,
wild mustard. Ct. cliarloek.'] The wild radish
(Kee radi.ili); also, the charlock. Jamieson.
rSi'otch.]
skellumt (skel'um), n. [Also sctllum, shellum ;
< I>. schelm = MLG. schelme, sclielmer, rogue,
knave, sriirim, corpse, carrion, etc., < OHG. scel-
mo, sralmo, MHO. schelme, schclm, plague, pes-
tilence, those fallen In battle, a rogue, rascal,
O. schelm, knave, rogue. Cf. Icel. skelmir,
rogue, devil, '= Sw. skiilm = Dan. skjelm = F.
schelme, rogue, also < G.] A scoundrel; a
worthless fellow. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.]
He [Dr. Creeton] ripped up Hngh I'eters (calling him
the execrable Aellum), his preaching and stirring up the
mayds of the city to bring in their bodkins and thimbles.
Pepyi, Diary, April 3, 1683.
sken
She tauld thee weel thou wast a ikeUum,
A blethering, blustering, drunken blellum.
Burns, Tain o' Shanter.
skellyl (skel'i), V. i. • pret. and pp. skellied, ppr.
skellying. [8c. also skcely, scalie ; < Dan. skelc =
Sw. skela = MHG. schilhen, G. schielen, squint:
see sluilhtc^, sAoaJl.] To squint. [Prov. Eng.
and Scotch.]
" It is the very man ! " said Bothwell ; " skellies fearfully
with one eye? " Scott, Old Mortality, iv.
skellyl (skel'i), n. [< skelly^, t-.] A squint.
Brocketi; Jamieson. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.]
skellyl (skel'i), a. [Cf. skelly^, t).] Squinting.
Jamieson. [Scotch.]
Skelly2 (skel'i), n. [Perhaps so called from its
large scales ; < skell + -yl ■ cf . scaly.'] A fish,
the chub. Tanell. [Local, Eng.]
skelos(ske'lo8), H.; pi. sA-cZea (ske'le-a). [NL.,
< Gr. CKth)!;, the leg.] The whole hind limb of
any vertebrate, consisting of the meros (thigh),
crus (leg), and pes (foot) : the antithesis is ar-
miis. Wilder and Gage, Anat. Tech., p. 39.
Skeljpl (skelp), ». [iWE. skelpen ; <Gae\.sgealp,
strike with the palm of the hand, sgealp, a
blow with the palm of the hand, a slap, a quick,
sudden sound.] I. trans. 1. To strike, espe-
cially with the open hand ; slap ; spank. [Ob-
solete or prov. Eng. and Scotch.]
Sir knyghtis that ar comly, take this caystiff in keping,
Skelpe hym with scourges and with skathes hym scorne.
York Playt, p. 881.
I'm sure sma* pleasure it can gi'e.
E'en to a de'il.
To skeip an' scaud puir dogs like me.
An' hear us squeel !
Bums, Address to the De'il.
2. To kick severely. Balliicell. [Prov. Eng.]
n. intrans. 1. To beat, as a clock. [Scotch.]
Baith night and day my lane I ekelp;
Wind up my weights l)ut anes a week.
Without him I can gang and speak.
liamsay. Poems, II. f)57. {Jamieson.)
2. To move rapidly or briskly along; hurry;
run ; bound. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.]
Tam tkelpit on through dub and mire.
Despising wind, and rain, and fire.
Bums, Tam o' Shanter.
3. To leap awkwardly. Halliwell. [Prov.
Eng.]
A slap ; a stroke ; a blow. [Prov. Eng. or
Bkelpt (skelp), n. [< ME. skelp; ijkelp^v.] 1
) ;
Scotch.]
With schath of skelpys yll scarred
Fro tyme that youre tene he haue tasted.
York Plays, p. 321.
Whene'er I forgather wi' sorrow an' care,
I gi'e them a tkelp as they're creepin' alang,
Wl' a cog o' gude swats, an' an auld Scottish sang.
Sums, Contented wi' Little.
2. A squall; a heavy fall of rain. Jamieson.
[Scotch.] — 3. A large portion. Compare stepp-
er, 2, and skelping. Jamieson. [Scotch.]
Skelp^ (skelp), H. [Origin obscure.] A strip
of iron prepared for making a pipe or tube by
bending it roimd a bar and welding it. Those
made for gtm-barrels are thicker at one end
than at the other.
skelp-bender (skelp'ben'dtr), n. A machine
for liciiding iron strips intoskelps. It consists of
a die of the required form made in two parts which open
on a slide to receive the end of a strip, and are closecf by
a lever. The end is bent to shape, and the strip is then
seized by appropriate mechanism, and drawn through the
die. E. II. KnwU.
skelper (.skd'p^r), «. 1. One who skelps or
strikes. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.]
That vile Aonxt-skelper Emperor Joseph.
Bums, To a Gentleman who had sent a Newspaper.
2. Anything very large. Halliwell. [Prov.
Eng.]
skelping (skel'ping), a. [Prop. ppr. of skelp^,
r.] Full; bursting; very large. Grose. [Prov.
En^.]
skelter (skel't^r), v. i. [See helter-skelter.] To
rush; hurry; dash along. Comyaie helter-skel-
ter. [Prov. Eng.]
After the long dry, skeltering wind of March and part
of April, there had been a fortnight of soft wet
R. D. Btaekvwre, Loma Doone, xxll.
skelton (skel'ton), n. An obsolete or dialectal
Conn of skeleton.
Skeltonical (skel-ton'i-kal), a. [< Skelton (see
def . ) + -ic-al.] Pertaining to, or characteristic
or imitative of, John Skelton (1460 f- 1529) or
his poetry.
His ISkelton's] most characteristic form, known as Skel-
tonicai verse, is wayward and unconventional — adopted
as if in mad defiance of regular metre.
Encyc. Brit., XXII. 120.
sken (sken), V. i. Same as squean, squitie. [Ob
solete or prov. Eng.] '
Skene
Skene, »■ See skean^.
skeno-. For words so beginning, see sceno-.
Skenotoca (skf-not'o-kS), n. p7. [NL., < Gr.
<T/ij?i'»/, a tent, + tiktciv, reKelv, bring forth, To/cof,
a bringing forth, offspring.] The calyptoblas-
tie hydromedusans, sueh as the campanulavian,
sertularian, and plumularian polj'ps; the Scrtu-
larida in a broad sense ; the Calyptoblastea : op-
posed to Gymnotoca. Also written Scenotoca.
skeo, »■ See skio.
skep(skep),w. [Sc, also scope; <'hiE.skep,skeppe,
skepe, skeipp (earlier seep, < AS. seep, seiop, a
basket for grain, rare forms, glossed cumera),
of Scand. origin, < leel. skeppa, skjappa = Sw.
skiippa = Dan. skjxppe, a bushel ; cf . OS. scaf
= LG. sehapp, a chest, cupboard, = OHG. scaf,
scaph, MHG. schaf, a vessel, a liquid measure, G.
schaff (cf . OS. seapil = D. schepel = MLG. schc-
fel = OHG. sceffil, MHG. G. scheffel, a bushel) ;
ML. scapum, L. scapiiim, scaphimn, < Gr. am-
^lov, a drinking-vessel, < (T/.di^f, a hollow vessel:
see seapha.'] 1. A vessel of wood, wickerwork,
etc., used especially as a receptacle for grain ;
hence, a basket, varying in size, shape, mate-
rial, or use, according to locality.
"Len vs suniquat o thi sede,
Was neuer ar sua mikel nede,
Len V8 sumquat wit thi gcep."
" Isal yow lene, " tlian said Joseph.
Cursor ilundi (MS. Cotton, ed. Morris), 1. 4741.
A bettir crafte is for this besinesse
Lette malce a gkeppe of twygge a foote in brede.
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 68.
The skeps, and baslcets, and three-legged stools were all
cleared away. ilrs. Gastkdl, Sylvia's Lovers, ii.
In Sussex a skep is a broad, flat basket of wood.
N. and Q., 7th ser., VI. 298.
2. The amount contained in a skep : used for-
merly as a specific measure of capacity.
A skeppe of palme thenne after to surtray is,
This wyne v pounde of fyne hony therto
Ystamped wel let mynge, and it is doo.
Palladiws, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 100.
A Skeppe, a measure of come.
Levins, Manip. Vocab. (1570), p. 70.
Skep is familiar to me as a West Riding word. . . .
There was the phrase "Bring me a skep of coal." The
coal-bucket went by the name of skep, whatever (in capa-
city] it contained. N. and Q., 7th ser., VI. 298.
3. A vehicle consisting of a large wicker bas-
ket mounted on wheels, used to convey cops,
etc., about a factory. — 4. A small wooden or
metal utensil used for taking up yeast. Halli-
well. — 5. A beehive made of straw or wicker-
work.
The first swarm [of bees] set off sune in the morning. —
But I am thinking they are settled in their skeps for the
night. Scott, Rob Koy, xvii.
It is usual, first) to hive the swarm in an old-fashioned
straw Aep. Encyc. Brit., III. 501.
[Prov. Eng. and Scotch in all uses.]
skepful (skep'fiil), n. [< skep + -fid.'] The
amount contained in a skep, in any sense of
the word. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.]
Why, the ballads swarm out every morning by the skep-
full. Mullion's are the best, butthere are twenty besides
him at it late and early. Nodes Ambrosianse, Sept., 1832.
skepsis, scepsis (skep'sis), n. [< Gr. OKi^ig, ex-
amination, hesitation, doubt, < aniTTTeaOai, ex-
amine, look into: see skeptic.'] Philosophic
doubt; skeptical philosophy.
Among their products were the system of Locke, the
scepsis of Hume, the critical philosophy of Kant.
J. Martineau. (Imp. Diet.)
skeptic, sceptic (skep'tik), «. and n. [For-
merly also skeptick, sceptick; = OF. sceptique,
P. sceptique = 8p. eseeptico = Pg. sceptico =
It. scettico, < L. 'scepticus, only in pi. Sceptici,
the sect of Skeptics (cf. D. sceptisch = G.
skeptisch = Sw. Dan. skeptisk, a., D. seeptikus,
6. Sw. Dan. skeptiker, n.), < Gr. meimKdg,
thoughtful, inquiring, 'tueTtTLml, pi., the Skep-
tics, followers of Pyrrho, < antirTeadai, consider,
cf. aKOTTslv, view, examine, < -/ okett, -j/ ctkojt, a
transposedi*^ of ^ bttck, = L. specere, look
at, vi»^ \speh(m, MHG. spehen, G. sjici-
' yhence ult. E. spy : see spe-
\ and spy. From the same
We3.] I. a. Same as skep-
„v» being naturally skeptick, and not at
,,v..cu; which, if I am not much deceived, is the
proper character of our own. Dryden, Lucian.
II, n. 1. One who suspends his judgment,
and holds that the known facts do not warrant
a conclusion concerning a given fundamental
question; a thinker distinguished for the length
ti) which he carries his doubts; also, one who
holds that the real truth of things caiinot be
6668
known in any case; one who will not affirm or
deny anything in regard to reality as opposed
to appearance.
He is a scepticke, and dares hardly give credit to his
senses. Bp. Hall, Characters (1608), p. 151. (Latham.)
It may seem a very extravagant attempt of the sceptics
to destroy reason by argument and ratiocination ; yet this
is the grand scope of all their inquiries and disputes.
Hume, Human Understanding, xii. 2.
2. One who doubts or disbelieves the funda-
mental principles of the Christian religion.
How many objections would the Infidels and Scepticks
of our Age have made against such a Message as this to
Nineveh ! StUlingfieet, Sermons, II. iv.
3. [cap.] An adherent of a philosophical school
in ancient Greece. The first group of this school con-
sisted of Pyrrho and his immediate followers (see Pyr-
rhonic); the second group formed the so-called Middle
Academy, less radical than I'yrrho ; and the third group
(jEnesidemus in the first century, Sextus, etc.) returned
in part to the doctrines of Pyrrho. Ueberu-eg.
4. One who doubts concerning the truth of
any particular proposition; one who has a ten-
dency to question the virtue and integrity of
most persons.
Whatever sceptic could inquire for,
For every why be had a wherefore.
S. Butter, Hudibras, I. i. 131.
=Syil. 2. Unbeliever, Free-thinker, etc. See infidel.
skeptical, sceptical (skep'ti-kal), a. [< skep-
tic-\--al.] 1. Pertaining to, cfiaraeteristic of ,
or upholding the method of philosophical skep-
ticism or universal doubt; imbued with or
marked by a disposition to question the possi-
bility of real knowledge.
If any one pretends to be so sceptical as to deny his own
existence, ... let him for me enjoy his beloved happi-
ness of being nothing, until hunger or some other pain
convince him of the contrary.
Locke, Human Understanding, IV. x. § 2.
The plausibility of Hume's sceptical treatment of the
objective or thinking consciousness really depends on
his extravagant concessions to the subjective or sensitive
consciousness. E. Caird, Philos. of Kant, p. 71.
2. Making, involving, or characterizing dis-
belief in the principles of religion.
The sceptical system subverts the whole foundation of
morals. B. Halt.
3. Disbelieving; mistrustful; doubting: as, a
skeptical smile.
Captain Lawton entertained a profound respect for the
surgical abilities of his comrade, but was very sceptical on
the subject of administering internally for the ailings of
the human frame. Cooper, The Spy, ix.
Skeptical school. See scAooH.— Skeptical suspension
of judgment. Aeecritical suspension of judginent, under
critical.
skeptically, sceptically (skep'ti-kal-i), adv. In
a sTieptical manner, in any sense of the word;
with skepticism.
skepticalness, scepticalness (skep'ti-kal-nes),
n. Skeptical character or state; doubt; pro-
fession of doubt. Fuller, Serm. of Assurance,
skepticism, scepticism (skep'ti-sizm), n. [= F.
sccpticismc = Sp. escepticismo = Pg. .scepticismo
= It. scetticisino = D. scepticismus = Q.skcjifi-
cismus = Dan. skepiieisme (NL. scepticismus);
as skeptic + -ism.] The entertaining of mis-
trust, doubt, or disbelief; especially, the rea-
soning of one who doubts the possibility of
knowledge of reality; the systematic doubt
which characterizes a philosophical skeptic;
specifically, doubt or disbelief of the funda-
mental doctrines of the Christian religion.
He [Berkeley] professes .... to have composed his book
against the sceptics as well as against the atheists and
free-thinkers. But that all his arguments, though other-
wise intended, are, in reality, merely sceptical, appears
from this, that they admit of no answer, and produce no
conviction. Their only effect is to cause that momentai-y
amazement and irresolution and confusion which is the
result of scepticism.
Ilrtme, Human Understanding, xii. 1, note.
Scepticism had been born into the world, almost more
hateful than heresy, because it had the manners of good
society and contented itself with a smile, a shrug, an al-
most imperceptible lift of the eyebrow.
Lowell, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 132.
AtJSOlute or Pyrrhonlc skepticism, the absence of any
leaning toward either side of any question ; complete skep-
ticism about everything. See Pyrrhonism.
skepticize, scepticize (skep'ti-siz), v. i. ; pret.
and pp. skeptici:ed, seepticized, ppr. skepticizing,
sceptidzing. [< skeptic + -ize.] To act the
skeptic ; doubt ; profess to doubt of everything.
You can afford to scepticize where no one else will so
much as hesitate. Shaftesbury.
skeret, «. and adv. A Middle English form of
.ihrer^.
skerling (skt'r'ling), n. A smolt, or young sal-
mon of the first year. [Local, Eng.]
sketch
skerry (sker'i), «. ; pi. skerries (-iz). [< Icel.
sker, a skeiTy, isolated rock in tlie sea, = Sw.
skdr=Da,n.skjser: seescar'^.] 1. A rocky isle;
an insulated rock; a reef. [Scotch.]
Loudly through the wide-flung door
Came the roar
Of the sea upon the Skerry.
Lonafellow, Saga of King Olaf, The Skerry of Shrieks, 1. 9.
2. A loose angular fragment of rock; rubble;
slither; ratchel. [Prov. Eng.]
In working marls, great trouble is experienced from
skerry or impure limestone, which abounds in marl.
C T. Davis, Bricks and Tiles, p. 55.
sketch (skech), n. [Formerly sclietse (the term,
being later conformed to E. analogies), < D.
schcts = G. skizze = Dan. skizze = Sw. skiss =
F. esquisse = Sp. esquicio, all < It. schizzo, rough
draft of a thing, < L. schedium, a thing made
hastily, < schcdins, hastily made, < Gr. axi^toc,
sudden, offhand, also near, close to, < axc<^ov,
near, hard by; cf. axiotc, habit, state, axf^riKO^,
retentive, < 2d aor. inf. axe'iv, ext''^t hold: see
scheme.] 1. A brief, slight, or hasty delinea-
tion ; a rapid or offhand presentation of the es-
sential facts of anything; a rough draft; an
outline : as, in literature, the sketch of an event,
a character, or a career.
The first schetse of a comedy, called "The Paradox,"
Dr. Pope, Life of Bp. Ward (1097), p. 149. (Latham.)
However beautiful and considerable these Antiquities
are, yet the Designs that have been taken of them hith-
erto have been rather Sketches, they say, than accurate
and exact Plans. T. Ilollis, in Ellis's Lit. Letters, p. 380.
Boyish histories
Of battle, hold adventure, . . . and true love
Crown'd after trial ; sketches rude and faint.
But where a passion yet unborn perhaps
Lay hidden. Tennyson, Aylmer's Field.
2. In art: («) The first suggestive embodiment
of an artist's idea as expressed on canvas, or
on paper, or in the clay model, upon which his
more finished performance is to be elaborated
or built up. (6) A slight transcript from na-
ture of the human figure, or of any object,
made in crayon or chalk with simple shading,
or any rough draft in colors, taken with the
object of securing for the artist the materials
for a finished picture; a design in outline; a
delineated memorandum ; a slight delineation
or indication of an artist's thought, invention,
or recollection.
This plan is not perhaps in all respects so accurate as
might be wished, it being composed from the memoran-
dums and rude sketches of the master and surgeon, who
were not, I presume, the ablest draughtsmen.
An^on, Voyages, il 3.
3. A short and slightly constructed play or lit-
erary composition : as, " sketches 'by Boz."
We always did alaughable«*-e(cA entitled "Billy Button's
Ride to Brentford," and I used to be Jeremiah Stitchem, a
servant of Billy Button's, that comes for a "sitiation."
Mayheiv, London Labour and London Poor, III. 132.
4. In music: (a) A short composition consist-
ing of a single movement : so called either from
the simplicity of its construction, or because
it is of a descriptive character, being suggest-
ed by some external object, or being intended
to suggest such an object, as a fountain or a
brook, (ft) Generally in the plural, prelimi-
nary memoranda made by a composer with the
intention of developing them afterward into a
finished composition. Such sketches consist some-
times of only a few notes, sometimes of the most important
parts of a wllole movement. For instance, great numbei's
of sketches by Beethoven are still extant, many of them
showing the progressive stages of works afterward fully
completed.
5. In com., a description, sent at regular in-
tervals to the consignor, of the kinds of goods
sold by a commission house and the terms of
sale. = Syn. 1. skeleton, plot, plan. — 1 and 2. Delinea-
tion, etc. See outtine.
sketch (skech), V. [= D. schetsen = G. skiz-
zieren = Dan. skizzere ; from the noun.] I.
trans. 1 . To present the essential facts of, with
omission of details; outline briefly or slightly;
describe or depict in a general, incomplete, and
suggestive way.
I must . . . leave him [the reader] to contemplate those
ideas which I have only sketched, and which every man
must finish for himself.
Dryden, Parallel of Poetry and Painting.
2. Specifically, in art, to draw or portray in
outline, or with partial shading; make a rough
or slight draft of, especially as a memorandum
for more finished work : as, to sketch a group
or a landscape.
The method of Rubens was to sketch his composition in
colours, witli all the parts more determined than sketches
generally are ; from this sketch his scholars advanced the
sketch
picture aa far afl they were capable ; after which he re-
touched the whole himself.
Keyrwidg, on Mason's traus. of Dufresnoy's Art of Paint-
[itig, not« 11.
Sketching with her slender pointed foot
Some figure like a wizanl pentagram
On garden gravel. Tennyson, The Brooic.
=8yn. To portray. See outline, n.
11. ill trans. 1. To make a sketch; present
essential facts or features, with omission of
details.
We have to cat some of the business between Romeo
and Juliet, because it's too long, you linow. . . . But we
sketch along through the play.
HoicellSj Annie Kilburn, xv.
2. Specifically, in art, to draw in outline or
with partial shading: as, she sketches cleverly.
sketcnability (skeoh-a-bil'i-ti), n. [< sketch-
able + -ill/ (see -biliiy).'] The character or
qualitjr of being sketchable; especially, the
capacity for affording effective or suggestive
sketches.
In the wonderful croolced, twisting, climbing, soaring,
burrowing Genoese alleys the traveller is really up to his
neck in the old Italian sketchatnlity.
U. James, Jr., Portraits of Places, p. 48.
sketchable (skech'a-bl), a. [< sketch + -able.]
Capable of being sketched or delineated; suit-
able for being sketched ; effective as the sub-
ject of a sketch.
Madame Gervaisais Is a picture of the visible, sketchable
Borne of twent^-flve years ago.
FortrUfflifiy ■«»»•. N. 8., XLm. 607.
In the town itself, though there is plenty tketehaUe,
there is nothing notable save the old town cross.
tiarpers Ma'j., LXXVIL 482.
T noted, here and there, as I went, an extremely sketch-
able effect H. James, Jr., Portraits of Places, p. 362.
sketch-block (skech'blok), n. A block or pad
of drawing-paper prepared to receive sketches.
Al.so failed sketching-block.
sketch-book (skech'buk), n. 1. A book made
with blauk leaves of drawing-paper, adapted
for use in sketching; hence, a printed book
composed of literary sketches or outlines. —
2. A book in which a musical composer jots
down his ideas, and works out his preliminary
studies.
sketcher (skech'tr), n. [< sketch, n., + -«•!.]
One who sketches.
I was a sketcher then ;
See here ray doing : corves of mountain, bridge.
Boat, island, ruius of a castle.
Tennyson, Edwin Morris.
sketchily ( skech'i-H), adv. In a sketchy or slight
manner.
The hair of the Hermes seems i*tber roughly and
skridiHy treated, in comparlaon with the elaborate finish
of tlie l)ody. C. T. Newton, Art and ArchnoL, p. S51.
sketchiness (skech'i-nes), n. The state or qual-
ity of being sketchy.
Daumier's blacli skclehinesi, so (all of the technical
gras, the fat which I'Vench critics commend, and which we
have no word lo express. The Century, XXXIX. 409.
sketching-block (skech'ing-blok), n. Same
R.s ski tih-hliick.
sketch-map (skech'map), n. A map in mere
outline.
A small sketch-map of the moon.
Pop. Set. Mo., XXXI. 480.
sketchy (skech'i), a. l< sketch -i- -yi.l 1. Hav-
ing the form or character of a sketch ; sug-
gesting in outline rather than portraying by
finished execution: as, a «A:e(cAy narrative. — 2.
Characteristic of a sketch ; slight ; undetailed ;
unfinished.
It can leave nothing to the Imagination, nor employ anv
of that loose and sketchy brilliancy of execution oy which
painting gives an artlHcial appearance of lightness to
forms. Knight, On Taste. (JodrM.)
Skevent, n. [ME. skerayne, skyveyn, < OP. eaqiie-
vin, escherin. F. echcrin = It. scabino, < MIj. sca-
binus,<.0\j(i.scei>eno, MLG, sehepenc, srhcpen =
MD. D. tchepen = OHG. scaffin, srcffin, scaffino,
tceffino, scefino, scht-pheno, MHO. scheffrn,
sehepfe, scheffe. schfinfe, schopf, sehophf, G.
schiiffe, a sheriff, bailiff, steward; prob. orig.
'onlerer,' < 0\J} .' srapan = OHG. tcaffan = AS.
scapan, scrnpan, etc., form, shape, arrange, or-
der, ete. : see shajie.] A steward or bailiff ; an
officer of a gild next in rank to the alderman.
Also ordeyned it is, be assent of the bretheryn, to cheso
an Aldimian to reule the Company, and four skeuaynet to
kepe the gfKKles of the glide.
English GOds (E. E. T. S.), p. 48.
Skeyington's daughter. See scavenger's daugh-
tir, under sravrnger.
ske'W^ CHkii), r. [Formerly also skiew, skue,
sciie; < ME. sketcen, 'skuen, turn aside, slip
away, escape, < OD. scuxeen, MD. schuaen,
5669
schouwen, D. schuwen = MLG. seHuwen, LO.
schimen, schouen = OHG. sciihen, sciuhen, MHG.
schiiihen, schiiiwen, G. scheuchen, schcuen, get
out of the way, avoid, shun; from the adj.: D.
schuw, etc., = AS. sceoh, shy : see shy^, a., and
cf. shy^, v., which is ult. a doublet of skew, t\
The word appears to have nothing to do with
Icel. skeifr = Sw. skef = Dan. skj/ev = D. scheef
= North. Fries. skiaf= G. schicf, oblique (which
is represented in E. by the dial, skiffs, and of
which the verb is Sw. skefva, look askance,
squint, = Dan. skjsere, slant, slope, swerve,
look askance), or with Icel. a ska, askew, skddhr,
askew, which are generally supposed to be con-
nected.] I. intrans. If. To turn aside ; slip or
fall away; escape.
SkilfuUe skomfyture he skiftez as hyra lykez.
Is none so sicatblye may skape, ne Aevx fro his handes.
iforte Arthure (E. E. T. 8.), 1. 1662.
And should they see us on our knees for blessing.
They'd scue aside, as frighted at our dressing.
Whiting, Albino and Bellama (1638). (Naret.)
2. To start aside; swerve; shy, as a horse.
[Prov. Eng.] — 3. To move or go obliquely;
sidle.
To skue or walk skuing, to waddle, to go sideling along.
E. Phittipa, World of Words (1706).
Child, yon must walk straight, without skietcinij and
shailing to every step you set.
Sir R. L' Estrange. (Latham.)
4. To look obUquely; squint; hence, to look
slightingly or suspiciously.
To Skewe, limis oculis s^ctare.
Lenns, Manip. Vocab. (1570X p. 94.
Whenever we find mu^elves ready to fret at every cross
occurrent, ... to slug in our own performances, to skew
at the infirmities of others, take we notice first of the
impatience of our own spirits, and condemn it.
Bp. Sanderson, Sermons (1681), xxi. (Latham.)
n. trans. 1. To turn aside; give an oblique
direction to; hence, to distort; put askew.
Skew your ele towards the margent.
Stanihurst, p. 17. (UaUiweU.)
2. To shape or form in an oblique way.
Windows broad within and narrow without, or skewed
and closed. 1 Ki. vL 4 (margin).
To skue or chamfret, viz. to slope the edge of a stone, as
masons doe In windowes, &c., for the gaining of light.
Cotgravt.
3. To throw or htirl obliquely. Imp. Diet. —
4. To throw violently. Compare shfi. Halli-
tcell.
akew^ (sku), a. [Formerly also skue, scue; <
skew^, e.] 1. Having an oblique position;
oblique; turned or twisted to one aide: as, a
skew bridge.
Several have Imagin'd that this tkue posture of the axis
Is a most unfortunate and peniiclous thing.
Bentley, Sermons, vUL
2. Distorted; perverted; perverse.
Com. Sen. Here 'i a gallemaufry of speech indeed.
Jf era. I remember, about the year 1602, many used this
stem kind of langnige. .<4.A«iMr(t), Lingua, ill. 5.
3. In math., having disturbed symmetry by cer-
tain elements being reversed on opposite sides ;
also, more widely, distorted skew antipoints,
four points, the vertices of an imaginary tetrahedron,
all the edges of which are of zero length except two,
which are perpendicular to each other and to the line
Joining their middle points.— Skew arch, in arch. See
arcAl.— Skew back, (a) In arch., that part of a straight
or curved arcti which recedes on tiie springing from
the vertical line of the opening. In bridges it is a
course of masonry forming the abutment for the vous-
soirs of a segmental arch, or, in iron bridges, for the
ribs, (i) Acastingontheendofatrusstowhicbatension-
rod may be attached. 1 1 may form a cap, or be shaped to fit
the Impost. E. H. Knight. —Skew brlOKe, a bridge placed
at any angle except a right aiit:le with the road or stream
over which it is built— Skew chisel, (a) A turning or
wood-working chisel having the edKc oblique and a basil
on each side, (b) A carvers chisel having the shank licnt
to allow the edge to reach a aanken surface. E. II. Knight.
— Bkew clrcnlanl See eireulanL—Sliew curve, a
curve in thri^^cilluiciisloiis. So skew cubic, tkew Carteeiim,
etc.— Skew determinants See determinant.— Skew
facets, the lung triangular facets bordering the girdle of
a brilliant, and situated between the templets or bezels
and the girdle of the stone. There are eight skew facets
on tlie cn>wn or upper side, and eight on the pavilion
or lower side. See MUiont, 1. Also called cro»»-/a««t».—
Skew gearing, a gearing of which the cog-wheela have
their t^th placed obliquely so as to slide
into one another without clashintr. It is
used to transmit motion between shafts at
an angle to each other, and with their axes
not in the same plane. E. B. Knight. —
Skew hellcolll, a screw-surface.— skew
Invariant, an Invariant which changes Its
sign when x 'and y are interchanged. — skewGcarii^.
Skew plane, in jiiinerif, a plane in which
the mouth and the edge of the iron are obliquely across
the face.— Skew polygon, product, quadrilateral.
See the iinunK.— Skew-rabbet plane. See rahliet-ijlane.
— Skew reciprocal, n locus in line-coordinates projKir-
tirnial to the poiiit-co«»rdinates of another locus, or vice
versa. — Skew surface, a ruled surface in wliicb two
skewer
successive generators do not in general intersect, go
skeiv qnadric, etc.— Skew symmetric determinant.
See determinant. — Skew symmetry, that symmetry
which characterizes heinihedral crystals, more particu-
larly those of the gyroidal type, as the trapezohedral forms
common with quartz.— Skew table, in arch., a course
of skews, as a slanting coping (on a gable), or any similar
feature.— Skew Wheel, a form of bevel-wheel having
the teeth formed obliquely on the rim. Compare skew
gearing.
Skew^ (sidi), M. [< skew^, v., in part < skew^, a.]
1. A deviation or distortion; hence, an error;
a mistake.
Thus one of the many skews in the Harlelan Catalogue
was set straight
Booke qf Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), p. xvii.
2. An oblique glance ; a squint.
Whatever good works we do with an eye from his and
a skew unto our own names, the more pain we take, the
more penalty of pride belongs unto us.
Rei). S. Ward, Sermons, p. 9.
3. A piebald or skew-bald animal, especially a
horse. Hatliwell. [Prov. Eng.] — 4. A skew
wheel. — 5. In arch,, the sloping top of a but-
tress where it slants off against a wall ; a coping
mounting on a slant, as that of a gable ; a stone
built into the base-angle of a gable, or other
similar situation, to support a coping above.
Compare skew-corbel, below Skew-corbel, in
arch., a stone built Into the base of a gable to support
the skews or coping above, and resist their tendency to
slide down from tlieir bed. Also called sttmmer'Stone,
skew-put, and ftt^ic— Skew-fillet, a flllet nailed on a roof
along the gable coping to raise the slates there and throw
the water away from the joining.- Skew-put. Same as
skew-corbel.
skew"^ (skii), adv. [< sketch, a. Cf. askew.']
Aslant; aslope; obliquely; awry; askew. Hat-
liwell. [Prov. Eng.]
To look skew, or a-skew, to squint or leer.
E. Phaiips, World of Words (1706)
Ske'W-t, «• An obsolete variant of «A'yl.
skew^ (skii), «. Same as scow.
skew^t, n. [Origin obscure.] A cup. [Old
slang.]
This is Bien Bowse, tins is Bien Bowse,
Too little is my Skew.
I bowse no Lage, but a whole Gage
Of this I'll bowse to you.
Brome, Jovial Crew, IL
skew-bald (sku'b41d), o. [< sAckjI -I- bald\
Cf . piebald.] Spotted in an irregular manner ;
piebald: used especially of horses, strictly, pi«.
oald applies to horses spotted witli white and black, skew-
liald to such as are spotted with white and some otlier color
than black. [Obsolete or provincial.]
You shall find
Og the great commissary, and, which is worse,
Th' apparatour upon his skew-bal'd horse.
Cteaveland, Poems (1651X (Nares.)
Tallaniire drove his spurs into a rampant, skewbald
stallion with china*biue eyes.
R. Kipling, Uead of the District
skewed (skM), p. a. [< ME. skewed, skued ; <
skcw^ + -«rf2.] i_ Turned aside; distorted;
awry.
This skew'd eyed carrion.
Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, It. 1.
2t. Skew-bald; piebald.
The skewed goos, the brune goose as the white
Is not fecounde.
Palladius, Husbondrle (E. E. T. S.X p. 2&
Some be flybytten.
Some skewed as a kytten.
Skelton, Elynour Rummyng, 1. 142.
skewer (sku'^r), «. [Orig. a dial, form of
skircr, a skejver (cf. skiver-wood, skewer-wood,
dogwood, of which skewers are made), an un-
assibilated form of shiver, a splinter of wood
(cf. Sw. H'(^i?r = Dan. «A:J/er, slate): aeeshivcr^.]
1 . A pin of wood or iron for fastening meat to
a spit or for keeping it in form while roasting.
Send up your meat well stuck with skewers, to make it
look round and plump. Swift, Advice to Servants (Cook),
2. A bobbin-spindle fixed by its blunt end into
a shelf or bar in the creel. E. H. Knight.
skewer (skii'^r), ». t. [< skewer, «.] To fasten
with skewers; pierce or transfix, as with a
skewer.
Of duels we have sometimes spoken : how . . . mess-
mates, flinging down the wlue-cup and weapons of reason
skewer
«nd perwrtee, met in the measured field, to pait bleeding,
or perhaps not to part, but to fall mutually skemred
throujih with iron. Cariyle, I'rench Kev., n. iu. 8.
Skewer-maclline (sku'er-ma-shen'), M. A
wood-working machine for roughly shaping or
for finishing skewers from wooden blocks. In
the former case the skewers are finished by
a skewer-pointing machine.
skewer-wood (sku'fer-wud), ». Same a,sprick-
timlnr. [Prov. Eng.]
skew-gee (sku'je'), a. Crooked; skew; squmt.
Also used as a noun: as, on the sfce»-</ee. [Col-
skewing (sku'ing), n. [Verbal n. of skew, v.']
In (/ihliiKj. the process of removing superfluous
gold-leaf from parts of a surface, and of patch-
ing pieces upon spots where the gold-leaf has
failed to adhere. It is performed by means of a
brush, and precedes burnishing. £.■ H. Knight.
Also spelled skuing.
skew-symmetrical (ska'si-mef'ri-kal), o. Hav-
ing each element equal to the negative of the
corresponding element on the other side.
Skewy (sku'i), a. [< skew + -)/l.] Skew. Hal-
liu-rll. [Prov. Eng.]
ski, ». Same as skee.
skiagraphy (ski-ag'ra-fi), n. Same as sciagra-
jilii/.
skiascopy (ski'a-sko-pi), n. [Also soiaseopy; <
Gr. ama, shadow, + -anoma, < ohottuv, view.]
Shadow-test: a method of estimating the re-
fraction of an eye by throwing into it light
from an ophthalmoscopic mirror, and observ-
ing the movement which the retinal illumina-
tion makes on slightly rotating the mirror.
Also called keratoscopy, retimscopy, koroseopy,
pupilloscopy, retinoskiascopy.
skice (skis), V. i. [Also skise; origin obscure.]
To run fast ; move quickly. [Prov. Eng.]
They skise a large space, & seeme for to flie withal, and
therefore they cal them ... the flying squirrels.
tiakluyts Voyages, I. 479.
Up at five a'Clock in the morning, and out till Dinner-
time Out agen at afternoon, and so till Supper-time.
SHse out this away, and skise out that away. (He s no
Snayle, I assure you.) BrmM, Jovial Crew, iv.
skid^ (skid), n. [Also skeed; < leel. skidJi — Sw.
skid = Dan. skid = AS. scid, E. shide, a biUet of
wood. etc. : see shide, of which skid is an unas-
sibilated (Scand.) form. Ct skidor, skee.} 1.
A'aut. : (a) A framework of planks or timber
fitted to the outside of a ship abreast of the
hatches, to prevent injury to the side while car-
go is hoisted in or out. Boat-skids are planks fitted
to the outside of a ship abreast of the boat-davits, to keep
the side from being chafed when the boats are lowered or
hoisted. (6) A strut or post to sustain a beam or
deck, or to throw the weight of a heavy object
npon a part of the structure able to bear the
burden, (c) One of a pair of timbers in the
waist to support the larger boats when aboard.
— 2. A log forming a track for a heavy moving
object : a timber forming an inclined plane in
loading or unloading heavy articles from trucks,
etc. — 3. One of a number of timbers resting on
blocks, on which a structure, such as a boat, is
built. — 4. A metal or timber support for a can-
non.—5. One of a pair of parallel timbers for
supporting a barrel, a row of casks, or the like.
— 6. Thebrakeof acrane.— 7. A shoe or drag
used for preventing the wheels of a wagon or
carriage from revolving when descending ahill ;
hence, a hindrance or obstruction. Also called ^
sMd-pan.
But not to repeat the deeds they did.
Backsliding in spite of all moral skid,
If all were true that fell from the tongue.
There was not a villager, old or young,
But deserved to be whipp'd, imprison'd, or hung.
Hood, Tale of a Trumpet. (Dames.)
skidi (skid), v.; pret. and pp. skidded, ppr. skid-
ding. [< skid^, ».] I. trans. 1. To place or
aiove on a skid or skids.
The logs are then skidded by horses or oxen into skid-
ways, which hold from one to two hundred.
Smbner's Mag., IV. 8oB.
2. To support by means of skids.
All logs as they are brought in, unless stacked at
once should be blocked or skidded off the ground, as a
temporary measure. LasUtt, Timber, p. 818.
3. To cheek with a skid, as wheels in going
down-hill. IMckens.
n. intrans. To slide along without revolving,
as a wheel : said also of any object mounted on
wheels so moving.
When the car was skidding it could be brought to a stop
on grade by closing the current and reenergizing the mag-
net. jElect. Rev. (Amer.), XVI. 7.
The rider being directly over his pedals, and the driving
wheel not skidding. Bury and Uillier, Cycling, p. 361.
5670
skid2 (skid), V. i. ; pret. and pp. slcidded, ppr.
skidding. A variant of scud.
The Dutch ladies ... ran skidditig down the aisle of the
chapel, tip tap, tip tap, like frightened hares.
jKm«. l)'.4rWai/, Diary, VII. 141.
(Dames.)
skiddar, ». See skidor.
skiddaw (skid'a), )(. Same as kiddaw.
Skiddaw slates. See slated.
Skidder (skid'er), «. [< sAidl + -erl.] One who
skids, or uses a skid.
The sHdderg haul the logs to the pile. ,, ^ ,, ,„
The Wisconifin Pineries, New York Evangelist, March 8,
skider (ski'dfer), m. [Cf.sfcee.] A skate. [Prov.
Eng.]
skid-pan (skid'pan), n. Same as skid^, 7.
skiet, n. An obsolete form of sky^.
skiey, «• See skyey.
skifP (skif ), n. [< OF. esquif, < MB.G. skif, schf,
Q. schiff, a boat, ship, = E. ship : see shtp.} If.
Formerly, a small sailing vessel resembling a
sloop.
Olauus fied in a little skife vnto his father in law the earl
of Bosse. Httkluyfs Voyages, 1. 14.
2. Now, a small boat propelled by oars.
Our captain went in his sH^ aboard the Ambrose and
the Neptune. Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 8.
Cod-selne sMff, a small boat engaged in cod-seining, or
attending the cod-seiners.
Skiflfi (skif), !'. t. [< sA-»#l, ».] To sail upon or
pass over in a skiff or light boat. [Kare.]
lliey have sklff'd
Torrents whose roaring tyranny and power
I' the least of these was dreadful.
Fletcher (and another). Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 3.
Skiff3 (skif), a. [< Icel. sk^fifr = Sw. skef= Dan.
skjxv = D. scheef = G. schief = North. Fries.
skiuf, oblique. Cf. sfceicl.] Oblique; distort-
ed; awkward. ffaUiwell. [Prov. Eng.]
skiff-handed (skif'hand-ed), a. Awkward m
the use of the hands; unable to throw straight.
[Prov. Eng.]
Skifiiing (skif 'ling), n. [Verbal n. of *skiffle, v. ;
origin obscure.] In stone-cutting, the operation
of knocking off the rough corners of ashler in
the preliminary dressing; knobbing. £. B.
Knight.
skiftt, n. A Middle English form of shift.
skilder (skil'der), V. i. Same as skelder.
skilful (skil'fid), a. [Also skillful; early mod.
E. skilfull; < ME. skilful, skylfuU, scelvol; < sktll
+ -ful.'] It. Having reason ; endowed with
mind; thinking; rational.
A SkylfuU beeste than will y make,
Aftir my shappe and my liknesse.
York Plays, p. 15.
2+ Conforming to reason or right; reasonable;
proper. Ayenhite of Inwyt (E. E. T. S.), p. 169.
Al wol he kepe his lordes hir degree.
As it is right and skafvl that they be
Enhaunced and honoured and most dere.
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 385.
3. Having trained and practised faculties; pos-
sessing practical ability; well qualified for ac-
tion; able; dexterous; expert.
At conseil & at nede he was a skOfuUe kyng.
Rob. of Brunne, p. 311.
Be yare in thy preparation, for thy assailant is quick,
ski^ul, and deadly. Shak., T. N., lu. 4. 246.
skill
Thou ait an old love-monger, and speakest skilfvily.
Shak., L. L. L., IL 1. 253.
skilfulness (skil'ful-nes), «. lAlso.ikillfulness;
< ME. skylfuliiesse ; < skilful + -ness.} The
quality of being skilful; the possession of skill
or ability, in any'sense of either word.
Skylfulnesse, racionabilitas. Prompt Parv., p. 457.
So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart;
and guided them by the sHyW?»c«s of bis hands.
Ps. Ixxviu. 72.
4. Having ability in a specified direction;
versed; experienced; practised: followed by a
qualifying phrase or clause.
Of perill nought adrad,
Ne «Wi/irf! of the uncouth jeopardy.
Spenser, i. Q., VI. v. 16.
Human pride
Is skaftd to invent most serious names
To hide its ignorance. Shelley, Queen Mab, vii.
5. Displaying or requiring skill ; indicative of
skill; clever; adroit: as, a sfciyw/ contrivance.
Oi skilfull indastry. „ . , „r , •• uj™
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, u., Eden.
The skilful devices with which the Romans, in the first
Punic War wrought such wholesale destruction on the
Carthaginian fleets. J- Fiske. Evolutionist, p. 207.
= Svn. 3 Dexterous, Expert, etc. (see adroit:), adept, con-
versant, protlcient, accomplished, qualifled, intelligent,
skilfully (skil'ful-i), adv. [Also skillfully; <
ME. skilfully, skillfully, skylfidhj, skelvolUche; <
skilful + -lifi.} In a skilful manner. Especially —
(at) With reason, justice, or propriety ; reasonably.
In othre guode skele and clenliche and skeluolliche.
Ayenbite of Inwyt (E. E. T. S.), p. 6.
Me thynketh thus, that neither ye nor I
Oghte half this wo to maken skilfully.
Chaucer, Troilus, iv. 1265.
(b) With nice art; cleverly; adroitly; dexterously.
Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud
noise. Is. xxxiU. i
Skilip (skil'ip), n. [< Turk. Iskilip, or Iskehh,
in Asia Minor, whence the name is said to be ap-
plied to various fictitious substances.] Scam-
mony prepared near Angora by mixing starch
with the juice to the extent of 30 or 40 per cent,
of the mass. This is combined with other impure scam-
mony to form different grades of the drug. In London
use the word appears to denote any highly adulterated
scammony. ., ., j. j
skill (skil), f. [< ME. skilen (also assibilated
schillen, schyllen, < AS. *scylian), < leel. Sw.
skilja = Dan. skillc, separate, impers. differ,
matter, = MD. schillen, schellen = MLG. sehelen,
separate ; akin to Sw. skala = Dan. skalle, peel,
= Lith. skelti, cleave ; prob. < -y/ -fkal, separate,
which appears also in scaled, shale^, shell, etc.]
1. trans. If. To set apart; separate.
And skUedd ut all fra the foUe
Thurrh haliz lit and laie.
Onnulum, 1. 16860.
SchvUyn owte, or cullyn owte fro sundyr, Segrego.
Prompt. Parv., p. 446.
2. Hence, to discern ; have knowledge or un-
derstanding (to) ; know how : usually with an
infinitive. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
There is not among us any that can skill to hew timber
like unto the Sidonians. 1 Ki- v. 6.
He cannot skill to keep a stock going upon that trade.
Hilton, Areopagitica, p. 39.
II. intrans. 1. To have perception or com-
prehension; have understanding ; discern: fol-
lowed by of or on.
Thei can knowe many thinges be force of clergie that
we ne can no skyle on. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), i 27.
They that skill not of so heavenly matter.
All that they know not, envy, or admire. Spen.£r.
2t. To have personal and practical knowledge
(of) ; be versed or practised ; hence, to be ex-
pert or dexterous: commonly followed by of.
These v cowde skUe o/bateile, and mochetheiknewe of
yierce. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ill. 666.
Our Prentises and others may be appoynted and diuided
euerv of them to his ofilce, and to that he can best skdl of.
' Hakluyfs Voyages, I. 299.
As for herbs and philters, I could never skill of them.
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 494.
3. To make difference ; signify; matter: used
impersonally, and generally with a negative.
[Obsolete or archaic]
I am the son of Apollo, and from his high seat I came.
But whither I got it skills not, for Knowledge is my name.
Peele, Sir Clyomon and Sir Clamydes.
jEsop. What do we act to-day ?
Par. It skills not what. Massinger, Eoman Actor, i. 1.
One word more I had to say,
But it skills not; go your way.
Herrick, To the Passenger.
skill (skil), n. [< ME. skill, skil, .-ikyl, skyll,
skille, skylle, skile, skyle, skele (also assibilated
sciiilc, schil, scele, < AS. *sdle), < leel. skil. a dis-
tinction, discernment, knowledge, = Sw. skul,
reason, = Dan. skjcl, a separation, boundary,
limit, = MLG. .ichele = MD. Scheie, schcele, sepa-
ration, discrimination: see the verb.] 1+. The
discriminating or reasoning faculty ; the mind.
Another es that the skyll mekely be vssede in gastely
thynges, als in medytacyous, and orysouns, and lukj'uge
" '' Uampole, Prose Treatises (E. E. T. S.X p. 13.
For I am mainly ignorant
What place this is ; and all the skUl I hfive
Remembers not Oiese garments.
Shak., Lear, iv. 7. 66.
2. Discriminative power; discernment; under-
standing; reason; wit.
Craftier skil kan i non than i wol kuthe.
WUliam. of Palerne (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1680.
So feeble slcill of perfect things the viUgar has.
Spenser, F. Q., V. in. 17.
Neither is it llihertyl conipleatly giv'n but by them who
have the happy skill to know what is grievance and niijust
to a people. -J'*™. Hist. Eng., ill.
3t. Reasonableness; propriety; Tightness ; jus-
tice ; proper course ; wise measure ; also, right-
ful claim ; right.
When it is my sones wille
That I come him to hit is skille.
King Uom (E. E. T. S.), p. 86.
skill
For ever as t€ndre a capoun eteth the fox,
Tho^h he be fals and hath the foul betrayed,
As shal the goode man that therfor payed ;
Al Iiave he to the capoun skille and ri^ht,
The faUe (ox wol have his part at night.
Chaucer, Good Women, L 1392.
Oore brother & sostir be is hi OrUe,
For he so seide, & lerid us that lore.
Uymm to Vir^n, etc. (E. E. T. S.X p. 9.
4:t. Reasoning; argiunent; proof; also, cause;
reason.
Everycb hath swich replicacioun
That non by gtUlis may been brought adoan.
Chaucer^ Parliament of Fowls, L 636^
Asens this can no clerk gkUe fynde.
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.X p. 20.
Langere here thu may noghte dwelle;
The licj/Ue I sail the telle wherefore.
Thomai o/ Ensrldwune (Child's Ballads, I. lOTX
I think you have
As little ftKU to fear as I have purpose
To put you to 't Shak., \V. T., iv. 4. 152.
5. Practical knowledge and ability ; power of
action or execution; readiness and excellence
in applying >vi8dom or science to practical ends ;
expertness ; dexterity.
The workman on his stuff his «KZ2 doth show ;
And yet the stuff gives not tbe man his tkHl.
Sir J. Davids, Immortal, of Soul, i.
He bath »kiU to cure those that are somewhat cnuted in
their wits with their burdens.
Biinyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 93.
Was dying all they had the AiU tu do?
Lowell, Comm. Ode.
It is in little more than MU of drawing and modelling
thmt the art of Raphael . . . surpasses that of Giotto.
C. U. Moore, Gothic Architecture, p. 308.
6t. A particular power, ability, or art; a gift
or attainment ; an accomplishment.
O Calchas, for the state of Greece, thy spirit prophetic
shows
Skittt that direct DS. Chapman, Iliad, 1. 83.
>'ot all the drUU fitt for a princely dame
Your learned Muse wtb. youth and studye bringes.
PutUTiham, Partheniades, ziL
Richard, ... by a thousand princely «HUjt, gathering
so much com as If he meant not to return. Fuller.
7. That for which one is specially qualified ;
one's forte. [Rare.]
They had arms, leaders, and successes to their wish ; but
to make use of so great an advantage was not thir $kill.
union, Uist. Eng., iii.
8t. The number of persons connected with any
art, tra<le, or profession ; the craft.
Martiall was tbe cbelfe of this Ml among the Latines.
Pvttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 44.
= SyiL S. Facility, knack. See adrtil.
skillagalee, »■ See skillifialee.
skilled (skild), n. [< Hki'U + -«fP.] 1. Hav-
ing; skill ; especially, having the knowledge and
ability which come from experience; trained;
versed; expert; adept; proficient.
O thou well Mlrill'd in curses, stay awhile,
And teach me how to curse mine enemies I
Shak., Kich. III., iv. 4. 116.
2. Displaying or requiring skill ; involving spe-
cial knowledge or training: as, iikillrd labor.
skilless (skil'les), a. [< ME. nkilelax ; < gkill
+ -fc<«.] It. I.>acking reason or int«llectual
power; irrational.
SKelst swa somrae asse. Ormulum, I 3715.
2. Lacking knowledge ; ignorant; uninformed;
unaware.
Nor have I seen
More that I may call men than you, good friend.
And my dear father; how features are abroad
1 am $kiUem of. Shak., Tempest, UL 1. 62.
3. Larking practical acquaintance or experi-
ence; unfamiliar (with); untrained or un-
versed; rude; inexpert.
S/ciUem as unpractised infancy. Shak., T. and C, 1. 1. 12.
A little patience, youth : 'twill not be long.
Or I am tkHlem quite. Keatt, Endymion, lit
skillet (skil'et), u. [Formerly or dial, also skel-
let; < OF. eKCuellctte, a little disli, dim. of eseueUe,
a dish, F. ecuelle, a porringer, = Pr. escudella =
Bp. excudilla = Fg. taciiiltllfi = It. KcndeUa, < L.
ncutella, a salver, tray, ML. a platter, dish : see
scuttle^, scullet^, gculleri/.] 1. A small vessel
of iron, copper, or other metal, generallv hav-
ing a long handle and three or four legs", used
for heating and boiling water, stewing meat,
and other culinary purposes.
Lei housewives make a ikiOel of my helm.
Shak.. Othillo, L 8. 273.
Vet milk In proper lUUet she will place.
And gently spice It with a blade of mace.
W. Kinff. Art of Making I-uddings, L
2. A rattle or liell used by common criers.
./. (iraUame, Birds of Scotland (ed. 1806),
Gloss., quoted in N. and Q., 7th ser., VII. 322.
— 3. A ship's eook; a "pot-wrestler" or pot-
5671
walloper. [Slang.] — 4. In metal-working, a
form into which the precious metals are run for
sale and use as bullion, flatter than an ingot.
skill-facet (skirfas'et), n. In diamond-cutting.
See/((ec(l.
skillful, skillfully, etc. See skilful, etc.
skilligalee, skilligolee (skil'i-ga-le', -go-le'),
II. [Also skilUjgalee, skiUygolee, skillagalee, also
skilly; origin obscure.] A poor, thin, watery
kind of broth or soup, sometimes consisting of
oatmeal and water in which meat has been
boiled ; a weak, watery diet served out to pris-
oners in the hulks, paupers in workhouses, and
the like ; a drink made of oatmeal, sugar, and
water, formerly served out to sailors in the
British navy.
Skilling^t (skil'ing), n. [< ME. skylynge; ver-
bal n. of skill, ».] Reasoning; ratiocination.
Eyht swych comparison as it is of skylynge to under-
Btondinge. Chaucer, Boethius, iv. prose 6.
skilling2 (skil'ing), B. S&me aeskeeling. [Prov.
Eng.]
skilling^ (skil'ing), «. [< Sw. Dan. skilling =
E. shilling.'] A money formerly used in Scan-
dinavia and northern Germany, in some places
Obreiac.
SkUIiog. in the British Ihfaseum.
Reverae.
C Size of the original.)
as a coin and in others as a money of account.
It varied in value from id. in Deninark to nearly
Id. (about 2 cents) in Hamburg.
In Norway the small currency now consists partly of
tthUttttling and one-sHZftn^ pieces in copper, the skOling
being nearly equal in value to an English halfpenny, but
principally of two-, three-, and toar-skUling pieces, com-
posed of billon.
Jermu, Honey and Mech. of Exchange, p. 126.
skill-thirstt, n. Craving for knowledge ; curi-
osity. [Rare.]
Ingratitnde, pride, treason, gluttony,
Too-curious ikill-thirtt, enuy, felony.
Sylvetter, tr. of Dn Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Imposture.
skilly (skil'i), «. Same as .skilligalee.
skillygalee, skillygolee, «. See skilligalee.
skilpot (hkil'pot), w. The slider, or red-bellied
terrapin. See slider^. 2.
skilts (skilts), n. ;)/. [Cf. kilt.l A sort of coarse,
loose short trousers formerly worn in New Eng-
land.
Her father and elder brother wore ... a sort of brown
tow trousers, known at the time — these things happened
some years ago — as «KftJ ; they were short, reaching Just
hfhivt the knee, and very large, being a full half yard broad
at the bottom. S. Judd, Margaret, 1. 2.
skilty-boots (skil'ti-bSts), n. pi. Half-boots.
Ilnlliirrll. [Prov. Eng.]
skilyings (skil'vingz), ». pi. [Avar, of "skelving,
unassibilated form of shelving^.] The rails of
a cart: a wootlen frame fixed on the top of a
cart to widen and extend its size. Halliveell.
[Prov. Eng.]
skim (skim), r. ; pret. and pp. skimmed, ppr.
.ikimming. [A vap. of scum, c.J I. trans. 1. To
lift the scum from; clear the surface of by re-
moving any floating matter, by means of a
spoon, a flat ladle, or the like : as, to skim soup
by removing the oil or fat ; to skim milk by tak-
ing off the cream.
To tkimme, despnmare.
Levint, Manip. Vocab. (1670X p. 131.
Are not von [Puck) he
That frights the maidens of the villagery;
>VHm4 milk, and iM>ni*'time laboora In the qnem.
And l>ootless makes the breathless housewife chum?
Shak., M. N. D., iL 1. 36.
2. To lift from the surface of a liquid by a
sliding movement, as with a paddle, a flat ladle,
a spoon, or the like; dip up with or as with a
skimmer, as cream from milk or fat from soup ;
hence, to clear away; remove.
The natives In these months watch the rivers, and take
up thence multitudes [of locusts), skimming them from off
the water with little net*. Dampier, Voyages, an. 1688.
Whilom I've seen her skim the clouted cream.
Gay, Shepherd's Week, Friday, 1. 61.
To purge anil skim away the filth uf vice,
That so refln'd it might the more entice.
Courper, Progress of Error, I. 343.
skimmer
3. To clear; rid; free from obstacles or ene-
mies.
Sir Edmonde of Holande, erle of Kent, was by the kynge
made admyrall of the see ; the whiche storyd and skymmid
y« see ryght well & manfully. Fabyan, Chron., an. 1409.
4. To mow. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] — 5. To
cover with a film or scum; coaf over. [Rare.]
At night the frost skimmed with thin ice the edges of
the ponds. T. Roosevelt, The Century, XXXVI, 210.
6. To pass lightly along or near the surface of ;
move smoothly and lightly over; glide, float
fly, or run over the surface of.
They gUd their scaly Backs in Phoebus' Beams,
And scorn to skim the Level of the Streams.
Congreve, Birth of the Muse.
By the fleet Racers, ere the sun be set,
The turf of yon large pasture will he skimmed.
Wordsworth, Excursion, ii.
7. To pass over lightly in perusal or inspec-
tion; glance over hastily or superficially.
Like others I had skimmed, and sometimes read
With care, the master-pamphlets of the day.
Wordsworth, Prelude, ix.
Mr. Lyon . . . was skimming rapidly, in his shortsight-
ed way, by the light of one candle, the pages of a mission-
ary report. George Eliot, Felix Holt, v.
8. To cause to dart, skip, or ricochet along a
surface; hurl along a surface in a smooth,
straight course.
There was endless glee in skimming stones along the
surface of the water, and counting the number of bounds
and curvets that they made, E. Dowden, Shelley, I. (i8.
II. intrans. 1. To pass lightly and smoothly
over a surface ; hence, to glide or dart along
in a smooth, even course.
A winged Eastern Blast, just skimming o'er
The Ocean's Brow, and sinking on the Shore.
Prior, Solomon, iii.
Nor lighter does the swallow skim
Along the smooth lake's level brim.
Scott, Marmion, vi. 15.
2. To pass in hasty inspection or considera-
tion, as over the surface of something; observe
OP consider lightly or superficially.
There was wide wandering for the greediest eye . . .
Far round the horizon's crystal air to skim.
Keats, I Stood Tiptoe upon a Little Hill.
Thus I entertain
The antiquarian humour, and am pleased
To aKf» along the surfaces of things.
Wordsworth, Excursion, iii
3. To become covered with a scum or film ; be
coated over. ■ [Rare.]
The pond had in the mean while skimmed over in the
shadiest and shallowest coves, some days or even weeks
before the general freezing. Thoreau, Walden, p. 265.
skim (skim), «. [A var. of sciim, n., but due to
the verb «Ai'»i.] 1. The act of skimming; also,
that which is skimmed off.
I wanted to be the one to tell you the grand sur])rise,
and have ** first fth'm," as we used to say when we squab-
bled about the cream. L. M. Alcatt, Little Women, xliil.
2. Thick matter that forms or collects on the
surface of a liquor; scum. [Rare.]
Skimback (skim'bak), n. [< skim + back.] A
fish, the quillback, Carpiodes cyprimts. [Local,
Skimble-scamble (skim'bl-skam-'bl), a. and w.
[A varied rodupl. of «cflW(Wc] I. a. Rambling;
wandering ; confused ; incoherent.
Such a deal of skimble-skamble stuff
As puts me from my faith.
SlMk., 1 Hen. IV., iii. 1. 164.
n. n. Rigmarole; nonsense.
skimble-scamble (skim'bl-skam'bl), adr. [A
varied redupl. of scamblc.] In a confused man-
ner. Imp. IHct.
skim-colter (skim'kol't^r), n. A colter for
paring off the surface of land.
skime (skim), w. [An unassibilated form of
shim^.] Brightness; gleam.
The stynw o' her e'en was like dewy sheen.
La4y Mary of Craignethan.
skimingtont (skim'ing-tou), n. Same as sMm-
ittiiu/tnu.
skimish (skim'ish), a. A dialectal foi-m of
sr/iiiiiiiii.'ili. /fdlliiicll. [Prov. Eng.]
skimmer^ (skira'er), n. (■< skim + -o'l.] 1.
One who or that which skims; especially, an
implement used for skimming. Specifically— (a)
A ladle with a flattened and often perforated bowl, used in
skinmiiiig Ikiuids. as milk, soup, or fruit-juice.
She struck her with a skimmer, and broke it in two.
Catskin's Garland (Child's Ballads, VIII. 176).
(6) A flat shallow pan of metal perforated at the bottom to
allow liquids to drain through ; a colander.
As soon as the oysters are opened, they are placed in a
flat pan with a perforated bottom, called a skimmer, where
they are drained ot their accompanying liiiuor.
Fisheries qf if. S., V. IL 66a.
skimmer
(c) A stiff bar of iron used in a foundry to iiold back the
floating slag wliile pouring molten metal from the ladle.
(d) One of several bivalves whose shells maybe used to skim
milk, etc. (I) The common clam, Mya arenaria, (2) The
big beachclara, Mactra or Spmda sotidissima. [Iiong
Island.] (3) A scallop, as Pecten maximum.
2. Oue who skims over a subject ; a superficial
student or reader.
There are different degrees of sJrimmerg ; first, he who
goes no farther than the title-page ; secondly, he who pro-
ceeds to the contents and index, &c.
P. SMIon, Deism Eevealed, viii.
3. A bird that skims or shears the water, as any
member of the genus Ithynchops; a cutwater,
shearwater, or scissorbill. The American species is
R. niijra, specified as the Hack skimmer, common on the
South Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States and
southward. It closely resembles a tern or sea-swallow,
except in its bizarre bill. The upper ports are chiefly
black, the lower white, with a rosy blush in the breeding-
season ; the bill is carmine and black ; the feet are car-
mine. The length is 16 to 20 inches, the extent 42 to 50
inches ; the upper mandible is 3 inches, the lower 3J to 4J.
See cut under Hhyixchops.
skimmer- (skim'fer), v. i. [Freq. of skim.'] To
skim lightly to and fro. [Rare.]
Swallows skimmered over her, and plunged into the
depths below. S. Judd, Margaret, i. 14.
skimmerton (skim'6r-ton), n. Same as shim-
miiifiton.
Skimmia (skim'i-a), n. [NL. (Thunberg, 1784),
< Jap. skimmi, in mijama-skimmi, the Japanese
name.] A genus of polypetalous shrubs, of
the order Rutanese and tribe Toddaliem, charac-
terized by flowers with four or five valvate
petals, as many stamens, and a two- to five-
celled ovary ripening into an ovoid fleshy drupe
with two to four cartilaginous nutlets. There
are about 4 species, natives of the Himalayas and Japan.
They are smooth shrubs with green branches, bearing
alternate lanceolate leaves which are entire, coriaceous,
and pellucid-dotted. The odorless whitish flowers are ar-
ranged in crowded and much-branched terminal panicles.
S. Japonica, a dwarf holly-like shrub, is cultivated for the
ornamental effect of its dark shining leaves and clusters
of bright-red berry-like drupes.
skim-milk (skim'milk'), n. Milk from wliich
the cream has been skimmed; hence, figura-
tively, that which lacks substantial quality, as
richness or strength ; thinness ; inferiority.
O, I could divide myself and go to buffets, for moving
such a diah of skim milk with so honourable an action !
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., ii. 3. 36.
skimming (skim'ing), n. [Verbal n. of skim, v.]
1 . Tlie act of one who or that which skims. —
2. Tliat which is removed by skimming ; scum :
chiefly used in the plural.
They relished the very skimmings oi thekettle, and dregs
of the casks. Cook, Second Voyage, i. 7.
3. pi. In the coffee trade, the musty part of the
coffee which is taken from the bags after being
on shipboard.
skimming-dish (skim'ing-dish), n. A yacht-
built boat used on the Florida coast, of flat-
iron model, eat- or sloop-rigged, and very wet.
,/. .1. Hen.xhaU.
skimming-gate (skim'ing-gat), ». In found-
ing. See .(/afcl, 5.
skimmingiy (skim'ing-li), adv. By moving
liffhtly along or over the surface. Imp. Diet.
skimmington (skim'ing-ton), n. [Also skini-
ington, skimmerton, skimitrij; supposed to have
originated in the name of some forgotten
scold.] 1. A burlesque procession formerly
held in ridicule of a henpecked husband; a
cavalcade headed by a person on horseback
representing the wife, with another represent-
ing the husband seated behind her, facing
the horse's tail and holding a distaff, while the
woman belabored him with a ladle. These were
followed by a crowd, hooting and making " rough music "
with horns, pans, and cleavers. The word commonly
appears in the phrase to ride (the) skimmington. Com-
pare the north-country custom of riding the stang. [Local,
Eng.]
When I'm in pomp on high processions shown,
Like pageants of lord may'r, or skitmnington.
Oldham, Satires (1685). (Sares.)
The SHmmington . . . has been long discontinued in
England, apparently because female rule has become either
milder or less frequent than among our ancestors.
Scotl, Fortunes of Nigel, xxi., note.
2. A disturbance ; a riot; a quarrel.
There was danger of a skimmington between the great
wig and the coif, the former having given a flat lie to the
latUr. Walpole, Letters (1753), I. 289. (Davies.)
3. A charivari. [Local, U. S.]
skim-net (skim'net), n. A large dip-net, used
on the Potomac and gome rivers southward.
skimp (skimp), V. [A var. or secondary form
of «crtOT/>l (cf. crimp, cramp^).] I. trans. 1. To
deal scant measure to ; supply with a meager
or insufficient allowance : as, to skimp a person
5672
in the matter of food. — 2. To provide in scant
or insuificient quantity ; give or deal out spar-
ingly; stint: as, to skimp cloth or food. — 3.
To scamp ; slight ; do superficially or careless-
ly : as, to skimp a job.
H. intrans. 1. To be sparing or parsimoni-
ous; economize; save.
The woman who has worked and schemed and skimped
to achieve her attire knows the real pleasure and victory
of self-adornment. E. Eggleston, The Graysons, xix.
2. To scamp work. [CoUoq. in all uses.]
skimp (skimp), a. [<sfct»jp, f.] Scant in quan-
tity or extent; scarcely sufficient; meager;
spare : as, skimp fare ; a skimi} outfit. [Prov.
Eng. and U. S.]
skimping (skim'ping), 7). a. 1. Sparing; stint-
ing; sa\'ing. Bee skimp, V. — 2. Scanty; mea-
ger; containing insufficient material: as, a
skimping Aross. HalliwcU. — 3. Scamped; exe-
cuted carelessly or in a slighting manner. [Col-
loq. in all senses.]
The work was not skimping work by any means ; it was
a bridge of some pretentions.
J. S. Brewer, English Studies, p. 444. (Encyc. Diet.)
skimpingly (skim'ping-li), adv. In a skimp-
ing manner; scantily; sparingly. JiulwerjMy
Novel, iii. 15.
skimpings (skim'pingz), n. pi. [Verbal n. of
skimp, !■.] In mining, the refuse taken from
the top of the sieve in jigging, tozing, or chim-
ming.
skimpy (skim'pi), a. [< ski7np + -^i.] Spare ;
scanty; skimped. [CoUoq., U. S.]
The woman . . . took off her bonnet, showing her gray
hair drawn into a skimpy knot at the back of her head.
M. JV. Murfree, Prophet of Great Smoky Mountains, iv.
skimshander (skim'shan-der), V. Same as
scrimshaw.
skin (skin), n. [< ME. skin, skinne, skynne, <
AS. scinn (rare), < Icel. skinn = Sw. skinn =
Dan. skind = L6. schin, schinn = OHG. 'scind,
skin, hide (the OHG. form not recorded, but the
source of OHG. scintan, scindan, MHG. G. schin-
den, skin, fiay, sometimes a strong verb, with
pret. schant, pp. geschunden : see skin, v.); per-
haps akin to shin, q. v. Cf. also W. cen, skin,
peel, scales, ysgen, dandruff.] 1. In anat. and
zoiil., the continuous covering of an animal;
the cutaneous investment of tlie body; the in-
tegument, cutis, or derm, especially when soft
Semi-diagrammatic Vertical Section of Human Skin, mafjnified.
A, stratum corneura ; B, stratum luctdum : c, stratum granulosum ;
IJ, stratum spinosum ; E. corium with papill.'e ; F, subcutaneous fat :
G, tactile corpuscles; H, sebaceous gland ; I,ductof sebaceousgiand ;
J, Pacinian corpuscles : K, shaft ol^ hair : L, root-sheath of hair; M,
rootofhair; N, arrector pili muscle ; o, duct of sweat-gland ; p.sweat-
gland ; g, blood-vessels.
and flexible, a hard or rigid skin being called a
shell, test, exo.^keleton , etc. skin ordinarily con-
sists of two main divisions or layers ; (1) the corium be-
low, a connective-tissue layer, which is vascular, neiTons,
provided with glands, and is never shed, cast, or molted ;
(2) the non-vascular epidermis, superflcially forming vari-
ous epidermal or exoskeletal structures, as hair, feathers,
hoofs, nails, claws, etc., of more or less dry and hard or
horny texture, and either continuously shed in scales and
shreds, or periodically molted wholly or in part. See the
above technical words, and cuts under hair^, 1, and sweat-
gland.
Can the Ethiopian change his sKn, or the leopard his
spots? Jer. xiii. 23.
I'll not shed her blood ;
Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow,
And smooth as monumental alabaster.
Shak., Othello, v. 2. 4.
Soon a wrinkled Skin plump Flesh invades !
Congreve, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love.
skin
2. The integument of an animal stripped from
the body, witli or without its appendages; a
hide, pelt, or fur, either raw and green, or vari-
ously cured, dressed, or tanned, in the trades and
in commerce the term is applied only to the skins of the
smaller animals, tlie skins of the lai-ger animals being
called hides: thus, an o\-hide, agoat^n, cowhide boots,
csMskin shoes, etc. See cut under hide.
A serpent skynne doon on this tree men lete
Avaylant be to save it in greet bete.
Patladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 211.
Robes of buffalo and beaver,
Skins of otter, lynx, and ermine.
LongfeUow, Hiawatha, ivL
3. In museums, the outer offering of an ani-
mal, preserved for examination or exhibition
with the fur, feathers, etc., but not motmted or
set up in imitation of life. — 4. A water-vessel
made of the whole or nearly the whole skin of
a goat or other beast ; a wine-skin. See cut im-
der bottle.
No man puttethnew wine into old wine-sAirw; else the
wine will burst the skim, and the wine perisheth, and the
skim. Mark ii. 22 (B. V.).
5. That which resembles skin in nature or use ;
the outer coat or covering of anything; espe-
cially, the exterior coating or layer of any sub-
stance when firmer or tougher than the inte-
rior; a rind or peel: as, the skin of fruit or
plants; the skin (putamen) of an egg.
We at time of year
Do wound the bark, the skin of our fruit-trees.
SAat.,Rich. II., in. 4. 58.
These blanks [for files] are now . . . soft and free from
scale, or what is known as the skin of the steel.
Sd. Amer., N. 8., LXIII. 33.
6. Naut. : (a) That part of a furled sail which
is on the outside and covers the whole. (6)
Tlie planking or iron plating which covers the
ribs of a vessel on the inside ; also, the thin
plating on the outer side of the ribs of an ar-
mor-plated iron ship.
The [life-lboat has two distinct skinx of planking, diag-
onal to the boat's keel and contraiy to each other.
Eneyc. Brit, XIV. 571.
7. A mean, stingy person; a skinflint. [Slang.]
Occasionally he would refer to the president of the Off-
shore Wrecking Company, his former employer, as that
skin. The Century, XXXIX. 227.
8. A hot punch of whisky made in the glass ; a
whisky-skin. [Slang.]— By or with the skin of
one's teeth, against great odds ; by very glight chances
in one's favor ; narrowly ; barely.
I am escaped intf^he skin of my teeth. Job xix. 20.
Clean-skins, wild cattle that have never been branded.
Compare maverick. [Australia.]
These clean skins, as they are often called to distinguish
them from the branded cattle, are supposed to belong to
the cattle-owner on whose run they emerge from their
shelter. A. C. Grant, Bush Life in Queensland, I. 206.
Gold-beaters' skin. St^e gold-beater. — Hyson skin. See
hyson.— In or with a Whole skin, without bodily injury ;
hence, with impunity.
He had resolv'd that day
To sleep in a whole stciti.
Marqtiis of Huntley's Retreat (Child's Ballads, VII. 271).
Faplllse of the sWn. See papilla. — Pupilary sldn-re-
flex. See rejlex. — Skin book, a book written on skin or
parchment. [Rare and atfected.]
Seinte Marherete, the Meiden ant Martyr, in old Eng-
lish. First Edited from the Skin Books in 1862.
Seinte Marherete (ed. Cockayne), Title.
To save one's skin, to come off without injury ; escape
bodily harm.
We meet with many of these dangerous civilities, wherein
'tis hard for a man to save both his skin and his credit.
Sir Jt. L'Estrange.
White skin, a technical name for the white leather largely
usicl for lining boots and shoes. =S3m. 1, 2, and 5. Skin,
Hide, Pelt. Kind, Peel, Husk, llidl. Skin is the general
word for the external covering or tissue of an animal, in-
cluding man, and for coatings of fruits, especially such
coatings as ai'e thin, as of apples. Hide applies especially
to the skin of large domestic animals, as liorses and oxen.
Pelt is an untanned skin of a beast with the hair on. Bind
is used somewhat generally of the bark of trees, tha natu-
ral covering of fruit, etc. Peel is the skin or rind of a fruit,
which is easily removable by peeling off : as, orange-;t««i ;
the iKel of a banana. Husk is an easily removable integu-
ment of certain plants, especially Indian corn. A hull is
generally smaller than a husk, perhaps less completely cov-
ering the fruit: as, strawberry-A«/i«; raspben7-At/«#.
skin (skin), r. ; pret. ai)d pp. ski)ined, ppr. skin-
ning. [<sil(H,».] I. irans. 1. To pro^nde with
skin ; cover as with a skin.
It will but skin and film the ulcerous place.
Shak., Hamlet, iii. 4. 147.
Really, by the side of Sir James, he looks like a death's
head slrinned over for the obcasion.
George Eliot, Middlemarch, x.
2. To strip the skin from; flay; peel.
Prince Geraint. . . . dismounting like a man
That skins the wild beast after slaying him,
Stript from the three dead wolves of woman born
The three gay suits of armour which they wore.
Tennyson, Qersint
skin
3. To strip or peel off ; remove by turning back
ami drawing off inside out. [CoUoq.]
Skin the stockings off. ... or you'll bust 'em.
Dickens, Great Expectations, xxxi.
4. To strip of valuable properties or posses-
sions ; fleece ; plunder ; rob ; cheat ; swindle.
[Slang, U. S.]
The jury had orter consider how rilin' 'tis tuh have a
teller ikin ye out er fifty dolIaiB— all the money ye got
The Century, XL. -214.
The tkinninff of the land by sending away its substance
In hard wheat is an improvidence uf natural resources.
Harper's Maff., LXXV'I. 559.
5. To copy or pretend to learn by employment
of irregular or forbidden expedients, as a col-
lege e.xereise : as, to skin an example in mathe-
matics by copying the solution. [College slang.]
Never skin a lesson which it requires any ability to
learn. YcUe Lit. Mag., XV. 81.
Classical men were continually tempted to skin (copy)
the solutions of these examples.
C. A. Bntted, English University, p. 457.
Skinned cat, the burlwt, or fresh-wafer linjr. Lota inacu-
Ima : a tradu-name. [Lake Michiijaii.] — Skinned rab-
bit, a very lean person. — To Skill a flint. See rfi;it—
To Skin the cat, in gymnastic exercises, to raise the feet
and Ie)ia upward between the arms extended from a bar,
and then dniw the body over.— To Skin UPasalKnaut),
to make that part of the canvas which covers the sail when
furled smooth and neat, by turning the sail well up on the
yards.
n. intrans. 1. To become covered with skin;
grow a new skin ; cicatrize : as, a wound skins
over. — 2. To accomplish anything by irregu-
lar, underhand, or dishonest means; specifical-
ly, in college use, to employ forbidden or un-
fair methods or expedients in preparing for
recitation or examination. [Slang.]
"In our examinatioDS," says a correspondent, "many of
the fellows cover the palms of their hands with dates,
and when called upon for a given date, they read it otf
directly from their hands. 8nch pervons Ain."
B. U. Hall, College Words and Custom^ p. 430.
3. To slip away ; abscond ; make off. [Slang.]
—To skin out. (a) To depart hastily and secretly ; dip
away. I.Hlang.)
Sitting Bull <Hnn«2 out from the Yellowstone Valley
and sought refuge in Canada. Nev York Times.
(b) To range wide, as a dog in the field. Sportsman's
Oazfttfer.
skln-areft (skin'a're-a), n. See skin-friction.
skin-boat (skin'bot), n. A coracle, or rawhide
bout ; a bull-boat. See cut under coracle.
skin-bone (skin'bon), ». A14 ossification in or
of tlic skin ; any dermal bone.
skin-bound (skin'bound), a. Having the skin
drawn tij;titly over the flesh; hidebound gkin-
bound disease, (a) Sderodermia. (ft) Sclerema neona-
torum.
skinch (skinch), V. [A var. of skimp, with termi-
nal variation as in bump^, bunch^, hump, hunch.
Cf. skinny.] I. trans. To stint; scrimp; give'
short allowance of. [Prov. Eng.]
H. intrans. To be sparing or parsimonious;
pinch; save. Halliaell. [Prov. Eng.]
SJdnck, n. Same as skink-.
skin-coat (skin'kot), «. The skin.
Vou are the hare of whom the proverb goes.
Whose valour plucks dead lions by the beard ;
ni smoke your skin^^oat, an I catch yon right.
Shak., K. John, iL 1. ISO.
To curry one's ekin-coat, to beat a person severely.
llaUiictil.
skin-deep (skin'dep'), a. Not penetrating or
extending deeper than the thickness of the
skin; 8U{>erficial.
That " beauty is only skiwUep " i* itself but a skindeep
observatlori. H. Spencer.
skin-deep (skin'dep'), athi In a superficial
manner; superficially; slightly.
skin-eater (skin'e'tt^'r), «. An insect that preys
upon or infests prepared skins, as furs and
specimens of natural history, (a) One of Tarioos
tineld moths, (t) A beetle of the' family DermaUdM: a
museum-pest.
skinflint (skin'flint), n. [< skin, v., + obj.
Jliiit.] One who makes use of contemptible
means to get or save money; a mean, niggard-
ly, or avaricious i>er8on ; a miser.
"It woalil have been long." said Oldbuck, ... "ere my
womankind could have made such a reasonable bargain
with that old sHnJUnt." Scott, Antiquary, xL
skin-friction (skin'frik'shon), n. The friction
between a solid and a fluid, arising from the
drag exerted on the surface of the bo«ly by the
fluid particles sliding past it. The area of the
immersed surface of a body is called its skin-
area.
5673
skinful (skin'fiil), n. [< skin + -/«?.] 1. The
contents of a full leather skin or bag. See
skin, n., 4.
Well do I remember how at each well the first skinfid
was tasted all around. The Century, XXIX. 652.
2. As much as one can contain, especially of
strong drink of any kind : as, a skinful of beer.
He wept to think each thoughtless youth
Contained of wickedness a skir^ful.
W. S. Gilbert, Sir Macklin.
skin-game (skin'gam), n. A game, as of cards,
in which one player has no chance against an-
other, as when the cards are stocked or other
tricks are played to cheat or fleece; any con-
fidence-game. [Slang.]
skin-graft (skin'graft), H. Same as graft?, 3.
To facilitate the process of healing, skin-gra/ts were
transfeiTed from the arm. Medical News, LII. 416.
skin-grafting (skin 'grafting), )i. An opera-
tion whereby particles of healthy skin are trans-
planted from the body of the same or another
person to a wound or burned surface, to form
a new skin. Also called Eeverdin's operation or
method.
I had been doing "quill-grafting" in the same manner
that "skinijra/tinff" is done to-day.
Medical News, LIT. 276.
Sklngy (skin'ji), a. [Var. of "skinchy, < skinch
+ -yi.] 1. Stingy. Balliuiell. [Prov. Eng.]
— 2. Cold; nipping: noting the weather.
Halliieell. [Prov. Eng.]
skin-house (skin'hous), H. A gambling-house
where skin-games are played. [Slang, U. S.]
skink^^ (skingk), f. [< ME. skinken, skynken,
usually assibilat^d shenken, schenken, schenchen,
< AS. scencan, pour out drink, = OFries. skenka,
schanka = D. schenken = MLG. schenken = 0H6.
scenkan, scenchan, MHG. G. schenken (> OF. cs-
cancer, pour out drink) = Icel. skenkja, serve,
drink, fill ^one's cup, = Sw. skanka = Dan.
skjsenke, pour out, drink; prob. orig. pour or
draw through a pipe, from the noun represented
hy shank^: see shank^. Ct.nuncheon. For the
form skink, as related to 'shcnch, ME. schenchen,
cf. drink, drench^.'] I. trans. 1. To draw or
pour out (liquor) ; serve for drinking ; offer or
present (drink, etc.).
Becas the wyn hem skynketh al aboute.
Chaucer, Merchant's Tale, 1. 478.
Our glass of life runs wine, the vintner skinks it.
Beau, and Fl, Knight of Malta, ill. L
2. To fill with liquor; pour liquor into.
Weoren tha hemes [menV
i^esengte mid beore,
A tha drihliche gumen,
weoren win-dmnken. Layamon, L 8124.
Ill have them skink my standing bowls with whie.
OrMM and Lodge, Looking Ulass for Lond. and Eng.
n. intrans. To draw, pour out, or serve
liquor or drink.
For that cause [they] called this new city by the name
of .N'alol : that Is^ sHiuk or poure in.
Ilakluyt's Voyages, \. 480.
Where erery Jovial tinker for his chink
May cry, mine heat, to cramt)e, "Give us drink,
And do not slink, but skink."
B. Jonson, New lim, L 3.
Fair Annie's taen a silver can,
Afore the bride to skink.
Skieea Amue; Fair Annie (Child's Ballads, III. 888).
[Now provincial in all senses.]
Skink^ (skingk), n. [= MLG. schenke = MHG.
schenke, G. ge-schenk, drink, = Icel. skenkr, the
serving of drink at a meal, present, = Sw. skdnk
= Dan. skjienk, sideboard, bar, also gift, pres-
ent, donation ; from the verb.] 1. Drink; any
liquor used as a beverage.
The wine ! — there was hardly half a mutchkin, and puir,
thin, f usionlesa skink it waa. Scott, St Konan's Well.
2. A skinker. See the quotation. [Prov. Eng.]
In a family the penon' latest at breakfast is called the
skink, or the skinker. and some domestic olfice Is imposed
or threatened for the day, such as ringing the bell, put-
ting coal on the fire, or, in other cases, drawing the beer
for the family. HaUiwdl.
skink^ (skingk), n. [= OFries. skunka, schonk,
loj;, bone, ham, = D. schonk, a bone in a piece of
meat, = G. schinken, a ham, etc. : see shank^.
Cf. sWnfci.] A shin-bone of beef; also, soup
made with a shin of beef or other sinewy parts.
[Scotch.]
Scotch ririnek, which Is a pottage of strong nutriment. Is
made with the knees and sinews of beef, hut long boiled.
Bacon, Nat. Hist., } 45.
skinner
a broad sense, as the adda, Scinctts officinalis,
to which the name probably first attached. They
are harmless creatures, some inches long, natives mostly
of warm countries, with small, sometimes rudimentary
The two principal causes of the resistance to the mo-
snip are the skin /rietion and the production
tlon of a
of waves.
sklnk^ (skingk), n. [Also seine, and formerly
scink, scinque ; = F. scinque ; < L. scineos, scin-
ctts, < Gr. nKtyKoc, a kind of lizard common in
Asia and Africa, prob. the adda.] A scineoid
Bneyc. Brtt', XII. 518. lizard; any member of the family Scincidx in
limbs, and generally smooth scales. Those with well-
formed legs resemble other lizards, but some (as of the
scarcely separable family Anguidte) are more snake-like
or even worm-like, as the slow-worm of Europe. Common
skinks in the United States are the blue-tailed, £'uniecc»/o*-
ciatus, and the ground-skink, Oligosoma laterale. See An-
guts, Eumeces, Sepe, and cuts under Cyclodus and Scincxts.
Th' homed Cerastes, th' Alexandrian Skink,
Th' Adder, and Dryuas (full of odious stink).
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, 1. 6.
skinker (sking'k^r), n. [< skink'^ + -crl.] One
who draws or pours out liquor; a tapster; a
server of drink ; hence, the landlord of an ale-
house or tavern. [Obsolete or provincial.]
Jack skinker, fill it.full;
A pledge unto the health of heavenly Alvida.
Greene and Lodge, Looking Glass for Lond. and Eng.
A little further off, some old-fashioned skinkers and
drawers, all with portentously red noses, were spreading
a banquet on the leaf-strewn earth.
Hawthorne, Blithedale Romance, p. 245.
skinking (sking'king), rt. [Prop. ppr. of skink^,
r.] Watery; thin; washy. [Scotch.]
Ye pow'rs wha mak' mankind your care.
And dish them out their bill o' fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
'i'hat jaups in luggies. Bums, To a Haggis.
skinklel (sking'kl), v. t. [Freq. of skink^.] To
sprinkle. [Scotch.]
skinkle- (sking'kl), v. i. ; pret. and pp. skinkled,
ppr. skinkling. [Appar. a remote freq. of shine
(AS. «cmon).] To sparkle; glisten. [Scotch.]
The cleading that fair Annet had on,
It skinkled in their een.
Lord Thomas and Fair Annet (fhlld's Ballads, II. 128X
skinless (skin'les), a. [< skin + -less.] Hav-
ing no skin, or having a very thin skin: as,
skinless fruit.
In the midst of all this chaos grinned from the chimney-
piece ... a tall cast of Michael Angelo's well-known
skinless mo<lel. C. Kingsley, Alton Locke, vi.
Skinless oat .see oof.— Skinless pea. Seepeai.i.
skinlett (skin'lct), n. Thin skin. [Rare.]
Culicola, any filme, or skirUet, or thin rinde or pille.
Florio, 1611.
skln-mercliant (skin'intr'chant), »i. 1. Adeal-
er in skins. Hence — 2. A recruiting-oflicer.
[Slang.]
I am a manufacturer of honour and glory — vulgarly
call'd a recruiting dealer, or more vulgarly still, a sjh'n-
Tnerchant. Burgoyne, Lord of the Manor, ill. 2.
skinned (skind), a. [< ME. skynned; < skin +
-etC^.] Having a skin: chiefly in composition
with a descriptive adjective : as, thick-«i'i»«erf,
ihm-skinned.
In another YIe ben f<dk that gon upon hire Hondes and
hire Feet, as (testes : and thei ben alle skynned and fedred,
and thei wolde lepen als lightly in to Trees, and fro Tree
to Tree, as it were .S<iuyrelles or Apes.
Mandeville, Travels, p. 206.
Oh here they come. They are delicately skinn'd and
llmb'd. Brome, Jovial Crew, iii.
skinner (skin'&r), n. [< ME. skinnere, skynner,
skynnare = Icel. skinnnri = Sw. skinnare =
Dan. dial, skinder, a dealer in skins, a skinner,
tanner; as skin, n., + -crl. In sense of 'one
who skins' the word is later, = D. sehinder
= LG. schinner = MHG. G. sehinder; as skin,
v., + -er^.] 1. One who deals in skins of any
sort, as hides, furs, or parchments; a furrier.
We haue sent you a Skinjier, . . . to viewe and see such
farres as you shall cheape or buye.
HakluyVs Voyages, I. 298.
2. One who removes the skin, as from animals ;
a flayer.
Then the Hockster immediately mounts, and rides after
more game, leaving the other to the skinners, who are at
hand, and ready to take off his hide.
Dampier, Voyages, an. 1676.
3. One who strips or robs; a plunderer; spe-
cifically [cap.], in U. S. hist., one of a body of
skinnei'
marauders during the revolutionary war, pro-
fessedly belonging to the American side, who
infestei the region between the British and
American lines in New York, and committed
depredations, especially upon the loyalists.
[Slang.]
This poor opinion of the Skinners was not confined to
Mr. Ciesar Thompson. . . . The convenience, and perhaps
the necessities, of the leaders of the .\merican arms in
the neighbourhood of New York had induced them to
employ certain subordinate agents, of extremely irregular
habits. In executing their lesser plans of annoying the
enemy. Cooper, The Spy, i.
There were two sets of these scapegraces — the "Cow-
boys." or oattle-thleves. and the "SHnners," who took
everything they could find. The Atlantic, LXVI. 611.
4. A bird fat enough to burst the skin on fall-
ing to the ground when shot. [Slang.]
SkSmeryt (skin'6r-i), H. [ME. skynnery; < sMn
+ -ery.j Skins or furs collectively.
To drapery & skynnery euer haue ye a sight
Babees Book (E. E. T. S,.\ p. 180.
skinniness (skin'i-nes), «. 1. The state of
being skinny, or like skin. — 2. Leanness;
emaciation.
Skinning-table (skin'ing-ta'bl), n. A taxider-
mists' table, provided with appliances for skin-
ning and stuffing objects of natural history.
With snch precantions as these, birds most liable to he
soiled reach the skinning-table in perfect order.
Coues, Key to N. A. Birds (1884), p. la
skinny (skin'i), a. [< Kkin + -!/!.] 1. Consist-
ing of or having the nature of skin ; resembling
skin or film; cutaneous; membranous.
And [it cnreth] the bones charged with purulent and
skinny matter. Holland, tr. of Pliny, xxiii., Proeme.
Our ministers. . . . like a seething pot set to cool, sen-
sibly exhale and reak out the greatest part of that zeal and
those gifts which were formerly in them, settling in a
skinny congealment of ease and sloth at the top.
Milton, Reformation in Eng., i.
2. Tough and firm or dense, but not hard : as,
the sfci« HI/ covering of a bird's beak: distin-
guished from horny.
What is most remarkable in these [whistling ducks] is
that the end of their beaks is soft, and of a skinny, or, more
properly, cartilaginous substance.
Cook, Second Voyage, 1. 6.
3. Characterized by skinniness; showing skin
with little appearance of flesh under it; lean;
emaciated.
You seem to understand me,
By each at once her choppy finger laying
Upon her skinny lips. Shak., Macbeth, i. 3. 45.
I fear thee, ancient mariner,
1 fear tliy skinny hand.
Coleridge, Ancient Mariner, iv.
4. Miserly; stingy; mean. Compare sfcm, re., 7.
[Colloq.]
As a rule, the whole of the men in a factory would con-
tribute, and skinny ones were not let off easily.
Larwet, 1890, II. 246.
skin-planting (skin 'plan "ting), n. Same as
skin-ifrd fling.
skin-sensory (skin'sen'so-ri), a. Of or pertain-
ing to the epidermis and the principal parts of
the nervous system : an embryological term
applied to the outer germ-layer or ectoderm of
the embryo, whence the above-named tissues
and organs are derived.
skin-tight (skin'tit), a. Fitting like the skin ;
as tight as the skin ; pressing close on the skin ;
glove-tight.
Pink skintight breeches met his high patent-leather
boots at the knee. T. C. Crawford, English Life, p. 91.
skintling (skint'ling), adv. [Appar. for "squint-
Un<i, < squint + -ling^.] At an angle. [Colloq.]
When dry [the bricks] ... are carried in wheel-bar-
rows and set skintling, or at angles across each other, to
allow the heat to pass between them in the down-draught
kiina. Science, XIII. 335.
skin-wool (skin'wul), «. Wool taken from the
dead skin, as d istinguished from that shorn from
the living animal.
skio, skeo (skyo), ». [< Norw. skjaa, a shed,
esp., like fisk'e-skjaa, a 'fish-shed,' a shed in
which to dry fish.] A fishermen's shed or hut.
[Orkney Islands.]
He would substitute better houses for the skeoes, or sheds,
built of dry stones, in which the Inhabitants cured or
manufactured their fish. Scott, Pirate, xi.
skipl (skip), v.: pret. and pp. skipped or nkipt,
■ppT. skipping. [(.UE.skippen.skyppen. Origin
uncertain: (a) according to Skeat, < Ir. sgiob,
snatch (found in pp. sgiobtlia, snatched away,
sgiob, a snatch, grasp)', = Gael, sgiab, start or
move suddenly, snatch or pull at anything, =
W. ysgipio, snatch away; (b) less prob. con-
nected with Icel. skopa, run, skoppa, spin like a
top.] L intrans. 1. To move suddenly or hasti-
skipper
4. In the games of bowls and curling, the
player who acts as captain, leader, or director
of a side or team, and who usiially plays the
last bowl or stone which his team has to play.
Also called skipper. — 5. A college servant; a
scout. [Dublin University slang.]
Conducting himself in all respects ... as his, the afore-
said Lorrequer's, own man, skip, valet, or flunkey.
C. Lever, UaiTy Lorrequer, xl.
8. In sugar-making, the amount or charge of
syrup in the pans at one time — Hop, skip, and
Jump. See Aopi.— Skip-tooth saw, a saw with every
alternate tooth removed.
Skip'^(skip), H. [Avar. of siei),q.v.] Inmining,
an iron box for raising ore, differing from the
kibble in that it runs between guides, while the
kibble hangs free. In metal-mines the name is
sometimes given to the box when it has wheels
and runs on rails.
Shuttle-witted ;
5674
ly (in a specified direction) ; go with a leap or
spring ; bound ; dart.
Whan she saugh that Romayns wan the toun,
She took hir children alle, and skipte adoun
Into the fyr, and chees rather to dye
Than any Romayn dide hire vileynye.
Chaucer, lYanklln's Tale, 1. 674.
And he castide awey his cloth & skippide and cam to
him. Wycli/, Mark x. 60.
O'er the hills o' Glentanai' you'll skip in an hour.
Baron of Brackley (Chili's Ballads, VI. 191).
2. To take light, dancing steps ; leap about, as
in sport; jump lightly; caper; frisk; specifi-
cally, to skip the rope (see below).
Ne'er trust me, but she danceth !
Summer is in her face now, and she skippeth!
Fletclier, Wildgooae Chase, ii. 2.
When going ashore, one attired like a woman lay grovel-
ling on the sand, whilest the rest skipt about him in a ring.
Sandys, Travailes, p. 15.
Can any infonnation be given as to the origin of the ens- skip-braint (skip'bran), a.
tom of skipping on Good Friday? ... It was generally flighty ; hckle. [Kare.J
practised with the long rope, from sLx to ten, or more, I'jjjj gjnpp-braine Fancie moves these easie movers
grown-up people skipping at one rope. xq loue what ere hath liut a glimpse of good.
N. and Q., 7th ser., IX. 407. Dames, Microcosmos, p. 30. {Bavies.)
3. To make sudden changes with omissions ; gtjpetar (skip'e-tar), n. [Albanian Skipetar,
especially, to change about in an ajrbitrary jjt mountaineer, < skipe, a mountain.] 1. An
manner: as, to skij) about in one's reading.
Quick sensations skip from vein to vein.
Pope, Dunclad, ii. 212.
The vibrant accent skipping here and there,
Just as it pleased invention or despair.
Lowell, Biglow Papers, 1st ser., Int.
4. To pass without notice; make omission,
as of certain passages in reading or writing:
often followed by over.
I don't know why they skipped over Lady Betty, who, if
there were any question of beauty, is, I think, as well as
her sister. Walpole, Letters, II. 33.
5. To take one's self off hurriedly; make
off: as, he collected the money and skip2)ed.
[Slang.] — 6. In music, to pass or progress from
any tone to a tone more than one degree dis-
tantfromit.= Sjm. 1 and 2. Skip, Trip, Hop, Leap, Bound,
Spring, Jump, Vault. Skipping is more than tripping and
less than leaping, bounding, springing, or jumping; like
tripping, it implies lightness of spirits or joy. It is about
equal to hopping, but hopping is rather heavy and gener-
ally upon one foot or with the feet together, while skip-
ping uses the feet separately or one after the other. A
hop is shorter than e.jump, and a j'timj) than a leap: as, the
hop of a toad ; the jump of a frog ; the leap of a marsh-frog ;
a jump from a fence ; a leap from a second-story window.
Skip, trip, bound, and spring imply elasticity ; bound,
spring, leap, and vault imply vigorous activity. Vault im-
plies that one has something on which to rest one or both
hands ; vaxdling is either upon or over something, as a
horee, a fence, and therefore is largely an upward move-
ment ; the other movements may be chiefly horizontal.
II. trans. 1. To leap over; cross with a skip
or bound.
Tom could move with lordly grace,
Dick nimbly skipt the gutter.
Swift, Tom and Dick.
2. To pass over without action or notice; dis-
regard ; pass by.
Let not thy sword skip one. Shalt., T. of A., iv. 3. 110.
He entailes the Brecon estate on the issue male of his
eldest son, and, in defailer, to skip the 2d son . . . and to
come to the third. Aubrey, Lives, William Aubrey.
I could write about its [Halifax's] free-school system,
and its many noble charities. But the reader always skips
such things. C. D. Warner, Baddeck, ii.
3. To cause to skip or bound ; specifically, to
throw (a missile) so as to cause it to make a
series of leaps along a surface.
The doctor could skip them [stones) clear across the
stream — four skips and a landing on the other hank.
Joseph Kirkland, The McVeys, v.
To Skip or Jump the rope, to jump over a rope slackly
held and kept in steady revolution over one's head, the
leaps being taken just in time to allow the rope to pass be-
tween the feet and the ground. The ends of the rope may
be held in the hands of the skipper, or by two other per-
sons so placed as to give it a large radius of revolution.
It is a common amusement of young girls,
skipi (skip), n. [< skiiA, !'.] 1. A leap; a
spring; a bound.
And with an active skip remount themselves again.
Leaving the Roman horse behind them on the plain.
lyraytnn, Polyolbion, viii. 195.
He fetched divers skips, and cried out, " I have found
it, I have found it ! " Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), I. 883.
The things that mount the rostrum with a skip.
And then skip down again. Covper, Task, ii. 409.
Albanian or Amaut. See Albanian.— 2. The
language of the Albanians : same as Albanian.
skip-hegrie (skip'heg'ri), n. Same as hegrie.
skipjack (skip'jak), )!. [< skip^ + jack^.'] 1.
A sliallow, impertinent fellow; an insignifi-
cant fop ; a puppy.
These villains, that can never leave grinning ! ... to
see how this skip-jack looks at me !
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, iiL
What, know'st thou, skipjack, whom thou villain call'st?
Greene, Alphonsus, i.
2t. Formerly, a youth who rode horses up and
down, showing them off with a view to sale.
The boyes, striplings, Ac, that have the riding of the
jades up and downe are called skip-jacks.
Dekker, Lanthorne and Candle Light, x. (Eneyc. Diet.)
3. The merrythought of a fowl made into a
little toy by a twisted thread and a small piece
of stick, (llaniwell.) A similar skipjack is oftener
made of the breastbone of a goose or duck, across the
costal processes of which is twisted a piece of twine with
a little stick, the latter being stuck at the other end with
a bit of shoemakers wax. As the adhesion of the stick to
the wax suddenly gives way, under the continued tension
of the twisted string, the toy skips into the air, or turns a
somersault. Also called jumping-jack.
4. hiichtli., one of several different fishes which
dart through and sometimes skip out of the
water, (a) The blueflsh, Pomatomus saltatrix. See cut
under blueflsh. (b) The herring, or Ohio shad, Clupea chry-
sochluris, of little economical value, related to the alewife.
(c) The saurel, Trachurus saurus: same asscadi,2. (d) The
hairtail, a trichiuroid ttsh, Trichiurus lepturus. (Indian
river, Florida.) (c) The jurel, buffalo-jack, or jack-fish, a
carangoid, Caranxpwjttetos. [Florida.) (/) The runner,
a carangoid flsh, Elegatis pinnulatus. (Key West] (g)
■ A scombroid flsh, Sarda chilensis, the bonito. See cut un-
der 6o«t(o. (California.) (A) Tliebuttei-flsh, astromateoid
flsh, Strmnateus triacanthus. See cut under butter-ftsh.
[Cape Cod, Massachusetts. ) (i) The brook-silversides, Labi-
desthes mceulus, a graceful little flsh of the family Atherv-
Skipjack {Labideslhfs sicculus), about natural size.
nidse, found in ponds and brooks of the .Mississippi water-
shed. It is 3J inches long, translucent olive-green, the
back dotted with black, the sides with a very distinct sil-
very band bounded above by a black line.
5. In entom., a click-beetle or snapping-beetle ;
an elater; anv member of the Elateridie. See
cut under click-beetle.— 6. A foi-m of boat used
on the Florida coast, built very flat, with little
or no sheer, and with chubby bows. J. A . Ben-
shall.
skip-kennelt (skip'ken'el), n. [< sJ-Jpl, v., +
obj. kennel^.'] One who has to jump the gut-
ters : a contemptuous name for a lackey or foot-
boy.
Every scullion and skipkennel had liberty to tell his
master his own. Amhurst, Terrie Filius, No. Z.
You have no professed enemy except the rabble, and my
lady's waiting-woman, who are sometimes apt to call you
skijt-kennel. Smft, Advice to Servants (Footman).
2. Apassingoverordisregarding; an omission; g^ip.jnackerel (skip'mak"e-rel), re. ' The blue
specifically, in music, a melodic progi-ession ^^^j, Pomatomus saltatrix.
from any tone to a tone more than one degree qlrinnerl fskiu'er), n. [< WE,, skipnere, skyp-
distant.' Also called .5rt7<o.— 3. That which is
skipped; anything which is passed over or dis-
regarded. [Rare.]
No man who has written so much is so seldom tiresome.
In his books there are scarcely anyof those passages which,
in our school days, we used to call skip. Yet he often
wrote on subjects which are generally considered dull.
Macaulay, Horace Walpole.
pare; < skip^ + -erl.] 1. One who or that
which skips or jumps; a leaper; a dancer.
Prompt. Pan-., p. 4.58.— 2t. A locust.
This wind hem brogte the skipperes.
He deden on gres [grass] and coien (corn) deres [harm].
Oeneiris and Exodus (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3087.
3t. A trifling, thoughtless person ; a skipjack.
skipper
Skipper^ stand back ; 'tis age that noiirisheth.
Shak., T. of the 3., iL 1. 341.
4. In entom.: (n) A hesperian; any butterfly
of the tamUy HesperiUlx: so called from their
quick, darting, or jerky flight. Also called hop-
per. See cut under Hesperia. (6) The larva
of the cheese-fly, Piophila casei ; a cheese-hop-
per. See cut under cheese-fly. (c) One of cer-
tain water-beetles or -boatmen of the family
Notonectidse. Qee cut rxwAer water-boatman, (d)
A skipjack, snapping-bug, or click-beetle. See
cut under click-bcitlc. — 5. The saury pike,
Seomberesox saunis. See cut under sdury. —
6. Same as skip^. 4 — Lulworth skipper, a small
hesperian butterfly, Pamphiia art/eon : stt called by Eng-
lish collectors, from its abundance at Lulworth. England,
skipper- (skip'er), r. ». [A freq. of »Ai>l.] To
move with snort skips ; skip. [Rare.]
.\ graas-flnch gkippered to the top of a stump.
S. Judd, Margaret, L 14.
skipper' (skip'er), n. [< D. schipper (= Sw.
gkepi>are = Ihin. skipper), a, shipper, sailor, nav-
igator, = E. shipper: see shipper.'] The mas-
ter of a small trading or merchant vessel; a
sea-captain ; hence, in familiar use, one having
the principal charge in any kind of vessel.
VouQg Patrick Spens is the best gkipper
That ever sail'd the sea.
Sir Patrick Spent (Chad's Ballads, III. 338).
The tkipper hauled at the heavy sail.
Wkittitr, Wreck of KivermoDth.
Skipper's daujstaters, tall white-crested waves, sncb as
are seen at sea in windy weather; whitecaps.
It was gray, harsh, easterly weather, the swell ran pretty
high, ana out in the open there were tkipper'a daughUrt,
R. L. StepenMorij Education of an Engineer.
skipper* (skip'er), n. [Prob. < W. ysgubor, a
barn, = Ir. Sffiobot = Gael, sgiobal, a bam, gran-
ary. Otherwise a var. of 'skippen for shippen,
a shed.] A barn ; an outhouse ; a shed or other
place of shelter used as a lodging. [Cant.]
Now let each tripper
Hake a retreat Into the tkipper.
And conch a hogs-head till the dark man '• past.
Brome, Jovial Crew,
skipper^ (skip'fer), r. I. [< skipper*, m.] To
tiiki- shelter in a barn, shed, or other rude lodg-
ing: sometimes with indefinite it. [Cant.]
If the weather is fine and mild, they prefer " $kippering
it"~that is, sleeping In an outhouse or hay-fleld — to going
to a union.
Mayheir, I^ndon Labour and London Poor, III. 401.
skipper-bird (skip'fer-b^rd), h. One who sleeps
in bams, outhouses, or other rude places of shel-
ter; a vagrant; a tramp. [Cant.]
The beat places lo England for Mpperbirdt (parUe*
tluU never go to lodging-bouses, but to bams or out-
house*, sometimes without a blanket).
Mai/heir, London Labour and London Poor, L SIO.
skipper-boyt (skip'tr-boi), «. A boy sailor.
0 up bespak the wKpfwr-ioy,
1 wat he Biwk too high.
WmiamOvueman (Child's Ballads, IIL 52X
skippership (skip'fer-ship), n. [< skif>jter^ +
-Hhij/.] 1. The office or rank of a akii)per, or
master of a small vessel. — 2. A fee paid to the
skipper of a cod-fisher in excess of his share of
the jiroceeds of the voyage. [Massachusetts.]
skippetU (skip'et), n. [Appar. formed by Spen-
ser, < 'skip (AS. scip), a ship, + -eW] A small
boat.
I'pon the banck they sitting did eipjr
A daintie damsell dreaaing of her bearer
By whom a little Mppit floting did appears.
Spiiuar, r. Q., II. xlL 14.
skippet^ (skip'et), n. [< skip^, skep, + -«/.] 1.
A circular box used for covering and protect-
ing ii seal. Old
documents were
commonly sealed
by means of a rib-
bon which paw-
■■'I tliroiiw'li llii- /
5675
skipping (skip'ing), p. a. 1. Performing any
act indicated bj- skip, in any sense ; especially,
taking skips or "leaps; frisking; hence, flighty ;
giddy; volatile.
Allay with some cold drops of modesty
Thy sHpping spirit. Shak., M. of V., ii. 2. 196.
2. Characterized by skips or leaps.
An Ethiopian, poore, and accompanyed with few of his
nation, who, fantastically clad, doth dance in their pro-
. cessions with a skipping motion, and distortion of his body,
not unlike our Antiques. Sandys, Travailes, p. 133.
skippingly (skip'ing-li), adv. In a skipping
manner; by skips or leaps.
skipping-rope (skip'ing-rop), n. A piece of
small rope, with or without wooden handles,
used by children in the sport of skipping the
rope. Also called jumping-rope and skip-rope.
See to skip the rope, under skip^.
skipping-teach (skip'ing-teeh), n. In sugar-
making, a kind of pan for removing concen-
trated syrups from open evaporating-pans. It
fills, when lowered into the evaporating-pans, thro'ugh an
inwardly opening and outwardly closins: valve, and after
filling is raised so that syrup adhering to its exterior may
drip back, to avoid waste in transferring its contents.
Improved modern evaporating-pans have rendered this
device practically obsolete.
skip-rope (skip'rop), m. Same as skipping-rope.
skip-shaft (skip'shaft), n. In mining, a special
sliat't for the ascent and descent of the skip.
skip-wheel (skip'hwelj, n. In a carding-ma-
chine, a wheel which reflates the mechanism
for lifting the top flats in a prearranged order
for their successive cleaning. The method is gen-
erally to lift every alternate flat ; but in some cases the
flats near the feeding-cylinder become soonest clogged,
and are lifted more frequently than the others.
skirt, I'. I. An obsolete form of scur^.
skirgaliardt, ». [Early mod. E. skyrgalyard ;
cf. gaUUird, n., 1.] A wild, gay, dissipated fel-
low. HaUiwell.
^T Ayrgalyard, ye were so skyt.
Your wyll than ran before your wyt.
Skelton, Against the Scottes, L 101.
II akirkt.v.t- [Avar. of«mAel,«ArieA:.] To shriek.
seal, nut uUat hc'd
to the pnrchirient
itHrlf. I>ilt li;iML'iliL'
colnntoiil .
of wikkI 1
low l>rn. Mi
er formed of a hiiu-
ple disk of W(hh1
held to the box by strings passed tbroagb eyelet-holes.
These Indentures are contained In volumes iKtund in
purple velvet, the seals of the illfferent parties being pre-
served in sliver tkipprtt attached to the volumes by silken
cords. Athenjnim. No, ;t08,'i, p. "8.1.
2. A small round vessel with a long handle, used
for lading water. HaHittell. [Prov. Eng.]
Skippet.
I, like a tender-hearted wencb, ikirktd out for fear of
the devU. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, Ii. (Daviet.)
skirl, r. and n. A Scotch form of sAiWi for
shrill.
skirlcock (skirl' kok), n. The mistlethrush:
so called from its harsh note. C. Stcainson.
[Prov. Eng.]
Bklrling (sk^r'ling), n. [Verbal n. of skirl, v.]
The act of emitting a shrill sound; also, a shrill
sound ; a skirl. [Scotch.]
8kinnt,f. [iiE. skirmen,slcyrmen,<.OF.eskermir,
eakiermir, esquermir, esquiermir, escremir, escri-
mer, scrimir, also eskermer, eacremer, fence, play
at fence, lay hard about one, P. escrimer, fence,
= Pr. esiTimir, escremir = 8p. Pg. esgrimir =
It. schcrmare, sehermire, fence, < OHG. acirman,
scirmcn, shield, protect, MHG. schirmen, scher-
men, shield, defend, fight, G, schirmen, shield,
defend, < OHG. scirm, scerm, MHG. sehirm,
schemt, Q. sehirm, a shield, screen, shelter,
guard (> It. schermo, protection, defense); cf.
Gt. OKipov, a parasol, OKti, shade, shatdow.
Hence nit. skirmish, scrimmage, and (< F.)
escrime, serimcr.l I. intrans. To fence; skir-
mish.
There the Sarsyns were strawyd wyde.
And bygane to dryrme bylyve.
As al the worlde schul to-dryve,
Writ/U, Seven Sages, L a»8.
n. trans. To fence with ; fight ; strike.
Aschatas with skath (thou] wold <Krm< to the deth.
That Is my fader so fre, and thi first graunser.
Detlruetion of Troy (E. E, T. S.), 1. ISflOl.
skirmeryt, «. [ME. skirmerie, < OF. eserimerie,
ifxrrimrr. fence: see skirm.'] Defense; skir-
mishing.
The kynge Bohors, that moche cowde of skirmerie, re-
sceyved the stroke on his shelde, and he smote so harde
that a gret quarter fill on the launde.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.i ii. 3«8.
skirmish (skftr'mish), n. [Also dial, orcolloq.
scrimmage, skrimmage; early mod. E. also skir-
magr, scarmage, scarmoge; < ME. scarmishe,
scarmysshe, scarmieh, scarmych, scarmuch, schar-
muM,<. OF. (and P.) escarmnuche = Pr. escar-
mussa = Hp. esearamuza = Pg. escnramuqa =
It. scaramuccia, prop, schermugio (the scara-
muceia form being in part a reflection of the
OF., which in its turn, with the 8p., and the
MHG. schatmutzel, seharmitzel, G. scharmiitccl,
1). schrrmiitseling, Sw. sktirmyUiel, Dan. skjeer-
mi/dsel, which have an added dim. term., is from
tlio It, Hchrrmugio), f oTmerly schermuzio, a skir-
mish ; with dim. or dopreciative suffix, < scher-
skirr
mire, fence, fight: see skirm. Cf. scaramouch,
ult. from the same It. source.] 1. An irregu-
lar fight, especially between small parties ; an
engagement, in the presence of two armies, be-
tween small detachments advanced for the pur-
pose either of drawing on a battle or of conceal-
ing by their fire the movements of the troops
in the rear.
Of Troilus, that is to palays ryden
Fro the scarmieh of the which I you tolde.
Chaucer, Troilus, ii, 934.
A yeare and seuen moneths was Scipio at the siege of
Numantia, all whiche time he neuer gaue battell or skir-
mishe, but only gaue order that no succour might come at
them. Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1677), p. 32.
McPherson had encountered the largest force yet met
since the battle of Port Gibson, and had a skirmish nearly
approaching a battle,
U. S. Grant, Personal Memoirs, I. 490.
2t. Defense.
Such cruell game my scarmoges disarmes,
Spenser, F. Q., II, vi. 34.
3. Any contention or contest ; a preliminary
trial of strength, etc.
They never meet but there "s a skirmish of wit.
Shak., Much Ado, I. 1, 64.
Of God's dreadful Anger these
Were but the first light Skirmishes.
Carney, Pindaric Odes, xiv. 14.
= S3m. 1, Retwounter, Brush, etc. See encoMn««r.
skirmish (sktr'mish), V. i. [Early mod. E. also
skyrmysshe ; < ME. skarmysshen, scarmishen, <
OF. escarmoucher, escarmoucier, F. escarmoucher,
skirmish, < escarmouche, a skirmish: see skir-
mish, n.] 1. To fight irregularly, as in a skir-
mish ; fight in small parties or along a skirmish-
line.
He durst not gyue them battayle vntyll he had sum-
what better searched the Region. Yet did he in the meane
tyme skiinnymhe with them twyse.
Peter Martyr (tr, in Eden's First Books on America,
[ed. Arber, p. 91).
Colonel Spinelli, who took part in the council, suggested
the middle course, of a partial attack, or a kind of skir-
mishing, during which further conclusions might be
formed, A. Oindely, Thirty Years War (trans.), I. 247,
2t. To defend one's self ; strike out in defense
or attack.
And [he] be-gan'to scnrmyshe and to grope a-boute hym
with his staff e as a wood develL
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ill, 648.
8. To be in a position of guarded and cautious
attack; fence.
We should no longer fence or skirmish with this ques-
tion. We should come to close quarters with it.
Gladstone, quoted in Philadelphia Times, April 9, 1886.
skirmish-drill (sk6r'mish-dril), «. Drill in
skirmishing.
In the skirmish-drill the oflicefs and non-commissioned
officers will constantly aim to impress each man with the
idea of his Individuality, and the responsibility that rests
ujion him, Upton, Infantry Tactics, § 638.
skirmisher (sker'mish-^'r), n. [< skirmish +
-<t1.] One who skirmishes; a soldier specially
detailed for the duty of skirmishing; one of the
skirmish-line (which see).
When skirmishers are thrown out to clear the way for
and to protect the advance of the main body, their move-
ments should be so regulated as to keep it constantly cov-
ered. Every company of skirmishers has a small reserve,
whose duty it is to fill vacant places and to furnish the line
with cartridges and relievo the fatigued,
Upton, Infantry Tactics, |§ 629, 63a
skirmishing (sk^r'mish-ing), n. [< ME. skar-
mi/sshi/ngc ; verbal n. of skirmish, «.] Irregu-
lar fighting between small parties ; a skirmish.
At a skarmysshynge
She cast hire herte upon Mynos the kynge.
Chaucer, Good Women, L 1910.
skirmish-line (sk6r'mish-lin), n. A line of
men, called skirmishers, thrown out to feel the
enemy, protect the main body from sudden at-
tack, conceal the movements of the main body,
and the like. Upton.
Skirophoria (skir-o-fo'ri-a), n. pi. [< Gr. ^Kipo-
(ptipia, pi., < cKipixpdpo^, < oKipov, a white parasol
borne in honor of Athene (hence called 2»pdf),
+ -<l>opoi, < ipfptiv = E. bear^.'] An ancient At-
tic festival in honor of Athene, celebrated on
the 12th of the month Skirophorion (about July
Ist).
Skirpphorion (skir-o-fo'ri-on), n. [< Gr, 2«po-
(jKjpiuf, tlie 12th Attic month, < XKipmjidpta: see
Skirophoria.'] In the ancient Attic calendar,
the last month of the year, containing 29 days,
and corresponding to the last part of June and
the first part of July.
skirr' (sk^r), w. [Imitative.] A tern or sea-
swiiUow. [Ireland.]
skirr-, f. See »curi.
sklrret
skirret (skir'et), n.
appar. a mutilated
form, pr<w. 'sugar-
root (ME. 'siicre-
rot=z Sw. socler-rot,
skirret) or siigar-
Kort (MD. suyck-
er-wortfl, D. suiker-
icortel = G. zncler-
vnrze}, skirret).] A
species of water-
parsuip, Siiim Sisa-
ntm, generally said
to be of Chinese
origin, long culti-
vated in Europe for
its esculent root.
It is a plant a foot high
with pinnate leaves, a
hardy perennial, but
grown as an annual.
The root is composed of
small fleshy tubers, of
the size of the little fin-
ger, united at the crown.
[< ME. sl-yrwyt, sVerwyth ;
contraction or borrowed
Skirret (5i«w/ Sisarum).
It somewhat resembles parsnip
in flavor, and is eaten boiled served with butter, or half-
boiled and then fried. Skirret^ however, has now nearly
fallen into disuse.
Siyrwi/t, herbe or rote («tenc!/tA). Pastinaca, . . . ban-
cia. Prompt. Pare, p. 46a
The skirret (which some say) in sallats stirs the blood.
Drayton, Polyolbion, xx. 50.
skirrhus (skir'us), n. Same as scirrhus.
Skirt^ (skfert), n. [< ME. skirt, skyrt, skirthc, <
leel. skyrta, a shirt, a kind of kirtlo {hringskyrta,
•i-ing-shirt,' a coat of mail, fyrirskyrta, 'fore-
skirt,' an apron), = Sw. skjorta, a slart, skort, a
petticoat, = Dan. skjorte, a shirt, skjort, a petti-
coat, = MHG. G. schiirz, apron, garment: see
shirt, of which skirt is a doublet.] 1 . The lower
and hanging part of a coat or other garment :
the part of a garment below the waist.
Skyrt, of a garment, Trames. Prompt. Parv., p. 458.
And as Samuel turned about to go away, he laid hold
upon the skirt of his mantle, and it rent. 1 Sam. xv. 27.
This moniing ... I rose, put on my suit with great
skirts. Pepi/s, Diary, Jan. 1, 1060.
Margaret had to hold by the skirt of Solomon's coat,
while he felt his way before. S. Jvdd, Margaret, i. 16.
2. A woman's petticoat ; the part of a woman's
dress that hangs from the waist; formerly, a
woman's lap.
Anonthe woman . . . toke his hede into her oh'rtAe, and
he began ... to slepe.
Qesla Jiomaiuirum (ed. Herrtage, E. E. T. S.), p. 188.
That fair Lady Betty [a portrait] . . . brightens up that
panel well with her long satin skirt.
George Eliot, Felix Holt, x. 1.
3. A hanging part, loose from the rest: as, the
skirt of a saddle. See cut under saddle.
[He] smote the horse with the spores on bothe sides faste
by the skirtes of his sadell, for his legges were so shorte.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 68.3.
4t. A narrow frill, corresponding to what would
now be called a ruffle.
A narrow lace or a small skirtot fine ruffled linen, which
runs along the upper part of the stays before.
Addison, Guardian, No. 118
5. Border; edge; margin; extreme part: as,
the skirts of a town.
A dish of pickled sailors, fine salt sea-boys, shall relish
like anchovies or caveare, to draw down a cup of nectar
in the skirts of a night. B. Jonson, Neptune's Triumph.
Some great man sure that's asham'd of his kindred:
perhaps some Suburbe Justice, that sits o' the skirts o' the
City, and lives by 't. Brome, Sparagus Garden, ii. 3.
6. In milling, the margin of a millstone. — 7t.
Milit., same as base^, 2. — 8. The midriff or dia-
phragm: so called from its appearance, as seen
in butchers' meat. Also skirting Atone's skirts,
following one closely.
Therefore go on ; I at thy skirts will come.
Long/eltoiv, tr. of Dante's Inferno, xv. 40.
Cllinese skirt, a close narrow skirt for women's dresses,
worn about 1870 after the abandonment of crinoline and
hoop-skirts. — Divided Skirt, a style of dress, recommend-
ed on hygienic grounds, in whicll the skirt resembles a
pair of exceedingly loose trousei-s. — To Sit upon one's
akirtst, to take revenge on one.
Crosse me not, Liza, nether be so perte,
For if thou dost I'll sit upon thy skirte.
The Abortive of an Idle Howre (1620). (HaUiwdl.)
skirt^ (skfert), f. [<sfeirtl, B.] I. <raw«. To bor-
der; form the border or edge of; move along
the edge of.
Oft when sundown skirts the moor.
Tennyson, in Memoriam, xll.
Hawk-eye, . . . taking the path . , . that was most
likely to avoid observation, . . . rather skirted than en-
tered the village. J. F. Cooper, Last of Mohicans, xxv.
H. intrans. 1. To be or live on the border;
also, to move along a border, shore, or edge.
5676
Savages . . . who skirt along our western frontiers.
S. S. Smith.
And then I set off up the valley, skirting along one side
of it. 2i. D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone, xliv.
2. Specifically, in hunting, to go round hedges
and gates instead of jumping over or breaking
through : said of a man or dog.
skirt- (skfert), r. t. and ('. A dialectal form of
iiquirt. Ualliwell.
skirt-braid (sk^rt'brad), n. "Woolen braid for
binding or edging the bottom of a skirt, gener-
ally sold in lengths sufBcient for a single gar-
ment.
skirt-dance (skert'dans), n. See skirt-dancing.
skirt-dancer (sk^rt'dan'sfer), n. One who
dances skirt-dances.
skirt-dancing (sk6rt'dan"sing), n. A form of
ballet-dancing in whicli the effect is produced
by graceful movements of the skirts, which are
sufficiently long and full to be waved in the
hands of the dancer.
skirted (sker'ted), o. \<. skirt + -ed^.'] 1. Hav-
ing a skirt: usually in composition. — 2. Hav-
ing the skirt or skirting removed Skirted wool,
the wool, of better quality, that remains after the skirting
of the fleece has been i-emoved.
skirterl (sker't6r), n. [< skirt^ + -c;-l.] One
who skirts or goes around the borders of any-
thing; specifically, in hunting, a huntsman or
dog who goes around a high hedge, or gate,
etc., instead of over or through it.
Sit down in your saddles and race at the brook,
Then smash at the bullfinch ; no time for a look ;
Leave cravens and shirters to dangle behind ;
He 's away for the moors in the teeth of the wind !
Kingsley, Go Hark !
skirter^ (skfer'tfer), n. A dialectal form otsquirt-
er. Ualliwell.
skirt-furrow (sk6rt'fur"6), ». See/wrrow.
skirting (skfer'ting), n. [< skirf^ + -ing'^.'] 1.
A strong material made for women's under-
skirts ; especially, a material woven in pieces of
the right length and width for skirts, and some-
times shaped so as to diminish waste and the
labor of making. Felt, woolen, and other mate-
rials are manufactured in this form. — 2. Same
as skirting-board. — 3. In a saddle, a padded
lining beneath the flaps. E. H. Knight. — 4.
pi. In sheep-shearing, the inferior parts of the
wool taken from the extremities. [Australia.]
— 5. Same as .9i-»-<l, 8.
skirting-board (sker'ting-bord), n. The nar-
row board placed round the bottom of the wall
of a room, next the floor. Also called base-board,
mopboard, and wash-board.
Skirtless (skert'les), a. [< skirf^ + -less.']
Without a skirt; destitute of a skirt.
skise, r. i. See skice.
siit^ (skit), V, i. ; pret. and pp. skitted, w?^- s^'*-
ting. [Also (So.) skite, skyte; < ME. *skit-
tcn, skyten, < Sw. skutta, dial, skotta, leap (cf.
dial, skytta, go hunting, be idle), < skjuta, shoot :
see shoot, and cf . scoot^, of which skit^ is ult. a
secondary form. Cf. also scud, scuttle^.] 1.
To leap aside ; fly off at a tangent ; go ofif sud-
denly.
And then I cam abord the Admirall, and bade them
stryke in the Kyngys name of Englond, and they bade me
skyte in the Kyngs name of Englond.
Paston Letters, I. 84.
I hope my friend will not love a wench against her will ;
... if she skit and recoil, he shoots her off warily, and
away he goes. Chapman, May- Day, ii. 2.
2. To flounce; caper like a skittish horse.
[Scotch.]
Yet, soon 's she hears me mention Muirland Willie,
She skitg and flings like ony towmont flUy.
Tannahill, Poems, p. 12. (Jamieson.)
3. To slide. Halliicell. [Prov. Eng.]
Skitl (skit), n. [Prob. < skifi-, v.] 1. A light,
wanton wench.
At the request of a dancing skit, [Herod] stroke off the
head of St. John the Baptist.
Howard, Earl of Northampton, Def. against supposed
[Prophecies (1583).
2. A scud of rain. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
skit^ (skit), n. [Perhaps, after skit^, v., a var.
of "scout^, n. (see scout^, v.), < loel. skuti, skuta,
a taunt, scoff, and so, like the ult. related AS.
onscyte, an attack, calumny, from the root of
«cc(}ton, shoot: sea shoot, skit^.l 1. A satirical
or sarcastic attack ; a lampoon ; a pasquinade ;
a squib; also, a short essay or treatise ; a pam-
phlet; a brochure; a literary trifle, especially
one of a satirical or sarcastic nature.
A manuscript with learning fraught,
Or some nice pretty little sTcit
Upon the times, and full of wit.
Comiie, Dr. Syntax's Tours, il. 7. (Davies.)
Skittle
A similar vein of satire upon the emptiness of writers Is
given in his lYitical Essay upon the Faculties of the Hu-
man Mind ; but that is a mere skit compared with this
strange performance. Leslie Stephen, Swift, ix.
2. Banter; jeer.
But I canna think it, Mr. Glossin ; this will be some o'
your skiti now. Scott, Guy Mannering, xxxil.
Skit2 (skit), V. t. [< skii^, )(.] To cast reflec-
tions on ; asperse. Grose. [Prov. Eng.]
skit* (skit), n. [Origin obscure.] The skitty,
a rail or crake. See skitty.
skite (skit), v. ; pret. and pp. skitcd, ppr. skiting.
[Also skyte; a Sc. var. of skit^.'] I. intrans. To
glide; slip; slide. [Scotch.]
II. trans. To eject (liquid); squirt. [Scotch.]
skite (skit), n. [Also skyte; < skite, v.] 1. A
sudden dash; a smart shower: as, a skite of
rain. — 2. A smart, glancing blow or slap: as,
a skite on the lug.
When hailstanes drive wi' bitter skite.
Bums, Jolly Beggars.
3. A squirt or syringe. — 4. A trick: as, an ill
skite. [Scotch in all uses.]
skitter (skit'er), J). «. [Freq. of si-al.] 1. To
skim ; jjass over lightly.
Some kinds of ducks in lighting strike the water with
their tails first, and skitter along the surface for a few feet
before settling down. T. Roosevelt, Hunting 'Trips, p. 59.
2. In angling, to draw a baited hook or a spoon-
hook along the surface of water by means of
a rod and line : as, to skitter for pickerel.
Throw the spoon near the weeds with a stiff rod, and
draw it sideways from the bow of the boat, or skitter with
artificial minnow. Sportsman's Gazetteer, p. 374.
skitter-brained (skit 'er- brand), a. Giddy;
thoughtless. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
skittering (skit'fer-ing), n. [Verbal n. of skit-
ter, ?'.] In angling, the action of drawing or
jerking a bait along the surface of the water.
For skittering a float is not used, nor is natural bait the
best. Spoons are used mounted with feathers. 'I'he angler
stands near the bow of a boat and skitters the lure along
the surface of the water.
skitter-wit (skit'er-wit), n. A foolish, giddy,
harebrained fellow. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
skittish (skit'ish), a. [< late ME. skyttyshe; <
skit^ + -t«Al.] 1. Easily frightened; disposed
to start, jump, or run, as if from fright.
A skittish fllly will be your fortune, Welford, and fair
enough for such a packsaddle.
Beau, and Fl. , Scornful Lady, iii. 1.
De little Rabbits, dey mighty skittish, en dey sorter hud-
dle deyse'f up tergedder en watch Brer Fox motions.
J. C. Harris, Uncle Kemus, xxii.
Hence — 2. Shy; avoiding familiarity or inter-
course; timid; retiring; coy.
He slights us
As skittish things, and we shun him as curious.
Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, ii, 3.
And if the skittish Nymph should fly,
He [Youth] in a double Sense must die.
Prior, Alma, ii.
3. Changeable; volatile; fickle; inconstant; ca-
pricious.
Such as I am all true lovers are,
Unstaid and skittish in all motions else.
Save in the constant image of the creature
That is beloved. Shak., T. N., ii. 4. 18.
Had I been froward, skittish, or unkind, . . .
Thou might'st in justice and in conscience fly.
Crabbe, Works, U. 184.
4. Deceitful; tricky; deceptive.
Withal it is observed, that the lands in Berkshire are
very skittish, and often cast their owners.
Fuller, Worthies, Berkshire, I. 162.
Everybody's family doctor was remarkably clever, and
- was understxx>d to have immeasurable skill in the manage-
ment and training of the most skittish or vicious diseases.
George Eliot, Middlemarch, xv.
skittishly (skit'ish-li), adv. In a skittish man-
ner; restively; shyly; changeably.
skittishness (skit'ish-nes), n. 'The state or
character of being skittish, in any sense of that
word. Steele, Conscious Lovers, iii. 1.
skittle (skit'l), n. [An unassibilatedform (prob.
due to Scand.) of shittle, now usually shuttle,
= Dan. skyttel = Sw. skytttl, a shuttle: see
shuttle'^. For the game so called, cf. shuttle^
(def. 7) and shuttlecock.'] 1. One of the pins
used in the game of skittles.
I'll cleave you from the skull to the twist, and make
nine skittles of thy bones.
Quoted in Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, p. 366.
2. pi. A game played with nine pins set upright
at one end of an alley, the object of the player
stationed at the other end being to knock over
the set of pins with as few throws as possible
of a large roundi.sh ball.
Skittles is another favourite amusement, and the coster-
mongers class themselves among the best players in Lon-
don. Mayheic, London Labour and London Poor, I. 14.
skittle
5677
Bkittle(skit'l), r. ?.: pret. and pp. sWtWfff, ppr. skiving-machine (ski'ving-ma-shen'), n. A
machine for paring the surface of leather or
other materials, as pasteboard, rubber, etc.
Such machines operate either on the principle of the lea-
ther-BpIittiiig machine, or by drawing the pieces to be
sltived under the blade of a fixed knife.— Lap Sklvlng-
machine, a machine for scarfing off the thickness of lea-
ther toward the edge. E. H. Knight.
sklent, I'. A dialectal (Scotch) form of slant.
8Mttle-ball(sTtit'l-bal),n. Adisk"ofhardwood skleret, skleiret, M. See scleire.
for throwing at the pins in the game of skit- sklerema,». 8a.me a.a sclerema tor sclerodermia.
ties skleyret, «• See scleire.
skittle-dog (skit'l-dog), n. A small kind of sklint (sklint), v. A dialectal form of slant.
shark : same as picked dogfish (which see, under skliset, «■ An obsolete form of shee.
phkedl). [Local, Eng.] skoal(skol), .nferj. [Repr Icel. «i-a« = Sw. «M«
skittle-frame (skit'1-fram), «. The frame or = Norw. Dan. skaal, bowl: see skuin, scale^.}
skiltlimj. [< skittle, «".] To knock over with a
skittle-ball; knock down; bowl off. [Rare.]
There are many ways in which the Australian, like the
rest of us, can ikitile down his money.
Arch. Forbes, Souvenirs of some Continents, p. 70.
skittle-alley (skit '1-al'i), n. An oblong court
in which the game of skittles is played,
skulk
and of a blackish-brown color intimately variegated with
chestrmt and whitish, becoming yellowish on the sides of
the neck ; the wings and tail are blackish, with the bases
of their feathers white. The middle pair of tail-feathers are
Structure of a skittle-alley
The magistrates caused all the Otittlt-frames in or about
the city of London to be taken up, and prohibited the
playing at dutch-pins. Strutt, Sportsand Pastimes, p. 50.
Skittle-gTOtind (skit'l-ground), H. Same as
skittle-alley.
He repaired to the tkitae.grtmr>d, and, seating himself on
a bench, proceeded to enjoy himself in a very sedate and
methodical manner. Diciem, Pickwick, xlv.
skittle-pin (skit'1-pin), n. [< skittle + pin}-}
A pin used in the game of skittles,
kettle-pin, kittle-pin.
An exclamation of good wishes ; hall !
There from the flowing bowl
Deep drinks the warrior's soul.
Stool! to the Northland ! riioal!
Longfellow, Skeleton in Armor.
Skodaic (sko-da'ik), a. [< Skoda (see def.) -I-
-ic] Of or pertaining to Joseph Skoda, an
Austrian physician (1805-81).— skodalc reso-
nance. See reaonance.
Skoda's sign. Skodaic resonance. See reso-
nance.
Also called skoft, w. andr. A Middle English form of «cojf.
skoff, )'. /. To gobble up: same as sco^, 2. [Slang,
skittle-pot (skit'1-pot), fl. A crucible used by Australia.]
jewelers, silversmiths, and other workers in fine skogboelite (skog'bfel-it). n. [< Skogbole (see
metal for various purposes. def.) + -ite-.'] In mineral., a variety of tanta-
Skitty (skit'i), «. ; pi. skittles (-iz). [Cf. «ti<3.] lite from SkogbSle in Finland.
1. The -skit or water-rail, .R(iHK«a</«aH<-ujf, more skolecite, «. See scolecite, 1.
fully called skitty-cock and skitty-coot. [Local, skolion (sko'li-on), n. ; pi. skolia (-S). [< Gr,
Eng.] — 2. The gallinule, Gallinula chloropus.
[Local, Eng.]— Spotted Bldtty. Same astpotted rail
(which see, under rail*).
skive^ (skiv), w. [An unassibilated form of
shice. Cf. »t»rei, r.] In gem-eutting, same as
diamond-wheel (6).
skiye^ (skiv), v. t.; pret. and pp. sl-ived, ppr.
skivinq. [An unassibilated form of 'shire, v.,
< shite, n. Cf. skiver^.'] In leather-manuf. and skoUosis, n.
topWary-irorA-, to shave, scarf, or pare off; grind skolstert, ".
OKO/jov, a song prob. so called from the metrical
irregularities admitted, prop. neut. (se. fd?.oi)
of aKo?u6c, curved, winding.] An ancient Greek
drinking- or banquet-song, sung to the IjTe by
the guests in turn.
Nor h«»e we anything exactly representing the Greek
tcotia, those short drinking songs of which Terpaoder is
said to have been the inventor. Eneye. BriL, XIX 272.
Another spelling of scoliosis.
See scdidster.
away (superfluous substance). skolyont, m. An obsolete form of seuUioH.
skive^ (skiv), r. i. [Prob. < skijp, a. ; or a var. skomfett, v. t. See scomftt.
of skeic^ (cf. skiver^, as related to skewer).] To skon, n. See scone.
turn up the eyes. HaUiwell. [Prov. Eng.] skoncet.n. An obsolete form of »«>flcei,«conc«2.
skiver' (ski'vfir), ». fAppar.< •»«»«•, r.,freq. gkoog. ». Same as »«,-t(<7.
of skive, r., and ult. identical with ahireri, of skorclet, r. t. See scorcU.
which it may be regarded as an unassibilated skorodite, ». See seorodite.
form. Ct. skewer.] 1. Same as aWnnj/twiTr. skoutt, ". S«e»eoufl.
— 2. Leather split by the skiving-knife ; a thin gkouth, n. See $eouth.
leather made of the grained side of split sheep- gkonttt, «. See scou^.
skin tanned in sumac. It is used for cheap skow, «. See scow.
bindings for books, the lining of hats, pocket- Q)^, An abbreviation of Sanskrit.
books, etc. Compare skiving. skrant, ». See scran.
Sheepskin Is the commonest lesther used for binding, skreedt, ". An obsolete spelling of screed.
When unsplit it is called a roan ; when split in two the skreekf, ". An obsolete form of screak.
api«^h»lf is called a shtwr, the under or fleshy half a g^reent, ». An obsolete spelling of screen.
"w^Matthem, Modern Bookbinding (ed. OrolierX p. 37. skreigh, r. and n. A Scotch form of screak,
HOFccch nil Icicle
3. In shoe-manuf ,& machine for cutting eoun- gkriggle, v. i. ' See scriggle.
ters for shoes and for making rands ; a leather- gtriilt. V. i. See scrike.
skiving mach.ne.-4. An old form of dirk.- gtrimmaget. «• See scrimmage.
t, ^ rfZ"\ ,^"' '"•*"• ^ [P^<"^--,^S.«-l Skrimpt, r. See scrimp.
'^^^J^J"^^^'^'"-*- t<««''"-^.»] To skewer; gkrimlcWt. skrimshander, skrimshanker,
r.. »., and a. Same as .•icrimalitin'.
n.]
inipalc
"no right through a man." rejoined Sam, rather sulkily.
"Blessed If he diiln't near cKorr my bone."
skringe, r. See smni/e.
■TcVriTiTBihUfitoQiiensUnd,!. 221. Sfaippet. ". An obsolete form of »cn>l.
Skron (skron), n. A unit of weight, 3 hundred-
kiy'*r), v. i. [Origin obscure. ]_ To weight of barilla, 2 hundredweight of almonds.
_^ _ . ... skmfft, n. See scruff^.
skryt. See »eryl, scry^.
skiver^ (skiv . „
scatter; disperse; fly apart or in various direc
tions, as a nock of birds.
At the report of a gunthe frightened flcKk^wOI dsrt skryOt (skri'fer), B. [< slry : see «T3fl.] One
_.j .. .. .„ -.„■■ 11..J .1.1 ^j^^ descries; specifically, a necromancer's or
sorcerer's assistant, whose business it was to
inspect the divining-glass or -crystal, and report
what he saw in it.
The offlce of inspector of his glass, or, as it was termed,
ttryer, a name not, as Disraeli supposed, invented by [Dr.
John] Dee.
T. Wright, Karratlres of Sorcery and Magic (1851X I. 23a
Skt. A contraction (used in this work) for San-
skrit.
skua (skii'ft), n. [Shetland skooi, the skua
{shooie, schooi, the Arctic gull, Lestris paraaiti-
cns), < Norw. skua = Icel. skiimr, also skafr, the
skua, Stercorarius catarractcs. The orig. form
is uncertain, and the etymological relation to
the like-meaning srout^, scnuty-aulin, q. v., is
not clear.] A gull-like predatory bird of the
family iMridie and subfamily Stercorariime or
f^stridinie, especially Stercorarius or Megalcs-
tris rntarractcs, or M. skua, the species original-
ly called by this name, which nas since been
extended to the several others of the same sub-
family. The common or great skua is about 2 feet long.
about In terror, tkicer, as It is technically called, making
the second shot as dUBcuIt as the flrst la easy.
Shore Bird*, p. SS.
skiver-wood (ski'v6r-wftd), ». Same as prick-
timlxr.
skivie (skiv'i), a. [Also skevie; cf. skive^, skiffs,
xAvifi.] Out of the proper direction; deranged:
askew. [Scotch. ]
" What can he mean by deft [daft)?" " He means mad,"
iaid the party appealed to. . . . "Ye hare It," said Peter,
'• that Is, not clean Mat, but ."
Sealt, Kedganntlet, tIL
skiving (ski'ving), «. [Verbal n. otskive^, v.]
1 . The ofwration of taking off the rough fleshy
parts from the inner surface of a skin by short
oblique cuts with a curriers' knife. — 2. The
reject,ed thickness of leather of the flesh side,
when leather is split for thin shoes and the like.
When the part selecteil is the grain side, the thin piece of
the flt'sh slile is called tkiring; but when the thicker part
Is the flesh fttde, as prepared fur chamois, the thinner grain,
side piece is the niter.
---. --. ^ knife used
Also skiver.
ikiving-knife (ski'ving-nif), n.
for paring or splitting leather.
GKat Skua (Megatestrt's catarractfs).
broad to their tips, and project only about 2 inches. A simi-
lar skua inhabits southern seas, S. (or M.)antarctietts. The
poniatorhine skua, or jiiger, S. (or Lestris) pomarinus, is a
smaller species, alM>ut 20 inches long, and otherwise dif-
ferent. Still smaller and more ditferent skuas are the
parasitic, 5. (or Lettrits) parasiticus, and the long-tailed,
S. bti/oni, in which the long projecting tail-feathers are
acuminate and extend 8 or 10 inches beyond the rest.
The skuas are all rapacious marine birds. In the United
States the great skua is usually called sea-hen, and the
others are known as tnarliiispikes and boatswains. A
local English name of the great skua is seahawk. See
arcticltird, Lestris, and Stercorarius.
skna-gnll (sku'ii-gul), n. A jager or skua ; es-
pecially, the great skua.
skuet, i". An obsolete form of sketch.
skug, scug (skug), ». [Also (Sc.) scong, skoog ;
< Icel. skugiji = Sw. skugga = Dan. skygge, a
shade, = AS. seiia, scfiwa, a shade; cf. Dan.
skygge = Sw. skugga = Icel. skyggja, older skyg-
gva, overshadow: see sky^ and show^.] 1.
Shade; shelter; protection. [North. Eng. and
Scotch.]
Under the scoug of a whin-bush. Leighlon.
2. A place of shelter. [North.Eng. and Scotch.]
--3. The declivity of a hill. [Prov. Eng.] —4.
A squirrel. [Prov. Eng.]
Skugg, you must know, is a common name by which all
squirrels are called here [London], as all cats are called
Puss. B. Franklin, quoted in The Century, XXXII. 263.
skug, scug (skug), V. t. ; pret. and pp. skiiggcd,
scugged, ppr. skugging, sciigging. [< skug, scug,
1. To shelter; hide. — 2. To expiate.
And aye, at every seven years' end,
Yel Uk him to the linn ;
For that a the penance he maun dree.
To seti'r his deadly sin.
Young Benjie (Child's Ballads, 11. 308).
[North. Eng. and Scotch in both senses.]
skuggery, scnggery (skug'^r-i), n. [< skug +
-<rv.] Secrecy. [Prov. Eng.]
sktiggy, SCUggy (skug'i), a. [< sk-ug + -y^.J
SCUggy (skug'i), a. [< skug +
SliacTy. •lamio'iiii. [Scotch.]
Skuing, "• See skewing.
Skulduddery (»kul-dud'^r-i), «. and a. [Also
sculdudry, sculduddcry (also skuldugqery, U. S. ) ;
origin obscure — the word, like others of like
implications, being variable in form and indefi-
nite in sense.] I. n. 1. Crossness; obscenity;
unchastity. Ramsay. [Scotch.]
There wasmuch singingof profane sangs, and birllngof
red wine, and speaking blasphemy and gculduddery.
Scott, Kedgauntlet, letter xi.
2. Rubbish.
n.o. Rubbishy; obscene; unchaste. [Scotch.]
The rental'book . . . was lying beside him ; and a book
of sculiiuddery sangs was put betwixt the leaves, to keep
It open. Scott, Kedgauntlet, letter xl.
skulk (skulk), V. [Also scvlk; < ME. skulken,
sculken, scolkcn, < Dan. skulkc = Norw. skulka =
Sw. skolka, skulk, slink, play truant (cf. Icel.
skolia, skulk, keep aloof, skollkini, 'skulker,' a
poetic name for the wolf, skolli, 'skulker,' a
name for the fox, and for the devil); with for-
mative -k (as in lurk, < ME. luren, E. loicer),
from the verb appearing in D. schuilen, LG.
schulen, skulk, lurk in apiding-place, G. dial.
schulen = E. scoict^, hide the eyes, peep slyly:
see scowl^.] I. intrans. To withdraw into a
comer or into a close or obscure place for con-
cealment; lie close or hidden from shame, feai
of injury or detection, or desire to injure an-
other; shrink or sneak away from danger or
work; lurk.
Skidking In comera. Shak., W. T., i 2. 288.
He skulked from tree to tree with the light step and
prowling sagacity of an Indian bush-flghter.
ScoU, Woodstock, xxxili.
U. trans. To produce or bring forward clan-
destinely or improperly. Edinburgh Rev. (Imp.
Diet.) [Bare.]
skulk
skulk (skulk), n. [Also sculk; < skuJkj r.] 1.
Same as skulker.
Ye do but brin^ each runaway and skulk
Hither to seek a shelter.
Sir H. Taylor, Isaac Comneims, iv. 2.
"Here, Brown ! East ! you cursed young gkulka," roared
out yiaahman, coming to his open door, ■'! know you're
in — no shirking." T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, i. 8.
2t. A number of foxes together ; henee, a uiun-
ber of other animals or of persons together : as,
a skulk of thieves.
Scrawling serpents with seuleks of poysoned adders.
Stanihurst, Conceites, p. 138.
When beasts went together in companies, there was
said to be ... a drove of kino ; a flock of sheep; a tribe
of goats ; a »ktUk of foxes.
Struttt Sports and Pastimes, p. 80.
skulker (skul'ker), n. [Also sculker; < ME.
sculkercj sculcare ; < skulk + -crl.] 1. One who
skulks, shrinks, or sneaks, as from danger,
duty, or work.
There was a class of skulkers and gamblers brought into
Andersonville from both the Eastern and Western armies,
captured in the rear by the rebel raiders.
The Cetitury, XL. 606.
2. pi. In omith.y specifically, the LaUtores.
Skulkers is the descriptive title applied to the Water-
Rail, the Oom-Crake, and their allies, which evade ene-
mies by concealment U. Spencer, Prin. of Biol., § 349.
skulkingly (skul'king-li), adv. In a skulking
or sneakiue manner.
skulking-place (skul'king-jjlas), «. A place
for skulking or lurking; a hiding-place.
They are hid, concealed, . . . and everywhere And re-
ception and skxdking-places. Bacon, Fables, x., Expl.
skulU (skul), n. [Formerly also scull, also in
orig. sense sJcoll; < ME. skulky scollc, senile, also
schulle, a bowl, the skull or cranium (so called
from the bowl-like shape ; of. head-pan, brain-
pan)j < Icel. skdl = Sw. skdl = Dan. skaaly
a bowl, cup: see scaled; cf. skoal, skult^ =
scull^y etc.] 1. A bowl; a bowl to hold
liquor ; a goblet. Jamieson. [Scotch.] — 2.
The cranium; the skeleton of the head; the
Dony or cartilaginous framework of the head,
containing the brain and supporting the face.
5678
cepting the specially enlarged intermaxillary and infra-
maxitlary), the extensive and complete ankyloses of cranial
bones, the permanent and perfect distinctness of pterygoid
Human Skull, from the side, with the mandible disarticulated.
a, alisphenoid, or CTeater wing of sphenoid ; au, external auditory
meatus; M, basihyal.or txxiy of hyoid bone; r, occipital condyle;
c', ceratohya), or lesser cornu o( hyoid, the dotted line representing the
course and attachments of the stylohyoid ligament (see epthyal) ; co,
coronal suture ; tr, coronoid process of mandible ; cv. condyle of man-
dible ; ft frontal bone ; j, malar or jugal bone ; /, lacrymal bone (the
letter is placed in front of the nasal notch, and its line crosses the base
of the nasal process of the maxilla) ; la, lambdoid suture ; tn, mas-
toid process of temporal; ma, mandible; mx, maxilla, or superior
maxillary bone ; n, nasal bone ; o, occipital bone ; p, parietal bone ;
pt, pterj^oid process of sphenoid ; s, squamosa] section of temporal ;
sq, squamosal suture ; st, styloid process of temporal bone (or stylo-
hyal) ; ty, thyrohyal, or greater cumu of hyoid.
A skuU is possessed by all vertebrates exceptinpr the lance-
lets, and by no other animals. It is sometimes divided
into the skull proper, cranium in strictness or brain-box.
and the facial region or face. In the adult human skull
eight cranial and fourteen facial bones are commonly enu-
merated, though the real immber of osseous elements is
much larger. The eight cranial Ixjnes are the occipital,
two parietal, two temporal, frontal, sphenoid, and ethmoid.
The fourteen facial Ixmes are two nasals, two laciymals, two
superior maxillaries. two nialars, two palatals, two inferior
turbinals, one inferior maxillary, and one vomer. This enu-
meration of the b<jnes is exclusive of thebonelets of the ear,
which, however, are counted in vertebrates below mam-
mals. <>f these bones, the mandible, vomer, and frontal
arereally paired, or of lateral halves; thesupramaxiUary,
ethmoid, sphenoid, occipital, and temporal are compound
bones of several separate centers of ossification ; the rest
are simple. The most composite bone is the temporal,
whose ankylosed stylohyoid process (peculiar to man) is an
element of the liyuid arch. A skull of similar construction
characterizes mammals at large, though its figure is usually
quite different (owing mainly to production of the facial
and reduction of the cranial partsX and though some of the
bones which are confluent in man may remain distinct. In
birds the skull is characterized by the great size of the cra-
nial bones in comparison with that of the facial bones (ex-
B. Base of Human Skull, right half, outside, under surface : bo^
basioccipital, or basilar process; c. occipital condyle; ^, entrance to
Eustachian tube, reference -line e crossing foramen lacerum medium,
between which and e and 5 is petrous part of temporal bone ; g, glen-
oid fossa of temporal bone, for articulation of lower Jaw; m, mastoid
process; n, posterior nares ; pt, pterygoid fossa; so, supra -occipital ;
St, styloid process ; z, malar bone, joming zygomatic process of squa-
mosal to form zygomatic arch or zygoma ; i, 9, anterior and pos-
terior palatine foramen; 3, points in ftont of foramen lacerum medi-
um ; 4, foramen ovale ; 5, carotid canal ; 6, stylomastoid foramen ; 7,
foramen lacerum posterius, or jugular foramen.
C. Base of Human Skull, left side, interior or cerebral surface: a,
alisphenoid, or greater wing of sphenoid ; bo, basioccipital, or basilar
process of occipital ; c, cribriform plate of ethmoid ; f, orbital plate of
frontal ; g. crista galU ; o, orbitosphenoid, or lesser wing of sphenoid ;
P, pituitary fossa or sella turcica ; pa, parietal ; so, supra-occipital ;
sq, squamosal ; 3, foramen lacerum medium ; 4, foramen ovale (near
it in front is foramen rotundum, behind externally is foramen spino-
sum); 6, foramen lacerum posterius (just beneath o is foramen lace-
rum anterius); 7, meatus auditorius intemus, in the petrous portion of
temporal, between which and orbitosphenoid is the middle fossa, be-
fore which fossa is the anterior fossa ; bf^hind the middle fossa is the
posterior or cerebellar fossa. 6 is in foramen magnum.
bones, the formation of each half of the lower jaw by sever-
al recognizable pieces, and especially by the intervention
of a movable quadrate bone between the squamosal and
the mandible. Some other additional bones make their
appearance ; and the occipital condyle is always single. A
skull of similar construction to that of birds characterizes
reptiles proper ; but here again the cranial is small in com-
parison with the facial region (as in the lower mammals),
sometimes excessively so ; the skull is more loosely con-
structed, with fewer ankyloses of its several elements ; and
some additional bones not found in any higher vertebrates
first appear. The skulls of batrachians differ widely from
all the above. Some additional elements appear; some
usually ossified elements may be persistently cartilagi-
nous ; and branchial as well as hyoidean arches are seen
to be parts of the skull. The further modifications of
the skull in fishes are great and diversified : not only is
there much variation In the skulls of different fishes,
but also the difference between any of their skulls and
those of higher vertebrates is so great that some of the
bones can be only doubtfully homologized with those of
higher vertebrates, while of others no homologues can be
recognized. In these ichthyopsidan vertebrates, also, the
skull is sometimes permanently cartilaginous, as in sela-
chians ; in the lampreys the lower jaw disappears ; in the
lancelets there is no skull. In fishes, sdso, more or few-
er branchial arches are conspicuous parts of the skull,
forming usually, with the compound lower jaw, by far the
bulkier section of this collection of bones ; and in some of
them the connection of the shoulder-girdle with the skull
is such that it is not always easy to say of certain bones
whether they are more properly scapular or cranial. The
natural evolution of the skull is, of course, from the lower
to the higher vertebrates (the reverse of that above
sketched). Above lampreys and hags, after a lower jaw
has been acquired, the general course of evolution of the
skull is to the reduction in number of its bones or carti-
lages by the entire disappearance of some and the conflu-
ence of others, tending on the whole to the compactness,
simplicity, and symmetry of which the human skull is the
extreme case, and in which, as in the skull of any mam-
mal or bird, evidences of its actual osseous elements are
chiefly to be traced in the transitory centers of ossification
of the embryo. A good illustration of this is witnessed in
the condition of the bones of the tongue (hyoid arch) in
mammals; for even in birds (next below mammals) the
tongue has a skeleton of several distinct bones, the posi-
tion of which in a series of arches next after the mandibu-
lar and next before the branchial arches proper is evi-
dent. The base of the skull is generally laid down in car-
tilage. The dome of the skull and the facial parts are usu-
ally of membrane-bones ; ami to the latter some dermal
or exoskeletal bones may be added. Facial parts of all
skulls are of diff'erent character from cranial parts proper,
in that they belong essentially to the series of visceral
(liemal. not neural) arches : (1) upper jaw ; (2) under jaw ;
(3) tongue (liyoid), followed by more or fewer successive
branchial arches. The neural arches, or cranial segments
proper, are at least 3 (some count 4) in number, named
occipital, parietal, and frontal, from behind forward, rep-
resented respectively by (1) the occipital bone ; (2) the
basisphenoid, alisphenoid, and parietal bones; (3) the
presphenoid, orbitosphenoid, and frontal bones. With
these are intercalated or connected the sense-capsules of
the three higher senses — namely, of hearing, sight, and
smell — these being the skeletons of the ear, eye, and nose,
or the petrosal parts of tlie temporal, the sclerotic coat of
the eye, and the lateral masses of the ethmoid bone. Re-
maining hard parts of the head, and, as such, elements of
the skull, are the teeth, borne on more or fewer bones : in
mammals, when present, confined to the premaxillaries,
supramaxillaries, andinframaxillaries ; not present in any
existing birds ; in various reptiles and fishes, absent, or
skullcap
bonie upon the bones above named, and also, in that
case, upon the sphenoid, vomer, palatals, pteiygoids, hy-
oids, pharyngeals, etc. The l>ody of facts or principles
concerning skulls is craniology, of which craniometry is
one department, especially applied to the measurement of
human skulls for the purposes of ethnography or anthro-
pology. For the human skull (otherwise than as here
figured), see cuts under craniofacial, craniometry, crani-
um, eari, nasal, orbit, palate, parietal, and skeleton. For
various other mammalian skulls, see cuts under Balfe-
nidsB, Canid/e, castor, Catarrhina, Edentata, Elephantime,
Eqiivdee, Feiidie, Leporidss, Mastodontinse, JHvrid^e, ox,
pnyseter, Pteropodidse, ruminant, skeleton. Birds' skulls,
or parts of them, are figured under chondrocranitim, des-
mo(;natlimis, diploe, drom^seoijnathow^, GaUinte. Icfdhyomis,
quadrate, salivary, saurotjnathous, schizognathous, schizo-
rhinal, sclProttd ; reptiles', under acrodont, Chelonia, Croeo-
dilia, Crotidus, Cyclodus, Ichthyosauria, Ichthyosaurus,
Mosasauruh; Ophidia, periotic, Plesiosaurus, pleurodont,
pterodactyl, Piithonidee ; batrachians', nxxAcv Anura, yir-
dle-hone, Rana ; fishes', under Acipcnser, Esox, fish, Lepi-
dottiren, palatoquadrate, parasphenoid, Petromyzon, Spatu-
laria, Squatina, teleost. The absence of a skull appears
uwder Branchiostoma and Pharyngohranchii. The homol-
ogy of several visceral arches is shown under hyoid.
Tep him o the schulle. Ancren liiwle, p. 296.
This land [shall] be call'd
The field of Golgotha and dead men's skulls.
Shak., Rich. II., iv. 1. 144.
3. The head as the seat of iutelligeuee; the
sconce or noddle : generally used disparag-
ingly-
With various readings stored his empty skidl,
Learn'd without sense, and venerably dull.
Churchill, Rosciad, 1. 591.
SkuUs that cannot teach, and will not learn.
Cowper, Task, li. 394.
4. In armor, that part of a head-piece which
covers the crown of the head, especially in the
head-pieces made up of many parts, such as
the armet. See cut under secret.
Their anuour is a coate of plate, with a skuU on their
heads. Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 239.
First Gent. Dare you go forward ?
Lieut. Let me put on my ^ndl first ;
My head *8 almost beaten into the pap of an apple.
Fletcher, Humorous Lieutenant, iv. 4.
5. A large shallow basket without a bow-han-^
die, used for carrying fruit, potatoes, fish, etc.
[Scotch.] — 6. In metal,, the crust which is
formed by the cooling of a metal upon the
sides of a ladle or any vessel used for contain-
ing or conveying it in a molten condition.
Such a crust or skull is liable to form on the Bessemer
converter when the blowing has been continued beyond
the point of entire decarburization. — Skull and cross-
bones, the allegorical representation of death, or of
threatened death, in the form of a human skull set upon
a pair of crossed thigh-bones. It is nmch used on drug-
gists' labels uf poisonous articles, and for like warnings;
it also appears among the insignia or devices of various
secret societies, to impress candidates for initiation, to
terrorize outsiders, etc. — Skull of the ear, the petrosid
part of the temporal bone ; the otic capsule, or otocrane ;
the periotic bones collectively. See cut under ;>CTTOftc —
SkuU of the eye, the eyeball ; the sclerotic. See cut
under sclerotal, 7i.— Skull of the nose. See no«ei. —Ta-
bles of the skull, the outer and inner layere of compact
bony substance of the cranial walls, separated by an inter-
vening cancellated substance, the diploe. See cut under
diploe.
skull^, n. See saill^.
skulFt, "- An obsolete form of school^.
skuU^ (skul), n. The common skua, Megalestris
skua. Also scull,
skullcap (skul'-
kap), n. 1. Any
cap fitting close-
ly to the head;
also, the iron cap
of defense. See
skuin, 4.
The portrait of old Colonel Pyncheon, at two-thirds
length, representing the stern features of a puritanic-
looking personage, in a skull cap. with a laced band and a
grizzly beard. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, ii.
2. The sinciput; the upper domed part ot the
skull, rooting over
Iron Skullcaps, i6th century.
tw?
The Upper Part of the Flowering
Skullcap (Scutellaria ser-
Stem of
rata).
, the calyx
the brain ; the calva-
rium. See cut under
cranium. — 3. A mu-
rine rodent quadru-
ped of tlie family Lo-
phiomyidse. t 'oueSj
1884.— 4. A plant of
the gentis Scutellaria:
so called from the
helmet-like appen-
dage to the upper lip
of the calyx, which
closes the mouth of
the calyx after the
fall of the corolla.
The more familiar species,
as S. galerictdata, are not
showy; others are recom-
mended for the flower-
skullcap
garden, e8i>ecially S. macrantha from eastern Asia, which
produces abundant velvety dark-blue flowers. 5. Sloci-
fiHina is a scarlet-flowered greenhouse species from
Mexico. 5. laUrifiora of Xorth America li;is had some
apparently fll-groundeil recognition as a nervine, and was
once considered useful in hydrophobia (whence called
madiceed, or v\ad-dog skullcap). S. serrata, with large
blue flowers, is one of the handsomest wild American
species.
She discovered flowers which her brother told her were
horehound, dmU-capgy and Indian tobacco,
S. Judd, Margaret, i. 2.
6. A thin stratum of compact limestone lying
at the base of the Purbeek beds, and underlain
by a shelly limestone locally known as roach,
forming the uppermost division of the Portland
series, as this portion of the Jurassic is devel-
oped in the so-called Isle of Portland, England.
— 6. In entom., the upper part of the integu-
ment of the head, incluiUng the front and ver-
tex. [Rare.]
skulled (skuld), a. [< Kkuin + -erf2.] Having
a skull ; craniate or cranial : noting all verte-
brates except the amphioxus, in translating
the term CraniaUi as contrasted with Acrania.
skullert, «. An obsolete spelling of sculler^.
skull-fish (skul'flsh), H. An old whale, or one
niori' than two years of age.
skullJ06, n. A variant of sculjo.
skull-less (skul'les), a. [< sl.-iill + -less.] Hav-
ing: no skull; acranial: specifically noting that
primarj- division of the Vertebrata which is rep-
resented by the lancelet and known as Acrania.
See cuts under Branehiostoma, lancelet, and
Phari/nfiohrdnehii.
skull-roof (skul'rof), n. The roof of the skull ;
the skullcap; the calvarium. Mivart.
skull-shell (skul'shel). n. A brachiopod of the
family Vraniidx.
skulpin, n. See sculjHn.
skumt, «. and v. An obsolete form of scum.
skunk (skungk), «. [Formerly also skunck,
Kiliiunckc (William Wood, 1C34) (in an early F.
toTvancangnresst); of Algonkin origin, Abenaki
seganku, Cree seecairk, a skunk.] 1. A fetid
animal of the American genus Mephitis, M.
mephitica. in conaeqnenceof its abnndanceand general
dlstribntion, as well as certain peculiarities, the oommon
Coaimon Skunk t,Mefhtlis mtfihitica).
skunk early attracted attention. It is mentioned in 1636
by 8a«ard-Xhtodat by several terms based on iu Indian
names, as teangamt, ouinaque, etc., and in the same pas-
sage, in his "History of Canada," this author calls it In
Fwnch "en/nn du diabU," a name long afterward qaoted
asspeciflc. Itii<theyi«il'aMaofKalm's"Trarels,"comroonly
translated polecat, a name, however, common to various
other ill scented MrulelidM. (See def. 2.) Chiitehe, ehin-
go, and movfelle (specillcalljr moufetu dAm&rimu) are
book. names which have not been F:nelishcd. Tiie .New
Latin synonyms are niimeroni!. Tlie animal inhahiu all
of temperate Nnrth America, and contirmes abutidant in
the most tliii'kly settled regions. It is aliout as large as
a house-cat, but »tont<rli<«lied, with shorter limbs, and
very long bushy tail, habitually erected or turned over
th"! back. The color is black or blackish, consplcuoiuly
bnt t<i a variable extent setoff with pore white —generally
as a frontal stripe, alarge crown-spot, a palrof broad diver-
gent bands along the sides of the back, and white liairs
mixed with the black onesof thetail. The fur is valnable,
and when dressed is known as Altuka mMf; the blackest
pelu bring the best price. The flesh is edible, when pre-
pared with sufficient care. The skunk is caniivorous. Tike
other memiwrs of the same fimdiy, with which its habits In
general agree ; It is very proliflc. bringing forth six or eight
young In burrows. The fluid which furnishes the skunk's
almost si>le means of defense was long supposed and Is still
vulgarly bclleveil to be urine. It is the peculiar s.irctlon
of a pair of perineal gbinds (first dissected by .leflrles Wy.
man In IM4i, similar to those of other JfM«(Wi'.//r, but very
highly developeil. with strong muscular walls, capacious
resorrolr, and copious golden-yellow secretion, of most
5679
offensive Buif ocating odor, capable of being spirted several
feet in flue spray, and of soon scenting the air for several
hundred y;inis. The pungent efMuvium is not less dura-
l)le than tliat of musk, when the least quantity of the fluid
has been spilled upon the person or clothes. It produces
nausea in some persons, and has occasionally been used in
minute doses as a remedy for asthma. Cases of a kind of
hydrophobia from the bite of the skunk, with fatal result,
have been reported, and appear to be auttientic. For tech-
nical characters, see Mephitis.
The Skwick or Pole-Cat is very common.
B. Bogert, Account of North America (Loudon, 1765X p. 225.
By extension — 2. Any species of one of the
American genera Mephitis, Spilogale, and Cone-
l>atus, and some others of the family Musielidx,
as the African zorille, Asiatic teledu or stink-
ard, etc. See these words. — 3. Abasefellow:
a vtilgar term of reproach. — 4. [< skunk, ».]
A complete defeat, as in some game in which
not a point is scored by the beaten party. [Vul-
gar, U. S.]
skunk (skungk), r. t. [In def. lin allusion to the
precipitate retreat or "complet* rout" caused
by the presence of a skunk ; in def. 2 appar. in
allusion to the sickening odor; < skunk, «.] 1.
To beat (a player) in a game, as cards or bil-
liards, completely, so that the loser fails to
score. [Vulgar, IT. S.] — 2. To cause disease
in or of ; sicken; scale, or deprive of scales:
said of fish in the live-well of a fishing-smack.
[New Eng.J
8kunkbill(skungk'bil),B. S&vae a,s skunkhead,!.
skunk-bird (skungk'b^rd), ». Same as skunk-
bhickliinl.
skunk-blackbird (skungk'blak'berd), n. The
male bobolink in full plumage: from the re-
semblance of the black and white coloration to
that of the skunk. See bobolink.
skunk-cabbage (skungk'kab'aj), n. See cab-
bane^.
Skunkery (skungk'6r-i), n. ; pi. skunkeries (-iz).
[< skunk + -erg.'] A place where skunks are
kept and reared for any purpose.
skunk-farm (skungk'ffirm), n. Same as skunk-
tnj.
Skunkhead (skungk'hed), n. 1. The surf-sco-
ter, a duck, (Edemia pvrspicillata : referring to
the black and white coloration, like that of a
skunk. Also called skunkbill and skunktop. See
cut under Pelionetta. ' [New Eng.] — 2. The
Labrador or pied duck. See cut under pied.
Webster, 1890.
skunklsh (skung'kish), a. [< skunk + -i«Al.]
Siiielliiit,' like a skunk; stinking. [U.S.]
skunk-porpoise (Hkungk'pfir'pus), ». See^o*--
poise, iiiid cut under Lagenorhynchus.
skunktop (skungk'top),n. Biaaefis skunkhead,!.
skunkweed (skungk wed), n. Same as skunk-
ruhhift/e.
skunner, r. and «. See scunner.
Skupshtina (skupsh'ti-nS), n. [Serv., assem-
I»ly ; Sarodna Skupshtina, National Assem-
bly.] The national assembly of Servia, con-
sisting of one chamber and comprising 178
members, three fourths elected and one fourth
nominated by the crown. Thereisalsoalargerelected
iKHly called the Great .Skupshtina, wliich deliberates on
<ineiitions of extraordinary importuice.
skurft, ". An obsolete form of scurfs.
skurring (skur'ing), n. The smelt. [North.
EiiK.J
skurry, n. and r. See scurry.
skut, «. See scufi.
skutet, n. See scout*, schuit.
Skutterudite, n. [< Skutterud (see def.) +
-ite-.] An arsenide of cobalt found in tin-
white to lead-gray isometric crystals, also mas-
sive with granular structure, at Skutterud in
Norway. Also called by the Germans tesgeral-
kies,
Skuttle. A spelling of scuttle^, scuttle^.
skyi (ski), M.; pi. skies (skiz). [Early mod. E.
also skye, skie ; < ME. sky, skye, skie (pi. skies,
ski/cs, skewcs, skcwis, skiwes), < Icel. sky = Dan.
8w. sky, a cloud, = OS. srio, scco, region of
clouds, sky ; ef. Sw. Dan. sky-himmel, the sky
(himmel, heaven : see heaven). Cf. AS. sciia,
scuwd = OHG. scuuio = Icel. skuagi, sha<le,
shadow (see skug) ; akin to AS. sdr, E. shower^,
AS. 'sciim, E. scum, etc., ult. < -^ sku, cover.
For the transfer of sense from ' cloud' to ' sky,'
cf. u>elkin, < .VS. tcolcen, the usual AS. word for
'cloud.'] It. A cloud.
That brigte tkis bi-foren hem flegt.
Genait and Exodut (E. G. T. 8.X I. 3643.
He . . . leet a certain wynde to go.
That blew so hidously and hye,
That it ne leet« not a itkye
In al the welken longe and brood.
C/taxtca; House of Fame, L 1000.
skyft
2. The region of clouds, wind, and rain ; that
part of the earth's atmosphere in which mete-
orological phenomena take place: often used
in the plural.
A thondir with a thicke Rayn thrublit in the aketees.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 7619.
An hour after midnight the skie began to clear.
Sandys, Travailes, p. 168.
Heavily the low sky raining
Over tower'd Camelot.
Tennyson, Lady of Shalott, iv.
3. The apparent arch or vault of heaven, which
in a clear day is of a blue color ; the firmament :
often used iu the plural.
A clene conscience schal in that day
More proflte, & be more sett by,
Than al the muk & the money
That euere was or schal be vndir the «A:y.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 179.
Betwixt the centred earth and azure skies.
Spenser, Muiopotmos, 1. 19.
4. The supernal heavens; celestial regions;
heaven : often in the plural with the same sense.
He raised a mortal to the skies;
She drew an angel down.
Dryden, Alexander's Feast, 1. 179.
5. The upper rows of pictures in a picture-gal-
lery ; also, the space near the ceiling. [Golloq.]
— Open sky, sky with no intervening cover or shelter.—
The hole in the sky. Same as coal-sack, 2. —To the skies,
to the highest degree ; very highly : as, to laud a thing to
the skies.
Cowards extol true Ourage to the Skies.
Conyreve, Of Pleasing.
skr^ (ski), V. t.; pret. and pp. skied, ppr. skijing.
[<skp'^, »(.] To raise aloft or toward the sky;
specifically, to hang near the ceUing in an ex-
hibition of paintings. [CoUoq.]
Fine, perhaps even flner than usual, are M. Fantln-La-
tour's groups of flowers, two of which have been sense-
lessly skied. The Academy, No. isOO, p. 367.
sky^, ('. A variant of shy^.
sky-blue (ski'blo'), a. and n. I. a. Of a lumi-
nous blue suggesting the color of the sky, but
really very unlike it from deficiency of chroma.
H. n. 1. A luminous but pale blue, supposed
to resemble the color of the sky. — 2. Skimmed
milk ; poor, thin, watery milk ; milk adulter-
ated with wat-er : jocularly so called, in allusion
to its color.
Oh ! for that small, small beer anew.
And (heaven's own type) that mild sky-blue
That wash'd my sweet meals down.
Hood, Retrospective Review.
sky-bom (sld'b6rn), a. Bom or produced in
the sky ; of heavenly birth. Carlyle, Sir Wal-
ter Scott.
sky-clad (ski'klad), a. [Tr. of Skt. digam-
bnra, ' having the four quarters for clothing.']
Clothed in space ; naked. [CoUoq.]
The statues of the Jinaa in the Jain t«mples, some of
which are of enormous size, are still always quite naked ;
but the .Tains themselves have abandoned the practice,
the Digambaras being Ocy-dad at meal time oidy, and the
Swetambaras being always completely clothed.
Eitcyc. Brit,, XIII. 544.
sky-color (sM'kul'qr), n. The color of the sky ;
a particular tint of blue ; azure.
A very handsome girdle of a sky colour and green (in
French called pers et vert).
Urguhart, tr. of Rabelais, 11. 31.
sky-colored (ski'kul'ord), a. Like the sky in
color; blue; azure. Addison.
sky-drain (ski'dran), n. An open drain, or a
drain filled with loose stones not covered with
earth, round the walls of a building, to prevent
dampness; an air-drain,
sky-ayed (ski'did), a. (Jolored like the sky.
There figs, sky-dy'd, a purple hue disclose.
W. Broome, in Pope's Odyssey, xi. 727.
Skye (ski), «. [ShoTttoi Skye terrier.] A Skye
terrier. See terrier.
skyey (ski'i), a. [Also sometimes «fc»ey; (.sky^
+ -ey.] 1. Like the sky, especially as regards
color: as, skyey tones or tints. — 2. "Pi'oeeeding
from or pertaining to the sky or the clouds;
situated in the sky or upper air.
A breath thou art.
Servile to all the skyey influences.
That dost this habitation, where thou keep'st.
Hourly afllict. Shak., M. for M., IIL i. 8.
Sublime on the towers of my skyey bowers
Lightning, my pilot, sits. Shelley, The Cloud.
The Hindoos draw
Their holy Ganges from a skiey fount.
Wordsworth, Excursion, iii.
Bky-flower (ski'flou'fer), n. A plant of the ge-
nus Duranta (which see).
skyftt, n. A Middle EngUsh form of shift.
5680
sky-gazer
sky-gazer (skJ'ga'zer), «. 1. Xaut, a skysail.
— 2. A fish of Oie family Cranoscopidae. Sir J.
liiehnrdxoii. See star-gazer.
sky-high (sId'M'), a. As high as the sky; very
high.
Utgaid with his tty-high gates . . . bad gone to air.
Carlyle.
The powder-magazine of St John of Acre was blown
up dtyhiyh. Thacktray, Second Funeral of Napoleon, ii.
skyish (ski'ish), a. [< styi 4- -,*-/.i.] Like the sky-rocket (sM'rokJ^et)^ «.
sky; also, approaching the sky. [Bare. J
The skyish head
Of blue Olympus. Shak., liamlet, v. 1. 270.
slab-grinder
sk'pja, slime, slop, slimy offal of fish : seesJopl.]
Moist earth; slime; puddle; mud. £. PhiUipis,
170G.
skyrin (ski'rin), a. [Prop, sl-iriiig, ppr. of slab'^(slab),a. l<slab^,n. Cf. slabhy.} Thick;
' hire, var. of sheer^, r.] Shining; gorgeous; viscous; pasty.
Of curdled skyr and black bread
Be daily dole decreed.
Whitlier, The Dole of Jarl Thorkell.
[Scotch.]
flaunting; showy; gaudy
But had you seen the philabegs,
An' skyrin tartan trews, man.
Burm, Battle of Sherift-lluir
straight up in the air as it sings.
skylark (ski'lark), «. The common lark of sky-rOCket (ski'rok"et), v. i. To move like a
Europe, Alauda arvensis: so called because it
mounts toward the sky and sings as it flies.
skylark {Aiaui^ arvtHsit).
Also called sJcy-lavcrock, rising-lark, field-larl;
simrt-lieeled larl; etc. The name extends to
some other true larks, and also to a few of the
pipits.— Australian skylark, a dictionary name of an
Australian bird, Cinclorhamphits cantiUatu (or cruraiis), etv-sett Cski'set) n
which may have a habit of rising on wing to sing. Its °^^ °^"' ^ i"
systematic position is disputed, but it is neither a lark
nor a pipit. It is about 9 inches long, and of varied
brownish and whitish coloration. It is found in South
Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, and north to Rock-
ingham Bay on the east coast.— Missouri skylark, ^n- cV-irtA r and « See skitc
thus or Neocorys spragxm, Spragues pipit, which abouiids , J. • 1 . /„tiV Vati « A sallv-tiort (1\
on some of the western prairies, especially in the Dakotas SKyt-gatet ^SKIC gat;,_ n._ A saiiy poit (j;.
and Montana, and has a habit of singing as it soars aloft,
like the true skylark of Europe : originally named by Au-
dubon Sprayue'g Missouri lark (Alauda 3tj}rayueii),Via dis-
covered bv Mr. Isaac Sprague, near Fort Union, on the
upper Missouri river, June 19th, 1843. It is a pipit, not
a true lark.
skylark (ski'lark), V. i. [< skylark, n. ; with an
allusion to lark'^.'] To engage in boisterous fun
or frolic. [Colloq.]
I had become from habit so extremely active, and so
fond of displaying my newly acquired gymnastics, called
by the sailors sky-larkiny, that my speedy exit was often
prognosticated. Marryat, Frank Mildmay, iv.
Skylet, n. and f. A Middle EngUsh form of »J,*°h„i,^, „„^
skill.
skyless (ski'les), a. [< »%1 + -less.'] Without
sky; cloudy; dark; thick.
A soulless, skyless, catarrhal day. Kirvjsley, Yeast, i.
skylight (ski'llt), ». A window placed in the
roof of a house, or in a ceiling; a frame set with
glass, whether horizontal or in one or more in-
clined planes, and placed in a roof or ceiling,
or in some cases, as in photographers' studios,
forming a considerable part of the roof, for the
purpose of lighting passages or rooms below, or
for affording special facilities for lighting, as
Make the gruel thick and slab.
Shak., Macbeth, iv. 1. 32.
The worms, too, like the rain, for they can creep easily
over the slab ground, opening and shutting up their bodies
A rocket that as- '■'"' telescopes. P. Itobimoii, Under the Sun, p. 77.
cends high and burns as it flies: a species of slab'' (slab), n. [Origin obscure.] The wry-
firework singing sky-rocket, an occasional name of neck, lynx torquilla. [North. Eng.]
the whitethroat, SyTvia cinerea, from its habit of rising slabber^ (slab'er), V. [Also slohbcr (and slub-
^^^^^^ ^^^ ^ _ ^ j^j,^ ^l^j^gj.^,^^ ^ jjj)_ slabbcren —
LG. slubbcrti, > G. schlabhcrn, lap, sup, slaver,
slabber, = leel. slafra, slaver; freq. of MD.
slabben, slaver, slabber, D. slabbcn = MLG.
alabbcn, lap as a dog in drinking, sup, lick, >
G. schlabben, slaver, slabber (cf. schlabbe, an
animal's mouth) ; cf. slaver^ (< Icel.), a doublet
of slabber.] I. intrans. To let saliva or other
liquid fall from the mouth carelessly ; drivel ;
slaver.
You think you're in the Country, where great lubberly
Brothers slamer and kiss one another when they meet
Conyreve, Way of the World, iii. 15.
II. trans. 1. To eat hastily or in a slovenly
manner, as liquid food.
To slabber pottage. Baret.
2. To wet and befoul by liquids falling care-
lessly from the mouth ; slaver; slobber.
He slabbereth me all over, from cheek to cheek, with his
great tongue. Arbuthnot, Uist. John Bull.
3. To cover, as with a liqviid spilled; soil;
befoul.
Her milk-pan and cream-pot so slabber'd and sost
That butter is wanting, and cheese is half lost.
Ttisser, April's Husbandry, st. 20.
slabber^ (slab'er), re. [Also slobber, q. v. : < slab-
ber^, v. Ct. slaver''-, n.] Moistnre falling from
the motith ; slaver.
slabber^ (slab'er), n. [< slah''^ + -erl.] 1. One
who or that which slabs; specifically, a saw
for removing the slabs or outside parts of a
log. — 2. In metal-working, a machine for dress-
ing the sides of nuts or the heads of bolts.
slabberdegulllont (slab "er-de-gul' yon), n.
Same as slubberdegnlHon.
Slapsauce fellows, stabberdegtdlion druggela, lubbardly
louts. Urquhart, tr. of Eabelais, i. 25. (Dames.)
slabberer (slab'er-6r), n. [Also slobberer, q. v. ;
< slabber^ + -er'.'] One who slabbers; a driv-
eler.
Slabbery (slab'er-i), a. [Also slobbery, q. v. ; <
■ ■" ' - Covered with slabber; wet;
sky-rocket; rise suddenly, explode, and dis-
appear: literally or figuratively. [Colloq.]
skysail (ski'sal), n. A light sail in a square-
rigged vessel, next above the roj-al. It is some-
times called a skyscraper when it is triangular,
also a sky-gazer. See cut under ship.
skyscape (skl'skap), «. [< sky'' + -scape as in
landscape. Ct. seascape.] A view of the sky;
a part of the sky within the range of vision,
or a picture or representation of such a part.
[Bare.]
We look upon the reverse side of the skyscape.
Ii. A. Proctor, Other Worlds than Ours, p. 130.
sky-scraper (sld'skra"per),«. 1. Animaginary
sail, set along with moon-sails, sky-gazers, and
the like, jokingly assumed to be carried in the
days when sail-power was the sole reliance at
sea, and United States ships had the reputa-
tion of being the fastest afloat. — 2. A triangu-
lar skysail. — 3. A ball or missile sent high up
in the air; anything, as a high building, which
reaches or extends far into the sky. [Colloq.]
Sunset.
The Elfln court will ride ; . . .
0 they begin at sky set in,
Ride a" the evenin' tide.
ram-a-Z/in« (Child's Ballads,!. 262).
Cot-
ton, tr. of Montaigne's Essays, xiv. (Davies.)
sky-tinctured (sld'tingk"turd), a. Of the color
of the sky.
Shadow'd from either heel with feather'd mail,
Sicy-titxetured grain. ' Milton, P. L., v. 285.
skyward, skywards (ski'ward, -wardz), adv.
I'sky^ + -ward, -ivards.] Toward the sky.
Watching the twilight smoke of cot or grange.
Skyward ascending from a woody dell.
Wordsworth, Sonnets, ii. 9.
S. L. An abbreviation of south latitude.
,, n. [< ME. slab, slabbe, sclabbc; slubber' + -«/!.]
perhaps an altered form of *slap, related to E. sloppy.
dial, slappcl, a piece, portion, and prob. slapc. Our frost is broken since yesterday; and it is very rfo6-
Slippery, < Norw. sleip, slippery, > skip, a iery. SMif(, Journalto Stella, xxxviiL
smooth piece of timber for dragging anything slabbiness (slab'i-nes), n. [< slahby -t- -ness.]
over, esp. a piece of timber used for the founda- Slabby character or condition; muddiness;
for artists' or photographers' needs.
sky-line (ski'Un), n. The horizon; the place
where the sky and the earth or an object on
the earth seem to meet.
skyme (skim), «. The glance of reflected light.
Jumieson. [Scotch.]
An' the skirm o" her een was the dewy sheen
O' the bonny crystal-well.
• Lady Mary o' Craignetlian.
skyn, ". Same as sakeen.
sky-parlor (ski'par"lor), n. A room next the
sky, or at the top of a building; hence, an attic.
[Humorous.]
Now, ladies, up in the sky-parlour; only once a year, if
you please. Dickens, Sketches, Scenes, xx., motto.
skypett, »• Same as skippet^.
skyphos (ski'fos), n. Same as scyphus, 1.
sky-pipit (ski'pip'it), u. An American pipit,
Antiius (Neocorys) spraguei; the Missouri sky-
lark (which see, under skylark).
sky-planted (ski'plan"ted), a. Placed or plant-
ed in the sky. [Bare.]
How dare you ghosts
Accuse the thunderer, whose bolt, nou know.
Sky-planted, batters all rebelling coasts?
Shak., Cymbellne, v. 4. 96.
skyr (sker), ». [Icel. skyr, curdled milk, curds,
= Dan. skjor, curdled milk, bonnyclabber.]
Curds; bonnyclabber.
tion of a road: see slope, slip''.] 1. A thick
piece of timber; especially, the outer cut of a
tree or log when sawed up into planks or boards.
Save dap of thy timber for stable and stye.
Tusser, September's Husbandly, st. 35.
The proprietor had erected a slab hut, barkroofed, lying
at an angle of say 35° to the street
H. Kingdey, Hillyars and Burtons, xlviii.
In rear of the kitchen was a shed, a rough frame of
slabs and poles. S. Judd, Margaret, L 3.
2. A thick plate of stone, slate, metal, etc.
A sldb of ire [iron].
Pop. Treatises on Science (ed. Wright), p. IS.").
3. In general, a piece of anything solid and _
compact, heavy, and thin in proportion to its glabiiing-machine (slab'ing-ma-shen"), n. In
length and breadth, but thick enough not to be mctal-ivork, a form of milling-machine for mill-
pliable, especially when of considerable size. j„g t^g flat parts of connecting-rods and simi-
We should know hardly anything of the architecture of lar work.
Assyria but for the existence of the wainscot dabsoi their giabbine-Saw (slab'ing-sft), n. A saw designed
palaces. J. Feryusson, Hist Arch., I. 209. ggpggi Jlv for slabbing logs. In some mills such
Specifically —4. A flat stone, or plate of iron or g^ws are'nsed in gangs. See slabbing-gang.
glass, on which printing-ink is sometimes dis- gjab-board (slab'bord), n. A board cut from
tributed for use on a hand-press. — 5. A thick ^jjg ^^^^ of a log so that it has bark and sap-
web or bat of fiber. E.H. Knight — Bendlng-slab, wood upon one side; a slab,
a large slab of iron having numerous holes arranged in „i„i,i,„ (glab'i), a. [< slab"^, a., + -i/l. Cf. Gael
rotr,il«r nrrlor nisMl for the nurnose of bending frame and Bitiuuy V?'"".'/! '*• L _ . ' '_ , -4 - „,,,.,.
sloppiness.
The playnes and fyeldes are therby ouerflowen with
marisshes, and all iorneys incumbered with continuall
waters and myrie slabbytiesse vntyl by the beneflte of the
new wynter the ryuers and marisshes bee frosen.
Jt Eden, tr. of Paolo Oiovio (First Books on America,
[ed. Arber, p. 310).
The way also here was vei-y wearisome through dirt and
slabbiness. Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 334.
slabbing-gang (slab'ing-gang), «. In a saw-
mill, a gang of saws in a gate by which a cen-
tral balk of required width is cut from a log,
while the slabs at the sides are simultaneously
ripped into boards of desired thickness. £. H.
Knight.
regular order, used for the purpose of bending frame and
reverse angle-irons to a required shape. Pins are driven
into the holes to secure the heated frames in position
until they set— Slab of bone, a layer of whalebone or
baleen.— Slabs of Uu, the lesser masses of the metal run
into molds of stone.
slabl (slab), v.t.; pret. and pp. slabbed, ppr. slab-
bing. l<.tlab'',n.] To cut slabs or outside pieces
from, as from a log, in order to square it for use,
or that it may be sawn into boards with square
edges.
Slab2 (slab), n. [Also »i!o6 (and stub), q. v. ; < Ir.
iUfb, slafb sf Gael, slaib, mire, mud, Cf. Icel.
slaibcach, miry, < slaib, mire, mud.] 1. Thick;
viscous.
In the cure of an ulcer with a moist intemperies. slabby
and greasy medicaments are to be forborne, and dicing to
be used. Wiseman, Surgery.
2. Wet; muddy; slimy; sloppy.
Bad slabby weather to-day.
Swift, Journal to Stella, xzxlT.
slab-grinder (slab'grin'd6r), n. A machine for
grinding to sawdust the refuse wood from a
saw-mill.
slab-line
slab-line (slab'lin). «. Xaut., a rope rove
through a block on a lower yard and used to
trice up the foot of a course, either to assist in
furling or to lift the foot of the sail so that the
helmsman can see under it.
>'or must it be taken offensively that, when Kings are
haling up their top-gallants, Subjects lay hold on their
dablina. A'. Ward, .Simple Cobler, p. .50.
slab-sided (slab'si'ded), a. Having tlat sides
like slabs; hence, tall and lank. Also slap-sided.
[CoUoq.]
One of those long-legged, slab-sided, lean, sanbomed,
cabbage-tree hatted lads.
U. Kingdey, Geoflry Hamlyn, p. 353.
You didn* chance to run ag'inst my son,
A long, dab-sided youngster with a gun?
Lowett, Fitz Adam's Story.
slabstone (slab'ston), n. Eock which splits
readily into slabs or flags; flagstone. Some au-
thors restrict the name jia^sUme to rock which splits
along its planes of stratification, and call that dabgUjtie of
which the separation into serviceable flat tables, flags, or
slabs is due to the development of a system of joint- or
cleavage-planes.
atact-, o. A Middle English form of slack^.
slack^ (slak), a. and n. [Early mod. E. also
slak; < ME. slac, slal; sclak, < AS. sleec, sleac,
slack, slow, = 08. slak = D. slack, sleek = LG.
slack = OHG. MHG. slack, G. dial, schlack, slack,
= Icel. slakr = Sw. Dan. slak, slack, loose ; per-
haps akin to Skt. V sari, let flow. Some assume
a connection with L. langture, languish, laxus,
loose (V lag, for orig. 'slag f ): see languish, lax^.
Hence «tectl, v., slaked, slacken^, etc. Cf. slack^,
slag^. The W. yslac, distinct, loose, slack, is
prob. < E. The words slack and slake in their
various local or dialectal meanings are more or
less confused with one another.] I. a. It. Slow
in movement; tardy.
With dake paas. Chauixr, Knight's Tale, 1. 2043.
For the slak payments of wages that is alwals here, he
wol not in no wise serve any lenger.
Sir J. SUU to Henry VIII. (Ellis's Hist. Letter*. 3d ser.,
2. Slow in flow; sluggish or at rest: as, slack
water: specifically noting the tide, or the time
when the tide is at rest — that is, between the
fliuc and reflux.
Diligently note the time of the highest and lowest wa-
ter In euery place, and the slate or still water of full sea.
Uakhtyt's Voyagei, I. 436.
3. Slow in action; lacking in promptness or
diligence; negligent; remiss.
Hy semants are so staeke, his Malestle
Might haue been here before we were preparde.
Beyieood, I Edw. IV. (Works, ed. Peaiaon, 1874, 1. 68).
The Lord Is not slack concerning bis promise, as some
men count shickuess. 2 Pet lit 9.
I use divers pretences to ImfTow, bat I am very slack to
repay. J. Bradford, Works (Parker 8oc., 18S3X IL 861.
4. Not tight ; not tense or taut ; relaxed ; loose :
as, a slack rope; slack rigging; a slack rein;
figuratively, languid; limp; feeble; weak.
Those well-winged weapons, rooorolng as they flew.
Slipped from the bowstring impotent and slaai,
■ As to the archer* they would fain tnhi hack.
Drayton, Barons' War*. IL 86.
Prom his dock hand the garland wreathed for Ere
Down diopp'd, and all the faded ro*e* (bed.
Jfflftm, P. L., U. 892.
8. Not compacted or firm; loose.
Sdak sonde lymons A lene, unswete A depe.
Faliadiua, Uuabondrle (E. E. T. k), p. 173.
6. Lacking in briskness or activity; dull: said
especially of business.
The messenger fortunately found Mr. ."tolomon Pell in
court, regaling himself, business being rather slack, with
the cold collation of an Abemethy biscuit and a saveloy.
Dickens, Pickwick. Iv.
A (lack hand. Bee Aond.— Slack barrel SeeftarrW.
— Black In stays {tuna.), slow In going about, as a ship.
—Slack twist, ^eerirwt.— Slack water, (a) Ebb-tide;
the timi' whiMi the tide i* out. (6) In hydravl. enffin , a
pool or pond behind a dam serving tor need* of naviga-
tion. .Such pondsare used with a series of dams and loiks,
to render small streams navigable. — Slack-water liatil.
See /ishingplace, 2.=Syn. 3. Carelees, dilatory, tardy, In-
active.
n. w. 1. The part of a rope or the like that
hangs loose, having no stress upon it; also,
looseness, as of the parts of a machine.
I could Indulge him with some dack by unreeving a
fathom of line. II. D. Blaekmore, Maid of Sker, 111.
A spring washer incloses one of the di»r knob shanks,
to Uke up any Uaek there may be In the parts, and insure
a perfect nt on the dixjr. &». Amer., S. S., LXIL 197.
2. A remission ; an inteo-al of rest, inactivity,
or dullness, as in trade or work ; a slack period.
Though there 's a slack, we haven't done with sharp work
yet, I can see. T. Ilwihes, Tom Brown at Oxford, II. xxi.
When there Is a stack, the merchants are all anxious to
gettbelr vessels deliv^retl as fast as tliey can.
Mmhtv, London Labour and Ixindon Poor, III. 237.
5681
3. A slack-water haul of the net: as, two or
three slacks are taken daily. — 4. A long pool
in a streamy river. HaUiwell. [Prov. Eng.]
slack^ (slak), adv. [< slack^, a.] In a slack
manner; slowly; partially; insufficiently: as,
slack dried hops ; bread slack baked.
slack '^ (slak), i: [< slack^, a. The older form
of the verb is slake : see s/oAcl.] I. intraits.
1. To become slack or slow; slacken; become
slower: as, a current of water s/«fA-.«. — 2. To
become less tense, firm, or rigid ; decrease in
tension.
If He the bridle should let slacke.
Then euery thing would run to wracke.
Heywood, Hierarchy of Angels, p. 91.
3. To abate ; become less violent.
The storme began to dacke, otherwise we had bene in ill
case. HakluyVs Voyages, I. 453.
4. To become languid ; languish; fail; flag.
But afterwards when charitie waxed colde, all their
studie and trauaile in religion slacked, and then came the
destruction of the inhabitantes. Stmc, Annals, p. 133.
H. trans. 1 . To make slack or slow ; retard.
— 2. To make slack or less tense; loosen; re-
lax: as, to slack a rope or a bandage.
Slack the bolins there ! Shak., Pericles, ill. 1. 43.
Slack this bended brow.
And shoot leas scorn. B. Jontan, Catiline, ii. 1.
Whan he came to the green grass growin'.
He slackd his shoon and ran.
lady Maisry (Child's Ballads, II. 84).
3t. To relax; let go the hold of; lose or let slip.
Which Warner perceiving, and not willing to slack so
good an opportunity, takes advantage of the wind.
Eng. Stratagem (Arbers Eng. Uarner, I. 610).
4. To make less intense, violent, severe, rapid,
etc.; abate; moderate; diminish; hence, to miti-
gate; relieve.
A* he [Ascanius] was tossed with contrary stormes and
ceased to persuade me, euen soo docked my feruentnes to
enqayre any farther, vntyl the yeare of christe. 1500.
P«l£T Martyr (tr. in Eden s First Books on America,
(ed. Arber, p. 103).
I am nothing slow to dock his haste.
Shak., R. and J., iv. 1. 3.
If there be cure or charm
To respite, or deceive, or dack the pain
Of thU 111 mansion. Jfacon, P. L., IL 461.
6. To be remiss in or neglectful of; neglect.
What a remorse of conscience shall ye hare, when ye
remember bow ye have docked your duty : '
Latimer, Sermons, p. 231.
When thou shall vow a vow unto the Lord thy God,
thou Shalt not dock to pay it Dent xxlil. 21.
6t. To make remiss or neglectful.
Not to slack you towards thoae friends which are re-
ligious In other clothe* than we. Donne, Letters, xxx.
7. To slake (lime). See slakc^, v. t., 3.-8. To
cool in water. [Prov. Eng.]— To slack away, to
ease off freely, as a rope.— To slack off, to ease off; re-
lieve the tension of, as a nipc — To slack out. Same
as to slack atray.— To Slack over the wheel, to ease the
helm. — To Black up. (a) Same as to dack off. (6) To re-
tant the spi'ed of, aa a railway-train.
slack- (.slak), n, [Prob. < G. schlacke, dross,
slack, sediment : see staq'^. Slack^ is thus ult.
related with slack^.'] "the finer screenings of
coal ; coal-dirt ; especially, the dirt of bitumi-
nous coal. Slack Is not considered a marketable mate-
rial, but may be and Is more ur less used for making
prepared or artificial fueL Compare small coal, under
snuuf.
Slack^ (slak), n. [ME. «faA',' < Icel. «?«W-i, a slope
on a mountain's edge. Cf. slan'^, slake-, slack^,
4, slap'i.l It. A sloping hillside.
They took the gallow* from the dack,
Thev set it In the glen.
BMn Hoodrtscuiag Us Widows three Sons (Child's Hal-
(lads, V. 267),
2. An opening between bills; a hollow where
no water runs. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.] —
3. A common. [Prov. Eng.] — 4. A morass.
[Scotch.]
slack-backed (slak'bakt), a. Out of condition
in some way, as a whale.
It is well known freonently to happen, especially In
what are called dock backed llsh, that the spasmodic con-
vulsion and contraction which attend (he stroke of the
harpoon Is instantly followed by a violent heaving an<l
distention of the part, tiy which the wound is presented
twice as wide a* the barbs of the Instrument which made
It, and [It] is, therefore, often cast back out of IL
tianby. Voyage to Greenland, p. ISO.
slack-bake fslak'bak), r. t. To bake imper-
fectly; half-bake.
He wo!ild not allude to men once In office, but now hap-
pily out nf it, who had . . . diluted the beer, slack-baked
the bread, boned the meat, heightened the work, and
lowered the soup. Diekent, Sketches, iv.
slacken (slak'n), r. [< ME. 'slaknen, sleknen
(= Icel. slakna); < slack^ + -etA.'] I. intrans.
To become slack, (a) To become less tense, firm, or
slae
rigid: as, a wet cord dackens in dry weather. (6) To
become less violent, rapid, or intense ; abate ; moderate.
These raging fires
Will slacken, if his breath stir not their flames.
Milton, V. L., ii. 213.
(c) To become less active; fall off: as, trade dackemd;
the demand slackens; prices slacken, (d) To become re-
miss or neglectful, as of duty.
II. trans. To make slack or slacker, (a) To
lessen or relieve the tension of ; loosen ; relax ; as. to slack-
en a bandage, or an article of clothing.
Time gently aided to asswage my Pain ;
And Wisdom took once more the dacken'd Keign.
Prior, Solomon, il
His bow-string dacken'd, languid Love,
Leaning his cheek upon his hand.
Droops both his wings. Tennyson, Eleanore.
(6) To abate ; moderate ; lessen ; diminish the intensity,
severity, rate, etc., of ; hence, to mitigate ; assuage ; re-
lieve : as, to dacken one's pace ; to dacken cares.
Shall any man think to have such a Sabbath, such a rest,
in that election, aa shall slacken our endeavour to make
sure our salvation, and not work as God works, to his
ends in us? Donne, Sermons, xxiL
(c) To be or become remiss in or neglectful of ; remit ; re-
lax : as, to slacken labor or exertion.
slack-handed (slak'han''ded), «. Remiss ; neg-
lectful; slack. [Rare.]
Heroic rascality which is ever on the prowl, and which
finds well-stocked preserves under the Uack-handed pro-
tection of the local committee.
Edinburgh Rev., CXLV. 370.
slack-jaw (slak'ja), M. Impertinent language.
[Slang.]
" I ain't nuvver whooped that ft-way yit, mister," said
Sprouse, with a twinkle in his eye ; "but I mought do it
fur you, bein' as how ye got so much dack-jaw."
The Century, XXXVII. 407.
slackly (slak'li), adv. [< ME. slaklij ; < slack^
+ -/y2.] In a slack manner, (ot) Slowly ; in s
leisurely way.
We sayled forth doHy and easely ayenst the wynde, and
so the same daye ayenst nyght we come nyghe ye yle of
Piscopia. Sir R. Guylforde, Pyl^mage, p. 6&
(6) Loosely ; not tightly.
Her hair, . . . dackly braided In loose negligence.
Shak., Lover's Complaint, 1. 85.
(e) Negligently ; remissly ; carelessly.
That a king's children should be so convey'd.
So staekly guarded I Shak., Cymbellne, I. 1. 64.
(d) Without briskness or activity.
Times are dull and labor dackly employed.
The American, IX. 14a
slackness (slak'nes), n. [< ME. slaknesse, slac-
ncsse, < AS. slecnea, sleacncs, slackness, < slac,
sleac, slack : see slack^.'] The character or state
of being slack, in any sense.
Matters of such weight and consequence are to be
speeded with maturity: for in a business of moment a
man feareth not the blame of convenient dackness.
The Trandators to the Reader o/ Bible (A. V.), p. cxvL
slack-salted (slak'saPted), a. Cured with a
small or deficient quantity of salt, as fish.
slack-sized (slak'sizd), a. See sized^.
slad (slad), n. [A var. of «ted!el.] A hollow in
a hillside. See the quotation.
The general aspect presented by clay-bearing ground 1*
that which is locally known In Cornwall as ''dad," being
a hollow depression In the side of a hill, which catches wa-
ter as It drains from It, the water percolating througli the
soil assisting the decomposition of the granite beneath.
The Engineer, LXVIL 171.
slade^ (slad), 71. [< ME. slade, sited, < AS. slied,
a valley, < It. »tarf, a glen, valley.] 1. A little
dell or valley; a vale.
By-jonde the broke by slente other dade.
Alliterative Poeme{ed. Morris), I. 141,
Satyrs, that in dades and gloomy dimbles dwell.
Bun whooting to the hills.
Drayton, Polyolbion, 11. 190.
2. An open space or strip of greensward in a
wood or between two woods; a glade.
In the green wood dade
To meet with Little John's arrowe.
RMn Hood (Percy's Rellque*^ L 79.
St. A harbor; a basin.
We weyed and went out at Goldmnre gate, and from
thence in at Balsey slade, and so into Orwcl wands, where
we came to an anker. ilakluyt's Voyages, I. 310.
slade-t. An obsolete preterit of slide.
slade'"* (slad), «. [Origin obscure; cf. slane.']
1. A long narrow spade with a part of one
side turned up at right angles, used for cutting
peats; a peat-spade. [Ireland.]
The peat Is cut from the bog, in brick-shaped blocks, by
means of a peculiar spade known as a dade, and, after
being dried in^tacks, is used as fuel.
ilwdey. Physiography, p. 2S4.
2. The solo of a plow. A'. B. Knight.
slae (sla), «. A dialectal (Scotch) form of sloe.
To the grene-wood I maun gae,
To pu' the red rose and the slae.
Cospatrick (Child's Ballads, I. l«e>.
slaer
Slaert, w. A Middle English form of slayer.
slag^ (slag), n. [< Sw. slagg, dross, dross of
metal, slag, = 6. scMaeke, dross, slack, sedi-
ments (st7i/acA-eHS^<"iH, stone coming from scoria,
slag), = LG. slakke, scoria; cf. Icel. slagna,
flow over, be spilt, slag, wet, water penetrat-
ing walls, slagi, wet, dampness; akin to slack^.
Of. slack" and slacken^.] 1 . The earthy matter
separated, in a more or less completely fused
and vitritied condition, during the reduction
of a metal from its ore. Slags are the result of the
combination with one another, and with the fluxes added,
of the silicious and other minenil substances contained in
the ore, and they varj' greatly in character according to
the nature of the ores and fluxes used. Blast-furnace
slags are essentially silicates of lime and alumina, the
alumina having usually been present in the ore, and the
lime added (in the form of carbonate of lime) as a flux, or
as a means of obtaining a slag sutBciently fluid to allow
of the easy and complete separation from it of the re-
duced metal. The slag of ironfurnaces is frequently
called cinder.
Is bumt^jut passion's slag and soot
Fit soil to strew its dainty seeds on?
Lowell, Arcadia Rediviva.
2. The scoria of a volcano.
The more cellular kind [of lava] is called scoriaceous
lava ; or, if very openly cellular, volcanic scoria or tHag.
Dana, Manual of Geology (3d ed.), p. 727.
Foreground black with stones and slags.
Tennyson, Palace of Art.
slag^ (slag), V. i. ; pret. and pp. slagged, ppr.
slagging. [< slag^, n.] To form a slag, or to
cohere when heated so as to become a slag-Uke
mass.
slag- (slag), «. [A var. of slack^.'] A hollow or
depression of land. Earll.
slag-brick (slag'brik), n. Brick made from slag.
slag-car (slag'kar), «. A two-wheeled iron ear
used to carry slag from a furnace to a dump-
ing-place.
slag-furnace (slag'f6r"nas), n. A furnace for
the extraction of lead from slags, and from ores
which contain but very little lead.
Slaggy (slag'i), a. [< stofitl -f -i/l.] Pertaining
to or resembling slag: as, a hard slaggy mass ;
slaggy lavas.
slag-hearth (slag'harth), n. A rectangular fur-
nace built of fire-brick and cast-iron, and blown
by one twyer : it is sometimes used in treating
the rich slags produced in various lead-smelt-
ing operations. The Spanish slag-hearth, used
to some extent in England, is circular, and has
three twyers.
slaght-boomt, ». [Prop, 'slaghboom or *slach-
boom, repr. MD. slachhoom, D. slagboom, a bar,
< slaeh, slagh, J), slag, a blow (< slaan, strike, =
K. slay^), + 6o(»», beam: see beam, boot) fi.~i A
bar or barrier.
Each end of the high street leading through the Towne
was secured against Horse with strong daght-boomes which
our men call Turn-pikes.
Relation of Action before Cyrencester (1642), p. 4. (Davies.)
slag-shingle (slag'shing"gl), «. Coarsely bro-
ken slag, used as ballast for making roads.
slag-wool (slag'wul), n. Same as silicate cotton
(which see, under cotton^). It is occasionally
used as a non-conducting material, as in pro-
tecting steam-pipes.
slaiet, V. An obsolete form of slay'^.
slaightt, »'. Same as slait.
slain (sliln). Past participle of slay^ Letters
of Slains, in old Scol^ laic, letters inscribed by the rela-
tives of a person slain, declaring that they had received an
assythment or recompense, and containing an application
to the crown for a pardon to the murderer.
slaister (slas't^r), ». [Prob. ult. (with inter-
change of sk and st) < Sw. slaska, dash with
water (sla^k, wet), = Dan. slaske, dabble, pad-
dle: see sla^hy, and at. slosh, slush.'i 1. Dirty,
slovenly, or slobbery work; a mess.
"Are you at the painting trade yet?" said Meg ; "an
ed to make with it lang syne."
Scott, St. Ronan's Well, ii.
unco daister ye used to make with it lang syne."
2. A slobbery mass or mess.
The wine! . . . if ever we were to get good o 't, it was by
taking it naked, and no wi' your sugar and your daisters
— I wish, for ane, I had ne'er kend the sour smack o *t.
Scott, St. Ronan's Well, xxxii.
slaister (slas'tfer), v. [< slaister, ».] I. trans.
To bedaub.
H. intrans. 1. To slabber; eat slabberingly
or in a slovenly manner.
Hae, there *8 a soup parritch for ye ; it will set ye bet-
ter to be daistering at them. Scott, Antiquary, x.
2. To move or work in a slovenly, dirty, or
puddling manner: as, slai^tering through a
muddy road. [Scotch in all uses.]
slaistery (slas't6r-i), a. and n. [Also slaistry; <
slaister + -yi.] I. a. Slabbering; sloppy; disa-
greeable: as, slaistery work; slaistery weather.
5682
II. n. 1. Dirty or slabbery work. — 2. The
mixed refuse of a kitchen. [Scotch in all uses.]
slait (slat), II. [Formerly also slaight; origin
obscure.] 1. An accustomed run for sheep.
Aubrey. Hence — 2. A place to which a person
is accustomed. Halliwell. [Pi-ov. Eng.]
slake^ (slak), f. ; pret. and pp. slaked, ppr. slak-
ing, [{a) Slake, intr., ME. slaken, sicken, slakien,
< AS. slcacian, become slack or remiss (in
comp. dsleacian); (6) E. dial, slatch, tr., < ME.
slekken, < AS. sleccan = OS. slekMan, quench,
extinguish (cf. Icel. slokva, pp. slokinn, slake.
Sw. slacka, Dan. slukke, quench, allay, slake);
< slxc, slcac, slack: see slack^. Cf. slacks, v.,
a doublet of staA-pl.] 1, intrans. It. To become
slack ; loosen ; slacken ; fall off.
When the body's strongest sinews dake.
Then is the soul most active, quick, and gay.
Sir J. Davies, Immortal, of Soul, ill.
2t. To be lax, remiss, or negligent.
Hit were to long, lest that I sholde dake
Of thing that bereth more effect and charge.
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 619,
3t. To become less strong, active, energetic,
severe, intense, or the like; abate; decrease;
fail; cease.
Thi sigte and heeryng bigynneth to dake.
Thee needith helthe and good counsaile.
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. 71.
When it dreew too the derk & the dale slaked,
The burd busked too bedde.
Alisaunder of Macedoine (E. E. T. S.), 1. 714.
As then his sorrow somewhat 'gan to slake,
From his full bosom thus he them bespake.
Drayton, Barons' Wars, v. 14.
4t. To desist; give over: fall short.
They wol not of that flrste purpos slake.
Chaucer, Clerk's 'Tale, 1. 705.
But 3eue me grace fro synne to flee,
And him to loue let me neuere dake.
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. 11.
5. To become disintegrated and loosened by
the action of water ; become chemically com-
bined with water : as, the lime slakes.
II. trans. 1 . To make slack or slow ; slow ;
slacken.
At length he saw the hindmost overtake
One of those two, and force him turne his face ;
However loth he were his way to slake,
Yet mote he algates now abide, and answere make.
Spender, F. Q., V. viii. 5.
2. To make slack or loose ; render less tense,
firm, or compact; slacken. Specifically — 3.
To loosen or disintegrate; reduce to powder
by the action of water : as, to slake lime. Also
slack. — 4t. To let loose; release.
At pasch of Jewes the custom was
Ane of prison to slake,
Withonten dome to latt him pas
ffor that hegh fest sake.
MS. Harl. 419«, If. 209 (Cath. Aug., p. 342).
5. To make slack or inactive ; hence, to quench
or extinguish, asfire, appease orassuage,ashun-
ger or thirst, or mollify, as hatred : as, to slake
one's hunger or thirst; to slake wrath.
To dake his hunger and encombre his teeth.
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 2006.
It could not dake mine ire nor ease my heart.
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., i. 3. 29.
A wooden bottle of water to dake the thirst in this hot
climate. Pococke, Description of the East, I. 131.
Air-slaked lime, lime which has been converted into a
mixture of hydrate and carbonate by exposure to moist air.
— Slaked lime, or hydrate of lime, (juicklime reduced
to a state of powder by the action of water upon it. In
the process the lime combines chemically with about one
third of its weight of water, producing a great evolution
of heat.
slake^ (slak), n. [< ME. slake, appar. a var. of
slak, *slakke, < Icel. slakki, a slope on a moun-
tain's edge: see slack?. The word seems to be
confused in part with slake^, and slack^, «., 4.]
1 . A channel through a swamp or mud-flat.
There, by a little slake. Sir Launcelot wounded him sore,
nigh unto the death. Morte d'Arthure, vi. 5.
Yarrow Slake, a ruined haven half-fllled by the wash of
sand and soil, which still receives the waters of the Tyne
at flood, and is left dry at ebb. You have to wind round
this basin, or slake as it is called, to reach Shields.
W. Howitt, Visits to Remarkable Places (ed. 1842), p. 140.
The narrative of adventures by day and by night in a
gunning punt along i\\c slakes oft Holy Island is pervaded
by the keen salt breezes from the North Sea.
Atheneeum, No. 3208, p. 348.
2. Slime or mud.
Being dreadfully venom'd by rolling in dake.
W. Hall, Sketch of Local Hist, of the Fens, quoted in
(N. and Q., 6th ser., X. 188.
slake^ (slak), V. t. ; pret. and pp. slaked, ppr.
slaking. [Prob. < Icel. sleikja = Sw. slicka =
D&i^. slikke, lick, = late MHG. sleeken, G. schlcck-
en, lick, lap, eat ravenously; perhaps akin to,
slander
or in some senses confused with, sleek, slick^,
sKnt-l.] To besmear; daub. [Scotch.]
Slake^ (slak), n. [< slakc^, v.'] A slovenly or
slabbery daub ; a slight dabbing or bedaubing
as with something soft and slabbery ; a " lick."
[Scotch.]
May be a touch o' a blackit cork, or a dake o' paint.
Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xviL
slake* (slak), n. [E. dial, also slaiike, sloke,
slukc; perhaps connected with slake^.'] A name
of various species of Algie, chiefly marine and
of the edible sorts, as Viva Lactuca, U. latis-
sinia, and Forphyra laciniata: applied also to
fresh -water species, as Enteromorpha and per-
haps Conferva. [Prov. Eng.]
slake-kale (slak'kal), «. Either of the sea-
weeds I'tirpliyra and JJlva Lactnca.
slakeless (slak'les), a. [< slake^ + -less.'] In-
capable of being slaked or quenched ; inextin-
guishable; insatiable. Byron.
slake-trough (slak'trof), «. A water-trough
used by blacksmiths to cool their tools in forg-
ing.
slakin (slak'in), n. See slacken^.
slam^ (slam), r. ; pret. and pp. slammed, ppr.
■ilamming. [< Sw. dial, slamrna = Norw. .^leiiu
ma, sleinba, strike, bang, slam, as a door; cf.
the freq. form Icel. slainra, slambra = Norw.
slainra, slam; cf. Sw. slamra, prate, chatter,
jingle, slammer, a clank, noise; perhaps ult.
akinto«/fl^l.] I. trans. 1. To close with force
and noise ; shut with violence ; bang.
Mr. Muzzle opened one-half of the carriage gate, to ad-
mit the sedan, . . . and immediately slammed it in the
faces of the mob. Dickens, Pickwick, xxv.
2. To push violently or rudely; beat; cuff.
[Prov. Eng.] — 3. To throw violently and with
a loud, sudden noise : as, to slam a book down
upon the table. — 4. In card-playing, to beat by
winning all the tricks in a hand or game.
II. intrans. To move or close violently and
with noise ; strike violently and noisily against
something.
The door is damming behind me every moment, and
people are constantly going out and in.
Macaulay, in Trevelyan, I. 265.
The wind suddenly arose, the doors and shutters of the
half-uninhabited monastery dammed and grated upon
their hinges. R. Curzon, Monast. in the Levant, p. 195.
slam^ (slam), n. [< slatii'^^, r.] 1 . A violent and
noisy collision or bang, as when a door is sud-
denly shut by the wind, or by a vehement push :
as, the shutters were closed with a slam. — 2.
The winning of all the tricks in a hand at whist,
or in a game of euchre. — 3. The refuse of alum-
works.
slam^t (slam), n. [Origin obscure.] An old
game at cards.
Ruffe, slam, trump, noddy, whisk, hole, sant, new-cut.
Unto the keeping of foure knaves he'l put.
John Taylor, Works (1630). (Jfares.)
At Post and Paire, or Slam, Tom Tuck would play
This Christmap, but his want wherwith says nay.
Herrick, Upon Tuck.
slam^ (slam), n. [Cf. D. slomp = G. schlampc, a
slattern {schlainpen , be dirty or slovenly) ; prob.
a nasalized form, < D. .slap = G. schlajf = Dan.
slap = Sw. slapp, lax, loose, lazy. Cf . slainkin.']
An ill-shaped, shambling fellow.
Miss Hoyden. I don't like my lord's shapes, nurse.
Nurse. Why in good truly, as a body may say, he is but
a slam. Vanbrugh, The Relapse, v. 5.
slam-bang (slam'bang'), adv. and a. Same as
slap-bang.
slamkin (slam'kin), n. [Also slammerkin; Sc.
slammikin, also slamniacks ; appar. < slaiii'^ +
-kin.] 1. A slatternly woman; a slut. [Prov.
Eng.] — 2. A loose nioming-gown worn by
women about the middle of the eighteenth cen-
tury. It was trimmed with cuffs and ruffles of
lace.
slan (slan), n. A dialectal plural of sloe. Also
skins.
slander (slan'd^r), n. [Early mod. E. alsos^awH-
der, slaundre; < ME. slanndcr, sclaunder, sclan-
dre, sclaundre, sklaundre, sclondre, < OF. esclan-
dre, esclaundre, with interloping I (cf. si- often
scl- in ME.) for older escandrc, escandle, escan-
delc, scandcle = Pr. escandol = Sp. escdndalo =
Pg. cscandalo = It. scandalo, < LL. srandalum,
offense, reproach, scandal: see scandal, of -which
slander is thus a doublet.] 1+. A cause of stum-
bling or offense ; a stumbling-block ; offense.
Mannes sone shal sende his angels, and ther shulden
gedre of his rewme alle sclaundris, and hem that don wick-
idnesse. Wyclif, Mat. xiii. 41.
2t. Reproach ; disgrace ; shame ; scandal.
slander
Thei aellen Benefices of Holy Chirche. And ao doo Men
in othere Places. God amende it, whan bis WiUe is. And
tliat is gret Sciaundre, Mandetnlle, Travels, p. 19.
Thou sta}tder of thy mother's heavy womb I
Thou loathed issue of thy father's loins !
Shak., Rich. UI., i. 3. 231.
3t. Ill fame ; bad name or repute.
The gdauTidre of Walter ofte and wyde spradde.
Chaucer, Clerks Tale, 1. 6«6.
You shall not find me, daughter.
After the dander of most stepmothers,
Evil-eyed nnto you. Shak., Cymbeline, i. 1. 71.
4. A false tale or report maliciously uttered,
and intended or tending to injure the good
name and reputation of another: as, a wicked
and spiteful slander; specifically, in laic, oral
defamation published without legal excuse
(Cooley). Defamation if not oral is termed itftr/. Asper-
sions spoken only to the subject of them are not in law
deemed slander, because not injurious to reputation ; but
when spoken in the hearing of a third person they are
deemed published. Slander is a tort only to be proceeded
for in a civil action, while libel is also puuishaole crimi-
nally.
To balcbyten and to bosten, and bere fals witnesse ;
To scomie and to scolde, sdaundreg to make.
Piert Plmeman (C), iii. 86.
Zander consists in falsely and maliciously charging an-
other with the commission of some public offense, crimi-
nal in itself, and indictable, and subjecting the party to
an infamous punishment, or involving moral turpitude,
or the breach of some public trust, or with any matter in
relation to his particular trade or vocation, which, if true,
would render him unworthy of employment, or, lastly,
with any other matter or thing by which special injury is
wuUlned. Kent.
Quick-ch-'culating danden mirth afford
And reputation bleeda in ev'ry word.
ChurekOt, The Apology, L 47.
5. The fabrication or uttering of such false re-
ports; aspersion ; defamation ; detraction: as,
to be given to slander.
The worthiest people are the most injured by tlattder.
Swift.
slander (slan'd^r), r. /. [Early mod. E. also
slaunder, sclaunder; < ME. slaunderen, scUiun-
deren, sclaundren, sclaindren, skaunderen, < OF.
esclandrer, esclandrir, e.irandrer, offend, dis-
grace, < escUindre, cncandrc, offense, scandal:
see slander, n. Cf. scandal, p.] If. To be a
stumbling-block to ; give offense to ; offend.
And who eaere schal tdaundre oon of thes litle bileuynge
in me. It is good to him tliat a roylne stoon of sssis were
don aboute nis necke, and were sent in to the see.
Wyd\f, Mark Ix. 41.
2t. To discredit ; disgrace ; dishonor.
Tax not ao bad a voice
To dander mtuic any more than once.
Shot., Much Ado, U. S. 47.
3. To speak ill of; defame; calumniate; dis-
parage.
When one is enill, be doth desire that all be eaill ; It he
be telaundered, that all be defamed.
Oueeara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577X p. 95.
The leaf of eKbmtine, whom not to dander,
Oot-cweeten'd not thy breath.
Shot., Cymbeline, Ir. 2. 223.
Specifically— 4. In /air, to utter false and in-
jurious tales or reports regarding; injure or
tarnish the good name and reputation of, by
false tales maliciously told or propagated.
See slander, n., 4, and compare libel. — 5. To re-
proach; charge: with \tith.
To dander Valentine
With falsehood, cowardice, and poor descent
Shak., T. O. of v., UL 2. 81.
= 8yn. 4. Defame, Calumniate, etc. See onerw.
slanderer (slan'd^r-«r), n. [< ME. sklannderer;
< sliniitrr, r., + -er^.'] One who slanders; a ca-
lumniator; adefamer; one who wrongs another
by maliciously uttering something to the injury
of his good name.
The domes lalle than be redv
Title the iHaunderert of Ood alle myghty.
Uampcle, Prlcke of Conscience. 1. 7042.
Bailers or danderert, tell-tales, or lowers of dissension.
Jer. Taylor.
slanderfuUyt (slau'der-ful-i), ndr. [< 'glander-
ful (< alander + -ful) + -/y2.] Slanderously:
calumniously.
He had at all times, before the judges of Us cause, used
himself nnreverently to the King's Majesty, and dander-
/uUy towards bis council.
Ctnineit Book, quoted in Strype's Cranmer, I. 322.
Slanderons (slan'd^r-us), a. [< OF. esclan.
dreiix, < cscltindre, slander: see slandei: Cf.
scandalouM.a.'] If. Scandalous ; ignominious ;
disgraceful; shameful.
The vile and dandeniu death of the cross.
Boo* </ UomUiet (lS7S)i
Igly and dandertnu to thy mother's worabv
Full of nnpleasing blots and sightless stains.
Shak., K. John, UL 1. U.
5683
2. Containing slander or defamation; ca-
lumnious ; defamatory : as, slanderous words,
speeches, or reports.
He hath stirred up the people to persecute it with ex-
probations and danderotts words,
Lalimer, 6th Sermon bef. Edw. VI. , 1549.
As by flattery a man opens his bosom to his mortal
enemy, so by detraction and a glanderous misreport he
shuts the same to his best friends. South.
3. Given to slander; uttering defamatory words
or tales.
Done to death by danderoug tongues
Was the Hero that here lies.
Shak., Much Ado, v. 3. 3.
slanderously (slan'der-us-li), adv. In a slan-
derous manner; with slander; calumniously ;
with false and malicious report. Rom. iii. 8.
slanderousness (slan'd^r-us-nes), «. Slander-
ous or defamatory character or quality.
slanet (slan), n. [< Ir. sleaghan, a turf-spade,
dim. of sleagh, a spear, pike, lance. Cf. slade^.}
A spade for cutting tui^ or digging trenches.
Dig your trench with dams.
Ellis, Modern Husbandman (1760), IV. ii. 40. {Dames.)
Unfortunately, in cutting the turf where this was found,
the slane or spade struck the middle; it only, however,
bruised it Col. Valiancy, quoted in Archteologia, VII. 167.
slangi (slang). An obsolete or archaic preterit
of idingi.
slang- (slang), ». [Ori^n obscure; perhaps,
like slanket, connected with «/anA-,' slim, and ult.
with sling^.] A narrow piece of land. Also
slanket. Balliicell.
There runneth forth into the sea a certain shelf e or dang,
like nnto an out- thrust tongue, such as Engli^men in old
time termed a File.
Holland, tr. of Camden, p. 715. (Daviet.)
Eventually, though rery beat, he struggled across a
couple of grass fields into the dang adjoining Brown's
Wood. The Field, April 4, 1885. {Encyc. Diet.)
slang^ (slang), n. [Of obscure cant origin ; the
form suggests a connection with sling, in a way
indicated by the use of skiig and fling in ' to
sling epithets,' 'to fling reproaches,' etc., and
by similar uses of related Scand. forms, as
Norw. steng, a slin^ng, a device, a burden of
slang-whanger
certain professions, occupations, and classes of society,
such as racing slang, college dang, club dang, literary
datig, political dang. (See cant2.) slang enters more or
less into all colloquial speech and into inferior popular
literature, as novels, newspapers, political addresses, and
is apt to break out even in more serious writings. Slang
as such is not necessarily vulgar or ungramniatical ; in-
deed, it is generally correct in idiomatic form, and though
frequently censured on this ground, it often, in fact, owes
its doubtful character to other causes. Slang is often
used adjectively : as, a slang expression. See the quota-
tions below.
The smallest urchin whose tongue could tang
Shock'd the dame with a volley of dajig.
Hood, Tale of a Trumpet
Cant, as used in the phrases "thieves' cant, " "tinkers'
cant," "printers' cant," or the cant of any craft or calling,
is really a language within a language, and is intended to
conceal the thoughts of those who utter it from the un-
initiated. Slang, on the other hand, is open to all the
world to use, and its ranks are recruited in various ways.
X. and Q., 7th ser., VIII. 841.
Center slang, thieves' slang in which the middle vowel
of a word is taken as its initial letter, and other letters
or syllables are added to give the word a finish, as lock
becomes "ockler, " pitch, "itchper," etc. Kibton-Tumer,
Vagrants and Vagrancy, p. 478.— Riming slang, a kind
of cant or secret slang spoken by street vagabonds in Lon-
don, consisting of the substitution of words or sentences
which rime with other words or sentences intended to be
kept secret : as. "apples and pears" for stairs; "Cain and
Abel" for o table. See back-dang. =Bjll. 2. Slang, Col-
loquialism, etc. See cant'^.
slang-' (slang), V. [< clangS, ».] I, infrans. To
use slang; employ vulgar or vituperative lan-
guage.
To slang with the fishwives.
Mayhem, London Labour and London Poor, III. 360.
n. trans. To address slang or abuse to ; be-
rate or assail with vituperative or abusive lan-
guage; abuse; scold.
Every gentleman abused by a cabman or danged by a
bargee was bound there and then to take off his coat and
challenge him to fisticuffs. The Spectator.
As the game went on and he lost, and bad to pay. . . .
he droppeil his amiability, danged his partner, declared
he wouldn't play any more, and went away in a fury.
H. Jatnes, Jr., Little Tour, p. 89.
These drones are posted separately, as "not worthy to
be classed," and privately danged afterwards by the Mas-
ters and Seniors. C. A. Bristed, English University, p. 100.
a song; slengja, sling (slengja kjeften, abuse, slang-« (slang), «. [Origin obscure and various ;
lit. 'sling the jaw'); »teHg/ena»i«, a nickname; at. slang^, slang^.'] 1. Among London eoster-
slengje-ord, an insulting word or allusion; Icel
sli/ngr,sliingum, enuning: seesling^. The noun,
in this view, must have arisen in quasi-com-
position (slang-patter, slang-vtorii, slang-name,
etc.), or else from the verb. Evidence of early
use is lacking. The word has nothing to do with
language or lingo, and there is no evidence to eS'
mongers, a counterfeit weight or measure.
Some of the street weights, a good many of them, are
aisn^. but I believe they are as honest as many of the
shop-keepers' after all.
Mayhew, London Labour and' London Poor, II. 104.
2. Amongshowmen: («) A performance. (6)
_A traveling booth or show. May hew. — 3. A
tablish a Gipsy origin.] 1. The cant words or hawker's license: as, to be out on the slang
jargon used by thieves, peddlers, beggars, and (that is, to travel with a hawker's license).
the vagabond classes generally ; cant. [Thieves' slang.]
Sang In the sense of the cant language of thieves ap- Blang^ (slang), w. [Cf. slangS, slang*.'\ 1. A
!ars in print certainly as early as the middle of the last watch-chain. [Thieves' slang.] — 2. pi. Leg-
»,»«_ 1. .... .„.i_.i.„i ._ ._ K.. ....._., _- irons or fetters worn by convicts. Theslangscon-
sist of a chain weighing from seven to eight ponijds and
about three feet long, attaclied to ankle-basils riveted on
the leg, the slack being suspended from a leather waist-
band: hence the name,
Slangily (»lang'i-li), adv. [< slangy + -«j/2.] In
slang or slangy usage ; by users of slang ; ir-
reverently.
The simple announcement of what is sometimes dangUy
pan at .ill from lUoriginal s,.nse. In the thirteenth chap- ""'*'' "" »<'''«""»°8 ^odge. The Advance, Dec. 23, 1886.
ter of that work, one of the characters is represented as slanglness (slang'i-nes), n. [< slanqy + -ness.'\
trying to_overhe«r_ a conversation, . . . but . . . "what Slangy character or quality: as, the slanginess
of one's speech.
Their speech has less pertness. flippancy, and 82ani;t»e88.
Athenxum, No. 3288, p. 682.
Slangrillt, «. [Origin obscure; cf. slangS and
gangrel.'] A lout; a fellow: a term of abuse.
The third was a long, leane, olde, slavering slangrUl,
with a Vrasill staffe in the one hand, and a whipcord in
the other.
, . Green«, Quip for an Upstart Courtier. (Davies.)
Let proper nurses be assigned, to take care of these .i , , , ,-,.., r/ . q ■
babesof gracetyoangthleves). . . . Themasterwhoteaches SlangUlar (slang gu-lar), a. [< slangS -I- -
pears
century. " It was included by firose in his " Dictionary of
the Vulgar Tongue," published In 1785. But It was many
years before It was allowed a place in any vocabulary of
our speech that confined itself to the language of good
speakers and writers. Its absence from such works would
not neeessarily Imply that it had not been in frequent use.
Still, that this never had been the case we have direct evi-
dence. .Scott, in his novel of "Kciiganntlet," which ap-
peared In 1824, when using the word, felt the necessity of
defining it; and his definition shows not only that it was
generally unknown, but that it had not then begun to de-
dld actually reach his ears was disguised so completely by
the use of cant words and the thieves' Latin called dang
that, even when he caught the words, he found himself as
far as ever from the sense of their conversation." No one
who Is now accustomed either to speak slang (in def. 2), or
to speak of the users of it, would think of connecting it
with anything pecoIUr to the language of thieves. Yet
it is clear from this one quotation that the complete
change of meaning which the term has undergone has
taken place within a good deal less than sixty yean.
The Nation, Oct 9, 1890, p. 289.
^ „ -iilar;
formed after angular j etc.'] Having the nature
or character of slang; slangy. [Humorous.]
Little Swills is treated on several hands. Being asked
what he thinks of the proceedings, he characterises them
(his strength lying in a dangvlar direction) as "a runmiy
start." Dickens, Bleak House, xi.
Slang-'Vhang (slang'hwang), V. i. [A varied
redupl. of slanifi, p.] To use slangy or abusive
language ; talk in a noisy, abusive, or railing
way. [CoUoq.]
With tropes from Billingsgate's dang-jchanging Tartars.
Hood, Ode to Rae Wilson.
them should be a man well versed In the cant language
commonly called the ilattg patter, in which they should by
all means excel.
Jonathan WiUft Advice to his Successor (nss). (.Hotten.)
2. In present use, colloquial words and phrases
which have originated in the cant or rude speech
of the vagabond or unlettered classes, or, be-
longing In form to standard speech, have ac-
quired or have had given them restricted, capri-
cious, or extravagantly metaphorical meanings,
and are regarded as vulgar or inelegant. Ex-
amples of slang are rum for 'queer,' gay for 'dissolute.'
earned, tight, thud, etc., for ' intoxicated,' awfully for 'ex-
ceeiUnglj,' jotty for 'surprising, uncommon,' daisy tor slang-'Whanger (slang'hwang''''6r), M, Ascnrril-
;sfi;''r;'«TAV<L''^,''fof 'Te'Ttc"^ 'At^t ""^' ""■«» ",■■ vv'r p'-?"" • ^ r'^y- '"'"«^^«'
qulal slang also contains many words derived from thieves' or long-winrtod talker. [Colloq.J
cant, such as pal for 'partner, companion,' core for 'fel- It embraces alike all manner of concerns, from the or-
low, and ticker for 'watch.' There is a slang attached to ganlsatlon of a divan ... to the appointment of a coo-
slang-whanger
stable, the personal disputes of two miserable «?a»i^-tf^7if7-
ert, the cleiuiiag of the streets, or the economy of a dust-
cart Irvinri, Salmagundi, No, 14.
slangy (slang'i), a. [< slangi + -y^.'] 1. Of,
pertaining to, or of tie nature of slang : as, a
slangy expression. — 2. Addicted to the use of
slang.
Both were too gaudy, too datifry, too odorous of cigars,
and too much given to horsetlesh,
Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, ii. 4.
Blank (slangk), a. [= D. skink = MLG. slank =
MHG. slanc, G. schlank = Dan. slank (cf. Sw.
slankiij), slender, meager; cf. Dan. s?khAt«i,
lank, gaunt; connected with slink^, and prob.
ult. with slinki. Cf. taHfri.] Slim; slender;
lank. [Prov. Eng.]
He is a man of ruddy complexion, brown hair and slank,
hanging a little below his jaw-bones.
The Grand Impostor Examined (1656). (Davies.)
Blanket (slang'ket), n. [Cf. slank and slang'^.'\
Same as slang'^.
slant (slint). f. [Also dial. (Sc.) sclent, sklent.
sklint; < ME. slenten, sclenten, slope, glide, <
Sw. dial, sltnta, slanta, slope, glide, Sw. slinta
(pret. slant), slide, slip, glance (as a knife);
cf. Sw. slutta Cshinta), slant, slope, Sw. dial.
slant, slippery; cf. slink^. The Com. slyntya,
slide, glide along, W. ysglenf, a slide, are prob. <
E.] I. inirans. 1. To lie obliquely to some line,
whether horizontal or perpendicular; slope: as,
a slanting roof.
It . . . Rented doune to the erthe.
Kyns/e Arthure (ed. Southey), II. 281.
Lo ! on the side of yonder danting hill,
Beneatli a spreading oak's broad foliage, sits
The shepherd swain. Dodsley, Agriculture, iii. 244.
The shades that slanted o'er the green.
Keats, I Stood Tiptoe upon a Little Hill.
2. To go or turn off at a small angle from some
direct line; deviate: as, at this point the road
slants off to the right. Specifically —3. To ex-
aggerate ; "draw the long bow"; fib. [Scotch.]
— 4. To have a leaning; incline.
"Your minister sartin doos dant a leetle towards th'
Anninians; he don't quite walk the crack," Josh says, ses
he. II. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 483.
Slanting stitch, a stitch in double crochet-work produ-
ciiig short diagonal lines in the finished fabric.
fl. trans. To give a sloping direction to;
set or place at an angle to something else: as,
slant the mirror a little more.
slant (slant), a. and n. [< MB. slants, slonte, in
the phrase on slante, o slonte, a slante; < slant,
V. CL aslant.^ I. a. Sloping; oblique; inclined
from a direct line or plane.
The clouds
Justling, or push'd with winds, rude in their shock,
Tine the dant lightning. Jlillon, P. L,, x. 1075.
Clouds through which the setting day
Flung a slant glory far away.
Whittier, The Preacher.
The busiest man can hardly resist the influence of such
a day; farmers are prone to bask in the slant sunlight at
such times, and to talk to one another over line-fences or
seated on top-rails. E. Eggleston, The Graysons, x.vxi.
Slant fire, in gun. See/r«, IS.
n. n. 1. An oblique direction or plane ; a
slope.
It lies on a slant. C. liiehardsan.
2. An oblique reflection or gibe ; a sarcastic re-
mark.— 3. A chance; an opportunity. [Slang,]
— Slant of wind Oiaut.). a transitory breeze of favorable
wind, or the period of its duration.
slantendicular (slan-ten-dik'u-lSr), a. [< slant
+ -endicular as in jyerpendicrildr.} Oblique, not
perpendicular ; indirect. [Humorous slang.]
And he [St. Vitus] must put himself [in the calendar]
under the first saint, with a iantendicvlar reference to the
other. De Morgan, Budget of Paradoxes, p. 289.
slantingly (slan'ting-li),ad». 1. In a slanting
or sloping manner or direction.. — 2t. Indi-
rectly.
Their first attempt which they made was to prefer
bills of accusation against the archbishop's chaplains and
preachers, . . . and slantingly through their sides strik-
ing at the archbishop himself. Strype, Cranmer, 1. 159.
slantlv (slant'li), adv. Obliquely; in an in-
clined direction; slopingly; slantingly.
The yellow Moon looks siantly down.
Through seaward mists, upon the town,
R. H. Stoddard, A Serenade.
slantwise (slint'wiz),ad». Slantingly; siantly.
The sunset rays thy valley fill.
Poured dantxcise down the long defile,
Whittier, The Merrimack,
slapi (slap), V. t ; pret. and pp. slapped, ppr.
5684
Mrs, Baynes had gone up stairs to her own apartment,
had slapped her boys, and was looking out of the window.
Thackeray, Philip, xxvi.
In yonder green meadow, to memory dear,
He daps a mosquito, and brushes a tear.
0. W. Holmes, City and Country.
2. To strike with ; bring upon or against some-
thing with a blow.
Dick, who thus long had passive sat,
Here strok'd his Chin and cock'd his Hat,
Then dapp'd his Hand upon the Board.
Prior, Alma, i.
Slapl (slap), n. [< ME. slappe, < LG. slajyp,
sluppe (> G. schlappe), the sound of a blow, a
sounding bo.x on the cars, a slap, = OHG.
'slapfe (> It. schiaffo), a box on the ear: see
slash
slap-dash (slap'dash), V. t. [< slnp-(tasli, adv.']
1. To do in a rough or careless manner. [Col-
loq.] — 2. To rough-cast (a wall) with mortar.
slape (slap), a. [< Icel. sleipr, also slcppr, slip-
pery, < slipa. be slim or smooth, = Sw. slipa =
Dan. slibe (slipa, tr., grind) = G. schleifen, slip:
sees/ipl. Cf. s(ofcl.] Slippery; smooth; hence,
crafty; hypocritical. [Prov. Eng.]— siape ale,
plain ale, as opposed to medicated or mixed ale. - Slape-
face, a soft-spoken, crafty hypocrite. UaUiweU.
slapjack (slap'jak), «. Sameas/ojyacA'. [U.S.]
Anon he passed the fragrant buckwheat fields, breath-
ing the odor of the bee- hive ; and, as he beheld them, soft
anticipations stole over his mind of dainty siaK/ac*j(, well
buttered, and gainished with honey or treacle,
Irving, Sketch-Book, p, 438.
sZaj)l, ».] 1. A blow given with the open hand, slappaty-poucht (slap'a-ti-pouch), «. [A va
or with something flat.
Warre the home and heles lest thai flynge
A slappe to the.
Palladiiis, Husbondrie (E. E, T, S.), p, 132,
He hastened up to him, gave him a hearty shalte of the
hand, a cordial dap on the back, and some other equally
gentle tokens of satisfaction. Miss Bumey, Evelina, xxxii.
slapl (slap), adv. [An elliptical use of slap'^,
r. and «.] With sudden and violent force;
plump; suddenly. [Colloq.]
The whips and short turns which in one stage or other
of my life have come dap upon me,
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, iii. 38,
His horse, coniing dap on his knees with him, threw
Him head over heels, and away he flew,
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, II, 143.
Slapl (slap), o. [<s?«j)l,r. Ct.slap-iip, hang-up.^
First-rate; of the best; "slap-up." [Slang.]
riation,"imitative of quick motion, of slap the
pouch, i. e. /joctc*.] The act or process of slap-
ping the hands, when cold, against the sides to
warm them. [Rare.]
I cannot but with the last degree of sorrow and anguish
inform you of our present wretched condition ; we have
even tired our palms and our ribs at slappaty .pouch, and
... I [Charon] had almost forgot to handle my sculls.
Tom Broim, Works, II, 126. (Davies.)
slapper (slap'cr), «. [< shqA + -e>l.] 1. One
who or that which slaps. — 2. A person orthing
of large size ; a whopper. [Vulgar.]
slapping (slap'ing), a. [Prop. ppr. of slap^, r.]
Veiybig; great. [Vulgar.]
slap-saucet (slap'sas), n. [< slajiS, v., + obj.
sauce.] A parasite. Minsheu.
Slapmiice fellows, slabberdegnllion druggels, lubbardly
louts. Urquhart, tr. of Rabelais, L 25.
ItXi^l fvtFfSrnVTp,' '""' "'' '' "'"' '""'• ""' slap-sided (slap'si'ded) «. Satne ^s slab-sided
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II. 119, slap-Up (slap up), a. [Cf. slap^ and bang-up. \
E-xeellent ; first-rate ; fine ; scrumptious ; bang-
tip: tm, a. slap-up hoitA. [Slang.]
It ain't a fortnight back since a smart female servant,
iu slap-up black, sold me a basket full of doctor's bottles.
Mayheu; London Labour and London Poor, II, 122.
Might he [Bob Jones] not quarter a countess's coat on his
brougham along with the Jones' arms, or, more slap-up
still, have the two shields painted on the panels with the
coronet over? TAacterai/, Newcomes, xxxi,
Slap2 (slap), V. t. [< siap^, )!.] To break into glargando, slargandosi (slar-gan'do, -se), a.
gaps ; break out (an opening), as in a solid wall, ^n^^ ppr. of slargare, enlarge, widen, toate,< L.
[Prov. Eng. and Scotch.] fx, out, + largus, large : see large.] In music,
slap3+ (slap), V. An obsolete variant of slop^. game as rallentando.
slap-bang (slap'bang'), adv. [An elliptical use gjashl (slash), v. [< ME. slaschen, < OF. escle-
of slajA, v., + bang'^, v.] With a slap and^a clier. esclescher, esclischer,esclecMer,(ii8mem\)eT,
Slap2 (slap), n. [Origin uncertain ; perhaps a
var. of slacks ; ef. Dan. slap = Sw. slapp, lax,
loose, = D. slap = MLG. LG. slap =OnG. MHG.
slaf, G. scJdaff, feeble, weak (see sleep).] 1.
A narrow pass between two hills. [Scotch.] —
2. A breach in a wall, hedge, or fence ; a gap.
[Prov. Eng. and Scotch.] — 3. A gap in the
edge of a kiiife, etc. [Scotch.]
-- pr
'Happen, < LG. slappen ( > G.
; prob. akin to slanA and per-
slapping. [< ME.
schlappen), slap; ]••.
haps ult. to slay^.] 1. To strike with the open
hand or with something flat: as, to slaj) one on
the back; to slap a child on the hand.
bang; hence, suddenly; violently; with a sud-
den noisy dash; headlong; all at once: as, to
to slap-hang through the ice or through a win-
ow. Also slam-bang. [Colloq.]
slap-bang (slap'bang'), a. and n. [< slap-bang,
adv.] I. n. Violent; dashing. Also slam-bang.
II. n. A low eating-house. [Slang, Eng.]
They lived in the same street, walked into town every
morning at the same hour, dined at the same dap-bang
every day, and revelled in each other's company every
night. Dickens, Sketches, Characters, xi.
slap-dash (slap'dash'), adv. [An elliptical use
of slajA, v., + dash, v.] In a sudden, offhand,
abrupt, random, or headlong manner; abrupt-
ly ; suddenly ; all at once. [Colloq.]
He took up a position opposite his fair entertainer, and
with much gravity executed a solemn, but marvelously
grotesque bow ; . , . this done, he recovered body, and
strode away again slap-dash. C. Iteade, Art, p. 20.
slap-dash (slap'dash), a. and n. [< slap-dash,
adv.] I. a. Dashing; offhand; abrupt; free,
careless, or happy-go-lucky; rash or random;
impetuous: as, a slap-dash manner; slap-dash
work ; a slap-dash writer. [Colloq.]
It was a dap-dash style, unceremonious, free and easy
— ail American style. Bulwer, My Novel, iii. 6,
The dapdash judgments upon artists in others [letters]
are very characteristic [of Landor],
Lmvell, The Century, XXXV. 516.
H. M. 1. A composition of lime and coarse
sand, mixed to a liquid consistency and applied
to exterior walls as a preservative ; rough-east-
ing; harling. [Prov. Eng.] — 2. The outside
plaster filling of a half-timbered house, be-
tween the beams.
The wood is painted of the darkest possible red, and
the gray dapdash is filled with red granite pebbles.
The Century, XXXII. 423.
3. Offhand, careless, happy-go-lucky, or ill-con-
sidered action or work. [Colloq.]
As a specimen of newspaper slapdash we may point to
the description of General Ignatieff as " the Russian Mr,
Gladstone." Atheneeum, No, 3197, p. 146.
4t. Violent abuse.
Hark ye. Monsieur, it you don't march off I shall play
you such an English courant of dap-dash presently that
shan't out of your ears this twelvemonth.
Mrs. Centlivre, Perplexed Lovers, iii.
sever, disunite: same as esclichier, esclicier, es-
clicer, > E. slice: see slice and slish, of which
slash^ is a doublet. The vowel a appears in
the related word slate: see slate"^. In defs. 4, 5
(where ef. the similar cut, n., 2) prob. contused
with tos/jl.] I. trans. 1. To cut with long in-
cisions; gash; slit; slice.
They which will excell the rest in gallantry, and would
seenie to bane slaine and eaten the most enimies, slash and
cut their flesh, and put therein a blacke powder, which
ueuer will bee done away. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 837.
2. To cut with a violent sweep ; cut by striking
violently and at random, as with a sword or
an ax.
Then both drew their swords, and so cut 'em and dasht 'em
That five of them did fall.
Robin Hood's Birth (Child's Ballads, V. 360).
But presently slash off his traiterous head.
Greene, Alphonsus (Works, ed. Dyce, II, 23).
3. To oniament, as a garment, by cutting slits
in the cloth, and arranging lining of brilliant
colors to be seen underneath.
One Man weais his Doublet dash'd. another lac'd, another
plain. Sdden, Table-Talk, p. 102.
Costly his garb — his Flemish ruff
Fell o'er his doulilet, shaped of buff.
With satin dash'd and lined.
Scott, L. of L. M,, v. 18.
4. To lash. [Rare.]
Daniel, a sprightly swain that used to dash
The vigorous steeds that drew his lord's calash.
IF. King.
5. To crack or snap, as a whip.
She dashed a whip she had in her hand ; the cracks
thereof were loud and dreadful.
Dr. H. More, Mystery of Godliness (1660\ p. 220.
[(Latham.)
II, inirans. 1. To strike violently and atran-
dom with a cutting instrument ; lay about one
with sharp blows.
Hewing and dashing at their idle shades.
Spenser, Y.i).,U. In. 15.
If we would see him in his altitudes, we must go back
to the House of Commons ; . . . there he cuts and «in«/i<'8.
Roger North, Exam en, p, 258.
2. To cut or move rapidly.
The Sybarite dashed through the waves like a knife
through cream-cheese. Hannay, Singleton Fontenoy.
slasb
slashl (slash), M. [< slaslA, r.] 1. A cut; a
gash ; a slit.
They circumcise tiiemselves, and mark tlieir faces with
sundry slashes from their infancie.
Capt. John Smith, True Travels, I. 50.
2. A random, sweeping cut at something with
an edged instrument, as a sword or an ax, or
with a whip or switch.
He may have a cut i' the leg by this time ; for Don Mar-
tine and he were at whole slashes.
Fletcher and Kouley, Maid in the Mill, iv. 2.
Andrew Fairserrice . . . had only taken this recumbent
posture to avoid the slashes, 8tal>9, and pistol-balls which
lor a moment or two were Ilying in various directions.
Scott, Rob Roy, xxrix.
3. A slit cut in the stuff from which a garment
is made, intended to show a different and usu-
ally bright-colored material underneath. This
manner of decorating garments was especially in use in the
sixteenth and the early part of the seventeenth century.
Compare panel, and see cut under puffed.
Her gown was a green Turkey grogram, cut all Into
panes or dashes, from the shoulder and sleeves unto the
foot, and tied up at the distance of about a hand's-breadth
everywhere wiUi the same ribbou with which her hair was
bound.
Lord Herbert of Cherbury, Life (ed. Howells), p. 112.
Hence — 4. A piece of tape or worsted lace
placed on the sleeves of non-commissioned of-
ficers to distinguish them from privates; a
stripe. — 6. A clearing in a wood ; any gap or
opening in a w^ood, whether caused by the
operations of woodmen or by wind or fire.
Compare slashing, 2.
All persons having occasion to bum a fallow or start
a fire in any old chopping, wind-«((uA, bush or berry lot,
Bwamp "viaie" or beaver meadow, shall give five days'
notice. New York Times, April IS, ISJO.
6. pi. Same as slashing, 3. — 7. A wet or
swampy place overgrown with bashes: often
in the plural.
Although the inner lands want these beneflta [of gamel
(which, however, no pond or dash is without), yet even
they have the advantage of wild-turkeys, <&c.
BecerUy. Virginia, U. t ».
Henry Clay, the great Commoner, as bis friends loved
to call him, was spoken of during election-time as the
UUler Buy of the SUuhts.
S. De Yen, Araericanisma, p. 2S0.
8. A mass of coal which has been crushed and
8hatt«red by a movement of the earth's crust.
[Wales.]
Thus, the latter (the coal], which Is there nearly all in
the state of culm or anthracite, has been for the most
part shivered into small fragmeuts, and Is frequently ac-
cumulated In little troughs or hollows, the diuhes of the
miners. Murchiton, SUnrls (Ith ed.\ p. 280.
slash- (slash), V. i. [Also sUtich; < 8w. slaska =
Dan. ulaske, dabble, paddle, < Sw. Dan. slask;
wet. filth. Cf.«/<wAi/.] Toworkinwet. [Scotch.]
slash- (slash), ». [See »/«**, r.] A great quan-
tity of broth or similar food. [Scotch.]
slasher (slash'6r), ». r<»to»ftt + -crl.] 1. One
who or that which slashes. Specifically— (a) A cnt-
ting weapon, as a sword.
" Had he no arms?" asked the Justice. " Ay, ly, they
are never without barkers and stashen."
Scott, Ouy Manoering, xxxil.
(b) An instrument or appliance of various kinds used In
some slashing operation. (1) In bridrmaHnff, a piece of
wrought-lioD three feet In length, three inches wide, and
tlu-ee eighths of an inch thick, set in a handle about two
and one half fevt lung and two inches In diameter, used to
slash or cut through the clay in all directions with a view
t<» detecting aud picking uut any small stones that may
be found in It.
He (the tcmpererl next trims the small pile of clay Into
shape, and commences to cut through it with an instru-
ment called a slasher, and any stone that he may strike
with the slasher is picked out of the clay.
C. T. Dacis, bricks and Tiles, p. 107.
(2) A machine for sizing, drying, and flnisbing warp-yams.
2. The thrasher or fox-shark. [Local, Eng.]
slashing (slash'ing), n. [Verbal n. of »/«»/il,
r.] 1. A slash or pane in a garment.
Oownsot "silver plush and port-wine satin," with bro-
caded trains gloaming fitfully with sUuhings of exquisite
pink. Athenttum, Oct 27, ISgS, p. 661.
2. In mint, en/fin., the felling of trees so that
their tops shall fall toward the enemy, and thus
prevent or retanl his approach : also (in singu-
lar or plural), tlie trees thus felled: same as
iih'ili.i-, 1. — 3. /(/. Trees or branches cut down
by woirfimcu. Also .<ilaslies.
slashing (slash'ing), />. «. 1. That cuts and
slashes at random ; recklessly or unmerciful-
ly severe ; that cuts right and left indiscrimi-
nately : as, a slushinij criticism or article. [Col-
loq.]
Here, however, the Alexandrian critics, with all their
dashin-j inwilencc, showi-d themselves sons of the feeble;
they groped about In twilight. he Quinceu, Homer, I.
He maybe called the Inventor of the modem stashing
article. Athentevm, Jan. 14, 1888, p. 43.
5685
2. Dashing; recklessly rapid: as, a slashing
gait. — 3. Very big; great; slapping. [Colloq.]
A slashing fortune. Dickens, Hard Times.
slash-pine (slash'pin), n. Atree, Pinus Cubensis,
found from South Carolina to Louisiana along
the coast, and in the West Indies. It is a fair-
sized tree, with a wood nearly equaling that of the long-
leafed pine, though rarely made into lumber. Also called
stcamp-pine, bastard pine, and vieadow-pine. Sargent.
slashy (slash'i), a. [< slash^ + -yl. Cf. sloshij,
slushy. '\ Wet and dirty. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
slat^ (slat), r. ; pret. and pp. slatted, ppr. slat-
ting. [< ME. slatten, sleaten, sclalten, sclctten,
< leel. sletta, slap, dab, dash, = Norw. sletta,
fling, east, jerk; cf. Icel. sletta, a dab, spot, blot
(of ink), = Norw. slett, a blow; prob. from the
root of «/ay ; see s?oyl. Ci. slaiight.'] I. trans.
1 . To throw or cast down violently or careless-
ly ; jerk. [Prov. Eng. and U. S.] — 2. To strike ;
knock; beat; bang.
Mendoza. How did you kill him?
MaletoU. Slatted his brains out, then soused him in the
briny sea. Marston and Webster, Malcontent, iv. 1.
II. intrans. To flap violently, as the sails
when blown adrift in a violent wind, or when
in a calm the motion of the ship strikes them
against the masts and rigging.
The two top-gallant'Sails were still hanging in the bunt-
lines, and slatting and jerking as though they would take
the masts out of her.
Ji. H. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 351.
Slat^ (slat), n. [< slat^, r.] 1. A sudden flap
or slap ; a sharp blow or stroke.
The s.iil . . . bellied out over our heads, and again, by
a dot of the wind, blew in under the yard with a fearful
jerk. H. U. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 257.
2. A spot; stain. [Prov. Eng.] — 3. A spent
salmon, or one that has spawned.
slat'-* (slat), r.; pret. andpp.s/rt<terf,ppr. «toW»«y.
Same as slate^. [Prov. Eng.]
glat^ (slat), V. i. and i.; pret. and pp. slatted, ppr.
slatting. [Perhaps another use of slati ; other-
wise a var. of 'slate; < OP. esclater, shiver, splin-
ter: see «/fl(e2. Cf. stafS, n.] To split; crack.
[Prov. Eng.]
And wltball-such malne blowes were dealt to and fro
with axes that both hemd-peecea and habergeons were
slat and dashed a peecea.
Holland, tr. of AmmUnos MarcelUnus (1806). (Nares.)
slat''' (slat), n. and a. [Early mod. E. also slattc;
< ME. slat, slatte, usually sclat, sklat, selate,
sclatte, a flat stone, slate, < OP. esclat (Walloon
sklat), P. eclat, a splinter, chip, shiver, frag-
ment, piece; cf. OF. esclater, F. 6clater, split,
splinter, shiver, burst, < OHG. sliian, sclizan.
MHO. »li:en, O. schleissen, slit, split, = E. slit^ :
see slit^, and cf. Mat, slash^, slice.'] I. «. 1. A
thin flat stone, or piece of stone, especially a
piece of slate ; a slat* ; a stone tile, bee slate'^.
And thel not fyndlnge In what pait thei schulde here
him yn, for the curopenye of peple, stiseden vp on the
rof, and by the sdattis thel aenteu him doun with the bed
In to the myddil, b|rfore Ibesu. Wyel</, Luke v. 19.
The gallery is covered with blew slaUe like our Coralsh
tile. Coryat, Crudities, I. S3, sig. D.
And for the roof, instead of slats.
Is covered with the skins of bata.
With moonshine that are gildeid.
Drayton, Nymphidta.
2. A thin slab or veneer of stone sometimes
used to face rougher stonework or brickwork.
JC. H. Knight. — 3. .A long narrow strip or slip
of wood. Specifically —(a) A strip of wood used to fas-
ten together larRer pieces, as on a crate, etc. (&) One of
a nurot>er of strips forming the bottom boards of a bed-
stead, (e) One of a number of strips secured across an
opening so as to leave intervals between them, a* in a
chicken-coop, rabbit-hutch, etc. (d) One of the cross-laths
of a Venetian blind, or the like.
Virginia, . . . kneeling behind the slots of her bedroom
window-blinds, watched the little Canadian fishing wagon
as it drove away. Harper's Mag., LXXVI. 220.
(e) In carriage -buUding, one of the thin strips of wood or
Iron used to form the ribs of the top or canopy of a buggy,
carryall, or rockawav, or to fomi the bottom of a wagon-
body. (/) One of the radial strips used In foraiing the
bottom of a wicker basket.
4. pi. Dark-blue ooze, rather hard, left dry by
the el)b of the sea. IlalUicell. [Prov. Eug.] —
81at-weavln{; machine, a forai of loom for weaving, in
which the weft is slats, palm-leaf, or some similar material.
The weft is cut In lengths corresponding to the width of
thegoods, and put Into the shed piece by piece.
II. a. Maae of slats. —Slat awning, a wooden or
metal awning made of slats.— Slat matting, a kind of
wood camet made of veneers or wooden hlats fastened
uptm a fabric. 'In some examples narrow strips of differ-
ent soris of wood are Klued upon cloth, and drieii, and
the surface is then planed niiii flnlsbeil. — Slat Beat, a
seat made of narrow strips of wood, usually armnged lon-
gituillnally with a space between each pair.— Slat welT,
a weir ur pound (for the capture of flsli) having slats in-
stead of netting. (Cape Cod, Massachusetts.]
S, lat. An abbreviation of south latitude.
slate
slat-bar (slat'biir), )i. The bar of the limber of
a siege-howitzer between the splinter-bar and
the bolster, connecting the futchells.
Slatch^ (slach), n. [An assibilated form of
s/acA,!.] A'auf.: (a) The slack of a rope. (6) A
short gleam of fine weather, (c) A brief, pass-
ing breeze.
slatch^ (slach), V. i. [A var. of slaslfi.] To
dabble in mire. [Scotch.]
slat-crimper (slat'krim'p^r), fl. A machine
for compressing the ends of slats to make them
fit mortises cut to receive them.
slate'^ (slat), V. t.; pret. and pp. slated, ppr.
slating. [< ME. *slaten, sleten, slseten (pret.
slette), bait, perhaps orig. tear, ult. < AS. slitan
(pret. slat), slit, tear: see sHA.] 1. To bait;
set a dog loose at. [Prov. Eng.]
Heo . . . sletten him with hundes.
Lyfe qf St. Juliana (E. E. T. S.), p. 52. (Strattnann.)
2. To haul over the coals ; take to task harshly
or rudely ; berate ; abuse ; scold ; hold up to
ridicule ; criticize severely : as, the work was
slated in the reviews. [Colloq., Eng.]
And instead of being grateful, you set to and state me !
R. D. Blackmore, Kit and Kitty, xxxi.
None the less 111 slate him. I'll slate him ponderously
in the cataclysm. R. Kipling, The Light tliat Failed, iv.
slate'-* (slat), n. and n. [< ME. slat, slatte, *slate,
selate, usually sclat, sclatte: see sto(3.] I. n.
It. A thin, flat stone or piece of stone; a thin
plate or flake. See slat^, 1.
With sunne and the frost togither, it (the Columbine
marl] will resolve and cleave into most thin slates or flakes.
Holland, tr. of I'liny, xvii. 8.
Especially — 2. A piece or plate of the stone
hence called slate. (See def. 3.) Specifically —
(a) A plate of slate used for covering In or roofing build-
ings ; a tile of slate, (b) A tablet of slate, usually in-
closed in a wooden frame, used for writing, especially by
school-children ; hence, any similar tablet used for this
purpose.
The door, which moved with difficulty on its creaking
and rusty hinges, being forced quite open, a sciuare and
sturdy little urchin became appai-ent, with cheeks as red
as an apple. ... A book and a small slate under his arm
Indicated that he was ou his way to school.
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, UL
3. A rock the most striking characteristic of
which is its fissile structure, or capability of
being easily split or cleft into thin plates of
nearly uniform thickness and smooth surfaces.
The rocks in which a fissile structure is particularly well
developed are almost exclusively the argillaceous, and
those which have been more or less metamorpltosed, aud
this flsslllty appears to be the result of the rearrange-
ment of the particles of the rock into new combinations
flattened into thin scales which lie in a direction at right
angles to the direction in which the rock was pressed at
the time the metamorphisin was taking place. The best-
known variety of slate is the common roofing-slate, which
Is compact, homogeneous, and fissile enough to be used
for covering roofs, or for manufacture into tables, chim-
ney-piecea, writing slates, etc. The valuable varieties of
rtx>flng-slate come almost exclusively from the older meta-
morphic rocks, {^me cleavage »3\A foliation.) North Wales
is by far the most Important slate-producing region of the
world, stmie beds having been worked there as early as
the twelfth century. The principal quarries are in south-
em Carnarvonshire and Merionethshire in the Lower Silu-
rian, and In Montgomeryshire in the Upper Silurian.
There are also quarries in Cornwall in the Devonian, aud
slates of the same geological age are obtained in France
In considerable quantity, as well as in parts of Germany
adjacent to the Rhine. There are various quarries in
Devonshire in the Carboniferous ; but In most of them the
slate furnished is not of first-rate quality ; and, in genei-al,
it may be said tliat the Carboniferous is the highest geolo-
gical formation prmlncing what can properly be denom-
inated date. The slate of the I'niled States cumes almost
entirely from a very low position in tlie geological series,
aa Is also the case in Europe, rennsylvania anti Vermont
are the principal slate-producing States, and they together
furnish more than two thirds iu value of the total produc-
tion of tlie country.
4. A preliminary list of candidates prepared
by party managers for acceptance by a nomi-
nating caucus or convention: so called as be-
ing written down, as it were on a slate, and
altered or erased like a school-boy's writing.
[U. 8. political slang.]— Adhesive slate. See ad-
hesive.—JAyixaiJioMS slate, slate containing alumina,
used in the niiinnfacture of alum. — Alum slate. See
a/iini. — Argillaceous slate, clay slate (Mliicli see, under
rfny)— Back of a slate. .'<ee!«c*i.— Bituminous slate,
soft slate impregnated with bitumen.- Chlorite slate.
•See cA/«n7c. — Drawing-Slate. Same as Mark chalk (a)
(which see, under chalk).— Uone or whet slate, slate
which ban I -h silica in its compositioii, and is used for
hones. — Hornblende slate, slate containing liiunlilendc.
—Knotted slate, see kn(it\, n., .<((/).— lithographic
slate. Sec ?i7/i<«;r(l;</ii<-. — Polishing slate. See jio(l'«/i-
I'nv-Rin'c — Rain-spot slate, certain slates forming part
of the I.()wcr Silurian series in Walis : so called from their
mottled appearance.— Sklddaw slates, a series of slaty
and gritty rocks occnrrhig in the Lake District of England,
and forming there the base of the fossiltferons rocks. The
most important fossils which they contain are graptolites.
— Stoneslleld slate, in geol., a division of the Great Oi>]|te
slate
group, as developed in Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire,
consisting of thin-be^ided ctUciu-eous sandstone, extremely
rich in a great variety of organic remains, among which
»r« the mammalian genera Amphitherimn, Phatascothe-
rium, and Stereoffnathus. Portions of this formation have
been worked for a roofing-material from a remote period.
II. a. Of the color of slate ; slate-colored; of
a dark, slightly bluish-gray color of medium
luminosity.
slate- (slat), V. t.; pret. and pp. slated, ppr.
slating. l<. slate^, n.] 1. To cover with slate
or plates of stone : as, to slate a roof.
A high dated roof, with fantastic chimneys.
Longfellow, Hyperion, i. 5.
2. To enter as on a slate ; suggest or propose
as a candidate by entering the name on the
slate or ticket : as, A. B. is already slated for the
mayoralty. See I.. 4. [U. S. political slang.]
— 3. In tiinning, to cleanse fromhairs, etc., with
a slater. See slater, 3.
slate-az (slat'aks), n. A slaters' tool : same as
srtji, 2.
slate-black (slat'blak), a. Of a slate color hav-
ing less than one tenth the luminosity of white.
slate-blue (slat'blo), a. Dull-blue with a gray-
ish tinge ; sehistaceous.
slate-clay (slat'kla), n. Same as sliale^.
slate-coail <slat'k61), «. 1. A variety of cannel-
coal; "a hard, dull variety of coal" {Gresley).
This name is given to one of the beds of coal in the Leices-
tershire (England) coal-field; it is nearly the same as
9ptint-€oai, also called slatif or bony coal, and contains slaty
matters interstratifled, which are called boiie in Pennsyl-
vania (see bonei, 9).
2. As the translation of the German Schiefer-
kohle, a somewhat slaty or laminated variety
of lignite, or brown coal.
slate-colored (slat'kul"ord), a. Of a very dark
gray, really without chroma, or almost so, but
appearing a little bluish.
slate-cutter (slat'kufer), «, A machine for
trimming pieces of slate into the forms desired
for roofing- or ^vriting-slates. It consists of a table
with knives pivoted at one end, and operated by hand-
levers. Also called date-cutting machine.
slate-frame (slat 'f ram), n. A machine for
dressing and finishing the wooden frames- for
writing-slates.
slate-gray (slat'gra), a. A relatively luminous
slate color.
slate-peg (slat'peg), n. A form of nail used
for fastening slates on a roof ; a slaters' nail.
slate-pencil (slafpeu'sil), n. A pencil of soft
slate, or like material, used for writing or figur-
ing on framed pieces of slate.
slater (sla'ter), n. [ME. slater, sclater; < slatc^
+ -e)i.] 1. One who makes or lays slates;
one whose occupation is the roofing of build-
ings with slate.
But th' masons, and daiers, and such like have left their
work, and locked up the yards.
Mrg. Gaskell, Mary Barton, v.
2. A general name of cursorial isopods. Slaters
proper, or wood-slat«rs, also called wood-lice, hog-lice, and
tow-bugs, are terrestrial oniscids, of the family Oniseidm, as
the British Porcellio scaber. Box-slaters are Moteidx;
water-slaters are Asellidse. as the gribble, Limnoria tere-
t/rans; shield slaters belong to the genus Camiditm; globe-
slaters to Sptueroma. The chelifei-ous slaters are Tanai-
dee. See the technical names, and cuts under Oniscus and
Igopoda.
3. A tool, with blade of slate, used for fleshing
or slating hides.
slate-saw (slat'sa), jj. A form of circular stone-
saw for cutting up or trimming slabs of slate.
slate-spar (slat'spar), n. A slaty form of cal-
careous spar : same as shiver-spar.
slatber (slaTH'fer), n. [Origin obscure.] A
quantity; a large piece: usually in the plural.
[Slang.]
I could give you twenty-four more, if they were needed,
to show how exactly Mr. can repeat dathers and dath-
en of another man's literature. New Princeton Rev., V. 60.
slatify (sla'ti-fi), V. t. ; pret. and pp. slatified,
ppr. slatifying. [< slate^ + -i-fy.'] To make
slaty in character; give a slaty character to.
slatiness (sla'ti-nes), n. Slaty character or
quality.
slatingi^ (sla'ting), n. [< ME. slating; verbal
n. of slate^, t.'.] 1. Baiting.
Bay of bor, of \m\e-dalyng (bull-baiting].
Kyng Alisaunder, 1. 200. (/lalliwell.)
2. An imsparing criticism; a severe reprimand.
rColloq., Eng.]
slating^ (sla'ting), n. [Verbal n. of slate^, ».]
1. The operation of covering roofs with slates.
— 2. A roofing of slates. — 3. Slates taken col-
lectively; the material for slating: as, the whole
slating of a house. — 4. A liquid preparation
for coating blackboards so that they may be
marked upon with chalk or steatite : generally
5686
called liquid slating. Such preparations are
better than oil-paint, as they do not glaze the
surface.
To apply the slating, have the surface smooth and per-
fectly free from grease. Worksliop Receipts, 2d ser. , p. 257.
slat-iron (slat'i'ern), n. In a folding carriage-
top, an iron shoe incased in leather, forming a
finishing to the bow or slat which is pivoted by
it to the body of the vehicle.
slat-machine (slat'ma-shen"), n. In wood-
working: («) -A- machine for cutting slats from
a block. (6) A machine for making the tenons
on blind-slats, and for inserting the staples by
which such slats are connected.
slat-plane (slat'plan), ?». A form of plane for
cuttuig thin slats for blinds, etc. In some fomis
the stock can-les a number of cutters, so that several slats
are cut simultaneously. E. H. Knight.
slattet (slat), n. See slat^.
slatted (slat'ed), p. a. [< slai^ + -ed2.] Fur-
nished with, made of, or covered with slats:
as, a slatted frame..
slatter (slat'er), «'. j. [Freq. of sfe<i: seeslat^.']
1. int rails. 1. To be careless of dress and dirty ;
be slovenly.
Dawgos, or Dawkin, a negligent or dirty Blattering wo-
man. Jiay, North Country Words.
2. To be wasteful or improvident.
This man ... is a lord of the treasury, and is not cov-
etous neither, but runs out merely by Blattering and neg-
ligence. Swift, Journal to Stella, xix.
II. trans. To waste, or fail to make a proper
use of; spill or lose carelessly. HalliwcU.
slattern (slat'em), ». and a. [Prob. (with un-
orig. n as in bitterni, or perhaps through the
ppr. slattering) < slatter, v.'\ I. n. A woman
who is negligent of her dress, or who suffers her
clothes and household furniture to be in disor-
der; one who is not neat and nice; a slut.
We may always observe that a gossip in politics is a dat-
tern in her family. Addison, The freeholder, No. 26.
Her mother was a partial, ill-judging parent, a dawdle,
aslattern, . . . whose house was the scene of mismanage-
ment and discomfort from beginning to end.
Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, xxxix.
II. a. Pertaining to or characteristic of a
slattern; slovenly; slatternly.
Beneath the lamp her tawdry ribbons glare,
The new-scour'd manteau, and the slattern air.
Gay, Trivia, ill. 270.
slatternt (slat'fem), v. t. [< slattern, n. ; cf.
slatter, i\'] To consume carelessly or idly;
waste : with awffl)/. [Bare.]
All that I desire is, that you will never dattern away
one minute in idleness. Chesterfield.
slatternliness (slat'em-li-nes), n. Slatternly
habits or condition.
slatternly (slat'ern-li), a. [< slattern + -ly^.'i
Pertaining to a slattern ; having the habits of a
slattern; slovenly.
A very dattemly, dirty, but at the same time very gen-
teel li"rench maid is appropriated to the use of my daughter.
Chesterfield.
Every court had its carven well to show me, in the noisy
keeping of the water-carriers and the slatternly, statuesque
gossips of the place. Howells, Venetian Life, ii.
slatternly (slat'ern-li), adv. [< slatternly, a.]
In a slovenly way.
slatterpoucn (slat'er-pouch), n. [< "staffer for
slat^ + pouch. CI. slappaty.-pouch.'i A kind of
game.
When they were boyes at trap, or datterpouch.
They'd sweat.
Oayton, Notes tio Don Quixote, p. 86. (Naret.)
slattery (slat'6r-i), o. l^ staffer + -y^.'i Wet;
sloppy. [Prov. Eng.]
slaty (sla'ti), a. [<«to<e2 -f- .j^l.] Resembling
slate ; having the nature or properties of slate :
as, a slafy color or texture ; a slaty feel.
The path . . . scaled the promontory by one or two
rapid zigzags, carried in a broken track along the precipi-
tous face of a daty grey rock. Scott, Rob Roy, x,\x.
Slaty cleavage, cleavage, as of rocks, into thin plates or
lamina, like those of slate : applied especially to those
cases in which the planes of cleavage produced by pres-
sure are often oblique to the true stratification, and per-
fectly symmetrical and parallel even when the strata are
contorted. — Slaty gneiss, a variety of gneiss in which
the scales of mica or crystals of hornblende, which are
usUiUly minute, form thin lamina!, rendering the rock
easily cleavable.
slaughtt (slat), n. [< ME. slaught, slauhf, sla^t,
< AS. sleahf, slehf, sliht, slyhf, killing, slaughter,
fight, battle (chiefly in comp.) (= OS. sMita =
OFries. slachte = 'D. slagt = MLG. slacht = OHO.
slahta, slaht, MHG. slahte, slahf, G. schlachf, kill-
ing, slaughter, fight, battle, = Sw. slagt, killing
(< LG.), = lee].slaffa = Dan. skef, mowing;
with formative -t, < AS. sledn (pp. slegen), etc..
Slav
strike, kill, slay: see slay'^. Cf. manslauyht, on~
slaught.'] Killing; slaughter.
Myche dagfde in the slade, & slyngyng of horse !
Mony derfe there deghit, was dole to beholde.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. 1'. S.), 1. 6006.
slaughter (sla'ter),)!. [(.ME.slaughterjSlauhter,
shiiitir, slawtyr, slaghter, < AS. as if 'sleahtor (=
leel. sldtr, butchers' meat, = Norw. dial, slaa-
ter, cattle for slaughter), with formative -tor
(as in hleahfor, E. laughter), < sledn (pp. slegen),
strike, kill, slay: seeslay^. Cf.Icel.sfafc, butch-
ers' meat. Cf. slaught.] The act of slaying or
killing, especially of many persons or animals.
(a) Applied to persons, a violent putting to death ; ruth-
less, wanton, or brutal killing; great destruction of life
by violent means ; carnage ; massacre : as, the slaughter of
men in battle.
And zit natheles, men seyn, thei shalle gon out in the
tyme of Antecrist, and that thei schulle maken gret
slauglttre of Cristene men. Mandeville, Travels, p. 267.
One speech ... I chiefly loved ; 'twas Mneas' tale to
Dido ; and thereabout of it especially where he speaks of
Priam's daughter. Shak., liamlet, ii. 2. 469.
(b) Applied to beasts, butchery ; the killing of oxen, sheep,
or other animals for mai'ket. (c) Creator sweeping reduc-
tion in the price of goods offered for sale. [Advertising
cant.]— Slaughter of the mnocents. See imwceiit.
=Sjm. (a) Havoc. See kiUi.
slaughter (sla'ter), )■. t. [= Icel. sldtra = Norw.
slaatru, slaughter (cattle) ; from the noun.] 1 .
To kill ; slay ; especially, to kill wantonly, ruth-
lessly, or in great numbers ; massacre : as, to
slaughter men in battle.
Many a dry drop seem'd a weeping tear.
Shed for tlie slaughter'd husband by the wife.
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 1376.
Onward next morn the slaughtered man they bore,
With him that slew him.
William Mwris, Earthly Paradise, I. 349.
2. To butcher; kill, as animals for the market
or for food: as, to.s-/aMfl7(tero.\enor sheep.=Syn.
1. Slay, Massacre, etc. See kill^.
slaughterdomt (sla'ter-dum), n. [< slaughter
+ -dom.] Slaughter; carnage. [Rare.]
Lord, what mortal feuds, what furious combats, what
cruel bloodshed, what hoiTible slaughterdmn, have been
committed for the point of honour and some few courtly
ceremonies I G. Harvey, Four Letters.
slaughterer (sla'ter-er),?;. [< slaughter + -*■>'!.]
A person employed in slaughtering ; a butcher.
Thou dost then wrong me, as that daughterer doth
Which giveth many wounds when one will kill.
Shak., 1 Hen. VL, ii. 6. 109.
slaughter-house (sla'ter-hous), n. [< slaughter
+ house. Cf . Dan. slagterhus (< slagfer, a butch-
er, + hus, house), D. slagthuis, MLG. slachte-
hiis, as E. slaught + house.'] A house or place
where animals are butchered for the market;
an abattoir; hence, figuratively, the scene of
a massacre ; the scene of any great destruction
of human life.
Not those [men] whose malice goes beyond their power,
and want only enough of that to make the whole VN'orld a
Slaiighter-house. Stittingfieet, Sermons, I. v.
With regard to the Spanish inquisition, it mattered little
whether the daughter -house were called Spanish oi i'lem-
ish, or simply the Blood Council.
Motley, Dutch Republic, III. 16.
Slaughter-house cases, three cases in the United States
Supreme Court. 1S7:J (16 Wall., ;i6), so called because sus-
taining the validity of a statute of Louisiana creating a
monopoly in the slaughtering business in a particular dis-
trict, on the ground that it was a regulation within the
police power for protection of health, etc. The decision
is important in its bearing upon the fourteenth amend-
ment to the United States Constitution.
slaughtermant (sla'ter-man), n. [< slaughter
+ man.] One employed in killing ; a slayer ;
an executioner.
Herod's bloody-hunting slaughtermen.
Shak.. Hen. V., iii. 3. 41.
All his aids
Of ruffians, slaves, and other slaughtennen.
B. Joneon, Catiline, v. 4.
slaughterous (sla'ter-us), a. [< slaughter +
-ous.] Bent on killing; murderous.
Direness, familiar to my slaughterous thoughts.
Cannot once start me. Shak., Macbeth, v. 5. 14.
Such butchers as yourselues neuer want
A colour to excuse your slaughterous mind.
Ileywood, 1 Edw. IV. (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, I. 53).
slaughterously (sla't6r-us-li), adv. Murder-
otisly; so as to slay.
slaughter-'weapon (sla't^r-wep'on), n. A
weapon used for slaughtering.
Every man a daughter weapon [or battle axe, R. V. in
margin] in his hand. Ezek. ix. 2.
slaundert, ». and v. An obsolete form of slan-
der.
Sla'V (slav), n. and a. [Also Slave, Sclav, Sclave;
< G. MHG. Sklave, Slare (ML. Sclavus. Slarus,
Sclaphus, MQr. J,kU13o(, XBUl}o(), a Slav, a Sla-
Slav
Tonian ; a shortened form of the Slavic word,
OBulg. Slovieninu (= Kuss. Slavi/aninu, MGr.
lK>xiJrfvoi, ML. Setavenus), a Slav, Slavonian,
Slovenian ; according; to Miklosich the forma-
tion of the word with the suffix -ienii points to
a local name as the origin ; the ordinary deri-
vation from OBulg. sloio, a word, or slava, glory,
fame, is untenable. Hence Slavic, Slavonian,
Slavonic, Slovenian, slaved, slavine, etc.] I, n.
One of a race of peoples widely spread in east-
em. southeastern, and central Europe; a Sla-
vonian. The Slavs are divided into two sections — the
southeastern and the western. The former section com-
prises tile Russi.'ins. Bulgarians, .Serbo-Croatians, and Slo-
venes; the latter, the Poles, Bohemians, Moravians, Slo-
vaks, Wends, and Kashoubes.
It. a. Slavic; Slavonian.
Slavdom (sliv'dum), n. [< Slav + -dom.'\
Slavs collectively ; the group or race of peoples
called Slavs: as, the ciWlization of Slavdom.
Slave'^, H. and a. See Slav.
slave- (Slav), n. and a. [Not found in ME.; <
OF. e.^clave, esclaii, F. esclave = Pr. esclau, m.,
esclava, f., = Sp. exclave = Pg. escravo = It.
schiavo, stiavo (< ML. selavus, slavus) = MD.
slave, slaef (also slavvrn), D. slaaf = Sw. slaf
= Dan. slave, < late XIHO. sklave, slave, G. sklave,
a slave, prop, one taken in war, orig. one of the
Slavs or Slavonians taken in war, the word be-
ing identical with MHG. G. Sklave, Slave (ML.
ScUivus, Slavus, MGr. ^K?Af}o(, l/BUjioi), a Slav,
Slavonian : see Slav. For similar notions, cf.
AS. icealh, foreigner, Celt, slave: see Welsh.]
1. M. 1. A person who is the chattel or property
of another and is wholly subject to his will;
a bond-servant; a serf. See slavery^.
Let Egyptian liaret,
Parthiana, and barefoot Hebrews brand my face.
B. Jotuon^ .Sejanos, ii. 2.
The inhabitants, l)oth male and female, became the
alavet of those who made them prisoners.
Irving, Granada, p. 86.
2. One who has lost the power of resistance
and is entirely imder the influence or domina-
tion of some habit or vice : as, a slave to ambi-
tion : a slave of drink.
Give me that man
That fa not passion's dave, and 1 will wear him
In my heart's core. Shale, Hamlet, ill. 2. 77.
3. One who labors like a slave ; a drudge : as,
& slave to the desk. — 4. An abject wretch ; a
mean, servile person.
An unmannerly dave, that will thrust himself into le-
creu: SAoir.,T. G. of v., I1L1.388.
6. In entom., an insect held captive by or made
to work for another, as in some colonies of ants.
See »tare-m'(<iH(/.-FugltIve-il*Tel*w». SeeAv*-
Mm.— Slave's diamond, rto^lnrleM variety of top** found
in Brazil. Calleil by tlie t rencli gauttt itau. \Slmt la
naed in many self-explanatory compounds, as jfaw-Araeder,
dtUKOlcktr, date-mjcner, ttite-market, ilatt-tradtr, etc.)
=S]m. 1. Serf, Slate (see wr/X bondman, thnlL Soe
mmtude.
H. a. 1. Performed by slaves: as, slave
labor. — 2. Containing or holding slaves: as,
a slave State.- glave State, in U. S. hitt, a 9Ute in
which domestic slavery prevailed : used of the period im-
mediately preceding the civil war. These .States were
Delaware, Maryland. Virginia, North Carolina, South Cuo-
lina. Georgia, Ilorida, Alabama, Mississippi, Lonlalana,
Texas. Arkansas, Miaaouri, Kentucky, and Tenneaiee.
slave- (slav), r. ; pret. and pp. slaved, ppr. stav-
ing. [= MD. D. sloven = MLG. slaven = Sw.
slafva ; from the noun.] I. intrant. To work
like a slave ; toil ; drudge : as, to slave night
and day for a miserable living.
n.t trans. To enslave.
But will you ilant me to yonr tyranny?
FUtcher (and anUKer), Lore s Cure, Ui. 3.
Fortune, who davet men, was my alave.
MiddUUm and DMer, Boarlng GirL
slave-baron (sUv'bar'on). n. One who is in-
fluential by reason of the ownership of many
slaves. [An aflfected use.]
slave-born (Hlav'V»6m), a. Bom in slavery.
slave-COffle (slav'kof'l), n. A gang of slaves
to l)f soM; a coffle.
slave-driver (slav'dri'vir), n. An overseer of
slavis ;it their work; hence, an exacting or
cnu'l taskmaster.
slave-fork (slav'fdrk), n. A forked branch of
a tree, four or five feet long, used by slave-
hunters in Africa to prevent the slaves the.v
have captured or purchased from running
away when on the march from the interior to
the coast. The forlced part Is secured on the neck of
the slave iiy lashintrn passing from the end of one prong to
the end of the other, so that the heavy stick hangs down
nearly to the ground, or (as Is usually the case) is con-
nected with the fork on the neck of another slave. See
cut In next column.*
5687
slave-grown (slav'gron), «. Grown on land
cultivated by slaves; produced by slave labor.
Slare-grmcn will exchange for nontlavegrown com-
modities in a less ratio than that of the quantity of labour
required for their production.
J. S. Mm, Pol. Econ. , IIL vL § 3.
slaveholder (slav'hol'dSr), n. One who owns
slaves.
slaveholding (slav 'hoi 'ding), a. Holding or
possessing human beings as slaves: as, slave-
hiililinfi States.
slave-hunter (slav'hun'tfer), ». One who bunts
and captures persons, as in Africa and parts of
Asia, for the purpose of selling them into sla-
very.
Especially characteristic of existence on the Ixirderland
between Islam and heathendom is the story of our hero's
capture by a band of ruthless datehunUrt.
Tht Academy, No. 90S, p. 112.
slave-making (slav 'ma 'king), a. Making
slaves, as an ant. Such ants are Formica mngmnea
and Polyerffut rtifeteent, which attack colonies of Fortnica
fxMxi. capture and carry off the larvs, and rear them in
servitude.
slaver* (slav'tr), r. [< ME. sUiveren, < Icel.
slafra, slaver, = LG. slabbern, slaver, slabber:
see slabber^.'] I. intrans. To suffer the saliva
to dribble from tbe month ; drivel ; slabber.
His monthe daoen.
HampoU, Prlcke of Conaetence, 1. 784.
Make provision for yoiu: davering hounds.
Malinger, City Madam, ii. 2.
The mad nuutlS is in the meantime ranging the whole
oountiy over, datering at the mouth.
Qoldtmith, athten of tbe World, Ixix.
n. trans. To besmear or defile with slaver or
saliva; beslabber.
Then, for a suit to drink in, so much, and, that being
davered, so much for another suit.
B. Jonaon, Bartholomew Fair, 11. 1.
Like hogi, we aiomrhls pearls, "turn his graces into
wantonneaa," and torn again to rend in pieces the bringers.
Ben. T. Adamt, Works, I. 344.
Twitch'd by the aleerc^ he (the lawyer] mouths it more and
more.
Till with white froth his gown is alatvr'd o'er.
C. Dryden, tr. df Juvenal's Satb-ea, vU. 144.
slaver* (slav'^r), n. [< ME. slaver, slavyr, <
Icel. slat'r, slaver: see slaverl^, v. Cf. slabber^,
n.] Saliva driveling from the mouth; drivel.
Of all mad creatures, if the learn 'd are right.
It is tbe daver kills, and not the bite.
Pope, Prol. to Satires, L 106.
slaver^ (sla'vi-r), n. [< slaved + -crl.] 1. A
ship or vessel engaged in the slave-trade.
Two mates of veiaeU engaged in tbe trade, and one per-
son in equipping a Tewel as a daver, have been convicted
and subjecnid to the penalty of fine and imprisonment
Lincoln, in Raymond, p. 175.
2. A person engaged in the slave-trade; aslave-
himter ; a slave-dealer.
Tbe Slaver led her from the door.
He led her by the hand.
To be his alave and paramour
In a strange and distant land I
Longfellow, Quadroon GirL
slaverer (slav'6r-6r), n. [< slaver^ -1- -fri.]
One who slavers; a driveler; hence, a servile,
alijfct flatterer.
slaveiingly (slav'6r-ing-li), adv. With slaver
or drivel.
slavery! (slav'6r-i), a. [< slaver^ ■¥ -yi. Cf.
sltibbery.] Slabbery ; wet with slaver.
" Yea, drink, Peggy,** said Hash, thrusting his davery
lips close to bar ear. S. Judd, Margaret, i. 6,
slaverjr^ (sla'v^r-i), «. [Early mod. E. slaverie
(= D. slavernij = G. sklaverei = Sw. slafveri =
Dan. slareri); as slare'^ + -ery.'] 1. A state of
servitude: the condition of a slave; bondage;
entire subjection to the will and commands of
another; the obligation to labor for a master
slavish
without the consent of the servant ; the estab-
lishment of a right in law which makes one per-
son absolute master of the body and the service
of another.
Taken by the insolent foe,
.\nd sold to davery. Shak., Othello, i. 3. 138.
A man that is in slavery may submit to the will of his
master, because he cannot help it,
Slillingfieet, Sermons, III. iii.
2. The keeping or holding of slaves; the prac-
tice of keeping human beings in a state of ser-
vitude or bondage. Slavery seems to have existed
everywhere from very early times. It is recognized in the
Old Testament as a prevailing custom, and the Levitical
laws contain many regulations in regard to slaves and their
rights and duties. .Serfdom died out gradually in Eng-
land in the latter part of the middle ages, and slavery was
abolished throughout the British empire in 1833, after long
agitation, the sum of twenty million pounds sterling being
paid as compensation to the slave-owners. Negro slavery
was introduced into the present territory of the I'nited
States in lft20, and became recognized as an institution.
The Northern States gradually got rid of their slaves by
emancipation or transportation in the latter part of the
eighteenth and the early part of the nineteenth century.
Slavery became a leading and agitating question from the
time of the Missouri t:om promise (1S20). and the number
of slave States increased to fifteen. (See slave State, under
staved, a.) President Lincoln, by his Emancipation Procla-
mation of January 1st, 18<i3, declared free all slaves in that
part of the Union designated as in rebellion ; and the thir-
teenth amendment to the Constitution, li;6.5, abolished sla-
very within the United States, Slavery has been abolished
by various other countries in the nineteenth century, as
by Brazil in 188S.
In the progress of humane and Christian principles, and
of correct views of human rights, slavery has come to be
regarded as an unjust and cruel degradation of man made
in the image of God. Woolsey, Intrttd. to Inter. Law, § 138.
3. Servitude ; the continuous and exhausting
labor of a slave ; drudgery.
The men are most imploied in hunting, the women in
dauery. Capl. John Stnith, Works, II. 239.
4t. The act of enslaving. [Rare.]
Though the pretence be only against faction and sedi-
tion, the design is the slavery and < tppression of the People.
StUlint/Jieet, Sennons, I. viL
= Syn. 1. Bondage, etc. Siee servitude. — 1 and 2. Vassal-
age, thraldom, serfdom, peonage.
slave-ship (slav'ship), «. A ship employed in
the slave-trade; a slaver.
slave-trade (slav'trad), n. The trade or busi-
ness of procuring human beings by capture or
purchase, transporting them to some distant
country, and selling them as slaves; traflie in
slaves. The slave-trade is now for the most part confined
to Portuguese and Arabs in Africa. It was abolished in
the British empire in 1807, and by Congress in the United
States In 1807 (to take effect January 1st, 1808).
That execrable sum of all villanies commonly called a
Slow Trade. J. Wesley, Journal. Feb. 12, 171)2.
That part of the report of the committee of detail which
•auctioned the perpetual continuance of the dave-trade.
Banerqfl, Hiat Const., II. 128.
slave-trader (slav'tra'dfer), n. Onewho trades
in slaves; a slaver.
slavey (sla'vi), n [< «/are2 + dim. -eij.'] A do-
mestic drudge ; a maid-servant. [Slang, Eng.]
T\i0davey has ilr. Frederick's hot water, and a bottle
of soda-water on the same tray. Ue has been instructed
to bring soda whenever he hears the word davey pro-
nounced from at)Ove. Thacl-eray, Newcomes. xi.
The first inquiry is for the missus or a daughter, and if
they can't be got at they're on to the daveys.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I. 472.
Slavian (slav'i-an), a. and n. Same as Slavic.
Milnian, Latin Christianity, III. 125.
Slavic (slav'ik), a. and «. [< Slav + -ic] I.
a. Of or pertaining to the Slavs, their country,
language, literature, etc. ; Slavonian.
II. H. The language or group of languages
spoken by the Slavs : it is one of the primary
branches of the great Indo-European or Aryan
family Church Slavic, a name given to an ancient
dialect of Bulgarian still used as the Biblical and liturgi-
cal language of the <>rthodi>x F.astern Church in Kussia
and other Slavic countries. Also called Old Bulgarian.
.See Bulgarian.
slavinet, «• [< ME. slaveyn, slaveyne, slavyn,
srlaviii, sklavyn, sclauayn, sklavt/ne, sclarene, <
AF. tsclavinc, < Jilh.sclavina, a long garment like
that worn in Slavonic countries, < OBulg. Slovi-
eninu = Kuss. Slaryaninu, Slav, Slavonian: see
Slav.1 A pilgrim's cloak.
Horn sprong ut of halle.
And let his sdauin falle.
King Horn (E. E. T. S.), p. 36.
slavish (sla'vish), a. [= D. slaafseh = G. skla-
risch = Sw. slafvisk = Dan. slavisk, slavish ; as
slave'' + -ish^.] 1 . Of, pertaining to, character-
istic of, or befitting slaves ; servile ; base : as,
slavish fears ; a slavish dependence on the great.
Nor did I use an engine to entrap
His life, out of a davish fear to combat
Youth, strength, or cunning.
Ford, Broken Heart, v. 2.
slavish
Although within a palace thou wast bred.
Yet doat thou carry but a siavish heart.
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, I. 2(53.
2. Lacking origiuality or due independence.
The search for ancient shapes of shields, with a view to
their rfarisA reproduction, which is now so usual, does not
seem to have iieen so prevalent before al)out the year 1S40.
Traiig. llift. Soc. of Lancashire and Cheshire, >'. S., V. 59.
3. Like that of a slave; servile; consisting of
drudgery and laborious toil : as, slavish service.
Many a purchased slave,
Which, like your asses and your dogs and mules,
You use in abject and in siamsh parts.
Shak., M. of v., iv. 1. 9i
4t. Enslaved ; oppressed.
They . . . clog their davish tenants with commands.
Bp. HaU, Satires, IV. ii. 138.
= Syil. 1. Cringing, obsequious, fawning, groveling. — 3.
Drudging, menial.
BlaTisUy (sla'vish-li), adc. In a slavish or ser-
vile manner; as a slave; as if deprived of the
right or power of independent action or thought.
Here we have an arcade of five, the columns of which
are crowned with capitals, Composite in their general
shape, but not siaiishly following technical precedents,
Dor all of them exactly alike.
E, A. Freeman, Venice, p. 252.
SlstTisImesS (sla'\'ish-nes), «. Slavish charac-
ter, spirit, quality, or condition ; servility.
Slayism (slav'izm), n. [< Slav + -ism.'] Slavic
character, peculiarities, influence, interests,
and aspirations.
C^tuntries of the Greek religion, then, give the smallest
proportion (of suicides]; but here comes in the great in-
fluence of SlansiH. Pop. Sci. Mo., XX. 221.
slavite (sla'vit), K. [^ slaved + -ite'-^.'] A slave-
holder, or one vpho favors slavery; in U. S. hist.,
a member of the pro-slavery party. [Kare.]
Undoubtedly the most abominable and surprising spec-
tacle which the wickedness of war presents in the Eight
of Heaven is a reverend slavite.
W. Lloyd Garrison, The Liberator (18S1X I. 115.
8lavocracy(sla-vok'ra-si),n. [Also slaveocracy ;
irreg. < slaved + -o-cfacy as in democracy, etc.]
Slave-owners collectively, or their interests, in-
fluence, and power, especially as exercised in
the maintenance of slavery.
Each strives for preeminence in representing its candi-
date as the special friend of the siaveocracy.
New York Tribune, Nov. 4, 1856.
Ever since he [Calhoun) had abjured his early national
and latitudinarian bias, and become an " honest nullifier '*
in the service of the davocracy, he had unfitted himself
to be the leader of a great national party.
n. von Hoist, John C. Calhoun (trans.), p. 215.
slavocrat (sla'vo-krat), n. [Irreg. < slaved +
-o-crat as in democrat, etc.] A member of the
slavocracy.
The davocrats, Calhoun not excepted, . . . were not
such doctrinaires as to risk their bones in charging wind-
mills. //. von Hoist, John C. Calhoun (trans.), p. 308.
Slavonian (sla-v6'ni-an), a. and n. [Also
SeUiconian ; < ML. Slavonia, Sclavonia, the coun-
try of the Slavs or Wends, < Slavus, Sclavns,
Slav: see Slav. Ci. Slovenian.'] I. a. 1. Of or
pertaining to the Slavs, their language; litera-
ture, history, etc.; Slavic. — 2. Of or pertain-
ingio Slavonia.— Slavonian grebe. See grebe.
TL. n. 1. A Slav person or language. — 2.
An inhabitant of Slavonia, a district east of
Croatia, with which it forms a crownland in the
Hungarian or Transleithan division of the Aus-
trian empire.
Slavonianize (sla-vo'ni-an-iz), V. t. ; pret. and
pp. Slaconianized,vyT. Siavonianiging. [< Sla-
vonian + -ize.'] To render Slavonian in char-
acter or sentiment; Slavonicize; Slavonize.
They [the Bulgarians] are not of pure Slavic descent, but
are a Slavonianized race. Science, VI. 303.
The Russian, who has been described as a Slavonianized
Finn with a dash of Mongol blood. Science, VI. 304.
Slavonic (sla-von'ik), a. and n. [Also Scla-
vonic; < NL. Slavonicus, Sclavonicus, < ML. <S7a-
vonia, Sclavonia, Slavonia: see Slavonian.] I.
a. Of or pertaining to the Slavs or Slavonians;
Slavic.
H. n. The language of the Slavs: same as
Slavic.
Slavonicize (sla-von'i-siz), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
Slavonicized, ppr. Slavonicizing. [< Slavonic +
-ize.] To render Slavonic in character, senti-
ment, language, etc.
The Slavonic or Slavonicized population.
F.ncyc. Brit., XVI. 194.
Slavonize (slav'o-niz), v. t. ; pret. and pp. .S7«i-
onized, ppr. Slavonizinq. , [< Slavon{ic) + -ize.]
To render Slavonian in character, sentiment,
language, etc.
This element Is preponderant in the Timok valley,
while in Istria it is represented by the Cici,'at present
largely Slavoraied. Eneyc. Brit., XXIV. 268.
5688
Slavophil (slav'o-fil), n. [< Slav + Gr. (^iTmv,
love.] One who favors or admires the Slavonic
race, and endeavors to promote the interests
of the Slavonic peoples: frequently used at-
tributively.
There were the so-called Slavophils, a small band of pa-
triotic, highly-educated Muscovites, who were strongly
disposed to admire everything speciftcally Russian, and
who habitually refused to bow the knee to the wisdom of
Western Europe. D. M. Wallace, Russia, p. 139.
It remains to be seen whether the Slavophils will not
obtain theii' own way. Edinburgh Rev. , CXXV. 160.
Slavophilism (slav'o-fil-izm), «. [< Slavophil
+ -('*)«.] Slavophil sentiments and aims.
Hostility to St, Petersburg and to the "Petersburg period
of Russian history " is one of the characteristic traits of
genuine Slavophilism. D. M. Wallace, Russia, p. 418.
Slavophobist(slav'o-f6-bist), n. [< Slav -t- Gr.
(fojtlv, tear, + -ist.] One who is not favorable
to the Slavs, or who fears their influence and
power.
slaw^t, a., n.j and adv. An obsolete (Scotch)
form of slow^.
slaw- (sla), M. [< D. slaa, salad (Sewel) (cf.
krvp-slaa, in comp., lettuce-salad, cabbage-let-
tuce), contr. of salaad, salaade, now saladc,
salad: see salad^. Cf. cole-slaw.] Sliced cab-
bage, served cooked or uncooked as a salad.
slawet. A Middle English past participle of
slay^.
slayl (sla), V. t. ; pret. slew, pp. slain, ppr. slay-
iny. [< ME. sleen, slen, slan, slon, scion, slsen
(without inf. ending, slee, sle, slaa, slo, pres.
ind. 1st pers. slaye, etc., pret. sloic, slou, slougli,
slonh, sloHg, slogh, sloli, slog, pi. sloivcn, sloughen,
sloven, stowe, sloiighe, etc., pp. slain, slayn,
slawen, slawe, sleie, yslayti, islawc, yslawc, etc.),
< AS. sledn (contr. form of *sleahan, "slahan,
pret. sloh, slog, pi. slogon, pp. slegen, sliegen,
geslegen, geslesgen), strike, smite, kill, = OS.
slahan, .slaan = OFries. sla = D. slaan = MLG.
sldn, IjG. slaan = OHG. slahan, MHG. slahen,
G. schlagcn = loel. sld = Sw. sl& = Dan. slaae =
Goth, slahan, strike, smite ; not found outside of
Tent., unless in Olr. slechtaim, sligini, I strike.
Some compare L. lacerarc, Gr. ^.aKil^civ, lacer-
ate: see lacerate. Hence ult. slanght, slaugh-
ter, slay'^, sledge^, and perhaps slat^, sleet^, sly,
sleight.] If. To strike ; smite.
Thai slew tlie wethir that thai bar ;
And slew fyr for to rost their mete.
Barbour, vii. 153. (Jamieson.')
2. To strike so as to kill ; put to death violent-
ly, by means of a weapon or otherwise ; kill.
Thi tadir hath slayn a fat calf. Wyclif, Luke xv. 27.
They brennen, sleen, and bringe hem to raeschance.
Chaucer, Man of Law's Tale, 1. 964.
Hast thou dain Tybalt ? wilt thou slay thyself ?
And slay thy lady too that lives in thee?
Shak., R. and J., iii. 3. 116.
3. To destroy; put an end to; quench; spoil;
ruin.
Swich a reyn doun fro tlie welkne shadde
That slow the fyr and made him to escape.
Chaxicer, Monk's Tale, 1. 742.
The rootes eke of red^ and risshe thay ete ;
When winter sleeth thaire fedvng, yeve hem meete.
PaUadius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 99.
For this, being smelt, with that part cheers each part ;
Being tasted, slays all senses with the heart.
Shak., R. and J., ii. 3. 26.
= Syil. 2. Murder, etc. See kilU.
slay^ (sla), n. [Also sley, early mod. E. also
sleie; < ME. slay, slai, < AS. sl^, contr. of *slahe,
in an early form slahae, a weavers' reed (= Icel.
sld = Sw. sld = Dah. ,<ilaa, a bar, bolt, cross-
beam) : so called from striking the web to-
gether, < sledn (*sleahan, *slahan), strike: see
s/a»^l.] The reed of a weavers' loom.
To weue in the stoule sume were full preste.
With datis, with tauellis, with hedellis well drest.
Skelton, Oarlande of Laurell, 1. 791.
slayer (sla'er), n. [< ME. slaer, slecr, sleere
(= MLG. sieger = G. schldger, a beater, fighter,
mallet), a slayer; < slay^ + -erl.] One who
slays; a killer; a murderer; an assassin; a de-
stroyer of life.
If the red dayer thinks he slays. Emerson, Brahma,
slazy (sla'zi), a. A dialectal form of sleazy.
sld. A contraction (a) of sold; (b) of sailed.
slet. An old spelling of slay''-, sly.
sleave (slev), n. [Also sleeve; cf. Sw. slejf, a
knot of ribbon, = Dan. slojfe, a bow-knot; G.
schleife, a loop, knot, springe, noose, = LG.
slope, slepe, a noose, slip-knot; from the root of
slip: see slijA.] Anything matted or raveled ;
hence, unspun silk; the knotted and entangled
part of silk or thread.
Sleep, that knits up the ravell'd deave of care.
Shak., Macbeth, ii. 2. 27.
sled
The bank, with dalTodlUes dight.
With grass like sleave was matted.
Drayton, IJuest of Cynthia.
sleave (slev), r. t. ; pret. and pp. sleaved, ppr.
slcaving. [Also sleeve; < sleave, n.] To sepa-
rate or divide, as a collection of threads, strands,
or fibers — Sleaved silk, silk not spun or twisted, but
drawn out into a skein or bunch of loose threads.
sleave-silk (slev'silk), «. Unspun silk, such as
floss or filoselle.
Thou idle immaterial skein of deave silk!
Shak., T. and C, v. 1. 36.
sleaziness (sla'- or sle'zi-nes), «. Sleazy, thin,
or flimsy character or quality.
sleazy (sla'- or sle'zi), a. [Also sleezy, also dial.
.'ilazy; supposed to be < G. schleissig, schlis-
sig, worn out, threadbare, easily split, < schleis-
sen, split, slit : see slit'', slice. It is not probable,
however, that a G. adj. would thus come into
popular E. use. Kennett (in Halliwell) con-
nects sleazy with Silesia (cf. silesia, a stuff so
called).] Of thin or flimsy substance; com-
posed of poor or light material : said of a textile
fabric.
I cannot well away with such deazy Stuff, with such
Cobweb-coinpositions, where there is no Strength of Mat-
ter, nothing for the Reader to carry away with him, that
may enlarge the Notions of his .Soul.
Ilou-ell, Letters, I. i. 1.
A day is a more magnificent cloth than any muslin,
the mechanism that makes it is infinitely cunninger, and
you shall not conceal the sleezy, fraudulent, rotten hours
you have slipped into the piece, for fear that any honest
thread, or straighter steel, or more inflexible shaft, will
not testify in the web.
Emerson, Complete Prose Works, II. 357.
sleckt (slek), r. f. An obsolete or dialectal form
of slake'^. Prompt. Parv., p. 459. Also sletch.
sleck^t, V. An obsolete form of sleek, slick''.
Sleck-'trought, «. [< sleek, var. of slake', +
trough.] The trough in which a blacksmith
slakes or cools his irons.
He a Black-smith's son appointed
Head in his place : one who anointed
Had never been, unless his Dad
Had in the sleck-trouyh wash'd the lad.
T. Ward, England's Reformation, i. (Davies.}
sled' (sled), M. [Early mod. E. also slcdd, sledde,
sleade ; < ME. sled, sledde, sledc ; not found in
AS.; < MD. slede, sledde, slidde, later sleede, D.
slede, also contr. slee, = MLG. slede, .sledde, LG.
slede, slee = OHG. slito, slita, MHG. slite, slitte,
G. schlitten (> It. slitta) = Icel. sledhi = Sw.
sldde = Norw. slede, slee = Dan. sleede, a sled;
< AS. slidan, etc., slide : see slide. Cf. Ir. Gael.
slaod, a sledge, < slaod, slide; Lett, slidas, a
skate. Hence ult. sledge'^ and sleigh'.] 1. A
drag or dray without wheels, but mounted on
runners, for the conveyance of loads over frozen
snow or ice, or over mud or the bare ground, as
in transporting logs and heavy stones. Also
sledge.
Upon an ivory sled
Thou Shalt be drawn amidst the frozen pools.
Marlowe, Tamburlaine, I., i. 2. 98.
A dray or dedde which goeth without wheeles, traha.
Baret.
They bringe water in . . . greate tubbes or hogsheads
on sleddes. H. Best, Farming Book (1641), p. 107.
2. A pair of runners connected by a frame-
work, used (sometimes with another pair) to
Sleds.
A, boll-sled, composed of two short sledstf, a' connected by a petch
*, which is attached to the sled a' by a kinjr-bolt f, on which the sled
rt' turns freely, thereby eoabltn? it to be turned around in a space lit-
tle wider than its own length : tne box or tjody of the sled, when one
is used, is supported on the bolsters d, d'. B, B', band-sleds.
cai'ry loads or support the body of a vehicle, or,
when of lighter build and supporting a light
platform or seat, in the sport of coasting and
for drawing light loads by hand.
Chilion made her a present of a beautiful blue-painted
ded to coast with when the snows came.
S. Judd, Margaret, i. 10.
3. A vehicle moving on runners, drawn by
horses, dogs, or reindeer; a sleigh.
In his lefte hande he holdeth a collar or rayne wherwith
he nioderateth the coiu'se of the bartes, aiul in the ryght
sled
hand a pyked staffe wherwith he may sustelne the ileade
from faulyng if it chaunce to decline to much on any part.
B. men, tr. of Sigismundus Liberas (First Books on
[America, ed. Arber, p. 331).
T departed from Vologhda in poste in a ded, as the
maner is in Winter. BaMuyt's Voyages, I. 312.
Sled^ (sled), f . ; pret. and pp. sledded, ppr. sled-
ding. [< sled^, H.] I. tram. To convey or trans-
port on a sled : as, to sled wood or timber.
n. intrans. 1. To ride or travel in a sled :
sonietimes with an impersonal it.
Look where, mantled up in white.
Be decU it like the Muscovite.
Cotton (Arber's Eng. Garner, L 219).
2. To be carried or transported on a sled.
[CoUoq.]
Now, p'r'apa, ef you'd jest tighten up the ropes a leetle
t'other side, and give 'em sovereignty, the hull load would
dtd easier. //. B. Stoux, Oldtown, p. 482.
sled^ (sled), H. [A corruption of sledge^.'] Same
as sledge^, sledge-hammer.
sled-brake (sled'brak), «. A form of brake
adapted for use with a sled. It is usually a
prong which can be caused to project against
the ice or snow.
sledded (sled'ed),p.a. [<.sled^ + -ed^.'] Mount-
ed on or riding in a sled. [Rare.]
Be smote the Oedded Polacks on the ice.
Shak., Hamlet, L 1. 63.
(This passage, however, is obscure. Some read " sleaded
poUax" (leaded battle-axX]
sledder (sled'fer), n. 1. One who travels on a
sled. — 2. A horse that draws a sled or sleigh.
Smiler (our youngett ttedder) had been well in over his
withers, and none would have deemed him a piebald, save
of red mire and black mire.
R. D. Slackmore, Lonia Doone, iL
sledding (sled'ing), n. [Verbal n. of sled^, r.]
1. The use of a sled ; the act of riding or carry-
ing on a gled. — 2. Opportunity to use a sled:
state of a road which permits that use. Com-
pare sleighing in like sense.
sledge^ (slcj), n. [< ME. slegge, < AS. sleeg.
sUgc (also, in a Kentish gloss, slice), a heavy
hammer, = Icel. sleggja = Sw. sUigga, a sledge,
= D. sleggr, slei, a mallet, =
OHG. slaya, MHG. stage, sUi,
Q. schlage, a tool for striking
(cf. AS. slegele, a plectrum, D,
stagel = G. schldgel, a sledtfe),
lit. 'striker,' 'smiter,' < sleii,i
(pp. slegen), strike, smite: m-'-
slai/l. Cf. siay'A] A large heavy
hammer, used chiefly by black-
smiths. Also caUed sledge-ham-
mer. The aboat-aledge give* the
heaviest blow, the handle being grasped by both hand* to
swing the sledge over the bead. The uphaiid sledge is
used for light work, and is rarely rahwd above the head.
In hys bosom (the giant) put thre gret ilegga wrought.
Rom. vj Partenag (E. K. T. 8.X I. 3000.
Bis blows fall like huge dtdga on an anvU.
Flet^er, Bonduca, ill. 5.
Cat'1-head sledge. Same as buay-head. — Coal-sledge,
a hammer of peculiar shape, weighing from 5 to 8 pounds,
used in mines to brvak coaL — Old BlSdce. Same as aU-
Sown.
Sledge- (slej), n. [Another form of »/«<fl,
whether (a) by mere confusion with sledge^,
or (h) by confusion with sleds, pi. of sled^: see
sled^.] 1. Same as sled^, 1 ana 2.
The banks of the Hieander are sloping, and they croas
it on a sort of a boat, like a dedije in shape of a half los-
enge, the sides of it not being above a foot high.
Pocoeke, Description of the Ea^ II. [i. 57.
2. A vehicle without wheels, commonly on
runners and of various forms, much used in
}a, a sledg
pccu sledge.
northern countries where ice and snow pre-
vail: a sleigh: as, a reindeer sledge; an Eski-
mo sledge. In the United States sledge is not
used in this sense. See sleigh'^, and cut under
pulk.
5689
" Samovar postavit!" ("On with the tea-kettle!") the
half-frozen traveler never failed to shout from his sledge
as he neared a post-station.
A. J. C. Hare, Studies in Eussia, iv.
3. Hence, anything serving the purpose of a
vehicle which may be dragged without wheels
along the ground, as the hurdle on which per-
sons were formerly drawn to execution. — 4.
Same as sled^, 2.
Oft on dedges in winter, as swift as the swoop of the eagle,
Down the hillside bounding, they glided away o'er the
meadow. Longfellow, Evangeline, i. 1.
6. In her., a bearing representing a heavy vehi-
cle with runners like a sledge.
sledge'^ (slej), v. t. and t. ; pret. and pp. sledged,
ppr. sledging. [< sledge^, «.] To convey or
transport in a sledge ; travel in a sledge.
sledge-chair (slej'char), »i. A seat mounted
on nmnera and having a high back, which can
be grasped by a skater.
sled^e-dog (siej'dog), n. A dog trained or used
to draw a sledge, as an Eskimo dog.
sledge-hammer (slej'ham'^r), n. [< sledge'^ +
hammer^.'] The largest hammer used in forges
or by smiths in forging or shaping iron on an
anvil. See sledge^.
sledge-hammer (slej'ham'tr), t?. t. [< sledge-
hammer, «.] To hit hard; batter as with a
sledge-hammer.
You may see what is meant by iledgehammering a man.
Sir U. C. Levis, Letters (1834X p. 32. (Daviet.)
sledman (sled'man), n. ; pi. sledmen (-men).
The owner or driver of a sled ; a carrier who
uses a sled.
Bnt nowe they, hauing passed the greater part of their
ioumey, mette at last with the SUddeman (of whom I
spake beforeX Uakiuyt's Voyages, L -^47.
slee't, '■• '• A Middle English form of slay'^.
slee-t, <i. A Middle English and Scotch form
of sly.
slee-^t (sle), n. [< D. «?«e, asled: 8ee«Wi.] A
cradle on which a ship rests when hauled up to
be examined or repaired.
sleecht, slitcht (slech, sHch), n. [Also sleetck ;
dial, slutch, var. sludge, slush, partly differenced
in use (Sc. unassibilated slik, slike); < ME.
slicrhe, slijche, prob. < D.slijk; dirt, mud, grease,
= LG. slikk = G. schlick, grease, slime, mud;
akin to sleek, slick. Cf. sludge, slush, slosh."]
Thick river-mud; sludge; slime.
And wa>-Qerand, weike. (11 wan to the lond,
Thurgh tlie slieehe and the slyme in this slogh feble.
There tynt haue I truly myche trietl goode.
Destruction <if Troy (E. E. T. S.X L 18547.
And I will goe gaither ilyehe.
The ablppe for to caolke and pyche.
Chester Ptags, I. 47.
sleech (slech), r. t. [< sleech, n.] To dip or
ladle up, as water, broth, etc. [Scotch.]
sleek, slick^ (^lek, slik), a. and n. [The form
slirk is related to sleek much as crick^is related
to ereek^. but is in fact the more orig. form, un-
til recently in good literary use, and still com-
mon in colloquial use (the word being often so
pronounced even though spelled sleek), but now
regarded by many as somewhat provincial;
early mod. E. also sleke; < ME. slickr, slike, slik,
slyk',scl!ike, < Icel. slikr, sleek, smooth (cf. slikja,
a smooth thin texture, slikjuligr, smooth, slik-i-
sleinn, a whetstone: see sleekstone); cf. MD.
sleyck, plain, even, level, creeping on the
ground ; related to SID. slijrk. D. slijk = MLG.
slik, slik, LG. slikk = G. schlick, grease, mud,
ooze, = 8w. slick = Dan. slik. ooze, etc. (see
»/iri-2), = OHG. slih. MHG. slieh, a gliding mo-
tion, G. schlich, a by-wa^, trick, artifice ; from a
strong verb appearing in MLG. sliken, LG. silk-
en (pret. sleek, pp. sleken) = OHG. slihhan, slich-
n», MHO. slichen, G. schkichen (pret. schlich) =
ME. slike, creep, crawl, move on smoothly: see
»/itel, «M«il.] 1. a. 1. Smooth; glossy; soft:
as, sleek hair; a sleek skin.
Ber fleshe tender as is a chike,
With bente browes, smothe and slyte.
Rom. 0/ the Rase, 1. 542.
The oiled sleet wrestler struggled with his peers.
WaUam Morris, Earthly Paradise, in. 217.
2. Oily; plaasible; insinuating; flattering: as,
a sleek rogue ; a sleek tongue.
How smooth and stick thou art, no where abiding !
Befwood, Dialogues (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, VI. 175).
.Self-love never yet could look on truth
But with bleared beams; slick flattery and she
Arc twin-lwm sisters.
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, L 1.
3. Dexterous; skilful; neat in execution or ac-
tion : 08, a sleek or slick bowler. [Colloq.]
sleeking
H. n. A smooth, shining place or spot. Spe-
ciflcally — (o) A place on the fur or hair of an animal which
has been made sleek by licking or the like. (6) A smooth
place on the water, caused by eddies or by the presence of
fish or of oil. [U.S.]
You have seen on the surface of the sea those smooth
places which flshenuen and sailors call dicks. . . . Our
boatman . . . said they were caused by the blue fish
chopping up their prey, . . . and that the oil from this
butchery, rising to the surface, makes the dick. What-
ever the cause may be, we invariably found fish plenty
whenever we came to a did(.
D. Webster, Private Correspondence, II. 338.
One man, on a sperm whaler, is stationed on the main
or mizzen chains or in the stiu-board boat with a scoop
net, to skim dicks while the head of the whale is being sev-
ered from the l)ody — that is, to save the small pieces of
blubber and "loose" oil which float upon the water.
Fisheries of U. S., V. ii. 283.
sleek, slick '^ (slek, slik), r. [Early mod. E. also
slecke; < ME. sliken, partly < slik, E. sleek, slick,
a., and partly the orig. verb: see slike^, v. Cf.
Icel. sleik^a, "lick, = Norw. sleikja, stroke with
the hand, lick ; slikja, make smooth, stroke, also
intr. glisten, shine ; sUkka = Sw. slicka = Dan.
«(iA.-A-e, lick.] I. trans. 1. To make smooth and
glossy on the surface : as, to sleek 'or slick the
hair.
I slecke, I make paper smothe with a slekestone, Je fals
glissant Palsgrave, p. 720.
There she doth bathe,
And deek her hair, and practise cunning looks
To entertain me with.
Beau, and Fl., Woman-Hater, iv. 1.
Fair Ligea's golden comb.
Wherewith she sits on diamond rocks,
Sleeking her soft aUuring locks.
Milton, Comus, 1. 882.
The old servant was daunted by seeing Sylvia in a
strange place, and stood, deeking his hair down, and fur-
tively looking about him.
Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, xxx.
Technically —(a) In currying and teatherdressi'ig, to
smooth the surface of (leather) by rubbing with an imple-
ment called a dicker. (6) In hat-making, to attach (fur; to
felt by hand-work.
2. To smooth; remove roughness from.
Gentle my lord, sleek o'er your rugged looks.
Shak., Macbeth, iii. 2. 27.
For her fair passage even alleys make,
And, as the soft winds waft her sails along,
sleek every little dimple of the lake.
Drayton, Barons' Wars, Hi. 47.
3. Figuratively, to calm ; soothe.
To sleek her ruffled peace of mind.
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien.
Some nights when she's ben inter our house aplayin'
checkers or fox an' geese with the chlld'en, she'd railly
git Hepsy dieked down so that 't was kind o' comfortable
bein' with her. U. B. Stotce, Oldtown, p. 408.
H. intrans. To move in a smooth manner;
glide ; sweep. Compare slike''-.
For, as the racks came deeking on, one fell
With rain into a dell.
Z«H7A Hunt, Foliage, p. XXX. {Dames.y
sleek, sllcki (slek, slik), adv. [< ME. slike; <
sleek, slick', a."] In a sleek or slick manner; with
ease and dexterity; neatly; skilfully. [Colloq. J
Jack Marshal and me and the other fellers round to the
store used to like to get him to read the Columbian Sen-
tinel to us : he did it off dicker than any on us could ; he
did — there wa'n't no kind o' word couUl stop him.
U. B. Stoice, Oldtown, p. 268.
sleeked (slekt), o. [< sleek -I- -ed2.] Smooth.
sleeken (sle'kn), i: t. [< sleek ■¥■ -eni.] To
make smooth, soft, or gentle ; sleek. [Rare.]
And all voices that address her
Soften, deeken every word.
Mrs. Brovming, A Portrait.
sleeker, slicker (sle'k^r, slik'^-r), Ji. [< sleek,
slick', 4- -rrl.] 1. In leather-mantif., a, tool of
steel or glass in a wooden stock, used with pres-
sure to d[ress the surface of leather, in order to
remove inequalities and give a polish.
The sides of lace-leather are . . . finished by laying
them upon a flat table and smoothing them out with a
glam dicker. C. T. Xtacw, Leather, p. 565.
2. In founding, a small tool, usually of brass,
made in a variety of shapes, used to smooth the
curved surfaces of molds. — 3. An oilskin or
water-proof overcoat. [Cow-boy slang.]
We had turned the horses loose, and in our oilskin dick.
er» cowered, soake<l and comfortless, under the lee of the
wagon. T. Roosevelt, The Century, XXXV. 864.
[Chiefly in technical or colloquial use, and
commonly slicker.'\
sleek-headed (slek'hed'ed), a. Having a sleek
or smootli and shining head.
Let me have men about me that are fat ;
sleek-headed men, and such as sleep o' nights.
Shak., J. a, i. 2. 198.
sleeking, slicking (sle'king. slik'ing), «. [Ver-
bal n. of sleek, slick', t.] The act of making a
thing sleek or smooth, gpeclflcally — (a) In hat-mak-
sleeking
»"k<;, the iiperation of puttiiii! tlu' fur nap on the felt body.
(6) In Iratlu-r-inannf., the use of the sleeker or slicker.
sleeking-glass, slicking-glass (sle'kiiig-, slik'-
iiig-gla.s). II. A glass or glass-faeeil implement
tise<i to give a gloss to te.xtile fabrics.
sleekit (sle'kit). n. [Sc.formof s?fcierf.] 1.
Sleeked ; having smooth hair or a sleek skin.
Wee, gleekitt cow'rin', tim'rous beastie.
Burns, To a Mouse.
2. Figuratively, smooth and plausible ; deceit-
ful: sly: cunning. [Scotch in both uses.]
sleekly, slickly (slek'Ii, slik'li), adv. In a sleek
manner; smoothly; glossily.
sleekness, slickness (slek'nes, slik'nes), «.
Sleek character or appearance ; smoothness and
glossiness of surface.
sleek-stonet, slick-stonet(slek'-. slik'ston), ».
[Early mod. E. sii/ckestoiie, slelestonc, < ME.
slekystone, sUkestone, slyke stone, sclykstone (also
tileken stone, sleight stone, slcijht-stone) (= leel.
«/(A-!"-ste»MN, whetstone); as sleek. slick\ + stone. "i
A heavy and smooth stone used for smoothing
or polishing anything.
Shee that wanteth a sleelte-stone to smooth hir linnen wil
take a pebble. Lyln, Euphues and his England, p. 220.
I had said that, because the Eeinonstrant was so much
offended with those who were tart against the Prelats,
sure he lov'd touthlesse Satirs, which I took were as im-
proper as a toothed Steekstnne.
Milton, Apology for Smectymnuus,
sleeky (sle'ki), a. [< sleek + -//l.] 1. Of a sleek
or smooth appearance.
Sweet, sleekif doctor, dear paciflck soul !
Lay at the beef, and suck the vital bowl !
Thomson, To the Soporific Doctor.
2. Sly; cunning; fawning; deceitful: as, a
sleeky knave,
sleep ( slep), V. ; pret. and pp. slept, ppr. sleeping.
[< ME. slepen, sitipen, sclepen, sclapen (pret. slepte,
pp. slepecl, slept, also, as orig., with strong forms,
pret. slep, sleep, sleep, pi. slepen), < AS. sliepan,
slepan, sometimes sldpan (pret. «?ep, pp. sixpen,
also sometimes weak pret. slieptc, sleptc, slepdc)
= OS. sldpaii = OFries. slepa = D. slapeii =
MLG. LG. slapen = OHG. slafan, MHG. sidfen,
G. sehhifeiv^ Goth. slepan (redupl. pret. saislep),
sleep; ef . MLG. LG. slap ( > G. schlapp) = OHG.
MHG. slaf, G. sehlaff, lax, loose, feeble, weak,
= Ban. siap = Sw. slapp, lax, loose (= AS. as
if *slsep, an adj. related to .-slepan, sleep, as
Iset, late, to Uetan, let; ; akin to OBulg. slahii, lax,
weak; L. labare, totter, sink, be loosened, labi,
fall, slide: see labeiit, lapse. No cognate form
of this verb is found in Scand. (where another
verb, cognate with the L., Gr., and Skt. words
for 'sleep,' appears: see sicwcH).] I. intrans. 1.
To take the repose or rest which is afforded by
a suspension of the volimtary exercise of the
bodily functions and the natural suspension,
complete or partial, of consciousness; slumber.
See the noun.
I'pon that Boche was Jacob liepynge whan he saughe
the Aungeles gou up and doun by a Laddre.
Mattdemlle, Travels, p. 86.
But sleep'st thou now ? when from yon hill the foe
Hangs o'er the fleet, and shades our walls below '>.
Pope, Iliad, x. 182.
2. To fall asleep ; go to sleep ; slumber.
A fewe sheep spinning on feeld she kepte ;
.She wolde nought been ydel til she fslepte.
Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, 1. 224.
Merlin, overtalk'd and overworn,
Had yielded, told her all the charm, and slept.
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien.
3. To lie or remain dormant ; remain inactive
or unused; be latent; be or appear quiet or
quiescent ; repose quietly : as, the sword sleeps
in the scabbard. Sailsaresaid to sleepv/hen so stead-
ily filled with wind as to be without motion or sound ; and
a top is said to sleep when it spins so rapidly and smootlily
that the motion cannot be observed.
Gloton tho with good ale gerte (caused) Hunger to slepe.
Piers Plowrnun (C), ix. 325.
How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank !
Shak., M. of v., v. 1. 64.
Once dept the world an egg of stone.
And pulse, and sound, and light was none.
Emerson, Woodnotes, ii.
Seeing the Vicar advance directly towards it, at that ex-
citing moment when it was beginning to sleep magnifi-
cently, he shouted, . . . ".Stop! don't knock my top down,
now : " George Eliot, Mr. Gilfll's Love-Story, i.
4. To rest, as in the grave ; lie buried.
Them alBo which deep in Jesus will God bring with him.
1 Thes. iv. 14.
When I am forgotten, as I shall be,
And deep in dull cold marble.
SiMk., Hen. VIII., Ui. 2. 433.
5. To be careless, remiss, inattentive, or un-
concerned; live thoughtlessly or carelessly;
take things easy.
5690
We deep over our happiness, and want to be roused to
a quick thankful sense of it. Bp. Atlerlmry.
6. In hot., to assume a state, as regards vegeta-
ble fimctions, analogous to the sleeping of ani-
mals. See sleej), »., 5.
Erythrina erista-galli. out of doors and nailed against a
wall, seemed in fairly good health, but the leaflets did not
sleep, whilst those on another plant kept in a warm green-
house were all vertically dependent at night.
Dartiin, Movement in Plants, p. 318.
7. To be or become numb through stoppage of
the circulation : said of parts of tho body. See
aslrep — Sleeping partner. See partner.— To sleep
upon both ears. Seee«ri. =Syn. 1 and 2. Drowse, Doze,
Shnnher. Sleep, nap, rest, repose. The first four words ex-
press the stages from full consciousness to full uncon-
sciousness in sleep. Sleep is the standard or general word.
Drowse expresses that state of heaviness when one does
not quite surrender to sleep. Doze expresses the endeavor
to take a sort of waking nap. Slumber has lai-gely lost its
earlier sense of the light iSeginning of sleep, and is now
more often an elevated or poeticsU word for steep,
II. trans. 1. To take rest in: with a cognate
object, and therefore transitive inform only:
as, to sleep the sleep that knows no waking.
He ther slepte no slepe, manly waked ryght.
The sparhauke sagely fede by gouertiaunce,
A repaste hym yaf wel to conysaunce.
Horn, of Partenay (E. E. T. S.), 1. 5463.
Yet deeps a dreamless sleep to me.
Tennyson, Day-Dream, L'Envoi.
2. With ateay : To pass or eousimie in sleep-
ing: as, to sleep away the hours ; to s/cqj aicny
one's life. — 3. With off or out: To get rid of
or overcome by sleeping; recover from during
sleep: as, to sleep off' a, headache or a debauch.
And there,
"When he has slept it oiit, he will perhaps
Be cur'd, and give us answerable thanks.
Brrnne, Queens Exchange, iii.
4. To afford or provide sleeping-accommoda-
tion for : as, a car or cabin that can sleej) thirty
persons. [Colloq.]
Tliey were to have a double row of beds "two tire"
high to admit of steeping 100 men and 60 women.
Quoted in liibton-Turner's Vagrants and Vagrancy, p. 399.
sleep (slep), n. [< ME. sleep, slepe, slep, slope,
sleep, < AS. sleep = OS. slap = OFries. slep = D.
slaap = MLG. LG. sldp = OHG. MHG. slaf, G.
sehlaf= Goth, steps, sleep; from the verb.] 1.
A state of general marked quiescence of volun-
tary and conscious (as well as many involun-
tary and unconscious) functions, alternating
more or less regularly with periods of activity.
In human sleep, when it is deep, the body lies quiet, with
the muscles relaxed, the pulse rate lower than during the
waking hours, and the respiration less frequent but deep,
while the person does not react to slight sensory stimuli.
Intestinal peristalsis is diminished ; secretion is less ac-
tively carried on ; the pupils are contracted ; and the brain
is said to be anemic. If the depth of sleep is measured
by the noise necessary to waken the sleeper, it reaches its
maximum within the first hour and then diminishes, at first
rapidly, then more slowly.
Half in a drenie, not fully weel a-wakid.
The golden deep me wrapt vndir his wieng.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 52.
Else could they not catch tender sleep; which still
Is shy and fearful, and flies every voice.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, iv. 41.
Sleep is a normal condition of the body, occurring peri-
odically, in which there is a greater or less degree of un-
consciousness due to inactivity of the nervous system and
more especially of the brain and spiiml cord. It may be
regarded as the condition of rest of the nervous system
during which there is a renewal of the energy that has
been expended in the hours of wakefuhiess.
Encyc. Brit., XXII. 154.
2. A period of sleep: as, a short sleej).
It seems his sleeps were hindered by thy railing.
Shale, C. of E., V. 1. 71.
On being suddenly awakened from a sleep, however pro-
found, we always catch ourselves in the middle of a dream.
W. James, Prin. of Psychol., I. 201.
3. Repose; rest; quiet; dormancy; hence, the
rest of the grave ; death.
Here are no storms,
No noise, but silence and eternal sleep,
Shak., Tit. And., i. 1. 155.
A calm, unbroken sleep
Is on the blue waves of the deep.
Prentice, To an Absent Wife.
4. Specifically, in zoiil., the protracted and pro-
found dormancy or torpidity into which various
animals fall periodically at certain seasons of
the year. Two kinds of this sleep are distinguished as
summer and uinier deep, technically known as estivation
and hibernation (see these words).
5. In hot., nyetitropism, or the sleep-movement
of plants, a condition brought about in the fo-
liar or floral organs of certain plants, in which
they assume at nightfall, or just before, posi-
tions unlike those which they have maintained
during the day. These movements in the case of leaves
are usually drooping movements, and are therefore sug-
gestive of rest, but the direction of movement is different
sleeper
In different cases. Thus, among the Oxalidaceie the sleep-
movement consists in the downward sinking of the leaf-
lets, which become at the same time folded on them-
selves. Among the Leijmninosee-, the leaflet.s, hi some cases,
simply sink vertically downward (Phaseoleff) ; in others,
they sink down wliile the main petiole rises (terminal
leaflet of Desinouium) ; in others, they sink downward
and twist on their axes so that their upper surfaces ai-e in
contact beneath the main petiole (C'nma) ; in others, again,
-they rise and bend backward towaid the insertion of the
petiole (Coromlla) ; in others, they rise, and the main
petiole rises also, whereas in Mimosa pudica tlie leaflets
rise and bend forward, while the main petiole falls. In
Marsilea the leaflets rise up, the two upper ones being em-
braced by the two lower. (S.U. Vines.) The mechanism
of these movements is explained by Pfeifer and others as
due to an increased growtli on one side of the median line
of the petiole or midril), followed, after a certain interval
of time, by a corresponding growth on the opposite side.
It is also accomplished by simple turgesceiice of opposite
sides, 'i'he utility of the sleep-movements is believed to
consist in protection from toogreat radiation. The cause
or causes of these movem ents (and of analogous move-
ments which have been called diurnal sleep; see the
second quotation) are only imperfectly known, l)Ut thej^
are undoubtedly largely due to sensitiveness to variations
in the intensity of light. See nyetitropism.
Those movements which are brought about by changes
in the amount of light constitute what are known as the
"deep" and "waking" of plant*. Bessey, Botany, p. 198.
There is another class of movements, dependent on the
action of light. . . . We refer to the movements of leaves
and cotyledons which when moderately illuminated are
diaheliotropic, but which change their positions and pre-
sent tlieir edges to the light when the sun shines brightly
on them. These movements have sometimes been called
diurnal sleep. Danein, Movement in Plants, p. 446.
On Sleept, asleep. See adeep.
For David, after he had served his own generation by the
will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers.
Acts xiii. 36.
They went in to his chamber to rayse him, and comming
to his beds side, found him fast on sleepe,
Gascoigne, Works, p. 224.
sleep-at-noon (slep'at-non'), n. A plant, same
as f/d-to-hed-at-noon.
sleep-drunk (slep'drungk),rt. Being in the con-
dition of a person who has slept heavily, and
when half-awake is confused or excited.
sleeperi (sle'per), ?;. [<_ME. sleeper, sleper,
slepare, sleepere, < AS. sleepere (= D. slaper =
MLG. slaper = MHG. sidfeere, sldfer, G. seliald-
fer),<. sixpan, sleep: see s?ee/j, c] 1. One who
sleeps: as, a sound steeper. — 2t. Adrone,orlazy
person; a sluggard.
To ben a verray deeper, fy, for shame.
Chaucer, Nun's Priest's Tale, L 71.
3t. A dormant or inoperative thing; something
that is in abeyance or is latent.
Let penal laws, if they have been sleepers of long, or if
they be grown unfit for the present time, be by wise judges
confined in the execution. Bacon, Judicature (ed. 1887).
4. An animal that lies dormant in winter or
summer, as the bear, the marmot, certain mol-
lusks, etc. See sleej), n., 4. — 5. Figuratively, -
a dead person.
Graves at my command
Have waked their deepers.
Shak., Tempest, v. 1. 49.
6. ]il. Grains of barley that do not vegetate
in malting. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] — 7. A
railway sleeping-car. [Colloq., U. S.] — 8. In
^•067.: (a) The dormouse, Myoxus avellanariiis.
(b) The sleeper-shark, Somniosus niicroi-epha-
liis, and some related species, as Cinijlymos-
toma cirratum. (c) A gobioid fish of the genus
Philypnus, Eleotris, ov Dormitator, a,s D. linea-
tus or T>. maeidutiis. See Eleotridvnee.
sleeper'^ (sle'per), n. [E. dial, also slaper; per-
haps < Norw. sleip, a smooth piece of timber for
dragging anything over, esp. used of pieces of
timber employed for the foundation of a road :
see slape, slah^. But the word is generally re-
garded as a particular use of sleejyer^ ; cf. dor-
mant, H.] 1. A stump of a tree cut off short
and left in the ground. [Prov. Eng.] — 2. A
beam of wood or the like placed on the ground
as a support for something, (o) In carp., a piece
of timl-)er on wliich are laid the ground-joists of a floor ; a
beam on or near the ground, or on a low cross-wall, for
the support of some superstructure. (6) In milit. eiurin.,
one of the small joists of wood which form the foundation
for a battery platform, (c) A piece of wood, metal, or
other material upon which the rails or the rail-chairs of a
railway rest, and to which they are fastened. Wood of
durable varieties is far more extensively used for this pur-
pose than any other material ; but stone, toughened glass,
and iron have also been used, the last to a considerable
extent. In some instances the sleepei-s are laid longitu-
dinally with the rails, and bo\md together by cross-ties.
This system is in use on some important European rail-
ways, and generally on elevated railways and street rail-
ways, both in the United States and elsewhere ; but the
must common method is to lay the sleepers at right angles
to the rails, and about 2 feet from center to center, except
when they support points and angle-liars, when they are
placed 1 foot 6 inches from center to center. 1'hey are
thus made to act both as sleepers and as cross-ties. Such
sleepers are in the United States also called railxcay-ties
or simply ties. See cut under rail-chair.
sleeper
3. In .iHp-buHding, a thick piece of timberplaeed
longitudinally in a ship's hold, opposite the
several scarfs of the timbers, for strengthening
the bows and stern-frame ; a piece of long eom-
pass-tlmber fayed and bolted diagonally upon
the transoms. — 4. In glass-mal-iiiy, one of the
large iron bars crossing the smaller ones, which
hinder the passage of coals, but leave room for
the ashes. — 5. In weaving, the upper part of
the lieddle of a draw-loom, through which the
tin-ends pass. E. H, Knight.
sleeper-shark (sle'per-shark), «. A scynmoid
shark, especially of the genus Somniosus, as S.
microi-iphalus ; a sleeper.
8leepflll(slep'fid), a. [<. gleep + -ful.l Strongly
inclined to sleep: sleepy. [Bare.]
sleepfnlness (slep'ful-nea), «. Strong inclina-
tion to sleep. [Rare.]
sleepily (sle'pi-li), adv. In a sleepy manner,
(a) Drowsily, or as if not quite awake. (6^ Languidly;
lazily.
To go on safely and tUejnZy in the easy ways of ancient
raii'takings. Sir W. RaleigK
sleepiness (sle'pi-nes), n. Sleepy character or
state, (a) Inclination to sleep; drowaineaa.
Watchfulness precedes too great tUepirua, ArbuthiutL
When once tieepinetii has commenced, it increases, be-
cause, in proportion as the nervous centres fail in their
discharges, the heart, losing part of its stimulus, begins
tofiag, and . . . the flagging of theheart leads to a greater
inertness of the nerve-centres, which re-acts as before.
H. Spencer, Prin. of Psychol., % Si.
(6) Languor : laztneas. («) Same as tutting.
sleeping (sle'plng), n. [< ME. sleping ; verbal
n. of «/eep, r.j 1. The taking of rest in sleep;
sleep ; the state of one who sleeps ; hence, lack
of vigilance ; remissness.
Full uaillant and wurthy were thys men tho,
WhlL-U nogbt ne went to sompnolent deping.
But mygbtyly aod poaantly were waking.
Rom. e/Parimay (E. £. T. S.), L 6606.
2. Inoperativeness; dormant state or condi-
tion; abeyance.
You ever
Have wish'd the deeping of this business.
Shak., Hen. VIIL, IL 4. IS3.
Sleeping of process, in ScaU law, the state of a process
in the outer house of the Court of Session in which no
judii-ial order or interlocutor has been pronounced for a
year and a day.
sleepinK-bag (sle'ping-bag), n, A bag of skin
or fur into which explorers in frozen regions
ereep, feet foremost, when preparing for sleep.
The rocky floor was covered with cast-ofl dotbeav and
among them were huddled together the tiUepii^-bagt in
which the party had spent most of their time dtuing the
last few months.
Sehley and Sotey, Rescue of Greely, p. 223.
sleeping-car (sle'ping-kftr), n. A railway-car
fitted with berths in which beds may be made
up for passengers to sleep in. [U. 8. and Can-
ada.]
sleeping-carriage (sle'ping-kar'Sj), n. Same
as sh/jiimi-mr. [Eng.J
sleeping-dranght (sle'ping-dr&ft), n. A dnnk
givHil to iiidiK'c sleep.
sleeping-dropsy (»le'ping-<lrop'8i), n. Same
lis iiiiini I' tlniii/ii (which see, under letkarffy^).
sleepinglyt (»le'piiig-Ii), adr. Sleepily.
To jog tiMpinf^y through the world in a dumpish, mel-
aiictiolly posture cannot properly be said to live.
Keniwt. tr. of Erasmus's rraise of FoUy, p. 25. (Daviei.)
sleeping-room (sle'ping-rom), ». A bedroom.
sleeping-sickness (sle'ping-sik'nes), n. Same
as iiiiini h Ihiiniii (which see, under lethargy'^).
sleeping-table (sle'ping-ta'bl), n. In mining.
n<;arly the same as framing-table. [Little used
in Kiiglish except as a translation of the French
tiible dormrintr.]
sleepisht (sle'pish), a. [< sleep + -i>Al.] Dis-
posed to sleep; sleepy; lacking vigilance.
Your tUepiiih and more than nleepith security.
Fvrd. (.Imp. Did)
sleepless (slep'les), a. [< ME. sleples, < AS.
'slirjilii'tg (in deriv. slaiileiist, sleeplessness) (=
D. slaiielooH = MLG. slnpelos = OHG. MHG.
sldftox, nldfelog, (i. gcldajtos); < alSp, sleep, +
-tedn, E. ■legs.'] 1. Being without sleep; wake-
ful.
A crown,
Golden in show, is but a wreath of thorns.
Brings dangers, troubles, cares, and utrepteux nights.
Miilan, V. K., IL 460.
While pensive poets painful vigils keep,
.SttepUM themselves to give their readers sleep.
Pope, Dunclad, i. M.
2. Constantly watchful ; vigilant : as. the sleep-
Irsg eye of justice. — 3. Restless; continually
<3isturhed or agitated.
Biscay's rieepleu bay. Byron, Chflde Harold, I. 14.
5691
I thought of Chatterton, the marvellous boy.
The sleepless soul that perished in his pride.
Wordsworth, Resolution and Independence, st. 7.
sleeplessly (slep'les-li), adv. In a sleepless
manner.
sleeplessness (slep'les-nes), n. Lack or depri-
vation of sleep ; inability to sleep ; morbid
wakefulness, technically called insomnia.
SteepUssness is both a symptom and an immediate cause
of cerebral disorder. Huxley and Youmans, PhyaioL , § f>02.
sleep-sickt (slep ' sik), a. Excessively fond of
sleep. [Kare.]
Fond Epicure, thou rather slept'st thy self,
When thou didst forge thee such a sleep-siek Elf
For life's pure Fount.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 7.
sleep-waker (slep'wa"k^r), «. A somnambu-
list; one who thinks or acts in a trance. [Re-
cent.]
What, then, are the main modifications of ordinar>' wak-
ing consciousness, which spontaneous deep-wakers (to use
a term of convenient vagueness) have been observed to
present.' Proc. Soc. Psych. Research, 1. 285.
sleep-'Waking (slep'wa'king), n. The state of
trance ; somnambulism ; the hypnotic state.
[Recent.]
Did any one strike or hurt me in any part of the body
when Anna M. was in sleepicakin^ . she iuunediately car-
ried her hand to a corresponding part of her own person.
Proc. Soc. Psych. Research, II. 20.
sleep-'Walker (slep'w4'k6r), n. A somnambu-
list.
sleep-'Walking (8lep'w&''king), n. Somnambu-
lism.
sleepwortt (slep' w6rt), n. A species of lettuce,
Lactiicii lirosa, so called from its narcotic prop-
erty. See lactucarinm.
sleepy (sle'pi), a. [< ME. glepi, < AS. "gUepig
(= OHG. sldfag, MHG. sldfec; et. T>._slapeHg,
6. gchldferig, scMdfrig), sleepy, < sliep, sleep:
seeaJeep, n.] If. Overcome with sleep ; sleep-
ing.
Go . . . smear
The deepy grooms with blood.
Shak., Macbeth, ii. 2. 50.
The heavy nodding Trees all languished.
And ev'ry stespy bough hung down its head.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, 11. 162.
2. Inclined to sleep ; drowsy.
He laugh'd, and I, tho' deepjf, . . .
. . . prick'd my ears.
T*tmyon, The Epic.
3. Languid; dnil; inactive; sluggish.
The mildness of your sleepy thoughts.
Shak.. Eich. III., UL 7. 123.
Her house
Bespske a deepy hand of negligence.
Wardlworth, Excursion, I.
4t. Tending to induce sleep ; sleep-producing;
soporific.
His lUpy verde in hond he (Hercuryl bar uprighte.
Chaucer, Knight's tale. I. 529.
We will give jrou d»ipy drinks. Shak., W. T., L 1. 15.
6. Decaying internally : said of fruit. See blet,
f. I — siMpr cateh-flr. 8eeco«cA-/ft/.— Sleepy duck,
the ruddy iuik,Br1muitura rubida: also called sleepyhead,
detpy eaat, deepy Imther. (Atlantic coast, V. S. |
sleepyhead (ale'pi-hed), ». 1. An idle, lazy
iMison. [('ollo(i.] — 2. The sleepy duck.
sleepy-seeds (sle'pi-sedz), n. pi. The mucous
secretion of the conjunctiva, or the sebaceous
matter of the Meibomian follicles, dried in
flakes or little masses at the edges or comers
of the eyelids during sleep. [A familiar or nur-
sery word.]
sleert, n. A Middle English form of glayer.
sleet^ (slet), n. r< ME. Meet, glete, slet; (a) per-
hat)8 < A8.» sUte','slyte = OS. 'glota = D. slote =
MLG. stolen, LG. nlote = MHG. sloz, G. selilogse,
hail; or (6) < Norw. gletta, sleet, < gletta, slap,
fiiiig (see glat^, glate^); (c) not related to Icel.
slydda, Dan. slnd, sleet.] Hail or snow min-
gled with rain, usually in fine particles, and
frequently driven by the win<l. A fall of sleet Is
due to one or more Inversions in tho normal decrease of
temperature with increase of altitude, as, for example,
when flne rHln-dn>ps falling from an air-current whose
temperature Is 82* F. or over (reese in traversing colder
air-strata near the earth's surface.
The bittre frostes with the deet and reyn
Destroyed hath the jrrene In every yerd.
Clumeer, Franklin's Tale, 1. 522.
They . . . shot
Sharp deet of arrowy showers against the face
Of their pursuers. MUton, P. R., III. 324.
February bleak
Smites with his deet the traveller s cheek.
Bryant, Song Sparrow.
sleet* (slet), r. I. [<«fc?e<l, n.] To rain and snow
or hail at the same time.
sleeve
sleet^ (slet), ?i. [Origin obscure.] IngiMn.,that
part of a mortar which passes from the cham-
ber to the trunnions for strengthening the
chamber.
sleet-bush, (slet'bush), n. A mtaceoiis shrub,
Coleonema album, of the Cape of Good Hope.
It is a handsome low evergreen with white
flowers.
sleetcht, «. See sleech.
sleetiness (sle'ti-nes), n. Tho state of being'
sleety.
sleet-squash (slet'skwosh), «. A wetting
shower of sleet. [Scotch.]
But, in the midst of all this misery, the Wellington Arms
is by no means an uncomfortable howf in a sleet-squash.
Nodes Ambrosianse, Feb., 1832.
sleety (sle'ti), fl. [_<.sleet^ + -y^.'] Consisting
of sleet; characterized by sleet.
The sleety storm returning still,
The morning hoar, and evening chill.
T. Warton, Odes, x.
sleeve* (slev), ». [< ME. sleeve, sieve, slefe (pi.
glefes, sleren), < AS. slefe, slef, slyfe, sl%t' = MD.
sieve, a sleeve (cf. MD. sloove, veil, skin, the
turning up of a thing, D. sloof, an apron ; MHG.
slouf, a garment, also a handle, MLG. sla, LG.
slu, slutvc = MHG. sloiife, G. schlaiibc, schlauf,
a husk, shell); prob. lit. 'that into which the
arm slips' (cf . slip^, a garment, slop^, a garment,
and slipper^,
a light shoe,
from the same
ult. source, and
so named for the
same reason), <
AS. slUpan, slip:
sees/ipi. For the
change of p to/,
cf. shaft'i, as re-
lated to shape.']
1. That part of
a garment which
forms a covering
for the arm: as,
the ileeve of a
coat or a gown.
At different times
during the middle
ages extraordinarily
long, pendent sleeves
were in use, some-
times reaching the
ground, and at oth-
er times a mere band
or strip of stuff, sin-
gle or double, bung
lid
S1«eves. lone and hangli^, rath century.
leMe-Duc's •'^Dict. du Mobilier
(f-rom VioIIetH
fran^ais.")
from the arm, and
was generally called a hanging deeve, although the actual
sleeve was independent of it. Japanese ceremonial cos-
Sleeve worn as a favor at kniKtit's left shoulder.
(From Viollet'le-Duc's " Diet, du Mobilier fran^ais.")
tume also has sleeves of remarkable length and width, the
arm being generally passed through a hole in the side of
the sleeve.
Than ech of us toke other by the sleue
And forthwithall, as we should take our leue.
Chaucer, Assembly of Ladies.
Thy gown was of the grassie green,
Thy deeves of satteif hanging by.
Greendeeves (Child's Ballads, IV. 242).
The Gentlemen (Gentlemen must pardon me the abas-
ing of the nameX to bee distinguished from the rest, weare
a lacket of blew cotton with wide deeues.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 641.
2. In mech., a tube into which a rod or another
tube is inserted, if small, it is often called a thimlie;
when fixed and serving merely to strengthen the object
which it Incloses, it is called a reinforce. In most of Its
applications, however, the two parts have more or less
relative circular or longitudinal motion. E. II. Knight. —
Olgotsleeve. same as hg-of -mutton sleeve. — Hlppocra-
tes'S sleeve, a name ainoiig old chemists for a strainer
madeofllannelorof similar material in the form of along
bag. -Lawn sleeves, see irtwft2.— i,eg-of-mutton
sleeve, a full and loose sleeve, tight at the ainihole and
wrist, as of a woman's dress: a fashion of the early part
sleeve
of the nineteenthcenturj-.— Mandarin sleeve. Seeman-
dan'ii. — Ridged sleeve. See ridge.— To hang or pin
(auythiog) upon the sleeve, to make (anything) depen-
dent.
It is not for a man which lioth know, or should know,
what orders, and what peaceable government requireth,
to ask why we should han<; our judgement upon the
chorch's deeoe^&nd why in matters of orders more than in
matters of doctrine. Hooker, Eceles. Polity.
To hang upon one's sleeve, to be dependent upon one.
, —To have In one's sleeve, to have in hand ready for a
vacancy or emergency ; be provided with or have ready to
present as occasion demands. [The sleeve was formerly
used as a pocket, as it still is in China, Japan, etc.]
The better to winne his purposes Ar good aduantages, as
now <t then to haue a iourney or sieknesse in hii sleeiu,
thereby to sllake of other importunities of greater conse-
quence. Puttenham, .Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 2.'il.
To laugh in one's sleeve, i^ee laugh.— to wear one's
heart upon one's sleeve. See heart.
sleeve^ (slev), r. /. ; pret. and pp. sleeved, ppr.
sleeving. [< ME. sleven; < sleeve'^, n.] 1. To
furnish with a sleeve or with sleeves ; make
with sleeves. Prompt. Parv., p. 459. — 2. To
put in a sleeve or sleeves.
Sleeve'-, «. and v. See sleave.
sleeve-axle (slev'ak'sl),?!. A hollow axle which
rims upon a shaft. E. S. Knifiht.
sleeve-board (slev'bord), ». The board used
by tailors in pressing sleeves.
There's a celebrated fight in that [ballet] between the
tailor with his sleeve-board and goose and the cobbler
with his clam and awl.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, III. 14C.
sleeve-button (slev'but'n), n. A button used
to fasten a sleeve ; in modem costume, a button
or stud, usually large and decorative, to hold
together the two sides of the wristband or cuff ;
by extension, a sleeve-link.
sleeve-coupling (slev'kup"ling), ». See coup-
ling.
sleeved (slevd), a. Having sleeves: especially
noting a garment — Sleeved waistcoat, a body-gar-
ment resembling awaistcoat, but with long sleeves, usual-
ly of a different material from the front of the garment,
and intended to cover the shirt-sleevea when the coat is
removed. This garment is worn in Europe by hostlers,
l>ootblacks, porters, and the like. Also sleeve-waistcoat.
sleeve-flsh. (slev'fish), n. The pen-fish, eala-
mary, or squid. See calamary and LoUgo.
sleeve-handt (slev'hand), n. The part of the
sleeve next the hand; also, the wristband or
■ cuff.
Yon would think a smock were a ahe-angel, he so chants
to the tieeve-hand and the work about the square on 't.
Shah., \V. T., iv. i. 211.
sleeve-knot (slev'not), n. A knot or bow of
ribbon attached to the sleeve. Compare shoul-
der-knot.
sleeveless (slev'les), a. [< ME. sleveles, < AS
slefleds, sleeveless, < slef, sleeve, -I- -leds = E.
-Ies8.'\ 1. Having no sleeves; without sleeves:
noting a garment.
We give you leave to converse with sleeveless gowns and
threadbare cassocks. Randolph, Hey for Honesty, ii. 4.
2. Imperfect; inadequate; fruitless; unprofit-
able ; bootless. [The original turn of thought in this
use of sleeveless is uncertain. The use remains only in the
phrase a sleeveless errand, where the connection of the ad-
jective with sleeveless in def. 1 is no longer recognized.]
Neither faine for thy selfe any sleeuelesse excuse, where-
by thou maiat tarrye. Lyly, Euphues, Anat. of Wit, p. 114.
A sleeveless errand. Shak., T. and C, v. 4. 9.
[He] wlU walk seven or eight times a-day through the
street where she dwells, and make sleeveless errands to
see her. Burton, Anat. of lleL, p. 499.
sleeve-link (slev'lingk),)!. Two buttons, plates,
or bars united by a link or short chain, and
serving to hold together the two edges of the
cuff or wristband : a common adjunct of men's
dress in the nineteenth century. Compare
sleeve-button.
sleeve-nut (slev'nut), n. A double nut which
has right-hand j^
and left-hand
threads for
attaching the
joint-ends of
rods or tubes; sietvenut.
a union. E.H. .".«'. r<><is or piptsw be «
ui<uiv#u. .u. -u. right-hand screw and rt a h
Kntght.
sleeve -waist-
coat (slev'vvast'kot), n. Same as sleeved waist-
coat (which see, under sleeved).
At intervals, these street-sellers dispose of a sleeve-
waistcoat at from 4s. M. to 6».
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I. i'ir,.
sleeve-weight (slev'wat), n. A metal weight
of such shape as to be easily adjusted to the
edge or bottom of long, hanging sleeves, used
to keep them smooth during wear.
5692
sleezy, a. See sleazy.
sleght, a. A Middle English form of sly.
sleghtt. An old spelling of slight^, sleight^.
sleidedt, «. [Origin obscure; usually referred
to shy, slay^."} Unwoven ; untwisted, as silk.
For certaine in our storie, she
Would euer with -Marina be.
Beet when they weaude the sleded alike.
With tlngers long, small, white as milke.
Shak., Periclea, iv,, Prol., 1. 21 (original spelUug).
sleigh^ (sla), n. [A bad spelling, conformed to
weigh, of what should rather have been spelled
*slay or *sley, < ME. scleye, < OF. "escleie, < MD.
slede, D. slede, contr. slee (= Norw. slede), a
sled : see sled^, of which sleigh is thus a doub-
let.] 1. A vehicle, mounted on runners, for
a, a', rods or pipes to be ioined, i having a
right-hand screw and a' a left-hand screw, to
which screws the right and left sleeve-nut t>
is fitted.
single-horse Sleigh or Cutter.
a, runners ; *, shoes : c, shafts or thills ; rf, braces : f, body ; y^ cush-
ioned seat ; ^, dash-board ; M, raves.
transporting persons on the snow or ice ; a
sled.
Than most thei let carye here Vitaylle upon the Yse,
with Carres that have no Wheeles, that thei clepen
Seleyes. MandevUle, Travels, p. 130.
You hear the merry tinkle of the little bells which an-
nounce the speeding sleigh. Eclec. Rev. {Imp. Diet.)
2. A form of drag-carriage for the transport of
artillery in countries where much snow falls ;
also, the carriage on which heavy guns are
moved when in store, by means of rollers placed
underneath the carriage and worked by hand-
spikes.— 3. The slender fore part of the lower
jaw of a whale, containing the teeth: same as
coach, 5. SeejMiMl, 12.
sleighl (sla), V. i. [< sleigh^, ?!.] To drive or
take the air in a sleigh.
sleigh'^t, a. A Middle English form of sly.
sleigh-bell (sla'bel), «. A bell, commonly con-
sisting of a hollow ball of metal having a slit
or oblong liole in the exterior, and containing
a solid pellet of metal wliieh causes a ringing
sound when the ball is agitated. Compare gre-
lot and hawk-bell. Such bells are used especially to
give notice of the approach of a sleigh, being attached
usually to the harness of the horse.— Slelgh-beU duck,
the American black scoter. See cut under (Edemiu. G.
Trumbull, 188S. [Rangeley Lakes, Maine.]
Sleigher (sla'er), «. One who rides or travels
in a sleigh.
The sleigher can usually find his way without dilBculty
in the night, unless a violent snowstorm is in progress.
Elect. Rev. (Amer.), XL xxii. 8.
sleighing (sla'ing), n. [Verbal n. of sleigh^, i'.]
1 . The act of riding in a sleigh.
Certainly no physical delight can harvest so many last-
ing impressions of color and form and beautiful grouping
as sleighing through the winter woods.
Scribner's Mag., IV. 649.
2. The state of the snow which admits of run-
ning sleighs : as, the sleighing was bati.
sleighlyt, adv. A Middle English form of slyly.
Chaucer.
sleigh-ride (sla'rid), ». A ride in a sleigh. —
Nantucket slelgh-rlde, the towing of a whale-boat by
the whale. Macy; Davis.
sleight (slit), n. [Early mod. E. also slight,
sleyghte; < ME. sleight, sleighte, sleigte, slegkte,
sle'ht, sleigthc, slegihe, slehihe, sleythe, sleithe,
slithe, slythe, < Icel. slsegdh (for *sl<xgdh), sly-
ness, cunning (= Sw. slojd, dexterity, mechan-
ical art, esp. wood-carving, > E. sloid), < slaegr
(for 'slcegr), sly, = Sw. slog, dexterous, expert,
etc.: see sly. "Cf. height and high.'] If. Cun-
ning; craft; subtlety.
It is ful hard to halten unespied
Bifor a crepul, for he can the craft :
Youre fader is in sleighte as Argus-eyed.
Chaucer, Troilus, iv. 14:9.
Kowe sen thy fadir may the fende be sotill sleghle.
York Plays, p. 181.
By this crafty deuiae he thought to haue . . . taken,
eytlierby«/ey//Afeorforce, aa many of owre men aa rayght
haue redeemed hym.
Peter Martyr (tr. in Eden's Fhst Books on America,
(cd. Arber, p. 81).
Thia is your doing, but, for all your sleight,
lie crosse you if my purpose hit aright.
Ueywood, Fair Maid of the Exchange (Works, 1874, IL 7C).
2. Skill; dexterity; cleverness.
slender
For the pissemyres wolde assaylen hem and devouren
hem anon ; so that no man may gete of that gold but be
grete sleighte. MandevUle, Travels, p. 301.
Thus may ye seen that wisdom ne richesse,
Beaute ne sleighte, strengthe ne hardynesse,
Is'e may with Venus holde charapartye.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 1090.
As Ulysses and stout Diomede
With sleight and manhood stole to Khesua' tents.
And brought from thence the Thracian fatal steeds.
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., iv. 2. 20.
3. Art; contrivance; trick; stratagem; artful
feat.
Lo whiche sleigktes and'aubtiliteea
In wommen ben !
Chaucer, Prol. to Squire's Tale, I. 3.
Hegoeth about by his sleights and subtile means to frus-
trate the same. Latiiner, Sermon of the riough.
He learns sharp-witted logic to confute
With quick distinctions, sleights of sophistry.
Ford, Fame's ilemorial.
You see he [a troat] lies still, and the sleight is to land
him. /. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 70.
4. A feat or trick so skilfully or dexterously
performed as to deceive the beholder; a feat
of magic ; a trick of legerdemain.
As lookers-on feel most delight
That least perceive a juggler's sleight.
S. Butler, Hudibras, II. iiL 4.
The Juggler . . . showeth sleighUi, out of a Purse.
Hoole, tr. of t'omenius's Visible World, p. 186.
Sleight of hand, the tricka of the juggler; jugglery;
legerdemain; prestidigitation: also used attributively.
Will ye aee any feats of activity,
Sonie sleight-of-hand, legerdemain?
Fletcher, Beggar's Bush, iiL 1.
A good sleight-of-hand perfoi-mer can deceive the most
watchful persons by mechanical contrivances that nobody
anticipates or suspects. The Nation, XXVIII. 29e.
sleight^t (slit), a. [Irreg. < sleif/hl~. «., appar.
suggested hy slight^, a.] Deceitful; artful.
Spells . . .
Of power to cheat the eye with sleight illusion.
Milton, Comus, 1. 155 (MS. Trin. Coll. Camb.). {Richardson.)
Sleightfult(slit'ful),rt. [<sleightl-i--ful.-i Cun-
ning; crafty; artful; skilful. Also slightful.
Wilde beasts forsooke their dens on woody hils.
And sleighiful otters left the purling rils.
W. Browne, Britannia's Pastorals, ii. 4.
Sleightilyt (sli'ti-li), adv. Craftily.
sleightyt (sli'ti), a. [< ME. sleyiihty; < sleight'^
-I- -(/!.] 1. Cunning; crafty; tricky; artful; sly.
When that gander grasytlie on the grene,
The steyghty fox dothe hys brode beholde,
Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 83.
2. Dexterous; skilful; expert; clever.
I shall learn thee to know Christ's plain and true mira-
cles from the sleighty juggling of these crafty conveyers.
Tyndale, Ans. to Sir T. More, etc. (Parker Soc, 1S50), p. 262.
Mens deyghtye iugling & counterfait crafts.
Bp. Gardiner, True Obedience (trans.), fol. 6.
slelyt, aAv. A Middle English form of slyly.
slent, V. t. A Middle English form of slay'^.
slender (slen'der), a. [< ME. slender, slcndir,
slendyr, slendre, sclcnder. sclendre, sMendre, < OF.
esclendre,<. MD. slinder, slender, thin; prob. orig.
'trailing,' akin to MD. slinder, a water-snake,
LG. slender, a trailing gown, G. schlender, the
train of a gown, a sauntering gait; from the
verb represented by MD. slinderen, creep, =
LG. slindern, slide on the ice, slendern, > G.
schlendern, saunter, loiter, lounge, in part a
freq. form of the simple G. sclilenzen, loiter,
idle-about, = Sw. sHnta, slide, slip, > ME. slen-
ten, slide (see slant and slintc^); but ult. prob.
a nasalized form of the verb represented by E.
slide: see slide.'] 1. Small in width or diameter
as compared with the length; slim; thin: as, a
slender stem or stalk; a slender waist.
Hire armes longe and sclendre.
Chaucer, Merchant's Tale, 1. 368.
Concerning his Body, he [Henry IV.] was of middle Stat-
ure, slender Limbs, but well proportioned.
Baker, Chronicles, p. 165.
There is a Roman Greek church here, called SaintSophia,
in which are two rows of slender pillara with Corinthian
capitals. Pococke, Description of the East, II. i. 134.
2. In :odl., gracile; tenuous; attenuated: spe-
cifically noting various animals and some parts
of animals. — 3. Weak; feeble; slight; lacking
body or strength : as, a slender frame or consti-
tution ; slender hopes ; slender comfort.
Yet are hys argumentes so ).7e7j4(?r that . . . Ifeareme
leaste fewe or none of them (specyallye of the greate
wyttes) woiilde haue been conuerted by Lactantius.
R. Eden (First IJooks on Americji, ed. Arber, p. 10).
It is wery slender comfort that relies upon this nice dis-
tinction. Tillotsott.
4. Meager; small; scant; inadequate: aa, slen-
der means ; slender alms.
The worst is this, . . .
You are like to have a thin and slender pittance.
SAat., T. of theS., iv. 4. 61.
slender
I have . . . continued this dender and nakM narration
of my observations. Coryat, Crudities, I. 198.
Well, come, my kind Guests, I pray you that you would
take this little Supper in good Fart, though it be but a
tUnderoue. A'. Bauey, tr. of Colloquies of Krasmus, I. 82.
How best to help the dender store.
How mend the dwellings of the poor.
Tennymn, To the Kev. ¥. D. Maurice.
5. Moderate ; inconsiderable ; trivial.
There moughtest thou, for but a dender price,
Advowson thee with some fat benehce.
Bp. Hall, Satires, II. v. 9.
A dender degree of patience will enable him to enjoy
both the humour and the pathos. Scott.
6. Not amply supplied.
The good Ostorius often deign'd
To grace my dender table. PhUtips.
7. In plionog., the opposite of broad or open.
Thus, e and i are slender vowels Slender col-
umn. i^iimmu*/(i.<ncuhij' ^rracUis. See /(Mcicu/mj*. — Slen-
der faBClculi of Burdach. See /ojicuruli frraciU'", under
/atciculim. — Slander foxtail. See /oxtail, 2 — Slender
looe. .seetode.— Slender lorla. See (on>.i.— Slender
pug, Eupitheciatenuiata, a liriti-sli moth. =8yn. 3. fragile,
flimsy, frail. — 4. Scanty, sparing, lean.
slender-beaked (sieu'der-bekt), «. Having a
lone, narrow rostrum : as, the slender-beaked
spiiicr-erab. Stcnorhynchus tenuirostris.
slender-billed (slen'der-bild), a. In orniih.,
having a slender bill; tenuirostral : specifi-
cally notijig many birds — not implying neces-
sarily that they belong to tlie old group Tenui-
roxtr (■■■<.
slender-grass (slen'dfr-gris), n. A grass of
the genus Ij'ptochloa, in which the spikelets
are arranged in two rows on one side of a long
slender raehis, and the spikes in turn are dis-
posed in a long raceme. There are 12 species, be-
longing to warm climates ; 3 in the southeru United States.
Of Uie latter L. mueronata is the common species, a hand-
some grass with the panicle sometiraea 2 feet long, from
the form of which it is also cMei/eaUur-grau.
slenderly (slen'der-li), adr. In a slender man-
ner or form, (a) Slimly; slightly.
Fashioned ao denderly,
Young and so fair !
Hood, Bridge of Sighs.
He was a youngish, denderly made man, with a distinct^
ly good bearing. The Century, XX.VI. eo.
(b) Scantily ; meagerly ; poorly ; alightly.
Shall I rewarded be ao denderly
For my affection, moat unkind of men?
FleUker, Faithful Shepherdeaa, L 2.
We are denderly f omiahed with anecdotes of theee men.
Emerton, Eloquence.
(et) Slightingly; careleaaly.
Their factors . . . look very denderly to the impotent
and miserable creatures committed to their charge.
Ilarman, Caveat for Cursetora, p. M.
Captaine Smith did intreat and mono them to put In
firactice his old otf er, seeing now it was time to vae both
t and him, how denderly heretofore t>oth had beene re-
garded. Quoted in (Japt. John Smith'g Works, II. 79.
slendemess (slen'd6r-nes), n. Slender ehar-
acttT, ((Uiility, or condition, (a) Sllmness ; thin-
. ness ; fineness : as, the dendemem of a hair, (ft) Slight-
ness ; feebleness : as, the dendtrruu of one's hopea. (c)
Spareneas : smallneas ; roeageraeas ; Inadequacy : as, den-
txernemt t,l income or supply,
slender-rayed (slen'tfcr-riid), a. HaWng slen-
der rays, as a fish or its fins. The Chiriaa are
sotnctiincs called slender-rayed blennies.
slender-tongued (sleu'd6r-tungd), a. In hcrpet.,
leptoglossate.
slent^t (slent ), V. [Also dial. (He.) sclent, sklent,
sklint, < MK. sUnten, slope, glide. < Sw. dial.
slenta, sliinta, a secondary form ot slinta (pret.
*/««<, pp. «/«nfi7), slide, sUp: see slant.'] I, i«-
trans. 1. To slant; slope; glance; glint.
Of drawln. swerdls $dentyna to and fra.
GaHn Dou/jfae, tr. of Virgil, p. 238.
Shoot your arrows at me till your quiver Ik? empty, but
glance not the least dentinff insinastion at his majesty.
Fuller, Trulh Maintained, p. 19. {Latham.)
2. To jest; bandy jokes.
One l^teus, a pleasaunt-conceited man, and that could
llent flnely. .V»r<A, tr. of llutarch, 744 B. (Xarei.)
n. Iriins. To cause to turn aslant or aside ;
wanl ofT; parry.
Slent't (slent), n. [<«/entl,r.] A jest or witti-
cism.
And when Cleopatra found Antonlus* Jeasts and dentt
to be but grosse.
North, tr. of Plutarch (1679), 982 a (Xaree.)
slent- (slent), r. t. [Perhaps a nasalized form
lit slit ; or else another use of .i/fHfl.] Torend;
cleave. Ilalliwell. [I'rov. Eng.]
If one do well ol>serve the quality of the cliffs on tnth
shores [of England nnd Prancel, his eyes will Judge that
they were but - nal piece of earth at first, and
that they wer> -hivered asunder Ity some act
of violence, ah k I is waves of the sea.
Hoicell, Letters, Iv. U.
5693
slentando (slen-tin'do), adv. [It., ppr. of slen-
tare, make slow; cf. lentando.'] In music, same
as lentando.
slepet, ". and «. A Middle English form of sleep.
slepez (sle-pets'), ». [< Russ. slepetsu, lit.
blind.] The vaoXe-T&t, Spalax typhlus. See cut
under mole-rat.
slept (slept). Preterit and past participle of
.•ileep.
sletbag (slet'bag), H. [Dan., lit. 'level-back':
< sift, plain, level, + bag, back: see slight^ and
back^.] Same as nordeaper.
sleuttl^t, «. A Middle English form of sloth^.
sleuth^ (sloth), «. [< ME. sleuth, slewth, sluth,
sloth, < leel. sloth, a track or trail as in snow.
Cf. s7o<3.] A track or trail of man or beast;
scent. [Old Eng. and Scotch.]
Tyne the deuth men gert him ta.
Barbour, Bruce (E. E. T. S.), vii. 21.
sleuth-dog (slOth'dog), ». The sleuth-hound.
Lang Aicky, in the Souter Moor,
Wi' his deuth dog sits in his watch right sure.
Fray o/ Suport (Child's Ballads, VI. 120).
slenth-honnd (sloth'hound), n. [Also sluth-
liouud, slothound; < ME. sleuthhund, slewth-
hund, sluthehund ; < sleuth- + hound.'] A blood-
hound.
Wald vayd a bow-draucht, he suld ger
Bath the deutMnind & the ledar.
Barbour, Bruce (E. E. T. 3.)t vll. 20.
Sleuth-hound thou luiowest, and gray, and all the hounds.
Tennyson, Gareth and Lynette.
slevet, "• A Middle English form of sleeve^.
slewl (sl8). Preterit of slay^.
slew'''. A spelling of s/iiel, slue^, slough^.
slew'' (slo), n. [Perhaps a mistaken singular
of sluice, assumed to be a plural: sea sluice.]
A swift tideway; an eddy.
slewer (slS't-r), h. See sluer.
slewtht' A Middle English form of sloth^,
sleuth^.
sley't. An obsolete spelling of sly.
sley", n. See sUiy^.
sleythef, ". A Middle English form of sleight.
slibbert (slib'i-r), a. A variant of slipper'^.
slicchet, «. A Middle English form ofsleech.
slice (slis), H. [Early mod. E. also slise, sclice,
sclisc, sklise; < ME. slice, shcc, sclice, sclyce,
sklyce, scli/se, < OF. csclice (Walloon skiice), a
shiver, splinter, broken piece of wood, < esclicer,
eselicier, esclichier. slice, slit, < OHG. sli:an,
sclisan, MHO. allien, G. schleissrn, slice, slit, =
AS. slitan, > E. slit^ : see »/•<!. Cf . slash^, «kt<3,
slate^, from the same source.] 1. A thin broad
piece cut off from something: as, as/tceof bread
or of bacon : often used figuratively.
We do acknowledge you a careful curate.
And one that seldom troubles us with sermons ;
A short diet of a reading aerrcs us, sir.
Pleteher, Spanish Curate, ilL 2.
She cats cake In raitid sacceaalon of dieee.
W. M. Bater, New Thnothy, p. 128.
2t. A shiver ; a splinter.
They braken speres to eelyeet.
King Alieaunder, I. S833. (Steal.)
3. Something thin and broad. Specifically— (a) A
long-handled inatrument used for removing clinkers and
the like between furnace-bars. Also called s(ice-6ar. (A)
A spatula, or broad pliable knife with a rounded end, used
for spreading plasters or for similar purposes.
Slyet, Instnuneot, spata, spatula. Prompt, Pan., p. 4M.
The workman with his diet then spreads the charge
over the lied, so as to thoroughly expose every portion to
the action of the flames, and shuts down the door.
Spon^ Bneye. Manuf., I. 291.
(e) In printing: (1) A small spade-shaped Iron tool with
which printing-ink is taken out of a tub and conveyed to
an Ink-trough or -fountain. (2) The slid-
ing bottom of a sllce-gallev. (if) A bar
used by whalers to strip flsh with, (e) A
tapering piece of plank driven between
the timbers of a ship before planking.
Also called irftcer. (/) A wedge driven un-
der the keel of a ship when launching, ig)
A bar with a chisel or spear-headed end,
used for stripping off the sheathing or
f blanking of ships, {k) A utensil for tuni-
ng over meat in the frying-pan and for
similar purposea The form is like that
of a trowel, the blade being three or four
Inches wide, twice as long, and often
pierced with holea Also called tum-ocer.
Then back he came to Nympton Rectory and wedded
that same cook-maid, who now was turning our ham so
cleverly with the egg-«f»ce,
B. D. Blactmore, Maid of Sker. Ixvlli.
(■) A broad, thin knife, usually of silver, for dividing and
serving flsh at table. Also called Jish-dice.
We nick out (In the shop-windows] the spoons and forks,
jieh-diceg. butter-knives, and sugar-tongs we should both
prefer if we could both atford it ; and really we go away
as if we had got them '. Dickent, Uavid Copperfleld, Ixi.
U) A bakers' shovel or peeL
Slice (r) (1%
'Slid
4t. A salver, platter, or tray.
This afternoon, Mr. Harris, the saylemaker, sent me a
noble present of two large silver candlesticks and snuflfers,
and a dice to keep them upon, which indeed is very hand-
some. Pepys, Diary, II. 218.
slice (slis), V. t. ; pret. and pp. sliced, ppr. slicing.
[< ME. slycen; < slice, n.] 1. To cut into slices,
or relatively broad, thin pieces: as, to slice
bread, bacon, or an apple. — 2. To remove in
the form of a slice : sometimes with off or out :
as, to slice off a piece of something.
Of bread, elyce out f ayre morsels to put into your pottage.
Babeee Book (E. K T. S.), p. 76.
Heer 's a knife.
To save mine honour, shall slice out my life.
Ueywood, Woman Killed with Kindness.
3. To out ; divide.
Princes and tyrants slice the earth among them.
Burnet,
Our sliarp bow diced the blue depths.
W. H. Ruesell, Diary In India, I. 66.
[In the following passage the word is used interjectlonal-
iy, with no clear meaning.
Slice, I say ! pauca, pauca : dice ! that *s my humour.
Shak., M. W. of W., i. 1. 134.]
4. In golf, to draw the face of the club across
(the ball) from right to left in the act of hitting
it, the result being that it will travel with a
curve toward the right. It'. Park, Jr.
slice-bar (slis'bar), «. Same as slice, 3 (a).
slice-galley (sUs'gal''i), h. In printing, a gal-
ley with a false bottom,
in the form of a thin slice
of wood, which aids the
removal of the type from suce-gaiiey.
the galley to the stone.
slicer (sli's^r), n. [< slice + -<-rl.] One who
or that which slices. Specifically — (a) In gem-cut-
ting, same as dittingmill, 2. (6) Same as diee, S(e).
Slicing-machine (sH'sing-ma-shen'), n. In
ceram., a form of pug-mill with an upright axis
revolving in a cylinder. Knives are fixed to the
walls of the cylinder, and others are carried by tlie axis
and revolve between those of the cylinder. The blades
are set spirally, and force the clay, which is masticated
during its progress through the machine, to paas out of an
aperture at the }>ottom.
slickl (slik), a., )(., r., and adv. See sleek.
Slick'^ (slik), II. [= P. schlich, < G. schlich =
LG. slick, pounded and washed ore; cf. LG.
slick, dirt, mud, mire ; D. slijk, G. schliek, MHG.
«Kc7(, grease, mire : see sleech, slick^.] In metal.,
ore in a state of fine subdivision : as sometimes
used, nearly synonymous with slimes. The term
Is rarely employed, except in books describing German
processes of smelting, and tlien as the equivalent of the
German achlieh, and often in that spelling,
slick-chisel (slik'chiz'el), II. A wide-bitted
chisel used to pare the sides of mortises and
tenons.
slicken (slik'n), a. [< slick)- + -c»i8.] Same
as sleek. [P*rov. Eng.]
slic^enslded (slik'n-si''ded), a. [< slicken.<Hde-s
+ -eit-.] In mining, having slickensides ; char-
acterized by slickensides.
Grey Incoherent clay, dickejuided, and with many rhi-
zomes and roots of Psilophyton.
Dawmn, Geol. Hist. Plants, p. 105.
slickensides (slik'n-sidz), «. pi. [< sUeken +
sides, pi. of «irfcl.] In mining, polished and
striated surfaces of the rock, often seen on the
walls of fissure-veins, and the result of motion,
under immense pressure, of parts of the coun-
try-rock, or of the mass of the vein itself. Well-
developed slickensides are most frequently seen in con-
nection with mineral veins, but the pides of Joints in non-
metalliferous rocks occasionally exhibit this kind of stria-
tlori. Slickensided surfaces are frequently coated with a
thin film of pyrites, galena, hematite, or some other min-
eral, which may be polished so as to reflect the light like
a mirror (whence the French name iniroirg).
Nearly akin to this Jointed character are the tlicken-
tidet, or polished and striated surfaces, which, sometimes
of iron pyrites, but more usually of copper pyrites, often
cover tlu* faces of the walls of lodes.
UentcuiHl, Metalliferous Deposits of Cornwall and Devon,
[p. 181.
Slickensiding (slik'n -si 'ding), n. [< slicken-
sides + -ing.] The formation of slickensides.
In every case I think these bodies must have had a solid
nucleus of some sort, as the severe pressure implied in
dtekeniriding is quite incompatible with a mere "fluid-
cavity," even supposing this to have existed.
Dawson, Geol. Hist, Plants, p. 35.
slicker, slicking, etc. See sleelcer, etc.
slid (slid). Preterit and past participle of slide.
'slidt, interj. An old exclamation, apparently
an abbreviation of Ood^s lid (eye). Compare
'slife.
'Slid, I hope he laughs not at me.
B. Jonton, Every Man In his Humour, L &
slidable
Slldable (sli'da-bl), a. [< slide + -able.'] Ca-
pable of sliding or of being slid: as, a slidahle
bearing. The Engineer, LXV. 538. [Rare.]
slidden (slid'n). Past participle of slide.
sliddert (slid'er), a. [Early mod. E. also slider,
slyder; < ME. slider, slidir, slydyr,sleder, sclider,
selydyr. skiither, slippery, < AS. slidor, slippery,
< slidan, slide: see slide. Cf. slender.'} Slip-
pery.
Man, be war, the weye is deder.
Thou seal slyde, thou wost not qweder.
MS. Sloaiu, 2596, If. «i> (Cath. Aug., p. 322).
To a dronke man the way Is slider.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 406.
slidder (slid'fer), v. ». [< ME. shjderen, slidren,
< AS. sUderian, slip (=MD. slideren, drag, train),
< slidor, slippery: see slidder, a. Of. slender.']
To slip; slide; especially, to slide clumsily or
in a gingerly, timorous way: as, he sliddcred
dowTi as best he could. [Old and prov. Eng.]
With that he diagg'd the trembling sire
Slidd'rini/ through clotted blood.
Dryden, .Eneid, ill.
Feeling your foot didder over the back of a toad, which
you took for a stepping-stone, in j;our dark evening walk.
Hereford, Miseries of Human Life, ii. 9.
Slidderlyt (slid'^r-li), a. [< slidder + -ly^.]
Slippery.
sliddeniesst (slid'6r-nes), n. [< ME. slidernesse,
slydirnesse, slydyrnesse, sclidyrnes; < slidder +
-ness.] Slipperiness.
Sliddery (slid'6r-i), a. [< ME. sUderye, slideri,
sliddri, sliddrie (= Sw. sliddrig), slippery; as
slidder + -y"^.] Slippery. [Obsolete or provin-
cial.]
Be maad the tveie of hem dercnessis, and slideri; and
the anngel of the Lord pursuende hem.
Wyclif, Ps. xxxiv. 6.
slide (slid), V. ; pret. slid (formerly sometimes
slided), pp. slid, slidden, ppr. sliding. [< ME.
sliden, slyden, sclyden (pret. slode, slod, slood, pp.
sliden, islide),< AS. slidan (pret. sldd, pp. sliden),
only in comp., slide ; also, in deriv. slidor, slip-
pery (see sliMer), akin to sled^ {sledge"^, sleigh^)
and to slender, etc.; ef. Ir. Gael, slaod, slide;
Lith. slidus, slippery, slysti, slide ; Russ. sliede,
a foot-track ; prob. extended (like slijA) < \/ *sli,
slide, flow, Skt. -y/ sar, flow, sriti, gliding, slid-
ing: seesJipl.] I, intrans. 1. To move bodily
along a surface without ceasing to touch it, the
same points of the moving body remaining al-
ways in contact with that surface; move con-
tinuously along a surface without rolling: as,
to slide down hill.
His horse slode also with all foure feet that he also fill
to the erthe. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. .570.
2. Specifically, to glide over the surface of
snow or ice on the feet, or (in former use) on
skates, or on a sled, toboggan, or the like.
Th' inchanting force of their sweet Eloquence
Hurls headlong down their tender Audience,
Aye (childe-like) sliding, in a foolish strife.
On th' Icie down-Hils of this slippery Life.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 2.
To the Duke, and followed him into the Parke, where,
though the ice was broken and dangerous, yet he would
go s^mZc upon his skeates, which I did not like, but he slides
very well. Pepys, Diary, Dec. 15, 1662.
But wild Ambition loves to slide, not stand.
And Fortune's ice prefers to Virtue's land.
Dryden, Abs. and Achit., 1. 198.
6. To slip or pass smoothly ; glide onward.
Her subtle form can through all dangers slide.
Sir J. Davies, Immortal, of Soul, xxxi.
And here, besides other streames, did£tk Thermodon,
sometime made famous by the bordering Amazones.
Purctuts, Pilgrimage, p. 319.
4. To pass gradually from one state or condi-
tion to another.
Nor could they have slid into those brutish immorali-
ties. South, Sermons.
5. In music, to pass or progi'ess from tone to
tone without perceptible step or skip — that is,
by means of a portamento. — 6. To go without
thought or attention ; pass unheeded or with-
out attention or consideration ; be unheeded or
disregarded ; take care of itself (or of them-
selves): used only with let: as, to let things
slide.
So sholdestow endure and lalen slyde
The time, and fonde to be glad and light.
Chaucer, Troilus, y. 357.
And vyne or tree to channge yf thou wolt doo.
From leene land to fatte thou must him gide.
From fatte to leene is nought ; lette that crafte dyde.
PaUadius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 64.
Let the world dide. Shak., T. of the S., Ind., 1. 6.
7. To slip away: as, the ladder slid from under
him.
5694
The declivities grew more precipitous, and the sand
dided from beneath my feet.
Johnson, Vision of Theodore.
Especially — 8. To slip away quietly or in such
a way as not to attract attention ; make off
quietly.
I think he will be found . . .
Not to die so much as dide out of life.
Browning, Ring and Book, I. 32.S.
And then the girl slid away, flying up-stairs as soon as
she was safely out of sight, to cry with happiness in her
own room where nobody could see.
Mrs. Oliphant, Poor Gentleman, xliii.
9. To disappear just when wanted, as by the
police; "slope"; "skip." [Slang.] — 10. To
make a slip; commit a fault; backslide. See
sliding, n., 4.— satellite sliding rule, an instrument
invented by Dr. John Bevis (died 1771) to calculate the
eclipses of Jupiter's satellites.— Sliding rule, a mathe-
matical instrument or scale, consisting of two parts, one
of which slides along the other, and each having certain
sets of numbers engraved on it, so airanged that when a
given number on the one scale is brought to coincide
with a given number on the otlier, the product or some
other function of the two numbers is obtained by inspec-
tion. The numbers may be adapted to answer many pur-
poses, but the instrument is particularly used in gaging
and for the measuring of timber.— Slidillg scale, (a) A
scale or rate of jjayment which varies under certain con-
ditions. (1) A scale for raising or lowering imposts in
proportion to the fall and rise in the prices of the goods.
In 1828 a sliding scale was established, under which a
duty of 25». 8rf. was imposed upon wheat when the price
was under 62». S. Vouell, Taxes in England, IV. 12.
(2) A scale of wages which rises and falls with the market
price of the goods turned out. (3) A scale of prices for
manufactured goods which is regulated by the rise and
fall in price of the raw material, etc. (6) Same as sliding-
ruie.- Sliding tongs, a form of pliers closed by a feiTule
drawn down tiie stem. = Syn. 1 and 2. Slide, Slip, Glide.
We dide or dip on a smooth surface : we slide by inten-
tion ; we dip in spite of ourselves. In the Bible slide is
used for slip. Slide generally lefers to a longer move-
ment : as, to slide down hill ; to slip on the ice. We glide
by a smooth and easy motion, as in a boat over or through
the water.
II. trans. 1. To cause to glide or move along
a surface without bounding, rolling, stepping,
etc. ; thrust or push along in contact with a sur-^
face.
The two Images of the paper sheet are didden over each
other. Le Conte, Sight, p. 246.
2. To slip gently; push, thrust, or put quietly
or imperceptibly.
Slide we in this note by the way. Donne, Sermons, v.
Their eyes met, and in an instant Norah slid her hand
in his. Whyte Melville, White Rose, II. xxviii.
3t. To glide over or through.
The idle vessel dides that wat'ry way.
Without the blast or tug of wind or oar.
Quarles, Emblems, iv. 3.
slide (slid), n. [< slide, v.] 1. A smooth and
easy passage.
Kings that have able men of their nobility shall find
ease in employing them, and a better slide into their busi-
ness ; for people naturally bend to them, as born in some
sort to command. Bacon, Nobility (ed. 1887).
2. Flow ; even com-se ; fluency.
Certainly there be whose fortunes are like Homer's verses,
that have a slide and an easiness more than the verses of
other poets. Bacon, Fortune (ed. 1887).
3. 1-a music: (a) A melodic embellishment or
grace, consisting of an upward or a downward
series of three or more tones, the last of which
is the principal tone. It may be considered as
an extension of an appoggiatura. Also sliding-
relisli. (J)) Savae a,a portamento. — 4. The transi-
tion of one articulate sound into another; a
glide: an occasional use. — 5. A smooth sur-
face, especially of ice, for sliding on.
Mr. Pickwick ... at last took another run, and went
slowly and gravely down the slide, with his feet about a
yard and a quarter apart, amid the gratified shouts of all
the spectators. Dickens, Pickwick, xxx.
And I can do butter-and-eggs all down the long dide.
. . . The feat of butter-and-eggs . . . consists in going
down the dide on one foot and beating with the heel and
toe of the other at short intervals.
T. Hughes, The Ashen Faggot, ii.
6. An inclined plane for facilitating the descent
of heavy bodies by the force of gravity; a shoot,
as a timber-shoot, a shoot (mill or pass) in a
mine, etc.
The descending logs in long slides attain such velocity
that they sometimes shoot hundreds of feet through the
air with the impetus of a cannon-hall.
Scribner's Mag., IV. 655.
7. A land-slip ; an avalanche. — 8. In mining, a
fissure or crack, either empty or filled with flu-
can, crossing the lode and throwing it slightly
out of its position. In Cornwall, as the term is fre-
quently used, slide is very nearly synonymous with cross-
Jlucan; but, more properly, a slide is distinguished from
a cross-course or cross-flucan by having a course approxi-
slider
mately parallel to that of the lodes, although differing
from "them and heaving them in their underlay. Cross-
courses and cross-flucans, on the other hand, Iiave a course
approximately at riglit angles to that of the lodes.
9. That part of an instrument or apparatus
which slides or is slipped into or out of place,
(a) A glass with a microscopic object, or a picture shown
by the stereoscope, magic lantern, or the like, mounted
on it. (&) One of the guide-bars on the cross-head of a
steam-engine, (c) In musical instruments of the trumpet
class, a r-shaped section of the tube, which can be pushed
in or out so as to alter the length of the air-column, and
thus the pitch of the tones. The slide is the distinctive
feature of the trombone ; but it is also used in the true
trumpet, and occasionally in the French horn. As facili-
tating alterations of pitch in pure intonation, it has de-
cided advantages over both keys and valves. A special
form of slide, called the tuning-slide, is used in almost all
metal wind-instruments simply to bring them into accu-
rate tune with others. See cut under trombone, (d) In
organ-building, same as slideri, i (_f). (c) In racing boats,
a sliding seat. Also dider.
10. A slip or inadvertence.
The least blemish, the least dide, the least error, the
least offence, is exasperated, made capital.
Ford, Line of Life.
11. Some arrangement on which anything
slides, as (in the plural) slides, a term used in
some mines as the equivalent of cage-guides. —
12. An object holding by friction upon a band,
tag, cord, or the Uke, and serving to hold its
parts or strands in place, (a) A utensil like abuckle,
but without a tongue, used for shoe-latchets, pocketbook-
straps, etc. (6) A rounded body, usually small, pierced
with a hole, and sliding on a watch-guard, a cord lor an
eye-glass, or the like.
13. A slide-valve. [Eng.] —Dark slide, a photo-
graphic plate-holder.— Life-and-current slide, a micro-
scope-slide with two oval cells connected by a shallow
channel. Pressure on the cover sends the contents of one
cell through the channel into the other, and the thin film
can be observed during the passage. — Long Slide, in a
steam-engine, a slide-valve of sufllcient length to control
the ports at both ends of the cylinder, its hollow back
fomiing an exhaust-pipe. Also called long valve.
slide-action (slid'ak''''8hon), n. In musical in-
struments of the trumpet class, a method of
construction in which a slide is used to deter-
mine the pitch of the tones produced, as in the
trombone.
slide-bar (slid'bar), n. 1. A bar which can be
slid over the draft-opening of a furnace. — 2.
The slide of a stamping- or drawing-press
which carries the movable die.
slide-box (slid'boks), n. In a steam-engine, the
slide-valve chest. E. H. Knight.
slide-case (slid'kas), «. In a steam-engine, the
chamber in which the slide-valve works. E.
H. Knight.
Slide-CliltTire (slid'kul''''tur), «. See the quota-
tion, and compare slide, n., 9 (n).
The slide with the drop containing the germ serves as
the origin for the culture, and, on this account, has re-
ceived the name of "slide-ctdture," to distinguish it from
other forms of culture.
Huejipe, Bacteriological Investigations (trans.), p. 108.
slide-groatt (slid'grot), n . Same as shovel-board,
1 and L>.
sUde-head (sUd'hed), w. In a lathe, a support
for a tool or for a piece of work, etc. E. B.
Kii igh t.
slide-knife (slid'nif), n. See hnife.
slide-knot (slid'not), n. A slip-knot; distinc-
tively, two half-hitches used by anglers on a
casting-line, for holding a drop and for chang-
ing drops at will.
slide-lathe (slid'laTH), ». In metal-working, a
lathe in which the tool-rest is made to traverse
the bed from end to end by means of a screw.
E. H. Knight.
slideri (sh'der), n. [< slide + -ert.] 1. One
who or that which slides. Specifically- (a) A part
of an instrument, apparatus, or machine that slides. (&)
Theat., one of the narrow strips of board which close the
stage over the spaces where scenes are sunk, (c) In a lock,
a tumbler moving horizontally. E. H. Knight, (rf) In a
vehicle, a bar connecting the rear ends of the fore hounds,
and sliding beneath the coupling-pole, (e) A utensil like
a buckle, but without a tongue, or simply a ring, used to
keep in place a part of the costume, as a neckerchief,
or a plait of hair. Compare slide. 12 (o). ( f) In organ-
buUding, a thin strip of wood pei-forated with holes corre-
sponding to the disposition of the pipes of a stop or set,
and inserted between thetwo upper boardsofawind-chest.
It may be moved from side to side so as either to admit
the air from the pallets to the pipes or to cut them otf en-
tirely. The position of a slider is controlled by a stop-
knob at the keyboard. By drawing the knob the slider of
a set of pipes is pushed into snch position that they may
be sounded by the digitals. Also slide. See organl, stop,
and mnd-chesl. (g) In racing boats, a sliding seat.
2. The potter, skilpot, red-fender, or red-bel-
lied terrapin, Pseudemys rngosa (or Chryseniys
ruhrirentris), an inferior kind of terrapin or
turtle sometimes cooked in place of the genu-
ine MtiliicDclcmmiis palnstris, or diamond-back.
It is found cliielly along the eastern coast of the United
States, about the Susquehanna river and other streams
slider
slider ^Pstudttnys rit£<?ia!.
emptying Into tbe Chesapeake. It attains a length of ten
or eleven inches, and is used to adulterate terrapin stews.
3t. i>'. Drawers.
A shirt and didert.
Dickemon, God's Protecting Providence (1700).
Double sUder, a slider having two bars, one over and
the < ithtT beneath the coupling-pole ; a sway -bar.— Slider
cut-off. See cut-off.
slider-'t, n. A Middle English form of slidder.
slide-rail (slid'ral), «. 1. A contrivance for
switching cars, consisting of a platform on
w^heel.s running transversely across the tracks,
and carrying the car, etc., from one line of rails
to anotlu'r. — 2. A switch-rail. See railicay.
slide-rest (slid'rest), w. An appendage to the
turniug-hithe for holding the cutting-tool and
insuring accuracy in its motion. The slide-rest
imparts motion to the cutting-tool in two directions, tbe
one being parallel and the other at right angles to tbe
axis of tbe lathe. .See cut under lathe.
slide-rod (slid'rod), «. The rod which moves
the slide-valve in a steam-engine.
slider-pump (sli'd^r-pump), ». A name com-
mon to several i)umi>s of various forms, but all
having a piston which revolves continuously
and forces the water through a pipe by means
of a slide regulated by a spring, which inter-
cepts its passage in any other direction.
slide-role (slid'r61).n. Aslidingrule. 8ee»Krfc.
slide-thriftt (slid'thrift), ». [islide, v., + obj.
thrill.] Same as shorel-board, 1 and 2.
Lngetting in the Helds, MU-thtifl, or sbove-groat, cloylsh
cayles, half-lHiwl, and csyting.
Quoted in /^acl-«ton«'« Com. (ed.Shar8woodX II. 171, notee.
slide-trombone (slid'trom'bon), n. A trom-
bone with a slide instead of keys. See trom-
bone.
slide-tmmpet (slid'trum'pet), n. A trumpet
witli a slide instead of keys like those of the
cornet. See trumjiet.
slide-valve (slid'valv), «. In Kteam, hydraulic,
and pmumatic engineering, a valve which slides
over and upon its seat without lifting in open-
ing or closing a port or ports formed in the seat ;
specifically, a flat-faced plain slide working, or
*', Tahe inclosed in st«aiii<bei« ^. and moircd by the valve-nxj or
ftmn a. The ralve-rud derives a reciprocaUnff iBotioii from tlie irxilt.
lever *. pivoted at c and connected at the lower end witli the eccen.
Mc-rod a. tbe Utter tieinff recipvDcated t>y the eccentric f. rf'.rf*. in-
dnction- potts which aboalteniatelyactasediiction-portt; r. exhaust-
port ; aT. pitman or coonectiQe-rod which, belnr connected to the pttton-
rod i, reciprocated by the piston /, imparts circular motion to the
crank/, crank -shaft y^, and eccentric jr-
adapted to work or elide, upon a flat-faced seat
which includes a port or ports to be alternately
opened and closed by the reciprocation of the
slide. It is in extensive use in tbe cheaper forms of steam-
engines, conipresse<i-air engines, hydraulic motoric gas-
and water-meters, in some kinds of air-compressors, and
In some compressed-air ice-niachlnes. In F.nRlaixl the
slide-valve is very commonly calleii simply a iUiJr..— CiI-
CQlax Slide-Talve, a fonn of faucet-valve ; a cylindrical
valve with ports In depressed sections of its periphery,
servinit to bring the ends of the cylinder altenialely In
conn<*'-tlr)!i with the steam-chest and tbe exhaust'port. —
Slide-valve motion, .fee iiwtion.
slideway (slid'wiit, «. In mach., broadly, any
guideway upon or in which a sliding piece
moves, and by which the direction of its motion
is determined.
5695
sliding (sli'ding), n. [Verbal n. of slide, r.]
1. The motion of a body along a plane when
the same face or surface of the moving body
keeps in contact with the surface of the plane :
thus distinguished from rolling, in which the
several parts of the moving body come suc-
cessively in contact with the plane on which it
rolls. — 2. The sport of gliding on snow or ice,
on the feet, on a sled or a toboggan, or (in for-
mer use) on skates, etc.
Sliding upon the ice appears to have been a very fa-
vourite pastime among the youth of this country in for-
mer times; at present the use of skates is so generally dif-
fused tlirougbout the kingdom that sliding is but little
practised. Strtttt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 152.
3. Falling; lapse; merging.
To his (Henry II. s) days must be fixed tbe final Hiding
of testamentary jurisdiction into the hands of the bishops,
which was by the legislation of tbe next century perma-
nently left there.
Stubbs, Medieval and Modem Hist, p. 303.
4. Transgression; lapse; backsliding.
You seem'd of late to make tbe law a tyrant.
And rather proved the diding of your brother
A merriment than a vice. Shale., M. forM.,iL4. 11£.
sliding (sli'ding), jy. a. 1. Slippery; uncer
tain; unstable; changing.
That duding science hath me maud so bare
That I have no good, wher that ever I fare.
Chaucer, Prol. to Canon's Yeoman's Tale, 1. 17i..
2. Movable; graduated; varying: changing
according to circumstances: as, a diding scale
(which see, under slide, v.). — 3. That slides;
fitted for being slid.
As bold a smuggler as ever ran out a diding bowsprit to
the winds that blow betwixt Campvere and the east coast
of Scotland. Scott, Bride of Lammermoor, xxx.
4t. Sloping.
Then lookes upon a hill, whose diding sides
A goodly flocke, like winter's cov'ring, hides.
W. Brmme, Britannia's Pastorals, li. 3.
Instantaneous sliding axis. .Seeoxiti.— SUdingdoor.
.See dmr. -Sliding friction. See firietion, 2. Sliding
■ash. ^feewMAi, 1.— Sliding sinker. Seen'nirer. (See
also phrases under dide^, v.)
slidilU[-balk(slJ'ding-bak), n. In ship-biiilding,
one 0? a set of planks fitted under the bottom
of a ship, to descend with her upon the bilge-
■wavs in launching. Also called sliding-plank:
Sliding-band (sU'dinp-band), Ji. A movable
metiiflic tiand used to hold a reel in place on a
fishiiig-rixl.
sliding-boz (sli'ding-boks), n. A box or bear-
ing fitted so as to have a sliding motion.
Sliding-gage (sli'ding-gaj), H. An instrument
used by makers of mathematical instruments
for in<a.-;iiring and getting off distances.
sliding-gunter (sli'ding-gnn'tir), n. A rig for
boats in which a sliding topmast is used to ex-
tend a three-cornered sail. See gunter rig,
under nV/2 gliding-gnnter mast Seema^fi.
Sliding-keel (sli'(liiii.'-k<"I), ». A thin, oblong
frame or platform let down vertically through
the bottom of a vessel (almost always a small
vessel), and constituting practically a deepen-
ing of the keel throughout a part of the ves-
sel's length. Sliding-keels serve to diminish the ten-
dency of any vesael having a flat bottom or small draft to
roll, and to prevent a sailing vessel from falling to leeward
when close-hauled. This device is largely used on the
coast of the United States in coasters, yachts, and sail-
boat*. In the I'nited States excltisively called center-
board. See cat under eenler-b<iard-
Slidingness (sU'ding-nes), n. Sliding charac-
ter or <|uality; fluency.
rilnlaa ... oft had used to bee an actor In tragedies,
where he had learned, beaides a didingnem of Uuigiuge,
acquaintance with many Muions.
Sir P. Sidneg, AnwUa, II.
sliding-nippers(sll'i.ling-nip'6rz),n.,ffin5r.orp/.
In mil' -witling, same as grip^, 7.
sliding-plank (sU'diug-plangk), n. Same as
ulidimj-hnll:.
sliding-relish (sli'ding-rel'ish), n. In harpsi-
rhord iiiii.ii<\ same as slide, 3 (a).
slidometer (sU-dom'e-tfer), n. [Irreg. < E. slide
+ fir. luTpov, measure.] An instrument used
to indicate the strains to which railway-cars
are subjected by sudden stoppage.
slief, «. An obsolete form of «///.
'slifet (slif), inter). An old exclamation or im-
precation, an abbreviation of GotPs life.
I will not let you bate this pretty lass.
'St^e, it may prove her death.
Itandolph, Hey for Honesty, Iv. 3.
Sliftcrt (slif'ter), n. [< "slift (< slive^, v.) +
-<"rl.] A crack or crevice.
It is Impossible light to be In an bouse, and not to show
Itself at the diflert. door, and windows of the same.
J. Brad/ord, Works (Parker Soc., 1853), II. SSa
slight
Slifteredt (8lif't6rd),a. \<sUfter + -ed^.'] Cleft;
cracked.
Straight chops a wave, and in his diftred panch
Downe fals our ship.
Marston, Antonio and Mellida, I., i. 1.
sliggeen (sli-gen'), ». [< Ir. sligean, sliogan, a
shell,<«K()ie, a shell.] Shale ; soft rock. [Irish.]
slight, a. An obsolete form of sly.
slight! (slit), a. [Early mod. E. also sleight; <
ME. *slight, slyght, sligt, slygt, steght (not foimd
in AS.), = OFries. sliiicht, E. Fries, slicht,
smooth, slight, = MD. slicht, even, plain, slecht,
slight, simple, single, vile, or of little account,
D. slecht, bad, = MLG. slicht, slecht = OHG.
MHG. sleht, G. schlecht, plain, straight, simple,
usually mean, bad, base, the lit. sense being
supplied by the var. schlicht (after the verb
schlichtcn), smooth, sleek, plain, homely, = leel.
slettr, flat, smooth, slight, = Sw. skit, smooth,
level, plain, = Dan. slct, flat, level, bad, = Goth.
sloihts, smooth ; prob. orig. pp. (with formative
-t), but the explanation of the word as lit.
'beaten flat,' < AS. sledn, etc. (■»/ shth), smite,
strike (see shiy'^), is not tenable.] If. Plain;
smooth (in a physical sense). — 2. Slender;
slim; thin; light; hence, frail; unsubstantial:
as, a slight figure; a slight structure.
So smothe, so smal. so seme dyjt,
Rysez vp in hir araye ryalle
A prec[il08 pyece in perleg pygt.
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), i. 190.
This dight structure of private buildings seems to be
the reason so few ruins are found in the many cities once
built In Egypt. Bruce, Source of the Sile, I. 105.
Some flue, dight fingers have a wondrous knack at pul-
verizing a man s brittle pride.
Charlotte Bronte, Shirley, xxviii.
3. Slender in character or ability; lacking
force of character or intellect; feeble; hence,
silly; foolish.
Some carry-tale, some please-raan, some dight zany.
Shak., L. L. L., v. 2. 463.
1 am little Inclln'd to believe his testimony, be being so
dight a person, so passionate, Ill-bred, and of such impu-
dent behaviour. Kcelyn, Diaiy, Dec. 6, lti80.
4. Very small, insignificant, or trifling; unim-
portant, (o) Trivial ; paltry : as, a dight excuse.
I have . . . fee'd every dight occasion that could but
niggardly give me sight of her.
Shak., M. W. of W., 11. 2. 204.
When the divine Providence hath a Work to effect,
what dight Occasions It oftentimes takes to eifeet the
Work ! Baker, Chronicles, p. 184.
(b) Of little amount ; meager; slender: as, a sf f r7Af repast.
So sorrow's heaviness doth heavier grow
For debt that bankrupt sleep doth sorrow owe ;
Which now In some dight measure it will pay,
If for bis tender here I make some stay.
Shak., M. N. D., ill. 2. 86.
Such dight labours may aspire respect.
B. Jomton, Poetaster, v. 1.
The china was delicate egg-shell ; tbeold-fnshioned sil-
ver glittered with polishing ; but the eatables were of tbe
diyhtegt description. Mrg. Oaskell, Cranford, i.
(c) Of little weight, or force, or intensity ; feeble : gentle :
mild : as, a dight Impulse or impression ; dight eiforts ; a
>fil7At cold.
After be was clapt up a while, he came to him selfe, and
with some dight punishmente was let goe upon his be-
haviour for further censure.
Brad/ord, Plymouth Plantation, p. 176.
The dightest flap a fly can chase. Gag, Fables, 1. 8.
(d) Of little thoroughness ; superficial ; cursory : hasty ;
imperfect ; not thorough or exhaustive : as, a dight glance ;
tkight examination ; a dight raking.
In tbe month of September, tidight ploughing and prepa-
ration is given to the Held, destined for beans and par-
snips the ensuing year.
A. Bunter, Georgical Essays, IV. 321.
6. Slighting; contemptuous; disdainful.
Slight was his answer, " Well " 1 care not for it.
Tennyson, Aylmer's Field.
Slight negligence o;- neglect. Sec negligence, 2. = 8yn.
2. rlimsy. — C Petty, scanty, hurried.
slight^ (slit), ('. t. [< ME. "slighten, sleghten = D.
slechten = MLG. sHchten, .ilechten, L(i. slighten
= OHG. slihtan, slihten, MHG. slihten, slichten,
G. schlichtcn = Icel. sleita = Sw. slntii = Dan.
slette, make smooth, even ; from the adj.] If.
To make plain or smooth ; smooth: as, to slight
linen (to iron it). HalUwell.
To deght, lucibrucinare. Cath. Ang., p. 344.
2t. To make level ; demolish ; overthrow.
The old earthwork was dighled, and a new work of pine
trees, |l)lank| foot s<]iiare, fourteen foot high, and Iblank]
foot thick, was reared.
WirUhrop, Hist. New England, II. 298.
I would dight Carlisle castell high.
Though it were builded of marble stone-
Kirmwnt WiUie (Child's Ballads, VI. 81X
3t. To throw ; cast.
slight
The rogues dighted me into the river with as little re-
morse as they would have drowned a blind bitch's puppies.
Shak., M. W. of W., iii. 6. 9.
4. To treat as of little value, or as unworthy
of notice; disregard intentionally; treat with
intentional neglect or disrespect: make little
of.
Puts him off, aiijhls hira. Shak., W. T., iv. 4. 200.
In ancient Days, if Women slighted Dress,
Then Men were ruder too, and lik'd it less.
Congreve, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love.
Nor do I merit, Odin, thou should'st dight
Me and my words, though thou be first in Heaven !
M. AriuM, Balder Dead.
To slight Offt, to dismiss slightingly or as a matter of
little moment ; wave off or dismiss.
Many gulls and gallants we may hear sometimes slight
o/ death with a jest, when they thinlt it out of hearing.
Rev. S. Ward, Sermons, p. 56.
To slight over, to smooth over ; slur over ; hence, to treat
carelessly ; perform superttcially or without thoroughness.
When they have promised great matters, and failed most
shamefully, yet, if they have the perfection of boldness,
they will but dight it over, and make a turn, and no more
ado. Bacon, Boldness (ed. 1887).
= Syn. 4. Disregard, etc. See neglect, v. t.
Sligntl (slit), ». [< sJighfl, r.] 1. An act of
intentional neglect shown toward one who ex-
pects some notice or courtesy ; failure to notice
one ; a deliberate ignoring or disregard of a
person, out of displeasure or contempt.
She is feeling now (as even Bohemian women can feel
some things) this slight that has been newly offered to her
by the hands of her " sisters."
Mrs. Edwardes, Ought we to Visit her? I. 62.
2. Intentional neglect ; disrespect.
An image seem'd to pass the door,
'lo look at her with dight.
Tennyson, Mariana in the South.
=Syn. Disrespect. See the verb.
sllgnt^t, n. A more correct, but obsolete spell-
ing of sleifflit^.
'slightt (slit), interj. A contraction of by this
light or GofVs light.
'Slight, away with 't with all speed, man !
MiddleUm (arul others). The Widow, i. 2.
How! not in case?
'Slight, thou 'rt in too much case, by all this law.
B. Jonson, Poetaster, i. 1.
Slightent (sli'tn), v. t. [< slighfl + -e«l.] To
slight or disregard.
It is an odious wisdom to blaspheme,
Much more to slighten or deny their powers.
B. Jonson, riejanus, v. 10.
She, as 'tis said,
Slightens his love, and he abandons hers.
Ford, 'Tis Pity, iv. 2.
slighter (sli'tSr), ». [< slight^, t\, + -e/'l.] One
wno slights or neglects.
I do not believe you are so great an undervaluer or
slighter of it as not to preserve it tenderly and thriftily.
Jer. Taylor (?), Artlf. Handsomeness, p. 102.
slightfult, «• See sleightful.
slighting (sli'ting), n. [Verbal n. of slight^, r.]
Disregard; scorn; slight.
Yet will you love me?
Tell me bat how I have deserv'd your slighting.
Fletcher, Beggars' Bush, iii. 4.
sUghting (sli'ting), p. o. Derogatory; dispar-
aging.
To hear yourself or your profession glanced at
In a few slighting terms.
B. Jonson, Magnetick Lady, i. 1.
slightingly (sli'ting-li), adv. In a slighting
manner; with disrespect; dispai'agingly.
slightly (slit'li), adv. 1. In a slight manner;
shmly: slenderly; unsubstantially.
To the east of the town [of lAodicea] there is a well of
good water, from which the city is supplied by an aque-
duct very sLighily built.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. 1. 197.
2. To a slight degree ; to some little extent ;
in some small measure: as, slightly scented
wood; «?(■(;/(% wounded.
In the court is a well of slightly brackish water.
E. W. Lane, Modem Egyptians, I. 11.
3. With scant ceremony or respect; with little
consideration; disparagingly; slightingly.
Being sent lor at length to have his dispatch, and slightly
enough conducted to the council-chamber, he [the Eng-
lish arabassadorl was told by Shalkan that this emperor
would condescend to no other agreements than were be-
tween his father and the queen before his coming.
Milton, Hist. Moscovia, v.
He tells me that my Ix)rd .Sandwich is lost there at
Court, though the King is particularly his friend. But
people do speak every where slightly of him : which is a
sad story to me, but i hope it may be better again.
Pepys, Diary, II. S42.
4. Easily; thoughtlessly.
You were to blame, I must be plain with you.
To part so tlighUy with your wife's first gift.
Shak., M. of V., v. 1. 167.
5696
sllghtlie8S(slit'nes), «. The character or state
of being slight, in any sense.
It must omit
Real neces-sities, and give way the while
To unstable slightness. Slutk., Cor., iii. 1. 148.
sUghtyt (sli'ti), a. [< slighn + -yi.] 1. Slim;
weak ; of little weight, force, or efficacy ; slight ;
superficial.
If a word of heaven fall in now and then in their con-
ference, alas ! how Eighty ia it, and customary, and heart- .'
less! Baxter, Saints' Rest, iv.. Conclusion.
2. Trifling; inconsiderable.
sUkt, a. [< ME. slik; slyk, site, slyke, < leel. slikr,
such, = Sw. slik = Dan. slig, such, = AS. swilc,
swylc, such: see such and 4-(cl.] Such.
Man sal taa of twa thynges,
Slyk as he fyndes, or taa slyk as he brynges.
Chaucer, Reeve's Tale, 1. 210.
slike^t, V. i. [< ME. sliken, < AS. *slican (not
found) = LG. sliken (orig. strong) = OHG. slih-
lian, sliehati, MHG. slidien, G. sclileichen, crawl,
slink. Cf. sleek, slick^. sHwfcl.] To crawl.
slike^t, a. A Middle English form of sleek.
slily, adv. See slyly.
slimi (slim), a. [Not found in ME. ; (a) in the
physical sense 'thin,' etc., prob. < Ir. slim,
thin, lank, = Gael, sliom, slim, slim, slender,
smooth, slippery, also inert, deceitful; in the
depreciative senses 'slight, poor, bad,' etc.,
appar. orig. a fig. use of 'thin,' mixed with (i)
MD. slim = MLG. slim, slanting, wrong, bad
(> Icel. sliemr = Sw. (obs.) Dan. slem, bad),
= OHG. *slinib (in deriv. slimU), MHG. slimp
(slimb-) (> It. sghembo, crooked, slanting), G.
scliUmm, bad, cunning, unwell. For the de-
velopment of senses, cf. slight^, ' smooth, thin,
poor, bad,' etc. Cf. E. dial. ste)n2.] 1. Thin;
slender: as, a slim waist.
A thin «Km-gutted fox made a hard shift to wiggle his
body into a henroost. Sir R. L'Estrange.
To be sure the girl looks uncommonly bright and pretty
with her pink cheeks, her bright eyes, her slim form.
Thackeray, Philip, xvii.
He straightway drew out of the desk a slim volume of
gray paper. Thackeray, Philip, xxxviii.
Hence — 2. Slight; flimsy; unsubstantial: as,
slim work.
Slim ivory chairs were set about the room.
WHliam Morris, Earthly Paradise, I. 327.
3. Delicate; feeble. [CoUoq.]
She 's had slim health of late yeai-s. I tell 'em she 's
been too much shut up out of the fresh air and sun.
S. 0. Jeu-ett, Deephaven, p. 169.
4. Slight; weak; trivial.
The church of Rome indeed was allowed to be the prin-
cipal church. But why? Was it in regard to the succes-
sion of St. Peter? no, that was a slim excuse.
Barrow, Pope's Supremacy.
5. Meager; small: as, a slim chance. — 6. Worth-
less ; bad ; wicked. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.]
= S3fn. 1. Lank, gaunt, meager.
slim^ (slim), V. i.; pret. and pp. slimmed, ppr.
slimming. [< slini^, a.'] To scamp one's work ;
do work in a careless, superficial manner.
[Prov. Eng.]
slim-t, "• A Middle English foi'm of slime.
slime (slim), n. [< ME. slime, slyme, slim, slym,
< AS. slim = D. .tlijm, slime, phlegm, = MLG.
slim = OHG. *slitn (cf. sllmen. make smooth),
MHG. slim, G. schleim = Icel. slim, slime, =
Sw. slem, slime, phlegm, = Dan. slim, mucus,
phlegm, = Goth. *sleims (not recorded); prob.
= L. limus (for *slimus), sUme, mud, mire. Not
connected with OBulg, slina = Buss, slina, etc.,
saliva, slaver, drivel, mucilage, which are ult.
connected with E. spew.'] 1. Any soft, ropy,
glutinous, or viscous substance, (a) Soft moist
earth having an adhesive quality ; viscous mud.
Lettyn sailis doun slyde, & in slym fallyn.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 13281.
Stain 'd, as meadows, yet not dry.
With miry slime left on them by a flood.
Shak., Tit. And., iii. 1. 125.
(&) Asphalt or bitumen.
She took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with
dime and with pitch. Ex. ii. 3.
The very clammie slime Bitumen, which at certaine
times of the yeere floteth and swimmeth upon the lake of
.Sodome, called Asphaltites in .Turie.
Holland, tr. of Pliny, vii. 15.
(c) A mucous, viscous, or glutinous substance exuded from
the bodies of certain animals, notably fishes and mollusks :
as, the slime of a snail. In some cases this slime is the se-
cretion of a special gland, and it may on hardening form
a sort of operculum. See dime-gland, ctausilium, and hi-
bemaculum, 3 (&).
O foul descent! that I, who erst contended
With gods to sit the highest, am now constrain'd
Into a beast; and, mix'd with bestial slime,
This essence to incarnate and imbrute.
Milton, P. L., ix. 166.
sling
There the slow blind-worm left his slime
On the fleet limbs that mocked at time.
Scott, L. of the L., iii. 5.
2. Figurativel.v, anything of a clinging and of-
fensive nature ; cringing or fawning words or
actions.
The siim.e
That sticks on filthy deeds.
Shak., Othello, v. 2. 148.
, 3. In metal., ore reduced to a very fine powder
and held in suspension in water, so as to form
a kind of thin ore-mud: generally used in the
plural. In the slimes the ore is in a state of almost im-
palpable powder, so that it requires a long time for set-
tling. See tailings. — Foxy slime, a marked discoloration
of field-ice, yellowish-red in color.
slime (slim), V. t.; pret. and pp. slimed, ppr.
sliming. [< slime, m.] I. trans. 1. To cover
with or as with slime; make slimy.
Snake-like slimed his victim ere he gorged.
Tennyson, Sea Dreams.
2. To remove slime from, as fish for canning.
II. intrans. To become slimy; acquire slime.
slime-eel (slim'el), n. The glutinous hag,
Myxine glutinosa. See cut under hag.
slime-fungus (slim'fung'''gus), n. Same as
.ilimc-nioUl.
slime-gland (slim ' gland), n. In conch., the
gland which secretes the slimy or mucous sub-
stance which moistens snails, slugs, etc.
slime-mold (slim'mold), «. A common name
for fungi of the group Myxomycetes (which
see for characterization). See also Mycetozoa,
AUhalium, Plasmodium, 3.
slime-pit (slim'pit), n. 1. An asphalt- or bitu-
men-pit.
And the vale of Siddim was full of dime-pits.
Gen. xiv. 10.
In an hour the bitumen was exhausted for the time, the
dense smoke gradually died away, and the pale light of
the moon shone over the black slime-pits. Layard.
2. In metal., a tank or large reservoir of any
kind into which slimes are conducted in order
that they may have time to settle, or in which
they maybe reserved for subsequent treatment.
See slime, 3, and tailings.
slime-sponge (sUm'spunj), n. A sponge of
the order or group Myxospongise ; a gelatinous
sponge.
slimily (sli'mi-li), adv. In a slimy manner,
literally or figuratively.
sliminess. (sli'mi-nes), n. The quality of being
slimy; viscosity; slime.
By a weak fermentation a pendulous diminess is pro-
duced, which answers a pituitous state.
Sir J. Flayer, Preternatural State of the Animal Humours.
[(Latham.)
slimly (slim'li), adv. In a slim manner; slen-
derly; thinly; sparsely; scantily: as, a slimly
attended meeting.
slimmer (slim'er), a. [Appar. an extension of
s<(?h1.] Delicate; easily hurt. [Scotch.]
Being a gentlewoman both by blood and education,
she 's a very slimmer affair to handle in a doing of this
kind. Gait, Ayrshire Legatees, p. 59.
Slimmish (slim'ish), a. [<sK»«l -l--is/(l.] Some-
what slim.
He 's a di-mmish chap.
D. Jerrold, Hist. St. Giles and St. James, I. 314. (ffoppe.)
slimness (slim'nes), 11. Slim character or ap-
pearance; slendemess.
sumsy (slim'zi), a. [Also sometimes slimpsy,
slimpsey ; < slim'^ + -sy as in flimsy. Cf. Sw.
slimsa, a lump, clod.] 1. Flimsy; frail ; thin
and unsubstantial : as, «/)JMsy calico. [U.S.]
The building is old and dimsy.
S. Judd, Margaret, ii. 8.
2. Idle; dawdling. [Prov. Eng.]
slimy (sli'mi), a. [< ME. slimy, < AS. slimig (=
D. slijmig = G. schleimig), slimy, < slim, slime:
see slime.'] 1. Slime-like; of the nature, ap-
pearance, or consistency of slime ; soft, moist,
ropy, anddisagreeably adhesive or viscous: as,
the slimy sediment in a drain ; the slimy exuda-
tion of an eel or a snail. — 2. Abounding with
slime: as, a s^fwi/ soil. — 3. Covered with slime.
Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs
Upon the slimy sea !
Coleridge, Ancient Mariner, ii.
slinch (slinch), V. i. [An assibilated form of
slink^-.] An obsolete or dialectal form of slink^.
With that the wounded prince departed quite.
From sight he dimhte, I sawe his shade no more.
Mir. far Mags., 1687. (Aor«.)
sliness, n. See slyness.
slingl (sling), V. ; pret. and pp. slung, ppr. sling-
ing. [< ME. slingen, slyngen (pret. slang, slang,
p-p.sliingen,slongen), <AS.slingan (pret. *slang,
pp. 'sliingen ; very rare) =£ MD. slinghen = MLG.
sling
LG. slingen = OHG. slingan, MHG. sHngen, G.
sehUngcn, wind, twist, sling, = leel. slyngta,
sloiigira, sliug, fling, throw (cf. Sw. shtiiga =
Dan. s?yH(/f, sling: a secondary form; Sw. slin-
ga, twist,< G.); ef. freq. D. MLG. sUngeren, toss,
= G. schliiigern, schlenkern = Sw. sliugra = Dan.
slingre, fling about; cf. Lith. sUnkti, creep, E.
slink^, slikei; prob. one of the extended forms
of Teut. ■/ sU, in s/y*!, aiMe, etc. Hence ult.
slang^, and perhaps slatig3.'\ I. trdns. 1. To
throw; fling; hurl.
Tears up mountains by the roots,
Or dings a broken rock aloft in air.
Adduorit Milton's Style Imitated.
Time, a maniac scattering dust,
And Life, a Fury dingir^ flame.
Tennyton, In Memoriam, L
2. To fling or throw with a jerk, with or as with
s sling. See sling^, n., 1.
Every one coold tling stones at an hairbreadth, and not
miss. Judges xx. 16.
3. To hang or suspend loosely or so as to swing :
as, to sling a pack on one's back ; to sling a
rifle over one's shoulder.
Hee mounted hfmselfe on his steede so talle, . . .
And riung his bugle atx>ut his necke.
ChM o/Klle (Chllds Ballads, III. 22*X
At his back
Is dunff a huge harp.
William Morru, Earthly Paradise, III. 31
4. To place in slings in order to hoist ; move
or swing bv a rope from which the thing moved
is suspended : as, to sling casks or bales from
the hold of a ship ; to sling boats, ordnance, etc.
— 5. To cut (plastic clay) into thin slices by a
string or wire, for the purpose of detecting and
removing small stones that may be intermixed
with the clay To sllng a hammock'or cot. ■''ee
hammockl.— 'Io sUng ink. See inl'l.— To Sling the
yards {tiaut.\ to suspend them with chains on going into
action.
H. intrans. If. To be hurled or flung.
Thorowe the strength off the wyud
Into the welken hitt schall dmge.
Uymnito Virgin, etc (t. E. T. S.), p. 120.
2. To move with long, swinging, elastic steps.
[CoUoq.J
Two well-known runners . . . started off at a long Wt'nj?-
ing trot across the fields.
T. Uughet, Tom Brown at Rngliy, L 7.
3. Toblowthenose with the fingers. [Slang.]
sllngl (sling), «. [< ME. slinge, slynge. sclinge
(not found in AS., where 'sling' in def. 1 was
usually expressed by lithere, HUire. lythre, < le-
ther, leather) = OFries. slinge = MD. slint/e =
MLG. slenge = OHG. sling'a, MHG. slinge (>
It. eslingna = F. dlingue), G. sclilinge = Sw.
slunga = Dan. slynge, a sling: from the verb.
The later senses (7, 8, 9) are directly from
the mod. verb.] 1. An instrument for throw-
ing stones or bul-
lets, consisting of a
strap and two strings
attaclied to it. Tb«
atone or bullet is lodged
in the strap, and, the
ends of the strings be-
ing held in the hand, the
sling is whirled rapidly
round in a circle, and the
mlsaiie thrown by letting
gooneofthestrlngs. The
Telocity with which the
pralectile Is discharged Slini;.
Is the same as that with
which it is whirled round in a circle having the string for
its radlua The sling was a very general Instrument ofwar
among the ancients, gee ding-done and daf-ding.
i'se eek the cast of stone^ with dynge or honde.
KnygUhode and Batayle, quoted In 9trutt's Sports and
[Pastimes, p. 138.
An English shepherd boasts of his skill in using of the
ding. StruU, Sports and Pastimes, p. 186.
2. A kind of hanging loop in which something,
as a wounded limb, is supported : as, to have
one's arm in a sling. — 3. A device for grasp-
ing and holding heavy articles, as casks, bales,
etc., while being raised or lowered. A common
form cunsifts of a rope strap fitted securely round the
object, hut Is frequently a chain with hooks at Its ends,
and a ring through which to pass the hook of the hoist-
ing-rope (as shown In the figure of sling-dogs, under dog).
ComjMre gun-^ling, 1.
We have had . . . the sinking of a Teasel at Woolwich
by letting a 35-ton gun fall from the dingt on to her bot-
tom. //, Speneer, .Study of Soclol., p. 181.
4. A thong or strap, attached to a hand-fire-
arm of any sort, to allow of its being carried
over the shoulder or across the back, and usu-
ally adjustable with buckles or slides. See gun-
tling, 2. — 6. The chain or rope that suspends a
yard or gaflf. — 6t. A piece of artillery in use in
358
5697
the sixteenth century. — 7. A sweep or swing;
a stroke as if of a missile cast from a sling.
At one ding
Of thy victorious arm. Milton, P. L., x. 633.
Suddenly gathers a storm, and the deadly ding of the
hailstones
Beats down the farmer's com.
Longfellow, Evangeline, i. 4.
8. In a millstone, a swinging motion from side
to side. — 9. In dynam., a contrivance consisting
of one pendulum hung to the end of another. —
Boat-slings, strong ropes or chains furnished with hooka
and iron thimbles, whereby to hook the tackles in order to
hoist the boats in and out of the ship. — Buoy-slings,
slings used to keep buoys riding upright.— Butt-Sling, a
sling used for hoisting casks. — Demi-slingt, quarter-
Slinkt, pieces of artillery smaller than the sling : the quar-
ter-sTing, at least, was made of forged iron and therefore
small, like a wall-piece or harquebus k croc. — Slings of a
yard (natU.), ropes or chains attached to the middle of a
yard, serving to suspend it for the greater ease of working,
or for security in an engagement! This phrase also ap-
plies to the part of the yard on which the slings are placed.
8ling2 (sling), ». [Cf. MLG. LG. slingen (G.
schlingen), swallow, altered by confusion with
the verb mentioned under sling^, MLG. slinden
= D. slinden = OHG. slintan, MHG. slinden =
Goth./ra-»/inrfa«, swallow ; perhaps a nasalized
form of the verb represented by AS. slidan, E.
slide: see slide."] "Toddy with nutmeg grated
on the surface. See gin-sling.
sling-band (sling'band),n. Xaut., an iron band
around the middle of a lower yard, to which the
slings are fastened.
sling-bone (sling'bon), n. The astragalus.
sling-bullet (sling'bul'et), n. A bullet modi-
fiedin shape for use in a sling.
Last spring Dr. Chaplin was fortunate enough to secure
on the site of Samaria a small hnmatite weight, resem-
bling a barrel or ding-btdUt In shape.
The Academy, Aug. 2, 1890, p. 94.
sling-cart (sling'k&rt), n. A kind of cart used
for transporting cannon and their carriages,
etc., for snort distances, by slinging them by a
chain from the axletrec.
sling-dog (sling'dog), n. An iron hook for a
sling, with a fang at one end and an eye at the
other for a rope, used in pairs, two being em-
ployed together with connecting tackle. See
cut under dog, 9 (c).
slinger (sling'fer), n. [< ME. slynger, slingare,
slinger {= OHG. slingari ; vf.X>. slingeraar); as
sling"^ + -<t'.] One who slings; especially, one
who uses the sling as a weapon in war or the
chase. TheOreeks, Romans, and Carthaginians had bod-
ies of slingen attached to their armies, recruited especially
from the Inhabitants of the Balearic Isles. The use of the
sling continued among European armies to the sixteenth
century, at which time It was employed to hurl grenades.
See cut under ilin^.
Only In Kir-haraseth left they the stones thereof ; how-
belt the dingen went about it, and smote it 2 KL ill. 26.
slip
nntz, a formof rtnjl).] I. irons. To cast pre-
maturely: said of a female beast.
II. intrans. To miscarry; cast the young pre-
maturely : said of a female beast,
slink^ (slingk), n. and a. [Also slnnk; < slink^,
v.} I. n. 1. An animal, especially a calf, pre-
maturely brought forth. — 2. The flesh of an
animal prematurely brought forth; the veal of
a calf killed immediately after being calved;
bob-veal. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.] — 3. A
bastard child. [Rare.]
What did you go to London for but to drop your slink?
Roger Comberbach (1702X Byron and Elms, Comberbach,
[p. 391.
4. A thin or poor and bony fish, especially such
a mackerel. See mackerel^.
II. a. 1. Produced prematurely: as, a. slink
calf. — 2. Immature and unfit for human food:
as, slink veal; slink meat.
slink^ (slingk), a. [Belated to slank and slunken,
and with these prob. ult. from the root of
slink^: see slank and slunken.'] 1. Thin; slen-
der; lean: starved and hungry: as, slink cat-
tle.— 2. bneaky; mean.
He has na settled his account wi' my gudeman the dea-
con for this twalmonth ; he 's but dink, I doubt.
ScoU, Antiquary, xv.
slink* (slingk), n. [Cf. slang^, slanket (f).] A
small piece of wet meadow-land. [Prov. Eng.]
slink-butcher (slingk'buch'^r), n. One who
slaughters slinks ; also, one who slaughters dis-
eased animals, and markets their carcasses.
There is, however, reason to fear that some of the rab-
bits and other animals exported from the mother country
in ill-health may return to us in the shape of tinned
meats ; and steps should, of course, be taken for the pro-
tection of our own slink-butchers from any dishonourable
competition of this nature with their industry.
St. James's OazetU, May 14, 18iiB, p. 4. (Encyc. Diet.)
slink-skin (slingk'skin), »i. The skin of a slink,
or leather made from such skin.
Take the finest vellum or dink-skin, without knots or
flaws, seeth It with fine ponder of pummice stone well
sifted, etc. Lupton's Thousand Notable Things. {Nares.)
slinky (sling'ki), a. [< slink^ + -jl.] Lank;
lean; flaccid.
slipi (slip)) f ■ ; pret. and pp. slipped or slipt,
ppr. slipping. fUnder this form are merged
several orig. diff. verbal forms: (a) < ME. slip-
pen (pret. slipte, pp. slipped), < AS. 'slippan
(Somner, Lye) (pret. "slipte, pp. 'slipped), slip,
MD. D. slippen, slip, escape, = MLG. slippen
dry ai
Fraude, Caesar, p. 240.
A slinger.
dingrTs.
sling-mant (sling'man), n.
So one while Lot seta on a Troup of Hone,
A Band at SItng-men be anon doth force.
Sylrxdtr, tr. of Da Bartas's Weeks, IL, The Vocation.
sling-piece (sUng'pSs), n. A smaU chambered
cannon. Grose.
sling-stone (sling'ston), n. A stone used as a
niissilo to be hurled by a sling. These stones
were sometimes cut with grooves, sometimes
having two grooves crosswise.
The arrow cannot make him flee ; dingdones are turned
with him into stubble. Job xU. 28.
sling-wagon (sling' wag'on), n. A sling-cart.
slink^ (sUngk), V. >. ; pret. and pp. slunk (pret.
sometimes slank), ppr. slinking. [Also dial.
slinch; < ME. *slinken. slynken, sclynken, < AS,
slincan (pret. 'slane, pp. 'sluncen), creep (cf.
sUncend, a reptile), = MLG. slinken, slink,
shrink ; a nasalized form of AS. "slican, creep,
= OHG. slihhan, sliehan, MHG. slichen, G.
schleichen, sUnk, crawl, sneak, move slowly: see
sleek, slick^, slike^. Cf. Lith. «Knfcf i, creep: see
slingt."] To sneak; steal or move quietly: gen-
erally with off or oirny.
He soft Into his bed gan for to dynke.
To slepe longe, as he was wont to doon.
Chaueer, Trollns, IIL 1636.
Nay, we will dink atray in supper-time.
Disguise us at my lodging and return.
Shak., M. of v., IL 4. 1.
As boys that dink
From femle and the trespass-chiding eye.
Away we stole. Tennyson, Princess, T.
slink^ (slingk), n. [< slink^, ».] 1. A sneak-
ing fellow, lirockett; Halliwell. — 2. A greedy
starveling. — 3. A cheat.
slink^ (slingk), e. [Usually identified with
slink^, but prob. a form of sling'^, fling, cast (of.
= OHG. sliffan, slipfan, MHG. slip/en, G. schlip-
fen (mixea with scliliipfen), slip, glide, = Icel.
sleppa, let slip, = Sw. slippa = Dan. slippe, slip,
let go, get oft, escape; causal of (b) AS. slipan
(Lye) (pret. "slap. pp. 'slipcn), slip, glide, pass
away, = OHG. slifan, MHG. slifen, G. schlei/en,
slide, glance ; this group being identical in form
with toe transitive verb (c) ME. slipen = MD.
D. slijpen = MLG. slipen = MHG. slijen, G. schlei-
fen = Icel. slipa = Norw. slipa = Sw. slipa =
Dan. slibe, make smooth, polish; cf. (d) Icel.
sleppa (pret. slapp, pp. slyppinn), slip, slide,
escape, fail, miss, = Norw. sleppa = Sw. slippa
=z Dan. slippe (pret. slap), let go, escape (no
exactly corresponding AS. foinn appears) ; (c)
AS. as if 'slyppan = OHG. slupfen, MHG. sliip-
fen, G. schliipjen, slip, glide; (/) AS. as if *slyp-
an = OS. slopjan = OHG. slonfan, MHG. sloufen,
slonfen, slip, slide, push, = Goth. *slaupjan, in
eomTp.af-sUiupjan, put oil; (g) AS. siapan,'sle6p-
an (pret. sleap, pp. slopen), slip, fall away (also
in comp. a-slupan, to-slupan, fall apart), = D.
sluipen, sneak, = OHG. sliofan, MHG. sliefcn,
G. schlicfen, slip, crawl, sneak, = Goth, sliupan
(pret. slaup, pp. "slupans), slip, also in comp. «/-
sliupan, creep in. These forms belong to two
roots, V *'•?> V xluP} the first four groups to
y/slip, which is prob. an extension of they" «K
in slide, sling, slink, etc., Skt. •y/ sar, flow, and
the last three groups to ■/ liltip, perhaps akin to
L. lubricus (for '.'iliibrieus), smooth, slippery,
Lith. slubnas, weak. The forms and uses in
Teut. are confused, and overlap. From the
same root «r roots are ult. slipper^, slipper^,
slippery, slop^, slope, sleeve^, sloven^, etc.] I,
intrans. 1. To move in continuous contact
with a surface without rolling; slide; hence,
to pass smoothly and easily ; glide.
Lay hold on her.
And hold her fast ; shell dip through yonr fingers like an
eel else. Fletcher (and another?), I*rophetess, ill, 2.
They trim their feathers, which makes them oily and
slippery, that the water may slip oft them. Mortimer.
Many a ship
Whose black bows smoothly through the waves did slip.
Waiiam Morris, Earthly Paradise, III. 101.
aUp
At last I arrived at a kind of embankment, where 1
ooald see tlie great mud-colored stream slipping along in
the soundless darkness.
if. James, Jr., Little Tour, p. 192.
2. To slide suddenly and unawares in such a
way as to threaten or result in a fall ; make a
misstep ; lose one's footing : as, to slip on the
lee.
If he should <(<p, he sees his grave gaping under him.
Smth.
8. To fall into eiTor or fault ; err or go astray,
as in speech or conduct.
There is one that dippeth in his speech, but not from
his heart. Ecclus. xlx. 16.
If he had been as you, and you as he.
You would have dipt like him.
Shak., SI. forM., ii. 2. 66.
And how can I but often slip, that make a perambula-
tion oaer the World 1 Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 60.
4. To become slack or loose and move or start
out of place, as from a socket or the like.
The head slippeth from the helve. Deut xix. 0.
Upon the least walking on it, the bone slips out again.
Wiseman, Surgery.
6. To pass quietly, imperceptibly, or elusively ;
hence, to slink; sneak; steal : with in, out, or
away : as, the time slips away ; errors are sure
to slip in ; he slipped out of the room.
1 dip by his name, for most men do know it.
B. Jonsmt, Poetaster, v. 1.
Unexpected accidents dip in, and unthought of occur-
rences Intervene. Sir T. Browne, Religio Medici, i. 17.
I dipt out and ran hither to avoid them.
Sheridan, School for Scandal, i. 1.
Did Adam have duns, and dip down a back-lane?
LaweU, In the Half- Way House.
6. To escape insensibly, especially from the
memory ; be lost.
Use the most proper methods to retain that treasure
of ideas which you have acquired ; for the mind is ready
to let many of them dip. Watts, Logic, i. 6.
7. To go loose or free ; be freed from check or
restraint, as a hound from the leash.
Cry "Havoc," and let slip the dogs of war.
Shak., J. C, iii. 1. 273.
8. To pass unregarded or unappropriated : with
let: as, to ;«i an opportunity «%>; to tei the mat-
ter slip.
I, like an idle truant, fond of play,
Doting on toys, and throwing gems away,
Grasping at shadows, let the substance slip.
Churchill, Sermons, Ded., 1. 157.
Let not dip the occasion, but do something to lift off
the curse incurred by Eve.
Margaret Fuller, Woman in 19th Century, p. 167.
9. To detach a ship from her anchor by slipping
or letting go the chain at a shackle, because
there is not time to heave the anchor up. A
buoy is fastened to the part of the chain slipped,
so that it may be recovered.
The gale for which we dipped at Santa Barbara had
been so bad a one here that the whole bay . . . was filled
with the foam of the breakers. The Lagoda . . . dipped
at the first alarm, and in such haste that she was obliged
to leave her launch behind her at anchor.
R. U. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 121.
10. To have a miscarriage. [Colloq.]— To slip
off, to depart or get away quietly, or so as to escape ob-
servation.— To slip up, to err inadvertently ; make a mis-
take. ICoUoq.]
Slip up in my vernacular ! How could I? I talked it
when I was a boy with the other boys.
The Century, XXXVI. 279.
= S^. 1 and 2. Glide, etc. See dide.
n. trans. 1. To put or place secretly, gently,
or so as not to be observed.
He had tried to dip in a powder Into her drink.
Arbuthnot, App. to John Bull, i.
All this while Valentine's Day kept courting pretty
May, who sate next him, slipping amorous billets doux
under tile table. Lamb, New Year's Coming of Age.
2. To pass over or omit; pass without appro-
priating, using, or the like ; hence, to let slip ;
allow to escape; lose by oversight or inatten-
tion.
Slip no advantage
That may secure you. B. Jonson, Catiline, iii. 3.
Let us not slip the occasion, whether scorn
Or satiate fury yield it from our foe.
Uaton, P. L., i. 178.
I have never dipped giving them warning.
Suti/t, Journal to Stella, xxxvi.
3. To let loose ; release from restraint : as, to
slip the hounds.
Lncentio dipp'd me like his greyhound.
Shak., T. of the S., V. 2. 52.
No surer tlian our falcon yesterday.
Who lost the hem we dipt him at, and went
To all the winds. Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine.
4. Naut., to let go entirely: as, to slip a, cable
or an anchor.
5698
Pray'r is the cable, at whose end appears
The anchor Hope, ne'er dipp'd but in our fears.
Quarles, Emblems, iii. 11.
5. To throw off, or disengage one's self from.
My horse slipped his bridle, and ran away. Swift.
6. To drop or bring forth prematurely : said of
beasts: as, the brown mare has sKpjjerf her foal.
— 7. To make slips of for planting ; cut slips
from.
The branches also may be dipped and planted.
Mortimer, Husbandry.
To slip off, to take oti noiselessly or hastily : as, to slip
ojT one's shoes or garments. — To slip on, to put on loosely
or in haste : as, to slip on a gown or coat. — To slip one's
breath or wind, to die. [Slang.]
And for their cats that happed to dip their breath.
Old maids, so sweet, might mourn themselves to death.
Wolcot (P. Pindar). (Davies.)
" You give him the right stulf, doctor," said Hawes jo-
cosely, "and he won't dip his uitid this time." The sur-
geon acquiesced. C. Reade, Never too Late, x.
To slip the cable. See cable.— To slip the collar.
See collar.— To slip the girths. See girth.— To slip
the leash, to disengage one's self from a leash or noose,
as a dog in the chase ; hence, to free one's self from re-
straining influences.
The time had not yet come when they were to slip the
leash and spring upon their miserable victims. Prescott.
slip! (slip), ". [< ME. slip, slyp, a garment (=
MX). MLG. sHppe, a garment), slippe (= OHG.
sliph, slipf, MHG. slif, slipf), a descent: see
slip'^, V. Cf . slop^. The noun uses are very nu-
merous, mostly from the mod. verb.] 1. The
act of slipping ; a sudden sliding or slipping of
the feet, as in walking on ice or any slippery
place.
Not like the piebald miscellany, man,
Bursts of great heart and slips in sensual mire,
But whole and one. Tennyson, Princess, v.
2. An unintentional fault ; an error or mistake
inadvertently made ; a blunder: as, a«ii/)of the
pen or of the tongue. See lapsus.
A very easy slip I have made, in putting one seemingly
indifferent word for another. Locke.
At which slip of the tongue the pious Juan hastily
crossed himself. Mrs. U. Jackson, Ramona, i.
3. A venial transgression; an indiscretion; a
backsliding.
Such wanton, wild, and usual «J»p»
As are . . . most known
To youth and liberty. Shak., Hamlet, ii. 1. 22.
Numberless slips and tailings in their duty which they
may be otherwise guilty of. Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, I. ii.
4. In gcol., a small fault or dislocation of the
rocks; a narrow fissure, filled with flucan, and
not exhibiting much vertical shifting. — 5. In
marine vngin., same as drag, 8. — 6. Amount of
space available for slipping; also, amount or
extent of slip made.
The Slide Valves have a certain amount of dip, the
Pumps follow each other, and, while one pauses at the
end of the stroke, the other runs on.
The Engineer, LXIX., p. vii. of advt's.
7. In metal., the subsidence of a scaffold in a
blast-furnace. See scaffold, n., 7. — 8. A thing
easily slipped off or on. (o) The frock or outer gar-
ment of a young child, (b) The petticoat worn next under
the dress, (c) An underskirt of colored material worn with
a semi-transparent outer dress, and showing through it.
(d) A loose covering or case : as, a pillow-«Kp.
9. A leash or noose by which a dog is held : so
called from its being so made as to slip or fall
loose by relaxing the hold.
Me thlnketh you had rather be held in a dippe then let
slippe, where-in you resemble the graye-hounde.
Lyly, Euphues and his England, p. 420.
I see you stand like greyhounds in the dips.
Straining upon the start. Shak., Hen. V., iii. 1. 31.
Their dogs they let go out of slips in pursuit of the
Wolfe, the Stag, the Bore, the Leopard, Ac.
Sandys, Travailes, p. 60.
10. A wrought-iron cylindrical case in which
the wood used in the manufacture of gunpow-
der is distilled.
The wood [for charcoal] is packed in iron cylindrical
cases termed dips, which are then inserted in the "cylin-
ders " or retorts. Jinajc. Brit., XL 323.
11. Potters' clay or paste reduced to a semi-
fluid condition about the consistence of cream.
This is used sometimes to coat the whole body of an earth-
enware vessel, and sometimes to impart a rude decoration
by trickling it slowly from a spout, so as to form lines and
patterns in slight relief. Also called slop and barbotine.
12. Matter found in the trough of a grindstone
after the grinding of edge-tools. [Local.] — 13t.
A counterfeit coin made of brass masked with
silver.
Therefore he went and got him certain dips (which are
counterteit peeces of mony, being brasse, and covered over
with silver, which the common people call dips).
Greene, Thieves Falling Out (Harl. Misc., VIII. 399).
slip-along
First weigh a friend, then touch and try him too :
For there are many dips and counterfeits.
B. Jonson, Underwoods, Ixiv.
14. An inclined plane on which a vessel is sup-
ported while building, or on which she is hauled
up for repair; also, a contrivance for hauling
vessels out of the water for repairs, etc. Ono
form of slip consists of a carriage or cradle with truck-
wheels which run upon rails on an inclined plane. The ship
is placed on the carriage while in the water, and the car-
riage together with tlie ship is drawn up the inclined plane
by means of machinery.
15. A naiTOW passage, (a) A narrowpassage between
two buildings. [Prov. Eng.) (6) In hort., the space be-
tween the walls of a garden and the outer fence.
The spaces between the walls and the outer fence are
called slips. A considerable extent is sometimes thus en-
closed, and utilized for the growth of such vegetables aa
potatoes, winter greens, and sea-kale, for the small bush
fruits, and for strawberries. Encyc. Brit., XII. 219.
16. A space between two wharves, or in a dock,
in which a vessel lies. [U. S.] — 17. A long
seat or narrow pew in a church, often without
a door. [U. S.] — 18. A narrow, pew-like com-
partment in a restaurant or oyster-house, hav-
ing one or two fixed seats and a table. — 19. A
long, narrow, and more or less rectangular
piece ; a strip : as, a slip of paper.
Such [boats] as were brused they tyed fast with theyr
gyrdels, with slippes of the barkes of trees, and with tough
and longe stalkes of certein herbes of the sea.
Peter Martyr (tr. in Eden's First Books on America,
[ed. Arber, p. 140).
A small hereditary farm.
An unproductive slip of rujrged ground.
Wordsu'orth, Excursion, L
20. A strip of wood or other material ; spe-
cifically, such a strip inserted in a dovetailed
groove, or otherwise attached to a piece of
wood or metal, to form a slipping or wearing
surface for a sliding part. — 21. A detachable
straight or tapered piece which may be slipped
in between parts to separate them or to fill a
space left between them. — 22. In insurance, a
note of the contract made out before the policy
is effected, for the purpose of asking the consent
of underwriters to the proposed policy. It is
merely a jotting or short memorandum of the terms, to
which the underwriters subscribe tlieir initials, with the
sums for wliich they are willing to engage. It lias no force
as a contract of insurance, unless intentionally adopted as
such.
23. A particular quantity of yarn. — 24. A
twig detached from the main stock, especially
for planting or grafting ; a scion; a cutting: as,
a slip of a vine : often used figuratively.
A goodly youth of amiable grace,
Yet but a slender slip that scarse did see
Yet seventeene yeares. Spenser, F. Q.,VT. iL 5.
Noble stock
Was graft with crab-tree dip.
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iii. 2. 214.
Scaliger also afilrmeth that the Massalians . . . were
first a lewish sect, and a dip of the Essees.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 149.
Here are two choice dips from that noble Irisli oak
which has more than once supplied alpeens for this meek
and unoffending skull.
Thackeray, Roundabout Papers, Thorns in the Cushion.
All that Shakespeare says of the king yonder slip of a
boy that reads in the corner feels to be true of himself.
Emerson, History,
25. In printing, the long and narrow proof
taken from a slip-galley of type before it is
made up into pages or colinnns. — 26. pi. In
hookhinding, the pieces of twine that project
from the back of a sewed but uncovered book,
and can be slipped up or down. — 27. In cricket,
one of the fielders, who stands at some distance
behind and to the right of the wicket-keeper.
See diagram under cricket'^.
" I'm your man," said he. " Wicket-keeper, cover-point,
dip, or long-stop ; you bowl the twisters, I'll do the field-
ing for you." ITAj/te JfeiraJie, White Rose, II. xiii.
28. A device for the ready detachment of any-
thing on shipboard that is secured by a lashing,
in case it becomes necessary to let it go quickly.
— 29. In upholstery, a hem forming a sort of tube
to allow of the insertion of a wire, or the like,
for stiff ening.— 30. A block of whale's blubber
as cut or stripped from the animal. — 31. A mis-
carriage or abortion. fColloq.]— OUstone-sUps.
See otZxfonp.— Opal-glass slip. See opaZ.— Orange-Slip
clay. See or<iH!/<'>.— Slip-clutch coupling. Seecoupling.
— To give one the slip. Heegive'i.
Slip2 (slip), «. [< ME. slyp, slype, slypi> (= MLG.
«?(», slime: see sHpl-,v.(g).'] 1. Viscous mat-
ter; slime. Prompt. Parv.— 2. A dish of curds
made with rennet wine.
slipS (slip), n. [A particular use of slip'^ (f ).] A
voung sole. [Prov. Eng.]
slip-alongt (slip'a-long''), a. Slipshod. Davies.
It would be less worth while to read Fox's dip-along
stories. Maitland, Reformation, p. 559.
slip-board
slip-board (slip'bord), «. A board sliding in
grooves.
I got with ranch difficulty out of my hamiuocic, having
first ventured to draw baclc the dip-board on the roof, . . .
contrived on purpose to let in air.
Suifl, Gulliver's Travels, a 7.
slip-carriage (slip'kar'Sj). h. a railway-car-
riage attached to an eiqjress-train in such a
manner that it may be "slipped " or detached at
a station or junction while the rest of the train
e asses on without stopping. [Great Britain.]
ip-chase (slip'chas), «. In 2>rintiiig, a long
and narrow framework of iron made for hold-
ing corresponding forms of type. See chase^, 1.
[Eng.]
slip-cle
slip-cleavage (slip'kle'vSj), w. In coal-min-
imi, the cleat of the coal, when this is paral-
lel with the slips, or small faults by which
the formation is intersected. Gresley. [South
Wales.]
slip-coint (slip'koin), «. A counterfeit coin.
See »7i>l, n., 13.
This is the worldling's folly, rather to take a piece of
tUp-eoia in hand than to trust God for the invaluable mass
of glory. H^. T, Adains^ Works, L 247.
slip-cover (sHp'kuv'^r), n. A temporary cov-
enng, commonly of linen or calico, used to pro-
tect upholstered furniture.
slip-decoration (slip'dek-o-ra'shon), n. In cc-
rum.. decoration by means of slip applied to a
part of the surface in patterns, or more rarely
in the form of animals and the like. For this pur-
pose the slip is sometimes poured througha quill or small
pipe fitted into the end of a vessel contrived for this pur-
pjse. See lUip^, n., II, and pipeUe.
slip-dock (slip'dok), «. A dock whose floor
slopes toward the water, so that its lower end
is in deep water, and its upper end above high-
water mark. It is laid with rails to support the
cradle. See slip^, »., 14.
slipe (slip), n. [Cf. slip^, n.] In coal-mining:
(a) A skip vrithout wheels; a sledge, (ft) pi.
Flat pieces of iron on which the eorfs slide.
[Prov. Eng.]
slipert, a. A Middle English sjielling of slij)-
jK-rK
slip-galley (slip'gal'i), n. In printing, a long
and narrow tray of metal (sometimes of wood)
made to hold corapog«d type. See galUy, 5.
sliphaltert (slip'hal'tir), ». [< sUp^, v., + obj.
hulter'^.'\ One who has cheated the gallows;
one who deserves to be banged ; a villain.
As I hope for mercy, I am half persuaded that this dip-
halter has pawned my clothes.
Dnddey't Old Plays (4th ed. Hazlitt), XIV. 149 (quoted
(in N. and Q., 7th ser., II. 206).
slip-hook (slip'hiik), n. Xaui.: (a) A hook
which grasps a chain cable by one of its links,
and may be disengaged or slipped by the mo-
tion of a trigger, sliding ring, or the like. (6)
A hook so contrived as to be readily unhooked
when there is a strain on it.
slip-house (slip'lious), n. In ceram., a house or
kIkmI containing the slip-kiln.
slip-kiln (slip'kil), n. A pan or series of pans
arranged with flues heated from a stove, for
the ]>artial evaporation of the moisture of slip
and the reduction of it to the proper consis-
tence.
slip-knot (slip'not), n. 1. A knot which can
be easily slipped or undone by pulling the loose
end of the last loop made ; a bow-knot.
Hasty marriage* — ii^twite tied bvone Justice to be
undone by another. Harper'i Mag., LXXVII. 3-iO.
2. Same as running knot (which see, under run-
nini/).
slip-link (slip'Iingk), n. In maeh., a connect-
ing-link so arranged as to allow the parts some
iilay in order to avoid concussion,
ippage (slip'aj), n. l<i,lipl + -age.'i The act
of sliiyiing; also, in mech., the amount of slip.
slipped (slipt), a. [< slipi + -eiP.] 1. Fitted
witlj sli|i.s: as, a box-»/i7)/)wf plane. — 2. In her.,
represented as torn from the stalk in such a
way as to have a strip of the bark of the main
stem still clinging to it: said of a branch op
twig, or a single leaf.
Slipperlf (slip'er), n. [< ME. slip]>er. uliper, <
AS. 'xliiior. slipnr (= MLG. slipper), slippery, <
alif>a>i,iiU<pan,s\\p: aeeslip^. Ct.slipjiery.] 1.
Slippery.
To lyve In woo he hath grete fantasle.
And of his herte also hath Mper holdc.
Political Poem, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 60.
Therefore hold thon thy fortune fast ; for she is dipper
and cannot bee kept against her will.
J. Brende, tr. of Quintus Curtius, vU.
A dipper and subtle knave. Shak., Othello, IL 1. 2M.
6699
2. Fluent; flowing.
I say that auricular figures be those which worke alter-
ation in th' eare by sound, accent, time, and dipper volu-
bilitie in vtterance, such as for that respect was called by
the auncients niimerositie of speach.
PuUenham, Arte of Eug. Poesie, p. 134.
slipper^ (sUp'er), «. [So called from being
easily slipped on; < slip^, v., + -er^. Cf. slip-
shoe.^ 1. A loose, light shoe into which the
foot may be easily slipped, generally for wear-
ing indoors. Compare pantofle, and cut under
poiilaine.
The dippers on her feet
Were cover'd o'er wi' gold.
Jamet Berries (Child's Ballads, I. 207).
A sense of peace and rest
Like dippers after shoes.
O. W. Holmes, Fountain of Youth.
2. A child's garment; especially, a child's slip.
[Local.] — 3. Savae as .ilii>per-plant. See Pedi-
laittlius Hunt the slipper. See Atirit.— Venos's-
Slipper, in eoneh. : (a) A slipper-shaped pteropod. See
Cymoidiidse, (b) A glass-nautilus. See Carinaria,
slipper^ (slip'er), n. [< sH»i, r., + -ir^.] 1. A
kind of iron slide or brake-shoe acting as a
drag on the wheel of a heavy wagon in de-
scending an incline ; a skid. Also called sli}>-
per-drag. — 2. One who or that which slips or
lets slip; specifically, in counting, the person
who holds the couple of hounds in the leash,
and lets both slip at the same instant on a
S'ven signal when the hare is startod.
pper-animalcnle (slip'^r-an-i-mal'kiil), n.
A ciliate inf usorian of the genus Paramecium :
so called from the shape. See cut under Para-
mecium.
slipper-bath (sHp'^r-bftth), n. A bath-tub part-
ly covered and having the shape of a shoe,
the bather's feet resting in what may be called
the toe, and the bather sitting more or less
erect in the open part. The covering is useful partly
to prevent the spilling of the water, and partly to pro-
tect the bather from currents of air.
slipper-drag (slipV-r-drag), n. Same as slij)-
1)1 r^, 1. Rankine, Steam Engine, ^ 48.
Slippered (slip'ferd), a. [< slipper'^ + -erf2.]
Wearing or covered with slippers: as, slippered
feet.
The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and dipper'd pantaloon.
Shai., As you Like it, IL 7. 158.
slipper-flower (slip'fer-flou'fr), «. 1. The slip-
perwort. — 2. The slipper-plant,
slipperily (slip'fer-i-U), adv. In a slippery man-
ner.
slipperiness (slip'^r-i-nes), n. The character
or state of being slippery, in any sense of that
word.
slipper-limpet (slip'fer-lim'pet), i». A sbpper-
shcU.
Slippemesst (slip'ir-nes), n. [< slipper^ +
-w<.w.] .Slipperiness; changeableness; untrust-
worthiiiess.
Let this enmple teach menne not to truste on the
dyppemeue ot tortnne. Tatemer's Adag.,Cl. (Nares.)
slipper-plant (slip'^r-plant), n. See Pedilan-
th IIS.
slipper-shell (slip'^r-shel), n. A gastropod
of the genus Crepidula. See cut under Crepi-
duUi.
slipper-spurge (slip'^r-spferj), «. The glipper-
filant. See I'edilanthwi.
pperwort (slip'er-wert), n. A plant of the
genus Calceolarta: so called from the form of
tlie lower lip of the corolla,
slippery (slip'6r-i), a. [= MHG. slupferic, G.
schliip/rig, slippery ; as slipper^ + -?*•] 1 . Hav-
ing such smoothness of surface as to cause
slipping or sliding, or to render grip or hold
difficult; not affording firm footing or secure
hold.
The itreet«B being dippery, I fell against a piece of tim-
ber with such violence that I could not speake nor fetch
my breath (or some space. Evelyn, Diary, Oct 9, 1676.
Hence — 2. That cannot be depended on or
trusted; uncertain; untrustworthy; apt to play
one false ; dishonest : as, he is a slippery person
to deal with ; slippery politicians.
Servants are dippery; but I dare give my word for her
and for her honesty.
Beau, and Fl., King and Ko King, ii. 1.
We may as justly suspect, there were some bad and dip-
pery men in that councell, as we know there are wone to
be in our Convocations. MUlon, Prelatlcal Episcopacy.
3. Liable to slip or lose footing. [Rare.]
Being dippery standert.
The love that lean'd on them as dippery too,
Do one pluck down another, and together
Die In the falL Shak., T. and C, 111. 8. 84.
slip-skin
4. Unstable; changeable; mutable.
Oh, world, thy dippery turns ! Shak., Cor., It. 4. 12.
He, looking down
With scorn or pity on the slippery state
Of kings, will tread upon the neck ot (ate.
.Sir J. Denham, The Sophy. (.Latkam.)
5. Lubrie; wanton; unchaste.
Ha' not you seen, Camillo—
... or heard — . . .
My wlfeis»JiRp«T/f SAa*-., W. T., i. 2. 273.
6. Crafty; sly.
Long time he used this slippery pranck.
Spenser, Shep. CaL, September.
Slippery ground. See yroundi .
slippery-back (slip'er-i-bak), H. In the West In-
dies, a species of skink, as of the genus Eumeces.
slippery-elm (slip'er-i-elm'), «. The red elm,
or moose-elm, Vlmus fuha, of eastern North
America, it grows bO or 60 feet high, and affords a
heavy, hard, and durable timber, largely used for wheel-
stock, fence-posts, etc. The inner bark is mucilaginous
and pleasant to the taste and smell, and is recognized offl-
cinally as an excellent demulcent This is the slippery
part, which gives rise to the name. — California slip-
pery-elm, the shrub or small tree Fremoiitia Cali/omica,
the inner bark of which is mucilaginous.
slippery-Jemmy(sUp'6r-i-jem''i), n. The three-
bearded rocklin^. [Local, English and Irish.]
slippiness (slip'i-nes), n. Slipperiness. [Pro-
vincial.]
The dippiness of the way. SeoU.
slipping-jpiece (slip'ing-pes), n. A piece capa-
ble of sliding into the tail-piece of a telescope
and carrying a frame with two movements m
one plane, into which an eyepiece or microme-
ter can be fitted.
slipping-plane (slip'ing-plan), n. In crystal.,
same as ijlhliiig-pUine.
slippyi (slip'i), a. [< «/i/)i, v., + -yi. The AS.
'slipeg (Somner) is not authorized.] Slippery.
t Provincial.]
Ippy2 (slip'i), a. [< slip^, n., + -yl.] Full of
slips: said of rocks which are full of joints or
cracks. [Midland coal-field, Eng.]
slippy* (slip'i), (J. ly&T.oi slojqiy.'] Sloppy.
The water being uncomfortably cold, and in that dippy,
Blushy. sleety sort of state wherein it seems to penetrate
through every kind of substance.
Dickens, Cricket on the Hearth, L
slip-rails (slip'ralz), n. pi. A substitute for a
gate, made of rails slipped into openings in the
posts, and capable of being readily slipped out.
She walked swiftly across the paddock, through thesiip.
raHs, and past a blacks' camp which lay between the fence
and the river.
Mrs. Campbell Praed, The Head Station, p. 16.
slip-rope (slip'rop), «. A rope so arranged that
it may be readily let go ; a rope passed through
the ring of a mooriiig-buoy with both ends on
board ship, so that by letting go one end and
hauling on the other the ship will be disengaged.
In a minute more our dip-rope was gone, the head-yards
filled away, and we were off.
R. U. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 249,
slip-shackle (slip'sliak'l), «. A shackle to fas-
ten on to a link of a chain-cable. It may be
disengaged by the motion of a sliding ring or
other contrivance.
slip-shave (slip'shav), n. A point or shave
made to slip over the nose of a mold-board.
A'. H. Knight.
slipshod (slip'shod), a. [< slip^ + shoe + -ed*.]
1. Wearing shoes or slippers down at the heel or
having no counters, so tnat the sole trails after
the foot.
Thy wit shall ne er go dipshod. Sliak., Lear, L 6. 12.
The dipshod 'prentice from his master's door
Had par'd the dirt, and sprinkled round the floor.
Suift, Description of Morning.
A dip-shod, ambiguous being, ... in whom were united
all the various qualities and functions of "boots," cham-
bermaid, waiter, and potboy.
Jfem. ^f It. H. Barham, in Ingoldsby Legends, I. 68.
Hence — 2. Appearing like one in slippers;
careless or slovenly in appearance, manners,
actions, and the like; loose; slovenly; shuf-
fling: as, a slipshod style of writing.
A sort of appendix to the half-bound and dip-shod vol-
umes of the circnlating libraiy.
ScoU, Heart of Mid-Lothtan, i.
slip-shoet (slip'sho), n. [< ME. *slypescho, <
AS. slype-scos (for "slype-sco), slebescoh, a slip-
shoe: see «7ipl and «Aoc.] A slipper. [Rare.]
The dip-shoe favours him.
Stephens, Essayes and Characters, an. 1616, p. 421.
slip-skint (slip'skin), a. [< slij)^ + «Wn.] Slip-
pery; evasive.
A pretty dipskin conveyance to sUt mass Into no maai,
and popish into not popish.
MHUm, On Det. of Hnmb. Bemontt., U.
slipslop
slipslop, slipslap (slip'slop. -slap), v. i. [A
varied reduplication of slip, as if sUp^ + slop^
or s/<ipi.] To slap repeatedly ; go slipping and
slapping.
I ha" found her fingers dip-dap this away and that a-way
like a flail upon a wheatsheaf.
Mrs. CenUivre, The Artifice, ill.
The dirty broken Bluchers in which Grit's feet dip-
dopped constantly. B. L. Fargeon, Grif, p. 105.
sUpslop, slipslap (slip'slop, -slap), n. and a.
[See ilipglop, slipslap, ».] I. n. 1. Weak and
sloppy drink; thin, watery food.
No, thou Shalt feed, instead of these.
Or your dip-slap of curds and whey.
On Nectar and Ambrosia.
Cotton, Burlesque upon Burlesque, p. 187, (Dacie*.)
At length the coffee was announced. . . .
"And since tlie meagre dip-dop'a made,
1 think the call should be obey'd."
Combe, Dr. Syntax's Tours, ill. 1. {Davies.)
2. A blunder.
He told us a great number of comic dip-dops of the first
Lord Baltimore, who made a constant misuse of one word
for another. Mme. D'ArUay, Diary, iv. 14.
n. a. Slipshod; slovenly.
His [the rationalist's] ambiguous dip-dop trick of using
the word natural to mean in one sentence " material," and
in the next, as I use it, only *' normal and orderly."
Kingdey, Alton Locke, xxxviii.
slipsloppy (slip'slop-i), a. [< slipslop + -j/i.]
Slushy; wet; plashy.
There was no taking refuge too then, as with us,
On a dip-doppy day, in a cab or a 'bus.
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 291.
slip-stitch (slip'stich), n. 1. A stitch in
crochet-work used for joining different parts
of the work together. — 2. A stitch in knitting.
— 3. A stitch in darned netting and similar
embroideries on openwork ground.
slip-stopper (slip'stop^'fer), n. Naut., a con-
trivance for letting go an anchor by means of
a trigger.
slip-StraiBer (slip'stra'nfer), H. In ceram., a
strainer of any form through which the slip
is passed.
Slipstringt (slip'string), n. [< sZipl, v., + obj.
string.} One who has shaken off restraint; a
prodigal: sometimes used attributively. Also
called slipthrift.
Tonng rascals or scoundrels, rakehells, or dipstringg.
Cotgrave,
Stop your hammers ; what ayles lowe ? We are making
arrowes for my slip-string Sonne [cupld].
Dekker, Londons Tempo.
slipt (slipt). A form of the preterit and past
participle of slip^.
slipthriftt (slip'thrift), n. [< slip^, v., + obj.
thrift.'] Same as slipstring.
slipway (slip'wa), ». An inclined plane the
lower end of which extends below the water in
a slip-dock. Two such ways, one on each side of the
keel of a ship, are used in combination, of sufficient length
to permit a ship to be drawn on them entirely out of the
water.
Slirt (slfert), V. t. [Appar. a mixture of flirt
and atati.] To cast or throw off with a jerk;
slat: as, to slirt a fish from the hook; also,
to eject quickly; squirt: as, a fish slirts her
spawn.
A female trout ilirHng out gravel with her tail.
Seth Green^
slirt (sl^rt), n. [< slirt, v."] A flirt, flip, or
jerk; a slat, or slatting movement; a slirtiiig
action.
The female diving down at intervals against the gravel,
and as she comes up giving it a dirt to one side with her
tail. Seth Green.
slish (slish), n. [A var. of slasJO-, perhaps in
part of slice, which is from the same ult. source.]
A cut ; a slash.
Here 's snip and nip and cut and slish and slash.
Like to a censer in a barber's shop.
Shak., T. of the S., iv. 3. 90.
slish (slish), V. [< slisli, n.] Same as slash^.
slit' (slit), V. <.; pret. and pp. slit or slitted, ppr.
slitting. [< ME. slitten, sliten (pret. slat, also
slitle, pp. sliten, slytt), < AS. slitan (pret. slat,
pp. sliten) = OS. slitan = OFries. slita = D.
slijlen = MLG. sliten = OHG. slizan, sclizan,
MHG. slizen, G. schleissen = Icel. slita = Sw.
slita = Dan. slide, slit, split, tear, pull, rend;
perhaps akin to L. l/edere, in comp. -lidere
(V slid ?). Hence ult., through F., E. slice,
slash^, slate^, slat^, ^clat.'] If. To cut asunder;
cleave; split; rend; sever.
With a swerd that he wolde ditte his herte.
Chavcer, Franklin's Tale, 1, 632.
Comes the blind Fury, with the abhorred shears,
And diu the thin-spun life. Milton, Lycidas, L 76.
5700
2. To out lengthwise or into long pieces or
strips : as, the gale has slit the sails into ribbons.
— 3. To cut or make a long fissure in ; slash.
And here Clothes ben dytt at the syde ; and thei ben
festned with Laces of Silk. Mandeville, Travels, p. 247.
I'll dit the villain's nose that would have sent me to the
gaol. SAat., T. of theS., V. 1. 134.
Silt bar-sight. See dari, le.— silt deaL See(feaZ2, 1.
— Silt top-Shells, the gastropods of the family Scissurel-
lidte, which have tlie lip of the aperture slit or incised, like
those of the family Pleurotomariidse. See top-shell, and cut
under Scissurellidx.
sliti (slit), n. [< ME. slit, slite, slitte, < AS. slite
= Icel. slit = OHG. MHG. sUz, G. schlitz, a slit;
from the verb.] 1. A long cut or rent ; a nar-
row opening.
It [a dagger] was . . . put into a slit in the side of a
mattress. State Trials, Q. Elizabeth, an. 1584.
He was nursed by an Irish nurse, after the Irish manner,
wher tliey putt the child into a pendulous sat<)hell instead
of a cradle, with a slitt for the child's head to peepe out.
Aubrey, Lives, Robert Boyle.
It might have been wished that . . . his mouth had been
of alesa reptilian width of slit. George Eliot, Ronu>la, xxvi.
2t. A pocket.
Thu most habbe redi mitte
Twenti Marc ine thi ditte.
King Uom (E. E. T. S.), p. 61.
3. A cleft or crack in the breast of fat cattle.
[Prov. Eng.] — 4. In coal-mining, a short head-
ing connecting two other headings. [Eng.] —
5. Specifically, in zool., anat., and embryol., a
visceral cleft ; one of the series of paired (right
and left) openings in the front and sides of the
head and neck of every vertebrate embryo,
some of which or all may disappear, or some of
which may persist as gill-slits or their equiva-
lents; a branchial, pharyngeal, etc., slit. These
slits occur between any two visceral arches of each side ;
more or fewer of them persist in all branchiate verte-
brates. See under cleft, and cut under amnion. — Bran-
chial silt, pharyngeal silts, etc. See the adjectives.
— Slit-planting, a method of planting which is per-
formed by making slits in the soil with a spade so as to
cross each other, and inserting the plant at the point
where the slits cross.
slit^t. A Middle English contracted form of
slideth, third person singular present indica-
tive of slide. Chaucer.
slither (sliTH'fer), a. and n. [< ME. *slither,
sklither, slippery; var. otslidder, a.] I. a. Slip-
pery : same as slidder.
II. n. A limestone rubble; angular fragments
or screes of limestone. [North. Eng.]
In general this indestructible rubble lays on so steep an
ascent that it slips from beneath the feet of an animal
wiiich attempts to cross it — whence the name slither, or
sliding gravel. J. Farey, Derbyshire, I. 145.
slither (sliTH'fer), v. i. [< ME. *sUtheren, sUyth-
eren ; var. of slidder, t'.] To slide: same as
slidder. [Prov. Eng.]
Down they came dithering to the ground, barking their
arms and faces. T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, ii. 4.
He slithers on the soft mud, and cannot stop himself
until he conies down.
Landor, Imag. Conv., Archdeacon Hare and Walter
[Landor.
slithering (sliTH'6r-ing), jp. a. Slow; indolent;
procrastinating; deceitful. HalliwcU. [Prov.
Eng.]
slithery (sliTn'fer-i), a. Slippery : same as slid-
der;/. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.]
The ro'd . . . maun be dithery.
G. MacDonald, Warlock o' Glenwarlock, p. 81.
slit-shell (slit'shel), 11. A shell of the family
Pleurotomariidx, ha'ving the outer lip slit. See
cut under Pleurotomaria.
slitter (slit'er), n. [< slit + -erl.] 1. One
who or that which slits. — 2. In metal-mannf.,
a series of steel disks, or a pair of grooved
rollers, placed one over the other, serving to
shear sheet-metal into strips ; a slitting-shears.
— 3. Same as jjjcfcl, 1 (a). [Eng.]
slittered (slit'ferd), a. [< slitter + -ed^.] Cut
into strips with square ends : noting the edge
of a garment, or of a sleeve. This differs from
dogged, in that the dags are tapered and rounded, whereas
the slits are equal in width, and are separated from each
other merely by the cut of the shears.
slitting-disk (slit'ing-dlsk), n. In gem-cutting,
same as xlitting-mill, 2.
slitting-flle (slit'ing-fil), n. A file of lozenge
or diamond section, with four cutting edges,
two acute and two obtuse.
slitting-gage (slit'ing-gaj), n. In saddler;/, a
hand-tool comliining a gage and a cutting edge,
for cutting leather into strips suitable for har-
ness-straps, reins, etc.
slitting-machine (slit'ing-ma-shen"), ». 1. A
machine for cutting narrow strips of leather:
a larger form of the slitting-gage. — 2. A ma-
sllTer
chine for cutting plate-metal into strips for
nail-rods, etc.
slitting-mill (slit'ing-mil), n. 1. A mill in
which iron bars or plates are slit into nail-rods,
etc. — 2. In gem-cutting, a circular disk of thin
sheet-iron revolving on a lathe, which, with its
sides and ed^e charged with diamond-dust and
lubricated with oil, is used by lapidaries to slit
gems and other hard substances. Also called
slitting-disk, slicer. — 3. A gang saw-mill, used
for resawing lumber for making blind-slats,
fence-pickets, etc. Compare slitting-satc.
slitting-plane (sUt'ing-plan), ». A plane with
a narrow iron for cutting boards into strips or
slices: now little used.
slitting-roUer (slit'ing-r6''''ler), n. One of a pair
of coacting rollers having ribs which enter in-
tervening spaces on the companion rollers, and
cutting in the manner of shears, used in slitting-
mills for metals, etc. See cut under rotary.
slitting-saw (slit'ing-sa), K. A form of gang-
saw for slitting planks, etc., into thin boards
or strips. It resembles the resawing-machine, and is
variously modified in form according to the work for
which it is intended, as making laths, pickets, etc.
slitting-shears (slit'ing-sherz), n. sing, and pi.
A machine for cutting sheet-metal into strips.
See cut under rotary.
sli'Velf (sliv), V. t. [< ME. sliven, slyven, < AS.
slifan (pret. sldf, pp. sU/en), cleave, in comp.
to-slifan; cf. stii-an, slit. Hence freq. sliver.]
To cleave; split; divide.
Non to wher [wear] no hoddes with a Roll dyvyd on his
hede, . . . vnder ye degre of a Baron.
Booke of Precedeme (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 37.
Diners shrubbed trees, the boughes ... he cutting and
diuing downe perceiued blood.
Warner, Albion's England, it
sli'Te^ (sliv), n. [< slive^, v.] A slice; a chip.
[Prov. Eng.]
slive^ (sliv), V. ; pret. and pp. sUred, ppr. sliving.
[Early mod. E. slyve; appar. as a variant or
secondary form of .slip (cf. OHG. slifan, MHG.
slifen, G. selileifen, slide, glance, MHG. slipfen,
G. schliefen, glide): see slip^.] I. intrans. 1.
To slide.
I slyve downe, I fall downe sodaynly, Je coule.
Palsgrave. {HaUiweU.)
2. To sneak; skulk; proceed in a sly way; creep;
idle away time.
What are you a diving about, you drone ? you are a year
a lighting a candle.
Bailey, tr. of Colloquies of Erasmus, The Commands
[of a Master.
Let me go forsooth. I'm labour I know her gown agen ; I
minded her when slie sliv'd off.
Mrs. Centlivre, Platonick Lady, iv. 3.
II. trans. To slip on; put on: with oh.
I'll dive on my gown and gang wi' thee. Craven Glossary.
sliver (sliv'er or sli'vfer), n. [< ME. sliver, sli-
vere, sleyvere, dim. of slive^ (as shiver^ of shive,
and splinter of splint) ; or < sliver, v., then a freq.
otslive^: see sMfcl, t).] 1. A piece, as of wood,
roughly or irregularly broken, rent, or cut off or
out, generally lengthwise or with the grain ; a
splinter: as, to get a slirer under one's finger-
nail ; the lightning tore off great slivers of bark ;
hence, any fragment ; a small bit.
Alias ! that he al hool, or of him sleyvere,
Sholde han his refut in so digne a place.
Chaucer, Troilus, ill. 1018.
There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds
Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke ;
When down her weedy trophies and herself
Fell in the weeping brook. Shak., Hamlet, iv. 7. 174.
The Major part of the Calf was Roasting upon a Wooden
Spit ; Two or three great Slivers he had lost off his But-
tocks, his Ribs par'd to the very Bone.
Quoted in Ashton's Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne,
[I. 86.
2. In spinning, a continuous strand of wool,
cotton, or other fiber, in a loose untwisted con-
dition, ready for slubbing or roving.
The thick sheet of cotton composing the lap is reduced
to a thin cloud-like film, which is drawn through a cone
tube, and condensed into a diver, a round, soft, and un-
twisted strand of cotton. Spons' Encyc. Manuf., I. 744.
3. A small wooden instrument used in spinning
yarn. Balliwcll. [Prov. Eng.] — 4. The side of
a small fish cut off in one piece from head to
tail, to be used as bait; a sort of kibblings.
The head of the fish is taken in the left hand of the
workman, and with a knife held in the right band he cuts
a slice, longitudinally, from each side of the body, leaving
the head and vertebne to be thrown away, or, occasion-
ally, to be pressed for oil. The divers (pronounced slyvers)
are salted and packed in barrels. The knife used is of
peculiar shape, and is called a '"slivering knife." . . .
Gloucester had in 1877 about 60 "mackerel-hookers,"
using about 2,400 barrels of divers, while its seininp-fleet
used about 2,000 barrels more.
G. B. Goode, Hist, of the Menhaden (1880), pp. 201, 204.
I
sliver
6. A very fine edge left at the end of a piece
of timber. — 6t. pi- The loose breeches or slops
of the early part of the seventeenth century. —
Sliver lap- machine, in cottoH-mam{f., a machine which
receives the slivera or ends from the carding-machine, and
passes them tliroagh rollers which form them into a single
broad sheet or lap.
sliver (sliv'er or sli'ver), r. [See sliver, n.,slire^.
r.] I. trans. 1. To cut or divide into long
thin pieces, or into very small pieces; cut or
rend lengthwise ; splinter; break or tear off.
Slips of yew
Slitxr'd in the moon's eclipse.
Shale., Macbeth, iv. 1. 27.
The tloor of the room was warped in every direction,
slivered and gaping at the joints. & Jtidd, Margaret, L 3.
2. To cut each side of (a fish) away in one piece
from head to tail; take two slivers from. See
sliver, «., 4.
The operation of stiverinf/ is shown.
0. B. Qoode, Hist, of the Menhaden (1880X p. 147.
n. intrans. To split; become split.
The planks being cut across the grain to prevent diver-
ing. The CerUttry, XX. 79.
sliver-box (sliv'^r-boks), n. In spinning, a
machine for piecing together and stretching
out slivers of long-stapled wool ; a breaking-
frame.
sliverer (sliv'6r-*r or 8li'v*r-6r), n. One who
slivers fish.
slivering-knife (slx'v6r-ing-nif ), n. A knife of
pcculiiir shape used in slivering fish. See ex-
tra<_-t under aliver, n., 4.
silvering-machine (sliv'fer-ing-ma-shen'), «.
A wuoJ-working machine for cutting thin
splints suitable for basket-making, narrow sliv-
ers for use in weaving, or fine shavings (excel-
sior); an excelsior-maehine.
slivingt (sliv'ing or sli'ving), n. pi. Same as
sUver, 6.
slot, r. A Middle Emzlisb form of alay^.
sloak, sloakan, ». See aloke.
8loam(sl6m), n. [Alaosloom; cf. slatcm, slum^,
«/umpl.] In coa7-mi»tH(/, the under-clay. [Mid-
land coal-field, Eng.]
Sloanea (slo'ne-H), n. [NXi. (Linnaeus, 1753),
named after Sir fians Sloane (1660-1753), a cele-
brated English collector.] A genus of trees, of
the order Tiliaceee, the linden family, type of the
tribe Slnanete. It is cbtracterized bjr nsiully apetalous
flowen with (our or five commonly valvate set»Ua, a thick
disk, very numerous stamens, and an ovary with nnmerons
ovnlea In the (onr or Ave cells, becoming a corlaceoDi or
woody and usually four-valved capaale. Tber« are about
45 species, all natives of tropical America. They are trees
with usually alternate leaves, and inconspicuous white or
greenish-yellow flowen commonly In racemes, panicles,
or fascicles, followed by denaelr spiny, bristly, or velvety
fruit, the size of which raries nom tlut of a haielnnt to
that of an orange. Many spedea reach a lane sin, with
very hard wood which is dllDcnlt to work ; 8. Jomaiegntia,
a tree sometimes lOi) feet high, bearing a fruit 3 or 4 inches
Id diameter ami clothed with straight bristles like a chest-
nut-bur, is known in the West Indies as breakax or tron-
ifood.
Sloaneae (slo'ne-e), n. pi. [NL. (Endlicher,
183t)), < Sloauca + -««.] A tribe of polypetalous
Slants, of the order Tiliacea, characterized liy
owers with the sepals and petals inserted im-
mediatelv about the stamens, the petals not
contorted in the bud, often calvx-like and in-
cised or sometimes absent, ana the stamens
bearing linear anthers which open at the apex.
It Includes 5 genera, of which Soaneaa the type, all trop-
ical trees with entire or toothed and usually feather-
veined leaves, native* chiefly of tropical America and Aus-
tralasia.
sloat, n. See slofl, slof^.
slob (slob J, ». [A var. of slab^. Cf. «Zm61.]
1. Mud; mire; muddy land; a marsh or mire.
[Eng.]
Those vast tracts known as the Isle of Dogs, the Oreen-
wlch marshes, the West Ham marshes, the Plumstead
marshes. &c. (which are now about eight feet lower than
high water), were then extensive dobt covered with water
at every tide. Sir Q. A iry, Athennum, Jan. 28, 1860, p. 134.
2. Same as «to6&eri, 2. Halliicell. [Prov.Eng.]
slobber 1 (slob'frr), v. [< ME. sloberen; var. of
slabljfr^, slubber^.'] I. intrans. 1. To let sali-
va fall from the mouth; slabber; drivel; spill
liquid from the mouth in eating or drinking.
As at present there are as many royal hands to kiss as a
Japanese idol has. it takes some time to alobher through
the whole ceremony. WalpoU, Letters, II. 472.
He sat silent, still caressing Tartar, who itobbered with
exceeding aSection. ChartotU Bnmte, Shirley, xxvL
2. To drivel; dote; become foolish or imbecile.
Bat why would he, except he sfofrber'd.
Offend our patriot, great 8ir Robert?
Swift, Death of Dr. Swift.
n. trans. 1. To slaver; spill; spill upon;
slabber. Hence — 2. To kiss effusively. [Col-
loq.]
5701
She made a song how little miss
Was kiss'd and dobber'd by a lad.
Swift, Corinna.
Don't rioMerme— I won't have it — you and I are bad
friends. C. Reade, Love me Little, iv.
To slobber over, to do in a slovenly or half-flniahed man-
ner. [Familiar.]
slobber^ (slob'6r), n. [< ME. slober; var. of slab-
krl.] It. Mud; mire.
Bare of his body, bret full of water,
In the Slober & the sluche slongyn to londe.
There he lay, if hym list, the long night ouer.
Destruction qf Troy (E. E. T. ».), 1. 12529.
2. A jellyfish. Also s?o6. [Prov. Eng.]— 3.
Slaver; liquor spUled ; slabber.
slobber^ (slob'tr), n. Same as slub^.
slobberer (slob'6r-*r), n. [< slobber^ + -«rl.]
1. One who slobbers. — 2. A slovenly farmer;
also, a jobbing tailor. Halliicell. [Prov.Eng.]
slobbernannes (slob'&r-hanz), n. A game of
cards for four persons, played with a euchre-
pack, the object of every player being not to
take the first trick, the last trick, or the queen
of clubs, each of which counts one point. The
player first making ten points is beaten. The
American Hoyle.
slobbery (slob'6r-i), a. l<. slobber^ + -y^.'] 1.
Muddy; sloppy.
But I wilt sell my dukedom.
To buy a dottbery and dirty farm
In that nook-shotten isle of Albion.
Shak.. Hen. v., ill. 6. 13.
I chose to walk . . . for exercise in the frost But the
weather had given a little, as you women call it, so it was
something siomry.
Swifl, Joomal to SteUa, Jan. 22, mo-Il.
2. Given to slobbering; driveling.
Thou thyself, a watery, pulpy, dobbery freshman and
newcomer in this Planet. CaHyie, Sartor Besartus, I. 9.
slob-ice (slob'is), ». Ice which is heavy enough to
prevent the passage of ordinarily built vessels.
Young dob ice may be found around the coast of New-
foundland from December until April.
C. P. HaU, iforth Polar Expedition.
sloch (sloih), n. A Scotch form of slough^.
slock^ (slok), V. [< ME. slokken, sloken; cf.
Dan. slukke, extinguish; ult. a var. of slack^,
slake^. Cf. alocken.'] Same as slack^.
slock^ (slok), V. t. [< ME. slacken, entice ; origin
obscure.]^ To entice away; steal. [Obsolete
or prov. Eng.]
That none of the said crafte dotice ony roan-Is prentlse
or yerely semaunt of the said crafte, or socoure or mayn-
teyne ony suche, any apientiie, or yerely seruaunt, goyng
or brekynge away bo Dls Matsterrea oovenaunt, vppon
iwyne of xl. d. Enfiith OHdt (E. E. T. S.), p. 338.
slocken (slok'n), v. [Also (Sc.) sloken; < ME.
sloknen, < Icel. slokna = 8w. sloekna, be
quenched, go out; as slock^ + -cnl.] Same as
slock^ for suickl. [Obsolete or provincial.]
That bottell swet, which served at the first
To keep the life, but not to doelren thirst
(Sv<HS<«r], Do Bartas, p. 366. (HaUiuieU.)
I would set that castell in a low,
And sMnt It with English blood !
Kinnumt WiUU (Child's Ballads, VI. ei)i
When mighty aqoireshtiw of the quorum
Tlieir hydra drouth did dolten.
Burnt, On Meeting with Lord Daer.
slocking-stone (slok'ing-stdn), n. In mining,
a tempting, inducing, or rich stone of ore.
[Cornwall, Eng.]
So likewise there have been some Instances of miners
who have deceived their employers by bringing them
Sloetin{/*Slone$ from other mines, pretending they were
found in the mine they worked in ; the meaning of which
imposition is obvious. Pryee.
slodder (slod'^r), n. [Cf. MD. slodderen = LG.
sluddern = MHG. slotem, G. schlottem, dangle,
= Icel. slothra, slora, drag or trail oneself along ;
freq. of the simple verb, MHG. «/oteM, tremble, =
IceL slota, droop, = Norw. sluta, droop, stoda,
sloe, trail, = Sw. dial, slota, be lazy; the forms
being more or less involved; cf. slotter,slatter,
slur'^.'] Slush, or wet mud. Kalliwell. [Prov.
Eng.]
sloe (slo), «. ; pi. sloes, formerly and dial, slone.
[< ME. slo, pi. slon, slan (> E. dial, slan), < AS.
sld, in comp. sldk-, slag-, sldgh- (see sloe-thorn),
pi. slan; = MD. sleeu, D. slee = MLG. sle, LG.
sice = OHG. sleha, MHG. slehe, G. schlelie = Sw.
sldn = Dan. slaaen (of. Norw. slaapa), sloe; cf.
OBulg. Serv. Buss, slira = Bohem. sKva = Pol.
sliwa = Lith. sliva = OPruss. sliwat/tos, a plum;
prob. so named from its tartness ; ef . MD. sleenw,
slee, sharp, tart, same as D. sleeuw = E. slow :
see sloic^.] 1. The fruit of the blackthorn,
Prunus s/iinosa, a small bluish-black drupe;
also, the fruit of f*. umbellata.
Blaoke as berrie, or any do.
Ram. <^ the Rote, L 928.
I, flowering branch of Sloe {Prunus stirw-
so) : 3, branch with fnjit ; a, a flower, iongt*
tudinal section.
sloke
Oysters and small wrinckles in each creeke.
Whereon I feed, and on the meager done.
W. Browne, Britannia's Pastorals, 11. 1.
2. The blackthorn, Prunus spinosa, a shrub of
hedgerows,
thickets, etc.,
found in Eu-
rope and Rus-
sian and cen-
tral Asia. It is
of a rigid much-
branching spiny
habit, puts forth
pi-ofuse pure-
white blossoms
before the leaves,
and produces a
drupe also called
&do€. (Seedef. 1.)
The wood is hard
and takes a fine
polish, and is
used for walking-
sticks, tool-han-
dles, etc. The
wild fruit is aus-
tere and of little
value ; but it is
thought to be the
original of the
common culti-
vated plum, P.
dometliea. (See
pluml, 2.) The
sloe, or black sloe, of the southern United States is P.
unitiellata. a small tree with a pleasant red or black fruit,
wliifh is usetl as a preserve.
sloe-thomf (slo'thom), n. [< ME. slothorn, <
AS. sldhthorn, sldgthorn, sidghthorn (= G.
schlehdom = Dan. slaaentorn),<. sld (sidh-, etc.),
sloe, + thorn, thorn.] Same as sloe, 2.
sloe-'WOnnt, «• See slow-worm.
slog^ (slog), V. i. ; pret. and pp. slogged, ppr. slog-
ging. [Cf. slug^T] To lag behind. Halliwell.
slog^ (slog), t'. ». ; pret. and pp. slogged^ ppr. slog-
ging. [Cf. slugS.^ To hit hard, as in boxing.
See slug^. [Slang, Eng.]
Slogffinff, and hard hitting with the mere object of doing
damage with the gloved hand, ejirn no cretlit in the eyes of
a good Judge. E. B. Michetl, Koxing and Sparring(ltad-
[minton Library), p. 162.
slosan (slo'gan), «. [Sometimes mistaken for
a horn, and absurdly written slughorn; < Gael.
sluagh-gairm, a war-cry, < sliiagh, a host, army,
-1- gairm, a call, outcry, < gairm, call, cry out,
crow as a cock: see crow^.'] 1. The war-cry
or gathering wortl or phrase of one of the old
Highland clans; hence, the shout or battle-cry
of soldiers in the field.
The gathering word peculiar to a certain name, or set
of people, was termed dogan or du/rhom, and was always
repeated at an onset, as well as on many other occasions.
It was usually the naroe of the clan, or place of rendex-
vous, or leader. ChUd't Ballads, VI. 185, note.
The streets of high Dunedin
Saw lances gleam, and falchions redden,
And heard the tlogan't deadly yell.
SeoU, L. of L. M., L 7.
2. Figuratively, the distinctive cry of any body
of persons.
The peculiar sloffam of almost all the Eastern colleges.
The Century, XXXIV. 898.
slogardiet, n. A Middle English form of slug-
nariUj.
slogger^ (slog'^r), n. [< slog^ + -er^. Cf.
slugger.'] One who hits hard, as in boxing or
"bail-playing. See slugger. [Slang, Eng.]
He was called Slogger Williams, from the force with
which it was supposed he could hit.
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, 11. 5.
He was a vigorous dogger, and heartUy objected to being
bowled first ball.
Standard (LondonX Dec 1, 1885. (Encyc. Diet.)
slogger^ (slog'fer), ». [Said to be a contraction of
"slow-goer; cf. torjrid.] The second division of
race-boats at Cambridge, England. Slang Diet.
sloggyt, "• A Middle English form of sluggy.
slogwciod (slog 'wild), n. [Local name.] A
small West Indian tree, Beilschmiedia pendula
of the Laurinese.
Sloid, sloyd (sloid), n. [< Sw. slojd, skill, dex-
terity, esp. mechanical skill, manufacture,
wood-carving, = E. sleight: see sleight'^.'] A
system of manual training which originated
in Finland. It is not confined to wood-working, as is
frequently supposed (though this is the branch most
commonly taughtX but is work with the hands and with
simple tools. The system is adapted to the needs of dif-
ferent grades of the elementary schools, and is designed
to develop the pupils mentally and physically. Its aim
Is, therefore, not si>ecial technical training, but general
development and the laying of a foundation for future In-
dustrial growth.
slokan (slo'kan), n. [Cf. sloke.l Same as sloke.
sloke, sloak (slok), n. [Sc, also slake, slaik,
sleegli; cf. sleech, sludge.} 1. The oozy vege-
sloke
table substance in the bed of rivers. — 2. Same
as larer", 1. [Scotch in both uses.]
sloken (slok'n), v. Same as slocken.
sloo (slo), «. A dialectal pronunciation of
slough^. [U. S. and prov. Eng.]
sloom^ (slom), n. [Also dial, sloum; < ME.
*sloume, sloiimbe, slunic, < AS. sluma, slumber;
cf. sloom^, v., slumber.'] A gentle sleep; slum-
ber.
Merlin gon to duine
Swulc he wolde sloepen.
Layamon, 1, 17995.
sloom- (sl6m), V. I. [Alsodial. sloum, sleatn; <
ME. slumen, slummen = MLG. slomen, slommen
= MHG. slumen, slummen, slumber; from the
noun, ME. "sloume, slume, < AS. sluma, slumber :
8eesloom^,n.,&ndct.slumber.] 1. Toslumber;
waste ; decay.
(Sire Telomew)cfliry8 into a cabayne, quare tlie Ijyng ligges,
Fand tiim slmnande and on slepe, and sleely him rayses.
AUUeratitx Poetnt(eA. Morris), Gloss., p. 193. (K. Alex.,
p. 176.)
2. To become weak or flaccid, as plants and
flowers touched by frost.
[Now only prov. Eng. in both uses.]
sloom^ (slom), n. See sloam.
Bloomy (slo'mi), n. [< sloonA + -yl.] Dull;
slow; inactive. JlalliweU. [Prov. Eng.]
An' Sally wur doomy an' draggle-taail'd.
Tenny»on, Northern Cobbler.
sloop^ (slop), n. [< D. sloep, MD. sloepe (also
dim. slospKen), a sloop (cf. LG. sluup, sltipe =
Dan. Sw. slup, sluppe, < D.), = G. schlupe (also
scMoop, < E.), a sloop; appar. (with an initial
change not explained) < OF. chalupe (> E. shal-
lop = G. schalujipe, etc.) = Sp. Pg. chalupa = It.
sdaluppa, a shallop : see shallop.] A small fore-
and-aft rigged vessel with one mast, generally
Sloop.
carrying a jib, fore-staysail, mainsail, and gaff-
topsail. Some sloops formerly had a square topsail. It
is generally understood that a sloop differs from a cutter
by having a fixed instead of a running bowsprit, but the
names are used somewhat indiscriminately. In the days
of sailing vessels, and of the earlier steam naval marine,
now becoming obsolete, a sloop of war was a vessel of
ship-rig carrying guns on the upper deck only, and rather
smaller than a corvette. See also cut under ctitUr.
A Jamaica Sloop, that was come over on the Coast to
trade, . . . went with us.
Dampier, Voyages, an. 1681 (3d ed. corrected, 1698X
Sloop^ (slSp), n. In lumbering, a strong crutch
of hard wood, with a strong bar across the
limbs, used for drawing timber out of a swamp
or inaccessible place. [Canada.]
sloop2 (slop), V. i. To draw (logs of timber) on
a sloop. [(!!anada.]
sloop-rigged (slop'rigd), a. Bigged like a sloop
— that is, having one mast with jib and main-
sail.
sloop-smack (slop'smak), n. A sloop-rigged
fishing-smack. [New Eng.]
sloop-yacht (slSp'yot), n. A sloop-rigged
yacht.
slopi (slop), n. [< ME. sloppe, a pool, < AS.
"sloppe, *slyppe, a puddle of filth (used of the
sloppy droppings of a cow, and found only in
comp., in the plant-names cu-sloppe, cowslip,
oxan-slyppe, oxlip : see cowslip, oxlip) ; cf . slype,
slipe, a viscid substance ; prob. < slupan (pp. slo-
pen), dissolve, slip : see slip^. Cf. leel. sliip,
glimy offal of fish, slepja, slime (esp. of fishes
and snakes) ; Ir. slab, Ir. Gael, slaib, mire, mud
(see slab^).] 1. A puddle; a miry or slippery
place.
5702
He [Arthur] . . . Londis [lands] als a lyone, . . .
Slippes in in the doppes o-slant to the girdylle,
Swalters upe swyftly.
MorU Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3924.
2. Liquid carelessly dropped or spilled about;
a wet place.
The Atlantic Ocean beat Mrs. Partington. She was ex-
cellent at a slop or a puddle, but she should not have med-
dled with a tempest,
Sydney Smith, Speech at Taunton, 1831, on the Reform Bill
[not being passed.
3. pi. Liquid food or nourishment; thin food,
as gruel or thin broth prepared for the sick:
so called in contempt.
But thou, whatever dops she will have brought,
Be thankful. Dryden, tr. of Juvenal's Satires, vi. 772.
The sick husband here wanted for neither slops nor doc-
tors. Sir R. L'Estrange.
4. pi. The waste, dirty water, dregs, etc., of a
house.
As they passed, women from their doors tossed house-
hold slops of every description into the gutter ; they ran
into the next pool, which overflowed and stagnated.
Mrs. Gaskell, Mary Barton, vi.
5. In eeram., same as slip'^, 11.
slopl (slop), V. ; pret. and pp. slopped, ppr. slop-
ping. [< slop^, n. Prob. in part associated
■with, slab"^, slobber, etc.'] I. trans. 1. To spill,
as a liquid ; usually, to spill by causing to over-
flow the edge of a containing vessel : as, to slop
water on the floor in carrying a full pail. — 2. To
drink greedily and grossly ; swill. [Rare.] — 3.
To spill liquid upon ; soil by letting a liquid
fall upon : as, the table -vrtis slopped with drink.
= S3rn. 1. Spill, Slop, Splash. Slopping is a form of spill-
ing: it is the somewhat sudden spilling of a considerable
amount, which falls free from the receptacle and strikes
the ground or floor flatly, perhaps witix a sound resembling
the word. Slopping is always awkward or disagreeable.
Splashing may be a form of spilling or of throwing : that
which is splashed falls in larger amount than in slopping,
making a noise like the sound of the word, and spreads
by spattering or by flowing.
II. intratis. 1. To be spilled or overflow, as
a liquid, by the motion of the vessel contain-
ing it: usually with over. — 2. To work or walk
in the wet; make a slop. [CoUoq.]
He came slopping on behind me, with the peculiar suck-
ing noise at each footstep which broken boots make on a
wet and level pavement.
-D. C. Murray, Weaker Vessel, xi.
To slop over, figuratively, to do or say more than is wise,
especially through eagerness or excess of zeal ; become
too demonstrative or emotional. [Slang, U. S.j
It may well be remembered that one of his [Washing-
ton's] great distinctions was his moderation, his adhesion
to the positive degree. As Artemus Ward says, " he never
slopped over." Harper's Mag., LXXVIII. 818.
slop2 (slop), n. [< ME. slop, sloppe, slope, <
ONorth. *slop (in comp. oferslop), AS. "slype,
*slyp (in comp. oferslyp = Icel. yfirsloppr, an
outer gown), < Icel. sloppr, a long, loose gown ;
so named from its trailing on the ground, < AS.
slupan (pp. slopen), slip (Icel. sleppa, pret. pi.
sluppu, slip, etc.) : see slipi-. Cf. D. sleep, LG.
slepe, a. sehleppe, Dan. sleeb, a train ; MD. slope,
later sloop, a slipper; E. sKpl, a gai-ment, slip-
per^, sleeve^, etc.; allult.from the same source.]
1. Originally, an outer garment, as a jacket or
cassock; in later provincial use, "an outer gar-
ment made of linen ; a smock-frock ; a night-
gown " ( Wright).
A slope is a morning Cassock for Ladyes and gentile
wemen, not open before.
Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), i. 28.
2t. A garment covering the legs and the body
below the waist, worn by men, and varying in
cut according to the fashion: in this sense also
in the plural.
A German from the waist downward, all slops; and a
Spaniard from the hip upward, no doublet.
Shak., Much Ado, ill. 2. 36.
When I see one were a perewig, I dreade his haire ; an-
other wallowe in a greate sloppe, I mistrust the propor-
tion of his thigh. Marston, Antonio and Mellida, I., v. 1.
3. Clothing; ready-made clothing; in the Brit-
ish navy, the clothes and bedding of the men,
which are supplied by the government at about
cost price : usually in the plural. [CoUoq.]
I went to a back back street, with plenty of cheap cheap
shops,
And I bought an oilskin hat and a second-hand suit of
dops. W. S. Gilbert, Bumboat Woman's .Story.
4t. An article of clothing made of leather,
apparently shoes or slippers. They are men-
tioned as of black, tawny, and red leather, and
as being of small cost.
A stitch'd taffeta cloak, a pair of slop»
Of Spanish leather.
Marston, Scourge of VUlanie, xi. 160.
6. A tailor. [Slang, Eng.]
slope-level
slop-basin (slop'ba"sn), n. A basin for slops;
especially, a vessel to receive the dregs from
tea- or coffee-cups at table.
slop-book (slop'biik), n. In the British navy,
a register of clothing and small stores issued.
slop-bowl (slop'bol), n. Same as slop-basin.
slop-bucket (slop'buk''et), n. Same as slop-
pail.
slop-chest (slop'chest), n. A supply of sea-
men's clothing taken on board ship to sell to
the crew during a voyage.
If a poor voyage has been made, or if the man has
drawn on the slop-cfiest during the voyage to such an ex-
tent as to ruin his credit, he becomes bankrupt ashore.
Fisheries of U. S., V. ii. 226.
slop-dash (slop'dash), n. Weak, cold tea, or
other inferior beverage; slipslop. [Colloq.]
Does he expect tea can be keeping hot for him to the
end of time? He'll have nothing but slop-dagh, though
he 's a very genteel man.
Miss Edge-worth, Kose, Thistle, and Shamrock, iii. 2.
slope (slop), a. and n. [< ME. slope (chiefly as
in aslope, q. v.), perhaps < AS. slopen, pp. of
slupan, s\\Y>-. see slip'^. Ci. aslope.] I.t a. In-
clined or inclining from a horizontal direction ;
foi-ming an angle with the plane of the hori-
zon ; slanting ; aslant.
Thou most cut it holding the edge of knyf toward the
tree grounde, and kitt it soo with a slope draught.
Arnolds Chron., 1502 (ed. 1811), p. 168.
This hedge I intend to be raised upon a bank, not steep,
but gently slope. Bacon, Gardens (ed. 1884).
The slope sun his upward beam
Shoots against tlie dusky pole.
Milton, Comus, 1. 98.
The Cretan saw; and, stooping, caus'd to glance
iYom his slope shield the disappointed lance.
Pope, Iliad, xiii. 512.
II. «. 1. An oblique direction; obliquity;
slant ; especially, a direction downward : as, a
piece of timber having a slight siope. — 2. A de-
clivity or acclivity ; any ground whose surface
forms an angle with the plane of the horizon.
First through the length of yon hot terrace sweat ;
And when up ten steep dopes you've dragg'd your thighs,
Just at his study-door he'll bless your eyes.
Pope, Moral Essays, iv. 131.
Specifically — (a) In civU engin., an inclined bank of earth
on the sides of a cutting or an embankment, See^at/cl,
2. (&) In coal-mining, an inclined passage driven in the
bed of coal and open to the surface ; a term rarely if ever
used in metal-mines, in which shafts tliat are not vertical
are called inclines. See shafVi and incline, (c) In fort. , the
inclined surface of the interior, top, or exterior of a par-
apet or other portion of a work. See cut under parapet.
3. In math., the rate of change of a scalar func-
tion of a vector, relatively to that of the varia-
ble, in the direction in which this change is a
maximum — Banquette slope, in fort. See batiquette.
— Exterior slope, i n fort. See exterior. — Inside slope,
in coal-mining, a slope inside the mine. See incline, 3.
[Pennsylvania.] — Interior slope, in/OT(. See interior.
slope (slop), V. ; pret. and pp. sloped, ppr. slop-
ing. l<. slope, n.] I. trans. 1. To bend down;
direct obliquely; incline; slant.
Though palaces and pyramids do slope
Their heads to their foundations.
Shak., Macbeth, iv. 1. 67.
He slop'd his flight
To blest Arabia's Meads.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, i. 52.
2. To form with a slope or obliquity, as in
gardening, fortification, and the like, and in
tailoring and dressmaking: as, to slope a piece
of cloth in cutting — Slope arms (miM,), a command
in manual exercise to carry the rifle obliquely on the shoul-
d er. — To Slope the standard (milit. ), to dip or lower the
standard : a form of salute.
11, intrans. 1. To take an oblique direction ;
be inclined ; descend or ascend in a slanting
direction; slant.
Betwixt the midst and these the gods assigned
Two habitable seats for human kind.
And 'cross their limits cut a sloping way.
Which the twelve signs in beauteous order sway.
Dryden, tr. of Virgil's Georgics, L 328.
Many a night from yonder ivied casement, ere I went to
rest,
Did I look on great Orion, sloping slowly to the west.
Tennyson, Locksley Hall.
2. To run away; decamp; elope; disappear
suddenly. [Slang.]
slopet (slop), adv. [< slope, a. Cf. aslope.] Slant-
ingly; aslant; aslope; obliquely; not perpen-
dicularly.
Uriel to his charge
Return'd on that bright beam, whose point now raised
Bore him slope downward to the sun.
Matml,'e. L., iv. 691.
sloped (slopt), a. [Cf. slope, slip^.] Decayed
with dampness ; rotten: said of potatoes and
J lease. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
ope-level (slop'lev'el), n. Same as batter-
level.
slopely
slopely (slon'li), adr. [Fonnerly also sloaply; <
nlope + -?i/-.] Aslope; aslant.
The next [circle] which there beneath It doaply slides,
And bia fair liindgea from the World's divides
Twice twelue Desrees, is cali'd the Zodiaclc
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartaa's Weeks, ii.. The Columnes.
slopeness (slop'nes), n. Declivity; obliquity;
giant.
The ItsUans are very precise in giving the cover a grace-
ful pendence of lUopeness. Sir U. Wotton, Reliquiee, p. 48.
slopewise (slop'wiz), adr. [< slope + -wise.']
Obliquely; so as to slope or be sloping.
The Weare is a frith, reaching ilope-mx through the
Oae, from the land to low-water marke.
R. Cttreu; Survey of Cornwall, fol. 30.
slop-hopper (slop'hop'er), n. The tilting-basin
of a water-closet or closet-sink,
slop-hoset, «■ Same as slop'^, 2.
Payre of doppe kogeg, braiettes a marinler.
Paltffrate, p. 261.
slopingly (sl6'ping-li), adv. In a sloping man-
ner; obliquely; with a slope. Bailey.
slopingness (slo'ping-nes), «. The state of
sloping. Bailey.
slop-jar (slop'jar), m. A jar used to receive slops
or dirty water.
slop-molding (slop'mol'ding), fl. In brick-
titakiiKi, a method of molding in which the mold
is dipped in water before it is charged with clay,
to prevent the clay from adhering to the mold.
Compare pallet-molding.
slop-pail (slop'pal), n. A pail or bucket for re-
eeivmg slops or soiled water.
sloppiness (slop'i-nes), n. The state of being
sloppy : pla.shiness.
sloppikg (slop'ing), n. [Verbal n. of slop^, r.]
In ceram., a process of blending the materials
of a mass of clay, and rendering it homogene-
ous, by diriding the mass repeatedly into two
parts, and throwing these together, each time
in a different direction.
sloppy (slop'i), a. [< sto^i + -yi.] 1. Wet
from slopping; covered with slops ; muddy.
Idlers, playing carda or dominoea on the siovpy, beenr
tables. Thaekeray, Vanity Fair, IxtI.
2. Loose; slovenly.
The country has made up its mind that it* public ele-
mentary schools shall teach a great nomberof science* and
languages In an elementary and doppy way.
Tkt Academy, March 2», ISSO, p. 213.
slop-room (slop'rom), M. In the British navy,
the room on board a man-of-war where clothing
and small stores are kept and issued.
slopseller (slop'gel'6r), n. One who sells slops,
or ready-made clothes, especially cheap and
common clothes: nsed when such clothes were
of indifferent quality, [CoUoq.]
slop-shop (slop'shop), n. A shop where slops,
or ri';id v-made clothes, are sold. See ilopteller.
rcoiioci'.]
slop-work (slop'w^rk), n. 1. The manufacture
of slops, or cheap clothing for sale ready-made.
— 2. The cheap clothing so made. — 3. Hence,
any work done superficially or poorly.
slop-worker (slop'w*r'k6r), «. One who does
slo]:)-work.
The little sleeping dop-mirter who had pricked her fin-
ger so. Omr!;e Eliot, In Crosa, II. Iz.
slopy (slo'pi), a. [<«tope + -yi.] Sloping; in-
clined ; oblique.
slosh (slosh), n. [A form intermediate between
slaxh'^ and xlush : see sla»h^, glusli.'] 1. Same as
slimli, 1. — 2. A watery mess; something gulped
down. [CoUoq.]
An unsophisticated frontiemnan who lives on bar-meat
and corn-cake washed down with a generous doth of
whisky. CttmMUJfiv., Oct., 1888.
slosh (slosh), r. i. [< sU)»h, n. Cf. ulash^, slush,
r.] 1. To flounder in slosh or soft mud.
On we went, dripping and doMng, and looking very like
men that had be<-ii turned back by the Royal Humane So-
ciety as being incurably drowned. Kiiiglakt, Eothen, ii.
2. To go about recklessly or carelessly. [Slang.]
Saltnnstall made it his business to walk backward and
forward through the crowd, with a big stick in his hand,
and knock down every loose man In the crowd. That's
what I call doghin' about.
Cairo(llliiiois)rini«i^NoT., 18M. {BmtUU.)
■ Why, how yon talk : llow could their (witches'! charms
work till midnight? -and then its !<unday. Devils don't
irfosA around much of a Sunday.
S. L. Clemeiu, Tom Sawyer, p. 67.
slosh-wheel (slosh'hwel), »i. A trammel or
trammel-wheel.
Sloshy (slosh'i), a. [< slosh + -yl.] Same as
slushy,
slot' (slot), n. [Also in some senses slote, stoat ;
< ME. slot, slotte, < D. slot, a bolt, lock, castle,
5703
= OFries. slot =UhQ. slot =OHG. slos, MHG.
sloz, sloz, G. schloss, a bolt, lock, castle, = Sw.
Dan. slut, close, end (cf. Sw. slott = Dan. slot,
castle) ; from the verb, OS. 'slutan (not found
in AS.) = D. sluiten = OFries. sluta, skluta =
MLG. sluten = OHG. sliozan, MHG. sliezen, G.
sehliessen, bolt, lock, shut, close, end, = Sw.
sluta = Dan. slutte, shut, close, end, finish
(Scand. prob. < LG.) ; prob. (with initial s not
in L. and Gr.) = L. claudere (in comp. -cludere),
shut, = Gr. KJyuiv, shut : see closed, closed, clause,
exclude, include, etc., sluice, etc.] 1. The fas-
tening of a door; a bar; a bolt. [Now only
provincial.]
And dottes irened bralce he thare.
Early Eng. PtalUr, Ps. cvi. 16.
He has means in his hand to open all the dots and bars
that Satan draws over the door.
Ruther/ord, Letters, P. ill. ep. 22. (,Jamieton.)
2. A piece of timber which connects or holds
together larger pieces ; a slat. — 3. A small
piece. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] — 4t. A castle ;
a fort.
Thou paydst for building of a dot
That wrought thine owne decay.
Riche, AUarme to England (1678). {HaUimU.)
slot^ (slot), n. [Also slote, sloat; < ME. slot, slote,
a hollow ; prob. ult. < AS. slitan (pret. slat), slit :
see x/ifi. Cf. Sw. slutt, a slope, declivity.] A
hollow, (a) A hollow in a hill or between two ridges.
(6) A wide ditch. (Prov. Eng.) (ct) The hollow of the
breast ; the pit of the stomach ; the epigastrium.
The dote of hir slegh brest sleght for to showe.
As any cristall clere, that clene was of hewe.
Uedruetion of Troy (E E. T. S.), 1. 3063.
Thourghe the brene and the breste with his bryghte
wapyne
O-slante donne fro the dote he slyttes at ones !
Jfort* Arikure (E. E. T. S.)i 1. 2254.
(d) In fflOcA., an elongated narrow depression or perfora-
tion ; a rectajigular recess or depression cut partially into
the thickness of any piece, for the reception of another
piece of similar form, as a key-seat in the eye of a wheel
or pulley ; an oblong hole or aperture formed throughout
the entire thickness of a piece of metal, as for the recep-
tion of an adjustlng-bolt. See cut under sheep-theart,
U) In a cable street-railroad, a narrow continuous open-
ing between the rails, through which the grip on the car
passes to connect with the traveling cable. (/) A trap-
door In the stage of a theater, (a) A hollow tuck In a
cap, or other part of the dress. SalliireU. [Prov. Eng. )
(A) A hem or casing prepared for receiving a string, as at
the mouth of a bag.
slot''' (slot), r. (. ; pret. and pp. slotted, ppr.
slotting. [< ME. slotten; < slotfi, n.] 1. To
slit; cut; gash. [Prov. Eng.]
He schokkes owtte a schorte knyfe schethede with sllvere.
And acbolde baTesioMade hyme in. bot noslyttehappenede.
Morle Arthure (E. £. T. Si,\ 1. 8864.
2. To provide with a slot or groove; hollow
out.
A third operation Is needed to clear the mortise of the
chips after U has been dattsd out by the chisel.
(Tre, Diet, IV. 967.
3. In coal-mining, same as hole^, 3 (6). [York-
shire, Eng.]
slot' (slot), n. [A var. of 'sloth, < ME. sloth,
slulh, a track, < Icel. sloth, a track or trail in
snow or the like: see sleuth^. For slol^ as re-
lated to sloth, cf . height, sights , as related to obs.
highth, sighth.] The track of a deer, as fol-
lowed by the scent or by the mark of the foot;
any such track, trace, or trail.
Often from his [the hart's] feed
The dogs of him do And, or thorough skilful heed
The huntsman by his dot, or breaking earth, perceives
Where he hath gone to lodge. Drayton, Polyolbion, liil.
The age of a deer is, for the most part, determined by
the site and shape of the horns ; the experienced forester
can also tell by the "dot" or "spoor."
W. W. (Jreener, The Oon, p. 609.
slot^ (slot), I', t, ; pret. and pp. slotted, ppr.
slotting. [< slot^, n.] To track by the slot, as
deer. Compare slothound.
Three stags sturdye wer vnder
Neere the seacost gating, theym dot thee clnsterus heerd*
flock. Stanihurd, MwAA, I. 101.
The keeper led us to the spot where he had seen the
deer feeding In the early morning, and I soon aatisfled
myself by dotting him that there was no mistake.
The Field, Keb. 20, 1886, p. 2ia
slot^ (slot), V. t. ; pret. and pp. slotted, ppr. slot-
ting. [A var. of slat^.'} To shut with violence ;
slam. Bay. [Prov. Eng.]
slote (slot), w. Same as glot^, slot^.
sloth' (sloth or sloth), n. [Early mod. E. also
sloath, sloicth; < ME. slouhthe, slouthe, sleuth,
slcuthe, slew the ; with abstract formative -th,
< AS. slaw, slow (cf. slaw, sloth) : see slow^, a.
Sloth stands for slowth, as troth for trowth. Cf.
bloicth, growth, lowth.] 1. Slowness ; tardiness.
These cardinals trifle with me ; I abhor
This dlUtory doth. Shak., Hen. VIIL, It 4. 287.
slotter
Wherefore drop thy words in such a doth,
As if thou wert afraid to mingle truth
With thy misfortunes?
Ford, Lover's Melancholy, v. 1.
2. Disinclination to action or labor; sluggish-
ness; habitual indolence ; laziness; idleness.
She was so diligent, withouten deicthe.
To serve and plesen everich in that place.
Chaucer, Man of Law s Tale, 1. 432.
Sloth, like Rust, consumes faster than Labour wears.
Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanac, 1758.
3t. A company: said of bears. [Rare.]
A doth of bears. , Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 80.
4. A South American tardigrade edentate mam-
mal of the family Bradypodidte : so called from
their slow and apparently awkward or clumsy
movements. The slowness of their motions on the
ground is the necessary consequence of their dispi-opor-
tioned structure, and particularly of the fact that the
feet exhibit a conformation resembling that of clubfoot
in man — a disposition of the carpal and tarsal joints
highly useful in climbing. Sloths live on trees, and
never remove from one until they have stripped it of
every leaf. They are helpless when on the ground, and
seem at home only on trees, suspended beneath the
branches, along which they are sometimes observed to
travel from tree to tree with considerable celerity. The
female produces a single young one at a birth, which she
carries about with lier until it is able to climb. Sloths
are confined to the wooded regions of tropical America,
extending northward into Mexico. At least 12 species
are described, but the true number is fewer. All have
three toes on the hind feet, but some have only two on the
fore feet, whence the obvious distinction of three-toed and
two-toed sloths (a distinction even more strongly marked
in the anatomy of these animals) warranted a division of
the family into bradypods ( Bradypodinse) and cholopodines
(Cholopodinje). Most sloths belong to the former group,
and these have the general name ai. The best-known of
these is the collared three-toed sloth, Jlradypus tridactylug
or torquatug, with a sort of mane. The uiiau or two-toed
sloth, Cholopug didactylug, inhabits Brazil ; it is entirely
covered with long coarse woolly hair. (See cut under Cho-
loptig.) A second and quite distinct species of this genus,
C. hofmanni, inhabits Central America. (See Tardigra-
da, 1.) The name is apparently a translation of the I'or-
tuguese word pregui^a (Latin piyrUia), slowness, slothful-
ness. See the quotation.
Here (In Brazil] is a Beast so slow in motion that in fif-
teen days he cannot go further than a man can throw a
stone ; whence the Portugals call it Pigritia.
S. Clarke, Geog. Descr. (1671), p. 282.
6. One of the gigantic fossil gravigrade eden-
tates, as a megatnerium or mylodon. See cut
under Mytodoti .— AustraMsLa sloth. Same as koala.
— Bengalsloth, the slow lemur or slow loris. — Ceylon
sloth, the slow lori.s.- Giant or gigantic sloth. See
def. f>.— Native sloth (of .Australia). Same as koala. —
Ursine sloth, the aswail or sloth-bear. See cut under
ameail. = Syn. 2. Indolence, inertness, torpor, lumpish-
nesB. See idle.
sloth't, "• [< ME. slewthen, < slewthc, sloth : see
sloth^, n.] I. intrant. To be idle or slothful.
Gower. {Imp. Diet.)
n. trans. To delay.
Yn whych mater ye shall do me ryght singler plesyr, and
that thys be not devAhed, for taryeng drawth perell.
Fagton Letterg, I. 175.
sloth'-'t, ". A Middle English form of sleuth^.
sloth-animalcule (sl6th'an-i-mal'kiil), n. A
bear-animalcule. See Arctisca, Macrobiotidse,
and Tardigrada, 2.
sloth-hear (sloth'bSr), n. The aswail. See
Melursus, and cut under nstcail.
slothful (sloth'- or sloth'ful), a. [Early mod.
E. Klowthfull, sloutlifull, slfwthfull; < sloth'^ +
-Jul.] Inactive; sluggish; lazy; indolent; idle.
He also that Is doth/ul In bis work is brother to him
that is a great waster. Prov. xviii. 9.
= Syn. Lazy, Sluyjigh, etc. (see idle\ slack, supine, tor-
pid.
slothfuUy (sloth'- or sloth'ful-i), adv. In a
slothful manner; lazily; sluggishly; idly.
slothfulness (sloth'- or sloth 'fiil-nes), n. The
state or quality of being slothful ; the indul-
gence of sloth; inactivity; the habit of idle-
ness; laziness.
sloth-monkey (sl6th'mung''ki), n. The slow
loris: a slow lemur.
slothound (slot'hound), n. [< slot^ + hound. Cf .
sleuth-hound.] Hame as sletith-hound. [Scotch.]
Misfortunes which track my footsteps like dot-houndg.
Scott.
slotten (slot'n), p. a. [A dialectal variant of
the past participle of «((<!.] Divided. Halli-
well. [Prov. Eng.]
slotter^ (slot'fer), ». [< ME. sloteren; cf. slod-
der, slalter.] I. trans. To foul; bespatter with
filth.
Than awghtthe sawle of synfulle withlnne
Be full fowle. that es al glutyrd that In synne.
Uampole, MS. Bowes, p. 76. (Halliwell.)
II. intrans. To eat noisily. [Prov. Eng.]
slotter' (sIot'<>r), «. [< slotter^, v.] Filth; nasti-
ness. [Prov. Eng.]
Blotter
Blotter- (slot'er), h. Same as sloUing-machine.
The Engineer.
slotteryt (slot'tr-i), a. [< slotter^ + -yl.] 1.
Squalid; dirty; sluttish; untrimmed. Imp.
Did. — 2. Foul ; wet. Imp. Diet.
slotting (slot'ing), «. [Verbal n. of slot-, v."]
1. The operation of makiug slots. — 2. In coal-
mining, ooal cut away in the process of holing
or slotting. [Yorkshire, Eng.]
slotting-auger (slot'ing-4'g6r), n. See auger, 1.
slotting-machine (slot'ing-ma-shen'), n. In
)«fta/-iC(»'<'«Hgr, a power-machine for cutting slots
in metal. One type of mnchine resembles a planer, the
cuttiug-tool having a vertical motion, with slow stroke
and quick return. The work, placed on the table, is fed
to the machine. Another type, called a stof-driUing ma-
chinf, forms elongated holes by drilling. There is also a
slotting-machine for making mortises in wood, which is
also called a slot-boring machine.
sloucll (slouch), V. [An assibilated form of early
mod. E. *slouke or "sloke (cf. slouch, n.); re-
lated to E. dial, stock, loose, Icel. slokr, a slouch-
ing fellow; from the verb represented by Sw.
Norw. sloka, droop, LG. freq. slukkern, be slack
or loose (cf. Sw. stokorig, having drooping ears,
slokig, hanging, slouching, Dan. sliikoret, crest-
fallen, lit. having drooping ears, LG. slukk, mel-
ancholy); ult. a variant of slug: see sbig^. As
a mainly dial, word, slouch in its various uses is
scantly recorded in early writings.] I. intrans.
1. To droop; hang down loosely.
Even the old hat looked smarter; . . . instead of «Zo«c/i-
ing backward or forward on the Laird's head, as it hap-
pened to be thrown on, it was adjusted with a knowing
inclination over one eye.
Scott, Heart ot Mid-Tx)thian, xliii.
2. To have a clownish or loose ungainly gait,
manner, or attitude ; walk, sit, or pose in an
awkward or loutish way.
In a few minutes his . . . figure was seen stouckinff up
the ascent. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, 11. 374.
II. trans. To depress; cause to hang down.
A young fellow, with a sailor's cap slouched over his face,
sprung on the scatfold, and cut the rope by which the
criminal was suspended. Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, iii.
slouch (slouch), n. [Early mod. E. also slowck ;
earlier, without assibilation, slouke, *sloke, <
Icel. slokr, a slouching fellow; from the verb.]
1. An awkward, heavy, clownish fellow; an
ungainly clown.
A Slouke, iners, ertis, ignarus.
Levins, Manip. Vocab. (E. E. T. S.), col. 217.
Slowch, a lazy lubber, who has nothing tight about him,
with his stockings about his heels, his clothes unbutton'd,
and his hat flapping about his ears.
MS. Gloss. (UMiweU.)
I think the idle slouch
Be fallen asleep in the barn, he stays so long.
B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, iv. 5.
2. A drooping or depression of the head or of
some other part of the body ; a stoop ; an un-
gainly, clownish gait.
Our doctor has every quality which can make a man use-
ful ; but, alas ! he hath a sort of slouch in his walk. Swift.
He stands erect ; his slouch becomes a walk ;
He steps right onward, martial in his air.
Cowper, Task, iv. 639.
3. A depression or hanging down ; a droop : as,
his hat had a slouch over his eyes. — 4. A slouch-
hat. [Colloq.] — 5. An inefficient or useless
person or thing: usually with a negative, in
praise : as, he 's no .'slouch ; it 's no slouch, I tell
you. [Slang.]
slouch-iiat (slouch'hat), n. A hat of soft ma-
terial, especially one with a broad and flexible
brim.
Middle-aged men in slouch hats lounge around with
hungry eyes. Harper's Mag. , LXXIX. 38.
Sloucllily (slou'chi-li), adv. In a slouching
manner,
slouchiness (slou'chi-nes), n. The character
or appearance of being slouohy; a slouchy at-
titude or posture.
slouching (slou'ching), ^. a. 1 . Hanging do-wn ;
drooping.
He had a long, strong, uncouth body ; rather rough-
hewn slouching features. Westminster Rev., CXXV. 85.
2. Awkward, heavy, and dragging, as in car-
riage or gait.
The awkward, negligent, clumsy, and slouching manner
of a booby. Chesterfield.
The shepherd with a slow and slouching walk, timed by
the walk of grazing beasts, moved aside, as if unwillingly.
George Eliot, Felix Holt, Int.
slouchy (slou'chi), a. [< slonch + -3/I.] In-
clined to slotich ; somewhat slouching.
They looked <2oucAy, listless, torpid —an ill-conditioned
crew. O. W. Holmes, Old Vol. of Life, p. 58.
Ixwklng like a douehy country bumpkin.
The Century, XXV. 176.
5704
slough^ (slou), n [In the second sense spelled
slue, slew, sloo; < ME. slough, slogh, slo, slow,
sloh, < AS. sloh, slog, a slough; prob. of Celtic
origin: < Ir. sloe, a pit, hollow, pitfall (cf. slug-
photl, a whirlpool), = Gael, sloe, a pit, den,
grave, pool, gutter (et.slugaid, a slough, or deep
mirj' place, slugan, a whirlpool, gulf), < Ir. slu-
gaim, I swallow, (iael. sluig, swallow, absorb,
devour; cf. W. llawg, a gulp, < llawcio, gulp,
gorge. These forms are prob. akin to LG. slu-
ken = OHG. *sluccndn, MHG. slucken, shichen,
swallow, sob, hiccup, G. schlucken, swallow,
= Sw. sluka = Dan. sluge, swallow; cf. Dan.
sluge, throat, gullet, a ravine, = Norw. sluk, the
throat, gullet, = MHG. sluch, the throat, a pit;
ME. sloffynge, devouring; cf. Gr, '>.v!^eiv, /-vyyd-
cEiv, hiccup, sob.] 1. .A hole full of deep mud
or mire ; a quagmire of considerable depth and
comparatively small extent of surface.
Bote yf the sed that sowen is in the sloh sterue,
Shal neuere spir springen vp.
riers Plowman (C), xiii. 179.
So soon as I came beyond Eton, tlvey threw me off from
behind one of them, in a slough of mire.
Shak., M. W. of W., iv. 5. 69.
This miry dough is such a place as cannot be mended ;
it is the descent whither the scum and filth that attends
conviction for sin doth contiimally run, and therefore it
is called the Slough of Despond.
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, i.
To the centre of its pulpy gorge the greedy slough was
heaving, and sullenly grinding its weltering jaws among
the flags and the sedges.
It. D. Blachinore, Lorna Doone, Ixxv.
2 (slo). A marshy hollow; a reedy pond; also,
a long shallow ravine, or open creek, which be-
comes partly or wholly dry in summer. [West-
em U. S.]
The prairie round about is wet, at times almost marshy,
especially at the borders of the great reedy slews. These
pools and slews are favorite breeding-places for water-fowl.
T. Roosevelt, Hunting Trips, p. 54.
=S3m. Swamp, etc. See marsh.
slough''^ (sluf), n. [Se. sloch; < ME. slouh, slow,
shiglie, slohe, slouke (also, later, slougth), skin
of a snake; cf. Sw. dial, slug = Norw. slo =
MHG. sluch, a skin, snake-skin, G. schlanch, a
skin, bag; appar. connected with LG. sluken =
OHG. *slucch6n, MHG. slucken, G. schlucken =
Sw. sluka = Dan. sluge, swallow: see slough'^.
These words are connected by some with Sw.
dial, sluv, a covering, = LG. slu, sluwe, a husk,
covering, the pod of a bean or pea, husk of a nut,
= MD. sloove, a veil, a skin, sloovcn, cover one's
head, = G. dial, schlaube, a shell, husk, slough,
akin to E. steet/'e ; see sleeve'^.'] 1. The skin of
a serpent, usually the cast skin ; also, any part
of an animal that is naturally shed or molted ;
a cast; an exuvium.
The snake roH'd in a flowering bank.
With shining checker'd slough.
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iii. 1. 229.
2. Inpathol., a dead part of tissue which sepa-
rates from the surrounding living tissue, and
is cast off in the act of sloughing.
The basest of mankind.
From scalp to sole one slough and crust of sin.
Tennyson, St. Simeon Stylites.
3. A husk. [Prov. Eng.]
The skin or slough of fruit.
Liddell and ScotVs Greek-English Lexicon (under Sfpfia).
slough^ (sluf ), t). l< slough^, II.'] \. intrans. X.
To come off as a slough : often with off. (a) To
be shed, cast, molted, or exuviated, as the skin of a snake.
(b) To separate from the sound flesh ; come off as a slough,
or detached mass of necrosed tissue.
A limited traumatic gangrene is to be treated as an or-
dinary sloughing wound. Quain, Med. Diet., p. 529.
2. To east off a slough.
This Gardiner turn'd his coat in Henry's time ;
The serpent that hath dough'd will slough again.
Tennyson, Queen Mary, iii. 3.
Slouehing phagedena. Same as hospital gangrene
(whicn see, nnder gangrene).
II. trans. To cast off as a slough; inpathol.,
to throw off, as a dead mass from an ulcer or a
wound.
Like a serpent, we slough the worn-out skin.
J5. Taylor, Lands of the Saracen, p. 152.
slough^t, a. A Middle English variant of slow^.
sloughing (sluf'ing), «. [Verbal n. of slough^,
v.] 1. The act or process of casting or shed-
ding the skin, shell, hair, feathers, and the like;
a molt; ecdysis. — 2. The act or process of sep-
aration of dead from living tissue.
sloughyl (slou'i), a. [< slough^ + -^1.] Full
of sloughs ; miry.
Low ground, , . . and doughy underneath.
Swifl, Drapler's Letters, vii.
slovenness
sl0Ughy2 (sluf 'i), a. [< slouglfi + -i/l .] Of the
nature of or resembling a slough, or the dead
matter which separates from living tissue.
sloutht, «. An obsolete spelling of slotli^.
Slo'Vak (slo-vak'), a. and n. [= G. Slowak; <
Slovak (Bohem.) Slowak; connected with Slav,
Slavonic, Slovenian.'] I. a. Of or pertaining to
the Slovaks.
II. n. 1. A member of a Slavic race dwell-
ing chiefly in northern Hungary and the adjoin-
ing part of Moravia. — 2. The language of this
race: a dialect of Czechish.
Slovakian (slo-vak'i-an), a. [< Slovak + -j'oh.]
Pertaining to the Slovaks or to their language.
Slovakish (slo-vak'ish), a. and n. [= G. Slo-
icakisch; as Slovak + -»«A1.] I. a. Same as
Slovakian.
II. n. Same as Slovak, 2.
slO'ven^ (sluv'n), n. [Early mod. E. sloven, slovyn,
sloveyne; < MD. slof, sloef, a careless man, a
sloven; cf. sloeven, play the sloven, «to/, neg-
lect, slof, an old slipper, sloffeu, draggle wifli
slippers; LG. sluf, slovenly, sluffen, sluffern,
be careless, sluffen, go about in slippers; G.
schlumpe, a slut, slattern, schlumpen, draggle,
akin to LG. slupen = G. schliipfen, slip : see slip^.
Cf. Ir. Gael, slapach, slovenly, slopag, a slut.]
1 . A person who is careless of dress or negligent
of cleanliness ; a person who is habitually negli-
gent of neatness and order; also, a careless and
lazy person. Sloven is given in the older grammars as
the masculine correlative of slut; but the words have no
connection, and the relation, such as it is, is accidental.
Slut, as now used, is much stronger and more offensive.
A douen, sordidus.
Levins, Manip. Vocab. (E. E. T. S.), p. 61.
They answer that by Jerome nothing can be gathered
but only that the ministers came to church in handsome
holiday apparel, and that himself did not think them bound
by the law of God to go like slovens.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. 29.
That negligent slomn
Had shut out the Pasty on shutting his oven.
Goldsmith, Haunch of Venison.
2t. A knave; a rascal.
From thens nowe .xxiiij. myle[8] lyeth the great towne
Meli[njda, and they be frendes, and there be many dou^
eynes and fell people out of Geneen.
R. Eden (First Books on America, ed. Arber, p. xxviii.).
Sloven^, n. Same as Slovene.
Slovene (slo-ven'), «. [< 'iiih.Slovenus,Sclavenus
= MGr. iKAa(3);v6g, 'S.Omvtjvo^ = OBulg. Slovieninu
= Russ. Slavyaninu, Slav: see Slav, Slavonic.']
A member of a Slavic race chiefly resident in
Styria, Carinthia, Camiola, and parts of the
Maritime Territory and Hungary.
The Slovenes must banish from their vocabulary such
words as farba (farbe). Encyc. Brit., XXII. 160.
Slovenian (slo-ve'ni-an), a. and n. [< Slovene
+ -ian.] I. a. Pertaining to the Slovenes, or
to their language.
II. n. 1. A Slovene. — 2. The language of
the Slovenes: a Slavic tongue, most nearly
allied to the languages of the Serbo-Croatian
group.
Slovenish (slo-ve'nish), a. and n. [< Slovene +
-is/ii.] Same a,s Slovenian.
slovenliness (sluv'n-li-nes), «. The state or
character of being slovenly; negligence of
dress; habitual want of cleanliness; neglect
of order and neatness ; also, negligence or
carelessness generally.
Whether the multitudes of sects, and professed sloven,
linesse in God's service, (in too many) have not been guilty
of the increase of profanenesse amongst us.
Bp. Hall, The Remonstrants' Defence.
Those southern landscapes which seem divided between
natural grandeur and social slovenliness.
George Eliot, Middlemarch, xviit
slovenly (sluv'n-li), o. \<. sloven^ + -ly'^.] 1.
Having the habits of a sloven; negligent of
dress or neatness ; lazy; negligent: of persons:
as, a slovenly man.
.Esop at last found out a dovenly, lazy fellow, lolling at
his ease, as if he had nothing to do. Sir R. VEstrange,
2. Wanting neatness or tidiness; loose; neg-
ligent; careless: of things: &s, a, slovenly itess.
His [Wyclif's] style is everywhere coarse and slovenly.
Craik, Hist. Eng. Lit., L 866.
= Syil. Untidy, dowdy, heedless, careless,
slovenly (sluv'n-li), adv. [< slovenly, a.] In a
slovenly manner; negligently; carelessly.
As I hang my clothes on somewhat dovenly, I no sooner
went in but he frowned upon me. Pope. (Johnson.)
slovennesst (sluv'n-nes), n. Same as slovenli-
ness. [Rare.]
Happy Dunstan himself, if guilty of no greater faulty
which could be no sin (nor properly a stovennesse) in an
infant. i'uZfer, Ch. Hist, U. v. 43. (Daviet.)
slovenous
slovenonst, »• [< «toicHl + -o««.] Dirty; scurvy.
How Poor Robin served one of his companions adoven-
oM trick. The Merry Exploiti qf Poor RobtTi, (Naret.)
slovenry (sluv'n-ri), «. [< sloven^ + -ry.] Neg-
lect of order, neatness, or cleanliness ; untidi-
ness ; slovenliness.
Souenrie, sorditiea. Levim, JIanlp. Vocab., coL 106.
Our gayness and our gilt are all besmirch'd, . . .
And time hath worn us into domnry.
Shak., Hen. V., iv. 3. 114.
Xever did Slovenry more misbecome
Nor more confute ita nasty self than here.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, I. 162.
slovenwood (sluv'n-wud), «. [A perversion of
southernicood.'] The southernwood, Artemisia
Abrolanum. [Prov. Eng.]
slow! (slo), a. and n. [Sc. slaw; < ME. slowe,
slow, sloiih. sloughe, sclowh, slawe, slaw, slau, <
AS. slaw, slow, = OS. sleu = MD. skew, slee, D.
sleeuw = MLG. sle, LG. slee = OHG. sleo, slew,
MHG. sle, G. dial, schlew, schlech, schlo = leel.
sljor = Sw. slo = Dan. slot; blunt, dull. There
is a vague resemblance and common suggestion
in the series slip^, slide, slink^. slouch, slugl, etc.,
to which stoirl may be added. Rence sloth^. Cf.
sloe 2 La. 1. Taking a long time to move or
go a short distance ; not quick in motion ; not
rapid : as, a slow train ; a slow messenger.
Satorne i» doughe and litiUe mevynge ; for he taryethe,
to make his turn be the 12 3igne8, 30 Zeer.
MandeviOe, Travels, p. 162.
Me thou think'st not dow.
Who since the moming-hoar set out from heaven
Where God resides, and ere mid-day arrived
In Eden. MOUm, P. L., viii. lia
For here forlorn and lost 1 tread.
With fainting stepa and dtne.
Qoldtmith, The Hermit.
Pnrsned the swallow o'er the meada
With scarce a dower flight.
Cooper, Dog and Water-Lily.
2. Not happening in a short time ; spread over
a comparatively long time ; gradual : as, a slow
change; the slow growth of arts.
These chftngea in the heavens, tbongh dtne, producad
like change on sea and land. MiUon, f. L., x. 092.
Wisdom there, and truth.
Not shy, as in the world, and to be won
By dow solicitation. Cowper, Task, vL 116.
I wonder'd at the bounteous hours.
The dow result of winter showers.
Tennyton, Two Volcea.
3. Not ready; not prompt or quick; used ab-
solutely, not quick to comprehend ; dull-witted.
I am dme of speech, and of a <Ioir tongue. Ex. iv. 10.
0 fools, and dow of heart to believe. Luke xxiv. 2fi.
Give it me, for I am dow of study.
Shai.. M. N. D., 1. 2. 69.
Tilings that are, are not,
Aa the mind answers to them, or the heart
Is prompt, or dow, to feel.
ITordntorCA, Prelude, TiL
, SUra as James waa, be canld not but see that tbii was
mere trilling. MaaaUay, Hist. Eng., vL
4. Tardy; dilatory; sluggish; slothful.
Ynel seruaunt and dowe, wlatiit thou that I repe wher I
sewe oat? Wydyf, Mat. xxv. 26.
The fated sky
Gives ua free scope, only doth backward pull
Our dow designs when we ourselves are dull.
Shak., AU's WeU, L 1. 234.
The Trojans are not dom
To guard their shore from an expected foe.
Dryden.
5. Not hasty; not precipitate; acting with
deliberation.
Thou art a God . . . dow to anger, and of great kindness.
Neh. Ix. 17.
Re that Is daw to wrath la of great understanding.
Prov. xlv. 29.
6. Behind in time; indicating a time earlier
than the tnie time: as, the clock or watch is
slow. — 7. Dull; lacking spirit; deficient in live-
liness or briskness: used of persons or things:
as, the entertainment was very slow. [Colloq.]
Major Pendennis . . . found the party was what you
young fellows call very dow. Thackeray, Newcomea, ^ix.
The girls I love now vote me dow —
How dull the tioys who once seem'd witty!
Perhaps I'm growing old, I know
I'm still romantic, niore's the pity.
F. Loeker, Reply to a Letter.
Slow coach, a person who is slow or lumbering in move-
ment; one who is deficient in Quickness, smartness, or
energy : a dawdler ; hence, one who Is mentally sluggish ;
one who is not progreaflive. [Colloq.]
1 daresay the girl you are sending will be very useful to
us; our present one Is a very dow coaeh.
k. li. y^amAi;/, Scottish Life and Character, p. 114.
Blow lemur, slow lemurold, a lemur or Icmurold quad-
roped of the subfamily Syetictbinfe, of which there are
four genera, two Asiatic, JvyeMeeAitt and Lorie, and two
5705
African, Arctoccbus and PerodicHctts (see these technical
words, anil angu-antibo, potto) ; specifically, the slow loris.
— Slow loris, a slow lemur, the slow-paced lemur, A>c-
ticebus tardigradus. or Loris steiwps, also called Bengal
and Ceylon sloth. It is scarcely as large as a sloth, is noc-
turnal and arboreal, and very slow and sedate in its move-
ments. It sleeps during the day clinging to the branch
of a tree, and by night prowls about after its prey, which
consists of small birds and quadrupeds, eggs, and insects.
'I'he name ^ow loris was given in antithesis to slender
loris, when both these animals were placed In the same ge-
nus Loris. See Nycticebus.— Slow movement, in music,
that movement of a sonata or symphony which is in slow
tempo, usually adagio, andante, or largo. It ordinarily
follows the first movement, and precedes the minuet or
scherzo. — SlOW music, soft and mournful music slowly
played by an orchestra to accompany a pathetic scene:
as, the heroine dies to sloic viusic. — Slow nervous fever.
See /cp«'i.=8yil. 1. Delaying, lingering, deliberate. — 3
and 4. Heavy, inert, lumpish. — 1-4. Slow, Tardy, Dila-
tory. Slow and tardy represent either a fact in external
events or an element of character ; dilatory only the latter.
Dilatory expresses that disposition or habit by which one
is once or generally slow to go about what ought to be
done. See idle.
Il.t n. A sluggard.
Lothe to bedde and lothe fro bedde, men schalle know
the dow. MS Douce, 52. (Halliwell.)
slow! (slo), adv. [< slow^, a.] Slowly. [Poeti-
cal or colloq.]
How alow
This old moon wanes !
Shak., M. N. D., i. 1. 3.
Slow rises worth by poverty depress' d.
Johnson, London, I. 177.
slowl (slo), V. [< ME. "slowen, < AS. sldwian
(= OHG. siewen, MHG. slewen = Dan. sliive), be
slow, < Slav, slow: see slow^, a.] I, ititrans.
To become slow ; slacken in speed.
The pulse quickens at first, then dows.
Pop. Sci. Mo., XXXL 773.
The boat slowed in to the pier.
W. Black, In Far Loohaber, xlli.
H. trans. 1. To make slow; delay; retard.
Par. Now do you know the reason of this haste.
Pri. I would I knew not why It should be dmc'd.
Shak., R. and J., iv. 1. 16.
Though the age
And death of Terab dow'd his pilgrimage.
Sglveder, tr. of Du Bartaa's Weeks, IL, The Vocation.
2. To slacken in speed : as, to slow a locomo-
tive or a steamer: usually with up or down.
when ascending rivers where the turns are short, the
engine should be dowed down. Luce, Seamanship, p. 554.
Blow''^t, n. A Middle English spelling of slough^.
slow^ (slo), n. [An abbreviated form of slow-
tcorm, q. v.] In :odl., a sluggish or slow-paced
skink, as the slow-worm or blind worm, Anguis
fragilis; also, a newt or eft of like character.
BlOW^t. A Middle English preterit of slav^.
slowback (slo'bak), M. [< slow^ + fcacA'l.] A
lubber; an idle fellow; a loiterer. [Prov.
Eng.]
The dowbadn and laxie bonea will none of this.
J. Favour, Antiquity's Triumph over Novelty (1619),
(p. 83. (Latham.)
slow-gaited (slo 'ga' ted), a. Slow in gait;
moving slowly ; slow-paced ; tardigrade.
The aaa . . . U very dow-gaited. Shak., L. L. L., Ui. 1. 66.
She went . . . to call the cattle home to be milked, and
sauntered back behind the patient dow.gaited creaturea.
Mrs. OaskeU, SylvU's Lovers, ix.
slowht. A Middle English preterit of slay^.
slow-honnd (slo'hound), n. [A var. of sleuth-
htiiind, sliithound, prob. in conformity to stoic*.]
A sleuth-hound.
Once decided on bla coarse^ Hiram pursued hia object
with the tenacity of a dow-hound.
R. B. Kimball, Was he Succeaafol? p. 310.
slewing (slo'ing), M. [Verbal n. of »to«il, ».]
A lessening of speed ; gradually retarded move-
ment; retardation.
She delivered a broadside and, without dowinff, ran into
the Cumberland's port-bow.
New York TrOmne, March 12, 1862.
The polae showed dowings after the exhibition of ergo-
tin. Nature, XXX. 212.
Slcwlyt (slo'li), a. [< »toici + -iyi.] Slow.
With slowly steps these couple walk'd.
Birth 0/ Robin Hood (Child's Ballads, V. 393).
slowly (slo'li), adv. [< ME. slawliche, slawly,
sliiuti ; < slow^ + -/y2.] In a slow manner; not
quickly or hastily; deliberately; tardily; not
rashly or with precipitation.
Love that comes too late.
Like a rtooraeful pardon simply carried.
Shak., All's Well, v. 3. 68.
A land of Just and old renown,
Where freedom slouly broadens down
From precedent to precedent
Tennyson, You ask me why, tho' III at ease.
slow-match (slo'mach), n. A match so com-
posed as to bum very slowly and at a regular
slubber
fixed rate : it is generally prepared by soaking
or boiling rope or cord of some sort in a solu-
tion of saltpeter.
slO'Wness (slo'nes), n. [< ME. slownes, slaw-
iies.^e ; <. slow^ + -ness.'i The state or character
of being slow, in any sense.
slow-paced (slo'past), o. Moving or advancing
slowly ; slow-gaited ; tardigrade : specifically
said of the slow lemur.
Thou great Wrong, that, through the slowpaced years.
Didst hold thy millions fettered.
Bryant, Death of Slavery.
slows (sloz), «. [Appar. pi. of slow^: used to
describe a torpid condition.] Milk-sickness,
slow-sighted (slo'si'ted), a. Slow to discern,
slow-sure (slo'shor), a. Slow and sure. [Poeti-
cal and rare.]
Slow-sure Britain's secular might
Emerson, Monadnoc.
slow-up (slo'up), n. The act of slackening
speed. [Colloq.]
slow-winged (slo'wingd), a. Flying slowly.
O dow-wing'd turtle ! shall a buzzard take thee?
Shak., T. of the S., li. 1. 20a
slOW-'Witted (slo'wit'ed), a. Mentally slug-
gish ; dull.
The description of the Emperour, viz. . . . for qualitie
simple and slowe-tcitted.
Protest of Merchants Trading to Muscovy (Ellis's Lit.
[Letters, p. 79).
slow-worm (slo'werm), n. lA\so sloe-tcorm (sim-
ulating sloe, ' ' because it vseth to creepe and live
on sloe-trees," Minsheu) ; < ME. sloworme, slo-
wurm, slowurme, slaworme, < AS. slawyrm, sld-
werm (not "sldw-wyrme, as in Somner, or "sldw-
wyrm, as in Lye), a slow-worm (glossing L. rcgu-
lus stellio and spalangius), = Sw. (transposed)
orm-sld = Norw. orm-slo, a slow-worm; prob. <
*sld, contr. of 'slalta, lit. 'smiter' (= Sw. sld =
Norw. slo, a slow-worm) (< sledn = Sw. sld =
Norw. slaa, strike) -t- wyrni, worm : see slay^ and
worm. The word has been confused in popular
etym. with slmc^, as if < slow^ + worm; hence
the false AS. forms above mentioned, and the
present spelling.] A scincoid lizard of the fam-
ily Angvidm: same as blindworm. Also slme.
See cut under Aiiguis.
The pretty ]itt]e dow.worms that are not only harmless,
but seem to respond to gentle and kindly treatment
A. Jessopp, Arcady, ii.
sloyd, n. See sloid.
slub^ (slub), n. [Cf. slab^, slob^.'] Loose mud ;
mire. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
slnb^ (slub), n. [Also slobber, slubhing ; origin
tincertain; at. sluhber^.l Wool slightly twisted
preparatory to spinning, usually that which has
been carded.
slub'-^ (slub), V. t. ; pret. and pp. stubbed, ppr.
stubbing. [< slub^, «.] To twist slightly after
carding, so as to prepare for spinning: said of
woolen yam.
slubber^ (slub'^'r), v. [Ptiso slobber; < ME. slol-
cren, < D. slobberen, lap, sup up, = MLG. slub-
beren, LG. slubbern, lap, sip, = G. (dial.) sclilub-
bem = Dan. slubbre, slobber, = Sw. dial, slubbra,
be disorderly, slubber, slobber; freq. of a verb
seen in Sw. dial, slubba, mix up liquids in a
slovenly way, be careless. Cf. slobber^, slab-
6erl,«/o/)l.] I. trans. 1. To daub; stain; sully;
soil; obscure.
You must therefore be content to dubber the gloss of
your new fortunes with this more stubborn and boisterous
expedition. 5Aa*., Othello, 1. S. 227.
Pompey I overthrew; what did that get me?
The dubber'd name of an authoriz'd enemy
Fletcher (and another), False One, 11. 3.
2. To do in a slovenly, careless manner, or
with unbecoming haste ; slur over. [Bare.]
Slvlber not business for my sake.
Shak., M. of V., IL 8. 89.
If a marriage shonld be thus slubbered up in a play, ere
almost any body had taken notice you were in love, the
spectators would take it to be bul ridiculous.
Beau, and Ft., Captain, v. 5.
Et. in trans. To act or proceed in a slovenly,
careless, or hurried manner. [Rare.]
Which answers also are to be done, not in a huddling
or dubbering fashion — gaping or scratching the head, or
spitting, even in the midst of their answer — but gently
and plausibly, thinking what they say.
a. Herbert, Country Parson, vl.
slubber^ (slub'^r), «. [< slubber^, f.] Any vis-
cous substance. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.J
slubber'-^ (slub'^r), v. t. [Cf. «/m62.] To dress
(wool). Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
slubber^ (slub'fer), «. [Also slobber ; of. slub-
ber^.'] Half -twined or ill-twined woolen thread,
Jamieson.
slubber
slubber" (slub'^r). «. [< shih^ + -erl.] 1. One
who slubs or who manages a slubbing-machine.
— H. A sluliWiig-inachine.
Slubberdegullion (slub'er-df-gul'yon), n.
[Also glabliei<le(ji(llion ; < slubber^ or slabber^ +
-<ie-, iusiguificant or as in hobbledehoy, + gullion,
var. of ciillion, a base fellow. Cf. slubberer, a
mischievous, meddling person ; Dan. slubbcrt, a
seamp.] A contemptible creature ; a base, foul
wretch. [Low.]
Who so is sped is matcht with a woman,
He may weep without the help of an onyon.
He '8 an oxe luid an asse, ami a diibberdtirutlion.
Mwiarum Dclidx(16^^)y p. 79. (Hailiicell.)
Quoth she, "Altliough thou hast (ieserv'd,
Base Slubberdegullion, to be serv'd
As tliou didst vow to deal with me,
If thou hadst got the victory."
S. BuUer, Hudibras, I. iiL 886.
slubberer (slub'6r-^r), «. [< slubber^ + -eri.]
A mischievous, meddling person; a turbulent
man. Hollybaml Diet., 1593. {Halliwell.)
slubberinBly(slub'6r-ing-li), adv. In a slovenly
or huvrieiland careless manner. [Rare.]
And dubberingly patch up some slight anl shallow rhime,
Drayton, Polyolbion, xxi.
slubbing (slub'ing), n. [Verbal n. of slub^, f.]
Same as sliib^.
SliMin^s intended for warp-yam must be more twisted
than those for weft. Ure, Diet., III. 1167.
slubbing-billy (slub'ing -blFi), n. An early
form of the slubbing-machine.
slubbing-macbme (slub'ing-ma-shen"), n. In
icool-sphinintt, a machine used for imparting a
slight twist to rovings, to give them the needed
strength for working them in the subsequent
operations of drawing and spinning.
slucet, «• An obsolete spelling of sluice.
slnckabed (sluk'a-bed), «. A dialectal form of
.'<luq(ibed.
slud (slud), Ji. [Cf. sludge.'] Wet mud. BaHi-
tnll. [Prov. Eng.]
sludge (sluj), n. [A var. of shiich (as grudge of
grutch), this being a var. of slitch, sleech: see
slutch, sleech. Cf. slud and slush.] 1. Mud;
mire.
A draggled mawkin, thou.
That tends her bristled grunters in the sludge.
Tennyson, Princess, v.
The same arrangement [for separating liquid from solid
matter] is in use for dealing with sewage sludge.
Sci. Amer. Supp., p. 7111.
2. A pasty mixture of snow op ice and water;
half-melted snow ; slush.
The snow of yesterday has surrounded us with a pasty
trudge; but the young ice continues to be our most for-
midable opponent. Kane, Sec. Grinn. Exp., I. 82.
3. In mining, the fine powder produced by the
action of the drill or borer in a bore-hole, when
mixed with water, as is usually the case in large
and deep bore-holes. The powder when dry is
often called bore-meal. — 4. Refuse from vari-
ous operations, as from the washing of coal;
also, refuse acid and alkali solutions from the
agitators, in the refining of crude petroleum:
sometimes used, but incorrectly, as the eqtiiv-
alent of slimes, or the very finely comminuted
material coming from the stamps. See slime, 3.
— Sludge acid, acid which has been used for the purifi-
cation of petroleum,
sludge-door (sluj'dor), «. An opening in a
steam-boiler through which the deposited mat-
ter can be removed.
sludge-hole (sluj'hol), n. Same as sludge-door.
sludger (sluj'tr), «. [< sludge + -«rl.] A cylin-
der, with a valve at the end, for removing the
sludge from a bore-hole ; a sand-pump, shell,
or shell-pump.
sludging (sluj'ing), n. [Verbal n. of *shidge, v.,
< sludge, w.] In hydraul. engin., the operation
of filling the cracks caused by the contraction
of clay in embankments with mud sufBeiently
wet to run freely. E. H. Knigh t.
sludgy (sluj'i), a. [< sludge + -jp-.] Consisting
of sludge ; miry ; slushy.
The warm, copious rain falling on the snow was at first
absorbed and held back, . . . until the whole mass of snow
was saturated and became sludgy. The Century, XL. 4D9.
sluei (slo), r. ; pret. and pp. slued, ppr. .'bluing.
[Also slew ; cf. E. dial, sluer, slewer, give way,
fall down, slide down ; perhaps for *snue, < Icel.
snica, bend, turn, = Dan. sno, twist, twine.] I.
trans. 1. Naut., to turn round, as a mast or
boom about its axis, without removing it from
its place. — 2. To turn or twist about: often
followed by round and used reflexively.
They laughed and duM tkemselves rmind.
Dickens, Great Expectations, xxviii.
5706
Bang went gun number two, and, again, gun number
three, as fast as they could load and slue the piece round.
W. H. Russell, Diary in India, II. 376.
II. inlrans. To turn about; turn or swing
round: often followed by round.
Vessels . . . sluing on their heels.
W. C. liussell. Sailor's Sweetheart, il.
slue^ (slo), «. [< sluc^, I'.] The turning of a
body upon an axis within its figure : as, he gave
his chair a slue to the left.
slue^, "• A variant spelling (also slew, sloo)
of slough'^ in its second prontmciation.
slue^ (slii), »i. [Also stao; origin obscure.] A
considerable quantity: as, if you want wood,
there 'a a slue of it on the pavement. [Slang.]
slued (sl5d),fl. [Also slewed ; prop.pp. of s?«el,
v.] Slightly drunk. [Cant.]
He came into our place at night to take her home ;
rather dued, but not much. Dickens.
sluer (slo'er), n. [< slue^ + -crl.] The steerer
in a whaleboat. Also slewer.
slue-rope (slo'rop), n. Naut., a rope applied
for turning a spar or other object in a required
direction.
slug^ (slug), V. [Also dial. *shick (in slucl'a-
bed,ya.v.<A slugabed); (.ME.sluggen, ''sloggen,a,
var. of *slukkeii, *slokkeu= IjG.*slukken, in freq.
slukkcrn, be loose, = Norw. sloka, go in a heavy,
dragging way, = Sw. sloka, hang down, droop,
= Dan. 'sluke, *sluge (in comp. sluk-oret, with
drooping ears) ; cf. Icel. slokr = Norw. slok, a
slouching fellow. Cf. slock^, slouch. The forms
are chiefly dialectal, and the senses are in-
volved. Hence s/(((/2,s/«(7;/a»-rf, etc.] 1, intrans.
To be slow, dull, or inert; be lazy; lie abed:
said of persons or of things.
Sluggyn, dcsidio, torpeo. Prompt. Parv., p. 460.
He was not slugging all night in a cabin under his man-
tell. Spenser, State of Ireland.
II. trans. 1. To make sluggish.
It is still Episcopacie that before all our eyes worsens
a!id sluggs the most learned and seeming religious of our
Ministers. Milton, Keformation in Eng., i.
2. To hinder; retard.
They [inquiries into final causes] are indeed but remoras
and hinderances to stay and slug the ship for farther sail-
ing. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii.
slug^ (slug), a. and n. [< ME. slugge; cf. LG.
slukk, drooping, downcast: see siug^, v.] I.t
a. Slow; sluggish.
Ix)rd, when we leave the world and come to thee,
How dull, how slug are we I
Quarles, Emblems, 1. 18.
II. n. 1. A slow, heavy, lazy fellow; a slug-
gard ; a slow-moving animal. [Obsolete or
provincial.]
The dugge lokyth to be holpe of God that commawndyth
men to waake in the worlde.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 32.
Thou drone, thou snail, thou slug, thou sot !
SAo«-.,C. of E., ii. 2. 196.
Hence — 2. Any slow-moving thing.
Thus hath Independency, as a little but tite Pinnace, in
a short time got the wind of and given a broad-side to
Presbytery ; which soon grew a slug, when once the North-
wind ceased to fill its sailes.
Bp. Gauden, Tears of the Church, p. 381.
His rendezvous for his fleete and for all sluggs to come to
should be between Calais and Dover.
Pepys, Diary, Oct. 17, 1666.
A slug must be kept going, and an impetuous one [horse]
restrained. Encyc. Brit., XII. 199.
3t. A hindrance; an obstruction.
Usury . . . doth dull an(l damp all industries, improve-
ments, and new inventions, wherein money would be stir-
ring, if it were not for this dug. Bacon, Usury (ed. 18S7).
slug2 (slug), n. [Prob. a particular use of slug^,
«.] 1. A teiTestrialpulmouate gastropod of one
of the families Liniacidse and Arionidx and re-
lated ones, which has only a rudimentary shell,
if any. The species inhabit all the northern temperate
regions of the globe, living on the land, and chiefly about
decaying wood in forests, gardens, and damp places. Ma-
rine nudibranchiate gastropods are called sea-dugs. See
sea-slug, and cut under Limacidse.
Slugs, pinch'd with hunger, snieai''d the slimy wall.
Churchill, Prophecy of Famine.
2. Some or any slug-like soft-bodied insect or
its larva; a grub: as, the yellow-spotted wil-
\ov!-slug, the larva of a saw-fly, Nematus ren-
tralis. See pear-slug, rose-slug, slug-caterpillar,
slug-worm. — 3. The trepang or sea-cucumber;
any edible holothurian; a sea-slug — Burrowing
slugs, the TestaceUidse. — Giant Slug, Ariolimax colum-
bianus. It affords a thick tenacious slime, which is used
by the Indians to lime humming-birds. [California to
Alaska,] — Oceanic slugs, the Plnjllirhoidfe. .Seecntnn-
der Pliyllirlm.- Rough Slugs, slugs of tlie family Onchi-
diiM«,— Teneriffe slug, a slug of the genus Ptiosphorax,
which shines at night liKe the glow-worm.— True slugs.
sluggard
slugs of the restricted family itiwia'da.— Water-lOVlng
Slugs, the Onctiidiidx.
slug'* (slug), 1'. i. ; pret. and pp. .slugged, ppr. slug-
ging. [Also slog; prob. ult. a secondary form of
slay, < AS. sledn (pret. sloh, pi. slogon), strike:
seos(nyi.] To strike heavily. Co\a]>axe slugger.
slug** (slug), n. [< slug'i, v.] A heavy or forci-
ble blow ; a hard hit.
slug* (slug), 11. [Origin uncertain: (a) prob.
lit. ' a heavy piece,' < slug'^, a.; otherwise (b) <
slug'^, a snail, from a fancied resemblance ; or
(c) < slugS, t)., strike heavily.] 1. A rather
heavy piece of crude metal, frequently rounded
in form.
" That is platinum, and it is worth about S150," It was
an insignificant looking slug, but its weight was impres-
sive and commanded respect,
Elect. Rev. (Amer.), XVI. viii, 2.
Specifically — (a) A bullet not regularly formed and truly
spherical, such as were fre<iuently used with smooth-bore
guns or old-fashioned rifles. These were sometimes ham-
mered, sometimes chewed into an approximately spherical
form.
For all the words that came from gullets.
If long, VfGT&dugs; if short ones, bullets.
Cotton, Burlesque, Upon the Great Frost.
I took four muskets, and loaded them with two dugs
and five small bullets each. Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, xvL
Hence — (6) Any projectile of irregular shape, as one of the
pieces constituting mitraille. (c) A thick blank of type-
metal made to separate lines of print and to show a line
of white space ; also, such a piece with a number or word,
to be used temporarily as a direction or marking for any
purpose, as in newspaper composing-rooms the distinctive
number placed at the beginning of a compositor's " take,"
to mark it as his work. Thin blanks are known as leaiU.
All blanks thicker than one sixteenth of an inch are known
as slugs, and are called by the names of their proper type
bodies : as, nonpareil dugs; pica slugs, (d) In metal.,
a mass of partially roasted ore, (e) A lump of lead or
other heavy metal carried in the liand by ruffians as a
weapon of attack. It is sometimes attached to the wrist
by a cord or thong : in that case it is called a slung-shot.
[Vulgar,] (/) A hatters' heating iron, K //. Kniglit.
\cj) A gold coin of the value of fifty dollars, privately is-
sued in San Francisco during the mining excitement of
1849, Round slugs were very rare, the octagonal or hex-
agonal form being usual.
An interesting reminder of early days in California, in
the shape of a round fifty-dollar dug. . . . But fifty of
these round fifty-dollar pieces were issued when orders
came from the East prohibiting private coinage,
San Francisco Bulletin, May 10, 1890.
2. A stunted horn. Compare scur'^.
The late Sir B. T. Brandreth Gibbs, ... in the "Short
Introductory Notes on Some of the Principal Breeds of
Cattle, Sheep, and Pigs," . . . says: " Occasionally some
have small dugs or stumps, which are not affixed to the
skull," Dr, Fleming, 1812, wrote similarly about the ex-
istence of these "dugs" then, and is quoted by Boyd-
Dawkins as evidence of the last appearances in this an-
cient breed of a reminiscence of its former character.
Amer. Nat, XXIL 794.
slug* (slug), r. : pret. and pp. slugged, ppr. slug-
ging. [< slug*, n.\ I. trans. To load with a.
slug or slugs, as a gun. [Rare.]
II. intrans. In gun., to assume the sectional
shape of the bore when fired: said of a bullet
slightly larger than the bore,
slug'' (slug), «. [Origin obscure.] In mining,^
a loop made in a rope for convenience in de-
scending a shallow shaft, the miner putting
his leg through the loop, by which he is sup-
ported while being lowered by the man at the
windlass.
slugabed (slug'a-bed), n. [Also dial, slucka-
bed ; < slug'^ + abed.] One who indulges in
lying abed ; a sluggard.
Why, lamb ! why, lady ! fie, you dug-a-bed !
Stiak., E. and J,, iv. 6. 2.
Get up, sweet dug-a-bed, and see
The dew-bespangling herb and tree.
Herrick, Corinna 's going a Maying.
slug-caterpillar (slug'kat'er-pil-Sr), n. One
of the footless slug-like larvro of the bombyeid
moths of the family Limacodidie. Some of the
slug-caterpillars are also stinging-caterpillars.
See stinging-caterpillar. Compare slug-worm.
ru. S.]
Slue-fly (slug'fli), n. A saw-fly whose larva is
a ^ug-worm. See slug^, n., 2.
slugga (slug'ii), n. [< Ir. slugaid, a deep mire,
a Sough: see .v/o;/i7?(l.] In Ireland, a swallow-
hole, or abrupt deep cavity formed in certain
limestone districts by the falling of parts of
the surface-rock into depressions which have
been made by subterranean rivers. The courses
of these rivers may be sometimes traced by the sluggas.
In some localities they are dotted irregularly over the
country, as if the region were now or had been traversed
by a network of subterranean watercourses.
A slugga is usually shaped like an hour-glass, although
some have perpendicular sides; they seem always to be
formed from below.
G. H. Einahan. Geol, of Ireland, p, 325.
sluggard fslug'iird), n. and a. [< ME. *slug-
gard, *slogard (if.sluggardy); <slug^ + -ard.]
sluggard
1. n. A person habitually lazy, idle, and slow;
a droue.
Go to the ant, thou duggard ; consider her ways, and be
wise. Prov. tI. 6.
Tls the voice of the Sluggard; I heard him complain,
**¥ou have wak'd me too soon; I must slumber attain."
WattK, Moral Songs, L
n. a. Sluggish; lazy; characteristic of a
sluggard.
The more to blame my duggard negligence.
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 1278.
sluggardize (slug'Sr-diz), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
slugganli^cd, ppr. sluggardiziiig. [< sluggard +
-jrc] To mate idle or lazy; make a slnggard
of. [Rare.]
1 rather would entreat thy company
To see the wonders of the world abroad
Than, living dully duggardized at home,
Wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness.
Sliak., T. G. of v., L 1. 7.
sluggardyt (slng'ar-di), n. [< ME. "sluggardie,
sloggardye, nlogardye; as sluggard + -y<*.] The
state of a sluggard; sloth.
Constant In herte, and evere in bisynesse,
To dryve hire out of ydel dogardye.
Chaucer, Physician's Tale, L 57.
Arise ! for shame, do away your duggardy,
Wyatt, Tlie Lover t nhappy.
sluggedt, a. Same as sluggigh.
sluggednesst (slug'ed-nes), n. [ME. slugged-
H' »•.<.«/«</<;«? + -nfss.] Slnggarduess ; sloth.
Wyse lalxMireand royshappe seldom mete to-gyder, but
yHdugyedTta [read duggedrtat] and myshappe be seledom
dyaaevyrde. PotitiaU Poena, etc. (ed. Fumivall), p. 32.
slngger (slug'^r), n. One who hits hard with
the fists; a pugilist. [U. S.]
slugging (slug'ing), n. [Verbal n. of slug^, r.l
Hard hitting with the fists, infighting. [U. S.J
They [the musclesi have their own nsthetics: hence
there have always been athletic sports, and hence even
pugilism would have no charm if it were mere duuffing.
Science, IV. 473.
Slugging-match (slug'ing-mach), n. A pugi-
listic contest in which the contestants slug
each other ; an unskilful, brutal fight. [U. S.]
sluggish (slug'ish), a. [< shigl + -wftl.] 1.
Slow; having or giving evidence of little mo-
tion : as, a sluggish stream.
A Voyage which proved venr tedious and baurdoas to
oa, by reason of our ships l>eing so duggith a Sailer that
She would not ply to Wind-ward.
Dampier, Voyagea, II. iL 19.
The duggiA mnrmur of the river 8omme.
SeM, tjuentin Durward, xxvllL
2. Idle and lazy, habitually or temporarily; in-
dolent; slothful; dull; inactive.
Move tiater, duggith camel.
MoMdnger, The Baahfol Lover, i. I.
To us his temperament seems duggieh, and la only
kindled into energy by the moat fiery atlmulanta.
WUppU, Em. and Kev., I. ISS.
3. Inert; inactive; torpid.
Matter, being Impotent, duggieh, and inactive, hath no
power to stir or move itself. Woodward,
4. Bull; tame; stupid.
Incredible it may leem to duggieh a conceit should
prove so ancient aa to be autborlz^lvthe Elder Nlunlus.
kiUon, HUt. Eng , I.
= S]m. 2. Lazy, Slnth/ul. etc (see idie); slack, supine,
phlegniatic. apathetic.
Sluggishly (slug'ish-Ii), adr. In a sluggish man-
nir: toipi.lly; lazily; drowsily; idly; slowly,
sluggishness (slug'lsh-nes), n. The state or
character of being sluggish, in any sense of that
word,
slnggy (slug'i), a. [AUo sloggu ; < ME. sluggy,
'<'".'/.'/.'/.■<*'",'/'+ -y*.] Sluggish [Obsolete or
provincial.]
Thanne cometh M>mpnolence, that ii doggy slorobrynge,
which maketh a man Iw hovy and dul in body and in soule.
Chaucer, Parson's Tale.
Lean him on his elhowe, as If sleepe had caught him.
Which clalmea most interest In such duggy men.
Taumeur, Revenger s Tragedy, Iv. 2.
Slng-hom^ (slng'hOm), n. [< slug* + horn.^
A short and ill-formed horn of an animal of
the ox kind, turned downwanl, and appearing
' to have been stunted in its growth. Halltwell.
il'rnv. Eng.]
nghom'^ (slug'hSm), n. [A corruption of
slogiiii. perhaps simulating slug-horn^.] 8ame
as slogan. [In the second and third quotations
used erroneously, as it meaning some kind of
horn.]
The deancht tnimpet blawis the br»g of were ;
The riu'jhornc, eiiiM;iiie. or the wache cry
Went for the l)attnll all sulil bo reddy.
Qaein Dougtat, Ir. of Virgil, p. 2S0.
Some caught a dughome and an onsett wonnde.
CkatUrton, Battle of HaaUngs, IL la
5707
Dauntless the slughnrn to my lips I set.
And blew "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came."
Browning, Childe Koland to the Dark Tower Came.
sluglyt (slug'li), adv. [< slug^ + -ly^.'] Slug-
gishly.
God giue vs grace, the weyes for to keepe
Of his precepts, and dugly not to sleepe
In shame of sinne. Hakluyt's Voyage^ I. 207.
slug-shaped (slug'shapt), a. Limaciform: spe-
cifically noting the larvsB of various butterflies
which in some respects resemble slugs. £. New-
man.
slug-snail (slug'snal), n. A slug ; also, loosely,
any snail of the family Helicidee.
slug-worm (slug'werm), n. One of the slimy
slug-like larvDB of the saw-flies of the genus
Selandria and allied genera; specifically, the
larva of ,S. cerasi. W. D. Peek, Nat. Hist, of
Slug-worm (Boston, 1799).
sluice (slos), »i. [Early mod. E. sluce, sluse,
seluse; < AIE. sclw<e = MD. sluys, D. sluts =
MLG. sluse, LG. sluis (> G. schleuse) = Dan.
sluse = Sw. sluss, < OF. esclu^e, F. ecluse = Sp.
esclusa, < ML. eielusa (also, after Kom., .^clusa),
a sluice, flood-gate, prop. adj. (so. aqua, water
shut off), fem. of exclusus, shut off, pp. of exclu-
dere, shut off: see exclude. Cf. closed, recluse,
secluse.'\ 1. A body of water held in check by
a flood-gate ; a stream of water issuing through
a flood-gate. — 2. A gate or other contrivance
by which the flow of water in a waterway is con-
trolled; a flood-gate; also, an artificial passage
or channel into which water is allowed to enter
by such a gate ; a sluiceway ; hence, any artifi-
cial channel for running water: as, a mill-«?i(ife.
Sluices are extensively used in hydraulic works, and ex-
hibit great variety In their construction, according to the
purposes which they are intended to serve. 'Jften used
tignratlvely.
A foure square Cisteme of eighteene cubits depth, where.
Into the water of NUus is conuaied by a certAine «ftu!« vnder
the ground. Purchae, I>ilgnniage, p. 663.
Two other precious drops, that ready stood.
Each In their crystal duice, he ere they fell
Kiaa'd. MiUon, P. L., v. 13S.
The foaming Ude rushing through the mill duice at his
wheeL W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 80.
3. In mining, a trough made of boards, used
for separating gold from the gravel and sand in
which it occurs, its bottom is lined with riffles, and
theae, with the help of quicksilver, arrest and detain the
particles of »r i^ current of
water. The 1. iigth corre-
spondingwith iiiu iiMiMMiii ui mihUnu u> ih- Imndl^; but
the supply of water must t^e sufflciently abundant, and
the topographic conditions favorable, especially aa re*
garda the diapoaal of the tailings.
Theafuiee la a contrivance by which an almost unlim-
ited amount of material may be washed ; it is oidy neces-
sary to enlarge Its size, and Increase Its length, giving it
at the aame time a proportionate grade.
J. D. Whitney, Auriferous Gravels, p. 61.
4. In steam-engines, the injection-valve by
which the water of condensation is introduced
into the condenser. — 6. A tubiilure or pipe
through which water is directed at will. E. U.
Knight — Falling sluice, a kind of flood-gate for mill-
dnnis. rivers, eanaTs, etc., which is self-acting, or so con-
tri\'e<l ns to fall down of itself In the event of a flood, there-
by enlarging the waterway.— Oround-sluice, in mining.
a channel or gutter formed by water aided by thepiclcand
shovel in the detritus on the surface <if the l)e<l-rock, which
answera temporarily the place of a sluice, or which is used
when water cannot be got for a sufficient length of time
to make It worth while to build a wooden sluice.
sluice (sl8s), t'. t ; pret. and pp. sluiced, ppr.
sluicing. [Early moil. E. also sluce; < sluice,
«.] 1. To open a flood-gate or sluice upon;
let a copious flow of water on or in : as, to sluice
a meadow. — 2. To draw out or off, as water,
by a sluice : as, to sluice the water into the
com-flelds or to a mill.
slumber
Nigh on the plain, in many cells prepared.
That underneath had veins of liquid lire
Sluiced from the lake, a second multitude
With wondrous art founded the massy ore.
Severing each kind, and scumm'd the bullion dross.
Miiton, P. L., 1. 702.
A broad canal
From the main river sluiced.
Tennyson, Arabian Nights.
3. To wet or lave abundantly.
He dried his neck and face, which he had been duicing
with cold water. De Quincey.
The great seas came flying over the bows, duicing the
decks with a mimic ocean.
W. n. RusteU, Diary in India, L 4.
4. To scour out or cleanse by means of sluices :
as, to sluice a harbor. — 5. To let out as by a
sluice ; cause to gush out.
Twas I duc't out his life bloode.
Mardon, Antonio and Mellida, II., v. 6.
sluice-fork (slos'fork), «. A form of fork hav-
ing many tines, used to remove obstructions
from a sluiceway.
sluice-gate (slos'gat), n. The gate of a sluice ;
a water-gate; a flood-gate; a sluice.
sluice-valve (slos'valv), «. l. A sliding gate
which controls the opening in a sluiceway. —
2. A slide at the outlet of a main or discharge-
pipe, serving to regulate the flow.
sluiceway (slos'wa), n. An artificial passage
or channel into which water is let by a sluice ;
hence, any small artificial channel for running
water.
sluicing (slo'siug), n. [< sluice + -ing^.'] The
material of a sluice or sluiceway. [Rare.]
Decayed driftwood, trunks of trees, fragments of broken
dtdcing, . . . swept into sight a moment, and were gone.
Bret Harte, Argonauts, Mrs. Skagg's Husbands.
sluicy (slo'si), a. l< sluice + -y^.'] 1. Falling
in streams, as from a sluice.
And oft whole sheets descend of duicy rain.
Dryden, tr. of Virgils Georgics, i. 437.
Incessant cataracts the thund'rer pours.
And half the skies descend in duicy show'ra.
Pope, Iliad, xii. 23.
2. Wet, as if sluiced. [Rare.]
She dabbles on the cool and duicy sands.
Keatx, Endymion, L
slnke (sl5k), n. Same as slolce, and laver^, 1.
sluml (slum), M. \Cf. slum]A,sloavi,slawm.'] In
metal., same as slime, 3: chiefly in the plural.
[Pacific coast.]
The dume, light gravel, etc.. passing off through the
waste flume at every upward motion.
Sci. Amer., N. S., LXII. 341.
slnm^ (slum), n. [Cf. »/i(»ii.] A dirty back
street of a city, especially such a street inhab-
ited by a squalid and criminal population ; a
low and dangerous neigh borliood: chiefly in the
plural: as, the slums of Whitechapel and West-
minster in London.
Close under the Abbey of Westminster there lie conceal-
ed labyrinths of lanes and courts and alleys and dums.
Cardinal Wiseman.
Gone is the Rookery, a conglomeration of dums and al-
ley! in the heart of St. Giles's.
B. U. YfUes, Fifty Years of London Life, 1. 11.
slum^ (slum), t). i. ; pret. and pp. slummed, ppr.
slumming. [< slunA, n.] 1. To keep to back
streets. Leland. — 2. To visit the slums of a
city, often from mere curiosity or as a diver-
sion. [Recent.]
slumber (slum'b^r), r. [Early mod. E. also
slombre ; < ME. slumberen, slombren (with ex-
crescent b developed between m and r, as in
number, etc.), earlier slumcren, slwneren, = D.
sluimercn = MLG. slummeren = MHG. slum-
mem, G. schlummern = Sw. slumra = Dan.
slumre, slumber; freq. of ME. slumen (E. dial.
sloum, sloom) = D. sluimcn = MLG.»?o»«efl, slom-
men = MHG. slumen, slummen, slumber ; cf . ME.
slume, slmimhe (E. dial, .sloum, sloom), < AS. »/«-
ma, slumber; prob. akin to Goth, slawan, be
silent, MHG. slur, lounge, idle, G. slure, slune,
slumber.] I. intrans. 1. To grow sleepy or
drowsy; begin to sleep; fall asleep; also, to
sleep lightly; doze.
And as I lay and lened and loked in the wateres,
I dombred in a siepyng. it sweyued so merye.
IHers Plou^nan (B), l>rol., I, 10.
Or, If you do but dumber. 111 appear
In the shape of all my wrongs, and, like a Fury,
Fright you to madness.
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, iv. 1.
Corb. Does he sleep well?
Mos. Xo wink, sir, all this night.
Nor yesterday ; but dumbers.
B. Jonson, Volpone, L 1.
My slumbers — if I dumt>fr — are not sleep.
But a continuance of enduring thought.
Byron, Manfred, L 1.
slumber
2. To sleep ; sleep quietly.
God has granteil you this sight of your country's happi-
nen ere you dumber in the grave forever.
D. Webster, Speech, June 17, 1825.
At my feet the city slumbered,
Lonmfelloic, Belfry of Bruges.
If Sleep and Death be truly one.
And every spirit's folded bloom
Thro" all its intervital gloom
In some long trance should slumber on.
Tennyson, In Memoriam, xliii.
3. To be in a state of negligence, sloth, su-
pineness, or inactivity.
Why slumbers Pope, who leads the tuneful train.
Nor hears that virtue which he loves complain ?
Younff, Love of I'ame, i. 35.
Slumberirtg under a kind of half reformation.
Jefferson, Correspondence, II. 446.
Pent Greek patriotism slumbered for centuries till it
blazed out grandly in the Liberation War of 1821 -.5.
J. S. BlackU.
=S5p. 1 and 2. Drowse, Doze, etc. See deep.
n. trans. 1. To lay to sleep ; cause to slum-
ber or sleep. [Eare.]
To honest a deed after it was done, or to slumier his
conscience in the doing, he [Felton] studied other incen-
tive. Sir H. Wotton, Life of the Duke of Buckingham.
2f. To stun ; stupefy. [Rare.]
Now bene they come whereas the Palmer sate,
Keeping that dombred corse to him assind.
Spenser, F. Q., II. vUi. 11.
3. To cause to be latent ; keep as if in a sleep-
ing condition. [Bare.]
If Christ dumbered the Godhead in himself, the mercy
of God may be dumbered, it may be hidden from his ser-
vants, but it cannot be taken away. Donne, Sermons, ii.
slumber (slum'b6r), n. [= D. sluimer = MG.
slummcr, G. schlummer = Sw. Dan. slummer;
from the verb.] 1. Light sleep; sleep not
deep or sound.
From carelessness it shall fall into dumber, and from a
dumber it shall settle into a deep and long sleep. South.
To all, to each, a fair good-night.
And pleasing dreams, and dumbers light !
Scott, Marmion, L'Envoy.
2. Sleep, especially sound sleep.
Even lust and envy sleep ; yet love denies
Rest to my soul, and slurnber to my eyes.
Dryden, Indian Emperor, iii. 2.
Calm as cradled child in dreamless dumber bound.
Shelley, Kevolt of Islam, i. 15.
3. A sleeping state ; sleep regarded as an act.
The mockery of unquiet dumbers.
Shak., Rich. III., Iii. 2. 27.
Slumberer (slum'b6r-6r), n. [< slumber + -erl.]
One who slumbers ; a sleeper.
slumbering (slum'bfer-ing), re. [< ME. slomer-
yng; verbal n. of slumber, D.] The state of sleep
or repose ; the condition of one vfho sleeps or
slumbers.
Off aunters ben olde of aunsetris nobill,
And slydyn vppon shlepe [read sclepe] hy domerynyot Age.
Destruction o/ Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 6.
In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep
falleth upon men, in dumberings upon the bed.
Job xxxiii. 15.
slumberingly (slum'ber-ing-li), adv. In a slum-
bering manner ; sleepily.
slumberland (slum'bfer-land), re. The region or
state of slumber. [Poetical.]
Takes his strange rest at heart of slumberland.
Swinburne, Tristram of Lyonesse, vi.
Slumberless (slum'bfer-les), a. [< slumber +
-less.^ Without slumber ; sleepless.
And the future is dark, and the present is spread
Like a pillow of thorns for thy slumberless head !
Shelley, Prometheus Unl)ound, i.
slumberous (slura'b6r-us), a. [Also slumbrous;
< slumber + -ous.'] 1. Inviting or causing
sleep ; soporific.
While pensive in the silent dumb'rou^ shade.
Sleep's gentle pow'rs her drooping eyes invade.
Fenton, in Pope's Odyssey, iv. 1045.
a. Like slumber ; suggesting slumber.
The auiet August noon has come ;
A dumberous silence fills the sky.
Bryant, Summer Ramble.
3. Nearly asleep ; dozing ; sleepy.
And wakes, and finds his dumberoits eyes
Wet with most delicious tears.
Longfdlow, Carillon.
Thla quiet comer of a sleepy town in a dumberous land.
The American, VL 282.
slnmberously (slum'b6r-u8-li), adv. Drowsily ;
sleepily.
With all his armor and all his spoils about him, [he] casts
himself dumherously down to rest.
Landor, Imag. Conv., Lord Brooke and Sir P. Sidney.
Slumbery (slum'b6r-i), a. [< ME. slombery; <
slumber + -yi.] Slumberous ; inclined to sleep ;
sleeping; also, occurring in sleep.
5708
Thanne wexeth he slough and domJbery.
Chaucer, Parson's Tale.
In this dumbery agitation, besides her walking and other
actual performances, what, at any time, have yon heard
her say ■> ShaJc., Macbeth, v. 1. 12.
slumbrous (slum'brus), a. Same as slumberous.
slumgullion (slum-gul'yon), n. [Appar. < slmiA
+ -guUiuii na in slubbcrdegullion,eto.^ 1. Ofl'al
or refuse of fish of any kind ; also, the watery
refuse, mixed with blood and oil, which drains
from blubber. [NewEng.] — 2. A cheap drink.
[Slang.] — 3. A servant; one who represents
another. [Slang, U. S.]
Should in the Legislature as your slumguUimi stand.
Leland, Hans Breitmaun Ballads.
slummer (slum'6r), «. [< slmifi + -erl.] One
who slums. See slum^, v., and slumming. [Re-
cent.]
Nothing makes a dummer so happy as to discover a case
that is at once both deserving and interesting.
Philadelphia Times.
slumming (slum'ing), n. [Verbal n. of slum"^,
r.] The practice of visiting slums, often for
mere curiosity or as an amusement. [Recent.]
Slumming, which began with the publication of "The
Cry of Outcast London," has attained the proportions of a
regular rage. Philadelphia Times.
But her story is decidedly pleasant and healthful, and it
is a relief to find there is something besides duviming to
be done by unselfish people. Athenxmn, No. 3247, p. 81.
slumpl (slump), V. i. [Cf. Dan. slumpe, stum-
ble upon by chance, G. schlumpen, trail, draggle,
= Dan. Sw. slump, chance, hap ; cf. G. schlump,
haste, hap ; perhaps in part confused with forms
cognate with slip^ (AS. slupan, etc.) or plump^.
Cf . slump^.'i 1 . To fall or sink suddenly when
walking on a surface, as on ice or frozen ground,
not strong enough to support one ; walk with
sinking feet; sink, as in snow or mud. [Obso-
lete or local.]
The latter walk on a bottomless quag, into which una-
wares they may dump. Barrow.
Here [in the snow] is the dainty footprint of a cat ; here
a dog has looked in on you like an amateur watchman to
see if all is right, dumping clumsily about in the mealy
treachery. Lowell, Study Windows, p. 42.
2. Hence, to fail or fall through ignominiously :
often with through : as, the plan slumped through.
[CoUoq.]
slumpi (slump), «. l< slumps, V. But the noun
in sense 1 may be partly of independent origin ;
cf. slum^.l 1. A boggy place; soft, swampy
ground; a marsh; a swamp. [Scotch and prov.
Eng.] — 2. The noise made by anything falling
into a hole or slump. [Scotch.] — 3. The act
of slumping through weak ice or any frozen
surface, or into melting snow or slush. — 4.
Hence, an ignominious coming to naught; com-
plete failure ; also, a sudden fall, as of prices :
as, a slump in stock from 150 to 90. [CoUoq.]
What a slump ! — what a dump ! That blessed short-
legged little seraph has spoilt the best sport that ever
was. Howdls, Annie Kilburn, xxv.
Slump2 (slump), u. [= Dan. slump, a lot, quan-
tity, = Sw. slump, a lump, residue, = D. stomp,
a heap, mass ; prob. in part < slumps, but per-
haps influenced by lumjA.'] A gross amount;
a block; lump: as, to buy or take things in
the slump) : also used attributively : as, a slump
sum. [Colloq.]
slump2 (slump), V. t. [< shtmp^, re.] To throw or
bring into a mass; regard as a mass or as a
whole; lump. [Colloq.]
The different groups . . ; are exclusively dumped toge-
ther under that sense. Sir W. Hamilton.
Slumping the temptations which were easy to avoid
with those which were comparatively irresistible.
W. Mathews, Getting on in the World, p. 20.
slump-work (slump'werk), re. Work in the
slump or lump. [Rare.]
Creation was not a sort of dump-work, to be perfected
by the operation of a law of development.
Dawson, Origin of World, p. 189.
slumpy(8lum'pi), a. [< slumps + -1/1 .J Marshy;
swampy; boggy; easily broken through. [Prov.
Eng. and Scotch.]
slung (slung). Preterit and past participle of
slingl.
slung-shot (slung'shot), re. A weapon consist-
ing of a metal ball or a stone slung to a short
strap, chain, or braided leather handle, or in any
similar way : it is used by roughs and criminals,
and is a dangerous weapon.
slunk^ (slungk). Preterit and past participle
of sUnk'l.
slunk^ (slungk), n. and a. A variant of slinlfl.
slunken (slung'kn), a. [Cf. slink?, slank.']
Lean ; shriveled. [Prov. Eng.]
slnr
slupt (slup), V. t. [Appar. a var. of slip^ (AS.
slupan) or of i'iopl.] To swallow hastily or care-
lessly.
Lewd precisians,
Who, scorning Church-rites, take the symbol up
As slovenly as careless courtiers dup
Their mutton gruel !
Marston, Scourge of Villanie, iL 95.
slurl (sl6r), V. ; pret. and i>p. slurred, ppr. slur-
ring. [< ME. 'slooren, "sloren (see the noun),
appar. < MD. slooren, sleuren, drag, trail, do
negligently or carelessly, = LG. sluren, hang
loosely, be lazy, sliiren, sloren, trail, draggle,
= Icel. sWra, trail, = Sw. dial, slora, be care-
less or negligent, slur over, = Norw. sliii-e, be
negligent, sully ; perhaps a contracted form of
the freq. verb, MD. slodderen = LG. sludderen,
hang loosely, be lazy, = Icel. slodkra, drag or
trail oneself along: see slodder, and cf. slotter
and slut. Cf. also slur^, re.] I. trans. 1. To
smear; soil by smearing with something ; sully;
contaminate ; pollute ; tarnish : often with over.
Her cheekes not yet durd over with tbe paint
Of borrowed crimsone.
Marstoti, Antonio and Mellida, II., iii. 2.
2. To disparage by insinuation or innuendo;
depreciate; calumniate; traduce; asperse;
speak slightingly of.
They impudently dur the gospel.
Cudworth, Sermons, p. 73. {Latham.)
Men dur him, saying all his force
Is melted into mere effeminacy.
Tennyson, Geraint.
3. To pass lightly (over or through); treat
lightly or slightingly; make little of: com-
monly with over.
Studious to please the genius of the times,
With periods, points, and tropes he durs his crimes.
Dryden, tr. of Persius's Satires, i. 171.
He [David Deans) was by no means pleased with the
quiet and indifferent manner in which King William's
government durred over the errors of the times.
Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xviil.
So they only durred through their fagging just well
enough to escape a licking, and not always that, and got
the character of sulky, unwilling fags.
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, i. 9.
4t. To cheat, originally by slipping or sliding
a die in a particular way: an old gambling
term; hence, to trick or cheat in general.
What was the Public Faith found out for,
But to dur men of what they fought for'?
S, Butler, Hudibras, II. ii. 192.
5. To do (anything) in a careless manner; ren-
der obscure or indistinct by running together,
as words in speaking. — 6. In music, to sing
(two or more tones) to a single syllable, or per-
form in a legato manner. See slur^, n., 4. —
7. \n printing, to blur or double, as an impres-
sion from type; mackle.
II. in trans. 1 . To slide ; be moved or dragged
along in a shufBing, negligent way.
Her soft, heavy footsteps durred on the stairway as
though her strength were failing.
The Century, XXXVin. 260.
2t. To practise cheating by slipping a die out
of the box so as not to let it turn; hence, to
cheat in any v/ay.
Thirdly, by slurring — ihaX, is, by taking up your dice as
you will have them advantageously lie in your hand, pla-
cing the one atop the other, not caring if the uppermost
run a millstone (as they use to say), if the undermost run
without turning.
Compleat Gamester (1680), p. 11. (Kares.)
3. In music, to apply a slur to two or more notes,
slurl (sl6r), re. [< «/«}•!, V. In the sense of
' spot, stain,' the noun may be a particular use
of sltir^, re.] 1 . A mark or stain ; a smear ;
hence, figuratively, a slight occasion of re-
proach.
No one can rely upon such an one, either with safety to
his affairs or without a slur to his reputation.
South, Sermons.
2. A disparaging or slighting remark ; an in-
sinuation; an innuendo: as, he could never
speak of him without a slur.
Mr. Cooling . . . tells me my Lord Generall is become
mighty low in all people's opinion, and that he hath re-*
ceived several slurs from the King and Duke of York.
Pepys, Diary, III. 2.
3t. A trick ; a cheat. See slur'^, v. i., 2.
All the politics of the great
Are like the cunning of a cheat.
That lets his false dice freely run,
And trusts them to themselves alone.
But never lets a true one stir
Without some fing'ring trick or dur.
S. Butler, Remains, Miscellaneous Thoughts.
4. In vocal mu.'iic, the combination of two or
more tones of the music sung to a single syl-
lable. The term originally signified simply a legato
slur
effect, «nd Is still sometimes so used in connection with
instrumental music.
6. Ill musical notation, a curved mark connect-
ing two or more notes that are to be , |
perfonned to a single syllable, or =J— ■*—
without break. A slur is distinguished
from a tie in that it always connects notes on different
degrees. It resembles the legato- and phrase-marks, but
is properly confined to much fewer notes.
6f. A slide or glide.
Mom. Well, how goes the dancing forward ? . . .
6«r. (As dancing-master.) One, two, three, and a sJur.
Wycliertey, Gentleman Dancing-ll aster, iv. 1.
7. In printing, a blurred or doubled impres-
sion caused by a shake or uneven motion in the
sheet. — 8. In a knitting-machine, mechanism
which travels on a bar called the slur-bar, and
depresses the jack-sinkers in succession, sink-
ing a loop of thread between every pair of nee-
dles. E. H. Knight.
slUT^ (sl^r), H. [< ME. sloor, slore, mud, clay
{>sloryd, muddy); prob. connected with sluri,
v., and ult. with slodder, sludder.'] Mud; espe-
cially, thin, washy mud. Hallitcell. [Prov.Eng.]
alnr-bar (sl^r'bar), n. In a knitting-machine,
a straight iron bar beneath all the jacks, form-
ing a guide on which the slur travels.
slur-bow (sl^r'bo), w. A kind of crossbow in
use in the sixteenth century, asserted to be of
that form in which a barrel was fixed to the
stock for the better guiding of the missile.
slurring (sltr'ing), n. [Verbal n. of slur^, r.]
In mugic, the act, process, or result of apply-
ing or using a slur.
slurry (slfer i), r. t.; pret. and pp. slurried, ppr.
slurrying. [Ct. slur^, slur^.'j To dirty; smear.
[Prov. Eng.]
slurry (sl^r'i), n. ; pi. slurries (-iz). [< slurry,
r.] 1. A semi-fluid mixttire of various earths,
clays, or ptilverized minerals with water: a
term used with a variety of meanings in the
arts; specifically, a semi-fluid mixture of some
refractory material, as ganister, with water:
used for repairs about the bottom and twyer-
holes of the Bessemer converter, a slurry of cal-
cined magnesian limestone, mixed with more or len
pitch, is sometimes ran into molds, which material is
then consolidated and the pitch removed by gradual heat-
ing to a high temperature — the object being to obtain a
brlcli which can be heated and cooled repeatedly withoat
crumbling.
2. A product of the silver-smelting process as
carried on in England and Wales, consisting of
a mixture of the sulphurcts and arseniurets of
copper, lead, and silvei*, and sometimes con-
taining nickel, cobalt, and other metals.
glnah (slush), n. [Also slosh, q. v.; appar. a
var. of sludge, .ilutch, which are variants of sleeeh,
slitch, confused prob. with slud. The forms slush,
slosh, also touch sUish^: see slosh, slash^.] 1.
Sladge, or watery mire ; soft mud.
Well soak np all the sfiuA and soil of life
With lofteDM roices ere we corae to yoa.
Ifrr. Browning, Aurora Leigh, vliL
2. Melting snow ; snow and water mixed.
A great deal of snow fell during the day, forming dvuk
apon the surface of the water.
C. F. UaU, Polar Expedition In Polaili (I8T6\ p. 118.
3. A mixture of grease and other materials used
as a lubricator. — 4. The refuse of the oook's
galley on board ship, especially grease. What
is not' used, as for slushing the masts, euj., formerly be-
came the cook's perquisite at the end of the voyage.
A hand at the gangway that has been softened br appli-
cations of solvent atuah to the tint of a long euvelope on
"public service."
J. W. Palmer, The New and the Old, p. 359.
8. A mixture of white lead and lime with which
the bright parts of machinery are covered to
prevent their rusting.
slush (slush), V. t. [< slush, n.] 1. To apply
slush to ; grease, lubricate, or polish with slush :
as, to shish the masts.
The officer, seeing my buy posture, ordered me to «Ju«A
the mainmasts ... So I took my bucket of grease and
climbed up to the royal-masthead.
Ti. //. i>ana, yr., Before the Mait, p. e.
2. To wash roughly: as, to slush a floor with
water. fCoUoq.] — 3. To cover with a mix-
ture of white lead and lime, as the bright parts
of machinery. — 4. To fill, as the joints and
spaces between the bricks or stones of a wall,
with mortar or cement: usually with up: as, to
slush u;> a wall. — 6. To slop; spill. UalliKell.
[Prov. Eng.]
Slush-barrel (slush'bar'el), n. A barrel used
to holil hlnsh on boanl a vessel.
slush-bucket (slush'buk'et), n. A small bucket
coiitiiinin;; grease used on board ship for va-
rious purposes around the masts, rigging, etc.
5709
slush-fund (slush'fund), n. A fund in a man-
of-war made up from the proceeds of the sale
of slush, customarily used for a variety of pur-
poses ; also, the funds or receipts from the sale
of slush in a camp or garrison. It is sometimes a
considerable sum, which may be expended at the dis-
cretion of the comniandint; olficer or a board of officers,
without accounting for it to any higher authority.
slush-horn (slush'horn), n. The horn of an ox
or cow, filled with slush, used in the making
and mending of rigging, etc.
slush-pot (slush'pot), n. A pot used to contain
slush or grease.
slushy (slush'i), a. [< slush + -y^. Cf. sloshy.l
Consisting of soft mud, or of snow and water;
resembling slush.
I gain the cove with pushing prow
And queuch its speed in the slughy sand.
Brouming, Meeting at Night,
slut (slut), n. [< ME. slutt, slutte, < Sw. dial.
sldta, an idle woman, slut (cf. sldter, an idler),
= Dan. slatte, a slut; cf. Icel. sldttr, a heavy,
log-like fellow, = Norw. slott, an idler; < Sw.
dial, slota = Icel. slota, be lazy, = Norw. sluta,
droop; cf. Dan. slat, slatten, slattet, loose, flab-
by, Norw. sletta (pret. slatt, pp. slottet), dangle,
hang loose like clothes, drift, idle about, be
lazy ; akin to D. slodde, a slut, slodder, a care-
less man ; cf . MD. slodderen, spatter (see slod-
der). Cf. Icel. «/o<Ai, a sloven.] 1. A careless,
lazy woman ; a woman who is uncleanly as re-
gards her person or her house ; a slattern : of-
ten used as a name of contempt for a woman
and (formerly) also for a man. See sloven.
Our radiant queen hates dut» and sluttery.
Shai., M. W. of W., v. 5. SO.
2. A young woman; a jade; a wench: used
lightly.
Our little girl Susan Is amost admirable dut, and pleases
us mightily, doing more service than both the others.
Pepyt, Diaiy, Keb. 21, 1664.
Yoa see now and then some handsome young Jades
among them {Gipsies): the dut* have very often white
teeth and black eyes. Addison, Spectator, No. ISO.
3t. An awkward person, animal, or thing.
Crabbe is a dutt to kenre, and a wrawd wight ;
Breke euery clawe a sondur.
Babee$ Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 158.
4. A female dog; a bitcH.
"You see I gave my cousin this dog, Captain Woolcomb, "
says the gentleman, "and the little dut remembers me."
Thaekeras/, Philip, xllL
slutt (slut), V. t.; pret. and pp. slutted, ppr. slut-
ting. [< slut, n.] To befoul ; render unclean.
Don Tobacco's damnable Infection
Slutting the Body.
Syloeder, Tobacco Battered.
slutch (sluch), n, [< ME. sluche, mud. mire : see
slitch, sleeeh. Cf. sludge."] Mire ; sludge ; slush.
[Prov. Eng.]
He [A tax] laonchet to londe, ft his lyf hade^
Bare of hi* body, bret full of water.
In the Slober A the duclte slongyn to londe.
There he lay . . , the long night ouer.
Datnution of Troy (E. E. T. 8.X I. 12629.
slutchedt, fi. [ME.; < slutch + -«rf2.] Muddied.
Thenne be swepe to the sonde In duchehed clothes.
Hit may wel l>e that meater (need) were his mantyle to
wasache. AUiteraUte Poem* (ed. MorrlsX lit. 341.
slutchy (sluch'i), a. [< slutch + -yl.] Miry;
slushy. [Prov. Eng.]
slutht, 1. An obsolete spelling of sleuth^.
sluttery (slut'6r-i), n. [< slut + -ery.] The
character and practices of a slut ; neglect of
cleanliness and order; dirtiness of clothes,
rooms, furniture, or provisions.
He carried his glasse with him for his man to let him
drink out of at the Duke of Albemarle's, where he in-
tended to dine, though this he did to prevent riuttery.
Pepyt. Diary, Nov. 7, 1666.
sluttish (slut'ish), a. [< ME. sluttish; < slut +
-ish^.] 1. Like a slut or what is characteristic
of a slut; not neat or cleanly; dirty; devoid of
tidiness or neatness.
Why is thy lord so duUiih, I thee preye,
And Is of power better cloth to beye?
Chaucer, ProL to Canon's Yeoman's Tale, I. 88.
The people living as wretchedly as in the most impov-
erish'd parts of France, which Ihey much resemble, being
idle and duttiih. Etvlyn, Diary, Aug. 7, 1664.
2. Belonging to or characteristic of a woman
of loose behavior. [Rare.]
Ezcesse is dvtttjh ; keepe the mesne ; for why?
Vertue's clean conclave Is sobriety. Herriek, Exoesse.
sluttishly (slut'ish-li), adv. [< ME. sluttysshly;
< sluttish + -/y-.] In a sluttish manner; neg-
ligently; dirtily.
slype
sluttishness (slut'ish-nes), n. [< ME. "slutr-
tishnes, shcttisnes ; < sluttish + -Mes*.] The
character or practices of a slut; lack of clean-
liness as regards one's person or domestic sur-
roundings; sluttery.
sluttyt (slut'i), o. [< ME. slutti, slutty ; < slut
+ -i/i.] Sluttish; dirty.
Slutty. Cenulentus. Prompt. Pan., p. 460.
sly (sli), a. [Early mod. E. also slie; < ME.
ilT
sly,
sly, slie, sligh, slcgh, sleigh, sleih, sley, sleeg,
sleg, scleg (not found in AS.); < Icel. slsegr
(for "slcegr), sly, cunning, = Sw. slog, handy,
dexterous; appar. related to Sw. slug, sly, =
Dan. slug, slu, sly, = D. sluw = LG. slou (>
G. schlau, dial, sehlauch), sly; perhaps (like
G. verschlagen, cunning, sly, Icel. sleegr, kick-
ing, as a horse) from the root of slay^, AS.
sledn (pret. sloh, pp. slogan), strike: see slay^,
and cf . slug"^. But the relations of these forms,
and the orig. sense, are uncertain. Hence
sleight^.] It. Cunning; skilful; shrewd.
Whom graver age
And long experience bath made wise and dy.
Fair/ax.
2. Meanly artful; insidious; crafty.
Slie wyles and subtiil craftinesse.
Spenser, Mother Hub. Tale, 1. 1045.
But In the glances of his eye
A penetrating, keen, and dy
Expression found its home.
Scott, Marmion, iv. 7.
3. Playfully artful ; knowing; having an inten-
tionally transparent artfulness.
Gay wit, and humor dy,
Danced laughing in his light-tdue eye.
Scott, Rolteby, ill. 5.
The captain (who heard all about it from his wife) was
wondrous dy, I promise you, inquiring every time we
met at table, as if in forgetfulness, whether she expected
anybody to meet her at St. Louis.
Diekenx, American Notes, xiL
4t. Artfully and delicately wrought; cunning;
ingenious.
And theryn was a towre fulle dygke,
That was bothe stronge and hyghe.
MS. Cantab. Ff. ii. 38, f. 141. (UaUiwett.)
6t. Thin; fine; slight; slender.
Two goodly Beacons, ... set in silver sockets bright^
Cover'd with lids deviz'd of substance dy.
Spenter, F. Q.,II. ix. 46.
6. Illicit: as, sly grog (liquor made in illicit
stills). [Slang.]
A dy trade's always the best for paying, and for seUing
too. Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I. S18.
On the Bly, or sometimes by the Sly, in a sly or secret
manner; secretly. [Colloq.]
Shell never again think me anything but a paltry pre-
tense — too nice to take heaven except upon flattering
conditions, and yet selling myself for any devil's change
by ttie dy. George Eliot, .Middlemarch, Ixxviii.
Sly goose. See sjoo/w. = 8yn. 1 and 2. Cunning, Artful,
Slif. etc. (see cunning^). — 3. Roguish, playful, waggish.
sly-boots (sli'bots), n. [< sly + booti, frequent
in similar compounds, as clumsy-boots, lazy-
boots, etc.] A sly, cunning, or waggish per-
son: also applied to animals. [Humorous.]
The frog called the laxy one several times, but in vain ;
there was no such thing as stirring him, though the dy-
bootx heard well enough all the while. Addison.
sly-bream (sli'brem), n. A fish of the genus
Epihuhis.
slyly, Slily (sli'li), adv. [< ME. slyly, sleighly ;
< sly + -/y^.] It. In an ingenious or cunning
manner; skilfully.
Eek men broughte him out of his countree
Fro veer to yeer ful pryvely his rente.
But honestly and dyly he it spente.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 586.
2. In an artful manner; with dexterous or in-
genious secrecy ; craftily.
But cast y<m dily in his way,
Before he t)e aware.
Jioin'n Bood and the Beggar (Child's Ballads, V. 196).
Would you have run away so dily, lady,
And not have seen me ? '
Fletcher, Valentlnlan, U. 5.
slyne (slin), n. Same as cleal^. [Eng.]
slyness (sli'nes), n. [Formerly also sliness; <
sly + -ness.] The quality of being sly, or eon-
duct that is sly, in any sense; craftiness; arch
or artful wiliness; cunning, especially satirical
or playful cunning; archness; the use of wiles
or stratagems, or the quality inclining one to
use them.
By an excellent faculty In mimicry ... he can assume
my air, and give my taciturnity a dyness which diverts
more than anything I could say if I were present.
Steele, Spectator, No. 264.
slype (slip), n. [Piop.slipe; B.YSbT.otslip^.'] In
some English cathedrals, a passage leading
slype
from the transept to the chapter-house or to
the deanery.
S M An abbreviation of short meter.
smac'kl (smak), V. i. [Formerly and still dial.
assibilat«d smutch, q. v. ; (a) < ME. smackcn,
smaclien, smaken, < AS. "sniacian, smacigan =
OFries. smakia = MD. smaecken, D. smaken
= MLG. smaken, smacken = OHG. smakken,
smachen,smahhen, give forth taste, MHG. stnach-
en, smacken, taste, try, smell, perceive, = Icel.
gmakka = Sw. sniaka = Dan. smage (Scand.
prob. < LG.), taste; (6) < ME. smecchen (pret.
smeihte, smachte, smauhte, pp. smaught, uimaht,
ismeiht, ismecched), have a savor, scent, taste,
relish, imagine, understand, perceive, < Ab.
smeecan, smxccan, smeegan, taste, = OFries.
smekka, smeisa = MLG. smeeken = OHG. smec-
ehan, MHG. smeeken, G. schmecken, taste, try,
smell, perceive; from the noun. The senses
are more or less involved, but all rest on the
sense ' taste.' The word is commonly but erro-
neously regarded as identical with smack^, as
if 'taste' proceeds from 'smacking the lips.']
1. To have a taste ; have a certain flavor; sug-
gest a certain thing by its flavor.
5710
part smartly so as to make a sharp sound: used
chiefly of the lips.
Not rnnachmge thy lyppes, as comonly do hogges.
""■ " " 'sabees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 344.
Smacking his lips with an air of ineffable relish. Scott.
4. To kiss, especially in a coarse or noisy man-
ner.
The curled whirlpools suck, tmaek, and emkrace,
Yet drown them. Danne.
II. intrans. 1. To make a sharp sound by a
smart parting of the lips, as after tasting some-
thing agreeable.
The King, when weary he would rest awhile.
Dreams of the Dainties lie hath had yer-while.
Smacks, swallows, grindea both with his teeth and laws.
Sylvegter, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Schisme.
Swedish horses are stopped by a whistle, and encouraged
by a gmacking of the lips. „ „.„ ,
B. Taylor, Northern Travels, p. 22.
small
ering, for discourse and table-talk, but not enough to keep
soul and life together, much less for strength and vigour.
Kev. S. Ward, Sermons, p. 83.
smack-fisherman (smak' fish" er-man), n. A
fisherman belonging to a smack; a smackraan.
smacking (smak'ing), 1). a. Making a sharp,
brisk sound; hence, smart; lively.
Then gives a smacking buss, and cries "No words!"
Pope, To Miss Blount, 1. 26.
We had a tmacking breeze for several hours, and went
along ata great rate until night.
R.U. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 276.
smackman, smacksman (smak'man, smaks'-
man),w.; pi. swoeA-mcH, swncA'smot (-men). One
who sails or works on a smack.
A fearful gale drowned no less than 360 emacksmen.
The Academy, Feb. 4, 1888, p. 77.
smack-smooth (smak'smoTH), adv. Openly;
without obstruction or impediment; also,
smoothly level.
smaik (smak), n. [Icel. smeykr, mean-spint-
ed, timid ; cf . svieyUnn, insinuating, cringing,
sleek.] A puny or silly fellow; a paltry rogue.
[Scotch.]
""' «. A dialectal form of small.
[It] gmackelh like pepper.
Baree, Alvearie, 1680.
(^Latham.)
She had praised detestable custard, and mnacked at
2. Hence, figuratively, to have a certain char- wretched wines. Gotdsmith, Citizen of the World, Ixxi.
aeter or property, especially in a slight degree ; gm^ck^ (smak), n. [< ME. *smack = D. smak, a
suggest a certain character or quality: com- j^^^ noise, = G. schmatz, a smack, = Sw. dial
monly with of.
All sects, all ages miack of this vice.
Shak., M. for M., ii. 2. 5.
Do not these verses tmaek of the rough magnanimity of
the old English vein ? Lamb, New Year s Eve.
Pears that mmck of the sunny South.
ii. H. Stoddard, Squire of Low Degree.
smacfcl (smak), «. [Formerly and still dial,
assibilated smatch, q. v.; < ME. smak (also as-
sibilated smack), < AS. smeec = MD. smseck, D.
smaak = G. geschmaek = 8 w. smak = Dan. snmg,
taste: see smack^, v. The AS. swxe, swmcc,
savor, smell, is a different word.] 1. A taste
or flavor; savor; especially, a slight flavor that
suggests a certain thing; also, the sense of
taste.
The streine of straunge deuise.
Which Epicures do now adayes inuent.
To yeld good smacke vnto their daintie tongues.
Gascoigne, Steele Glas (ed. Arber), p. 59.
Muske, though it be sweet in ye smel, is sowre in the
•rnacke. Lyly, Euphues, Anat. of Wit, p. 90.
Heno^.» 2 ^ flavor or suggestion of a certain
quality.
Your lordsh.jo though not clean past your youth, hath
yet some fnuKk o^f -j,^ i„ you. some relish of the saltness
. \SAo*., 2 Hen. IV., i. 2. 111.
2 To kiss so as to make a smart, sharp sound
with the lips; kiss noisily.— 3. To come or go
against anything with great force. Halliwell.
[Prov. Eng.]— To smack at, to smack the lips at as
an expression of relish or enjoyment. tju^^uuu
He that by crafty significations of ill-will doth prompt „ivi'alpl"('smal')
the slanderer to vent his poison-. . . he that pleasingly Smaie jsmai;,
relisheth and s»McW7i a( it, as he IB a partner in the f act Uiaucer. m ■ ■ -u t rv\,„t^r^
so he is a sharer in the guilt. Barrow, i. 391. (i^auKs.) gmale-^ (smal), m. [Origin obscure.] ihetorm
of a hare. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
Smalkaldic (smal-kal'dik), a. [Also Schmal-
kaldic or Smalcaldic; < Smalkald, Schmalkald,
or SmalcaUl, in G. Schmalkahlen, + -t'c] Per-
taining to Schmalkalden, a town in Thuringia.
of time.
3t.
Some »mack oi r H/-V)in Hood is in the man.
^s Lowell, Under the Willows.
Scent; smell. ■^■
Kest vpon a clyffe ther costese lay"; diye,
He [a raven, who just before is said to^" 'croak for comfort"
on finding carrion) hade the smelk> of the miaeh &
smoltes theder sone. 'a^
Alliteralive Poems (ed. Mc ''rris), ii. 461.
4. A small quantity; a taste; a smatttfcring.
If it be one that hath a little gmack of learning, . 'le re-
Jecteth as homely gear and common ware whatsoever — '*
not stuffed full of old moth-eaten words and terms, thavl*
be worn out of use.
Sir T. Mare, Utopia, Ded. to Peter Giles, p. 12.
He 'says the wimble, often draws it back,
And deals to thirsty servants but a gtrmck.
Dryden, tr. of Persiuss Satires, iv. 69.
=8yn. 1. Flavor, Savor, etc. (see tatU), tang.— 2. Touch
spice, dash, tinge.
smack2 (smak), V. [< ME. 'smacken, < MD.
smacken, D. smakken, smite, knock, cast, fling,
throw, = MLG. smacken = LG. smakken, smack
(the lips), = G. schmatzen (var. of 'schmacken;
ef. E. smatter), smack, fell (a tree), = Sw.
smacka, smack, Sw. dial, smakka, throw down
noisily, smacka, hit smartly, = Dan. smxkke,
smdkk, a light, quick blow, = Dan. smxk, a
smack, rap: see «mncfc2, r.] 1 . A smart, sharp
sound made by the lips, as in a hearty kiss, or
as an expression of enjoyment after an agree-
able taste ; also, a similar sound made by the
lash of a whip; a crack; a snap.
He . . . kiss'd her lips with such a clamorous mmck
That at the parting all the church did echo.
SAa*., T. of the S., 111. 2. 180.
2. A sharp, sudden blow, as with the flat of
the hand; a slap. Johnson.— Z. A loud kiss;
She next instructs him in the kiss,
'Tis now a little one, like Miss,
And now a hearty smack.
Cowper, The Parrot (trans.).
The gentlemen gallantly attended their fair ones to
their respective abodes,and took leave of them with «
hearty gmack. Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 171.
smack2 (smak), adv. [An elliptical use of
smack^, v.'] In a sudden and direct or aggres-
sive manner, as with a smack or slap ; sharply ;
plump; straight.
Give me a man who is always plumping his dissent to
my doctrines gmack in my teeth. „ ^, .., ,
Colman the Younger, Poor Gentleman, iii. 1.
smacks (smak), n. [< MD. smacke, D. smak =
MLG. smacke, LG. smak (cf . Dan. smakke = Sw.
smack = G. schmacke= F. semaqne = Sp. esmaque
= Pg.sumaca, all < D. or LG.), a smack; gen-
erally thought to stand for "snack = AS. snacc
= Icel. snMja = Sw. sndcka = Dan. snekke, a
small sailing vessel, a smack; cf. Sw. sndcka,
Dan. snekke = MLG. LG. snigge = OHG. sneg-
go, snecco, MHG. snegge, snecke, G. schnecke, a
snail; from the root of E. sneak, snake, snatl:
see S7ieak, snake, snagS, snail. For the inter-
change of sw- and sn-, cf . smatter.'] 1 . A sloop-
rigged vessel formerly much used in the coast-
iTlViZ and fishing trade.— 2. A fishing- vessel pro-
vided*' "'''■'^ ^ ''^'^ ™ which the fish are kept alive ;
.J fioV„^*;^fi;-smack. Smacks are either sailing vessels
a nsniE ' -^ ^ .j.^^ ^^^ chiefly market-boats, and in the
U it d"? tr tf ' *^* "'°^^ numerous on the south coast of
New England, tht,.
Previous to l3>iol
the Gloucester vessels engaged in the
slam, bang; prob. orig. imitative, not con-
nected with smack^, taste, unless ultimately, in
the same orig. imitative root. Hence ult. smash.
Cf. smatter.] I. trans. 1. To smite or strike
smartly and so as to produce a sharp sound;
give a sharp blow to, especially with the inside
of the hand or fingers ; slap : as, to smack one's
cheek.
They are conceited snips of men, . . . and you feel like
tmaekmg them, aa you would a black fly or a mosquito.
H. W. Beecher, Yale Lectures on Preaching.
A teacher who had smacked a boy's ear for impertinence.
The Cmtgregationalist, June 11, 1886.
2. To cause (something) to emit a sharp sound
by striking or slapping it with something else :
»8, he smacked the table with his fist.— 3 To
aigd or ground. [South-
Previous to ISlJP'vj not carry ice, and many of them were
halibut fishery du. •* so-called, which was done by building
made into smacks, (glartment amidships, and boring holes
a water-tight compl; ,it salt-water, and thus the fish were
in the bottom to adii! >- pisherman's Memorial Book, p. 70.
sSack-boat (Smak'l'''*^*)' ''• A fishing-boat pro-
smacK-DOat (Smajt , ^^^g^^ ^ clmcher-built row-
vided with a well, o. u. j^ng, as that carried by
boat, ten or fifteen fee 1^,,(1 ofher fishing-vessels.
New London smacks ai^v ■
Also smacks-boat.
smacked (smakt), a. CrusK **
''^U.S.] . ,„,.
fyj^l'hUol. Asa., XVII. 46.
, , , , , , tiiPiCTcfc -f dim. -ee2.]
smackee (smak'e), «. [< sr,t°^^^.i„g(,rsoU. [Key
A small fishmg-smack. E."^
West, Florida.] ■ a ,.^2 -(- -erl.] 1.
smacker (smak'er), n. [< sm^ or loud kiss.'
One who smacks.— 2. A smack ';^t. smattering.']
smackenngt(smak'6r-ing), «. [t,™^
A smattering. ^-^ „h^^„g u.^ cud
.Such as meditate by snatches, nevt r°"-ppily get a rmack-
and digesting their meat, they may ha.
Smacked (ground — as smacked ct
Trans. Amer. V^
- Smalkaldic Articles. Same as AHicles of Schmal-
kald (which see, under article).— Smalkaldic League, a
league entered into at Schmalkalden in 1.531 by several
Protestant princes and free cities for the common defense
of their faith and political independence against the em-
peror Charles V.— Smalkaldic war, the unsuccessful war
waged by the Smalkaldic League against Charles \ . (1646 -
small (smal), a. and n. [Formerly also smal;
also dial, smale; < ME. small, smal, smel (pi.
smale), < AS. smsel, thin, small, = OS. smal =
OFries. smel = D. smal = MLG. smal = OHG.
MHG. smal, G. schmal, slender, = Dan. Sw.
smal, narrow, thin (cf. Icel. obs. small, n., small
cattle, goats, etc., smeelingi, a small man), =
Goth, smals, small ; related to Icel. smdr = Dan.
smaa = Sw. smS = OHG. smdhi, MHG. sniahe,
smiehe, small (ef. OHG. smdhi, smallness, G.
schmach, disgrace, orig. smallness, schmachten,
languish, dwindle) ; prob. related to L. macer,
lean, thin (see meager), Gr. fiuKpdg, long, ufKpof,
a/uKpdg, small (see macron, micron); cf. OBulg.
malti, small, Gr. //^Xa (for *aii?/?.a ?), small cat-
tle, Olr. raj7, a beast.] I. a. 1. Slender; thin;
narrow.
With middle smaJ & wel ymake. ^,< , ,„
Specimens of E. K (ed. Morris and Skeat), II. iv. (A), 1. 18.
2. Little in size ; not gi-eat or large ; of less than
average or ordinary dimensions; diminutive.
This small inheritance my father left me
Conteuteth me. Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iv. 10. 20.
Lord Barnard he had a little small sword.
That hung low down by his knee.
Child Noryce (Child's Ballads, IL 43).
3. Little or inferior in degree, quantity, amount,
duration, number, value, etc.; short (in time or
extent); narrow, etc.
Thus thei endured thre dayes, that neuer thei dide of
hauhrek ne helme from theire hedes till the nyght that
thei ete soche vitalle as thei hadde, but it was full strmll.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), it 2.'J7.
The army of the Syrians came with a small company of
men 2 Chron. xxiv. 24.
There arose no small stir about that way. Acts xix. 28.
I had but a smal desire to walke much abroad in the
streets. Coryal, Crudities, I. 96.
The small time I staid in London, diuers Courtiers and
others my acquaintances, hath gone with mee to see her.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, II. 32.
They went aboard the Rebecka, which, two days before,
was frozen twenty miles up the river; but a. small rani
falling set her free. Winlhrop, Hist. New England, I. 209.
Though we have not sent all we would (because our
cash is siimll). yet it is yt we could.
Quoted in Bradford's Plymouth Plantation, p. 144.
A small mile below the bridge there is an oblong square
hill, which seems to have been made by art. ^ „ .„
Pococke, Description of the East, II. 73.
The small, hard, why pulse. Quain, Med. Diet,, p. 112.
A fud'dah is the smallest Egyptian coin.
E. W. Lane, Modern Egyptians, II. 372.
4. Low, as applied to station, social position,
Al were it so she were of stnal degree,
Sufliseth hym hir yowthe and hir beautee.
Chaucer, Merchant s Tale, 1. 381.
The king made a feast unto all the people that were
present in Shushau the palace, both unto great and smaU.
^ Esther L b.
small
6. Being of little moment, weight, or impor-
tance; trivial ; insignificant; petty; trifling: as,
it is a small matter or thing; a small subject.
Ye forsaken the grete worthinesse of concience and of
Tertu, and ye seken yuwre gerdouns of the gnuUe wordes
of straunge folkes. Chaucer, Boetbius, ii. prose 7.
This was thought no vmall peece of cunning, being in
deed a matter of some difficultie.
Pxittenham, Arte of Eng. Poeaie, p. 11.
6. Of little geniu.s, ability, or force of char-
acter; petty; insignificant.
Consorts with the mallpoett of the time.
B. Jonson, Alchemist, i. 1.
7. Containing little of the principal quality,
or little strength; weak: as, small beer.
This liquor tasted like a gmaU cider, and was not un-
pleasant. Sicift, Gulliver's Travels, ii. 1.
They can't brew their malt liquor too >maU.
Barhamy Ingoldsby Legends, I. 70.
8. Thin : applied to tones or to the voice, (a)
Fine ; of a clear and high sound ; treble.
He syngeth in his voys gentil and smei.
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1. 174.
He herde the notes gmaU
Of byrdes mery syngynge.
LyttU Gette of Hobyn Uode (Child's Ballads, V. 121).
Thy gmaU pipe
Is as the maiden's organ, shrill and sound.
Shak., T. S., i 4. 32.
(ft) Gentle: soft; faint; not loud.
After the Ore a still nnall voice. I KL xlx. 12.
9. Characterized by littleness of mind or char-
acter; evincing little worth; narrow-minded;
sordid; selfish; ungenerous; mean; base; un-
worthy.
Neither was it a mnaU policy in Newport and the Har-
riners to report in England we had such plentie, and
bring vs so many men without victuals, when they had
■o many private Factors in the Fort.
Quoted in CapL John Smilh't Works, 1. 198.
Among the flippant and the frivolous, we also become
tmall and empty. J. F. Clarke, Self-Cultore, p. 258.
10. Having little property ; carrying on a busi-
ness on a small scale.
Hr. Jones was not alone when be aaw ADsnias, but was
•ccommnied by Mr. Miles Ckittlngbam, a tmall fanner in
the neighborhood.
J. C. llarrit. Harper's Mag., LXXVI. 707.
11. Meager in quantity, as a body of water:
an anglers' epithet : as, the water is too gmall
to use the fly. [Scotland.] — 12. Noting the
condition of the cutting edge of a saw as con-
densed by hammering: same as tit/ht A small
sross, ten'dozen. or I'iO.— In a small way. (a) With
nttle capital or stock : as. to be in business in a matt way.
(fr) Unostentatiously ; without pretension.
Mrs. Bates . . . was a very old lady, almost past every
thing but te« and quadrille. She lived with Iter single
daughter in a very smoZf tray, and was considered with all
the regard and respect which a hannleaa old lady, under
such untoward circumstances^ can excite.
Jane Atuten, Emma, ilL
Small ale, ale weak in malt and probably without hops
or other liitter ingredient : used because cheaper, and also
for refreshment In hot weather or after excessive indul-
gence in strung liquors. Compare mtall beer.
For (lod's sake, a pot of mail ale; . . .
And once again, a pot o' the emalUM ale,
ShaJt., T. of the a, Ind., it I and 77.
Small arms, see arm2.— Small aabler. BeeoMer.a.—
Small beer, bower, brown, bugloss. See the nouns.
~ Small burdock, ^aiw -.i^ Iriwfr hur'lijck. Seeburdoek,
-Small capitals, capital iL-tt^-rs of the short and small
ftirin (A, B. r, i», etc.) furnished with every font of ro-
man text-type. The letter was first made in type by
Aldus Msnutius of Venice in 1501, and used by him as
the regular capital for his new Italic. Small capitals are
indicated in manuscript by two parallel lines under the
word intended to be printed in them. Abbreviated S. C,
or fm. cap. ~ Small cardamom, the common cardamom,
Elettaria Cartlauunnmn. Wi^icMiA Malabar eardavunn.
See cardammn. - Small casino. c6lajidlB0, cranberry.
See the nouns. -Small cborus. Same aa amidkonta.—
Small coal, coal broken into very small pieces, either in
minini; or in the coumo of ittt tu.-iding ana tran«>ortatk»n
to innrkft ; stack. Small ntal \* frequently abbrerlated
to nruilh Small debts, small-debt court See debt
— Small double-post, » slzt- of iirintingpsper, 19 x 29
inches iKng.) -Small fruits, fry, generals, hand.
8ec/n/i(./r.i/-', etc.— Small Intestine, the inlc»tine from
the pylorus to the ileucaical valve, cuusiKtitig of the duo-
denum. Jejunum, and ileum. See cut under intentine, —
Small magnolia. See Magnolia, 1.— Small matweed.
See maticted, 2 ((). — BmaU mean. See mean-f, :\ (e).—
Small measure. See mriuure.— small number, in
printinn. same as thart number (which nee, under ghort).
- Small octave. »*« ocinrr. t (f >. Small orcbestra,
palmetto, pearl, peppermint, pond, -"te tlic nouns.
— Small Penalties Act. -^tf iftutliii. — Small pota-
toes, quarto, reed. .Hee n^to. qunrio, n-r.i. Small
reed-grass. .Same as email reed. Small spikenard,
stores, sword. See the noun8.~Small stuff ("i"'.),
Gpun y.'irn, marline, and small ropes. — Small talk, trifling
or uninifiortant conversation.
Mr. Casant>on seemed even unconscious that trivialities
existed, and never handed round that nnall-talk of heavy
men which is as acceptalile as stale bride-cake brought
forth with an odor of the cuplKmnl.
Oeorgt JStiot, Middlemarcb, 111.
5711
Small tithes, see altarage, 2.— Small wares. See
war^^.— The small bours. See Aowr.— To tblni small
beer of. See 6c^ri.=Syn. 1. Smaller, Fewer (see legsl),
tiny, puny, stunted, Lilliputian, minute. — 2. Inconsidera-
ble, unimportant, slender, scanty, moderate, paltry, slight,
feeble. — 6. Shallow. Hee pettiness. — 9. Illiberal, stingy,
scrimping.
11. n. 1 . A small thing or quantity ; also, the
small or slender part of a thing: as, the small
of the leg or of the back ; specifically, the small-
est part of the trunk of a whale ; the tapering
part toward, near, or at the base of the flukes.
Now, certes, and ye lete me thus sterve,
Yit have ye wonne tberon but a smal.
Chaucer, Complaint to his Lady, L 113.
hong. His leg is too big for Hector's.
Dum. More calf, certain.
Boyet. No ; he is t>est indued in the small.
Shak., L. L. L., T. 2. 645.
2. pi. Same as small-dothes.
Tony Washington, the negro barber from the village,
and assistant violinist, appeared in powdered hair, a faded
crimson silk coat, ruffle cuffs, and white smalls.
S. Judd, Margaret, L 10.
3. pi. The "little go," or previous examina-
tion: as, to be plucked for smalls. [British
university slang.]
" Greats," so far as the name existed in my time, meant
the Public Examination, as distinguished from Respon-
sions, Littlego, or "Smalls."
E. A. Freeman, Contemporary Rev., LI. 821.
4. pi. In coal-mining, same as small coal (see
above). — 5. pi. In mefa/-miHin</, ore mixed with
gangue in particles of small size : a term used
with various shades of meaning in certain dis-
tricts of England.
The ore ... is tipped from trucks on to a grating of
iron bars about 2^ in. apart; the "mine snuUls" pass
through. The Engineer, LXX. 126.
A small and early, an informal evening entertainment.
(Colioq. 1
For the clearing off of these worthies, Mrs. Podsnap
added a small and early evening to the dinner.
Dickens, Mutual Friend, xL
In smallt, in a form relatively small ; in miniature.
The labours of Hercules in massy silver, and many in-
oomparabie pictures in nnall. Evelyn, Diary, Oct 22, 1644.
Small Of an anchor, that part of the shank of an anchor
immediately under the stock.— Small of the back. See
back'.
small (8m41), r. t. [< ME. smalen ; < small, a.]
To make little or less; lessen. Imp. Diet.
small (sm&l), adv. ^< ME. smal; < small, a.]
It. In a small quantity or degree; little.
But, for that I was purveyed of a make,
I wepte but jmaf, and that I undertake.
Chaueer, ProL to Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 592.
If thou doet weep for grief of my sustaining,
Know, gentle wench, it small avails my mood.
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 1273.
2. Low; in low tones; gently; timidly; also,
in a shrill or high key.
Flute. Let not me play a woman ; I have a beard com-
ing.
Quince. You shall play it in a mask, and you may speak
as muOl as you will. Shak. , M. N. D., i. 2. 49.
The reposing taller ion .Sunday], thoughtfully smoking,
talking small, as If in honour of the stillness, or hearken-
ing to the wailing of the gulla
K. L. SIsMiuan, Memoirs of an Islet.
To do small, to have little socceas or poor luck.— To
sing small Seejtn^.
smallage (sm&'laj), n. [< ME. smalege, orig.
'smal ache,K smal, small, + ache, water-parsley,
smallage. < L. apium, parsley: see achc^.'] The
celery-plant, Apium graveolens, especially in
its wihl state. It is then a marsh-plant, with the leaf-
stalks little developed and of a coarse and acrid quality.
small-clothes (smal'kloTHz). n. 7)/. Knee-
breeches, as distinguished from pantaloons and
trousers; especially, the close-fitting knee-
breeches of the eighteenth century. Also short
clothes and smalls.
One ... in full fashion drest, . . .
His rmall<lotliee sat so close and tight :
His boots, like Jet, were black and bright.
W. Combe, Dr. Syntax's Tours, i. 20.
His well-bmshed Sunday coat and small-dothes, his
bright knee and shoe buckles, his long silk stockings,
were all arranged with a trim neatness refreshing to iie.
hold. H. B. SUme, Oldtown, p. 5'2.
small-dot (smil'dot), n. In lace-making, a name
given to point d'esprit, and to any very small
pieces of solid work recurring at regular inter-
vals on the r^seau or background.
smallflsh (smai'fish), «. The candleflsh or
ciilailioii. [f'acific coast, U. S.]
small-headed (smai'hed'ed), a. Having a com-
])aratively or relatively small head; microce-
l)halic or microcephalous Small-headed fly-
catcher, a bird of the eastern IJnited States, described
as Muscicapa minuta by Wilson (1812). Nuttall (18.'«X and
Audubon (1839). hut never since identified. It is supposed
to be a fly-catcblng warbler of the geniu Myiodioctes,
smaragd
smallish (smft'lish), a. [< small + -tgftl.]
Somewhat small; rather small than large.
Hise shnldris of a large brede.
And smalish in the girdllstede.
Bom. of the Rose, 1. 826.
smallmouth (smal 'mouth), n. The small-
mouthed black -bass.
small-mouthed (smal'moutht), a. Having a
comparatively or relatively small mouth : as,
the small-mouthed black-bass.
smallness (smal'nes), n. [Formerly also svial-
ncss; <}ilE.smalnes; (.small + -ness.J The state
or character of being small, in any sense of that
word. = S3m. Prt«n<»8, etc. Seeft«tt«n«»».
small-pica (smal'pi'ka), «. A size of printing-
type, a little less than? lines to the inch, inter-
mediate between the sizes pica (larger) and
long-primer (smaller). It is equal to 11 points
in the new system. Seepoint^, 14 (6), and 2«ca*.
This is small-pica type.
Double small-pica. See picay
smallpox (smarpoks'), n. [Orig. small pocks,
i. e. little pustules: see small and pock, pox.]
An acute, highly contagious disease, fatal in
between one third and one fourth of unvac-
cinated cases, it ordinarily presents the following
features: (1) a period of incubation (three to eighteen
days or more, usually twelve to fourteen days); (2) period '
of invasion (two to four days), with aching in back, limbs,
epigastrium, and high fever (primary fever), usually ush-
ered in by well-marlied chill : (;i) period of eruption (about
five days), with cropping up of niaculee, quickly develop-
ing into papules and vesicles, more or less distinctly urn-
bilicated, over the skin, and a corresponding eruption
forming little erosions and ulcers in the mucous mem-
branes of the mouth and elsewhere (a marked fall of tem-
perature and pulse-rate at the beginning of this period,
with a subsequent slow rise as the eruption extends); (4)
period of suppuration (four to five days), the vesicles be-
coming pustules, with a marked rise of temperature and
pulse-rate (secondary fever); (r.) period of desiccation (six
to ten days), the pustules breaking and forming dry scabs.
The nature of the specific cause of the disease is as yet
(1899) undetermined. It can remain potential in clothes
or other contaminated articles for months or years. All
ages are susceptible, but especially chililren, and the dis-
ease may occur in the fefns. Also called variola. See
vaccination, tm)ci/fa/ion. Confluent smallpox, small-
pox in which the vesicles and pustules unite with one
another to form buUic.— Discrete smallpox, smallpox
in which the vesicles and pustules remain distinct. —
Hemorrhagic smallpox, smallpox in which there are
hem()rriniges. as fnmi the mouth, bronchial tubes, stom-
ach, bowels, and kidneys, aa well as into the skin, forming
viblces and petechia. Also called scorbutic, bloody, and
blaek tmaUpox or variola.
smally (smal'li), adv. [< ME. smally, stnalliche;
< small +.-ly^.^ 1. In a small manner, quan-
tity, or degree ; with minuteness; little. [Ob-
solete or rare.]
We see then how weak such disputes ire, and how malty
they make to this purpose. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, ill. 11.
Fed. A very smale sweete voice. He assure you.
Qua. Tis smally sweete indeede.
Marston, What you WUl, IL 1.
2t. With small numbers.
Kenulph & his paramoure, . . . smally accompanyed.
Fabyan, Chron., cllL
smalt (sm<), n. [< It. smalto, enamel, = Sp.
Pg. esmalte = OF. esmail, F. email (ML. smal-
tum), < G. schmalte = D. smalt = Sw. smalt =
Dan. snialtc, smalt, < OHG. smalzjan, smelsan,
MHG. smcUen, G. schmelzen, melt, cause to melt
(cf. G. schmaU, grease, Olt. smalzo, butter),
= E. smelt: see smelt^, and cf. amcl, ennmel.'\
Common glass tinged of a fine deep blue by the
protoxid of cobalt. When reduced to an impalpable
powder it is employed as a pigment in painting, and in
printing upon earthenware, and to give a blue tint to
writing-paper, linen, etc. Also called enamel-blue, Eschel
blue, royal blue.
I was Informed that at Sneeberg they have a manufac-
ture of the powiler blue called stnalt, made of cobalth.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. ii. 235.
Green smalt. Same as cobalt green (which see, under
greeni).
smaltine (sm&l'tin), w. [< smalt + -tKf2.] An
arsenide of cobalt, oflen cohtaining nickel and
iron. The allied arsenide of nickel, into which it passes,
is called cAfti<in//it/^. .Smaltine occurs in isometric crys-
tals, also massive, of a tin-white color and brilliant me-
tallic luster. Also called smattite, gray cobalt, tin-white
cobalt, and by the Germans speiskobalt.
smaltite (smartit), «. [<. smalt •¥ -ite^.'\ Same
as ymaltinc.
smaragdt (smar'agd), n. [< ME. smaragde, <
OF. smaragde = D. OHG. MHG. G. Dan. Sw.
smaragd, < L. smaragdus, < Gr. a/iapaydoc, a pre-
cious stone of light-green color: see emerald.']
A precious or semi-precious stone of green
color.
Alle the thinges . . . that Indus giveth, . . . thatmed-
eleth the grene atones (,»maragde) with the white (marga-
rits). Chaucer, Boetbius, ill. meter la
smaragd
Aristotle doth affirme, and so doth Alhertus Ma^ua,
that a Smaraiid wonie about the necke Is good against the
Kalling-sicknes. Babees Book (E. E. T. S.X p. 267.
smaragdine (sma-rag'din), a. [< L. smaragdi-
nus. < tiiiiiiraijdus, < Gr. afjdpaydnf, smaragd : see
smaragd.'] Of a green color like that of smar-
agd— that is, of any brilliant green : an epithet
used loosely and in different senses.
smaragdite (sma-rag'dit), n. [< smaragd +
-•;«■'-.] An emerald-gi'een mineral, thiu-foliated
to fibrous in structtire, belonging to the amphi-
bole or hornblende group : it is found in certain
rocks, ns the euphotide of the Alps. It often re-
sembles diallage (hence called green diaUage), and may be
in part derived from it by paramorphism.
smaragdochalcite (sma-rag-do-kal'sit), n. [<
Gr. (Tuiipo} (5of, smaragd, + ;);a?j>ir(f, containing
copper: see chalcitis.1 Same as dioptase.
smart^ (smart), r. [< ME. smerten, smeorten
(pret. smeart, also weak, smertcd), < AS. *stneor-
tan (Somner) (pret. *smeart) = MD. smerten, D.
smarten = ML6. smerten = OHG. smcrzan (pret.
smarz), MHG. smerzen, G. schmerzen = Sw.
smarta = Dan. smerte, smart; = L. mordere
(■y/ mord, orig. *smord f ), bite, pain, sting, =
Skt. -v/ mard (orig. *smard), rub, grind, crush;
cf. Russ. smertii. death, Gr. afiepdvog, terrible.]
1. intrans. 1. To feel a lively, pungent pain;
also, to be the seat of a pungent local pain,
as from some piercing or irritating applica-
tion; be acutely painful: often used imper-
sonally.
1 am 80 wounded, as ye may wel seen.
That 1 am lost almost, it gmert so sore.
Chaucer, A. B. C, 1. 152.
I have some wounds upon me, and they smart.
Shak., Cor., L 9. 28.
2. To feel mental pain or suffering of any kind ;
suffer ; be distressed ; suffer evil consequences ;
bear a penalty.
Christ and the apostles were in most misery In the land
of Jewry, but yet the whole land smarted for it after,
J. Bradford, Letters CParker Soc, 1868), 11. 42.
It was Carteret's misfortune to be raised to power when
the public mind was still smarti-ng from recent disappoint-
ments. Macaulay, Horace Walpole.
3. To cause a smart or sharp pain; cause suf-
fering or distress.
This is, indeed, disheartening; it is his [the new mem-
bers] first lesson in committee government, and the mas-
ter s rod smarts. W. Wilson, Cong. Gov., li.
To smart for it, to suffer as a consequence of some act
or neglect.
And verily, one man to live in pleasure and wealth,
while all otlier weep and smart for it, that is the part, not
of a king, but of a jailor.
Sir T. Mare, Utopia (tr. by Kobinson), L
H, trans. To cause a smart or pain to or in ;
cause to smart.
What calle ye goode? fayn wold I that I wiste :
That plesith one, a-nothir smertUhe soore.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 75.
The manner of the Master was too pointed not to be
felt, and when he had succeeded in smarting the good
woman's sensibilities his object was attained.
S. Judd, Margaret, i. 16.
Smart^ (smart), n. [< ME. smert, smerte, smierte
= MD. smerte, D. smart = MLG. smerte, LG.
smart = OHG. smerzo, smerza, MHG. smerz, G.
schmerz = Sw. smarta = Dan. smerte, pain ; from
the verb. In def. 4 from the adj.] 1. A sharp,
quick, lively pain; especially, a pricking local
pain, as the pain from the sting of nettles.
As faintly reeling he confess'd the smart.
Weak was his pace, but dauntless was his heart.
Pope, Iliad, xi. 944.
Strong-matted, thorny branches, whose keen smart
He heeds in no wise. S. W. Gilder, Love in Wonder.
2. Hence, mentalpain or suffering of any kind ;
pungent grief ; afiliotion.
Your departeng is cause of all my smerte,
Only for that I do this payne endure.
Generydes (E. E. T. S.), 1. 170.
This City did once feele the smart of that cruell Ilunni-
cal King Attila his force. Coryat, Crudities, I. 149.
Bat keep your fear still ; for if all our Art
Miscarry, thou art sure to share the Smart.
Brome, Noi-thern Lass, ii. 4.
3. Same as smart-money : as, to pay the smart.
— 4. A dandy; one who affects smartness in
dress ; also, one who affects briskness, vivacity,
or cleverness. [Cant.]
His clothes were as remarkaidy fine as his equipage
could be ; ... all the smarts, all the silk waistcoats with
silver and gold edgings, were eclipsed in a moment.
Fielding, Joseph Andrews, 11. 4.
smartl (smart), a. [< ME. smart, smarie, smerte,
smearte, smierte, BTnart; from the verb.] 1. Caus-
ing a smart or sharp pain ; especially, causing
a pricking local pain ; pungent; stin^g.
5712
Lett mylde mekenes melt in thyn hart;
That thou Rewe on my nassyone.
With my woundis depe and smarte.
With crosse, naylys, spere & crowne.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 166.
How smart a lash that speech doth give my conscience !
Shak., Hamlet, iii. 1. 50.
Old Charis kept aloof, resolv'd to let
"The venturous Maid some smart experience reap
Of her rash confidence.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, ii. 20.
3. Sharp; keen; poignant: applied to physical
or mental pain or suffering.
For certes I haue sorow ynow at hert,
Neuer man had at the full so sn\ert.
Bom. of Partenay (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3913.
3. Marked by or executed with force or vigor;
vigorous; efficient; sharp ; severe : as, a smart
blow ; a smart skirmish ; a smart walk.
For they will not long sustain a smart Onset.
Dampier, Voyages, II. i. 74.
It [a sheet of water] is remarkable for a long bridge built
across it, certainly the longest I ever saw. It took me
fifteen minutes and twenty seconds, smart walking, to go
from end to end, and measured 1S.W paces.
B. Hall, Travels in N. A., I. 75.
4. Brisk; lively; fresh: as, a s)»a7-t breeze.
Of the esy fyr and smart also.
Chaucer, Prol. to Canon's Yeoman's Tale, 1. 215.
5. Acute and pertinent; witty; especially,
marked by a sharpness which is nearer to pert-
ness or impertinence than to genuine wit ; su-
perficially witty: noting remarks, writings,
etc. : as, a smart reply ; a smart saying.
Thomas of Wiltdn , . . wrote also a smart Book on this
Subject . . . (Whether Friars in Health, and Begging, be
in the state of perfection 1) The Anti-Friarists maintain-
ing that such were Rogues by the T.aws of God and Man.
Fuller, Worthies, Wiltshire, III. 335.
A voluble and smart fluence of tongue.
Milton, On Def. of Humb. Remonst., Pref.
I acknowledge, indeed, that there may possibly be found
in this treatise a few sayings, among so great a number
of smart turns of wit and humour as I have produced,
which have a proverbial air.
Surift, Polite Conversation, Int.
6. Brisk ; vivacious ; lively ; witty ; especially,
sharp and impertinent, or pert and forward,
rather than genuinely witty: noting persons.
Raillery is the finest part of conversation ; but, as it is
our usual custom to counterfeit and adulterate whatever
is too dear for us, so we have done with this, and turned
it all into what is generally called repartee or being
smart. Sw%ft, Conversation.
The awfully smart boy is only smart — in the worst
American sense of the word — as his own family make
him so; and if he is a nuisance to all others, his own
family only are to blame.
Harper's Mag., LXXX., Literary Notes.
7. Dressed in an elaborately nice or showy
manner; well-dressed; spruce.
A smart, impudent-looking young dog, dressed like a
sailor in a blue jacket and check shirt, marched up.
Macaulay, in Trevelyan, I. 202.
I scarcely knew him again, he was so uncommonly smart.
Hehad . . . onashining hat, lilac kid gloves, aneckerchief
of a variety of colours, . . . and a thick gold ring on his
little finger. Dickens, Bleak House, ix.
8. Elaborately nice; elegant; fine; showy: not-
ing articles of dress.
"Sirrah," says the youngster, "make me a smart wig, a
smart one, ye dog." The fellow blest himself : he had
heard of a smart nag, a smart man, etc., but a smart wig
was Chinese to the tradesman.
Gentleman Instructed, p. 476.
This stout lady in a quaint black dress, who looks young
enough to wear much smarter raiment if she would.
Charlotte Bronte, Shirley, xxiv.
9. Quick J active; intelligent; clever: as, a
smart business man.
My father was a little smart man, active to the last de-
gree in all exercises. Sterne, Memoir.
Bessie Lee must, I think, have been a girl of good natu-
ral capacity, for she was smart in all she did, and had a re-
markable knack of narrative; so,atleast,I judge from the
impression made on me by her nursery tales.
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, iv.
She was held to be a smart, economical teacher, inas-
much as she was able to hold the winter term, and thrash
tlie very biggest boys, and, while she did the duty of a
man, received only the wages of a woman.
H. B. Stoute, Oldtown, p. 117.
10. Keen, as in bargain-making; sharp, and
often of questionable honesty; well able to
take care of one's own interests. [U. S.] —
11. Fashionable; stylish; brilliant. [Eng.]
I always preferred the church, as I still do. But tliat
was not miart enough for my family. They recommended
the army. That was a great deal too smart for me.
Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, xix.
For a time the Clays were seen and heard of on the top
wave of London's smart society. The Century, XL. 271.
12t. Careful; punctual; quick.
When thi seruantes haue do ther werke.
To pay ther hyre loke thou be smerte.
Booke 0/ Precedence (E. E. T. S.), L 60.
smash
13. Considerable; large: as, a right smart dis-
tance. [CoUoq., IT. 8.] — 14t. Forcible; ear-
nest.
These few Words ["And why call ye me Lord, Lord, and
do not the things which I say?"] contain in them a smart
and serious Expostulation of our Blessed Saviour.
Stillingjket, Sermons, III. vii.
15t. Having strong qtialities ; strong.
Sirrah, I drank a cup of wine at your house yesterday,
A good smart wine.
Fletcher (and anotherf). Prophetess, iii. 1.
16. In good health; well; not sick. [New
Eng.] — 17. Swift-sailing, as a vessel: in dis-
tinction from a6<€, stanch, or seaworthy. [New
Eng.] — 18. Up to the mark; well turned out;
creditable. [Colloq.]
It was all the Colonel's fault He was a new man, and
he ought never to have taken the Command. He said that
the Regiment was not stnart enough.
/;. Kipling, Rout of the White Hussars.
Right smart, much ; many ; a great deal : with of: as, to
do right smart of work ; keep right smart of servants or
chickens. [U. s.] — Smart as a steel trap, very sharp
and shrewd ; extremely bright and clever. (Colloq., V. S.]
She was a little thin woman, but tough as Inger rubber,
and smart as a steel trap. H. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 57.
smart^ (smart), adv. [< ME. smerte; < smart^,
a.] Smartly; vigorously; quickly; sharp. [Ob-
solete or vulgar.]
If men smot it with a yerde smerte.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 149.
The swynehorde toke out a knyfe smert.
MS. Cantab. Ff. ii. 38, f. 131. (HalliweU.)
After show'rs
The stars shine smarter. Dryden.
Smart^t (smart). A contracted form of smart-
eth, third person singular present indicative of
s/w«r(l.
smarten (smiir'tn), v. [< smarts + -enl.] I.
trans. To make smart or spruce; render brisk,
bright, or lively: often witli up.
Murdoch, having finished with his duties of the morning,
had smartened himself up. W. Black, Houseboat, vU.
II. intrans. To smart; be pained.
smart-grass (smart'gras), n. Same as smart-
weed.
May-weed, smart-grass, and Indian tobacco, perennial
monuments of desolation. S. Judd, Margaret, ii. 1.
smartly (smart 'li), adv. [< ME. smerteh,
.•oiirrtlichc, smeortli (cf. D. smartelijk = G.
schiii(r:lich = T)a.n. sniertelig, painful); < smart^
+ -ly'^.] In a smart manner, in any sense of
the word smart.
smart-money (8mart'mun'''i),m. 1. Money paid
to escape some unpleasant engagement or some
painful situation; specifically, money paid by
a recruit for the British army before being
sworn in for release from his engagement.
Lord Trinket. What is the meaning of that patch over
your right eye ?
O'Cuiter. Some advanced wages from my new post, my
lord. This pressing is hot work, though it entitles us to
smart-money. Colman, Jealous Wife, iii. 1.
2. In law, exemplary or vindictive damages ;
damages in excess of the injury done. Such dam-
ages are given in cases of gross misconduct or cruelty on
the part of the defendant. See damage, 3.
Nor did I hear further of his having paid any smart-
money for breacli of bargain. .Scott, Rob Roy, xxviL
3. Money allowed to soldiers and sailors for
wounds and injuries received on service.
smartness (smart'nes), n. The character of
being smart, in any sense.
smart-ticket (smart'tik"et), n. A certificate
granted to one who is entitled to smart-money
on accotint of his being hurt, maimed, or dis-
abled in the service, or an allowance for wounds
or injuries received on service. [Eng.]
smartweed (smart'wed), «. The water-pepper.
Polygonum Hydropiper, a weed of wet places in
tlie Old World and the New. it is acrid to the
taste, and inflames the skin when applied to tender parts.
It has diuretic and, as claimed, some other medicinal prop-
erties. Old or provincial names are arse-smart and cut-
rage. The name extends more or less to similar species.
Also «n«r(-3rii88.— Water-smartweed, the American
Pdlyoonum acre.
smarty (smiir'ti), n. [Dim. of smarf^. h.] A
wouUf-be witty person ; a smart. [Colloq.]
"Did you make [catch] the train?" asked the anxious
questioner. " No," said smarty, " it was made in the car-
shop." Boston TranMript, .March 6, 1S80.
smash (smash), v. [Not in early use ; prob. <
Sw. dial, smaska, smack, kiss (cf. smasl; a slight
explosion, crack, report, smiska, slap), prob. a
transposed form of 'smaksa = Dan. smaske,
smack with the lips, LG. smaksen, smack with
the lips, kiss, orig. prob. ' smack,' smite ; with
the verb-formative s (with transitive sense, as
in cleanse, make clean), from the root of smack^:
smash
see smack^, and cf. smatter. Ct MHG. smatzen,
kiss, smack; MHG. smackezen, G. schmatzen,
fell a tree, schmatz, a smack : see smoci-l. The
word smash has been more or less associated
with the diff. word ma^Al.] I. trans. 1. To
break in pieces utterly and with violence ; dash
to pieces; shatter; crush.
Here every thing is broken and smashed to pieces.
Burke,
A pasteboani cackoo, which . . . would send forth a
sound, . . . my little brother smashed the next day, to see
what made the noise.
Grace Greenwood, Recoil, of Childhood, Tom Frock.
2. To render insolvent; bankrupt. [Slang.]
— 3. To dash \-iolently; fling violently and
noisily: as, he smashed it against the wall.
[Vulgar.] — 4. In latcn-tennis. to strike with
much strength ; bat very swiftly.
He told them where to stand so as not to Interfere with
each other's play,.when to tmath a ball and when to lift it
high in the air. St. Nicholas, XVII. 921.
=Syn. 1. Shatter, etc See dash.
IL intrans. 1. To act with a crushing force ;
produce a crushing or crashing.
The 500 Express, of exactly J-incfa bore, is considered
by most Indian sportsmen the most effective all-roand
weapon for that country ; it has great smashing power,
good penetration, and it is not too cumbrous to cover
moving game. W. W. Greener, The Gun, p. 171.
2. To be broken or dashed to pieces suddenly
and roughly; go to pieces by a violent blow or
collision. — 3. To be ruined ; fail; become insol-
vent or bankrupt: generally with up. [Slang.]
— 4. To dash violently: as, the locomotives
smashed into each other. [CoUoq.] — 6. To
utter base coin. [Slang.]
smaall (smash), n. [< smash, v."] 1. A violent
dashinp; or crushing to pieces : as, the lurch of
the ship was attended with a great smash of
glass and china. — 2. Destruction; ruin in gen-
eral; specifically, failure; bankruptcy: as, bis
business has gone to smash. [Colloq.]
It nui tbns: — "Tour hellisb machinery is shivered to
smash on .Stilbro' Moor, and yoor men are lying bound
band and foot in a ditch by the roadside."
CharioUe Bnmtl, Shirley, iL
I have made an awful smash at the Literary Fund, and
have tumbled into 'Bvins knows where.
Thackeray, Letters, 1S47-55, p, 120.
8. A drink composed of spirit (generally bran-
dy), cut ice, water, sugar, and sprigs of mint:
it is like a julep, but served in smaller glasses.
— 4. > disastrous collision, especially on a rail-
road : a smash-up. [Colloq.]
smasher (sma-sh'^r), n. [< smash + -erl.] 1.
One who or that which smashes or breaks. — 2.
A pitman. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] — 3. Any-
thing astounding, extraordinary, or very large
and unusual ; anything that deciiles or settles
a question; a settler. [Slang.] — 4. One who
passes counterfeit money. [Slang.] — 6. A
counterfeit coin. [Slang.]
Another time I found 16«. ed., and thought that was a
haul : but every bit of it, every coin, shillings and six-
pence* and JoeyL was bad— all smashers.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, n. 4S8.
6. A small gooseberry pie. Halliwell. [Local,
Eng.]
smashing (8ma8h'ing),j>. a. 1. Crushing; also,
slashing; dashing.
Never was such a smashing article a* he wrote.
ThadKray, Fbllip, xvL
2. Wild; gay. HaHitceU. [Prov. Eng.]
. smashlnK-machilie (smash'ing-ma-shen'), n.
A hi'avy aii.l (luick press used by liookbinders
to flattiMi ami make solid the springy folds of
books Vicfore they are sewed.
smashing-press (smash'ing-pres), n. 1. A
smasliiiig-machine. — 2. An embossing-press.
smash-up (smash'up), It. A smash ; a crash ; es-
pecially, a serious accident on a railway, as
when one train runs into another. [Colloq.]
There was a flnal imuuk-up of his party as well as his
own i«iMitaUon.
at. Jame^s OattU*, Jan. 22, 1887. (Aieye. Diet. )
In the tiiuuA.iip he broke h\s left fore-arm and Iw.
Alien, and SturU.,%. MO.
smatchi (smach), V. [< ME. smachen, smecchen,
an assibilated form of smaeki.l I. intrans. To
have a taste ; smack.
n. trans. To have a taste of; smack of.
Keoerthelesse ye haue yet two or three other figure* that
snatch a spice of the same false aemblant, bat In another
sort and r^aner »f phrase.
Pvtttnhaim, Arte of Eng. Poeale, p. 1&9.
smatchi (smach), n. [< smatch^, r.] Taste;
tincture; also, a smattering; a small part.
369
i
5713
Or whether some gmateh of the fathers blood.
Whose kinne were neuer kinde, nor neuer good,
Mooued her thereto.
Puttenham, .-Vrte of Eng. Poesie, p. 189.
Thou art a fellow of a good respect ;
Thy life hath had some sinatch of honour in it.
Shak.,J. C.,v. 5. 46.
'Tis as good, and has all one smatch indeed.
Middleton (and others). The Widow, i. 1.
smatch^ (smach), n. [Also smitch; origin ob-
scure.] The wheatear, a bird. See the quota-
tion under arling.
smatter (smat'^r), v. [< ME. smatteren, make
a noise; prob. < Sw. smattra (MHG. smeteren),
clatter, crackle ; perhaps a var. of Sw. snattra
= Dan. snaddre, chatter, jabber, = D. snateren
= MHG. snateren, G. schnattern, cackle, chat-
ter, prattle ; a freq. form of an imitative root
appearing in another form in Sw. snacka, chat,
prate, = Dan. snakke = MD. snacken, D. LG.
snakken, chat, prate, = G. schnacken, prate ; cf.
Sw. snack, chat, talk, = Dan. snak = G. schnack,
chat, twaddle; D. snaak, a joker; G. schnake, a
merry tale; and cf. Sw. smacka, smack (make a
noise), croak, Dan. smaske, snaske, gnash or
smack with the lips in eating : see smack^,
smash.] I. i«<ra>»«. It. To make a noise. Songs
and Carols (ed. Wright), No. Ixxii. (Stratmann.)
— 2. To talk superficially or ignorantly.
For I abhor« to smatter
Of one so deuyllyshe a matter !
SkeUon, Why Come ye nat to Courte? 1. 711.
3. To have a slight or superficial knowledge.
I smatter of a thyng, I have lytell knowledge in it
Pal^rave, p. 722.
n. trans. 1. To talk ignorantly or superfi-
cially about ; use in conversation or quote in a
superficial manner.
The barber smatters Latin, I remember.
B. Jonson, Epiccene, iv. 2.
For, though to smattsr ends of Greek
Or Latin be the rhetorique
Of pedants counted, and vainglorious.
To smatter French is meritorious.
5. Butier, Our Ridiculous Imit. of the French.
2. To get a superficial knowledge of.
I have smottsfM law, smatlered letters, smattercd geog-
raphy, smatlertd mathematics.
R. L. Slnexuon, The Dynamiter, p. 7.
3. To taste slightly.
Vet wol tbey Uiae . . . and smatre hem.
Chaucer, Parson's Tale.
smatter (smat'tr), n. [< smatter, r.] Slight or
superficial knowledge ; a smattering.
All other sciences . . . were in a manner extinguished
during the course of this (Assyrian] empire, excepting only
a smatter of Judicial astrology.
Sir W. Temple, Ancient and Modem Leamlug.
That worthleas smatter of the classica
C. F. Adams, Jr., A College Fetich, p. 27.
smatterer (smat'^r-^r), n. One who smatters,
in any sense ; one who has only slight or super-
ficial knowledge.
Lord B. What Insolent, halfwitted things these are !
Lord L. So are all mMlfiimri, Insolent and impudent.
B. Jonson, New Inn, ii. 2.
I am but a smmUtrtr, I confess, a stranger ; here and
there I pull a flower. Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 24.
Many a tmattertr loqulres the reputation of a man of
quick p.art«. Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 148.
smattering (smat'6r-ing), B. [Verbal n. of
smatter, r. J A slight or superficial knowledge :
as, to have a smattering of Latin or Greek.
He went to Khoola, and learned by 12 yeares a compe-
tent smoflcrin^ of I«tln, and was entted Into the Greek
bafore IB. Aubrey, Lives (William Petty).
As to myself, I am proud to own that, except some
smattering In the French. I am what the pedants and
scholars call a man wholly lllit«rate — that is to say, un-
learned. Stci/l, Polite Conversation, Int.
smatteringly (smat'6r-ing-li), adv. In a smat-
tering way ; to an extent amounting to only a
smatter.
A language known but smatteringly
In phrases here and there at random.
Tennyson, Aylmer's Field.
S. M. D. The abbreviation of short meter double.
See mcter^, 3.
smear (smer), n. [< ME. smere, smer, < AS. smeru,
smeoru, fat, grease, = OS. smer = OFries. smere
= MD. smere, D. smeer = MLG. smer, smer =
OHG. smero, MHO. smer, G. schmeer, schmiere
= Icel. smjor, smiir, fat, grease, = Sw. Dan.««»or,
butter; cf. Goth, smairthr. fatness, smarna,
dang; Olr. smir, marrow; Lith. smarsas. fat,
smala, tar'Gr. //lywr, unguent, a/iipiq, emery for
polishing. Cf . smear, v ., and cf . also smalt, smelt^.
The noun is in part (def. 2) from the verb.] 1.
Fat; grease; ointment. [Bare.] — 2. A spot,
blotch, or stain made by, or as if by, some uno-
taons substance rubbed upon a surface.
smeddnm
Slow broke the moon,
All damp and rolling vapour, with no sun,
But In its place a moving smear of light.
Alex. Smith.
3. In sugar-manuf., the technical term tor fer-
mentation.— 4. \a pottery, a mixture of glazing
materials in water, used for coating articles
before they are placed in the saggars of the
glazing-furnace.
smear (smer), v. t. [< ME. smeren, smerien, smi-
rien, smurien, < AS. smerian, smyrian = MD. D.
smeren = MLG. smeren, LG. smeren, smiren,
smeiren, smeuren, grease, = OHG. smirwen,
MHG. smirn, smirwen, G. schmieren, anoint,
smear, = Icel. smyrja = Sw. smorja = Dan.
smiire, anoint, smear; from the noun. Hence
smirch.] 1. To overspread with ointment; an-
oint.
With oile of mylse smerie him, and his sunne quenohe.
Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.X p. 18.
2. To overspread thickly, irregularly, or in
blotches with anything unctuous, viscous, or
adhesive; besmear; daub.
Smear
The sleepy grooms with blood.
Shak., Macbeth, iL 2. 49.
3. To overspread too thickly, especially to the
violation of good taste ; paint, or otherwise
adorn with something applied to a surface, in
a way that is overdone or tawdry.
The churches smeared as usual with gold and stucco and
paint. Lathrop, Spanish Vistas, p. 22.
4. To soil ; contaminate ; pollute.
Smeared thus and mired with infamy.
Shak., Much Ado, Iv. 1. 136.
Smeared dagger, an American noctuid moth, Aeronycta
oblinita. CTV. Kuey, 8d Mo. Ent. Eep., p. 70. See cut
under dagger, 4. = Syn. 2. To bedaub, begrime.— 4. To
tarnish, sully.
smear-case (smer'kas), «. [< G. schmier-kase,
whey, clieese, < schmier, grease, -I- kdse, cheese:
see smear and cheese.] Same as cottage cheese
(which see, under cheese^). [U. S.]
smear-dab (smerMab), n. The smooth dab, or
lemon-dab. Microstomas or Cynicoglossus micro-
cephalus, a pleuronectoid fish of British waters.
Also called miller's topknot and sand-fluke.
smear-gavelt, «. A tax upon ointment.
Euerj'ch sellere fo [of] grece and of smere and of talw;
shal. at the feste of Estre, to the kynge a peny, in the
name of mnerijauei. English Gilds (E. E. T. S.X p- 369.
smeariness (smer'i-nes), «. The character of
being smeary or smeared.
smeary (smer'i), a. [< smear + -yi.] 1. Tend-
ing fo smear or soil; viscous; adhesive. [Rare.]
The smeary wax the brightening blaze supplies.
And wavy fires from pitchy planks arise.
Howe, tr. of Lucan's Pharsalia, ilL
2. Showing smears; smeared: as, a smeary
drawing.
smeath (smeth), n. [Also smethe (also, locally,
in a corrupt form smccs) ; prob. = MD. smeente,
D. smicnt, a widgeon. The equiv. E. smee is
prob. in part a reduction of smeath: see smee.
smew.] 1. The smew, Mergellusalbellus. [Prov.
Eng.] — 2. The pintail duck: same as smee, 4.
[New Jersey.]
Smeaton's blocks. A system of pulleys in two
blocks, so arranged that the parts
of a continuous rope are approxi-
mately parallel. The order in which
the rope passes round the pulleys consecu-
tively is shown by the figures In the cut.
Named after the engineer who invent«d it,
smectite (smek'tit), H. [< Gr.
aiitjKTtq (also afii/KTpii;), a kind of ful-
lers' earth (< o/it/xctv, rub, wipe off
or away, a collateral form of a/jav,
wipe, rub, smear), + -ite''^.] A mas-
sive, elay-Iike mineral, of a white to
green or gray color: it is so called
from its property of taking grease
out of cloth, etc.
smeddum (smed'um), n. . [Also
smitham, smithum (lead ore beaten
to powder), < AS. smedema, smide-
ma, smcdma, also smedeme, meal, fine flour.] 1.
The powder or finest part of ground malt; also,
powder,of whatever kind. — 2. Sagacity; quick-
nessof apprehension; gumption; spirit; mettle'.
A kindly lass she is, I'm seer,
Has fowth o' sense and smeddum In her.
Skinner's Misc. Poet., p. 166. {Jamieson.)
3. [In this sense often smitham.] Ore small
enough to pass through the wire bottom of the
sieve [north of England] ; in coal-mining, fine
slack [Midland coal-field, England] : also, a
layer of clay or shale between two beds of coal
{Gresley).
smedet, »■
powder.
smede
[ME.; cf. smeddvm.']
5714 smelt
Flour; fine 4. Figxiratively, to appear to V^o_f^acertem Z'^,°^,^l'X%l!rJti:^&^^^^^
-- ■ - " ' " «. [< smell +
-dble.l
The mwdxt of barly. ^ ,„ „. „,
MS. Line. Mtd. t. 805, XV. Cent ^BaUitceU.)
smee (sme), n. [Prob. in part a reduction of
smeath: seesmeath. Cf. SJwew.] 1. The mer-
ganser,-Ueri/d/MS albeUus: same a.s smew. — 2.
The pochard, FiiUgula fcriiia . [Norfolk, Eng.]
—3. The widgeon or b&ldpate, Marecane)ielope.
[Norfolk, Eng.] — 4. The pintail duck, Dafila
acuta. Also smethe. Trumbull, 1888. [New
Jersey.]
Smee cell. See cell, 8.
smee-duck (sme'duk), n. Same as smee.
smeekt, "• An obsolete variant of smoke.
Smee's battery. See cell, 8.
smeetert, »• An obsolete variant of simitar.
smeeth' (smeTH), o. and v. A dialectal form
of smooth.
smeetll2t(smeth),t'.^ [Cf. smother. 2 To smoke;
rub or blacken with soot. Imp. Diet.
smegma (smeg'mii), n. [NL., < Gr. om/^a,
ofifi/ia, an unguent, soap, < of'/X^'v, rub, aiiair,
rub, wipe, smear: see smectite.] Same as se6a-
ceoiis humor (which see, under sebaceous). —
Prepuce smegma, or smegma prseputll, the whitish,
cheesy substance which accumulates under the prepuce
and around the base of the glans. It consists mainly of
desquamated cells of the epidermis of the parts, impreg-
nated with the odoriferous secretion of Tyson's glands.
Sometimes calleU simply tfmegma.
smegmatic (smeg-mat'ik), a. [< Gr. mi/y/ia(T-),
an unguent, soap : see smegma.] Of the nature
of smegma or of soap; soapy; cleansing; de-
tersive. Imp. Diet.
smeldet. An obsolete preterit of .«weM.
smellte (sme 'lit), n. [< Gr. afitih/, soap (<
afidi; rub, wipe, smear), + -ite^.] a kind of
kaolin, or porcelain clay, found in connec-
tion with porphyry in Hungary. It is worked
into ornaments in the lathe and polished.
ffeale.
smell (smel), v.; pret. and pp. smelted, smelt,
ppr. smelling. [< ME. smellen, smyllen, smiiHen
(pret. smelde, smilde, smulde, also smolte, pp.
ismelUd) (not found in AS. ), smell ; cf .D. smeulen
= 'LG.smdlen, smelen, smolder; Dan. swi/?, dust,
powder. Ct. smolder, stnother.] I. trans. 1. To
perceive through the nose, by means of the ol-
factory nerves; perceive the scent of; scent;
nose.
Anon ther com so swete a smul as thel hit from heuene
were,
That al hit miulde with gret loye that in the cuntre weren
there. Holy Hood (E. E. T. S.), p. m.
I nnett sweet savours and I feel soft things.
Shak., T. of the S., Ind., ii. 73.
Vespers are orer, though not so long but that I can
mull the heavy resinous incense as I pass the church.
IHekens, Uncommercial Traveller, xxviii.
2. To perceive as if by smell; perceive in any
way ; especially, to detect by peculiar sagacity
or a sort of instinct; smell out.
From that time forward I began to smdl the word of
God, and forsook the school-doctors and such fooleries.
Latimer, Sermons, p. 335.
Come, these are tricks ; I frmll 'em ; I will go.
Fletcher (and another), Noble Gentleman, ii. 1.
I like this old Fellow, I gmell more Money.
Steele, Grief A-la-Mode, Iv. 1.
3. To inhale the smell or odor of; test by the
sense of smell : oftener intransitive, with ofov
at To smell a rat. See rati.— To smell out, to find
out by prying or by minute investigation.
What a man cannot smell out he may spy into.
Shai., Lear, L 5. 22.
To smell the footlights. See/ooUights.
II. intrans. 1. To give out an odor; affect
the olfactory sense : as, the rose smells sweet.
A swote smel ther com anon out of, that smelde in-to al
that lond. Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 27.
The king is but a man as I am ; the violet smells to him
as It doth to me ; . . . all his senses have but human con-
ditions. Shak., Hen. V., iv. 1. 106.
And now look about you, and see how pleasantly that
meadow looks ; nay, and the earth smells as sweetly too.
1. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 107.
2. Specifically, to give out an offensive odor:
as, how the place smells!
Ham. Dost thou think Alexander looked o' this fashion
i' the earth?
Hor. E'en so. ,!,.,„
Ham. And tmeU so? pah 1 [Puts down the skull.
Shak., Hamlet, v. 1. 221.
3. To have an odor (of a specified kind); be
scented with: with of: as, to smell o/ roses.
A dim shop, low in the roof and smelling strong of glue
nature or charaeter as indicated by the smell: ^Sabfe (smel'a-bi)
generally followed by hke or oj. Capable of being smelled. "[Rare. J
"Thou miWfeo/ a coward," said Robin Hood, ^^ ^ complex of visible, tangible, smeUaHe,
«„w;S:r^'«o^n''r„''J?^hild'sBallads,V.385). tastable^^ualities 5c^^ VIII. 377.
What say you to young Master Fenton? he capers, he Smeller (^smel^er)^, n. [< smell + -e)i.] 1. One
dances, he has eyes of youth, he writes verses, he speaks
holiday, he smells April and May.
' SAa*., M. W. of W., ill. 2. 69.
These are circumstances which smell strongly o.f im-
posture and contrivance. Bp. Atterbury, Sei-mons, II. 1.
5. To inhale a smell or odor as a gratification
or as a test of kind or quality, etc.: colloquially
with of, formerly sometimes with to or unto.
To puUe a rose of alle that route, . . .
Aoa smellen to it where I wente.
Rom. of the Rose, 1. 1669.
Smell to this Hower ; here Nature has her excellence.
Fletcher (and another Y), Prophetess, v. 3.
I'm not nice, nor care who plucks the Rose I smell to,
provided it has not lost its Sweetness.
Urs. Centlivre, Platonick Lady, i.
A young girl's heart, which he held in his hand, and
tnnelled to, like a rosebud.
Hawthorne, Blithedale Romance, ix.
6. To snuff; try to smell something; figurative-
ly, to try to smell out something: generally
with about: as, to go smelling about — A smell-
ing committee, an investigating committee. [Colloq.,
U. ,S.]— To smell of the footlights, of the lamp, of
the roastt, etc. S>ee.footli!jfits, etc.
smell (smel), n. [< ME. smel, smil, smul, smeal,
smeol (not found in AS.): see the verb.] 1.
The faculty of perceiving by the nose ; sense-
perception through the olfactory nerves; the
olfactory faculty or function ; the physiological
process or function whereby certain odoriferous
qualities of bodies, as scent or effluvium, are
perceived and recognized through sensation; ol
_ [< smeK + -e)l.]
whoor that which smells or perceives the smell
of anything; also, one who tests anything by
smelling. — 2. One who or that which smells
of anything, is scented, or has odor.
Such nasty smellers
That, if they'd been unfurnished of club-truncheons,
They might have cudgell'd me with their very stink,
It was so strong and sturdy.
Fletcher (and another "0, Nice Valour, v. 1.
3. Thenose;in the plural.the nostrils. [Slang.]
For he on smellers, you must know,
Receiv'd a sad unlucky blow.
Cotton, .Scarronides, p. 64. (Davies.)
4. Familiarly, a feeler; a tactile hair or pro-
cess; especially, a rictal vibrissa, as one of a
cat's whiskers.— 5. A prying fellow ; one who
tries to smell out something; a sneaking spy.
[Slang.]
smell-feast (smel'fest), n. [< smell, v., + obj.,
feast. In def. 2 < smell, n., + feast.'] 1. One
who finds and frequents good tables; an epi-
cure. [Low.]
No more smell-feast Vitellio
Smiles on his master for a meal or two.
Bp. Hall, Satires, VI. i. 17.
2. A feast at which the guests are supposed to
feed upon the odors of the viands. Imp. Diet.
smelling (smel'ing), « . [< ME. smellinge, smell-
ynge; verbal n. of smell, v.] The sense of
smell; olfaction.
If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing?
If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
faction ; scent: often with the definite article, as
one of the special senses : as, the smell in dogs smelling-bottle (smering-bot''l)^,^»,
is keen. The essential organ of smell is located in a ' " ' ^
special part or lobe of the brain, the rhinencephalon, or
olfactory lobe, whence are given off more or fewer olfac-
tory nerves, which pass out of the cranial cavity into the
nasal organ, or nose, in the mucous or Schneideiian meni-
bra.ie of the interior of which they ramify, so that air
laden with odoriferous particles can affect the nerves
when it is drawn into or through the nasal passages. In
man the sense of smell is very feeble and imperfect in
comparison with that of many animals, especially of the
carnivores, which pursue their prey by scent, and rumi-
nants, which escape their enemies by the same means.
Smell in the lower animals seems to be the guiding sense
in determining their choice of food.
Memory, imagination, old sentiments and associations,
are more readily reached through the sense of smeU than
by almost any other channel. O. W. Holmes, Autocrat, iv.
1 Cor. xii. 17.
_ . . _ ^ small
portable bottle or flask, usually of fanciful form
or decorated, (a) for containing smelling-salts,
or (6) for containing an agreeable perfume.
Handkerchiefs were pulled out, smeUing bottles were
handed round ; hysterical sobs and screams were heard.
Macaiday, Warren Hastings.
smelling-salts (smel'ing-salts), n. pi. A prep-
aration of ammonium carbonate with some
agreeable scent, as lavender or bergamot, used
as a stimulant and restorative in faintness and
for the relief of headache.
At this point she was so entirely overcome that a squad-
ron of cousins and aunts had to come to the rescue, with
perfumes and tnnelling-salts and fans, before she was suf-
ficiently restored. Harper's Mag., T.XXTX. 547.
Smell is a sensation excited by the contact with the ol- ,, , (^mcV^t>•i^ n r< tmeM ■¥ -less.] 1
substances, usually in a gaseous smell-less (smel les;, a. L'^*"'"" ,T '';»»• J '■
factory region of certain _
condition and necessarily in a state of fine subdivision.
Encyc. Brit, XXII. 165.
It will be observed that sound is more promptly reacted
on than either sight or touch. Taste and smell are slower
than either. W. James, Prin. of Psychology, I. 96.
His [Thoreau's] smell was so dainty that he could per-
ceive the fcetor of dwelling-houses as he passed them by
at night. R. L. Stevenson, Thoreau, i.
2. That quality of anything which is or may
be smelled ; an odoriferous effluvium ; an odor
or scent, whether agreeable or offensive ; a
fragrance, perfume, or stench; aroma: as, the
smell of thj-me ; the smell of bilge-water.
Theise men lyven be the smelle of wylde Apples.
MandemlU, Travels, p. 297.
Suettere smul ne myate he then the smoke smulde.
Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 42.
Having no sense of smell; not oHactive.— 2.
Having no smell or odor; scentless.
smell-smockt (smel'smok), n. [< smell + obj.
smoek.] 1. One who runs after women; a li-
centious man. [Low.]
If thou dost not prove as arrant a smellsmock as any
the town affords in a tei-m-time, I'll lose my judgment
Middleton, More Dissemblers Besides Women, i. 4.
2. The lady's-smock, Cardaminepratensis; rare-
ly, the wind-flower. Anemone nemorosa. Brit-
ten and Uollana, Eng. Plant Names. [Prov.
Eng.]
smell-trap (smel'trap), ». A drain-trap (which
see); a stink-trap.
"Where have you been stayhig?" "With young Lord
Vieuxbois, among high art and painted glass, spado
fanns, and model smell-traps." Kingsley, Yeast, vi.
sjnrfJ off the shore like the sm«« of a _^_-ii_ ComeTi") a (< smell + -»/l.l Having
Winthrop. Hist. New England, I. 27. ^^^IXrle^pedally an offensive one. [Colloq.!
Nasty, dirty, frowzy, grubby, smelly old monks.
ffiji<;«(«!/, Water-Babies, p. 186.
and footlights,
k. L. aimentan, A Fenny Plain, 2d. Coloured.
And there came a snJfB
garden.
Impatient of some crowded room's close smell.
Mrs. Browning, Aurora Leigh, iv.
3. A faint impression; a subtle suggestion; a
hint ; a trace : as, the poem has a smell of the
woods.— 4. An act of smelling: as, ho took a
smell at the bottle. = Syn. Smell, Scent, Odor, Savor
Per.fume, Fragrance, Aroma, Stench, Stink. Smell and
scent express the physical sense, the exercise of the sense,
and the thing which appeals to the sense. The others
have only the last of these three meanings. Of the nine
words the first four may express that which is pleasant or
unpleasant, the next three only that which is pleasant, the
last two only that which is very unpleasant. Smell is the
general word ; the others are species under it. Scent is
the smell that proceeds naturally from something that has
life: as, the scent of game; the sccnf of the tea-rose. Odor
is little more than a Latin substitute for smell: as, the odor
of musk, of decaying vegetation ; it may be a dainty word,
as stncll cannot be. Savor is a distinctive smell, suggesting
taste or flavor, proceeding especially from some article of
food: as the sdcor of garlic. Per/iime is generally a strong
or rich but agreeable smell. Fragrance is best used to
express fresh, delicate, and delicious odors, especially
such as emanate from living things : as, the fragrance of
the violet, of new-mown hay, of the breath of an infant.
Aroma should be restricted to a somewhat spicy smell :
as, the aroma of roasted coBee, or of the musk-rose. Stetu:h
and sUnk are historically the same word, in different da-
smeltl (smelt), V. [Formerly also smtlt; not
found in ME.; < MD. smelten, smilten. D. smelten
= MLG. smelten, LG. smultcn = OHG. smelzen,
smelzan, smalzjan, MHG. smeUcn, G. schmehen
= Icel. smelta = Sw. smcilta = Dan. i<melte, fuse,
smelt; causal of G. schmelsen = Sw. smdlta =
Dan. stnelfe, molt, dissolve, become liquid; cf.
MD. smalt, grease or melted butter, D. smalt,
enamel, = OHG. MHG. smah, G. sehmalz, fat,
grease, > It. smalto, enamel, dial. smaho, butter,
= F. email, enamel: see smalt, amel, enamel.
Connection with melt is doubtful.] I. trans.
To fuse; melt; specifically, to treat 'ore) in the
large way, and chiefly in a furnace or Dy the aid
of heat, for the purpose of separating the con-
tained metal. Metallurgical operations carried on in
the moist way, as the amalgamation of gold and silver ores
in nans, treatment by lixiviation, etc., are not generally
designated by the term smelting. Establishments where
this is done are more commonly called mills or reduction-
works, and those in which iron is smelted are usually
designated aa blast-furnaces or hon-furnaces. The van-
smelt
OU8 smelting operations differ greatly from each other,
accurding to the nature of the combinations operated on.
Simple ores, like galena, require only a very simple series
of operations, which are essentially continuous in one
and the same furnace; more complicated combinations,
like the mixtures of various cupriferous ores smelted at
Swansea by the English methotl. require several succes-
sive operations, entirely disconnected from each other,
and performed in different furnaces. In the most gen-
eral way, the essential order of succeasion of the various
proceaaea by which the sulphureted ores (and most ores
are BtUpbureta) are treated is as follows : (1) calcination
or roasting, to oxidize and get rid (as far as possible) of
the sulphur; (2) reduction of the metal contained in the
oxidized combinations obtained ; (8) refining, or getting
rid of the last traces of deleterious metals associated in
. the ores with the useful metal, to obtain which is the es-
sential object of the operation.
H. intratiff. To fuse ; melt; dissolve.
Having too much water, many corns will gmilt, or have
their pulp turned into a substance like thick cream.
Mortimer, Husbandry.
Smelt2 (smelt), n. [< ME. smelt, < AS. smeU =
Norw. smelta = Dan. smelly a smelt (applied to
various small fishes); i>erhaps so called because
it was * smooth'; ef. AS. smeolt, smyltj serene,
smooth (as the sea): see*mo/^.] 1. Any one of
various small fishes, (o) A small fish of the family
Argentinid« and the genus Osmerug. The common Eu-
ropean smelt is the sparting, O. eperlanm; it becomes
5715
SmcltiDg-furnace.
a, fire-brick lining ; A. masonry ; c, opening in the side of the upper
part of the furnace through which it is charged ; e, boshes : /, throat ;
JT, hearth or crucible ; A. cjam-stone ; i, twyer. That part lying below
tiic widest diameter, above the boshes, is called the iKa/l.
»bout 10 to 12 inches lonjt, and u'ofan olive'green atiove Smeret, n. and V. An obsolete spelling of smear.
and a silvery white below, with a silver longitudinal lateral Smere-gavelt, ». Same as «»n<?or-</at'ei.
band. It exhales when fresh a peculiar scent sugjjesting SmerinthuS (sme-rin'thus), n. TNL. (LatreiUe.
the cucumber. This flsh is prijed as a delicacy. Ihecor- iho->) < (ir ffu;Wi*or u^n/iAv i.S.«rH li„« 1 i
responding American smelt i> O. montar, of tie Atlantic »""''• ^ ,■ "■"W'^'^t ff^ Tf ^ ^ •-, " o^'J. ■•
A genus of sphmx-moths, of the family Sphingi-
fte, having the antennic serrate. S. ocdlatus is
the eyed sphin.x; .S', popiiH, the poplar-sphinx;
and .S'. tiliae, the lime-sphinx or hawk-moth. — 2.
[l. c] A moth of this genus : as, the Umesmerin-
</iu«, whose laTva feeds on thelirae-tree or linden,
smerkt. An old spelling of xmirk^, smirlfl.
smerkyt, a- An obsolete form of smithy.
Eaxen. American Sa>ell (Oimrru. m<,rjax>. Smertt, »., C, and (l. An old Spelling of Smaffl.
coMt from Virginia northward, anadromons to some ex- smetlielt, o. A Middle English form ot smooth.
tent, and otherwise very similar to the sparling. Tbereare smetlie^, «. 1. Same as smew. — 2. Same as
•ereral true smelts of the Paciec coast of North America, ^f,iec 4
asO. tAoMcAUyi, the Califomian smelt, and O.ifenlet, the ._-_l/' ,-,\ _ rt> v. « / • i i.- i .^
Alaskasmelt. Hence-(6) Anyother speclesofthefamily 8meW(8mu),n. [Prob. a var. (simulating OTeKilf)
ArgenHnidK related to the smelt, such as the Hypmnam of smee, ult. of smeath: see smee, smeath. The
pretumu or olidtu. also called ntrfmuit, which Is distin
ffaished from the true smelts by baring the dorsal most-
ly advanced beyond the ventrals and by the moch smaller
mooth and weak teeth. It inhabits the Pacific coast of the
United States from California northward, reaches a length
of about I2inches, and is highly esteemed as a food-flah. (e)
In (Uifomia, any species of the family -^(Amnidji, resem-
bling the true smelt in general appearance, bnt provided
with an anterior spinous and a posterior branched dorsal
An, and having the ventrals not far behind the pectorals.
The com mon Calif omtan smelt, AtAeriaoptu eaHfonti»Mti,
reaches a length of about 18 Inches, and Its flesh is flne^
firm, and of excellent flavor, though a little dry. It is
one of the most importaot food-flshes of California, never
absent from the markets. Other species are AUurinom
afinu, the little amelt, and Leurettlui tenuU. (d) A freah-
water cyprinoid, ByboffiuMut ngiut, which somewhat re-
sembles the true smelt In form, translncency, and color;
also, one of other cyprinoids, as the spawn-eater and the
sUversides. ( Eastern U.S.] (e) A gadoid flab, Miengadtu
pnmmui, the tom-cod of the Pacific liope. [San Fran-
eisoa J (/) The smolt, a young salmon before its visit to
tbs sea. [Eng. J (a) The lance or lant See mmtUel, and
cut under Ammod^tidM.
2t. A gull ; a simpleton.
These direct men, they are no men of fashion ;
Talk what you will, this Is a very snuft.
FUteher {and another\ Love's Pilgrimage, t. 2,
Cup. Wliat '» he, Merctuy?
Mrr. A notable fmeft. £.7(m*<m, Cynthia's Revels, U. 1.
Mollet-nnelt, Atherinofit eatifomieMit. See def. I (c).
— New Zealand smelt. See Rttropinna.
smelter (sin«rt<T), n. [<»)n«/fl + -erl.] l.One
who is engaged in smelting, or who works in
an establishment where ores are smelted. — 2.
In the Cordilleran region, smelting-works. [Re-
cent,]
At Denver Is made much of the machinery used at the
various camps, and to its foniaees and muUen is shipped
a Urge proportion of the precfcrns area.
Harper'i Mag., LXXVl. 96a
smeltery (smel't^r-i), n. ; pi. smelteries (-iz).
[< smtin + -ery.^ An establishment or place
for smelting ores.
The pro<liict of the mettery In 1886 had a money value
of »l,106,190.-«. Harper-, Mag., LXXVII. 592.
conjecture that sm^uj is a contraction of 'ice-
mew is unt«n'able, even if such a name as ice-
mew existed.] A small merganser or fishing-
duck, Uergellua albellus, the white nun, or smee,
of the family Anatidte and subfamily Merginm,
smeltie (smel'ti), n. [Dim. otsmem."] A kind
of codfish, the bib. [Scotch.]
smelting-fnmace (smel'ting-f^r'nas), n. A fur-
na<-c in which metals are separated from their
ores. Si'i' hlast-furnare, rererberatory furnace
(under rrrerhenitorij, 2). and cut in next column,
smelting-honse (smel'ting-hous), n. In metal.,
a VmiMing erected over a smeltine-fumace • —I'^l""^"! -t i,. \ , n ■ • i
smcltiiig-works -rii-iuK luniace, gmickert (smik'ftr), v. i. [< smtcker, o.]
smelting-'Works fsmel'ting-w^rks), » «/ .n,i ^»ok'^'"pronH\y. _ Kersey.
&(iicw ^Mfritiiiit .iiJMiiHJi. ,iiiult m^le.
inhabiting northerly parts of the eastern hemi-
sphere. The male in adult plumage la a very beautiful
bird, of a pure white, varied with black and gray, and
tinged with green on the crested head : the length is about
17 Inches. 'The female Is smaller, with reddish-brown and
gray plumage, and Is called the red.headtd mirtc. Also
"nealA. — Hoodod VXUfW, the hooded merganser, hopho.
dyta cueuOattu, resembling and related to the above, but
of another genus. See cut nnder mergantr.
smlckert (smik'6r), a. [< ME. smiker, < AS.
'smicor, "smicer, smicere, smicre = OHQ.smehhar,
smechnr, MHQ. smecker, neat, elegant; perhaps
related to MHGl. smicke, sniinke, G. schminke.
Saint, rouge; bnt the Q^i.tmickra = D&a.smigre,
atter, 8w. smicker = Dan. smiger, flattery, be-
long to a prob, different root, MHG. smeicheln,
G. schmeicheln, flatter, freq. of MHG. smeichcn,
flatter, MIiO. smeken, snuiken = D. smeeken, sup-
plicate; OHG. smeih, smcich, MHG. smeick, flat-
tery. Ct.smug.'] 1. Elegant; fine; gay.
He fell off heffne dun . . .
And warrth till atell defell thier
Off ahene and nniktrr eiingeil.
OrmtUtim, 1. 13679.
Herdgroom, what gars thy pipe to go so load?
Why bin thy looks so fnnickrr and so proud?
Peele, An Eclogue.
2. Amorous.
s,„g. A building or set of buildings in^'which '^f!!^^^'^* (»mik'^r-ing).
To
of
the business of smelting ore is carried on.
Compare smelter, 2.
imercllt, f. An obsolete spelling of smirch.
= . , „, [Verbal n.
.] An amorous inclination.
We had a young Doctour, who rode by our coach, and
seem'd to hsre a tmieierit^ to onr young lady of Pilton.
Drydtn, Latters, p. 88 (To Hn. SUward, Sept SS, 1690).
Smilax
Bmicket (smik'et), n. [< smock (with usual va-
riation of the vowel) + -«<,] A smock. [Prov,
Eng.]
Wide antlers, which had whilom grac'd
A stag's bold brow, on pitchforks plac'd.
The roaring, dancing bumpkins show,
And the white STnic/cet^ wave below.
Combe, Dr. Syntax's Tours, ii. 5. (Daviet.)
smicklyt (smik'li), adr. [< 'smick, va'r. of smug
(or apparent base of smicker), + -ly^.^ Neat-
ly; trimly; amorously.
Ba. What 's hee that looks so miiekly t
Fol. A Flounder in a frying-pan, still skipping ; ... hee 's
an Italian dancer. Dekker aiuL Ford, Sun's Darling, ii.
Smicra (smik'rii), n. [NL. (Spinola, 1811), <
Gr. cfunpi^, var. of /JiKp6c, small : see micron.'}
A genus of parasitic hymenopterous insects, of
the family Chalcididx, having enlarged hind
femora, armed with one or two large teeth fol-
lowed by numerous smaller ones. Most of the
American species which have been placed in
this genus belong to the allied genus Spilochal-
cis.
smiddum-tails (smid'um-talz), n. pi. [< smid-
dum, var. of smeddum, + tail^ (pi. tails, ends,
'foots').] In mining, the sludge or sUmy part
deposited in washing ore. Simmonds.
smiddy (smid'i), n. ; pi. smiddies (-iz). A dia-
lectal variant of smithy.
smidgen (smij'en), M. [Origin obscure; per-
haps for orKg.'smitching, < smitch + -ingS.] A
small piece; a small quantity.
Smidgen, "a small bit, a grain," as " a tmidgen of
meal," is common in East Tennessee.
Trans. Amer. I'hUol. Am., XVII. 43.
smift (smift), n. [Origin obscure,] A bit of
touchwood, touch-paper, greased candle-wick,
or paper or cotton dipped in melted sulphur,
used to ignite the train or squib in blasting.
This old method of setting off a blast has been almost en-
tirely done away with by the introduction of the safety-
fuse. Also called gnuf.
smightt, ''. An obsolete erroneous spelling of
smite.
Smilaceae (smi-la'sf-e), n. pi. [NL. (R. Brown,
1810), for 'Smilacaceae, < Smilax (Smilac-) +
-acese.} Agroupof monocotyledonous plants,by
many regarded asa distinct order, but now class-
ed as a tribe of the order Liliacex. it is charac-
terized by a sannentose or climbing stem, three- to five-
nerved leaves, anthers apparently of a single cell, the
Inner cell being very narrow, and ovules solitary or twin.
It includes the typical genus Smilax, and 2 small genera
of about 5 species each, Ileteromnilax of eastern Asia, and
lihipofjttmtvi of Australia and New Zealand.
Smilacina(8mi-la-si'nii),«. [NL. (Desfontaines,
1807), < Smilax (-«<•-) + -ina'.'] A genus of lilia-
ceous plants, of the tribe Polygonateie. it is char-
acterized by flowers in a terminal panicle or raceme with
a spreading six-pai-ted jicrianth, six stamens, and a three-
celled ovar^' whicli becomes in fruit a globose pulpy berry,
often with but a single seed. There are about '20 species,
all natives of the northern hemisphere; 3 occur in the
easteni and 3 in the i'aciflc Vnited .states — only one, 5.
xtellata, l)eing common to both ; 7 species are natives of
Mexico and Central America, and others are found in Asia.
They are somewhat delicate plants, producing an erect un-
branched leafy stem from ii creeping rootstock, and bear-
ing alternate diort-petioled leaves and small usually white
or cream-colored flowers. They are known by the name
of falM Solonum'8-9eal, especially S. racemosa, the larger
Eastern species, the rhizome of which is said to be diu-
retic, diaphoretic, and a mild alterative.
Smilax (smi'laks), n. [NL. (Tournefort, 1700),<
L. smilax, < Gr. afilla^, the yew (also ^i/af), also
a kind of evergreen oak; o/uAa^ lainaia, 'garden
smilax,' a leguminous plant, the fruit of which
was dressed and eaten like kidney-beans; a/il-
?.af >jia, ' smooth smilax,' a kind of bindweed
or convolvulus.] 1. A genus of liliaceous
plants, tj-pe of the
tribe Smilaceie. Itis
characterized by dioe-
cious flowers in um-
bels, with a perianth
of six distinct cur^'ing
segments, the fertile
containing several,
sometimes six, thread-
shaped staminodes,
three broad recurved
stigmas, and a three-
celled ovary which be-
comes in fruit a glo-
bose berry usually con-
taining but one or two
seeds. There are about
200 species, widely
scattered throtigh
most tropical and tem-
perate regions; 11 oc-
cur in the northeastern
United .States. They
are usually woody
vines from a stout root-
stock, bearing alter-
nate two-ranked ever- plo-.ring Branch of 5».i/»* rolnnM-
green leaves with retlo- yMia, rr. th« fruit.
Smilax
ulated veins between the three or more prominent nerves.
The petioles are persistent at the base, anci ai-e often fur-
nisheii with two tendrils, by which some species climb
to great heights, and others mat into densely tangled
thickets. Various tropical American species yield sarsa-
p&rilla. (See mrmparilla and china-root.) S. a^pera of
the south of Europe, called rouffh bindweed or prickly
ivy, is the source of Italian sai-saparilla. Other species
are used medicinally in India, Australia, Mauritius, and
the Philippines. One of these, S. glycyphylla, an ever-
green shrubby climber of Australia, is there known as »w€ei
tea, from the use of its leaves. The rootstocks of many
species are large and tuberiferous ; those of 5. Pseudo-
China are used in the southern United States to fatten
hogs, and as the source of a domestic beer ; those of S^.
China yield a dye. The stems of some pliant species,
as & Pseudo-China, are used in basket-making, and the
young shoots of a Persian species are there used as aspara-
gus. S. Pteudo-China and S. bona-nox are known as
buUtmer, and several others with prickly stems as cat-
brier and greetibrier. See also carrion-jUnver.
2. [I. c] (a) A plant of the genus Smilax. (6)
A delicate greenhouse vine from the Cape of
Good Hope, best known as Myrsiphi/Jhim asjia-
ragoides. now classed under Asparai/u.'i. Its appa-
rent leaves(really expanded branches) are bright-green on
both sides, with the aspect of those of SmUax, but finer.
The plant grows to a length of several feet, festooning
beautifully. It is much used in decoration, and forms the
leading green constituent in bouquets. It is sometimes
called Boston «inilax.
3. In entom., a genus of coleopterous insects.
Laporte, 1835.
smile (smil), V. ; pret. and pp. smiled, ppr. smil-
ing. [< ME. smilen, smylen, < Sw. smila, smile,
smirk, simper, fawn, = Dan. smile = MH6.
gmielen, smicren, G. dial, schmiercn, sohniiekii,
smile; cf. L. mirari {tor *smirari'i), wonder at
(mirus, wonderful) (see miracle, admire) ; Gr.
fictSiav (for "aiinStav^), smile, fielSoq, a smile;
8kt.-\/»)Hi, smile. Ct. smirk. The MD. s»w)/-
len, smollen = MHG. smollen, G. dial, schmollen,
smile, appar. belong to a diff. root.] I. intrans.
1. To show a change of the features such as
characterizes the beginning of a laugh; give
such an expression to the face: generally as
indicative of pleasure or of slight amusement,
but sometimes of depreciation, contempt, pity,
or hypocritical complaisance.
Seldom he smiles; and smiles in such a sort
As if he mock'd himself, and scorn'd his spirit,
That could be moved to smile at anything.
Shak., J. C, i. 2. 206.
All this while the guide, Mr. Great-heart, was very
much pleased, and smiled upon his companions.
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, ii.
Smile na sae sweet, my bonnie babe, . . .
And ye smile sae sweet, ye'U smile me dead.
Fine Flowers in the Valley (Child's Ballads, II. 266).
*Twas what I said to Craggs and Child,
Who prais'd my modesty, and smiled.
Pope, Imit. of Horace, I. vii. 68.
From yon blue heavens aljove us bent
The gardener Adam and his wife
Smile at the claims of long descent
Tennyson, Lady Clara Vere de Vere.
2. To look gay or joyous, or have an appear-
ance such as tends to excite joy; appear propi-
tious or favorable : as, the smiling spring.
Then, let me not let pass
Occasion which now mnUes. Milton, P. L., ix. 480.
The desert smiled.
And Paradise was open'd in the wild.
Pope, Eloisa to Abelard, 1. 133.
What I desire of you is, that you, who are courted by
all, would smile upon me, who am shunned by all.
Steele, Spectator, No. 466.
3. To drink in company. [Slang, U. S.]
There are many more fast boys about — some devoted
to "the sex," some to horses, some to smiling, and some to
" the tiger." Baltimore Sun, Aug. 23, 1858. (Bartlett.)
4. To ferment, as beer, etc. Halliwell. [Prov.
E^.]
trans. 1. To express by a smile: as, to
sm,ile a welcome; to smile content. — 2. To
change or affect (in a specified way) by smil-
ing : with a modifying word or clause added .
He does smUe his face into more lines than is in the new
map. Shak., T. N., ill. 2. 84.
What author shall we find . . .
The courtly Roman's smiling path to tread.
And sharply smile prevailing folly dead.
Young, Love of Fame, i. 46.
3t. To smile at; receive with a smile. [Rare.]
SmUe you my speeches, as I were a fool?
Shak., Lear, il. 2. 88.
smile (srail), n. [< MK. smil = Sw. smil = Dan.
smil = MHG. smiel; from the verb.] 1. An
expression of the face like that with which a
laugh begins, indicating naturally pleasure,
moderate joy, approbation, amusement, or kind-
liness, but also sometimes amused or supercili-
ous contempt, pity, disdain, hypocritical com-
plaisance, or the like. Compare smirlc, simper,
and grin.
5716
Loose now and then
A scatter'd smile, and that I'll live upon.
Shak., As you Like it, iii. 5. 103,
The treach'pous smile, a mask for secret hate.
Cowper, Expostulation, \. 42.
Though little Conlon instructed me in a smUe, it was a
cursed forced one, that looked like the grin of a person in
extreme agony.
Thackeray, Fitz-Boodle's Confessions, Dorothea.
A smUe . . . may be said to be the first stage in the de-
velopment of a laugh.
Darurin, Express, of Emotions, p. 210.
Silent rnnHea of slow disparagement.
Tennyson, Guinevere.
2. Gay or joyous appearance ; an appearance
that would naturally be productive of joy : as,
the smiles of spring.
Life of the earth, ornament of the heauens, beautle and
smile of the world. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 9.
Every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light
the universe with their admonishing smile.
Emerson, Nature.
3. Favor; countenance; propitiousness: as, the
smiles of Providence. — 4. A drink, as of spirit,
taken in company and when one person treats
another; also, the giving of the treat: as, it is
my smile. See smile, v. i., 3. [Slang, U. S.] —
Sardonic smile. Same as canine laugh (which see, un-
der canine).
smileful (smil'fvd), a. [< sinile + -ful.'] FuU
of smiles; smiling. [Rare.]
smileless (smil'les), a. [< smile + -Uss.'] Not
having a smile ; cheerless.
Preparing themselves for that smileless eternity to which
they look forward. 0. W. Holmes, Autocrat, iv.
smiler (smi'ler), n. [< ME. smiler, smyler, smi-
lere (= Bvi. smiler, smilare); < smile, v., + -e?'l.]
One who smiles; one who looks smilingly, as
from pleasure, derision, or real or affected com-
plaisance.
The smyler, with the knyf under his cloke.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, I. 1141.
Men would smile . . . and say, " A poor Jew ! " and the
chief smUers would be of my own people.
George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, xl.
smilet (smi'let), n. [< smile + -et.'] A little
smile; ahalf-smile; a look of pleasure. [Rare.]
Those happy smUets
That play'd on her ripe lip.
Shak., Lear, iv. 3. 21.
smilingly (smi'ling-li), adv. In a smiling man-
ner; with a smile or look of pleasure.
Comparing him to that unhappy guest
Whose deed hath made herself herself detest ;
At last she mnili-ngly with this gives o'er.
Shak., Lucrece, L 1567.
smiling-muscle (smi'ling-mus''''l), ». Same as
laiifihiiuj-muscle. See risorins.
smilingness (smi'ling-nes), n. The state of
being smiling.
The very knowledge that he lived in vain.
That all was over on this side the tomb.
Had made Despair a smilingness assume.
Byron, Childe Harold, iii. 16.
smiltt, V. An obsolete form of smelfl-.
Sminthuridae (smin-thii'ri-de), n.pl. [NL.
(Lubbock, 1873, as Smyntliuridx), C Sminthti-
rus + -idse.'] A family of coUembolous insects,
typified by the genus Sminthurus, having a
globular body, four-jointed antennas with a
long terminal joint,
saltatory appen-
dage composed of a
basal part and two
arms, and trachese
well developed.
They are found com-
monly among grass and
fungi ; many species
have been described.
Also Smynthuridee and
Sminthurides.
Sminthurus (smin-
thu'rus), n. [NL.
(Latreille, 1802), <
Gr. afiivdoc, mouse,
+ ovpa, tail.] The
typical genus of
the family Sminthuridee. About 20 species are
recognized by Lubbock. Also Smynthurtis.
sminuendo (sme-n8-en'do). [It., ppr. of smi-
nuire, diminish, < L. ex, out, + minuere, dimin-
ish : see minuend.l In music, same as diminu-
endo.
smirch (sm6rch), V. t. [Formerly also smurch,
smerch; assibilated form of "smerk (with for-
mative -fc, as in smirk), < ME. smeren, smurien,
smear: see smear. Cf. hesmirch.'] 1. To stain;
smear; soil; smutch; besmirch.
Sminthurus roseus.
(Cross shows natural size.)
smitcb
m . . . with a kind of umber smirch my face.
Shak., As you Like it, i. 3. 114.
Hercules' . . . dog had seized on one [of these shell-
fish] thrown up by the sea, and smerched his lips with the
tincture. Sandys, Travailes, p. 168.
2. Figuratively, to degrade ; reduce in honor,
dignity, fame, repute, or the like: as, to smirch
one's own or another's reputation.
smirch (smerch), n. [< smirch, D.] A soiling
mark or smear ; a darkening stain ; a smutch.
My love must come on silken wings, . . .
Not foul with kitchen smirch.
With tallow dip for torch.
Whittier, Maids of Attitash. ■
smirfcl (smerk), u. i. [Formerly also «?HerA:; <
ME. smirken, < AS. smercian, smirk; with for-
mative -c (-fc), from the simple form seen in
MHG. smieren, same as smielen, smile: see
smile.'] To smile affectedly or wantonly; look
affectedly soft or kind.
The hostess, smiling and smirking as each new guest
was presented, was the centre of attraction to a host of
young dandies. T. Hook, Gilbert Gurney. (Latham.)
The trivial and smirking artificialities of social inter-
course. Harpers Mag., LXXVII. 960.
=Syil. Simper, Smirk. See simper^.
smirk^ (smerk), n. [< smirk^, ii.] An affected
smile ; a soft look.
A constant smirk upon the face. Chesterfield.
smirk^ (smerk), a. [Also smerk; prob. a var.
(simulating smirkX ?) of smert, older form of
smart : see smart.] Smart; spruce. [Obsolete
or prov. Eng.]
Seest howe brag yond Bullocke beares,
So smirke, so smoothe, his pricked eares?
Spenser, Shep. Cal., February.
smirklingt (smferk'ling), a. [< smirk^.] Smirk-
ing.
He gave a smirkling smile.
Lord Derwentwaler (Child's Ballads, VII. 166).
smirklyt (smerk'li), adv. [< smirk^ -\- -ly'^.]
With a smirk. [Rare.]
Venus was glad to hear
Such proffer made, which she well shewed with smiling
chear, . . .
And smirkly thus gan say. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia.
smirky (smer'ki), a. [Also smerky ; < smirk^
+ -1/1.] Same as smirk^. [Provincial.]
I overtook a swarthy, bright-eyed, smerky little fellow,
riding a small pony, and bearing on his shoulder a long,
heavy rifle. A. B. Longstreet, Georgia Scenes, p. 197.
Smitl (smit), V. t. ; pret. and pp. smitted, ppr.
smitting. [< ME. smitten, < AS. smiltian, spot,
= MD. D. smetten = MLG. smitten — OHG. smiz-
jan, smigzan, MHG. smitzen, infect, contami-
nate, = Sw. smitta = Dan. smitte, infect (cf . S w.
smitta, Dan. smitte, contagion); intensive of
AS. smitan, smite, = OHG. smigan. MHG. smi-
een, strike, stroke, smear; cf. AS. besmitan, be-
smear, defile, = Goth, bi-smeitan, smear: see
smite. Hence freq. smittle.] 1. To infect.
[Prov. Eng. and Scotch.] — 2. To mar; de-
stroy. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
BVOiv- (smit), n. [Also smitt; < IfE. *smitte, <
AS. smitta, a spot, stain, smut, = D. smet, a
spot, = OHG. MHG. smiz, a spot, etc. : see smit^,
v., and cf. smut, smutch, smudge^.] 1. A spot:
a stain. — 2. The finest of clayey ore, made up
into balls used for marking sheep. — 3. Infec-
tion. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.]
He provocith al to the smit of falling.
Apology for the Lollards, p. 70. (Halliuxll.)
4+. The smut in com.
The smit, blasting, or burned blacknes of the eares of
come. Homenclator, 1685. (Nares.)
Smit^t (smit), n. [< ME. smytt, smite, smete (with
short vowel) (= MD. smete), a blow; < smite, v.
Cf. smite, «.; and cf. also bit, n., and bite, n., <
ate, v.] 1. A blow; a cut.
Tryamowre on the hedd he hytt.
He had gevyn hym an evylle smytt.
MS. Cantab. St. ii. 38, f. 81. (HaUiwett.)
2. A clashing noise.
She heard a smit o' bridle reins.
She wish'd might be for good.
Lord William (Child's Ballads, IIL 18).
smit^t, r. An obsolete dialectal form of smite.
smit* (smit). A past participle of smite.
smits (smit), V. A contracted form of smiteth,
third person singular present indicative of
smite.
smitchl (smieh), n. [Appar. an extension of
sniif^, a spot, smite, a bit. Cf. also smutch,
and see smidgen.] 1. Dust; smoke; dirt.
Hnlliwell. [Prov. Eng.]— 2. A particle; a
bit : as, I had not a smitch of silk left. [Col-
loq.]
amitcli
smitch- (smich), n. Same as smatch^.
smitchel (smich ' el), n. [Appar. a dim. of
smitch^.'] Same as smitch^, 2.
A bowl of stewed oysters.
4 Slices of buttered toast.
A bowl of te.a.
And there wasn't a tmitchel left.
S. Boides, in Merriam, I. 331.
smite (smit), r. ; pret. smote, pp. »mitten, smit,
ppr. smiting. [< ME. smiten, smtjten (pret. smot,
sntat, also smette, smatte, pp. smiten, smyten,
smeten), < AS. smitan (pret. »/«at, pp. smiten) =
OPries. smita = D. smijten = MLCr. smiten, LG.
smiten = OHG. smitan, throw, stroke, smear,
MHG. smlzen. G. schmeissen, smite, fling, east,
= OSw. smita = Dan. smide, fling. = Goth.
*s»jei7a»(in eomp.); orig. "smear 'or 'rub over,'
as in AS. besmitan = Goth, bi-smeitan (also ga-
smeitan), smear; ef. Icel. smita, steam ffom be-
ing fat; Sw. smeta, smear, smet, grease; Skt.
medas, fat, < -v/ med or viid, be fat. Hence
smifi. Cf. smear.'] I. trans. 1. To strike;
give a hard blow, as with the hand or some-
thing held in the hand, or. archaically, with
something thrown ; hit heavily.
Ich haue yseyne it oft«,
There mit no thinge so smerte, ne smelleth so soore.
As Shame, there he sheweth him for eaery man hym
•bonyeth ! Pien Plowman (BX xL 426.
She . . . tmol togyder her hondes two.
Rom. qfthe Ron, L S88.
Uerlln . . . drough that wey that he were not knowen
with a grete staff e in his nekice rniytint/e grete strokes from
oke to oke. Mertin (E. E. T. S.), UL 424.
In the castel was a belle,
As hit ha<I rmiUn houres twelve.
CAttwxT, Minor Poems (ed. Skeat), iii. 1323.
Whoaoerer shall tmiU thee on thy right cheek, turn to
aim the other also. Mat. v. 39.
The storm-wind nrnUa the wall of the mountain cliff.
LongfMow, Hyperion, iL 6.
hoi", took up the harp of Life, and wmaU on all the chords
with might ;
Smti€e the chord of Self, that, trembling, paas'd in music
out of sight. Tennymm, Lockaley Hall.
2. To destroy the life of by beating or by weap-
ons of any kind; slay ; kill. [Archaic]
And the men of Al tmoU of them about thirty and ilz
men. Josh. liX. 5.
The Lord ahall tmOe the proud, and lay
Hta band npon the strong.
WhiUier, Cassandra Soathwick.
3. To visit disastrously ; seize suddenly or se-
verely; attack in a way that threatens or de-
stroys life or vigor: as, a person or a city «mtt-
ten with pestilence.
And the flax and the barley was imiUtn. Ex. Iz. 31.
It we look not wiaely on the Son it self, it tmiUt us into
darknea. MOIon, Areopagitica, p. 4S.
Smit by nameless horror and affright,
He fled away into the moooleaa night.
Wmiam MorriM, Earthly Paradise, n. S70.
4. ToafSict; chasten; pnnish.
Let us not mistake God's goodneaa, nor imagine, becauae
he tmila us, that we are forsaken by him. Atip. Wate.
6. To strike or affect with emotion or passion,
especially love ; catch the affection or fancy of.
Twas I that caat a dark face over heaven.
And smete ye all with terror.
FUtchtr (and another 7), Propbetea^ UL 1.
He was himself no leaa*nii(f«n with Conatantla.
Additon, Spectator, So. 1S4.
In the fortieth year of ber age, ahe was again tmitlen.
aseb.Tatler, No. 161.
Bee what the charma that imttt tbe simple heart
Pope, Dnnciad, ilL 329.
In handling the coin he la tmU with the fascination of
Ita yellow radiance. S. Lanier, The English Novel, p. 250.
6. To trouble, as by reproaches; distress.
Her heart mute her sore. Why couldn't she love bim ?
Whyle MeivOU, White Rose, I. zzvU.
7t. To cast ; bend.
With that he smot bis bed adoun anon.
And gan to motre, I not what trewely.
CAauetr, TroUns, IL 540.
8. To come opon; affect suddenly as if with a
blow; strike.
Above, the sky Is lit«nlly purple with heat : and the
pitiless light nnitee the gaier'a weary eye aa It oomea back
from tbe white shore.
Mri. OaeMl, SylvU's Loven, xixriii.
A sudden thought mole her.
W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 104.
To smite Oir, to cut off with a strfnig swift blow.
He that Icet emyte o/ seynt James bed waa Heroude
Agrlppa. MandevHU, Travels, p. 90.
n. inlrans. 1. To strike; collide; knock.
Vc shull tmyU vpon hem of that other partye with oute
rennynge of youre batelle. ltcW>n(R. E. T. S.X ill. 824.
The heart melteth. and the knees imlU twether
Habom IL 10.
5717
2. To produce an effect as by a stroke ; come,
enter, or penetrate with quickness and force.
Arthur, looking downwanl as he past,
Felt the light of her eyes into his life
Smite on the sudden.
Tennyson, Coming of Arthur.
Iron clang and hammer's ringing
Smote upon his ear. WhMier, The Fountain.
That loving tender voice
. . . 9nwte on his heart.
WiUiam Morris, Earthly Paradise, II. 168.
smite (smit), n. l< smite, V. Cf. *»m"«'^.] 1. A
blow. [Prov.Eng.]— 2. A small portion. [Prov.
Eng.]
smiter (smi't^r), n. [< ME. smitare = D. smij-
ter; as smite + -erl.'\ 1. One who or that which
smites or strikes.
I gave my back to the rmiters. Isa. L 6.
2t. A sword; simitar. [In this use also smeeter,
and really an accommodated form of simitar.]
Put thy smiter up, and hear ;
I dare not tell the truth to a drawn sword.
B. Jomon, Tale of a Tub, Iv. 3.
smith (smith), «. [Early mod. E. also smith; <
ME. smyth, < AS. smith = OFries. smeth, smut,
= MD. D. smid = MLG. smit, smet, LG. smid
= OHG. smid, MHG. smit, G. schmied = Icel.
smidhr = Sw. Dan. smed = Goth, 'smiths (found
only in comp. in weak form 'smitha, namely
aisa-smitha, 'ore-smith'): (a) Prop, a 'worker
in metal or wood'; with formative -th (ef. OHG.
smeidar, an artisan, artist, with formative -dar
= E. -ther), < y/ smi, work in metal, forge, prob.
seen also in Gr. oiii'/Ji, a knife for cutting and
carving, a/jtMtiv, cut or carve freely, afuvCt;, a
two-pronged hoe or mattock, and the source of
the words mentioned under smicker (AS. smi-
cere, etc., neat, elegant), as well as of those
connected with smooth : see smooth. (6) The
word was formerly derived, as ' he that smiteth'
(sc. with the hammer), from smite, v.; but this is
etymologieally untenable, (c) It has also been
explained as 'the smoother' (sc. of metals, etc.);
but the connection with smooth is remote (see
above). The word occurs in many specific com-
pounds, as blacksmith, tchitesmitn, coppersmith ,
goldsmith, etc. Hence the surname Smith, also
spelled archaically Smyth, Smythe, and even
Smiith (where y represents the old dotted y);
with Goldsmith, Spearsmith, etc., from the com-
pounds.] 1. An artificer; especially, a worker
with the hammer and in metal: as, a gold^mifA,
a silvermniM ; specifically (and now generally),
a worker in iron. See blacksmith, 1.
The smyth
That fonreth scharpe swerdes on his stith.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale (ed. Morris), L 1168.
" The soHftA that the made," seld Robyn,
" I pray Qod wyrke hym woo."
AoMn Hood and the Monk (ChUd'a BaUada, V. 6X
The smith with tbe tongs both worketb In the coals and
taablonetb It with bammeis. Isa. ilir. 12.
2t. One who makes or effects anything.
Its said the Dovea repented, though too late.
Become tbe mmSth* ot their own foolish fate.
Dryden, Hind and Panther, UL 1268.
Smith's saw. 8e« aswi.
smith (smith), V. <• [< HE. smithen, smi/then,
smythien, < AS. smitkian (= D. ameden = MLG.
smeden = OHG. smidon, MHG. smiden, G. Schmie-
den (the Icel. smidha, work in metal or wood,
depends on smidh, smiths' work: see aiHooth)
= Sw. smida = Dan. smede = Goth, ga-smithon,
etc.), work a8aBmith,<»mi(A, smith: see smith,
n.] To fashion, as metal ; especially, to fashion
with the hammer: at the present time most com-
monly applied to ironwork.
If be do It smythye
In-to sOtnl or to sithe, to sohare or to kulter.
Piers Plowman (BX IlL 306.
A smyth men cleped dann Gerveya,
That In lua forge smythed plough barneys.
Chaueer, Miller's Tale, \. 578.
smitham (smith'am), ». A variant otsmeddum.
smithcraftf (smith'krift), n. The art of the
smith; mechanical work; the making of tiseful
and ornamental metal objects by hand. [Bare.]
Inventors of pastorage, «m<tAen^/t. and musick.
»r W. Raleigh, Hist World, I. vL i 4.
smither (smiTH'tr),a. [(.'iX.'E.sniyther; origin
obsi-ure.] Light; active. [Prov. Eng.]
Gavan was smj/thrr and smerte,
Owte of his steroppiH he sterte.
Anturs 0/ Arlher, illi, 10. {HaUiuxtt.)
smithereens (smiTH-^r-enz'), «. pi. [< smither-s
+ dim. -ren. usually of Ir. origin.] Small frag-
ments. [Colloq.]
He raised a pretty quarrel there, I can tell yon — kicked
the hostler half across tbe yard — knocked heaps of thinga
to smithereens. W. Blade, Phaeton, iU.
smock
smithers (smiTH'^rz), «. pi. [Origin obscure.]
Same as smithereens. [Colloq.]
" Smash the bottle to smithers, the Divil 's in 'im," said I.
Tennyson, Northern Cobbler, xviil.
smithery (smith'6r-i), ». ; pi. smitheries (-iz).
[< limith + -ery.] 1 . The workshop of a smith ;
a smithy; especiaOy, a shop where wrought-
iron work is made.
The smithery is as popular with the boys as any depart-
ment of the school. The Century, XXXVIII. 923.
2. The practice of mechanical work, especially
in iron: usually applied to hammer-work, as
distinguished from more deUcate manual op-
erations. Also smithing.
The din of all this smithery may some time or other pos-
sibly wake this noble duke. Burke, To a Noble Lord.
Smithian (smith'i-an), a. [< Smith (see def.,
and smith, «.) + -ian.] Of or pertaining to
Adam Smith, a Scottish political economist
(1723-90), or his economic doctrines.
In fact the theological assumptions and inferences of the
Smithian economy greatly aided in giving it currency.
New Princeton Rev., V. 839,
smithing (smith'ing), «. [Verbal n. of smith,
r.] Same as smithery, 2.
Smithsonian (smith-s6'ni-an), a. [< Smithson
(see def.) + -ian.] Of or pertaining to James
Smithson, an English scientific man and philan-
thropist (died 1829), who left a legacy to the
United States government to found at Wash-
ington an institution for the increase and diffu-
sion of knowledge ; specifically, noting this in-
stitution or its operations: as, Smithsonian Re-
ports. — Smithsonian gull, Larus smithsonianus, the
Americ.Hn herring-guU. Coues, 1862.
smithsonite (smith 'son-it), n. [< Smithsori
(see Smithsonian) + -iie^.] Native anhydrous
zinc carbonate, an important ore of zinc : one of
the group of rhombohedral carbonates, it occurs
In rhombohedral or scalenohedral cr>-stalB, also, more com-
monly, massive, stalactitic, incnistijig. and earthy ; the
color varies from whit« to gray-green and brown, less often
bright green or blue. Also called calamin, wlilch name,
however, properly belongs to the hydrous silicate.
smithnm (smith'um), n. A variant otsmeddum.
smithwork (smith 'w6rk), n. The work of a
smith; work in metals. The Engineer.
smithy (smith'i), n. ; pi. smithies (-iz). [< ME.
smithy, smythy, smyihthe, smethi, smiththe, < AS.
smiththe = OFries. smithc = D. smidse, smids =
OHG. smitta, smidda, MHG. smitte, G. schmiede
= Icel. smidhja = Sw. smedja = Dan. smedje, a
smithj: see smith.] The workshop of a smith,
especially of a worker in iron; a forge.
Al thes world is Goddes «7ni(A<A«. ./4n«r«niitu>i«, p. 284.
Under a spreading chestnut-tree
The village smithy stands.
tonafellow. Village Blacksmith.
smithy-coal (smith'i-kol), n. A grade of small
(Mial hiiliitually used by blacksmiths. [Eng.]
smiting-line (smi'ting-lin), «. A rope by which
a yarn-stoppered sail is loosened without its
being necessary to send men aloft. [Eng.]
smitt (smit), }i. Same as smit^.
smittedt (smit'ed). An obsolete past parti-
ciple of smite. Imp. Diet.
smitten (smit'n), 7>. rt. [Pp. of *mite, ».] Struck
hard ; afflicted ; visited with some great disas-
ter ; suddenly or powerfully affected in body or
mind : sometimes used in compounds, as fever-
smitlen, drought-smitten, love-smitten.
smittle (smit'l), r. t. ; pret. and pp. smittled,
ppr. smittling. [Freq. of smit^.] To infect.
Hay. [Prov. Eng.]
smittle (smit'l), n. [< smittle, v.] Infection.
Oroxe. [Prov. Eng.]
smittle (smit'l), a. [< smittle, v.] Infectious.
[Prov. Eng.]
Canst thou stay here? ... In course thou canst. . . .
Get thy saddles off, lad, and come in ; 'tis a smittle night
for rheumatica. U. Kingsley, (Jeoffry Uamlyn, xxxvi.
smittlish (smit'lish), a. [i smittle + -ish^.]
Same as smittle. [Local, Eng.]
smoakt, r. and n. An obsolete spelling of smofcf.
smock (smok), n. and a. [< ME. smok, snioc,
smork, < AS. smoc = Icel. smokkr, a smock,
= OHG. smoccho, a smock; cf. OSw. smng, a
round hole for the head; Icel. smeygja = Dan.
smogc, slip off one's neck ; from the verb, AS.
smedgan, smugan (pp. smogen), creep into (cf.
E. dial, smook, draw on, as a glove or stocking),
= Icel. smjuga, creep through a hole, put on a
garment, = MHG. smiegen, cling or creep into,
G. srhmiegen, cling to, bend, etc. Cf. smvg^,
smuggle^. Menee sniiekct.] I. k. 1 . A garment
worn by women corresponding to the shirt worn
by men ; a chemise ; a shift.
smock
Oh ill 8t«rr'd wench !
Pale as thy tmock! Shak., Othello, v. 2. 27S.
Haay of their women and children goe onely in their
tmoeb and shirts. Conjat, Crudities, I. 103.
Thy tmoek of sillte, both faire and white.
GreowieecM {CliiW'a Ballads, IV. 241).
2. A smock-frock.
A happy people, that live according to nature, . . . their
apparel) no other tlian linnen breeches; over that a smock
close girt unto them with a towell.
Satidys, Travailes, p. 14.
Already they see the ileld thronged with country folk,
the men in clean white smocks or velveteen or fustian
coats, with rough plush waistcoats of many colours.
r. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, i. 2.
Il.t «. Belonging or relating to women; ohar-
act«ristie of women; female: common in old
writers.
Sem. Good sir,
l^ere are of us can be as exquisite traitors
Aa e'er a male conspirator of you all.
Cet. Ay, at tmocAr-treason, matron, I believe you.
B. Jonson, Catiline, iv. 5.
Plague ... on his ^moatr-loyalty !
Dryden, Spanish Friar, ii. 1.
smock (smok), r. t. [< smock, «.] 1. To pro-
vide with or clothe in a smock or smock-frock.
Tho' tmock'd, or furr'd and purpled, still the clown.
Tennyson, Princess, iv.
2. To shir or pucker. See smocking.
smock-facet (smok'f as), n. An effeminate face.
Chapmuit, AH Fools, v. 1.
smock-faced (smok'fast), a. Having a femi-
nine countenance or complexion ; white-faced;
pale-faced.
Young Endymion, your smooth, snwck-fac'd boy.
Dryden, tr. of Juvenal's Satires, x. 491.
smock-frock (smok'frok), H. A garment of
coarse linen, resembling a shirt in. shape, worn
by field-laborers over their other clothes : simi-
lar to the French blouse. The yoke of this gar-
ment at its best is elaborately shirred or puck-
ered. See smocking.
A clothes-line, with some clothes on it, striped blue and
red, and a gmock-frock, is stretched between the trunks of
some stunted willows, Ruskin, Elements of Drawing, iii.
smocking (smok'ing), n. [< smock + -ing.'] An
ornamental shirring, recently used, intended to
imitate that on the smock-frocks of field-la-
borers. The lilies, instead of being liorizontal,
form a honeycomb, the material being puckered
diagonally.
This shirt was a curious garment, of the finest drawn
hair, and exquisitely wrought in a kind of smocking, with
each little nest caught together by tiny bows of red and
blue ribbon. The Critic, XI. 147.
smockless (smok'les), a. [ME. smokies; < smock
+ -less.'] Having no smock ; unclothed.
I hope it be nat your entente
That I smokies out of your paleys wente.
Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, 1. 819,
smock-linen (smok'lin''en), n. Strong linen
from which smock-frocks are made, especially
in England.
smock-mill (smok'mil), 71. A form of wind-
mill of which the mill-house is fixed and the
cap only turns round as the wind varies, it
thus differs from the post-mill, of which the whole fabric
is movable round a vertical axis. It is also called the
thitch mill, as being that most commonly employed in
the Netlierlands for pumping.
smock-race (smok'ras), n, A race for which
a smock is the prize.
Smock Races are commonly performed by the young
country wenches, and so called because the prize is a
hoUand smock, or shift, usually decorated with ribbands.
Strutl, Sports and Pastimes, p. 476.
smock-racing (8mok'ra'''8ing), n. The running
of a smock-race or of smock-races.
Among other amusements. sm^ck-raciTig by women was
kept up there (Pall Slall] till Wis.
Lecky, Eng. in 18th Cent, iv.
smokable (smo'ka-bl), a. [< smoke + -able.']
Capable of being smoked.
smoke (smok), r. ; pret. and pp. smoked, ppr.
smoking. [Formerly also smoak; < ME. smoken,
smokien (pret. smokede) ; < AS. smocian, mnoci-
gan (= MD. smoken, smooken, D. smoken =
MLG. smoken, LG. smoken, smooken, also smoken
= G. schmauchen, di&l. schmoclten = Dan. smiige),
smoke, reek ; a secondary form, taking the place
of the orig. strong verb smedcan (pret. smedc,
pp. smocen), smoke; perhaps related to Gr.
a/iixetv, bum slowly, smolder. Cf . Ir. much =
W. mwg, smoke; cf. also smoor, smother.] I.
intrans. 1. To emit smoke; throw off volatile
matter in the form of vapor or exh alation ; reek ;
fume; especially, to send off visible vapor as
the product of combustion.
5718
Queen Margaret saw
Thy murderous falchion smoking in his blood.
SAa*.,Rich. III., i. 2. 94.
To him no temple stood
Or altar smoked. MUton, P. L., i. 493.
Lo there the King is with his Nobles set.
And all the crouded Table smoaks with meat
J. Beaumont, Psyche, Iii. 172.
2. To burn ; be kindled ; rage ; fume.
The anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against
that man. Deut xxix. 20.
How Wolsey broke off the insurance is very well told.
Mistress Anne was "sent home again to her father for a
season; wliereat she smoked."
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), Forewords, p. x., note.
3. To raise a dust or smoke by rapid motion.
Proud of his steeds, he smokes along the field.
Dryden, ^neid, vii. 909.
4. To smell or hunt something out ; suspect
something; perceive a hidden fact or meaning.
[Now only coUoq.] — 5. To permit the passage
of smoke outward instead of drawing it up-
ward; send out smoke for want of sufficient
draft: said of chimneys, stoves, etc.
When, in obedience toourinstructions, a fire was lighted,
the chimney smoked so badly that we liad to throw open
door and windows, and fo sit, as it were, in the open air.
D. Christie Murray, Weaker Vessel, xxxix.
6. To draw fumes of burning tobacco, opium, or
the like, into, and emit them from, the mouth;
use tobacco or opium in this manner.
I hate married women ! Do they not hate me, and, sim-
ply because I smoke, try to draw their husbands away from
my society ? Thackeray, Fitz- Boodle's Confessions.
7. To suffer as from overwork or hard treat-
ment; be punished.
Some of you shall smoke for it in Rome.
Shak., Tit And., iv. 2. 111.
8. To emit dust, as when beaten.
At every stroke their jackets did smoke.
Rot/in Hood and tlie Ranger (Child's Ballads, V. 209).
Smoking salts. See said.
II. trans. 1. To apply smoke to ; blacken with
smoke ; hang in smoke ; medicate or dry by
smoke; fumigate: as, to smote infected cloth-
ing; to subject to the action of smoke, as meat ;
cure by means of smoke ; smoke-dry ; also, to
incense. Smoking meat consists in exposing meat pre-
viously salted, or rubbed over with salt, to wood-smoke
in an apartment so distant from the fire as not to be
unduly heated by it, the smoke being admitted by flues
at the bottom of the side walls. Here the meat absorbs the
empyreumatic acid of the smoke, and is dried at the same
time. The kind of wood used affects the quality and taste
of the meat, smoke from beech and oak being: preferable
to that from fir. and larch. Smoke from the twigs and ber-
ries of juniper, or from rosemary, peppermint, etc., im-
parts somewhat of the ai-omatic flavor of these plants. A
slow smoking with a slender fire is better than a quick and
hot one, as it allows the empyreumatic principles time to
penetrate into the interior without over-drying the out-
side.
Smokyng the temple. Chauoer, Knight's Tale, 1. 1423.
Being entertained for a perfumer, as I was smoking a
musty rotmi, comes me the prince.
Shak., Much Ado,i. 3. 60.
An old smoked wall, on which the rain
Ran down in streaks ! B. Jonson, Volpone, i. 1.
2. To affect in some way with smoke; espe-
cially, to drive or expel by smoke: generally
with out; also, to destroy or kill, as bees, by
smoke.
Are not these flies gone yet? Pray quit my house,
I'll smoke you out else. B. Jonson, Staple of News, ii. 1.
The king, upon that outrage against his person, smoked
the .Tesuita out of his nest
Sir E. Sandys, State of Religion (ed. 1605), G. 3 b.
(Latham.)
So the king arose, and went
To smoke the scandalous Iiive of those wild bees
That made such honey in his realm.
Tennyson, Holy Grail.
3. To draw smoke from into the mouth and
puff it out ; also, to burn or use in smoking ; in-
hale the smoke of: as, to smoke tobacco or
opium ; to smoke a pipe or a cigar.
Here would he smoke his pipe of a sultry afternoon, en-
joying the soft southern breeze.
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 160.
4. To smell out; find out; scent; perceive;
perceive the meaning of ; suspect. [Archaic]
I'll hang you both, you rascals !
. , . you for the purse yon cut
In Paul's at a sermon ; I have smoaked you, ha !
Massinger, City Madam, iii. 1.
It must be a very plausive invention that carries it;
they begin to smoke me. Shak., All's Well, iv. 1. 30.
5t. To sneer at; quiz; ridicule to one's face.
This is a vile dog ; I see that already. No offence ! Ha,
ha, ha ! to him ; to Iiim, Petulant ; smoke him.
Congreve, Way of the World, iii. 15.
Pray, madam, smoke miss yonder biting her lips, and
playing with her fan. Swift, Polite Conversation, 1.
smoke-consuming
Why, you know you never laugh at the old folks, and
never fly at your servants, nor smoke people before their
faces. Miss Bnmey, Cecilia, vL 11.
6. To raise dust from by beating; "dust": as,
I'll smoke his jacket for him. [Colloq.]
I'll stnoke your skin-coat, an I catch you right.
Shak., K. John, 11. 1. 139.
Smoked pearl. See pearl.
smoke (smok), «. [Early mod. E. also sraoafc; <
ME. smoke, < AS. swoea (rare), < smedcan (pret.
smedc, pp. smocen), smoke, reek : see smoke, r.
Tliis form has taken the place of the more orig.
noun, E. dial, smeech, < ME. smech, smeke, < AS.
st)itc, smyc, umlaut forms of smedc (= D. smook
= MLG. smok, LG. smook = MHG. smouch, G.
schmauch ,G .dia,\. schmoch = Dan. *Mio£r), smoke, <
S)«f(5ca« (pp. «»ioceH), smoke : see smoke, v.] 1.
The exhalation, visible vapor, or material that
escapes or is expelled from a burning substance
during combustion : applied especially to the
volatile matter expelled from wood, coal, peat,
etc., together with the solid matter which is
carried off in suspension with it, that expelled
from metallic substances being more generally
called /i(»(c or fumes.
The hill obouen bigan to quake,
And tharof rase a iul grete reke,
Bot that was ful wele smell and smeke.
Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 94.
Laud we tlie gods ;
And let our crooked smokes climb to their nostrils
From our blest altars. Shak., Cymbeline, v. 5. 477.
The smoak of juniper ... is in great request with ua
at Oxford, to sweeten our chambers.
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 283.
Usually the name smoke is applied to this vaporous mix-
ture discharged from a chimney only when it contains a
sufficient amount of flnely divided carbon to render it dark-
coloured and distinctly visible. Encyc. Brit., XXII. 180.
2. Anything that resembles smoke; steam;
vapor; watery exhalations; dust.
In vayne, mine eyes, in vaine you wast your teares.
In vayne my sighs, the smokes of my despaires
Sir W. Raleigh, quoted in Puttenham's Arte of Eng. Poesie,
ip. 165.
Hence — 3. Something unsubstantial; some-
thing ephemeral or transient: as, the affair
ended in smoke.
This helpless smoke of words doth me no right
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 1027.
4. The act or process of drawing in and puff-
ing out tlie fumes of burning tobacco, opium,
or the like. [Colloq.]
Soldiers . . . lounging about, taking an early morning
smoke. W. II. Russell, Diary in India, xxviL
5. A chimney. [Obsolete or provincial.]
Dublin hath Houses of more than one Smoak.
Petty, Polit. Survey of Ireland, p. 9.
A dry smoke, the holding of an unlighted cigar or pipe
between the lips. [Colloq.] — Like smoke, very rapidly.
[Slang.]
Taking money like sj)ioke.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, III. 105.
London smoke, a duU-gray color.
smoke-arch (smok'arch), ». The smoke-box of
a locomotive.
smoke-ball (smok'bW), n. 1. Milit., a spheri-
cal case filled with a composition which, while
buraing, emits a great quantity of smoke : used
chiefly for purposes of concealment or for an-
noying an enemy's workmen in siege opera-
tions.— 2. A ball, used in trap-shooting, which
on being struck emits a cloud of dark smoke.
W. W. Greener, The Gun, p. 504.
smoke-bell (smok'bel), «. A glass bell or dish
suspended over a flame, as of a lamp or gas-
light, to keep the smoke from blackening the
ceiling.
smoke-black (smok'blak), ». Lampblack.
smoke-board (smok'bord), «. A sliding or sus-
pended board or plate placed before the upper
part of a fireplace to increase the draft.
smoke-box (smok'boks), «. A chamber in a
steam-boiler, at the ends of the tubes or flues
and opposite to the fire-box, into which all the
gases of combustion enter on their way to the
smoke-stack.
smoke-brown (smok'broun), n. In entom., an
obscure grayish brown, resembling the hue of
thick smoke.
smoke-bush (smok'bush), n. Same as smoke-
tree.
smoke-condenser (smok'kon-den''ser),». Same
as .imokc-irasher.
smoke-consumer (smok'kon-su'mfer), «. An
apparatus for consuming or burning all the
smoke from a fire.
smoke-consuming (sm6k'kon-sii''ming), a.
Serving to consume or bum smoke: as, a smoke-
consuming furnace.
Smoke-jack.
a, a, th« chimoey, contracted in a
circular fomi : #, strong bar placed
over the fireplace, to support tlie
Jack ; f, wheel with vanes radiatinf;
from its center, set in motion by the
ascent of the heated air, and com-
municating, by the pinion d and the
crown-wheel t, with the pulley y.
mined to
over it
the spit by the chain
Also called stove-
smoke-dry
smoke-dry (smok'dri), v. t. To dry or cure by
smoke : as, smoke-dried vae&t. See smoke, v. t.,1.
smoke-farthingst (smok'far'THingz), n.pl. 1.
Same as pentecostah.
As (or your smoke-farthings and Peter-pence, I make no
reckoning. Jeuvt, Works, Iv. 1079.
2. Same as hearth-tax.
smoke-gray (smok'gra), «. An orange-gray
color of moderate luminosity.
smoke-house (smok'hous), n. 1. A bnildine in
which meats or fish are cured by smoking ; also,
one ill which smoked meats are stored. The
former is proviiled with hooks for suspending the pieces
to be smoked, which are hung over a smoldering lire kin-
dled at the tK>tt4jm of the apartment.
I recollected the smoke-house, an out-building appended
to all Viriiinian establishments for the smoking of hams
and other kinds of meat.
Irring, Crayon Papers, Ralph Ringwood.
2. In lenther-manuf., a close room heated by
means of a fire of
spent tan, which
smolders, but pro-
duces no flame, it is
used for unhairing hides,
which are hung up in the
smoky atmosphere until
incipient fermentatlou
haa softened the epider-
mis and the root£ of the
hair.
smoke-jack (smok'-
jak),«. 1. A machine
for turning a roast-
ing-spit by means of a
fly-wheel or -wheels,
set in motion by the
current of ascending
air in a chimney.
The smoke-jack clanked,
- and the tall clock ticked
with official importance.
J. W. Palmer. After his
(Kind, p. 112.
2. On railways, a _._.
hood or COVerinjf for f'^'" which motion is transmitli
. ■ , - >* th« snir hv thf, chain oaamiadr ov
the end of a stove
pipe, on the outside of a car
jack.
smokeless (smok'les), a. [< gmolce + -less.]
Uaviug, emitting, or causing little or no smoke :
ae, tmoicelesa powder.
No noontide bell inrit«« the country round ;
Tenants with sighs the smokeless towers surrey.
Poft, Moral Eauys, liL 1»1.
I i«w
On my left, through the beechei,
Thy palace, Ooddesa,
SmokHess, empty !
M. Arnold, The Strayed Keveller.
smokelessly (smok'les-li), adv. Without smoke.
The appliances for, or methodi o(, conaomlng coll
tnualvienf)/ are already at work. The Bnj/tneer, tXli. m.
smokelessness (smok'les-nes), n. The charac-
ter f)r stiito of being smokeless,
smoke-money (smok'mun'i), n. BameaMsmoke-
mlvrr.
smoke-painted (.smok'pan'ted), a. Produced
liv tlic pi("CS8 of smoke-painting.
smoke-painting (smok'nan'ting), n. The art
or process of producing drawings in lampblack,
or carbon deposited from smoke. Compare
kfipiitx/raphy.
smoke-penny (smdk'pen'i), n. Same as *molc6-
silvir.
smoke-pipe (smdk'pip), n. Same as smoke-
Kturk.
smoke-plant (smok ' plant), n. 1. Same as
snioke-trer. — 2. A hytlroid polyp, often seen in
ai(iiariiims.
smoke-quartz (smdk'kw&rts), n. Smoky quartz.
See xmoky.
smoker (smd'k^r), n. [= D. tmoker = O.
nrhmattcher; as smoke + -erl.] 1. One who or
that which smokes, in any sense of the verb.
(a) One who habitually smoke* tobacco or opium. (6) One
who smoke-dries meat (e) One who qaiues or makea
sport of another.
Theae wooden Wits, these Qniizers, Qneerers, Smokers,
These practical, nothing-so-eaay Jokers.
Colman the Younger, Poetical Vagarlea, p. ua (Dames.)
2. See the quotation.
At Preston, before the passing of the Reform Bill in
18S2, erery person who had a cottage with a chimney,
and used the latter, had a vote, and was called a smoker.
UttlUieeU.
8. A smoking-car. [Ck)lloq., U. 8.]
The engine, baggage car and jnwiin- passed over all
righu The Engineer, LXX M.
4. The long-billed curlew, Sttmeniua longiros-
tria: so called from the shape of the bill, which
5719
looks as if the bird had a pipe in its mouth.
O. Trumbull. [New Jersey.] — Smoker's cancer,
an epithelioma of the lips or mouth which is cuii&iilei'f<l to
bedueto theinechaiiiciU irritation of the pipe. - Smoker's
heart. See heart. — Smoker's patches, a form of leuco-
placia buccalis, causing white patches on the mucous
membrane of the mouth and lips.
smoke-rocket (smok'rok'et), n. In plumbing, a
device for testing the tightness of house-drains
by generating smoke within them.
smoke-sail (smok'sal), ». A small sail hoisted
against the foremast forward of the galley-fun-
nel when a ship
rides head to
wind, to give
the smoke of the
galley an oppor-
tunity to rise,
and to prevent
it from being
blown aft to the
quarter-deck.
smoke-shade
(smok'shad), n.
A scale some-
times adopted
in estimating
by their color
the amount of
unbumt carbon
in the gases
yielded by coal smo«-s«u
burned in grates
or stoves: it ranges from 0 to 10, the latter
number applying when the color is very black
and dense.
smoke-silver (smok'sil'v^r), 71. Money former-
ly paid annually to the minister of a parish as
a modus in lieu of tithe-wood.
smoke-stack (smok'stak), n. A pipe, usually
of sheet-iron, through which the smoke and
gases of combustion from a steam-boiler are
discharged into the open air. See cut under
passenffer-enffine.
smoke-stone (nmok'ston), n. Same as smoky
quiirt::. or aiirngorm.
smoke-tight (smok 'tit), a. Impervious to
.sriifikc: nut permittiugsmoketoenteror escape.
smoke-tree (smok'tre), n. A tree-like shrub,
Rhus Cotinus, native in southern Europe, culti-
vated elsewhere for ornament. Most of the flowers
are asoaUy abottlTe, and the panicle develops into a light
T, Branch with Fruit and Sterile Pediceb of Smoke-tiee ( Xhuj Coti-
nua) ; a, the infloracctKe. a, a flower ; k, a fruit, with sterile pedicels.
feathery or clood-lUce bunch of a green or reddish color
(whence the above name, also that of fringe-tne\ The
wood yields a valuable dye, the jronng fustic (which see,
nnder/uatte) ; the leaves are used for tanning (see seotino).
Also called «nu>t«-AiuA, <nK>i»-|i<an(, Venetian fumoe^ and
Fsmu's-sinnae.
smoke-irasher (smok'wosh'^r), n. A device
for purifying smoke by washing as it passes
through a ehimuey-flue. A simple form drives a
spray of water upward into the flue. The water falls back
after passing through the smoke. Is collected below, and
fumiahes a black pigment, used fur paint. A more com-
plicated apparatus consists of a vertical cylinder of boiler-
plates having several perforated diaphragms of sheet-iron.
Water is made to enter at the top while the smoke enters
below and Is forced upward by a powerful exhaust.
smokewood (smok'wud), n. The virgin's-
bower, Clematis Vitallm : so called because boys
smoke its porous stems. [Prov. Eng.]
Smokily fsmo'ki-li), adv. In a smoky manner.
smokiness (smo'ki-nes), n. The state of being
Hmoky.
smoking (smo'king), n. [Verbal n. of smoke,
v.] 1. The act of emitting smoke. — 2. The
stuoldeir
act of holding a lighted cigar, cigarette, or pipe
in the mouth and drawing in and emitting the
smoke: also used in composition with refer-
ence to things connected with this practice: as,
a smokin(/-(iiiT ; a smofctiig'-saloon. — 3. A quiz-
zing; bantering.
"Oh! " cried Mrs. Thrale, "what a smoking did Miss
Burney give Mr. Outchley ! "
Mme: D'ArUay, Diary, II. 69. (Dames.)
4t. The act of spying, suspecting, or ferreting
out. Dekker.
smoking (smo'king), p. a. Emitting smoke or
steam ; hence, brisk or fierce.
Look how it begins to rain, and by the clouds, if I mis-
take not, we shall presently have a smoking shower, and
therefore sit close. /. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 104.
smoking-cap (smd'king-kap), n. A light cap
without vizor and often ornamental, usually
worn by smokers.
smoking-car (smo'king-kar), n. A railroad-car
ill whicli smoking is permitted. [U. S.]
smoking-carriage (smo'king-kar'aj), n. A
smoking-car. [Eng.]
smoking-duck (smo'king-duk), n. The Amer-
ican widgeon, Mareca americana : said to be so
called from some fancied resemblance of its
note to the pufling sound of a person smoking.
See cut under widgeon. R. Kennicott. [Brit-
ish America.]
smoking-jacket (smo'king-jak'et), n. A jacket
for wear wliile smoking.
smoking-lamp (smo'king-lamp), n. A lamp
hung up on board of a man-of-war during hours
when smoking is permitted, for the men to
light their pipes by.
smoklngly (smo'king-li), adv. Like or as smoke.
The sudden dis-appearing of the Lord
Seem'd like to Powder fired on a boord.
When smokingty it mounts in sudden tlash.
SyU'ester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii.. The Vocation.
smoking-room (smo'king-rom), n. A room, as
in a private dwelling or a hotel, set apart for
the use of smokers,
smoky (smo'ki), a. [Formerly also *moflfci/ ; <
ME. smoky; < smoke, «., -1- -ji.] 1. Emitting
smoke, especially much smoke; smoldering:
as, smoky fires.
Then rise, O fleecy Fog ! and raise
The glory of her coming ilays ;
Be as the cloud that flecks the seas
Above her smoky argosies.
Bret Harte, San Francisco.
2. Having the appearance or nature of smoke.
London appears in a morning drowned in a black cloud,
and aU the day after smothered with smoky fog. Harvey.
3. Filled with smoke, or with a vapor resem-
bling it; filled with a haze; hazy: as, a smoky
atmosphere.
Swich a reyne from hevene Ran avale
That every nianer woman that was there
Hadde of that smoky reyn a verray fere.
Chaucer, TroUus, ii. 628.
4. Subject to be filled with smoke from the
chimneys or fireplaces.
He is as tedious
As a tired horse, a railing wife ;
Worse than a smoky house.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., 111. 1. 161.
6. Emitting smoke in an objectionable or trou-
blesome way: said of chimneys, stoves, etc.,
sending out smoke, at fireplaces and pipe-
holes, into the house, because of poor draft. —
6. Stained or tarnished with smoke.
Lowly sheds
With stnoky rafters. Milton, Comas, L 824.
7t. Quick to smoke an idea; keen to smell out
a secret ; suspicious.
Besides, Sir, people in this town are more smaaky and
suspicious. Oxford, you know, Is the seat of the Muses,
and a man is naturally permitted more ornament and gar*
nltore to his conversation than they will allow in this lati-
tude. Foote, The Liar, i. 1.
I'gad, 1 don't like bis Looks — he seems a little smoky.
Cibber, Provoked Husband, ii.
8. Of the color of smoke ; of a grayish-brown
color.— Smoky bat, Molossus nasutus, the South Ameri-
can monk-bat. — Smoky pies, the large dark brown jays of
the geiins Pnlurhimo. Smoky quartz, the smoky or
brownish-yellow viuit-tv of (juartz foniui on lake's i'eak
(Colorado), in Scotland, and in Brazil : same as cairn-
gorm.— Smoky topaz, a nnmc frequently Applied by jew-
elers to smoky quartz.— Smoky urine, urine of a darkish
color, occurring In some cases of nephiltis. The color is
due to the presence of a small quantltyof blood.— Smoky
Wainscot. Lnicania impura. a British moth. — Smoky
wave, AciiUilio fumata, a British geometrid moth.
smolder, smoulder (smol'dfer), v. [Early mod.
E. also nmoolder ; < ME. smoldercn, smoldren,
< smolder, a stifling smoke: see smolder, n.,
smother, n. Cf. LG. smolen, smelen, smolder, =
D. smeulen, smoke hiddenly, smolder, = 6. dial.
schmolen, stifle, bum slowly: see smell. The
smolder
torm may have been influenced by Dan. smul-
dre, onimble, molder, < xmtil, dust.] I. intratis.
1. To bum and smoke without tJame; be
smothery.
In tmoldentuU smoke.
AUUerative Poems (ed. Morris), ii. 956.
Tbe tmouidering weed-heap by the garden burned.
WUtiam Morrie, Earthly Paradise, II. 242.
Hence — 2. To exist in a suppressed state;
bum inwardly,without outward demonstration,
as a thought, passion, and the like.
A doubt that ever tnnovlder'd in the hearta
Of those great Lotxis and Barons of his realm
Fbuh'd forth and into war.
Tennyson^ Coming of Arthur.
We frequently find in the writings of the inquisitors
language wliicli implies tliat a certain amount of scepti-
cism was, even in their time, stnouMerinj in some minds.
Lecky, Katioualism, I. 103.
II. trails. It. To suffocate; smother.
They preassed forward vnder their ensignes, bearing
downe such as stood in their way, and with their owne
Are rpnooidered and burnt them to ashes.
Uolinshed, Hist. Eng., iv. 9.
This wind and dust, see how it gmolder» me ;
Some drink, good Glocester, or I die for drink.
Peele, Edward I.
2. To discolor by the action of fire.
Aside the beacon, up whose smouldered stones
The tender ivy-trails creep thinly.
Coleridge, The Destiny of Nations.
smolder, smoulder (smol'dfer), n. [< ME.
smolder, a var. of smorthcr, a stifling smoke:
see smother. Cf. smolder, ?>.] Slow or sup-
pressed combustion; smoke; smother.
Ac the smoke and the tmUder [var. tmorthre] that smyt
in owre eyghen.
That is coueityse and vnkyndenesse that quencheth goddes
mercy. Piers Plowman (B\ xvii. 341.
The smoulder stops otir nose with stench, the fume of-
fends our eies.
Gascoigtie, Deuise of a Mask for Viscount Mountacute.
smolderingness, smoulderingness (smol'der-
ing-nes), n. Disposition to smolder. [Rare.]
Whether any of our national peculiarities may be traced
to our use of stoves, as a certain closeness of the lips in
pronunciation, and a smothered smoulderingness of dis-
position, seldom roused to open flame?
Lowell, Biglow Papers, 1st ser., Int.
smolderyt, smoulderyt, a. [Also smouldry; <
smolder + -y^.'\ Smothery; suffocating.
None can breath, nor see, nor heare at will,
Through sm&uldry cloud of duskish stincking smoke.
Spenser, i\ Q., I. vii. 13,
Smolt^ (smolt), n. [Prob. a var. of smelt^. Cf.
smolt^.^ A salmon in its second year, when it
has lost its parr-marks and assumed its silvery
scales; the stage of salmon-growth between
the parr and the grilse. The smolt proceeds
at once to the sea, and reappeare in fresh water
as the grilse.
When they [salmon] remove to the sea, they assume a
more brilliant dress, and there become the smolt, varying
from four to six inches in length. Baird.
Smolt2(8m61t),a. [< M'E. smoU,sm!/lt, AS. smeolt,
smylt, clear, bright, serene.] Smooth and shin-
ing. HaUiwcll. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
Smoocll, V. t. Same as smutch.
smooldert, ». An obsolete form of smolder.
smoor (sraor), V. See smore^.
smooth (smoTH), a. and n. [< ME. smooihc,
smothe, also smethe (> E. dial, smeeth), < AS.
smothe, in earliest form smothi (only in neg.
unsmothe, unsmothi), usually with umlaut smethe,
ONorth. smothe, usually with umlaut smoethe,
smooth, = MLG. smode, LG. smode, smoede, also
smoe, also MLG. smodich, LG. smodig, smooth,
malleable, ductile; related to MD.smedigh,smij-
digh, D. «mt/rfi9 = MLG. smidieh,'ii(i.smidig,raa\-
leable, = MHG. gcsmidic, G. geschmeidig, malle-
able, ductile, smooth, = Sw. Dan. smidig, plia-
ble ; to OHG. gesmidi, gesmida, metal, MHG. ge-
smide, metal, metal weapons or ornaments, G.
geschmeide, ornaments ; and ult. to E. smith : see
smith. The related forms smooth and smith, and
the other forms above cited, with Icel. smidh
= Sw. smide, smiths' work, etc., point to an
orig. strong verb, Goth. *smri1han (pret. 'smaith,
pp. 'smithans) = AS. "smithan (pret. "smdth,
pp. 'smithcn), forge (metals) ; cf. Sw. dial, sniida
(pret. smed, pp. smiden), smooth . Smooth would
then mean orig. 'forged,' 'flattened with the
hammer' (cf. Sw. smidesjern = Dan. smedejern,
' wrought-iron ') ; ult. y smi, work in metals,
forge: see »»it(A.] I. a. 1. Having a surface
so uniform that the eye and the touch do not
readily detect any projections or irregularities
in it; not rough; of water, not ruffled, or not
undulating.
5720
The erthe sal be than even and hale.
And smethe and clere als crystale.
llampole, Pricke of Conscience, 1. 6349.
My smooth moist hand, were it with thy hand felt,
Would in thy palm dissolve, or seem to melt.
Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 143.
While smooth Adonis from his native rock
Ran purple to the sea. Milton, P. L., i. 460.
Try the rough water as well as the smooth.
0. W. Holmes, Emerson, ix.
2. Free from hair : as, a smooth face.
Behold Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a
smooth man. Gen. xxvii. 11.
3. Free from lumps: especially noting flour,
starch, and the like.
Put the flour and salt in a bowl, and add a little at a
time of the water or milk, working it very smooth as you
go on.
M. llarland, Common Sense in the Household, p. 183.
4. Not harsh ; not rugged ; even ; harmonious.
Our speech is made melodious or harmonicall, not onely
by strayned tunes, as those of Musick, but also by choise
of STnootke words. Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 164.
He writt not a smooth verse, but a great deal of sense.
Aubrey, Lives (Lucius Carey).
Smooth verse, inspired by.no unlettered Muse.
Wordsworth, Excursion, vi.
5. Using pleasing or euphonious language.
The only smooth poet of those times. MUton.
6. In Gr. gra7n.,fTee from aspiration ; not rough:
as, a smooth mute ; the smooth breathing. — 7.
Bland; mild; soothing; insinuating; wheed-
ling: noting persons or speech, etc.
I have been politic with my friend, smooth with mine
enemy. Shale., As you Like it, v. 4. 46.
They know howe smooth soeuer his lookes were, there
was a diuell in his bosome.
Dekker, .Seven Deadly Sins, p. 36.
Smooth words he had to wheedle simple souls.
Wordsworth, Excursion, ii.
8. Free from anything disagreeable or unpleas-
ant.
Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth
things, pTOi)hesy deceits. Isa. xxx. 10.
From Rumour's tongues
They bring smooth comforts false.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., Ind., 1. 40.
9. Unruffled ; calm ; even ; complaisant : as,
a smooth temper.
His grace looks cheerfully and smooth today.
Shak., Rich. III., iii. 4. 80.
10. Without jolt, jar, or shock; even: as,
smooth sailing; smooth driving. — 11. Gentle;
mild ; placid.
As where smooth Zephyrus plays on the fleet
Face of the curled streams.
Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess, i. 1.
12. Free from astringency, tartness, or any
stinging or titillating character; soft to the
nerves of taste: used especially of spirit. —
13. In zool., not rough, as an unsculptured sur-
face, or one without visible elevations (as gran-
ules, points, papillae, and nodes) or impres-
sions (as strisB, punctures, and foveie), though
it may be thinly clothed with hairs or minute
scales. — 14. In hot, either opposed to scabrous
(that is, not rough), or equivalent to glabrous
(that is, not pubescent) : the former is the more
correct sense. Gray.— Smooth alder, fieealder,!.
—Smooth hlenny, the slianny.— Smooth calf, fiber,
file. See the nouns.— Smooth full. Siimc as ra;)-/«;(.
—Smooth holly. See //cdi/cnri/n.— Smooth hound, a
kind of shark. Musteliis hinnvlits, with the skin less sha-
grecned than usual.— Smooth lungwort. >^ae lungwort.
— Smooth muscle a non-striated muscle. — Smooth
painting, in staitied-gtass work, painting in which the
color is Drought to a unifonn surface, as distinguished
from stippling and smeared work. — Smooth scales, in
herpet., specifically, flat, keelless or ecarinate scales, as
of a snake, whatever their other characters. It is char-
acteristic of many genera of serpents to have keeled
scales on most of the body, from which the smooth scales
of other ophidians are distinguished.- Smooth snake,
sole, sumac, tare, winterberry, etc. See the nouns.
[Smooth is often used in tlie formation of self-explaining
compounds, as smooth-haired, t^'mooth-leaied, smooth-skin-
ned, »?noofA-8warded.] = Syn. 1. Plain, level, polished.—
6. Voluble, fluent.- 7. Oily.
II. II. 1. The act of smoothing. [Colloq.]
In that instant she put a rouge- pot, a brandy bottle, and
a plate of broken meat into the bed, gave one smooth to
her hair, and finally let in her visitor.
Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Ixv.
2. That which is smooth ; the smooth part of
anything; a smooth place. [Chiefly colloq.]
And she [Rebekah] put the skins of the kids of the
goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck.
Gen. xxvii. 16.
A raft of this description will break the force of the sea,
and form a smooth for the boat,
Qualtrough, Boat Sailer's Manual, p. 126.
3. Specifically, a field or plat of grass. [U.S.]
Get some plantain and dandelion on the smooth for
greens. S. Judd, Margaret, i. 2.
smoother
smooth (smoTH), V. [Also smoothe; < ME.
smoothen, smothen, smothien, smcthieii, < AS.
smethian (= LG. smceden), < smethe, smooth:
see smooth, a."] I, trans. 1. To make smooth ;
make even on the surface by any means: as,
to smooth a board with a plane ; to smooth cloth
with an iron.
Her eith'r ende ysmoothed is to have.
And cubital let make her longitude.
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 119.
To smooth the ice, or add another hue
Unto the rainbow. Shak., K. .John, iv. 2. 13.
They [nurses] smooth pillows, and make arrowroot ; they
get up at nights ; they bear complaints and querulousness.
Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xl.
2. To free from obsti'uetion ; make easy; re-
move, as an obstruction or difficulty.
Hee counts it not profanenesse to bee polisht with hu-
mane reading, or to smooth his way by Aristotle to Schoole.
diuinitie.
Bp. Earle, Micro-cosmographie, A Graue Diuine.
Thou, Abelard ! the last sad office pay.
And smooth my passage to the realms of day.
Pope, Eloisa to Abelard, 1. 322.
3. To free from harshness; make flowing.
In their motions harmony divine
So smoothes her charming tones.
ililUm, P. L., V. 629.
4. To palliate ; soften.
To smooth his fault I should have been more mild.
Shak., Rich. II., i. 3. 240.
5. To calm; mollify; allay.
Each perturbation smooth'd with outward calm.
Milton, V. L., iv. 120.
6. To make agreeable ; make flattering.
I am against the prophets, saith the Lord, that smooth
their tongues. Jer. xxiii. 31 (margin).
7t. To utter agreeably ; hence, to free from
blame; exonerate. [Poetical.]
What tongue shall smooth thy name?
Shak., R. and J., iii. 2. 97.
8. To modify (a given series of values) so as
to remove irregularities.
II. intrans. 1. To become smooth.
The falls were smoothing down.
The Field, Dec. 6, 1884. (Eruyc. Diet.)
2t. To repeat flattering or wheedling words.
Learn to flatter and smooth.
Stubbes, Anatomic of Abuses, an. 158S.
Because I cannot flatter and speak fair.
Smile in men's faces, smooth, deceive, and cog.
Shak., Rich. III., i. 3. 48.
smooth-bore (smoTH'bor), a. and n. I. a.
Smooth-bored; not rifled: as, a smooth-bore
gun. Compare choke-bore.
Fort Sumter, on its part, was a scarcely completed work,
dating back to the period of smooth-bore guns of small
caliber. The Century, XXXV. 711.
II. n. A firearm with a smooth-bored bar-
rel: in contradistinction to rifle, or rifled gun.
smooth-bored (smoTn'bord), a. Having a
smooth bore ; not rifled: noting the barrel of a
gun or the gun itself.
smooth-browed (smoTH'broud), «. Having a
smooth or unv^Tinkled brow.
smooth-chinned (smoTH'chind), a. Having a
smooth or shaven cliin ; beardless.
Look to your wives too ;
The smooth-chinn'd courtiers are abroad.
Massinger, Duke of Milan, ii. 1.
smooth-dab (smoTH'dab), «. The smear-dab.
[Prov. Eng.]
smooth-dittied (smoTH'dit'id), a. Smoothly
or sweetly sung or played; having a flowing
melody. [Rare.]
With his soft pipe, and smooth-dittied song.
Well knows to still the wild winds when they roar.
Milton, Comus, 1. 86.
smooths, V. See smooth.
smoothen (smo'THn), v. t. [< smooth + -e»l.]
To make smooth; smooth.
With edged grooving tools they cut down and smoothen
the extuberances left. Moxon, Mechanical Exercises.
Language that goes as easy as a glove
O'er good and evil smoothens both to one.
Browning, Ring and Book, I. 43.
smoother^ (smo'Tn^r), n. [< smooth + -cri.]
1. One who or that which smooths.
Scalds, a word which denotes "smoothers and polishers
of language. " Bp. Percy, On Ancient Minstrels.
2. A flatterer; a wheedler.
These are Tuy flatterers, my soothers, my claw-backs,
my smoothers, my parasites.
Urquhart, tr. of Rabelais, iii. 3. {Davies.)
3. In printing, a tape used in a cylinder-press
to hold the sheets in position against the cyl-
inder.— 4. (n) A wheel used in glass-cutting
to polish the faces of the grooves or cuts already
made by another wheel : the smoother is usu-
smoother
ally of stone. (6) The workman who operates
such a smoother for polishing grooves or cuts.
smoother-t, «. and r. An obsolete form of
glllotlirr.
smooth-faced (smoTH'fast), a. 1. Having a
smooth surface in general: as, a gmooth-faeed
file. — 2. Having a smooth face; beardless. —
3. Having a mild, bland, or winning look ; hav-
ing a fawning, insinuating, or hypocritical ex-
pression.
A twelvemonth and a day
ni mark do words that mwolh/aced wooers say.
Shak., L. L. L., v. 2. 838.
Smooth-faced, drawling, hypocritical fellows, who pre-
tend ginger isn't hot in their mouths, and cry down all
innocent pleasures. George Eliot, Janet's Repentance, L
smooth-grained (smoTH'grand), a. Smooth in
the grain, as wooid or stone.
Nor box, nor limes, without their use are made,
Smooth-grained, and proper for the turner's trade.
Dryden, tr. of Virgil's Georgics, 11. 630.
smoothing-box (smo'lHing-boks), «. A box-
iron. Ettcyc. Diet.
SmooHdnn-boxa, Buckles, Steels, and Awla.
Money Matten All THngt (1688X p. 76.
smoothing-iron (8m6'THiu^-i'*m),n. A heavy
iron utensil with a flat polished face, used for
smoothing clothes, bed-linen, etc. : it is usual-
ly heated. Solid smoothing irons are called JUU-irant;
bollow ones, heated with burning charcoal, a lamp, a piece
of red-hot Iron inserted, or the like, are called by different
name*. See box-iron, lad-iran, and gooie, n. , 3.
TbenrnMfMn^.irotu . . . hang before the fire, ready for
Mary when she should want them.
Mrt. Gaikdl, lisaj Barton, vUL
smoothing-mill (smd'THing-mil), n. In gem-
and ffUisn-citttiHg, a wheel made of sandstone, on
which a continuous stream of water is allowed
to flow during the cutting and beveling of glass,
gems, and small glass ornaments.
8moothing-plane(sm6'THing-plan), n. Incarp.,
a smitll tine plane used for finishing, oee
plane'-. 1.
smoothing-stone (smO'THing-ston), •>. Asnb-
stituti' for a smoothing-iron, made of steatite,
with a plate and liandle of metal. E. H. Knight.
smoothly (smo'rii'li), adv. [< ME. smetkeliche;
< smooth + -lij-.'\ In a smooth manner or form,
in any sense of the word gmooth.
smoothness (smOTR'nes), n. [< ME. tmethnes,
< AS. smtthnys, < ametke, smooth: see smooth,
a.] The state or character of being gmooth, in
any sense.
Hie tmooUineme of your words and sUlables running
▼pon feete of sundrie quantities.
PutUnham, Arte of Eng. Poetic, p. 65.
I want tmootJmett
To thank a man for pardoning of a orime
I nerer knew.
Beau, and Fl., If aid's Tragedy, It. 2.
Hee dlstlngaishea not betwixt falre and doable<4leaUng,
and fospecta all tmoaUoietm tot the drease of knaoerl*.
Bp. Sarlt, Micro-ooamographie, A Blunt Man.
The torrent's $moctknut ere It daah below. Campbell.
smooth-paced (smOTH'past), a. Having a
smooth pin-e or movement; of a regular, easy
flow.
In imooUt-pae'd Terse, or bobllng Prose.
Prior, Una, W.
smooth-sayer (smoTH'sa'^r), n. One who is
smooth-tongued. [Kare.]
I should rather, ten tbnaa orer, dispense with the flat-
terers and the <m<>o(ft-tav«n tban the grambleta.
C. D. Warner, Backlog Stadle^ p. 14L
smooth-scaled (smovn'skald), a. Having flat,
smooth, or ecarinate scales, as a reptile or a
fiih.
smooth-shod (sipdrn'sbod), a. Having shoes
not specially provided with cogs, calks, or spikes
to prevent slipping: chiefly noting animals: op-
posed to rough-fhoit or nharjy-shod,
smoothsides (smoTii'sidz), n. The gapphirine
gumnril, TrigUi hirundo. [Prov. EngJ
smooth-spoken (smiiVH'gp6''kn), a. Speaking
stnootlily or pleasantly; plausible; insinnat-
int:.
smooth-tongued (smSTH ' tungd), a. Using
smooth words; smooth-spoken; plausible.
Your dancing-roasters and barbers are such flnical,
tmotAhtou'turd. tattling fellows; and if you set 'em once
a-talklng they'll ne'er Mlone, no more than when you set
'em a-flddltng.
Wychaien, Gentleman Danclng-Maiter, 111. 1.
Smooth-'Winged (smei'H'wingd), n. In ornith.,
not rouf h-winged: specifically noting swallows
which have not the peculiar serration of the
outer i)rimary of such genera as I'salidiiifroene
and .'il'Ifii/lo/itiTyx.
smore' fsmor), r. [Also gnionr ; < MK. nmoren,
< AH. nmorian, smother, stifle, suffocate (= MD.
5721
MLG. smoren, smother, stifle, stew, > G. schmo-
ren, stew, swelter); prob.< *smor (= MD. smoor),
a suffocating vapor : see smother, smolder. '\ I.
trans. To smother; suffocate. [Old Eng. and
Scotch.]
All suld be smored with-outen dout,
Wame tha hevens ay moved obout.
Hampote, Pricke of Conscience, 1. 7601.
So bewrapped them and entangled them, kepyng doune
by force the fetherbed and pillowes harde unto their
mouthes, that within a while they sinored and sty-fled
them. UaU, Richard III., f. 3. (UalKweU.)
Manie gentillman did with him byd,
Whos prais sould not be smored.
Battle of Balrinnes (Child's Ballads, VIL 226).
Itt suld nocht be hid, nor obscurit ;
It suld nocht be throung down, nor »murit.
Lauder, Dewtle of Kyngis (E. E. T. S.), L 22a
H. intrans. To smother; be suffocated.
[Scotch.]
By this time he was cross the ford,
Whare in the snaw the chapman mnoor'd.
Bums, Tam o' Shanter.
smore- (smor), r. t. A dialectal form of smear.
Ilalliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
smorendo (smo-ren'do). [It., ppr. of smorire,
die away, grow pale, < L. ex, out, + mori, die :
see ntort^. Cf. morendo.] Same as morendo.
smorzando (smor-tziln'do). [< It. smorzando,
ppr. of smorzare, extinguish, put out, die out.]
in music, same as morendo,
smott. An obsolete preterit of smite.
smote (sraot). Preterit of smite.
smo'terlicht, a. [ME., < smotrren (in comp. W-
smotered, pp., smutted, dirtied) (of. MD. smod-
eren, D. smoddtren, smut, soil: see smut) + -Itch,
E.-lyi.'i Smutty; dirty.
And eek for she was somdel rmoteriieh.
She was as digne as water in a dich.
Chaucer, Reeve's Tale, 1. 43.
smother (smuTH'tr), n. [Early mod. E. also
smoother; < ME. smother, a contr. of the earlier
smorther, smorthur, a suffocating vapor; with
formative -ther, < AS. smorian, smother, stifle,
snffocate: see gmorei.] 1. That which smo-
thers or appears to smother, in any sense,
(a) Smoke^ fog, thick dust, foul air, or the like.
Thus mast I from the smoke into the smother;
From tyrant duke unto a tyrant brother.
Shak., As you Like it, I. 2. 299.
For hundreds of acres nothing is to be seen but smother
and desolation, the whole circuit round looking like the
cinders of a volcano.
Gilbert White, Nat. Hist of Selbome, vlL
A couple of yachts, with the tacks of their mainsails
triced up, were passing us in a rmother of foam.
W. C. Auasett, Jack's Courtship, xx.
(M Smoldering ; alow combustion, (c) Confusion ; excesa
with disorder : as, a perfect smotAer of letters and papers.
2. The state of being stifled; suppression.
There Is nothing makes a man suspect much, more than
to know little; and therefore men should remedy sus-
picion by procuring to know more, and not to keep their
suspicions In smother. Bacon, Suspicion (ed. 1887X
smother (smuTH'er), v. [Early mod, E. also
smoother; < ME. smothren, smortheren, smor-
thren, smeorthren, smorther, suffocating vapor:
see smother, n. In the sense ' daub or smear,'
regarded by some as due to ME. bismotered, be-
daubed: eee smoterlieh.'i I. trans. 1. To suffo-
cate ; stifle ; obstruct, more or less completely,
the respiration of.
The beholders of this tragic play, . . .
Cntimely tmother'd in their dusky graves.
SItak., Kich. III., iv. 4. 70.
Some who had the holy fire, being surrounded and almost
smothered by the crowd that pressed atKiut them, were
forced to brand the candles in the faces of the people in
their own defence.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. 1. 27.
The helpless traveller . . . smothered In the dusty whirl-
wind diea. Addison, Cato, il. 6.
2. To extinguish or deaden, as fire, by cover-
ing, overlaying, or otherwise exoludii^ the air:
as, to smother a fire with ashes. — 3. Hence, fig-
uratively and generally, to reduce to a low de-
gree of vigor or activity ; suppress or do away
with; extinguish; stide; cover up; conceal;
hide ; as, the committee's report was smothered.
Sextos TarquiniuL . . . smothering his passions for the
present, departed with the rest back to the camp.
Shak., Lucrece, Arg.
I am afraid, Son, there 's something I don't see yet,
something that 's smother'd under all this Raillery.
Steele, Conscious Lovers, 1. 2.
4. In cooit«ry,'to cook in a close dish : as, beef-
steak smotliered with onions. — 6. To daub or
smear. Salliwell. [Prov. Eng.] — Smothered
mate. See mates.— To smother up, to wrap up sn as to
produce the appearance or sensation of being smothered.
The sun.
Who doth permit the base contagious clouds
To smother up his beauty. Shak., 1 Uen. IV., 1. 2. 228.
smndge
= Syn. 1. Smother, Choke. Strangle, Throttle, Stifle, Suffo-
cate, To mnother, in the stricter sense, is to put to death
by preventing air from entering the nose or mouth. To
choke is tti imperil or destroy life by stoppage, external
or internal, in the windpipe. To strangle is to put to death
by compression of the windpipe. Throttle is the same as
strangle, except that it is often used for partial or at-
tempted strangling, and that it suggests its derivation.
Suffocate and stifle are essentially the same, except that
stifle is the stronger : they mean to kill by impeding res.
piration.
II. intrans. 1. To be suffocated. — 2. To
breathe with great difficulty by reason of
smoke, dust, close covering or wrapping, or
the like. — 3. Of a fire, to bum very slowly for
want of air ; smolder.
The smoky fume sjnortherting so was.
The Abbay it toke, sore gan it enbras.
Bom. of Partenag (E. E. T, S.), L 3S03.
What fenny trash maintains the stnoth'ring tires
Of his desires 1 Quarles, Emblems, 11. 14.
4. Figuratively, to perish, grow feeble, or de-
cline, by suppression orconcealment; be stifled;
be suppressed or concealed.
Which [zeall may lie stnothering for a time till it meets
with suitable matter and a freer vent, and then it breaks
out into a dreadfull flame. StilUngfleet, Sermons, II. vi.
smotheration (smuTH-er-ii'shon), «. [< smother
+ -ation.'i 1. The act of smothering, or the
state of being smothered; suffocation. — 2. A
sailors' dish of beef and pork smothered with
potatoes. [New Eng. in both senses.]
smother-fly (smuTH'6r-fli), n. Any aphid.
Tlie people of this village were surprised by a shower of
aphides, or smother-flies, which fell in these parts.
GiUieH White, Nat Hist of Selbome, UlL
smotheriness (smuTH'^r-i-nes), n. The state
of lifinfj smothery.
smotheringly (smuTH'6r-ing-li), adv. Suffo-
catingly ; so as to suppress.
smother-kiln (smuTH'^r-kil), n. A kiln into
which smoke is admitted for the purpose of
blackening pottery in firing.
smothery (smuTH'^r-i), a. [< smother + -yl.]
Tending to smother; full of smoke, fog, dust,
or the like ; stifling; as, a smothery atmosphere.
What, dullard? we and you in smothery chafe.
Babes, baldheads, stumbled thus far into Zin
The Horrid, getting neither out nor in.
Browning, Sordello, ill.
smouch^ (smoch or smoueh), r. and n. [Avar,
of smutch.'] Same as smutch.
smouch^ (smoueh), V. [Perhaps a dial. var. of
smack'^.'] To kiss; buss. [Obsolete or prov.
Eng.]
What kissing and bussing, what smouching & slabber-
ing one of another ! Stubbes, Anat. of Abuses, i. 16.
I had rather than a bend of leather
Shee and I might smoueh together.
Heywood, 1 Edw. IV. (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, 1. 40).
smonch^ (smoueh), «. [< smoueh^, ».] A loud
kiss; a smack; a buss.
Come smack me ; I long for a smoueh.
Promos and Cassandra, p. 47. (Halliujetl.)
smoueh^ (smoueh), M. [Origin obscure.] Alow-
crowned hat. Ilalliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
smonch^ (smoueh), V. t. [Prob. ult. < AS. smed-
gan, creep, etc. : see smock.] To take unfair-
ly; also, to take unfair advantage of; chouse;
gouge. [Colloq., U. S.]
The rest of It waa smouched from House's Atlantic pa-
per. New Princeton Rev., V. 49.
Smoueh-'' (smoueh), n. [< D. "Smous, Smousje, a
German Jew, so called because many of them
being named Moses, they pronounce this name
Mousyee, or according to the Dutch spelling,
Mouye" (Sewel).] A Jew. [Cant.]
I saw them roast some poor Smotiches at Lisbon because
they would not eat pork.
Johnston, Chrysal, 1. 228. (Davies.)
smouched (smOcht or smoucht), a. [< smoueh^
-(--«(/■-. Cf. smutch.'] Blotted, stained, or dis-
colored; grimed; dirty; smutched.
smoulder, smoulderingness, etc. See smolder,
etc.
Smouse (smous), n. Same as Smoueh'^.
Ha, ha, ha ! Admirable ! admirable ! I honour the
Smouse I C. Macklin, Man of the World, 11. 1.
smout (smout), V. i. [Origin obscure.] To per-
form occasional work, when out of constant
employment. Hallitccll.
smout (smout), n. [<. smout, r.] A compositor
who has occasional employment in various
printing-offices. [Printers' slang, Eng.]
smnckle (smnk'l), v. t. An obsolete or dialec-
tal form of smuggle'^.
smucklert, «• An obsolete variant of smuggler.
.■<nril.
smudge' (smuj), v. t.; pret. and pp. smudged,
ppr. smudging. [Early mod. E, also smoodge;
smudge
< ME. smogen, soil; a var. of smuteji.] 1. To
smear or stain with dirt or filth; blacken with
smoke. [Prov. Eng.]
Presuming no more wound belongs vnto 't
Than only to be smudg'd and grim'd with sootv
Heyvood, Dialogues (Works, ed. Peai'son, 1874, ^^. 157).
2t. To smoke or cure, as herring.
In the craft of catching or taking it, and smudging it
(the herring] (marchant- and chapman-able as it should
be), it sets a-worke thousands.
Sathe, Lenten Stuffe (Harl. Misc., VI. 159).
smudge^ (smuj), «. [Also smutch: see smudge^,
c] 1. A spot; stain; smear.
Every one, however, feels the magic of the shapely
strokes and vague smudges, which . . . reveal not only
an object, but an artist's conception of it.
Art Jour., March, 1888, p. 67.
Sometimes a page bearing a special smudge, or one show-
ing an unnsuHl amount of interlineation, seemed to re-
quire particular treatment. Harper's Mag., LXXX. 448.
2. The scrapings and cleanings of paint-pots,
collected and used to cover the outer sides of
roof-boards as a bed for rooting-eanvas. Car-
Builder's Diet. [Eng.]
smndge^ (smuj), v. t. ; pret. and pp. smudged,
ppr. smudging. [Appar. another use of smudge^,
confusedwith*»iO<Afr.] 1. To stiile ; smother.
[Prov. Eng.] — 2. To make a smudge in; fumi-
gate with a smudge : as, to smudge a tent so as
to drive away insects. [U. S.]
smudge'^ (smuj), ». [See smudge^, t;.] 1. A
suffocating smoke.
1 will sacrifice the first stanza on your critical altar,
and let it consume either in flame or smudge as it choose.
W. Mason, To Gray. (Correspondence of Gray and
[Mason, cxv.)
2. A heap of combustibles partially ignited
and emitting a dense smoke ; especially, such
a fire made in or near a house, tent, or the like,
so as to raise a dense smoke to repel insects.
I have bad a smudge made in a chafing-dish at my bed-^
aide. Mrs. Clavers [Mrs. C. M. Kirkland], Forest Life.
smudger (smuj'er), M. One who or that which
smudges, in any sense. [Rare.]
And the man called the name of his wife Charah (smudg-
er), for she was the stainer of life.
H. Pratt, quoted in The Academy, Oct. 27, 1888, p. 289.
smudgyl (smuj'i),a. [<s»jM(J<jrcl-l--)/l.] Stained
or blackened with smudge ; smeared : as, a
smudgy shop.
I do not suppose that the book is at all rare, or in any
way remarkable, save, perhaps, for its wretched woodcuts
and its villainously smudgy letterpress.
N. and Q., 7th ser., X. 91.
smudgy^ (smuj'i), a. [< smudge"^ + -i/l.] 1.
Making a smudge or dense smoke: a,s,a. smudgy
fire.
For them (the artists of Magna GrEecia] the most per-
fect lamp was the one that was the most ornamental. If
more light was needed, other smudgy lamps were added.
Pop. Sci. Mo., XIII. 267.
2. Stifling; close. [Prov. Eng.]
Hot or close, e. g. the fire is so large that it makes the
room feel quite hot and smudgy. The same perhaps as
smothery. llalliwell.
smugl (smug), o. and n. [Early mod. E. also
smoog; toT*smuck, < MLG. LG. «?»!«« =:NFrie8.
smoh = G. schmuck = Dan. smuk = Sw. dial.
smuck, smock (G. and Scand. forms recent and
prob. < LG., but appar. ult. of MHG. origin),
neat, trim, spruce, elegant, fair; from the
noun, MHG. gesmuc, G. schmuck, ornament, <
MHG. smucken, G. schmiicken = MLG. smucken,
ornament, adorn, orig. dress, a secondary form
of MHG. smiegen = AS. smeogan, creep into,
hence put on (a garment) : see smock, w.] I. a.
1. Smooth; sleek; neat; trim; spruce; fine;
also, affectedly proper; unctuous; especially,
affectedly nice in dress ; satisfied with one's
own appearance ; hence, self-satisfied in any
respect.
A beggar, that was used '.o come so smug upon the
mart. Sliak., M. of V., iii, 1. 49.
Oh, that smug old Woman ! there 's no enduring ber Af-
fectation of Youth. Steele, Grief Ala-Mode, iii. 1.
Smug Sydney, too, thy bitter page shall seek.
Byron, Eng. Bards and Scotch Keviewers.
Stinking and savoury, smug and gruff.
Browning, Holy-Cross Day.
2. Affectedly or conceitedly smart.
That trim and smug saying.
AnTwtationg on OlanvUte (1682), p. 184. (Latham.)
H. n. One who is affectedly proper and nice ;
a self-satisfied person. [Slang.]
Students . . . who, almost continually at study, allow
themselves no time for relaxation, . . . arc absent-minded,
and seem often offended at the trivialities of a joke.
Tbey become labelled smugs, and are avoided by their
class-mates. The Lancet, 1889, 11. 471.
5722
smug^ (smug), v. t. ; pret. and pp. smugged, ppr.
smugging. [< smug'^, «.] To make smug or
spruce : often with up.
Smug up your beetle-brows, none look grimly.
Middleton and Rowley, Spanish Gypsy, iv. 1.
No sooner doth a young man see his sweetheart coming
but he smugs himself up. Burton, Anat of Mel., p. 51tt.
smug'^ (smug), r. t.; pret. and pp. smugged, ppr.
smugging. [Prob. abbr. of smuggle, or from the
same source.] 1. To confiscate summarily, as
boys used to confiscate tops, marbles, etc., when
the game was played out of season. [Prov. Eng.]
I shouldn't mind his licking me ; Vdsmug his money and
get his halfpence or soniothink.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II. 568.
2. To hush up. [Slang.]
She wanted a guarantee that the case should be smugged,
or, in other words, compromised.
Morning Chronicle, Oct. 3, 1857. (Encyc. Diet.)
Smug^t (smug), n. [Perhaps so called as being
blackened with soot or smoke (see smudge^-), or
else as being "a neat, handy fellow" (Halli-
well).] A smith.
A smug of Vulcan's forging trade,
Beamoaked with sea-cole fire.
Bowland, Knave of Clubs (1611). (HalliweU.)
I must now
A golden handle make for my wife's fann.
Worke, my fine Smugges. Dekker, Londons Tempe.
smug-boat (smug'bot), n. A contraband boat
on tiie coast of China ; an opium-boat.
smug-faced (smug'fast), a. Having a smug or
precise face ; prim-faoed.
I once procured for a smug-faced client of mine a good
douse o' the chops, which put a couple of hundred pounds
into his pocket ' J. BaUlie.
smuggle^ (smug'l), V. ; pret. and pp. smuggled,
ppr. smuggling. [Also formerly or dial, snmckle
(< D.) ; = G. schmuggeln = Sw. smuggla = Dan.
smugle, < LG. smuggcln = D. smokkelen, smug-
gle (cf. D. smidgen, eat secretly, ter sniuig,
secretly, in hugger-mugger, Dan. ismug, adv.,
secretly, privately, smughandel, contraband
trade, smoge, a narrow (secret) passage, Sw.
smyg, a lurking-hole, Icel- smuga, a hole to creep
through, smugall, penetrating, smtigligr, pene-
trating) : all from a, strong verb found in Icel.
smjuga (pret. smo, mod. smaug, pi. smugu, pp.
smoginn), creep, creep through a hole, put on a
garment, = Norw. smjuga, creep (cf. Sw. smy-
ga, sneak, smuggle), = AS. smeogan, smugan,
creep, = MHG. smiegen, G. schmiegen, cling to,
bend, ply, get into : see smock, stnug^.'] I. trans.
1. To import or export secretly, and contrary
to law ; import or export secretly without pay-
ing the duties imposed by law ; also, to intro-
duce into trade or consumption in violation
of excise laws; in Scotland, to manufacture
(spirits, malt, etc.) illicitly.
Where, tippling punch, grave Cato's self you'll see,
And Amor Patria) vending smuggled tea. Crabbe.
2. To convey, introduce, or handle clandestine-
ly: as, to smuggle something out of the way.
II, intrans. To practise secret illegal expor-
tation or importation of goods ; export or im-
port goods without payment of duties; also, to
violate excise laws. See I., 1, and smuggling.
Now there are plainly but two ways of checking this
practice — either the temptation to muiggle must be di-
minished by lowering the duties, or the difficulties in the
way of smuggling must be increased. Cyc. of Commerce.
smuggle'"^ (smug'l), r. t. ; pret. and pp. smug-
gled, ppr. smuggling. [Appar. another use of
smuggle^.'] To cuddle or fondle.
Oh, the little lips ! and 'tis the best-natured little dear.
[Smuggles and kisses it.]
Farquhar, Love and a Bottle, i. 1.
smuggler (smug'lfer), «. [Early mod. E. smug-
ler; also smuckler; = G. schmuggler = Dan. smug-
ler = Sw. smugglare (cf. F. smuggler, < E.), < LG.
smuggeler = D. smokkelaar; as smuggle^ + -ej-l.]
1 . One who smuggles ; one who imports or ex-
ports secretly and contrary to law either con-
traband goods or dutiable goods without pay-
ing the customs ; also, in Scotland, an illicit
distiller. — 2. A vessel employed in smuggling
goods.
smuggling (smug'Ung), n. The offense of car-
rying, or causing to be carried, across the boun-
dary of a nation or district, goods which are
dutiable, without either paying the duties or
allowing the goods to be subjected to the reve-
nue laws ; or the like carrying of goods the tran-
sit of which is prohibited. In a more general sense
it is applied to the violation of legal restrictions on tran-
sit, whether by revenue laws or blockades, and the viola-
tion of excise laws, by introducing into trade or consump-
tion prohil)ited articles, or articles evading taxation. In
either use it implies clandestine evasion of law.
smut-ball
smugly (smug'li), adv. In a smug manner;
neatly; sprucely.
A Sunday face.
Too smugly proper for a world of sin.
Lowell, Fitz Adam's Story.
smugness (smug'nes), n. The state or charac-
ter of being smug; neatness; spruceness; self-
satisfaction ; conceited smartness.
She looks like an old Coach new painted, affecting an
unseemly Smugness whilst she is ready to drop in pieces.
Wycherley, Plain Dealer, ii. 1.
smuly (smii'li), a. [Perhaps for *smooly, a
contracted form of *smoothly, adj.] Looking
smoothly demure. HalliweU. [Prov. Eng.]
smur (smur), n. [Also smurr ; prob. a contr. of
smother; or < smoor, smore, stifle: see smorcl.]
Fine rain. [Scotch.]
Our hopes for fine weather were for the moment dashed ;
a smurr came over, and the thin veil of the shower toned
down the colors of the red houses.
W. Black, House-boat, vi.
smur (smur), V. i. ; pret. and pp. smurred, ppr.
smurring. [Also smurr ; < smur, «.] To rain
slightly; drizzle. Jamieson. [Scotch.]
smurcht, y- An obsolete spelling of smirch.
smurry (smur'i), a. [< smur + -^1.] Having
smur; characterized by smur. [Scotch.]
The cold hues of green through which we had been sail-
ing on this smurry afternoon, W. Black, House-boat, i,
smut (smut), 11. [Prob. a var. of smit^, < AS.
smitta, a spot, stain, smut, = D. smet, a blot,
stain. The variation is appar. due to the in-
fluence of 'the related words, ME. bismotered,
smeared, etc., and to the words cited under
smutch, smudge^: see smudge^.~i 1. A spot
made with soot, coal, or the like ; also, the foul-
ing matter itself.
With white apron and cap she ventured into the draw-
ing-room, and was straightway saluted by a joyous dance
of those monads called vulgarly smuts.
Bulwer, Caxtons, xiv. 2.
2. Obscene or filthy language.
He does not stand upon decency in conversation, but
will talk smut, though a priest and his mother be in the
room. Addison, The Lover, No. 39.
3. A fungous disease of plants, affecting espe-
cially the cereal plants, to many of which it is
exceedingly destructive, it is caused by fungi of
the family Ustilaginex. There are in the United States
two well-defined kinds of smut in cereals : (a) the Hack
smut, produced by UstUago segetuvi, in which the head is
mostly changed to a black dust; (6) the stinking smut
(called bunt in England), which shows only when the
kernel is broken open, the usual contents being found to
be replaced by a black unctuous powder. The stinking
smut is caused by two species of fungus, which differ only
in microscopic characters — Tilletia tritici, with rough
spores, and T. fastens, with smooth spores. It is the most
destructive disease of wheat known, not infrequently caus-
ing the loss of half of the crop or more. It occui-s to some
extent throughout all the wheat-growing regions, but is
especially common in Indiana, Iowa, and adjacent States,
as well as in California and Europe. The disease does not
spread from plant to plant or from field to Held, but the
infection takes place at the time the seed sprouts. No
remedy can be applied after the grain is sown, but the
disease can be prevented by sowing clean seed in clean soil
and covering well. Smutty seed can be purified by wet-
ting thoroughly with a solution of blue vitriol, using one
pound or more to a gallon of water. Black smut may be
similarly treated. U. Maydis is the smut of Indian com ;
U. destruens, of Setaria glauca; U. urseolum, of many spe-
cies of Carex, etc. See Ustilago, Tilletia, maize-smut, bunt*,
bunt-ear, burnt-ear, brand, 6.
4. Earthj', worthless coal, such as is often found
at the outcrop of a seam. In Pennsylvania also
called black-dirt, blossom, and croj}.
smut (smut), V. ; pret. and pp. smutted, ppr.
smutting. [< simit, h.] I. trans. 1. To stain
or mark with smut; blacken with coal, soot, or
other dirty substance.
"Tis the opinion of these poor People that, if they can
but have the happiness to be buried in a shroud smutted
with this Celestial Fire, it will certainly secm-e them from
the ilames of Hell. Maundrell, Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 97,
2. To affect with the disease called smut;
mildew.
Mildew falleth upon com, and smutteth it. Bacon,
3. Figuratively, to tai-nish; defile; make im-
pure; blacken.
He is far from being smutted with the soil of atheism.
Dr. B. More.
4. To make obscene.
Here one gay shew and costly habit tries, . . .
Another smuts his scene.
Steele, Conscious Lovers, ProL
II. intrans. 1. To gather smut; be converted
into smut.
White red-eared wheat . . . seldom smuts.
Mortimer, Husbandry.
2. To give off smut; crock,
smut-ball (smut'bal), «. 1. A fungus of the
genus Tilletia. — 2. A fungus of the genus Xjco-
perdon; a puff ball.
smutch
smutch (smuch), r. t. [Also dial, mnoueh, smooch
{also smudge, q.v.); <Sw. smiitsa = Ham . smudge
= G. schmutzen, soil, sully, = D. smoUen, soil,
revile, insult, = iIHG. smotzni, nfhmut:en, soil;
cf. Sw. smuU = Dan. smuds = JIHGr. smuz, (i.
schmutz, dirt, filth; connected with smit^, smite,
smut.^ To blacken with smoke, soot, or the
like; smudge.
Wlint, hast mutcKd thy nose? Shai. , W. T., i. 2. 121.
Have you mark'd but the fall of the snow,
Before the soil hath ginutch'd it?
B. Jowmn, Devil is an .\ss, ii. 2.
smutch (smuch), n. [Also dial, smouch, smooch
(also smudge, q. v.): see smutch, r.] A black
spot ; a black stain ; a smudge.
That my mantle take no gmuteh
From thy coarser garments touch.
Fletcher , Poems, p. 101. (HaUiu-ell.)
A broad gray fmoueh on each side.
W. H. Doll, in Scammon's Marine Mammals, p. 293.
smutchint (smuch'in), ». [Prob. a var. of
'smitchin (found also as smidgen), < smitch^,
dust, etc. : see smitch^, smidgen.'] Snuff.
The Spanish and Irish take it most in Powder, or Smutch-
in, and it mightily refreshes the Brain, and 1 believe there
la as much taken this way in Ireland as there is in
Pipes in England. HoweU, Letters, 111. 7.
smntchy (smuch'i),a. [<. smutch + -y^.] Mark-
ed, or appearing as if marked, with a smutch or
smutches.
The illustrations . . . have that heavy and mutehy ef-
fect in the closely shaded parts which is a constant de-
fect In mechanical engraving. The Nation, Dec 20, 1883.
smut-ftmgUS (smut'fung'gus), n. See fungus,
nmul-liall, ami smut, 3.
8milth(srauth;, n. [Ct.smut.'i A miners' name
for waste, poor, or small coal. See smut, 4.
smut-machilie (smut'ma-shen'), n. A smut-
null.
smnt-mill (smut'mil), n. In milling, a machine
for removing smut from wheat. It consisted ori-
ginally of a cylindrical screen in which was a revolving
brush that swept off the smut and forced it through the
screen. Improved forms now consist of shaking table*
and screens, revolving screens, perforated cylinders, and
the like, combined with an air-blast ; and machines of this
type, besides removing the smut, point and clean the
^nln. Compare separator, 2 (aX
Smntsia (smut'si-a), n. [NL. (J. E. Gray):
named from Smuts, a Dutch naturalist.] A
genus of pangolins or scaly ant-eat«r8, of the
family ilanidtdx, containing the East African
S. temmiiickiy about three feet long, with com-
paratively short broad obtuse tail, short broad
Hoali-s. and feet scaly to the toes.
smuttied (smut'id), a. [< smutig + -«<P.] In
6o(., made smutty; covered with or bearing
smut.
smuttily (sraut'i-li), adr. In a smutty manner.
(a> Hiackly ; sraokily ; foully, (fr) With obscene language.
smuttiness («mut'i-nes), «. The state or prop-
erty of being smutty, (a) The stats or property of
being sailed or smutted ; dirt from smoke, Kiat, coal, or
smut (6) Obsceneneas of language.
smutty (smut'i), a. [< smut + -jjl. Cf. D.
sm/Hldig, smodsig = G. schmutzig = ow. smutsig
= Dan. smudsig, smutty.] 1. Soiled with smut,
coal, soot, or the like.
I pray leave the wmvUn Air of London, and come hither
to breathe sweeter. HmttU, Letters, I. iv. r,.
The "Still," or Distillery, was a mul^, clouted, suspi-
cions-looking building, down In a hollow by HHI Brook.
S. Judd, Margaret, L Ih.
2. Affected with smut or mildew.
StmtUii com wHl sell dearer at one time than the clean
at another. Locke.
3. Obscene; immodest; impore: as, «mu(fy lan-
guage.
Let the grave sneer, sarcastic speak thee shrewd,
The imutty Joke ridiculously lewd. SnwlUtt, Advice.
Smutty coot, the black scoter, (Sdemia amtricana. See
cut u>iM< r iK'Ifinia. [.Salem, Hasaachnaetta.]
smutty-nosed (smut'i-nozd), a. In omith.,
having black or blackish nostrils. The term Is ap-
plied speciflcally to (a) the black-tailed shearwater, Puji-
ntu einereut or PrioAmu melamtrut, which has black nawl
tubes on a yellow bill ; and (6) a dark-colored variety of
the Canada Jay found in Alaska, Peritamu canadtmit
fumifToiu, having brownish nasal plumulea.
Smyrniot, Smymiote (smtr'ni-ot, -6t), «. and
a. [< N'lir. y^uv/imuTr/i;, < Gr. lui pva, Ifitpvri, L.
Smynm, Smyrna (see def.).] I. w. A native or
an inhabitant of Smyrna, a city in Asia Minor.
H. //. Of or pertaining to Smyrna.
Smymium (sra6r'ni-um), n. [NL., < h. smyr-
nion, zmyrnium, < Or. ouvpviov, a plant having
seeds smelling like mvrrn,< a/jipva, Ionic ijftipvri,
y»r. of /ivpfxt, myrrh.]] A genus of umbellifer-
ous plants of the tribe .4mmines, type of the
BubtritM? Sniyrniex. It Is characterized by polyga-
mous flowers, seldom with any bracts or bractlets, and by
5723
fruit with a two-cleft carpophore, numerous oil-tubes, in-
conspicuous or slightly prominent ridges without corky
thickening, and ovoid or roundish seeds with the face
deeply and broadly excavated. I'he 6 or 7 former spe-
cies are all now included in one, 5, Olusatrum, a native
of Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia, extending
along the shores northward to the English Channel. It
is a smooth erect biennial, with dissected radical leaves,
commonly sessile broad and undivided or three-parted
stem-leaves, and yellow flowers borne in many-rayed com-
pound umbels. See alexanders, horge-parsley, and black
pot-lierb (under pot-herb).
smytet, «'. An obsolete spelling of smite.
smyterie, smytrie (smit'ri), «. [Sc, more prop.
*.smitery,< smite, smyte, abit, particle: seesmiv-,
smitch^.i A numerous collection of small in-
dividuals.
A mnytrie o' wee duddie weans. Burm, The Twa Dogs.
smytht, «■ An obsolete spelling of smith.
Sn. In chem., the symbol for tin (Latin stannum).
snabble (snab'l), v. ; pret. and pp. snabbled, ppr.
stiabblitig. [Var. of "snapple, freq. of snap.] I.
trans. To rifle ; plunder ; kill. HalUwell. [Prov.
Eng.]
n. intrans. 1. To eat greedily. Halliwell.
[Prov. Eng.]— 2. To shovel with the bill, as
a water-fowl seeking for food.
Yon see, sir, 1 was a cruising down the flats about sun-
up, the tide jist at the nip, as it is now ; I see a whole pile
of shoveler ducks snabbling in the mud, and busy as dog-
flsh in herring-time. Fxshcriet of U. S., V. ii. 612.
snabby (snab'i), n.; pi. snabbies (-iz). [Perhaps
ult. connected with MD. siiabbe, snebbe, bill,
beak: see snaffle and neb.] The chaffinoh,
Fringilla ecelebs. [Scotch.]
snack (snak), V. [< ME. snakken (also assibi-
. latpd siKirrhen, snecehen, > E. snatch), snatch, =
MD. snackcn, snatch, snap, also as D. snakken,
gasp, sob, desire, long for; prob. the same as
MD. snacken, chatter, cackle, bark, MLG. LG.
snacken = G. dial, sehnakken, chatter; prob. ult.,
like snap, imitative of fluick motion. Hence
snatch.] I. trans. 1. To snatch. Halliwell.
[Obsolete or prov. Eng.] — 2. To bite. Levins.
— 3. To go snacks in; share.
He and his comrades coming to an Inn to tnack their
booty.
Smith, Uvea of Highwaymen (1719), L 85. (Sneyc. Diet.)
n. intrans. To go snacks or shares ; share.
Who is that that is to be babbled? Faith, let me mack;
I han't met with a bubble aince Christroaa.
Wycheriey, Country Wife, IIL 2.
snack (snak), n. [< snack, v. Cf. snatch.] 1.
A snatch or snap, as of a dog's jaws. — 2. A
bite, as of a dog. Levins. — 3. A portion of
food that can be eaten hastily; a slight, hasty
repast; a bite; a luncheon.
And BO. as the cloth Is laid In the little parlour above
•taire, and it is put three o'clock, for I have been waiting
this hour for yoo, and I have had a mack myself.
Seott, Heart of Mld-LoihUn, xzxvilL
4. A portion or share of food or of other things :
used especially in the phrase to go snacks — that
is, to share; divide and distribute in shares.
If the master get* the better on 't, they come in for their
moeir. Sir R. L'SHrange.
And last he whispen, "Do ; and we go nuuln."
Pope, Vto\. toSatffea. I. 66.
snackett (snak'et), n. Same as snecket.
snacot (snak'gt), n. [Origin obscure.] A syn-
gnathid, pipe-fish, or sea-needle, as Syngnathus
acus or S. peckianus. See cuts vmAeT pipe-fish.
snaffle (snaf'l), n. [Appar. < D. snavel, MD.
snabel, snavel, the nose or snout of a beast or a
fish (OFries. snavel, mouth) ; dim. of MD. snabbe,
snelAt, MLG. snabbe, the bill or neb of a bird:
see neb.] A bridle consisting of a slender bit-
month with a single rein and without a curb ;
a snaffle-bit.
Your Monkish prohibitions, and expurgatorious Indexes,
your gags and sno^Ifs. Milton, On Dei. of Humb. Remonst.
snaffle (snaf'l), v.; pret. and pp. snaffled, ppr.
snaffling, [(.snaffle, n.] I. trans. 1. "To bridle;
hold or manage with a bridle.
For hitherto slle writers wille wits.
Which haue engrossed princes chiefe aiTairea,
llauc tieen like horses miajfled with the bits
Of fancie, feare, or doubts. ifir. /fir Mags., p. 395.
2. To clutch or seize by the snaflBe Snaffling
lay, the "lay " or special occupation of a thief who stops
horsemen by clutching the horse's anaflle.
I thought by your look you had been a clever fellow,
and upon the maJUng lay at least ; but ... I find you
are some sneaking budge rascal. Fieldirig, Amelia, L S.
n. intrans. To speak
through the nose. Halli-
well. [Prov. Eng.]
snaffle-bit (snaf'l-bit). n.
A i)laiu slender jointed
bit for a horse. u Snaiiie-biL
snaggle-toothed
In hir riglit hand (which to and fro did shake)
She bare a skourge, with many a knottie string.
And in hir left a sruzjfle Bit or brake,
Bebost with gold, and many a gingling ring.
Qatcoigne, Philomene (Steele Glas, etc., cd. ArberX p. 9a
snagi (snag), n. [Prob. < Norw. snag,
projecting point, a point of land, = Icel. sndgi,
apeg. Ct. snag^, v.] 1. A sharp protuberance;
a projecting point ; a jag.
A staSe, all full of litle mag».
Spenser, F. Q., IL xi. 23.
Specifically — 2. A short projecting stump,
stub, or branch ; the stubby base of a broken
or cut-off branch or twig; a jagged branch
separate from the tree.
Snag is no new word, though perhaps the Western ap-
glication of it is so; but I find in Gill the proverb "A
iixl in the bag is worth two on the snag. "
Lowell, Biglow Papers, 2d ser.. Int.
3. A tree, or part of a tree, lying in the water
with its branches at or near the surface, so as
to be dangerous to navigation.
Unfortunately for the navigation of the Mississippi,
some of the largest [trees], after being castdown from the
position in which they grew, get their roots entangled
with the bottom of the river. . . . These fixtures, called
snags or planters, are extremely dangerous to the steam-
vessels proceeding up the stream.
Capt. B. UaU, Travels in North America, IL 302.
Hence — 4. A hidden danger or obstacle; an
unsuspected source or occasion of error or mis-
take; a stumbling-block. — 5. A snag-tooth.
In (Thina none hold Women sweet
Except their Snaggs are black as Jett.
Prior, Alma, IL
6. The fang or root of a tooth. — 7. A branch
or tine on the antler of a deer ; a point. See cut
under antler.
The antler. . . often . . . sends off one or more branches
called "tynes" or "mags."
W. H. Flower, Encyc. Brit, XV. 431.
8. pi. The fruit of the snag-bush.
snag^ (snag), f. t. [< snag^, n.] 1. To catch
or run upon a snag : as, to snag a fish-hook ; to
»Ma(7 a steamboat. [U.S.] — 2. Figuratively,
to entangle ; embarrass ; bring to a standstill.
[U. S.]
Stagnant times have been when a great mind, anchored
In error, might snag the slow-moving current of society.
IT. Phillips, Speeches, etc., p. 38.
3. To fill with snags ; act as a snag to. [Rare.]
— 4. To clear of snags. [U. S. atid Australia.]
Both of these parties, composed of about fifty men. are
engaged in magging the waterways, which will be dredged
out to form the canaL New York Times, July 21, 1889.
snag^ (snag), V. t. ; pret. and pp. snagged, ppr.
snagging. [Prob. < Gael, snaqair, carve, whit-
tle, snaigh, siiaidh, hew, cut down; Ir. snaigh,
a hewing, cutting ; cf . also Gael, snag, a knock ;
It. snag, a woodpecker. Cf. snag^.] To trim
by lopping branches; cut the branches, knots,
or protuberances from, as the stem of a tree.
Yon are one of his "lively stones"; be content there-
fore to be hewn and stuigged at, that you might be made
the more meet to be jolne<1 to your fellows, which suffer
with you Satan's snatches.
J. Bradford, Letters (Parker Soc., 1858X IL 112.
snag^ (snag), n. [< ME. snegge = MLG. snigqe,
LG. snigge, sniche = OHG. sneggo, snecco, MHG.
snegge, snceke, G. sehnecke = Sw. snaeka = Dan.
snekke, a snail ; from the same root as AS. snaca,
a snake: aeo stmil, snake.] A snail. [Eng.]
snag-boat (snag'bot), «. A steamboat fitted
witn an apparatus for removing snags or other
obstacles to navigation from river-beds. Sim-
mouds. [U. 8.]
snag-bush (snag'bush), n. The blackthorn or
sloe, I'runus spinosa: so called from its snaggy
brandies. See cut under sloe.
snag-chamber (snag'cham'bfer), ». A water-
tight compartment made in the bow of a steam-
er plying in snaggy waters, as a safeguard in
case a snag is struck. Capt. B. Hall, Travels
in North America, IL 302.
snagged (snag'ed), a. [(stia^'^ + -ed^.] Full
of snags or knots; snaggy; knotty.
Belabouring one another with snagged sticks.
Dr. U. More. {Imp. Diet.)
snagger (snag'fer), ». The tool with which
snagging is done : a bill-hook without the usual
edge on the back. Halliwell.
snaggle (snag'l), v. t. and i. ; pret. and pp. snag-
glc7l,\)\)T. snuggling. [Freq. of sna^'-'; perhaps
in this sense partly due to nag^.] To nibble.
snaggle-tooth (snag'l-t6th), n. A tooth grow-
ing out irregularly from the others. Halliwell.
[Prov. Eng.J
snaggle-toothed (snag'l-totht), a. Having a
snaggle-tooth or snaggle-teeth.
snaggy
snaggy (snag'i), a. [< snatf^ + -i/l.] 1. Full
of snasrs. (o) Knotty ; having jags or sharp protuber-
ances ; full of short stumps or sharp points ; abounding
with knots : as, a moggy tree ; a snaggy stick.
His stalking steps are stayde
Upon a snaggy oke. Spenser, F. Q., I. vii. 10.
(6) Abounding in fallen trees which send up strong stubby
branches from the bottom of the water so as to make navi-
gation unsafe.
We passed into moggy lakes at last.
J. K. Hosmer, Color-Guard, xii.
2. Being or resembling a snag; snag-like.
Just where the waves curl beyond such a point you may
discern a multitude of blackened snaggy shapes protrud-
ing above the water. Harper's Mag., LXXVI. 735.
3. Ill-tempered. [Prov. Eng.]
An* I wur down i' tha mouth, couldn't do naw work an' all,
Nasty an" snaggy, an* shaaky, an' poonch'd my 'and wi' the
hawl. Tennys<yn, Northern Cobbler, xiv.
snag-tooth (snag'toth), n. A long, ugly, irreg-
ular tooth ; a broken-down tooth ; a snaggle-
tooth.
How thy snag-teeth stand orderly.
Like stakes which strut by the water side.
Cotgrave, Wits Interpreter (1671), p. 253. (Nares.)
Projecting canines or snag teeth are so common in low
faces as to be universally remarked, and would be oftener
seen did not dentists interfere and remove them.
Anwr. Anthrop., III. 316.
snail (snal), n. [Early mod. E. also snayle; dial.
snile; < ME. snaile, snayle, snile, snyle, snele, <
AS.*snsFgel ,siisegl,snegel,siiei/l ^iiljQ . sneiljliG.
snayel = MHG. snegcl, snepgel, snaggel, G. dial.
sehnegel = Icel. snigill = Dan. snegl = Sw. sni-
gel, a snail, lit. 'a small creeping thing,' a lit-
tle reptile, dim. of a simpler form represented
by snag^, from the same root as AS. snaca, a
snake: see snag^, snake.'] 1. One of many
small gastropods.
Tak the rede snyle that crepis houseles and sethe it in
water, and gedir the fatt that comes of thame.
MS.Linc.Med.,f.iSi. (BalUweU.)
Specifically — (a) A member of the family Helieidee in a
broad sense ; a terrestrial air-breathing mollusk with
stalks on which the eyes are situated, and with a spiral or
helicoid shell which
has no lid or oper-
culum, as the com-
mon garden-snail,
Jielix hortensis, or
edible snail, H, po-
matia. There are
many hundred spe-
cies, of numerous
genera and several
subfamilies. In the
phrases below are
noted some of the
common British
species which have
vernacular names.
See IJelicidfe, and
cuts under Gastero-
poda and PtUirw-
nata. (6) A mollusk
like the above, but
shell-less or nearly
so; a slug, (c) An
aquatic pulmonate gastropod with an operculate spiral
shell, living in fresh water ; a pond-snail or river-snail ; a
limneid. See Limmeidse. (d) A littoral or marine, not
pulmonate, gastropod with a spiral shell like a snail's ; a
sea-snail, as a periwinkle or any member of the Littorinidx ;
a salt-water snail.
Hence — 2. A slow, lazy, stupid person.
Thon drone, thou snail, thou slug, thou sot !
Shak., C. of E.,ii. 2. 196.
3t. A tortoise.
There ben also in that Contree a kynde of Snayles, that
ben so grete that many persones may loggen hem in here
Schelles, as men wolde done in a litylle Hous.
MandeviUe, Travels, p. 193.
4t. Milit., a protective shed, usually called tor-
toise or testudo. — 5. A spiral piece of machin-
ery somewhat resembling a snaU; specifically,
the piece of metal forming part of the striking
work of a clock. See cit under snail-wheel. —
6. In o»a<., the cochlea of the ear.— 7. j>l. Same
as snail-elnver — Aquatic snails, pulmonate gastro-
pods of the old group ZtmnopAiZo. — Bristly snail, ^e?ix
hispida and its varieties, al>ounding in waste places in the
British Isles. — Brown snail, (a) The garden or girdled
snail. (6) Uelix/usca, a delicate species peculiar to the
British Isles, found in bushy places.— Carnivorous
snails, the TestacelUdie. — Common snail, Ildix aspersa.
It is edible, and in some places annual snail-feasts are
held to eat it; it is also gathered in large quantities and
sold as a remedy for diseases of the chest, being prepared
by boiling in milk. ( Eng. 1 — Edible snail, Helix pornalia,
the Roman snail. See cut above.— Fresh- water snails,
the lAmnsridie. — Garden-snail, the brown or girdled
snail. Helix nemoralis (including the varieties described
as H. Jtfirtenns and //. hi/ftridus), common in England.—
Gibbs'S snail. Helix carthimaim, found in Kent and Sur-
rey, England ; discoveied by ilr. Oibhs in 1814. — Girdled
snail, the garden. snail. —Gulfweed-snails, the Litiopi-
d«.— Heath snail See heath-snail.— KentiBh snail,
HUix eantuiTui.- Large-Staellel snail, the edible Ro-
5724
man snail.- Marine snails, pulmonate gastropods of the
old group Thalasgophila. - Ocean snails, the violet-snails
or latithimdii'. — Open snail, Udijc (Zonites) umbilicata,
abundant in rockyplaces in England. — Periwinkle-snail,
a pulmonate gastropod of the family Amphiholida; resem-
bling a peri winkle. See cut under^ luphibola. — Fheasant-
snail, a itheasant-shell. — Py^rmy snail, Ptmctinn minu-
turn, a minute species found m England in wet places. —
Roman snail, the edible snail.— Salt-water snail, one
of numerous marine gastropods whose shells are shaped
like those of snails, as species of Xatica (or Lutiatia), or Ne-
verita, or Littorina, etc. ; a sea-snail. — Shell-less snail.
Same as slug-, 1. — Silky snail, Helix sericea, common
on wet mossy rocks, especially in the west and south of
England.— Snail's gallop, a snail's pace; very slow or
almost imperceptible movement.
I see what haste you make; you are never the for-
warder, you go a snaU's gailop.
Bailey, tr. of Colloquies of Erasmus, I. 68.
Snail's pace, a vei-y slow pace.— Snakeskln-snail, a
tropical American snail of the genus Solariopsis. — Tooth-
ed snails, those Uelicidfls whose aperture has a tooth or
teeth, as of the genus Tridopsis.— White snail, (a) Va-
lonia puichella, of which a ribbed variety has been de-
scribed as r. cosfofa. [Eng.] (6) A snail-bore : an oyster-
men's name for various shells injurious to the beds, as the
drills or borers, particularly of the genera Urosalpinx and
Natica. See snail-bore. — Zoned snail. Helix virgata, pro-
digiously numerous in many of the chalk and limestone
districts of England. (See also apple-snail, ear-snail, glass-
snail, pond-snail, river-snail, sea-snail, shrub-snail, stotie-
snail, violet-snail.)
snail (snal), V. [Early mod. E. also snayle; =
Dan. snegle; from the noun.] I. intrnns. To
move slowly or lazily, like a snail. [Rare.]
This sayd, shee trots on snayling, lyk a tooth-shaken old
hagge. Stanihurst, .^neid, iv. 689.
H. trans. To give the form of a snail-shell
to ; make spirally winding. [Rare.]
God plac't the Ears (where they might best attend)
As in two TuiTets, on the buildings top,
Snailing their hollow entries so a-sloap
That, while the voyce about those windings wanders.
The sound might lengthen in those bowd Meanders.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 6.
snail-bore (snal'bor), «. A gastroijod, as a
whelk, etc., which bores oysters or injures oys-
ter-beds; a borer; a drill. They are of numer-
ous different genera. TJrosalpinx cincrea is
probably the most destructive. [Local, XJ. S.]
snail-borer {snarb6r"6r), n. A snail-bore.
snail-clover (snarklo'ver), n. A species of
medic, MeiJicago scutellata, so called from its
spirally coiled pods. The name is also applied to the
lucern, M. sativa, and sometimes extended to the whole
genus. Also snails, snail-plant, and snail-trefoil.
snailery (snal'er-i), n. ; pi. snaileries (-iz). [<
snail + -ery.] A place where edible snails are
kept, reared, and fattened to be used for food.
The numerous continental snaileries where the apple-
snail is cultivated for home consumption or for the mar-
ket St. James's Gazette, May 28, 1886. (Etuyc. Diet.)
snail-fish (snal'fish), n. A fish of tlie genus
Liparis: so called from their soft unctuous
feel, and their habit of adlicring to rocks by
means of a ventral sucker. Several species which
Lais^e-shelled, Hdible, or Kom<-in Snail
(fifSix potnatia), natural size.
Snail-fisli {Liparis liiitata).
(Lower figure shows the sucker between the pectoral fins.)
commonly receive the name are found in Great Britain,
as h. lineata and L. montagtn. They are also called sea-
snail and sucker. See Liparididie.
snail-flower (snarflou"er), n. A twining bean,
Pliaseolus Caracalla,oiten cultivated in tropical
gardens and in greenhouses for its showy white
and purple fragrant flowers. The standard and
the long-beaked keel are spirally coiled, sug-
gesting the name.
snail-like (snal'lik), a. Like a snail in moving
slowly; snail-paced.
snail-pace (snal'pas), n. A very slow move-
ment. Compare snail's gallop, snail's pace, un-
der snail.
snail-paced (snal'past), a. Snail-like in pace
or gait ; creeping or moving slowly.
Delay leads impotent and snail-paced beggary.
Shak., Rich. III., iv. 3.53.
A place for raising
Good Bousekeeping,
snail-park (snal 'park), «
edible snails ; a snailery.
III. 22.3.
snail-plant (snal'plant), n. Snail-clover, par
ticularly Medicago scutellata and M. Helix.
snake
'snailst (snalz), interj. An old minced oath, an
abbreviation of his (Christ's) nails (with which
he was nailed to the cross).
'SnaUs, I'm almost starved with love.
Beau, and Fl., Wit at Several Weapons, v. 1.
snail-shell (snal'shel), n. A shell secreted by
any snail or terrestrial pulmoniferous gastro-
pod.
snail-slo'W (snal'slo), o. As slow as a snail;
c-xtremelv slow. Shak., M. of V., ii. 5. 47.
snail-trefoil (snartre"foil), n. Same as snail-
cloi'er.
snail-'water (snal'wa'tfer), n. An old remedy.
See the second quotation.
And to learn the top of your skill in Syrrup, Sweetmeats,
Aqua mirabilis, and Snayl water. Shadwell, The Scowrers.
Snail-water . . . was a drink made by infusing in water
the calcined and pulverized shells of snails.
A'. a)idQ.,7thser.
snail-'wheel (snal'hwel), n. In horoh. n
liaving its edge cut into twelve ir-
regular steps arranged spirally in
such a manner that their positions
determine the number of strokes
which the hammer makes on the
bell; a snail. The snail is placed
on the arbor of the twelve-hour wheel
Kniqht.
snaily (sna'li), a. [<,snml+ -y^.] Resembling
a snail or its motion ; snail-like.
O how I do ban
Him that these dials against walls began.
Whose snaily motion of the moving hand.
Although it go, yet seem to me to stand.
Drayton, Of His Lady's Not Coming to London.
snake (snak), n. [< ME. snake, < AS. snaca (per-
haps orig. snaca) (L. scorpio) = Icel. snakr, snokr
= Sw. snok = Dan. snog = MD. MLG. snake,
a snake; lit. 'creeper,' derived, like the relat-
ed snagS and snail, from the verb seen in AS.
snican (pret. "sndc, pp. *snicen), creep, crawl:
see sneak. Cf. Skt. ^^a(7a, a serpent. Ct. reptile
and serpent, also from verbs meaning 'creep.']
1. A serpent; an ophidian; any member of the
order Ophidia. See serpent and Ophidia.
So, roU'd up in his den, the swelling snake
Beholds the traveller approach the brake.
Pope, Iliad, xxiL ISO.
2. Specifically, the common British serpent
Coluber or Tropi-
donotus natrix, or
Natrix torquata,
a harmless ophid-
ian of the family
Colitbridee : dis-
tinguished from
the adder or viper, a poisonous serpent of the
same country. This snake is widely distributed in Eu-
rope, and attains a length of 3 feet or moie. It is now
sometimes specified as the cmnmon or ringed snake, in
distinction from the smooth snake (Coroneila Ixvis).
3. A lizard with rudimentary limbs or none,
mistaken for a ti-ue snake: as, the Aberdeen
snake (the blindworm or slow-worm); a glass-
snake. See snake-lizard, and cuts under amphis-
hsena, blindworm, dart-snake, glass-snake, schel-
topusik, and serpentiform. — 4. A snake-like
amphibian : as, the Congo snake, the North
American Aniphiuma means, a urodele am-
phibian. HeeAmphiuma. — 5. A person having
the character attributed to a snake ; a treach-
erous person.
If thou seest
They look like men of worth and state, and carry
Ballast of both sides, like tall gentlemen.
Admit 'em ; but no snakes to poison us
With poverty. Beau, and FL. Captain, i, 3.
6t. In the seventeenth century, a long curl at-
tached to the wig behind. — 7. The stem of a
narghile. — 8. See snakc-lwx. — 9. A form of re-
ceiving-instrument used in Wheatstone's auto-
matic telegraph. [CoUoq.j—Aberdeensnake. See
def. 3.— Austrian snaie, a harmless colubrine of Europe,
CoroncUa Z.Tit-s, also called smooth snake.— "RlSiCk and
White ringed snake. See iViniicrfto.— Black snake.
See black-snake and Scotophis.— BrOWn snake, Hahlea
strialula of the southern United States. — Cleopatra's
snake, the Egyptian asp, Xttja haje, or, more properly,
the cerastes. See cuts under asp and cerastes.— CoQiC'ii-
Whip-snake Bascanion (or MasticophCi) Jlagellifomm.
See Masticophis, and cut under black-snake. — Common
snake. Seedef.2. [Kritish.]— Congosnakes,thefamily
Amphimnidx. See def. 1. — Dwarf snake. S-ee du-ar.f.
— Egg-snake, one of the king-snakes, Ophibolus sayi. —
Gopner-snake. Same as t/oij/icr, 4.— Grass-snake, (o)
Same as ringed snake, (b) Same as green-snake, (c) Same
as garter-snake.— Green snake. See green-snake.— Har-
lequin snalce. See harlequin. — Hog-nosed snake.
^GQ ho(jnot:€-snttl{eM\i\ Heterodon. — Hooded snake. See
hooded. — House-Snake. Same as chain-snake. — Indi-
go snake, the gopher-snake.— Innocuous snakes, all
snakes which are not poisonous, of whatever other cnnr-
acter ; Innocua. — King Snake, (a) See king-snake. (6)
The harlequin snake. — Large-scaled snake, Hqplo-
Head of Snake (A'n/rix torfHafa),\
showing forked tongue.
snake
etphalus mjwrfrtu.— Lightning snake, the tbnnderand-
liffhtning suake. — Lizard-snake, an occasional name of
the common gartor-sii;ikr, KntHnia xirtalU. See cut un-
der EuUenia. {V. s.] — NOCUOUS snakes, venomous
snakes; A'ocuo.— Orange-bellied snake, I'semiechit
augtraUs. — Prailie-snake, oiu- of tlic whip-snakesi, .Wo*-
Ueophis^rimdaru. — Red-bellied snake, t he horn-s ; i ake,
Faraneia abacura. iSee Farancia. Also called icainpttm-
tnake. — Riband-snake, .^ame as ribbon-itiiake. — Rin^ e 1
snake, the common snake of Europe, TropidmuAws »m-
trix. Also callctl 7/-a.sx-j*mi,tc. See cut under rropM/oiw>((«.
— Ring-necked snake, Diadifphit pundatv*. Steerittij-
neeked.^ Russelian snake, Dab"ia rtuitelli. See cut un-
der dotoi/a.— Scarlet snake, (a) Khinottmna coccinea,
of the southern Initeii States, ringed with red. Iihick,
and yellov like ti»e harlequin or a coral-snake, but harm-
less. (6) See tearlet. — Scarlet- spotted snake, Brachtf -
toma duxfenxt.— Sea-snake. See sea-^rpent, 2. and
ff!/drupAiV/«'.— Short- tailed snakes, the Tortriddx.—
Smooth snake, Cuniiulla lieuU, the Austrian snake —
Snake in the grass, an underhaml, plotting, deceitful
person. — Snake pipe-fish, the straight-nosed pipe-fish,
Neniphis ophidion, of British waters. Couth. — Spectacled
snake, the true cobra, Naja tripudianf, and some similar-
ly marked cobras. See cut under co&ra-(f«-caj>c//o. — Spot-
ted-neck snake, the North American Storeria dekat/i, a
harmless colubrine serpent. —Striped Snake, a garter-
snake. See Eulania. [V. .S.] — SWlft gaxter-Snake,
Eutsenia siturita, the riiibon-snake.— Thunder-snake,
thnnder-and-lightning snake, one of diiterent species
of Op/dbotwi, esiKjcially 0. 'jetidut^ the king- or chain-
snake, and 0. ezimitu, the house- or milk-snake. The
name probably means no more than that these, like a
good many other snakes, crawl out of their holes when it
rains hard.— Tortoise-beaded snake, a book-name of
the ringed sea-snake, Emydocephalus annulatu^. — lo see
snakes, to have snakes in one's boots, to have deliri-
um tremens. [Slanj:. ; —Venomous snakes, any poison-
ous or ntjcuous serpents. See the explanation under «er-
/i«n< — Wamptim-snake. Same at red-bdtied make. (See
also biirul-maJce, blamng-make, butt-mate, carpet-make,
chain-make, chickcn-mau, coral-makt, corn-make, dart-
tnake, detert-makt, fetith-make, garter-make, ffUuttnake,
ground-make, hog-tnake, hoop-make, horn-make, milk-
make, p3ot-make, pine-make, rat-make, ribbort-enake, rode-
make, mnd-tnake, tica-make, tree-make, uxtter-make, whip-
make, wom^^nake.)
snake (snak), r. ; pret. and pp. snaked, ppr.
snakinfi. [< snake, n.'] I. intrans. To move or
wind like a snake ; serpentine ; move spirally.
Anon rpon the flowry Plains he looks.
Laced about with srtaking slluer brooks.
Sylceeter, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, L 7.
An arrow maket when it slips under the grass.
M. and W. Thompeon, Archerr, p. 54.
Projectiles subject to this influence [spiral motion of
rotation round their original direction) are t«chnically
•aid to tnake. Farrow, Mil. Encyc, HI. 130.
n. tron*. 1. To drag or haul, especially by
a chain or rope fastened around one end of the
object, as a log; hence, to pull forcibly; jerk:
used generally with out or along. [U. S.]
Unless tome legal loophole canbe foand throagh which
an eTBSiOD or extcneion can be aacressfoll; tnaked.
fhOadelphia Prett, No. 2810, p. 4 (1883).
After mining, the log is easily tnaked out of the swamp,
and is ready for the mill or factory.
Sei. Amer., N. &, LIX. 26&
2. Kaut.: (a) To pass small stuff across the
outer turns of (a seizing) by way of finish. (6)
To wind small stuff, as marline or spun-yam,
spirally round (a large rope) so that the spaces
between the strands will be filled up; worm,
(c) To fasten (backstays) together by small
ropes stretched from one to the other, so that if
one backstay is shot away in action it may not
fall on deck.
snake-bird (snak'b^rd), n. 1. A totipalmate
natatorial bird of the family Plotidte and g^nus
I'hlus: 80 called from the long, slender, snaky
neck ; a snake-neck ; an anhinga or water-tur-
key; a darter. See cut under anhini/a. — 2.
The wryneck, lynx torquilla: so named from
the serpentine movement of the neck. See
cut under wryneck. [Eng.]
snake-boat (snak'bot), ». Same as pamban-
manrhc.
snake-box (Hnak'boks), n. A faro-box fraudu-
lently made so that a slight projection called a
snake warns the dealer of the approach of a
particular card.
snake-buzzard (snak'bnz'&rd), n. The short-
toed eagle, Circaetus gallicHS. See Cireaetus,
and description under short-toed. See also out
in next column.
snake-cane (snak'kan), «. A palm, Kunihia
mont'tna, of the United States of Colombia and
Brazil, having a reed-like ringed st4-m. j>om the
resemblance of the latter to a snake, its juice is fancied by
the nat tv<-8 Ut be a cure for snake-bitea. The stem Is used
f(,r t,|.,\vpi[>.-s to propel poisoned arrows.
MuUce-charmer (suak'chilr'm^r), n. Same as
ttnent-ihiiniifr.
OMJCe-charming (snak'chiir'ming), n. Same
as srrjii nl-<hiniitin<i.
snake-coralline (Hnak'kor'a-Iin), n. A chilo-
stomatous pulyzoau, Actea dnyuina.
5725
Snake-buzzard {Cireaitus ^alticuj).
snake-crane (snak'kran), n. The Brazilian
crcste<l screamer, or seriema, Cariama eristata.
See cut under seriema.
snake-cucumber (snak'kii'ktmi-b^r), n. See
riiciimber.
snake-doctor (snak'dok'tor), n. 1. The dob-
son or liellgrammite. [Pennsylvania.] — 2. A
dragon-tly, horse-stinger, or mosquito-hawk.
[Local, tr. S.]
Also snake-feeder.
snake-eater (snak'e'tfer), n. Same as serpent-
en t/r.
snake-eel (snak'el), n. An eel of the family
OpliichthyiiiteoT Ophisuridx; especially, Ophich-
thys serpens of the Mediterranean, reaching a
length of 6 feet: so called because the tail has
no t«il-fin, and thus resembles a snake's.
snake-feeder (snak'fe'd^r), ». l. Same as
siitike-diictor, 1. [Ohio.] — 2. Same as snake-
docliir, 2.
snake-fence (snak'fens), n. See make fence,
xiiiih'T friire.
snake-iTem (snik'fAm), n. The hart's-tongue
fern, St<ilo})endriumvulgare. A\so snake-leaves.
snake-fish (snak'fish), n. 1. A kind of lizard-
fish, as Synfidusfcelens or S. myops. — 2. The red
band-fish, Cepola ruhescens : more fully called
red snake-fish. See Cepolidx. — 3. The oar-fish.
See cut under Rrgalrciis.
snake-fly (snak'fli), h. A neuropterous insect
of the genus Jiaphidia or (amWy kaphidiidx ; a
camel-ly : so called from the elongated fonn of
the head and neck, and the facility with which
it moves the front of the body in different direc-
tions. They are mostly to be found in the neighborhood
of woods and streams. The common European species is
Uaphi'lin nphioptU.
snake-gourd (snak'gord), n. See gourd.
snakehead (snak'hed), n. 1. Same as snaktfs-
hcid, 1. — 2. A plant, the turtle-head, CheUme
glabra, used in medicine as a tonic and aperi-
ent. See CheUme. — 3. A fish of the family
^kiocepkalidfe. — 4. A snake-headed turtle,
Chelys matamata, having a large flat carapaee
and long pointed head, found in South Amer-
ica. See cut under Vhelydidie. — 5. The end of
a flat railroad-rail wlieit curling upward. In the
beginning of raUroad-building in America the track was
sometimes made by screwing or spiking straps of iron
along the upper side of timbers ; an end of such a rail
often became bent npwanl, and sometimes so far as to be
caught by a wheel and driven op through the car, to the
danger or injury of the passengers. Such a loose end was
calleil a makehead from its moving up and down when
the wheels passed over it. Also enake'»-head. [U. 8.]
snake-headed (snak'hed'ed), a. Having a
head like a snake's, as a turtle. See snake-
head, 4.
snake-killer (snak'kil'ir), n. 1. The ground-
cuckoo or cliaparral-cock, Geoeoccyz caHforni-
anus. See cut uader chaparral-cork. [Western
IT. 8.] — 2. The secretary-bird. See cut under
secrelary-hird.
snake-leaves (snak'levz), n. Same as snake-
fcni. See Scolopendrium.
snakelet (snak'let), n. [< snake -(- -let.'] A
small snake. I'op. Sei. Mo., XXX. 167.
snake-line (snak'lin), n. Small stuff passed in
a zigzag manner or spirally between two larger
rojies.
snake-lizard (snak'liz'Srd), n. A lizard which
riseinblcKa snake in having rudimentary limbs
or none; especially, Chamasaura anguina, of
snake's-egg
South Africa. There are a good many such lizards, be-
longing to different genera and families of LacertUia, pop-
ularly mistaken for and called stiakeg. The blindworm or
slow.worm of Europe {Anguis), the scheltopusik {Peeudo-
pug), and the American glass-snake {Ophiosaunis) are of
this character, as are all the amphisbsenians. See make,
n,, 3, and cuts under blindwomt, glags-snake, and schelto-
pusik.
snake-locked (snak'lokt), a. Having snaky
locks or something like them: as, snake-locked
Medusa; the snake-locked anemone, a kind of
sea-anemone, Satjartia viduata.
snake-moss (suak'mos), «. The common club-
moss, l.yconodium clavatimi. Imp, Diet.
snakembutn (snak'mouth), n. The snake's-
mouth orchis, Pogonia ophioglossoides.
snakeneck (snak'nek), n. A snaky-necked
bird ; the snake-bird.
There was nothing to vary the uniform prospect [in the
WTiite Nile region), except perhaps here and there a soli-
tary snake-neck I Ptotus teveiilantil, or a cormorant perched
on some tall ambach. The Academy, Oct^ 11, 1890, p. 812.
snakenut, snakennt-tree (snak'nut, -tre), n.
See Ophioearifon.
snake-piece (snak'pes), «. A'OMt., same as
2>ointer, 3.
snakepipe (snak'pip), n. A species of Equise-
iiini, especially E. arrense.
snake-prooft (snak'prof), a. Proof against
venom: hence, proof against envy or malice.
[Rare.]
I am tnake-provf: and though, with Hannibal, you bring
whole hogsheads of vinegar-railings, it is impossible for
you to quench or come over my Alpine resolution.
Dekker, Gull's Hornbook.
snake-rat (snak'rat), «. The common Alexan-
drine or black rat, Mus rattus or alcxandrimis.
A variety of it is known as the white-beltii'd rat, or ro«/-
rat, Mus tectorum. It is one of the two longest and best.
known of all rats (the other being the gray, brown, Hano-
verian, or Norway rat, M. decumanus), runs into many va-
rieties, and has a host of synonyms. It is called make-rat
by Darwin. See cuts under Muridee.
sna^eroot (snak'rot), n. [< snake + root^.'] A
name of numerous plants of different genera,
whose root either has a snake-like appearance,
or has sometimes been regarded as a remedy for
snakes' bites, or both. Several have a medici-
nal value. Compare rattlesnake-master and rat-
tlesnake-toot Black snakeroot (a) see sanicle, 1.
(6) The black cohosh, Cimicifuga racmiosa. whose root is
an offlctnal remedy used in chorea, and formerly for
rheumatism,— BraziUan snakeroot, ClUococca angui-
/tapo; also,Co«ar»a«fmii«fa. — Button-snakeroot, (o)
See Srynffium. and cut under ratUesnake-inagter. (b) A
general name for the species of Liatris: so called from
the button-shaped corms, or from the button-like heads
of some species, and from their reputed remedial prop-
erty. (See cut under I.ialrit.) L. epicata, also called gay-
feather, is said to have diuretic and other properties.
— Canada snakeroot, tlle wild ginger, Amrvm Cana-
dente. See Asantin and ginger^ .— Ceylon snakeroot,
the tubers of Arisama Letchenaultii. - Heart-snake-
root. Same as Canada makeroot— Indian snakeroot,
a rubiaceous plant. Ophiorhiza Mungos, whose very bitter
roots are used by the Cingalese and natives of India as a
remedy for snalce-bltes. Their actual value in cases of
this kind is, however, questioned.— Red River snake-
root. Sameas7«nu>naiir«root.— Samson's snakeroot,
a plant, Pioralea mdilotoidee, of the southern United
States, whose
root is said to be
a gentle stimu-
lant tonic. —
Seneca snake-
root, Polygaia
Setiega of eastern
North America.
It sends up sev-
eral stems from
hard knotty root-
stocks, bearing
single close ra-
cemes of white
flowers. It is the
source of the of-
ficinal senega-
root, and from be-
ing much gather-
ed is said to have
become scarce in
the east— Tex-
as snakeroot,
Arvttolochiu reti-
culata, or itaroitt-
E rod net, which
as the same
properties as the
VirKinia snake-
root. — Virginia
snakeroot, the
serpen tary or
hirthwort, A rietolochia Serpentaria, of the eastern United
States. Its root is a stimulant tonic, acting also as a di-
aphoretic or diuretic. It is offlcinally recognized, and is
exported in considerable quantity.— White snakeroot,
the American Euftatorium ageratoides, also called Indian
or white sanicle. It has no medicinal standing,
snake's-beard (snaks'berd), n. See Ophiopo-
!/<>"■
snake's-egg (snaks'eg), n. Same as Virgin
Mary's nut (which see, under virgin).
I, The upper part of the stem with the
flowere of Seneca snalteroot (Poly)i;ala Sene-
S»), a. The root and tlic base of the stem, a,
e fruit.
snako's-head 5726
make's-head (snaks'hed) ». 1 . The guinea- He t«>ke C»^^--». ^i'^-S^HTTale, 1. 1292.
hen flower. Fntillana Meleagns: said to be , •, . ^, • . j /, jn xt •
so called from the checkered markings on the snaky-headed (sna ki-hed"ed), a. Having
petals.— 2. Same as snakehead. 5.- Snake'B-head snakes for hair or m the hair.
Iris, a plant of southern Europe,- HermodacUjlm (Iris) That maky-headed Gorgon shield
tuttnmu, the flowers of which have a fancied resemblance xhat wise Minerva wore, unconquer'd virgin.
to the open mouth of a snake. MUtmi, Comus, 1. 447.
BHake-sheU (snak'shel), n. One of a group of ^^^^ (snap),j'.; pret. and pp. snapped, jt^iv.
abound in the Pacific islands, and have a very
rough outside, and a chink at the pillar, i". P.
Carpatter.
snake's-mouth (snaks'mouth), n. See Pogo-
fiiu'^. Also called snake's-mouth orehis.
nappe
3; (]
g^tropods of Jhe^ family jnMr6»»rf«, which ^^*Pj,y„^;"iEarl/ mod. E. smppe;'< UD'.'D,
snappen = MLG. LG. snappen, snatch, snap up,
intercept, = MHG. snappen, snap, G. schnap-
pen, snap, snort, = Sw. snairpa = Dan. snappe,
snatch; perhaps ult. imitative, and practically
a var. of snack: see snack, snatch. Cf. sneap,
snip, snipe, snib,snub^.'i I. trans. 1. To snatch;
take or catch unexpectedly with or as with a
snapping movement or sound; hence, to steal.
Fly, fly, Jacques !
We are taken in a toil, mapt in a pitfall.
Fletcher, Pilgrim, iii. 4.
'***»
Stiakestone (AtHmffHttes bistil-
catus).
snakes-stang (snaks'stang), n. The dragon-
flv. HaUiwell. [Prov. Eng.]
snake's-tail (snaks'tal), n. The sea hard-grass
Lepturus incurvatus.
[Eng.]
snakestone (snan. -
ston), «. 1. Same as
ammonite: from an
old popular notion
that these shells
were coiled snakes
petrified.— 2. A small
rounded piece of
stone, such as is
often found among
prehistoric and other antiquities, probably spin-
dle-whorls or the like. Compare adder-stone.
In Harris and Lewis the distaff and spindle are still in
common use. and yet the original intention of the stone
spindle-whorls, which occur there and elsewhere, appears
to be unknown. They are called clach-nathrach, adder-
stones, or make-stones, and have an origin assigned them
much like the ovum anguinum of Pliny.
Evaris, Ancient Stone Implements, p. 391. (Encyc. Diet.)
3. A kind of hone or whetstone found in Scot-
land.— 4. Same as serpent-stone, 1.
snake' S-tongTie (snaks'tung), n. 1. The spear-
wort, Ranuncidus Fhimmula; also, the closely re-
lated B. ophioglossifolius: named from the shape
of the leaf.— 2. More rarely, same as adder's-
ionque.
snakeweed (snak'wed), n. 1. The bistort,
Polygonum liistorta, a perennial herb of the
northern parts of both hemispheres. Its root
is a powerful astringent, sometimes employed
in medicine. Also adder's-toort and snakewort.
See bistort.— 2. The Virginia snakeroot. See
snakeroot.—S. Vaguely, any of the weedy plants
among which snakes are supposed to abound.
snakewood (snak'wud), n. 1. In India, the
bitter root and wood of Strychnos colubrina, also
. Nux-vomica, which is esteemed a cure
Did I not see you, rascal, did I not !
When you lay snug to snap young Damon's goat ?
Dryden, tr. of Virgil's Eclogues, iii. 24.
Idiot as she is, she is not quite goose enough to fall in
love with the fox who has snapped her, and that in his
very den. Scott, Quentin Durward, xxxvi,
2. To bite or seize suddenly with the teeth.
I will imitate ye dogs of ^gypt, which, coming to the
bancks of Nylus too quenche their thirste, syp and away,
drinke running, lest they be snapte short for a pray too
Crocodiles. Gossan, Schoole of Abuse.
3. To interrupt or break in upon suddenly with
sharp, angry words : often with up.
A surly ill-bred lord.
Who chides, and stuips her up at evei-y word.
OranvUle, Cleora.
4. To shut with a sharp sound; operate (some-
thing which produces a sharp snapping sound
when it acts) ; cause to make a sharp sound by
shutting, opening, exploding, etc.: as, to snap
a percussion-cap; to snap the lid of a box.
We snapped a pistol four feet from the ground, and it
would not go off, but fired when it was held higher.
Pocoeke, Description of the East, II. ii. 225.
Up rose the bowsy sire.
And shook from out his pipe the seeds of flre ;
Then snapp'd his box. Pope, Dunciad, iv. 495.
5. To break sharply, as some tough or brittle
object ; break short'; break with a shai'p crack-
ing sound : as, to snap a string or a buckle.
Dauntless as Death away he walks.
Breaks the doors open ; snaps the locks.
Prior, An English Padlock.
6. To make a sharp sound with ; crack : as, to
snap a whip.
But he could make you laugh and crow with his fiddle,
thatof6'. , „ ^^ ^, ^ ^
for snake-poison, and is also employed as a and could make you jump up, aetat. 60, and snap your
tonio remedy in dyspepsia, etc. See mtx vomica, fingers at old age. t'. Reade, Love me Little, iii.
2. — 2. The leopard- or letter-wood, Brosimum 7_ To take an instantaneous photograph of, es
Aubletii : so called from the markings on the pecially with a detective camera or hand-cam
wood. See ie<ter-«;ood.— 3. Asmall Westlndi- era. [Colloq.]
an tree, Colubrina ferruginosa of the Kliamna-
cex : named apparently from the twisted grain
of the wood.— -4. The trumpet-tree, Cecropia
peltata, or sometimes the genus. — 5. Some-
times, same as serpentwood. — 6. The red nose-
gay-tree, Plumeria rubra.
snake'WOrm (snak'wferm), n. One of the masses
of larvsB of certain midges of the genus Sciara.
These larvte, when full-grown, often migrate in armies
forming a snake-like body a foot or more long, an inch or
more wide, and a half-inch high. Also called army-worm.
[U. S.]
snaking (sna'king), n. [Verbal n. of snake, r.]
1. The act or process of hauling a log, or of
passing a line in a zigzag manner or spirally
between two larger ropes. — 2. A snake-like
curl or spiral.
The fleecy fog of spray, . . . sometimes tumbling in
thunder upon her forward decks, sometimes curling in
blown snalcinns ahead of her.
W. C. Russell, Death Ship, xll.
snakish (sna'kish), a. Snaky. Levins.
snaky (sna'ki), a. [< swafee + -^1.] 1. Of or
pertaining to snakes; resembling a snake ; ser-
pentiform; snakish; hence, cunning; insinuat-
ing; deceitful; treacherous.
So to the coast of Jordan he directs
His easy steps, girded with simky wiles.
MUton, P. a., i. 120.
The long, tnalcy locks. L. Wallace, Ben-Hur, vi. 4.
2. Winding about; serpentine: as, a snaky
stream.
Watch their snalty ways.
Through brakes and hedges, into woods of darkness.
Where they are fain to creep upon their breasts.
B. Jonson, Catiline, iii. 2.
Abounding in snakes : as, a snaky place
snap-back
snap (snap), 11. and a. [< snap, r.] I. n. 1.
A snatch ; that which is caught by a snatch or
grasp; a catch.
He '8 a nimble fellow,
And alike skilled in every liberal science.
As having certain snaps of all.
B. Jonson, Staple of News, 1. 2.
2. An eager bite; a sudden seizing or effort to
seize, as with the teeth : as, the snap of a dog.
— 3. A slight or hurried repast ; a snack.
He had sat down to two hearty meals that might have
been mistaken for dinners if he had not declared them to
be snaps. George Eliot, Janet's Repentance, i.
4. A sudden breaking or parting of something
brittle or tense : as, the snap of glass.
Let us hear
The snap of chain-links.
WhMier, To Ronge.
5. A sharp cracking sound; a crack: as, the
snap of a whip.
Two successive snaps of an electric spark, when their
interval was made .as small as about I/.'JOO of a second.
W. James, Prin. of Psychol., I. 613.
6. The spring-catch of a purse, reticule, book-
clasp, bracelet, and the like ; also, a snap-hook
and a top-snap. — 7. A snap-bug or snapping-
beetle. — 8. A crisp kind of gingerbread nut or
small cake ; a ginger-snap.
I might shut up house, ... if it was the thing I lived
by — me that has seen a' our gentlefolk bairns, and gi'en
them snaps and sugar-biscuit maist of them wi' my ain
hand : SaM, St. Ronan's Well, ii.
9. Crispness ; pithiness ; epigrammatic force :
said of verbal expression. [Colloq.]
The vigorous vernacular, the pithy phrase of the Yankee
farmer, gave zest and snap to many a paragraph.
G. S. Merriam, S. Bowles, II. 376.
10. Vigor; energy; briskness; life: as, the
heat took all the snap out of me. [Colloq.]
When the curtain rose on the second act, the outside of
"Oak Hall," there was an enormous amount of applause,
and that act went with the most perfect snap.
Lester Wallack, Scribner's Mag., IV. 722.
1 1 . A position, piece of work, etc., that is pleas-
ant, easy, and remunerative. [Slang.] — 12.
A brief engagement. [Theatrical slang.]
Actors and actresses who have just come in from "sum-
mer snaps" to prepare for the work of the coming season.
Freund, Music and Drama, XIV. xvi. 3.
13. An ear-ring: so called from being snapped
or clasped with a spring-catch.
A pair of diamond snaps in her ears.
Richardson, Clarissa Harlowe, III. 29. (Davies.)
14. A sharper; a cheat; a knavish fellow.
Take heed of a snap, sir; h' 'as a cozening countenance :
I do not like his way. Fletcher, Spanish Curate, ii. 1.
15. In music, same as Scotch snap (which see,
under Scotch^).— 16. A glass-molding tool, used
for shaping the feet of goblets, and similar work.
— 17. A riveters' tool for finishing the heads of
rivets symmetrically. — 18. An oyster of the
most inferior quality marketable. [Maryland.]
— 19t. Same as cloyer. — 20. The act of taking
an instantaneous photograph with a camera.
[Colloq.]
Our appearance, however, attracted shots from all quar-
ters. Fellows took snaps at us from balconies, from doors,
on the roofs of houses.
W. B. Russell, Diary in India, I. 346.
A cold snap, a sudden brief spell of severely cold weather.
[Colloq.] — A soft snap, an easy, pleasant position; a
good berth or situation; light duty; a sinecure: as, he
has rather a so/t snap. [Slang, U. S.]- Not to care a
snap, to care little or nothing (about something). [Col-
loq.l— Not worth a snap, worthless or nearly so. [Col-
lotrl— Scotch snap. See ScofcAi.
II. a. Sudden or quick, like a snap; done,
made, etc., hastily, on the spur of the moment,
or without preparation. [Colloq.]
He is too proud and lofty to ever have recourse to the
petty trickeries and snap judgments of the minnows of
his noble profession. Harpers Mag., LXXVII. 890.
The previous assent of the Chair to the motion for
closure would prevent snap divisions, by which conceiv-
ably a debate might be prematurely bi-ought to an end.
Nineteenth Century, XXIII. 262.
A snap shot, a quick shot taken at a bird when rising or
passing, or at an animal which is seen only for a moment;
an offhand shot ; also, a snap-shooter.
snap-action (snap'ak"shon), «. In a firearm,
the mechanism of a hinged barrel which, when
shut, is closed by a spring-catch : distinguished
from lever-action.
I was reading the other day of a European painter who
. . . had hit upon the plan of using a hand camera, with
which he followed the babies about, snapping them in
their best positions. St. Nicholas, XVII, 1034.
To snap hack, in foot-ball, to put (the hall) in play, as is
done by the snap-back or center rusher by pushing it
with the foot to the quarter back.— TO snap off. (a) To
break off suddenly: as, to sna.p o/the handle of a cup. (6)
To bite off suddenly : often used humorously to express
a sudden attack with sharp or angry words; as, speak
quietly, don't snap my head off.
We had like to have had our two noses snapped 0/ with
two old men without teeth. Shak., Much Ado, v. 1. 116.
To snap the eye, to wink. HaUiwell. [Prov. Eng.]
II. intrans. 1. To make a snatch; do any-
thing hastily ; especially, to catch eagerly at a
proposal, olier, or opportunity; accept gladly
and promptly : with at: as, to sna}) at the chance.
— 2. To make an effort to bite; aim to seize
with the teeth : usually with at.
We snap at the bait without ever dreaming of the hook
that goes along with it. Sir R. L'Estrange.
3. To utter sharp, harsh, or petulant words:
usually with at.
To be anxious about a soul that is always snapping at
you must be left to the saints of the earth,
George Eliot, Middlemarch, xxxHi.
4. To break short; part asunder suddenly, as a
brittle or tense object.
When his tobacco-pipe snapped short in the middle,
he had nothing to do ... but to have taken hold of the „„„„ ti,a .^v,iQ/,t
two pieces and thrown them gently upon the back of the snap-apple (snap ap"l), n. A game the object
„■_._._—, o..._j_ , .,„ ^^ which is to catch in one's mouth an apple^
3.
[U.S.] — 4. Consisting of snakes;
with snakes, as an emblem,
entwined
flre. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, i. 32.
5. To emit a sharp cracking or crackling sound.
Enormous fires were snapping in the chimneys of the
house. J. F. Cooper, The Spy, xvi.
6. To appear as if flashing, as with fire ; flash.
How Caroline's eyes snapped and flashed flre !
^ E. UaU, Ten Times One, ii.
clBpe^
'.ppet
twirling on one end of a stick which ia
pended at its center and has a lighted c|
at the other end.
snap-back (snap'bak), n. In foot-hall, the acf
of a center rusher in putting the ball in play
by pushing it with his foot back toward the
snap-back
quarter-back ; also, the center rusher. See
niitlur'^.
snap-beetle (snap'be'tl), «. Same as elick-
bretlc.
snap-block (snap'blok), n. Same as snatch-
hliicl:.
snap-bolt (suap'bolt), h. a self-acting bolt or
latch ; a catch which slips into its place and fas-
tens a door or lid without the use of a key.
snap-bug (snap'bug),«. A click-beetle. [U.S.]
snap-cap (snap'kap), H. A very small leather
cylinder, with a metal top, fitting closely to the
nipple of a pereussion-musket, for protecting
the nipple from the action of the hammer.
snap-cracker (snap'krak '^r), n. Same as h-mip-
JKih.
snapdragon (snap'drag'on), n. 1. A plant of
the genus AHtirrhinum, especially the common
garden-flower ,-(. niajus and its varieties, it is
an herb from one to three feet high, bearing showy crim-
son, purple, white, or variegated flowers in spilies. The
name is suggested by the mask-like corolla, whence also
Domeroos provincial names, such as caV-*nout or caittt'-
tnout, lion't-mouOi, rabbit' s-mouth, Jng'$-mouth. etc. The
plant is a native of southern Kurope. (See cut B under
Didfiiuimia.) The small snapdragon is A. Orontium, an
inferior plant. A. tpecwmm, a Sue plant from islands off
the California coast, has received some notice under the
name of Oambel't mapdragon. A. mattrajidioidei is a cul-
tivated vine, better known as Maurttadia. Various species
of Liiiaria, especially L. vtUgaru, the common toad-flai,
have been so named ; also sereral other plants with per-
sonate flowers.
2. A sport in which raisins or grapes are snap-
IK'd from burning brandy and eaten.
The wantonness of the thing was to see each other look
like a demon, as we burnt ouraelres, and snatched out
the fruit. This fantastical mh^h was
called map-droffvTt, ,-, ij
Sledt, Tatler, So. 85. *^ ~\~r-
3. A glass-makers' tongs._Ja- SoapdiaKoo. ,.
malca snapdragon, see Jtuellia.
snape (snap), r. t. ; nret. and pp. snaped, ppr.
siiapiii;/. [Origin obscure.] In ship-buildint),
to bevel the end of (a timber or plank) so
that it will fit accurately upon an inclined sur-
face,
snape (snap), ». [< snape, r.] The act or pro-
cess of snaping.
snap-flask (snap'flftsk), n. A founders' flask,
iriacle in two parts connected by a butt-binge
unil secured by a latch,
snaphance (snap'hana), «. and a. [Early mod.
K. also miaphaunce; < D. snaphaan (= MLG.
snaphane, LG. snapphaan), a sort of flint-lock
gun, lit. 'gnap-coc\,' < snappen, snap, + haan,
cock: see hen^. The name is found earlier in
an appar. transferred use: MD. snapliaen, an
armed horseman, freebooter, highwavman. a
vagabond, D. gnaphaan, a vagabond, = MLG.
snaphane, a highwayman (> G. schnapphaliii, a
robber, footpad, constable, = 8w. snapphanc =
Dan. snaphane, a highwayman, freebooter);
hence also, in MI), and ML"G., a coin having as
its device the figure of a horseman.] I. ». 1.
A spring-lock of a gun or pistol. Nares.
I would that the trained bands were increased, and all
reformed to haniuelmaiera, but whether their pieces to be
with flrelocks or maphmatea is questionable. The Ore-
lock U more certain for giving Arc, the other more easy
'Of "« • llart. Mix., IV. 275.
Hence — 2. A band-gun or a pistol made to be
fired by flint and steel, in the sixteenth and seven-
teenth centuries snaphance* were distingntehed from flt«-
liKki^ the latter Iwlng preferred as late as aboot 1820 at
which time the foniiir were greatly impraved.
In the meantime, Captain Miles 8Undlsh, having a
«/.ap*ane« roady, made a shot, and alter him anoUier.
A. 1 mmg, Chron. PU., quoted in Tyler's Amer. Lit, 1. 161.
3. A snappish retort; a curt or sharp answer;
a repartee. [Kal-e.]
Old crabb'd Scotns, on th' Organon,
5727
snap-jack (snap'jak), n. A species of stitch-
wort, SMlarid Holostea: so called from its brit-
tle stem. Also called snappers, snap-cracker,
and snapwort. Britten and Holland, Eng. Plant
Names. [Prov. Eng.]
snap-link (snap'lingk), )i. An open link closed
Snap-link.
by a spring, used to connect chains, parts of
harness, etc.
snap-lock (snap'lok), n. A lock that shuts with-
out the use of a key.
snap-machine (suap'ma-shen'), «. An appa-
ratus used by bakers for cutting a sheet of
dough into small cakes called snaps; a cracker-
machine.
snap-mackerel (snap'mak'e-rel), n. The blue-
fish, I'liiiKitomiis saltatrix.
snapperl (snap'er), «. [< snap + -<frl.] One
who or that which snaps, in any sense. Specifi-
cally—(a) One who snaps up something ; one who takes
up stealthily and suddenly ; a thief.
Who being, as I am, littered under Mercury, was likewise
a mapper-Mf of unconsidered trifles. Shai., W. T. , iv. 3. 26.
(ft) A cracker-bonbon. Davia.
And nasty French Inciter mappen with mottoes.
Barham, Ingoldsby L^ends, n. 276.
(c) The cracker on the end of a whiplash ; figuratively a
smart or caustic saying to wind up a speech or discourse.
If I had not put that mapper on the end of mv whip-lash
I might have got off without the ill temper which my an-
tltheais provoked.
0. W. Hotmei, The Atlantic, LXVL 667.
(d) A lire-cracker or snapping-cracker. («) A snapping,
beetle. (/) A snapping-turtic. to) One of various fishes:
(l)Tbesnap-mackerelorblnefl8h, PonuilomustaUatrix. See
cut under Uuefith. (2) The rose-fish, redfish, or hemdurgan,
Stbatta marinus. .See cut under &6o«f«». (Nova Scotia.]
(3) A sparoid flsh of the subfamily Lutjanirue. They are
large, handsome fishes, of much economic value uLutja-
T"xf*^ or ovisevs, the grav, black, or Pensaoola snapper :
L. tiodtfardi or nuamu, the red snapper; Binmbt^aa
Ftorida Red Snapper {Luljantu Uael^trdTi.
Pay'th me with mapAaunee, quick distinction.
Mur^m, Scourge of Vlllanie, iv.
n.t a. Snappish; retorting sharply. [Bare.]
I, that even now llsp'd like an amorist.
Am tom'd into a tnaphaunee Satyrist.
MartUm, Satires, ii.
snap-head fsnap'hed), «. l. a riveters' swa-
ging-tool, used in forming the rounded head of
a nvet when forged into place.— 2. A rounded
heiid ..f a nvet, bolt, or pin. E. H. Kniqhl.
snap-hook (snap'htik), «. l. a metal' hook
having a spnng-mousing or guard for prevent-
ing an eye, strap, or line caught over it from
^i;)pinK off. .«„ri, [,„„k, are made In many forms ; one
s.t>e»t h!i» :i »|,i iMk-h..it that meets the point of the
Fi.l 18 »., Hrr;.iiiie.i that the latter cannot he used
y\K iKilt IS drawn back by means of a stud on the
_ See map4tnJr.
.fish-hook wlilch springs and catches when
the fish bites; a spring-hook. There are manv
varieties. '
a«in>n<&ni^ the bastard snapper ormangrore-snapper. All
thMe occur on the Atlantic coast of the United States,
chiefly southward. The red snapper, of a nearly uniform
rnae-red color, is the most valuable of these : It is caught
In large numbers uB the coast of tlorida, and taken to all
the principal northern markets. The gray snapper is of
a greenish-olive color, with brown spots on each scale and
a narrow blue stripe on the cheek. There are also Hsiayan
and Japanese snappers of this kind, called lutjami the
source of the technical name of the genus. (A) fii omith ■
(1) I he green woodpecker. Oeetntunrufu. Seecutunder
popi^iav. (Prov feig.l (2) ftne of various American
flyc»tchen (not MvHtapida) which snap at fliea, often
with an audible click of the beak : a flysnapper. See cut
aaier fymapper. (•) .jf. Castanets.
The instmmenta no other then mappen, glngles, and
rounil bottom'd drums, bom upon the back of one, and
l>eaten upon liy the followers. Sandyt, Travailes, p. ISS.
Black snapper, a local name of a form of the cod, Qadm
morrhua, livlna near the shore.
snapi)er-back (snap'tr-bak), n. hi foot-ban, a
center rusher. See rusher^.
Neither the mapper-bade nor his opponent can take the
ball out with the band until It touches a third man.
Tribune Book of SparU, p. 126.
snappers (snap'6rz), n. Same as snap-jack.
snapping-beetle (snap'ing-be'tl), n. A snap,
snapper, or snap-bug; a click-beetle; a skip-
jack; an elater: so called from the way they
snap, as to both the noise and the movement.
See cut under click-beetle.
snapping-bug (snap'ing-bug), n. 8amea8*»ai>-
jiiiKi-hectli'.
snapping-cracker fsnap'ing-krak'^r), n. A
lire-eraeker. [U. S.]
snapping-mackerel (snap'ing-mak'e-rel), B.
The siiap-inackerel or bluefish. See jnackerel^.
snapping-tongs (snap'ing-tongz), n. See the
quotation.
Snappinn-tongt, a game at forfeits. There are seata In
the room for all but one, and when the tongs are snapped
all run to sit down, the one that fails paying a forfeit
UaUiuM.
snapping-tool (snap'ing-t«l), n. A stamp used
to f(in-e a metal plate into holes in a die.
K. H. hiiifihl.
Snapping-turtle(»uap'ing-ter'tl), m. The alli-
gator-terrapin or alligator-tortoise, Chelydra
snare
serpentina, a large and ferocious turtle of the
Lnited States: so called from the way it snaps
its jaws to bite ; a snapper, it is common in the
rivers and streams of North America, and attains a iarec
siie, being occasionally 20 or rarely even 30 pounds in
weight Ite food consists chiefly of fishes, frogs, and shells,
but not unfrequently includes ducks and other water!
lowl. It has great tenacity of life, is very savage, and
possessed of great strength of jaw. It is often brought to
market and its flesh is esteemed by many, though it is
somewhat musky. See Chelydra, and cut under allv/ulor-
terrapin. "^^
snappish (snap'ish), a. [< snap + -isfti.] 1.
Keady or apt to snap or bite: as, a snappish
cur.— 2. Sharp in reply; apt to speak angrily
or tartly ; tart ; crabbed ; also, proceeding from
a sharp temper or from anger; also, chiding;
scolding; faultfinding.
Snappuhe askyng. We doo aske oftentymes because
w«! would knowe; we doo aske also because wee would
chide, and set forth our grief with more vcheniencie.
Wilson, Rhetorikc.
Some silly poor souls be so afraid that at every ma-j-
puh word their nose shall be bitten off that they stand ni
no less dread of every quick and sharp word than he that
is bitten of a mad dog feareth water.
Sir T. More, Utopia, Ded. to Peter Giles, p. 12.
He was hungry and snappish ; she was hurried and cross
Whyte Melville, White Rose, I. vii.
= Syn. 2. Touchy, testy, crusty, petulant, pettish, sple-
snappishly (snap'ish-li), adv. In a snappish
manner; peevishly; angrily; tartly.
'■Sit down, I tell you," said old Featherstone, map-
pishly. "Stop where you are."
George Eliot, Middlemarch, xxxii.
snappishness (snap'ish-nes), n. The charac-
ter of being snappish ; peevishness; tartness.
snappy (siiap'i;, a. \< snap + -yi'.'] 1. Snap-
pish. [Rare.]— 2. Having snap or "go."
[U. S.]
It (lacrosse] is a game well-suited to the American
taste, being short, snappy, and vivacious from lieginning
to finish. Tribune Book of Sports, p. 118.
snaps^ (snaps), ». rCf. ««np.] In coal-mining,
a haulage-clip. [Midland coal-field, Eng.]
snaps^ (snaps), H. Same as schnapps.
snapsack (snap'sak), n. [< 6. schnapp-sack.
< sehnappen, snap, + sack, sack: see stiap and
«acil. a. knapsack, gripsack.] Same as knap-
sack. [Obsolete or colloq.]
Whjle we were landing, and fixing our Snap.^acks to
march, our Moskito Indians struck a plentiful dish of Kish
which we immediately dresL Dampier, Voyages, I. 7.
snap-shooter (snap'shS'tSr), «. A snap-shot;
one who i.s skilled in snap-shooting,
snap-shooting (snap'sho*ting\ H. The practice
of making snap shots. See snap, a.
snapt (siiapt). A spelling of snapped, preterit
and past participle of snap.
snap-tool (snap'tol), H. A tool used in forming
rivet-i)oints. It consists of a hollow cup of steel
welded to a puncli-head for striking upon.
snapweed (snap'wed), n. See Impatiens.
snapworkt (snap'wSrk), H. The lock and ap-
purtenances of a snaphance or hackbut.
Betwixt the third couple of towers were the bntta and
marks for shooting with a snap-mrrk gun, an ordinary bow
for common archery, or with a ci«8s-l>ow.
Urquhart, tr. of Rabelais, i. 66.
snapwort (snap'wfert), n. Same as snap-jack.
snart (sniir),r. ». [Early mod. E. snarre; < MD.
snarren = MLG. snarren, snarl, scold, brawl,
= MHG. snarren, G. schnarren, snarl, grate;
cf. D. snorken = MHG. snarchen, G. schnarchen
= Sw. snarka = Dan. snorke, snore: see sneer,
snore, snork, snort. Cf. «nnr/l.] To snarl.
I mnrre, as a dogge doth under a doore whan he sheweth
"1« '«"»'• Palsgrave.
And some of Tygres, that did seeme to gren
And mar at all that ever passed by.
Spenser, F. Q.. VI. xlL 27."
snare (snSr), n. [< ME. snare, < AS. snear, a
string, cord, = MD. snare, snaere, D. snaar —
MLG. snare = OHG. snarahha. snaraeha, snarn.
MHG. snar, a string, noose, = Icel. Sw. snara =
Dan. snare, a noose, snare, gin; from a strong
verb preserved in OHG. MHG. sncrhan, xnerhen,
bind tightly (cf. Icel. snara (weak verb), turn
quickly, twist, wring) ; Tent, ^snarh, Indo-Eiir.
■/ snark, draw together, contract, in Gr. vapai,
cramp, numbness (see narcissus); perhaps an
extended form of y/ snar, twist, bind, in Lith.
Mcr(i, thread a needle, draw into a chain, L. ner-
t'u« = Gr.iifr'/jov, a sinew, nerve: seewrnv. Con-
nection with D.»»i«erz= ML(t. .wor=OH(i. MHG.
snuor, G. «cAn«r, a cord, band, rope, = Icel. snart
(for snari = Sw. snfire = Dan. snor), a twisted
string, = Gofh. snorjo, liasket, woven work, and
with the related AS. snod, E. snood, and Olr.
snathe, snath, a thread, L. nere, spin, Skt. snasd,
snare
sndftu, snara, a tendon, sinew, etc , is uncertain.
Hence ult. siiail".^ 1. A .string; a cord; specifi-
cally, in a side-<lrum, one of tlie strings of gut
or rawhide that are stretched aci-oss the lower
head so as to produce a rattling reverberation
on it. — 2. A noose; a springe; a contrivance,
consisting of a noose or set of nooses of cord,
hair, wire, or the like, by which a bird or other
animal may be entangled; a net; a gin.
The hare'is not hunted in this country as in Europe,
but is generally roused by a dog and shot, or is caught in
various traps and mares.
A, A. Gould, Naturalist's Library, p. 259.
3. Figuratively, anything by which one is en-
tangled, entrapped, or inveigled.
A fool's month is his destruction, and his lips are the
more of his souL Prov. xviii. 7.
Comest thou smiling from
The world's great siiore uncaught ?
Shalt., A. and C, iv. 8. 16.
4. In surg., a light ecraseur, consisting usually
of a wire loop or noose, for removing tumors
and the like.
snare (snar), r. ; pret. and pp. snared, ppr. snar-
ing. [< ME. snarcn ; < snare, n. Cf . Icel. ,s-nara
= Sw. sndna = Dan. sneerc, turn quickly, twist.
wring.] I. trans. 1. To catch with a snare or
noose; net.
Partridges, because they flew well and strongly, were
then not shot, but »nared, by means of a trained dog.
Ashtoii, Social Life in Keign of Queen Anne, I. 313.
2. Figuratively, to catch or take by guile ; bring
by cunning into unexpected evil, perplexity, or
danger; entangle; entrap.
Become more humble, <fc cast downe thy looke,
Least prides bait snare thee on tlie devils hooke.
Times' Whistle (E. E. T. .S.), p. 38.
The woman , . . entertained discourse, and was pres-
ently snared. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 2S.
II. intrans. To use snares; catch birds or
other animals in snares.
But lie, triumphant spirit ! all things dared,
He poached the wood and on the warren snared.
CralAe, Parish Register, i.
snare-drum (snar'drum), n. Same as side-drum.
snare-head (snar'hed), ». The lower head of
a snare-drum : opposed to hatter-head.
snarer (snSr'fer), n. [< snare + -erl.] One who
lays snares or entangles ; one who catches ani-
mals with snares.
Simrers and smugglers here their gains divide.
Crabbe, Parish Register, i.
snarl^ (snarl), V. [Freq. of snar, like ynarl^,
freq. of gnar^, snarP, freq. of snare, etc.] I. in-
trans. 1 . To growl sharply, as an angry or surly
dog; gnarl.
That I should marl and bite and play the dog.
Skak., 3 Hen. VI., v. 6. 77.
2. Figuratively, to speak in a shai-p and quar-
relsome or faultfinding way; talk rudely or
churlishly; snap.
What ! were you gnarling all before I came.
Beady to catch each other by the throat,
And turn you all your hatred now on me ?
SAoft., Rich. IIL, L 3. 188.
n. trans. To utter with a snarl : as, to snarl
one's discontent; to snarl out an oath.
"No, you are dreadfully inspired," said Felix. "When
the wicked Tempter is tired of snarling that word failure
in a man's cell, he sends a voice like a thrush to say it for
him." George Eliot, Felix Holt, xlv.
Snarl^ (snarl), n. [<«h«(V1, r.] A sharp growl;
also, a jealous, quarrelsome, or faultfinding ut-
terance, like the snarling of a dog or a wolf.
The book would not be at all the worse if it contained
fewer snarls against the Whigs of the present day.
ilaeaiUay, Sir W. Temple.
SnarP (snilrl), V. [< ME. snarlen; freq. of
snare, r. Cf. snarl^ as related to snar, gnarU
as related to gnar^, etc.] I. trans. 1. To en-
tangle ; complicate ; involve in knots : as, to
snarl a skein of thread.
I snarle, I strangle in a halter, or corde, Je estrangle ;
My grayhound had almost snarled hym selfe to niglit in
his own leesse. Palsgrave.
Through thousand snarled thickets posting, she
Darted her self, regardless of her way.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, ii. 27.
2. To embarrass; confuse; entangle.
This was the question that they would have snarled
him with. Latimer. (Imp. Diet.)
3. To shape or ornament the exterior of (ves-
sels of thin metal) by repercussion from within.
See snarling-iron.
U. intrans. To make tangles or snarls; also,
to become entangled.
The begum made bad work of her embroidery in those
days; she snarled and knotted, and cut and raveled, with-
out advancing an inch on her design.
JE. L. liynner, Begum's Daughter, xxzviL
5728
snarl^ (sniirl), ». [< miarP, c] 1. A snare;
any knot or com|ilication of hair, thread, etc.,
which it is diflicult to tUsentangle ; also, a gi'oup
of things' resembling, in entanglement, such a
knot : as, a snarl of yachts. Hence — 2. Fig-
uratively, complication ; intricacy; embarrass-
ing condition : as, to get the negotiation into a
snarl.
Let Hymen's easy snarls be quite forgot ;
Time cannot quench our fires, nor death dissolve our knot.
Quarles, Emblems, iv. 12.
3. A vexatious controversy ; a squabble. This
sense may have been affected by snarl^. [Col-
loq.]
We find " boycott " used several times as a substantive,
and are told that the " New York longshoremen and the
Old Dominion Steamship Company had got into a simrl."
N. ami Q., 7th ser., VII. SSO.
4. A knot in wood; a gnarl.
Let Italian or Spanish yew be the wood, clear of knots,
snarls, and cracks. Tribune Book of Sports, p. 12.
snarlerl (snar'ler), n. [< swaj'/l -f -rcl.] One
who snarls ; a surly, growling animal ; a grum-
bling, quarrelsome fellow.
Next to the peevish fellow is the snarler.
Steele, Spectator, No. 438.
snarler'^ (snar'ler), n. [< snarV^ + -erl.] One
who snarls metal.
snarling (snar'ling), p. a. Growling; grum-
bling angrily ; peevish ; waspish ; snappish.
snarling-iron (8nar'ling-i"ern), n. A tool for
fluting or embossing vessels of sheet-metal,
consisting of a long arm which is turned at an
angle, usually a right angle, at the end, and
pointed or terminated in any shape desired.
It is inserted into the vessel, and the long arm or bar is
struck outside of the vessel with a hammer, causing the
point or head to raise the metal from within, as in re-
POUS86 work. It is used especially for striking up pat-
terns on silverware.
snarling-muscle (sniir'ling-mus''''l), n. See
muscle'^.
snarling-tool (snar'ling-tol), n. Same as snarl-
inij-iron.
snarly (snar'li), a. [< snarP- + -«/!.] Disposed
to snarl; ii-ritable; cross. [Colloq.]
We all know that there are good-natured animals and
irritable animals — that the cow is tranquil and gentle,
and the hyena snarly and fretful.
H. B. Slowe, Oldtown, p. 262.
snarret, i>- i- Same as snar.
snary (snar'i), a. [< snare + -)/l.] Of the na-
ture of a snare ; entangling ; insidious. [Rare.]
Spiders in the vault their snary webs have spread.
Dryden.
snash (snash), V. i. [Cf. Dan. snaske, gnash or
champ one's food with a smacking noise, = Sw.
snaska, smack, snub, chide {snash, sweetmeat) ;
cf. smash, smaclfl, and also snack'^ (D. snakken,
chatter, etc.).] To talk saucily. Jamieson.
[Scotch.]
snash (snash), m. [< snash, v.'\ Insolent, oppro-
brious language ; impertinent abuse. [Scotch.]
Poor tenant bodies, scant o' cash.
How they maun thole the factor's stuuh !
Bums, The Twa Dogs.
snastt (snast), n. [Appar. a var. of gnasf^,
knast, in the same sense.] The snuff of a can-
dle.
You chandler, I like not your tricks ; . . . after your
weeke or siutft [read snast] is stiffened, you dip it in filthy
droase, and after give him a coat of good tallowe.
Greene, Quip for an Upstart Courtier (Harl. .Misc., V. 419).
The swiftest in consuming was that with sawdust,
which first burned faire, till some pai-t of the candle was
consumed, and the dust gathered about the snaste.
Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 369.
snasty (snas'ti), ffl. [Cf. snash.'] Cross; snap-
pish. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
snatch (snach), r.; pret. and pp. snatched (for-
merly snaught), ppr. snatching. [< ME. snachen,
snacchen, sneechen, an assibilated form of snak-
ken, E. snack, snatelx: see snack.'] I. trans. 1.
To seize or take hastily, eagerly, abi'uptly, or
violently.
He . . . from my finger snatck'd that ring.
Shak., C. of E., v. 1. 276.
I'm loth to snatch thy punishment
Out of the hand of justice.
B. Jonson, Volpone, iii. 6.
Him did I see snatch up with horrid grasp
Two sprawling Greeks, in either liaiid a man.
Addison, Mntiid, iii.
The farmers snatched down their rusty firelocks from
the kitchen walls, to make good the resolute words of
their town debates. Emerson, Hist. Discourse at Concord.
Hence, figuratively — 2. To get or save by sud-
den or violent effort, or by good fortune.
From vulgar bounds with brave disorder part,
And snatch a grace beyond the reach of art.
Pope, Essay on Criticism, I. 153.
snatchingly
Cities and empires creep along, enlarging in silent ob-
scurity, until tliey burst forth in some tremendous ca-
lamity — and snateh, as it were, imriiortality from the ex-
plosion ! Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 424.
3. To seize or transport away quickly or for-
cibly.
Oh Nature ! . . .
Enrich me with the knowledge of thy works !
Snatch me to Heaven. Thomson, Autumn, 1. 1354.
4. Naut., to place the bight of (a rope) in a
snatch-block so that it may lead properly.
II. intrans. 1. To seize, or attempt to seize,
a thing suddenly: generally with at.
Snatch not at every favour.
Sir T. Broume, Christ. Mor., liL 5.
No eager man among his joyous peers
To snatch at pleasure.
William Morris, EiU'thly Paradise, III. 111.
2. See the quotation.
Snatcfdng is a form of illicit piscicapture. ... A
large triangle is attached to a line of fine gut, well
weighted with swan-shot or a small plunmiet. . . . The
line is then dropped into some quiet place where fish are
plentiful, . . . and. as soon as the plunnnet has touched
the liottom, is twitched violently up. It is almost a cer-
tainty that on some one or other of tlie hooks, and possi-
bly on more than one, will be a fish foul-hooked.
The Standard (London), Oct. 21, 1878. (Dailies.')
snatch (snach), H. [< snatch, v. Cf. snack, «.]
1. A hasty catch or seizing.
How can he live by snatches from such people?
He Ijore a worthy mind.
Fletcher, Wit without Money, L 1.
His scarsella was snatched at, but all the while he was
being hustled and dragged, and the stmtcli failed.
George Eliot, Komola, IxvL
2. An attempt to seize suddenly; a sharp at-
tack.
Thus not only as oft as we speak, as one saith, but also
as oft as we do anything of note or consequence, we sul)-
ject ourselves to every one's censure, and happy is he that
is least tossed upon tongues ; for utterly to escape the
snatch of them it is impossible !
The Translators to the Header of the Bible (A. V.), p. cvi.
3t. A catching of the voice; impeded utterance.
[Bare.]
The snatches in his voice;
And burst of speaking, were as his.
Shak., Cymbeline, iv. 2. 106.
4. A piece snatclied or broken off; a small
piece or quantity ; a fragment ; a bit.
Mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up ;
Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes.
S/iak., Hamlet, iv. 7. 178.
But I am somewhat worn,
A snatch of sleep were like the peace of God.
Tennyson, Harold, v. 1.
5. A short fit of vigorous action: as, a snatch
at weeding after a shower.
High-stepping horses seemed necessary to all Mr. Lam-
inle's friends — as necessary as their transaction of tiusi-
ness together in a gipsy way at untimely hours, . . . and
in rushes and snatches. Dickens, Our Mutual F'riend, ii. 4.
6. A hasty repast ; a snack ; a bit of food.
I fear you'll have cold entertainment when
Yon are at your journey's end ; and 'twere discretion
To take a snatch by the way.
Massinger, Duke of Milan, iii. 2.
7. A quibble; a shuffliug answer. [Bare.]
Come, sir, leave me your snatches, and yield me a direct
answer. Shak., M. for M., iv. 2. 8.
8. An open load for a block. See snatch-block.
— By snatches, in a disconnected or spasmodic manner;
by fits and starts.— Dumb snatch, a sn,atc]i having no
sheave.
snatch-block (snach'blok), n. A block, used
on ships, having an opening in
one side to receive the bight of a
rope. The part of the strap which goes
over the opening in the shell is hinged,
so that by turning it back the bight of
the rope can be inserted without reeving
the end tlirough. When it is used for
heavy purchases where a warp or haw-
ser is brought to a capstan, it is called a votfal or viol block.
Also notch-block. See also cut under blocks.
snatch-cleat (snach'klet), «. Xaut., a curved
cleat or chock round which a rope maybe led.
snatcher (snaeh'er), «. [< .sffaWf + -e/'l.] 1.
One who snatches, or takes suddenly or guiltily :
as, a hoAy-snatcher ; specifically, formerly, in
Scotland, a roving thief, especially one of a body
of plunderers hanging upon a military force.
We do not mean the coursing snatcfters only.
But fear the main intendment of the Scot.
Shak., Hen. V., i. 2. 143.
The Town-herd . . . regularly drove them [all the cattle
belonging to the community] out to pasture in the morn-
ing, and brought them back at night, without which pre-
caution they would have fallen a speedy prey to some of
the Snatchers in the neighbourhood. .Scott, Monastery, t
2. jil. In oc«iWi., specifically, birds of prey ; the
Ii'ii/itorcs. See cuts under Raptores.
snatchingly (snaoh'ing-li), adv. By snatching;
hastily; abruptly. Imp. Diet.
Snatch-block.
snatcMng-roUer
snatching-roller (snach'ing-ro'ler), n. In a
printiug-pross using a continuous web of paper,
one of a pair of rollers running at a higher
speed than those next behind them, and serving
to snatch or tear off the printed sheet at the
line of perforations made to divide the web
into sheets.
snatchy (snach'i), a. [< snatch + -yl.] Con-
sisting of or characterized by snatches; not
uniform or continuous ; irregular.
The modem style [of rowing! seems short and snatchy ;
it has not the long majestic sweep of former days.
Cambridge Sketches, p. 16.
snath (snith), n. A shortened form of snathe-.
O mower, lean on thy bended giuUh,
Look from the meadows green and low.
Whittier, Wreck of Rlvermoath.
snathe^ (snaTH), v. t.: pret. and pp. snathed,
ppr. snnthini/. A variant of snead^. HaUiwell.
snathe~ (snaTH), ». [A var. of snead^.l The
curved helve or handle of a scj-the, to which
are attached short handles called nibs. See
scythe.
snattock (snat'ok), n. [Prob. for *snaddock, <
snead^ (ilE. snddc) + -oci.] A chip ; a slice ;
a fragment. [Prov. Eng.]
Snattoekt of that Tet; cross ; of cedar some, some of ja-
niper. Gayton. Notes on Don Qaixote, p. 275.
snaughtf. An obsolete preterit and past parti-
ei]>le of snatch.
snaw (sua), R. Anobsolete or dialectal (Scotch)
form of snow^.
snead^ (sned), v. t. [Also gneed, sned, also
snathe, snace; < ME. 'gneden, "srneden (in eomp.
tf>snieden),< AS. sneedan (=OHG. meiton, MHG.
sneiten = Icel. sneUtha), cut, also feed, a secon-
dary form of »«rt/kan, cut: aeesnithe. Cf.s/icad^.]
To cut ; lop ; prune.
sneadi (sned), n. [< ME. snade^ mode, < AS.
gnad (= Icel. sneidh), a piece, bit, slice, < sni-
tkan (pret. snath), in secondary form snsBdan,
cut : see snead^, r.] A piece ; bit ; slice.
snead^ (sned), n. [Also sneed. sned, also sneath,
sncathr, snathe, snath; < ME. 'sned, < AS. gtued,
the handle of a scythe, appar. < snithan (pret.
snath), cut: 8e« gnead^.] The handle of a
scythe: same aa ma fA«3. [Prov. Eng.]
This i> fixed on a long mwd, or straight handle.
Evelyn.
Argent, a B<:ythe, the blade in chief, the tneyd (or han-
dle) In bend sinister sable, etc. .V. and Q., 7th ser., VI. 14.
snead'' (sned), n. Same as sneed^.
sneak (snek), v. [< ME. sniken (appar. sniken,
whence mod. E. 'snick, with an allowed var.
gneak),toT orig. sniken (which would require a
mod. E. "snike). < AS. gnican (pret. 'sndc, pp.
'snicen), creep, = Icel. 'snika (in pp. snikinn,
covetous, hankering aft«r) = 8w. dial, snit/a
(pret. sneg), creep, = Dan. reflex snige, sneak,
slink ; cf. lce\.snikja (weak verb), banker after,
beg for food silently, as a dog, = 8w. sniica
(pret. gnek), hanker after ; cf . OHG. gnahhan,
sneak, MHG. SHOuken, go secretly, G. dial.
schnaacken, schnaeken, schnaichen, creep; cf. Ir.
Gael, snaigh, snaig, creep, crawl, sneak. From
the same ult. verb are E. »;iai7, snake, snag^,
smack'i, etc.] I. intrans. 1. To creep or steal
about privately; go furtively, as if afraid or
ashamed to be seen ; slink.
A poor anminded oatlaw tntaUng home.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., ir. 3. m.
I hate to tee an awkward gawky comt meaking Into the
market. Sheridan (T), The Camp, i. 1.
2. To behave with meanness and servility;
crouch: truckle.
Tom struts a soldier, open, bold, and brave ;
Will tneaJn a scrirener, an exceeding knare.
Pope, Moral Ewayt, f. IM.
3. To steal ; pilfer. See sneak-thief . [Colloq.]
n. trans. To hide; conceal in a furtive or
cowardly manner. [Kiire.]
.Some sins dare the world in open defiance, yet thI*(sUn-
der) lurks, and tneaku its head.
Al^. Wake, Rationale on Text* of Scripture (1701), p. 2K.
[(Latham.)
sneak fsnek), «. [< sneak, «.] 1. A mean, con-
tempt iV)le fellow ; one who has recourse to mean
and cowanlly methods ; a person of selflsh and
cowardly temper and contlnct.
A set of simpletons and saperstitlons meakt.
Olanoitle, Sermons, It.
They may tell me I can't alter the world— that there
moat oe a certain nnmber of tneakt and robbers In it,
■nd if I don't lie and filch somebody else will.
tJeori/e Eliot, Kcllx Holt, v.
Don't Jaw, Dolly. Hold on, and listen to me. Von never
were a tnrak. WhyU Melville, White Eose, II. xiii.
2. A petty thief. Heeimeak-thiefaadarea-gneak.
360
5729
sneakbillt (snek'bil), n. [Also sneakshiU; <
sneak + bill^.'] A sharp-nosed, lean, sneaking
fellow.
Chiche-face, a chichiface, micher, gneake-bUl, wretched
fellow, one out of whose nose hunger drops. Coigrave.
sneak-boat (snek'bot), n. A small decked boat
used in hunting wild fowl. It is masked with
weeds or brush when used. [U. S.]
The usual length of a Bamegat meakboat is 12 feet, width
4 feet, square stem 34 inches wide, 7 inches deep.
Sci. Amer., N. S., LX. 219.
sneak-box (snek'boks), n. Same as sneak-boat.
Tribune Book of Sports, p. 427. [U. S.]
sneak-CUpt (snek'kup), n. [< sneak, v., + obj.
cup.'] A toper who balks his glass; one who
sneaks from his cup ; hence, a puny or paltry
fellow.
The prince is a Jack, a gmak-cup [gneak-up in some edi-
tions, apparently confused with meek up].
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., UL 3. 99.
sneaker (sne'kfer), n. [< sncnfc + -eri.] 1. One
who sneaks; one who wants spirit; a sneak.
Sneakers and time server*. Watertand, Works, III. 420.
2. A drinking-vessel: a kind of punch-bowl.
After supper he asked me If I was an admirer of punch ;
and immediately called for asneaker.
Additon, Freeholder, No. 22.
sneakiness (sne'ki-nes), n. Same as sneaking-
»e.is.
sneaking (sne'king), p. a. 1. Pertaining to or
worthy of a sneak ; acting like or characteristic
of a sneak; mean; servile; crouching.
Be objected against religion itself. He said It wa« a piti-
ful, low, sneaking business for a man to mind religion.
He said that a tender conscience was an unmanly thing.
Bunj/an, Pilgrim's Progreai, 1.
The fawning, meaking, and flattering hypocrite.
StiUingjUet, Sermons, 11. L
2. Secretor clandestine,and somewhat discred-
itable ; underhand ; hence, in a less reprehen-
sible sense, nnavowed ; not openly or frankly
declared.
For they poasess'd, with all their pother,
A mealmg kindneu for each other.
If. Cambe, Dr. Syntax's Tours, t 7.
The meaking kindness for "gentlemen of the road" la
in our days but rarely displayed.
//. Spencer, Frin. of Sociol., | S74.
sneakingly (sne'king-li), adv. In a sneaking
manner; meanly.
Do all things like a man, not eneakingly;
Think the king sees thee still ; for his King does.
Q. Herbert, Church Porch.
sneakingness (sne'king-nes), n. The character
of being sneaking; meanness,
sneaksblllt, «. See sneakbill.
sneaksby («ueks'bi),n. [Formerly also *neaA«-
bie, sneakesbie; < sneak + -s-by as also in idlesby,
leyedshy, rudesby, guresby, wigsby, etc. Cf. sneak-
bill, grieaksbill.] A paltry, sneaking fellow ; a
sneak.
A meacocke, mUkeaop, meaitbie, worthlesse fellow.
Cotgrave.
A demure sneaksby, > clownish stngularlst.
Barrou!, Works, HI. xxxiv.
sneak-shooting (snSk'sho'ting), «. The act or
practice of shooting wild fowl from a sneak-
boat or siii'ak-boi.
sneak-thief (snek'thef ), n. One who steals by
entering liouses through doors or windows left
open or unfastened. [Colloq.]
sneak-npt, »■ See sneak-cup.
sneaky (sne'ki), a. [< sneak + -yl.] Some-
what sneaking. Jean Ingelow. [Colloq.]
Both dogs had a meaky appearance, as though they
knew a flo^^ng was in store for them.
Harper's Mag., LXXVI. 199.
sneap (snep), v. t. [Formerly also sneep; E.
dial, also snape; < Icel. sneypa. orig. outrage,
dishonor, chide, snub, lit. ' castrate ' ( > sneypa, a
disgrace). = 8w. snopa, castrate ; cf . Sw. snoppa,
cut off, sntiff a candle: *«w66o, reprove: see
snip, snib, gnub^.'] 1. To check; reprove ab-
ruptly; reprimand.
But life that's here,
When Into It the soul doth closely wind,
Is often sneep^d by anguish and by fear,
With vexing pain and nge that she no te easly bear.
Dr. H. More, Sleep of the Soul, ill. 18.
2. To nip; bite; pinch.
Give the sneaped birds more cause to sing.
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 833.
[Obsolete or provincial in both uses.]
sneap (snep), n. [< sneap, r.] A reprimand;
a rebuke; a check; a snub. [Obsolete or pro-
vincial.]
sneer
I wni not undergo this sneap without reply.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., il. 1. 133.
These gneaps and reproofs weighed so much on the
mind of the Bishop that, as he declared, he watered them
many times with salt tears.
R. W. Dixon, Hist. Church of Eng., vlL
sneart, v. An obsolete spelling of sneer.
sneath, sneathe (sneth, sneTH) . Same a.&snead^,
snead^, snathe^, snathe^, snath.
snebt (sneb), V. t. A variant of snib.
snecfci (snek), ». f. [Avax. of snack.] To snatch.
[Obsolete or provincial.]
Her chain of pearl?
I sneckt it away finely.
iliddleton, Your Five Gallants, L 2.
Snecked rubble. See r«6Me.— Sneck upf, snick upt
(also sneak up), shut up ! be hanged 1 go hang ! used in-
terjectionally.
We did keep time, sir, in our catches. Sneck up !
Shak., 1. N., IL 8. 101.
Dost want a master? if thou dost, I'm for thee ;
Else choose, and sneck-up ! Ford, Lady's lYial, iit 2.
Give him his money, George, and let him go snick-w.
k-up.
:, III 2.
Beatt. and Ft., Knight of Burning Pestle,
She shall not rise, sir, goe, let your Master snick.up.
Beywood, Fair Maid of the West (Works, ed. 1874, II. 268).
Sneck^ (snek), n. [< sneck^, v.] A snap : a click.
[Scotch.]
An industrious house, wherein the birr of the wheel and
the sneck of the reel had sounded.
A. Leighton, Traditions of Scottish Life, p. 116.
sneck^ (snek), n. [< ME. sneck, snekk, snekke,
snek, a latch; prob. < snack, v., catch, snatch:
see snack, snatch.] 1. The latch or catch of a
door or lid. [Obsolete or provincial, esi>ecially
Scotch.]
If I cud tell wheay 's cutt our band fra" th' sntek,
Kext time they come Ise niacli Iheni jet the neck.
A Yorkshire Dialogue (1897), p. 46, (llaUiwell.)
2. A piece of land jutting into an adjoining
field, or intersecting it. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng. J
sneck^ (snek), V. t. [< sneck^, ».] To latch or
shut (a door or lid).
sneck-^ (snek), t'. t. A Scotch form of snick.
sneck-drawer (8nek'clra''6r), «. [< ME. snek-
dniiccr; < sneck^ + drawer.] One who draws
a latch; a latch-Ufter; hence, a dishonest fel-
low ; a thief.
sneck-drawing (snek'dr&'ing), a. Crafty;
cheating; roguish. [Scotch.]
And you, ye auld sneck-drauing dog,
Ye came to Paradise Incog.
Bums, Address to the Dell.
sneck-dra'wn (snek'dr&n), a. Mean; stingy;
close. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
Sneckett (snek'et), ». [< sneck'^ + -et. Cf.
snacket.] Same as sneckK Cotgrave.
snecking (snek'ing), n. In masonry, rubble-
work.
sneck-posset(snek'j)os'et),n. A"latch-drink'':
the kind of entertainment a person receives
when the door is shut in his face. N. and Q.,
7th ser., VII. 116. [Prov. Eng.]
sned^ (sned), V. Same as sneadi.
sned^ (sned), n. Same as snead^. [Prov. Eng.]
Snedden (sned'n), ». The larger sand-lance.
[Prov. Eng.]
snee (sne), ». [< D. snee, snede, a cut, cleft,
slice, edge, section (= MHG. snide, G. schneide,
edge), < snijden, cut: see snithe, snead^.] A
knife, especially a large knife ; a dirk Snlck
and snee. See sniek.
Sneed^ (sned). A spelling of snead^, snead^.
sneed^ (sned), «. [A dial. var. of snood.] Same
as snood, 2. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.]
sneeiHi v. t. An obsolete form of sneap.
sneer (sner), r. [Formerly also snear; < ME.
sneren, < Dan. snterre, grin like a dog; akin to
snar,snarl^.] I. intrans. If. To grin or laugh
foolishly.
A fourth would fondly kiss and paw his companions, and
snear In their faces, with a countenance more antic than
any in a Dutch drolL Beverley, Virginia, iv. U 18.
2. To grin ; especially and usually, to grin or
smile in a contemptuous manner; express eon-
tempt by a grimace marked by slight turning
up of the nose.
I have no power over one muscle in their faces, though
they sneered at every word spoken by each other. Toiler.
3. To insinuate contempt by a covert erpres-
sion ; use words suggestive rather than expres-
sive of contempt; speak derisively.
To sneer at the sentiments which are tlie springs of all .
Just and virtuous uctinns la merely a display of unthink-
ing levity, or of want of the natural seiisihilities.
O. W. Halines, Kssays, p. 92.
= 8yil. 3. Seojr, Sneer, Jeer, Oitte. Scoff is the strongest
word for the expression of utter contempt or abhorrence
sneer
5730
by oDprobrious language. To «k«- is to express contempt sneeZO (snez), »l. [Early mod. E. also sneese;
by more or less covert sarcasm. To jeer is to try to raise
a laugh by sarcastic language. To (rfiw is to use con-
temptuous, mocking, or taunting expressionE.
n. tranii. 1. To treat or address with sneers ;
treat with contempt ; sneer at.
He had meer'd Sir Thomas Hanmer for changing Sirrah
T. Edttardt, Canons of Criticism (ITCIX P- 76. (Hall.)
2. To litter with a contemptuous expression or
gnmace.
"A ship of fools,"
" A ship of fools,"
[< sneer + -«ri.] One who
A grin-
. Halli-
A mus-
' he Bhriek'd in spite,
' he sneer'd and wept
Tmny»on, The Voyage.
S. To affect in a specified way by sneering.
Very likely they were laughing over his infatuation, and
tneering her fair fame away, at that very moment in the
clubs. Whyte MeluiUe. White Rose, II. xviii.
sneer (sner), n. [< sneer, ».] 1. A derisive or
contemptuous grin or smile ; an expression of
the face marked by a slight turning up of the
nose, and indicating contempt ; a look of scorn,
disdain, or derision; hence, the feeling thus
expressed.
That smile, if oft observed and near.
Waned in its mirth, and wither'd to a sneer.
Byron, Lara, i. 17.
2. A verbal expression of oonterapt; an in-
sinuation of scorn or derision by language
more or less covert and indirect.
Who can refute a sneer f Foley, Moral Philos., II. v. 9.
=SyiL See sneer, v. i.
sneerer (sner'fer), n.
sneers.
sneerful (sner'ful), a. [< sneer + -fid.l
to sneering. [Rare.]
Cell ever squalid! where the sneerfvl maid
Will not fatigue her hand ! broom never comes,
That comes to all. Shenstone, Economy, iii.
sneeringly (sner'ing-li), adv. In a sneering
manner; witli a sneer.
sneering-match (sner'ing-mach), 11.
ning-match (which see, under grin, v.)
well. [Prov. Eng.]
sneering-muscle (sner'ing-mus^'l), n.
cle of expression which lifts the upper lip and
draws also upon the nostril, and is the principal
agent in producing a sneer or sneering expres-
sion of the face; the levator labii superioris
alseque nasi. Persons habitually surly or scornful often
have a deep line engraven on the face, due to the frequent
exercise of this muscle. Compare snarling-muscle, under
musclel.
sneeset, v. and n. An obsolete spelling of sneeze.
sneesh (snesh), n. [Also snisli, snush; < Dan.
snus, snuff. Cf. sneeze.'] See snush.
sneeshing (sne'shing), n. [Also snecshin; <
sneesh, snish, snuff, + -ini/l.] Snuff; also, a
pinch of snuff. [Scotch.]
A mull o' gude sneeshin' to prie. The Blithesome Bridal.
Not worth a sneeshin. W. Weston, Poems.
Sneeshlng-mull, a snuH-box, generally made of the end
of a horn. [Scotch.]
sneevlet, v. An obsolete form of snivel.
sneeze (snez), v. ; pret. and pp. sneezed, ppr.
sneezing. [Early mod. E. also sneese, snese, sneze;
< ME. snesen, a variant, with substitution of sn-
for the uncommon initial sequence/re-, of /«c«c»,
< AS. fne<5«ow=D./nie^e»,8neeze, = Icel./«(B«o,
later /n^so, sneeze, = Sw. fnysa = D&n. fnyse,
snort: see//iesfi, andcf. «ee«e.] I. intrans. To
emit air from the nose and mouth audibly and
violently by an involuntary convulsive action,
as occasioned by irritation of the lining mem-
brane of the nose or by stimulation of the retina
by a bright light, in sneezing the glottis remains
open, while the passage out through the mouth is partial-
ly obstructed by the approximation of the tongue to the
roof of the mouth. See sneeziny.
Mr. HaJiburton brings forward, as his strongest case,
the habit of saying "God bless you ' or some equivalent
expression when a person sneezes. He shows that this
custom, which, I admit, appears to us at first sight both
odd and arbitrary, is ancient and widely extended. It is
< sneeze, r.] 1. The act of one who sneezes,
or the sound made by sneezing; sudden and
\-iolent ejection of air through the nose and
mouth with an audible sound.— 2. Snuff. Also
snish. Hallmell. [Prov.Eng.]— Cup o' sneeze.
See eup.
sneeze-horn (snez'horn), n. Asort of snuff-box
made of an animal's horn. HalHwell.
sneezer (sne'zer),M. l< sneeze + -er^.] 1. One
who sneezes.
When a Hindu sneezes, bystanders say "Live ! " and the
CTWezer replies " With you ! "
E. B. Tylor, Prim. Culture, I. 101.
2. A violent blow; a blow that knocks the snibt (snib),
sniff
snibt (snib), V. t. [Also dial, sneh, early mod.
E. snibhe, snahbe ; < ME. snihhen, snybhcn, < Dan.
snibbe, chide, reprimand ; another form of snub
(< Icel. snubba = Sw. snttbba): see ««m61. Cf.
snip, sncap.] To check; reprimand; snub;
sneap or sneb.
Him wolde he snyhbe sharply for the nones.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 523.
He cast him to scold
And snebbe the good Oake for he was old.
Spenser, Shep. Cal., February.
You have snibbed the poor fellow too much; he can
scarce speak, he cleaves his words with sobbing.
Middleton, Your Five Gallants, ii. 3.
[^i snib, v.] A reproof; a rep-
breath out. [Prov. Eng.]
sneezeweed(snez'wed),»i. Aplant of the genus
Helenium, mostly the common H. autumnale.
In England this, though rather coarse, is known in orna-
mental culture. Its powdered leaves and flowers when
snuffed up produce violent sneezing. Recently the finer
southwestern species, //. tenuifoUnm, has received some
notice. It is poisonous to human beings and to horses.
Both plants have been advocated for medical use in ner-
vous diseases. Less properly called sneezewort. See cut
under Helenium:
sneezewood (snez'wud), n. [A translation ot
S. African D. nies-hout, < D. niezen, sneeze (= E.
neeze), + hoat, wood (= E. holfl).} A South
African tree, Ptieroxylon vtile, or its timber.
The latter is a handsome wood taking a fine polish ; it is
strong and very durable, and but slightly affected by
moisture. It is made into furniture, agricultural imple-
ments, etc., and is used for railway-ties, piles, and similar
purposes. The dust produced in working it causes sneez-
mg (whence the name).
Given sneezewort (snez'wert), n. [< sneeze + worn.
Cf. D. HJesitorte!, hellebore.] 1. In old usage,
the white hellebore, Veratrum albmn,moTe often
under the form neezewort. Britten and Hol-
iand, Eng. Plant Names.— 2. A composite herb,
Achillea Ptarmica, chiefly of the Old World.
The flower-heads are larger anci much fewer than those of
the yarrow, A. MUle/olium ; the leaves are simple and
sharply serrate, and when dried and pulverized are said
to provoke sneezing (whence the name).
3. Same as sncezeweed.
sneezing (sne'zing), n. [< ME. "snesynge, ear-
lier fnesynge, < AS. fnedsung, verbal n. of fneO-
san, sneeze: see sneeze. CI. neezing.'] 1. The
act of emitting a sneeze.
Looking against the sun doth induce sneezing.
* Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 687.
2t. A medicine to promote sneezing ; an errhino ;
a sternutatory.
rimand ; a snub.
Sneezings, masticatories, and nasals.
BuHon, Auat. of Mel., p. 363. (Latham.)
sneezing-powder (sne'zing-pou"der), n. Snuff.
Sneezing-potvder is not more frequent with the Irish
than chawing arec ... is with these savages.
Herbert, Travels, an. 1638.
Sneg (sneg), v. t. A Scotch variant of snag^.
sneELl (snel), a. [< ME. snel, snell, < AS. snel,
snell, active, strenuous, = OS. snel, snell = D.
sna = MLG. snel = OHG. MHG. siiel (> It. snel-
lo = Pr. isnel, irnel = OF. isnel), G. schnell, swift,
quick, = Icel. snjallr, eloquent, able, bold, =
Sw. snail = ODan. snel, swift, fleet ; cf . Sw. Dan.
S)iille, genius, Dan. snild, shrewd, sagacious.]
It. Active; brisk; nimble; spirited.
Sythyne wente into Wales with his wyes alle,
Sweys into Swaldye with his snelle houndes.
For to bunt at the hartes in thas bye laundes.
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 67.
2. Keen; piercing; sharp; severe; hard: as, a
snell frost. [Scotch.]
There came a wind out of the north,
A sharp wind and a snell.
The Young Tamlatte (Child's Ballads, I. 120).
He has unco little sympathy wi' ither folks ; and he 's
sndl and dure eneugh in casting up their nonsense to them.
Scott, Antiquary, xxi.
snell^ (snel), n. [Origin obscure.] A short
piece of gut, gimp, or sea-grass on which fish-
hooks are tied ; a snood. The best material for snells
is silkworm-gut, as it is light, strong, and nearly invisible.
mentioned by"Homer, Aristotle; Apnleius, Pliny, and the snell^ (snel), t). t. [< snellS, )).] To tie or fas-
Jewish rabbis, and has been observed in Koordistan, in ^^^^ ^^ ^ jj^g qj. ™j(. J^g ^ hook for angling.
Florida, in Otaheite, -<>i^the Tonga Islanda. .^_^_ ^ ^^^ gnell-loop (snel'l6p), n A particular tie made
TO sneeze at. to disregard; show contempt for ; despise: ^^^ '7,^ ''/"f PeXaps a w o7«.«« < LG.
now chiefly in the expression ,«,t to be sneez^ ot. [Colloq.] snet snet^^ ^i^'^^t, aJscinitt i Sw. ^iit
A buxom, tall, and comely dame,
Who wish'd, 'twas said, to change her name.
And, if I could her thoughts divine.
Would not perhaps have sneezed at mine.
W. Combe, Dr. Syntax's Tours, ii. 6.
My professional reputation is not to be sneezed at.
Sir A. H. Elton, Below the Surface, xxvii,
n. trans. To utter with or like a sneeze.
Shall not Ix)ve to me.
As In the Latin song I learnt at school,
! out a full God-bless-you right and left?
Tennyson, Edwin Morris.
= Dan. snit), a slice, cut, wound, < D. snijden (=
G. schneiden), cut: see sweodi.] The fat of a
deer. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
snetet, «••• An obsolete spelling of snite^.
snevellt, snevelt, "• Obsolete forms of snivel.
snewlf, I'. A Middle English (and more original)
spelling of ««owl.
snew'-^. A Middle English or modern dialectal
preterit of snow'^.
sneydt, n. An obsolete form of snead^.
Frost-bit, numb'd with il-straind snibbes.
MarsUm, What you Will, ii. 1.
snick (snik), V. t. [Sc. also snecli, E. dial, snig ;
< Icel. .mikka = Norw. snikka = Sw. dial, snik-
ka, nick, cut, esp. as a mason or carpenter; cf.
Sw. snickarc = Dan. snedkcr, a joiner ; Sw. snick-
ra = Dan. snedkre, do joiners' work; D. snik,
a hatchet, a sharp tool.] To cut; clip; snip;
nick.
He began by snicking the corner of her foot oft with
nurse's scissors. H. Eingsley, Ravenshoe, Ixiii. (Davies.)
One of the Fates, with a lonp; sharp knife,
Snicking off .bits of his shortened life.
W. S. Gilbert, Baby's Vengeance.
snick (snik), Ji. {_< snick, v.] 1. A small cut;
a snip; a nick. [Prov. Eng.]— 2. In cricket,
a hit in which the bat is but slightly moved, the
ball glancing off it.— 3. A knot or kink, as in
yarn or thread where it is twisted too tightly.
— Snick and snee, snick or snee, snick-a-snee, a fight
with knives : used also jocosely for a knife, as a sailors
sheath-knife, a bowie-knife, etc. Compare snickersnee.
Among other Customs they have in that town [Genoa],
one ia That none must carry a pointed Knife about him;
which makes the Hollander, who is used to Snik and Snee,
to leave his Horn-sheath and Knife a Ship-board when he
comes ashore. Howell, Letters, I, L 41.
The brutal Sport of Snick-or-Snce.
Dryden, Parallel of Poetry and Painting.
snicker (snik'er), V. [Sc. also snicher; cf. Sc.
snecker, breathe loudly through the nose, OTiocfc-
er, snort; MD. snick, D. snik, a sigh, sob, gasp,
snikken, gasp, sob, =LG. snukken, sob; perhaps
ult. akin to Sc. nicker, nicher, neigh, and to E.
Jiejflrftl, regarded as orig. imitative.] I. intrans.
To'laugh in a half-suppressed or foolish man-
ner; giggle.
Could we but hear our husbands chat it.
How their tongues run, when they are at it,
Their bawdy tales, when o'er their liquor,
I'll warr'nt would make a woman snieker.
HudibrasMedivivus (1707). (.Nares.)
II. trans. To say in a giggling manner.
"He! he ! I compliment j^ou on your gloves, and your
handkerchief, I'm sure," sniggers Mrs. Baynes.
Thackeray, Philip, xxiv.
Also snigger.
snicker (snik'er), n. [< snicker, f.] A half-
suppressed laugh ; a giggle. Also *wV/.r7f r.
snickersnee (snik'er-sne), H. [An accom. form
of snick and snee, a combat with knives: see
snick and snce.l Same as snick and snee (which
see, under snick).
"Make haste, make haste,'' saya guzzling Jimmy,
While Jack pulled out his snickersnee.
Thackeray, Little Biilee.
sniddle (snid'l), n. [Origin obscure.] Long
coarse grass; sedges and allied plants of wet
places. HalHwell; Britten and Holland, Eng.
Plant Names. [Prov. Eng.]
snide (snid), a. and n. [Pi-ob. a dial. var. of
snitlic, sharp.] I. a. Sharp; characterized by
low cunning and sharp practice ; tricky ; also,
false; spurious, [Slang.]
II. n. An underhanded, tricky person given
to sharp practice ; a sharper; a beat. [Slang.]
Snider rifle. Seerifle^. ^ ^ ,
sniff (snif), V. [Early mod. E. also snyff; a sec-
ondary form of *sneei-e, < ME. snevien, sneren
(freq. snivelen, snuvelen, > E. sncevle, snivel), <
Dan. snive, sniff, snuff; cf. Sw. snyj'ia, sob (see
snift^); Icel. snippa, G. schnieben, sniff; akin to
SHM#1 : see snuffl-. and cf . snircl, sniffle. smiffle.\
I. intrans. To draw air through the nose in
short audible inspirations, as an expression of
scorn; snuff: often with at.
So then you look'd scornful and snift at the dean.
Stoift, Grand Question Debated.
Miss Pankey, a mild little blue-eyed morsel of a child,
. . was . . . instructed that nobody wlio sniffed before
visitors ever went to Heaven.
Dickens, Dombey and Son, vui.
Sniffing bronchophony, a form of bronchophony accom-
panied with a snifilng sound.
sniff
n. trans. 1. To draw in with the breath
through the nose ; smell of with an audible in-
halation; snufi: as, to sniff the fragrance of a
clover-field.
The horses were sniffing the wind, with neclcs out-
stretched toward the east. O'Donovan^ Merv, iii.
2. To perceive as by snuflSng; smell; scent:
as, to sniff danger.— 3. To draw the breath
through (the nose) in an unpleasantly audible
manner.
SnxfnOT snitynge hyt [the nose] to lowd.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.X p. 134.
sniff (snif),n. l< sniff, V. Ct.snuffl,n.'\ I. The
act of snifllng ; a single short audible inspira-
tion through the nose.
Oh, could I but hare bad one single sap,
One single gnifat Charlotte's caudle-cup !
T, Warton, Oxford Newsman's Verses (1767).
The intensity of the pleasurable feeling given by a rose
held to the nostrils rapidly diminishes ; and when the
gniffg have been continued for some time scarcely any
scent can be perceived. H. Spencer, Prin. of Psychol., § 45.
2. Perception of smell obtained by inhaling
audibly; that which is taken by sniffing: as, a
*ni^ of fresh air.
We were within »nifot Paris, it seemed.
R. L. Sleventon, Inland Voyage, p. 238.
3. The sound produced by passing the breath
through the nose with a quick effort ; a short,
quick snuffle.
Mrs. Oamp . . . gave a mi/ of uncommon significance,
and said, it didn't signify.
Dietaa, Martin Chnnlewit, xxiz.
The snores alone were qnite a study, varying from the
mild mi/ to the stentorian snort
L. M. AktM, Hospital Sketches, p. 43.
sniffle (snif '1), f. i. ; pret. and pp. sniffled, ppr.
sniffling. [Early mod. E. also snifle ; frecj. of
sniff, or var. of snivel or snuff^.'] To snuffle.
Broufer. To snort or tmfie with the nose, like a horse.
C&tgrave.
A pretty crowd of tmJUng, sneaking varlets he has been
feeding and pampering. A. K. Barr, Friend Olivia, xtv.
snlffler (snif'l^r), n. [< sniffle + -«rl.] Xaut.,
a capful of wind,
sniffles (snif 'Iz), n.p{. S&me AS stiuffles.
sniffy (snif'i), o. [< sniff + -«!.] Given to
Hnifhng; inclined to be scornful or disdainful ;
pettish. rCk>lloq., U. 8.]
snift^ (snift), V. [< ME. snyften, sniffle, < 8w.
snyfta, sob, = Dan. snofU, snort, Bnufl, sniff;
a secondary form of the verb represented by
sniff: see sniff.'] I. intrana. 1. To sniff; snuff;
sniffle; snivel. Cotgrate.
Still milfting and hankering after their old qnartcn.
Landar. (Imp. Diet.)
2. To pass the breath through the nose in a
petulant manner.
Resentment expressed by $n^fUng.
Johnton (under mu/).
H. trans. To snuff, as a candle.
I would sooner tnift thy farthing candle.
MiH Bumey, Camilla, Ir. 8.
8nift2 (snift), n. [Perhaps a particular use of
sni/t^ ; but possibly orig. associated with »noirl
(AS. sniwian, snow).] Slight snow or gleet.
ffalliicell. [Pro v. Eng.]
snifter (snif 't6r), v.i. [< ME. sngfteren, sniffle :
a frt-q. form of snift^: see «n»/fl.] To sniff;
snift. [Obsolete or Scotch.]
snifter (snifter), «. [< snifter, ».] 1. An audi-
ble passing of the breath through the nostrils ;
a stuff. — 2. pi. The stoppage of the nostrils in
catarrh. — 3. A dram; a nip. [Slang.] — 4. A
severe »tf;rm; a blizzard. I Western U. 8.]
snifting-valve (snif 'ting-valv), n. A valve in
the cylinder of a steam-engine for the escape
or the admission of air: so calle<l from the pe-
culiar noise it makes. Also called tail-valve,
bloic-viilvc. See cut under atmospheric.
Snittj (snif'ti), a. \< snift^ + -y'.] Having an
inviting odor; smelling agreeably : as, a »ni/fy
soup. [Slang, U. S.]
snig' (snig), V. [A var. of sniek.l I. trans. To
cut or chop off. Halliicell. [Prov. Eng. ]
n. intrans. To cut; bite; nag.
others are so dangerously worldly, ntigging and biting,
usurers, bard and oppreasfng.
Rogtrt, Kuunan the Syrian, p. 211. (TreneK)
snig^ (snig), n. [Also snigg ; < ME. snigge,
sniigge, an eel ; akin to snag^, snail, snake, tilt.
from the root of sneak.] An eel. [Prov. Eng.]
snig^ 'snig), a. A dialectal variant of tnug.
IfalHirell.
snig-eeKsnig'el), n. A snig. See snig^. Pop.
.Sci. .I/O., XXIX. a-iS.
snigg, n. See snig^.
snigger^ (snig'^r), r. and ». A variantof snicker.
5731
snigger^ (snig'^r), r. i. See the quotation.
In the way of grappling — or sniggering, as it is more
politely termed — i. e., dragging the river with huge grap-
ples and lead attached for the pui-poae of keeping them
to the bottom of the pool.
Fishing Gazette, Jan. 30, 1886. (Encye. Diet.)
sniggerer (snig'^r-er), n. [< snigger^ + -erl.]
One who sniggers.
The nephew is himself a boy, and the sniggerers tempt
him to secular thoughts of marbles and string.
Dickens, Uncommercial Traveller, Ix.
sniggle^ (snig'l), n. [A var. of snigger^.] A
guttural, nasal, or grunting laugh; a snicker:
used in contempt.
Marks patronized his Joke by a quiet introductory snig-
gle. H. B. Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin, viii.
sniggle- (snig'l), r. ; pret. and pp. sniggled, ppr.
sniggling. [< snig^ + -le.] I. intrans. To fish for
eels by thrusting bait into their Itirking-plaees :
a method chiefly English.
You that are but a young Angler know not what snig-
ling is. . . . Any place where you think an Eele may hide
or shelter her selfe, there with the help of a short stick
put in your bait.
/. WaUon, Complete Angler (reprint of 1663), x.
I have rowed across the Pond, and sniggled for eela
.S. Judd, Margaret, U. 2.
n. trans. To catch, as an eel, by pushing
the bait into the hole where the eel is ; hence,
figuratively, to catch; snare; entrap,
Theod. Now, Hartell,
Have you rememher'd what we thought of?
Mart. Yea, sir, I have sniggled him.
Btau. and Ft., Thierry and Theodoret, 11. 1.
snigst (snigz), ittterj. A low oath.
Crtd. Sntgs, another !
A very perillons head, a dangerous brain.
W. Cartvrig/it, The Ordinary (1661). (Nares.)
snip (snip), t;. ; pret. and pp. snipped, ppr. snip-
ping. [< MD. D. snippen, snip, cUp (er. D. snip-
peren, cut in pieces), = MHG. snipfen, snippen,
Q.schnippen, gnap(cf. Ct.schnippeln, schnippern,
schnipfeln, cnt in pieces); a secondary form of
the verb represented by E. dial, snop (< Bw.
dial, snoppa, etc., snip), and perhaps a col-
lateral related to snap (I), snappen, d. seknap-
pen, etc.), snap, catch: see snop, snuff^, and
snap. Cf. snib, snuii.] I. trarts. 1. To cut off
at one light, quick stroke with shears or scis-
sors; clip; out off in anyway: frequently with
off.
He wore a pair of scissors, . . . and would snip it of
nicely. ArbuUmot.
Be baa tnipfed of as much as be could pinch from
eroT aatbor of reputation in his time.
Landar, Imag. Conr., Southey and Porson, U.
2. To steal by snipping.
Stars and " Oeorges " were wnivped oS ambasaadors and
earls |by thieves] as they entered St. James's Palace.
ttuartmi^ Ret., CXLV. 14.
3. To make by snipping or cutting : as, to jmin a
hole in one's coat. — 4. To move or work lignt-
ly; make signs with, as the fingers. [Bare.]
The Eastern broken have used for ages, and still use^
the method of secretly indicating numbers to one ano-
ther in batipdning by " snipping Angers under a cloth.'*
" Every Joynt and every linger hath nla signification," as
an old traveller says, and the system seems a more or leas
artificial development of ordinary flnger-connting.
E. B. Tylor, Prim. Culture, I. 223.
n. intrans. To make a short, quick cut or
clip; cut out a bit; clip: sometimes with a< for
the attempt to cut.
snip (snip), n. [See the verb.] 1. A clip; a
single cut with shears or scissors ; hence, any
similar act of cutting. — 2. A small piece cut
off; a shred; a bit.
Her sparkling Eye is like the Morning Star ;
Her lips two siupt of crimsin Sattin are.
Si^veter, tr. of Da Bartaa's Weeks, 11., The Trophies.
Some small snip of gain.
Dryden, Epa at bla Beneltt, 1. 14.
3. A share ; a snack. See to go snips, below.
He found his friend upon the mending band, which he
was glad to hear, because of the m^ that he himself ex-
pected upon the dividend. Sir R. L'Estrange.
4. A tailor. [Cant.]
Sir, here 's Snip the taylor
Chars'd with a riot
Randolph, Muse's l/ooking Olaas, Iv. 8. (Davies.)
.K fashionable snip, who hail authority for calling him*
self " breecbea-maker to H. R. H. Prince Albert," had an
order to prepare some flncry for the Emperor.
C. A. Brisled, English University, p. 292, Dot&
To go Bnlpst, to go snacks ; share.
The Oamester calls oat to me tu give him good Luck,
and promlaea I shall go Snips with him in what he shall
win. S. Bailey, tr. of Colloquies uf Erasmus, II. 5.
snipe^ (snip), ». ; pi. snipe or snipes (see below).
[< ME. snipe, snype, < Icel. snipa, a snipe (myri-
snipa, a moor-snipe); cf. Sw. sndppa, a sand-
snipe
piper, = Dan. sneppe, snipe, = MD. snippc,
sneppe, D. snip, snep = MLG. sneppe, snippe =
OH(j. snepha, snepho, snepfa, MHG. snepfe, G.
schnepfeQlt. dial. sgneppa), a snipe; prob. orig.
a 'snipper' or 'snapper,' from the root of snip
OTsnap: e,ee snip, s>uxp.] 1. A bird of the ge-
nus Scolopax in a former broad sense, (a) Some
or any bird belonging to the family Scolopacidx, having
the bill straight, much longer than the head, dilated
and sensitive at the end, and with a median lengthwise
groove on the upper mandible neai- the end, the toes
cleft to the base, the primaries not emarginate, and the
tail-feathers barred ; especially, a member of the genus
Gallinago (Scolopax being restricted to certain wood-
cock). In Great Britain three species of Gallinago are
called snipe. (1) The common snipe, or whole-snipe, is
Gallinago coelestis or O. media, formerly Scolopax galli-
noi/o. (2) The great, double, or solitary snipe, or wood-
cock-snipe, is G. major. (3) The small snipe, half-snipe, or
Jack-snipe is O. gaUinula. They differ little except in size.
In the United States the common snipe, also called jack-
snipe and Wilson's snipe, is G. wilsoni or G. delicata, about
as large as G. media, which it very closely resembles, so
that it is sometimes known as the " English " snipe, to dis-
tinguish it from various snipe-like birds peculiar to Amer-
ica, and also bog-snipe, gutter-snipe, meadoip-snipe, alew\fe-
bird, shad-t/ird, and shad-spirit. It is from 10^ to llA inches
long and from 174 to 19^ in extent of wings ; the bill is
about 2i inches long. The upper parts are blackish, varied
with bay and tawny ; the scapulars are edged witli tawny
or pale buff, forming a pair of Urm stripes along the sides
of the back when the wings are closed ; the lining of the
wings and axillary feathei-s isban-ed regularly with black
and white ; the tail-feathers, normally sixteen in number,
are barred with black, white, and chestnut: the fore neck
and breast are light-brown speckled with dark-brown ; and
the belly is white. (See cut under (TaWina(7o.) Snipes like
these, and of the same genus, are found in most countries,
and ai'e called by the same name, with or without a quali-
fying term, (b) .Some other scolopacine or snipe-like bird.
There are very many such birds, chiefly distinguished from
sandpipers (see sandpiper) by the length, from tattlers or
gambets by the sensitiveness, and from curlews, godwits,
etc, by the straightness of the bill. (1) In the United
States the gray-backed or red-breasted snipes are birds of
the genus Macrorhamphus, of which there are i species or
varieties, Uie leaser and ^(reater longbeak, M. grtseus and
M. seotmaeeus. See dowitcher. (2) The grass-snipe is the
pectoral sandpiper, Aetodromas maculata. See cut under
sandpiper. Mao cilled jack-snipe. (:s) The robin-snipe is
the knot, Tringa eanutus, also a sandpiper. (4) The stone-
snipe la Totanus melanoleucus, a tattler. See cut under
yeUouiegs. (6) In Great Britain the sea-snipe is the dunlin,
Trisiga or Paidna alpina, a sandpiper. (6) I n U rest Britain
the summer snipe is the common sandpiper, Actitis hgpo-
leuetu. (7) Painted snipe are the curious birds of the genus
RhynchJea or Rostratuta. See these wonls. (c) A continon
misnomer, in various localities, of the American woodcock,
Philohela mirufr : also called common snipe, big snipe, mud-
srujoe, red-breasted snipe, big-headed snipe, blind snipe,
whistling snipe, wood-snipe. See woodcock, (d) A misno-
mer of the long-billed curlew. R. Ridgway. [Salt Lake
valley.] (c) pi. The Sc(>iopac«f«; the snipe family. [The
plural means either two or more birds of one kind, or two
or more kinds of these birds : in the former sense, the plu-
ral is generally snipe; in the latter, snipes.}
2. A fool; a blockliead; a simpleton; a goose.
I mine own gain'd knowledge should profane.
If I would time expend with such a snipe.
But for my sport and profit Shak., Othello, 1. 3. 391.
And. by Jove, I sat there like a great snipe fac^to face
with him [the bosbraugerlas cool and unconcerned as you
like. B. Kingsley, Geoffry Ilamlyn, xxxi.
3. A half-smoked cigar found on the street.
[Slang, U. S.] — Bartram's highland snipe. Same
as highland plover. See fWot'er. — Bay-snipe, a bay-bird,
or bay-birds collectively ; a shore-bird. — Beach-snipe,
a beach-bird ; especially, the sanderling. See cut under
aanderft'iv.— Blind snipe, the stilt-sandpiper, ilu'ropa-
lama himantopus. See cut under Micropalama. [New
Jersey. ] — Brown snipe. Same as red-breasted snipe (a).
— Checkered snipe, the turnstone, StrepsUas int/rpres.
[Barnegat, ] — Cow-Biiipe, the pectoral sandpiper. [.Alex-
andria, V'irgiiiiu.]— Dutch slUpet. Same as German
snipe. — English snipe, the common American snipe,
Gallinago wilsotti or G. delicata. It is not found in
England, but much resemt)les the common snipe of that
and other Euroi)ean countries, G. media or G. coelestis.
See cut under Gallinago. [U. S. ] — FrOBt-snipe, the
stilt-sandpiper, Micropalama himantopus. [Local, U. S.]
— German snipet. see O^r^nan. — Gray snipe, the red-
breasted snipe, Macrrrrhaniphjts grisetts, in gray plumage ;
the graybaclc— Jadreka snipe, the black-tailed god-
wit, lAmosa segocephala.— Mire-snipe, the common Eu-
ropean snipe, Gallinago media. [Aberdeen, Scotland.]
— Painted snipe, a snipe of the genus Rhynchata (or
Rostratula), whose plumage, especially in the female,
is of varied and striking colors. See Hhi/nch/ra. — 'Red-
breasted snipe. Sec red-breasted. — Red-legged snipe,
the redBliank.— Sabine's snipe, a melanistic variety of
the whole-snipe, formerly describeil as a different species
(Galliiuxgn sabinci). — Side snipe, a carpenters' molding
side-plane. Sec snipe-bill, 1.— Solitary snipe, the great
or double snipe, Gallinago major. [Great Britain.) —
Whistling snipe, .same as greenshank.—White-bel-
lied snipe, the knot, Tringa eanutus, In winter )>Iumage.
[Jamaica.] — Wilson's snipe. Seedef. l(a>. | So named
from Alexander Wilson. 1 — Winter snipe, the rock-snipe,
or purple sandpiper.— Woodcock-snipe, the little wood-
cock, or great snipe, Gallinago major. (Great Britain.]
(See ^so double-snipe, hal/-snipe, horsefoot-snipe, jack-
snipe, martin-snipe, quail-snipe, rail-snipe, robinrsnipe,
rock-snipe, shore-snipe, whole-snipe.)
snipe^ (snip), I?. ».; pret. and pp. sniped, ppr.
sniping. [< snipe^, w.] To hunt snipe.
The pleasures of Bay bird shooting should not be spoken
of In the same sentence with cocking or sniping.
Sportsman's Qazetteer, p. 174.
snipe
snipe^ (snip), n. [A var. of sneap.'] A sharp,
clever answer ; a sarcasm. [Prov. Eng. and
Scotch.]
snipe-bill (snip'bil), «. 1. In carp., a plane
with a sharp arris for forming the quirks of
moldings. — 2. A rod by which the body of a
cart is bolted to the axle. E. H. Knight.
snipe-eel (snip'el), n. An eel-like fLsh, Xemich-
thys scolopaceus; any member of the Nemich-
thyidSB. The snipe-eel attains a length of 3 feet ; it is pale-
Sntpc^el i.Wemichtkys scoli^fiaceus).
colored above, the back somewhat speckled ; the belly and
anal fin are blackish. It is a deep-water fish of the Atlantic,
often taken otf the >"ew England coast. A similar fish,
N. avocetta, is found in Puget Sound.
snipe-fish (snip'flsh), «. l. The sea-snipe,
woodcock-fish, beUows-fish, or trumpet-fish,
Snipe-fish iCentriscus scoiopax),
Centriscvs (or Macrorhamphosns) scoiopax: so
called from its long snout, likened to a snipe's
beak. — 2. A muwenoid or eel-like fish of the
genus Nemichthys, as N. scolopaceus ; a snipe-
eel. — 3. The garfish, Belone vulgaris: in allu-
sion to the snipe-like extension of the jaws.
[Prov. Eng.]
snipe-fly (snip'fli), n. A dipterous insect of the
family LepVdse.
snipe-liawk (snip'h&k), ». The marsh-harrier,
Circus seruginosus. [South of Ireland.]
snipe-like (snip'lik), a. Resembling a snipe
in any respect ; scolopacine : as, the snipe-like
thread-fish.
snipe's-head (snips'hed), ». In anat., the caput
galliuaginis. See verumontanum.
snipper (snip'fer), n. [< snip + -erl.] 1. One
who snips ; sometimes, in contempt, a tailor.
Our gnipper$ go over once a year into France, to bring
back the newest mode, and to learn to cut and shape it.
Dryden, Postscript to Hist, of League.
2. pi. A pair of shears or scissors shaped for
short or small cuts or bites.
snipper-snapper (snip'er-snap'fer), n. A small,
insignificant fellow ; a whipper-snapper. [Col-
loq.]
Having ended his discourse, this seeming gentile tnipper-
inapper vanisht, so did the rout of the nonsensicall delud-
ing star-gazers, and I was left alone.
Poor Robin's Vigions (1677), p. 12. (Halliwell.)
snippet (snip'et), n. [< snip + -ei.] A small
part or share ; a small piece snipped off.
The craze to have everything served up in gnimtetSj the
desire to be fed on seasoned or sweetened tid-bits, may
be deplored. CorUemporary Jiev., XLIX. 673
snippetiness (snip'et-i-nes), n. The state or
character of being snippety or fragmentary.
[Colloq.]
The whole number is good, albeit broken up into more
small fragments than we think quite wise. Variety is
pleasant, snippetiness is not.
Church Times, April 9, 1880, p. 228. (Dames.)
snippety (snip'et-i), a. [< snip + -ety, in imita-
tion of rickety, rackety, etc.] Insignificant;
ridiculously small ; fragmentary. [Colloq.]
What The Spectator once called " the American habit of
snippety comment." The American, IX. 52.
snipping (snip'ing), n. [Verbal n. of snip, t).]
That which is snipped off ; a clipping.
Give me all the shreds and snippings you can spare me.
They will feel like clothes.
Landor, Imag. C!onv., Lncian and Timotheus.
snippy (snip'i), a. [< snip -f- -^l.] 1. Frag-
mentary; snipped. [Colloq.]
The mode followed in collecting these papers and set-
ting them forth suggests a somewhat snij^fy treatment.
„ ,, . . The AOantic, LXVI. 714.
2. Mean ; stingy.
Halliicell. [Prov.
Eng.]
snips (snips), n.
sing, and j)l. [A
plural form of Snipi.
5732
snip. Of. ifnip, n., 1.] Small stout hand-shears
for workers in sheet-metal.
snip-snap (snip'snap), H. [A varied redupli-
cation of snap.'\ A tart dialogue with quick
replies.
Dennis and dissonance, and captious art,
And snip-snap short, and interruption smart.
Pope, Dunciad, ii. 240.
I recollect, when I was keeping school, overhearing at
Esq. Beach's one evening a sort (if grave snip-stiap about
Napoleon's return from Egypt, Kussia seceding from the
Coalition, Tom Jeiferson becoming President, and what
not. S. Judd, Margaret, iii.
snipy (sni'pi), a. [<*«»pel -1- -^1.] Resembling
a snipe ; snipe-like ; scolopacine ; having a long
pointed nose like a snipe's bill.
The face [of the spaniel] is very peculiar, being smooth-
coated, long, rather wedge-shaped, but not snipy or weak.
The Century, XXX. 527.
snirt (sn6rt), n. [A var. of snort.'] 1. A sup-
pressed laugh. — 2. A wheeze. [Prov. Eng.]
Snirtle (snfcr'tl), v. i. ; pret. and pp. snirtlcd,
ppr. snirtUng. [Avar, of snortle, freq. of snort.
Cf . snirt. ] To laugh in a suppressed manner ;
STiicker. Burns, Jolly Beggars.
snitcher (snich'^r), «. [Origin obscure.] 1.
An informer ; a tell-tale ; one who turns queen's
(or king's) evidence. — 2. A handcuff.
[Slang in both uses.]
snite^t (suit), n. [< ME. snite, snyte, snyghte,
< AS. suite, a snipe ; perhaps allied to snout : see
snout. Cf. snipe^.i A snipe.
Fine fat capon, partridge, snite, plover, larks, teal, ad-
mirable teal, my lord. Ford, Sun s Darling, iv. 1.
snite^ (suit), V. ; pret. and pp. suited, ppr. sniting.
[Early mod. E. also snyte, snytte; < ME. sniten,
sneten, snyten, < AS. *snytan (Somner; found
only in verbal n. snytingc) = D. snuiten = OHG.
snUzan, MHG. sniueen, G. schnauzen, schneuzen
= Icel. snyta = Sw. snyta = Dan. snyde, blow
(the nose), snuff (a candle) : see snot.'i I. trans.
To blow or wipe (the nose) ; snuff (a candle) ;
in falconry, to wipe (the beak) after feeding.
II. intrans. To blow or wipe the nose.
Fro spettyng & snetyng kepe the also.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 13.
So looks he like a marble toward rain,
And wrings and snites, and weeps and wipes again.
Bp. Ball, Satires, VI. i. 104.
snithef, v. [Early ME. snithcn, < AS. snithan
(pret. snath, pp. snideii) = OS. snithan = OFries.
snitha, snida, snia = D. snijden = OHG. snidan,
cut (clothes), MHG. sniden, G. schnciden = Icel.
snidha = Goth, sneithan, cut. Cf. snithe, a.,
sneadX, snead^, sneath, snathe'^.'] To cut.
snithe (sniTH), a. [< snithe, v. Cf. snide, «.]
Sharp; cutting; cold: said of the wind. Halli-
well. [Prov. Eng.]
snithy (snith'i), a. [= G. schneidig, cutting,
sharp-edged; as snithe + -j/i.] Same as snithe.
snivel (suiv'l), n. [Early mod. E. snyvell (after
the verb), < ME. *snovel, *snofel, < AS. *snofel
(Somner), snofl (AS. Leeehdoms, ii. 24), mucus,
snot. Ct. snuffle, and. sniff, snujp-.'] 1. Mucus
running from the nose ; snot.
I beraye any thynge with snyvell. Palsgrave, p. 723.
2. Figuratively, in contempt, weak, forced, or
pretended weeping; hypocritical expressions
of sorrow or repentance, especially in a nasal
tone; hypocrisy; cant.
The cant and snivel of which we have seen so much of
late. St. James's Gazette, Feb. 9, 1886. (Eneye. Diet.)
sniveUsniv'l),?!. ; pret. andpp.sKn'efe(J,«)iM'eH6'd,
ppr. sniveling, snivelling. [Early mod. E. sneevle,
snevell, snevil, snevyll, snyvell, < ME. snevelen,
snyvelen, snyvellcn, also snuvelen, sniff, snivel;
from the noun, AS. *snofel, siwfl, mucus, snot :
see sniffle. Hence, by contraction, snool. Cf.
sniff, snuff^, snuffle.'] I. intrans. 1. To run at
the nose. — 2. To draw up the mucus audibly
through the nose; snuff. — 3. To cry, weep, or
fret, as children, with snuffing or sniveling.
Let 'em snivel and cry their Hearts out.
Congreve, Way of the World, i. 9.
4. Figuratively, to utter hypocritical expres-
sions of contrition or regret, especially with a
nasal tone ; affect a tearful or repentant state.
He snivels in the cradle, at the school, at the altar, . . .
on the death-bed. Whipple, Ess. and Rev., II. 117.
II.+ trans. To suffer to be covered, as the
nose or face, with snivel or nasal mucus.
Nor imitate with Socrates
To wipe thy snivelled nose
Vpon thy cap, as he would doe,
Nor yet upon thy clothes.
Babees Book (E. E. T. 8.), p. 292.
snivelardt, n. [< ME. snyvelard; < snivel +
-ard.'] A sniveler. Prompt. Parv., p. 461.
snobbishness
sniveler, sniveller (sniv'l-fer), n. [< snivel +
-eel.] 1. One who snivels, or who cries with
sniveling. — 2. One who weeps; especially, one
who manifests weakness by weeping.
And more lament, when I was dead.
Than all the snivellers round my bed.
Swi/l, Death of Dr. Swift-.
3. Figuratively, one who affects tearfulness or
expressions of penitence, especially with a na-
sal tone.
sniveling, snivelling (sniv'1-ing), p. a. Run-
ning at the nose ; drawing up the mucus in the
nose with an audible sound ; hence, figurative-
ly, whining; weakly teari'ul ; affecting tearful-
ness : much used loosely as an epithet of con-
tempt.
"That sniveling virtue of meekness," as my father would
always call it. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, ix. 12.
Come forward, you sneaking, snivelling sot you.
Sheridan (?), The Camp, L 1.
snivel-nose (sniv'l-noz), «. A niggardly fellow.
if alii well. [Low.]
snively, snivelly (sniv'l-i), a. [< snivel + -^i.]
Running at the nose ; snotty ; hence, whining ;
sniveling.
Snob^ (snob), n. [Also in some senses 8c. snah;
prob. a var. of Sc. and E. dial, snap, snape, a
boy, servant, prob. < Icel. sndpr, a dolt, idiot,
Sw. dial, snopp, a boy. The literary use (def.
3) seems to have arisen from the use in the
universities (def. 2), this being a contemptuous
application of def. 1. In def. 4 the word is
perhaps an independent abusive use of def. 1.]
1. A shoemaker; a journeyman shoemaker.
The Shoemaker, bom a Snob.
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 220, note.
2. A townsman as opposed to a gownsman ; a
Philistine. [University cant, especially in Cam-
bridge.]
Snobs. — .\ term applied indiscriminately to all who have
not the honour of being members of the university ; but
in a more particular manner to the "profanum vulgus,"
the tag-rag and bob-tail, who vegetate on the sedgy banks
of Camus. Gradvs ad Cantabrigiam (1824).
3. One who is servile in spirit or conduct
toward those whom he considers liis superiors,
and correspondingly proud and insolent toward
those whom he considers his inferiors ; one who
vulgarly apes gentility.
Ain't a siwb a fellow as wants to be taken for better bred,
or richer, or cleverer, or more influential than he really is?
Lever, One of Them, xxxix.
My dear Flunkies, so absui'dly conceited at one moment,
and so abject at the next, are but the types of their masters
in this world. He who meanly admires mean things is a
Snob — perhaps that is a safe definition of the character.
Thackeray, Book of Snobs, ii.
4. A workman who continues working while
others are out on strike ; one who works for
lower wages than other workmen; a knob-
stick; a rat: so called in abuse. [Prov. Eng.]
snob^t, snub^t (snob, snub), V. i. [< ME. snob-
ben,soh, < MD. snuben, snore, snort; cf. 'D.sntii-
ven, snore, = LG. snuven = MHG. sndwen, snup-
fen, G. schnauben, schnaiifen, snort, snuff, pant:
see snuff^, sniff, snivel.] To sob or weep vio-
lently.
Suh, sub, she cannot answer me for snobbing.
Middletan, Mad World, iii 2.
Snob^t, Snub^t (snob, snub), n. [< snob^, snub^,
v.] A convulsive sob.
And eke with snubs profound, and heaving breast,
Convulsions intermitting ! [he] does declare
His grievous wrong.
ShenMone, The School-Mistress, st. 24.
Snob^ (snob), «. [Cf. snob^, snuff'^.] Mucus of
the nose. [Prov. Eng.]
snobbery (snob'er-i), «. [<.snob^ + -ery.] The
character of being snobbish; the conduct of
snobs.
snobbess (snob'es), ?i. \i snob^ + -ess.] A wo-
man of a townsman's family. See snob^, 2.
[English university cant.]
snobbish (snob'ish), a. [< swoftl + -js/il.] Of
or pertaining to a snob; resembling a snob,
(a) Vulgarly ostentatious ; desirous to seem better than one
is, or to have a social position not deserved ; inclined to ape
gentility.
That which we call a snob by any other name would still
be snobbish. Thackeray, Book of Snobs, xviii.
(6) Proud, conceited, or insolent over adventitious advan-
tages.
snobbishly (snob'ish-li), adv. In the mannei
of a snob.
snobbishness (snob'ish-nes), n. The character
or conduct of a snob.
The state of society, viz. Toadyism, organized ; base
Man-and-Mammon worship, instituted by command of
law; — snobbishness, in a word, perpetuated.
Thackeray, Book of Snobs, Ui.
snobbism
snobbism (snob'izm), li. l< snob^ + -ism.'i The
state of being a snob; the manners of a snob;
snobbishness.
The gtiobbigm would perish forthwith (if for no other
cause) under public ridicule. Sir W. Hamilton.
snobby (snob'i), a. [< SHoftl + -yl.] Of or re-
lating to a snob ; partaking of the character of
a snob; snobbish.
Our Norwegian travel was now at an end ; and, as a
mobby Englishman once said to me of the Nile, "it is a
good thing to have gotten over."
B. Taylor, Northern Travel, p. 397.
snobling (snob'ling), n. [< snob^ + -ling^.'i A
little snob.
You see, dear moNina, that, thongh the parson would
not have been authorised, yet he might have been excused
for interfering. Thaelceray, Book of Snobs, lii
snobocracy (snob-ok'ra-si), n. [< ««o6l + -o-era-
cy as in aristocracy, dimocracy.'] Snobs collec-
tively, especially viewed as exercising or try-
ing to exercise influence or social power. Kings-
ley. [Humorous.]
How New York tneboeraey ties its cravats and flirts its
fans in Madison Square. D. J. Hill, Irving, p. 188.
snobographer (snob-og'ra-ffer), n. A historian
of snobs, naekeray, Book of Snobs, xxviii.
[Humorou.i. ]
snobography (snob-og'ra-fi), n. [< snolA + -o-
+ Gr. -ypa^ia, < ypdipeiv, write.] A description
of snobs. Thackeray, Book of Snobs, xxxi.
[Humorous.]
snod^, It. Ajq obsolete or dialectal (Scotch)
form of snood.
snod- (snod), V. t; pret. and pp. snodded, ppr.
SHodding. [A var. of *neadl.] To trim; make
trim or tidy; set in order. [Scotch.]
On stake and ryce he knits the crooked vines.
And moddt$ their bowes.
T. Hudtm, tr. of Da Bartu's Judith, It.
snod^ (snod), a. [Apgar. a form of the pp. of
gnead^ or of snoiP, v. " ' '
[Seoteb.]
p.j Neat; trim; smooth.
snood (snod), n. [Also dial, (in sense 2) meed;
< ME. sttftd, < AS. snod, a fillet, snood, = Icel.
snuthr, a twist, twirl, = Sw. snod, snodd, sno,
a twist, twine ; cf . Icel. snua, turn, twist, = Sw.
sno = Dan. sno, twist, twine. Cf. snare, n.]
1. A fillet formerly worn by young women in
Scotland to confine the hair. It was held to be
emblematic of maidenhood or virginity.
The mood, or riband, with which a Scottish lass braided
her hair bad an emblematical signlflcation, and applied
to her maiden character. It was exchanged for the curch,
tojr, or coif when she passed, bjr maTriage, Into the matron
state. &ott, L.oirtheL.,liL6, note.
2. In angUnq, a hair-line, gut, or silk cord by
which a fish-hook is fastened to the line; a snell;
a leader or trace. Also sneed. [Prov. Eng. and
Scotch.] — 3. One of the short lines of a bul-
tow to which the hooks arc attached: also called
by fishermen gnugiug. The snoods are 6 feet
lone, anil ])luce<l at intervals of 12 feet.
snood (snod), r. t. [< snood, «.] 1. To bind
up with a snood, as a maiden's hair.
Has ye brought me a braid o' lace,
To mood up mj gowden hair?
SiMSt WmUm and May Margaret (Child's Ballads, U. 16S).
2. To tie, fasten, or affix, as an anglers' hook
when the end of the line or gut-loop is seized
on to the shank of the hook.
■nooded (sno'ded;, a. [< Knood + -ed2.] Wear-
ing or having a snood.
And the mooded daughter . . .
amilol on him. fTUMer, Barelajr of Vtj.
snooding (sno'ding), n. [Verbal n. of snood,
r.] That which makes a snood; a snood.
Each baited book banging from Its short length of
mooding. Field, Oct 17, 1885. (Eneye. Did.)
snook' (snSk), V. i. [Also Sc. snouk ; < ME.
im<)kc)i,<. LCr. snoken, sniiken = Sw. snoka, search,
hunt for, lurk, dog (a person) ; cf. Icel. snaka,
Dan. snage. nimmage, snuff about, Sw. dial.
snok, a snout, G. schnokern, snuff.] 1. To lurk ;
lie in ambush ; pry about.
5733
I must not lose my harmlesse recreations
Abroad, to inook over my wife at home.
Brome, New Academy, ii. 1. (Sares.)
2. To smell; search out. [Scotch.]
Snouk but, and stimiJc ben,
I find the smell of an earthly man ;
Be he living, or be he dead,
His heart this night shall kitchen my bread.
Th£ Bed Etin (in Lang's Blue Fairy Book).
snook^ (snok), n. [< D. snoek, a pike, jack.]
1. The cobia, crab-eater, or sergeant-fish, Ela-
cate Canada. See cut under co&ia. [Florida.] —
2. Any fish of the genus Centropomus ; arobalo.
See robalo, and cut under Centropomus. — 3. A
garfish. — 4. A earangoid fish, Thyrsites atun:
so called at the Cape of Good Hope, and also
snock (a Dutch form).
snool (snol), V. [A contraction ot snivel, as drool
is ot drivel.'] I. intrans. 1. To snivel. — 2. To
submit tamely.
H. trans. To keep in subjection by tyranni-
cal means.
[Scotch in both uses.]
snool (snol), n. [A contraction of snivel; cf.
snool, «.] One who meanly subjects himself to
the authority of another: as, "ye silly snool,"
Ramsay. [Scotch.]
snoop (snop), ». ». [Prob. a var. of s«ooJ;i.] To
pry about ; go about in a prying or sneaking
way. [CoUoq.]
snoop (snop), n. [< snoop, i>.] One who snoops,
or pries or sneaks about ; a snooper. [Colloq.]
snooper (snS'pfer), n. One who pries about; a
snedi. [Colloq.]
snooze (sn8z), t>. ». ; pret. and pp. snoozed, ppr.
snoozing. [Prob. imitative, ult. identical with
srunre (cf. choose, AS. pp. coren; lose, AS. pp. lore
or lorn), perhaps affected by the form of sneeze.']
To slumber; take a short nap. [Colloq.]
Snoou gently in thy arm-chair, thou ea^ bald-head !
Thackeray, Newcomes, xlix.
Another who should have led the same moozing coun-
trifled existence for these years, another had become rust-
ed, become stereotype ; but 1, 1 praise my happy constitu-
tion, retain the spring unbroken.
R. L. Sletenton, Treasure of Franchard.
snooze (snSz), ». [< snooze, ».] A short nap.
That he might enjoy his short snooze In comfort
QtutrteHy Ba.
snoozer (snS'z^r), n. One who snoozes.
snoozle (snS'zl), v. t. ; pret. and pp. snoozled,
\>\>T. snoozling. [A var. of nuzzle.] To nestle ;
snuggle.
A dog . . . tnooded Its nose overforwardly Into her face.
B. Bronte, Wntberlng HeighU, UL {Davia.)
snore (snor). i-. ; pret. and pp. snored, ppr. snor-
ing. [< ME. snoren, < AS. 'snorian, snore (>
snora, a snoring; ct./nora, a snoring), = MD.
snorreu s= MLG. snorren, LG. »n(M-e», grumble,
mutter; cf. snork, snort, and snar."] 1. intrans.
To breathe with a rough, hoarse noise in sleep;
breathe noisily through the nose and open
mouth while sleeping. The noise is sometimes made
at the glottis, the vocal chords being approximated, but
somewhat loose ; while the veir loud ana rattling Inspira-
tory noise often developed is due to the vibrations of the
soft palate.
Weariness
Can snora upon the flint, when resty sloth
Jlnds the down-pillow hard.
Shak., Cymbellne, Ul. 6. 34.
Cicely, brisk maid, steps forth before the rout.
And kisa'd with smacking lip the marina lout
Oay, Shepherd s Week, Saturday, 1. SO.
n. trans. To spend in snoring, or otherwise
affect by snoring, the particular effect or influ-
ence being defined by a word or words follow-
"^^ He...
Snora oat the watch of night
Shak., 2 Hen. FV., Iv. 6. 28.
snore (snor), n. [< snore, v.] A breathing with
a harsh noise through the nose and mouth in
sleep ; especially, a single respiration of this
kind. See snore, v. i.
There 's meaning In thy moret.
Shak., Tempest, U. 1. 2ia
snore-hole (snor'hol), «. One of the holes in
the snore-piece or lowest piece in a pump-set,
through which the water enters. See snore-
pificc.
snore-piece (snor'pes), n. In mining, the suc-
tion-pipe of the bottom lift or drawing-lift of
a pump, or that piece which dips into the sump
or fork, it is closed at the bottom, but provided with
boles in the sides, near the bottom, through which the
water enters, and which are small enough to keep out
chips or stones which might otherwise be sucked in. Also
called wind'bore and tail-piece.
snorer (snor'ir), n. [< ME. snorare; < snore, v.,
+ -erl.] One who snores.
snotter
snorkt (snork), V. i. [< ME. 'snorken (found
only as snorten), < D. snorken = MLG. snorken,
LG. snorken, snurken, snore, = Dan. snorke =
Sw. snorka, snurka, threaten, = Icel. snerkja,
snarka, sputter, = MHG. snarchen, G. schnar-
chen, snore, snort; with formative -k, from
snore {a,s hark troTn hear): see snore. Ct. snort.]
To snore ; snort.
At the cocke-crowlng before daye thou shalt not hear
there the servauntes gnorke.
Stapleton, Fortress of the Faithe, foL 121 b. (Latham.)
snor let, v. i. [Origin uncertain; perhaps an er-
ror for snort, or snore, or snortle.] To snore (?).
Do you mutter? sir, gn&rle this way.
That I may hear, and answer what you say.
B. Jonson, Tale of a Tub, ii. 1.
snort (sn6rt), V. [< ME. snorten, snurten, snore,
put for 'snorken (by the occasional change of
fc to t at the end of a syllable, as in 6at'^ from
back^): see snork.'] I. intrans. If. To snore
loudly.
As an hors he snorteth in his slepe.
Chaucer, Reeve's Tale, 1. 243.
Awake the morting citizens with the bell.
Shak., OtheUo, L 1. 90.
2. To force the air with violence through the
nose, so as to make a noise : said of persons
under excitement, and especially of high-spirit-
ed horses.
He chafes, he stamps, careers, and turns about ;
He foams, enorU, neighs, and Are and smoke breathes out
Fair/ax, tr. of Tasso's Godfrey of Boulogne, xx. 29.
Duncan . . . conceived the speaker was drawing a par-
allel between the Duke and Sir Donald Gorme of Sleat;
and, being of opinion that such comparison was odious,
morted thrice, and prepai-ed himself to be in a passion.
Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xlvi.
3. To laugh outright or boisterously; burst
into a horse-laugh. [Vulgar.] — 4t. To turn
up: said of the nose.
HIr nose >norted up for tene. Rom. of the Rose, 1. 167.
n. trans. 1. To express by a snort; say with
a snort : as, to snort defiance.
"Such airs!" he morted; "the likes of them drinking
tea. " The Century, XU. 340.
2. To expel or force out as by a snort.
Snorting a cataract
Ot rage-troth from every cranny and ledge.
Lotcell, Appledore.
snort (sn6rt), n. [< snort, v.] A loud abrupt
sound produced by forcing air through the nos-
trils.
snorter' (sndr'tSr), n. [<. snort + -erl.] l.One
who snores loudly. — 2. One who or that which
snorts, as under excitement. — 3. Something
fierce or furious, especially a gale; something
large of its kind. [Slang.] — 4. The wheatear
or stonechat, Saxicola cenanthe. See cut under
stonechat. [Pi'ov. Eng.]
snorter^ (snor'tSr), n. Nattt., same as snotter^.
snorting (sn6r'ting), «. [Verbal n. of snort,
v.] 1. The act of forcing the breath through
the nose with violence and noise ; the sound
thus made.
The morHng of his horses was heard from Dan.
Jer. vlil. 16.
2t. The act of snoring; the noise thus made.
snortlet (sndr'tl), v. i. [Freq. of snort, v.] To
snort; grunt.
To wallow almost like a beare.
And tnorUe like a hog.
Breton, Floorish upon Fancle, p. 7.
snortyt (sndr'ti), a. [< snort + -yl.] Snoring;
broken by snorts or snores.
His nodil in crossewise wresting downe droups to the
growndward,
In belche galp vometing with dead sleape mortye the
collops. Stanihurst, ^Kneid, lii. 645. (Dories.)
snot (snot), n. [Early mod. E. also snat ; < ME.
snot, sttotte ; not in AS. ; = OFries. snotte = D.
snot = MLG. LG. snotte = MHG. snuz, a snuf-
fling cold, = Dan. snot, snot: see snite^.] 1.
Nasal mucus. [Low.]
Pieces of Linen Rags, a great many of them retaining
BtUl the Marks of the Snot
N. Bailey, tr. of Colloquies of Erasmus, II. 32.
2. A low, mean fellow; a sneak; a snivel:
used as a vague term of reproach. [Low.] —
3. The snuff of a candle. Halliwell. [Prov.
Eng.]
snot (snot), V. t.; pret. and pp. snotted, ppr.
snotting. [<»»iot, ».] To free from snot ; blow
or wipe (the nose). [Low.]
snotter' (snot'^r), v. i. [Freq. of snot, v. ; cf.
D. snotterig = G. dial, schnoddrig, snotty.] To
breathe through an obstruction in the nostrils;
blubber; sob; cry. [Scotch.]
Snotter (*).
a, sprit with the lower end in
the snotter d.
snotter
What signified liis bringiiif? a woman here to motter and
snivel, and tiother their LordshipsV
Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xxiii.
snotter^ (snot'fer), n. [< snotter'^, r.] 1. The
red part of a turkey-cock's head. — 2. Suot.
[Scotch.]
snotter- (snot'er), H. [Also corruptly snorter;
perhaps ult. connected
with snorfl, snood, a fil-
let, band, < Icel. sniithr,
a twist, twirl: see snood,
snod, 1.] Xaui. : (a) A
rope so attached to a
royal- or topgallant-
j-ardarm that in send-
ing down the yard a
tripping-line bent to
the free end of the snot-
ter pulls off the Uft and
brace. (6) A becket fit-
ted round a boat's mast
with an eye to hold the
lower end of the sprit
which is used to extend
the sail.
snottery (snot'er-i), n. ;
pi. siMtt^hes (-iz). [<
snot + -ery.'] Suot; snottiuess; hence, figura-
tively, filthiness.
To purge the «wttcn/ of our slimie time !
Marston, Scourge of Villanie, ii.
snottily (snot'i-li), adv. In a snotty manner,
snottiness (snot'i-nes), «. The state of being
snottv.
snotty (snot'i), a. l<snot + -y'^.'i 1. Foul with
snot. [Low.]
Better a snotty cbiild than his nose wiped off.
O. Herbert, Jacula Prudentum.
2. Mean; dirty; sneering; sarcastic. [Low.]
snotty-nosed (snot'i-nozd), a. Same as snotty.
[Low.]
snouk (snouk), V. i. A Scotch form of snook''-.
Snoat (snout), ». [< ME. snoute, snowte, snute
(not found in AS.) = MD. snuite, D. snuit =
MLG. LG. snute = G. schnauze, G. dial, schnau,
a snout, beak, = Sw. sntit = Dan. sniulc,
snoui; connected with snot, snite^: see snot,
and cf. snite"^. Cf. also Sw. dial, snok, a snout,
LG. snati. G. dial, schnuff, a snout, E. snuff'',
sniff, all from a base indicating a sudden draw-
ing in of breath through the nose.] 1. Apart
of the head which projects forward ; the fur-
thest part or fore end of the head; the nose,
or nose and jaws, when protrusive ; a probos-
cis; a muzzle ; a beak, or beak-like part ; a ros-
trum.
Thou art like thy name,
A cruel Boar, whose tmoiit hath rooted np
The fruitful vineyard of the commonwealth.
Fletcher (and another'!), Prophetess, ii. 3.
They write of the elephant that, as if guilty of his own
deformity, and therefore not abiding to view his motit in
a clear spring, he seeks about for troubled and muddy
waters to drinlj in. Rev. T. Adairm, Worlcs, I. 439.
2. Specifically, in ichth., that part of the head
which is in front of the eyes, ordinarily consist-
ing of the jaws. — 3. Anything that resembles
the snout of a hog in shape or in being used for
rooting or plowing up the ground, (a) The nose
of man, especially when large, long, or coarse : used ludi-
crously or in contempt
Be the knave never so stoute,
I shall rappe him on the »notU€.
Playe of llobyn Uode (Child's Ballads, V. 428).
Her subtle snmtt
Did quickly wind his meaning out.
S. Butler, Hudibras, I. iii. 357.
(6) In enlom. : (1) The rostrum or beak of a rhynchophorous
beetle or weevil. See snmtt-beetle and rostrum, and cuta
under Balaninus and diamond-beetle . (2) A snout-like
prolongation of, or formation on, the head of various other
insects. See immit-butterjly, tmmit-mite, snout-moth, (c)
The nozle or end of a hollow pipe, (d) Ifaut., the beak or
projecting prow of a ram.
The Merrimac's snout was knocked askew by a ball.
New York Tribune, March 15, 1832.
(e) The front of a glacier.
At theend,or8noi^of the glacier this water issues forth.
Huxley, Physiography, p. 181.
The ends or snouts of many glaciers act like ploughshares
on the land in front of them.
Tyndall, Forms of Water, p. 58.
(/) In eonch., the rostrum of a gastropod or similar mol-
lusk.
snout (snout), V. t. [< snout, n.'\ To furnish
with a snout or nozle; point. Howell.
snout-beetle (snout'be"tl), «. Any beetle of
the coleopterous suborder Rhynchophora, all
the forms of which have the head more or less
prolonged into a beak : as, the imbricated .snout-
beetle, Epicserus imhricatus. Several kinds are dls-
5734
tinguished by qualifying terms, as cluli-horned, AiMrilri-
dee; leaf-rolling, Attelabidx ; elongate, Brenthidx. These
are collectively known as straight-horned snmit-beetles (Qr-
thocerata), as distinguished from the bent-homed snoid-
beetles (Oojmtocerata). Among the latter are the true wee-
vils or curculios, and also the wood-eating snout-beetles, or
iScolytidie.
snout-butterfly (snout'but"^r-fli), n. Any but-
terfly of Hiibner's subfamily Hypati, or Boisdu-
val's subfamily Libythides, of the Erycinida.
snouted (snou'ted), rt. [< snout + -ed^."] Hav-
ing a snout of a kind specified by a qualifying
word: as, long-snowterf, -pig-snouted.
Antae, resembling a Mule, but somewhat lesse ; slender
snouted, the nether chappe very long, like a Trumpet.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 835.
snonter (snou't6r), n. A cutting-shears for re-
moving the cartilage from a pig's nose, to pre-
vent the pig from rooting.
snout-fairt (snout'far), a. Good-looking.
Str. Not as a suitor to me, Sir ?
Sw. No, you are too great for me. Nor to your Mopsey
without: though shee be snout-faire, and has some wit,
shee 's too little for me. Broine, Court Beggar, ii. 1.
snout-mite (snout'mit), n. A snouted mite;
any acarid or mite of the family BdellUdse.
snout-moth (snout'm6th), n. 1. Any moth of
the noctuid or deltoid family Hypenidse: so
named from the long, compressed, obliquely
ascending palpi. See cut under Hypena. — 2.
A pyralid moth, as of the family Cramhidx : so
called because the palpi are large, erect, and
hairy, together forming a process like a snout
in front of the head. See cut under Crambidie.
snout-ring (snout'ring), n. A ring passed
through a pig's nose to prevent rooting.
snouty (snou'ti), a. Resembling a beast's snout ;
long-nosed.
The nose was ugly, long, and big,
Broad and snouty like a pig.
Otway, Poet's Complaint of his Muse.
The lower race had long snouty noses, prognathous
mouths, and retreating foreheads.
Harper's Mag., LXXVn. 299.
snowl (sno), n. [Sc. snaw ; < ME. snow, snou,
snovh,, snoug, snau, snaw, < AS. snaw = OS.
sneu, sneo = MD. sneeUro, snee, D. sneemo = MLG.
snei, sue, LG. snee = OHG. sneo, MHG. site, G.
schnee = Icel. S7iser, snjdr, snjor = Sw. sno = Dan.
snc = Goth, snaiws, snow ; related to OBulg. sni-
flu = Serv. snijeff = Bohem. snih = Pol. snieg =
Buss, sniegu = Lith. snegas = Lett, snegs = Olr.
snechta, Ir. sncachd, Gael, sneachd, snow; L. nix
(niv-, orig. *snighv-) (> It. ncce = Sp. nicve = Pg.
neve; also, through LL. 'nivea, P. neige ; W.
nyf) = Gr. vifa (ace.), snow, vk^oq, a snowflake,
Zend snizh, snow; all from the verb represent-
ed by OHG. sniwan, MHG. snien, G. schneien, L.
ningerc, impers. ningit (V sniglw-), Gr. vi^tiv,
impers. viipu, snow, Lith. snigti, sningti, Zend
■\/ sni::h, snow; Gael, snidh, ooze in drops, Ir.
snidhe, a drop of rain; Skt. ■/ snih, be sticky
or oily, = sneha, moisture, oil. Cf. Skt. v' nij,
cleanse, Gr. vii^etv, wash. The mod. verb snow'-
is from the noun.] 1. The aqueous vapor of
the atmosphere precipitated in a crystalline
form, and falling to the earth in flakes, each
flake consisting of a distinct crystal, or more
commonly of combinations of separate crys-
tals. The crystals belong to the hexagonal system,
and are generally in the form of thin plates and long
needles or spiculse ; by their ditfereiit modes of union
Crystals of Snow, after Scoresby.
they present uncounted varieties of very beautiful fig-
ures. The whiteness of snow is due primarily to the
large number of reflecting surfaces arising from the
minuteness of the crystals. When sufficient pressure is
applied, the slightly adhering crystals are brought into
snowbird
molecular contact, and the snow, losing its white color,
assumes the form of ice. This change takes place when
snow is gradually transformed into the ice of a glacier.
Precipitation takes tlie form of snow when the tempera-
ture of the air at the earth's surface is near or below the
freezing-ix)int, and the flakes are larger the moister the
air and the higher its temperature. The annual depth of
snowfall and the number of days on which the ground is
covered with snow are important elements of climate. In
a ship's log-book abbreviated s.
2. A snowfall; a snow-storm. [CoUoq.] — 3.
A winter; hence, in enumeration, a year: as,
five swojcs. [North Amer. Indian.] — 4. Some-
thing that resembles snow, as white blossoms.
That breast of snow. IHonysius (trans.).
The lily's snow. Moore, tr. of Anacreon's Odes, 11.
5. In her., white ; argent.
The feeld of snow, with thegle of blak therinne.
Chaucer, Monks Tale, 1. 393.
Red snow. See Protococcus.
Sno'Wl (sno), V. [< ME. snowen, snawen = D.
sneeuwen = Icel. snjofa, snjova, snjdva = Sw.
snoa, snoga = Dan. sne (cf. It. nevicare, nevigare
= Sp. Pg. nevar = F. neiger), snow ; from the
noun. The older verb was ME. snewen, snkcen,
< AS. sniwian, snow : see snow'', «.] I. intrans.
To fall as snow: used chiefly impersonally: as, '
it snows ; it snowed yesterday.
n. trans. 1. To scatter or cause to fall like
snow.
Let it thunder to the tune of Qreen Sleeves, hail kissing-
comflts, and snaw eringoes. Shak., Jl. W. of W'., v. 5. 21.
2. To surround, cover, or imprison with snow:
with in, up, under, or over : often used figura-
tively. See snow-hound.
I was OTwmJerf tip at a friend's house once for a week. . . .
I went for only one night, and could not get away till
that very day se'nnight, Jane Austen, Emma, xiii.
SnO'W^ (sno), n. [< MD. snauw, snau. D. snaautc,
a kind of boat; prob. < 'LG.stiau, G. dial, schnau,
a snout, beak, = G. dial, schnuff, a snout: see
snouty A vessel equipped with two masts, re-
sembling the mainmast and foremast of a ship,
and a third small mast just abaft and close to
the mainmast, carrying a trysail. In rig it re-
sembles a brig, except that the brig bends her fore-and-
aft maijisaU to the mainmast, while the snow bends it to
the trysail-mast. Vessels are no longer rigged iu this way.
There was no order among us — he that was captain to-
day was swabber to-morrow. ... I broke with them at
lastforwhat they did on board of a bit of a snow; no mat-
ter what it was ; bad enough, since it frightened me.
Scott, Redgauntlet, ch. xiv.
snO'W-apple (sn6'ap''l), n. A variety of apple
which has very white flesh.
snO'Wball (sno'bal), n. [< ME. *snaweialle, snay-
balle; isnow'- + ball'.'] 1. A ball of snow; a
round mass of snow pressed or rolled together.
The nobleman would have dealt with her like a noble-
man, and she sent him away as cold as a snowball.
Shak., Pericles, iv. 6. 149.
2. The cultivated form of the shrub Viburnum
Opulus; the guelder-rose. The name is from its
large white balls of flowers, which in cultivation have he-
come sterile and consist merely of an enlarged corolla.
See cranberry-tree, and cut under neutral.
3. In cookery: (a) A pudding made by putting
rice which has been swelled in milk round a
pared and cored apple, tying up in a cloth, and
boiling well, (b) White of egg beaten stiff and
put in spoonfuls to float on the top of custard,
(c) Rice boiled, pressed into shape in a cup,
and variously served.— Wild snowball. Same as
redroot, 1.
snowball (sno'bal), 1). [< snowball, n.2 1, trans.
To pelt with snowballs.
II. intrans. To throw snowballs.
There are grave professors who cannot draw the dis-
tinction between the immoi^ity of drinking and snow-
balling. A'. A. Rev., CXXVI. 433.
snowball-tree (sno'bal-tre), n. Same as snotp-
Imll, -1.
snowbank (sno'bangk), n. A bank or drift of
snow.
The whiteness of sea sands may simulate the tint of
old snowbanks. The Atlantic, LXVI. 697.
snowberry (sn6'ber''i), n. ; pi. snowbcrries {-iz).
1. A shrub of the genus Symphoricarpus, chief-
ly S. racemosus, native northward in North
America. It is commonly cultivated for its ornamental,
but not edible, white berries, which are ripe in autumn.
The flowers are not showy, and the habit is not neat.
2. A low erect or trailing rubiaeeous shrub,
Chiococca racemosa, of tropical and subtropi-
cal America, entering Florida — (!reepln|; snow-
berry, an ericaceous plant, Chiogenes serpyllifolin, of
northern North America. It is a slender creeping and
trailing scarcely woody evergreen, with thyme-like leaves
and small bright-white berries. It has the aromatic flavor
of the American wintergreen.
snowbird (sno'berd), /(. A bird associated iu
some way with snow. Speciflcally— (a) The snow-
snowbird
5735
flnch. (&)The snow bunting, (c) The popular name in the
United States of all the species of the genus Jutico; any
junco. They are small frin-
gilliue birds of a certain type
uf form and pattern of color-
See chourtka, 1, and snow-
Same as snow-par-
wbird {jHMtc kienutlis).
of snow-partridge.
parti idye, 2.
snow-cock (sno'kok), n.
tridye, 2.
iitioii, breeding in alpine re- Snowdonian (sno-do'ni-an), a. [< Snoicdon (see
Rionsandnortherlylocijlitiea, jgfj + -Jon.] delating to Snowdon, a moun-
hecoSg"fan"lLr'whence tain o£ Carnarvonshire Wales Snowdonlaii
the- name. The conmion snow, series, m geol., a name given by Sedgwick to a part of the
bird of the United states is J. Lower Silurian or Cambrian in V, ales, including what 18
hiemalin, about 6 inches long, now known as the Arenig series and the Bala beds,
dark slate-gray, with white snOW-drift (sno'dl'ift), H. A drift of snow;
belly, two or three white guow driven by the wind; also, a bank of snow
driven together by the wind.
snowdrop (sno'drop), II. A low herb, Galanthiis
nivalis, a very early wild flower of European
woods, often cultivated. The name is also applied,
in an extended sense, to the genus. O. plicatus. the Cri-
mean snowdrop, is larger, with broader plicate leaves. See
Galanthus and jmri/ica(w»i-ytoww.— Afilcan anowdrop.
.See Jioyena.
snowdrop-tree (sno'drop-tre), «. 1. See Lino-
cicrii. — a. See Halesia and rattlebox, 2 (c).
snow-eater (sno'e'ttr), «. A warm, dry west
wind which rapidly evaporates the snow. These
winds are similar in character to Chinook winds.
Scicuec, VII. 242. [Eastern Colorado.]
ness (sno'blind'nes), n. AinOlyo- gnow-eyes (sno'iz), n. pi. A contrivance used
by the reflection of hghtjrom the ^^ jjj^ Eskimos as a preventive of snow-
blindness. It is made of extremely light wood, with
a bridge resting on the nose, and a narrow slit for the
passage of the light.
snowfall (sno'fal), n. 1. The falling of snow :
used sometimes of a quiet fall in distinction
from a snow-storm.
Through the wavering mow-fall, the Saint Theodore
upon one of the granite pillars of the Hazzetta did not
show so grim as his wont is. UouMt, Venetian Life, liL
2. The amoimt of snow falling in a given time,
as during one storm, day, or year. This amount
is measured popularly by the depth of the snow at the
close of each time of falling, and scientifically by melting
the snow and measuring the depth of the water.
Stations reporting the largest ioitl mxnt-f all, in inches,
were Blue Knob, 4ti; Eagles .Mere. 40; Grampian ilills,
88. Jour. PraiMin Intl., C.XXIX 2.
Originated or augment-
_ ed by melted gnow: as, a gnow-fed stream.
"'1 snow-field (sno'feld), w. A wide expanse of
snow, especially permanent snow, as in the
arctic regions.
As the Deer approach, a few stones come hurtling down,
aa the »noui-/!rfd Degins to yield.
D. a. JlUiot, in Wolfs WUd Animals, p. 121
feathers on each side of the
tail, and the bill white or
pinkish-whiti'. It inhabits
North America at large,
breeding in the northern
United States and British America, and in mountains as
far south as Georgia and Ariiona. It has a sweet song
in the summer, in winter only a chirp. It nests on the
ground and lays speckled eggs. In many parts of the
United States it appears with the flrst cold weather in
October, and is seen until the following April, in flocks.
There are numerous other species or varieties, some t each-
ing even Central America. .See Junco. (d) The llcldfare,
Tiinlm inlaris. See cut under /ieW/ore. [Prov. Eng.]
snow-blind (sno'blind), a. Affected with snow-
bliiidni'ss.
flnoW-bUndnesS (sno'blind'nes), n. Ainblyo-
pi.i caused _
snow, and consequent exhaustion of the retina
snow-blink (sno'blingk), n. The peculiar re-
flection that arises from fields of ice or snow :
same as ice-blink. Also called snow-liyhl.
snow-boot (sno'bot), H. A boot intended to
prote<-t the feet from dampness and cold when
walking in snow. Specifically —(o) A boot of water-
proof material with warm lining, (ft) A thick and high lioot
of leather, specially designed for use in snow, (f) Before
the introduction of Ihied rubber boots, a knitted lioot
with double or cork sole, usually worn over another boot
or a shoe.
snow-bonnd (sno'bound ), n. Shut in by a heavy
fall of snow; unable to get away from one's
house or place of sojourn on account of the
obstruction of travel by snow; blocked by
snow, as a railway-train.
The tnow^xmnd in their arctic hulk are glad to see even gno-^^.fed (sno'fed), a
a wandering Esquimau.
C. D. Warner, Backlog Studies, p. 124.
snow-box (sno'boks). «. Theat., a device
in producing an imitation of a snow-storm,
snowbreak (sno'brak), h. A melting of snow ;
a thaw.
And io, like mmebrtak from the mountains, for erery
SS,^;.SS^eX1:d'l'v^J!r '""""'""■"• ""'^- snow-finch (-'o'tineh), «. A Jringilline binl
Carlyle, French Rev., I. vIL 4. of Europe, MonH/niu/tlUi nivalis; the stone
snow-brotll (sno'brdth), ». Snow and water
mixed; figuratively, very cold liquor.
A man whose blood
Is very nunc-broth. Shak., M. for iL, L 4. SS.
" This la none of yonr mow-broUi, Peggy." aaid the mo.
ther. "it ••warming." 5. Judd, Margaret, L «.
snow-bontine (sno'bun'ting), «. A kind of
snowbird. I'leclrophaneii nivali)!, a bunting of
the familv Friiiyilli-
(te, whicK inhabits
arctic and cold tem-
perate regions of
both hemispheres,
and is chiefly white,
varied with black or
brown. Also called
mioirliird, .inoicjiake,
sniiirjU fk, moir/liyli t,
snoir/oirl. in full plu-
mage', rarely seen in the
I'nited .States, the bird is
pure-white, with the bill,
feet, middle of ba^-k,and
the wings and tail in pari
jet-black. In the usual
pluinage the white is
ovi:rlaid with rich, warm brf>wn in various places, and the
bhit'k is not pure or continuous. The length U 7 inches,
the extent of wings 12J. 'I'histiird is a near relative of the
longKpurs. as the l.aplarMl. but has the hind claw curved,
and is wjuietinies thi-refore placed In another genus (/'^«-
iTujibfnnjr). It breeds oidy in high latitudes, moving south
in the fall in flocks, often of vast extent. It nests on the
K"Tari,""tol"egir' " '"* '""""''"• "'"' """ '""" '""■■ *" snowfleck (mo'flek), B. The snow-bunting or
snowbnsh ( sii<Vbu.sli), «. One of several shrubs snowtlako. See cut under smw-buntiny.
bearintrprofimewhiteflowers. Such are &a,«rfAt« snowfllght (sno'flit), n. The snowflake or
c»r./i/;«/ia of Callfomian mountains, OfcartflrtcHutafa of siiow-biiiitiiig, Pleclrophnnes nivalis.
Australia and Tasmania, and Phyttanthm ivimlit of the snoW-flOOd (sno'flud), R. A flood from melted
New llebritlus. STIOW
snowcap (sno'kap), n. A humming-bird of the gnowflower (sno'flou'^r), «. 1. A variant name
geiiu.s .V/.roc^a, having a snowy cap. There „f the snowdrop, flalanthus.— 2. Same as
are two sp<Tles. Jr. tuboeortmata and M. parmroatru. the _ r' . , r, . .
former 'if V.ragua, the latter of Nicaragua and Costa Rica,
both of mitiMtr -i/.- (Ik inches lung). The character of the
white crMwji is iii)i<|ne among the Trochil^da.
snow-capped (sno'kapt), «. Capped with snow.
snow-chukor (sno'clm'kor), n. [< xiioifl +
chuk'/r, a, native name: see chourtka.] A kind
Snow-tmntiii,; ^l tf trnphi^nn «mi.
til), male, ID brecdiiiK-pluii)ii|{c.
finch or mountain-finch, somewhat resembling
the snow-bunting, but of a difl'erent genus. See
cut under Itramhling.
snowflake (sno'flak), n. 1. A small feathery
mass or flake of falling snow. See snow^, »., 1.
Flowen Uoomed txAmmefiaka fell, unquestioned in her
•igbt Whittier, Bridal of I'ennacook, ill.
2. In oniifA., same as gnoip-fttmttwg'. Coues. — 3.
A plant of the genus LtMcoium, chiefly L. lesti-
vum (the summer snowflake), andL. vcrnum (the
spring snowflake). They are European wild flowers,
also cultirated, resembling the snowdrop, but larger. Of
the two apecies the Utter is smaller, and chiefly conti-
nental. The name waa deviaed to distinguish this plant
from the snowdrop, and is now commonly accepted.
4. A particular pattern of weaving certain
woolen cloths, by which small knots are pro-
duced upon the face, which, when of light color,
resemble a sprinkling of snow. Diet, of Nce-
illi irork.
snow-flange (sno'flanj), «. A metal scraper
fi.xed to a railroad-car, for the purpose of re-
moving ice or snow clinging to the inside of
the head of the rail.
snow-flea (sno'fle), n. Any kind of springtail
or poduran which is found on the snow. Aeho-
reuut nivieola is the common snow.flea of the United
Statea, often appearing In great numbers on the snow. See
cut under apnnfftait.
Our common mnw-ttra is . . . sometimes a pest where
maple sugar is made.' the Insects collecting in large <iuan-
tilics in the sap. Comttotk, Introd. Entom. (1888), p. 61
frimic-trcc. — 3. k »\\Tuh, Dcutzia yracilis. See
Diuhia. Millrr, Diet. Eng. Names of Plants,
snow-fly (sno'fli), n. 1. A perlid insect or kind
of stone-fly which appears on the snow, as I'erla
nirirola of Fitch. The common snow-fly of New York
la Capnia pyffvuia, which is black with gray hairs.
snow-light
2. A neuropterous insect of the family Panor-
pidee and genus Boreus, as B. niroribundus,
which appears on the snow in northerly parts
of the United States. Also called springtail. —
3. A wingless dipterous insect of the family
Tipulidee and genus Chionea, as C. valga, occur-
ring under similar circumstances. Also snow-
gnat. — 4. A snow-gnat. — S. A snow-flea.
A paper on " insecta nive delapsa" or " schneewUrroer,"
. . . some one or another of the Thysanura. In America
we find that these little creatures are to this day called
snow-JHes. E. P. Wriyht, Animal Life, p, 491.
snowfowl (sno'foul), H. The snow-bunting,
rUctraph a nes n iva lis.
snow-gage (sno'gaj), n. Areceptacle for catch-
ing falling snow for the purpose of measuring
its amount.
snow-gem (sno'jem), n. A garden name of Chi-
oiindoxa Lucilix. See snow-glory.
snowght, «• An old spelling of SHOit'l.
snow-glory (sno'glo'ri), n. A plant of the lili-
aceous genus Chionodoxa. Two species from Asia
Minor, C. lAieiliff, sometimes called «now.gevi, and C.
nana, the dwarf snow-glory, are beautiful hardy garden
flowers with some resemblance to squill.
snow-gnat (sno'nat), «. 1. Any one of certain
gnats of the genus Chironomus found on the
snow in early spring, as C. nivoriundus. — 2.
Same as snow-fly, 3.
snow-goggle (sno'gog'l), n. Same a.s snow-eyes,
Mr. Mnrdock, of the Point Barrow Station, . . . found
an Eskimo siww-gofjgle beneath more than twenty feet of
frozen gravel.
A. R. Wallace, Nineteenth Century, XXn. 672.
snow-goose (sno'gos), «. A goose of the genus
Chen, of which the white brant, C. hyperboreiis,
is the best-known species, white, with black-
tipped wings, the head washed with rusty-
brown, and the bill pink. Also called Mexican
goose, red goose, Texas goose. See wavey, and
cut under Chen Blue or blue- winged snow-gooBO.
See (jooge and ttavey.
snow-grouse (sno'grous), «. A ptarmigan ; any
bird of the genus Lagopits, nearly all of whicn
turn white in winter. Also snow-partridge. See
cuts under grouse and ptarmigan.
Up above the timber line were snoto-tjrou»e [Laffoput
teucurra] and huge hoary-white wootlchucks.
T. Hoosevett, The Century, XXXVI. 210.
snOW-i(^ (sno'is), n. Ice formed by the freez-
ing of slush: such ice is opaque and white,
owing to the incompleteness of the melting of
the snow : opposed to black ice. The word is espe-
cially used of fee thus formed In places where, without
the snow, black ice would have been formed, as on a pond
or a river.
snowily (sno'i-li), adv. In a snowy manner;
with or as snow.
Afar rose the peaks
Of Parnassus, snowily clear,
M. Arnold, Youth of Nature.
snowiness (sno'i-nes), w. The state of being
snowy, in any sense.
These last may, in extremely bright weather, give an
effect of mowinett in the high lights.
Lea, Photography, p. 210.
sn0W-in-harvest(sn6'in-har'vest), n. Amouse-
ear chickwecd, Verastium tomentosum, and some
other plants with abundant white flowers in
summer. Britten and Holland, Eng. Plant
Names. [Prov. Eng.]
snow-insect (sno'in'sekt), n. A snow-flea,
snow-fly, or snow-gnat.
snow-in-SUmmer (sn6'in-sum'6r), «. A gar-
den name of Cerastiuni tomentosum. See snow-
in-huriest.
snowlsh (sno'ish), a. [< ME. snowissh; < snow^
+ -ish^.] Kesembling snow ; somewhat snowy;
snow-white.
Be gan to stroke ; and good tbritte bad ful ofte
Hire nunciesh [var. enow-white] throte.
Chaucer, Troilus, lii. 1250.
Her gnnvieh necke with blewlsh values
Stood l)olt vpright vpon
Her portly shoulders.
Warner, Albion's England, iv. 54.
snow-knife (sno'nif), n. An implement used
by Eskimos for scraping snow from fur gar-
ments, having the general form of a large knife,
but made of morse-ivory or some similar ma-
terial.
snowl (snoiil), n. [Origin obscure.] The hooded
merganser, Lophodytes tucullatus. See cut un-
der merganser. G. Trumbull, 1888. [Crisfield,
Maryland.]
snow-leopard (sno'lep'ard), K. The ounce,
Fclis unria or irbis. See out under ounce.
8nowless(sn6'les),o. [< snow'^ + -less.'] Desti-
tute (if snow.
snow-light (sno'lit), n. Same aa snow-blink.
snowlike
anowlike (suo'lik), a. [< gnow^ + /ifce2.] Re-
sembling snow.
snow-limbed (sno'limd), a. Having limbs
white like suow. [Rare.]
The snow-iitnb'd Eve from whom she came.
Tennysoiiy Maud, xviii. 3.
snow-line (sno'lin), n. The limit of continual
snow, or the line above which a mountain is
continually covered with snow. The snow-line is
due primarily to the decrease of the temperature of the
atmosphere with increase of altitude. In general, the
height of the snow-line diminishes as we proceed from the
equator toward the poles : but there are many exceptions,
since the position of the snow-line depends not only upon
the mean temperature, but uix»n the extreme heat of sum-
mer, the total annutd snowfall, the prevalent winds, the
topography, etc. For these reasons, the snow-line is not
oiuy at ditf erent heights in the same latitude, but its posi-
tion is subject to oscillation from year to year In the same
locality. Long secular oscillations in the height of the
snow-line are evidence of corresponding oscillations of
climate. In the Alps the snow-line is at an altitude of
8;000 to 9,000 feet ; in the Andes, at the equator, it is
nearly 16,000 feet
Between the glacier below the ice-fall and the plateau
above it there must exist a line where the quantity of snow
which falls is exactly equal to the quantity annually melt-
ed. This is the snoie-line.
Tyndall, Forms of Water, p. 48.
snow-mouse (sno'mous), n. 1. An alpine vole
or field-mouse, Arvicola nivalis, inliabiting the
Alps and Pyrenees. — 2. A lemming of arctic
America which turns white in winter, Cunicu-
Uis torquatus. See Cuniculus, 2.
snow-on-the-mountain (sno ' on - the - moun '-
tan),»i. 1. A white-flowered garden-plant. ^ro-
hii alpina, from southern Russia; also, Ceras-
tium tomentosum, from eastern Europe. Britten
and Holland, Eng. Plant Names. [Prov. Eng.]
— 2. A plant, Euphorbia marginata. T. Mee-
han. Native Wild Flowers of the United States.
[Western II. S.]
snow-owl (snd'oul), n. The great white or
snowy owl, Strix nyctea or Nyotea scandiaea, in-
5736
front, and spread out behind to any required distance.
The machine being drawn by horses harnessed to the
center framework, the angular point enters the snow.
Snow-owl i^Nyctta scandiaea),
habiting arctic and northerly regions of both
hemispheres, and having the plumage more or
less white. See Nyctea, and cut under braccatc.
snow-partridge (sn6'par"trij), «. 1. A gaUi-
naeeous bird of the Himalayan region, Lerva
(fiiLerwa) nivicola. See out xmder Lerva. — 2.
A bird of the genus Tetraogallus, as T. hima-
layensis. Also called snow-cock, snow-chukor,
and snow-pheasant. See chourika, partridge,
and cut under Tetraogallus. — 3. A ptarmigan:
same as snow-grouse.
snow-pear (sno'par), n. See^eari.
snow-pheasant (sn6'fez"ant), n. 1 . Any pheas-
ant of the genus Crossopiilon, as C. mantchuri-
cum. See eared pheasant, under p/ieasani. — 2.
Same as snow-partridge, 2.
snow-pigeon (sno'pij'on), n. A notable true
pigeon, Columba leucoribta, of the northwestern
Himalayan region, known to some sportsmen
as the imperial rock-pigeon, and found at an
altitude of 10,000 feet and upward. The upper
parts are mostly white, the crown and auriculars blackish,
the wings brownish-gray with several dusky bars, and the
tail is ashy-black with a broad grayish-white bar.
snow-planer (sii6'pla"n6r), n. Hee planer.
snow-plant (sno'plant), «. 1. Red snow. See
rrotococcus. — 2. See Barcodes.
snow-plow (sno'plou), n. An implement for
clearing away snow from roads, railways, etc.
There are two kinds — one to be hauled by horses, oxen,
etc., as on a common highway, and the other to be placed
in front of a locomotive to clear the rails. A modification
of the latter is adapted to street-railroads. The snow-plow
for ordinary country roads usually consists of a frame of
boards braced together so as to form an acute angle in
7 ^
Winff Sniiw-plow.
(»,body of plow; *, caboose for implements and workmen; r.mova-
ble wings for widening the cuttings; c', doors which give access to
leading truck for oiling.etc; rf, cupola; ^.headlight ;/;/". iron plates,
scrapers, or shoes which remove snow from the outer margins of the
track ; /',y , adjustable aprons which clean out the snow from between
the tracks flush with the wheel-flanges; g; intermediate apron; h,
draw-bar for hauling the plow when not in use ; :. adjustable scraper
for removing hard-packed snow or ice from the inner side of the rails.
which is thrown off by the side-boards, ami thus a free
passage is opened for pedestrians, etc. For railway pur-
poses, snow-plows are of various forms, adapted to the
Centrifugal Snow-plow.
a, caboose ; b, cab ; c, tender ; d, shoe, plate, or scraper which cuts
horizontally at a level with the tops of the rails; e, auger which cuts
into the snow-drift, and assists by its screw like action to propel the
machine (its centrifugal action projects the snow upward through the
chute y, and laterally to a distance of 6o feet).
character of the country, the amount of snowfall, the
tendency to drift, etc. Such plows vary in size from the
simple plows carried on the front of an engine, resem-
bling a cowcatcher with smooth iron sides, to heavy struc-
tures mounted on freight-car trucks, and pushed before
one locomotive or more, or, as sometimes made, self-pro-
pelling. In recent forais the principle of centrifugal force
has been utilized for removal of the snow. Snow-plows
are often of great size, sometimes weighing fifty tons,
and can be forced through very deep drifts.
snow-probe (sno'prob), n. An instrument used
by the Eskimos to probe snow and ice in search-
ing for seals.
snow-scraper (sno'skra''''per), n. 1. A form of
snow-plow made of two small planks and a
crosspiece, like the letter A. — 2. An iron
scraper attached to a car or locomotive, to re-
move snow and ice from the rails. — 3. Same
as snow-knife.
snow-shed (sno'shed), n. On a railroad, a con-
struction covering the track to prevent accu-
mulations of snow on the line, or to carry snow-
slides or avalanches over the track in moun-
tainous regions.
snow-shoe (sno'sho), n. A contrivance attached
to the foot to enable
the wearer to walk on
deep snow without
sinking to the extent of
being disabled. There
are two principal kinds
— the web or Canadian,
and the long or Norwegian.
The Canadian is a contract-
ed oval in front and pointed
behind, and is from 3 to 5
feet long and from 1 to 2
feet wide, the foot being
fastened on the widest
part of the shoe by means
of thongs and so as to leave
the heel free. It has a light
rim of tough wood, on which
is woven from side to side a
web of rawhide. The Nor-
wegian is merely a thin
board, about 8 feet long
and 8 inches wide, slightly
curved upward in front ;
it is especially adapted to
mountains, in descending
which by its use great speed
is attained. See skee.
O'er the heaped drifts of winter's moon
Her mow-skoes tracked the hunter's way.
Wkittier, Bridal of Pennacook, iii.
Snow-shoe disease, a painful affection of the feet oc-
curring in arctic and subarctic America after long jour-
neys on snow-shoes. — SnOW-Shoe rabbit. See rabbit^.
snow-shoe (sno'sho), v. i. [< snoic-slioCj n.J To
walk on snow-shoes.
You can snow-shoe anywhere, even up to some chimney-
tops. Barper'sMag., LXXVI. 358.
Rink-skating is a fine art in Canada, tobogganing is an
accomplishment ; but sleighing and snow-shoeing, though
often pastimes, are also normal methods of locomotion
diuing the long winter.
Sir C. W. DUke, Probs. of Greater Britain, i. 2.
snow-shoer (sno'8h6''''6r), n. [< snow-shoe +
-eri.] One who walks on snow-shoes.
Canadian Snow-shoe.
snub
The manly mow-skoer hungers for the tramp on snow-
shoes. The Century, XXIX. 622.
snow-shovel (sno'shuv'l), n. A flat, broad
wooden shovel made for shoveling snow.
snow-skate (sno'skat), n. In northern Europe,
a contrivance for gliding rapidly over frozen or
compact snow, it is usually a long, narrow sole of
wood, 6 feet or more in length. 8ee snoiv-skoe.
He put on his stuncskaieg and started, and I set about
turning the delay to profit by making acquaintance with
the inmates of the tents.
B. Taylor, Northern Travel, p. 120.
snow-slide (sno 'slid), »i. An avalanche; also,
any mass of snow sliding down an incline, as a
roof.
The terms "ground" and "dust" avalanches are ap-
plied to different varieties of snow slips or glides.
D. G. Elliot, in Wolfs Wild Animals, p. 118.
snow-slip (sno'slip), n. A snow-slide.
snow-snake (sno'snak), n. Among North
Aiuerieau Indians, a slender shaft from 5 to 9
feet long, with a head curving up at one end
and a notch at the other and smaller end ; also,
the game played with this shaft.
The game is simply one of dexterity and strength. The
forefinger is placed in tlie basal notch, the thumb and re-
maining fingers reaching along the shaft, and the snow-
snake is thrown forward on the ice or hard snow. . . .
Wlien tlie slender shaft is thrown, it glides rapidly over
the stnface, with upraised head and a quivering motion,
that gives it a strange resemblance to a living creature.
. . . The game is to see which person or side can throw
it farthest, and sometimes the distance of a quarter of a
mile is reached under favorable circumstances, but I think
this rare. W. M. Beaxuhamp, Science, XI. 37.
snow-sparrow (sn6'spar"6), n. Any snowbird
of the genus Junco. Coues.
snow-squall (sno'skwal), n. A short fall of
snow with a high wind.
Almost completely thwarted by gnow-squalls.
Nature, XXXVU. S33.
snow-storm (snd'st6rm), n. A storm with a
fall of snow.
snow-sweeper (sno'swe'per), n. A snow-plow
combined with a street-sweeping machine for
clearing snow from a horse-car track.
snow-track (sno'trak), n. 1. The footprints
or track of a person or an animal going through
snow. — 2. A. path or passage made through
snow for persons coming and going.
snow-water (sn6'wa"ter), n. [< ME. snow-
water; < SKOjfi + water.'] Melted snow.
The ter thet mon schet for his emcristenes sunne is
inemned snaw-water for hit melt of the neche horte swa
deth the snaw to-geines the sunne.
Old Eny. Horn. (ed. Morris, E. E. T. S.), 1st ser., p. 15».
snow-white (sno'hwit), a. [< ME. snow-whyt,
snaw-hwit, snau-whit, snoiohwit, AS. snawhwit
(= D. sneeuwwit =. MLG. snewhit = MHG. sne-
■wiz, G. schneeweiss = Icel. sneehvitr, snjohvitr =
8w. snohvit = Dan. snehvid), as sndw, snow, -I-
hwit, white : see snow^ and lohite.'] White as
snow; very white.
And than hir sette
Upon an hors, snow-whyt and wel ambling.
Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, I. 332.
Why are you sequester'd from all your train.
Dismounted from your snow-white goodly steed ?
Shak., Tit And., U. 3. 76.
snow-wreath (sno'reth), n. A snow-drift.
[Scotch.]
Was that the same Tam Linton that was precipitated
from the Ban Law by the break of a gnaw wreathe f
Blackwood's Mag., XIU. 320.
snowy (sno'i), a. [< ME. snawy, snawi (not in
AS.) (= MLG. sneig = OHG. mteu-ac, JfflG.
snewcc, G. schneeig = Icel. snseugr = Sw. snogig,
snoig = Dan. sneig) ; < snow^ -I- -v^.] 1 . Abound-
ing with snow ; covered with snow.
The snowy top
Of cold Olympus. MOUm, P. L., i. 615.
2. White like snow ; niveous.
So shows a snovry dove trooping with crows.
As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows.
Shak., B. and J., i. 5. 50.
3. White; pure; spotless; unblemished.-Snowy
heron, the small white egret of the United States, Gar-
zetia candidissima, when adtilt entirely pure-white with
recurved occipital crest and dorsal plumes. See cut un-
der Gorzefta.— Snowy lemming, the collared or Hudson's
Bay lemming, or hare-taileti rat. See snow-inouse, 2, and
Cunicvlus, 2.— Snowy owl, the snow-owl.— Snowy pear.
See pear^. — Snowy plover, ^-Effialites yiicosus, a small
ring-plover of the Pacific and Mexican Gulf coasts of the
United States, related to the Kentish plover.
snubl (snub), V. t.; pret. and pp. snubbed, ppr.
snubbing. [< ME. smibben, snuben, < Icel. snuh-
ba. snub, chide, = Sw. snubba. clip or snub
off, snobba, lop off, snuff (a candle) ; cf . Icel.
snubbotr, snubbed, nipped, \N-ith the tip cut off,
snupra, snub, chide : akin to E. snip. Cf. snib,
a var. of smib.] If. To out off short; nip;
check in growth ; stunt.
snub
Trees . . . whose heads and boughs I have obserr'd to
run out far to landward, but toward the sea to be so
mubbed by the winds as if their boughs had been pared or
■haven off on that side. Itay, Works of Creation, i.
2. To make snub, as the nose.
They laughed, and snubbed their noses with their hand-
kerchiefs. S. Judd, Margaret, i. 11.
3. To check or stop suddenly ; cheek the head-
way of, as a vessel by means of a rope in order
to turn her into a narrow berth, or an unbroken
horse in order to break him to the halter : com-
monly with up ; also, to fasten, or tie up, as to
a snub or snubbing-post.
One of the first lessons the newly caught animal has to
learn is not to '"run on a rope," and he is taught this by
being violently *nufc6«f up, probably turning a somersault,
the tlrst two or three times that he feels the noose settle
round his neck and makes a mad rush for lit>erty.
T. RooKvtU, The Centar>-, XXXV. 660.
4. To disconcert; check; rebuke with a severe
or sarcastic reply or remark ; slight designedly ;
treat with deliberate neglect.
alf the brother shal synne in thee, go thou, and reprone
hym, or mybbe. Wydi/, Mat. xviii. 15.
Would it not vex a Man to the Heart to have an old
Fool tmM/ing a Body every Minute afore Company?
Sedt, Tender Hasband, L 1.
I did hear bim aay, a little tnubbing before marriage
would teach you to bear it the better afterwards.
Qotdtmixh, Good-natured Man, It.
The House of Lords, or a majority of tfaem, aboat 200
men, cau ttiub both king and House of Commons.
W. R. Ong, Misc. Essays, 2d ser., p. 96.
This youth spoke Ills mind too openly, and moreover
woold not be mxibbed.
a. Meredith, Ordeal of Richard Fercrel, zlL
5. To affect or compel in a specific way by
snubbing: as, to snub one into silence.
" Deborah, there 's a gentleman sitting in the drawing-
room with bis arm round Miss Jessie's waist ! ** . . . Miss
JenkynsntuMtd her down in an instant : "The most prop-
er place In the world for his arm to be in. Oo awsgr, M»-
tiloa, and mind your own business."
Mn. OaikeU, Cranford, 11.
To mob & cable (.navL), to checit it suddenly In mnning
out.
snub^ (snub), n. [See »n»6i, v. t.] 1. A pro-
tuberance or knot in wood.
And lifting up Ills dreadfnil clab on hight,
All annd with ragged imiUesand knottle graine.
Spmter, F. C I. vllL 7.
2. A nose turned up at the tip and somewhat
flat and broad ; a pug-nose.
My father's nose was aqnillne^ and mine Is a snuA.
MarryaL
3. A check; arebafl; aieboke; an intentional
slight.
They [the porphyrogenltil seldom forget (aces, snd never
miss an opportunity of spwking a wora in season, or ad-
ministering a mub In season, according to circnmstances.
U. N. Oxenlutm, Short Btadies, p. IS.
4. The sudden checking of a rope or cable run-
ning out. — 5. A stake, set in the bank of a
river or canal, around which a rope may be
cast to check the motion of a boat or raft.
[U. 8. and Canada.]
snub* (snub), a. [< «niiAi, n.] Somewhat broad
and flat, with the tip tiimed up: said of the
nose.
Her nose was nnformed and mub, and her lips were red
and dewy. Jfra. Otukdl, Cianford, L
simb^t, r. and n. See anolfl.
snnbber (snub'fer), ». Naut., a contrivance for
hiiuliliiiiK a cable; a check-stopper.
snubbing-lino (snub'ing-lin), n. On a boat or
raft, a. line carried on the bow or forward end,
and pasHod nroiind a {>08t or bollard, to check
the nioiiienttim when required.
snubbing-post (8nub'ing-pd8t),fi. A post around
which a rope can bewoiud to check the motion
of a body, as a boat or a horse, controlled by the
rope; particularly, a post framed into a dock,
or set in the bank of a canal, aronnd which a
line or hawser attached to a vessel can be wound
to snub or check the vessel. Also imub-po»t.
A stoat line Is carried forward, and the ends are attached
on starboard and port to tnubbing potU that project over
the water like catheads. Sei. Amer., N. fi., LVI. aae.
Near the middle of the glade stands the high, circulsr
hors»<orTal, with a mubboiff-Boit in the center.
T. RoommU, The Century, XIX V. 855.
snubblsh 8nub'ish),a. [<»nu61+-wAl.] Tend-
ing to snub, check, or repress. [CoUoq.]
Spirit of Kant ! have we not had enongb
To make religion sad, and sour, and tnubbith !
Hood, Open (|aestlon.
snabby (snub'i), a. [< OTiuftl + -yl.] Some-
what suub; short or flat.
Both have mottled legs,
Both have tnubby nosea.
rAoefcrray, Peg of Liroavaddy.
5737
snnb-cnbe (snub'kub), «. A solid with thirty-
eight faces, at each of whose solid angles there
are four triangles and a square, having six faces
belonging to a cube, eight to the coaxial octa-
hedron, and twenty-four others not belonging
to any regular bodies. It is one of the thirteen
Archimedean solids. See cut under solid.
snub-dodecahedron ( snub ' do'dek-a-he * dron ) ,
«. A solid with ninety-two faces, at each of
whose corners there are four triangles and a
pentagon, the pentagonal faces belonging to
the regular dodecahedron, twenty of the tnan-
gtilar faces to the icosahedron, and the remain-
ing sixty triangular faces to no regular body.
It is one of the thirteen Archimedean solids.
See cut under solid.
snub-nose (snub'noz), n. A bivalve mollusk.
snub-nosed (snub'nozd), a. [< »»uil + nose^
+ -t(V^. Cf. Sw. dial, snuhha, a cow without
horns or with cut horns, Icel. snubbottr, snipped,
clipped, with the end cut off; cf. E. snubbes
(see snub^, «.), knobs on a roughly trimmed
staff.] Having a short, flat nose with the end
somewhat turned up ; pug-nosed.
Can yon fancy that black-a-top, snub-iumd, sparrow-
mouthed, paunch'bellied creature?
Bailey, tr. of Colloquies of Erasmus, I. 44.
Snub-nosed auk, any anklet of the gemiBSimorhynehug.
See cut under anklet. Cou««. — snub-noBed Cachalot,
a pygmy sperm-wluile, as Kitjia brevieep*. See Kogia and
tperm-vhaU. — Snub-nosed eel, the pug-nosed eel, Si-
meneheiyM parwtiticits. See cut under 5i7neneAsfys.
snub-post (snub'post), n. 1. Same as ^nuMtnt;-
post. — 2. A similar post on a raft or canal-
boat ; a head-fast.
snndge^ (snuj), v. »'. ; pret. and pp. snudged,
ppr. siiudging. [Assibilated form of snug.]
To move along, being snugly wrapped up.
Balliicell.
Now he will light it oat, and to the wan ;
Now eat Us bread in p<«ce.
And tmudfft In quiet. O. Herbert, Giddiness.
snudge^ (snuj), r. i. ; pret. and pp. snudged,
ppr. snudging. [Cf. mudge'^.'\ To save penu-
nously'; be miserlv or niggardly. HalUvell.
[Obsolete or prov. t^ng.]
snudged (snuj), n. [See *n«rf<7e2, p.] A miser,
or a mean sneaking fellow.
Like the life of a covetous anudge that ofte very evill
proves. Atcham, Toiophilus, L
They may not say, as some mudget in England say, I
would And the Qneene a man to seme In my place.
HaUuytt Voyageg, I. 24a
snudging (snuj'ing), n. Penurious practices.
[Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
Snudmitge wittely rebuked. . . . Wherapon she beeyng
grered charged hym with these wordes, that he shoulo
sale she was such a pinchpeny as would sell her olde
showea for mony. Sir T. WiUm, Bhetorike.
snudging (snuj'ing), p. a. Miserly; niggardly.
[Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
Some of his friends, that were mudging peniefathers,
would take him vp verle ronghlie for his lavishing and his
outragious expenses.
iStanUurst, Descrip. of IreUnd, ill. (HoUnsAni.)
snuff 1 (snuf), V. [< MD. snuffen, < D. snuffen,
snuff (cf. D. muf, smelling, scent), = O. schnauf-
«n, breathe, sntiff, wheeze, snort; cf . Sw. snufva,
Dan. snue, cold, catarrh; Sw. snufven, a sniff;
MHG. stiupfe, G. schnupj'en, a catarrh, schnupfcn,
take snuff; otherwise In freq. form snuffle, and
vttT.miff; et. &\ao sniffle, snivel.] I. trans. 1.
To draw in through toe nose with the breath ;
inhale: as, to snuff the wind; to 8nu^ tobacco.
The youth who first sppean in sight.
And holds the nearest station to the Ugbt,
Already seems to tnuf the vital air.
Drydm, MatM, vi 1031.
Hecalled suddenly for salta, which . . . applying to the
nostrils of poor Madame Duval, she involuntarily tnufed
up such a quantity that the pain and surprise made her
scream aloud. Jfin Bumey, Evelina, xix.
2. To scent; smell; take a sniff of; perceive
by smelling. Dryden.
Manldnd were then familiar with the God,
He mufd their Incense with a gracious Nod.
Congreve, tr. of Eleventh Satire of Juvenal.
Tlioae that deal in elections look still higher, and muf
a new pwUamenL WalpoU, Letters, II. 227.
3. To examine by smelling; nose: said of an
animal.
He (Bab) looked down at his victim appeaaed, ashamed,
and amaied ; sm^ed him all over, star«l at him, and . . .
trotted oS. Dr. J. Broan, Kab and his Friends.
n. intrans. 1. To inhale air vigorously or
audibly, as dogs and horses.
The fury fires the pack, they mu/, they vent.
And feed their hnngry nostrils with the scent.
Dryden, Maeld, viL 687.
2. To turn up the nose and inhale air, as in con-
tempt or auger ; sniff disdainfully or angrily.
snuff
Ye said also. Behold, what a weariness is it ! and ye have
muffed at it, saith the Lord of hosts. Mai. i. 13.
Do the enemies of the church rage, and muff, and breathe
nothing but threats and death?
Bp. Hail, Thanksgiving Sermon, Jan. 29, 1625.
3. To smell ; especially, to smell curiously or
doubtfully. (
Have, any time this three years, muffed about
With your most grovelling nose.
B. Jmison, Volpone, v. 1.
A sweet-breath'd cow.
Whose manger is stuff' J full of good fresh hay.
Snuffs at it daintily, and stoops her head
To chew the straw, her litter, at her feet.
M. Arnold, Balder Dead.
4. To take snuff into the nose. Compare to
dip snuff, under dip, v. t.
Although muffing yet belongs to the polite of the pres-
ent day, owing perhaps to the high workmanship and ele-
gance of our modem gold snuff-l)oxes.
J. NoU, Note in Dekker's Gull's Hornbook.
snuff I (snuf), n. [< s»i(/l, i'.] 1. Inhalation
by the nose; a sniff; also, a pinch of snuff.
I will enrich . . . thy nose with a muff from my mull,
and thy palate with a dram from my bottle of strong wa-
ters, called, by the learned of Gandercleugh, the Dominie's
Dribble o" Drink. Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, Prol.
2t. Smell; scent; odor.
The Immortal, the Eternal, wants not the snuff ot mor-
tal incense for his, but for our sakes.
Stuieley, Falxographia Sacra, p. 93. (Latham.)
3. Offense; resentment; huff, expressed by a
sniffing.
Jupiter took sni^ at the contempt, and punished him.
Sir B. L'Estrani/e.
4. A powdered preparation of tobacco taken
into the nostrils b v inhalation. It is made by grind,
ing, in mortars or mills, the chopped leaves andf stalks
of tobacco in which fermentation has been induced by
moisture and warmth. The tobacco is well dried pre-
vious to grinding, and this is carried sometimes so far as
to give the peculiar flavor of the high-dried snuffs, such
as the Irish, Welsh, and Scotch. Some varieties, as the
rappees, are moist. The admixture of different flavoring
agents and delicate scents has given rise to fanciful names
for snuffs, which, the flavor excepted, are identical. Dry
snuffs are often adulterated with quicklime, and the moist
kinds with ammonia, hellebore, pearl-ash, etc.
Thou art properly my cephalick mii/, and art no bad
medicine against megrims, vertigoes, and profound think-
ing. CoiTnan and Garriek, Clandestine Marriage, iv.
Among these [the English gentry], the mode of taking
the mu/was with pipes of the ske of quills, out of small
spring Twxes. These pipes let out a very small quantity
of snuff upon the back of the hand, and this was snuffed
up the nostrils.
J. Athlon, Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne, I. 206.
6. In therap., any powder with medicinal prop-
erties to be snuffed up into the nose csepbalic
nAlff, an errhine powder composed of asarabacca (7 parts)
and dried lavender-flowers(l part) ; also, a powder of equal
parts each of dried tobacco-leaves, marjoram-leaves, and
lavender-leaves.— Ferrier's snuff, a snuff for nasal ca.
tarrh, composed of morphine hydrocliloiatc, powdered
acacia, and bismuth Kubnitrate.— To dip snuff. See dip.
—To take a tblll^ in sntlfft, to be ottended at it; take
offense at it.
Who therewith angry, when It next came there,
Toot it in muf. Shak., 1 Hen. IV., 1. 8. 41.
For, I tell you true, I take it highly t'n snuff to learn how
to entertain gentlefolks of you, at these years.
B. Jonson, Poetaster, ii. 1.
Up to snuff, knowing ; sharp ; wideawake ; not likely to
be deceived. [Slang.]
Lady A., who is now what some call up to snuf.
Straight determines to patch
Up > olandestlne match.
Barhani, Ingoldsby Legends, 1. 295.
Snuff^ (snuf), f. t. [< ME. snuffen, snuff (a can-
dle) (cf. snoffe, the snuff of a candle) ; perhaps
a var. of 'snuppen, 'snoppen, > E. dial, snop,
crop, as cattle do young shoots : see snop, and
cf. »»i/6i.] To crop the snuff of, as a candle;
take off the end of the snuff from.
If it be necessarie in one houre three or four times to
snii^e the candel, it shall not be ouermuch that euery
weeke, at the leaste, once or twice to purge and snuffe the
soule. Ouevara, I.etters (tr. by llellowes, 1577), p. 355.
This candle bums not clear; 'tis I must »nu^ it;
Then out it goes. Shak., Hen. VIII., Ui. 2. 95.
To snuff out, to extinguish by snuffing; hence, figura-
tively, to put an end to suddenly and completely: as,
my hopes were quickly snuffed out.
1'is strange the mind, that very fiery particle.
Should let itself be snuff'd out by an article.
Byron, Don Juan, xi. €0.
To snoff peppert, to take offense. Hatliuell.
Snuff'^ (smif), H. [< ME. snuffe, snoffe, snof; <
snuff'^, «.] 1 . The burning part of a candle- or
lamp-wick, or the part which has been charred
by tne flame, whether burning or not.
The snoffes ben quenched.
Wydif, Ex. XXV. 38 (earlier version).
There lives within the very flame of love
A kind of wick or mu/ that will abate it.
Shak., Hamlet, Iv. 7. 115.
snuff
Uke »nuf» that do offend, we tread them out
Mofanger, Uuke of Milan, v. 1.
2. A candle almost burnt out, or one having a
heavy snuff. [Rare.]
Lamentable ! What,
To hide me from the nidiant sun, and solace
r the dungeon by a snuff?
Shak., Cymbeline, i. a 87.
snuff^ (sn>if ), w. In mining, same as smift.
snuff-bottle (snuf'bot'l), n. A bottle designed
or used to contain snuff.
It is a matter of politeness to pass around the snuff-bot-
tU, just aa their husbands and brothers pass around the
whiskey-tlask. W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 75.
snuff-box (snuf'boka), n. 1. A box for holding
suufl', especially one small enough to be carried
in the pocket, when it was customary to take snuff,
as in the eighteenth century, a snuff-box was a common
Gold SDuff-box with incrusted enamel and an enamel portrait,
i8th century.
present^ whether of good will or ceremony. On this ac-
count, and for personal display, these boxes were often
made of the most costly materials, highly finished por-
traits were set in their lids, and settings of diamonds or
pearls were not unknown. See also cut under niello.
Many a lady has fetched a sigh at the loss of a wig, and
been ruined by the tapping of a muff-box.
Steele, Tatler, No. 151.
2. A puffball: same as devil's snuff-box (whicli
see, under devil). See also Lycoperdon Anato-
mist's snuff-box, the depression foimed on the back <if the
hand at tlie root of the thumb, when tlie thumb is strongly
bent hack by the action of tlie extensor muscles, whose ten-
d.ms then rise in two ridges, the one nearest the borderof the
wrist fcirmed by the two tendons of the extensor inetacarpi
and extensor primi internodii pollicis, and the other formed
hv the tendon of tlie extensor secundi internodii pollicis.
snuff-color (snuf kul'or), n. A cool or yellow-
ish brown, generally of a dark shade.
The doors and windows were painted some sort of snwjT-
cdour. M. W. Savage, Reuben Medlicott, viii. 1.
snuff-dipper (snufdip^^r), n. One who prac-
tises snuff-dipping.
snuff-dipping (snuf'dip"ing), n. A mode of
taking tobacco practised by some women of
the lower class in the southern United States,
consisting in wetting a stick or sort of brush,
putting it into snuff, and rubbing the teeth and
gums with it.
snuff-dishi (snuf' dish), n. A small open dish
to hold snuff.
snuff-dish^ (snuf' dish), n. 1. A dish used to
hold the snuff of the lamps of the tabernacle.
In the authorized version of the Bible this is the render-
ing of a Hebrew word (machtah) elsewhere represented by
'censer' and 'fire-pan.' The same name seems to have
applied both to a dish for carrying live coals to the lUtar
of incense and to a dish used for the snuff of the lamps.
The tnuffdishes thereof shall be of pure gold.
Ex. XXV. 38.
2. A tray to hold the snuff of candles, or to hold
snuffers ; a snuffer-tray.
This night comes home my new sflver snuffe-dish, which
I do give myself for my closet. Pepys, Diary, III. 54.
snuffer' (snuf'er), ». [< snuffl + -ej-l.] 1. One
who snuffs. — 2. A snuffing-pig or porpoise.
snuffer'-^ (snuf '6r), M. [<. snuff ^ + -er^ .'] 1. pi.
An instrument for cropping the snuff of a can-
Silver Snuffers, i8th century.
die, usually fitted with a close box to receive
the burnt snuff and retain the smoke and smell.
Also called pair of snuffers.
You sell snuffers too, if you be remembered.
B. Jonson, Poetaster, ii. 1.
2t. Same as snuff-dish, 2.
gnuffer-dish, snuffer-pan (snuffer-dish, -pan),
n. Same as snuffer-tray.
5738
snuffer-tray (snuf 'er-tra), «. A tray made to
receive the snuffers when not in use.
snuff-headed (snuf'hed"ed),a. Having a snuffy
or reddish-brown head: as, the snuff-Ueadcd
widgeon, the pochard, Fuligtdaferina. [Local,
Eng.]
snumness (snuf'i-nes), n. The state or char-
acter of being snuft'y, in any sense.
snuffing-iront (snuf'ing-i"6rn), n. A pair of
snuffers.
snuffing-pig (snuf'ing-pig), n. A porpoise or
puffiug-pig; a snuffer.
snuffkint (snuf 'kin), n. A muff for the hands.
Cath. Aug., r>.347; Cotgrave. Also snuftkin.
snuffle (snuf 1), V. i. ; pret. and pp. snuffled, ppr.
snuffling. [< LG. snuffeln = D. snuffelen = Sw.
sniijta = Dan. sniivle, snuffle: see snivel, sniffle,
and swM^I.] 1. To breathe hard through the
nose, or through the nose when obstructed;
di'aw the breath noisily on account of obstruc-
tions in the nasal passages; sntiff up mucus
in the nose by short catches of breath ; speak
through the nose : sometimes used, especially
in the present participle, of affected, canting
talk or persons : as, a snuffling fellow.
Some senseless Phillis, in a broken note.
Snuffling at nose, and croaking in his throat.
Dryden, tr. of Persius's Satires, i. 75.
Which ... they would not stick to call, in their snuffling
cant, the judgment of Providence. Scott, Abbot, II. 152.
2. To take offense.
And making a speech on a time to his souldiors all
armed, when they snuffled and became unruly, he threat,
ened that he would betake hiniselfe to a private life
againe unlesse they left their mutiny.
Holland, tr. of Ammianus Marcellinus (1609). (Nares.)
snuffle (snuf'l), «. [< snuffle, u.] 1. A sound
made by the passage of air through the nostrils ;
the audible drawing up of air or of mucus by in-
halation, especially in short catches of breath.
A snort or snuffle. Coleridge. (Imp. Diet.)
2. pi. Troublesome mucous discharge from the
nostrils. Also sniffles.
First the Queen deserts us ; then Princess Royal begins
coughing ; then Princess Augusta gets the snuffles.
Mme. D'Arhlay, Diary, III. 180. (Davies.)
3. A speaking through the nose, especially with
short audible breaths ; an affected nasal twang;
hence, cant.
Snuffler (snuf'ler), n. [< .muffle + -e»-l.] 1.
One who snuffles. See -muffle, v. — 2. One who
makes a pretentious assumption of religion ; a
religious canter.
You know I never was a snuffler; but this sort of life
makes one serious, if one has any reverence at all in one.
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, xliv.
snufflingly (snuf'ling-li), adv. 1. With snuf-
fling; in a snuffling manner.
Nor practize snufflinglit to speake.
Babees Book (E, E. T. S.), p. 293.
2. Cantingly; hypocritically.
snuffman (snuf'man), ». ; pi. snuffmen (-men).
[< snuff^ -t- manl'\ A man who sells snuff.
M. W. Savage, Reuben Medlicott, viii. 1.
snuff-mill (snuf 'mil), M. 1. A mill or machine
for grinding tobacco into the powder known as
snuff. — 2. Same as snuff-box, 2. Also snuff-mull.
snuff-rasp (snuf 'rasp), ?!. A rasp for snuff. See
the quotation under rappee,
A fine snuff rasp of ivory, given me by Mrs. St. John for
Dingley, and a large roll of tobacco, which she must hide,
or cut shorter out of modesty.
Swift, Journal to Stella, Oct. 23, 1711.
snuff-spoon (snuf'spon), »(. A spoon, some-
times of ivory, used to take snuff out of a snuff-
box or -dish. Baker, An Act at Oxford, iii.
snuff-taker (snuf 't!i'''ker),«. 1. Onewhotakes
snuff, or inhales it into the nose. — 2. The surf-
scoter or surf -duck, (Edemia (Felionetta) per-
spicillata : so called because the variegated col-
ors of the beak suggest a careless snuff-taker's
nose. See cut under Felionetta. G. Trumbull,
1888. [Connecticut.]
snuff-taking (snuf'ta'''king), n. The habit of
taking snuff.
snuffy (snuf'i), o. [< sntt^l + -2/1.] 1. Resem-
bling snuff in color, smell, or other character.
— 2. Soiled with snuff, or smelling of it.
Georgius Secundus was then alive —
Snuffy old drone from the German hive.
0. W. Holmes, One-Hoss Shay.
3. Offended ; displeq,sed.
snuftkint (snuft'kin), n. Same as snnffkin.
snug (snug), a. and to. [E. dial, also ,inog and
snig ; < Icel. snoggr, smooth, short (noting hair,
wool, grass, etc.), = OSw. snijgg, smooth,
cropped, trim, neat, Sw. snygg, trim, neat, gen-
teel, = Norw. snogg, short, quick, = ODan.
snuggle
snog, snyg, snok, neat, tidy, smart, comfortable;
from the verb seen in Icel. Norw. Sw. dial, snik-
ka, cut, >E. snick'^, snig'^, cut, notch: see snick^.
The MD. snuggher, snoggher, slender, sprightly,
D. snugger, sprightly, can hardly be related.]
1. rt. 1. Trim; compact ; especially, protected
from the weather; tight; comfortable.
Captain Read . . . ordered the Carpenters to cut down
our Quarter Deck, to make the Ship snug, and the fitter
for Sailing. Dumpier, Voyages, I. 380.
They spy'd at last a Country Farm,
Where all was snug and clean and warm.
Prior, The Ladle.
O 'tis a snug little island !
A right little, tight little island !
T. Dibdin, The Snug Little Island.
2. Fitting close, but not too close ; of just the
size to accommodate the person or thing con-
tained: as, a smig coat; a snug fit. — 3. Lying
close ; closely, securely, and comfortably placed
or circumstanced: as, the baby lay snug in its
cradle.
Two briefless barristers and a titheless parson ; the for-
mer are now lords, and the latter is a snug prebendary.
Whipple, Ess. and Rev., I. 10.
4. Close-concealed ; not exposed to notice.
Did I not see you, rascal, did I not.
When you lay snug to snap young Damon's goats?
Dryden, tr. of Virgil's Pastorals, iii. 24.
Snug 's the Word ; I shrug and am silent.
Congreve, Way of the World, i. 9.
5. Cozy; agreeable owing to exclusion of dis-
agreeable circumstances and persons; also,
loosely, agreeable in general.
There is a very snug little dinner to-day at Brompton-
Sydney Smith, To Lady Holland.
Duluth has a cool salubrious summer, and a sriug win-
ter climate. Harper's Mag., LXXVI. 662.
As snug as a hug in a rug, in a state of comfort due to
cozy surroundings. [Colloq.]
I find it in 1769 in the comedy of "The Stratford Jubi-
lee " (ridiculing Garrick's vagary as it was called), Act II.
sc. i. p. 32. An Irish captain says of a rich widow, " If
she has the raopus's, I'll have her, as snug ax a bug in a
rug." F. J. FumimU, N. and Q., 7th ser., VII. 126.
II, TO. 1. In »«aoA., a projection or abutment
which holds firmly or binds by a wedge-like ac-
tion another piece in contact with it, or which
limits the motion of a part in any direction. —
2. In a steam-engine, one of the catches on
the eccentric pulley and intermediate shaft, by
means of which the motion of the shaft is trans-
mitted through the eccentric to the slide-valves.
E.H. Knight.
snug (snug), adv. [< snug, a.] Snugly.
For a Guinea they may do it Snug, and without Noise.
Quoted in Ashton's Social Life in Reign of Queen
[Anne, I. 36.
snug (snug), V. ; pret. and pp. snugged, ppr.
snugging. [< snug, a.] I. intrans. To move so
as to lie close ; snuggle : often with up and to :
as, a child snugs (up) to its bedfellow ; also, to
move so as to be close.
I will snug close.
JUiddleton, Blurt, Master-Constable, iv. 3.
The Summer Clouds, snugging in laps of Flowers.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, iL 6.
II. trans. 1. To make smooth and compact ;
in rope-manuf., to finish (rope) by rubbing down
the fuzzy projecting fibers. Also slick and finish.
E. n. Knight. — 2. To put in a snug position;
place snugly; bring or move close; snuggle:
often reflexive.
You must know, sir, every woman carries in her hand
a stove with coals in it, which, when she sits, she snugs
under her petticoats.
Goldsmith, To Rev. T. Contarine (1754).
To snug up, to make snug and trim ; put in order.
She had no sister to nestle with her, and snug her up.
S. Judd, Margaret, L 17.
The tent was shut^ and everything snugged up.
The Century, XXXVI. 617.
snugger (snug'6r), )!. [< snug, v., + -er^.'] A
device for imparting to twine a imifonn thick-
ness and a smooth and dense surface. E. H.
Knight.
snuggery (snug'er-i), ?i. ; pi. snuggeries (-iz).
[< snug + -ery.l A snug or warm and com-
fortable place, as a small room.
"Vere are they?" said .Sam. ... "In the snuggery,"
rejoined Mr. Weller. "Catch the red-nosed man agoin'
any vere but vere the liquors is ; not he, Samivel, not he, "
Dickens, Pickwick, xlv.
Knowing simply that Mr. Farebrother was a bachelor,
he had thought of being ushered into a snuggery, where
the chief furniture would jirobably be books.
George Eliot, Middlemarch, xvii.
snuggle (snug'l),?).; -pret. and pp. snuggled, ■ppr.
snuggling. [Freq. of snug.] I. intrans. To
move one way and the other to get close to
snuggle
something or some one ; lie close for warmth
or from affection ; cuddle ; nestle.
We were friends in a minute — young Newcome muff-
gling by my side, tiis fatiier opposite.
Thackeray, Newcomea, L
n. trans. To bring close for comfort or for
affection; cuddle; nestle.
snogify (snug'i-fi), v. t. [< snug + -i-/y.] To
make snug. [Ludicrous.]
Coleridpe, I devoutly wish that p'ortune, who has made
sport witli you so long, may play one freak more, throw
you into Lx>nUou, or some spot near it, and there snwjify
you for life. Lamb, Xo Coleridge.
snnglyisnug'li), adv. In a snug manner; close-
ly : comfortably.
snugness (snug'nes), n. The state or character
of beiuf; snug, in any sense.
snosht (sniish), n. [Also snish, sneesh; < Dan.
Sw. sntis, snuff (>Ban. snuse, Sw. snusa, snuff,
talie snuff); alcin to sneeze. Hence sneeshing,
partly confused with siwe^ing.'] Snuff.
Whispering over their New Uinnets and B<jries, with
their Hands in their Pocket«, if freed from their Sniuh
Box. (Quoted in AsMon't Social Life in Reign uf
[Queen Anne, I. 229.
San8ht(snush),v. <. l<snush,n.'] To snuff; use
as snuff.
Then, filling his short pipe, he blows a blast,
And does the burning weed to ashes waste.
Which, when 'tis cool, he mugha up his nose.
That he no part of his delight may lose.
Tom Brotm, Works, I. 117. (Daviet.)
gny (sni), n. [Perhaps < leel. sniia = Sw. Dan.
SHO, turn, twist. Cf. slue^.'] The Une or curve
given to plankingput upon the curving surfaces
at the bow or stem of a ship ; the upward curv-
ing of the planlring at the bow or stem. Some-
times called spiling.
Snybt, f. t. An obsolete spelling of snib.
Buying (snl'ing). n. [Verbal n. of "»«y, v.: see
sny, n.] In ship-building, curved planlcs, placed
ec^ewise, to work in the bows or stem of a
ship.
snypet, n. An obsolete spelling of sni]>e.
Snytet, ". and r. An obsolete spelling of anite^,
snitc'^.
80* (so), adr. and conj. [Also Sc. sae, sa; < ME.
80, soo, sa, a contraction (with loss of tr, as also
in the mod. form, as pronoimced, of Uco, < AS.
twa) of swo, svca, sua, squa, zuo, < AS. mod = OS.
so = OFries. so, sd = SCD. soo, D. zoo = MLO.
so, LG. so = OHG. MHG. so = Icel. md, later
svo, svo, so = Sw. sd = Dan. saa, so, = Ooth. swa,
so. sire, so, just as, swa swe, just as: orig. an
oblique case of a pronominal stem "swa, one's
own, oneself, = L. suns, one's own (his, her, its,
their), = Gr. of (•irrtf), his, her. its, = Skt. sra,
one's own, self, own. Cf. L. reflex »e, Goth, sik,
etc. (see «e3, sere^, etc.). The element so exists
in the compound also, contracted as, and in such
(Sc. sic, etc.), orig. a compound ; also in the pro-
nouns and adverbs whoso, whosoever, whatso,
whatsoever, wheresoever, etc. See these words,
esp. also, a»i, and such.] L adv. 1. In, of, or
to that degree ; to an amount, extent, propor-
tion, or intensity specified, implied, or under-
stood : used in various constructions, (o) In cor-
relation with the oonjanction oj (or In former use so) in-
trrKluclng a cUiiie, or some part of a cUuse understood,
limiting the degree of a preceding adjective or adverb.
Be . . . seruisabul to the simple so lu to the rlche.
WiUiain qf PaIrmt(E. E. T. .H.), 1. SSS.
So treatablle speakjmR a$ possible thon can.
BabeaBooHZ. E. T. 8.), p. 342.
Look I K> pale. Lord Dorset, <u the rest!
SItat., Elch. ni., U. 1. 88.
Within an honre after his arrlvall, he caused his Drob-
man to strip him naked, and shave bis bead and beard so
bare <u his band. Capt. John Smith, True Travels, L SI.
There are so many consdousnesses as there are sensa-
tions, emotions, thoughts. Mauddty, Hind, XIL 4ta
In the same sense to sometimes modifies a vert>.
I loved mjr Country so as only they
Who love a mother fit to die for may.
Lowell, To 0. W. Curtla
lb) With an adjective, adverb, or verb only, the conse-
quent being omitted or ignored, and the degree being fixed
by previous statements or by the circumstances of the
case.
When the kynge Ban saugh hir ao affraled be asked hir
what her eyied. Merlin (K. E. T. 8.), Ul. 416.
Bot Crist, that iuuie Is to him like,
Wslde no3t late his dere relike,
Squa notcful thing, soua lang be hid.
UUy Hood (E. E T. S.X p. 106.
Give thanks you have lived so long.
Shot., Tempest, I. 1. 27.
Thon art so Becravated, and so Keperriwig'd.
Congme, Way of the Worlii, ill. 16.
<e) Followed by that, at, or but. Introducing a clause or an
infinitive phrase noting result
5739
So mekill pepull is comen to towne
That we can nowhare herbered be.
York J'lays, p. 112.
He raised a sigh so piteous and profound
As it did seem to shatter all his bulk.
Shak., Hamlet, ii. 1. 94.
Of her strict guardian to bribe
So mucb admittance as to speak to me.
B. Jonson, Poetaster, iv. 6.
She complied [by singing] in a manner so exquisitely pa-
thetic as moved me. Goldsmith, Vicar, xxiv.
I cannot sink
So far — far down, but I shall know
Thy voice, and answer from below.
Tennyson, My Life is Full of Weary Days.
In this sense sometimes followed by a phrase or clause
of result without any connective.
He cust hem alle, so fayn he was.
And seide, *'deogracia8."
King Horn (E. E. T. S.), p. 8S.
No woman's heart
So big to hold so much. SAa*., T. N., iL 4. 99.
I am not yet so powerful
To meet him in the field ; he has under him
The flower of all the empire and the strength.
Fletcher (and anotherl). Prophetess, i. 1.
The rest he as their Market Clarke set the price him-
selfe, how they should sell ; so he had Inchanted these
poore soules, being their prisoner.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, I. 16S.
(dt) Of or to the following degree, extent, amount, etc. ;
thus.
This other werldes elde is so,
A thusent ger (years) seuenti and two.
Oenesit and Exodus (E. E. T. S.X L 705.
2. In that manner; in such manner (as the con-
text indicates), (o) In the manner explained by a
correlative as (or so or how) and a subordinate clause.
Yit as myne auctor spak, so wolde I speke.
Palladius, Uusbondrie (E. £. T. ».), p. 27.
Like as a father pltieth his children, so the Lord pitieth
them that fear him. Ps. cUl. IS.
Look, how a bird lies tangled In a net ;
So fasten'd in her arms Adonis lies.
Shak., Venus and Adonis, L 68.
Sae a* he wan It, sac will he keep it
Sant <if (As Outlaw Murray (Child's Ballads, VL 28).
(() In the following manner ; as follows ; thus.
Ml Ihord sanyn [read saynt\ Ion ine . . . the apocalipse
sua xayth thet heyse; a best tbet com out of the ze, won-
derllche ydlst, and to moche dreduol.
AyenbiU of Inwyt (E. K T. S.X p. 14.
(c) In the manner previously noted or understood.
Why gab ye me twa
And feynes swUk fantassy?
ror* Flays, p. 106.
My horse Is gone.
And tls yoor fanlt I am bereft him to.
Shak., Venus and Adonis, L 381.
So spake the aermplf Abdlel. MOUm, P. L., v. 896.
.Still gath'ring force. It smokes : and, urg'd amain.
Whirls, leaps, and thunders down impetuous to the
plain ;
Therestops— .So Hector. Pope, Iliad, xia 199.
The English people . . . will not bear to be governed by
the unchecked power of the sovereign, nor ought they to
be 10 governed. Macaulay, Sir William Temple.
(d) In such a manner ; followed by that or oj; with a claose
or phrase of result
So run, that ye may obtaiti. 1 Cor. ix. 24.
I wUl so plead
That yon aball say my cunning drift excels.
5*0*., T. O. of V„ iv. 2. 82.
I might perhaps leave something so written to after-
timea a* they should not willingly let it die.
Milton, Church-(tovemment, it, Int
3. By this or that means; by virtue of or be-
cause of this or that; for that reason; there-
fore; on those terms or conditions: often with
a conjunctive quality (see II.).
And she remembered the myschef of hir fader and
moder . . . and to ther was grete sorowe and grete Ire
athlrharte. lfer«n(E. E. T. a.X 1. 9.
Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the Lord : ... so It
shall be well unto thee. Jcr. xxxvili. 20,
Take heed how you in thought oRend ;
So mind and body both will mend.
Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess, v. 2.
As the Mahometans have a great regard for the memory
of Alexander, so there have been travellers who relate that
they pretended to have his body in some mosque; but at
present they have no account of it
Poeoeke, Description of the East, I. 4.
Me mightier transports move and thrill ;
So keep I fair thro' faith and prayer
A virgin heart in work and will.
Tennyson, Sir Oalahad.
4. In a Mice manner, degree, proportion, etc. ;
correspondingly; liltewise: with a correlative
clause (usually with as) expressed or under-
stood.
At thy days, to shall thy strength be. Deut xxxiii. 26.
A harsh Mother may bring forth sometimes a mild
Daughter ; So Fear begets Love. Howell, Letters, U. 6S.
A* \ mixed more with the people of the country of
middle rank, to I had a better opportunity of observing
their humours and customs than In any other place.
Poeoeke, Description of the East II. t iie.
BO
6. In such way as aforesaid ; in the aforesaid
state or condition ; the same: a pronominal ad-
verb used especially for the sake of avoiding
repetition.
Thanne songe I that songe and so did many hundreth.
Piers Plowman (B), xix. 206.
Well may the kynge hyni a-vaunt that yef ye lyve to
age ye shuU be the wisest lady of the worlde ; and so be
ye now, as I beleve. Merlin (E. E. T. S.X iii. 501.
Thou may'st to Court, and Progress to and fro ;
Oh that thy captiy'd Master could do so .'
Tr. from Ovid, quoted in Howell's Letters, I. vl. 60.
One particular tribe of Arabs, called Beni Koreish, had
the care of the CJaba, for so the round tower of Mecca was
called. Bruce, Source of the Nile, I. 511.
Sadder than owl-songs or the midnight blast
Is that portentous phrase, "I told you so,"
Utter'd by friends, those prophets of the past
Byron, Don Juan, xiv. 6<X
Hy lord was ill, and my lady thought herself so.
Macaulay, in Trevelyan, I. 247.
" .Shakespeare dramatised stories which had previously
appeared in print, it is true,' observed Nicholas.— "Mean-
ing Bill, Sir?" said the literary gentleman. "So he did.
Bill was an adapter, certainly, so he was — and very well
he adapted too— considering."
Dickens, Nicholas Nickleby, xlvUL
6. As aforesaid; precisely as stated; in very
truth; in accordance with fact; verily.
She tells me that the Queen's sickness is the spotted
fever ; that she was as full of the spots as a leopard : which
Is very strange that it should be no more known ; but per-
haps it is not so. Pepye, Diary, II. 49.
But if it were all so — if our advice and opinion had thus
been asked, it would not alter the line of our duty.
D. Webster, Speech, April, 1826.
7. Such being the case; accordingly; there-
fore ; well, then : used in continuation, with a
conjunctive quality.
And so in May, when all true hearts rejoice, they stale
out of the castle, without staying so much as for their
breakfast. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, U.
Why, if it please you, take it for your labour ;
And so, good morrow, servant
Shak., T. G. of V., ii. 1. 140.
So, when he was come in, and sat down, they gave him
something to drink. Bunyan, Hlgrim's Progress, p. 118.
So to this hall full quickly rode the King.
Tennyson, Holy OraiL
8. In an indefinite degree; extremely: as, you
are so kind; we were so delighted. [Chiefly
colloq.]
The archbishops and bishops . . . commanded to give
a particular recommendation to all parsons for the ad-
vancement of this so pious a work.
S. and Q., 7th ser., IV. 464.
9. Then; thereafter. [Rare.]
In the morning my lute an hour, and so to my office.
Pepyt, Diary, Feb. 4, 16«a
10. An abbreviation of so be it : implying ac-
quiescence, assent, or approbation.
And when It 's writ tor my sake read it over.
And if it please you, so; if nut, why, so.
Shak.,T. O. of v., 11. 1. 137.
If he be ruln'd, so; we know the worst then.
Fletcher, Loyal Subject, ii. 5.
111 leave him to the mercy of your search ; if you can
take him, tol B. Jonton, Every Man in his Humour, iii. 1.
11. An abbreviation of is it sot as. He leaves
us to-day. SoT [CoUoq.] — 12. In assevera-
tion, and frequently vrith an ellipsis: as, I de-
clare I did not, so help me God !
Kever, Paulina ; to be blest my spirit I
Shak., W. T., v. 1. 71.
13. As an indefinite particle: Ever; at all:
now used only in composition, as in whoso,
whosoever, whatsoever, etc.
Now wol I telle the ray tene wat so tide after.
WiUiam qf Paleme (E. E. T. S.X 1. 607.
Confesse the to some frere.
He shal a-aoOe the thus sonc how so thow euere wynne hit
Piers Plowman (t'X xlU. 7.
And 80 forth. See/ortAl, adc — And SO On. Same as
andso/ortA.— By so (that)t. (a) Provided that.
By so thow riche were, baue thow no conscience
How that thow come to good. .
Piers Plowman (C), xili. 6.
(6) In proportion as.
For the more a man may Aoby to that he do hit,
The more is he worth and worthi of wyse and goode
ypreised. I^iers Plowman (C'X xi. 309.
Ever BO. See ewr. — In BO far as. See/orl, odu.— Not
80 much as. i^ee much, adt.~ Or BO, or about thus ; or
thereabouts: or sonu'thing of that kind: now used par-
ticularly with reference to number.
She went forth early this morning with a waiting-woman
and a page or so. Beau, and Fl., Woman-Hater, ii. 1.
I will take occasion of sending one of my suits to the
tailor's, to have the pocket repaired, or so.
B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, 1. 1.
A little sleep, once In a week or so.
Sheridan, The Duenna, L 2.
Quite 80. See oioCel.- Bo aa. (at) Such aa.
so
Thou art as tyrannous, so a* thou art.
As those whose beauties proudly make them cruel.
Shak., Sonnets, cxxxi
(ft) So long as ; provided that.
O, never mind ; go as you get them off [the stage], I'll
answer for it the audience won't care how.
Sheridaii, The Critic, ii. 2.
He could play 'em a tune on any sort of pot you please,
so as it was iron or block tin. Dickens, Bleak House, xxvi.
(e) With the purpose or result that ; to that degree that :
now followed by an infinitive phrase, or, in dialectal use,
a clause of purpose or result.
And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as
snow ; «o OS no fuller on earth can white tliem.
Mark ix. 3.
D'ye s'pose ef Jeff giv him a lick,
Ole Hiek'ry 'd tried his head to sof n
So 's 't wouldn't hurt thet ebony stick
Thet 's made our side see stars so of'n ?
Lowell, Biglow Papers, 2d ser., vii.
So called, commonly called ; commonly so styled : ofteu
a saving clause introduced to indicate that the writer or
speaker does not accept the name, either because he re-
f^rds it as erroneous or misleading, or because he wishes
for his particular purpose to modify or improve the defi-
nition : as, this liberty, so called, is only license ; one of
the three so-called religions of China.
He advocates the supremacy of Human Law against the
so-called doctrine of Divine Right.
Seidell, Table-Talk, p. 10.
Sofarfortll. See /ar-/ortA, '3.— So long. Seeso-long.—
So manv. See ?n«nyi, a So much, (a) To that amount;
just to tnat extent: as, our remonstrances were so much
wasted effort, (b) Such a quantity regarded indefinitely
or diatributively : as, so much of this kind and so much of
that. Compare so many, under manyl, a,
Ef this 'ere milkin' o' the wits.
So much a month, warn't givin' Natur* fits.
Lowell, Biglow Papers, 2d ser., vi.
So mucll as, however much.
So mtich as you admire the beauty of his verse, his prose
is full as good. Pope.
So that, (a) To the end that ; in order that ; with the
purpose or intention that ; as, these measures were taken
so that he might escape, (b) With the effect or result that.
And when the ark . . . came into the camp, all Israel
shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again.
1 Sam. iv. 5.
The cider is such an enormous crop that it is sold at
ten shillings per hogshead ; so that a human creature may
lose his reason for a penny.
Sydiiey Smith, To the Countess Grey,
(c) Provided that ; in case that ; if.
Poor Queen ! so that thy state might be no worse,
I would my skill were subject to thy curse.
Shak., Rich. II., lii. 4. 102.
It [a project] involves the devotion of all my energies,
. . . but that is nothing, so that it succeeds.
Dickens, Bleak House, iv.
So SO, only thus (Implying but an ordinary degree of ex-
cellence): only tolerably; not remarkably. [CoUoq.]
She is a mighty proper maid, and pretty comely, but so
so; but hath a most pleasing tone of voice, and speaks
lumdsomely. Pepys, Diary, IV. 129.
Dr. Taylor [Johnson's old schoolfellow] read the service
[at Dr. Johnson's funeral], but so so.
Dr. S. Parr, quoted in N. and Q., 7th ser., X. 274.
So to say, so to speak, to use or borrow that expres-
sion ; speaking figuratively, by analogy, or in approximate
terms ; as, a moral monstrosity, so to speak.
The habits, the manners, the bye-play, so to speak, of
those picturesque antiques, the pensioners of Greenwich
(College? D. JerrM, Men of Character, II. 166.
The huge original openings are thus divided, so to say,
into two open stories. The Century, XXXV. 705.
So weU ast, as well as ; in the same way as.
The rest overgrowne with trees, which, so well as the
bushes, were so overgrowne with Vines we could scarce
passe them. Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, 1. 106.
Than sot, than something indicated or signified ; than
that.
Jtane contemner dbs te? I, am I so little set by of thee :
yea, make you no more account of me than so?
Terence in Ewjlissh (1614). (Hares.')
=SjnL 7. Wherefore, Accordingly. See therefore.
II. conj. It. Ill, of, or to what degree, extent,
amount, intensity, or the like; as: used with
or without the correlative adverb so or as, in
connecting subordinate with principal clauses.
See a«l, II.
He was brigt so the glas.
He was whit so the flur.
Rose red was his colur.
King Horn (E. E. T. S.), p. 1.
Bo Bhalt thow come to a court as deer so the Sonne.
Piers Plowman (0), viii. 232.
2f. In the manner that ; even as; as.
The so wurth (wasl ligt so god [God] it bad.
Genesis and Exodus (E. E. T. S.), I. 67.
Wary so water in wore [weir].
Alytoun, I. 38. (T. Wright's Specimens of Lyric Poetry.)
Alias ! thi lovesnm eyghen to
Loketh so man doth on his fo.
Sir Orj>heo (ed. Lalng), 1. 74. (Balliwell.)
3. Insuch a manner that; so that: followed by
a clause of pvirpose or result.
Thanne seide I to my-self so Pacfence it herde.
Piers Plowman (B), xlii. 64.
5740
4. Provided that; on condition that; in case
that.
"At sowre preyere," quod Pacyence tho, "so no man
displese hym." Piers Plowman (ii), xiii. 135.
And, so ye wil me now to wyve take
As ye han sworn, than wol I yive yow leve
To sleen me. Chaucer, Good Women, I. 1319.
Or any other pretty invention, so it had been sudden.
B. Jonsoii, Cynthia's Revels, iii. 1.
Soon sot, as soon as.
Tile child him answerde
Sone so he hit herde.
King Uom (E. E. T. S.), p. 6.
Sone so he wist
That I was of Wittis houa and with his wyf dame Studye.
Piers Plowman (B), x. 226.
SO^ (so), interj. [The adv. so used elliptieally :
'stand, hold, keep, etc., so.''] 1. Go quietly!
gently! easy now f be still : often used in quiet-
ing a restless animal. Sometimes spelled soli.
The cheerful milkmaid takes her stool.
And sits and milks in the twilight cool.
Saying, "So! so, boss! so! so!"
J. T. Trowbridge, Farm- Yard Song.
2. Naut., a direction to the helmsman to keep
the ship steady: as, steady, so! steady!
SO^t, «• See soc.
S. o. In exchange transactions, an abbreviation
of seller's option. See seller'^.
soat, n. Same as soe.
soak (sok), V. [< ME. soTcen, soak, suck, < AS.
soman, soak (AS. Leechdoms, ii. 252, 1. 11 ; iii.
14, 1. 17), lit. suck, a secondaiy form of sucan
(pp. socen), suck: see suck.] I, intrans. 1. To
lie in and become saturated with water or some
other liquid; steep.
Sokyn yn lycure (as thyng to be made softe, or other
cawsys ellys). Prompt. Parv., p. 463.
The farmer who got his hay in before the recent rains
rejoices over his neighbours whose crop lies soaking over
many acres.
Mortimer Collins, Thoughts in my Garden, I. 6.
2. To pass, especially to enter, as a liquid,
through pores or interstices; penetrate thor-
oughly by saturation : followed by in or through.
That all the tears that thy poor eyes let fall
May run into that sink, and soaking in
Drown the lamenting fool in sea-salt tears.
SAai., Tit. And., iii. 2. 19.
A composition . . . hard as marble, and not to be soked
through hy water. Sandys, Travailes, p. 231.
3t. To flow.
The sea-breezes and the currents that ww* down between
Africa and Brazil. Dampier, Voyages, II. iii. 8.
4. To drink intemperately and habitually, es-
pecially strong drink; booze; be continually
under the influence of liquor.
You do nothing but soak with the guests all day long ;
whereas, if a spoonful of liquor were to cure me of a fever,
I never touch a drop. QoldSTnith, Vicar, xxi.
5. To become drained or dry. Compare soal;
V. t, 7. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] — 6. To sit
over the fire absorbing the heat. [Prov. Eng.]
Hence — 7. To receive a prolonged baking;
bake thoroughly: said of bread. [Southern
U.S.]
II. trans. 1. To cause to lie immersed in a
liquid until thoroughly saturated ; steep : as, to
soak rice in water; to soak a sponge.
Many of our princes — woe the while ! —
Lie drown'd and soak'd in mercenai-y blood.
Shak., Hen. V., iv. 7. 79.
2. To flood; saturate; drench; steep.
Their land shall be soaked with blood. Isa. xxxiv. 7.
Winter soaks the fields. Cowper, Task, i. 215.
3. To take up by absorption; absorb through
pores or other openings; suck in, as a liquid
or other fluid: followed by in or t(p.
Ros. Take you me for a sponge, my lord ?
Ham. Ay, sir, that soaks up the king's countenance, his
rewards, his authorities. Shak., Hamlet, iv. 2. 16.
The thirsty earth soaks up the rain.
Cowley, Anacreontiques, ii.
4. Hence, to drink; especially, to drink im-
moderately; guzzle.
Scarce a Ship goes to China but the Men come home fat
with soaking this Liquor [Arrack], and bring store of Jars
of it home with them. Dampier, Voyages, I. 419.
Her voice is as cracked as thine, O thou beer-«ooArtn,<7
Renowner 1 Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Ixvi.
5. To penetrate, work, or accomplish by wet-
ting thoroughly : often with through.
The rivulet beneath soaked its way obscurely through
wreaths of snow. Scott.
6t. To make soft as by steeping ; hence, to en-
feeble; enervate.
And furth with all she cnme to the kyng.
Which was febyll and sokyd with sekenesse.
Generydes (E. E. T. S.), I. 284.
so-and-so
7. To suck dry; exhaust; drain. [Kare.]
His feastings, wherein he was only sumptuous, could
not but soak his exchequer. Wotton.
8. To bake thoroughly : said of the lengthened
baking given, in particular, to bread, so that
the cooking may be complete. [Prov. Eng. and
U. S.] — 9. To "put in soak"; pawn; pledge:
as, he soaked his watch for ten dollars. [Slang.]
—To soak or soak up bait, to consume much bait witfr
out taking the hook, as fish. [Fishermen's slang.]
soak (sok), H. [< suak, v.] 1. A soaking, in
any sense of the verb. — 2. Specifically, a drink-
ing-bout ; a spree.
When a .Southron intends to have a soak, he takes the
bottle to his bedside, goes to bed, and lies there till he
gets drunk.
Parsons's Tour Among the Planters. (BartleU.)
3. That in which anything is soaked ; a steep.
A soak or steep for seeds. New Amer. Farm Book, p. 58.
4. One who or that which soaks, (a) A land-
spring. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] (&) A tippler; a hard
drinker. [Colloq.]
5. An over-stocking, with or without a foot,
worn over the long stocking for warmth or pro-
tection from dirt. Compare boot-hose, stirnip-
hose — To put in soak, to put in pawn ; pawn ; pledge:
as, io put one's rings in soak. [Slang.]
SOakage (so'kilj), n. [< soak + -age.] The act
of soaking ; also, that which soaks ; the amount
of fluid absorbed by soaking.
The entire counti-y from Gozerajup to Cassala is a dead
flat. . . . There is no drainage upon this pei-fect level ;
thus, during the rainy season, the soakage actually melts
the soil. Sir S. W. Baker, Heart of Africa, i.
It shall be rulable to allow soakage to cover the moisture
absorbed by the package from its contents as follows, etc.
New York Produce Exchange Report, 1888-9, p. 306.
soak-barrel (s6k'bar"el), n. A barrel in which
fresh fish are put to soak before salting.
soaker (so'ker), «. [< soak + -cj-l.] (5ne who
or that which soaks, (a) That which steeps, wets, or
drenches, as a rain.
Well, sir, suppose it's a soaker in the morning, . . .
then may be, after all, it comes out a fine day.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I. 314.
(6) A habitual drinker ; one accustomed to drink spirituous
liquors to excess ; a toper. [Colloq.]
By a good natur'd man is usually meant neither more
nor less than a good fellow, a painful, able, and laborious
soaker. South, Sermons, VI. iii
The Sun 's a good Pimple, an honest soaker; he has a Cel-
lar at your Antipodes. Congreve, Way of the World, iv. 10.
soak-hole (sok'hol), n. A space marked off in
a stream, in which sheep are washed before
shearing. [Australia.]
Parallel poles, resting on forks driven into the bed of
the waterhole, were run out on the surface of the stream,
forming square soak-holes, a long narrow lane leading to
the dry land. A. C. Grant, Bush Life in Queensland, I. 82.
soaking (so'king), n. [< ME. sokynge; verbal
n. of soak, v.] 1. A steeping; a wetting; a
drenching.
Sokynge, or longe lyynge in lycure. Infusio, inbibitura.
Prompt. Parv., p. 463.
Few in the ships escaped a good soaking.
Cook, Second Voyage, i. 1.
2. Intemperate and continual drinking. Com-
pare soak, V. i., 4. [Colloq.]
SOakingly (s6'king-li), adv. As in soaking;
hence, little by little ; gradually.
A mannes enemies in battail are to be ouercomed with
a carpenter's squaring axe — that is to say, soakingly, one
pece after an other.
UdalZ, tr. of Apophthegms of Erasmus.
SOaking-pit (s6'king-pit), n. A pit in which
steel ingots are placed immediately after east-
ing, in order that the mass may acquire a uni-
form temperature, the interior of such ingots
remaining for some time after easting too hot
to roll satisfactorily. These pits are generally known
as " G jei-s soaking-pits, from the name of the metallurgist
who first introduced them into use.
SOaky (so'ki), a. [Also dial, socky; < soak + -y'^.
Cf. soggy.] 1. Moist on the surface; steeped
in water; soggy. — 2. Effeminate. Balliwell.
[Prov. Eng.]
SOam^ (som), n. [Origin obscure.] 1. A chain
for attaching the leading horses to a plow. It
is supported by a hanger beneath the clevis, m order to
preserve the line of draft and avoid pulling down the nose
of the plow beam. E. H. Knight.
2. A short rope used to pull the tram in a coal-
mine. HaJHwell. [Prov. Eng.]
S0am2 (som), n. [A var. of seani^.] A horse-
load, nalliwell. fProv. Eng.]
so-and-so (s6'aud-sd), n. Some one or some-
thing not definitely named : commonly repre-
senting some person or thing in an imaginary
or supposed instance : as, Mrs. So-a7id-.io; was
he wrong in doing so-and-so f Compare sol,
adv., 5.
soap
soap (sop), n. [Early mod. E. also sopc ; < ME.
sope, soope, sape, < AS. sdpe = JID. sepc, D. :eip
= MLG. sepe, LG. scpe = OHG. seifa, seipha,
seipfa, soap, MHG. G- seife, G. dial, seipfe =
leel. sdpa = Sw. sdpa = Dan. s/f^k" (Icel., etc.,
< AS. ), soap ; c£. L. sapo, pomade for coloring
the hair (Pliny: see def. 2), LL. ML. soap (>
Gr. odTui' = It. saponc = Sp. jabon = Pg. nabao
= Ft. sabo = F. savon (> Turk, sabun) = W. se-
bon = Ir. siabunn = Gael, siopunn, soap), prob.
< Teut., the true L. cognate being prob. sebum,
tallow, grease (see sebum, sebaceous). Cf. Finn.
saippio, < Teut. The word, if orig. Teut., is
prob. identical with AS. sap = OHG. seifa,
resin, and connected with AS. 'sipaii, sipiaii.
LG. sipen, MHG. si/en, trickle, and perhaps with
AS. ssep, etc., sap: see seep, sipe, ««/)!.] 1. A
chemical compound in common domestic use
for washing and cleansing, made by the union
of certain fatty acids with a salifiable base.
Fat« and fixed oils consist of fatty acids combined with
glycerin. On treating them with a strong base. like pot-
ash or soda, glycerin is set free, and the fatty acid com-
bines with the strong base and forms a soap. Soap is of
two kinds — tolubie soap, in which the base is potash, soda,
or ammonia, and insolubU soap, whose base is an earth or
a metallic oxid. Only the soluble soaps dissolve readily
In water and have detergent ({iialitiea. Insoluble soapa
are used only in pharmacy for liniments or plasters. Of
the fats, stearates make the hardest, oleates the softest
soaps ; and of the bases, soda makes the hardest and least
soluble, and potash the softest and most soluble. Per-
fumes are occasionallr added, or various coloring matters
are stirred in while the soap is semi-fluid. White soaps
are generally made of olire-oil and soda. Common house-
hold soaps are made chiefly of soda and tallow. Yellow
soap is composed of tallow, rosin, and soda, to which some
palnM>n Is occasionally added, (gee ronn-«oap.) Mottled
soap Is made by simply adding mineral and other colors
during the manufacture of ordinary hard soap. Marine
soap, known as Mlt-jcaUr »oap, which has the property
of dissolving as well in salt water as In fresh. Is made of
palm- or cocoanut-oil and soda- 8oft soaps are ma^lc
' with potash, instead of soda, and whale-, seal-, or olive-oil,
or the oils of linseed, hemp-seed, rape-seed, et«., with the
addition of a little taillow. Excellent soaps are made from
palm-oil and soda. A solution of soap In alcohol, with
camphor and a little eaaeutial oil added to scent It, forms
a soft uintment called opodtidoe. now stiperaeded l^ soap-
liniment, a similar prepantion, which is liquid Medi-
cinal soap, when pure, is prepared from canstic soda and
either olive- or almond-oiL It Is chiefly employed to form
pills of a gently aperient antacid action.
2t. A kind of pomade for coloring the hair,
[Only as a translation of the I^tin.] — 3.
Smooth words; persuasion; flattery: more of-
ten called soft soap. [Slang.]
Be and I are great chums, and a little Xj/t toap wOl go
a long way with hira.
T. llwjhrt, Tom Brown at Oxford, xxxlil. (DaHa.)
4. Money secretly used for political purposes.
[Political slang, iJ. S.]
Soap. — Originally used by the Republican managers dnr-
ing the campaign of 1880, as the cipher for "rooiier" In
their telegraphic dispatches. In 1884 It was rerlred aa a
derisive war cry aimed at the Kepubllcans by their oppo-
nents Mag. <ff Amer. HiM., XIU. .S94.
Almond-oil soap, a soap made of sodium hydrate and
almoDd-olL Also called amygdaiine soap. — Arsenical
■cap, a saponaceoas preparation used in taxidermy to
preaerre suns from natural decay and from the attacks
of insects. There are many kinds, all alike consisting in
the Impregnation of some kind of soap with arsenlous acid
or commercial arsenic. — Beers-marrow SOap, a soap of
soda and animal oil. Boiled soap. Same as ffrauted
niap— Bone soap, a sii.ip mall from cocoanut-olI mixed
with jelly from Iwinco. Butter soap, soap made from
soiiaandbiitter: sapo blltyricus. — Calcium soap.asoap
made either directly hy sap<jnlfying fat with hyilrate of
lime, or by treating soluble soap with a Holntiim of a salt
of lime. It is used in the manufacture of stearin wax. —
Carbolic soap, a disinfectant soap containing 1 part of
carttolic acid to 9 parts of soap. — CastUe SOap, a hard
soap composed of soda and olive-oil, of two varieties: (1)
wktU Cadttt toap, which contains 21 per cent of water, is
of a pale graylsn-wbite color, giving no oily stains to n:i-
pt-r. free from rancid odor, and entirely soluble in alcohol
or water : and (2) marbled CattiU toap, which is harder and
more alkaline^ contains U per cent of water, and has veins
or streaks of ferruginous matter running through it
Formerly also, erroneously, ealU-toap ; also Spaauh toap.
Roll but with your eyes
And foam at the mouth. A little eatUe-toap
Will do t, to rub your lips.
B. Jonton. Devil is an Ass, v. 3.
Curd soap, soap made from soda and a purillt'd animal
fat cotisisflng largely of stearin. — Fulllng-BOap, a snap
u.seii in fulling cloth. coTnp*>s*r<l of V'A parts of soup, 'A r,f
clay, ami 110 of calcined «<Kla-:i.'<li. — German soft SOap.
Same as w<n map. ~ Olass-makera' S0!U>. HanicaaiTfaM-
•Dop.— Qralnod soap, soap remelted andworked over for
toilet purposes.— Oreen soap, an officinal preparation of
soft soap, made from potash and linscetl- or hempseed-oll,
colored by indigo, and used In the trcatrmnt of eczema and
other cutaneous diseases. — Otun soap, a soap prepared
from pf>taAh and flzcd olla — Marine soap. See def, 1.—
OUve-oil soda-soap, same as Catlile soap.— Quicksil-
ver soapt. Sif ipiirkyihrr jiUuleT, Under quiektUver. —
Sillcated soap. Sec siVicatrd.— Soap Of coalac, soap
cotnpotnl of liquor {wtassB and giulac.— Soft soap.
(a) A li<|iii<l soap, eapeclallv a soap made with potash as a
base : so i alle<l because It dues not harden into cakes, but
remains semi-fluid or ropy. The softest soap Is made from
5741
potash lye and olive-oil or fats rich in oleic acid, (ft) See
def. 3.— Spanisn soap. Same as Castile soap.
Some may present thee with a pounde or twaine
Of Spanishe soape to washe thy lynnen white.
Gaseoi'jiie, Councell to Master W'ithipoll.
Starkey's soap, a soap made by triturating equal parts
of potassium carljonate, oil of turpentine, and Venice
turpentine. — Transparent soap, a soap made of soda
and kidney-fat, dried, then dissolved in alcohol, filtered,
and evaporated in molds. — Venice soap, a mottled soap
made of olive-oil and soda, with a small quantity of
iron or rinc sulphate in solution. Stm>non(to.— Windsor
soap, a scented soap uiatle of soda with olive-oil 1 part
and tallow 9 parts.— Zinc soap, a soap obtained by the
double decomposition of zinc sulphate and soap, or by
saponifying zinc white with olive-oil or fat It is used as
an oil-color, as an ointment, and as zinc plaster,
soap (sop), c. f. [<«o«/), n.] 1. To rub or treat
with soap; apply soap to.
Bella toaped his face and rubbed his face, and soaped
his hands and rubbed his hands, and splashed him and
rinsed him and toweled him. until he was as red as beet-
root Dickeiis, Our Mutual Friend, iv. 5.
2. To use smooth words to; flatter. [Slang.]
These Dear Jacks toap the people shameful, but we
Cheap Jacks don't We tell 'em the truth about them-
selves to their faces, and scorn to court 'em.
Dickens, Doctor Marigold.
soap-apple (sop'ap'l), «, Same as soap-plant.
soap-asnes (sop'ash'ez), n. pi. Ashes contain-
ing lye or potash, and thus useful in making
soap.
So drtigs and sweet woods, where they are, cannot but
yield great profit ; soap athet likewise, and other things
that may l)e thought of. Bacon, Plantations (ed. 1887).
soap-balls (sop'balz), n. pi. Balled soap, made
by dissolving a soap in a little hot water, mix-
ing it with starch, and then molding the mix-
ture into balls. The starch acts upon the skin
as an emollient.
soap-bark, soap-bark tree (sop'bark, -tre).
See quilhii and Vithecolobiitm.
soap-beck (sop'bek), «. In a dye-house, a ves-
sel filled with a solution of soap in water.
soapberry (sop'ber'i), «. ; pi. soapberries (-iz).
The fruit of one of several species of Sapindus;
also, any of the trees producing it, and, by ex-
tension, any member of the genus. The fruit of
the proper soapbeirie* so abounds in saponin as to serve
the purpose of soap. That of S. Saponaria, a small tree
of South America, the West Indies, and Klorida, is much
used In the West Indies for clesnsing linen, etc., and Is
•aid to be extremely efficacious, though with frequent use
deleterious to the fabric Its roots also contain saponin.
Its hard black seeds are made up into rosaries and neck-
laces, and sometimes have been used as buttons. In the
East Indies the fmit of & tri/oliatui appears to have been
used as a detergent from remote times. The pulp is re-
garded also as astringent, anthelmintic, and tonic, and
the seeds yield ■ medicinal oIL The wood la made into
combs and other small articles. This species is some-
times called Indian JObtrt, translating the .Mohammedan
name. S. (DilteUuma) Barak, of Cochln-Chlna, etc., has
also a detergent property. Thewoodof &<ictmn'n<i(u<(5.
margituitut), of the soathem United States, etc.. Is hard
and strong, easily split Into strips, and in the southwest
much used for making cotton-basketo and the frames of
pack-saddles. Its berries are reddish-hniwn, of thesUe of
a cherry, with a aoapy palp. Also called wild china-tree
(which see, under ehina-lree). The fruit of some species
yields an edible pulp, though the seed is poisonous. An-
other name, especially of S. tr\foliatut, is soapntit
soap-boiler (sop'boi'lfer), ». 1. A maker of
soap.
The new company of gentlemen tnavboOrrt have pro-
cured Ufs. Sanderson, the Queen's laundress, to subscribe
to the goodness of the new soap.
Court and Timet <tf Charles I., II. 230.
2. That in which soap is boiled or made; a
8oap-|ian. Imp. Diet.
soap-boiling (sop'boi'ling), n. The business
of noilitii; i)r manufacturing soap.
soap-bubble (sop'bub'l), ». A bubble formed
from K()ai>y water; especially, a thin spherical
film of soap-suds inflated by blowing through
a pipe, and forming a hollow globe which has
often beautiful iridescent colors playing over
the surface.
One afternoon he was seized with an Irresistible desire
to blow loap-bubblet. . . . Behold him, therefore, at the
arched window, with an earthen pipe In his month ! . . .
Behold him scattering airy spheres abroad, from the win-
dow into the street llauihome. Seven Cables, xt
soap-bulb (sop'bulb), n. Same as sonjy-plant.
soap-cerate (sop'se'rat), ». An ointment com-
posed of soap-plaster (2 parts), yellow wax (2^
parts), and olive-oil (4 parts).
soap-coil (sop'koil), M. A coiled pipe fitted to
the inside of a soap-boiling kettle, through
which hot steam is circulated to boil the con-
tents of the kettle.
soap-crutch (sop'knich), n. A staff or rod
with a crosspiece at one end, formerly used
in criitcliiiii; or stirring soap.
BOap-crutching (sop'kruch'ing), n. The pro-
cess of crutcliiii'; or stirring soap in kettles. —
Boap-crutchlng machine, an apparatus formlxlng soap.
soap-pod
It consists of a vertical cylinder in which are numerous
spiral wings and an upriglit shaft with radial arms, to
wliicli a rotary motion is communicated by gearing.
When the tanic is filled with soap, the spiral wings act
like screws, carrying up the heavier part of the materials
toward the top, and thoroughly intermixing the whole.
soap-earth (sop'erth), «. Soapstone or steatite.
soap-engine (sop'en"jin), w. A machine upon
which slabs of soap are piled to be crosscut
into bars. Weale.
SOaper (so'p^r), ». [Early mod. E. also soper;
< ME. soparc; < soap -I- -crl.] A soap-maker;
a dealer in soap. [Obsolete or provincial.]
Sopers and here sones for seluer han be knyghtes.
Piers Plowman (C), vl. 72.
soap-fat (sop'fat), n. Fatty refuse laid aside
for use in the making of soap.
soap-fish (sop'fish), n. A serranoid fish of the
genus Rhypticus (OT Promicropterus-) : so called
from the soapy skin. Several are found along the
Atlantic coast of the United States, as B. mactilatus, B.
decoratus, and B. pituitosus. See cut under Bhy'pticus.
soap-frame (sop'fram), «. A series of square
frames locked together, designed to hold soap
while solidifying, preparatory to its being cut
into bars or cakes.
The interior width of soap-frames corresponds to the
length of a bar of soap, and the length of a frame is equal
to the thickness of about twenty bars of soap.
Watt, Soap-making, p. 20.
Soap^glue (sop'glo), «. A gelatinous mass re-
sulting from the boiling together of tallow and
lye.
soap-house (sop'hous), n. A house or building
in wliioli soap is made.
soapiness (s6'pi-nes), w. The state or quality
of beiiis soapy. Baileij, 1727.
soap-kettle (sop'ket'l), ». A soap-boiler.
soapless (sop'les), o. [< soap + -less.'] Lack-
ing soap; free from soap; hence, unwashed.
He accepted the offered hand of his new friend, which
. . . was of a marvellously dingy and soapless aspect.
BiUwer, Pelham, xlix.
soap-liniment (sop'lin'i-ment), II. A liniment
composed of soap (10 parts), camphor (5), oil
of rosemary (1), alcohol (70), and water (14):
an anodvne and rubefacient embrocation.
soap-lock (sop'lok), «. A lock of hair worn
on the temple and kept smoothly in place by
being soaped; hence, any lock brushed apart
from the rest of the hair, and carefully kept
in position. [U. S.]
As he stepped from the cars he . . . brushed his goap-
loeks forwaril with his hand. The Century, XXXVl. 249.
soap-maker (s6p'ma"k6r), ». A manufacturer
of soap.
soap-making (sop'mii'king), n. The manufac-
ture of soap; soap-boiling.
soap-mill (sop'mil), «, l. A machine for cut-
ting soap into thin shavings, preparatory to
drying it, and as a step toward fitting it for
grinding. — 2. A mill for grinding dry soap, in
the manufacture of bath-soap and other soap
powders.
soapnut (sop'nut), n. 1. Same as »ofl;)6erry. —
2. The fruit of an East Indian climbing shrub.
Acacia cimcimia ; also, the plant itself. The long
flat pods have a saponaceous property, and are much used
In Bombay as a detergent, especially in a wash for the
head. They are also used as a deobstruent and expecto-
rant and in Jaundice. Also soap-pod.
soap-pan (sojj'pan), ». In the manufacture of
soap, a large pan or vessel, generally of cast- .
iron, in which the ingredients are boiled to the
desired consistence. '
The soap-pan or copper (or, as the French and Ameri-
cans tenn it, kettle) is sometimes made of cast-iron, in
several divisions, united together by iron cement.
Watt, Soap-making, p. 17.
soap-plant (sop'plant), n. One of several
plants whose bulbs serve the purpose of soap ;
particularly, the ("alifomian (hlorogaliim poiiic-
riitiaiium, of the lily family, it is a stout brown-
ish plant, from 1 to 3 feet high, with long linear leaves
and a spreading panicle of white flowers. 'I'he bulb,
which is frrnn 1 to 4 inches thick, when divested of its
coat of dark-l)i'own fibers, produces. If ruljl)ed on wet
cloth, a thick lather, and is often substituted for soap.
Also called soap-apple and soaii-bylb. and, together with
some plants of a similar pro^>erty, by the Mexican name
amole. Zusiadenus Fretmnitii, also Califoi'niaii, is another
soap-plant.— Indian soap-plant, a name ascribe*! to tlie
soaplterry Sajrindns actiwinalus, and to the Chtoroijatum.
soap-plaster (sop'iilas tir), n. A plaster com-
posed of curd soap (10 ounces), yellow wax (12^
ounces), olive-oil (1 pint), oxid of lead (15
ounces), and vinegar (1 gallon).
soap-pod (sop'pod), n. 1. One of the legumes
of several Chinese species of Vsesalpinia ; also,
the plant itself. The legumes are saponaceous,
and are employed by the Chinese as a substi-
tute for soap. — 2. Same as soapnut, 2.
soaproot
SOaproot (sop'rOt), ?», l. A SpauisU herb, Gyp-
sopliiUt Siruthium, whose root eontaius sapo-
nin. Also called Egyptian or Sjyanish aoaproot.
— 2. AOalifornian bulbous plaut, Leucocrimtm
montanumj of the lily family, bearing white
fragrant flowers close to the ground in early
spring. Soaproot is used by the Digger Indians to take
trout. At the season of the year when tlie strt-jims run
but little water, and the flsh collect in the deepest and
widest holes, they cut otf the wat«r above such holes in
the stream, and put soaproot rubbed to a lather into the
holes, wliich soon causes the fish in the holes to tloat stupe-
fled ou the surface.
soapstone (sop'ston), «. A variety of steatite
(see talc); specifically, a piece of such stone
used when heated for a griddle, a foot-warmer,
or other like purpose.
He . . . fished up a disused soapstone from somewhere,
put it on the stove that was growing hot for the early bak-
ing, and stood erect and patient — like a guard — till the
soapstone was warm. T/ie Century, XL. 531.
soap-suds (sop'sudz'), n,pl. A solution of soap
in water stirred till it froths; froth of soapy
water,
Phib Cook left her evening wash-tub, and appeared at
her door in soap-suds . . . and general dampness.
George Eliot, Janet's Repentance, iv.
soap-tree (sdp'tre), w. The soapberry-tree
Saphtdus Saponana. See soapberry,
soapweed (sdp'wed), n. A plant, Agave hetera-
cantha, or some other species of the same ge-
nus. See aniole.
soapwood (sop'wud), n. A "West Indian tim-
ber-tree or shrub, Clethra tinifoUa.
soap-works (s6p'w6rks), n. sing, or 2)1. A place
or Duilding for the manufacture of soap.
The high price of potash, and the diminished price as
well as improved quality of the crude sodas, have led to
their general adoption in soap-works. Ure, Diet., III. 846.
soapwort (sop'wert), n. 1, A plant of the genus
Saponaria, chiefly S,
officinalis. Itisasmooth
perennial herb, a rather
stout rambling plant a
foot or two high, bearing
white or pinkish flowei-s,
native in Europe and
western Asia, and run-
ning wild from gardens in
America. Its leaves and
root£ abound in saponin;
they produce a froth when
rubbed in water, and are
useful as a cleansing
agent. They can be em-
ployed with advantage, it
is said, in some final pro-
cesses of washing silk and
wool, imparting a pecu-
liar gloss without injur-
ing the most sensitive
color. (Also called boun-
cing-bet, fuller's -herb, and
by many other names. See
cut under pefoi.) S.Vacca-
ria( Vaccaria vulgaris), the
cow-herb, also contains
saponin. S. cmspitosa, S.
Calabrica, and S. ocymoi-
des are finer European species desirable in culture.
2, Any plant of the order *S'«pi«dace£e. Linclley.
—Soapwort-gentian. See gentian.
soapy (so'pi), a. 1. Consisting of or contain-
ing soap; resembling soap; having some of
the properties of soap; saponaceous.
All soaps and soapy substances . . . resolve solids, and
sometimes attenuate or thin the fluids.
Arbuthnot, On Diet, i.
2. Smeared with soap : as, soapy hands.
Our soapy laundresses. Randolph, Conceited Peddler.
3. Belonging to or characteristic of soap: as,
a soapy taste ; a soapy feeling.
The backgrounds to all these figures have been scraped
off, leaving a soapy light color.
The Century, XXXVII. 672.
4. Smooth-tong^ued; unctuous; plausible; flat-
tering. [Slang.]
soar! (sor), V. i. [Early mod. E. also sore; < ME.
soren, sooreuj < OF. essoreir, essorer^ F. essorer,
lay out, mount, or soar, dial, essourer, air clothes,
= Pr. essaureiar, eisaurar = It. sorare, soar,
< LL. *exaurare, expose to the air, formed < L.
ex, out, + aura, a breeze, the air: see aura^.']
1, To mount on wings, or as on wings, through
the air; fly aloft, as a bird or other winged
creature ; specifically, to rise and remain on the
wing without visible movements of the pinions.
The specific mode of flight is specially distinguished from
any one in which the wings are fiapped to beat the air ;
but the term soaring is also loosely applied to any light,
easy fiight to a great height with little advance in any
other direction, whatever be the action of the wings, as
of a skylark rising nearly vertically from the ground. In
the case of heavy-bodied, short-winged birds which fly up
thus, the action is often specified as rocketing or towering
(see these verbs). A kind of swift wayward soaring, as of
The Upper Part of the Stem
with Flowers of Soapwort {Sa/>o-
naria officinalis).
5742
the swallow, is often called skimming. Soaring specifi-
cally so called, or sailing on the air, is best shown in the
flight of long-winged birds, whether their wings be cither
narrow and sharp, or ample and blunt, as the lUbatross,
frigate, and some other sea-birds, storks, cranes, and some
other large waders, turkey-buzzards and other vultures,
eagles, kites, and some other large birds of prey. It is
capable of being indefinitely protracted, either on a hori-
zontal plane, or at a considerable inclination upward, at
least in some cases ; but most birds which soar to a higher
level without beating the wings take a spiral course,
mounting as much as they can on that part of each lap
which is against the wind, and this action is usually spe-
cified as gyrating or circling.
So have I seen a lark rising from his bed of grass, and
soaring upwards, singing as he rises, and hopes to get to
heaven, and climb above the clouds.
Jer. Taylor, Sermon, The Return of Prayers, ii.
2. To mount or rise aloft; rise, or seem to rise,
lightly in the air.
Flames rise and sink by fits ; at last they soar
In one bright blaze, and then descend no more.
Dryden.
He could see at once the huge dai-k shell of the cupola,
the slender soaring grace of Giotto's campanile, and the
quaint octagon of San Giovanni in front of them.
George Eliot, Romola, iii.
We miss the cupola of Saint Cyriacus soaring in triumph
above the triumphal monument of the heathen.
E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 73.
3. Tofloat, as at the surface of a liquid. [Rare.]
'Tis very likely that the shadow of your rod . . . will
cause the Chubs to sink down to the bottom with fear;
for they be a very fearful fish, . . . but they will present-
ly rise up to the top again, and lie there soaring till some
shadow affrights tliem again.
/. Walton, Complete Angler (ed. 1653), p. 53.
4. To rise mentally, morally, or socially ; as-
pire beyond the commonplace or ordinary level.
How high a pitch his resolution soars !
Shak., Rich. II., i. 1. 109.
But know, young prince, that valour soars above
What the world calls misfortune and affliction.
Addison, Cato, ii. 4.
In every age the first necessary step towards truth has
been the renunciation of those soaring dreams of the hu-
man heart which strive to picture the cosmic frame as
other and fairer than it appears to the eye of the impar-
tial observer. Lotze, Microco8mu8(trans.), I,, Int., p. vii.
SOar^ (sor), ». [< socrri, v.] 1. The act of soar-
ing, or rising in the air.
The churches themselves fof Rome] are generally ugly.
. . . There is none of the spring and soar which one may
see even in the Lombard churches.
Lowell, Fireside Travels, p. 306.
2. The height attained in soaring; the range
of one who or that which soars. [Rare.]
Within soar
Of towering eagles, to all the fowls he seems
A phoenix. Milton, P. L., v. 270.
soar^t, n. See sore^.
soarant (sor'ant), a. [< OF. essorant, ppr. of
essorer, mount, soar: see soar^.'\ In her., fly-
ing aloft, poised on the wing, as an eagle.
soar-eaglet, soar-falcont, n. See sore-eagle,
sore-falcon.
soaringly (sor'ing-li), adv. [< soaring + -ly^.'}
As if soaring; so as to soar; with an upward
motion or direction.
Their summits to heaven
Shoot soaringly forth.
Byron, Manfred, i. 1.
SOave (so-a've), adv, [It., < L. suavis, sweet,
grateful', delightful : see suave,'] In mvsic, with
sweetness or tenderness.
soavemente (so-a-va-men'te), adv. [It.,< soave,
sweet: see soave, suave.'] Same as soave,
sob^ (sob), V, ; pret. and pp. sobbed, ppr. sob-
bing. [< ME. sobben,X AS. *sobbian, a secondary
or collateral form of seojian, sidjian, lament;
perhaps connected with OHGr. sufton, sufieon,
MHG. siufteny siufzen, G, seufzen, sob, sigh, <
OHG. suft, a sob, sigh (cf. Icel. syptir, a sob-
bing), < sufan (= AS. siipan, etc.), drink in, sup :
HeesupySOp, Ct.sob^,] 1, intrans, 1. To sigh
strongly with a sudden heaving of the breast
or a kind of convulsive motion ; weep with con-
vulsive catchings of the breath.
He . . . sori gan wexe,
And wepte water with his eyghen and weyled the tyme
That euere he dede dede that dere God displesed ;
Swowed and sobbed and syked ful ofte.
Piers PlowTuan (B), xiv. 326.
Sweet father, cease your tears ; for, at your grief,
See how my wretched sister sobs and weeps.
Shak., Tit. And., iii. 1. 137.
2. To make a sound resembling a sob.
Pale Ocean in unquiet slumber lay,
And the wild winds fiew round, sobbing in their dismay.
Shelley, Adonais, xiv.
II. trans. 1. To give forth or utter with sobs;
particularly, to say with sobbing.
He sobs his soul out in the gush of blood.
Pope, Iliad, xvi. 419.
sober
2. In lute-playing, to deaden the tone of by
damping the string, or relaxing the finger by
which it is stopped.
sob^ (sob), n. [<so6l, r.] 1. A convulsive heav-
ing of the breast and inspiration of breath,
under the impulse of painful emotion, and ac-
companied with weeping ; a strong or convul-
sive sigh. It consists of a short, convulsive,
somewhat noisy respiratory movement.
Herewith hir swelling sobbes
Did tie hir tong from talke.
Ga^coigne, Philomene (Steele Glas, etc., ed. Arber, p. 99).
ni go in and weep, . . .
Crack my clear voice with sobs.
Shak., T. and C, iv. 2. 114.
2. A sound resembling the sobbing of a human
being.
The tremulous sob of the complaining owl.
Wordsworth. (Webster.)
sob^ (sob), V, t; pret. and pp. sobbed, ppr. sob-
bing. [Prob. a var. of so^J .* see sop, sup. Cf .
so&i.] 1. To sup; suck up. Halliwell. [Prov.
Eng.] — 2. To sop; soak with a liquid. [Prov.
Eng. and IJ. S.]
The tree, being sobbed and wet, swells. Mortimer.
The highlands are sobbed and boggy.
New York Herald, Letter from Charleston. {Bartlett.)
sob^ (sob), V. t,) pret. and pp. sobbed, ppr. sob-
bing, [()rigin obscure.] To frighten. Halli-
well. [Prov. Eng.]
It was not of old that a Conspiracie of Bishops could
frustrate and sob off the right of the people.
Milton, Reformation in Eng., L
SObal, n. Same as soboP-.
sobbing (sob'ing), n. [< ME. sobbing, sobbynge;
verbal n. of sob^, v.] The act of one who sobs ;
a series of sobs or sounds of a similar nature,
sobbingly (sob'ing-li), adv. With sobs. George
EUot, Felix Holt, xxxvii.
sobeit (s6-be'it), conj. [Prop, three words, so
be it, if it be so; cf. albeit, howbeit.] If it be
so ; provided that.
The heart of his friend cared little whither he went> ao-
beU he were not too much alone.
Longfellow, Hyperion, ii. 9.
sober (so'ber), a. [< ME. sober, sohur, sobre, <
OF. (and F.) sobre = Sp. Pg. It. sobrio, < L. so-
brius, sober, < so-, a var. of se-, apart, used priv-
atively, + ebrius, drunken : see ebrious, ebriety.
The same prefix occurs in L. socors, without
heart, solvere, loose (see solve).] 1. Free from
th e influence of intoxic ating liquors ; not drunk ;
unintoxicated.
Ner. How like you the young German ? . . .
Por. Very vilely in the morning, when he is sober, and
most vilely in the afternoon, when he is drunk.
Shak.,U.otV.,l2.Q3.
2. Habitually temperate in the use of liquor ;
not given to the use of strong or much diink.
A sober man is Percivale and pure ;
But once in life was flustered with new wine.
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien.
3. Temperate in general character orhabit; free
from excess; avoiding extremes; moderate.
Be sobre of syste and of tonge.
In etynge and in handlynge and in alle thi fyue wittis.
Piers Plovrman (B), xiv. 53.
A man of sober life,
Fond of his friend and civil to his wife ;
Not quite a madman, though a pasty fell.
And much too wise to walk hito a well.
Pope, Imit of Hor., II. ii. 188.
4. Guided or tempered by reason; rational;
sensible; sane; sound; clispassionate ; com-
monplace.
A «o6er and humble distinction must ... be made be-
twixt divine and human things.
Bacon, Physical Fables, ii., ExpL
The dreams of Oriental fancy have become the sober
facts of our every-day life.
0. W. Holmes, Med. Essays, p. 213.
5. Free from violence or tumult; serene; calm;
tranquil; self -controlled.
Then the se wex sober, sesit the wyndis ;
Calme was the course, clensit the aire.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.X 1. 4663.
"With such sober and unnoted passion
He did behave his anger, ere 'twas spent.
As if he had but proved an argument.
Shak., T. of A., iii. 5. 21.
I'd have you sober, and contain yourself.
B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, i. 1.
6. Modest; demure; sedate; staid; dignified;
serious; grave; solemn.
He seg ther ydel men ful stronge
& sa[y]de to hen [hem ?] with sobre soun,
" Wy stonde se ydel thise dayeg longe?"
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), i. 531.
What damned error but some sober brow
Will bless it, and approve it with a text?
Shak., M. of V., iii. 2. 78.
sober
Come, pensive Nun. devout and pore^
St^beT, gtedfast, and demure.
MilUm, IX Penseroao, 1. 32.
What parts gay France from sober Spain ?
Prior, Alma, iL
Tlie "Good-natured Man" was tober when compared
with the rich drollery of "She Stoops to Conquer."
Macauiay, Goldsmith.
7. Plain or simple iu color; somber; dull.
>'ow shall my friend Petruchio do me grace,
And offer me disguised in »jber robes
To old Baptista as a schoolmaster
Well seen in music, to instruct Bianca.
Shak., T. of the S., 1. 2. 132.
Twilight gray
Had in her >ober livery all things clad.
Jiaton, P. L., iv. 599.
Autumn bold,
With universal tinge of tober gold.
Keats, Endymion, L
8. Little; small; mean; poor; weak. Jamie-
son. [Obsolete or Scotch.]
Herald, saith he, tell the Lord Governor and the Lord
Huntley that we have entered your country with a sober
company (which in the language of the Scots ia poor and
mean) : your army is both great and fresh.
lleytin. Hist. Reformation, L 90. (Damef.)
^Syn. Z'&. Cool, collected, unimpaasioned, steady, staid,
somber. Sober differs from the words compared under
ffrave in expressing the absence of exhilaration or excite-
ment, whether physical, mental, or spiritual, whether
beneficial or harmful.
sober (so'b^rj, v. [< ME. Hoheren, < LL. sobri-
are, make sober, < L. sobrius, sober: see sober,
a.] I. trans. 1. To make sober; free from in-
toxication.
A little learning ia a dangerous thing ;
Drink deep, or t>st« not the Pierian spring :
There shallow draught* intoxicate the brain.
And drinking largely sobers xa again.
Pope, Eaaay on CrlUctem, L 218.
2t. To mitigate; assuage; 8oft«n; restrain.
A I my lord, «& it like yow at this lefe tyroe,
I be-aeche yon, for my sake aoter youre will&
Destruction q/ Troy (E. K. T. 8.), 1. 8401.
Thy Fadir that in benen is moste.
He vppon blghte,
Thy Borowes for to aoMr
To the he haae me sente. Font Plays, p. 24.^^.
3. To make serious, grave, or sad : often fol-
lowed by down.
The eaaentlal qoalltlea of . . . majestic simplicity, pa-
thetic ewneatneM of supplication, sabtrtd by a profound
reverence, are common between the translations [incor-
porated into the English Liturgy) and the originals.
Maeaulay, Hist. Eng., xlv.
The usually bnorant spirits of his attendwit had of Ute
been materi^y sobersd down.
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, 1. 36.
n. intrans. To become sober, in any sense of
the word. Especially— (a) To recover from intoxica-
tion : generally with tin. (o) To become atald, serious, or
grave : often followed Dy ooim.
Vance gradually sobered doym. Btdwer. (Imp. Diet)
Bat when we found that no one knew which way to go,
we sobered down and waited for them to come up ; and it
was well we did, for otherwise prol>ably not one of as
would ever have reached Callfonua, beeaaae of oar Inex-
perience. Th» Century, XU.Wi.
sober-blooded (s6'b*r-blnd'ed), a. Free from
luiHsioii or enthusiasm; cool-blooded; cool;
calm. [Rare.]
This same young soberJiooded Ixnr, ... a man cannot
make him laagh. Shak., 2 Hen. IV., Iv. S. 94.
soberize (s6'b<;r-iz), r. ; pret. and pp. soberized,
jipr. snhTizing. [<. sober + -ire.] I. trans. To
make sober. [Bare.]
And I was thankful for the moral sight,
Tlukt snberiaed the vast and wild delight.
Crabbe, Tales of the Hall, vL
Taming her head, . . . she saw her own face and form
In the glasa. Sncb reflections are soberiiing to plain peo-
ple ; their own eye* are not enchanted with the image.
ChaHoUs BronU, Shirley, vll.
II. intrans. To become sober. [Rare.] Imp.
IHcl.
.Mso spelled soberite,
soberlyt (so'Kt-U), a. [< ME. soberly; < sober
+ -ly'.} Sober; solemn; sad.
He naa nat right fat, I undertake,
But loked bolwe, and tberto soberly.
Chaueer, Gen. ProL to C. T., L iW.
soberly (s6'b6r-li), adr. [< ME. soberly, sobre-
lirhe, Hohiirli/, sobyrb/ ; < sober + -/y^.] In a
sober manner, or with a sober appearance, in
liny sense of the word sohir.
sober-tninded (so'ber-miii'ded). a. Temperate
in mind; s<lf-controlled and rational.
Yoang men likewise exhort to tw sober^ninded.
Tit. it e.
sober-mindedness (»6'b*r-min'dcd-ne«), n.
Sobriety of mind; wise self-control and mod-
eration.
5743
To induce habits of modesty, humility, temperance,
frugality, obedience — in one word, sober-mindediiess.
Bp. Porteous, Sermon before the University of Cambridge.
[{Latham.)
soberness (so'bfer-nes), n. [< ME. sobyrnes,
soburnesse; <. sober + -ness."] The state or char-
acter of being sober, in any sense of the word ;
sobriety.
Soburnesse. Sobrietas, modestia. Prompt. Parv., p. 462.
I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak forth the
words of truth and soberness. Acts xxvi. 25.
sobersides (sd'ber-sidz), n. A sedate or serious
person. [Humorous.]
You deemed yourself a melancholy «o6er«Mfea enough!
Miss Fanshawe there regards you as a second Diogenes in
his tub. Charlotte Bronte, Yiilette, xxviii.
sober-suited (s6'b6r-sii"ted), a. Clad in dull
colors; somberly dressed.
Come, civil nighL
Thou sober^suited matron, all in black.
Shak., E. and J., iU. 2. 11.
SObol^ (so'bol), n. [< Pol. sobol = Buss, soholi,
sable : see sable.'] The Russian sable, Mustela
zibellina. See cut under sable.
sobole, soboP (so'bol, -bol), n. [< L. soboles."}
Same as "obnles.
soboles (sob'o-lez), n. [NL., < L. soboles, more
prop, suboles, a sprout, shoot, < sub, under, -t-
olere, increase, grow.] In hot, a shoot, or
creeping underground stem; also, a sucker, or
a shoot in a wider sense.
soboliferous (sob-o-lif 'e-ms), a. [< NL. soboles
+ h.ferre = E. 6e«rl.]" In bot., bearing or pro-
ducing soboles ; producing strong, lithe shoots.
Sobranje (so-bran'ye), n. [Bulg. sobranje (so-
branie) = Buss, sobranie, an assemblv, gather-
ing.] The national assembly of Bulgaria, it
consists of one chamber, and is composed of members
chosen to the number of one for every 10,000 inhabitants.
On extraordinary occasions a Great Sobranje is summoned,
composed of twice this number of members. Also written
Sobmnye.
sobref , a. A Middle English form of sober.
sobresaultt, "• An obsolete form ot somersault.
sobretet, «■ A Middle English form of sobriety.
sobriety (so-bri'e-ti), ». [< ME. sobcrte, sobrete,
< OF. sobrete, F. sobri4t4 = Pr. sobritat, sobrie-
tat = Sp. sobriedad = Pg. sobriedade = It. so-
briety, < L. sobrieta(t-)s, moderation, temper-
ance, < sobrius, moderate, temperate: see so-
ber.'] The state, habit, or character of being
sober. Espeotallr — (a) Temperance or moderation in
the Die of Boong drink.
The English in their long wars in the Netherlands first
learned to drown thcmselres with Immoderate drinking.
. . . Of all the northern nations, they had been before thia
mostconuuended for their sofrriefy. Canulen, Elisabeth, UL
(6) Moderation In general conduct or character ; avoid-
ance of excess or extreme*.
The tbridde st«pe of sobrtU Is sette and lokl mesure Ine
worde*. AyenbiU qf Inwyt (E. E. T. a), p. 264.
That women sdom themselves In modest apparel, with
shamefacedness and sobriety; not with brolded haJr, or
gold, or pearls, or costly array. 1 Tim. IL 9.
We admire the sotrMv and elegance of the architectural
acceasorles, C. C. Pertins, Italian Sculpture, p. 36.
(i) Keaaonablene** ; lanene** ; aoundne** : as, sobriety ot
judgment.
Our English sobriety, and unwillingness. If I msy ose the
phrase, to make fools of ourselves, hss checked our philo-
sophical ambition. Leslie Sle^ien, Eng. Thought, L I 60.
(d) Modest or quiet demeanor; composure; sedsteness;
oigidty ; gravity ; staidnes*.
In the other's sflence do I see
Maid's mild behavloor and sobriehf.
Sftai., T. of the 8., I. 1. n.
Though he generally did his best to preserve the grav-
ity and sobriety befitting a prelate, some flashesof his mili-
tary spirit would, to the last, occasionally break forth.
Maenulay, Hist Eng., vL
•Sjm. (a) and (b) Absttnenee, Temperanee, etc. See ab-
sl«mio>aness.—(e) and (d) Solierness, moderation, moder-
atenesa^ regularity, stradiness, quietness.
sobriquet (sd-bre-ka'), n. [Also soubriqiuet; <
P. sobriquet, formerly soubriquet, sotbriquet, a
surname, nickname, formerly also a jest, quip;
prob. a transferred use of OF. soubriquet, soubz-
briquet, a chuck under the chin, < sous, soubz
(P. sofu) (< L. sub), under, + briquet, brichet,
bruehet, hrusehet, P. brechet, the breast, throat,
brisket: see *«6- and &ri«tcf.] A nickname; a
fanciful appellation.
" Amen " was not the real name of the missionary ; but
it was s sobriquet bestowed by the soldiers, on account of
the unction with which thia particular wortl was ordina-
rily pronounced.. Cooper, Oak Openings, xi.
soc, H. See soke^.
Soc. An abbreviation of Society.
socage, SOCcage (sok'Sj), n. [< OF. socage (MIj.
sociiijium); as hoc + ^i/c.] In law, a tenure of
lands in England by the performance of cer-
tain determinate service : distinguished both
from knight-service, in which the render was un-
sociable
certain, and from villeinage, where the service
was of the meanest kind: the only freehold
tenure in England after the abolition of mili-
tary tenures. Socage has generally been distinguished
into free and villein — free socage, or common or simple soc-
age, where the service was not only certain but honorable,
as by fealty and the payment of a small sum, as of a few
shillings, in name of annual rent, and villein socage, where
the service, though certain, was of a baser nature. This
last tenure was the equivalent of what is now called copy-
hold tenure.
In socage land — the land, that is, which was held by
fi'ee tenure, but without military service — the contest
between primogeniture and gavel-kind was still undecided
in the thirteenth century. F. Pollock, Land Laws, p. 57.
Guardianship in socage, a guardianship at common law
as an incident to lands held by socage tenure. It occurs
where the infant is seized, by descent, of lands or other
hereditaments holden by that tenure, and is conferred on
the next of kin to the infant who cannot possibly inherit
the lands from him. Minor. — Socage roll, the roll of
those holding under socage tenure — that is, within a soke.
English GiXdsCE.. E. T. .S.), p. 475 (gloss.).
Also it ys ordeyned that the charter of the seid cite,
with the ij. Socage RoUes. shullen be putt in the comyn
cofour. English Gilds (E. E. T. S.\ p. 376.
socager, soccager (sok'aj-er), ». [< socage +
-c(i.] A tenant by socage ; a socman.
so-called (so'kald), o. See so called, under sol,
adv.
SOCaloin (so-kal'o-in), n. [< Soc{otra) (see Soco-
tran) + aloin.] A bitter principle contained in
Socotrine aloes. See aloin.
SOCCage, soccager. See socage, socager.
SOCCateat, ". An erroneous form of socketed.
Soccotrine, a. See Socoiran.
socdola^er, n. See sockdologer.
sociability (so'shia-birj-ti), n. [< P. sociability
= Sj). xdciobilidad'^ 1%. sociabilidade, < ML.
sociabilita{t-)s, < 'L. sociabilis, sociable: see so-
ciable.] Sociable disposition or tendency ; dis-
position or inclination for the society of others ;
sociableness.
Such then was the root and foundation of the sociability
of religion In the ancient world, so much envied by mod-
ern Pagans. Warburton, Divine Legation, ii. 1.
Tile true ground [of society) is the acceptance of condi-
tions which came into existence by the sociabUitg inhe-
rent in man, and were developed by man's spontaneous
search after convenience. J. MoHey, Rousseau, II. 183.
sociable (so'sliia-bl), a. and n. [< F. sociable
= Sp. sociable = Pg. sociavel = It. sodabile, <
L. sociabilis, sociable, < sociare, associate, join,
accompany: see «ociato.] I. a. If. Capable of
being conjoined ; fit to be united in bne body
or company.
Another law there is, which toucheth them as they are
sociable parts united into one body ; a law which bindeth
them each to serve unto other's good.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, L 3.
2. Disposed to associate or unite with others;
inclined to company ; of social disposition ; so-
cial ; of animals, social.
Society is no comfort
To one not sociable. Shak., Cymbeline, iv. 2. 13.
3. Disposed to be friendly and agreeable in
company ; frank and companionable ; conver-
sible.
This Macilente, signior, begins to be more sociable on a
sadden, methiiiks, than he was before.
B. Junson, Every Man out of his Humour, iv. 6.
4t. Friendly: with reference to a particular
individual.
Is the king sociable.
And bids thee live? Beau, and Fl.
The sociable and loving reproof of a Brother.
Milton, Keformation in Eng., L
5. Affording opportunities for sociability and
friendly conversation.
I will have no little, dirty, second-hand chariot new
furbished, but a large, sociable, well-painted coach.
Wycherley, Qentlcman Dancing-Master, v. 1.
6. Characterized by sociability and the ab-
sence of reserve and formality : as, a sociable
party. — 7. Of, pertaining to, or constituting
society; social. [Bare.]
His divine discourses were chiefly spent in pressing men
to exercise those graces which adorn the sociable state.
Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, I. x.
Sociable weaver or weaver-bird. Sec weawrJnrd,
and cuts under Philetperus and Mcc-rwjrf. = Syn. 2 and 3.
Social, .Sociable, friendly, communicative, familiar, .'to fal'
as social and sttriahle are like in meanintr. sociable is the
stronger and more familiar. 1'hey may differ in that «o-
CTof may express more of the permanent character, and
sociable tlhc temporaiy mood ; man is a social being, but
Is not always inclined to be social^.
II. n. 1. An open four-wheeled carriage with
seats facing each other.
They set out on their little party of pleasure ; the chil-
dren went with their mother, to their great delight. In the
sociable. Miss Edgexoorth, Belinda, xix.
2. A tricycle with seats for two persons side
by side.
sociable
A toeiable is a wide machine having two seats, side by
side. This style of c>"cle has l>ee» used in Europe for
wedding trips. Triune Book qf SporU^ p. 454.
3. A kind of eouch or chair with a curved
S-shaped back, and seats for two persons, who
sit siiie by side and partially facing each other.
Also called vis-a-vis. — 4. A gathering of people
for social purposes; an informal party; espe-
cially, a social church meeting. [U. S.]
Their wildest idea of dissipation was a church sociable,
or a couple of tickets to opera or theater.
The Century, XL. 272.
SOCiableness (so'shla-bl-nes), «. [< sociable +
-ness.] Sociable character or disposition; in-
clination to company and social intercourse;
sociability. Bailey, 1727.
sociably (so'shia-bli), adv. In a sociable man-
ner; with free intercourse; eonversibly; fa-
miliarly. Bailey, 1727.
social (so'shal), a. [=z F. social = Sp. Pg.
social = It. sociale = G. social, < L. socialis, of
or belonging to a companion or companionship
or association, social, < socius, a companion,
fellow, partner, associate, ally, as an adj. par-
taking, sharing, associated, < sequi, follow : see
sequent.^ 1. Disposed to live in companies;
delighting in or desirous of the company, fel-
lowship, and cooperation of others : as, man
is a socini animal. — 2. Companionable; socia-
ble ; ready to mix in friendly relations or inter-
course with one's fellows; also, characteristic
of companionable or sociable persons: as, so-
cial tastes ; a man of fine social instincts.
Withers, adieu ! yet not with thee remove
Thy martial spirit or thy social love !
Pope, Epitaph on Withers.
He (King John] was of an amiable disposition, social
and fond of pleasure, and so little jealous of his royal
dignity that he mixed freely in the dances and other en-
tertainments of the humWest of his subjects.
Prescott, J-'erd. and Isa., ii. 23.
3. Of or pertaining to society, or to the com-
munity as a body : as, social duties, interests,
usages, problems, questions, etc. ; social sci-
ence.
Thou in thy secresy, although alone,
Best with thyself accompatiied, seelt'st not
Social communication. Milton, P. L., viiL 429.
To love our neiglibour as ourselves is such a fundamen-
tal truth for regulating human society that by that alone
one might determine all the cases in socitd morality.
Locke.
We could right pleasantly pursue
Our sports in social silence too.
Scott, Marmion, iv.. Int.
Emerson is very fair to the antagonistic claims of soli-
tary and sodal life. 0. W. Holmes, Emerson, xi.
4. lu zool.: (a) Associating together; gregari-
ous; given to flocking; republican; sociable:
as, social ants, bees, wasps, or birds. (6) Colo-
nial, aggregate, or compound; not simple or
solitary: as, the soe/oi ascidiaus ; sodai polyps.
See Sociales. — 5. In bot, noting species of
plants, as the common ragweed (Ambrosia tri-
fida), in which the individuals grow in clumps
or patches, or often cover large tracts to the
exclusion of other species, species of sage-brush,
the common white pine and other conifers forming exten-
sive forests, species of seaweed, etc., are social. — Social
ascidians. See Sociales and Claoellinidie. — Social bees,
the Apidte, including the hive-bees : 4iistinguished from
solitary bees, or Andre nid^. See Socialinfe. — Social Con-
tract, or original contract. See contract— Social de-
mocracy, the principles of the Social Democrats ; the
scheme or system of social and democratic reforms pro-
posed and aimed at by the Social Democrats of Germany
and elsewhere; the party of the Social Democrats. — So-
cial Democrat, a member of a socialistic party found-
ed in Germany in 180;i by Ferdinand Lassalle, whose
ultimate object is the abolition of the present forms of
government and the substitution of a socialistic one in
which labor interests shall be supreme, land and capi-
tal shall both belong to the people, private competition
shall cease, its place being taken by associations of work-
ing-men, production shall be regulated and limited by
officers chosen by the people, and the whole product of
industry shall be distributed among the producers. For
the present its members content themselves with the pro-
motion of measures for the amelioration of the condition
of the working classes, such as shortening the hours of
labor, forbidding the employment of children in factories,
and higher education for all. Social Democrats are now
found in many of tlie countries of Europe, as well as in
the United States. Since the fusion of the Lassalle and
Marx gi-oups of socialists in 1875, the social-democratic
party in Germany has bad remarkable development. — So-
cial dynamics, that branch of sociology which treats of
the conditions of the progress of society from one epoch to
another. See socifjloffy. — Social operation of the mind,
an operation of the mind involving ititercourse with an-
other intelligent being. .R«'d.— Social Sanction. See
sanction. — Social science, the science of all that relates
to the social condition, the relations and the institutions
which are involved in man's existence and his well-being as
a member of an organized community. It concerns itself
more especially with questions relating to public health,
education, labor, punishment of crime, refoi-mation of
criminals, pauperism, and the like. It thus deals with the
5744
effect of existing social forces and their result on the gen-
eral well-being of the community, without (iirectly discuss-
ing or expounding the theories or examining the prob-
lems of sociology, of which it may be considered as a
branch. — Social statics, that branch of sociology which
treats of the conditions of the stability or equilibrium of
the different parts of society or the theory of the mutual
action and reaction of contemporaneous social pllenomena
on each other, giving rise to what is called social order. —
Social war, in Horn, hist, the war (90-88 B.C.) in which
the Italian tribes specially termed the allies (socii) of the
Roman state fought for admission into Roman citizen-
ship. In the end the allies virtually obtained all they
strove for, though at the expense of much bloodshed. Also
called the Marsic war, from the iliu-si, who took a lead-
ing part in the movement. — Social wasps, the Vespidse,
including hornets or yellowjackets, which build lai-ge
papery nests inhabited by many individuals. See cuts
under hornet, Polistes, and tcasp. — The social evil. See
evUi. = Syn. fiee sociable.
social-democratic (s6'shal-dem-o-krat'ik), a.
Of or pertaining to the Social Democrats ; eliar-
acterized by or founded on the principles of the
social democracy: as, sooial-dcmocratic agita-
tion.—Social-democratic party. Same as social de-
mocracy (which see, under social).
Sociales (s6-si-a'lez), n. jil. [NL., pi. of L. so-
cialis, sociable, social.] A group of social as-
cidians, corresponding to the family ClavcUi-
nides.
Socialinae (s6"si-a-li'ne), ii.pl. [NL., < L. soci-
alis, social, + -itiie. ] A subfamily of the family
Apidm, including the genera Bombus and Apis,
the species of which live in communities ; the
social bees. Each species is composed of three classes
of individuals — males, females, and workers. They have
the power of secreting wax, from which their cells are
made, and the larva: are fed by the workers, whose legs
are furnished with corbicula or pollen-baskets. See cuts
under Ajndw, bitmblebee, and eorbiculum.
socialisation, socialise. See socialization, so-
cia I !:■('.
socialism (so'shal-izm), n. [= F. socialismc =
Sp. Pg. sociaUsmo = G. socialismus ; as social +
-ism.~\ Any theory or system of social organi-
zation which would abolish, entirely or in great
part, the individual effort and competition on
which modern society rests, and substitute for
it cooperative action, would introduce a more
perfect and equal distribution of the products
of labor, and would make land and capital, as
the instruments and means of production, the
joint possession of the members of the com-
munity. The name is used to include a great variety
of social theories and reforms which have more or less of
this character.
■'Vhat is characteristic of socialism is the joint owner-
ship by all the members of the community of the instru-
ments and means of production ; which carries with it
the consequence that the division of the produce among
the body of owners must be a public act performed ac-
cording to rules laid down by the community. Socialism
by no means excludes private ownership of articles of
consumption. J. S. Mill, Sodalian.
Socialism, . . . while it may admit the state's right of
property over against another state, does away with all
ownership, on the part of members of the state, of things
that do not perish in the using, or of their own labor in
creating material products.
Woolsey, Communism and Socialism, p. 7.
Christian socialism, a doctrine of somewhat sociali^ic
tendency which sprang up in England about 1850, and
flourished under the leadership of Charles Kingsley,
Frederick D. Maurice, Thomas Hughes, and others. The
main contentions of its advocates were (1) that Christian-
ity should be directly applied to the ordinary business of
life, and that in view of this the present system of compe-
tition should give i)lace to cooperative associations both
productive and distributive, where all might work toge-
ther as brothers ; (2) that any outer change of the labor-
er's life, as aimed at in most socialistic schemes, would not
suffice to settle the labor question, but that there must be
an inner change brought about by education and eleva-
tion of character, especially through Christianity; and (3)
that the aid of the state should not be invoked further
than to remove all hostile legislation. A similar scheme
appeared somewhat earlier in France. The doctrines of
Christian socialism, or similar doctrines under the same
name, have been fre<iuently advocated in the United States.
— Professorial socialism. Same as socialimn of the chair.
— Socialism of the chair, a name (first used in ridicule
in 1872 by Oppenheini, one of the leaders of the National
Liberals) for the doctrines of a school of political economy
in Germany which repudiated the principle of laisser-faire,
adopted in the study of political economy the historical
method (which see, under historical), and strove to secure
the aid of the state in bringing about a better distribution
of the products of labor and capital, especially to bring
to the laborer a larger share of this product, and to elevate
his condition by means of factory acts, savings-banks,
sanitary measures, shortening of the hours of labor, etc.
socialist (so'shal-ist), II. and a. [= F. socia-
liste = Sp. Pg. socialista = G. socialist; as social
■f -isf.'] I. n. One who advocates socialism.
A contest who can do most for the common good is not
the kind of competition which Socialists repudiate.
J. S. MiU, Pol. Econ., II. i. § 3.
Christian socialist, a believer in, or an advocate of, the
d(«:triiies of Christian socialism. .See son'aimn. — Profes-
sorial socialist, .'^ame as socialist of the chair. — Social-
ist Of the ahalr, a believer in, or an advocate of, socialism
of the chair. See socialism.
society
II. a. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of
socialism or its advocates ; relating to or favor-
ing socialism : as, a socialist writer.
It must be remembered that in a socialist farm or rnanu.
factory each labourer would be under the eye, not of one
master, but of the whole community.
J. S. Mill, Pol. Econ., II. i. § 3.
socialistic (s6-sha-Iis'tik), a. [< socialist -t- -ic. ]
Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the social-
ists; based on the principles of socialism: as,
socialistic schemes; socialistic legislation.
Socialistic troubles of close bonds
Betwixt the generous rich and grateful poor.
Mrs. Broicning, Aurora Leigh, viil.
The general tendency is to regard as socialistic any in-
terference with property undertaken by society on behalf
of the poor, the limitation of the principle of laissez-faire
in favour of the suffering classes, radical social reform
which disturljs the present system of private property as
regulated by free competition. Encyc. Brit., XXII. 205.
SOCialistically (s6-sha-lis'ti-kal-i), adi\ In a
socialistic manner; in accordance with the
principles of socialism.
sociality (s6-shi-al'i-ti), n. [= F. sociality =
It. socialitci, < L. sociaHta(,t-)s, fellowship, so-
ciality, < socialis, social: see social.'] 1. The
character of being social ; social quality or dis-
position; sociability; social intercourse, or its
enjoyment. — 2. The impulses which cause men
to form society. Sociality, in this sense, is a wider
term than sociability, which embraces only the higher
parts of sociality. The latter is a philosophical word, while
the former is common in familiar language.
Sociality and individuality, . . . liberty and discipline,
and all the other standing antagonisms of practical life.
J. S. MiU, Liberty, U.
socialization (s6'''shal-i-za'shon), n. [< socialize
-1- -ation.] The act of socializing, or the state
of being socialized ; the act of placing or es-
tablishing something on a socialistic basis.
Also spelled socialisatimi.
It was necessary in order to bring about the socialisa-
tion 6f labour which now we see.
Fortnightly Itev., N. S., XLII. 648.
socialize (s6'shal-iz), V. t. ; pret. and pp. social-
ized. p\n: socializing. [< social + -ize.] 1. To
render social.
The same forces which have thus far socialised mankind
must necessarily, in Mr. Spencer's view, go on to make
the world a happier and better one.
FortnighUy Rev., N. S., XXIIL 128.
2. To form or regulate according to the theo-
ries of socialism.
Also spelled socialise.
socially (so'shal-i), adv. In a social manner or
way: as, to mingle socially with one's neigh-
bors. Latham.
SOCialnesS (so'shal-nes), n. Social character
or disposition ; sociability or sociality. Bailey,
1727.
SOCiatet (s6'shi-at), V. i. [< L. sociatus, pp. of
sociarc, join, associate, accompany, < socius,
partaking, associated, as a noun a companion,
fellow: see social. Cf. associate.'} To asso-
ciate.
They seem also to have a very great love for professors
that are sincere ; and. above all others, to desire to sociate
with them, and to be in their company.
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 254.
SOCiatet (s6'shi-at), n. [< L. sociatus, pp.: see
the verb.] An associate.
Fortitude is wisdom's sociate.
Middleton, Solomon Paraphrased, vi.
As for you. Dr. Reynolds, and your sociates, how much
are ye bound to his majesty's clemency !
FuUer, Church Hist, X. i. 22.
SOCiative (so'shia-tiv), a. [< sociate + -ire.]
Expressing association, cooperation, or accom-
paniment. [Rare.]
The pure dative, the locative, and the instrumental (in-
cluding the sociative).
Trans. Amer. PhUol. Ass., XVIL 79.
SOCietarian (so-si-e-ta'ri-an), a. [< sodetary +
-an.] Of or pertaining to society.
The all-sweeping besom of societarian reformation.
Lamb, Decay of Beggars.
SOCietary (so-si'e-ta-ri), o. [= F. societaire ; as
societ-y + -ary.] Of or pertaining to society;
societarian. [Hare.]
A philosopher of society, in search of laws that measure
and forces that govern the aggregate sodetary movement.
K. A. Jtev.. CXXXIX. 18.
society (so-si'e-ti), n. ; pi. societies (-tiz). [< F.
societc = Pr. soeietat = Sp sociedad = Pg. .socie-
dade= It. socicta, < L. societa{t-)s, companion-
ship, society, < socins, sharing, partaking, asso-
ciated, as "a noun a companion, fellow : see
social.] 1. Fellowship; companionship; com-
pany : as, to enjoy the society of the learned ; to
avoid the society of the vicious.
society
HtA. I beseech your society.
ITath. And thank you, too ; lor toeiety, saith the text. Is
■the happiness of life. Shai., L. L. L., ir. 2. 187.
The sentiments which beautify and soften private «o-
eUty. Burke, Rev. in i'rance.
2t. Participation; sj-mpatliy.
If the partie die in the euenini;, they weepe all night
with a high voice, calling their neighbors and kinred to
mxiety of their griefe. Purchae, Pilgrimage, p. 847.
The meanest of the people, and such as have least so-
dely with the acts and crimes of kings.
Jer. Taylor. (Imp. Diet.)
8. Those persons coUeotively who are united
by the common bond of neighborhood and in-
tercourse, and who recognize one another as
associates, friends, and acquaintances. — 4. An
entire ci\-ilized community, or a body of some
or all such communities collectively, with its or
their body of common interests and aims : with
especial reference to the state of civilization,
thought, usage, etc., at any period or in any
land or region.
Although society and government are thus intimately
connected with and dependent on each other, of the two
society is the greater. J. C. Caltuiun, Works, L 5.
Among philosophical politicians there has been spread-
ing the perception that the progress of society is an evolu-
tion. H. Spencer, Prin. of Biol., i 117.
Specifically — 5. The more cultivated part of
any community in its social and intellectual
relations, interests, and influences; in a nar-
row sense, those, collectively, who are recog-
nized as taking the lead in fashionable life;
those persons of wealth and position who pro-
fess to act in accordance with a more or less
artificial and exclusive code of etiquette ; fash-
ionable people in general : as, he is not received
into society. In this sense frequently used ad-
jectivel^: as, society people; society gossip; a
society jonmal.
Society became interested, and opened lU ranks to wel-
come one who had Just received the brevet of ** Man of
Letters." Hayward, Letters, I. ii. (,Bneye. Diet)
These envied ladies luve no more chance of estahUsb-
in^ themselves in society than the benighted sqnire's wife
in .Somersetshire, who reads of their doings in the Morn-
ing Post Tkaclceray, Vanity Fah-, xixvii.
As to soeiefy in 18S7, contemporary commentators differ.
Tot, according to some, society wsa ahrays gambling, run-
ning sway with each other's wivee, oanslng and commit-
ting scandals, or whispering them ; the men were spend-
ttuifts and proHigates, the women extravagant and heart-
less. W. Besant, Fifty Years Ago, p. 110.
6. An organized association of persons united
for the promotion of some common puipose or
object, whethc'r religious, benevolent, literary,
scientific, political, convivial, or other ; an as-
sociation for pleasure, profit, or usefulness ; a
Bocial union; a partnc-rship; a club: as, the
Society of Friendij the Society of the Cincin-
nati; a sewing 8octe(y; a tneuiUy society.
In this sense the Church is always a risible society of
men ; not an assembly, but a society.
Hooter, Eccles. PoUty, ilL 1.
It is now nev two hundred years since the Society of
4)aakers denied the aothorlty of tlie rite altogether, and
gave good reasons tor disusing it.
ametson. The Lord's Sapper.
Specifically — 7. In eeelet. lav, in some of the
United States, the corporation or secular body
organized pursuant to law with power to sue
and be sued, and to hold and administer all the
temporalities of a religious society or church,
as distinguished from the body of communi-
cants or raembersunitedbya confession of faith.
When so used in this specific senses members of the so-
ciety are those who are entitled oader the law to vote for
trustees — usnally adults who have been stated attendants
for one year and have contributed to the sapport of the
organisation according to Its oaages, while members of
the church are those who have entered into a religions
covenant with one another. To a considerable extent
both bodies are the same persons acting In different ca|>a-
citiea. t'lider the law lij soni« Jurisdictions, and In some
denominations In hII jiirisilictlonL there is no snch dis-
tinction—Amalgamated sadetlM. See amalgamaU.
— Bible, building, cooperative, etc., society. Bee the
qualifying wor.ls Dorcas Society, an association of
women orgaiiizt-.l tcir th^' supply of clothes to the poor:
named from the Dorcas mentioned in Acts Ix. 88. Fre-
quently the members of the society meet at stated times
and work In common. Partial payment Is generslly re-
quired fniin all except the very poorest recipients.— Emi-
grant aid Bodetle*. See entrant— Ftnit-brlngins
Society. Same as Order of the Palm (which see, under
;«iim-'). — Ooaranty society. See jTnaroirfi/.— Har-
mony Society, ^(x Harmonist, 4.— B^ed-Cross Socie-
ty, Ribbon Society, etc. See the adiectlves.— Society
nands, in jrntitintj, workmen who iH'long to a trade
»f>cicty. ancl work under Its rules. IKnir.l -Socle^
booses, in ririnlin(r, offices that conform to tliu rules of a
iraiie «o<.ii:ty. [Kngl- Society Journal or newspaper,
a Journal which professes to .lironl.l.- tti.- iloinKi of fiish-
ionable s-idety. Society Of the PerfectlbUiats, .Same
as QrlfT .// ihf IlluminaU (which see, iiniLr llhnninati).
— Society screw. See aer«wi.~ Society verse, verse
concerned with the lighter society topics; poetry of a
361
5745
light, entertaining, polished character.— The Societies.
See Cameronian, 1. = Syn. 1. Corporation, fraternity, bro-
therhood.— 6 and 7. liuion, league, lodge.
SOCii, »■ Plural of socius.
Soclnian (so-sin'i-an), a. and n. [= Sp. Pg.
It. Sociniaiio, < NL, Socinianus, < Sociniis (It.
Sozzini) : see def.] I. a. Pertaining to Lselius
or Faustus Socinus or their religious creed.
H. n. One who holds to Socinian doctrines.
See Soeinianisni.
Socinianism (so-sin'i-an-izm), n. [< Socinian
+ -ism.'\ The doctrines of the Italian theologi-
ans Lielius Socinus (1525-62) and Faustus So-
cinus (1539-1604) and their followers. The term
is in theological usage a general one, and includes a con-
siderable variety of opinion. The .Socinians believe that
Christ was a man. miraculously conceived and divinely
endowed, and thus entitled to honor and reverence, but
not to divine worship : that the object of his death was
to perfect and complete his example and to prepare the
way for his resurrection, the necessary historical basis of
Christianity; that baptism is a declarative rite merely, and
the Lord's Supper merely commemorative ; that divine
grace Is general and exerted through the means of grace,
not special and personally efticacious ; that the Holy Spirit
is not a distinct person, but the divine energy ; that the
authority of Scripture is subordinate to that of the reason ;
that the soul is pure by nature, though contaminated by
evil example and teaching from a very early age ; and that
salvation consists in acceptin;; Christ's teaching and fol-
lowing his example. The .Socinians thus occupy theologi-
cally a midway position between the Arians, who main-
tain the divinity of Jesus Christ, but deny that he is co-
e<jual with the Father, and the Humanitarians, who deny
hi.s supt-rnatural character altogether.
Socinianize i.so-sin'i-au-iz), r. t.; pret. and pp.
Socinianized, ppr. Socinianizing . [< Socinian +
-I.e.] To render Socinian in doctrine or be-
lief ; tinge or tincture with Socinian doctrines ;
convert to Socinianism. Also spelled Socini-
anise.
I cannot be ordained before I have sul>scribed and taken
some oaths Neither of which will pass very well, if I am
ever so little Popishly Inclined or Socinianii^d.
Tom Bntm, Works, I. 4. (Daviet.)
SOdogeny (so-shi-oj'e-ni), n. [< L. sociu.i, a
companion (see social), + Gr. -yiveia, produc-
tion : see -jfeny.] The science of the origin or
genesis of society.
SOdography (so-shi-o^'ra-fi), n. [< L. socius,
a companion, -f- -ypa^ia, K ypi^iv, write.] The
observing an<l descriptive stage of sociology.
O. T. Mason, Smithsonian Report. 1881, p. 501.
sociologic (so'shi-^-loj'ik), a. [< sociolog-y +
-ic] Same as «ocio2o^ica(.
sociological (so'shi-o-loj'i-kal), a. [< sociologic
+ -<il.J Of or pertaining to sociology, or so-
cioIo;;ic |>riiiciples or matters: as, sociological
studies or oliservations.
sociologically (s6'shi-o-loj'i-kal-i), adv. As
regards sociology ; with reference to sociology.
sociologist (so-shi-ol'o-jist), n. [< sociolog-y '+
-iiff.] One who treats of or devotes himseU to
the study of sociology. J, S. Mill.
sociology (so-shi-ol'Q-ji), n. [< L. socius, a
companion, + Gr. -^oyia, < 7lynv, speak: see
-ology.'\ The science of social phenomena; the
science which investigates the laws regulating
human society; the science which treats of the
general structure of society, the laws of its
development, the prop-ess of civilization, and
all that relates to society.
The philosophical student of sociology aasames as data
the general and undisputed fscts of human natnie, and
with the aid of all such concrete facts as he can get from
history he constructs his theory of the general coarse of
social evolution — of the changes which societies have
undergone, or will undergo, under given conditions.
J. Fiske, Evolutionist, p. 19S.
SOdonomy (s6-shi-on'6-mi), «. [< L. »oc««*,
a companion, + Gr. v^/zoc, law: see nowie*.]
The deductive and predictive stage of soci-
ology. O. T. Mason, Smithsonian Report, 1881,
p. 501.
socins (so'shi-us), n.; pi. socii (-i). [NL., < L.
socius, a companion, associate : see social.'i An
associate; a member or fellow, as of a sodal-
ity, an academy, or an institution of learning.
[Archaic]
socius crlininis (sd'shi-us krim'i-nis). [L.:
socius, a sharer, a partner (see social) ; criminis,
gen. of crimen, fault, offense: see crime.'} In
MIT, an accomplice or associate in the commis-
sion of a crime.
SOck^ (sok), H. [< ME. socke, sokke, sole, < AS.
sore = OFries. sokka = MD. socke, D. sok =
OHG. soc, soch; MHG. soc, G. socke = MLG.
socke = Icel. sokkr = 8w. sockn = Dan. sokke,
a sock, = F. socque, a clog, = Pr. soc = Sp. ziieco,
zoco = Pg. soceo, a clog, = It. socco, half-boot,
< h. soccus, a light shoe or slipper, buskin,
sock. Hence socket.} 1. A light shoe worn by
the ancient actors of comedy; hence, comedy,
socket
in distinction from tragedy, which is symbol-
ized by the buskin.
Where be the sweete delights of learnings treasure.
That wont with Comick sock to beautefie
The painted Theaters?
Spenser, Tears of the Muses, L 17ft.
Then to the well-trod stage anon.
If Jonson's learned sock be on.
Or sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy's child.
Warble his native wood-notes wild.
Milton, L' Allegro, 1. 132.
2. A knitted or woven covering for the foot,
shorter than a stocking; a stocking reaching
but a short distance above the ankle.
Hii weren sockes in here shon, and felted botes above.
Political Sontjs (ed. WrightX p. 330.
3t. A sandal, wooden patten, or clog for the
feet, worn by the friars called EeeoUets. E.
rhillips, 1706.
sock- (sok), n. [Early mod. E. also socke, sucke
= MD. sock, < OF. soc, F. dial, so, sole, sou (ML.
soccus), a plowshare, < Bret. sou(^h, soc'h =
Gael, soc = W. swch = Com. soch, a plowshare,
a snout.] A plowshare; a movable share
slipped over the sole of a plow.
socket (sok), V. t. [Origin obscure.] To sew
up.
Xeedels whenvith dead bodies are sowne or sockt into
their sheets. R. Scot, Discoverie of Witchcraft (N. and Q. ,
16th ser., XI. 268).
The same needles thrust into their pillows
That sews and socks up dead men in their sheets.
Middleton, The Witch, 1. 2.
SOCk''t, «• Same as soke^.
sock" (sok), t'. t. [Perhaps abbr. from sockdol-
ager.} 1. To throw; especially, to hurl or
send with swiftness and violence: as, to sock
a ball. Wright. [I'rov. or eolloq.]— 2. To hit
hard; pitch into: as, to sock one in the eye.
[Slang.] — 3. With an impersonal it, to stnke
a hard blow; give a drubbing: as, sock it to
him! [Slang.]
SOck^ (sok), w. A dialectal form of sog.
SOCkdologer (sok-dol'o-j^r), ?;. [Also sockdola-
ger, socdolagcr, sogdologer; a perversion of dox-
ology, taken in the sense of 'the finishing act,'
in allusion to the customary singing of the
doxology at the close of service.] 1. A conclu-
sive argument ; the winding up of a debate ; a
settler. — 2. A knock-down or decisive blow. —
3. Something very big ; a whopper.
Fit for an Abbot of Theleme, . . .
The Pone himself to see in dream
Before nis lenteii vision gleam.
He lies there, the sot/dttloffer .'
Lowed, To Mr. John Bartlett, who had sent me a seven-
[pound trout.
4. A patent fish-hook having two hooked points
which close upon each other as soon as the fish
bites, thus securing the fish with certainty.
fU. S. slang in all uses.]
socket (sok'et), n. [< ME. soket, sokete, < OF.
soket, dim. of "soc, m., sochc, souche, F. souche,
f., = It. zocco, m., a stump or stock of a tree ;
same as F. socque = Sp. zoco = Pg. soco, socco,
a sock, wooden shoe, clog, < L. soccus, a sock,
shoe: see soci'l. Ct. socle.} 1. An opening or
cavity into which anything is fitted ; any hollow
thing or place which receives and holds some-
thing else.
Another pyece wherin the sotttte or morteys was maade
that the body of the crosse stood In.
Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 155.
My eyes bum out, and sink into their sockets.
Fletcher, Wife for a Month, iv. 4.
The head (of the statue] seems to have been of another
piece, there being a socket for it to go in, and probably it
was of ■ more costly material.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. 11. 74.
Specifically — 2. A small hollow tube or de-
pression in a candlestick to hold a candle.
Also called nozle.
Item, ]. candilstlk, withoute soketies, weiyng xviij. unces.
Paston Letters, I. 478.
There was a lamp of brasse, with eight socketts from the
middle stem, like those we use in churches.
Evelyn; Diary, Aug. 19, 1641.
3. In anat, specifically, the hollow of one part
which receives another; the con-
cavity or excavation of an ar-
ticulation: as, an eye-socket;
the socket of the hip. — 4. In
mining, the end of a shot-hole,
when this remains visible after
the shot has been fired. — 5. In
well-boring, a tool with various
forms of gripping mechanism,
for seizing and lifting tools
dropped in the tube. — 6. In Rigfhtscapnu.teea
the just, a defense of steel at- ^ '',°"„iS 'J^ „
tacbed to the saddle, and serv- ' ' 'wcket."" "
socket
Socket, French form, end of 14th century. {From ViolIet-le-Duc's
" Diet, du MobtUer fraD9ais.")
ing to protect the legs and thighs. Compare
fr»ri, 3 (c). Also socquette Ball and socket.
SeebaUl.
socket (sok'et), v. t. [< socket, «.] To provide
with or place in a socket.
socket-bayonet (sok'et -ba'c-net), n. A bayo-
net of modem type, in which a short cylinder
fits outside the barrel of the gun.
socket-bolt (sok'et-bolt), n. In mach., a bolt
that passes through a thimble placed between
the parts connected by the bolt.
socket-caster (sok'et-kas'ter), n. A caster at-
tached to a socket which is fitted over the end
of a leg of a piece of furniture.
socket-celt (sok'et-selt), «. A celt with a socket
into which the handle or haft is fitted, 4s dis-
tinguished from celts of those forms in which
the handle is secured to the outside of the
head.
socket-chisel (sok'et-chiz"el), «. A chisel hav-
ing a hollow tang in which the handle is in-
serted. The form is used for heavy chisels
employed especially in mortising.
socket-drill (sok'et-dril), n. A driU for coun-
tersinking or enlarging a previously drilled
hole. It has a central projection which tits the drilled
hole, and laterally projecting cutting edges which enlarge
or countersink the hole.
socketed (sok'et-ed), p. a. 1. Provided with
or placed in a socket.
Two whyte marble column or pillers, soccat^d in two
foote Btepps of black marble well polished.
Arcfueoloijria, X. 404.
Beferring to drainage, we read of socketed pipes which
are uncemented at the joints. Lancet, 1889, II. 915.
2. In anat., received in a socket; articulated
by reception in a socket.
socket-joint (sok'et -joint), n. A ball-and-
socket joint; an enarthrodial articulation, or
enarthrosis, as those of the
shoulder and hip.
socket-pipe (sok'et-pip), «.
Ajointof pipewitha socket
at one end, usually intend-
ed to receive the small end
of another similar joint.
socket-washer ( sok ' et -
wosh'^er), n. A washer
with a covintersunk face to
receive the head of a bolt,
etc. ; a cup-washer. E. JJ.
Kitiyht.
socket-wrench (sok'et-rench), n. A wrench
for turning nuts, having a socket fitted to a
special size and shape of nut to be turned. See
cut under wrench,
SOCkhead (sok'hed), «. A stupid fellow. [Prov.
Eng.]
sockless (sok'les), a. [< «ocfci, n., -1- -less.']
Lacking socks; hence, without protection or
covering : said of the feet.
You shall behold one pair [of legs], the feet of which
were in times past sockless.
Beau, and Fl., Woman-Hater, i. 3.
BOCkman, n. See socman.
socky (sok'i), a. See soaky.
socle (so'kl), n. [Also zocle; = G. Sw. sochnl =
Dan. sokkel, < F. socle, a plinth, pedestal, < It.
zoccolo, formerly soccolo, a plinth, a wooden
shoe, formerly also a stilt, < L. socculus, dim.
of soccus, a light shoe, sock : see «ocfci. Cf . sock-
et.] 1. In arc/i., a low, plain member, serving
as a foundation for a wall or pedestal, or to sup-
port vases or other ornaments. It differs from a
pedestal in being without base or cornice, and is higher
than a plinth. A continued socle is one extending around
a building or part of a building.
2. One of the ridges or elevations which sup-
port the tentacles and sense-bodies of some
worms.
Socket-pipe.
«, length of socket-pipe ;
*, brancn-piece : c, connect-
ing piece ; rf, elbow.
5746
socman (sok'man), n. [Also socktnan, sokeman;
repr. AS. 'socman (ME. sochimaii, ML. sokvian-
iiiis, socomaiiinis, socainannus, socmannus, socke-
maHitus), a feudal tenant or vassal, < soc, the
exercise of judicial power, + man: see soke^
and sokeii.] One who holds lands or tenements
by socage.
A seignorie of pillage, which had a baron of old ever
ventured to arrogate, burgess and citizen, socmnn and
bocman, villein and churl, would have burned him alive
in his castle. Bulwer, My Novel, xii. 19.
socmanry (sok'man-ri), «.; pi. socmanries (-riz).
[< ML. socmanaria, < socmannus, sokmannus, etc. ,
< AS. socman : see socman.'] Tenure by socage.
These tenants . . . could not be compelled (like pure
villeins) to relinquish these tenements at the lord's will,
or to hold them against their own : '* et ideo," says Brac-
ton, ■ ' dicuntur liberi. " Britton also, from such their free-
dom, calls them absolutely sokemans, and their tenure
sokemanries. Blackstoiie, Com., II. vi.
Socotran (sok'o-tran), a. and n. [< Socotra
(see def.) + -an.] I. a. Of or pertaining to
Socotra, an island in the Indian Ocean, off the
east coast of Africa.
II, n. A native or an inhabitant of Socotra.
Also Socotrine.
Socotrine (sok'6-trin), a. and n. [< Socotra
(see Socotran) -f- -ixei.] Same a,8 Socotran. —
Socotrine aloes. See aloes, l.
SOCOUrt, ». A Middle Englisli form of succor.
socquette, n. Same as socJcet, 6.
Socratic (so-krat'ik), a. and u. [=F. Socratique
= Sp. Socrdtico = Pg. It. Socratico, < L./Socra-
ticus, < 6r. 'S.uKpariKd^, of or pertaining to Boa-
rates, < XuKpdr^yf, Socrates.] I. a. Of or pertain-
ing to the methods, style, doctrine, character,
person, or followers of the illustrious Athe-
nian philosopher Socrates (about 470-399 B. c).
His father, Sophroniscus, was a sculptor, and he was
brought up to the same profession. His mother, Phse-
narete.wasamidwife. Socrates was unjustly accused before
the council of the prytanes of being a corrupter of youth
and of not believing in the gods of the city, was condemned,
and died by drinking hemlock. His philosophy is known
to us by the account of Xenophon, written to show the prac-
tical upshot of his teachings and the injustice of his sen-
tence, and by the Dialogues of Flato, in most of which Soc-
rates is introduced only to give an artistic setting to Plato's
own discussions. Some things can also be inferred from
fragments of ^schines, and from the doctrines of other
companions of Socrates. He wrote nothing, but went about
Athens frequenting some of the best houses, and followed
by a train of wealthy young men, frequently cross-question-
ing those teachers whose influence he distrusted. He
himself did not profess to be capable of teaching anything,
except consciousness of ignorance ; and he bargained for
no pay, though he no doubt took moderate presents. He
called his method of discussion (the Socratic method) ob-
stetrics (see maie.utic), because it was an art of inducing
his interlocutors to develop their own ideas under a cate-
chetical system. He put the pretentious to shame by the
practice of Socratic irony, which consisted in sincerely
acknowledging his own defective knowledge and profess-
ing his earnest desire to learn, while courteously admit-
ting the pretensions of the person interrogated, and in
persisting in this attitude until examination made it ap-
pear bitter sarcasm. He was opposed to the rhetorical
teaching of the sophists, and had neither interest nor
confidence in the physical speculations of his time. The
center of his philosophy, as of all those which sprang di-
rectly or indirectly from his— that is to say, of all European
philosophy down to the rise of modern science— was moral-
ity. He held that virtue was a species of knowledge ;
really to know the right and not to do it was impossible,
hence wrong-doers ought not to be punished ; virtue
was knowledge of the truly useful. He was far, however,
from regarding pleasure as the ultimate good, declaring
that if anything was good in Itself, he neither knew it nor
wished to know it. The great problems he held to consist
in forming general conceptions of the nature of truth,
happiness, virtue and the virtues, friendships, the soul,
a ruler, a suit of armor — in short, of all objects of interest.
These conceptions were embodied in definitions, and these
definitions were framed -by means of analytic reflection
upon special instances concerning which all the world
were agreed. He would not allow that anything was
known for certain concerning which competent minds
opined differently. This process of generalization, the
Socratic induction, together with the doctrine of the ne-
cessity of definitions, were his two contributions to logic.
The disciples of Socrates were Plato, Euclldes, Pheedo,
Antisthenes, Aristippus, Xenophon, .^schines, Simonias,
Cebes, and about twenty more. Properly speaking, there
was no Socratic school ; but the Academy and the Mega-
rian, Elean, Eretrian, Cynic, and Cyrenaic schools are
called Socratic. as having been founded by immediate dis-
ciples of Socrates.— Socratic school. See school^.
II. «. A disciple of Socrates: as, ^schines
the Socratic.
Socratical (so-krat'i-kal), a. [< Socratic + -al]
Socratic in some sense, or to some extent.
[Rare.]
Socratically (so-krat'i-kal-i), adv. In the So-
cratic manner; by the Socratic method.
Socraticism (so-krat'i-sizm), n. [< Socratic +
-js»?(.] A Socratic peculiarity, absurdity, or
the like. Encyc. Brit, VIII. 579.
Socratism (sok'ra-tizm), n. [< Socrates + -ism.]
The doctrines or philosophy of Socrates. Imp.
Diet.
soda
Socratist (sok'ra-tist), n. [< Socrates + -ist.'}
A disciple of Socrates ; one who uses the So-
i-ratic method; a Socratic.
Socratize (sok'ra-tiz), I', i. ; pret. and pp. Soc-
rati^ed, ppr. Socratizing. [< Socrates + -ise.]
To use tlie Socratic method. [Rare.]
"What is to prevent me from Sokratizinr/?" was the
question by which he [Ramus] established his individual
right to doubt and inquiry.
J. Owen, Evenings with Skeptics, L 255.
SOdl (sod), n. [< ME. sod, sodde = OFries. sdtha,
sdda = MD. sode, soode, soede, soeuwe, soye, D.
zode, zoo ; = MLG. sode, LG. sode = G. sode,
sod, turf: so called as being sodden or satu-
rated with water ; a deriv. or particular use of
OFries. sdth, sad = MD. sode, later sood, zoo
= MLG. sod, LG. sood = MHG. sot, sod, boil-
ing, seething, also a well, = AS. sedth, a weU,
pit, < sedthan (pret. sedth, pp. soden), etc., boil,
seethe: see seethe, sodden^, etc.'] 1. The upper
stratum of grass-land, containing the roots of
grass and the other herbs that may be growing
in it ; the sward or turf.
Tender blue-bells, at whose birth
The sod scarce heaved. Shelley, The Question.
To rest beneath the clover iod.
Tennyson, In Memoriam, x.
2. A piece of this grassy stratum pared or
pulled off; a turf; a divot or fail.
She therefore, to encourage hir people against the eni-
mies, mounted vp into an high place raised vp of turfea
and sods made for the nonce.
Holinthed, Hist. Eng., iv. 10.
Sod Idln, a lime-kiln made by excavating the earth in
the form of a cone, filling with alternate layers of fuel and
broken limestone, and covering the top with sods to pre-
vent loss of heat. Sometimes the sides are lined with
sods. — The old sod, one's native country : especially used
by Irish emigrants : as, he 's a clever lad from the old sod.
[Colloq.]
sodi (sod), V. t. ; pret. and pp. sodded, ppr. sod-
ding. [< «o(Jl, «.] To cover with sod ; turf.
The slope was sodded and terraced with rows of seats,
and the spectators looked down upon the circular basin
at the bottom. Harper's Mag., LXXIX. 558.
SOd^t. -Aji obsolete preterit and past participle
of ^fftJlC
soda (so'da), n. [= F. Sp. Pg. D. G. Sw. Dan.
soda (NL! soda), < It. soda, soda, Olt. soda
(= OF. soulde), saltwort, glasswort, fern, of
sodOj contr. of solido, solid, hard: see solid.'] 1.
Sesquiearbonate or normal carbonate of sodium
(Na2C03) ; soda-ash: the latter being the com-
mon name of the commercial article, one of
the most, if not the most, important of all the
products of chemical manufacture. Various hy-
drated carbonates of sodium occur in nature— the deca-
hydrate or natron ; the monohydrate, known as thermona-
trUe; and trona, a compound of the sesquiearbonate and
the bicarbonate with three equivalents of water. These
natural carbonates occur in solution in the water of vari-
ous alkaline lakes, or aa deposits at the bottoms of such as
have become dried up, but usually mixed with more or less
common salt, sodium sulphate, and other saline combina-
tions. It was from these deposits, and from the incinera-
tion of various plants growinti by the sea-shore (Salsola,
Salicomia, Chenopodium, Statice, Beaumnria, Kitraruit
Tetragonia, Mesemhryanthenium), that soda was formerly
obtained. These sources have become of little impor-
tance since artificial soda began to be made from common
salt, a process invented by Leblanc, and put in operation
near Paris toward the end of the eighteenth century. By
this process common salt is decomposed by sulphuric
acid, and the resulting sodium sulphate is mixed with
limestone and coal, and heated in a reverberatory fnmace,
the product (technically known as black ash) consisting
essentially of soluble sodium cai'bonate and insoluble cal-
cium sulphid, which are easily separated from each other
by lixiviation. By the Leblanc process the soda used In
the arts was almost exclusively produced until about
thirty years ago, when the so-called ammonia or Solvay
process began to become of importance. This process
had been patented in England aa early as 1838, and tried
there and near Paris, but without success. The diflScul-
ties were first overcome by E. Solvay, who in 1861 es-
tablished a manufactory of soda by this process (since
known by his name) near Brussels. By the ammonia or
Solvay process a concentrated solution of common salt is
saturated with ammonia, and then decomposed by car-
bonic acid. By this means sodium chlorid is converted
into sodium carbonate, and the anmionia is afterward re-
covered by the aid of lime or magnesia. This process has
within the past few years becomeof great importance, and
at the present time about half the soda consumed in the
world is made by it. Whether it will eventually entirely
supplant the Leblanc process cannot yet be stated. The
chief advantage which it presents is that the amount of
coal consumed by it is much smaller than that required by
the older process, so that countries where fuel is not very
cheap and abundant can now make their own soda, being
no longer dependent on England, as they were in large
degree before the Solvay process became successful. For
the properties of pure soda, see f^odittm carbonaU, under
sodinm. Also called mineral alkali.
2. Soda-water. [Colloq.]— Ball soda, crude soda.
—Caustic soda. See ca««*ic.— Nitrate of soda. See
wYraie.— Salt of SOda, sodium carbonate.— Soda cock-
tail. See cocktail.— Soda, niter. Same as nitraiin.—
Soda powder. See poivder.
soda-alum
soda-alum fso'da-al'um), «. A crystalline min-
eral, a hydrated double sulphate of aluminiiun
and sodium, found on the island of Melos, at
Solfatara in Italy, and near Mendoza on the east
of the Andes. Also called mendozite.
soda-ash l so'da-ash ), n. The trade-name of so-
dium carbonate. See soda.
soda-ball (so'da-bal), n. An intermediate pro-
duet in the manufacture of sodium carbonate,
formed by fusing together sodium sulphate,
coal-dust, and limestone. Also called hiack
axil. See also soda.
soda-biscuit (so'da-bls'ldt), n. A biscuit raised
with soda. See bLienit, 2. [U. S.]
soda-cracker (sd'da-krak'er), n. A kind of
cravker or biscuit, consisting of flour and wa-
ter, with a little salt, bicarbonate of soda, and
cream of tartar, made into a stiff dough, rolled
thin, and cut into squares. [U. S.]
The eccentric old telegraph editor . . . kept a colony
of white mice in a squirrel-cafce, feeding them upon $oda-
craclreri and millt. The Century, XXXVIIl 875.
SOda-feld8par(s6'dil-feld'spar),n. See feldspar.
soda-fountain (so'd'a-foun'tan), n. 1. A metal
or marble structure containing water charged
with carbonic-acid gas (or containing materials
for its production), with faucets through which
the water can be drawn off. Soda-fountains
commonly contain tanks for flavoring-syrups
and a resen-oir for ice. — 2. A strong metal ves-
sel lined with glass or other non-corrosible ma-
t-erial, used to store and transport watercharged
with carbonic-acid gas under pressure.
soda-furnace (so'da-ffer'nas), h. a furnace for
converting into the carbonate, by fusing with
chalk and slaked lime or small coal, the sulphate
of soda obtained by treating common salt with
sulphuric acid, in a lunal form the cylinder which ro
celrea the charge isheated red-hot before beinKfllled.and is
caoKd to rotate by appropriate mechanism. E. H. Knight.
80daic(so-da'ik), rt. [< soda + -ic] Of, relat-
ing to, or containing soda: as, sodaic powders.
sodainet, a. An obsolete form of sudden.
soda-lime (s6'da-lim), ». In chem., a mixture
of cau.stic soda and quicklime, used chiefly for
nitrogen determinations in organic analysis.
sodalite (so'da-lit), «. [< soda + -lite.'] A min-
eral so called from the large portion of sotla
which enters into its composition, it is commonly
foand in volcanic rocks, occurring in isometric crystals
and also niasalTe, and la usually uf a blue color, also gray-
ish, greenish, yellowish, and white. It is a >illcat« oialu-
minlum and sodium with sodium chlorid.
sodality (so-darj-ti), «. [= F. sodality, <
L. !<i>dnHta(t-)s, companionship, friendship, a
brotherhood or society, < sodalis, a mate, a fel-
low, a boon companion.] A fraternity; con-
fraternity: especially in use by Roman Catho-
lics for a religious fraternity or society.
He was a learned gentleman, and one of the club at the
Mermayd, in fryday street, with ar Walter Kalelgh, Ac, of
that Kdautu, heroea and witta of that time.
Avbrey, Uvea (Thomaa HariotX note.
soda-lye (so'da-ll), u. A gelation of sodium
hydrate in wat<r.
soda-mesotype (so'da-mes'o-tip), ». Same as
ntitritfitt'.
soda-mint (so'da-mint), n. A mixture contain-
u\K sodium bicarbonate and spearmint.
soda-paper (so'div-pa'p^r), n. A paper satu-
rated with sodium carbonate : used as a test-
paper, and also for inclosing powders which
are to be ignited under the blowpipe, so that
they may not be blown away.
soda-plant (so'dii-nlant), w. A saltwort, Sal-
sola Soda, one of the plants from whose ashes
barilla was formerly obtained.
soda-salt (8d'd&-g41t), ». In chem., a salt hav-
ing soda for its base.
soda-waste fso'da-wast), n. In the soda in-
diiHtrv. that part of soda-ball or black ash which
is insoluble in water. It contains sulphids and
hydrates of calcium, coal, and other matters.
soda-water (s6'dH-wft't6r), n. l . A drink iren-
erally consisting of ordinary water into which
carbonic acid has been forced under pressure.
On exposure to the ordinary atmospheric preasnre, the
excess of carbonic acid eacapea. thus causing effervescence.
It rarely contains soda in any form ; but the name origi-
nally applied when sodium carbonate was contained in it
has been reUined. It is generally sweetened and flavored
with syrups.
2. A solution used to cool drills, punches, etc.,
used in metal-working.
sod-burning (sod'b^^r'ning), n. In agri., the
burning of the turf of old pasture-lands for the
sake of the ashes as manure.
sod-cutter (sod'kut'er), n. A tool or machine
for iMitling or trimming sods; a paring-plow;
a sodding-spade.
5747
sodden^ (sod'n), p. a. [< ME. sodden, soden, <
AS. soden : see seethe.'] 1. Boiled; seethed.
And also brede, »oddyn egges, and soratyme other vyt-
aylles. Sir R. Ouylforde, Pylgrymage, p. 17.
Which diuined by the blade-bones of sheepe, sodde and
then burnt to powder. Purchai, Pilgrimage, p. 414.
2. Soaked and softened, as in water; soaked
through and through; soggy; pulpy; pulta-
ceous ; of bread, not well baked ; doughy.
It had ceased to rain, but the earth was sodden, and the
pools and rivulets were full. Charlotte Bronte, Shirley, iv.
3. Having the appearance of having been sub-
jected to long boiling; parboiled; bloated;
soaked or saturated, as with drink.
Double your flies ! as you were ! faces about !
Now, you with the sodden face, keep in there!
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Burning Pestle, v. 2.
sodden^ (sod'n), r. [i sodden'^, p. a.] l.intrans.
1. To be seethed or soaked; settle down as if
by seething or boiling.
It [avarice] takes as many shapes as Proteus, and may
be called above all the vice of middle life, that soddens
into the gangrene of old age, gaining strength by van-
quishing all virtues. Mrs. S. C. Halt.
2. To become soft, as by rotting. [Unique.]
They never fail who die
In a great cause : the block may soak their gore ;
Their heads may sodden in the gun.
Byron, lilarino Fallen), 11. 2.
n. trans. To soak; fill the tissues of with
water, as in the process of seething; saturate.
Clothes . . . Kddened with wet.
Diekent, Little Dorrit, L 11.
SOdden^f (sod'n), a. [< sorfl -I- -ew2.] Of sods;
soddy. Court and Times of Charles I., II. 285.
[Rare.]
soddenness (sod'n-nes), «. Sodden, soaked, or
soggy character or quality.
The loddennat ot Improperly boiled or tried foods will
be avoided. Seimee, XV. 230.
sodding-mallet (sod'tng-maKet), n. A beating-
tool with a broad, flat face, for smoothing and
compacting newly laid sods.
SOdding-spade (sod'ing-spad), M. A spade with
a flat, sliarj) blade, used for cutting sods ; a sod-
cutter.
soddy (sod'i), a. [< «o<fl + -ji.] Consisting
of sfid ; covered with sod ; turfy.
soden't, sodet. Middle English forms of Aodden,
past iiarticiplo of seethe.
soden-t, sodeint, «. Obsolete forms of tudden.
sodenet, ". A Middle English form of subdean.
sodert, ". and r. A former spelling of solder.
Isa. xli. 7.
sodeynt, sodeynlichet. Obsolete forms of sud-
lifii. suililenlji.
sodger' (so'jer), n. A dialectal form ot soldier.
S0dger2(80j'6r),ii. The whelk. Hallitcell. [Prov.
Etig.J
sodic (so'dik), a. [< sotliium) ■¥ -tc.] Consist-
ing of or containing sodium.
SOdic-cbalybeate (so'dik-ka-lib'e-St), a. Con-
taining both iron and sodium: used of mineral
waters.
sodium (s6'di-um), n. [= F. G. sodium = Sp. Pg.
It. sodio, < NXi. sodium, < soda + -ium.] Chetn-
ical symbol, Na (natrium); atomic weight, 23.05.
The metallic base of the alkali soda. See«orfa
and metal, it was flrst Isolated by Davy, in 1807, by
electrolysis, and la at present obtained on a large scaleby Ig-
niting sodium carbonate with charcoal. .'Sodium is a silver-
white metal with a high luster, but it iiiidizeii rapidly on
exposure to moist air. Heated in the air. it buma rapid-
ly with a bright-yellow flame, ver)' characteriBtic of the
metal : thrown Into cold water. It oxidizes, but does not
become hot enough to set the evolved hydrogen on Are,
as potassium does ; with hot water, ignition of the hydro-
gen take* place. Its speclflc gravity at 56' is 0.9786 ; at
the ordinary temperature it has the consistency of wax ;
at 204* it melta, and forms a liiiuid resembling mercury
in appearance. Next to silver, copper, and gold, it is. of
the metata, the best conductor of hent and electricity ;
next to caslom. rubidium, and potassium, it is the most
electropoaitlve of the metals. It Is extensively used in
the laboratory as a powerful reducing agent ; It is closely
analogoo* to potassium in its chemical relations. Two of
Its compounds are very widely diffused In nature, and of
the highest Importance from various pointsof view ; these
are common salt and sotiium carbonate, <ir soda. - Sodium
bicarbonate, a compound having the formula .NaHrO.-t.
It i«4 a wliitc crystalline powder, with a weaker alkaline
taste tlian the other carbonate described bulow, and less
sfiluhle In water. Also called soda mleratm. — SoUum
l>orate. See ftonu;.— Sodium carbonate, a compound
having the formula NajCOs, either anhydrous or contain-
ing water of cryatalllation. (The method of manufacture
Is described under so<fa.) Anhydrous sodiiini carbonate, or
chemically pure soda, is a white powder having an alkaline
taste and reaction, readily ftoluhle in water with evolution
of heat. It fuses at a dull red hciit to a clear liquid. It
Is used in enormous nunntitleR in the arts for a great vari-
ety of purposes. When crystallized from aqueous solu-
tion It forms transparent crystals, called wathing.eri/ttais.
which contain ton equivalents of water. TheaeefDoreace on
exposure to air. —Sodium cblorld, common aalt, NaCL
sofa
See soffi, 1. — Sodium line, the bright-yellow line (strict-
ly a double line) which incandescent sodium vapor gives
when viewed by the spectroscope : it corresponds to the
dark absorption line D (Dj and D2) of the solar spectrum.
—Sodium nitrate. See nitrate o/soda, under nitrate.
sod-oil (sod'oil), «. Oil pressed from sheep-
skins by tanners, and used in manufacturing
the lowest grades of brown soap.
Sodom-apple (sod' qm-ap'l), n. 1. Same as op-
ple of Sodom (whict see, under apple). Specifi-
cally—2. The nightshade, Solanum Sodomee-
um; also, sometimes, in the United States, the
horse-nettle, S. CaroUnense, or some similar
species.
SOdomist (sod'om-ist), H. [< Sodom (see Sodom-
ite) + -ist.] A sodomite.
Sodomite (sod'om-it), «. [< ME. sodamyte, <
OF. (and F.) sodomite = Sp. Pg. sodoniita = It.
sodomito = 6. sodomit, < LL. Sodomita, < Gr.
'ZoSofuTtjq, an inhabitant of Sodom, < 'LdSofia, LL.
Sodoma, < Heb. Sedom, Sodom.] 1. An inhabi-
tant of Sodom, an ancient city which, according
to the account in Genesis, was destroyed by fire
from heaven on account of the wickedness of
its inhabitants. — 2. II. c.] One who is guilty of
sodomy. Deut. xxiii. 17.
SOdomi'tical (sod-o-mit'i-kal), a. [< *sodomitic
(<LL.*Wo»itWeM«, pertaining to the inhabitants
of Sodom, < Sodomita, an inhabitant of Sodom :
see Sodomite) + -al.] Relating to or of the na-
ture of sodomy ; given to or guilty of sodomy ;
grossly wicked.
So are the hearts of our popish protestants, I fear me,
hardened from fearing God, in that they look, yea, go
back again to their sodomitical minion.
J. Bradford, Works (Parker Soc., 1853X II. 33a
SOdomitically (sod-o-mit'i-kal-i), adv. In a
soiloniiticnl manner; with sodomy.
SOdomitryt, «. [< sodomite + -ry.] Sodomitio
practices ; sodomy ; gross wickedness.
Their sodomitry, whereof they cast each other In the
teeth daily in every abbey, for the least displeasure that
one doth to another.
Tyndale, Ans. to Sir T. More, etc. (Parker .Soc, 1850), p. 161.
sodomy (sod'om-i), n. [= D. G. sodomie, < F.
sodomic = Sp. sodomia = Pg. It. sodomia, sod-
omy, so called because it was imputed to the
inhabitants of Sodom, < LL. Sodoma, < Gr.
2(i<5o//a, Sodom : see Sodwnite.] Unnatural sex-
ual relations, as between persons of the same
sex, or with beasts.
They are addicted to sodomie or huggerie.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 41«.
BOd-plow (sod'plou), n. A plow designed to
cut and turn sods. It is made with a long share
and mold-board.
sod-worm (soj'w^nn), n. The larva of certain
pyralid moths, as Crambus exsiccatus, which de-
stroys the roots of grass and com. Also called
turf-worm and turf web-worm. [U. 8.].
Soe (so), B. [Also so, soa; 8c. sae, savy, se; <
ME, so, soo, sua, a tub, bucket, < AS. *»o, saa,
a vessel, = Icel. sdr. a cask, a dairy vessel, =
8w. s& (sA-stdng) = Dan. saa {saa-stang), a soe
or tub, a cowl.] A pail or bucket, especially
one to be carried on a yoke or stick. [Prov.
Eng.]
He kam to the welle, water up-drow,
And Aide their] a mlckel so.
Uavelok (E. E. T. S.X 1. 983.
Beer, which is brewed of Malt and Hops . . . and car-
ried in Soes into the cellar.
Comermts, Visible World (trans.), p. 91.
soefnl (so'f ul), n. [< soe + -ful.] The contents
of a soe.
A pump grown dry will yield no water ; but pour a lit-
tle into it at flrst, for one bason-full you may fetch up so
many soe./uUs.
Dr. II. More, Antidote against Atheism, I. II. 6. (Siehard-
Irnrn.)
Soemmering's (or Sommering's) mirror,
mohr, spot. See mirror, mohr, sjiot.
soever (so-ev'^r), adv. [< .sol + ever.] A word
generally used in composition to extend or ren-
der indefinite the sense of s'uch wqrds as who,
what, where, when, how, etc., as in whosoever,
wheresoever, etc. (See these words. ) It is some-
times used separate from who, how, etc.
What Beverage soever we make, either by Brewing, by
nistillation, Decoction, Percolation, or pressing, it is but
Water at flrst. Howell, Letters, II. 64.
We can create, and In what place soe'er
Thrive under evil. Milton, P. L., 11. 260.
sofa (so'fS), n. [Formerly also sopha; = F.
sofa, nopli'a = Sp, Pg. It. sofa = D. Dan. sofa =
(>. snfii, sopha = Sw. soffa, < Turk, soffa (= Ar.
soffa, suffah), a bench of stone or wood, a couch,
a sofa, < saffa, draw up in line, put a seat to a
saddle.] A long seat or settee with a stuffed
bottom and raised stuffed back and ends; a
BOfit
bench or settee upholstered with permanent
ciishious. See cut under settee.
Thas first Necessity inveiiteil stools.
Convenience next sngrpested elbow chairs,
And Luxuo' th' acconiplii^h'd Sofa last.
Cotcper, Task, L 88.
sofa-bed (so'fa-bed), «. A piece of furniture
formiug a sofa, as during the day, but capable
of being opened or altered in shape so as to ftir-
nish a bed at night.
One of those to/a^eds common in French houses.
Bvlwer, Night and Morning, iii. 12.
sofa-bedstead (so'fa-bed^'sted), n. Same as
aofa-hed.
Innumerable specimens of that imposition on society —
a tofa bedstead, Dickens, Sketches, Scenes, xxi.
BOfettt (so'fet), «. [Dim. < so/o -f -«<.] A small
sofa. [Rare.]
soffit (sof'it). n. [< F. soffite = Sp. sofito, < It.
soffltta, soffitlo, < L. as if "sufficia, 'suffictus (for
suffixa, suffixus), pp. of suffigere, fix beneath : see
suffix.'] 1. In
arch.: (a) The
under hori-
zontal face of
an architrave
between col-
umns. (6) The
lower surface
of an arch, (c)
The ceiling of
a room, when
J, s, SoRits (o> and (*).
divided by cross-beams into panels, compart-
ments, or lacunaria. (d) The under face of an
overhanging cornice, of a projecting balcony,
an entablature, a staircase, etc. — 2. In scene-
painting, a border. See scene, 4.
Soflrelf, «-■• A Middle English form of suffer.
SofEre^ (sof'fer), n. [S. Amer.] A South Amer-
ican yellow troopial. Icterus jamacaii.
sofi, sofism. See sufi, sufism.
soft (soft), a. and n. [< ME. soft, softe, < AS.
softe, sefte = OS. sdfti = MD. sacht, saeclit, D.
zacht = MLG. LG. sacht (> G. sacht) = OHG.
semfli, MHG. semfte, senfte, G. sanft, soft (see
the adv.); perhaps akin to Goth, samjan, please :
see seem, same. For the D. and LG. forms, which
have ch for/, cf . similar forms of shaft^, shaft^.']
1. a. 1. Yielding readily to pressure; easily
penetrated; impressible; yielding: opposed to
hurd : as, a soft bed ; a soft apple ; soft earth ;
soft wood ; a soft mineral ; easily susceptible of
change of form ; hence, easily worked; mallea-
ble: as, soft iron; lead is softer than gold.
A good soft pillow for that good white head
Were better than a churlish turf of France,
Shak., Hen, V., iv, 1. 14.
For spirits, when they please,
Can either sex assume, or both ; so soft
And uncompounded is their essence pure,
Milton, ¥. L., i, 424.
The earth, that ought to be as hard as a biscuit, is as
toft as dough. Sydney Smith, To Lady Holland, tL
2. Affecting the senses in a mild, smooth, bland,
delicate, or agreeable manner, (a) Smooth and
agreeable to the touch ; free from roughness or harsh-
ness ; not nigged, rough, or coarse ; delicate ; fine : as, a
soft skin; sq/"* hair; soft silk; soft dress-materials,
Huy is a small hound ; his coat of soft and erect ash-
coloured hair is especially long and thick about the neck
and shoulders. Fortnightly Jlev., N. S., XLIII. 89.
(6) Mild and agreeable; gentle; genial; kindly.
The sqft airs that o'er the meadows play,
Bryant, Our Fellow- Worshippers.
Soft the air was as of deathless May,
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, III, 343,
(c) Smooth; flowing; notrough or vehement; not harsh;
gentle or melodious to the ear : as, a soft sound ; soft ac-
cents ; soft whispers.
Her voice was ever soft,
Oentle, and low — an excellent thing in woman.
Shak., Lear, v, 3. 272,
Soft were my numbers ; who could take offence?
Pope, Prol. to Satires, 1, 147.
The soft murmur of the vagrant Bee,
Wordsworth, Vernal Ode, iv,
((f) Not harsh or offensive to the sight ; mild to the eye ;
not strong or glaring ; not exciting by intensity of color
or violent contrast : as, soft colors ; the soft coloring of a
picture.
The sun, shining upon the upper part of the clouds,
made . . . the softest, sweetest lights imaginable.
Sir T. Browne, Travels. {Latham.)
It is hard to imagine a softer curve than that with which
the mountain sweeps down from Albano to the plain,
//, James, Jr., Trans. Sketches, p. 146.
3. Bituminous, as opposed to atithracitic : said
of coal. — 4. Nearly free from lime or magnesia
salts, and therefore forming a lather with soap
without leaving a curd-like deposit : said of
water.
5748
A great elm-tree spread its broad branches over it [Van
Tassel's farmhouse], at the foot of which bubbled up a
spring of the softest and sweetest water, in a little well
formed of a barrel. Irving, Sketch-hook, p. 427.
5. Unsized: as, soft paper. — 6. Mild: noting
the weather, (a) Open ; genial.
The nyght was feire and clere, and a s(^te weder In the
myddill of Aprill, Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 240,
The wild hedge- rose
Of a soft winter,
Tennyson, Queen Mary, iii. 6.
(6) Moist ; wet or rainy : as, a soft day.
It was a gray day, damp and soft, with no wind ; one of
those days which are not unusual in the valley of the
Tliames, Mrs. Olipkant, Poor Gentleman, xxxix,
(c) Warm enough to melt snow or ice ; thawing, [New
Eng,l
7. In phonetics, pronounced with more or less
of a sibilant sound and without explosive ut-
terance, as c in cinder as opposed to c in can-
dle, g in gin as opposed to g in gift; also often
used instead of sonant or voiced or the like for
an alphabetic sound uttered with tone. — 8.
Tender; delicate.
Have I nat of a capoun but the lyvere.
And of youre soffe (var, wAite] breed nat but a shyvere, , , ,
Thanne hadde I with yow hoomly suffisaunce.
Chaucer, Summoner'a Tale, 1, 132.
Why are our bodies soft and weak and smooth.
Unapt to toil and trouble in the world,
But that our soft conditions and our hearts
Should well agree with our external parts?
Shak., T, of the 8,, v, 2. 167.
9. Effeminate; lacking manliness, hardiness,
or courage; easy to overcome ; gentle.
Somday boughten they of Troye it dere.
And eft the Greekes foundeti nothinge softe
The folk of Troy. Chaucer, Troilus, i. 137.
When a warlike State grows soft and effeminate, they
may be sure of a war.
Bacon, Vicissitudes of Things (ed, 1887),
10. Easily persuaded, moved, or acted upon ;
impressible; hence, facile ; weak; simple; fool-
ish; silly.
What cannot such scoifers do, especially if they find a
soft creature on whom they may work.
Burton, Anat. of Mel,, p, 209,
A few divines of so soft and servile tempers as disposed
them to so sudden acting and compliance.
Eikon Basilike.
He made . . . soft fellows stark noddies ; and such as
were foolish quite mad. Burton, Anat, of Mel,, p, 149,
11. Slack; easy-going; without careoranxiety.
Under a shepherde softe and necligent
The wolf hath many a sheepe and lamb to-rent.
Chaucer, Physician's Tale, 1. 101,
12. Mild; gentle; kind; sympathetic; easily
touched or moved; susceptible; tender; mer-
ciful; courteous; not rough, rude, or iiTitat-
ing: as, soft manners.
There segh thai that semly, & with soft wordys,
Comford hur kyndly with carpyng of raowthe.
Destruction of Troy (E, E. T. S.), 1. 7608.
A soft answer turneth away wrath. Prov. xv. 1.
Women are soft, mild, pitiful, and flexible ;
Thou stern, obdurate, flinty, rough, remorseless.
SAo*.,3Hen, VI., i, 4, 141,
13. Ea.sy; gentle; steady and even, especially
in action or motion.
Furth they went.
As soft a pace as ye' myght with hym goo ;
Too se hym in that plight they were full woo,
Oenerydes (E. E. T. S,), 1, 2370.
Notwithstondynge the contynuall tedyous calme, we
made sayle with right softe spede.
Sir R. Ouylforde, Pylgrymage, p. 77.
With inoffensive pace that spinning sleeps
On her soft axle ; while she [the earth] paces even.
And bears thee soft with the smooth air along,
Milton, P. L., viii. 165.
14. In anat, not bony, cartilaginous, dentinal,
etc. : as, the soft parts or soft tissues of the body:
not specific. — 15. When noting silk, having
the natural gum removed by cleaning or wash-
ing: distinguished from hard. — 16. In ichth.,
not spinous; soft-rayed: noting fins or fin-rays:
as, a soft dorsal or anal (fin). See soft-finned,
and cut under Malaeopteri/gii. — 17. In conch.
and7ierpe<.,soft-shelled.— is. In Crwstecert, soft-
shelled.— A soft thing, a snug berth, in which work is
lieht and remunerative ; a comfortable or veiy desirable
place. Also CAlieii a so.ft snap. [Slang,] — Soft bast. See
008(1, 2,— Soft carbonates. See carbonate^. Soft chan-
cre. Same as chancrmd. Soft clam, the common clam,
Mya arenaria, and related fonns, whose shell is conipai"a-
tivelythin; alongclain: so called in distinction from vari-
ous hard or round clams, as species of Venus, Mactra, etc.
See cut under Mya.— Soft CoaL See def. ;i and coal, 2. —
Soft commissure of the brain, same as middle com-
mixsure (which see, uuAer commissure). — Soft crab, a soft-
shelled crab. See soft-shelled. — Soft eplthem, a poultice :
specifically, a cold poultice of scraped raw potato applied
to hums and scalds. - Soft fish, maple, money, oyster.
Seethe nouns,— Soft palate, Hee palate, I. — Soft pedal,
pottery, pulse, sawder, snap, soap, solder. See the
softener
nonns,— Soft tortoise or turtle. See soft shelled.— Soft
weather, a thaw, (New Kng.]— The softer sex. See
SCTi.=Syil, 1, Plastic, pliable,— 2, {c) Mellillunus, dulcet.
— 10. t'ompliant, submissive, irresolute, — 12 and 13. Mild,
Bland, etc. See gentle.
II. n. 1 . A soft or silly person ; a person who
is weak or foolish ; a fool. Also softy. [CoUoq.
or slang.]
It'll do you no good to sit in a spring-cart o' your own,
if you've got a soft to drive you : he'll soon turn you over
into the ditch, George Eliot, Adam Bede, ix,
2. \_cap.'] 1-a U.S. politics: («) A member or an
adherent of that one of the two factions into
which in 1852 and succeeding years the Demo-
cratic party in the State of New York was di-
vided which was less favorable to the extension
of slavery. (6) A member of the pro-slavery
wing of the Democratic party in Missouri about
1850. See hard, n., 5.
soft (soft), adv. [< ME. softe, < AS. softe = OS.
safto = OHG. samfto, sanfto, MHG. samfte,
sanfte, G. sanft, softly ; from the adj.] Softly ;
gently; quietly.
This child ful softe wynde and wrappe.
Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, 1. 527.
Soft whispering thus to Nestor's son,
His head reclin d, young Ithacus begun.
Pope, Odyssey, iv, 81.
soft (soft), interj. [An elliptical use of soft, adv.]
Go softly! hold! stop! not so fast!
Soft !
The Jew shall have all justice ; softl no haste ;
He shall have nothing but the penalty,
Shak., M. of V., iv. 1. 320.
Soft — who is that stands by the dying fire?
M. Arnold, Tristram and Iseult.
SOftt (s6ft), V. t. [< ME. soften, softien (= MLG.
sachten), soften; < soft, a.] To soften; make
soft.
Softyng with oynement. Rom. of the Rose, I. 192.1.
Yet cannot all these flames, in which I fry.
Her hart more harde then yron soft a whit,
Spenser, Sonnets, xxxii.
softa (sof 'ta), n. [Alsosop/ite; < Turk, softa.]
A Moslem student of sacred law and theologi-
cal science.
soft-bodied (s6ft'bod"id), a. In zool., having
a soft body. Specifically applied to (a) the Mdlusea
or Malacozoa (see malacology); (b) the Malacodermata;
(c) in Coleoptera, the Malaeodermi; (d) in Hcmiptera, the
Capsidse.
soft-conscienced (soft ' kon ■'■' shenst), a. Hav-
ing a tender conscience. Shatc., Cor., i. 1. 37.
[Rare.]
soften (sof'n), V. [< soft + -e«i. Cf. soft, v.]
I. in trans. To become soft or less hard, (o) To be-
come more penetrable, pliable, and yielding to pressure :
as, iron softens with heat.
Many of those bodies that will not melt, or will hardly
melt, will notwithstanding soften.
Bacon, Nat. Hist,, § 840.
(&) To become less rude, harsh, severe, or cruel ; grow less
obstinate or obdurate; become more susceptible of hu-
mane feelings and tenderness ; relent.
We do not know
How he may soften at the sight o' the child.
Sha*., W, T„ il, 2. 40.
(c) To pass by soft, imperceptible degrees; melt; blend.
Shade unperceiv'd, so softening into shade,
Thomson, Hymn, 1, 25.
II. trans. To make soft, or more soft, (o) To
make less hard in substance,
Orpheus' lute was strunsj with poets' sinews.
Whose golden touch could soften steel and stones.
Shak., T, G, of V., iii. 2, 79.
Their arrows' point they soften in the flame.
Gay, The Fan, L 183,
(6) To mollify : make less fierce or intractable ; make
more susceptible of humane or fine feelings : as, to soften
tL hard heart ; to soften savage natures.
Even the sullen disposition of Hash she evinced a facil-
ity for softening by her playful repartees and beautiful
smiles. 5', Judd, ilargaret, ii. 1.
(c) To make tender ; make effeminate ; enervate : as,
troops softened by luxury.
Before Poets did soften vs, we were full of courage,
ginen to martiall exercises.
Sir P. Sidney, Apol, for Poetrie,
(d) To make less harsh or severe, less rude, less offensive
or violent ; mitigate : as, to so.ften an expression.
He bore his great commission in his look,
But sweetly temper'd awe, and SQften'd all he spoke,
Dryden.
The asperity of his opinions was softened as his mind
enlarged. Southey. Bunyan, p. 54,
(e) To make less glaring ; tone down ; make less sharp or
harsh : as, to soften the coloring of a picture ; to soften
the outline of something, (f) To make less strong or in-
tense in sound; make less loud ; make smooth to the ear :
as. to soften the voice,
softener (sof'n^r), n. [< soften + -frl.] 1.
One who or that which softens.
His [Milton's] hand falls on his subject without the
softener of cuff or ruffle.
Landor, Imag. Conv,, Andrew Marvel and Bp, Parker.
softener
2. Specifically, in ceram., a broad brush used
to spread vitrifiable color thinly and uniformly
on the biscuit.
softening (sdf ning), M. [Verbal n. oi soften, r.j
1. The act of making soft or softer. — 2. In
painting, the blending of colors into each other.
— 3. In ptithol., a diminution of the natural
and healthy firmness of organs or parts of or-
gans; moUities Cerebral softening, softening of
Qie brain. — Colloidal SOfteninjS. Same as colloid tie-
gmrmtUm (which see, under colloid).— Softening of the
brain, an atfection of some part or parts of the brain,
in which it is necrosed and softened. Red, yellow, and
white softenings are distinguished. The color depends on
the presence or absence of blood-pigment. These spots of
softening are usually produced by the occlusion of an ar-
tery, most frequently by embolism or thrombosis. Karer
conditions are ascribed to a local intlammation. The
phrase is sometimes popularly but improperly applied to
dementia paralytica Softening of the SPlnal COrd,
a local condition similar to the like-named in the brain,
but most freqiieiitly dependent on intlammation.
softening-iron (sof'ning-i'em), H. In leatlier-
ntanuf., a round-edged iron plate moimted on
an upright beam, and fixed to a heavy plank
securely fastened in the floor of a drying-loft.
The skins are wetted, and then stretched upon
this iron. Also called stretching-iron.
softening-machine (s6f 'ning-ma-shen'), n. In
lentl(ir-maniif.,a, machine for treating dry hides
with water to prepare them for the tan-pits,
and also for treating sheepskins, etc., with oil.
soft-eyed (sdft'ld), a. Having soft, gentle, or
tender eyes.
GiTe Virtue scandal, Innocence a fe«r.
Or from the nfl-eyed virgin steal a tear !
Popt, Prol. to Satires, 1. 2S«.
soft-finned (soft'find), a. In ichth., having no
fin-spines; spineless; anacanthine; malaeop-
terous; malacopterygian. See Malucopterijgii.
soft-grass (86ft grfts), n. See Holeus.
soft-nanded (sdft'han'ded), a. Having soft
huiuls. Hence, figoratiTeljr— (a) rnnaed and therefore
unable to worit. (6) Xot Arm in rule, discipline, or the
like : as. a Kft-tMtidtii kind of Justice.
soft-headed (soft'hed'ed), a. Having a soft
or silly licail; silly; stupid.
soft-hearted (sdft'hiir'ted), a. Having a soft
or tender heart.
soft-heartedness (sdft'hiir'ted-nes), ». The
quality of being soft-hearted; tendency or dis-
position to be touched, or moved to sympathy ;
tenderness of heart ; benevolence ; gentleness.
Sqft-heaiUdnea, in times like tliese.
Shows sofness In the upper story !
LmeeU, Biglow Papers, 2d ser., vii.
SOfthom (sdft'hdm), n. A foolish person ; one
easily imposed upon; a greenhorn. [CoUoq.]
softie, ". See soft I/.
SOftlingt (86ft'ling), n. [< soft + -lingi.'i A
sybarite ; a voluptuarj'.
Effeminate men and $o/Uing* cause tlie stonta mu to
waie tender. Bp. Woottm, tnirist. Manual (1576).
■0ftlyt(s6ft'li),a. [< «o/< + -/j(i.] Soft; easy;
gentle; slow.
The gentle Prince not farre away tjiey spjde,
Ryding a lo/tly pace with portance sad.
Spemer, r. q.,VI. rll. 6.
softly (sAft'li), adv. [< ME. softly, softely, softeli,
softiliche; < soft + -/i/2.] In a soft manner.
(a) Without force or rlolence; gently : as, be mflly
pfeased my hand, (b) Not loudly; wltbont noise: as,
■peak tuftly; walk t^y:
And selde ful lo/Uy in shrifte as It were.
Pirn Pioumuin (B), lU. 37.
In this dark sUence Mflly leare the Town.
Drydm, Indian Emperor, lit. 1.
(e) Oently: slowly; calmly: qnietljr; benee, at an easy
pace : as, to lay a tbing down aoJUy.
His bowe he toke In hand toward tbe deere to staike :
Y prayed hym bis sbote to leue A mt/lely witb me to walke.
Babiei B<K* iK. E.T. H.\ p. 118.
He commannded certaine Captaines to stay behlnde, and
to row K/Uy after him. Xorth, tr. of Plutarch, p. 178.
(d) Mildly : tenderly.
The king must die —
Though pity 9o/lly plead within my soul.
Drydm, Spanish Friar, ill 3.
(«) .Slackly ; careleaaly.
All that 90/Uy shiftless class who, for some reason or
other, are never to be found with anything In hand at the
moment that it is wanted, n, B. Some, Oldtown, p. 343.
SOftner, «. Same as softener.
softness (soft'nes), n. [< ME. softnesse, < AS.
siifin/xs, seftnes, < softe, soft : see soft and -ness.']
The property or character of being soft, in any
sense iif that word.
There is on the face of the whole earth no do-nothing
whos*-r v.ftnfut, lilluness, general inaptittide to lalHir, and
everlastiiii:, universal shiftlessness can compare with that
of this worthy. //. B. Strme, Oldtown, p. 29.
soft-rayed (sdft'rad), a. In irhth., malacop-
terygian ; soft-finned: said of a fish or its fins. —
5749
Soft-rayed fishes, ordinarily, the Malacopterygii; also,
the wluUe of the Physogtomi. Jordan and Gilbert.
soft-sawder (soft'sa'der), v. t. [< soft sawder:
see under sawdej-.] To iiatter; blarney. [Slang,
U. S.l
soft-shell (soft'shel), a. Same as soft-shelled.
soft-shelled (soft'sheld), a. Having a soft
shell or carapace Soft-shelled clam, the com-
mon soft clam, Mya arenaria, or the gaper, }l. truncata ;
any soft clam. See cuts under Mya and Mi/idm. — Soft-
shelled crab, the common edible crab of the United
states, CalUmctes hastalm, when it has molted its hard
shell and not yet grown another, so that it is covered only
with a flexible skin. In this state it is accounted a deli-
cacy. The molt occurs from late in the spring through-
out most of the summer. The term is extended to other
edible crabs. A crab in the act of casting its shell is termed
a ghedder, peeler, or hitgter; when the new shell begins to
harden, a crackler. See cut under paddle-crab. ~8otb-
shelled tortoises or turtles, tortoises or turtles of the
family Trionychidie , and others whose carapace is some-
what flexible ; leatherbacks or leather-turtles. Also soft
tt/rtoiges or turtles. See cuts under Agpidonectes, leather-
back, and Trionyx.
soft-sized (soft'sizd), a. See sized"^.
soft-skinned (86ft'skind), a. Having a soft
skin; specifically, in zoiil., malacodermatous.
soft-soap (soft'sop'), V. t. [< soft soap: see
under soap.} To flatter, especially for the
attainment of some selfish end. See soap, n.
and c. [CoUoq.]
soft-solid (soft'sol'id), o. Pulp-like in consis-
tence.
soft-spoken (sdft'spo'kn), a. Speaking soft-
ly ; having a mild or gentle voice; hence, mild;
affable; plausible.
He has heard of one that 's lodged in the next street to
him who is exceedingly to/t-ipoken, thrifty of her speech,
that spends but six words a day. B. Janmn, Epiccene, L 1.
A nice, toft-tpoken old gentleman ; . . . butter wouldn't
melt In his mouth. Thackeray, Pendennis, xl.
soft-tack (sdft'tak), n. Soft wheaten bread, as
distinguished from hardtack; or hard sea-bread
or -biscuit. [Sailors' and soldiers' slang.]
softwood (sdft'wud), n. See Myrsine.
softy (sdf'ti), «.; pi. softies (-tiz). [< soft +
dim. -y2.] A soft or sillv person. Also softie.
[CoUoq.]
Nancy . . . were but a mfly after all, for she left off
doing her work in a proper manner.
Mrt. Oatkell, Sylvia's Lovers, xv.
He is a kind of actftfe— all alive on one side of bis brain
and a noodle on tbe other.
Mrt. Bumpkry Ward, Robert Elsmere, 111.
SOgl (sog), n. [Cf. Icel. soggr, dank, wet, saggi,
moisture, wet, dampness; prob. akin to sjUga
= AS. sugan, sucan, suck, AS. socian, E. soak:
see soak.^ A bog; quagmire.
S0g2 (sog), n. A lethargy. Bartlett. [U. S.]
Old Em Bamet . . . waved a limp hand wamingly
toward Uie t>edraom door. "She's Uyin' In a tog," he
said, hopeleaaljr. S. O. Jewett, Scribner's Mag., II. 738.
soger (86'j6r), n. 1. A dialectal or coUoqtiial
form of soldier. Also soier, sodger. — 2. Xaut.,
a skulk or shirk; one who is always trying to
evade his share of work.
Tbe captain called bim a $oger.
R. U. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 142.
soger (so'jtr), V. i. [< soger, n. : see soger, »., 2.]
Saut., to play the soger or shirk.
Reefing Is the most exciting part of a sailor's duty.
All hands are engaged upon It. and, after tbe halyards are
let go, there Is no time to be lost — no togerinq, or bang-
ing back, then. S. //. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. Hi.
SOgett. A Middle English form of subject.
SOggetto (so-jet'to), n. [It.: see subject.'} In
ni iixic, same as subject or theme.
soggy (sog'i), a. [< sogi + -yi; in part a var.
01 socku, soak-y.] Soaked witli water or moist-
ure; thoroughly wet; damp and heavy: as,
soggy land; soggy timber; soggy bread.
Cor. How now, Mltls! what 's that you consider so seri-
ously?
Hit. Troth, that which dotb essentially please me, the
warping condition of this green and foggy multitude.
B. JotUttn, Every Man out of his Humour, ill. 2.
SOh (so), inter}. See »ol, interj.
SOhare, n. Same as sura-hai.
SOho (so-ho'), interj. [< ME. sohowe: see »ol
and Aol.] A word used in calling from a dis-
tant place ; a sirortsmen's halloo.
iMunee. Sohof »oho!
Pro. What seest thou?
Launee. Him we go to find.
SAa»-.,T. G. of v., ilL 1. 189.
So ho, birds ! (Holds up a piece of bread.)
How the eyasses scratch and scramble !
Maainger, The Picture, v. 1.
soi-disant (swo-de-zon'), a. [F. : soi, reflexive
proii., oneself (< L. se, oneself); disant (< L.
dieen(t-)s), ppr. of dire, sa^, speak, < L. di-
cere, say: see rft'cfion.] Calling one's self ; self-
styled; pretended; would-be.
soil
soil! (soil), ». [Early mod. E. alsosot?e, soyle;
< ME. soile, soyle, soylle, sule, soil, ground,
earth ; (o) < OF. sol, F. sol = Pr. sol = Sp. suelo
= Pg. solo — It. suolo, bottom, ground, soil,
pavement, < L. solum, the bottom, foundation,
ground, soil, earth, land, the sole of the foot or
of a shoe (see sole^) ; the E. form soil instead
of "sole in this sense ('soil, ground,' etc.) being
due to confusion with (6) OP. soel, suel, siieil,
seiiil, threshold, also area, place, F. seuil = Pr.
sulh,<. ML. soUnm, soleum, threshold, < L. solum
(see above) ; (c) OF. sole, soule = Sp. suela =
Pg. sola = Olt. suola, sola. It. suola, sole of a
shoe, soglia, threshold,< L. solea, a sole, sandal,
siU, threshold, etc., ML. also ground, joist, etc.
(see «o?ei); (d) OF. soil, souil, a miry place
(see soil^). The forms and senses of soil^ and
sole^ are much involved with other forms and
senses.] 1. The ground; the earth.
That euery man kepe his soyle clene ayenst his tenement,
and his pavj-ment hole, in peyne of xl. d.
English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 384.
2. Land; country; native land.
Paris, that the prinse louit, . . .
That ordant on all wise after his dethe.
The souerain to send into his soile hom.
Destruction of Tray (E. E. T. 8.), 1. 9083.
Dorset your son, that with a fearful soul
Leads discontented steps In foreign soil.
Shak., Rich. III., iv. 4. 312.
3. A mixture of fine earthy material with more
or less organic matter resultingfrom the growth
and decomposition of vegetation on the surface
of the ground, or from the decay of animal mat-
ter (manure) artificially supplied. Tlie existence
of soil over any area implies a previous decomposition of
the rocks, and climatic and other physical conditions fa-
vorable to the growth of vegetation. As these conditions
vary, so varies the thickness of the soil. That which lies
next beneath the soO and partakes of its qualities, but in
a less degree, is called the stibsoil.
Sir Walter Blunt, new lighted from his horse,
Stain'd with the variation of each soU
Betwixt that Holmedon and this seat of ours.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., i. 1. 64.
Life without a plan.
As useless as the moment it began.
Serves merely as a toil for discontent
To thrive in. Courier, Hope, I. 97.
4. In soldering, a mixture of size and lamp-
black applied around the parts to be joined to
prevent the adhesion of melted solder.
SOiP (soil), n. [Early mod. E. also soyl, soyle;
< OF. soil, souil, F. souille, the mire in which a
wild boar wallows, = Pr. solh, mire, prob. < L.
suillus, belonging to swine, < sus, swine, sow:
see »oic2. Cf . soil^, r.] A marshy or wet place
to which a hunted boar resorts for refuge;
hence, a wet place, stream, or water sought
for by other game, as deer.
Soil, or imat de tanglier, the toUe of a wilde boare, the
slough or mire wherein he hath wallowed. Cotgrave.
As deer, being struck, fly through many loili.
Vet still the shaft sticks fast.
Martton, Malcontent, 111. 1.
To take soil, to run into tbe water or a wet place, as an
animal when pursued ; hence, to take refuge or shelter.
O ! what a sport, to see a Heard of them [harts]
Take toyl in Sommer in som spacious stream !
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 6.
O, sir, have you ta'en toil here? It's well a man may
reach you after three hours running yet.
B. Jonton, Bartholomew Fair, i. 1.
SOil^ (soil), V. [Early mod. E. also soyle; < ME.
soilen, soillen, sullen, soulen, suylen, < OF. sollier,
souiller, soil, refl. (of a swine), take soil, wal-
low in the mire, F. souiller, soil, sully, dirty,
= Pr. sulhar, solar = Pg. sujar = Olt. sogliare,
soil; from the noun soil^: see soiP. In an-
other view, F. souiller, soil, dirty, is < L. "sucu-
lare, wallow like a pig, < LL. sueulus, a porker,
dim. of sus, swine, sow, being thus from the
same ult. source as above; so Pr. sulhar, soil,
< sulha, a sow ; cf. Sp. emporcar, soil,< L. porcus,
a pig. The relations of the forms here grouped
under soil'^ are somewhat imcertain. The word
is not akin to sully.'] I. trans. 1. To make
dirty on the surface; dirty; defile; tarnish;
sully; smirch; contaminate.
I haue but one hool hatere. ... I am the lasse to blame
Though it be toiled and selde clene.
Piers Plotnnan (B), xlv. 2.
Our kingdom's earth should not be soil'd
With that dear blood which it hath fostered.
Shak., Rich. II., 1. 3. 126.
Truth is as imimssible to be toiletl by any outward
touch as the sunbeam. Milton, Divorce.
2. To dung; manure.
Men . . . mi'f their ground ; not that they love the dhl,
but that they expect a crop.
South.
soil
H, intrans. To take on dirt; become soiled;
take a soil or stain; tarnish: as, silver soils
sooner than gold.
SOil^ (soil), H. [Early mod. E. also soyle; < soiP, v.
In def. 3 prob. now associated with soil^, 3.] 1.
Any foul matter upon another substance ; foul-
ness.
A lady's honour must be touched,
Which, nice as ermines, will not bear a toU.
Dryden.
The very ffarmeDta of a Quaker seem incapable of re-
ceiving a 9UU. Harper's Mag., LXX. 319.
2. Stain; tarnish; spot; defilement or taint.
As free from touch or »oil with her
As^he from one ungot. Shak., il. for M., v. 1. 141.
For euen alreadie it is one good steppe of an Atheist
and lufldell to become a Proselyte, although with some
toyle. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 49.
3. Manure; compost. Compare night-soil.
Improve land by dung and other sort of soils.
Mortimer,
soil* (soil), r. t. [A var. of saul (f), soul (f), <
OF. saoler. later saouler, F. soiiler, glut, cloy, fill,
satiate, < OF. .laol, saoul, F. soiil = Pr. sadol = It.
satollo, full, satiated, < L. satullus, dim. otsatur,
full, satiated : see sad, sate^, satiate. Ct. soul^,
».] To stall-feed with green food ; feed for
the purpose of fattening.
The fitchew, nor the soiled horse, goes to 't
With a more riotous appetite.
Shak., Lear, iv. 0. 124.
You shall cozen me, and I'll thank you, and send you
brawn and bacon, and soil you every long vacation a brace
of foremen Igeesel, that at Michaelmas shall come up fat
and kicking. Beau, and Ft., Philaster, v. 3.
During their first summer they [calves] do best to be
soiled on retches, clover, or Italian ryegrass, with from
1 lb. to 2 lb. of cake to each calf daily.
Eitcyc. Brit., I. 390.
SOil"t (soil), V. t. [< ME. soitefi, by apheresis
from a«soj7l.] 1. To solve; resolve.
M. More throughout all his book maketh " Quod he "
(his opponent] to dispute and move questions after such
a manner as he can soil them or make them appear soiled.
Tyndale, Ana to Sir T. More, etc. (Parker Soc. , 1850), p. 194.
The doubt yet remaineth there in minde, which riseth
vpon this answere that you make, and, that doubt soiled,
1 wil as for this time . . . encombre you no farther.
Sir T. More, Cumfort against Tribulation (1673), fol. 43.
2. To absolve; assoil.
Faste. freke, for thy faith, on thy fote fonde be !
And fro this place, bewschere, I soile the for euere.
York Plays, p. 318.
A dialectal variant of sile^.
Same as syle'^. Buchanan.
A dialectal variant of silU.
[Origin obscure (?).] A young
eoalfish. [Local, Eng.]
soil-bound (soil'bound), a. Bound or attached
to the soil : a translation of the Latin aclscriptus
fflebse.
ThSit morning he had freed the soil-bound slaves.
Byron, Lara, ii. 8.
soil-branch (soil'branch), n. A lateral con-
nection with a sewer-pipe.
soil-cap (soil'kap), n. The covering of soil and
detrital material in general which rests upon
the bed-rock: occasionally used by geologists.
Mere gravitation, aided by the downward pressure of
sliding detritus or soil-cap, suffices to bend over the edges
of fissile strata.
A. Geikie, Text- Book of GeoL (2d ed.X p. 496.
soiled (soild), a. [< «ojP + -cdS.] Having soil:
used chiefly in composition : as, dee-p-soiled.
The Province ... is far greater, more populous, better
toiled, and more stored with Gentry.
Howell, Letters, L it 15.
SOilinessf (soi'li-nes), n. The quality or condi-
tion of being soily ; soil; tarnish. [Bare.]
Tomakeproofof the incorporation of silver and tin, . . .
and to observe , . . whether it yield no soUiness more than
sliver. Bacon, Physiological Remains.
soiling (soi'ling), «. [Verbal n. of «oi(4, K.] 1.
The act of stall-feeding with green food.
In our American climate . . . the soiling of dairy cows
is altogether important. New Amer. Farm Book, p. 141.
2. Green food stall-fed to cattle.
SoUing, when the pastures fall short, should always be
supplied. . . . The rye, grasses, clover, and millet . . .
should be fed in mangers under shelter, or in the stables.
yew Amer. Farm Book, p. 141.
soilless (soil'les), a. [< soil^ + -less.'] Destitute
of soil or mold. Wright. (Imp. Diet.)
soil-pipe (soil'pip), n. An upright discharge-
pipe which receives the general refuse from
water-closets, etc., in a building.
A round cover and a water trap to exclude noxious air
from the soil pipe. O. Kennan, The Century, XXXV. 764.
soil-pnlverizer (soirpui've-n-zfer), »i. A tool
or machine for breaking up or pulverizing the
5750
sol
soil preparatory to seeding, etc., as a special sojourning (so' j6r-ning or s6-jer nmg),?(. [Ver-
form of harrow, or a flanged roller; a clod- bal u. of sojourn, v.] The act of dwelling in a
crusher. place for a time ; also, the time of abode.
SOilure (soi'lur), «. [< OF. souilleure, soillure, The sojourning of the children of Israel [in Egypt] . . .
F. souillure, filth, ordure, < souiller, soil : see was four hundred and thirty years. Ex. xil. 40.
A-ojP.] The act of soiling, or the state of being sojoumment (so'jem-ment or s6-jern'ment),
soiled; stain or staining; tarnish or tarnishing. „ j-< qF. sejournement,'^. sejouriiement, <"0F.
sejourner, F. sejourner, sojourn: see sojourn.']
The act of sojourning; temporary residence, as
that of a stranger or traveler.
God has appointed our sojoumment here as a period of
preparation for futurity. Wakefield,
SOke^ (sok), ». [Also soc; < ME. soke, sok (AF.
soc, ML. soca), the exercise of judicial power, a
franchise, land held by socage, < AS. soc, juris-
diction, lit. inquiry or investigation, < saean
(pret. soc), contend, litigate, > sacu, a conten-
tion, a lawsuit, hence in old law sac, the power
of hearing suits and administering justice with-
in a certain precinct: see«aol,safel. Thewords
soke and soken are practically identical in orig.
sense, but are to be kept separate, being differ-
ent forms. Soc is the AF. (Law F.) form of soke,
which is itself a ME. form archaically pre-
served (like bote, mote). The mod. form would
be sook, as the mod. form of bote is boot, and
that of mote is moot.] 1. The power or privi-
lege of holding a court in a district, as in a
manor; jurisdiction of causes; also, the limits
of such jurisdiction.
The land was equally divided among the three, but the
soke, the judicial rights, passed to Harold and Godward
only. E. A. Freeman^ Norman Conquest, v. 625.
2. The liberty or privilege of tenants excused
from customary burdens. — 3. Same as soken, 1.
If there is no retail tavern in the soke where he dwells.
English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 186.
4. Same as soken, 2.
He merits well to have her that doth seek her,
Not making any scruple of her soilure,
With such a hell of pain and world of charge.
,SAa*., T. and C.,iv. 1.66.
SOilyt (soi'li), a. [Early mod. E. soylie; < soil^
+ -yl.] Somewhat dirty, soiled, or tarnished;
polluting.
So spots of sinne the writer's soule did staine,
Whose soylie tincture did therein remaine,
Till brinish teares had washt it out againe.
Fuller, David's Sinne, st. 32. {Dames.)
SOimonite (soi'mon-it), n, [After Soimonoff, a
Russian statesman.] A variety of corundum,
occurring with barsowite near Zlatoust in the
Urals.
soiree (swo-ra'), n. [< F. soiree, seree. Norm,
dial, seric, evening-tide, an evening party, = It.
serata, evening-tide. < ljh.*serare, become late,
< L. serus, late in the day, neut. serum, evening,
> It. sera = Pr. ser, sera = F. soir, evening. Cf.
serotine,] An evening party or reunion: as, a
musical soiree.
Mrs. Tuffln was determined she would not ask Philip to
her sairies. Thackeray, Philip, xxiii.
Soia (so'jii), n. [NL. (Savi, 1824), < soy, a kind
of sauce.] A former genus of leguminous plants,
consisting of a single species, S. hispida, now
classed as Glycine Soja, Also written Soya.
See soy.
SOJer (so'jer), n, A dialectal or colloquial form
of soldier.
SOJOUrt, n, A Middle English form of sojourn.
sojourn (so'jern or so-j^rn'),t'.«. [Early mod. soke^t, i'. An old spelling of «oafr, sttcfc.
^.aXso sojorn; iM'E.sojournen,sojornen,<OT. so- sokelingt, «. An obsolete form of suckling.
journer,sojorner, sejourner, sejoriier,F. sejourner sokeman (sok'man), n. In old Eng. law, same
z= Pr. sojornar, sejornar = It. soggiornare (ML. as socman.
SOil^ (soil), V.
S0il7 (soil), n.
SOiF (soil), n.
SOil^ (soil), n.
reflex sejornare), dwell for a time, sojourn, <
'MJj.*subdiurnare (or "superdiurnare ?), < L. sub,
under,-!- di«;««r(!,stay,last,<(iiMr)iM«,daily: see
sub- and diurnal, journal, Cf . adjourn, journey.]
To dwell for a time ; dwell or live in a place as
a temporary resident, or as a stranger, not con-
sidering the place as a permanent liabitation.
Thus restede the childeren and soioumede in the Citee of
logres, that the saisnes ne dide hem no forfete.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 202.
Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there.
Gen. xii. 10.
The old King is put to sojorn with his Eldest Daughter,
attended only by threescore Knights.
Milton, Hist. Eng,, i.
=Syn. Atnde, Sojourn, Continue, etc. See abidel,
sojourn (so'jem or so-j^rn'), «. [< ME. sojourne,
sojorne, sojorn, sojorir, < OF. "sojourn, sujurn, so-
jour, sujur, sejor, sejour, F. sejour = Pr. sojorn,
sejorn = OSp. sojorno = It. soggiorno ; from the
verb.] 1. A temporary stay or residence, as
that of a traveler.
Ful longe to holde there sojour.
Rom, of the Rose, 1. 4282.
The princes, France and Burgundy, . . .
Long in our court have made their amorous sojourn.
Shak., Lear, 1. 1. *"
soken (so'kn), n. [ME. soken, sokne, sokene, <
AS. socn, socen (> ML. socna), an inquiry (=
leel. sokn = Sw. socken = Dan. sogn, a parish);
cf. AS. soc, the exercise of judicial power (see
soke^) ; < sacan, contend, litigate, etc. : see
sake^,] 1. A district or territory within which
certain privileges or powers were exercised;
specifically, a district held by tenure of socage.
Bette the bedel of Bokyngham-shire,
Rainulde the reue of Kotland sokene.
Piers Plowman (B)^ ii. 110.
He [the freeman] may be a simple husbandman, or the
lord of a soken and patron of hundreds of servants and fol-
lowers. Stubbs, Const. Hist., § 37.
2. An exclusive privilege claimed by a miller
of grinding all the corn used within the manor
in which his mill stands, or of being paid for
the same as if actually ground.
Gret sokene hath this millere, out of doute.
With whete and malt of al the land aboute.
Chaucer, Reeve's Tale, L 67.
SOke-reeve (sok'rev), n, A rent-gatherer in a
lord's soke.
SOkerelt, «. [ME. (mod. E. as if *suckerel, <
suck -I- dim. -er-el as in cockerel),] A child not
weaned. Ualliwell.
2. A place of temporary stay or abode. [Bare.] sokinah, ". [Malagasy.] An insectivorous
That day I bode stiUe in ther companye, mammal of Madagascar, Echinops telfairi, be-
Whlch was to me a gracious soiourne. longing to the family Centettdx. It is a typical
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 65.
Escaped the Stygian pool, though long detain'd
In that obscure sojourn. Milton, P. L., iii. 15.
SOJOUmantf, ». [ME. sojomaunt, < OP. sojor-
nant, ppr. of sojorner, sojourn: see sojourn.]
One making a sojourn ; a visitor. [Rare.]
Your doughter of Sweynsthorpp and hyr sojonmuTit, E.
Paston, recomandyth hem to yow in ther most humble
wyse. Paston Letters, III. 219.
sojourner (s6'jer-n6r or so-j6r'n6r), n, [< ME.
*sojourner, scijorner; K .sojourn -\- -er^.] 1. One
who sojourns; a temporary resident; a stran-
ger or traveler who dwells in a place for a time.
We are strangers before thee and sojourners, as were all
our fathers. 1 Chron. xxix. 15.
2. A guest ; a visitor.
We've no strangers, woman.
None but my sojourners and I.
Middleton, Women Beware Women, ii. 2.
Thus graciously bespoke her welcome guest : . . .
"Welcome an owner, not a sojourner."
Dryden, Hind and Panther, ii. 704.
The inhabitants of the quarter . . . objected to my liv-
ing among them, because I was not married. . . . I re-
fdied that, being merely a sojourner in Egypt, I did not
ike either to take a wife or female slave.
E. W. Lane, Modern Egyptians, 1. 193.
centetid, closely related to and much resem-
bling the common tenree.
soke (so'ko), n. [African.] The native name
of an ape closely allied to the chimpanzee, dis-
covered by Dr. Livingstone in Manyuema, near
Lake Tanganyika, in Central Africa. The ani-
mal has not been scientifically identified.
soil (sol), n. [Usedchiefly as mereL.; ME. soi
(in def. 3) ; = OF. sol (dim. soleil, solail, soleis,
Ml
«tc.. F. soleil) = Sp. Pg. sol = It. sole; < L. sol,
the sun, = AS. sol. the sun {Sol-moiiatli, Febru-
ary), = Icel. sol = Sw. Dan. sol = Goth, sauil
='W. haul = Ir. sitl = Lith. Lett. OPruss. saule,
the sun ; also with added suffixes, in Teut. and
Slav, forms, AS. sunne, etc., E. sun: see sun.']
1. [(■«/>.] The sun. See Phahus.
And therefore is the glorious planet SU
lu uoble eminence enthroned and sphered.
Shak., X. andC.i. 3. 89.
Dan Sol to slope his wheels began.
ThomMn, Castle of Indolence, Iviii.
2. In her., a tincture, the metal or, or gold, in
'blazoning by planets, as in the arms of sover-
eigns, ^e blazon, n., 2. — 3. In alchemy, gold.
Sol gold is, and Luna silver we threpe.
Chaucer. Prol. to Canon's Yeoman's Tale, I. 273.
Good gold nature!, and of the myn of the erthe, is clepid
of pbilosophoris sot in latyn : for lie is the Sonne of oure
heuene, licb as sol the planet is in the heuene aboue.
Book of QuitUe Essence (ed. Kumivall), p. 3,
80l2 (sol), B. [< OF. sol, later sou, F. sou = It.
soldo, < ML. solidus, a coin, < L. solidus, solid :
see solid, solidus, and cf. sou, soldo, sol<P, etc.]
An old French coin, the twentieth part of the
Uvre, and equivalent to twelve deniers. At the
revolution it was superseded by the sou.
For six salt more woald plead asainat bis Maker.
S. Jmuon, Volpone, ir. 2.
aoF (sol), n. [Sp. sol, lit. sun: see sol^.'i A
current silver coin of Peru, of the same weight
and fineness as the French 5-franc piece. Gold
pieces of 1, 2, 5, 10, and 20 sols are also struck.
Also sole.
aol* (sol), n. [= F. Sp. Pg. It. sol: see ffamut.]
In solmization, the syllable used for the fifth
tone of the scale, or dominant. In the scale of
C this tone is 6, which is therefore called sol in
France, Italy, etc.
sol. An abbreviation of solution.
sola' (s6-la'), inter). [Prob. <so + la (interj. ).]
A cry or call to attract the attention of one at a
distance.
Laun. Sola, snla .' wo ha, ho ! tola, tola !
Lor. Who calls?
Laun. Sola! did 70a lee Maater Lorenxo? . . . Tell him
there 's a post come from my master, with hia horn full of
good news. 5*ai'., H. of V.,T. I.S9.
80l&^ (so'l^), n. [Also solah, alxo solar (simu-
lating solar'^) ; < Beng. sola. Hind, shold, the
plant here defined.] 1. A tall leguminous
swamp-plant, yEsrhynomtne aspera, found wide-
ly in the Old World tropics. Ita roboit sterna are of
a' pith-like texture (sometimes called tpongeunod), and in
India are worked up into many articles, especially hats and
military helmets, which are very light ana cooL See jBt-
<hynomene and hat..planL
2. Same as xula ((»/(/. _gola topi "r topee, a pith
helmet or sun-hat made in India from the pith of the sola.
See pUh'Work. Also solar topi, solar hat, and simply siia.
solace (sol'as), n. [< ME. solace, solas, < OF.
solas, solaz, souUu, P. sotUas = Pr. solatz = Cat.
solax = Sp. Pg. solaz = It. soUazzo, < L. solatium,
solaciiim, soothing, consolation, comfort, < »o-
lari, pp. solatus, soothe, console, comfort. Cf .
console.] 1. Comfort in sorrow, sadness, or
misfortune ; alleviation of distress or of dis-
comfort.
I beseech your majesty, giro me leare to go ;
.Sorrow would solace, and mine age would ease.
S*o*.,2Hen.>X,lLS.n.
2. That which gives relief, comfort, or allevia-
tion under any affliction or burden.
Two goldfinches, whose spiightjy song
Had been their mutual sosoce long,
Liv'd happy pris'nets there.
Ciwpn-, The Faithful Bird.
3|. Sport; pleasure; delight; amusement; rec-
reation; happiness.
I am so f ul of ]oye and of solaa.
Chaucer, Sun's Priest's Tale, L 850.
And therein sste a Lady fresh and fayre.
Making sweet lolaet to herselfe alone.
Spenttr. F. (J., II. rt s.
4. In printing, the penalty prescribed by the
early printers for a violation of office rules.
= Syn. 1 and 1 ConMlaMm, etc. (see toa^ort), mitiga-
tion, relief, softening, aootbiog, cheer, diversion, amuse-
ment.
solace (sol'as), I'.; pret. and pp. solaced, ppr.
solacing. [< liE. solacen,solaciev,< OF. solacier,
mincer, F. solarier = Sp. solazar = It. sollazzare,
< ML. soUitinre, solatiari. give solace, console,
< L. solatium, solacium, solace: see solace, n.]
I. trans. 1. To cheer in grief, trouble, or de-
spondency; console under afBiction or calam-
ity; comfort.
Thy own sweet smile I see.
The same that oft in childhood solac'd me.
Cawftr, My Mother's Picture.
5751
Leolin . . . foamed away his heart at Averill's ear :
^^'hom Averill siAaeed as he might.
Tennyson, Aylmer's Field.
2. To allay; assuage; soothe: as, to solace
grief by sympathy.
We sate sad together,
Solacing our despondency with tears.
Shelley, The Cenci, iii. 1.
3. To amuse ; delight ; give pleasure to : some-
times used reflexively.
From that C^ee men gon be Watre, solacynge and dis-
portynge hem. MandeviUe, Travels, p. 21.
Houses of retraite for the Gentlemen of Venice & Padua,
wherein they solace themselves in sommer.
Coryat, Oudities, I. 152.
=Syn. 1 and 2. See solace, n.
n.t intrans. 1 . To take comfort ; be consoled
or relieved in grief.
One poor and loving child,
But one thing to rejoice and solace in.
And cruel death hath cat^h'd it from my sight !
Shak., R. and J., iv. 5.47.
2. To take pleasure or delight; be amused; en-
joy one's self.
These six assaulted the Castle, whom the Ladies seeing
so lusty and coiuagioos, they were contented to st^aee with
them. Baker, Chronicles, p. 255.
SOlacement (sol'as-ment). n. [< solace + -ment.]
The act of solacing or comforting; the state of
being solaced.
Solaeement of the poor, to which our archqaack now
more and more betook himself.
CarlyU, Cagliostro. (Latham.)
solacioust (so-la'shus), a. [< OF. solacieux =
Sp. siilazoso = Pg. sola^oso. < ML. solatiosus, full
of solace, cheering, entertaining. < L. solatium,
solacium, solace: see solace.] ASFording plea-
sure or amusement ; entertaining.
The aboundaunt pleasures of Sodome. whych were . . .
pryde, plenty of feadyng, aotaeyouse pastymes, ydelnssse,
and crueltie. ^ Bale, English Votaries, 11.
In the literal sense yon meet with purposes merry and
sdlaciouM enough.
Urquhart, tr. of Babelais, Prol. to Qaigantua, p. 95.
solsens, n. See solens.
solah, H. See aota^. 1.
solaint, a. A Middle English form of sullen.
All redy was made a place ful solaiTi.
Som. </ Partenay (E. E. T. S.X 1. 864.
solan (so'lan), n. [Also (8c.) soland (with ex-
crescent d) ; < Icel. sila = Norw. sula (in comp.
Icel. hafsula = Norw. har-sula, ' sea-solan '), a
gannet, solan-goose. The n appar. represents
the afl^ed def. art. ; cf . Shetland sooleen, the
sun, < Dan. sol, sun, + def. art. en, the.] The
solan-goose.
Along th' Atlantlck rock nndreading climb.
And of its esgs despoil the solan's nest
CoUint, Works (ed. ISOOX p. 9S). (Jodrttt.)
A white solan, far away by the shores of Mull, struck
the water as he dived, and sent a Jet of spray into the air.
W. Bladt, l>rincess of Thule, xxvii.
Solanacese (sol-a-na'sf-e), «. pi. [NL. (Bart-
ling, 1830), < SolaHMtH + -aceie.] An order of
gamopetalous plants, of the series Bicarpellatm
and cohort Polemuniales, characteinzed by regu-
lar flowers commonly with a plicate border,
carpels with many ovules, and a straight, spiral,
or coiled embryo in fleshy albumen. The sepals,
petals, and stamens sre each usually five, the ovaiy usually
entire and two-celled, with an undivided style. In its pli-
cate corolla the order resembles the Convolmdacete, which
are, bowerer, unlike it in their few-seeded carpels and usu-
ally twining habit. Itsotber nearest ally Is the Serophula-
rintM, to wnlch the tribe Salpiglofideie,vl its didynamous
stamens and somewhat Irregular flowers, forms a direct
transition. The order includes about 1,760 species, perhaps
to be reduced to 1,500, classed In 72 genera of 6 tribes, for
the types of which see SUantm, Atropa, Byoseyamus,
Cestrvml, and SalpiglosaSt. They are erect or climbing
herbs or shrubs, or sometimes trees, and either smooth or
downy, but rarely with bristles. They besr alternate and
entire toothed or dissected leaves, often In scattered un-
equsl pait% but never truly opposite. The typical inflo-
rescence Is a bractless cyme, either terminal, opposite the
leaves, or lateral, but not truly axillary, and sometimes
converted Into umbels or sessile clusters or reduced to a
singleflower. They are usually rank-scented and possess
strongly narcotic properties, either throu;zhout or in spe-
cial ortrans, in Mandroffora in the mot. in most others
strongly developed in the leaves, as In helladoiiiia, tobacco,
henbane, stmmoninm, and niKhtshade. In some, as the
henbane, this principle is actively developed for a limited
time oidy; in other?, pails from which it is absent furnish
a valued foo<l. as the potato, tomato, and eKK-plant. or a
condiment, as Cayerme pepper. Theorder furnishes also
several tonics and numerous diuretic remedies, as species
of PhysaliJt, Sicnudra, Centrum, anil Sfilanum. Plants of
this onler are widely dispersed throiiiih waiiii climates of
both hemispheres, extending beyond the tropics in North
and South Atnerica, especially in the west, but loss fre-
f|uent in Europe and Asia. They are absent In alpine
and arctic regions and In Australia. About 17 genera and
S6 species are natives of the I'nlted states, chiefly in the
soathwest, and largely of the genera Lpcium, .Stilanum, and
Phymlis. For other Important genera, see Lyctfjiersicum,
Capttcum, Datura, Xtcotiana^, Petunia, snd Solandra.
Solanom
SOlanaceous (sol-a-na'shius), a. [< NL. Sola-
iiacese + -ous.] Belonging to the Solanacese.
soland (so'land), «. See solan.
SOlander^ (so-lan'der), n. Same as sellanders.
solander^ (so-lan'der), n. [< Solander (see
quot. and Solandra).] A form of box designed
to contain prints or drawings. See the quota-
tion.
A Solander c&se is the invention of Dr. Solander, of mem-
ory dear to readers of "Cook's Voyages," who used one to
contain and preserve specimens for natural history, draw-
ings, and matters of the kind. It is really a box, general-
ly shaped like a book, one side of which, turning on hinges,
serves for a lid, wliile the front, or fore edge of the case,
is furnished with hinges to be let down, so that the fronts
as well as the tops of the contents can be got at.
N. and Q., 7th ser,, Vn. 135.
Solandra (so-lan'dra), «. [NL. (Swartz, 1787),
named after Daniel Solander (born 1736, died
about 1781), a Swedish botanist and traveler. ]
A genus of solanaceous plants, of the tribe
A tropcie. it is characterized by solitary flowers with a
long calyx-tube, an obliquely funnel-shaped corolla with
broad imbricated lobes and induplicate sinuses, five sta-
mens, and a two-celled ovary imperfectly four-celled by
false partitions, forming in fruit a pulpy berry half-pro-
truded from the torn membranous calyx. The 4 species
are all American and tropical. They are lofty climbing
coarse shrubby plants, with entire smooth fleshy and cori-
aceous shining leaves, clustered near the ends of the
branches, and very large terminal white, yellowish, or
greenish flowers on fleshy pedicels. 5. grandifiora, S.
long^ara, and other species are sometimes cultivateil from
the West Indies under the name trumpet-jt^wer, forming
handsome greenhouse evergreens, usually grown as climb-
ers, or, in S. longiJUtra, as small shrubs.
Solanes (so-la'nf-e), n. /</. [NL. (A. L. de
Jussieu, 1789), < Solanum + -ex.] A tribe of
plants of the order Solunaecie. It is distinguished
hy flowers with the corolla somewhat equally plicate or
divided into valvate or induplicate lobes, and having per-
fect stamens and a two-celled ovary which becomes an
indehiscent beri-y in fruit, containing compressed seeds
with a curved embryo and slender seed-leaves not broader
than the radicle. It includes 31 genera, very largely na-
tives of South America. For some of the most impor-
tant, see Solanum (the type). Capsicum, Lycopersicujn, and
Phi^is.
SOlaneous (so-la'ne-us), a. Belonging to the
.Solanaci'ir, or especially to Solanum.
solan-goose (so'lan-gos), w. [< solan + goose.]
The gannet, Suta hassana. Also solan and
soland-goose. See <Su/<i, and cut under gannet.
SOlania (so-la'ni a), n. [NL., <iSoten«>».] The
active principle of Solauum Dulcamara. See
solanine.
80lanine(sol'a-nin),«. [Nh.,<. Solanum + -ine^.]
A complex body, either itself an alkaloid or
containing an alkaloid, the active principle of
(. It is
cotie poison.
bittersweet, Solanum Dulcamara.
a nar-
SOlano (so-lil'no), M. [< Sp. solano, an easterly
wind (cf. solanazo, a hot, violent easterly wind,
solana, a sunny place), < L. solanus (sc. ventus),
the east wind (usually called subsolanus), < sol,
sun: see »o/i, solar^.] The Spanish name of an
easterly wind.
solanoid (aol'a-noid), a. [< NL. Solanum + Gr.
eh'ioc. form.] Resembling a potato in texture:
said of cancers.
Solanum (so-la'num), n. [NL. (Toumefort,
1700), < LL. solanum, the nightshade.] A genus
of gamopetalous plants, type of the order Sola-
nacese, the nightshade family, and tribe Sola-
nese. it Is characterized by flowers usually with a deeply
Ave. or ten-lobed spreading calyx, an angled or five-lobed
wheel-shaped corolla, very short filaments with long an-
thers which form a cone or cylinder, open by a vertical
pore or a larger chink, and are almost destitute of any
connective, and a generally two-celled ovary with its con-
spicuous placentsB projecting from the partition. It is
one of the largest genera of plants (compare Setiecio\ and
includes over 960 published species, of which perhaps 750
are distinct Their distribution is similar to that of the
order, and they constitute half or two thirds of its species.
They are herbs, shrubs, or small trees, someti^ies climbers,
of polymorphous ha)>it, either smooth, downy, or woolly,
or even viscous. They bear alternate entire or divided
leaves, sometimes in pairs, hut never truly opposite. Their
flowei-8 are yellow, white, violet, or purplish, grouped in
panlcled or uniheled cymes which are usually scorploid,
sometimes appfirently racemose, rarely reduced to a single
flower. The species form two groups, the subgenera Pa-
chiiittnnfmum and Leptosfemonum (l)nnal. 1813), the ttrst
unaniie<l and with broad anthers, the other with long an-
thers opening by minute pores, and commonly armed with
straipht spines on the branchlets, leaves, and calyx. South
America is the central home of the genus, and of its most
useful member, the potato, S. tuberosum, which occurs In
numerous wild varieties, with or without small tubers on
the rootstocks, from Lima to latitude 45° S. in i'atagonia,
and northward to New Mexico. (See potato, potato-rot, and
cuts under rotate and tuber.) There are 15 native species
in the United States, chiefly In the southwest, besides nu-
merous prominent varieties and 5 Introduced species. The
seedsof many species are remarkably tenacious of life, and
are therefore soon naturalized, especially the cosmopoli-
tan weed .S. iivjnim, the common or lilack nltrh tshnde, the
original type of the genus (for which see mtfhfshade. and
figure of leaf under repand; and compare ointment of pop-
lartmds, under ointment) : from this the name nightshade
Solanmn
ia sometimes eitendeii to several other European species.
For S. Dulcamara, the bittersweet, the other connwoii spe-
cies of the northeastern I'niteii States, a climber intro-
duced for ornament, see nightshade, felonwort,dulcainara,
and diticamarin. Two others in the United states are of
importance as prickly weeds, 5. Caroliiiense (for which see
hont'ii^eX a pest which has sometimes caused fields in
Delaware to be abandoned, and ^. rostratum (for which
aee mnd'iturX of abundant growth on the plains beyond
the Mississippi, and known as the chief food of the Colo-
rado beetle or potato-bug before the introduction of the
potato westward. The genus is one of strongly marked
groperties. A few species with comparatively inert foliage
ave been used as salads, as S. nodtjiomm in the West
Indies and S. semlijloriim in Brazil; but the leaves of
most, as of the common potato, bittersweet, and night-
shade, are more or less powerfully narcotic. (See sdanine.)
The roots, leaves, seeds, and fruit-juices yield numerous
remedies of the tropics; S.jubatum is strongly sudorific;
S. pteudomtina is a source of quina in Brazil, a powerful
bitter and febrifuge ; others are purgative or diuretic, as
& panietdatuni, the jernbeba of Brazil ; S. strainonifolium
is used as a poison in Cayenne. The berries are often
edible, as in the well-known S. Melongena {S. escidentum)
(for which see egg-plant, brinjal, and aid>ergine). Others
with edible fruit are S. ancidare (see kaiigaroo-ajyple), S.
Uporo, the cannibal-apple or borodina of the Fiji and other
Pacitlc islands, with large red fruit used like the tomato,
S. vescum. the gunyang of southeastern Australia, S. album
and S. .■Ethioptcuttif cultivated in China and southern Asia,
S. Gilo in tropical America, S. muricatum, the pepino or
melon-pear of Peru, and S. racemosum in the West Indies.
S. Quitoenge, the Quito orange, yields a fruit resembling a
small orange in color, fnigrance, and taste. S. Indicum
(S. Anguivi) is known as Madagascar potato, and S. crispum
of ChUi a& potato-tree. Some species bear an inedible fruit,
as 5. mammosum, the macaw->)ush (which see), also called
gugtimher and (together with S. torvum) turkey-bemj. For
S. Bahamense, see cankerberrg, and for S. Sod&jnxum, see
Sodom-apple. Other species yield dyes, as S. gnaphalioides
in Peru and 5. Fe«pcr(t/4oin the Canaries, used to paint the
face ; S. Ouineense, used to dye silk violet ; and S. indigo-
ferum, in cultivation in Brazil for indigo. S. margina-
tum is used in Abyssinia to tan leather ; and the fruit of
S. ^iponaceuin is used as soap in Peru, Several species
have been long cultivated as ornaments for their abun-
dant red or orange berries, as S. Pseudo-capdcum, the
Jerusalem cherry or winter-cherry (see cherry^), and the
Brazilian S. Capsicastrum, the dwarf winter- clierry or star-
capsicum. Many others are now cultivated as omamental
plants, and are known by tlie generic name Solanum, as
S. Kargtenii, from Venezuela, with violet flowers ; S. beta-
ceum, a small pink-flowered fleshy South American tree
with fine scarlet egg-like fruit ; and S. lanceolatum, with
narrow willow-like leaves, reputed the most showy bloom-
ing species. Others are cultivated for their conspicuous
foliage, as S. crinitum and S. macranthum, with leaves 2J
feet long ; S. robtistum, clad in showy red down ; and S.
Warscewiczii, with handsome flowers and large leaves ele-
gantly cut. The climber S. jasminoides, the jasmine-sola-
num, is a house-plant from Brazil, esteemed for its large
and abundant clusters of fragrant white or bluish flowers.
BOlar^ (so'lar), a. [= F. solaire = Sp. Pg. solar
= It. solarey < L. Solaris^ of the sun, solar, < sol,
the sun: see soA.] 1, Of , pertaining or related
to, or determined by the sun : as, the solar sys-
tem ; solar light ; solar rays ; solar influence.
To make the solar and lunary year agree.
Raleigh, Hist. World, ii. 3.
His soul proud science never taught to stray
Far as the solar walk or milky way.
Pope, Essay on Man, i. 102.
2. In astrol.y bom under the predominant in-
fluence of the sun ; influenced by the sun.
The cock was pleased to hear him speak so fair,
And proud beside, as solar people are.
JJryden, Cock and Fox, 1. 652.
Solar apex, the point in space, situated in the constella-
tion Hercules, toward which the sun is moving.— Solax
asphyxia. Same as sunstroke.SO'
lax boiler, an apparatus for utilizing
the heat of the sun's rays in the heat-
ing of water and the production of
steam.— Solar caloric engine. Same
as solar engine. — Solax camera,
chronometer. See the nouns. — So-
lar constant, the number which ex-
presses the (juantity of radiant heat
received from the sun by the outer
layer of the earth's atmosphere in a
unit of time. As shown by the re-
searches of Langley, its value is prob-
ably somewhat over three (small) calo-
ries per minute for a square centime-
ter of surface normal to the sun's rays.
8ee calorjf and «wn.— Solar COOkillg-
apparatus, an arrangement for cook-
ing food by the heat of the sun's rays.
It consists essentially of a cooking-
vessel inclosed in a glass frame, upon
which the solar rays are directed by
reflectors.- Solar cycle. See cycled.
— Solar day. See dayi, 3.— Solar
deity, in myth., a deity of the sun, or
X)ersonifying some of the attributes or
characteristics of the sun, or of the
sun's action. A familiar example is
the Greek Aiwllo or Helios. Solar
deities play an important part In the
mythology of ancient Egypt, the chief
of them being Ra, the supreme power
for good. The Egyptian solar deities
are commonly distinguished in art by
bearing upon their heads the solar
disk. See also cut under AptMo, and
compare solarism.—^ Solar ecUpse.
See eclipse, I. — Solar engine, an engine in which steam
for motive power is generated by direct solar heat concen-
trated by lenses or by reflectors upon a steam -generator,
5752
^^ptian Solar
Deity.— Bronze figu-
rine of the lioness-
headed godde&s Bast
or Pasht, in Metro-
politan Museum of
Art, New York.
solary
tive view of the planets. For further Information, see the
proper names.
111
I-"
ill-
S
e
Mercury .
88
86
8
0.1
7.2
?
Venus ...
225
67
7
0.8
5.2
?
Earth....
366
93
8
1.0
5.7
24
Mars
687
141
4
0.1
4.0
25
Jupiter . .
4383
482
88
317.0
1.3
10
Saturn . . .
10769
883
75
94.9
0.6
10
Uranus . .
30687
1778
30
14.7
1.4
1
Neptune .
60127
2785
37
17.1
0.9
In
days.
Sun
From
earth.
860
326800.0
1.4
26
Moon
0.24
2
A.
3.5
27
Ericssou's Solar Engine.
a, stand ; i, adjustable caloric entwine ; 6', base-plate of engine,
throuKjh which the cyhnder c extends into the focal axis of a power-
ful reflector rf, the curvature of which directs the rays, as shown by
the dotted lines, upon the cylinder.
as in Mouchot's solar engine, or in whicli direct solar heat
is concentrated upon the cylinder of a hot-air or caloric
eiigine, as in the solar engine of Ericsson. — Solar equa-
tion. See ^^aiion.— Solar eyepiece, a helioscope; an
eyepiece suitable for observing the sun. In the ordinai-y
form, devised by Su- John Herschel, the sunlight is reflect-
ed at right angles by a transparent plane surface which
allows most of the light and heat to pass through, so that
only a thin shade-glass is needed. In the more perfect
polarization-helioscopes of Merz and others the light is
polarized by retlection at the proper angle from one or
more glass surfaces, and afterward modified in intensity
at pleasure by reflection at a second polarizing surface, or
by transmission through a Is'icol prism which can be ro-
tated.—Solar fever, dengue —Solar flowers, flowers
which open and shut daily at certain determinate hours.
— Solar ganglion. Same as solar plextis. — Solar hour.
See hour, — Solax lamp, (a) Same as Arf/and lamp
(which see, under lainjA). (b) An electric lamp of the
fourth class. — Solar microscope. See microscope. —
Solar montll. see month, 2. — Solar myth, in compar.
myth., a myth or heroic legend containing or supposed to
contain allegorical reference to the course of the sun, and
used by modern scholars to explain the Aryan mytholo-
gies. The fable of Apollo and Daphne'is an example. —
Solar observatory, an astronomical observatory special-
ly equipped for the study of solar phenomena. The ob-
servatory at Meudon, near Paris, is an example.— Solar
physics, the study of the physical phenomena presented
by the sun. — Solar plexus, in anat. See plexus. Also
called brain of the bell!/.— Solax print, in photeg., a pho-
tographic print made in a solar camera from a negative.
It is usually an enlargement, and is so called to distin-
guish it from an ordinaiy photo-print made by direct con-
tact in a printing-frame, or otherwise. — Solar promi-
nence or protuherance. See tow.— Solar radiation.
See radiatooK.— Solar-radiation register, an apparatus
for automatically registering the times during which the
sun is shining.— Solar salt, sea-salt; bay-salt.— Solar
spectrum. See spectrmn, 3, and cut under absorption. —
Solar spots. See sun-spot. — Solar system, in astron.,
the system consisting of the sun and the bodies revolving
round it (and those revolving round them) or otherwise
Solar System, showing especially the orbits of the four outer planets.
dependent upon it. To this system belong the planets,
planetoids, satellites, comets, and meteorites, which all
directly or indirectly revolve round the central sun — the
Solar System, showing the orbits of the four inner planets.
whole being bound together by the mutual attractions of
the several parts. The following table gives a compara-
Solar telegraph. See teJer7rapA.— Solar theory. See
solarism. — Solartime. Sstmea^apparerittime, SeeWm«.
— Solar walk, the zodiac— Solar year. See year.
solar- (so'liir), n. See soUar.
solar^ (so'iar), n. See sola^.
Solariidae (so-la-ri'l-de), n. pi. [NL., < Solari-
um + -id».] A family of pectinibrancliiate
gastropods, typified by the genus Solarium.
The animal has the tentacles nearly united at the base;
eyes on the upper part of the outer side of their base ; the
proboscis long, cylindrical, completely retractile ; antl the
shell conical and generally declivous from the apex, with
carinated margin of the last whorl, and a deep umbilical
cavity, recalling a spiral staircase. Tlie species inhabit
tropical seas. They are rather large and generally hand-
some shells, some of which are common parlor ornaments.
See cut under Solarium..
solarioid (so-la'ri-oid), a. [< Solarium + -aid.']
Of, or having characters of, the Solariidx.
SOlariplex (so-lar'i-pleks), n. The solar plexus
(which see, under p?exMs). Coues, 1887.
solarism (so'liir-izm), n. [< solar^ + -!sm.] Ex-
clusive or excessive explanation of mythology
by reference to the sun ; over-addiction to the
assumption of solar myths. Gladstone, in Pop.
Sei. Mo., XXVIII. 634.
SOlarist (so'lar-ist), 11. [< solar^ + -ist.'] An
adherent of the doctrine of solarism. Glad-
stone, in Pop. Sci. Mo., XXVIII. 876.
solarium (so-la'ri-um), n. [< L. solarium, a
sun-tiial, a part of a house exposed to the sun,
< Solaris, of the sun: see sotarl.] 1. A sun-
dial, fixed or portable. See dial, poJce-dial, ring-
dial, sun-dial. — 2. A place arranged to receive
the sun's rays, usually a flat house-top, ter-
race, or open gallery, formerly used for plea-
sure only, but in modern times commonly as an
adjunct of a hospital or sanatorium, in which
case it is inclosed with glass ; a room arranged
with a view to giving patients sun-baths. —
3. lcap.'\ [NL. (Lamarck, 1799).] The typical
genus of Solariidae, containing the staircase-
shells, as the per-
spective shell, S.
perspectivtim . They
nave a much depressed
but regularly conic
shell, angular at the
periphery, and with a
wide spiral umbilicus
which has suggested
the idea of a spiral
stairway.
Solarization (so"Iar-i-za'shon), n. [= F. solari-
sation; as solarise + -ation.'] 1. Exposure to the
action of the rays of the sun. — 2. In pliotog.,
the injurious effects produced on a negative by
over-e.xposing it in the camera to the light of
the sun , as blurring of outlines, obliteration of
high lights, loss of relief, etc. ; also, the effects
on a print resulting from over-printing the sen-
sitized paper or other medium.
solarize (s6'lar-Tz), r. ; pret. and pp. solarized.
ppr. solarizing. [= P. solariser ; as snlar^ +
-ize.'] 1. intrans. In p/ioiojr., to become injured
by too long exposure to the action of light.
It is a familiar fact that iodide of silver solarizes very
easily — that is, the maximum etfect of light is quickly
reached, after which its action is reversed.
Lea, Photography, p. 137.
II. trans. 1 . To affect by sunlight ; modify
in some way by the action of solar rays.
A spore born of a solarized bacillus is more susceptible
to the reforming influence than its parent was.
Science, VI. 476.
2. In pbotog., to affect injuriously by exposing
too long to light.
solary (s6'la-ri), a. [< ML. "Solaris (used only
as a noun), pertaining to the ground or soil, <
L. solum, the ground, soil: see soil^.J Of or be-
longing to the ground. [Rare.]
staircase-shell iSo/nriitm fersptc-
tivutn).
Sun-Star {Selajter ertt^ca).
solary
From the like spirits in the earth the plants thereof
perhaps acquire their verdure. And from such golary ir-
radiations m:iy those wondrous varieties arise which are
observable in animals. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., vl. 12.
SOlasf, ". A Middle English form of solace.
Solaster (so-las't^r). «. [NL., < L. sol, the
sun, + aster, a star.] The typical genus of
Solasteridse, having
more than five rays.
In S. endeea, a common
North Atlantic species,
there are usually eleven
or ten slender, tapering,
and smooth arms, and
the whole sui'face is
closely reticulated. The
corresponding sun-star
of the North Pacilic is
S, decetnradiatug.
Solasteridae (s6-las-
ter'i-de), n. pi.
[NL., < Solaster +
-idie.'\ A family of
starfishes, typified
by the genus -Svlaster. The limits of the family vary,
and it is sometimes merged in or called Echiiuuteridte.
There are several genera, most of them with more than
five rays, as in Soiaster. In Cribella (or Cribrelia) the l^ys
are six. In CrottagUr pappomx, a common sun-star of
both coasts of the North Atlantic, there are twelve short
obtuse arms, extensively united by a membrane on the onU
surface, and the upi>er side is roughened with clubl)ed
processes and spines. Kchituuter sentus is flve-armed (see
cut at Echiruuitr). The many-armed sun-stars of the ge-
nus Heliagter (In some fonns of which the rays are more
than thirty in number) are brought under this family or
referred elsewhere. Also written Solasiridx.
solatium (so-la'shi-um), M.; pi. solatia (-a).
[L.. also solacium, consolation, solace: see sol-
ace.] Anything that alleviates or compensates
for suffering or loss; a compensation; specifi-
cally, in Scots law, a sum of money paid, over
and above actual damages, to an injured party
by the person who infiieted the injury, as a sol-
ace for wounded feelings.
sold' (sold). Preterit and jiast participle of »eWl.
SOld'^t, »•• K ME. solde, souUiye, sonde, sowde,
soicd = MHG. salt, G. sold = Sw. Dan. sold, <
OF. solile, souldc, soude, F. solde, pay (of sol-
diers), = Sp. sueldo = Pg. It. soldo, pay. < ML.
soldus, soldum, pay (of soldiers); of. OF. sol,
sou. a piece of money, a shilling, F. sou, a small
coin or value, = Pr. sol = Sp. sueldo = Pg. It.
soldo, a coin (see sol^, sou, soldo), < LL, solidus,
a piece of money, ML. also in gen. money, <
L. solidus, solid: see solid, solidus. Hence ult.
soldier.'] Pay (of soldiers, etc.); salary. Spen-
ser, F. Q., if. ix. C.
My Lord Tresorer graanted the seid vi]. c. marc to my
hoTiX of Norlfolk, for the arrerag of hys mncde qeyl be was
in .Scotland. Pattm Letlen, L 41.
sold'-'t, soud-t, f. <. [< ME. "solden, souden, < OF.
solder.soudtr, pay, (.solde, soude, pay: eeesold^,
«.] To pay.
Imparflt is the pope that al the peaple sholde helpe.
And KudelA hem that sleeth snc-he as he sholde sane.
Pirn Plowman (C), xiiL 431.
soldadot (sol-da'do), n. [< Sp. soldado, a sol-
(liir: spe«oMi<T.] A soldier. *Vo«, Legend of
Montrose, iii.
Come, help me ; come, come^ boys ; aoidadoes, comrades.
Ftjither, Kale a Wife, iv. 3.
soldant, n. An obsolete form of sultan.
soldanel (sol'da-nel), n. A plant of the genus
Sohltiiiclta. Also written sohlanelle.
8oldaiiella(8ol-<la-nerii), H. [XL. (Toumefort,
1700) sotdanclla, dim. of soldana, a plant so
called, < Olt. soldo, a coin : see soldo.] A genus
of gamopetalous plants, of the order I'rimula-
ceip. the primrose family, and tribe I'rimulete.
It is characterised by flowers with a flTe-parted calyx, a
bn>a<lly funnel. shaped or somewhat bell-shaped corolla
with fringed lobes, Ave stamens inserted on the corolla,
and an ovoid ovary which becomes a circamscisaile cap-
sule with a live- to ten-toothed mouth, containing many
seeds on an elongated central placenta. There are 4 spe-
cies, alpine plants of Europe. They are smooth, delicate,
stemleas herbs, growing from a short perennial rootstock,
and bearing long-stalked, fleshy, and entire roundish
leaves with a heart-shaped base. The nodding floweni,
single or umbeled, are borne on a slender scape, and are
blue, violet, rose-colored, or rarely white. S. alpina,
growing near the snowline on many Koropean moun-
tains. \k with other species, sometimes cnltlvsted under
the name uManM or tUdaarUe, and has been also called
blur nuKtnwvrt.
soidanessf, n. An obsolete form of sultaness.
soldanriet, soldanryt, ». Obsolete forms of
sultttlni/.
soldatesqne (sol-da-tosk'). «• [< F. soldatesque,
< soliliil, a soldier (see soldier), + -esqtte.] Of
or ri'lating to asoldier; soldier-like. [A Galli-
cism.]
Ills [the f'aptaln'sl cane clanking on the pavement, or
waving round him in the execution of military cuts and
toUtUttqut manauvrea. Thacktray, Pendennis, ziU.
<^3^
«i=o
Tools and Materials used in
Solilering.
a, bar of solder; b, solderintr-
iron ; <", rosin-box ; d, d, shavers or
scrapers, used for cleaning sur-
faces and leveling down protuber-
ances or lumps in the soft solder
after it is applied.
5753
solder (sod'^r or sol'dfer), n. [Early mod. E.
also soulder, soder, sowder (dial, also sawder);
< OF. souldure, soudure, soudeure, soudure, F.
soudure = Sp. Pg. soldadura = It. soldatura, a
soldering, < OF. souder, soulder, orig. 'solder,
solder, consolidate, close or fasten together, =
Pr. .loldar, soudar = Sp. Pg. soldar = It. soldare,
sodare, < L. solidare, make firm, < solidus, solid,
firm: see solid, and cf. «o«rfl.] 1. A fusible
alloy used for joining or binding together metal
surfaces or joints, as the edges of tin cans, jew-
eliT, and kitchen utensils. Being melted on each
surface, the solder, partly
by chemical attraction and
partly by cohesive force,
binds them together. After
cleaning the edges to be
joined.the workman applies
a solution of zinc in hydro-
chloric acid and also pow-
dered rosin to the cleaned
sui-faces; then he touches
the heated soldering-iron to
the rosin, and holding the
solder-bar and iron over
tlie parts to be joined melts
otf little drops of solder at intervals along the margins,
and runs all together with the hot iron. There are many
of these alloys, as soft solder used for tinware, hard solder
for brass and iron, gold solder, silver solder, spelter solder,
fdumbers" solder, etc. Every kind is used at its own melt-
ng point, which must always be lower than that of the
metals to be united, soft solders being the most fusible.
To soder such gold, there is a proper glew or toder.
UoUand, tr. of Fliny, xxxiii. 5.
Hence — 2. Figuratively, that which unites in
any way.
Friendship .' roysterions cement of the soul.
Sweetener of life, and folder of society.
Blair, The Grave, 1. 89.
Aluminium solder. Bee aiumimum.— Hard solder,
solrK-r wtiiiii fuses only at red heat, and therefcre is used
only to unite the metals and alloys which can entiure that
temperature. Spelter solder and silver solder are the prin-
cipal varieties.— Soft solder, (a) See def. 1. (b) Gross
flattery or fulsome praise, particularly when used for self-
ish aims.
solder (sod'*r or sol'dtr), r. t. [Blarly mod. E.
also soulder, soder, soicder; < solder, n.] 1. To
unite by a metallic cement ; join by a metallic
substance in a state of fusion, which hardens
in cooling, and renders the joint solid,
I towder a metall with Bowlder. Je soulde.
PiUtgTttve, p. 725.
2. Figuratively, to close up or unite firmly by
any means.
As If the world should cleane, and that slalne men
Should toader vp the Rift.
Shak., A. and C. (folio 1623X III. 4. 32.
Would my lips had been tMtred when I spake on 't I
B. Joiuon, Epicosne, 11. %.
'solderer (sod'6r-6r or 8ordfer-*r), n. [< solder
+ -/ rl.] One who or a machine which solders.
soldering (80d'6r-ing or sol'd^r-ing), n. [Verbal
n. of solder, v.] 1. The act of one who or that
which solders. — 2. A soldered place or part.
Even the delicate tolderinga of the ends of these wires
to the c-opjier clips were apparently the same as ever.
Ufcrt. Itev. (Eng.)k XXV. 349.
Autogenous Bolderlng. See au(«9«mm<.— Oalranlc
soldering, the process of uniting two pieces of metal by
nu-;u!s (if aniither metal deposited twtween them throuirh
till iiL'iiicy of a voltaic current.— SolderinS nipple. See
nijtpie.
SOldering-block (sod'ir-ing-blok), n. A tool
employed in soldering cans, as a support and
for trimming. It is adjustable for different
sizes.
solderlng-bolt (sod'fer-ing-bolt), n. Same as
sitUli-rhiif-irnn.
solderlng-frame (sod'tr-ing-fram), n. A form
of cliuMii for holding the parts together in sol-
dcriiiij I'luis.
soldering-fumace (sodV-r-ing-fir'nas), ti. A
jxirtablc furnace used by tinners, etc., for beat-
inir soldering-irons.
soldering-iron (sod'fer-ing-i'dm), b, A tool
with which solder is melted and applied. It con-
sists of a copper bit or bolt, having a [>ilnte<l or wedge-
shaped end, fastened to an iron rod with a wooden handle.
In some forms the copper bit Is kept hot by means of a
gas-flame supplied through a flexDile pipe connected with
the handle. .See cut under tolder.
soldering-machine (sodV-r-ing-ma-shen'), n.
In shcrt-mi till work; a general name for appli-
ances and machines for closing the seams of tin
cans with sohler; also, a soldering-bloek, or
any other machine or appliance rendering me-
chaniciil aid in soldering. The cans may be auto-
matically dipped in molten solder, or the solder may be
laid on the seams, which are then exposed to agas-flame,
hot blast, nr the direct heat of a furnace.
Soldering-pot (sod'fer-ing-pot), n. A small
portable uimace used in soldering, especially
lor uniting the ends of telegraph-wires, it is
soldier
fitted with a clamp for holding the ends of the wires, etc.
in position : and when they are in place the furnace is
tilted, and the melted solder flows over the wires, etc., and
forms a soldered joint.
SOldering-tongS (sod'er-ing-tongz), n. siufl. and
pi. A fiat-nosed tongs for brazing the joints of
band-saws. The saw is held in a scarflng-frame, with
a film of solder between the lapping scarfed edges. This
film is melted by clamping the heated tongs over the
edges. E. U. Knight.
SOldering-tool (sod'er-ing-t61), n. A soldering-
iron, or other tool for soldering.
solder-machine (sod'er-ma-shen'), n. A ma-
chine for forming molten solder into rods or
drops for use.
soldi, n. Plural of soldo.
soldier (sol'jer), «. [Also dial, soger, sodger, so-
jer; early mod. E. souldier, soldiour, souldiotir;
< ME. souldier, souhhjour, soudiour, soicdiour,
soKdijowre, sodiour, soudeur, soudicr, soudoicr, <
OF. soldier, also soldoier, souldoier, souldoijer, <
ML. soldarius, a soldier, lit. 'one having pay,'
< soldus, soldum, pay : see sold^. Cf. D. sol-
daat = G. Sw. Dan. soldat, < F. soldat, < It. sol-
dato = Sp. Pg. sotdndo, a soldier, lit. 'one paid,'
< ML. soldatus, pp. of soldare (> It. soldare =
OF. solder), pay, < soldum, pay : see sold^.] It.
One who receives pay, especially for military
service.
Bruyn the here and ysegrym the wulf sente alle the
londe a boute yf ony man wolde take wages that they
ahold come to bruyn and he wolde paye them their soul-
dye or wagis to fore, my fader ranne alle ouer the londe
and bare the lettres. . . . My fader hadde ben oueral in
the lande bytwene the elne and the sonmie. And haddo
goten many a sovldyour that shold the next somer hauo
comen to heipe bruyn.
Caxlon, Reynard the Fox (ed. Arber), p. 39.
2. A person in military service, (o) One whose
business is warfare, as oppose<l to a civilian.
Madame, se misdon . . .
To swiche a sinipul mwdiour as icham forto knele.
William o/ Paleme (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3951.
Fie, my lord, fle ! a goldier, and afeard ?
Shak., .Macbeth, v. 1. 40.
(b) One who serves in the land forces, as opposed to one
serving at sea.
3. Hence, one who obeys the commands and
contends in the cause of another.
Give me a favour, that the world may know
I am yonr toldier. Fletcher, Mad Lover, v. 4.
To continue Christ's faithful toldier and servant unto
his life's end.
Book of Connmon Prayer, Public Baptism of Infants.
4. One of the rank and file, or sometimes in-
cluding non-commissioned officers as opposed
to commissioned officers.
Me thinkes It were meete that any one, before he come
to be a captayne, should have bene a Vildionr.
Spenser, State of Ireland.
That In the captain 's but a choleric word
Which in the goldier is flat blasphemy.
Shak., M. forM.,ii. 2. 131.
8. Emphatically, a brave warrior; a man of
military experience, skill, or genitis; a man of
distinguished valor; one possessing the dis-
tinctive carriage, looks, habits, or traits of
those who make a profession of military ser-
vice: as, he is every inch a soldier.
So great a soldier taught us there
What long-enduring hearts could do
In that world's-earthquake, Waterloo !
Tennyson, Death of Wellington.
6. InrooV.: (n) One of that section of a colony
of some kinds of ants which does the fighting,
takes slaves, etc. ; a soldier-ant. (6) The cor-
responding form in a colony of white ants or
termites, (c) A soldier-beetle, (d) A sort of
hermit-crab; also, a fiddler-crab.
Under those Trees [SapadiUies] wo found plenty of Sol-
diers, a little kind of Animals that live in Shells, and have
two great tlaws like a Crab, and are good food.
Dampier, N'oyages, T. 39.
(e) The red gurnard, Trigla cundtis. [Local,
Eng.] (/) A red herring. [British sailors'
slang.] — 7. One who makes a pretense of
working, but is really of little or no use; one
who works no liiore than is' necessary to secure
pay. See soger. 2. [Colloq.] — 8. pi. A name
of the red campion (Lychnis diiiriia), of the rib-
wort (Plantago lanceolata), and of various other
plants. Britten and Holland, Eng. Plant Names.
[Prov. Eng. and Scotch.] — Fresh-water soldier.
See/rM*-ira(fr.— Old soldier, (n) A liottle ini])tie(l at
a ba>K|Uet, catouse, etc. [Slang.] (b) The stump, <»r un-
smokeil part, of a cigar. See sniped, 3. [Slang.] — Red
soldier, a disorder of pigs ; rouget.
A disoriler affecting pigs, called In France "rouget,"
and in Ireland "red srildier," from the red patches that
appear on the skin in fatal cases. This affection depends
on a bacillus. Lancet. ISIxi, II. 217.
Single soldlert. See single^.— Soldier Of fortune, one
who is ready to serve as a soldier wherever profit, honor,
soldier
pleasure, or other advantage is most to be had. — Soldiers
and sailors, soldier-beetles. — Soldier's wind (naut.),
a (air wind for going and returning.-- To come the Old
soldier over one, to impose upon one. [Colloq.]
I should think he was comitig the old soldier over me,
and keeping up his game. But uo — he can scarce have
the impudence to thmk of that.
Scott, St Kenan's Well, xvlii.
soldier (sdl'j^r), r. »". [< soldier, n.] 1 . To serve
as a soldier: as, to go soldiering.
Kew nobles come. . . , Barras . . . is oue. The reck-
less shipwrecked man : fluug ashore on the coast of the
Maldives long ago, while sailing and soldiering as Indian
Fighter. Cartyle, French Rev., III. i. 7.
2. TobuUy; hector. Halliwell. [Prov. Eiig.]
— 3. To make a pretense or show of working,
so as to be kept upon the pay-roll ; shirk ; feign
sickness; malinger. See soger, 2. [Colloq.]
The two long lines of men attached to the ropes on the
left shore . . . stretchout ahead of us so far that it needs
an opera-glass to discover whether the leaders are pulling
or only soldiering.
C. D. Warner, Winter on the Nile, p. 248.
4. To make temporary use of (another man's
horse). Thus, a man wanting a mount catches the first
horse he can, rides it to his destination, and then lets it
go. [Slang, Australia.]
soldier-ant (sol'Jer-ant), n. Same as soldier,
6 (a) (6).
soldier-beetle (sol'jfer-be'tl), «. Any beetle of
5754
2^ The act of feigning to work ; shirking.
Soldierly.
[Colloq.]
soldier-like (sol'jer-lik), a.
Pennsylvania Soldier -beetle {_Chauiio^nathus fifttnsyivantcus).
a, lanra, natural size; ^, head of same, from below, enlarged;
c to h, mouth-parts, enlarged ; i, beetle, natural size.
the family Tele phor idee. The Pennsylvania soldier-
beetle, Chatdioffnathus penn^lvanicus, iB common in the
United States.
(The beetles live
upon pollen, but
their larvse are
carnivorous and
destroy other in-
sects. The two-
lined soldier-bee-
tle, Telephorus
biliiieatug, is also
common in the
United States. It
preys upon the
larvae of the cod-
ling-moth.
A predaceous bug
Two-lined So Idler -beetle {TeUphorus bili-
neatus). a, larva; b, head and thoracic
joints of same, enlarged ; c, beetle,
natural size.)
{a and c
Spined
sfiinosus).
Soldier-bug { Podisus
a, nymph; b, larva;
'^t CRg ; *'. proboscis of adult, all
enlarged (lines show natural sizes
of d and b) ; e, adult, natural size.
soldier-bug (sol'jer-bug),
of the family Pentato-
midse; any rapacious
reduvioid. Podisus spi-
nogug is a common North
American species known as
the gpined soldier hug. It
preys upon many destruc-
tive larvee, such as the fall
web-worm, cutworms, and
the larvse of the Colorado
potato- beetle. The ring-
banded soldier-bug is Peril-
lus eircumcinctus. The rapa-
cious soldier-bug is Siiiea
diadema. See cuts under
Pentatoinidse, PerUlus, Po-
dimis, Siiiea. and Harpactor.
soldier-bush (sol'jer-
bush), «. Same as sol-
dierwood,
soldier-crab (sol ' j6r-
krab), n. A hermit-
crab ; a soldier.
soldieress (sol'J6r-es), «. [< soldier + -ess.l A
female soldier. [Rare.]
SoldieresH,
That equally canst poise sternness with pity.
Fletcher (and another). Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 1.
soldier-fisb (sorjer-fish), w. The blue darter
or rainbow-darter, EtheosUmia csendeum, of
gorgeous colors, the male having about twelve
indigo-blue bars running obliquely downward
and backward, and being otherwise vividly
colored. It is abundant in rivers of the Mis-
sissippi valley.
soldier-fly (sol'j^r-fli), », A dipterous insect of
the family Stratiomyidse : so called from its or-
namentation.
soldiering (sol'j^r-ing), n. [Verbal n. of sol-
dievy %\] 1, The state of being a soldier; the
aet or condition of serving as a soldier; mili-
tary duty; campaigning.
The simple soldiering of Grant and Foote was solving
some of the problems thatconfused scientific hypothesis.
The Century, XXXVI. 664.
I will not say pitj' me; 'tis not a soldier-like phrase.
Shah., M. W. of W., ii. l. 13.
On hearing the general orders, he discharged a tempest
of veteran, soldier-like oaths.
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 316.
soldierly (sdrj^r-li), a. [Early mod. E. soid-
divrhj ; < soldier -f -ly^.'\ Like or befitting a sol-
dier, especially in a moral sense: as, soldierly
conduct.
He seem'd a sotddteiiy person and a good fellow.
Evelyn, Diary, June ir>, 1675.
His own [face], tho' keen and bold and soldierly,
Sear'd by the close ecliptic, was not fair.
Ten7iyson, Aylmers Field.
soldier-moth (sorjer-moth), n. An East Indian
geometvid moth, Euschema militaris.
soldier-orchis (s6rjer-6r''''kis), ?i. A handsome
orchid, Orchis militaris, of the northern Old
World. It bears a dense oblong spike of small chiefly
purple flowers. So named, perhaps, from the helmet-like
adjustment of the sepals, or from its erect habit.
soldier' S-herb (sol'jerz-erb), «. Same as mati-
co^.
SoldiersMp (sol 'j6r- ship), ^i. [< soldier +
-ship.} The state of being a soldier ; the quali-
ties of a soldier, or those becoming a soldier;
especially, skill in military matters.
His soldiership
Is twice the other twain.
Shak., A. andC, ii. 1. 34.
soldierwood (s6rjer-wud), n. A West Indian
leguminous shrub, Calliandra purpurea, its
flowers are in beads, the stamens, as in the genus gen-
erally, united into a tube and long-exserted, forming the
conspicuous part.
soldiery (sol'jer-i), ?i. [Early mod. E. soul-
diery, soldiourie; < soldier + -y^.l If. Soldier-
ship ; military service.
Basilius . . . inquired of his estate, adding promise of
great rewjirds, among the rest offering to him, if he would
exercise his courage in soldiery, he would commit some
charge unto him under his lieutenant Philanax.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, i.
To read a lecture of soldiery to Hannibal, the most cun-
ningest warrior of his time. Ford, Line of Life.
2. Soldiers collectively, whether in general,
or in any state, or any army, camp, or the like.
They, expecting a sharp encounter, brought Sigebert,
whom they esteem'd an expert Leader, with his presence
to confirm the S&uldiery. Milton, Hist. Eng., iv.
The ferocious deeds of a savage and infuriated soldiery.
Clay, Speech on Greek Rev.
soldo (sol'do), w. ; pi. soldi (-di). [< It. soldo,
a coin: see sol^y sou.} A small Italian coin of
sole
The sole of their [the cherubim's] feet was like the sole
of a calf's foot. Ezek. i. 7.
2. The foot. [Rare.]
Hast wandred through the world now long a day,
Yett ceassest not thy weary soles to lead.
Spenser, F. Q., I. x. 9,
3. That part of a shoe or boot which comes
under the sole of the foot, and upon which the
wearer treads, in boots and shoes with heels, the term
is usually limited to the part that is in front of the heel
and of nearly uniform thickness throughout See ha^-
sole, and cuts under boot'-i and poulaine.
You have dancing shoes
With nimble soles. Shak., R. and J., i. 4. 15.
4. The part of anything that forms the bottom,
and on which it stands upon the ground; the
bottom or lower pai*t of anything, (a) In agrL,
the bottom part of a plow, to the fore part of which is
attached the point or share. (6) In farriery, the homy
under side of any foot; the bottom of the lioof. (c) In
fort., the bottom of an embrasure or gun-port. See cm-
brasure, 2. (d) Naut., a piece of timber attached to the
lower part of a rudder, to render it level with the false
keel, (e) The seat or bottom of a mine : applied to hori-
zontal veins or lodes. (/) The fioor of a ]>racket on which
a plumber-block rests, {g) The plate which constitutes
the foundation of a marine steam-engine, and which is
bolted to the keelson. (A) The floor or hearth of the metal
chamber in a reverberatory, puddling, or boiling furnace,
(t) In carp., the lower surface of a plane. {)) The bottom
frame of a wagon, coach, or railway-car. (jc) The metal
shoe of a sled-runner, {l) The lower edge of a turbine.
(m) In ship-bitUdijig, the bottom plank of the cradle, rest-
ing on the bilgeways, and sustaining the lower ends of
the poppets, w^hich are mortised into the sole and support
the vessel. ^e&cwtnwAer launching -ways. E. H. KnighL
(n) In conch., the surface of the body on which a gastro*
pod creeps.
6. A flat surface like the sole of the foot.
The stones in the boulder-clay have a characteristic
form and surface. They are usually oblong, have one or
more flat sides or soles, are smoothed or polished, and have
their edges worn round. A. Geikie, Encyc. Brit., X. 367.
SOle^ (sol), V. t. ; pret. and pp. soled^ ppr. soling.
[< so/ci, «.] To furnish with a sole, as a shoe
or boot ; put a new sole on. Compare half-
sole, V. t.
This fellow waits on him now in tennis court socks, or
slippers soled with wool. B. Jonson, Epicoene, L 1.
SOle^ (sol), n. [< ME. sole = G. sohle = Sw.
sola, < OF. (and F.) sole = Pr. solha = Sp.
suela = Pg. solha = It. soglia, < L. solea, the
sole (fish), prob. so called from its flatness,
< solea, a slipper or sandal: see sole^.~\ In
iehth., a flatfish of the family Soleidae, and espe-
cially of the genus Solea ; a soleid or sole-fish.
The common sole of Europe is S. vulgaris, foi-merly Pleu-
ronectes solea. The body is elongate-oval, and has been
e
Obverse. Reverse.
Billon Soldo of Peter Leopold, Grand Duke of Etruria, 1778, in the
British Museum. (Size of original.)
copper or billon, the twentieth part of the lira;
a sol or sou.
SOle^ (sol), n. [< ME. sole, soole (of the foot or of
a shoe), < AS. sole (pi. solen, for * solan) =MD.
sole, D. zool = MLG. sole, LG. sale = OHG.
sola, MHG. sole, sol, G.- sohle = Icel. soli = Sw.
sdla = Dan. saale = Goth, sulja, the sole of the
foot, = Olt. suola, also suolo, It. suolo = Sp.
suela = Pg. sola = Pr. sola, sol = F. sole, the
sole of the foot, < ML. sola, a collateral fonu
(foimd in glossaries) of L. solea, a slipper or
sandal (consisting of a single sole fastened on
by a strap across the instep), a kind of shoe
for animals, also the sole of the foot (of ani-
mals), in ML. also the sole of a shoe, a flat
under surface, the bottom, < sohwi, the groimd,
soil. Cf. soiV-, sole'^.'] 1. The bottom or
under side of the foot; technically, the plan-
ta, corresponding to the palm of the hand.
The sole of ordinary language does not correspond well
with planta, except in the cases of plantigrades. In digiti-
grades sole usually means only that part of the planta
which rests upon the ground in ordinary locomotion, or
the balls of the toes collectively ; it also applies to the
fore as well as the hind feet of such quadrupeds, thus
including the corresponding parts of ihepalma, or palm ;
while the planta may extend far up the hind leg (only), as
to the hock of the horse. In the horse sole is restricted
to the under side of the hoof of either fore or hind feet
(see def. 4 (&)). In birds the sole of the foot is the under
side of the toes taken together. See planta, and cuts under
plantigrade, digitigrade, scutelliplantar, and solidungtdate.
.ole {SoUa x-ulgaris or solea^.
compared to the form of a human sole ; the dorsal and
anal fins are very long, but free from the caudal, which
has a rounded end, and pectorals are developed on
both sides ; the mouth is moderately decurved ; the nos-
trils of the blind side are not dilated ; and the height
of the body is a little less than a third of the total
length. The color is a dark brown, with a black spot at
the end of the pectoral fin. This sole is common along
the European coasts, and is one of the most esteemed
of food-fishes. The flesh is white, firm, and of excellent
flavor, especially when the fish has been taken in deep
water. The average weight is about a pound, although
the fish occasionally reaches a much larger size. It pre-
fers sandy or gravelly shores, but retires into deep water
when frost sets in. It feeds chiefiy upon mollusks, but
also on the eggs of fishes and other animals. It some-
times ascends into fresh water. There are other spe-
cies, of several different genera, as Achirtis lineattts,
commonly called hog-choker. The name sole is also
given to various species of the related family Plenro-
nectidm. Along the Californian coast the common sole
is a pleuronectoid, Lepidopsetta bUineata, which reaches
a length of about 20 inches and a weight of five or
six pounds, although its average weight as seen in the
markets is about three pounds. In San Francisco only
about two per cent, of the fiatfishea caught belong to
this species, but along Puget Sound it constitutes about
thirty per cent, of the catch. It feeds chiefly on crus-
taceans and small fishes, and is regarded as an excellent
food-fish. Other Pleuronectidss called soles along the Pa-
cific coast of Xortli America are the Parophrj/s vetulus &\id
Hippoglossoides jordajii. See also cuts under Pleuronecti-
d« and Soleidse.
Solea is the sole, that is a swete fisshe and holsom for
seke people. Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 238.
Bastard sole. See baMard.—JiwaTf sole, the little
sole, or solenette, Solea minuta.— Frencil sole. Same as
lemon-sole. 1. — Land-SOle, a slug of the genus Avion.
The Arions, or Land-soles.
P. P. Carpenter, Lect. MoUusca (1861X p. 7a
sole
Lemon sole. See Umon-ioU.—amootll sole, Anwglog-
tut latemot the megrim or scald-fish.— Variegated sole,
the bastard sole. Solea variegata. See bastard.
SOleS (sol), a. [< M£. sole, < OF. «■<>/, F. seul =
Pr. sol = Sp. solo = Pg. so = It. solo, < L. solus.
alone, only, single, sole, lonely, solitary; prob.
the same word as OL. eollits, entire, complete,
= dr. b/j)^ (Ionic ov?juc), whole, = Skt. sarra,
all, whole : see safe. Hence (< L. ) solitary, soli-
tude, solo, sullen, soliloquy, desolate, etc. From
the Gr. word is the first element ia holocaust,
holograph, etc.] 1. Only ; alone in its kind ; be-
ing or acting without another; single; unique;
individual : as, God is the sole creator and sov-
ereign of the world.
To parley with the s(Ue inheritor
Of all perfections that a man may owe,
MatchleiH Navane. Shale., h. L. L., ii. 1. 5.
I mean, says he, never to allow of the lie being by con-
struction, implication, or induction, but by the tde use
of the word itself. Addison, Tatler, No. 256.
8. Alone; unaccompanied ; solitary. [Archaic]
Go forth toU and make thy mone.
Rom. 0/ the Rote, L 2396.
I am oft-times loU, but seldom solitary.
Uovodl, Letters, ii 77.
Flush'd Oanymede. his rosy thigh
Half-buried in the Eagle's down,
Sole as a flying star shot thro' the sky.
Tennyaon, Palace of Art.
3t. Mere.
Wliose tole name blisters our tongues.
Shak., Macbeth, iv. 3. 12.
5755
Whatever you meddle with, except when you make sole-
dtmt, is grammar still. Milton, Ans. to Salmasias, i.
The offences against the usage of the English language
are— (1) Barbarisms, words not English: (2) Solecisms,
constructions not English; (3) Improprieties, words or
phrases used in a sense not English.
A. S. Hill, Rhetoric, iii.
2. Loosely, any small blunder in speech.
Think on 't, a close friend.
Or private mistress, is court rhetoric ;
A wife, mere rustic solecism.
Massinger, Guardian, i. 1.
They [the inhabitants of London] are the mo<iern Solce-
ci, and their solecism* have furnished much food for laugh-
ter. This kind of local reproach is not common, but it is
not unprecedented. N. and Q., 7th ser., IX. 74.
3. Any unfitness, absurdity, or impropriety, as
in behavior; a violation of the conventional
rules of society.
T. Ca. [Carew] buzzed me in the Ear that, tho' Ben [Jon-
son] had barrelled up a great deal of Knowledge, yet it
seems he had not read the Ethics, which, amongst other
Precepts of Morality, forbid Self-commendation, declaring
it to be an ill-favor'd Solecism in good Manners.
Howell, Letters, ii. 13.
4. An incongruity ; an inconsistency ; that
which is incongruous with the nature of things
or with its surroundings ; an unnatural phenom-
enon or product ; a prodigy; a monster.
It is the tnlecitm of power to think to command the end,
and yet not to endure the mean. Bacon, Empire (ed. 1887>
An ungodly roan of God — what a toUeitm! What a
monster 1 Mather ByUi, Sermon at New London (17.'>8X
solemn
. , . , Syn. L Barbaritm, etc See impropriety.
4. In law, single; unmarried; not ha\nng a soleclst (sol'e-sist), n. [< Gr. oo>MKurrK, one
spouse : as, a feme jole. See/e/«« — Solecorpora- who speaks of pronounces incorrectly, <ooKoiid-
VUm. See corporafvm tole, under carporatittn, L— Sole
tenant See UnanU
sole^ (sol), adv. [< soltfl, a.] Alone ; by itself ;
singly. [Rare.]
Bat what the repining enemy commends,
That breath fame blows ; that praise, tole pure, tran-
scends. ^Mk., T. and C, i. 3. 244.
select (sol), n. [< ME. sole, soole, < AS. sal, a cord,
rope, rein, chain, collar, =OS.»e? = OHG. MHG.
G. seil = Icel. »et/ = Goth, 'sail (in deriv. iimail-
jaii), a cord, = OBuIg. silo, a cord; akin to Gr.
'/tar, a band, Skt. ^ si, bind.] A wooden band
or yoke put around the neck of an ox or a cow
in a stall. Palsyrate.
SOle^ (sol), n. [Also soal; prob. a particular
use of «ofel.] A pond. [Prov. Eng.J
flOle^ (sol), r. t. [Also soal. »oiff, formerly govcle;
origin uncertain.] To pull by the ears; pull
about; haul; lug. [Prov. Eng.]
Hell go, he says, and unci the porter of Borne gates by
the eira. Shak., Cor., iy. 5. 214.
Venus will tottiU me by the ear* tor thU.
Heymod, Love's Mlstreas (1636).
To sole a bowl), to handle it skilfully.
To lie a bold, probe et rite emittere globnm.
Cotet,UA.bict. (HaUitceU)
I censored hislight and ludicrous tltleof " Down-Derry '
modestly In these words : " It were strange If he should
throw a good cast who malt hit bottl upon an undersong ";
alluding to that ordinary and elegant expression in our
English tongue, " arxil t/our bowl well " — that is, be careful
to begin your work welL
Abp. BramhaU, Works, U. 386. (.Pmiet.)
sole'' (sol), n. Same as «oI3.
aolea^ (s6'le-a), n. ; pi. sokM (-«). [NL., < I„.
solea, sole, etc. : see aofei.] 1. The sole of the
foot. See »otei. — 2. Same as soleus.
Solea^ (so'Ie-S), n. [NL., < L. galea, a sole : see
*»/f2.i In 'irhth., an old name of the sole-fish
(as Klein, 1748), now the typical genus of the
family Soleidse, with various limits: (a) includ-
ing all the species of the family, or (6) limited
to the sole of the European seas and closely
rolati'il species. See cut under sole^.
sole-ctiaimel (sdl'chan'el), «. In a boot- or
shoe-sole, a groove in which the sewing is sunk
to protect it from wear.
solecise, '•. ». See soleeize.
solecism (sol'e-sizm), n.
HoUcwine
< L. soUedsmus,
speak or write incorrectly, be rude or awkward
in manner, < ouAouio^, speaking incorrectly, us-
ing provincialisms (oJ ooXomoi, foreigners), also
awkward or rude in manners: said to have
meant orig. 'speaking or acting like an inhabi-
tant of Soli,' < So/j)/, L. Soli, Soloe, a town in
Cilicia, a place said to have been colonized by
Athenian emigrants (afterward called Pon'i-
peiopoUs. now Me:etli), or, according to another
account, bv Argives and Lydians from Rhodes.
Others reffr the word to another town. .Soli
(ttv, speak or write incorrectly: see solecism.']
One who is guilty of a solecism or solecisms in
language or behavior.
SOlecistlC (sol-e-sis'tik), a. [< solecist + -ic.']
Pertaining to or involving a solecism; incor-
rect ; incongruous.
soleclstical (sol-e-sis'ti-kal), a. [< solecistic +
-a/.] Same as solecistie. "
The use of these combinations, with respect to the pro-
nouns, is almost always toledtUcal.
Tyrwhitt. OIoss. to Chaucer, under letf.
Solecistically (sol-f-sis'ti-kal-i), adv. In a sole-
cistic manner. Wollaston. "
solecize (sol'e-siz), c. i. ; pret. and pp. solecized,
ppr. solecizing. [< Gr. ao'/Mia(eiv, speak or write
incorrectly: see soleei»m.'] To commit sole-
cisms. AJso spelled solecise.
This being too loose a principle, to fancy the holy writ-
ers to taUeiu in tbelr language when we do not like the
sense. Dr. H. More, Mystery of Oodllness (1660X L 9.
Solecurtidae (sol-e-k*r'ti-<le), w. pi. [NL., <
Solrrurtii.1 + -irf«.] A family of bivalve mol-
lusks, typified by the genus Solecurtus.
Solecnrtos (sol-e-kfer'tus), n. [NL. (De Blain-
ville, 1824), also Solecurlius, Soleuicurtus, Sole-
nocurtus, Solenocurtius; < Solen + L, curtus,
short.] A genus of razor-shells, of the family
SolenicUe, containing forms shorter and com-
SotecurtMi ilri£Uattti.
paratively deeper than the species of Solen,
and with subme<lian umbones: in some systems
made tvpe of the family Solecnrtidte.
SOle-fisi (sol'fish), n. The sole. See sole'^.
(sol'e^izin), ». [< OP. ,ofccum«.. F. 8ole-flenk(s61'flok),n. The smear-dab. [Scotch.]
.wPj?;f^; r ^^ t^; *"'?^"*''' sole!, ". Plural of ioteiw.
^r«T; 'I't^e'T'Alrrr:; Soleld* (so-le-l-de), „. p/, . [NL., < Solea^ +
idir.] The soles or sole-fish, a family of pleu-
ronectoid fishes typified by the genus Solea.
Tbe body is oval or elliixical, the snout roundish, and the
oral cleft more or less decurved and very small. The oper-
cular bones are concealed in the scaly skin, the upper eye
Is advanced more or less in front of the lower, and the pec-
torals are often rudimentary or absent. The species are
numerons, and of several genera In different seas. Some
are much esteemed for the delicacy of their flesh, while
others arc quite worthless. The common sole of Europe
is the best-known. The American sole is ^IcAirtu lineatwi
(flguredin nextcolumnX See &>(ea3, and cuts under Pfeti-
mneclidm and tole*.
Zifjii, 111 ( yprus.] 1. A gross deviation from Boleiform (s6'le-i-fdrm), o. [< L. soUa, sole, +
the settled usages of grammar; a gross gram- forma, form.] ' Having the form of a slipper.
"I <ione it" for "I dul sbleint, ". and n. A Middle English form of
sulh-n.
matical error, such as
it."
Solridx.— American Sole, or Hog-choker iAchirus iinealus).
80le-leatlier(sol'leTH''er),». 1. A strong, heavy
leather especially prepared for boot- and shoe-
soles. The hides are taken from the tanning-tanks, the
spent tan is brushed off, and the hides are dried in a cool
place, then laid on a polished stone slab, and beaten with
iron or wooden hammers operated by machinery.
2. Same as sole-leather kelp — Sole-leather kelp,
a name given to some of the larger Lmninariafeir, such as
L. diffitala. See Laminaria. — Sole-leather stripper, a
machine with adjustable blades or skivers for stripping
the rough side of leather. E. H. Knight.
solely (sol'li), adv. 1. Singly; alone; only;
without another: as, to rest a cause solely on
one ai^ument.
To supply those defects and imperfections which are in
us living single and solely by ourselves, we are naturally
induced to seek communion and fellowship with others.
Hooker, Eccies. Polity, i. 10.
I am not solely led
By nice direction of a maiden's eyes.
Shak., M. of v., ii. 1. la
2t. Completely; wholly; altogether.
Think him a great way fool, solely a coward.
Shak., Alls Well, i. 1. 112.
solemn (sol'em), a. [Early mod. E. also solemne,
< ME. solemur, solempne, solenne, soleyn, < OP.
solempne, solemne, F. solcnnel = Sp. Pg. solemne,
= It. solenne, stated, appointed, as a religious
rite, < L. sollevinis, also sollempnis, sollentiis, less
correctly with a single I, solemnis, solennis, year-
ly, annual, occurring annually, as a religious
rite, religious, festive, solemn, < sollus, entire,
complete (prob. same as solus, alone, > E. sole^),
+ annus, a year.] If. Recurring yearly ; an-
nual.
And his fadir and modir wenten ech seer in to Jerusa-
lem, in the solempne dal of pask. Wydyf, Luke ii. 41.
-Me thought y herd a crowned kyng of his comunes axe
A soleyn subsidie to susteyne his werres.
The Crowned King (E. K T. S.), 1. 36.
2. Marked by religious rites or ceremonious
observances; connected with religion ; sacred;
also, marked by special ritual or ceremony.
O, the sacrifice !
How ceremonious, solemn, and unearthly
It was i' the offering ! Shak., W. T,, Iii. 1. 7.
He (King Richard) took a mlrmn Oath, That he should
observe Peace, Honour, and Uevereiice to Almighty (iod,
to his Church, and to his Ministers, all the Days of his Life.
Baker, Chronicles, p. 61.
Sf. Pertaining to holiday ; festive; joyous.
A Frere ther was, a wantoun and a merye,
A lymytour, a ful solempne man.
Chaucer, <ien. Prol. to C. T., 1. 209.
And let be there thre yomen assigned to seme the hye
tabulle and the two syde tabullis in solenne dayea.
Babeet Book (E. E. T. S.\ p. 330.
My lords, a solemn hunting is in hand ;
There will the lovely Roman ladies troop
Shak., Tit. And., 11. 1. 112.
4f. Of high repute ; important; dignified.
A Webbe, a Deyere, and a Tapicer,
And they were clothed alle in oo lyver^,
Of a tUanpne and a gret fraternity.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., L 364.
6. Fitted to excite or express serious or devout
reflections; grave; impressive; awe-inspiring:
as, a solemn pile of buildings.
There raignd a solemne silence over all.
Spenser. V. Q., I. viii. ia.
A figure like your father . . .
Appears before them, and with solemn march
Goes slow and stately by them.
Shak., Hamlet, 1. 2. 201.
It flifel becomes vastly more solemn than death ; for we
are not responsible for dying; we are responsible for liv-
ing. J. F. Clarice, Self-Culture, p. 75.
6. Marked by seriousness or earnestness in lan-
guage or demeanor ; impressive ; grave : as, to
make a solemn promise ; a solemn utterance.
Why do you bend such solemn brows on me?
Shak.. K. John, iv. 2. 90.
What signifies breaking some scores of solemn prom-
ises?—all that's of no consequence, you know.
Sheridan, The Rivals, Iv. 2.
7. Affectedly grave, serious, or important: as,
to put on a solemn face.
solemn
How wonld an old Roman laugh, were it possible for
Mm to see the solemn dissertations that have been made
on these weighty subjects ! Addisoti^ Ancient Medals, 1.
The golttnn fop, significant and budge ;
A fool with judges, amongst fools a judge.
Cowper, Conversation, 1. 299.
Thou say'st an undisputed thing
In such a solemn way.
0. H'. Holmes, To an Insect.
8. Accompanied with all due forms or cere-
monies; made in form; formal; regular: now
chiefly a law term: as, probate in solemn form.
On the 16th of June, 1515, the Catholic monarch, by a
9oUmn act in cortes, held at Burgos, incorporated his new
conquests into the kingdom of Castile.
Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 23.
Neither in England nor in .Sicily did official formalism
acknowledge even French, much less Italian, as a fit tongue
for aoUmn documents.
E. A. Freemaii, Encyc. Brit., XVII. 650.
9. Sober; gloomy; dark: noting color or tint.
[Kare.]
'TIS not alone ray inky cloak, good mother,
Nor customary suits of solemn black, . . .
That can denote me truly. Shak., Hamlet, i. 2. 78.
We see in needleworks and embroideries it is more
pleasing to have a lively work upon a sad and solemn
ground tlian to have a dark and melancholy work upon
a lightsome ground. Bacon, Adversity (ed. 1887).
Solemn degradation, in eccle^. laxp. See degradation, 1
(a).— Solemn League and Covenant. See covenant.—
Solemn service, specitically. in the Church of Emjland,
a choral cclebnitiun of the communion. = Syn. 5. August,
venerable, grand, stately. — 6. Serious, etc. (see (/rave'i),
reverential, sober.
solenmt, v. t. [< solemn, a.] To solemnize.
[Rare.]
They [the Laponesi solemne marriages, and begynne the
same with fyre and ilynte.
R. Eden, tr. of Jacobus Ziglerus (First Books on America,
[ed. Arber, p. 302).
solemness (sol'em-nes), n. The state or charac-
ter of being solemn; seriousness or gravity of
manner; solemnity. Also solemnness.
Prithee, Virgilia, turn thy st^mness out o' door and go
along with us. Shak., Cor., i. 3. 120.
solemnisation, solemnise, etc. See solemniza-
tion, etc.
solemnity (s6-lem'ni-ti), «. ; pi. solemnities
(-tiz). [< MB), solempnitee, solempnyte, solenite,
solempte, < OF. solempnite, sollempnite, solenniie,
F. solennite = Sp. solemnidad = Pg. solemnidade
= It. solennitd, < L. sollemnita(t-)s, sollennita(t-)s,
a solemnity, < sollemnis, sollennis, solemn: see
solemn.'] 1 . A rite or ceremony performed with
religious reverence; a ceremonial or festal oc-
casion ; ceremony in general ; celebration ; fes-
tivity.
He . . . broughte hire hoom with him in his contre.
With mochel glorie and gret solempnite.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 12.
And nowe in places colde
Solempnitee of sheryng sheepes is holde.
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.\ p. 162.
A fortnight hold we this solemnity,
In nightly revels and new jollity.
Shak., M. N. D., v. 1. 376.
Use all your sports.
All your solemnities: 'tis the king's day to-morrow.
His birth-day and his marriage. Fletcher, Pilgrim, v. 3.
2. The state or character of being solemn;
gravity ; impressiveness ; solemness : as, the
solemnity of his manner; a ceremony of great
solemnity.
So my state,
Seldom but sumptuous, showed like a feast.
And won by rareness such solemnity.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., iii. 2. 59.
Have they faith
In what with such solemnity of tone
And gesture they propound to our belief?
Cowper, Task, v. 648.
3. Affected or mock gravity or seriousness; an
aspect of pompous importance.
Solemnity 's a cover for a sot. Young, Love of Fame, ii.
4. In law, a solemn or formal observance; the
formality requisite to render an act valid. —
Paschal solemnity. See paschal.
solemnlzatet (so-lem'ni-zat), V. t. [< ML. so-
leiunizdtu.'i, pp. of solemnisare, solemnize: see
solemnize.'] To solemnize.
solemnization (sol''era-ni-za'shon), n. [= P.
golennisation ; as solemnize + -aiion.] The act
of solemnizing; celebration. Also written .so^
emnisation.
The day and time appointed for Solemnization of Mat-
rimony. Book of Common Prayer.
solemnize (sol'em-niz), V. t.; pret. and pp. sol-
emnized, ppr. solemnizing. [Early mod. E. .s-oZ-
empnyse, < ME. solemnysen, < OP. solempniser,
solenniser, P. solenniser = Sp. Pg. solemnizar
(cf . It. solennet/ffiare), < ML. solemnizare, solen-
nizare, < L. sollemnis, sollennis, solemn: see
5756
solemn.] If. To perform annually; perform
as the year comes round.
As in this moone in places warm and glade
Thi gratling good it is to solemnyse.
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 73.
2. To honor by ceremonies; celebrate: as, to
solemnize the birth of Christ.
To solemnize this day the glorious sun
Stays in his course and plays the alchemist.
Shak., K. John, iii. 1. 77.
3. To perform with ritual ceremonies, or ac-
cording to legal forms : used especially of mar-
riage.
Baptism to be administered in one place, and marriage
solemnized in another. Hooker.
Straight shall our nuptial rites be solemnized.
Shak,M. of v., ii. 9. 6.
I saw a Procession that the Priests solemnized in the
streets. Coryat, Crudities, I. 104.
4. To render solemn ; make serious, grave, and
reverential: as, to solemnize the njind for the
duties of the sanctuary.
A sUemnizing twilight is the very utmost which could
ever steal over Homer's diction. De Quincey, Homer, iii.
Also spelled solemnise.
= Syn. 2 and 3. Observe, Commemorate, etc. See celebrate.
SOlemnizet (sol'em-niz), n. [< solemnize, v.]
Solemnization. [Rare.]
Fidelia and Sparanza virgins were ;
Though spousd, yet wanting wedlocks solemnize.
Spenser, F. Q., I. x. 4.
solemnizar (sol'em'-ni-zfer), n. [< solemnize +
-e/'l.] One who solemnizes; one who performs
a solemn rite. Also spelled solemniser.
solemnly (sol'em-li), adv. [< ME. solemphj,
solempncly, solenliche; < solemn + -ly^.] In a
solemn manner, (a) With religious ceremonies ; rev-
erently ; devoutly.
And the angels bifore gan gang,
Singand all ful solempnely,
And makand nobill melody.
Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 72.
(6) With impressive seriousness.
I do solemnly assure the reader that he is the only per-
son from whom I liave heard that objection. Sicift.
(c) With all dueform ; ceremoniously; formally; regularly;
as, this question has been solemnly decided in the highest
courts.
Now thou and I are new in amity.
And will tomorrow midniglit solemnly
Dance in Duke Theseus' house triumphantly.
Shak., M. N. D., iv. 1. 03.
(d) With formal gravity, importance, or stateliness ; with
pompous or affected gravity.
His resons lie spak ful solemptiely.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 274.
The ministers of state, who gave us law,
In corners, with selected friends, withdraw ;
There in deaf murmurs solemnly are wise. Dryden.
SOlemnness, n. See solemness.
SOlemnyt, n. [< L. sollemne, pi. sollemnia, a re-
ligious rite, festival solemnity, neut. of sollem-
nis, religious, solemn : see solemn. ] Solemnity.
[Kare.]
Else the glory of all these solemnies had perished like a
blaze, and gone out, in the beholders' eyes.
B. Jonson, Masque of Hymen.
SOlempnet, «• An old spelling of solemn.
Solemya (so-lem'i-ii), n. Seo Solenomya.
SOlen (so'len), n. [NL., < L. solen, < Gr. au/rfv,
a channel, pipe, a kind of shell-fish, perhaps the
razor-fish.] 1. In surg., same as cradle, 4 (6)
(2). — 2. {cap.] [NL.] Agenus of bivalve mol-
lusks, typical of the family Solenidae, of which
<S. vagina, a common razor-fish of tlie North
Atlantic, is the best-known species. — 3. Any
member of this genus, or a related form; a
razor-elara, razor-fish, or razor-shell. See So-
lenidse, and cut under Ensis.
Solenacea (sol-e-na'se-|i), n.pl. [NL.,< Solen
+ -acca.] Same as Solcnidx. Men'ke, 1828.
Solenacean (sol-e-na'se-an), a. and n. [< Sole-
nacea + -an.] 1, a. Of or pertaining to the
Solenacea or Solenidse; solenaceous.
II. V. A member of the Solenacea.
solenaceous (sol-e-na'shius), a. [< NL. Solena-
cea + -OHS.] Resembling a solen; belonging
to the Solenacea; of or pertaining to the So-
Icnidee.
solenarium (sol-e-na'ri-um), «.; pi. solenaria
(-a). [NL., .< Gr. aukfjv, a channel, pipe, +
-drium.] Either of the two (right and left)
tubes of the spiral proboscis or antlia of lepi-
dopterous insects. Kirby and Spencc.
SOlen-ark (so'len-iirk), n. An ark-shell of the
subfamily Solenellinse.
Solenella (sol-e-nel'a), n. [NL., < Solen +
dim. -ella.] A genus of Ledidas, typical of the
subfamily Solenellinee. Also called Malletia.
Solenoglypha
Solenellinse (soV'e-ne-li'ne), n. pi. [NL., < SoU
enella + -inse.] A subfamily of Ledidm, charac-
terized by the external ligament. Also called
Malletiinm.
SOlenesS (sol'nes), n. The state of being sole,
alone, or unconnected with others; singleness.
France has an advantage, . . . which is (if I may use
the expression) its soleness, continuity of riches and power
within itself, and the nature of its government.
Chesterfield. (Latham.)
SOlenette (sol-e-nef), n. [< sole'2 -(- dim.
-(»)«»«.] A fish, the little sole, or dwarf sole,
Solea mimita or Monochirus linguatulus, a Euro-
pean flatfish, about 5 inclies long, of a reddish-
brown color on the upper side.
Solenhofen limestone. A rock quarried at
Solenhofen (or Solnhofen) in Bavaria, it belongs
to the Upper or White Jura, and is of the same geological
age as the Kimmeridge group of England. It is remark-
able as furnishing the world with the only really satisfac-
tory lithographic stone, and as containing an extremely
varied and well-preserved fauna, preeminent in which are
the remains of the earliest known bird, the archseopteryx.
Solenidse (so-len'i-de), n.pl. [NL. (Fleming,
1828), < Solen + -idle.] A family of bivalve
mollusks, typified by the genus Solen ; the razor-
shells: so called on account of the resemblance
of the shell in form to a razor. The animal is elon-
gate ; the siphons are short and united ; the foot is rather
large and more or less cylindrical ; the long slender shell
has nearly parallel dorsal and ventral contours, and is trun-
cate or subtruncate in front as well as behind, while the
hinge is nearly or quite terminal and has usually a single
tooth in each valve ; and the pallial line has a deep sinus.
The species are widely distributed and numerous, belong-
ing to several genera. See cut under Ensis. Also Sole-
nacea.
solenite (sol'e-nlt), n, [< Gr. aukifv, a channel,
pipe (see solen), + -ite^.] A fossil razor-shell,
or some similar shell.
SOlenoconcll (so-le'no-kongk), n. [< NL. Sole-
noconchee.] A tooth-shell or dentaliid, as a
member of the Solenoconchx.
Solenoconchae (so-le-np-kong'ke), m.j)?. [NL.,
< Gr. ao'Ai]v, a channel, pipe, + toyxv, a, shell :
aee conch.] An order or a class of mollusks;
the tooth-shells: so called from the tubular
shell . As an order, the Solenoconchje are the only order of
the class Scaphopoda ; as a class, the name is synonymous
with the latter. See Dentaliidse. Also Prosopocephala,
Solenoconcha,
Solenodon (so-len'o-don), n. [NL. (Brandt,
1833), < Gr. ho>7i7iv,' a, channel, pipe, -I- bSoix
(odnvT-) = E. tooth.] 1. The typical and only
genus of the family Solenodontidse, containing
the opossum-shrews, S. paradoxus ot Hayti and
S. ciibanus of Cuba, respectively called agouta
and aJmiqiti. They are insectivorous mammals, singu-
larly resembling opossums, with a long cylindroid snout,
long scaly tail, five toes on each foot, the fore feet with
very long claws, the ears moderate and rounded, and the
pelage long and harsh. See Solenodoiitidx. Also Soleiw-
donta.
2. [_l.c.] A species of this genus; a solenodont.
See almiqni, and cut tinder agouta.
solenodont (so-len'o-dont), a. and n. [< Solen-
odon(t-).] I. a. Of or pertaining to the Soleno-
don tidse, or having their characters.
II. n. A solenodon.
Solenodontidae (s6-le-n6-don'ti-de), n. pi.
[NIj., < Solenodon(t-) + -idee.] A family of
mammals, of the order Tnsectivora, peculiar to
the West Indies, it is related to the Madagascar
Centctidfe, but has the pelage without spines, the penis
abdominal, the testes perineal, the teats on the buttocks,
the uterine horns ending in csecal sacs, the intestine with-
out a ccecum, the tibia and fibula distinct, the pubic
symphysis short, the skull slender with an orbital con-
striction, small brain-case, large squamosal bones, annu-
lar tympanies, no postorbital processes or zygomatic
arches, and the dental formula characteristic. There is
but one genus, Solenodon. See cut under agouta.
Solenogastra (so-le-no-gas'tra), n. 2>l. [NL.]
Same as Solenogasfres.
Solenogastres (so-le-no-gas'trez), n.pl. [NL.,
<.Gv.au/.r/v, a channel, pipe, + >a(iT)7p, the belly.]
A group.proposed by Gegenbaur for the recep-
tion of the two genera Neomenia (with Proneo-
menia) and Chietoderma : now referred to the
isopleurous Mollusca. See Isopleura, and cut
under Neomenia.
solenoglyph (so-le'no-glif), a. and n. [< Gr.
Bu'/.i/i', a cliannel, pipe, + }?.v<ficiv, carve, cut : see
glyph.] I, a. Having apparently hollow or per-
forated maxillary teeth specialized and iso-
lated from the rest; of or pertaining to the So-
lenoglypha , or having their cliaracters. These
teeth are the venom-fangs of such serpents as vipers and
rattlesnakes. They are not actually perforated, but have
an involute groove whose lips roll together and fuse,
forming a tube through which the poison is spirted when
the snake strikes. See cut under Crotalus.
II. n. A solenoglyphie serpent.
Solenoglypha, Solenoglyphia (sol-e-nog'li-fa,
so-le-np-glif'i-a), fi.jj?. [NL.: see solenoglyph.]
Solenoglypha
The viperine or crotaliform serpents, a group of
the order Ophidia, having the maxillary teeth
few, caualiouIate(l,andfang-like. It includes some
of the most venomous serpents, as the rattlesnakes or pit-
vipers, and the true vipers or adders. Nearly all fall in
the two families Crotalidee and Viperidac, though two
others (Caugid/t and Atraclaitpididsi) are recognized. See
Proterofili/p/ia, and cuts under adder, Crotaluf, pU-ciper,
and rattleiimke.
solenoglyphic (so-le-no-glif'ik), a. [< soUho-
glijlili + -ic] Saine as solenoglyph.
solenoid (so-le'noid), n. [< Gr. au'/.tivoeiSiK, pipe-
shaped, grooved, < ouAi^, a channel, pipe, +
fWof, form.] A helix of copper or other eon-
ducting wire
wound in the
form of a cylin-
der so as to be
nearly equiva-
lent to a number
of equal and
parallel circu-
lar circuits ar-
ranged upon a
common axis.
Solenoid. Theendsof thewire
are brought to the
middle point, and when a current is passed through the
circuit the solenoid behaves, a> far a< external action la con-
cerned, like a long and thin bar magnet For thl> reaaon
such a magnet is called a KUnoidcil mofpiet ; and Ampere's
theory of magnetism is based on the assumption that
magnets and solenoidal systems of currents are fundamen-
tally identical.
A magnetic $oUnoid Is an Infinitely thin bar of any form
longitudinally magnetized with an intensity varying in-
rersely as the are* of the normal section (that la, the
croas-aectlon perpendicular to the length) In different
parts. J. E. H. Gordon, Elect and Mag., I. 167.
solenoidal (sol-e-noi'dal), a. [< solenoid + -a?.]
Pertaining or relating to a solenoid; resembling
a solenoid, or equivalent to a solenoid magneti-
cally.- Solenoidal magnet See magnet
solenoidally (sol-e-noi'dal-i), adr. As a sole-
lu.j.l. Enn/r. Brit'., XV. 231.
Solenomya (sol-e-no'mi-a), n. [NL., < Solen
+ Mua^.'i The typical genus of Solenomyidte :
so called because
supposed to com-
bine characters
of the genera
SoUn and ilya.
J/enA-«, 1830. Al-
so Solemi/ii.
Solenomyida s,,.,.^,, «^,„ (rigb, „,„,,
(89-le-no-rai'i-
de), n. vi: [NL., < Solenomya + -«««.] Afamily
of bivalve mollusks, typified by the genus Sole-
nomya. The mantle-lobes an mosUy united, with a single
sipbonal orifice and one pedal opening ; the foot Iselon-
gated, and there U a pair of narrow appendicolate bian-
chto: the shell is equivalve, with a thin, spreadliw epi-
dermis, toothless hinge, and Internal ligamentThese
biTalres are sometimes called pod-gapm. Also SoUno-
myadM (J. E. Or«y, 18M) and SoUm^m.
solenostome (so-le'no-stom), ». [< Solenotlo-
m'w.] A solenostomoid.
Solenostomi (sol-e-nos'to-mi), n. pi. A sub-
order of lophobranchiate' fishes with an ante-
rior roinous dorsal and spinous ventral fins
including the family Solenostomids.
Solenostomida (89-le-n6-8tom'i-de), n. pi.
[NL., < Soleiiogtomus + -ida.^ A family of sol-
enostomons lophobranchiate fishes, typified bv
the genus Solenontomus. An anterior high short spi.
nous donal and a porterlor low one are widely separated •
the pectorals are (nierted low on narrow bases, and the
"?.*^.''.T*H'*5"'''P«*- The few known i5«3i. are pe
culiar to the tndo-Paclflc ocean. The females carry their
?** ".."„'!?* '^"J'' '° » pooch fonned by the ventral
nns. Also SoUtuMamaHdM.
solenostomoid (sol-e-nos't^-moid), «. and n
[< SolenoKtomM + -ojd.] I, a. Of, or having
characters of, the Soleno»Umida ; solenosto-
mous,
n. n. Asolenostome; any fishof the familv
I'vileno.tlomidsp.
solenostomous (sol-S-nos'to-mus), a. [< Or. au-
j^V", a .•hauncl, pipe, '+ ardua, mouth.] In ichth.,
having a tubular or fistulous snout, as a pipe-
fish of thf genus Sofe»o»tomi«; of or pertaining
to t he Solriwatomi or Sotenostomida.
Solenostomns (sol-e-nos'to-mus), It. [NL
(La<-^'pede, 1H03), < Gr. au?4v, a channel, pipe,'
+ uToua, mouth.] The typical genus of Sole-
5757
nostomidae, including such species as S. cya-
nopterm. Also Solenostoma.
sole-piece (sol'pes), «. In mining, the lower
part of a set or durnz. See the quotation un-
der .sf^l, H., 13 (6).
sole-plate (sol 'plat), n. l. Inmach., a bed-
plate: as, the sole-plate of an engine.— 2. In a
water-wheel, the back part of a bucket, it is
often formed by a continuous cylinder concentric with the
axis of the wheel, and having the buckets built upon it
-c. a. Knujkt.
Also called lobe-plate.
SOlert, ». A Middle English form of soUar.
sole-reflex (sol're'fleks), n. See reflex.
soleret, n. See solleret.
solertt (sol'ert), a. [< L. gollers, less correctly
solers (-ert-), skilful, clever, crafty, < sollus,
all (see soleS), -»- ar{t-)g, art, craft: see art^.l
Crafty; subtle. -■
It was far more reasonable to think that, because man
was the wisest (or most gnlert and active) of all animals,
therefore he had hands given him
Cvdworth, Intellectual System, p. 685.
solertiousnesst (so-l^r'shus-nes), n. [< 'soler-
tious (< L. sollertia, solertia, skill, cunning, <
sollers, solera, skilful) -I- -ness.'] The quality of
being solert; subtleness; expertness; clever-
ness; skill.
The king confessed that they had hit upon the inter-
pretation of his secret meaning : which abounded to the
praise of Mr. Williams' folertumttxens.
Bp. Uadcet, Abp. Williams, i. 22. (Davies.)
soleship (sol'ship), ». [< soleS + -ship.'] Limi-
tation to only one individual ; sole or exclusive
right; monopoly. [Rare.]
The toUMpot election, which, by the ancient canons,
ma in ihe biS"'^"' thn., .^^..1.1 (._..« .. ■ . • .. .
S^*tuitcmut cjanoptirus.
— - 7r~:T,. '•">"■"". """;", oy ino ancient canons,
was in the bishops, they would have asserted wholly to
themselves. Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 183f), II. 222.
sole-tile (sol'til), n. A form of tile used for
bottoms of sewers, muffles, etc., of which the
whole circumference is not in one piece. It is
made flat or curved, according to the needs of
the case. See cuts under setcir^. E. H. Kniyhl.
SOlens (so-le'us), n. ; pi. sulH (-i). [NL., also
solans (and solea),< L. mica, the sole of the foot :
see »otei.] A broad flat muscle of the calf of the
leg, situated immediately in front of (deeper
than) the gastrocnemius, it arises fr«m the back
upper part of the fibula and tibia, and its tendon unites
with that of the gastrocnemius to form the tendo Achillis.
The sulcus is not a coiuniun muscle, and its great bulk in
man. where It largely contributes to the swelling of the
calf, Is exceptional, and Inversely proportionate to the
smallness of the plantarls. See cuU under mtitcUi and
tendon.
soleynt, a. and n. A Middle English form of sul-
len.
sol-fa (sol'fS), V. [In ME. solfe, sol/ye, < OF.
solfier, F. solfier = .Sp. solfear = Pg. sol/ear,
tol/gar = It. solfeggiare, sing in gamut, sing by
note, < sol +fa, names of notes of the gamut.
Of. solfegqio.] I. intrans. In music, to solmi-
zate, or sing solfeggi!.
I hane be prest and paraoan passynge thretti wynter,
aete can I neither tcf/e ne synge ne serntes lyues rede.
Pitrt Plovmuin (B\ v. 428.
n. trans. In music, to sing to solmization-
syllables instead of to words.
sol-fa (sol'ftt), n. and a. [See sol-fa, f.] I n.
In music : (a) The syllables usecl in solmiza-
tion taken collectively; the act or process of
solmization; solfeggio; also, rarely, same as
scale or gamut.
As oat of an alphabet or tol/a.
MUton, Areopagitica, p. 40.
Now was oar overabundant quaver and trilling done
away, and In lien thereof was Instituted the m>l-/a.
Surtft, Mem. of P. P.
(6) See tonic sol-fa, under tonic, (e) The roll
or baton used by the leaders of Italian choirs.
n. a. Of or pertaining to solmization in
singing: as, the sol-fa method, or tonic sol-fa
method,
sol-faing (solTa-ing), n. [Verbal n.ot sol-fa, e.]
In miLtic, same as solmization.
SOl-faist (sol'fii-ist), n. [< sol-fa -t- -ist.1 In
music, one wlio uses or advocates solmization.
— Tonic sol-faist, one who uses the tonic sol-fa system
(which see, under tonic}.
The Tmic .tol./ttUU are now an integral part of the gen-
eral musical life of the country.
Athcrutum, No. 3193, p. 24.
SOlfamizati()n (sol'fii-mi-za'shon), n. [< sol +
fii -\- mi + -i:e + -ation.'] Same as solmization.
SOlfanaria (sol-fa-nS'ri-il), n. [It., < solfo, sul-
phur: see *i(/()AKr.] A sulphur-mine.
SOlfatara (»oI-fii-tii'ra), n. [< It. solfatara, <
xolfo, sulphur: see rndphur.'] An area of more
or less corroded and disintegrated volcanic
rock, over which sulphurous gases, steam, and
other volcanic emanations escape through va-
solldt
rious orifices, frequently giving rise to what
are known as mud-volcauoes, mud-cones, or
salses ; a region of dying or dormant volcanism .
SOlfataric (sol-fa-ta'rik), a. [< solfatara + -ic]
Of or pertaining to or resembling a solfatara.
So(/ataric gases still issue, and are regarded as the re-
suit of the SOlfataric action upon chromic iron.
Amer. Jour. Sci., 3d ser., XXXIX. 73.
solfeggio (sol-fej'io), n. ; pi. solfeagii (-ii). [It..
< sol -i- fa, names of notes of the gamut (see
sol-fa), + -eggio, a common It. termination.] In
music: (a) Same as solmization. (6) A vocal
exercise consisting of tones variously com-
bined in steps, skips, or running passages,
sung either to simple vowels or to arbitrary
syllables, and designed to develop the quality,
flexibility, and power of the voice.
solferino (sol-fe-re'no), n. [So named from
Solferino in Italy, because this color was dis-
covered in the year (1859) of the French vic-
tory of Solferino. Cf. magenta.] The color of
rosaniline ; an intensely chromatic and lumi-
nous purplish rose-color. See purple.
soli, n. Italian plural of soto.
SoUbranchia (s6-li-brang'ki-a), n.pl. [NL., <
L. solu.s, sole, -I- branchix, gills.] Fishes: a
synoiijTu of Pisces. Latreille.
solicit (so-lis'it), V. [< ME. soliciten, solycyten,
< OF. soliciter, F. soUiciter = Pr. sollicitar =
Sp. Pg. solicitar = It. sollecitare, soUicitare, < L.
sollicitare, less correctly solicitare. agitate,
arouse, solicit, < soUicitus, less correctly soli-
citus, agitated, anxious, punctilious, lit. 'thor-
oughly moved,' < OL. sollus, whole, entire (see
solei, solemn), + L. citus, aroused, pp. of ciere,
shake, excite, cite: see d<ei. Cf. solicitous.]
1. trans. 1. To arouse or excite to action; sum-
mon ; invite ; tempt ; allure ; entice.
That fruit . . . soticUed her longing eye.
Milton, P. L., ii. 74S.
Sounds and some tangible qualities fail not to tolicit
their proper senses, and force an entrance to the mind.
Locke, Human Understanding, II. L $ 6.
2. In criminal law : (a) To incite (another) to
commit a crime. (6) To entice (a man) in a
public place : said of a prostitute, (c) To en-
deavor to bias or influence by the offer of a
bribe.
The Judge Is Klicited as a matter of course by the parties,
and they do not approach empty-handed. Brougham.
3. To disturb; disquiet; make anxious. [A
Latinism.]
Solicit not thy thoughts with matters hid.
Milton, P. L., Till. 167.
Bat anxious fears golicit my weak breast
Dryden, Spanish Friar, ill. S,
4. To seek to obtain ; strive after, especially
by pleading; ask (a thing) with some degree
of earnestness or persistency: as, to solicit an
office or a favor; to solicit orders.
But, would you undertake another suit,
I had rather hear you to tolicit that
Than music from the spheres.
Shale., T. N., ill. 1. 120.
To solieU by labour what might be ravished by arms was
esteemed unworthy of the German spirit
Gibbon, Decline and Kail, ix.
The port . . . was crowded with those who hastened to
tolKtt permission to share in the enterprise.
Bancroft, Hist U. S,l. 40.
5. To petition or ask (a person) with some de-
gree or earnestness or persistency; make peti-
tion to.
Did I golicit thee
From darkness to promote me ?
Milton, P. L., X. 744.
6t. To advocate; plead; enforce the claims
of ; act as solicitor or advocate for or with ref-
erence to.
Should
My brother henceforth study to forget
The vow that he hath made thee, I would ever
Solicit thy desert Ford, Lover's Melancholy, v. 1.
Who tolicited the cause of the poor and the infirm, the
lame and wounded, the vagrant and lunatic, with such a
particular industry and zeal as had those great and blessed
effects which we at this day see and feel.
Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, I. ii.
= Syn. 4 and 8. Reqmtt, Beg, etc. (see arfri), press, urge,
pray, plead for or with, sue for.
II. intrans. To make solicitation.
There arc greater numbers of persons who mlicU for
places ... in our own country, than In any other.
Addison, Freeholder, No. 48.
When the same distress mlicitgtlie second time, we then
feel with diminished sensibility.
Goldsmith, The Bee, No. 3.
SOlicitt (so-lis'it), n. [< solicit, v.] Solicitation ;
request. [Rare.] '
_ Frame yourself
To orderly wlimto.
Shak., Cymbellne, ii. 8. 62.
solicit
Within this hoar he means his first solicit
And personal siege.
Shirley, Grateful Servant, i. 2.
solicitant (so-Us'i-tant), a. and «. [< L. solliei-
tan(t-)s, soUcitan(t-)s, ppr. of soHicitare, urge,
incite: se^ solicit. '\ I. a. Solicitous; seeking;
making petition : as, solicitant of a job. Encyc.
Diet.
H. «. One who solicits. Imp. Diet.
Bolicitatet (so-lis'i-tat), v. t. [< L. solUcitatics,
solicitatits, pp. of sollicitare, solicitare, solicit:
see solicit.'] To solicit.
[Hefdid urge and solicittUe him, according to his man-
ner of words, to recant.
Foxey quoted in Maitland on Refoiination, p. 494, {Davie^.)
solicitatet (so-lis'i-tat), a. [< L. soUieitatus,
solicitatus, pi>. : see solicit.'] Solicitous.
Beinge no lesse golicitate for them selues then medi-
tatynge in what daunger theyr felowes had byn in Riuo
Nigro.
Peter Marttfr (tr. in Eden's First Books on America, ed.
[Arber, p. 121).
solicitation (so-lis-i-ta'shon), n. [Formerly
also solUcitation ; < OF. solicitation, F. solUcita-
tion = Sp. solidtacion = Pg. solicitacSo = It.
soUecitazione, sollicitazione, < L. sollicitatio{n-),
«oKcito<io(«-), vexation, instigation, < soHicitare,
solicitare, pp. soUieitatus, urge, incite, solicit:
see solicit.] The act of soliciting, (a) Excitation ;
invitation ; temptation ; allurement ; enticement ; dis-
turbing effect.
Children are surrounded with new things, which, by a
constant solieitation of their senses, draw the mind con-
stantly to them. Locke.
The power of sustained attention grows with the ability
to resist distractions and solicitations.
J. Sully, Outlines of Psychol., p. 99.
To use an old-fashioned expression of the first students
of gravitation (an expression whicii has always seemed to
me amusingly quaint), the solicitations of Jupiter's attrac-
tive force are as urgent on a swiftly rushing body as on
one at rest. ff. A. Rev., CXXXIX. 115.
(b) In criminal law : (1) The inciting of another to com-
mit a crime. (2) The enticing of a man by a prostitute
in a put>lic place. (3) Endeavor to influence by bribery.
The practice of judicial solicitation has even prevailed
in less despotic countries. Brougham.
(c) An earnest request; a seeking with some degree of
zeal and earnestness to obtain something from another :
as, the solicitation of a favor.
He was generally poor, and often sent bold solicitations
to everybody, . . . asking for places, for money, and even
for clothes. Ticknor, Span. Lit., I. 353.
(dt) Advocacy.
So as ye may be sure to have of him effectual concur-
rence and advise in the furtherance and solUcitation of
your charges, whether the pope's holiness amend, remain
long sick, or (as God forbid) should fortune to die.
Bp. Burnet, Hist. Ref., I. ii. 2.
=Sjm. (c) Entreaty, supplication, importunity, appeal,
petition, suit.
soliciter (so-lis'i-ter), M. [< solicit + -er^.]
Same as solicitor.
I . . . tharicke God that ye have occasyon govyn unto
you to be a sollycyter and setter forth of such thyngs as
do and shall conserve my said ende.
Cardinal Wdsey, To S. Gardiner (Ellis's Hist. Letters,
[1st ser., ciii.),
solicitor (so-lis'i-tor), n. [Early mod. E. soli-
citour, < OF. (and F.) solliciteur = Pr. sollicita-
dor = Sp. Pg. solicitador = It. sollecitatore, sol-
Udtatore, < LL. sollicitator, solicitator, a solici-
tor^ first used in sense of 'a tempter, seducer,'
ML. an advocate, etc., < L. sollicitare, solicitare,
urge, incite, solicit : see solicit.] If. A tempter ;
an instigator.
Appetite is the Will's solicitor, and the Will is Appe-
tite^ controller. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, i. 7.
2. One who solicits; one who asks with ear-
nestness.
We single you
As our best-moving fair solicitor.
Shak., L. L. L., ii. 1. 29.
3. An advocate; specifically, one who repre-
sents a party in a court of justice, particularly
a court of equity. Generally, in the United States,
wherever the distinction between courts of law and of
equity remains, practitioners in the latter are termed so-
licitors. In England solicitors are officers of the supreme
court, and the medium between barristers and the gen-
eral public ; they prepare causes for the barrister, and
have a right of audience as advocates before magistrates
at petty sessions, at quarter-sessions where there is no
bar, in county courts, and in the bankruptcy court, but
they cannot appear as advocates in any of the superior
courts, or at assizes, or at any court of commission. So-
licitors were at one time officers only of the court of chan-
cery, but the term is now applied to all attorneys. In
8cf)tland solicitors are of two classes — solicitors in the
supreme court, who occupy a position similar to that of
solicitors in England : and solicitors at law, who are mem-
bers of a society of law-agents at Edinburgh, incorporated
by royal charter and entitled to practise before inferior
courts ; they are also known by the name of procurators.
lAW-agents of both kinds in Scotland are now on an equal
footing. Slater.
5758
Be merry, Cassio,
For thy solicitor shall rather die
Than give thy cause away,
Shak., Othell<^ iii. 3. 27.
I take bishops ^o be the worst solicitors in the world.
Swift, Letter, Oct. 10, 1710.
City solicitor, in some of the United States, an officer
having charge of the legal business of a municipality. —
Crown solicitor. See crown. — Solicitor of the Trea-
sury, an otlieer of the Treasuiy Depai'tment liaving oliarge
of the prevention and punishment of all frauds, and the
conduct of all suits involving the revenue of the United
States, except those arising under the internal revenue
laws of the United States, which are in charge of the So-
licitor of Internal Revenue.
solicitor-general (so-lis'i-tor-jen'e-ral), w.; pi.
solicitors-general. 1. In England, an officer of
the crown, next in rank to the attorney-general,
with whom he is in fact associated in the man-
agement of the legal business of the crown and
public offices. On him generally devolves the
maintenance of the rights of the crown in reve-
nue cases, patent causes, etc. — 2. In Scotland,
one of the crown counsel, next in dignity and
importance to the lord advocate, to whom he
gives his aid in protecting the interests of the
crown, in conducting prosecutions, etc. — 3. In
the United States : (a) The second officer of the
Department of Justice, who assists the attorney-
general, and in his absence performs his duties.
(6) A chief law officer of some of the States, cor-
responding to the attorney-general in others.
W. C. Anderson, Law Diet.
SOlicitorship (so-lis'i-tor-sMp), n. [< solicitor
+ -,'ihip.] 1. The office or status of solicitor.
— 2. A mock respectful title of address applied
with a possessive pronoun to a solicitor. Com-
pare the analogous use of lordship. [Rare.]
Your good SOlicitorship, and rogue Welborn,
Were brought into her presence.
Massinger, New Way to Pay Old Debts, ii. 8.
solicitous (so-lis'i-tus), a. [= Sp. soUcito = Pg.
solicito = It. sollecito, soUicito, < L. sollicitiis,
less correctly solieitus, agitated, disturbed,
anxious, careful: see solicit.] Anxious; con-
cerned ; apprehensive ; eager, whether to ob-
tain something desirable or to avoid some-
thing evil; very desirous; greatly concerned;
disturbed; uneasy: as, a solicitous temper or
temperament : generally followed by an infini-
tive, or by about, concerning, or for (less fre-
quently of) before the object of anxiety or
concern.
Ever suspicious, anxious, solicitous, they are childishly
drooping without reason. Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 164.
You are solieitmis of the good-wUl of the meanest per-
son, uneasy at his ill-will.
Emerson, Essays, Ist ser. , p. 216.
solicitously (so-lis'i-tus-li), adv. In a solici-
tous manner; anxiously; with care or concern.
solicitousness (so-lis'i-tus-nes), re. The state
of being solicitous ; solicitude.
solicitress (so-lis'i-tres), re. [< solicitor + -ess.]
A female solicitor or petitioner.
Beauty is a good solicitress of an equal suit, especially
where youth is to be the judge thereof.
Fuller, Worthies, Northamptonshire.
SOlicitrix (so-lis'i-triks), n. [< solicitor, with
accom. L. fein. term, -trix.] Same as solicitress.
Davies.
solicitude (so-lis'i-tud), n. [< OF. solicitude,
soUicitude, F. sollieitude = Pr. solUcitut = Sp.
solicitud = Pg. solicitude = It. soUeeitudine, sol-
licitudine, < L. sollicituda, solicitudo, anxiety, <
sollicitus, solieitus, anxious, solicitous : see so-
licitous.] 1. The state of being solicitous;
anxious care; carefulness; anxiety; concern;
eager uneasiness of mind lest some desired
thing may not be obtained or some apprehend-
ed evil may happen.
The terseness and brilliancy of his diction, though not
at all artificial in appearance, could not have been at-
tained without labor and solicitude.
Whipple, Ess. and Rev. , I. 141.
2. A cause or occasion of anxiety or concern.
Mrs. Todgers looked a little worn by cares of gravy and
other such solicitudes arising out of her establishment.
Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, xxxii.
= Syn. Concern. Anxiety, etc. See care.
SOlicitudinous (so-lis-i-tii'di-nus), a. [< L. sol-
licitndo, solicitudo {-din-), solicitude, -I- -ons.]
Full of solicitude. [Rare.]
Move circumspectly, not meticulously, and rather care-
fully solicitous than anxiously solicitudinous.
Sir T. Browne, Christ. Mor., i. 33.
solid (sol'id), a. and n. [Early mod. E. also
sollid; < ME. solide, < OF. solide, vernacularly
soude, F. solide = Sp. .wlido = Pg. solido = It.
solido, sodo, < L. solidus, also contracted soldns,
firm, dense, compact, solid; akin to OL. sollus,
whole, entire, Gr. 8^of, whole, entire, Skt.
solid
sarra, all, whole: see sole^. Hence ult. soW^^
soldo, sop, sou, solder, soldier, consolidate, etc.]
1. o. 1. Resisting flexure ; not to be bent with-
out force; capable of tangential stress : said of
a kind of material substance. See II., 1.
0, that this t^jo, too solid flesh would melt.
Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew !
Shak., Hamlet, i. 2. 129.
2. Completelyfilledup; compact; withouteavi-
ties, pores, or interstices; not hollow: a.8, a, solid
ball, as distinguished from a hollow one ; solid
soda-water, not frothy.
With the solid darkness black
Closing round his vessel's track.
Shelley, Lines written among the Euganean Hills.
3. Firm; strong: as, a .so/irf pier ; a .soZirf wall.
Doubtless a stanch and solid peece of framework as any
January could freeze together.
Milton, Areopagitica, p. 40.
4. In hot., of a fleshy, uniform, undivided sub-
stance, as a bulb or root; not spongy or hol-
low within, as a stem. — 5. In anat. and zoiil. :
{a) Hard, compact, or firm in consistency; hav-
ing no cavities or spongy structure : opposed
to spongiose, jyorous, hollow, cancellate, exca-
vated, etc. (6) In entoin., specifically, formed
of a single joint, or of several joints so closely
applied that they appear to be one : especially
said of the capitulum or club of capitate an-
tennte. — 6. Having three dimensions ; having
length, breadth, and thickness; cubic: as, a
solid foot contains 1,728 solid inches. — 7.
Sound ; not weak ; strong.
A solid and strong constitution of body, to bear the fa-
tigue. Watts, Improvement of Mind. (Latham.y
A Bottle or two of good solid Edifying Port, at honest
George's, made a Night chearful, and threw off Reserve.
Quoted in Ashton's .Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne,
[I. 199.
8. Substantial, as opposed to frivolous, falla-
cious, or the like; worthy of credit, trust, or
esteem; not empty or vain; real; true; just;
valid; firm; strong; hence, satisfactory: as,
solid arguments ; solid comfort ; solid sense.
In sollid content together they liv'd.
Botrin Hood and Maid Marian (Child's Ballads, V. 375).
Not barren praise alone, that gaudy flower.
Fair only to the sight, but solid power.
Dryden, Abs. and Achit., i. 298-
9. Not light, trifling, or superficial ; grave; pro-
found.
The older an Author is, commonly the more solid he is,
and the greater teller of Truth. Howell, Letters, iv. 31.
These, wanting wit, affect gravity, and go by the name
of solid men, and a solid man is, in plain English, a solid
solemn fool. Dryden. (Johnson.)
This nobleman, being ... of a very solid mind, could
never be brought to understand the nature of my thoughts.
R. D. Blackmore, Loma Doone, Ixviii.
10. Financially sound or safe; possessing-
plenty of capital; wealthy; well-established;
reliable.
Solid men of Boston, banish long potations ;
S(^id men of Boston, make no long orations.
C. Morris, Pitt and Dundas's Return. From Lyra Ur-
[banica. (Bartlett.)
11. Unanimous, or practically unanimous : as.
Si solid vote; the solid South. [Political slang,
U. S.] — 12. Without break or opening, as a.
wall or facade.
The apse, properly speaking, is a solid semidome, but
always solid below, though generally broken by windows-
above. J. Fergmson, Hist. Arch., I. 476.
13. Smooth; even; imbroken; unvaried; un-
shaded: noting a color or pigrnent. — 14. With-
out the liquor, as oysters: said in measuring:
opposite to in liquor.— 'Pjle solid, in her. Seepiic-'.
— Solid angle. See angle-i.— Solid bath, a form of bath
in which the hoAy is enveloped in a solid or semisolid
substance, as mud, hay, dung, peat, sand, or ashes. — Solid
blow, cam, content, culture. See the nouns.— Solid
bulb. See ftirfii, 1.— Solid color, (a) In decorative art,
a color which invests the wliole of an object, as a porce-
lain vase : more often used adjectively : as, soUd-color
porcelains ; a collection of solid-color pieces. See def. 13.
(b) With reference to fabrics, etc., a uniform color.—
Solid geometry, green, harmonic. See the nouns. -
Solid linkage. See linkage, 1.— Solid matter, in print-
ing, matter set without leads between the lines.— Solid
measure. Same as cubic weaifure (which see, under mca-
.f»r«).— Solid number, an integer having three prime fac-
tors.—Solid problem, a problem which virtually involves
a cubic equation, and can therefore not be solved geometri-
cally by the rule and compass alone. — Solid South. See
sOTi(A.— Solid square (mStt.). Seesfjiarei.- To he solid
for, to be thoroughly in favorof ; be unflagging in supjKirt
of. [Slang, U. S.J
"Lyra, don't speak of it. " "Never!" said Mrs. Wil-
mington, with delight. "I'm solid for Mr. Peck every
time." Howells, Annie Kilbum, xviii.
To be or make one's self solid with, to be or put one's
self on a firm or satisfactory footing with; have or secure
the unfailing favor or support of : as, to be solid m'th the
police ; to make one's self solid with those in authority or
power. [Slang, U. S. ]
BoUd
In nine cases oat of ten, we thus succeeded in making
ourselves ''solid uitk the administration' before we had
been in a town or village forty-eight hours.
The CetUury, XXXVII. 30.
= 8yil. 1, Dense.— 8. Stable, weighty, important.
fl, n. 1 . A body which throughout its mass
(and not merely at its surface) resists for an
indefinite time a sufficiently small force that
tends to alter its equilibrium figure, always
springing back into sliape after the force is re-
moved; a body possessing elasticitv of figure.
Every such body has limits of elasticity, and, if subjected
to a strain exceeding these limits, it takes a set and does
not return to its original shape on being let go. This prop-
erty is called pla^ticUy The minimum energ> required
to give a set to a body of definite form and size measures
its resilience. When the resilience of a body is small and
masks lis springiness, the body is called mft. Even fluids
transmit shearing forces if time be allowed, and many sub-
stances will yield indetinitely to very small (but not indefi-
nitely small) forces applied for great lengths of lime. So
solids that have received a small set will sometimes par-
tially recover their figures after a long time. This prop-
erty in tluids is called viMomty, in solids after-effect (Ger-
man txachwirkwigy The phenomenon is connected with
a regrouping of the molecules, and indicates the essential
difference between a solid and a liquid. In fluids ditfasion
is continually active, and in gases it produces phenomena
of viscosity. In liquids it is not rapid enough to g^ve rise
to senijible viscosity, but the free motion of the molecules
makes the body fluid, white the tendency of sets of mole-
cules to continue for a white associated makes the fluidity
imperfect. In solids, on the other hand (at least when not
under s^^n). there is no ditfusion, and the molecules are
consequently in stationar>' motion or describing quasi-
orbits. They thus become grouped in the mode in which
they have least positional energy consistent with their ki-
netic energy. When this grouping is slightly disturbed,
H tends to restore itself; but when the disturbance is
greater, some of the molecules will tend to return to their
old places and others to move on to new situations, and
this may give rise to a new permanent grouping, and
exhibit the phenomenon of plasticity. But if not quite
sufficient for this, disturbances of the molecular motions
■omewhat similar to the secular perturbations of the
planets will result, from which there will be no restora-
tion for a very long time. Solid bodies are very strongly
cohesive, showing that the molecules attract one another
on the whole ; and they are generally capable of crystalli-
xation, showing that the attractions of the molecules are
different in different directions.
2. In geom.y a body or magnitude which has
three dimensions— length, breadth, and thick-
ness— being thus distinguished from a^wr/iw'e,
which has but two dimensions, and from a /in«,
which has but one. The boundaries of solids are sar-
faces. Besides the three round bodies (the sphere, cone,
and cyliDderX together with the conoids, and the pyramids,
prisma, and prisroatofds, the most important geomeUlcal
solids are the five Platonic and the Kepler- Poiniot regn
lar polyhedra. the two semi^r^iUar solids, and the thirteen
Archimedean solids. Hie faces, edges, or summits of one
solid are said to correspond with the faces, edges, or sum-
mits oi another when the radii from the centw ot the for-
5759
Geometrical Solids.
I, tetrahedron ; 3, cut>e ; 3, octahedron ; 4, Platonic dodecahedron ;
5, icosahedron; 6, ^eat icosahedron; 7, great dodecahedron; 8,
small stellated dodecahedron ; 9, great stellated dodecahedron ; 10,
senii-regulax dodecahedron; 11, semi-regular triacontahedron; 13,
truncated tetrahedron ; 13. cuboctahedron ; 14. truncated cube ; 15.
truncated octahedron; 16, small rhombicuboctahedron; 17, great
rhorabicuboctahedron ; 18, snub-cube ; 19, icosidodecahedron : 20,
truncated dodecahedron ; 31, truncated icosahedron ; 22, small rhom-
bicosidodecahedron; 2^ great rhombicosidodecahedron ; 34, snub-do-
decahedron U3 to 24 are the Archimedean solids.)
mertflthe mid-faces, mid-edges, or summits can be simul-
taneously brought into coincidence with the radii from the
center to the mid-faces, mid-edges, or summits of the lat-
ter. If two solids correspond faces to summits, summits
to faces, and edges to edges, they are said to he reciprocal.
If to the edges of one solid correspond the faces or sum-
mits of another, while to the faces and summits together
of the former correspond the summits or faces of another,
the latter is said to be the summHal or facial holohedron
of the former. The regular tetrahedron is the reciprocal
of itself, and its reciprocal holohedra are the cube and oc-
tahedron. The reciprocal holohedra of these, again, are the
semi-regular dodecahedron and the cuboctahedron. The
facial holohedron of these, again, is the small rhombicuboc-*
tahedron. The faces of the truncated cube and truncated
octahedron correspond to those of the cuboctahedron.
The snub-cube has faces corresponding to the cuboctahe-
dron, and twenty-four faces which in two setsof twelve cor-
respond to the summits of two other cuboctahedra. The
faces of the great rhombicuboctahedron correspond to
those of the small rhombicuboctahedron. Just as the cube
and octahedron are nclpriK-al, so likewise are the Platonic
dodecahedron and icosahedron, thotigli they are related to
no hemihedral body like the tetrahedron. Their recipro-
cal holohedra are the semi-regular triacontahedron and the
icosidodecahedron. and the facial holohedron of these,
again, is the small rhombicosidodecaliedron. The faces of
the truncated dodecahedron and tmncated icosahedron
correspond to those of the icosidodecahedron. The snub-
dodecahedron has faces corresponding to those of the ico-
sidodecahedron, and two sets of others corresponding to
the summits of two other icosidodecahedra. The faces
of the great rhombicosidodecahedron correspond to those
of the small rhombicosidodecahedron. The faces, sum-
mits, and ec^es of the great icosahedron and great steU
la tell dodecahedron correspond respectively to the faces,
summits, and edges of the Platonic dodecaheilron and ico-
sahedron. The great dodecahedron and small stellated
dodecahedron are self-reciprocal, both faces and summits
corresponding to the faces of the Platonic dodecahedron
or summits of the Icosahedron. The faces of the trun-
cated tetrahedron correspond to the faces of the octahe-
dron or summits of the cube.
8. pi. In anat., all parts of the V>ody which are
not flui<l : as, the solids and fluids of the body.
— 4. /)/. In printinff.tho parts of an engraving
whicli show Mack or solid in print.— Archime-
dean, rectangular, rlfht solid. Bee the adjectives.—
Cissoidal solid, a Bt)liiTgeiientte<l by the rot4itio)i of the
cissoi'i about its axis. Kepler solid, or Kepler-Foinsot
solid, a regular solid which inwraps its center more than
once. There are four soch solids- the great icosahedron,
the great dodecahedroa, the small stellated dodecahedron,
and the great stellated dodecahedron. Three of them
were mentioned by Kepler, and all were rediscovered by
Poiiisot Tlie names here used were given by Cayley. —
Logistic solid, a solid generated by the revolution of a
logarithmic curve about its asjrmptote. — Plastic solid,
a solid substance whose limit of elasticity is far below its
point of mptore, so that it can be shaped : thus, putty and
wrought-iron are vlatUc sojufx.— Platonic solid, one of
tiie old rMfnlar solids which inwrap the center only once.
They are five — the tetrahedron, the cul)e, the octahedron,
the t wen ty- vertex ed rli«icfiiliecln.n, and the icosjihedron.
— Regular solid, a jH'lytiL'dn'n whose faces are regular
polygons, all alike. — Semi-regular solid, a bo<ly whose
edges are all of equal length, wiiose faces are all alike and
equally incline to one another at the edges, but whose faces
are not regular polygons. Two such solids are known —
the rhomt)ic (IfKUeahedron and triacontahedron.— Solid
of least resistance. See renifanM.— Solid of revolu-
tlon. See TfrtAution.
SolidagO (sol-i-da'KO), n. [NL. (Vaillant, 1720),
< ML. soHflago, goldenrod (SoUdago Virgattrea),
so called from its reputed vulnerary qualities,
< L. soHduSy solid: see solid.] 1. A j^enus of
composite plants, the goldenrods, of the tribe
AsteroidejB and subtribe Homochromese, some-
times made the typo of a further subdivision,
SoUdngineie (De Candolle. ISIiO). it is charac-
terired by several -flowered small and radiate yellow tieads,
with a small flat usually alveolate receptacle, and an oblong
involucre of erect rigid bracts which are closely imbricated
in several rows and are without herlmceous tips. The ob-
long or obOTOid five* to twelve-ribbed achenes bears copi-
oos whitish pappns of long and nearly equal slender bris-
tles. From Aster which it closely resembles in technical
characters, It Is distinguished by its taller wand-likc habit,
yellow rasrs, smsller heads, and the absence of cordate
leaves ; ftom Chrysopm* and Uaf)lftpoppus by its narrow
few-flowered beftos; and from Biffelovia, its other most
SolidagO
important near relative, by the presence of rays. The spe-
cies have in general a verychanicteristic habit, being per-
ennial herbs, usually with strictly erect unbraiiched stems,
which bear numerous entire or serrate alternate sessile
narrow stem-leaves and broader root-leaves, which taper
into margined petioles. Numerous intermediate forms
render many species difficult to distinguish. In the origi-
nal species, S. Virgaurea, the golden-yellow flowers are
massed in small clusters which form an elongated or in-
tenupted spike, whence the popular name (7oWe7irorf. The
typical inilorescence, however, is a terminal pyramidal
panicle of determinate development, composed of numer-
ous recurving and soorpioid one-sided racemes, best seen
in S. Canadengui and S. rtigoga. In other species the
flowers form a dense thyrsusof straight and terete crowded
racemes, as S. speciom, of the Atlantic and interior United
States. A few others from the Ohio and Mississippi
valleys, as S. rigida, produce neaily level-topped cymes.
Four other cymose species were formerly separated as a
genus, Euthamia (Nuttall, 1818), distinguished by lack of
scorpioid branclilets and by their linear entire one- to
five-nerved leaves, including the widely distributed spe-
cies S. laticeolata and S. Caroliniana (S. temdfolia), and
connecting with S. paxiciftosculosa, of the Southern States
and the Bahamas, formerly separated as a genus, Chrysoma
(Nuttall, 1840), because of its shrubby stem and few-flow-
ered heads with one to three rays. Several other species
are slightly aberrant : S. multiradiata, of the Rocky Moun-
tains, sometimes has twelve rays, others usually five ; S.
discoidea, a racemose Gulf species, is wholly without raya
and has a purplish pappus ; this, with S. sqrtarrasa of north-
ern rocks m\\S.petiolari:i of southeni pine- barrens, varies
also in the spreading tips of the involucral bracts. S, bi-
color is remarkable for its cream-colored flowers. S. verna^
of pine-woods near Wilmington, North Carolina, blooms in
May; 5. t^tflinojwj, of northern peat-bogs, in July; S.jtnicea
and i5.W/tpftca in August; and S.rugosa,S. Canadensis, wnd
most others mainly iu September; S. nenwralis and S. ae-
A Goldenrod {.Sotittago Metncraiii),
I. The upper part of the stem with the iaflorescence. 2. Thelower
part of the stem, showing a stolon.
sia continue well into October. The genus is one of the
most characteristic of the United States, numerous both in
species and in individuals, and not entirely wanting in any
region. In the northern and central States it gives to the
landscape much of its beauty, and is an important element
of the prevailing yellow of autumn. There are nearly 100
species, of which Wt, besides more than 30 important varie-
ties, are natives of the United States, and the others are
nearly all A merican. 9 nf them occurring in Mexico, '2, 3, or 5
in South Anierica(3 in southern Brazil, 2 in Uruguay, and 1
in <,'hili), and 1 in llaytl. Only 2 species are natives of the
Old World, S. litioralin, limited to the Tuscan and Ligurian
coast, and S. Virgauna, which extends from Mount Parnas-
sus north and west througliout Europe and into Siberia,
Alaska, New York, and New England, in many widely dif-
fering varieties. Those of the United States are all, with 5
exceptions, confined to them and to British America (into
which 32 extend), and are mainly nativesof the Atlantic and
central States. Numerous isolated species are southern ;
the northern are mostly of wider distribution and more
abundant in individuals; 11 species are mainly confined
to the high northern, 12 to the northeastern, 24 to the
southern, 8 to the southwestern, 10 to the Pacific States;
6 belong to the Mississippi valley, of which S. Missouri-
ensis is the oidy one w idely distributed ; 2 species, S.
odora and S. sempervirens, extend throughout the Atlan-
tic coast from Canada to Mexico, and the latter, the salt-
marsh goldenrod, reappears at the Azores and at San
Francisco. Forty-two species occur in the northeast quar-
ter of the United States, .SS in tl^e Southern States, and
about 14 among the llo«ky Mountains. S. Canadensis,
the most numerous and most typical species, is also the
one most widely diffused through the United States, fol-
lowed next by 5. ne^itoralis and S. rugosa. The species
of this genus range from beyond 66° N. latitude to the city
of Mexico, and from alnino summits to the sea-level ; sev-
eral are mostlyconfinea to swamps, as .S. patula, and a few
to woodland borders, as S. c/ena and S.bicolor, but most
are plants of dry open soil, especially S. nemoralis. In
f)art8 of tlie Atlantic coast the name goldenrod is local-
y confined to S. odora, the sweet goldenrod of authors,
which contains In its dotted leaves an aromatic and stimu-
lating volatile oil of an anisate odor and pale greenish-yel-
low color; It Is also carminative and diaphoretic, and its in-
fusion is used to relieve spasmodic pains and nausea; its
dried flowers and leaves have been employed as a bever-
age, under the name of Blue-Mountain tea. S. Virgaurea,
the goldenrod of Europe, contains an astringent and tonic
principle, and was long In esteem for healing wounds,
Solidago
herbalists of two and three centuries ajro pronouncing It
"one of the most noble wound-herbs," and prescribing "a
tea of tlie young leaves, green or dry." It was also once
in repute in Kurope as a dye, and a variety of 5. nemoralis
is locally called dyer's-iceed in America. 5. Catiadensu! and
others have been populaily Icnown as ydlow-weed, and 5.
rvgota as bittenceed. S. ri(jida is also a reputed astringent.
The goldenrod has been recommended by many as the
national emblem of the United States.
2. ['■ <'.] A plant of this genus; goldenrod.
solidaret (sol-i-dSr'), «. [Appar. < F. solidaire,
solid (see solidary), with sense of ML. solidus,
a piece of money: see solidiis, soldo, sol-.} A
small piece of money.
Here 's three solidares for thee ; good boy, wink at me,
and say thou sawest me not. Shak., T. of A., iii. 1. 46.
solidaric (sol-i-dar'ik), a. [Irreg. < soUdar-y
+ -ic.'\ Characterized by solidarity. [Rare.]
In the very nature of things family supremacy will be
al>8olutcly incompatible with an interdependent solidaric
commonwealth. The Century, XXXI. 745.
solidarity (sol-e-dar-e-ta'), «. [F. : see soli-
darity.'] In French law: (a) The relation
among co-debtors who are jointly and severally
bound — that is, may be held jointly or sever-
ally at the option of the creditor, (b) The re-
lation among co-creditors holding an obliga-
tion which gives expressly to each of them the
right to demand payment of the entire debt,
so that a payment made to any one will dis-
charge the debt.
solidarity (sol-i-dar'i-ti), n. [< F. solidarity (=
Sp. soHdaridad = Pg. solidariedade), joint lia-
bility, mutual responsibility, < solidaire, solid:
see solidary.] Mutual responsibility existing
between two or more persons; communion of
interests and responsibilities.
Solidarity, a word which we owe to the French commu-
nists, and which signifies a fellowship in gain and loss, in
honour and dishonour.
Trench, English Past and Present, p. 58.
Strong government came in with the sixteenth century,
and strong government was a very strong element in ref-
ormation history, for it weakened the solidarity of the
Catholic Church.
Stuttbs, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 232.
There is a solidarity in the arts ; they do not flourish in
isolated independence.
C. E. Norton, Church-building in Middle Ages, p. 31.
solidary (sol'i-da-ri), a. [= F. solidaire (= Sp.
Vg. solidario), < solide, solid: see solid.] Char-
acterized by solidarity, or community of in-
terests and responsibilities; jointly interested
or responsible.
Our one object is to save the revelation in the Bible
from being made solidary, as our Coratist friends say,
with miracles ; from being attended to or held cheap just
in proportion as miracles are attended to or are held
cheap. M. Arnold, Literature and Dogma, viii.
solidate (sol'i-dat), v. t. ; pret. and pp. soli-
dated, ppr. soUdating. [< L. solidatus, pp. of
solidare, make dense, make whole or sound, <
solidus, compact, firm, solid: see solid.] To
make solid or firm. [Rare.]
This shining Piece of Ice,
Which melts so soon away
With the Sun's Ray,
Thy verse does solidate and crystallize.
Cowley, Pindaric Odes, iv. 3.
solid-drawn (sol'id-dran), a. In metal-workinff,
drawn from hollow ingots, in which mandrels
of constantly decreasing diameter are succes-
sively inserted, till both exterior and interior
diameters are brought down to the required
dimensions.
solid-hoofed (sol'id-hoft), a. Solidungulate or
soliped; whole-hoofed; not cloven-hoofed. See
cut under soUduugulate.
solid-homed (sol'id-hdmd), a. Having solid
deciduous horns or antlers, as deer; not hollow-
homed. The solid-homed ruminants are the
deer tribe. See Cervidse and Tragulidx.
SOlidi, n. Plural of solidus.
solidinable (so-lid'i-fi-a-bl), a. [< solidify +
-able.] Capable of beiiig solidified or rendered
solid.
solidification (so-lid''i-fi-ka'shon), n. [< solidi-
fy -I- -ation (see -///).] The act or process of
making solid; specifically, in physics, the pas-
sage of a body from a liquid or gaseous to a solid
state. It is accompanied by evolution of heat
without a decrease of temperature, and by
change of volume.
SOlidiiy (so-lid'i-fi), v.; pret. and pp. solidified,
ppr. solidifying. [< F. solidifier= Sp. Pg. solidi-
ficar; as solid + -fy.] I. trans. To convert
from a liquid or gaseous state to a solid state;
make solid or compact: as, to solidify hydro-
gen.
n. intrans. To become solid or compact : as,
water solidifies into ice through cold.
5760
soliloquacious
dmig-gu-la'ta), n. pi.
solidism (sol'i-dizm), n. [< solid + -ism.] In Solidungulata (sol-
med.. the doctrine that refers all diseases to al- Same as Sulidungida
terations of the solid parts of the body. It rests solidungulate (sol-i-dung'gu-lat), a. and n.
on tlie opinion that the solids alone are endowed with vi-
tal properties, and that they only can receive the impres-
sion of morbitlc agents and be tlie seat of pathological phe-
nomena. Opposed to Galenism or huntori»tn.
SOlidist (sol'i-dist), n. [< solid + -ist] One
who believes in or maintains the doctrine of
solidism.
SOlidistiC (sol-i-dis'tik), a. [< soUdist + -ic]
Of or pertaining to the solidists.
It is perhaps natural that we should revert to the snlidis-
[<
NL. solidiiiHiiihilKS, < L. solidus, solid, -I- nngu-
latus, hoofed: seo tingulatc] I. a. Solid-hoofed
or whole-hoofed, as the horse ; of or pertaining
to the Solidungula ; equine. Also soliped, soli-
pedal, solidungular, solidungtdous. See cut in
preceding column, and cuts under hoof and
Perissodactyla.
II. n. A inember of the Solidungula, as the
horse or ass ; an equine. Also soliped, solipede.
(IC notion Of the all-pervading influence of the nervous sys. SOlldungUlOUS (sol-i-dung gu-lus), a. l<. iNLi
tem. Lancet, 1889, 11. 1123. soliduiiyulus, < L. solidus, solid, -I- ungula, a
solidity (s6-lid'i-ti), H. [< F. soHtWc = Pr. so- hoof: see tingulatc.] Same as solidungulate.
lidilat = It. solfdifa, < L. soliditn{t-)s, < solidus, Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Eit., iii. 2.
solid: see solid.] 1. The state or property of SOlidus (sol'i-dus), «.; pi. solidi (-di). [LL., an
being solid. Speciflcally-(a) The property of resisting imperial gold coin, ML. applied to various corns.
a force tending to change the iignre of a i>ody ; opposed
\oJiuidity.
The idea of solidity we receive by our touch ; and it
arises from the resistance which we find in a body to the
entrance of any other body into the place it possesses till
it has left it. Loclce, Human Understanding, II. iv. 1.
(b) The absolute impenetrability attributed by some meta-
physicians to matter. [This use of tlie word is almost pe-
culiar to Locke. Sir W. Hamilton attributes eight physical
meanings to the word — the property of occupying space;
extension in three dimensions; absolute impeneti-ability;
great density; relative immovability ; weight; hardness;
and non-fluidity.] (c) Fullness of matter : opposed to hU-
Imeness. (d) Massiveness ; substantiality ; hence, strength ;
stability.
These towers are of tremendous girth and solidity; they
are encircled with great bands, or hoops, of white stone,
and are much enlarged at the ijase.
//. James, Jr., Little Tour, p. 98.
(e) Strength and firmness in general ; soundness ; strength ;
validity ; truth ; certainty.
They answered the objections with great strength and
solidity of argument. Addison, Tatler, No. 118.
The very laws which at first gave the government solid-
ity. (Jotdsmith, Polite Learning, i.
2. In gcom., the quantity of space occupied by
a solid body. Also called its solid or cubic content or
contents. The solidity of a body is estimated by the num-
ber of cubic in«hes, feet, yards, etc., which it contains.
3t. A solid body or mass. [Rare.]
Heaven's face doth glow;
Yea, this solidity and compound mass.
With tristful visage, as against the doom,
Is thought-sick at the act. Shak., Hamlet, ill. 4. 49.
Measure of solidity. See meamre.
solidly (sol'id-li), adv. In a solid manner, in any
sense of the word solid, (a) Firmly; densely; com-
pactly : as, the parts of a pier
solidly imited. (&) Securely ;
truly; on firm grounds, (c)
In a body ; unanimously ; as,
the Democrats voted solidly
against the bill. [Colloq.)
solidness (sol'id-nes),)i.
1. The state or prop-
erty of being solid; so-
lidity.
The closeness and solidness
of the wood.
Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 635.
2. Soundness; strength;
truth ; validity, as of ar-
guments, reasons, prin-
ciples, etc.
SOlldum (sol'i-dum), n.
[< L. solidum, a solid sub-
stance, neut. of solidus,
firm, compact: see sol-
id.] 1. In arch., the
die of a pedestal. See
cut under dado. — 2.
In Scots law, a complete
sum — To be bound in sol-
idiun, to be bound for tlie
whole debt, though only one
of several obligants. When
several debtors are bound
each for a proportionate share
only, tliey are said to be bound
pro rata.
Solidungula (sol-i-
dung'gu-la), )j.pif. [NL.
(Blumeiibach, about
1799), neut. pi. of soli-
duiigulus: see solidun-
gulous.] The solid-hoof-
ed, soliped, or solidun-
gulate perissodaetyl
mammals, correspond-
ingtothe family £g«M?».
solidungular (sol-i-
duiitc'gu-lilr), a. [< NL.
SOlldungulariS, < L. so- middle phalanx, small pastern,
lidus, solid, + ungula, fe'nSS^^r'iirf^rSJrcaUeS
hoof.] Same as soli- '"""fK^orbyvetcnnanans; 15.
. -". , hoof, incasinj; distal phalanx, 01
aungulate, coffin-bone; I6, coronet.
Solidungulate (right fore) Foot
of Horse.
I, radius, its lower end with
3, a groove; 3, scaphoid; 4, lu-
nar; s, cuneiform ; 6, pisiform;
7, magnum ; 8, unciform (3 to 8
are in the carpus, and form the
so-called " Itnee," which is the
wrist.of a horse); 9, main (third)
or middle metacarpal, or can-
non-bone ; 10, outer or fourth
metacaroal, or splint-bone; 11,
sesamoias or nut-hones in liga-
ments at back of inetacarpo-
plialangeal articulation, or fet-
lock-joint; Iz.proximal phalanx,
great pastern, or fetter
also any piece of money, money (see def.), lit.
'solid' (se. nummus, coin): see solid. Cf. soldo,
sol'^,sou.] 1. A gold coin introduced by Con-
stantino the Great to take the place of the au-
reus, previously the chief coin of the Roman
CUlTCncy . The coin weighed about 70 grains, and 72 soli-
di were struck to tlie pound. The solidus continued to be
Solidusof Constantine the Great.— British Museum. (Size of original.)
coined under the Byzantine empire, and at a later period
received in western Europe the name of bezant. (See 6«-
zant.) In the middle ages the word solidus often in-
dicates not any special coin, but a money of account, and
was translated in the Teutonic languages by shilling and
its cognates. Generally, the solidus or shilling of account
contained 12 denarii, silver "pennies, ' the ordin-ary silver
coins of the period. Abbreviated «., in the sequence £ «. d.
(.librae, solidi, denarii), pounds, shillings, and pence.
Alsol bequeith to the reparacion of the stepull of the said
churche of Saint Albane XX. solidos.
Paston Letters, III. 463.
2. A sign (/) used to denote the English shil-
ling, representing the old lengthened form of
S., as in 2/6, for 2s. 6rf. This sign is often a conve-
nient substitute for the horizontal line in fractions, as in
1/2000, a/b, (a + b)ic, for -i- , -, " + ^
solifidian (sol-i-fld'i-an), a. and n. [Formerly
also solifidean; < h. solus, alone, only, + fides,
faith: see faith.] I. a. Holding the tenets of
'solifidians; pertaining to the solifidians.
A solifidean Christian is a nuUifldean Pagan, and con-
futes his tongue with his hand. Feltham, Itesolves, ii. 47.
II. n. One who maintains that faith alone,
without works, is all that is necessary to justi-
fication. See fiduciary, II., 2. Eev. T. Adams,
Works, I. 325.
SOlifidianism (sol-i-fid'i-an-izm), n. [< soli-
fidian + -ism.] The doctrine that justification
is of faith only, without works.
It was ordered that ... for a year no preacher should
preacli either for or against purgatory, honouring of saints,
marriage of priests, pilgi-images, miracles, ot solijidiatiism.
Ii. W. Dixon, Hist. Church of Eng., iv.
Soliform (sol'i-form), a. [< L. sol, the sun, +
/on«a, form.] Fonned like the sun. [Rare.]
For light, and sight and the seeing faculty, may both of
them rightly be said to be soliform things, or of kin to the
sun, but neither of them to be the sun itself.
Cudworth, Intellectual System, p. 204.
Solifugae (so-lif'tl-je), n. pi. [NL. (Sundevall),
fem. pi. of solifugus: see solifugous.] A sub-
order or superfamily of tracheate Arachnida,
having the cejjhalothorax segmented, the che-
liceres chelate, and the palpi pediform. They
are nocturnal, hiding by day. active, pugnacious, and
predatory, and are leputed to be venomous; they chiefly
inhabit warm countries. There are 15 genera, of which
Datames and Cleobis are found in the United States, and
Oaleodes is Ihe most prominent. See Galeodidte, and com-
pare tile alternative Solpuyida (with cut).
solifuge (sol'i-fuj), »(. [< NL. solifugus: see so-
lifui/ous. ] A nocturnal arachnidau of the group
Solifuga;,
solifugous (so-lif'u-gus), a. [< NL. solifugus,
shunning sunlight (cf. ML. solifuga, an animal
that shuns the light), < L. sol, sun, -t- fugcre,
flee, fly.] Shunning sunlight ; fleeing from the
light of day; nocturnal, as a member of the
Solifugse.
soliloquacious (so-lil-o-kwa'shus), a. Solilo-
quizing; disposed to soliloquize. J/oorc, in Ma-
son's Personal Traits of British Authors, II. 17.
soliloaaize
soliloquize (so-lil'o-kwiz), r. i. ; pret. and pp.
soliloquized, ppr. soliloquizing. [< soliloqu-y +
-i:e.] To utter a soliloquy; talk to one's self.
Also spelled soliloquise.
SolilOQUy (so-lil'o-kwi), n. ; pi. soliloquies
(-kwiz). [=' F. soliloque = Sp. Pg. It. solilo-
quio, < LL. soliloquium, a talking to one's self,
< solus, alone, + loqui, speak.] 1. A talking
to one's self; a discourse or talk by a person
who is alone, or which is not addressed to any
one even when others are present. — 2. A writ-
ten composition containing such a talk or dis-
course, or what purports to be one.
Soiiloquieg; or, holy Belf-confereiices of the deyoat soul,
apon sundry choice occafiions.
Bp. HttU, Soliloqales, Title.
The whole Poem is a Soliloquy. Prior, Solomon, Pref.
soliped (sol'i-ped), a. and n. [Also solipede ; =
F. solipede = Sp. solipedo = Pg. solipede, eontr. <
L. snlidipes (-ped-), solid-hoofed, whole-hoofed,
< solidus, solid, + pes (ped-) = E. foot.'\ Same
as solidungulate.
solipedal (sol'i-ped-al), a. [< soliped + -al.']
Same as solidungulate.
solipede (sol'i-ped), n. Same as solidungulate.
■Sir T. Browne,
solipedous (so-lip'e-dus), a. Same as solidun-
i/uhitf.
solipsism (sol'ip-Bizm), n. [< L. solus, alone,
+ ipse, self, + -ism.'] "The belief or proposition
that the person entertaining it alone exists, and
that other people exist only as ideas in his mind.
The identiflcatioii of one's self with the Absolate ia not gen-
erally intended, hut the denial of there being really any-
body else. The doctrine appears to be nothing more than
a man of straw set up by metaphysicians in their reason-
ings.
solipsist (sol'ip-sist), «. [< L. solus, alone, -I-
ips'\ self, + -ist.'i One who believes in his own
existciK-e only.
solipsistic (sol-ip-sis'tik), a. [< solipsist + -»c.]
Of or pertaining to solipsism.
SOliseqoioas (sol-i-se'kwi-us), a. [Cf. L. solse-
quium, the sunflower; < L. sol, the stm, 4- sequi,
follow: see sequent.'^ Following the course of
the sun : as, the sunflower is a soltsequious plant.
SOlist (^Mo'list), n. Same as soloist.
solitaire (sol-i-tSr'), n. [¥., < L. tolitaritis,
alone, lonely: see solitary!] 1. A person who
lives in solitude; a recluse; a hermit; a solitary.
Often have I been quietly going to take posaeaaion of
that traiii|uillity and indolence I bad lo long (oand in the
country, when one erenlng of your coDTenatioD haa spoiled
me for a goliinire too !
Pope, To Lady M. W. Montagu, Aug. 18, 1716.
2. A precious stone, oftenest a diamond, set by
itself, and not combined with other jewels. —
3t. A loose necktie of black silk, resembling
a ribbon, sometimes secured to the bag of the
wig behind, and in front either falling loosely
or secured by a brooch or similar jewel: a
fashion for men in the eighteenth century.
He came in a tolitaire. great aleevea, jeaiamine-powder,
and a Urge bouquet of jonquila. Gray, Letters, I. SIO.
4. A game which one person can play alone, in
particular and properly — (o) A game played on a board
indented with thirty-three or thirty-seven hemispherical
hollows, with an equal number of balls. One ball Is re-
moved from the board, and the empty hollow thus left en-
ables piece* to be captured. The object of the player is
to taice by Jumpbig, as in checkers, all the pieces except
one without moving diagonally or oyer more than one
apace at a time : or else, by similar morea, to leave cer-
tain conflgnratlons. (6) One of a great number of card-
games, the usual object of which is to bring the shuffled
and confused cards into regular order or sequence. This
aort of game is more properly called pofteiux.
5. In ornith. : (a) An extinct didine bird, Pe-
zophaps solitarius. See Pezophaps. (6) A flj--
catching thrush of Jamaica, Myiadestes armilla-
tu.s, whii.-h leads a retired life in wooded moun-
tainous resorts: hence, any bird of this genus.
The name was originally applied to the bird of Marti-
nique, now known a* M. penOmrbit. Townsend's soliuire
is a common bird of many parta of the western I'nited
HUtea. All arc flne songstara. Bee Myiadatet. (r) The
pensive thrush. Montieola or I'etrocincla soli-
Itiriii. See rock-thrush.
SOlitariant (sol-i-ta'ri-an), n. [< L. solitarius,
alone, lonely, + -an.] "A hermit: a solitary.
solitariety (sol'i-ta-ri'e-ti), n. [< h. solitarius,
alone, lonely, + -ety.] Solitary condition or
state; aloneiiess.
According to the Kgyptlans, before all entlUes and prin-
aples there Is one (Jod, who is in order of nature before
(him that Is commonly called) the first Ood and King
Immoveable, anil alway remaining in the mlUarietyot hla
own niiily. Cudmnlh, Intellectual System, p. 338.
solitarily (sol'i-tft-ri-li), adv. In a solitary
manner; without company; alone; by one's
self; in solitude.
362
5761
Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heri-
tage, which dwell soUiarUy in the wood. Micah vii. 14.
solitariness (sol'i-ta-ri-nes), n. 1. The fact
or state of being solitary, or alone, or without
mate, partner, or companion, or of dwelling
apart from others or by one's self ; habitual re-
tirement; solitude.
A man to eate alone Is likewise great solUarinesse.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. »7.
2. The state or character of being retired or
unfrequented; solitude; seclusion: as, theso/(-
tariness of a wood.
Birds . . . had found their way into the chapel, and
built their nests among its friezes and pendants — sure
signs of solitarinesg and desertion.
Irving, Sketch-Book, p. 218.
SOlitariousness (sol-i-ta'ri-us-nes), n. Solitude;
seclusion. Ascham, Toxophilus (ed. 1864), p. 41.
SOlitarityf (sol-i-tar'i-ti), n. [< solitary + -ity.]
Solitude ; loneliness!'
I shall be abandoned at once to solitarity and penury.
V. Taylor, To Southey, Dec. 10, 1811.
solitary (sol'i-ta-ri), a. and n. [< ME. solita-
rie, solytarye, < OF. *solitarie, solitaire, F. soli-
taire = Pr. solitari, soletari = Sp. Pg. It. soH-
tario, < L. solitarius, solitary (LL. as n. an
anchorite), for 'solitatarius, < solita(t-)s, lone-
liness, < solus, alone: see sole^.] I. a. 1.
Living alone, or by one's self or by itself;
without companions or associates ; habitually
inclined to avoid company.
Those rare and solitary, these in flocks.
Milton, P. L., vil. 461.
The totHary man Is as speechless as the lower animals.
Whitney, Life and Growth of Lang., p. 286.
2. All by one's self; without companions; un-
attended.
The Indian holds his course, silent, tolilary, but un-
daunted, through the boundless bosom of the wilderness.
Irving, Sketch-Book, p. 351.
3. Marked by solitude ; especially, remote from
society; unfrequented; retired; secluded; lone-
ly: as, a solitary glen.
Whlche bothe lye in the abbey of saynt Jnstyne vyrgyn,
a place of Blake Monkea, ryght delectable, and also soly-
ttave. Sir A. Guyl/orde, ^Igrymage, p. 9.
Cor. And how like yoo this shepherd's life. Master
Touchstone? . . .
Touek. ... In respect that it is tolHary, I like it very
welL Shak., As you Like it, iU. % 16.
4. Free from the sounds of human life ; still ;
dismal.
Let that night Iw solitary, let no joyful voice come
therein. Job ill. 7.
5. Having a sense of loneliness ; lonesome.
I am not solitary whilst I read and write, though nobody
I* with me. Emerson, Nature, 1.
6t. Retiring; diffident.
Your honour doth say that you doe ludge me to be a
man solHarie and vertuous.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowea, 1577X p. 78.
7. Passed without company; shared by no
companions; lonely.
I was upon Point of going abroad to steal a solitary
Walk, when youra of the 12th current came to hand.
Howell, Letters, IL 50.
Him fair Lavlnia, thy surviving wife.
Shall breed in grorea, to lead a sMIary life.
Dryden, .£neld, vt 1088.
8. Single ; sole ; only, or only one : as, a soli-
tary instance; a solitary example.
A solitary shriek, the bnbbHng cry
Of some strong swimmer In his agony.
Byron, Don Juan, IL 53.
Politeness waa his (Chariea U's] solitary good quality.
Macaulay, Dryden.
9. In hot., one only in a place; separate: as,
a solitary stipule. A flower Is said to be solilary when
there 1^ only one on each peduncle, or only one to each
plant ; a seed, when there is only one in a pericarp.
All the New Zealand species [Ptenslylis trullifolia] bear
solitary flowers, so that distinct plants cannot fail to be
Intercroaaed. Darwin, Fertil. of Orchids by Insects, p. 89.
10. In anat., single; separate; not clustered;
not agminate or gathered into patches ; sim-
ple; not compound: as. the solitary follicles of
the intestine.— 11. In zoiil.: (a) Not social,
sociable, or gregarious: noting species living
habitually alone, or in pairs only. (6) Simple;
not compound, aggregate, or colonial: as, soli-
tary ascidians. See ,Simplices.— SioUtaxy ants,
the MutHlidje or splder-ants.— solitary bees, bees chat
do not live In a hive or community like the honey bee,
and are represented only hydcvilnpij niiili-s and females,
like most Insects. There are very many epecies, of nu-
merous genera. The desigiintion is chiefly descriptive,
not classlflcatory, but sometimes denotes the An/lrenid/e
as distinguished from the .-Ij/i''/^. — Solitary bundle.
Same as solitary /uniculiu. Solitary confinement, in
a general sense, the separate contlnement of a prisoner,
solitude
with only occasional access of any other person, and that
only at the discretion of the jailer ; in a stricter sense, the
complete isolation of a prisoner from all human society,
and his conllnement in a cell so arranged that he has no
direct intercourse with, or sight of, any human being, and
no emplo.vment or instruction, ililler, J., in re Medley,
134 r. S., 160.— Solitary follicle. See solitary aland, un-
der (/Janrf.— Solitary funiculus, a round bundleof fibers
laterad of the combined small-celled nucleus of the glos-
sopharyngeus, vagus, and spinal accessory, which passes
out as one of the roots of the glossopharyngeus, but may
contribute to the vagus and accessory. Also called ascend-
ing root of glossopharyngeus, fasdculiis rotundm, ascend-
ing root 0/ the lateral mixed system, fascicuhts solitarius,
respiratory bundle, and fascicle of Erause. — Solitary
elands. See gland. ~ Solitary greenlet or -vlreo,
Kt'reo solitariw, the blue-headed greenlet or vireo of
the I'nited States, having greenish upper parts, a bluish
Solitary Greenlet or Vireo (yirea solitarius).
head, an eye ring, and the under parts white, tinged with
yellowish on the sides. It is 51 inches long, and 8J in extent
of wings.— Solitary sandpiper, the green sandpiper of
North America, Jihyacophilus solitarius, 8i inches long,
extent 18, having the upper parts blackish with a tinge
of green and spotted with white, the under parts white,
streaked on the throat and breast with dusky, barred on
the sides, lining of wings, and tail with black and white,
the bill black, tlie feet grccnish-black. See cut under
iiA,irac«;./iiyiM.— Solitary snipe. See snipe, 1 (a) (2).—
Solitary vlreo. S^me as solitary greetUet. — Solitary
wasps, wasps which, like certain bees and ants, do not
A Solitary Wasp (Larraja semiru/a). (Cross shows natural size.)
live In society, as the true wasps of the families Eumeni-
da and Masaridte, as well as all the digger-wasps : con-
trasted with social vxups. See digger-wasp, sand-wasp,
and wasp.
n. n.; pi. solitaries (-Tiz). One who lives
alone or in solitude ; an anchorite ; a recluse ;
a hermit.
The world Itself has some attractions in it to a solitary
of six years' standing. Gray, Letters, I. 164.
Downward from his mountain gorge
Stept the longhair d, long-bearded solitary.
Tennyson, Knoch Arden.
SOlito (sol'i-to), ade. [It., < L. solitus, accus-
tomed, < solere, be accustomed.] In music, in
the usual, customary manner.
solitude (sol'i-tiid), n. [< ME. solitude, < OF.
(and F.) solitude = It. solitudine, < L. solitudo,
loneliness. < solus, alone: see soleS.] 1. The
state of being alone; a lonely life; loneliness.
Little do men perceive what solitude is, and how far it
eitendeth ; for a crowd is not company. ... It is a mere
and miserable solitude to want true friends.
Bacon, Friendship.
O, might I here
In solitude live savage, in some glade
Obscured ! MUton, P. L., ii. 1088.
2. Remoteness from society; lack or utter
want of companionship: applied to place: as,
the solitude of a wood or a valley.
The solitude of his little parish is become matter of
great comfort to him. Law.
3. A lonely, secluded, or unfrequented place ;
a desert.
We walked about 2 miles from ye <'itty to an agreeable
solitude called Du Plessis, a house belonging to y« King.
Evelyn, Diary, June 7, 1644.
solitude
There is Buch an Agreeable variety o{ fields, wood, water,
and cascades that it is one of the most delightful soli'
tudet I ever saw.
Pocockej Description of the East, II. i. 224.
= Syn. 1. Soiitiitte, Hetirenietit, Sedvsion, Loneliness, Lone-
tomeneSA. ■ Solitude is the condition of being absolutely
alone^ whether or not one has been with others, or desires to
escape from them : as, the solitude of the Sphinx. Retirement
is comparative solitude, produced by retiring, voluntarily
or otherwise, from contact which one has had with others.
i^elu^ton is stronger than retirement, implying the shut-
ting out of others from access : after the Restoration Mil-
ton for safety's sake kept himself in retir^»ne»(; indeed,
except to a few trusted friends, he was in complete seclu-
sion. Loneliness expresses the uncomfortable feelings, the
longing for society, of one who is alone. Lonesomeness
may be a lighter kind of loneliness, especially a feeling
less spiritual than physical, growing out of the animal
instinct for society and the desire of protection, the con-
sciousness of being alone : as, the lonesomeness of a walk
through a cemetery at night Lonesomeness, more often
ihanUmeliness, may express the impression made upon the
observer.
SOlivagant (so-Hv'a-gant), a. [< L. solus, alone,
+ ta(ian{t-)s, ppr. of vagari, wander, roam: see
rafirant.] Same as solivagous. [Rare.]
solivagous (so-liv'a-gus), a. [< L. solivagus,
wandering alone, ^ solus, alone, + vagus, wan-
dering: see raj^Me.] Wandering alone. Bailey,
1727. [Rare.]
solive (so-lev'), n. [< OF. solive, solieve, F. so-
live (ML. reflex saliva, sidiva, solivia), a girder,
joist; origin uncertain; perhaps ult. < L. suh-
levare, lift up from beneath, support: see sol-
levate, sullevate, sublevate.'] A joist, rafter, or
secondary beam of wood, either split or sawed,
used in laying ceilings or floors, and for resting
upon the main beams.
sollar, SoUer (sol'ar, -er), n. [Also solar; <
ME. soller, sollar, soler, solere,< OF. soler, solair,
solier, a floor, loft, granary, cellar, F. dial.
Salter, a granary, = Pr. solar, solier = It. so-
lare, solajo = AS. solere, solor = OS. soleri =
MD. solder, T>. zolder = MLG. solder, soller =
OHG. soleri, soluri, the pretorium, a guest-
chamber, MH6. solre, solsere, G. soller, a balcony,
an upper room, garret, < L. solarium, a sunny
place, a terrace, the flat roof of a house ex-
posed to the sun, a sun-dial, < so?, the sun: see
sol^, solarium. Perhaps in some senses con-
fused with L. solum, ground: see «oi/l.] If.
Originally, an open gallery or balcony at the
top of a house, exposed to the sun; later, any
upper room, loft, or garret.
Thou Shalt make soleris and placis of thre chaumbris in
the schip. Wydif, Gen. vi. 16.
2. -Aji elevated chamber in a church from which
to watch the lamps burning before the altars.
Eneyc. Brit., II. 473. — 3t. -A. story of a house.
See the quotation.
Maison A trois estages. An house of three sailers, floores,
stories, or lofts one over another. Nomenclator. (Nares.)
4. In mining, a platform or resting-place. See
ladder-soUar and air-sollar.
SOUeret (sol'fer-et), n. [Also soleret; < F. soleret,
dim. of OF. soler, a slipper, < sole, sole: see
sole*.} The steel shoe
forming a part of armor
in the fourteenth century
and later, usually having
splints overlapping one
another and a long point
or toe curved downward.
It was worn only when the foot
was in the stirrup, and could
be removed when the rider dis-
mounted. See also cuts under
armor and poulaine. — Bear-
paw BOlleret, the steel foot-
covering worn during the sec-
ond half of the illteenth cen-
tury, resembling remotely the broad foot of the bear.
Compare sabbaton.
SoUevatef, i'. t. See .sublevate.
sollicitt, sollicitationt, etc. See solicit, etc.
sol-lunar (soriii"nar), a. [< L. sol,the sun, -f
luna, the moon : see lunar!] Proceeding from
or due to the influence of both the sun and the
moon : in old medicine applied to the influence
supposed to be produced on various diseases
when the sun ana moon are in conjunction.
Solmizate (sol'mi-zat), v. i. ; pret. and pp. sol-
mizated, ppr. salmizating. [< F. solmiser (as sol
+ mi, notes of the gamut (cf . sol-fa), + -iser =
E. -ize), + -ate^.] In music, to use solmization
svllables. Also spelled solmisate.
solmization (sol-mi-za'shon), n. [< F. salmisa-
tion; as solmizate + -don. Ci.'MJj.solmifacio{n-).']
In music, the act, process, or result of using cer-
tain syllables to name or represent the tones of
the scale, or of a particular series, as the scale
of C. The oldest and most important system of solmiza-
tion is that attributed to Ouido d'Arezzo, early in the elev-
enth century; though this in tarn appears to have been sag-
SoUeret (a) and Jambe (*),
I4tb century.
5762
gested by a similar usage among the ancient Greeks. (See
gamut.) The series «*, re, mi, /a, sol, ta (derived from the
initial syllables of tlie lines of a hymn to St. John, begin-
ning *• It queantlaxis") was applied to the tones of each of
the hexacliords then recognized. (See hexachord.) When
a melody exceeded the limits of a single hexachord. a
change from one series of syllables to another was made,
which was called a mutation or modulation. Early in the
sixteenth century, when the modern octave scale became
established, the syllable si (probably taken from the ini-
tials of the last line of the above hymn) was added for the
seveiitli or leading tone. Somewhat later do was substi-
tuted in Italy and Germany for ut, on account of its greater
sonority. The series thus formed is still in use, though
otlier systems have been proposed. Such other systems
are bocedization {bo, ce, di, ga, lo, ma, 7n), also called 6o6i-
zation; bebization (la, be, ce, de, tne, /e, ge) ; and dameniza-
tion (da, me, ni, »o, tu, la, be). In England and America,
from before the middle of the seventeenth century to the
beginning of the nineteenth, an abbreviated system was
used, including only mi, fa, sol, la. The ideal application
of solmization involves calling whatever tone is taken as
the key-note do, irrespective of its pitch, and adjusting
the other syllables accordingly, so that the scale-tones
shall always be named by the same syllables respectively,
and the various intervals by the same combination of syl-
lables. This system is often called that of the movable do,
since the pitch of do is variable. What is called the fixed-
do system has also had considerable currency in Italy,
France, and England, according to which the tone C is
always called do, D re, E mi, etc., and this too when the
pitch of these tones is chromatically altered, the system
therefore following the arbitrary features of the keyboard
and the staff-notation. This system is regarded by many
musicians as contrary to the historic and logical idea of
solmization, and its use in England and America is de-
creasing. The most important special application of sol-
mization in musical study is that of the toiiic sol-fa system,
(which see, under tonic), the syllables of which are doh,
ray, me, fah, soh, lak, te. In the movable-do system the
sharp of any tone is indicated by a syllable beginning with
the same consonant as that of the tone, and using the vowel
i: as, di for dot,fi for/aff, etc. ; and similarly the flat of
any tone is indicated by a syllable using the vowel e: as,
me for mtfy, le for la\}, etc. The minor scale is solmizated
in two ways: either beginning with la, and using the
same syllables as in the major scale ; or beginning with
do, and using such modified syllables as may be needed
{do, re, me, etc.). The great utility of solmization lies in
its offering an abstract vocal notation of musical facts,
whereby they may be named, remembered, and studied.
Also solmisation, solfamization, solfeggio, and sol-faing.
solo (so'lo), a. and n. K It. solo, alone, < L,
soluSj sole: see sole'^.'\ 1, a. In mttsic, alone;
not combined with other voices or instru-
ments of equal importance ; not concerted. A
solo passage may be accompanied, however,
by voices or instruments of less importance. —
Solo organ, in orgaiv-huUding, a partial oigan introduced
into large instruments, containing stops of special power
or effectiveness, such as are used in producing striking
solo effects. Its keyboard is usually the upper one when
there are four, or the lower when there are three. Its
stops are often connected with a special bellows, which is
weighted with extra weights ; they are then said to be *' on
a heavy wind." The choir-organ is also sometimes loosely
called the solo organ. Beeorgan^. — Solo pitch, in mzwttc,
a special pitch or accordatura (scordatura) adopted by a
solo performer upon a violin or other solo instrument, so
as to produce peculiar and startling effects. — SolO stop,
in organ-building, a stop either of special quality or placed
on a heavy wind, so as to be fitted for the performance of
solos. Such stops often occur in each of the usual partial
organs, but in large instruments the most important of
them are gathered into a separate partial organ called the
solo organ (see above).
II. n.; It. pi. soli (-11), E. pi. solos (-loz).
1. A melody, movement, or work intended
for or performed by a single performer, vocal
or instrumental, with or without accompani-
ment. Opposed to C07icerted pieeCj whether
chorus, duet, trio, or for a number of instru-
ments.— 2. A game of cards, played usually by
four persons, with a euchre pack. That player
who bids highest — that is, offers to take the greatest
number of tricks alone, or, in a variety of the game, aided
by a partner — plays against the rest. If he takes five or
more tricks, he receives a payment from them ; if not, he
makes a payment to them.
solograpll (sol'o-graf ), w. [< L. sol, the sun, +
Gr. Ypd({)Eiv, write,] A picture on paper taken
by the talbotype or ealotype
process. Simmonds,
soloist (s6'lo-ist),w. l<solo-h
-ts^] In music, a performer
of solos, vocal or instrumen-
tal. Also solist.
Solomonic (sol-o-mon'ik), a.
[< Solomon (see'def.) + -^c.]
Of or pertaining to Solomon,
son of David and his succes-
sor as king of Israel: as,
Solomonic wisdom.
Solomon's hyssop, Porch,
servants. See hyssop, porchy
servant.
Solomon' s-seal (sol'o-monz-
ser),«. 1. A plant of the ge- ^^ .
T> 7 i ™. >■ The upper part of
nus rolygonatum. The common the flowering stem of soi-
Solomon's-seal in England is P. omon's-sear {Poiygofia-
multifi^yrum, a plant with erect or ^'- ^^^^ir^^m th'e
curving stems 2 feet high, and flow- ste,j, ^ith the rhizome.
en from one to eight in a cluster, a, a flower ; b, a fruit.
solsticion
A smaller Old World species is P. opjdnale, whose root
(like that of P. mxdiifiorum) is emetic, cathartic, etc., and
was formerly much applied to bruises. In America P.
giganteum is the great Solomon 's-seal, a species 2 to 7 feet
high, with leaves 3 to 8 inches long, and two to eight flow-
ers in a cluster ; and P. bijtorutn is the smaller .Solomon's-
seal, growing 1 to a feet high, with the peduncles com-
monly two-flowered. The larger species are rather strik-
ing plants ; P. multijloruin has been much cultivated.
See also cut under rhizome.
2, A symbol formed of two triangles interlaced
or superposed, presenting a six-rayod figure,
Compare pentacle — False Solomon's-seaL
(a) See Smitacina. (b) See Maianthemum.
so-long (so-16ng'), interj. [Prob. a sailors' per-
version of salaam."] Good-by. Also so long.
[Slang.]
Solonian (so-16'ni-an), a. [< L. Solon, < Gr. S6-
/Mv, Solon, '+ -ian.^ Of or pertaining to Solon,
a famous lawgiver of Athens (about 594 B. c.) :
as, the Solonian Constitutions; Solonian legis-
lation.
Solonic (so-lon'ik), a. [< L. Solon (see Soloni-
an) + -ic.'] Same as Solonian : as, the Solonic
talents.
Solon porcelain. See porcelain^.
Solpuga (sol-jm'ga), n. [NL. (Herbst), < L. sol-
puga, salpuga, soUpuga, soUpugna (as if < sol,
sun, + pitgnare, fight), solifuga (asif < sol, sun,
+ fugere, flee), a kind of venomous insect,
an ant or spider.] 1. The name-giving ge-
nus of Solpugidse, having the tarsi more than
three-jointed. See Galeodes. — 2. [(. c] A
member of this genus; a solifuge or weasel-
spider.
Solpugida (sol-pu'ji-da), n.2)l. [NL., < Solpuga
+ -ida.] An order of arachnids. They have tra-
cheal respiration, the
cephalothorax and
abdomen distinct
(the former segment-
ed into a large cepha-
lic and small thoracic
part), the abdomen
annulated, the cheli-
ceres one-jointed and
chelate, the palpi
long and slender, ex-
tending forward, the
first pair of legs pal-
piform and porrect,
the other legs ending
in pairs of claws, and
the eyes two in num-
ber. The whole body
and the limbs are
clothed with hairs.
These arachnids re-
semble large hairy
spiders externally,
but are more nearly
related to scorpions.
The head is largely made up of the massive chelate falcee.
The only or the leading family is Galeodidse or Solpugidee.
Also Solpugidea, Sdpugides. and in later variant form Soli-
fuffx. Oaleodea is a synonym.
Solpugidse (sol-pii'ii-de), n. pi. [NL., < Sol-
puga -(- -idee.'] A family of arachnidans, named
from the genus Solpuga: synonymous with Ga-
Icodidx.
Solpugidea (sol-pu-iid'f-a), n. pi. [NL., < Sol-
puga + -id-ea.'] Same as Solpugida. Also
called Galeodea.
solsteadt (sol'sted), n. [< L. sol, sun, -I- E.
stead. Cf. sunstead and solstice.] Same as
solstice. [Bare.]
If it be gathered about the summer solstead.
Holland, tr. of Pliny, xxvi. 5.
solstice (sol'stis), n. [Formerly also soUticy;
< ME. solstice, < OF. (and F.) solstice = Sp. Pg.
solsticio = It. solstizio, < L. solstitium, the sol-
stice, a point in the ecliptic at which the sun
seems to stand still, < sol, the sun, + -stitium,
< status, pp. of sistcre, make to stand still, a re-
duplicated form of stare = E. stand: see sol^,
stand, and sist. Ct. armistice.] 1. Jn astron.i
(o) The time at which the sun is at its greatest
distance from the equator, and when its diur-
nal motion in declination ceases, which hap-
pens about June 21st, when it enters Cancer
(the summer solstice), and about December 22d,
when it enters Capricorn (the winter solstice).
(6) A solstitial point. Hence — 2. Figura-
tively, culmination or turning-point; furthest
limit.
He died before his time, perhaps, not yet come to the
solstice of his age. Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 373.
3t. A stopping or standing still of the sun.
The supernatural solstice of the sun in the days of
Joshua. Sir T. Browne.
solsticiont, "• [ME. solsticioun, also sohtacion,
< OF. * solsticion, < L. solstitium, the solstice : see
solstice.] A solstitial point.
Datatnes ffirardi, one of the Solpugidse.
(About two thirds natural size.)
solsticion
In this heved of Cancer is tlie j^ttest declinacioun
northward of the sonne, and therfor is he cleped the sol-
sticioun of Somer. Chaucer^ Astrolabe, i. 17.
solsticyt, >'• [< L. soUtitium, solstice: see sol-
stice.'\ Same as solstice.
The high-heated year
Is in her Bolsticy.
Middleton and liotUey, World Tost at Tennis, Ind.
solstitial (sol-stish'al), a. [< F. soUtiiial, sol-
sliciiil = Sp. Pg. solsticial = It. solsticiale, < L.
soistitialis, < solstitinm, solstice: see soUtice.']
1. Of or pertaining to a solstice : as, a solstitial
point. — 2. Happening at a solstice — especial-
ly, with reference to the northern hemisphere,
at the summer solstice, or midsummer.
The sun
Had , . . from the sonth to bring
SolMitial summer's heat. Milton, P, L., i. 656.
Solstitial armll See annil, 1. — Solstitial point, one
of the two points in the ecliptic which are furthest from
the equator, and at which the sun arrives at the time of
the solstices. They are diametrically opposite to each
other, and the distance of each from the equator is equal
to the oiiliquity of the ecliptic.
solubility (sol-u-bil'i-ti), «. [= F. solubilite =
Sp. solitbilidad= Pg. solubilidade = It. solubilita :
<NL. *solubilita(t-)s, < L. solubilis, soluble: see
soluble.'] 1. The property of being soluble;
that property of a body which renders it sus-
cepti ble of solution ; susceptibility of being dis-
solved in a fluid. — 2. In bot., a capability of
separating easily into parts, as that of certaitj
le^mes to divide transversely into parts or
joints. — 3. Capability of being solved, resolved,
answered, cleared up, or disentangled, as a
problem, a question, or a doubt.
SOlable (sol'n-bl), a. [< F. soluble = 8p. soluble
= Pg. soluvel = It. solubile, < L. solubilis, dis-
solvable, < solvere, solve, dissolve : see solve.]
1. Capable of being dissolved in a fluid ; capa-
ble of solution; dissolvable. — 2. Figuratively,
capable of bein^ solved or resolved, as an al-
gebraical equation ; capable of being disen-
tangled, cleared up, unfolded, or settled by ex-
planation, as a doubt, question, etc.; solvable.
Had he denounced it as a f mitleas qnestion, and (to an*
deretanding) tutuhU by none, the world might have been
•pared a Urge library of resultleaa dUpotation.
Sir W. Hamilton.
More tolutle la this knot
By gentleneu than war. Tennyton, Prlnceaa, r.
St. Relaxed; loose; open.
Ale is their eating and their drinking, sorely, which
keeps their twdles clear and aoluble.
Btau. and Fl., Scornful Lady, Ir. 1.
And then, If Balaam's ass hath bot an audible voice and
a tnluUe purse, he shall be preferred before his master,
were he ten prophets. Ilev. T. Adami, Works, I. 469.
Soluble blue, cotton, glass, indigo. See the nouns.—
Soluble bougie, a Iwugle composed of substances which
milt M till' Ixxly-temperature : used tor the purpose of
administering medicament to the urethral mucous mem-
braiie. Soluble gnncotton. Same as dinitroetauUm.—
Soluble oil. see eaM(/r tfil.— Soluble soap. Seesoap, l.
solubleness f.sol'u-lil-nes), «. S<^luble charac-
ter or pronerty; solubility.
soliun (so'lutn), n. [L., the ground, the earth, a
region : see wi/l, «o/tl.] In Scots law, ground;
ii i)ioce of ground.
solond-goose (so'lund-gSs), n. Same as solan-
(jooife.
solns (so'lus), a. ^. : see soIeS.] Alone: used
cliiefly in dramatic directions: as, enter the
king solus. The feminine form is sola.
solute (so-liit'), a. [< ME. solute, < L. solutus,
pp. of .«o(rere, loose, release, set free: eeesolve.]
It. Loose; free.
Solute or sondy landes thai require,
So that abo^te or under hem be do
A certayne of fatte lande as thai desire.
PaUadiui. Husbondrle (E. E. T. H.), p. 193.
As to the Interpretation of the Scriptures tolule and at
Uvge, there hare been dlrers kinds introduced and de.
vised, some of them rather ctuloos and unMfe than sober
and warranted. Boom, Advancement of Learning, Ii.
2t. Relaxed; hence, joyous; merry.
Bacchus, purple god of Joyous wit,
A brow tolule, and erer-laughing eye.
Young, Night Thooghta, II. 579.
3. In bot., free; not.adhering: opposed to ad-
nnte: as, a solute stipule. — 4. Soluble: as, a
solute salt.
BOlutet (so-luf), V. t. [< L. solutus, pp. of sol-
rere, loosen, solve: see »o/rc, solute, a.] To
dissolve; also, to resolve ; answer; absolve.
Wh»t will not boldness bid a man say, when he hath
made an argument against himself which he cannot so-
Up. UiUry, In Bradford's Works (Parker Soc., 1868X 11 393.
solution (so-lu'shon), n. [< MK. solucion, < OF.
solution. Kolueioii, f\ solution = I^. solution = Sp.
solucion = Pg. solu(;So = It. soluzione, < L. solu-
5763
«io(n-), a loosing, dissolving, < solvere, pp. solu-
<H«, loose, resolve, dissolve: see soiic] 1. The
act of separating the parts of any body; dis-
ruption ; rupture ; fracture ; breach : as, a solu-
tion of continuity (see below). — 2. The trans-
formation of matter from a solid or gaseous
state to the liquid state by means of a liquid
called the solvent or menstruum; the state of
being dissolved. The nature of the phenomenon de-
pends upon whether chemical action is or is not present.
Solution in the physical sense— the common and proper
use of the word — is illustrated by dissolving sugar or
salt in water, or silver in mercury ; here, and in similar
cases, when by the removal of the liquid (as by evapo-
ration) the original solid is obtained, the process is es-
sentially a change of molecular state, from the solid to
^the liquid, and hence accompanied by the absorption of
•heat; this is striicingly seen in freezing-mixtures. The
word is not infre<|ueutly used, however, when the phe-
nomenon is one of chemical combination only, as when sil-
ver dissolves in nitric acid, forming a new substance, sil-
ver nitrate; this, as is generally true of chemical union,
is accompanied Ijy the evolution of heat. The two phe-
nomena, physical and chemical, may both be present in
solution at the same time, and the line between them of-
ten cannot be sharply drawn ; glacial acetic acid dissolves
in water and at the same time combines with it, the lib-
eration of heat of the chemical part of the process over-
balancing the absorption of heat in the physical. The
solution of a gas in a liquid, as of ammonia gas in water
(also cttWed abmrptioH), is essentially the physical process
of the change of the gas to the liquid, and hence is ac-
companied with the evolution of heat. The term solu-
tion is also sometimes applied to the absorption of gases
by solids; as when palladium aljsorbs or dissolves hydro-
gen gas, forming a true alloy with it. The solubility of
any solid is constant at a given temperature, and may be
accurately determineil by experiment. It may be in-
creased or diminished by the presence of other substances
in solution. The solubility of any gas also is constant
under the same conditions. It varies with the tempera-
ture, the pressure, the nature of the liquid, and the mat-
tera in solution in it. In a mixture of gases, each is dis-
solved In the same quantity as if it were present alone
under the same tension as in the mixture.
3. The liquid produced as a result of the process
or action above described; the preparation
made by dissolving a solid in a liquid: as, a
solution of salt, soda, or alum; solution of iron,
etc. — 4. A liquid or dissolved state or condi-
tion; unsettled state ; suspense.
solutive
lution of the general biquadratic equation, dittering from
Ferrari's only in the method of investigation.— Dobell'S
solution,^ a solution containing sodium borate 120 grains,
sodium bicarbonate 1-20 grains, crystallized carbolic acid
24 grains, glycerin i tluidounce, water to make 16 fluid-
ounces.— Donovan's solution, a solution of arsenic io-
dide 1, red iodide of mercury 1, water 98 parts : alterative.
Also called solution of iodide of arsenic and mercury. —
Ethereal solution, a solution whose solvent or men-
struum is an ether, usually sulphuric ether.— Siller's so-
lution, a solution of a biquadratic after the second term
has been got rid of. It ditfers little from Ferrari's solution.
— Fehllng's solution, an aqueous solution of copper sul-
phate, Rochelle salts, and sodium hydrate. When heated
with any reducing sugar, as dextrose, copper suboxid is de-
posited from it. It is used in the analysis of saccharine
bodies, and as a qualitative test of the presence of sugar.
- Ferrari's SOlutlon,a solution of the general biquadrat-
ic. .See tnquadrati/i etjuation, under equation. — FoWler'S
solution, a solution of arsenious acid 1, potassium bi-
carbonate 1, compound tincture of lavender 3, water 95
parts ; one of the best vehicles for administering arsenic.
Also called liquor potaggii arsenituf, solution of arsenite of
putasgium, and a<^/e-drop. — General solution. See dif-
ferential eqtiation, under ejimd'on.- Ckjadby'S Solution^
a preparation for preserving animal substances, made
with bay-salt, corrosive sublimate or ai-senious acid, and
water. Thomm, Med. Diet — Hall's solution of Strych-
nine, a solution of strychnine acetate 16 grains, dilute
acetic acid * fluidounce, alcohol 4 fluidounces, compound
tincture of cardamom tiO minims, water to make 16 fluid-
ounces.— Heavy solution, in mineral., a liquid of high
density, as a solution of mercuric iodide in potassium io-
ditie (called the Snngtadt or Thoulet solidion), having a max-
imum specific gravity of 3.2, or of borotungstate of cad-
mium (Klein solution), specific gravity 3.6, used as a grav-
ity-solution (which see). — Improper solution, a func-
tion which solves a given diiferential equation, but also
solves an equation either of lower order or of the same
order but of lower degree. — Javelle's solution, potas-
sium carbonate 58, chlorinated lime SO, water 862 parts.
Also called solution of chlorinated pota^a. — Labax-
raque'S solution. .Same as Labarraque's Jtuid (which
see, under yiiH'rfj.—Ldffler's solution, a saturated alco-
holic solution of methyl blue 30 parts, and 100 parts of
a 1 ; 10,000 aqueous solution of potassimn hydrate : used
In staining bacteria.— Lugol's solution, a solution of
iodine ."i, potassium iodide 10, water 85 parts. Also called
compfiund solution of iodine. — Magendie's solution of
morphine, morphine sulphate 16 grains, water 1 fluid-
ounce : useti to administer morphine hypodermically. —
Uecbanical solution, the mere union of a solid with
a liquid in such a manner that its aggregate form is
changed without any alteration of the chemical proper-
ties of either the solid or its solvent : thus, sugar dis-
solves in water without either undergoing any chemical
Uls[Leasing's>w«samlndslwsysInto<u(u>n,whIchthe . „ ^ . , , ^. „ „ .
divine order of things, aslt Iscalled, could not precipitate change.- Mechanical solution Of a problem. See me-
into any of the tradltiooal forms of crystidlization, and in <:A<i<ii<-nf.— Mineral solution. See jnuKra?.- Nessler'S
which the time to come was already fermenting. .-<i..»i-.- < v ;,.. . ,.. i.,..,, ,
Lowell, Among my Books, Ist ser., p. 313.
6. The act of solving, working out, explaining,
clearing up, or settling, or the state of being
solved, explained, cleared up, or settled; reso-
lution ; explanation : as, the solution of a diflB-
cult problem or of a doubt in casuistry.
It Is accordlnge to nature no man to do that wherby he
shulde take . . . a prayeof a nother mannes Ignoraunce.
Of this matter Tola writeth many propre examples and
quicke soIuNons. Sir T. Myot, The Oovemour, ill. 4.
In his singular "Ode Inscribed to W. H. Channing"
there is a hint of a possible lolution of the slavery prob-
lem. 0. W. Uoltnes, Emerson, vili
6. A method of solviiig or Anally clearing up or
settling something. Specifically — 7. The an-
swer to a problem or puzzle of any kind, toge-
ther with the proof that that answer is correct.
— 8. Dissolution; a dissolving.
Easy and frequent sotuttons of conjugal society.
Locke, Civil Government, | sa
9t. Release ; deliverance ; discharge. Imp. Diet.
— 10. In med., the termination of a disease,
especially when accompanied by critical symp-
toms ; the crisis of a disease. — 11. In civil law,
pa\inent; satisfaction of a creditor Alcoholic
solution. See (i'«r(urf. Algebraic solution of an
equation, a solution by means of an alKchraic foiiiinla,
especially by radicals.— Aqueous solution, a soluticin
whose solvent or menstruum is water.- BarreswlU's
solution, a test for sugar similar to Fehling's stilutiun. —
Burnett's solution See Burnett's liquid, under liquid.—
Burow's solution, a solution of aluminium subacetate,
useil a.>! a In. ;d astringent in skin-alfectionB. — Cardan's
solution, the onlinar)' algebraic solution of a cubic. See
ctiUc. — Cayley's solution (a) A solution of the general
cul>lc. Let r = 0 be the cubic, D Its discriminant, and J
Its cubicovarbuit, then the solution follows from
fUyO-i-J-hfUVD-J.
These cube rtjots can always be extracted. (6) A solu-
tion of the general quartic, due to Professor Oayley. Let
U = 0 Iw the quartic, H Its Hessian. 8 its quadrinvarlant,
T Its cublnvariant or catalecticant, and c,, c,, c, the roots
of the cubic c' — 8c -f T = 0, then the solution follows from
+ («.-
CiU-f (Ca-cOyH— e,U
•«,)yH-c,U = 0.
The 8<|nare roots can always be extracted.— Chemical
solution, the solution of a solid l>o<ly in a liquid which
is caused by or accompanied with a chemical reaction
between the solid and the solution, as of zinc in dilute
sulphuric acid. Clemens's solution, a solution of ar-
senic br'>inIdo, nse<i in tlie treatment of diabetes. — Com-
pound solution of iodine. Same us Lvgol'i totuUon. —
Compound solution of sodium borate. Same as Do-
bells solution.— Oeacantea'a solution, an algebraical so-
SOlution. Same as y,sslrr's rfofjent (which see, under re-
agent).-Numerical solution, a solution of an equation
by means of numerical apprnximation.— Particular so-
lution. See diji'cri-nlial rquali'in, under equation. — Pas-
teur's solution, in Ixit., a liquid holding in solution a
small percentage of certain inorganic salts and a larger
pereenlage of certain organic substances, employed in the
cultivation of the lower forms of vegetable life, such as
bacteria, yeast-cells, and fungi, for purposes of study.
The composition Is — potassium phosphate 20 parts, cal-
cium phosphate 2 parts, magnesium sulphate 2 parts,
ammonium tiirtrate 100 parts, cane-sugar 1,.^00 parts,
distilled water 8,376 parts.— Pearson's arsenical so-
lution, crystallized sodium arseniate 1, water 599 parts.
— Pierlot's solution, an aiiueous solution of ammo-
nium valerianate to which is added some of the alco-
holic extract of valerian. — Proper solution, a function
which satisfies a diiferential equation, and no equation of
lower order nor of the same order but of lower degree. —
Saturated solution, a solution which at the given tem-
perature cannot be made to contain more of the given
sulistaiue than it alreaily contains, the adhesion of the
liquid t.i the substance being Just balanced l)y the cohe-
sion of the particles of the solid body in contact with it.
— Simpson's solution Same as Ferrari's solution. —
Singular solution. See dilhrential equation, under equa-
tion.—aolutlon Of acetate of ammonia, in phar., a
solution c<iiiip"sed of dilute acetic acid 100 parts, am-
monium carl ite added to the point of neutralization:
a valuable diaphoretic and diuretic. Also called spirit of
Jftnrf«renM.— Solution of albumen, a test solution con-
sisting of the white of (inc egg triturated with four ounces
of water.and Altered : used in pharmacenticalwork.— So-
lution of an equation. See equation.— SolaUca of
continuity, in suri;., the separation of parts normally
continuous, as by a fracture, laceration, etc. — Solution
Of lime, a clean saturated solution of slaked lime in
water, useful as an antacid, astringent, and tonic. Com-
moidy called lime-vater.- Solution of potassa, in
phar., an aqueous solution of potassium hydrate, KHO,
containing .'> i>er cent, of the hy(lrate : an antacid, diuretic,
and antilithic. Also called lu{utrrpotassx. — Solution of
soda, in phar., an aqueous solution containing 6 per
cent, of sodium hydrate.— Solution Of sodlum car-
bolate, ill phar., crystals of carbolic acid .so, sodium
hydrate 2, water 28 parts. Also called phenol sodique.—
Solution of subacetate of lead, a solution composed
of lead acetate 170, lead oxid 120, water 1,710 parts : a use-
ful astringent and sedative for external use. Also called
(Jmtlard's extract.— Sonstadt solution, a solution of
mercury Iodide In potassium i'nUiie. See specific grav-
ity, under urarity.— Standardized solution, a solution
whose strengtb or composition has been accurately deter-
mined, and which Is used as a standard of comparison. —
Thompson's solution of phosphorus, a solution con-
taining phosphorus, absolute alcoh'pl, spirit of pepper-
mint, and glycerin. -Trigonometrical solution, a solu-
tion of an equation by nieans of trigonometric functions.
For an example, aeecutnc fqualion, under equation. — Van
Swleten's solution, a solution of mercury perclilorld. —
Vlemlngkx's solution, a solution composed of lime 1,
sulphur 2, water 20 parts boiled down to 12 parts.
solutive (sol'u-tiv), a. [< solute + -ive.] 1.
Tending to dissolve ; loosening; laxative.
solutive
Ab8t«ntTev and opening, and solutive as mead.
Baton, Nat. Hist., § 848.
2. Capable of being dissolved or loosened. Imp.
Diet.
solvability (sol-va-bil'j-ti), n. [< solvable +
-it!/(see -bility}.'\ 1. Capability of being solved ;
solubility: as, the solvability of an equation. —
2t. Ability to pay all just debts ; solvency.
solvable (sol'va-bl), a. [< F. solvable, payable ;
as solve + -able.'] If. Payable.
Some of those corrodies (where the property was altered
into a set summe of money) was soicatne out of the ex-
chequer. Fuller, Ch. Hist, VI. 326. (Davies.)
2t. Solvent.
Was this well done of him [David, at Adullaml, to he
protector-general of outlaws, thereby defying justice, de-
frauding creditors, defeating God's command, which pro-
vided that the debtor, if not solvable, should be sold for
satisfaction? Fuller, Pisgali Sight, II. xiii. 32.
3. Capable of being solved, resolved, or ex-
plained: as, equations above the fourth degree
are not solvable by means of radicals.
Also solviblc.
SOlvableness (sol'va-bl-nes), n. Solvability.
Solvay process. See soda, 1.
solve (solv), V. t.; pret. and pp. solved, ppr. solv-
ing. [< ME. solven, < OF. solver, vernacularly
soudre, F. soudre = Sp. Pg. solver = It. solvere,
< L. solvere, pp. solutus, loosen, relax, solve, <
so-, for se-, apart (see se-, and cf. sober), + lucre,
loosen, = Gr. ^i-eiv, loosen, set free, release : see
iosei, loose. Hence ult. (< L. solvere) E. solva-
ble, solvent, soluble, solute, solution, etc., absolve,
absolute, assoil, dissolve, dissolute, resolve, reso-
lute, etc.] 1. To loosen; disentangle; unrav-
el; hence, to explain or clear up the difficulties
in ; resolve ; explain ; make clear ; remove per-
plexity from: as, to solve a difficulty, a puzzle,
or a problem.
If her wretched captives could not solve and interpret
these riddles, she with great cruelty fell upon them in
their hesitation and confusion, and tore them to pieces.
Bacon, Physical Fables, x.
The most subtile and jrowerful intellects have been
labouring for centuries to solve these difficulties.
Macaulay, Sadler's Law of Population.
2. To determine; put an end to; settle.
He . . . would . . . solve high dispute
With conjugal caresses. Milton, P. L., viii. 56.
Centuries elapsed before the attempt to solve the great
schism of the East and West by a Council.
Pusey, Eirenicon, p. 91.
3. To determine or work out by rule; operate
on by calculation or mathematical processes,
80 as to bring out the required result : as, to
solve a problem in mathematics. — 4. To dis-
solve; melt. [Rare.]
I'nder the influence of the acid, which partly destroys,
partly solves the membranes.
Workshop Receipts, 1st ser., p. 361.
SOlvet (solv), n. [< solve, v.] Solution.
But why thy odour matcheth not thy show,
The solve is this, that thou dost common grow.
Shak., Sonnets, Ixix.
solvency (sol'ven-si), n. [< solven(t) + -CJ/.]
The state of being solvent ; ability to pay all
just debts or just claims.
Our speech . . . was of tithes and creeds, of beeves and
grain, of commodities wet and dry, and the solvency of the
retail dealers. SeoU, Rob Roy, iii.
solvend (sol'vend), 11. [< L. solvendmn, fut.
pass. part, of solvere, loosen, dissolve : see
solve. 1 A substance to be dissolved.
Solutions differ from chemical compounds in retaining
the properties both of the solvent and of the solvend.
C. Tmnlinson,
solvent (sol'vent), a. and n. [= Sp. It. sol-
vente, < L. solven(t-)s, ppr. of solvere, loosen, dis-
solve : see solve.] I. a. 1 . Having the power
of dissolving: as, a solvent body. — 2. Able or
sufficient to pay all just debts: as, a solvent
person or estate. Speciflcally— (a) Able to pay one's
debts as they become due in the ordinary course of busi-
ness. (6) Having property in such amount and situation
that all one's debts can be collected out of it by legal pro-
cess. See insolvency, (c) Of sufficient value to pay all just
debts : as, the estate is solvent.
H. «. Any fluid or substance that dissolves
or renders other bodies liquid ; a menstruum.
Water is of all solvents the most common and most useful.
Alcohol is the solvent of resinous bodies and of some
other similarly constituted substances ; naphtha, oil of
turpentine, and ether are solvents of caoutchouc; chlorin
and aqua regia, or nitromuriatic acid, are solvents of gold.
The universal solvent sought by the alchemists.
Lowell, Study Windows, p. SI.";.
solver (sol'v6r), n. [< ,iolve + -eri.] One who
solves, in any sense of the verb.
solvible (sol'vi-bl), a. See solvable.
solyt, adv. An obsolete form of solely.
5764
som^t. An old spelling of some, sttm^.
SOm-', ". [Russ. soma, the silure.] The sheat-
fish, Silurus giants.
It [isinglass] is a Russian kind, obtained from the blad-
ders of the som flsh. Sn. Amer., N. S., LVIII. 133.
Soma^ (so'mil), H. ; pi. somata (-ma-tii). [NL.,
< Gr. aufia, tte body, a dead body',' body as op-
posed to spirit, material substance, mass, etc.,
also a person, body, human being.] Body. Spe-
cifically— (a) In anat.. and zobl., the entire axial part of
the body of an animal ; the corpus, minus the membra ;
the head, necic, trunlc. and tail, without the limbs. (6) In
theol., the body as distinguished from the psyche or soul,
and the pneuma or spirit.
soma'"' (so'ma), n. [< Skt. soma (= Zend liao-
ma), juice, <.i/ su, press out. Cf. Gr. o~6(, juic^,
sap (see opium), L. sucus, succus, juice (see suc-
culent).] 1. In ancient India, a drink having
intoxicating properties, expressed from the
stems of a certain plant, and playing an impor-
tant part in sacrifices, being offered especially
to the god Indra. It was personified and dei-
fied, and worshiped as a god. — 2. An East In-
dian plant, the probable source of the beverage
soma. It is believed to be of the milkweed family and
of the species now classed as Sarcostemma brevistigma
(the Asclepias acida of Roxburgh). This is a twining
plant, with jointed woody stems of the size of a quill,
and numerous succulent branches which are pendulous
when unsupported. The flowers are small, greenish-
white, and fragrant, in elegant small umbel-like cymes
at the ends of the branchlets. The plant yields a mild
acidulous milky juice, which appears to have formed the
basis of the drink called soma (see def. 1). The juice of
more than one species may have been thus used. The
plant grows in dry rocky places in India and Burma.
Also called moon-plant (from mythological associations)
and swallowivort.
3. In later Hind, myth., the moon, or \_cap.] the
deity of the moon.
gomacule (so'ma-kiil), ». [< NL. *somaculum,
dim. of soma, < dv. aH/ja, body : see so?na^.] The
smallest portion of protoplasm which can retain
its physiological properties — that is, the chem-
ical niolecule of protoplasm. Foster.
Somaj (so-miij'), n. [< Hind, somdj, a church,
an assembly, < Skt. samaja, assembly, < sum, to-
gether, + •/ aj, drive. Cf. Brahmo-Somaj.] See
Brahmo-Somaj.
soma-plant (so'ma-plant), n. Same as soma, 2.
Somaschian (so-mas'ki-an), ». [< Somascha
(see def.) + -ian.] A member of a Roman
Catholic congregation, founded at Somascha,
near Milan, in Italy, in the first half of the
sixteenth century: it adopted the rules of St.
Augustine.
Somateria (s6-ma-te'ri-a), n. [NL. (Leach,
1819), so called ini allusion to the down on the
body; < Gr. ao>/ia{T-), body, + ip'ov, wool.] A
genus of Anatidx of the subfamily Fuligulinee,
including various marine ducks of large size,
with copious down on the under parts, with
King^-duclc {Somateria s/ier/api/i's), iiuile.
which the female lines the nest, and large, diver-
siform, variously feathered or gibbous bill ; the
eiders or eider-ducks. The common eider is 5. mol-
lisginna; the king-duck is S. spectabUis ; the spectacled
eideris5./«cA«n',' Steller's eider is .S. sfrfim. Thegenus
is often dismembered into Somateria proper, Erionetta,
Lampronetta, and Ileniconetta (or Polysticta), respectively
represented l3y the four species named. They inhabit arc-
tic and northerly regions, and are related to the scoters
(QiJdemia). See Polysticta, and cut under eider-duck.
somatic (so-mat'ik), a. [= F. somatique, < Gr.
auiiaTiKdt;, pertaining to the body, bodily, < au-
//a, the body: see.somal.] 1. Of or pertaining
to the body or material organism, as distin-
guished from the soul, spirit, or mind ; physi-
cal ; corporeal ; bodily.
It was shown that in the British official nosology mental
diseases were classified as disorders of the intellect, the
idea of mmatic disease as associated with insanity being
studiously ignored. l>r. Tuke.
We need here to call to mind the continuity of our pre-
sentations, and especially the existence of a t)ackground
of organic sensations or sovuxtic consciousness, as it is va-
riously termed. J. Ward, Encyc. Brit., XX. 68.
somatome
2. Of or pertaining to the soma : as, the longi-
tudinal somatic axis lies in the meson. — 3. Of
or pertaining to the cavity or interior hollow
of the body of an animal, and especially to the
body-walls of such cavity ; parietal, as distin-
guished from visceral or splanchnic ; coelomatic ;
somatopleural. — 4. Pertaining to mass So-
matic anthropology, that division of anthropology
which deals with anatomical points. — Somatic cavity,
the ccL'lomatic cavity, body-cavity, or coelom : distin-
guished from enteric cavity, from which it is usually shut
off completely. The interiors of the thorax and abdomen
are somatic cavities. See cuts under Actinozoa, Cam-
panularia, and Hydrozoa.
In the Ccelenterata, the somatic cavity, or enterocoele,
is in free communication with the digestive cavity.
Huxley, Anat. Invert., p. 56.
Somatic cells, in bot., cells forming a part of the body
of the individual, not speciflcally niodifled for any other
purpose : said sometimes of those cells of plants which
take part In vegetative reproduction. — Somatic death,
death of the body as a wliole: contrasted with death of
any of its parts. — Somatic musculature, the muscles
of the somatopleure ; that one of the two <:hief layers of
muscles which is subjacent to the dermic or outer epithe-
lium : contrasted with splanchnic musctdature. — Somat-
ic velocity, the mass of matter through which a dls-
turi)ance is propagated in a unit of time while advan-
cing along a prism of unit sectional area ; mass-velocity,
liankine.
SOmatical (so-mat'i-kal), a. [< somatic + -al.]
Same as soniatic. Bailey, Y121.
somatlcs (so-mat'iks), n. [PI. of somatic (see
-ics).] Same as somatology, 1.
SOmatism (so'ma-tizm), n. [< Gr. ac>fia(T-), the
body, -t- -i.5»H.] Materialism.
SOmatist (so'ma-tist), n. [< Gr. cufia^T-), the
body, + -ist.] One who admits the existence
of corporeal or material beings only; one who
denies the existence of spiritual substances; a
materialist.
And so our unnatural somatists know none of the most
excellent substances, which actuate all the rest, but only
the more base and gross, which are actuated by them.
Baxter, Dying Thoughts.
somato-aetiological (s6''''ma-to-e"ti-9-loj'i-kal),
a. [< Gr. ai)/ia{T-), body, + E. ktiology + -ic-iil.]
Pertaining to or regarding the body as a cause
(as of disease). F. C. Mann, Psychol. Med.,
p. 51.
Somatocyst (s6'ma-to-sist), n. [< Gr. acJfia{T-),
the body, + Ki'CTT/f, bladder: see cyst.] The in-
flated stem or body of some siphonophorans, or
oceanic hydrozoans, serving as a pneumatocyst
or air-sac to float or buoy these organisms, as in
the case of the Portuguese man-of-war. See
Calycophora, Siphonophora'^, and cuts under Di-
phyidse and Vhysalia.
SOmatocystic (s6''''ma-to-sis'tik), a. [< somato-
cyst + -ic] Vesicular or cystic, as the body-
cavity of a siphonophorous hydrozoan; of or
pertaining to a somatocyst.
somatogenic (s6"ma-to-jen'ik), a. [< Gr. <Tt<-
l'a{T-), the body, +" -yevij^, produced: see -ge-
nous.] Originating in the soma, body, or physi-
cal organism in consequence of its conditions
of environment: noting those modifications or
biological characters which an organism ac-
quires in reacting upon its material surround-
ings.
He [Prof. Weismann] uses the term somatogenic to ex-
press those characters which first appear In the body It-
self, and which follow from the reaction of the soma under
direct external influences. Nature, XL. 531.
SOmatologic (s6"ma-to-loj'ik), a. [< somatoU
og-y + -ic] Same as somatological.
somatological (s6'''ma-to-loj'i-kal), a. [< so-
mntolog-y + -ic-al.] Of or pertaining to soma-
tology in any sense, especially to somatology
as a department of anthropology; physical;
corporeal; material.
somatologically (so"ma-to-loj'i-kal-i), adv. As
regards jiliysique or bodily frame; physically;
from tlie point of view of somatology. Science,
XII. 227.
somatology (s6-ma-tol'6-ji), 71. [= F. soma-
tologie; < Gr. cCi/id(T-), the body, + -?.oyia, < /.e-
yeiv, speak: see -ology.] 1. The science of liv-
ing or organized bodies, considered with regard
only to their phvsical nature or structure. It in-
cludes natural history In the usual sense, as embracing
zoology, botany, anatomy, and physiology, and differs from
biology only in taking no account of mental or psychologi-
cal phenomena. Also so^natics.
2. More broadly, physics; the doctrine of mate-
rial bodies or siibstances.— 3. Specifically, the
doctrine of the human body, as a department of
anthropology; human anatomy and physiology;
also, a treatise on this subject — Anthropurglc
somatology. See anthropxtrgic.
somatome (s6'ma-t6m), n. [For *somatotnme,
< Gr. c<l>ua{T-), the body, + -ro/;of, < rhiveiv,
somatome
laftelv, cut.] An ideal section or segment of the
body; one of the structural pai-ts into which a
body, especially a vertebrate body, is theoreti-
cally dmsible. When actually so divided, the soma-
tomes are the somites, metameres, arthiomeres, diar-
somatomic (so-ma-tom'ik), a. [< somatome +
-ic.J Having the nature, quality, or character
of a somatome ; dividing or segmenting a body
into theoretic or actual somites: somitic: met-
amene. '
somatopagus (s6-ma-top'a-gus), n.; pi. soma-
topwj, (-J1). [XL., < Gr. cCua{T.), the body, +
jajof. that which is fixed, < ffiyjviwi (•/ n-av)
fex.J In tetatol., a double monster with sepa-
rate trunks. '^
SOmatoparallelus (so'ma-to-par-a-Ie'Ius) « •
pi. xomatoparalleli (-li). •[N'L.,< &r. aCiAa(T-),
the body, + -a/)u/./.;?/.of, beside one another-
see jmraUel.-] In teratoL, a somatopagus with
the axes of the two bodies parallel,
somatoplasm (s6'ma-t6-plazm) n. [< Gr
a<jfiii(T.) the body, +'\r/Aatia, anything formed
or molded: s^e plasm.-] Somatic pla^; the
substance of the body.
^^.F*™.'''*T„°r.''"°P'""' <>' ">e fli^t ontogenetic
grade is not modified into the mtrntopUum of Pro? ViniL
Suture, SLI. 320.
SOmatopleura (s6'ma-t6-pI6'ra), «.; pi', somato-
pleurie (-re^ [NL.: see somahpleureA Same
a.« soiiKitopUure.
f„™L'^f"?K"" °' «>"n«"« Md TMcolar tiwue, partly
formed by the »n«otopfeuro. «»ero.. Sci, N. S., XXissi
somatopleural (so'ma-to-plo'ral), a. r< »o»ia-
top <?«r6. -1-^/.] Of or pertaining to the soma-
topleure ; forming or formed by the somato-
pleure: as, the somatopleural layer or division
or mesoflerm. Also somatopleuric.
somatoplenre (so'ma-to-pier), n. r< NL »o-
«mtople,a-a, < Gr. auua(,T.), the body, -I- ,T)i^pa.
the side.] The outer one of two divisions of
the mesoderm of a four-layered germ, the in-
ner one being the splanehnopleure. a eerm that
il i'St^""""^!-.""" ^ oonri.ti of «, eclodera and
an endoderm, with meaoderm between them-ln lUMt
anhnaU become, four-layered by . i^UttiS^ of the i^
derm U,Ui two laye™, the outer or iomatopleanU and th^
imer or splanchnopleanU. «,p,rmted by a q>™e which
is the t)o<ly.cavity or coelom. The somatop^eure thn»
lU I^U ^J "' "!""."J^ l">K"««e. togetherwith
US venela, nerrea, and other spechU atru^ures - not
while the »planchnopleare forms a portion of the sub.
somatopleuric (ro'ma-to-ple'rik), a. [< *„OT„.
»«/-/-„,,+ „.] Same as. «o»wtopte«ra/. Foster,
t,lem. ot Krnliryol.. j). .'iO. '
somatosplancmiopleuric ( so'ma-to-splamrk-
no-plo'nk) a. [f Gr. ,Tu;«(r-), the b^y7+
OTTAayxmp, the inward part«, + v>^vpd, the side 1
Common to the somatoplenre and the splaneh-
nopleiirc. J/i>ro». AVi., XXVIII. 117
somatotomv(»d-ma-tot'o-mi),n. [< Gr.'oii««(T-)
the bo<iy. -f .ro/.,a, < rf^ven; ra^lv, cut.] The
anatomy of the human body; anthropStomy!
somatotridymus (so'ma-to-trid'i-mng). n • t>i
body -h ro,di,^„r, threefold.] In teraiol.) a mon
ster having three bodies.
somatotropic tso'ma-to-trop'ik), a T< Gr
^--(.-), tfle l>odv, +---r;x>,rof, < rp^f^^v, tU, +
L„J . r ••• ""''•I'lt'ng or characterized by
somatotropism. ^
somatotropism (nd-ma-tot'ro-pizm), n. I< so-
M "^r;ari2'd?yidX".^t;;o"£T
^n»c to this influence, into twoTUBeT the «^lZh.
somber, sombre (8om'b<.r). «. r= d. somber
ormorly al.o sommer < P. Uhre L Hp! Zfr^
(= 1 «. somhrm), shady, gloomy, < TOm6r« (= Pg
'r"!;7'; «'"^';- J'"-'' I'"t of a picture, ^also^a
ghost (cf.fMowftrar, frighten): cf OV.essombre
a shady place ; prob. < 1.. 'exumhrare. < ZTZt
+J"'>''ra. shade (or, according to some, the Sp
t'g. forms are like Pr. sotzumhrar. shade, < L
subumhn.n, < s,.h. under, + umbra, shade -gee
rJrl ^- ""'''= ''""! •l"«'<y: gioomy:'a8,a
•owfter hue ; somber clouds. ^ • »», a
5765
Sombre, old, colonnaded aisles. Tennyson, The Daisy.
2.. Dismal; melancholy; dull: opposed to cAeer-
t:^}"^a'"^J^ poetical in the lives of the early New-
Englanders had something shy, if not mnbre, a3 it
Iroicell, Among ray Books, 1st ser., p. 232.
=Syn. 1. Darksome, cloudy, murky.
somber, sombre (som'ber), v. t; pret. and pp.
Mmbercd, sombrcd, ppr. sombering, sombrina.
[< somber, sombre, a.] To make somber, dark,
or gloomy; shade. ' '
somterly, sombrely (som'ber-li), adv. in a
soinber manner: darkly; gloomily.
somberness, sombreness (som'bfer-nes), n
bomber character, appearance, or state ; dark-
ness; gloominess.
H JSf '"^"k * gloom which follows In the track of ennui
deepened the natural aovtbrenem of all men's thoughts
C. F. Keary, Trim. Belief, p. 508.
sombre, etc. See somber, etc
^*?^''^'i"*?i^-P"".*"^'"*>' "• t< Sombrero (see
nWflJ" 'f 1^ • -^ ?^'"*^y mineral consisting
chiefly of calcium phosphate with impurities
friaSi^Tn'^?^ !* H„ " "'™' » >"«« P^rt of some smal
Islands In the Antilles, especially of .Sombrero and has
of nhSs'^on.r Vf'!'"^' manure ind for ^he SuTactSre
01 phosphorus. It is supposed to be derived from the del
Si^^d ^Sr^'XZ'. ""^ "'"^^ ■""'- -'^•SL"'lt
sombrero (som-bra'ro), n. [< Sp. sombrero, a
broad-brimmed hat, also a sounding-board <
?el't W' '•'/«'' '■ '•''t *'"?'*.^-^ ^ broad-brimmed
relt hat, of Spanish ongin, but now widely used
throughout the continent of America.
They rowe too and fro, and haue all their marchandlroa
tteS'lldTtril"" fn*™" *m*r^o or Sow tul
tnelr heads to koepe the sanne from them, which Is as
broad a« a great cart wheele. aakiuyf, royoyw I1 1^
nef^rlSfwifhT^i" thecostume of the country -flan-
necki, thick troasen and boots, and large mnbrero,
^A< Century, XXXIX 626.
Sombrero guano. Same as sombrerite.
sombrous isom'brus), a. [< somber + .«i« 1
oomber; gloomy. [Poetical.]
A certain uniform strain of tombrouM graylty
T. Warton, Hist Eng. Poetry, III. 171
Mixed with graceful birch, I he umOnma pine
And yewtree oer the silver rocks recline
Wordtumih, Evening Walk,
sombrously (som'brus-li ), adv. In a sombrous
manner; gloomily; somberly. [Poeticall
spmbrousness (som'bms-nes"), H. The state of
being sombrous.
SOmdelt, somdelet, atlv. See somedeal.
SOmel («uin). /^ and pro,,. [Early mod. E.
also som; < ME. som, sum, pi. summe, somme
some, < AS. sum, a, a certain, one (with numer-
als, jjkw /frfwra, one of four, sum twelfa, one of
about a hundred, etc.), pi. sume, some, = OS
OHO=A?i^*'- '"•" =.^P- """ = MLQ- som =
OHO. MHG. sum = Icel. sumr = Dan. somme,
some
Vn^ t'??"?'!?™ "' *''^ '^""' <"• «'se 'o^ meat
You ate at dinner, cannot brook with you.
Arden o/ Feversham, iv. 2.
It IS «om« mercy when men kill with speed.
HeSster, Duchess of Malfl.
T>1»^; rZ^^°, ^IT" I*'"'- "'■ has but some,
riant Centinels before her Dressing-Room
Con^ete, tr. of Ovids Art of Love, iii
wi •''^'''' ^* ^^'^^^ °°^' perhaps all; but a
few logicians sometimes employ a semidefinite
rn|-^^;!f-r^r^;^,^£^
mean nuh^t fll.t i "'•*''^ """ ''"°*' ^ome fact • may
Snt^^rV- u vS"^^.' '''loosing any man, a fact may then be
found which that man knows (which may be exnressed
by saying that every man knows some fact or other?- nr
h^ *.aS ^'^ ""'' ^ 1"'=' ■""5' l"^ first sefect^S sich ^aT
then, taking any man, he will know that fact (which m«v
?.^,f Ivf^ ">' '*7'"« "'^' »» "^ know some cerSta
fact). M hen several somes md alls occur in the same sS?
men .ordinary syntax fails to express the meanhig with
precision, and logicians resort to a'^special nSion*
h;,'^/" "A'! '"•lefaiiite or indeterminate num-
yelreagf ^^''^^ '■''^^"'^^*'"'*"'*'*=''^'*<"»*
They hurried us aboard a bark.
Here us some leagues to sea.
Shak., Tempest, i. 2. 145.
^ni?,? if*",', *' '■'.''I'.' 'or = Months in the year only cost
60000L. .sterling. This way of Lighting the Streets' is In
use also in tome other Cities in France.
iM<CT-, Journey to Paris (1698X p. 24.
Hence — 5 A certain number of, stated ap-
proximately: in a quasi-adverbial use before
a numeral or other word of number: as, a nlace
«ome seventy miles distant ; so„,e four or five of
us will be there.
pi., = ijoth. sum, some one; hence, with adj'
fonnative, D. «o«m<sf = MLG. somich, summieh,
sommich = OPnes. su,„ilikc. somlike = Sw. som-
liffe, pi.; akin to sa„ic : see sa„ic.] I. a. 1
:? '„ ".^*'^»"? ;. one : noting a person or thing inl
definitely, either as unknown or as unspecified.
Ther was ram prest, Zacharie by name.
ffydif, Luke I. 5.
.-■ L!L" "•y';^. ""d cast him Into sonu pit, and we will
say, mme erU beast hath devoured him. Sen. xxxvli. a).
Set aworda against this breast, tome honest man
For I have lived tUI I am pltie<l. "
Beau, and Ft., Philaster, r. 6.
On almoat every point on which we are opposed to Mr
divine. Maeaulay, Gladstone on Church and State.
In^iis sense often followed by a correlative other or an-
thiJ!,^f ?„?1^ "•'•A' '*",*'* "•« '■»'« Ebron in som, place
therof. and In anoUer phice therof It is called the vale
of Mambre. Sir R. OuyVorde. Pylgrymage, p. S
•n. -n. . , ^^ ""^ device or other
The Tfllaln ia o ei^raoght of all my mon^.
Skak., C. of £., I. 2. 95.
■git, lor It It ever working upon tome or other.
Bacon, Envy (ed. 1887).
or otiur Kellgion. Purehat, Pilgrimage, p. m.
n.1?l" *' "'•rce any thing so absurd, says an ancient In
nature or morality, but «m, philosopher Sr ofJr hi, held
^ Bp. AUerbury, .Sermons, IL x.
2. A certain indefinite or indeterminate quan- u. o.j
hIL*!I ^""''"'•n"'""''''^^^** ■■<''**" «""»<''' as fo SOme2t,«rff.andfo»/ [ME., also .TOW sum <Tcel
denote a sma 1 quantity or a deficiency: as, «"«, as, as if, when, a so a^ an indec li able rel
bn„g,o„,. water; eat so„,e bread. pron., who, ^hich, that, etcTXr an advert-
As I IS^-^^T"' '.."■"'"'" >'°" "''"P°r'- to give It a relative sense, thar sem, ' there as '
I would detain you here somi! month or two
Shak., M, of V., iii. 2. 9.
Some dozen Komans of ns and your lord
. . . have mingled sums
to boy a present for the emperor.
Shak., Cynibeline, 1. 6. 186.
■pv . 1. » We know
That what was worn tome twenty years ago
Comes into grace again.
Beau, and Ft., Thierry and Theodoret, Prol
.h^-. *"'""*"'*''*'' 'oreigner, tall and handsome some
part in the atfairs of trance. E. bowden, Shelley, I. 380.
n. pron. If. A certain person; one.
Som man desireth for to have richesse
That cause is of his niorthre orgret seeknesse,
TK .'^'^f,!'''' °'" "' his prisoun fayn,
That In his hous is of his mayne slayn.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, I. 397.
^. A .certain quantity, part, or number, as dis-
tin^ished from the rest: as, so,Neot them are
„ t* '♦iT® **? *^* ''^ <"" provisions, and gave
away the rest. 6"'°
th^hillV'*' "".I'""' «""' "•'' 'o sowe his seed. And
the » bile he soweth, turn felden byside the weye.
„. ,, »'ycHf, Mat. xiil. 4.
lyJd'o°wfe,'STy'cr!?o'e''S,'h''.'^'""'"'" """"'" ""-'« "^
Capt. John Smith, True Travels I 49
^hU'^' '"' !?'i?'"' " possible, allure that Blessed One to
cheapen and buy tome ot his vanities. ""='"'<^" ""e to
Bunyan, Pilgrim's lYogress, I., Vanity Fair
?o"r"jIS.!IJ2Jf.'^'"'*'^ '='""""'"'>■ '■''Pe"«ed,«»n« ...tome
mm^^"'''*^ •?~' »» '" '^'^'s ""■ IS) meaning^
number . . . others,' or 'the rest.' "■^•uiiig a
Summe were glad whanne thel him sise
isumme were sory, »i/,nm« were fayne.
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. ,54.
Someol these Tabernacles may quickelv be taken n«nn
fiSc'e^nlndel"''*""'' '«'""*• ' . O'A"'"^^- camioTbe
take insunder. Uakluyfs Voyayet, I. 54.
The work some praise.
And »om« the architect. Milton, P. L., i. 782.
The plnral some is occasionally used in the possessive.
Howsoe'er it shock tome't selMove.
Byron. (Imp. Dicf)
S,tJ" '"■Wn»"y used partitively with numbers (AS
feiKTo t,,m, one of four, etc.), has come to be an apparent
^m^"'!™ ""^^"'-^ irx /oursmne, «:vensome.l^^i
some. See au. - By some and sofnet, bit by bitT
« J^^nl'i;^;!'' r',!i' "''?," ."o m«t together, we had no great
h?^l hous.hold stuff, but were fain to buy it a/temard
2^ mriK andsmne, as (iod sent money, and yet you see we
want many things that are necessary to be had
The FifUen Com/orts n/ Matrimony, n. d. (tfares.)
Semidefinite some. See semidefinite.
some' (sum), arfr. l<so„,el,a.-] In some degree ;
to some extent; somewhat: as, I am some bet-
ter^ It IS some cold. [Colloq., Scotland and
some
♦rhich, that; akin to same: see same, and cf.
»omfl.] As; so; ever: used indefinitely after
certain adverbs and pronouns, like no, soccer.
It remains iu modem dialectal use in hoic »iymf, what s(yme,
or howiomfwr. icbatxoiJMtxr, wheresoineoert etc, eiiuiva-
leut to hoicioever, vhat»xver, wheresoever, etc.
Swa sum the godspel kitheth. Ormulum-, 1. 302.
Sum 1 the telle.
sir Amadace (Early Eng. Metr. Bom., ed. E«bson).
KStratmann.)
<8ome. [Early mod. E. also -som; < ME. -sum,
-som, < AS. -s^tm = OS. sum = MD. -saem, D.
-eaam = MLG. OHG. MHG. G. -sam = Icel.
-samr = Sw. -sam = Dan. -som = Goth, -sams,
• ult. identical mth Teut. *sama, the same: see
sawe. This suffix occurs disguised in buxom
(as if 'bucksome).'i A suffix used to form ad-
jectives from nouns or adjectives, as mettlesome,
blithesome, lonesome, gladsotiie, gamesome, grue-
some, quarrelsome, toothsome, troublesome, whole-
some, irinsome. it usually indicates the possession of
a considerable degree of the quality named: as, niettle-
smne, full of mettle or spirit ; gl&dsome, very glad or joyous.
As used with numbers, foursome, seveusome, -some is of
different origin : see some^, a.
BOmebody (sum'bod'i), n. [< some + bodi/.'] 1.
Some one; a person unknown, imascertained,
or unnamed.
Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me. Luke viil. 46.
Somebody, surely, some kind heart will come
To bury me. Tennyson, JIaud, xxvii. 11.
2. Fl. somebodies (-iz). A person of considera-
tion, consequence, or importance.
Before these days rose up Thendas, boasting himself to
be somebody. Acts v. 36.
I am come to the age of seventy ; have attained enough
reputation to make me somebody.
Sydtiey Smith, in Lady Holland, vi.
While men saw or heard, they thought themselves to be
somebodies for assisting at the spectacle.
Saturday Rev., Nov., 1873, p. 655.
BOmedealf (sum'del), n. [Early mod. E. also
somedele; < ME. somdel, sumdel, etc., prop, two
words, sum del, some part : see some and rfca/1.]
Some part; somewhat; something; some.
Sumdel of thy labour wolde I quyte.
Chaucer, Parliament of Fowls, 1. 112.
Then Brenne . . . sayd in his game, ryche goddes must
gyue to men somedele of theyr rychesse.
Fabyan, Chron., xxxi.
somedealt (sum'del), adv. [< ME. somdel, sum-
del, etc. ; the noun used adverbially.] In some
measure or degree; somewhat; partly; par-
tiaUy.
She was somdel deef and that was scathe.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 446.
This is the truth, though I'll not justify
The other, but he may be some-deal faulty.
B. Jonson, Volpone, v. 6.
somegate (sum'gat), adv. [< some + gate^.'\
Somewhere; in someway; somehow. [Scotch.]
somehow (sum'hou), adv. [< some + Aoifl.]
In some way not yet known, mentioned, or
explained: as, somehow he never succeeded;
things must be done somehow.
He thought of resigning his place, but, somehow or other,
stumbled upon a negotiation. WaXpote, Letters, II. 411.
Somehoio or other a little bird whispers to me we shall
yet be very happy. Disraeli, Henrietta Temple, i. 9.
somert. A Middle English form of summer^,
summer^, summer^.
somersault (sum'fer-sftlt), n. [Also summer-
sault, somersaut, summersaut (also summerset,
somerset, sommerset, etc. : see somersef^) ; early
mod. E. somersaut, somersault, summersaut, som-
bersalt.sobresaidt, < OF. somhrcsaxdt, soubre-
sault, F. soubresaut, sursaut = Sp. Pg. sobre-
salto = It. soprasalto, < ML. as if "supersaltus
or *suprasaltus, a leaping over, < L. super or
supra, above, over, aloft, + saltus, a leap, bound:
see sault^."] A spring or fling in which a person
turns heels over head; a complete turn in the
air, such as is performed by tumblers.
So doth the salmon vaut.
And if at first he fail, his second summersaut
He instantly assays. Drayton, I'olyolbion, vi. 52.
Mr. Evans walks on the Slack Rope, and throws himself
a somerset through a Hogshead hanging eight foot high.
Quoted in AsMon's Social Life in Beign of Queen Anne,
[I. 266.
Leaping and turning with the heels over the head in the
air, termed the smnersatdt, con-uptly called a somerset.
Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 317.
Double BOmersault, two complete turns of the body
during one spring in the air. A third such turn is accom-
plished by a few acrobats.
somerset^ (8um'6r-set), n. Same as somersault.
somerset^ (sum'6r-set), v. i. [Also summerset;
< somerset^, n ] To turn a somersault or som-
erset.
5766
Then the sly sheepe-biter issued into the midst, and sometime (sum'tim), a.
ifu?n)»wrsettc(J and flipttiappt it twenty times above ground Former- whilom' late,
as light as a feather, and cried "Mitton." ' '
Nashe, Lenten Stuffe (Hail. Misc., VI. 164).
somewhither
[< sometime, adv.']
In such extraordinary manner does dead Catholicism
somerset and caper, skilfully galvanised.
Carlyle, French Bev., II. iv. 2.
Our sometime sister, now our queen.
Shak., Hamlet, L 2. 8.
This forlome carcasse of the sometiine lerusalem.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 107.
somerset^ (sum'er-set), >i. [So named from sometimes (sum'timz), ad». l< sovietimc
Lord Pitzroy <So)Kersef, for whom such a saddle ' "
was made, he having lost his leg below the
knee.] A saddle padded behind the thigh and
elsewhere so as to afford a partial support for
the leg of the rider. JS. H. Knight.
SOmervillite (som'^r-vil-it), «. [Named after
Dr. Somerville, who brought the specimens to
Brooks, the English mineralogist who described
and named the species in 1824.] A variety of
melilite found on Mount Vesuvius.
something (sum'thing), n. [< ME. som thing,
< AS. sum thing, prop, two words : see some^ and
t/(/«()il.] 1. Some thing; a certain thing in-
definitely considered ; a certain but as yet un
known, unspecified, or unexplained thing
adv. suffix -s.] 1. At times; now and then:
as, I am sometimes at leisure ; sometimes he plays
Hamlet, and sometimes Othello.
I'll come sometimes, and crack a case with you.
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, 11. 2.
About the same time, one midnight, a Cloud sometimes
bloody, sometimes fiery, was seen over all England.
Milton, Hist Eng., vL
2t. At one time ; at or for a certain time in the
past; formerly; once; sometime.
He [K. William] gave to his Nephew, Alane Earl of Brit-
ain, all the Lands which sometimes belonged to Earl
Edwyn. Baker, Chronicles, p. 24.
This Bagnall was sometimes servant to one in the bay,
and these three years had dwelt alone.
WiiUhrop, Hist. New England, I. 76.
a. [< sometimes, adv.1
an
event, cireuinstanee, action, or affair the na- sometimest (sum'timz),
ture or name of which has not as yet been de- Same as sometime.
termined, or is not now known, and cannot My sometMn** royal master's face,
therefore be named or specified: as, something Shak., Rich. II., v. 6. 75.
must have happened to detain him; I want to gomeway (sum'wa), adv. Somehow; by some
tell you something. means or other; in some way.
By this King it appears there is sonwfAww else besides gomewhat (sum'hwot), n. [< ME. somwhat,
EllgUsh SubTectffr^Tthefr'K^^^^ sumkwat, sumhwet, soimcat, sumqwat ; < somei
Baker, Chronicles, p. 113.
A something) hinting at grief . . . seemed to speak with
that low thrilling voice of hers.
Thackeray, Henry Esmond, xi.
I'll give you a drop of soinething to keep the cold out.
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Bugby, i. 4.
2. An actual thing; an entity: as, something or
nothing.
All that is true is something.
Descartes, Meditations (tr. by Veitch), v.
3. A thing worthy of consideration; a person
or thing of importance.
If a man think himself to be something when he is no-
thing, he deceiveth himself. GaL vL 3.
Thus God has made each of us to be something, to have
a real place, and do a real work in this world.
J. F. Clarke, Self-Culture, p. 49.
4. A part or portion more or less; an indefinite
quantity or degree; a little.
Something yet of doubt remains. Milton, P. L., viii. 13.
Still from his little he could stnnething spai-e
To feed the hungry, and to clothe the bare.
W. Harte, Eulogius.
something (sum'thing), adv. [< something,^ »i.]
what.J 1. Something not specified.
To conclude, by erecting this Achademie, there shalbe
heareafter, in effecte, no gentleman within this Bealme
but good for some what.
Booke o,f Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), L 12.
Have but patience.
And you shall witness somewhat.^
Fletcher {and another'^), Nice Valour, iL 1.
There 's somewhat in this world amiss
Shall be unriddled by and by.
Tennyson, Miller's Daughter.
2. A measure or degree indeterminate ; more
or less ; a little.
They instruct their youth in the knowledge of Letters,
Malayan principally, and I suppose in somewhat of Ara-
bick, being all Mahometans. Dampier, Voyages, II. L 137.
3. A person or thing of importance.
somewhat (sum'hwot), adv. In some measure
or degree ; rather; a little.
Vlfln is som-wlmt aquytte of the synne that he hadde
in the love makinge, but I am not yet a-quyt of that.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), i. 87.
There liv'd, as authors tell, in days of yore,
A widow, somewkal old, and very poor.
Dryden, Cock and Fox, 1. ~
i. In some measure or degree; somewhat; gomewhen (sum'hwen), a(?r. [isome^ + when.]
rather; a little.
His worst fault is, that he is given to prayer ; he is some-
thing peevish that way. Shak., M. W. of W., i. 4. 14.
I am soiTy I must write to you this sad story; yet, to
countervail it something, Saxon Waymor th lives well.
Uowett, Letters, I. vi. 29.
Don't you think I look something like Chenr in the
Beaux' Stratagem? Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, iii.
2. At some distance.
For 't must be done to-night,
And something from the palace.
Shak., Macbeth, iii. 1. 131.
sometime (sum'tim), adv. [< ME. somtyme,
som time, sometyme, sume time; < some^ + timei.]
1. Same as sometimes.
It was clept somtyme the Vale of Mambree, and mmtyme
it was clept the Vale of Teres, because that Adam wepte
there, an 100 Zeer. Mandemlle, Travels, p. 65.
Nothing in him seem'd inordinate.
Save sometime too much wonder of his eye.
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 95.
2. At a certain time ; on a certain occasion ;
once upon a time ; once.
This Noble Gentlewoman tooke sometime occasion to
shew him to some friends.
Capt. John Smith, True Travels, I. 29.
I was sometime taken with a sudden giddiness, and
Humphrey, seeing me beginning to totter, ran to my as-
sistance. Stteridan, St. Patrick's Day, ii. 2.
3. At one time; for a certain time in the past;
formerly; once.
Ebron was wont to ben the princypalle Cytee of Philis-
tyenes: and there duelleden somtyme the Geauntz.
MandevUle, Travels, p. 66.
From thens we went to the Deed See, where somtyme
stode the Cyties of Sodom and Gomer, and other that
sanke for synne. Sir R. Guylforde. Pylgrymage, p. 43.
Heme the hunter,
Sometime a keeper here in Windsor forest.
Shak., M. W. of W., iv. 4. 29.
4. At an indefinite future time ; by and by : as,
sometime I will explain.
Sometyme he rekne shal.
Whan that his tayl shal hrennen in the glede.
For he noght helpeth needfuUe in her nede.
Chaucer, Man of Law's Tale, 1. 12.
At some time, indefinitely; some time or other.
[Recent.]
Some folks can't help hoping . . . that they may have
another chance to make things fair and even, somewhere,
somewhen, somehow. Kingdey, Water Babies, viii.
Somewhen, before the dinner-beU. I cannot tie myself
to the minute-hand of the clock, my dear child.
G. Meredith, Egoist, xix.
somewhere (sum'hwar), adv. [< ME. sum-
whfer, suutqxvhare, sumwar; < some^ + where.]
1. In some place or other; in a place or spot
not known or not specified: as, he lives some-
where in this neighborhood; the line must be
drawn somewhere. — 2. To some unknown or
unspecified place ; somewhither.
Perhaps some merchant hath invited him,
And from the mart he 's somewhere gone to dinner.
Shak., C. of E., U. 1. 6.
somewhile (sum'hwil), adv. [Early mod. E.
somwhile. < ME. summehwile, sumewile, sumwile ;
< some^ + while.] 1. Sometimes; at one time
or another ; from time to time ; at times.
The silly wretches are compeird som-while
To cut new channels for the course of Nile;
Somtimes som Cities ruins to repair ;
Somtimes to build huge Castles in the air.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii.. The Lawe.
2. For a while ; for a time.
These now sente . . . must, some while, be chargable
to you & us.
Sherley, quoted in Bradford's Plymouth Plantation, p. 24a
3. Once ; at one time.
Under colour of shepeheards, somnihUe
There crept in Wolves, ful of fraude and guile.
Spenser, Shep. Cal., May.
[Rare in all uses.]
somewhilest (sum'hwilz), adv. Sometimes;
now and then.
Divers tall ships of London . . . had an ordinary and
usual trade to Sicily, Candia, Scio; and somewhiles to Cy-
prus. Hakluyt (Arber's Eng. Ganier, I. 20).
somewhither (sum'hwiTH''^r), adv. [< some^
+ whither.] To some place or other.
somewhither
Somewhither would she have thee go with her.
Shak., Tit. And., iv. 1. 11.
SOmital (so'mi-tal), a. [< somite + -al.2 Same
as siimitic,
somite (sd'mit), n. [< Gr. aa/ja, body, + -ite2.]
An actual somatome ; any one morphological
segment of an articulated body, such a body be-
ing viewed as composed of a longitudinal series
of somites; an arthromere or metamere of an
articulate invertebrate or a diarthromere of a
vertebrate ; such a segment considered with or
without the appendages it may possess ; in the
latter restricted sense, a metamere minus its
appendages, or a segment of the soma or trunk
without the limbs it may bear. The temi some-
times extends to ideal somatomes, or to the metameres of
which an organism is theoretically assumed to consist ; but
it is especially applied to the actual segments of such inver-
tebrates as insects, crustaceans, and worms, whose body-
rings are usually evident, though some or other of them
may coalesce, as into a cephalothorax, etc In such cases
the primitive or morphological somites are usually recog-
nized and reckoned by their respective pairs of appen-
(iagea. Separate somites, continued throughout the body,
are evident in the rings of earthworms and other anne-
lids. In arthropods the typical number of somites is sup-
posed to be twenty or twenty-one, numbers often actually
recognizable. In insects the bead is assumed to have
six or seven somites, the thorax has normally three (see
proUwrax, metothwax^ and metathortix\ and the abdomen
is supposed to have ten or eleven. Each of these somites
is invested and indicated by a body-ring or crust of integ-
ument, prlmltivelyor typically composed of eight sclerites.
somnng, sleep, +
amhulatus, pp
of ambulare,
walk: see amble, ambulate.'} 1. intrans. To
walk in sleep; wander in a state of sleep, as a
somnambulist.
H. trans. To walk on or over in sleep.
It is the bright May month ; his Eminence again gom-
nambtdata the Promenade de la Rose.
Carlyte, Diamond Necklace, xiv.
SOmnambulation(som-nam-bii-la'shon), n. [<
somitambulatc + -ion.] The act of walking in
sleep; somnambulism. Imp. Diet.
somnambulator (som-nam'bu-la-tor), n. [<
somnambulate + -ori.] Same as somnambulist.
Imp. Diet.
sonmambule (som-nam'bul), n. [< F. som-
nambitle = Sp. somndmbulo, sondmbulo = Pg.
somnambiilo = It. sonnambolo, sonnambulo, < L.
somnus, sleep, + ambulare, walk: see amble,
ambulate.'} A somnambulist.
The owner of a ring was unhesitatingly found out from
amongst a company of twelve, the ring having been with-
drawn from the finger before the tomnambuie was intro-
duced. Proc. Soe. Piyeh. Raearch, I. 241.
somnambulic (som-nam'bu-Uk), a. [< som-
nambule + -ic] Of or pertaining to somnam-
bulism or somnambulists.
I have, however, lately mot with well-marked cases of it
in two of my own acquaintance, who gave descriptions of
their gomnambulic experiences.
which may variously cMleace witfi one anoTherror with *'• <^"'™!'' '■» P««- So«- P«jeh. Research, II. 68.
pieces of another somite, or both. Those sclerites which SOmnambullsm (som-nam'bu-Iizm), H. [= F.
».„ K. iH.^tin.,.! ..!,„ somnambulisme=Sy. somnanibulisnio, sonambu-
ordinarily remain distinct, and thus can be identified, take
special name4 as tergite, pleuriu, tUntUe, leulum, prm-
tcutum. etc., epimeron, eptpUuron, etc Appendages of
somites are limbs in the broadest sense, under whatever
modifications ; and these modifications are usually great-
est at the cephalic and caudal ends of the body, as into
ejestalks, antennie, palpi, mandibles, roazilln, maxilli-
peds or gnathopodlte^ etc, of the head, and stings, clasp-
«rs, or other anal armature. Intermediate somltic appen-
dages are ordinary legs and wings, as of the thorax of
insects^ and the perelopoda, pleopods, cbelK, rhlpldura,
telson, etc., of the thorax and abdomen of crustaceans.
In worms such appendages chiefly occur in the form of
panpodia (neuropodia and notopodiaV. See teUriU, and
cuts under AmphO/uMl, Apui, Butkiu, Seorpimtidx, BlatU-
dx, Koi cockroach.
somltic (so-mit'ik), o. [< somite + -I'c] Hav-
ing the character of a somite ; somatomic ; met-
americ; of or pertaining to somites: as, the
somitic divisions of the body ; a somitic ring or
joint; a «omi(H; appendage.
These septs sre metamerically arranged, one for each
tomitie constriction.
Huxley and Martin, Elementary Biology, p. 24S.
SOmmet. An old spelling of some^, sunfl.
80mm6 (so-ma' ), a. [OF., pp. of sommer, All up,
top, sum : see sum^, v. Cf. summed.} lu her. :
(a) Same as Aorned. (6) Saxae aasurmouuteil.
Somnus
bring, = E. bear^.} Causing or inducing sleep ;
soporific : as, a somniferous drug.
'Twas I that ministred to her chaste blond
A true smmi/erom potion, which did steale
Her thoughts to sleepe, and flattered her with death.
Dekker, Satiromastis (Works, 1873, 1. 255).
somniferyt (som-nif'e-ri), n. [Irreg. < L. sotn-
nifer, sleep-bringing r'seesomni/eroits.] A place
of sleep. [Rare.]
Somnus, awake ; vnlocke the rustle latch
That leades into the caue's tamni/erie.
Toumeur, Transformed Metamorphosis, st 36.
sonmiflc (som-nif 'ik), a. [< L. somnificus, caus-
ing sleep, < somnus, sleep, -I- facere, make,
cause.} Causing sleep; tending to induce
sleep; somniferous; soporific.
The voice, the manner, the matter, even the very at-
mosphere and the streamy candle-light, were all alike
somnific. Southey, The Doctor, vi. A 1. (Davie).)
somnifugous (som-nif'u-gus), a. [< L. somnus,
sleep, -f fuficre, flee.] Driving away sleep;
preventing sleep; agrypnotie. Bailey, mi.
somniloquence (som-nil'o-kwens), n. [< L.
somnus, sleep, + loquentia, a talking, < loqui,
talk, speak.] The act or habit of talking in
sleep; somniloquism.
somniloquism (som-nil'o-kwizm), n. [< som-
nilnqu-ous + -ism.} Somniloquence or sleep-
talking.
somniloauist (som-nil'o-kwist), 11. [< somnilo-
qu-ous + -ist.} One wto talks in his sleep.
somniloquous (som-nil'o-kwus), a. [= F. som-
niloque = Sp. somnilocuo, < L. somnus, sleep, +
loqui, si)cak.] Apt to talk in sleep; given to
talking in sleep.
SOmmeilt (so-maly'), n. [< OF. (and J\)«o;h- somnambulistic (som-nam-bu-lis'tik), a
meil = Pt. sonelh = Vfti]]. someie, sleep, < L. ' ' ' ' -- -- • • •
'somnieulus, sleep (in deriv. somnieulogus,
sleepy), dim. of somnus, sleep: see somnolent,
etc.] 1. Sleep; slumber. — 2. In old French Somnambulous (som-nam'bu-lus), a.
operas, a quiet and tranquilizing air. Imp. "ambulistic. Dunglison
Diet.
lismo = Pg. somnambulismo = It. sonnambu-
lismo ; as sonmambule + -ism.} The act of walk-
ing about, with the performance of apparently
purposive acts, while in a state intermediate SOmnilOQUy (som-nil'o-kwi), n. [< L. somnus,
between sleep and waking. The sleeping condition
Is shown by the absence of the usual reaction to sense-
imivessions, and usually by the failure to recall what has
been done during the somnambulistic period. With many
recent writers, however, the word is used, quite indepen-
dently of any consideration of movements which the som-
nambulist may or does execute, as nearly synonymous with
trance, metmerization, or hyjnutitm, and exactly so with
toinnolifm. It Is generally considered under the two main
conditions of the idiopathic, spontaneous, or self-induced
and the artificial or induced. Compare tomnolitm. Also
called, rarely, noetambulitm.
In lomTiambulitm, natural or induced, there is often a
great display of intellectual activity, followed by complete
oblivion of all that has passed.
W. Jama, Prin. of Psychology, I. 201.
Somnambulitm Is, as a mie, a decidedly deeper state
thsn the lighter stage of hypnotism.
E. Gumey, in Proc. Soc. Pqrch. Research, II. 68.
somnambulist (som-nam'ba-list), n. [As som-
namhulr + -ist.} One who is subject to som-
nambulism : a person who walks in his sleep.
sumnambulisl +
characteristic of
bulists.
soninert, w.
sommert, ». Aa old spelling of summerl, turn- somnia. «.
nier-. ~' '' ''
Sommering's (or Soemmering's) mirror,
mohr, spots, etc. See mirror, mohr, spot, etc.
sommerophone (som'er-o-fon), n. [< Sommer
(see (lef.; -I- (5r. puv^, the voice.] A variety
of saxhorn invented by Sommer about 1850.
Also called euphonic horn.
sommer sett, ». Same as somersault.
Sommersett's case. See ease^.
sommite (som'it), n. [< Somma (see def.) +
-ite".} An early name for the mineral nephe-
lin, found in glassy crystals on Monte Somma
(Vesuvius).
somnambulance (som-nam'bu-lans). fi. [<
somnambule + -ance.} Somnambulism. Sci-
ence, VI. 7H.
somnambulant (som-nam'bii-lant), a. [< L.
somnus, sleep, + ant6ti/an((^)«," ppr. of ambu-
lare, walk: see somnambulate, etc.] Walking in
sleep; sleeping while in motion; also, charac-
terized by somnambulism.
See sumner.
., ... Plural of somnium
somnial (som'ni-al), a.
|>i-rtaining to dreams, < somnium
< somnus, sleep: see somnolent.} Pertaining
+" loqtii, speak.] The act of talking in
sleep; specifically, talking in the somnambu-
listic sleep.
somnivolency (som-niv'o-len-si), n. ; pi. som^
niiolencies (-siz). [< L. sotnnus, sleep, + LL.
volentia, will, inclination, < L. voleti{t-)s, ppr. of
velle, will: see will^.} Something that induces
sleep; a soporific; a somnifacient. [Rare.]
If these tomnivolenciee (I hate the word opiates on this
occasion) have turned her head, that is an etfect they fre-
quently have upon stime constitutions.
Richardson, Clarissa Harlowe, IV. lil.
somnolence (som'no-lens), ». [< ME. somno-
lence, sompnolence, K OF. somnolence, sompno-
lence, F. somnolence = 'Pr. sompnolencia = Sp. Pg.
somnolencia = It. sonnolcma, < L. somnolentia,
somnulentia, ML. also sompnolentia, sompnilen-
tia, sleepiness, < L. somnolenlus, somnulentus,
sleepy: aee somnolent.} 1. Sleepiness; drowsi-
ness; inclination to sleep; sluggishness.
Thanne cometh sompnolence, that is sloggy slombrynge,
which niaketh a man be bevy and dul in liody and in soule.
Chaucer, Parson's Tale.
His power of sleeping, and his somnolence when he im-
agined he was awake, were his two most prominent char-
acteristics. D. M. Wallace, Russia, v.
2. In pathol., a state intermediate between
sleeping and waking.
[< L. somnialis, of or somnolency (som'no-len-si), n. [As somnolence
a dream (sec -ri/).] Same Aa somnoletice.
'ertainin^ somnolent (
[<
■ic] Of, pertaining to, or
somnambulism or somnam-
Som-
to or involving dreams; relating to dreams.
[Rare.]
To pressge or foretel an evil, especially In what con-
cemetn the exploits of the soul, in matter of somniaf divi-
nations. Urquharl, tr. of Rabelais, ill. 14.
The somnial magic superinduced on, without suspend.
Ing, the active powers of the mind. Coleridge.
somniative (som'ni-a-fiv), a. [< L. somniatus
(pp. of .lomniare, dream, < somnium, a dream)
+ -ire.} Pertaining to dreaming; relating to
or producing dreams. Coleridge. [Rare.]
somniatory (som'ni-a-to-ri), a. [< L. somnia-
tus, pp. of «omntar«i° dream, + -ory.} Of or
pertaining to dreams or dreaming; relating to
or producing dreams ; somniative. [Rare.]
t(8om'n6-lent), a. \< ME. sompnolent,
< OF. somnolent, sotnpnolent, F. somnolent = Ft.
sompnolent = Sp. soHoliento = Pg. somnolento =
It. sonnolento, < L. somnolentus, somnulentus,
ML. also sompnolentus, sleepy, drowsy,< L. som-
nus, sleep (= Gr. invog, sleep), akin to sopor,
sleep, = AS. swefan, sleep, swe/en, a dream : see
streven, and cf. sopor, hypnotic, etc.] Sleepy;
drowsy; inclined to sleep; sluggish.
The .Sperhnuke Castell named is and rad.
Where it behouith to wacche nightes thre
Without any sompnolent slepe to be.
Horn, of Partenay (E. E. T. 8.X I. BS76.
He had no eye for such phenomena, because he had a
somnolent want of interest in them.
De Quincey. (Imp. Diet.)
somnolently (som'no-lent-li), adv. Drowsily.
The better reading, explaining, and unfolding of these SOmnolescent (som-no'-les'ent), a. [< som
The midnight hush is deep.
But the pines - the spirits distrest —
They move in somnambulant sleep —
They whisper and are not at rest.
J. B. Boner, Hoonrise in the Pines.
somnambular (som-nam'ba-lilr), a. [< som-
nambule + -ar^.} Of, prtaining to, or char-
acteristic of sleep-walking or sleep-walkers.
The palplUting peaks [Alps) break out
Ecstatic from somnanAular repose.
Mrs. Browning, Napoleon III. In Italy.
somnambulate (som-nam'bu-lat), r.; pret. and
pp. sommimbutated, ppr. somhambulating. [< L.
somniatory ratlclnatTons, and predictions of that nature.
Urquhart, tr. of Rabelais, Hi. IS.
SomniculotU (som-nik'u-lus), a. [< L. somni-
culosus, inclined to sleep, drowsy, < 'somnicu-
lus, dim. of somnus, sleep: see sommeil, somno-
lent.} Inclinedto sleep; drowsy. Bailey, y!21.
somnifacient (som-ni-fa'shient), a. and n. [<
L. somnus. sleep, + facien(t-)s, ppr. ot facere,
make: hcc forioil.} I. a. Somnific; soporific;
tending to produce sleep.
n. n. That which causes or induces sleep ;
a soporific.
somniferous (som-nif'e-rus), a. [= F. somni-
fi-re = Sp. somnifero = Pg. somnifero = It. son-
nifero, < L. somnifer, < somnus, sleep, + ferre,
nol(ciil) + -escent.} llalf-asleep ; somnolent;
drowsy.
The rabid dog . . . shelters itself in obscure places —
frequently in ditches by the roadside — and lies there in
a somnolescent state for perhaps hours.
Encyc. BriL, XX. 201.
somnolism(som'no-lizm), n. [<. somnol(ent) +
-ism.} The state of being in mesmeric sleep;
the doctrine of mesmeric sleep. Imp. Diet.
Somnus (som'nus), n. [L., < somnus, sleep : see
somnolent,} In Rom. myth., the personification
and god of sleep, the Greek Hypnos, a brother
of Death (Mors or Thanatos), and a son of Night
(Nox). In works of art Sleep and Death are represented
alike as youths, often sleeping or holding inverted torches.
Compare cut under Thanatos.
somonannce
SOmonauncet, "• A Middle English form of
siiiiinioiuince.
BOmoncet, SOmonst, «• Middle English forms
of t:ummoilg.
SOmonet, SOmpnet, ''• '• Middle English forms
of siiinmoii.
sompnourt, ». A Middle English form otsumuer.
Somzee's harmonica. See harmonica.
son^ isuj>)i "• [Early mod. E. also Sonne ; < ME.
gone, sune, soun, sun, < AS. sunu = OS. sunu =
OFries. sunu, sune, son = MD. sone, D. zoou =
MLG. sone, LG. sone, son = OHG. sunu, sun,
MHG. sun, G. sohn = Icel. sunr, sonr = Sw. son
= Dan. son = Goth, sunus = OBulg. synii =
Kuss. suinii, si/nu = Pol. Bohem. syn = Lith.
sunusz= Skt.si(«H = Zend /(««!(, son (alsoinSkt.
rarely as fem., daughter); lit. 'one begotten,'
with formative -nu (cf. Skt. suta, son, stitd,
daughter, with pp. formative -ta, and Gr. ti(<Sf,
dial. I'ii'C, oviSc, son, with formative -yu (?), also
poet. Ivii, son, daughter), < -y/ su, beget, Skt.
■^ su, su, beget, bear, bring forth. To the same
root are referred sow^, swine, etc.] 1. A male
child ; the male issue of a parent, father or
mother.
get I a-vow verayly the avaunt that I made,
I Bchal seply agayn tt gelde that I hygt,
<fe sothely sende to Sar6 a soun & an hayre.
AUUeratim Poems (ed. Morris), ii. Q^.
The Town is called Jaff ; for on of the Sones of Noe,
that highte Japhet, founded it ; and now it is clept Joppe.
MandevUle, lYavels, p. 30.
A black bull, the son of a black cow. Darwin.
2. A male descendant, however distant; hence,
in the plural, descendants in general.
Adam's sim$ are my brethren.
Shak., Much Ado, ii. 1. 66.
3. One adopted into a family ; any young male
dependent; any person in whom the relation
of a son to a parent is perceived or imagined.
Often used as a term of address by an old man to a young
one, by a confessor to a penitent, etc.
The child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's
daughter, and he became her son. £x. ii. 10.
Be plain, good son, and homely in thy drift.
Shak., E. and J., ii. 3. 55.
4. A person or thing bom or produced, in rela-
tion to the producing soil, country, or the like.
To this her glorious son Great Britain is indebted for
the happy conduct of her arms. Steele, Tatler, No. 5.
Perhaps e'en Britain's utmost shore
Shall cease to blush with strangers' gore.
See arts her savage sons control.
Pope, Choruses to Brutus, i.
Her [the earth's] tall sons, the cedar, oak, and pine.
Sir Ii. hlacinnore. Creation, vi.
5. A person whose character partakes so much
of some quality or characteristic as to suggest
the relationship of sou and parent: as, sons of
light ; sons of pride ; the son of perdition.
They are villains, and the sons of darkness.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., ii: 4. 191.
When night
Darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons
Of Belial. Milton, P. L., i. 601.
Every mother's son. See moffcri.— Favorite son, a
statesman or politician assumed to be the especial choice
of the people of his .State for some high office, especially
that of President. [Political slang, U. 8.)
A Favourite Son is a politician respected or admired in
his own State, but little regarded beyond it.
Bryce, Araer. Commonwealth, II. 153.
Sonofagun. Seei^iml. — Sonof bastt. See!)08t2,»._
Son of God. (a) Christ. Mat. xxvi. 63. (6) One of Christ's
followers ; one of the regenerate.
As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons
o/God. Eom. viii. 14.
Son Of man. (a) In the Old Testament, one of the de-
scendants of Adam : especially used as a form of address
in the Book of Ezekiel (in Dan. vii. 13 of the Messiah). (6)
In the New Testament, Christ as the promised Messiah. —
Sons of Liberty, in Amer. hist. : (a) In the years pre-
ceding the revolution, one of associations formed to for-
ward the American cause. (&) One of the secret associa-
tions, similar to the Knights of the Golden Circle, formed
in the North during the civil war, for the purpose of giv-
ing aid to the Confederacy.— Sons of Sires, or Sons of
Seventy-six, a name said to have been applied to or
assumed by members of the American or Know-nothing
party. [Political slang, U. S.]— Sons Of the prophets.
See school of the prophets, under prophet.— Sons of the
South, the name assumed by members of certain organi-
zations formed in .M issouri, about 1854, for the purpose of
taking possession of Kansas in the interest of slavery.—
The Son, the second person of the Trinity ; Christ Jesus.
Mat xi. 27.
The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
1 John iv. 14.
SOn^t, n. An original spelling of sound^.
-son. A form of the termination -Hon, in some
words derived through Old French, as in betii-
son, malison, venison, reason, season, treason, etc.
See -tton.
5768
sonabile (s6-nab'e-le), a. [It., < sonare, sound:
see sonata."] In J««SJC, resonant; sounding.
SOnance (so'nans), H. [= Olt. sonan^a, a sound-
ing.ringiug; 'a,s sonan{t) + -ce.] If. Asound;
a tune ; a call.
Let the trumpets sound
The tucket sonance and the note to mount.
Shak., Hen. V., iv. 2. 35.
2. Sonancy.
sonancy (s6'nan-si), n. [As sonance (see -cy).]
The property or quality of having sound, or of
being sonant; sonant character; sound.
A concise description of voice, then, is this : it is the
audible result of a column of air emitted by the lungs,
impressed with sonancy and variety of pitch by the larynx,
and individualized by the mouth-organs.
Whitney, Life and Gi-owth of Lang., iv.
sonant (so'nant), a. ^nd «. [z= F. sonnant = Sp.
Pg. It. sonaiite, < L. sonan{t-)s, ppr. of sonare,
sound, make a noise, < sonus, a sound : see
soumP. Cf. assonant, consonant, dissonant,
resonant.'] I. a. 1. Pertaining to or having
sound; sounding. — 2. In pron., noting cer-
tain alphabetic sounds, as the vowels, semi-
vowels, nasals, and voiced mutes and frica-
tives, the utterance of which includes the ele-
ment of tone, or a vibration of the vocal chords,
as a, I, re, 6, r, v (the last three as opposed to
}), s, f, which are similar utterances without
tone) ; voiced, vocal, intonated {soft and flat are
also sometimes used in the same sense). — 3.
In cntom., same as sonorific, 2.
II. n. In pron., a sonant letter.
sonata (so-na'ta), n. [= F. sonate (> D. G. Dan.
sonate^=:^w. sonat) = Sp. Pg. sonata,<. It. sonata,
a sonata, < sonata, fem. pp. of sonare, sound,
< L. sonare, sound: see soMHciS. Ct. sonnet.] 1.
In music, in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, any composition for instruments:
opposed to cantata. These old sonatas were usually
in more than one movement. The character of their themes
and their structure varied widely, those called church so-
natas tending to grave themes and a contrapuntal treat-
ment, and the chamber sonatas resembling the canzona
and the suite.
2. In recent music, an instrumental work, es-
pecially for the pianoforte, made up of three
or four movements in contrasted rhythms but
related keys, one or more of which are written
in sonata form. The movements usually include an
allegro with or without an introduction, a slow movement
(usually adagio, largo, or andante), a minuet or scherzo
with or without a trio appended, and a final allegro or
presto, which is often a rondo. A certain unity of senti-
ment or style is properly traceable between the successive
movements. The sonata is the most important form of
homophonic composition for a single instrument. A so-
nata for a string quartet is called a (jttartet, and one for a
full orchestra is called a symphony. — DovCole sonata, a
sonata for two solo instruments. — Sonata form, in music,
a form or method of composition in which two themes or
subjects are developed according to a plan more or less
like the following : (a) exposition, containing the first sub-
ject, followed by the second, properly in the key of the
dominant or in the relative major (if the first be minor);
(6) development or icorkiny out, consisting of a somewhat
free treatment of the two subjects or parts of them, either
singly or in conjunction; (c) restatement, containing the
two subjects in succession, both in the original key, with
a conclusion. The succession of sections and the relations
of keys are open to considerable variation, and episodes
often occur. The sonata form is distinctive of at least
one movement of a sonata or symphony, and usually of the
first and last ; it also appears in many overtures.
sonatina (so-na-te'nS), n. [It., dim. of sonata :
see sonata.] In music, a short or simplified
sonata — Sonatina form, in music, a form or method of
composition resembling the sonata form, but on a smaller
scale, and usually lacking the development section.
SOnation (so-na'shon)^ n. [= It. sonazione; <
ML. sonatio{n-), a sounding, < L. sonare, sound:
see sound^, v., sonate.] The giving forth of a
sound; sounding. [Rare.]
But when what has the faculty of hearing, on the one
hand, operates, and what has the faculty of sounding, on
the other hand, sounds, then the actual hearing and the
actual sounding take place conjointly ; and of these the
one may be called audition, the other sonation.
Sir W. Hamilton, tr. from Aristotle, Reid's Works, Note D.
Sonchus (song'kus), n. [NL. (Toumefort,
1700), < L. soncltus, < Gr. adyxog, the sow-thistle.]
A genus of composite plants, of the tribe Cicho-
riacea; and subtribe J.actucra'. It is characterized
by flower-heads commonly dilated at the base in fruit, with
numerous compressed beakless achenes having from ten to
twenty ribs and bearing a soft snowy-white pappus which
is deciduous in a ring. There are about 30 species, wide-
ly ditfused throughout the Old World and in .Australasia ;
four species are naturalized as weeds in the United States,
two of which are now almost cosmopolitan. They are an-
nual or perennial herbs, having spreading radical leaves
and upright stems clad with coarse clasping leaves which
are often toothed with soft or rigid spines. The yellow
heads are irregularly clustered at the summits of the few
branches. The species are fond of ham-yards and moist
rich soil, whence the name sow-thistle. S. tenerrimus is
eaten as a salad in Italy, and S. oleraceus was once so used
in vai-ious parts of Europe. (See hare's-lettuce.) The genus
is reputed a galactagogue. One or two species with hand-
song
some leaves and flowers, from Madeira and the Canaries^.
are sometimes cultivated under glass. See sow-thistle.
soncie, soncy, a. See sonsy.
sondt, "■ A Sliddle English form of »a«d!l,«o«(?2.
Sondayt, «. An obsolete form of Sunday.
sondet, ". Same as sand^.
SOndelt, n. An obsolete variant of .fcndal.
SOndeli (son'de-li), n. [E. Ind.] The monjou-
rou, muskrat, musk-shrew, or rat-tailed shrew
>r,:
Sondell {Crttcidura myasura).
of India, Sorex murinus (Linnseus, 1766), <S.
myosurus (Pallas, 1785), or Crocidura myosura,
an insectivorous mammal, exhaling a strong
musky odor. The name specially denotes a variety
which is semi-domesticated, and sometimes called gray
•musk-shrew {C. cxndea), as distinguished from tlie wild
brown musk-shrew.
Sonder-cloud (son'der-kloud), ».• A cirro-cumu-
lus cloud. Forster, Atmospheric Phsenomena
(3d ed., 1823), p. 145. [Rare.]
SOndryt, a. A Middle English form of sundry.
Sonet, adv. An old spelling of soon.
SOneri (son'or-i), ». [Hind, sunahri, sunaliru,
of gold, < sona, gold.] Cloth of gold: an In-
dian term adopted as the name of native stuffs
interwoven with gold.
SOng^ (song), n. [Sc. also sang ; < ME. song,
sang, < AS. sang, song, singing, song, a song,
poem, poetry, = OS. sang =z OFries. song, sang
= MD. sang, D. zang = MLG. sank, LG. sang =
OHG. sang, MHG. sane, G. gesang = Icel. songr
= Sw. sdng = Dan. sang = Goth, saggws, song;
also collectively, OHG. *gasang, kisanch, MHG.
gcsanc, G. gesang, song; from the verb, AS.
singan (pret. sang), etc., sing: see sing.] 1.
Singing; vocal music in general; utterance in
tones of musical quality and succession, with
or without words : opposed to speech and to in-
strumental music.
For the tired slave Song lifts the languid oar.
Wordsivorth, Power of Sound, iv.
2. The musical cry of some birds (see singing
bird, under sing) and, by extension, of some
other animals.
Trees, braunches, birds, and songs were framed fitt
For to allure fraile mind to carelesse ease.
Spenser, F. Q., II. vi. 13.
3. A short j)oem intended for singing, or set to
music ; a ballad or IjTic. A song is properly distin-
guished by brevity, free use of rhythmic accent and rime,
more or less division into stanzas or strophes, often with
a refrain or burden, comparative directness and sinii)licity
of sentiment, and a decidedly lyrical manner throughout.
Out on you, owls ! nothing but sotigs of death ?
Shak., Rich. III., iv. 4. 609.
The bard who first adom'd our native tongue
Tun'd to his British lyre this ancient song.
Dryden, To the Duchess of Ormond with Pal. and Arc.
Perhaps it may turn out a sang.
Perhaps turn out a sennon.
Bums, Epistle to a Young Friend.
4. A particular melody or musical setting for
such a poem, for either one or sevei-al voices
(in the latter case usually called a part-song-
or glee). Songs are generally written in song form,
but* are often irregular also. They usually contain but
a single movement, and have an accompaniment of a
varying amount of elaboration. They are classified as
folk-songs, wliich spring up more or less unconsciously
among the common people, or art-songs, which are delib-
erately composed by musicians (see lied); as strophic. when
made up of a movement repeated for the several strophes,
or composed through, when the music varies with the suc-
cessive strophes ; or they are named by reference to their
general subject or style, as rttstic, patriotic, national, mar-
tial, naval, nuptial, hunting, bacchanalian, etc.
5. Poetry; poetical composition; verse.
This subject for heroic song
Pleased me. Milton, P. L., U. 26.
6. Amere trifle; something of little ornovalue:
as. I bought it for a son<i. fColloq.] — Comic,
Gregorian, melismatic, nuptial, old song, .^ee the
ailjictivcs.— Master of song, master of the songt.
See master^. — Song form, in music, a form or method
of composition consisting in general of three sections; the-
Bong
fli-st and last being nearly the same, and the second being
contrasted with the first.— Song of degrees. See dejp-ee.
— Song of Solomon, Song of Songs, t'anticles (see
<Mn««<^).— Song of the Three Holy Children, an addi-
tion to the lKX)k uf I):initl. fuiiiid in tlie Septuagint and
in the .\pocrjplia, purporting to be the prayer and song
of the three Hebrews in the fiery furnace. A part of it
is used in Christian liturgies under the above title, in
the Western t'hurch usually under the title Benedicite.
See mnticie.— Syllable song. See melimuitic sonr/. —
To Sing another song. See ginff. (See also ecen-song,
plain-soTVf.)
SOng'-'t. A Middle English preterit of sinr/.
song-bird (soiig'berd), «. A bird that sings ; a
singing bird, or songster.
song-book (sdng'buk), h. [< ME. 'songbok, <
AS. saiit/boc, a song-book, music-book, a book
of canticles and hrains (= D. cangbofk = MLG.
sankbok = G. gesaughuch = Icel. songbok = Sw.
s&ngbok = Dan. gangbog, a song-book), < gang,
song, -I- boc, book.] 1. A collection of songs
or other vocal music forming a book or volume ;
specifically, a hymn-book. — 2. In the Anglo-
Saxon church, the portass or breviary.
The song-book corresponded with the Salisbury portoos
and the Roman breriary.
Rock, Church of otir Fathers, III. il. 20.
song-craft (song'kraft), n. [A mod. revived
form of AS. sangcrxft, the art of singing, the
art of poetry, < sang, song, + crseft, art, craft.]
The art of composing songs; skill in versifica-
tion.
Written with little skill of tomg-<raJl.
LmsfeUovi, Hiawatha, Int.
SOngert, «. [< ME. songere^ AS. sangere (= D.
zanger = OHG. sangari, MHG. senger, G. ganger
= icel. goiigvari = Dan. Sanger = 8w. s&ngare),
a singer, psalmist, < sang, song: see song^. Cf.
xitigcr^ and songster.^ A singer.
SOngewariet, «. [ME., < OF. 'songewarie, ob-
servation of dreams, < songe (< L. somnium),
dream, -*- warir, guard, keep: see tcare'^.'] The
observation or interpretation of dreams.
Ac I haue no saaoure in tongewarit, for 1 see it ofte faille.
Pitn Plowman {B\ viL 148.
songful (sdng'ful), a. [< song^ + -ful.^ Dis-
posed or able to sing; melodious. Savage.
[Kare.]
BOngisb (sdng'ish), a. [< »on(/l + -(»/il.] Con-
sisting of or containing songs. [Rare.]
The other, which, for want of a proper English word, I
must call the tonffish part, must abound in the softness
and variety of numben, its principal intention being to
please the hearing. Vryden, Albion and ADianianB, I'ref
BOngle (song'gl), n. [Formerly also songnl, son-
go ic ; a var. of 8Jn<7/el, in samesense.] A hand-
ful of gleanings. [Prov. Eng.]
I haTe just this last week obtained a goodly tongU of 8.
SUflordihire wordL S. and Q., ;th ser., VIII. 363.
songless (sdng'les), a. [< «o«jri + 4ess.'] 1.
SVithout song; not singing.
SUent nnri Um «i>iu<Mt gondolier.
lIVFon, Chllde Harold, iv. g.
2. Inornith.: (a) Not singing; unable to sing;
not a singer: as, the female mocking-bird is
songless; most birds are songless in winter.
(A) Having no singing-apparatus, and con.so-
quently unable to sing; not a song-bird; non-
oscine : claraatorial or mesomyodian, as a pas-
serine bird : as, the Mesomi/odi, or songless Pas-
.vrr< V.
songmanCsdng'man), n.; pl.«ononi«n(-men). 1.
A singer, especially a singer of songs; a glee-
man.
She hath made me four and twenty noMgajr* for the
shearers, three-man mmg-men all, and rery anod ones.
Saa*., W. T.,It. 3.45-
2. A lay vicar. See Jay*.
Bong-moscle (sdng'mus'l), n. In ornith., any
mvLsclis of the synnx or lower larynx of a bird
concerned in the act of singing, by the opera-
tion of which the voice is modiilated; any mus-
cle of vocalization. These syringeal muscles reach
their highest development in number and complexity of
arrangement in the Oteinet, Poiymyodi, or Aerotnyodi, in
which group o( birds there are normally Ave pairs — the
tensor posterior longus, tensor anterior longus, tensor pos-
terior brevis, tensor anterior breris, and stemotrachealls.
There Is no question of its being by the action of the
syringeal muscles . . . that the expansion of the bronchi,
both as to length and diameter, is controlled, and, as
thereby the sajnnds uttered l>y the Bird are modified, they
are pn>perly called the Sonfi-mtucle*.
A. S'eurton, Encyc. Brit., XVIII. 29.
song-sparrow (song'spar'o), «. 1. The hedge-
sparrow, Arrtntor moilHlaris. See cut under3c-
nntor. [Kng.] — 2. A small fringilline bird of
North America, of the gt-ntis MiUisjtiza, a sweet
songster, with a streaked brown, gray, and
white plumage without any yellow. The best-
known Is M./atciala, one of the most familiar birds of the
Song-spanow iMeiotpixa/ateiata').
5769
eastern half of the country ; there are several other species
or varieties in the west, the most distinct of which is the
Kodiak song-sparrow, J/, cinerea. The common species is
t>l inches long and sj in extent of wings, andthemarkingsof
the breast are gathered into a characteristic pectoral spot^
It nests on the ground, and
lays four or five spotted
and clouded eggs. Its
song is remarkal>ly sweet
and hearty, and the plain
little bii-d is deservedly
a great favorite. It is
also called silrer-tojigue. —
Oregon song-sparrow,
Melo^jnza /asciata guttata,
a western variety of the
common song-sparrow.
songster (song'st^r),
II. [<ME.*»o)i(/sfrf(?),
< . AS. "saiigcstre,
sangistre, swigystre,
a female singer, <
saiig, song, + fem.
suffix -estre, E. -ster.
Cf. songer.'i 1. One
who or that which sings or is skilled in singing.
Every tongtter had sung out his fit
B. Jonaon, Neptune's Tritimph.
Specifically, in omttA. : (o) A singer ; a singing bird. (6)
pi. .Speciflcally, singing birds : the Os«'n«<, Cantora,Can-
tatoret, Acromyodi, or Polymyodi.
2. A writer of songs or poems.
Silk will draw some sneaking tongttr thither.
It is a rhyming age. and verses swarm
At every stall. *. Jonton, An Elegy (Underwoods, lii).
songstress (sdng'stres), n. [< songster + -ess.'\
A female singer ; also, a female singing bird.
The triU . . .
Of that shy tongttrea. whose love-tale
Might tempt an angel to descend.
While hovering o'er the moonlight vale.
Wordgicorth, Power of Sound.
Bong-tbrosh (sdng'thrush), n. One of the com-
mon thrushes of Etirope, Turdus musicus; the
mavis or throstle, closely related to the mistle-
thrush, redwing, and fieldfare. It is 9 inches in
length, and 14 in extent of wings. The upper parts are
yellowish-brown, reddening on the head ; the wing-cnverts
are tipped with reddish-yellow ; the fore neck and breast
are yellowish, with brownish-black arrow-heads ; the low-
er wing-<!overta are reddish-yellow ; and the belly U white.
See cnt under ihrush.
SOnifaction (son-i-fak'shon), n. [< L. sonus,
sounil, + factio(n-), < facere, produce.] The
production of sound ; a noise-making; espe-
cially, the stridulation of insects, as distin-
guished from vocalization: as, the sonifaction
of the cicada or katydid.
A mode of mmifactwn . . . similar to that where a boy
runs along a fence pushing a stick against the pickets.
Stand. Nat. Hut., II. 307.
SOnifer (son'i-ft-r), «. [< L. sonus, sound, -I-
ferre = E. bear'^.'\ An acoustic instrument for
collecting sound and conveying it to the ear of
a partially deaf person. It is a bell or receiver of
metal, from wliich the sound-waves are conducted to the
ear by a fliilble pipe. E. H. Knight.
soniferous (so-nif 'e-rus), a, [< L. sonus, sound,
-I- ferre = E.' beari'.'] Conveying or producing
sound.
son-in-law (sun'in-U'), n. [< ME. sone in laice :
see son 1 and /awl.] The husband of one's daugh-
ter.
sonless (sun'les), a. [< son^ + -less.'] Having
no son ; without a son.
If the Emperonr die mmJeae, a snceenor is chosen, of
sncb a spirit as tlieir present affaires do require.
Sandyt, Travalles, p. 18S.
SOnaet, ». A Middle English form of sunX.
sonnekint, n. [Early mod. E., later 'sonkin,'
< sunl + -kin.] A little son. [Nonce-word.]
woilioy, tonnekin, or lltle sonne.
UdaU. tr. of Apophthegms of Erasmus, p. 2S9i note.
Sonneratia (son-e-ra'shi-a), n. [NIj. (Linneus
filius, 17H1), nained after P. Sonnerat (1745-
1814), a French traveler and naturalist.] A ge-
nus of polypetalous plants, of the order Lijthrn-
rieie and tnbe Lyllireie. it Is characterized by flow-
ers liaring a bell-shaped calyx with from four to eight
lobes, aa many small petals or sometimes none, numerous
stamens, and a many-celled ovary which becomes a round -
ish berrv stipitate in the calyx and filled with a granular
pulp. ItincludeaSordspeclea, natives of tropical shores,
chiefly In eastern Africa and Asia, also In Madagascar and
AnstralhL They are smooth-branched trees or shrubs,
with opposite coriaceous oblong entire and almost vein-
less leaves, and large bractless flowers In terminal clusters
of three each or Solitary In the axils. S. apetala, a tree of
40 feet, growing in Indian mnngruve-swamps flooded by
the tide, has the name of kamt)ata (which see). S. acida,
with a height of 15 feet, grows In large masses in similar
situations ranging further east : its leaves are the food of
a silkworm, and its acid and slightly bitter fruit is lued
as a condiment.
sonnet (son'et), «. [Early mod. E. also sonette;
= 1). sonnet, < F. sonrtet, OF. sonet, a song, =
sonometer
Sp. Pg. soneto = It. soneito, < Pr. sonet, a song
(> G. Sw. sonett = Dan. sonet, a sonnet, canzo-
net), dim. of son, sound, tune, song, < L. sonus,
a sound: see soMnrfS.] l. A song; a ballad; a
short poem.
I have a tonnet that will serve the turn.
Skak.,T. G. of v., ill 2.93.
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
S. Robinson, Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing,
Specifically — 2. A short poem in fixed form,
limited to fourteen lines with a prescribed dis-
position of rimes. The form is of Italian origin. A
sonnet is generally written in decasyllabic or flve-foot mea-
sure ; but it may be written in octosyllabics. It consists
of two divisions or groups of lines — (1) a major group of
eight lines or two quatrains, and (2) a minor group of six
lines or two tercets. The quatrains are arranged thus :
o, b, b, a; a, b, b, a; the tercets, either c, d, c, d, c, d,
or c, d, e, c, d, e. In modern French examples the order
of the tercets is generally c, c, d, e, d, e. There are vari-
ous deviations from the sonnet as thus described ; but
by purists the above is regarded as the orthodox form, es-
tablished by long practice and prescription, all others be-
ing ranked simply as quatorzains, or what Lamb called
fourteeners. With regard to the material of the poem, it
is generally considered that it should be the expression of
a single thought, Idea, or sentiment.
I can beste allowe to call those Sonnets whiche are of
fonretene lyne^ euery line conteyning tenne syllables.
Gatcoignt, Notes on Eng. Verse (ed. Arber), § 14.
sonnet (son'et), v. [< sonnet, n.] I. trans. 1.
To celebrate in sonnets. [Rare.]
Daniel hath divinely gonnetted the matchless beauty of
Delia. Francis Meres, In .Arber's Eng. Garner, 11. 96.
2. To cover or fill with sonnets. [Rare.]
Hee will be an Inamorato Poeta, and sonnet a whole quire
of paper in praise of Ladle Manibetter, his yeolowfac'd
mlstres. Xashe, Pierce Penilesse, p. 17.
II. intrans. To compose sonnets.
Nor list I sonnet of my mistress* face.
To paint some Blowesse with a borrow'd grace.
Bp. Hall, Satires, I. L &.
sonneteer, sonnetteer (son-e-ter'), n. [< It.
sonettiere (= Sp. sonetero), a composer of son-
nets, < sonetio, a sonnet: see sonnet.] A com-
poser of sonnets or small poems: usually with a
touch of contempt.
Our little sonnetteers . . . have too narrow souls to
judge of poetry. Dryden, All for Love, Pref.
The noble sonnetteer would trouble thee no more with
his madrigals. Wychertey, Plain Dealer, i. 1.
sonneteer, sonnetteer (son-e-ter'), r. i. [<
sonnetfer, n.] To compose sonnets; rime.
Rhymers sonneteering in their sleep. Mrs. Browning.
In the very height of that divine sonneteering love of
Laura. hoxcell, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 368.
SOnnetingt (son'et-in^), h. [Verbal n. of son-
net, I.] 1. The making or composing of son-
nets, as in praise or celebration of something;
the writing of poetry.
Tut ! he is famous for his revelling.
For fine set speeches, and for sonnettinij.
Marston, Satires, 1. 42.
Two whole pages . . . praise the Kemonstrant even to
the sonetting of his fresh cheeks, quick eyes, round tongue,
agll hand, and nimble invention.
Milton, Apology for Smectymnuus.
2. Song; singing.
Leavie groves now mainely ring
With each sweet bird's sonneting.
W. Browne, Thyrsis' Praise to his Mistress.
sonnetist, sonnettist (son'et-ist), n. [= Pg.
sonttista ; as sonnet -t- -ist.] A sonneteer.
The prophet of the heav'nly lyre,
Great .Solomon, sings in the English quire;
And is become a new-found sonnetist.
Bp. Uall, Sath^s, I. viii. 9.
SOnnetize (son'et-iz), v.; pret. and pp. sonnet-
izcd, \>i)T. sonnetieing. [<. sonnet + -ize.] I. in-
trans. To compose sonnets.
n. trans. To make the subject of a sonnet;
celebrate in a sonnet.
Now could I sonnetize thy piteous plight
Southey, Nondescripts, v.
sonnetteer, sonnettist. See sonneteer, sonnetist.
sonnet-writer (son'et-ti'tfer), n. A writer of
sonnets; a sonneteer,
sonnisht, a. See sunnish.
Sonnite, ». See Sunnite.
sonny (sun'i), n. [Dim. of sonl.] A familiar
form of address in speaking to a boy.
Strike him, sonny, strike him !
yew Princeton Rev., V. S71.
Sonoma oak. An oak, Qiwrcus Kelloggii (Q.
Sonomensis), of the mountains of Oregon and
California. It Is a tree of moderate size, valued chiefly
as fuel, but furnishing also some tan-bark.
sonometer (so-nom'e-ter), li. [< L. sonus,
sound, -I- Gr. /lerpov, measure.] 1, An appa-
ratus used in experimenting upon musical
sonometer
strings or wires, and in illustrating the laws
which govern their transveree vibrations, it
consists of a sounding-board upon suitable supports, so
arransred that two strings may be stretched al>ove it side
by side ; their tension and their lengths may be varied at
will by changing the position of the bridges; the strings
are usually set in vibration by a bow. With this appa-
ratus it may be proveil experimentally that the number of
vibrations in the musical note given by a string varies in-
versely as its lengtli and diatneter, directly as the square
root of the tension, and inversely as the square root of its
density.
2. An instrument, consisting of a small bell
fixed on a table, for testing the effects of treat-
ment for deafness. — 3. In elect., an apparatus
for testing metals by means of an induction-
coil, with which is associated a telephone. See
induction-balance.
Sonora gum. See gum^.
sonore (so-u6're), arfr. [< It. sonoro: see sono-
rous.'] In mtisic, in a loud, sonorous manner.
sonorescence (so-no-res'ens), n. [< sonores-
cen{t) + -ce.1 The property of some sub-
stances, as hard rubber, of emitting a sound
when an intermittent beam of radiant heat or
light falls upon them. See radiophony.
sonorescent (s6-no-res'ent), a. [< sonor-oits
+ -cscent.'] Possessing the property of sono-
rescence.
Sonorific (s6-no-rif 'ik), a. [< L. sonor, a sound
(< sonare, sound), + -jicus, < facere, make.] 1.
Making sound: as, the sonorific quality of a
body.
This will evidently appear ... if he should ask me why
a clock strikes and points to the hour, and I should say it
Is by an indicating form and sonorifick quality.
Warn, Logic, 1. vi. § 3,
2. In zooh, sound-producing; making a noise,
as the stridulating organs of a cricket : distin-
guished from vocal ov phonetic. Also sonant.
sonority (so-nor'i-ti), M. [= F. sonorite = Sp.
soiioridad = Pg. sonoridade = It. souorita, < LL.
sonorita{t-)s, fullness of sound, < L. sonorus,
sounding, sonorous : see sonorous.'] Sonorous-
ness.
Few can really so surrender their ears as to find plea-
sure in restless sonority for many minutes at a time.
E. Gumey, in Nineteenth Century, XIII. 445.
SOnorophone (so-no'ro-fon), n. [< L. sonorus,
sonorous, + Gr. ^uv^, sound, voice.] A variety
of bombardon.
sonorous (so-no'rus), a. [= F. sonore = Sp.
Pg. It. sonoro, < L. sonorus, sounding, loud-
sounding, < sonor, sound, noise, allied to sonus,
sound, < sonare, sound : see sound^.] 1 . Giving
sound, as when struck; resonant; sounding.
Sonorous metal blowing martial sounds.
itaton, V. L., 1. 540.
A body is only tonaroiis when put into a particular con-
dition of vibration. J. Sully, Outlines of Psychol., p. 155.
2. Giving a loud or full-volumed sound; loud-
sounding: as, a sonorous voice.
And lo ! with a summons sonorous
Sounded the bell from its tower.
Longfellow, Evangeline, i. 4.
3. Having an imposing sound; high-sounding:
as, a sonorous style.
The Italian opera seldom sinks into a poorness of lan-
guage, but, amidst all the meanness and familiarity of the
thoughts, has something beautiful and sonorous in the ex-
^ pression. Addison, Remarks on Italy (ed. Bohn), I. 393.
4. Sonant : as, the vowels are sonorous Sono-
rous figures, those figures which are formed by the vibra-
tions produced by sound. Thus, when a layer of fine sand
is strewn on a disk of glass or metal, and a violin-bow
drawn down on the edge of the disk, a musical note will be
heard, accompanied by motion in the sand, which will
gather Itself to those parts that continue at rest — that i.s, to
the nodal lines, forming what are termed sonorous fiijures.
See nodal lines, under nodai. — SonoroUS rtJe. See dry
rale, under rdle. — SonorouB Stone, a common emblem in
use as a part of Chinese decoration and also as a mark for
certain porcelain vases and similar objects. Tlie figure
is intended to represent one of those stones which when
hung from a frame and struck with a mallet produce mu-
sical notes.
sonorously (so-no'ms-li), adv. In a sonorous
manner; with sound; with an imposing sound.
sonorousness (so-no'ms-nes), n. Sonorous
character or (Quality: as, the sonorousness of
metals, of a voice, of style, etc.
5770
Don't you perceive the sonorousness of these old dead
Latin phrases? 0. W. Holmes, Autocrat, v.
sons, sonce (sons), n. [< Gael. Ir. sonus, pros-
perity, happiness; cf . Gael, sona, happy.] Pros-
perity; felicity; abundance. [Scotch.]
SOnsllip (sun'ship), n. [< «o«l -1- -ship.] The
relation of son; filiation; the character, rights,
duties, and privileges of a son.
Regeneration on the part of the grantor, God Almighty,
means admission or adoption into sonship, or spiritual
citizenship. Waterland, Works, III. 348.
Sonstadt solution. See solution.
sonsy, soncy (son'si), a. [Also sonsie, sonde;
< sous, sonce, + -y^.] Lucky; happy; good-hu-
mored; well-conditioned; buxom. [Prov. Eng.
and Scotch.]
His honest, sonsie, baws'nt face >
Aye gat him friends in ilka place.
Burns, The Twa Dogs.
" Is she a pretty girl ? " said the Duke ; " her sister does
not get beyond a good comely sottsy lass."
Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xxxix.
SOntag (son'tag), n. [Named after Henriette
Sontag, a famous singer (died 1854).] A knit-
ted or crocheted covering for a woman's shoul-
ders. It was worn outside the dress like a cape,
and was tied down round the waist.
SOntyt (son'ti), n. [Also santy ; an abbr. of
sanctity.] Sanctity : a reduced form occurring,
usually in the plural, in the phrase God^s sonty, Soonee, n. See Sunni.
neon ao on rkorh - ' . .. ...
sooth
I am an extravagant young fellow who wants to borrow
money — you I take to be a prudent old fellow, who have
got money to lend — I am blockhead enough to give fifty
per cent, sooner than not have it.
Sheridan, School for Scandal, iii. 3.
As soon as, the moment that ; immediately after ; as, as
soon «» the mail arrives I shall let you know ; as soon a* he
saw the police he ran off.
His Sustre fulfilled not his Wille : for alssone as he was
ded sche delyvered alle the Lordes out of lYesoun, and
lete hem gon, cche Lord to his owne.
Matideville, Travels, p. 89.
A man who belongs to the army only in time of peace,
. . . and retires as soon as he thinks it likely that he may
be ordered on an expedition, is justly thought to have dis-
graced himself. ilacaulay, Sir William Temple.
No sooner than, as soon as ; just as.— Soon and anont,
forthwith ; promptly.
Johne toke the munkes horse be the hede
Ful sone and anone.
Robin Hood and the Monk (Child's Ballads, V. 9).
Sooner or later, at some future time, near or remote;
often implying that the event spoken of will inevitably
occur.— Soon sot. See so'. =S3m. 2 and 3. Betimes, etc.
(see early), promptly, quickly. — 6. Lief.
SOOnt (son or siin), a. [< soon, adv.] Early;
speedy; quick.
The end of these wars, of which they hope for a soon and
prosperous issue. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, L
Make your soonest haste ;
So your desires are yours.
Shak., A. and C, iii. 4. 27.
used as an oath.
By God's sonties, 'twill be a hard way to hit. Can you tell
me whether one Launcelot that dwells with him dwell with
him, or no? IShak., M. of V., ii. 2. 47.
soocey, n. See susi.
soochong, n. See souchong.
soodra, sooder, ». Same as sudra.
Soofee, n. See Sufi.
soojee, n. See suiee.
sool, n. See souli.
soola-clo'ver (so'la-kl6"ver), n. See Hcdysarum.
SOOm (sora), V. A Scotch form of swim.
soon (son or sun), adv. [< ME. soone, sone,
soune, sune (compar. sonere, snnnere, sunnere), <
AS. sona (with adverbial suflSx -a, as in twiwa,
twice, etc., not present in most of the other soordt, "
forms) = OS. sdna, sdno, sane, sdn = OFries. soorma, n
[< soon + -ly^.]
SOOnlyt (son'li or sun'li), adv.
Quickly; promptly. [Bare.]
A mason meets with a stone that wants no cutting, and
soonly approving of it, places it in his work. Dr. H. More.
soop (sop), V. t. [< leel. sopa. sweep : see swoop,
sweep.] T'o sweep. [Scotch.]
SOOping (so'ping), n. [Verbal n. of soop, ».]
1. The act of sweeping, as with a broom.
A wheen cork-headed, barmy-brained gowks ! that wun-
na let puir folk sae muckle as die in quiet wi' their sos-
sings and their soopings. Scott, St Ronan's Well, xxxii.
2. Wliat is swept together: generally in the
plural. [Scotch in both senses.]
soorack, «. See sourock.
An obsolete variant of sward.
See surma.
sdn, son = MD. saen = MLG. sdn = MHG. sdn SOOrock, n. See sourock
(cf . OHG. MHG. sd) ; cf. Icel. senn, soon ; Goth. SOOSOO, n. See susu.
smis, immediately; prob. akin to AS. swd, etc.
see sol.] i|. At once
so: see soi.] If. At once; forthwith; imme-
diately.
Thanne he assoilled hir sone. Piers PloumumlB), iii. 47.
2. In a short time ; at an early date or an early
moment ; before long ; shortly ; presently : as,
winter will soon be here ; I hope to see you soon.
Now doth he frown.
And 'gins to chide, but soon she stops his lips.
Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 46.
We knew that the Spaniards would soon be after us,
and one man falling into their hands might be the ruin of
us all, by giving an account of our strength and condi-
tion. Dampier, Voyages, I. 2.
3. Early; before the time specified is much
advanced ; when the time, event, or the like has
but just arrived: as, sooM in the morning; soon
at night (that is, early in the evening, or as
soon as night sets in) ; soon at five o'clock (that
is, as .ioon as the hour of five arrives) : an old
locution still in use in the southern United
States.
Within my twenty yere of age,
Whan that love taketh his corage
Of yonge folke, I wente so<nie
To bed, as I was wont to doon.
Rom, 0/ the Rose, y. 23.
Soon at five o'clock,
Please you, I'll meet with you upon the mart.
SlMk., C. of E., i. 2. 26.
4. Early ; before the usual, proper, set, or ex-
pected time.
How is it that ye are come so soon to day? Ex. ii. 18.
SOOt^ (sut or sot), n. [< ME. soot, sole, sot, <
AS. sot, also written soot, = MD. soet = MLG.
sot, LG. sott = Icel. sot = Sw. sot = Dan. sod,
soot; = Ir. suth = Gael, suith — W. swta (per-
haps < E.) = Lith. sodis, usually in pi. sodzei,
soot. Cf. F. suie, dial, suje = Pr. suia, suga =
Cat. sutja, soot, prob. from the Celtic] A black
substance formed by combustion, or disengaged
from fuel in the process of combustion, rising
in fine particles and adhering to the sides of the
cliimney or pipe conveying the smoke. The soot
of coal and that of wood differ very materially in their com-
position, the former containing more finely divided car-
bon than the latter. Coal-soot also contains considerable
quantities of ammonium sulphate and chlorid. The soot
of wood has a peculiar empyreumatic odor and bitter taste.
It is very complex in composition, containing potash,
soda, lime, and magnesia, combined with both organic and
inorganic acids. It has been used to some extent in med-
icine as a tonic and antispasmodic.
Soot, of reke or smoke. Fuligo. Prompt. Pan., p. 465.
We could not speak, no more than if
We had been choked with soot.
Coleridge, Ancient Mariner, ii.
Soot-cancer, epithelioma apparently due to the irritat-
ing action of soot on the skin, seen in chimney-sweeps.
SOOt^ (sut or siit), V. t. [< soot^, «.] To mark,
cover, or treat with soot.
The land was sooted before.
Mortimer.
SOOt^t, SOOtet. Middle English forms of sweet.
SOOt-de'W (sut'dii), H. In hot., a black fuliginous
coating covering parts of living plants. It is
caused by fungi of the genus Fumago.
8.
These considerations moved me to hasten my departure SOOterkint (so'ter-kin), H. [Appar. of D. origin,
'--^- " ^- • • ■ but no corresponding D. term appears.] A kind
of false birth fabled to be produced by Dutch
women from sitting over their stoves (John-
son) ; hence, an abortive scheme or attempt.
He has all the pangs and throes of a fanciful poet, but
is never delivered of any more perfect issue of his phleg-
matick brain than a dull Dutchwoman's sooterkin is of
her body. Dryden, Remarks on TTie Empress of Morocco.
All that on Folly Frenzy could beget.
Fruits of dull heat, and sooterkinsoi wit.
Pope, Dunciad, i. 126.
somewhat sooner than I intended,
Swi/l, Gulliver's Travels,
5. Quickly; speedily; easily.
It schalle be don sunnere, and with lasse cost, than and a
man made it in his owne Hous. Mandeuille, Travels, p. 214.
She burn'd out love, as soon as straw ont-burneth.
Shak., Pass. Pilg., 1. 98.
I can cure the gout or stone in some, sooner than Di-
vinity, pride, or avarice in others.
Sir T. Browne, Religio Medici, ii. 9.
6. Readily; willingly; gladly: in this
generally accompanied by %oould or some other sootflake (sut'flak), n. A flake or particle of
word expressing will, and often in the compara- soot ; a smut ; a smudge.
tiye sooner, 'rather.' -„,, ,„„,^j, „, ,„ „,„y ^ 3„„„,^ ,„„
I . . . ivc/uld as soon see a river winding through woods Clung to their fancies. Tennyson, Sea Dreams.
and meadows as when it is tossed up in such a variety of ., , .... , rx i.-r. .,7 „ „ y . r,
figures at Versailles. SOOtn (soth), n. [<^VR. sooth, soth.sothe,< AH.
Addison, To Congreve, Blois, Dec, 1699. soth = OS. soth, suoth, suot = Icel. sannr (for
sooth
"santhr) = S\r.sann = Dan. sand = Goth. *s>iths
(in deriv. suthjun, sutlijon, soothe) (cf. guiijeiiis,
true, sunja, truth) = Skt. sat (for 'sant), tmc
(cf. sati/a (for *santya), true, = Gr. erfdf, true),
= L. *sen(t-)s, being, in prtesen(t-)s, being be-
fore, present, ahsen(t-)s, being away, absent,
later en(^)«, being (see ens, entity); orig. ^pr.
of the verb represented by L. esse, Gr. uvai,
Skt. V ««. l^e (3d pers. pi. AS. synd = G. »i»d
= L. sunt = Skt. saH<() : see am (are, is), sin^,
etc. From the L. form are ult. E. ens, entity,
essence, etc., present, absent, etc.; from iheGr.,
etymon, etc.; from the Skt., suttee.} 1. Being
in accordance with truth ; conformed to fact ;
true; real. [Obsolete, archaic, or Scotch in
this and the following use.]
God wot, thing is never the lasse sooth,
Thogfa every wight ne may hit nat ysee.
C/tattcer, Good Women, 1. 14.
If thou 8peal£'Bt false,
Upon the next tree shalt thuu hang alive,
Till fapiine cling thee ; if thy speech be sooth,
1 care not if thou dost for me as much.
Shak., Macbeth, v. 5. 40.
2. Truthful ; trustworthy ; reliable.
The soothed shepherd that e'er piped on plains.
Milton, Comas, I 823.
A destined errant-knight I come,
Announced by prophet sooth and old.
Seott, L. of the L., I 24.
3. Soothing; agreeable; pleasing; delicious.
[Bare.]
Jellies soother than the creamy curd.
And lucent syrups, tinct with cinnamon.
Keats, Eve of St. Agnes, xix.
sooth (soth), n. [Early mod. E. also soothe; <
ME. so<}th, aothe, soth, < AS. sdlh, the truth, <
soth, true: see sooth, a.] 1. Truth; reality;
fact. [Obsolete or archaic]
To say the tooth, . . .
Hy people are with sickness much enfeebled.
Shak., Hen. V., iil. 0. 161.
Foood ye all your knights retnm'd,
Or wa* there sooth in Arthur's prophecy ?
Tennymm, Holy Orail.
2t. Soothsaying; prognostication.
Tis inconuenient, migbty Potentate, . . .
To scome the <oo(A of science [astrology] with contempt.
Orteiit, James IV., L 1.
The soothe of byrdes by beating of their wingea.
Spenser, .Shep. CaL, December.
St. Cajolery ; fair speech ; blandishment.
That e'er this tongue of mine.
That laid the sentence of dread banishment
On yoii proud man, should take it off again
With words of sooth! .'Shot., Rich. IL, ill. 3. 138.
With a sooth or two more I had effected it
They would have set it down under their hands.
/J. Jonsttn, Epiciene, T. 1.
Forsootb. See/orsootA.— IiigoodsooUl,ingoodtnitli;
ill rL-aiity.
Rude, in sooth ; in good sooth, very rude.
SAoi., T. andC.,iai.ea
In sooth, in tnith ; in fact ; indeed ; truly.
In sothe too me the matire queynte is ;
For as tixi hem i toke none hede.
I'olUiaU Poems, etc. (ed. Fnmivall), p. 6a
In sooth, 1 know not why I am so sad ;
It wearies me. Shak., M. of V., L 1.
sooth, I'. See soothe.
sooth ( soth), arfr. [< ME. sothe ;< sooth, a.'i If.
Truly; truthfully.
He that selth most sathett sonneat js y-blamed.
Piers PUneman (C), iv. 4S9.
2. In sooth; indeed: often used interjection-
ally.
Yet^ sooth ; and so do yoo. Shot., M. TS. D., UL 2. 286.
And, sooth,
'Twere Christian mercy to Anisb him, Bntb.
WUttier, Hogg Megone, L
4)00the (sSTH), r. ; pret. and pp. soothed, ppr.
soothinfi. [A\no sooth; < iilE. sothien, isothien,
confirm, verify, < AS. ae-sothian, prove to be
true, confirm (cf. qesoth, a parasite, flatterer,
in a gloss) (= Icel. 8w. snnna = Dan. sonde,
verify, = Goth, suthjan, suthjon, soothe), < soth,
true: see sooth, «.] I. trans. If. To prove
true; verify; confirm as truth.
Ich hit wulle sothien
Ase ich hit bi write anggen.
lAtyamon, 1. 8491.
Then must I snoth it, what euer it is ;
For what he sayth or doth can not be amisse.
VdaU, Roister Uoister, i. 1.
This anirmat inn of the archblshup, being greatlie southed
«ut with hia craftie vtterancc, . . . ciinttrmed by the lYcnch
freends.
narrison, Uescrip. of Eng., ii. 1 (Uolinsbcd's chron., I.).
2t. To confirm the statementst of; maintain
the truthfulness of (a person); bear out.
5771
Sooth me in all I say ;
There 's a main end in it.
ilamnger, Duke of Milan, v. 2.
St. To assent to; yield to; humor by agree-
ment or concession.
Sooth, to flatter iramoderatelie, or hold vp one in his
talke, and attlrme it to be true which he speaketh.
Baret, 1580.
Is't good to soothe him in these contraries?
Shak.,C. of E., iv. 4. 82.
I am of the Number of those that had rather commend
the Virtue of an Enemy than sooth the Vices of a Friend.
Hoiceli, Letters, I. v. 11.
4. To keep in good hiunor ; wheedle ; cajole ;
flatter.
An envious wretch,
That glitters only to his soothed self.
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, v. 3.
They may build castles in the air for a time, and sooth
up themselves with phantastical and pleasant humoui's.
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 153.
Our government is soothed with a reservation in its favor.
Burke, Rev. in France.
5. To restore to ease, comfort, or tranquillity;
relieve; calm; quiet; refresh.
Satan . . .
At length, collecting all his serpent wiles.
With soothing words renew'd him thus accosts.
Maton, P. R., iii. 6.
Music haa charms to sooth a savage breast.
Congreve, Mourning Bride (ed. 1710), L 1.
A cloud may soothe the eye made blind by blaze.
Browning, Ring and Book, II. 217.
It may be my lord is weary, that his brain is overwrought ;
Soothe him with thy finer fancies, touch him witli thy
lighter thought. Tennyson, Locksley Hall.
6. To allay ; assuage ; mitigate ; soften.
still there is room for pity to abate
And soothe the sorrows of so sad a state.
Courper, Charity, L 199.
I will watch thee, tend thee, soothe thy pain.
if. Arnold, Tristram and Iseult, U.
7. To smooth over; render less obnoxious.
[Rare.]
What I has your king married the Lady Orey?
And now, to soothe your forgery and his.
Sends me a paper to persuade me patience?
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., iii. 3. 176.
•Byn. S and 6. To compoae, tranquilize, pacify, ease, al-
leviate.
n. intrans. If. To temporize by assent, con-
cession, flattery, or cajolery.
Else would not soothing glosers oil the son.
Who, while hU father lIvVl, his acte did hate.
Middlelon, Father Hubbard's Tales.
2, To have a comforting or tranquilizing in-
fluence.
O for thy voice to soothe or bleaa !
Tennyson, In Memoriam, IvL
soother (sO'THfer), «. [< soothe + -eri.] One
who or that which soothes ; especially (in ob-
solete use), a flatterer.
Bv God, I cannot Hatter ; I do defy
The tongues of soothers.
Shak., 1 Hea IV., It. 1. 7.
soothfast (sSth'fAst), a. [Formerly also, er-
ronioiisly, sonthfast; < ME. .lothfast, sothfe.<it, <
AS. solhfast, < soth, sooth, true, + fasst, fast,
firm. Ci. steadfast, shamefast.'i 1. Truthful;
veracious; honest.
We witen that thou art sothfatt, and reckist not of ony
man, . . . but thuu techlat the weie of God in treuthe.
Wyelif, Mark xil. 14.
Edie was ken'd to me . . . for a true, loyal, and soothfati
man. Seott, Antiquary, iuv.
2. True; veritable; worthy of belief.
xif thou woldest leue on him
lliat on the rode dide thi kyn.
That he la soth^aat Codes sone.
King Bom (E. E. T. a), p. 9S.
It waa a southfatl sentence long agoe
That tiaatie men shall never lacke much woe.
Jf tr. for Mags. , p. 4«4. {Nares.)
3. Veritable; certain; real.
Ye [Love) holden regne and hous in unltee,
Y'e sot^ast cause of frendsbipe )>en also.
Chaucer, Troilus, 111. 30.
4. Faithful; loyal; steadfast.
Thus manie yeares were spent with good and sooth,fast life.
Twiit Arhundle that worthie knight and his approued
wife.
TyabernUe, Upon the Death of Elizabeth Arhundle.
V,Richardson.)
[< Ibsolete or archaic in all uses.]
soothfastly (sath'fist-li), adv. [< ME. soth-
fnstlike: < soothfast + -ly^.'\ Truly; in or with
truth. OnnM/um, 1. 2995. [(Obsolete or archaic]
But, if I were to come, wad ye really and soottifastly pay
me the siller? Scott, Rob Koy, xxilL
SOOthfastness (siitli'fast-nes), n. [< ME. soth-
fa.ilnrssi'. < AH. .•lolhf/rstncs, < sothfeest, true :
see soothfast and ->»»«.] The property or char-
soothsayer
acter of being soothfast or true ; truth. Chaucer,
Troilus, iv. 1080. [Obsolete or archaic]
SOOthfult (soth'ful), o. [< ME. sothful; < sooth
+ -ful.] Soothfast; true.
He may do no thynk hot ryst.
As Mathew melez [s<aysl in your messe.
In sothful gospel of God al-mygt
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), L 497.
SOothfttUyt (s6th'ful-i), adv. [< ME. soothfuUy
(Ke-atish zothiolUche); <soothful + -ly^.'\ Truly;
verily ; indeed. Ayenbite of Inwyt (E. E. T. S.),
p. 133.
SOOthheadt (soth'hed), n. [< ME. sothhede
iKentish ^othhede); (.sooth + -head.'] Sooth-
ness; truth. Ayenbite of Inwyt (E. E. T. S.),
p. 105.
soothing (so'THing), n. [Verbal n. of soothe,
1'.] The act of one who soothes; that which
soothes.
Ideal sounds,
Soft-wafted on the zephyr's fancy'd wing.
Steal tuneful soothings on the easy ear.
W. Thompson, Sickness, v.
soothingly (so'lHing-li), adv. In a soothing
manner.
SOOthingness (s6'THing-nes), n. The quality
or character of being soothing. Lowell, N. A.
Rev., CXX. 378.
SOOthlyt (soth'li), a. [< sooth -I- -ly^.'] True.
Dear was the kiiidlie love which Kathrin bore
This crooked ronion, for in soothly guise
She was her genius and her counsellor.
Mickle, Syr Martyn, 1. 46.
soothly (soth'li), adv. [< ME. soothly, sothly,
sothely, sothlich, sothliche, < AS. sothlice, truly,
verily, indeed, < soth, true: see sooth.] 1. In
a truthful manner; with truth. Ayenbite of In-
icyt (E. E. T. S.), p. 74.
Then view St David's ruin'd pile;
And, home-returning, goothti/ swear,
Waa never scene so sad and fair !
Scott, L. of L. M., IL 1. V
2. In truth; as a matter of fact; indeed.
I nam no goddesse, soothly, quod she tho.
Chaucer, Good Women, L 989.
Ne soothlich is it easie for to read
Where now on earth, or how, he may be fownd.
Spenser, F. Q., III. IL 14.
[Obsolete or archaic in both uses.]
SOOthnesst (sOth'nes), »i. [< ME. sothnc^se,
.lothencs.-ie ; < sooth -(- -ness.] The state or prop-
erty of being true, (o) Conformity with fact.
I woot wel that God makere and mayster is governor
of his werk, ne never nas yit daye that mihte put me owt
of the sothnesse of that sentence.
Ctiaucer, Boethius, L prose 6.
(6) Truthfulness; faithfulness- righteousness.
Gregorie wist this well and wilned to my soule
Sauacioun, for sothenesse that he seigh in my werkes.
Piers Plotcman (ii), xi. 142.
(c) Reality ; earnest.
Seistow this to me
Iti sothnesse, or in dreem I herkne this?
Chaucer, Second Nun's Tale, L 261.
SOOth-sa'Wt (88th's4), «. [ME. sothesaice, soth-
sage (= Icel. sannsaga), truth-telling, sooth-
saying (cf. ME. sothsawel, sothsagel, a., truth-
telling), < AS. soth, truth, sooth, + saga, say-
ing, saw: see sooth and saic'^. Cf. soothsay, ».]
A true saying; truth.
Of Loves folke mo tydlnges,
Both sothe-saxpes and iesynges.
Chaucer, House of Fame, \. 676.
soothsay (sSth'sa), v. i. [< sooth + say^, after
the noun soothsayer.] To foretell the future;
make predictions.
Char. E'en as the o'erflowing Nilus presageth famine.
Iras. Go, you wild bedfellow, you cannot soothsay.
Sljak., A. and C, L 2. 62.
By scaly Triton's winding shell.
And old soot/uaying Glaucus' spell.
Milton, Comus, 1. 874.
SOOthsayt (soth'sa), n. [< soothsay, v. Cf.
sooth-saw.] 1. Soothsaying; prediction; prog-
nostication ; prophecy.
Shewes, visions, sooth-sayes, and prophesies ;
And all that fained is, as leasings, tales, and lies.
Spenser, F. Q., II. iz. 61.
2. A portent; an omen.
And, but God turne the same to good sooth-say.
That Ladies safetie Is sore to be dradd.
Spenser, F. Q., III. vlil. 6a
soothsayer (s8th'sa''fer), n. [Formerly also,
erroneously, soMt/(*a^er/ < ME. so</(.'*(Jier (Kent-
ish :oth:i(iiierc); < sooth + sayer^.] If. One
who tells the truth ; a truthful person.
The sothsaier tho was lefe.
Which wolde nought the trouthe spare.
Oower, Conf. Amant., III. 164.
2. One who prognosticates; a diviner: gener-
ally used of a pretender to prophetic powers.
soothsayer
A $ootluayer bids you beware the ides of March,
Stuik., J. C, 1. 2. 19.
8. A mautis or rearhorse. See cut under Man-
tidie. Also called camel-cricl;et, praying-mantis,
devil's /i«)>'c. devil's race-horse, etc. =Syii. 2. Seer,
etc. See prophet.
SOOtllsaying (soth'sa''ing), «. [< sooth + say-
ing; in part verbal n. of soothsay, i\] 1. A
foretelling; a prediction J especially, the prog-
nostication of a diviner; also, the art or occu-
pation of divination.
Divinations, and sooOuayingg, and dreams are vain.
Ecclus. xxxiv. 5.
And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain
damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which
brought her masters much gain by soothsaying.
Acts xvi. 16.
2t. A true saying; truth. =syn. 1. See prophet.
SOOtily (silt'- or s6t'i-li), adv. In a sooty man-
ner: with soot. Stornionih.
sootiness (suf- or sot'i-nes), n. The state or
property of being sooty.
That raw goodness of the London winter air.
The Century, XXVI. 62.
SOOtish (siit'ish or sS'tish), a. [< soot^ +
-i«/|i.] Partaking of the natm-e of soot; like
soot; sooty. Sir T. Browne.
Bootless (siit'les or sSt'les), a. [< soof^ + -less.}
Free from soot. Nature, XLII. 25.
soot-wart (sut'wart), n. Scrotal epithelioma
of chimney-sweeps.
sooty (sut'i or so'ti), a. [< ME. sooty, soty, <
AS. sotig (= Icel. sotigr = Sw. sotig), sooty,
<«of, soot: see soo^i.] 1. Covered or marked
with soot ; black with soot.
Ful sooty was hire hour and ekk hire halle.
Chaucer, Nun's Priest's Tale, 1. 12.
Straight on the fire the sooty pot I plac'd.
Gay, Shepherd's Week, Tuesday, 1. 67.
2. Producing soot.
Byflre
Of sooty coal the empiric alchemist
Can turn . . .
Metals of drossiest ore to perfect gold.
Maton, V. L., v. 440.
3. Produced by soot; consisting of soot.
The sooty films that play upon th§ bars
Pendulous. Cowper, Task, iv. 292.
4. Resembling soot; dark; dusky.
I . . . will raise
From black abyss and sooty hell that mirth
Which fits their learned round.
Randolph, Aristippus, Prol.
5. In ro67. and hot., fuliginous; of a dusky or
dark fuscous color: specifically noting many
animals — Sooty albatross, Diomedea (Phoebetria)/uli-
ginosa, a wide-ranging species of albatross in southern and
south temperate seas, of a fuliginous color, with black
feet and bill, the latter having a yellow stripe on the side
of the under mandible. — Sooty Shearwater, Pufinus
/ti/i^'mw(«, a black hagden common on the Atlantic coast
of North America, of medium size and entirely fuliginous
plumage. — Sooty tern, Sterna illaliplana) fulvjinosa, a
tern glossy-black above and snowy-white below, with a
white crescent on the forehead, black bill and feet, and the
tail deeply forked, as is usual in terns. It is 16^ inches
Sooty Tern ^Sterna (.Halifilani^futieinosa').
long, and 34 in extent of wings, and is a well-known inhabi-
tant of the coasts of most warm and temperate seas ; on
the United States coast of the Atlantic it abounds north
to the Carollnaa. It breeds in large companies, and lays
three eggs on the sand, 2 A by 1 J inches,of a buff or creamy
color, spotted and dashed with light brown and purplish.
The eggs have some commercial value, and the sooty tern
is therefore otie of the sea-fowl called egg-birds.
sooty (siit'i or so'ti), v. t. ; pret. and pp. sootied,
ppr. sootying. [< sooty, o.j To black or foul
with soot.
Then, for his own weeds, shirt and coat, all rent,
Tann'd, and M-sootit^.d with noisome smoke,
She put him on ; and over all a cloke.
Chapman, Odyssey, xiii. 635.
sop (sop), n. [< ME. sop, soppe, sope, < AS.
*soppa, "soppe (found only in comp. sop-cuppa,
and in the verb) = MD. soppe, sope, sop, D. sop,
broth, Bop, = MLG. LG. soppe = OHG. sopha,
soffa, MH(5. sophe, suppe, G. suppe = Sw. soppa
(cf . It. zuppa, sop, soaked bread, = Sp. Pg. sojta
= P. soupe, soup, > E. soup : see sotq>^) = Icel.
5772
soppa, a sop (soppa afrini, a sop in wine), = Sw.
soppa, broth, soup; from the strong verb, AS.
supan (pp. sojyen), etc., sup : see sup. Sop is thus
ult. a doublet of soup'^ and sup, n. Cf . also sip.'\
1. Something soaked; a morsel, as of bread,
dipped in a liquid before being eaten ; a piece
of bread softened, as in broth or milk, or in-
tended to be so softened.
Thanne he taketh a sop in fyne clarree.
Chaucer, Merchant's Tale, 1. 699.
Of brede i-byten no soppis that thow make.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 28.
Jesus answered. He it is to whom I shall give a sop when
I have dipped it And when he had dipped the sop, he
gave it to Judas Iscariot. John xiii. 26.
Hence — 2. A morsel of food; a small portion
of food or drink ; a mouthful ; a bite. [Obso-
lete or prov. Eng.]
If he soupeth, eet but a soppe.
Piers Plowman (B), xv. 176.
3. Somethinggiven to pacify or quiet; a bribe:
so used in allusion to the sop given to Cerberus
in order to secure a quiet entrance to the lower
world.
Why, you unconscionable Rascal, are you angry that I
am unlucky, or do you want some Fees? I'll perish in a
Dungeon before I'll consume with throwing Sops to such
Curs. Sir R. Howard, The Committee, iv. 1.
To Cerberus they give a sop.
His triple barking mouth to stop. Swift.
4. A small piece; a fragment; a particle; hence,
a trifle ; a thing of little or no value.
For one Pieres the Ploughman hath inpugned vs alle.
And sette alle sciences at a soppe sane loue one.
Piers Plowman (B), xiii. 124.
A sop In the pan, a piece of bread soaked in the dripping
which falls from baking or roasting meat ; hence, a dainty
morsel ; a tidbit.
Stir no more abroad, but tend your business ;
Youshall have nomore sops i' the pan else, nor no porridge.
Fletcher, Pilgrim, iii. 7.
Sops in Wlnet, the common garden pin]^, Dianthti^plu-
marius. apparently used along with the carnation or clove-
pink, D. Caryophyllus, to flavor wine. Britten and Holland,
Eng. Plant Names.
Bring Coronations, and Sops in wine,
Worne of Paramoures.
Spenser, Shep. Cal., April.
Sour sop, sweet sop. See sour-sop, smeet-sop.—lo give
or throw a sop to Cerberus, to quiet a troublesome per-
son by a concession or a bribe. See def. 3.
sop (sop), V. ; pret. and pp. sopped, ppr. sopping.
[Early mod. E. soppe, < ME.'soppen, < AS.*«op-
pian, soppigan, sop (= D. soppen = Sw. supa =
tystn. suppe, sop), a secondary form of SMpa» (pp.
sopen), sup: see sop, n., and sup.'] I, trans. 1.
To dip or soak in a liquid.
To Soppe, oifam intingere.
Levins, Manip. Vocab. (E. E. T. S.), p. 169.
His cheeks, as snowy apples sopt in wine.
Had their red roses quencht with lilies white.
G. Fletcher, Christ's Triumph on Earth, st. 11.
2. To take up by absoiption: followed by ty) ;
as, to sop up water with a sponge.
II. intrans. 1. To soak in; penetrate, as a
liquid; percolate.
Sopping and soaking in among the leaves, . . . oozing
down into the boggy ground, . . . went a dark, dark stain.
Dickens, Martin Chuzdewit, xlvii.
2. To be drenched; be soaked with wet: as,
his clothes were sopping with rain.
sopel, n. An archaic or obsolete form of soap:
retained in modern copies of the authorized
version of the Bible.
SOpe'^, n. and i\ An obsolete or dialectal form
ot sup.
SOpelka (so-pel'ka), n. [Russ. sopelka, dim.
ot sopeli, a pipe.] A musical reed-instrument
popular in southern Russia. It is about is inches
long, made of elder-wood, with a brass mouthpiece and
eight large and seven sm^l finger-holes.
SOpert, "• An old spelling of soaper, supper.
Soper rifle. See rijic'^.
soph (sof ), n. [Abbr. of sophister and of sopho-
more.'] 1. In the English universities, same
as sophister, and the more usual word.
Three Cambridge Sophs and three pert Templars came, . . .
Each prompt to query, answer, and debate.
Pope, Dunciad, ii. 879.
2. In United States colleges, same as sopho-
more. [Colloq.]— Senior soph. Seesophuter.s.
SOphat, ri. An obsolete spelling of sofa.
SOphemet, '*• An obsolete form of sophism.
Sopheric (so'fe-rik), a. [< Sopher-im + -ic.]
Pertaining to the Sopherim, or to their teach-
ings or labors.
A vast amount of Sopheric literature not to be found in
the canonical Mishnah. Encye. Brit., XXIII. 37.
Sopherim (so'fe-rim), «. pi. [Heb. sopherim.]
The scribes ; the ancient teachers or expound-
ers of the Jewish oral law.
sophister
The Sopherim or students of Scripture in those times-
were simply anxious for the authority of the Scriptures,
not for the ascertainment of their precise historical ori-
gin. Eneyc. Brit., XIII. 379.
sophit, "• An obsolete spelling of sofi for sufi
SOphic (sof'ik), a. [< Gr. aofia, skill, clever-
ness, wisdom, <ffo^(5f, skilled, intelligent, learn-
ed, wise: see sophist.] Pertaining to or teach-
ing wisdom; sapiential.
He'll drop the sword, or shut the sophic page.
And pensive pay the tributary tear.
Cunningham, Death of George II.
sophical (sof 'i-kal), a. [< sophic + -al] Same
as sophic.
All those books which are called sophical, such as the
Wisdom of Sirach, &c., tend to teach the Jews the true
spiritual meaning of God's economy.
Harris, On the Fifty-third Chapter of Isaiah, p. 256.
SOphically (sof'i-kal-i), adv. In a sophical man-
ner.
The Spagyric Quest of Beroaldus Cosmopolita, in which
is Sophically and Mystagorically declared the First Mat-
ter of the Stone. Title, in Athenasum, No. S189, p. 789.
SOphiet, n. [< OF. Sophie, < L. sophia, < Gr. ao-
(pia, wisdom, < ao<j>6(, wise : see sophic] Wisdom.
That in my shield
The seuen fold sophic of Minerue contein
A match more mete, syr king, than any here.
Poems qf Vncertaine Auctors, Death of Zoroas.
[(Richardson.)
SOphimet, «. An obsolete form of sophism.
SOphimoret, »• An obsolete spelling of sopho-
more.
SOphish (sof'ish), a. Characteristic of a soph.
sophism (sof'izm), «. [< ME. sophisme, orig.
with silent s, and oftener spelled sophime, so-
phyme, sopheme, sophym, sofyme, sofym, < OF.
sophisme, F. sophisme = Pr. sofisnw = Sp. sofisma
= Pg. sophisma, sofisma = It. sofisma = D. sofisme
= G. sophisma = Sw. sofism = Dan. sofisme, < L.
.sophisma, a sophism, < Gr. a6<pia/ja, a clever de-
vice, an ingenious contrivance, a sly trick, a
captious argument, sophism, < ao(j>i(eiv, make
wise, instruct, dep. deal or argue subtly: see
sophist. Cf. sophomore.] A false argumentation
devised for the exercise of one's ingenuity or
for the purpose of deceit; sometimes, alogically
false argumentation ; a fallacy. The word is es-
pecially applied to certain ancient tricks of reasoning,
which before the sysfematization of logic and grammar
had a real value, and were treated as important secrets.
For the various kinds of sophism, ^ee fallacy.
This day ne h^rde I of your tonge a word,
I trowe ye studie aboute som sophyme.
Chaucer, Prol, to C lerk's Tale, I. 5.
Some other reasons there are . . . which seem to have
been objected ... for the exercise of men's wits in dis-
solving sophisms. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, viii. 4.
The litigious sophism. SeeZtK^««. =Syn. A sophism
is an argument known to be unsound I)y him who uses it ;
Apandogixm is an unsound argument used without know-
ledge of its unsiiuiidness. Paralogism is a strictly tech-
nical word of logic : sophism is not. Sophistry applies to
reasoning as sophism to a single argument. See fallacy.
sophist (sof 'ist), n. [In ME. sophister, q. v. ;
< V. sophiste = Pr. sophista = Sp. sofista = Pg.
sophista, sofista = It. sofista = D. sofist = G. so-
phist = Sw. Dan. sofist, < LL. sophista, a sophist,
< Gr. acKpiGTr/c, a master of one's craft, a wise or
prudent man, a teacher of arts and sciences for
money, a sophist (see def. 2), < ao<pil^eiii, make
wise, instruct, in pass, be or become wise, dep.
deal or argue subtly, be a sophist, < (7o^(5f.skillea,
intelligent, learned, clever, wise; cf.iro^vf, clear;
perhaps akin to L. sapere, taste, > sapiens, wise :
see sapient.] 1. One who is skilled or versed
in a thing; a specialist. — 2. An ancient Greek
philosophic and rhetorical teacher who took
pay for teaching virtue, the management of a
household or the government of a state, and
all that pertains to wise action or speech.
Sophists taught before the development of logic and
gi-ammar, when skill in reasoning and in disputation
could not be accurately distinguished, and thus they came
to attach great value to quibbles, which soon brought them
into contempt.
Love teacheth a man to carry himself better than the
sophist or preceptor.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii.
The Sophists did not profess to teach a man his duty as
distinct from his interest, or his interest as distinct from
his duty, but Good Conduct conceived as duty and interest
identified. //. Sidgwick, Methods of Ethics, p. 94.
Hence — 3. A captious or fallacious reasoner;
a quibbler.
Dark-br(ftv'd sophist, come not anear ;
All the place is holy gi'ound ;
Hollow smile and frozen sneer
Come not here.
Tennyson, The Poet's Mind.
sophister (sof'is-t6r), n. [< ME. sophister,
sofyster, < OF. *sophistre, a var. of sophiste, a
sophist : see sophist. The term, -er is uuorigi-
sophister
nal. as in philosopher.] 1. A man of learning;
a teaeher; specifically, a professional teacher
of philosophy ; a sophist.
And gut thei seien sothliche, and so doth the San-asyna,
That lesus was bote a logelour, a laper a-iuonge the co-
nmne.
And a sijphutre of sorcerie and pseudo-propheta.
Piers Plmrman (C), XTiii. 311.
Aa the sophixter said in the Greek comedy, "Clouds be-
come any thing as they are represented."
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), L esS.
2. A sophist; a quibbler; a subtle and falla-
cious reasoner.
These impudent gophigtern, who deny matter of fact with
so steeled a front. Eixlyii, True Religion, Pref., p. %xx.
You very cunningly put a Question about Wine, by a
French Trick, which I believe you learn'd at Paris, that
you may save your Wine by that ^eans. Ah, go your
Way ; 1 see you're a Svphigter.
S. Bailey, tr. of Colloquies of Erasmus, I. 74.
The age of chivalry is gone : that of tophitUrt, econo-
mists, and calculators has succeeded.
Burke, Rev. in France.
3. In English universities, a student advanced
beyond the first year of his residence, now gen-
erally called a aoph. At Cambridge during the first
year the students have the title of /renhmen, or Jiritt-year
men; during the second, tecond-year men, or junior mphs
or sophister^; and during the third year, third-year men,
or anuor 9opbM or sophixters. In the older American col-
leges the junior and senior classes were originally called
junior nophifterg and senior sophixten. The terms were
similarly ap]>lied to students in their third and fourth
years in Dublin I'niversity. Compare taphomore.
I have known the ralllngest to^itten in an university
sit non plus. G. Harvey, Four Letters.
Xn case any of the Sophittert fail in the premises re-
qaired at their hands.
Quiney, Hist. Harvard I'niv., I. 518 (Hall's College Words).
SOpUstert (sof'is-tfer), r. t. [< sojihislcr, «.]
To maintain by a fallacious argument or soph-
ist r v. f'oxe.
sophistic (so-fis'tik), a. and n. [< OF. (and F.)
sojihistique =z Sp. sofintico = Pg. sophistico, so-
fistiro = It. sofistico, adj. (F. snphistique = It.
sofinlica = G. sophistik, n.), < L. sophisticus, <
Gr. aiH^ioTiKd^, of or pertaining to a sophist,
< aixfiuTrii, sophist: see Hophist.'] I. a. Same as
sophistical.
Bat we know nothing till, by poaring still
On Books, we get Ts a SojOrutik skill.
SylreiteT, Ir. of Do Bartas's Weeks, ii , The Furies.
Sophistic quantity. See quantity.— Sophistic syllo-
gism, a deceptive syllogism Invented for gain.
n. ". The methods of the Greek sophists;
sophistry.
SOpUistical (so-fis'ti-kal), a. [< ME. "sofistical
(ill thi' adv.); < sophistic + -«(.] 1. Pertain-
ing to a sophist or to sophistry; using or in-
volving sophistry ; quibbling; fallacious.
Whom ye could not move by gopMaticaU arguing, them
you thinke to confute by scandalous laisnanilng.
Milton, Cburcb-Uovemment, I. a.
2t. Sophisticated; adulterated; not pure.
There be some that commit Fornication in Chymistry,
by heterogeneous and mpkintical Citriiiations.
Uotcell, Letter*, I. vL 4L
Sophistical disputation. See disputation, i.
SOpmstically is6-fis'ti-kal-i), adv. [< ME. so-
tiHticiilhj : < sophistical + -ly-.] In a sophis-
tical manner; fallaciouslj-; with sophistry.
Who soJlstieaUy spekelb is hateful.
Wydif, Ecclos. xzzva ».
The gravest [offense) ... is to argue snphistieatty, to
suppress facts or arguments, to misstate the elements of
the case, or misrepresent the opposite opinion.
J. S. Mill, Uberty, U.
SOphisticalness (so-fis'ti-kal-nes), n. The state
or ijNiility of being sophistical. Bnileij, 1727.
sophisticate (so-fis'ti-kat), r.; pret. and pp. .?o-
phi.il{<<ilc(l. ppr! sophisticating. [< ML. sophis-
ticatiiM, pp. of soph i^ tica re (> It. sojisticare = Sp.
sofisticar = Pg. sophisticar, sofistictir = F. so-
phistitfuer), falsify, corrupt, adulterate, < LL.
«o/i/ii«?ioM«, sophistic : nee sophistic] I. trans.
1. To make sophistical; involve in sophistry;
clothe or obscure with fallacies; falsify.
How be it, it were harde to construe this lecture,
Sop/usticatid craftely is many a confecture.
Skellon, Oarland of Laurel, \. 110.
I have loved no darkness.
Sophisticated no truth.
M. A mold, Empedocles on Etna, ii.
8. To overcome or delude by sophistry; hence,
to pervert; mislead.
If the passions of the mind be strong, they easily so-
pliistieate the understanding.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v., Ded.
The majority . . . refused to Sfiften down or explain
•way Ihiw: words which, to all minds not tophislicated,
appear to assert the regenerating virtue of the sa«:ranient.
Macaulay, Hist. I'^ng., xiv.
3. To adulterate ; render impure by admixture.
5773
He lets me have good tobacco, and he does not
Sophistii-ate it with sack-lees or oil.
B. Jonson, Alchemist, i. 1.
Tradesmen who put water in their wool, and moisten
their cloth that it may stretch; tavern-keepers who so-
phisticate and mingle wines.
/. D'Israeli, Curios, of Lit., I. 339.
4. To deprive of simplicity; subject to the
methods or influence of art.
He is rattling over the streets of London, and pursuing
all the sophisticated joys which succeed to supply the place
where nature is relinquished. V. Knox, Essays, vii.
5. To alter without authority and without no-
tice, whether to deceive the reader or hearer,
or to make a fancied improvement or correc-
tion; alter, as a text or the spelling of a word,
in order to support a preconceived opinion of
what it was or should be.
How many . . . turn articles of piety to particles of
policy, and sophisticate old singleness into new singularity !
Itev. T. Adams, Works, 1. 178.
As to demarcation, following Dr. Wel)ster, they take the
liberty of sophisticatinj Burke, in making him write de-
markation. P. Hall, Mod. Eng., p. 2d8.
n. intrans. To use sophistry ; deal sophisti-
cally.
We may occasionally see some man of deep conscien.
tiousness, and subtle and refined understanding, who
spends a life in sophisticating with an intellect which he
cannot silence. J. S. Mill, Liberty, ii.
SOphisticatet (so-fis'ti-kat), a. [< ME. sophisti-
coli : < ML. sophisticaius, pp.: see the verb.]
1. Porverted; corrupt.
And such [pure and right) no Woman e'er will be;
No, they are all Sophisticate. Cowley, Ode, St. 1.
Very philosophic (nat that whiche is sophisticate and con-
sisteth in sophismes). Sir T. Elyot, The Qovemonr, UL 11.
2. Adulterated; impure; hence, not genuine ;
spurious.
Zif it be thykke or reed or blak, it Is sophisticate: that is
to seyne, contrefeted and made lyke it, for disceyt.
MandeviUe, Travels, p. 51.
Hee tastes Styles as some discreeter Palata doe Wine,
and tela yea which is Uenuine, which Sophisticate and
bastard. Bp. Earie, Micro-coamographie, A Criticke.
sophistication (so-flg-ti-ka'shon), n. [Early
mod. E. so)ihistiettcion ; = Sp. sofisticacion = Pg.
sophistiea^So = It. sofistica:ione, < ML. sophis-
tieatio{n-), < sophislicare, sophisticate: see «o-
phisticate.] 1. The act or process of sophisti-
cating, (a) The use or application of sophisms; the
process of investing with specious fallacies ; the art of
sophistry.
Skill iu special pleading and ingenuity in sophistication.
Mrs. Coiden Clarke,
(b) The process of perverting or mislea<ling by sophistry ;
hence, loosely, any perversion or wresting from the proper
course ; a leading or going astray.
From l)oth kinds of practical perplexity again are to be
distinguished those »e\t.»ophistications which arise from a
desire to find excuses for gratifying unworthy inclinations.
T. H. Onen, Prolegomena to Ethics, ( 314.
(e) Adulteration ; debasement by means of a foreign ad-
mixture.
A subtile discoaery of outlandish merchants fraud, and
of the sopAiitieatton of their wares.
Hakiuyt's Voyages, To the Reader.
2. A sophism; a quibble; a specious fallacy.
Tyndslles trylUnge sophistieaeions, whyche he woulde
shonldeseeroesoaolempnesubtileinsolables, . . . ye shall
•e proued very frantlque folyes.
Sir T. More, Works (ed. 1B87X I. 386.
3. That whichis adulterated ornotgenuine; the
product of adulteration. — 4. A means of adul-
teration ; any substance mixed with another for
the purpose of adulteration.
The chief «>pAM>oKv»u of gingerpowder are aago-meal,
ground rice, and turmeric Eneyc. Brit., I. 172.
BOphisticator (so-fis'ti-ka-tor), n. r< sophis-
ticate + -orl.] One who sophisticates, in any
sense of the word; especially, one who adul-
terates.
I cordially commend that the sophistieatort of wine may
suiTer punishment alKivc any ordinary thief.
T. Whilaker, Blood of the Grape (1654), p. 107.
SOphisticism (so-fis'ti-sizm), «. [< sophistic +
-ism.] The philosophy or methods of the soph-
ists.
sophistress (sof'is-tres), n. [< sophister +
-f.'f.v.] A female sophist. [Bare.]
Jfar. Shall I haue leane (as thou but late with me)
That I may play the Sophister with thee?
Pam. The Sophistresse.
Ueyvood, Dialogues (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, VI. 11.5).
Yoa seem to hfe a Sophistress, you argue so smartly.
a. Bailey, tr. of Collo<|Uie8 of Erasmus, i. 379.
sophistry (sof'is-tri), «. ; pi. sophistries (-triz).
[< >IE. sojihislrije, sophistrie, sofustry (= G.
sophistrrei = Sw. Dan. sofisteri), < O^. sophis-
trrir = Sp. It. sofisterin = Pg. sophistcria (<
ML. sophistria); as sophist + -ry.] 1. The
Sophora
methods of teaching, doctrines, or practices
of the Greek sophists. — 2. Fallacious reason-
ing; reasoning sound in appearance only; es-
pecially, reasoning deceptive from intention or
passion.
Ine huyche manyere thet me zuereth other openliche
other stilleliche be art other be sophistrie.
AyenbiU of Inuyt (E. E. T. S.), p. 65.
Sophistrie is ever occupied either in proving the trueth
alwaies to be false, or elles that whiche is false to be true.
Sir T. Wilson, Rule of Reason.
Men of great conversational powers almost universally
practise a sort of lively sophistry and exaggeration, which
deceives, for the moment, both themselves and their au-
ditors. Macaulay, Athenian Orators.
3t. Argument for exercise merely.
The more youtliful exercises of sophistry, themes, and
declamations. Felton.
4t. Trickery; craft.
Hem thoughte it did hem [the birds] good
To singe of lilni, and in hir song despyse
The foule cherl that for his covetyse
Had hem betrayed with his sophistrye.
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 137.
=8yn. 8. See def. 2 of fallacy.
Sopnoclean (sof-o-kle'.an), a. [< L. Sophocles,
< Gr. looos/v/f, Sophocles (see def.), -(- -an.] Of
or pertaining to Sophocles, an illustrious Athe-
nian dramatic poet (495-406 B. c).
sophomore (sof'o-mor), n. and a. [Formerly
sophimore, the altered form sophomore being
made to simulate a formation < Gr. do^of, wise,
+ fiup6(, silly, foolish, as if in allusion to the
exaggerated opinion which students at this age
are apt to have of their wisdom ; not found in
early use (being a technical term not likely to
occur often outside of university records), but
prob. orig. 'sophimor, "sophiniour, < OF. as if
*sophismour, 'sophismeor, < ML. as if *sophis-
mator, lit. 'one who makes arguments or uses
sophisms,' < "«o^A(6"Wiarc (> It. sojismare = Pg.
sophismare), with equiv. sophismaticare, use
sophisms, < L. sophisma, a captious argument,
a sophism: see sophism. Sophomore, sophimore,
prop, "sophimor, is thus lit. ' sophismer, as if di-
rectly < sophime (ME. form of sophism) -i- -orl.
It is practically equiv. to sophister, both appar.
meaning in their orig. university tise 'arguer'
or ' debater.' Cf . wrangler in its university use.]
1. n. Astudent in the second year of his college
course. [U. S.]
The President may give Leave for the Sophimores to
take out some particular Books.
Lau>s Yale Coll. (1774), p. 23 (Hall's College Words).
H. a. Pertaining to a sophomore, or to the
second year of the college course ; character-
istic of sophomores: as, sophomore studies;
sophomore rhetoric. [U. S.]
SOphomoric (sof-o-mor'ik), a. [< sophomore +
-ic] 1. Of or pertaining to a sophomore or a
sophomore class. [U. S.]
Better to face the prowling panther's path
Than meet the storm of Sophomoric wrath.
Hamardiana, IV. 22 (Hall's College Words)i
2. Characteristic of the traditional sophomore;
bombastic; inflated; conceited; complacently
ignorant; immature and over-confident. [U. S.]
He [Davis] writes that he "never expected a Confeder-
ate army to surrender while it was able either to fight or
to retreat"; but, sustained only by the fophomoric elo-
quence of Mr. Benjamin, he had no alternative.
The Century, XXXIX. 56S.
They sat one day drawn thus close together, sipping and
theorizing, speculating upon the nature of things in an
easy, bold, sophomoric way.
0. W. Cable, Old Creole Days, p. 13.
SOphomorical (sof-o-mor'i-kal), a. [< sopho-
moric+-al.] iiame aa sophomoric. [U.S.]
Some verbose Fourth of July oration, or 8omej»opAo»U)fT.
eal newspaper declamation. //. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 436.
Sophora (so-fo'ra), n. [NL. (LinnKus, ]7.'17),
< Ar. so,fdra, a yellow plant (applied to one
faded), < a.'i/or, yellow: see saffron.] A genus
of leguminous plants, of the suborder riipilio~
naceie, tj'pe of the tribe Sophorex. It is charac-
terized by flowers with n broadly obovate or orbicular
banner petal and oblong wings and keel, grouped in ter-
minal racemes or panicles, and followed by thick or round-
ish or four-winged pods which are constricted into a suc-
cession of necklace-Iike joints (see cut under inoniliform),
and are usually indehiscent. There are al>out.'iO speeiee,
natives of warm regions of both hemispheres. They are
trees and shrubs, rarely perennial herbs, and bear odd.
pinnate leaves, usually with vei-y numerous small leaflets,
but sometimes only a few, and then lai-ge and rigid. The
flowers are white, yellow, or violet, and highly ornamen-
tal. Three species occur within the United states : S.
seeundifiora, the coral-bean of Texas (see friffolito); 5'. af-
finis, a small tree of Arkansas and Texas, witli bard, heavy,
coarse-grained, yellow and finally red wood, and resinous
pods, from which a domestic ink is made; and S. tomen-
tosa, a shrub of the Florida coast, with showy yellow flow-
ers, also widely distributed along tropical shores of Amer-
Sophora
ica, Africa, and Australia, and abundant on Fiji Island sea-
beaches, wliere it is icnown as kau-ni-alewa, or woiiiea's-
tree. 5. tetraptera of New Zealand is tliere Icnown as la-
burnum or kvtchai (for its variety Macnainana, see pe{u),
S. Japoni^a is tlie Chinese or Japanese pagoda-tree or yen-
ju, a verj' handsome quiclt-growinp tree reaching GO feet in
height, with dark-green younger branches and deep lilue-
green leaves, sometimes cultivated, especially for its large
panicles of small whitish autumnal flowers. Its hard
compact wood is valued for turners' work ; all parts are
purgative ; the austere pulp of the pods dyes yellow ; and
the llowers (calle<l in Oliinese tmi-/a) furnish a yellow dye
greatly valued in China. For this the tree is cultivated in
several provinces, from which the dried flowers are ex-
ported in small sacks and used to dye blue cloth green,
and to dye yellow the silk garments of the mandarins and
the rush-mats which form the Chinese sails, beds, bags,
and floor-matting.
Sophorese (so-fo're-e), n. pi. [NL. (Sprengel,
1802), < Soj>h(/ra + -e«.] A tribe of leguminous
plants, characterized by a commonly arboreous
or high-climbing habit, pinnate leaves of five
or numerous leaflets or of a single large leaf-
let, and flowers with ten free stamens. It con-
tains at>out 34 genera, of which Sophora is the type, na-
tives chiefly of the tropics, and largely of the southern
hemisphere in America and Africa. For other important
genera, see Myroxyton and CladrasHs. The latter is the
chief genus represented in the United States ; another,
Camoensia, a lofty-climbing African shrub with handsome
and gigantic flowers, is an exception in its trifoliate leaves.
See cut under yellow-wood.
SOphrosyne (so-fros'i-ne), n. [< Gr. mo^poavvr;,
discretion, temperance, < a6<l>p<jv, earlier ffoiS-
^p<jv, of sound mind, temperate, < ouf, orig.
•ffodf, sound, whole, safe, + <i>p'if, mind.] The
quality of wise moderation; sound-minded-
ness; discreet good sense: referring especially
to Greek art and philosophy.
sophta, «. See softa.
sopient (so'pi-ent), ». [<L. sopien(t-)s, ppr. of
sopire, put to sleep : see sopite.'] A soporific ;
some agent which promotes sleep.
sopite (so'pit), V. t. ; pret. and pp. sopited, ppr.
sopiting. [< L. sopitus, pp. of sopire, put to
sleep, lay at rest, settle, quiet (> It. sopire,
quench, suppress) : see sopor.] To put to sleep ;
set at rest ; quiet ; silence ; specifically, in Scots
law, to quash.
He is much offended that you do stickle and keep on
foot such questions, which may he better gopiUd and si-
lenced than maintained and drawn into sidings and par-
takings. Wood, Athenee Oxon., II. 332.
What could a woman desire in a match, more than
the sopiting of a very dangerous claim, and the alliance of
a son-in-law, noble, brave, well-gifted, and highly con-
nected? Scott, Bride of Lammermoor, xviii.
BOpitiont (so-pish'on), «. \< sopite + -ion.] The
act of sopiting, or putting to sleep; also, the
state of being put to sleep ; deep slumber ; dor-
mancy; lethargy.
As for dementation, sopition of reason, and the diviner
particle, from drink, though American religion approve,
and Pagan piety of old hatli practised it, . . . Cliristian
morality and the doctrine of Christ will not allow it.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., v. 23.
sopor (so'por), TO. [= P. sopor, sopeur = Sp. Pg.
sopor = \t. sopore, < L. sopor, deep sleep, orig.
"svapor, akin to somnus, orig. "sopnus, *svap-
nus, sleep, = Gr. vTrmc, sleep: see somnolent,
gweven.] A deep, unnatural sleep; lethargy;
stupor.
To awaken the Christian world out of this deep sopor or
lethargy.
Dr. H. More, Mystery of Iniquity, 11., Pref. (Mncyc. Diet.)
BOporatet (so'por-at), V. t. [< L. soporatus, pp.
01 soporare, put to sleep, stupefy, C sopor, deep
sleep: see sopor.] To stupefy; make sleepy.
It would be but a resurrection to another sleep : the
soul seeming not to be thoroughly awake here, but as it
were soporated, with the dull steams and opiatick vapours
of this gross body, Cudworth, Intellectual System, p. 795.
SOporiferous (s6-po-rif 'e-rus), a. [= P. sopori-
jere=. Sp. soporifero = Pg. It. soporifero, < L.
soporifer, sleep-bringing, < sopor, deep sleep, +
ferre = E. hear'^.] 1. Causing or tending to
cause sleep ; soporific.
The sopori/erous medicines . . . are henbane, hemlock,
mandrake, moonshade, tobacco, opium.
Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 975.
2t. Sleepy; somnolent.
Hark, you sluggish soporiferous villains ! there 's knaves
abroad when you are a-bed. Middleton, Phoenix, iii. 1.
BOporiferously (s6-po-rif'e-rus-li), adv. In a
SOporiferous manner ; so as to produce sleep.
Imp. IHct.
soporiferonsness (so-po-rif'e-rus-nes), n. The
quality of being soporiferoiis ; the property of
causing sleep.
soporific (s6-po-rif'ik), a. and n. [= F. sopo-
rifiqne = 8p. soporlfieo = Pg. It. soporifico, <
L. *soporific'us, < sopor, deep sleep, -I- facere,
make.] I. a. Tending to produce sleep.
5774
The colour and taste of opium are, as well as its sopo-
rific or anodyne virtues, mere powers depending on its
primary qualities, wherel>y it is fitted to produce different
operations on different pfuts of our l>odies.
Locke, Human Understanding, 11. ixiii.
II. «. Anything which causes sleep, as cer-
tain medicines.
Nor has rhubarb always proved a purge, or opium a so-
porific, to every one who has taken these medicines.
Hume, Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding, vi.
soporose (so'po-ros), a. [< L. sopor, deep sleep,
-1- -ose.] Same as soporotis. Imp. Diet.
soporous (so'po-rus), a. [< L. sopor, deep sleep,
+ -oits.] Causing deep sleep.
In small syncopes it may perhaps rouse the spirits a
little, but in soporous diseases it is commonly an uncer-
tain and ineffectual remedy.
Greenhill, Art of Embalming, p. 58.
SOpper (sop'6r), n. [< «(y; + -f)l.] One who
sops or dips in liquor something to be eaten.
Imp. Diet.
sopping (sop'ing), a. [< sop, v.] Soaking,
soaked, or drenched, as with rain.
soppy (sop'i), a. [< sop + -y^.] Wet; soaked;
abounding in moisture : as, a soppy day.
It [Yarmouth] looked rather spongy and soppy, I
thought. Dickens, David Copperfield, iii.
How damp and cheerless the houses . . . looked in the
soppy hollows where the lush meadows were richest 1
Harper's Mag., LXIX. 339.
sopra (so'pra), adv. [It., < Ij. supra, above,
over : see silpra.] In music, above : as, come
sopra, as above; nella ])arte di sopra, in the up-
per or higher part.
soprani, «. Italian plural of soprano.
SOpranist (so-pra'nist), n. [< soprano + -ist.]
A soprano of treble singer: sometimes used at-
tributively.
Senesino, . . . one of the most famous of the sopranist
singers who flourished in the last century.
Grove, Diet. Music, III. 461.
soprano (so-pra'no), n. and a. [= P. soprano
= Sp. soprano = D. sopraan = G. Sw. Dan.
sopran, < It. soprano, the treble in music, lit.
high, identical with soprano, sovrano, supreme,
sovereign, = Sp. Pg. soberano = F. souverain,
> E. sovereign: see sovereign, sovran.] I, «.;
It. pi. soprani (so-pra'ni), E. pi. sopranos
(-noz). 1. In OTMSJc, the highest variety of the
female voice; treble, it ranges easily from about
middle C upward two octaves or more, and is character-
ized by a comparatively thin and incisive quality, usually
combined with marked flexibility. Soprano is also the
higher voice of boys, and is sometimes accidentally or ar-
tificially preserved among men. It is the most important
and effective voice for all kinds of solo singing, and is that
to which is assigned the chief melody in modern choral
music. A voice whose compass and quality are interme-
diate between soprano and alto is called mezzo-soprano.
2. A singer with such a voice.
Soprano, basso, even the contra-alto,
Wish'd him five fathoms under the kfalto.
Byron, Beppo, xxxii.
3. A voice-part for or sung bv such a voice. —
Natural soprano, a male singer who produces tones of
soprano pitch and quality by means of an unusually de-
veloped falsetto. — Soprano Sfogato. &eatfogalo.
II. a. Pertaining to the soprano : as, soprano
music ; a soprano voice ; the soprano compass.
— Soprano clef, in inusical notation, a C clef when placed
on the lower line of a staff. See def. — Soprano String.
Same as chanterelle, 1.
SOra (so'ra), m. [Also soree.] A crake ; a small
short-billed rail, of the subfamily Balling and
genus Porzana. Specifically, in the United States,
P. Carolina, the Carolina rail, sora-rail, or soree, which
throngs the marshes of the Atlantic coast in the au-
tumn, furnishes fine sport, and is highly esteemed for
the table. It is olive-brown above, varie<l with black
and with many sharp wliite streaks and spots ; the belly
is whitish; the vent is rufescent; the lining of the wings
is barred with black and white. In the fall the throat
and breast are plain brownish, but in breeding-dress these
parts are slate-colored, and the face and throat are black.
The length is 8 or 9 inches, the extent of wings 12 or 13.
Sometimes miscalled ortolan (which see). See cut under
Porzana.
Soraget, n. [Also sorrage and soreage (as if <
sor^ + uge) ; < F. 'sorage, saurage, the first year
of a falcon before it has molted, < sor, saur, sore,
sorrel: see sore'^.] 1. In falconry, the period
from the time when a hawk is taken from the
aery until she mews her feathers.
If her downy soreage she but ruffe
So strong a dove, may it be thought enough.
QwaWe«, Feast for Worms. (Wright.)
2. The blades of green wheat or barley. Bai-
ley, 1731 (spelled sorrage).
SOrahees, n. Same as sura-hai.
SOrancet (sor'ans), n. [Also sorranee; < sore^,
n., + -ance.] Soreness; a sore feeling.
The malady of the joynts comprehendeth al griefes and
sorances that be in the joyntea.
TopseU, Four-Footed Beasts (1607), p. 341. (UaUiwell.)
sorbite
Seldom or never complain they of any soranee in other
parts of the body. Holland.
sora-rail (so'ra-ral), n. Same as sora.
Sorastres (so-ras'tre-e), n. pi. [NL., < Soras-
trum + -eee.] A small order of fresh-water
algse, of the class Ccenobiese, distinguished by
the fact that the ccenobiumis uniciliated. So-
rastrum is the typical genus.
Sorastrum (so-ras'trum), n. [NL. (Kutzing),
so called in allusion to the shape of the colonies
of cells; < Gr. cupo^, a heap, + aarpov, a star.]
A genus of fresh-water algse, of the class Cceno- .
bieee, and typical of the order Sorastrem. The
coenobium is globose, solid within, free-swimming, and
composed of 4, 8, 16, or 32 compressed wedge-shaped cells,
which are sinuate, emarginate, or bifid at the apex and
radiately disposed. S. spinulosum is the only speciea
found in North America.
SOrbl (sorb), n. [Early mod. E. sorbe, < OP.
sorbe, F. sorbe, dial, sourbe = Sp. sorba, serba
= Pg. sorva = It. sorbo, sorba = D. sorbe =
Pol. sorba, < L. sorbus, the sorb-tree, sorbum,
the fruit of the sorb-tree: see Sorbus. Cf.
served (a doublet of sorb) and service^.] 1. The
servioo-tree, Fyrus (Sorbus) domcstica. The wild
service-tree, Pyrus torminalis, is included under the nam e
by Gerard, and is also often so called in more recent times.
The mountain-ash, P. aucuparia, and other species of the
old genus Sortnis are also likely to have been so called.
Among crabbed sorbs
It ill befits the sweet fig to bear fruit.
Longfellow, tr. of Dante's Inferno, xv. 65.
2. The fruit of any of the above-named trees.
Sorb^ (s6rb), n. [Cf. Serb.] A member of a
Slavic race resident in Saxony and adjoining
parts of Prussia. Also called Wend, orLusatian
Wend.
sorb-applet (s6rb'ap"l), to. [= G. sorbapjfel ;
as soroi + ajtple.] The fruit of the service-
tree.
For their drink they had a kind of small well-watered
wine, and some fine sorb-apple cider.
Urquhart, tr. of-Eabelais, ii. 31.
sorbate (s6r'bat), n. [< sorb{ic) + -ate^.] A
salt of sorbic acid.
SOrbefacient (86r-be-fa'shient), a. and n. [< L.
sorberc, suck in, swallow up, +faeien(t-)s, ppr.
of facere, make, do, cause.] I. a. Promoting
absorption. Imp. Diet.
II. n. In med., that which produces or pro-
motes absorption.
SOrbent (sor'bent), n. [< L. sorben(t-)s, ppr. of
sorbere, suck in, swallow up, = Gr. po^clv (for
"apo^ilv), sup up, = OBulg. sriibati = Russ.
serbaM = Lith. surbti = Lett, surbt, suck in. Cf .
absorb.] An absorbent. [Kare.] Imp. Diet.
sorbet (sor'bet), n. [< F. sorbet = Sp. sorbeto,
< It. sorbetto, < Turk, sherbet, < Ar. sharbat,
sherbet: see sherbet.] Sherbet; also, water-ice
of any kind ; especially, a water-ice which is not
very hard frozen, so that it remains semi-liquid;
also, water-ice flavored with rum, kirsehwassor,
or the like, as distinguished from that made
without spirit.
Among the refreshments of these warm countries I
ought not to forget mentioning the sorbets, which are sold
in coffeeliouses and places of publick resort ; they are iced
froth made with juice of oranges, apricots, or peaches.
Smollett, Travels, Letter xix., Oct. 10, 1764.
Sorbian (s6r'bi-an), a. and n. [< Sorb^ + -ian.]
I. a. Pertaining to the Sorbs or to their lan-
guao;e. Also Sorbish.
II. n. 1. A Sorb.— 2. The language of the
Sorbs, or Lusatian Wends. It belongs to the west-
ern branch of the Slavic family. It is divided into Upper
Sorbian and Lower Sorbian. Also Sortnsh.
sorbic (s6r'bik), a. [< sorfcl -I- -ic] Pertain-
ing to or derived from the mountain-ash, Pyrus
aucujJaria, fonnerly classed as Sorbus ; as, sor-
bic acid.— Sorbic acid, C6H8O2, an acid obtained from
mountain-ash berries.
Sorbile (s6r'bil), a. [< L. sorbilis, that may be
sucked or supped up, < sorbere, suck in, swal-
low up: see sorbent.] Capable of being drunk
or sipped; liquid. [Rare.]
This fsopl most probably refers to sorbile food, what is
vulgarly called spoon-meat.
Jamieson, Diet. Scottish Lang., IV. S37.
sorbin, sorbine (sor'bin), «. [< sorb^ + -in^,
-inc^.] A glucose sugar (C6H12O6), obtained
from mountain-ash berries. It is crystalline,
is very sweet, and reduces copper solutions,
but does not ferment with yeast.
Sorbish (sor'bish), a. and n. [= G. Sorbisch;
as Sorb'2 + -ish^.] I. a. Same as Sorbian.
II. n. Same as Sorbian, 2.
sorbite (sor'bit), n. [< sorfel + -ite-.] A crys-
talline principle (CgHi40g) isomeric with man-
nite : found in mountain-ash berries. It does
not ferment with yeast or reduce copper solu-
tions.
sorbitdon
SOrbition (s6r-bish'on), n. [< L. sorhitio{n-).
5775
And somme lewes seiden with sorcerie he wrouhte,
And thorwe the myghte of Mahoii and thorw mysbyleyue.
IHers Plouttian (C), xix. 150.
By thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
Eev. xviii. 23.
sordi (s6rd), n. An obsolete or dialectal vari- sordityt (s6r'di-ti),
ant of sward. Same as sordidity.
In the midst an altar aa the landmark stood
Rustic, of grassy eord. MUton, P. L., xi. 433.
TT, I ■ , .V , . , . J .V ... . SOrd^t (s6rd), n. An obsolete variant of sort.
The »ori»ni«af or theological wine, and their feasts or snrdn n See cnf/7„
gaudy days, are now come to be proverbially ieste<l at. „„ij„ ' *. , . "."■
supping up. a ilraught or potion, < sorbere, pp.
sorbitiis, suek in, swallow up: see sorbent.']
The act of drinking or sipping.
Sorbilion, ... a supping, as of broth or pottage.
Blauitt, aiossographla (ed. 1670).
Sorbonical (s6r-bon'i-kal),o. K Sorboinie, q. v.,
+ -ic-al.^ Pertaining "to the Sorbonne or the
Sorbonists.
sore
The ashes of earth-wormes duely prepared cleanseth
sordunts, stniking, and rotten ulcers, consuming and wast-
ing away their hard lippes, or callous edges, if it be tem-
pered with tarre and Simblian hony, as Pliny afflrmeth.
Topsell, Hist. Sei-pents, p. 311. (HalUwdl.)
[Short for sordidity.]
: proverbially jeste<I i
Florio, tr. of Montaigne, p. 628. (Latham.)
Sorbonist (sor'bon-ist), «. and a. [< Sorbonne
+ -'«?.] I. »i. A doctor of the Sorbonne, in
the University of Paris.
Dull Sorbonut, fly contradiction !
Fie ! thou oppugn'st the deflnition.
Martton, Scourge of Villanie, iv. 1S8.
For he a rope of sand could twist
As tough as learned SorbonisL.
S. Butler, Hudibras (ed. 1774X I. i. 158.
II. a. Of or pertaining to the Sorbonne or
its members.
Rabelais had indeed again made for himself protectors
whom no clerical or Sarhonut Jealonsy could touch.
Kneyc. Brit., XX. 195.
Sorbonne (sor-bon'), «. [F. Sorbonne, so named
from Robert de S</rbon, its founder.] A cele-
brated house founded in the University of Paris
about 12.50 bv Robert de Sorbon, chaplain and
confessor of Louis IX. The college of the Sorbonne
became one of the four constituent parts, and the pre-
dominant one, of the faculty of theolc<ry in the univer-
sity. It exercised a high influence in ecclesiastical af.
fairs and on the public mind, especiaUy in the sixteenth
sordamente (s6r-da-men'te), adv. [It., < sordo,
deaf, mute : see surd.] In music, in a veiled or
muffled manner.
sordavalite (s6r'da-val-it), n. [Also sordaical-
ite; < Sordavala (see def.) + -i7c2.] a glassy
dark-colored mineral substance with conchoid-
al fracture, found in thin layers in diabase
near Sordavala in Finland, it has been included
among minerals, but is more properly a vitreous form of
diabase. It is called rjlamy trap by Tomelwhm in Sweden.
sordellina (sor-de-le'na). n. [It., < sordo, mute : sordor"cs6r^irOTr m"
see sordine, surd.] A variety of bagpipe. ^' ""^ -• " '' "'
SOrdes (sor'dez), n. [< L. sordes, < sordere, be
dirty or foul.] Filth; refuse; dregs; dross; spe-
cifically, in med., crusts which form upon the
lips and teeth of persons suffering from ex-
treme exhaustion, as in typhoid and other fe- gorei (sor), a.
Vet this, however, not nnder the name of pleasure ; to
oleanse itself from the sordeg of its impure original it
was neceasanr it should change its name.
Bentham, Introd. to Morals and Legislation, ii. 8.
SOrdet (sdr'det), n. [It., < sordo, mute (see sor-
dine, sordo), + -et.] Same as sordino.
and seventeenth centuries. It was snpptesaed during the sordid (s6r'did) a V<V xnrdidp — Sn <tArHi
revolution ami deprived of its endowment* AttherSjon- " t>\: t. . il'_."\ !>\'^ ' ^'"l. ~* - °P- *!*™'-
struction of the university under Napoleon I. the build-
ing erected for it by Richelieu, and still called the Sor-
bonne, was given to the theological faculty in connection
with tlie faculties of science and belles-lettres.
sorb-tree vsdrb'tre), n. Same as sorb^, 1.
Sorbus (sor'bus), «. [NL. (Toumefort, 1700),
< L. sorbut, Borb: see sorbi, served, service^.]
A former genus of rosaceous trees, now included
in I'yrvs. See Pyrus, also sorb^ and service-tree.
sorcert (sdr'sir), n. [< ME. sorcer, sorter, < OF.
soreier = 8p. aortero = It. sortiere, a sorcerer,
< ML. sorliarius, a teller of fortunes by lot, a
sorcerer, < L. »or(t-)s, lot: see sort.] Same as
sorcerer.
DeoiDore* of demorlaykes that dreme* oowthe rede,
Sormn A exonismus A fele such clerkea.
AUiteratite Poems (ed. Morris), U. 1670.
sorcerer (sdr's^r-i'r), «. [< sorcer + -er (super-
fluously added, as m fruiterer, poulterer, uphol-
sterer, etc.): see sorcer.] Originally, one who
casts lots; one who divines or interprets by
the casting of lots; hence, one who uses magic
arts in divination or for other ends ; a wizard ;
an enchanter; a conjurer.
The King commanded to call the magiclan^ and the
i<trologet«, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to
•now the King his dreams. Dan. ii. 2.
Dark-working sonxrera that change the mind.
Skat., C. of E., L i 9».
sorceress (s6r's6r-eB), ». [< ME. sorceresse, <
OK. sorceresse, fern, of soreier, a sorcerer: see
sorcerer.] A female sorcerer.
Phitone«e«, charmercMet,
Olde wyches, soretnmi.
That usen raorslsacloaiii.
Chaucer, House of Fame, L ISSS.
Pncelle, that witch, that damned sormnat.
Hath wrought this hellish mischief nnawiret.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., UL 2. 88.
sorceringf (sAr's6r-ing), n. [< soreer-y + -inflfl.]
The use or art of sorcery.
His trade of sorcering had so inured him to receive
voices from his familiars in stupe of beasts that this event SOrdldnesS (»6r'did-nes ), B.
seemed not stnwge to him. ' ~ ' '
Bp. Ball, Contemplations, vii. 8, Balaam.
Borcerons (sdr'sSr-us), a. [< gorcer-y + -ous.]
U.'iing or involving sorcery ; magical.
This soresmis worker, to make hjrm pope. In the space
of liii. jreres poriened vL at hU predecesaoors one after
"""•"f- Bp. BaU, English Votaries it
O that In mine eyes
Were all the soreerous poison of my woes,
That I might witch ye headlong from your height !
Chapman, Byron's Tragedy, Iv. 1.
sorcery (s6r's^r-i), «.; pi. sorceries (-iz). [<
Mh. sorcery, sorcerie, sorceri, sorsory, < OF. sor-
do = Pg. It. sordido, < L. sordidus, dirty, filthy,
foul, vile, mean, base, < sor(/<Te, be dirty {sordes,
dirt), akin to E. swart, black: see swart.] 1.
Dirty; filthy; squalid; foul.
There Charon stands, who rules the dreary coast,
A sordid god ; down from his hoary chin
A length of beard descends, uncombed, unclean.
Dryden, iEneld, vL 414.
The wretched family are ashamed to show their sordid
tatters in the church on the Sabbath day.
Everett, Orations, I. 872.
2. In bot. and zool., of a dull or dirty hue; im-
pure ; muddy : noting a color when it appears as
if clouded by admixture with another, or parts so
colored: as, sorrfi'd blue, etc. — 3. Morally foul;
gross; base; vile; ignoble; selfish; miserly.
To set the hearts of men on Bre
To scorn the sordid world, and unto heaven aspire.
MHion, Death of a Fair Infant, I. 68.
What Is all righteoosnees that men devise?
What— but a sordid bargain for the skies?
Cowper, Truth, 1. 76.
He was clearly a man not destitute of real patriotism and
magnanimity, a man whose vices were not of a sordid khid.
llaeaulai/, Warren Hastings.
4. Low; menial; groveling.
Amongst them all she placed him most low.
And In his hand a distaffe to him gave^
That he thereon should spin both flax and tow ;
A sordid office for a mind so brave.
Spenser, F. (}., V. v. 28.
Sordid dragonet, a callionymold flsh, by some supposed
to be ilic teimile of the gemmous dragonet, or sculpln,
CatlO'iti/niutt h/ra.
sordidityt (s6r-did'i-ti), n. [< sordid + -ily.]
Sordidufss.
.Swimming in snddes of all sordidiHe.
Daviee, Unmoors Heaven on Earth, p. 21. (Davies.)
Weary and ashamed of their own sordidity and manner
of "'<'■ J5urton, Anat of Mel. (Trench.)
sordidly (sdr'did-li), adv. In a sordid manner.
Sordiajiibttang hands with shades and night.
Orashaw, Olorloos Epiphany of Our Lord Ood.
The state or char-
acter of being sordid, (o) Fllthiness; foulness.
An effect of Divine Providence designed to deter men
and women from sluttishness and sm-Jidnest, and to pro-
voke them to cleanliness. Bay, Works of Creation, p. 309.
(ft) Baseness; vtleness; depravity.
TJe madnesses of Caligula's delights, and the execrable
sordufness or those of Tiberius. Cowley, Oreataesa.
(e) Mean, mercenary selfishness or covetousness : ai, the
sordidness of gambling.
sordine (sdr'den), n. [< OF. sourdine, < It. sor-
dino, a mute ; cf . It. sordino ( > Sp. sordino = Pg.
gurdino), a mute; < L. surdus, deaf, mute: see
. . .,,.__ surd.] Stkme Ha sordino, 1.
ce, ,e, sorcherie, sor^rte, casting of lots, magic, sordino (sdr-de'no), n. ; pi. sordini (-ni). [It. :
sorcery (cf. F. »W<en«, gorcery),< soreier, sor- Hi-i- sordine.] 1. Same as m«/el,3. See con sor-
cerer, see sorrer. J Originally, divination from dini, anA sen:a sordini (xmAer senza). These
tne casting of lots; hence, the use of super- terms are occasionally used with reference to
natural knowledge or power gained in any man- the soft pedal of the pianoforte.— 2. Same as
ner, es])ecially through the connivance of evil pochette.
spirits; magic art; enchantment; witchcraft; sordioust (sdr'di-us), a. [< L. sordes. dirt, +
spells; charms. ^„,.3 Yilthy; foul.
Greediness in getthig, tenacity in keeping, gorditu in
spending. Burtm, Anat of Mel., p. 177.
sordo. sorda (sor'do, sor'da), a. [It., < L. sur-
dus, deaf, mute: see surd.] In music, damped
with a mute : as, clarinetto sordo, a damped or
muflled clarinet; tromba sorda, a damped or
muffled trumpet.
SOrdono (s6r-do'n6), n. ; pi. sordoni (-ni). [<
It. sordo, mute : see sordo, surd.] 1. A musi-
cal instrument of the oboe family, resembling
the bombard. Its tube had twelve finger-holes.
— 2. In organ-building, an obsolete variety of
reed-stop, giving damped or muffled tones.— 3.
A form of mute or sordino used in the trumpet.
lordor (sor'dor), n. [< L. as if "sordor, < sor-
dere, be filthy: see sordid, sordes.] Filth; dregs:
refuse; sordes. [Rare.]
The tordor of civilisation, mix'd
With all the savage which man's fall hath flx'd.
Byron, The Island, ij. 4.
[Sc.sair, sure; < ME. sore, sare,
sor, sar, < AS. sdr painful, = OS. ser = MD.
seer, D. ceer = MLG. ser = OHG. MHG. ser,
painful, wounded, = leel. sdrr = Norw. soar,
sore (cf . Sw. sdr = Dan. saar, wound, = Goth.
sair, sorrow, travail, found only as a noun). Cf.
Finn. saira.s, sick (< Teut.). No cognates are
found outside of Teut.] 1. Painful, as being
the seat of a wound or of disease ; aching; spe-
cifically, painfully sensitive to the touch : said
of the part affected, or, by extension, of the en-
tire member or person concerned.
Than waxes his gast seke and tare.
Hampote, I"ricke of Conscience, L 772 (Morris and Skeat).
He maketh sore, and bindeth up ; he woundeth, and his
hands make whole. Job v. 18.
Why art thou then exasperate, thou idle immaterial
skein of sleave-silk, thou green sarcenet flap for a (ore eye ?
Shale., T. and C, v. 1. 36.
2. Inflicting physical suffering ; giving bodily-
pain.
Merlin frusht a-monge hem with his banere, and his
companye with hym, and leyde on sore strokes.
Mertin(E. E. T. 8.), ii. 207.
There's a sair pain in my head, father,
There 's a sair pain in my side.
Fair Janet (Child's Ballads, II. 89X
3. Suffering mental pain ; distressed ; painfully
sensitive; touchy.
Peace is my dear delight— not Fleury's more ;
But touch me, and no minister so sore.
Pope, Imlt. of Horace, II. L 76.
Why speak I vain words to a heart still sore
With sudden death of happiness?
Wiltiam Morrie, Earthly Paradise, IlL 94.
4. Bringing sorrow, misery, or regret ; distress-
ing; grievous; oppressive.
A sore word for them that are negligent In discharging
their office. Latimer, Sermon of the Plough.
Ho laid a Tax full hard and sore,
Tho' many Men were sick.
Prior, The Viceroy, st. 12.
Sore task to hearts worn out by many wars.
Tennyson, Lotos-Eaters, Choric Song.
6. Associated with painful ideas or feelings;
accompanied by grief, anger, mortification, re-
gret, discomfort, or the like ; serving as an oc-
casion of bitterness : as, a sore subject.
The sore terms we stand upon with the gods will be
strong with us for giving over. Shot., Pericles, iv. 2. 37.
I wish he were a wee bairn lying in my arms again. It
were a sore day when I weaned him.
Jfr». Gaskdl, The Crooked Branch.
6. Severe; violent; fierce.
I will persevere In my course of loyalty, though the cou-
flict be sore between that and my blood.
Shak., Lear, ill. 5. 24.
On Trinitye Mondaye in the'morne
This sore battayle was doom'd to bee.
King Arthur's Death (Child's Ballads, I. 41X
7. Exceedinf; extreme; intense.
Vou must needs have heard how I am punish'd
With sore distraction. Shak., Hamlet, v. 2. 241.
Restrain
The sore disquiet of a restless brain.
Whittier, First-day Thoughts.
The Oxford gownsmen must have been In sore need of a
Jest. E. Dowden, Shelley, I. 92.
8. Wretched: vile; worthless; base. [Obso-
lete or prov. Eng.]
To lapse in fulness
Is sorer than to lie for need.
Shak., Cymbellne, Ul. 6. 18.
sore
Oat, iword, and to a eon purpose .
Shak., Cjmbeline, iv. 1. 26.
Sore throat. See VirMt.
SOre^ (s6r), II. [< ME. sor<', sare, sor, < AS. mr
- OS. fcr = ML6. sir = OHG. MHG. ser, pain,
suffering, = Icel. sdr = Norw. soar = Sw. sdr =
Dan. saar, a wound, = Goth, saii; sorrow, trav-
ail; from the adj. Cf. sorri/.] If. A state of
suffering or pain ; grief ; sorrow ; misery.
"Whether solace ho seiide other ellez S(yre.
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), i. 130.
Ther was sobbing, siking, and s<yr,
Uandes wringing, and drawing bi hor.
Uavelok, 1. 2.84. (UttUiwdl.)
Sif 36 aaie me 3oure ftorest & ich se what may gayne.
Waiiam t\f Palerne (E. E. T. S.), 1. 698.
2. A wounded or diseased spot on an animal
body ; a painful or painfully tender place, witli
or without solution of continuity, on or near the
surface of the body.
There is no medcyn on mold, saue the maiden one,
That my sors might salue, ne nie sound maice.
Destruction o.f Troy (E. E. T. 8.), 1. 9193.
A salve for any sore that may betide.
Shak., 3 Uen. VI., iv. 6. 88.
3. A source of grief, distress, annoyance, or
bitterness ; a misfortune ; a trouble.
What should we spealc more on*t? . . . I love no rip-
ping up old sores. Brome, Northern Lass, iii. 1.
3ed-S0re, a sore or ulcer developed on parts of the skin
exposed to pressure by lying in bed. It may be vei-y deep
and extensive. Also called deculritm.—DeMd sore, Ori-
ental sore. Same as Aleppo ulcer (which see, under
wic<?r). — Fungating sore, a soft chancre with abundant
granulations.— Hunterlan sore, in pathol., a true or
hard chancre.— Venereal SOre. Same as chancroid.
sorel (sor), adv. [Se. *«»■, sare; < ME. sore,
soore, sare, < AS. sare, sorely, painfully, = OS.
sero = MD. sere, D. reer = SiLG. sere = OHG.
sero, MHG. sere, ser, painfully, sorely, strongly,
very, G. sehr, extremely, very, = Dan. saare,
•extremely, very ; from the adj. ] 1 . With phys-
ical suffering ; so as to cause bodily pain ; pain-
fully.
He rode ouer hym that was fallen and vn-horsed, so
that he brused hym sare. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 696.
Thy hand presseth me sore. Ps. xxxviii. 2.
Her brother struck lier wondrous sore,
With cruel strokes and many.
Andrew Lammie (Child's Ballads, 11. 197).
2. In a manner indicating or causing mental
pain; deplorably; grievously; bitterly.
The damesell ansuerde in baas voyce gore syghinge.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.X iii. 611.
There was no heart so bold
But sore it ached, and fast it beat,
When that ill news was told.
Macaulay, Horatius, st. 18.
He were sore put about because Hester had gi'en him
the bucket, and came to me about it.
Mrs. Oaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, xxi.
3. Violently; fiercely; severely.
Vlfyn and kynge Ventres of Garlot mette so sore to-
geder that ether bar other to the grounde, and the horse
vpon hem. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), i. 119.
Though it was very darke, and rained sore, yet in ye end
they gott under y« lee of a smalle iland.
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 87.
4. Exceedingly; thoroughly; intensely.
Thei sought hym sore vp and down on euery side.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 407.
He blest himselfe as one sore terriftde.
Spenser, F. Q., IV. vl. 24.
It is a sore consumed tree
That on it bears not one fresh bough.
Bookhope Ryde (Child's Ballads, VI. 122).
St. Firmly; tightly; fast.
The stiell of the speres stynte at the haubrekes, that
■were stronge and 8ore-holdynge.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 222.
If it [the bowstring) be long, the bending must needs be
in the small of the string, which, being sore twined, must
needs snap in sunder, to the destruction of many good
bows Ancham, Toxophilus (ed. 1864), p. 104.
[As an adverb sore is now chiefly archaic or
provincial.]
aorelf (sor), v. t. [= OS. serinn = OHG. MHG.
seren, G. ver-sehrcn = Icel. sdrna = Sw. s&ra =
Dan. saare; from the noun.] To make sore;
wound.
And the wyde wound . . .
Was closed up as it had not beene sor'd.
Spenser, F. Q. (ed. Todd), HI. xii. 38.
fiOre^t (sor), a. and n. [I. a. Early mod. E. also
soar, soare; < ME. sore, soyr, < OF. sor, saitr, F.
saur, saure = Pr. sor, saur = Sp. soro = It. soro,
saitro (ML. saurus, sorins), reddish-brown, red-
dish, brownish, sorrel, < MLG. sor = MD. sore,
D. zoor, dry, -withered, sear, = E. sear; see «e'/rl,
of which sirre^ is a doublet, and sorrel^, a dim.
of sore^. H. n. < ME. *sore, sowre, a buck, < OF.
ior, F. saur {in faucon sor, a sore-falcon, cheval
5776
Soricidse
saure, or simplj' saure, a sorrel horse) = It. soro, sorely (sor'li), adv. [< ME. sorliche, < AS. sdr-
licc (= Icel. sdrliga), sorely, < sdrik; sore: see
sorely, a.] In a sore manner; painfully; sad-
ly; violently; severely; extremely.
SOrema (s6-re'ma), H. [NIj.,< Gr. auip6(, a heap.]
In bot., a lieap of carpels belonging to one flow-
er, as in the magnolia and liriodendron.
saiiro, a sorrel horse, formerly also a sore-fal-
con: see the adj. Cf. sorrel'^.] I. a. Eeddish-
brown; sorrel. See sorrel^, and compare sor-
age,. sore-eagle, sore-falcoii, sorc-hatrl:
Stedis stabillcde in stallis,
Lyarde and sore.
MS. Lincoln A. L 17, f. 130. (HaUiwell.) goreneSS (sor'nes), II. The state of being sore,
II. TO. 1. A hawk of the first year. — 2. A in any sense of tlie word.
buck of the fourtli year. See sorreP, 3,
of founes, soitres, bukkes, does
Was ful the wode, and many roes.
Chaucer, Death of Bhmche, I. 429.
sorest, V. i. An obsolete spelling of soar^.
soreaget, «• Same as sorage.
Sorecidse (so-res'i-de), n. pi. [NL.] An erro-
neous form of Soricidse.
sorede (so'red), n. [< soredium.'] Same as sore-
(liiim.
soredia, ». Plural of soredium.
soredial (so-re'dl-al), a. [< soredium + -a?.]
In licheiiol., of the nature or appearance of a
soredium Soredial branch, in lichenol., a branch
Sorex (sd'reks), «. [NL., < L. sorex = Gr. vpaf,
a shrew, shrew-mouse. Cf. Hyrax.'] The typ-
ical genus of the family Soricidse and subfamily
Soriciiise, containing numerous small terrestrial
shrews of both hemispheres. They have from 28
to 32 colored teeth, moderately long well-haired tail and
ears, and feet not oared. The typical dentition of Sf/rex
in the most restricted sense is 32 teeth, of which the up-
per incisors are 8, the (unspecialized canines and) upper
premolars 6, the upper molars 6, and the total of the lower
teeth 12 (as nearly constant throughout the family). 5.
mUyaris is the common shrew of Europe, and S. platyrrhi-
nus is a common one in North America. See shrew'-^.
sorgho (sor'go), II. Same as sorghum, 1. Also
sorgo. .
produced by the development of'a soredium into a new SOrghUHl (sor'gum), n. [Formerly also sorgum,
thallus while still on the mother thallus. "'-" "'"' '" "" " '" ' '^^
sorcdiate (so-re'di-at), a. [< soredium + -ofel.]
In /Jc/iCHo/.,' bearing or producing soredia.
sorediferous (sor-e-dife-rus), a. [< NL. sore-
dium + li.ferre = E. hedr^.'] In lichenol., sore-
diate ; bearing soredia.
soredium (so-re'di-um), «.; pi. soredia (-a).
[NL., < Gr. aupoc, a heap, + -edium, for Gr. -iSiov,
a dim. suffix.] In lichenol., a single algal cell or
a group of algal cells wrapped in more or less
hyphal tissue, which serves the purpose of ve-
fetative propagation : commonly in the plural,
uch cells form little heapsor cushion-likemasses breaking
through the surface of the thallus, and when set free from
the tiiall us are able to grow at once into new thalli. Usually
one species of alga furnishes all the algal cells of a lichen ;
more rarely two, and then one prevails in abundance over
the other. The same species of alga, however, may be
found in consortism with different species of fungus, and
taking part in the composition, therefore, of differently
formed thalli— that is, different lichens. See Lichenes.
Also sorede and brood-bud.
soree (so're), ». A variant of sora. [U. S.]
Soree. Ral-bird.
T, Jefferson, Notes on Vtoglnla(ed. 1788), p. 74.
sore-eaglet (sor'e'gl), «. [Also soar-eagle; prob.
formed in imitation of sore-falcon; < sorc^ +
eagle.'] A young eagle.
A soar- Eagle would not stoope at a flye.
Milton, On Vet. of Uumb. Remonst.
sore-eyed (sor'id), a. 1. Having sore eyes. —
2. Having orbital caruncles, as if sores : as, the
sore-eyed pigeon. See cut under slieathhill.
sore-falcon (s6r'fa'''kn ), n. [Formerly also soar-
falcon, soare faulcon ; < sore"^ + falcon, tr. OF.
faucon sor.] A falcon of the first year; a young
falcon. See sore'^, 1.
Of the soare faulcon so I learne to fly.
That flags awhile her fluttering wings beneath.
Till she her selfe for stronger flight can breath.
Spenser, Hymn of Heavenly Beauty, I. 26.
sore-ha^wkt (sor'hak), n. Same && sore-falcon .
sorehead (sor'hed), n. 1. One whose head is
sore. Hence — 2. An irritable, discontented
person ; one who has a real or fancied griev-
ance ; in political use, a person who is dissatis-
fied through lack of recognition or reward for
party services. [Slang, U. S.]
Every sorehead and bolter in the Majority voted with
his party. The American, X. 35.
1'he public don't care for a few soreheads and impracti-
cables in an operation. that is going to open up the whole
Southwest. C. D. Warner, Little Journey in the World, xv.
soreheaded (s6r'hed"ed), n. Having the char-
acter of a sorehead; discontented; having a
grievance. [Slang, U. S.]
sorehont (sor'hon), «. [Said to be an Ir. cor-
rupted form equiv. to Sc. soni, a contracted
form of ME. sojorne, a sojourn, as a verb so-
journ: see sojourn, sorn.] In Ireland, a tax for-
merly imposed upon tenants for the mainten-
ance of their lord or his men: a custom which
required a tenant to maintain his chieftain gra-
tidtously. See the second quotation.
Yea, and the verye wilde Irish exactions, as Coignye,
Liverye, Sorehon, and such like, by which they pole and
utterly undoe the poore tennants and freehoulders.
Spenser, State of Ireland (ed. Todd).
also sometimes sorgo, sorgho, F. sorgho, < Sp.
Pg. sorgo = It. sorgo, surgo; < NL. sorgnm, sor-
ghum, < ML. siirgum, surcum, siiricmn, Indian
millet, sorghum; prob. of E. Ind. origin.] 1.
A plant of the former genus Sorghum, common-
ly the cultivated saccharine plant once known
as Sorghum (or Holcus) saccharatum, lately con-
sidered a variety of <S. vulgare, but now classi-
fied as Aiidropogon Sorghum, var. saccharatus.
It is a cane-like grass, with the stature and habit of broom-
corn, or of the taller varieties of Indian corn, but more
slender than the latter, without ears, and of a glaucous
hue. Sorghum is cultivated throughout Africa, in forma
called imphce, chiefly for the sweet juice of the cane. In
the United States it has been employed for many years
to make syrup, for which purpose it is moi-e or less grown
in every State. It has also been the subject of much ex-
periment in sugar-making, and according to \NiIey is now
practically available for this purpose. The name is also
applied to the var. Halepense, and possibly to others ot
the same species. See def. 2. Also called Chinese sugar-
cane.
2. [cap.] [NTj. (Micheli, 1729).] A former ge-
nus of grasses, of the tribe Andropogoneee, now
included as a subgenus in Andropogon (Edou-
ard Hackel, 1889). Like the rest of the genus, it
has one-flowered spikelets disposed in pairs at the joints
of a rachis, one of each pair pedicelled, one sessile. Th«
sessile spikclet is in all
the pairs alike ; the
flower is fertile, and in
the pedicelled spike-
lets male, neutral, or
abortive. The rachis is
fragile, or in culture
tenacious ; its joints
and the pedicels are
filiform, and convex on
the back or flat with-
out furrow. The ses-
sile spikclet and grain
are somewhat com-
pressed on the back, or
in cultivation some-
times nearly globose.
The species are most
often tall and flat-
leaved grasses, dif-
fused through the
tropics and here and
there in the temperate
zone — one, A. (Chryno-
pogon) nutans, the In-
dian grass or wood-
grass, in the southern
United States. The
last is widely distribu-
ted in many forms : it
is a nutritions grass, 6
feet high, with a graceful panicle, sometimes named wild
oats. The one important species is A. Sorghum (Sorghum
vulgare, etc.X a polymorphous nmch-cultivated species,
of which some varieties have been regarded as distinct.
Hackel divides it into the subspecies — (a) Halepense, in-
cluding with other varieties the ornamental Aleppo grass
and the Johnson or Means grass cultivated in the southern
United States, and (b) sativus, which includes the broom-
corn (var. iechnicus), the sorghum (var. saccharatus: see
def. 1), the durra (vars. cernuus and Durra), the so called
Indian or African millet (covering perhaps the last and
the var. vulgaris), and the guinea-corn or Kaflr-corn. if it is
different from the durra. The Johnson grass is of consid-
erable utility as fodder, but is difficult to extirpate : also
called Egyptian, Cuba, or Otiinea grass, Australian or
Morocco millet, etc., and sorghum. The durra has been
somewhat cultivated in the United States, some forms of
it being called Millo maize. See broom-corn, durra, and In-
dian millet (under millet).
sorgo (sor'go), n. Same as sorghum.
Soryhum (Andropogon Sorghum).
, wild form ; 3, panicle of same i 1
spikelets of cultivated form.
SoreAon was a taxlaide upon the free-holders for certain _._f Plural of «ori«
dayes in each quarter of a yeare, to flnde victualls, and 5,"".' . j_ , - _. /.' 3-/ „ ,,7 r-vrr / c-j-x,-
lodging, and to pay certaine stipends to the kerne, gallo- SonCldse (sp-ris i-de), n. pi. [NL.,^ !iorex
glasses, and horsemen.
Sir J. Ware, Note in Todd's Spenser.
sorelt. An old spelling of .sorrel''-, sorreP.
SOrelyt (sor'li), a. [ME. snrlie, < AS. sdrlic, <
sdr, sore, + -lie, E. -ly^.] Sore ; sorrowful.
N»s heo nteuere swa sarlie. Layamtm, 1. 28467.
(Soric-) -t- -iWa".] A family of small insectiv-
orous mammals, the shrews. They are of terres-
trial, sometimes natatorial, habits, with a long and narrow
skull without zygomatic arches or postorliital processes,
annular tympanic bones, no symphysis pubis, the fore
limbs not specially modified as in the moles, the tibia
and fibula united, and the lower teeth 12 (iu one genus 12
Soricidse
5777
of which is a premise of the next. A sorites may
be categorical or hypothetical, like a syllogism, and either
variety may he prujjresaive or regressive.— Progressive
or Aristotelian sorites. See .4 rigtutdian. — Regressive
or Goclenian sorites. See Gocleman.
or 14). The lower incisors are long, proclivous, and nsnally
notched ; in the upper teeth the median incisors are large,
uid haye a basal snag or cusp, appearing as if double (but
tee toriddeTU); no canines are specialized, and the pre-
molars are variable ; the molars are large and multicuspi-
date. The total number of the teeth varies from twenty- goritical (SO-rit'i-kal), a. [< JjL. soriticus, <. tiUr.
«ls to thirty-two. The family is well marked, with Uttle „, ,„,„..^^ V-,,„;" „,,„,>„ ft sorites 1 Per-
range of vMiation, though the species are so numerous. aupiTiKOg, <. aupeiTVi, aupirm, a sontes.j rer
The shrews are all small animals, some being the smallest taming to or resembling a sontes.
known mammals, and have the general appearance of sormotintet, ''■ An obsolete variantof»Mr»(OT(Mt.
mice, though with more pointed snout. The rathernu- g^j^ (sorn), r. I. [Said to be contr. < ME. Si^or-
ineroas(about 12) genera fall in two groups or subfamilies,
Soridrue and Crodditrinx.
SOriddent (so-ris'i-dent), a. [< L. sorex (so-
rie-), a shrew, + den{t-)s = E. tooth.] Having
or noting a dentition like that of shrews. This
dentition is unique in some respects. It consists of the
four kinds of teeth usual among diphyodont mammals,
but no canines are specialized as such, and the median
pair of incisors
MCH, sojourn: see «ojoMni. Ct. sorehon.'i To ob-
trude one's self on another for bed and board ; be
an uninvited and unwelcome guest; sponge.
[Scotch.]
Lang-legged Hieland gillies that will neither work nor
want, and maun gang thigging and soming about on their
acquaintance. Scott, Rob Eoy, ixvi.
somar (sor'nar), n. Same as sorner.
SOmer (sor'nfer), n. [< sorn + -er^ ; ult. a con-
traction of sojourner.l One who soms; one
who obtrudes himself on another for bed and
board ; in Scots law, one who takes lodging and
food from others by force or menaces without
paying for it. This offense was formerly so prevalent in
Scotland that the severest penalties were enacted against
it, and at one i)eriod it was punishable with death.
SOrophore (so'ro-for), «. [< NL. *sorophoruni,
ueut. oi'sorophorus: see sorophorous.'i labot.,
the mucilaginous cord or cushion which is emit-
ted from the germinating sporocarp in Marsi-
lea, and which bears the sori arranged in two
rows. See cut under Marsilea.
sorophorons (so-rof'o-rus), a. [< Gr. oup<5f, a
heap, + -^poc,'< ipipecv = E. 6eorl.] Bearing
sori.
sororal (so-ro'ral), o. [< L. soror, sister (=: E.
sister), + *-«/.] Of or pertaining to a sister or
sisters; sisterly.
The loroTat relation. H. Mann.
terainatToiTot the podtion of the suture ha* sbowD, how- SOTOrially (s6-r6'ri-al-i), a. [< 'sororial for so-
ever, that severaa other pairs of teeth besides the special- ygral + -/i/2.'l In a sisterly manner. TKare.]
laed median upper pair are inserted In the premaxillary, ■' -■ .».._, j , , .v
and M-e therefore Incliiora; that the foremost pair of max- "This way then, my dear sister cried Jane to the new-
niary teeth (technically canines) are never speclaliaid, and comer, and, taking her soronaUj/ by the hand, she led her
always imall, and that these are followed by one or two
Dothaboveand
below are re-
markable in
preaentingtwo
or more cusps,
besides being
of great size.
These peculi-
anties, toge-
ther with the
apeedy and
complete ob-
literation of
the maxillo-
premaxiilary
suture, have
caused the me-
dian incisors
alone to be
ao named, and
have occasion-
ed great on-
oertainty in
the dental for-
mnlse of the
aevend genera
of shrews. De-
Soricident Teeth of Common Shrew I.Sortx vul-
garii), enlarged seven limes.
^', large tiro-pronged anterior upper incisor:
^, i^. i>. succeeding upper incisois, to »f/jr, litie
of obliterated maxilTopremaxillary suture; r, first
maxillary tooth, technically a canine, unspecial-
ired and rescmMing the preceding incisor; >«'.
minute first premolar ; fim'», large sectorial pie-
molar. In the lower Jaw, i. very Urge serrated
anterior incisor : 3. 3. 4. following teetn to the one
opposite /M*3; other teeth omitted.
forth from the oak parlour.
T. Hook, The Sutherlands.
palra o( premolars, constantly succeeded by three pairs of
one molars. The constancy In number of the under teeth gnroricide^ ^SO-Tor'i-sid), n.
iDavia.)
. ovawa.w^ V -— - ,, — [< L. sorort'cirfa, <
(twelve, with some anomalous exceptions) Is also remark- „ ^. _ „:.*„■- 4. wnrfn < rjpiirre kill 1 One
ible, and the total variation is only from twenty-six to »oror, a Sister, + -CKIa, ^ Jf^^'^i^"^
thirty-two among »n the genera- The eight upper incisors who kails his Bister. .B/oun f, Glossographia.
of several genera are a number unique among placental 80rorl<dde*(86-ror'i-8id),n. [< LL. sororicidium,
mammals; and the Boriddent dentition Is, on the whole, in ,; L. wror, Sister, + -Clfifium, < fa?rferc, kill.] The
murder of a Sister. Bailey, lili.
SOrorize (s6'rgr-iz), V. ».; pret. and pp. sororized,
proportion to the size of the anlmaI^ the most formidable
known among iwammnin of greater relative power than
that of any camlrore. See SorieidM.
Soricinse (sor-i-si'ne), n. pi. [NL., < Sorex
(.Horic-) + -irne.'] The tj-pical subfamily of So-
rieiilie, containing those shrews of both the Old
and the New World which have the teeth brown
or red : contrasted with Crocidurina. The gen-
era usually admitted are Sorex, Neosorex, Notio-
sorex, Soriculus, Blarina, and Crossopus. See
Sorex. and cuts under Blarina, shrew, and »o«-
rhli.
80ri(dne (sor'i-sin), a. [< L. soricinus, of or be-
longing to a shrew, < sorex (soric-), shrew: see
Sorex.] Resembling or related to a shrew or
ppr. sororizing. [< L. soror, sister, + -ize : simu-
lating fraiemize.] To associate as sisters ; be
in communion or sympathy as sisters. [Rare.]
The beautiful girls . . . are . . . tororiaitg with the
rustic maidenhoods of their parishes.
Mortimer CMint, Thought* in my Garden, II. S. (JEncyc.
Bororyt («6'ror-i), «. [< L. soror, sister: see
sister.] A sisterhood. [Rare.]
While heauen did daigne the world should him inioy.
The ninefold Sorory themselves exiled,
Euen from their natlne home to art's annoy.
Taumeur, Transformed Metamorphosis, it 08.
shrew-mouse ; of or pertaining to the Sorieinse gorose (so'ros), o. [< NL. "sorosus, < sorus, q. v.]
or Soricidse; soricoid in a narrow sense.— florl- In hoi., bearing sori.
cine bat, aumothaga torieina, a small South American gorosis (so-ro'sis), n. ; pi. Soroses (-sez). [NL.,
species ofbat. < Or. ffuoof, a heap.] In 6o<., a fleshy multiple
80ri(X>id (sor'i-koid), a. and n. [< L. sorex
(soric-), shrew, + -oid.'] L a. Soricine in the
broadest sense; of or pertaining to the Sori-
coidea.
n. ». A member of the Soricoidea, as a
shrew, shrew-mole, or mole.
Soricoidea (sor-i-koi'de-ft), n.pl. [NL., < Sorex
(.Soric.-) + -oidea.] A superfamily of mammals
of the order Insectivora, containing the two
families Sorieidx and Talpidte, the shrews and
thf moles.
soriferouB (s6-rif 'e-ms), a. [< Gr. oupi^, a heap,
-I- otiiitv =:lJ. bear"^.] In hot., bearing son
fruit composed of many flowers, seed-vessels,
and receptacles consobdated, as In the pine-
apple, breadfruit, and mulberry.
Sorotrocha (so-rot'ro-kS), n. pi. [NL. (Ehren-
berg), iicut. pli of sorotrochus: see sorotrochous.]
An order of Rotifera, containing those wheel-
animalcules whose wheel-organ is divided or
compound: distinguished from Monotrocha.
BOrotrochian (so-ro-tro'ki-an), a. and n. [<
sorotrochus + -ian'.] I, a.' Sorotroohous; not
monotrochous.
n. n. A rotifer whose wheel is compound or
divided ; any member of the Sorotrocha
sorites (m-n'tez), n.; pi. sorites. [NL., < L. sorotrochous (s6-rot'r6-kus), o. [< NL.»orofro-
««;■i^•«,< L<}r. trupfirvf, oupirw, alogical sophism fi,„g^ < (jr. aupd^, a heap, + rpoxk, awheel, <
formed by an accumulation of arguments, lit. Tpi.tfiv,run.] Having the wheel-organ divided
' heaper,' < aupritiv, heap, < aup6<:, a heap. In q^ compound, as a rotifer ; not monotrochous.
det.2flrstusedbyLaurentiusValla(diedl457).] gorra, ». Sec sorrow, n., 4.
1. A kind of sophism invented by Chrj-sippu.f gorraget «. See soraije.
in the thinl century before Christ, by which a sorranc^t, n. Same as sorance.
person is led by gradual steps from maintain- gorrel' (sor'el). n. [Early mod. E. also sor-
ing what is manifestly true to admitting what rell, sorel, sorell; < ME. sorel, < OF. sorel, F. ««-
is manifestly false. For example : One grain of sand
cannot make a heap; then, if one grain be added to
a grain, the one added grain cannot make that a heap
which wa» not a heap before ; and soon, until It I* shown
that a million or more grain* of aand cannot make a heap.
2. A chain-syllogism, or argument having a
number of premises and one conclusion, the
argumentation being capable of analysis into
a iiumlKT of syllogisms, the conclusion of each
363
relle (ML. surella), sorrel, so named from its
sour taste; with dim. -cl, < sitr, sour, sharp, <
OHG. MHO. »«r, G. .vai«?r, sour: see «ourl. Cf.
AS. siire (= ML6. sure = Icel. siira = (with dim.
suffix) D. zuring), sorrel,<«Mr, sour: see»»Krl.]
1 . One of several species of the genus Bumex,
smaller plants than the docks of the same
genus, having the leaves typically halberd-
sorrow
shaped, more or less succulent, and impreg-
nated with oxalic acid. The common sorrel of the
Old World is R. Acetosa, which has been much cultivated
for culinary use. ii. scutatuft, the French sorrel, is, how-
ever, preferred for the purpose, being more succulent and
less acid. Sorrel is much grown on the European conti-
nent, especially in iYance. It is used in salads and soups,
but is more commonly dressed as a spinach. The use of
sorrel in America is slight but increasing. R. Aceiosella,
sometimes substituted for the foregoing, is the common
sheep-sorrel. Both plants are refrigerant and diuretic
antiscorbutics. See cut under Rumex.
2. A plant of the genus Oxalis, more properly
called wood-sorrel (see cuts under Oxalis and
obcordate): the name is also extended to other
plants of different genera (see phrases) — CJlimb-
ing sorrel, Begonia scandens, of tropical America, a some-
what shrubby herb climbing by rootlets. [West Indies.)
— Field-sorrel. Same as sheep-sorrel. — Indian sorrel.
Same asrosefe— Mountaln-BOrreL See0a:t/rja.— Bed
SOrreL (a) Same as roselle. (b) The sheep-sorrel : prob-
ably from the red male inflorescence. — Salt of sorrel.
See 8oi«i.— Switch-sorrel, a widely diltused tropical
shrub, Dodonsea viscosa. of the Sapindaceie. Its leaves
have an acid and bitter taste.— Water-SOrreL Same as
water -dock. (See also horse-sorrel.)
sorrel''^ (sor'el), a. and n. [Early mod. E. sor-
rell, sorell, sorel; < OF. * sorel, sorrel, surrel, dim.
of sor, F. saur, saure, brown, reddish, brownish,
sorrel: see»ore2.] 1. a. Of a yellowish- or red-
dish-brown color.
Saure, a sorrell colour, also a «orr«K horse. Cotffrave.
He is of a middle stature, strong sett, high coloured, a
head of sorreli haire, a severe and sound judgement ; a
good fellowe. Aubrey, Lives (Samuel Butler).
II. «. 1. A color between a reddish and a
yellowish brown.
SorreU, colour of an horse, sorrel. Palsgrave, p. 272.
His horse was of fiery sorrel, with black feet.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, ill.
2. An animal of a sorrel color ; especially, a
sorrel horse.
Till he fals from his seate, the coache orethrowes.
And to the riders breedes a world of woes ;
Noe holla Jacke, nor Sorrell, hola boye.
Will make them stay till they even all destroy.
The yewe Metamorphosis (1600). (A'ores.)
Is the Coach gone?
Saddle my Uorse the sorrell.
Dekker, Honest Whore, 11. 1.
3. A buck of the third year. Compare «orc2,)i., 2.
A Bucke the first yeare is a i'awne ; the second yeare a
Pricket ; the third yeare a Sorrel.
Return /rom Pamatsiu (1606), 11 5.
The dogs did yell ; put L to sore, then sorel jumps from
thicket, Shak., L. L. L., iv. 2. 60.
sorrel-sopst (sor'el-sops), «. pi. A term used
in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries for
some sort of drink used in fevers.
BOrrel-tree (sor'el-tre), ti. See Oxydendrum.
sorrel-vine (sor'el-vin), n. A shrub, Cissus ( Fi-
tis) acitlu, found in tropical America, reaching
into Florida. It is a low tendril-bearing climber,
with acid juice.
sorrily (sor'i-li), adv. [< ME. soryly, sorili, sori-
liche, sariliche, sarili; < sorry + -ly^.] In a sorry
manner, in any sense of the word ; sorrowfully ;
sadly; wretchedly; poorly; meanly.
sorriness (sor'i-nes), n. [< ME. sorinesse, sori-
nisse, snrynesse, sarinesse, < AS. sarignes, < sd-
rig, sore, sorry : see sorry and -ness.] The state
or feeling of being sorry, in any sense.
sorrow (sor'o), n. [< ME. sorow, sorowe, sorae,
soreice, seorcwe, scoruwe, sercwc, sorige, sorege,
soreghc, sorge, < AS. sorg, sorh, sorge = OS.
sorga, soroga = MD. sorg, D. zorg = MLG. LG.
sorge, care, anxiety, = OHG. sorga, MHG. G.
sorge = Icel. Sw. Dan. sorg, care, = Goth.
saurga, care, grief; cf. Lith. sirgti, be ill, suf-
fer. Not connected etymologically with sore"^
or sorry.'] 1. Distress of mind caused by mis-
fortune, injury, loss, disappointment, or the
like; grief; misery; sadness; regret.
Give sorrow words ; the grief that does not speak
Whispers the oer-fraught heart, and bids it break.
Shttk., Macbeth, iv. 3. 209.
Sorrow is uneasiness in the mind upon the thought of a
good lost which might have been enjoyed longer, or the
sense of a present eviL
Locke, Human Understanding, II. xx. 8.
2. A cause or occasion of grief; a painful fact,
event, or situation ; a misfortune ; a trouble.
And howe he lost that coniforth clene.
And was putte oute fro paradys.
And sithen what sorouse sor warre sene
Sente vn-to hym and to al his. York Plays, p. 93.
God so willed ;
Mankind is Ignorant, a man am I;
Call ignorance my eorroiv, not my sin !
Bromting, Ring and Book, II. 176.
3. The outward manifestation of grief; mourn-
ing; lamentation.
Down his white beard a stream of sorrow flows.
Pope, Iliad, ii. 669.
sorrow
5778
[< sorrow + -less.}
Hor sound of human sorrow mounts to mar SOirOWleSS (sor'6-les), O,
Their sacred everlasting calm ! yi.p^> fr^u^ sorrow.
Tennvsmx, Lucretius, gorrow-stricken (sor'o-strik'n), a. Stricken
4. The de\-il: used generally as an expletive .j^.j^j sorrow; pained; grieved; soiTowful.
in impreeation, often implying negation. Com- gorrowyt (sor'6-i), a. [ME. sorewy; < sorrow +
pare deri}. n., 7. Sometimes the muckle sorrow, .^i ■] Sorrowful.
Also spelled sorra. [Scotch and Irish.] j^^^^ j ^^^ besette about* Ariel, and it shal be dreri and
Quhen he had Jumlit a full lang houre, soreury. Wyclif, Isa. xxix. 2.
r^^„ri^A«nrLr(CMS>slSiad,.vni.i:9). sorry (sor'i); a. [Early mod. E. sorrle, sorie
"'" ■ " ^ "^ (sometimes, erroneously, sorojce); < ME. so>%
Sorrow tak' him that 's sae mean.
Bums, O Tibbie, I ha'e seen the Day.
To sing sorrow. See nnij'. = 8yil. 1. Orief, Wrelchedneea,
etc. (see affliction\ repentance, vexation, chagrin. See
list under sadness.
sorrow (sor'6), r. [< ME. sorowen, sorewen,
sorwen, soricien, seoruicen, sorgiett, sorhen, < AS.
sorqian = OS. sorgon = MD. sorgen, D. zorgen
= "MLG. LG. sorgen = OHG. sorgen, MHG. G.
sorgen = Icel. sorga, syrgja = Sw. sorja = Dan.
sd><7e = Goth, sanrgan, sorrow ; from the noun.]
1. intraiis. 1. To feel sorrow, sadness, regret,
grief, or anguish ; grieve ; be sad ; feel sorry.
Al mi lit ic sorwe & care,
For det comit sone that noman wil spare.
PotUUal Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 239.
Uour thinges . . . muwen makien him to seoruwen, and
bittren his heorte. Ancren Kiwle, p. 308.
Fortune had left to both of us alike
What to delight in, what to sorrow for.
5Ao*., C. of E., i. 1. 107.
2. To manifest sorrow ; mourn ; lament.
The emperouT thet the blysse of the wordle hedden
lomtyme nou ine belle wepeth and gredeth, yelleth and
zorseth. AyenbUe of Inwyt (E. E. T. .S.), p. 71.
Mourn not, except thou sorrow for my good ;
Only give order for my funeral.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., ii. 6. 111.
= Syn. To grieve, mourn. See sorrme, n.
Il.t trans. 1. To feel or display sorrow over;
grieve for; mourn.
Such of these greets as might be refrained or holpen by
wisedome, and the parties owne good endeuour, the Poet
gaue none order to sorrow them.
Puttenliam, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 38.
The public body
. . . send forth us, to make their sorrowed render.
Shak., T. of A., v. 1. 152.
2. To give pain to ; grieve.
The excesse you bled is griefe vnto me ; the ague that
held you sorroweth me.
Ovevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 189.
3. To involve in sorrow; attach suffering or
misery to.
The much-wronged and OTer-sorroweii state of matri-
mony. MUton, Divorce, Pref.
sorrower (sor'o-fer), ». [< sorrow + -eri.] One
who sorrows ; one who grieves or mourns.
sorrowful (sor'o-ful), a. [< ME. sorowful, sor-
wefuJ, soriiful, sorful, seoruhfitl, sorhfnl, < AS.
sorgful, sor'hf III {=OIiG. sorgfol, sicorgfol, sworc-
fol = Icel. sorgfullr = Sw. sorgfull = Dan. sorg-
fuld), < sorh, sorrow, + ful, full : see sorrow and
-ful.] 1. Feeling sorrow or grief; grieved; un-
happy; sad.
Than thei smyte vpon the saisnes that be sorowfvll and
wroth for the deth of Pignores.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 689.
My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.
Mat. xxvi. 38.
2. Productive of sorrow; grievous; distressing;
lamentable ; pitiable.
It was a sor/ul sist to se how it ferde.
watiam of Paleme (E. E. T. 3.), L 3540.
Oh sorrowfvl and sad ! the streaming tears
Channel her cheeks. Cowper, Truth, 1. 173.
3. Expressive or indicative of sorrow, grief, or
regret ; plaintive ; pathetic.
I called to minde that, twelue or thirtene yeares past,
I had begonne an Elegye or sarrowefvU song, called the
Complainte of Phylomene.
Gaseoigne, Philomene, Ded. (Steele Glas, etc., ed. Arber).
O most false love !
Where be the sacred vials thou shouldst fill
With sorrow/tU water? Shak., A. and C, i. 3. 64.
4. Affected or accompanied by grief; melan-
choly; doleful; afflicted.
The things that my soul refused to touch are as my sor-
row/vl meat. Job vi. 7.
Go into old Titus' sorrmt'/vJ house.
And hither hale that misbelieving Moor.
Shak., Tit. And., v. 3. 142.
= 83m. Dismal, disconsolate, nieful, woful.
sorrowfully (sor'o-fid-i), adv. [< ME. soi-wc-
fully, seoruhfullice ; < sorrowful + -ly^.'] In a
sorrowful manner; with sorrow.
sorrowfulness (sor'o-ful-nes), n. [< ME. *sor-
we/idnes, < AS. sorgf nines, < sorgful, sorrowful :
see sorroicful and -ne»».] The state of being
sorrowful; the feeling of sorrow; grief; sad-
ness.
son, sari, < AS. sarig, sad, soriy (not found in
physical sense 'sore') (= OS. serag = MD.
seerigh, sore, sad, sorry, D. zeerig, sore, full of
sores, = MLG. serich, sore, = OHG. serag,
MHG. serec, serig = Sw. s&rig, sore, full of
sores), < sdr, pain, grief, sore: see sore'^. The
word is thus < sore^ + -y'^. It has become con-
fused with sorrow, of which it is now the cus-
tomary adj. in the lighter uses : see sorrow."] 1 .
Feeling sorrow; grieved; sorrowful; unhappy;
sad; pained; especially, feeling repentance or
regret: noting either deep or slight, prolonged
or transient, emotion.
Sike with the sory, singe with the glade.
Piers Plowman (A), xi. 190.
The preacher absolved but such as were sorry and did
repent. Latimer, 3d Sermon bef. Edw. VI., 1649.
I am sorry for thee, friend ; 'tis the duke's pleasure.
Shak., Lear, ii. 2. 169.
2. Causing sorrow; painful; grievous; mourn-
ful.
So throli a sori thougt thirled min hert.
William of Paleme (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3696.
In sorowe tyme for them all
The knyght came to the gate.
Lytell Geste of Robyn Hode (Child's Ballads, V. 61).
Gruffly he answers, " 'Tis a sorry sight !
A seaman's body : there'll be more to-night ! "
Crabbe, Works, II. 12.
3. Associated with sorrow ; suggestive of grief
or suffering; melancholy; dismal.
Al ful of chirkyng was that sory place.
Chancer, Knight's Tale, L 1146.
The place of death and sorry execution.
Shak., C. of E., v. 1. 121.
4. Vile; wretched; worthless; mean; paltry;
poor.
Tho sori wrecches of yuel blod.
Genesis and Exodus (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1074.
Notwithstanding his fine tongue, he is but a sorry fel-
low. Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 145.
He had set our men upon an island, in a deep snow,
without lire, and only a sorry wigwam for their shelter.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, IL 267.
Sorry gracei, ill luck; misfortune.
He hadde at Thebes sory grace.
Chaucer, Prol. to Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 746.
= 8yn. 1. Vexed, chagrined.— 4. Pitiful, shabby.
sorryt (sor'i), v. i. [< sorry, a.; or a var. of
sorrow.'] To sorrow ; grieve.
We mourn his death, and sorry for his sake.
Ford, Fame's Memorial.
SOrs (sdrz), n. The singular of sortes.
sort (sort), n. [< ME. sort, soort, sorte (= D.
soort = G. .sorte (< It.) = Sw. Dan. sort, sort,
kind); < OF. sorte, sort, F. sorte = Sp. suerte =
Pg. sorte = It. sorte, soria, lot, part, sort, kind,
< L. soi-{t-)s, f., lot, destiny, an oracular re-
sponse, in gen. fate, condition, part ; prob. al-
lied to severe, connect: see series. Hence ult.
sort, v., sortance, sorcer, sorcerer, sorcery, assort,
consort, resorf^, etc.] If. A lot; that which is
awarded or determined by lot ; hence, in gen-
eral, one's fate, fortune, or destiny.
Sone haf thay her sortes sette & serelych deled,
& ay the the lote, vpon lastc, lymped on lonas.
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), iii. 194.
And the sort of synne fallith vp on him that is with
oute rigt-wisnesse or mercy.
Qesta Romarwrum (ed. Herrtage), p. 36.
Make a lottery ;
And, by device, let blockish Ajax draw
The sort to fight with Hector.
Shak., T. and C, 1.3. 376.
2t. Allotted Station or position; condition;
rank; specifically, high rank ; social eminence.
God save ye !
For less I cannot wish to men of sort,
And of your seeming ; are you of the duke's?
Fletcher (and another), Noble Gentleman, iv. 4.
The building was a spacious theatre, . . .
With seats where all the lords, and each degree
Of sort, might sit in order to behold.
Milton, S. A., 1. 1608.
3. Characteristic mode of being; nature; qual-
ity; character.
The lire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
^ 1 Cor. iii. 13.
None of noble sort
Would so offend a virgin.
Shak., M. N. D., iii. 2. 159.
sort
Italy in the Kenaisaance period was rich in natures of thf»
sort, to whom nothing that is strange or beautiful seemed
unfamiliar. J. A. Symonds, Italy and Greece, p. 241.
4. A number of persons, things, ideas, etc.,
grouped together according to the possession
of common attributes; a kind, as determined
by nature, quality, character, or habits ; a spe-
cies ; a class.
He . . . gadered hym a meynee of his sort.
To hoppe and synge and maken swich disport.
Chaucer, Cooks Tale, 1. 17.
A man feels the calamities of his enemies with one sort
of sensibility, and his own with quite a different sort.
Macavlay, Sir J. Mackintosh.
A sort is composed of things assorted, and assorted be-
cause possessing a quality or qualities in common, and
must embrace all the objects possessing the quality or
qualities. McCosh, On Berkeley, p. 69.
It 'a the «or( of thing people talk of, but I never thought
it would come in our way.
Mrs. Oliphant, Poor Gentleman, xxxlv.
Specifically— (a) A particular class or order of people.
The meaner sort are too credulous, and led with blinde
zeale, blinde obedience, to prosecute and maintain what-
soever their sottish leaders shall proiwse.
Burtoii, Anat. of Mel., ilL § 4.
Others lay about the lawns,
Of the older sort, and murmuv'd that their May
Was passing. Tennyson, Princess, ii.
(6) In printing, one of the characters or pieces in a font of
type, considered with reference to its relative supply or
lack : nearly always in the plural : as, to be out of sorts
(that is, to lack some of the necessary types in a case) ; to
order sorts for a font (that is, to order more of the kinds
of type of which it is deficient).
Our printing-house often wanted sorts, and there was no
letter-foundry in America.
B. Franklin, Autobiography, p. 91.
(c) Kind : used indefinitely of something more or less re-
sembling the thing specified: with of, like Hnd of. See
kind'^, n., 6, and compare sort of, below.
Those trees of MadreporaJ, a sort of imperfect coral,
which are about Tor and south of it, are as dangerous as
rocks to the ships. Pococke, Description of the East, 1. 136.
Accredited agents were stationed, as a sort of honorable
spies, at the different courts. Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 1.
Each tablet becoming even to the uninitiated white
man a sort of coatof-arms or synibolic shield, the native
heraldry having embodied itself in this way.
Amer. Antiquarian, XII. 357.
5. A number or quantity of things of the same
kind or used together; a set; a suit.
Sort of Balances (among Tradesmen) is four Dozen in
Number. Bailey, 1731.
6. A group; a flock; a troop; a company.
[Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
Eftsoones the people all to harnesse ran,
And like a sort of Bees in clusters swarmed.
Spenser, F. Q., V. iv. 38.
King Agesilaus, hauing a great sort of little children,
was one day disposed to solace himself among them in a
gallery. Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 234.
A sort of Doves were housed too near their hall.
Dryden, Hind and Panther, iiL 946.
7. Particular mode of action or procedure;
manner; fashion; way.
Now to Returne where I left off, and declare vnto joa
in what sort I imploide my selfe since my first entring
into englande. E. Webbe, Travels (ed. Arber), p. 34.
Give your petitions
In seemly sort, and keep your hats off decently.
Fletcher (and another^), Prophetess, iii. 1.
In smoothest terms his speech be wove,
Of endless friendship, faith, and love;
Promised and vowed in courteous sori.
Scott, Rokeby, i. 20.
After a sort. Same as in a sort.
He has a kind o' Hieland honesty— he's honest after a
sort, as they say. ScoU, Bob Roy, xxvi.
In a sort, after a fashion; more or less completely or
satisfactorily.
The duke's journey to France is laid down; and yet
they say the business goeth on in a sort.
Court and Times of Charles I., I. 6.
Out of sorts, (at) Destitute ; unprovided ; without equip-
ment.
Many a man of good extraction coming home from far
voyages, may chance to land here, and, being out of sorts,
is unable for the present time and place to recruit him-
self with clothes. Ray, Proverbs (1678), p. 304.
(6) Out of health or spirits ; out of the normal condition
of body or mind ; cross.
I was most violently out of sorts, and really had not spir-
its to answer it.
Mme. D'Arblay, Diary, To Mr. Crisp, Jan., 1779.
No wonder you are out of sorts, my little cousin. To be
an inmate with such a guest may well startle an innocent
young girl ! Hawthorne, Seven Gables, viii.
(c) In printing, short of one or more characters in type:
said of a compositor, or of his case.— Sort of. Same as
kind 0./" (which see, under kind-, n.).
"You were hurt by the betting just now?" "Well,"
replied the lad, "I am sort o' hurt."
Thackeray, Vu^inians, xv.
To run on sorts. See7-H7ii,r. i.
[Snrt, likeihn<(. is often erroneously used in the singular
form with a plural force and connection. Compare kind-.
These sort of people alwavs know everything.
A. Trollope, Framley Parsonage, xlvLl
sort
= Sya. 4. Kind, Sort. Kind is by derivation a deeper
or more serious word than sort ; sort is often used slight-
ingly, wliile kind is rarely so used.
sort (.sort), r. [< ME. sorfen, soorten, < OF. sor-
tir, allot, sort, assort (cf. Sp. Pg. sortear, obtain
by lot), = It. sortire, < L. sortiri, cast lots, fix
by lot, divide, distribute, choose, < sar{t-)s, lot,
destiny, share : see sort, n. The E. verb is in
part an aphetic form of ossorV.] I. trans. If.
To give or appoint by lot ; hence, in general,
to allot ; assign.
And forth he wente, shortly for to telle,
Ther as Mercurie sorted hym to dwelle.
Chaueer, Troilus, t. 1827.
Graces not ponied oat equally, bat diversely sorted and
trtren. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. 78.
2t. To ordain ; decree.
All may be well ; but, if Ood sort it so,
"Tis more than we deserve, or I expect.
Shai., Rich. III., iL 3. 86.
3t. To select ; choose ; pick out.
5779
A prince of a melancholy constitution both of body and
mind ; . . . and, therefore, accusing sycophants, of all
men, did best sort to his nature.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, ii.
5. To be suitable or favorable.
Why, then it sortg, brave warriors; let's away.
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., ii. 1. 209.
Some one, he is assur'd, may now or then,
K opportunity but sort, prevail.
Ford, Brolcen Heart, I. 1.
sortable (s6r'ta-bl), a. [< OF. sortable, sort-
able, suitable, (sort, sort : see sort and -able.] 1 .
Capable of being sorted. — 2. Assorted; made
up of various sorts.
The facilities which Glasgow possessed of making up
sortable cargoes for that marlcet. Scott, Bob Roy, xivi.
3. Suitable; appropriate; fitting; meet.
The flourishing state of learning, sortable to so excel-
lent a patroness [Queen Elizabeth).
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, i.
She 's a mettle quean. It 's a pity his Excellency is a
,.■ ■ .-..1., •■ jt, I . thought eldem. The like o' yoursell . . . wad be malr
Ampbialus with noble gentleness assured him . . . that sortable in point of years. Seott Rob Boy xxxiv
his revenge, whensoever, should >ort unto itself a higher _i. vi / o /i i i-\ j n .^ ^,' «,. ,
subject. Sir 1>. Sidney, Aicaiin, iu. SOltably (s6r ta-bli), ad». Suitably; fitly. Imp.
Xurse. will you go with me into my closet,
To help me sort such needful oniaments
As you think fit to furnish me to-morrow ?
Shak., R. and J., iv. 2. 34.
4. To set apart ; assign to a particular place or
station; rank; class.
I will not sort you with the rest of my senranta.
Shak., Hamlet, IL 2. 274.
I hold flt that these narrations, which have mixture
with superstition, be sorted by themselves.
Bacon, Advancement of learning, 11.
Dili.
sortal (sdr'tal), a. [< sort + -al] Belonging
or pertaining to a sort or class. [Rare.]
The essence of each genus or sort comes to be nothing
but that abstract idea, which the general or sortal . . .
name stands for. Locke, Human Understanding, III. lii. 15.
BOrtancet (sSr'tans), n. [< sort + -ance.] Con-
formity; suitableness; appropriateness. [Rare.]
Here doth he wish his person, with such powers
As might hold scrlance with bis quality.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., It. 1. 11.
6. To separate into sorts; arrange according Bortation (sdr-ta'shon), «. [< sort + -ation.]
to kind; classify: sometimes with over. The act or process of sorting. [Rare.]
Those confused seeds, which were Impos'd on Psyche 1 he final tnrtation to which the letters are subjected.
«« an Incessant labour to cull out and sort asunder. A'liy. /«uvt(. J/a</., Feb., 1884, p. 294. (Eneye. Diet)
Motm. Areopagitica. gorteUget. sorteligert, etc. Obsolete forms of
BOSS
SOrtilegions (s6r-ti-le'jus), a. [< sortilege +
-i-oiis.J Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of
sortilege. [Rare.]
Nor were they made to decide horarie questions, orsor-
tilegiotis demands.
Swan, Speculum Mundi, p. 345. (Latham.)
SOrtilegy (s6r'ti-lej-i), «. [< ML. sortitegium,
sortilege: see sortilege.'] S&me a,s sortilege.
sorting (s6r'ting),«. [Verbal n. of sor(, (!.] The
act of separating into sorts Dry-sortiiig, in mtn-
t'n<?, separation without the use of water, or bysiltiug and
Iiand-piclcing.
sorting-box (sor'ting-boks), n. A box or ta-
ble with compartments for receiving different
grades or kinds of materials, etc.
SOrtita (s6r-te'ta), II. [It., < sortire, go out:
see sortie.] In music: (a) The first air sung by
any one of the principal singers in an opera;
an entrance-air. (6) Same as postlude.
sortition (s6r-tish'on), H. [< L. sorlitio(ji-), a
casting of lots, < sortiri, cast or draw lots, <
sor(t-)s, a lot: see sort.] The casting of lots;
determination by lot. Bp. Hall, The Crucifix-
ion.
SOrtment (sdrt'ment), n. l< sort + -ment. Prob.
in part an apheti'c form of assortment.] Same
as assortment. Imp. Diet.
SOrus(so'rus), n.; pi. sori (-ri). [NL., < Gr. aopSi,
aheap.] In 6o<., a heap or aggregation, (o) One
of the fruit-dots or clusters of sporangia (spore-cases) on
the back of the fronds of ferns, also on the mucilaginous
cord emitted from the sporocarp of Slarsilea. etc. They
are of various forms and variously arranged. In the
Aerostiehea the sporangia are spread in a stratum over
the under surface, or rarely over both surfaces, of the
frond; in the Polypodiex the sori are dorsal, and are
The accamolatlon of new material for German and Ital- ii,,rtili,~it' ofn
tan history is perplexing in itself; the Germans and Ital- *_t„i'/ a V^a n
tan* have scarcely begun to sort it. SOrtOr^ (sOr t«r), n
Stubbt, Medieval and Modem Hist., p. 61.
To conform ; accommodate ; adapt ; suit.
I pny thee sort thy heart to patience.
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iL 4. 68.
Kow was there ever man so fortunate.
To bare his lore so sorted to his wish ?
6
[< sort + -eri.] One who
separates and arranges: as, a letter-«or(er,' a
money-»orter.
The shepherd, the sorter of the wool, the wool.comber or
carder, the dyer, . . . must all join their dilferent arts in
order to compleat even this homely production.
Adam Smith, Wealth of N'aUona, L 1.
CteiJ^ISlurdB^Jo" Alexandria. Sorter^ (sdr'tir). A spelling of sort o\ for sort
Tn x,..!- ir, »».« »..».^. -♦.»„ A » "/•■ see under »or(, «., and compare Wnder.
10 put m tne proper state or order; set _„_«.-._ /„a.'*s.\ « «i rr «i «« /. \ i *
ht- inn»t. .li.JL.'^rsu^toi, 1 ' sortes {s6r tez), n. o/. [L., pi. of «or(«-)», lot,
share: see sort.] Lots used in a kind of div-
ination, conBistmg in the chance selection of
a passage from an author's writings — a prac-
tice common in ancient times and in the
middle ages. The method pursued by the ancients
wa« generally to write a numlwr of verses of a favorite
poet on separate slips, put them in an urn, draw out
one at random, and from its contents infer good or bad
fortune. This form of divination was known as Sottet
Uomeriem, Sartes V^yiHaHJe, etc, acairding to the name
of the poet from wbote works the lines were chosen.
Among the Christian* of the middle ages the Bible was
used for a similar purpose; the book being opened by
hazard, or a pin stuck between the learea, the first pas-
sage cstching the eye was accepted as prophetic. Boch
lots were called Sortes BiblicM or Sacr/r. TTiis use of the
Bible is still common as a popular superstition.
BOrtftlllyt (s6rt'f(il-i), adv. [< 'sortful (< sort +
-fid) + -ly^.] Suitably ; appropriately. [Rare.]
Ererything
About your house so sotifvUy disposed.
Chapman, Gentleman ITaher, IIL
BOrtie (sAr'te), n. [< F. sortie (= Sp. surtida =
Pg. sorUda = It. sortita), a going forth, issue,
sally, < sortir (= OSp. siirlir = It. sortire), go
out, come out, issue, sally , < LL. as if 'surrectire,
rise or rouse up, < L. surgere, pp. surrectus, rise
up: see surge, source.] 1. A going forth; a
sally; specifically, the issuing of a bod v of troops
from a besieged place to attack the besiegers ;
an outrush of a beleaguered garrison.
Experiencing some rough treatment from a sorfK of the
garrison, he marched ... on Baza.
Preteatt, Ferd. and Isa., L 14.
2. Same as postlude.
sortilege (sdr'ti-loj), n. [Formerly also sorte-
ligr; < F. sortiUge, < ML. sortilegiiim, divination
by lot (cf . L. sortilegus, foretelling, prophetic), <
L. sor(t-)s, a lot, + legere, read.] The act, prac-
tice, or art of drawing lots ; interpretation, div-
ination, or decision by lot; hence, loosely, sor-
cery; magic.
Being accused of Sorteiige or inchsntment, At Amhem
In GaelderUnd he [Johannes Rosa] was proscribed.
Beyunod, Hierarchy of Angels, p. 476.
„ . A woman infamons for mrtUega and witcheries. Seott.
Occorrence* of present times may sort better u<(A an- „„_ni«_«_ / a >4' i • » \ rw i ^
ctent example* thin mth those of the latter or ImmedT SOrtHeger (sdr'ti-lej-fr), M. [Porraeriy also
•tetlme*. Aieon, Advancement of Learning, L K'irteliiifr ; <. sortikge + -er^.] One who uses or
Sometime he mns among a flock of sheep, . . . practises sortilege. [Rare.]
And sometime sorteth vilh a herd of deer. Now to speak of those Sortdigert, and the eflecU of
Shak., Venus and Adonl*, \. 680. their Art Begvood, Hienroiiy of Angel*, p. 473.
right; adjust; dispose. [Scotch.]
I hare a* much a mind a* ever I had to my dinner to
go back and tell him to sort hi* lione himaelt, since he I*
a* able a* I am- Seott, Mona(t«r]r, xlr.
8. To supply in suitable sorts; assort.
He was fitted out by very eminent Merchant* of that
City, on a design only to Trade with the Spaniards or In-
dUns, haring a very considerable Cargo well sorted for
these part* <a the World. Dampier, Voyages, L 187.
9t. To procure; obtain; attain; reach.
I'll sort occasion . . .
To part the queen's proud kindred from the king.
Shak., Rich. III., IL 1. 14&
We shall sort time to take more notice of him.
Ford, Lorttt Hetancholy, IL L
10. To punish ; chastise. [Scotch.]
May ne'er be in my flogers, if I dinna «i>rf ye balth for
it '■ Seott, Monastery, Ir.
n. intrans. If. To cast lots ; decide or di-
vine anything by lot ; hence, in general, to
practise divination or soothsaying.
Bringe hethlr thy coun*ell, and the clerke* that sorted
of this toure. Merlin (E. E. T. S.\ L 89.
2t. To comt to pass; chance; happen; turn
out ; specifically, to have a satisfactory issue;
succeed.
Sort how It wUl, I shall have gold for aU.
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., L 2. 107.
Never any State was . . . *o open to receive atranger*
into their Body a* were the Romans ; therefore It sorted
with them accordingly, for they grew to the grei^t mon-
archy.
Bacon, True Greatness of Kingdom* and Eatate* (ed. 1897).
3t. To tend; lead; conduce.
They raise some persons to be a* It were companion*,
and almost equals to themselrea, which many timessortelA
to inconrenience. Bacon, Friendship (ed. I887)i
Their several reasons ... all sorted to this conclusion :
that strict discipline, both In criminal olTences and in
martial alfain, was more needful in plantations than In a
aettled sUte. Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 212.
4. To be of the same sort or class (with an-
other); be like or comparable; consort; asso-
ciate; agree; harmonize: with icitli, rarely to.
Pinnule* of Various Ferns, showing ttte Sori.
*, pinnule of the frond of AipUnium anfusttfolium; h. pinnule
tUVofuHuardia aHjeusttfelia ; t, pinnule oT Petypodium Californi.
cum/ d, pinnule tA AdiamtHm /*a
radtcanj.
itMm; e, pinnule of TrirMomanes
borne at or near the ends of the reinlets ; In the Vilta-
riett they are borne In continuous marginal or Intramar-
glnal furrows; in the Pteridex they »re marginal or in-
tramarginal, and covered by the reflexed margin of the
frond ; in the Blechne/r they arc dorsal, linear or ol>long,
and parallel to the midrib ; In the Arpleiaeir they are also
dorsal, and linear or oblong, but obli<ine to the midrib;
and in the Arpidiea they are dorsal, njund or roundish,
and usually on the back of a vein. In most Instances the
sori are covered with a projecting section of the epider-
mis, which is called the tndimum and forms an important
character in the systematic arrangement of ferns. See
/eml, paraphysis, s^oranffium, etc. See also cuts under
indiutum, Cyslopteris, NMiochleena, poli/podi/, and Marsi-
lea. (6) In lichens, a heap or mass of noredia on the sur-
face of the thalliis. (c) In the Si/nchilriejr, a heap of zoo-
sporangia developed from a zoospore or swarm-cell.
Borwet, n. and v. A Middle English form of
sorrow.
BOrwefult, a. A Middle English variant of sor-
rowful.
BOryH, a. A Middle English form of sorry.
BOry-t (so'ri), n. [= Sp. sori = It. sori, vitriol,
< L. sory, < (Jr. aCipv, a kind of ore, ink-stone.J
Iron sulphate.
so-so (so so), o. [< so so : see so^, adv.] Neither
very good nor very bad, but generally inclining
toward bad; indifferent; middling; passable.
See so so, under »ol.
So So is good, very good, very excellent good ; and yet
it is not ; it is but so so. Shak., As you Like it, v. 1. 29.
I trembled once beneath her spell
Whose spelling was extremely sn-so.
F. Locker, Keply to a Letter.
That Illustrious lady, who, after leading but a so-so life,
had died in the odour of sanctity.
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, I. 73.
bobs' (sos), n. [Also dial, siiss; < ME. sosse,
SOS, soos, hounds^ meat, a mess of food ; prob.
< Gael. SOS, a coarse mess or mixture; perhaps
confused in part with sauce (dial, sass), souse:
see sauce. Cf. sesspool, cesspool. Cf. also soss^,
and sos.tle, so::zlc.] 1. A heterogeneous mix-
ture ; a mess. — 2. A dirty puddle. [Prov. Eng.
and Scotch in both uses.]
S0S8
1 (80S), V. [Also dial, suss; < soss'^, «.]
1. tra)is. To make dirty or wet.
Her milke-pan and crearae-pot so slabbered and sost.
Timer, Husbandry, AprU, § 48, st. 20. (E. D. S.)
U. intrans. To make up or prepare messes
or mixed dishes of food. Scott. [Scotch.]
SOSS^ (sos), r. [Prob. due to soss'^, iu part asso-
ciated with souse^, v., and perhaps aAected by
the equiv. toss.'] I, trans. 1. To throw care-
lessly; toss. [Obsolete or prov. Eiig.]
I went to-day into the city, but in a coach, and sogsed
up my leg on the seat. Swift, Letter, March 10, 1710-11.
2. To lap, as a dog. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
— 3. To pour out. [Prov. Eug.]
n. intrans. To fall plump into a chair or
seat; sit lazily. [Prov. Eng.]
Sotting in an easy chair. Sic^t, Stella at Wood Park,
SOSS^ (sos), n. [See soss^, t'.] 1. A fall with a
dull sound; a thud. — 2. A heavj-, awkward fel-
low. Cotgrave.
SOSS^ (sos), adv. [An elliptical use of soss^, v.
Cf . soused, adv.'] Direct ; plump.
She fell backward toet against the bridge.
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, iii. 24.
sossle (sos'l), n. i. [Freq. of soss^, v. Cf. so::-
:le.'\ To make a slop. HaUiweU. [Prov. Eng.]
SOStenutO (sos-te-no'to), a. [It., pp. of sos-
tcnere, < L. sustinere, uphold, sustain: see sus-
tain.'] In music, sustained; prolonged: some-
times merely the same as tenuto, and sometimes
implying in addition a slight reduction of speed.
Abbreviated sost.
sostinente pianoforte. See pianoforte.
sot^ (sot), a. and n. [< ME. sot, sotte = MD. sot,
later ::ot, < OF. (and F.) sot (fem. sotte), foolish,
as noun a fool, sot, = Wall, so, soft (ML. sottus),
foolish, sottish; cf . Sp. Pg. zote, foolish, sdttish,
G. zote, obscenity, It. zotico, coarse ; perhaps of
Celtic origin: cf. Bret, sod, sot, stupid, Ir. su-
thaire, a dunce, sutlian, booby. Hence sot^, v.,
besot, sottish, sottise.] I.t a. Foolish; doltish;
stupid.
He understont that heo is xA. Ancren Mwle, p. 66.
Cniht, thu sert muchel sot. Layamon, 1. 1442.
H. n. It. A fool; dolt; blockhead; booby.
Ya, and loke that thou be not a sotte of thy saying,
But sadly and sone thou sette all thi sawes.
Yaric Plays, p. 298.
Wtoe In conceit, in act a very tot. Drayton, Ideas, Ixii.
Sot that I am, who think it fit to brag.
Cou'ley, The Mistress, Passions.
2t. A foolishly infatuated person ; a dotard.
Of Tristem and of his lief Isot,
How he for hire bicom a sot.
MS. Ashmole 60, xv. Cent. (Halliwell.)
Armstrong seems a sot,
Where love binds him to prove.
Armttrong and Musgrave (Child's Ballads, VIII. 247).
3. One whose mind is dulled bv excessive
drinking; a confirmed drunkard.
Like dnmken sots about the streets we roam.
Dryden, Pal. and Arc, i. 432.
Johnson was a water-drinker ; and Boswell was a wine-
bibber, and indeed little better than a habitual sot.
Macavlay, Johnson.
BOt^ (sot), V. ; pret. and pp. sotted, ppr. sotting.
[<«oti, ».] I. trans. 1. To make stupid or fool-
ish ; dull.
Bellaria . . . fell againe downe into a trance, hauing
her senses so sotted with care that after she was reuiued
yet shee lost her memorie. Greene, Pandosto.
2. To infatuate ; besot.
I hate to see a brave bold fellow sotted.
Made soar and senseless, turn'd to whey by love.
Dryden, Spanish Friar, ii. 1.
H. intrans. To play the sot or toper ; tipple.
Those who continued sotting with beer all day were of-
ten, by not paying, out of credit at the ale-house, and us'd
to make interest with me to get beer ; their light, as they
phraaed it, being out Franklin, Autobiog., p. 148.
SOt^ (sot). A dialectal and vulgar variant of
sat, jjreterit and past participle of sit; also of
set^.
Sotadean (sot-a-de'an), a. [< L. Sotadeus,
< Gr. SurdiScwf, i ZurdSijc, Sotades (see def.), -t-
-ean.] Of or pertaining to Sotades of Maronea,
a Greek poet, who flourished about 280 B. c,
and was notorious for the licentiousness and
scurrility of his writings ; pertaining to or char-
acteristic of his poetry or the meters used by
him. Also Sotadic — Sotadean verse, in anc. pros.,
a tetrameter catalectic of Ionics a majore or their substi-
tutes. The normal form is
Resolution, contraction, irrational longs, and anaclasls are
freely used in this meter.
5780
Sotadic (so-tad'ik), a. [< LL. Sotadicus, < 2u-
Td(?)?f, Sotades.] Pertaining to Sotades; Sota-
dean.—Sotadic verse, (a) A Sotadean verse, (i) A
palindromic verse : so named appai-ently from some ancient
examples of Sotadean verse being palindromic.
SOte't, n. A Jliddli! Englisli foi-m of soot^.
SOte^t, a. A Middle English form of sweet.
sotelt, soteltet. Middle English forms of sub-
tle, subtlety.
SOteriological (so-te'ri-o-loj'i-kal), a. [< .^ote-
riolog-y + -ic-ah'] Of or pertaining to soteriol-
ogy ; specifically, pertaining to the doctrine of
spiritual salvation through Jesus Christ.
He [Paul] elaborated the fullest scheme of Christian doc-
trine which we possess from apostolic pens. It is essen-
tially SOteriological, or a system of the way of salvation.
Schaff, Hist. Christ. Church, I. § 71.
SOteriology (s6-te-ri-ol'o-ji), li. [< Gr. aur^pioc,
saving (< aurr/p, a deliverer, a preserver, < au-
Ceiv, save), + -Xoyia, < ?.iyciv, speak: see -ology.]
1. A discourse on health ; the art of promoting
and preserving health; hygiene. — 2. That
branch of theology which treats of the salva-
tion of men throtigh Jesus Christ.
While the doctrines of Theology and Anthropology re-
ceived a considerably full development during the Patris-
tic and Scholastic periods, it was reserved for the Protes-
tant church, and the modern theological mind, to bring
the doctrines of Soteriology to a correspondent degree of
expansion. W. 0. T. Shedd, Hist. Christ. Doctrine, II. v. i.
SOtht, a. and n. A Middle English form of sooth.
SOthemt, a. A Middle English form of southern,
southron.
SOthfastt, SOthfastnesst, etc. Middle English
forms of soothfast, sooth fastness, etc.
Sothiac (s6'thi-ak), o. [= F. Sothiaque, < Gr.
Suftc, an Egyptian name of Sirius.] Connected
with Sirius, the dog-star Sothlac cycle or pe-
riod. See cycle.
Sothic (so'thik), a. [< Gr. 2w5(f, an Egyptian
name of Sirius.] Of or pertaining to the dog-
star, Sothis Sothic year, the fixed year of the Egyp-
tians, detei-mined by the heliacal rising of Sirius. Since
the declination of this star is little altered by precession,
and its rising took place about the summer solstice, the
year would have averaged nearly the sidereal year, or 9
minutes more (instead of 11 minutes less, as the tropical
year is) than 365J days. But it is said that in practice one
day was intercalated every four years. The Sothic year
seems to have been little used by the Egyptians, at least
before the Ptolemies.
sothlyt, sothnesst, sothsawt. Middle English
forms of soothly, soothness, soothsaw.
sotiet, n. [ME., also sotye, < OF. sotie, sottie,
folly, foolishness, < sot, foolish: see soil.]
Folly.
To seen a man from his estate
Through his sotie effeminate.
And leue that a man shall dooe.
Gower, Conf. Amant., vii.
sotilt, sotilteet. Middle English forms of sub-
tle, subtlety.
SOtnia (sot'ni-a), n. [< Russ. sotniya, a hun-
dred.] A conipany or squadron in a Cossack
regiment.
A party of Cossacks reached Pescherna from Lovatz ;
one SOtnia turned northward and successfully attacked
Toros. The other party turned south to Teteven.
a. B. McClellan, N. A. Rev., CXSVI. 160.
sottedt, a. [< ME. sotted; < sot^ -I- -ed^.] Be-
sotted; befooled.
This sotted preest, who was gladder than he?
Chaucer, Canon's Yeoman's Tale, 1. 330.
sotteryt (sot'fer-i), n. [< soil + -ery.] Folly.
Episcopacy, and so Presbytery, had indeed . . . suffered
very much smut, soyle, darkness, and dishonour by the
Tyrannies, Fedities, Luxuries, Sotteries, and Insolencies of
some Bishops and other Churchmen under the Papal prev-
alency. Bp. Gauden, Tears of the Church, p. 12. (Dames.)
sottiet, «. [OF.: cf. soije.] A species of broad
farce, satirical in its aim, popular in Paris in
the fifteenth century and the early part of the
sixteenth, from which the later French comedy
derived some of its elements. The settles were
put down on account of their political effect.
sottiset (sot'is), n. [< F. sotise, sottise, < sot,
foolish: see sot^.] A piece of foolishness; a
silly act or action ; a stupid thing.
sottish (sot'ish), a. [< soil -|- -ish^.] Pertain-
ing to a sot; having the character of a sot. (a)
Dull ; stupid ; senseless ; doltish ; very foolish, (b) Dull
with intemperance; given to tippling and drunkenness;
pcrtiuniTiK to drunkenness : as, a man of sottish habits.
SOttishly (sot'ish-li), adv. In a sottish man-
ner; stupidly; senselessly; without reason.
(Tlanville.
SOttishness (sot'ish-nes), n. The state or char-
actor of being sottish, (a) Stupidity ; dullness ; fool-
ishness.
The King [of Britahi], both for his Wives sake and his
own SOttishness, consulting also with his Peers not unlike
himself, readily yields. Milton, Hist. Eng., iii.
(b) Stupidity from intoxication ; drunken habits generally.
soudanesse
No sober, temperate person can look with any compla-
cency upon the drunkenness and SOttishness of his neigh-
bour. South,
sotto (sot'to), prep. [It., < L. subter, under,
beneath, < stib, under: see st(6-.] Under; be-
low: an Italian word occurring in a few phrases:
as, sotto il soggetto, below tne subject ; sotto
race, under the voice, in an undertone, aside.
SOt-weedt (sot'wed), n. Tobacco. [Bare.]
I scarce had flll'd a pipe of sot-need.
And by the candle made it hot-weed.
Hudibras liedivivus. (Naret.)
We had every one ramm'd a full charge of sot-weed into
our infernal guns. Tom Brown, Works, II. 190.
SOtylt, a. A Middle English form of subtle.
SOU (so), n. [F. son, OF. sol, the name of a coin:
see sol^, sous, soldo.] An old Roman, Gallic,
and French coin, originally of gold, then of
silver, and finally of copper. Under Philip Augus-
tus it was of silver, and of the value of twelve deniers.
Under succeeding monarchs the value varied much ; but
twenty sous tournois were equivalent to one livre tour-
nois, and twenty-four sous to one livre parisis. Under
Obverse
Reverse.
Sou, 1793.— British Museum. (Size of the original.)
Louis XV. and Louis XVI. the sou was struck in copper,
and had an intrinsic value of two deniers twelve grains,
though retaining the conventional value of twelve deniers,
and this coinage continued until the adoption of the ex-
isting decimal system in 1793. The present flve-cenlime
pieces, twenty of which make a franc, are still populaily
called 80M».— Sou marqu^ [F.], an old copper piece worth
fifteen deniers (LiUrf) ; also, in the corrupted form sou
vuirquee, said to be applied in the southern United States
to a sou bearing some distinguishing mark, as a sou of
1767 counterstamped KF, or one marked in some way as
counterfeit or spurious.
SOUari (sou-a'ri), «. [Guiana.] A tree, Caryo-
car nucifernm (and also one or two other species
of the genus), yielding nuts and a wood distin-
guished by the same name. Also saouari, sou-
arri, and suwarrow.
souari-nut (sou-a'ri-nut), n. See butternut, 2,
and Caryocar. Also smc arrow-nut.
SOUbah, ». See suhah.
soubahdar, soubadar, n. See subahdar.
SOUbise(so-bez'), «. [F.] A cravat of a fashion
worn by men toward the close of the eighteenth
century.
soubre'tte (s6-bret ' ), »!. [< F. soubrette, fem. of OF.
souhret, sober, thoughtful, sly, cunning, dim. of
soubre, sobre, sober : see sober.] Theat., a maid-
servant in comedy, frequently a lady's-maid. The
part is usually characterized by coquetry, pertness. ef-
frontery, and a spirit of intrigue : by extension the term
is applied to almost any part exhibiting these qualities.
soubriquet, n. See sobriquet.
SOUCet. An obsolete spelling of souse^, souse^.
SOUCh, t'. A Scotch form of sought.
SOUChet, "• i- [ME. souchen, < OF. souchier, < L.
susjiiccre, suspect: see suspect, suspicion.] To
suspect.
Priueli vnperceyued thei pleyed to-gedere,
That no seg vnder sunne souched no gile.
William of Paleme (E. E. T. S.X L 1069.
SOUChet (so-sha'), n. [< OF. souchet, dim. of F.
souche, souchet, galangal, a stump, stock of a
tree : see socfcl and socket.] The tuber of the
rush-nut.
souchong (so'shong), M. [< F. souchong, < Chi-
nese siao, small, fine, + chutig, sort or sorts.]
A kind of black tea. Also soochong.
SOUdlt, V. t. [< ME. soudcn, < OF. souder, < L.
solidare, make solid, < solidus, solid : see solid.
Cf . solder.] To consolidate ; fasten together ;
join.
" 0 martir, sowded to virginitee.
Now maystow syngen, folwynge evere-in-oon,
The white Lamb celestial," quod she.
Chaucer, Prioress's Tale, 1. 127.
SOUd^t, w. and V. Same as sold^.
SOUd^t, interj. A word (supposed to be) imita-
tive of a noise made by a person heated and
fatigued. Schmidt.
Sit down, Kate, and welcome.—
Soud, smid, soud, soud !
Shak.,T. of theS.,iv. 1. 145.
SOUdant, n. An obsolete form of sultan.
Soudanese, a. and n. See Sudanese.
soudanesset, soudannesset, «. Obsolete forms
of sultuness.
sonder
Bonder, »■ and v. A Scotch form of solder.
soudiourt, «• A Middle English form of soldier.
souffle (so'fl), «. [< F. soujffle, a blowing sound,
<, souffler, blow: see souffle.'] In med.. a mur-
muring or blowing sound Cephalic, placental,
etc., souffle. See the adjectives. — Cranial souffle, a
low, soft mumiur heard on auscultating the skull of in-
fants aud anemic adults.
souffle (so-tia'), «. [F., pp. of souffler, OF.
softer, soufler, souffler, blow, puff, = Pr. sofflar,
sufflar = Sp. soplar = Pg. soprar = It. soffiare,
< L. sufflare, blow, < sub-, under, + flare, blow,
= E. 6/»M!l.] In cookery, a delicate dish some-
times savory, as a potato souffle, but usually
sweet. It is made light by incorporatiug whites of eggs
beaten to a froth, and placing it in an oven, from which
it is removed at the moment it puffs up, and servetl at
once.— Omelet souffl^. See om«fc(.— Souffl^ decora-
tion, in ceram., a spotted or mottled surface produced
by blowing the liquid color so that the drops burst and
babble-like marks are left on tlie surface. It is sometimes
pro<liiced by blowing the color through lace or a fine net-
work. Prime.
souffleur (s6-fl6r'), n. [F., < souffler, blow: see
sou flic.'] A prompter in a theater.
sough^ (sou or suf, or, as Scotch, such), n. [For-
merly si\sosiiffl, suffe, Se. sough, south, Sklsosouf;
< ME. 'sough ; either (a) < leel. sugr, a rush-
ing sound (in comp. arn-sigr, the sound of an
eagle's flight), or (6) more prob. a contraction
of ME. swough, swogh (= Icel. siigr, above),
< swogelt, swowen, < AS. sicogan = OS. sicogan,
nistle, = Goth, sicogjan, sigh, resound: see
stcough. The word, formerly also pronounced
with a guttural as written, suffered the usual
change of gh to /, and was formerly written
accordingly suff, suffe, whence by some confu-
sion (prob. by association with surge) the form
surf: 8ee*«rf.] 1 . A murmuring sound ; a rush-
ing or whistling sound, like that of the wind ;
a deep sigh.
I saw the battle, sair an' tough, . . .
Hy heart, (or (ear, gae tough (or tough.
Burnt, Battle of SheriK-Muir.
Voices I call 'em ; 'twas a kind o' tough
Like pfue-treea thet the wind 's ageth'rin' through.
Lowell, BIglow Papers, 2d ser., II.
2. -\ gentle breeze; a waft; a breath.
There, a tough of glory
Shall breathe on yon as you opme.
Mrt. Browning, Dnuna of Exile.
3. Any rumor that engages general attention.
[Scotch.]
"I hae beard a tough," said Annie Winnie, "as if Leddy
Asbton was nae canny body."
SeoU, Bride o( Lammermoor, xxxiv.
4. A cant or whining mode of speaking, es-
pecially in preaching or praying; the chant or
recitative characteristic of the old Presbyte-
rians in Scotland. [Scotch.]
I have heard o( one minister, so great a proficient In
this tough, and his note* so remarkably flat and produc-
tive of horror, that a roaster o( moslo set them to his
fWdle. Burt, Letters, I. 207. (Jamieton.)
To keep a calm sotigh, to keep silence: be silent.
IScotch.J
"Thir kittle times will drive the wisest o' as daft," said
NIel hlane, the prudent host of the Howff ; "but I'se aye
Ireep a calm tough." Seott, Old Mortality, ix.
soughi (sou or suf. or, as Scotch, sAch), r.
iAlso Sc. souch; < ME. sougen: see sought, n.]
. inlrans, 1. To make a rushing, whistling,
or sighing sound; emit a hollow murmur ; mur-
mur or sigh like the wind. [Now (except in
literary use) local English or Scotch.]
Deep, as tought the boding wind
Amang his caves, the sigh he gave.
Burnt, As on the Banks.
The wavy swell o( the toughing reeds.
Tennyton, Dying Swan.
2. To breathe in or as in sleep. [Scotch.]
I bear your mither touch and snore.
Jamiaon't Pop. Balladt, II. 33a (Jamieton.)
H. trans. To utter in a whining or monoto-
nou.s tone. [Scotch.]
He hears ane o' the king's Presbyterian chapUlns tough
oat a sermon on the moming ot erety birth-day.
Sectt, Antiquary, xxviL
B0Ugh2 (suf), n. [Also saugh, suff; 8c. aeuch,
y-u-i-li, sheuch; < ME. sough, a drain, < W. soch,
a sinlt, drain; cf. L. sulcus, a furrow.] If. A
channel.
Then Dulas and aedaugh
By Morgany do drive her through her watry laugh.
Drayton, Polyolblon, It. 168.
2. A drain; a sewer; an adit of a mine. fProv.
Eng.]
The length as from the home unto the xm/jiA (In a stall).
Patladiut, Ilusbondrie (R. K. T. S.). p. 19.
The delfi would be so flown with waters (It being Im-
possible to make any addits or tought to drain them) that
no gins or machines could lufllce to lay and keep them
••T- /(ok. Works of Creation, U.
5781
S0Ugh3t, ". An obsolete form of sow^.
SOUghing-tile (suf'ing-til), n. A drain-tile.
[Prov. Eng.]
Even if Tncle Lingon had not Joined them, as he did, to
talk about soughing tiles. George Eliot, Felix Holt, xliii.
sought (sat). Preterit and past participle of
.fecX-i.
SOUJee, «. See sujee.
SOuket, V. A Middle English form of suck.
soul^ (sol), n. [< ME. soule, sowle, saule, sawle,
sauU, < AS. sdwel, sdwol, sdwul, sdwl, sdul, sawle,
life, spirit, soul, = OS. seola, seole, stole, sele =
OFries. siele, sele = MD. siele, D. ziel = MLG. sele,
LG. sele, sal = OHG. sela, seula, MHG. sele, G.
seele = Icel. sdla, later sal = Sw. sjdl = Dan.
sjxl = Goth, saiwala, soul (tr. Gr. ■fvxv, etc.) ;
origin unknown. The word has been compared
with Gr. ai6^, quick-mo\-ing, changeful, and
with sea (see «ea') ; also with L. sseculum, age
(life, vitality f) (see seele, secular).^ 1. A
substantial entity believed to be that in each
person which lives, feels, thinks, and vrills.
Animals also, and even plants, have been thought to have
souls. Primitive peoples identify the soul with the breath,
or something contained in the blood. Separated from the
body, it is supposed to have some imperfect existence,
and to retain the fomi of the body as a ghost. The verses
of Da vies (see below) enumerate most of the ancient Greek
opinions. The first is that of Anaxiniander and of Diogenes
of Apollonla ; the second is that of Heraclitus ; the third
is that of Empedoclea; the fourth is that attributed to
Empedocles by Aristotle ; the llftli is that of Dicaearchus
and other Pytliagoreans, asSimntiasin the"Phiedo": the
sixth is attributed wrongly to Galen; the seventh is that
of Democritus and the atuniists ; the eighth Is attributed
by some authorities to the I'ytbagoreans ; and the ninth
is that of the Stoica. Aristotle makes the soul little more
than a faculty or attribute of the tnKly, and he compares
it to the "ainess" of an ax. The scholastics combined
this idea with that of the separability and imnioriality of
the soul, thas (orming a highly metaphysical doctrine.
Deacartesoriginated distinct metaphysical dualism, which
holds that spirit and matter are two radically different
kinds of sulistance— the (ormer characterized by con-
sciousness, the latter by extension. Most modern philos-
ophers hold to monism in some form, which recognizes
only one kind of substance. That the soul is Immortal is
a very ancient and widely diflused opinion ; it Is also com-
monly believed that the soul has no parts. A soul sepa-
rated from the body Is commonly called a trptrit, not a
toul. In biblical and theological usage 'soul' (nepheih,
ptyehe, also rendered ' III e ') Is sometimes used for the non-
corporeal nature of man in general, and sometimes, in dis-
tinction from spirit, (or the lower part of this non-corporeal
nature, standing In direct communication with the body,
and regarded aa the seat of the emotions, rarely of will or
spirit Home theologians minimize the distinction between
KHd and ipirit. making thcni mere aspects or relations of
the same substance, while others have made them distinct
sabstance* or distinct entities.
For of the toule the bodie (orme doth take ;
ITor toule Is (orme, and doth the Iwdle make.
Spentor, Hymn In Honour o( Beauty, 1. 132.
I pray Ood your whole spirit and toul and body be pre-
served blameless onto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Thes. v. 23.
The word of Ood Is . . . sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder o( toul and
spirit. Heb. iv. 12.
To hold opinion with Pythagoras
I'hat toult o( animals infuse themselves
Into the trunks o( men. SAo*., M. of V., iv. 1. 132.
One thinks the toule Is aire ; another Ore ;
Another blood, dlKus'd almut the heart ;
Another salth the elements conspire,
And to her essence each doth give a part.
Musicians thinke our toulet are harmonies ;
Phisicians hold that they complexions be ;
Epicures make them awarmes of atomies,
W hlch doe by chance into our bodies flee.
Some think one generall toule flls every bralne.
As the bright sunne sheds light in every starre ;
And others thinke the name of toule is value,
And that we onety well-mixt bodies are.
Sir J. Daciet, Nosce Telpsum.
They [corporations] cannot commit treason, nor be out-
lawed, nor excommnnlcate, for they have no souls.
Cam t^ SuWm't Hospital, 10 Coke's Rep., p. 32, b.
Althoagh the human toul Is united to the whole body.
It has, nevertheless, Its principal seat in the brain, where
Soulamea
These vain joys, in which their wills consume
Such powers of wit and soul as are of force
To raise their beings to eternity.
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, v. 2.
In my toul I loathe
All affectation. Cowper, Task, ii. 416.
3. The animating or essential part; the es-
sence: as, the soul of a song; the source of ac-
tion; the chief part; hence, the inspirer or
leader of any action or movement : as, the soul
of an enterprise; an able commander is the
soul of an army.
Brevity is the soul of wit, 1
And tediousness the limbs and outward nourishes.
Shak., Hamlet, ii. 2. 90.
He had put domestic factions under his feet ; he was the
toul of a mighty coalition. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vii.
4. Fervor; fire; grandeur of mind, or other no-
ble manifestation of the heart or moral nature.
I have been wood by many with no less
Soul of affection.
Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess, Iv. 4.
Money gives soul to action. Ford, Ferkin Warbeck, iii. 1.
There is some soul of goodness in things evil.
Shot., Hen. V., iv. 1. 4.
5. A spiritual being; a disembodied spirit; a
shade.
Then of his wretched friend
The Sold appear'd ; at ev'ry part the form did comprehend
His likeness ; bis fair eyes, his voice, his stature, ev'ry
weed
His person wore, it fantasied. Chapman, Iliad, xxiii. 1. 68.
O sacred essence, other form,
O solemn ghost, O crowned soul !
Tennyson, In Memoriam, Ixxxv.
6. A himian being; a person.
All the souls of the house of Jacob, which came Into
Egypt, were threescore and ten. Gen. xlvi. 27.
My lord, this is a poor mad soul; . . . and Ihe truth is,
poverty hath distracted her. Shak., 2 Hen. IV., ii. 1. lis.
Humph. Where had you this Intelligence ?
Tom. Krora a foolish fond Smd that can keep nothing
from nie. Steele, Conscious Lovers, i. 1.
All Souls' day, in the Rmn. Cath. Ch., the 2(1 of Novem-
ber, a day kept Ir] commemoration of all the faithful de-
parted, for the eternal reiwse of their souls, to which end
the mass and offices of the day are directed. It is tlie day
following the feast o( .Ml .'^iiint.s. — Apparitlonal SOUl
See opparrtionn/.— Commendation of the soul. See
commendation, 6.— Cure Of souls. Sec cure.- Descent
of souls. See rf?«ceii<.— Seat Of the soul, the part of
the body (according to some speculators a niatlicmatlcal
point) in Immediate dynamic connection with the soul.
As long as the soul was supposed to be a material thing
(which was Ihe usual ancient opinionX it was naturally be-
lieved tohave a distinct place. Later the knowledge of the
(unctions of the nervous system, and their centralization
in the brain, showed that the soul was more intimately
connected with that than with other parts of the body;
and it was vaguely supposed that the unity of conscious-
ness would in some measure be explained by the hypothe-
sis of a special seat of the soul In the brain. The com-
monest primitive notion was that the soul was resident
in the blood or in the heart. Either the whole soul or Its
parts were also located in the bowels, bones, liver, gall,
kidneys, and other organs. The doctrine that the soul is
In the brain seems to liave originated In Egypt, and found
many partial adherents in anti(|uity. but was not general-
ly accepted before modern times. The N'eoplatonists held
that the soul is wholly in the whole body and wholly in
every part Descartes placed the soul in the pineal gland,
and other physiologists of the seventeenth century located
it in different organs connected with the brain. Leibnitz
introduced the theory that it resides at a mathematical
point, which has found eminent supporters, some of whom
regard this point as movable. Utners hold that any con-
ception of consciousness » hlch forces its adherents to such
a conclusion ought to be considered as reduced to an ab-
surdity. Recent observations concerning nmltiple con-
sciousness strengthen indications previously known that
the unity of consciousness is somewhat illusory ; and the
anatomy of the brain does not support the notion of an
absolute centralization of the power of forming ideas.—
Sentient soul, the soul as affected by the senses, or as
possessing sentience. = S3m. 1 and 2. Intellect, Spirit, etc
See »nindi.— 4. Ardor, force.
SOulH (sol), V. t. [< ME. sotclen; < souli, «.] To
endue with a soul.
The gost that fro the fader gan precede
Hath touted hem withouten any drede.
Chaucer, Second Nun's Tale, I. 329.
alone it not only undersUnds and imagines, but also per- BOUl''^ (s81 or sol), n. [Also sool ; < ME. soule,
r. ... ,_ ,sowle,souel, saule, satdee, food, = V>a.n.sul, meat
eaten with bread.] Anything eaten with bread ;
a relish, as butter, cheese, milk, or preserves;
that which satisfies. Grose. [Prov. Eng.]
Maria Egyptiaca eet in thyrty wynter
Bote thre lytel loues [loaves], and loue [love] was her touel,
Piert Plowman(C), xvlii. 24.
SOUl^t.t'. l<souP,n.; et.soil*.'] To afford suit-
able sustenance; satisfy with food ; satiate.
I haue, sweet wench, a piece of cheese.
As good as tooth may chawe.
And bread and wildings sotding well.
Warner, Albion s England, iv. 32.
SOUl-alet, n. Same as dirge-ale.
Soulamea (so-la'me-ii), h. [NL. (Lamarck,
1783), < soulamoe, itsname in the Moluccas, said
to mean ' king of bitters.'] A genus of poly-
petalous shrubs, of the order Simarubaceee and
ceives. Detearlet, Prin. o( Philos. (tr. by Veitch), iv. § 189.
Our ideaofsotiZ as an immaterial spirit, Is of a substance
that thinks and has a power of exciting motion In body
by writing or thought
Loeke, Human Understanding, II. xxiU. i 22.
With chemic art exalts the mineral powers.
And draws the aromatic scml* of flowers.
Pope, Windsor Forest, L 244.
It seems proliable that the toul will remain in a state
of Inactivity, though perhaps not of insensibility, from
death to the resurrection.
Hartley, Observations on Man, IL iv. { 3, prop. 90.
2. The moral and emotional part of man's
nature; the seat of the sentiments or feelings:
in distinction from intellect.
Hear my toul speak :
The very instant that I saw you, did
My heart fly to your service.
Shak., Tempest, iU. 1. OS.
Soulamea
tribe Pirramnifie, fonnerly referred to the Poh/-
gatdCfa'. It is characterized by flowers witii a three-
parted calyx, three linear petals, six stamens, and a two-
celled ovarj- with solitary ovules. There are i species, l)uth
tropical, they beai- long petioled, thin, entire leaves, and
aiillar>- spikes of small pcdicelled flowers. For .S. amara,
a shrub or small tree of the Moluccas and N ew Ireland, see
bUter-king.
soul-bellt (sol'bel), n. [< soun + hein.'] The
passitig-belU
We call them mrd-bells for that they signify the depart-
ure of the soul, not for that they help the passage or the
soul. Bp. Ilall, Apol. against Brownists, § 43.
soul-blind (sdrblind), a. Destitute of the sen-
sation of light and of every image of it.
soul-blindness (sol ' blind 'nes), «. Defective
power of recognizing objects seen, due to cere-
bral lesion, without actual blindness and inde-
pendent of other psychic defect. ,
soul-caket (sorkak), «. A cake of sweetened
bread formerly distributed at church doors on
All Souls' day. See soul-paper.
soul-candlet {s6rkan''dl), 11. [< ME. saulecaii-
del; < sohJI -I- eaiidle.'] One of the wax-lights
placed about a dead body.
Four gaulecandeU shall be found, and used in the burial
services. Engligh GUds (E. E. T. S.), p. 184.
SOUl-CUrert (sol'kiir'fer), M. One who has a
cure of souls ; a parson.
Peace, I say, Gallia and Gaul, French and Welsh, sowl-
eurer and body-curer ! Shak., M. W. of W., iii. 1. 100.
soul-deaf (sol'def), a. Destitute of the sensa-
tion of sound and of every reminiscence of it.
soul-deafness (sol'def'nes), n. Deprivation of
all sensation and reminiscence of sound.
SOUldert, "• and r. An obsolete variant of sol-
der.
souldiert, souldiourt, n. Obsolete forms of
soldier.
souled (sold), a. [< ME. souled; < soulX + -e(?2.]
Having a soul or mind; instinct with soul or
feeling: used chiefly in composition: as, high-
soided, mean-souled.
Griping, and still tenacious of thy hold,
Would'st thou the Grecian chiefs, though largely eoul'd,
Should give the prizes they had gain'd before?
Dryden, Iliad, i. 18S.
soul-fearing (soffer^'ing), a. Terrifying the
soul; appalling. [Rare.]
Till their [cannon's) soul-fearing clamours have brawl'd
down
The flinty ribs of this contemptuous city.
Shak,,K. John, ii. 1. 383.
SOUlfret, n. An obsolete variant of sulphur.
soulful (sol'fiil), a. [< «om;i -I- -/«/.] Full of
soul, emotion, or feeling; expressive of senti-
ment or emotion.
There wasn't a sounding-line on board that would have
gone to the bottom of her soulful eyes.
C. D. Warner, Backlog Studies, p. 58.
SOUlfully (sol'ful-i), adv. In a soulful or feel-
ing manner.
SOUlfulness (sol'ful-nes), n. The quality or
state of being soulful; feeling. Andover Rev.,
VII. 37.
SOUlili, n. [Javanese.] One of the sacred
monkeys of Java, Scmnopithecus mitratus, with
a black peaked bonnet suggesting a miter.
SOulish (so'lish), a. [< scnd^ + -/*/(!.] Of or
pertaining to the soul. Byrom. [Rare.]
The . . . psychical (or soulish) man.
J. F. Clarke^ Orthodoxy, its Truths and Errors, p. 181.
soul-killing (s6rkil"ing), a. Destroying the
soul; ruining the spiritual nature. Hhak:,
C. of E., i. 2. 100.
soulless (sol'les), a. [< ME. *soulles, < AS.
sdwllea^, sdwolleds, soulless, lifeless, irrational,
< sdicol, soul, life, -t- -leas, E. -less.'] 1 . Hav-
ing no life or soul ; dead.
Their holiness is the very outward work itself, being a
brainless head and soulless body.
SirE. Sandys, State of Religion (ed. 1605), X. 4. (Latham.)
2. Having no soul or spirit. — 3. Having or ex-
pressing no thought or emotion ; expression-
less.
Having lain long with blank and soulless eyes.
He sat up suddenly. Browniruj, Paracelsus, iii.
4. Without greatness or nobleness of mind;
mean ; spiritless ; base.
.Slave, souUeu villain, dog !
O rarely base '. Shak., A. and C, v. 2. 157.
soullessness (sol'les-nes), n. The state of be-
ing without soul, in any sense of that word.
A certain soullesgness and absence of ennobling ideals in
the national character. The Academy, No. 876, p. 109.
SOUl-masst (sol'mas), n. A mass for the dead,
soul-massingt (s6rmas"ing), n. The saying
of masses for tile dead.
5782
So doth it cast down all their soul-massing and foolish
foundations for such as be dead and past the ministry of
God's word.
J. Bradford, Works (Parker Soc., 1853X II. 278.
SOUl-papert (s6rpa*p6r), n. A paper or parch-
ment bearing an inscription soliciting prayers
for the soul of some departed person or per-
sons. Soul-papers were given away with soul-
cakes on All Souls' day.
SOUl-pennyt (s6rpen"i), n. An offering toward
the expense of saying masses for the souls of
the departed.
The Dean shall have, for collecting the soul-pennies from
the bretheren, on the first day, ij. d. out of the goods of
the gild. English Qilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 181.
SOUl-SCOtt(s6rskot), n. [Prop, soul-scat, repr.
AS. sdwel-sceat, sdwl-sceat, money paid at the
open grave for the repose of the soul, < sdwel,
soul, + sccat. money: see sonl^ and scafl, and
cf. scofi, shot'^.'] In old cedes, law, a funeral
payment, formerly made at the grave, usually
to the parish priest in whose church service
for the departed had been said; a mortuary.
Also soul-shot.
On each side of this bier kneeled three priests, who
told their beads and muttered their prayere with the
greatest signs of external devotion. For this service a
splendid soul-scat was paid to the convent of Saint Ed-
mund's by the mother of the deceased.
Scott, Ivanhoe, xlii.
Those among the dead man's friends and kinsfolks who
wished had come and brought the soul-shot, as their gift
at the offertory of that holy sacrifice.
Hock, Church of our Fathers, ii. 306.
SOUl-shott (sol'shot), ?i. See soul-scot.
soul-sick (sol'sik), a. Diseased or distressed
in mind or soul; morally diseased. [Rare.]
I am soul-sick.
And wither with the fear of ope condemn'd.
Till I have got your pardon.
Beau, and FL, Maid's Tragedy, iv. 1.
soul-sil'vert, ». [< soid'^ + silver.'] The whole
or a part of the wages of a retainer or servant,
originally paid in food, but afterward com-
muted into a money payment. Halliwell.
soul-sleeper (s6rsle'''per), «. Same aspsycho-
pamiychist.
soul-stuff (sol'stuf), n. The hypothetical sub-
stance of the soul; psychoplasm. See mind-
stuff.
soul-'vexed (sol'vekst). a. Disturbed or dis-
tressed in spirit. Shak., W. T., v. 1. 59.
SOUm, S0'Win(80um),H. [Avar, of smjm^, amount,
proportion: seesHrn'-^.] The proportion of cattle
or sheep suitable to any pasture, or vice versa :
as, a soum of sheep, as many sheep as a certain
amount of pasturage will support; a soum of
grass or land, as much as will pasture one cow
or five sheep. [Scotch.]
soum, SO'Wm (soum), r.j. [<.?0KJ», .sou'm, «.] To
calculate and determine what number of cat-
tle or sheep a certain piece of land will sup-
port. [Scotch.] — Soum and roum, to pasture |in
summer] and fodder [in winter]. Jamieson. — SoViVaiJlS
and rouming, in Scots lau', the action wliereby tlie num-
ber of cattle to be brought upon a common by the persons
respectively having a servitude of pasturage may be as-
certained. The criterion is the number of cattle which
each of the dominant proprietors is able to fodder during
winter. Strictly speaking, to soum a common is to ascer-
tain the several soums it may liold, and to roum it is to
portion it out among the dominant proprietors.
SOUnH, V. An obsolete variant of swoon.
SOUn^t, "• and V. An original spelling of sound^.
SOUndl (sound), a. and n. [< ME. sound, sond,
sund, isund, < AS. gesmid (= OS. gesund =
OFries. sund, sond = MD. ghcsond, D. gezond =
MLG. gesunt, LG. gesund, sund = OHG. gisunt,
MHG. gesunt.G. gesund = 8w.Dan. sund), soand;
< (/e-, a collective and generalizingpreflx(see ;-),
-t- *sund, of uncertain origin, perhaps akin to
L. sanus, whole, sound: see sane'^.] I. a. 1.
Healthy; not diseased; having all the organs
and faculties complete and in perfect action :
as, a sound mind; a sound body.
Ef horn child is hoi and gund,
And Athulf bithute [without) wund.
King Uorn (E. E. T. S.), p. 38.
Thaugh he falle, he falleth nat bote as ho fnlle in a bote.
That ay is saf and sounde that sitteth with-ynne the borde.
JHers Plounnan (C), xi. 40.
Universal distrust is so unnatural, indeed, that it never
prevails in a sound mind. Channing, Perfect Life, p. 101.
2. Whole; uninjured; unhurt; unmutilated;
not lacerated or bruised: as, a sound limb.
Thou dost breathe ;
Hast heavy substance ; bleed'st not ; speak'st ; art sound.
Shak., Lear, iv. 6. 52.
3. Free from special defect, decay, or injury;
unimpaired; not deteriorated: as, a soMwd ship;
sound tnxit; a soMwd constitution.
sound
Look that my staves be sou-nd, and not too heavy.
Shak., Rich. HI., v. 3. 65.
Her timbers yet are sound.
And she may float again.
Couper, Loss of the Royal George.
A cellar of sound liquor, a ready wit, and a pretty daugh-
ter. Scott, Kenilworth, i.
4. Morally healthy; honest; honorable; vir-
tuous; blameless.
In the way of loyalty and truth
Toward the king, my ever royal master.
Dare mate a sounder man than Surrey can be.
Shak., Hen. VIII., iii. 2. 274.
5. Without defect or flaw in logic ; founded in
truth; firm; strong; valid; that cannot be re-
futed or overthrown: as, a sound argument.
About him were a press of gaping faces.
Which seem'd to swallow up bis nouitd advice.
Shak., Lucrece, \. 1409.
Rules of life, sourid as the Time could bear.
Wordsworth, Off Saint Bees' Heads.
6. Right ; correct ; well-founded ; free from
error ; pure : as, sound doctrine.
It is out of doubt that the first state of things was best,
that in the prime of Christian religion faith was soundest.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, iv. 2.
Hold fast the form of sound words. 2 Tim. i. 13.
7. Reasoning accurately ; logical ; clear-mind-
ed; free from erroneous ideas; orthodox.
Who shall decide when doctors disagree.
And soundest casuists doubt, like you and me?
Pope, Moral Essays, iii. 2.
A kick that scarce would move a horse
May kill a sound divine.
Cou-per, Yearly Distress.
8. Founded in right and law; legal; not de-
fective in law : as, a soMJid title ; «o«Hd justice.
They reserved theyr titles, tenures, and signioryes whole
and sound to themselves. Spenser, State of Ireland.
Here by equity we mean nothing but the sonml interpre-
tation of the law. Blackstone, Com., III. xxvii.
9. Unbroken and deep; undisturbed: said of
sleep.
Let no man fear to die ; we love to sleep aU,
And death is but the sounder sleep.
Fletcher, Humorous Lieutenant, iii. 6.
New waked from soundest sleep.
Soft on the flow'ry herb I found me laid
In balmy sweat. Milton, P. L., viii. 253L
10. Thorough; complete; hearty.
The men . . . give sound strokes with their clubs where-
with they fight. Abp. Abbot.
11. Of financial condition, solvent; strong;
not undermined by loss or waste : as, that bank
is one of out .roundest institutions As sound as
a roaoh. See roacAs.— Sound and disposing mind
and memory, in the law of uills. See memurg.— Sound
mind. Seein«am7i/.— Sound on the goose, ^ee goose.
= Syn. 1. Hearty, hale, hardy, vigorous.— 3. Entire, un-
broken, undecayed.— 5 and 7. Sane, rational, sensible.
Il.t n. Safety. [Rare.]
Our goddis the gouerne, & soche grace lene
That thou the victorie wyn, thi worship to sane.
And to this Citie in sound thi seluyn may come.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 6135.
SOUndlt(sound),«i. [(.ME.sounden; < sound^,a.]
I. trans. To heal; make sound.
Ferther wol I never founde
Non other help, my sores for to sounde.
Chaucer, Anelida and Arcite, 1. 242.
II. intrans. To become sound ; heal.
Thro girt with mony a wounde.
That lyklyar never for to soutide.
Lydgate, Complaint of the Black Knight, L 292.
SOUnd^ (sound), «di!. [< «o»«(fl, o.] Soundly;
heartily; thoroughly; deeply: now used only
of sleeping.
So sound he slept that nought mought him awake.
Spenser, F. Q., I. i. 42.
Till he tell the truth,
Let the supposed fairies pinch him st/und.
Shak., M. VV. of W., iv. 4. 61.
Every soul throughout the town being sound asleep be-
fore nine o'clock. Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 175.
SOUnd^ (sound), n. [< ME. sound, sund, < AS.
sund, a sound, a strait of the sea (= MD. sond,
sund, D. sond, sont, j()«f/= MHG. G. sund = Icel.
Sw. Dan. sund, a sound), also, in AS. and Icel.,
swimming ; contracted from orig. 'swumd. <
swimman (pp. swumnien), swim: see .sirini, Cf.
sound^.] A narrow passage of water not a
stream, as a strait between the mainland and
an isle, or a strait connecting two seas, or con-
necting a sea or lake with the ocean: as. Long
Island Sound; the Sound (between Denmark
and Sweden).
Behold, I come, sent from the Stygian sound,
As a dire vapour. B. Jotison, Catiline, i. 1.
And, with my skates fast-bound.
Skimmed the half-frozen Sound.
Longfellow, Skeleton in Armor.
Sound dues. See due'l.
sound
SOOIld^ (sound), 71. [< ME. sonnde; cf. Icel.5«n^-
magi, the souud of a fish, lit. 'swimining-maw^
see sounct^ and maic^.'\ In ro(>7. : (a) The swim-
ming-bladder or air-bladder of a fish. The sound
Is a hollow vesicular organ, originating from the digestive
tract — in fact, a rudimentary lung, the actual honiologue
of the lungs of air-breathing vertebrates, though in fishes,
as in other branchiates, respiration is etfected by gills.
(See air-bladder.) Some fishes' sounds are an esteemed ar-
ticle of food, as that of the cod, which when fried is some-
thing like an oyster so cooked; others are valuable as a
source of isinglass.
Sounde of a fysshe, cannon. PaUgrave. (HaUiweU,)
Of [fishes'] sounds we make isinglass.
OUdnniik^ Int. to Brookes's Kat. HUt, III.
(6) A cuttlefish.
flonnd'* (sound), r. [Early mod. E. also sownde;
< ME. sounden (= D. sonderen = G. sondiren =
Sw. sondera = Dan. sondere), < OF. (and F.)
sonder = Sp. Pg. sondary sound; (a) perhaps <
MD. sondy 8und = AS. sund = Icel. Sw. Dan.
stind^ a strait, sound (cf. AS. sund-gyrdy a
fiounding-rod, »und-linej a sounding-line: see
s<mnd^) ; (6) otherwise perhaps < L. ^suhundare,
submerge: see sub- and ound, laidulate,'] I.
trans. 1. To measure the depth of; fathom;
try or test, as the depth of water and the qual-
ity of the ground, by sinking a plummet or lead
attached to a line on which is marked the num-
ber of fathoms. Machines of various kinds are also
used to indicate the depth to which the lead has descended.
A cavity in the lower end of the lead is partially filled with
Apparatus wed la SouDdloe.
^, B. C. Brooke'l Deep-sea Soundiae-apparmtM i a, lod wMi boras
/ pivoted thereto ; e, tounding-Utie : «, wires bjr which the lead / is
attached to the horns, coonected widi a washer /ander the lead; A,
' rialowef endof rod, bywhichspedmensof tbeboaoamajbe
When the lod strikes the boctoio. the lead slides downward.
■ the boras into the podtkia shown in B, and rdcaafaic the
^ndtbe lead; tbcroaooljr is then drawn up, leaving the lead
atdkeboCtom.
/>, £, British Navy Sottadiiiff-aM>aratus ; «, lead ; *, counterpoiied
books which encage the kxm at tne topof the lead ; d, wedse-shaped
cap for q>ecimcns» attached by oofd or wire to the pivot of the hooks :
f . attachment lor the sonndiDC-liae or -wire. When the cap tt touches
tetttan, the boc^u * diop into the position shown in £; the sinker
-er lead then drops over, releasing the cnp, and this, with its specimen
and the hooks. » drawn to the surface.
tallow, by means of whlob some part of the earth, sand,
fravel, shells, etc., of the bottom adhere to it and are
drawn up. Numerous devices are in use for testing the
nature of the bottom, as a pair of large forceps or sooopa
•carriod down by a weight, which are closed when mef
a and i, arms pivuted to <'/ d, lead, which is at*
* ' * ' *. When t
■at the top of which is a croispiece. When the ani>
tlie poutt/ia ihown in yf, the crasspiecc engages them
In th.it poUtttm blithe lead strikes the boctocn: tbeyux. ^ :.
and fall into tlicpoMtloa shown in i?. The caps (diowa is Uw culu, on
ckMing, scoop op a specimen of the bottom.
■trike the ground, and so Inclose some ot the land, ihells,
etc., a cap at the bottom of a long lesden weight, which Is
closed by a leathern cover when full, etc. See the accom-
panying cttta of apparatoa nsed bi sounding. Brooke's ap-
Eus is said to be the first by which soundings of over
fathoms were made and ipechnens of the bottom
ned.
Qo tound the ocean, and cast your nets;
Happily yon may catch her In the sea.
S»aj|'.,Tit And.,lT. 3.7.
Two plummeta dropt for one to tound the abyss.
Tennyton, l^ncess, IL.
2. In »urg.y to examine bv means of a sound or
probe, especially the bladder, in order to ascer-
tain whether a stone is present or not.
By a precious oprle Doctor Russell at the first applyed to
It when he nounded It with probe (ere night) his torment-
ing paine was . . . well asswaged.
Quoted In Capt. John 3mUk'$ Works, 1. 170.
3. Figuratively, to try; examine; discover, or
•endeavor to discover, that which is concealed in
5783
the mind of; search out the intention, opinion,
will, or wish of.
It is better to sound a person with whom one deals, afar
oft, than to fall upon the point at first, except you mean to
surprise him by some short question.
Bacon, Negotiating (ed. 1887).
I have sounded him already at a distance, and find all
his answers exactly to our wish.
Goldsmith, Good-natured Man, ii.
4. To ascertain the depth of (water) in a ship's
hold by lowering a sounding-rod into the pump-
well. — 5. To make a sounding with, or carry
down in sounding, as a whale the tow-line of a
boat .— To sound a line, to sound all lines. See Hjie'-i.
II. iti trans. 1. To use the liue and lead in
searching the depth of water.
I sownde, as a schyppe man sowndeth in the see with his
ploqimet to knowe the deppeth of the see. Je pilote.
Palsffrave, p. 726.
The shipmen . . . aounded, and foand It twenty fathoms.
Acts xxvii. 27, 28.
2. To penetrate to the bottom ; reach the depth.
For certes, lord, so sore hath she me wounded
That stood in blake, with lolcynge of hire eighen.
That to myn hertis botnie it is ysounded.
Chaucer, TroUus, ii 535.
3. To descend to the bottom; dive: said of fish
and other marine animals. When a sperm-whale
sounds, the fore parts are lifted a little out of water, a
strong spout Is given, the nose is dipped, the back and
small are rounded up, the body bends on a cro»&-axis, the
flukes are thrown up 20 or 30 feet, and the whale goes
straight down head first, in less than ita own length of
water.
BOQIld'^ (sound), «, [= D. G, Dan. sonde = Sw.
Mondj < F. sonde, a probe, a sounding-lead, = Sp,
Pg, »on<f«, a sound; from the verb: seesoMH^*,
r.J In surg.y any elongated instrument, usual-
ly metallic, by which cavities of the body are
sounded or explored; a probe; specifically,
an instrument used for exploring or dilating
the urethra, or for searching the bladder for
stone.
BOtUld^ (sound), «. [< ME. sownde (with ex-
crescent d)f soun, sotcn, sotcne, son, < OF. somh,
son, sun, F. son = Pr. son, so = Sp. son = Pg.
som = It. suono = Icel. sonn, a sound, < L. so-
nus, a sound; cf. Skt. svana, sound, ^ svan,
sound. Cf. sound!^, v., and see assonant, con-
sonant, dissonant, resonant, person, parson, re-
sound, sonata, sonnet, sonorous, sonant, uni-
son, etc] 1. The sensation produced through
the ear, or organ of hearing; iu the physical
sensej either the vibrations of the sounding-
body itself, or those of the air or other medium,
which are caused by the sounding-body, and
which immediately affect the ear. a musical
sound, or tone, is produced by a continued and regular se-
ries of Tibrations (or, in the physical sense, may w said to
be these vibrations themselves); while a noise is caused
either by a single impulse, as an electrical spark, or by a
KTlea of impolaee fMlowing at Irregular Intervals. A
Bounding-bouy la a body which is in such a state of vi-
bration as to produce a sound (see vibration^ Thus, a
tanlng-fork, a oell, or a piano-string, if struck, will. In
consequence of Ita elasticity, continue to vibrate for
some time, producing, in the proper medium, a sound ;
similarly, the column of air In an organ-pipe becomes
a soundlng-lMxly when a current of air fa continually
forced through the mouthpiece past the lip ; again, an
inelastic body, as a card, may become a aounding-body
If It receives a series of blows at regular intervals and
in sufficiently rapid socceaalon, as from the teeth of a
revolving cog-wbeeL The vibrations of the sounding-
body are conveyed to the ear by the intervening medium,
which is usually Uie air, but may beany other gaa, a liquid
(as waterX or an elastic solid. The presence of such a
medium is easential, for sound Is not propwated In a vac-
uum. The vibrations of the sounding-booy, as a tuning-
fork, produce In the medium a series of waves (see teave)
of condensation and rarefaction, which are propagated In
all directions with a velocity di;pendtng upon the nature
of the medium and Its temperature — for example, the
velocity of sound in air is about 1,090 feet per second at
82" F. (0*C.X and Increases slightly as the temperature rises ;
in other gases the velocity varies inversely as the square
root of the density ; it is consequently nearly four times
as great in hydrt^en. In liquids the velocity Is greater
than in air — for water, somewhat more than four times
as great. In solids the velocity varies very widely, being
relatively small in inelastic substances like wax and lead,
and very great (two to three miles per second) In wood
and steel. -Sound-waves may differ (1) In their wave-
length—that is, in the number of vibrations per second ;
<2) in the amplitude of the motion of the parilcles forming
them ; and (:}) in their form, as to whether they are sim-
ple, and consist of a single series of pendulum-like vihrik
tions, or are compound, and formed of several such series
superimposed upon each other. Corresponding to these
differences In the sound-waves, the sounds perceived ^
the ear differ in three ways; (I) They differ in j/iteh. If
the sound-waves are long and the number of vibrations
few per second, the pitch is said to be low and the sound
Is called graoe ; as the number of vibrations increases, the
pitch ta said to rise and the sound to he higher; If the
number of vibrations is very great and the length of the
waves correspondingly Hmall, the sound becomes shrill
and piercing. It is found that the vibrations must be as
numerous as 24 per second in order that the ear may he
able to unite them as a continuous sound. Similarly, if
the Tibratioas exceed 80^000 to 40,000 per second, they
sound
cease to produce any sensation upon the ear. (2) Sounds
differ in intensity or loudness. Primarily the intensity of
the sound depends upon the amplitude of the vibrations;
it diminishes with the square of the distance from the
sounding-body ; it also diminishes as the density of the air
or other medium decreases, and is increased by the prox-
imity of a sonorous body which can vibrate in unison with
it. (3) Sounds differ in quality or timt/re, that property by
which we distinguish between the same tone as sounded
upon two different musical instruments, as a piano and a
violin. This difference is due to the fact that a note produced
by a musical instrument is in general a compound note,
consisting of the fundamental note, the pitch of which the
ear perceives, and with it a number of higher notes of small
intensity whose vibrations as compared with the funda-
mental note are usually as the numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, etc.
These upper notes, hai-nionics or over-tones (see harmonic),
blend with the fundamental note, and upon their num-
ber and relative intensity, consequently, the resultant
combined effect upon the ear, or tlie quality of the note,
depends. Sound-waves may, like light-waves, be reflected
from an opposing surface (see refiection, echo, resonance);
they may be refracted, or suffer a change of direction, in
passing from one medium to another of different density ;
they may suffer diffraction ; and they may also suffer inter-
ference, giving rise to the pulsations of sounds called beats.
See fceoil, 7.
2. A particular quality or character of tone,
producing a certain effect on the hearer, or
suggesting a particular cause; tone; note: as,
a joyful sound; a sound of woe.
There is a sound of abundance of rain. 1 Ki. xvlil. 41.
Dmig. That's the worst tidings that I hear of yet.
W^. Ay, by my faith, that bears a frosty sound.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., iv. 1. 128.
The sound of a sea without wind is about them.
Swinburne, Hesperia.
3. Vocal utterance.
Tia not enough no harshness gives offence,
The soutui must seem an echo to the sense.
Pope, Essay on CYiticism, I. 365.
4. Hearing-distance; ear-shot.
Sooner shall grass in Hyde-park Circus grow.
And wits take lodgings In tne sound of Bow.
Pope, R. of the U, Iv. 118.
6, Empty and unmeaning noise.
A tale
Told by an Idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. Shak., Macbeth, v. 5. 27.
6. Same as signal, 2 — Anacamptlc sounds. See
anacainfytic. — Blood-Sounds, in auscultation, anemic
murmurs.— BronchlELl sound, the nonnal bronchial
breathing-sound.— Cardiac SOUndS, the heart-sounds.
— Characteristic sound. St-e charact^-u^ic letter, un-
der characierii^tic.— Cogged breath-sound. See breath-
sound. - TrictiOU. sound. See /ru-/to«-*(ow/»/.— Refrac-
tion of sound. See rej faction. — Respiratory sounds.
See refpirotory. — To read by sotmd.in teleg. See read^.
=8yn. 1. Noise, Sound, Tone. Noise is that effect upon
the ears which does not convey, and is not meant to con-
vey, any meaning: as, the notse made by a falling chim-
ney ; street noises. Sound is a general word, covering noise
and intelligible impressions upon the auditor}' nerves:
aS| the sound of cannon, of hoofs, of a trumpet, of prayer.
Tone Is sound regarded as having a definite place on the
musical scale, or as mwUtled by feeling or physical affec-
tions, or as being the distinctive quality of sound assess-
ed by a person or thing permanently or temporarily : as,
his tor^s were those of anger ; a piano of peculiarly rich
tone. For technical distinctions, see def. 1 above, noise,
and Unte.
SOmid^ (sound), r. [< ME. sownden, souneti,
stncnen, sunen, < OF. suner, saner, F. sonner =
Pr. Sp. sonar = Pg. soar = It. sonarc (= Icel,
soua), < L. sonarc, sound, < sonus, a sound: see
sound^, n.] I, introns, 1. To produce vibra-
tions affecting the ear; cause the sensation of
souud; make a noise; produce a sound ; also,
to strike the organs of hearing with a particular
effect; produce a 8peeifie<l audible effect: as,
the wind sounds melancholy.
Ther herde I pleyen on an harpe,
That souned bothe wel and sharpe,
Orpheus ful craftely.
Chaucer, House of Fame, 1. 1202.
O earib, that soundest hollow under me.
Tennyson, Coming of Arthur.
2. To cause something (as an instrument) to
sound ; make music.
The singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded.
2 Chron. xxix. 28.
3. To seem or appear when uttered; appear
on narration: as, a statement that sounds like
a fiction.
How oddlv will it souiul that I
Must ask my child foi^veness !
Shak., Tempest, v. 1. 197.
All this is mine but till I die •
I can't but think 'twould sound more clever
To me and to my heirs for ever.
Pope, Imit. of Horace, II. vi. 11.
Your father never dropped a syllable which should
sound towai-d the asking me to assist him in his adversity.
Godwin, Fleetwood, xix.
4. To be conveyed in sound ; be spread or pub-
lished.
From you sounded out the word of the Lord.
lThea.La.
sound
6. To tend ; incline. [Now rare.]
AUe hire wordea moore and lesse,
Soumynge in rertu and in gentilesse.
Chaucer, Physician's Tale, I. 54.
Seyng any thyng 8awnyng to treson.
Paslon LetUre, I. 183.
All sach thingis as wnme vyth or ayenst the common
wele, Arnold's Chron., p. 88.
6t. To resound.
The shippes hereupon discharge their Ordinance, . . .
insomucli that the tops of the hilles sounded therewith.
HaJduyt's Voyages, I. 245.
To soond in damages, in law, to have as its object the
recovery of damages ; said of an action brought, not for
the recovery of a specific thing, as replevin or an action
of debt, but for damages only, as for trespass, etc.
II. trans. 1. To cause to produce sound; set
in audible vibration.
A baggepipe we! coude he blowe and soume.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 565.
I have sounded the very base-string of humility.
Shak., \ Hen. IV., ii. 4. 6.
2. To utter audibly; pronounce; hence, to
speak; express; repeat.
But now to yow rehersen al his speche.
Or al his woful wordes for to sowne.
Chaucer, Troilus, ii. 573.
Then I, as one that am the tongue of these.
To sound the purposes of all their hearts.
Shak., K. John, iv. 2. 48.
The Arab by his desert well
. . . hears his single camel's bell
Sound welcome to his regal quarters.
Whittier, The Haschish.
3. To order or direct by a sound ; give a sig-
nal for by a certain sound: as, to sound a re-
treat.
To sound a parley to his heartless foe.
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 471.
4. To spread by sound or report ; publish or
proclaim ; celebrate or honor by sounds.
Thou sun, of this great world both eye and soul.
Acknowledge hira thy greater ; sound his praise.
Jfaton, P. L.,v. 171.
She loves aloft to sound
The Man for more than Mortal Deeds renown*d.
Congreve, Pindaric Odes, ii.
5. To signify; import. [A Latinism.]
Hise resons he spalc ful solempnely,
Sownynge alway thencrees of his wynnyng.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 276.
If you have ears that will be pierced — or eyes
That can be opened — a heart that may be touched —
Or any part that yet sounds man about you.
B. JonsoTi, Volpone, iii. 6.
The cause of divorce mentioned in the law is translated
"some uncleanness," but in Hebrew it sounds *^ naked-
ness of aught, or any real nakedness." Milton, Divorce, i.
6. To examine by percussion, as a wall in or-
der to discover hollow places or studding ; spe-
cifically, in mech, to examine by percussion and
auscultation, in order to form a diagnosis by
means of sounds heard : as, to sound the lungs.
sound^ (sound). An obsolete or dialectal con-
tracted form of swound, swoott.
soundable (soun'da-bl), a. [< sound* + -able.l
Capable of being sounded.
soundboard (sound'bord), ». 1. In musical
instruments, a thin resonant plate of wood so
placed as to enhance the power and quality of
the tonesby sympathetic vibration, in the piano-
forte it is placed just under or behind the strings ; in the
pipe-organ it forms the top of the wind-chest in which
the pipes are inserted ; in the violin, guitar, etc. , it is the
same as the belly — that is, the front of the body. Great
care is exercised in the selection and treatment of the wood
for soundboards, which is either pine or spruce-fir. Also
soutiding-board. See cut under harp.
2. Same as soundimj-hoard, 1. See cut under
aba t-voix — Pedal soundboard. See pedal.
sound-boarding (souud'b6r"ding),n. In carp.,
short boards which are disposed transversely
between the joists, or fixed in a partition for
balding the substance called pugging, intended
to prevent sound from being transmitted from
one part of a house to another.
sound-body, sound-box, sound-cbest (sound'-
bod"i, -boks, -chest), n. Same as resonance-iox.
sound-bone (sound'bdn), n. [< sound'^ + bone.']
The bone of a fish lying close to the sound or
air-bladder, it is a part of the backbone, consisting
of those vertebrae collectively which are ordinarily cut
out in one piece in splitting the fish.
sound-bow (sound'bo), n. The thickened edge
of a bell against which the clapper strikes. In
stating the proportions of a bell, the thickness
of the sound-bow is usually taken as a unit.
sound-deafness (sound'der'nes), n. Deafness
to sound of every pitch or quality, as distin-
guished from pitch-deaf ness and timbre-deafness.
sounder^t (soun'der), n. [Early mod. E. also
sownder, < ME. souiidre, < AS. smuyr, a herd.]
1. A herd of wild swine.
5784
That men calleth a trip of a tame swyn is called of wylde
swyn a soundre: that is to say, gif ther be passyd v. or vj,
togedres. MS. Bodl. 646. (Halliicell.)
Now to speke of the boore, the fyrste year he is
A pygge of the sounder callyd, as haue I blys ;
The secounde yere an hogge, and soo shall he be.
And an hoggestere whan he is of yeres thre;
And when he is foure yere, a boor shall he be,
From the sounder of the Bwyne thenne departyth he.
Book 0/ St. Alban's (ed. 1496), sig. d., i.
2. A yoimg wild boar : an erroneous use.
It had so happened that a sounder (i. e., in the language
of the period, a boar of only two years old) had crossed
the track of the proper object of the chase.
Scott, Quentin Durward, ix.
.Such then were the pigs of Devon, not to be compared
with the true wild descendant, . . . whereof many a
sounder still grunted about .Swinley down.
Kingsley, Westward Ho, viii.
sounder^ (soun'der), n. [< sound* + -erl.] A
sounding-machine — Flying sounder, an apparatus,
devised by Thomson, for obtaining deep-sea soundings, at
a moderate depth, without rounding to or reducing speed.
With this sounding-machine a sounding was made at a
depth of 130 fathoms while the steamer was moving at the
rate of 16 knots an hour.
sounder^ (soun'der), ti. [< sound^ + -eel.]
Tliat which sounds ; specifically, in tclef/., a re-
ceiving instrument in the use of which the mes-
sage is read by the sound produced by the arma-
ture of the electromagnet in playing back and
forth between its stops.
sound-figures (sound'fig"urz), n. pi. Chladni's
figures. See nodal lines, under nodal.
sound-hole (sound'hol), n. In musical instru-
ments of the viol and lute classes, an opening
in the belly or soundboard, so shaped and
placed as to increase its elasticity and thus its
capacity for sympathetic vibration, in the mod-
ern violin and similar instruments there are two sound-
holes, placed on each side of the bridge ; they are usually
called the /-holes, from their shape.
SOUndingl (soun'ding), n. [< ME. soundynge,
sotondyng, sowninge; vorhaln. of sound*, v.] 1.
The act or process of measuring the depth of
anything; exploration, as with a plummet and
line, or a sound. — 2. The descent of a whale
or of a fish to the bottom after being harpooned
or hooked. — 3. pi. The depth of water in riv-
ers, harbors, along shores, and even in the
open seas, which is ascertained in the opera-
tion of sounding. The term is also used to signify any
place or part of the ocean where a deep sounding-line will
reach the bottom ; also, the kind of ground or bottom
where the line reaches. Soundings on English and Ameri-
can charts are expressed in fathoms, except in some har-
bor-charts where they are in feet. See deep-sea.— In. or
on soundings, (a) So near the land that a deep-sea
lead will reach the bottom, (b) In comparatively shoal
water : said of a whale in the Arctic Ocean, Bering Sea,
Sea of Okhotsk, or in bays, lagoons, etc., whose depths
may be readily fathomed. — To get on or off soundings, to
get into or beyond water where the bottom can be touched
by sounding; figuratively, to enter into a subject or topic
which one is or is not competent to discuss. — To strike
soundings, to find bottom with the deep-sea lead.
sounding^ (soun'ding), n. [< ME. soundyng ;
verbal n. of sound^, t).] The act of producing
a sound or a noise ; also, a sound or a noise pro-
duced; specifically, in music, compare sound^,
V. i., 2.
Musicians have no gold for sounding.
Shak.,B,. and J., iv. 5. 143.
The Stage.
After the second sounding [of the music].
B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, Ind.
sounding^ (soun'ding), p. a. [Ppr. of sound^,
1'.] 1. Causing or producing sound; sono-
rous; resounding; making a noise.
Ay me ! whilst thee the shores and sounding seas
Wash far away. Milton, Lycidas, 1. 154.
2. Havingamagnificent or lofty sound; hence,
bombastic: as, mere sounding phrases.
Keep to your subject close in all you say ;
Nor for a sounding sentence ever stray.
Dryden and Soames, tr. of Boileau's Art of Poetry, i. 182.
sounding-board (soun'ding-bord), n. 1. A
canopy over a pulpit, etc., to direct the sound
of a speaker's voice toward the audience. See
abat-voix. Also soundboard.
Since pulpits fail, and sounding-boards reflect
Most part an empty, inetfectual sound,
Cowper, Task, ill. 21.
2. In building, a board used in the deafening of
floors, partitions, etc. See sound-boarding. —
3. Same as soundboard, 1.
sounding-bottle (soun'ding-bofl), «. A vessel
for raising water from a great depth for exam-
ination and analysis. It is generally made of wood,
and has valves opening upward in the top and bottom. It
is fixed on the sounding-line over the lead, so that the
water passes through it as the line descends ; but when it
is drawn up the force of gravity closes the T^ves, thus re-
soup
taining the contents. It often contains a thermometer
for showing the temperature below tlie surface.
sounding-lead (soun'ding-led), n. The weight
used at the end of a sounding-line.
sounding-line (soun'ding-liu), n. A line for
trying the depth of water.
sounding-machine (soun'ding-ma-shen"), n. A
device for taking deep-sea soundings. See
deep-sea.
sounding-post (soun 'ding-post), II. Same as
soiind-jiosi.
sounding-rod (soun'ding-rod), n. A graduated
rod or piece of iron used to ascertain the depth
of water in a ship's pump-well, and conse-
quently in the hold.
soundismant, «. A Middle English form of
sandesman.
Then sent were there sone soundismen two
To Priam, the prise kyng. purpos to hold.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), L 8866.
soundless! (sound'les), a. [< sound* + -less.]
Incapable of being sounded or fathomed ; un-
fathomable.
He upon your soundless deep doth ride.
Shak., Sonnets, Ixxx-
SOUndless^ (sound'les), a. [< somuP + -less.']
Having no sound; noiseless; silent; dumb.
Cas. For your words, they rob the flybla bees,
And leave them honeyless. . . .
Bru. O yes, and soundless too ;
For you have stol'n their buzzing, Antony.
SAa*., J. C, V. 1. 86.
sound-line (sound'lin), «. The tow-line car-
ried down by a whale when sounding.
soundly (soimd'li),n(ir. [< sot/wrfl -I- -?^2.] in
a sound manner, in anysenseof the word so««fi.
soundness (sound'nes), n. [< sounds + -ness.']
The state of being sound, in any sense. =Syn. See
sounds, a.
sound-post (sound 'post), n. In musical in-
struments of the viol class, a small cylindrical
wooden prop orpillarwhich is inserted between
the belly and the back, nearly under the treble
foot of the bridge. Its purpose is to prevent the
crushing of the belly by the tension of the strings, and to
transmit the vibrations of the belly to the back. Its mate-
rial, shape, and position are of great importance in deter-
mining the quality and power of the tone. It is some-
times called the instrument's soui or voice. Also sounding-
post.
sound-proof (sound'prof), a. Impervious to
sound; preventing the entrance of sounds.
It [silicate of cotton] is of great efficiency as a stuffing
for souiid-proof walls and flooring. lire, Diet., IV. 293.
sound-radiometer (sound'ra-di-om'e-ter), n.
An apparatus devised by Dvorak to show the
mechanical effect of sound-waves. It consists of
a light cross of wood pivoted with a glass cap upon a ver-
tical needle, and carrying four pieces of card perforated
with a number of holes, raised on one side and depressed
on the other like those of a nutmeg-grater. The cross-
vanes rotate rapidly when placed before the resonance-
box of a loud-sounding tuning-fork.
sound-register (sound'rej'is-tfer), n. An ap-
paratus for collecting and recording tones of
the singing voice or of a musical instrument.
It was invented in Paris in 1858. '
SOUnd-shado'nr (sound'shad-'o), «. The inter-
ception of a sound by some large object, as a
building. It is analogous to a light-shadow, but is less
distinct, since sound-waves have much greater length
than light-waves.
For just as a high wall, a hill, or a railway-cutting often
completely cuts off sounds by forming a sound-shadow.
Pop. Sei. Mo., XXXI. 364.
sound-wave (sound'wav), M. A wave of con-
densation and rarefaction by which sound is
propagated in an elastic medium, as the air.
See sound^ and wave.
sounet, n. and v. A Middle English form of
sound^.
soup! (soup), V. and n. An obsolete or dialectal
form of sup.
S0Up2 (sop), n. [= D. soep = MHG. G. suppe
= Sw. sopj)a = Dan. suppe = Icel. supa, soup;
< OF. (andF.) soupe, soup, broth, pottage, sop,
= Pr. Sp. Pg. It. sopa, soup; < MD. soppe, sop,
a sop, broth, D. sop, broth, = Icel. soppa = Sw.
soppa, a sop : see sop. Soup^ is a doublet of sop,
derived through OF., while soup^, n., is a na-
tive variant of sup.] 1. In cookery, originally,
a liquor with something soaked in it, as a sop
of bread; now, a broth; a liquid dish served
usually before fish or meat at dinner. The basis
of most soups is stock; to this are added meat, vegeta-
bles, vermicelli, herbs, wine, seasoning, or whatever is
chosen: as, cream soup; tomato soup; turtle soup. See
julienne, pur^e, soup-inaigre.
Between each act the trembling salvers ring.
From soup to sweet- wine.
Pope, Moral Essays, iv. 162.
soap
2. A kind of picnic in which a great pot of soup
is the principal feature. Compare the like use
of chowder. [West Virginia.]— portable soup, a
sort of cake formed of concentrated soup, freed from fat,
and, by long-contiuued boiling, from all the putrescible
parts.
SOUp^, V- An obsolete form of soop, swoop.
SOapQOn (s6p-s6n'), n. [F., a suspicion: see
susjyii'inu.'i A suspicion; hence, a very small
quantity; a taste: as, water with a soupgon of
brandy.
souperif, n. A Middle English form of supper.
SOUper^ (so'p^r), n. [< sow/)2 + -erl.] In Ire-
land, a name applied in derision to a Protes-
tant missionary or a convert from Roman Ca-
tholicism, from the fact that the missionaries
are said to assist their work by distributing soup
to their converts. Imp. Diet.
soup-kitchen (sop'kieh'en), n. A public es-
tablishment, supported by voluntary contribu-
tions, for preparing soup and supplying it gratis
to the poor.
sonple^, a. A dialectal (Scotch) contraction of
siciple.
sonple-, a. An obsolete or dialectal form of
supple. - - ' "
SOUple-' (so'pl), a. Noting raw silk which has
been deprived, to a certain extent, of its ex-
ternal covering, the silk-glue. This is done by
treating the silk with tartar and some sulphuric
acid heated nearly to boiling.
sonp-maigre (sop'ma'g^r), n. A thin soup
made chiefly from vegetables or fish, originally
intended to be eaten on fast-days, when flesh
meat is not allowed.
soup-meat (sop'met), n. Meat specially used
for SOU]).
soup-plate (sSp'plat), H. A rather large deep
plate used for serving soup.
soup-ticket (sop'tik'et), n. A ticket authoriz-
ing the holder to receive soup at a soup-kitchen.
soupy (s6'pi), a. l< soup'^ + -y'i.'] Like soup;
having the consistence, appearance, or color of
soup. [Colloq.]
" We had a rer; thick tog~ said Tom, "directljr after
the thander-stonn — a aoujiy tog."
Jmn Inffttme, Off the SkelUga, xiv.
sour (sour), a. and n. [< ME. sour, soure,
sowre, sur, < AS. sir = MD. suur, D. zuur =
MLG. sur = OHG. MHG. sir, G. sauer = Icel.
turr = Sw. Dan. »t<r (cf. F. sur, sour, < LG.
or HQ.: gee sorrel^), sour; ef. W. sur, sour;
Lith. surus, salt. Root unknown.] I, a. 1.
Having an acid taste ; sharp to the taste ; tart ;
acid; specifically, acid in consequence of fer-
mentation; fermented, and thus spoiled: as,
»oKr bread; sour milk.
The mellow plum doth fall, the green iticka fast,
Ur, being early plucli'd, i> tour to taite.
Shak., Venus and Adonis, I. its.
2. Harsh of temper; crabbed; peevish; aus-
tere ; morose : as, a man of a sour temper.
One is so 9our, so crabt>ed, and so unpleasant that be
can away with no mirth or sport.
Sir T. Mart, Utopia, Ded. to Peter Giles, p. 12.
Lofty, and tmir to them that lov'd him not :
But to those men that sought him sweet as summer.
Shak., Hen. VIII., It. 2. 53.
3t. Afflictive ; bard to bear ; bitter ; disagree-
able to the feeling»; distasteful in any man-
ner.
Al though It [poverty] l>e $oure to solfre, there cometh
swete after. Piert Plovman (B), xL 2M.
I know this kind ot writing is msdnesa to the world,
foolishness to reason, and Kur to -the Hcah.
J. BrtuVord, letters (Parker Soc., 18&3X II. 235.
4. Expressing discontent, displeasure, or pee-
vishness : as, a sour word.
With matrimonie cometh . . . the $oure brow1>endyng
of your wifes kinsfolkes.
Udali, tr. of Apophthegms of Erasmus, p. 18.
I never heard him make a mmr expression, but frankly
confess that he left the world because he was not fit for
it. auOe, SpecUtor, No. 2.
6. Cold ; wet ; harsh ; unkindly to crops : said
of soil.
The term tour is, in Scotland, usually applied to a cold
and wet soil, and conveys the idea of visclaity, which, in
some cases, is a concomitant of fermentation.
Urt, Hist, ol Rathergien, p. ISO. (Jafrueton.)
6. Coarse: said of grass. Halliwell. [Prov.
Eng.] — Sour bath. See balht.—Soni dock, the com-
mon sorrel. Rumex Aeeiota; sometintes. It. AeeUmlla.
(JTov. Eng.l
Smart doUe (herbe . . . ), idem quod sorel.
Prompt. Parr., p. 4«l.
Sour dougb, leaven ; a fermented mass of dough left
trtfm a previous mixing, and used as a ferment to raise a
treah batch of dough. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.)
5785
An other parable Jhesus spac to hem, The kyngdam of
heuenes is lie to goure dotcj, the whiche taken, a womnian
hidde in three mesuris of meele, til it were al sowrdowid.
Wyclif, Mat xiii. 3a
Sour grapes. See yrapei.— Sour lime. See lime3, i.—
Sour orange, the Seville or bitter orange. See oraii^el,
1.— Sour pishamin, stomach, etc. See the nouns. —
Sour plimi. .See Oirenia, l. = Syn, 1. Acetous, acetose.
— 2 and 4. Cross, testy, waspish, snarling, cynical.
II. «. 1. Something sour or acid; something
bitter or disagreeable.
Loth . . . his men amonestes mete for to dygt,
For wyth no tour ne no salt serues hym neuer.
AUittrative Poems (ed. Morris), ii. 820.
The sweets we wish for turn to loathed sourt.
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 8C7.
2t. Dirt; filth.
Soory or defowlyd yn tour or fylthe, Cenosus.
Prompt. Pare., p. 465.
3. An acid ptinch. [Colloq.] — 4. In bleaching
and dyeing: (a) A bath of buttermilk or sour
milk, or of soured bran or rye-flour, used by
primitive bleachers. (6) A weak solution of sul-
phuric or hydrochloric acid, used for various pur-
poses. Compare soMnnflf, 5 Gray sour. Seej/ray.
sour (sour), V. [< ME. sotiren, sowren, < AS.
'sirian, surigan, become sour, = OHG. sureii,
MHG. siren, G. sauern, become sour, OHG.
suren, MHG. siuren, G. sauern, make sour, =
Sw. syra, make sour; cf. Icel. surna = Dan.
^urne, become sour ; from the adj.: 8ee«o«r, a.]
1. intrans. 1. To become sour; become acid;
acquire the quality of tartness or pungency to
the taste, as by fermentation : as, cider sours
rapidly in the rays of the sun.
Ills taste delicious, In digestion touring.
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 899.
2. To become peevish, crabbed, or harsh in
temper.
Where the soul sour^ and gradual rancour grows,
Embitter'd more from peevish day to day.
Thornton, Castle of Indolence, i. 17.
3. To become harsh, wet, cold, or unkindly to
crops: said of soil.
II. trans. 1. To make sour; make acid ; cause
to have a sharp taste, especially by fermenta-
tion.
Ase the leoayne loureth thet do3.
AynbiU 0/ /ntryf (K E. T. S.\ p. 205.
The tartness of his face tourt ripe grapes.
Shak., Cor., v. 4. 18.
2. To make harsh, crabbed, morose, or bitter
in temper; make cross or discontented; em-
bitter; prejudice.
This protraction Is able to sour the best-settled patience
in the theatre.
B. Jonton, Every Man out of his Humour, Ind.
Hy mind being tourtd with his other conduct, I con-
tinued to refuse. FratMin, Autobiog., p. 57.
3. To make harsh, wet, cold, or unkindly to
crops : said of soil.
Tufts ot grass tour land. Mortimer, Husbandry.
4. In bleaching, etc., to treat with a dilute acid.
— 6. To macerate and render fit for plaster or
mortar, as lime — To sour one's cheekst, to assume
a morose or sour expression.
And now Adonis, with a lazy spright, . . .
Souring kit cheekt, crie^ " Fie, no more of love ! "
Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. IS!).
sour (sour), adv. [< ME. soure; < sour, o.] Sour-
ly; bitterly.
Thou Shalt with this launcegay
Abyen it ful toure. Chauctr, Sir lliopas, L 111.
source (sors), ». [Early mod. E. also sourse;
< ME. sours, < OF. sorse, surse, sorce, surce,
later source (ML. sursa), rise, beginning, spring,
source, < sors, sours, fem. sorse, sourse, pp. of
sordre, sourdre, F. sourdre = Pr. sorger, sorzir
= 8p. surgir = Pg. sordir, surdir = u. sorgere,
< L. surgere, rise : see surge. Cf. sourd.] If.
Arising; arise; a soaring.
Therfore, right as an hank up at a toun
Vpspringetb into the eir, right so prayerea
of charitable and chaste bisy freres
ICaken hir lotirf to Goddes eres two.
Chaueer, Summoner's Tale, L 230.
2. A spring; a f ountainhead ; a wellhead; any
collection of water on or under the surface of
the ground in which a stream originates.
The flonds do gaspe, for dryed is theyr sourse.
SpenifT, .Shep. Cal., November.
There are some toureet of very fine water, which seem
to be those of the sntient river Lapithos.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. I. 223.
Like torrents from a mountain tource.
Tennyton, The Letters.
3. A first cause ; an origin ; one who or that
which originates or gives rise to anything.
Miso, to whom cheerfulness In others was ever a tource
of envy in herself, took quickly mark of his behaviour.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadh^ ilL
sous
Pride, ill nature, and want of sense are the three great
sources of ill manners. Swift, Good Manners.
Source of a covariant, the leading term of a covariant,
from which all the others are derived. M. Roberta.
source (sors), v. [Early mod. E. also sourse;
< source, n. Hence souse^.'i I. intrans. 1. To
rise, as a hawk ; swoop ; in general, to swoop
down; phmge; sink; souse. Seesonse^. [Rare.]
Apollo to his flaming carre adrest.
Taking his dayly, never ceasing course.
His fiery head in Thetis watry brest.
Three hundred sixty & five times doth source.
Times' WhisUe (E. E. T. 3.% p. 113.
2. To spring; take rise. [Rare.]
They . . . never leave roaring it out with their brazen
home, as long as they stay, of the freedomes and immuni-
ties soursing from him.
Naslie, Lenten Stufle (Harl. Misc., VI. 163). (Daviet.)
II. tra7is. To plunge down ; souse. [Rare.]
This little barke of ours being sovrst in cumbersome
waves, which never tried the foming maine before.
Optick Glasse of Humors (1639), p. 161. (UaUiwell.)
SOUT-crout, M. See sauer-kraut.
SOUrdt, t'- t. [< OF. sordre. sourdre, F. sourdre,
< L. surgere, rise : see source.'] To rise ; spring;
issue ; take its source.
The especes that sourden of pride, soothly, whan they
tourden of malice, ymagitied, avised, and forncast, or elles
of usage, been deedly synnes. Chaucer, Parson's Tale.
SOUrdeline (sor'de-len), n. [F. (J), dim. of
sourdine.] A small variety of bagpipe, or mu-
sette.
SOUrdet (sor'det), w. Same as sordet.
sourdine (s6r-den'), n. [< F. sourdine, < It.
sordino, < sordo (= F. sourd), deaf, muffled,
mute, < L. surdus, deaf: see surd.] 1. Same
as mutc^, 3. — 2. In the harmonium, a mechan-
ical stop whereby the supply of wind to the
lower vibrators is partially cut off, and the play-
ing of full chords softly is facilitated.
sour-eyed (sour'id), a. Having a morose or
sullen look.
Sour-eyed disdain and discord.
Shak., Tempest, iv. 1. 20.
sour-gourd (sour'gord), n. Same as cream-of-
tartar trie (which see, under cream^).
sour-grass (sour'gr&s), «. See Paspalum.
SOur-KUm (sour'gum), n. The tupelo or pep-
perioge, Xyssa sylvatica (N. multiflora), less
frequently called black-gum.
souring (sour'ing), n. [Verbaln. of so«r, ».] 1.
A becoming or making sour: as, the souring of
bread. — 2. That which makes sour or acid;
especially, vinegar. [Prov. Eng.]
A double squeeze of touring in his aspect.
Smollett, Humphrey Clinker.
3. The wild apple, or crab-apple ; also, any sour
apple. [Prov. Eng.] — 4. Dough left in the tub
after oat-cakes are baked. Halliwell. [Prov.
Eng.] — 6. In bleaching, the process of expos-
ing fibers or textures to the action of dilute
acid ; specifically, the exposing of goods which
have been treated in a solution of chlorid of
lime to a dilute solution of sulphuric acid , which,
by setting free the chlorin, whitens the cloth,
and neutralizes the alkalis with which the cloth
has been impregnated. — 6. A process of dress-
ing sealskin. The skin is scraped clean, closely rolled,
anil laid away until the hair starts. The hair is then
scoured off, and the bare hide is stretched to season.
souring-vessel (8our'ing-ve8''l), «. A vat of
oak wood in which vinegar is soured.
sour-krout, «. See sauer-kraut.
sourly (sour'li), adv. In a sour manner, in
any sense of the word sour.
sourness (sour'nes), n. [< ME. sowrenes, sowre-
nesse, < AS. sirnes, < sir, sour: see sour, a.]
The state or quality of being sour, in any sense.
= Syn. Asperity, Tartness, etc. (see acrimony), morose-
ness, i>cevishtie8B, petulance, ill nature.
SOurock (so'rok), M. [Sc, also souraek, sooroik,
soorack, sourrock, etc., sorrel; cf. G. saurach,
the barberry.] The comnpon sorrel, Rumex
Acetosa; also, the sheep-sorrel, Ii. Acctosella.
Heh, gudeman I butye hae been eating sourrocks instead
o' lang kail. (fait, The Entail, I. 286. (Jamieson.}
SOUrset, "■ and V. An old spelling of source.
SOUr-slzed (sour'sizd), a. See sized^.
sour-sop (sour'sop), n. 1. See Anmia. — 2. A
cross or crabbed person. [Prov. Eng.]
sour-tree (sour'tre), n. Same as sourwood.
sourwood (sour'wvid), n. See Oxydendrum.
sous (so; formerly sous), n. [Formerly also
souse, sowse ; now sous as if F. ; < F. sou, pi.
sous, a coin so called, = It. soldo, < ML. so?t-
dus, a shilling, sou: see soldo, solidus.] A sou.
They [wooden shoes] are usually sold for two Sowses,
which is two pence farthing. Coryat, Crudities, I. 64.
sous
Perhaps she met Friends, and brought Pence to thy House,
But thou Shalt go Home without ever a Soiue.
Prior, Down-Hall, st. 33.
SOUSe^ (sous), n. [Early mod. E. also nouce,
sowce, soirse; < ME. souse, sowse, var. of sauce:
Bee sauce, n.'] 1. Pickle made with salt; sauce.
You have powder'd [salted] me for one year;
I am in souce, I thank you ; thank your beauty.
Beau, aruL FL, Knight of Midta, ii. 1.
2. Something kept or steeped in pickle ; espe-
cially, the head, ears, and feet of swine pickled.
And he that can rear up a pig in his house
Hath cheaper his bacon, and sweeter his «oi«e.
Tuittr, January's Husbandry, st. 2.
I know she'l send me for 'em [ballads].
In Puddings, Bacon, Sowse, and Pot-Butter,
Enough to keepe my chamber all this winter.
Brome, Antipodes, iii. 5.
3. The ear' in contempt. [Now provincial or
vulgar. ]
With gouM erect, or pendent, winks, or haws ?
Sniveling ? or the extention of the jaws?
Fletcher, Poems, p. 203. (Halliwell.)
•SOOSe^ (sous), V. t. ; pret. and pp. soused, ppr.
sousing. [Early mod. E. also souce ; < ME. ,so«-
een, sowsen; a var. of sauce, v. Ct. souse^, ii.]
1. To steep in pickle.
Thei sleen hem alle, and kutten of hire Eres, and smv-
een hem in Vynegre, and there of thei maken gret servyse
for Lordea Mandeville, Travels, p. 251.
Brawn was a Roman dish. ... Its sauce then was mus-
tardand honey, before thefrequentuseofsugai'; norwere
ioused hogs-feet, cheeks, and ears unknown to those ages.
IK. King, Art of Cookery, letter ix.
2. To plunge (into water or other liquid); cov-
er or drench (with liquid).
When I like thee, may I be souifd over Head and Ears
in a Horse-pond Steele, Tender Husband, iii. 1.
3. To pour or dash, as water.
'■Can you drink a drop out o' your hand, sir?" said
Adam. . . . "No,'' said Arthur; "dip my cravat in and
gouge it on my head.' The water seemed to do him some
good. George Eliot, Adam Bede, xxviii.
Soused mackerel seemoctcrrfi.
souse''' (sous), V. ; pret. and pp. soused, ppr.
sousiny. [Early mod. E. also souce, sowce, souze;
a var. (appar, by confusion with souse^, w.) of
source, -o. Cf. souse'^, «.] I. intrans. 1. To
swoop; rush with violence; descend with speed
or headlong, as a hawk on its prey.
Till, sadly eoueing on the sandy shore.
He tombled on an heape, and wallowd in his gore.
Spemer, F. Q., III. iv. 16.
Spread thy broad wing, and smise on all the kind.
Pope, Epil. to Satires, ii. 15.
2. To strike.
He stroke, he fouit, he foynd, he hewd, he lasht.
Spenser, F. Q., IV. iii. 25.
3. To be diligent. HaUiwell. [Prov. Eng.]
H. trans. To strike with sudden violence, as
a bird strikes its prey; pounce upon.
The gallant monarch is in arms.
And like an eagle o'er his aery towers.
To eouse annoyance that comes near his nest.
Shak., K. John, v. 2. 150.
SOnse^ (sous), «. [Early mod. E. also sowce,
sowse; < souse^, v., but in def. 1 perhaps in part
a var. of source, n. (in def. 1): see source.} 1.
A pouncing down ; a stoop or swoop ; a swift
or precipitate descent, especially for attack:
as, the souse of a hawk upon its prey.
As a faulcon fayre,
That once hath failed of her souse full neare,
Remounts againe into the open ayre,
And unto better fortune doth her selfe prepayre.
Spenser, F. Q., II. xi. 36.
So, well cast off ; aloft, aloft, well flowne.
O now she takes her at the sowse, and strikes her
Downe to the earth, like a swift thunder-clap.
Heywood, Woman Killed with Kindness (Works, II. 98).
2. A blow; a thump.
Who with few sowces of his yron flale
Dispersed all their troupe incontinent.
Spenser, F. Q., V. iv. 24.
I'll hang the viUain,
And 'twere for nothing but the souse he gave me.
Middlelon (and others). The Widow, iv. 2.
3. A dip or plunge in the water. HaUiwell.
[Prov. Eng. and U. S.]
sonse^ (sous), adv. [An elliptical use of souse^,
V. Cf. soss^, adv.'] With a sudden plunge ; with
headlong descent; with violent motion down-
ward ; less correctly, with sudden violence in
any direction. [Colloq.]
So, thon wast once in love. Trim ! said my Uncle Toby,
smiling. — Sau«e.' replied the corporal — over head and ears,
an' please your honour. Sterne, I'riatram .Shandy, viii. 19.
As if the nailing of one hawk to the barn-door would
prevent the next from coming down sou,se into the hen-
yard. LoweU, Among my Books, 1st ser., p. 224.
SOUse^ti n. See sous.
5786
souse* (sous), n. [Also source; said to be < F.
,s'()«.v. under (the r of source being then intru-
sive): see ,s«6-.] In arch., a support or under-
prop. 0 wilt.
souse-'wifet (sous'wif), «. A woman who sells
or makes souse.
Do you think, master, to be emperor
With killing swine? you may be an honest butcher.
Or allied to a seemly family of souse-u'ives,
Fletcher (and another'!). Prophetess, i. 3.
SOUshumber (sb'shum-bfer), n. A woolly and
spiny species of nightshade, Solanum mam-
moswn, of tropical America. It is a noxious
weed, bearing worthless yellow inversely pear-
shaped berries. [West Indies.]
souslik (sos'lik), n. Same as suslik.
SOUSOU, n. Same as susu.
sou'-sou'-southerly, sou'-southerly (sou'sou-
suTH'er-li, sou'suTH'er-li), n. Same as south-
southerly.
The swift-flying long-tailed duck — the old squaw, or
sou'sou'-soulherbj, of the [Long Islandl baymen.
T. Roosevelt, Hunting Trips, p. 63.
SOUStenu, SOUtenu (sos'te-nii, so'te-nii), a. [F.
soutenu, pp. of soutenir, sustain, hold up: see
sustain.] In her., noting a chief supported, as
it were, by a small part of the escutcheon be-
neath it of a different color or metal from the
chief, and reaching, as the chief does, from side
to side, as if it were a small part of the chief,
of another color, supporting the real chief.
soutache (so-tash'), ». [P.] A very narrow
flat braid, made of wool, cotton, silk, or tinsel,
and sewed upon fabrics as a decoration, usu-
ally in fanciful designs.
SOUtaget, n. [Origin obscure.] Bagging for
hops; coarse cloth.
Take soutage or haier (that covers the Kell),
Set like to a manger, and fastened well,
Tmser, Husbandry, p. 136. (Davies.)
soutane (so-tan'), n. [< F. soutane, OF. sotane
= Sp. sotana = Pg. sotana, sotaina = It. sot-
tana, undershirt, < ML. subtana (also subta-
neum), an under-cassoek, < L. suhtus, beneath,
under: see sub-.] Same as cassock.
SOUtelt, a. A Middle English form of subtle.
soutenu, a. See soustenu.
SOUter (sou'ter; Sc. pron. so'tfer), w. [Former-
ly also sowter. soutar; < ME. souter, soutere, sou-
tare, sowter, < AS. sittcre = Icel. sutari = OHG.
sutari, sutxri, MHG. sitter (also in comp. MHG.
schuoch-suteer, G. contracted schustcr) (cf. Finn.
suutari = Lapp, sutar, shoemaker, < G.), shoe-
maker, < L. srttor, shoemaker, < Sucre, pp. sutus,
sew: see sewjl.] A shoemaker; a cobbler. [Old
Eng. and Scotch.]
The devel made a reve for to preche,
And of a soutere shipman or a leche.
Chaucer, Prol. to Reeve's Tale, L 60.
A conqueror! a cobbler! hang him sowter!
Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, iv. 3.
SOUteresst (sou't6r-es), «. [< ME. soutcresse; <
souter + -ess.] A woman who makes or mends
shoes; a female cobbler.
Cesse the souteresse sat on the benche.
Piers Plowman (B), v. 315.
SOUterly (sou'tfer-li), a. [Formerly also sowterly;
< souter + -ly^.] Like a cobbler; low; vulgar.
[Old Eng. and Scotch.]
All sowterly wax of comfort melting away, and misery
taking the length of my foot, it boots me not to sue for life.
Massinger, Virgin-Martyr, iii. 3.
SOUterrain (so-te-ran'), «• [F. : see subicrrane.]
A grotto or cavern under ground ; a cellar.
Defences against extremities of heat, as shade, grottoes,
or souterrains, are necessary preservatives of health.
Arbuthnot,
south (south), n. and a. [< ME. south, sowthe,
sothe, suth, n. (ace. south as adv.), < AS. siiih,
adv. (orig. the ace. or dat. (locative) of the noun
used adverbially, never otherwise as a noun,
and never as an adj., the form sUth as an adj.,
given in the dictionaries, being simply the adv.
(siith or suthan) alone or in comp., and the form
"sutha, as a noun, being due to a misunder-
standing of the adv. sUthan), to the south, in
the south, south; in comp. suth-, a quasi-adj.,
as in suth-dml, the southern region, the south,
etc. (> E. south, a.) ; — OFries. sud = MD. smjd,
D. zuid = OHG. simd, MHG. sunt, sud, G. siid =
Icel. sudhr, sunnr = Sw. Dan. syd, south ; as a
noun, in other than adverbial uses, developed
from the older adverbial uses (cf. F. Sp. snd =
Pg. sul, south, from the E.): (1) AS. sUth = Icel.
sudhr = Sw. Dan. si/d, to the south, in the south,
south ; (2) AS. suthan (ME. suthen, suthe) = MD.
suyden = OLG. sudhon, MLG. suden = OHG.
sundana, MHG. sundene, sunden = Icel. sunnan
south
= Sw. sydcn = Dan. siiiiden, aav., prop, 'from
the south,' but also in MLG. OHG. MHG. ' in
the south'; also in comp., as a quasi-adj.;
hence the noun, D. zuidcn = MLG. siidcn =
OHG. sundan, MHG. siinden,G, siidcn, the south ;
(3) = OS. suthar- = OFries. suther, suder, suer =
OHG. sundar, MHG. sunder- = Sw. soder, adv.
or adj., south; OHG. sundar, MHG. sunder =
Icel. sudhr (gen. sudhrs) = Sw. soder, n., south
(cf. also southern, southerly, etc.); prob., with
formative -th, from the base of AS. sunne, etc.,
sun: see sun^. For the variety of forms, cf.
north, east, west.] I. n. 1. That one of the
four cardinal points of the compass which is
directly opposite to the north, and is on the left
when one faces in the direction of the setting
sun (west). Abbreviated S.
A 2 Myle from Betheleem, toward the Sou'tke, is the
Chirche of Seynt Kaiitot, that was Abbot there.
Mandeville, Travels, p. 74.
2. The region, tract, country, or locality lying
opposite to the north, or lying toward the south
pole from some other region ; in the broadest
and most general sense, in the northei-n hemi-
sphere, the tropics or subtropical regions; in
Europe, the Mediterranean region, often with
reference to the African or Asiatic coast.
The queen of the south . . . came from the uttermost
parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of .Solomon.
Mat. xii. 42.
Bright and fierce and fickle is the South,
And dark and true and tender is the North.
Tennyson, Princess, iv.
Specifically — 3. leap.] In U. S. hist, and ;wK-
tics, the Southern States (which see, under
stale).
"The fears that the northern interests will prevail at all
times," said Edward Rutledge, "are ill-founded. . . . The
northern states are alreadyfull of people; the migrations
to the South are immense." Bancroft, Hist. Const., II. 289.
4. The wind that blows from the south.
Wherefore do yon follow her,
Like foggy soiith puffing with wind and rain ?
Shak., As you Like it, iii. 5. 60,
The breath of the south can shake the little rings of the
vine. Jer, Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 709.
5. Eccles., the side of a church that is on the
right hand of one who faces the altar or high
altar. See east, 1, and epistle By south. See
(tt/i. — Solid South, the Southern States in respect to their
almost uniform adherence to the Democratic party after
the reconstruction period. [U. S. ] — Sons Of the South.
See «oni.
II. a. 1. Being in the south; situated in the
south, or in a southern direction from the point
of observation ; lying toward the south; pertain-
ing to the south ; proceeding from the south.
He . . . shall go out by the way of the south gate.
Ezek. xlvi. 9.
The full wmtA-breeze around thee blow.
Tennyson, Talking Oak.
2. Eccles., situated at or near that side of a
church which is to the right of one facing the
altar or high altar South dial. See dt'aZ.— South
end of an altar, the end of an altar at the right hand of
a priest as he stands facing the middle of the altar from
the fiont : so called because in a church with strict ori-
entation this end is toward the south.— South pole. See
polc^, 2 and 7.— South side of an altar, that part of the
front or western side of an altar which intervenes between
the middle and the south end ; the epistle side. — The
South Sea, a name formerly aj^plied to the Pacific ocean,
especially the southern portion of it : so called as being
first seen toward the south (from the isthmus of Darien,
where it was discovered by Balboa in 15m).
One inch of delay more is a South-sea of discovery.
Shak,, As you Like it, iii. 2. 2C7.
South Sea arrowroot. See pt'a-'. — South Sea bubble
or scheme. See im(>Wel.— South Sea rose, the olean-
der. [Jamaica.]- South Sea tea. See fca.
south (south), adr. [< ME. south, suth, < AS.
siith, adv., south : see south, n.] Toward, to, or
at the south; of winds, from the south.
And the seyd holy lond ys in length. North and Suth, ix
score myle. Torkington, Diarie of Eng. Travel!, p. ;i8.
Such fruits as you appoint for long keeping gather in a
fair and dry day, and when the wind bloweth not south.
Bacon.
The ill-thief blaw the Heron south !
Bums, To Dr. Blacklock.
[Sometimes used with ellipsis of the following preposi-
tion.
The chimney
Is south the chamber. Shak. . Cymbeline, ii. 4. 81.
When Vhrebus gi'es a short-lived glow'r
Far south the lift. Bums, A Winter Night.)
Down south. See doicn-, adv.
south (south), r. i. [< south, n. and adv.] 1. To
move or veer toward the south. — 2. In astron.,
to cross the meridian of a place : as, the moon
souths at nine.
The great full moon now rapidly southing.
Jean Ingelow, Fated to be Free, xxxvii.
South African broom
South African broom. See Aspalathus, 2.
South American apricot. See Mnmmea.
South American glutton. See glutton.
South-Carolinian l south'kar-o-lin'i-an), a. and
H. [< liuiitli Carolina (see def.) + -ian.'] I. a.
Of or pertaining to the State of South Carolina,
one of the southern United States, lying south
of North Carolina.
H. H. A native or an inhabitant of the State
of South Carolina.
Southcottian (south'kot-i-an), n. [< Soutlicott
(see def.) + -ian.'] One of a religious body of
the nineteenth century, founded by Joanna
Southcott (died 1814) in England. This body ex-
pected that its founder would give birth to another Mes-
siah. Also called Sew Jgraeliie and Sabbatharian.
Southdown (south'doun), a. and ». I. a. Of
or pertainingto the South Downs in Hampshire
and Sussex, England : as, Southdown sheep.
n. M. A noted English breed of sheep; a
sheep of this breed, or mutton of this kind.
See -ihecp^, 1.
southeast (south'esf), n. and a. [< ME. sowthe
eest, sowthe est, suth-est, < AS. authedst, to the
southeast, also suthedstan, from the southeast
(= D. zuidoost = 6. sUdost = Sw. Dan. sydost);
used as a noun only as south, north, east, west
were so used; < suth, south, + edst, east: see
south and east.] I. «. That point on the hori-
zon between south and east which is equally
distant from them; S. 45° E., or E. 45° S., or,
less strictly, a point or region intermediate be-
tween south and east.
H. o. Pertaining to the southeast ; proceed-
ing from or directed toward that point ; south-
eastern .
Abljreviated S. E.
southeast (south'esf), <"'»'• [See southeast, n.]
Toward or from the southeast.
The liij gate ot thjrs Temple y» with owt the Cltjre,
Sutheai towards the Mownte dyon.
ToTkingUm, DUrle of Eng. Travell, p. 71.
southeaster (south'es'tir), n. [< southeast +
-eri.] A wind, gale, or storm from the south-
east.
southeasterly (south'es't^r-li), a. [< southeast,
after xtsterbi, «.] Situated in or going toward or
arriving from the .southeast, or the general di-
rection of southeast: as, a southeasterly course;
a southeasUrly wind.
southeasterly (south'es't^r-li), adv. [< south-
eautirlij, ((.] Toward or from the southeast, or
a gi'iKiiil southeast direction.
southeastern (south'es'tfem), o. [< southeast,
after i astern. The AS. 'suUtedstern is not au-
thciiticuted.] Pertaining to or being in the
soutlieast. or in the general direction of the
southeast. Abbreviated S. S.
southeastward (south'esf w&rd), adv. [< south-
east + -aaril.] Toward the southeast.
A glacial movement aoutheattward from the Sperrin
monntains of Londonderry. Quari. Jour. OttH. Soe,
southeastwardly (south'esf wiird-li), adv. [<
soutlicaslward + ■ly'^.'i Same as southeastward.
[Bare.]
The Big Horn (here called Wind rirer) flows HAdStiut-
ttanUy to long. 108* 30', through a narrow bottom lantt
dor. RepoH on Mia. Kioer, 1861 (reprinted 1876), p. 43.
souther' (sou'Tn^-r), «. [< south + -eri.] A
wind. Kiile, or storm from the south,
souther' (sou'TUiT), r. i. [< souther^, «.] To
turn or veer toward the south : said of the wind
or a vane.
On chance of the wind toulherinff.
rAf Fidd, Sept 26, 1886. (£hcye. Diet.)
souther- (sou'»H6r), n. A Scotch form of sol-
ilfr.
southerlng (suTH'6r-ing), a. [< souther^, v., +
-ing^.] Turning or turned toward the south;
having a southern exposure. [Rare.]
The mmtheritM side of a fair hill.
Wmtam MorrU, Earthly Paradise, UL 201.
SOUtherland (■suTii'^-r-land), n. [Imitative: see
siiiitli-xuiiflirrh/.] Same a,a south-southerly.
80Utherline8S(8UTii'er-li-ne8), n. The state or
roijilition of being southerly.
southerly (suTn'^r-li). a. and n. [< souther{n)
+ -ly'^. Cf. southly.] I. a. 1. Lying in the south
or in a direction nearly south : as, a southerly
point. — 2. Proceeding from the south or a
point nearly south.
I am but mad north-north-weat ; when the wind is
Kmtherty I know a hawk from a handsaw.
Shak., Hamlet, iL 2. 397.
H. ». Same as south-southerly.
southerly (suTH'6r-li), adv. [< southerly, o.]
Toward the south.
5787
But, more goulkeriy. the Banes next year after [A. D. 846]
met with some stop in the full course of thir outragious
insolences. Milton, Hist. Eng., v.
SOUthermost(suTH'6r-m6st),a. *i«peH. [isouth-
er{n) -t- -most.] Same as southernmost.
Towards the south .4. dayes loumey is Sequotan, the
southermogt part of Wingandacoa.
Quoted in Copt. John Smitli's 'Woiks, I. 85.
southern (suTH'^rn), a. and «. [< ME. south-
erne, sou-therne, sothern, sutherne, also, in forms
due rather to the Icel., southeron, southren, soth-
roun, suthroun (see southron), < AS. sutherne =:
OFries. suihern, sudern = MLG. sudern = Icel.
sudhrienn = OHG. sundroni, MHG. sundern,
southern; < siiih, south, -t- -erne, an obscured
term, appearing most clearly in the OHG. form
-roni (ult. < rinnan, run: see r«nl). Cf. north-
ern, eastern, western. Doublet of southron.] I.
a. 1. Of or pertaining to the south, or a region,
place, or point which is nearer the south than
some other region, place, or point indicated;
situated in the south ; specifically, in the United
States, belonging to those States or that part
of the Union called the South (see south, n., 3).
Abbreviated S.
All your northern castles yielded up,
And all your gouthem gentlemen in arms.
SAo*., Rich. II.,iil. 2. 202.
2. Directed or leading toward the south or a
point near it: as, to steer a southern course. —
3. Coming from the south; southerly: as, a
southern breeze.
Men's bodies are heavier and less disposed to motion
when touthem winds blow than when northern.
Bacon, -Nat. Hist., 8 381.
Like frost-work touch'd by soutlirrn gales.
Bums, Lineluden Abbey.
Sout&em buckthorn. See buckthorn and Buinetia. —
Boutbem cavy. See cory. - Southern chub. See
Mieroptenu, 1.— Southern Confederacy. Same as Con-
/edtraU State* o/ America (which see, under coi\federate).
—Southern Cross. Same as Cnu, 2. — Southern
Crown. See Cfrruna Auttrolit, under corojwi.— South-
em fox-grape. See grapei, 2, and gcuppernomj.—
Southern hemisphere. See A^mi'itpA^re.— Southern
pine. See ;>iij<'i.— Southern red lily. See tHy, l. —
Southern States. See slate.
II. H. A native or an inhabitant of the south,
of a southern country, or of the southern part
of a country. Compare xo«(/iron.
Both Southern fierce and hardy Scot.
ScoU, Lord of the IBle^ tL 26.
When, therefore, these Soulherm brought ChrlsHanity
Into the North, they found existing there these pagan
sacriflcial unions. Engliih QUdt (E. E. T. S.), p. Ixxili.
southern (suTH'tm), v. i. [< southern, a.]
Same as south, 1, or souther^. [Bare.]
The wind having mnUhemed somewhat
The Field, Sept 4, 1886. (Eneyc Diet.)
southerner (suTH'6r-nfr), n. [< southern +
-tri.] An inhabitant or a native of the south;
a southern or southron ; specifically, an in-
habitant of the southern United States.
The Smtthemert htd every guaranty they could desire
that they should not be Interfered with at home.
J. F. Clarke, N. A. Rev., CXX. 85.
SOUthemism (suTH'^m-izm), ». [< southern
+ -ism.] A word or form of expression pecu-
liar to the south, and specifically to the south-
ern United States.
A long list of Southernitmt was mentioned.
The American, VI. 287.
SOUthemize (suTH'fem-iz), v.; pret. and pp.
southerniied, ppr. southernizing. [< southern +
-ire.] I, trans. To render southern ; imbue
with the characteristics or qualities of one who
or that which is southern.
The aouthemixing tendencies of the scribe are well-
known, from the numerous other pieces which he has
written out; whilst the more northern forms found must
be original, . . . alliterative poems twing generally in a
northern or western dialect
Pref. to Joeeph of Arimathie (E. E. T. 8.), p. il.
n, intrans. To become southern, or like that
which is southern,
southemlinesst (suTn'im-li-nes), n. The state
of iM'iiii,' sdutlicriily.
southemlyt (suTn'tm-li), adv. [< southern +
-/(/'-'.] Toward the south ; southerly,
southernmost (suTH'^rn-most), a. superl. K
southern -t- -most.] Furthest toward the south.
Avignon was my Muthemmoet limit ; after which I was
to turn round and proceed back to England.
U. Jamet, Jr., Little Tour, p. 212.
southernwood (suTu'tm-wud), n. [< ME.
southeme wode, smctherne woode, sotherwode,
sutherwude, < AS. sutherne wudu, sutherne wude,
southernwood, Artemisia Ahrotanum : see south-
ern and wood^.] A shrubby-stemmed species
of wormwood, Artemisia Abrotanum, found wild
southward
in southern Europe, especially in Spain, but of
somewhat uncertain origin, it is cultivated in gar-
dens for its pleasantly scented, finely dissected leaves.
Also called Md-man, and, provincially, slovenwood, lad's-
love, boy'g-love, etc. The name has been extended to allied
species. See abrotanum.
Her [Envy's] hood
Was Peacocks feathers mixt with Soutbenvtcood.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii.. The Lawe.
Tatarlan southernwood. Same as santonica, 1.
southing (sou'THing), H. [Verbal n. of south,
v.] 1. Tendency or motion to the south. — 2.
In astron., the transit of the moon or a star
across the meridian of a place. — 3. In nav., the
diflference of latitude made by a ship in sailing
to the southward.
We had yet ten degrees more southing to make.
£. H. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 353.
southland (south'land), n. and a. [< ME. suth-
lond ; < south -(- land.] I. n. A land in the
south ; the south.
H. a. Of or pertaining to the south or a land
in the south.
SOUthly (south'li), adv. [= D. zuidelijk = G.
siidlicii = Sw. Dan. sydlig ; as south + -ly"^.]
Toward the south ; southerly.
southmost (south'raost), a. superl. [< south +
-most.] Furthest toward the south.
From Aroer to Nebo, and the wild
Of touthmoti Abarim. Milton, P. L., L 408.
SOUthness (south'nes), n. [(.south + -ness.] A
tendency of a magnetic needle to point toward
the south. [Rare.]
southron (suTH'ron), a. and n. [A form, now
only provincial, archaic, or affected, of south-
ern : see southern.] I. a. Southern. Specifically—
(o) Pertaining or belonging to southern Britain ; English :
usually in dislike or contempt. [Scotch.]
While back recoiling seem'd to reel
Their southron foes. Bums, The Vision, i.
(6) Pertaining or belonging to the southern United States.
[An all ected use. )
II. n. A native or an inhabitant of a southern
country, or of the southern part of a country.
Spcciflcally — (a) A native of south Britain ; an English-
man : usually in dislike or contempt [Scotch.]
"Thir landls are mine ! " the Outlaw said;
" I ken nae king in Christentie ;
Frae Soudron I this foreste wan,
When the King nor his knightis were not to see."
Sang qfthe OuUaw Murray (Child's Ballads, VI. 26).
(5) A native or an Inhabitant of the southern States of the
American Union. [An affected use.)
"Squatter Sovereignty" . . . was regarded with special
loathing by many Southrons.
U. Greeley, Amer. Conflict, I. S24.
BOnthroniet, «• V- southron -I- -ie, -yS.] The
southrons collectively. [Scotch.]
He says, yon forest Is his awin ;
He wan it frae the Southronie ;
Sae as he wan it, sae will he keep it
Contrair all kingis in christentie.
Sang of the Outlaw Murray (Child's Ballads, VI. 28.
southsayt, southsayert. Old spellings of sooth-
say, soothsayer.
south-seeking (south'se^king), a. Moving or
turning toward the south, as the south end of
a miignetic needle. See magnet.
south-southerly (south'suTH'^r-H), w. [An
imitative name ; also south-south-southerly, soti'-
southerly, sou' -sou' -southerly, southerly, souther-
land, and with fanciful changes, as John Con-
nolly, Unele Uuldy, my aunt Uuldy, etc.] The
long-tailed duck, Harelda glacialis: same as old-
tcife, 1 . The name, in all Its variations, seems to be sug-
gested by the limpid piping notes of the bird, almost to be
called a song. On the same account this duck has been
called .-1 nas cantans, and also placed in a genus Melonetta.
Sec ciitH un.ler Harelda and olduife.
southward (south'wiird or suTH'iird), adv. [<
ME. suthward, southicard,<. AS. suihweard, sUthe-
weard, also suthanweard (= OFries. sudwirth =
MLG. sudewert, sudewart = Sw. sydvart), south-
ward, < suth, south, + -weard, E. -ward. Cf.
southwards.] Toward the south ; toward a point
nearer the south than the east or the west.
Also southwards.
If it were at liberty, 't would, sure, southward, ... to
lose iUelt In a fog. Shak., Cor., il. 3. 32.
Southward with fleet of ice
Sailed the corsair Death.
Long/eUow, Sir Humphrey Gilbert
southward (south' wSrd or suTH'ard), a. and m.
[< southward, adv.]" I. a. Lying or situated
toward the south ; directed or leading toward
the south.
The sun looking with a southward eye upon him.
Shalt., W. T., iv. 4. 819.
n. n. The southern part; the south; the
south end or side.
Countries are more fruitful to the southward than in
the northern parts. Raleigh, Hist World.
southwardly
SOathwardly (sovith'wiird-li or suTH'ard-Ii), a.
[< .•^Diillurord + -/j^.] Having a southern di-
rection or situation.
southwardly (south'ward-li or suTH'ard-li),
fl</i'. [< sottthicard + -li/-.'] In a southward
direction; in the general direction of the south.
Whether they mean to go southwardly or up the river,
no leading circumsUnce has yet decided.
Jeffrton, To the President of Congress (Correspondence,
(I. 217).
southwards (south'wSrdz or suTH'ai-dz), adr.
[< ME. *southtcardes,<. AS. sutJtweiirdes (= D.
zuidiraarts = G. siidwdrta = Sw. sydrarts, si/d-
rnrts) : Tvith adv. gen. suffix, < siithweard, soutli-
ward : see southirard, adr.'] Same as soutliward.
southwest (south'wesf), «• and a. [< ME.
soictliewest, < AS. siitkicest, to the southwest,
suthanwestan, from the southwest (= D. zuid-
ic:st = Q. ftiidirest = Sw. Dan. sydvest) ; used as
a noun only as south, north, east, west were
soused; < suth, south, + west, west: see south
and ircs^] I. w. 1. That point on the horizon
■between south and west which is equally dis-
tant from them. — 2. A wind blowing from the
southwest. [Poetical.]
The southwest that, blowing Bala lake.
Fills all the sacred Dee. Tennyson, Geraint.
3. [pop.] With the definite article, the south-
western regions of the United States : in this
phrase are often included the States of Loiiisi-
ana, Arkansas, Missouri, and Texas, the Terri-
tories of Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma,
and the Indian Territory. [U. S.]
II. a. 1. Pertaining to the point midway be-
tween south and west, or lying in that direction.
He could distinguish and divide
A hair 'twixt south and south-west side.
S. Butler, Hudibras, I. i. 68.
2. Proceeding from the southwest: aa,a,south-
icest wind.— Southwest cap. Same as southwester, 2.
Abbreviated S. tf'.
southwest (south'wesf), adv. [< southwest, «.]
To or from the southwest: as, the ship proceed-
ed southwest; the wind blew southwest.
SOUthwester (south'wes'tfer), n. [< southwest
+ -frl.] 1. Asouthwest wind, gale, or storm.
— 2. A hat of water-proof material, of which
the brim is made very broad behind, so as to
protect the neck from rain: usually sou'wester.
We were glad to. get a watch below, and put on our
thick clothing, boots, and southwe^ters.
R. H. Dana, Jir., Before the Mast, p. 26.
southwesterly (south'wes'ter-li), a. [< south-
west, after westerly. 2 1. Situated or directed
toward the southwest. — 2. Coming from the
southwest or a point near it: as, a southwesterly
wind.
southwesterly (south'wes'ter-li), a<ii'. [< south-
westerly, «.] In a southwesterly direction.
The party now headed southwesterly for the Siberian
coast. The American, VII. 168.
southwestern (south'wes'tfern), a. [<ME.soM(A-
western, < AS. suth-western : see southwest and
western.] 1. Pertaining to or situated in the
southwest. — 2. In the direction of southwest
or nearly so: as, to sail a southwestern course.
— 3. From the direction of the southwest or
nearly so: as, a southwestern wind.
BOUthwestward (south 'west' ward), a. and adv.
[< southwest + -ward.] Toward the southwest.
SOUthwestwardly (south'west'ward-li), adv.
[< southwestward + -ly^.] Southwestward.
[Rare.]
soutien (F. pron. 86-tian'), n. [OF., < soutenir,
sustain: see sustain.] In /ler., a supporter: es-
pecially applied to an inanimate object to which
the shield is secured: thus, two trees sometimes
support the shield by means of its guige.
souvenancet, «• [Early mod. E. sovenaunce, <
OP. sovenance, < souvenir, remember : see sou-
venir.] Remembrance.
Life will I graunt thee for thy valiaunce.
And all thy wronges will wipe out of my sovenaunce.
Spenser, F. Q., II. viii. 51.
souvenir (so-ve-ner'), n. [< F. souvenir, a re-
membrance, < souvenir, remember, < L. suhve-
nire, come up to one's aid, occur to one's mind,
< sub-, under, + venire = E. come.] That which
reminds one, or revives one's recollection, of
an event, a person, a place, etc. ; a remembran-
cer; a reminder; a keepsake: as, a soKWHJr of
Mount Vernon ; a souvenir of a marriage or a
visit.
Across Sieur George's crown, leaving a long, bare streak
through his white hair, was the souvenir of a Mexican
sabre. O. W. CaUe, Old Creole Days, p. 10.
«=Byn. Memtnto, etc. See menwrial.
5788
sou'wester (sou'wes'tcr), n. A contraction of
SOUthwester.
SOV. An abbreviation of sovereign, a coin.
SOVeraignt, SOVeraint, a. and «. Obsolete spell-
ings of sovereign.
sovereign (suv'- or sov'e-ran), a. and n. [Early
mod. E. also soveraign','soveraigne, sovcrain; <
ME. sorerain, sovcraine, sovcrayne, sorcrein, sov-
ereyn, sovereyne, < OF. sovraiu, sorerain, suve-
rain, later souverain = Pi\ sobran — Sp. Pg.
soherano = It. sovrano, soprano, < ML. supera-
nus, supreme, principal, < L. super, above : see
super-. Cf. sovran, soprano, from the It. The
g is intrusive, prob. due to confusion with reign
(et.foreign). For the use as the nameforacoin,
cf. ducat, real^, noble, etc. The historical pron.
is suv'e-ran.] I. a. 1. Supreme; paramount;
commanding ; excellent.
Evereraoore he hadde a sovereyn prj'S.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 67.
A man of sovereiyn parts he is esteem 'd.
Shak.,L. L. L., ii. 1. 44.
Your leaders in France . . . came to look upon it [the
British constitution] with a soverei'jn contempt.
Burke, Rev. in France.
I stood on Brocken's sovran height, and saw
Woods crowding upon woods.
Coleridye, Lines written in an Album.
Life's soverei'jn moment is a battle won.
0. W. Holmes, The Banker's Dinner.
2. Supreme in power ; possessing supreme do-
minion ; not subject to any other ; hence, royal ;
princely.
Whan thise messageres hade here greting made.
Than the soueraynest seg saide of hem alle.
William of Palerne (E. E. T. S.), 1. 4932.
Let her be a principality,
Sovereign to all the creatures on the earth.
Shak., T. G. of v., ii. 4. 1S3.
It was the several States, or, what is the same thing,
their people, in their sovereign capacity, who ordained and
established the constitution. Calhoun, Works, 1. 130.
3. Efficacious in the highest degree; potent:
said especially of medicines.
For-thi loke thow louye [love] as longe as thow durest,
For is no science vnder Sonne so smiercyne for the soule.
Piers Ploutnan (B), x. 206.
And telling me the sovereiyn'st thing on earth
Was parmaceti for an inward bruise.
SAa*.,lHen. IV., i. 3. 57.
Sovereign state, a state possessing sovereign power, or
sovereignty. See sovereignty, 1 (d).
A «tate is called a sovereign State when this supreme
power resides within itself, whether resting in a single in-
dividual, or in a number of individuals, or in the whole
body of the people. Cooley, Const. Lira. (4th ed.), i.
II. «. 1. One who exercises supreme control
or dominion; a ruler, governor, chief, or mas-
ter; one to whom allegiance is due.
Lady and Sovereyn of alle othere Londes.
ilandeville, Travels, p. 1.
If your Soueraign be a Knight or Squyre, set downe your
Dishes couered, and your Cup also.
. Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 69.
The sovereign [of I'nderwald] is the whole county, the
sovereignty residing in the general assembly, where all
the males of fifteen have entry and suffrage.
J. Adains, Works, IV. 316.
Specifically — (ot) A husband; a lord and master.
The prestis they gone home ajen.
And sche goth to hire sovereyne.
Omcer, MS. Soc. Antiq. 134, f. 44. (Ualliwdl.)
(&t) A provost or mayor.
And whanne it drowe to the day of the dede doynge.
That sovereynes were semblid, and the schire knyatis.
Deposition of Rich. 11., p. 28. (Halliwell.)
(c) A monarch ; an emperor or empress ; a king or queen.
Sovereign of Egypt, hail ! Shak., A. and C, i. 5. 84.
And when three sovereigns died, could scarce be vex'd,
Considering what a gracious prince was next.
Pope, Epil. to Satires, i. 107.
3. A current English gold coin, the standard
of the coinage, worth £1 or 20 shillings (about
$4.86), and weighing 123,-|?i/ij grains troy. The
first English coin bearing this name was issued by Henry
VII., was current for .£1, and weighed 240 grains. Sovereigns
continued to be issued till the time of James 1. The origi-
nal sovereign bore the type of a seated figure of the king,
Henry VII. George III. revived the issue of the sovereign
Obverse. Reverse.
Sovereign, 1817.— British Museum. (Size of the original.)
in 1817, and the coin was then of the same weight as the
present sovereign of Queen Victoria. Double sovereigns
have been struck at various times, and half-sovereigns are
sovereignty
current coins. Abbreviated «0!i.— Sovereign's speech.
See speech from the throne, under speech. =SyiL 1. Kingr
etc. (see prince), potentate.
sovereign (suv'- or sov'e-ran), v. t. [< sover-
eign, n. ] To rule over as a sovereign ; exercise
sovereign authority over. [Rare.]
Unless her Majesty do sovereign them presently.
Roger Williams, To Walsingham, Atigust, ]58.'>, quoted in
[Motley's Hist. Netherlands, I. 333.
SOVereigness (suv'- or sov'e-ran-es), «. [For-
merly also .lorerainess ; < sovereign + -ess.] A
woman who is sovereign ; a queen. [Rare.]
Seas Soveraintess [read soverainess], Sleep-brlnger, Pilgrims
guide.
Peace-loving Queen.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's ^yeek8, i. 4.
SOVereignize (suv'- or sov'e-ran-iz), V. i. [<
sovereign + -ize.] To exercise supreme author-
ity. [Rare.]
Nlmrod was the first that sovereignized over men.
Sir T. Uerbert, Travels, p. 226.
sovereignly (suv'- or sov'e-ran-li), ndv. [Ear-
ly mod. E. also soveraignly ; < ME. sovereyne-
lychc; <. sovereign -b -ly^.] In a sovereign man-
ner or degree, (a) So as to exceed all others ; surpass-
ingly ; exceedingly ; chiefly ; especially.
But soveraignly dame Pertelote shrighte.
Chaucer, Nun's Priest's Tale, 1. .')42.
(b) Potently; effectually; efBcaciousIy. [Rare.]
Mrs. Bisket. How do the Waters agree with your Lady-
ship'^
Mrs. Woodly. Oh, Soveraignly.
Shadwell, Epsom Wells, i.
(c) With supremacy ; supremely ; as a sovereign.
The government resides sovereignly in the communities,
where everything is decided by the plurality of voices.
J. Adains, Works, IV. 323.
sovereignty (suv'- or sov'e-ran-ti), n.; pi. sover-
eignties (-tiz). [Early mod. fi. also soveraignty,
soverayntie, etc. ; < ME. sovcraygntye, sovereyne-
tee, souverainetee, sovereinte,<. OF. sovrainte, sou-
verainte, F. souverainte = It. sovranitd (cf. Sp.
Pg. soberania), < ML. as if *superanita{t-)s, <
superanus, supreme, sovereign: see sovereign.]
1. The state or character of being sovereign or
a sovereign.
So sitting high in dreaded soverayntie,
'Those two strange knights were to her presence brought.
Spenser, F. Q., V. ix. 34.
I think he'll be to Rome
As is the osprey to the fish, wlio takes it
By sovereignty of nature. Shak., Cor., iv. 7. 35.
Specifically— (at) Mastery ; control ; predominance.
Womraen desiren to have sovereynetee,
As wel over hir housbond as liir love.
Chaucer, Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 182.
I was born to command,
Train'd up in sovereignty.
Fletcher {and another!). Prophetess, iv. 3.
(&) The rule or sway of a monarch ; royal or imperial power.
Jovius Augustus ... let the true nature of his power
be seen, and, first among the Caesars, aiTayed himself with
the outward pomp of sovereignty.
E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 138.
(c) Supremacy or dominion; hegemony: applied to the
relation between a powerful state and other states or re-
gions: as, Rome's sorereif^nft/ over the East ; Great Britain
holds the sovereigiity ot the seas, (d) The supreme, abso-
lute, uncontrollable power by which any stale is govern-
ed (Cooley) ; the political authority, whether vested in a
&ii]gle individual or in a number of individuals, to order
and direct what is to be done by each individual in rela-
tion to the end and object of the state (Halleck). It is
essential to the modern conception of sovereignty that
it should be exclusive of any other human superior au-
thority, should be wielded by a detenninate person or
organization of persons, and should be on the whole ha-
bitually obeyed by the bulk of the community. Thus, in
the United States, sovereignty is vested in the body of
adult male citizens. The claim that each State — that is,
the adult male free citizens of each State — possessed a
separate sovereignty was one of the elements of contro-
versy involved in the civil war.
I state Austin's doctrine of Sovereignty in another way,
more popularly, though without, I think, any substantial
inaccuracy. It is as follows ; There is, in everj- indepen-
dent political community — that is, in every political com-
munity not in the habit of obedience to a superior above
itself — some single person or some combination of per-
sons which has the power of compelling the other mem-
bers of the community to do exactly as it pleases. This
single person or group — this individual or this collegiate
Sovereign . . .—may be found in every independent po-
litical community as certainly as the centre of gravity in
a mass of matter. If the community be violently or vol-
untarily divided into a number of separate fragments,
then, as soon as each fragment has settled down (perhaps
after an interval of anarchy) into a state of equilibrium,
the Sovereign will exist and with proper care will be dis-
coverable in each of the now independent portions. The
Sovereigntii over the North American Colonies of Great
Britain had its seat in one place before they became the
United States, in another place afterwards; but in both
cases there was a discoverable Sovereign somewhere. This
.Sovereign, this person or combination of persons, univer-
sally occurring in all independent political communities,
has in all such communities one characteristic common
to all the shapes Sovereignty may take, the possession of'
irresistible force, not necessarily exerted, but capable of
sovereignty
being exerted. . . , The Sovereign, if a single person, is
or should be called a Monarch ; if a small group, the name
ia au Oligarchy ; if a group of considerable dimensions,
an Aristocracy ; if very large and numerous, a Democracy.
Maine, Early Hist of Institutions, p. 349.
Much is said about the sovereignty of the States. , . .
What is 8otrrei'ji\ty in the political sense of the term?
Would it l>e far wrong to define it '■ a political community
without a political superior"? Tested by this, no one
State, except Texas, ever was a sovereignty.
Lincoln, in Raymond, p. 146.
The chief attributes of sovereignty with which the states
have parted are the coining of money, the carryirig of
mails, the imposing of tariff dues, the granting of patents
and copyrights, the declaration of war, and the mainte-
nance of a navy. J. Fiske, Amer. Pol. Ideas, p. 98.
(e) A state, community, or political unit possessing inde-
pendent power.
The late colonies had but recently become compactly
organized self-governing States, and were standing some-
what stiffly apart, a group of consequential sovereignties.
jealous to maintain their blood-bought prerogatives, and
quiclc to distrust any power set above them, or arrogating
to itself the control of their restive wills.
W. Wilson, Cong. Gov., L
(/t) Supremacy in excellence ; supreme excellence.
Fie, fie, unreverend tongue ! to call her bad
Whose sovereignty so oft thou hast preferr'd
With twenty thousand soul-conftrming oaths.
Shak., T. G. of V., U. 6. 15.
(g) ££Bcacy; especially, medicinal efficacy.
My father left me some prescriptions
Of rare and proved effects, such as his reading
And manifest experience had collected
For general sovereignty. Shak. , All's Well,'!. 3. 230.
Popular sovereignty. See j»p«Zar.— BovereJgnty of
God, in the'^l , <U»\ s absolute dominion over all created
things. — Squatter sovereignty. Same aa popular sov-
ereignty. [Colloq., U. S.J
This letter [Gen. Cass on Wilmot Proviso] is notable aa
the first clear enunciation of the doctrine termed Popular
(otherwise Squatter) Sovereignty — that is, of the lack of
legitimate power in the Federal Government to exclude
Slavery from its territories.
U. OreeUy, Amer. Conflict, I. 19a
SOTTan (suv'- or sov'ran), <i. and h. [A modi-
fied form of sorereign, in imitation of the It.
xorrano: see sovereign. It was first u.sed by
Milton, and has been affected by later poets.]
Same as sovereign.
Since he
Who now is Sorron can dispose and bid
What shall be right. MiUon, V. L., i. 246.
SO'Tranty (suv'- or sov'ran-ti), n. [A modified
form of sovereignty, in "imitation of sovran.l
Same as sovereignty.
God's gift to as of Kvranty.
Mrs. Browning, Dram* of Exile.
SOW^ (so), r. ; pret. soiced, pp. sown or sowed,
ppr. sowing. [< ME. sowen, souwen, saaen (pret.
sew, siew, seow, sewe, seu, pi. sewen, seowen, pp.
sonen, sowe, sawen), < AS. sdtean (pret. seiw,
pp. suwen) = OS. sdian, sehan = OFries. sea
= MD. saeyen, D. zaaijen = MLG. LG. saien =
OHG. sdjan, sateen, sden, MHG. sipjen, seen, G.
sden = tcel. sd = Sw. sti = Dan. saa = Goth.
saian, sow; cf. \V. Iiait, sow; OBulg. sieti, sieyati
= Serv. sij/ati = Bohem. siti = Russ. sieyaH =
Lith. sett = Lett, set z= \j. ■^ se, in severe (for
'sesere, redupl. pres., with simple perf. sevi, pp.
satus), sow; < y so, sow, orig. prob. cast, cf.
Skt. sasya, grain. Hence sower, seed, etc., and
(< L.) semen, seminary, seminate, disseminate,
etc., sative, sation, season, etc.] I. trans. 1.
To scatter, as seed upon the earth, for the pur-
pose of growth ; plant by strewing.
In my sanle thoa saite thl sede.
That I may, lorde, make myne auaunt.
PolUieat Poems, etc. (ed. Fnmivall), p. 107.
Whataoerer a man sotceOt, that shall he also reap.
Oal. vi. 7.
2. To scatter seed over for growth ; supply or
stock with seed.
It were a gode Contree to souvn lnn« Thrlslelle and
Brarcs and Broom and Thomes ; and for no other thing is
It not good. Mandeville, Travels, p. 130.
And the same band that sow'd shall reap the field.
Pope, MeasUb, I 60.
3. To scatter over; besprinkle; spangle: as,
a velvet pall sown with golden bees.
God . . . form'd the moon, . . .
And sow'd with stars the heaven, thick as a Held.
MiUon, P. U, Ta 358.
Another [cottage) wore
A close-set robe of Jasmine soum with stars.
Te>mysttn, Aylmer's Field.
4. To spread abroad; cause to extend; dis-
seminate; propagate: as, to «oif discord.
Why, nothing can he baser than to sour
Disseiition uinifiiKst Irjvers.
llrau ami Fl., Maid's Tragedy, ill. 1.
To have hemp-aeed sown for one. See hemp-seed.—
To SOW one's wild oats, see oat.
II. iiitrinm. To scatter seed for growth and
the production of a crop.
5789
They that sou? in tears shall reap in Joy. Ps. cxxvl. 5.
Peace was awhile their care. They plough'd and sow'd.
Coicper, Task, v. 202.
SOW^ (sou), n. and a. [< ME. sowe, sotiwe, since,
soghc, < AS. sugu, contracted su, = MD. sogli,
soegli, D. zog, zeug = MLG. soge, LG. siige,
siige = OHG. MHG. su, G. sau = leel. syr =
Sw. sugga, so = Dan. so = W. htcch (> E. hog^,
q. V.) = Ir. suig = L. sus = Gr. vc, avg, a sow,
swine, = Zend hu, a boar; prob. so called from
its prolific nature, < ■/ su (Skt. ■/ su), generate,
produce: see so«l. See swine, suine, soiP, hog"^.
In the sense of ' a large mass of metal,' see
pig'^.'] I. n, 1. An adult female hog; the fe-
male of swine.
This sow had halfe her body covered with hard bristly
haire as other Pigges. Coryat, Crudities, I. 113.
2. A sow-bug.
Also geve hym of these sowes that crepe with many
fete, and falle oute of howce rovys. Also geve hym whyte
wormes that breede betwene the barke and the tre.
MS. Lambeth 30«, f. 177. (BatliweU.)
Some of the Oniscidse are land animals, and are known
aa hog-lice, sows, etc. Pamoe, Zool. Class., p. 84.
3. In metal., the metal which has solidified in
the common channel or feeder through which
the molten iron flows from the blast-furnace
into a series of parallel grooves or furrows,
which are the "pigs" appertaining to the sow,
and the iron from which bears the name of pig-
iron, or simply jjiVjr.- used also of other metals.
It is the manner (right woorshipfull) of such as seeke
profit by miuerall, first to set men on woorke to digge and
gather the owre ; then by Are to trie out the metall, and to
cast it into certeine rude lumpes, which they call sowze.
Lambarde, Perambulation (ed. 1596), Pref. (HaUiwett.)
For the strengthening of his nerves or sinews, they
made him two great sotos of lead, each of them weighing
eight thousand and seven hundred quintals. . . . Those
he took up from the ground, in each hand one.
Urquhart, tr. of Kabelais, 1. 23.
4t. A military engine consisting of a movable
roof arranged to protect men handling a batter-
ing-ram. Compare rinea, also eat and cat-castle.
— Old sow. See iM.—To have, take, or get the right
(or wrong) sow by the ear, to pitch upon tlie right (or
wrong) person or thing ; come to the light (or wrong) con-
claaion. [Low.]
Be has the wrong tow by the ear, V faith ; and clapa his
dish at the wrong man's door.
B. Jonson, Every Man in his Bamoar, iL 1.
Yon have a vrong sow by the ear.
S. Butler, Budibraa, II. lU. 580.
n. a. Female : applied to fish : as, a sow hake.
See sow fish, under /«/ii.
SOW-'t, ''• All obsolete spelling of seiel.
sowa (so'a), n. See soya.
SOWans (so'anz), n. pi. Same as sowens.
sowar (so-af"), n. [Also suwar; < Hind, sawdr,
< Pers. sawdr, a horseman.] A horse-soldier;
especially, a native cavalry soldier in the Brit-
ish-Indian army, often in tlie sense of an orderly
or mounted attendant or guard.
In the cavalry of the Madras army the horses are pro-
vided by Government, but In that of Bengal and Bombay
the trooper, or sotcar, as he Is designated in India, llnds
himself In everything except his arms.
y. A. Rev., C.XXVII. 145.
sowback (sou'bak), n. A low ridge of sand or
gravel; a hogback or horseback; a kame; a
drum or drumlin.
The long parallel ridges, or " smpbaeks'* and "drums,"
as they are termed, . . . invariably coincide in direction
with the valleys or straths in which they lie.
J. Oeikie, Great Ice Age, p. 17.
SOWbane (sou'ban), n. The maple-leaved goose-
foot, Chenopodium hyhridum, regarded as fatal
to swine. Also called liog'-i-haiie.
sow-belly (sou'bel'i), n. Salt pork; salt-horse;
salt-junk : used by fishermen, whalers, sailors,
and soldiers. [Low^.] — sow-bellyhake. Seehake^.
sowbread (sou'bred), «. A plant of the genus
Ci/cUimen, particularly C. Europieum. The species
are low stemless herbs sending up leaves and scapes from
corms which are sometimes very large, and, where native,
are sought after by swine. The flowers are rose-colored,
pink, or white, nodding, the divisions of the corolla re-
flexed, and are cultivated for ornament, the best-known
species being C. Europsnnn, hardy in southern Europe and
England, and the more tender and showy C. Persicum.
sow-bug (sou'bug), «. A hog-louse ; a pill-bug;
a sow ; any terrestrial isopod of the family Onis-
ddse, as Oniscus asellus. Some sow-bugs can
roll themselves up into a ball like a tiny arma-
dillo. See »oic2, n., 2, and cut under Oniscus.
SOWCet. An obsolete form of soused, souse^.
SOWdant, ". An obsolete variant of sultan.
(Ii'iiirrr.
sowdanesset, sowdannesset, n. Obsolete va-
riants of nultiDir.i.i.
sow-drunk (sou'dmngk), a. Drunk as a sow;
beastly drunk. [Prov. Eng.]
sow-thistle
So& sowdroonk that tha doesn not touch thy 'at to the
Squire. Tennyson, Northern Cobbler.
SOWdwortt, ». An obsolete form of saltwort
{Sahola Kali): also applied to the columbine,
Aquilegia vulgaris.
sowel, n. Same as soitl^.
sowens (so'enz), n. pi. [Also sowans, sowins;
origin obscure; ct.sew^.'i 1. A nutritious article
of food made from the farina remaining among
the husks of oats, much used in Scotland and
formerly in Northumberland. The husks (called in
Scotland seeds or sids), after being separated from the oat-
meal by the sieve, still retain a considerable portion of
farinaceous matter. A quantity of the husks is steeped in
water till the farinaceous matter is dissolved, and until
the liquid has become sour. The whole is then put into
a sieve, which allows the milky liquid to pass through into
a barrel or other vessel, but retains the husks. The starchy
matter gradually subsides to the bottom of the barrel. The
sour liquor is then decanted off, fresh water is stirred into
the deposit that is left, and the mixture, when boiled,
forms sowens. In England it is more commonly called
flummery. The singular form soy}e7i is used attributively
or in compounds : as, a sowen-tnh.
These sowins, that is, flummery, being blended together,
produce good yeast. Mortimer, Husbandry.
As if it were any matter . . . whether a pleughman had
suppit on minched pies or sour sourens.
SeoU, Old Mortality, viL
2. A kind of paste employed by weavers for
stiffening their yam in working.
[Scotch and prov. Eng. in both senses.]
SOWerl (s6'6r), 71. [< ME. sower, sawere, < AS.
sdwere, a sower, < sdwan, sow: see sotel.] 1.
One who sows or scatters seed.
Behold, a sower went forth to sow. Mat xiii. 3.
2. That which sows seed ; a sowing-machine.
— 3. One who scatters or spreads ; a dissemi-
nator; a breeder; a promoter.
They are the sowers of suits, which make the court
swell, and the country pine. Bacon.
Terming Paul .
trifler.
a sower of words, a very babbler or
HakewiU.
sower 2t, n. An obsolete spelling of sewer^.
SOWer^'t, a. An obsolete spelling of soKrl.
sow-fennel (sou'fen''el), n. See fennel.
SOW-gelder (sou'geKdfer), n. One who spays
sows.
First, he that led the cavalcate
Wore a sow-gelder's flagellate [horn].
S. Buaer, Hudibras, II. IL 6ia
SOWlet (sou'i), n. Same as sow^, 4.
They laid their sowies to the wall.
Auld Maitland (Child's Ballads, VI. 222>
sowing (so'ing), n. [Verbal n. of soiol, ».] X.
The act of one who sows or scatters seed. — 2,
That which is sowed.
You could not keep the birds out of the garden, try how
you would. They had most of the souings up.
The Century, XXXVI. 816.
sowing-machine (so'ing-ma-shen"), n. In
agri. : (o) A hand or horse-power seed-plant-
ing machine, (b) A broadcast sower. The hand-
machines consist of a simple mechanism turned by a
crank, which scatters the seed in a cloud in every direc-
tion. It is carried in one hand and operated by the other.
sowins (so'inz), n.pl. See soweus.
sowkert, »• -An obsolete form of sucker.
sowlt, sowle^t. Obsolete forms of soul^, soleO.
sowie-, ». Same as souP.
sowm, n. and v. See soum,
SOWn"^ (son). A past participle of sow^.
sown'-^t, sownet, «. and r. Obsolete forms of
.voKn(/5.
SOWn^t, »• and r. An obsolete form of sicoon.
SOWpt, n. An obsolete form of soup^.
sowset. An obsolete spelling of souse^, souse^.
SOWSkin (sou'skin), n. See hogskin.
SOWStert, «• Same as sewstcr. HalliweU.
SOWteget, «. See soutage.
SOWtert, SOWterlyt. Obsolete forms of souter,
souterly.
SOWthif, "■ and a. An obsolete spelling ot south.
SOWth^ (south), V. [Appar. a var. of souch,
«o«(//|l.] I. «»itran«. To whistle softly. [Scotch.]
II. trans. To try over, as a tune, with a low
whistle. [Scotch.]
On braes when we please, then.
We'll sit an' sowth a tune; , . .
An' sing 't when we ha'e dune.
Bums, First Epistle to Davie,
sowther, v. Same as souther^. HalliweU.
sow-thistle (sou'this'l), «. [< ME. sowthystell,
< AS. sugethistel, < sugu, sow, + thistel, thistle.
In ME. also called swines thistell.'] A plant of
the genus Smichus, primarily S. olcracevs, a weed
of waste places, probably native in Europe and
central Asia, but now diffused nearly all over
the world. It Is a smooth herb with a milky Juice, bear-
ing ninclnate-pinnatifld leaves and rather small yellow
flower-heads. A similar plant, but with less divided spiny
Sow-thistle (Sonckus oleraceus).
I, upper part of the stem with the heads;
2, one of the l>as.'il leaves ; a, a flower ; d,
the achene with the pappus.
sow-thistle
iMvea, Is S. atper. A much more showy species is S.
urxenxit, with larger and brighter heads. These are all
naturalized in the
Vnited States, the
last less abundantly.
The name has been
extendeil to species
of the allied genus
Laetuea.
soy (soi), n. [Al-
so sooja; =r F.
soy, soiii = Q. Sw,
Dan. soja (NL.
soja,so!/a); < Jap.
si-yan, Chinese
shi-yu, soy.] 1.
A kind of sauce
prepared in the
East from the
soy-bean (see def .
2). It is eaten with
flsh, cold meat, etc.
There are two or
three qualities of soy,
but the Japanese soy
is reckoned the best.
I have been told
that my is made with
a fishy composition,
and it seems most
likely by the Taste ;
tho' a (rentleman of my Acquaintance who was very in-
timate with one that sailed often from Tonquin to Japan,
from whence true Soi/ comes, told me that it was made
only with Wheat and a sort of Beans mixt with Water and
Salt Dmnpier, Voyages, II. 28.
From travellers accustom'd from a boy
To eat their salmon, at the least, with soy.
Byron, Beppo, vii.
2. The soy-bean or -pea, Glycine Soja (Soja his-
pidn, etc.). it is an annual leguminous plantwith stout
nearly erect or somewhat climbing stems covered with
rusty hairs, bearing trifoliate leaves and from their axils
two or three pods IJ or 2 inches long. The seeds are
made into the above sauce and variously used in cookery ;
an oil is also expressed from them, and the residue is ex-
tensively used in China for feeding cattle and as a fertil-
izer. The plant is native from northern India to Japan.
The cultivated plant differs somewhat from the wild, and
by some authors is distinguished as Glycine hispida. Also
Sahuca bean.
SOya(soi'a), n. [< Hind. «oi/a, soa, fennel.] Dill.
Also sowa.
soy-bean (soi'ben), «. See soy, 2.
soylet. An obsolete spelling of soiU, soil^,
siiil^.
Soymida (soi'mi-da), «. [NL. (Adrien de Jus-
sieu, 1830), from tte Telugu name.] A genus
of polypetalous plants, of the order Meliacex
and tribe Swieteniese. it is characterized by flowers
with five petals, united stamens forming a short ten-
lobed tube or cup, the lobes two-toothed, with sessile
anthers between the teeth, and an ovoid flve-celled ovary
which ripens into a woody septifi-agal capsule with com-
pressed and winged seeds destitute of albumen. The only
species, S. febrifuifa, is a native of the East Indies, where
it is known as rohan (or rohun) and redwood. (See also
rohun-bark (under bark-) and iuribali.) It is a tall tree
with bitter bark and hard wood, bearing abruptly pinnate
leaves with obtuse opposite leaflets, and flowers in axillary
and terminal panicles.
soy-pea (soi'pe), n. See soy, 2.
Sozobrancliia (so-zo-brang'ki-jl), n. pi. [NL.,
< Gr. au'^eiv, save, keep, -I- 'Sh. branchia, gills:
see branchiie.'\ A group of urodele amphibians
which do not lose the gills or tail. See Peren-
nibranchiata.
BOZObranchiate (so-zo-brang'ki-at), a. [< NL.
so:obraiichiatiis, <Gr. ad^eiv, save, keep, + NL.
branchiatus : see branchiate.'] Preserving the
gills, as a urodele amphibian ; perennibran-
chiate.
SoZTira (so-zii'ra), n. pi. [NL., neut. pi. of so-
zurus: see sozurous.] Urodele (or tailed) gill-
less batrachians, or those batraehians which
lose the gills, but not the tail, when adult.
They are a higher group than the Sombranchia, both be-
ing together contrasted with the Anura or tailless ba-
trachians.
sozurous (so-zu'rus), a. [< NL. sozurus, < Gr.
cu^tiv, save, keep, + ovpa, tail.] Retaining the
tail ; pertaining to the Sozura, or having their
characters.
BOZZle (soz'l), V. t. ; pret. and pp. sozzled, ppr.
Bozzling. [A var. of sossle.] 1. To mingle
confusedly. [Prov. Eng.] — 2. To spill or wet
through carelessness. — 3. To splash. [U. S.]
A sandpiper glided along the shore ; she ran after it, but
could not catch it ; she sat down and sozzled her feet in
the foam. S. Judd, Margaret, p. 8.
SOZZle (soz'l), n. [< sozzle, t'.] A state of
sloppy disorder. [U. S.]
The woman, who in despite of poverty and every dis-
couragement had always hated, to the very roots of her
hair, anything like what slie called a sozzle — who liad al-
ways been screwed up and sharp set to hard work.
Mrs. Whitney, Leslie Goldthwaite, vii.
5790
SOZZly (soz'li), n. [< sozzle + -y'':'] Sloppy;
draggled; mentally flabby; shiftless. [New
Eng.l
Folks grows helplesser all the time, and the help grows
sixcAier; and it comes to sauciness . . . and changes.
Mrs. Whitney, The Other Girls, xiii.
Sp. An abbreviation of Spanish.
Sp. An abbreviation: (a) in phar., ot spiritus,
spirit; (6) in bot., of species, specimen; (f) in
zoiil., of species only: when two or more spe-
cies are meant, spp. is used.
8. p. An abbreviation of sine prole, without
issue.
spa (spa or 8p4), n. [Formerly also spaw; < Spa,
or Spaa, in the eastern part of Belgium, where
there are mineral springs.] A mineral spring,
or the locality in which such springs exist.
Past cure of physic, spaw, or any diet.
Beau, and Ft., Scornful Lady, iii. 2.
Never knew her better;
the German Spd.
she has been as healthy as
Sheridan, liivals, ii. 1.
spaadt (spad), n. [< D. spaath = F. spath = Sp.
espato = Pg. espatho = It. spato, < MHG. spat,
G. spat, spath, friable stone, splinter, spar; ori-
gin unknown. Cf. feldspath.] A kind of min-
eral; spar.
English talc, of which the coarser sort is called plais-
ter, the finer, spoad, earth-flax, or salamander's hair.
Woodward. (Johnson.)
space (spas), ». [< ME. space, < OF. (and F.)
cspace = Pr. espaci = Sp. espacio = Pg. espago
= It. spazio, < L. spatium, room, space, distance,
interval, a public walk, etc., lit. 'that which is
drawn out,' < •/ spa, draw out; cf. Gr. oTrav,
draw, draw out, Skt. ■\/ sphd, fatten. Cf . span^,
spade^.'] 1. The general receptacle of things ;
room, (o) as a character of the universe, (6)
as a cognition or psychological phenomenon,
(c) as a mathematical system. That which is real
about space is that the manifoldness of the universe is
subject to certain general laws or limitations. In this re-
spect it is like any other uniformity of nature ; it is pecu-
liar only in the peculiar way in whicli we view it — name-
ly, in tills, that instead of thinking it, as we do other laws,
as abstract and general, we seem to see it, we individual-
ize it and its parts. This peculiarity does not, however,
constitute the cognition of space as entirely sid generis,
for there is a tendency to individualize other laws. The
conception of space is formed, or at least connected with
objects, by means of the so-called local signs, by which
the excitation of one nerve-terminal is distinguishable
from a similar excitation of another, and which are analo-
gous to the signs by which we distinguish present expe-
riences from memories, imaginations, and expectations.
These local signs are also the origin of our idea of indi-
viduality ; so that it is not strange that this mode of be-
ing becomes attributed not merely to moving objects, but
to the space and time that constitute the law of motion.
The celebrated doctrine of Kant was tliat space is a form
of pure intuition — that is, is an idea imported by the mind
into cognition, and corresponding to nothing in the things
in themselves (though he did not hold that special spatial
relations were altogether illusory) — just as color is a qual-
ity of sensation which in its generality corresponds to
nothing in the object, though differences of color corre-
spond todifferences in objects. That this intuition of space
is individual, not general, and that no outward intuition is
possil)le except under this form, were points also insisted
upon by Kant, At present there are, broadly speaking,
two views of space-perception. One is the great doctrine
of Berkeley — worked out in different directions by J. S,
Mill, Helmholtz, Lotze, Wundt, and others ~ that the idea
of space is evoked under the combined influence of reti-
nal sensations and of muscular sensations of motion, in a
manner analogous to that by which the laws of dynamics
have been evolved from experience. This is the theory
which, under one modification or another, is held by almost
all modern scientific psychologists. Some competent
writers, however, oppose this, holding that "all our sen-
sations are positively and inexplicably extensive wholes."
This opinion conflicts with the usual one only in so far as
it clings to the inexplicability and irrationality of space.
The vulgar conception of space as a sort of thing or sub-
stance of adifferent category from material things, through
which the latter move without sensible resistance, is ac-
ceptable to mathematicians, who find that such a construc-
tion lends itself remarkably to their diagrammatic reason-
ing. For the geometer, space is primarily a system of points
having the following properties : (1) It is continuous.
See continuity, 2. (2) It is unlimited, whether the part
at a finite distance from a given point be limited or not,
(3) It has three dimensions — that is, a set of three num-
bers varying continuously may be placed in continuous
one-to-one correspondence with the points of space. By
a continuous correspondence is meant one in which a
continuous variation in one member will correspond in
evei-ycase to a continuous variation in the other. (4) All
the points of space have perfectly similar spatial relations,
(5) It is possit)le for a rigid body to move in space, and
such a body is fixed by the fixation of three points, but
not fewer, (6) Any figure may be magnified while pre-
serving the proportionality of all its lines. Geometers of-
ten imagine these properties to be modified. In particu-
lar, they use the hypothesis of a space of four or more di-
mensions. They also often suppose the principle of simi-
lar figures, or, what is the same thing, the doctrine of
parallels, to be false, thus producing what is known as the
non-Euclidean yemnetry. This is of various kinds.
Now to pure space lifts her ecstatic stare.
Now, running round the circle, finds it square.
Pope, Dunciad, iv, 33.
space
stars countless, each in his appointed place,
Fast anchor'd in the deep abyss of space.
Cowper, Retirement, 1, 84.
2. The interval between any two or more ob-
jects, or between terminal points ; distance ;
extent, as of surface : as, the space of a mile.
And so he hym chased as faste as his horse myght hym
here, till he hadde lefte ills felowes be-hynde the space of
an arblaste. Merlin (E, E. T. S.), ii. 194.
There shall be aapace between you and it [the ark] about
two thousand cubits by measure. Josh, lit 4.
I wan-ant he hath a thousand of these letters, writ with
blank space for different names,
SAo*.,M. W, of W,, ii. 1. 77.
Four gray walls, and four gray towers,
Overlook a space of fiowers,
Tennyson, Lady of Shalott, L
3. The interval between two points of time;
quantity of time ; duration.
There was silence in heaven about the space of half ait
hour. Rev. viii. 1.
Mean space I thinke to goe downe into Kente,
Cushman, quoted in Bradford's Plymouth Plantation, p. 37.
Nine times the space that measures day and night
To mortal men he with his horrid crew
Lay vanquish'd, rolling in the fiery gulf,
Milton, P. L., i, 50.
4. A short time ; a while.
And, sith for me ye fight, to me this grace
Both yield, to stay your deadly stryf e a space.
Spenser, F. Q,, II. vi. 33.
And Arthur and his knighthood for a space
Were all one will. Tennyson, Coming of Arthur.
5. Hence, time in which to do something; res-
pite; opportimity; leisure.
Avyseth yow on it, when ye han space,
And of som goodely answere yow purchace,
Chaucer, TroUus, ii, 1124.
And I gave her spcux to repent. Eev. iL 21.
6t. A path; course (?).
This ilke monk leet olde thynges pace.
And heeld after the newe world the (rpoce.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 176.
7. In printing, one of the blank types which
separate the words in print. The thicknesses most
used are one third, one fourth, and one fifth of the square
body of the text-type. Hair-spaces, still thinner, are also
made. Spaces as thick as one half the square body and
all thicker are known as quadrats.
8. In musical notation, one of the degrees be-
tween the lines of the staff. In the usual staff there
are four spaces within the staff, but in the Gregorian staff
there are only three. The name and significance of a
space depend on the clef and the key-signature. See staff.
9. In ornith., an unfeathered place on the skin
between pterylee ; an apterium. Cones, Key to
N. A. Birds, p. 87 — Absolute, algebraic, basal
space. See the adjectives,— Added space. Sameasieper
space,— Barycentric coordinates in space. Same as
tetrahedral coordinates (which see. under coordinate).—
Berth and space. See berth'.!. — Cell-spaces, the spaces
in the ground-substance of connective tissue wliich inclose
the connective-tissue corpuscles. — Chyle-spaceS.tlie cen-
tral lymphatic cavities of the intestinal villi.— Comple-
mental space of pleura, the portion of the pleural cavity
immediately above the insertion of tile diaphragm, which
is not filled by air in ordinary breathing. — Dangerous
space (milit.), the zone before and beliind the ol>]ect fired
at covered by the trajectory. See battle-ranije , under bat-
tle^ . — Dead space, in fort. Same as deadawjle (which see,
under amjle-^).— Deep cardiac space, the projection
on the surface of the chest of the lung-covered portions
of the heart. It borders on each side the superficial
cardiac space,— Elliptic, Euclidean, extramimdane,
gastrovascular space. See the adjectives — Fontana's
spaces. Same as canal o/ Fontana (which see, under
conoi I).— Geometry of space. See sreometri/.— Half-
space or foot-space, in a staircase, a resting-place or
broad space between two flights of steps.— Haversian
spaces. See Haversian canal, under c(T»a;i.— Hemal,
hyperbolic, intercellular, interdental space. See
the adjectives,— Hypoprostatic space, the space lying
between the rectum and tlie prostate, Buchanan. —
Interlamellar spaces, tlie spaces between the lamellse
of the cornea.- Interosseous space, the space between
parallel long bones.— Interpedimcular space, the tri-
angular space at the base of the Ijraiii, between the crura
cerebri.— Interpleural, ivory, leger space. See the
adjectives.- Lenticular space. See lenticular mark,
under lenticular.— Linear, local, maxUlopharyngeal,
meant, middle, parabolic, parasinoidal, perforated,
periocular, popliteal, ttc, space, see the adjectives.
- Polar coordinates m space. See coordinate. — Quar-
ter-space, a landing or interval at an angle-turn of a
stair.— Retroperitoneal space. See retroperitoneal.—
Room and space. See roomi.— Superficial cardiac
space, the area on the surface of the chest over that part
of tho heart which is not covered by the lung. It is repre-
sented with approximate accuracy by a right-angled tri-
angle bounded by the midsternal line, a horizontal line
through the point of the apex beat, and a line drawn
through that point and the intersection of the midsternal
line with a horizontal line through the fourth costoster-
nal articulation,
space (spas), v.; pret. and pp. spaced, ppr. spa-
cing. [< space, n. Ci. spatiate, expatiate.'] I.t
intrans. To move at large ; expatiate. [Rare.]
But she, as Fayes are wont, in privie place
Did spend her dayes, and lov'd in forests wyld to space.
Spenser, F, Q., IV, ii. 44.
space
H. trans. 1. To set at intervals; put a space
between; specifically, in printing, to arrange
the spaces and intervals in or between so that
there may be no obvious disproportion : as, to
space a paragraph ; to space words, lines, or let-
ters.
The porch, too, is open, and consists of columns spaced
equidistautly over its floor, witliout either the braclceting
arrangements of the southern or the domical forms of the
northern styles. J, Fergugaon, Hist. Indian Arch., p. 3ii9.
2. To divide into spaces.
The artificer is ordered "to set np the frames, and to
tpace out the rooms, that the Nine Worthies may be so
instauled as t>est to please the eye."
Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 27.
3. To measure by paces. Halliicell. [Prov.
Eng.]— Spaced braid, awhite cotton braid used for the
trimming of washable garments. The name is derived
from tile pattern, which exhibits flat and simple spaces be-
tween raised edging.— TO space OUt, in priiMng, to put
mure spaces between the words or lines of.
space-box (spas'boks), H. la printing, a petty
ca:<e of wood or millboard, in six or eight divi-
sions, holding the spaces needed for corrections
on stone. Sometimes called space-barge or
S])<icc-p<i]>er in England.
space-curvature (spas'kfer'va-tur), ». A cur-
vature of three-dimensional space in a space of
four dimensions.
spacefol (spas' fill), a. [< space + -ful.'] Wide;
extensive. Sandys.
space-homology (spas'ho-moUo-ji), n. Geo-
metrical homology in three dimensions.
spaceless (spas'les), a. [< S2)ace + -less.'] Des-
titute of space. Coleridge.
space-line (spas'lin), ». In printing, same as
fe<«r-', 3.
space-mark (spas'mark), n. See proof-reading.
space-perception (spas'p^r-sep'shon), ji. The
perception of space — that is, of bodies as ex-
tended or moving.
spacer (spa'sir), n. 1. A device used in ca-
ble telegraphy for reversing the current at
proper intervals, thus increasing the speed of
transmission : also used for a somewhat simi-
lar purpose on land-lines. — 2. In a typewriter,
a key, and the mechanism connected with it, by
which spaces are made between words.
Bpace-relation (spas're-Ia'shon), n. A spatial
relation, such as that two points lie within a
tetrahedron of which four others are the verti-
ces, and the like.
space-rale (spas'rSl), n. la printing, a hair-
line of tj-pe-raetal, tj-pe-high and about one
thirty-sixth of an inch thick. Such rule* are made
of many lengths, from one twelfth of an inch to half an
inch. Th'ty are used for crosa-line* In table-work.
space-writing (spas'ri'ting), n. In newspaper
work, tlie system of payment to reporters or
other writers in proportion to the space allowed
to their articles in print ; also, writing or work
under this system.
The standard of literary excellence in the news Cf^nmna
of the New Yoric preia lias also been lowered by the gen-
eral lubstitution of mux tiritinff for the work of salaried
reporters, as well as by the influence already referred to.
WtttminMUr Ret., CXXVIII. 858.
spacial, spaciality, etc. See spatial, etc.
spacing (spa'sing), «. [Verbal n. of space, r.]
1 . The making of spaces, (a) The allowing and
gaging of intervals between words in setting type, type-
writing, or the like.
The change in the ipaeing being effected by a amaU cam
at the side of the carriage. Sci. Amer.,y. S.,LV.H.
(b) In art, fnocA., etc., the division of any surface Into
special parta.
In the nnce* of decoration, as in all else, the Japaneae
artist stnoioualy avoids uniformity or repetition of exact
tpaang. Eneye. Brit., XIIL 601.
2. A space thus made.
Each tongne upon diaca is etit Slantingly acnaa at regu-
lar tpacingt by steam pasaagea analogous to the guide-
plate vente of water tnrblnea. Tht Engineer, I.XIX. 22S.
3. Spaces collectively.
spacing-lace (spa^sing-las), n. Same as »eam-
ing-Uice.
spacions (spa'shus), a. [Formerly also spatious;
< F. spacieux = 8p. espadoso = Pg. espa^oso =
It. spazioso, < L. spatiosus, roomy, ample, <
spatium, room, space: Bee space.] 1. Inclos-
ing an extended space; of great extent; wide-
extended.
As though no other place, on Britain's ipaeSotu earth.
Were worthy of his end, but where he had his birth.
Drayton, Polyolbion, L 188.
The gpacimu firmament on high.
With all the blue ethereal sky.
Additan. Ode, Spectator, No. M6.
2. Having large or ample room ; not contracted
or narrow; roomy.
5791
On the North side of the Church is a gpatxous Court,
which I could not conjecture to be less than one hundred
and fifty yards long, and eighty or one hundred broad.
Mauiidrell, Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 126.
Those melodious bursts that fill
The spacioiig times of great Elizabeth.
Tennyson, Fair Women.
3t. Extensive ; on a large scale ; abounding :
said of persons.
Is 't possible that such a spacious villain
Should live, and not be plagued ?
B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, L 1.
=8yiL Wide, capacious, ample, broad.
spaciously (spa'shus-li), adv. In a spacious
manner; widely; extensively; roomily.
spaciousness (spa'shus-nes), n. The quality
of being spacious ; largeness of extent ; exten-
siveness; roominess. '
spadassin (spad'a-sin), n. [< F. spadassin, <
It. spadaccino, swordsman, < spada, sword: see
spade^, spathe.] A swordsman; especially, a
person devoted to fencing and presumed to be
expert with the sword; hence, less properly, a
bravo.
Bully swordsmen, spadassins of that party, go swag-
gering ; or iudeed they can be had for a trifle of mon^.
Cariyle. (Imp. Diet.)
spaddle (spad'l), n. [Dim. of spade^. Cf . jjod-
dle^.] A little spade ; a spud. [Obsolete or
provincial.]
others destroy moles with a spaddle, waiting in the
mornings and evenings for them. Mtrrtimer, Husbandry.
spade^ (spad), n. [< ME. spade, < AS. spadu,
speedii, also rarely spada, spad, in an early gloss
spadi, = OS. spado = OPries. spada = MD.
spade, spaeye, D. spade, spa = MLG. LG. spade
= OHG. 'spat«, MHG. "spate, G. spate, spatcn
= Icel. spathi = Sw. Dan. spade, a spade (cf.
MD. spade, a sword, = OF. espce, F. epee, a
sword, = Pr. Sp. Pg. espada = It. spada, a
swoi-d: see spade'^), < L. spatha, < 6r. mdd^, a
broad blade of wood or metal, a spatula, the
spathe or sheath of a flower, prob. < {Tttov, draw
out. Cf. span^, space. From the same source
are ult. spaded, paddle, paddle^, spadille, spa-
droon, epaulet, espalier, spaW^, spatule, spatula.']
1. A tool for digging and cutting the ground,
having a rather thick iron blade, usually flat,
so formed that its terminal edge (either straight
spade-graft
Ing of a spade, in her., same as spade-iron, 2 (6). — TO
call a spade a spade, to call things by their proper
names, even though these may seem homely or coarse;
speak plainly and without mincing matters. Various un-
necessary conjectures have been made as to the supposed
occult origin of this phrase ; but it means what it says—
to call a simple thing by its simple name, without circum-
locution or affected elegance.
Chesham does not like to call a spade a spade. He calls
it a horticultural utensil. Thackeray, Philip, xxliL
spade^ (spad), V. t. ; pret. and pp. spaded, ppr.
spading. [< spaded, n.] 1 . To dig or cut with a
spade ; dig up (the ground) by means of a spade.
— 2. In whaling, to use the boat-spade on, as
a whale ; cut the tendons of the flukes of ; ham-
string.
spade^ (spad), n. [Prob. < Sp. Pg. espada, spade
at cards, usually in pi. espadas, spades (sing.
espada, the ace of spades) ; appar. a particular
use of espada, a sword (< L. spatha, < Gr. trn-dft?,
a broadsword), these cards having, it is said,
among the Spaniards, the figure of a sword;
according to others the figure was orig. in-
tended, as in the cards now in use, for the head
of a pike, in which case the name spade is prob.
an orig. E. designation, the head of a pike suf-
ficiently resembling the pointed spade: see
spade'^!] A playing-card of one of the two
black suits of a pack, the other being clubs.
"Let Spades be trumps !" shesaid, and trumps they were.
Pope, R. of the L., iii. 46.
Spade^ (spad), n. [< L. spado, < Gr. oTradwi', an
impotent person, a eunuch. Ct. spay^.] l.An
emasculated person ; a eunuch. — 2. An emas-
culated animal; a gelding.
spade-bayonet (spad'ba''o-net), n. A broad-
bladed implement intended to be attached to a
military rifle ; a trowel-bayonet. It is capable of
being used for digging, as in sinking a tent-pole, making
hasty intrenchments when better tools are not within
reach, and the like, and is also capable of use as a weapon.
spade-bonet (spad'bon), n. The blade-bone,
shoulder-blade, or scapula.
By th* shoulder of a ram from off the right side par'd,
Which usually they boil, the spade-bone being bar'd.
Drayton, Polyolbion, v. 266.
spade-farm (spad'farm), «. A farm or piece
of ground kept especially for manual labor
with the spade, whether for producing garden
vegetables or the like, or with a view to the
perpetuation of a certain kind of labor.
spade-flsh (spad'fish), n. Chsetodipterusfaber:
same as moonfish (d). See angel-fish, 3, and cut
under Chsetodipterus.
spade-foot (spad'fut), a. and n. I, a. Spade-
footed; scaphiopod.
n. J^. ; ■^\. spade-foots {-tixts). A spade-footed
or scaphiopod toad ; a spade-toad. There are sev-
eral species of different genera, one of the best-known.
Spades.
«, IrUl spade whh foot-piece : A. Greek spade wiUi foot-piece ; e,
Japanese KMule I < spade for cutting turf; f, ditchiale■spades;y,txMt•
lpad•,foraf■vlagpo■c.hole* ; £, polish e<l dntin-spade with foot-piece ;
m, loag-hanawd gudcn spade ; t, ditchtni;-spade.
or curved) may be pressed into the ground or
other resisting substance with one foot, and a
handle, usually with a crosspiece at the top, to
be grasped by both bands, a spade differs from a
two-oanded shovel chiefly in the form and thickneaa of
tlie blade.
Tho nomen heo spade and scbouele and ner the place
wende,
Deope heo gonne to delue ther as the smoke out wende.
Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 43.
Strength may wield the pond'rous spade.
Hay torn the clod, and wheel the compost home.
Cttwper, Taak, ilL 638.
2. A tool of soft iron used with diamond-pow-
der by cameo-cutters in finishing. — 3. In tchal-
ing, a large chisel-like implement used on blub-
ber or bone in cutting-in. See phrases follow-
ing.— 4. In herpct., a formation on the foot of
some toads witn which they dig. See spade-
foot.— '^At-tvAAc, an instrument, carried under the
stem-sheets of a wjiale-boat, reseniiiling a very large
chisel, having a wide lilade. and a handle six or eight feet
long, litis instrument was employed to stop a running
whale tjy the process known as hamstringing or spading
fiukes (cutting the cords aboitt the sntallX which required
much experience and dexterity, and was a ver>- hazardous
nndertaking ; It has been done away with tiy the Intro-
duction of bomb-lances. The lK>at-sfiade is still carried
In case of emergency.— Bone-spade, a ciittin^'-spade,
with a long thin shank, used l»y whalers for cutting out
the throat-ix>ne of a bnlet'ii-whale.— Cutting-spade, a
sharp instrument like a very larue narrow chisel fixed
to a nole ten or more feet in length, used for cutting the
blubber from a whale. — Half-round spade, a long-han-
dled spade with a blade curved, or rolle<l up on the sides,
reaemnling a carpenters' gouge, and us&d for cutting
holes In the bead of the blubber when l)oarding. — Shoe-
'^.^1^'
Spade-foot (.^ra/'. . i-f").
being Seaphiopus holbrooH, of eastern and southerly part»
of the United States.
spade-footed (spad'fut'ed), a. Scaphiopod, as
a toad; belonging to the 5cop/iio;M)dj««.
spadeful (spad'fid), n. [< spade^ + -ful.] A»
much as can be taken up with a spade.
spade-graft (spad'grift), n. The depth to-
which a spade will dig: about a foot. Alsa
spaders graft. [Prov. Eng.]
They [British relics] were discovered in 1827 near Guis-
borough, at about a spades graft beneath the surface.
Proc. Soc. qf Antiq. (1844), I. 30. (Davies.)-
Spade i;
Reverse.
Ilrittsh Museum. (Size of the original.)
spade-gninea
spade-guinea (spad'gin'e), h. a guinea coined
by George III. liiiring the period 1787-99. It is
now so ciiileJ because the shield of arms on the reverse
has the shape of the spade of playing-cards. See cut on
precediiii: page.
spade-gun (spad'gun), h. a gun having a re-
. cess in the stock to hold a spade or trowel, and
a socket in the butt-plate to which the spade
can be fitted for use as an intrenching-tool.
spade-handle (spad'han'dl), )i. 1. The handle
of a spade. Hence — 2. In niach., a pin held at
both ends by the forked ends of a connecting-
rod.
spade-husbandry (spad'huz'band-ri), n. A
mode of cultivating the soil and improving it
by means of deep digging with the spade in-
stead of using the subsoil-plow.
spade-iron (spad'i''6rn), ». 1. The blade of a
spade, with the tang or socket by which it is
secured to the handle. — 2. In her., a bearing
representing (a) the whole blade of a spade,
without the handle or with a truncated piece
of the handle, or (6) an iron or steel border
put upon the blade of a spade to reinforce or
repair it. This border is generally represented with
some ornamental outline engrailed or lobed on its inner
edge, and is also called shoeing of a spade.
spader (spa'dSr), n. One who or that which
spades; a digging-machine.
The steam-ploughs and horse-ploughs did their work well,
and the rotary spader did its work well.
Watt Whitman, The Galaxy, IV. 608.
spade-rack (spad'rak), n. A rack on board a
whaler, underneath the spare boats, in which
the boat-spades are kept when not in use.
spadiard (spad'yiird), H. [Appar. < spade^ +
-iard, but perhaps an error for spaliard.'i A
worker in a tin-mine. Kennett; Halliwell.
[Cornwall, Eng.]
spadic (spa'dik), n. [Brazilian.] Same as
COCf/l.
spadiceous (spa-dish'lus), a. [< L. spadiceus, <
spadix, < Gr. a:zaiii^, a palm-branch, also nut-
brown, palm-colored, bay: see spadix.} 1. Of
a bright-brown color; bay; chestnut.
Of those five [unicorns' horns] which Scaliger beheld,
though one [was] spadiceous, or of a light red, and two in-
clining to red, yet was there not any of this complexion
among them. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., iii. 23.
2. In hot., bearing or having the nature of a
spadix. See petaloideous, endogen, and Mono-
eotuledones.
Also spadicious.
spadices, n. Plural of spadix.
spadicifloral (spa-di-si-flo'ral), a. [< NL. spa-
dix (spadic-), q. v., -t- Jj. flos (flor-), a flower:
see floral.'] In hot., having flowers borne on a
spadix.
spadicose (spad'i-kos), a. [< L. spadix (-ic-) +
-ose.] In bot., spadiceous ; growing on a spadix.
spadilla (spa-dil'a), n. [See spadille.} In the
game of solo, the queen of spades, which is al-
ways the highest trump.
spadille, spadilio (spa-dil', -yo), n. [< F. spa-
dille, < Sp. espudilla (= It. spadiglia), a small
sword, the ace of spades, dim. of Sp. espada =
Pg. espada, spade (at cards), the ace of spades:
see spade^, spads^.} In card-playing, the ace
of spades at ombre and quadrille. In the fol-
lowing quotation spadille is personified as Spa-
dillio.
Spadillio first, unconquerable lord,
Led off two captive trumps and swept the board.
Pope, R. of the L., iii. 49.
spading-machine (spa'ding-ma-shen"), n. A
digging-machine.
spadix (spa'diks), n. ; pi. spadices (spa-di'sez).
[NL., < L. spadix, < Gr. BKaSi^, a branch broken
off, esp. a palm-branch, hence palm-colored,
bay, < (TToi;, tear, rend, stretch out.] 1. In hot.,
a form of inflorescence in plants, in which the
flowers are closely arranged in a spike or head
which has a fleshy or thickened raehis. The term
is mostly restricted to the Araceai and the palms, and
further to those cases in whicli the inflorescence is accom-
panied by the peculiar bract or bracts called a spaihe.
See cuts under Araeex, I}idian, and inflorescence.
2. In zool.: (a) The hectocotylus of the male
cephalopod : a specialized part of the fore foot,
on one side, which becomes heotocotylized, or
assumes a sexual function. On the opposite
side is a corresponding part, not subject to hec-
tocotylization, called the antispadix. (b) In Hy-
drozoa, the manubrium of the hydromedusans,
an offset of a blastostyle bearing the genital
products, like the part of a pea-pod which bears
thepeas. (c) ^cap.} A genus of coelenterates.
spado (spa'do), n. [L., < Gr. OTrdduv, a eunuch,
< BTTav, tear, rend, pluck off or out. Cf . spade^,
5792
»!.] If. A castrated animal ; a gelding. Imp,
Diet. — 2. In civil law, one who from any cause
has not the power of procreation ; an impotent
person.
spadone (sp&-d6'ne), n. [It., aug. of spada,
a sword: see spade^. Cf. spadroon.] A long
and heavy sword, usually oue wielded by both
hands. It was commonly carried without a scabbard,
behind and across the back, with the handle projecting
over the right shoulder, or resting on the shoulder as the
modern rifle at shoulder arms, and for this reason the heel
of the blade was often covered with leather, there being no
edge for the first quarter or third part of its length, and
sometimes a small secondary guard was interposed before
the sharp part of the blade begins. See cut under second i .
Heicitt.
spadronet (spa-dron'), ». Same asspadone.
spadroont (spa-dron'), n. [< P. dial, espadron,
F. espadon = Sp. espadon, a large sword, a
broadsword, < It. spadone, a sword: see spa-
done.'] Same as spadone.
spae (spa), V. i. and t. ; pret. and pp. spaed, ppr.
spaeing. [Also spay; < Icel. spa = Sw. sp& =
Dan. spaa, prophesy; cf. OS. spdhi = OHG.
spdhi, MHG. spxlie, wise, skilful; OHG. spelwn,
MHG. spehen, G. spdhen, spy: see spy^.] To
foretell ; divine ; predict from signs or indica-
tions. [Scotch.]
Tell me the very minute o' the hour the wean 's born,
and I'll spae its fortune. Scott, Guy Mannering, iii.
spae-book (spa'buk), n. A book containing
directions for telling fortunes, etc. [Scotch.]
spaeman (spa'man), «.; pi. spaeme» (-men). A
fortune-teller; diviner; soothsayer. [Scotch.]
spaer (spa'fer), n. [< spae + -er^.] A spaeman
or spaewife ; a fortune-teller. [Scotch.]
A spaer o' poor folk's fortunes. Blackwood's Mag.
spaewife (spa'wif ), n. ; pi. spaewives (-wivz). A
female fortune-teller. [Scotch.]
Plague on her for an auld Highland witch and spaeitr^fe;
. . . she'll cast some of her cantrips on the cattle.
Scott, Chronicles of the Canongate, xiii.
spaghetti (spa-get'ti), n. [It., pi. ot sjMghetto,
dim. of spago, a small cord.] A kind of Italian
macaroni made in the form of cords smaller
than ordinary macaroni,but several times larger
than the threads of vermicelli.
spagirict (spa-jir'ik), a. and n. [Also spagyric,
spagyrick; = F. spagirique; irreg. formed (it is
said by Paracelsus) < Gr.aTrdv, rend, tear, stretch
out, + dyeipeiv, bring or collect together.] I.
a. Chemical or alchemical ; pertaining to chem-
istry as taught by Paracelsus and his followers.
It was a huge diligence and care of the Divine mercy
that discovered to man the secrets of spagi/ric medicines.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1836), I. 904.
II. n. A chemist, especially one devoted to
alchemical pursuits.
spagiricalt (spa-jir'i-kal), a. [Also spagyrical,
spagerical ; < spagiric -1- -al.'] Same as spagiric.
spagiristt (spaj'i-rist), n. [Also spagyrist; <
spagir(ic) + -ist.'] A Paracelsian chemist or
physician of the sixteenth or seventeenth cen-
tury; a follower of Paracelsus in regarding in-
organic chemistry as the basis of medical know-
ledge.
No more than I can [tell] who initiated Mr. Boyle among
the Spagyrists, before I had the honour to know him.
Evelyn, To Mr. Wotton.
spahee, spahi (spa'he, -hi), «. [Formerly also
spaclii; = F. spahi, < Turk. sipdhi=PeTs. Hind.
sipdhi: seesejm/.] 1. A member of the corps
of Turkish cavalry organized in the fourteenth
century on a feudal basis, who fought in a very
disorderly manner, and were disbanded soon
after serving as the chief instruments in the
suppression of the Janizaries in 1826.
But the Spachies and Janizaries . . . are the Nerves and
Supporters of the Turkish Monarchy.
Sandys, Travailes (ed. 1673), p. 38.
2. One of the corps of native Algerian cavalry
in the French service, originally formed from
the Turkish spahees serving in Algeria at the
time of the French conquest.
spail. See spale^, spale^.
spairge (sparj), v. t. A Scotch form of sparge.
spait, n. See spate.
spaive (spav), v. t. A dialectal variant of spay^.
spake^ (spak), n. A Scotch form of spoke'^.
Your cage shall be made o' the beaten gold,
And the spahes o' ivorie.
May Colvin (Alllngham's Ballad-book, p. 247).
spake^. An archaic or poetic preterit of speak.
spake^t, a. [ME., also spak, spae, < Icel. spakr,
quiet, gentle, wise, = Sw. spak = Dan. spag,
quiet, gentle, tame.] 1. Quiet; tame.
Hyt sate by hym so spake.
Bob. of Brunne, Handlyng Synne, 1. 7486.
spale
2. Ready; prompt.
Spae to uvel and slaw to god.
Old Eng. Horn. (ed. Morris), L 305.
spakelyt, adv. [ME., also spakly, spakli, spacH;
<. si)akeS -{■ -ly^.] Quickly; speedily; nimbly.
Spek to me spakli or i spille sone.
William of Paleme (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1535.
One semblable to the Samaritan and some-del to Piers the
Plowman,
Barfote on an asse bakke botelees cam prykye,
Wyth-oute spores other spere spakliche he loked.
Piers Plowman (B), xviii. 12.
The blode sprente owtte, and sprede as the horse spryngez,
And he sproulez fulle spakely, bot spekes he no more.
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. 8), 1. 2063.
spake-net (spak'net), «. [< spake^ + nefl^.] A
net for catching crabs. Malliivell.
Spalacidae (spa-las'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Spalax
(-ac-) + -idx.'] A family of myomorphic ro-
dents, typified by the genus Spalax; the mole-
rats proper, having small or rudimentary eyes
and ears, short tail and Umbs, and f ossorial fore
feet and claws : divided into two subfamilies,
Spalacinse and Bathyerginee. Also Aspalacidse,
and formerly Gcorychidse. See cuts under £a-
tliyergus, mole-rat, and Ithizomys.
Spalacinee (spal-a-si'ne), n. pi. [NL., < Spalax
(-ac-) + -inse.] A subfamily of Spalacidse, in-
cluding the typical mole-rats, in which the
mandibular angle is in relation with the socket
of the lower incisor. See Spalax. Also Asi)a-
lacinrn.
spalacine (spal'a-sin), a. Of or pertaining to
the SpaUicidm or Spalacinse.
Spalacopodidae (spaFa-ko-pod'i-de), n. pi.
[NL.,< Spalacopus (-pod-) 4- -idee.] A family of
hystricomorphic rodents, named by Lilljeborg
(1866) from the genus Spalacopxis. it is inexactly
equivalent to the Octodontida? of authors, but includes the
prehensile-tailed porcupines (Cercolalnn^). It was divided
by Gill (1872) into four subfamilies, Octoilontinx, Cteno-
dactylinx, Echimyinx (Echinomyinx), and Cercolatnnje.
See Octodontidx.
Spalacopus (spii-lak'o-pus), n. [NL. (Wagler,
1832), < Gr. (T7rd/laf (a7ra?.aK-), a mole, + novg =
E. foot.] The name-giving genus of Spalaco-
podidse, now a member of the family Octodon-
tidie and subfamily Octodontinee. The ears are-
rudimentary, the tail is short, and the fore claws are short-
er than their digits. The skull and teeth resemble those
of Schizodon. 'There are two South American species, of
fossorial habits, constructing extensive subterranean bur-
rows in which they live. I'hey have been called poipha-
gomes, from a synonymous genus Poephagomys.
Spalax (spa'laks), n. [NL. (Giildenstadt), <
Gr. airdXa^, also a(pd?M^ and dan-d/.nf, a mole.]
The typical genus of mole-rats, subfamily Sjia-
lacinsc, having the eyes rudimentary and cov-
ered with skin, it contains S. typhlus, the slepez or
blind mole-rat of Europe, the most completely mole-like
of the rodents in general appearance, habits, and adapta*
tive modifications of structure. Also Aspalax. See cut
under rrwle-rat
spald^ (spald), V. [Also dial, spaud ; < ME. spal-
den, spawden, < MD. spalden = MLG. spalden,
spolden = OHG. spaltan, MHG. G. spalten f>
'D&n.spalte), split, cleave; akin to speld, spell*;
cf. spall^, spak^. Hence spa^<l.] l.f trans. To
splinter; chip.
Be thane speris whare sproungene, spalddyd chippys.
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3700.
II, intrans. To founder, as a ship. [Prov.
Eng., in form spaud.]
spaid^t (spald), ». [Also (So.) spauld, .'tpauld;
< ME. spalde, spawde ; a var. of spalP: see
spall^.] The shoulder.
Ly stille therin now and roste,
I kepe nothynge of thi coste
Ne noghte of thi spalde.
Perceval, 1. 796. (BttUiweU.)
The bul . . . lenand his spald to the stok of ane tre.
Gavin Douglas, Mneid, xii. 410,
spalder (spal'der), »(. [< spahV- + -e/l.] In
storm-Korking, a workman who spalls or scales
off small flakes by the use of a heavy ax-shaped
hammer, or muckle-hammer.
spalding-knife (spal'ding-nif), n. A knife for
splitting codfish. E. H. Knight.
spale^ (spal), V. t. ; pret. and pp. spaled, ppr.
spaling. [A var. of sjmHI, split, etc.: seespall^.]
To break up.
spale^ (spal), n. [Also spail; < ME. spale; cf.
Icel. spoir (spal-), a rail, bar, short piece, bit;
in part a var. of spcal^, spclH, in part appar,
due to spaW^, r. : see spelli, and cf. spalU.] 1.
A chip or splinter of wood. [Old Eng. and
Scotch.] — 2. In ship-building, one of a num-
ber of cross-bands fastened temporarily to the
frames to keep them in place until properly se-
cured. Also called spaling.
spale'-* (spal), V. t. [Also spail; perhaps a par-
ticular use of spalc^.] In mining, to inflict a
spale
fine upon for breach of some rule of the mine.
Weale.
spall^ (spal), f. [Also spaicl; a later form of
spalii^, in part due to spali^, ».] I. trans. 1.
Tosplit; splinter; chip; specifically, in /hijishj;,
to chip or break up roughly, as ore, prepara-
tory to sorting the material. — 2. [< spalP-, «.]
To keep (the frames of a ship) at their proper
distauee apart.
II. intrans. To splinter; chip; give off spalls.
spall^ (spal), n. [Also spawl; < ME. »palle; a
var. of spell*, speal^, etc., in part due to spall^,
f. : see spell*, and ef. spald^, spale^.'i A chip or
splinter thrown off, as in chopping or hewing ;
now specifically, in masonry, a piece of stone
chipped off bv a blow of a hammer or mallet.
spall^, spawl^ (spal), n. [Also spaul, and
formerly spald, spauld; < ME. "spaule, spalde,
spaicde, < OF. espaule, *espaulde, F. ipaule =
Sp. Pg. espalda = It. spalla, the shoulder, < L.
gpatula, a broad blade : see spatula. Cf. epau-
Ut.l The shoulder. [Obsolete or Scotch.]
Their mightie strokes their baberjeons dismayld,
And naked made each others manly tpaUes.
Speruer, V. Q., II. tL 29.
spallier (spal'y^r), n. [Also spaliard; cf. spad-
iard.] A laborer in tin-works. Hallitcell.
spallillg-floor (spa'ling-flor), n. A clear space
on the srround, a low platform, or sometning
similar, on which ores are spalled.
spalllng-hammer (spa' ling-ham '6r), n. A
heavy a.x-like hammer with a chisel-edge, used
for rough-dressing stone by chipping off small
flake.s; in »iiHi«3,anyhammerwitli which spall-
ing is done.
spalpeen (spal'pen), «. [< Ir. spailpin, a mean
fellow, rascal, stroller (= Gael, spailpean, a
mean fellow, a fop), < spailp, a beau, also pride,
self-conceit, = Gael, spailp, pride, self-conceit ;
cf. spailp, strut, walk affectedly.] A mean fel-
low; a rascal: a terra of contempt, or of con-
temptuous pity, for a man or boy. [Irish.]
Tbe tpalpeen! turned into a buckeen that would be a
•qnireen, bat can't. Mitt Bdgeworth, Lore and Law, L 4.
spalt^ (spilt), P. [An altered form of spaUli,
prob. due to a pp. spalt. Cf . spalt^.] To split
off, as large splmters from a piece of timber in
working it. [Prov. Eng.]
spalt'-' (spalt), a. [Anpar. < spalf^, perhaps
through the pp. spalt.] If. Brittle; liable to
break or split.
Of all oke growing in England, the parke oke la the loft-
mt, and far more ipiUt and brickie than the hedge oke.
Barriton, Deacrlp. of Eng., 11. 22 (Holinahed's Chron., L).
2. Frail ; clumsy ; heedless ; pert. Halliicell.
[Prov. Eng.]
spalt^ (spalt), n. [< G. gpaU(stein), spalt, lit.
'splinter-stone,' < spalten, split (see spalt^), +
sti'in, stone.] A whitish scaly mineral, used to
promote the fusion of metals.
span^ (span), r. ; pret. and pp. spanned, ppr.
spanning. [< ME. spannen, < AS. spannan, spon-
nan (pret. spednn), gespannan, bind, connect, =
D. spannan. stretch, bend, hoist, cock (a gun),
hitch (horses), = MLG. LG. spannen = OHG.
spannan, MHG. Q. spannen, extend, connect, =
feel, spenna, span, clasp, = 8w. spHnna, stretch,
strain, draw, = Dan. spsmde, stretch, strain,
span, buckle; y span, perhaps, with present for-
mative -n, < y spa, extend, in Gr. oTractv, aicav,
draw, draw out (see spasm), L. spatium, exten-
sion, space (see space). Cf. spin, speed."] I.
trans. If. To stretch or spread out; extend in
continuity; give extent to.
M)r right hand hath tpanned [spread ont, B. V.] the
hearens. laa. xlvUL 13.
2. To stretch from side to side or from end to
end of; extend over or across; continue through
or over the extent of.
Thl» soul doth rpan the world. O. Uerbert, Content
Ttie RhyndaLUB Is still jpaiuud by an ancient bridge of
three arches. B. Totrfor, Lands of the Saracen, p. 2(Xi.
The existing church shows portions of work a thousand
years apart, aud qniw nearly the whole of Aqullelan his-
•ory. S. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 63.
3. To make a stretch or reach along, over, or
around ; measure or cover the span of; grasp;
specifically, to measure or encompass with the
hand, the little finger and thumb being extended
as far as pos.sible: as, to span a stream with a
log or a bridge ; to span a person's wrist,
1'henne the kinge rpajiet his spere.
Awtw)p\g of Arthur, st. 13. (.Sktat-t
Oft nn the well. known spot I flx my eyes,
And tpan the distance that between us lies
TickeU, An Epistle.
How your plump arms, that were, have dropped away I
Why, I can tpan them. Brtnmhtt, Pippa Paaaea, UL
364
5793
4t. To cock by the use of a spanner, as a wheel-
lock musket or pistol.
Every man, officer and soldier, having a pistol ready
tpannd In one hand. Clarendon, CivU Wars, HI. 248.
5. Xaut., to confine with ropes : as, to span the
booms. — 6. To shackle the legs of, as a horse;
hobble. [Prov. Eng.]
II, intrans. 1. To measure off or mark dis-
tances from point to point; make distinct
stretches in going, as a span-worm or measur-
ing-worm does.
If the whale is spanning, 1. e. swimming in a decided
direction and appearing at the surface at intervals more
or lesa regular, less caution is observed.
Eneye. Brit., XXIV. 526.
2. To be matched for running in harness ; form
a span : as, the horses span well. [U. S.]
spanl^ (span), n. [< ME. spanne, sponne, < AS.
sfan, a span (def. 4), gespan, a joining, connec-
tion, = D, span, a span, a team of horses, = OHG.
spanna, MHG. G. spanne (> It. spanna = OF. . . .
espan, F. empan) = Icel. spfitin (spann-) = Sw. span-beam (span'bem), n. The long, horizon-
spann = Dan. «/>aHrf, a span; from the verb.] 1, tal wooden beam into which the vertical axis
The fuU extent or course over which anything carrying the drum of a horse-whim is pivoted,
is stretched or prolonged; the space or time span-block (span'blok), «. Naxit., one of two
covered or included between terminal points ; hlocks seized into each bight of a span and
entire reach from end to end or from side to hung across a masthead for various uses,
side : as, the span of life ; the span of a bridge, spancel (span'sel), n. [< MD. spanseel, spansel,
As used of physical things, »pan is understood as the actual a tether for a horse, a stretched rope, D, span-
or net space or distance between bounding lines or sur- ' . . , , , „ .. ^ .
faces ; hence, the STXin of an arch is the length of the open-
ing between the inner faces of its abutments. Compare
def. 2. Often used figuratively.
The brief span of Roman literature, strictly so called,
was suddenly closed under a variety of influences.
Maine, Village Communities, p. 381.
apane
7. Naut., a rope fastened at both ends so that
a purchase may be hooked to its bight; also,
a double rope having thimbles attached be-
tween its two parts, used as a fair-leader for
ropes.— 8. (a) In the United States (from the
original Dutch usage), a pair of horses or
mules harnessed together ; particularly, a pair
of horses usually driven together, or matched
for driving or work. (6) In South Africa,
two or more yokes of oxen or bullocks attached
to a wagon or a plow. For a wagon the span may
consist of from twelve to twenty animals, and for a plow
of six or eight.
span^. An archaic preterit of spin.
span* (span), adv. [The first element in the
compound span-new erroneously taken as a
separate word : see span-new, and cf . spick-and-
span.'] Wholly; entirely; freshly: as, my hands
are span clean (sometimes spandu clean). Bart-
lett. [CoUoq., U. S.]
spansemia, spanaemic. See spanemia, etc.
sel, a stretched rope (= G. spann-seil, a tether),
< spannen (= Gr. spannen), stretch (= E. span^),
+ MD. seel, a rope (= OHG. MHG. G. seil, a
rope, cord, = E. sole*).] A fastening for the
hind legs of a horse or cow, or for the legs on
one side, to prevent the animal from kicking
Two arches over the same tpan of river, supposing the or straying; especially, a rope for fettering a
butmenu are at the same "^Pj^.- ch-per t£anone^ cow's hinl legs while she is milked ; a tether.
^. .r I. J r. .1. ,1 [Prov. r.ng.J
lea. Manhood hath a wider «pan „ ,
And larger privilege of life than man. Spancel, a rope to tie a cow's hinder legs.
Loirell, Comm. Ode. ^"y (ed. 1674), p. 44.
2. A part or division of something between Spancel (span'sel), v. t; pret, and pp, span-
terminal points: as, a bridge of ten spans. In f*'*'' orspancelled, ppr. canceling or spanceU
this sense a span would comprise the distance from the ' ■■'"■•■"
middle line of one pier or support to that of the next, the
whole number of spans including the entire length of the
structure. (The decision of the case referred tu in the first
quotation turned upon the distinction between senses 1
and 2.)
The word tpan does not, even in architecture, always
S'dS.ir?he^"llS?eTrs^c^lJ£?;'^^trcom^^^^^^
Such is the obvious import of the term as used in the act
under consideration, not merely as a part of the structure
itself, but the measure of the distance between the piers
of the bridge.
U. S. Suprevu Ct, March, 1888. (Judge Lamtr.)
The channel nioM were built out from the central pier . , ,,
and from the adjacent flanking span« without the use of Span-COTUltert (span koun't6r),».
ling. [< spancel, n.] To fasten the legs of with
a spancel, as those of a cow or horse to prevent
the animal from kicking. [Prov. Eng.]_To
spancel a crab or a lobster, to stick the point of a leg
into the b.ase of each movable claw, to prevent the animal
from pinching. This i.s also done by thrusting a peg into
the joint of tbe nippers or chelae.
[< span-
cel + -<•(?■-.] In Iter., hobbled or fettered to a
clog: said of ahorse. When the
bearing is properly depicted, a fore and
a bind leg should have each a fetter-
lock above tbe hoof and fastened to the
one end of a heavy clog.
false worki in either channel. " SerOmer'tMag., IV. 32.
3. Extent of stretch, physical or mental ; dis-
tance over which anything may be extended ;
reach ot grasp, as of the memory or of percep-
tion. [Bare.]
Between the agea of eight and nineteen the tpan of
school-girls increaae* from 6 to 7.0 for letten, and from 6.6
to 8.6 for numerals. Span increaaea not only with age,
but with rank in claas, and it la suggeated that a " stan-
dard tpan" be added to the Items for anthropometric mea-
surement. Amer. Jour. Piyehol., I. 193.
4. As a measure, originally, the extent between
the tips of the thumb and little finger when
stretched out: the oldest use of the word in
English, The tptm belongs to the system of long mea-
sure to which the cubit and flngerhreadth belong. It has unATi-HnffK Cinan'docrTl
always been considered aa haU a cubit, and still is so in ^Y^ \?^A^^^Jhi^'
several countries of Asia. The English span Is 9 inches. Oars linKert together £
The .Swedish >|»nn is an entirely different kind of mea-
sure.
,S^nn«, meaure of the hand.
[< spani, v., ■¥ obj, counter^.] An
old game in which one player
threw a cotinter on the ground,
and another tried to hit it with his
counter, or to get so near to it that he could
span the space between them and touch both
the counters, in either case he won ; If not, his count-
er remained where it fell, and became a mark for the flrst
player, and so alternately till the game was won. The
game was apparently similar to that of pitching pennies,
and it was also called tpan-/arthing and span-feather. Hal-
liuxU.
Tell the king from me that, for his father's sake, Henry
the Fifth, in whose time lx)ys went to span-counter for
French crowns, I am content he shall reign.
Shot., 2 Hen. VI., Iv. 2. 166.
Palmus.
Prompt. Part., p. 467.
Whyche Horteys ya In Depneaae IJ Spannyt to the botom ;
the brede ys sumwnat more thane a Spanne.
Torkington, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 43.
Atween his shoulders was ae span.
About his middle war but three.
The Wee Wee Man (Child's Ballads, 1. 126).
5. Figuratively, any short space or period'; a
brief or limited extent or course ; a relatively
small measure of continuity.
Behold, thou haat made my days aa it were a span long.
Book of Common Prayer, Pulter, xxilx. 6.
pi. A pair of iron
together at one end and having
sharp hooks at the other, used for grappling
timber. See cut under dog.
spandrel (span'drel), n. [Also spandril, tot-
merly splaundrel, spaundere ; origin obscure.]
In arch., the triangular space comprehended be-
tween the outer curve or extrados of an arch,
a horizontal line drawn through its apex, and
a vertical line through its springing; also, the
wall-space between the outer moldings of two
arches and a horizontal line or string-course
above them, or between these outer moldings
and the intrados of another arch rising above
and inclosing the two. In medieval architecture
the spandrels are often ornamented with tracery, sculp-
„,.,.,,,., , . turedfoliuge, and the like. See cut on following page.
faU a'who.?ll^w:;''„?'r^'n"' """ "^^ "^I^Xr^'^n^' Spandrel-wall (span'drel-wal) «. A wall built
Thyself but Dust ; thy .suture but a Span. ^" f"' "''^'^'^''^ "' *° »'"«'>' ^^'"^ '" *« ^P"""
A Moment thy Duration : foolish Man ! urei. .,.,,,
Prior, .Solomon, 1. spanfly (span di), aav. A dialectal extension
6. The hand with the fingers outspread, as for °* "P""^- [CoUoq., New Eng.]
Thirty gentlemen with spandy clean faces and hands
were partaking of refreshment.
L. M. Aleott, Hospital Sketches, p. 819.
Spane (span), v. t.; pret. and pp. spaned, ppr.
sj)aning. [< ME. spanen, < AS. spanan (pret,
spe&n), wean (= D. spanen, spenen = OHG,
measuring or for grasping a handful of some-
thing. [Rare.]
And my Conductor, with his spans extended.
Took ot the earth, and, with his flsta well filled,
He threw It Into those rapacious gullets.
LonfffeiUne, tr. of Dante's Inferno, tL 26.
5794 Spanish
spang^ (spang), n. [Cf. span'^, r.] A span
[Si-oteh.]
spangle (spang'gl), ». [<ME.spangeI,spangele,
«Ba«(/i/H, a spangle ; dim. of s»anol.] 1. Asmall tiesof the Newfoundland dog witli the fine hunting quali-
i5ono nf irliH-primr mntpri'il <iiii'h an nifitfll foil • ties of their own race. Leading strains of the springers
piece Ot glittering matei lal, SUin as metai lou , cliiml>er, Norfolk, and Sussex, in different colors.
hence, any small sparkling object. Formerly . . - .
spangles were often lozenge-shaped ; now they are usually
and feet. The Maltese dog and the lion-dog are also small
toy spaniels, used as lap-dogs. The watev-spanicls, large
and small, differ from the common spaniel in the rough-
ness of their coats, and in uniting the aijuatic propensi-
spa„„- , .
circular, very small, and sewed upon theatrical and other
garments through holes with which they are pierced. In
old embroidery they were of many forms.
Thus in a starry night fond children cry
For the rich spangleg that adorn the sky. Waller,
A fine young personage in a cuat all over spangles.
Oray, Letters, I. 205.
2. One of the small metal clasps used in fas-
tening the tapes and wires of a hoop-skirt. — 3.
A spongy excrescence on the oak. See oalc-
spangU.
spangle (spang'gl), v. ; pret. and pp. spangled,
ppr. spangling. [< spangle, ji.] I. trans. To
set or cover with many small bright objects or
points; especially, to decorate with spangles,
as a garment.
What stars do spangle heaven with such beauty?
Shak., T. of the S., iv. 6. 31.
r; gli
set with spangles. [Bare.]
TassUs spanglynge ynne the sunne,
Muche glorious to beholde.
Chatterton, Bristowe Tragedy, st. 67.
(bi-)spennan, G. spdnen, spenen); ef. AS. spana spangled (spang'gld), a. [< spangle + -ed2.]
= MD. spene, D. speen = Icel. speni, an udder: Adorned with spangles; set with many small
Sculptured Spandrel.— Cloistera of Mont St. Michel au PAril de la
Mer, Nonnandy; 13th century.
bright objects.
Her
and there
see speaji.] To wean. Levitts, Manip. Vocab.
[Prov. Eng. and Scotch.]
spanemia, spanaemia (spa-ne'mi-a), n. [NL.
spamemia, < Gr. cnravd(, scarce, rare, + ai/ui,
blood.] In pathol., poverty of the blood; hy-
dremia. Also, rarely, spanemy.
spanemic, spansemic (spa-nem'ik), a. and n.
[< spanemia, spanxmia, + -ic.l I. a. In med.,
relating to spanemia ; having the property of
impoverishing the blood ; hyoremie.
n. "• A medicine having the power of im-
poverishing the blood.
spanemy (spa-ne'mi), n. [< NL. spansemia:
see spanemia.'\ Same as spanemia. [Bare.]
span-farthingt (span'far'THing), m. [< spanl,
v., + ohy farthiyig.'] S&me as span-counter.
His chief solace is to steal down and play at spanfar-
tking with tne page. Sw\ft, Modern Education.
span-feathert (span'feTH'er), n. [< span^, v., +
obj. feather.} Same as span-counter. sBaneolite
span-fire-new (span'Gr'nu'), a. Same as span- "*% ^ „
weir, fire-new. [Prov. E:^.]
2. Figuratively, a mean, cringing, fawning
person; a blindly submissive follower: from
the characteristics of the spaniel in relation to
its master, or when in a state of fear.
He, unhappy man I whom your advancement
Hath ruin'd by being spaniel to your fortunes.
Will curse he train'd me hither. Ford, Fancies, lii. S.
n. a. Like a spaniel ; fawningly submissive ;
mean; servile; cringing.
Low-crooked court'sies, and base »pontei-fawning.
Shak., J. C, iiL 1. 43.
spaniel (span'yel or span'el), v. [< spaniel, «.]
I. intrans. To fawn; cringe; be obsequious.
Churchill.
II, trans. To follow like a spaniel. Shak.,
A. and C, iv. 12. 21.
Spaniolate (span'i-o-lat), r. t. [< Sp. EspaHol,
Spanish (see spaniel), + -ate^.'i Same as Spani-
„ ,.,, ,. , ... ^,. olize. Sir r. Sidney '{Eingsley in Dacies).
IL tn«ran«. Jo glitter j^ glisten, hke anything gDaniolite (span'i-o-lit), n. A name given by
.»!, „„ „_„ Brcithaupt to a variety of schwatzite.
Spaniolize (span'i-o-liz), v. t. [< OF. Espagno-
liser; as SpanioU.ati) + -ize. Cf. Uispauiolize.l
To make Spanish in character or sentiments ;
Hispaniolize. [Bare.]
A tympany oiSpaniol-Ued bishops swaggering in the fore-
top of the state. MilUm, Reformation in Eng., ii.
'^e^m^^lAenheMT '^^' """'' ^'^'"' ^^"^ Spanish (span'ish), a. and n. [< ME. Spainise
Sheridan, The Duenna, ii. 1. = U. Spaansch = G. Spanisch = Sw. Dan. Spansk
Compare star-spangled.
'ng._
spang^t (spang), n. [< ME. spang, < AS. spange,
also ge-spong, a clasp, brooch, = MD. spange,
D. spang = MLG. spange = OHG. spangd, MHG.
G. spange, a clasp, brooch, buckle, ornament, =
Icel. spong, a clasp, stud, spangle, etc.; root ob-
scure. The Gael, spang, a spangle, is prob. < E.
Hence spangle.} A shining ornament or ob-
ject ; a spangle.
Our plumes, our spangs, and al our queint aray !
Oascoigne, Steele Glas, p. 377.
AH set with tpangs of glitt'ring stars untold.
Bacon, Paraphrase of Psalm civ.
Glistering copper spangs.
That glisten in the tyer of the Court.
Marston, Antonio and Mellida,
L, ill. 1.
To set
spangH (spang), V. t. [< apanjrl, n.]
with bright points; star or spangle.
Upon his head he wore a hunter's hat
01 crimson velvet, spangd with stares of gold.
Barnefield, Cassandra (1595). (Nares.)
spangd (spang), V. [A var. or collateral form
of spank^, move quickly, perhaps due to asso-
ciation with spring (pret. sprang).'] I. intrans.
To leap; spring. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.]
An I could but hae gotten some decent claes on, I wad
hae spanged out o' bed. .Scott, Old Mortality, vii.
n. trans. To cause to spring; set forcibly
in motion; throw with violence. [Prov. Eng.
and Scotch.]
She came up to the table with a fantastic spring, and
spanged down the sparkling mass on it.
C. Seade, Sever too Late to Mend, Ixv. (Davies.)
spangd (spang), n. [< spangd, v.] A spring; a
leaping or springing up ; a violent blow or
movement. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.]
Set roasted beef and pudding on the opposite side o' the
pit o' Tophet, and an Englishman will make a spang at it.
Scott, Rob Roy, xxviil.
He went swinging by the rope back to the main stem of
the tree, gave it a fierce spang with his feet, and . . . got
an inch nearer the window. C. Reade, Hard Cash, xliii.
e3 (spang), V. [Appar. a corrupt form of
spa^.} To hitch ; fasten. [Scotch.]
To spang liones, or fasten them to the chariot.
HoUyband, Dlctlonarie, 1593. (HMiwell.)
Spangled COG^uette, a small and very gorgeously colored
crested humming-bird, Lophomis regime.
Spangler (spang'gler), n. l< spangle + -erl.]
One who or that which spangles.
O Maker of sweet poets ! dear delight
Of this fair world and all its gentle livers ;
Spangler of clouds, halo of crystal rivers.
Keats, I Stood Tiptoe upon a Little Hill.
spangling-machine (spang'gling-ma-shen"), n.
A machine for fitting the clasps or spangles
used in clamping together the tapes and wires
of a hoop-skirt. E. B. Knight.
spangly (spang'gli), a. [< spangle + -yl.] Re-
sembling spangles ; having the glittering effect
produced by many bright points.
Bursts of spangly light. Keats, Endymion, i.
(spang 'go -lit), n. [Named after
fjorman Sjjang of Pittsburgh, Penn.] A rare
mineral occurring in hexagonal crystals of an
emerald-green color, and having perfect basal
cleavage. It is a basic sulphate of copper and alu-
minium, containing a small percentage of chlorin. It is
found with cuprite in Arizona.
Spaniard (span'yard), n. [= D. Spanjaard;
with suffix -aj-rf(cf! G. Dan. Spanier = Sw. Spa-
nior, with suffix cognate with -erl), < Spain (G.
Spanien, etc.), < L. Hispania, Spain, < Hispani,
the inhabitants of Hispania or Spain. The
Eom. adj. is F. espagnol (> ME. Spainolde, n.) =
Sp. EspaHol = Pg. Hespanhol = It. Spagnuolo,
< ML. NL. Bispaniolus, < L. Hispania, Spain
(whence ult. E. spaniel). The L. adjectives
are Hispanus, Hispaniensis, and Hispanicus (see
Hispanic).'] A native or a citizen of Spain, a
kingdom of southwestern Europe, forming the
greater part of the Iberian peninsula ; in gen-
eral, a member of the Spanish race, of mixed
Celtic, Latin, Gothic, Arabic, and other ele-
ments, but now ranked as one of the Latin
peoples.
spaniel (span'yel or span'el), n. and a. [Early
mod. E. also spannel; < ME. spaniel, spangclle,
spaynyel, spaynel, spanegeole, < OF. espagneul,
espagnol, F. ^pagnevl, a spaniel, orig. OF. chien
espagnol, P. chien ipagneul, a Spanish dog ; < Sp.
EspaHol, Spanish : see Spaniard.] I. n. 1 . A dog
of a domestic breed, of medium and small sizes,
with a long silky and usually curly coat, long,
soft, drooping ears, feathered tail and stern, of
docile, timid, and affectionate disposition, much
used for sporting purposes and as pets. The
most usual colors are liver and white, red and white, or
black and white, in broken or massed areas, sometimes
deep brown or black on the face or breast, with a tan mark
over the eye. Spaniels sport or are bred into many strains,
and three classes of them are sometimes distinguished :
land- OT fleld-apaniels, including the cocker and springer;
water -spaniels ; and toy spaniels, as the King Charles and
the Blenheim. The English spaniel is a superior and very
pure breed ; and, although the name spaniel would seem
to indicate a Spanish origin, it is most probably indige-
nous. This dog was used in the days of falconry to start
the game. The King Charles is a small black-and-tan
variety of the spaniel ; the Blenheim is similar, but white
marked with red or yellow ; both should have a rounded
head with short muzzle, full eyes, and well-fringed ears
(ML. reflex Spaniscus); as Spain (see Spaniard)
+ -ish^.] I. a. Of or pertaining to Spain or
a Spaniard or Spaniards — Spanish arbor-vine.
Armada, bayonet, black. See the nouns ~ Spanish
bean. See scarlet runner, under run)i«r.— Spanish ber-
ries. See Persian berries, under Pt-rffian. — Spanish blue-
bell Same as Spanish squill.— Spanish broom. See
ftroomi, 1. — Spanish buckeye. See bvckeye. — Spanish
bugloss. Same as alkanet, 2.— Spanish burton. .See
imrton.— SpaMsh calalu. See P/iiylu/accn.— Spanish
campion. See sa^ne.— Spanish carnation, cedar,
chaii. See the nouns.— Spanish catarrh. Same a»
influenza, 1.— Spanish chair, a slulTed and upholstered
chair with deep seat and high back, made soft and luxuri-
ous, but without arm.s.— Spanish Chestnut. Sec chest-
nut, 1.— Spanish cloak, see cloak, i.— Spanish clover.
See i{icAarrfso?i«i.— Spanish cress, a pepperwort, Lepi-
diumCardamines; also, another cruciferousplant.CnmcA-
tera Vellie (Vella ann«a).— Spanish crosS. See crosgi.
— Spanish curlew, (a) The white ibis. Eudocimus albus:
a bad misnomer. (Southern V. S.] (d) The long-billed
curlew, ^umeniug longirosiris, (Local, U. 8.]— Spanish
dagger. Same as dagger-plant, — Spanish elm. See
prmcewood.— Spanish epoch or era. See era.- Span-
ish ferreto. See/fcrefo— Spanish fever. Sec Texan
fever, under Tflaii.- Spanish fOX, fumace. See the
nouns.— Spanish fly. (a) A blister-beetle; a cantharid,
aa Cantharis or Lytta vesicatoria, a meloid beetle found in
middle and southern Europe and southwestern Asia, where
it feeds upon ash, lilac, and other trees. It undergoes hy-
permetamorphosis, and in its early stages is a parasite in the
nests of wild bees of the genus Ceratina, See cut under
Cantharis. (b) A preparation of Spanish flies ; cantharides
used as a vesicant.— Spanish-fly ointment. See oint-
ment.—Spanish fowl, a breed of the domestic hen, more
exactly called uhite-faced black Spanish, They are fowls
of fair size and stately carriage, of glossy greenish-black
plumage, with high red comb, single and deeply senate,
large red wattles, and the ear-lobes and entire side of the
face enameled white. The flesh is superior, and the hen is
an excellent layer of large white eggs. — Spanish gourd,
the winter squash, Cucurbita maii'ma.- Spanish grass.
Same as esparto.— Spanish hyacinth. See lliiarintlms.
— Spanish jasmine. See Jasrnimnn — Spanish juice.
See Kconw, 2.— Spanish Juniper, jKnyxTMS thurifera,—
Spanish lace. See lace.— Spanish lady, a labroid flsh,
Uarpe or Bmlianus ru.ftts, of the Caribbean and neighbor-
ing seas.- Spanish leather, lobster, mackerel. Seethe
nouns.— Spanish licorice, the common licorice.— Span-
ish mahogany. Sec mahogany, 2.— Spanish main, for-
merly the northeast coast of South America, between the
Orinoco river and the isthmus of Panama, and the adjoin-
ing part of the Caribbean sea.— Sjianlsh morion. See
wiorionl.— Spanish moss. Same as long-moss. — Span-
ish n, in printing, the letter n with a curved line (.Sp.
tilde) over it (ft), reckoned as the sixteenth letter in the
Spanish alphabet It marks the omission of an original i,
and preserves its coalesced sound, as in Espai)a (as-pa'-
nya) for Hispania, Spain, corresponding to gn in Italian
and French.— Spanish needles. See Bidens, 1.— Span-
ish nut. See nut.— Spanish oak, an oak, Quercus .fal-
cata, of the southern United States. Its wood is largely
used for fuel, and to some extent for other purposes ; its
bark is rich in tannin. Also red-oak, and sometimes Tur-
key oak. The swamp Spanish oak is the pin-oak.— Span-
ish oyster-plant, see oyster-plant.— Spanish parra-
keet, the violet grosbeak, Loxigilla violacea, a Bahanian
tanager. [ Andros Island.] — Spanish pilEef , a spear used
in Scotland and the north of England al)out KiOO, and spe.
cifled as the arm of a noble. Andertum, Anc. Scottish
Weapons, p. 13.— Spanish plover, plum, point, porgy,
potato. .See the nouns. Spanish rider, the punish-
ment of the herisson.— Spanish soap, squill, stopper,
sword, tinder, toothpick, topaz. See the nouns.—
Spanish stripes, a kind of woolen fabric. E. II. Knight.
—Spanish trefoil. Same as lucerne.- Spanish type
of poultry, an economically important group of varietiea
of the domestic hen, originating in the lands bordering
Spanish
on the Mediterranean, and characteristic of that region.
The dispoBition of these fowls is restless and vivacious ;
the form somewhat slender, approaching the games; comb
typically high and deeply serrated, although there are
rose combed varieties of some of the breeds; size small
to mediam. The hens are non-sitters, and verj* superior
layers ; the eggs are white. The colors var>' according to
the breed. The ear-lobes are enameled-white. The group
includes the Aneoua, Aiidalusian, Le^hurns, Minorcas, and
white-faced black .-Spanish.— Spanish walnut Oil. See
««.— Spanish white, -"^ee irAif*.— Spanish woodbine.
Same aa Spanuh arbor-rine. Spanish wormseed. See
varmted.— To ride the Spanish mare. *«■ ride.—lo
walk Spanish, to be forced to walk on tiptoe by another,
who seizes one by the collar and by the seat of the trou-
•ers : * sport of boys ; hence, to walk gingerly ; act under
tbe compulsion of another. [Colloq., U. S.J
H. n. 1. The language of Spain, one of the
Romance languages, but much mixed with
other elements and altered by them, of its many
dialects, that of Castile became the'standard form in cul-
tivated speech and literature, the language of which is
bence distinctively called CoftUian. It is the prevailing
language in Mexico, Central America, and those countries
of South America which were settled by Spaniards.
2. A white-faced black Spanish fowl. See
Spanish fowl, under I.
Spanish-American (span'ish-a-mer'i-kan), a.
ami n. I. n. Of or pertaining to the parts of
America where Spanish is the vernacular.
II. n. An American of Spanish blood ; a citi-
zen of a Spanish-American state.
Spanish-flag (span'ish-flag'), n. Ascorp»noid
hsb, fiehastes rubririnctus, of the coast of Cali-
fornia, attaining a length of fifteen inches, and
in life one of the most brilliantly colored fishes
in American waters. It is pale rose-red, almost
white, cross-barred with intense crimson, a col-
oration suggesting the book-name.
Bpank^ (spangk), V. i. [Cf. Dan. gpanke, strut,
stalk; MLG. freq. spenkeren, LG. spetikeni,
spakkern, cause to run or spring about quickly,
intr., run quickly, gallop. Cf. spang^.'i To
move with a quick springing step between a
trot and a gallop; move quickly and with spirit.
See gpankiiuj^.
Here a gentleman in a natty gig. with a high-trotting
bone, came tpankitiff towards ua over the common.
Thadceray, Lovel the Widower.
8pank^(spa]i^),v. [Origin obscure ; possibly
a diff. use ofspanH.J 1. trans. 1. To strike
with the open hand, or with something flat and
hard; slap with force on the buttocks.
Meg led her son away, feeling a strong dealre to ipatti
the little marplot L. M. Atedt, Little Women, zzxTiii.
2. To urge by slapping or striking; impel for-
cibly; dnve; produce some specified effect
upon by spanking or slapping.
How knowingly did he nank the honea aloog.
Thadremy, Shaobj Ocnteel Story, t. {DatiM.)
H. intratu. To pound, beat, or slap the wa-
ter in sailing, as a boat. J. A. Henshall.
BIHUlk'' (spangk), n. [< spank^, r.] A sound-
ing blow with the open hand or something flat,
especially upon the buttocks.
My mother lifted me cleverly, planted two tpania be-
hind, and paaied me to the hands of Mme.
Tke Century. XIIVII. 743.
BPanker^ (spang'k^r), n. [< spank^ + -«•!.]
1. One that takes long strides in walking; a
fast-going or fleet horse. [Colloq.] — 2. Naut.,
a fore-and-aft sail set on the after side of the
mizzenmast of a ship or bark. Its head ii extended
by a boom called the ipanter-ffaf, and ita foot generallT,
bat not always, by the spanker-boom. It waa formerly
called a driver, and is now aometimea called on Engltah
ahlpe a tmaen. See cut under Mp.
3. Something striking, from its unusual size or
some other peculiarity; a stunner, a whopper.
[Colloq.]
spanker^ (spang'kfer), n. [Appar. for 'sponger,
< spang + -«rl.J A gold coin. [Prov. Eng.]
spanker-eel (spang'k^r-el), n. The river-lam-
prey, Ammncates Jlwnatilis. [Prov. Eng.]
spanker-gaff (spang'kir-gaf), n. See gaff'*-, 2.
spanker-mast (spang' k^r-m&st), n. See
miistK 1.
spanking' (spang'king), p. a. [Ppr. of spank^,
r.] 1. Moving with a quick, lively pace; dash-
ing: free-going. The Century, XXVII. 108.— 2.
Strikingly large, or surprising in an.v way ; going
beyond expectation; stunning; whopping, ft,
Collins, .\fter Dark, Stolen Letter. [Cwloq.]
— Spanking breeze, a fresh, strong breeae.
8panking-'(Hpang'king), «. [Verbal n. of »p<7>iAr2,
r.J The act of striking with the open hand, or
with something flat: a punishment often ad-
miniHfored to children.
span-lashing (span'lash'ing), n. Naut., a lash-
ing used to secure together two ropes or spars
a short distance apart.
5795
spanless (span'les), a. [< span + -less.l In-
capable of being spjjftned or measured,
span-long (span 'long), fl. Of the length of a
span.
Span-iotig elves that dance dx>ut a pool.
B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, ii. 2.
spanner (span'^r), n. [< spanl + -eel.] 1.
One who or that which spans. — 2. An instru-
ment for clasping and turning a nut on a screw,
or for any similar purpose, as turning the
wheel in cocking the old wheel-lock firearms,
fastening and unfastening the couplings of
fire-hose, etc. ; a screw-key or screw-wrench.
Spanners are made either with a hole to fit the shape of
the nut, as square or hexagonal, or with movable jaws that
can be tightened over a nut or a coupling of any shape.
3. A cross-brace. — 4. In the parallel motion
of a marine steam-engine, a rod which con-
nects the jointed rods with the radius-bar; also,
in some of the earlier engines, the hand-bar or
lever by which the valves were moved for the
admission and shutting off of the steam. — 5. A
span-worm or looper.
span-new (span'nii). a. [< ME. spannewe, spon-
iieoire, < Icel. spdnnyr. also spdnyr (= MHG.
span-nUwe, G. span-neu), span-new, < spdnn, a
chip or shaving, a spoon, + nyr, new: see »po<»il
and new. The term, like others of like import,
refers to something just cut or made, fresh
from the workman's hands. Cf. brand-new,
fire-new; and see also spick-andspan-»ew.'\
Quite new; brand-new; fire-new. [Archaic or
dialectal.]
This tale ay waa gpan-newe to begynne,
Til that the nyght departed hem atwynne.
Chaucer, Troilus, ill. 166i).
spannishingf, «. [< ME. spannishing, verbal n.
of 'xpannish, < OF. e^paniss-, stem of certain
parts of espanir, espandir, < L. expandere, ex-
pand : see expand and spaicn.'] The blooming
of a flower ; full bloom.
I saw ttiat throngh the leves grene
The roa« apredde to tpannythinge.
Rom. q/the Rom, I. S6SS.
span-piece (span'pes), n. In arch., the collar-
beam of a roof.
span-roof (span'rOf), n. A roof that has two
equal inclined planes or sides, in contradis-
tinction to & pent-roof or lean-to roof.
span-saw (span'sA), n. A frame-saw.
span-shackle (span'shak'l), n. In ship-build-
iiiy, a large bolt driven through the forecastle
and spar-deck beams and forelocked before
each beam, with a large square or triangular
shackle at the head for receiving the end of a
boom or davit.
span-worm (span'w^rm), w. In en<OOT.,alooper,
mea.'iurcr, or measuring-worm; the larva of any
geoiuetrid moth. See measuring-worm, ineh-
worm, looper, loopicorm, and especially geome-
ter, 3. See cuts under eankeruiorm and Cidaria.
spar' (spftr), n. [< ME. sparre, < AS. 'spearra
(not found, but indicated by the derived verb)
= MD. sparre, sperre, D. spar = OHG. s}>arro,
MHG. sparre, G. sparren, a bar, beam, = Icel.
spatri, a spar, gag, the gate of a town, sperra,
a spar, rafter, = 8w. Dan. sparre, a rafter; cf.
Ir. sparr, a spar, joist, beam, balk, 'sparra, a
spar, nail, = Gael, sparr, a spar, joist, beam,
roost; Ir. Gael, sparran, a bar, bolt (perhaps <
E.); perhaps akin to spear^. Hence spar^, v.,
and ult. pari, parrock, park.] 1. A stick or
piece of wood of considerable length in pro-
portion to its thickness ; a stout pole ; a large
cudgel. [Obsolete or dialectal in this general
sense.]
Than he caught a sparr; of Oke with bothe hondes, and
caate his ahelde to the gronnde for to be more light, and
com in to the preaae ther aa he saogh thikkeate.
MerUn (E. E. T. 8.), ill. 460.
2f . A bar used for fastening a gate or door, or
the like; hence, a bolt.
The Prince staid not his annswere to devize,
But, opening streight the Sparre, forth to him came.
Speneer, ¥. (J., V. li. 4.
3. Specifically — (a) A round stick of timber,
or a stout pole, such as those used for the masts,
yards, booms, etc., of ships, and for the masts
and jibs of derricks. (6) One of the common
rafters of a roof, as distinguished from the prin-
cipal rafters; also, one of the sticks used as
rafters in a thatched roof.
By aaaaut he wan the cite after,
And rente adoun both wal and eparre and rafter.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, I. 182.
Now nothing waa heard in the yard but the dull thuds of
the beetle which drove In the span, and the rustle of the
thatch in the interraia.
T, Hardy, Tar from the Madding Crowd, zxxtL
spar
(c) A pole lashed to a carriage to hold it up, in
place of a disabled wheel. E. H. Knight.
sparl (spar), V. t. ; pret. and pp. sparred, ppr.
sparring. [Early mod. E. also sparr, sparre;
< ME. sparren, sperren, speren;< AS. 'sparrian
(in pp.gesparrod), *spearrian (in eomp. hispear-
rian = OHG. sparran, sperran, MHG. G. sper-
ren = Icel. sparra, sperra = Sw. sparra = Dan.
spserre, fasten with a spar; from the noun.]
It. To shut, close, or fasten with a bar or a
bolt; bar; fasten in any way.
For when he saugh here dorres »pered alle,
Wil neigh for sorwe adoun he gan to falle.
Chaucer, Troilus, v. 531-
Ile it sparrede with a key. Rom. oj the Rose, 1. 3320.
Calk your windows, spar up all your doors.
B. Jonson, Staple of News, ii. 7.
2. To furnish with or form by the use of spars ;
supply a spar or spars to : as, to spar a ship or
a mast. — 3. To aid (a vessel) over a shallow
bar by the use of spars and tackles: a device
frequently in use on the western rivers of the
United States.
spar^ (spar), n. [Formerly also sparr; < ME.
spar (only in early ME. comp. spmrston), < AS.
"spier, found only in comp. s]>ser-stdn (see spar-
stone) and in adj. spxren, ^\ossmg yipsus, i. e. L.
gypseus, of gypsum, = late MHG. spar, gypsum,
usually in comp. spar-glas and spar-kale, spor-
kalk, sper-kalk, G. spar-kalk, plaster; origin ob-
scure.] In mineral., a general term formerly
employed, but rather vaguely, to include a large
number of crystalline minerals having a bright
but non -metallic luster, especially when break-
ing readily into fragments with smooth sur-
faces. A specific epithet is used with it in each case
to designate a particular species. Calc-spar or calcareous
spar (crystalline calcite), adamantine spar (corundum),
heavy-spar (bariteX satin-spar (gypsum), Jiuor-spar or Der-
byshire spar (fluorite). and tabular spar (wollastonite) are
common examples. The word is used as a suffix in the
liirae .feldspar. Among miners the term spar is frequently
used alone to express any bright crystalline substance. —
Adamantine, calcareous, carbon, cross-course spar.
See the qualifying words. — Derbyshire spar, tiuoride
of calcium, a mineral found in great beauty and abun-
dance in Derliyshire, England ; sanieasyi«or-*par. — Dog-
tooth spar, a
variety of cal-
cite, crystalliz-
ing in acaleno-
hedral forms :
so named from
a fancied re-
semblance of
its crystals to
canine teeth.—
Iceland spar,
a transparent
variety of cal-
cite or calcium Dog-tnoth Spar.
carbonate. In
consequence of Its strong double refraction, it is valuable
for experiments on the double refraction and polarization
of light, and is the substance from which Nicol prisms are
made. The supply for this purpjse has nil been obtained
from a large cave in a doleritic rock near Helgastal in
Iceland.— Nail-head, ponderous, etc., spar. See the
qualifying words.
spaT'^ (spiir), f. I. ; pret. and pp. sparred ; ppr.
sparring. [Early mod. E. sparre; < ME. spar-
ren, rush, make an onset; in def. 2 perhaps a
diff. word, < OP. esparer, F. Sparer (=lt. sparare),
fling out with the heels, kick. Cf. Lith. spirti,
stamp, kick; Russ. sporitl, quarrel, wrangle.
The word spar cannot be connected, unless re-
motely, with spur.] It. To rush forward in at-
tack; make an onset.
He pnt hym to Paris with a proude will,
Sparrit at hym with a spere spitusly fast
Destruction o/ Troy (E. E. T. 8.), 1. 6914.
2. To rise and strike with the shanks or spurs;
fight, as cocks, with the spurs protected with
leather pads, so that the birds cannot injure
each other.
A young cock will spar at his adversary before his spurs
are grown. O. White. Nat. Hist, of Selbome.
3. To make the motions of attack and defense
with the arms and closed fists; use the hands
in or as if in boxing, either with or without
boxing-gloves; practise boxing.
away like
ickwick, ii.
4. To bandy words; engage' in a wordy con-
test, either angrily or humorously.
Well, Madam, what if, after all this sparring.
We both agree, like friends, to end our Jarring?
Qoldtmiih. Epilogue spoken by Mrs. Bulkley and Miss
[Catley.
spar^ (spfir), n. [< spar^, ».] 1. A prelimi-
nary sparring action; a flourish of the arms
and fists in putting one's self in the attitude of
boxing. — 2. A sparring-match; a contest of
boxing or striking; also, a cock-fight in whioh
"Come on," said the cab-driver, sparring :
clockwork. Dickens, Pi<
spar
the contending cocks are not permitted to do
each other serious harm, or in which they have
their spura covered with stuffed leather pads,
so that they cannot cut each other. — 3. A
wordy contest; a skirmish of words.
Spar^ (spiir). n. [= F. spare = Sp. esparo, < L.
sparus, < Gr. airapo^, a kind of fish, the gilthead.]
A sparoid fish; any species of Sparus. Eaw-
liiisoii. Anc. Egypt.
sparable (spar'a-bl), «. [Formerly sperrable,
sparrowble, a corruption of »parrow-biU, a nail
so called on account of its resemblance to the
bill of a sparrow: see sparrow-bill.'] A kind of
headless nail used for the soles and heels of
coarse boots and shoes.
All shoemakers know what gparables are, and most of
them. I thnik, know also that sparable is short for spar-
rowbill. The *paraW«*-« are of two kinds — thin for soles,
and thick for heels. In the trade they are called sepa-
rately "bills "and "thick bills." . . . Heel sparables are
going out of use, and a nail with a head is used instead.
N. and g., 7th ser., V. 111.
Cob clouts his shooes, and, as the story tells,
His thumb-uailea par'd afford him sperrablei.
Merrick, Upon Cob.
Sparable tin, small crystals of tin-stone : so called from
their imaginary resemblance to the kind of nail so named.
sparada (spa-ra'da), n. An embiotocoid fish
of the Pacific coast of North America, Micro-
metrus aggregatiis: a name also extended to
5796
sparclet, ''. and n. An old spelling of sparkle.
spar-deck (spar'dek), H. Xaitt., the upper
deck of a vessel, extending from stem to stem
and including the quarter-deck and poop-deck :
so called as being that on or above which the
spars are disposed. See deck, 2, and cuts under
forecastle a,ni. frame.
spar-dust (spar'dust), n. The dust in wood
which is produced by insects. Hallmell. [Prov.
Eng.]
3n9.rAl I
Sparada iMicrotnetrus aggregatHs'),
others of the same waters and genus. That above
named is about six inches long ; the adult males in spring
are almost entirely black ; the usual coloration is silvery
with dusky back and longitudinal dark stripes interrupted
by three vertical yellow bars.
sparadrap (spar'a-drap; F. pron. spa-ra-drii'),
«. [< F. sparadrap, OF. sparadrapa = Sp.
esparadrapo, espadrapo, esparadrajo = It. spa-
radrappo, 'Nh.sparadraptini; origin uncertain.]
In tned., a cerecloth ; an adhesive plaster, a
medicated bandage, or the like, either linen or
paper.
sparaget, w. [Also sperage; < ME. sparage,
sperage, < OP. esperage = Sp. espdrrago = Pg.
espargo = It. sparago, sparagio = MHG. G.
spargel, < L. asparagus, < Gr. daTrdpayoc, aspara-
gus: see asparagus.] Same as asparagus.
Sperage is sowe aboute Aprill kalende
In redes smale ymade by lyne in wete
And fatte lande.
PaUadius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 112.
Sparagmite (spa-rag'mit), n. [< Gr. airapayfia,
a piece torn off.] The name given by Norwegian
geologists to a reddish feldspathic sandstone
occurring in the Lower Silurian.
sparagrass, ». [A corruption of sparagus, simu-
lating grass. Cf . sparrow-grass.] Same as as-
paragus. [Obsolete or vulgar.]
Were I, gentlemen, worthy to advise, I should recom*
mend the opening a new branch of trade ; ttparagraes, gen-
tlemen, the manufacturing of gparagrasi.
Foote, Mayor of Garratt, ii. 2.
sparagus (spar'a-gus), n. [An aphetio form of
asparagus. Hence sparagrass, sparrow-grass.]
Same as asparagus. Congreve, tr. of Eleventh
Satire of Juvenal. [Obsolete or vulgar.]
Sparaxis (spa-rak'sis), n. [NL. (Ker, 1805),
so named from the torn shreds fringing the
spathe; < Gr. onapa^i^, a tearing, < airapaaaeiv,
tear.] A genus of monoeotyledonous plants, of
the order Iridese and tribe Txieee. It is characterized
by ilowers with a short perianth-tube enlarged and bell-
shaped above, unilateral erect stamens, and slender un-
divided recurved style-branches. The fruit is a membra-
nous three-valved loculicidal capsule. There are ^ (or as
some regard them 11) species, all natives of the Cape of
Good Hope. They are bulbous plants with a slender stem
bearing a few flat or sword-shaped erect or curving leaves,
and handsome flowers, each solitary and sessile within a
thin dry fringed spathe, marked with brown lines. They
are valued as summer-flowering bulbs, and numerous low-
growing varieties are in cultivation, especially of 5. tri-
color and S. grandiJUura, of various colors from white to
crimson, generally with a dark center. The bulb of S.
bulbijera is edible. See harlequin-JUywer.
sparblet, v. t. See sparple.
spar-buoy (spiir'boi), n. A buoy for marking
a channel, etc., made of a spar moored by one
end so that the other end will stand up above
the water. Spar-buoys are much used in nav-
igable channels where ice runs swiftly. See
out under buoy.
spare^ (spar), a. [< ME. spar (rare), < AS. sj)ser,
= OHG. spar = Icel. sparr, spare, sparing ; also
in comp. or deriv. AS. spier-hende, spier-hynde,
later sparhende = OHG. npdrheiiti, sparing; AS.
spcr-lic, sparing, = G. spiirlicli, frugal; G. spar-
sain = Sw. sparsam = Dan. sparsom, sparing;
prob. akin to L. parens, sparing, parcere, spare
(see parcity, parsimony); Gr. cvapvd^, scattered,
rare, < tnrc'ipeiv, scatter, sow (see spore, sperm^).]
1 . Scanty ; meager ; frugal ; not plentiful or
abundant : as, a spare diet.
But there are scenes where Nature's niggard hand
Gave a spare portion to the famish'd land.
Crabbe, Works, I. 8.
2. Lacking in substance; lean; gaunt; poor;
thin; flimsy.
O give me the spare men, and spare me the great ones.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., ill. 2. 288.
Sir Launfal's raiment thin and spare
Was idle mail 'gainst the barbed air.
Lowell, Vision of Sir Launfal, ii.
3. Reserved; chary; cautious.
A man to be in gluing free, in asking spare, in promise
slow, in performance speedy.
Puttenliam, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 245.
4. That may be spared, dispensed with, or ap-
plied to a different purpose; not needed for
regular or appointed uses; superabundant: as,
spare time for recreation ; spare cash.
When I am excellent at caudles.
And cullises, and have enough spare gold
To boil away, you shall be welcome to me.
Beau, and Fl., Captain, i. 3.
5. Reserved from common use ; provided or
held for extra need; not regularly required:
as, a spare anchor; a spare umbrella.
A spare parlor and bedroom I ref lu-nished entirely with
old mahogany and crimson upholstery.
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xxxiv.
6. In rooV., sparingly distributed; remote from
one another; few m number; sparse: &s, spare
hairs, spots, or punctures. = Syn. 4 and 6. Supernu-
merary, extra.
sparel (spar), v.; pret. and pp. spared, ppr. spar-
ing. [< ME. sparen, sparien, < AS. sparian =
OFries. spara = D. sparen = MLG. sparen =
OHG. sparon, MHG. spam, G. sparen = Icel.
Sw. spara = Dan. spare, spare (ef. L. parcere
(■\/ spar), spare); from the adj.] I. trans. 1.
To be frugal, saving, or chary of ; refrain from
employing freely ; use or dispense with moder-
ation.
He that spareth his rod hateth his son. Prov. xiii. 24.
Had he but spared his tongue and pen.
He might have rose like other men.
Swift, Death of Dr. Swift.
2. To dispense with; give or yield up; part
with the use, possession, or presence of; do
without, as for a motive or because of super-
fluity.
I could have better spared a better man.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., v. 4. 104.
3. To withhold the use or doing of; refrain
from ; omit ; forbear ; forego : often with a sec-
ond (indirect) object.
The rather will I spare my praises towards him ;
Knowing him is enough. Shak., Ay's Well, ii. 1. 106.
Spare my sight the pain
Of seeing what a world of tears it costs you.
Dryden, Spanish Fiiar, v. 1.
But, if thou spari to fling Excalibur,
I will arise and slay thee with my hands.
Tennyson, Morte d'Arthur.
4. To refrain from injury to; leave unhurt or
undisturbed ; forbear from harming or destroy-
ing; treat with moderation or consideration;
withhold severity or exaction from; refrain
from unkindness to; specifically, to allow to
live.
Spare ye not her young men ; destroy ye utterly all her
host. Jer. 11. 3.
My husband is thy friend ; for his sake spare me.
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 582.
But now, if spared, it is my full intent
On all the past to ponder and repent.
Crabbe, Works, I. 99.
As a man constrained, the tale he told
From end to end, nor spared himself one whit.
WHKam Morris, Earthly Paradise, I. 350.
Sparganium
5. Used reflexively, to be sparing of one's self;
be chary or diffident ; act with reserve.
Hir thoughte that a lady sholde hire spare.
What for hire kynrede and hire nortelrie.
Chaucer, Reeve's Tale, 1. 46.
II. intrans. 1. To be frugal or saving; econ-
omize ; act parsimoniously or stingily.
I, who at some times spend, at others spare.
Divided between carelessness and care.
Pope, Imit. of Horace, II. ii. 290.
2. To withhold action of any kind ; refrain from
the doing of something, especially something
harmful or harsh ; hold one's hand ; keep quiet ;
hold off.
He may nat spare althogh he were his brother.
He moot as wel seye o word as another.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., !. 737.
Whan thay to thar master cam,
Leytell John wold not spar.
Robin Hood and the Potter (Child's Ballads, V. 29).
To spare for. (a) To be saving or reserved on account
of or with reference to; stint the use or amount of: as,
he spared not for risk or cost to accomplish his purpose.
I shall spare /or no spence & thu spede wele,
And do thi deuer duly as a duke nobill.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 233.
(6t) To withhold effort for; desist from. York Plays, p.
352. (ct) To refrain on account of; allow to deter or hin-
der. Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 36.
sparel (sx^ar), n. l<. spared, v.] If. Frugal use;
saving' economy; moderation; restraint.
Spend in measure as thou doest get ;
Make spare of that thou haste.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 94.
Our victuals failed us, though we made good spare of
them. Bacon, New Atlantis.
Pour'd out their plenty without spight or spare.
Spenser, F. Q., III. i. 51.
2. In American bowling, an advantage gained
by the knocking down of all the pins by rolling
two balls: as, to make a .syare. In such a case, when
the player's turn comes again, the pins knocked down by
his ttrst ball are added to those made in the spare to com-
plete the record of that turn, while they count also in the
record of the new turn. Compare strike.
spare-t (spar), w. [Early mod. E. also sparre,
spayere, spayre; < ME. speyre, speyr; origin ob-
scure.] An opening in a gown or petticoat; a
placket. Prompt. Parr., p. 468.
She took out a little penknife.
Hung low down by her spare.
Sir Hugh, or the Jews Daughter (CbiM'i Ballads, III. 332).
spare-built (spar'bilt), «. Built or formed with-
out fullness or robustness; slender. Hcott,
Rokeby, ii. 22.
sparefult (spar'ful), a. [< spared ■¥ -ful.]
Sparing; chary. Fairfax.
sparefulnesst (spar'ful-nes), n. The quality of
being spareful or sparing.
Largess his hands could never skill of sparefvlness.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, ii.
sparely (spar'li),adt). [< ME.sparUche ( = MHG.
sperliche); <. spare'^^ + -ly^.] Sparingly; scan-
tily; thinly; leanly.
Ye valleys low, . . .
On whose fresh lap the swart-star sparely looks.
Milton, Lycidas, 1. 138.
spareness (spar'nes), H. [Cf. AS. spsernes, fru-
gality.] The state of being spare, lean, or thin ;
leanness.
sparer (spar'er), n. [< ME. sparare ; < spared,
v., + -erl.] One who spares, or avoids unneces-
sary expense; a frugal spender. [Rare.]
By nature far from profusion, and yet a greater sparer
than a saver. Sir U. Wotton.
sparerib (spar'rib), «. [Formerly also sj>ear-
rib; < spared + rib'-.] A cut
of pork consisting of the up-
per part of a row of ribs with
the meat adhering to them.
Sparerib roasted or broiled is
esteemed a delicacy.
Sparganium (spiir-ga'ni-um),
«. [NL. (Tournefort, 1700),
< L. sparganion, < Gr. OTrap-
yaviov, a plant, bur-reed, so
called from the ribbon-like
leaves, dim. of dTrdpyavov, a fil-
let, a swaddling-band, < airap-
yuv, swathe.] A genus of
monoeotyledonous plants, of
the order Typliares. It is dis-
tinguished from the other genus of
that order, Typha, by hyaline scales
of the perianth, oblong or wedge-
shaped anthers, and sessile ovary.
There are about 6 species, natives of
both hemispheres in temperate and
subf rigid regions. Three somewhat
polymorphous species occur in the
northeastern United States. They
are aquatic herbs, sending up from
Bur-reed {Sfiarganiuim
turycarfum).
I. Flowering plant. 2.
Partoftheinfiorescence.
showing the globularfe-
male head.
Sparganium
dender rootstocks erect or floating smooth spongy stems,
and alternate entire lineiir leaves, usually with a sheath-
ing base, stiffly asceTuiin;; at a wide angle with the stem
(whence they were formerly called reed-tjriwi). The flowers
form globular heads, the upper staminate, the lower iiis-
tillate, in fruit becoming spherical compact bur-like bodies
composed of many sharp-pointed spongy nutlets (whence
the popular name bur-reed). They are sometimes planted
along the margin of water. The stems have been used to
make paper, and the roots of S. ramogum and 5. simplex
were once in repute as a remedy for snake-bites.
sparganosis (spar-ga-no'sis;, «. [XL., as if <
Gr. anapyavuai(;, wrapping in swaddling-clothes
(see Sparganium); prop, spargosis, < Gr. sn-dp-
yuCT/f, a swelling, distention: see spargosis.'i
Same as spargosis.
sparge (sparj), v. t.; pret. and pp. sparged, ppr.
spiirging. [Sc. spairge ; < L. spargire, strew,
sprinkle ; cf. asperge, asperse, disjierse, etc.] 1.
To sprinkle ; scatter.
Wha in yon cavern, grim and sootie,
Closed under hatches,
Spairge* about the brunstane cootie.
Burnt, Address to the De'il.
2. To throw water upon in a shower of small
drops. See sparger.
spargefactiont (spar-jf-fak'shon), «. [< L.
xj)<ir(ii'n\ strew, sprinkle, + faclio(n-),<.facere,
do, make.] The act of sprinkling. Swift, Tale
of a Tub, iy.
sparger (spar'j6r),w. [< sparge + -er'^.'] 1. A
sprinkler; usually, a cup with a perforated lid,
or a pipe with a periforated nozle, used for damp-
ing paper, clothes, etc. — 2. In brewing, a per-
forated cylinder, or a series of disks, for dis-
charging hot water in a fine shower over grain
falling into a masli-tub.
spargett, spargetingt. Same na parget, parget-
ing.
Spargosis (spar-go'sis), n. [NL., < Gr. OTrdpyu-
acc, a swelling, distention, < trrapyav, be full to
bursting, swell.] In pathol. : (a) Distention of
the breasts with milk. (6) Same as pachyder-
mia. Also sparganosis.
sparbawk (spar'hak), ». A contracted form of
itparrow-luiwk. Chaucer, Parliament of Fowls,
1. 33S.
Sparidx (spar'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Sparus +
-iV/a-.] A family of acanthopterygian fishes,
typified by the genus Sparus, to which differ-
ent limits have been assigned ; the sea-breams,
(a) In the early qratem of Bonaparte, lame ai Cnrier's
fourth family of acanthopterygian flabea (Sparoides\
which included, besides the true Sparidx, many other
fishes, (b) In <iunther's system, a family of AcanthopU-
ryyii perrifttrmes, having ventfals perfect, no bony stay for
the preoperculum, a lateral line, and either a series of
trencliant teeth in the Jaws or molars on the sides, (c)
In Jordan and ililbert's classlflcation, acanthoptei^gian
fishes of the ordinary type with the snpmmaxillary b^mes
slipping under the preorbital. It thus included not only
the true Sparidm, but the hriatopomida, Lutjanidm, Pi.
mOepUridm, and Lobotidx. (d) By Qill restricted to
flahes of an oblong compressed form with peculiar scales,
continuous laleral line, head compressed, snpramaxfllaiy
bones retractile under the suborbitals, dorsal with the
spinous part depressible in a groove and about as long
I the soft part, pectorals with lower rays branched, and
mtnls sabbrachUl and complete; The famOr thus lim-
ited comprises numerous species, among which are some
of the most esteemed of the temperate seas, such as the
giltheads of Europe, and the sheepahead and scup of the
ea^ttem American coast. Also Sparoidm. See cuts under
Piiixfleplenu, porgy, Seorpit, amp, and tktepiluad.
sparldal («par'i-dal), a. Same a8 sparoid.
Sparinx (spa-ri'nS), «. pi. [NL., < Sparus +
-tn«.] A su'bfamily of sparoid fishes, typifie<l
by the genus Sparus, to which various limits
hiivf h.'pn assigned, (o) The genera Spanu. Sargut,
and r'linritx: the Sparini of Bonaparte, (i) By Jordan
anil liilliert used for sparolila having molar teeth on the
sides of the jaws, none on vomer, palatines, or tongue,
entire opercle, and few pyloric caK-a, including Sparus,
Sargut, or Diptodut, and various other genera.
sparine (npar'iu), a. and n. [< sparus + -inel.]
1. a. Sparoid, in a narrow sense; closely resem-
bling a sparus; belonging to the Sparing.
H. n. A sparoid fish of the subfamily Spa-
rine.
sparing (spSr'ing), n. [< ME. spari/nge; verbal
n. of spared, p.] 1. Parsimony.
Sparynge. Parcimonla. Prompt. Parr., p. 4«7.
2. pi. That which is saved by frugality or econ-
omy; savings. [Rare.]
The tparinmt of the whole week which have not been
laid out for chances in the lottery are spent for this even-
ing's amusement. Howeilt, Venetian Life, v.
3t. The state of being spared from harm or
death.
If the Lord give you tparinj to-morrow, let me hear
four words of comfort from you for Ood's saJie.
J. Cardat, In Bradford's Letters (Parker Soc., 1853), II. 241.
Trlng fspar'ing), ;;. <i. [Ppr. of sparc"^, r.]
IniMined to spare or save; economical; fru-
gal; chary; grudging.
5797
Too near and sparing for a soldier.
Too gripping, and too greedy.
Fletcher (and another ?), Prophetess, i. 2.
Defer not to do Justie^ or be sparing of Mercy.
Baker, Chronicles, p. 166.
2. Of a spare amount, quantity, or extent ; not
abundant or la^^sh ; limited; scanty; restrain-
ed: as, a sparing diet; sparing applause.
The use of confutation in the delivery of sciences ought
to be very sparing. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, it
3t. Inclined to spare from harm or hardship;
not oppressive ; forbearing.
Their king . . . was <pan'n$< and compassionate towards
his subjects. Bacon.
sparingly (spar'ing-li), adv. In a sparing man-
ner; with frugality, moderation, scantiness, re-
serve, forbearance, or the like ; sparsely.
Touch this sparingly, as 'twere far off.
Shak., Rich, in., lii. 6. 93.
sparingness (spar'ing-nes), H. The character
of being sparing or inclined to spare; espe-
cially, frugality, scantiness, or the like: as,
the sparingness of one's diet.
A year afterward he entered the ministry again, and
lived with the utmost sparingness.
George Eliot, Felix Holt, vi.
spark^ (spark), n. [< ME. sparke, sperle, spare,
spaerc, sj>earke, < AS. spearc<i. spserca = MD.
sparcke, spercke, D. spark = MLG. LG. sparke
(^ OF. esparque), a spark; perhaps so called
from the crackling of a firebrand : cf . Icel. Sw.
spraka = Dan. sprage, crackle, Lith. sprageti,
crackle, Gr. atpapayo^, a crackling, Skt. ysphurj,
rumble.] 1. A particle of ignited substance
emitted from a body in combustion; a fiery
particle thrown off by burning wood, iron,
powder, or other substance.
He muhte . . . blowen so litheliche thet sum iperke
muhte acwUclen. Ancren Riute, p. 96.
Man is bom onto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
Job V. 7.
Hence — 2. A scintillating or flying emana-
tion, literally or figuratively ; anything resem-
bling a spark of fire: as, sparks from a gem;
a spark of wit.
To try if it were pouible to get a spari' of human spirit
oat of yoo. Scott, Woodstock, v.
For all the baft twinkled with diamond sparks.
Tennyion, Passing of Artbiu:.
3. A small diamond used with many others
to form a setting or frame, as to a cameo or a
miniature painting; also, a distinct crystal of
diamond with the natural curved edges, suitable
for glaziers' use.
This madonna invites me to a banquet for my discourse,
t'other . . . sends me a spark, a third a ruby, a fourth an
emerald. Shirley, Bird In a Cage, li. 1.
These writing diamonds are sparks set in steel tubes
mach like everpoint pencils. Lea, I'hotography, p. 4-27.
4. A separate bit or particle of fire or burning
matter m an otherwise inert body or mass;
hence, a bit of anything, material or immate-
rial, comparable to this in its nuclear character
or possible extension of activity.
If any spark of life be nnqnench'd in her,
This will recover her.
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Ualta, 111. 2.
If the true (part of religious and civil liberty be kindled,
It will hum.
D. Webster, Speech, Bunker Hill Monument, June 17, 182.').
Electric spark, the luminous effect produced when a
-sudden disruptive electrical discharge takes place be-
tween two charged conductors, or between two conduc-
tors at different electric potentials The length of the
spark depends primarily upon the difference of potential
of the two charged bodies ; It is hence in general a con-
spicuous phenomenon with high potential frictlonal elec-
tricity, and not with ordinary voltaic currents. See else-
triciti/. — TaiTy sparks. 6ee fairy.
spark^ (sjiiirk), r. [< ME. sparken, < AS. spear-
dan = MLG. LG. sparken, emit sparks ; from the
noun: see apark^, n.] I. intrans. 1. To emit
sparks, as of fire or electricity; sparkle or scin-
tillate. Spenser. — 2. In e/erf., to produce sparks
at points where the continuity of the circuit is
interrupted. The production of sparks is due to the
formation of a small arc between the extremities of the
broken conductor, and also to self-induction in the circuit.
Sparking often takes place between the collecting brushes
and the commutator of the dynamo. It is injurious to
the machine, aside from the actual dissipation of energy
which it involves. It also occurs t^) an nijnrious degree
in other electrical apparatus in which currents are fre-
quently interrupted. Various measures are resorted to
for the purpose of reducing It to a minimum or avoiding
It altogether. 8ee spark-arrester. 3.
There Is no sparking at the brushes.
S. P. Thompson, Dynamo-Elect Macb., p. 113.
n. trans. 1. To affect by sparks, as of elec-
tricity; act upon by the emission or transmis-
sion of sparks. [Recent.]
sparkle
The insulation Is apt to be sparked through and spoiled.
Elect. Rev. (Eng.), XXIV. 560.
Whenever a large Leyden jar is sparked through the
coil. PhUos. Mag., XXVIl. 339.
2. To splash with dirt. Ealliwell. [Prov. Eng.
or Scotch.]
spark2 (spark), n. [Usually associated with
spark^, sparkish, sparkling, etc., but perhaps a
var. of sprack (cf. ME. sparklich, var. oisprack-
lielie), < Icel. sparkr, usually transposed sprakr,
sprightly: see sprack.'] 1. A person of a gay
or sprightly character; agay, lively, sliowyman
(or, rarely, in former use, woman) ; a " blade"
or roysterer.
Robbin Hood upon him set
With his couragious sparkes.
True Tale of SoHn Hood (Child's Ballads, V. 368).
I will wed thee
To my great widdowes daughter and sole heire.
The lonely sparke, the bright Laodice.
Chap)nan, Widdowes Teares, i. (Daviet.)
Their worthy father . . . was, at his years, nearly as
wild a spark. Sheridan, School for Scandal, i. 2.
2. A lover; a gallant; a beau. [Colloq.]
Fly to your spark; hell tell you more of the matter.
Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, lit
spark2 (spark), j;. [< spari-2, n.] I. in trans. To
play the spark or gallant; court. [Colloq.]
A sure sign that his master was courting, or, as it is
temied, sparking, within. Irving, Sketch-Book, p. 432.
The boys that do a good deal of sparking and the girls
that have a lot of beaux don't always get married first.
E. Eggleston, The Oraysons, xxxiii.
n. trans. To pay attention to, especially with
a view to marriage ; court ; play the gallant to,
in a general sense : as, he is sparking Miss Doe ;
to siiark a girl home. [Colloq.]
spark-arrester (spark' a-res''t6r), «. l. A fen-
der of wire netting. — 2. A netting or cage of
wire placed over the smoke-stack of a steam-
engine. In some arresters a deflector is placed in the
stack, against which the sparks strike, and fall into a re*
servoir below. Also called spark-consumer.
3. A device for preventing injurious sparking
in electrical apparatus at points where fre-
quent interruptions of the circuit occur, as in
telegraph-keys, relays, and similar instruments.
It consists in some cases of a spark-coil or high-resistance
connective across the point of interruption, so that the
circuit is never actually broken, but only greatly reduced.
In others it is a condenser whose plates are connected
each with one extremity of the broken circuit. In this
case the energj' of the current induced on breaking is ex-
pended In charging the condenser. Also sparker.
spark-coil (spark 'koil), n. See spark-arres-
ter. 3.
spark-condenser (spilrk'kon-den's^r), n. In
elect., an instrument having a glass cage in
which a spark may be passed between the bat-
tery connections, it is used for burning metals or
obtaining the spectra of gases, and is designed to isolate
the atmosphere in which the experiment is conducted, so
as to eliminate accidental disturbing causes, and also to
enable the experiment to take place in an atmosphere of
any required condensation or tenuity.
spark-consumer (8park'kon-sii''mfer), «. In a
steain-engine, a spark-arrester.
sparked (spilrkt), «. [< spark^ + -ed^.'i Va-
riegated. Ifallitcell. [Prov. Eng.]
sparked-back (spiirkt'bak), a. Ha'ving a
streaked or variegated back; streaked-back:
as, the sparked-back plover, the tumstone. [Lo-
cal, Massachusetts.]
sparker (spar'kfer), ». [< sparfcl + -eri.] Same
as spark-arrester, 3.
sparkfult (spark'fM), a. [< spark^ -I- -/«/.]
Sparkish.
Hitherto will our spark^uU youth laugh at their great
grandfather's English. Camden, Remains, Languages.
sparkish (spar'kish), a. [< s})ark^ -¥■ -ish^. Cf.
■ijiark'^.] Gay; jaunty; sprightly; showy; fine.
I have been detained by a sparkish coxcomb, who pre-
tended a visit to me. Wycherley, Country Wife, Iv. 2.
A daw, to be sparkisti, trick'd himself up with all the
gay feathers he could muster. Sir R. L' Estrange.
sparkle (spar'kl), r. ; pret. and pp. sparkled,
ppr. .tparkling. [Early mod. E. also sparcle,
sparckle; < ME. .iparklen, spearclen, sperclen (=
MD. sparckelen); freq. of spark^. Cf. sparkle,
«.] I. intrans. 1. To emit sparks; send off
small ignited particles, as burning fuel, etc. —
2. To shine as if giving out sparks; glitter;
glisten; scintillate, literally or figuratively : as,
a brilliant «p(Trfc/es; a sparmn;/ beauty; spark-
ling wit.
The Sea seemed all of a Fire about us; for every sea
that broke sparkled like Lightning.
Dampier, Voyages, I. 414.
The rosy sky.
With one star sparkling through it like an eye.
Byron, Don Juan, li. 183.
sparkle
Sparkling heat, such a heat as produces sparks : espe-
cially, a deiTiee of heat ill a piece of iron or steel that
causes it to sparkle or emit spai'ks under the liuninier ; a
welding-heat.— Sparkling wine, wine characterized liy
the presence or the emission of carbonic-acid gas in little
bubbles which sparkle or glisten in the light. = SyiL 1
a. SdntiUate, GlitWr, etc. (seeyiarei, p. i.\ coruscate.
H. trans. 1. To emit with coruscations;
tlu-ow out sparklingly.
The bright glister of their beames cleare
Did tfarckle forth great light.
Spemer, F. Q., III. i. 32.
2. To scatter; disx>erse. [Obsolete or prov.
Eng.]
The riches of Darius was left alone, and lay sparkled
abroade ouer all the fields.
J. Brende, tr. of Quintus Curtlus, Hi. 43.
3t. To sprinkle; spatter.
The pauement of the temple is all sparded with bludde.
Peter Martyr (tr. in Eden's First Books on America,
[ed. Arber, p. 196).
sparkle (spar'kl), n. [< ME. sparkle, sparcle,
with dim. -le, -el, < spark^; or < sparkle, i'.] 1.
A spark; an ignited or a luminous particle, or
something comparable to it ; a scintillation ; a
gleam.
Foure gleedes hati we, whlche I shal devyse,
Avauntiug, liyng, anger, coveitise,
Thlse foure sparkles longeu unto elde.
Chaucer, Prol. to Eeeve's Tale, I. 31.
And drove his heel into the smoulder'd log.
That sent a blast of sparkles up the flue.
Tennyson, Morte d'Arthur.
2. The act or state of sparkling; emission of
sparks or scintillations ; sparkling luminosity
or luster : used literally or figuratively.
Swift as the sparkle of a glancing star
I shoot from heaven, to give him sale convoy.
Milton, Comus, I. 80.
A zest and sparkle ran through every part of the paper.
0. S. Merriam, S. Bowles, II. 3S9.
sparkleberry (spar'kl-ber"i), ». Same as
furklebcrrij.
sparkler (spark'l^r), n. [< sparkle + -frl.]
1. A thing which or a person who sparkles;
that which or one who gives off scintillations,
as of light, beauty, or wit : often applied spe-
cifically to gems, especially the diamond.
But what would you say, should you see a Sparkler shak-
ing her elbow for a whole night together, and thumping
the table with a dice-box? Addigon, Guardian, No. 1-20.
It (Mercury] keeps so near the sun . . . that very few
people have ever seen the brilliant sparkler.
H. W. Warren, Astronomy, p. 113.
2. One of various species of tiger-beetles { Ci-
dndela) : so called in allusion to their shining
or sparkling appearance when running in the
sunshine. See cuts under Cicindela.
Sparkless (spark'les), a. [< spark^ + -less.']
Free from sparks; not emitting sparks: as, a
sparkless commutator. Electric Review (Eng.),
XXVI. 203.
sparklessly (spark'les-li), adv. Without the
emission of sparks.
sparklet (spark'let), n. [< spark^ + -let.] A
small spark, or minute sparkle; a scintillating
speck. [Rare.]
sparklinesst (spark'li-nes), n. Sparklingness ;
sparkling vivacity. Aubrey, Lives (John Suck-
ling).
sparklingly (spark'Iing-li), adv. In a sparkling
manner ; with twinkling or vivid brilliancy.
sparklingness (spark'ling-nes), n. The quality
of being s]]arkling; vivid and twinkling luster.
spark-netting (spark'nef'ing), n. A spark-
arrester or spark-consumer.
sparling'^ (spar'ling), n. [Also Sperling, spir-
ting, sporting, spurting ; < ME. sparlynge, sper-
lyng, .iperlynge, spyrlynge = MLG. sperlink =
G. spierling (> OF. esperlane, esperlan, F. eper-
lan; ML. sperlingus), a smelt: cf. D. spiering,
a smelt.] 1. A smelt. [Prov. Eng.]
For sprats and sparlings for your house.
Tusser, Husbandry.
2. A samlet; a smolt. [Wales.]
sparling- (spar'ling), n. [Also spurting; < spear^
+ -ling, from the sharp, picked bill.] A tern
or sea-swallow. [Prov. Eng.]
sparling-fowl (spar'ling-foul), «. The goosan-
der or merganser, especially the female. J.
Latham.
sparliret, «. [JIE., also sparlyre, sperlire, spar-
lyiter, sperlyuer, the calf of the leg, a muscle, <
AS. spserlira, sperlira, spearlira, < spser, spare,
+ lira, fleshy part of the body without fat or
bone: see spared and lire^.] The calf of the
leg.
Smyit thee the Lord with the moost yuel biel in knees,
and in spariyuers. Wyclif, Deut. xxviiL 35.
5798
spar-maker (spar'ma'ker), H. A carpenter
whose special business is the making of masts,
yards, etc.
Sparmannia (spiir-man'i-a), n. [NL. (Linnreus
tilius. 1781), named after Andreas *>«»■'»««» or
Sparrmann, a Swedish naturalist of tne 18th cen-
tury.] A genus of polypetalous plants, of the
order Tiliaveee, the linden family, and of the tribe
Tilieee. it is characterized by the outer stamens being
without anthers, the numerous itnier ones perfect, and by
a globose or ovoid capsule which is echinate with rigid bris-
tles. There are three species, nativesof tropical or southern
Africa. They are shrubs or trees with soft stellate pubes-
cence, bearing toothed or lobed heart-shaped leaves and
white flowers in small terminal nmbelliform cymes which
are surrounded by an involucre of short bmcts. S. Afri-
cana is a handsome greenhouse-shrub reaching from 6
to 12 feet high, with ornamental long-stalked leaves and
downy white flowers with yellow and brown sterile sta-
mens. It produces a fiber of very fine texture, known as
A/rican hemp, and recommended for its strength and
beautiful silver-gray color.
Sparoid (spa'roid), a. and n. [< NL. Sparus +
-Old.] I. a. Resembling a sea-bream; of or
pertaining to the Sparidee in a broad sense.
Also sparidal — Sparoid scales, scales chaiacteristic
of sparoid fishes — thin, wide, with lines of growth pro-
ceeding from their hind border. Agassiz.
II, H. A sparoid fish.
Sparoidae (spa-roi'de), «. pi. [NL.] Same as
,'<paridse.
sparplet (spar'pl), r. t. [Also sparhle ; < ME.
sparplcn, sparpyllen, < OF. espurpeiller, P. epar-
piller, scatter, iiy oil' like a butterfly,= Pr. espar-
palhar = It. spurpagtiare, scatter, fly off like a
butterfly. Cf. disparple.] To scatter; spread
abroad; disperse.
Thei made the renges to sparhle a-brode.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 396.
sparret, n. and v. An obsolete form of spar^.
sparrer (spa,r'6r), «. One who spars; one who
practises boxing. Thackeray, Adventures of
Philip, vii.
sparrow (spar'6), ». [< ME. sparowe, sparuwe,
spareiee, sparwe, < AS. spearwa, speareiva, in
early glosses spearua, = OHG. sparo {spanc-),
sparwe, MHG. spar (MHG. dim. sperline, Sper-
ling) = leel. S2)drr = Sw. sparf = Dan. spnrv =
Goth, sparwa, a sparrow ; prob. from the root
of .fpur, spurn, 'kick, quiver': see sjiur. Cf.
MD. sjiarwer, sperwer, D. spencer = MLG. spar-
ser, sperwer — OHG. sparwari, spartcdri, MHG.
sperwmrc, sparicxrc, G. sperher (cf. It. sparviere,
sparaoicrc = Pr. esparvier = OF. espervicr, F.
epervier, in ML. sparvarius, sparaverius, espar-
rarius, < OHG., cf. Sp. esjiaravdn), a sparrow-
hawk, lit. 'sparrow-eagle,' the second element
being OHG. aro (in corap. -ari), eagle : see
earnS. Cf. sparver, sjiavin.] 1. The house-
spaiTow, Passer domesticus, a fringilline bird
of Europe, which has been imported and
naturalized in America, Australia, and other
countries. It is about 6 inches long and 9^ in extent
of wings. The upper parts of the niale are ashy-gray,
boldly streaked on the back with black and bay ; there
is a dark-chestnut or mahogany spot on each side of
the neck; the lesser wing-coverts are chestnut; the
median are tipped with white, forming a wing-bar ; the
greater coverts and inner secondaries have a black
field bordered with gray; and the lower parts are ashy
or gray, with jet-black on the throat, spreading on the
breast, and bordered on the side of the neck with white.
The female is similar, but more plainly feathered, lack-
ing the distinctive head-markings of the male. The
sparrow is a conirostral granivorons bird, whose food is
principally seeds and grain, yet it has been introduced
in many countries for the purpose of destroying noxious
insects. It is extremely hardy, pugnacious, and prolific,
rearing several large broods annually. Of all birds the
sparrow naturally attaches itself most closely to man, and
easily modifies its habits to suit artificial conditions of
environment It is thus one of several animals, as rats,
mice, and other vermin, well fitted to survive under what-
ever conditions man may offer or enforce; hence it wins
in competition with the native birds of the foreign coun-
tries where it naturalizes, without as readily developing
counteractive agencies to check its increase. It speedily
becomes a poet wherever introduced, and seldom destroys
noxious insects to any appreciable extent. It was brought
into the United States from Germany about 186B, and is
now proi>ably more numerous than any single native bird.
In New York city thousands of sparrows are sold and
eaten as reed-birds. See cut under Passer'-i.
2. Some or any fringilline bird resembling the
sparrow, as Passer montanus, the tree-sparrow;
one of various finches and buntings, mostly of
plain coloration. In the United States the name is
given, with a qualifying word, to very many small sparrow-
like birds, mostly of homely streaked coloration. Chip-
ping- or field-sparrows belong to the genus Spizella;
crown-sparrows to Zonotrichia; fox-sparrows to Passe-
rella; grasshopper-sparrows to Cotumicvhis ; the grass-
sparrow to Pooeceten ; the lark-sparrow to Chondestes ; sage-
sparrows to Ainphvtpiza ; savanna-sparrows to Passer-
eulus ; seaside sparrows to Ammodromrts; snow-spar-
rows to JUTlco ; song-sparrows to Melospiza. See cuts un-
der Chrindestes, Coturnictdm, Emhernairra, field-sparrow,
grassjinch, sage-sparrow, savanna-sparrow, snowbird, and
song-sparrow.
sparrow-hawk
3. Some little bird likened to or mistaken for
a sparrow. Thus, the hedge-sparrow is the hedge-chant-
er, Accentor irwdtUari.^. and some other warblers are loose-
ly called sparrows. — Bush-sparrow, the hedge-sparrow,
uicce«(or?/iodwIari8.— English sparrow, the common Eu-
ropean house-sparrow. Passer domesticus : so called in the
United States. .See
def. 1. — Green-
tailed sparrow,
Blanding's finch.
See finch^. — Java
sparrow, the rice-
bird of Java, Ama-
dina {Munia or
Padda) vryzieora,
about as large as
the bobolink, of a
bluish-gray color
with pink bill and
white ear-coverts ;
a well-known cage-
bird. — Sandwich
sparrow, a vari-
ety of the common
White-throated
Java Sparrow {Padda oryztvora).
found
Alaska. -
savanna-sparrow
sparrow, a crown-sparrow. (See 9\io field-sparrow . hedge-
sjmrrfnv, hill-sparrow, house sparrow, reed-sparrow, satin-
^rrotv, u-ater-sparrou; and other compounds noted in
def. 2.)
sparrow-bill (spar'6-bil), n. 1. The bill of a
sparrow. — 2. A kind of shoe-nail : the original
form of sparable.
Hob-nailes to serve the man i' th' moone.
And sparrowbiis to cloute Pan's shoone.
Dekker, Londons Tempe.
sparrowblet (spar'o-bl), n. Same as sparrow-
bill, 2, sparable.
sparrow-grass (spar'6-gras), n. [A corruption,
simulating sparrow + grass, of sparagruss, it-
self a corruption of sparagus for asparagus.]
Asparagus. [Prov. or vulgar.] — French spar-
row-grass, the sprouts of the spiked star-of-Bethlehem,
Ormthogaluni Pyreuaictim, sold to be eaten as asparagus.
Prior, Popular Names of British Plants. (Prov. Eng.)
sparrow-hawk (spar'6-hak), n. [Also contr.
sparhawk; < ME. spar-hauk, sperhauk, < AS.
spearliafoc, spearhabuc, spserhabuc (= Icel.
sparrhaukr = Sw. sparf liiik = Dan . spurvehog),<.
speanca, spar-
row, + hafoc,
hawk : see
sparrow and
haiok^. For
the D., G., and
Rom. names
for ' sparrow-
hawk,' see un-
der sparrow.]
1. One of
several small
hawks which
prey on spar-
rows and oth-
er small birds,
(a) A hawk of the
genus Accipiter
or Nisus. In Great
Britain the name
is appropriated
to A. nisus, or
Nisus /ringilla-
rius, about 12 inches long, closely related to the sharp-
shinned hawk of America, ib) In the I'nited States, a
hawk of the genus Falco and subgenus Tinnuncttlus, es-
pecially F. (T.) sparverius, which abounds in neai'ly all
European Sparrow-hawk {Atcifitter fttsusu
Aiiiencari Sp.-irrow hawk \Faicp r/tartvriHs), aduU male.
parts of the countiy, and is known in books as the rusty-
crowned falcon and prairie-hauk. It is 10 or 11 inches
long, and from 20 to 23 in extent of wings. The adult is
ashy -blue on the crown, with a chestnut spot ; on the back
cinnamon-rufons, the male having few black marks or
none, and the female numerous black bars. The wing-
coverts in the male are ashy-blnc, usually spotted with
black; in the female cinnamon baried with black. The
tail is bright-chestnut, in the male with a broad suhter-
minal black band, and the outer feathers mostly white
with black bars ; in the female barred throughout with
black. The under parts are white, variously tinted with
bull or tawny, in the male with few black spots if any ; in
the female with many dark-brown stripes. The bill is
dark horn-blue ; the cere and feet are yellow or orange.
It is an elegant and spirited falcon, breeding in hollows
of trees, building no nest, but often taking possession of
a woodpecker's hole. The female lays five, six, or seven
sparrow-hawk
siibspheroidal eftgs, 1 4 inches long by 1 ,', inches broad, of a
buffy oi pale-yellowish protind-color, spotted unil splashed
all over with dark brown. Several similar sparrow-hawks
inhabit America, and various other species, of both the
genera named, are found in most parts of the world.
2. Ill siher-icorkiiKj, a small auvil with two
horns (one flat-sided and pyramidal, the other
conical in form), held between the knees of the
workman, for use in flanging, making bezels,
etc.
sparrow-owl (spar'6-oul), n. Any one of many
small owls of the genus Glaucidium. Two occur
in western parts of the United States, G. gnoma, the
gnome-owl, and 6. ferrurfineum. See cut under Glauci-
diutfu
sparrow-tail (spar'6-tal), w.and a. I. n. Some-
thing formed like a sparrow's tail ; a swallow-
tail.
These long-tailed coats (in 1786) . . . were cut away in
front to a tparrowtail behind. FairhoU, Costume, I. 401.
II. a. Having a long skirt cut away at the
sides and squared off at the end : as, a sparrow-
tail coat (now usually called swallow-tail).
The lawyers in their blue sparrow-tail coats with brass
buttons, which constituted then [about 18401 a kind of pro-
fessional uniform, moved about with as much animation
as uneasy Jaybirds. E. EgglaUm, The Graysons, xivi.
sparrow-tonguet (spar'6-tung), n. The knot-
grass, l'ol!i<i'>)ii(m ariculare.
Sparrowwort (spar'6-w^rt), n. 1. Any plant
of the genus Passerina. — 2. A South African
species of heath. Erica Paascrime.
sparry (spar'i), a. [< spar^ + -yl.] Resem-
bling spar; consisting of or abounding with
spar; spathose.
As the rude cavern's sparry sides
When past the miner's taper glides. J. Baiilie.
The rock ... is a sparry iron ore, which turns reddish
brown on exposure to the weather.
J. CroU, Climate and Time, p. 308.
Sparry Iron, sparry iron ore, a carbonate of iron : same
as sideritf, 2. 'The clay-ironstones, or the clay-bands and
black-bands of the coal and other formations, belong to
this family of iron ores.
Sparsate (spar'sat), «. [< ttparse + -ateXJ] In
entom.. thinly scattered; sparse: as, sparsate
punctures. [Kare.]
sparse (spars), a. [< OP. espars, F. ^pars = Pg.
eaparso, scattered, K L. sparsus, pp. of spargere,
scatter, sprinkle ( > It. spargere = Sp. esparcir =
Pg. espargir, scatter): see sparge. Cf. sparse,
v., sperse, digperse.'] 1. Thinly scattered; dis-
persed round about; existing at considerable
intervals ; as used of population or the like, not
dense [Sparse has been regmled, falsely, as an Amer-
icanism, and has been objected to as being exactly equiv-
aleiit to itcaU'Tid, and therefore nnnecesaary. As a merely
quali <ive, however, It is free from the possible
ani h lit in the participial form and consequent
Teit'.i. . ion of scaftered.]
A sparse remnant of yellow leaves falling slowly athwart
the dark evergreens. Qtorge EUot, Middlemarch, ix.
The sparse populations of new districts.
Sir C. W. DiUe, Ptobs. of Greater BritjUn, it 1.
Halley . . . was one of the first to discuw the possible
luminosity of sparse masses of matter In space.
lliMttmtk Cntwry, XXVI. 78a
2. In frof. , scattered ; placed distantly or irreg-
ularly without any apparent or regular order :
applied to branches, leaves, peduncles, etc. —
3. Ill :ool., spare or remote, as spots or other
markings; scattered irregularly; fewer scan-
ty, as hairs or other appendages.
Tuset (spftrs), r. t. [< OF. exparser, espareer,
L. liparsus, pp. of spargere, scatter : see sparse,
a. Cf. sperse, disperse, sparge.'] To disperse;
scatter.
As when the hollow Oood of aire in Zephire* cheeks doth
swell.
And spoTseth all the gathered clouds.
Chapman, Iliad, xi. 288.
He [God] opens his hand wide, he sparseth abroad his
blessings, and tills all things living with his plenteous-
ness. Bn. T. Adams, Works, II. 418.
sparsedlyt (spar'sed-li), adv. In a scattered
iiiiiinicr; dispersedly: sparsely. Imp. Diet.
sparsely (sptirs'li), adv. 1. In a scattered or
sparse manner; scantily; widely apart, as re-
gards population, etc. ; thinly.
The country between Trinity river and the MIsslsalppI
is sparsely settled, containing less than one inhabitant to
the square mile. Olnuled, Texas, p. 3«6.
2. In hot. and zool., so as to be sparse, thin,
few,orscanty; sparely or sparingly. 8ee«par«e,
a., 2. 3.
Sparseness (spilrs'nes), n. The state of being
sparse; scattered condition; wide separation:
as, spnrsriKss of population.
The sixirKtirts of the wires in the magnet coils and the
use of the single cup battery were Ut me . . . obvious
marks of defect. The Century, XXXV. 931.
5799
sparsile (spRr'sil), a. [< LL. sparsilis, < L. spar-
sun, pp. of spargere, scatter: see sparse.'] Scat-
tered; sparse SparaUe star, in astron., a star not
included in a constellatlon-tigure.
sparsity (spiir'si-ti), n. [< sparse + -ity.] The
state of being spai-se or scattered about ; free-
dom from closeness or compactness ; relative
fewness.
\i receptions where the sparsity of the company per-
mits the lady of the house to be seen, she is commonly
visible on a sofa, surrounded by visitors in a halt-circle.
Howells, Venetian Life, xxL
spart (spart), «. [= p. sparte = Sp. Pg. esparto
= It. sparto, < li.spartum, < Gr. airaprov, Spanish
broom; a particular use of airapTov, a rope,
cable; cf. ffxdpn/, a rope. Cf. esparto.] If. A
plant of the broom kind ; broom.
The nature of spart or Spanish broome.
Holland, tr. of Pliny, bk. xlx. (Davies.)
2. A rush, Jiincus articulatus, and other spe-
cies. [Prov. Eng.]
spartai'te (spar'ta-it), «. [< Sparta (see def.) +
-ite^.] A variety of calcite or calcium carbo-
nate, containing some manganese. It is foimd
in Sparta, Sterling Hill, New Jersey.
Spartan (spiir'tan), a. and n. [< L. Spartanus,
< Sparta, ' Gr. Sn-riprr/, Sparta, Lacedsmon.]
I. «. 1. Of or pertaining to Sparta or Laceds-
mon, the capital of Laconia, or the ancient
kingdom of Sparta or Lacedsmon (Laconia),
in the Peloponnesus ; Lacedsmonian ; specifi-
cally, belonging to the branch of the ancient
Dorian race dominanl in Laconia. — 2. Noting
characteristics distinctive of, or considered as
distinctive of, the ancient Spartans.
Lycorgus . . . sent the Poet Thales from Creet to pre-
pare and mollifle the Spartan surlinesse with his smooth
songs and odes, the better to plant among them law and
civility. Milton, Areopagitica.
Spartan dog, a bloodhound ; hence, a cruel or blood-
thirsty person.
O Spartan dog.
More fell than anguish, hunger, or the sea I
Shak., OtheUo, t. 2. 361.
n. n. A native or an inhabitant of Sparta or
Laconia ; a Lacedsmonian ; specifically (as op-
posed to Lacediemonian in a narrower sense), a
member of that branch of the ancient Dorian
race which conquered Laconia and established
the kingdom of Sparta, celebrated for its mili-
tarv success and prestige, due to the rigid dis-
cipline enforced upon all Spartans from early
childhood ; a Spartiate.
Spartanism (spiir'tan-izin), H. [< Spartan +
-(.««.] The distinguishing spirit or a charac-
teristic practice or quality of the ancient Spar-
tans. See Spartan.
Bparteilie(8piir'te-in), w. [<.Spart{ium) + -e-ine.]
A liquid alkaloid (Ci5H2eN2) obtained from the
common broom, I'ytisus (Spartiiim) scoparius.
Id small doses (.02 to .06 gram) It stimulates the action of
the vagus, and Is used medicinally in the form of the sul-
{>hate In place of digitalis : It acta more quickly than the
atter drug, but not as powerfully.
sparterie (snSr't^r-i), w. [< P. sparterie, < Sp.
esparteria, i esparto, Spanish grass, broom: see
esparto, spart.] In com., a collective name for
articles manufactured from esparto and its
fiber, as mats, nets, cordage, and ropes.
spart-grass (spart'grits), n. Same as spart, 2;
also, a cord-grass, Spartina stricta. Britten and
Hiillmiil, Eng. Plant Names.
spartht, ". l< ME. sparth, sparthe, sperthe, an
ax, a battle-ax, < leel. spartha, a kind of Irish
ax ; perhaps akin to spear.] A battle-ax, or per-
haps in some cases a mace.
He hath a sparth of twenti pound of wighte.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, I. 1W2.
At his saddle-gerthe was a good steel sperthe.
Full ten pound weight and more.
Scott, Eve of St. John.
Spartiate (spar'ti-at), n. [F., < L. Spartiates,
< Gr. '^napri&TrK, a Spartan, < 'Znapm, Sparta:
see iSprtrtan.] A citizen of Sparta; an ancient
Laconian of the Dorian race. See Spartan.
Aristotle recognises only one thousand families of the
ancient 4>srt(a(M; and their landed possessions, the very
groundwork of their state and Its discipline, had In great
measure passed Into the hands of women.
Von Ranks, Univ. Hist. (trans.X p. 380.
Spartina (spSr'ti-na), n. [NL. (Von Schreber,
17H1)), 80 called from the tough leaves; < Gr.
a-Kuprivri, a cord, < BTrdprt/, andprov, a rope or
cord.] A genus of grasses, of the tribe Patii-
cest. It Is characterized by flowers with three glumes
and a thread-shaped two-cleft style, groupe<l in dense one-
sided commonly numerous and divergent paiiicled spikes
with the rachis prolonged neyund the uppermost spike-
let. There are 7 species, natives mostly of salt-marshes;
one. S. strieta. Is widely dispersed along the shores of
America, Europe, and Africa ; four others are found in the
spasm
tTnited States, one in South .America beyond the tropics,
and one in the islands of Tristan da Cunha, St. Paul, and
Amsterdam. They are rigid reed-like grasses rising from
a tufted or creeping base, with scaly rootstouks, very smooth
sheaths, and long convolute leaves sometimes dattened at
the base. Book-names for the species are marsh-grass,
cord-grass, and salt-grass; four of them are among the
most conspicuous maritime grasses of the United States.
5. polystachya, the largest species, a stately plant with a
broad stiff panicle often of fifty spikes, is known locally on
the coast as creek-thatch and creek-stuj', from its growth in
creeks or inlets of salt water, and from its use. when cut,
as a cover for stacks of salt-hay and as bedding in stables.
(See alaosalt reed-grass, under reed-grass.) S. cynosuroides
is the cord-grass of fresh-water lakes and rivers, smaller,
attaining a height of about 6 feet ; it occurs from the
Atlantic to the Pacific, and in great quantities along the
Mississippi ; a superior brown wrapping-paper has been
made from it. S. juncea, a low turf-forniiiig species with
diminutive three- to five-forked inflorescence, sometimes
called rush salt-grass, covers large tracts of salt-marsh on
the Atlantic coast, is recommended for binding wet sands,
and yields a tough fiber from its leaves. 5. stricta, the salt-
marsh grass, with very different inflorescence, bears its nu-
merous branches rigidly appressed into a single long and
slender erect spike, or sometimes two, when it is called
twin-spike grass. It is said to be also used as a durable
thatch ; it is succulent and is eagerly eaten by cattle, im-
parting to their milk, butter, and flesh a strong rancid fla-
vor locally known as a " thatchy " taste.
Spartium (spiir'shi-um), «. [NL. (Linnseus,
1737), < L. spartum, spartan, < Gr. arrapTov, Span-
ish broom : see spart, es])arto.] A genus of legu-
minous plants, of the tribe Genisteee, type of the
subtribe Spartiese. It Is distinguished from the related
genus Genista by a somewhat spathaceous calyx with very
short teeth, by acuminate and incurved keel-petals, and
by a narrower pod. The only species, S. juticeum, is a
native of the Mediterranean region and of the Canary
Islands, known as Spanish broom, now naturalized in va-
rious parts of tropical America and long cultivated in
gardens. It is a shrub with numerous long, straight,
rush-like branches, which are green, polished, and round
— not angular like the similar branches of the Irish broom.
They are commonly without leaves ; when these are pres-
ent, they are composed each of a single leaflet and are with-
out stipules. The handsome pea-like flowers form terminal
racemes ; they are yellow, fragrant, and highly attractive
to bees, and are the source of a yellow dye. The branches
are use<l to make baskets and fasten vines in vineyards ;
they yield by maceration a fiber which is made into cord
and thread, and in Italy and Spain into cloth. The seeds
In small doses are diuretic and tonic ; in large, emetic and
cathartic.
spartof (spar'to), n. Same as esparto.
spar-torpedo (spar't6r-pe'd6), n. A torpedo
secured to the end of a spar, rigged outboard of
a vessel, and arranged to be fired on coming into
contact with another vessel. Sometimes called
pole-torpedo.
^aras (spa'ms), n. [NL. (Linnsus, 1766), <
L. sparus, < Gr. airapof, a kind of fish, the gilt-
head.] 1 . The name-giving genus of Sparidse,
whose longest-known representative is the gilt-
head of Europe : used at first in a very compre-
hensive sense, embracing many heterogene-
ous species belonging to a number of modern
families, but now restricted to thegiltheadand
very closely related species, typicalof the fam-
ily Sparidsp. See cut under porgy. — 2. [I. c]
A fish of this or some related genus ; a spar.
sparve (spiirv), «. [A dial, form of sparrow, ult.
< AS. spearwa : see s;)arroif .] A sparrow : still
locally applied to the hedge-sparrow, Accentor
modularis. [Cornwall, Eng.]
sparverf (spSr'v^r), h. [Also esparver; early
mod. E. also s}>arvier, sparHour, sperver, spar-
vill ; < OF. esptrvier, csprcvicr, the furniture of
a bed; perhaps a transferred use of esparvier,
esperrier, a sweep-net, which is a fig. use of es-
pervier, a sparrow-hawk: see sparrow, and cf.
parilioH, ult. < h. papilio(n-), a butterfly.] 1.
The canopy of a bed, or the canopy and curtains
taken together.
I will that my . . . daughter have the sparver of my
bedde. Sir T. Elyot, The Oovernour, App. A.
2. In Iter., a tent.
sparvlourt, n. Same as sparver.
sparwet, "■ A Middle English form of sparrow.
sparyt (spar'i), a. [< sjmre^ + -y^.] Sparing.
Homer, being otherwise sparie ynough in speaking of
pictures and colours, yet commendeth the ships painted
therwith. Holland, tr. of Pliny, xixiiL 7.
spasm (spazm), n. [Early mod. E. spasme; < F.
spasme = Pr. espasme = Sp. Pg. espasmo = It.
spasimo, spasmo, < L. spasmus, < Gr. mraofioc,
also ojraofia, a spasm, < awav, draw, pull, pluck,
tear, rend. Cf. ,ipan^, space, from the same
ult. root.] 1. E.xcessive muscular contraction.
When this is persistent, it is called tonic sparnn; when It
consists of alternating contractions and relaxations, it is
called climic spasm. A spasm of one side of the body is
called turtnispamn ; a spasm of some particular pai-t. as
one arm, or one side of the face. Is called a monospasm.
2. In general, any sudden transitory move-
ment of a convulsive character, voluntary or
involuntary; an abnormally energetic action or
phase of feeling; a wrenching strain or effort:
spasm
as, a spasm of industry, of grief, of fright, etc. ;
a f^asiii of pain or of coughing.
The gpastiig of Xature are centuries and a^es, and will tax
the faith of short-lived men. Slowly, slowly the Avenger
comes, but comes surely. Einergoii^ Fugitive Slave Law.
Bronchial spasm, the spasmodic contraction of the mus-
cular coat of tlie bn»ncliiiil tnlies which is the essential
element <if asthnni. — Carpopedal, Clonic, cynic, histri-
onic spasm. See the adj ectives. — Functional spasm, a
general term for the nervous distirders of artisans utui writ-
ers, ;iS writers' cramp, etc. Usually called m'cujHJtion neit-
ro«M— Habit spasm, a trick of winking, jerking the head,
sudden brief grinning, making a sudden short vocal noise,
mnniug out the tongue, and similar acts of half-voluntary
aspect, occurring at intervals long or short. -Also called
AaWfcAorca. — Inspiratory spasm, a spasmodic contrac-
tion of all or nearly all the inspiratory muscles. — Mobile
spasm, tonic spasm of varj'ing intensity in the various
muscles of a part, causing slow, iiTegular movements of
the part, especially conspicuous in the hands. .Sometimes
the movements are quick. In rare cases it comes on with-
out preceding hemiplegia ; it may then, as in other cases,
be called athetogu. Also called, when following hemiple-
^a^ fpattie hemiplegia and post-hemiplemc c/(ore«. — Nicti-
tating spasm. See nictitate. ~ Nodding spasm. Same
as lalaam conmltion (which see, under .ialaain).~'Re-
trocolllc spasm. See rrfrocoHic.— Saltatorlal spasm,
a form of clt>nic spsism of the legs, coming on wlien the
patient attenii>ts to walk, causing jumping movements. —
Spasm of accommodation, spiism of the ciliary muscle,
producing acconunodatiou for near objects. -- Spasm of
the chest, angina pectoris. — Spasm of the glottis, spas-
modic contraction of the laryngeal muscles such as to close
the glottis. See child-crowhuj, and laryngi^inus stridtdus
(under laryngismtig). — Tetanic spasm. Same as fontc
gpagm.
spasmatic (spaz-mat'ik), a. [= F. spasmntique
= Sp. cspasmdtico, < ML. spasmaticus, < Gr.
oTzaofiaij-), a spasm : see spasm.l Same as spas-
modic.
spasmatical (spaz-mat'i-lcal), a. [< spasmatic
+ -a/.] Same as spasmodic.
The Ligaments and Sinews of my Love to you have been
so strong that they were never yet subject to such spas-
matical Shriitkinga and Convulsions.
Howell, Letters, ii. 20.
spasmatomancy (spaz'ma-to-man-si), n. [< Gr.
<Ts-d(j//a(r-), a spasm, + ftavTeia, divination.] Div-
ination from spasmodic or involuntary move-
ments, as of the muscles, features, or limbs.
The treatises [on physiognomy] also contain occasional
digressions on onychomancy, . . . spasmatomancy, etc.
Eneyc. Brit, XIX. 4.
spasmodic (spaz-mod'ik), a. and n. [= F. spas-
modique = Sp. espasmddico = Pg. espasmodico
= It. spasmodico, < NL. "spasmodicus, < Gr. aTraa-
//<i(!7?f, airaafMToidric, convulsive, spasmodic, <
OTraa/td^, avdafia{T-), a spasm, + eMof, form.] I,
a. 1. Pertaining to, of the nature of, or charac-
terized by spasm ; affected by spasm or spasms ;
convulsive: as, spasmodic movements; si>asmod-
ic asthma ; a .?pasmofiJc person. — 2. Attended
by or manifesting procedure by fits and starts ;
jerky; overstrained; high-strung; rhapsodical:
as, spasmodic action or efforts ; spasmodic utter-
ance or literature Spasmodic asthma, true asth-
ma catised by spasm of the bronchial tubes, as distinguish-
ed from other foi-ms of paroxysmal dyspncea, as from hejirt
disease.— Spasmodic cholera, Asiatic cholera with
severe cramps.— Spasmodic croup. See croups. — Spas-
modic school, a group of British authors of the mid(fie of
the nineteenth century, including Philip Bailey, George
GilflUan, and Alexander Smith, whose writings were consid-
ered to be distinguished by an overstrained and unnatural
style. The name, however, properly has a much more ex-
tensive scope, being exemplified more or less in nearly all
times and countries, both in literature and in art.
The so-called spasmodic school of poetry, whose pecu-
liarities first gained for it a hasty reputation, and then,
having suffered under closer critical examination, it al-
most as speedily dropped out of mind again.
Encyc. Brit., XXIL 172.
Spasmodic stricture, a stricture, as of the urethra, va-
gina, or rectum, caused by spasmodic muscular contrac-
tion, and not permanent, or involving any organic lesion. —
Spasmodic tabes, spastic paraplegia, or lateral sclerosis.
II. «. Same as antispasmodic. [Rare.]
spasmodical (spaz-mod'i-kal), a. [< spasmodic
+ -a/.] Same as spasmodic,
spasmodically (spaz-mod'i-kal-i), adv. In a
spasmodic manner ; by fits and starts ; by spas-
modic action or procedure.
Gradual oscillations of the land are, in the long run, of
far greater importance in the economy of nature than
those abrupt movements which occur spasmodically.
Httxley, Physiography, p. 205.
spasmodist (spaz'mo-dist), n. [< spasmod-ic
+ -ist.~\ One who acts spasmodically; a per-
son whose work is of a spasmodic character,
or marked by an overstrained and unnatural
manner. [Bare.]
De Meyer and the rest of the spasmodists [in music].
Poe, Marginalia, xixvii. (Davies.)
Spasmology (spas-mol'o-ji), n. [< Gr. OTraafidc,
a Sjjasm, -i- -?Myia, < 'Kiyew, apeak : see -ology.'\
In pathol., scientific knowledge of spasms.
spasmotoxin (spas-mo-tok'sin), n. [< Gr. avaa-
^<ic, a spasm, + E. toxin,.'] A toxin of unknown
5800
composition, obtained by Brieger in 1887 from
culture.s of bacillus tetani.
spasmus (spas' mus), «. [L. : see spasm.}
Spasm — Spasmus nutans. Same as salaam convul-
sion (which see, under salaam).
spastic (spas'tik), «. [< Gr. a-aarrndg, drawing,
pulling, stretching, < ctitot, draw, pull: see
spasm.) 1. In med., pertaining or relating to
spasm; spasmodic: as, spastic contractions;
si>astic remedies. — 2. In zool., convulsive, as
an infusovian ; of or pertaining to the l^pastica.
— Spastic albuminuria, albuminuria dependent upon
a convulsive attack.— Spastic anemia, local anemia or
ischemia from spastic contraction of the arteries of the
part.— Spastic hemiplegia, mobile spasm following
hemiplegia. See under ;?/*aA'j/?. — Spastic infantile pa-
ralysis. See paralysis. — Spastic paralysis, paralysis
with muscular rigidity and increase of rcllcxcs. Spastic
spinal paralysis, spastic pseudoparalysis, spastic
pseudoparesis. See paralysis.
Spastica (spas'ti-kil), «. pi. [NL., < Gr. crTraa-i-
Koq, drawing, pulling, stretching: see spastic]
In Perty's system of classification, a division of
ciliate infusorians, containing those which con-
tract and change form with a jerk. There were 4
families — Urceolarina, Ophrydina, Vorticellina,
and Vaginifera.
spastically (spas'ti-kal-i), adv. In a spastic
manner.
spasticity (spas-tis'i-ti), n. [< spastic + -ity.]
1. A state of spasm. — 2. Tendency to or capa-
bility of suffering spasm.
spatl (spat), n. [A var. of spot.] A spot ; stain ;
place. [Scotch.]
spat^ (spat), V. t.; pret. and pp. spatted, ppr. spat-
ting. [A var. of spot, prob. in part < D. spatten,
spot : see spo<. Ci. spatter.] To spatter; defile.
Thy mind is spotted, spatted, spilt ;
Thy soule is soyld with sinne.
Kendall, i'lowers of Epigrammes (1577). (Nares.)
spat^ (spat), H. [Prob., like the similar D. spat,
a speck, spot, = Sw. spott, spittle, etc. (see
spot), from the root of S2)it^ (cf. sjtat^): see
spit^.] The spawn of shell-fish; specifically,
the spawn of the oyster ; also, a young oyster, or
young oysters collectively, up to about the time
of their becoming set, or fixed to some support.
See spawn, n.,2.
Oyster spat may be reared from artiflcially fertilized
eggs. The American,yil. 75.
spat^ (spat), V. ; pret. and pp. spatted, ppr. spat-
ting. [< .ipat^, n.] I. intrans. To spawn, as an
oyster; shed spat.
The surfaces upon which spatting occurs must be kept
as free as possible from sediment and organic growths.
Science, VI. 466.
II. trans. To shed or emit (spawn), as an
oyster.
Spat^ (spat), n. [In the sense 'blow' (def. 1),
cf. S2)ot; in part prob. imitative, like^'ai.] 1.
A light blow or slap. [Local.] — 2. A large
drop ; a spatter : as, two or three spats of rain
fell. — 3. A petty contest; a little quarrel or
dissension. [U. S.]
They was pretty apt to have spats.
U. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 33.
spat^ (spat), V. ; pret. and pp. spatted, ppr. spat-
ting. [< spat^, n.] I. trans. To give a light
blow to, especially with the flat of the hand ;
strike lightly ; slap: as, to spai dough; to spat
one's hands together.
The little Isabel leaped up and down, spatting her hands.
S. Juda, Margaret.
II, intrans. To engage in a trivial quarrel or
dispute ; have a petty contest. [U. 8.]
spat* (spat). A preterit of spit"^.
spat^ (spat), n. [Also spatt; usually or only
in pi. spats, spatts; abbr. of spatterdashes.] A
gaiter or legging. [Scotland and North of Eng-
land.]
Cloth gaiters seem to have revived, after about thirty
years of disuse, and are now called spats.
N. and Q., 7th ser., VI. 87.
A pair of black spats covering broad flat feet.
N. Macleod, The Starling, iii.
Spatangida (spa-tan 'ji-da), n.pl. [NL., < Spa-
tangus -\- -ida.] The spatangoid sea-urchins,
as distinguished from Clypeastrida. See Sj>a-
tangoida.
Spatangidae (spa-tan'ji-de), n. pi [NL., <
Spatangu.'i -t- -idle.] A family of irregular sea-
urchins, typified by the genus Spatangus; the
heart-urchins. The mouth is eccentric, transverse, or
reniform, and without dentary apparatus; there are peta-
loid ambulacra, of which the anterior one is unpaired ;
semitce or fascioles are always present ; and the figure is
oval or cordate. This is the leading family of the order,
divided mainly by the characters of the ambulacra and
semitse into several subfamilies (some of which rank as
separate families with some authors), as Ananchytinse,
spate-bone
Brissina, Leskiime, and others- See cuts under Spatan-
goida and Spatanyus, with others there noted. Also called
Brissidje.
Spatangina (spat-an-ji'na), n. pi. [NL., < Upa-
tangus + -ina^.] 1. Tlie spatangoid sea-ur-
chins, as an order of petalostichous echinoids
contrasted with Clypeastrina. — 2. Same &aSpa-
tanginte.
Spatanginse (spat-an-ji'ne), «. 7)?. [NL., <
Spatangus + -inic.] One of several subfamilies
of Spatangidx, including the genus Spatangus
and closely related forms, as Lovenia, Breynia,
etc.
spatangite (spa-tan'jit), n. [< Spatangus +
-iti".] A fossil spatangoid. See Dysasteridse,
and cut under Ananchytes.
spatangoid (spa-tang'goid), a. and m. [< Spa-
taiit/us + -oid.'] I. a. Kesembling a heart-
urchin; related to (Spafan^M*-; of or pertaining
to the Spatangida in a broad sense.
II. n. A spatangoid sea-urchin ; a heart-ur-
chin.
Spatangoida, Spatangoidea (spat-ang-goi'da,
-de-il), H. y<;. INh.: see spatangoid.] The.Spa-
tangidsp, in a broad sense, as an order of petalos-
tichous sea-urchins: synonymous in some uses
with Petalosticlm, but usually restricted to ex-
clude the elypeastroids orflat sea-urchins: then
also called Spatangida and Spatangina. The
forms are numerous;
most of them fall in the
family Spatanyidse as
usually limited, from
which the CassidnlidtB
are distinguished by the
absence of semitse and
other approaches to the
regular sea-urchins.
The form of the spatan-
goids is various, and
only a part of them have
a cordate figure. Some
are quite elongate, and
may even bear a sort of
beak or rostrum, as in
the genus Pourtalesia.
The tendency is away
from radiism and to-
ward a sort of bilateral
symmetry, as evidenced
by the disposition of
five ambulacra in two
groups, an anterior tri-
vium — under the odd
ambulacrum of which is
the mouth — and a pos-
terior bivinm,in relation
with which is the anus. The odd anterior ambulacrum
often aborts, leaving apparently but four ambulacra on
the upper surface; in other cases it is disproportionally
enlarged. The ambulacra are always petaloid ; semitse
are not recognized outside this group, and occur nearly
throughout it (but not in Cassidxdidse and the fossil Dysas-
teridse); the spines are very variable, and few or many,
hut always slender or fine, sometimes like hairs of great
length. The genital and ocular plates are centric ; there
are no Polian vesicles, and four kinds of pedicels or tube-
feet occur, of which the semital are always different from
the two or three kinds of ambulacral feet. See cuts un-
der Ananchytes, Echinocardium, petalostichous, semita, and
Spatangus.
Spatangus (spa-tang'gus), n. [NL., < Gr. ava-
Td)}r/(, a sea-urchin.] 1. The representative
genus of the family Spa-
tang idx, and a type form
of the irregular sea-urchins
called Spatangoida. — 2.
[I. c] A species of this ge-
nus: as, the violet spatan-
gus, S. purpureus.
spatch-cock (spach'kok),
n. [Usually supposed to
stand for * despatch -cod-,
meaning ' a cock quickly
done'; but such a forma-
tion is irregular, and no
record of it exists. There
is prob. some confusion with sjntchcock, q. v.]
A fowl killed and immediately broiled, as for
some sudden occasion. [CoUoq., Eng.]
spate (spat), n. [Also spaii, spent; appar. <
Ir. speid, a great river-flood.] A natural out-
pour of water; a flood; specifically, a sudden
flood or freshet, as from a swollen river or lake.
[Originally Scotch.]
Down the water wi' speed she rins,
While tears in spaits fa' fast frae her eie.
Jock o' the Side (Child's Ballads, VI. 82).
Mr. Scrope held that whole spawning-beds are swept
away by spates on the Tweed.
Quarterly Kn\. CXXVI. 361.
The Avon . . . running yellow in spate, with the recent
heavy rains. W. Black, House boat, xii.
spate-bonet, «• Same as spade-hone.
Some afterwards set up on a window a painted Mastiff-
dog gnawing the spate-bone of a shoulder of mutton.
Fidler, Ch. HUt, V. i. 32. (DiutM.)
%«P '-*< () I' ''"'3 f^ t^ Vf-L^
Antphidotiis cordatus (or Echino-
cardium cordn fit fft), one of the Spa-
tangoida, viewed from above.
a, anterior ambulacrum, formingwith
/>, b, anterolateral ambulacra, the tri-
vium ; r, c, two posterolateral ambu-
lacra, forming the bivium ; d, madre-
poric tubercle surrounded by genital
pores; e, intrapetalous semita or fas-
ciole; X, circumanal semita.
Violet Spatangus (S. pur-
pureus). One half shown
with its spines removed.
4,
H-fu-
spatha 5801
spatha (spa'tliii), II.: pi. {.patkie (-the). [< L. nature of spar; oeourring in broad plates or
i:/<rtMia,< Ur. (jjrae;?, a broad flat blade, a broad- lamellre; foliated in texture.- spathose iron
sword: see spathe.'] 1. A broadsword, tiiin, spathic iron. '
pointed, and double-edged, such as was used spathous (spa'thus), a. [< spathe + -ous.'] In
by the Franks and kindred peoples
bot.. same as spathose''-.
The British swords, called tpathx, were large, long and gpathulate (spath u-lat), fl. Same as spatulate.
"""■ Encyc. Brit,lX..69. Spathulea (spa-thii'le-a), H. 8ameas/S/)nfM/«,3.
Spathura (spa-thu'ra),'«. [NL. (Gould, 1850),
heav}-.
2. In hot., same as spathe.
spathaceons (spa-tha'shius), a. [< spathe +
-(((•» OH.s-.] In bvi., spathe-bearing; furnished
with or of the nature of a spathe.
spathal (spa'thal), a. [< spathe + -«/.] In
lot., inclosed in or furnished with a spathe ;
as, spathal flowers.
spathe (spaTH), n. [< L. spatha, < Gr. un-dft/, a
broad fiat blade, a broadsword, a broad rib,
the shoulder-blade, the stem of a leaf, the
spathe of a flower, a spatula. Hence ult. (<
Gr.) E. gpade^, spade^, spatula, spatule, spattl^,
spaddU, spittle^, etc.] 1. In bot., a peculiar
often large and colored bract, or pair of bracts,
which subtend or envelop a spadix, as in
palms and arums. The name is also given to the pe-
culiar several-leafed involucre of iris and allied plants.
See tpadix, 1, and cuts under Aracea, Indian tum^ (un-
der Indian), Mongtera, Peitandra, and Symplocarpua.
2. In zoiil., some spatulate or spoon-shaped
part.
spathebill (spaTH'bil), ». The spoon-billed
sandpiper, Etiri/norhynchuspi/gnueiis. G. Cuvier
(trans.). See cut under Eurynorhynchtis.
Bpathed(spaTHd),a. [< spafAc -f -((f-i.] Inftot.,
surrounded or furnished with a spathe ; spatha-
ceou.s.
Spathegaster (spath-e-gas'ttr), n. [NL. (Har-
tig, 1840), < Gr. OTTodrj, a blade, + yaarr/p, the
stomach.] 1. A spurious genus of hymenop-
terous gall-insects, containing dimorphic forms
of Neuroterus, the name being retained as dis-
tinctive of such forms. — 2. A genus of syrphid
flies. Schiner, 1868. Also Spatigaster (Schiner,
1862), Spathiogasler (Loew, 1843), Spazigaiter
and Spazogaster (Bondani, 1843). ,
spathegastric(8path-e-gas'trik), a. [< Spathe-
gaster + -ic] Pertaining to iJjnf/K-flroster (sense
1): as. a spathrgastric form.
Spathelia (spa-the'li-a), «. [NL. (Linnteus,
17.^2), perhaps so called from its resemblance
to a palm-tree ; < Gr. avadri, a blade, spathe, pet
iole of a palm-tree: see spathe.']
spatulamancy
That mind must needs be iireeoverahly deprav'd which
either by chance or importunity tasting but once ol one
Just deed, spatters at it, and abhorrs the relish ever after.
Milton, Eilionoklastes, ii.
2. To xmdergo or cause scattering or splashing
in drops or small quantities.
The colour spatters in fine drops upon the surface of the
""'t""*- Spans' Eneyc. Manv,f., I. 662.
<GT.a:valhi,a.\>\aAe/+ olpa, a.t&y\.} A remark- spatter (spat'er), «. [< spatter, v.'] 1. The act
able genus of TrochiUdse, containing humming
birds with the lateral tail-feathers long-exsert
p<)lypetalou8trees,oftheorderS.TO<ir«6a<-e/pand 8patiaUt^(spa-8hi-al i-ti), n,
tribe Pirramniese. It U ch«r»cteri»ed by polygamous
flower* without the disk usually present In the order, Are
stamens alternate to the petals, and a thiee-angled oraty
with two pendulous OTales In each of Its tnree cells.
There are 3 species, natives of the West Indies, extending
perhaps Into Mexico. They are lofty and handsome trees
with an erect anbranched trunk, destitute of the bitter matiAllT Can&'Khnl i^ /.Wf
principle which pervades Pieramnia, the next related "P****"* (spa snal-l), attt
genus, and many other* of the order, and in many re-
spects, as in tbeovarr, reaemUIng BotmtUa, the frankin-
cenae-tree, of the order Bmanmrn. They bear odd-pln-
Rscket-tailed Humming-bird (.Spathura uMdenvoodi).
ed, narrowed, and then dilated into a spatule
or racket at the end, and with conspicuous leg-
muffs. There are 4 or 5 species, as ;S. under-
icoodi, also called Steganuriis spatuUgera.
spatial (spa'shal), a. [Also spacial; < L. spa-
tiiim, space: gee space^ Of, pertaining to, or
relating to space ; existing in or connected with
space.
We have an Intuition of objects in space : that is, we
contemplate objects as made up of tpatial parte, and ap-
prehend their mttial relations by the same act by which
we apprehend the objects themselves.
Whnrell, Fhilos. o( Inductive Sciences, I. p. xx.
The ascertaining of a fixed tpalial order among objecte -not+lol
supposes that certain objecte are at rest or occupy the spailiie
same position. J. Sully. Outlines of Psychol., p. 180.
To analyze the United States of America as a tpadat
eitent. u. y. Day, Logic, p. 175.
of spattering, or the state of being spattered ;
a spattering or splashing effect.
She . . .sometimes exposed her face to the chill «»a««r
of the wind. Haivthome, .Seven Gables, xvii.
2. A quick succession of not very loud sounds,
such as is produced by the spattering of some
substance.
A spaUerot musketry was heard, which proceeded from
the last of the enemy leaving the place.
W. H. Russell, Diary in India, II. 378.
3. That which is spattered; a small splash, as
of something thrown or falling in drops : as, a
spatter of milk, ink, or mud on one's clothes.
The sun dripped through
In spatters of wasted gold.
St. Xicholas, XVIIl. 987.
Spatterdash (spat'^r-dash), «. [< spatter +
fteA.] A co%'enng for the legs, used to protect
the stockings, trousers, etc., from mud and
wear, in modem military uniform the name is applied
to several kinds of gaiters, and to the water-proof leggings
or shields to the trousers of some French mounted troops.
Also splatterdash.
Here s a fellow made for a soldier : there 's a leg for a
spatterdash, with an eye like the king of Prussia.
Sheridan (?), The Camp, i. 2.
spatter-dock (spat'6r-dok), «. The yellow
pond-lily, JVi/mpAffa (Ntiphar) advena; also ex-
tended to other species of the genus. See
Xiiniphspa'i, 1, and pond-lily, 1. [U. S.]
spatterwork (spat'^r-werk), n. A method of
producing a figure or design upon a surface of
any kind by spattering coloring matter upon
the exposed parts of it ; any work or object, or
objects collectively, showing an effect so pro-
duced.
(spat'i), n. [< ME. spaltle, spetlle,
spalel, spotil, spotele, later spatyll (= OFries.
spedel, spedla), < AS. spdU, spittle, < spietan,
Beespil^. C(. spittle^.'] Hpittle. Up. Bale.
He spette in to erthe, and made clay of the spotle.
^'yclif, John ix. 6.
spit:
[_ Also spaciality;
<spaliar+ -ity.'] Spatial character; extension.
.So far^ all we have estebllshed or sought to esUbllsh is SDattle^ (spat'l), n. [Formerly also spatule ■ <
the existence of the vague form or quale of tpatiatity as
an Inseparable element bound up with the other qualita-
tive peculiarities of each and every one of our sensations.
W. James, Mind, XII. la
Having reference
Also written spaciatly.
nate alternate leaves, composed of namatnu llnear^b-
long or sickle-ahaped leafleto with a
-^ . toothed or gland-
bearing margin, and cymose clusters of red short-pedl-
celled nowers. disposed In elongated terminal nwilcles.
The fruit is a somewhat ellipticd thrae-angled and three-
winged drape, with a three-celled and three-seeded stone
perforated with resin bearing canals. S. ilmpUz Is the
monntaln-pride or mountain-groen of the West Indies,
a handsome tree with slender troiik rising from 20 lo .M)
feet, Its leaves and ite powdery inflorescence each several
feet long.
spathelia (spa-thera), «. [NL., dim. of L.
»patha, a blade, NL. a spathe : see spathe.] In
bot. : (at) A glume in grasses, (i) See spathilla.
spathic fspath'ik), a. [< G. spath, spar (see
xpiiail), + -ic] In mineral., having an even la-
in.-jlar or flatly foliated structure Spatblclron,
spathic Iron ore, carbonate of Iron : same as tiderite. 2.
spathiformispath'i-fdrm), a. [<G. »;«i«i, spar,
+ L. /orma, form.] Resembling spar in form : spatt, «. See «p<if6.
as, the ocberous and spatkiform varieties of ura- spatter (»pat'6r), v.
nite.
to or as regards space.
Usually we have more trouble to discriminate the qual-
ity of an impression than to flx^it spatially.
Ward, Encyc. Brit, XX. 62.
ObJecU of different sense-organs, experienced together,
do not In the first instance appear either inside or along-
side or far outside of each other, neither spatially conlin-
ooos nor discontinuous. In any definite sense of these
words. IT. James, Prin. of Psychol., II. 181.
spatiatet (spa'shi-at), V. i. [< L. spatiutus, pp.
of spatiari (> G. spazieren), walk about, go,
proceed. <«pn Hum, room, space: see /mace. Cf.
expatiate.] To rove; ramble; expatiate.
Confined to a narrow chamber, he could ipatiate at large
through the whole universe. Benliey,
Bpatilomancy (spa-tiro-man-si), n. [< Gr.
avaT'i'/.n, excrement, + //ai»T< /a, divination. J Div-
ination by means of animal excrements and
refuse.
spationst, a. An obsolete spelling of spacious.
spathilla (spi-thil'tt), n.; pi. gpathilUe (-«).
TM.,., dim. of spatha, a, spathe: see spathe.
Cf. spathelia.]' In bot., a secondary or diminu-
tive spathe in a spathaceous inflorescence, as
in palms. Also, sometimes, spathilla.
When the spadix is compound or branching, as In Palms,
there are smaller spathes, surrounding separate parte of
the infiorescence, to which the name tpathellir has some-
times been given.
Encyc. Brit., IV. 12a
spathing fspa'Tning), n. Same as spaying.
spathiopynte (8i)ath'i-o-pi'rit), n. [< Gr. cttiJ-
""II'. riim. of <Tffd%, a broad blade, -H E. pyrite.]
Sainf as safflorite.
spathose^ (spa'thos), a. [< spathe + -ose.] In
hot., relating to or formed like a spathe ; spatha-
ceous; spathal.
spathose^ (spath'os), a. [< G. spath, spar (see
spathic), + -ose.] In mineral., sparry; of the
[Freq. of spaf^, or, with
variation, of spot: see spaf^, spot.] I. trans.
1 . To scatter or throw about carelessly, as some
fluid or semi-fluid substance ; dash or splash
so as to fall in spreading drops or small quan-
tities : as, to spatter water or mud over a per-
son : to spatter oaths or calumnies.
Where famlsh'd dogs, late guardians of my door.
Shall lick their mangled master's spatter'a gore.
Pope, niad, xxlL 97.
2. To dash or splash upon ; bespatter, literally
or figuratively: as, to spatter a person with
water, mud, or slander.
Reynard, close attended at his heels
By panting dog, tir'd man, and tpatter'd horse.
Cowper, Needless Alarm. L 126.
n. intrans. If. To sputter; act or talk in a
sputtering manner.
The Grave spattered and shook his Head, saying, Twas
the greatest Error he had committed since he knew what
belonged to a Soldier. HounU, Letters, I. iv. 16.
OF. spatule, espatule, F. spatule = Sp. espdtnia =
Pg. spatula = It. spatola, < L. spatula, spathula,
a blade, spatula : see spatula. Doublet of s})at-
ula, spittle^.] 1. A flat blade for stirring,
mixing, or molding plastic powdered or liquid
substances; a spatula. — 2. Specifically, in pot-
tery, a tool for mottling a molded article with
coloring matter,
spattling-machine (spat'ling-ma-shen'), ». A
machine, consisting of a reservoir with sieves
through which the liquid is caused to fall to
divide it into spray, for sprinkling a colored
glaze to form party-colored ware.
spatula (spat'u-la), n. [< L. spatula, also
spathula, dim. of spatha, < Gr. airadri, a broad
blade, a spatula, a paddle : see spade'^, spathe.
Cf. spatule, s]>attle^, spittua.] 1. A broad flat
blade or strip of metal or wood, with unsharp-
ened edges and a commonly rounded outer end
(which may be spoon-shaped), and a handle:
used for spreading, smoothing, scraping up, or
stirring substances, comminuting powders, etc.
.Spatulas are usually set in handles like those of table-
knives, and are of many shapes, sizes, and materials.
ITlose used by druggists, painters, etc.. are comparatively
long and narrow, straight, and made of more or less flex-
ible steel. KresCLV painters use a trowel-shaped or spoon-
shaped spatula for spreading wax or mortar upon the sur-
face.which is to receive the painting.
2. [cap.] [NL.(Boic, 1822).] A genus of .4Ma-
tiufp, having the bill much longer than the
head or tarsus, twice as wide at the end as
at the base, there broadly rounded and spoon-
shaped, with narrow prominent nail and
numerous protnisive lamella?; the slioveler-
ducks or souchets. The tail is short and pointed, of
fourteen feathers. S. clypeata is the common shoveler
(see cut under shoveler), S. rhynchotis is Australian. S.
platalea is Soiitli American. S. capensis is South African,
and S. varieiinia inhabits New Zealand. Also llhynchaspit,
Clypeata, and .S;w(Ai//«a. — Spatula mallei, in aiiat., the
flattened extremity of the haiiille of the malleus attached
to the nmix) of the raembrana tympani. See cut under
ty7r)pa?nc.
spatulamancy (spat'u-la-man-si), n. [Prop.
'spafiilomaiicy, < Ii. spattila, a blade, -I- /iavreUi,
divination.] A method of divination by a
sheep's shoulder-blade.
spatnlamancy
Spahdamancy (called In Scotland Slinneanch [divina-
tionl) by reading the speal bone or the blade bone of a
shoulder of mntton well scraped.
Hibton-Tumer, Vagrants and Vagrancy, p. 78.
spatular (spat'u-lar), a. [< spatula + -nrS.]
Like a spatula in t'orm : spatulate.
Spatularia (spat-u-la'ri-a), n. [NL. (Shaw),
< L. spatula, a spatula: see spatula.'] In iehth.,
Skullaf Sfatuiaria, w-iththe long beak removed, the anterior (ajf)
and posterior i^sc ) semicircular canals exposed ; ^u, auditory ctiam-
ber ; Or, orbit of eye : .V, nasal sac ; //y, liyoidean apparatus : Br,
representatives of branchiostegal rays: Ofi, operculum: ji/«, mandi-
ble; ,4 £, suspensorium : Z7, palatoquadrate cartilage; iT, maxilla.
a genus of ganoid fisbes: same as Polyodon, 1.
See also cut under paddle-fish.
Spatulariidae (spafu-la-ri'i-de), n. pi. [NXi.,
< Spatularia + -idsB.] In ichth., a family of
ganoid fishes, named from the genus Spatula-
ria : sstvae a,s Polyodontidx. Also Spatularidx.
See outs under paddle-fish and Psephurus.
spatulate (spat'u-lat), a. [< NL. spatulatus, <
spatula, a spatula : see spatula.'] Shaped like a
spatula; in zool. and anat., spoon-shaped, or
rounded more or less like the
outlines of a spoon; spatuli-
form ; in bot., shaped like a
spatula; resembling a spatula
in shape, being oblong or
rounded with a long narrow
attenuate base : as, a spatulate
leaf, petal, or other ilattened spatuiate Leaves of
organ. Also spathulate. See Jj;'/^"'*' '"'"'°-
cuts under Eurynorhynchus,
paddle-fish, Parotia, Prioniturux, Spathura, and
shoveler^.
The large basal joint of the sixth appendage [of lAmu-
lu8\ is almost devoid of spines, and bears a curved, spatu-
late process. Huxley, Anat. Invert., p. 229.
spatnlation (spat-u-la'shon), n. [< spatulate +
-ion.] Spatulate shape or formation; appear-
ance as of a spatula; spoon-shaped figure or
arrangement. See cuts noted under spatulate.
The lateral [tail-lf eathers [of some humming-birds] may
. . . suddenlyenlargeintoa terminal ^pa(uia(ion, as in the
forms known as "Kacquet-tails." Encyc. Brit., XII. 359.
spatule (spat'til), n. [< P. spatule, < L. spatula,
a blade, spatula: see spattle^, spatula.] H.
Same as spattle^.
stirring it thrice a day with a spatule.
Holland, tr. of Pliny, xxiii. 17.
2. In zoiil., a spatulate formation or spatuli-
form part; specifically, in ornith., the racket
at the end of the tail-feathers, as of the mot-
mots or sawbills and certain parrakeets and
humming-birds. See cuts under Momotus, Pri-
oniturus, and Spathura.
spatuliform (spat'u-li-f6rm), a. [< L. spatula,
a blade, spatula, + forma, form.] Spatulate
in form; spoon-shaped.
spatuUgerOUS (spat-u-lij'e-rus), a. [< L. spat-
ula, a blade, spatula, + gerere, carry.] In zool.,
bearing or provided with a spatule or racket.
spaud, I'. A dialectal form of spald^.
spauder (spa'd6r), n. [Also spawder (?) (Sc.
spelder), also splauder, spread; freq. ot spaud,
spald: seespald^.] An injury to animals aris-
ing from their legs being forced too far asunder
on ice or slippery roads. [Prov. Eng.]
Spaul (spal), H. See spall^. —Bla.ckBTpa.vd. Same
as symptmnatic anthrax (which see, under anthrax).
spauldt, n. An obsolete variant of spall^.
Spave (spav), V. t. A dialectal variant of spay'^.
spaviet (spav'i-et), a. A Scotch form of spav-
ined.
My spaviet Pegasus will limp.
Bums, First Epistle to Davie.
spavin (spav'in), n. [Early mod. E. also spav-
en; < ME. spaveyne, < OP. espavent, esparvain,
P. eparvin = Olt. spavano. It. spavenio = 8p.
esparavdn = Pg. esparavSo, esparvSo, spavin;
perhaps so called in allusion to the hopping or
sparrow-like motion of a horse afflicted with
spavin; cf. Sp. esparavdn, a sparrow-hawk, <
OHG. sparo, sparwe = AS. spearwa = E. .spar-
row : see sparrow. But this explanation is un-
certain, resting on the mere resemblance of
form.] 1. A disease of horses affecting the
5802
hock-joint, or joint of the hind leg between
the knee and the fetlock. See hog-spainn, blood-
spavin, bone-spavin. — 2. In coal-mining, the clay
underlying the coal. Also called under-day,
coal-clay, seat, seat-clay, etc. [Yorkshire, Eng.]
spavined (spav'ind), a. [< spavin + -ed'^.] Af-
fected with spavin; hence, figuratively, halt-
ing ; crippled ; very lame or limping.
A blind, gpamned, galled hack, that was only fit to be
cut up for a dog-kennel. Goldsmith, Vicar, xiv.
If they ever praise each other's bad drawings, or broken-
winded novels, or spavined verses, nobody ever supposed
it was from admiration. 0. W. Holmes, Autocrat, i.
spawt, n. An obsolete form of spa.
spawder, «. See spauder.
spawll, n. and v. See spall^.
spawl^, n. See spalP.
spawP (spal), n. [A contr. of spattle^.] Sa-
liva or spittle thrown out carelessly ; slaver.
The new-born infant from the cradle takes.
And first of spittle she lustration makes ;
Then in the spani her middle finger dips.
Anoints the temples, forehead, and the lips.
Dryden, tr. of Persius's Satires, ii.
spawP (spal), V. i. [Formerly also spall; <
spawl^, «.] To throw saliva from the mouth
so as to scatter it ; eject spittle in a careless,
dirty manner: sometimes with indefinite it.
There was such spitting and spoiling, as though they
had been half choked.
Harrington's Apology (1596). (Nares.)
In disgrace.
To spit and spawl upon his sunbright face.
Q;uarles, Emblems, iii. 2.
Why must he sputter, spawl, and slaver it? Swift.
spawld, n. A Scotch variant of spald^ for spall^.
spawn (span), V. [Earlymod. E. spaune; < ME.
spawnen, spanen, < OP. espaundre, espandre,
also espandir, shed, spill, pour out, spawn, same
as espanir, blow, bloom as a flower, lit. expand,
P. epandre, spread, = It. spandere, spill, scat-
ter, shed, < L. expandere, spread out, shed
abroad : see expand. Cf. spannishing.] I. trans.
To produce or lay (eggs) : said of a female fish,
and by extension of other animals ; hence, to
generate. It is sometimes applied, in contempt,
to human beings.
What practices such principles as these may ^oavm,
when they are laid out to the sun, you may determine.
Swift.
II. intrans. 1. To produce or lay eggs of the
kinds called spaivn, as a fish, frog, mollusk, or
crustacean ; by extension, to produce offspring :
said of other animals, and, in contempt, of hu-
man beings.
The Trout usually spawns about October or November.
/. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 75.
2. To issue, as the eggs or young of a fish: by
extension applied to other animals, and to hu-
man beings, m contempt.
The beguiling charms of distinctions and magnificent
subtleties have spawned into prodigious monsters, and the
birth of error. Evelyn, True Religion, II. 176.
It is so ill a quality, and the mother of so many ill ones
that spawn from it, that a child should be brought up in
the greatest abhorrence of it. Locke.
spawn (span), n. and a. [Early mod. E. spaune ;
< spawn, v.] I. m. 1. The eggs or ova of various
oviparous animals, as amphibians, fishes, mol-
lusks, crustaceans, etc., when small and numer-
ous, or extruded in more or less coherent masses ;
female roe. The number of individual eggs in spawn
varies much, and is sometimes prodigiously great : thus,
it has been estimated that the spawn of a single codfish
may contain several million eggs. In oviparous fishes the
eggs are spawned directly into the water, fecundated as
they flow out, or afterward, by the milt of the male, and
left to hatch by themselves. Msh-spawn is also easily
procured by the process of stripping the female, and arti-
ficially fecundated by the same process applied to the
male, the spawn and milt being mixed together in the
water of a vessel made for the purpose. In ovoviviparous
fishes the spawn is impregnated in the body of the fe-
male, as is usual with the eggs of higher animals. Frogs
and toads lay a quantity of spawn consisting of a jelly-like
mass in which the eggs are embedded, and it is fertilized
as it flows forth. Some shell-fish extrude spawn in firm
gelatinous masses, as the common sea-snail, Natica heros.
(See sand-saucer.) The mass of eggs (called coral or berry)
that a lobster carries under her tail is the spawn or roe of
that crustacean ; and in various other crustaceans and
some fishes the spawn is carried to hatching in special
brood-pouches (see opossum-shrimp), which are sometimes
in the male instead of the female, as in the sea-horse (see
Hippocampidse). Anadromous fishes are those which leave
the sea and run up rivers to spawn ; a few fishes are catad-
romous, or the converse of this. The name spawn is seldom
or never given to the eggs of scaly reptiles, birds, or mam-
mals ; but the term has sometimes included milt. See
spau^ning.
2. The spat of the oyster, from the time of
the discharge of the egg until the shell is visi-
ble and the creature has become attached. — 3.
Offspring of fish; very small fish; fry. — 4.
spawning-ground
Offspring in general ; a swarming brood : ap-
plied, mostly in contempt, to liuman beings.
To Sem the East, to Cham the South, the West
To lapheth falls ; their seuerall scopes exprest :
Their fruitful Spawn did all the World supply.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Colonies, Arg.
Howe'er that common spawn of ignorance.
Our fry of writers, may beslime his fame.
B. Jonson, Poetaster, Ind.
5. In bot., the mycelium of fungi; the white
fibrous matter forming the matrix from which
fungi are produced. Certain species of edible fungi,
as Ayarums campestris, are propagated artificially by sow-
ing the spawn in prepared beds of horse-droppings and
sand.
By this time these will be one mass of natural spau-n,
having a grey mouldy and thready appearance, and a smell
like that of mushrooms,
Cooke and Berkeley, Fungi, p. 257.
The agarics have an abundant mycelium, known to gar-
deners as the spawn, consisting of white, cottony filaments,
which spread in every direction through the soil.
Amer. Cyc, XII. 70.
To shoot spawn. See shoot.
H. a. Containing spawn; spawning, or about
to spawn; ripe, as a fish.
spawn-brick (span'brik), n. In bot., brick-
shaped masses of mold or compressed horse-
droppings fermented with mushroom-spawn,
and used for the artificial sowing or stocking of
a mushroom-bed.
The [mushroom-Jbed will be ready for spawning, which
consists of inserting small pieces of spauni bricks into the
sloping sides of the bed, about 6 inches asunder.
Encyc. Brit., XII. 284.
spawn-eater (span'e"ter), n. A spawn-eating
fish, or other animal which habitually feeds
upon spawn, to the detriment of the fisheries
or of fish-culture; especially, a eyprinoid fish,
Spawn-eater {\otropis hudsonitts).
Notr02ns hudsonius, found in streams along the
coast from New York to Virginia. This is one of
the largest minnows, from 4 to 8 inches long, of a pale
coloration, the sides with a broad silver>' band, and usu-
ally a dusky spot at the base of the caudal fin. It is some-
times called smelt.
spawned (spand), p. a. 1. Having emitted
spawn; spent, as a fish. — 2. Extruded or de-
posited, as spawn.
spawner (spa'ner), n. [< spawn + -erl.] 1.
That which spawns, as the female of fish, frogs,
oysters, etc.; a ripe fish about to spawn: cor-
related with milter.
There the Spawner casts her eggs, and the Melter hovers
over her all that time that she is casting her Spawn, but
touches her not.
I. Walton, Complete Angler (ed. 1663), p. 147.
2. In _/i«fe-CKMMre, a spawn-gatherer. [Recent.]
spawn-fungus (span'fung"gus), n. See fungus.
spawn-hatcher (span'hach"er), n. An appa-
ratus for the artificial hatching of the ova of
fish. It consists essentially of a box, or a series of boxes,
fitted with trays with perforated bottoms to receive the
spawn, and arranged for the supply of a regulated current
of fresh water.
spawning (spa'ning), n. [Verbal n. of spawn, v.]
The act or process of emitting and fecundating
spawn. It consists essentially in the emission by the
female of her eggs, and by the male of his milt, in such a
manner that they may come in contact with each other,
and that the eggs may be placed in a position favorable
to their development. The manner, time, and place in
which this is performed vary with the species. Some
kinds bury their eggs in sand or gravel ; some attach them
to weeds, sticks, or stones ; some build nests of stones or
other material ; and others drop their eggs carelessly
through the water. Fish spawn at all seasons of the year,
every species having its appropriate time. Rapid streams,
quiet lakes, and sea-bottoms are among the places of de-
posit. In some cases nests are constructed somewhat elabo-
rately. With the laying of the eggs the care of the parents
for their offspring generally ends. Not unfrequently both
sire and dam immediately devour their yet unhatched de-
scendants. A few species guard their eggs during incu-
bation, and in some rare cases this care continues after
the young fishes are hatched.
spawning-bed (spa'ning-bed), n. Abed or nest
made in the bottom of a stream, as by salmon
and trout, in which fish deposit their spawn and
milt.
spawning-ground (spa'ning -ground), n. A
water-bottom on which fish deposit their spawn;
hence, the body or extent of water to which they
resort to spawn ; a breeding-place.
spawning-screen
spawning-screen (spa'niug-skren), ». In.^»7i-
ciiltiirc. a frame or screen on which the spawn
of tish is collected.
spawn-rising (span'ri*zing), II. In fish-riiltiirc,
rhe increase in size of spawn after the milt has
been added.
spayi (spa), !•. t. [Early mod. E. also spate; dial.
gpave, sjxiive, speave; supposed to be < Gael.
gpotli = Manx spoiy = Bret, sjmclieiii, spa::a,
castrate, geld; cf. W. i/spaddii, exhaust, empty,
dyspyddu, drain, exhaust; perhaps connected
with L. spado, < Gr. oTrdduv. a eunuch, < aTzav,
draw, extract: see spade*.'] To castrate (a fe-
male) bv extirpating the ovaries. The process
corresponds to castration or emasculation of the male, in-
capacitating the female from breeding, or milking her bar-
ren. Applied to hens, it corresponds to the caponizing of
a cock. It is also practised on other animals, as swine.
The animals fatten more readily, and the tieah is improved.
Compare BatUy'a operation, under operation.
spay- (spa), «. [Also spate; perhaps < OF.
'espeis, espois, F. epois, branches of a stag's
horns, < G. spitz, a point (cf. G. spit:-liirsch, a
stag whose horns have begun to grow pointed) :
see spit^, spitz. Ci.spitUird, a two-year-old hart.]
The male red-deer or hart in his third year.
spay'*, I'. See S]>ae.
spayeret, spayret, ». See .spared.
Spea (spe'il), H. [XL. (Cope, 1863), < Gr. ffwfof,
a cave.] A genus of spade-footed toads (Sca-
phiopodidse or Pelobatidx), representing a low
type of organization, and peculiar to America.
Several speciea, aa S. hammondi and S. bombi/roiu, inhabit
arid regions In the western United .States and Mexico, be-
ing adapted to dry climate by the rapidity of their meta-
morphosis. During rains in summer they come out of
their holes In the ground, and lay their eggs in rain-pools,
where the tadpoles are soon seen swimming. These get
their legs very promptly, and go hopping about on dry
land. They are very noisy in the spring, like the common
■pade-footB.
speak (spek), r. ; pret. spoke (spake archaic or
poetical), pp. spoken {moke obs. or vulgar),
ppr. speaking. [< MET speken (pret. sjxike,
spak, spec, sptee, pp. spoken, spoke, earlier
spsken, tpeokene, i-speken, ispeke), < la\:' AS.
specan, earlier spreean (pret. spiec, pi. spiecon.
earlier sprsec, pi. sprsecon, pp. specen, earlier
sprecen) = OS. spreean = OFries. sjireka = D.
apreken = MLG. LG. spreken = OHG. sprelihan,
MHG. G. sprechen, speak; cf. MHG. stiehten,
chatter, G.aia\. spachten, speak; root unknown.
Hence ult. speech, and perhaps sjiook.] I. in-
trans. 1. To use articulate utterance in the
tones of the speaking- voice, in distinction from
those of the singing-voice ; exert the faculty
of speech in uttering words for the expression
of thought.
Sire, are hi beo (ere they be| to dlthe awreke
We mote there the children neke.
King Hom(Z. E. T. S.X p. 09.
Their children gpaie half In the speech of Ashdo<l, and
could not speak in the Jews' language. Neb. xlii. 24.
Many good acbolara ipeai but fumblingly.
B. Janton, DiacoTcriea.
2. To make an oral address, as before a ma-
gistrate, a tribunal a public assembly, or a
company; deliver a speech, discourse, argu-
ment, plea, or the like: as, to speak for or
a^inst a person or a cause in court or in a le-
gislature.
Then Agrlppa said onto Paul, Tboo art permitted to
tpeat for thyself. AcU xivi. 1.
Lord Sandwich, by a most Inconceivable Jumide of cun-
ning, ipokt for the treaty. Watpole, Letters, II. '2711.
3. To make oral communication or mention;
talk; converse: as, to speak with a stranger;
to speak of or about something; they do not
speak to each other.
Than eche toke other be the hande, and wente tpekynffe
of many thinges till thei com to the bostell of Vlfln and
BreteU. Mertin (E. E. T. S.), ill. ten.
I must thank him only.
Lest my remembrance suffer ill report ;
At heel of that, defy him. . . .
Wonid w.e had ipott together.
Shot., A. and C, U. t. MT.
4. To communicate ideas by written or printed
words; make mention or tell in recorded speech.
I tpeak concerning Christ and the church. Eph. T. S-i.
The Scripture tpeak$ only of those to whom it speaks.
UamvMnd.
The Ijitin convent is thought to have been on mount
Oihon, though s^jme seem to tpeak of that hill as beyond
tbepooloftfihon. Pneoeke, Descrlptlonof theEast. II. 1. 10.
6. To make communication by any intelligible
sound, action, or indication ; impart ideas or
information by any means other than speech or
writing; give expression or intimation.
And let the kettle to the trumpet apeak,
The trumpet to the cannoneer without.
Shak., Uamlet, v. i. 280.
5803
That brow in furrow'd lines had flx'd at last.
And spake of passions, but of passion past.
Byron, Lara, i. 5.
Abate the gtiiie, which speaks of man.
Tennyson, Princess, ii
6. Of an organ-pipe, to emit or utter a tone;
sound. — 7. S'liiit., to make a stirring and lap-
ping sound in driWng through the water : said
of a ship.
At length the sniffler reached as, and the sharp little
vessel began to speak, as the rushing sound through the
water is called ; while the wind sang like an Eolian harp
through the taut weather-rigging.
M. Scott, Tom Cringle's Log, viii.
8. To bark when ordered: said of dogs m
spoken. See tcell or ill spoken, below. — ProperhT speak-
ing. See j/ropcrf.v.— Soto speai. See sol. — Speaking
acquaintance, (a) A degree of acquaintance extending
only to f ui mal intercourse.
Between them and Mr. Wright [the Rector) there was
only a speaking aciptaintance.
Trollope, Belton Estate, I. 33.
(6) \ person with whom one is only suiiiciently acquainted
to interchange formal salutations or inditf erent conversa-
tion when meeting casually — Speaking terms, a relation
between persons in wiiich they speak to or converse with
each other; usually, an acquaintance limited to speaking
in a general way or on indifferent subjects. Not to be rm
speaking terms is either to l>e not sufficiently acquainted for
passing speech or salutation or to be so much estranged
through disagreement as to be debarred from it.
Our poorer gentry, who never went to town, and were
probably not on speaking terms with two out of the live
families whose parks lay within the distance of a drive.
George Eliot, Felix Holt, i.
To speak by the card. See cordi.— To speak for. (o)
To speak in behalf or in place of ; state the case, claims,
or views of.
The general and his wife are talking of it ;
And she speaks/or you stoutly.
Shak., Othello, iii. 1. 47.
There snrely I shall speak/or mine own self.
Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine.
(6) To afford an Indication of; intimate; denote.
Every half mile some pretty farmhouse was shining red
through clumps of trees, the many cattle-sheds speaking
/or the wealth of the owner. Froude, Sketches, p. U3.
To speak holiday t. See holiday, a.— To speak In
lutestringt. .see lutesiriwfi.—To speak like a book.
See («»>*.— To speak of. (a) .See def. 3. (6) To take or
make account of; mention as notable or of consequence;
deserve mention.
Those Conntrles neerest Tigris Spring,
In those first ages were most flourishing,
Most spoken.^/.
SylveMer. tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, 11., The Colonies.
Strangers . . . that pay to their owne Lords the tenth,
and not to the owner of those liberties any thing to speake
of. _ Capt. John Smith, Works, II. 244.
To speak out, to speak loud or louder ; hence, to speak
freely, tM>ldly. or without reserve; disclose what one
knows or thinks about a certain matter.— To speak tO.
(a) To answer for; attest; account for
For a far longer time than they, the modem obserrato-
rles, can directly speak to. Piazri Sinjfth, i>yramid, p. 74.
(6) To admonish or rebuke. [Colloq. and euphemistic. )
" Papa," he exclaimed. In a loud, plaintive voice, as of
one deeply injured, " will you speaJtto Oiles? ... If this
sort of thing is allowed to go on, ... it will perfectly
ruin the independence of my character."
Jean Ingetov, Off the Skelligs, xlx.
To sp«ak to one's heart See A^art.— To speak ap,
to express one's thouglits freely, boldly, or unreservedly ;
speak oat.
^teak up, jolly Idade, never fear.
liobin Hood and Little John (Child's Ballads. V. 221 )l
To speak well for, to be a commendatory or favorable
indication of or with regard to ; as, his eagerness speaks
veil /or him, or /or his success. — Well or 111 spoken,
given to speaking well or ill ; given to using decorous or
rndeconxu speech. In either a literal or a moral sense.
Thou speak 'st
In better phrase and matter than thou didst . . .
Metlilnks you're better spoken. Shak., Lear, Iv. e. 10.
He was wise and discreete and weU spoken, having a
grave A deliberate utterance.
Bradford, llymouth Plantation, p. 413.
-Syn. Speak, Talk. Speak is more general in meaning
than talk. Thus, a man may speak by utteiing a single
word, whereas to taik Is to utter words consecutively ; so
s man may be able to speak without being able to talk.
Speak Is also more formal In meaning : as, to speak before
an audience ; while talk implies u conversational manner
of speaking.
n. trans. 1. To utter orally and articulate-
ly; express with the voice ; enunciate.
And thel selde, "That he Is, for this thre dayes he spake
no speche, ne neuer shall speke worde."
Merlin (E. E. T. 9.\ I. »4.
They sat down with him upon the ground seven days
and seven nights, and none spake a word unto hiro.
Job IL 13.
2. To declare; utter; make known by speech;
tell, announce, or express in uttered words.
Grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they
may speak thy word. Acts Iv. 29.
One that, to speak the truth.
Had all those excellencies that our books
Have only feign'd.
Middleton, Anything for a (julet Life, L 1.
speaker
I am come to speak
Thy praises. Bryant, Hymn to Death.
3. To use in oral utterance; express one's self
in the speech or tongue of: as, a person may
read a language which he cannot speak.
The Arabic language is spoke very little north of Aleppo.
Pococke, Description of the East, II. i. 154.
4. To accost or address in speech ; specifically
(naut.), to accost at sea; hail and hold com-
munication with by the voice, as a passing ves-
sel.
About six bells, that is three o'clock P. M., we saw a
sail on our larboard bow. I was very desirous, like every
new sailor, to speak her.
R. H. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 10.
5. To say, either in speech or in writing; use
as a form of speech.
A beavie of ladyes is spoken figuratively for a company
or troupe : the terme is taken of Larkes.
Spenser, Shep. Cal., April, Glosse.
6. To produce by means or as a result of speech :
bring about or into being by utterance; call
forth.
They sung how God spoke out the World's vast Ball ;
From Nothing and from No where call'd forth All.
Couiey, Davideis, L
7. To mention as; speak of as being; call.
[Obsolete or rare.]
Mayst thou live ever spoken our protector !
Fletcher, Valentlnian, v. 8.
8. To make known as if by speech ; give speak-
ing evidence of; indicate; show to be; de-
clare.
Wliatever his reputed parents be.
He hath a mind that speaks him right and noble.
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, 1. L
And for the heaven's wide circuit, let it speak
The Maker's high magnificence.
J/aton, P. L.,viiL101.
Eleanor's countenance was dejected, yet sedate ; and ita
composure spoke her inured to all the gloomy objects to
which they were advancing.
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, xxiv.
To speak a ship. See def. 4, above.— To speak dag-
f;ers. See daggeri.— To speak (a person) fair, to address
n fair or pleasing terms ; speak to in a friendly way.
Oh run, dear friend, and bring the lord Philaster ! speak
him fair ; call him prince ; do him all the courtesy you
can. B«a«. ondf J., Philaster, V. 3.
To speak for, to establish a claim to by prior assertion ;
ask or engage in advance: as, we have tq)t^ken /ona&tA;
she is already spoken /or. — To speak one's mind, to ex-
press one's opinion, especially with emphasis.
The Romans had a time once every year, when their
Slaves might freely speake their minds.
Milton, On Def. of Humb. Remonst.
To speak out, to utter openly ; proclaim boldly.
But strait I'l make his Dumbness find a Tongue
To speak out his imposture, and thy wrong.
J. Beaumont, Psyche, iL 164.
= 83m. Tell, State, etc. See sayl.
speakable (spe'ka-bl), a. [< sjwak + -able.']
1. Capable of being spoken ; fit to be uttered.
The other, . . . heaping oaths upon oaths, . . . moat
horrible and not speakawe, was rebuked of an honest
man. Ascham, Toxophllus, L
2t. Having the power of speech. [Rare.]
Redouble then this miracle, and say
How cam'st thou speakable of mute?
Milton, P. L., ll. 668.
speaker (spe'kfer), n. [< ME. speker, spekere
(= OFries. spreker (in forspreker) = D. MLG.
spreker = OHG. sprahhari, sprdchari, sprelihari,
sprehheri, sprechari, MHG. spreclieere, sjirecher,
G. sprecher, a speaker); < speak + -erl.] 1.
One who speaks or utters words ; one who talks
or converses ; one who makes a speech or an
address; specifically, one who engages in or
practises public speaking.
Thel seyn also that Abraham was Frend to God, and
that .Moyseswas istmileer spekere with God.
Mandeville, Travels, p. 136.
Bearers far more strange of the Roman name, though no
speakers of the Roman tongue, are there in special abun-
dance. E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 57.
2. A proclaimer; a publisher. [Bare.]
After my death I wish no other herald,
Ko other speaker of my living actions.
Shak., Hen. VIIL, iv. 2. 7a
3. [cap.] The title of the presiding officer in
the British House of Commons, in the House of
Representatives in the Congress of the United
States, in the lower houses of State legisla-
tures in the United States, and in British colo-
nial legislatures ; also of the Lord Chancel-
lor of Great Britain as presiding officer of the
House of Lords. The .Speaker of the House of Com-
mons is elected in each Parliament from its members, with
the royal concurrence, generally without regard to poli-
tics, and may preside in successive I'arliiimeiits of ojiposite
political character. His powers (which have been much
diminished in the course of time) are limited to the prea-
speaker
eryatjon of order and the regulation of debate under the
rules of the House, tlie use of the casting-vote in case of
an equal division, and speaking in general committee. The
Speaker in the House of Representatives (as also in the
State legislatures) is usually a leader of the party Uaving
a majority of the membei-s, and has, in addition to the pow-
ers of the British i^peaker, the power of appointing all com-
mittees, and the right, as a member, of participating in
general debate aft«r calling another member to the chair,
and of voting on all questions — rights exercised, however,
only on important occasions. He is thus in a position to
control the course of legislation to an impiirtant extent,
and the office is consequently regarded as of great power
and intluence.
I hear that about twelve of the Lords met and had cho-
&en my Lord Manchester speaker of the House of Lords.
Pepys, Diary, April 26, 1660.
In the Lower House the Speaker of the Tudor reigns is
in very much the same position as the t^hancellor In the
Upper House ; he is the manager of business on the part
of tne crown, and probably the nominee either of the king
himself or of the chancellor.
i^ubbs. Medieval and Modem Hist., p. 272.
Not only that the Standing Committees are the most
essential machinery of our governmental system, but also
that the Speaker of the House of Representatives is the
most powerful functionary of that system.
W. Wilson, Cong. Gov., p. 103.
4, A title, and hence a general name, for a
book containing selections for practice in dec-
lamation, as at school. [U. S.]
speakership (spe'ker-ship), n. [< speaker +
-ship.] The office of Speaker in a legislative
bodv.
speaking (spe'king), p, a. Adapted to inform
or impress as if by speech; forcibly expressive
or suggestive ; animated or vivid in appear-
ance : as, a speaking likeness ; speaJcing ges-
tures.
A repr^entation borrowed, indeed, from the actual
world, but closer to thought, more faking and signifi-
cant, more true than nature and life itself. J. Caird.
The smallness of Spalato, as compared with the great-
ness of ancient Salona, is a speaking historical lesson.
E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 172.
Speaking demurrer, in laiv, a demurrer which alleges
or suggests a fact which to be available would require
evidence, and which therefore cannot avail on demurrer.
speakingly (spe'king-li), adv. In a speaking
manner ; so as to produce the effect of speech ;
very expressively.
A Mute is one that acteth speakingly^
And yet sayes nothing. Brome, Antipodes, v. 4.
speaking-machine (spe'king-ma-shen'''), w- A
meehamcal contrivance for producing articu-
late sounds automatically ; a speaking automa-
ton.
Kempelen's and Kratzenstein's speaking-machiiw, in the
latter part of the last century ; the leaking -machine made
by Fabermann of Vienna, closely imitating the human
voice. Encyc. Brit., XV. 208.
speaking-trumpet (spe'king-trum^'pet), n. A
trumpet-shaped instrument by which the sound
of the human
voice is rein-
forced so that
it may be heard
at a great dis-
tance or above
other sounds,
as in hailing
ships at sea or
giving orders at
a fire. In the United States navy a speaking-
trumpet is the badge of the officer of the deck
at sea.
Speaking-tube (spe'king-tiib), n. A tube of
sheet-tin, gutta-percha, or other material, serv-
ing to convey the voice to a distance, as from
one building to another, or from one part of a
building to another, as from an upper floor to
the street-door, or from the rooms of a hotel to
the office, it is commonly used in connection with an
annunciator, and is usu^ly fitted at each end with a whis-
tle for calling attention.
speaking- voice (spe'king-vois), n. The kind
of voice used in speaking: opposed to singing-
voice^ or the kind of voice used in singing.
The singing-voice and the speaking-voice differ in several
respects: (a) in pitch and inflection, which are arbitrary
in singing, but conformed to the thought in speaking ; (h)
in succession of tones, the tones of music being discrete,
while those of speech are concrete; (c) in time and em-
phasis, which in music are more arbitrary, and less con-
formed to the thought than in speech. So great is the
difference that many persons who have a good voice for
one use hare a very poor voice for the other.
Speal^ (spel), n. Same as spell'^, spilV^.
speal^t, w. An obsolete variant of spaJV^.
speal-bone (spel'bon), n. The shoulder-blade.
— Reading the speal-bone, scapulimancy; divination
by means of a shoulder-blade. E. B. Tylor, Prim. Cult.,
L 125. Compare sjmtidamancy.
Spean (spen), n. [< ME. spene, < AS. spana,
teat, udder; cf. «p«naw, wean : seespane.^ An
animaPs teat. [Old and prov. Eng.]
speaking-trumpet
6, bell ! c, mouthpiece ;
for a band by which the trumpet may 1
attached to the person.
, tube ;
; rf, rin]
Hunting -spears,
15th or i6th century.
5804
It hath also four gpeanes to her paps.
Topselt, Four-footed Beasts, p. 38. (HMiwell.)
spear^ (sper), «. [< ME. spere, pi. speres, speren,
< AS. spcre = OS. sper = OFries. sper, spiri =
MD. S2>ere, D. speer = MLG. sper, spere = OHG.
MHG. sper, G. speer (> OF. espier) = Icel. spjiir,
pi., = Dan. spser, a spear (the L. spams, a
small missile weapon, dart, hunting-spear, is
prob. < Teut.) ; perhajts akin to
spar, a beam, bar: see spar'^.
In def . 7 prob. confused with
spirel.] 1. A weapon consist-
ing of a penetrating head at-
tached to a long shaft of wood,
designed to be thrust by or
launched from the hand at an
enemy or at game. Spears have
been used as warlike weapons from
the earliest times, and were the princi-
pal reliance of many ancient armies,
as those of the Greeks, while in others
they were used codrdinately with the
bow and the sword. They are repre-
sented by the bayonet in modern ar-
mies, though some use is still made of
spears, of which javelins and lances
are lighter, and pikes heavier, forms.
Compare cuts under bayonet and pike.
Whan thei were ouer, thei smyten
in a-monge hem so vigorously that
oon rayght here the crassinge of speres half a myle longe.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii- 156.
They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their
spears into pruninghooks. Isa. ii. 4.
2. A man armed with a spear; a spearman.
Earl Doorm
Struck with a knife's haft hard against the board,
And calVd for flesh and wine to feed his spears.
Tennyson, Geraiut
3. A sharp-pointed instrument with barbed
tines, generally three or four, used for stab-
bing fish and other animals ; a fish -gig. — 4. An
instrument like or suggestive of an actual spear,
as some articles of domestic or mechanical use,
one of the long pieces fixed transversely to
the beam or body of ehevaux-de-frise, in some
parts of England a bee's sting, etc. — 5. One of
the pieces of timber which together form the
main rod of the Cornish pumping-engine. — 6.
The feather of a horse. Also called the streak
of the spear, it is a mark in the neck or near the
s'houlder of some barbs, which is reckoned a sure sign of
a good horse.
7. A spire: now used only of the stalks of
grasses : as, a spear of wheat.
Tell me the motes, dust, sands, and speares
Of corn, when Summer shakes his eares.
Herrick, To Find God.
The speare or steeple of which churche was fired by
lightening.
Lambarde, Perambulation (1696), p. 287. (Ualliwell.)
Holy spear. Same as holy lance. See Cancel.— Spear
pyntes,avarietyofmarcasite.— Spear side, occasionally
spear half, a phrase sometimes used to denote the male
line of a family, in contradistinction to distaf or spindle
side (or half), the female line. See distaff side, under
spearmint
carp-sucker, also called suilfish, slimbael; and
qiiillbacl: It is common from the Mississippi
valley to Chesapeake Bay. — 2. The bill-flsh,
Tetrapturu^ albidus, belonging to tlie family
HistiophorhJie, or sailfishes. The dorsal fin is low
or moderately developed, and the ventrals are represented
A King who by the spindle-side sprang from both Wil-
liam and Cerdic, but who by the spear-side had nothing
to do with either.
E. A. Freeman, Norman Conquest, V. 168.
To sell under the speart, to sell by auction : from the
ancient Roman practice of setting a spear (hasta) in the
ground at an auction, originally as a sign of the sale of
military booty.
My lords the senators
Are sold for slaves, their wives for bondwomen, . . .
And all their goods, under the spear, at outciy.
B. Jonson, Catiline, ii.
spear^ (sper), v. f< spear^, «.] I. trans. To
pierce or strike with a spear or similar weapon :
as, to spear fish.
The [Australian] youngsters generally celebrated the
birth of a lamb by spearing it.
C. Jieade, Never too Late to Mend, 11.
The Mayfly is torn by the swallow, the sparrow spear'd by
the shrike. ' Tennyson, Maud, iv. 4.
II. intrans. To shoot into a long stem ; ger-
minate, as barley. See sjnre'^ .
The single blade (of wheat] spears first into three, then
into five or more side-shoots. Science, VII. 174.
spear^t (sper), v. An obsolete form of speer'^.
spear-billed (sper'bild), a. Having a long,
straight, and sharp bill, beak, or rostrum: as,
the spear-billed grebes of the genus Mchmo-
phorus. See cut under jlichmophorus. Coues.
spear-dog (sper'dog), «. The common piked
dog-fish, Squalus aean thias or Acanthias vulgaris.
[Local, Eng.]
spearer (sper'er), n. [< spearl + -erl.] 1. One
who spoars. — 2. A person armed with a spear,
whether for war or for ceremony,
spear-fish (sper'fish), «. 1. A catostomoid fish
of the genus Carpiodes, C. cyprinus, a kind of
Spear-fish {Tetraptttrus albidus).
only by spines. It inhabits American waters as far north
as New England in summer, and is not seldom taken in
the sword-fishery. In tropical seas its horizon is about 100
fathoms deep. The spear-flsh is related to the sword-fish
(though of another family), and has a similar beak or
sword. It attains a length of six or eight feet. In the
West Indies its Spanish name is aguja. Compare cut
under milji!fh. *
spear-flower (sper'flou"er), n. A tree or shrub
of the large tropical and subtropical genus
Ardisia of the Myrsincse. The species are mostly
handsome with white or red flowers and pea-form fruit,
often blue. The name translates Ardisia, which alludes
to the sharp segments of the calyx.
spear-foot (sper'fut), n. The off or right hind
foot of a horse.
spear-grass (sper'gras), n. 1. A name of va-
rious species of Agrostis, bent-grass, of Agropy-
rum repens, quitah-grsiss, ot Alopecuriis agrestis,
foxtail, and perhaps of some other grasses.
The spear-grass of Shakspere, according to Ellacombe,
is the quitch-grass ; according to Prior, it is the common
reed, Phragmites communis. [Old or prov. Eng. ]
To tickle our noses with spear-grass to make them
bleed. Shak., 1 Hen. IV., ii. 4. 340.
2. The June-grass, or Kentucky blue-grass, Poa
pratensis (see cut under Poa); also other spe-
pies of the genus, p. annua is the low or annual spear-
grass. It is so called from the lance-shaped spikelets.
(See ^neadow-grass.) The name is said to be applied
also to the porcupine-grass, on account of its awns.
[U. S.]
3. In New Zealand, a name of one or two plants
of the umbelliferous gezms Aciphylla : so called
from their long grass-like leaflets, which have
hard and sharp points.
spear-hand (sper'hand), n. The right hand or
the right side, as distinguished from the shield-
hand.
spear-head (sper'hed), n. The head of a spear.
It is always pointed, and of iron or steel among people
who know the use of iron, but anciently of bronze, and
among some savage peoples of stone, bone, or the like. The
form varies from that of a long double-edged blade which
with its socket is two feet or more in length, as was com-
mon in throwing-spears of the Franks and Saxons, to the
head of the fourteenth-century lance, which was a mere
pointing of the wooden shaft with steel and only a few
inches in length. The spear-head is often barbed, some-
times serrated or wavy, etc. Compare coronal, 2, also
pilum, lance'^ , javelin.
spear-hook (sper'huk), n. Same as spring-hook.
spear-javelin (sper'jav"lin), «. Same as fra-
mea, 1.
spear-leafed lily. See Hly, i.
spear-lily (sper'lil'i), n. A plant of one of
three species of the Australian genus Doryan-
thes of the Amaryllidex. It has partly the habit
of Agave, having a cluster of over one hundred sword-
shaped leaves at the base, an erect stem, in D. excelsa from
10 to 18 feet high, with a dense terminal head of red flow-
ers. The leaves of that species contain a fiber suitable
for rope- and paper-making.
spearman (sper'man), )i. ; pi. spearmen (-men).
[< ME. ,sperma« ; <ispear^ + man.'] 1. One who
uses or is armed with a spear; especially, a sol-
dier whose spear is his principal weapon. Com-
pare lancer, lans-
quenet, jrikeman'^.
Wily as an eel that stirs
the mud
Thick overhead, so baf-
fling spearman's thrust.
Browning, Ring and
[Book, II. 162.
2. A book-name for
any leaf-beetle of
the genus Dory-
phora. The Colo-
rado potato-beetle,
D. decemlineata, is
the ten-lined spear-
man. See cut un-
der beetle.
spearmint (sper'-
mint), n. [Said to
be a coiTuption of
spire-mint, with ref.
to the pyramidal in-
florescence.]
,,._ Spearmint ^Mentha vtrtdis), up-
A per part of the stem with the inflorcs-
An cence. R, a flower.
spearmint
aromatic plant, Mentha viridLi, the common gar-
den-mint, or mint proper. It is known chiefly in
gardens, or as an escape from them, in both hemispheres,
and is suspected to be a garden or accidental variety of
M. frylcestrU. Its properties are those of peppermint, and
it yields an oil like that of the latter, but with a more
pleasant flavor.— Spirit Of spearmint. See spirit.
spear-nail (sper'nal), «. A form of nail witii a
spear-sliaped point.
spear-plate (sper'plat), ». Same as strapping-
pin ti.
spear-thistle (sper'this'l), n. See thigtle.
spear-widgeon (sper'wij'on), n. 1. The red-
breasted merganser, Mergus serrator. Also
called shelduck: — 2. The goosander, Mergus
merf/anser. [Irish in both uses.]
spearwood (sper'wud), n. One of two Austra-
lian trees, Eucalyptus Doratoxglon in the south-
west, and Acacia Doratoxijlon in the interior, or
the wood of the same, sought by the natives for
spear-shafts.
spearwort (sper'w^rt), n. [< ME. sperewortc,
spirnciirt,<..\S. ,fpereicyrt,< spere, spear, + tvyrt,
wet: see spear^ and wort^.'\ The name of
several species of crowfoot or Ranunculus with
lance-shaped leaves. R. Lingua, the greater spear-
wort, is found in Europe and temperate Asia ; R. Flam-
mula, the lesser spearwort (also called banetcort). through
the north temperate zone ; R. op/aogloattfoliux, the snake's-
tongue or adder'a-tongoe spearwort. In southwestern Eu-
rope ; R. ambigeng (R. ali8msif6liu»\ the water-plantain
spearwort, in North America.
speat, ». Same as spate.
speave, r. t. A dialectal form of spay^.
spec' (spek), H. A colloquial abbreviation of
speculation.
They said what a wery gen'rooa thing it was o' them to
hare taken up the case on «pec, and to charge nothing at
all for costs unless they got 'em out of Mr. Pickwick.
IHcient, Pickwick, xxxlr.
Spec.^ In nat. hist,, an abbreviation of speci-
men : with a plural specs., sometimes spece.
Compare sp.
specet, «• A Middle English form of spiee^.
special (spesh'al), a. and u. [< ME. special,
sjieciall, smciale, specyal, specyalle, < OF. spyrial,
especial, F. special = Pr. special, especial = Sp.
especial = Pg. especial = It. speziale, special. <
L. s)>ecialis, belonging to a species, particular,
< species, kind, species: see species. Doublet,
especial.] I. n. 1. Of or pertaining to a spe-
cies or sort; of a particular kind or character;
distinct from other kinds; specifically charac-
teristic.
Crist ! kepe as out of harme and hate.
For thin nooli spirit so tpecial.
Hymiu la Virgin, etc (E. E. T. 8.X p. 67.
A tpeetxd idea is called by the schools a species.
Wattt, Logic, I. Hi. 1 S.
A certain order of artistic culture should l>e adopted,
answering to the order of development of the «pscw sen-
dbiUties and facoitles concerned.
J. SuUy. Outlines of Psychol., p. 6SS.
2. Of or pertaining to one or more of a kind ;
peculiar to an individual or a set ; not general ;
particular; individual.
He spekis thus in bis tpeelatt spell.
And of this matere makis he mynde.
York Play, p. 471.
For the question In hand, whether the commandments
of God in Hiripture be general or iptciai, it skilleth not.
HoattT, Eocles. Polity, lit 7.
The tpecial charm of Oxford for .Shelley lay In the com-
parallTe freedom of the student's lite.
B. Doicdtn, Shelley, I. 66.
3. Peculiar or distinct of the kind; of excep-
tional character, amount, degree, or the like;
especially distinguished; express; particular.
Thei suSre no Cristene man entre in to tbat Place, but
•if it be of ipteyaUt grace of the Soudan.
ManUvOle, Trarels, p. 6&
Can such things be,
And orercome us like a summer's cloud.
Without our tpecial wonder?
Shak., Macbeth, 111. t. 112.
It is a fair and sensible paper, not of tpecial originality
or brilliancy. O. IT. Iltimet, Emerson, L
Other groups of phenomena require tpecial study.
H. Spencer, 8tudy of Sociol., p. 382.
4. Specifically, limited as to function, opera-
tion, or purpose; designed for specific applica-
tion or service ; acting for a limited time or in
a restricted manner; not general of the kind
named : as, special legislation : special plead-
ing; a sjiecial agent, constable, or correspon-
dent ; special employment ; a sjxcial dictionary.
Too all his ost he gave a tpeciall charge,
Ayenst that day that he shuld flght alone.
Uenrrydel (E. E. T. 8.), 1. 3221.
To Eltham will I, where the young king is,
Being ordain'd his tpecial governor.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., L 1. 171.
5805
Estate tall special. See lutafe.— Heir spedaL See
heir. — Special act. See statuu. — Special administra-
tor, an administrator appointed without full powers of
administration, but for some special purpose, as to col-
lect and hold assets and pay urgent debts pending a con-
test as to the probate of a will. -\lso called a temporary
administrator, a coUectcrr, or an administrator ad colligen-
dum.— Special agent, an agent authorized to transact
in the service or interest of his principal only a particu-
lar transaction or a particular kind of business, as distin-
guished from a general agent: as, a special agent of the
revenue department. — Special anatomy. See aiwtomy.
— Special assignment. See partial assignment, under
jwrtwi.— Special balL See taaa, 3.— Special bailiff,
bastard, case. See the nouns.— Special carrier.
See carrier'^, 2. — Special commission, in law, a com.
mission of oyer and terminer issued by the crown to the
judges for the trial of speeitied cases.— Special consta-
ble, contract, damages, demurrer, deposit, edict,
homology, hospital. Injunction, is3ue,Jury, license,
etc. See the nouns.— Special linear complex, the ag.
gregate of all the lines of space that cut a given line. —
Special logic, the rules for thinking concerning a certain
kinii of ot>jects.
Such special logics only exhibit the mode in which a de-
terminate matter or object of science, the knowledge of
which is presupposed, must be treated, the conditions
which regulate the certainty of inferences in that matter,
and the methods by which our knowledge of it may be
constructed into a scientific whole.
Sir W. Hamilton, Logic, iii.
Special orders, paper, partner, plea, pleader, plead-
ing, property, providence, retainer, sessions, stat-
ute, tall, verdict, etc. See the nouns.— Special trust,
an active trust; a trust which involves specific duties on
the part of the trustee, as distinguished fruni a general or
naked trust, in which he holds only a legal title and it may
be possession, hut the entire right of disposal is in the
beneficiary. = 8yn. Special, Especial, Particular, Peculiar,
Specific. Special is more common than especial, which
has the same meaning; but especially is for rhythmical
reasons (because it occurs most frequently at the begin-
ning of a dependent clause, where usually an unaccented
particle occurs, and where, therefore, a word with an ac-
cent on the first syllable is instinctively avoided) much
more common than specially. The special comes under
the general, as the particular conies under the special. A
tpetial favor is one that is more than ordinary ; a particu-
lar favor is still more remarkable ; a pecidiar favor comes
very closely home. When we speak of any particular
thing, we distinguish it from all others; when we speak
of a specific fault In one's character, we name it with exact-
ness ; a special law is one that is made for a particular pur-
pose or a peculiar case ; a specific law is either one that we
name exactly or one that names otfenses, etc., exactly.
n. n. 1. A special or particular person or
thing. Speciflcatty — (a) A particular thing ; a particu-
lar.
Tbir 's all the specials I of speake.
Raid 0/ the Reidmcire (Child's Ballads, VL 138).
(&t) A private companion ; a paramour or concubine.
Specyal, ooncnbyne, the woman n (speciall or leman).
Ck>ncaDina. Prompt Pare., p. 468.
Srr Roger of Donkester,
Iliat was her owne tpeciall.
Lyua Oetl* of Riobyn Mode (Cbiid s Ballads, V. 123),
2. A person or thing appointed or set apart for
a special puirpose or occasion, as a constable, a
railway-train, an examination, a dispatch, etc.:
as, they traveled by specUil to Chicago ; the spe-
cials were called out to quell the riot.
What are known as tpeeiaU are being held this week.
These are for men who partially failed at the last regular
examlnationa. Laruxt, 1890t II. 7M,
In special, in a special manner ; especially ; particularly.
(Obsolete or archaic!
8e that thow in special
Beqaere noght that is ageyns hire nam.
Chaucer, Troilus, L 901.
Bat yf vertue and nurture were withe alle ;
To yow therfore I speke in ipecyaUe.
Babeet Book (E. E. T. S.X p. 1.
specialisation, specialise. See specialization,
speci'ili^r.
specialism (spesh'al-izra),n. [<.ipceial + -ism.'\
Devotion to a special branch or division of a
general subject or pursuit; the characteristic
pursuit or theme of a specialist; restriction to
a specialty. [Recent.]
Special hospitals and tpeeialimn in medical practice are
in danger of being oarrira too far. Lancet, 1889, IL 1049.
Ail neeialitm of study, one-sidedness of view, and dlri-
sion of lalXFT is dangerous (according to Comte].
N. A. Rec., CXX. 269.
specialist (spesh'al-ist), n. [< special + -ist.]
A person who devotes himself to a particular
branch of a profession, science, or art ; one who
has a special knowledge of some particular
subject: thus, ophthalmologists, neurologists,
or gynecologists are specialists in medicine.
Specialittt are the coral-insects that build up a reef.
0. W. Holmet, Poet at the Breakfast-table, iii.
specialistic (spesh-a-lis'tik), a. [<' specialist
+ -ic] Of or pertaining to a specialist or spe-
cialism. [Recent.]
The learned specialistic mind takes in the facts of one or
two creeds or departments. Athetueum^ No. 3273, p. 87.
speciality (spesh-i-ari-ti), n.\ pi. specialities
(-tiz). [< OF. specialite, especialite, F. spMa-
IM = Sp. especialidad = Pg. especialidade = It.
specialize
spezialitd ( > D. speeialiteit = G. speeialitdt = Sw.
pan. specialitet), < L. specialita(t-)s, particular-
ity, peculiarity, < specialis, particular, special:
see special. Cf. specialty, a doublet of special-
ity, as personalty, realty, etc., are of personal-
ity, reality, etc.] 1. A special characteristic
or attribute ; a distinctive feature, property, or
quality; a condition or circumstance especially
distinguishing a class or an individual, [in this
abstract sense speciality is preferable to the form specialty,
on the analogy of personality, reality, and other words of
similar tenor as related to personalty, realty, etc. The
distinction, so far as it exists, is accidental; the synco-
pated form, in these pairs, is more vernacular, the full
form more recent and artificial.]
It is the speciality of all vice to be selfishly indifferent
to the injurious consequences of our actions, even ... to
those nearest to us. F. P. Coibe, Peak in Darien, p. 32.
The specialities of nature, chiefly mental, which we see
produced, . . . must be ascribed almost wholly to direct
equilibration. H. Spencer, Prin. of Biol., § 170.
2. A special matter or thing; a characteristic
or distinctive object, pursuit, diversion, opera-
tion, product, or the like ; a specialty. See spe-
cialty, 6.
The speciality of the sport was to see how some for his
slackness had a good bob with the bag.
Laneham, quoted in Strutt's Sports and Pastimes, p. 191.
The small State of Rhode Island, whose speciality has al-
ways been the manufacture of ordnance.
Comic de Paris, Civil War in America (trans.), I. 187.
specialization (spesh''al-i-za'shon), n. [< spe-
cialize + -ation.] 1. The act or process of spe-
cializing; a making or fixing of special differ-
ences or requirements ; differentiation.
In the history of Law the most important early speciali-
sation is that which separates what a man ought to do
from what he ought to know.
Maine, Early Law and Custom, p. 18.
2. The state of being or becoming specialized ;
a condition of fixed or developed differentiation,
as of parts, organs, or individuals, with refer-
ence to form, appearance, function, etc.
That there is fin women] ... a mental specialization
joined with the bodily specialization is undeniable ; and
this mental specialization, though primarily related to the
rearing of offspring, affects in some degree the conduct at
large. H. Spencer, Study of Sociol., p. 376.
3. In 610/., that evolutionary process whereby
parts or organs primitively indifferent or of
common character become differentiated in
form or function (usually in both); also, the
result of such process or course of develop-
ment; adaptive modification. The most exact
synonym is differentiation (which see). It is common to
say diferentiation of structure, but specialization of func-
tion, giving to the former word a morphological and to
the latter a physiological significance. Since, however,
change of form almost always implies change in use of
the parts thus modified in adaptation to different pur-
poses, the two words come to the same thing in the end,
and may be interchanged. The whole course of biological
evolution .is from the most general to some particular
form and function, or from that which is simple, primi-
tive, indifferent, and low in the scale of organization to
that which is a complex of particulars and thus highly
organized. Such specialization is expressed both in the
structure of any of the higher animals and plants, regarded
as wholes to be compared with other wholes, and in the
structure of their several parts, organs, or tissues, com-
pared with one another in the same animal or plant, and
compared with the corresponding parts, organs, or tissues
in differentanimals and plants. The actual ways in which
or means by which specialization is known or supposed
to be effected] are among the broadest problems in biology.
See biological matter under evolution. Dancinism, selec-
tion, survival, variation, species, protoplasm, morphology,
homology, analogy, heredity, environment, and words of
like bearing on the points in question.
All physiologists admit that the specialization of organs,
inasmuch as they perform in this state their functions
better. Is an advantage to each being.
Darrein, Origin of Species, p. 122.
This [frizzly] character of hair must be a specialization,
for it seems very unlikely that it was the attribute of the
common ancestors of the human race.
W. a. Plover, Pop. Sci. Mo., XXVin. S2a
Also spelled specialisation.
specialize (spesh'al-iz), r.; pret. and pp. spe-
cialized, ppr. specializing. [= F. special i ser ;
as sjiecial + -irc] I. trans. X. To make indi-
vidually or generjcally special or distinct ; make
specifically distinct; differentiate from other
kinds in form, adaptation, or characteristics,
as by a process of physical development ; limit
to a particular kind of development, action, or
use. See specialization, 3.
The sensitiveness of the fllameilts [of Dionaea Muscipula]
Is of a specialised nature, being related to a momentary
touch rather than to prolonged pressure.
Daruin, Insecliv. Plants, p. 292.
The eye is a highly specialized organ, admirably adapt-
ed for the important function which it fulfils.
Stokes, Light, p. 90.
Prudence may be said to be merely VVisdom specialized
by the definite acceptance of Self.interest as itrf sole ult|.
mate end. U. Sidgwick, Methods of Ethics, p. 304.
specialize
2t. To mention specially or in detail; partic-
ularize; specify.
Our Saviour ^)eeiaii*ing And nominating the places.
Sheldon, Miracles (1616), p. 261.
H. intrans. To act in some special way; pur-
sue a special course or direction ; take a spe-
cific turn or bent.
That some cells have specialised on the amoehoid char-
mcter is seen in the so-called myeloplaxes.
Lajicet, 1389, II. 635.
Also spelled specialise.
specializer (spesh'al-i-z^r), n. One who makes
a specialty of anything; a specialist. Also
spelled speciali-ier. The Nation,
specially (spesh'al-i), adv. [< ME. specially,
specialliche; < speciaJ + -ly'^. Doublet of espe-
cially.'] 1. In a special manner; specifically;
particularly; exceptionally; especially.
Thay suld be clene of euery vyce.
And, spectallie, of Couatyce.
Lauder, Dewtie of Kyngis (E. E. T. S.), 1. 461.
The earth ... of Scripture generally is specially the
dry land. Dawson, Nature and the Bible, p. 101.
2. For a particular reason or purpose; by spe-
cial or exceptional action or proceeding: as, a
meeting specially called ; an oflfieer specially des-
ignated.
The Latin tongue lived on in Britain after the with-
drawal of the legions, but it lived on, as it lives on in
modern countries, as a book-language specially learned.
E. A. Freeman, Amer. Lects., p. 124.
specialty (spesh'al-ti), «. ; pi, specialties (-tiz).
[< ME. spedalte, K OF. specialtei<speciant€y ^spe~
cialtej especiautCy etc., a more vernacular form
ol specialite, especiaUte, etc., speciality: see spe-
ciality.] 1. The fact or condition of being
special or particular; particularity of origin,
cause, use, significance, etc. [Rare.]
And that they that be ordeynyd to sette messys bryng
them be ordre and continuelly tyl alle be serued, and not
inordinatly, And thorow atfecoion to personys or by spe-
dalte. Bahees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 330.
It is no denial of the specialty of vital or psychical phe-
nomena to reduce them to the same elementary motions
as those manifested in cosmic phenomena.
O. H. Lewes, Probs. of Life and Mind, II. vi. § 35.
2. The special or distinctive nature of any-
thing; essence; principle; groundwork. [Rare.]
The specialty of rule hath been neglected.
Skak., T. and C, L 3. 78.
3. A special quality or characteristic; a dis-
tinguishing feature ; a speciality. See special-
ity, 1.
The Last Supper at San Marco is an excellent example
of the natural reverence of an artist of that time, with
whom reverence was not, as one may say, a specialty.
H. James, Jr., Trans. Sketches, p. 298.
4. A special or particular matter or thing;
something specific or exceptional in character,
relation, use, or the like.
Acosta numhreth diuerse strange specialties, excepted
from the generall Rules of Natures wonted course.
Purckas, Pilgrimage, p. 872.
6. A special emplojTnent or pursuit ; a distinct
occupation or division of duty or interest ; that
which one does especially, either by choice or
by assignment.
As each individual selects a special mode of activity for
himself, and aims at improvement in that specialty, he
finds himself attaining a higher and still higher degree of
aptitude for it.
2)r. Carpenter, Correlation and Conserv. of Forces, p. 410.
6. A special product or manufacture; some-
thing made in a special manner or form, or es-
pecially characteristic of the producer or of the
place of production: as, a dealer in specialties;
also, an article to which a dealer professes to
pay special attention or care, or which is al-
leged to possess special advantages in regard
to quality, quantity, or price : as, fountain-pens
a specialty. See the second quotation under
speciality J 2. — 7. In law^ an instrument under
seal, containing an express or implied agree-
ment for the payment of money. The word has
also been loosely used to include obligations or debts
upon recognizance, judgments and decrees, and statutes,
because these, being matter of record, rank in solemnity,
conclusiveness, and endurance with free contracts under
seal.
Let gpeciaUies be therefore drawn between us.
Shak., T. of the S., ii. 1. 127.
All instruments under seal, of record, and liabilities
imposed by statute, are specialties within the meaning of
the Stat. 21 James I. Wood, On Limitation of Actions, § 29.
Specie (spe'sie or -she), n. [L. specie, abl. of
species^ kind, formerly much used in the phrase
in specie, in kind, in ML. in coin : see species.]
1. As a Latin noun, used in the phrase in spe-
cie: (a) In kind.
So a lion is a perfect creature in himself, though it be
lew tlum that oi a buffalo, or a rhinocerote. They diiler
5806
but impede; either in the kind is absolute; both have
their parts, and either the whole. B. Jonson, Discoveries.
You must pay him in specie, ^f adam ; give him love for
his wit, Dryden, Jlock Astrologer, v. 1.
Uneconomical application of punishment, though proi>*
er, perhaps, as well in specie as in degree.
Bentham, Introd. to Morals and Legislation, xvi. 54, note.
(6) In coin. See def. 2. Hence, as an English
noun — 2. Coin; metallic money; a medium
of exchange consisting of gold or silver (the
precious metals) coined by sovereign author-
ity in pieces of various standard weights
and values, and of minor coins of copper,
bronze, or some other cheap or base metal:
often used attributively. The earliest coinage of
specie is attributed to the Lydians, about the eighth cen-
tury B. c. Previously, and long afterward in many coun-
tries, pieces of silver and gold (the latter only to a small
extent) were passed by weight in payments, as lumps of
silver are still in China. The use of specie as a measure
of price is based upon the intrinsic value of the precious
metals as commodities, which has diminished immensely
since ancient times, but is comparatively stable for long
periods under normal circumstances. In modern civilized
communities specie or bullion is lai^ely used by banks as
a basis or security for circulating notes (bank-notes) rep-
resenting it In times of great financial disturbance this
security sometimes becomes inadequate from depletion
or through excessive issues of notes, and a general sus-
pension of specie payments takes place, followed by great
depreciation of the paper money. General suspensions of
specie payments occurred in the United States in 1837,
1857, and 1861, the last, due to the civil war, continuing
till 1879. Specie payments by British banks were sus-
pended by law, in consequence of the lYench wars, from
1797 to 1823, but were actually resumed by the Bank of
England in 1821. Similar interruptions of solvency have
occurred in the other European countries, resulting in
some in the substitution of depreciated paper money for
specie in ordinary use and reckoning.— Specie Circular,
in U. S. hist., a circular issued by tiie Secretary of tlie
Treasury in July, 1836, by direction of President Jackson,
ordering United States agents to receive in future only
gold and silver or Treasury certificates in payment for
government lands.
species (spe'shez), n.; pi. species. [In ME.
spece, spice, species, kind, spice (see spice^); in
mod. E. directly from theL. ; = F. espece, spe-
cies (especes, coin), = Sp. Pg. especie = It.
spezie = G. Ban. Sw. species, species (D. spe-
cie = Dan. specie, specie), < L. spedesj a see-
ing, sight, usually in passive sense, look, form,
show, display, beauty, an apparition, etc., apar-
tieular sort, a species, LL. a special case, also
spices, drugs, fruits, provisions, etc., ML. also
a potion, a present, valuable property, NL. also
coin, < specerCf look, see, = OHG. spehon, MHG.
spehen (> It. spiare = Pr. Sp. Pg. espiar = OF.
espier, F, epier : see spy), G. spdhen, spy, =
Gr. uKeTTTEcdat, look, = Skt. ■/ spag, later pcff,
see. Hence special, especial, specie, specify, spe-
cious, spice, etc. From the same L. verb are ult.
E. spectacle, aspect, expect, inspect, prospect, re-
spect, suspect, etc., respite, despise, suspicion,
etc., and the second element in auspice, frontis-
piece, etc.] 1. An appearance or representa-
tion to the senses or the perceptive faculties;
an image presented to the eye or the mind.
According to the Roman Catholic doctrine of transub-
stantiation, the species, the outward and visible forms or
the appearance of bread and wine in the euchaiist, are
the accidents only of bread and wine severally, the sub-
stance no longer existing after consecration. See inten-
tional spedes, below.
The sun, the great eye of the world, prying into the re-
cesses of rocks and the hoUowness of valleys, receives
^edes or visible forms from these objects.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 1835), I. 782.
Wit ... is no other than the faculty of imagination in
the writer, which searches over all the memory for the
species or ideas of those things which it designs to repre-
sent. Dryden.
By putting such a rubric into its Missal, the church of
Milan sought to express nothing more than that the acci-
dents or spedes of the sacrament are broken.
Itock, Church of our Fathers, i. 125.
2t. Something to be seen or looked at ; a spec-
tacle or exhibition ; a show.
Shows and spedes serve best with the people. Bacon.
3. [Tr. of Gr. eldo^.] In logic, and hence in ordi-
nary language, a class included under a higher
class, or, at least, not considered as including
lower classes ; a kind ; a sort ; a number of in-
dividuals having common characters peculiar
to them.
Ther is a privee spece of pride that waiteth first to be
salewed er he wol salewe. Chaucer, Parson's Tale.
Different essences alone . . . make different species.
Locke, Human Understanding, III. vi. 35.
It is well for thee that ... we came under a conven-
tion to pardon every spedes of liberty which we may take
with each other. Scott, Redgauntlet, letter iii.
A poor preacher being the worst possible spedes of a
poor man. W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 222.
4. One of the kinds of things constituting a
combined aggregate or a compotmd ; a distinct
species
constituent part or element ; an instrumental
means : as, the species of a compound medicine.
[Now rare in this medical sense, and obsolete
or archaic in others.]
In Algebra, Spedes are those Letters, Characters, Notes,
or Marks which represent the Quantities in any Equation
or Demonstration.
K Phillips, New World of Words (ed. 1706).
5. In biol., that which is specialized or differ-
entiated recognizably from anything else of
the same genus, family, or order ; an individual
which differs, or collectively those individuals
which differ, speeifieally from all the other
members of the genus, etc., and which do not
differ from one another in size, shape, color,
and so on, beyond the limits of (actual or as-
sumed) individual variability, as those ani-
mals and plants which stand in the direct re-
lation of parent and offspring, and perpetuate
certain inherited characters intact or with that
little modification which is due to condition^ of
environment. Species is thus practically, and for pur-
poses of classification, the middle term between genus on
the one hand and individual (or spedmen) on the other ;
and only the latter can be said in strictness to have ma-
terial existence, so that spedes, W^e genus, etc., is in this
sense an abstract conception. It is also an assured fact
in biology that no given stock or lineage breeds perfectly
true in all Its individuals ; the line of descent is always
mai'ked by modification of characters (due to the inter-
action between heredity and environment); the whole
tendency of such modification is toward further speciali-
zation, in the preservation of the more useful and the
extinction of the less useful or the useless characters, and
thus to the gradual acquirement, by insensible incre-
ments, of differences impressed upon a plastic organism
from without— which is as much as to say that new spe-
cies have always been in process of evolution, and still
continue to be so developed. (See biological senses of
evolution, selection, survival, and variation.) Such evolu-
tion has in fact been arrested at some point for every spe-
cies once existent whose members have perished in time
past ; and of those specific forms whose adaptation to their
environment has fitted them to survive till the present
some are tending to perpetuation and some to extinction,
but all are subject to incessant modification, for better or
worse. (See atavism, reversion, 2, retrograde, a., 3, degra-
dation, 7, 8, &nd parasitism, 2.) Such are the views taken by
nearly all biologists of the present day, in direct opposition
to the former opinion of a special creation, which pro-
ceeded upon the assumption that all species of animals
and plants, such as we find them actually to be, came into
existence by creative fiat at some one time, and have since
been perpetuated with little if any modification. In con-
sequence of the fact that the greatest as well as the least
differences in organisms are of degree and not of kind, no
rigorous and unexceptionable definition of spedes is pos-
sible in either the animal or the vegetable kingdom ; and
in the actual naming, characterising, and classifying of spe-
cies naturalists differ widely, some reducing to one or two
speciesthesameseriesof individuals which others describe
as a dozen or twenty species. (See luwper, 3, splitter, 2.)
This, however, is rather a nomenclatural than a doctrinal
difference. The difficulty of deciding in many cases, and
the impossibility of deciding in some, what degree of
difference between given specimens shall be considered
specific, and so formally named in the binomial system,
have led to the introduction of several terms above and
below the species (see subgenus, subspecies, conspedes, va-
riety, race^, 5 (a) (6), intergrade, v. i), and also to a modi-
fication of the binomial nomenclature (see polynomial,
2, and trinomial). Two tests are commonly applied to
the discrimination between good species and mere sub-
species or varieties : (1) the individuals of thoroughly
distinct species do not interbreed, or, if they are near
enough to hybridize, their progeny is usually infertile, so
that the cross is not in perpetuity : the horse and ass offer
a good case in point; (2) the specific distinctions do not
vanish by insensible degrees when large series of speci-
mens from different geographical localities or geological
horizons are available for comparison ; for, should char-
acters assumed to be distinctive, and therefore specific,
be found to grade away under such scrutiny, they are by
that fact proved to be non-specific, and the specimens in
question are reducible to the rank of conspecies, subspe-
cies, varieties, or races. Attempts which have been made
to separate mankind into several speciesof the genus// omo
fail according to both of the criteria above stated. To
these may be added, in judging the validity of an alleged
species, the third premise, that stable specific forms are
evolved by or in the course of natural selection only; for
all the countless stocks or breeds resulting from artificial
selection, however methodically conducted, tend to re-
vert when left to themselves, and also hybridize freely ;
they are not therefore in perpetuity except under culti-
vation, and are no species in a proper sense, though their
actual differences may have become, under careful selec-
tion, far greater than those usually accounted specific or
even generic. (See dog, rose^.) Taking into account geo-
logical succession in time as well as geographical distri-
bution in space, and proceeding upon accepted doctrines
of the evolution of all forms of animal and vegetable life
from antecedent forms, it is evident, first, that " species '*
is predicable only by means of the " missing links " in the
chains of genetic relationships; for, were all oiganisms
thathave ever existed before our eyes in their actual evo-
lutionary sequences, we should find no gap or break in
the whole series ; but, secondly, that development along
numberless diverging lines of descent with modification
has in fact resulted (through obliteration of the consecu-
tive steps in the process) in the living fauna and fiora of
the globe, in respect of which not only specific, but ge-
neric, ordinal, and still broader distinctions are easily and
certainly predicable. It does not appear that any ani-
mal or plant has always maintained what we now find its
specific character to be ; yet the persistence of some
forms under no greater variation than that usually ac-
species
counted generic is established, as in the case of the ge-
nus Lxniitda, whose members have survived frtim the Si-
lurian to the present epocli witli only specitic moditlea-
tion. In the aniinul Icingdom probably about •25O,0'.'O spe-
cies have been described, recorded, and fonnally named
by a word following the name of the genus to which they
are severally ascribed (see under specijic) ; the actual
number of species is doubtless much greater than this;
some 200,000 species are insects (see In^cta), of which
80,000 or more belong to one order (see C'jleoptera). These
estimates are exclusive of merely nominal species. (See
synonym.) The known species of (lowering plants are
summed up by Ourand in his "Index Generum Phanero-
gamoruni ' as follows: dicotyledons, 78,200; monocotyle-
dons, 19,600 ; gymnosperms, 2,420— in all, 100,220. This is
the net result alter extensive sifting. To this number
large a^lditions are to be expected from regions, as central
Africa, still imperfectly or not at all explored. Of the
number of cryptogams no reliable estimate can at present
be given. The described species of fungi, judging from
the eight volumes of Saccardo's work now published, are
likely to number, before sifting, about 50,000. Abbrevi-
ated »p. , with plural spp.
6t. Coin; metallic money; specie. See specie.
Rome possessed a much greater proportion of the circu-
lating tpeeiet of its time than any European city.
Arbuthnot, Ancient Coins.
Species, your honour knows, is of easier conveyance.
Garrick, Neck or Nothing, ii. 2.
He (NeckerJ affirms that, from the year 1726 to the year
1784, there was coined at the mint of tYance, in the specUs
of gold and silver, to the amount of about one hundred
millions of pounds sterling. Burke, Rev. in France.
7. One of a class of pharmaceutical prepara-
tions consisting of a mixture of dried nerbs of
analogous medicinal properties, used for mak-
ing decoctions, infusions, etc. See under tea.
— 8. In civil law, the form or shape given to
materials; fashion; form; figure. Burrill. —
9. In math. : («) A letter in algebra denoting
a quantity. [This meaning wa« borrowed by some early
writer* from the French of Vi^te, who derived it from a
Latin translation of Uiophantus, who uses d&oi to mean
a term of a polynomial in a particular p<jwcr of the un-
known quantity.] (fi) A fundamental operation
of arithmftie. See the fitur species, below. —
Disjunct species, in logic. See du/uri^t.— IntellljSi-
ble species. See intentional species.— Intentional spe-
cies, a similitude or simulacrum of an outward thing ; the
vicarious object in perception and thought, according to
the doctrine held and attributed to Aristotle by thi me-
dieval realists, beginning with Aquinas Such species
were divided into tensme specie* and intellv/iUe sjieciet,
which distinction and terminology, originating with Aqul-
Dju, were accepted by Scotus and others. The sensible
species mediated between the outward object and the
senses. They were metaphorically called emanations, but,
being devoid of matter, are not to be confounded with the
emanations of Democritus, from which they also dlRer in
being related to other senses besides sight. So far as thev
belong to the outward thing they were called impressed,
so far as they are perceived by the mind expressed tpedes.
Vram these sensible species the agent intellect, by an act
of abstraction, was supposed to separate certain intelli.
gible species, which the higher or patient Intellect was
able to perceire. These intelligible species so far as they
belong to sense were called impressea, so far as they are
perceived by the intellect expressed species. .Species were
further distinguished as acmUrsd, ir\fitsed, and eonntUu-
ral. The doctrine of Intentional species was rejected by
the nominalists, and exploded early In the seventeentn
century, but not until the nineteenth was it generally
acknowledged to be foreign to the opinion ol Arlsl«tle
— Nascent species, in bittl., a species of animal or plant
In the act, as it were, of being born or produced; an
Incipient species, whose characters are not yt-t estab-
lished in the course of Its development. — Sensible spe-
cies. .See intentional speeiM. — Species antbelmlntl-
CS, a mixture of eqtuU parts of absintlilum, tansy, camo.
mile, and santonicau— Species dluretlca, a mixture of
equal parts of roots of lovage, aauaragua, fennt-I. parsley,
•ad butcher's- broom —Species laxantes. same as .St.
Oermain tea (which see, under tea). — Species pecto-
rales, same as breast tea (which see, under tea). — Spe-
cies Budorlflca. Same as wood tea (which see, under lea\
—Subaltern species. In logic, that which Is both a spe-
cies of Bunie higher genus and a genus Id respect of the
species into which it is divided — The four species, the
fourfundamentaloperationsof arithmetic— addition, sub-
traction, multiplication, and division. This phrase, rare
in English but common in (lerman, seems to have been
first so applied by the East Frisian mathematician Oemma
In 1540. It was borrowed from logic, where since Petrus
Hlspanas four species of logical procedure are enumer-
ated In all the old books. Thus, Wilson (1&.M) says :
" There be fower kindes of argumentes, a perfelcte argu-
ment, an unperfelcte argument, an Inductione. an exam-
Ele"; and Blundeville (1590): " There bee foure principall
indes or formes of argumentation, that Is, a syllogisme,
an induction, an entbymeme, and example."
spedes-COVer (spe'shez-kuv'^T), n. The cover
used in a herbarium to inclose and protect all
the species-sheets of a single species. Such
covers are usually made of folded sheets of light-weight
brown paper, a little larger than the species sheeU.
species-cycle (spe'shez-si'kl), n. In hot., the
complete series of forms needed to represent
adequately the entire life-historj' of a species.
species-monger (spe'shez-mung'g^r), n. In
nat. hist. : (a) One who occupies himself main-
ly or exclusively in naming and describing spe-
cies, without inclination to study, or perhape
without ability to grasp, their significance as
biological facts; a specialist in species, who
cares little or nothing for broader generaliza-
5807
tions. (6) One who is finical in drawing up
specific diagnoses, or given to distinctions
without a difference. [Cant in both senses.]
species-paper (spe'shez-pa'per), n. Same as
siiecit-^-ilint.
species-sheet (spe'shez-shet), n. One of the
sheets or pieces of paper upon which the indi-
vidual specimens of a species in a herbarium
are m ouuted for preservation and display . They
are usually made of heavy stitf white paper, the standard
size of which is, in the United .states, ISJ x lU inches,
weighing alx)ut 28 pounds to the ream. Only'a single
species is placed on a sheet, and its label is placed in the
lower right-hand corner.
specifiable (spes'i-fl-a-bl), a. [(..tpecify + -able.}
That may be specified ; capable of being dis-
tinctly named or stated.
A minute but specifiable fraction of an original disturb-
ance may be said to get through any obstacle.
Sature, XXXVIII. 592.
specific (spe-sif 'ik), o. and «.
[< OF. specifique,
. . = Pg. especijico =
It. specifico (ef. G. spezifisch), < ML. specijicus,
F. specifique = Sp. especifico
It. specifico (ef. G. spezifisch, , . _, ,
specific, particular, <L. species, kind, + -ficiis, <
/aeere, make.] I. o. 1. That is specified or
defined ; distinctly named, formulated, or de-
termined ; of a special kind or a definite tenor;
determinate; explicit: as, a specific sum of
money ; a specific offer ; specific obligations or
duties; a specific aim or pursuit.
To be actuated by a desire for pleasure is to be actuated
by a desire for some sp^'cific pleasure to be enjoyed by one-
self. T. H. Green. Trolegomena to Ethics, § '282.
In addition to these broad differences, there are finer dif-
ferences of specific quality within each sense.
J. Sutty, Outlines of Psychol., p. 115.
2. Pertaining to or accordant with what is spe-
cified or determined ; relating to or regarding
a definite subject ; conformable to s}>ecial oc-
casion or requirement, prescribed terms, or
known conditions; having a special use or ap-
plication.
It was in every way stimulating and suggestive to have
detected a specific l)ond of reiatioiiship in speech and in
culture between such different peoples as the English and
the Hindus. J. Fiske, Evolutior ist, p. lOit.
3. Of or pertaining to a species, (a) Pertaining
to a logical speciea. (5) In zoot. and bot., of or pertain-
ing to species or a species ; constituting a species ; pecu-
liar to, characteristic of, or diagnostic of a species ; desig-
nating or denominating a species ; not generic or of wider
application than to a species : as, specific characters ; spe-
cific difference ; a specific name. See generic, nhgenerie,
conspecific, subspecifie.
4. Peculiar; special.
Their style, like the style of Bolardo In poetry, of Botti-
celli in painting, Is specific to Italy in the middle of the
fifteenth century. J. A Symonds, Italy and Greece, p. 251.
6. In /rtir, having a certain or well-defined form
or designation ; observing a certain form; pre-
cise.— 6. In med., related to special infection,
particularly syphilitic infection; produced by
some distinct zymotic poison. -Specific cause, in
med,, a cause which in operation will produce some spe-
cial disease.— Spedflc centers, points or periods in the
course of evolution at which an organism is supposed to
iiecome speclflcally differentiated from a common stock,
having assumed or acquired its specific characters.—
Speciflc characters. In tool, and boL, the diagnostic
niiirks of a species; differences, of whatever kind, which
are peculiar to a species and serve to distinguish it
from any other. The sum of such characters, or the
total speciflc characteristics, are also spoken of as the
specific character. Any <Mie such mark or feature is a
specific character.— Speciflc denial, In law denial which
itself rehearses what Is denied, or which sufficiently speci-
fies what particular part of the adversary's allegations are
denied, as distinguished from a general denial of all his
allegations.- Speciflc difference, In loffic. See difer-
enee.— Specific disease, a dist-ase pro<luced by a special
Infection, as fiyphilis —Speciflc duty, in a tariff, an im-
pist of specified amount uiM>n any object of a particular
kind, or upon a specitled (luaiitity of a comnioiiity. entered
at a custom-house.- Speciflc gravity. .See (/ranly.—
Speciflc heat. See heal — Speclflc Inductive capa-
city. See capacity and indudion, 0. — Speciflc Intent,
legacy, lien. See the nouns.- Speciflc medicine or
remedy, a medicine or remedy that has a distinct effect
In the cure of a certain disease, as nuTcury in syphilis, or
quinine in intermittent fever.- Speciflc name, in zoot.
and bot., the second term in the binomial name of an ani-
mal or a plant, which designates or specifies a member of a
genus, and which is joitie<l to the generic name to complete
the scientiflc or technical designation. Thus, in the name
FHis leo, leo Is the speciflc name, designating the lion as a
member of the genus Felis, and as speciflcaliy different
from Felis tigris, the tiger, Felis catus, the wildcat, etc.
Also called nomen specificum, and formerly nomen tririale
or trivial name. See mnomial, 2. and nmn<m.— Speclflc
performance, relief, resistance. Seethenouns.— sje-
Clflc rotatory power. See rotatory. = Syn. 1 and 2. Par-
ticular, etc. See Kfiecial,
H. «. Something adapted or expected to pro-
duce a specific effect; that which is, or is sup-
posed to be, capable of infallibly bringing about
a desired result; especially, a remedy which
cures, or tends to cure, a certain disease, what-
ever may be its manifestations, as mercury used
as a remedy for syphilis.
speclficness
Always you find among people, in proportion as they are
ignorant, a belief in specifics, and a great confidence in
pressing the adoption of them.
U. Spencer, Study of Sociol, p. 2ft
specifical (spe-sif'i-kal), a. [< specific + -aJ.]
Same as specific. [Archaic]
To compel the performance of the contract, and recover
the specifical sum due. Blackslone, Com., III. ix.
specifically (spe-sif'i-kal-i), (idv. 1. In a spe-
citic manner; according to the nature of the
species or of the case ; definitely ; particularly;
explicitly ; in a particular sense, or with a par-
ticularly (iifferentiated application.
But it is rather manifest that the essence of spirits is
a substance specifically distinct from all corporeal matter
whatsoever. Dr 11. Jfore.Antidoteagainst Atheism, iii. 12.
Those several virtues that are specifically requisite to a
due performance of this duty. South, Sermons.
2. With reference to a species, or to specific
difference ; as a species.
specificalness (spe-sif'i-kal-nes), n. The state
of being specifical. [Rare.]
specificatet (spe-sif'i-kat), V. t. [< ML. gpecifi-
catiis, pp. of specificare, specify: see specify.']
To denote or distinguisli specifically ; specify.
Now life is the character by which Christ specificates and
denominates himself. Donne, Sermons, vii.
specification (spes'i-fi-ka'shon), II. [= F. spe-
cification = Sp. especificacion = Pg. especificafSo
= It. specificaziotie, < ML. spccificaiio{n-), a spe-
cifying, enumeration, < specificare, specify : see
speci/y.] 1. An act of specifying, or making a
detailed statement, or the statement so made;
a definite or formal mention of particulars : as,
a specification of one's requirements.
All who had relatives or friends in this predicament
were required to furnish a specification of them.
Prescntt, Ferd. and Isa., 1. 7.
2. An article, item, or particular specified ; a
special point, detail, or reckoning upon which a
claim, an accusation, an estimate, a plan, or an
assertion is based: as, the, specifications of an
architect or an engineer, of an indictment, etc.;
the specification of the third charge against a
prisoner; statements unsupported bj- .y>ec(/ica-
tions. — 3. The act of making specific, or the
state of having a specific character; reference
to or correlation with a species or kind ; deter-
mination of species or specific relation.
For, were this the method, miracles would no more
be miracles than the diurnal revolution of the sun, the
growth and specification of plants and animals, the attrac-
tion of the magnet, and the like.
Evelyn, True Religion, II. 195.
Here we may refer to two principles which Kant put
forward under the names of Homogeneity and Specifica-
tion. F. U. Bradley, Ethical Studies, p. 68.
4. In patent law, the applicant's description
of the manner of constructing and using his
invention, it is required to he so explicit as to enable
any person skilled in the art or science to make and use
the same ; and in the United States it forms part of the
patent, whicli cainiot therefore protect the inventor in
anything not within the specification.
6. In cifi7 laic, the formation of a new property
from materials belonging to another person.
Specification exists where a person works up materials be-
longing to another into something which must be taken
to be a new substance — for example, where whisky is
made from corn. The effect is that the owner of the
materials loses his property In them, and has only an ac-
tion for the value of them against the person by whom
they have been used. The doctrine originates in the civil
law, but has been adopted by the common law, ui^der
the name of confusion and accession, at least where the
person making the specification acts in g<iod faith. — Ac-
cusative Of specification. Same as sifitecdoc/iical accu-
sative. See synectlochicaL— Charge and specifications.
See cAan/e.— Law of specification, in Kantian ptiilos.,
the logical princii)le that, however far the process of logi-
cal determination may be carried, it can always be carried
further.— Principle of specification, in Kantian philos. :
(a) The logical maxim that we sbtmld be careful to intro-
duce into a hyp4)thesis all the elements which the facts to
be explained call for. or that entiuw varietates non temere
esse minttendas, which is a counteracting maxim to Oc-
cam s razor. (6) Same as law o/ specification.
specificity (spes-i-fis'i-ti), «. [< specific H- -ilil.']
The slate of being specific, or of having a spe-
cific character or relation ; specific affinity,
cause, oi-igin, or effect; speclficness. [Recent]
The suddenness, vigour, and specificity of their effects.
F. W. II. Myers, Proc. Lond. Soc. Psychic Research.
Are we any longer to allow to this disease [cowpox] any
high degree of speciflcUyt Lancet, 18^», I. H:i0.
specificize (spe-sif 'i-s5z), v. t.; pret. and pp.
sperificizt'i, ppr. specificizing. [< specific + -ize.]
To make specific ; give a special or specific
character to. [Recent.]
The richest specificized apparatus of nervous mecha-
nism. Alien, and Neuroi.,'Vl.igS.
speclficness (spe-sif'ik-nes), ti. The state or
cliaractcr of being specific.
specify
specify (spes'i-fi), I'. U: pret. and pp. specified,
ppr. specifiiing. [< ME. specufyeu, specifien, <
OF. sixi'ijiei; especifier, F. specifier = Pr. Sp. Pg.
especiricar = It. specificarc = D. speeificeren =
G. speciUciren = Sw. specificera = Dan.spcc</i-
f<>r<'. < ML. specificarc, make speeifle, mention
specifically, (speeificus, specific, particular: see
specific.'\ 1. To mention specifically or ex-
plicitly; state exactly or in detail; name dis-
tinctly : as, to specify the persons concerned in
a given act ; to specify one's wants, or articles
required.
ITier cowde no man the nowmber spedfie.
Oenerydes (E. E. T. S.), 1- 1953.
I nevere hadde to do more with the sejd John Wortes
than is specified in the aeyd instruccion.
PastoH Lettere, I. 20.
There ia no need ol specifying particulars in this class
of uses. Emerson, Nature, p. 17.
2. To name as a requisite, as in technical spe-
cifications; set down in a specification. — 3.
To make specific ; give a specific character to ;
distinguisli as of a species or kind. [Rare.]
Be specified in yourself, but not specified by anything
foreign to yourself. F. H. Bradley, Ethical Studies, p. 71.
= Syn. To indicate, particularize, individualize.
specillum (spe-sil'um),)!.; pi. spectHa (-a). [L.,
<speeere, look, behold: see species.'] 1. Inmed.,
a probe.— 2. A lens; an eye-glass.
specimen (spes'i-men), n. [= F. specimen =
Sp. especimen, < L. specimen, that by which a
thing is known, a mark, token, proof, < spc-
cere, see: see species.] 1. A part or an indi-
vidual taken as exemplifying a whole mass or
number; something that represents or illus-
trates all of its kind ; an illustrative example :
a wild
5808
or showy; appearing beautiful or charming;
sightly; beautiful. [Archaic]
The rest, far greater part,
Will deem in outward rites and specimus forms
Religion satisfled. Milton, P. L., xii. 534.
2. Superficially fair, just, or correct; appearing
well; apparently right; plausible; beguiling:
as, specious reasoning; a specious argument; a
specious person or book.
It is easy for princes under various specious pretences
to defend, disguise, and conceal their ambitious desires.
Bacon, rolitical Fables, li., Expl.
Thou specious Head without a Brain. Prior, A Fable.
He coined
A brief yet specious tale, how I had wasted
The sum in secret riot. Shelley, The Cenci, iii. 1.
3. Appearing actual, or in reality; actually
existing ; not imaginary. [Bare.]
Let me sum up, now, by saying that we are constantly
conscious of a certain duration — the specious present —
varying in length from a few seconds to probably not more
than a minute, and that this duration (with its content
perceived as having one part earlier and the other part
later) is the original intuition of time.
W. James, I'riu. of Psychol., I. C42.
4t. Pertaining to species or a species — Specious
arltlimetlc, algebra : so called by old writers following
Vifete. The phrase implies that algebra is computation by
means of species, or letters denoting quantities ; but the
choice of the name was probably influenced by the beauty
of algebraic processes. — Specious logistic. See logistic.
= Syn. 2. Colorable, Plausible, etc. See ostensible.
speciously (spe'shus-li), adv. In a specious
manner; with an appearance of fairness or of
reality; with show of right: as, to reason spe-
ciously.
My dear Anacreon, you reason speciously, which is bet-
ter in most cases than reasoning soundly ; for many are
led by it and none otfended.
Landor, Imag. Conv., Anacreon and Polycrates.
as, a collection of geological speci»((!>««;
specimen of the human or of the feline race; a gpeciousness (spe'shus-nes), n. The state or
specimen page of a book (a page shown as a Quality of being specious; plausible appear-
speeimen of what the whole is or is to be) ; a - ■ ■ , , -
specimen copy of a medal.
The best specimens of the Attic coinage give a weight
of 4.366 grammes (67.38+ grains Troy) for the drachma.
Trans. Amer. Philol. Ass., XVI. 111.
Curzola is a perfect specimen of a Venetian town.
E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 205.
The leaf sculpture of the door jambs of the Cathedral
of Florence affords specimens of the best Italian worl< of
this sort [fourteenth uentury]. ^. . ^.^ ^ „^
C. H. Moore, Gothic Architecture, p. 29«.
2. In ^067. and bot, an individual animal or
plant, or some part of one, prepared and pre-
served for scientific examination ; an example
of a species or other group ; a preparation : as,
a specimen of natural history; & specimen of the
dog or the rose. Abbreviated sp. and spec— 3.
A typical individual ; one serving as a specially
striking or exaggerated example of the kind in-
dicated. [Jocose and colloq.]
There were some curious specimens among my visitors.
Thoreau, Walden, p. 163.
= Syn. Specimen, Sample. A specimen is a part of a larger
whole employed to exhibit the nature or kind of that of
which it forms a part, without reference to the relative
quality of individual portions; thus, a cabinet of miner-
alogical specimens exhibits the nature of the rocks from
which they are broken. A sample is a part taken out of a
quantity, and implies that the quality of the whole is to be
judged by it, and not rarely that it is to be used as a stan-
dard for testing the goodness, genuineness, or purity of
the whole, and the like. In many cases, however, the
words are used indifferently. Sample is more often used
in trade : as, a sample of cotton or coffee.
speciological (8pe"shi-o-loj'i-kal), a. [< spe-
euilwi-ij + -ic-al.] Of or pertaining to speci-
ology.
speciology (spe-shi-ol'o-ji), n. [< L. species,
species, + Gr. -%oyia, < Aeyeiv, speak : see -ology.]
In biol., the science of species; the doctrine of
the origin and nature of species.
speciosity (spe-shi-os'i-ti), «.; pi. spedosities
(-tiz). [< OF. speciosity = Sp. especiosidad =
Pg. especiosidade = It. speziosita, < LL. speciosi-
ta{t-)s, good looks, beauty, < L. speeiosus, good-
looking, beautiful, splendid : see specious.} If.
The state of being specious or beautiful; a beau-
tiful show or spectacle ; something delightful
to the eye.
So great a glory as all the spedosities of the world could
not equalise. ,..^,
Dr. U. Mare, On Godliness, HI. vl. § 5. (Eneyc. Dui.)
anoe;"fair external show: as, the speciousness
of an argument.
His theory owes its speciousnejis to packing, and to pack-
ing alone. Macaulay, Sadler's Refutation Refuted.
specfcl (spek), n. [< ME. specke, spekke, < AS.
specca (pi. speccan), a spot, speck (also in
comp. spec-faag, specked, spotted); cf. LG.
spaken, spot with wet, spakig, spotted with
wet; MD. spicken, spit, spickelev, spot, speckle:
see si)eckle.'i 1. A very small superficial spot
or stain; a small dot, blot, blotch, or patch ap
speckless
2. Of fruit, specifically, to mark with a discol-
ored spot denoting decay or rot: usually in the
past participle.
It seemed as if the whole fortune or failure of her shop
might depend on the display of a different set of articles,
or substituting a faher apple for one which appeared to
be specked. Hawthorne, Seven Gables, iii.
speck'-^ (spek), n. [Prop. *si>ick (the form speck
being dial., and in part due to D. or G.); early
mod. E. spycke, < ME. spik, spyk, sjuke, also as-
sibilated spich, < AS. spic, bacon, = D. ■■q^ek =
MLG. spek = OHG. MHG. spec, G. speck = Icel.
sjnk, lard, fat; prob. akin to Gr. muv ("niFon'),
= Zend pivank = Skt. ijivan, fat.] Fat; lard;
fat meat. Now used chiefly as derived from the German
in the parts of Pennsylvania originally settled by Germans,
or from tlie Dutch in New York (also in Soutli Africa, for
the fat meat of the hippopotamus); among whalers it is
used for whale's blubber.
Adue good Cheese and Oynons, stuffe thy guts
With Specks and Barley-pudding for digestion.
Heywood, English Traveller, i. 2.
.fpcc* I in Pennsylvania] is the hybrid offspring of
English pronunciation and German Speck (pronounced
schpeck), the generic term applied to all kinds of fat
meat. Trans. Amer. Philol. Ass., XVII., App., p. xii.
Speck and applejees, pork fat and apples cut up and
cooked tosiether : an old-fashioned Dutch dish. Bartlett.
speck-block (spek'blok), n. In wlialitig, a block
through which a speek-fall is rove.
speck-fall (spek'fal), n. l<.ipcck'^+fam.] In
whale-ftslmig, a fall or rope rove through a block
for lio'istiiig the blubber and bone off the whale.
speckle (spek'l), n. [Early mod. E. also speck-
il (= D. spikkel, a speckle), with dim. -le, <
speck^, n. Cf. speckle, v.] 1. A little speck or
spot; a speckled marking; the state of being
speckled : as, yellow with patches of speckle.
She curiously examined ... the peculiar speckle of its
plumage. Hav^thxyme, Seven Gables, x.
2. Color; hence, kind; sort. [Scotch.]
As ye well ken, . . . "the wauges o' sin is deith." But,
maistly, . . . sinners get first wauges o' anither speckle
frae the maister o' them.
G. Macdonald, Warlock o' Glenwarlock, xii.
speckle (spek'l), v. t; pret. and ipp. speckled, ppr.
speckling. [< MD. spickelen, speeckelen, spot,
speckle: see speckle, ».] To mark with specks
or spots; fleck; speck; spot.
Seeing Atys, straight he [the boar] rushed at him,
Speckled with foam, bleeding in flank and limb.
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, I. 348.
1. The North
speckle-belly (spek'l-bel'i), ».
pearing on or adhering to a surface : as, specks American white-fronted goose, Anser albifrons
of mold on paper ; fly-«;)6'cfcs on a wall. - -- ., , . ^ ,■„__,•_ , ..v.
He was wonderfully careful that his shoes and clothes
should be without the least speck upon them.
Steele, Tatler, No. 48.
2. In fruit, specifically, a minute spot denot-
ing the beginning of decay; a pit or spot of rot
or rottenness; hence, sometimes, a fruit af-
fected by rot.
The shrivelled, dwarfish, or damaged fruit, called by the
street traders the specA-8.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, 1. 117.
The little rift within the lover's lute,
Or little pitted speck in garner'd fruit,
That rotting inward slowly moulders alL
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien (song).
St. A patch or piece of some material.
But Robin did on the old mans cloake.
And it was torn in the necke ;
" Now by my faith," said William Scarlett,
" Heere shold be set a specke."
Bobin Hood and the Old Man (Child's Ballads, V. 268).
4. Something appearing as a spot or patch ; a
small piece spread out: as, a speck of snow or
of cloud.
Come forth under the speck of open sky.
Hauthome, Seven Gables, vi.
2. The state of being specious or plausible ; a
specious show; a specious person or thing.
[Kare.]
Professions built so largely on speciosity instead _of per-
formance.
epecions (spe'shus), a. ^ . ,
specieux, F. specieux = Sp. Pg. especioso = It.
spezioso, < L. speeiosus, good-looking, beautiful,
fair, < species, form, figure, beauty: see .ipe-
cies.] 1. Pleasing to the eye; externally fair
5. A distinct or separate piece or particle ; a
very little bit; an atom; a mite: as, specks oi
dust; a speck of snuff or of soot; hence, the
smallest quantity; the least morsel : as, he has
not a speck of humor or of generosity.
The bottom consisting of gray sand with black specks.
Anson, Voyages, ii. 7.
Still wrong bred wrong within her, day by day
Some little speck of kindness fell away.
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, II. 326.
6. A percoid fish, TJlocentra stigvisea of Jordan,
common in ponds of the hill-country from Geor-
gia to Louisiana. It is a darter, 2^ inches long,
of an olivaceous color, speckled with small or-
ange spots, and otherwise variegated.— 7. A
_ 1 , speck-moth.
Carlyle. gpg^^i (gpek), V. t. [< ME. specken ; < speek^ , «.]
[< ME. specious, < OF. \ Tq spot; mark or stain in spots or dots.
Wyclif, Gen. xxx. 32.
Each flower of slender stalk, whose head, though gay
Carnation, purple, azure, or speck'd with gold,
Hung drooping unsustain'd. Milton, P. L., ix. 429.
gambeli: so called in California because the
under parts are whitish, blotched and patched
with black. Also called harlequin bran t, speckled
brant. See cut under laughing-goose.— 2. The
gadwall, or gray duck,Chaulelasmiis streperus.
See cut under Chaulelasmus. G. Trumbull, 1888.
[Long Island.] — 3. A trout or char, as the
common brook-trout of the United States, Sal-
velimisfontinalis. See cut under char^.
speckled (spek'ld), p. a. [< speckle + -cf?2.] 1.
Spotted; specked; marked with small spots of
indeterminate character; maculate: specifical-
ly noting many animals.
I will pass through all thy flock to day, removing from
thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all tlie brown
cattleamong thesheep, and the spotted and spfcWed among
the goats : and of such shall be my hire. Gen. xxx. 32.
Oner the body they haue built a Tombe of speckled stone,
a brace and halfe high. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 271.
2. Variegated in appearance or character; di-
versified; motley; piebald: as, a s/iecWerf com-
pany. [Colloq.]
It was a singularly freaked and speckled group.
,S.Jwdrf, Margaret, i. 10.
Speckled alder. See o(dcri, i.— speckled beauty, (a)
A trout : a trite cant phrase, (b) A British geometrid moth,
C;eorai-id«oria.— Speckled-bill, the speckled-billed coot,
or spectacle-coot; tlie surf-duck, (Udemia perspiallata.
[New Eng.] — Speckled brant. Same as speckle-belly, 1.
— Speckled footman, a British bombycid moth, Eulepia
critnmi. — Speckled leech, Hirudo or Sanyuisuga medi^
cinalis, one of the foiTOs of medicinal leech.— Speckled
loon. .See loon-i.— Speckled terrapin. See terrapin.
—Speckled trout, a speckle-belly; the brook-trout.-
Speckled wood, palmyia-wood cut transversely mto ye-
neei-s, and sliowing the ends of dark fibers mixed with
lighter wood.- Speckled yellow, a British geometrid
moih, Venilia maeulata.
speckledness (spek'ld-nes), n. The state of be-
ing speckled. .
speckled-tailed (spek'ld-tald), «. Having a
speckled tail: specifically noting Tliryoihorus
bewicki spilurus. a variety of Bewick's wren
found on the Pacific coast of the United States,
translating the word spilurus.
speckless (spek'les), a. [< speck + -less.] Free
from specks or spots ; spotless ; fleckless ;_ per-
fectly clean, clear, or bright: as, specklesslinen;
a speckless sky.
speckless
There gleamed resplendent in the dimness of the comer
a complete and gpeclelegs pewter dinner service.
Xeic Princetmi Rev., II. 111.
speck-moth (spek'moth), «. One of certain
geometrid moths, as Eupithecia subfulvata, the
tawny speck: an English collectors' name.
speck'tioneer (spek-shp-uer'), »■ [Also spcck-
sioneer; appar. orig. a humorous term, irreg. <
specie^ + -tiOH + -eer (with allusion to inspec-
tion and fHf/i/iefr).] In ichale-ftshiitg, the chief
harpooner: so called as being the director of
the cutting operations in clearing the w^hale of
its speck or blubber and bones.
In a rough, careless way, they spoke of the specksioneer
with admiration enough for his powers as a sailor and har-
pooner. Mrt. Gatkell, Sylvia's Lovers, xii.
specky (spek'i), a. [< «pectl + -i/l.] Having
species or spots ; slightly or partially spotted.
The tonsils were full, and the left one gpedcy.
Laiuxt, So. 34W, p. 334.
specs, specks (speks), n. pi. A colloquial con-
traction of spectacles.
spectablet (spek'ta-bl), a. [ME. gpectahle, < OF.
spcctable = Sp. expectable = Pg. espeetarel = It.
gpettabile, notable, remarkable, < L. spectabilis,
that may be seen, visible, admirable, < spectare,
see, behold : see spectacle.'] That may be seen ;
visible; observable.
Ther are in hem certayne signes tpectaUe,
WUcb la to eschewe, and which is proHtable.
PaUaditu, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 128.
Their [the Fharlaees'] prayers were at the comerB of
streets ; such comers where divers streets met, and so
more meeUMe to many passengers.
Rev. T. Adami, Works, I. 104. (Dama.)
spectacle (8pek'ta-kl),n. [<ME.»pectacfc,spet«-
tacle, < OF. (and'F.) spectacle = Sp. Pg. espec-
taculo = It. spettacolo = D. gpektakel, spectacle,
show, = G. Dan. gpektakel, noise, uproar, = 8w.
gpektakel, spectacle, noise, < L. spectaeulum, a
show, spectacle, < spectare, see, behold, freq. of
gpecere, see : see gpecies.'] 1 . An exhibition ; ex-
posure to sight or view ; an open display ; also,
a thing looked at or to be looked at; a sight f a
gazing-stock ; a show; especially, a deploratne
exhibition.
A Donghill of dead carcases he spyde.
The dreadfull tpectacU of that sad house of Fryde.
SpentT, r. Q., I. T. 53.
So exqalsltly was it [a craclflx] fonn'd that It repreaenled
in a Tety lively manner the lamentable ipectade of our
I/>rd's Body, as It hong upon the Cross.
Maundrdl, Aleppo to Jenualem, p. 71
How much we forgive In thoM who yield ui the rare
tpeetacU of heroic manners ! Bmenon, Conduct of Life.
2. Specifically, a public show or display for the
gratification of the eye; something designed
or arranged to attract and entertain spectators ;
a pageant ; a parade : as, a royal or a religious
spectacle; a militarj' or a dramatic gpectacle.
The stately semi-religious n>«<:<a<!{e In which the Greeks
delighted. J. Fergutmm, Hist Arch., I. 324.
In the winter season the circus used to amalgamate
with a dramatic company, and make a Joint appearance in
eqoestrian tpUtada. J. Jeftrmm, Autoblog., ilL
St. A looking-glass; a mirror. — 4t. A spy-
glass; a speculum.
Poverte a rptelaeU is, as ttaynketh me,
Thurgh whicbe he may hise verray frendes see.
Chmuxr, WUe of Bath's Tale, L 347.
B. pi. A pair of lenses set in a frame adjusted
to the eyes, to correct or improve defective
vision ; also, sometimes, a similar frame with
pieces of plain white or colored glass to pro-
tect the eyes from glare or dost: commonly
called a pair of gpectacleg. The frame was in former
times usually of horn or tortoise-shell, and afterward of
-^ d'
spectatorial
which is a variety of the spurofen, a form of
shaft-furnace of which the essential peculiarity
is that the melted material runs out upon the
inclined bottom of the furnace into a crucible-
like receptacle or pot outside and in front of
the furnace-stack. This sort of furnace has been
used at Mansfeld and in the Harz, but apparently not in
any English-speaking country.
Spectacles with glazed wings or ftame^Ti'tly'fllied with Spectacle-gage (spek'ta-kl-gaj), ». A device
crape or wire gauze are used to shield the eyes from usedintittmgspectaclestodeterminetheproper
dust, etc. distance between the glasses.
He [Lord Crawford] sat upon a couch covered with gpectacle-glaSS (spek'ta-kl-glas), n. 1. Glass
deer'shide, and with qKc(ac(e« on his nose (then a recent suited for making spectacles; optical glass.—
5809
son's vision. Spectacles with colored lenses, as green,
blue, neutral-tint, or smoke-color, are used to protect the
eyes from a glare of light. Divided spectacles have each
lens composed of two parti e( different foci neatly united,
one part for observing distant objects, and the other toy
examining objects near the eye. Another kind, called pm-
scapxc spectacles, are Intended to allow the eyes consider-
able latitude of motion without fatigue. The lenses em-
ployed in this case are of either a meniscus or a concavo
convex form, the concave side being turned to the eye.
invention) was laboring to read a huge manuscript called
the Hosier de la Guerre. Scott, Quentin Durward, vii.
6. pi. Figuratively, visual aids of any kind,
physical or mental ; instruments of or assis-
tance in seeing or understanding; also, instru-
2. A lens of the kind or form used in spectacles.
— 3t. A field-glass; a telescope.
Ao. 1678 he added a spectacle-glass to the shadow-vane of
the lesser arch of the Sea-quadrant.
Aubrey, Lives (Edmund Halley).
ments or means of seeing or understanding gpectacle-maker (spek'ta-kl-ma"k6r), n. A
otherwise than by natural or normal vision or
perception: as, rose-colored spectacles; I can-
not see things with your spectacles.
And even with this I lost fair England's view.
And bid mine eyes be packinp with my heart.
And call'd them blind and dusky spectacles.
For losing ken of Albion's wished coast.
ShaJc., 2 Hen. VI., iii. 2. 112.
Subjects are to look upon the faults of princes with the
tpeetada of obedience and reverence to their place and
persons. Donne, Sermons, ii.
maker of spectacles; one who makes spectacles,
eye-glasses, and similar instruments. The Spec-
tacle-makers' Company of London was incor-
porated in 1630.
spectacle-ornament (spek'ta-kl-or'na-ment),
n. A name given to an ornainent, often found
in sculptured stones in Scotland, consisting of
two disks connected by a band: the surface so
Inarked out is often covered with interlaced
whorl-ornaments.
Shakesp^e . was naturally leam'd ; he needed not apectacular (spek-tak'ii-lar), a. [< L. spectacn-
i^dt^rlh^S"''""^'' """""' ''''«"""°""^'' XlTa sisht, sLw (see*yktade), + -ar3.] 1.
Pertaining to or of the nature of a show or spec-
Dryden, Essay on Dram. Poesy (1693X p. 31.
7. pi. In zool., a marking resembling a pair of
spectacles, especially about the eyes: as, the
spectacles of tne cobra. See cut under eobra-
de-capeUo.
A pair of white spectacles ow the eyes, and whitish about
base of bill. Couet, Key to N. A. Birds, p. 815.
Compound spectacles, (o) spectacles fitted for receiv-
ing extra i-olnrt-'i glasses, or to which additional lenses
can be attat-Iieil to vary the power. (6) A form of specta-
cles having in each bow two half glasses differing in power
or character; divided spectacles. See def. 5.— Franklin
spectacles. Same as pantoteopic spectacles (which see,
under patdoseopic).
spectacled (spek'ta-kld), a. [< spectacle + -e(J2.]
1. Furnished witfii or wearing spectacles.
The bleared sights
Are tpeeladed to see him. Shak., Cor., 11. 1. 222.
Porphyro upon her face doth look.
Like puzzle<l urchin on an aged crone
Who keepeth closed a wondrous riddle-book.
As ^tetacUd she sits in chimney-nook.
KeaU, Eve of St. Agnes, XT.
2. In zool. : (a) Marked in any way that sug-
gests spectacles or the wearing of spectacles:
as.thejrpectac/erfbearorcobra. (6) Speetableor
spectacular ; being "a si^tht to behold " ; spec-
tral: as, the spectacled shrimp — Spectacled bear,
Umt or rr«?iwrcfo« amatuii, the only South American
-^i^^^v
tacle; marked or characterized by great dis-
play : as, a spectacular drama.
The speetaevlar sports were concluded.
Hickes, Semion, Jan. 30, 1681.
2. Pertaining to spectacles or glasses for as-
sisting vision. [Rare.]
spectacularity (spek-tak-u-lar'i-ti), n. [< spec-
tacular + -ity.] Spectacular character or qual-
ity ; likeness to or the fact of being a spectacle
or show.
It must be owned that when all was done the place
had a certain spectacularity ; the furniture and ornaments
wore somehow the air of properties.
Howellt, Private Theatricals, x.
spectacularly (spek-tak'u-lilr-li), adv. In a
spectacular manner or view ; as a spectacle.
The last test was, spectacularly, the best of the afteragon.
Sc». Amer., N. S., LVII. 360.
spectant (spek'tant), a. [< L. spectan(t-)s, ppr.
of spectare, look at, behold, freq. of specere,
look at, behold : see spectacle, species.'] In her. :
(o) At gaze. (6) Looking upward with the
nose bendwise : noting any animal used as a
bearing.
specta'te (spek'tat), v. t. and i. [< L. spectatus,
pp. of spectare, see, behold: see spectant.] To
look about or upon ; gaze ; behold. [Obsolete
or archaic]
Comingon the Bridge, a fientleman sitting on the Ctoach
civilly salutes the Spectatimj Company ; the turning of the
Wheels and motion of the Horses are plainly seen as if
natural and Alive.
Quoted in Ashton's Social life in Beign of Queen Anne,
(I. 287.
Mr. De Quincey — Works, VI. 329— has spectate: and
who can believe that he went anywhere but to spectare
for it? F. Hall, False PhlloL, p. 76.
spectation (spek-ta'shon), n. [< L. specta-
tio{n-), a beholding, contemplation, < spectare,
pp. spectatus, look at, behold: see sjyectant.]
Look ; aspect ; appearance ; regard.
This simple spectation of the lungs is differenced from
that which concomitates a pleurisy. Harvey.
Spectacled Bear (7"w«tarrc« ornatus).
..,..,. , .V , K, . spectator (spek-ta' tor), n. [Early mod. E. spec-
besr, h.ving a Ught-cplored mark on the face, like a pair "H^^ • J V .^..tnt'^Jr - Sn. p/ esnectad^ =
Sf)ectac]cs.
A, uiecLicles wtlfa bows hblKiMl to the rfiouMera oa the rim* con-
nectea by the ttow or farid^. B, mctacles with hook -bows and with
M<%« and iboulxlen riveted to the lemei. C, detail ihowlni; con-
muction «t ihoulder. D. Bde view, thowing run. Jn all the fifurei :
a. bow«; h, shoulden ; c, liiits : d, bridf^e.
silver ; It Is now luually of steel or of gold. It Is made up
of the "bridge," "rlmB''(or frames of the lensesX "bows, '
and "sides" or "temples"; but the bows are now often
omitted. Tile frame Is so constracted and adjusted as to
rest on the nose and ears and hold the lenses In the proper
position. Spectacles which are sapported on the nose
only, by means of a spring, are commotuy called eye-f^atse*.
Spectacles with convex lenses are for the aged, or far-
•lght«d : and spectacles with concave lenses are for the
near-sighted. In l>oth cases the value of spectacles de-
pends upon their being accurately adapted to the per-
365
of spectacles.— Spectacled cobra, any specimen of the
common Indian cobra, }ia)a trimtdiaiu, which has the
markings of the back of the hood well developed so as to
resemble a pair of spectacles. See cut under cobra-de-
eapeOo.— Spectacled coot, spectacled duck, tlie sorf-
scoter or -duck, (Kit^mia )i.r.'in<-Uliila ; the goggle-nose.
(Connecticut.!- Spectacled elder, Si,maieria (Arcto-
netia) /tsheri, an elder-duck of tlic nurtliwcst const of
America, having in the male the eyes set in sil\ erj-white
plumage rimmed with black.- Spectacled goose. gull-
femot, snake, etenoderm. ■'*ce the nouns.— Spectacled
shrimp, tlic hji. ctir- nr skcUloii shrimp, a caprellid. See
CaprilUi. Spectacled vampire. Same as spectacled
stentxlenn.
spectacled-headed (spek'ta-kld-hed'ed), a.
Ha\nng the lifiid spectacled: applied to flies of
the genera lliiliDcipUala (family Asilidte) and
Diopsis and Splii/mcrpliala (family Diopsidic).
See cut undir /^/o/ixi.s.
A queer-looking, sijerlnrlfd-headed, predatoiy fly. . . .
The head is unusually broad In front, the eyes being very
prominent and presenting a spectacled or goggled appear-
ance C H. Tyler Toimsend, l*roc. Entom. Soc.
[of Washington, I. 254.
spectacle-furnace (spek'ta-kl-fi-r'nas), n. A
literal translation of the German hrillenofen,
tatour; < F. spectateur = Sp. Pg. espectador -.
It. spettatore, < L. spectator, a beholder, < spec-
tare, pp. spectatus, look at, behold: see spec-
tant.] One who looks on ; an onlooker or eye-
witness; a beholder; especially, one of a com-
pany present at a spectacle of any kind: as,
the spectators of or at a game or a drama.
Me leading, in a secret corner Inyd,
The sad spectatour of my Tragedie.
Spenser, F. Q., II. 4. 27.
There be of them that will themselves laugh, to set on
some quantity of barren spectators to laugh too.
Shak., Hamlet, ill. 2. 46.
We, indeed, appeared to be the only two unconcerned
spectators on board ; and, accordingly, were allowed to
ramble about the decks unnoticed.
II. HaU, Travels In N. A., II. 10.
=Syn. Looker-on, onlooker, obseiTer, witness, by-stand,
er. A person is said to be a spectator at a show, a bull-
flght, a wrestling-match ; one of the audience at a lecture,
a concert, the theater ; and one of the congregation at
church. .
spectatorial (spek-ta-to'ri-al), o. [< spectator
+ -ial.] Pertaining to or characteristic of a
spectator. [In the quotation it is used with
spectatorial
direct reference to the name of the periodical
cited.]
There is a vicious terror of being blwiied in some well-
inclined people, and a wiclted pleasure in suppressing
them in others ; both which I recommend to your specta-
Ufrial wisdom to animadvert upon.
Steele, Spectator, No. 348.
SI>ectatorsIlip (spek-ta'tor-ship), n. [< specta-
tor + ship.^ The act of looking or beholding;
the state or occupation of being a spectator or
looker-on.
Guess ... if thou standest not i' the state of hanging,
or of some death more long in spectator$hip.
Shak., Cor., v. 2. 71.
Bathing in the sea was the chief occupation of these
good people, including, as it did, prolonged speetatorship
of the process. H. Jameg, Jr,, Confldenee, xix.
spectatress (spek-ta'tres), ». [< spectator +
-ess. Cf. spectatrix.'] A female spectator or
looker-on.
Helen, in the night when Troy was sack'd,
Spet^atress of the mischief which she made.
Howe, Fair Penitent, v. 1.
spectatriz (spek-ta'triks), n. [= F. spectatrice
= It. spettatrice, < L. spectatrix, fern, of specta-
tor, a beholder: see spectator.'] Same as spec-
tatress.
specter, spectre (spek'tfer), «. [< OF. (andF.)
spectre = Sp. Pg. espectro = It. spettro, an im-
age, figure, ghost. < L. spectrum, a vision, ap-
pearance, apparition, image, < specere, see : see
specks, spectacle. Ct. spectrum.'] 1. A ghostly
apparition ; a visible incorporeal human spirit;
an appearance of the dead as when living.
Specters are imagined as disembodied spirits haunting or
revisiting the scenes of their mundane life, and showing
themselves in intangible form to the living, generally at
night, from some overpowering necessity, or for some
benevolent or (more usually) malevolent purpose. They
are sometimes represented as speaking, but more com-
monly as only using terrifying or persuasive gestures to
induce compliance with their wishes. The word is rare-
ly used for the dissociated soul of a living person.
The ghosts of traitors from the Bridge descend.
With bold fanatic spectres to rejoice.
Dryden, Annus Mirabilis, St. 223.
One of the afflicted,
I know, bore witness to the apparition
Of ghosts unto the spectre of this Bishop,
Saying, " You murdered us ! "
Lonijfellow, Giles Corey, iii. 2.
A fine traditional spectre pale,
With a turnip head and a ghostly wail.
And a splash of blood on the dickey !
W. S. Oilbert, Haunted.
2. In zool. : (a) One of many names of gresso-
rial orthopterous insects of the family Phasmi-
dse; a. walking-stick or stick-insect; a specter-
insect. (6) The specter-bat. (c) The specter-
lemur, (d) A specter-shrimp Specter of the
Brocken, an optical phenomenon named from the Brock-
en, a mountain of the Harz range, where it has been most
frequently observed. It consists of the shadow of the ol>-
server cast at sunrise or sunset in apparently gigantic size
upon the mist or fog about the mountain-summit. The
shadow is sometimes inclosed in a prismatic circle called
the Brocken how, and again is bordered with a colored
fringe. Howitt states that, if the fog is very dry, one sees
not only one's self, but one's neighbor ; if very damp, only
one's self, surrounded by a rainbow-colored glory. Also
Brocken specter. ~^ya. 1. Apparition, Phantom, etc. See
ghost,
specter-bat (spek'ter-bat), n. The spectral
bat, a South American leaf-nosed bat or vam-
pire, Phyllostoma spectrum, or a similar species.
specter-candle (spek't6r-kan"dl), n. A straight
fossil cephalopod, as a baculite, belemnite, or
orthoceratite. These and similar objects have often
been superstitiously regarded, in ignorance of their origin
and nature. See bsetylus, salagrairui, and thunder-stone.
specter-crab (spek'ter-krab), n. A glass-crab;
one of the larval forms which were called PUyl-
losomata. See cut under glass-crab.
specter-insect (spek'ter-in'''sekt), n. Same as
specter, 2 (a).
specter-lemur (spek'tfer-le^'m^r), n. The tar-
sier, Tarsius spectrum. See cut under tarsier.
specter-shrimp (spek'ter-shrimp), n. A small
Iffimodipod crustacean of the family Caprellidx,
as Caprella tuberculata ; a skeleton-shrimp : so
called from the singular form and aspect.
spectra, n. Plural of xpectrum.
spectral (spek'tral), a. [= F. spectral, < L.
spectrum, specter: see specter.] 1. Of or per-
taining to a specter ; resembling or having the
aspect of a specter ; ghostlike ; ghostly.
Some of the spectral appearances which he had been told
of in a winter's evening. Scott, Bride of Lanimermoor, xiii.
To his excited fancy everything assumed a spectral look.
The shadows of familiar things about him stalked like
ghosts through the haunted chambers of his soul.
Long/ellow, Hyperion, iv. 3.
Spectral in the river-mist
The ship's white timbeis show.
WhitUer, The Shipbuilders.
5810
2. Pertaining to ocular spectra, or pertaining
to the solar, prismatic, or diffraction spectrum;
exhibiting the hues of the prismatic spectrum ;
produced by the aid of the spectrum: as, spectral
colors ; spectral analysis.
It is important to be able to observe the varying effects
of pressure and density upon spectral phenomena.
J. N. Lockyer, Spect. Anal., p. 7.5.
3. In zool., like or likened to a specter or appa-
rition; suggestive of a ghost in any way: as,
the spectral bat; spectral shrimps; spectral in-
sects— Spectral lemur, the tarsier.—spectral owl,
Symium cmerewn, or Strix dnerea, the great gray owl of
arctic America, remarkable for having more plumage in
proportion to the size of the body than any other owl.
spectrality (spek-tral'i-ti), «. ; pi. spcctralities
(-tiz). [< spectral + -ity.] The state of being
spectral; a spectral being or object. [Rare.]
What is he doing here in inquisitorial sanbenito, with
nothing but ghastly spectralities prowling round him ?
Carlyte, Sterling, i. 1. (Davies.)
spectrally (spek'tral -i), adv. In a spectral
manner ; like a ghost or specter.
spectre, «. See specter.
spectrobolometer (8pek'''tro-bo-lom'e-t6r), ».
[< NL. spectrum, spectrum, + E. bolometer.]
An instrument consisting of a bolometer in
combination with a spectroscope, used in the
study of the distribution of heat in the solar
spectrum and in similar investigations. The
absorbing surface of the bolometer is an extremely slender
strip of platinum, and it is so mounted that this can be
moved at will to any desired part of the spectrum, the
amount of heat received being measured, as usual, by the
deflection of a galvanometer-needle.
spectrograph (spek ' tro - graf ), n. [< NL.
spectrum -I- Gr. ypdtpecv, write.] An apparatus
designed to give a representation of the spec-
trum from any source, particularly one in which
photography is employed; a spectroscope in
which a sensitive photographic plate takes the
place of the eyepiece of the observing telescope.
spectrograpmc (spek-tro-graf'ik), a. [< spec-
trograph -h -ic] Pertaining to a spectrograph
or the observations made with it ; specifically,
relating to the process or results of photography
as applied to the study of spectra.
Spectrographic operations are, as Professor Young well
says, much more sensitive to atmospheric conditions than
are visual observations. D. Todd, Science, III. 727.
spectrography (spek-trog'ra-fi), «. [As spec-
trograph -\- -y^.] The art of using the spectro-
graph.
spectrological(spek-tro-loj'i-kal), a. [< spectrol-
og-y + -ic-al.] Of or pertaining to spectrology ;
performed or determined by spectrology : as,
spectrological analysis.
spectrology (spek-trol'o-ji), «. [< NL. spectrum
+ Gr. -'koyia, < liyetv, speak : see -ology.] That
branch of science which determines the con-
stituent elements and other conditions of bodies
by examination of their spectra.
spectrometer (spek-trom'e-ter), n. [< NL.
.spectrum, spectrum, + L. metrum, measure.]
An instrument used chiefly to measure the an-
gular deviation of light-rays in passing through
a prism, and hence to determine the refractive
indices of the substance of which the prism is
formed. Its essential parts are— (1) a tube B (see figure),
having a slit at the further end through which the light
is thrown by the mirror M, and a collimating lens at the
other end to convert the divergent pencil into a parallel
beam ; (2) the prism P, which can be turned upon the cen-
Spectrometer.
tral axis, its position being centered by two slides moved
at right angles to each other by means of the screws E and
E'; (3) the observing telescope A, the eyepiece of which is
provided with cross-wires so that the position of a given
line can be accurately fixed ; the axis of the telescope can
be made horizontal by the screw N. After the position
of the prism has been accurately adjusted, usually so as to
give the minimum deviation for the given ray, the angle
of deviation is measured by the telescope moving with the
graduating circle C, while the prism (with the vernier) is
stationary. By the tangent screws at O and O' the positions
of the two circles can be adjusted more delicately. The
instrument can also be used, like the ordinary reflecting
goniometer (it is then a spectrometer-goniometer), to mea-
spectroscope
sure the angle between the two faces of the prism, which
angle, with that of the minimum deviation, is needed to
give the data for calculating the required refractive index.
(See refraction.) If a diffraction-grating instead of a prism
is employed, the telescope A is moved into the position A',
making a small angle with the tubeB; the instrument
may then be used to measure the wave-length of a given
light-ray.
spectrometric (spek-tro-met'rik), a. [As spec-
trometer + -ic] Pertaining to a spectrometer
or the observations made with it.
spectromicroscoplcal (spek-tro-mi-kro-skop'i-
kal), «. [< NL. spectrum + E. viicroscopicul.]
Pertaining to spectroscopic observations made
in connection with the microscope.
The spectro-microscopical apparatus, especially in the
hands of botanists, has become an important instrument
in the investigation of the coloring matter of plants.
Behrens, Micros, in Botany (trans.), ii. 139.
spectrophone (spek'tro-fon), ». [< NL. .spec-
trum + Gr. (jioyv^, sound.] An adaptation of
the principle of the radiophone, devised by Bell
to be used in spectrum analysis. It consists of a
spectroscope the eyepiece of which is removed — the sen-
sitive substances being placed in the focal point behind
an opaque diaphragm containing a slit, while the ear is in
communication with the substances by means of a hear-
ing-tube. See the quotation.
Suppose we smoke the interior of our spectrophonic re-
ceiver, and fill the cavity with peroxide of nitrogen gas.
We have then a combination that gives us good sounds in
all parts of the spectrum (visible and invisible) except the
ultra violet. Now pass a rapidly interrupted beam of light
through some substances whose absorptive spectrum is
to be investigated, and bands of sound and silence are
observed in exploring the spectrum, the silent positions
corresponding to the absorption bands.
A. G. Bell, in Philosoph. Mag., 5th ser., II. 527, 1881.
spectrophonic (spek-tro-fon'ik), a. [As spec-
trophone + -ic] Of or pertaining to the spec-
trophone, or investigations made by means
of it.
spectrophotometer (spek"ti-9-fo-tom'e-t6r), n.
[< NL. spectrum + E. photometer.] An instru-
ment used to compare the intensities of two
spectra (as from the limb and center of the
sun), or the intensity of a given color with
that of the corresponding color in a standard
spectrum. It is based upon the fact that the eye is very
sensitive to slight differences of intensity between two
similar colors when brought side by side. It consists es-
sentially of a spectroscope arranged with total reflecting
prisms, so that, for example, the spectra to be compared
can be brought into immediate juxtaposition, while Nicol
prisms in the path of the pencil of rays make it possible
to diminish the intensity of the l)righter light until the two
exactly coiTCspond. The angular position of the analyz-
ing prism gives the means of deducing the required rela-
tion in intensity.
spectrophotometric (spek-tro-fo-to-met'rik),
a. [As spectrophotometer + -ic] Pertaining to
the spectrophotometer, to its use, or to obser-
vations made with it.
spectrophotometry (spek"tr6-fo-tom'e-tri), n.
[As spectrophotometer + -y'^.] The art of using
the spectrophotometer.
Spectropolariscope (spek"tro-po-lar'i-sk6p), n.
[< NL. spectrum + E. polariscop'e.] A combina-
tion of the spectroscope and the polariscope, an
instrument sometimes used in the analysis of
sugar. It is a modification of a form of the sac-
charimeter.
spectropyxometer (spek"tro-pi-rom'e-ter), n.
[< NL. spectrum + E. pyrometer.] An instru-
ment devised by Crova for measuring high tem-
peratures, based upon the principle that two
incandescent bodies of the same radiating
power have the same temperature when their
spectra are identical in extent. It is essen-
tially a form of spectrophotometer.
spectroscope (spek'tro-skop), n. [< NL. spec-
trum + Gr. anoTcelv, view.] An instrument used
to produce a spectrum of the light (or, more
generally, the radiation) from any source by
the passage of the rays through a prism or their
reflection from a grating, and for the study of
the spectrum so formed, in its common form the
essential parts of theprismatic spectroscope are — (1) a tube
with a slit at the further end (see fig. 1), through which the
light enters, and at the other end a collimating lens which
brings the rays into a parallel beam (the slit is formed be-
tween two parallel edges the distance between which can
be varied at will) ; (2) a prism to refract and disperse the
rays, or a series or train of prisms when greater dispersion
is desired— a gain, however, which is accompanied by a seri-
ous diminution in the intensity of the light ; (3) a telescope
through which the magnified image of the spectrum thus
formed is viewed. A third tube is usually added, contain-
ing a scale, which is illuminated by a small gas-flame and
reflected from the surface of the prism into the telescope,
thus giving the means of fixing tlie position of the lines
observed. A small glass comparison prism is often placed
in front of half the slit, and through it, by total i-eflection.
a second beam of light can be introduced, the spectrum
of which is seen directly over the other. An instrument
which gives a spectrum when the source of the light is in a
straight line with the eye — that is, which gives dispersion
without deviation— is called a direct-vision spectroscope (see
spectroscope
fig. 2); this may be accomplished by combining two crown-
glass prisms, with a third tliut-glass prism of an angle of
Spectroscopes.
90^ between them (flg. 3). For certain rays — for exam-
ple, the yellow — there is no divergence while a spectrum
is obtained, since the dispersion of the flint-glass prism
in one direction is greater than that of the two crown-
glass prisms in the opposite direction. Other forms of
direct-vision spectroscope have also been devised. In
the grating spectroacope, or difracHon spectroscope, a dif-
fraction-grating (a series of very fine parallel lines ruled
on glass or speculum-metal) takes the place of the prism ;
and the parallel rays falling upon it are reflected, and
form a series of ditfraction-spectra (see difraction, grot-
•"S^, 2, and inter/emice, 5). which are called norma/ spectra
(see spectrum, 3), since the dispersion of the rays is propor-
tional to their wave-length. A prism is sometimes used
before the telescope to separate parts of the successive
spectra which would otherwise overlap. If a Rowland
grating (see difraction) is employed, the arrangements
can be much simplifled, since the large concave surface
of the grating forms an image directly, which may be re-
ceived upon a screen, or for study upon a photographic
plate, or viewed through an eyepiece with cross-wires
to fix the position of the lines ob8er>ed. The grating is
supported at one end of a rigid bar, in practice about
21 feet in length, at the other end of which, and at the
center of curvature of the concave surface, is the eye-
piece or support for the sensitive plate. The ends of this
bar rest on carriages moving on two rails at right angles
to each other; and, u the end carrying the eyepiece is
moved, the whole length of the spectrum (several feet)
may be successively obsenred, the fixed beam of parallel
rays from the slit falling upon the grating as iU position
U slowly turned. The whole apparatus Is mounted on
rigid supports in a room from which all light but thaP
received through the slit Is carefully excluded. A high
degree of dispersion Is thus obtatoed, combined with the
advantage of the normal spectrum, and the further advan-
tages that the amount of light employed la large, while the
disturbing effect of the absorption of the material of the
Srlsms is avoided. See further nnder spwrftrwm. — Analyz-
ig spectroscope, Integrating spectroscope, term s ap-
plied to the spoclroSL-opc (V.juni;) to <li-s.rilie its use, with
or without a lens throwing an image of the luminous ob-
ject upon the slit In the former case, different parts of
the sift are illuminated by light from diSerent parU of
the object, and their spectre can be separately compared,
or, in other words, the light is thus analyzed ; while In the
second case, when the collimator is pointed toward the
•oorce of light, the combined effect of the whole Is ob-
'^'?«^--rHalf-prUm spectroecoite, a spectroscope in
which the beam of rays enters the prism at right angles
to one face, and suffers dispersion only on emeiving from
the face opposite and inclined to it. The half-prism ordi-
narily employed is half of a compound prism such as Is
used in the dlrect-vision spectroscope.— Ralnbanil-SDec-
troscope. See rainbani.
spectroscope (spek'tro-skop), r. i. aud t. ; pret.
and pp. spectToscoped, ppr. spectrosmpiny. [<
spectroscope, «.] To use the speetroscope ;
study by means of observations with the spec-
troscope. C. Piazii Smyth, Trans. R. 8. E.,
XXXII. .521. [Bare.]
Could you hare tpeetroieoptd a star?
O. W. Uolmet. Atlantic Monthly, XUX. 887.
spectroscopic (spek-tro-skop'ik), a. [< spectrn-
xcope + -ic] Of, pertaining to, or performed
by means of the spectroscope or spectroscopy:
as. spectroscopic analysis; »/(ec<ro«C(>ptcinve8ti-
gation.s.
spectroscopical (spek-tro-skop'i-kal), a. [<
xpectroKmpir + -nl.'] 8ame as spectroscopic.
5811
Ingspot will be green; if black, it will be changed into
white. These images are also termed ocular spectra.
3. la physics, the continuous band of light {nsi-
ble spectrum) showiB|» the successive prismatic
colors, or the isolated lines or bands of color,
observed when the radiation from such a source
as the sun, or an ignited vapor in a gas-Hame,
is viewed after having been passed througli a
prism (prismatic spectrum) or reflected from a
aiflfraction-grating {diffraction- or interferencc-
spectrum). The action of the prism (seeprtsm and re-
fraction) is to refract the light and at the same time to
separate or disperse the rays of different wave-lengths,
the refraction and dispersion being greater as the wave-
length diminishes. The grating (see grating^, 2), which
consists usually of a series of flne parallel lines (say 10,000 or
20,000 to the inch) ruled on speculum-metal, diffracts and
at the same timedisperses the light-iays, forming a series
of spectra whose lengths depend upon the flneness of the
""e s- I', now, a beam of white light is passed through aslit,
and then by a coUlraator lens is thrown upon a prism, and
'he 'Ight from this received upon a screen, a colored band
will be obtained passing by insensible degrees, from the
less refrangible end, the red, to the more refrangible end,
the violet, through a series of colors ordinarily described
as red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. A
simUar effect is obtained from a grating, with, however,
this difference, that in the prismatic spectrum the red
covers only a small part relatively of the colored band
since the action of the prism is to crowd together tlie
less refrangible rays and separate the more refrangible
rays of less wave-length, and thus distort the spectrum.
The diflraction-speotrum, on the other hand, shows the
red occupying about the same space as the blue and
violet, and is called a normal spectrum. When the light
from different sources is studied in the spectroscope
It IB found, flrst, that a solid or a liquid when incan-
descent gives a continuous spectrum, and this is true
of gases also at great pressures ; second, bodies in the
gaseous form give discontinuous spectra, consisting of
colored bright lines (tine-spectrum) or bands \band-spec-
trxtm), or of bands which under certain conditions ap-
pear as channeled spaces or flutings (fiuted spectrum), and
these lines or bands for a given substance have a definite
position, and are hence characteristic of it ; third, if light
from an Incandescent solid or liquid body passes through
a ga8(at a lower temperature than the incandescent body),
the gas absorbs the same rays as those its own spectrum
consists of ; therefore, in this case, the result is a spectrum
Cabsorptionspeclrum) continuous, except as interrupted by
black lines occupying the same position as the bright
lines in the spectrum of the gas itself would occupy. An
alworption-spectrum, showing more or less sharply deflned
dark bands, is also obtained when the light has passed
through an appropriate liquid (as blood), or a solid such
as a salt of didymium (see further under absorption). For
example, the spectrum from a candle-flame is continuous
being due to the Incandescent carbon particles suspended
in the flame. If, however, the yellow flame produced
» hen a little sodium is inserted in the non-luminous flame
of a Bunsen burner is examined, a bright-yellow line is
observed; If a red Utbinm flame, then a red and a yellow
line are seen ; the red strontium flame gives a more com-
plex spectrum, conaistlng of a number of lines, chiefly in
the red and yellow; and so of other similar substances.
For sabttances like htm, and other metals not volatile ex-
cept at very high temperatures, the heat of the voltaic arc
is employed, and by this means their spectra, often con-
sisting of a hundred or more lines (of iron at least 2,000)
can be mapped out. .HtUl again, if (he light from the sun
is studied in the same way, it is found to be a bright
spectrum from red to violet, but crossed by a large num-
ber of dark lines called Fraunhofer linet. because, though
earlier seen by Wollaston (1802), they were flrst manned
specular
motel. The flrst region is also present in the spectrum
from any hot body, and the latter in that from a body at
a high temperature— for example the incandescent car-
bons of an arc electric light. Thus, Langley by means of
his bolometer has proved the existence of rays having a
wave-length nearly twenty times that of the luminous red
rays, in the radiation of the surface of the moon, and cor-
responding to a temperature not far from that of melting
ice. lurther, while the visible spectrum includes rays
separated by only about one octave (since the wave-length
for the extreme red is approximately twice that of file ex-
treme violet) the full spectrum, from the extreme ultra-
violet to the longest waves recognized by the bolometer
embraces more than seven octaves. In other words, it ex-
tends from rays having a wave-length of 0.18 of a micron
to those whose wave-length is 30 microns (1 micron = „
xthii mUlimeter). The invisible regions of the spectrum
cannot be directly studied by the eye, but they can be ex-
plored first by photography, it being possible to prepare
suitable plates sensitive to the infra-red as well as others
sensitive to ultra-violet rays, and such photogi-aphs show
the presence of many additional absorption-lines The
invisible infrared region (heat-spectrum) can also be ex-
plored by the thermopile and still better the bolometer
and the distribution of the heat thus examined, and -k
thermogram of the spectrum constructed in which the
presence of "cold " absorption-bands is noted. SI ill
again, the method of phosphorescence is employed to
give a phosphorograph of the spectrum, while fluores-
cence is made use of in f'
by fraunhofer in 1S14; this name is given especially to
the more prominent of them, which he designated by the
AaBC D Eb F
H
^'"^^i '~^^^i7"'i^^~^'^
a B C
Eb F
G H
spectroscopically (spek-tro-skop'l-kal-i), adr.
Ill a spoctroHcopie manner; by the age of the
spci'trosfopc.
Spectroscopist (spek'tro-sko-pigt), ». [< spec-
troscope + -ist.'\ One who uses the spectro-
scope: one skiOed in spectroscopy.
spectroscopy (spek'tro-sko-pi), n. [Asspectro-
scope + -v-f.] That branch of science, more
particularly of chemical and physical science,
which is concerned with the use of the spectro-
scope and with spectrum analvsis.
spectrum (spek'tmm), n.; pf. spectra (-trH).
l< NL.. spectrum, a spectrum, < L. spectrum, an
appearance, an image or apparition : see spec-
ter.] It. A specter; a ghoHtly phantom.— 2.
An image of something seen, continuing after
the eyes are closed, covered, or turned away.
If, for example, one looks Intently with one eye upon any
colored object, such as a wafer placed on a sheet of white
paper, and immediately afterward turns the same ere to
another part of the paper, one sees a similar spot, but
of a different color, thus, if the wafer is red. the seem-
Fixed Lines and Colored Spaces of Prismatic SpecttWD tl.) and
.N'omiat Spectrum (II.).
•^"iiii'' f*^ "»"«' • * "»"«« ■ 4. otangeyellow : 5. yellow ; 6,
(rcen-yellow and yelloar-itnen : 7, green and nhi) blue green; 8.
cyanlilue ; 0. blue and i<)%) blue violet ; 10, violet ; A, a, 8. C. etc
f-raunhofer lines. . . . ^. *....,
letters A to H, etc. (See the flgures.) These lines, as ex-
plained above, are due to the absorption by gases, either In
the snn's atmosphere or In that of the earth. When the
light la paned through a train of prisms, or reflected from
"•^S* f"*'n?. »■"! thus a very high degree of dis-
persion obtained, the rays are more widely separated and
the spectrum can be more minutely examined. .Studied in
this way, It Is found that the dark lines in the solar spec
trum nuniber many thousands, the greater part of which
can be identifled in the spectra of known terrestrini sub-
stances. Thus, the presence In the sun's atmosphere of
thirty-six elements has been established (Rowland, 1891);
these Include sodinm. potassium, calcium magnesium,
iron, copper, cobalt, silver, lead, tin. zinc, titanium, alu-
minium, chromium, silicon, carbon, hydrogen, etc. The
radiation from the sun. consists not only of those rays
whose wave-length is such as to produce the effect of
vision upon the eye, but also of others of greater wave-
length iTian the red rays and less wave-length than the
violet ; the spectrum from such a source consequently in-
clodet, besides the luminous part, an invisible part (in.
vame ipeetrum) below the red, called the infra-red re-
gkwi, and another beyond the violet, called the ultra-
cence is made use of in studying the ultraviolet region
In studying the invisible heat-spectrum lenses and
prisms of rock-salt must be used, because the daik rays
of long wave-length are liu-gely absorbed by glass • fur-
ther, m investigating the invisible ultra-violet region
quartz is similarly employed, since it is highly transpa-
rent to these short wave-length vibrations. In many in-
vestigations it is of great advantage to use the grating-
spectroscope, especially one provided with a concive
Rowland grating, since then the normal spectrum (fig II )
is obtained directly without the use of the usual lenses
and prisms, and hence free from their absorbing effects
Recent photographs of the solar spectrum obtained by
Prof. Rowland in this way give a clearness of definition
combined with high dispersion never before approached
Thus, in their enlaiged form as published (1890), the double
sodium-lines are widely separated, and sixteen distinct
flne lines may be counted l)etween them. It was for-
merly the custom to divide the solar spectrum into Ihree
parts, formed by the invisible heat rays, the luminous
rays, and the so-called chemical or actinic rays This
threefold division of the spectrum is, however largely
eiToneous, since ail the rays of the spectrum aie "heat-
rays '• if they are received upon an absorbing surface, as
lampblack ; and, while it is true that the chemical change
upon which ordinary photography depends is most sf imn-
lated by the violet and ultraviolet rays, this is not true
universally of all chemical changes produced by direct
radiation. The rays from the lowest end of the spectrum
to the highest differ intrinsically in wave-length only, and
the difference of effect observed is due to the character
of the surface upon which they fall. The spectra of the
stars, of the comets, nebula;, etc., can be studied in the
same way as the solar spectrum, and the result has been
to throw much light upon the constitution of these bodies ;
the spectrum of the aurora has been similarly examined.
In addition to its use in the study of cosmical physics,
spectrum analysis has proved a most delicate and invalu-
able method to the chemist and physicist in the examina-
tion of the different elements and their compounds. By
this method of research a number of new elements have
been detected (as rubidium, cwsium, indium, thallium)-
and recently the study of the absorption-spectra of the
earths — obtained from samarskite, gadolinite, and other
related minerals— has served to show the existence of a
group of closely related elements whose existence had not
before been suspected. Further, the study of the change
ill the spectra of certain elements under different condi-
tions of temperature has led Lockyer to some most im-
portant and suggestive hypotheses as to the relation be-
tween them and their possible compound nature.
4. [cap.'\ [NL.] In ro67., a generic name va-
riously used: («) A genus of lepidopterous in-
sects. Scopoli, 1777. (6) A genus of gresso-
inal orthopterous insects: same as Phasma.
SfoH, 1787. (c) A genus of lemuroid mam-
mals: same as Tarsius. Lac<^ide,1803.—5. The
specific name of some animals, including Tar-
sius spectrum and Phtjllostomri spectrum Fluted
spectrum. .See def. z. - Gltter-spectrum, a diffraction-
spectrum. .See def. 3. Gratlng-spectnmi. See grat-
tn;/-. -Herschellan rays of the spectrum. See
Herschelian. - Secondary spectrum, the residual or sec-
ondary chromatic aliernitioiL observed in the use of an
ordinary so-called achruniatic lens (see aclirt/matie), aris-
ing from the fact that while by combining the crown- and
flint-glass two of the colors of the spectrum are brought
to the same focus, the dispersion of the others is not
equally conipensau-d. By using new kindsof glass which
allow of proportional dispersion in different parts of the
spectrum (see apochromatic). Abbe has made lenses which
collect three colors to one focus, leaving only a small resid-
ual aberration uncorrected, which is called the tertiary
spectrum.
specula, n. Plural of speculum.
speculable (spek'u-la-W), a. Knowable.
specular (spek'a-l'ar)', a. [= p. sp^culaire =
Pr. spciidar = Sp. fg. especular = It. speculare,
< L. specularis, belonging to a mirror, < sjiccu-
lum, a mirror: see sprcuhtm.l 1. Of or per-
taining to a mirror; capable of reflecting ob-
jects: as.a.s;)ccw/or surface; a»pec«torminei'al;
.specular metal (an alloy prepared for making
mirrors).— 2. Assisting or facilitating vision ;
serving for inspection or observation ; afford-
ing a view : as, a specular orb (the eye or a
len.s); specular stone (an old name for mica
used in windows, in Latin specularis lapis); a
specular
tpeeuUir tower (one serving as a lookout).
[Archaic]
Yoa teach (though we learn not) a thing unknown
To our late times, the use of ftpecular stone,
Through which all things within without were shown.
Donue, To the Countess of Bedford.
Look once morei ere we leave this specuiar mount.
iiaton, P. R., iv. 23a
Calm as the Vniveree, from «jjccw/nr towei-s
Of heaven contemplated by .Spirits pure.
Wordsicorth, Cave of Staffa.
3. In ornith., of or pertaining to the speculum
of the wing; ocellar: as, the specular area;
specular iridescence Specular Iron ore, a variety
<M hematite, or anhydrous iron sest|uioxid, occurring in
cr)'stals and massive forms with a brilliant metallic luster.
Finely pulverized and washed, it is used as a polishing-
powder.
Specularia (spek-u-la'ri-a), «. [NL. (Heister,
1748), < L. si>ectclui» in specioliim Veneris, 'Ve-
nus's looking-glass,' a medieval name of S. Spe-
culum, from the resemblance of its flowers set
on their eylindrical ovary to the ancient round
bronze mirror at the end of a straiglit handle :
see speculum.] A genus of gamopetalous plants
of the order Campanulacese. it is distinguished
from the allied genus Campanula by its wheel-shaped or
shallow and broadly bell-shaped corolla and linear or
narrowly oblong ovary. There are about 8 species, na-
tives of the northern hemisphere, chiefly of southern
and central Europe, with one in South America. They
are annual herbs, either erect or decumbent, and smooth
or bristly. They bear alternate entire or toothed leaves,
and blue, violet^ or white two-bracted flowers neai-ly or
quite sessile in the axils. 5. Speculum is the Venus's
looking-glass, formerly a favorite in English gardens ;
S. hybrida is there known as the corn-violet; and S. per-
/oliaUi, native in the United States, is remai-kable for its
dimorphous flowers, the earlier being minute and clisto-
gamic.
speculate (spek'u-lat), v.; pret. and pp. specu-
lated, ppr. speculating. [< \j. si>eculatus, pp. of
speeulari, spy out, watch, observe, behold (>It.
speculare = Sp. Pg. especular = OF. speculer, P.
speculer), < specula, a watch-tower, < specere,
see : see species. Cf. speculum.] I. trans. If.
To view as from a watch-tower or olaservatory ;
observe.
I shall never eat garlic with Diogenes in a tub, and
speculate the stars without a shirt.
Shirley, Grateful Servant, ii. 1.
2. To take a discriminating view of; consider
attentively ; speculate upon ; examine ; in-
spect: as, to speculate the nature of a thing.
[Rare.]
We . . . conceit ourselves that we contemplate abso-
lute existence when we only speculate absolute privation.
Sir W. Hamilton, Discussions, p. 21.
H. intrans. 1. To pursue truth by thinking,
as by mathematical reasoning, by logical analy-
sis, or by the review of data already collected.
— 2. To take a discursive view of a subject
or subjects; note diverse aspects, relations, or
probabilities; meditate; conjecture: often im-
plying absence of definite method or result.
I certainly take my full share, along with the rest of the
world, ... in specidaiing on what has been done, or is
doing, on the public stage. Burke, Rev. in France.
3. To invest money for profit upon an uncer-
tainty ; take the risk of loss in view of possi-
ble gain ; make a purchase or purchases, as of
something liable to sudden fluctuations in price
or to rapid deterioration, on the chance of sell-
ing at a large advance : as, to speculate in stocks.
speculation (spek-u-la'shpn); n. [< OF. specu-
lacion, speculation, F. speculation = Pr. specu-
lacio = Sp. especulacion = Pg. especula^ao = It.
speculazione, < LL. speculatio{n-), a spying out,
exploration, observation, contemplation, < L.
speeulari, view: see speculate.] 1. The act or
state of speculating, or of seeing or looking;
intelligent contemplation or observation; a
viewing ; inspection. [Obsolete or archaic, but
formerly used with considerable latitude.]
Thence [from the works of God] gathering plumes of per-
fect speculation.
To impe the wings of thy high flying mynd.
Mount up aloft through heavenly contemplation.
Spenser, Heavenly Beauty, L 134.
Thou hast no speculation in those eyes
Which thou dost glare with.
Shak., JIacbeth, ill. 4. 95.
I am arrived to that perfection in speculation that I un-
derstand the language of the eyes.
Steele, Spectator, No. S54.
2. The pursuit of truth by means of thinking,
especially mathematical reasoning and logical
analysis ; meditation ; deep and thorough con-
sideration of a theoretical question. This use of
the woi-d, though closely similar to the application of
tpecvlatio in the Latin of lloethius to translate etwpt'a, is
chiefly due to 1 Cor. xiii. 12, "now we see through a glass,
darkly," where 'glass' is in the Vulgate speculum. But
5812
some writers, as Milton and Cowper, associate the meaning
with specula, 'a watch-tower.'
For practise must agree with speculation,
Belief & knowledge must guide operation.
Times' Whistle (K. E. T. S.), p. 147.
Thenceforth to speculations high or deep
I turn'd my thoughts. Milton, P. L., ix. 602.
Join sense unto reason, and experiment unto speculation.
Sir T. Broume, Christ. Mor., ii. 5.
From him [Pythagoras] Socrates derived the principles
of virtue and morality, . . . and most of his natural s;«cu-
laUotis. Sir W. Temple, Ancient and Modern Learning.
The brilliant fabric of speculation erected by Darwin can
scarcely sustain its own weight.
Dawson, Nature and the Bible, p. 240.
3. In philos., sometimes, a purely a priori
method of philosophizing: but commonly in
philosophy the word has the meaning 2, above.
— 4. The investing of money at a risk of loss
on the chance of unusual gain ; specifically,
buying and selling, not in the ordinary course
of commerce for the continuous marketing of
commodities, but to hold in the expectation of
selling at a profit upon a change in values or
market rates. Thus, if a merchant lays in for his regu-
lar trade a much larger stock than he otherwise would
because he anticipates a rise in prices, tills is not termed
speculation ; but if he buys what he does not usually deal
in, not for the purpose of extending his business, but for
the chance of a sale of the particular articles at a profit by
reason of anticipated rise, it is so termed. In the language
of the exchanges, speculation includes all dealing in fu-
tures and options, whether purchases or sales.
The establishment of any new manufacture, of any new
branch of commerce, or of any new practice in agriculture,
is always a speculation from which the projector promises
himself extraordinary profits.
Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, I. x. 1.
A vast speculation had fail'd.
And ever he mutter'd and madden'd.
Tennyson, Maud, i. 3.
5. A game at cards, the leading principle of
which is the purchase of an unknown card on
the calculation of its probable value, or of a
known card on the chance of no better appear-
ing during the game, a part of the pack not
being dealt. Latham. = SjrL. 2. Hypothesis, etc. See
theory,
speculatist (spek'u-la-tist), n. [< speculate +
-ist.] A speculative philosopher ; a person who,
absorbed with theoretical questions, pays little
attention to practical conditions.
Such speculatists, by expecting too much from friendship,
dissolve the connection. Goldsmith, Friendship.
Fresh confidence the speculatist takes
For every hare-brain'd proselyte he makes.
Cmjoper, Progress of Error.
speculative (spek'u-la-tiv), a. [= F. speculatif
— Sp. Pg. cspeculdtiv'o = It. speculativo, < LL.
speculativus, pertaining to or of the nature of
observation, < L. speeulari, view : see speculate.]
If. Pertaining to or affording vision or out-
look: a meaning influenced by Latin specula,
' a watch-tower.'
Now roves the eye ;
And, posted on this speculative height,
Exults in its command. Cowper, Task, i. 289.
2t. Looking; observing; inspecting; prying.
My speculative and oflBced instrument.
Shak., Othello, i. 3. 2V1.
To be speculative into another man, to the end to know
how to work him or wind him or govern him, proceedeth
from a heart that is double and cloven.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, i.
3. Given to speculation ; contemplative ; theo-
retical.
He [Washington] was not a speculative, but a practical
man ; not at all devoted to Ideas.
Theodore Parker, Historic Americans, Washington, p. 114.
Speculative men are deemed unsound and frivolous.
Emerson, Misc., p. 12.
4. Purely scientific ; having knowledge as its
end; theoretical: opposed to practical; also
(limiting a noun denoting a person and signify-
ing his opinions or character), in theory, and not,
or not merely, in practice ; also, cognitive ; intel-
lectual. In this sense (which has no connection with
speculation), speculative translates Aristotle's 0€wp7jTtK6«.
Thus, speculative science is science pursued for its own
sake, without immediate reference to the needs of life, and
does not exclude experimental science.
I do not think there are so many speculative atheists
as men are wont to imagine.
Boyle, Christian Virtuoso, part i.
It is evidently the intention of our Maker that man
should be an active and not merely a speculative being.
Beid, Active Powers, Int.
When astronomy took the form of a speculative science,
words were invented to denote distinctly the conceptions
thus introduced.
Whewell, Philos. of Inductive Sciences, I. liii.
A distinction merely speculative has no concern with
the most momentous of all practical controversies.
J. Ii. Seeley, Nat. Religion, p. 51.
speculum
5. Inferential; known by reasoning, and not by
direct experience: opposed to iiituitirc; also,
improperly, purely a priori. This meaning was in-
troduced into Latin by Anselm, with reference to 1 Cor.
xiii. 12, where tlie Vulgate has speculum. Speculative cog-
nition is cognition not intuitive.
6. Pertaining or given to speculation in trade ;
engaged in speculation, or precarious ventures
for the chance of large profits ; of the nature
of financial speculation : as, a speculativetTadev;
,'ipcculative investments or business.
The speculative merchant exercises no one regular, es-
tablished, or well-known branch of business.
Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, I. x. 1.
Speculative geometry, philosophy, reason, theol-
ogy, etc. See the nouns.
speculatively (spek'u-la-tiv-li), adv. In a spec-
ulative manner ; as or by means of speculation,
in either the intellectual or the material sense.
speculativeness (spek'u-la-tiv-nes), n. The
state of being speculative, or of consisting in
speculation.
speculativism (.spek'u-la-tiv-izm), M. [< spec-
ulative + -ism.] The tendency to speculation
or theory, as opposed to experiment or prac-
tice ; a theorizing tendency. Pop. Set. Mo.,
XIII. 269. [Recent.]
speculator (spek'u-la-tor), n. [= F. sp6cula-
teur = Sp. Pg. especulador = It. speculatore, <
L. speciilator, an explorer or scout, a searcher,
an investigator, < speeulari, pp. speculatus, spy
out, watch, observe, view: see speculate.] If.
An observer or onlooker; a watcher; a look-
out; a seer; in a specific use, an occult seer;
one who looks into mysteries or secrets by magi-
cal means.
All the boats had one speculator, to give notice when
the flsh approached. Broome.
2. One who engages in mental speculation ; a
person who speculates about a subject or sub-
jects; a theorizor.
The number of experiments in moral science which the
speculator has an opportunity of witnessing has been in-
creased beyond aU calculation. Macaulay, History.
3. One who practises speculation in trade or
business of any kind. See speculation, 4.
Speculatorialt (spek'''u-la-t6'ri-al), a. [< L.
spcculatorius, pertaining to a scout or observer
(see speculator ij), + -al.] Speculatory.
speculatory (spek'u-la-to-ri), o. [< L. speeu-
latorius, pertaining to a scout or observer, <
speculator, an observer: see specidator.] If.
Practising or intended for oversight or outlook ;
overseeing; overlooking; viewing.
My privileges are an ubiquitary, circumambulatory,
speculatory interrogatory, redargutory immunity over all
the privy lodgings. Carew, Coelum Britannicum.
Both these [Roman encampments] were nothing more
than speculatory outposts to the Akeman-street.
T. Warton, Hist. Kiddington, p. 66.
2. Given to, or of the nature or character of,
speculation; speculative. [Rare.]
speculatrix (spek'S-la-triks), n. ; pi. speculatri-
ces (spek''u-la-tri'sez). [L., fem. ot speculator :
see speculator.] A female speculator. [Rare.]
A communion with invisible spirits entered into the
general creed [in the sixteenth century] throughout Eu-
rope, and crystal or beryl was the magical medium. . . .
Persons even of ordinary rank in life pretended to be what
they termed speculators, and sometimes women were spec-
ulatrices. 1. D'lsraeli, Amen, of Lit., II. 297.
speculum (spek'u-lum), n. ; pi. specula (-la),
sometimes speculums (-lumz). [< L. specidiim,
a mirror, a copy or imitation (cf. specula, a
watch-tower, lookout), < specere, look at, be-
hold: see species.] 1. Something to look into
or from ; specifically, a mirror or looking-glass.
— 2. An attachment to or part of an optical
instrument, as a reflecting telescope, having
a brightly polished surface for the reflection of
objects. Specula are generally made of an alloy called
sjKculum-metal, consisting of ten parts of copper to one of
tin, sometimes with a little arsenic to increase its white-
ness. Another speculum alloy is made of equal weights
of steel and platinum. Specula are also made of glass
covered with a film of silver on the side turned toward the
object.
3. In ornith. : (o) An ocellus or eye-spot, as of a
peacock's tail. See ocellus, 4. (6) The mirror
of a wing, a specially colored area on some of
the flight-feathers. It is usually iridescent-green,
purple, violet, etc., and formed by a space of such color
on the outer webs of several secondaries, toward their
end, and commonly set in a frame of different colors
formed by the tips of the same secondaries or of the great-
er wing-coverts, or of botli. Sometimes it is dead-white,
as in the gadwall. A speculum occurs in various birds,
and as a rule in ducks, especially the Anatinse. being in
these so constant and characteristic a marking that some
breeds of game-fowls are named duckicinfj in consequence
of a certain resemblance in the wing-markings. See silver,
duckwing. Also called jHirror. See cuts under CAauieia*-
mus and mallard.
speculum
The wing fin Anatitue] has usually a brilliant Speculum,
which, like the other wiiifj-markings, is the same in both
aexes. Coues, Key to N. A. Birds, p. 690.
4. In aiiat., the septum lucidum of the brain.
See out under corpus. — 5. In med. and surg., an
Speculums.
A. eTC^speculum ; B. Sims*s va^nal speculum ; C, bivalre vaginal
speculum ; D, ear-spcculunv
instrument used for rendering a part accessible
to observation, especially by opening or enlarg-
ing an orifice. — 6. A lookout; a place to spy
from.
It waa in (act the ipeeulum or watch-tower of Tenfels-
drockh: wherefrom, sitting at ease, he might see the
whole life-circulation of that considerable City.
CariyU, Sartor Eesartns, i. 3.
Duck-billed speculum, a name sometimes applied to
.'iinis's v.iffiiia! sperulum, and more rarely to some of the
bivalve vaginal specula, whose valves resemble a duck's
bill. Also called dii<:*-*iU.— Ear-speculum, an instru-
ment, usually a hollow cone, introduced into the meatus
externus for holding the hairs out of the way so that the
bottom of the passage may l>e illuminated and seen. —
Nose-speculum. See rhinowope,
specolum-metal (spek'u-lum-met'al), n. See
speculum, 2.
sped (sped). A preterit and past participle of
silted.
spedet, spedefolt. Old spellings of speed, speed-
ful.
speecet, "• An old form of spece, spice.
Tsech (s[)ech), ». [Early mod. E. also speach ;
ME. speche, spseche, earlier spek, speke, < AS.
spSr. spec, earlier sprac, spree (= OS. s]>rdca
= OFnes. spreke, spretse, sprake = D. spraak =
MLG. sprake = OHG. sprdhha, MHG. G. sprache
= Icel. spekjur, f. pi., = Sw. sprdfi = Dan.
tprog), speech, < spreenn (pret. sprmc), speak:
see speak.'\ 1. The faculty of uttering artic-
ulate sounds or words, as in human beings
and, by imitation, in some birds; capacity for
expressing thoughts by words or articulate
sounds ; the power of speaking, or of uttering
words either in the speaking- or the singing-
voice.
And they bring anto him one that was deaf, and had an
impediment in his tpeech. If ark riL 32.
Speech is the instrument by which a Foole i* diatln-
gniabed from a Philosopher.
BoutU, Korreine Trarell (rep, 1M0), p. 69.
(tod's great gift of gpeeeh abused
Makes thy memory confused.
Tenny$on, A Dirge.
2. The action or exercise of speaking; expres-
sion of thoughts or ideas with the speaking-
voice ; oral utterance or communication ; also,
an act or exercise of oral expression or com-
munication; talk; conversation; discourse: &s,
a person's habit of speech ; to be chary of speech ;
their speech was all about themselves.
There la no tpeeck nor Ungoage where their voice is not
heard. [There is no ipteth nor Uogiiage ; their voice can-
not be heard, E. V.J Pa. xix. 3.
Without more Sftclu I jroa beaeclie
That we were sone agooe.
The Xut-Brovn Maid (Percy*! Reliqnea, n. L 6),
We entered into many ipeeehet of dlven matters.
Coryat, Cruditiea, L 14.
8. The words and grammatical forms in which
thought is expressed; language; a language.
yor thou art not sent to a people of a ttnoge mteh.
TEsStittS.
There is not a language in the world which doe* not ex-
ist in the condttioa of dialectic division, so that the tpeech
of each community is the meml)er of a more or less ex-
tended family. Whitnty, Life and Growth of Utng,, p. 17.^.
4. That which is spoken; thoughts as uttered
or written; a saying or remark; especially, a
more or less formal address or other utterance ;
an oration; a harangue: as, a cutting «7>e'ecA in
conversation ; the speeches in a dialogue or a
drama; to deliver a »/>eef A ; avolumeof/fpfecAc*.
Ton may spare yoar tpteeha: I expect no reply.
SUeU, Tatler, No. 2*6.
At the end of his tpeeeh he [Chatham] (ell in an apoplec-
tic fit, and was )x>me home to die a few weeks afterward.
Amer. Cye., XUL 552.
6. A speaking or talking of something; uttered
opinion, intention, etc.; oral or verbalmention ;
report. [Archaic]
5813
The duke . . . did of me demand
What waa the speech among the Londoners
Concerning the French journey.
Shak., Hen. VIII., i. 2. 154.
[There isl no speech of any stop of shipping hither, nor
of the general governour.
Winthrop, Hist New England, I. 466.
6. An occasion of speaking; course of speak-
ing ; oral communication ; colloquy ; confer-
ence; parlance: as, to get speech of or with a
person.
I would by and by have some speech with you.
Shak., M. for M., iii. 1. 155.
Look to it that none have speech of her.
Scott, Kenilworth, xxxiv.
7. Manner of speaking ; form or quality of that
which is spoken or of spoken sounds; method
of utterance, either habitual or occasional: as,
his speech betrays his nationality; rapid speec/i;
thick or harsh speech.
As thou wouldest be cleane in arraye,
So be cleane in thy speeche.
Babees Book(E. R T. S.), p. 96.
Thoa art a Galilsean, and thy speech agreeth thereto.
Mark xiv. 70.
8. The utterance or sounding of a musical in-
strument, especially of a pipe in a pipe-organ.
In the llth century . . . the manner of testing the
speech [of an organ] by blowing the pipe with the mouth
in various ways is precisely that often employed by the
" voicer" of the present day. Grove, Diet. Sluaic, IL 578.
9. In a wheel, the hub with the spokes, but
without the fellies and tire. E. H. Kiiight. —
Figure of speech, neeii^ure. — Maiden, oblique, per-
fectspeech. Scetheadjectives.— Part of speech. See
part.-^ Reported speech. ;*:iniL- as uMique .'Kir /i.— Rule
of speech. .See mfe i .- Scanning speech, aeoxcan.—
Set speech. See a(i.— Speech from the throne, in
British politics, a speech or address prepared by the minis-
try in the name of the sovereign, and read at the opening
of Parliament either by the sovereign in person or by com-
mission. It states briefly the relations with foreign coun-
tries and the condition of domestic altairs, and outlines
vaguely the chief measures which will be considered by
Parliament Also called King's (or Queen's) speech. = Syn.
Speech, Address, Uamngue, Oration. Speech is generic,
and applies to any form o( words uttered ; it is the thing
^spoken, without re(erence to its quality or the manner of
speaking it. An address is a speech viewed as spoken to
one or more persons, and is generally of the better sort :
as, l^itil'sn»ecA on Mars' Hill ; his address before Felix. A
harangue a a noisy speech, usually ttnstudie<l and unpol-
ished, addressed to a large audience and in a violent man-
ner, hnoration is a formal, impressive, studied, and elab.
orately polished address : as, Webster was selected to de-
liver the oration when the comer-stone of the Bunker
Hill monument .was laid, and again when the monument
was completed. See sermon and language.
speecht (spech), v.i. [< speech, «.] To make a
speech ; harangue.
He raved continoslly, . . . and speeched against him from
morning till night.
Account qf T. Whigg, Esq., p. 9. (Latham.)
speeci-center ('spech'sen'tfr), n. A nervous
center particularly related to speech; espccial-
Iv, a cortical center situated in the region of
tlje posterior extremity of the left frontal con-
volution of the brain, the destruction of which
produces in most persons ataxic aphasia.
8peechcraft(spech'krftft),n. The art or science
of liinguago ; grammar. Bums,
speech-crier (specli'kri'dr), n. Formerly, in
Great Britain, a hawker of the last speeches
or confessions of executed criminals, accounts
of murders, etc. As a distinct occupation, such hawk-
ing arose from the frequency of public executions when
hanging was the penslty (or a great variety of crimes.
Spe«ch-d&7 (spech'da), ». In England, the
periodical examination-day of a public school.
I still have . . . the gold ^tui your papa gave me when
he came to our speech-day at Kensington.
Thackeray, Virginians, xxi.
Speechfol (spech'ftU), a. [< speech + -/m?.]
Full of talk; loquacious; speaking. [Rare.]
Dost thou see the speechful eyne
0( the (ond and faithful creature?
BlacUe, Lays of the Highlands, p. 18.
Speechification (spe'chi-fi-ka'»hon), n. [<
speichifii + -ation (see •fication).'] The act of
making speeches or of haranguing. [Humorous
or contemptuous.]
speechifier (spe'chi-fi-fT), n. [< speechify +
-erl.] One who speechifies ; one wno is fond
of making speeches ; a habitual speechmaker.
[Humorous or contemptuous.]
A county member, . . . both out of the house and in it,
is liked the better (or not being a speechifier.
George Eliot, Daniel Deronda, xliv.
speechify (sp§'chi-fi), v. i. ; pret. and pp. speech-
ified, ppr. speechifying. [< speech + -i-fy.'\ To
make a speech; harangue. [Humorous or con-
temptuous.]
At a political dinner everyimly is disagreeable and In-
clined to speeeh\fy. Didcens, Sketcbea, Scenes, xlx.
speed
speechless (spech'les), a. [< speech + -less.'i
1 . Not having or not using the faculty of speech ;
unable to speak; dumb; mute.
He that never hears a word spoken, ... it is no wonder
if such an one remain speechless.
Holder, Elements of Speech, p. 115.
2. Refraining or restrained from speech ; not
speaking, either of purpose or from present in-
ability: as, to stand speechless before one's ac-
cusere; «peec7i ?ess from terror.
I had rather hear your groans then find you speechlesse.
Brome, Queens Exchange, ii.
8. Characterized by the absence of speech;
unexpressed; unattended by spoken words.
From her eyes
I did receive fair speechless messages.
Shak., M. of V., L 1. 164.
4t. Using few words ; concise. Halliicell.
speechlessly (spech 'les-li), adv. Without
speaking: so as to be incapable of utterance:
as, speechlesshj amazed.
speechlessness (spech'les-nes), «. The state
of iH'ing speechless; muteness.
speechmake (spech'mak), v. i. [A back-forma-
tion, < speechmaking.l To indulge in speech-
making; make speeches. [Rare.]
"The King's Friends" and the "Patriots" . . . were
speechmaking and pamphleteering.
Athenaum, No. 3251, p. 205.
speechmaker (spech' ma ■'ker), «. One who
makes a speech or speeches ; one who speaks
nincl) in public assemblies.
speechmaking (spech'ma'king), n. [< speech
+ mukiug.'] The act of making a speech or
speeches ; a formal speaking, as before an as-
sembly ; also, used attributively, marked by for-
mal speaking or the delivery of speeches.
speechmant (spech'mau), n. [Early mod. E.
also speachman ; < speech + man.'] One em-
ployed in speaking; a spokesman; an inter-
preter.
Sending with them by poste a Talniach or Speachman
for the better furniture of the Bern ice of thesaydeAni-
bassadour. Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 286.
speech-reading (spech're'ding), m. The pro-
cess of comprenending spoken woi-ds by watch-
ing tlie speaker's lips, as taught to deaf-mutes.
speed (sped), w. [< ME. speed, sped, spede, < AS.
sped, success, prosperity, riches, wealth, sub'
stance, diligence, zeal, haste, = OS. svod, spot,
success, = D. spoed, haste, speed, = MLG. spot,
LG. spood = OHG. spuot, spot, MHG. spuot, suc-
cess; with formative -d, < AS. spowan = OHG.
'spuoan, spuoH, MHG. spuon, succeed; cf.
OBulg. spieti, succeed, = Bohem. spieti, hasten,
= RusB. spieti, ripen, = Lith. speti, be at leisure,
= Lett, spet, be strong or able ; Skt. sphiti, in-
crease, prosperity, < y spitd, fatten.] 1. Suc-
cess; a successful course ; prosperity in doing
something; good fortune; luck: used either
absolutely or relatively : as, to wish one good
sjieed in an undertaking.
0 Lord God o( my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me
good speed this day. Gen. xxiv. 12.
Well mayst thou woo, and happy be thy speed !
Shak., 1'. o( the S., ii. 1. 189.
Remember me
To our all-royal brother ; (or whose speed
The great Bellona I'll solicit.
Fletcher (and another\T«o Noble Kinsmen, i. 3.
2f. A promoter of success or progress; a speeder.
There ; and Saint Nicholas be thy speed !
Shak., T. O. o( V., iii. 1. 301.
3. Rapidity of movement; quickness of mo-
tion; swiftness: also used figuratively.
Wi speid they ran awa.
Sir James the Rose (Child's Ballads, III. 76).
In skating over thin ice our Ba{ety is in our speed.
Emerson, Essays, 1st ser., p. 214.
4. Rate of progress or motion (whether fast or
slow); comparative rapidity; velocity: as, mod-
erate speed; a fast or a slow rate of speed; to
regulate the speed of machines.
He that rides at high speed, and with his pistol kills a
sparrow dying. Shak,, 1 Hen. iV,, ii. 4. 379.
We have every rtason to conclude that, in free space,
all kinds o( light have the same speed. Tait, Light, § 72.
The term speed is sometimes used to denote the magni-
tude only [and not the direction] of a velocity.
Wright, Text Beok of Mechanics, p. 11.
The machine has two different speeds of gear.
Sri. Amer., N. S., LVIL 210.
History . . . can only record with wonder the gpeed
with which both the actual Norman conquerors and the
peaceful Norman settlers who came in their wake were
absorbed into the general mass of Englishmen.
E. A. Freeman, Amer. Lects., p. 156,
5. In submarine rock-drilling, a leg or beam to
which the drilling apparatus is attached. E. H.
ilart at speed.
pass ahead of ; be
speed
Knight — At speed, in her., stiid of
m haxt, or other nnimal of the chase,
when represented as running. — Full
speed, at the hi};hest rate of speed ;
with the titniost swiftness.
They said tliey saw about ten men
riding swiftly towai-ds us, and as many
coming /u^ speed down tlie liill.
Pococke, Description of the J:;ast, II.
[i. «2.
Good speed. See jfood—To have
the speed oft, to get in advance of ;
swifter tlian.
Our thane is coming ;
One of my fellows had the speed of him.
Shak., Macbeth, i. 5. 36.
=SyiL 3. Sw\ftnei8y Rapidity, etc. (see quickness), expedi-
tion.
speed (sped), V. ; pret. and pp. sped, speeded, ppr.
speeding. [< ME. speden (pret. spedde, pp. sped),
< AS. spedan (pret. spedde), succeed, prosper,
grow rich, speed, hasten, = D. spoedeii, speed,
hasten, = MLG. spoden, LG. spoden, spodeti =
OHG. spuoton, MHG. "spuoten, G. spiiten, also
(after LG.) spnden, speed; from the noun.] I.
iiitrans. 1. To advance toward a goal or a re-
sult; get on successfully ; be fortunate ; pros-
per; get on in general; make progress; fare;
succeed.
Thei worschipen also specyally alle tho that the! han
gode meetynge of ; and whan thei itpeden wel In here ior-
neye, aftre here meetynge. Matideville, Travels, p. 166.
Come you to me at night ; you shall know how I speed.
Shak., M. W. of W., 11. 2. 278.
Whoso seeks an audit here
Propitious, pays his tribute, game or fish,
Wild fowl or veu'son ; and his errand speeds.
Cmuper, Task, iv, 614.
What do we wish to know of any worthy person so much
as how he has sped in the history of this sentiment?
Emerson, Love.
8. To get on rapidly ; move with celerity ; has-
ten in going ; go quickly ; hasten in doing some-
thing; act rapidly; hurry; be quick.
I have speeded hither with the very extremest inch of
possibility. Shak., 2 Hen. IV., iv. 3. 38.
Then to the Castle's lower ward
Sped forty yeomen tall.
Scott, Marmion, i. 4.
n. trans. 1. To cause to advance toward
success; favor the course or cause of; make
prosperous.
Allft thenne of that auenturre hadde gret ioye,
& thonked god of his grace that so godli hem spedde.
WiUiam df Paleme (E. E. T. S.X 1. 4922.
Let the gods so speed me, as I love
The name of honour more than I fear death.
Shak., J. C, i. 2. 88.
2. To push forward; carry toward a conclu-
sion; promote; advance.
It shall be speeded well. Shak., M. for M., iv. 5. 10.
Judicial acts are . . . sped in open court at the instance
of one or both of the parties. Ayliffe, Parergon.
3. To send or push forward in a course ; pro-
mote the going or progress of ; cause to go ; aid
in going.
True friendship's laws are by this rule exprest,
Welcome the coming, speed the parting guest
Pope, Odyssey, xv. 84.
4. To give high speed to ; put to speed ; hasten
the going or progress of ; make or cause to be
rapid in movement ; give celerity to : also used
reflexively.
The helpless priest replied no more.
But sped his steps along the hoarse resounding shore.
Dryden, Iliad, i.
He »pei him thence home to his habitation. Fairfax.
0 precious evenings ! all too swiftly sped !
Longfellow, Mrs. Kemble's Readings.
Perhaps it was a note of Western independence that a
woman was here and there seen speeditig a fast horse, in
a cutter, alone. Harper's Mag., LXXVI. 876.
5. To give a certain (specified) speed to; also,
to regulate the speed of; arrange for a certain
rate of going; set for a determined rapidity.
[Technical.]
When an engine is speeded to run 300 revolutions per
minute. The Engineer, LXVIII. 468.
Circular saws and other high-speeded wood-working
machines. Jour. Franklin Inst., CXXIX. 261.
6. To send off or away; put forth; despatch
on a course : as, an arrow sped from the bow.
[Archaic]
When this speche was sped, speke thai no fferre.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 7601.
Hence — 7. To send or put out of the way ; get
rid of; send off; do for; in a specific use, to send
out of the world; put to death; despatch; kill.
[Archaic]
We three are married, but you two are sped.
Shak., T. of the S., v. 2. 186.
5814
Were he cover'd
With mountains, and room only for a bullet
To be sent level at him. I would speed him.
Fletcher, DouT>le Marriage, v. 3.
A dive dilemma ! either way I'm sped;
If foes, they write, if friends, they read me dead.
Pope, Prol. to Satires, 1. 31.
8. To cause to be relieved: only in the pas-
sive. [Archaic]
We believe we deserve to be sped of all that our blind
hearts desire.
Tyndale, Ans. tv Sir T. More, etc. (Parker Soc, 1860), p. 11.
Being sped of my grumbling thus, and eased into better . « , , , ,.-,,-
temper. if. D. Bioc*m»r«, Lorna Doone, Ix. specd-reCOrder (sped're-kor'der),
9t. To disclose; unfold; explain. «• An apparatus for maMng a
NehathitnatbendetermynednetspedfermlyanddUi. g™phic record of the speed of a
gently of any of yow. Chaucer, Boethius, v. prose 4. railroad-train or road-vehicle, or ot
[The word in this quotation is a forced translation of the the revolutions of a machine or
Latin expedita. ] — God speed you, may God give you ad- motor,
vancement or success ; I wish you good progress or pros- speed-riggerS (sped'rig'erz), >!. pi.
speer
driven by large wheels, and convey the motion
by their shafts to still larger wheels.
speed-pulley (sped'pul''''i), n. A pulley having
several faces of different diameters, so that
it gives different speeds according
to the face over which the belt
is passed ; a cone-pulley Conical
speed-pulley. («) A puUey of a conical
form, connected by a band or belt with an-
other of similar form, so that any change of
position of the belt longitudinally on the
pulleys varies the speed. (6) The cone-
pulley of a machine-tool. See cone-pulley.
perity. See God-s2)eed.
speed-cone (sped'kon), n. A contrivance for
varying and adjusting the velocity-ratio com-
municated between a pair of parallel shafts by
means of a belt, it may be either one of a pair of
continuous pones or conoids whose velocity-ratio can be
varied gradually while they are in motion by shifting the
Speed-pulleys.
^^ ^ ^ ,, . Cone-pul-
feys gi'aduated to move a belt at higher or
lower speed. [Eng.]
speed-sight (sped'sit), n. One of a pair of sights
on a cannon for adjusting aim at a moving snip.
The fore sight is permanently fixed, and the hind sight is
adjustable by a scale according to the ship's estimated
rate of sailing.
belt, or a set of pulleys whose radii vary by steps ; in the g_gg^.^j^y (gpgd'wa), n. A public road set
latter case the velocity-ratio can be changed by shifting r":""! j,_yf_\.5j •„:„,' ttt o n
latter case the velocity-ratio can be changed by shifting
the belt from one pair of pulleys to another. Rankine,
Applied Mechanics, p. 457,
speeder (spe'der), n. [< ME. speder, spedar;
t speed + -eri.] 1. One who makes speed;
one who advances rapidly, or who gains success.
[Obsolete or archaic]
Supposing you to be the Lady, and three such Gentle-
men to come vnto you a wo[o]ing : in faith, who should
be the speeder? Lyly, Euphues and his England, p. 294.
apart for fast driving. [U. S.]
speedwell (sped'wel), «. [< speed + welV^.']
A plant of the genus Veronica, especially V.
Chameedrys, an herb with creeping and ascend-
ing stems, and racemes of bright-blue flowers,
whence it has received in Great Britain such
fanciful names as angeVs-eyes, hird's-eye, god's-
eye, and eyebright. Also called germander-speed-
well. The corolla falls quickly when the plant is gathered.
These are the affections that beflt them that are like to^,- The comnjon speedwell is V. officinalis, which has beeii
be speeders. The sluggard lusteth. and wanteth.
Rev. S. Ward, Sermons, p. 7.
2. One who or that which moves with great
swiftness, as a horse. [CoUoq.] — 3. One who
or something which promotes speed; specifi-
cally, some mechanical contrivance for quick-
ening speed of motion or operation; any speed-
ing device in a machine, as a pair of speed-
cones or cone-pulleys. See speed-multiplier.
To spill [ruin] vs thu was oure spedar.
For thow was oure lyghte and oure ledar.
York Plays, p. 6.
4. In cotton-manuf., a machine which takes the
place of the bobbin and fly-frame, receiving
the slivers from the carders, and twisting them
into ro'vings.
speedful (sped'fiil), a. [< ME. speedfid, spede-
ftd, spedful; < speed + -ful.'] If. Successful;
prosperous.
Othere tydings speedful for to seyn.
Chaucer, Man of Law's Tale, 1. 629.
2t. Effectual; efficient.
He moot shewe that the coUacions of proposicions nis
nat spedful to a necessarye conclusion.
Chaucer, Boethius, iv. prose 4.
And this thing he sayth shall be more speedful and
effectual in the matter. Sir T. More.
3. Full of speed; hasty; speedy. [Rare.]
In pouernesse of spyrit is sped.fullest hele.
Ike ^iMJ^'if^'^U'^UCo
^'lowering Plant of Speedwell {yeroHj'/ra officinaWs).
a,a flower; *, the fruit.
considered diaphoretic, etc., but is now no longer used
in medicine. The thyme-leafed speedwell, Y. serpylli
folia, is a very common little wayside herb with erect
stems from a creeping base, and small white or bluish flow-
ers with deeper stripes. Other species have special names,
V. Anagallis being the water-speedwell, Y. scutellata the
mju*sh-speedwell, V. peregrina the purslane-speedwell or
iieckweed, Y. arvensis the corn-speedwell, V. agrestis the
fleld-speedwell, and V. hedereefolia the ivy-leafed speed-
well. See Veronica.
Piers Plowman's Crede, 1. 264. speedy (spe'di), a. [< ME. spedi, < AS. spedig.
speedfuUy (sped'ful-i), adv. [< ME. spedfullye;
< speedful 4- -?)/2.] in a speedful manner; speed-
ily; quickly; successfully.
Then thay toke ther way wonder spedfullye.
Rmn. ofPartenay (E. E. T. S.X 1. 183.
speed-gage (sped'gaj), «. A device for indi-
cating a rate of speed attained; a velocimeter ;
a speed-indicator.
speedily (spe'di-li), adv. [< ME. spedily, < AS.
'spediglice (Lye), prosperously; as speedy +
-hp.'i In a speedy manner; quickly; with
haste ; in a short time.
speed-indicator (sped'in''''di-ka4or), )i. An in-
strument for indicating the speed of an en-
gine, a machine, shafting, etc. ; a speed-gage^ or
velocimeter. Various forms are in use.
tachometer and operameter.
prosperous, rich, powerful (= D. spoedig,
speedy, = OHG. spuotig, G. sputig, spudig, in-
dustrious, speedy), < sped, prosperity, success,
speed: see speed.] 1. Successful; prosperous.
I will wish her speedy strength, and visit her with my
prayers.
Shak., Cor., i. 3. 87.
2. Marked by speed of movement ; going rap-
idly ; quick ; swift ; nimble ; hasty ; rapiil : as,
a speedy flight.
We men of business must use speedy servants,
Fletcher (and another1\ Prophetess, iiL 2.
3. Rapidly coming or brought to pass ; not de-
ferred or delayed ; prompt; ready.
With him [the ambassador] Temple came to a speedy
agreement. Macaulay, Sir William Temple.
See speedy-cut (spe'di-kut), «. An injury in the
region of the carpus (or knee) of the horse on
speediness (spe'di-nes), «. The quality of be- the inner side, inflicted by the foot of the op-
ing speedy ; quickness ; celerity ; haste ; de- posite side during motion,
spatch. speekt.n- An obsolete form of s/Jilel. E. Phillips.
speeding (spe'ding), »!. [Verbaln. of speed, <;.] speel (spel), »;. t. and*. [Origin uncertain.] To
he act of putting to speed ; a test of speed, climb ; clamber. [Scotch.]
" " speelkent, «• See spellken.
as of a horse. _^ ,
speedless(sped'les), a. [< speed + -less. 'i Hav- speer^ (sper), ■!).*. and «'. [Early mod^E. also
mg no speed; slow; sluggish; not prosperous; " ' ' - j j.
unfortunate; unsuccessful. [Rare.]
It obeys thy pow'rs,
And in their ship return the speedless wooers.
Chapman, Odyssey, v. 40.
speed-multiplier (sped'mul''''ti-pli-6r), n. An
ari'augement of gearing in which pinions are
spear; Sc also speir, spier, and formerly .'!pere,
spire, etc. ; < ME. speren, spiren, speoren, spuren,
spyrren, < AS. spyrian, spirian, sperian, track,
trace, investigate, inquire, discuss, ask (=MLG.
sporen = D. speuren = OHG. spurien, spurren,
sjmren, MHG. spiiren, spiirn, G. spuren = Icel.
spyrja, track, trace, investigate, ask, = Sw.
speer
5815
sporja, ask, sp&ra, track, trace, = Dan. sporge,
ask, inquire, spore, track, trace), < spor, a track,
footprint, = MLG. «/>or = D. spoor, traee^ = spelding (spel'ding), n
gift thatt tu cannst spetldrenn hemm
Adam thu flndesst spelldredd. Ormvlum, 1
OHG. MHG. spor, G. spur = leel. spor = Sw . . , . . _
spSr = Dan. spor, a track, trace : see spoor and small fish split andtfried in the sun.
spur.'i To make diligent inquiry; ask; inquire; spelean, a. See spelfBan
[Also spielden, spel-
liring, speldrin, spddron; < speld + -ing^.'] A
[Scotch.]
inquire of or about. [Now chiefly Scotch.]
She tarn'd her richt and ronnd about.
To spier her true love's name.
Tam-a-Line (Child's Ballads, I. -259).
To speer at, to aim a question at ; inquire of. (Old Eng.
and Scotch.]
speer-t, «• An old form of spire'^.
speeret, «• An obsolete form of sphere.
speerhawkt, «• [Appar. another form and use
of spcrhawk, sparhawk.'] An old name of the
hawkweed, Hieraeium. Britten and Holland,
Eng. Plant Names.
speering (sper'ing), «. [Sc. also speiring; ver-
bal n. of speer^, c] A question ; an inquiry.
[Old Eng. and Scotch.]
speett, I". An obsolete form of spit^.
speightt, «• [Early mod. E. also speght, specht,
gpight; - D. spetht, < G. specht, MHG. OHG.
gpeht (MHG. OHG. also speck, > OF. espeche,
P. ^peiehe), a woodpecker; perhaps akin to L.
picus, a woodpecker (see j>ie) ; otherwise con-
neet«i with OHG. spehon, MHG. spehen, G.
spahen, look, spy: see spy^.'\ A woodpecker.
[Prov. Eng.]
Eae, valklng forth about the Forrests, gathers
SpeighU, Parrota, Peacocks, Estrich scattered feathers.
SyliKtter, tr. of Du Bartaa's Weeks, IL, The Handy-Crafts.
speir^, r. See speer^.
speir-t, ". An obsolete form of sphere.
speiranthy, ". See siiirauUiy.
Spelerpes (spe-ler'pez), n. [NX.. (Rafinesque,
183:;), irreg. i Gr. a-ifl'.mov, a cave, + epiveiv,
creep.] A genus of Plethodontidx, having the
digits free, containing numerous species of
small American salamanders, often handsome-
ly colored. S. longicauda is a slender long-tailed form
found in the Southern States, of a rich-yellow color, with
gonimium.l In hot. See gonidium, .S,
ipeiss (spis), M. [< G. speige, a metallic mix-
ture, amalgam (speigige erze, ores mixed with
cobalt and arsenic), a particular use of speise,
food, meat, < MHG. spise, OHG. spisa, food, <
Olt. It. gpesa (ML. spem, for spenaa), expense, V^jame lines as"Vo1apiik, but is of greater sim
cost, < spendere, spend: see spenee, expense.] pijeity g^e Volapuk
A compound, consisting chiefly of arsenic and g„j^ (spelk), n. [< 'mE. spelke, < A8. *spelc,
iron, but often containing nickel and cobalt, f^,,;^ (Soraner, Lye) = MD. spalcke, D. gpalk =
SpeUrpta rubtr.
numerous broken black bands. 5. bUineattu, a common
species of the Xorthern States, has a black line along each
side of the back, and the bellj- yellow. 5^. ruber is of a
bright-red color, more or less spotted with black, and is
found in cold springs and brooks. ,S, belli is the largest ;
it is plumbeous, with a double row of red spots on the
back, and inhabita Mexico.
, ,e-lin'), n. [So called in "Spelin,"
stem defined, < spe-, var. of spa, all (< *-,
forming general, collective, and plural
terms, + pa, every, < Gr. jrdf, every, all), +
lin, < L. lingua = E. tongue.^ An artificial
linguistic system devised by Prof. Georg Bauer,
of Agram in Croatia, in 1888, designed for a
universal language. It is constructed on the
obtained in smelting the complicated lead ores
occurring near Freiberg in Saxony, and in other
localities.
spek-boom (spek'bom), n. [8. African D., <
smk. fat, lard (= E. speck^), + boom, tree (=
E. beam).'] A South African plant. See Por-
tuhtcaria.
speke (spek), «. A dialectal variant of sitoke'^.
Spel^t. An old spelling of spelV-, spell*.
spel^ (spel), n. [D. spel, play : see «pe/P.] Play.
Sooth plky, quxl fet, ** the Flemyng aeith.
CAaucer, ProL to Cook'a Tale, 1. 3S.
[In Tyrwhitt'a edition alone, apparently his own substitu-
tion of the Dutch for its Englun equivalent play, which
appears in all other editions.]
spelaean, spelean (spe-le'an), a.
[< L. spe-
Icel. spetkur, a splint, splinter, rod; prob. akin
to speld, spald^, spiill^, etc.] 1. A splinter of
wood; a splint used in setting a broken bone.
Halliviell. [Prov. Eng.] — 2. A rod, stick, or
switch ; especially, a small stick or rod used in
thatching. [Prov. Eng.]
spelk (spelk), V. t. [Also assibilated spelch; <
m.Vi.'st>elke»,'spelchen,<. AS. gpelcean, spilcean,
set with splints (= MD. spalcken, set with
splints, fasten, support, prop, = Icel. spelkja,
stuff (skins), = Sw. spjelka, split, splinter), <
'spele, *spilc, a splint, splinter: see spelk, n.]
1. To set, as a broken bone, with a spelk or
splint. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]— 2. To use a
spelk or ro<l in or upon ; fasten or strike with
a spelk. [Prov. Eng.]
, a cave (> ult. E. spelune), < airfof a cave.] speni (spel), n. [< ME. spelle, spel, < AS. spel,
/.17 ;
1. Of or pertaining to a cave or cavern; form-
ing or formed by a cave; cavernous. Otcen,
Longman's Mag., Nov., 1882, p. 67.-2. Inhab-
iting caves or caverns; eave-dwelling; oaver-
nlcoloiis; troglodyte. Fraser'sMag. Al80«p«-
luncoMs.
spelch (spelch), V. t. Same as spelk.
speld (.speld), n. [< ME. speld, a splinter, < AS.
speld. a splinter (biemende speld, 'a burning
splinter,' or simply speld, a torch), = D. speld, a
pm, = MHG. spelte, a splinter, = Icel. speld^ mod.
speldi, a square ttMet,spilda, a flake, slice, =
Goth, spilda, a writing-tablet; from the root of
spald^ (var. speld): see spald^. Cf. Gael, sjtealt,
a splinter. See spell*, spilfi, in part variants
of speld; and of. speVc, spelfi.} A chip or splin-
ter. See spall\,spilP.
Uanli as migtt men either mette other,
A •pscli the otheres ipere in ipetdm than wente.
Watiam oS PaUme (E. E. T. S.), L 83»«.
speld, '•. A Scotch variant of spaldX.
speldert (spel'der), «. [< ME. *spelder, spildur
(= MLG. spelder = MHG. spelter, spilter), a
splinter, dim. of speld.} A splinter. Pals-
grave.
The grete ichafte that was looge,
AUe to tpOdurt hit spronge.
Avowmtge nf King A rihur, xilL 6. (BattimO.)
spelder (spel'der), r. [< ME. spelderen, speldren,
spell, < spelder, a splinter (used as a pointer;
cf.frsriie): see spelder, n.l "ro spell. Catlt.Ang.,
p.'353: ffalliweU. [Prov. Eng.]
spell, a saying, tale, story, history, narrative,
fable, also speech, discourse, command, teach-
ing, doctrine, = OS. spel (spell-) = OHG. spel
(spell-), a tale, narrative, = Icel. .ipjall, a say-
ing, saw, pi. spjoll, words, tidings, = Goth, spill,
a tale, fable, myth; root unknown. The word
is found in many AS. and ME. compounds, of
which the principal ones are represented by
byspell and gospel. Cf. spell^, r.] It. A tale ;
story; narrative.
Herkneth to my ipeOe. Chaueer, Sir Thopas, L 183.
2t. Speech ; word of month ; direct address.
An ax . . . hoge <S vn-mete,
A spetos sparthe to expoun (describe] in tpeUe quo-ao myjt.
Sir Oawaynt and Ou Oreen Kniijht (E. E. T. 8.X 1. 209.
3. A charm consisting of some words of sup-
posed occult power ; any form of words, whether
written or spoken, supposed to be endowed with
magical virtues; an incantation; hence, any
means or cause of enchantment, literally or fig-
uratively ; a magical or an enthralling charm ;
a condition of enchantment; fascination: as,
to cast a spell over a person ; to be tmder a spell,
or bound by a speU.
Spell is a klnde of Terse or charme, that in elder tymes
they used often to say over every thing that they would
bare pmenred, ss the iilghttpel tor theeves, and the wood-
tpM. And herehence, I thinke. Is named the goepel, as it
were Oods spell, or worde. And so sayth Chaucer.
Spenwr, Shep. Cal., March, Olosse.
The running stresm dissolved the >peU,
And his own elvish shape he took.
Scott, L. of L. M., III. 13.
spell
spelli (spel), V. [< ME. spellen, spelUen, spealie,
spilieii, < AS. spelUan (pret. spellede, pp. spelled),
tell, declare, relate, speak, discourse (= MD.
spellen, declare, explain, explain in detail or
point by point, spell, = OHG. spellon, MHG.
spellen, declare, relate, = Icel. spjalla, speak,
talk, = Goth, spillon, tell, narrate), < spel, a tale,
story: see spell^, n. Cf. spell^, v.] I. trans.
If. To tell ; relate ; teach ; disclose.
It 's I have intill Paris been,
And well my drift can gpell.
Young Child Dyeing (Child's Ballads, IV. 267).
2. To act as a spell upon ; entrance ; enthrall ;
fascinate; charm. — 3. To imbue with magic
properties.
This [hippomanes], gathered . . .
With noxious weeds, and gpelVd with words of power.
Dire stepdames in the magic bowl infuse.
Dryden, tr. of Virgil's Georgics, ill. 445.
n.t intrans. To tell; tell a story; give an
account.
Now of marschalle of halle wylle I spelle,
And what falle to hys otfyce now wylle y telle.
Babees Book (E. K T. S.), p. 3ia
spelP (spel), V. ; pret. and pp. spelled or spelt,
ppr. spelling. [< late ME. spellen; a particular
use of spell^, tell, appar. due to D. use: MD.
spelleii, declare, explain, explain in detail or
point by point, spell, D. spellen, spell ; cf. OP.
espeller, espeler, declare, spell, P. epeler, spell,
= Pr. espelar, espelhar, declare (< G. or D.) : see
spelft. The word is in part confused, as the
var. speal also indicates, with spell*, speld^,
spelder, a splinter, because a splinter of wood
was used as a pointer to assist in spelling
words: see spell*, and cf. spelder, v., spell.] I.
trans. 1. To tell or set forth letter by letter;
set down letter by letter; tell the letters of;
form by or in letters.
SpeUj/n (letters). SlUabico. Prompt Parv., p. 468.
A few commonplace and iU-speUed letters, a few wise or
witty words, are all the direct record she has left of her-
self. The Century, XL. 649.
2. To read letter by letter, or with laborious ef-
fort ; hence, to discover by careful study ; make
out point by point : often with out or over.
I will sit on this footstool at thy feet, that I may spM
oner thy splendour, and learn for the first time how princes
are attired. Scott, Kenilworth, viL
He was a perfect specimen of the Truilibers of old ; he
smoked, hunted, drank beer at his door with his grooms
and dogs, and spelled over the county paper on Sundays.
Sydney Smith, in Lady Holland, vii.
3. To constitute, as letters constitute a word;
make up.
The Saxon heptarchy, when seven kings put together
did speU but one in ettect Fuller.
To spell backward, to repeat or arrange the letters of
in reverse (»rder ; begin with the last letter of; hence, to
understand or explain in an exactly contrary sense ; turn
Inside out ; reverse the character or intention of.
I never yet saw man,
How wise, how noble, young, how rarely featured.
But she would spcU him bachcard.
Shak., Much Ado, ill. 1. 61.
To spell baker, to do something difficult; supposed to
refer to fnth'T as one of the first words met l>y children in
pa.s8ing fnjni the *' easy " monosyllables t4» the " hard " dis-
syllables in the old spelling-books. [Old and colloq., U. S.J
If an old man will marry a young wife,
Why then — why then— why then — he must spell Baker.
Long/eUow, Oiles Corey, ii. 1.
n. intrans. 1. To form words with the prop-
er letters, in either reading or writing ; repeat
or set down the letters of words.
O, she knew well
Thy love did read by rote and could not speU.
Shak., B. and j;, 11. 3. SS.
2. To make a study ; engage in careful contem-
plation of something. [Poetical and rare.]
Where I may sit and rightly spell
Of every star that heaven doth shew,
And every herb that sips the dew.
Muton, II Fenseroso, 1. 170.
spell' (spel), t;. t. [ME. spelen, spehen, < AS.
spelian, act in one's stead, take one's place, also
rarely spilian, play, jest, = OS. spilon, play,
dance, = D. spelen = MLG. LG. spelen, play,
game, act, move, sparkle, allude, = OHG. spilon,
ilUO. spiln,G.spielen = Icel.«in7a, play, spend,
play at cards, = Sw. spela = Dan. spille, act a
part, move, sparkle, play, gamble ; from a noun
not recorded in AS., but appearing as OS. spil,
play (of weapons), = MD. D. spel = MLG. spil,
L(3. spile, play, music, performance, cards, =
OHG. MKOr. spil, G. spiel, play, game ; root un-
known.] To take the place of (another person)
temporarily in doing something; take turns
with ; relieve for a time ; give a rest to.
Sometimes there are two ostensible boilers (slaves in
charge of sugar-boiling] to spell and relieve one another.
spell
When one is obliged to be speUtd for the purpose of nat-
nial reat, he should leave his injunctions to a judicious
negro. T. Roughtey, Jamaica Planters' Guide (1S23), p. 340.
Mn. Savor kept her seat beside Annie. She said, " Don't
you want 1 should spcH you a little while, Miss Kilburn ?"
Ilomlls, Annie Kilbuni, xvi.
spell^ (spel), n. [< spell'i, c] 1. A turn of
work or duty in place of another; an interval
of relief by another person; an exchange of
work and rest: as, to take one's regular spell;
to work the pumps by spells.
Their toyl is so extreame as they can not endure it above
foure houres in a day, but are succeeded by spels.
Careic, Survey of Cornwall, fol. 11.
A poor old negro, whose woolly head was turned to gray,
though scarcely able to move, begged to be tal^en in, and
offered to give me a spell when I became tired.
B. Hall, Travels in N. A., 1. 188.
Hence — 2. A continuous course of employ-
ment in work or duty; a turn of occupation be-
tween periods of rest ; a bout.
We read that a working day [in Holland] of thirteen or
fourteen hours is usual ; a spell of eighteen or.more hours
is not uncommon. The Academy, July 27, 1889, p. 64.
3. An interval of rest or relaxation; a turn or
period of relief from work; a resting-time.
A halt was made for the purpose of giving the horses a
jpefi and having a pot of tea.
A. C. Grants Bush Life in Queensland, I. 42.
4. Any interval of time within definite limits;
an unbroken term or period.
Nothing new has happened in this quarter since my
last, except the setting in of a severe ^U of cold wea-
ther and a considerable fall of snow.
Washington, To J. Reed, Dec. 25, 1775.
After a grievous spell of eighteen months on board the
French galleys. Jt. W. Dixon, Hist, Church of Eng., xix.
5. A short period, indefinitely; an odd or oc-
casional interval ; an uncertain term ; awhile.
[CoUoq.]
No, I hain't got a girl now. I had one a spell, but I'd
rather do my own work.
C. D. Warner, Their Pilgrimage, p. 145.
Why don't ye come and rest a spell with me, and to-mor-
rer ye kin go on ef ye like? Harper's Mag., LXXX. 349.
6. A bad turn; an uncomfortable time ; a pe-
riod of personal ailment or ill feeling. [Col-
loq., U. S.]
Wal, arter all, we sot out, and Hepay, she got clear beat
out ; and when Hepsy does get beat out she has spells, and
she goes on awful, and they last day arter day.
H. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 171.
Spell^ (spel), n. [Also spill, speal, formerly
speall; partly a var. of speld (see speld), partly
< D. spil, the pin of a bobbin, spindle, axis (see
spindle). CI. spall^, spale^.'] 1 . A chip, splin-
ter, or splint. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.]
Cf. E. spell or spill, originally a chip of wood for light-
ing a candle.
William of Paleme (E. E. T. S.), Gloss., p. 305.
2. In the game of nur-and-spell, the steel spring
by which the nur is thrown into the air. — 3.
One of the transverse pieces at the bottom of a
chair which strengthen and keep together the
legs. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
Bpellable (spel'a-bl), a. [< S2}ell^ + -able.']
Capable of being spelled, or represented in
letters: as, some birds utter spellable notes.
Carli/le, Misc., IV. 69. {Davies.) [Rare.]
spellbind (spel'bind), V. t. [A back-formation,
after spellbound; < spell^ + bind.'] To bind
by or as if by a spell; hold under mental con-
trol or restraint ; fascinate. [Recent.]
Now the poor French word . . . "Qu'en dirat-on?"
tpeUMnds us alL Carlyle, Essays (J. P. F. Eichter again).
The other, in his speech about the banner.
Spell-bound his audience until they swore
That such a speech was never heard till then.
Halleck, Fanny.
spellbinder (.sperbin-der), n. One who spell-
binds or fascinates; especially, an eloquent
political orator. [U. S. political slang, first
used in the presidential campaign of 1888.]
spell-bone (spel'bon), n. [< spelli + bone'^.]
The small bone of the leg; the fibula. See
phrases undeT peroneal. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
spellbound (spel'bound), a. Bound by or as if
By a spell; entranced; rapt; fascinated.
My dear mother stood gazing at him, spellbound by his
eloquence. B. D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone, li.
spellerif (spel'fer), n. [< ME. spellere; < spein
+ -eri.] A speaker or taller; a teller; a nar-
rator.
Speke we of tho spelleres bolde,
Sith we have of this lady tolde.
Cursor Mundi, MS. Coll. Trin. Cantab., f. 127. (Halliwell.)
speller^ (spel'fer), «. [< late ME. spettare (=
MI). D. speller), a speller; < spelt^ + -erl.] 1.
One who spells, as in school ; a ijerson skilled
in spelling.
Spellare, sillabicator. Prompt. Parv., p. 468.
5816
2. A book containing exercises or instructions
in spelling; a spelling-book,
speller^ (spel'^r), «. [< spell^^ + -c>'l.] A
branch shooting out from the crown of a deer's
antler. See cut under Dama. Cotgrave.
spellful (spel'fiil), a. [< spein + -ful.'] Full
of spells or charms; fascinating; absorbing.
Hoole, tr. of Orlando Furioso, xv. [Rare.]
spellinglf (spel'ing), n. [< ME. spellinge, spel-
lungc, spelling, spellyng, recital, < AS. spellung,
naiTation, verbal n. of spellian, tell, declare:
see speHl.] A story; a relation; a tale.
As we telle yn owre spelli/ng,
Falsenes come never to gode endyng.
MS. Cantab. Ff. ii. 88, f. 125. (.Halliwell.)
spelling^ (spel'ing), n. [< late ME. spellynge
(= MD. spelHnghc, D. spelling) ; verbal n. of
spell", V. Cf. D. spelkunst (.kunst, art), spelling;
buchstabiren, spell, as a noun, spelling (< buch-
stabe, a letter : see under book) ; Sw. stafning
= Dan. stavning, spelling (see staff, stave) ; and
ct. orthography.] 1. The act of one who spells;
the manner of forming words with letters; or-
thography.
SpeUynge, siUabicacio. Prompt. Parv., p. 468.
Our common spelling is often an untrustwortliy guide
to etymology. J. Hadley, Essays, p. 856.
To prepaie the way for such a change [a reform in spell-
ing) the first step is to break down, by the combined influ-
ence of enlightened scholars and of practical educators,
the inmiense and stubborn prejudice which regards the
established modes of spelling almost as constituting the
language, as liaving a sacred character, as in themselves
preferable to others. All agitation and all defliute propo-
sals of reform are to be welcomed so far as they work in
this direction. Proc. Amer. Philol. Assoc, 'VII. 35.
It may be observed that it is niaiidy among the class of
halt-taught dabblers in philology that etymological spell-
ing_ has found its supporters. All true philologists and
philological bodies have uniformly denounced it as a mon-
strous absurdity, both from a practical and a scientific point
of view. H. Sweet, Handbook of Phonetics, p. 201.
2. A collocation of letters representing a word ;
a written word as spelled in a particular way.
Our present spelling is in many particulars a far from
trustworthy guide in etymology, and often, indeed, en-
tirely falsifles history. Such spellings as island, author,
delight, sovereign, require only to be mentioned, and there
are hundreds of others involving equally gross blunders,
many of which have actually corrupted the spoken lan-
guage. H. Sweet, Handbook of Phonetics, p. 200.
Phonetic spelling. See jj/wn^fac— Spelling reform,
the improvement by regulation and simpliflcation of the
conventional orthography of a language, specifically of the
English language ; the proposed simplification of Eng-
lish orthography. The spelling of all languages having
a recorded history tends to lag behind the changes of
pronunciation, and in time a reform becomes necessary.
In English, since the gradual fixation of the spelling after
the invention of printing, the separation of spelling and
pronunciation has become very wide, and numerous pro-
posals for spelling reform have been made. The present
organized effort for spelling reform has arisen out of the
spread of phonography, which is based on phonetic spell-
ing, and from the more recent spread of the study of com-
parative philology, which is also based on phonetics. Pro-
posals for a gradual reform in spelling have been put forth
jointly by the American Philological Association and the
Philological Society of England, and are advocated by the
Spelling Eeform Association. Amended spellings have
been accepted to some extent by various periodicals, and
are admitted, less freely, into recent books. Movements
for spelling reform exist also in France, Germany, Den-
mark, and other countries. A spelling reform has been
accomplished in Dutch, Spanish, and other tongues, and
to some extent, by government action, in Germany.
spelling-bee (spel'ing-be), ti. Same as spelling-
match.
spelling-book (spel'ing-buk), n. A book from
which children are taught to spell.
spelling-match (spel'ing-mach), n. A contest
for superiority in spelling between two or more
persons or parties. A formal spelling-match is usual-
ly between sides or sets of persons chosen by two leaders.
Any person who misspells one of the words given out
retires, and the victoi-y belongs to the side that has the
larger number left at the close. Also called spelling-bee.
[V. S.] ^
spellkent (spel'ken), H. [Also speelken; < D.
spel, play (see spelfi), + E. ken^, a resort.] A
playhouse ; a theater. [Low slang.]
Who in a row like Tom could lead the van,
Booze in the ken, or at the spellken hustle?
Byron, Don Juan, xi. 19.
spell-stopped (spel'stopt), a. Stopped by a
spell or spells; spellboimd. Shak., Tempest,
v. 1.61.
spell-work (spel'werk), n. That which is work-
ed by spells or charms; power of magic; en-
chantment. Moore, Lalla Rookh.
spelonkt, «. Same as spelunc.
spelt' (spelt), n. [< ME. *spelt (not found), <
AS. spelt = D. spelt = MLG. LG. spelte = OHG.
spelta, spelza, speho, MHG. spelte, spelze, G.
spelt, spelz, spelt ; ef . G. spelze, chaff, shell, beard
of an ear of com ; = It. .welda, spelta = Sp. Pg.
espelta = Pr. espeuia = OF. espiautre, F. epeau-
spencer-mast
tre, spelt ; < LL. .■ipclta, spelt.] A kind of wheat
commonly known as Triticum Spelta, but be-
lieved to be a race of the common wheat, Tri-
ticum sativum {T. rulgare). Spelt is marked by the
fragile rachis of the spike, which easily breaks up at the
joints, and by the grains being adherent to the chaff. It
was cultivated by the Swiss lake-dwellers, by the ancient
Egyptians, and throughout the Koman empire, and is still
grown in the colder mountainous regions of Europe and
elsewhere. It makes a very fine flour, used especially for
pastry-making, but the grain requires special machinery
for grinding,
spelt^t (spelt), n. [< ME. spelt; a var. of speld.]
A splinter, splint, or strip; a spell or spill.
The spekes was splentide alle with speWs of silver.
The space of a spere lenghe springande fulle faire.
Morte Arlhure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3265.
spelt^t (spelt), V. t. [A var. of speld, spam,
perhaps confused with ME. spelken, spilt: see
spaUn, speld, spelk. Cf. spelt^, n.] To split;
break.
Feed geese with oats, spdted beans.
Mortimer, Husbandry.
spelt^ (spelt). A preterit and past participle of
spelV^.
spelter (spel'tfer), n. [Not found in ME., and
prob. of LG. origin: LG. spialter, pewter, =
MD. speauter, D. spianter = G. Sw. Dan. spiau-
ter, zinc, bell-metal; cf. OP. piaittre, peutre,
peautre, espeautre = Sp. Pg. peltre = It. j^eltro
(ML. peutrum, pestrum), pewter: see pewter.
'The Rom. forms are from Tent., but have ap-
par. in turn influenced the Tent, forms.] Zinc :
now used only in commerce.
Not only those metalline corpuscles that were just over
or near the determinate place where I put the spelter, but
also all the rest, into how remote parts soever of the liquor
they were diffused, did settle upon the spelter.
Boyle, History of Fluidity, xxiii.
Spelter solder, hard solder. See solder.
spelter (spel'ter), V. t. [< spelter, n.] To sol-
der with spelter solder, or hard solder. Srass-
Founders' Manual, p. 59.
spelunct, spelunkt (spe-lungk'), n. [<ME. spe-
lunk, spelonke, spelunc = D. spelonk, < OF. spe-
lonque, F. spelonque = Pr. spelunca = Sp. Pg. es-
pelunca = It. spelonea, < L. spelunca, < Gr. ctct/-
Avy^ {airrjAvyy-), a cave, cavern, < anioQ, a cave.]
A cave ; a cavern ; a vault.
Men bi hem-selue.
In spekes and in spelonkes selden speken togideres.
Piers Plowman (B), xv. 270.
And parte of the same stone lieth ther yett now in the
same vttermost Spelunk.
TorHngton, Diarie of Eng. Travell, p. 40.
speluncous (spe-lung'kus), a. [< spelunc +
-ous.] Same as speliean, 2.
spent, V. t. [ME. spennen (= MHG. spennen =
Icel. spenna), a secondary form of AS. span-
nan, span : see spanl. Ct.spend'^.] To stretch;
grasp; span.
Bifore that spot my honde I spenn[e]d.
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), L 49.
spencet, spencerlf. See spense, spenser.
spencer^ (spen'ser), n. [Named after Earl
Spencer (1782-1845). The surname is derived
ivam spencer'^, spenser.] 1. A man's outer gar-
ment or overcoat so short that the skirts of the
bodj'-eoat worn under it were seen : a fashion
introduced about 1800. — 2. A woman's gar-
ment introduced a year or two later, and made
in direct imitation of the above, it also was short,
and formed a kind of over-jacket, reaching a little below
the waist.
spencer^ (spen'ser), n. Natit., a trapezoidal
fore-and-aft sail set abaft the foremast and
mainmast; a trysail.
spencer-gaff (spen's6r-gaf), n. The gaff to
which the spencer is bent.
Spencer gun. See (/wni.
Spencerian (spen-se'ri-an), a. [< Spencer (see
def . ) + -ian.] Pertaining or relating to the Eng-
lish philosopher Herbert Spencer (bom 1820),
or characteristic of his philosophical system.
See Spencerianism.
Spencerianism (spen-se'ri-an-izm), n. The
philosophy of Herbert Spencer, called by him
the synthetic philosophy. Like almost all the an-
cient and a considerable part of the modern philosophical
systems, it is a philosophy of evolution ; but it differs
from most of these in reducing evolution to the rank of a
mere secondary principle, and in making the immutable
law of mechanics the sole fundamental one. Spencer has
formally stated his philosophy in sixteen propositions,
which concern the relations of evolution and dissolution.
These are of a special and detailed character, so that he
does not countenance the claim made for him of the princi-
ple of evolution itself. His sixteenth proposition states
that under the sensible appearances which the universe
presents to us, and "transcending human knowledge, is
an unknown and unknowable power."
spencer-mast (spen'sfer-mast), w. See masfi-.
spency
spency (spen'si), n. ; pi. sjtencics (-siz). The
stormy petrel, I'rocellaria pelagica. C. Swain-
son. [Shetland Isles.]
spend^ (spend), I'.; pret. and pp. spent (for-
merly sometimes spemled), ppr. spending. [<
ME. spenden (pret. spende, pp. ispendcd, (spend),
< AS. spendan, spend (also in comp. d-spendan,
for-spendan) = OHG. spenton, MHG. spenten,
spenden, G. spenden = Sw. spendera = Dan.
spendere = It. dispendere, spendere = Sp. Pg. de-
spender = OF. despendre, F. dependre, < ML.
spendere, L. dispendere, pay out, dispend: see
dispend. Cf. expend, and see sj'ense, spenser,
etc.] I. trans. 1. To pay or give out for the
satisfaction of need, or the gratification of de-
sire ; part with for some use or purpose ; ex-
pend ; lay out : used of money, or anything of
exeUangeable value.
The luoore thou gpendigt, the lesse thou hast.
Hymnt to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.X p. 61.
Wherefore do ye tpend money for that which is not
bread? Isa. Iv. 2.
The oils which we do spend in England for our cloth
are brought out of Spain.
J, Campion (Arl)er's Eng. Gamer, I. 56).
2. To impart ; confer ; bestow for any reason ;
dispense.
As help me Crist as I in fewe yeeres
Have spended [var. 9pent\ upon diverse maner freres
Fal many a pound, yet fare I never the l>et.
Chaucer, Summoner's Tale, 1. 212.
I will but spend a word here in the house.
And go with yon. Skak., Othello, L 2. 48.
3. To consume ; use up ; make away with ; dis-
pose of in using.
They were without prouision of victuals, but onely a
little bread, which they tpent by Thursday at night.
Uailuj/Vt Voyaget, 1. 276.
Hy last breath cannot
Be better tpent than to say 1 forgive you.
Bnni. and Fl., Knight of Malta, iU. 2.
4. To pass; employ; while away: used of time,
or of matters implying time.
They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go
down to the grave. Job xxL 13.
I would not spend another such a night,
Though 'twere to buy a world of happy days.
Shak., Rich. III., i. 4. 5.
5. To waste or wear out by use or action ; incur
the loss of. See phrase to spend a vtast, below.
What 's the matter.
That yon unlace your reputation thus.
And spend your rich opiiiion for the name
Of a night-brawler? Shak. , Othello, a 8. I9S.
6. To exhaust of means, force, strength, con-
tents, or the like; impoverish; enfeeble: only
in the passive. See spent.
Their bodies spent with long lalMUr and thirst
Knotiu, Hist. Turlcs. {Latham.)
They could have no deeign to themselves in this work,
thus to expose themselves to scorn and abuse, to spend
and l>e spent. Penn, Kise and Progress of Quakers, ill.
>'aintly thence, as pines far sighing.
Or as thunder spent and dying.
Come the cliallenge and feplyuig.
Whiltier, The Sanger
7t. To cause the expenditure of; cost.
It spent me so little time after your going that, although
yon speak In your letter of good dispatch in your going,
yet I might luiTe overtaken you. Donne, fetters, cxv.
The main baalneas, which spent the most time, and
caused the adjoumingof the court, wae about the removal
WinthTop, RtML New England, 1. 167.
loee, or cairy away a mast In
of Newtown.
To spend a mast, to break,
sailing ; incur the loss of a n
mast.
He spent his mast in fair weather, and having gotten a
new at (ape Anne, and lowing it towards the bay, he lost
it liy tlie way. H'lntArop, Hist. New England, IL 74.
To spend groimd, to excavate in mining ; mine. (Corn-
wall. Eng. I — To spend the mouUlt, to bark violently;
give tongue ; bay.
Thin do they |hounds| spend their mouUt; Echo replies,
As if another chase were in the skies.
Shak., Venus and Adonis, L W6.
To spend npt, to use np ; consume improvldently ; waste.
Ihere is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling
of the wise ; but a foolish man spendeth It up.
Prov. xxL 20.
n. intrans. 1. To pay or lay out; make ex-
penditure of money, means, strength, or any-
thing of value.
Be spendeth, JoDsteth, maketh festeynynges.
Chaucer, TroUns, lit 1718.
Oet ere thou spend, then shalt thou bid
Thy friendly friend good morrowe.
BabeetBookCE. E. T. 8.X p. 9a
To spend in all things else.
But of old friends to he most miserly.
Loirell, Under the Willows.
2. To be lost or wasted; be dissipated or con-
sumed; go to waste: as, the candles spend fast.
5817
The sound spendeth and is dissipated in the open air.
Bacon, Nat. Hist., 1 129.
3. Specifically, to emit semen, milt, or spawn.
See upent, 2.
spend- (spend), r. t. [A var. of spen.'] To
span; grasp with the hand or fingers. Halli-
v>eU. [Prov. Eng.]
He sawe the Duglas to the deth was dyght.
He gpendyd a spear, a trusti tre.
HuM/inj)' (j^fAe CAeCTo« (Child's Ballads, VII. 37).
spendable (spen'da-bl), a. [< spend^ + -able.']
That may be spent ; proper to be used for cur-
rent needs: as, spendable income. [Rare.]
spend-all (spend'al), n. [< spend^, v., + obj.
all.) A spendthrift ; a prodigal.
Nay, thy wife sh-ill be enamored of some spend-all.
which shall wast all as licentiously as thou hast heaped
together latioriously. llan in the Moone (16O0). (Nares.)
spender (spen'der), n. [< ME. spendere, spen-
dare; (.spend^ + -er^.'] One who or that which
spends or wastes ; used absolutely, a spend-
thrift.
You've been a spender, a vain spender ; wasted
Your stock of credit and of wares unthriftily.
Ford, Fancies, ii. 1.
Very rich men in England are much freer spenders than
they are here. The American, VI. 217.
spending (spen'ding), n. [< ME. spendyng,
spendynge; verbal n. of «;)en(?,f.] 1. Theaetof
paying out money. — 2t. Ready money; cash;
means.
Yf thou fayle ony spendynge.
Com to Robyn Hode.
LyteU OesU o/ Robyn Hode (Child's Ballads, V. 92).
3. Seminal emission.
spending-money (spen'ding-mun'i), n. Money
provided or u.sfd for small personal expenses;
pocket-money for incidental outlay.
Spending-silvertCspen'ding-sil'vfer),!!. [< ME.
spendingsilver ; < spendituj + silver.'] Money
for expenses; spending-money; cash.
And spending sUcer hadde he ryght ynow.
Chaucer, Canon's Yeoman's Tale, 1. 7.
^ For of thy spendynge sylver, monk.
Thereof wytl I ryght none.
lytM QesU ttf Robyn Hode (ChUd's BaUads, V. 87).
spendthrift (spend'thrift), «. and a. [< s}>end^,
v., + obj. thrift.] I. n. One who spends lav-
ishly, improvidently, or foolishly ; an unthrifty
spender; a prodigal.
What pleasure can the miser's fondled hoard,
Or spendthrift's prodigal excess, afford?
Cowper, la Memory of John Thornton.
n. a. Wastefully spending or spent; lavish;
improvident ; wasteftu ; prodigal : as, a spend-
thrift heir ; spendthrift ways.
And then this "should " is like a spendthrift sigh.
That hurts by easing. Shak., Hamlet, Iv. 7. 123.
Spendthrift alike of money and of wit.
Couver, Table-Talk, 1. 6S4.
spendthrifty (spend'thrif'ti), a. [< spendthrift
+ -yi.] Lavish; wasteful; prodigal. [Bare.]
Spendthrifty, unclean, and rufBan-like courses.
Boffers, Naamau the Syrian, p. 611.
spenM (spens), n. [Also spence; < ME. spense,
spence, < OF. spense, spence, espense, expense,
expense (see expense); in ME. partly by apher-
esis from dispense, < OF. despense, expense, also
a larder, buttery, etc., < despendre, spend : see
expense, dispense, and cf. spend^, spenser.] If.
Expense; expenditure of money.
So he sped hym by spies, A spense of his gode,
rd lyuely he stale.
qf Troy (E. E. T. 8.), L 18692.
That the lady fro hlr lord l2ueiy_he_stale.
DestruMon c '
For better Is coet upon somewhat worth than spense
upon nothing worth.
Ascham, Toxophilus (ed. 1864), p. 115.
2. A buttery; a larder; a cellar or other place
where provisions are kept. [Obsolete and prov.
Eng.]
Al vinolent as bottle in the spence.
Chaucer, Sumnioner's Tale, 1. 223.
Tn the spenee, a labell planke. and 11. sylwes Ishelves).
Knglish Oildt(E. E. T. 8.), p. 327.
Bluff Harry broke into the spence.
And tum'd the cowls adrift.
Tennyson, Talking Oak.
3. The apartment of a house where the fam-
ily sit and eat. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.]
spensert (spen's^r), n. [Also spencer; Sc.
spensar; < ME. spetner, s]>encere, spensere, also
aespenser, < OF. despencier, despensier (ML. dis-
pensarius), dispenser, spenser, < despense, ex-
pense: see dispenser, spense. Hence the sur-
names Spencer, Spenser.] A steward or butler;
a dispenser.
Cesar heet his spenser jeve the Greke his money.
7'remsa, tr. of Higden's Polycbronicon, IV. S09.
Spergnlaria
The spencer came with keyes in his hand,
Opened the doore and them at dinner fand.
Henryson, Moral Fables, p. 12.
Spenserian (spen-se'ri-an), a. and ». [< Spen-
ser (see (Jef. and spenser) + -i-an.] I. a. Of
or pertaining to the English poet Edmund
Spenser (died 1599); specifically, noting the
style of versification adojited by Spenser in his
"Faerie Qiieene." It consists of a strophe of eight
decasyllabic lines and an Alexandrine, with three rimes,
the ilrst and third line forming one, the second, fourth,
fifth, and seventh another, and the sixth, eighth, and
ninth the third. It is the stateliest of English measures,
and is used by Thomson in his "Castle of Indolence," by
Byron in his "Childe Harold," etc.
II. 11. The poetical measure of Spenser's
"Faerie Queene"; a Spenserian verse or stanza.
O. W. Holmes, Poetry.
spent(spent),^.a. [Pp.of «pe)r(?l,».] 1. Nearly
or quite exhausted or worn out; having lost
force or vitality ; inefficient ; impotent : gen-
erally in a comparative sense. A spent deer or
other animal is one that has been chased or wounde(l
nearly to death. A speiit ball is a flying ball (from a gun)
that has so nearly lost its impulse as to be unable to pene-
trate an object struck by it, though it may occasionally
inflicta dangerous contused wountl. A spent bill o/ lading
or other commercial document is one that has fulfilled its
purpose and should be canceled.
The forme of his style there, compared with Tallies
writyng, is but euen the taike of a spent old man.
Ascham, The Scbolemaster, p. 152.
Mine eyes, like spent lamps glowing out, grow heavy.
Fletcher, Sea Voyage, iii. 1.
2. Exhausted by spending or spawning; offish,
having spawned.
speOS (spe'os), n. [< 6r. trn-fof, a cave.] In
Egypt, archeeol., a temple or part of a temple,
or a tomb of some architectural importance, as
distinguished from a mere tunnel or syringe,
excavated in the solid rock ; a grotto-temple or
tomb, as at Beni-Hassan (see cut under hypo-
geum) and Abou Simbel (Ipsamboul). The
larger specs of Al>ou Simbel is atK>ut 169 feet deep, and
has all the parts of a complete open-air Egyptian temple.
SpeotytO (spe-ot'i-to), «. [NL. (Gloger, 1842),
< Gr. CTTTfof, a cave, + tvtu, the night-owl.] An
American genus of Strigidee, containing several
species of small long-leggecj earless owls which
live in treeless regions and burrow in the
ground, as S. cunicularia of the pampas of South
America and ,S. hypogaea of the prairies of west-
em North America; the burrowing owls. A variety
of the latter also inhabits Florida, and the genus is like-
wise represented In the West Indies. ,S^. hypogsea is the
species which is found in association with prairie-dogs untl
spemiophiles, giving rise to many exaggerated acco(nUs
of the relation l)etween the bird and the mammal. These
owls were formerly placed in tlie genus Athetw, and were
also called Photeoptynx. See cuts under oxcl.
spert, »'. t. A variant of spar^.
Sperable^t (spe'ra-bl), a. [< L. sperahilis, that
may be hoped for, < sperare, hope, < spes, hope.]
Capable of being hoped for ; affording grounds
of nope.
Wherin, suerly perceaving his own cause not sperable,
he doth honoratdy and wisely.
Sir W. Cecil (June 3, 1565), in Ellis's Hist Letters, 2d ser.,
[clxxii.
sperable-f, ». An obsolete form of sparable.
speraset, n. Same as spar age.
speratet (spe'rat), o. [< L. speratus, pp. of spe-
rare, hope.] Hoped for; not hopeless: op-
posed to desperate, in old law, in determining whether
debts to a testator, the right to collect which devolved
upon the executor, were assets to be accounted for by him,
though not collected, regard had to be had to their charac-
ter, whether they were sperate or desperate.
sperclet, v. A Middle English form of sparkle.
speret. An old spelling of spear^, speer^,
sjihcre.
Spergula (sp^r'gu-la), n. [NL. (Dillenius, 1719),
named from its scattering its seeds; < L. spar-
gere, scatter: see sparge,] A genus of poly-
petalous plants, of the order C'aryophyllacese
and tribe .4lsineie. It is characterized by the presence
of small scarious stipules, by flowers with five styles alter-
nate with the five sepals, and by a one-celled capsule with
its five valves opposite the 8ep.il8. There are 2 or 3 species,
widely scattered through temperateregionsof either hemi-
sphere, and especially abundant in fields and cultivated
places of the Old World. They are annual herbs witli
dicliotomous or clustered branches, the swollen and suc-
culent axils bearing apparent whorls of awl-shaped leaves.
The small white or i>ink flowers fonn raceme-like cymes
with conspicuous pedicels, 'i'tie species are known by the
gejieral name of spurr^, sometimes sandweed.
Spergnlaria (sp6r-gu-la'ri-a),»i. [NL. (Persoon,
1805). < Spergula + -aria.] A genus of polypeta-
lous plants, of the order Caryopliyllaceas and tribe
Alsinese. It is distinguished from the allied genus Sper-
ITti/abyitsthreestylesandthree-valved capsule, and differs
from Arenaria, to which it was formerly referred, in the
possession of stipules. There are 3 or 4 species, scattered
through temperate regions, especinlly along salt-marshes
and shores. They are cunmionly diffuse lierbs, small and
often succulent, with thread-like or linear leaves, often, as
Spergularia
In Sptrgula. with secondary clusters of leaves forming ap-
Sareiit whorls at the axils. The small flowers open in
right sunshiiHs mid are wliite or rose-colored or common-
ly purplish. The species are known as satid-spurry. At
least s species are found on the Atlantic coast of the
Initwl States. See Titta.
sperhawkt, «■ Same as sparhaick for spanow-
hilirk
sperket (sper'ket), n. [Also spirket; origin ob-
scure.") A large hooked wooden peg, not much
ourvea, to hang saddles, harness, etc., on. Hat-
tiicell. [Prov. Eng.]
High on the ttpirket there it hung.
Bloomfidd, The Horliey. (DavU».)
Sperling (sp^r'ling), «. Same as sparling'^.
sperm^ (sp6rm), «. [< ME. sperme,< OF. s2>e)VHe,
sparine, F. sperme = Sp. Pg. esperma = It. sper-
ma. < Li. spernta, < Gr. aizepfia (airepfioT-), seed,
< atreipetv, sow. Cf. spore'^.'\ The male seed of
any kind, as the semen or seminal fluid of the
5818
duct: see duct.'] A spermatic duet, or sperm-
duet ; a male gonaduot or seminal passage ; a
hollow tubular or vesicular organ in the male,
serving to convey or detain sperm or semen.
It is connected in some way with the spermary, fi-om
gpermatogemma
varicocele or cirsocelc, an extremely common affection,
most frequent on the left side.— Spermatic rete. Same
as ret^ vascitlosutn teiftis (which see, under rete). — Sper-
matic sac, a sac containing a number of spermatozoa
packed or bundled together, to be discharged on rupture
of the sac.
which it carries off the sperm, and in many animals is spermatical (sper-mat'i-kal), a. [< spermatic
specifically called the vas deferens. But it is a more com
prehensive term, including the whole of the male gener-
ative pjissages, of whatever kind. Also spermaditct'USf
fiperuiiduct.
spermagone (sp6r'ma-g6n), «. Same as sper-
miH/dtie.
spermagonium (sp^r-ma-go'ni-um), n. Same
as .iiHrDioyouium.
spermalist (sper'ma-list), n. [< sperm^ + -al +
-ist.'\ A spermist.
spermangium (sp6r-man'ji-um), n. ; pi. sper-
maiu/ia (-ii). [NL., < Gr. aircp/ia, seed, sperm, +
+ -«/.] Same as s/jcrmaiic. Bacon.
spermatiogenous (spfer-ma-shi-oj'e-nus), a. [<
NL. spermatimn + Gr. -yiv^i, producing: see
-genoiis.} In hot., producing or bearing sper-
matia: as, a spermatiogenous surface.
On the contrary, they are disk-shaped or cushion-shaped
bodies with the spemuttiogenoug surface folded into deep
sinuous depressions. De Bary^ Fungi (trans.), p. 241,
spermatiophore (sper-ma'shi-o-for), n. [< NL.
ipermatiiim + Gr. -^opof, < (j>epciv = E. 6ca»-l.] In
fto?., a structure bearing a spermatium.
a) ;f (or, vessel.] In Jifira;, a receptacle contain- spennatisni(8p6r'ma-tizm), ?i. [<. spermat(ize)
ing the spores : same &s conceptacle, 2(6). + -ism.'] 1. Emission of semen; a seminal
higher vertebrates, the male spawn or milt of spermaphyte (sp6r'ma-fit), «. Seespermophyte. discharge.— 2. Same as spermism.
the lower vertebrates, or the seminal elements spermarium (sp6r-ma'ri-um), n. ; pi. spermaria spermatist (spfer'ma-tist), n. [< Gr. an(ppa(T-),
of any animal, containing the male germs, or
spermatozoa.
sperm^ (sp^rm), H. ^Ahhr. ot spermaceti.] 1.
Same as spermaceti. — 2. A sperm-whale. — 3.
Sperm-oil.
sperma (sp^r'ma), n. Same as semen (which
see).
spermaceti (sp6r-ma-set'i or -se'ti), n. and a.
[Formerly or dial, also, in corrupt forms, par-
maceti, parmacety, parmacetty, parinacity, par-
maeitty, etc.; < F. spermaceti = Sp. esperma-
ceti = Pg. espermacete = It. spermaceti, < NL.
spermaceti, lit. ' whale's seed,' the substance hav-
ing been regarded as the spawn of the whale ; <
L. sperma, seed, + ceti, gen. of cetus, < Gr. /iyrof.
(-ii). [NL., < L. sperma, seed, -I- -arium.] A
spermary : used in distinction from ovarium.
spermary (sper'ma-ri), H. ; pi. spermaries (-riz).
[< NL. spermarium.] The male germ-gland or
essential sexual organ, of whatever character;
the sperm-gland, or spermatic organ, or seminal
gonad, in which spermatozoa are generated, in
its specialized condition in the higher animals
known as the testis or testicle. The term is used
in distinction from ovary, both spermaries and
ovaries being gonads. Also spermarium.
spermatemplirazis (spfer"ma-tem-frak'sis), n.
[NL., < Gr. a7ripfia(T-), seed, + cp<lipdaaeiv, ob-
struct: see emphractic] Obstruction to the
discharge of semen
whale: see Cete^.] I. n. A peculiar fatty sub- spermatheca (sper-ma-the'ka), n.; pi. sperma-
stance contained in the characteristic adipose thecie (-se). [NL., irreg. < Gr. avep/ia, seed, +
6?iii?/, a case. Cf. spermotheca.] A spermatic
case, capsule, or sheath; a receptacle for se-
men; specifically, the seminal receptacle in the
female, as of various insects and other inverte-
brates, which receives and conveys or detains
the sperm of the male. More correctly sper-
matotheca. See cuts under Dendrocaila, ovari-
^ . ole, a,ud Bhabdoccela.
semi-transparent unctuous substance, nearly inodorous anermatliecal (sp6r-ma-the'kal), a. [< S])er-
and insipid. It dissolves in boding alcohol, and as the f^,„,i,„„„ 4. „; l V^f nrnprtHinini^ tn a snprmn-
solution cools it is deposited in perfecUy pure lamellated matheca + -al.\ UI or pertaimng to a sperma
._, ,„.,-.--...!:..: — „„j ..,-•„ ... „.i i. „ theca: as, a spcrmawiccaf duct or vesicle.
tissue of the cavity of the head of the sperm-
whale or cachalot, Physeter or Catodon maero-
cephaliis, and related cetaceans. During the life
of the animal the spermaceti is in a fluid state, and when
the head is opened has the appearance of an oily white
liquid. On exposure to the air the spermaceti concretes
and precipitates from the oil, from which it may then be
separated. After being purified by an elaborate process
the spennaceti concretes into awhite. crystallized, brittle.
On reaching the point where the gpervmthecal duct de-
bauches, they [ova] are impregnated by the spermatozoa
which escape now from the spermatheca and meet the
CO = It. spermatico, < L. spermaticus, < Gr. anep-
crystals. In this state it is called cetin. .Spermaceti is a
mixture of various fatty acids and derivatives of the acids.
It is bland and demulcent, but in medicine it is chiefly em-
ployed externally as an ingredient in ointments, cerates,
and cosmetics. It has also been largely used in the manu- ^^^^ ' ■ Erusye. BrU.,^\l. ^i.
facture of candles. ., -r,, , ^ a-
By this (fallacy of ^uivocation] are they deluded who Spennatia, «. Plural of spermattum.
conceive »pernM«(» [sperma Coe«, Pseud. Ep., 1646], which spermatic (sp*r-mat ik), o. [< OJ) . (and i .)
is found about the head, to be the spawn of the whale. snermatique = Sp. espermdtico = Pg. espermati-
Sjr T. -Broiroe, Vulg. Err., ii. 1. ^ - ^ ■ ^- .. ° , A
H. a. 1. Pertaining to, derived from, or com-
posed of spermaceti or sperm. — 2. Producing
or yielding spermaceti, as the sperm-whales. —
Spermaceti ointment. See ointment.
spermaceti-oil (sper-ma-set'i-oil), n. Sperm-
oil.
spermaceti-whale (spfer-ma-set'i-hwal), n. A
sperm-whale.
Spermacoce (sper-ma-kd'se), n. [NL. (Dille-
nius, 1732), so called in allusion to the carpels
pointed with one or more calyx-teeth; < Gr.
aveppa, seed, germ, + aKunt/, a point, < OKt/, a
point, anything sharp.] A genus of rubiaeeous
plants, type of the tribe Spermacocex. It is char-
acterized 'by flowers with from two to four calyx-lobes
sometimes with smaller teeth between, a small twocleft
or capitate stigma, and a dry fruit of two cai-pels which
separate when ripe and are each or only one of them
open, one often retaining the membranous axis. There
are about 175 species, scattered through tropical and sub-
tropical region^ and particularly common in America.
ITiey are annual or perennial herbs or low undershrubs,
with smooth, rough, or hairy stems, commonly with four-
angled branchlets. They bear opposite leaves, which are
either sessile or petioled, membranous or coriaceous,
nerved or feather-veined. The stipules are united with
the petioles into a bristle-bearing membrane or sheath.
The small sessile flowers are solitary in the axils or vari-
ously clustered, often in dense axillary and terminal heads,
and are white, pink, or blue. In allusion to the heads,
the species are called tmUon-weed. Five species occur
in the United States all southern and summer-flower-
ing and with a short white corolla ; S. glabra, the most
common, extends into Ohio. Several species are in re-
pute for medicinal properties, especially as substitutes
for ipecacuanha, for which S. ferrugitiea and .9. Poaya
are used in Brazil, and S. verticii^a in the West Indies.
The root of .S'. hvipida is used as a sudorific in India."
Spennacocese (sper-ma-ko'se-e), n. pi. [NL.
(thamisso and Schlechtendal, 1828), < Sperma-
coce + -ex (shortened for Spermacoceeee).] A
tribe of rubiaeeous plants, of which Spermacoce
is the type, embracing 18 other genera, chiefly
natives of tropical or subtropical America.
spermaduct (sp^r'ma-dukt), n. [< NL. sperma-
dnctus, irreg. i Gr. dkep/ui, seed, + L. dtwtus, a
seed, + -ist.] Same as spermist.
spermatium (sp6r-ma'shi-um), 11. ; pi. sperma-
tia (-a). [NL., < Gr. anippa, seed.] In tot., an
exceedingly minute cylindrical or rod-shaped
body in fungi, produced like spores in cup-like
organs called spermogonia. The spennatia are con-
jectured to be the male fertilizing organs, although the
male sexual function of all spermatia in fungi has not
been demonstrated. In more technical language a sper-
matium is a "male non-motile gamete conjugating with
tile trichogyne of a procarp" {Qoebel),
Spermatize (sper'ma-tiz), r. «.; pret. and pp.
spermatized, ppr. spermatizing. [< Gr. aneppari-
(etv, sow, yield seed,< anfppa, seed: see sperm^.]
To yield male sperm or seed; have a seminal
emission; discharge semen,
spermatoat, n. Plural of spermatoon. Chcen.
spermatoal (sp6r-ma-t6'al), a. [< spermato{6n)
+ -al.] Pertaining to a spermatoon. Owen.
spermatoblast (spfer'ma-to-blast), n. [< Gr.
aiveppa(T-), seed, -I- pAaard^, bud, sprout, shoot.]
The bud or germ of a spermatozoon ; a germinal
blastema whence spermatozoa are produced.
Spermatoblasts form a layer of nucleated and nucleolated
cells in the seminal tubules, which proliferates or pro-
jects into the lumen of the tubule with often a lobed or
digitate end ; and from every lobe a spermatozoon devel-
ops and is discharged, leaving a branching stump of the
spermatoblast. Also spermoblagt, nematoblagt.
spermatoblastic (sp6r'ma-t9-blas"tik), a. [<
spcrmatoblust + -ic] Of or pertaining to sper-
matoblasts or the formation of spermatozoa;
germinal or budding, as a structure which de-
velops spermatozoa. Also spermoblastic.
spermatocele (spfer'ma-to-sel), n. [< Gr. (Tfff/j-
pa{T-), seed, -I- k?/?.?/, a tumor.] A retention-
cyst of the epididymis or testicle containing
spermatozoa.
pariKdc, iaireppa, seed: see sperwjl.] 1. Of or spermatocyst (sper'ma-to-sist), «. [<NL.OT»cr-
pertaining to sperm, or male seed, in general ; matocystis,< Gr. aireppa{T-), seed, + Kvcrif, blad-
containing spermatozoa, or consisting of sperm der: see cyst.] 1. In awat, a seminal vesicle,
or semen; seminal: &s, spermatic ^mA. — 2. Se- — 2. In pathol., a spermatic cyst or sac. See
creting spermatozoa ; generating or producing spermatic.
semen; seminal, as a spermary. — 3. Connected spermatocystic(sper"ma-t9-sis'tik),a. l<sper-
with or related to the spermary, or essential matocyst + -ic] Containing spermatozoa, as a
male organ ; subservient to the male function ; cyst ; of the nature of a spermatocyst.
testicular: as, «per»ja*Jc vessels; the spermatic sp'ermatocystidium (sper"ma-to-si8-tid'i-um),
cord. — 4. In 6oi., resembling or of the nature n.; -pi. sjiermatocystidia (-a,). [NL., < Gr. ovrf/j-
of spermatia : as, spermatic filaments ; sper- fia^T-), seed, -t- kvuti^, bladder, jt- dim. -iStov.]
In hot., same as antheridium. Hedicig.
spermatocystis (sp&r"ma-to-sis'tis), n. [NL. :
see upcrrnKtac/ist.] Same as spermatocyst.
spermatocystitis (sp6r"ma-t6-sis-ti'tis), ».
[NL., < spermatocystis + -iiis.^ Inflammation
of the seminal vesicles.
"■ sper-
sperma-
toeytes ; of the nature of a spermatocyte.
spermatocyte (sp6r'ma-t6-sit), n. [< NL. sjyer-
matium + Gr. KiTOf, a tiollow: see cyte.] 1. In
hot., the mother-cell of a spermatozooid.
The protoplasm in each of the two cells of the antherid-
ium [in Salvinia^ contracts and by repeated bipartition di-
vides into four roundish primordial cells (spermatocyteiX
each of which produces a spermatozoid.
Ooebet, Special Morphology of Plants (trans.), p. 230.
2. The cell whose nuclear chromatin and cell-
protoplasm become respectively the head and
tail of the spermatozoon: synonymous with
spermatohlast. Flennning.
These gpermatocytes may either all develop into sper-
matozoa (Mammals), or a single spermatocyte may become
modified as a basilar cell (Plagiostome Fishes), or a num-
ber may form an envelope or cyst around the others (Am-
phibians and Fishes). Encyc. Brit., XX. 412.
seed. -I- gemma, a bud.] A mass of spermato-
cytes ; a inultinuelear spermatic cyst ; a kind of
matic gelatin. — 5. Figuratively, seminal ; ger-
minal; fructifying. [Kare.]
I find certain books vital and spennatic, not leaving the
reader what he was ; he shuts the book a richer man.
Emergon, Books.
External spermatic fascia. Same as intercdlumrmr
Sa%cia (which see, under /ascMi).-Extemal spermatic spermatocytal (sp6r"ma-t6-si'tal), a. [<
nerve, the genital branch of the gcnitocrural nerve. It *;,„,~^?,. V "; l ^ (\f nr-r^prtaiii'ini to kti.
supplies the cremaster muscle,- Internal spermatic 'iKWtc'jte -t- -o(.J Ut or pertammg to spi
fascia. Same as in/midibul%torm Jascia (which see, under
./■asaa).- Spermatic artery, any artery supplying a tes-
tis or other spermary, corresponding to an ovarian artery
of the female. In man the spermatic arteries are two long
slender arteries arising from the abdominal aorta a little
below the renal arteries, and passing along each spermatic
cord, to be distributed to the testes.— Spermatic cal-
culus, a concretion sometimes found in the seminal vesi-
cles.—Spermatic canal, (a) The inguinal canal. (6) Any
spermatic duct, as the vas deferens. — Spermatic car-
tridge. Sameas^ermatopAore.— Spermatic cord. See
cord 1.— Spermatic cyst, in pathol., a cyst arising in the
testicle near the epididymis, and filled with fluid in which
are often found spermatozoa, crystals, etc. See spcrmofo-
cefe.- Spermatic duct. Same as spermaduct. — Sper-
matic filament, a spermatozoon —Spermatic gelatin,
in bot, a gelatinous substance in spermogonia which when
wet aids in the expulsion of the spermatiii. — Spermatic
logos. Seeio^os.— Spermatic plexus of nerves. See
j)(em(s.— Spermatic plexus of veins, a thick plexus of
convoluted vessels formed in the spermatic cord by the ve-
mecomites of the spermatic arteries. These veins coalesce .
after leaving the inguinal canal, and empty into the vena spermatOgemma (sp6r"ma-to-jem a), n.; pi.
cava inferior of the right side and the renal vein of the left spermatonemma' (-§). [NL., < Gr. CTrippa^T-),
side. This venous plexus corresponds to the ovarian ve- -" - • •' , - - ■
nous plexus of the female, and is speciflcally known as
the pampiniform plexus. When varicose, it constitutes a
spermatogemma
spermatoblast. See also spermosphere. Encyc.
Brit.. XX. 412.
spermatogeiiesis (sp^r'ma-to-jen'e-sis), H.
[NL., < Gr. a!rep/xa{T-), seed, + ycvemc, origin.]
In biol., the formation or development of sper-
matozoa. Huxley and Martin, Elementary Bi-
ology, p. 301.
spennatogenetic (sper'ma-to-je-net'ik), a. [<
gpemtatogenesis, after genetic.l Of or pertain-
ing to spermatogenesis; exhibiting or charac-
terized by spermatogenesis : as, a spermatoge-
netic process or result ; a spermatogenetictheory.
Encyc. Brit., XX. 412.
Bpenuatogenous (sp6r-ma-toj'e-nus), a. [< Gr.
a-cpua{r-}, seed, + -yew/c, producing: aee -ge-
«<)««.] Producing spermatozoa.
spennatogeny (sp6r-ma-toj'e-ni), n. [< Gr.
ovipua{r-), seed, + -yiveia, < -j-fwyf, producing:
see -geny.'\ The generation or production of
spermatozoa ; spermatogenesis.
spermatogonium (spfer'ma-to-go'nl-um), n. ; pi.
spermatogoniH (-a). [NIJ., < Gr. <mtpfui(T-).
seed, + yoi/ij, generation.] It. In hot., same
as pycnidium, 1. — 2. A primitive or formative
seminal cell, forming a land of sperm-morula,
or spermosphere composed of spermatoblasts
or spermatocytes, which in turn give rise to
spermatozooids. La Valette St. George.
spermatoid (spfer'ma-toid), a. [< Gr. anip-
lia(T-), seed, + tMof , form.] Resembling sperm,
or male seed; sperm-like; of the nature of
sperm; spermatic or seminal.
spermatological (sptr'ma-to-loj'i-kal), a. [<
KinrmaloliKi-i/ + -ic-al.'i Of or pertaining to
spermatology. Also spermological.
spermatologist (spir-ma-tol'o-jist), n. [< gper-
matolog-y + -ist.'] One who is versed in sper-
matology. Also spermologist.
spermatology (sp6r-ma-tol'o-ji), «. [< Gr.
a-ipfia(r-), seed, + -Xayia, < Xiytiv, speak: see
-ologi/.^ The doctrine or body of facts and
opinions regarding sperm, semen, or the male
elements of procreation, as those of spermato-
genesis or spermatogeny. Also spermology.
spermatomere (spfer'ma-to-mer), n. [< Gr.
<Tjr*p/«j(--), seed, + ftipoc, part.] One of the
parts into which the male or female pronucleus
of an ovum may divide after fertilization.
Two of theM " retidnal globales " are, according to them,
expelled by the nermatoauret during their nuclear meta-
morphosis preceding diTlsion,
Mieroi. Seienee, XXVI. e«7.
spermatodnt (sp6r-ma-td'on), n. ; pi. sperma-
toa (-8). [< Gr. (nrep/«j(r-), seed, + i^f, an
egg.] The nucleus of a sperm-cell or sperma-
tozoon ; a cell which stands in the relation of
such a nucleus, as that out of or from which a
spermatozoon may be developed ; a spermato-
blast.
Spumatophilns (sp^r-ma-tof'i-lus), n. [NL.
(Wagler, 1830), emendedfrom Spermophilus.']
Same as Spermophilus.
spermatopnoral (sptr-ma-tof 6-ral), a. [< »/>er-
mtit"i)liiirc + -a/.] Of tfie character of or per-
taining to a spermatophore. Huxley and Mar-
tin, Klementary Biology, p. 291.
spermatophore (sp^r'ma-to-f6r), n. [< Gr.
<mip/ui(T-), seed, + ^ptiv = E. ftcorl.] A spe-
cial ease, capsule, or sheath containing sperma'
tozoa; specifically, one of the pecuuar sper-
matic cysts of cephalopoda (also called spermatic
or seminal cartridge, seminal rope, or filament of
Needham), usually forming a long cylindrical
structure in which several envelops may be dis-
tinguished. The content* of auch a sparmalophore
are not exclusively seminal, for in the binder part of each
there is a special substance, the exploding mass, which
aerret to dfacharge the packet of spermatoioa. Tbeae are
iuTcated in a apecial tubular tunic, and packed in the front
part of the spermatophore, like a charge of shot in a car-
trtdgein front of the powder. Behind this packetot sperm
5819
seed, -I- peiv, flow, run.] Involuntary seminal
loss.
spermatospore (spfer'ma-to-spor), n. [< Gr.
aTTepfia(j-), seed, -R*ir((pof, a sowing.] A kind
of cell which gives rise to spermatozoa. Also
spermo.^pore.
spermatotheca (sp^r'ma-tp-Oie'ka), n. Same
as Sjiermatheca.
spermatoviim (sp^r-ma-to'vum), n.; pi. sper-
matora (-vii) [NL., < Gr. aTztpfia(T-), seed, +
L. ovum, egg.] A fecundated egg; an ovum
after impregnation by spermatozoa, whence its
substance consists of material from both pa-
rents. Also spermovum.
Spermatozoa (sper'ma-to-zd'a), n. pi. [NL.,
pi. of «pen»atoroo«, q. v.] If. A supposed class
or other group of animalcules ; sperm-animals :
so called before their nature was known, when
they were regarded as independent parasitic or-
ganisms.— 2. [i.e.] Plural of snerma<o«oon.
spermatozoal (sp6r'ma-to-z6'al), a. [< sper-
matozoon -(- -o?.] Same as spcrmatozoan.
spermatozoan (spfer'ma-to-zo'an), a. and n. [<
,tpermato:oon + -an.] 1. a. Of the nature of a
spermatozoon : of or pertaining to spermatozoa.
H. H. A spermatozoon or spermatozooid.
spermatozoic (spfer "ma-to-z6'ik), a. [< sperma-
tozoon + -If.] Same as spermatozoan.
spermatOZOid (spfer'ma-to-zo'id), a. and n. [<
spermatozoon + -id^.] See spermatozooid.
spermatozoidal (sp6r''ma-to-z6'i-dal), a. [<
spermatozoon + -oid + -a/.] Same as spermato-
zooid. fr. B. Carpenter, Micros., ^ 443.
spermatozooid (sp6r'ma-to-z6'oid), a. and n.
[< spermatozoon + -oid"'] I. a. Resembling
a spermatozoon ;
of spermatozo-
an nature or ap-
pearance.
n. ». 1. A
r permatozodn.
roH Siebold.
Also, less com-
monly, spermatO-
ZOid. See zooid.
— 2. In hot., a
male ciliated
motile gamete
produced in an
antheridium:
same as anther-
ozoid. In this
sense more commonly spermatozoid.
cut under iintheridium.
spermatozoon (spi-r'ma-to-zo'on), n. ; pi. sper-
matozoa (-a). [NL., < Gr. an(p/ia(T-), seed, +
Ci>m; an animal.] 1. One of the numberless
microscopic IxMlies contained in semen, to
which the seminal fluid owes its vitality, and
w^hich are the immediate and active means of
impregnating or fertilizing the ovum of the fe-
Speniuitozooids of Adiamtitm Capill*t$.
Ventru.
See also
coil, which extends
latophore and is con-
thc explo4ling maaa forms a spiral
through the greater part of the
tinuona behind with the coat o2 the latter. When the
spermatophore la wetted It swelU np and bursts, through
the force of the spring coiled inside, and the spermatoaoa
are dischargetl with considerable force. A spermatophore
thus olfcra a striking analogy to the nematopbora or
thread-cell of a ooelenterste, though the object attained i«
not urticatlon or nettling, but a seminal emiaaton and con-
sequent impregnation of the female. A spermatophore
of soinr »irt, less complex than that of cephalopoda, is
Ter> oMiiiKiiily found in sereral ciaaaeaof inveirtebratea.
spermatophoroos (sp^r-ma-tof'o-rus), a. [As
spermatophore + -out.'] ^tearing or conveying
seed, sperm, or spermatozoa; spermatogen'ous;
seminiferous; specifically, bearing sperm as a
spermatophore ; of or pertaining to a sperma-
tophore; spermatophoral.
spermatorrhea, spermatorrhoea (sp«r'ma-t6-
re'a>, n. [NL. spermatorrhaa ; < Gr. aTriptia(T-),
M, four fnennatiMoa of mao ; A, two of ape ; X. two of rmfabit. In
eadl case, I. broadest view, II, profile, of k, kernel or nucleus of the
head, aaa m, filamentouj body, ending in s, the long slender tail.
male ; a spermatic cell or filament ; a spermato-
zoan or spermatozooid. spermatoioa are the vital
and eaaential product of a spermary, male gonad, or testis,
*a ora are of toe ovary or female gonad ; their production,
or the ability to produce them, is the characteristic distlnc
tion of the male from the female organism, whatever their
sixe or shape or other physical character, and however vari-
ous may be the organ In which they are produced. Sperma-
toioa, like ova, have the morphological value of the cell ;
and a spermatoaottn is usually a cell in which a cell-wall,
cell-contenta, and cell-nucleus, with or without a nucleo-
lua, may be distinguished. The form may be spherical, like
the ovum, and IndistinKUlRliaMe therefr^>m by any physical
character; more frequently, aiul espt^lally in the higher
animala, theae litUe bodies are shaped like a tadpole, with a
sperm-kernel
small spherical or discoidal head, a succeeding rod-like or
bacillar part, and a long slender tail or caudal tllanient,
capable of spontaneous vibratile movements, by means of
which the spermatozoa swim actively in the seminal fluid,
like a shoal of microscopic flslies, every one seeking, in the
passages of the female into which the fluid has been inject-
ed, to discover the ovum in which to bury itself, in order to
undergo dissolution in the substance of the ovum. They
are smaller than the corresponding ovum, and several
or many of them may be embedded in one ovum. The
actual union of spermatozoa with an ovum, and fusion of
their respective protoplasms, is required for impregnation,
and is the consummation of sexual intercourse, to which
all other acts and processes are simply ancillary or sub-
servient. Spermatozoa may be killed by cold, or chemical
or mechanical injury, like any other ceUs. These bodies,
very similar to various animalcules, were discovered and
named spermatozoa by Leeuwenhoek in 1677 ; they were
at first and long afterward regarded as independent or-
ganisms, variously classed as parasitic helminths or infu-
sorians — such a view being held, for insiance, by Von Baer
so late as 1827 or 1835. Von Siebold, who found them in
various vertebrates, called them spermatozQoidg. Their
true nature appears to have been first recognized by Kbl-
liker. Spermatozoa or their equivalents are diagnostic
of the male sex under whatever conditions they exist,
whether in male individuals separate from the female, or
in those many hermaphrodite animals which unite the
two sexes in one individual ; and the organ which pro-
duces them is invariably a testis or its equivalent sper-
mary, of whatever character. The male elements of the
lowest animals, however, as Protozoa, do not ordinarily
receive the name spermatozoa, this being specially ap-
plied to the more elaborate male cells of the character
above described. The origination of spermatozoa has of
late years been the subject of much research and discus-
sion ; the details of the process, as observed in different
animals, or under different conditions of investigation,
together with conflicting doctrinal conclusions, have oc-
casioned a large specif vocabulary. See many woitla
preceding and following this one.
2\. [cap.] A genus of animalcules. Von Baer,
1827.
sperm-ball (sp6rm'b&l), n. A spherical cluster
of spermatozoa, such as occurs in some sponges.
Encyc. Brit., XXII. 424.
sperm-blastoderm (sp6rm'blas'to-d6rm),n. A
blastodermic layer of formative spermatozoa
composing the surface of a sperm-blastula.
Sperm-blastnla (sp^rm'bla8'tii-la),«. A sper-
matic blastula. or hollow sphere whose surface
is a layer of formative spermatozoa.
sperm-cell (sp6rm'sel),«. 1. A spermatozoSn :
BO called from its morphological valence as a
cell. — 2. A cell giving rise to spermatozoa; a
spermatoblast or spermatocyte.
spermet, ". An obsolete spelling of sperm^.
Spermestes (sp^r-mes'tez), ». [NL. (Swain-
sou, 1«37), said to be (irreg.) < Gr. avtppa, seed,
+ iaOictv, eat.] The typical genus of Spermes-
time, containing six or eight species confined to
Africa and Madagascar, such are s. cucuiuua, s.
poensU, and S. bicotor, of the continent, and the Madagas-
car S. nana. These little birds are closely related to -^mo-
<tina, of which Spermettei is often rated as a subgenus.
Spermestinse (sp^r-mes-ti'ne), n. pi. [NL.,
i Sj>enne,stes + -inse.] An extensive subfamily
of I'loceid/e, named from the genus Spermestes.
The very numerous species, about 150, are chiefly African
and Asiatic, but some of them extend to Australia and va-
rious Polynesian islands. Among them are the amada-
vata and eatrilds. Leading genera are Lagonosticia, Sper-
motpiza, PyrenetUg, Ettrelda, and Amadina. See cut VLn-
dertnugal.
spermestine (sp6r-mes'tin), a. Of, or having
cliaraoters of, the Spermestinm.
spermic (8p^r'mik),a. [< »per»ii + -ic] Same
as .t)iermatic.
spermidiumt (sp6r-mid'i-um), ».; pi. spermidia
(-a). [NL.. < L. sperma, seed, germ, + -idium.]
In hot., same as achenium, 1.
spermiduct (sp6r'mi-dukt), n. [< L. sperma,
sperm, -I- ductus, a duct: see duct. Cf. sper-
maduct.] A passage for the conveyance of
sperm in the female of Echinorhynchus. See
the quotation. [Bare.]
From the lower end of the ovarium [of the female of
BeMwtrhynehus] two short oviducts, or rather gpermi-
duets, arise, and almost immediately unite into a sort of
nterus, which is continued into the vagina.
Huxley, Anat. Invert., p. 555.
spermin (sp^'r'min), «. [< *f)er»«l -t- -i«2.] A
non-poisonous alkaloid (CgHsN) obtained from
sputum, human semen, organs of leueemic pa-
tients, and alcoholic anatomical preparations.
spermism (sp6r'mizm), n. [< sperml + -isni.]
The theory or doctrine that the male sperm
contains the whole germ of the future animal,
which develops entirely from a spermatozoiin,
the ovum serving merely ad a mold or matrix;
animalculism. Also spermatism.
spermist (sp^r'mist), ». [< S}>erm^ + -ist.] One
who holds the theory of spermism or sperma-
tism; an animalculist: the opposite of ovulist.
See theory ofincasement, under incasement. Also
sperma list.
sperm-kernel (sp^rm'k^r'nel), n. Same as sper-
mococcus.
sperm-morala
Bperm-momla (spenn'mor'S-lii), n. A sper-
matic morula; a mulberry-mass of formative
spermatozoa.
Bperm-nviclens (sp^rm'nu'kle-us), H. 1. The
nucleus of a spermatozoon; a spermoooecus
or sperm-kernel. — 2. In hot., the nucleus of a
male gamete, which coalesces with the nucleus
of an oijsphere to form a germ-nucleus. Goebel.
speimoblast (sp^r'mo-blist), n. Same as sper-
vuttohtast.
spermoblastic (sp6r-mo-blas'tik), a. Same as
spermahMantie.
Spermocarp (sp^r'mo-karp), n. [< Gr. mzepfia,
seed. -I- Kaf>~u(, fruit.] In bot., the so-called
"fruit " in the Characex and certain confervoid
algte . It is the fertilized and matured female organ with ita
variously formed covering or pericarp and accessory cells.
The "fruit " of the Charaeeahaa also been called the an-
theridiuvij sporantjium, enveloped oiigonium, and sporo-
phydium, by different authors. Sporophydiwn seems the
preferable term. See these various words. Comp&TV sporo-
carp. See cuts under anlheridium and conceptade.
Spermococcas (sper-mo-kok'us), n. ; pi. spernio-
eocci (-si). [NL., < Gr. amp/xa, seed, + k6kko(,
^rain, berry.] The nucleus of a spermatozoon :
it consists of the head of the sperm-animalcule,
excepting its thin outer layer. Also sperm-
kernel.
Spenuoderm (sper'mo-derm), n. [< Gr. anfp/ia,
seed, + iUppa, skin.] In hot., the integument
of a seed in the aggregate ; properly, same as
testa.
spermogastmla (sp6r-m6-gas'tro-la), m. ; pi.
spermoijd.itrulse (-le). [NL., < L. sperma (see
spenii^) + NL. gastrula, q. v.] A sperm-blas-
^la which has undergone a kind of gastrula-
tion.
spermogone (spfer'mo-gon), n. [< NL. spermo-
goiiium.'] In hot., same a,ss2)ermogoinum, ■ also
employed by some writers to denote the sper-
matium or spore-like body which is produced
in a spermogonium. See spermogonium, sper-
viatium. Also speWeA spermagone.
Spermogonia, n. Plural of spermogonium.
SpermogoniferoUB (8p6r"mo-go-nif'e-rus), a.
[< NL. sjxrmogonium, q. v., + L. ferre = E.
fieori.] In hot., bearing or producing spermo-
gonia.
Spermogoniam (sp6r-mo-g6'ni-um), n.; y\. sper-
mogonia (-a). [NL., <'Gr. amp/joyovot, produ-
cing seed,'<; awepfia, seed, -I- -ymoc, producing:
see -gony.'\ In bot., a cup-shaped cavity or
Section of Barberry-leaf (of its natural thickness at x), infested with
Puccinia jrraminis in its secidial stage.
tf, spermogonia ; a, fruit, inclosed within the peridium fi. or open and
discharging spores. (Somewhat magnified.)
receptacle in which spermatia are produced.
See spermatium, peridium, Puccinia (with out).
Also spermagonium.
SpermogOnOUS (sp6r-mog'6-nus), a. [< spermo-
gone + -ous.] In bot., resembling or having
the character of spermogonia or spermogones.
spenu-oil (sperm'oil), n. Speimiaceti-oil ; the
oil of the spermaceti-whale. See train-oil.
Spenuolith (sper'mo-lith), n. [< Gr. OTrip/ia,
seed, -1- /u6oc, stone.] A concretion which oc-
casionally forms in the seminal ducts.
Spermological (sper-mo-loj'i-kal), a. Same as
spcrmatological.
spermologist (spfer-mol'o-jist), n. [< .opermol-
og-y + -ist.^ 1. Same as spermatologist. — 2.
In bot., one who treats of or collects seeds; a
student of or an authority in spermology.
Spennology (sper-mol'o-ji), ». 1. Sameassper-
matologi/. — 2. In bot., that branch of science
which investigates the seeds of plants.
spetrmonucleus (spfer-mo-nti'kle-us), n.; pi.
spermonuclei (-5). [NL.,< L. sperma (see sperm^)
+ nucleus, q. v.] A male pronucleus. See
masculonucleus, feminonucleus. Hyatt.
Spermophila (sp6r-mof'i-la), n. [NL. (Swain-
son, 1827), < Gr. a-n-eppa, seed, -I- ^tXelv, love.]
1. In ornith., the little seed-eaters or pygmy
finches, an extensive genus of small American
fringilline birds, with very short stout bills
5820
like a bullfinch's, giving name to the Sfibfam-
ily Spermophilime. The limits of the genus vary with
different authors, but it usually includes about 50 species,
of tropical and subtropiciU America. The only one of
these which occurs in tlie United States is S. inoreleti,
which is found in Texas, and Icnown as Morelet's pyt/viy
finch. It is only about 4 inches long, with extremely tur-
gid bill convex in all its outlines, short rounded wings,
and still shorter tail. The male is entirely blaclc and
white, the latter color tinged with bnff on the under parts ;
the female is olivaceous-brown above and brownish-yel-
low or buff below, with whitish wing-bars. A lilie dissimi-
larity of coloration characterizes the sexes throughout
the genus. By those who hold that Spennophila is the
same name as Spermophilus, this genus is called Sporo-
phiXa ; and some or all of tlie species are often placed in
a more extensive genus Gyrinorhynckus, of which Sper-
nwphita or Sporophita then constitutes one section. See
cut under ffrassquit. Also called Spermospiza.
2. In mammal., same as Spermophihis, 1. .T.
Richardson, 1825. — 3t. In entom., a genus of
araolmidans. Hcntz, 1842.
spermopllile (sp^r'mo-fil), n. [< NL. Spermo-
pliilus.i 1. A rodent quadruped of the genus
Spermophilus, as a ground-squirrel or suslik, of
which there are numerous species in Europe,
Asia, and North America. See cuts under sus-
lik and Spermophilus. — 2. A fringilline bird
of the genus Spermophila ; a little seed-eater,
of which there are numerous Central and South
American species. See cut under grassquit.
Spermophilinse (sper"mo-fi-li'ne),«.p/. [NL.,
\ Spermophilus (in sense 2 < Spermophila) + -insi.']
1. In mammal., the ground-squirrels or spermo-
philes, prairie-dogs, and marmots, one of two
subfamilies into which the Sciuridie are some-
times divided, represented by the genera Sper-
mophilus, Tamias, and Arctomys. It is not sepa-
rated from Sciurinse or the true arboreal squirrels by any
trenchant characters, and the two divisions intergrade
through the genera Xerus and Tamias. But the sper-
mophilines are of terrestrial habits, witli usually stouter
form, larger size, and less bushy tail than the Sciurinse.
They inhabit Europe, Asia, and especially North America,
where the greater number of species are found, and most
of them are called gophers. The group is also called Arc-
tomyhue. See cuts under ^rctomi/s,c/(ipmunfr,2wairie-do(;,
Spermophilus, and suslik.
2. In ornith., an American subfamily of Frin-
gillidx, named from the genus Spermophila.
P. L. Sclater, 1862.
spermophiline (sper-mof'i-lin), a. and n. [<
Spermophilinie.] I. a. Pertaining to the Sper-
mophilinee, or having their characters.
II. n. A member of the Spermophilinx.
Spermophilus (sper-mof'i-lus), «. [NL. (F.
Cuvier, 1822), < Gr. airippa, seed, -1- ij>ikeiv, love.]
1. A genus of groun(i-squirrels, giving name
to the Spermophilinse. The type is S. citUlus of Eu-
rope, the suslik, but the genus is especially well repre-
sented in North America, where more than a dozen dis-
tinct species occur, some of which run into several va-
rieties. They are divided into 3 subgenera. (1) Otosper-
mophilus, in which the ears are high and pointed, the tail
is full and broad, with the hairs from two thirds to three
quarters of the length of the head and body, and the whole
aspect is strongly squirreMilie. To this section belongs
S. yrammurus, with its varieties beeeheyi and douglasst;
these are the common ground-squirrels of California, Ore-
gon, and Washington, and east to the Rocliy Mountains.
S. annulatus of Mexico probably also belongs here. (2)
Cdobotis, in wliich the ears are short and marginiform,
the tail is short, from one third to one half the lengtli of
the body, and the form is stout. The Old World species
belong here, and several of those of North America, as
Parry's spermophile, 5. evnpetra (or parryi), which inhabits
British America and Alaska, and runs into several varie-
ties, as kodiaceiisis and erythroglut^eus. In the United
States the best-known species of this section is Richard-
son's spermophile, S. richardsoni, very generally distrib-
uted, in one or another of its varieties, from the plains
of the Saskatchewan to those of the Laramie. It is a
tawny animal, resembling a prairie-dog in appearance
and habits. Here also belong S. mollis, S. spilosoma, and
S. obsoletus, inhabiting western parts of the United States.
(3) Ictidomys, which includes several slender-bodied spe-
cies, almost like weasels in this respect (whence the
name), with the ears generally small or rudimentary, as in
Colobotis, the skull long and narrow, the tail variable, and
the first upper premolar generally small. The most squir-
rel-like of these is Franklin's spermophile, S. franUini,
inhabiting Illinois and Missouri and northward to 64°.
It not distantly resembles a gray squirrel, the tail being
bushy, two thirds as long as the head and body. The
commonest species is S*. Iridecemlineatus, the thirteen-
spermule
Thirteen-Iined Spermophile, or Federation Squirrel {Spermofhilus
tridtcetnlifiealus).
lined spermophile, or federation squirrel, so called by Dr.
S. L. Mitchill (in 1821) from the original thirteen States
of the United States, it having a number (six or eight) of
longitudinal stripes, with five or seven rows of spots be-
tween them, likened by that patriot to the "stars and
stripes." It inhabits the prairies of the United States at
large, and extends northward into British America. Other
species of this section are S. inexicanus of Texas and Mexi-
co, and 5. tereticaudiis of Arizona and California. Three
of the above animals, S. yrammurus, S. fra-nklini, and S.
iridecemlineatus, are numerous enough in cultivated dis-
tricts to be troublesome, and all of them are called
gophers, a name shared by the different animals of the
family Geomyidse. They are all terrestrial (.S*. franklini
somewhat arboreal), and live in burrows underground,
much like prairie-dogs, though none of them dig so ex-
tensively. In many parts of the Dakotas and Montana the
ground is honeycombed with the burrows of S. richard-
soni. They feed on herbage and seeds, and are also to
some extent carnivorous. They are prolific, like most
rodents, and bring forth their young in burrows. Those
of northern regions hibernate like marmots. Their flesh
is eatable. "The name of the genus is also written Sper-
mophila and Spermatophilus, but both of these forms are
rare. See also cut under suslik.
2. In entom., a genus of coleopterous insects.
Gebler.
spermophore (sper'mo-for), n. [< NL. .iper-
moi>horum.~\ Same as spcrmophorum.
spermophorum (spfer-mof 'o-rum), n. ; pi. sper-
mophora (-rii). [NL., < Gr. aireppa, seed, -1-
(fiepeiv = E. ftearl.] 1. A seminal vesicle. — 2.
In bot., a synonym ot placenta and also oifuni-
cidiis.
Spermophyta (sper-mof'i-ta), n.pl. [NL., pi.
of spermo2)hytum : see spermophyte.1 The high-
est of the four principal groups or divisions
into which the vegetable kingdom is separated
by the later systematists. It embraces the higher
or flowering plants, those producing true seeds. It is
the same as Phanerogamia. The correlative terms in de-
scending systematic order are Pteridophyta, Bryophyta,
and Thallophyta. See Phanerogamia, and compare Cryp-
togamia.
spermophyte (sper'mo-fit), n. [< NL. spermo-
phytum, < Gr. antppa, seed, + ipvrov, plant.] In
bot., a member of the Spermojjhyta ; a plant pro-
ducing true seeds; a pheenogam, or flowering
plant. Sometimes written spermaphyte.
spermophytic (sper-mo-fit'ik), a. [< .spermo-
phyte + -ic.~\ In bot., capable of producing true
seeds; phsenogamic.
Spermoplasm(sper'mo-plazm), Ji. [< Gr. mreppa,
seed, -r TT/Aapa, anyt;hing formed or molded:
see plasm.'] The protoplasm of a spermato-
zoon; the plasmic contents of a spermule, dis-
tinguished from the spermococcus or sperm-
Jcernel. Also spermoplasma.
spermopodium (spfer-mo-po'di-um),?!.; 'p\.sper-
mopodia (-a). [NL., < Gr. oTrtppa, seed, -I- Troif
(7ro(5-) = E. /oo<.] In bot., an unused name for
the gynophore in Umbelliferse.
Spermosphere (sper'mo-sfer), «. [< Gr. aireppa,
seed, -1- a(j>alpa, sphere.] A mass of spermato-
blasts ; a spermatogemma.
Spermospiza (spfer-mo-spi'za), n. [NL. (G. E.
Gray, 1840), < Gr. anep'pa, seed, -I- aiTi(a, a finch.]
1. A leading genus of Spermestinas, the type of
which is the African S. heematina. Originally
called Spermophaga, a name too near Spermopha-
gus. — 2. A genus of American finches, synony-
mous with Spermophila. Bonaparte.
spermospore (sp6r'mo-sp6r), «. Same as sper-
ma tospore.
spennotlieca (sper-mo-the'ka), n. ; pi. spermo-
thecse (-se). [NL., < Gr. aveppa, seed, + BijKJ], a
ease. Cf. spermatheca.'] In bot., a pericarp.
[Rare.]
spermous (spfer'mus), a. [< sperm'^ + -ows.]
Same as spermatic.
spermo'varian (sp^r-mo-va'ri-an), a. [< sper-
movari{nm) + -an.] Of or pertaining to a sper-
movarium.
spermo'varium (sper-mo-va'ri-um), «.; pi. sper-
movaria (-a). [NL., < Gr. aireppa, seed, + NL.
ovarium, q. v.] A hermaphroditic genital
gland; a bisexual gonad; an ovispermary or
ovotestis, which gives rise, simultaneously or
successively, to male and female products. See
cut under ovotfstis.
spermovary (sp^r-mo'va-ri), «.; pi. spermova-
ries (-riz). [< NL. spermovarium.] Same as
spcrmovarium .
spermovTun (sptr-mo'vtmi), «.; pi. spermova
(-va). [< Gr. antppa, seed, + L. mum, egg.]
Same as spermatovum.
sperm-rope (spcrm'rop), n. A string of sper-
matozoa packed in a long ease; a package of
sperm, as one of the spermatic cartridges of a
cephalopod. For description, seesjiermatophore.
Encyc. Brit., XVI. 682.
spermule (spf r'mfll), »;. [< NL. spcrtnulum, dim.
of LL. sperma, seed: see sperm'^ .] A seed-ani-
malcule, sperm-cell, spermatozoon, or zoosper-
mium; the fertilizing male element, of the mor-
phological valence of a cell. Spermule is Haeckel's
spermnle
term, corresponding to orw/e for the female egg-cell. The spewer (spu'6r) n
protophisni of the spermule is called sperrmplami, and J^ ^^^^ which spews
the nucleus spermococcug.
spermulum(sper'mu-lum),«.; i>\.spermula{-\&).
[XL.: see spermtile^^ A spermule, sperm-cell,
or spermatozoon.
sperm-whale (sperm'hwal), n. [< sperm- +
tihutei.] The spermaceti-whale or cachalot,
Physeter (or Vatodon) macrocephalus, belonging
5821
[< «pet» + -frl.]
The state of being
Sperm-whale {Physeter ntacroctphalus^.
to the family PAysefcnrf« (which see for tech- -,- i / . , ,s
nical characters; see also cut of skull under spnacel (stas el), n
Phy.seter). It is oneot the largest of animals, exceeded _v™® ?^ f^/'"**,-; i i , , ,-^ .-^^
in length only by the great rorqual or (Inner, lialienopteTa SpHaCeia (Stas e-la), n. ; pi. sphamx (-le). [< Gr,
spewinesst (spu'l-nes), n
spewy, moist, or damp.
The coldness and spewiiiess of the soil.
Bp. Gauden, Hieraspistes (IBM), p. 561. (Latham.)
spewingt (spu'ing), a. Same as spewy.
The son [in New England] for the general is a warm
kind of Earth, there being little cold spewing Land.
S. Clarke, Four Plantations in America (1670), p. 29.
(See also the quotation under emuscation.]
spewyt (spu'i), a. [< spew + -yi.j Wet; bog-
gy; moist; damp.
The lower valleys in wet winters are so tpewy that they
know not how to feed them. Mortimer, Husbandry.
Speyside pine. See pine^.
sp. gr. _ An abbreviation of specific gravity.
[< NL. sphacelus, q. v.]
tibbaidi ; it has teeth in the lower jaw, but none and no
baleen in the upper ; and the enormous square head con-
tains the valuable product spermaceti. This whale is also
the source of the nest whale-oil, and its chase is a very
important industry in the warmer waters of all seas. See
eacAoiofc— Porpoiae sperm-whale, a pygmy sperm-
wliale, or 8nul>no3ed cachalot, of the family Phj/seteridse
and genus Kogia, as K. brecirostrit (K. fimeeri of Gill), of
the Pacific and chiefly tropical seas, hot sometimes occur-
ring off the coast of the United States. — Sperm-Wbale
porpoise, a bottle-nosed whale of the geniu Hyveroodon.
It belongs to the same fantily (Physeteridse) as the sperm-
whale, but to a different subfamily. (See Ziphiiiue.) The
species are several, not well determined, and with confused
synonymy. They are larger than any porpoises properly so
called, though far inferior in size to the true sperm-whale.
Speronf, «. [< It. sperune = OF. esperon, F.
eperon, a spur, the beak of a ship: see spur.]
The beak of a ship.
Which barks are made after the maner of FuBts or Gal-
liots, with a Speron and a couered poope.
HaHttyft Voyage*, 11. 215.
sperrt, r. t. Same as spar^.
sperrablet, «. An obsolete form of sparable.
sperrylite (sper'i-lit), n. [Named after F. L.
.Sperry, tlie discoverer.] A native arsenide of
platinum, occurring in minute isometric ciystals
with pyrit« and chalcopyrite at the Vermilion
mine, near Sudbury in Ontario. It has a tin-white
color, brilliant metallic Iiuter, and a specific gravity of
10.0. It is the only compound of platinum known to occur
In nature.
and t
atpdneAoc, gangrene.] In bot, in certain algae,
a hollow chamber of considerable size which is
developed from the apical cell of each branch.
When young it is tilled with dark mucilaginous contents,
which at a later stage become watery. The term Is some-
times used as nearly or quite the equivalent of propagu-
turn. Also /iphacele.
Sphacelaria (sfas-e-la'ri-a), n. [KL., so called
in allusion to the tips of "the branches, which
are black and shriveled when dried; < Gr. a(pd-
KeXof, gangrene.] A genus of algte, typical of
the family Spliacelaridceec. They have olive-brown,
branching, filamentous fronds, with corticating cellswant-
ing or confined to the base of the frond. The axis and
branches are tenninated by a large apical cell, from which.
sphseridium
One who Sphaeralcea (sff-ral'se-a), «. [NL. (St. Hilaire,
1824), so called from the fruit, a round head of
carpels; < Gr. a<tMlpa, a ball, sphere, -I- d?.Kia, a
plant, Malva Alcea, related to the plant here
defined.] A genus of polypetalous plants, of
the order Muhacese, tribe Alalvese, and subtribe
Abritileee. It is characterized by flowers each with three
bractlets, and fruit of numerous two-valved carpels na-
ked within, each containing two or three reniform seeds.
There are about 25 species, natives of warmer parts of
America, with 4 at the Cape of Good Hope. They are
herbs or shrubs, in habit resembling the genus Malm.
They usually bear angled or lobed leaves, and short-pedi-
celled violet or reddish flowers single or clustered in the
axils or forming a raceme or spike. They are known as
globe mallow, and several species are in cultivation for
ornament under glass. Ihey possess marked demulcent
properties, especially S. cisplatina, a decoction of which
is used as a remedy in Brazil, and as a substitute for marsh-
mallows.
Sphaeranthus (sff-ran'thus), n. [NL. (Linnte-
us, 1753), so called from the clustered heads of
flowers ; < Gr. a<l>alpa, a ball, + av0o(, flower.] A
genus of gamopetalous plants, of the order Com-
posite, tribe Inuloidcie, and sahiiAhe rhiclteinea;.
It is characterized by flowers without pappus, the central
ones bisexual, fertile or sterile, tubular and four- to five-
cleft, the outer female and fertile, filiform and minute-
ly two- to three-toothed, and by the aggregation of the
small flower-heads into a dense solitary terminal spheri-
cal or ovoid glomerule. There are about 10 species, na-
tives of the tropics of Asia, Africa, and Australia. They
are erect villous or glutinous herbs, with divaricate
branches terminated by the pink flower-dusters. The
leaves are alternate, toothed, and decurrent on the stem.
S. hirlus is known as the Eaft Indian globe-thistle; S.
moUis is a common Indian weed of dry cultivated land,
clothed everywhere with soft glandular hairs which give
off a powerful honey-like odor.
?^^Z7ored'":,eSnfafsu°SX^i= ^^'''^T^J^^f? L^'fT^' ^'^'f,' ?" j'S t< f^'
Ungular cells arranged in regular transverse bands. The '^'Sx^'P", »■ ba,n, + paf,^, a, needle.] In 6of., the
unilocular and plurilocular sporangia are spherical or el- more or less spherical masses of crystals or
lipsoidal, borne on short pedicels; reproduction is non-sex- raphides occurring in the cells of many plants.
u«*. bymeansof propagula. The species are variable, and A\sn oiiU(f<\ <mhpre:M-iisfnle
dikcult of determination. There are two species ilong „„fc°i^'^®'* T''^'^'':" ^^T'*; , ,
the New England coast spharet, «. An obsolete form of sphere.
S^hacelariacese (sfas-e-la-ri-a'se-e), n. pi. sphaerenchyina(sfe-reng'ki-ma),n. [NL.jirreg.
, a se-e), n
[NL., < .Sphacelaria + -aceie.] A family *of
algto, typified by the genus Sphacelaria. They
are olive-brown seaweeds with branching polysiphonous
fronds, the branches of which terminate in a peculiar large
apical cell. Also Sphaeelariea.
sphacelate (sfas'e-lat), o. [< sphacelus + -ate^.]
1. In pathol., dead; necrosed. — 2. In bot, de-
cayed, withered, or dead.
[An aphetic form of sphacelate (sfas'e-lat), v. ; pret. and pp. sphace-
rn_ -j: Spcn- lated, ppr. sphacelating. [< sphacelus + -ate^.]
I. intrans. To become necrosed.
sperset (spent), v.t.
aisperse, or var. of sparse.] To disperse.
ler. Visions of Bellay, 1. 195.
sperthet, ». A Middle English form of sparth.
Spertlet, r. and H. An obsolete form otspurtle.
spervert, spervyourt, «. Same as sparrer.
spessartite, spessartine (spes'Ur-tit, -tin), n.
[< Sptssart, a mountainous region in Germany, sphacelated (sfas'e-la-ted), a.
north of the river Main.] A manganesian va- -etP.] .Same as sphacelate.
riety of garnet. ■ - ■ ■
spet, V. and n. An obsolete or dialectal variant
of spit^.
Ttch (spech), n. [Assibilated form of speck^.]
piece of skin or hide used in making glue:
as, size made from huSalo-spetches.
spetonsf, a. See spitous.
spew (spii), tf. [Formerly also spue; < ME.
gpctcen, spuen, spiwen, < AS. spiwan (pret. spate,
pp. spitcen) = OS. spiwan = OFries. spia = MD.
spijen, spouicen, spuuaen, D. spuwea = OHG.
spiwan, spian, MHO. spien, Q. speien = Icel.
spyja = 8w. Dan^ spy = Cloth, speiwan, spew,
= L, ^ / -.^ . . .
? Gr. aipaipu, a ball, -I- lyxv/ia, an infusion : see
parenchyma.] Spherical or spheroidal cellular
tissue, such as is found in the pulp of fruits:
a modification of parenchyma. Treas. of Bot.
Sphseria (sfe'ri-a), n. [NL., < Gr. a<kilpa, a
ball: see sphere.] A genus of pjTenomycetous
fungi, ^ving name to the family Sphmriaceee.
The perithecia are black, carbonaceous or membrana-
ceous, pierced at the apex, usually superficial or erum-
pent. The species are very numerous, among them be-
ing 5. morbota, the destructive black-knot of plum- and
TT .1 m ^ .L ...L I , cherry-trees. See Nac*-*no«, 2.
n. tram. To affect with sphacelus or necro- Sphariaces (sfe-ri-a'se-e), n.pl. [NL. (Fries,
-1 « ..u ... J • . , l»-o), i Sphxria + -acex.] A family of pyre-
The floor of the existing wound was of coarse formed by nnmvpptr>na fiincri tiTr^ifio.l Iw +1,^ rronno Vnha
iphaedaUd hepatic tissue. LatuxU 1890 II 425 n.omjeetous tungi, typihed by the genus t,ph«-
rta.
[< sphacelate + Sphseriacei (sfe-ri-a'se-i), n.pl. [NL., < «p7(«ria
.-,., ,,- ,-,, , ,, , , + -ticci.] Same as Sphieriacese.
sphacelation (sfas-e-a shon),n. H sphacelate sphaeriaceous (sfe-ri-a'shius), a. [< Sphmria
Necrosis; the process of becoming or + .^ceous.] In bot., resembling or belonging
+ -loll. ]
making gangrenous; mortification.
sphacele (sfas'el), ». [< NL. sphacela.] In bot.,
same as sphacela.
Sphacelia (sfa-se'li-a), n. [NL., < Gr. o0<i)cEXof,
gangrene.] A former genus of fungi, now known
to be the conidial stage or form of Clariceps,
the ergot. It constitutes the first stage of the ergot,
and consiats of a growth of mycelium destroying and re-
filactng the oraijp of the host, taking approximately the
arm of the latter. It produces conidial spores upon the
tips of basidia which radhtte from the surface of the hyphal
mass. See ergUl, 2. Also Sphacelium.
= L. spuere = Gr. irrfcfjv, Doric iKire/v (for sphacelism (sfas'e-lizm), ». [< sphacelus) +
<rir{«:(v),8pit, = OBulg.pifoofo,p(;u<» = Bohem. -,,«„.] .Sameas»pA< "
,,,. ti-i . n. - - . ■-,.',., ] Same as spAarWiOTUM.
pUU = Vo\.pluc = Buss. />feraff = Lith. spianti sphacelismus (sfas-e-lis'mus), «.
= Lett. */)taM< (Slav. -/pom <«/>{/■«<»*>«), spit. a^Kef.,an6.-. gangrene, <
Hence ult. */)i<2.] \. intrans. 1. To discharge
the contents of the stomach ; vomit ; puke.
Then he gan to tptvit, and up he threwe
The balaame all againe.
iioWn llooi. and the PtdSUrt (Child's Ballads, V. S48X
[NL., < Gr.
gangrene, < a<^Ke>ui;iiv, be gan-
grened or blighted, < o<j>6ic[?x>(, gangrene: see
sjihnriiiis.] Necrosis.
Sphacelium (sfa-se'li-um), M. [NL. : see Spha-
celia.] Same as Sphacelia.
Sphaceloma (sfas-e-lo'ma), n. prL., < Gr. (T^d-
to the genus Sphseria or the Sphxriaceee.
sphseriaia, ti. Plural of sphmridium, 1.
sphseridial (sfe-rid'i-al), a. [< sphieridium, +
-dl.] Of or pertaining to the sphseridia of a
sea-ureliin.
Sphaeridiidse (sfe-ri-di'i-de), n. pi. [NL., <
Sphieridium + -«'<?«.] The Sphseridiinx as a
family of palpicorn coleopterous insects. Also
Sphieridiadee, Spheeridida, Sphamdides, Sphseri-
diitcs, Sphmridiota, Spheridiites.
Sphsridiins (sfe-rid-i-I'ne), n. pi. [NL. (Le
Coute, 1883, as Sphseridiini), < Sph«ridium +
-iniB.] A subfamily of the water-beetle family
Hydrophilidte, remarkable from the fact that
its forms are all terrestrial. They are small, oval,
convex, or hemispherical beetles which live in the excre-
ment of herbivorous mammals. They are usually black
In color, with the elytra frequently spotted or margined
with yellow. They are divided into six genera, of which
five are represented in the United States. See Spheeri-
dium, 2.
El i!^^''/" 7"*^?* *'l® ""'"*'' • l""*^ o' a gnn /Tf/or, gangrene: see spfmcelus.'] A genus 'of sphaeridium (sfe-rid'i-um),». [NL., < Gr. a6,
which bends at the chase, or whose muzzle "■— " — ' — -* = „„...„:.,:__»i j_ •',. .. i • . . .'.< .>- ' . ^
drf>ops, from too quick firing.
II. Iram. 1. To vomit; puke up or out; eject
from or as if from the stomach.
So then because thou art lukewarm ... I wUi tpue
thee out of my mouth. E«T. ill. 18.
2. To eject as if by retching or heaving; send
or cast forth from within ; drive bv internal
force or effort : often used figuratively.
That the land iptte not you oat also, when ye defile It,
as It ipiud out the nations that were before you.
Lev. xvlii. 28.
To lire, for me, Jane, i> to stand on a crater-crust which
may crack and tpew tire any day.
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xx.
To spew oakum, said of the seams of a ship when the
oakum starts out from between the planks.
pyrenomycetous fungi, containing the very de-
structive species (S. Ampelinum) known as an-
thracnose. It first appears on the shoots, leaves, and
twrries of grape-vines as minute brown spots which are a
little depressed In the middle and have a slightly raised
darker.colored rim. These spots soon increase in size and
elongate longltudin.ally. On the fruit the spots retain a
more or less regularly rounded outline, and have a well-
defined band of bright vermilion between the dark border
and the central portion. Finally, under the action of the
disease, the berries dry up, leaving nothing, apparently,
but the skin and seeds. Washing the vines with a strong
Bolotlon of sulphate of ium before the aijpearance of the
leaves has been found effective in destroying or checking
the diMaae. See anthracnose.
sphacelus (sfas'e-lus), H. [NL., < Gr. a(fidKe7Mc,
gangrene, mortification, caries, also a spasm,
convulsion.] 1. Necrosis. — 2. A necrosed mass
of tissue.
piihm; dim. of aipaipa, a ball, sphere: see sphere.]
1. PI. njihieridia (-a). In echinodenns, one of
the numerous minute spheroidal bodies, rarely
more than one hundredth of an inch long, which
are found in nearly all sea-urchins upon the
arabulacral plates, especially those nearest the
mouth. Kach contains a dense glassy calcareous skele-
ton, and Is articulated by a short pedicel, like a spine, to
one of the tubercles. The sphasridia are supposed to be
olfactory or auditory sense-organs.
In some genera, these fT^AA^riffta. towhich Lov^n ascribes
a sensory function (probably auditory), are sunk in fossw
of the plate to which they are attached.
Huxley, Anat. Invert,, p. 490.
2. leap.] [NL. (Fabricius, 1795).] The typi-
cal ^enus of the Sphteridiinm, comprising mainly
African species distinguished by the elongate
sphxridinin
scutellnm and the visible pygidium.
hxoidet: is an example.
Sphaeriidse (sff-ri'i-de), n.pl. [NL., < Sphmrimn
+ -iiice.] A family of fresh-water bivalve mol-
lusks, typified by ttie genus Sphxrium, formerly
6822
Sphecius
5. smra- sphserotherian (sfe-ro-the'ri-an), a. and «. [<
Sphserotlierium + -an.] I. «. Of or pertaining
to the genus Sphierotlierinm.
II. »(. A milleped of the genus Sphserothe-
^ ^ rliim or iamily Sjyhxrotlicriidse.
called 0/o/(i(f(W, and now generally united with Sphserotheriida (sfe"ro-the-ri'i-de), n. pi
the Uinc&\ Cyrenidx under the latter name. [NL., iSphierotheriiim + -Ma;.] A family of ehi-
sph»risterium (sfe-ris-te'ri-um), Ji. ; pi. sphm- lognath myriapods, typified by the genus ^Sij/i*-
risteria (-a). [< L. sphxristerittm, < Gr. c(^ai-
fuoTi/piov, a place for playing ball, < a^pKeiv,
play at ball, < txjialpa, a ball: see sphere.']
rotherium, having aggregated eyes and lateral
^,.,, antenna}. Also called Zephroniidse.
In Sphaerotherium (sfe-ro-the'ri-um), n. [NL.,
class, antiq., any place or structure for the ex-
ercise of ball-playing ; a tennis-court.
sphsrite (sfe'rit), «. [< Gr. aipaipa, a ball,
sphere, -I- -ite^.] A hydrous phosphate of
aluminium, allied to waveUite in structure and
composition.
Sphaeriuin (sfe'ri-um), n. [NL. (Scopoli, 1777),
< Gr. a<paipiov, dim. of c<l>a'ipa, a ball.] The typi-
cal genus of the Sphxriidx, or a genus of the
family Cyrenidx, for a long time generally
known as Cyclas. It contains many small elam-
like fresh-water shells.
Sphaerobacteria (sfe'ro-bak-te'ri-a), n. pi.
psL., < Gr. a<j>mpa, a sphere, + NL. Sacterimii,
q. v.] In Cohn's system of classification, a
tribe of schizomycetes or bacteria, with spheri-
cal cells, as in the genus Micrococcus. See Mi-
crocticrus.
Sphserococcaceae (sfe'ro-ko-ka'se-e), n. pi.
l^fL., < Spheerococctts + ^ceae.] The same or
nearly the same as the SpJiserococcoidex.
Spliserococcoidese (8fe"ro-ko-koi'de-e), «. pi.
[\L., < Sphxrococcus + -oidese.] An order or
suborder of florideous algse, named from the
genus Sphierococcus. The fronds are cylindrical or
membranaceous, often of very delicate substance. The
antheridia form superficial patches, or are occasionally
contained in sunlten cavities.
Spliaerococcas (sfe-ro-kok'us), n. [NL. (Stack-
house), < Gr. Bfalpa, a ball, + k6kkos, a berry.]
A genus of florideous algsB, giving name to the
order Sphxrococcoidex. There are no American
species.
Sphaerodactylus (sfe-ro-dak'ti-lus), n. [NL.
(Wagler, 1830), < Gr. a(falpa, a ball, -I- da/cTuAof,
finger.] A genus of American gecko lizards,
having toes ending in small circular sucking-
disks, by means of which they adhere to per-
pendicular surfaces. There are large carinate scales
on the back, and small smooth hexagonal ones on the belly.
5. notatus is one of the smallest of lizards, about 2 inches
long, found in Florida and Cuba ; it is notable as the only
gecko of the United States. Also Sphariodactylm.
Sphserogaster (sfe-ro-gas'tfer), n. [NL. (Zet
ters, see Sphagiiacex.
The plants of this genua
are widely diffused over
the temperate parts of the
globe, and enter largely
into the composition of
peat. There are about 2.^
North American species
and many varieties or
forms, about tiie validity of
which the best authorities
differ widely. The most di-
vergent forms may be dis-
tinguished by well-marked
characters, but these seem
to merge into one another
by a complete series of con-
necting links. See peaO,
peat-moss, Bryacex.
2. [_l. c] A mass
or quantity of moss
of this genus: often
used attributively: as,
sphagnum moss ; a
sphagnmn bog.
banis, 1860), < Gr.
(Brandt, 1841), < Gr. a^alpa, a ball, + 9rjpiov, a
wild beast.] A genus of chilognath myriapods,
of the family Glomeridx, ami giving name to
the Sphxrotheriidx. S. elongatum is an exam-
ple. Also called Zephronia.
SphsBIOZOa, ». Plural of sphxrozoon.
sphaerOZOia(sfe-r9-z6'id),a. and n. I. a. Of or
pertaining to the SphxroMidx.
II. n. A sphserozoon, or member of the Sphx-
rozoidx. _^..._.^
Sphaerozoidse (sfe-ro-zo'i-de), ». pi. [NL., SphagoiobusTsfa-gol'
<.Sphxi-o:oum + -idx.] A family of spume 11 a- o-bus), «. [NL. (Ca
rians, or compound radiolarians, typified by the - "
genus Sphxrozoum, with a skeleton composed
of numerous detached spicules scattered round
the social cen tral capsules, or embedded in their
common gelatinous body.
sphaerOZOSn (sfe-ro-zo'on), «. ; pi. sphxrozoa
(-a). [NL. : see -S2)/iasroroM»i.] An individual
or' species of the genus Sphxrozoum or family
Sphxrozoidx.
Sphserozoum (sfe-ro-«;d'um), n. [NL., < Gr.
afa'ipa, a ball. + C'i'ov, an animal.] A genus
of compound
radiolarians,
typical of the
family Sphx-
rozoidx, the
protoplasm of
which con-
tains colored
celleeformbod-
ies, and gives
rise to a net-
work of spic-
ules forming
a loose de-
tached skele-
ton. S. ovodi-
mare is an ex-
ample. A sec-
a, Fertile plant of Sfihtt^nuttt
cuspidatH*n, var- ptuntosti*n ; I),
the cap.sule of Sphagnum sultse-
cuHdum ;_ c, the antheridium of
Spha^rftunt subsfrundltm ■ d.
cells of the leaf of Sphagnum
(Tipayt/, the throat, + '■'"" '"'"'
Aojidf, lobe.] A genus of hornbills, of the fam-
ily Bucerotidx, characterized by the peculiar
form of the casque and by the curly crest. The
i
'§
-mM'^,
1^
^^
Sphagolobus atrafus.
'^/^
Spkteroxoum ovcdifnart, magnified.
only species is S. atrattis of western Africa, of
a blackish color with the tail dark-green and
broadly tipped with white.
See ailso cut un- sphalerite (sfal'e-rit). n. [< Gr. aijia^epdc, slip-
pery, uncertain (< <7^d//lfn>, cause to fall, throw
See spherule, etc. down, trip: see fall, fail^, + -ite^: so named
ond species is S. punctatum.
der spicule.
t-erste_df, 1842), < Gr/ a^^pa, a ball + yaari/p ^i^me.^spnsnmw.^etc.^ ^^,_^,^ . [NL.'(Bri- because often confoimded with more useful
"^ ' del, lS-26).< Sphagnum + -acex.] A monotypic ores.] The native zinc sulphid more familiar-
order of mosses; the peat-mosses. They are soft ly known as zinc-hlende. See hlende.
and flaccid caulescent plants, generally of large size, grow- gplialerocarpiuin (sfal"e-ro-kar'pi-um), >i. ; pi.
ing in more or less compact tufts or patches on the sur- gnhalerocarpia (-a). [IWj., < Gr. a<iialep6c, slip-
face of bogs, or floating in stagnant water, more rarely on ^ ^ . \"' >-,.'..,.' '. . ..•^^
the borders of mountain rivulets. They are whitish, yel-
lowish, or sometimes red or olive-colored, and are peren-
nial by the annual prolongation of the stems or by simple
innovations at the apex. The branches are generally
spreading, in lateral fascicles of from two to seven, rarely
more, those at the summit of the stem capitate. The leaves
belly.] A genus of dipterous ini
family Acroceridx, containing one species, S.
arcticus, a minute shining-black fly, which oc-
curs from the northernmost point of Lapland
to northern Sweden.
Sphaerogastra (sfe-ro-gas'tra), n. pi. [NL., <
Gr. a(^lpa, a ball, + yaariip, belly.] A division
of arachnidans, containing those whose abdo-
men is more or less spheroidal or globose, as
the spiders: contrasted with ^»-<7M-03asfra. See
cut vmder spider.
sphaeroid, ». See spheroid.
Sphaeroma (sff-ro'ma), n. [NL. (Latreille,
1802), < Gr. Oijmipcj/ia, anything made round or
globular, < a(jiaipovv, make round or globular, <
a<t>alpa, a ball, sphere: see sphere.] The typi-
cal genus of Sphxromidx, so called from their
habit of rolling themselves up in a ball when
pery, uncertain (see sphalerite), + napndc, fruit.]
In bot., a name proposed for an accessory fruit,
as that of Shepherdia, in which the achene is-
invested by a persistent succulent calyx, which.
assumes the appearance of a berry.
kinds of cells. The inflorescence is monoecious or dice-
cious ; the male organs (antheridia) are borne upon clavate
catkin-like branches, solitary at the side of each leaf, glo-
bose or ovoid, pedicellate ; the female organs (archegonia)
are generally three or four terminating a short branch,
only one perfecting fruit and forming a capsule. The cap-
sule is globose, operculate with a convex or nearly flat lid,
the orifice naked ; the spores are of two kinds. See cut
under Sphagnum.
disturbed, like- some of the Oniscidx. They Sphagnei (sfag'ne-i), «.;)?. [NL < ^-jphag-
' - - ' . _ _ , ^ ^1^^.^ ^ Q.J. aipayvog, a kind ot moss.J same as
are known as globe-slaters. Also Spheroma
Leach.
sphaeromere, n. See spheromere.
sphaeromian, a. and n. See spheromian.
Sphaeromidae (sff-rom'i-de), n. pi. [NL., <
Sphxroma + -idx.] A family of isopod cms
taceans, typified by the genus Sphxroma ;
globe-slaters. .Also SphxronMtidx.
sphaerosiderite, »■ See spherosiderite.
sphaerospore, «. Same as spherospore.
sphaerostilbite (sfe-ro-stil'bit), «. [< Gr. a<palpa,
a ball, + E. stilbite.] A variety of stilbite.
Sphaerotheca (8fe-ro-the'ka),rj. [NL. (L6veill6,
IS."!!), < Gr. a(j>alpa,'a, ball, -1- Cw, a case.] A
genus of pyrenomycetous fungi, belonging to
the famUy Erysiphex, characterized by a peri-
thecium whicifi contains only a single ascus.
The appendages are simple threads not unlike the myce-
lium with which they arc frequently interwoven. The as-
cus Is usually suborhicular in shape, and generally con-
tains eight spores. S. humuli, called the hop-mildew, is
destructive to the hop-vine ; S. pannom is injurious to
rose-bushes ; and S. mors-uvx is the common gooseberry-
mildew. See lu^mUdew.
nerveless, translucent, formed of a single layer of two Spliargldldae (sfar-Jld 1-de), n.pl. [NL. (Bona-
■ " ' ... parte, 1839), < Sphargis (Sphargid-) + -idx.]
A family of ehelonians, typified by the genus-
Sphargis, having a soft, thick, coriaceous cara-
pace not consolidated by the bones, and claw-
less feet forming mere paddles; the soft-shelled
turtles. Only one species is known, the Inth, or leather-
back turtle, which reaches a gigantic size. Preferably to-
be called Demiochelydidie. Also Sphargidei. Sphargi-
dina, Sphanjidaidie. See cut under leatherback.
Sphargis (sfiir'jis), «. [NL. (Merrem, 1820).]
The typical genus of Sphargididx. The species is
S. eoriacea, the soft-shelled or leather-backed turtle, or
trunk-turtle. An earlier and unexceptionable name, and,
therefore the onym of this genus, is Vemiochelys. See cut
under leatherback.
Sphecia (sfe'shi-ii), «. [NL. (Hiibner, 1816),
< Gr. (T0^j {ciplK-), a wasp.] A genus of lepi-
dopterous insects, of the family .^geriidx, hav-
ing the abdomen moderate and no anal tuft;
the hornet-moths. Two European species are the
hornet-moth (S. apifnrmii) and the lunar honiet-moth (S.
bemhecifortnis). See Sesia.
Sphagnacex.
sphagnicoloUS (sfag-nik'o-lus), a. [< NL.
Sphagnum -(- L. colere, inhabit.] In bot. and
zofil., growing or living upon or among mosses
of the genus Sphagnum.
the Sphagnologist (stag-nol'o-jist), n. [< sphag-
nolog-y + -ist] In hot., a student of the Sphag-
nacex; one who is an authority on, or interest-
ed in the study of, the Sphagnacex. Jour. Soy.
Micros. Soc, 2d ser., VI. 108.
sphagnology (sfag-nol'o-ji), n. [< NL. Sphag-
-t- Gr. -Aoyi'a, < Uyeiv, speak: see -ology.] Sphecidae (sfes'i-de), n.2>l- [NL., also errone-
The special study of the Sphagnacex.
sphagnous (sfag'nus), a. [< NL. Sphagn{um)
+ -ous.] In bot., pertaining to bog-mosses or
peat -mosses; abounding in bog- or peat-mosses.
See Sphagnum.
Sphagnum (sfag'num), n. [NL. (Dillenius,
1741), < Gr. a<fia.yvoq, also ai^axoc, and ^da/cof, ipdn-
Kov, a kind of moss.] 1. A genus of mosses,
the peat- or bog-mosses, the only representa-
tive of the order Sphagnacex. For eharac-
ously Sphegidx, < Sphex (Spliec-) + -idx.^ A
family of fbssorial hymenopterous insects, typ-
ified by the genus Sphex: same as S]^hegidx.
SpheciilS (sfe'shi-us), n. [NL. (Dahlbom,
1843), < Gr. a<pii? ("(pr/K-), a wasp.] A notable
genus of digger-wasps, of the family Bembecidx,
having the middle tibisB armed with two spurs-
at the apex, and the marginal cell of the fore
wings lanceolate. The species are of large size and,
bright colors. 5. gpedoms is one of the largest of the
Sphecins
t the Sfktfidm, natural «2e.
Sfhrcius speciosus, natural size.
North American solitary wasps, and digs large cylindrical
burrows which it stores with stung cicadas, particularly
with the dos!-day liarvest-fly {Cicada tOncen).
Sphecotheres (sfe-ko-the'rez), «. [NL. (Vieil-
lot, 181G, also Sphecotera and Sphecothera), <
Gr. ai^i (a<f)riK-), a wasp, + Oijpav, hunt, ehase.]
One of two leading genera of passerine birds,
of the family Oriolidse, having the lores and
circumocular region naked. There are 4 species,
ranging In Australia, New Guinea, Timor, and the Eei
Islands. The Australian is 5. maxiUarie ; the Papuan is
S. talauiorii ; S. flavirxntru inhabits the Kei Islands and
parts of Australia ; while 5. viridit is found in Timor and
.Senuio, Also called Picnorhamphtu.
Sphegida (sfej'i-de), n. pi. [NL. (Westwood,
1840), irreg. < Snhex (Sphec-) + -iVfa».] A fam
ily of fossorial hymenopters, or digger-wasps.
The prothorax ia ^ _
narrowed ante-
riorly, and forms
a sort of neck;
the basal seg-
ment of the ab-
domen is narrow-
ed into a long,
smooth, round
petiole; and the
bead and thorax
are usually cloth-
ed with a long,
thin pubescence.
These wasps usu-
ally burrow into
.aand-banks, and
prorision their
etAlB with cater-
pBlan and spi-
aen. Eighteen
genera and about
three hundred species are known. Also SpKeHAst. See
mr\d-\catp, and cuts under digger-nxup, AntmopkUa, nmd-
dauftt'r, and Peiopmu$.
Sphenseacns, »■ See Sphenaacut.
sphendone (sfen'do-ne), n. [< Gr. a^evSdvii, a
sling, a head-band, a hoop, etc .] In Gr. archxol. :
(d ) A form of head-band or flllet worn by women
to confine the hair around and on the top of the
bead, it is characteristically broad In front and narrow
behind, being thus oppoeite in it« arrangement to the
opisthoaphendone. (6) An elliptical or semi-ellip-
tical area, or any place of kindred form, as the
auditorium of a theater ; that end of a stadium
which was curved or rounded.
The Meaaenlan stadlnm, which Is sturoonded by colon-
nade!, haa 16 rows of seats in the iphendoTie.
C. O. MiiOer, Manual of ArchBol. (tnuiaX i 2Sa
Bphene (sfen), n. [< F. «pA^it«, in allusion to the
wedge shape of the eryBt«l8,< Gr. o^v, a wedge.]
The mineral titanite. The tranqiarent green, green-
iah-yellow, or yellow varieties frequently exhibit a pliqr of
colon as brilliant as that of the yellow or green diamond,
showing a strong refraotire and alsperaive power on tight.
It Is quite soft, the hardneaa being only 6.6. SeeMtonile.
sphenethmoid (sff-neth'moid;, a. and n. [<
sphen{oid) + ethmoid.'] L a. 1. Of or pertain-
ing to the sphenoid and the ethmoid bone ; sphe-
nethmoidal; ethmosphenoid: as, the spheneth-
moid suture or articulation. — 2. Representing
or combining characters of both sphenoid and
ethmoid: as, the uphinethmoiil bone.
IL n. The sphenethmoid bone, as of the
frog's skull : one of the cranial bones, situated
in front of the parasphenoid. See girdle-bone,
and cuts under 4»ura'^ and Rana.
Also Hph'-no-ethmoid.
sphenethinoidal fsfe-neth-moi'dal), a. [< gphe-
iifthiHiii'l + -III.] Same as sphenethmoid Sphe-
nethmoidal nerve, a branch of the nasal nerre described
by Luschka as passing through the posterior internal or-
bital canal to the mucous membrane of the poeterlor etb-
moidal cells and the sphenoidal sinus. Called by Kniue
the poat^rior ethmoidal nerve.
gphenic (sfe'nik), a. [< Gr. o*Jv, a wedge, +
-iV ] Wedge-like — gphenic number, a number har-
iiie three unequal factors.
Sphenlon fsfe'ni-on). «. [NL., < Gr. a^, a
wedge.] The apex of the sphenoidal angle of
the parietal bone, on the surface of the skull :
so called by Von TorSk. See craniometry.
spheniscan fsfe-nis'kau). n. [< Sphfni.'ieiis +
-nn.} A penguin or spheniscomorph ; espe-
5823
cially, a jackass-penguin of the restricted ge-
nus SphcinscKs. See cut under Spheniscus.
Spheniscidae (sfe-nis'i-de), n.pl. [NL., < Sphe-
niscus + -idae.] The penguins as a family of
squamipennate or brevipennate palmiped na-
tatorial birds, of the order Pygopodes; the only
family of Spheniscomorphee, Squumipennes, Im-
pennes, or Ptilopteri, so strongly marked that
it is regarded as representing a superfamily,
order, or even superorder, though formerly in-
cluded in the Alcidse, or auk family. The wings
are reduced to flippers, like a seal's or turtle's. They
hang by the side, and cannot be closed like those of
other birds ; in swimming under water they are flapped
alternately with a peculiar motion suggesting that of the
blades of a screw propeller. They are covered with small
scaly feathers in which no reraiges can be distinguished,
and their bones are peculiarly flat, and not hollow. The
feet are four-toed and webbed, with very short broad tar-
si, the bones of which are more separate than the meta-
tarsals of any other birds. In walking or standing the
whole tarsus rests on theground, sothat the birds are plan-
tigrade ; and in swimming under water the feet act mainly
as rudders. The beak varies in form in different genera.
The plumage is uniformly implanted in the skin, without
any apteria ; and there is a highly developed system of
subcutaneous muscles, contributing to the sinuous move-
ments of the birds under water, suggestive of those of the
duck-mole. The fcithers of tlie upper parts and wings
are scaly, with thick, flattened shafts and slight webbing.
The Spbenifcidx are confined to the southern hemisphere,
and abound in cold temperate and antarctic waters, espe-
cially about the southern end of Africa and South America,
where they live in communities, often of great extent.
There are al>out 14 species, one of which reaches Brazil and
another Peru. The generic forms are Aptenodytee. the
king penguins, of great size, with slender bill ; Pygomelie,
a similar but long-tailed type : Dasi/rhampltus, with ex-
tensively feathered bill ; Eudyptula, of very small size ;
Eudyptet (or Catamutee), the rock-hoppers, which are
crested, and bop instead of waddling ; and Sphenitcwi, the
Jackaas-pengnins. There is a fossil penguin, Palaseudyp-
tet antaretieue, from the Tertiary of the west coast of Nel-
son Island, which was a giant, 6 or 7 feet tall. Aptetto-
dytidm Is a synonym. See the generic names, Sphenieeo-
morpfue, and cuts under Evdyptet, metalaretu,petiguini,
Pygo^xUe, Spheniteue, and Sqiuimipenaee.
Spheniscins (sfe-ni-si'ne), n.pl. [NL., < Sphe-
niscus + -in«.] The penguins : (af) as a sub-
family of Alcida; (6) as the only subfamily of
iSpheiiiseidsp.
spneniscine (sfe-nis'in), a. [< Spheniscus +
-i«ti.] Of or pertaining to the Spheniscida- :
spheniscomorpnic.
spneniscoid (sfe-nis'koid), a. [< Spheniscus +
-Old.] Slime as spheniscomorphic.
spheniscomorph (sfe-nis'ko-mdrf), n. A pen-
guin as a lucmbor ot the Spheniscomorphie.
Spheniscomorphse (sfe-nis-ko-mfir'fe), «. pi.
[NL. (Huxley, lh(57), < Spheniscus + Gr. fJofxj>ii,
form.] The penguins as a group of schizog-
nathous oarinate birds, represented by the
single family .''pheniscidie. See Spheniscida.
spheniscomorpnic (sfe-nis-ko-mdr'fik), a. [<
Spheniscomorphie + -tc.] Of or pertaining to
the Sphenigeomorphte. Also apheniseoid.
SphenisciU (sfe-nis'kus), n. [NL. (Brisson,
1760), < Gr. a^ip'ioKoc, dim. of <r^i', a wedge.]
1. In ornith., a genus of penguins, of the fam-
ily Spheniscidte, having a stout, compressed
beak hooked at the end, and no crest ; the jack-
ass-penguins. There are several Bpecie^ of medium
site. 5. demertue is found oR the Cape of Good Hope. It
sphenographic
2. In entom., a genus of heteromerous coleop-
terous insects, of the family Tenebrionidse. Kir-
bv, 1817. — 3. [?. c] Inniath., a sphenic number.
sphenobasilar (sfe-no-bas'i-lar), a. [< sphc-
no{id) -H basilar.] Of or pertaining to the
basisphenoid and the basioccipital or basilar
process of the occipital bone ; basilar, as the
suture between these bones. See cuts under
craniofacial, skull, and sphenoid.
sphenoccipital (sfe-nok-sip'i-tal), a. [< sphe-
ii{oid) -i- occipital.'] Of or pertaining to the
sphenoid and the occipital bone ; oecipitosphe-
iioid ; sphenobasilar.
S^henocercus (sfe-no-sSr'kus), ». [NL. (G. E.
Gray, 1840), < Gr. aipyy, a wedge, + KepKOf, a
tail.] A genus of fruit-pigeons or Treroninai,
having the tail euneate. Several species inhabit
parts of Asia, Japan, and the East Indies, as S. ephetmru»
is bluish-gray or slate-colored above, white below, with a
dark mau and single collar cut off by a white band from
the other colored parts, the collar extending as a stripe
along the sides of the body. The Magellanic penguin, S.
mag^kmteu»,ot South America, is similar, but has a dou-
ble collar. S. humMdti is another, inhabiting the coast
of Peru. iS. minor is a very small species, only about 12
inches long, now placed In another genus, Eudyptula.
Wedge-tailed Pigeon {Sffienecercns sfihttturus).
of the Himalayan region, S. Heboldi of Japan, S. torthalsC
of Sumatra, S, apicauda of Nepal, S. oxyurus of Java and
Borneo. S. formosst of Formosa. The genus is also called
Sphemiruit, Sp/ienoenae, and Sphenotreron.
Sphenodon (sfe'no-don), h. [NL., < Gr. ff^, a.
wedge, + bdoix (oAovt-) = E. tooth.] 1. In mam-
mal., a ^enus of extinct megatherioid edentates,
or fossil sloths, remains of which occur in th&
bone-caves of South America. Lund, 1839. —
2. In herpet.: (of) A genus of extant rhyn-
chocephalous lizards of New Zealand. S. punc-
tatus IS known as the tuatera. The name is.
synonymous with iThiferi'a. (f) [^ c] A lizard
of this genus. They resemble ordinary lizards exter-
nally, but have intemsd characters representative of an
order (Itht/nehocephalia). They are now restricted to cer-
tain localities in New Zealand, and live chiefly in holes
In the sand or about stones on certain rocky islets, though
they were formerly abundant in other places. They have
been thinned out. it is said, chiefly by hogs. Three species
are described. See cut under Uatteria.
sphenodont (sfe'no-dont), a. and n. [< Sphe-
nodon(t-).] I, a. &avin^ the character of a
sphenodon ; of or pertaining to the Sphenodon-
tid« or Hatteriidse.
H. n. A sphenodont lizard.
SphenodontidaB(sfe-n6-don'ti-de), n.pl. [NL.,
< Sphenodon(t-) -\- -idle.] A family of rhyn-
chocephalous reptiles, named from the genus.
Splienodon : same as Hatteriidse.
spnenodontoid (sfe-no-don'toid), a. and Ji. [<
Spliriiiitli))i(t-) + -oid.] Same as sphenodont.
Sphenoeacus (sfe-ne-a'kus), n. [NL. (Strick-
land, 1841), < Gr. o^, a wedge, + ola^ (o'iok-),
a rudder.] A genus of aberrant reed-warblers,
of uncertain systematic position. It is remarkable
In having only ten tail feathers, which are stiflened with
spiny shafts, and whose webs are lax and decomposed.
There are no rictal bristles (as in the related emu-wren :
see cut under StipUurm). There are 6 species, of South
Africa, New Zealand, and the Chatham Islands, as S. afri-
camix, .9. punelatue of New Zealand, and S. rufetcem of the
Cliathanis. Also .Sptienjeaeus and Sphenura.
Sphenoenas (sfe-Le'nas), «. [NL., < Gr. oipt/v,
a wedge, -I- oiv'6(, a wild pigeon of the color of
ripening grapes, < oJvdf, oiv^, the vine : see
irine.] Same as Sphenocercns.
spheno-ethmoid (sfe-no-eth'moid), a. and «.
Same as sjihinethmoid.
spheno-etnmoidal (sfe'no-eth-moi'dal), a.
Same as sphctitthmoidal.
sphenofrontal (sfe-no-fron'tal), a. [< spheno(id)
+ frontal.] Of or pertaining to the sphenoid
and tlie frontal bone; frontosphenoid Spbeno-
ftontal suture or articulation, in man. a long horizon-
tal suture between the orbital plates of the frontal bone
and the orbitosphenoids, and between the external angu-
lar processes of the frontal and the alisphenoids.
sphenogram (sfe'no-gram), fl. [< Gr. o^/v, a
wedge, -I- ypififia, a writing, < ypdfeiv, write.]
A cuneiform or arrow-headed character.
sphenographer (sfe-nog'ra-ffer), n. [< sphenog-
riiph-i/ -(- -cr^.] One versed in sphenography.
[Little used]
sphenographic (sfe-no-graf 'ik), a. [< sphenogra-
ph-y + -i'c.J Of or pertaining to sphenography.
Human Sphenoid Bone, from above.
<»,a,aIisphenoid,orpreater wins', the lower
letter a pointing to its continuation as the
external pterygoid process; *j, l>asisphe-
noid.or main body of the bone,*-* pointing to
the sphenoccipital articulation; ^c, post-
clinoid processes, boundii^ the pituitary
fossa or sella Turcica behind ; fis, presphe-
noiil.orfore pattof the body of the Done ; o,
orbitosphenoid. or lesser wing; /, internal
pterygoid process; i, optic foramen; a,
sphenoidal fissure, or foramen laceruni an-
terius ; 3, foramen rotundum ; 4, foramen
ovale ; 5, groove for interna 1 carotid artery,
or cavernous groove.
sphenographist
sphenographist (sfe-nog'ra-fist), n. [< sphe-
iiotjrujtli-i/ + -i»7.] Same as splienograpl^er.
sphenography (sfe-nog'ra-fi), n. [< Gr. <T(^vr,
a wedgo. + -^paipia, < ;.piip(W, write.] The study
aud description of cuneiform writings. [Rare, j
sphenoid (sfe'noid), a. and n. [< Gr. arprrvocaV/i;
wedge-shaped, < ff?^', a wedge, + fiiiof, form.]
I. a. Wedge-shaped; wedge-like; specifically,
in anat., noting certain cranial bones. See
II., 2 MinimiiTn sphenoid diameter, the least trans-
verse dLinieter of the skull, measured between the tem-
poral fossa'.
H. ». 1. In crista?., a wedge-shaped crystal-
line form contained under four equal isosceles
triangles. It is the hemihedral form of the
square pyramid of the tetragonal system. — 2.
In anat., a large and important compound hone
of the skull: so
called from its ^-*vs„_ \
shape and con- "
neetions in man.
The cranial articu-
lations are with the
occipital, temporal,
parietal, frontal, and
ethmoid ; the facial,
with tlie vomer,
malar, palate, and
sometimes the su-
perior ma.\iUary. It
has a solid median
and inferior body,
and bears on each
side two pairs of
wings, greater and
lesser, separated by
the sphenoidal fis-
sure from each oth-
er. It is a collec-
tion of bones, not a
single bone, its com-
position including,
in man and the mammals generally, (a) a basisphenoid,
the principal posterior part of the body of the bone, bear-
ing (6) the alisphenoids, the pair of greater wings, these
elements forming with the parietal bones the second or
parietal segment of the ci-unium; (c) the presphenoid,
the lesser anterior moiety of the body of the bone, bearing
(d) the orbitosphenoids, the pair of lesser wings, or pro-
cesses of Ingrassias, these forming with the frontal bones
the third or frontal cranial seg:nent; (e) a pair of ptery-
goid bones, the so-called internal pterygoid processes ; (/)
a pair of spongy bones, the sphenoturbinals. The devel-
opment of the human sphenoid is from 14 centers of ossi-
fication, 8 in the postsphenoid division, and 6 in the pre-
sphenoid division. Below mammals, in Sauropsida (birds
and reptiles), the sphenoid is simplified by subtraction
of the pterygoids, which then form permanently distinct
bones, and complicated by the addition of other elements,
especially an underlying membrane-bone called the y^ara-
tpheiwid. In IddhyopMa (amphibians and fishes) further
and very great modifications occur. To the sphenoid of
man are attached twelve pairs of muscles.
sphenoidal (sfe-noi'dal), a. [< sphenoid + -al.']
Same as sphenoid Sphenoidal angle. See crani-
ometry.—Svbenoiial crest, the median thin ridge pro-
jecting from the anterior surface of the sphenoid bone to
articulate with the perpendicular plate of the ethmoid.
Also called ethmoidal «■<•««,— Sphenoidal fissure. See
figgure. — Sphenoidal fontanelle, the membranous in-
terspace in the infant skull at the junction of the squamous
suture with the coronal suture. It often contains a Wor-
mian bone —Sphenoidal hemihedrism. See hemi- „ , ^ „.,v,„,.„„
hedriism.— Sphenoidal process. See procem.— Sphe- opnenopnorus
noldal rostnim. (o) The beak, or a beak-like part, of
the sphenoid bone. In man it is a vertical ridge upon
which the vomer rides, forming the sphenovomerine suture
or schindylesis. (6) In birds, a rostrate part of the skull
which appears to be chiefly, if not entirely, developed from
the parasphenoid.— Sphenoidal septum. See septum
gphenoidate, under septum.— Sphenoidal Sinuses. See
««««.— Sphenoidal spongy bones, the sphenoturbinals.
sphenoides (sfe-noi'dez), n. [NL., < Gr. afi/voei-
3^f, wedge-shaped: see sphenoid.'] 1. Inanat.,
the splienoid bone : more fully called as sphe-
noides.— 2. [cap.] A genus of eoelenterates.
sphenoideujn (sfe-noi'df-um),r(.; -pX.sphenoidea
(-a). [NL. : see sphenoid.] The sphenoid bone,
or OS sphenoideum.
sphenoido-avu:icular(sfe-noi"d6-a-rLk'u-lar),a.
In craniom., noting the ratio of the minimum
sphenoidal diameter of the skull to the mini-
mum auricular diameter: as, the sphenoidoz
auricular index.
Sphenoidofrontal (sff-noi'do-fron'tal), a. In
craniom., noting the ratio of the minimum Sgnenopnyllum
5824
Sphenozamites
noid and superior maxillary bones.— Spheno- Splienoi)terid (sfe-nop'te-rid), n. A fern of the
maxillary fissure, fossa, suture, etc. See the nouns.
Sphenomonadidse (sfe'uo-mo-nad'i-de), >i.pl.
[NL., < Sphenomonas (-monad-) + -idie.] A
family of dimastigate eustomatous inf usoriaus,
represented by tlie genus Sphenomonas. These
animalcules are free-swimming ; the cuticular surface is
indurated ; flagella are two in number, one long and one
short, both vibratile and extended anteriorly ; the oral
aperture is succeeded by a distinct tubular pharynx ; the
endoplasm is colorless, granular; an eudoplast and con-
tractile vesicle are conspicuous.
Sphenomonas (sfe-nom'o-nas), ». [NL., < Gr.
a(priv, a wedge, +' /iovdg,' solitary, a unit : see
monad.] The representative genus of Spheno-
monadidse. These animalcules are of persistent poly-
hedral prismatic figure, with four or more longitudinal
carinse, and two vibratile flagella, a long and a short one.
Two fresh-water species are S. quadrawjvlaris and S. octo-
costatxis.
sphenonchus (sfe-nong'kus), w. ; pi. sphenonchi
(-ki). [NL., < Gr. oi^^v, a wedge, 4- oyKog, bulk,
mass.] In ichth.: (a) One of the hooked dermal
spines of the cephalic armature of certain fossil
genus Sphcnopicris.
Sphenopteris (sfe-nop'te-ris), n. [NL. (Bron-
gniart, 1822), < Gr. aip7/i',"ii wedge, + Trrf/xf {-re-
/«()-), a fern : see Pteris.] A genus of fossil ferns,
very widely distributed and very abundant, es-
pecially in the (Carboniferous) coal-measures,
bttt ranging from the Devonian to the Middle
Cretaceous. '*These are elegant ferns, very numer-
ous in species, and most difficult to discriminate" (Dafc-
8011). Almost nothing is known of the fructification
of Sphetwpteris, and the numerous specific distinctions
which have been made are generally derived from the
subdivisions of the fronds, and the shape and venation of
the pinnules. Lesquereux divides the sphenopterids into
three subdivisions : (a) the pecopterid sphenopterids, spe-
cies of which group were referred to Pecopteris by Bron-
gniart, of which the fronds have their ultimate pinna; pin-
nately deeply lobed, the lobes connate to the middle or
higher, and the veins piniiately divided, as in Pecopteris;
(6) Sphenopteris proper, of which the pinna; are more deep-
ly divided in lobes, or pinnately narrowed and decurrent
at the base, and generally dentate or crenate at the apex ;
(c) the hymenophyllite sphenopt«rida, which he thinks
should constitute a distinct genus. See cut under /em.
fishes, as of the genera Uyhodus and Acrodvs. sphenopterygoid(sfe-nop-ter'i-goid),a. [<sp/ic-
(ftt) leap.] A lapsed genus of fishes, founded no(id) + pteri/fioid.] Common to the sphenoid
on sphenonchi by Agassiz in 1843. and pterygoid bones. Also pterygosphenoid.
spheno-orbital, spheno-orbitar (sfe-n6-6r'bi- sphenorbital (sf§-n6r'bi-tal), a. [< sphen(oid)
tal, -tar), a. Same as sphenorbital. + orbital.] Pertaining to the sphenoid bone
sphenopalatine (sfe-no-pal'a-tin), a. [_<sphe- and the orbits of the eyes; orbitosphenoid. The
nn(ifl\ 4- nnlntiDf'^ ^ Pertninirifr to the snhenoid sphenorbital parts of the sphenoid are the lesser wings, or
no(ta) -hjwWtHie .J rertamingto tne spnenoui orbitosphenoids; the sphenorbital fissure is the sphenoi-
and palatine bones. Also sphenopalatal, sphe- j^ assure, or anterior lacerate foramen. See orbUosphe-
nopalatinate. — Internal sphenopalatine nerve, noid. A}ao spheno-orbital &nd spheno-orbitar.
Same as nasopalatine neri-e (which see, under nasopala- SphonorhynchuS (sfe-no-ring'kus), w. [NL.,
(ine).- Sphenopalatine artery, a branch arising from ^^^^^_ Splienorrhynchus (fiemprich and Ehren-
the third or sphenomaxillary portion of the internal max-
illary artery. It passes through the sphenopalatine fora-
men into the cavity of the nose, and is distributed to the
nasal mucous membrane and the membranes of the an-
trum, ethmoid, and sphenoid cells. Also called naml
or««T/.— Sphenopalatine foramen, ganglion, notch.
See the nouns.- Sphenopalatine nerves, two small
branches of the superior maxillary nerve to the spheno-
palatine or Meckel's ganglion. — Sphenopalatine vein,
a small vein entering the pterygoid plexus.
sphenoparietal (sfe"n6-pa-ri'e-tal), a. [< sphe-
no(id) + parietal.] Pertaining to the sphenoid
and parietal bones : as, the sphenojiarictal su-
ture.-Sphenoparietal sinus, a small vessel which
communicates with the cavernous sinus and middle me-
berg, 1829), < Gr. aipi/v, a wedge, + pvyxo^i a
snout.] 1. A genus of Ciconiidse, the wedge-
bUled storks, having a sharp straight bill with
a membrane saddled on the base of the upper
mandible, and no ambiens muscle. The only spe-
cies is the white-bellied stork or simbil, S. abdimi, also
called Abdimia sphenorhyncha, of greenish and brownish-
purple color and white below, the bill tipped with orange-
red. It inhabits Africa, nests in trees, and is regarded
with veneration by the natives. See cut under simbd.
2t. A genus of South American dendrocolaptine
birds, now called Glyphorhynchus. Maximilian,
1831.— 3+. A genus of reptiles. Tschudi, 1838.
ningeal veins, and rests in a groove on the under side of the SphenOSQUamOSal (sfe no-skwa-mo sal), a. [<■
lesser wing of the sphenoid. £rescAe«.— Sphenoparie- spheno{id) + squamosal.] Of or pertaining to the
tal suture. See suture. _ sphenoid and the squamous part of the tempo-
sphenopetrosal(sfe"n6-pet-r6'sal), o. \_<sphe- ralbone; squamosphenoidal.
no{id) + ^ietrosal.] Of or pertaining to the sphe- gphenotemporal (sfe-no-tem'po-ral), a. [<
noid and petrosal
bones ; petrosphe-
noid al — Sphenopetro-
sal suture. See s^iture.
sphenopharyngeus
(sfe"n6-t'ar-in-je'us),
n. [< spheno{id) +
pharyngeus.] An
occasional elevator ^j» ^ .
muscle of the phar- ^ \ / (/ \
ynx which arises from sphtnothorus scuiftuis.
the spine of the sphe- ". atiult beetle, dorsal view; 4,
. -^ adult beetle, side view in outline
nOlCl. (hair-line shows natural size); c,
(gfg_ pattern of elytral sculpture, still
- „, _ - . rxTT* >"o'''= enlarged.
nof o-rus), n. [NL.
(Soh'onherr, 1838), < Gr. o^ifv, a wedge, + -^<5pof,
< ^tpuv = E. bear^.] A notable genus of rhyn-
Sfhenophorus pulchtllus.
a, adult beetle, dorsal view; *,
adult beetle, side view in outline.
(Hair-line shows natural size.)
(sfe -no
sphenoidal diameter of the skull to the mini-
mum frontal diameter.
sphenoidoparietal (8fe-noi"d6-pa-ri'e-tal), a.
In craniom., noting the ratio of the minimum
sphenoidal diameter of the skull to the maxi-
mum parietal diameter.
sphenomalar (sfe-no-ma'lar), a. r< sphetwiid)
+ malar.] Of or pertaining to the sphenoid
and malar bones: as, the sphenomalar articula-
tion, between the alisphenoid and malar bones.
—Sphenomalar suture. See inUure.
sphenomaxillary (sfe-no-mak'si-la-ri), a. [<
»pheno(id) -t- maxillary.] Relating to the sphe-
(Brongniart, 1822), < Gr. C(^r]v, a wedge, -1- ^/vl-
%ov, a leaf.] A genus of fossil plants, occurring
spheno{id) + temporal'^.] In anati, of or belong-
ing to the temporal and sphenoid bones. Also
temporosphoioid.— Sphenotemporal suture. See
sidure.
sphenotic (sfe-no'tik), a. and n. [< splien(oid)
+ otic.] I. a. Of or pertaining to the sphenoid
bone and the otic capsule, or hard parts of the
auditory organ: as, a sphenotic ossification in
various fishes. See cut under telcost.
II. n. In orniWi., a postfrontal process of bone,
or a separate ossification, developed in relation
with sphenoidal and otic elements, entering into
the posterior boundary of the orbital cavity.
sphenotresia (sfe-no-tre'si-a), n. [NL., < Gr.
a^lfv, a wedge, + rprjai^, perforation, < Terpalveiv
(y/ rpa), perforate.] The breaking up of the
basal portion of the fetal skull in craniotomy,
chophorous beetles, sphenotribe (sfe'no-trib), n. [< Gr. a<l>^v, a
of many species and wedge, + rpifiuv, rub, bruise.] The instru-
ment used in performing sphenotresia.
sphenoturbinal (sfe-no-ttr'bi-nal), a. and n. [<
spheno(id) + turbinal.] I. a. Sphenoidal and
turbinated or whorled or scroll-like ; spheno-
turbinate : specifically applied, conformably
with ethmoturhinal and maxilloturbinal, to the
sphenoidal spongv bones. See II.
II. n. One of tlie sphenoidal spongy bones ;
one of a pair of small bones situated in front of
the body of the sphenoid, in man at birth solid,
nodular, distinct from each other and from the
sphenoid, afterward fused with the body of the
sphenoid as delicate spongy or scroll-like bones
which take part in forming the sphenoidal si-
nuses. Their homologues in other animals are
questionable.
sphenoturbinate (sfe-no-ttr'bi-nat),a. [< sphe-
no(id) + turbinate.] Same as sphenoturbinal.
very wide distribu-
tion, having the an-
terior C0X88 narrowly
separated, and the
body beneath gla-
brous. Nearly 200 spe-
cies are known, of which
30 inhabit America north
of Mexico. Many of them
breed in the roots of
plants, and so may become
pests. The adult beetles
also often feed upon
plants. Thus S. sculptilis
feeds upon corn, and S.
pvZchellus upon the cockle-
bur (Xanthium).
fil'um), n. [NL.
throughout the whole thickness of the coal- sphenovomerine (sfe-no-vom'e-rin), a. \_<sphe.
measures, both in Europe and in the United J^^^^^^'-^^^f.^^l-^ Qf or pertaining to the
States, and supposed to have been found also in ^^^^,>^^^ ^„„, ^J^^^ ^^^/^ , thi spheno-
the Lower Silurian, near Cincinnati in Ohio, it ,,f,,,,,,.,„„ „,it„rp or schindvlesis
is a herbaceous plant, with wliorlsof wedge-shaped leaves, lomeinie suture or scnmajiesis.
springing from enlarged articulations, the fructiflcation SphenOZamiteS (8fe"no-za-mi tez), n. [^Li.
in cylindrical spikes, with bracts curved upward in a (Brongniart, 1849), < Gr. a<pr/v, a wedge, + NL.
sharjp flexure from near the base, and globular sporanges
in the axils of the bracts. Sphetwphyllum, flrst thought
by Brongniart to belong to the gymnoapenns, is now be-
lieved to constitute a peculiar type of vegetation, regarded
by some authors as related to the rhizocarps, by others as
connected with the Calamaria through AsterophyllHes.
Zamites, q. v.] A genus of fossil plants be-
longing to the cycads, ranging from the Per-
mian to the Jurassic inclusive. They are said
by Schimper to bear some resemblance to the prob-
lematical Noeggerathia, and, among living forms, to be
Sphenozamites
most nearly analogous to Zamia and Eneephalartoa. See
ZamiUi.
Sphennra (sfe-nu'rii), «. [NL., < Gr. a<p^; a
wedge. + ovpa, a tail.] 1 . In oniith., a generic
name variously applied, (a) An Australian genus of
aberrant reed warblers, with only ten tail-feathers and
three pairs of strong recurved rictal bristles. It is quite
Spkemura brachyftera.
near Svhmaacvx (which see), and in part synonymous
therewith There are 3 species, S. hraehypUra, S. longi-
Tottnt, and S. broadbmti. LiehtenMein, 1823. (6t) A
genus of South American synaUaxine birds now called
etu^henura and Thnpophaga. Spix, 1824 ; Sundemll.
1835. (ct) A eenus of Indian and African birds related
to neither of the foregoing, now called Argya (or Argia)
and Mataimia. Bonaparte, 1854.
2. In entom., a genus of coleopterous insects.
Dfjeaii, 1834.
spheral (spher'al), a. [< L. sphseralis, of or
pertaining to a sphere, globular, < gphiera, <
^r. a^ipa, a bafl, sphere: see sphere.'] 1.
Rounded or formed like a sphere; sphere-
sh^>ed ; hence, symmetrical ; perfect in form.
— 2. Of or pertaining to the spheres or hea-
venly bodies; moving or revolving like the
spheres ; hence, harmonious.
Well I know that all things more
To the tphend rhythm of lore.
Whittier, Andrew Rykman's Prayer.
The tpherai souls that move
Through the ancient heaven of song-Illumined air.
Swinbume.
Cariyle had no faith in . . . the astronomic principle by
which the systems are kept in poise in the »pher£ bar-
•°°"y- Tlu, CeiUury, XXVI. 638.
5825
3. An orbicular body representing the earth or
the apparent heavens, or illustrating their as-
tronomical relations. Hence— 4. The visible
supernal region; the upper air; the heavens;
the sky. [Poetical.]
Then shaJli the righteous shine like glorious starres
VV ithin the sphear of heaven.
Sweet Echo, . . . "'"■='■ """^'^ ^^- ^- ''■ **■>• P" «"
Sweet queen of parley, daughter of the sphere.
Milton, t'omus, 1. 241.
An eagle, clang an eagle to the sphere.
Tennyson, IMncess, Hi.
6. One of the supposed concentric and ec-
centric revolving rigid and transparent shells
called crystalline, in which, according to the
old astronomers (following Eudoxus), the stars,
sun, moon, and planets were severally set, and
by which they were carried in such a manner
as to produce their apparent motions. The term
is nowgenerallyrestrictecftothe sphere of the fixed stars,
and is recognized as a convenient Action. It is also loosely
applied to the planets themselves.
After shewede he hym the nyne tperet ■
And after that the melodye herde he
That Cometh of thilke speret thryes three.
That welle Is of musik and melodye
In this world here and cause of harmonye.
Chaucer, Parliament of Fowls, 1. 69.
Stand still, yon ever-moving spheres of heaven 1
Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, v. 4.
Hence — 6t. An orbicular field or course of
movement; an orbit, as that of a heavenly body
or of the eye; a circuit.
As Mars in three-score yeares doth run his tpheare
I he spheare of Cupid fourty yeares confines. '
Spenser, Sonnets, It
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres.
Shale., Hamlet, L 6. ^7.
7. Place or scene of action; the space within
whic^movement is made or operations are ear-
ned (A.; a circumscribed region of action: as
the sphere of a mission; the spheres (fuller,
spheres of influence) of the different European
powers and trading companies in Africa.
The foure elementes wherof the body of man is com
spherical
• — ~^«™ ~..,i,ui vuc uiiuyoi man is com-
pacte ... be set in their places caUcd spheris, higher or
lower Iwr^nivnaa tn th.. ..^..»-..:..«:.. _* al^ * "iftuc* wi
s:
ipherality (sff-ral'i-ti). n. [< spheral + -ity.l
1 he state of being spheral, or having the form
of a sphere. [Kare.J
spheraster (sfe-ras't6r), n. [NL., < Gr. mtaipa
a ball, sphere, + ioH/p, a star.] In sponges, a
regjUar polyact or stellate spicule whose rays
coalesce into a spherical figure, as in the genus
freodin ,• an aster with a thick spherical body.
It. ./. Sollas.
spheration (sfe-ra'shon), n. [< sphere + -afion.l
formation into a sphere; specifically, the
process by which cosmic matter is formed into
a globular or planetary body. [Recent.]
rtJ?!.£'''i''*' «•»"<"» »«»nip«nyiiiB tbe<f>A«niMon of a
riDgare not such as to determine aniformly either direct
or ntrograde motion. Winckelt, World-Uf e, p. 123.
Splwre (sfer), n. [Early mod. E. also sphear,
spheare, also sphere (with vowel ag in L) •
earher (and still dial.) spere, < ME. spere/l
OP. espere, later sphere, F. sphh-e = Pr.espera
= Sp. esfera = Pg. esphera = It. sfera = D.
sfeer = G. snhare = Dan. s/iere = Sw. spher, < L
^hfra, ML. also sphera, spera, < Gr. oAahm, a
ball, globe, sphere, applied to a playing-ball,
a sphere as a geometrical figure, the terrestrial
globe, the earth, also an artificial globe (so in
Strabo, the notion that the earth is a sphere
appearing first prob. in Plato), also a star or
planet (Plutarch), also a hollow sphere, one
of the concentric spheres supposed to revolve
around the earth, also a ball (of the eye), a pUl,
etc.; perhaps lit. 'that which is tossed about'
(applied hrst to a playing-ball), for 'oiidpua for
oTrapya, < amipetp, scatter, throw about (see
sperm, sporei); or perhaps connected with
avetpa, a coil, ball, spire (see spire^).] 1 In
geom..a solid figure generated by the revolu-
tion of a semicircle about its diameter thi. i.
throughont a conic, and therefore everywhere equidis
wnere K Is the radius; iu volume Is JirE'
Hence -2. A rounded body, approximately
spherical ; a ball ; a globe. '
iJ}^' Lieutenants evidence was as round, complete and
lucid as a Japuieae sphere of rock-ciystal. '
g^ 0-r. HofmM,oidVol.of Llf«ip.55.
lower acoordynge to the soueraintie of theyr natures.
Sir T. EtyU, The Govemour, i. 1.
«'„AiL'^''HT''li'*^"'* ^i?f ''*'' ■"'"■'' ""hin his own
iipKere, and had done nothing out of the Realm.
Baier, Chronicles, p. 403.
Our South African sphere seems better suited for Eu-
ropean settlement than is the TunlsUn protectorate of
France. Sir C. W. DUIce, Probs. of Greater BriUin, v.
8. Position or rank in society ; position or class
with reference to social distinctions,
^T'^l 11.^'P'*?''''^'' "« •>« Englands King,
And mighUeat fn the Spheare In which we moove
Weele shine alone, this Phaeton east downe.
Beyvmd, Bojral King (Works, ed. Peaiwn, 1874, VI. 29).
H.lilH.-*' L"!?^!.^"^'"*?'*! '"" "*»"« 'he horizon,
aeco»»Mng and cheering the elevated sphere she lust began
'o "O" ^ Burke, Rev. in FnSce.
9. Circuit or radius, as of knowledge, influ-
ence, or activity; definite or circumscribed
range; determinate limit of any mental or
physical course: as, the sphere of diplomacy.
^.^1" ?tl"* "'"'"' ""* °' "y "f*^'! I "=»" e'^e no ac-
count of them. Dampier, Voyages; II. 1. 120.
Nature to each allota his proper Sphere.
Congrete, Of Pleasing.
toiiUary sphere. 8eeormS(ary. -Axis Of asptaere
Sn S^ „ "^?* °i *"« sphere. Se.- drcU. - CoUold'
?l^=5?l <l""ect sphere. s«- the (nialifying words.-'
LOpernlcan sphere, an amiillary sphere with the addi-
tion of a secc.uJ sphere representing the sun, central to a
divided circle representing the ecliptic— Doctrine of
ine sphere, the elemenU of the geometry of flirurei
drawn uinm the surface of a "phere.-Epldermlc
spnerea ^ame as epithelial pearls (which see, under
f "'S;~l9:?.'"??*'y '^ spheres, a branch of geometry
ISJii''? '*•"'■*• of Hu'ikers geometry of linw are 5-
placed by •pherea, and the Intersections of line* by the
contactof spheres -Harmony ormuslc of the spheres
8« Aarmon.v.- Logical sphere, the sut.ject or ultinmte
antecedent of a slatenuuf, „r (he dijects which a term
«?r^j;'W''J?'"'*'^*- •^i'=""'!w-ObUque sphere,
the sphere of the heavens, or another sphere rei.reseiitinK
that, as It appears at a station where the a.iKic hetweeii
the equator and the horizon Is oblitiue. The riijht sphere
u the aaine nphere for an equatorial station where the
SSLHk '*'"' »°«'e; ynd 'he paraUel sphere is the same
where the angle vanishes -that is, for a polar station —
psculattag sphere of a non-plane curve, the sphere
throiiKh four cnoeciitive |K,liits of the curve -ParaUal
Si^i?- "^ * sphere. See p„raU,l. - ParaUel sphere
ano?Slini?'*^''~?1^«' °f * sp'"*" to regard to
another, the squared distance uf the two ceiiteis less tlie
sum of the squaresof the radii. C/i/wrf- Projection of
ine sphere. »eemop.pr<y«(ioji,nnderpro>cn(-ii.— Radi-
cal sphere, a sphere orthogonally cuttiriK fnur snheres
having their centers at the summits of the t<;tralie(lron of
coordinates. - Eight sphere. See nUI,,„r ^,here - Sec-
{£1 ° ™ ■?•>?"■ i^" '^"'- - Segmentation sphere.
I-JC^ ".'T^T.'!**^*"" "^ * sphere, see se'^menl.
-sphere at Infinity, see injinity, .!.— Twelve-nolnt
spnere. (a; a sphere (discovered by I'rouhet In 18tB) be-
&'".^'° " tetraJiedron in which the four perpendlcnlam
or^nn^„t?h"™'*?."'>"" *« "PPo^'t^^ f»<=^» inter ect^
one point, this sphere passing through the four feet of
cen?^,.?'?""'^-^'^'^ .^'"1 consequently also threugh the
^^l ?' p""""'!- °/ the four faces, and through thlmS
points of the lines from the vertices to the common inter-
sections of the perpendiculars aforesaid. (6) More genlf-
?"fan lSrTc?,ll1'h r"'-"* 'V^ ^y ">e Itiiin matCL-
inJ fhrnnWh ' J^^'ong'nK to ally tetrahedron, and pass-
lummU, ^n, n ,h»" '""•?^ 'i'" Pwpendiculars Iron, the
thv.lM.!L .^P "-V"^ opposite faces, and consequently also
the ce^lr nf';h'^r""Vf '•¥ ""es from the summ Us o
tne center of the hyperboloid of which these pernendicu-
t^,";;? ,?,"""""'?'■!• ""'• '•"■""Kh 'he orthogSpro ec-
OrT,%Sfe?c.''°^e"e%y„r '"' ""'"'"'^ '"ces^Sy^. 1^-3.
sphere (sfer) v. t; pret. and pp. sphered, ppr.
sphen„g. [< sphere, «.] 1. To make into a
sphere; make spherical; round, or round out;
fin out completely. '
Blow, villain, till thy sphered bias cheek
Outswell the colic of puff'd Aquilon.
Shak., T. and C, Iv. 5. 8.
2. To place in a sphere or among the spheres;
ensphere. i- "==>
And therefore is the glorious planet Sol
In noble eminence enthroned, and sphered
Amidst the other. Shak., T. and C, 1. 3. 90.
Light . . . from her native east
To Journey through the aery gloom began.
Sphered m a radiant cloud ; for yet the sun
^^ not Milton, P. L., vil. 247.
^w^ } "■"H.y J?""? '■^*'=h'd you, had you been
Sphered up with Cassiopeia. Tennyson, Princess, ir.
3. To inclose as in a sphere or orbit ; encircle-
engirdle. '
W..V . • ^hen any towne is spher'd
With siege of such a foe as kils men's minds.
Chapman, Iliad, xviii, 185.
4. To pass or send as in a sphere or orbit; cir-
culate. [Rare.] '
We'l still sit up,
Sphering about the wassail cup
To all those tunes
which gave me honour for my rhimes.
Uerrick, His Age.
sphere-crystals (sfer'kris'talz), n. pi in hot
same as sphseraphides. "
sphereless (sfer'les), a. [< sphere + -less]
Having no sphere ; wandering; unrestrained.
Let the horsemen's scimitars
Wheel and flash, like sphereless stars.
Thirsting to eclipse their buniing
In a sea of death and mourning.
Shelley, Masque of Anarchy, st 79.
sphere-yeast (sfer'yest), v. in hot., an aggre-
gation of certain sprouting forms of the genus
AIiicw-: formerly so called from a resemblance
m shape to the saceharomycete of yeast
spheric (sfer'ik), a. [= F. spherique = Sp.
esfenco = Pg. cspherico = It. sferico, < L
sphfertcvs, < Gr. a,^ipiKk, of or pertaining to a
ball, < o(t>aipa, a ball, sphere: see sphere.] Of
or pertaining to a sphere or the spheres ; sphere-
like; spherical. ^
Up the spheric chxjles, circle above circle.
Jfr*. Browning, Drama of Exile.
n.^*„"'„^f »!="'?•'"■ hew us out the most ravishing combi-
?^i fn^ » ''^'"' "Tl" »•"'' "P*"^ ^'"ness that ever
stood for woman. S. Lanier, The English Novel, p. 273.
spherical (sfer'i-kal), a. [< spheric + -aZ.l 1
Bounded by or having the form of the surface
of a sphere: as, a spherical body; a spherical
surface; a. spherical aheW.
We must know the reason of the spherical figures of the
""■"P'- Olanville.
2. Pertaining or relating to a sphere or spheres,
or to sphencitv : as, a spherical segment or seel
tion; spherical trigonometry.— 3t. Relating to
the planets; planetary, in the astrolopcal
ii.r^!.™"'"' *°.'I''' "' •""■ disasters the sun, the moon, and
the stars: as If we were villains by necessity; foo s by
h«|Tenly compulsion; knaves, thieves, and treachers by
spherical predominance. shak., Lear, I. 2. 134.
Adjunct spherical function. See /«««(<«,._ center
of spherical curvature. See ccn(/.ri.- Concave
spherical mirror. See mirror, i^ Line of BPhiricll
aUZ^}^"! sve ;,-,,... Spherical ablrratFcn sli
al>,'rr,,iwn. 4.^ Spherical angle. See <iH-/fc:>,-snheri-
cal bracketing in arch., an arrangementof brackets tor
the support of latli-and-plaster work forming a spheri
cal surface.- Spherical compasses, a kind of calipers
for njeasnriMK Kl..bular bodies, variously constructed -
Spnerical complex, the aggregate of all the spheres in
8p.iee lu.fllliriK a BiiiKle geonietrieal condition.— Snheri-
cal congruence, tlie af-Krcgate of all the spheres in space
fuimiini; two ceoinetiieal conditions.— Spherical conic
?,^?. °?- 2"'';""'^- Spherical coordinates. Seecoordf.
ii,,^'^^^"^^'".'''^ curvature, epicycloid, excess, func-
tion, geometry. See the nouns.- Spherical cvcUc a
curve which is the intersection of a spf Sf with a qSadi'lc
surface - Spherical group, the spherical complex deter-
mined by alincar equation between the coordinates and
thepower of the centerot the vaiiaWeeircle.- Spherical
harmonic. San.e as /.«,,;„„■« /unction (which sl"Sn
sS;»^'/=';"L~^''^*"'=^^ Indlcatrix. See i„dicatrix.-
Spherical inversion. See geometrical inversion, under
spherical
invenion.— Spberical lune, the portion of the surface of
a sphere inohuied between two great circles.— Spherical
nucleus. Sume as nufletis <ilobotfUS (which see, under
nucieti£\ — Spbezical pencil, a singly infinite continuous
series of spheres deternuned like n spherical group, but
by three equations.— Spherical polygon. Seepo/i/i/oii.—
Spherical representation, a mode of contiimous corre-
spondence between the points of a surface and the points
of a sphere, each radius of the sphere through the center
representing the panillel normal of the surface. .\ny part
of the sphere considei-ed as thus representing a part of the
surface is called its spherical imaife. — Spherical saw,
a saw made in the fonn of a segment of a sphere, used for
sawing out curvilinear work. See cut d under saw^. —
Spherical sclere. See sdere and frpheraster, — Spheri-
cal-shot machine, a machine for finishing cannon-balls
by molding and pressing to a true spherical form. £. U.
Kiiight. — Spherical surface-harmonic. See harmonic.
— Spherical triangle, trigonometry, etc. See the
nouns.
sphericality (sfer-i-kal'i-ti), n. [< spherical +
-Hi/.] Spherical form ; sphericity. N. A. Rev.,
CiXVI. 375. [Rare.]
spherically (sfer'i-kal-i), adv. In the form of
a sphere, or of part of a sphere ; so as to be
spherical.
sphericalness (sfer'i-kal-nes),?*. The state or
property of being spherical ; sphericity. [Bare.]
sphericity (sfe-ris'i-ti), «. [= P. spAmc/te; as
spheric + -ity.'i The character of being in the
shape of a sphere.
sphericle (sfer'i-kl), «. [Dim. of spJiere.] A
small sphere ; a spherule. [Rare.] Imp. Diet.
spherics (sfer'iks), n. [PI. of spheric (see -ics).']
Geometry of figures drawn on the surface of a
sphere ; specifically, spherical trigonometry.
spheriform (sfe'ri-form), a. [< h. sphxra,
sphere, + forma, form.] Formed or existing
as a sphere; sphere-shaped; spherical. Cud-
worth, Intellectual System, II. 23. [Rare.]
spherocobaltite (sfe-ro-ko'bal-tit), H. [< Gr.
a<t>aipa, a ball, sphere, + fc. cobalt + -ite^.] Carbo-
nate of cobalt, a rare mineral ocfturring in small
spherical masses with concentric radiated struc-
ture, and having a peach-blossom red color.
spheroconic (sfe-ro-kon'ik), n. [< Gr. aipalpa, a
ball, sphere, + kuvoq, a cone: see conic] A
non-plane curve, the intersection of a sphere
with a quadrie cone having its vertex at the
center of the sphere Cyclic arcs of the sphero-
conic, the intersections of the cyclic planes of the cone
with the sphere. — Reciprocal spheroconic, the envelop
of the great circles of which the points on the ilrst sphero-
conic are the poles.
spherocrystal (sfe-ro-kris'tal), «. [< Gr. apalpa,
a ball, sphere, + KprcrraAAof, crystal.] 1. In
lithol.. a mineral occurring in spherical form
with fibrous-radiate structure. — 2. pi. In hot.,
same as sphxraphides.
spherodactyl (sfe-ro-dak'til), o. Of or per-
taining to the genus Sphaerodactylus, as a gecko.
spherogastric(8fe-ro-gas'trik), a. [< Gr. aijialpa,
a ball, sphere, + yaarfip, stomach.] Having a
spherical or globular abdomen, as a spider ; of
or pertaining to the Spheerogastra. See cut
under hoiieij-hearer.
spherograph (sfe'ro-graf), ». [< Gr. a<l>alpa, a
ball, sphere, + ypa(fetv, write.] A nautical in-
strument consisting of a stereographic projec-
tion of the sphere upon a disk of pasteboard,
in which the meridians and parallels of latitude
are laid down to single degrees. By the aid of this
projection, and a ruler and index, the angular position of
a ship at any place, and the distance sailed, may be read-
ily and accurately determined on the principle of great-
circle sailing.
spheroid (sfe'roid), n. [Also sphxroid; = F.
spheroide, < Gr. a<j>aipoeiSr/c, like a ball or sphere,
globular, < aipaipa, a ball, sphere, + ndo^, form.]
1. A geometrical body approaching to a sphere,
but not perfectly spherical. — 2. In ijcom., a
solid generated by the revolution of an ellipse
about one of its axes. When the generating ellipse
revolves about its longer or major axis, the spheroid is
prolate or oblonff ; when al>out its less or minor axis, the
spheroid is oblate. The earth is an oblate spheroid — that
is, flattened at the poles, so that its polar diameter is
shorter than its equatorial diameter. (See earffti, 1.) The
same figure is assumed by the other planets ; hence the
properties of the oblate spheroid are of great importance
in geodesy and astronomy. — Universal spheroid, a sur-
face generated by the revolution of an ellipse about any
diameter.
spheroidal Csfe-roi'dal), a. [< spheroid + -al.]
1 . Of or pertaining to, or having the form of,
a spheroid. — 2. In cryst(d., globose; bounded
by several convex faces. — 3. In entom., round
and prominent, appearing like a ball or sphere
partly buried in the surface : as, spheroidal
eyes; spheroidal cox» Spheroidal bracketing,
in arch., bracketing which has a spheroidal surface. —
Spheroidal epithelium. See epithelium. — Spheroidal
state or condition, the condition of water or other li-
quid when, on being placed on a highly heated surface,
as red-hot metal, it assumes the fonp of a more or less
flattened spheroid, and evaporates without ebullition.
Spherometer.
5826
The spheroid in this condition does not touch the surface
of the metal, but floats on a layer of its own vapor, and
evaporates rapidly from its exposed surface. It is heated
mainly by nidiation from the hot surface, since the layer
of intervening vapor conducts heat very feebly. The
formation of a layer of non-conducting vapor explainswhy
it is possible to dip the wetted hand into molten iron with
impunity. It is sometimes spoken of as the caloric or
calorific paradox.
sphef oidally ( sfe-roi ' dal-i ), ade. In a spheroid al
manner; so as to form a spheroid or spheroids.
The great mass ... is largely built up of spheroidaUy
jointed rock. Quart. Jour. Oeol. Soc., XLIV. 460.
spheroidic (sfe-roi'dik), a. [z=F.spheroidiqiie;
as .''phcroid + -ic] Sarae a,8 spheroidal. [Rare.]
spheroidical (sfe-roi'di-kal), a. [< spheroidic
+ -al.] Same as spheroidal. [The usual old
form.]
The same spheroidical form.
Jefferson, Correspondence, II. 67.
spheroidicity (sfe-roi-dis'i-ti), "■ [(.spheroidic
+ -ity.] The state or character of being sphe-
roidal.
Spheroma, «. See Spheeroma.
spheromere (sfe'ro-mer), n. [Also sphseromere ;
< Gr. a(palpa, a ball, sphere, + fiipog, a part.]
One of the radially arranged parts or sym-
metrical segments of any radiate ; an actino-
mere. Perhaps the most remarkable spheromeres are
those two which, in the Venus's-girdle, give that ctenoph-
oran a ribbon-like figure by their enormous development
See cut under Cestum.
spherometer (sfe-rom'e-ter), u. [< Gr. ff^aZpa,
a ball, sphere, + jierpov, measure.] An instru-
ment for measuring the
radii of spheres; a
sphere-measurer, it is of
especial service to opticians in
determining the focal lengths,
etc., of lenses. The common
form (see figure) consists of a
vertical screw c, with a large
graduated head a a, turning
in a socket supported by three
legs whose hard steel points
are exactly equidistant. The
fixed scale b at the side, toge-
ther with the graduated screw-
head, makesit possible to mea-
sure with great accuracy the
distance between the extrem-
ity of the screw and the plane passing through the ends
of the three supports, when, for example, all the points
are in contact with the surface of the sphere. If, in ad-
dition, the distance between the ends of the supports
is known, a simple calculation gives the radius of the
sphere. The same instrument may also be used to deter-
mine with precision the thickness of a plate, as (in the
figure) A, placed upon a horizontal surface.
spheromian (sfe-ro'mi-an), a. and n. [< Sphe-
roma + -ian.] I. a. Of or pertaining to Sphee-
roma or the Spheeromidee.
II. n. A globe-slater.
Also spelled sphxromian.
spheropolar (sfe-ro-p6'lar), a. [< Gr. a(j>aipa,
sphere, -h E. polar.] Reciprocal relatively to
a sphere. The plane through the points of contact of
a cone with a sphere is the spheropolar of the vertex.
spherosiderite (sfe-ro-sid'e-ilt), «. [Also
sphasrosiderite ; < Gr. a^jiaipa, a ball, sphere, +
aidT/pirr/g, of iron: see siderite.] A variety of
the iron carbonate siderite, occurring in globu-
lar concretionary forms.
spherospore (sfe'ro-spor), n. [< Gr. aipalpa, a
ball, + E. spore.] In hot., same as tetraspore.
spherular (sfer'o-liir), a. [< sphernle + -ar^.]
1 . Having the form of a spherule ; resembling a
spherule. — 2. Of or pertaining to a spherulite;
spherulitic.
Spherular bodies consisting of radially-aggregated fibres
of a single mineral. Nature, XXXIX. .315.
spherulate (sfer'o-lat), a. [< spherule + -ate^.]
In entom., having one or more rows of minute
rounded tubercles ; studded with spherules.
spherule (sfer'61), n. [Also spheende; < L.
spheerula, dim. of sphsera, a ball, sphere : see
sphere.] A little sphere or splierieal body.
Quicksilver, when poured upon a plane surface, divides
itself into a great number of minute spherules.
spherulite (sfer'o-lit), «. [Also spliwridite ; <
spherule + -ite'^.] 1. A vitreous globule, such
as those of which perlite is made up, having a
' more or less perfectly developed concentric and
at the same time decidedly radiating fibrous
structure. The highly silioious volcanic rocks
not unfrequently have a spherulitic structure.
— 2. Same as radioUte, 2 — Spherulite rock, in
geoL, a rock of which the predominating pai't has a spheru-
litic structure.
spherulitic (sfer-§-lit'ik), a. [< spherulite +
-(>•.] Made up of or containing spherulites ;
having the character of a spherulite. Also
spheertditic.
spherulitize (sfer'8-li-tiz), v. t. ; pret. and pp.
spherulitized, ppr. spheruUtizing. [< spherulite
Sphindidse
+ -ize.] To convert more or less completely
into spherulites, or cause to assume a spheru-
litic structure, wholly or in part. Quart. Jour.
Geot. Soc, XLV. 250.
spherulitoid (sfer'9-li-toid), a. [< spherulite +
-did. ] Having more or less perfectly the form of
a spherulite. Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc, XLV. 248.
sphery (sfer'i), a. [< sphere + -y^.] 1. Be-
lofiging to the spheres.
She can teach ye how to climb
Higher than the sphery chime.
Milton, Comus, 1. 1021.
2. Resembling a sphere or star in roundness,
brightness, or other attribute.
What wicked and dissembling glass of mine
Made me compare with Hermia's sphery eyne?
ShaJc., M. N. D., ii. 2. 98.
spheterize (sfet'e-riz), v. t. ; pret. and pp. sphet-
vri::ed, ppr. spheterizing. [< Gr. aperepH^eiv,
make one's own, < a<peTcpoc, their own, poss. adj.
of the 3d pers. pi., < a<j>dc, they.] To take to
one's self; appropriate as one's own. Burke.
[Rare.] {Encyc. Diet.)
Sphex (sfeks), n. [NL. (Linnaeus, 1758), < Gr.
o(j>i]^, a wasp: see wasp.] 1. A notable genus
of large handsome digger-wasps, typical of the
family Sphegidee (or Spliecidee or S}ihexidse). They
abound in tropical regions, but some 12 species inhabit
the United States. 5. ichtieumonea digs rapidly in hard
ground, and provisions its cells with grasshoppers. About
100 species are known. See cut under digger-wasp.
2. [I. c] A wasp of this genus.
sphex-fly (sfeks'fli), n. One of numerous differ-
ent dipterous insects, as of the genus Conops,
wliieh resemble a sphex in some respects.
sphiggure (sfig'ur), n. See sphiiigure.
sphincter (sfingli'ter), H. [NL., < L. sphincter,
\ Gr. aifiiyKTt/p, anything which binds tight,
a lace, a band, < a<pijyea; shut tight, close.]
An orbicular, circular, or annular muscle sur-
rounding and capable of closing a natural
orifice or passage of the body Oral sphincter.
Same as orbicularis oris (which see, under orbicularis).
— Sphincter ani, the sphincter of the anus, under w hich
name two distinct nmscles are known, (a) The sphincter
ani proper, sphincter externus, or external sphincter is a
thin, flat plane of voluntary muscular fibers supplied by
hemorrhoidal branches of nerves from the sacral plexus,
surrounding the anus, subcutaneous and intimately adher-
ent to the integument, of elliptical form 3 or 4 inches in
long diameter, and an inch wide across. It arises from the
tip of the coccyx, and is inserted hito the tendinous raphe
of the perineum, like most sphincters, it consists of sym-
metrical lateral halves united by a raphe in front of and
behind the opening it incloses. (6) The sphincter recti,
sphincter intcrnus, or internal sphincter surrounds the
lower end of the rectum, forming a muscular ring about an
inch in extent and a quarter of an inch thick, and consists
of an aggregation and thickening of the circular fibers of
the gut This sphincter is involuntary, and in health main-
tains its tonic contractility, which yields by reflex action
to the pressure of the contents of the bowel.— Sphincter
ocull, or sphincter palpebrarum, the orbicular muscle
of the eyelids, which surrounds and closes them. Usually
called orbicularis paljyebrarum. See cut under muscle^. —
Sphincter oris, the oral sphincter. See orbicularis oris,
under orWc«ia«s. — Sphincter puplllaris, the circular
or concentric fibers of the iris, whose contraction makes
the pupil smaller. Also called sphincter pupillie and
sphincter iridis. — Sphincter pylori See pylofnts. —
Sphincter recti, the internal sphincter ani (see above).
— Sphincter vaginae, an elliptical muscle surrounding
the orifice of the vagina, corresponding to the bulboca-
vernosus of the male. Also called constrictor vagina.—
Sphincter vesicae, the unstriped involuntary muscular
fillers around tlie neck of the urinary bladder.— Sphinc-
ter vesicae externus, the partly plain partly striated
muscular fibers which surround the prostatic part of the
urethra. Also called sphincter prostaticus and sphincter
of Henle.
sphincteral (sfingk'ter-al), a. [< sphincter +
-al.] Same as sphincterial.
sphincterate (sfingk'ter-at), a. [Also sphinc-
trate: (.sphincter -h -ate'^.] 1. Innwo;. and^0()7.,
provided with a sphincter; closed or closable
by means of a sphincter. — 2. Contracted or
constricted as if by a sphincter: thus, an hour-
glass is siihincterate in the middle.
sphincterial (sfingk-te'ri-al), a. [< sjdiiucter
+ -ial.] Of or pertaining to a sphincter or its
function : as, a sphincterial muscle ; sphincte-
rial fibers; sphincterial action.
sphincteric (sfingk-ter'ik), a. [< sphincter +
-ic] Same as sphincterial.
sphincterotomy (sfingk-te-rot'o-mi), «. [< Gr.
a(jnyKT)ip, a sphincter, + -TOfiia, < ripveiv, Tafteiv,
cut.] The operation of cutting a sphincter to
prevent its spasmodic action.
sphinctrate (sfingk'trat), a. Same as sphinc-
tera te.
Sphindidse (sfin'di-de), «. pi. [NL., < Sphin-
dus + -idse.] An aberrant family of semcom
beetles, in whicli the antennee are so obviously
clavate as to resemble those of the clavicorn
series. It contains a few small species found in fungi
which grow upon the trunks of trees.
Sphindus
Sphindus (sfin'dus), «. [NL. (Chevrolat, 1833),
a made word.] The typical genus of the Sphin-
didx. Only 3 species are known, one of which
is North American.
SpMngldx (sfin'ji-de), n. pi. [NL. (Leach,
1819), < Sphinx (Sphing-) + -idee.} An impor-
tant family of heteroeerous lepidopterous in-
sects, with fusiform antenufe, typified by the
genus Sphinx, including all those commonly
known as sphinxes, sphinx-moths, hawk-moths,
or hummin(l-1>ird moths. The body is robust; the ab-
domen is stoiit, conical, often tufted ; the tongue is usually
long and strong ; the antennte have a hook at the tip ; the
wings are comparatively small and narrow, the fore wings
acute at the tip. They are diurnal or crepuscular in habit,
a few flying in the hottest sunshine, but the raajorityin the
twilight. The larvie are large, naked, usually green in
color, and generally furnished with a prominent caudal
horn, which is sometimes replaced after the last molt
by a shining lenticular tubercle. When full-grown they
either pupate above ground, between leaves, in a slight
cocoon, or more generally go deep under ground, and
transform in an earthen cell. The long-tongued species
have a special free and characteristic tongue-case. The
species of temperate regions are divided into four princi-
IhU subfamilies : Mtwn^loariiue, Chaerocampinm, Spfdngi-
n», and Smerinthinm. From America north of Mexico 83
species have been described, about 50 from Europe, and
rather more than 600 for the entire world. Also Sphin-
gide*, Sphingidi. Spkingina, Sphingoidea, and Sphingoides.
See cuts under hog .caterpillar, Philampeitu, hawk-moth,
Lepidoptera, and gphiiiz.
sphingiform (sfin'ji-form), a. [< NL. Sphinx
(Sphing-) + h. forma, form.] In entom., resem-
bling a moth of the family Sphingida.
sphingine (sfin'jin), a. Resembling a sphinx
or hawk-moth ; of or pertaining to the Sphin-
gidie; sphingoid or sphingiform.
sphingoid (sfing'goid), a. [< NL. Sphinx
(Sphing-) + -«irf.] Like a sphinx or hawk-
moth ; sphingine or sphingiform.
sphingore (sfing'gur). «. [= F. sphiggure : see
Sphingi(n(.'<.] A member of the genus Sphingu-
rus.
Sphingurinae (sfing-gu-ri'ne), n. pi. [NL., <
Sphingurus + -fnee.] The American porcupines ;
a subfamily of Hij-Hrieidie, of more or less com-
pletely arboreal habits, represented by four
genera, Sphingurus, Si/nethens, ('hxtomys, and
Erethison : so named by E. K. Alston in 1876.
It corresponds to the SyneArrina of Gervais (IS&i), the
SynethmruE of J. \. Allen (1S77), and the CercoUMtut (u
a subfamily of Spalacopodidse) of UUjeborg (18«6) and GUI
(ls7-.i). -"^ee cuts under porcupine and preheruile.
Bphingurine (sfing'gu-rin), a. Of or belonging
to t\n' Spliiiignrime; synetherine; cercolabine.
Sphin^rus (sting-sru'ms), ». [NL. (F. Cuvier,
1822. in form Sphiggurus), < Gr. afiyyew, throt-
tle, strangle (see xphinx), + ory«i, tail.] The
typical geniLs of Sphingurinse, having the tail
prehensile, all four feet four-toed, and little de-
velopment of spines, it is closely related to Syne-
there* ; but the latter is more spiny, and has a broad, high-
ly arched frontal region. The two genera are united by
Brandt under the name Cereolahet. Each has seTeral
Neotropical species in Central and Sooth America, east of
the Andes, from southeastern Mexico and the West
Indies to Paraguay.
5827
yeiv, throttle, strangle, orig. bind, compress,
fix; prob. = L. Jigere, fix (see fix); by some
connected with L. fascis, a bundle : see fascis.']
1. [cap. or I. c] In Or. myth.,^& female mon-
ster, said to have proposed a riddle to the
Thebans who passed her as she sat on a rock
by the roadside, and to have killed all who
were not able to guess it. The riddle, according to
tradition, inquired what being has successively four, two,
and three feet, and is weakest when it has most feet.
(Edipus answered, Man, who creeps in infancy, afterward
goes erect, and finally walks with a staff (a third foot).
The Sphinx, in compliance with her own conditions,
thereupon threw herself from her rock and died. In art
this monster is represented with the body of a lion or a
dog, winged, and the head and often the breasts of a wo-
man.
For valour, is not Love a Hercules? . . .
Subtle as Sphiia. Shak., L. L. L., iv. 3. 842.
In the third [court] . . . are two S'pAtn^ea very curiously
carved in brasse. Coryat, Crudities, I. 36.
2. In Egypt, antiq., a figure somewhat similar
in composition to the Greek, having the body of
a lion (never winged), and a male numan head
or an animal head. The human-headed figures have
been called androsphinxes; those with the head of a ram,
criogphinxes ; and those with the head of a hawk, hieraco-
gphinxes. Egyptian sphinxes are symbolical figures, hav-
ing no connection with the Greek fable; and the Greeks
probably applied the term sphinx to the Egyptian statues
merely on account of the accidental external resemblance
between them and their own conception. The Egyptian
sphinxes were commonly placed in avenues leading to
temples or tombs. The most celebrated example is the
Great .Sphinx near the great pyramids of Ghizeh, hewn
out of solid granite, with the recumbent body of a lion,
146 feet long from the shoulders to the rump, and 56 feet
high, and a man's head 28^ feet high from chin to crown.
A small temple stood between the fore paws of this sphinx.
There are also Oriental sphinxes, in general akin to the
Egyptian, but more often winged than wingless. See cut
under androgpkinx.
3. In hef., a creature with a lion's body and a
woman's head, but not necessarily like any an-
cient 'Original. It is assumed to be winged;
when not winged, it should be blazoned "sans
wings." — 4. An enigmatic or sphinx-like per-
son ; one who talks puzzlingly, or is inscrutable
in disposition or character ; one whom ic is hard
to understand. — 5. In entom.: (a) A hawk-
moth; a member of the genus Sphinx or the
family Sphingidse. See cuts under hauk-moth,
hog-caterpillar, Lepidoptera, and I'hilampflu,i.
(b) IcapT] [NL. (Linnasus, 1767).] The typical
genus of the family Sphingida. At first it was co-
extensive with this family : later it formed a group of vari-
able extent; now it is confined to forms having the head
small, the eyes lashed, tibia; spinose, and fore tarsi usually
armed with long spines. It is a wide-spread genus ; 1»
species occur in America north of Mexico. The larvse of
this, as well as of other groups of the family Sphinffidm,
have the habit of erecting the head and anterior segments,
from wliich Linneus derived a fanciful resemblance to the
Egyptian .sphinx (whence the nameX
6. The Guinea baboon, <^norej>halus papio or
I'tipio xphinx. Also called sphinx-baboon. —
AbDOt'a ipblnx, Thyreiu abboU, a small North American
sphygmograph
sphinx (sfiugks).
pi. sphinxes, sphing
BPB
(sfingk'sez, sfin'jez). [= F. sphinx = Sp.
esfinge = Pg. esphinge = It. sfinge = G.
sphinx, < L. sphinx, < Gr. <T^';f (''^}/'-),
Alolic ^(<, a spninx (Theban or Egyptian: see
defs. 1 and 2); supposed to mean lit. 'stran-
gler,' the story being that the Sphinx strangled
those who could not solve her riddles; < a^iy-
White-lined Moming-sphJDX (,Deiiephiia tineata), natural size, left
wings omitted.
ing coloration, whose larva feeds on purslane.— Satellite
sphinx. See »a(<'Hi«e-«pAwu:(with cut). —Walnut-sphinx,
Cressonia juglandis, an American moth whose larva feeds
on the walnut.
sphinx-moth (sfingks'moth), n. Same as
sphinx, 5 («).
sphragide (sfraj'id), n. [< F. sphragide, < L.
sphragis, < Gr. a<ppaYic, a signet, a seal.] Same
as Lemnian earth (which see, under Lemnian).
sphragistics (sfra-jis'tiks), n. [< Gr. afpayia-
rik6(, of, for, or pertaining to sealing, < a^pa-
yiC,Hv, seal, < a(f>payi(, a seal.] The study of
seals and the distinctions among them; the
archa?ology of seals. This study is similar in its na-
ture to numismatics, and has been of great use in the his-
tory of the middle ages, as well as in the investigation of
costume, armor, etc.; it is also of value in connection
with the documents to which seals are attached, as aiding
in their classification and in the proof of their authenticity.
sphrigosis (sfri-go'sis), n. [NL., for *sphrigcsis;
< Gr. a<j>pi}ai>, be fuU and vigorous, + -o*(S.]
Over-rankness in finiit-trees and other plants.
It is a disease in which the plant tends to grow to wood or
stems and leaves in place of fruit or bulb, etc., or to grow
so luxuriantly that the nutritious qualities of the product
are injured, as in the turnip and potato. Sphrigosis is
sometimes due to over-manuring, sometimes to constitu-
tional defect. Compare ranknegt, 4,
SphygmiC (sfig'mik), a. [< Gr. aipvypiKog. per-
taining to the pulse, < o^vypo^, the beating of
the heart, tire pulse : see sphygmris.'] 1. Of or
pertaining to the pulse. — 2. In zool., pulsat-
ing or pulsatile; beating with rhythmic con-
traction and dilatation, like h pulse; specifi-
cally, belonging to the Sphygmica.
Sphygmica (sfig'mi-ka), ?i. pi. [NL.. < Gr.
afvypuid^, pertaining to the pulse: see sphyg-
mic.'\ A group or series of amoebiform proto-
zoans, in which regularly contractile or sphyg-
raic vacuoles are observed. See Amceboidea.
sphygmogram (sfig'mo-gram), n. [< Gr. 0^1')-
Sphygmogram.
p6^, pulse, + yp&ppa, a writing.] A tracing of
the changes of tension at a point in an artery,
as obtained with a sphygmograph.
iphygmograph (stig ' mo -grSf), n. [< Gr. a^v, -
pdr,^ pulse, + ypd(^ew, write.] An instrument
whica, when applied over an artery, traces on
Sphinx.— Gteek icnlptore In the British Museum.
Afaboft Sphinx tThyreus abbotO, moth and larra, natural sise.
sphinx whose larra feeds on the vine. Achemon sphinx,
PhUampeluM achemon. See cuts of moth and larva under
PAitampdiu.— BUnd-«7ed BPblnx, Pannku eiciemlut, a
handsome American moth, of a general fawn color, with
roseate hind wings ornamented with a blne-centcit-d eye-
spot, whose larva lives upon the apple.— Carolina sphinx,
ProUyparce Carolina, a mottled gray and black moth whose
lanrals the tobacco-worm. See cut under tofrocco-worm. —
C&talpa spblnz, CeraUmna catalpa, an American moth
wboselarvateedsonthecatalpa Clear-winged sphinx,
a moth whose wings are partly hyaline, as U-'inari.^ ■lijTnm
and other members of the same genus ; also, improperly,
certain of tlie Srnidae. See cut under raupbrrry -borer.—
Death's-head sphinx. Aeherontia atropot. See cut un-
der rfraWn-Zi^ad. -Five-spotted sphinx, Protoparce ce-
leu*, a conmion gray North American moth whose abdomen
is marked with five orange spots on each side, and whose
larva feeds upon the tomato, potato, and other solanaceous
plants. See cut under tomato worm. — Homlng-Bphlnx,
any species of the genus /)ei2epAi7a, as I), tineata. tti*- wliite-
lined moming-sphinx, a common American moth of strik-
Sphygmogra ph .
(I, band by which the instrument Is fastened on ; b, sprine which
rests upon the artery ; <", adjusting-screw (with graduated neatl) which
regulates the pressure of the spnng * according as the pulse is strong
or weak ; rf, a, supports for t>aper upon which the tracing is made ;
r'. feed-roller, between which and the pressure-wheels r. e the paper
is carried : /, spring which beats on Ine shaft of the wheels f, t to
engage the paper positively : g. small spring clockwork (incased) by
which motion isimitarted to the feed-roller r' ; h. milled-headed wind-
ing-key ; »', stop-motion ; /, tracer attached to the oscillating arm k,
which ts moved by the rod / that connects this arm with the spring b.
spliygmograph
a piece of paper moved by clockwork a curve
which indicates the changes of tension of the
blood within. The paper is blackened by holding it
over a smoking lamp, and the tracer, moving in accordance
with the pulsations of the artery, indicates the rapidity,
strength, and uniformity of the beats. The tracings are
preserved by a thin varnish of gum damsir dissolved in
benzolin.
sphygmograpMc (sfig-mo-graf 'ik), a. [< gj)h!/;)-
mixjriiph + -(<■.] Of or pertaining to, or regis-
tered or traced by, the sphygniograph.
sphygmography (sfig-mog'ra-fi), n. [As sphyg-
m()(/i<ij>li + -^■'.] 1. The act or art of taking
puise-tracings or sphygmograms. — 2. A de-
scription of the pulse.
sphygmoid (sfig'moid), a. [< Gr. afiry/idg, pulse,
-I- M(V)r. form.] Pulse-like.
sphygmology (sfig-mol'o-ji), n. [< Gr. a^vy/idc:,
pulse, + -Myia, < 'Myeiv, speak: see -ologyJ]
The sum of scientific knowledge concerning
the pulse.
sphygmomanometer (sfig'mo-ma-nom'e-t6r),
«. [< Gr. a(fvjii6(;, pulse, + jiav^, rare, + iiirpov,
measure (cf. manometer).'] An instrument for
measuring the tension of the blood in an artery.
sphygmometer (sfig-mom'e-ter), n. [< Gr. aipvy-
fioi;, pulse, + fii-pov, measure.] Same as sphyg-
momtinometer.
Sphygmophone (sfig'mo-fon), ». [< Gr. 0(pvy/i6c,
pulse, + (j/avij, sound, voice.] An instrument
by the aid of which each pulse-beat makes a
sound. It is a combination of a kind of sphyg-
niograph with a microphone.
Sphygmoscope (sfig'mo-skop), n. [< Gr. B^yiii^,
pulse, + OKOTvelv, view.] An instrument for ren-
dering the arterial pulsations visible. One form
of it workfl by the projection of a ray of light from a mir-
ror which is moved by the pulsation ; in another form
the impact of the pulsation is received in a reservoir of
liquid, which is caused by it to mount in a graduated
tube. The invention of the instrument is ascribed to
Galileo.
SphygmUS (sfig'mus), «. [NL., < Gr. acpvyfid^,
tlie beating of the heart, the pulse, < atpv^etv,
beat violently, throb.] The pulse.
SphjniX, n . An occasional misspelling of sphi-nx.
Sphyraena (sfi-re'na), n. [NL. (Artedi, Bloch,
etc.), < L. sphyriena, < Gr. a^'vpatva, a sea-fish
so called, a hammer-fish, < a^vpa, hammer, mal-
let.] 1. The representative genus of Sphyras-
nidse. It contains about 20 species of voracious pike-
like fishes, of most temperate and tropical seas. S. spet
or 5. vulgaris is the becuna, of both coasts of the Atlaritic
and of the Mediterranean, the sphyrsena of the ancients,
al>out 2 feet long, of an olive color, silvery below, when
young with dusky blotches. S. arffentea of the Pacific
coast, abundant from San Francisco southward, about 3
feet long, is an important food-fish. & picuda, the bar-
racuda of the West Indies, grows to be sometimes 7 or 8
or even, it is claimed, 10 feet long. See cut under becuna.
2. [I. c] A fish of this genus.
Sphyrsenidse (sfi-ren'i-de),?i. ^?. [NL. (Bona-
parte, 1831), < Sphyriena + -idee.] A family of
percesocine acanthopterygian fishes, typified
by the genus Sphyraena. About 20 species are known,
all of which are closely related, and usually referred to
the single genus Sphyrsena. They are mostly inhabitants
of the tropical seas ; but a few advance northward and
southward into cooler waters, as along the United States
coast to New England. They are voracious and savage,
and the larger ones are much dreaded. See cut under
becuna. Also SphyrsenoidH.
sphyrsenine (sfi-re'nin), a. [< Sphyrsena +
-ijtci.] Same as sphyreenoid.
sphyrsenoid (sfi-re'noid), a. [< Sphyriena +
-oid.l Of or pertaining to the Sphyreenidae.
Sphyma (sffer'na), n. [NL. (Rafinesque, 1815),
an error for *Spfiyra, < Gr. aipvpa, a hammer.] A
genus of hammer-headed sharks, giving name
to the family Sphyrnidie. It contains those in which
the head is most hammer-like, and grooves extend from
the nostrils to the front. 5. tihuro, the ttonnet-shark, is
now placed in another genus (Itenicepg). Zygnena is an ex-
act synonym of Sphyma, but is preoccupied in entomol-
ogy. Also called Ceetradon (after Klein). See cut under
luimvierhead.
Sphymidae (sfer'ni-de), n. pi. [NL., < Sphyma
+ -idse.'] A family of anarthrous selachians ;
the hammer-headed sharks, having an extra-
ordinary conformation of the head. There are
3 genera and 5 ore species, found in most seas. The body
usually has the common shark-like form ; but the head is
expanded laterally into a kidney-like shape, or arched like a
hammer-head. The eyes are upon the sides of the expand-
ed head, and the nostrils are on the front edge. The fins
are like those of ordinary sharks. See cuts under ham-
merhead and shark. Also called Zygsenidse,
sphyrnine (sf^-r'nin), a. [< Sjihyma + -inel.]
Of t)ie character or appearance of a hammer-
headed shark; belonging to the Sphyrnidae;
zygajnine.
Sphyropicus (sfi-ro-pi'kus), «. [NL. (orig.
Sphyrapicus, S. F. Saird, 1858), < Gr. afvpa, a
hammer, -I- L. pictis, a woodpecker.] A remark-
able genus of Picidx, having the tongue ob-
5828
tuse, brushy, and scarcely extensile, owing to
the shortness of tlie hyoid bones, whoso horns
do not curl up over the hindhead ; the sapsuck-
ers, or sapsucking woodpeckers. There are sever-
al species, all American, feeding upon soft fruits and sap-
wood, as well as upon insects. The common yellow-bel-
lied woodpecker of the t'nited States is S. varius, of which
a variety. 5. nuchalu, is found in the west, and anotlier,
5. rxtber. has the whole head, neck, and breast cannine-red.
A very distinct species is S. thyroideus of the western Unit-
ed States, notable for the great difference between the
sexes, which long caused them to be regai'ded as different
species, and even placed in different genera. The condi-
tion of the hyoid apparatus in this genus is unique, though
an approach to it is seen in the genus Xenopicus. See cut
under sapsticker.
Spialt (spi'al), n. [Early mod. E. also spyal,
spyall; by apheresis from espial: see espial, and
ct.spion,spy.'] 1. Closeorsecret watch; espial.
I have those eyes and ears shall still keep guard
And spial on thee. B. Jonson, Catiline, iv. 2.
2. A spy; a watcher; a scout.
Secretaries and spials of princes and st.ates bring in bills
for intelligence. Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii.
spiauterite (spi-a't6r-it), «. [< G. spiauter,
spelter (see spelter), + -ite^.] Same as wurtsite.
spica (spi'ka), n. [< L. spica, a point, spike,
ear of grain: see spifccl.] 1. In hot., a spike.
— 2. In surg., a spiral bandage with reversed
turns : so named because it was thought to re-
semble a spike of barley. — 3. InoriiUh., aspur;
a calcar. — 4. leap.'] In astron., a very white
star of magnitude 1.2, the sixteenth in order of
brightness in the heavens, a Virginis, situated
on the left hand of the Virgin Spica celtica, an
old name of Valeriana Celtica. — Spica nardl. Same as
spikenard.
Spical (spi'kal), a. [< NL. *spicalis, < L. spica,
a spike: see spilce^.] Same as spicate: as, the
spical palpi of a dipterous insect.
Spicatse (spi-ka'te), n.pl. [NL., fern. pi. of L.
spicattts, spiked : see spicate.] A section of pen-
natuloid polyps, distinguished by a bilateral
arrangement of the polyps on the rachis, which
is elongate, cylindrical, and destitute of pin-
nules.
spicate (spi'kat), a. [< L. spicatus, spiked, pp.
of spicare, furnish with spikes, < spica, a spike :
see spike^.] 1. In hot., having the form of a
spike; arranged or disposed in spikes. — 2. In
ornith., spurred; calearate; spiciferous.
spicated (spi'ka-ted), a. [< spicate + -ed^.]
In hot., same as spicate.
spicateous (spi-ka'te-us), a. [Irreg. < spicate
+ -e-ous.] In ro67., spicate; specifically, of or
pertaining to the Spicatae.
spicatum (spi-ka'tum), n. [L., sc. opiis, lit.
'spicate work': see spicate.] In anc. masonry,
herring-bone work: so called from the resem-
blance of the position of the blocks of any two
contiguous courses to that of the grains in an
ear of wheat.
spiccato (spik-ka'to), a. [It., pp. of spiccare,
detach, divide.] In music, same a,B picchetato.
spicel (spis).
[< ME. spice, spyce, spyse.
spece, species, kind, spice (Icel. spig, spices, <
E.), < OF. espice, espece, kind, spice, 'F.. Spice,
spice, espece, kind, species, especes, pi., specie,
= Pr. especia, especi = Sp. especia, spice, espe-
cie, species, = Pg. especia, spice, especie, spe-
cies, specie, = It. spezie, species, kind, pi.
spices, drugs, < L. species, look, appearance,
kind, species, etc., LL. also spices, djugs, etc.
(ML. espiciae, after Rom.): see species. Doub-
let of species and .spme.] If. Kind; sort; va-
riety; species.
The fences of penance ben three. Chaucer, Parson's Tale.
Justice, all though it be but one . . . vertue, yet is it
described in two kyndes or spices.
Sir T. Elyot, The Governour, lii. 1.
The very calling it a Bartholomew pig, and to eat it so,
is a spice of idolatry. B. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, i. 1.
2t. Kind of thing; anything of the kind or
class before indicated; such sort: used demon-
stratively or indefinitely.
Chydynge comys of hert hy,
And grett pride and velany.
And other spwe that mekylle deres.
R. de Brunne, MS. Bowes, p. 31. (Ualliwell.)
Al that toucheth dedly synne
In any spyce that we falle ynne.
MS. Harl. 1701, f. 1. (Haltiwell.
For trewthe telleth that lone is triacle of heuene ;
May no synne be on him sene that vseth that spise.
Piers Plowman (IJ), i. 147.
3t. An exemplification of the kind of thing
mentioned; specimen; sample; instance; piece.
Whanne he seeth the lepre in the skynne, and tlie heeris
chaungid into whijt colour, and tliilk sjnce of lepre lower
than the skynne and that other llesh, a plaagc of lepre it
is. Wyclif, Lev. xiii. 3.
spice-cake
He hath epi«« of them all, not all. Shai., Cor., Iv. 7. 46.
4. A characteristic touch or taste ; a modicum,
smack, or flavoring, as of something piquant or
exciting to the mind : as, a spice of roguery or
of adventure. [In this sense now regarded as
a figurative use of def . 5 ; compare sauce in a
similar figurative use.]
I think I may pronounce of them, as I heard good
Senecio, with a spice of the wit of the last age, say, viz.,
"That a merry fellow is the saddest fellow in the world."
Steele, Tatler, Ho. 45.
The world loves a spice of wickedness.
Longfellow, Hyperion, L 7.
5. A substance aromatic or pungent to the
taste, or to both taste and smell; a drug; a
savory or piquant condiment or eatable ; a rel-
ish. The word in this sense formerly had a much wider
range than at present (def. 6) ; it is still used in northern
England as including sweetmeats, gingerbread, cake, and
any kind of dried fruit.
"Hastow auste in thi purs, any hote spikes?"
"I haue peper and piones [peony-seedsj," quod she, "and
a pounde of garlike,
A ferthyngworth of fenel-seed for fastyngdayes."
Piers Plowman (B), v. 311.
Now, specifically — 6. One of a class of aro-
matic vegetable condiments used for the sea-
soning of food, commonly in a pulverized state,
as pepper, allspice, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon,
and cloves ; collectively, such substances as a
class : as, the trade in spices or spice.
So was her love diffused ; but, like to some odorous spikes.
Suffered no waste nor loss, though filling the air with
aroma. Longfellow, Evangeline, it 5.
7. A piquant odor or odorous substance, es-
pecially of vegetable origin; a spicy smeU.
[Poetical.]
The woodbine spices are wafted abroad.
And the musk of the rose is blown.
Tennyson, Maud, xxiL
8. Figuratively, a piquant concomitant ; an
engaging accompaniment or incident; an at-
tractive or enjoyable variation.
Is not birth, . . . youth, liberality, and such like, the
spice and salt that season a man ?
Shak., T. and C, i. 2. 277.
Variety's the very spice of life.
That gives it all its flavour.
Cou'per, Task, ii. 606.
Madagascar spice, the clove-nutmeg. See Ravensara.
— Spice plaster. See plaster. = 5yTi. 4. Kelish, savor,
dash.
Spice^ (spis), V. t.; pret. and pp. spiced, ppr.
spicing. [< ME. spice, < OF. espicer, F. epicer
= Sp. especfar, spice ; from the noun.] 1. To
prepare with a condiment or seasoning, espe-
cially of something aromatic or piquant; season
or temper with a spice or spices : as, highly
spliced food; to spice wine.
Shulde no curyous clothe comen on hys nigge,
Ne no mete in his mouth that maister lohan spiced.
Piers Plowman (B), xix. 282.
2. To vary or diversify, as speech, with words
or matter of a different kind or tenor; inter-
lard ; make spicy, piquant, or entertaining : as,
to spice one's talk with oaths, quips, or scandal ;
to spice a sermon with anecdotes.
spice^ (spis), n. [Perhaps a var. of spitcl.] A
small stick. [Prov. Eng.]
spice-apple (spis'ap"l), n. An aromatic variety
of the common apple.
spiceberry (spis'ber'i), n. ; pi. spiceberries (-iz).
The eheckerberry or wintergreen, Gaultheria
procumhens.
spice-box (spis'boks), ». 1. A box to keep
spices in ; specifically, a cylindrical box inclos-
ing a number of smaller boxes to contain the dif-
ferent kinds of spice used in cooking. — 2. In
decorative art, a cylindrical box, low in propor-
tion to its diameter, and having a lid ; especial-
ly, such a box of Indian or other Oriental work.
Spice-boxes are usually of metal, often of gold or silver,
and decorated with damascening or otherwise.
Small boxes of very graceful form, covered with the
most delicate tracery, and known to Europeans as spice-
boxes. O. C. M. Birdwood, Indian Arts, I. 160.
spice-bnsh (spis'bush), n. A North American
shrub, Lindera Ben:oin, the bark and leaves of
which have a spicy odor, bearing small yellow
flowers very early in the spring and oval scarlet
berries in late summer. See Lindera and/ei'er-
liush. Also spicewood.
spice-cake (spis'kak), «. A cake flavored with
a spice of some kind, as ginger, nutmeg, or cin-
namon.
She 's gi'en him to eat the good spice-cake,
She 's gi'en him to drink the blood-red wine.
Young Beichan and Susie Pye (Child's Ballads, IV. 6).
A spice-cake, which followed by way of dessert, vanished
like a vision. Charlotte Bronle, Shirley, L
spiced
spiced (spist), p. a. [< ME. spiced; < spice'^ +
-eiP.'] 1. Impregnated with an aromatic odor;
spicy to the smell ; spiee-laden.
In the fpiced Indian air, by night.
Full often liatli she goasip'd by my side.
Shak., -M. N. D., ii. 1. 124.
Spiced carnations of rose and garnet crowned their bed
in July and August.
R. T. Cooke, Someljody's Neighlmrs, p. 39.
2t. Particular as to detail ; over-nice in matters
of conscience or the like ; scrupulous ; squeam-
ish.
Ve sholde been al pacient and melte,
And ban a sweete, gpiced conscience,
Sith ye so preche of Jobes pacience.
Chaucer, Prol. to Wife of Bath's Tale, 1. 435.
Take it; *tis yours;
Be not so tpiced; 'tis good gold,
And goodness is no gall to Che conscience.
Fletcher, Mad Lover, iii. 1.
spicefol (spis'ftil), a. [< spice^ + -fuW] Spice-
laden; spicy; aromatic.
The scorching sky
Both singe the sandy wilds of tpCc^ul Barbary.
Drayton, Polyolbion, T. 312.
spice-mill (spis'mil), n. A small hand-mill for
grinding spice, etc. : sometimes mounted orna-
mentally for use on tables.
spice-nut (spis'uut), n. A gingerbread-nut.
spice-platet (spis'plat), n. A particular kind
of plate or small dish formerly used for holding
spice to be served with wine.
Item, ij. tpieeptaiet, weiyng both \i\]^'^ xij. nnces.
Patton Letters, 1. 474.
The spice for this mixture [hypocras] was served often
separately, in what they called ^ gpiee-plaU.
T. Wartnn, Hist Eng. Poetry (ed. 1871X ni. 277, note.
spicer (spi's6r), n. [< ME. spicer, spycer, spy-
cere, spysere, < OF. espicier, F. Spicier = Pr. e»-
pessier = Sp. especiero = Pg. especieiro, < ML.
meeiarius, a dealer in spices or groceries. <
LL. species, spice : see spice^, n.] If. A dealer
in spices, in the widest sense; a grocer; an
apothecary.
&rieere$ spoke with bym to spien here ware,
yor he couth of here craft and knewe many gommes.
Piert Ptmrman (BX II. 225.
2. One who seasons with spice.
spicery (spi'sfer-i), n. [< JIE. spicerye, spicerie
= D. specerij = G. spe:erei = 8w. Dan. speceri,
< OF. spicerie, espicerie, F. Spicerie = Pr. Pg.
egpeeiaria = 8p. especieria = It. spe:ieria, < ML.
gpeciaria, spices, (.LiL. species, spice: see spice^,
«.] 1. Spices collectively.
Ne how the fyr was couched first with stree [straw], . , .
And tbanne with greene woode and tpuxrie.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 2077.
And eke the fayrest Alma mett him there^
With balme, and wine, and costly tpieery.
To comfort him In bit infirmity.
Spetuer, F. (t., IL xl. 49.
2t. A spicy substance; something used as a
spice.
For (ahlas my ftoode Lorde), were not the cordial of these
two pretiouB ^neeriet, the corrosyue of care would quicke-
ly confounde me.
(JoKoiffne, Steele Olas (ed. Arber), £p. Ded., p. *3.
3. A repository of spices ; a grocery or butterj- ;
a store of kitcnen supplies in general.
Furtt speke with the pantere or ofBcere of the Bpieery,
For frulea a.fore mete to ete them fastyngely.
BabeetBookii. E. T. B.X p. 16-2.
He had in the hall-kitchen ... a clerk of his apicery.
G. Cavendish, Cardinal WoUey, I. 34.
4. A spicy quality or effect ; an aromatic efflu-
ence; spiciness.
Uy taate t>y her sweet lips drawn with delight,
Hy smelling won with her breath's tpieery.
Drayton, Idea, xxli., To the Senses.
The affluence of his (Emerson's) illustrations diffuses
a flavor of oriental tpieery over his pages.
0. Biptey, In nothlngbam, p. 266.
spice-shop (spis'shop), n. [< ME. spice schope;
< spice + shop.'} A shop for the sale of aromatic
substances; formerly, a grocery or an apothe-
cary's shop.
A Spycere achoppe (a Spice tehope . . .X apothecm vel
ipotheca. Cath. Ang., p. 855.
spice-tree (spis'tre), n. An evergreen tree.
VmbeUularin Califomica, of the Pacific United
States, variously known as mountain-laurel,
California laurel, olive, or hay-tree, and cajeput.
Northward It grows from 70 to 90 feet high, and affords a
bard strong wood susceptible of a beautiful polish ; this
Is used for some ship building purposes, and is the finest
cablnet-wo<xl of its region, llie leaves are excee<tingly
acrid, exhaling, when braised, a pungent effluvium which
excites sneezing.
spicewood (spis'wud), n. Hame as sj>ice-busli .
spiciferous (spi-sife-rus), n. [< L. s}ncifer,
ear-bearing, < spica, & spike, ear, + fcrre = E.
5829
hear^."] 1. In 6o<., bearing or producing spikes ;
spieate; eared. — 2. In ornith., spurred; hav-
ing spurs or ealears, as a fowl.
spiciform (spi'si-form), a. [< L. spica, a point,
spike, ear, + forma, form.] Having the form
of a spica or spike.
spicily (spi'si-li), adv. In a spicy manner ; pun-
gently ; with a spicy flavor.
spiciness (spi'si-nes), n. The quality of being
racy, piquant, or spicy, in any sense.
Delighted with the spicinesg of this beautiful young
woman. The Century, XXVI. 370.
spick^t, n. [An obs. or dial, form of spil-e^ ; cf.
picJc^ as related to pike^.~i A spike; a tenter.
Florio.
spick'^ (spik), w. [Ori^n obscure.] A titmouse.
— Blue spick, the blue titmouse, Parue caeruleue.
spick'* (spik), «. Hee spick-and-sjyan-new.
spick-and-span (spik'and-span'), a. [Short-
ened from spick-a7id-span^new.'] Same as spick-
and-span-new.
From our poetic store-house we produce
A couple [of similes] gpick and gpan, for present use.
Garrick, quoted in \V. Cooke's Memoirs of S. Foote, 1. 107.
The Dutch Boer will not endure over him ... a spick-
and-span Dutch Africander from the Cape Colony.
Trollope, South Africa, II. vi.
Beside my hotel rose a big spfck-and-9pan church.
H. James, Jr., Little Tour, p. 178.
spick-and-span-new (spik'and-span'nti'), a.
[Also spick-sjMin-nctv ; lit. 'new as a spike and
chip': anemphaticformofitpan-ftetp: seesjnke^,
«poo«l, neit>, and cf. span-new, spick-span-7iew.
Cf . also the equiv. D. spik-spUnter-nieuw, ' spick-
splinter-new,' Dan. splinter-ny, Sw. splitter-ny,
'splinter-new,' Sw. dial, till splint och span ny,
'splint-and-span-new,' G. spalt-neu, 'splinter-
new,' etc., E.(^rand-new, etc. A compound of
four independent elements, like this, is very
rare in E. ; the lit. meaning of the nouns spick
and span is not now recognized, but the words
spick and span are taken together adverbially,
qualifying new, with which they form a com-
pound. By omission of new, the phrase spick-
and-span is sometimes used with an attribu-
tive force.] New and fresh ; span-new ; brand-
new.
Tis a fashion of the newest edition, spick and span new,
without example. Ford, Lover's Melancholy, ii. 1.
Among other Things, Black-Friars will entertain you
with a nay spick and span nev, and the Cockpit with an-
other. Howell, Letters, I. iv. '2.
spickett (sjiik'et), H. .\n obsolete form of g/M'^o*.
spicknel, spignel (spik'nel, spig'nel), n. [Ear-
ly mod. E. also spickncll, spignell, sjyeknel, spike-
nel; said to be a corruption of spike-nail, and
to be 80 called in allusion to the shape of its
long capillary leaves.] The baldmoney, Meum
athamanticum ; also, any plant of the related
genus Athnmanta. which has similar graceful
finely dissected foliage.
spick-span-new (spik'spau-nu'), a. Same as
spiek-and-span-nevo.
Look at the doitfas on 'er back, thebbe ammost spick-span-
new. Tennyson, Northern Cobbler.
spicose (spi'ltos), a. [< NL. spicosus: see sjn-
coiis.] In hot., same as spicous.
spicoAty (spi-kos'i-ti), n. [< spicose + -ity.'\
In hot., the state oir condition of being spicous
or cared.
spicoos (spi'kus), a. [A\aos})icose; itih. spi-
cosus, < L. spica, a Bpike,»ear: see spike^.'] In
bitt., having spikes or ears ; spiked or eared like
com.
spicnla^ (spik'u-lii), ».; pi. spicuUe (-le). [NL.:
see spicule.] 1. In bot., a diminutive or secon-
dary spike; a spikelet. — 2. A small splinter-
like body; a spicule. — 3. In :ool., a spicule or
spiculura. [Bare.]
spicula-, ". Plural of spiculum.
spicular (spik'u-liir), a. [< spicule + -ar^.] In
ro«7. : (o) Ha\-iiig the form or character of a
spicule; resembling a spicule; dart-like; spicu-
liform; spiculate. (6) Containing or composed
of spicules ; spiculous ; spiculif erous or spicu-
ligenous: as, a spicular integument; the spicn-
/rtr skeleton of a sponge or radiolarian.— Spicu-
lar notation, a notation for logic, invented by Augustus
l>e Morgan (though the name was given hy Sir William
Hamilton ).~iti whk-h great use Is made of marks of paren*
thesis. 'Tile significations of the principal signs are as
follows:
X))Y AllXsareYa.
X).(Y NoXaare Ys.
X ( . ) Y Everything Is either I or Y.
spicy
spiculate (spik'u-lat), V. t. ; pret. and pp. spicu-
lafed, ppr. spiciilating. [< L. spiculatus, pp. of
spiculare, sharpen, < spiculum, dim. of spicum,
a point: see spike'^.'] To sharpen to a point.
Extend a rail of elm, securely arm'd
With spicvZat£d paling.
IK. Mason, English Garden, ii.
spiculate (spik'u-lat), a. [< L. spiculatus, pp. :
see the verb.] 1. In ro67., sharp-pointed; spi-
eate.— 2. Covered with or divided into fine
points. Specifically, in bot. : (o) Covered with pointed
fleshy appendages, as a surface, (ft) Noting a spike com-
posed of several spikelets crowded together.
spicule (spik'iil), n. [< L. spiculum, NL. also spi-
cula, f ., a little sharp point, dim. of spicum, spica,
a point, spike : see s/)U'el.] 1. A fine-pointed
body resembling a needle: as, ice-spicules. — 2.
In hot. : (o) A spikelet. (b) One of the small
projections or points on the basidia of hymeno-
mycetous fungi which bear the spores. There
are usually four to each basidium. See stcrigma,
— 3. In :o6l., a hard, sharp body like a little
spike, straight or curved, rod-like, or branched,
or diversiform ; a spiculum ; a selere : variously
applied, without special reference to size or
shape. Specifically — (a) One of the skeletal elements,
scleres, or spicula of the protozoans, as radiolarians, either
X (( Y Some Xs compose all the Ys.
X(.(Y Some Xs are not Y».
X()Y Some Xs arc Ys.
X )( Y Some things are neither X nor Y.
X ). ) Y None of the Xs are certain of the Yi.
Sfhuronourtt ptinctatum.
A, natural sire ; F, two of the sacs with colored vesicles and spicules
which lie in the investing protoplasm, magnified.
calcareous or silicious, coherent or detached. See cuts
under Radiolaria and Sphxrozmim. (&) One of the spines
of echinoderras, sometimes of great size, and bristling
over the surface of the test, as in sea-urchins, or small,
and embedded in the integument, as in holothurians ;
sometimes of singular shape, like wheels, anchors, etc.
See cuts under ancora^, Echinmnetra, Echinus, and Spa-
tanffus. (c) In sponges, a spiculum ; one of the hard cal-
careous or silicious bodies, of whatever shape, which enter
Into the composition of the skeleton ; a mineral selere ; a
sponge-spicule (which see). Some sponges mostly consist
of spicules, as that figured under EuplecteUa. (d) In some
worms and mollusks, a dart-like organ constituting a kind
of penis ; a spiculum (which see), (e) In entoin. : (1) A
minute spine or spinous prt^cess. (2) The piercing ovi-
positor of any insect; especially, the lancet-like portion
of the sting of a parasitic hymenopter. See Spicuti/era.
spicule-sheath (spik'til-sheth), n. A thin layer
of organic substance forming the sheath or in-
vestment of a sponge-spicule.
Spiculifera (spik-u-lif 'e-ra), n. pi. [NL. : see
spiculiferous.] In Westwood's classification of
insects, a division ot Hymenopiera, in which the
abdomen is, in the female, ai-med with a long
plurivalve o\'ipositor, and the lar\-8e are footless.
It contains the ichneumons (including braconidsX the
evanllds, the proctotrypids, the chalcid.s, and the cynipids
or gall-flies. It thus coiTcsponds to the Pupivora of l.a-
trellle, except in excluding the Chrysidida as Tubulifera.
spiculiferous (spik-u-lif 'e-rus), a. [< Ij. spicu-
lum, a spicule, + fcrre = E. fccorl.] In eoiil.,
having a spiculura or spicula ; spicular or spicu-
lous; specifically, in entom., having a piercing
ovipositor; of or pertaining to the Spiculifera.
Also sj>icutiyerous.
spiculiform (spik'u-li-form), a. [< L. spiculum,
a spicule, + forma, form.] In bot. and zool.,
having the form of a spiciile ; being of the na-
ture of a s|>icule.
spiculigenous (spik-u-lij'e-nus), a. [< L. spicu-
lum, a spicule, + -genus, producing: see -ge-
nous.] Producing spicules; giving origin to
spicules; spiculiferous: as, the spiculigenous
tissue of a sponge.
spiculigerous (spik-u-lij'e-ms), a. [< L. spicu-
lum, a spicule, + gerere, carry.] Same as spicu-
liferous.
spiculose (spik'u-los), a. [< NL. spiculostis:
see spiculous.] Same as sjncidous.
spiculous (spik'u-lus), a. [Also spiculose; <
NL. spiculosus, < L. spictdum, a spicule: see
spicule.] Having spicules; spinulose; spicu-
lose or spiculiferous.
spiculum (spik'vi-lum), «.; pi. spicula (-la).
[NL., < L. spiculum, a little sharp point: see
spicule.] In soiil., a spicula or spicule. Spe-
cifically—(o) In some worms, a chltinous rod developed
in the cloaca as a copulatory organ ; a kind of penis. (&)
In some mollusks. as snails, the love-dart, a kind of penis,
more fully called spi^dum amoris. (c) In insects, the
piercing non-poisonous ovipositor of the Spicidifrra.
spicy (spi'si), a. [<..<tj>iee^ +-1/1.] 1. Produ-
cing spice ; abounding with spices.
As ... off at sea north-east winds blow
Sabiean odours from the spicy shore
Of Araby the bless'd. MUlon, P. L., iv. 162.
spicy
2. Having the qualities of spice ; flavored with
Bpice; fragrant; uroraatic: as, spicy plants.
The«p»cy uut-brown ale. Milton, L' Allegro, 1. 100.
Under southern skies exalt their saih,
Led by new stais, and borne by gpiey gales !
Pope, Windsor Forest, 1. 392.
3. Highly flavored ; pungent ; keen ; pointed ;
racy: as, a spicy letter or debate. [CoUoq.]
Your hint about letter- writing for the papers is not a
bad one. . . . Apolitical surmise, a «}nc)/ bit of scandal, a
sensation trial, wound up with a few moral rellections
upon how much better we do the same sort of thing at
home. Lever, A Rent in a Cloud, p, 58.
4. Stylish; showy; smart in appearance: as,
a spicy garment ; to look spicy. [Slang.]
'* Bless'd if there isn't Snipe dismounting at the gate ! "
he exclaimed joyfully; "there's a drummer holdkig his
nag. What a spicy chestnut it is ! "
Whyte Melville, White Rose, I. xiii.
= Syn. 3. Hacy, Spicy. See racy.
spider (spi'der), H. [An altered form of *'spithei;
< ME. spither^ dat. spitkre, < AS. *spither, orig.
*spinthcrf with formative -ther of ttie agent, <
spinnatij spin: see spin. Cf. spimieA^ a spider;
D. spin = OHG. spinndy MHG. G. spinnCj a spi-
der, lit. 'spinner.' For other E. names, see
attercop. cop^^ lob^j ?op^«] 1- An arthropod of
the order Arane^y Araneinay or Aranekia (the
old Linnean genus Aranea)^ of the class Araehm-
da, of which there are many families, hundreds
of genera, and thousands of species, found all
over the world. Though popularly considered insects,
spiders are not true Tnsecta, since they have eight instead
of only six legs, normally seven-jointed, and no wings are
developed. They are dimerosoniatous — that is, have the
body divided into two prin-
cipal regions, the cephalo-
thorax, or head and chest
together, and the abdomen.
which is generally tumid
or globose, whence the
name Sphserogagtra. No
antennee are developed as
such, but there are rapto-
rial Cleans called /alces,
which are subchelate —
that is, have a distal joint
folding down on the next
like the blade of a pocket-
knife. (See cut under /oix.)
In those species which are
poisonous the falces ai'e
traversed by the duct of a
venom-gland. Some spi-
ders are by far the most
venomous animals in ex-
istence in proportion to
their size : that the bite of
a spider can be fatal to man
(and there are authentio
instances of this) implies
a venom vastly more pow-
erful than that of the most
poisonous snakes. (See
katipo and Latrodectus.) Spiders breathe by means of
pulmonary sacs, or lung-sacs, nearly always in connection
with trachecD or spiracles, whence they are called pulmo-
tracheal; these sacs are two or four in number, whence a
division of spiders into dipneumonous and tetrapneumo-
nous araneids. (See Dipnewinones, % Tetrapneumones.)
Most spiders belong to the former division. They have
usually eight eyes, sometimes six, rar ely four, in one genus
iN^ops) only two. The abdomen is always distinct, ordi-
narily globose, never segmented, and provided with two
or more pairs of spinnerets. (See cut under arachnidium-.)
The characteristic habit of spiders is to spin webs to catch
their prey, or to make a nest for tliemselves, or for both
these purposes. Cobweb is a fine silky substance secreted
by the arachnidium, or arachnidial glands, and conducted
by ducts to the several, usually six, arachnidial mammillie,
which open on papillae at or near the end of the abdomen,
and through which the viscid material is spun out in fine
gossamer threads. Gossamer or spider-silk serves not only
to construct the webs, but also to let the spider drop
speedily from one place to another, to throw a " flying
bridge" across an interval, or even to enable some species
to ''fly " — that is, be buoyed up in the air and wafted a
great distance. It has occasionally been woven artificially
into a textile fabric, and is a well-known domestic appli-
cation for stanching blood. (See cut under sUk-sptder.)
Some spiders are sedentary, others vagabond ; the former
are called orbitelarian, retitelarian, tubitelarian, etc., ac-
cording to the character of their webs. Spiders move by
running in various directions, or by leaping; whence the
vagabond species have been described as rectigrade, lateri-
grade, citigrade, scUti^rade, etc. They lay numerous eggs,
usually inclosed in a case or cocoon. The male is com-
monly much smaller than the female, and in impregnating
the female runs great risk of being devoured. The differ-
ence in size is as if the human female should be some 60 or
70 feet talL (See cut under silk-spider.) -Spiders are car-
nivorous and highly predatory. Some of the largest kinds
are able to kill small birds, whence the name bird'Spiders
of some of the great hairy mygalids. (See cut under bifd-
spider.) A few are aquatic, as the water-spiders of the ge-
nus Argyroneta (which see, with cut). Wolf-spiders or
tarantulas belong to the family Z/ycosidse; but the name
tarantula is more frequently applied to the Mygalidse (or
Theraphosidee). The common garden-spider or diadem-
spider uf Europe is Epeira diademata; that of the United
States is E. copkinaria (or riparia). See Araneida, and cuts
under chelicera, cross-^nder, pulmonary, and tarantula.
My brain, more busy than the labouring spider,
Weaves tedious snares to trap mine enemies.
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iii. 1. 339.
Female of Latrodectus tnactans,
enlarged one quarter.
a, under side of abdomen.
5830
2. Some other arachnidan, resembling or mis-
taken for a spider; a spider-mite. See red-
spider. — 3. A spider-crab ; a sea-spider. — 4. A
eooking-utensil having legs or feet to keep it
from contact with the coals: named from a
fancied resemblance to the insect — the ordi-
nary fi'jing-pan is, however, sometimes errone-
ously termed a sjnder. (a) A kind of deep fi-ying-pan,
commoiily with three feet.
Some people like the sound of bubbling in a boiling
pot, or the tizzing of a fryiuf^-spider.
C. D. Warner, Backlog Studies, p. 10.
Hash was warmed up in the spider.
J. T. Trowbridge, Coupon Bonds, p. 113.
(6) \ trivet; a low tripod used to support a dish, or the
like, in front of a lire.
5. In mach. : (a) A skeleton of radiating spokes,
as a rag-wheel. (6) The internal frame or skel-
eton of a gear-wheel, for instance, on which
a cogged rim may be bolted, shrank, or cast.
(c) The solid interior part of a piston, to
which the packing is attached, and to whose
axis the piston-rod is secured. E. H. Knight.
— 6. Naut.y an iron outrigger to keep a block
clear of the ship's side Geometrical spider. See
geamatrie. — Grass-spider, one of many different spiders,
as species of Agalerui, which spin webs on the grass, such
as may be seen spangled with dew in the morning in
meadows.— Round- well spider, one of many orbitelarian
spiders, as species of Epeira (see, also, cut under cross-
spider).— ST^iAeir couching. .See couching^, 5.— Trap-
door spider. See Cteniza, Mygalidx, trap-door, and cut
under Araneida. (See also bird-spider, crab-spider, diving-
spider, garden-spider, hotise'Spider, jumjnng -spider, sea-
spider, sUlc-spider, water-spider, wolf-spider.)
spider-ant (spi'd6r-ant), n. A solitary ant of
the la,m\y Mutillidse: so called from the spi-
der-like aspect of the females.
spider-band (spi'der-band), n. Naitt., an iron
hoop round a mast to which the lower ends of
the futtock-shrouds are secured; also, a hoop
round a mast provided with belaying-pins. See
cut under futtock-shrouds.
spider-bug (spi'dfer-bug), n. A long-legged
neteropterous insect of the family Emesid«,
Emesa lonr/ipes, somewhat resembling a spider.
See cut under stick-bug. [U. S.]
spider-catcher (spi'd6r-kach"er), n. A bird
that catches
spiders. Specifl-
eaUy- (a) The wall-
creeper, Tichodro-
tna muraria. See
cut under Ticho-
droma. (6) pi. The
genus Arachrwtfte-
ra in a bi-oad sense,
numerous species
of which inhabit
the Indo-Malayan
region. They are
small creeper-like
birds with long
bills, and belong to
the family Nectari-
niidse. Also called
spider-eaters and
spider-hunters.
. pi. Neuroglia
spider-stitch
spider-flower (spi'der-flou'fer), n. 1. A plant
of the former genus Lasiandra of the Melasto-
macem, now included in TiboucMna. The spe-
cies are elegant hothouse shrubs from Brazil,
bearing large purple flowers. — 2. A plant of
the genus Clcoine, especially C. spinosa (C. pun-
gens), a native of tropical America, escaped
from gardens in the southern United States.
The stipules are spinous, the flowers large, rose-purple to
white, with long stamens and style, suggesting the name.
See cut under Cleome.
spider-fly (spi'der-fU), n. A parasitic pupipa-
rous dijjterous insect, as a bee-louse, bat-louse,
bird-louse, bat-fly, sheep-tick, etc. They are of
three families, Bravlidee, Nycteribiidx, and Uippoboscidx.
Some of them, especially the wingless forms, as Nycteribia,
closely resemble spiders in superficial appearance. See
cut under sheep-tick.
spider-helmet (spi'der-hel'met), n. A name
given to the skeleton head-pieces sometimes
worn. See secret, «., 9.
spider-hunter (spi'der-hun'tfer), n. Same as
spider-catcher (b).
spider-legs (spi'dfer-legz), n. pi. In gilding, ir-
regular fractures sometimes occurring when
gold-leaf is fitted over a molding having deep
depressions.
spider-line (spi'dfer-lin), n. One of the threads
of a spider's web substituted for wires in mi-
crometer-scales intended for delicate astro-
nomical observations.
The transit of the star is observed over spider lijiet
stretched in the field, while a second observer reads the
altitude of this star from the divided circle.
The CerUury, XXXVI. 608w
spider-mite (spi'd6r-mit), n. A parasitic mite
or aearid of the family Gamasidx.
spider-monkey (spi'der-mung'ki), «. A tropi-
cal American platyrrhine monkey, of the family
Cebidse, subfamily Cebinse, and genera Ateles
and Brachyteles ; a kind of sajou or sapajou,
Spider-catcher i^racHnathera ma^na).
n. Same as spider-
spider-cells (spi ' dfer - selz),
cells.
spider-cot (spi'dfer-kot)
web.
spider-crab (spi'dfer-krab), «. A spider-like
crab, or sea-spider, with long slender legs and
comparatively
small triangular
body. The name is
given to many such
crabs, of different
families, but espe-
cially to the maioids,
or crabs of the fam-
ily Maiidfe, such as
Maia squinado, the
common spinous spi-
der-crab of Great
Britain, and species
of lAbinia, Inachus,
etc. The giant Jap-
anese spider-crab,
Macrochira kaemp-
feri, is the largest
crustacean. Bee cuts
under Leptopodia,
JAthodes, Maia, and
Oxyrhyncha.
spider-diver
(spi'dfer-di'vfer), n. The little grebe, or dab-
chick. [Local, British.]
spider-eater (spi'dfer-e'tfer), «. Same as spider-
catcher (6).
I obtained an interesting bird, a green species of Spi-
der-eater. H. 0. Forbes, Eastern Archipelago, p. 238.
spidered (spi'dferd), a. [< spider + -prf2.] in-
fested with spiders ; cobwebbed. [Rare.]
Content can visit the poor spidered room.
Ifoteof (Peter Pindar), p. 39. (Daviet.)
A Spider-crab Unachus dcrsettfnsis),
male.
A Spider-monkey i,.!/r/f
likened to a spider by reason of the very long
and slim limbs, and long prehensile tail. They are
large slender-bodied monkeys of great agility and of arbo-
real habits, with the thumb absent or imperfect. Brachy-
teles (or Eriodes) arachnoides is a Brazilian spider-monkey
called the miriki. Ateles paniscus is the large black spider-
monkey, or coiata ; A. metanochir is the black-handed spi-
der-monkey; and many more species or varieties of this
genus hiive been named. One of the spider-monkeys, .i4.
vellerosiis, is among the most northerly of American mon-
keys, extending into Mexico to Orizaba and Oajaca. The
flesh of some species is used for food, and the pelts have
a commercial value. See also cut under Eriodes.
spider-net (spi'd^r-net), «. Netting by spider-
stitch.
spider-orchis (spi'd6r-6r"kis), n. A European
orchid. Ophrns aranifera. It has an erect stem from
9 to 18 inches high, with" a few leaves near the base, and a
loose spike of few small flowers with broad dull-brown lip
and parts so shaped and arranged as somewhat to resemble
a spider.
spider-shell (spi'der-shel), n. The shell of a
gastropod of the family Strombidse and genus
Pteroceras ; a scorpion-shell. having the outer Up
expanded into a number of spines. The species
inhabit the Indian and tropical Pacific oceans.
See cut under scorpion-shell.
spider-stitch (spi'd6r-stich), n. A stitch in
darned netting and in guipure, by which open
spaces are partly filled with threads carried di-
agonally and parallel to each other, the effect
of several squares together being that of a
spider-web.
spider-wasp
spider-wasp (spl'd^r-wosp), «. Any true wasp
of the family Pompilidfe, which stores its nest
f «>. I. the indoreiceiice ; >, the 1
part of the item with the not.
Spider-wasp {CercfaUt rujiventris). (Cross shows natural size.)
with spiders for its young, as Ceropales rujiven-
tris of North America, which lays its eggs in
the mud nests of Agenia. See cut under J^enia.
spider-web (spi'd6r-web), n. The web or net
spun by a spider; cobweb; gossamer. Also
mjiiiier-cot.
spider-wheel (spi'd6r-hwel), n. In embroidery,
any circular pat-
tern or unit of de-
sign open and hav-
ing radiating and
concentric lines.
Compare catha-
rine-iclicel, i.
spider-work (spi'-
uer-wi-rk), n. Lace
worked by spider-
stitch.
spiderwort (spi'-
dir-wert), «. l.A
plant of the genus
lyadescaniia, espe-
cially T. Virginiea,
the common gar-
den species. It Us
native of the central
and Boutbern United
State*, and was early
tobodoced into Euro-
pean gardena. The pet-
als are very delicate
and ephemeral ; in the
wild plant they are
blue, in cultlTStion va-
riable in color, often
reddish-violet
2. By extension, any plant of the order Com-
melinacese; specifically, Commelina ctelettis, a
blue-flowered plant from Mexico. The name is
also Kiven to Uoidia KroUna, mountain-spiderwort ; to
AtttAtrieum (Pluuaivrii'm) LUiago, St. Bernard's lily : and
to Paraditia (Oaekia) IMiattrum. .St. Bruno's lily — all Olii
World plants, the last two ornamental.
spidery (spi'dfer-i), a. [<spider+ -y^.'] Spider-
like. Cotgrate.
spiet, r. and n. An old spelling of gpy.
Spiegel (spe'gl), n. [Short for gpiegeleigen.']
Same as spiegeleisen Splegel-lron. Same as tpi»-
fffleUm.
spiegeleisen (spe'gl-i'zen), n. [G., < spiegel (<
L. xpeciilum), a mirror, + eisen = E. iron.] A
pig-iron containing from eight to fifteen or
more per cent, of manganese. Its fracture often
presents larse well-developed crystalline planes. This
alloy, as well as ferromanganese, an iron containing still
more manganese than spiegeleisen, is extensively used in
the niannfactnre of Bessemer steel, and is a necessary ad-
junct to ihat procesa. Also called tpUgH-iron.
spiegelerz (spe'gl-erts), n. [O., < Spiegel, a
mirror, + erz, ore.] Specular ironstone : a
variety of hematite.
spier' (spi'^-r), «. [< spy + -«•!.] One who
spies; a spy; a scout. Uallitcell.
spier'-^, V. ifee speer^ .
spif^ (spif'i), a. [Oripn obsctire.] Spruce;
well-dressed. [Slang, Eng.]
spiflicate (spif 'li-kat), v. t. ; pret. and pp. spif-
limtcfl. ]ipr. spiflicating. [Also spiffirate, amtf-
ligatr; appar. a made word, simulating a L.
origin.] 1. To beat severely; confound; dis-
may. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]— 2. To stifle;
suffocate; kill. [Slang.]
So out with your whinger at once.
And scrag Jane while I tpiJHcaU Johnny.
Barham, InKoldsby Legends, 11. 160.
spiflication (spif-li-ka'shon), n. [<. s}»Jlicate +
-inn.] The act of spiflicating, or the state of be-
ing spiflicated ; annihilation. [Slang.]
5831
Whose blood he vowed to drink— the Oriental form of
threatening spijUcation. R. F. Burton, El-Medinah, I. 204.
Spigelia (spi-je'li-ii), it. [NL. (Limiieus, 1737),
named after Adrian ^n der Spiegel (1558-1625),
a Belgian physician and professor of anatomy
at Padua.] A genus of gamogetalous plants,
of the order Loganiaceee and tribe Euloganiex,
type of the subtribe Spigeliese. It is characterized
by flowers commonly disposed in one-sided splices, the
corolla with valvate lobes, a jointed style, and a two-celled
ovary becoming in fruit a compressed twin capsule which
is circumsciasile above tlie cup-sliaped persistent base.
I'here are about 30 species, natives of America and mostly
tropical, 5 extending into the United States ; of these 2 are
confined to Florida, 2 to Texas, and 1, .S. Marilandica, the
Maryland piiil^root or worm-grass, reaches Pennsylvania
and Wisconsin. They are annual or perennial herbs, rarely
somewhat shrubby, either smooth, downy, or woolly, bear-
ing opposite feather-veined or rarely nerved leaves, which
are connected by a line or transverse membrane or by
stipules. The ftowers are usually red, yellow, or purplish,
and the many-flowered secund and curving spilies are
often very handsome. In 5. Anthelmia, the Demerara
pinkroot, the flowers are white and pink, followed by pur-
ple fruit, and the two pairs of upper leaves are crowded
in an apparent whorl. See pinkroot.
Spigelian (spi-je'li-an), a. [< Spiegel (see Spi-
gelia) + -ian.~\ In aiiat., noting the lobulus
Spigelii, one of the lobes of the liver.
spightH, n. See speight.
spight-t, »• and V. An obsolete erroneous spell-
ing of spite.
spignel, n. See spicknel.
spignet (spig'net), n. [A corruption of spike-
nard.] The American spikenard, Aralia race-
mosa. See spikenard.
spigot (spig'ot), n. [Early mod. E. also spig-
got, spiggott, spiggotte, spygotte, spygote, < ME.
spigot, spygot, spygott, speget; obs. or dial, also
spieket, < ME. spykket, spykette; appar. < Ir. Gael.
spiocaid, a spigot (= W. ysbigod, a spigot, spin-
dle), dim. of Ir. i^tice = W. ysbig, a spike, < L.
spica, spicus, a point, spike : see spike^. The
Celtic forms may be from the E.] A small peg
or plug designed to be driven into a gimlet-hole
in a cask through which, when open, the con-
tained liquor i.s drawn off; hence, by exten-
sion, any plug fitting into a faucet used for
drawing oS liquor.
He runs down into the Cellar, and takes the Spiggott. In
the mean time all the Beer runs atwut the House.
Selden, Table-Talk, p. 63.
spigot-joint (spig'ot-joiut), n. A pipe-joint
made by tapenng down the end of one piece
and insertiiig'it into a correspondingly widened
opening in the end of another piece. Also
pa\Uh\ Jaucet-joint, E. O, Knight.
spigot-pot (spig'ot-pot), «. A vessel of earthen-
ware or porcelain with a hole in the side, near
the bottom, for the insertion of a spigot.
gpignmelt, «. [ML. spiyurnellus ; origin ob-
scure.] In lav), a name formerly given to the
sealer of the writs in chancery.
These Bohuna . . . were by inheritance for a good while
the king's spiV^niieBt— that is, the sealers of his writs.
Holland, tr. of Camden, p. 312.
spike' (spik), n. [Early mod. E. also spyke; <
SlE. spik = Icel. spik = 8w. mik, a spike, = Ir.
spice = W. usbig, a spike ; cf . MD. spijcker, D.
spijker = MLG. LG. spiker = OHG. spieari, spi-
ehdri, spihhiri, MHG. spieher, G. speicher-nagel,
spieker = Norw. spiker = Dan. sjiiger (with add-
ed suffix -er) ; et. (with loss of initial s) Ir. pice,
Gael, pic, W. pig. a peak, pike (see pike^y, =
8p. Pg. espiga = It. spiga, a spike, = OF. espi,
espy, a pointed ornament; also OF. espi, F. ipi,
wheat ; < L. spica, f., also spicus, m., and spicum,
neut., a point, spike, ear of corn, the top, tuft,
or head of a plant [spicus crinalis or spieiim cri-
nale, a hair-pin). Hence spieous, spicose, etc.,
and ult. spike^, spigot, pike^, pick^, etc., spine,
etc.] 1. A sharp point; a pike; a sharp-point-
ed projection, (o) A long nail or pointed iron inserted
In lomethlng with the point outward, as in chevaux-de-
trlae, the top of a wall, gate, or the like, as a defense or to
^
V
Spikes.
«,itock-spilte,tiaed in buildhlK docks and piers; A, cut-spike, or lar^re
cut nail; r. rf,railway-spikes,for fastening rails to sleepers; ^, barljcd
spike : /. harlied and forked spike : z, *. types of forked spikes, the
points of which spre'adand become riooked In the timlier when driven,
Ihlis makinff thein estretnely difficult to draw out.
spikenard
hinder passage. .See cut under chevarix-de-.frwe. (6) A
sharp projecting point on the sole of a shoe, to prevent
slipping, as on ice or soft wet ground, (c) The central
boss 01 a shield or buckler when prolonged to a sharp
point. Such a spike is sometimes a mere pointed umbo
and sometimes a square or tilree-cornered steel blade
screwed or bolted into the boss, (d) In zobl, : (1) The ant-
ler of a young deer, when straight and without snag or
tine ; a spike-horn. (2) A young mackerel 6 or 7 inches
long. (3) A spine, as of some animals, (e) A piece of
hardened steel, with a soft point that can be clenched,
used to plug up the vent of a cannon in order to render
it useless to an enemy.
2. A large nail or pin, generally of iron. The
larger forms of spikes, particularly ra'ilroad-spikes, are
chisel-pointed, and have a head or fang projecting to one
side to bite the rail. Spikes are also made split, barbed,
grooved, and of other shapes. See cut in preceding column.
3. -An ear, as of wheat or other grain.
Bote yf the sed that sowen is in the sloh sterue,
Shall neuere spir springen vp, ne gpik on strawe cume.
Piers Plowman (UX xiii. 180.
4. In hot., a flower-cluster or form of inflores-
cence in which the flowers are
sessile (or apparently so) along
an elongated, unbrancbed com-
mon axis, as in the well-known
mullen and plantain. There are
two modifications of the spike that have
received distinct names, although not
distinguishable by exact and constant
characters. They are spadix and cat-
kin. In the Eqtmetacese a spike is an
aggregation of sporopbyls at the apex
of a shoot. Compare raceme, and see
cuts undertn/iore«cencc, barley, papyrus,
and Equisetacex.
Hence — 5. A sprig of some
a, spikeof ««»- plant in which the flowers form
'ffiJIit^^shoirii* a spike or somewhat spike-like
the sessile Bowers, gluster : as, a Spike of lavender.
The head of Nardus spreadeth-into certaine spikes or
eares, whereby it hath a twofold use, both of spike and
also of leafe ; in which regard it is so famous.
UoUand, tr. of Pliny, xlL 12.
Within, a stag-homed sumach grows.
Fern-leafed, with spikes of red.
Whittier, The Old Burying-Ground.
spike^ (spik), V. t.; pret. and pp. sjtiked, ppr.
spiking. [<«;»*•«!, n.] 1. To fasten with spikes
or long and large nails : as, to spike down the
planks of a floor or a bridge. — 2. To set with
spikes; furnish with spikes. — 3. To fix upon a
spike. — 4. To make sharp at the end. John-
son.— 5. To plug up the vent of with a spike,
as a cannon Spiked loosestrife. See loosestrife.
spike'^ (spik), ji. [= MD. spijHe, spick, D. spijk,
< OF. spicque, P. npic, lavender ; cf . NL. Lavan-
dula Spica, spike-lavender; < L. spica, a spike:
see spike'^. Cf. aspic^.'] Same as spike-lavender.
— OUof spike. See oil o/ lavender, under lavender^.
spikebill (splk'bil), ». 1. A merganser, as the
hooded merganser ; a sawbill. See cut under
merganser. G . Trumhull, ISSS. [Michigan.] —
2. The great marbled godwit, TAmosafedoa. G.
Trumbull, 1888.
[New Jersey.]
spike -extractor
(spik'eks-trak -
tor), K. An ap-
paratus for ex-
tracting spikes,
as from a rail.
spike-fish (spik'-
nsh), 11. A kind
of sailfish, ni.s-
tiophorus amcri-
cantis, so called
from the long sharp snout,
and cut under sailfish.
spike-grass (spik'gr&s), n. One of several
American grasses, having conspicuous flower-
spikelets. (o) Diplachne faseicularis. (6) Distiehlit
marititna (salt-grass), (c) The genus Uniola, especially
U. panictUata (also called sea or seaside oats), a tall coarse
grass with a dense heavy panicle, growing on sand-hills
along the Atlantic coast southward.
spikehom (spik'hom), «. 1. The spike of a
young deer. — 2. A young male deer, when the
antler is a mere spike.
spike-lavender (sj)ik'lav''en-dtr), n. A laven-
der-])lant, Larandula Spica. See aspic^, and
(h/ of lavender (under lavender^).
spikelet(8pik'let),». [<spike'>- + -let.'] In hot,
a small or secondary spike : .more especially ap-
plied to the spiked arrangements of two or more
flowers of grasses, subtended by one or more
glumes, and variously disposed around a com-
mon axis. See cuts under Melicem, oat, orchard-
gra.<<s, I'oa, reedl, 1, rye, and Sorghum.
spike-nail (spik'nal), «. A spike.
spikenard (spik'nilrd), n. [< ME. spikenard,
spykrtiarde, .ipykndrd, spikanard, < OF. spique-
nard (also simply espic, qjtc) = Sp. egpicanardt,
, rail ;
Spike-extractor.
*. spike to be extracted ; f. ful-
cniiu-piece hooked over the rail and sup-
portec! on the sleeper ti; /, claw-lever, with
a lieel shown in dotted outline, which is
passed through a slot in the fulcrum-piece.
See Histiophorus,
Spikenard {Nardostachys
Jatatnansi).
spikenard
cspiea nardo = Pg. spicanardo, cspicanardo = It.
spiganardo. formerly spigo nardo, = MD. spijk-
nard = MH6. spicaiiarde,
nardespickc, G. spichiard,
< L. spica nttrdi, 'a spike
of nard ' (ML. also nardiis
spicatus, 'spiked iiaid'):
L. spica, spike; nardi, gen.
of «flr(fi«,nard: see spike'^
and nard.'\ 1. A plant,
the soiree of a famous
perfumed unguent of the
ancients, now believed to
be yordostaclnjs Jataman-
si. closely allied to vale-
rian, found iu the Hima-
layan region. This plant is
known to have been used by the
Hindus as a niedii-ine and per-
fume from a very remote period,
and is at present employed
chiefly in hair-washes and oint-
ments. The otlor is lieavy and
peeuliar, descrihed as resem-
bling that of a mixture of vale-
rian and patchouli. The market drug consists of short
pieces of the rootstock densely covered with fibers, the
remains of leafstalks. Also nard.
2. An aromatic ointment of ancient times, in
which spikenard was the characteristic ingre-
dient ; nard. It was extremely costly.
There came a woman having an alabaster box of oint-
ment of gpiketiard. very precious, and she brake the box,
ftnd poured it on his head. Mai'k xiv. 3.
3. A name given to various fragrant essential
oils, — Americaji spikenard, a much-branching herba-
ceous plant, Aralia raceinosa, witli a shoi't thick rootstock
more spicy than tliat of A. nudicaxUis, the wild sarsapa-
rllla, and, like that, used in domestic medicine in place of
true sarsapai'illa. The A. lutdicaidU is sometimes named
^natl fpikenfird, while A. spinoaa, the angelica-tree, has
been cidled^^^iA-e^tarrf-irfe.— Celtic spikenard, rfl^fn'rtna
Celtica of the .\lps, Apennines, etc. — Cretan spikenard,
Valeriana Phli, an Asiatic plant, sometimes cultivated in
Europe, but medicinally weaker than the otlieiiial vale-
rian.— False spikenard, an American plant. Smilnclna
racemma. somewhat resembling tlie true (American) spike-
nard. Also false Solomons seal. — Indian spikenard,
the true spikenard. See def. 1.— Plowman's spikenard,
a European plant. Inrda Conyza, so called from its fra-
grant root .and from being confounded with a plant by
some writers called nardiw rustica or dou'ii's-riard. Pri(yr.
— Small spikenard. See Ameruxin sjnkenard. — West
Indian spikenard, a fragrant weed, Hyptix suaveolens,
sometimes cultivated for medicinal use.
spikenard-tree (spik'nard-tre), n. See Ameri-
can spikenard, under spikenard.
spikeneli, n. An obsolete form of spicknel, spig-
ncl.
spikenose (spik'noz), n. The pike-perch, or
wall-eyed pike, Stizostedion vitreum. See cut
under pike-perch. [Lake Ontario.]
spike-oil (spik'oil), «. [= D. spijkoUe; as spike^
+ 011.1 The oil of spike. See S2}ike^, lavender^.
— Spike-oil plant, Lavandula Spica. See lavender^.
spike-plank (spik'plangk), n. Naut., a plat-
form or bridge projecting across a vessel be-
fore the mizzenmast, to enable the ice-master
to cross over and see ahead, and so pilot her
clear of the ice : used in arctic voyages. Admi-
ral Smyth.
spiker (spi'k^r), «. In rail-laying, a workman
who drives the spikes.
spike-rush (spik'rush), «. See Eleocharis.
spike-shell (spik'shel), n. A pteropod of the
genus atyliola.
spike-tackle (spik'tak"l), n. A tackle serving
to hold a whale's carcass alongside the ship
during flensing.
spiketail (spik'tal), n. Same as pintail, 1.
[Illinois.]
spike-tailed (spik'tald), a. Having a spiked
tail — Spike-tailed grouse, the sharp-tailed, sprig-
tailed, or pin-tailed grouse, Pedioecetes phatdaiiellus or
Columbia Htis. See cut under Pedioecetes.
spike-team (spik'tem), n. A team consisting
of three horses or other draft-animals, two of
which are at the pole while the third leads.
spiky (spi'ki), a. [< spifcel -I- -j/l.] 1. Having
the shape of a spike ; having a sharp point or
points; spike-like. [Bare.]
Ranks of spiky maize
Hose like a host embattled.
Bryant, The Fountain.
2. Set with spikes ; covered with spikes.
The spiky wheels through heaps of carnage tore.
Pope, Iliad, xx. 585.
spilt, n. An obsolete form of spilft.
Spilanthes (spi-lan'thez), n. [NL. (Jacquin,
1763), said to be so called in allusion to the
brown disk surrounded by yellow rays in the
original species; < Gr. <rn-/7.of, spot, 4- hv6o(,
flower.] A genus of composite plants, of the
tribe Helianthoideee and subtribe Verbesineee.
5832
It is characterized by stalked and finally ovoid-conical
heads with small flowers; the ray-flowers are fertile or
absent ; the style-branches are truncate and without the
appendages common among related genera; the achenes
are small, compressed, commonly ciliate, and without
pappus, or bearing two or three very slender bristles.
Over 40 species have been described, of which perliaps
20 are distinct. They are mainly natives of eastern and
tropical America, with some species common in warmer
garts of both hemispheres. Most of the species are much-
ranched annuals, smooth or sliglitly downy, bearing
toothed opposite leaves, and long-stAlked solitary lieads
with a yellow disk and yellow or white rays. S. Acmella,
of the East Indies, has been called alphabet-plarit. Its
variety oleracea is the Para cress. Another species, S*. re-
pens, occurs in the southern United States.
spile^ (spil), n. [< D. sjyijf, a spile, bar, spar,
= LG. spile, a bar, stake, club, bean-pole (> G.
spile (obs.), speiler, a skewer) ; perhaps in part
another form of D. spil, a pivot, axis, spindle,
capstan, etc., a contracted form, = E. spindle :
see spindle. Cf. spill^, spell*'. The Ir. .•<pile, a
wedge, is from E.] 1. A solid wooden plug
used as a spigot. — 2. A wooden or metal spout
driven into a sugar-maple tree to conduct the
sap or sugar-water to a pan or bucket placed
beneath it; a tapping-gouge. [U.S.] — 3. In
ship-hmlding, a small wooden pin used as a plug
for a nail-hole. — 4. A narrow-pointed wedge
used in tubbing. — 5. A pile: same as jWf'fei, 3.
spile^ (spil), V. t. ; pret. and pp. spiled, ppr.
spiling. [< s/xTel, ».] 1. To pierce with a small
hole and stop the same with a plug, spigot, or
the like : said of a cask of liciuid.
I had them [casks] spiled underneath, and, constantly
running olf the wine from them, filled them up afresh.
Marryat, Pacha of many Tales, Greek Slave.
2. To set with piles or piling.
spile^t, V. [ME. spilen, < Icel. s/»to = G. spielen,
plav, = AS. spelian, take a part: see speiP.]
To play.
spile* (spil), r. A dialectal form of spoil.
spile-borer (spil'b6r"er), n. A form of auger-
bit for boring out stuff for spiles or spigots.
It tapers the ends of the spiles by means of an obliquel.v
set knife on the shank. E. U. Knight.
spile-hole (spil'hol), n. A small aperture made
in a cask, usually near the bung-hole, for the ad-
mission of air, to cause the liquor to flow freely.
spilikin, «. See spillikin.
spiling (spi'ling), n. [Verbal n. of spile^, ti.]
1. Piles; piling: as, the spiling must be re-
newed.— 2. The edge-curve of a plank or strake.
— 3. pi. In ship-buUding, the dimensions of the
curve or sny of a plank's edge, commonly
measured by means of a batten fastened for
the purpose on the timbers.
spilite (spi'lit), n. [< Gr. ani^M^, a spot, + -ite^.'j
A variety of diabase distinguished by its amyg-
daloidal structure, the cavities being most
frequently filled with ealcite. Also called amyg-
daloidal diabase, and by a variety of other names.
See diabase and melaphyre.
spilll (spil), v.; pret. and pp. spilled or spilt, ppr.
spilling. [< ME. spillen, spyllen (pret. spilde,
pp. spilled, spilt), < AS. spillan, an assimilated
form of spildan, destroy (for-s])ildan, destroy
utterly), = OS. spildjan, destroy, kill, = D. spil-
len = MLG. spilden, spillen, LG. spillen, waste,
spend, = OHG. spildan, waste, spend, = Icel.
spilla, destroy, = 8w. spilla = Dan . spilde, lose,
spill, waste ; cf. AS. spild, destruction; perhaps
connected with spald^, split, speld, splinter,
etc.: see spald^, spill'^, spell^.l I. trans. If. To
destroy; kill; slay.
To saven whom him list, or elles spUle.
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 1917.
I have conceived that hope of your goodnes that ye wold
rather my person to bee saved then spilled; rather to be
reformed tlien destroyed.
Udatt, in Ellis's Lit. Letters, p. 4.
2t. To injure; mar; spoil; ruin.
Who-so spareth the sprynge [rod] spilleth his children.
Piers Ptotvman (B), v. 41.
So full of artless jealousy is guilt.
It spills itself in fearing to be spilt.
Shak., Hamlet, Iv. 5. 20.
0 what needs I toil day and night,
My fair body to sjnll.
Lord Randal (A) (Child's Ballads, II. 23).
3t. To waste ; squander ; spend.
This holde I for a verray nycetee
To spUle labour for to kepe wyves.
Chaucer, Manciple's Tale, L 49.
To thy mastir be trew his goodes that thow not spUle.
llabees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 120.
We give, and we are not the more accepted, because he
beholdeth how unwisely we spUl our gifts in the bringing.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. 79.
4. To suffer or cause to flow out or become
lost; shed: used especially of blood, as in wil-
ful killing.
spiller
He lookt upon the blood Spilt, whether of Subjects or
of Rebels, with an inditferent eye, as exhausted out of his
own veines. MUion, Eikonoklastes, xii.
5. To suffer to fall or run out accidentally and
wastefully, and not as by pouring : said of fluids
or of substances in fine grains or powder, such
as flour or sand: as, to spiill wine; to spill salt.
Their arguments are as fluxive as liquor spilt upon a
table. B.jotison, Discoveries.
6t. To let out ; let leak out ; di\Tilge : said of
matters concealed.
Although it be a shame to spiU it, I will not leaue to
say . . . that, if thei-e happened any kinseman or friend
to visit him, he was driuen to seek lodging at his neigh-
bours, or to borrowe all that was necessarie.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), 1. 257.
7. Naut., to discharge the wind from, as from
the belly of a sail, in order to furl or reef it. —
8. To throw, as from the saddle or a vehicle ;
overthrow. [Colloq.]=Syn. 5. SpiosA, etc. Seeslopi.
II. intrans. If. To kill; slay; destroy;
spread ruin.
He schall spyU on euery syde ;
Ffor any cas that may betyde,
Schall non therof avanse.
The Horn of King ^rtAwr (Child's Ballads, I. 24).
2t. To come to ruin or destruction ; perish ; die.
The pore, for faute late them not spylle.
And ge do, gour deth is dyght.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 95.
For deeme love of thee, lemman, I spille.
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1. 92.
3t. To be wasteful or prodigal.
Thy father bids thee spare, and chides for spilling.
Sir P. Sidney.
4. To run out and become shed or wasted.
He was so topfull of himself that he let it spill on all
the company. Watts.
spill^ (spil), M. [<sp«ni, t).] 1. A throw or fall,
as from a saddle or a vehicle. [Colloq.]
First a shiver, and then a thrill,
Then something decidedly like a spill.
And the parson was sitting upon a rock.
0. W. Holmes, The Deacon's Masterpiece.
2. A downpour; a flood. [Colloq.]
Soon the rain left off for a moment, gathering itself to-
gether again for another spill.
Harper's Mag., LXXVIII. 87.
spill^ (spil), n. [Early mod. E. also spil, spille ; <
ME. spille; a var. oispelH, q. v. In some senses,
as def. 4, prob. confused with spile^, < D. spijl,
a bar, stake, etc., also (in def. 5) with D. spil, >
G. spjHe, a pin, pivot, spindle : see spiTel.] If.
A splinter; a chip.
What [boots it thee] to reserve their relics many years,
Their silver spurs, or spils of broken spears ?
Bp. Hall, Satires, IV. iii. IS.
2+. A little bar or pin ; a peg.
The Ostyers (besides gathering by hand, at a great ebb)
haue a peculiar dredge, which is a thick strong net, f astned
to three spils of yron, and drawne at the boates sterne.
R. Carew, Survey of Cornwall, foL 31.
3. A slip or strip of wood or paper meant for
use as a lamplighter. Paperspillsaremadeof strips
of paper rolled spirally in a long tapering form or folded
lengthwise. Thin strips of dry wood are also used as
spills.
What she piqued herself upon, as arts in which she ex-
celled, was making candle-lighters, or spills (as she pre-
ferred calling them), of colored paper, cut so as to resem-
ble feathers, and knitting garters in a variety of dainty
stitches. Mrs. Gaskell, Cranford, xiv.
4. A small peg or pin for stopping a cask ; a
spile : as, a vent-hole stopped with a sjrill. —
5. The spindle of a spinning-wheel. Halliwell.
[Prov. Eng.] — 6t. A trifling sum of money ; a
small fee.
The bishops who consecrated the ground were wont to
have a ^nil or sportule from the credulous laity.
Ayliffe, Parergon.
spill^t (spil), V. t. [< spilP, H.] To inlay, di-
versify, or piece out with spills, splinters, or
chips ; cover with small patches resembling
spills. In the quotation it denotes inlaying
with small pieces of ivory.
All the pillours of the one [temple] were guilt.
And all the others pavement were with yyory spiU.
Spenser, F. Q., IV. x. 5.
spillan, spillar (spil'an, -sir), n. Same as spill-
er'^.
spill-case (spil'kas), n. A small oniamental
vase meant for the decoration of a mantel-
piece, etc., and to hold spills or lamplighters.
[Eng.l
spill-channel (spH'chan^el), «. A bayou or
overflow-channel communicating with a river:
used in India. See spill-stream. Hunter, Sta-
tistics of Bengal.
spillerl (spil'^r), n. [< spilU + -fj-l.] One who
spills or sheds : as, a spiller of blood.
LilUe Striped Skunk (SpilogaU putorius).
Spilomis (spi-lor'nis), n. [NL. (G. R. Gray,
1840), < Gr. am'fMQ, a spot, + bpviq, a bird.] A
genus of large spotted and crested hawks, of the
family Faiconidse, having the tarsi bare below,
the nostrils oval and perpendicular, and the
crest-feathers rounded. There are several species
of India, and thence tlirough the Indo-Malajan region to
Celebes and the Sulu and Philippine Islands. The best-
spiller 5833
spiller^ (spil'^r), H. [Also spWar, spillUird,
spillan, spillet; origin obscure.] 1. A trawl-
line; abultow. [West of Ireland.] — 2. In the
mackerel-fishery, a seine inserted into a larger
seine to take out the fish, as over a rocky bot-
tom where the larger seine cannot be hauled
ashore. [Nova Scotia.]
spillet (spil'et), n. Same as spiller^.
Spillet-fisMng (spil'et-fish'ing), n. Same as
siiiltiaid-fifiliiii(i.
spill-goodt (spil'gud), «. [< s/m7?i, v., + obj.
gooiL] A spendthrift. Minsheu.
spilliard (spil'vard), n. Same as spiller^.
[West of Ireland'.]
Spilliard-fishing (spU'yard-fish'ing), n. Fish-
ing with a trawT-line.
spillikin ( spil'i-kin), n. [Also spilliken, gpilikiti
(and in pi. spellicans, spelicans); < MD. spelle-
ken, a little pin, < spelle, a pin, splinter, + dim.
-kfti: see spilP, spell^, and -kin.'] 1. A long
splinter of wood, bone, ivory, or the like, such as
is used in playing some games, as jackstraws.
The kitchen fire-irons were in exactly the same position
against the back door as when Martha and I had skilliully
piled them up like gpiUHnns, ready to fall with an awful
clatter if only a cat had touched the outside panels.
Mrs. Gaskellf Cranford, x.
2. pi. A game played with such pegs, pins, or
splinters, as push-pin or jackstraws. — 3. A
small peg used in keeping count in gome games,
as eribbage.
spiUing-lilie (spil'ing-Un), n. Xaut., a rope
occasionally fitted to a square sail in stormy
weather, so as to spiU the sail, in order that it
may be reefed or furled more easily.
Reef -tackles were rove to the coaraea, taidgptUing-Unei
to the topsails. R. U. Vana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 347.
spill-stream (spil'strem), n. In India, a stream
formed by tlie overflow of water from a river;
a bayou. Hvo Kjiill-channel.
The Bhagirathi, although for centuries a mere gpiU-
itream from the parent Ganges, is still called the Ganges
by the villagers along its course.
Nineteenth Century, XXni. 43.
spill-timet (spil'tim), n. [ME. gpille-tyme; <
spilli, c., + obj. time.] A waster of time; atime-
killer; an idler.
A spendour that spende mot other a fpiUe-tyvu,
Other beggest thy oylyae a-boute at menne hacchea.
Piert Plowman (C\ tL 2&
spill-trongll (spirtr6f), n. In bra.is-founding,
a trough against which the inclined flask rests
while the metal is poured from the crucible,
and which catches metal that may be spilled.
spillway (spil'wa), n. A passage for surplus
water from a dam.
In wet weather the water in the two reaervoira flows
away through the $piUwayt or wait« weirs beiide the
dams, and rans down the mer into Crotoo lAke.
The Centwry, XXXIX 207. „ „ „
Spilochalds (spi-16-kal'«8), «. [NL. (Thorn- ^Pf^?^i'P"°, 'ft^V"' ^ - ' ^.^"^V*""' ^f *'^'
l,',^. ls7.-i), < Gr. a^O^, a epoi, s^k, + NL. "« '^ -< *^'- ''<"'>^^,< °^_>^'»-'^, stain, < <7;r,/.of, a
Chalets: see Chalcis^.] A genus of parasitic
hymenopterous insects, of the family Chalfidi-
dtf. containing some of the largest species. The
hind thighs are gtcatljr enlarged, tlie abdomen has a long
petiole, the thorax Is maculate, and the middle tibin have
spurs. The genua Is very widely distributed, and the spe-
clea destroy many kinds of insects. Some of the smaller
Crested Serpent-eagle, or Cheela {Spilomis ckttta).
known Is the cheela, 5^. cheela, of India. The bacha, 5.
bacha, inhabits Java, Sumatra, and Malacca : 5 pallidut
la found In Borneo, 5. rufipecttu in < elebes, S. mdieiuii in
the Sulu Islands, and S. hUoeyilus in the Philippines.
Spilosite (spil'^-slt), n. [Irreg. < Gr. OTriAoc,
a spot, + -ite2.] A name given by Zincken
* to a rock occurring in the Harz, near the bor-
ders of the granitic mass of the Ramberg, ap-
parently the result of contact metamorphism
of the slate iii the vicinity of granite or dia-
base. The moat prominent visible feature of this change
in the Blat« is the occurrence of spots ; hence the rock
has been called by the Germans Fleekentchiefrr. while
rocks of a similar origin, but striped instead of spotted,
are known ai Bandeckujer. Similar phenomena of con-
tact metamorphism have been observed in other regions
and described by varloua authora, and such altered slatea
are called by English geologists ipotled acAute, ehSattolU*
nMttt, andttltuiU tchltlt, etc.
S/iUcMalcit mmrim, km»ie. (Cro« thow* natural lixe.)
onca are secondary paraaitea. S. marix is a common para-
site of the large native American silkworms, such aa the
polyphemus and cecropia.
Bpilogale (spi-log'a-le), n. [NL., < Or. tnriAof,
a sjiot. + )a'/-fj. coiitr. of yaXiti, a weasel.] A
genus of American skunks, differing from Me-
phitis in certain cranial characters. The skull is
depressed, with highly arched lygomata, well-devel<^ed
pcatorhital and slight mastoi<l proceaaes, and peculiarly
bullous periotic region. .S puioritu, formerly MephitU
htetior. Is the little striped or spotted skunk of the United
States. It Is black or blackish, with numerous white
stripes and spots In endless diversity of detail. The length
is scarcely 12 Inches without tlie tail, which is shorter
than the rest of the animal. The genus was named by
J. E. Gray In liJ6&. See cut In next columu.
spot.] A genus of colubrine serpents, having
smooth equal teeth, one median dorsal row of
scales, intemasals not confluent with nasals,
two prefrontals, two nasals, one preocular, the
rostral not produced, and the anal scute entire.
S. eouperi is a large hannless snake of the South Atlantic
and Gulf Stales, sometimes 6 or 8 feet long, of a black color
ahading into yellow below, and known aa the irtdigo- or
gopher-tnake. This genus was called Oearyia by Baird
and Girard In 18M.
spilt (spilt). A preterit and past participle of
.«|ii7/' .
spiltert (spil'tir), n. Same as speller^.
spilth (spilth), n. [< spiin + -tf.3. Cf. «/<*.]
That which is spilled; that which is poured
out lavishly.
Our vaults have wept
With drunken ipSUh of wine.
Shak.,T. of A.,IL2. 169.
Burned like a tpOlh of light
Out of the crashing of a myriad stars.
Browning, Sordello.
Spilns (spi'lus), n. [NL., < Gr. airi/M^, a spot,
blemish.] 1. PI. »»i7i (-li). In anat. and pa-
thol., a spot or discoloration ; a nsBVUS or birth-
mark.— 2. [ca;*.] In enfom., a genus of elaterid
beetles, confined to South America. Candize,
1859.
spin (spin), r.; pret. spun (formerly also span),
pp. spun, ppr. spinning. [< ME. spinnen, spynnen
(pret. span, pi. sponne, pp. sponnen), < AS. Spt'n-
nan (pret. spann, pp. spunnen) = D. spinnen =
MLG. LG. spinnen = OHG. npinnan, MHG. G.
spinnen = leel. Sw. npinna = Dan. ftpinde =
(Joth. sjnnnan, spin ; prob. related to span (AS.
spannan. etc.), i Teut. -^ span, draw out: see
span'^. Hence ult. npinner, spindle, spinster, spi-
der.'] I, trans. 1. To draw out and twist into
spin
threads, either by the hand or by machinery:
as, to spin wool, cotton, or flax.
All the yam she [Penelope] spun in Ulysses' absence did
but mi Ithaca full of moths. Shale., Cor., i. 3. 93.
For plain truths lose much of their weight when they
are rarify'd into subtilties, and their strength is impaired
when they are spun into too line a thread.
Stmingfieet, Sermons, I. iy.
The number of strands of gut spun into a cord varies
with the thickness of catgut required.
Warlcskop Eeceipts, 2d ser., p. 320.
2. To make, fabricate, or form by drawing out
and twisting the materials of: as, to spin a
thread or a web ; to spin glass.
O fatal sustren I which, er any cloth
Me shapen was, my desteyne me sponne.
Chaucer, Troilus, iii. 734.
She, them saluting, there by them sate still.
Beholding how the thrids of life they span.
Spenser, F. Q., IV. ii. 49.
What Spinster Witch could spin such Thread
He nothing knew. Congme, An Impossible Thing.
There Is a Wheel that's turn'd by Humane power, which
Spins Ten Thousand Yards of Glass in less than half an
hour. Advertisement quoted in Ashton's Social Life
[in Keign of Queen Anne, I. 290.
3. To form by the extrusion in long slender
filaments or threads of viscous matter which
hardens in air: said of the spider, the silkworm,
and other insects : as, to spin silk or gossamer ;
to spin a web or cocoon. — 4. Figuratively, to
fabricate or produce in a manner analogous to
the drawing out and twisting of wool or flax
into threads, or to the processes of the spider
or the silkworm : sometimes with out.
When they [letters] are spun out of nothing, they are
nothing, or but apparitions and ghosts, with such hollow
sounds as he that hears them knows not what they said.
Donne, Letters, xlvii.
Those accidents of time and place which obliged Greece
to spin most of her speculations, like a spider, out of her
own bowela. De Quincey, Style, iv.
6. To whirl rapidly ; cause to turn rapidly on
its own axis by twirling: as, to spin a top; to
spin a coin on a table.
If the ball were spun like a top by the two fingers and
thumb, it would turn In the way indicated by the arrow in
the diagram. St. Nicholas, XVII. 826.
6. To fish with a swivel or spoon-bait: as, to
spin the upper pool. — 7. In sheet-metal work,
to form in a lathe, as a disk of sheet-metal,
into a globe, cup, vase, or like form. The disk
is fitted to the live spindle, and is pressed and bent by
tools of various fonns. The process is peculiarly suitable
to plated ware, as the thin coating of silver is not broken
or disturbed by it Called in French repoussi^ sur tour.
8. To reject at an examination; "send spin-
ning." [Slang.]
" When must you go, Jerry?" "Are you to Join direct-
ly, or will they give you leave V " Don t you funk being
$punf" "Is it a good regiment? How jolly to dine at
mesa every day I " Whyte UetoiUe, White Rose, I. x.
Spun glass, silk. See the nouns.— Spun gold, gold
thnad prepared for weaving in any manner ; especially,
that prepared liy winding a very thin and narrow flat rib-
bon of gold around a thread of some other material. — Spun
stiver, silver thread for weaving- Compare spun ffmd. —
Spun yam l7iaut.\ a line or cord formed of rope-yarns
twisted together, used for serving ropes, bending sails,
etc. — To spin a yam, to tell a long story ; originally a sea-
men's phrase. [Colloq.]— To spin hay (milit.\ to twist
hay into ropes for convenient carriage. — To spin out, to
draw out tediously; prolong by discussion, delays, wordi-
ness, or the like ; protract : aa, to sjrin out the proceedings
beyond all patience.
By one delay after another, they spin out their whole
Uvea. Sir R. L'Estrange.
Do yon mean that the story Is tediously spun out'
Sheridan, The Critic, i. 1.
He endeavoured, however, to gain further time by spin-
ninff Ota the negotiation. Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., 11. 13.
To spin street-yam, to gad abroad ; spend much time
In the streets. [Slang. New Eng.]
II, intrrins. 1. To form threads by drawing
out and twisting the fiber of wool, cotton, flax,
and the like, especially with the distaff and
spindle, with the spinning-wheel, or with spin-
nmg-machinery.
Deceit*, wepyng, spt/nnyng, God hath yeve
To wommen kyndely.
Chaucer Vto\. to Wife of Baths Tale, 1. 401.
When Adam dalve, and Eve span.
Who was then a gentleman?
Bp. PiUdngton, Works (Parker Soc), p. 126.
2. To form threads out of a Viscous fluid, as a
spider or silkworm. — 3. To revolve rapidly;
whirl, as a top or a spindle.
Let the great world spin for ever down the ringing grooves
of change. Tennyson, Locksley Hall.
4. To issue in a thread or small stream ; spirt.
Make incision in their hides,
That their hot blood may spin in F.nglish eyes.
SAa*.,Hen. v., iv. 2.10.
spin
The sharp streams of milk spun and foamed into the
pail below. R. T. Cooke, Somebody's Neighbors, p. 84.
6. To go or move rapidly; go fast: as, to spin
along the road. [Colloq.]
While it [money] lasts, make it spin.
H' . CoUitis, Hide and Seek, ii. 4.
The locomotive fpins along no less merrily because ten
carloads of rascals may be profiting by its speed.
S. Lanier, The English Novel, p. 3.
8. To use a spinner or spinning-spoon ; troll :
as, to spin tot trout. — 7. To be made to re-
volve, as a minnow on the trolling-spoon. The
minnow is fastened on a gang of small liooks that are
thrust into its back and sides to so bend it that it may
turn round and round when dragged through the water.
— Spinning dervish. See dervisK
spin (spin), n. [< sphiy r.] 1. A rapid revolv-
ing or whirling motion, as that of a top on its
axis ; a rapid twirl : as, to give a coin a spin.
She found Nicholas busily engaged in making a penny
spin on the dresser, for the amusement of three little
children. . . . He, as well as they, was smiling at a good
longjtptn. Mrs. Gaskell, North and South, .\xxlx.
2. A continued rapid motion or fiction of any
kind ; a spirited dash or run ; a single effort of
high speed, as in running a race ; a spurt. [Col-
loq.]— 3. In math.f a rotation-velocity consid-
ered as represented by a line, the axis of rota-
tion, and a length marked upon that line pro-
portional to the number of turns per unit of
time. W. K. Clifford.
spina (spi'na), «.; pi. spin^ (-ue). [< L. spina, a
thorn, priclile, the backbone : see spine,"] 1. In
roo7.andawfl/.: (a) Aspine,inanysen8e. (6) The
spine, or spinal column; the backbone: more
fully called spiiui dorsalis or spina dorsi, also
col ttmna spinalis. — 2. leap.'} [NL.] In ornith.j
a genus of fringilline birds, the type of which is
5. lesbia of southern Europe. Katip, 1829. Also
called Buscarla. See Spintis. — 3. In Mom, an-
tiq.y a barrier dividing the hippodrome longi-
tudinally, about which the racers turned. — 4.
One of the quills of a spinet or similar instru-
ment— Erector spinse, multifidus spinse, rotatores
spinsa. See erector, midlifidxis, rotator. — Spina angu-
laxis. See spine of the itpkenoid, under spiiic—QiiUiSL
bifida, a congenital gap in the posterior wall of the spi-
nal canal, through which protrudes a sac, formed in hy-
drorachis externa of meninges, and in hydrorachis hi-
terna of these with a nervous lining. This forms a tumor
in the middle line of the back.— Spina dorsalis, spina
dorsi, the vertebral column.— Spina frontalis. See
fiasal gpine (a), under nasal.— Spina helicls, the spinous
process of the helix of the ear.— Spina mentalis, one of
the mental or genial tubercles. See mental-, genim'^.
spinaceous (spi-na'shius), a. [< Spinaeia +
-OHS (aceom, to -aceom).'] Of, pertaining to, or
of the natiire of spinach, or the class of plants
to which it belongs.
spinach, spinage (spin'aj), «. [(a) According
to the present pron., prop, spelled spinage {e^Ktly
mod. E. also spynnagc), this being an altered
form of spinach (early mod. E. spinache); =
MD. spin<igie, spinazi, D. spinazie = LG. spina-
si^,< OF. spinachCj espinache, espinage, espinace,
espinoccy espinoche^ espinoiche, etc., = Sp. espi-
naca = Cat. €spinac=zlt, spinace, also spinacchia^
< ML. spinaeia^ spinadum. also spinacius, spi-
nacMa, spinachiunij spinatiiia, etc., after Rom.
(NL. spinaeia), spinach ; cf. (&) Pr. espinar, OF.
espinars, espinard, espinar, F. epinard, < ML.
*spinarius, *spi7iarium, spinach; (c) G. Dan.
spinat = Sw. spenat, spinat, < ML. *spi>natum,
spinach; {d) Pg. espinafre, spinach (cf. L. s})i-
nifer, spine-bearing); so called with ref. to the
prickly fruit ; variously formed, with some con-
fusions, < L. spina, a thorn: see spine.'] 1. A
chenopodiaceous garden vegetable of the genus
Spinaeia, producing thick succulent leaves,
which, when boiled and seasoned, form a pleas-
ant and wholesome, though not highly flavored
dish. There is commonly said lobe but a single species,
S. oleracea; but S. glabra, usually regarded as a variety,
is now recognized as distinct, while there are two other
wild species. The leaves of S. oleracea are sagittate, un-
divided, and prickly ; those of S. glabra are larger, round-
ed at the base, and smooth. These are respectively the
prickly- leaved and round-leaved spinach. There are several
cultivated varieties of each, one of which, with wrinkled
leaves like a Savoy cabb^^e, is the Savoy or lettuce-leaved
spinach. All the species are Asiatic ; the cultivated plant
was first introduced into Europe by the Arabs by way of
Spain.
2. One of several other plants affording a dish
like spinach. See phrases below Australian
Spinacll,a species of goosefoot, Chenopodium auricomum,
a recent substitute for spinacli ; also, Tetragorda imptexi-
coma, the Victorian bower-spinach, a traiUng and climbing
plant festooning bushes, its leaves covered with transpa-
rent vesicles as in the ice-plant.— Indian spinach. Same
aaUalabarnightstutde. Seen^A(«ftade.— Mountain spin-
ach. See m/ruidain-spitiarh. — New Zealand spinach, a
decumbent or prfistrate plant, Tctragoiiia expaima, found
in New Zealand, Australia, and Tasmania, and also in Ja-
pan and soathem South America. It has numerous rhom-
5834
boid thick and succulent deep-green leaves.— Straw-
berry spinach. Same as strawberrii-hlite. — Wild spin-
ach, a iiiune of several plants locally used as pot-herbs,
namely Chenopodium Bonus-IIenricus and C. aU>mn, Beta
marUima (the wild beet), and Campanula lati/olia. IProv.
Eng.]
Spinachia (spi-ua'ki-a), n. [NL. (Cuvier, 1817),
< L. spina, a thorn, prickle, spine: see spine,
and cf. spinach.] In ichth., a genus of marine
gasterosteids. S. vulgaris is the common sea-
stickleback of northern Europe.
Spinaeia (spi-na'si-a), n. [NL. (Toumefort,
1700), < ML. s;pi?mcm,"spinach: seespinach.] A
genus of apetalous plants, of the order Cheno-
podiacese and tribe AtripHcese. it is characterized
by bractless and commonly dioecious flowers, the pistillate
with a two- to four-toothed roundish perianth, its tube har-
dened and closed in frnit, covering the utricle and its sin-
gle erect tui'gid seed. There ai'e 4 species, all Oriental (for
which see spinach). They are erect annuals, with alter-
nate stalked leaves which are entire or sinuately toothed.
The flowere are borne in glomernles, the fertile usually
axillary, the staminate forming interrupted spikes.
Spinacidae (spi-nas'i-de), n. pi, [NL., < Spinax
{-ac-) + -iV7a?.] A famil)' of anarthrous sharks,
U-pified by the genus Spinax; the dogfishes.
There are 6 or more genera and about 20 species of rather
small sharks, chiefly of the Atlantic. Also called Acan-
thiidm, Centrinidse, and Spinaces.
spinacine (spin'a-sin), a. [< Spinax {-ac-) +
-itie^.] Of or pertaining to the Spinacidse.
spinacoid (spin'a-koid), a. and n. [< Spinax
{-ac-) + -aid,] T, a. Resembling or related to
the dogfish; of or pertaining to the Spinacidse.
II. n. A member of the Spinacidse; a dog-
fish.
spinage, n. See spinach,
spinal (spi'nal), a. [= F. spinal = Sp. espinal =
Pg. espinhal = It. spinale, < LL. spinalis, of or per-
taining to a thorn or the spine, < L. spina, a thorn,
prickle,spine,the spine or backbone: qqq spine.]
In anat. : (a) Of or pertaining to the backbone,
spine, or spinal column ; rachidian ; vertebral :
as, spinal arteries, bones, muscles, nerves; 5pi-
Ht/i curvature; a spmai complaint. (6) Pertain-
ing to a spine or spinous process of bone ; spi-
nous : as, the spinal point (the base of the nasal
spine, or subnasalpoint): specifically used in cra-
niometry. [Rare.]— Accessory spinal nerve, or
spinal accessory. Same as acrcHmriut; (^).— Acute,
axrophic, and spastic spinal paralysis. See paralysis.
— Spinal arteries, numerous branches, especially of the
vertebral artery, which supply the spinal cord. — Spinal
bulb, the medulla oblongata.— Spinal canal. Bee ca-
nal^.— Spinal column, the spine or backbone ; the ver-
tebral column or series of vertebrffi, extending from the
, head to the end of the tail, forming the morphological
axis of the body of every vertebrate. In man the bones
composing the spinal column are normally thirty-three —
seven cervical, twelve dorsal or thoracic, five lumbar, five
sacral, and four coccygeal. These form a flexuous and
Spinax
DPT
Cross-section of Human Spinal Cord.
AC, anterior column; af, anterior fissure ;
AGC, anterior graycommissure; AH, anterior
horn of gray matter; AR, anterior roots; at.
ascending anterolateral tract, or tract of
Gowers ; BC, postero-extemal column, or col-
umn of Burdach ; Can., central canal; CC,
Clarke's column; CPT, crossed pyramidal
tract; CT. cerebellar tract; DHT, direct or
uncrossed pyramidal tract ; DT, anterolateral
descending tract ; GC. posteromedian column,
or column of Goll; L, Lissauer's tract; IX,
lateral column ; LH, lateral horn or inter-
mediolateral tract of gray matter with con-
tained ganglion-cells; PC, posterior column;
PF, posterior fissure; PGC, jxisterior gray com-
missure ; PR, posterior root; SG, substantia
gelatinosa; wc, anterior white commissure.
Human Spinal Column.
j1, side view ; B, same, in median sagittal section ; C, front view ;
c, seven cervicals ; rf, twelve dorsals; /.five lumbars; j, five sacrals,
fused in a sacrum ; cd, four caudals or aiccygeals, forming a cocc>'x.
flexible column capable of bending, as a whole, in every
direction. It is most movable in the lumbar and cervical
regions, less so in the dorsal and coccygeal, fixed in the
sacral. Twenty-four of its bones are individually mova-
ble. The total length averages 26 or 27 inclies. See ver-
tebra, and cut under backbone, — Spinal cord, the main
neural axis of every vertebrate, exclusive of the brain;
the myelon, or the neuron without the encephalon; the
spinal marrow, or nervous cord which extends in the
spinal canal from the brain for a varying distance in dif-
ferent animals, and gives off the series of spinal nerves in
pairs. The cord is directly continuous with the brain in
all cranial verte-
brates, and, with
the brain, consti-
tutes the neuron,
or cerebrospinal
axis, developed
from an involu-
tion of epiblast in
connection with a
notochord (see cut
under protoverte-
hra). The cord is
primitively tubu-
lar, and may re-
tain, in the adult,
traces of its ccelia
(see rhombocoelia)y
comparable to the
cfleliajof the brain;
but it generally
solidifies, and also
becomes fiuted, or
presents several
parallel columns,
from between
certain of which
the spinal nerves
emerge. In man
the cord is solid
and subcylindri-
cal, and extends
in the spinal ca-
nal from the foramen magnum, where it is continuous
with the oblongata, to the first or second lumbar vertebra.
It gives off the spinal nerves, and may be regarded as made
up of a series of segments, from each of which springs a
pair of nerves; it is divided into cervical, thoracic, lum-
bar, sacral, and coccygeal regions, corresponding to the
nerves and not to the adjacent vertebrae. There is an en-
largement where the nerves from the arms come in (the
cervical enlargement), and one where those from the legs
come in (the lumbar enlargement). A cross-section of the
cord exhibits a central H-shaped column of gray substance
incased in white. (See figure.) The tracts of different
functions are exhibited on one side of the cut; they are not
distinguished in the adult healthy cord, but differ from one
another in certain periods of early development, and may
be marked out by secondary degenerations. The cord is
a center for certain reflex actions, and a collection of path-
ways to and from the brain. The reflex centers have been
located as follows : scapular, 5 C. to 1 Th. ; epigastric, 4
Th. to 7 Th. ; abdominal, 8 Th. to 1 L. ; cremasteric, 1 L.
to 3 L. ; patellar, 2 L. to 4 L. ; cystic and sexual, 2 L. to
4 L. ; rectal, 4 L. to 2 S. ; gluteal, 4 L. to5 L.; Achilles ten-
don, 5 L. to 1 S.; plantar, 1 3. to 3 S. See also cuts under
brain, cell, Petromyzontidx, and Pharyngobranchii.— Spi-
nal epilepsy, muscle-clonus, spontaneous or due to as-
suming some ordinary position of the legs, the result of
increased myotatic irritability, as in spastic paralysis.—
Spinal foramina, the intervertebral foramina. — Spi-
nal ganglia. See ganglion.— Svitisd marrow. Same
as spinal cer*?.— Spinal muscles, the muscles proper
of the spinal column, which lie longitudinally along
the vertebrse, especially the epaxial muscles of the back,
constituting what are known in human anatomy as the
third, fourth, and ffth layers of muscles of the back
(the so-called first and second 'Mayers" of human anatomy
being not axial, but appendicular). One of these is called
spinalis.- Bfiinal nerves, the numerous pairs of nerves
which arise from the spinal cord and emerge from the in-
tervertebral foramina. In the higher vertebrates spinal
nerves originate by two roots from opposite sides of that
section of the spinal cord to which they lespectively per-
tain — a posterior, sensory, or ganglionated root, and an an-
terior, motor, or non-ganglionated root, which usually unite
in one sensorimotor trunk before emergence from the
intervertebral foramina, and then as a rule divide into two
main trunks, one epaxial and the other hypaxial. The
number of spinal nerves varies within wide limits, and
bears no fixed relation to the length of the spinal cord,
which latter may end high in the dorsal region, yetgive off
a leash of nerves (see cauda equina, under cauda) which
emerge from successive intervertebral foramina as far as
the coccygeal region. The spinal nerves form numerous
and intricate connections with the nerves of the gan-
glionic system. Their epaxial trunks are always few and
small in comparison with the size, number, and extent of
the ramifications of the hypaxial trunks, which latter
usually supply all the appendicular and most of the axial
parts of the body.— Spinal reflexes. See re^z-a;.— Spi-
nal veins, the lumierous veins and venous plexuses in
and on the spinal column, carrying off blood from the
bones and included structures. In man these veins are
grouped and named in four sets. See vena.
Spinalis (spi-na'lis). n. ; pi. spinales (-lez). [NL.
(sc. musculns), < LL. spinalis, pertaining to a
thorn : see spinal.] In anat., a series of muscu-
lar slips, derived from the longissimus dorsi,
which pass between and connect the spinous
processes of vertebrsB: usually divided into
the spinalis dorsi and spinalis colli, according to
its relation with the back and the neck respec-
tively.
spinate (spi'nat), a. [< NL. spinatus, < L.
5;nw«, spine: ^Qe spine, Cf. spinach {d),] Cov-
ered with spines or spine-like processes.
Spinax (spi'naks), n. [NL. (Cuvier, 1817), < Gr.
oTrim or airivT], a fish so called.] A genus of dog-
fishes, giving name to the family Spinacidse, and
Spinaz
represented by S. niger or spin<ix, a small black
shark of Europe.
Spindalis (spin'da-lis), II. [NXi. (Jardine and
belby, 1836); origin unknown.] A genus of
thick-billed tanagers, of the family Tanagrids,
peculiar to the Antilloan region. They have a
comparatively long bill, ascending gonys, and swollen
upper mandible; in the male the coloration is brilliant
orange varied with black and white. There are 6 species.
S. niffrieephaia, portoricensis, multicolor, pretrii, benedicti,
and zena, respectively inhabiting Jamaica. Porto Rico,
San Domingo, Cuba, Cozumel Island (off the Yucatan
coast), and the Bahamas. The first-named builds a cup-
shaped nest in tr«es or shrubs, and lays spotted eggs, and
the others are probably similar in this respect See cut
under cashew-bird.
spindle (spin'dl), «. [Also dial, apinnel; < ME.
spindle, spyndle, spindel, spyndel, spyndelle, spyn-
dyl, spyndylle, < AS. spindle, spindel, earlier spi-
nel, spinil, spinl (dat. spinele, spittle) (= MD.
spille (by assimilation for "spinle), D. sj>il =
OHG. spinnela, spinnila, spinnala, MHG. spin-
nele, spinnel, 6. spindel (also spille, < D.) = Sw.
Dan. spindel), a spindle, < spinnan, spin: see
spin. Cf. spilP.} 1. (a) In hand-spinning, a
small bar, usually of wood, hung to the end of
the thread as it is first drawn from the mass of
fiber on the distaflf. By routing the spindle, the
■pinner twists the thread, and as the thread is spun it is
wound upon the spindle.
Sing to those that hold the vital shears,
And turn the adamantine spindle round,
On which the fate of gods and men is wound.
Uaton, Arcades, L 66.
(6) The pin which is used in spinning-wheels
for twisting the thread, and on which the
thread, when twisted, is wound. See cut un-
der spinning-wheel, (c) One of the skewers or
axes of a spinning-machine upon which a bob-
bin is placed to wind the yam as it is spun.
See cut under spinning-jenny. — 2. Any slender
pointed rod or pin which turns round, or on
which anything turns, (a) A small axle or axis, in
contnidistinction u> a thafl or large axle, aa the arbor or
mandrel in a lathe : as, the tpindU of a vane ; the tpindU
of the fnaee of a watch. See dead-spiruUe, Hve-tpindte. (6)
A vertical abaft supporting the upper stone or runner of a
pairlnaflonr-mlll. See cut under iniU-tptniUt. (c) In vehi-
cles, the tapering end or arm on the end of an axletree. {d)
A small shaft which passes through a door-lock, and upon
which the knobs or handles are fitted. When it is turned
it withdraws the latch, (e) In Mp-bwiding : (1) The up-
per main piece of a made mast. (2) An iron axle fitted into
a block of wood, which is fixed securely between two of
the ship's beams, and upon which the capstan tarns. (/)
In /oundinff, the pin on which the pattern of a mold is
formed, (g) In buUdinif, same as neuHi. (A) In ealnnet-
maUnff, a snort turned part, especlalljr the turned or cir-
cular part of a baluster, stair-rail, etc.
3. Something having the form of a spindle
(sense 1) ; a fusiform object, (o) The grip of a
■word. (6) A pine-needle or -leaf. [U. 8.)
We went into camp In a magnlticent fp^ve of pines.
The roots of the trees are buried iu the tp^ndUa and burrs
which have fallen nndlstorbed for centuries.
a. W. XieluU, Story of the Great March, xxii.
(e) The roll of not yet unfolded leaves on a growing plant
of Indian com.
Its (the spindle-worm's] ravages generally begin while
tbe cornstalk is young, and before the tfinile rues much
above the tuft of leaves in which it Is embosomed.
Uarrit, Insects In]arious to Vegetation.
iS) In MiieA., asplndle-shell. (e) In aiuit., s fusiform part
or organ. (1) A splndle-cell. (2) The inner segment of a
rod or cone of the baciUary laver of the retina. See cut
under retina. Huxley, Crayfish, p. 121. (/) In embryol.,
one of tbe fuaiform figures produced by chromatin fibers
in tbe process of karyoHnews, .^msr. NaL, XXII. 933.
4. In ijeom. , a solid generated by the revolution
of the arc of a curve-line about its chord, in op-
position to a conoid, which is a solid generat<»d
by the revolution of a curve about its axis.
The spindle is denominated circular, elUptle, kgperbolie,
orparabnlie, according to tbe figure of its generating curve.
5. A measure of yarn : in cotton a spindle of 18
hanks is 15.120 y'anls; in linen a spindle of 48
cuts is 14,400 yards.— 6. A long slender stalk.
Tbe nindUt must be tied up. and, as they grow in height.
rods set by them, lest by their bending they should break.
Mortimer.
7. .Something very thin and slender.
I am fall'n away to nothing, to a eptndle.
Fletcher, Women Pleased, iv. s.
Ring-spindle, a spindle which carries a traveling ring.—
Spindle side of Uie house, the female side. See tpear-
aide.
spindle (spin'dl), v. i. ; pret. and pp. spindled.
ppr. spindling. [< spindle, ii.] To snoot or
grow in a long, slender stalk or body.
When the flowers begin to tpindle, all bat one or two of
the biggest at each root shoold be nipped oft. Mortimer.
spindle-cataract (spinMl-kat'a-rakt), n. A
loriii of cataract characterized by a spindle-
shapt-il opacity extending from the posterior
surface of the anterior part of the capsule to
the anterior surface of the posterior part of the
5835
capsule, with a central dilatation. Commonly
ealled/««i/oi-;« catantct.
spindle-cell (spin'dl-sel), «. A spindle-shaped
cell ; a fusiform cell.— Spindle-cell layer, the deep-
est layer of the cerebral cortex, containing many fusiform
with a few angular cells.- Spindle-cell sarcoma. See
gpimile-ci'lled mrcoma. under sarcoma.
spindle-celled (spin'dl-seld), <t. Made up of or
containing spindle-shaped cells Spindle-celled
sarcoma. See sarcotna.
spindle-legged (spiu'dl-legd), a. Having long,
thin legs ; spindle-shanked.
A pale, sickly, spindle-legged generation of valetudina-
rians. Addison, Tatler, No. 148.
spindle-legs (spin'dl-legz), ». pi. Long, slim
legs ; hence, a tall, thin person with such legs
or shanks: used humorously or in contempt.
spindle-shanked (spin'dl-shangkt), a. Same
as s-jii)idle-le</iie<l.
spindle-shanks (spin'dlshangks), n.pl. Same
as spindle-legs.
cross old Gentleman with Spindle-
Steele, Tender Husband, i. 1.
Circular in
A Weezel-faced
Shanks.
spindle-shaped (spin'dl-shapt), a.
cross-section and tapering
from the middle to each
end ; fusiform ; formed like
a spindle.
spindle -shell (spin'dl-
shel) , II . In conch. , a spin-
dle-shaped shell; a spin-
dle, (a) A shell of the genns
Fusua in some of its applica-
tions, as F. antiquus, the com-
mon spindle or red-whelk, also
called buckie or roaring buckie.
See cuts under Ftisus and Si-
phoruttoma, 2. (b) A spindle-
Btromb. (e) A gastropod of the
family Muriciate and genus
Chrysodomits, having a spindle-
like or fusiform shape and the
canal slightiyproduccHl. The spe-
cies inhabit chiefly the northern
cold seas. See cut under reverse.
spindle-step (spin'dt-
step),«. Inmill-andspiu-
niug-spindles, the lower SpiDdle-shaped Root of
bearing of an upright J^l*^ {Ha/iumut «»■-
spindle. E. H. Knight.
splndle-Stromb (spin'dl-stromb), n. A gastro-
pod of tlic family Stromhidie and genus Rostel-
laria, having a spindle-like or fusiform shell
with a long spire, and also a long anterior ca-
nal. The species inhabit the tropical Pacific
and Indian oceans. See cut unAer Rostellaria.
spindletail(spin'dl-tal), w. The pin-tailed duck,
Ilafila aiiitii. See pintail, \. [Local, U. S.]
spindle-tree (spin'dl-t re), n. A European shrub
or small tree, Euonymxis Europsa (E. vulgaris),
growing in hedge-rows, on borders of woods,
et4?. It is so called from the use of its hard fine-grained
wood In making spindles, snd other uses have given it the
names sridr-d'tnier, Anaer-uvod, and tWjTUDod. It is one
of the dogwoods. The name is carried over to the Amerl-
csn S. atropuryurea, tbe wshoo or burning-bush, and to
tbe Japanese £. Japonica; it is also extended to the ge-
nus, and even to the order (CelastrineM).
spindle-valve (spin'dl-valv), «. A valve hav-
ing an a.\ial guide-stem. A'. H. Knight.
spindle-whorl (spin'dl-hwtrl), ». See whorl.
spindle-worm (spiu'dl-werm), n. The larva of
the H'wtnid moth. Achatodes (or Gortyna) zese : so
called because it burrows into the spindle of
Indian com. See spindle, »., 3 (o). [Local,
U. 8.1
spindling (spind'ling), a. and n. [< spindle +
-•nz/ZJI. a. Long and slender; disproportion-
ately slim or spindle-like.
IL ». A spindling or disproportionately long
and sUm person or thing; a slender shoot.
[Rare.]
Half-conscious of the garden-squirt.
The spindlings look unhappy.
Tennyson, Amphion.
spindly (spind'li), a. [< spindle + -yl.] Spin-
dle-like; disproportionately long and slender
or slim. [CoUoq.]
Tbe effect of all this msy beeaslly imagined —a spindly
growth of rootless Idess. Pop. Sci. Mo., XXXVI. 65&
spindrift (spiu'drift), n. [A var. (simulating
spin, go rapidly) of spoon-drift, q. v.] Naut.,
the spray of salt water blown along the surface
of the sea in heavy winds.
spine (spin), n. [< OF. espine, F. 6pine =
Pr. 8p. espina = Pg. cspinhii = It. spina, < L.
spina, a thorn, prickle, also the backbone;
prob. for 'spicna, and akin to spiea, a point,
spike : see spike^. In the sense of ' backbone '
spine is directly < L. spina. Hence spinach, spin-
age, spinal, spiny, spinet, spinney, etc.] 1, In
spine
l)Ot., a stiff sharp-pointed process, containing
more or less woody tissue, and originating iu
the degeneracy or modification of some organ.
Usually it is a branch or the termination of a stem or
branch, indurated, leafless, and attenuated to a point, as
in the hawthorn, sloe, pear, and honey-locust ; its nature
is clearly manifest by the axillary position, and also by
the fact that it sometimes produces imperfect leaves and
buds. A spine may also consist of a modified leaf (all
gradations being found between merely spiny-toothed
leaves and leaves which are completely contracted into
simple or multiple spines, as in the barberry), or of a per-
sistent petiole, as in some Astragali and in Fauquieria, or
of a modified stipule, as in the common locust. A spine
is to be clearly distinguished from a prickle, which is mere-
ly a superficial outgrowth from the bark. See prickle, 1.
2. The backbone ; the rachis, spina, or spinal
column of a vertebrate. The name is due to the
series of spinous processes of the several vertebrse which
it presents, forming a ridge along the middle of the back.
See spinal column (under spinal), and vertebra, vertebral.
3. A name of some part in various animals,
(a) In anat., a shai^p process, point, or crest of bone ; a
spinous process, generally stouter than a styloid process :
as, the spine of the ilium, of the ischium, of the scapula,
of the pubis. See cuts under innmninatum and shovlder-
blade. {b) In morph,, a bony element, or pair of bony ele-
ments, which completes a segment of either the neural
canal or the heraal canal of a vertebrate on the midline of
the dorsal or ventral aspect of the body, the ossification
intervening dorsad between a pair of neurapophyses or
ventrad between a pair of hemapophyses, the former be-
ing a neural spine, the latter a hemal spine. Thus, the
spinous process of a dorsal vertebra is the neural spine of
that vertebra, and the segment of the sternum with which
the rib of that vertebra articulates is the hemal spine of
the same vertebra. Owen. See cuts under dorsal, cara-
pace, and endoskeletotu (c) In inaminal., a modified hair;
a sharp, stiff, hard, horny dermal outgrowth, as one of the
quills of a porcupine, or of the prickles of the hedgehog or
spiny ant-eater. In many animals the transition from soft
fur through harsh or bristly pelage to spines is very graduaL
See cuts under Echidnidte . Erinaceus, and porcu}niie. (d)
In ortiilh., a spur or calcar, as of the wing or foot : a mu-
cro, as of a feather. See cuts under Palamedea, liasores,
and mtteronate. (e) In herpet., a sharp, prickly scale of
considerable size ; a horn. See cuts under Cerastes and
Phrynosoma. (/) In concK, any considerable sharp pro-
jection of the shell. Such spines are endlessly modified
in size, shape, and site. Good examples are figured under
vwrex, seorvion-shell, and Spondylus. ig) In Crustacea, any
considerable spinous process of the carapace, of the legs,
etc. Such spines are the rule with most crustaceans.
The large tail-spine of some is specified as the tetson. (A)
In entoin., any comparatively short sharp projection of
the chitinous body-wall of an insect. Sucli occur com-
monly upon the larvie of Lepidoptera, upon the bodies of
many adult Coleoptera, Ilemiptera. and Hynienoptera, and
upon the legs (principally upon the tibite) of these and
nearly all Orthoptera and many Neuroptera. The body
spines of adult insects are always of great use in classifi-
cation, (i) In ichth. : (1) A fin-spine : one of the unjointt-d
and unbranched sharp bony rays of the fins, such as tliost
the presence of which
gives name to the
acanthopterygian
fishes; a spinous fin-
ray, as distinguished
from a soft ray. See
roj/i, 7, and the for-
mula under radtd/, a.
(2) A spinous process,
as of an opercular
bone. (3) The spinous Si
process of some gan-
oid, placoid, etc.,
scales. See cuts an- . ,,,,,. ^ ,
A^w. K'^j.^nn— !..*«... ". *. ^. spines (followed by soft ray^* of
"^'^v * fcA»'«T**"***' the dofial. ventral, and anal (ins of an
aana-fi»n, getUe, mo- acanthopteryKian fisli : a, ten spines; d.
raven, and shackle- one spine ; c, three spines.
joint. (J) Id echino-
demis, one of the movable processes which beset the ex-
terior, as of an echinus, and are articulated with the
tulwrclea of the body-wall. Primary/ spitieg are tlie large
ones forming continuous series along the ambulacra, as
distinguished from less-developed secondary and tertiary
vpines. Other spines are specified as setniial. Bee cuts
under Cidaris, Echinometra, Echinxt*, seviita, and Spatan-
gtu. (*) In general, some or any hard sharp process, lilie
a spine ; a thorn ; a prickle : as, the spine at the end of
the tail of the lion or the fer-de-lance.
4. In mach.j any longitudinal ridge ; a fin. E,
H, Kniffht. — 5. In lace-making^ a raised projec-
tion from the cordonnet; one of the varieties of
pinwork; especially, one of many small points
that project outward from the edge of the lace,
forming a sort of fringe. — 6. The duramen or
heartwood of trees: a ship-builders' terra. See
rfurrttwc/i.— Angular curvature of the spine. See
cunwfure.— Anterior superior spine of the Ilium.
See spines of the ?7tw»H.— Concussion of the spine, i"
theoretic strictness, a molecular lesion of the spinal cord
too tine for microscopic detection, but impairing the func-
tions of the cord, and produced by violent jarring, as in a
railway accident: often applied, without discrimination,
to cases which, after an accident, exhibit various nervous
or spinal symptoms without any manifest gross lesion
which explains them. ITiese include cases of traumatic
neurasthenia, of hemorrhage in the cord or its mem-
branes, of displacement and fracture of vertebra), and of
muscular and ligamentous sttains.— Ethmoldal Spine,
a projection of the sphenoid bono for articulation with
the ciibrifonn plate of the ethmoid.— Hemal spine, i^ec
def. 'A (b\ and A'-^/m/.— Jnterhemal spine. Nee inter-
Acwa^.—Iutemeural spine. See i/t^r/wwr«/. — Lateral
curvature of the spine. See cf/rcw/ur^.— Mental ex-
ternal spine, tlu' rm-iital protuberance of the human
mandible. -Mental spines, tliu geniid tubercles. See
yeiuoi^.— Nasal, phazyngeal, pleural spine. See the
spine
5836
(dIeeUTM.— Palatine spine. See (posterior) nasal spi'iif,
nndariurtiii.— Posterior superior spine of the ilium.
See 9pine» of thr t7j'«»u — Pubic spine. See below, ami
pvbie. — Railway spine, concussion of the spine (espe-
cially in its more vague sense) resulting from railway ac-
cident.—Scapular spine. Same as spine of the seaptda.
— Sciatic spine, the spine of th'
spine. See semitai.
triangular eminence - .- .._ ., - , ..\ r^T . /.. %
the posterior border of the Ischium, and separating the spineSCent (spi-nes ent),ni. l<. h. spinescen(t-)S,
spinellane (spi-nel'an), n. [<sp(«e/?e+ -«ne.]
A blue variety of nosean occurring in small
crystalline masses and in minute crystals, found
near Andernach on the Rhine.
. ... spinelle (spi-nel'), «. See spinel.
r;«"" sP; of toe SZTa'lS;!?^ spine-rayed (spin'rad), a. Lichth., acanthop-
nence situated a little below the middle of tcivgiaii. , .^ ^,, , ,
lesseV from the greater sacrosciatic notch. In man the
pudic vessels and nerve wind around this spine. — Spine
of the pubis, the pubic spine, a prominent tubercle
which projects from the upper border of the pubis about
an inch from the symphysis. — Spine of the scapula, the
scapular spine, in man a prominent plate of bone sepa-
rating the supraspinous and infraspinous fossa\ and ter-
minating in the acromion. —Spine of the sphenoid, a
projection from the lower part of the greater wing of tli
ppr. of spinesccre, grow thorny, < spina, a thorn,
prickle, spine : see .s^jme.] 1. In 6o<., tending
to be hard and thorn-like ; terminating in a spine
or sharp point ; armed with spines or thorns ;
spinose. — 2. In ^odi., somewhat spinous or
as the fur of an animal; very coarse.
spmner
spine, + gerere, bear, eaiTy.] Bearing spines,
as a hedgehog; spinose; aculeate; spiniferous.
— Spinlgerous elytra, in en(o?H.. elytra each one of which
has an upright sutural process, the two uniting, when the
elytra are closed, to form a large spinifonn process on the
bacl<, as in certain phytophagous beetles.
Spinigrada (spi-nig'rii-da), n. pi. [NL., neut.
pi. of spinijp-ailus : see spinigradc.'] An order
of echiuoderms, composed of the ophiurans and
euryaleans, or the brittle-stars and gorgon's-
Iieads. Forbes. [Rare.]
spinigrade (spi'ni-grad), a. [< NL. spimgradus,
< L. spina, a thorn, spine, + gradi, walk, go :
see j/rarfcl.] Moving by means of spines or
spinous processes, as an eehinoderm; of or
pertaining to the Spinigrada.
Also called spinous process o/ the sphenoid.— Spines of
■Uie ilium, the iliac spines. In man these are four in num-
ber: the anterior extremity of the iliac crest terminates
in the anterior superior spine, below which and separated
from it by a concavity is the anterior inferior spine;
in a similar manner the posterior extremity of the iliac
crest terminates in the posterior superior spine, while be-
low it is the posterior inferior spine, the two being sepa-
Thominess. (fti) Slenderness; elimness;
spiny,
_^ ^ harsh, or stiff, as hair; spinulous ^. ,„.„.„
sphenoid, extending tacicward into the angle between the spinet^t (spin'et), «. [^(.Li. spilietum, & ihic^et anininess''(spi'ni-n^) « Spiny character or
Pf™'^,»'i'l-*8"J^?™l.'?!y^T:V^lA•','l..•f"Pi'i^^ of thorns, <S/)i««, a thorn, spine: see spiHe. Cf. ^t^^^. <^, ^nr.,„,J' ,h\^ Slenderness: slimness:
OF. spinal, F. dial, epinat, a thicket of thorns;
and see spinney.'] Asmall wood Orplace where
briers and thorns grow; a spinney.
A satyr, lodged in a little spinet, by which her majesty
and the I*i-lnce were to come, . . . advanced his head
above the top of the wood. B. Jonson, The Satyr.
rated by a n5tth.-Spines of the tibia, »■ pair of pro- gpinetz (spin'et or spi-net'), «• [Formerly also
articular surfaces of the head of fy"^^" \ ' . ^»-, „„;' , '-p, □„ „„;«««
cesses between the two
the tibia, in the interior of the knee-joint, to which are
attached the ends of the semilunar cartilages and the cru-
cial ligaments of the joint.— Trochlear spine, a small
spine-like projection upon the Qi-bital part of the frontal
bone for attachment of the pulley of the superior oblique
muscle of the eye.
Spine-armed(8pin'!irmd), a. Armed with spines
or spiny processes, as a mm-ex; spinigerous.
spineback (spin'bak), n. A fish of the family
A'otacanthid/e.
spine-bearer (spin'bar''6r), n. A spine-bearing
caterpillar.
spine-bearing (spin'bar''ing),o. Having spines;
spined or spiny ; spinigerous.
spinebelly (spin'bel'i), n. A kind of balloon-
fish, Tetraodon lineatus, more fully called striped
spinehrUij. See cut under balloon-fish.
Spinebill (spln'bil), «. An Australian meli-
phagine bird, Aeanthorhynchus tenuirostris, for-
merly called slender-billed creeper, or another
of this genus, A . snperciliostis. in both these honey-
eaters the bill is slender, curved, and extremely acute.
They are closely related to the members of the genus sDine-tailed (spin'tald), a. 1. In ornith.: (a)
Myzmnela, but present a totally different pattern of color-
ation. The first-named is widely distributed on the con-
tinent and in Tasmania; the second inhabits western and
southwestern Australia.
spined (spind), a. [< spine + -e(?2.] 1. Hav-
ing a spine or spinal column ; backboned ; ver-
tebrate.— 2. Ha\'ing spines ; spinous or spiny :
as, a spined caterpillar; the spined cicadas. —
Spined soldier-bug. See soldier-bug.
spinefoot (spin'fiit), n. A lizard of the genus
Acanthodactylus, as A. vulgaris of northern
Africa.
spinel (spin'el or spi-nel'), n. [Also spinelle,
espinel; early mod. E. spinelle; < OF. spinelle,
espinelle, F. spinelle = It. spinella, spinel; prob.
orig. applied to a mineral with spine-shaped
crystals; dim. of L. spina, a thorn, spine: see
spine.] 1. A mineral of various shades of red,
also blue, green, yellow, brown, and black,
commonly occurring in isometric octahedrons.
It has the hardness of topaz. Chemically, it consists of
the oxids of magnesium and aluminium, with iron pro-
toxid in some varieties, also chromium in " '^"
picotite. Clear and finely colored red var
highly prized as ornamental stones in jewelry. The red
varieties are known as spinel ruby or balas ruby, while
those of a dark-green, brown, or black color, containing
iron protoxid in considerable amount, are, called ceylon-
ite or pleonaste. The valuable varieties, including the
spinel ruby (see ritby), occur as rolled pebbles in river-
channels in Ceylon, Burma, and Slam ; they are often as-
sociated with the true ruby (corundum). The spinel
group of minerals includes several species which may be
considered as made up of equal parts of a protoxid and
state, (o)
lankness.
The old men resemble grasshoppers for their cold and
bloodless «jnni)ie«8. Chapman, Iliad, iii.,Commentariu8.
spinirector (spi-ni-rek'tor), rt. and «. [< L.
s))ina, the spine, + rector for NL. erector, q. v.]
I. a. Erecting, extending, or straightening the
spine, or spinal column : noting the set or series
of muscles of the back of which the erector
spinse is the basis.
II. n. The erector spinse. (See erector.) It
corresponds to the so-called fourth layer of the
muscles of the back in human anatomy. Coucs
and Shute, 1887.
spinispicule (spi-ni-spik'iil), n. [< L. spina, a
spine, -t- E. .<ipicule.'\ A spiny sponge-spicule ;
a sjiii-aster.
spinispirula (spi-ni-spir'ij-la), n. ; pi. spinispi-
rula; (-le). [NL., < L. spina, a spine, + spiru-
la, a small twisted cake, dim. of spira, a coil,
spire: see spire'^.] A spiny sigmaspire; a sig-
moid microsclere or flesh-spicule provided with
spines. Also called spiraster. Sollas.
spinispinilar (spi-ni-spir'o-lar), «. [< spini-
spirida -I- -«f3.] Spiny and 'slightly spiral, as
a sponge-spicule; having the character of a
spinispirula. Sollas.
spinispirulate (spi-ni-spir'o-lat), a. [< spini-
spirnla + -ate^.) Same as spinispirular.
Spinitis (spi-ni'tis), 11. [NL., < L. spina, the
spine, -t- -itis.] Inflammation of the spinal cord
and its membranes, in the horse and other do-
„ _ , , . ,, . ., J. . niestic quadrupeds,
turine.— 2. In 7ie)ye<.,havingthe tail ending in gpinitrapezius (spi"ni-tra-pe'zi-us), «.; pl.SiJJ-
a spine, as a serpent. See fer-de-lance, and cuts ^,„.„„e~;j (.j). [NL., < L. sjnna, the spine, +
midev.Cra.fpidoccplialnsa,ndajdura.— 3.lncn- m./trapezius.] The spinal as distinguished
torn., having the abdomen ending m a spme or ^^^^ ^^^ cranial part of the trapezius muscle,
spines. The ScoUidx are known as spine-laaed wasps, forming in some animals a nearly distinct mus-
&nd the Sapygidie have heen caileA parasUu; spme-taued , "
wasps. See cut under £te. . , , , . , ^ ry nn-. ■ j j i
spine-tipped (spin'tipt)«. In bot., tipped with spinfci (sp-gk), «.^, [< Svf f:vf^^f^Sl*
or bearing at the extremity a spme, as the leaves
spinnet, cspinette; = D. spinet = G. Sw. spinett
= Dan. spinet, < OF. espinette, F. epinette = Sp.
Pg. cspineta, < It. spinetta, a spinet, or pair of
virginals (said to be so called because struck
with a pointed quill), < spinetta, a point, spigot,
etc., dim. of spina, a thorn, < L. spina, a thorn:
see spine.] A musical instrument essentially
similar to the harpsichord, but of smaller size
and much lighter tone. Also called virginal and
couched harp Dumb spinet. Same as manichord.
spinetail (spin'tal), n. In ornith.: (a) A pas-
serine bird of the family Dendrocolajitidse, hav-
ing stiff and more or less acuminate tail-fea-
thers, much like a woodpecker's ; a spine-tailed
or sclerurine bird. See cuts under saberhill and
Sclcrurus. (b) A cypseline bird of the subfam-
ily Chseturinx; a spine-tailedorchceturine swift,
having muoronate shafts of the tail-feathers.
See Acanthyllis, and cut under mucronate. (c)
The ruddy duck, Erismatura riiMda. [Penn-
sylvania and New Jersey.]
Having stiff and generally acuminate tail-fea-
thers; dendrocolaptine ; sclerurine. (6) Hav-
ing mucronate shafts of the tail-feathers ; chee
n. A place in which
Also spimiing-honse.
of agave.
spin-houset (spin'hous),
spinning is canied on.
See the quotation.
As we returned we stepp'd in to see the Spin-house, a
kind of Bridewell, where incorrigible and lewd women
are kept in discipline and labour.
Evelyn, Diary, Aug. 19, 1641.
JV'™" K spinicerebrate (spi-ni-ser'e-brat), a. [< L.
irieties are spina, the spine, -t- cerebrum, the brain, -I- -ate^.]
Having a brain and spinal cord ; cerebrospinal ;
myelenoephalous.
spinideltoid (spi-ni-del'toid), a. and «. [< L.
spina, the spine, -I- E. deltoid.] I. a. Repre-
senting that part of the human deltoid muscle
which arises from the spine of the scapula, as
a muscle ; pertaining to the spinideltoideus.
II. n. The spinideltoideus.
An octahedral habit characterizes
a se8quioxid(RO-Hl20..!). Here belong gahnite, magnet- spinidcltoideUS (spi"ni-del-toi'de-us), n.; pi.
... . ,_,.„.... . ..v„,,.., ...,,:. „K .„,.;,„. gpj„i(igif(,i(iei (^-i). [S-L.: see spinideltoid.] A
muscle of the shoulder and arm of some ani-
mals, corresponding to the spinal or mesoseapu-
lar part of the human deltoideus: it extends
from the mesoscapula and metaeromion to the
deltoid ridge of the humerus,
spiniferite (spi-nif 'e-rit), «. [< L. spinifer, bear-
ing spines (see spiniferous), + -ite"^.] A certain
minute organism beset with spines, occurring in
the Chalk flints. Their real nature is unascertalned.but
they have been supposed to be the gemmules of sponges.
ite, franklinite, etc,
them all.
There [in the Island of Zeilam] is also founde an other
kynde of Rubies, which wee caule Spinelle and the Indians
Caropus. R. Eden, tr. of Antonio Pigafetta (First Books
[on America, ed. Arber, p. 264).
2. A bleached yam from -which the linen tape
called inkle is made. E. S. Knight — Zlnc-
splneL Same as gahnite.
spineless (spin'les), o. [< spine + -less.] 1.
Having no spine or spinal column; inverte-
Hence — 2. Having no backbone, vigor.
"""llmpT weakTner^veressT— 3'. 'tfav- spiniferous (spi;nif;e-rus),^ «. [< L. spinifer.
or courage ;
ing the backbone flexible or supple.
A whole family of Sprites, consisting of a remarkably
■tout father and three spineless sons.
bearing spines, < spina, a thorn, spine, -t- ferre
= E. ficorl.] Bearing or provided with spines ;
spinous or spiny; spinigerous
i)w*en«. Uncommercial Traveller, iv. (Davies.) spiniform (spi'ni-form), a. [< L. sp/Ha, a thorn,
4. In iehth., having no fin-spines; soft-finned; spine, -f- forma, form.] Having the form of a
anacanthine; malacopterous: as, the«iM»etes-4- spine or thorn ; spine-like. Huxley.
fishes, or ^nacantfiini.- Spineless perch, a pirate- spinigerous (spi-nij e-rus), a. [<LL. spimger,
perch. bearing thorns or spines, < L. spma, a thorn.
= Sw. dial, spink, also spikke, spekke, a sparrow
(gull-sinnk, a goldfinch), = Norw. spikke (for
"spinke), a sparrow or other small bird; cf. Gr.
OTTiyjof, also amL,a, a finch (< aviCeiv, chirp); an
imitative name, like the equiv. pink^, /nc/il.]
The chaffinch, Fringilla ccelebs. [Prov. Eng.]
The Spink chants sweetest in a hedge of thorns.
r. HarU.
Spink^ (spingk), «. [Origin obscure; prob. in
part a var. of pink^.] The jjrimrose, Primida
veris; also, the lady's-smock, Cardamine pra-
tensis (also bog-spinks), and some other plants.
[Scotland.]
spinnaker (spin'a-ker), n. [Said to be < spin,
m sense of ' go rapidly.'] A jib-headed racing-
sail carried by yachts, set, when running before
the wind, on the side opposite to the mainsail.
spinnel (spin'el), n. A dialectal variant of spin-
dle.
spinnerl (spin'er), n. [< ME. spinnere, spynner,
spinnare (= D. G. sjnnner = Sw. spinnare = Dan.
.•i2nnder); <spin + -cr^. Cf. spider.] 1. One who
or that which spins, ui any sense ; one skilled in
spinning, (a) A workman who gives shape to vessels of
thin metal by means of a turning-lathe. See spin, r. t. , 8.
(b) In icoolen-manuf., any thread-spinning machine; a
drawing and twisting machine for making woolen threads.
(c) A trawling fish-hook fitted with wings to make it revolve
in the water ; a propeller spoon-bait, (d) In hat-mantif.,
a machine for flnishing the exterior of a hat. It consists
of a flat oval table with a face corresponding to the curve
of the hat-brim.
2. A spider; especially, a spinning-spider.
As if thou hadst borrowed legs of a spinner and a voice
of a cricket. B. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, i. 1.
3. See the quotation. [Eng.]
I do not know whether the daddy longlegs is ever called
"gin spinner " ; but Jenny Spinner is certainly the name
of a very different insect, viz. the metamorphosis of the
iron-blue dun. which, accordingtoEorald'snomenclature,
is an ephemera of the genus Cloe.
JV. andO.,7thser.,VI. 153.
spinner
4. A spinneret. — 5. The night-jar or night-
churr, Caprimulgus enro2>seus: from its cries,
which may be likened to the noise of a spin-
ning-wheel. See cut under uight-jar. Also
iplieel-hird. Compare reeler in like use for an-
other birtl. [Wexford, Ireland.] _Eing-and-
traveler spinner. Same as ring-frame.
spinner-t, ». [ME. spynner; origin obscure.]
A kind of boat.
As on Monday next after May day there come tydyngs
to London, that on Thorsday before the Duke of Suttolk
come unto the costes of Kent full nere slower with his ij.
ahepes and a litel spynner; the qweche spynner he sente
with certeyn letters to certeyn of his trustiil men.
Paston Letters, I. 124.
spinneret (spin'er-et), n. [< spinner^ + -et.'\
A part or organ concerned in the spinning of
silk, gossamer, or cobweb, as of a silkworm
or spider. Specifically — (o) One of the mammillse of
the arachnidium of a spider ; one of the four, six, or eit^ht
little conical or nipple-like processes under a spider's abdo-
men and near its end, through which the viscid secretion
of the arachnidial glands is spun out into threads of silk.
Some of the spinnerets are three-jointed. See arachnid-
ium. (6) One of the tubules of the labium of certain
caterpillars, as silkworms, tlirough which silk is spun
out of the secretion of glands connected with the mouth-
part*. See tericterium. (c) One of the tubules of the
anal segment of certain coleopterous larvse, as in the first
lanral stage (triungnlin) of some blister-beetles (Meloidx),
through which a little silk is spun. See cut under Sitaris.
(d) A like organ of any other insect.
spinnemlar (spi-ner'^-liir), a. [< spinnerule
+ -<()■•'.] Entering into the formation of a
spinneret, as a tubule; of or pertaining to
gpiunerules.
spinnerule (spin'fer-61), n. [< spinner^ + -ule.l
One of the several individual tubules which
collectively form the spinneret of a spider.
splnnery (spin'fer-i), «. ; pi. spinneries (-iz).
[= D. ■■'pinnerij, a spinning-house, = G. »piniie-
rei = Hw. spinneri = Dan. spinderi, spinning,
spinning-house ; as spin + -ery.] A spinning-
mill. Imp. Diet.
spinnett, «. See spinet^.
spinney, spinny^ (spin'i), n. [< ME. 'spineye,
gpenne, < OF. espinaye, espinoye, espinoie, F. epi-
naie, a thicket, grove, a thorny plot, < L. spine-
turn, a thicket of thorns, < spina, a thorn: see
spine. Cf . «;>»net2.] A small wood with under-
growth; a clump of trees or shrubs; a small
grove or shrubbery.
As he sprent oner a tvenn/, to apye the schrewe.
Sir Oawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. 8.X 1. 1895.
A land . . . covered with fine hedgerow Umber, with
here and there a nice little gorse or spinney.
T. Uughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, L 1.
spinning (spin'ing), n. [< ME. spynnynge;
verbal n. of spin, r.] 1. The act of one who
spins. — 2. The process of giving shape to ves-
sels of thin metal by means of a tuming-lathe.
Bpinning-&ame (spin'ing-fram)^ n. A machine
by which cotton thread was twisted bard and
firm, 80 as to make it suitable for the warp of
eotton cloth : the invention of Richard Ark-
wright. E. H. Knight.
spinning-head (spin'ing-hed), n. An early
form of spinning-machine in which the draw-
ing and twisting mechanisms are combined in
one head.
spinning-honset (spin'ing-hous), n. Same as
>tpin-hitit.^f\
spinning-jack (spin'ing-jak), ». In cotton-
maniif., a device for twisting and winding a
sliver a.s it comes from the drawing-rollers. It
is placed in the can, in which it rotates, the
sliver being wound on a bobbin. E. //. Knight.
spinning-jenny (spin'ing-jen'i), «. A spin-
ning-mactiine, invented Dy James Uargreaves
5837
means of which the operator is enabled to clasp and draw
out all the rovings simultaneously during the operation
of twist ing. and to feed the twisted threads to the spindles
when winding on — the whole operation being almost ex-
actly like hand-spinning, except that a large number of
rovings are operated upon instead of a single one.
spinning-machine (spin'ing-ma-shen"), n. 1.
Any luiichiue for spinning; aiiiule; aspinncr.
Speeitically — 2. An apparatus which spins con-
tinuously, as distinguished from the intermit-
tent action of the mule. E. H. Knight.
spinning-mill (spin'ing-mil), n. A mill or fac-
tory where thread is spun.
spinning-mite (spin'ing-mit), n. Any mite or
acarid of the family Tetraonychidae ; a red-
spider.
spinning-organ (spiu'ing-6r"gan), n. The or-
gan or apparatus by means of which a spider
or caterpillar spins silk; an arachnidium, as of
a spider. See cut under arachnidium.
spinning-roller (spin'ing-ro'ler), n. One of
the iron wheels, covered with various materi-
als— as rubber, vulcanite, paper, or felt — run-
ning in pairs in the drawing mechanism of a
spinning-machine.
spinnlng-spider (spin'ing-spi'd&r), «. A spider
which spins cobwebs; specifically, a true spider
or araiieid, as distinguished from any other
arachnidan, whether it actually spins or not.
spinning-wart (spin'ing-wart), n. A spinner-
et; one of the papillse or mammillse out of which
a spider spins silk. See cut under arachnidium.
Gcgenhnur, Comp. Anat. (trans.), p. 291.
spinning-wheel (spin'ing-hwel), n. Amaehine
for spinning wool, cotton, or flax into threads
by hand, it consists of a wheel, band, and spindle, and
Spinnins-wbeel for WooL
a. bench ; ^. ^'. standards ; f, drivin^f band-wheel with fiat rim,
turned by the peg t held io the right hand of the spinner : d, cord-
t>and, crowed at t slbA driving the speed-puUeyy,' £, cord-band im*
parting motion to the spindle A ; ■', thread in process of spinning.
Is driven by foot or by hand. Before the introduction of
machinery for spinning there were two kinds of spinning-
wheels In common
use —the large xeheH
for spinning wool
and cotton, and
the 9nutU <tT Saxon
wheel for spinning
(lax. The girdle-
wheel was a spin-
ning-wheel for-
merly in n8«, small
enoagh to D« fas.
tened to a glrdle-
or apron-itring, and
used while standing
or walking aboat.
spinny', n. See
spinney.
spinny^t.rt. [Ap-
par. an iireg.
var. of spiny, 3,
or of spindly.}
Thin ; slender ;
slim; lank.
Spinning-wheel for Flax,
a, t>ench or stool; d, standards: c, driv-
inip band-wheel grooved in (ts perimeter ; d,
treadle ; t, rod which connects treadle with
crank ; /. cord-hand which drives the flier-
spindle ; e. flier : A, distalT upon which the
flax to be spun is placed, and which in use
is held in the left hand of the operator.
Hargreaves't Origiiul Spinning -Jenny-
«, frame : *, frames supportiog spindles; c, drum driven hy the
l>and / from the b-ind-whcel /. a(Kl carrying separate hands (W)t shown)
which sep.ir.itelv drive each spindle : rf, fluted wooden clasp which
travels on wheels on the top of the frame, and in which the rovings
are arranged in due order.
in 1767, which was the first to operate upon more
than one thread. It has a series of vertical spindles,
each of which is supplied with roving from a separate
•pool, and has a clasping and traversing mechanism by
They plow It early in the year, and then there will come
some spinny grass that will keep it from scalding.
Mortimer.
spinode (spi'nod), «. [< L. spina, a thorn, spine,
+ nodus, a knot.] In geom., a stationary point
or cusp on a ctirve. a spinode may be conceived as
resulting from the vanishing of the angle at a node be-
tween the two branches, the length of arc between them
being reduced to zero, just as an inflection maybe regarded
as resulting from the vanishing of the interval between
the two pt>ints of tangency of a bitangent, tlie total curva-
ture between them at the same time vanishing. But this
view in the latter case Includes all the points of the in-
flectional tangent as points of tlie curve, and in the former
case Includes all lines through the spinode as tangents.
For this reason the spinode, like the inflection, is reck-
oned as a distinct kind of singularity. A curve cannot,
while remaining real, change continuously from having a
crunode to having an actiode without passing through a
form in which it has a spinode,
spinode-cnrve (8pi'n6ii-k6rv), n. A singularity
of a surface consisting in a locus of points
where tangent-planes to the curve intersect it
in curves having spinodes at those points. The
splnode-curve on a real surface is the Ixtundary between a
synclastic and an anticlastlc region. It bears no resem-
spinster
blance to that singularity of a surface termed the cuspidal
curve,
spinode-torse (spi'n6d-t6rs), n. That torse of
which a spinode-curve is the edge of regres-
sion. It is the envelop of tangent-planes to a
surface intersecting it in curves having spi-
nodes.
spinose (spi'nos), a. [< L. spinosus, full of
thorns: seespj»o»s.] Full of spines ; spinous;
spinigerous or spiniferous; armed with spines
or thorns; of a spiny character: as, a spinose
leaf; a. spinose sieva — Spinose maxlllSB, in entmn.,
maxillee armed with spines at the apex, as in the dragon-
fly.
spinosely (spi'nos-li), adv. In hot., in a spinose
manner.
spinosity (spi-nos'i-ti), «.; pi. spinosities (-tiz).
[< L. spinosita(t-)s, thorniness, < spinosus,
thorny, spiny: see spinous.} 1. The state of
being spinous or spinose; rough, spinous, or
thorny character or quality; thorniness: liter-
ally or figuratively.
The part of Human Philosophy which is national . . .
seemetti but a net of subtilty and spinosity.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, 11.
2. A thorny part or thing ; something thorny
or crabbed.
spinous (spi'nus), a. [= F. epineux = Sp. es-
pinoso = Pg. cspinhoso = It. spinoso, < L. spi-
nosus, full of thorns, thorny, spiny, < spina, a
thorn, spine: see spine.} 1. In zool. and anat. :
(o) Having spines ; spiny ; spinigerous or spi-
niferous. {h) Shaped like a spine ; spiniform;
having the character of a spine ; sharp or point-
ed: as, a spinous process of bone. See spinose.
— 2. In hot., same as spinose Spinous foramen,
the foramen spinosum of the sphenoioT See under /ora-
nwn.— Spinous process of a vertebra, one of the ele-
ments of most vertebne. usually autogenous, or having
its own center of ossification, fomiing a process, point, or
plate of bone where the lateral halves of the neural arch,
or neurapophyses, come together behind (in man) or al)ove
the neural arch ; a neural spine. See cuts under axis, cer-
Hcal, dorsai, hypapuphifsia, honbar, and vertebra. — Spi-
nous process of the sphenoid. See spine of the sphe-
noid, under spine.— Spinous rat, a spiny rat, in any sense,
— Spinous shark. See shark'^, and Echinorhinus (with
cut).— Spinous spider-crab, Maia squinado, the com-
mon spider-crab.
spinous-radiate (spi'nus-ra'di-at), a. In en-
tom., rayed or encircled with spines.
Spinozism (spi-no'zizm), n. [< Spinoza (see
def.) + -ism.} The metaphysical doctrine of
Baruch (afterward Benedict) de Spinoza (1632-
1677), a Spanish Jew, bom at Amsterdam. Spi-
noza's chief work, the " Ethics," is an exposition of the idea
of the al>Bolute, with a monistic theory of the correspon-
dence l>etween mind and matter, and applications to the
philosophy of living. It is an excessively abstruse doc-
trine, much misunderstood, and too complicated for brief
exposition. The style of the book, an imitation of Euclitl's
" Elements," is calculated to repel the mathematician and
logician, and to carry the attention of the ordinary reader
away from the real meaning, while conveying a completely
false notion of the mode of thinking. Yet, while the form
is pseudomathematical, the thought itself is truly matlie-
matical. The main principle is, indeed, an anticipation
in a generalized form of the modern geometrical concep-
tion of the absolute, especially as this sppears in the hy-
perbolic geometry, where the point and plane manifolds
have a correspondence similar to that between Spinoza's
worlds of extetislon and thought, Spinoza is described as
a pantheist ; he identifies fioii and Nature, but does not
mean by Nattire what is ordinarilymeant. Some sayings of
.Spinoza are fretjuently quoted in literature. One of these
is mnnis detenninatio est negatio, " all specification involves
exclusion " ; another is that matters must be considered
sub specie fetemitalis, " under their essential aspects, "
Spinozist (spi-no'zist), n. [<. Spinoza ■¥ -ist.}
A follower of Spinoza.
Spinozistic (spi-no-zis'tik), a. [< Spinozist ■\-
-ic.} Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Spi-
noza or his followers : as, the Spinozistic school ;
Spinozistic pantheism.
spinster (spin'stfer), «. [< ME. spinster, spyn-
stare, spinnestere, spynnester (= D. «pins<cr), with
suffix -estre (E. -ster), < AS. spinnan, spin : see
spin.} 1. A woman who spins; by extension,
any person who spins; a spinner.
My wif was a webbe and wollen doth made.
Hu spak to the spynnesters to spynnen tiit oute.
Piers Plowman iC), vii, 222.
The silkworm is
Only man's spinster.
Randolph, Muses' Looking-Glass, iv, 1.
Let the three housewifely spinsters of destiny rather
curtail the thread of thy life,
.D«**er, Gull's Hornbook, p. 83.
2. An unmarried woman (so called because she
was supposed to occupy herself with spinning) :
the legal designation in England of all unmar-
ried women from a viscount's daughter down-
ward ; popularly, an elderly unmarried woman ;
an "old maid": sometimes used adjectively.
I, Anthony Lumpkin, Esquire, of Blank place, refuse
you, Constantia Neville, sjnnster, of no place at all.
Qoldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, T. 1.
spinster
0, that I Bhoold lire to hear myself called Spinster!
Sherida7i, The Rivals, v. 1.
Here the 9pintter aunt uttered a loud shriek, and be-
came senseless. Dickens, Pickwick, x.
3t. A woman of an evil life or character: so
called from being forced to spin in the house
of correction- See spin-house.
We are no spinsters ; nor, if you look upon us,
So wretched as you take us.
Fletcher (and another 1), Prophetess, iii. 1.
Spinsterdom (spin'ster-tlum), n. [< spinster +
-</om.] Spinsters or "old maids" collectively.
G. Mtredith. Manfred, ii. 2. [Rare.]
Spinsterhood (spin'st6r-hud), n, [< spinster +
-hood.] The state of being a spinster; unmar-
ried life or state.
spinstership (spin'8t.6r-8hip), n. [< spinster +
'Ship,'\ Spinsterhood. Sauthey,
Spinstress (spin'stres), n. [< spinster + -ess.^
A woman who spins, or whose occupation is
spinning ; a spinster.
Let meaner souls by virtue be cajoled.
As the good Grecian spinstress (Penelope] was of old.
TomBroufn, Work^IV. 10. (Davies.)
spiistryt (spiu'stri), «. [< spinster + -y^ (cf.
-ery).] The work or occupation of spinning;
spinning.
What new decraicy can be added to this your spinstry ?
MUtoiij Church-Government, ii. 2.
Spintext (spin'tekst), h, [< spin^ v.j + obj.
text,'\ One who spins out long dreary discourses ;
a prosy preacher.
The race of formal spintexts and solemn saygraces is
nearly extinct. V. Knox, Winter Evenings, ix.
spinthere (spin'ther), «. [=F. spinthere^ < Gr.
GKiv&jp^ a spark.] A greenish-gray variety of
sphene or titanite.
spintryt (spin'tri), n. [< L. spintriaj sphintriay
a male prostitute.] A male prostitute. [Rare.]
Ravished hence, like captives, and, in sight
Of their most grieved parents, dealt away
Unto his spintries, sellaries, and slaves.
B. Jonson, Sejanus, iv. 5.
spinula (spin'u-la), w. ; pi. spiMMZ^(-Ie). [NL.,
< L. spintila, dim. of spina^ a spine: see spine.']
In entotn., a minute spine or book. Specifically —
(a) One of the little hooks bordering the anterior edge of
the lower wing in most Hymenoptera: same as harmdus,
1 (d). (6) One of the bristles fonning the strigilis.
Spinulate (spin'u-lat), a. [< spinula + -ate^.']
In zool.^ covered with little spines.— Spinulate
hairs, hairs emitting minute rigid branches or spinules :
such hairs cover many lepidopterous insects.
Spinulated (spin'u-la-ted), a. [< spinulate +
-f</'-.] Same as spinulate.
Spinule (spin'ul), n. [< L. spinulaj dim. of
spina, a thorn, spine: see spine,] A small
spine; a spicule.
spinulescent (spin-u-les'ent), a. [< spinule +
-esccnt.] In bot, producing diminutive spines;
somewhat spiny or thorny.
spinuliferous (spin-u-lif'e-ms), o. [< L. spi-
nula, a spinule, + ferre = E. hear^.] In bot.j
same as spinulose.
spinulose (spin'u-los), a. [< NL. spinulosus:
see spinulous.] In bot. and sool., furnished
with spinules or diminutive spines.
I have never seen any prominent spine upon the poste-
rior elevation, though it is sometimes minutely spinulose.
Huxley, Crayfish, p. -234.
spinulous (spin'u-lus), a, [< NL. spinulosus, <
L. spinula, a spinule: see spinule.] Same as
s2)inulose.
spinus (spi'nus), n. [NL., <Gr. oirivogj a bird of
the finch kind; cf. spink.] If. An old name of
some small bird which feeds on seeds, as a this-
tle-bird, linnet, siskin, or bunting. Hence — 2.
\_cap,] A genus of thistle-birds named by Koch
in 1816, containing the linnet, the siskin or
aberdevine, the goldfinch, the redpoll, and
others, both of Europe and of America, in pres-
ent usage, the siskin is Spinus spinus, the pine-finch is
S. pinus, the goldfinch of Europe is S. carduelis, that of
America is S. tristis, etc. The name wavers in application,
and is more or less inexactly synonymous with several
others, as Acanthis, Carduelis, Ckrysomitris, Astragalinus,
jEffiotkus, Linaria, Idnota, etc. See cuts under siskin and
goidjlnch.
Spiny (spi'ni), a. [< spiiie + -y^.] 1. Hav-
ing thorns or spines; full of spines; thorny;
pnckly. — 2. Figuratively, thorny; perplexed;
difficult; troublesome.
The spiny desarts of scholastick philosophy.
Warburtony On Prophecy, p. 61. (Latham.)
3t. Thin; slim; slender.
As in well-grown woods, on trees, cold spiny grasshoppers
Sit chirping Chapman, Iliad, iii. 161.
Faith, thou art such a spiny bald-rlb, all the mistresses
in the town will never get thee up.
Middleton, Mayor of Queenborough, iii. 3.
5838
Spiny calamary. a cephalopod of the genus Acantho-
teuthis. P. P. Carpenter.— Spixry crab, a crab whose
carapace is spiny, or has spinous processes; a spider-crab
or maioid. See cut imder 0.r(yrA(/»ic/i«.— Spiny fish, a
spiny-finned or acanthopterygian'ttsh.— Spiny lobster.
See lobster.— Spiny rat, one of sundry small mt-like ro-
dents whose pelage is more or less spiny, (a) One of
the South American species of Kchirnys and Lonckeres or
Nelimiys. See cut under Echimys. {b) One of several
[)0uched rats of the genus Heteromys.
Spiny-eel (spi'ni-el), n. See Mastacemhelidse.
spiny-finned (spi'ni-find), a. In icA(/i., having
spinous fin-rays; spine-finned; acanthoptery-
gious.
spiny-skinnedCspi'ni-skind), a. Eehinoderma-
tous.
Spiont (spi'on), n. [Early mod. E. also spyon;
= D. G. Sw. Dan, spiouy < OF. (and F.) espion,
a spy: see spy. Cf. espionage.] A spy.
Captaine of the Spyons.
Heywood, Four Prentises of London (Works, 1874, II. 242).
spirt, ^. An obsolete form of speer^.
splra (spi'ra), «.; pi. spirse (-re). [L., the base
of a column, a spire: see spire^.] In arch., the
moldings at the base of a column; a torus.
Such a molding or moldings are not present in the Greek
Doric order of architecture, but the feature is constant in
all varieties of the Ionic and Corinthian. See cuts under
fcosei, 3.
Spirablet (spir'a-bl), «. [< L. spirabilis, thatmay
be breathed, respirable , < spirare, breathe, blow :
see spire^.] Capable of being breathed; re-
spirable.
The spirable odor and pestilent steame ascending from
it put him out of bis bias of congruity.
Nashe, Lenten Stuffe (Harl. Misc., VI. 173). (Davies.)
spiracle (spir' or spir'a-kl), n. [< ME. spyraMe,
\ OF. spiracle, vernacularly spirail, espirail =
It. spiracolo, < L. spiraculum, a breathing-hole,
air-hole, < spirare, breathe: see spirc'^.] 1. An
aperture or orifice.
And after XL dayes this spiracle
Is uppe to close, and whenne the [you] list, it [the wine]
drinke. Palladium, Husbondrie(E. E. T. S.), p. 202.
2. In zool., an aperture, orifice, or vent through
which air, vapor, or water passes in the act of
respiration; a breathing-hole; aspiraeulum: ap-
plied to many different formations, specifically
— (a) In Maynmalia, the nostril or blow-hole of a cetacean,
as the whale, porpoise, etc. , through which air, mixed with
spray or water, is expelled. (6) In ichth. : (1) An aperture
on the upper side of the head, in frontof the suspensorium
. of the lower jaw, observed in many fishes, as selachians
and ganoids. This is the external opening of the hyoman-
dibular cleft, or pereistent first postoral visceral cleft, of the
embryo. (2) The single nostril of the monorhine verte-
brates, or myzonts — the lampreys and hags, (c) In entom.,
a breathing-hole ; the external orifice of one of the trachea;
or windpipes of an arachnidan or myrlapod, opening in the
side of the body. In trjie insects (Hexapoda) the spiracles
are typically twenty-two in number, a pair (one on each
side) for each of the three thoracic segments, and for each
of the anterior eight abdominal segments; but they are
almost always lacking on some one or more of these. They
are either simple openings into the respiratory system, or
are provided witli valves, sieves, or fringes of hair for the
exclusion of foreign particles. See cut under Systoechus.
spiracula^, «. Plural of spiraculum.
Spiracula'*^ (spi-rak'u-la), n.; pi. spiraculse (-le).
[NL. : see spiracle.] In entom., same as spiracle.
spiracular (spi-rak'u-liir), a. and n. [< spi-
raculum + -av'^,] I, a. 1. Of or pertaining to
a spiracle, breathing-hole, or blow-hole. — 2.
Fitted for or permitting respiration, as a spira-
cle ; respiratory. — Spiracular arch, in ichth., one of
the visceral archesof some fishes, between the mandibular
and hyomandibular arches, in special relation with the
spiracnlar cleft and spiracle.— Spiracular Cleft, in ichth.,
the hyomandibular cleft: bo called from its relations to
the spiracle in certain fishes, as all selachians and various
ganoids. See spiracle, 2 (6) (1).— Spiracular gill, a
false gill, or pseudobranch.— Spiracular respiration,
a breathing through spiracles, as in the tracheal i-espira-
tion of many insects.
II. n. A small bone or cartilage in special
relation with the spiracle of some fishes.
A series of small ossicles, of which two may be distin-
guished as spiraculars. Encyc. Brit., XII. 648.
spiraculate (spi-rak'u-lat), a. [< spiraculum +
-afe^.] Provided with a spiracle.
spiraculiferous (spi-rak-u-life-ms), a. [< L.
.spiraculum, a breathing-hole, + ferre = E.
hear'^.] In ew^w., bearing a spiracle or breath-
ing-pore: said of segments in which these or-
gans are visible. See cut imder Systcechns.
Westwood.
spiraculiform (spi-rak'u-li-f6rm), a. [< L. spi-
raculum, a breathing-hole, + forma, form.] In
entom., having the structure, form, or appear-
ance of a spiracle; stigmatiform.
spiraculum (spi-rak'u-lum), «. ; pl. spiracula
(-la). [L. : see spiracle,] 1, A spiracle, in any
sense. — 2. A breathing-hole in the aventaile,
beaver, or mesail of a helmet.
spirse, n. Plural of spira.
spiral
Spiraea (spi-re'a), n. [NL. (Toumefort, 1700),
< L. spirsea, < Gr. a-rretpaia, meadow-sweet, so
called from the shape of its follicles, < anelpa,
a coil, spire: see spire^.] 1. A genus of rosa-
ceous plants, type of the Spirseese. it is charac-
terized by fruit commonly of five follicles, contain-
ing usually numerous linear seeds with a membranous
or rarely coriaceous outer seed-coat and little or no
albumen. The flowers have four or five calyx-lobes, as
many rounded petals, twenty to sixty filiform stamens,
and a smooth or woolly fleshy disk. The Himalayan
S. parvf/olia is an exception in its solitaiy seeds and
obconical calyx. There are about 60 species, widely
scattered through temperate and cold regions of the
northern hemisphere, and occurring rarely on mountains
within the tropics. They are herbs or shrubs, bearing
alternate simple pinnate or ternately compound leaves,
usually furnished with free or wing-like and united stip-
ules. The small white, pink, or rose-colored flowers form a
copious axillary or terminal inflorescence, which is either
a raceme, cyme, panicle, or corymb, or consists, as in S.
Aruncus, of a diffuse panicle composed of numerous elon-
gated slender spikes. Most of the species are highly orna-
mental in flower. They are now most commonly known,
especially in cultivation, by the generic name Spirsea.
Eleven species are natives of Europe, 3 of which occur in
England ; of these S. FUipendula is the dropwort, and the
others, S. salici/olia and Si Uhnaria, are known as meadow-
sweet (the latter also as queen-of-the-meadmvs, which see).
Six species are native^ of the northeastern United States,
of which S. salici/olia is the most widely distributed, a
shrub with slender
ascending spire-like
branches, popularly
known in the west as
steeplebush, in America
usually with white
flowers, in Europe, Si-
beria, Mongolia, and
Japan pink or rose-
colored. It is often
cultivated, especially in
Kussia, where a great
many varieties have
originated ; in Wales it
forms a large part of
the hedges. For S. to-
mentosa, a similar pink-
flowered eastern spe-
cies, see fiardhack; its
representative on the
Pacific coast, S. Doug-
lasii, with handsome
whitened leaves, is one '
of the most showy of
American shrubs. For
S. lohata, see mieen-of-
the-prairie, and for S.
Aruncus, goat's-beard ;
the latter is one of the
most ornamental plants
of eastern woodland
borders. For S. hyperi-
dfolia, common in cul-
tivation from Europe
and Siberia, and also
called Italian may and
St. Peter's wreath, see
bridal-tcreath. Several
species from Japan are
now abundant in orna-
mental grounds, as S. Japonica and its variety S. For-
tunei, and S. prunifolia, the plum-leafed spireea, a white-
flowered shrub with handsome silky leaves. S. Thun-
bergii from Japan is much used in parks, forming a
small diffuse shrub 2 or a feet high with light recurving
branches whitened before the leaves with a profusion of
small flowers usually in threes in the axils. Some Asiatic
Species with pinnate leaves and large terminal panicles
of white flowers are arborescent, as S. sorbifolia, often
seen as a shrub in New England dooryards, and S. Kam-
chatica, with the panicles very lai^e, the flowers fragrant
and feathery. The former S. opulifolia, the ninebark, and
its variety aurea, the golden spiraea of gardens, are now
referred to Neillia, or by some separated as a genus Physo-
carpus. Many species possess moderate astringent or
tonic properties ; the roots of the British species are so
used, and the flowers of 5. hypericifolia ; S. Ulmaria is
valuable also as a diuretic. S. tomentosa, the principal
American medicinal species, a plant of bitter and astrin-
gent taste, is used in New England and also formerly by
the Indians as a tonic.
2. [/. c] (a) A plant of this genus, {h) The
white-flowered shrub Astilhe Japonica, now ex-
tensively imported into the United States and
propagated under glass, formingone of the chief
materials of Easter decorations.
Spirseese (spi-re'e-e), n.ph [NL. (Bentham and
Hooker, 1865), < Spiraea + -ese,] A tribe of poly-
petalous plants, of the oixier Hosacese. it is char-
acterized by flowers with bractless and commonly persis-
tent calyx-lobes, ten or more stamens, from one to eight
superior carpels, usually each with two or more pendulous
ovules, either indehiscent or ripening into follicles, and
not included within the calyx-tube. It consists of 10
genera, of which Spirsea is the type. They are usually
shrubs, all natives of the northern hemisphere ; Spiraea
only ia of wide distribution; 4 others are confined to North
America, of which Neviitsa is found only in Alabama, and
Adenostoma in California- Four or five other genera are
conflned to Japan and China.
spirseic (spi-re'ik), a. [< NL. Spirsea + -ic]
1. Pertaining to or derived from Spirsea. — 2t.
Same as salicylic.
spiral (spi'rai). a. and n. [< F. spiral = Sp.
Fg. cspiral = It. spirale = D. spiraal = G. Sw.
Dan, spiral, < ML. spiralis, spiral {linea spiraliSj.
Flowering Branch of Hardback
(Spirgen tofnenicsa^.
a, flower; *, fruit; c, leaf.
Flat Spiral of an Ammonite (Afn-
tnonites ht/rons).
spiral
a spiral line, a spiral),< L. gpira,& coil, spire: see
spire'^.\ I. o. 1. Of or pertaining to a spire
or coil; like a spire;
pointed or shaped like
a spire. — 2. Winding
around a fixed point
or center, and contin-
ually receding from it,
like a watchspring;
specifically, in conch.,
making a number of
turns about the col-
umella or axis of the
shell; whorled. The
whorls may be in one plane,
producing the fiat or dis-
coid sttell, or oftener wound
Into a spire, resulting in the ordinary turreted form. Com-
pare cuts under PlaiwrbU and Limruea, and see «j»re2, 2.
3. Winding and at the same time rising or ad-
vancing like a screw-thread: more accurately
helical or helicaidal.
Wliere upward, in the mellow blush of day,
The noisy bittern wheeled his tpirai way.
LongfeUcw, Sunrise on the Hills.
Spiral axis. Seeuxul.— Spiral balance, a form of bal-
ance in which the weight of the iKKly
under examination is measured by the
stretching (torsion) of an elastic wire in
the form of a long spiraL A common
use of the simple form of spiral balance
(see cut) is in determining the specitic
gravity of small fragments of minerals,
which for this pnrpose are weighed first
in the upper pan and then in that be-
low, which is iinnuTscd in water. — Spi-
ral canal of the cochlea, of the mo-
diolus. Si ecanafi, and cut under Mri.
— Spiral duct, in M, same asjpifaJw*-
«f /. Spiral fractore.a fracture of bone
due to torsion, so that the broken ends
have a more or less screw-like appear-
ance.—Spiral gearllUC. See gearing.
— Splxallayer, the middle one of the
tbre« layers or coats of the tracheal wall
in insects. See Utnidium and trachea.
— Spiral ligament of the cochlea,
the spiral riiUce at the outer insertion of
the basilar membrane : it is prismatic,
or triangular in section. — Spiral line,
the line connecting the radii or radiating
lines of a geometrical spider's web, and
forming a continuous spiral from the
circumference nearly to the center. It
is formed after the radii have l>een put
in place.— Spiral nebula, phyllotax-
is, plexus. See the nounn.— Spiral
point. See ii7nre-', :i. ~ Spiral ptero-
pods, the Umaam<Ue.—SpixiLl pump, a form of the
Archimedean screw water-elevat/jr. See Arehimedtan
tcrnr, under AnlavMdettn — Spiral screw. See tereic^.
— Spiral space, the area bounded at Its two ends by
successive parts of the same radios rector, and within
and without by successive parts of the same spiral. —
Spiral spring. See spring;.— Spiral yalve, in iehih.,
a continuous fold or ridge of mucous membrane which
winds spirally about the interior of the intestine of
some fishes, as ganoids.— Spiral vessel, in bol., a ves-
sel which is asually long, with fusiform extremities, and
has the walls thickened in a spiral manner with one
or more simple or branched bands or
flben. In most cases the direction of the
spiral Is from right to left, but it fre-
qaently happens that the earlier formed
spirals mn in one direction, while those
formed later mn bi an opposite direction.
See Hmue, cema. — BVVnl Wheels, In
maek. See teheti.
n. n. 1. In .<7eom., a plane curve
which mns continuously round
. and round a
fixed point,
called the cen-
Sptral Balance for
aetenniiiiiiff spe-
cific graTiaes-
faraboUc Spbal.
Spiral VeiKU
or Ducts of £f.
bailiutn EtaU-
riutn.
Archhnedean Spiral.
ter, with constantly increasing ra-
dius vector, BO that the latter is
never normal to the curve ; also, a
part of such a curve in the course of which the
radius from the center describes 360°. Besides
the spirals mentioned below, the involute of the circle and
the cyclodes are very important. The principal spirals
which have received attention are the spiral of Archi-
medes(asaally understood
to have been discovered
by Conon the SamianX the
radius of which increases
uniformly with the angle ;
the hyperlMlic spiral,
whose radius vector Is In-
versely proportional to
the angle; the lltuns, the
square of whose radius vector Is inversely proportional to
the angle ; and the logarithmic spiral, whose angle is prt>
portional to the logarithm of the radios vector.
Hyperbolic Spiral. (1.CM of the
inner part of one branch is shown
than Of the other.)
5839
2. A helix or curve which winds rotmd a cylin-
der like a screw. — 3. A spiral spring. — 4. In
wool, one of the curls or convolutions in wool-
fiber, the number of which in a unit of length is
made the basis of an estimate of its quality for
manufacturing. — 5. In :o6l. and anal., a spiral
formation, as of a univalve, of the cochlea, etc.
— Alry's spirals, the peculiar colored interference figures
seen when two sections of quartz, one of a right-handed
the other of a left-handed crystal, both cut transverse
t« the vertical axis, are placed one over the other, and
viewed in converging polarized light. — Curschmann'S
spirals, vayathol., bodies formed of spirally wound mu-
cous threads with often a fine shining central thread.
They seem to be casts of small bronchi, and are expecto-
rated in asthma and certain forms of broucliitis. — Dou-
ble, eqtiiangular, logarithmic, loxodromic splraL
See the adjectives.— Logistic spiral. Same as lo'jarith-
mw iptVaZ (which see, mwAvx lotjarithmic). — Norwich spi-
ral, that second involute of the circle whose apse is mid-
way between the cusp of the first involute and the center
of the circle : so called because first shown by Sylvester at
the meeting of the British Association at Norwich in 1868.
— ParaboUc splraL See poraiwiics, and cut above.
spiral (spi'ral), f. t.\ pret. and pp. spiraled,
spiralled, ppr. spiraling, spiralling. [< spiral,
w.] To make spiral ; cause to move spirally.
The teeth of the cutter should be made to run slightly
tpiralled. Jothua Bote, Practical Machinist, p. 346.
spirality (spi-ral'i-ti), n. [< spiral + -ity.'i
Spiral character or quality. Science, III. 583.
spirally (spi'ral-i), adv. In the form or man-
ner of a spiral.
spiral-tail (spi'ral-tal), «. The royal or king
bird of paradise, Cincinnurus regiua : so called
from the spiral coil at the end of the middle
tail-feathers. See cut under Cincinnurus.
spiramentt, «. [< L. spiramentum, a breathing-
hole, air-hole, < spirare, breathe: see spire^."]
A spiracle. Rev. T. Adams, Works, I. 78.
spirant (spi'rant), n. [< L. spiran(t-)s, ppr. of
spirare, breatlie, blow, exhale: see sjnre^.] A
consonant uttered with perceptible blowing, or
expulsion of breath ; an alphabetic sound in the
utterance of which the organs are brought near
together but not wholly closed ; a rustling, or
fricative, or continuable consonant. The term
is by some restricted to soimdsof the grade of cand/, the
th of thin and that of thine, and the German ch; others
nialie it include also the sibilants ; others, the semivowels
tr and y.
Spiranthes (spi-ran'thez), n. [NL. (Kichard,
ftl8), so called in allusion to the spiral arrange-
ment of the flowers: < Gr. ovtlpa, a coil, spire,
+ iv6o(, fiower.] A genus of orchids, of the
tribe yeottieie, type of the subtribe Spirantlica:
It Is characterized by commonly spirally ranked and some-
what ringent flowers with the upper sepal and the two pet-
als erect or connivent and galeate, and the lateral sepals
set obliquely on the ovar}' or long-decurrent, and by a
column not prolonged Into a free appendage, but usually
decorrent on the ovary. There are about 80 species, wide-
ly dispersed throogh temperate and tropical regions of
both hemispheres. They are terrestrial herbs from a short
rootstock or a cluster of fleshy fibers or thickened tubers.
Many species prodoce small white or greenish fragrant
flowers, in several spirals forming a dense spike ; In some
the spike Is reduced to s single spiral or becomes straight
and onllateraL The flowers are commonly small, but reach
a large sUe In some tropical American species. The leaves
are nsoally narrow, often grass-like. Six species are na-
tives of the northeastern United States, all late-fiower-
Ing and some of them then leafless. They are known as
lady't-treaaet. S. cemua also k>cally as wd txiberot^ and
S. (jracHif as corkterew-plant.
spiranthic (»pi-ran thik), a. {(.spiranth-y + -ic]
Of the nature of or affected with spiranthy.
spiranthy (spl-ran'thi), n. [< Gr. OTTt'tiia, a coil,
spire (see spire^), + av6o^, a flower.] In hot., the
abnormal dislocation of the organs of a flower
in a spiral direction. Thus, Masters describes a cori-
oos flcnrer of Cypripedium iwrigne, in which a displace-
ment occurred bj a spiral torsion proceeding from right
to left, which Involved the complete or partialsuppresslon
of the organs of the flower. Also spelled meimnthy.
spiraster (spi-ras'ttr), n. [NL., < Gr. amipa,
a I'oil, spire, + aarfip, a star.] In sponges, an
irregular polyact spicule in the form of a stout
spiral with thick spines; aspiuispirula. When
these spines or rays are terminal, the spicule is
called an itinphianter. Sollas.
Spirastrosa (spir-as-tro'sa), n. pi. [NL.:
see spirastrose.} In SoUas's classification of
sponges, a group of choristidan tetractinellidan
sponges, generally provided with spirasters.
spirastrose (spi-ras'tros), a. [< spiraster +
-ose (see -oim).] Having microscleres or flesh-
spicoles in the form of spirivsters ; of or pertain-
ing to the Spirastrosa : distinguished from ster-
riistrose.
spirated (spi'ra-ted), a. [< spire^ + -ate'i- +
-ed^. ] Formed into or like a spiral ; twisted like
a corkscrew. See cut under sasin. [Rare.]
The males of this speciesl.4n(i<op«l>aoar«i!a|havelong,
straight, tpirated horns nearly parallel to each other, and
directed backward. Darwin, Descent of Man, II. 336.
spire
spiration (spi-ra'shon), n. [< LL. spiratio{n-),
a breathing, < L. spirare, pp. spiratus, breathe,
blow, exhale: see spjj-eS.] l. A breathing.
Clod did by a kind of spiratum produce them.
Barrow, Sermons, II. xxxiv.
2. In theol., the act by which the procession of
the Holy Ghost is held to take place ; also, the
relation or notion so constituted.
spirel^ (spir), n. [Also spear (formerly also
speer), now commonly associated with spear'i- ;
< ME. spire, spyre, spir, < AS. sjnr, a stalk, =
MLG. spir, LG. siner, a point, needle, sprout,
= G. spier, a needle, pointer, spiere, a spar, =
Icel. spira, a spar, stilt, a kind of beaker, = Sw.
spira, a spar, scepter, pistil, = Dan. spire, a
spar, germ, shoot, spir, a spar, spire (in arch.);
perhaps connected with spike^ and spine, or
with speorl.] 1. A sprout or shoot of a plant.
An ook comth of a litel epire. Chawxr, Troilus, ii. 1338.
2. A stalk of grass or some similar plant; a
spear.
Shal neuere »pir springen vp.
Piert Ploumutn (C), xiii. .180.
Pointed Spiret of Flax, when green,
Will Ink supply, and Letters mark unseen,
Congreoe, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love.
3. The continuation of the trunk in a more
or less excurrent tree above the point where
branching begins.
No tops to be received, except the spire and such other
top or limb as may be grown on the main piece [firitish
oak for navy contracts]. Lastett, Timber, p. 72.
4. A name of various tall grasses, as the mar-
ram, Ammophila arundinacea; the reed canary-
grass, Phalaris arundinacea; and the common
reed, Phragmites communis, Britten and Holland,
Eng. Plant Names. [Prov. Eng.] — 5. In mining,
the tube carrying the train to the charge in the
blast^hole : so called from the spires of grass or
rushes used for the purpose. Also called reed or
rush. — 6. A body that shoots up toa point; a
tapering body; a conical or pyramidal body;
specifically, in arch., the tapering
part of a steeple rising above
the tower; a steeple; the great
pinnacle, often of wood covered
with lead, frequently crowning
the crossing of the nave in large
churches. The earliest sphres, in the
architectural sense, were merely pyram-
idal or conical roofs, specimens of
which exist in some of the oldest Roman-
esque buildings. These roofs, becoming
graduiilly elongated and niore and more
acute, resulted at length in the f;raceful
tapering spire. Among the many exist-
ing medieval examples, that of Salisbury
Cathedral is otie of the finest; that of
Senlis Cathedral, France, though not of
great size. Is one of the earliest of fully
developed spires, and is admired for the
purity and elegance of its design. The
spires of medieval architecture are gen-
erally s<iuare, t>ctagonal, or circular in
plan ; they are sometimes solid, more
frequently hollow, and are variously or-
namented with bands encircling them,
with panels more or leas enriched, and
with piercings and spire-lights, which
are of infinite variety. Their angles
are sometimes crocketed, and they are
often terminated l)y a tlnial. In later
examples the general pyramidal outline
is obtainc<l by diminishing the diameter
of the Btrticture in successive stages and spirt
this has been imitated in modern spires, Cathedral, France:
In which the forms and details of classic ""'Ii' "s"" century.
architecture have been applied to an
architectural creation essentially medieval. The term
spire la sometimes restricted to signify such tapering
structures, crowning towers or turrets, as have parapets
at their base, while when the spire rises from the exterior
of the wall of the tower, without the intervention of a
parapet, it is called a broach. See also cuts under broach,
10, rvod-steepie, and transept.
The glorious temple rear'd
Her pile, far off appearing like a mount
Of alabaster, topt with golden spires.
Milton, P. K., iv. 64a
7. The top or uppermost point of a thing ; the
summit.
To silence that
Which, to the spire and top of praises vouch'd.
Would seem but modest. Shak., Cor., 1. 9. 24.
Spire^ (spir), v.; pret. and pp. spired, ppr. spir-
ing. [< ME. spiren, spyren (= Dan. spire = Sw.
«m'ra, germinate); < «pt>el, ».] I. intrans. 1.
To sprout, as grain in malting. — 2. To shoot;
shoot up sharply.
Yon cypress spiring high,
With pine and cedar spreading wide
Their darksome bougie on either side.
Wffrdsxcorth, White Doe of Rylstone, iv.
H, trans. If. To shoot or send forth.
11
a. Spire of s
Univalve {Im-
bricaria corn-
ea).
spire
In gentle Ladies breste and bounteous race
Of woman kind it fayrest Mowre doth spyre.
Speixser, F. Q., III. v. 52.
2. To furnish with a spire or spires.
Like rampired walls the houses lean.
All spired and domed and turrete<l,
Sheer to the valley's darkling green.
W. E. Henley, From a Window in lYinces Street.
spire- (spir), «. [< F. spire = Sp. Pg. espira =
It. ttpira, < L. spira, < Gr. anelpa, a coil, twist,
wreath, spire, also a tore or anchor-ring. Cf . Gr.
oirtipff, a woven basket, L. sporta, a woven bas-
ket, Lith. gpartas, a band. Hence spiral, etc.]
1. A winding line like the thread of a screw;
anything wreathed or contorted; a coil; a curl;
a twist; a wreath; a spiral.
His head . . '.
With bumisli'd neck of verdant gold erect
Amidst his circling spires, that on the grass
Floated redundant. Milton, P. L., Ix. 502.
2. Jn conch., all the whorls of a spiral univalve
above the aperture or the body-whorl, taken
together as forming a turret. In
most cases the spire is exserted from the
last turn of the shell, giving the ordinary
turreted conical or helicoid form of num-
berless gastropods; and in some long slen-
der forms, of many turns and with small
aperture, the spire makes most of the length
of the shell, as figured at CerUhium, Cylin-
dreUa, and Tetebra, for example. In other
cases, however, the spire scarcely protrudes
from the body-whorl, and it may be even
entirely included or contained in the latter,
so that a depression or other formation oc-
cupies the usual position of the apex of the
shell. (Compare cuts under coury, Cyprxa,
Cymbium, and OvxUum^) See also cut under
univalve.
3. In math., a point at which different leaves
of a Niemann's surface are connected. Also
called a spiral point.
spire^'t (spir), V. i. [= OP. spirer, espirer, es-
}>€rer = Sp. Pg. cspirar = It. spirare,<. L. spirare,
breathe. Hence ult. spirit, etc., and aspire, con-
spire, expire, inspire, perspire, respire, transpire.']
To breathe.
But see, a happy Borean blast did spire
From faire Pelorus parts, which brought us right.
Viears, tr. of Virgil (1832). {Nares.)
spire*!, ''• A Middle English form of speer^.
spire^ (spir), «. [Cf. spirel.] The male of the
red deer, Cervm elaphus, in its third year.
A spire [hsa] brow [antler] and uprights.
W. W. Greener, The Gun, p. 510.
spire-bearer (spir'bar*6r), «. In conch., a spiri-
fer.
spired^ (spird), a. [< spire'^ + -ecP.] Having
a spire.
And Baal's spired Stone to Dust was ground.
Cowley, Davideis, ii.
spired^ (spird), a. [< spire^ + -ed'^.} In conch.,
having a spire, as a univalve shell; spiriferous ;
turreted.
spire-light (spir'lit), n. A window or opening
of any icind for light in a spire.
spire-steeple (spir'ste"pl), «. A spire consid-
ered as part of a steeple ; a spire. [Rare.]
SpiriC (spi'rik), a. and n. [< Gr. aveipmd^, spiric,
< airelpa, a tore, < aneiptiv, sweep round.] I. a.
Pertaining to or in the form of a tore or anchor-
ring.— Splric body, a tore.— Spiric line. See Jtn«2.
II. n. A curve, the plane section of a tore.
.Such curves, which are bicircular quartics, were treated
by the ancient geometers Eudoxus and Perseus.
spiricle (spir'i-kl), ». [< NL. 'spiricula, dim.
of L. .spira, a spire: see sjiire'^.] In bot., one of
the delicate coiled threads in the hairs on the
surface of certain seeds and achenes, which un-
coil when wet. They probably serve in fixing
small and light seeds to the soil, in order that
they may germinate.
Spirifer (spir'i-f6r), ». [NL. (Sowerby, 1816),
< L. spira, a coil, spire, + ferre = E. fiearl.] 1.
The typical genus of Spiriferidee, having the
long brachial appendages coiled into a pair of
Spiri/er ctntronattis.
a, ventral view : b, dorsal view ; c, lateral view.
spirals, called the carriage-spring apparatus,
supported upon similarly convoluted shelly la-
mell», and the shell impunctate, with a long
straight hinge-line. Numerous species range from
the Lower Silurian to the Permian. S. hysterica is an ex-
ample. Also called Spiri/era, Spiriferus.
2. [I. c] A member of this genus.
5840
Spiriferidse (spir-i-fer'i-de), n. pi. [NL., <
Spirifer + -idee.] A familv of arthropomatous
braohiopods with highly developed spu'al ap-
pendages, typified by the genus Siririfei; con-
taining numerous genera, ranging from the
Lower Silurian to the Liassic.
spiriferine (spi-rif 'e-rin), a. [(.Spirifer -t- -jwcl.]
Bearing brachial appendages in the form of a
spiral ; of or pertaining to the Spiriferidee.
spiriferoid (spi-rif 'e-roid), w. and a. [< Spiri-
fer + -oid.] I, «. 'A braehiopod of the family
Spiriferidx.
II. a. Resembling a spirifer; having char-
acters of the Spiriferidee.
spiriferous (spi-rif 'e-ms), a. [< NL. *spirifer, <
L. spira, a coil, spire, + ferre = E. hear"^.] 1.
Having a spire, as a univalved shell ; spired ;
turreted. — 2. Having spiral appendages, as
a braehiopod; spiriferine. — 3. Containing or
yielding fossil spirifers, as a geological stra-
tum. Encyc. Brit., XXIV. 507.
spirignath (spir'ig-nath), n. [< NL. spirigna-
tha (Latreille, 1796), < " spirignathus : see spi-
rignathous.] The slender spirally coiled antlia
or haustellum of lepidopterous insects. Also
spirignatha, .ipiritrompe.
spirignatllOUS (spi-rig'na-thns), a. [< NL.
"spirigiKilhus, < Gr. mrelpa, a coil, + yva66q, a
jaw.] Having a filiform sucking-tube coiled in
a spiral, as a moth or butterfly ; haustellate or
antliate, as a lepidopterous insect.
spirillar (spir'i-liir), a. [< Spirill-um + -ar^.]
In bot., belonging to or resembling the genus
Sjiirillum.
Spirilltun (spi-ril'um), n. [NL. (Ehrenberg,
1830), dim. of L. spira, a coil, spire : see spire^.]
A genus or form-genus of Schisomycetes or bac-
teria, having cylindrical or somewhat com-
pressed spirally twisted cells. They are rigid and
furnished at eacli end with a ciliuni, and multiply by
transverse division, the parts soon separating from one
another. This genus, which according to some authorities
also embraces the genus known as Vibrio, contains many
species, found in swamp-water, salt water, infusions, etc.
See Scliizomycetes. — Spirillum fever. See fever^ .
spirit (spir'it), n. [< ME. spirit, spirite, spyryte,
spyrite (also sprit, sprite, > E. sprite^), < OF. espi-
rit, esperit, esprit, P. esprit = Sp. cspiritu = Pg.
espirito = It. spirito, spirit (= G. Sw. Dan. sjriri-
tus, spirits of wine, etc.), < L. spiritus, a breath-
ing or blowing(as of the wind), abreeze, the air, a
breath, exhalation, the breath of life, life, mind,
soul, spirit, also courage, haughtiness, etc., LL.
a spirit, ghost, < spirare, breathe: see spire^.
Cf. sprite^, a doublet of spirit.] 1. According
to old and primitive modes of thought, an in-
visible corporeal thing of an airy nature,
scarcely material, the principle of life, medi-
ating between soul and body. The primitive and
natural notion of life was that it consisted of the breath,
and in most languages words etymologically signifying
'breath ' are used to mean the principle of life. Spirit is
one of these, and translates the Greek nfevfia. The or-
dinary notion of the Greek philosophers was that the soul
is warm air. This was strengthened by the discovery,
about the time of Aristotle (who, however, does not share
the opinion), of the distinction between the veins and the
arteries. It is found elaborately developed in the writings
of the Stoics, and especially of Galen. The spirit in the body
exists in various degrees of fineness. The coarser kinds
confer only vegetative life, and betray themselves in eruc-
tations, etc.; there are, besides, a vital spirit (TrfeO/xa ^wo-
TiKof) and an animal or psychical spirit (iri-cii/ia i/zuxotof).
At birth man was said to possess only vegetative spirit,
but as soon as he draws breath this was thought to be car-
ried through the left ventricle and the arteries to evei-y
part of the body, becoming triturated, and conveying ani-
mal life to the whole. The spirits were also said to be
in different states of tension or tone, causing greater or
less energy of body and mind. The vital spirits, being
carried to the ventricles of the brain, were there further
refined, and converted into spirits of sense, or animal
spirits. In vision these spirits dart out from the eye to
the object, though fhis be the most distant star, and im-
mediately return laden in some form with information.
This doctrine, modified by the addition of an incorporeal
soul, and confused with the Hebrew conception of a spirit,
was generally believed down to and into the scientific era.
Old writers, therefore, who use phrases which are still
employed metaphorically must be understood as mean-
ing them literally. See def. 3.
There is no malice in this buniing coal ;
ITie breath of heaven liath blown his spint out.
.Shak., K. John, iv. 1. 110.
From the kind heat which in the heart doth raigne
The spirits of life doe their beginning take ;
These spirits of life, ascending to the braine,
When they come there the spirits of sense do make.
These spirits of sense in fantasie*s high court
Judge of the formes of objects ill or well ;
And so they send a good or ill report
Downe to the heart, where all affections dwell.
Besides, another motive power doth rise
Out of the heart, from whose pure blood do spring
The vitall spirits, which, borne in arteries,
Continu.tll motion to all parts doe bring.
Sir J. Davies, Nosce Teipsum.
spirit
Adam, now enforced to close his eyes,
Sunk down, and all his spirits became entranced.
Milton, P. L., xi. 419.
Thus much cannot be denied, that our soul acteth not
immediately oidy upon bones, flesh, brains, and other such
like gross parts of the body, but, first and chiefly, upon
the animal spirits, as the immediate instruments of sense
and fancy, as that by whose vigour and activity the other
heavy and unwieldy bulk of the body is so nimbly moved.
And therefore we know no reason why we may not assent
liere to that of Porphyrius : that the blood is the food and
nourishment of the«pin(, and that this spirit is the vehicle
of the soul, or the more immediate seat of life.
Cudwortti, Intellectual System, v. § 3.
2. The principle of life conceived as a frag-
ment of the divine essence breathed into man
by God. This conception is developed in the Old and
New Testaments, in the writings of the Neoplatonists, and
by theologians. In Biblical and theological language the
spirit is the highest part of human nature, as most akin
to the divine, connected mediately with the body through
the soul, and spoken of alone, or in contradistinction to
the body, or as distinguished from both body and soul
(see soul).
All flesh died that moved upon the earth, ... all in
whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life.
Gen. vii. 21, 22.
The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. 2 Ki. il. 15.
My spirit is consumed, my days are extinct, the grave
is ready for me. Job xvit 1.
Who among men knoweth the things of a man, save the
spirit of the man, which is in him? 1 Cor. iL U [R. V.].
Our body shall be turned into ashes, and our spirit shall
vanish as the soft air. Wisdom of Solomon, ii. 3.
3. Metaphorically, animation; vivacity; exu-
berance of life ; cheerfulness; courage; mettle;
temper; humor; mood: usually in the plural.
But m old writers this meaning is not figurative, since they
conceived this quality to be due to the tension of animal
spirits.
So feble were his spirites, and so low.
ClMucer, 0. T., 1. 1361.
Hastings went to the council that morning in remarkably
high spirits. J. Gairdner, Bich. III., ii.
All furnish'd, all in arms ; . . .
As full of spirit as the month of May.
Stiak., 1 Hen. IV., iv. 1. 101.
I wonder you can have such spirits under so many dis-
tresses. Sheridan, School for Scandal, iv. 1.
4. A peculiar animating and inspiring princi-
ple ; dominant influence ; genius ; that which
pervades and tempers the conduct and thought
of men, either singly or (especially) in bodies,
and characterizes them or their works.
0 spirit of love ! how quick and fresh art thou !
Shak., T. N., i. 1. 9.
This shows plainly the democratical spirit which acts
our deputies. Winthrop, Hist. New England, II. 141.
All seem to feel the spirit of the place.
And by the general reverence God is praised.
Wordsworth, Sonnets, iiL 48.
That is the best part of each writer which has nothing
private in it ; . . . tliat which in the study of a single
artist you might not easily And. but in the study of many
you would abstract as the spirit of them all.
Emerson, Compensation.
And that law of force which governs all the changes of
character in a given people at a given time, which we
call the Spirit of the Age, this also changes, though more
slowly still. W. K. Clifford, Lectures, I. 80.
5. The essence, real meaning, or intent of any
statement, command, or contract : opposed to
letter.
Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testa-
ment; not of the letter, but of the spirit : for the letter
killeth, but the spirit giveth life. 2 Cor. iii, 8.
The scientific principles of Aristotle were in spirit, if
not in fonn, in contrast with those of modern science.
W. Wallace, Epicureanism, p. 171.
6. Incorporeal, immaterial being or principle ;
personality, or a personality, unconnected or
only associated with a body.: in Biblical use
applied to God, and specifically [cap.] to the
third person of the Trinity (the Holy Spirit);
also to supernatural good and evil beings (an-
gels).
God is a spirit : and they that worship him must wor-
ship him in spirit and in truth. John iv. 24.
But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit : for
the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of
God. 1 Cor. ii. 10.
Putting together the ideas of thinking and willing, or
the power of moving or quieting corporeal motion, joined
to substance, of which we have no distinct idea, we have
the idea of an immaterial spirit.
Locke, Human Understanding, II. xxiii. 15.
If we seclude space out of our consideration, there will
remain i)ut two sorts of substances in the world : that is,
matter and mind ; or, as we otherwise call them, body and
spirit. Watts, Logic, I. ii. § 2.
Sjyirit exists everywhere in nature, and we know of no
spirit outside of nature.
Haeckel, Evol. of Man (trans.), II. ibh.
7. A person considered with respect to his
peculiar characteristics of mind or temper,
spirit
especially as shown in action ; a man of life, fire,
energy, enterprise, courage, or the Uke, who
influences or dominates : as, the leading spirits
of the movement were arrested.
No place will please me so, no mean of death.
As here by Csesar, and by j'ou cut off,
The choice and master spiriu of this age.
ShaJc., J. C, ilL 1. 163.
8. A disembodied soul, or a soul naturally des-
titute of an ordinary solid body; an apparition
of such a being; a specter; a ghost.
Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was ; and
the tpirit shall return unto God who gave it. Eccl. xii. 7.
Whilst he |the child] is young, be sure to preserve his
tender mind from all impressions and notions of gpirits
and goblins or any fearful apprehensions In the dark.
Locke, Education, § 138.
9. A supematiiral being; an angel, fairy, elf,
sprite, demon, or the like.
I am a gpirU of no common rate, . . .
And I will purge thy mortal groasness ao
That thou Shalt like an airy tfirit go.
Shak., M. N. D., ilL 1. 157.
And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered
hlra not, neither by dreams, nor by Trim, nor by prophets.
Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that
bath a familiar spirit 1 Sam. xiviii. 6, 7.
Why, a gpirit is such a little, little thing that I have
heard a man who was a great scholar say that he'll dance
ye a Lancashire hornpipe upon the point of a needle.
Addison, The Drummer.
10. A subtle fluid contained in a particular
substance, and conferring upon it its peculiar
properties, (a) In Bacon's philosophy, such a fluid for
each kind of substance, living or dead.
The gpiriu or pneumaticals, that are in all tangible bod-
ies, are scarcely known. . . . Spirits are nothing else but
a natural body, rarefied to a proportion, and included in
the tangible parts of bodies, as in an integument. And
they be no less differing one from the other than the dense
or tangible parts ; . . . and they are never(almo8t> at rest;
and from them and their motions principally proceed
arefaction, colliquation, concoction, maturation, putrefac-
tion, vivifaction, and most of the effects of nature.
Bacon, .Vat. Hist., i 96.
(b) In old ehem., a liquor obtained by distillation : often In
the plural.
11. A strong alcoholic liquor ; in a restricted
sense, such a liquor variously treated in the
process of distillation, and used as a bevera^
or medicinally, as brandy, whisky, and gin; in
the plural, any strong distilled liquor.
They are like too frequent use of Spirits in a time of
health, which weaken the force of Nature by raising it
too high. StiUingfiett, Sermons, II. ix.
12. A solution of tin in an acid, nsed in dye-
ing.— 13t. An aspirate; a breathing, as the
letter h.
But be it (A| a letter or spirit, we hare great use of it in
our tongue, both before and after vowels.
B. Jonmn, Eng. Grammar, It.
14. The essence or active principle of any-
thing.— 15. Inmod. German philos., the highest
mode of existence; also, anything post^cssing
such existence.— Animal, ardent, astral spirits.
See the adjectives.— Aromatic spirit, a liquid composed
of compound spirit of orange and alcohol. — Aromatic
spirit Of ammonia, a liquid composed of ammonium car-
bonate 40, water of ammonia 100, oil of lemon 12, oil of
lavender.flowers 1, oil of pinienta 1, alcohol 700, water to
make l.uxj parts. It is stimulant, antacid, and is used in
sick-hfa'l:tche or as an aid in recovering after alcoholic de-
baucb. - Barwood spirits. Sameasftn^rUj. — ftreth-
ren of tbe Free Spirit, Bretliren of the Holv Spirit.
See brothtr.—CoznvonnA spirit Of borse-radlsh, a li-
quid composed of scraped horse-radish nwit, hittt'i-orange
peel, nutmeg, proof-spirit, and water. — Compound spirit
of Jnnlper, a liquid composed of oil of Juniper 10, oil of
caraway 1, oil of fennel 1, alcohol 3,000, water to make
5,000 parts. It is adjuvant to diuretic remedies.— Com-
pound spirit of lavender. Same as cotnpcmmf tiwture
<i/ I'lrriulrr (which see. under tiiu<ur«).— Compound
spirit of orange, a liquid composed of the oils of bitter-
oraTifi- pill, Union, coriander, star-anise, and alcohol.—
Dulcified spirit. See duleify.—'Omn' spirit See
dyr. Familiar spirit. See /omalor.- Fetid spirit
of ammonia, a liquid composed of asafetida, strong so-
lution of ammoniii, ami alctjhol. It is a ner>'ous stimu-
lant, antacid.— Fever Of the spirit. See >«e«ri. — Holy
Spirit, or the Spirit, the .Spirit of God ; the Holy Ghost.
See.'/Awrf. Inspirit. (a)Inwardly: as.togroaninm'ril.
<6) By inspiration ; by or uuder the guidance of the Holy
Spirit
How then doth David <n spirit call him Lord?
Mat. ixii. 43.
Mahwa-splrit, an alcoholic liquor distilleil from fcr-
menticl Howera of Bassia iot^/'o'ia.— Master spirit. See
TMx/cri. Materijilized spirit See matena/iw.— Me-
dicinal spirits, iii'ilirincs prepared either l)y macer-
atlnu brnisid rnviU, llowers, herbs, etc.. In alcohol or
spirit for t« o or three days before distillation, and
then dniw'iu- off liy a gentle heat, or cxtcmiM)ianeou»ly
by aiMiMf i [iroiwr proportion of essential oil to pure
spirit of tioi prescribed strength. In this way are pre-
pari'd I'lJiiit^ of aniseed, cassia, cinnamon. Juniper, lav-
eniliT, p'i»iiiTmint, rosemary, etc. They are used princi-
pally a.t aromatics and stimuiant*. Methylated spirit
See i/i^fA.///!/--. — Perfumed spirit. Sarm- as cdoipit.—
Poor in spirit see poor.- Proof spirit. See proqf-
307
5841
•pi'r*.— Public spirit, active Interest in the welfare of
the community : disposition to exert or to deny one's
self for the general good. — Pyro-acetic spirit. Same
as ace<oii<. — Pyroligneous spirit. Same as met hylic
alcohol (which see, uiiiler crteo/ioi).— PyroxyllC spirit.
See pj/roxi/itc.- Rectified spirit. See rectify and al-
cohol.—Silent spirit. See m^en/.- Spirit colors. See
cofor.- Spirit Of ammonia, an alcoholic solution of
ammonia, containing 10 per cent, by weight of the gas.
It is stimulant and antispasmodic— Spirit Of anise, a
liquid composed of oil of anise 10, alcohol 90 parts. It
is a stomachic and carminative. — Spirit Of ants. Same
as spirit of formic acid. — Spirit Of hitter almonds, a
liquid composed of oil of bitter almonds, alcohol, and
water. — Spirit Of cajeput, a liquid composed of oil
of cajeput 1, alcohol 40 parts. — Spirit Of camphor,
a liquid composed of camphor 10, alcohol 70, and water
20 parts.- Spirit of chloric ether. Same as spirit
of chloroform. — Spirit Of chloroform, a liquid consist-
ing of purified chloroform 10, alcohol 90 parts.— Spirit
of cinnamon, a liquid composed of oil of ciimamon 10,
alcohol 90 parts: aromatic cordial.- Spirit Of citron, a
2 per cent, solution of oil of citron in alcohol. — Spirit of
Cochlearia, a liquid composed of fresh scurvy -grass 8, al-
cohol 5, water 3 parts.— Spirit of cucumbers, a liquid
made by distilling a mixture of prated cucumbers and al-
cohol 3 parts, used in making ointment of cucumber. —
Spirit Of curacao, a liquid composed of the oil of Cura-
sao oninge, femiel, bitter almonds, and alcohol. — Spirit
Of ether, a spirit composed of strong ether 30, alcohol 70
parts. It has properties similar to those of ether. — Spirit
of formic acid, a liquid composed of formic acid, alcohol,
and water. X\io spirit of ants. — Spirit Of French Wine.
Same as bramfi/.— Spirit Of Garus, a liquid composed of
aloes 5, myrrh 2, clove ,=>, imtmeg 10, cinnamon 20, satfron
&, alcohol .^OOO, water 1,000 parts. — Spirit Of Gaultheria,
a liquid composed of oil of (Jaidtht.'ria :i, alcohol 97 parts:
used for flavoring. — Spirit Of glonoin. Same as spirit of
nitroylycerin. — Spirit Of hartshorn. Aeehartshom, 1.—
Spirit Of Juniper, a liciuid composed of oil of juniper 3,
alcohol 97 parts : adjuvant to diuretic medicine. — Spirit
Of lemon, a li<iuid composed of oil of lemon 6, lemon-peel
4, alcohol to make 100 parts : used for flavoring medicines,
custards, etc. Also called essence of lemon. — Spirit of
Mlndererus. Sameassofuttono/ oc^fafeo/ammoma (which
see, under w^ii'/'^n). — Spirit of myrcia. Same as bay-
' rum. — Spirit Of niter*. .An obsolete nameforni^rzcacirf.
— Spirit of nitroglycerin, a solution of nitroglycerin
(glonoin) in alcohol, containing 1 per cent, by weight of ni-
troglycerin.—Spirit of nitrous ether. See nitrous. —
Spirit of nutmeg, a liciuid composed of oil of nutmeg 3,
alcohol 97 parts. Also ca[lled essence of nutmeg, and used as
a flavoring for medicines. — Spirit Of orange, a liquid
composed of oil of orange-peel 6, alcohol 94 parts : useii in
flavoring medicines.- Spirit of peppermint, a liquid
composed of oil of peppermint 10 parts, peppermint in
powder 1 part, and alcohol to make ii.ni parts. Also called
essene* qf peppermint.— Spirit of phosphorus, a liquid
composed of phosphoms and alcohol. .Al.'iocalli-il tincture.
of phosphorus,— Spirit Of rosemary, a liiiuid comi>osed
of oil of rosemary 1, rectified spirit 49 parts : a perfume
and adjuvant to liniments, etc. — Spirit Of sea-salt.
Same as hydrochloric acid (which see, under hydrochloric).
— Spirit of senset, the utmost refinement or nicety of
sensation ; sensibility or sensitiveness of touch, sight, etc.
To whose soft seizure
The cygnet's down Is harah, and spirit qf sense
Hard as the palm of ploughman.
Shot., T. andC, 1. 1. 68.
Spirit Of soap, a liquid composed of Castile soap, alcohol,
and water.— Spirit Of spearmint, a liquid composed of
oil of spearmint 10, powdered spearmint 1, alcohol ^9
parts : a carminative —Spirit of turpentine. Same as
oil qf fuipenfin^ (which see, under turpentine). — Spirit
Of irlne. same as alcohol. - Spirits Act, an English
statute of 1880 (48 and 44 Vict, c. 24) which consolidates
the laws relating to the manufacture and sale of spirits.
— Sweet spirit of niter. Same as spirit of nitrous ether.
— The four spirits*, four substances used in alchemy :
quicksilver, orpiment or arsenic, sal ammoniac, and sul-
phur.
The flrste spirit quicksilver called is.
The second orpiment, the thridde ywls
Sal armoniak, and the ferthe brimatoon.
Chaucer, ProL to Canon's Yeoman's Tale, L 269.
Tin spirits, solutions of tin, in the preparation of which
nitric acid and sulphuric acid, as well as hydrochloric
acid, are used.- Wood -spirit. Same as methylic alcohol
(which see, under alcohol). =HTSL 3. L\fe, Liveliness, etc.
(see animation\ force, resolution. — 4. Drift, gist, sense,
significance, nature.- 6. Soul, Intellect, etc. (see mind^);
inner self, vital essence,
spirit (spir'it), F. f. [^<. spirit, n. Ct. sprite^, v.']
1. To animate; inspire; inspirit; excite; en-
courage; enliven; cheer: sometimes with up.
Shall oar quick blood, spirited with wine.
Seem frosty? SAaA-., Hen. V., ill. 5. 21,
It is a concession or yielding fn>m the throne, and would
naturally spirit up the Parliament to struggle on for power.
Walpole, Letters, II. 393.
Well, I shall spirit up the Colonel as soon as I can.
Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, xxx.
2. To convey away rapidly and secretly, as if
by the agency of a spirit; kidnap: generally
with off, away, or other adverb of direction.
When we came abreast of Old Panama we anchor'd, and
sent our Canoa ashore with our Prisoner Don Diego de
PInas, with a Letter to the <Jovernour, to treat about an
Exchange for our Man they had spirited away.
Dampier, Voyages, 1. 178.
3. To treat with spirits.
The whole carpet is to l>e cleaned, spirited, and dried, a
square yard at a time. Workshop Iteceipts, 2d ser. , p. 142.
spiritallyt (spir'i-tal-i), adv. [< "spirital (= OF.
spiritnl, (si>irilal, es/ierital, < ML. spiritalis, < L.
spiritus, breath, spirit : see spirit, and cf. »pjr-
spiritless
ituaV) + -ly^.'] By means of the breath, as a
spirant non-vocal sound.
We may conceive one of each [11 or rr occurring in a
word] pronounced spiritally, the other vocally.
Holder, Elements of Speech, p. 68.
spirit-back (spir'it-bak), n. In distilling, the
cistern which holds the spirit.
spirit-blue (spir'it-blo), n. An aniline blue de-
rived from coal-tar, used for dyeing, and solu-
ble in spirit (alcohol). There are two kinds. The
first is prepared from rosaniline by heating it with an ex-
cess of aniline and some benzoic acid, distilling o9 the
excess of aniline, saturating the residue with hydrochloric
acid, drying, and powdering : it produces the'hydrochlo-
rid of triphenyl-rosanillne. The second is prepared from
diphenylamine by treating it with oxalic acid and hydro-
chloric acid, producing the hydrochlorid of triphenyl-
pararosaniline. The chemical composition of these two is
not identical. They are used in dyeing silks, giving very
pure blues, the latter being the finer. Also called diphenyl-
amine blue, Gentiana blue, Humboldt blue, imperial Nue,
Lyons blue, rosaniiine-blue.
spirit-brown (spir'it-broun), n. See brown.
spirit-butterfly (spir'it-but"^r-fli), n. A trop-
ical American butterfly of the genus Ithomia,
of numerous species, delicate in form, with
nearly scaleless gauzy wings.
spirit^duck (spir'it-duk), n. 1. In the United
States, the bufflehead, Clangula (Bucephala) al-
beola : so called from its expertness in diving
and its sudden appearances and disappear-
ances. See Clangula, and cut under btiffie^, 2.
— 2. Any duck that dives at the flash of a gun
or twang of a bow-string; a conjuring duck.
Compare hell-diver.
spirited (spir'i-ted), a. [< spirit + -ed^.] 1.
Animated; full of life; lively; full of spirit or
fire.
Dryden's translation of Virgil is noble and spirited.
Pope.
His rebuke to the knight and his sottish revellers is
sensible and spirited. Lamb, Old Actors.
2. Having a spirit of a certain character: used
in composition, as in high-spirited, low-sjnrited,
vaean-spiritcd.
That man Is poorly spirited whose life
Kuns in his blood alone, and not in 's wishes.
Fletcher, Valentinian, v. 1.
3. Possessed by a spirit. [Kare.]
So talk'd the spirited sly snake. Milton, P. L., ix. 613.
= Syn. 1. Spiritual, etc. (see spirituous); ardent, high-
mettled, high-spirited. See also animation.
spiritedly (spir'i-ted-li), adv. In a spirited or
lively manner; with spirit, strength, or anima-
tion.
spiritedness (spir'i-ted-nes), n. Spirited na-
ture or character; spirit: liveliness; life; ani-
mation. Boyle, Works, VI. 48.
spiriter (spir'i-t^r), n. One who spirits another
away; an abductor; a Iddnapper. [Rare.]
While the poor boy, half dead with fear,
Writh'd back to view his spiriter.
CoUon, Works, p. 257. (Daeies.)
spiritful (spir'it-fiil), a. [< spirit + -Jul. Cf.
.tjiritejul, spriglitful.'] Full of spirit; lively.
Chapman. [Rare.]
spirltfully (spir'it-fiil-i), adv. In a spirited or
lively manner. [Rare.]
spiritfulness (spir'it-fvd-nes), n. Liveliness;
sjmghtliness. Harvey. [Rare.]
spirit-glim (spir'it-gum), h. A quick-drying
preparation used by actors and others to fasten
false hair on the face.
spiriting (spir'i-ting), n. [Verbal n. of spirit,
«.] The business, work, or service of a spirit;
hence, work quickly and quietly done, as if by
a spirit.
I will be correspondent to command.
And do my spiriting gently.
Shak., Tempest, I. 2. 298.
spiritism (spir'i-tizm), ». [< spirit + -ism.']
Same as spiritualism, 3.
spiritist (spir'i-tist). ». [< spirit + -fet.] Same
as spiritualist, 3.
spiritistic (spir-i-tis'tik), a. [< spiritist + -ic.']
Of, pertaining to, founded on, or in harmony
with spiritualism : as, sj'i'^lt^t^'' doctrines.
Those strange forces, equally occult, the mesmeric and
the spiritistic. Howelts, Undiscovered Country, p. 16
spirit-lamp (spir'it-lamp), H. See lamp^.
spiritleaf (spir'it-lef), «. The manyroot, Ru-
elliii tuherosa. Also spiritweed'. [West Indies.]
spiritless (spir'it-les), a. [< spirit + -less.]
1. Having no breath ; extinct; dead.
'TIS the body
Of the great captain Ptcnius, by himself
Made cold and spiritless. Fletcher, Bonduca, v. 1.
2. Having no spirit, vigor, courage, or fire;
without one's customary vivacity; wanting
cheerfulness; dejected; depressed.
spiritless
Why are you still so sad ? you take our edge off ;
Yon make us dull aiid miritlesi.
Fletcher, Double Marriage, li. 1.
spiritlessly (spir'it-les-li), adv. In a spiritless
manner; without spirit ; without exertion. Dr.
U. il'irr. Epistles to the Seven Churches, ix.
spirit-level (spir'it-lev'el), n. See level^, 1. —
Spirit-level quadrant. See quadrant.
spiritlyt (spir'it-li), a. [< siririt + -ly'>-. Cf.
sjtriMi/, spriglitlj/.'i Spirited; spiritful.
Pride, you know, must be foremost ; and that comes out
like a Spaniard, with daring hxik, and a tongue thundering
outbraves, mounted on ajminV/i/jennet named Insolence.
Rev. T. ASanu, Works, 11. 420. (Davies.)
spirit-merchant (spir'it-mfer'ehant), n. A mer-
chant who deals in spirituous liquors.
spirit-meter (spir'it-me''t6r), n. An instrument
or apparatus for measuring the quantity of
spirit which passes through a pipe or from a
still. Various forms are in use — as a rotating drum of
known capacity, a piston moving in a cylinder of known
capacity and recording its pulsations, vessels of known
capacity which are alternately tilled and emptied, or a
form of rotary pump recording its revolutions. J5. H.
Knisfht.
spiritoso (spir-i-t6's6), adi\ [It.; = E. spiritous.1
In music, with spirit, energy, or animation.
Also spirituoso.
spiritous (spir'i-tns), a. [= It. spiritoso, < ML.
*spiritosus, < L. spiritiis, spirit: see spirit.'] 1.
Of the nature of spirit; intangible; refined;
pure; subtile.
More refined, more spiritous, and pure.
Maton, P. L, V. 475.
2t. Burning; ardent; fiery; active. — 3. Same
as spirituous. [Rare.]
spiritousness (spir'i-tus-nes), n. The state of
being spiritous ; a refined state ; fineness and
activity of parts : as, the thinness and spirito'us-
ness of liquor.
spirit-rapper (spir'H-rap'Sr), n. One who be-
lieves or professes to believe that he can sum-
mon the spirits of deceased persons and hold
intercourse with them by raps made by them
upon a table in answer to questions, or by their
causing the table to tilt up.
spirit-rapping (spir'it-rap'ing), n. A general
name given to certain supposed spiritualistic
manifestations, as audible raps or knocks on
tables, table-turning, and kindred demonstra-
tions. See spiritualism, 3.
spiritrompe (spir'i-tromp), n. [F. (Latreille),
< L. spira, a coil, spire, + F. trompe, a trump :
see trump^.'i The long spiral tongue or antlia
of lepidopterous insects; the spirignath.
spirit-room (spir'it-rom), n. A room or com-
partment in a ship in which spirits are kept
for the use of the officers and crew.
spirit-stirring (spir'it-ster'ing), a. Stirring,
rousing, or animating the spirit.
Farewell the neighing steed, and the shrill trump.
The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife.
Shak., Othello, iii. 3. 352.
spiritual (spir'i-tu-al), a. and n. [< ME. spiri-
tuall, spyrytualle^spiritueU, espirituell, < OF.^j-
rituel, sjnritueil, F. spirituel = Pr. espirital = Sp.
Pg. espiritual = It. spirituale, < LL. spiritualis, of
or pertaining to breath, breathing, wind, or air,
or spirit, < L. spiritns (spiritu-), spirit, breath,
air: see spin t.] I. a. 1. Of , pertaining to, or
being spirit in the sense of something between
soul and body, or of a disembodied soul or a
supernatural immaterial being.
So faire it was that, trusteth well,
It semed a place espirituell.
Ram. of the Rose, 1. 650.
When to ende nyhed he,
That the soule moste yelde being spirituaM.
Rom. of ParUnay(^. E. T. S.), 1. 5291.
Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth,
Unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep.
Milton, P. JL, iv. 677.
2. Pertaining to the soul, or to the higher en-
dowments of the mind, especially when consid-
ered as a divine infiueijpe. — 3. Pertaining to
the soul or its affections as influenced by the
Divine Spirit; proceeding from or controlled
and inspired by the Holy Spirit ; pure ; holy ;
sacred; divine.
Blessed be the God and Father of onr Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ. Eph. i. 3.
God's law is spiritual ; it is a transcript of the divine
nature, and extends its authority to the acts of the soul
of man. Sir T. Broume. (Imp. Diet.)
4. Relating to sacred things; not lay or tem-
poral ; pertaining or belonging to the church ;
ecclesiastical — Lords spirituaL See iord,— Spiri-
tual afBnlty. See affinity, 1. Spiritual and corporal
works of mercy. See inercn.— Spiritual automaton.
See au(oma(on.— Spiritual being. Same as intentional
5842
being (which see, under fiWn;/). — Spiritual body. See
natural body, under natural. — Spiritual communion.
See sacramental communion, under ftacraiiifnlat.- Spiri-
tual corporations, spiritual courts, ecclcsiustioal cor-
ixirations; ecclesiastical courts. See ecc/<'sia«?tcrt/. — Spir-
itual exercises, Immutatlont incest, matter, peer,
etc. Seeexcreise, etc. — Spiritual man t. (a) An inspired
person ; also, a holy man ; an ecclesiastic.
Other elles I trowe that it be som spirituell man that
God hath me sente for to defende this reaine, nought for
me but for Cristynte and holy cherche to mayntene.
Merlin (E. E, T. S.), ii. 226.
Which Battel, because of the many spiritual Men that
were in it, was called the White Battel.
Baker, Chronicles, p. 108.
(b) The spiritual nature: opposed to physical nion.—
Spiritual sense of the Word. Same as internal sense
of the Word (whicli see, under internal). =:Syn. 1. Spirit-
ed, etc. (see spirituous), immaterial.
II. n. 1. A spiritual thing.
Ascend unto invisibles ; fill thy spirit with spirituals,
witli the mysteries of faith.
Sir T. Broume, Christ. Mor., iii. § 14.
He [Dante] assigns supremacy to the pope in spirituals,
and to the emperor in temporals.
Louiell, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 30.
2. A spiritual person, (a) One who is of a spiritual
nature or character, (b) One charged with a spiritual of-
fice or calling.
We bee the spiritualles ; we searche the bottome of
Goddes commaundement. Sir T. More, Works, p. 399.
spiritualisation, spiritualise, etc. See spiri-
tuali.:ation, etc.
spiritualism (spir'i-tu-al-izm), n. [= F. spiri-
tualisme = Sp. Pg. 'espiritualismo = It. spiri-
tuaUsmo; as spiritual + -ism.'] 1. The state
of being spiritual; spiritual character. Mil-
man. — 2. In philos., the doctrine of the exis-
tence of spirit as distinct from matter, or as the
only reality: opposed to materialism. — 3. The
belief that disembodied spirits can and do com-
municate with the living, especially through the
agency of a person particularly susceptible to
spiritualistic influences, called a medium; also,
the various doctrines and theories, collectively,
founded upon this belief. In its modemform, spiritu-
alism originated in the State of New York in the year 1848,
and since that time has extended over the United States and
Europe. The mediums through whom the supposed com-
munications take place are of various kinds, no fewer than
twenty-four different classes being mentioned in the books
explanatory of spiritualism. Among the chief methods of
communication are rappings, table-tippings, writing, and
speaking ; in the latter forms of communication the me-
dium is supposed to be fully possessed by the spirit for
the time being. Spiritualism has no formal system of
theology, and it is contended by many of its advocates that
it is not necessarily inconsistent with the maintenance
of a faith otherwise Christian, and that spirit-communica-
tions are providential interventions for the purpose of in-
culcating the doctrine of immortality, and counteracting
the material tendencies of the age. The meetings for
spiritualistic communications are commonly called «^ance«.
Also spiritism.
spiritualist (sptr'i-ta-al-ist), n. [= p. spiritu-
aliste = Sp. Pg. espiritualista = It. spiritualista ;
as spiritual + -ist.'] 1. One who professes a
regard for spiritual things only ; also, one whose
employment is spiritual.
May not he that lives in a small thatched house . . .
preach as loud, and to as much purpose, as one of those
high and mighty spiritualists ?
Bchard, Grounds of Contempt of Clergy (1696), p. 140.
[(Latham.)
2. One who accepts philosophical spiritualism.
See spiritualism, 2.
We may, as spiritualists, try to explain our memory's
failures and blunders by secondary causes.
W. James, Prin. of Psychol., I. 2.
3. One who believes that intereonrse may be
and is held with departed spirits, especially
through the agency of a medium; one who
claims to hold such intercourse. Also called
spiritist.
spiritualistic (spir'i-tu-a-lis'tik), a. [< spir-
itualist + -ic] 1. Of or pertaining to philo-
sophic spiritualism ; idealistic.
The deep-lying doctrine of Spiritual Beings, which em-
bodies the very essence of Spiritualistic as opposed to
Materialistic philosophy.
E. B. Tylor, Prim. Culture, I. 384.
2. Of or pertaining to modern spiritualism, or
communication with departed spirits ; produced
by or believed to be due to the agency of de-
parted spirits: as, spiritualistic mamiestaAions;
a spiritualistic stance.
spirituality (spir^i-tu-al'l-ti), «.; pi. spirituali-
ties (-tiz). [< ME. spiritualite, spiritualte, < OP.
spiritiialitc, spiritualte, espiritualtc, csperituaute,
etc., F. spirituiilite = S'p.csj)!rilii<ilirlad = Pg.
espiritualidade = It. spiritualita, < LL. spiritu-
alita(t-)s, < spiritualis, spiritual: see spiritual.]
1. Spiritual nature or character; immaterial-
ity; moorporeality.
A pleasure made for the soul, suitable to Its spirituality,
and equal to all its capacities. South.
spirituous
2. Spiritual tendency or aspirations ; freedom
from worldliiiess and from attachment to the
things of time and sense ; spiritual tone ; de-
sire for spiritual good.
We are commanded to fast, that we may pray with more
spirituality, and with repentance.
Jer. Taylor, Sermons, Return of Prayers, i.
No infidel can argue away the spirituality of the Chris-
tian religion ; attacks upon miracles leave that unaffected.
De Quincey, Essenes, L
His discourses were so valued, and his spirituality so
revered, that his ministrations were coveted in all that
region. Sew Princeton Ren., II. 140.
3t. The clergy as a whole ; the ecclesiastics ;
the church.
Five entire subsidies were granted to the king by the
spirituality. Fuller.
4. That which belongs to the church or to an
ecclesiastic in his official capacity: generally
in the plural, and distinguished from temporal-
ities: as, spiritualities of a bishop (those prof-
its and dues which a bishop receives in his ec-
clesiastical character) Guardian of the splrltu-
alltles. See guardian. — Spirituality of benefices, the
tithes of land, etc.
spiritualization (spir'''i-tu-al-i-za'shon), jj. [<
spiritualize + -ation.] 1. The act of spiritual-
izing, or the state of being spiritualized. — 2.
In old chem., the operation of extracting spirit
from natural bodies.
Also spelled spiritualisation.
spiritualize (spir'i-tu-al-iz), v. t.; pret. and pp.
spiritualized, ppr. spiritualizing. [< F. spiri-
tualiser = Sp. Pg. espiritualizar = It. spiritua-
lizzare; as spnritual + -ize.] 1. To make spir-
itual, or more spiritual ; elevate above what is
worldly or bodily.
Unless we endeavour to spiritualise ourselves, . . . the
older we grow the more we are embruted and debased.
Southey, The Doctor, clxxxiv.
2. To infuse spirituality or life into; inform
with spirit or life ; animate.
This seen in the clear air, and the whole spiritualized
by endless recollections, fills the eye and the heart more
forcibly than I can express. Carlyle. (Imp. Diet.}
3. To draw a spiritual meaning from, or im-
part a spiritual meaning to: as, to spiritualize
a text of Scripture. — 4. In chem.: (a) To ex-
tract spirit from. (6) To convert into spirit, or
impart the properties of spirit to.
Also spelled spiritualise.
spirituauzer (spir'i-tu-al-i-zfer), ». [< spiritu-
alize + -eel.] One who spiritualizes, in any
sense. Also spelled spiritualiser.
The most licentious of the allegorists, or the wildest of
the spiritualizers. Warburton, Divine Legation, ix. 2.
spiritually (spir'i-tu-al-i), adv. [< ME. spyri-
tually; < spiritual 4- -ly"^.] 1. In a spiritual
manner; without corporeal grossness, sensual-
ity, or worldliness; with purity of spirit or
heart. — 2. As a spirit; ethereally.
The sky . . .
Bespangled with those isles of light,
So wildly, spiritually bright.
Byron, Siege of Corinth, xt
3. In a spiritual sense.
spiritual-minded (spir'i-tu-al-min''ded), a.
Having the mind set on spiritual things; hav-
ing holy affections; spiritual.
spiritual-mindedness (spir'i - tu - al -min'ded-
nes), n. The state of being spiritual-minded;
spirituality of mind.
spiritualness (spir'i-tu-al-nes), n. The state
or character of being spiritual; spirituality.
spiritualtyt (spir'i-tu-al-ti), n. [< ME. spiri-
tualte, < OF. speritualte, etc.: see spirituality.]
The ecclesiastical body; the whole clergy of
any national church.
It [the church] is abused and mistaken for a multitude
of shaven, shorn, and oiled, which we now caU the spiri-
tualty and clergy.
Tyndale, Ans. to Sir T. More, etc. (Parker Soc, 1860), p. 12.
spirituelle (.spir"i-tii-er), a. [F., fem. of spiri-
tuel: see spiritual.] Characterized by or ex-
hibiting a refined intellectuality, grace, or deli-
cacy: noting primarily but not exclusively a
woman or the ways of women.
I have the air of youth without freshness, but noble,
sweet, lively, spirituelle, and interesting.
The Century, XL. 664.
spirituosity (spir'i-tii-os'i-ti), n. [< spirituous
+ -ity.] 1. Spirituous character or quality:
as, the spirituosity of beer. — 2. Immateriality ;
ethereality. Cudworth, Intellectual System,
p. 421.
spirituoso (spir'i-tu-o'so), adv. Same as spiri-
to.'<i).
spirituous (spir'i-tu-us), a. [=Dan. spirifuos;
< OF. (and F.) spiritueux = Pg. espirituoso, spir-
spintuoos
ituous; cf. G. spiritiiosen, Sw. Dan. spirituosa,
pi., alcoholic liquors; < ML. *spirituosus, full of
spirit, < L. siiihtug, spirit: see spirit; cf. spir-
itOKS.'] It. Having the quality of spirit; ethe-
real; immaterial; intangible.— 2t. Lively; ac-
tive; gay; cheerful; enlivening.
Hedon. Well, I am resolved what I'll do.
Alia. What, my good gpirUumis spark?
B. Jonion, Cynthia's Revels, ill. 2
5843
That it may appear aiery and spirituout, * fit for the
:hearfal guests ; the principal difficulty will
welcome of c „-„„, .„„ j„.„>;.^„
be in contriving the lighte and stair-cases.
Sir H. Wotton, Rellquii
, p. 42.
3. Containing much alcohol ; distilled, whether
pure or compounded, as di.stinguished from fer-
mented; ardent: applied to a liquor for driuk-
jng. =Syn. 3. Spirituam, Spiritual, Spirited. Spiritumis
Is now strictly confined to the meaning of alcoholic- as,
eptntuoxa, ardent, or intoxicating liquors. Spiritual is
as atricUy confined to that higher field of meaning which
is opposed to corporeal or carnal, secular or temporal.
lipinted expresses active animal spirits, or that spirit which
1» a vigorous movement of the feelings and the will • as
a tpirUed horse, boy, reply. " '
spiritaousness (spir'i-tu-us-nes), n. The char-
actcr of being spirituous. Boyle.
spiritus (.spir'i-tus), n. ; pi. spiritus. [L.: see
spirit.} 1. A breathing; an aspirate.— 2. In
phar., spirit; any spirituous preparation: the
officinal name of various spirits, specified by a
qualifying term: as, spiritus vini Gallici, spirit
of French wine (that is, brandv) ; spiritus lethe-
ris compositus, compound spiri't of ether Spir-
itus asper, a rough breathing ; in Or. -n-am , the mark ()
placed over or before an initial vowel, or over the second
letter of an initial diphthong, to indicate that it should
be preceded by a sound like h in English : also placed
over p when it is initial or is preceded by another p (ip) —
Spiritus lenlB, a soft or smooth breathing ; in Or. gram
the mark ( ) denoting the absence of the rough breathing'
Bpintweed (spir' it-wed), n. Same as spiritleaf.
spirit- world (spir'it-wirid), n. The worid of
disembodied spirits; Hades; the shades
and very many varieties in the United States. They are
popularly called /rog-spit or frog-spittle. Seefrog-gpU and
cuts under chloruphxjl and conjugation, 4.
spirolet, spirolt (spi'rol, -rol), «. [< OF. spirok,
a small culverin.] A small oulverin.
Long pieces of artillery called basilisks, and smaUer
sued ones, known by the name of spirolg.
Urquhart, tr. of Rabelais, i. 47.
spiroloculine (spi-ro-lok'ii-lin), a. Composed
ot spirally coiled loculi or ehamberlets : specifi-
cally noting certain foraminifers. Amer. Jour.
Sci., No. 160. p. 328.
spirometer (spi-rom'e-tfer), «. [Irreg. < L.
spirare, breathe (see spire^), + metrum, mea-
sure.] A contrivance for measuring the ex-
treme differential capacity of the human lungs.
The instrument most commonly
employed consists of an inverted
chamber submerged in a water-
bath. The breath is conducted by
a flexible pipe and Internal tube
so as to collect in the chamber,
which rises in the water, and is
fitted with an index which marks
the cubic inches of air expired
after a forced inspiration. In the
accompanying cut, o a is a small
gas-holder containing an inverted
vessel a'; b, index, which shows on
the scale c the number of cubic
inches expired; d, manometer,
which, wheno' is held down, shows
the pressure which the lungs can
exert; e, plug-vent for outlet of
expired air; /, cock for outlet of
water ; g, tube through which the
expiration is made.
spirometric (spi-ro-met'rik),
<i. [As spirometer + -ic.'] ot
or pertaining to the spirom-
eter; ascertained by means
of the spirometer ; as tested
bjr the spirometer.-spirometrlc capacity, extreme
rare.
1
diflerential capacity of the lungs, measured by the total
.»i.^4._ / ■ '-'f'^ ' V; '' -"^ """"CO. *.'!""'"'<'■ al'' which can be expired after the fullest DOB-
Spinty (spir'i-tl), a. [,< spirit + -yl.-] Full of sible inspiration. ^ w-r me luiiest pos
""' ' " ' '" ■ ■ ' spirometry (spi-rom'e-tri), ». [As spirometer
+ -y*.] The use of the spirometer in measur-
■ng the capacity of the lungs
spirit; spirited. ' [Scoteh'.]
Bpirivalve (spi'ri-valv), a. [< L. spira, a coil,
spire, -1- valva, door (valve).] Having a spiral
shell, as a univalve moUusk; spirally whorled
88 a shell. '
Splrket (sp*r'ket), n. [Origin obscure.] In»/*in-
huiMin;/, a space forward and aft between the
floor-timbers. HaniersJy.
spirketingr, spirketting (sp6r'ket-iug), «. [<
spirkct.'\ In .ihip-buililnig, the strakes of plank
worked between the lower sills of ports and
waterways. 'Tliearle, Naval Arch., J 209.
gpu-ling (sp^r'ling), h. .Same as sparling^.
Bpirobranchia (spi-ro-brang'ki-ft), n. pi. [NL.,
< Ur. Gzfip<i, a coil, spire, + "^pdyxuh gUls.j
bame as Brarhiopoda. Also SpirobrancUata.
spirobranchiate (spi-ro-brang'ki-at), a. and n.
[< N L. spirobranthiatus, < Gr. amipa, aeoil, spire
Sfirochmta Obrrmtitri.
+ *<i/,r/a, gills.] I. a. Of or pertaining to the
fipirobranchiata ; brachiopod.
n. n. A brachiopod.
Spirochaeta (spi-ro-ke'tft), n. [NL. (Ehrenberg,
1833), < Gr. (Txripa,a coil, 'spire, + ^oin?, a bristle.]
A genus of Schizomy-
<!ete«orbacteria,hav-
ing the cells united
in long slender
threads which usual-
ly show narrow spi-
ral windings. Thefll*.
meats have the llTeliest
movements, and clearly
propel themselve* for-
ward and back, but are
■lao able to bend In va-
rlooa ways. S. pUauait
occnrt among algs in
•wamp-water: S. Obtr-
meUri, found in the
Wood of thoM rick with recurrent fever. Is the cause of
the d sease ; S. Cohnii U found In the mueu. of thTt»eth
and .S. -nganUa in sea-water. Also Spiroeluet*. '
Spirogonimlum (spi'ro-go-nim'i-um), «.; Dl
spmyouimia (-B). [NL., < Gr. areipi,, » 'coil,'
spire, -(- NL. gonimium, q. v.] In Sot., a go-
nimiura similar to a hormogonimium, but not
moniliform, with the syngonimia subglobose,
smaller and more scattered, as in Omphalaria
Spirogyra (spi-ro-ji'ril), n. [NL. (Link, 1833),
so (•all..d with ref. to tlie spiral bands of ehlorol
phyl in the cells; < Gr. antlpa, a coil, spire +
n-por, a circle, ring.] A genus of fresh-water
algte, of the class Conjugate and order Zygne-
mrtff«. They are amotiff the commonest of fresh-water
^fd it^Jn"? J?" '"^f-'^" n>s-««. In both running
and stagnant water, and have often a slimy feel, owing to
the well-,leveloped mucilaginous sheath in which each flla-
nient is enveloped. The cells have one to several parietal
tlon is scalariform or lateral. There an) at«ut 40 speclM
Spiromonas (spi-rom'o-nas), «. [NL. (Perty,
1852), < Gr. amipa, a coil, spire, + liovif, a unit.]
A genus of pantostomatous flagellate infusori-
ans, spirally twisted on their long axis (whence
the name). These animalcules are free-swimming or
temporarily atUched, soft and plastic, with two anterior
subeqiul flsgeUa, one of which is adherent at will S
TOfiiSifc. Is an example. According to Kent, the Cycli-
Oimn dutortum and Ueteromita anguMata of Dulardin are
both species of Spiromomu. j ~ u.,. «, e
spirophore (spi'ro-for), n. [Irreg. < L. spirare
breathe, + Gr. -<*opoc, < <t>ipetv = E. bear^.J An
apparatus for producing artificial respiration
in cases of suspended animation, as in persons
rescued from drowning, it consists of an air-tight
esse In which the body is Inclosed up to the neck, and
an alrpiimp, for producing at proper Intervals a partial
vacuum in the case, thus causing the external air to fill
the lungs of the patient.
Spirophyton (spi-rof'i-ton), n. [NL. (Hall),
(. Gr. OTf/pa, a coil, spire, -f- (jn/rdv, a plant.]
A genus of fossil algSB, a characteristic plant
of a subdivision of the Devonian occurring in
the State of New York, and called from this
fossU (Spirophyton eauda-galli) the cauda galli
(!.".K UlKf'*" •»'»"«» *« » (f""iP which appeared early
In the Silurian and continnci into the Tertiary but Is
-'jrh*''*!"?,'-...^* '"""* "t ^"Ipirophyton was broid, thin,
with « distinct transrersiU nervation, and spirally oonvo-
IS^.'r""^!*'*"''*''"'*' the convolution widening with
the dIsUnce from the point of atUchment
Spirozooid (spi-ro-z6'oid), n. [< Gr. aTzeipa, a
coil, spire, -t- E. ^ooiVf.] The defensive zooid
of certain hydroid hydrozoans, as of Podoco-
ryne, a tubularian polyp: so called as coiling
or curling spirally when not in
action. These zoolds are long slender
filaments always provided with cnld» or
lasso-cells for nettling, and are some-
nmes called spAuIoawiifo. Compare doc-
mnootd and maehopotyp.
spirt', spirt2. See spurt^, spurt^.
spirtle, i: and n. See spurtle.
Spimla (spir'^-ltt), n. [NL. (La-
marck, 1799), < LL. spirula, dim.
of L. spira, a coil, spire: see
spire^.'] 1. In Ce]>halopoda : (a)
A genus of sepioid cuttlefishes,
typical of the family SpiruUdse,
having a delicate shell in the
hinder part of the body rolled
into a flat ordiscoidal spiral, with
discrete whorls whose involute
spire presents ventrally, and no
guard. There are seversl species, as £
larit tad S. /roffOit. The shellsare com-
mon, and are sometimes carried by the
OuU Stream to the coast of England, s^ruU Imvii
spit
A?l'<S2"'?™'o"'-*,° """"■« "n™*! "e extremely rai
Aim ^p,rul«a.Sp,rvlea. (ft) [,. <,.; pi. spirul«(.\e). .
A member of this genus. Imp. Diet.— 2 [I e ■
pi. spirulx (-le).] In sponges, an iiTegular
spineless polyact spicule of spiral form.
spinilate (spir'o-lat), a. [< LL. sjnnda, dim.
ot L,.sj)ira a coil, spire (see Spirula), + -afcl.1
bpiral in form, or in disposition of parts; spi-
rally arranged: said of structures, markings
etc. ° '
Spimlidae (spi-ro'li-de), «. pi. [NL., < Spir-
« 'i t :'i'*-^ ^ '^^""y °f cephalopods, t^i-
fied by the genus Spirula. They are souid, or sL
n'.t:"'' '!>." """"'i" miportei by acLtniTnous prom -
flSs snmll"a?l t^lf ".""-OTxIing pit ^ furro^ The
mrtlt?nnl,Wnl ^™'"*'' ^"^ "" '"tomal tubular shell
^nS'wrnd' i'l" a°CsTJoT ''"'°"'^" ""' '™"^™"'^ ^'^'^
spinilite (spir'ij-lit), n. [< NL. Spirula + -ite'-i.l
S)irufa '"^P^*'°P°'^ resembling or related to
spiryl (spir'iX a. [Early mod. E. spine; < spirel
■ 'J* -J ^ : Having the form of a spire or pyra-
mid ; tapering like a spire.
In these lone walls (their days' eternal bound)
Those moss-grown domes with spiry turrets crown'd.
Pope, Eloisa to Abelard, 1. 142.
2. Abounding in spires or steeples.
And villages embosom'd soft in trees
And ipiry towns by surging columns'mark'd
Of household smoke. Thomson, .Spring, I. 963.
,liry2 (spir'i), a. l< spired -{-.yl. 2 Of a spiral
orm; spiral; wreathed; curled.
Hid in the spiry volumes of the snake.
Dryden, State of Innocence, iv. 2.
spiscioust, a. A variant of spissous.
spisst (spis), o. [= OP. espais, espois, F. ipais
= bp. esiwso = Pg. espes.^0 = It. spesso, f L.
spusus, thick, compact, dense.] Thick ; close :
dense. '
This tp>»i and dense, yet polish'd, this copious, yet con-
cise treatise of the variety of languages. Brireuood.
spissated (spis'a-ted), a. [< L. spissatus, pp.
of spissare, thicken, condense, < spissits, thick,
compact: see s^iss.'] Inspissated; thickened,
as by evaporation. Warburton, Divine Lega-
tion, ii. 4. *
Spissedf (spist), a. [< spiss + -ed2.] Thick-
ened; condensed; inspissated.
Of such a spitted Substance there "s no need.
Heywood, Hierarchy of Angels, p. 214.
spissitnde (spis'i-tud), «. [< L. spissitudo, thick-
ness, density, < sinssus, thick, compact: see
spiss.} Density; the denseness or compact-
ness which belongs to substances not perfectly
liquid nor perfectly solid; inspissated condi-
tion.
From this Grossness and SpittUude of Air proceeds the
slow Nature of the Inhabitants. Hou'eU, Letters, I 1. 8°
spissoust (spis'us), o. [< L. spissus, thick : see
spiss.} Thick. Sist. of Francion (1655). (Kares )
spitl (spit), n. [(a) <ME. "spitte, spytte, speti'e,
earlier spite, spyte, si>ete, < AS. spitu, a spit, =
MD. sptt, spet, speet.spete, D. spit = MLG. spit,
LG spttt = 0H6. MHG. spiz, 6. spiess (= Dan!
spxd = bw. speti,< LG. f), a roasting-spit, in G.
also the branches of a deer's horn (hence OF
^poit, espoi, a spit, espois, F. epois, a deer's
horn, = Sp. Pg. espcto, a spit, = Olt. spito, spedo,
a spit); ong. neut. of the adj., OHG. spizzi,
MHG. spitze, spiz, G. spitz, pointed (G. spitze,
a point), (ft) Cf. LG. sjieet (prop, 'spiet), a
spear, in humorous use a sword, = OHG. spioz
MHG. spiez, G. spiess, a spear, lance, pike, =
Icel. spjot, a spear, = Sw. spjut = Dan. spyd, a
spear (hence OF. espiet, espet, esjne, also esiioit,
espot = It. spiedo, spiede, a spear), (c) Cf. Icel.
spyta, a spit, a wooden peg,<. spjot, a spear. The
above forms have been partly confused with one
another, (d) Cf. W.pid, a tapering point.] 1
A slender bar, sharply pointed at the end, to be
thrust through meat which is to be roasted in
Z^^ ?lu^^ ..■ "!£ ""«"™ "' 'he spit brings all
jwts of the meat in turtf to the heat. The ordinary spit
is several feet long, and rests on supports at the sides of
the fireplace. Shorter spits are used for small birds, kid-
neys, etc. .See cut under spitraek.
\Vith your arms crossed on your thinbelly doublet like
a rabbit on a ipit. shak., L. L L., ill. 1. 20.
He loves roast well
That eats the spit.
„, . , Fletcher, Mad Lover, 11. 1.
2t. A sword. [Cant.]
Going naked with a spit on his shoulder.
Purehat, Pilgrimage, p. £08.
3f. The obelisk or dagger (f) used as a refer-
ence-mark.
Either your starres or your spitt (that I may use Origens
notes) shall be welcome to my margent
Bp. Uall, To Hugh Cholmley. (Latham.)
spit
4. A small point of land running into the sea,
or a long narrow shoal extending from the
shore Into the sea.
But Hemiod rode with Niord, whom he took
To show him spiu and beaches of the sea.
M. Arnold, Balder Dead, iii.
On a narrow spit of sand between the rocks a dozen
Uttle girls are laughing, romping, and pattering about.
KinggUy^ Two Years Ago, ii.
5. In tcearing, the spindle or wire which holds
the cop, spool, or pirn in the shuttle.
spiti (spit), v.; pret. and pp. spitted, ppr. spit-
ting. [< ME. spitten, spyten, sjritien = MD.
spiten, speten, D. speten = ML6. LG. speicn =
OH6. spi^zen, G. Sfiessen = Dan. spidiic (ef.
Sp. Pg. espetar), spit, turn on a spit ; from the
noun.] I. trans. 1. To thrust a spit through ;
pierce, transfix, or impale with or as with a spit :
as, to spit a loiu of veal.
Look to see . . .
Year naked infants tvilUd upon pikes.
Shak., Hen. V., iii. 3. 38.
Howlov'd Patroclus with Achilles Joins,
To quarter out the ox, and spit the loins.
W. King, Art of Cookery, 1. 203.
2. To string on a stick and hang up to dry, as
herring in a smoke-house.
n. intrans. To roast anything on a spit ; at-
tend to a spit; use a spit.
spit^ (spit), v. ; pret. and pp. spit or spat, ppr.
spittinff. [Under this form are merged several
orig. diff. forms : (a) Early mod. E. and dial,
also spet, < ME. spitten, spytten (pret. spitte,
spytte, sptitte, sput), < AS. spittan, "spyttan (pret.
'spytte) = G. spiitzen = Sw. spotta = Dan. spytte,
spit; (6) late MHG. sputzen, G. speutzen — Icel.
spyta, spit; (c) ME. sjteten (pret. spettc, spete,
spelide).< AS. spsetan (pret. spsettc), spit. These
5844
the comer. " The very >pit of the one I had for years ; it 's
a real portrait, sir, for Mr. Uanbart, the printer, met me
one day and sketched him."
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II. 488.
spit^ (spit), V. t. [< D. spitten, dig; appar. con-
nected with speten, spit : seespi*!.] To spade;
plant by spading.
Saffron . , . inthemonethof July, . . . whentheheads
thereof have been plucked up, and after twenty days spit-
ted or set againe under mould.
Holland, tr. of Camden, p. 453. (Davies.)
spit^ (spit), «. [E. dial.; cf. spi(3, 1'.] A spade;
hence, the depth of a spade in the earth ; a spad-
ing or spadeful. [Prov. Eng.]
It [a curious harp] was raised by labourer* at the depth
of twelve spits or spadings under the earth in Coolness
Moss, near Js^ewcastle, between Limerick and Killarney.
O'Curry, Anc. Irish, II. xxxiii.
spitalt, spittle^t (spit'al, spit'l), n. [< ME. spyt-
tle, spitcl, spytelle, by apheresis from hospital:
see hospital.^ A hospital ; properly, a hospital
for lazars.
He is
A spittle of diseases, and, indeed.
More loathsome and infectious.
MoMinger, Picture, iv. 2.
Kind, pious hands did to the Virgin build
A lonely Spital, the belated swain
From the night terrors of that waste to shield.
Wordsworth, Guilt and Sorrow, xvii.
spitted
Death to me subscribes.
Since, spite of him, I'll live in this poor rhyme.
Shak., Sonnets, cvii.
Honour is into Scotland gone,
In spite of England's skill.
Johwie Scot (Child's Ballads, IV. 69).
= Syn. 2. Animosity, Ill-mil, Enmity, etc. (see animosity),
pique, spleen, defiance. In spite of. Despite, etc. Seeno^
u-ithstanding.
spite (spit), V. t. ; pret. and pp. spited, ppr. spit-
ing. [Early mod. E. also spiglit; < late ME.
spite; < spite, n.] 1. To dislike; regard with
ill-will.
I gat my master's good-will, who before spited me.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, ii.
Hash hated or spited Obed, partly on Margaret's account,
partly because ol misunderstandings with his mother.
S. Judd, Margaret, i. 3.
2. To thwart; cross; mortify; treat malicious-
ly: as, to cut off one's nose to spite one's face.
I'll sacrifice the lamb that I do love.
To spUe a raven's heart within a dove.
Shak., T. N., v. 1. 134.
3. To fill with vexation ; offend.
The nobles, spited at this indignity done them by the
commons, firmly united in a body.
Swift, Nobles and Commons, iii.
spite-blastedt (spit'blas"ted), o. Distracted
or defeated by spite. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse,
p. 34. [Rare.]
spital-houset, spittle-houset (spit'al-, spit'l- spiteful (spit'ful), a. li'M.'E.spytefune; < spite
hous), «. A hospital. + _j;a.'\ Filled with spite; having a malevo-
All the Cripples in tenne Spittle-houses shewe not more
halting. Dekker, Seven Deadly Sins, p. 85.
spital-mant, spittle-mant ( spit ' al-, spit ' 1-m an ) ,
n. One who lives in a spital or hospital.
Good Preachers that line ill (like Spittle-men)
Are perfect in the way they neuer went.
Dairies, Summa Totalis, p. 26. (Dames.)
forms are supposed to'be connected with spew, spital-sermont,spittle-sermont(spit'al-,spit'-
but their relations are not clear. The similar f-ger "mon), n. A sermon preached at or in be-
forms, MD. spicken, also spugen, MLG. spigen, jialf of a spital or hospital. B. Jonson, Under-
spiggen, G. spucken, spit, are secondary forms of woods, Ixi.
the verb cognate with AS. s;)»«jan, E. spew ; see gpitball (splt'bal), n. Paper chewed and made
spew. Hence spattle^, spittle^, and prob. ult. mto a ball to be used as a missile. [Colloq.]
spot.'\ I, intrans. 1. To eject saliva from the spitbox(spit'boks),M. l<spit'^ + l>ox^.'i A box,
mouth; expectorate.
When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and
made clay of the spittle. John ix. 6.
Let him but fasting spit upon a toad,
And presently it bursts and dies.
Fleteher oiid Massinger, A Very Woman, iii. 1.
2. To fall in scattered drops, as rain. [Colloq.]
"And "—putting her hand out at the window — "I
think it 's spitting already. " Miss Ferrier, Marriage, vii.
It had been spitting with rain for the last half-hour, and
now began to pour in good earnest.
Dickens, Sketches, Tales, vii.
3. To make a noise as if spitting, like an angry
eat To spit on or upon, to treat with gross insult or
ignominy.
II. trans. To eject from the mouth; spew;
especially, to eject as or with saliva : as, to sjnt
blood.
Thus spitte I out my venim under hewe
Of holynesse, to seme holy and trewe.
Chaucer, ProL to Pardoner's Tale, L 136.
Sir Eoger told me that Old Moll had been often brought
before him for making Children spit Pins, and giving Maids
the Jiight Mare. Addison, Spectator, No. 117.
To spit sixpences, to spit with a white nummular ex-
pectoration from a dry mouth. [Low. ]
He had thought it rather a diy discourse ; and, beginning
to spit sixpeTices (as his saying was), he gave hints to Mr.
Wildgoose to stop at the first public-house they should
come to. Graves, Spiritual Quixote, iv. 6. (Davies.)
To spit white, to spit from a dry or feverish mouth, es-
pecially after a debauch. [Low.]
If it be a hot day, and I brandish any thing butabottle,
I would I might never spit white again.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., i. 2. 237.
Spit^ (spit), n. [Early mod. E. and dial, also
spet ; < ME. spyt ; < spif^, «.] 1 . What is ejected
from the mouth; saliva; spume. — 2. The act
of spitting: as, a cat gives an angry spit.
The speckl'd toad . . .
Defies his foe with a fell spit.
Lovelace, Lucasta, Toad and Spider, p. 42.
3. In entom.: (a) The spume of certain insects; a
frothy, fleecy, or waxy substance secreted by va-
rioushomopterous bugs from specialized pores
scattered over the general surface of the body.
(6) An insect which produces such spume : as,
the cuckoo-spi<, Ptyelus spumarins. See spittle-
insect. — 4. A light fall of rain or snow; espe-
cially, rain or snow falling in light gusts or
scattered drops or flakes.
Spits of rain dashed in their faces.
C. D. Warner, Their Pilgrimage, p. 175.
5. Image; likeness. [Vulgar.]
There was a large lithograph of a horse, dear to the re-
membrance of the old man from an indication of a dog in
usually of wood, filled with sand, sawdust, or
the Uke, to receive discharges of spittle, to-
bacco-juice, etc.; a spittoon. Such boxes are some-
times open, as in country taverns in America, sometimes
covered, the cover being easily raised by a lever arrange-
ment, as is common on the continent of Europe.
spit-bug (spit'bug), n. Any spittle-insect.
spitchcock (spich'kok), n. [Appar. a corrup-
tion of "spitcock (< spit^ + cock^), which may
have been orig. a name for a fowl roasted on a
spit, transfen-ed fancifully to an eel split and
broiled. Cf. spatchcock.'] An eel split and
broiled.
Will you have some Cray-fish and a Spitch-cocke f
Webster and Dekker, Northward Hoe, i. 1.
spitchcock (spich'kok), V. t. [< spitchcock, m.]
To split (an eel) lengthwise and broil it.
Yet no man lards salt pork with orange-peel,
Or garnishes his lamb with spitchcock'd eel.
W. King, Art of Cookery, 1. 18.
If you chance to be partial to eels, . . .
Have them spitch-cock'd — or stew'd — they're too oily when
fried ! Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 337.
lent or grudging disposition ; malicious.
A wayward son,
Spiteful and wrathful.
SAo*., Macbeth, iii. 5. 12.
spitefully (spit'ful-i),adt'. 1. Shamefully ; out-
rageously.
And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them
spUefxdly, and slew them. Mat. xxii. 6.
2. In a spiteful manner; mischievously; ma-
liciously.
At last she spitefully was bent
To try their wisdom's full extent.
Swift, Cadenus and Vanessa.
spitefulness (spit'ful-nes), n. The state or
character of being spiteful; the desire to vex,
annoy, or injure, proceeding from irritation ;
malevolence; malice.
It looks more like spitefulness and ill naturethan a dili-
gent search after truth. Keill, Against Burnet.
spitfire (spit'fir), n. [< spit^, v., + obj. fire.]
An irascible or passionate person ; one whose
temper is hot or fiery. [Colloq,]
spit-frogt (spit'frog), 11. [< spiti^, v., + frog'^^.]
A small sword. John Taylor, Works (1630).
[Slang.] (Nares.)
spitkid (spit'kid), n. Naut., a spitbox.
spitoust, a. [ME., also spetous; by apheresis
(vom def:i)itovs : see despitovs. Cf. sjMte.] Spite-
ful; malicious; mischievous.
That arowe was as with felonye
Envenymed, and with spitous blame.
Mom. of the Rose, I. 979.
spitouslyt, adv. [ME., < spitous + -ly^.] Spite-
fully; angrily; injuriously.
They were ful glad whan I spak to hem faire.
For, God it wot, I chidde hem spitousty.
Chaucer, Prol. to Wife of Bath s Tale, L 223.
spit-curl (spit'kerl), «. A small lock of hair .
curled so as to lie flat on the temple : so called spit-poiSOn (spit poi'zn), «. [< spit^, v., + obj.
jocosely or contemptuously from the circum- poison.] A malicious or venomous person;
stance that they were often made with the help
of saliva. [Colloq. and vulgar.]
spit-deep (spit'dep), a. [< spit'i + deep.] Hav-
ing the depth of a spade-cut. [Prov. Eng.]
spite (spit), n. [Early mod. E. also spight; <
ME. spite, spyt, spyyt; by apheresis from de-
spite: see despite. Cf. spitous for despitous.]
If. Injury; mischief; shame; disgrace; dis-
honor.
ni find Demetrius and revenge this spite.
Shak., M. N. D., iii. 2. 420.
Day and night he'l work my spight.
And hanged I shall be.
Robin Hood and the Bishop (Child's Ballads, V. 299X
2. A disposition to thwart and disappoint the
wishes of another ; ill-will; malevolence; mal-
ice; grudge; rancor.
This is not the opinion of one, for some priuate»ptte, but
the iudgement of all. Ascham, The Scholemaster, p. 78.
Nor called the gods, in vulgar spite.
To vindicate his helpless right.
Marvell, Essay on Government.
3. Chagrin; vexation; ill luck; trouble.
The time is out of joint : O cursed spite,
That ever I was born to set it right !
Shak., Hamlet, i. 5. 189.
In spite of, literally, in defiance or contempt of; in op-
position to ; hence, notwithstanding. Sometimes abbre-
viated to spite of.
A malicious
one given to calumny.
The scourge of society, a spit-poison, a viper.
South, Sermons, X. 290.
spit-rack (spit'rak), rt. An iron rack, formerly
used, on which a spit was hung before a fire.
A common form was
that of a pair of tall
andirons fitted with
hooks to support the
ends of the spit.
spit-sticker (spif-
stik'''6r), n. In en-
graving, a graver
with convex faces.
E. H. Knight.
spit-s'wordt (spif-
sord), n. Same as
estoc: a term intro-
duced in the six-
teenth century.
Grose.
spittardt (spit'iird),
sjMiterl.]
Spit-rack.
[< spi«l + -ard. Cf.
A two-year old hart ; a spitter. Top-
sell, Four-Footed Beasts (1607), p. 122. (HalU-
well. )
spitted (spit'ed), ;;. a. [< ME. y-spyted. spit-
ted: see spi/l.] 1. Put upon a spit; thrust
through, as if with a spit; impaled. — 2.
spitted
Spiked, or shot out to a point like a spit or
bodkiu, but without tines or branches: said of
the antlers of a deer.
Let trial be made . . . whether the head of a deer that
by age is more spitted may be brought again to be more
branched. Bttcoii, Nat Hist., § 757.
spittent. An obsolete past participle of spit"^.
spitterl (spit'er), 7J. [< «pi<l + -erl.] 1. One
who puts meat on a spit. — 2. A young deer
whose antlers are spitted ; a brocket or pricket.
spitter- (spit'ftr), n. [< spi72 + -erl.] One who
spits, or ejects saliva from the mouth.
spittillg (spit'ing), n. [Verbal n. of spifi, r.]
1. The act or practice of expectoration. — 2.
An appearance seen on the surface of silver
which has been melted in considerable quan-
tity and then allowed to cool slowly, protuber-
ances like miniature volcanic cones being
formed just as the surface of the metal begins
to solidify, through the orifices of which oxygen
gas escapes, sometimes with sufficient violence
to throw out bits of the molten metal. This is
frequently seen in the cupellation of silver in the large
way. The same phenomenon is exhibited by melted plat-
inum, which, like silver, absorbs oxygen when melted, and
gives it olf again on cooling. Also called tpnuting. —
Spitting of blood. Same as hemoptyrii (which tee).
spitting-snake (spit'ing-snak), n. A venomous
serpent of the family Sajidee, Sepedon hsemacha-
te» of South Africa. This snake, when irritated, haa
the habit of spitting in spray the poisonous saliva which
has dribbled from its fangs.
spittle^ (spit'l), «. [Formerly also spettle; a
var. of upattle, conformed to the verb: see
spattle^, gpit'^, I'.] The mucous substance se-
creted by the salivary glands; saliva; saliva
ejected from the mouth.
Owre men, moued with greate hope and hunger of golde,
iMnnne ageine to swalowe downe tlieyr gpeme.
Peter Martyr (tr. in Eden's First Books on America, ed.
(Arber, p. 118).
The Priests abhorre the Sea, as wherein N'ilus dieth ;
and salt is forbiden them, which they call Typhous ipMU.
Purchtu, Pilgrimage, p. CT2.
To lick the spittle of. see lut.
spittle-t, ". See spital.
spittle-' (spit'l), H. [< ME. spytelle; dim. of
spit'^.] 1 . A kind of small spade. — 2. A spade-
like implement with a short handle,used in put-
ting cakes into an oven. [Prov. Eng.]
spittle'' (spit'l), I', t. [< spittle^, M.] To dig or
stir witli a small spade. [Prov. Eng.]
spittle-fly (spit'1-fli), n. A spittle-insect.
spittle-insect (spit'l-ln'sekt), n. Any one of
several different homopterous insects of the
family Cercopidie, as species of Aphrophora,
Lepyronia, and I'tijelus; a spit-bug or froghop-
per. The larvie and papae live upon plants, enveloping
and entirely concealing themselves within a mass of
frothy material which they secrete, sometimes called
load'tpittU or frog ipit and cudroospit. See cut under
/roghopper.
spittle-of-the-stars (spit '1-ov- the -starz'), n.
.See Moxti><\ 2.
Spittly (spit'li), a. [< spittle^ + -i/l.] Con-
taining or resembling spittle ; slimy.
spittoon (wpi-tSu'). n. [Irreg. < gpit^ + -oon.'i
A vessel fbr receiving what is spit from the
mouth; especially, a round vessel of metal,
earthenware, or porcelain, made in the form of
a, funnel at the top, and having a bowl-shaped
compartment beneath, which may be partly
filled with water; a cuspidor.
A gentleman with his hat on, who amused himself by
spitting altcniately into the tpittcon at the right hand side
of the stove and the spittoon on the left.
Dickent, Martin Chuzzlewit, xTi.
spit-venom (spit'ven'om), n. [< spit- + ith-
om. Cf . spit-poison.'] f'oisODOus expectoration.
[Hare.]
The spU-tenom of their poisoned hearts breaketh out to
the annoyance of others. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, V. 11. i 2.
spitz (spits), n. [< G. spiU, also siiiUhund, a
Pomeranian dog, so called from its pointed
muz/.le; < «pif^c, a point: see »pifl.] A spitz-
dog.
spitz-dog (spits'dog), n. [A half translation of
G. «;<i7r/i««rf, a Pomeranian dog, < «;)i7ze, a point,
+ hund, a dog, = E. hound.] A variety of dog,
so called from the pointed muzzle ; a Pomera-
nian dog. See Pomeranian.
spitzflute (spits'flOt), n. [< G. spitze, a point,
+ E. fliitei.] In organ-buildinif, a stop having
conical pipes of metal, which give a thin, some-
what reedy tone.
spitzkasten (spits'kas-ten), n. [G., < spitze. a
point, -(- kasleii, a chest: see chest^.] In miM-
iiig, a pointed box; a V-vat: a German word
frequently used by writers in English on ore-
dressing.
5845
Spiza (spi'za), «. [NL. (Bonaparte, 1828), < Gr.
a~i^a, a fincli, < amC,eiv, pipe, chirp. Cf . spinh^.]
A genus of f ringilline birds, including a number
of types, and hence variously limited, (ai) That
genus of painted finches of which the common iudigo-blrd
of the United States is the type : synonymous with Passe-
rina or Hortulanus of Vieiliot, and Cyanospiza of Baird.
See cut under indigo-bird. (6) Now employed for the silk-
buntings, of wliich the common dickcissel or black-throat-
ed bunting, S. americana, is the type : synonymous with
Dickcissel {S/ixa americana),
Euspiza. The male is 65 inches long, ID J in extent of wings ;
the plumage is smooth and compact ; the upper parts are
grayisli-brown, streaked with black on the back ; tlie low-
er are whitish, shaded with gray, tinged with bright yellow
on the breast, and marked with a lai-ge black tliroat-patch ;
the edge of the wing is yellow ; the lesser and middle cov-
erts are bright-chestnut ; the lower eyelid is white, the su-
perciliaiy stripe yellow, and the bill dark horn-blue. The
female is similar, but plainer, being less tinged with yellow,
and having no black throat-patch, but a few black maxil-
lary or pectoral streaks. This bunting is widely but irreg-
ularly distributed in the United States, especially in the
eastern half, al>ounding in some districts, but seldom or
never seen in ottiers apparently as eligible. It nests on the
ground or in a low bush, and lays four or five plain pale-
greenish eggs (rarely speckled). The nuptial male has a
auaint monotonous ditt^, three notes of which are ren-
ered in the name dickcissel — a word which originated in
Illinois, and crept into print in or about 1876.
Spizaetus(8pi-za'e-tus),>i. [NL.( Vieiliot, 1816),
<Gr. ffiriCa, a finch (see Spiza), + arrrff, an eagle.]
A genus of Faleonidm, including hawks or small
eagles having the feet feathered to the bases
of the toes, the tail square or little rounded,
the wings short and rounded, and the head, in
the typical species, with a long occipital crest.
The genus is sometimes restricted to such birds as the
crested eagle of Brazil, S. manduyti or .S. ornatus; in a
wider sense, it includes 12 or more species of Central and
South America, Africa, India and the Indo-Malayan re-
gion, Celebes, Formosa, and Japan. Also Spizaetos.
Spizella (spi-zel'a), «. [NL. (Bonaparte, 1832),
<. Spiza + dim. -e(la.] A genus of small Amer-
ican finches or sparrows, the chipping-spar-
rows, having the wings pointed, the tail long
and emarginate, the back streaked, and the un-
der parts not streaked in the adult. It includes
several of the most f amil iar sparrows of the United States,
M the chippy or chip-bird, S. sacialis or domestica; the
field-spsTTOw, S. agrestis or pusUla; the tree-sparrow, S.
numtieula ; the clay-colored l>unting and Brewer's bunt-
ing, .S'. pallida and 5, breweri; and the black-chinned spar-
row, S. atrigjdaris. See cut under Jield-sparrow.
Splzellins (spi-ze-li'ue), n.jil. [NL., < Spizella
+ -!««.] A subfamily of Fringillidsp, contain-
ing a large number of small spotted and streaked
sparrows. None of those which occur in the
United States have any red, blue, or orange
colors. S. F. Baird, 1858.
spizelline (spi-zel'in), o. [< Spizella + -incl.]
Kesembling or related to the chipping-sparrow;
of or pertaining to the Spizellins.
spizine (spl'zin), a. [< Spiza + -in«l.] Re-
sembling or related to the finches or buntings
of the genus Spiza.
Splachneae (spUk'ne-e), n. pi. [NL., < Splach-
num + -cee.] A tribe of bryaceous mosses,
named from the genus Sj)tocAnu»». Also i^^acA-
nci, Sjilachiiacese.
Splacnntim (splak'num), n. [NL. (Linneeus,
17r)3), < Gr. a7r?Myxv<n', some cryptogamous
plant.] A genus of bryaceous mosses, giving
name to the tribe Splarliiiese. They are loosely ces-
pitose, mostly annual plants, with soft, slender branches,
which besrdlstant lower and tufted upperleaves, all with
very loose areolation. The capsule is long-pedicelled,
small, oval or short-cylindrical, provided with a peristome
of sixteen linear onuige-colorcd teeth. There are 6 North
American species.
splaiet, '•. An old spelling of splay.
splanadet, «• Same as esplanade.
splanchnapophysial (splangk'na-po-fiz'i-al),
a. [<. s]>l(nicliuit]i(i])hijsis + -al.] Of or pertain-
ing to It splanclinapophysis.
splanchnapophysis (splangk-na-pof'i-sls), n. ;
pl.splancliHapuphyses{-sez). [NL.,<Gr. (jn-Xdy;);-
splash
vov, pi. airUyxva, viscera, + aTr6i^iQ, an off-
shoot: see apophysis.] An apophysis or out-
growth of a vertebra on the opposite side of the
vertebral axis from a neurapophysis, and inclos-
ing or tending to inclose some viscus. See cut
under hypapophysis.
splanchnic (splangk'nik), a. and n. [< Gr.
a-KAayxviiiOQ, pertaining to the viscera, < aTrlayx-
vov, pi. cTrlayxva, viscera, bowels.] I. a. Of or
pertaining to the viscera or entrails; visceral;
intestinal; enteric— Splanchnic cavities, the vis-
ceral cavities of the body,— Splanchnic musculature,
the muscles of the splanchnopleure ; that one of the two
chief layers of coelomatic muscles which surrounds the
alimentary canal : contrasting with somatic musculature,
or tlie muscles of the somatopleure. — Splanchnic nerves,
three nerves from the thoracic sympathetic ganglia — the
first or great, the second lesser or small, aiid the third
smallest or inferior. The first goes to the semilunar gan-
glion, the second to tlie cccliac plexus, the third to the re-
nal and coeliac plexuses. — Splanchnic wall, the splanch-
nopleure.
II. n. A splanchnic nerve.
splanchnoccele (splangk'no-sel), n. [< Gr.
a-K/.dyxvov, pi. a-^-ayxva, the viscera, + /coiXoc,
hollow.] A visceral cavity; specifically, the
visceral cavity of a brachiopod, an anterior di-
vision of which is the brachiocoele or brachial
chamber, and the lateral parts of the posterior
division of which are the pleurocoeles.
splanchnographer (splangk-nog'ra-f^r), n. [<
splanchnograph-y + -er'^-.] One who describes
viscera ; a writer on splanehnography.
splanclmograpllical (splangk-no-graf 'i-kal), a.
[< splanclino<iraph-y + -ie-al.] Descriptive of
viscera; pertaining to splanehnography.
splanehnography (splangk-nog'ra-fi), n. [<
Gr. OT/(i};fiov, pi. <Tn- j.o) ;yi'a, viscera, + -ypa^ia, <
ypa(^etv, write.] Descriptive splanchnology; a
description of or a treatise on viscera.
splanchnological (splangk-no-loj'i-kal), a. [<
spUiuchnoliiii-ij + -ic-al.] Of or pertaining to
splancliiiolog}'.
splanchnologist (splangk-nol'o-jist), n. [<
splaiH-hiiiitixj-y + -ist.] One who is versed in
splanchnology.
splanchnology (splangk-nol'o-jl), «. [< Gr.
ffn'/aj'^TOi', pi. CTrlayx^'a, viscera, 4- -Aoy/o, < Ic-
yeiv, speak : see -ology.] The sum of scientific
knowledge concerning viscera.
splanchnopleura (splangk-no-plo'rs), «. ; pi.
spl(uichiiit]ilcurie (-re). [NL. : see splanchno-
pleure.] Same as splanchnopleure.
splanchnoplenral (spIangk-no-pl6'ral), a. [<
splanchnopleure + -al.] Forming the walls of
viscera; constituting or pertaining to the
splanchnopleure.
splanchnopleure (splangk'no-plor), n. [< NL.
spltineliuojilcura, < Gr. OTzMyxvov, pi. OTrWdyxva,
viscera, -r Tv/^vpa, the side.] The inner or vis-
ceral layer of mesoderm, formed by the split-
ting of the mesoblast, separated from the soma-
topleure by tlie perivisceral space, coelomatic
cavity, or cceloina. It is formed in those animals
whose germ becomes four-layered in the above manner,
and then constitutes the musculature and connective tis-
sue of the intestinal tract and its annexes — the lining
epithelium being derived from the hypoblast. Thus, the
connective tissue and muscular substance of the lungs,
liver, kidneys, etc., and the thickness of the walls of the
stomach, bowels, etc., are all splanchnopleural. The term
is contrasted with somatopleure.
Splanchnopleuric (splangk-no-plo'rik), a.
[< splanehtiopleiire + -ic.] Same as splanchno-
pleural. Foster, Elements of Embryology, i. 2.
splanchnoskeletal (splangk-no-skel'e-tal), a.
[< splanehnoskeleton + -at.] Skeletal or hard,
as a part of a viscus ; forming a part of, or relat-
ing to, the splanchnoskeleton.
Splanchnoskeleton (splangk-no-skel'e-ton), ».
[NL., < tJr. aK?-dyxvov, pi. airfMyxva, visceia, +
aKt'/.c-ov, skeleton.] The splanchnic or vis-
ceral skeleton ; those hard parts of the body,
collectively considered, which are developed
in special relation with the viscera, and serve to
support or contain them. Such are teeth, branchial
arches, tracheal rings, bonelets of the eyeball and heart,
penis-bones, etc. "riie term originated with Carus, 1828,
and acquired currency through Owen and others. Its dif-
ference of moaning from scUrosketeton is not clear in all
its applications.
splanchnotomical (splangk-no-tom'i-kal), a.
[< splanchnotom-y + -tf-a?.J, Anatomical in re-
spect of the viscera ; of or pertaining to splauch-
notomy.
Splanchnotomy (splangk-not'o-mi), n. [< Gr.
air^Myxvov, pi. anidyxya, viscera, + -ro/iia, < rifi-
veiv, ra/jciv, cut.] Dissection of the viscera;
the anatomy of the viscera: more commonly
called lisceral anatomy.
splash (splash), r. [A var. of plash'^, with un-
orig. s, regarded as intensive; perhaps sug-
splash
5846
rstedbythe appar. relation ot smash to mn«/ii.]
trans. 1. To spatter or bespatter, as with
water, water ami mud, or any other liquid.
In carriiig a partridge, I splashed her with gravy from
head to foot. Sidney Smith, To Francis Jelf rey, 1806.
2. To dash or throw about in splotches: as, to
splash dirty water on one. — 3. To accomplish
with splashing or plashing.
The cok confesseth emynent cupide
Wlien he his gemmy tail begyniieth splay.
Palladius, Husboiidrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 2a
To spleyen out hire leves on brede
Ageyn the sunne.
Lydgate, Complaint of the Blacic Knight, I. S3.
2. To dislocate, as a horse's shoulder. — 3. In
arch., to slope ; form with an oblique angle, as
the jambs or sides of a window. See the noun.
The stout, round-sterned little vessel ploughed and splayl (splii), >i. [< sn/flul, «;.] 1. Spread: tlare.
sptorA^.i Its way up the Hudson, with great noise and lit- „ , . . „ , , !'>="•)"<•*'=•
Ue progress. /raw, Knickerbocker n 179 . . '' '>i"i">>enng in the corners of a bit, care should be
J, ,r„ <._.-i.i 1 1 jj i. taken to preserve the sjrfai/ throughout to the extremity,
4. lo ornament with splasheddecoration.=Syn. by properly inclining the face of the hammer
1 and 2. Spitt, etc See rfopl "
n. intrans. 1. To dabble or spatter about
in water or other liquid ; dash or spatter water
about.
It is in knowledge as in swimming ; he who flounders
and splasher on the surface makes more noise, and attracts
more attention, than the pearl-diver who quietly dives in
quest of treasures to the bottom.
Irving, Knickerbocker, p. 211.
2. To fall with or make a plashing sound.
The heavy burden splashed in the dark blue waters.
Scott, Rob Roy, ixxi.
Splashing ft'emltUS, fremitus caused by succussion.
splash (splash), n. [< sjilash, «'.] 1. Water or
other liquid thrown upon anything. — 2. Anoise
or effect as from water or mud thrown up or
dashed about.
The splash and stir
Of (oantains spouted up and showering down.
Tennyson, Princess, 1.
8. A spot of dirt or other discoloring or dis-
figuring matter; a blot ; a daub.
Her [Rachel's] very mode ot writing is complex, nay, is
careless, incondite ; with dashes and splashes, . . . with
involutions, abruptnesses, whirls, and tortuosities.
Carlyle, Varnhagen von Ense's Memoirs.
4. A spot or plash of color strongly differing
from the surroimding color, as on the hide of a
horse, cow, or other animal. — 5. A complexion-
powder, generally the finest rice-flour, used by
women to whiten their necks and faces. — 6. A
shad- wash
of
Morgans, Mining Tools, p. 49.
2. In arch., a sloped surface, or a surface which
makes an oblique angle with another, as when
Plan of Portal of Notre Dame, Paris, j j f, splays.
the opening through a wall for a door or win-
dow widens from the position of the door or
window proper toward the face of the wall. A
large chamfer is called a splay.
Among the most marked of these [defects in design of
fa?ade of Rheims Cathedral) is the projection of the great
gortal jambs, with their aichivolts, beyond the faces of the
uttresses, and the continuation of the splays to the outer
faces of the jambs, so that those of the adjoining portals
almost meet in a sharp edge.
C. H. Moore, Gothic Architecture, p. 110.
3. In fort., the outward widening of an embra-
sure from the mouth toward the exterior of the
parapet. See embrasure — Splay cut, an inclined
cut on the edges of fancy brickwork.
splayl (spla),«. [<.splay^,v.^ Spread or spread-
ing out; wide and flat; turned outward; hence,
clumsy ; awkward. See splay-foot, splay-mouth.
In the German mind, as in the German language, there
does seem to be something splay, something blunt-edged,
unhandy, and infelicitous.
M. Arnold, Literature and Dogma, Pref.
splay'-^t (spla), v. t. [A var. of sjjo^l, prob. by
contusion with spZoyl.] Sameasspau. Shak.,
M. for M.,ii. 1.243.
+ -ed2.] Hav-
splash-board (splash'bord), «. A guard
wood, or an iron frame covered with leather,
in front of a wheeled vehicle or a sleigh, to
protect the occupants from the splashing of the „. ^ „.
horses' feet; a dash-board or dasher. The guard splayed (spiad)~*a.' r< svlav^
placed over a wheel (on a passenger railroad-car, at the my a snlnv form • snlnv
ends of the steps to protect them from dirt thrown by the '^K a splay torm, splay.
wheels) is also sometimes called a splash-board. Also Spiayer (spla er), n. In tile-manuf, a segment
tplashrjnng. of a cylinder used as a mold for curved tiles, as
He filled the glass and put it on the splashboard of the ridge- or hip-tiles, drain-tiles, etc.
wagonette. IT. B«a«*, In Far Lochaber, xix. splay-foot (spla'fut), n. and a. [< splayl +
splasher (splash'er), M. [< splash + -<rl.] 1. foot.'] I. n. A broad flat foot turned more or
One who or that which splashes. Specifically
— 2. That which is splashed; a contrivance
to receive splashes that would otherwise deface
the thing protected, (o) A guard placed over loco-
motive-wheels to protect persons on the engine or the
machinery from the wheels, or from wet or dirt thrown
up by them, (b) A guard over a wheel to prevent the
splashes from entering the vehicle, or to protect the gar-
ments of the riders on entering, (c) A screen placed be-
hind a wash-stand to protect the wall from water that
may be splashed.
splash-wing (splash' wing), re. Same as splash-
hoard.
splashy (splash'i), a. [< splash + -j/i.] Full
of dirty water; wet; wet and muddy; plashy. snlav-mouth (sola
Not far from hence is Sedsemore awatrv «iZ„«l,„,,lo... °i''''*0( luoutn J,hpia
less outward. A splay-foot may be only coarse omn- „„i„„_f„n_ / i- ,fi -^ J
comely, but in extreme cases it amounts to the deformity SpleeniUlly (splen ful-l), adv
known as talipes valgus, a kind of clubfoot.
II. a. Having splay-feet; splay-footed.
Tho' still some traces of our rustic vein
And splay-foot verse remain'd and will remain.
Pope, Imitation of Horace, Epistle 1, 1. 271.
splay-footed (spla'fufed), a. [Early mod. E.
also splea-footed ; as splay-foot + -ed'^.] Having
splay-feet.
Salutes from a splay-footed witch, . . .
Croaking of ravens, or the screech of owls.
Are not so boding mischief.
Ford, Broken Heart, v. 1.
spleenwort
2. Ill humor; melancholy; low spirits.
He affected to complain either of the Spleen or his
Memory. Congreve, Way of the World, i. 6.
Such [melancholic fancy) as now and then presents it-
self to musing, thoughtful men, when their spirits are
low, and the spleen hath gotten possession of them.
Up. Atterbury, Sermons, I. xiL
3. Bad temper; anger; ill-will; malice; latent
spite; grudge: as, to vent one's ^/.i/een/ a fit of
the sj)leen.
A hare-brain'd Hotspur, govern 'd by a spleen.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., v. 2. 19.
The Dauphin all this while, though outwardly having
made a Reconciliation with the Duke of liurgoigne, yet
inwardly bearing a Spleen against him, intended nothing
so much as his Destruction. Baker, Chronicles, p. 174.
4t. A sudden impulse, fancy, or caprice; a
whim.
A thousand spleens bear her a thousand ways.
Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 907.
5t. Mood; disposition.
Haply my presence
May well abate the over-men-y spleen.
Shak., T. of the S., Ind., i. 137.
They [the Presbyterians] came to that Spleen at last
that they would rather enthral themselves to the King
again than admit their own Brethren to share in their
Liberty. Jlftifon, Ans. to Salmasius.
In the spleent, in low spirits ; out of sorts ; in ill humor.
— On the spleent, on the impulse of the moment; sud-
denly; impulsively.
Wordes which seid are on the splene.
In faire langage peynted ful plesantlye.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 62.
spleen (splen), v. [< spUen, »i.] I. trans. 1.
To deprive of the spleen ; extirpate the spleen
of. Animals subjected to this operation tend to become
fat, and may live for an indefinite period apparently in
perfect health.
Animals gpleened grow salacious. Arbwthnot.
2t. To anger ; annoy. Soger North, Examen,
p. 326.— 3t. To dislike; hate.
Sir T. Wentworth spleen'd the bishop for offering to
bitng his rival into favour.
Bp. Uacket, Abp. Williams, II. 83. (Dames.)
II. intrans. To have a loathing ; become dis-
gusted. [Rare.]
It is fairly sickenin' ; I spleen at it.
R. T. Cooke, The Congregationalist, Jan. 1, 1886.
spleenatlveti «• An obsolete form of spleni-
tivc.
spleenful (splen'fiil), a. [< spleen + -ful.'] Full
of or displaying spleen ; angry; peevish; fret-
ful; melancholy; hypochondriacal; splenetic.
Myself have calm'd their spleenful mutiny.
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iU. 2. 128.
In a spleenful
manner.
spleenish (sple'nish), a. [Formerly also, erro-
neously, splenish; < spleen + -/«/il.] Spleeny;
affected with spleen ; arising from disordered
spleen; ill-natured.
But here yourselves you must engage
Somewhat to cool your spleenuh rage.
Drayton, Nymphldia.
spleenishly (sple'nish-li), adv. In a spleenish
manner. Imp. Diet.
spleenishness (sple'nish-nes), re. The state of
Im2). Diet.
being spleenish.
Not far from hence is Sedgemore, a watry, splashy place. °^,'tt!^^,"i^""'',fti,"^''?'™°.?'^^' "' ^ '^f^'^^^^ ^'"^W Spleenitivet, o. " An obsolete form of splenitwe.
i)e/o«. Tour through Great Britain, n. 34 (havies) ?' wide mouth; also, the mouth stretched wide or.l««v.l-^™ /•,„i^„n„„N „ r/ .„,.... V ,..-,
in a grin or grimace.
Hadst thou but, Janus like, a face behind,
To see the people what splay-mouths they make.
Dryden, tr. of Persius's Satires, i. 116.
splay-mouthed (spla'moutht), a. Having a
splay-mouth ; malang the mouth splay, as in a
grimace.
These solemn, splay -mmith'd gentlemen. Madam, says I,
only do it to improve in natural philosophy.
Tom Brown. Works, II. 271. (Davies.)
spleen (splen), n. [< ME. splene, splen, < OF.
espleu, esplein, esplain, esplien, esplene = It.
splene, < L. splen, < Gr. aTz7.7]v = L. lien (for orig.
*spUen) = Skt. plihan (for orig. *splihan), the
spleen.] 1. A non-glandular, highly vascular
organ which is situated in the abdomen, on
the left side, in connection with the digestive
organs, and in which the blood undergoes cer-
tain modifications in respect of its corpuscles.
This viscus has no proper secretion and no excretoiy
duct, and in these respects agrees with the thyroid, spleen-sickt, a
thymus, and adrenal bodies. In man the spleen is of an Snlpnpfir. /oji
oblong nattened form, dark livid-red in color, soft and ?1"'^"«'"'- "^
friable in texture, and extremely vascular. It lies in the
left hypochondriac region, capping the cardiac end of the
stomach. The spleen has been supposed to be the seat
of various emotions. Its enlargement or induration, un-
der malarial poisoning, is known as ague-cake. See cut
under pancreas.
I thought their spleens would break ; they laugh'd us all
Out of the room. Beau, and Fl., Maid's Tragedy, iii. 2.
splatt, v. t. [Early mod. E. splette; < ME.
splatten ; a secondary form of split (?).] To
split; splay; extend; spread out.
Splatte that pyke. Babees Book (E. E. T. 8.), p. 265.
Pitche it not downwarde.
Nor splatte it not to flatte.
Palladius, Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 48.
splatch (splach), n. and v. A variant of splotch.
splatter (splat'Sr), v. i. and t. [Prob. a var. of
spatter, like splutter as related to sputter. Cf.
Sjilot.] To make a noise, as in dashing water
about; splash; cast or scatter about.
Dull prose-folk Latin splatter.
Burns, To William Simpson.
splatter-dash (splat'fer-dash), «. An uproar;
a bustle. [Colloq.]
splatterdashes (splat'^r-dash-ez), n.^)/. Same
as spatterdashes.
splatter-faced ( splat 'fer-fast), a. Broad-or flat-
faced.
Oh, lawk : I declare I be all of a tremble ;
My mind it misgives me abtjut Sukey Wimble,
A splatter-faced wench, neither civil nor nimble I
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, I. iv. (song).
splayl (spla), V. t. [< ME. splayen, .iplaien,
spleyen ; by apheresis from display : see dis-
play.] It. To display; unfold; spread out;
nence, to cut up ; carve : as, to S2)lay a fish.
spleeniess (splen'les), a. [< spleen + -less.]
Having no spleen; hence, free from anger, ill
humor, malice, spite, or the like; kind; gentle.
A spleeniess wind so stretcht
Her wings to waft us. Chapman, Odyssey, xii. 247.
spleen-pulp
(splen pulp), n.
The proper sub-
stance of the
spleen, contain-
ed in the areoles
of the trabecu-
lar tissue of that
organ, forming
a soft mass of
a dark reddish-
brown color, like
grumous blood.
Also splenic pulp
or tissue.
tns.
spleen-stone
(splen'ston), n.
Same aajade^ or
nephrite.
spleenwort
(splen'wert), re.
Spleenworts.
1. frond of AsplfJiiutn efiftteutn; 3, frond
of Asplenium Adiantunt-nigrum ; 3,
frond ot Asplenium septentriottaU.
spleenwort
Any fern of the genus Aspleniiim. The ebony
spleenwort Is A. ebeneum; the maidenhair spleenwort Is
A. Tnchmnanei ; the wall-rue spleenwort Is A. Ruta-mu-
raria.
spleeny (sple'ni), a. [< sjyleen + -//l.] Full of
M- (•haracterized by spleen, (o) Angry; peevish;
fretful; Ultenipered ; irritable; fiery; Impetuous.
The heart and harbourd thoughts of ill make traitors,
Kot gpleeni/ speeches. Fletcher, Valentinian, ii. 3.
(6) Slelancholy, or subject to flte of melancholy; aSected
with nervous complaints.
splegett, «. [Appar. an erroneous form of
pledget.} A wet cloth for washing a sore. Imp.
Diet. -"
splenadenoma (sple-nad-e-no'ma), n. [NL., <
Gr. (y-'/.r/r, spleen, + NL. adenoma,'q. v.] Hyper-
plasia of the spleen-pulp.
splenalgia (splf -nal'ji-S), n. [NL.. < Gr. avTi^,
spleen. + a/r^og, pain.] Pain in the spleen or
Its ref;ion.
splenalgic (splf-nal'jik), a. [< splenalgia +
-If. J .\ffected with splenalgia; having pain in
the spleen or splenic region.
splenal^ (sple-nal'ji), H. Same as splenalgia.
splenativet, «. See splenitive.
splenauxe (sple-nak'se), h. [< Gr. (wXi^, the
spleen, + aifv = al^>iatc, increase, amplifica-
tion : see aiixesis.;} Enlargement of the spleen.
splencTllar (spleng'ku-lSr), a. [< splencule +
-or-i.] Having the character of a splenculus:
pertaining to a splenculus.
splencule (spleng'kul), «. [< NL. splenculus.-]
A splenculus or splenule.
splenculus (spleng'ku-lus), n. ; pi. splenculi (-li).
[NL., dim. of L. splen, < Gr. a1^^v, spleen : see
spleen.] A little spleen; an accessory or sup-
plementary spleen; a splenule; a Uenculus.
t5uch splenic bodies are frequently found in as-
sociation or connection with the spleen proper,
splendencyt (splen'den-si), n. [< splenden(t)
+ -ci^.] Splendor, hiachin. Dumb Knight, i.
(Dacies.)
splendent (splen'dent), a. [Formerly also »pte«-
danl; = OF. esplendent = Sp. Pg. esplendente =
It. splendente, < L. splenden(t-)s, ppr. of splen-
dere. Hence « L. splendere) also splendor,
*ptendtrf,re«f)/«Kfenf,etc.] 1. Shining; resplenl
dent; beaming with Ught ; specifically, in en-
tom., mineral., etc., having a very bright me-
taUic luster; reflecting light intensely, as the
elytra of some beetles, or the luster of galena
Compare iridescent.
But wh»t t»lke I of thoM, when brlght«r ttwre*
Darken their $rlendant beanty with the scarTei
Of tU* Inaatiate linne?
Timei WkUlU (B. E. T. 8.), p. 1».
A tpUndmt ann shall never set.
B. Jonmm, Entertainment at Theolialdi.
2. Very con gpicnons; illugtrious.
Divers great and ipltndent fortunes.
Sir U. Wotton, Reliquix, p. 66.
splendid (splen'did), a. [< F. splendide = Sp.
esplendido = Pg. esplendido= It. spUmdido, < L.
splendidus, shining, brilliant, <«)ten<fere, shine:
see splendent.] 1. Shining; brilliant; specifl-
cally, in entom., having brilliant metallic col-
ors; splendent.— 2. Brilliant; dazzling; gor-
geous; sumptuous: as, a splendid palace; a
splendid procession.
Our atate of tpUndid vaaaalage. Mtttm, P. L, U. J52.
Indeede the entertainment Is very tplmdid. and not un-
Monable, considering the excellent manner of dreaains
their meate, and of the service. -ri»M,ig
Evelyn, Diary, Feb. 27, Iftu.
3. Conspicuous; illustrious; grand; heroic;
brilliant; noble; glorious: as, a splendid vic-
tory ; a splendid reputation.
^\ ".^ *• ' """^ «nimal, Jiitouttd In ashes, and pom-
pous in the grava Sir T. Brmnu. UrA-buriil, v.
^M^.''?''* ^."" '"*"' "ynderful and nUndid proof of
genius Is a great poem produced In a dvillMd ag^.
• ., Maemilay, Milton,
ye^.fl"®; exceUent; extremely good: as,
« tptendtd chance to make a fortune. [CoUoq. J
Mr. Zach diitlngalshed himself In Astronomy at Ootha.
h?fr Lt' *"• '»*™<'" ObservaU^ Utely wnrtracS
by the Duke. AM Mann, In &is; iM^^\S^
wb?nMXi"i!Sffi • • • «'>''r«'««coulddolt,
, iJfc»«H Martin Chuzriewlt, ix.
=»yn. t Moffni^eeni, Superb, etc. Ree mind.- 9 Eml-
nent, remarkable, distinguished, famous,
splendidioust (»plen-did'i-us), a. [< splendid
1- -t-uus.] Splendid ; magnificent. [Bare.]
A right exqnisite and tplmdidiout lady.
B. Jonton, Cynthia's Revels, v S.
splendidly (splcn'did-li), adv. In a splendid
manner, (a) BrfllUntly; gorgeously majtniflcentlv
5847
splendidness (splen'did-nes), n. The charac-
ter of being splendid ; splendor; magnificence.
Boyle.
splendiferous (splo«-dif'e-rus), a. [Irreg. <
L. fspkudor, brightness, + ferre = E. ftearl.]
Splendor-bearing; splendid; brilliant; gor-
geous. [Obsolete or colloq.]
O tyme most ioyfull, daye most gplendiferm!
The cierenesse of heaven now apereth vnto vs.
Bp. Bale, Enterlude of Johan Bapt. (1538).
Where is aU your gorgeous attire from Oriental climes?
I see the Dptendijerma articles arrive, and then they van-
ish forever. c. Reade, Hard Cash, ixviii.
splendor, splendour (splen'dor), «. [< OF
splettdeiir, splendor, F. splendeur = Pr. splendor
= op- Pg- esplendor != It. splendore, < L. splen-
dor, brightness, < splendere, shine: see splen-
dent.] 1. Great brightness; brilliant luster:
as, the splendor of the sun.
A sudden splendour from behind
riush'd all the leaves with rich gold-green.
Tennygon, Arabian Nights.
2. Great show of richness and elegance ; mag-
nificence; pomp; parade; grandeur; eminence:
as, the splendor of a victory.
Romulus, being to give laws to his new Romans, found
no better way to procure an esteem and reverence to
them than by first procuring it to himseU by tptendmir of
habit and retinue. SoiuK
A jplerulour of diction which more than satisfied the
highly raised expectation of the audience.
Macaulay, Warren Hastings.
?• I'^J',"'- ^J"" '" splendor, under sun. =Syn.
1. R^Mgtnee, BriUtanee, etc. See radiance, n-2 dS:
geousnesa, display, showiness, renown. See grand
splendorons, splendrous (splen'dor-us, -drus),
a. [< splendor + -ous.] Having splendor;
bright; dazzling. '
Your beauty la the hot and ipUndrmu sun.
Drayton, Idea, ivi.
splenectomlst (sple-nek'to-mist), n. [< sple-
nectomy + -ist.] One wlio has excised the
spleen.
splenectomy (sple-nek'to-mi), n. [< Gr. m7Jn>,
spleen, -I- t/iro/ii?, a cutting out.] In sura., ex-
cision of the spleen.
splenectopia (spIe-nek-to'pi-S), n. [NL., < Gr
<nr/.iiv, spleen, + ficroTrof, away from a place :
see ectemia.] Displacement of the spleen.
splenetic (sple-net'ik or splen'e-tik), a. and n.
[< ME. splenetyk; < OF. splenetique, F. spUnitique
= Sp. esplen^tico = It. splenetico,< LL. spleneti-
cus, < L. s^len, spleen : see spleen.] I. a. 1 Of
or pertaining to the spleen ; splenic— 2. Affect-
ed with spleen ; ill-humored; peevish; fretful;
spiteful. '
You humour me when I am sick,
why not when I am tplenitic/
Pope, Imit. of Horace, I. rll. 6.
-^^ *^' ?"**■ ***• ("*« •«'^). l"lt»We, petUsh,
waspish, snappiah, croaa, crusty, testy
n. n. If. The spleen.
It Mdveth flevme, and hclpeth tflmtMt •
Digestion It maketh, and een quyk. '
PaUadim, Uusbondrle (£ E. T. 8.X p. lOa
2. A person affected with spleen.
StteU, Tender Husband, ill. 1.
splenetlcal (splf-nefi-kal), a. [< splenetic +
-'II.] Same as splenetic. Sir B. Wotton.
splenetically (sple-net'i-kal-i), adr. In a mo-
ro.Hc, ill-tniniored, or splenetic manner.
splenetivet, a. An obsolete form of splenitive.
splenia. n. Plural of splenium.
splenial (sple'ni-al), a. and n. [< Gr. (m^ulov,
a bandage, compress.] I. a. In zool. and anat. :
(a) Acting like a splint or clasp; having the
character of a splenial : noting one of the pieces
or the compound ramus of th e ilo wer jaw of many
vertebrates below mammals. (6) Of or per-
taining to the splenium of the brain : as, the
si'lemal border of the corpus callosum. See
splenmm. (c) Of or pertaining to a splenius :
as^e s^Menial muscles of the neck.
n. n. The splenial element of the compound
mandible of a vertebraf* below a mammal n
HJIiS?* ~J'L'?^°°" *■".?* '" ■Ifsrent animals, as birds,
reptiles, and Ashes - applied like a splint to the inner side
of each ramus of the mandible, between the articular and
the denUry elementa. See cut under 0(i«in«
splenic (splen'ik), a. [< OF. splenique, F. spU-
ni'/ue = Sp. espUnico = Pg. esplenico, splenic^ =
n.splenico,^Ij. i^lenicm,<GT. anhrviKd^, pertain-
ing to the spleen, affected in the spleen, hypo-
chondnae,<CT7r>.;^, spleen: seespleen.] Oforper-
tainmgto the spleen: Mfsplenic vessels, nerves
^»fv"±®*®.V *P.'^»<' disease.- Splenic apoplexy'
Ka.i« S^^Iw'i'm »P'««"TSplenlc artery, the main
iou«:e of arterial blood-supply of the spleen, in man the
splenological
largest one of three branches of the celiac axis. See cut
^^»lSZ'""'i~^^^^'^'l O05>usclea. 9,^Ual^mn
corpuscles under corpusde.-iplenlc fever Same m
"'fvnant a.uhraa, (y,lnch see, under ant!7aI).-Splei^
flexure. See jkxure.- Splenic hernia, protrufionof
the spleen, or some part of it, through an openii.K In the ab-
dominal walls or the diaphragm.-Splenlc lymphatiM
the absorbent vessels of theTpleen, or^inati^Ke S*
enalsheathsandtrabecuteof thatOTgaTi.pSns I rouS
JaciJZ^t Sn^W.' "' *" """■"■ »"<• o-'d'-'g '» the tlfo
from the s^lf ? ni?° nerves, nerves of the spleen derived
Snlenic X^,i^ -5" V"^ *" Pn^un'ogiistric nerve.-
bPiemc plexus, ^ee plexits. — Svleolc DuId or ttKsim
Same as spleen-pulp-Splenic velni, veta^wWch co,!:
vey from the spleen to the portal vein^the blood which C
been modified in character in the spleen "'°°"'^'"''" '»^
splemcal (splen'i-kal), a. [< splenic + -aU
Same as splenic. [Kare ]
sPleniculus (sple-nik'u-lus), «.; pi. sple,iiculi
A splenculus °^^-^^'"'' ^P^^^"'- ««« ^'««»-]
splenii, ». Plural of splenius.
splenisation, n. See splenization.
spleniserrate (sple-ni-ser'at), a. [< NL. spleni-
IIS + serratiis.] Consisting of, represented bv.
or pertaining to the splenii and serrati muscles
ot the back: as, the spleniserrate group of mus-
cles. Cones and Shute, 1887.
spleniserrator (sple"ni-se-ra'tor), «. ; pi sple-
mserratores (-ser-a-to'rez). [NL. : see splm&er-
rate.] ihe spleniserrate muscles, collectively
considered as a muscular group, forming the so-
called "third layer" of the muscles of the back
composed of the splenius capitis, splenius colli'
serratus posticus superior, and serratus posticus
inferior. Coues and Shute, 1887.
splenisht, a. An obsolete erroneous spelline
of spleen ish.
splenitic (sple-nit'ik), a. [< splenitis + -ic]
Inflamed, as the spleen ; affected with splenitis
splenitis (sple-ni'tis), n. [NL., < L. sp&ti, < Gr.
ottA//.., spleen, -f- -itis. Cf. Gr. oTr?j;viTic, fem
adj., of the spleen.] Inflammation of the
spleen.
splenitive (splen'i-tiv), a. [Also splenaNve,
and tormerly spleenative, spleenitive, spleneUve ■
irreg. < L. splen, spleen, 4- -it-ive.] If. That
acts or 18 fitted to act on the spleen.
..^?*^*'',^ ™^ '""* cunning philosophers were driuen to
studie Galen anew, and seeke spUiMHue simples to purge
their popular patienU of the opinion of their olde tradi-
tions and customes. Nashe, Pierce Penilesse, p. 73.
2. Splenetic; fiery; passionate; irritable.
For, though I am not splenitive and rash,
Yet have I something in nie dangerous.
Which let thy wiseness fear.
Shak; Hamlet, v. 1. 284
*Px?T°^'?S (sple'ni-um), «.; pi. splenia (-8).
[iNL., < Gr. oith^iov, a bandage, compress.] 'In
a»iaf., the thickened and rounded free border in
which the corpus callosum ends behind. Also
called pad. See cut I. under cerebral.
splenius (sple'ni-us), n. ; pi. splenii (-i). [NL,
(sc. musculus), < Gr. mrh/viov, a bandage, com-
press.] A broad muscle, extending from the
upper part of the thorax, on the back and side
of the neck, beneath the trapezius, in man the
Sf,™,".' "''*' '™'y.">e nuchal ligament and from the
spinouaprocesMB of the seventh cervical and of the first
rth^dorsal vertebne. In ascending the neck, it is divided
JS. ' . ."^'Ipo'-Co) the splenius capUis, inserted into
the occipital bone beneath the superior curved line and
Y„J Into the mastoid process, ami (6) the si^enius colli.
inserted into the transverse processes of some of the upper
cervical vertebra. The splenius of each side is separated
&om its fellow by a triangular interval, in which the com-
plexus appears. The splenii toKither draw the head back-
ward, and separately turn it a little to one side. See cut
under THw^^tfl.
splenization (sple-ni-za'shon), «. [< L. splen,
spleen, + -ize + -ation.] In pathol, a change
produced in the lungs by inflammation, in which
they resemble the substance of the spleen
Compare hepatization. Also spelled splenisa-
tion.
splenocele (sple'no-sel), »!. [< Gr. av?.^, spleen,
+ K^/.^, a tumor.] A splenic tumor ; a hernia
or protrusion of the spleen.
splenodynia (sjile-no-din'i-a), n. [NL., < Gr.
(Tn-/;/i', s\lU■(^n,-^■ bdivT/, pain.]"Pain in the spleen.
splenographical (sple-no-graf'i-kal), a. l<sple-
nograph-y + -ic-al.] Descriptive of the spleen ;
relating to splenography.
splenography (sple-nog'ra-fi), n. [< Gr. otX^,
spleen, -t- -ypa^ia, < ypafeiv, write.] The de-
scriptive anatomy of the spleen ; a treatise on
the spleen.
splenoid (sple'noid), a. [< Gr. 'onXnmnSin,
ajr/.i/i:u<ir/c, like the spleen, < aJ^^v, spleen, +
lidiK, form.] Like the spleen; having the ap-
pearance of a spleen, or of splenic tissue or sub-
stance.
splenological (8ple-no-lo,i'i-kaI), o. [<splenol-
o<J-y + -ic-al.] Of or pertaining to splenology ;
splenological
relating to the structure and function of the
spleen.
splenology (sple-nol'o-ji), n. [< Gr. ajt?.)/v,
spleen, + -h)}ia, < ?^yeiv, speak: see -olog;/.']
The science or knowledge of the spleen ; the
body of anatomical and physiological fact or
doctrine respecting the structure and function
of the spleen.
splenomalacia (sple'no-ma-la'si-a), M. [NLi.,
< Gr. a-'/.r/v, spleen, + fia'/.aKia, softness, < jiaka-
Kof. soft.] Softening of the spleen.
splenopathy (sple-nop'a-thi), »i. [< Gr. oTclriv,
spleen, + rrd(fof, suffering.] Disease of the
spleen.
splenotomical (sple-no-tom'i-kal), a. [< sple-
nolom-y + -ic-al.} Anatomical as regards the
spleen ; pertaining to splenotomy.
Splenotomy (splf-not'o-mi), n. [< Gr. aTzli/v,
spleen, + -Tofiia, < ri/xveiv, Ta/ulv, cut.] Sple-
nological anatomy; incision into or dissection
of the spleen.
splent { splent), n. An obsolete or dialectal form
of splint.
splenter (splen'tfer), n. An obsolete or dialec-
tal form of splinter.
splenule (splen'ul), «. [< NL.'splenulus, dim. of
L. splen, < Gr. ottTJiv, the spleen: see spleen.'^
A splencule, or little spleen ; a rudimentary
spleen. Oiven.
splettet, r. See splat.
spleuchan, spleughan (splo'chan), n. [< Gael.
It. spUuchan, a pouch.] A poucfi or pocket ; es-
pecially, a tobacco-pouch.
Ye ken Jock Hornbook i* the clachan ;
Deil mak his king's- hood in [into] a spleuchan !
Burns, Death and Dr. Hornbook.
splice (splis), t'. t. ; pret. and pp. spliced, ppr.
splicing. [= OP. *esplisser, esjyisser, F. episser
= Sw. splissa = Dan. splidse, spledse, spleise,
splice, < MD. splisscn, an assimilated form of
*splitseii, D. spUtsen, splice ; so called with ref.
to the splitting of the strands of the rope ; with
formative -«, < MD. splitten, splijten, D. splijten,
split, = MHG. splizen, G. spleissen, split: see
split. The G. splissen, splitzen, splice, may be
a secondary form of spleissen, split, and this it-
self the source of the OF. and the D., Sw., etc.,
fonns; or it may be from the D.] 1. To unite
or join together, as two ropes or the parts of a
rope by interweaving the strands of the ends ;
also, to unite or join together by overlapping,
as two pieces of timber, metal, or other mate-
rial. See splice, n.
When the long tale, renew'd when last they met,
Is spliced anew, and is unhnish'd yet.
Crabbe, Works, II. 164.
2. To join in marriage ; marry. [Slang.]
Alfred and I intended to be married in this way almost
from the first ; we never meant to be spliced in the hum-
dnmi way of other people. Charlotte Bronte, Villette, xl.
Spliced eye. Same as eye-splice.— Splicing-clamp, a
clamp used to hold the ends or parts to be spliced. — To
splice the main-brace. See main-brace.
splice (splis), «. l< S2)Uce, v.'i 1. The joining
together of two ropes or parts of a rope by in-
terwea\-ing part of the untwisted strands of
each, or the union so effected. The short splice is
used for a rope
where it is not
to pass through
blocks. The lonff
splice or round
^ice is made by
unlaying the ends
of ropes that are to
be joined together
and following the
lay of one rope with
a strand of the
other until all the
strands are used,
and then neatly tucking the ends through the strands so
that the size of the rope will not be changed. This occu-
pies a great extent of rope, but by the three joinings being
fixed at a distance from one another the increase of bulk is
diminished, hence it is adapted to run through the sheave-
hole of a block, etc. The eye-splice or riiiff-sptice forms a
sort of eye or circle at the end of a rope, and is used for
splicing in thimbles, etc. See cut under eye-splice.
2. The junction of two pieces of wood or
metal by overlapping and bolting or otherwise
fastening the ends; a scarf. See cut under
scarf, 2.
splice-grafting (splis'graf'ting), n. See graft-
iiig, 1.
splice-piece (spHs'pes'), re. On a railway, a fish-
plate or break-joint plate used where two rails
come together, end to end.
splicer (spli's^r), ». [< splice + -«rl.] One
who splices; also, a tool used in splicing.
splicing-fid (spli'sing-fid), n. Naut., a tapered
wooden pin or marlinspike used to open the
■sasssss
Splicing-shackle.
'h
Spline.
a, shaft : b, pul-
ley : f , spline or
feather fitted to a
groove in both a
and b.
Splices of Ropes.
, short splice ; t, long splice ; c,
eye-splice.
5848
strands of a rope in splicing. It is sometimes
driven by a mallet called a commander. E. H.
Knight.
splicing-hammer (spl5'sing-ham''fr), n. A ham-
mer with a face on one end and a point on the
other, used in splicing.
/;. H. Knight.
splicing-siackle (spli'-
sing-shak"l), «. A
shackle in the end of a
length of chain around which the end of a rope
is taken and spliced when the chain and cable
are to be secured together.
splindert, v. See splinter, v.
spline (splin), «. [Origin obscure.] 1. Inmao7(.,
a rectangular piece or key fitting into a groove
iu the hub of a wheel, and a sim-
ilar groove iu a shaft, so that,
while the wheel may slide endwise
on the shaft, both must revolve to-
gether. See cut under paint-mill.
— 2. A flexible strip of wood or
hard rubber used by draftsmen
in laying out broad sweeping
curves, especially in railroad
work. The spline has a narrow groove
on its upper edge to which can be anywhere attached the
projecting finger of the heavy weight which keeps it in
any desired position while the curve is being drawn,
spline (splin), V. t. [< spline, «.] To fit with a
spline.
splining-maclline (spli'ning-ma-sheu'O, ». A
machine-tool for cutting grooves and key-
seats.
splint (splint), ('. t. [= Sw. splinta, splinter; a
secondary, nasalized form of split : see split. In
sense 2 also dial, splent; < ME. splenten; from
splint, «.] 1. To splinter; shiver. Florio.
[Rare.] — 2. To join together, confine, or sup-
port by means of splints, as a broken limb,
splint (splint), re. [Formerly and still dial, also
splent; < ME. *spiinte, splynte, splent, splente
(> AF. esplente), a splint, = D. splint, a piece of
money, = MLG. splintc, LG. spUnte, splint (> G.
splint), a thin piece of iron, = Sw. splint, a kind
of spike, a forelock, flat iron peg (cf. sprint, a
forelock), = Dan. splint, a splinter; from the
yev\>: see splint, V. Ct. splinter.'] 1. Apiece
of wood or other substance split off; a splinter.
The speres splindered in splyntes.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 628.
2. A thin flexible strip of wood (or metal)
adapted to a particular use. Specifically— (o) One
of a number of strips woven together to make chair-seats,
baskets, etc. (fe) A lath. [Prov. Eng.] (c) A piece of wood
used to splice or stiffen a weak or broken beam, (d) One
of the thin strips of wood used in making matches,
brooms, etc. E. H. KnigM. (e) A tapering strip of wood
formerly used to adjust a shell in the center of the bore
of a mortar. E.U.Knifjht. (/t) In annor, a narrow plate
of steel overlapping another. Splints
were used for protecting parts of the
body where movement h.id to be al-
lowed for. See also cut under soUeret.
((/) In surff., a thin piece of wood or
other substance used to hold or con-
fine a broken bone when set, or to
maintain any part of the body in a fixed
position. See pistol-splint. ".
3. In anat., a bono acting as a "■ "' ^f''"'^-
splint; a splint-bone. — 4. In farriery : (a) Peri-
ostitis in the horse, involving the inner small
and the large metacarpal or cannon-bone, rare-
I5' also the corresponding metatarsal bones. It
is caused mainly by concussion, and sometimes
leads to lameness. (6) An exostosis of the
splint-bone of a horse; a bony callus or ex-
crescence on a horse's leg formed by periosti-
tis of a splint-bone.
Outward diseases, as the spavin, splent, ring-bone, wind-
gall.
Greene and Lodge, Looking Glass for Lond. and Eng.
5. Alburnum or sap-wood.
splintage (splin'taj), ». [< splint + -age.'] The
application or use of splints.
splint-armor (splint'ar"mor), n. Armor made
of splints. iieesplint,2(f)'.
splint-bandage (spliiif-
ban"daj), n. An immov-
able bandage, as a starch,
gum, plaster of Paris, etc.,
bandage.
splint-bone (splint'bon), n.
1. In anat.: (a) The sple-
nium of the mandible. See
splenium. (b) The fibula or
perone, which acts like a
splint to the tibia. — 2.
In farriery, a splint ; one
of the reduced lateral metacarpals or metatar-
sals of the horse, closely applied to one side of
Splint-amior, 15th cen-
tury. (FromVioUet-le-Duc's
"Diet, du Mobilier fran-
^ais.")
split
the back of the cannon-bone, or middle meta-
carpal or metatarsal. See cuts under cannon-
hone, rerissodactyla, pisiform, and soUdungu-
latc.
splint-bottomed (splint'bofumd), a. [< splint
-t- bottom -H -ed2.] Having the bottom or seat
made of splints, or thin strips of wood, gener-
ally interwoven: as, a splint-bottomed chair.
Also .split-bottomed.
splint-box (splint'boks), re. A form of frac-
ture-box consisting of a support for the leg
with hinged side strips, adjustable foot-piece,
and often a support for the thigh, which is at-
tached by means of a hinge so that it may be
adjusted.
splint-coal (splint'kol), re. A variety of cannel-
coal having a more or less slaty structure. See
slate-coal.
splintedt (splin'ted), a. [< splint + -ed^.] Com-
posed of splints : as, splin ted armor.
splinter (splin'tfer), v. [Formerly also splin-
der ; < ME. "spUnteren, splinderen, < D. splin-
teren, split, shiver, = Dan. splintre, splinter; cf.
Sw. splittra, separate, = G. spUttern, splinter ;
a freq. fonn of splint, ult. of split: see splint,
v., split, v.] I. trans. 1. To split or rend into
long thin pieces ; shiver.
"The postern gate shakes," continued Rebecca; "it
crashes — it is splintered by his blows."
Scott, Ivanhoe, xxix.
2t. To support by a splint, as a broken limb ;
splint.
This broken joint . . . entre&t her to splinter ; and . . .
this crack of your love shall grow stronger than it was
before. Shak., Othello, ii. 3. 329.
II. intrans. To be split or rent into long
pieces; shiver.
A lance that splinter'd like an icicle.
Tennyson, Geraint.
splinter (splin'ter), re. [Formerly also sjilen ter;
= MD. splinter, splenter, D. splinter; cf. MD.
spletter = Gr. splitter, a splinter: see splinter,
v.] A sharp-edged fragment of anything split
or shivered off more or less iu the direction
of its length; a thin piece (in proportion to its
length) of wood or other solid substance rent
from the main body ; a splint.
The gplenderis of thair spearis they break.
Baltle of Balnnnes (Child's Ballads, VII. 227).
Several have picked splinters of wood out of the gates
[of a church) for relics.
Addison, Remarks on Italy (Works, ed. Bohn, I. 369).
splinter-bar (splin'ter-bar), M. A cross-bar in
front of a vehicle to which the traces of the
horses are attached; also, the cross-bar which
supports the springs.
splinter-bone (splin'ter-bon), re. The fibula.
splintered (splin'terd), a. [< splinter + -ed"^.]
In her.: (a) Same as shivered. (6) Same as
ragged.
splinter-netting (splin'ter-net''''ing),)i. Xaut., a
netting formed of small rope rigged on a man-
of-war to prevent accidents from splinters and
falling spars in action.
splinter-proof (splin'ter-prof), a. Proof against
the splinters of bursting shells: as, splinter-
proof shelters.
splintery (splin'ter-i), a. [< splinter + -yl.3
1. Apt to splinter: as, splintery wood. — 2.
Consisting of or resembling splinters. — 3. In
mineral., noting a fractui'e of minerals when
the surface produced by breaking is slightly
roughened by small projecting splinters or
scales.
splint-machine (splint'ma-shen''), re. In wood-
working, a machine for planing thin veneers,
or riving slats or splints from a block of wood
for making matches, veneers, etc.; a slivering-
machine.
splint-plane (splint'plan), «. A plane for cut-
ting or riving from a board splints for boxes,
blind-slats, etc. ; a scale-board plane. E. H.
Knight.
split (split), V. ; pret. and pp. split (sometimes
splitted), ppr. splitting . [Not found in ME. or
AS., and prob. of LG. origin: = OFries. spKIa
= MD. D. splijten = MLG. spliten, LG. spliten
= MHG. splizen, G. spleissen = Dan. splitte,
split, = Sw. dial, splitta, split, separate, disen-
tangle (cf. Sw. splittra, separate). Connection
with spald^, split, cannot be made out: see
spald^. The E. dial, sprit, split, may be a var.
of split, or else of Sw. spricla, split. Hence
nit. splice, splint, sjylinter, etc.'] I. trans. 1. To
cleave or rend lengthwise ; separate or part in
two from end to end forcibly or by cutting ,-
rive; cleave.
split
He straight inform'd a lute,
Pat neck and frets to it ; of which a suit
He made of gpiitted quills.
Chapmatij Homeric Hymn to Hermes, 1. 83.
2. To tear asunder by violence ; burst ; rend :
as, to split a rock or a sail.
Do "t, and thou hast the one half of my heart ;
Do 't not, thou 8vlit'«t thine own,
Shak., W. T., I. 2. 349.
That Man makes me tplU my Sides with Laughing, he s
such a Wag. Steele, Tender Hushand, ii. 1.
3. To divide ; break into parts.
The parish of St. Fancras is splil into no less than 21
districts, each district having a separate and independent
"Board."
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II. 187.
4. To cause division or disunion in ; separate
or cause to separate into parts or parties, as
by discord.
In states notoriously irreligious, a secret and irresisti-
ble power gplits their counsels, and smites their most re-
fined policies with frustration and a curse. South.
5. In leaiher-mamif., to divide (a skin) paral-
lel with one of its siirfaces. See splitting-ma-
chine.— 6. In coal-mining, to divide (a current
of air passing through any part of a mine) so
that various districts, as required, shall be sup-
plied— To split bails. See Aotri.— To split one's
votes, in cases where an elector has more than one vote,
to vote for candidates of opposite parties.
He calls himself a Whig, yet hell split voles with a Tory
— hell drive with the Debarrys.
George Etiot, Felix Holt, li.
= Syn. 1-3. Tear, Cleave, etc. See rend^.
II. intrans. 1. To break or part lengthwise ;
suffer longitudinal division ; become divided or
cleft: as, timber that *p/»te easily. — 2. To part
asunder; suffer disruption; burst; break in
pieces: as, the sails s/ilit in the gale. — 3. Fig-
uratively, to burst with laughter. [CoUoq.]
Each had a gravity would make yon tpliL
Pope, Imit. of Horace, II. U. 131.
4. To differ ; separate ; disagree.
We . . . struck upon the corn-laws, where we split.
Tennyson, Audley Court.
5. To divulge secrets; inform upon one's ac-
complices; betray confidence, [slang.]
I might have got clear ofl, it I'd split upon her. . . .
Bat I didn't blab iU Diekeiu, Oliver Twist, xiv.
6. To vote for candidates of opposite parties.
See to split one's votes, under I.
Ill plump or III split for them as treat me the hand-
somest and are the most of what I callgentlemen ; that's
my idee. George EUal, Felix Holt, xl.
7. To run or walk with long strides. [Colloq.]
—To make (or let) all splitt. See makt^.
split (split), n. [= MD. splcle, D. spleet, a split,
rent, = G. spleinse, a splinter, = Dan. 8w. split,
a split, rent: see split, t).] If. A splinter; a
fragment; a sliver.
If I must totter like a wellgrowo oak.
Some under-shrubs shall iu my weighty fall
Be crush'd to spliU. Ford, 'TU Pity, v. 3.
2. One of a number of short flat strips of steel.
cane, etc., placed in vertical parallel order at
small distances from one another in a frame to
form the reed of a loom. The threads of the
web are passed through the splits, which beat
up the weft to compact the fabric. — 3. An
osier, or willow twig, split so as to have one
side flat, used in basket-making in certain parts
of the work. — 4. A lath-like strip of bog-fir
used in the rural districts of Ireland as a can-
dle or torch. — 6. pi. In leather-manuf., skins
which have been separated into two layers by
the cutting-machine. — 6. A crack, rent, or
longitudinal fissure. — 7. A division or sepa-
ration, as in a political party; a schism; a
breach: as, there is a s])lit in the cabinet.
The humiliation of acknowledging a split in their own
ranks. mnelsentk Century, XXVI. 740.
8. Same as split stroke. See split, p. a. — 9. In
printing, a small spindle placed IkiIow the car-
riage of a printing-press, about which leather
belts wind in opposite directions and lead to
opposite ends of the carriage. By turning this
spindle by a crank attached, the carriage is
moved in or out. — 10. pi. Among acrobats,
the feat of going down on the ground with
each leg extended laterally : as, to do the splits.
[Slang:]
He tanght me to put my leg round my neck, and I was
lost getting along nicely with the splits . . . when I left
aim. Mayhevc, London Lalxiur and London Poor, II. 560.
11. An occasion for splitting or dividing that
which could otherwise be claimed by one per-
son: thus, in faro, a split occurs when two
cards of the same value appear together, and
the better loses half of his stake.— 12. A split
5849
fish: as. Nova Scotia splits: a trade-name. —
13. A division of the air-current in a coal-
mine.— 14. A small or half bottle of aerated
water; also, a half glass of brandy or the like.
[Slang.]
"Well, that's your opinion," said Jack, finishing his
brandy. " Perhaps if you knew what it is to love a woman,
your opinion would be different. Have another «pit(.? I
must be off, then. " The Century, XXXVII. 210.
A split in the ranks. See ranks.— Full split. See
/««!.— To run like split, to mn very fast. [Colloq.]
split (split), j>. a. 1. Divided; separated; rent;
tractured. — 2. In bot., deeply divided into seg-
ments; cleft. — 3. Opened, dressed, and cured,
as fish : opposed to round Split cloth, in surg., a
bandage which consists of a central part and six or eight
tails. It is used chietly for the head.— Split cut, in glass-
engraving, a groove like a flute, except that it is cut
deeper.- SpUt draft. See dra.fti.— Split ferrule. See
ferndei.— Split gear, or split wheel, a gear or wheel
made in halves for convenience in attaching or removing
from the shaft. See cut under pai}it-jnill. — Split gland,
herring, leather. See the nouns. — Split moss, a moss
of the order Andreieaceee : so called from the manner in
which the capsule splits at maturity. .See Andreiea.—
Split pease, husked pease split for making pease-soup
or peasc-pnildiiin-— Split pelvis, a congenital deformity
in which the pubic bones are not united at the symphysis.
— Split ring, rod, ticket, etc. See the nouns-— Split
stroke or shot, in cr»quH and similar games, a stroke or
shot made in such a way that two balls placed in contact
are driven in different directions.
split-back (split'bak), a. Having a back made
of tliiii splits or laths: as, a split-back chair.
splitbeak (split'bek), n. A bird of the genus
Schizorhis; one of the plantain-eaters or toura-
cous : a book-name.
split-bottomed (split'bot'umd), a. Same as
sj>li)it-hiittitmed.
split-brilliant (split'bril'yant), n. See bril-
liant.
splitfeet (split'fet), n. pi. The fissiped carni-
vores. See Fissipedia.
splitfoot (split'fut), n. The devil, from the
cloven hoofs which are popularly attributed to
him.
splitfnl (spUt'fiil), n. [< split + -/irf.] In
vjeaving, the number of yarns, whether two or
more, passed through each split or opening in
the reed of the batten or lathe. E. H. Knight.
split-harness (split'hiir'nes), n. Sameas«A<j/<-
montitic (which see, under monture).
splitmouth (split'mouth), «. The hare-lipped
sucker, or cutlips, a fish, Quassilabia lacera:
more fully called split-mouthed sucker. See cut
under Quassilabia.
split-new (split'nfi), a. [< split + new. Cf.
span-new, spick-and-span-neic.'] Quite new;
brand-new; span-new. [Scotch.]
A spUt-new democratical system. Bp. Sage.
Bplittail (split'tal), n. 1. A cyprinoid fish,
Fogonichthys viacrolepidotus, a kind of chub,
characterized by the great development of the
SpUttail iP«r»Hich/Jkjft ifuicrt/r/uU/M).
upper lobe of the caudal fin and its rudimen-
tary rays (whence the synonym P. injFQuilobus).
It Is of a aDiform and somewhat silvery coloration, grows
to be a foot long, and lohablts the rivers of California.
2. The pintail duck, Do^Ja acuta. See pintail,
1, and cut under Dafila. [Massachusetts.]
splitter (split'ir), n. [< »p/i7 + -frl.] 1. One
who or that which splits: as, a rail-«;)ii<ter;
also, an implement used in splitting.— 2. One
who splits nairs; one who makes too fine dis-
tinctions, as in argument, classification, etc. :
in natural history, opposed to lumper. See the
quotation under lumper, 3. [Slan^.] — 3. A
kind of rich short-cake baked in irons like
waffles, and then split and buttered. [U. S.]
splitting (split'ing), a. 1. Very severe, or in
some way extreme, as if it were likely to cause
something to split : as, a splitting headache. —
2. Very rapid. [Colloq.]
Though stout, he was no mean pedestrian ; and on he
ran at a splitting pace, keeping the hounds still In view,
and intent only on seeing as much of the sport as he could.
Whyte MelvUU, White Kose, II. xv.
splitting-knife (split'ing-nif), n. 1. The knife
of a leat tier-splitting machine. It is usually a steel
plate of the length of the cylinder, or about 6 feet long,
and Is gaged to a distance from a roller over which the
sheet separates and the grain-side split winds as the bide
passes through the machine.
spodomancy
2. A knife used for splitting fish. — 3. In dia-
mond-cutting, a steel blade used by the diamond-
cleaver.
splitting-machine (split'ing'-ma-shen''), n. 1.
A machine for dividing a skin of leather paral-
lel with one of its surfaces in order to produce
a sheet of uniform thickness. — 2. A machine
for resawing thick boards. £. H. Knight.
splitting-saw (split'ing-sa), n. 1. Aresawing-
machine. — 2. A machine for sawing a round
log into bolts, instead of riving or sawing re-
peatedly through it in parallel planes. It is used
in preparing stuff for ax- and pick-handles, and other work
in which the direction of the grain must be considered.
split-tongued (split'tungd), a. Fissilingual, as
a lizard.
Sploacht,». Anobsoleteformof«pJote/(. Wyclier-
leii.
splodge (sploj), n. A variant of splotch.
A splodge of green for a field, and a splodge of purple for
a mountain, and a little blue slopped here and there on a
piece of white paper for a sky.
Contemporary Rev., XLIX. 397.
splore(8pl6r), «. [Origin obscure ; at.splurgc.'\
A frolic; a spree. [Scotch.]
In Poosie Nancy's held the splore.
Bums, Jolly Beggars.
splore (splor), V. i. ; pret. and pp. splored, ppr.
sploring. [Cf. splore, «.] To make a great
show; show off. [Scotch.]
splott (splot), n. [< ME. splot, < AS. splot, a
spot, blot. Ct.sjjot. Hence splotch.} A spot;
a splotch.
splotch (sploch), n. [Formerly also sploach
(also in var. form splatch and splodge, q. v.) ; a
var. or irreg. extension of splot (cf. blotch as re-
lated to 6?o<i).] A broad, ill-defined spot; a
stain ; a daub ; a smear.
Thou spot, sploach of my family and blood !
Wycherley, Gentleman Dancing-Master, v. 1.
The leaves were crumpled, and smeared with stains and
splotches of grease. M. E. Braddon, £leanor's Victory, v.
splotchy (sploch'i), a. [(.splotch + -y^.} Mark-
ed with splotches or daubs.
There were splotchy engravings scattered here and there
through the pages of Monsieur Ft^val's romance.
M. E. Braddon, Eleanor's Victory, v.
splurge (8pl6rj), n. [Origin obscure ; cf . splore.}
A blustering, noisv, or ostentatious demonstra-
tion, display, or effort. [Colloq.]
The great splurge made by our American cousins when
. . . they completed another connection with the Pacific.
DaUy Telegraph, Dec. 28, 1885. (Encyc. DicU}
splnrge (spltrj), v. »'. ; pret, and pp. splurged,
ppr. sjilurging. [< splurge, «.] To make an
ostentatious demonstration or display. [Col-
loq.]
You'd be surprised to know the number of people who
come here fto Newport], buy or build expensive villas,
splurge out for a year or two, then fail or get tired of it,
and disappear. C. D. Warner, Their Pilgrimage, p. 114.
splurgy (splfer'ji), a.- [< splurge + -yl.] Mak-
ing, or disposed to make, a splurge. [Colloq.]
splutter (splut'fir), r. [A var. of *sprutter, freq.
of sprout, or of sputter, freq. otspout: see sprout,
spout, and cf. spurt^. Cf. splatter as related to
spatter.} I. intrans. 1. To sputter.
A row of apples roasting and spluttering along the
beartb. Irving, Sketch-Book, p. 425.
2. To talk hastily and confusedly.
II. trans. To utter confusedly or indistinctly,
as through haste, excitement, embarrassment,
or the like: often with on* or /orWj; a,8,tosplut-
tcr out an apology.
splutter (splut'^r), n. K splutter, v.} Bustle ;
stir; commotion. [Colloq.]
Kingwood . . . lighted amidst the flowers, and the
water, and the oil-lamps, and made a dreadful mess and
splutter among them. Thackeray, Philip, xxiv.
splutterer (splut'6r-6r), n. [< splutter + -eri.]
One who or that which splutters.
spodiosite (spod'i-o-sit), n. [Irreg. < Gr. arrd-
5<or, asli-colored, ashy (< (mo66(, ashes),-!- -iie^.}
A iluophosphate of calcium, found in ash-gray
crystals in Wermland, Sweden.
spodium (sp6'di-um), n. [ML., < L. spodiuni,
the dross of metals, < Gr. ano66f, ashes.] A pow-
der obtained by calcination, as ivory-black, me-
tallic calxes, etc. [Now rare.]
spodogenOUS (spo-doj-e-nus), a. [< Gr. atroddc,
ashes, + -y^c, producing: see -genous.} Caused
by debris or waste products : applied by Pon-
fick to enlargement of the spleen caused by the
debris of the red blood-corpuscles, as in hemi-
globinemia.
spodomancy (spod'o-man-si)j n. [< Gr. aizoSd^,
ashes, embers, -I- iiavrda, divination.] Divina-
tion by means of ashes.
spodomantic
spodomantic (spod-o-man'tik), a. [< spodo-
maiicy (-iiiaiit-) + -io.] Relating to spodo-
mancy, or dhinatiou by means of ashes.
The poor little fellow buried his hands in his curls, and
stared fiercely into the fire, as it to draw from thence
omens of his love, by the rpodtmtanHc augury of the an-
cient Greeks. Kingslej/, Two Years Ago, TiL (OactM.)
Tdomene (spod'u-men), n. [= F. spodiimdne,
Gr. CTroAti'iitvof, ppr. pass, of aTToSoiv, burn
to ashes, roast in ashes, < enroSog, ashes, em-
bers.] A silicate of aluminium and lithium,
occurring usually in flattened prismatic crys-
tals, near pyroxene in form, also in eleavable
masses, it is hard, transparent to translucent, and
varies in color from grayish-, yellowish-, or greenish-
white to eraeniKi-green and purple. The emerald-green
variety (hiddenite), found in North Carolina, is used as a
gem. Also called triphane.
Spoffish (spof 'ish), a. [< *spoff (origin obscure ;
ef. spiff!/) + -i«/|l.] Bustling; fussy; demon-
stratively smart; officious. [Slang.]
He Invariably spoke with astonishing rapidity; was
smart, ipogUh, and eight-andtwenty.
Dickens^ Sketches, Tales, vii.
spoffle (spof '1), V. i. ; pret. and pp. spoffed, ppr.
spoffiing. [Freq. of *spoff' as in spoffish, sjioffy.}
To fuss over trifles. [Prov. Eng.]
spoffy (spof 'i), a. and n. [< 'spoff (ef . spoffish)
+ -«1.] I, a. Same as spoffish.
II. «.; vi.spoffles (,-iz). Abustlingbusybody.
[Slang.]
spogel-seed (spo'gl-sed), n. Same as ispaghul-
seed.
spoil (spoil), n. [Early mod. E. spoile, spoyle, <
ME. spoile, spuyle, < OP. espoille, espuille, booty,
spoil, = Sp. espolio, property of an ecclesiastic,
spolium, = Pg. espolio, booty, spoil, = It. spo-
glio, booty, prey, spoil, goods, furniture, chat-
tels, = W. ysbail, yspail, formerly yspeil, spoU,
< L. spolium, usually in pi. spolia, booty, prey,
spoil, the arms or armor stripped from a defeat-
ed enemy, also, and perhaps orig., the skin or
hide of an animal stripped off; of. (Jr. okv'Xov,
usually in pi. OKvka, booty, spoil, anh'kot, hide,
OKvX7:ew, flay. Hence spoil, v. Cf. despoil, etc.,
spoliate, spolium, etc.] 1. Arms and armor
stripped from a defeated enemy ; the plunder
taken from an enemy in war ; booty ; loot ;
hence, that which is seized or falls to one after
any struggle ; specifically, in recent use, the
patronage and emoluments of office, considered
as a reward for zeal or service rendered in a
struggle of parties : frequently in the plural :
as, tie spoils of capture; to the victor belong
the spoils; the spoils of office; party spoils.
The sp(nl got on the Antiates
Was ne'er distributed. Shak., Cor., iii. 3. 4.
Then lands were fairly portioned ;
Then 8p<nls were fairly sold.
Macaulay, Horatius, st 32,
2. The act of plundering, pillaging, or despoil-
ing ; the act of spoliation ; pillage ; robbery.
Shortly after he [Baiazeth] ouercame the prouinces of
Hungaria, Albania, and Valachia, and there committing
many epoyles and damages he tooke diners Clu-istian pris-
oners. Guetara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, li^^\ p. 331.
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds.
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and epoUs.
Shak., M. of V., v. 1. 85.
The gpoU of the church was now become the only re-
source of all their operations in finance.
Burke, Rev. in France.
St. Injury; damage; waste; havoc; destruc-
tion.
If the tender-hearted and noble-minded reioice of the
Tictorie, they are greeued with others spoyle.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 39.
Old age, that ill layer up of beauty, can do no more
tpoil upon my face. Shak., Hen. V., v. 2. 249.
The mice also did much spoil in orchards, eating off the
bark at the bottom of the fruit trees in the time of the
snow. Winthrop, Hist. New England, II. 113.
4t. Kuin; ruination.
Company, villanous company, hath been the spoil of me.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., iii. 3. 11.
They put too much learning in their things now o' days ;
and that I fear will be the spoU of this.
B. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, v. 1.
6. An object of pillage or spoliation ; a thing
to be preyed upon ; a prey.
The Welsh-men, growing confident upon this Success,
break into the Borders of Herefordshire, making SpoU and
Prey of the Country as freely as if they had Leave to do it.
Baker, Chronicles, p. 160.
Oh, Greece ! thy flourishing cities were a spoil
Unto each other. Bryant, The Ages.
6. Waste material, as that obtained in mining,
quarrying, excavating canals, making railway
cuttings, etc. Compare spoil-bank.
5850
The selection of the sites was guided ... In part by
convenience in disposing of the fpoU, or waste rock.
The Century, XXXIX. 216.
7t. The slough, or east skin, of a serpent or
other animal. [Bare.]
The snake is thought to renew her youth by casting her
spoil. Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 969.
8. In spoil-five, a drawn game Spoils system,
in politics, the practice of treating the public offices not as
public trusts, to be administered primarily for the public
interest, but as spoils of war, to be taken from members of
the defeated party and given to members of the successful
party — the emoluments and distinction of holding such
offices being regarded as rewards for services rendered to
the successful party, and the inlluence resulting from the
possession of the offices being expected to be used for the
maintenance of that party in power : a term of depreciation.
The name is derived from a remark made in a speech in
the Unite<l States Senate, in January, 1832, by Mr. Marcy of
New York ; speaking of and for the New York politicians,
he said, "They see nothing wrong in the rule that to the
victor belong the spoils of the enemy. " This system had
previously attained great power in the State of New York ;
under Jackson's administration it prevailed in national
politics, and was soon adopted by nearly all parties, and ap-
plied to local as well as State and national offices.— To
shoot to spolL See shoot. =Syn. 1. Plunder, Booty, etc.
See pillage, n.
spoil (spoil), V. ; pret. and pp. spoiled or spoilt,
ppr. spoiling. [Early mod. E. also spoile,
spoyle ; < ME. spoilen, sptiylen, < OF. espoillier,
espollicr, espuler, F. spolier = Pr. espoliar = Sp.
expoliar = Pg. espoliar = It. spogliare, < L.
spoUare, strip, plunder, spoil, < spolium, booty,
spoil : see simH, n. Cf . despoil. The senses ' de-
stroy, injure' have been supposed, unnecessari-
ly, to be due in part to spiill'^.'] I. trans. 1. To
strip with violence ; rob; pillage; plunder; de-
spoil: with o/ before the thing taken.
And the sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled
the city. Gen. xxxiv. 27.
Love always gives something to the object it delights in,
and anger spoils the person against whom it is moved of
something laudable in him. Steele, Spectator, No. 263.
2t. To seize or take by force ; carry off as booty.
For feare lest Force or Fraud should unaware
Breake in, and spoile the treasure there in gard.
Spenser, F. Q., II. vii. 25.
How can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoU
his goods, except he first bind the strong man ?
Mat. xii. 29.
3. To destroy; ruin; injure; mar; impair;
render useless, or less valuable, potent, or the
like ; seriously impair the quality, value, sound-
ness, beauty, usefulness, pleasantness, etc., of:
as, to spoil a thing in the making ; to spoil one's
chances of promotion; to spoil the fun.
Spiritual pride spoils many graces. Jer. Taylor.
There are not ten people in the world whose deaths
would spoU my dinner. Macaulay, in Trevelyan, I. 286.
4. To injure, vitiate, or impair in any way ; es-
pecially, as applied to persons, to vitiate or im-
pair in character or disposition ; render less
filial, obedient, affectionate, mannerly, modest,
contented, or the like : as, to spare the rod and
S})oil the child ; to sjyoil one with flattery.
You will spoil me, Mamma. I always thought I should
like to be spoiled, and I find it very sweet.
Charlotte Bronte, Shirley, xxv.
5t. To out up ; carve : as, to spoil a hen. Babees
Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 265.
II. intrans. 1. To engage in plunder and rob-
bery; pillage; rob.
Robbers and out-lawes, which lurked in woodes, . . .
whence they used oftentimes to breake foorthe ... to
robbe and spoyle. Spenser, State of Ireland.
2. To decay; become tainted or unsavory; lose
freshness : as, fruit and fish soon spoil in warm
weather — To be spoiling for, to be pining for ; espe-
cially, to have a longing for, caused or stimulated by dis-
use : as, he was just spoiling for a tight. [Slang.]
spoilable (spoi'la-bl), a. [< spoil + -able.'\ Capa-
ble of being spoiled.
spoilage (spoi'laj), n: [< spoil + -age.'] In
printing, paper spoiled or wasted in press work.
spoil-banK (spoil'bangk), n. In mining, the
burrow or refuse-heap at the mouth of a shaft
or adit-level: a term little used except in parts
of England, and there chiefly in coal-mining.
spoiler (spoi'ler), 1). [< spoil + -crl.] One who
or that which spoils, (a) A plunderer ; a pillager ; a
robber.
The anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he
delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them.
Judges ii. 14.
(b) One who or that which impairs, mars, or decays.
Unchanged, the graven wonders pay
No tribute to the spoiler Time.
Whittier, The Rock in El Ghor.
spoil-five (spoil'fiv), n. A round game of cards,
played with the whole pack, by from three to
ten persons, each receiving five cards. Three
spoke-shave
tricks make the game, and when no one can take so many
the game is said to be spoiled.
spoilful (spoil'lul), «. l<. S2)oil -i- -ful.} Rapa-
cious; devastating; destructive. [Rare.]
Those spoyle/ull Picts, and swarming Easterlings.
Spenser, V.q., II. x.es.
spoil-paper (spoirpa''pfer), ?». [< sjml, v., +
obj. paper.] A scribbler. [Humorous.]
As some Spoile-papers have dearly done of late.
A. Uolland. (Davies.)
spoilsman (spoilz'man), }(.; pi. spoilsmen
(-men). [< spoils, pi. of spoil, + man.] An
advocate of the spoils system; a politician who
seeks personal profit at the public cost from
the success of his party; one who maintains
that party service should be rewarded with pub-
lic office ; one who is opposed to the adminis-
tration of the civil service on the basis of merit.
See spoils system, under spoil, n. [U. S. ]
spoilsmonger (spoilz'mung"g6r), n. One who
distributes political spoils. See spoilsman.
[U. S.]
spoil-sport (spoil 'sport), «. [< spoil, v., + obj.
sport.] One who spoils or hinders sport or en-
joyment. Scott, Kenilworth, xxviii.
spoilt. A past participle of spoil.
spoke^ (spok), n. [Also dial, speke, spake; <
ME. spoke, spake (pi. spokes, spoken, spaken), <
AS. spdca (pi. spdcan) = D. speek = MLG.
speke, LG. speke = OHG. speicha, speihha, MHG.
G. speiche, a spoke ; prob. not related to OHG.
spahhd, shaving, splinter, G. dial, spache, a
spoke, = MD. spaecke, a rod, D. spaak, a lever,
roller, but perhaps related to spike : see spike^.
Cf . Icel. spoki, a piece of wood, speekja, a thin
board.] 1. One of the bars, rods, or rungs
which are inserted in the hub or nave of a
wheel, and serve to support the rim or felly ; a
radius of a wheel. See cut under felly.
Lat brynge a cart wheel into this halle ;
But looke that it have his spokes alle ;
Twelve spokes hath a cart wheel comuidy.
Chaucer, Summoner's Tale, L 554.
Break all the spokes and fellies from her wheel,
And bowl the round nave down the hill of heaven,
Shak., Hamlet, ii. 2. 517.
2. One of the rounds or rungs of a ladder. —
3. One of a number of pins or handles jutting
from the periphery of the steering-wheel of a
vessel. — 4. A bar of wood or metal so placed
in or applied to the wheel of a vehicle as to pre-
vent its turning, as when going down a hill.
See second phrase below.
You would seem to be master! you would have your
spoke in my cart ! B. Jonson, Poetaster, ii. 1.
I'll put a spoke among your wheels.
Fletcher, Mad Lover, iii. 5.
Spoke-slzlng machine, a machine for planing tenons of
spokes Ui uniform size and shape. It has cutters with an
adjustable aiigle-ga^e for beveling the edgesof the tenons.
—To put a spoke m one's wheel, to put an impediment
in one's way ; check or thwart one's puri>08e or effort.
It seems to me it would be a poor sort of religion to pvi
a spoke in his wheel by refusing to say you don't believe
such hann of him as you've got no good reason to believe.
George Eliot, Middlemarch, xiii
spokel (spok), V. t.; pret. and pp. spoked, ppr.
spoking. [< spoke^, n.] To fit or furnish with
spokes: as, to spoke a wheel.
spoke^ (spok). Preterit and obsolete past par-
ticiple of speak.
spoke-auger (spok'a'gfer), «. A hollow auger
for forming the round tenons on the outer ends
of spokes. JS. H. Knight.
spoke-bone (spok'bon), n. The radius of the
forearm .
spoke-gage (spdk'gaj), «. A device for testing
the set ot spokes in a hub. It consists of a man-
drel with conical sleeves, which bear upon the ends of the
boxing, and hold the hub true while the distance of the
spokes is tested by the gage-pin in the staff. E. H. KnighL
spoke-lathe (spok'laTH), n. A lathe for turn-
ing irregular forms, especially adapted for
turning spokes, gun-stocks, handles, etc.
spoken (spo'kn), jj. a. [Pp. ot speak.] 1. Ut-
tered; oral: opposed to written. — 2. Speak-
ing: in composition: as, a ci\i\-spoken man.
The pleas&nteat-spoken gentleman you ever heard.
JHckens, Christmas Carol, iv.
spoke-pointer (sp6k'poin'''ter), «. A knife for
trimming the ends of spoke-tenons. It is a form
of circular plane, having a cutting-edge in a hol-
low cone, like a pencil-sharpener.
spoke-setter (sp6k'set'''er), n. A machine by
which a hub is centered to insure true borings
for the spoke-mortises.
spoke-shave (spok'shiiv), n. A wheelwrights'
and carpenters' tool, having a plane-bit be-
tween two handles, formerly used in shaping
spoke- shave
A, spoke-shave with blade o, made adjustable in the stock t. by
adjusting-screws c ; B, spoke-shave similar to A, but without the
adjusting-screws ; C, spoke-shave for workin^r upon very concave
surfaces ; I), spoke-shave, in the nature of a small hand-plane, for
smoothing and dressing otf the straighter parts of spokes.
wagon-spokes, but now in woodwork of every
kind.
spokesman (spoks'man), rt. ; pi. spokesmen
(-men). [< 'spoke's, gen. of 'spoke, var, of
speech (AS. spxc, gprsec), + TOnn.] One who
speaks for another or others; an advocate; a
representative.
He shall be thy spoketman unto the people. Ex. iv. 16,
He is our Advocate — that is, a gpc^etman, comforter, in-
tercessor, and mediator,
J. Bradford, Work8(Parker 8oc., 18S3X n. 2»1.
spoke-trimmer (spok'trim'er), n. A wheel-
wrights" toiil for trimming ends of spokes, etc.,
preparatory to using the spoke-pointer.
Spoking-macllilie fspo'king-ma-shen'), n. An
apparatus for adjusting the spokes of a wheel
to give them all the same inclination, and thus
give the wheel a uniform dish.
spole (spol), ». [A var. of spooW] 1. An obso-
lete or dialectal form of spool. Specifically —
2. The small wheel near the distaff in the com-
mon spinning-wheel.
Then fly the gpoles, the rapid axlefl rIow,
And slowly circumvolvea the labouring wheel below.
Damin, Loves of the Plants, U. 103.
spolia, ". Plural of spolium.
spolia opima (sp6'li-a o-pi'ma). [L. : spolia,
pi. of spolium, spoU ; opima, neut. pi. of opimus,
fat, rich, plump: see opime.'] In ancient Rome,
the choicest spoil taken from an enemy; hence,
any valuable booty or pillage.
Hilton, hoverer, was not destined to gather the tpolia
opima of English Rhetoric. De Qvineey, Rhetoric.
spoliary (spo'li-a-ri), II. ; pi. spoliaries (-riz). [<
L. spoliarium, a room or place, as in the amphi-
theater, where the bodies of slain gladiators
were stripped of their clothes, also a den of rob-
bers, < spolium, spoU: see spoil.'\ The place in
Roman amphitheaters to which slaughtered
gladiators were dragged, and where theirclothes
and arms were stripped from their bodies.
An Act of the Senate ... is extant in Lampridius:
" Let the Enemy of his Country be depriv'd of all hU Titles ;
let the Parricide be drawn, let him be torn in pieces in the
Sprjliarii." MUton, Ans. to 8alm«sins.
spoliate (spo'li-at), v. ; pret. and pp. spoliated,
ppr. spoUating. [< L. spoliatns, pp. of spoliare,
spoil: see spoil, r.] I. traits. To plunder; pil-
lage; despoil.
Theother great Whig families, . , . who had done some,
thing more for it than tpoUatt their church and betray
their king. IHtraeli, Sybfl, L 3.
n. intrans. To engage in robberv ; plunder.
spoliation (spo-H-a'shon), n. [< F. spoliation
= Pr. expoliatio = 8p. expoliacion = It. spoplia-
gione, < L. spoHatio(n-), plundering, a spoiling,
< spoliare, plunder, spoil: see spoliate, spoil, v.]
1. The act of pillaging, plundering, or spoil-
ing; robbery; plunder.
He(H«sttngs] . . . declared that, if thespoftotion which
had been agreed upon were not instantly carried into ef-
fect, he would himself go to Lucknow, and do that from
which feebler minds recoil wkh dismay.
Maeaiday, Warren Hastings.
2. The act or practice of plundering in time of
war, especially of plundering neatrals at sea
under authority. — 3. Eccles., the act of an in-
cumbent in unlawfully taking the fruits of a
benefice under a pretended title. — 4. In law,
intentional destruction of or tampering with (a
document) in such way as to impair eviden-
tiary effect— French Spoliation Act. a Inited SUtes
statute of 1885(23 .Stat, at LarKv, a-ci) providing for the as-
certainment of the French spoliation claims.— French
apoUation claims, certain claims of citizens of the Init-
ea .States, or their representatlres, against France lor iiic-
gal captures, etc., prior to tin- treaty of 1800-1 between
the United States and France. By this trt»ty these claims
were assumed by the United Statea The flrst apmopria-
tloti for tlie paymi'nt of them was made In 18S1.— Wnt Of
■poUatlon, a writ obtained by one of the parties to a suit
in th« ciclesiastical courts, suKgesting that his adrersary
has wastfd the fniits of a benefice, or unlawfully taken
thcnt to the complainant's prejudice.
spoliative (sp6'li-a-tiv), a. [= F. spoliative ;
as spntinle + -ive.'\ Tending to take away or
diminish; specifically, in med., lessening the
mass of the blood.
5851
spoliator (spd'li-a-tgr), n. [= F. spoliateur =
Sp. expoliador, plunder, < L. spoliator, a plun-
derer, < spo/irtce, spjjtl : see spoliate.} One who
commits spoliation; adespoiler; a robber.
Spoliatores (spo'li-a-to'rez), n. pi. [NL., pi.
of L. spoliator, a plunderer: see spoliator.'] In
Macgilli\Tay's system of classification, an order
of birds, the robbers, as the jagers. [Not in
use.]
spoliatory (sp6'li-a-to-ri), a. [< spoliate +
-ori/.] Consisting in spoliation ; causing spoli-
ation. Quarterly Rev., XL VII. 416.
spolium (sp6'U-um), n. ; pi. spolia (-a). [ML.
use of L. spolium, spoil: see spoil.] "In eccles.
law, the property of a beneficed ecclesiastic
which could not be legally disposed of by will
at death — jus spolll, originally, the right claimed In
the middle ages by those present at the deathbed of a
beneficed ecclesiastic to seize and carry off any portable
property of the deceased. This led to such scandals that
finally the right was vested by papal constitutions in the
church, and all spolia belong to the papal treasury.
spont. «. A Middle English form of spoon^.
spondaic (spon-da'ik), a. [< OF. spondaique,
F. spondaique = Sp. esponddico = Pg. espon-
daico = It. spondaico, < L. "spondaieus, incor-
rect form of spondiaciis, < 6r. ojrovdeiaKdf, of or
pertaining to a spondee, < oTTovdeioc, a spondee:
see .tpondee.] In anc. pros.: (a) Of or pertain-
ing to a spondee ; constituting a spondee ; con-
sisting of spondees. (6) Having a spondee in
the fifth place : noting a dactylic hexameter of
the exceptional form
_^|_=^|_w=|_.
I _ Si,
the fifth foot being regularly a dactyl.
spondaical (spon-da'i-kal), a. [< spondaic +
-al.] Same as fpondaic"
spondalt (spon'dal), n. An obsolete erroneous
form of spoiidyl.
spondee (spon'de), n. [Formerly also spondte
(also, as L., spondeus = D. G. Dan. spondeus);
= Sw. spondi, < F. spondee = Sp. Pg. espondeo
= It. spondeo, < L. spondeus, spondseus, < Gr.
avovdclof, a spondee, so called as used (proba-
bly as double spondee) in hymns accompany-
ing libations, prop. adj. (sc. Toiif, a foot), of
or pertaining to a libation, < (rravd^, a drink-
offering, libation to the gods, pi. ovovSai, a
solemn treaty, a truce, < ajriview, pour out,
make a libation ; root uncertain. Cf. L. spott-
dere, answer: see sponsor.] In anc. pros., a
foot consisting of two long times or syllables,
one of which constitutes the thesis and the
other the arsis: it is accordingly tetrasemic
and isorrhythmic. The spondee Is principally used
as a substitute for a dactyl or an anapest In the for-
mer case It Is a daetytie ipondet (-^ — for -< w w), in the
latter an oaapsitfe tpmuUe (— -^ for " w .^). An trrafionof
$pondse represents a tiisemlc foot, trochee, or Iambus (-^ —
for .* w, or — .« for ^ -t). It is found In the even places of
trochaic lines and In the odd places of iambic lines, also
In logaeedlc verses, especially as representing the Initial
trochee ("basis"). A foot consisting of two spondees is
called a dupoiufM.— Doable apondee, greater spon-
dee. In anc, prot., a foot consisting of two tetrasemic
longs (-*- -*-)i and acoordingly double the magnitude of
an oriilimi-)- (single) spondee (•* ^).
Spondlaceae (spon-di-a'se-e), «. pi. [NL.
(Kunth, 1824), < Spondias + -acese.] Same as
Spondiem.
Spondias (spon'di-as), n. [NL. (Linnaeus, 1737),
< (ir. OToveJitif, a false reading of oTrodiaq, a tree
supposed to be the bullace.] A genus of poly-
petalous trees, of the order Anacardiacese, type
of the tribe Spondies. It is characterized by polyga-
mous fiowera with eight or ten stamens and four or five
styles which are free at the apex. There are 5 species,
dispersed through tropical regions of both hemispheres.
They bear alternate odd-pinnate leaves, often crowded at
the ends of the branches, with opposite and often very
taper.pointed leaflets. The small short-pedicelled flowers
form spreading terminal panicles. Each flower contains
four or Ave spnading petals and a free ovary of as many
cells, which become* In fruit a fleshy drupe with a thick
stone. The leaves and bark often yield medicinal and
principally astringent preparations; the fruit is often
austere and laxative ; that of S. tuberoga Is valued in Bra-
zil as a remedy In fevers. The fruits of several species
are known ss hog-plum*. S. purpurea, the purple or Span-
ish plum. Is often cultivated in the West Indies, and is
reatitly propagated by cuttings, & l%iUa, a tree resem-
bling the asD and reaching 40 or 50 feet, bears yellowish
flowtT-buds, used as a sweetmeat with sugar, and a yellow
oval fruit known ss Jamaica plum, or (jolden apjie. S.
duleit, s similar tree abandant in most Polynesian islands,
snd known as OtaheiU apple, yields a large yellow fruit
with the smell of apples and an agreeable acid flavor, to
the eye contrasting handsomely with the dark-green foli-
age. The tree is widely cultivated elsewhere In the
tropics. A Brazilian tree, reported ss SL tubtrota, produces
long aerial roots which descend and form at the ground
large black hollow and ceUalar tubera containing about a
pint of water, supplying in dry weather the needs both of
the tree and of. travelers. S. mangifera of India is the
sotutM of a gum resembling gum arable, known as hog-
gum, and of several medicinal remedies. Its smooth yel-
Spondylus
lowish-green fruit is known as wHd mango, or amra, and
is eaten parboiled or pickled or made into curries.
Spondieae (spon-di'e-e), ». pi. [NL. (Bentham
and Hooker, 1862), < Spondias + -ex.] A tribe
of polypetalous plants, of the ovAer Anacardia-
cese, distinguished from the other tribe, Mangi-
feriese, by an ovary with from two to five cells
(instead of one), the ovules usually or always
pendulous, it includes 47 genera, of which Spondiat
Is the type. They are mainly tropical or South African,
and are mostly trees with pinnate leaves. Also SpoTulia-
ceae, Spoiidiei.
spondilt, n. An obsolete spelling of spondyl.
spondulics (spon-dii'liks), n. [Also spondoolics,
spondooUx ; origin obscure.] Originally, paper
money; now, any money; funds. [Slang, U.S.]
spondyl, spondyle (spon'dil), n. [Formerly
also spondil, spmtdal, spondle; < F. spondyle, <
L. spondylus, < Gr. an&vdvT^o^, less correct form
of a(j>6v6v~Ao^, a joint of the spine, a vertebra,
joint, round stone, etc.] 1 . A joint, or joining
of two pieces.
Great Sir, the circles of the divine providence turn them-
selves upon the affairs of the world so that every spondyl
of the wheels may mark out those virtues which we are
then to exercise. Jer. Taylor, Ductor Dubitantium, Ded.
2. A joint of the backbone ; a vertebra.
A kind of rack
Runs down along the gpondUs of bis back.
B. Jonson, Sad Shepherd, IL 2.
spondylalgia (spon-di-lal'ji-a), n. [NL., < Gr.
C7r6v6v/M(, a vertebra, + aAyog, pain.] Pain in
the spine; raehialgia.
spondylarthritis (spou'di-lar-thn'tis), «. [NL.,
< Gr. cmAviv'Aoc, a vertebra,-!- NL. arthritis, q. v.]
Inflammation of the vertebral articulations.
spondylexarthrosis (spon-di-leks-ar-thro'sis),
«. [Njj., < Gr. (T7niv<Si'/iof,«, vertebra, -t- e^apdpuatc,
dislocation, < ef, out, -I- apdpov, a joint.] Dis-
location of the vertebrsB.
Spondylidse^ (spon-dil'i-de), n. pi. [NL. (J.
E. Gray, 1826), < Spondylus + -idm.] A fami-
ly of marine bivalves, related to the Limidte
and to the scallops, typified by the genus Spon-
dylus; the thorn-oysters. The valves are dissimilar,
the right one being the larger, and attached at the beak,
the left generally flat or concave ; the ligament is internal.
About 70 species are known, inhabiting chierty tropical
seas. The extinct species are numerous. Formerly also
SpondyUa. See cut under Spondylus.
Spondylidse- (spon-dil'i-de), n.pl. [NL.,<Sj)on-
(iylis + -idse.] In cntom., a family of phytoph-
agous coleopterous insects, typified by the ge-
nus Spondytis, having deeply impressed sensi-
tive surfaces of the antennas, and the tarsi not
dilated. The family was erected by Le Conte and Horn
to receive all the aberrant Cerav\biici4fe of Lacordaire,
probably representing in the modem fauna remnants of
the undifferentiated types of a former geologic age. The
genera and species are few. Also Spmxdylii.
Spondylis (spon'di-lis), n. [NL. (Fabricius,
1775), < Gr. aTz6v6v}M^, o(p6v6vAo^, a vertebra,
joint: see sjiondyl.] A genus of phytophagous
beetles, typical of the family Spondylidae.
spondylitis (spon-di-H'tis), n. [NL., < Gr.
CT-rifrfi/of, a vertebra, + -itis.] Arthritis of a
vertebra — Spondylitis deformans, arthritis defor-
mans involving the vt-rtebrw.
spondylolisthesis (spon-di-Iol-is-the'sis), n.
[NL., < Gr. dTTdt/dv^of, a vertebra, -I- bXiadriati, a
slipping, < oAiofldvffv, slip,< !>'/.us6o^, slipperiness.]
A displacement forward of the last lumbar ver-
tebra on the sacrum.
spondylolisthetic (spon-di-lol-is-thet'ik), a.
[< itpondyloli.ithesis (-et-) + -ic] Pertaining to,
of the nature of, or affected with spondylolis-
thesis.
spondylopathia (spon'di-lo-path'i-a), n. [NL.,
< Gr. ait6v6v'Ao^, a vertebra, -f irafof, suffering.]
Disease of the vertebrse.
spondyloUS (spon'di-lus), a. [< spondyl + -ous.]
< )f or pertaining to a spondyl ; like a vertebra ;
vertebral.
Spondylus (spon'di-lus), n. [NL. (Linnseus,
1758), < L. spondylus, < Gr. BTr6v6v>M(, a^vivAo,
a vertebra, joint:
see spondyl.] 1.
A genus of bi-
valves, repre-
senting the fam-
ily Spondylidx,
formerly refer-
red to the Ostrsei-
dsB or Pectinidie.
They are remarkable
for the character of
their spines and the
richness of their
coloring. Some are
known as thorn-oys-
ttrg, gpring-oygtera,
and water-CULmt. Thom-oyster {.Sfiondylut priHctpt,.
SpondyliLS
2. [?. r.] An oyster of this genus. — 3, \l. c] A
vertebra.
sponet, «• A Middle English, form of spoon^.
spoug (spong). H. [Prob. a form of spatig, a
clasp, brooch (taken as a point, a gore ?) : see
spang^.} A projection of land; an irregular,
narrow, projecting part of a field. [Obsolete
or prov. Eng.]
The tribe of Judah with a nsarow gpong confined on the
kingdom of Edom.
FtdUr, Pisgah Sight, II. iv. 2. (Trench.)
Sponge (spiinj), H. [Formerly also spiinge; <
ME. sponge^ spunge, spounge (= D. spongie^
spons), < OF. cspongCj F, eponge = Pr. espouja,
esponga = Sp. Pg. esponja = It. spogna, spugna
= AS. sponge = Gael. Ir. sponc, < L. spongta,
< Gr. GKoyyidj also an-oj^of (Attic ot^dyyo^)^ a
sponge, any spongy substancCj = L. fungus^ a
mushroom, fungus ; perhaps akin to Gr. oofKpoCy
spongy, porous, and to Dan. Sw.svampj a sponge,
fungus, = Icel. svoppr^ a sponge, and so to Goth.
swamms, a si)onge, = OHG. swam, swampj MHG.
swantj sicamp {swamb-), G. schwamm = MLG.
5ir«m, swampj LG. swamm, sicamp, a sponge,
fungus: see swamp^ and cf. spunk and fungus.']
1. A fixed aquatic organism of a low order, va-
rious in form and texture, composed of au ag-
gregate of amoebiform bod-
ies disposed about a com-
mon cavity provided with
one or more inhalent andex-
halent orifices (ostioles and
oscules), through which wa-
ter pours in and out. The
proper sponge-substance is trav-
ersed by a water- vascular system
or set of irrigating canals, and in
nearly all cases is supported and
strengthened by a skeleton in the
form of homy fibers, or silicions or
calcareous spicules. The stream-
ing of the water is kept up by the
vibration of cilia in the watervas-
cular system — that is, by the lash-
ing of fiagella borne upon the in-
dividual sponge-cells. These so
much resemble flagellate infuso-
rians that some naturalists re-
gard sponges as compound infuso-
rians, and consequently as protozo-
ans. Those cells which have defi-
nite form are spindle shaped, or
flask-shaped, and provided with
flagella, round the base of which
there may be a little rim or collar,
as in those Infusorians known as
collar- bearing monads, or Choano-
fiagellata. Sponges propagate by
budding or gemmation, a process
involving cell-fission or ordinary
division of cells. They also repro-
duce sexually by ova and sperma-
tozoa. Sponge-germs resulting from fission are called
gemmules. The spermatozoa are spindle-shaped. The
ova are like ordinary amcebiform cells, and are usually
shed into the canals and pass out of the system to be
developed; in some species they develop in the substance
of the parent. The embryo forms a hollow ball with a
ciliated cavity, and then acquires inhalent and exhalent
pores. The living tissue proper of sponges is disposed
in three layers or sets of cells, as in all higher animals.
These are an ectoderm, cuticle, or out-layer; an endo-
derm, innermost layer, or in-layer ; and a mesoderm, middle
layer, or mid-layer, which may be quite thick. It is from
the mid-layer that the reproductive elements, and all the
many forms of skeletal elements, are derived. Special
sense-organs have been described in some sponges. (See
cut under syjwcil.) Sponges as a class or phylum of ani-
mals have many technical names — as -ilcmrfojj/iora, because
they have no cnidae or stinging-organs (compare Cnidaria) ;
Amorphozoa,fTOT[i their shapelessness, or rather their many
shapes ; Parazoa, from their position with respect to both
Protozoa And Metazoa ; Poriifera, Poriferata, Porozoa, and
Polygtomaia^ from their many pores or openings (see cut
under Pori/era) ; Sporiffiie, Spongiaria, Spongida, Spongi-
ozoa, etc. They are divided into various primary groups,
the most tangible of which are two — the chalk-sponges,
or Calcispongix, and the fibrous and flinty sponges, or
SUicispongise. But the leading authorities differ irrecon-
cilably in the arrangement and nomenclature of the many
orders, families, and genera they respectively adopt ; and
the opinion has been expressed that the sponges are not
susceptible of satisfactory treatment by the ordinary meth-
ods of zoological classification. See also cuts under cUi-
ate, Spongilla, monadifomi, Euplectella, and Hyalonemidse.
2. The fibrous framework of a colony of sponge-
animalcules, from which the animalcules them-
selves have been washed out, and from which
the gritty or sandy parts of the colony, if there
were any, have been taken away. See skeletoriy
1 (&). Theframeworkof spongesisof differentcharacters
in the several orders. The slime-sponges have none, or
scarcely any. In the ordinary fibrous sponges the skeleton
is a quantity of interlacing fibers and layers, forming an
intricate network. This is further strengthened in the
chalky and glassy sponges by hard spicules, either sepa-
rately embedded in the general skeletal substance, called
ceratode, or solidified in a kind of latticework. (See Calci-
sponguB, SUiciitpongim.) The chalk-needles or calcareous
spicules are either straight or oftener rayed in three-
armed or four-armed crosses. The sand-needles or sili-
clooB spicules present an extraordinary and beautiful va-
Ascetta pritnordialis,
one of the Chalk -spoi^es:
a part of one side of the
body removed, exposing
the ventriculus,
o, osculuin, mouth, or
exhalent aperture ; P, one
of the many ostioles or
inhalent pores ; i, endo-
demi ; e, ectodenii, in
which triradiate spicules
are embedded ; g, ova.
5852
riety. Among them are many starry figures and wheel-
like forms, resembling snow-crystals ; others are still
more curious, in the forms of crosses, anchors, grapnels,
shirt-studs, bodkins, etc. The six-rayed star is the char-
acteristic shape in the glass-sponges. (See Hexactiiieltida.)
Sponge-spicules are named in an elaborate special vocabu-
lary. {i>eQ »ponge-spicule.) The glass-sponges have some
commercial value from their beauty as objects of curiosity ;
but a few of the fibrous sponges are the only others out of
many hundreds of species, both fossil and recent, of any
economic importance. Sponges, when wetted, swell to
a much greater size, and become very flexible ; they are
therefore used as vehicles and absorbents of water and
other liquids, in wiping or cleansing surfaces, erasing
marks, as from a slate, etc. See bath-sponf/e, Eusponffia,
and Bippospongia.
The Spounge, and the Reed, of the whiche the Jewes
zaven cure Lord Eyselle and Galle, in the Cros.
MandevUte, Travels, p. 10.
3. Any sponge-like substance. («) in baKng,
dough before it is kneaded and formed, when full of glob-
ules of carbonic acid generated Ijy tlie yeast or leaven. (6)
A metal when obtained in a finely divided condition, the
f)article8 having little coherence, and the mass more or
ess of a spongy texture. Thus, a "metallic sponge" of
iron is obtained by the reduction of brown hematite ore
by cementation with charcoal in the so-called "Chenot
process" for the manufacture of steel. Spongy iron is
also prepared on a large scale by the reduction of various
ores, and in this form is used for purifying water. Plati-
num-sponge may be prepared by gently heating the double
chlorid of platinum and ammonium. Platinum-black is
a black powder not differing much in its properties from
platiiuim-sponge, except that it is less dense ; it may be
made to take on the spongy character by repeated ignition
in a mixture of air and a combustible gas: both are used
as oxidizing agents.
4. A tool for cleaning a cannon after its dis-
charge. The sponge used for smooth-bore guns con-
sists of a cylinder of wood covered with sheepskin or some
similar woolly fabric, and fitting the bore of the gun rather
closely: this is secured to a long handle, or, for field-
guns, to the reverse end of the rammer. For modem
rifled guns and breech-loaders, sponges of different forms
and materials have been introduced, A common form is
a cylinder to which bristles are fixed, forming a cylindri-
cal brush, the rounded end being also covered with the
bristles. See cut under gun-carriage.
5. Figuratively, one who or that which absorbs
without discrimination, and as readily gives up,
when subjected to pressure, that which has been
absorbed. — 6. One who persistently lives upon
others; a sycophantic or cringing dependent;
a hanger-on for the sake of maintenance ; a
parasite.
Better a penurious Kingdom then where excessive
wealth flowes into the gracelesse and injurious hands of
common sponges to the impoverishing of good and loyall
men. Milton, Reformation in Eng., ii.
7. In the manege, the extremity or point of a
horseshoe answering to the heel. — 8. The coral,
or mass of eggs, under the abdomen of a crab.
[Chesapeake Bay.] — Bahama sponge, one of three
species or varieties of bath-sponges procured from the Ba-
hamas.— Burnt sponge, sponge that has been burnt, used
in the treatment of goiter and scrofulous swellings. — Cal-
careous sponge, a chalk-sponge.— Crumb-of-hread
sponge. See //aitc/ioJirfnn. — Dog-head sponge, a kind
of bath-sponge, Spongia agariciiia imttctatn. — Fibrous
sponge, any horny sponge.— Glove-sponge, a finger-
sponge ; a reef-sponge. — Hardhead sponge, a kind of
bath-sponge, the hardhead, Spongia dnra.— 'Roly sponge,
in the Gr. Ch., a piece of compressed sponge which the
deacon uses in the office of prothesis to gather together
the portions in the disk under the holy bread, and with
which he wipes the disk after communion. — Honeycomb
sponge, the grass-sponge, Spongia equina cerebrijonnis.
— Homy sponge, a fibrous or flbrosilicious sponge; a
sponge of the group Ceratosa, as distinguished from a
chalk-sponge or glass-sponge.- Pyrotechnlcal sponge.
Same as am<ido«. — Ked sponge, Microdona prolifera,
the red beard of the oyster of the northern United States.
— Reef-sponge, a kind of bath-sponge, Spongia offici-
nalis, var. tubulifera, growing on the Florida reefs and
in the West Indies. — Sheepswool sponge. See sheeps-
wooi.— Sponge tent. See (c/if.— Toilet-sponge, a bath-
sponge of fine quality; a 'Turkish sponge. — To set a
sponge, in baking, to leaven a snnill mass of dough, to be
used in leavening a larger quantity. — To throw up the
sponge, in pugilism, to toss up the sponge used to freshen
a fighter, in acknowledgment of his defeat ; hence, in gen-
eral, to acknowledge that one is conquered or beaten ; sub-
mit; give up the contest or struggle. ISIang.] — Turkey
cup-sponge, Spongia odriarica.— Vegetable sponge.
See si)0)ige-gourd. — 'Velv6t sponge, a fine soft sponge of
tlie West Indies and Florida, Spongia equina, var. meari-
dri/ormis.—VitreoxLB sponge, a glass-sponge.— Waxed
sponge. Same as sponge (enf— Yellow sponge, zimoc-
Ca sponge. See bath-sponge. (See also bonng-sponge,
cup-sponge, finger-sponge, fiint-sportge, glass-sponge, grass-
sponge, horse-sjKnge, wool-sponge.)
sponge (spunj), V. ; pret. and pp. sponged, ppr.
sponging. [Formerly also spunge; = D. span-
sen = F. eponger = Sp. esponjar, sponge, < LL.
spongiare, wipe off with a sponge ; ef . Gr. anoy-
yit^eiv, sponge; from the noun.] I. trans. 1.
To cleanse or wipe with a sponge : as, to sponge
the body ; to sponge a slate or a cannon.
Brush thou, and sptinge thy cloaths to.
That thou that day shalt weare.
Babees Boole (E. E. T. S.), p. 73.
2. To wipe out with a sponge, as letters or
writing; efface; remove with a sponge ; destroy
all traces of: with out, off, etc.
sponge-spicule
Every little difference should not seem an Intolerable
blemish necessarily to be epunged out.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. 19.
Specifically — 3. To dampen, as in cloth-manu-
facturing.— 4. To absorb; use a sponge, or act
like a sponge, in absorbing: generally with up:
as, to sponge up water that has been spilled.
They spunged up my money while it lasted, borrowed
my coals and never paid for them, and cheated me when
I played at cribbage.
Goldsmith, Citizen of the World, xxvii.
5. To gain by sycophantic or mean arts.
Here wont the dean, when he 's to seek.
To sponge a breakfast once a week.
Swift, Richmond Lodge and Marble Hill.
*' What else have you been gpun^tn*;.''" said Maria. . . .
"Spunging, my dear! It is nothing but four of those
beautiful pheasants' eggs, which Mrs. Whitaker would
quite force upon me." Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, x.
6. To drain ; harass by extortion ; squeeze ;
plunder.
How came such multitudes of our own nation ... to
be spunged of their plate and money?
South, Sermons, I. xii.
7. In baking, to set a sponge for: as, to sponge
bread.
II. intrans. 1. To gather sponges where they
grow; dive or dredge for sponges.
There were a few small open boats engaged in sponging
from Apalachicola, which were not entered upon the cus-
tom-house books. Fisheries o/ U. S., "V. ii. 824.
2. To live meanly at the expense of others;
obtain money or other aid in a mean way: with
on.
She was perpetually plaguing and spunging on me.
Swi/t, To Dr. Sheridan, April 24, 1736.
sponge-animalcule (spunj'an-i-mal"kul), n. A
sponge-cell. See cut under monadiform.
sponge-bar (spxinj'bar), n. A sand-bar or rock
bottom on which sponges grow. [Florida.]
sponge-cake (spunj'kak'), «. Avery light sweet
cake made of flour, eggs, and sugar, flavored
with lemon: so called from its light, spongy
substance.
sponge-crab (spunj'krab), n. A erab with
which a sponge is habitually canerisooial, as a
member of the genus Dromia. See cut under
Dromia.
sponge-cucumber (spunj 'kti'''kum-bfr), M.
Same as sponge-gourd.
sponge-diver (spunj'di"ver), n. One who dives
for sponges; a sponge-fisher.
sponge-farming (sptmj'far'ming), n. The in-
dustry of breeding and rearing sponges. En-
cyc. Brit., XXII. 428.
sponge-fisher (6punj'fish"er), «. One who
fishes for sponges, or is engaged in the sponge-
fishery .
sponge-fishery (spunj'fish"er-i), n. The pro-
cess or occupation of fishing for sponges.
sponge-glass (spunj'glas), n. 1. A bucket with
a glass bottom, used in searching for sponges.
Fortnightly Rev., N. S., XXXIX. 179.— 2. The
flint-sponge, Hyalonema mirabilis, found on the
coast of Japan.
sponge-gourd (spunj'gord), n. The washing- or
towel-gourd, Luffa cylindrica (L. jSSgyptiaca),
also L. acutangula. The netted fiber from the interior
of the fruit is used for washing and other purposes, hence
called vegetable sponge or dish-rag. See Luffa and strainer-
vine.
sponge-hook (spunj 'huk), n. See liook.
spongelet (spunj'let), n. \_< sponge + -let.l 1.
A little sponge. JEncyc. Diet. — 2. In 6o<., same
as spongiole.
sponge-inoth (spunj 'm6th), n. The gipsy-moth.
[Eng. and (recently) U. S.]
spongeous (spun'jus), a. l< sponge + -ous. Cf.
spongioits.'i Same as spongy.
sponger (spun'jer), n. [Formerly also spMiiflfr;
< sponge + -eel.] 1. One who uses a sponge.
— 2. A person or vessel engaged in fishing for
sponges. Fisheries of U. S., v. ii. 823. — 3. In
cloth-manuf., a machine in which cloth is damp-
ened previous to ironing. It has a perforated
adjustable cylinder, which is filled with steam,
and about which the cloth is rolled. — 4. A par-
asitical dependent; a hanger-on for mainte-
nance ; a sponge.
Trencher-Hies and spungers. Sir B. L'Estrange.
sponge-spicule (sptmj'spik'iil), n. One of the
calcareous or silioious spicules peculiar to
sponges. They generally appear in more or less modi-
fled geometrical figures, with definite axes represented by
a non-skeletal rod or axial canal, around which tiie lime
or silica is deposited in concentric layers. There may be
one such axis or several. Sponge-spicules are either calca-
reous or silicions ; according to their position and relations,
they are either supporting-spicules or skeleton-spicules
(megascleresX or flesh-spicules or tension-spicules (micro-
sponge-spicule
5853
scleres). Schnlie has classified them, according to position, spongiform (spon'ji-fdrm), a. [< L. sponnia, a
more elaborately into »p«^,iiaai,tai*T,«a/va,a,</«£,a*(ra/«i. sponge, +/ormo, fonu.l 1. Having the fonn or
bagalia, etc. They are also grouped pnmarily according f ^ ' -'„ , v^ "*. j *. iio-.i^i^ i;uv^ ^ w*
to their axes, neit according to their rays, and finally ac- Structure of a spongo ; poriferous, as a member
of the Spongix; of or pertaining to the Sponglse.
Hence — 2. Sponge-like; spongy; soft, elastic,
and porous, like an ordinary bath-sponge : not-
ing various objects or substances not sponges.
— Spongiform quartz, floatstone.
Spongilla(spon-jirii),«. [NL. (Lamarck,1816),
Jim. of !Spon<jiee, the sponges : see spotige.'] The
only genus of fresh-water sponges, belonging
to the group Fibrospongise. The typespeciea is S.
Jlunalit, which grows on the banks of rivers and ponds.
Various Spicules from Ola&S'SponKes (Htxacttfuliiiia).
I, ozydiact ; 3, echinate oxjdiact ; 3, echinate hexact ; 4, amphidisk ;
5. ancora ; 6, tetract ; 7, oxyliexaci ; 8. discohexaster ; 9, triact.
cording to their many individual figures. Thus, both calca.
reoas and sUicious spicules are monaxon, diaxon, triaxon,
or Utraxon. Some silicious spicules are anaxon or polyact,
giving stellate figures, either regular, as the oxyMter, mat-
Ur, and tterragter, or irregular, as the spircMer, spiruia,
and wrona. These anaxon spicules are always flesh-spic-
ules or mlcroscleres. The monaxon spicules are either nie-
gaacleres or mlcroscleres ; of the former are the ftronffylu$
or ttrongyUm, oxy$trongylug, oxyu$ or oxyon^ tj^otxa, and ly-
lottylu$; of the latter are the toxita or ioxon, toxodragma,
$iffmat ngmadrayma, itocheia.anuoch^a, diancittra , tricho-
dragma, etc. Of triaxon silicious forms are the mcyhexact,
oxj^eniaet, oryutraet, axydiaet; the hexatter, (txyhezagter,
dijieohexagler, grapMohexagter, Jloricome, and plumicome;
thepinuia^getrfniUttampfdditk.utteinate^Kndaavtda, llie
tetraxon spicules are divided into inonaetinal, diactinal,
triaetinal, and tetracHnal. The above names and classes
(excepting those from .Schulze) are subi^tantially according
to Lendenfeld. .Hollas, the monographer of the sponges in
the ninth edition of the '* Encyclopaedia Britannica," uses a
similar set of terms and many others. Among the terms
employed by these in vestigatora may be noted acfrella. am-
phuuter, amphiatreUa, amphiUtrad, amphitrixne, anatri-
ttnt, anthatUr, arctUut, aster, eaUmpt, catuUUibnim, chda,
ehituUr, dadtmu, HaduM, eymba, dema, diancutron, dieho-
tritnu, ecUneUa, ecUuUr, endaiUr, hexater, menUcoid, mi-
erorhmd, nrfennfron^ylon, nuemctm, arOmtriime, periael,
poltfocL ptiyamni pnlrUene, ptenegnUm, puenaHer, rhabd
or rhabiut, mmtdaHer, tigmatpin, tigineua, tpkenuitr,
ipherula, ipCnupirtda. tpirtutrdla, tttUatt (n.), ityliu, tet-
ratt, triati, tritene. trichUe, triehotriMne, triona, fyfon, etc.
Sponge- spicules are occasionally abaent, as in gelatinous
sponges. They are small w few In homy apongea, such as
are used for the bath. In the gIaa«.«I>ongestbej mike mag-
nificent structure*, like spun glass, of degant flgurei^ and
constitute most of the balk of the sponge. Bee also cuts
under Ualipkytema, Euptedetta, HyaummMm, and tponge.
sponge-tongs (spunj'tdngz), n. sing, and pi.
i'.iiitrs usicrfor takiug sponges.
sponge-tree (spunj'tre), «. An evergreen shrub
or small tree, Acacia Farnexiana, widely dif-
fused through the tropics, and foimd in the
United States along the Qulf of Mexico, it has
•lender tigiag brancbeL bipinnate leavei, stipular spines,
and bright-yellow heads of very fragrant flowers, much
used l>y iierfuniers. It is often planted lor ornament
spongewood (spunj'wiid), n. 1. The hat-plant,
J^chynomene agpera, or its pith. See hat-plant
and .^chynomene. — 2. A plant with spongy
bark, Gationia eutigponffia, of the Araliacex,
the only species of ite genns. it is an erect shrub
with pinnate leaves and a panicle a foot long consisting
of croK de<l branches with the flowers urabeled at the enda.
Spongi% (spon'ji-e), n.pl. [NL., pi. of L. gpon-
giti, a sponge : see sponge.'] Sponges ; the meso-
dermalian class of Calentera, having a branch-
ing canal-system (the organs of which arc de-
veloped from cells of the mesoglcea, or primary
mesoderm), simple epithelia.endodermal collar-
cells, and no cnidoblasts or movable appen-
dages. The class is divided bjr Lendenfeld hito two sub.
classes: the Calearea, with one order, Caldtpongia ; and
the aaicta, with three orders, BexactinMida, Chondromon-
gia. and CamaetupongUe, with many sobordera, tribes,
etc., and about fifty living families, beside* several fosail
oneH. The class dates back to the Silurian. See tponge.
spongian (spon'ji-an), «. [< Spongise + -an.']
A nicinlicr of the Upongm; any sponge.
spongicell (spon'ji-selj. n. [< L. spongia, a
spoilt'.-. -1- rella, a cell.] A sponge-cell.
spongicolons (spon-jik'o-lu»), a. [< L. spon-
giii, u sponge, 4- colere', inhabit.] Inhabiting
HpoII^^CH.
Spongidse, Spongiidse (spon'ji-de, spon-ji'i-de),
n.pl. [>>Ij., < Spongiie + -idee.] 1. Sponges;
the Spongiap.— Z. A family of homy or fibrous
sponges, typified bv the genus Spongia, to
which various limits have been assigned. In the
most restricted sense the family Is represented by such
forms as the bath-sponges, and now called Ev^ongidx.
A Small Fresh-water Sponge, SpongiUa Jtuviaiu, with one exhaleat
aperture, seen from above.
a and b, ostioles. or inhalent apertui«s : t, ciliated chambers ; </, os-
culum, or exhalent aperture. (Arrows indicate the direction of the
current of water.)
on submerged timber and other supports, forming thick
greenish incrustations. It represents a highly specialized
and somewhat aberrant family, SpongQlidx. See also cuts
under ciliate and Porifera.
Sp^ngillidse (spon-jil'i-de), H. pi. [NL., < Spon-
yitla + -idee.] The only family of sponges
which are not marine, characterized by their
gcmmules, and typified by the genus Spongilla.
spongilline (spon'ji-lin), a. [< Spongilla -^
-ineK] Pertaining to the Spongillidx, or hav-
ing their characters.
spongin (spun'jin), n. [< sponge + -in^.] The
proper homy or fibrous substance of sponges;
ceratose or ceratode. Also spongiolin.
sponginblast (spun'jin -blist), «. [< spongin
+ Gr. ,i'/.acrr6f, a germ.] One of the cells of
sponges from which spongin is produced; the
formative blastema in which spongin arises.
»■. ./. Sollas, Enoyc. Brit., XXII. 420. Also
>tpintiji)bliisl.
sponginblastic (spun-jin-blas'tik), a. [< spon-
ginblast •\- -ic.] Producing spongin, as a spon-
ginblast; formative or germinating, as spongin.
Sponginess (spun'ji-nes), n. The state or char-
acter of being soft and porous, or spongy; po-
ronity : said of various objects and substances
not sponges.
Bponging-hoilse(8piin'jing-hous), B. [Formerly
also spunging-kouse ; < sponging, verbal n. of
sponge, v., 6, + kotMel.] A victualing-house or
tavern where persons arrested for debt were
kept by a bailiff for twenty-four hours before
being lodged in prison, in order that their
friends might have an opportunity of settling
the debt. Bpooging-honses were usually the private
dwellings of ttulllis, and were so named from the extor-
tionate charge* made upon prisoner* for their accommo-
dation thereiiL
A bailiff by mistake seized you for a debtor, and kept
you the whole evening In a tpunginghotue.
Smjt, Advice to Servants (Ueneral Directions).
upon a single species, Polyides rotundus. The
fronds are blacUah-red, cylindrical, cartilaginous, from 3
to 6 Incbe* long, and attacoed by a disk, with an undivided
stipe, which become* repeatedly dichotouiuus above. The
cystocarp* are in external flesh-colored wart-like protu-
berance*, which are borne on the npper parts of the frond.
It growl on (tone* In deep water.
spongiole (spon'ji-ol), q. [= F. spongiole, < L.
spoiigiola, dim. of spongia, a sponge :
see sponge.] In hot., a former name
of the spongy tissue of a root-tip,
from its supposed propei^y of suck-
ing up moisture like a sponge. Also
called spongelet.
spongiolin (spon'ji-o-lin), M. [< spon-
i/iolc ■)- -in2.] Same as spongin. W.
./. Snilas. Encyc. Brit., XXIl". 416.
spongiolite (spon'ji-o-Ut), n. [< Gr. ,.
e-iij)ini; dim. of avdyyof, sponge (see K^ie'
yponge), + '/i6oq, stone.] A fossil " ' '•
sponge-spicule ; one of the minute silicious ele-
ments of a sponge in a fossil state.
spongy
spongiolitic (spon'ji-o-lit'ik), a. [< spongiolite
+ -ic] Of the nature of a spongiolite; con-
taining spongiolites, or characterized by their
presence : as, spongiolitic flint.
spongiopiline (spon'ji-o-pi'lin), ». [< Gr. oTcoy-
ylov, dim. of oiroyyof, sponge, + m?MC, felt, +
-ine^.] A substitute for cataplasms. It is a thick
cloth into which sponge is incorporated in the weaving, in
a manner analogous to that of pile-weaving, to form a uni-
form pile, and coated on the opposite side with rubber.
Spongioplasm (spon'ji-o-plazm), n. [< Gr. a-jroy-
yioi; dim. otcTrdyyo^, sponge, -1- Tr/ldcr/ia, anything
formed or molded: see plasm.] The substance,
resembling neuroglia, which supports the so-
called "primitive tubules" or subdivisions of
nerve-fiber containing hyaloplasm. Nansen,
1886.
The primitive tubes are the meshes In a supporting
substance designated as " gponoioplasm," a substance de-
scribed as similar to the neuroglia which forms the sheath
of the nerve tube or fibre. Anur. Jour. Pgychol., I. 487.
spongioplasmic (spon*ji-o-plaz'mik), a. [<
spongioplasm -I- -ic] Of tie nature of, or per-
taining to, spongioplasm. Amer. Jour. Psychol.,
I. 487.
spongiose (spon'ji-6s), a. [< L. spongiosus : see
spongious.] Same as spongy.
sponglons (spon'ji-us), a. [< F. spongieux =
Sp. Pg. esponjoso = It. spugnoso, < L. spongio-
sus. spongeosus, porous, < spongia, a sponge:
see sponge] Spongy.
spongiozodn (8pon"ji-o-zo'on), n. ; pi. spongio-
zoa (-a). [NL., < Gr. airoyyiov, a sponge, + f^JoK,
an animal.] A sponge. Also spongozoon.
spongite (spon'jit), n. [< L. spongia, sponge, -^■
-ite^.] A fossil sponge.
spongitic (spon-jit'ik), a. [< spongite + -jc.]
Of the nature of a fossil sponge ; containing or
characterized by the fossil remains of sponges.
spongoblast (spong'go-blast), «. [< Gr. andy-
■joc, sponge, + p.aardq, germ.] Same as sx>on-
ginhlast.
Spongodiese (spong-go-di'f-e), n. pi- [NL., <
Gr. oTToyjudTK, aTToyyocldi/c, sponge-like, spongy
(see spongoid), + -ese.] An order of siphono-
cladaceous algte, tyi)ified by the genus Codium.
They form spongy spherical or cylindrical float-
ing masses, consisting of branched tubes.
spongoid (spong'goid), a. [< Gr. anoyyoeti^,
ffTTo; ; (j(i)?f (also e^yyoctOi^, a(t>oyyu6T/(), sponge-
like, < oKdyyo^, sponge, + el6o(, form.] ^ongi-
form, in any sense ; spongy.
spongological (spong-go-loj'i-kal), a. [< spon-
golog-y + -ic-al.] Of or pertaining to spongolo-
gy, or the science of sponges.
Spongologist (spong-gol'o-jist), n. [< spongol-
og-y + -i.it. ] One who is versed in tne science
of sponges.
spongology (spong-goro-ji), n. [< Gr. OTrdyyoi,
a sponge, -f- -Xoyia, < f.iyeiv, speak: see -ology.']
The science of sponges ; the study of the Sj>on-
gise,and the body of knowledge thence obtained.
spongomeral (spong'go-mer-al), a. [< spongo-
vwrt -I- -((/. ] Of or pertaining to a spongomere ;
choanosomal, as that part of a sponge which is
churacterized by flagellated chambers.
spongomere (spong'go-mer), «. [< Gr. awdyyoi,
a sponge, -H liipo^, a part.] The upper, choa-
nosomal part of a sponge, characterized by the
presence of flagellated cnambers: distinguished
from hypomere. Encyc. Brit., XXII. 415.
SpongOZOSn (spong-go-zo'on), «. [< -Gr. airdyyo^,
qponge, + iv'"', animal.] Same as spongiozodn.
Hyatt.
spongy (spnn'ji), a. [Formerly also spungy ; <
sponge + -y^.] 1. Of the nature or character
of a sponge; spongiform or spongoid. — 2. Re-
sembling a sponge in certain particulars; soft
or elastic and porous ; of open, loose, compres-
sible texture, like a bath-sponge ; punky, pithy,
or soft-grained, as wood; boggy or soggy, as
soil ; absorbent ; imbibitive. See cuts under
cellular and cystolith.
That sad breath his gpongy lungs bestow'd.
Shak., lx)ver'8 Complaint, 1. 326.
Here pits of crag, with spongy, plashy base,
ited space.
Crabbe, Works, II. 9.
To some enrich th' uncultivated space.
3t. As it were soaked with drink; drunken.
[Rare.]
What not put upon
His spongy officers, who shall bear the guilt
Of our great quell? Shak., Macbeth, i. 7. 71.
4t. Moist ; wet ; rainy.
Thy banks with pioned and twilled brims,
Which spongy April at thy hestbetrims.
To make cold nymphs chaste crowns.
Shak., Tempest, Iv. 1. 65.
Spongy bones, cancellated bones ; specifically, the sphe-
ooturolnals Spongy cartilage. Same as elastic carti-
spongy
lagt (which see, uniler rfos^ic).— Spongy platinum, plati-
mim-spoiii;e. See jipoH</r, Tk, 3.
spongy-pubescent (spun'ji-pu-bes'ent), fl. In
e/ito/M., naviug a very compact pubescence, re-
sembling the surface of a sponge.
spongy-villous (spun'ji-vil'us), a. In bot., so
tbiekly covered with fine soft hairs as to be
spongy or to resemble a sponge.
sponkt, ". An obsolete form of spunk.
sponnent, sponnet, v. Obsolete forms of the
preterit plural and past participle of spin.
sponsal (spon'sal), a. [< L. sponsalis, pertain-
ing to betrothal or espousal, < sponsiis, a be-
trothal: see spouse.'] Relating to marriage or
to a spouse. Bailey, 1731.
sponsible (spon'si-bl), a. [An aphetic form of
responsible.'] 1. Capable of discharging an ob-
ligation; responsible. /ScoM, Rob Boy, xxvi. —
2. Respectable; creditable; becoming one's
station.
sponsing (spon'sing), n. Same as sponson.
sponsion (spon'shon), n. [< L. sponsio(n-), a
solemn promise or engagement, security, <
spondere, pp. sponsus, engage oneself, promise
solemnly: see sponsor.'] 1. The act of becom-
ing surety for another. — 2. In international
law, an act or engagement made on behalf of
a state by an agent not specially authorized.
Such conventions must be confirmed by express
or tacit ratification.
sponsional (spon'shon-al), a. [< sponsion +
-fl/.] Responsible ; implying a pledge. [Rare.]
sponson (spon'son), n. [Also sponsing ; origin
obscure.] Naui. (a), the curve of the timbers
and planking toward the outer part of the wing.
a, a, Sponson.
before and abaft each of the paddle-boxes of a
steamer; also, the framework itself. (6) In a
warship, a similar projecting structure, in wliich
a gun is placed: designed to enable the gun to
be trained forward and aft — Sponson-beams,
the projecting beams which contribute to form sponsons.
sponsor (spon'sor), n. [< L. sponsor, a surety,
LL. a sponsor in baptism, < spondere, pp. spon-
sus, promise: cf. Gr. CTrovSai (pi. of airoviyj), a
truce, < avivotiv, pour a libation, as when mak-
ing a solemn treaty: see spondee. From L.
spondere are also ult. despond, respond, cor-
respond, spouse, espousal, etc.] 1. A surety;
one who binds himself to answer for another,
and is responsible for his default; specifically,
one who is surety for an infant at baptism,
professing the Christian faith in its name, and
guaranteeing its religious education ; a god-
father or godmother. The custom of having
sponsors in baptism is as old as the second
century. See godfather. — 2. [cap.] [NL.] In
entom., a genus of coleopterous insects.
sponsorial (spon-s6'ri-al), a. [< sponsor +
-!-«/.] Of or pertaining to a sponsor.
sponsorship (spon'sqr-ship), n. [< sponsor +
-ship.] The state of being a sponsor.
spontaneity (spon-ta-ne'i-ti), n. [< F. sponta-
neite = Sp. espontaneidad = Pg. espontaneidade
= It. spontaneita, < ML. *sponianeita{t-)s, < LL.
«pontoneits, spontaneous: aee spontaneous.] 1.
Spontaneous character or quality ; that charac-
ter of any action of any subject by virtue of
which it takes place without being caused by
anything distinguishable from the subject it-
self. Spontaneity does not imply the absence of a pur-
pose or external end, but the absence of an external in-
citement or external etticient cause.
2. In biol., the fact of apparently automatic
change in structure, or activity in function,
of animals and plants, whereby new charac-
ters may be acquired, or certain actions per-
formed, under no influence of external condi-
tions or stimulus ; animal or vegetable autom-
atism, (o) The inherent tendency of an individual or-
ganism to vary in structure witliout reference to its con-
ditions of environment, as when a plant or animal sports ;
spontaneous varial>ility. 8orae of the moat valuable strains
of domestic animals and cultivated plants have arisen
thus spontaneously. (6) The tendency to purposeless ac-
tivity of the muscular system of animals, whereby they
execute movements independent of external stimulus.
5854
Such actions, though voluntary, laclt recognizable motive,
and appear to depend upon the tension of a vigorous
nervous system refresiled by repose. Such spontaneity
is notable in tlie great activity of cliildren and tlie gam-
bols of young animals.— Spontaneity of certain cogni-
tive faculties, in tlie philosopliy of Kant, tlie self-activity
of those faculties which are not determined to act by any-
thing in the sense-impressions on which they act But the
conception is not made very clear by Kant.
spontaneous (spon-ta'ne-us), rt. [= F. spontani
= Sp. Pg. espontaneo = It. spontaneo, < LL. spon-
taneus, willing, < L. *spon{t-)s, will, only in gen.
spontis and abl. spontc, of one's own will, of
one's own accord.] 1. Pi'oceeding from a con-
scious or unconscious internal impulse ; occur-
ring or done without the intervention of exter-
nal causes ; in a restricted sense, springing from
one's own desire or volition, apart from any
external suggestion or incitement. Of late the
employment of gpontanemis in the sense of ' irreflective ' or
'not controlled by a definite purpose' is creeping in from
the French ; but this is an oljjectionable use of the term.
The spontanetms grace with which these homely duties
seemed to bloom out of her character.
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, v.
Now my speculation is that advantiigeous permanent
changes are always produced by the spontaneous action of
the organism, and not by the direct action of the environ-
ment. W. K. Clifford, Lectures, I. 101.
A man whose nature leads him to a spontaneous fulfil-
ment of the Divine will cannot be conceived better.
U. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 277.
2. Growing naturally, without previous human
care.
Spontaneous iiowers take the place of the finished par-
terre. Goldsmith, Citizen of the World, xxxi.
3. Growing as native ; indigenous. [Rare.]
Whence they had their Indian corn I can give no ac-
count ; for I don't believe that it was spontaneous in those
parts. Beverley, Hist. Virginia, iv. K 20.
4. In biol., instinctive or automatic, as some
actions of animals which depend upon no ex-
ternal stimulus and are performed without ap-
parent motive or purpose ; uninfluenced by ex-
ternal conditions, as a change in structural
character. Compare spontaneity, 2. Spontaneous
actions may be eitlier voluntai-y, in a usual sense, as the
gambols of puppies or Icittens, or involuntaiy and quite
uncontrollable by the will. Of the latter class, some are
abnormal, as spontaneoUB (in distinction from induced)
somnamliulism, and tliese ai'e also called idiopathic. —
Center of spontaneous rotation. See rotation. — Spon-
taneous axis, an axis of rotation of a body under instan-
taneous forces, in case there is no translation in the first
instant. — Spontaneous cause, a cause that is moved to
causing by the end or the object. — Spontaneous com-
bustion. See combustion.— Spontaneous dislocation.
See dislocation, 2 (a).— Spontaneous energy, free energy,
uiirepressed and unforced.— Spontaneous evolution, in
obstet., the spontaneous expulsion of the fetus in a case of
shoulder presentation, the body being delivered before
the head.— Spontaneous generation. See generation
and «M(i(/eju!s«.— Spontaneous suggestion, suggestion
by the action of the laws of association, without the inter-
vention of the will. = Syn. 1. Willing, etc. (see voluntary),
instinctive, unbidden.
spontaneously (spon-ta'ne-us-li), adv. In a
spontaueous manner ; with spontaneity.
SpontaneousnesS (spon-ta'ne-us-nes), n. The
character of being spontaneous ; spontaneity.
spontoon (spon-ton'), re. [Formerly also espon-
ton; = G. sponton, < F. sponton, esponton, F. dial.
Ronton = Sp. esponton = Pg. espontao, < It. s})on-
tone, spuntone, a sharp point, a bill, javelin, pike,
spontoon ; cf . spuntare, shoot forth, break off the
point, blunt; puntone, a point, (.punto, a prick,
a point : see point^.] A kind of halberd or par-
tizan formerly serving as the distinguishing arm
for certain officers of the British infantry. Com-
pare half-pike. Also called dcmi-pike.
spook (spok), n. [Also spuke; < D. spook, MD.
spoocke = MLG. spok, spuk, LG. spook = G. spuch
(obs. except in dial, use), also spuk (after LG.)
= Sw. spoke (cf . D. spooksel, MD. spoockscl, Dan.
spogelse), a spook, ghost. There is nothing to
show any connection with Ir. puca, elf, sprite,
= W. ptoca, pwci : see puck, pug^.] A ghost ; a
hobgoblin. [Now coUoq.]
Woden, who, first losing his identity in the Wild Hunts-
man, sinlss by degrees into the mere spook of a Suabian
baron, sinfully fond of field-sports.
Lowell, Among my Boolis, Ist ser., p. 118.
spook (spok), V. i. [= D. spoken = MLG. spoken
= G. spuken, spucken = Sw. spoka = Dan. spoge;
from the noun.] To play the spook. [Rare.]
Yet still the New World spooked it in his veins,
A ghost he could not lay with all his pains.
Lowell, Fitz Adam's Story.
spookish (spo'kish), a. [< spook + -»«*.!.] 1.
Like a spook or ghost; ghostly. — 2. Given
over to spooks ; congenial to ghosts ; haunted:
as, a spookish house. — 3. Affected by a sense or
fear of ghosts; suggestive of the presence or
agency of spooks: as, a spookish circumstance;
a spookish sensation. [Colloq. in all uses.]
spoon
spooky (spo'ki), fl. [< spook + -y}.] Same as
.•<pooki,sh, in any sense. [Colloq.]
spool(sp61),». [< ME. spole {not in AS.), <MD.
.sporic, D. spoel, a spool, quill, = MLG. spole.
Hi. spole = OHG. spuolo, spuold, MHG. spuole,
G. spule, a spool, bobbin, = Icel. spola = Sw.
Dan. spole, a spool (cf. It. spola, spuola, bobbin,
OF. epolet, spindle, < Tent.) ; perhaps akin to
Icel. spiilr, a rail, a bar: see sptile.] 1. A small
cylinder of wood or other material (with a pro-
jecting disk at each end), upon which thread or
yarn is wound; a reel. —2. The revolving metal
shaft of an anglers' reel, upon which the fishing-
line is wound. See cut under reel.
spool (spol), V. t. [< S2>ool, n.] To wind on a
spool.
spool-cotton (sp6rkot''''n), ». Cotton thread
wound on spools.
spooler (spo'ler), n. [< spool + -erl.] One who
winds, or a machine used in winding, thread
or yarn on spools. Ure, Diet., IV. 122.
spool-holder (sp6rh61"d6r),«. 1. A stand for
one or more spools of sewing-thread, on which
the spools are mounted on pins, so as to turn
freely as the thread is unwound. Also spool-
stand. — 2. In warping, a creel on which spools
are placed on skewers.
spooling-machine (sp6'ling-ma-shen"), ». A
machine for winding thread on spools.
spooling-'wheel (spo'ling-hwel), n. Same as
spole, 2. Halliwell.
spool-stand (spol'stand), n. Same as spool-
holder, 1.
spoomt (spom), V. [Supposed to be a var. of
spume, q. v. Cf. spoon"^.] I. intrans. Naut., to
sail steadily and rapidly, as before the wind.
We'll spare her our main-top sail ;
She shall not looli us long, we are no starters.
Down with the fore-sail too ! we'll spoom before her.
Fletcher, Double Marriage, 11. 1.
II. trans. To cause to scud, as before the
wind.
Spoom her before the wind, you'll lose all else !
Fletcher (and another), Two Noble Kinsmen, ill. 4.
spooming (spo'ming), p. fl. Rushing before the
wind: in the quotation perhaps used errone-
ously in the sense of ' foaming,' ' surging,'
' roaring.'
O Hoon ! far spooming Ocean bows to thee.
Keats, £ndymion, lii.
spoon'^ (spon), n. [< ME. spoon, spone, spon,
span, < AS. spon, a splinter of wood, chip, =
OFries. spon, span = D. spaen, spaan = MLG.
spon, LG. spoon = MHG. span, G. span, a thin
piece of wood, shaving, chip, = Icel. spdnn,
sponn = Sw. sp&n = Dan. spaan, a chip; root
uncertain. Cf. span-new, spick-and-span-new.']
If. A thin piece of wood; a splinter; a chip.
A fyre of sponys, and lowe of gromis
Full soun woll be att a nende [an end].
Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), p. 41.
2. A utensil consisting of a bowl or concave
part and a handle, used for conveying liquids or
liquid food to the mouth. Spoons were originally
of wood, later of horn or metal. They are now made usu-
ally of silver, gold, iron, or mixed metal, of wood, horn,
shell, or other materials, in various sizes and shapes, and
for a great variety of purposes. Compare dessert-spoon,
egg-spoon, table-spoon, etc.
He must have a long spoon that must eat with the devil.
Shak., C. of E., iv. 3. 62.
3. Something wholly or in part like a spoon
(def. 2) or the bowl of a spoon in shape. Specifi-
cally— (a) The blade of an oar when broad and slightly
curved, or an oar with such a curved blade. (&) A bright
spoon-shaped piece of metal or other substance, swiveled
above hooks, used as a lure or decoy in fishing. It revolves
as it is drawn tlirough the water, (c) A piece cut from the
horn of an ox or bison, in the shape of an elongated bowl
of a spoon, six to eight inches in length. It is used in
gold-washing, and for testing the value of any kind of
detrital material or pulverized ore. (rf) A club the strik-
ing-surface of which is somewhat hollowed, used in the
game of golf, (e) Tbe spoonbill or paddle-fish. (/) In
omith., the spatulate dilatation at the end of the bill of a
spoon-billed bird, (g) In cotton-manuf., a weighted grav-
itating arm in the stop-motion of a drawing-frame. One
of these is held in position by the tension of each sliver,
and in case the sliver breaks or the can becomes empty,
and the tension is thus relieved, it falls, and, actuating a
belt-shifter, causes the driving-belt to slip from the fast
pulley to the loose pulley, thus stopping the machine. (A)
In archery, same as petticoat, 5. — Apostle's spoon. See
apoKMe-«poo7».— Bag and spoon. See ia.'/'.— Deflagrat-
ing-spoon, a small spoon of metal, upon which a sub-
stance which is to be deflagrated is subjected to the
action of heat.— Euchaxlstic spoon. .Same as labis.—
Maidenhead spooiL See maidenhead.— To be bom
with a silver spoon in one's mouth. See borni.—
Wooden spoon, (a) .'^t Cambridge University, the stu-
dent whose name stands last in the Jlathematieal Ti ipos.
(b) At Yale, formerly, the student who took the last ap-
pointment at the Junior Exhibition ; later, the most popu-
lar student in a class.
The Century, XXXV.
spoon 5855
sppon^ (spon), c. [< spooni, n.] I. trans. X. as. to lie spoon-fashion
lo take up or out with a spoon or ladle; re- 771. [CoUoq.]
move with a spoon; empty or clean out with a spoonflower (spon'flau'er), n. A plant, PeU
spoon: often with up: as, to spoon up a liquid, tundra alba, of the arum family, having eon-
Ours, . . . siderable resemblance to a ealla-lily. It is found
An age or scam, spooned off the richer past. sparingly in the United States southward near the Atlan-
Mrs. Browning, Aurora Leigh, v. tic coast. More fully written arrow-lea/ed ipoonjlower.
2. To lie close to. the face of one to the back of 'i^^'xP-i *;' « ,.. „ r, , j_ ^ , -, .
the other, as the bowl of one spoon within that SPOOnfUl (sp6n ful), n. [< spoonl + -ful.2 As
of another. Comps^re spoon-fashion. [Colloq.l ""'"i'^L'' ^P/°°"^?"**-?^- t
„e." at«rii„Atr.toh^h.„,„H„ il spoon-gouge (spon'gouj),_n._ In carp.
sporation
sporaceous (spo-ra'shius), a. [< spore + -aceous.}
In bot., pertaining to spores; contributing to
spores.
Sporades (spor'a-dez), n. pi. [NL., < Gr. ajro-
padec, sc. v^aoi, 'the scattered islands,' a group
of islands ofif the west coast of Asia Minor, pi.
of CTTTopdf , scattered : see sporadic] 1 . A gi-oup
of scattered islands in the Greek Archipelago.
— 2. II. c] In anc. astron., stars which were
not included in any constellation.
.. - - ^■■' SPOOn-gOUEe (spon'eoui^ n In ram a <rnmrA "<*'■ included in anv constellatic
Now.poo„n,e." ,SterIi..g stret^hedhimself out on the ^ith aTrofL7end,lsed fo;hoUoZgoufdefp SPOradial (spo-ra'cJi-al), a. [< Gr. c^opa, (anc
^g f uiTovvs or cuttings in wood. 1 _"•',' scattered (see^sporodjc), + -i-al.] ~
..v.. Bjfv^.. i.j.,. OLdiiiig ouTTUJlltJU uiiuseii OUlOl
warm flag-stone, and the boy nestled up against him. « .\: — ': '
Uarper-a Mag., LXXVI. 49. Iu"0vvs or cuttings m wood.
ILintrans. 1 . In cro^wW, to use the mallet as spoon-hook (spon'hiik), ». A fish-hook with a
a spoon; push or shove the ball along with the „^''^°'J,!f*/''«r J A'' ''^g'^'^? 8P°9°-
mallet instead of striking it smartly as is re- spoonily {sp6 ni-h), adv. In a siUy or spoony
quired by the strict rules of the game. manner.
Belabour thy neighbour, and ipoon through thy hoops.
.P. Locker, Mr. Placid's Flirtation
2. To fish with spoon-bait.— 3. To lie spoon
fashion. Compare I., 2. [CoUoq.]
Scat-
Two persons in each bunk, the sleepers spooning to.
:ked like sardines. Uarpers Mag.,LXXI'V.7sl.
gether, pac
spoon- (spon), V. i. [A var. or cormption of
spoom.'] Same as spoom. ~ .
Such a storme did arise, they were forced to let slip SpOOn-nct (spon'net)
Cable and Anchor, and put to Sea, spooning before the "v ano-lprs
"'"a- Capt. John Smith, True Travels, I. 62.
spoon^ (sp8n), n. [Usually assumed to be a
particular use of spoon^ ; but rather a back-for-
mation from spoony, orig. in aUusion to the use
of a spoon in feeding an infant.] 1. A foolish
fellow; a simpleton; a spoony; a silly lover.
[Colloq.]
A man that's fond precociously of stirring
Must be a spoon. Bood, Morning Meditations.
What a good-natured spoon that Dodd is !
C. Reade, Hard Cash, PpoL
2. A fit of silliness; especially, a fit of silly
love. [Colloq.]- To be spoons on, to be sillily In
love with. I Slang. I
I onght to remember, for I icas spoons on you myself for
a week or two. Harpg/s Mag., LXXVIII. 749.
tered; sporadic. [Bare.]
Sporadic (spo-rad'ik), a. [= P. sporadique =
tiTa.esj)oradico = Pg. esporadico = It. sporadico,
< NL. sporadtcus, < Gr. anopadiKdg, scattered, <
anopdc, scattered,< amipetv, scatter: see spore2.]
Separate; single; scattered; occurring singly,
or apart from other things of the same kind ■
widely or irregularly scattered; of exceptional
occurrence (in a given locality) ; straggling.
If there was discontent, it was in the individual, and
not in the air; sporadic, not epidemic.
Lowell, New Princeton Rev., I. 158.
Sporadic cholera. See cholera, 2.— Sporadic dysen-
tery, dysentery occurring in scattered cases, which have
no apparent common origin.
sporadical (spo-rad'i-kal), a. [< sporadic +
-<il.] Same as sporadic. Arbuthnot.
sporadically (spo-rad'i-kal-i), adv. In a spo-
radic manner; separately; singly; dispersedly.
spoon^ (spSn), r. «. [< spoonS, n.] To be a
spoon or spoony; be sillily in love. [CoUoq.]
^P^" KTfw:_«!!^v''i^'^'''?°«?.'?»l*"'^'"- ">• 8)JOOnwortt(sp6n'w6rt),T l<spooni-i-v,oril.-]
spoon-bait (spSn'bat), n. A troUing-spoon ; a
revolving metallic lure for the capture of cer
».;.. n«iwT» «.i, A-1 11- —I""""'. "' >;"- oyuuu* vspo m;, a. ana n. lAlso spooney; cf.
tomta^ of fish, used in trolling ; a spinner or spoon\-\ L a. Soft ; silly ; weak-minded ; spe-
Same as spoonbill,
propeller.
spoonbeak (spon'bek), n,
1 (/'I. [Prov. Eng.]
spoonbill (spOn'bil), n. 1. In omitk.: (a) A
large grallatorial bird of either of the genera
Platalea and Aiaia: so called from the broad,
flat, spatulate dilatation of the end of the bill,
likened to a spoon. See cuts under Platalea
and aiaia. (h) The shoveler-duck. Spatula cly-
peata. See cut under shoveler^. (c) The scaup-
duck, Fttliffula marila. See cut under scaup.
[East Lothian.] (d) The ruddy duck, Eritma-
tura rubida; the broadbill: more fully called
spoon-bUled butterball. See cut under Erisnta-
tHra. rMassachnsettsandNewYork.]— 2. In
ich th ..the spoon -billed cat, or paddle-fish, Pohio-
diiu »iMitiila. See cuts under iMKi(U«-/!«A.-Bo.a-
ate gpoonlim. Seeoioia. ^
spoon-billed (spOn'bild), a. 1. In ornith., hav-
ing a Ki)oon-like or spatulate bill, dilated at the
end. See spoonbiU.— 2. In ichth., duck-billed ;
shovel-nosed; having a long spatulate snout,
88 a sturgeon. See cuts under paddle-fi '
t^.^j/^'^i^"''«-^^°3R-^^^ butterban. Same _
spoonlnU, 1 (rf) -Spoon-blUed cat .'<ame M paddU-tA.
_- Spoon blUed duck, teal, or widgeon, the fhuveler—
Spoon-blUed heron, a «poonbia-8poon-bmed sand-
Ri?5n l"/]"':"'''i"^'»" PUmmu, A sandpiper with the
^i.^^u.',"'K.''J'^°.""* *"•'• I" "">er respects this
curious mtle bird la almoat identical in formVlth the
stints, or least Muidplpeta, of the genus AeUdToimu: it 1*
also of about the same siie, and lU plumage la limUar
See cut under «ury;iorAyiKA(u. ^
manner.
spooniness (sp6'ni-nes), n. Spoony character
or state; silliness; especially, silly fondness.
E. H. Totes, Land at Last, 1. 107.
spoon-meat (spon'met), n. Food that is or
has to be taken with a spoon; liquid food ; fig-
uratively, food for babes or weaklings.
Cour. Will you go with mel Well mend onr dinner here?
pro. S. Master, if you do, expect spoon-meat; or bespeak
a long spoon. Shak., C. of E., iv. 3. 61.
]poon-net (spon'net), n. A landing-net used
by anglers.
spoon-saw (spon'sft), n. A spoon-shaped in-
strument with a serrated edge, used in gyne-
o '', " .. , , . itmi.- liiduuci , o^j^ttittcciy i aiuKiy; uii
spoon-Shaped (spon shapt), a. Shaped like a sporadicalness (spo-rad'i-kal-nes), n
sp<i(in; spatulate; cochleariform. quality of being sporadic.
spoontail (spon'tal), n A phyllopod crusta- Bare even to ^p„rarftc«;m«,.
ccan ot the genus Leptdurus. w. D. Whitney, Araer. Jour. Phflol V 287
TZ"m.'?? rUlCl"^*'^^' "■ -P'- Sameassporal(sp6'ral),a. [< spore^ + -al.^ Relating
JI^^'J^^A ^^?^'hs mv to or resembling sporesT ^
Pa^rT^olf' K T*^]-' ,"•• T^% mountam- sporange(spo-ranj^),n. Ksporangium.-] Inbot.,
laurel or calico-bush, Kalnna latifolia, of the game as .'poranqium. "■ ^ ^ -" ""'■'
fn'fhe^AuSe'J ^ fh^aM 'bU'oST?rt lot^^'f^e^l ^^rll^l\ T )''^^f}.°\^oran9ium.
high. ItTwood Is hard and heavv. and is n^ foVt^i- Sporangial (sp9-ran'ji-al), a. [_< sporangium -»-
-n'.J 1. Of or relating to the sporangium: as,
the sporangial layer.— 2. Containing spores;
having the character of a sporangium; per-
taining to sporangia.
sporangidimnt (spo-ran-jid'i-um), n. ; pi. spo
rant/idifi (-a). \mj., dim. of sporangium. 1 '-
bot. : (o) The columella in mosses " ' '
rangiiim.
sporanglferous (spo-ran-jif'e-rus), a
sporangium -i- L. ferre = E" 6earl.]
Qo„ti,„;.„ Ix'aring or producing sporangia,
seniimen- sporangiform (spo-ran'ji-form), a.
sitonmiiium + Ij. forma, form.] In bot., .
'uie^:EiV^ion Dunn, Ix. .i^li^'^i' ?^ appearance of a sporangium
WDlable, no doubN ^^°^^^P?}^ (spo-ran ji-o.d), a [< NL. sporan-
'^itraell f ""« + 't- "ooc, appearance.] In 6o<., having
the appearance of a sporangium.
hlghu lU wood Is hard and heavy, and is used for tool
handles, in tnmerj-, and for fuel. The leaves are consid-
ered poisonoa^ and have a slight medicinal i«p'it«. See
cut under Kalmia.
spoon worm (spen'wirm), ». A gephyrean
worm; especially, a sipunculoid worm. See
Gephj/rea, and cuts uiuler Sipuncubis.—Sej>-
Tlio scurvy-grass, Cochlearia officinalis.
spoony (8pS'ni),^._and n. [Also spooney; ef.
ciflcally, weakly or foolishly fond
tal.
Not actoaUy In love, . . . but only spoony
. In
(6) A 81)0-
[< NL.
In bot.,
[< NL.
,, having
His grandson wai not to his taate
bat spoony. ' 'oi^a^iZ
n. n. ; pi. snoonies (-niz). A stupid or sillv oi^'l^l^EJ'^iT/''® -°* " '-??^r^™r/ xtt
fellow; a noodle; a ninny; a simpleton; espe- sporangiole (spo-ran 'gi-ol), «. [< NL. sp.
cially, a sillily fond sentimental fellow. Also ff'"'""'-] ,In Oct., same as s]>orangiolum.
spoon. [Slang.] sporanpolum (spo-ran-ji'o-lum), «. ; pi.
In abort. I began the process of mining myself In the
recelTed style, like any other nxxmte.
ChanoUe Brontf, Jane Eyre, xv.
Wbat the deuce can she and in that spooney of s Pitt
Crawley f . . . The fellow has not pluck enough to say Bo
to a goose. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xxxlv.
spoor (sp«r), n. [< D. sjioor = MLG. spor =
OHG. MHO. spor, G. spur = Ice], spor = Sw.
spdr = Dan. »jBor, track, = AS. spor, a track,
trace, footprint. Cf. «p«eri, »pt<r.] The track ta'cle which bears''the 8poran^a;"a'8po'rophore
or trail of a wild animal or animals, especially ' ' " '
such as are purf ^ ...
used originally
Bporangiolnm (spo-ran-ji'o-lum), n. ; pi. spo-
rangiola (-\a). llilj., dim.' ot sporangium .'\ In
bot., a small sporangium produced in certain
genera of Mucorini in addition to the large
sporangium. The spores are similar in both.
The term has also been used as a synonym for
ascus.
sporangiophore (spo-ran'ji-o-f6r), n. [< NL.
sporangiophorum, < sporangium + Gr. -^pog, <
<l>tptiv = E. 6earl.] In bot., the axis or recep-
tacle which bears the sporangia ; a e
bearing sporangia. See sporophore.
» .. .-^.^ <>uuxu>i Ml aiuiuuiB, »;Hpeciaiiy uearing sporangia. Bee sporophore.
re pursued as game; slot; hence, scent: Sporangiophonim (sp6-ran-ji-of'6-rum), n
waUy by travelers in South Africa. sporamiinnhora (-ra).' [NL. : see SDora
HrV r T( trmnr t ft .>,i.,«.l 1 T .,1.,,..,. i "r., i,-* _•_ ■ ^'l
paddle-nth "*®" original _
"H. Ssmeas '!^„J.^''\ 'i\ t< ^'^' "•, "■ ^erl.l
intrans. To follow a spoor or trail.
After searching and spooring about for another hour,
we were obliged to abandon pursuit.
The Field, Feb. 17, 1887. (Sneye. Diet.)
n. trans. To track by the spoor.
The three bolls, according to the natives, have been
spoored Into the dense patch of bush above the kloof
Harper's Mag., LXXVII. 192.
spoon-chisel (spOn'chiz'el), w. 8eec»MeP. E.
II. hiiii/ht.
'^9^^,-'i^(>*P>i'^'dri{t),,n, l< spoon^ + drift.-] spoomf, n
-%""'., ii showery sprinkling of sea-water or fine
sjiray swept from the tops of the waves bv the
violence of the wind in a tempest, and driven
along before it, covering the surface of the sea ;
Hfiid. Sometimes called spindrift.
spoonev, n. and n. See spoony.
spoon-fashion (spOn'fash'on), adv. Like
spoons close together; with the face of one to
the back of the other and with the knees bent:
Ventvogel . . . was one of the most perfect mooren I
ever had to do with.
H. ft. Haggard, King Solomon's Mines, Ui.
[Origin obscure.] The name of a
fiend or hobgoblin whose nature does not ap-
pear to be determinable.
Urchins, Elves, Hags, Satyrs, . . . Kitt-with-the-candle-
Bllck, Tritons, . . . the .S^Morn, the Mare, the Man-irithe-
o»k- MiddteUm, The Witch, L 2.
Most antiquarians will be at fanit concerning thespaonu,
Kitt-wlth'the-candlestlck. Boneless, and some others.
Scott, Letters on Demonology, note.
The scene of fairy revels, ... the haunt of bulbeggars,
witches. ... the spoom. S. Judd, Maixaret, L 6.
;pi.
'1 ..- , \ 'y:/- l- "^^ sporangio-
phore.) In bot., same as sporangiophore.
sporanglospore (spo-ran'ji-o-spor), n. [< Gr.
anopd, OTrdpo^, seed, -f- ayyciov, vessel, -I- anopd^
cv6po(:, seed.] In bot., one of the peculiar
spores of tlie Myxomycetes. See Myxomycetes.
sporangium (spo-ran' ji-um), n. ; pi. sporangia
(-a). [NL., < spora, a spore, -I- Gr. ayyeiov, ves-
sel.] 1. In bot., a spore-case; the case or sac
in cryptogamous plants in which the spores,
which are the analogues of the seeds of the
higher or flowering plants, are produced endo-
genously. The sporanginm receives diiferent names, in
accordance with the kind of spores produced : as, macro-
sporangium, microsporangium, oosporangium., zoosporan-
ffium, etc. In mosses sporangium is usually the same as
capsule, but by some authors it is restricted to the spore-
case or sac lining the cavity of the capsule. See spore-
sac.
2. In zool., the spore-capsnle or spore-recepta-
cle of the Mycetozoa. W. B. Carpenter, Micros.,
i 334.
Also sporange.
sporation (spo-ra'shon), n. l<spore^+ -ation.']
in biol., a mode of generation which consists
in the interior division of the body into a mass
I. Of Lycopodiufn clavatum.
a. Of S^laffinella marg^'nata, ger-
minating. 3. Oilsoi^tes lacMStris.
4. Of Equisettttn arvense. 5. Of
MarsiUa qttadri/olia, 6. OCSa/-
vinia natans, 7. Of Marattia
fraxinifolia. 8. Of Aneimia
sp. t), Oi PolyPodiuTn aureufn. 10.
Oi Partnetia ctliaris, 11. Ot Par-
ntelia parietina. xs. Of Cera-
miufn purpureunu 13. Of Coleo-
chsete pulvinata.
sporation
of spores or germs, which are freed upon the
rupture of the body-wall; also, spore-forma-
tion. Usually called sporvXation.
spore^t, ". A Middle English form of sj)Kr.
spore- (spor), H. [= F. spore, < NL. spora, a
spore, < Gr. a-n-opa, a sowing, seed-time, seed
sown, seed, pi-oduce, offspring; cf. a7v6po(, a
sowing, seed-time, seed, produce; < aireipav,
sow, scatter; ef. sperm^.] 1. In bot., a single
cell which becomes
free and is capable of
developing directly
into a new morpho-
logically and physio-
logically independent
individual. The name is
given to all the reproduc-
tive bodies of cryptoga-
mous plants, which are the
analogues of the seeds of
the higher or flowering
plants, from which they
farther differ by having no
embryo. In the majority
of cases a spore consists of
a nucleated mass of proto-
plasm, inclosing starch or
oil as reserve nutritive ma-
terial, surrounded by a cell-
wall. In those cases in
which the spore is capable
of germination immediate-
ly on the completion of its
development, the cell-wall
is a single delicate mem-
brane consisting of cellu-
lose ; but in those cases
in which the spore must
pass through a period of
quiescence before germi-
nation, the wall is thick
and may consist of two
layers, an inner, the en-
.dotpore, which is deli-
cate and consists of cellu-
lose, and an outer, the caw-
spore, which is thick and rigid, frequently dark-colored,
and beset externally with spines or bosses, and which
consists of cutin. In certain plants, as some algje and
fungi, spores are produced which are for a time destitute
of any cell-waU. They are further peculiar in that they
are motile, on which account they are called zoospores.
In the various divisions of cryptogams the spores are pro-
duced in many different ways and under various condi-
tions. See jecidiospore, ascospore, buipcfre, carpospore, clda-
mydospore, clinospore, macrospore, microspore, oospore, pro-
itxpare, pseudosporey pycnidiospore, stylospore, teleutospore,
tetraspore, uredospore, zoospore, zytjospore, etc.
2. In zoiil., the seed or germ of an organism,
of minute size, and not of the morphological
value of a cell, such as one of the microscopic
bodies into which the substance of many proto-
zoans is resolved in the process of reproduc-
tion by sporation ; a sporule ; a gemmule, as of
a sponge. — 3. In hiol., an organic body of ex-
tremely minute size, and not subject to ordi-
nary classification; a sporozoid or zoospore;
a living germ, as a seed of certain diseases. —
4. Figuratively, a germ; a seed; a source of
being.
The spores of a great many ideas are floating about in
the atmosphere. 0. W. Holmes, Old Vol. of Life, p. 46.
Cellular spore, compound spore. Same as sporidesm. —
Cystocarplc spore, a carpospore.— Helicoid, secon-
dary, etc., spores. See the adjectives. — MultilOCUlar,
pluriiocular, or septate spore. Same as spondesm.
spore-capsule (spdr'kap'sul), n. A sporangi-
um ; a spore-case.
spore-case (spor'kas), n. 1. In bot., the sporan-
gium, or immediate covering of the spores, of
cryptogams. — 2. Imoiil., a spore-capsule.
spore-cell (spor'sel), n. In bot., a spore, or a
cell wliieh gives rise to a spore.
spore-formation (8p6r'f6r-ma''shon), re. In
biol., the origination of spores; tlie vital pro-
cess whereby spores are produced, (o) A kind of
multiple fission or interior suodivision of many unicel-
lular organisms, by which they become converted into a
mass of spores or sporules. .See spore^, and cut under
Protoivyza. (6) The formation of reproductive spores, as
of bacilli. See spore^, 3.
spore-group (spor'grop), n. In bot., same as
sporidesm.
spore-plasm (sp6r'plazm),n. In bot., the proto-
plasm of a sporangium that is devoted to the
formation of spores.
sporert, ». A Middle English form of spurrier.
spore-sac (spor'sak), n. In bot., in mosses, the
sac lining the cavity of the sporangium, which
contains the spores.
sporget. A Middle English form of spurge^ and
sptirfle'^.
sporid (spor'id), re. [<.KL. aporidium.'] Jnbot.,
a sporidium.
sporidesm (spor'i-dezm), n. [< NL. spora,
spore, 4- Gr. Sca/iJi, a bundle.] In bot., a pluri-
cellular body which becomes free like a spore,
6856
and in which each cell is an independent spore
with the power of germination. Also called spore-
group, semen-multiplex, compound spore, rmdtUocvlar spore,
cellmar spore, pluriioctdar spore, sepUlte spore, etc. De Bary.
sporidia, ». Plural of sporidium.
sporidiferous (sp6-ri-dif'e-rus), rt. [< NL. spo-
ridium + L./erre=E. 6earl.] In 6o<., bearing
sporidia. Also sporidiiferous.
sporidiole (spo-rid'i-61), «. 1<KL. sporidiolum.']
In bot., same as sporidiolum.
sporidiolum (sp6-ri-di'o-lum), «.; pi. sporidiola
(-la). [NL., dim. of «pond«(m.] In 6ot, one
of the minute globose bodies produced upon
slender pedicles by germinating spores in cer-
tain fungi. They are regarded by Tulasne as
spermatia.
sporidium (spo-rid'i-um), «.; pi. sporidia (-a).
[NL., < Gr. CTTopa, airopog, seed (see spore^), +
dim. -Miov.] In hot.: (a) A name restricted by
some to the reproductive organs or so-called
spores which are borne upon and detached
from a promycelium; by others also given to
the spores produced in asci or ascospores. (6)
A spore. See promycelium.
sporiert, «. -An obsolete form of spurrier.
sporiferous (spo-rif 'e-rus), a. [< NL. spora,
spore,-t- Jj.ferre = E. fecarl.] In bot. and zool.,
bearing or producing spores.
sporiflcation (spo'ri-fi-ka'shon), re. [< NL.
spora, spore, + L. -ficatio, < -ficare : see -/«/.]
In bot. and zool., the process of bearing spores;
production of spores ; spore-formation.
sporiparity (sp6-ri-par'i-ti), re. [< sporiparous
+ -ity.~\ Reproduction Ijy means of spores ; the
character of being sporiparous. See sporation,
sporulation.
sporiparous (spo-rip'a-rus), a. [< NL. spora,
spore, -t- L. ^orere, produce.] Reproducing by
means of spores or sporular encystment, as an
infusorian; sporogenous. W. S. Ketit.
sporling (spor'ling), re. A variant of sparling'^.
spornet, «'. and n. A Middle English form of
spurn.
sporoblast (spo'ro-blasi), n. [< NL. spora,
spore, -I- Gr. p^-aaroc, germ.] 1. In bot., Kor-
ber's term for merispore. — 2. The germ or rudi-
ment of a spore.
Sporobolus (spo-rob'o-lus), re. [NL. (R. Brown,
1810), so called with ref. to the seed, which is
loose and readily scattered ; < Gr. airopa, airdpoQ,
seed, + fiaXkuv, cast forth.] A genus of grasses,
of the tribe Agrostideee, type of the subtribe Spo-
robolcse. it is characterized by a diffuse or cylindrical
and spike-like panicle, generally containing vei-y numer-
ous and small one-flowered spikeleta, each with three
awnless glumes, the flowering glume equal to the others
or shorter, and the grain free and often readily deciduous
from the glumes and palet. In typical species the peri-
carp, unlike that of most grasses, is a utricle; other spe-
cies having the usual carj'opsis are sometimes separated as
a genus Kii/a (Beauvois, 1812). There are about 80 species,
widely scattered through temperate and warmer regions,
numerous in America, but with only one species, S. pun-
gens, in Europe. They are commonly perennials, slenderer
sometimes coarse, the leaves flat or rolled, the panicle va-
rious, sometimes inclosed in the leaf-sheaths, the spike-
lets sometimes minute. They are known in general as
dropseed-grass, some as rush-grass (which see).
sporocarp (spo'ro-kitrp), re. [< NL. spora, spore,
+ Gr. KapiTog, fruit.] In hot., a plurieellu-
lar body developed as the product of a sexual
act, serving essentially for the formation of
spores, and ceasing to exist after having once,
with comparative rapidity, formed a number of
spores. The fructification developed from an archicarp
or procarp in Fungi and Rhedophycese is a sporocarp ; such,
also, is the sporogonium in Musciiicse. The term is also
used for the capsule-like structure formed by the indusi-
um inclosing the sporangia intheheterosporous/'j7?cineff.
Goebel. See cuts under annulus, Marsilea, mildew, and
moss.
Sporocarpeae (spo-ro-kar'pf-e), «. pi. [NL., <
sporocarp + -eas, from the nature of the fruit.] A
group proposed by Idte systematists to include
certain well-marked classes of fungi, such as
the Jscomycetes and XJredinex. They are char-
acterized by the production of sporocarps. See
cut under ascus.
sporocarpium (sp6-ro-kar'pi-um), «.; pi. sporo-
carpia (-a). [NL., < spora, spore, + Gr. napirdg,
fruit.] In bot., a sporocarp.
Sporochnaceae (sp6-rok-na'se-e), n.pl. [< Sjw-
rochnus + -acex.'] An order of olive-colored
seaweeds, of the class Phieosporeee, taking its
name from the genus Sporochnvs. The fronds are
cylindrical or tubular, branching, and composed within
of elongated cuboidal cells, which become smaller and
roundish at the surface ; the fructification is in external
scattered sori. The order contains 4 or 5 genera and
about 1.i species.
Sporochnus (spo-rok'nus), re. [NL. (Agardh,
1844), < Gr. a-opd, seed, -1- ;tT'(ior, jwiic, down,
bloom.] A genus of olive-eolored inarticulate
A, Ramified Sporo-
cyst of Bucephalus ;
B, part of same, more
m.^g^ified : (7, outer, *,
inner coat; c, d, germ-
masses ; C, one of
these, more magnified
still.
sporopbyas
seaweeds, of the class Phseosporese, giving name
to the OTder Sporocltnacese. Accordingto Agardh
there are 6 species, widely separated in distri-
bution.
Sporocyst(sp6'r9-sist),re. [< NL.gjoro, spore, +
Gr. Kionf, a bag or pouch: seecyst.'] Inroc>7.:(a)
The cyst, sac, or capsule which
is developed in the process of
sporular encystment ; any uni-
cellular organism which be-
comes encysted and proceeds
to sporulation. (6) A cyst
or sac containing spores or
germs, such as is developed
in the larval state of certain
flukes, or trematoid worms, as
Bucephalus ; this state of such
worms ; a redia containing cer-
carise. See redia, and cuts un-
der cercaria, germarium, and
Trematoda.
sporocystic (spo-ro-sis'tik), a.
[< sporocyst + -ic.'\ In eoiil. :
(a) Containing spores, as a
cyst, (b) Contained in a cyst,
as spores; encysted, (c) Em-
bryonic and asexual, as a stage
of a trematoid worm; of or pertaining to a
sporocyst.
sporocyte (spo'ro-sit), re. [< NL. spora, spore,
-I- Gr. KiTof, a hollow.] In bot., the mother-cell
of a spore. Goebel.
sporoderm (spo'ro-dferm), re. [< NL. spora,
spore, + Gr. dep/ia, skin.] In bot., the covering
or coating of a spore. Compare exospore.
sporoduct (sp6'ro-dukt),«. [< NL.spora, spore,
-t- L. ducere, carry: see duct.'] A duct or pas-
sage in which spores are lodged, or through
which they pass.
sporogen (spo'ro-jen), re. [< NL. spora, spore,
-I- Gr. -ycv^i, producing: see -gen.] In bot., a
plant producing spores instead of seed.
sporogenesis (spo-ro-jen'e-sis), re. [< NL. spora,
spore,-!- Gr. ycveaic, generation: see genesis.]
1. The origination of spores; spore-formation.
— 2. Reproduction by means of spores. Also
sporogony.
sporogenous (spo-roj'e-nus), a. [< NL. spora,
spore, -f- Gr. -yevri^, producing: see -gcnous.]
Reproducing or reproduced by means of spores;
sporiparous; bearing or producing spores. —
Sporogenous layer, in hymenomycetous fungi, same as
Aj/m^mMin.- Sporogenous tissue, in boL, the tissue from
which the spores are developed.
sporogone (spo'ro-gon), re. [< NL. sporogoni-
um.] In bot., same as sporogonium.
sporogonium (sp6-ro-g6'ni-um), n.; pi. sporogo-
nia (-a). [< NL. spora, spore, -t- Gr. yavi], genera-
tion.]' In hot., the sporocarp in the Muscinese.
It is the capsule or "moss-fruit," with its various appen-
dages, being the whole product of the sexual act, anti re-
maining attached to, but not in organic connection with,
the plant bearing the sexual organs. See Musci, and cut
under vioss.
sporogony (spo-rog'o-ni), re. [< NL. spora,
spore, -I- Gr. -yovla, < -ydvo^, producing: see
-gony.] Same as sporogenesis, 2.
sporoid (spo'roid), a. [< NL. spora, spore, +
Gr. cMof , form.] Resembling a spore ; sporular.
sporologist (spo-rol'o-jist), re. [< *sporoiog-y (<
NL. spora, spore,-!- Gr. -loyia,<. ?Jyew, speak) -I-
-ist.] In bot., a botanist, especially a lichenolo-
gist, who gives prominence to the spore as a
basis of classification.
Sporont (spo'ront), n. [< Gr. ciropa, seed, -I- av
(ovr-), being, ppr. of dvai, be: see ens and 6el.]
A gregarine not provided with an epimerite, or
proboscidiform organ which attaches the para-
site to its host: distinguished from cephalont.
Sporophore (spo'ro-for), re. [< NL. spora, spore,
-!- Gr. -iii6poq, < (pspiip = E. bear^.] In bot: (a)
A placenta, (b) The branch or part of the
thallus which bears spores or spore mother-
cells. The various forms are further distin-
guished as gonidiophore, sporangiophore, asco-
phore, etc. (c) In Archcgoniutex, a sporophyte.
Also called encarjMHm. — compound sporophore,
a sporophore formed by the cohesion of the ramifications
of separate hyphal branches.— Filamentous sporo-
phore. Same as simple sporophore. — Simple Sporo-
phore, a sporophore consisting of a single hypha, or
branch of a hypha.
sporophoric (sp6-ro-for'ik), a. [< sporophore
+ -ic] Having the character of a sporophore.
sporophorous (spo-rof'o-rus), a. [As sporophore
+ -ous.] In hot. : (a) Spore-bearing, (ft) Of
or pertaining to the sporophore.
sporopbyas (spo-rof'i-as), «. [NL. (A. Braun),
< spora, spore, -f- Gr. (piiew, produce.] Same as
sporopliydium.
sporophydium
sporophydium (sp6-r6-fid'i-um), »i. ; pi. sporo-
phydia (-a). [NL. (f. F. Allen, 1888), < ^pora,
spore, + Gr. ipieiv, produce, + -iSiov, dim. suf-
fix.] In hot., in the Characese, a term applied
to the whole frait, including the spore proper,
its basal cell, and the enveloping cells. Itisthe
same, or nearly the same, as the antheridium of Sachs and
Goebel, the fporophyag of Braun, the " enveloped oogo-
nium" of Celrtkowsky, and the sporant/ittm of authors in
general. See speniu>carp.
sporophyl, sporophyll (spo'ro-fil), n. [< NL.
sporophi/Uum, < gpora, spore, + Gr. <l>v?J.ov, a leaf.]
In hot., the leaf or leaf-like organ which bears
the spores, or receptacles containing the spores,
in many of the vascular cryptogams. It is usually
more or less modified and unlike the normal leaves, as in
the spikes of Lycopodium, Selagineila, OphiAgloggum, etc.
See cuts under these words, also under Otmunda, poly-
pody, and somg-
sporophyte i,spd'ro-Qt), h. [< NL. spora, spore,
+ Gr. ovTov, plant.] In hot., the segment or
stage of the life-cycle of the higher cryptogams
(Pteridophyta, Bryophyta) in which the non-sex-
ual organs of reproduction are borne, it is a stage
in what has been called the alternation of generations, and
is the fern-plant, clulvmoss plant, etc., of popuLir lan-
guage. Itbearsthesporesincountlessnumbers. Byaome
authors the word spirophore is used for sporophyte. Com-
pare oophyte and f^hore. See MitKi.
sporoplljrtic (sp6-ro-fit'ik), a. [< sporophyte
+ -if.] In bot.. belonging to, resembling, or
characteristic of a sporophyte.
sporosac (spo'ro-sak), w. K NL. spora, spore, +
L. siiceiis, sack: see saek^."] 1. In Hydrosoa,
a degenerate medusiform person; one of the
simple generative buds or gonophores of cer-
tain hydrozoans in which the medusoid struc-
ture is not developed. Eneye. Brit., XII. 554.
— 2. In Vermes, a sporocyst or redia. See spo-
rocyst (b).
8i>oro8tegiain (sp6-r6-ste'ji-um), n. ; pi. sporo-
stegia (-S). [NL., < spora, spore, + Gr. areyciv,
cover, roof.] In bot., in the Characese, the char-
acteristic spirally twisted or furrowed shell of
the oiSspore. it is thick and hard, usually black or
brown in color, and consists of Ave cells which arise from
the base of the spore. It is the so-called Chara-fruU.
sporons (spo'ms), a. [< spore^ + -oits.] In bot.,
of or pertaining to a spore.
Sporozoa (8p6-r6-z6'S), n. pi. [NL., < Gr. a^ropa,
seed, + ^^f, an animal.] 1. Mouthless para-
sitic corticate protozoans, a class of Protozoa,
synonymous with Gregarinida, but more com-
prehensive, including many organisms not or-
dinarily classed with the gregarines. They are
parasitic, and occur in almost all anlmali. Moat are yerj
minute, but lome attain the largeat aise bjr far known
among protozoaos. The Spamoa hare been dlrided Into
four soDclaaaea, Ortgarinidea, CoeddUdea, Myxotporidia,
and SareoeyiHdia. Alao called Cytotoa.
2. [I. c] Plural of sporozoon.
sporozoan (spo-ro-zo'an), a. and n. [< Sporo-
zoa + -an.] I. a. Having the characters of the
•Simrozoa ; pertaining to the Sporozoa.
II. ». A member of the Sy)oro;oa.
sporozoic (spo-ro-zo'ik), a. [< Sporozoa + -ic]
Same as sporozoan.
sporozooid (spo-ro-zd'oid), n. [< Qr. ewdpof,
seed, + zooidT] In biol., a zoOspore.
sporozoon (sp6-ro-z6'on), n. ; pi. sporozoa (-ft).
[XL.: see Sporozoa."] An in-
dividual of the Sporozoa; a
sporozoan.
sporran (spor'an), n. [< Gael.
sporan = Ir. sparan, a parse,
pouch.] In Highland costume,
the purse hanging down from
the belt in front of the kilt.
It la commonly of for. lu ila preaent
form, a* a lat|;e and ahow^ adjunct to
the dreaa, it Is not very old. See also
cut anderpune.
sport (sport), t:. [< ME. sport-
en; by apherests from dis-
port.] I. trans. 1. To amuse;
divert ; entertain ; make mer-
ry : commonly With a reflexive
object.
Ffor to tpvrt hym a space, A ipelke with tbo kynges.
DeHruetton of Troy (E. E. T. S.X L 7909.
I shall tport myeff with their passions abore meaaore.
B. Joruon, Cynthia's RereU, r. S.
2t- To represent by any kind of play.
Xow tporiing on thy lyre the lore* of youtb.
Drydm, it. of Ferslas's Satires, tL 9.
3. To display sportively or with ostentation;
show off; show; exhibit.
By-aud-by, Captain Brown tported a bit of literature.
Jfr». OatkM, Cranford. I.
A man . . . must tpvri an opinion when he really had
none to gire. J. H. Sernnan.
4. To spend in display. [Australia.]
368
k
fe^
SpofTan of the modern
fonn.
5857
I took him for a flash overseer sporting his salary, and 1
was as thick as you like with him.
H. Kingdey, Geoflry Hamlyn, xxxi.
5. To cause to sport, or vary from the normal
type. Dawson, Geo!. Hist, of Plants, p. 258. —
To sport Offt, to utter sportively ; throw oft with easy
and playful copiousness.
He thus sports off a dozen epigrams. Addison.
To sport one's oak. See oak.— To sport one's door.
Same as to sport one's oak.
Stop that, till I see whether the door is sported.
Kingdey, Alton Locke, xiil.
II. ill trans. 1. To divert one's self; play;
frolic ; take part in games or other pastimes ;
specifically, to practise field-sports.
If you come to another mans house
To sport and to playe.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 83.
If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work.
5*0*., 1 Hen. IV., L 2. 229.
2. To jest; speak or act jestingly; trifle.
He was caret ull lest his tongue should any way digresse
from truth, euen when he most sported.
Heywood, Hierarchy of Abgels, p. 294.
3. In zool. and bot., to become a sport; pro-
duce a sport; vary from normal structure in
a singular spontaneous manner, as an animal
or a plant. See sport, v., 8.
sport (sport), n. [< ME. sport, spoort, sporte;
by apheresis from disport.] 1. Amusement;
enjoyment; entertainment; diversion; fun.
Whan they had take hyr sporte in halle.
The kyng to counselle gan hyr calle.
Ipomydon (Weber's Metr. Komances, II. 303X 1. 601.
For 'tis the sport to have the enginer
Hoist with his own petar.
Shak., Hamlet, UL 4. 20C.
2. A mode of amusement; a playful act or
proceeding; a pastime; a merrymaking ; a play,
game, or other form of diversion.
What man that I wraatele with, . . .
I seve him snche a trepett, he xal evyr more ly stille, ffor
deth lean no sporte.
Covtntry Plays (ed. Halliwell), p. 185.
Devote old age
To spmU which only childhood could excuse.
Cooper, Task, li. 638.
Specifically — (a) A dramatic or spectacular performance.
The shallowest thick-skin of that barren sort,
Who Fyramns presented, in their sport
ForaoOK hJa aceoe and enter'd in a brake.
SAa*.,M. N. D.,ill. 2. 14.
At the beginning of the 16th century the May sport* in
Togue were, beaidea a contest of archery, four pageants,
— tbe Klngham, or election of a Lord and Lady of the
May, otherwise called Summer King and Queen, the Mor-
ris Dance, the Hobby Horse, and the 'Ex)bin Hood."
Child's Ballads, V., Int., p. xivil.
(ft) Any oat-of.<loor pastime, such as hunting, fishing, ra-
cing, or the various forms of athletic contests.
Horse and chariots let us have.
And to our ft>orf. Madam, now shall ye see
Our Boman hunting. Shak., Tit And., it 2. 19.
3. Jest, 88 opposed to earnest; mere pleasantry.
In a merry tport
... let the foneit
Be nominated for an equal pound
Of your fair flesh. Skak., M. of V., L S. 146.
Earnest wed with iport. Tennyson, Day-Dream, EpU.
4f. Amorous dallying; wantonness. Shak.,
Othello, ii. 1. 230. — 6. A plaything; a toy.
Commit not thy prophetick mind
To flitting leaves, the sport of every wind,
Leat they disperse in air our empty fate.
Dryden, ^Eneid, vi 117.
6. A subject of amusement, mirth, or derision ;
especially, a mock ; a laughing-stock.
Of slouth, there It no man ashamed, but we take it as for
a laughynge matter and a sporte.
Sir T. More, Works, p. 102.
They made a sport of his prophets. 1 Esd. i. 61.
7. Play; idle Jingle.
An author who should introduce such a tport of words
upon the stage even in the comedy of our days would
meet with small applause.
IT. Broome, Notes on Pope's Odyssey, ix. 482.
8. In zool. and bot., an animal or a plant, or
any part of one, that varies suddenly or singu-
larly from the normal type of structure, and is
usually of transient character, or not perpetu-
ated. A sport Is generally an individual variation of ap-
parently spontaneousorfKin. The difference from the nor-
mal type IS usually Blight, but may tte quite marked ; in
either case Its tendency is to disappear with the indl-
vldaal In which it arises, though some sports repeat them-
selves, or may be preserved by careful selection. If per-
petuated, it becomes a strain, breed, or variety. Sports are
obaerred chiefly among domesticated animals and culti-
vated plants. Many of the beautiful or curious hothouse-
flowers are mere sports, that are proiluced by high culti-
vation, crossing, or accident, and some valued breeds of
domestic animals have arisen in like manner. Monstrous
characters are sometimes acquired, but mere monstrosities
sportive
or malformations are not usually called sports. Compare
spoiUaneity, 2 (o), and /reat of nature (under /r«a*i').
9. A sporting man ; one who is interested in
open-air sports ; hence, in a bad sense, a betting
man; a gambler; a blackleg. [Colloq.]
" The sports," by which is meant those who like fast
living. Contemporary Rev., LIU. 228.
In sport, in jest; in play ; jesting.— To make sport of
or (formerly) at, to laugh at ; mock at ; deride.
It were not good
She knew his love, lest she make sport at it,
Shak., Much Ado, iiL 1. 6a
=Syn. 1. Recreation, hilarity, merriment, mirth, jollity,
gamboling.— 2. Frolic, prank.
sportability (sp6r-ta-bil'i-ti), n. [< sportable +
-ity (see -bility).] Frolicsomeness ; playfulness.
Sterne, Sentimental Journey, p. 82. [Rare.]
sportable (sp6r'ta-bl), a. [< sport + -able.]
Mirthful; playful-frolicsome. (Sterne, Tristram
Shandy, ix. 6. [Rare.]
sportalt (spor'tal), a. [< sport + -al.] Of or
pertaining to sports ; used in sports : a,a,"sj)ortal
arms," Dryden. [Rare.]
sportancet (spor'tans), n. [< sport + -ance.]
Sporting; merrymaking. Peele, Arraignment
of Paris, i. 3.
sporter (spdr'tfer), n. [< sport + -erl.] One
who or that which sports, in any sense of the
verb. Goldsmith.
sportful (sport'fui), a. [< sport + -fid.] 1.
Frolicsome; playful; mirthful; merry.
Down he alights among the sportful herd.
Milton, P. L., iv. 396.
2f. Amorous ; wanton.
Let Kate be chaste and Dian sportful.
Shak., T. of the S., ii. 1. 263.
3. Tending to or causing mirth ; amusing; gay;
also, designed for amusement only ; jesting ;
not serious.
Though 't be a sportful combat.
Yet in the trial much opinion dwells.
Shak., T. and C, L 3. 835.
sportfully (sport'flU-i), adv. In a sportful man-
ner; playfully; sportively; in jest. Sir P.
Sidney, Arcadia, iii.
sportnilness (sp6rt'ful-nes), n. The state of
being sportful. Donne, Letters, To Sir Henry
Goodyere, xxvii.
sporting (spor'ting), n. [Verbal n. of sport, v.]
1 . A sport ; a game ; specifically, participation
in horse-racing, sports of the field, etc. ; sports
collectively, with all the interests involved in
them.
When that these pleasant sportings quite were done.
The marquess a messenger sent
For his young daughter and his pretty smiling son.
Patient Grissel (ChUds Ballads, IV. 211).
2. In zool. and bot., spontaneous origination of
new and singular characters; the appearance
of a sport, or the assumption of that character
by an individual animal or plant. See sport,
V. i., 3, and n., 8.
sporting (spor'ting), p. a. 1. Engaging or
concerned m sport or diversion ; specifically,
interested in or practising field-sports : as, a
sporting man. See sport, n., 9.
The most famous sporting man of his time was Tregon-
well Franipton, Esq.,of Moreton, Dorsetshire, " The Father
of the 'i'urf," who was keeper of her Majesty's running
horses at Newmarket.
J. Athlon, Social Life in Beign of Queen Anne, I. 306.
2. In bot. and zool., assuming the character of
a sport. See .sport, w., 8. Darwin, Var. of Ani-
mals and Plants, p. 413 Sportingrlfle. Seert/Jes.
sporting-book (spor'ting-buk), n. A book in
which bits, etc., are recorded.
sporting-honse (spor'ting-hous), n. A house
frequented by sportsmen, betting men, gam-
blers, and the like.
sportingly (spor'tinjj-li), adv. In a sportive
manner; sportively; m jest, flawjwonrf, Works,
1. 193.
sportive (spor'tiy), a. [< sport + -ive.] 1.
Inclined toward sport; fond of sport or amuse-
ment; frolicsome; playful.
Is it I
That drive thee from the sportive court?
Shak., All's Well, ill. 2. 109.
2. Connected with amusement or sports; char-
acterized by sport, mirth, or pleasantry.
I am not in a sportive humour now.
.S:Aa*.,C. of E., 1. 2. 68.
As from the sportive Field she goes,
His down-cast Eye reveals his inward Woes.
Prior, Henry and Emma.
3t. Amorous; wanton.
Why should others' false adulterate eyes
Give salutation to my sportive blood?
S/iak., Sonnets, cxxL
sportive
4. In hot. and zool., tending to vary from the
normal type. See sport, »., 8. Darwin, Var. of
Animals and Plants, p. 407.=S3m. 1. Jocose, jocu-
lar, facetious, gamesome, prankish.
sportively (sp6r'tiv-li), adv. In a sportive or
plart'ul manner. Drayton, Duke of Suffolk to
the French Queen.
sportiveness (spor'tiv-nes), n. The stat* of
being sportive ; disposition to mirth ; playful-
ness; mirth; gaiety; frolicsomeness: as, the
sportiveness of one's humor. /. Walton, Com-
plete Angler.
sportless (sport'les), <i. [< sport + -less.'}
Without sport or mirth; joyless. P. Fletcher,
Piscatory Eclogues, vii. 1.
sportline (sport'ling), n. [< sport + -Knj/l.]
1. A light or plavful sport; a frolic.
The shepherd 3 boys with hundred sparUinga light
Gave wings unto the time's too speedy haste.
Britain's Ida, i. 1. (Mason's Supp. to Johnson.)
2. A playful little creature.
When again the lambkins play,
Pretty sportlings .' full of May.
A. Philips, Ode to Miss Carteret.
[Rare in both uses.]
8portsinail(sp6rts'man), »!.; yl.sportsmen(-vaeii}.
[< sjMvt's, poss. of sport, + »«««.] 1. A man
who sports ; specifically, a man who practises
field-sports, especially hunting or fishing, usu-
ally for pleasure and in a legitimate manner.
The pointer ranges, and the sportsman beats
In russet jacket ; — lynx-like is his aim ;
Full grows his bag. Byron, Don Juan, xiii. 75.
2. One who bets or is otherwise interested in
field-sports, especially racing ; a sporting man.
It was pleasant to be called a gentleman sportsman —
also to have a chance of drawing a favourite horse.
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Rugby, i. 8.
Sirartsmanlike (sports'man-lik), a. Having
the characteristics of sportsmen ; fond of field-
sports; also, characteristic of or befitting a
sportsman; hence, legitimate from the point
of view of a sportsman.
sportsmanly (sp6rts'man-li), a. [< sportsman
+ -/.'/J.] Same as sportsmanlike.
sportsmanship (sports'man-ship), n. [< sports-
man + -ship.] The practice or art of sports-
men ; skill in field-sports.
sportswoman (sport8'wum"an), n. ; pi. sports-
women (-wim^'en). A woman who engages in
or is interested in field-sports. [Rare.]
sportularyt (sp6r'tu-la-ri), a. [< sportule -t-
-ary,'\ Subsisting on alms or charitable con-
tributions. Bp. Hall, Cases of Conscience,
iu. 7.
sportnlef (spor'tul), n. [< L. sportiila, a little
basket, esp. one in which food or money was
given to a great man's clients, a present, dim.
of sporta, a plaited basket.] An alms ; a dole ;
a gift or contribution.
The bishops who consecrated the ground had a spill or
gportvle from the credulous laity. Ayliffe, Parergon.
sponilar (spor'o-lar), a. [< sporule + -ar^.^
Having the character of a sporule ; pertaining
to a sporule ; sporoid ; sporuloid ; also, swarm-
ing like a mass of spores.
spomlate (spor'ij-lat), v. ; pret. and pp. sporu-
lated, ppr. sporulating. [< sporule + -ate^.']
I. intrans. To form spores.
II. trans. To convert into spores. Encyc.
Brit., XIX. 854.
sporulation (spor-p-la'shon), n. [< spomlate
+ -ion.'] Formation of or conversion into
spores or sporules ; sporation.
sporule (spor'ol), n. [< NL. sporula, dim. of
sporo, spore: seesporeX] A spore; sometimes,
a small spore.
spomliferous (spor-o-lif 'e-ms), a. [< NL. spo-
rula + L. ferre = E. fceari.] In hot., bearing
sporules.
sporuloid (spor'o-loid), a. [< sporule + -oid.}
Resembling a sporule; sporular.
sposh (sposh), n. [Perhaps a var. of S2)k>sh for
splash, like sputter for splutter. The resem-
blance to slosh, slush, is merely accidental.]
Slush, or something resembling it; splosh.
[Local, U. S.]
sposby (sposh'i), a. [< sposh + -J/l.] Soft and
watery; sploshy. [Local, U. S.]
There *b a sight o' di£Ference between good upland fruit
and the ipothy apples that grows in wet ground.
S. 0. JeweU, A Country Doctor, p. 22.
spot (spot), n. [< ME. spot, spotte = OFlem.
spotte, a spot; cf. D. spat, a speck (see spat^),
Dan. spsette, a spot ; these forms are appar. con-
nected with leel. spotti, spottr, Sw. spott, spit-
tle, and so with E. spit^-, but ME. spot maybe
5858
in part a var. of splot, < AS. splot, a spot : see
splot. The D. spot = OHG. MHG. spot, G. spott
= Icel. Sw. spott, Dan. spot, mockery, derision,
is not related.] 1. A stain made by foreign
matter ; a blot ; a speck.
Thi best cote, Haukyn,
Hath many moles and spottes, it nioste ben ywassha
Piers Plowman (B), xiii. 315.
Out, damned spot! out, I say 1 Shak., Macbeth, v. 1. 39.
2. A blemish; a flaw; a fault; especiallj', a
stain upon moral purity.
Alsuo is the spot of lecherie more aouler and more peri-
lous ine clerkes and ine prelas thanne ine leawede uolke.
Ayenbite of Inwyt (E. E. T. S.), p. 237.
Sublimely mild, a spirit without spot.
Shelley, Adonais, st 45.
3. A bit of surface differing in some way from
the rest, as in color, material, or finish ; a dot ;
a small mark. SpeciflcaUy— (ot) A patch ; a beauty-
spot.
I was sorry to see my Lady Castlemalne ; for the mourn-
ing forcing all the ladies to go in black, with their hair
plain and without spots, I find her to be a much more or-
dinary woman than ever I durst have thought she was.
Pepys, Diary, April 21, 1666.
(6) A pustule or other eruptive mark, as in a rash, (c) One
of the pips on a playing-card ; hence, in composition with
a numeral, the card having pips to the number expressed ;
as, to play a ten-spot, (d) One of two marked points on
a billiard-table, on which balls are placed, or from which
they are to be played, (e) A dark place on the disk or
face of the sun or of a planet. See sun-spot. (/) In zotil.,
a color-mark of rounded or indeterminate form, but not
very long for its width, and thus not forming a streak
or stripe ; a blotch ; a macula : usually said of markings
larger than those call ed<2of« or points. An eyed spot forms
an ocellus (which see).
4. A small extent of space ; a particular local-
ity ; a place ; a site. — 5. A piece ; a bit ; hence,
something very minute ; a particle ; an atom.
This earth, a spot, a grain.
An atom, with the firmament compared.
MiUon, P. h., viii. 17.
6. A breed of domestic pigeons having a spot
on the head above the beak. — 7. (a) A soisenoid
fish, lAostomus xanthurus (obliquus), also called
goody, lafayette, oldwife, and pig-fish. See cut
under lafayette. (6) The southern redflsh or
drum, Scieenops ocellatus. See cut under redfish.
— 8. A small fishing-ground Acoustic spot. See
vnacvla acustiea, under macula. — Blaok-spot. See black.
—Blind spot. SeeWinrfi.— Compound oceUated spot.
See co7npou7idi. — Confluent, discal, distinct, ermine
spots. See the qualifying words.— Crescent spot, in
entoin., a butterfly of the genus Melitsea and some related
forms, having crescentic white spots on the edges of the
wings.— Embryonal spot. Same asgerminalspot. — Eyed
spot, an ocellus.— Geminate, germinal, obliterate
spot. See the adjectives.— On the spot, (u) Without
change of place ; before moving ; at once ; immediately.
Treasury Department, Jan. 29, 1861. ... If any one at^
tempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the
spot. John A. Dix (Memoirs, by Morgan Dix, I. 370).
(b) At the precise place and time ; at the place and time at
which something specified occurred : as, a picture of a skir-
mish made on the spot. — Orbicular spot. See orbiaUar,
n.— Receptive, reniform, sagittate spot. See the
adj ect ives. — Sieve-like spot. Bee macula cribrosa, under
macida. — Solar spots. See sun-spot. — Sommering's
spot, the macula lutea, or yellow spot of the eye. — Spot
01 Wagner. See nucleolus, 1. — To knock spots out of.
See knock. — Yellow spot Of the eye. See macula lutea,
under macula.
spot (spot), v.; pret. and pp. spotted, ppr. spot-
ting. [<ME.spo«en(=OFlem.spottf«); ispot,
n. Cf. spat^, spatter.'] I. trans. 1. To make a
spot on ; blot ; stain ; discolor or defile in a spot
or spots.
He that meddleth with pitch is like to be spotted with
it. Latimer, 5th Sermon bef. Edw. VI., 1549.
With rust his armor bright was spotted o'er.
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, III. 84.
2. To mar the perfection or moral purity of;
blemish; tarnish; sully.
Spotted with the stain of unlawful or indirect procure-
ment Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. 79.
3. To mark or cover with spots ; mark in spots ;
dot.
A handkerchief
Spotted with strawberries.
Shak., Othello, iii. 3. 435.
The surface of the water was spotted with rings where
the trout were rising. Froude, Sketches, p. 75.
Specifically — 4t. To put a patch or patches on
(the face) by way of ornament.
Faces spotted after the Whiggish manner.
Addison, Spectator, No. 81.
5. To mark as with a spot; especially, to note
as of suspicious or doubtful character. Tuft's
Glossary of Thieved Jargon (1798). [Thieves'
slang.]
At length he became spotted. The police got to know
him, and he was apprehended, tried, and convicted.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, I. 484.
spotted
6. To note or recognize by some peculiarity ;
catch with the eye; detect; come upon; find
out. [Slang.]
The Widow Leech . . .rang three times with long inter-
vals,— but all in vain : the inside Widow having spotted the
outside one through the blinds.
0. W. Holmes, Elsie Venner, xxi.
7. In horse-racing, to indicate, give a hint as
to, or name : as, to spot the winner of a future
race. — 8. To place upon a spot; specifically, iu
billiards, to place (a ball) on one of the spots
or marks on the table To spot timber, to cut or
chip it, in preparation for hewing.
II. intrans. 1. To make a spot; cause a stain,
discoloration, or shadow. — 2. To be subject to
spots; be easily spotted : as, a fabric that «pote
when exposed to damp.
spot-ball (spot'bal), n. In billiards: (a) The
ball which belongs on the spot, (b) That one
of the two white balls which is distinguished
by a black spot; the "black" ball,
spot-lens (spot'lenz), n. In microscopy, a plano-
convex lens used in the place of an ordinary
condenser, it has a central stop on the plane side
toward the object, and since the rays which pass through
the annular portion converge too strongly to enter the
objective, the transparent or translucent object under ex-
amination appears to be self-luminous surrounded by a
dark background.
spotless (spot'les), a. [< ME. spotles, < spot -^
-less.} 1. Free from spots, foul matter, or dis-
coloration.
Of spotlez perlez thafy] beren the creste.
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), i. 855.
This palliament of white and spotless hue.
Shak., Tit. And., L 1. 182.
2. Free from blemish, fault, or reproach ; im-
maculate; pure.
My true service . . .
May so approve my spotless loyalty.
Chapman, Byron's Tragedy, iv. 1.
3. Guiltless; innocent: followed by o/. [Rare.]
You fight for her, as spotless of these mischiefs
As Heaven is of our sins, or truth of errors.
Beau, and Fl. , Knight of Malta, ii. 6.
= Syn. Unspotted, blameless, unblemished, irreproach-
able, untainted, untarnished.
spotlessly (spot'les-li), adn'. In a spotless man-
ner: without spot, stain, or blemish.
spotlessness (spot'les-nes), n. The state or
quality of being spotless ; freedom from spot,
stain, or blemish. Donne, Devotions.
spotneck (spot'nek), w. The Hudsonian cur-
lew, Xumenius hudsonicus. [Local, New Eng.]
spotrump (spot 'rump), «. The Hudsonian
godwit, Limosa haemastica. Also whiterump.
G. Trumbull. [Massachusetts.]
spot-stitch (spot'stich), n. In crochet-worl; a
stitch by means of which raised rounded figures
are produced at equal intervals, forming a kind
of pattern.
spotted (spot'ed),^. a. [< ME. spotted; < spot
-H -ed2.] 1. Marked ■with a spot or spots;
dotted or sprinkled with spots: as, the spotted
leopard. — 2. Distributed in separate places or
spots : said of a mineral vein when the ore
which it carries is very irregularly distributed
through the workings.— Black and spotted heath-
cockt, the Canada grouse.— Dusky and spotted duck.
See duc*:2. —Spotted adder. See OWjodonttdte. — Spotted
alder, the wychliazel.— Spotted axis, .'iee arts'^, 1.—
Spotted cat, any one of the larger felines which is spotted
(not striped as the tiger, nor plain as the lion). See cuts
under chetah, jaguar, leopard, ocelot, ounce, panther, and
sercai.- Spotted comfrey. See Pulmonaria'.— Spotted
cowbane, eyebright, fever. See the nouns — spotted
deer. Same as «™-', 1.— Spotted grouse, the Canada
grouse, or spruce-partridge. See cut underCo/iflcf.— Spot-
ted gum. See •7w?«-', 8. -Spotted hemlock, same as
hemlock, 1. — Spotted Iceland falcon, see Iceland .fal-
con, vmiev falcon.— Spotted kidney, f lie condition of the
kidney in chronic parenchymatous nephritis. — Spotted
knotweed, mackerel, medic. See the nouns.- Spotted
lace, an openwork material, generally made of cotton,
somewhat resembling a lace r^seau with small spots at
equal intervals.— Spotted metal. See oryan-metal, un-
der metal. — Spotted net. Same as spotted iace.- Spot-
tedrall,skitty, water-hen. See rai'H.- spotted sand-
piper. See saiidpiper. — SpotteA schists. .See sjnlosite.—
Spotted Yellow Warbler (.Dendraca maculosa^..
spotted
Spotted seal, a leopard-seal.— Spotted shrike, spurge,
tortoise, wintergreen, etc. See the nouns.— Spotted
trlBga. J^aine as spotted mnd piper. — Spotted yellow
warbler, the ma^olia warbler, Dendroeca m(untlf>sa, the
male of which is much spottevl. The adult male is rich-
yellow below, with white orissum, heavily streaked with
black: the rump is bright-yellow, the back nearly black,
the crown clear ash ; there is a white circumocular and
postocular stripe, and the wing- and tail-feathers are
marked with conspicuous white spots. This bird is 5
inches long and 7^ in extent of wings ; it inhabits eastern
North America, abounds in woodland, breeds from New
England northward, builds a small neat nest in low coni-
fers, and lays 4 or 5 white eggs spotted with reddish-brown.
Also called black-atid-yellow warbler. See cut on preced-
ing pane.
spotted-bass (spot'ed-bas), n. Same as drum^,
11 (CI.
spottedness (spot'ed-nes), ». The state or qnal-
ity of being spotted.
spotted-tree (spot'ed-tre), n. A small Austra-
lian tree, Flindersia Strzeleckiana {F. maculosa),
remarkably spotted from the falling off of the
outer bark in patches.
spotter (spot'er), fl. [< s^jot + -erl.] One who
or that which spots; specifically, one who is
employed to shadow suspicious or suspected
persons; a detective. [Slang.]
A conductor . . . had a private detective arrested for
following him almut, and the spotter was fined ten dollars
by a magistrate. The American, VI. 333.
spottiness (spot'i-nes), n. The state or char-
acter of being spotty.
spotting (spot'ing), B. In bot., same as necro-
xi«, 2.
spotty (spot'i), a. [< ME. spotty, spotU; < spot
+ -y'.] 1. Full of spots; marked with spots;
spotted.
Thon ne sselt nasi maky none sacreflce to God of oxe,
ne of asep, tbet by (be] ipalty.
AyerMte o/Tnwyt (E. E. T. H.\ p. 1»2.
To descry new lands.
Rivers, or moODtains Id her epotty globe,
Maton, P. L., I. 291.
2. Occurring in spots or irregularly : as, hops
are said to run spotty when the crops are un-
equal. Halliicell. — 3. Patchy; lacking har-
mony of parts ; without unity.
spounget, ". A Middle English form of sponge.
spousaget (spou'zaj), «. [< spouse + -age.']
£s{>ousul; marriage.
The manne shall gene rnto the womanne a ring, and
other tokens of mournge.
Marriage Serdce, Prayer-Book of Edward VI., 1549.
spousal (spou'zal), a. and n. [In E. first as a
noun, < ME. spousail, spousaile, spousaiUe, spo-
sail, espousaile, < OF. espotuailies, < L. sponsa-
lia. betrothal, nent. pi. of sponsalis, pertaining
to betrothal, < sponsus, a betrothal : see spouse,
espousal.] I. a. Pertaining to marriage or
espousal ; nuptial ; bndal ; connubial.
Now the Rabbi, receivlnga Ring of pare gold, . . . pats
it on the brides finger, and with a load voice pronounceth
the tpoutaU letters. Purehat, Pilgrimage, p. 214.
The well-wrooglit. lorely ipoutal ring.
WaiiamMorru, Earthly Paradise, m. 303.
IL n. Marriage; nuptials; espousal: often
used in the plural.
Boweth your oekke ander that blisfnl yok
Of soveraynetee, noogbt of serryse.
Which that men clepeth jpotuow or wedlok.
Ckaueer, Clerk's Tale, 1. S9.
By our tpoutale and marriage begun. . . .
Rue on this realm, whose rain is at hand.
Sumy, iEneid, iv. 407.
gpotue (spouz ), n. [< ME. spouse, spowse, spuse,
spus = Icel. spusa. pusa, pusi, < OF. espos,
spous, P. ipma, m., OF. espouse, espuse, F.
mouse, t., = 8p. Pg. esposo, m., ^posa, t., =
It. sposo, va., sposa, t.. < L. spotuius, m., sponsa,
f., one betrothed, a bridegroom, a bride (of.
sponsus, a betrothal), prop. masc. and fem. pp.
of spondere, promise: see sponsor.] A mamed
person, husband or wife ; either one of a mar-
ried pair.
The soule is widewe tbet haoeth rorloren hire apt», tbet
l« . . . Crist. Aneren Kitete, p. 10.
For her the tpovte prepare* the bridal ring,
For her white virgins hymeneals sing.
Pope, Eloisa to AbeUrd, L 219.
aponset (spouz), v. t. [< ME. spousen, spowseu,
spusen, < OF. espouser, F. ^pouser = Pr. espozar
= PR- espomr = It. sposare, < LL. sponsare, be-
troth, espouse : see spouse, n., and cf. espouse,
v.] 1. To take for a husband or a wife ; wed;
espouse.
Ye ryde aa coy and stille as doth a mayde
Were newe tpmued, sitting at the bcprd.
Cliaueer, Prol. to Clerk's Tale, 1. 3.
They led the vine
To wed her elm : she. epouted, about him twines
Ber marriageable arms.
Milton, P. L., V. 210.
5859
3. To give in marriage.
Kyng William of Scotland did his doubter tpouK
To the erle of Bolojnt. Rob. of Oloucetter, p. 2ia
spouse-breacht (spouz'breeh), n. [< ME. spous-
breche, spoiisebriche, spusbruche; < spouse +
breach.] Adultery.
But oonis he saued a weddid wijf
In gpousebriche that hadde doon mys.
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.X p. 47.
spousehedef , n. See spousehood.
spousehoodt (spouz'hud), n. [< ME. spoushod,
alao .tj/uuneliede ; <. spouse + -hood.] The state
of wedlock; matrimony.
The eldore of the tuo in spoushod he norae.
Rob. of Gloucester, p. 307.
spouseless (spouz'les), a. [< spouse + -less.]
Without a spouse; unmarried or widowed.
The spouseless Adriatic mourns her lord.
Byron, Childe Harold, Iv. 11.
spousesst (spou'zes), H. [< ME. spowsesse ; <
spouse + -ess.] A bride or wife ; a married
woman.
At whiche marriage was no persones present but the
spowse, the spowsesse, the duches of Bedforde her nioder,
y preest, two gentylwomen, and a yong man to helpe the
preest synge. Fabyan, Chron., an. 1664.
spousingt (spou'zing), n. [< ME. spowsynge,
s}>uKin^ ; verbal n. of spouse, v.] The act of
marrying; wedding; espousal; marriage.
Loke to thi doastren that noon of hem be lorn ; . . .
And 3ene hem to spowsynge as soone as thei been ablee.
Babees Book(E. E. T. S.\ p. 46.
spout (spout), t'. [< ME. spouten, spowten = MD.
spuyten, D. spuiten, spout, = Sw. sputa, a dial,
var. of spruta, squirt, spout, sprout, etc.: see
sprout. A similar loss of r occurs in speak.
Cf. sputter.] I. intrans. 1. To issue with force,
as a liquid through a narrow orifice, or from a
spout; spurt: as, blood spouts trom an artery.
Like a raving torrent, struggling amongst the broken
rocks and les.se tree passages, at length he spmUs down
from a wonderfull height into the valley below.
Sandys, Travailes, p. 73.
2. To discharge a fluid in a jet or continuous
stream ; send out liquid as from a spout or
nozle ; specifically, to blow, as a whale.
With youre mouthe ye vse nowther to sqnyrt nor tpaat
Babees Boot (E. E. T. 3.X p. 1S5.
V\'hen the larser Cetacea come up to breathe, the ex-
pired vapor suddenly condenses into a cloud : and, if ex-
piration commences before the spiracle is actually at the
surface, a certain quantity of spray may be driven up along
with the violent current of the expelled air. This gives
rise to theappearance termed the nxmtiiif/of Whales, which
doe* not arise, as it is commonly said to do, from the
straining off of the sea- water swallowed with the food, and
Its expulsion by the nostrils. Huxley, Anat. Vert, p. 348.
3. To speak volubly and oratorically ; talk or
recite in a declamatory manner, especially in
public; speechify. [CoUoq.]
For anvthing of the acting, spouting, reciting kind I
think be nas always a decided taste.
Jane Austen, Mansfield Park, xlii.
n. trans. 1. To pour out in a jet and with
some force; throw out as through a spout or
pipe: as, an elephant spouts water from his
trunk.
A oondnlta ecii into It bringe abonte.
Make pipe* water warme Inwarde to spoute.
PaBadius, Husbondrle (E. E. T. S.X p. 40.
Yoar statae spouting blood in many pipes.
Shai., J. C, U. 2. 85.
2. To cause to spurt or gush out.
From the dry stones he can water spout.
Hegwood, Hierarchy of Angels, p. 6.
3. To utter volubly or grandiloquently.
Pray, spout some French, son.
Beau, and Fl., Coxcomb, Iv. 4.
4. To pawn; pledge. See spout, n., 2. [Slang.]
The dons are going to spout the college plate.
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, II. L
5. To furnish or provide with a spout, in any
sense: as, tospout a roof; tos/iout atea-kettle.
spout (spout), n. [< ME. spoute, spowte = MD.
spuyte, I). spuit= Sw. spruta, a spout: see spout,
v., and cf. sprout, n.] 1. A pipe, tube, or trough
through wnich a liquid is poured, and which
serves to guide its flow, similar tubes, etc., are
used for finely divided solids, as grain. The spout of a
small vessel, as a pitcher, may be a mere fold or doubling
of the rim. or may be a piece ptit on the outside, a notch
having been cut In the nin to allow the liquid to pass, or
may be a cloaed tube, as in a tea-pot or aitaba. -See cat
under fflsU.
She dreamt to-night she saw my status,
Which, like a fountain with an hundred spouts.
Did run pure blood. Shak., J. C., 11. 2. 77.
The walls surmounting their roofes, wrought thorow
with potsheards to catch and strike down the refreshing
winds ; having spowt* of the same.
Sarxdys, Travailes, p. 116.
sprackly
2. Aliftorshootinapawnbroker'sshop; hence,
vulgarly, the shop itself.
Pawnbrokers, . . . before spmcis were adopted, used a
hook to lift the articles offered in pawn.
N. and Q., 7th ser., VII. 66.
3. A continuous stream of fluid matter issuing,
actually or seemingly, from a pipe or nozle ; a
jet or column, as of water.
Before this grotto is a long poole into which ran divers
spouts of water from leaden escollop basins.
Evelyn, Diary, Feb. 27, 1644.
Speclflcally — (a) A waterspout.
They say furthermore that in certeyne places of the sea
they sawe certeyne stremes of water, which they canle
spoiites, faulynge owt of the ayer Into the sea.
R. Eden, First Books on America (ed. Arber), p. 888.
(6) The column of spray or vapor emitted from the spout-
hole of a whale durmg the act of expiration, resembling
the escape of steam from a valve.
4. The spout-hole of a whale. — 5. A short un-
derground passage connecting a main road with
an air-head : a term used in the thick coal-work-
ings of South Staffordshire, England Up the
spout, in pawn. See def. 2. [Slang.]
His pockets, no doubt.
Being turn'd inside out.
That his mouchoir and gloves may be put up the mout
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, U. 16.
spouter (spou'ter), ». [< spout, v., + -er^.] 1.
One who or that which spouts, (o) Something that
sends forth a jet or stream of fluid matter.
The flowing-wells of the Baku district, in the energy
with which they throw out the oil and the quantity so pro-
jected, far exceed even our largest American spouters.
Jour. Franklin Inst., CXXIII. 77.
(6) One who speaks grandiloquently or oratorically ; a mere
declaimer ; a speechiller. [Colloq.]
The quoters imitate parrots or professed spouters, in com-
mitting words only to memory, purposely for the sake of
ostentation. V. Knox, Winter Evenings, xxxii.
2. Anexperienced whaleman. [Nautical slang.]
The spmtter, as the sailors call a whaleman, had sent up
his main top-gallant mast and set the sail, and made sig-
nal for us to heave to.
R. H. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 36.
spout-flsh (sjKiut'fish), n. A bivalve moUusk
which squirts water through its siphons, as the
common clam, razor-shell, and many others.
spout-hole (spout'hol), n. 1. An orifice for the
discharge of a liqtiid. — 2. The spiracle or blow-
hole of a whale or other cetacean. The number
of spout-holes differs in different species, the sperm-whales
and porpoises having one, and the right whales, bowheads,
nubacks, sulphur-bottoms, etc., two. The nostrils of the
walrus are also sometimes called
spout-holes.
spoutless (spout'les), a. [<
spout + -less.] Having no
spout, as a pitcher. Cowper,
Task, iv. 776.
spout-shell (spout'shel), n. A
shell of the family Aporrhai-
dse, as Aporrhais pes-pelecani,
the pelican's-foot. See also
cut under Aporrhais.
spoWTget. A Middle English
form of spurge^, spurge^.
spp. An abbreviation of spe-
cies (plural).
S. P. Q. B. An abbreviation of the Latin Sena-
tus Populusque Romanus, the senate and the
people of Rome.
sprach, »•. and n. See spraich.
sprachle, v. i. See spraekle.
sprack (sprak), a. [Also dial, sprag; < ME.
sprac, < Icel. sprsekr, also sparkr, sprightly, =
Norw. sprsek = Sw. dial, sprak, sprdg, sprdker,
cheerful, talkative, noisy. Cf. sparifl, spry.]
Sprightly; lively; brisk; alert. [Prov. Eng.
and Scotch.]
Mrs. Page. He is a better scholar than I thought he was.
Bvans. He Is a good sprag memory.
Shak., M. W. of W,, Iv. 1. 84.
If your Royal Highness had seen him dreaming and
dozing about the banks of Tully Veolan like an hypochon-
driac person, . . . you would wonder where he hath sae
suddenly acquired all this fhie sprack festivity and jocu-
larity. SctM, Waverley, xllfl.
spraekle (sprak'l), ». i. ; pret. and pp. sprackled,
ppr. spraekling. [Also sprachle, spraickle,
S]>rauchle; prob. < Icel. spraukla, sprokla, mod.
xj)rikla, sprawl : freq. of a verb represented by
Sw. sparka = Dan. sparke, kick. Cf. sprungle
a.nA sprawl^.] To clamber; get on with diffi-
culty. [Scotch.]
Sae far I sprachled up the brae,
I dlnner'd wl' a Lord.
Bums, On Meeting with Lord Daer.
spracklyt, «• [ME. sprakUche, < Icel. sprmkligr.
sprightly, < sprsekr, sprightly: see sprack and
-/yi.J Same as sprack. Piers Plowman (C),
xxi. 10.
Spout-sliell i^fcr-
spradde
spraddet, spradt. Obsolete forms of the pret-
erit and past participle of spread.
spragl (sprag), H. [< Dan. dial, sprag = Sw. dial.
spra(ffl.spragg€,aspr&y, &prig: see sprayK'] 1.
A billet of wood. [Prov. Eng.] bpeeitically
— 2. In coal-mining : (n) A short billet of wood
used instead of a brake to look the wheels of a
car. (6) A short wooden prop used to support
the coal during the operation of holing or un-
dercutting; a punch-prop. [Eng.]
sprag^ (sprag), V. t. ; pret. and pp. spragged, ppr.
spragging. [< sprag^, ».] To prop by a sprag;
also, to stop, as a carriage on a steep grade,
bv putting a sprag in the spokes of the wheel.
[Prov. Eng.]
sprag^ (sprag), «. [Prob. a particular use of
sprag^ in sense of 'sprout,' i. e. 'young one';
cf . sprafi, sprofi, a small fish, similarly derived
from sprofi, a sprout.] 1. A young salmon of
the first year; a smolt. — 2. A half-grown cod.
[Prov. Eng. in both senses.]
sprag^ (sprag), a. A dialectal form of sprach.
sprag-road (sprag'rod), ». In coal-mining, a
mine-road having such a steep grade that sprags
are needed to control the descent of the car.
Penn. Sun: Gloss.
spraich (sprach), r. J. [Also sprac7(,spre(c7t; prob.
? Sw. spraka = Dan. sprage = Icel. spraka,
make a noise, crackle, burst : see spark^.^ To
cry; shriek. Jamieson. [Scotch.]
spraich (sprach), n. [Also sprach, spreich; <
spraich, ».] 1. A cry; a shriek.
Anone thay herd sere vocis lamentabill,
Orete walyng, quhinipering, and sprachis miserabill.
Gavin Douglas, tr. of Virgil, p. 178.
2. A pack; a multitude: as, a spra«c7» of bairns.
Jamieson. [Scotch in both uses.]
spraickle (spra'kl), v. i. Same as sprackle.
[Scotch.]
spraid (sprad), a. [Also sprayed; a reduced
torm of spreathed.l Chapped with cold. Hal-
liwell. [Prov. Eng.]
It was mucti worse tlian Jamaica ginger grated into a
poor sprayed finger. R. D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone, xxxi.
sprain (spran), V. t. [< OF. espreindre, press,
wring, < L. expritnere, press out, < ex, out, +
premere, press : see press^, and cf . express.} If.
To press; push.
Hee sprainde in a sprite [sprit, pole] & spradde it aboute.
Alisaunder of Macedoine (E. E. T. S.X 1. 1097.
2. To overstrain, as the muscles or ligaments
of a joint so as to injure them, but without
luxation or dislocation.
The sudden turn may stretch the swelling vein.
Thy cracking joint unhinge, or aukle sprain.
Oay, Trivia, i. 38.
sprain (spran), n. l<. sprain, v.} 1. A violent
straining or wrenching of the soft parts sur-
rounding a joint, without dislocation. The ordi-
nary consequence of a sprain is to produce some degree of
swelling and inflammation in the injured part.
2. The injury caused by spraining; a sprained
joint.
spraint (sprant), n. [< ME. "spraynte, prob. <
OF. espreinte, a pressing out, straining, F.
epreinte, < espreindre, press out: see sprain.}
The dung of the otter. Kingsley, Two Years
Ago, xviii.
Sprainting(spran'ting), n. [< ME. sprayntyng ;
< sprain t + -ing^ .] Same as spraint.
spraitb (sprath), ». Same as spreagh.
sprale (spral), v. A dialectal variant of spratoft.
sprallt, V. An obsolete spelling of sprawl^.
sprang (sprang). A preterit of spring.
sprangle (sprang'gl), v. i. ; pret. and pp. spran-
gled, ppr. sprangling. [Appar. a nasalized var.
of sprackle.} To sprawl; straggle. [Prov. Eng.
and U. S.]
Over its fence sprangles a squash vine in ungainly joy.
CornhiU Mag., May, 1882. (Encyc. Diet.)
When on the back-stretch his legs seemed to sprangle
out on all sides at once.
, Philadelphia Times, Aug. 16, 1883.
sprangle (sprang'gl), n. [< sprangle, v.} The
act or attitude of sprangling. J. Spalding, Di-
vine Theory (1808). [Prov. Eng. and U. S.]
sprati (sprat), n. [Sc. also spreat, sprett, sprit,
sprot, the joint-leafed rush; another form and
use of sprot^, a stump, chip, broken branch: see
sprot^, and cf. sprat^, n.] 1. A name of various
species of rushes, as Juncus articulatus, etc.
[Prov. Eng. and Scotch.] — 2. pi. Small wood.
Kennett; Balliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
sprat^ (sprat), n. [A dial, var., now the reg.
form, of sproi^, q. v.] 1. A small olupeoid
fish of European waters, Clupea {Sarengula)
sprattus. At one time the sprat was thought to be the
5860
young of the herring, pilchard, or shad ; but it can be
easily distinguished from the young of any of these fishes
by the sharply notched edge of the abdomen. Young
sprats, an inch or two long, are the fishes of which white-
Sprat (Clupea sprattus).
bait mainly or largely consists at some seasons. The sprat
is known in Scotland by the name of garvie or garvie-her-
ring.
'Sfoot, ye all talk
Like a company of sjfrat-ied mechanics.
Beau, and Fl. (T), Faithful Friends, i. 2.
2. A name of other fishes, (a) A young herring.
(6) The .sand-eel or -lance. See cut under Ammodytidx.
[Prov. Eng. 1 (c) A kind of anchovy, Stolephorus compressus,
about six inches long, of a very pale or translucent oliva-
ceous color, with a silvery lateral band, found on the coasts
of California and Mexico. It closely resembles S. delicatis-
simxis of the same coasts, but is larger and has a longer
anal fin. (d) Same as oiySo7io.— Fresh-water sprat, the
bleak. /. Walton. [Local, Eng.)— London sprat, the
true sprat : so distinguished from the sand-eel or -lance.
sprat'-^ (sprat), V. i. ; pret. and pp. .fpratted, ppr.
spratting. [< sprat^, n.} To fish for sprats.
They will be afloat here and there in the wild weather,
spratting. Daily Telegraph, Aug. 27, 1886. (Encye. Diet.)
sprat* (sprat), n. [Perhaps a particular use of
sprat^.} A small coin. [Slang.]
Several Lascars were charged with passing sprats, the
slang term applied to spurious fourpenny pieces, six-
pences, and shillings. Morning Chronicle, Dec. 2, 1857.
sprat-barley (sprat'bar"H), n. See barley'^.
sprat-borer (sprat'b6r"6r), )!. A loon, as the
red-throated diver, Colymbus (or Urinator) sep-
tentrionalis : from its fondness for sprats.
sprat-day (sprat'da), n. The ninth day of No-
vember: so called in London as being the first
day of the sprat-selling season. Maylww, Lon-
don Labour and London Poor, I. 69.
sprat-loon (sprat'lon), n. Same as sprat-iorer.
sprat-mew (sprat'mti), n. A sea-gull which
catches sprats; the kittiwake.
spratter (sprat'er), n. [< sprat^, v., + -e>i.]
1. One who fishes for sprats. — 2. The guille-
mot. [Prov. Eng.]
sprattle (sprat'l), v. i.; pret. and pp. sprattled,
ppr. sprattling. [Also sprottle; < Sw. sprattla,
sprawl, = Dan. sprselle, sprxlde, sprawl, floun-
der, toss the legs ; cf . D. spartelen, flutter, leap,
wrestle, sparkle. Cf. sprackle, spraioU.} To
scramble. Burns, To a Louse. [Scotch.]
sprattle (sprat'l), n. [<. sprattle, V.} A scram-
ble; a struggle. Scott, Eedgauntlet, ch. xii.
[Scotch.]
sprauchle (spr&'chl), v. i. Same as sprackle.
sprault, V. An obsolete form of sprawft.
sprawl' (sprjil), V. [Early mod. E. also sprall;
< ME. sprawlen, spraulen, sprawelen, spraullen,
sprallen, < AS. spredwlian (a rare and doubtful
word, cited by Zupitza (" Studium der neueren
Sprachen," July, 1886) from a gloss); perhaps
akin to Icel. spraukla, spriikla, sprawl ; cf . Sw.
dial, spralla, sprala = Dan. sprselle, sprselde,
sprawl, flounder: see sprackle and sprattU.}
it intrans. 1. To toss the limbs about; work
the arms and logs convulsively ; in general, to
struggle convulsively.
He drow it [a fish] in to the drie place, and it bigan to
spraxde bifor hise feet. WycW, Tobit vi. 4.
He spraulleth lyke a yonge padocke. I spraulewith my
legges, Btruggell, je me debats. Palsgrave, p. 729.
Sprawl'st thou? take that, to end thy agony. [Stabs him.
SAa*.,3Hen. VI.,v.6. 39.
Grim in convulsiT.e agonies he sprawls.
Pope, Odyssey, xxii. 23.
2. To work one's way awkwardly along with the
aid of all the limbs ; crawl or scramble.
I haue scene it, saith Carabrensis, experimented, that a
toad, being incompassed with a thontr, . . . reculed backe,
as though it had beene rapt in the head ; wherevpon he
began to spraU to the other side.
Slanihurst, Descrip. of Ireland, ii. (Holinshed's Chron.).
3. To be spread out in an ungraceful posture ;
be stretched out carelessly and awkwardly.
On painted ceilings you devoutly stare,
Where sprawl the saints of VeiTio or Laguerre,
Or gilded clouds in fair expansion He.
Pope, Moral Essays, iv. 346.
4. To have an irregular, spreading form or
outline; straggle: said of handwriting, vines,
etc.
The arches which spring from the huge pillars, though
wide, are not sprawling, E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 21.
Sprawler {*) (Larva of
Corydalus crrmttus), two
thirds natural size.
sprayer
5. To widen or open irregularly, as a body of
cavalry.
II. trans. To spread out ungracefully.
The leafless butternut, whereon the whippoorwill used
to sing, and the yellow warbler make its nest, sprawls its
naked arms, and moans pitifully in the blast.
S. Judd, Margaret, i. 17.
sprawU (spral), n. l<sprawU,r.} 1. The act of
sprawling. — 2. A sprawling posture ; an awk-
ward recumbent attitude: as, to be stretched
out in a careless sprawl. — 3. Motion ; activity.
[Prov. Eng. and U. S.]
sprawl^ (spral), n. [Prob. dim. of sprag or dial.
K..spray^: seo sprag '^jSjrrayl.} A small twig or
branch of a tree; a spray.
Halliwcll. [Prov. Eng.]
sprawler (spra'ler), n. [<
sprawl^ + -erl.] One who
or that which sprawls. Spe-
cifically, in entmn.: (a) One of
certain moths or their larvse. (1)
The European noctuid moth
Asteroscopus sphinx: so called
from the sprawling of the larva.
The rannoch sprawler is A. nu-
beculosus. (2) A noctuid moth,
Demas coryli. (6) The dobson or
hellgrammite. [Local, U. S.]
sprayi (spra), «. [< ME.
spray, spraye, < Sw. dial.
spragg, spragge = Dan.
s/)ra(/, asprig, aspray: see
spragg, a doublet oispray^,
and cf. sprig. Cf. Lith.
sproga, a spray of a tree,
also a rift, spropti, split,
sprout, bud ; Gt. aa-n-dpayoc,
asparagus, perhaps orig.
'sprout.'] 1. A branch of
a tree with its branchlets,
especially when slender
and graceful ; also, twigs, or such branches
collectively; a stem of flowers or leaves; a
sprig.
He knelyde down appon his knee
Vndir nethe that grenwode spraye.
Thomas of Ersseldoune (Child's Ballads, I. 100).
O nightingale, that on yon bloomy sjrray
Warblest at eve, when all the woods are still.
Milton, ^:onnet6, i.
2t. An orchard; a grove.
Abute the orchard is a wal ;
The ethelikeste ston is cristal ;
Ho so wonede a moneth in that spray .
Nolde him neure longen away.
King Horn (E. E. T. S.), p. 59.
3. A binding-stick for thatching. Halliwell.
[Prov. Eng.]— 4. Any ornament, pattern, or
design in the form of a branch or sprig: as, a
spray of diamonds; an embroidered spray.
Spray2 (spra), m. [Not found in ME. or AS. ; the
alleged "spregan, in AS. * geond-spregan, pour
out, is appar. an error for sprengan, cause to
spring: see spreng, spring. The Icel. spreena,
jet, spurt out, Norw. sprsen, a jet of water, are
not related. Ct.X>.spreijen (Sewel), for spmrfen,
= LG. spreen, spreien, for spreden, = E. spread:
see spread.} Water flying in small drops or par-
ticles, as by the force of wind, or the dashing
of waves, or from a waterfall ; water or other
liquid broken up into small particles and driven
(as by an atomizer) along by a current of air
or other gas.
Winds raise some of the salt with the spray. Arbuthnot.
Carbolic spray, carbolic acid and water in various pro-
portions, as used with an atomizer in the treatmentlof the
mucous membrane of the throat, in surgical operations,
and the like.
spray^ (spra), v. [Cf. spray^, n.} I. trans. 1.
To throw in the form of spray ; let fall as spray ;
scatter in minute drops or particles.
The niched snow-bed sprays down
Its powdery fall. J/. Arnold, Switzerland, ii.
2. To sprinkle with fine drops; dampen by
means of spray, as of perfume, or of some ad-
hesive liquid used to preserve drawings and the
like.
II. intrans. To discharge or scatter a liquid
in the form of spray: as, the instrument will
either spout or spray.
Spray-board (spra'bord), n. A strip on the
gunwale of a boat to keep out spray.
spray-drain (spra'dran), n. In agri., a drain
formed by burying in the earth brush, or the
spray of trees, which serves to keep open a
channel. Drains of this sort are much used in
grass-lands.
sprayed, a. See spraid.
sprayer (spra'er), «. One who or that which
discharges spray; specifically, one of a large
class of machines for applying liquid insecti-
sprayer
cides or fungicides to plants, consisting of a
pneumatic or hydraulic force-pump and a suit-
able reservoir and diseharge-nozle or spray-tip.
Sprayeyl (spni'i), a. [< sprayi^ + -fi/.] Form-
ing or resembling sprays, as of a tree or plant ;
branching.
Heaths of many a gorgeous hae . . . and ferns that
would have overtopped a tall horseman mingled their
tprayey leaves with the wild myrtle and the arluitus.
Lever, Davenport Dunn, Iviii.
sprayey2 (spra'i), a. [< spray'^ + -ey.'i Con-
sisting of liquid spray.
This view, sublime as it is. only whets your desire to
stand below, and see the river, with it* tpraiiey crest shin-
ing against tlie sky, make but one leap from heaven to hell.
B. Taylor, Northern Travel, p. 357.
spraying-machine (spra'ing-ma-shen'), n.
Same as xpriiijer.
spray-instrument (spra'in'strij-ment), H. In
med., an instrument for producing and diffusing
spray, or for the application of liquids in the
form of spray: an atomizer.
spray-nozle (spra'noz'l), «. An attachment
for the nozle of a hose which serves to project
liquid insecticides and fungicides in tlie form
of a fine spray.
spreach, spreacherie, spreachery. See spreagh,
xpridfilii ry,
spread (spred), v.; pret. and pp. spread, ppr.
spreadimj. [< ME. s]>icden (pret. spredde,
spradde, spredd, spred, pp. spredd, spred, sprad,
y-sprnd), < AS. sprsedan = D. spreideii, spreijen,
= MLG. spreden, spreiden, LG. spnden, sprecn,
spreicn = OHG. sjyreitan, MHG. G. spreiten =
Norw. spreida, dial, spreie = Dau. sprede, ex-
tend, spread; causal of the more orig. verb
MHO. sprite)!, spriden = Sw. sprida, spread;
cf. Icel. sprita, sprawl. Not^ connected, as is
often said, with brwid (AS. 6ra»rf««, make broad,
etc.).] I. trans. 1. To scatter; disperse; rout.
Was nener in alle his lyue ther fadere ore so glad
Al8 whan be saah his sons tuo the paiens force to gprad.
Hob. o/ Brxtnne, p. 18.
I have ttprfod you abroad as the four winds of the hea-
Ten, uith the Lord. Zech. ii. 0.
2. To distribute over a surface as by strewing,
sprinkling, smearing, plastering, or overlaying.
Eche man to pleye with a plow, pykoys, or spade,
Spynne, or iprede donge, or spUle hym-aelf with slenthe.
Pier$ Ploirman (B), iU. 308.
lie carved upon them earrings of cherubims and palm
trees, . . . and spread gold upon the cherabUns, and upon
the vim trees. 1 KL vL 32.
3. To flatten out ; stretch or draw out into a
sheet or layer.
Silver tprtad Into plates la brought from Tarshisb, and
gold from I'phaz. Jer. x. 9.
In other places similar Igneous rocks are spread oat in
iheeta which are Intercalated between the sedimentary
■trata. E. W. Stretter, Precious Stones, p. 66.
4. To extend or stretch out to the full size ; un-
fold; display by unfolding, stretching, expand-
ing, or the like.
The saisnes com taste ridlnge with baner tpnid, and were
moo than fifty tbouaande. Merlin (E. £. T. S.X U. 248.
A parcel of a field where be had ^nad bis tent.
Gen. xxxlli. 10.
Some species, as the meadow-lark, bare a babit of tpread-
ing the tail at admoat every chirp. Amer. NaL, X.XII. 'iOi.
8. To lay or set out ; outsprea<l ; display, as
something to be viewed in its full extent.
with orchard, and with gardeyne, or with mede,
8e that thyne hons with hem be uraviroune,
Tbe side In lunge upon the south thou tprede.
FaUaditu, llusbondrle (E. E. T. S.), p. 13.
To tpread tbe earth before him, and commend . . .
Its various porta to bis attentive note.
Camper, Tirocinium, L ftlO.
6. To reach out: extend.
Hot Jit he sprange and sprente, and ipraddrne his armet.
And one the spere lenghe spekea, he spekes tbire wordei.
MarU Artkme (E. E. T. 8.X 1. 331.
One while be spmf bis arme* him fro,
One wl^ile be xprtd them nye.
Sir Cauliiic (Child's Ballads, til. 174).
Rose, as In dance, the stately trees, and tpread
Tbeir branches bung with copious fruit.
Jfflton, P. L., Til. 324.
7. To send out in all directions ; scatter or shed
abroad ; disseminate ; diffuse ; propagate.
(Jreat fear of my name 'mongst them was tpread.
Shak., 1 lien. VI., L «. M.
The hungTTT sheep ...
Bot Inwardly, and foul contagion tpread.
MOton. I.ycldas, 1. 127.
And all the planets, In their :urn.
Confirm the tidings as they roll,
And tpread the truth from pole to pole.
Additon, (Me, Spectator, No. 446
On this blest age
Ob tpread thy Influence, but restniin thy rase.
Pope, DuDclad, ill. 122,
5861
8. To overspread ; overlay the surface of.
The workman inelteth a graven image, and the gold-
smith tpreadeth it over with gold. Isa. xl. 19.
Rich tapestry spread the streets.
Dryden, Pal. and Arc., ill. 104.
Hence — 9. To cover or equip in the proper
manner ; set ; lay : as, to spread a table.
The boordes were tpred in righte litle space.
The ladies sate eche as hem semed best^
Political Poetns, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 55.
10. To set forth ; recount at full length ; hence,
in recent use. to enter or record.
If Dagon be thy god.
Go to his temple, . . . spread before him
How highly it concerns his glory now
To frustrate and dissolve these niagick spells.
Milton, S. A., 1. 1147.
The resolutions, which the fSuprenie) Court ordered
tpread on the minutes, expressed the profound loss which
the members of the bar felt.
New York Tribune, Dec. 16, 1800.
11. To push apart : as, the weightof the train
spread the rails — To spread one's self, to take ex-
traordinar}' and generally conspicuous pains ; exert one's
self to the utmost that something may appear well. [Slang,
U. S.]
We dispatched CuUen to prepare a dinner. Hehadproni-
lse<l, to use his own expression, to spread himself in the
preparation of this meal.
Hammond, Wild .Northern Scenes, p. 266, (Barliett,)
=Syn. 7. To scatter, circulate, publish.
n. iittrans. 1. To become scattered or dis-
tributed.
As soone as the saisnes were logged thei tpredde a-brode
in the contrey to forry, and euer brente and distroied as
thei wente. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 272.
2t. To stretch one's self out, especially in a
horizontal position.
Ther be mlhte wel tprtede on his feire hude [hide].
Layamon, 1. 14203.
3. To be outspread; hence, to have great
breadth ; be broad.
The cedar . . .
Whose top-branch overpeer'd Jove's spreading tree.
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., v. 2. 14.
Plants which, if they tpread much, are seldom tall.
Bacon, Nat UisU, iSH.
4. To become extended by growth or expan-
sion; increase in e.xtent; expand; grow.
Glory is like a circle In the water.
Which never ceaseth to enlarge Itself
Till by broad spreading it disperse to nought
Shot., 1 Hen. VI., 1. 2. ISiJ.
Spread' upwtird till thy boughs discern
The front of Suniner-place.
Tennyson, Talking Oak.
The streams ruit yellow,
Bunt the bridges, and spread Into bays.
R. W. Gilder, Early Antumn.
8. To be extended bv communication or prop-
agation; became diflnised; be shed abroad.
Thia speche sprang In that space A tpradde alle aboate-
AUiteraUee Poemt (ed. Monis)^ III. 365.
Lest his infection, being of catching nature,
£^>mui further. SAoi:., Cor., ilL 1. 311.
His renown had tpread even to the coffee-houses of Lon-
don and the cloisters of Oxford.
Mttcauiay, Hist Eng., tL
6. To be pushed apart, as the rails of a car-
track. — 7. To set a table; lay the cloth or
dishes for a meal.
Dromlo, go bid tbe serrsnta tpread for dinner.
.Shak., C. of E , II. 2. 189.
Spreading globe-flower, a plant, TrolUut laxut, grow.
Ing in swamps in the northeastern t'ltlted .States: it lit.
tie resembles the true globe-flower In appearance. Its
sepals being spreading, and of a greenlah-yellow or nearly
white color.
spread (spred), «. [< spread, r.] 1. The act
of spreading or extending; propagation; dif-
fusion : as, the spread of knowledge.
No flower hath that kind of tpread that the woodbine
hath. Baeon, Nat Hist, f 676.
2. The state, condition, quality, or capability
of being outsprea<l ; expansion : as, tbe tail of
the peacock has an imposing siiread. — 3. The
amount of extension or expansion, especially in
surface ; expanse ; breadth ; compass.
These naked shoots . . .
Shall put their graceful foliage on again.
And more aspiring, and with ampler spread.
Shall boast new charms, and more thiin they have lost
Cmcper, Task, vi. 146.
The capitals of the triforlum of Lson have about tbe
same tpread as those of the choir of Paris.
C. H. Sloore, Gothic Architecture, p. 203.
Hence — 4. See the quotation.
The tpread of the wheels or axles ... is the distance
between the centres of two axles
Forney, Ixjcomotlve, p. 286.
6. A stretch; an ex|)anse.
An elm with a tpread of branches a hundred feet across.
0. W. Uolmei, Autocrat, p. 248.
spreader
6. Capacity for spreading or stretching.
Skins dressed by this process, ... it is claimed, are made
soft, pliable, and with elasticity or spread.
C. T. Davis, Leather, p. 558.
7. That which is spread or set out, as on a table ;
a meal ; a feast ; especially, a meal, more or less
elaborate, given to a select party. [Colloq.]
We had such a spread for breakfast as th' Queen hersel
might ha' sitten down to. Mrs. Gaskell, Mary Barton, ix.
After giving one spread,
With fiddling and masques, at the Saracen's Head.
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, II. 51.
8. A cloth used for a covering, as of a table
orbed; a coverlet. [U.S.] — 9. The privilege
of demanding shares of stock at a certain price,
or of delivering shares of stock at another price,
within a certain time agreed on. — 10. A sad-
dle. Tuft's Glossary of Thieves' Jargon (1798).
[Cant.] — 11. Among lapidaries, a stone which
has a large surface in proportion to its thick-
ness.— 12. In :odl., the measure from tip to tip
of the spread wings, as of a bat, a bird, or an in-
sect; the expanse or extent. — 13. In math., a
continuous manifold of points: thus, space is
a three-way spread — cone of spread. See cone.
spread (spred), p. a. [< ME. spred, sprad; pp.
of spread, i'.] 1. Extended in area; having a
broad surface ; broad.
Tho wtirthen waxen so wide and spred.
Pride and giscinge [desire] of louerd-hed.
(Genesis and Exodus (E. E. T. S.), 1. 831.
Of stature spread and straight, his armes and hands
delectable to behold.
Heyxcood, Hierarchy of Angels, p. 30'2.
2. Shallower than the standard; having insuf-
ficient depth or thickness for the highest luster:
said of a gem.
The other Spinel was also an octagon-shaped stone, of
perfect color, very spread, and free from flaws.
E. W. Streeter, Precious Stones, p. 158.
Spread eagle, (a) See eagle. (6) Naut, a sailor or other
person lashed in the rigging or elsewhere with arms and
legs outspread : a form of punishment, (c) In cookery, a
fowl split open down the back and broiled. G. Macdonald,
Warlock o' Glenwarlock, xiv. (d) In the language of the
stock exchange, a straddle. [Colloq.]
Spread Eagle is where a broker buys a certain stock at
seller's option, and sells the same at seller's option within
a certain time, on the chance that both contracts may run
the full time and he gain the difference.
Biddle, On Stock Brokers, p. 74.
Spread harmony. See harmony, 2 (d).— Spread win-
dow-glass, ."^aiue as tyroad glass (which see, under l»road).
spread-eagle (spred'e'gl), a. [< spread eagle :
ste sjircad and eagle.] Having the form or
characteristics of a spread eagle, or of the
kind of display so called; hence, ostentatious;
bombastic; boastful: Bia, a, spread-eagle oration.
See spread eagle, under eagle.
A kind of tpread-eagle plot was hatched, with two heads
(growing out of the same l>ody.
Dryden, Postscript to the lllstory of the League, II. 460.
We Yankees are thought to be fond of the spread-eagle
style. Lowell, Study Windows, p. 375.
Spread-eagle orchid. See Oncidimn,
spread-eagle (spred'e'' pi), v. t. [< spread eagle.]
To stretch out in the attitude of aspread eagle.
[Bare.]
Decapitated carcases of cod — as well as haddock and
ling, which are included under the name of stockfish —
may be seen tpread-eagled across fransveiae sticks to drj-.
N. and <j., 7th ser., IV. 278,
spread-eagleism (spred'e'gl-izm), ». [< spread-
eagle + -ism.] Vainglorious spirit as shown in
opinion, action, or speech ; ostentation ; bom-
bast, especially in tlie display of patriotism or
national vanity.
When we talk of spread-eagleisrin, we are generally think-
ing of the United .states.
Fortnightly Rev., N. 8., XLI. 3S0.
spreader (spred'^r), «. [< spread + -O'l.] 1.
One who or that which spreads, (b) One who or
that which expands, outspreads, or spreads abroad. See
tpread, v, i.
If their child be not such a speedy spreader and
brancher, like the vine, yet perchance he may . . . yield
... as useful and more sober fruit than the other.
.Sir H. Wotton, Reliquiee, p. 77.
(b) One who or that which extends, diffuses, disseminates,
etc. See spread, v. t.
If it be a mistake, I desire I may not be accused for a
tpieadcr of false news. Swift.
2. In flar-manuf., a maclnne for drawing and
doubling flax from the heckles, and making it
into slivers; a drawing-frame. — 3. In rotton-
vianiif., same as lapper^. 2, — 4. A device fitted
to the nozle of a hose for causing the stream
to spread into a thin fan of spray; a form of
spray-nozle. — 8. A bar, commonly of wood,
used to hold two swingletrees apart, and thus
form a substitute for a doubletree for a plow,
spreader
stoue-boiit, cart, etc. E. H. Knight Blower
and spreader. See Momri-
spreading-adder (spred'ing-ad'6r), «. Same
as hloiriiKi-snakt:
spreading-board (spred'ing-bord), n. Same
as /^(tfiiKj-boanl.
spreadilig-frame (spred'ing-fram), «. In spin-
iihig, a machine for spreading slivers of flax
and leading them to the drawing-rollers. £■
H. KniijUt.
spreading-ftirnace (spred'ing-ffer'nas), n. Ill
(llass-iimiiiif., a liatteiiing-furuaee. in' which the
spUt cylinders of blown glass are ilattened out.
The hearth of this furnace is called the spread-
hifl-platc.
spfeadingly (spred'ing-li), adv. In a spread-
ing or extending manner.
The best times were gpreadingly infected.
Milton, Reformation in Eng., i.
spreading-machine (spi-ed'ing-ma-shen"), «.
In cottoii-maniif., a batting and cleaning ma-
chine for forming loose cotton into a con-
tinuous band ready for the carder. Compare
scutcher.
spreading-OVen (spred'ing-uv'n), w. In glass-
ma II lit'., a spreading- or flattening-furiiaee.
spreading-plate (spred'ing-plat), «. In gkiss-
maniif., a flat plate or heartn on which a split
cylinder of glass is laid to be opened into a flat
sheet. Seeflattening-furnace, spreading-furnace,
cijUnder-glass.
spreagh (spreeh), H. [Also spreach, spreich,
spreath, spreith, spreth, spraith; < Ir. Gael.
spreidh, cattle, = W. praidd, flock, herd, booty,
prey.] Prey, especially in cattle ; booty ; plun-
der. Gavin Douglas, tr. of Virgil, p. 64.
[Scotch.]
spreaghery, sprechery (spreeh '6r-i), h. [Also
spraijghrric, spreagherie, spreachery, spreaclicric,
sprecliei ie ;<. spreagh + -ery.'\ 1. Cattle-lifting;
plundering. — 2. Prey, in cattle or other prop-
erty ; booty ; plunder ; movables of an inferior
sort, especially such as are collected by depre-
dation. [Scotch in both uses.]
spreat, «. Same as sprat^. [Scotch.]
spreath, ». See spreagh. [Scotch.]
sprechery, «. See spreagliery. [Scotch.]
sprecklea (sprek'ld), a. [< "spreckle (< Icel.
sprella (Haldorsen) = Sw. sprakla, a spot,
speck) -I- -e<J2. The E. may be in part a var. of
speckled.'] Speckled. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.]
"Whatlfice were your fishes, my jollie young man?"
" Blaclc baclu and spreckVd bellies."
Lord Donald (Child's Ballads, II. 246).
spredt, spreddet. Obsolete forms of spread,
preterit and past participle of spread.
Spree^ (spre), ». [Perhaps < Ir. S})re, a spark,
flash, animation, spirit; cf. sprac, a spark, life,
motion, spraic, strength, vigor, sprightliness,
= Gael, spraic, vigor, exertion. Cf . sprack and
*?"■,'/•] !• A lively frolic ; a prank.
John Blower, honest man, as sailors are aye for some
gpree or another, wad take me ance to see ane Mrs. Sid-
dons. Scott, St. Bonan's Well, xx.
2. A bout or season of drinking to intoxication ;
a fit of drunkenness.
Periodic drinkers, with long intervals between sprees.
Amer. Jour. Psychol., I. 518.
= SyiL 2. lievet, Debavch, etc. See carousal^.
spreel (spre), r. i. [< sprce^, «.] To go on a
spree; carouse: often with an indefinite !<; as,
to spree it for a week.
He . . . took to spreein' and liquor, and let down from a
foreman to a hand. T. WirUhrop, Love and Skates.
spree^ (spre), a. [Appar. a var. of i^ry. Con-
nection with spree'^ is uncertain.] Spruce;
gay. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
spreettail (spret'tal), n. Same as spritiail.
spreichi, v. and n. See spraich.
spreich^, spreith, n. See spreagh.
spreintt. Preterit and past participle of spreng.
Sprekelia(spre-ke'li-a),m. [NL.(Heister, 1753),
named after J. H. von Sprekelsen of Hamburg,
from whom Linnaeus obtained the plant, and
who wrote on the yucca in 1729.] A genus of
monoeotyledonous plants, of the oi-der Amaryl-
Hdese and tribe Amaryllese. It is characterized by
a one-flowered scape with a single spathaceous bract, by
a perianth without a tube and with an ascending posterior
segment, and by versatile anthers, a corona of small scales
between the filaments, and a three-celled ovary with nu-
merous ovules. The only species, S.fomwsissima, is known
in cultivation as the jacobxa-lUy (which see).
sprengt (spreng), v.; pret. and pp. sprent, spreint.
[An obs. verb, now merged, so far as existent, in
its primary verb, spring, or represented by the
dial, springe^; < ME. sprengen (pret. sprente,
tpreynte, pp. spreynd, spreind, spreint, yspreynd).
5862
< AS. sprengan, cause to spring, sprinkle (=
Icel. sprengja = Sw. sprdnga. cause to burst,
= Dan. sprienge, sprinkle, burst, = OHG.
MHG. G. sprengen, cause to burst), causal of
springan, etc., spring, burst: see spring; cf.
hespreiig.'] I. trans. 1. To scatter in drops or
minute particles; strew about; diffuse.
Gamelyn sprengeth holy water with an oken spire.
Tale 0/ Gamelyn (I.ansdowne MS.), 1. 50a.
A fewe fraknes in his face yspreynd.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 1311.
2. To sprinkle ; overspread with drops, parti-
cles, spots, or the like. [The past participle
sprent is still in use as an archaism.]
Sprengeth on [you] mid hali water. Anaren Riwle, p. 16.
Otherwhere the snowy substaunce sprent
With vermeU. Spenser, F. Q., II, xii. 45.
The cheek grown thin, the brown hair sprent with grey.
M. Arnold, Thyi-sis.
II. intrans. 1. To leap; spring.
To the chambyr dore he sprente.
And claspid it with barres twoo.
MS. Hart. 2252, f. 109. (Halliwdl.)
The blode sprente owtte and sprede as the horse spryngez.
MorU AHhure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2002.
2. To rise; dawn.
Sprengel pump. See mercury air-pump, under
mercury.
sprenkelt, v. and « . An obsolete form of sprinkle.
sprentH, v. i. [ME. sprenten = MHG. sprenzen
= Icel. spretta (for "sprenta), start, spring,
spurt out, = Sw. spritta = Dan. sprastte, start,
startle.] To leap; bound; dart.
Sparkes of fire that obout sal sprent.
Uampole, Prick of Conscience, I. 6814.
sprent'-^. Preterit and past participle of spreng.
[Obsolete or archaic]
sprett, spretet, »• Obsolete forms of sprite.
sprett (spret), n. Same as spratl, 1. [Scotch.]
sprew, sprue (spro), n. [Sc. also sproo; < D.
spruw, sprouw, the thrush.] A disease: same
as thrush^.
sprejmdet, spreyndt. Old forms of the preterit
and past participle of spreng.
Sprig^ (sprig), n. [< ME. spryg, sprigge, per-
haps a var. of "sprikke, < ML(jr. sjjrik, LG.
.iprikk, stick, twig, = AS. *sprec (in Somner,
not authenticated) = Icel. sprek, a stick (smd-
sprek, small sticks)^ cf. Sw. dial, spragg, spragge
= Dan. dial, sprag, a sprig, spray: see spray'^,
sprag^.] 1 . A sprout ; a shoot ; a small branch ;
a spray, as of a tree or plant.
So it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and
shot forth sprigs. Ezek. xvii. 6.
A faded silk, . . .
With sprigs of summer laid between the folds.
Tennyson, Geraint.
2. An offshoot from a human stock ; a young
person; a scion; a slip: often implying slight
disparagement or contempt.
A sjmg of the nobility,
That has a spirit equal to his fortunes.
Shirley, Hyde Park, i, 1.
3. An ornament or a design in the form of a
spray ; especially, such a design stamped, wo-
ven, or embroidered on a textile fabric.
Ten Small Diamonds singly set in Silver, but made up
together into a Sprig fastened by a Wire, which were lost
from her JIaJesty's Robes.
Quoted in Ashton's Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne,
[1. 182.
4. A kind of spike. — 5. See the quotation.
[Prov. Eng.]
Men who work in wall or mud-work have to run bar-
rows full of earth on planks, perhaps upwards. To pre-
vent slips a triangular piece of iron is screwed to their
shoe-heels, having three points half an inch long project-
ing downwards. These are called sprigs. Halliwell.
6. A small brad or nail without a Iiead. — 7.
A small wedge-shaped piece, usually of tin-
plate, used to hold the glass in a wooden
sash until the putty can be applied and has
time to harden. — 8. In lace-making, one of the
separate pieces of lace, usually pillow-made
lace, which are fastened upon a net ground or
r^seau in all kinds of application-lace. They
are generally in the form of flowers and leaves
(whence the name). — 9. The sprigtail or pin-
tail duck, Dafila acuta. G. Trumbull, 1888. —
10. Naut., a small eye-bolt ragged at the point.
— Chantilly sprig pattern. See ChantUhj porcelain (a),
under ^^orcelain'^.
sprigl (sprig), r. t.; pret. and pp. sprigged, ppr.
sprigging. [< sprig\ n.] 1. To decorate with
sprigs, as pottery or textile fabrics.
A grey clay sprigged with white. Dwight.
Friday, went to the Tx>wer Rooms ; wore my sprigged
muslin robe with blue trimmings.
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, iii.
spring
2. To form into a sprig or sprigs.
Sprigg'd rosemary the lads and lasses bore.
Qay, Shepherd's Week, Friday, 1. 135.
3. To drive sprigs into.
sprig2 (sprig), n. [Cf. sprug.'] The sparrow,
rasser domesticns. [Prov. Eng.]
sprig^t (sprig), o. [Cf. sjM-acfc.] Spruce; smart.
For all he wears his beard so sprig.
Cotton, Burlesque upon Burlesque. (Davies.)
sprig-bolt (sprig'bolt), n. Same as rag-bolt.
sprig-crystal (sprig'kris"tal), n. A crystal or
cluster of prismatic crystals of quartz, adher-
ing to the rock at one end, and tapering off to
a sliarp point at the other extremity.
In perpendicular Assures, crystal is found in form of an
hexangular column, adhering at one end to the stone, and
near the other lessening gradually, till it terminates in a
point : this is called by lapidaries sprig or rock crystal.
Woodward.
spriggy (sprig'i), a. [< sprigi + -^1.] Full of
sprigs or small branches. Bailey, 1729.
sprightit, "• and V. An obsolete and erroneous
spelling of sprite^.
spright^t, «. See sprits'^.
sprightfult (sprit'fiil), a. [Prop, spriteful; <
spright, sprite^, + -ful.'] Full of spirit; spright-
ly ; brisk ; animated ; gay.
Spoke like a sprightful noble gentleman.
Shak., K. John, iv. 2. 177.
spri^htfullyt (sprit'ful-i), adv. In a sprightly
or lively manner; with spirit.
Archid. So, so, 'tis well : how do I look?
Mar. Most sprightfully. Massinger, The Bondman, ii. 1.
sprightfulnesst (sprit'fvd-nes), n. [Prop. sjrrite-
f Illness; < sprightful, spriteful, + ■ne.is.'] Spright-
liness ; vigor ; animation. Bp. Parker, Platon-
ick Philos., p. 6.
sprightlesst (spnt'les), a. [Prop, spriteless; <
spriglit, sprite'^, + -less.] Lacking spirit ; spirit-
less.
Nay, he is spriteless, sense or soul hath none.
Marston, Scourge of Villanie, vii. 44.
sprightliness (spnt'li-nes), «. [Prop, spriteli-
ness ; < sprightly, spritely, + -ness.] The state or
character of being sprightly ; liveliness ; life ;
briskness; vigor; activity; gaiety; vivacity.
To see such sprightliness the prey of sorrow I pitied her
from my soul. Sterne, Sentimental Journey, p. 20.
= Syn. Life, Liveliness, eU^. See animation.
sprightly (sprit'li), «. [Prop, spritely, but
sprightly is the common spelling, the literal
meaning and therefore the proper form of the
word being lost from view ; < sprighf^, sprite^,
+ -ly^.] If. Of or pertaining to a sprite or
spirit; ghostly; spectral; incorporeal.
As I slept, me thought
Great lupiter, vpon his Eagle back'd,
Appear'd to me, with other sprightly shewes.
Shak., Cymbeline (folio 1623), v. 6. 428.
2. Full of spirit or vigor ; brisk; lively; viva-
cious ; animated ; spirited ; gay.
I am glad you are so sprightly. You fought bravely.
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Malta, il. 1.
Let me tell you, that sprightly grace and insinuating
manner of yours will do some mischief among the girts
here. Sheridan, The Rivals, ii. 1.
= Syn. 2. See animation.
sprightiyt (sprit'li), adv. [Prop, spritely; <
sprightly, a.] In a sprightly manner; with
vigor, liveliness, or gaiety. Shak., W. T., iv.
4. 53.
sprigtail (sprig'tal), n. 1. The pintail or sprig,
a duck, Dafila acuta. See cut under Dafila. —
2. The sharp-tailed or pin-tailed grouse, Pedice-
cetes phnsianellus columbianus : more fully sprig-
tailfil grouse. See cut under Pedicecetes.
sprig-tailed (sprig'tald), a. Having a sprigged
or sharp-pointed tail, as a bird ; pin-tailed : as,
the sprig-tailed duck, Dafila acuta.
spring (spring), V. ; pret. sprang or sprung, pp.
sprung, ppr. springing. [Also dial, sprink; <
ME. springen, spryngen (pret. s^yrang, sprang,
pi. sprtingen, sprongen, pp. sprungen, sprongen,
sprunge), < AS. springan, sprincan (pret. sprang,
spranc, pi. sprungon, pp. sprungen), spring, =
05. springan = OFries. springa = D. .fpringen
= MLG. spriugen = OHG. springan, MHG. G.
springen, spring, = Icel. springa = Sw. springa
= Dan. springe, spring, run, burst, split, = Goth.
''spriggan (not recorded); cf. OF. espringuier,
etc., spring, dance, = It, springare, kick about
(< OHG.); prob. akin to Gr. anepx^aSai, move
rapidly, be in liaste, attepxw;, hasty. Cf. Lith.
sprugti, spring away, escape. Hence spring, «.,
and ult. sjiringal^, springal^, the causal spreng
(now mostly merged in spring), spirinkle, etc.]
I. intrans. 1. To leap up; jump.
spring
Whan Oonnon this saagh, she tpronge for ioye.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), «• 210.
They would often gpring. and bound, and leap, with pro-
digious agility. StcH't, Gulliver a Travels, iv. 1.
2. To move with leaps; bound along: rush.
Than fpronge forth Gawein and his companye a-monge
the forreyours. that many were there slain and wounded.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.X Ui. iiST.
The horses, springing from under the whip of the char-
ioteer, soon bore us from the great entrance of the palace
into the midst of the throng that crowded the streets.
W. Ware, Zenobia, I. 58.
Specifically — 3. Tostartiip; rise suddenly, as
a bird from a covert.
Watchful as fowlers when their game will ipring.
Otway, Venice Preserved, i. 1.
4. To be impelled with speed or violence;
shoot; fly; dart.
And sudden light
Sprung through the vaulted roof, Dryden.
Hie blood tprang to her face.
Tennygon, Lancelot and Elaine.
Out tprang his bright steel at that latest word.
William Morrit, Earthly Paradise, II. 28S.
6. To start, recoil, fly back, etc., as from a
forced position ; escape from constraint ; give ;
relax ; especially, to yield to natural elasticity
or to the force of a spring. See spring, n., 9.
Tbor [Jacob] wrestelede an engel with,
S«nwe [sinew] gprxmgen fro the lith [limb].
Oenaitand Exodm{E. E. T. S.), I. 1804.
No sooner are your . . . applUnces withdrawn than
the strange casket of a heart tpringg to again.
Carlylt, Sartor Resartus, ii. 6.
6. To be shivered or shattered; split; crack.
Whene his spere was gprongent, he spede hym f ulle seme,
Swappede owtte with a swerde, that swykede hym never.
MorU Artkure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1794.
East and Tom were chatting together in whispers by
the light of the fire, and splicing a favourite old tives bat
which had tprung. T. Hugha, Tom Brown at Kugby, i. 9.
7. To come into being; begin to grow; shoot
up; come up; arise; specifically, of the day,
to dawn : said of any kind of genesis or begin-
ning, and often followed by up.
The derke was done & the day snnn^,
Datnutim <if Troy (E. E. T. 8.X L 1OT&
Hadst thou sway'd as kings should do, . . .
Giving no ground unto the bouse of York,
They never then had mrung like summer flies.
SlMk.,SB^ea. VI., il. 6. 17.
Tn the night, when the Land winds came, they anchored,
and lay still till about 10 or 11 a Clock the next day, at
which time the Sea-breexe usually tprang up again, and
enabled them to continue their Coune.
DampUr, Voyage*, n. L 106.
Alone the sun ailaea, and alone
Spring the great streams.
Jf . Arnold, In Vtrumque Paratus.
8. To take one's birth, rise, or origin (from or
out of any one or any thing) ; bo derived ; pro-
ceed, as from a specified source, stock, or set
of conditions.
This folc, iprungm of Israel,
Is vnder God timed wel.
Uenait and Exodut(E. E. T. S.), 1. 4023.
My only love tprung from my only hate !
Shak., B.and J., 1.5. 140.
Of. To come into view or notice ; be spread by
popular report ; gain fame or prevalence.
Thus withlnne a wbyle his name is tprong*
Bathe of his dedes and Us goode tonge.
Cliauttr, Knight's Tal^ 1. 579.
The word shal ipringen of blm Into Colorne.
FUmitk Inturreetion (Child's BalUds, VI. 271X
10. To rise above a given level; have a rela-
tively great elevation ; tower.
Up from their mtdst tpritigt the village spire,
^ ith the crest of its cock in the sun aflre.
Wkittier, Prophecy of Samuel Sewall.
Above this tpringt the roof, semicircular In general si>c-
tlon, but somewhat stilted at the sides, so as to make its
height greater than the semi-diameter.
J. Fergufon, Hist. Indian Arch., p. 119.
11. To warp, or .become warped ; bend or wind
from a straight line or plane surface, as a piece
of timber or plank in seasoning.
The battens are more likely to tpring fairly than when
the curve* .n nearly straight. TKearU, Naval Arch., | 21.
12. To bend to the oars and make the boat leap
or spring forward, as in an emergency: often
in the form of an order: as, '^ Spring ahead
hard, men! "—Springing bow. I nrioNn-ptoyin^, a stac-
cato passage, produced by dropping the bow on the strings
so that It rebounds by its own elasticity. Is said to be played
with a tprinffing bme. Also called ^Meeato, and, when the
now relnunds to a considerable distance, laltato. « gyn.
t^op. Jump, etc. See tHp^, v. C
II. Irant. 1. To cause to leap or dart ; urge
or launch at full speed.
So they spede at the spoures, they tprangene theire honea,
Hyres theme hakenaye* haslyly there aftyre.
JTorte Artkun (E. E. T. 8.X L 48S.
5863
I spring my thoughts into this immense field.
J. Hervey, Meditations, II. 129.
2. To start or rouse', as game; cause to rise
from the earth or from a covert ; flush : as, to
spring a pheasant.
The men sprange the birdes out of the busshes, and the
haukes sorynge ouer them bete them doune, so that the
men mougbt easily take them.
Sir T. Elyot, The Governour, L 18.
Here 's the master fool, and a covey of coxcombs ; one
wise man, I think, would tpring you all.
Greene, Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay.
3. To bring out hastily or unexpectedly; pro-
duce suddenly ; bring, show, contrive, etc., with
unexpected promptness, or as a surprise.
I may perhaps tpring a wife for you anon.
B. Jonton, Bartholomew Fair, v. 8.
Surprised with fright.
She starts and leaves her ned, and springs a light.
Dryden, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., x. 153.
The friends to the cause tprang a new project. Sv:\ft.
It 's a feast at a poor country labourer's place when he
tpringt sixpenn'orth of fresh herrings.
Mayheur, London Labour and London Poor, I. 53.
4. To jump over; overleap.
Far be the spirit of the chase from them [women] I
Uncomely courage, unbeseeming skill ;
To tpring the fence, to rein the prancing steed.
Thtmton, Autumn, 1. 575.
6t. To cause to spring up or arise ; bring forth ;
generate.
Two wellis there bethe, I telle thee.
That tprynq^the oyle, there men may see.
Political Poemt, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 142.
Their indulgence must not tpring in me
A fond opinion that he cannot err.
B. Jonton, Every Man in his Uumonr, i. 1.
6t. To scatter as in sowing; strew about; shed
here and there ; sprinkle (a liquid).
Before thelse Ydoles men sleen here Children many
tymes, and tpryngen the Blood upon the Ydoles ; and so
thei maken here Sacriflse. Mandeville, I'ravels, p. 170.
7. To sprinkle, as with fine drops, particles,
or spots; especially, to moisten with drops of a
liquid : as, to spring clothes. [Now only prov.
Eng.]
With holl water thou schalt me springe.
And as the snowe I schal be whyt.
Political Poemt, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 253.
8. To shiver; split; crack: as, to «prtM«7 a bat ;
the mast was sprung.
Out shippes [were] In very good plight, more then that
the Mary ttoae, by some mlMhance, either tprang or spent
her fore-yarde. Uakluytt Voyaget, I. 609.
9. To cause to burst or explode; discharge.
I tprung a mine, whereby the whole nest was over-
thrown. Addiion, Spectator.
10. To shift out of place ; relax ; loosen.
The linch-plns of the wagon are probably lost, and the
tire of the wheels tprung. II. B. Stowe, oldtown, p. 178.
Specifically — 11. To relax the spring of ; cause
to act suddenly by means of a spring; touch
off, as by a trigger: as, to spring a trap; to
spring a rattle; also figuratively: as, to spring
a plot or a joke.
Be shall weave his snares,
And tpring them on thy careless steps.
Bryant, Antiquity of Freedom.
12. To bend by force, as something stiff or
strong. — 13. To' insert, as a beam in a place too
short for it, by bending it so as to bring the ends
nearer together, and allowing it to straighten
when in place : usually with in : as, to spring in
a slat or bar. — 14. Inarch., to commence from
an abutment or pier: as, to spring an arch. — 1 5.
Xaut., to haul by means of springs or cables:
as, to spring the st^m of a vessel around. —
16. In carp., to unite (the boards of a roof) with
bevel-joints in order to keep out wet — To Bprlng
atmtt(n(iu<.). See 6uf(2.— To spring a leak. ><eeltak.
-To spring ber luff (naut.). Seeluff^.
spring (Biiriiig), «. and a. [< ME. spring, springe,
a leap, spreng, sprynge, a spring (of water), a
rod, a sprig, < AS. sin-ing, spryng, a leap, a
spring, fountain, ulcer, =" OS. spring (in aho-
spring = AS. g-spryng, a well, 'water-spring')
= O^ries. spring (in spedelspring) = ML6.
sprink = OHG. spring, sprung, MHG. sprinc,
sprunc, G. spring, a spring of water (cf. s]>rung,
a leap), = Sw. Dan. spring, a leap, run, spring
(cf. Sw. sprdng, a leap, bound, water-spnng) ;
from the verb: see «;>rin(;, ».] I. n. 1. "The act
of springing or leaping, (a) A leapbig or darting ; a
vault; a bound.
The Indian Immediately started back, whilst the lion
rose with a tpring, and leaped towards him.
Additon, Spectator, No. 66.
(6) A flying back ; the resilience of a body recovering its
former state by Its elasticity.
The bow well bent, and smart the tpring.
Cotcper, Human Frailty.
spring
2. The act or time of springing or appearing;
the first appearance ; the beginning ; birth ;
rise ; origin : as, the spring of mankind ; the
spring of the year ; the spring of the morning
or of the day (see dayspring). [Archaic except
as in def. 3 and its figurative use.]
Men, if we view them in their spring, are at the first
without understanding or knowledge at all.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, i. 6.
This river taketh tpring out of a certain lake eastward.
B. Jojison, Masque of Blackness.
So great odds there is between the Spring and Fall of
Fortune. Baker, Chronicles, p. 126.
At morning tpring and even-fall
Sweet voices in the still air singing.
WhiUier, Mogg Megone, 11.
Specifically — 3. The first of the four seasons
of the year ; the season in which plants begin
to vegetate and rise; the vernal season (see
season); hence, figuratively, the first and fresh-
est period of any time or condition.
Rough winter spent,
The pleasant spring straight draweth in ure.
Surrey, The Louer Comforteth Himself.
My hasting days fly on with full career,
But my late spring no bud or blossom shew'th.
Milton, Sonnets, ii.
4. That which springs or shoots up. (of) A
sprout ; shoot ; branch ; sapling.
. Springit and plantes, any spryg that gi-owt out of any
tree. Arnold's Chron., p. 168.
This canker that eats up Love's tender tpring.
SluUt., Veuus and Adonis, 1. 656.
(6) A young wood ; any piece of woodland ; a grove ; a
shrubbery. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
When the tpring is of two years' growth, draw part of
It for quick-sets. Evelyn, Sylva, III. vUl S 23.
(ct) A rod ; a switch.
For ho so sparcth the tpring spllleth hus children ;
And so wrot the wise to wissen us alle.
Piert Plouman {C), vi. 139.
6t. A youth ; a springal.
The one his lx>we and shafts, the other Spring
A burning Teade about his head did move.
Spenser, Muiopotmos, 1. 292.
Ca* me nae mair Sir Donald,
But ae spring Donald your son.
Lizie Lindsay (Child's Ballads, IV. 65).
6t. Offspring; race.
Who on all the human tpring conferred confusion.
Chapman. (.Imp. Diet)
7. Water rising to the surface of the earth from
below, and either flowing away in the form of
a small stream or standing as a pool or small
lake. Rivers are chiefly fed, both before and after Iteing
Joined by their various atHuents, l)y underground sprin'.-s,
and some pools ot water large enough to l>e called ponds
or even lakes are supplied in the same way. The condi-
tions under which springs are formed are exceedingly va-
riable, at once as regards the quantity of water, its tem-
perature, the amount and nature of the gaseous and solid
substances which it holds in solution, and the manner in
which it is delivered at the surface ; hence springs are va-
riously deslgnatetl in accordance with these peculiarities,
the most familiar terms used for this purpose being shai-
tow, simple, common, or surface ; hoi, boiling, thermal ; min-
eral, medicinal; and tpoutinq, or geyser, as this kind of
spring Is more generally called. Shallow or surface springs
ordinarily furnish water which is pretty nearly pure, can
be used for drinking, and does not differ much in tem-
perature from the mean of the locality where they occur.
They are due to the fact that the water falling on the surface
In the form of rain, or furnished by melting snow, sinks
to a certain depth (according as the soil and underlying
rocks are more or less porous or permeable), where it is
held in greater or less quantity acconling to the amount
of rainfall and the thickness and relative position of
the various permeable and impermeable formations with
which it is brought in contact, but seeks under the influ-
ence of gravitation to escape, and makes its appearance
at the surface when the t<jpographical or geological con-
ditions are favorable. Thus, a bed of gravel or sand rest-
ing on a mass of clay (the fonner being very permeable,
the latter almost impermeable) will become saturated
with water below a certain depth, the distance from the
surface of the saturated sand or gravel, or the line of
taturation, as it is called, varying with the climate and
season. If, however, there be an adjacent ravine or val-
ley which is cut deep enough to expose the line of junc-
tion of the penneable and impermeable formations, the
water will escape along this line in greater or less quanti-
ty, giving rise to springs, which will vary in number and '
copiousness with the varying conditions which present
themselves. The water of such springs, not having de-
scende<l to any great depth, will not vary much in tem-
perature from the mean of the locality. Very different
are the conditions in the case of thermal or hot springs,
which may have any temperature up to boiling, and of
which the water may have been heated either by coming
from great depths or by contact with volcanic rocks ; hence
thermal springs are phenomena verj' characteristic of vol-
canic and geologically disturbed or faulted regions, and
those hot springs which are of the geyser type (see geyser)
are most interesting from the scenic point of view. The
medicinal properties and curative effects of various hot
springs are of great practical importance : and many such
springs, in Europe and the 1 nited States, are places
much resorted to by invalids and pleasure-seekers. The
variety of constituents, both solid and gaseous, held in
solution by different hot springs is very great. From
the medicinal point of view, springs are variously class!-
spring
fled, and without regard to temperature, because the na-
ture and quantity of the substant-es wliich tlie water con-
tains are not by any means entirely dependent on tempera-
ture, althougli in general the hotter tlie water the l;u^er
the ajuountof foreign matter likely to he held in solution,
while a high temperature is undoubtedly in many cases an
important element in the thenipeutic effect produced. A
convenient classification of minei-al waters, from the medi-
cinal poiutof view,isinto(a)iuditferent,(6)earthy,(c) sul-
phurous, (d) saline, (c) alkiUine, (/) purgative, (ff) chalyb-
eate. Indiferent waters are such as contain but a small
amount of foreign matter — often solittle,indeed,that they
might well be classed as potable, but they are usually ther-
maL Their mode of therapeutic action is not well under-
stood, and by some the imagination is thought to play an im-
portant part as a curative agency. Examples of well-known
and much-visited springs of this class are .Schlangen-
bad in Nassau ; Gastein in Salzburg ; Teplitz in Bohemia ;
Plombi^res in France ; Lebanon, New York; Hot Springs,
Bath Court House, Virginia ; Clarendon Springs, Vermont ;
Hot Springs, .\rkansas, etc. Earthy watere contjiin a large
amount of mineral matter in solution, calcium sulphate
predominating in quantity. Examples : Leuk. Switzer-
land; Bagnferes-de-Bigorre, France ; Bath, England; Sweet
Springs and Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. Sulphurous
waters are weak solutions of alkaline sulphurets, the min-
eral constituents ranging from a few grains to a hundred
or more in the gallon, and the sulphur from a trace to 4
parts in 10,000; some are cold, others hot. Examples: many
of the most frequented springs of the Pyrenees, as Cau-
terets, Eaux Bonnes, Eaux Chaudes, Bagnferes-de-Luchon ;
Aix-la-Chapelle, Prussia: Harrogate, England ; \\hite Sul-
phur, West Virginia ; and many others. Salifie springs :
these are very numerous, both hot and cold, common salt
being the predominating ingredient ; but besides this there
are usually present salts of lime, magnesia, soda, iron, io-
dine, and bromine. Examples: Kissingen, Bavaria; Wies-
baden, Baden-Baden, Niederselters, in Germany ; St. Cath-
erines, Canada ; Saratoga, New York. Alkaline waters :
these contain salts of soda, potash, lime, and magnesia;
also, more or less commonly, lithia, strontia, and traces of
iodine, bromine, fluorin, and arsenic. Examples: Vichy
in France; Bilin in Bohemia; Heilbrunn, Ems, in Ger-
many. Purifatice waters, containing especially the sul-
phate of magnesia, and also of soda, often in large quan-
tity, as in the case of the Piillna water, which has 1,986
grains to the gallon, mostly sodium and magnesium sul-
phates. Examples: Sedlitz, Carlsbad, and Piillna, Bohe-
mia ; Cheltenham and Scarborough, England. Chalybeate
waters, in which salts of iron are the essential ingredient.
Examples : Schwalbach, Nassau ; Spa, Belgium ; Pyrmont,
Germany-
8. Figuratively, any fount or source of supply.
Maeb. The spring, the head, the fountain of your blood
Is stopp'd ; the ver>' source of it is stopp'd.
Macd. Your royid father 'smurder'd.
Shak., Macbeth, ii. 3. 103.
9. An elastic body, as a strip or wire of steel
coiled spiraUy, a steel rod or plate, strips of
steel suitably joined together, a mass or strip
of india-rubber, etc. , which, when bent or forced
from its natural state, has the power of recov-
ering it again in virtue of its elasticity. Springs
are used for various purposes — as for diminishing concus-
sion, as in carriages ; for motive power, as in clocks and
watches; for communicating motion by sudden release
from a state of tension, as a bow, the spring of a gun-lock,
etc. ; for measuring weight and other force, as in the
spring-balance ; as regulators to control the movement of
wheel-works, etc.
To the trunk again, and shut the spring of it.
Skak., Cymbeline, ii. 2. 47.
10. In entom., a special elastic organ by which
an insect is enabled to spring into the air. (o)
ITie springing-organ of species of the family Poduridse.
It consists of several bristle-like appendages at the end of
the abdomen, which are united at their bases and bent
under the body. In leaping, the end of the abdomen is first
bent down and then suddenly extended, bringing the elas-
tic bristles with great force against the ground. .See cut
under sprin/jtaU. (b) The springing-organ of a skipjack
beetle, or elater. It consists of a spine extending back-
ward from the prosternum and received in a cavity of the
mesosternum. When the insect is placed on its back, it
extends the prothorax so as to bring the spine to the edge
of the mesosternal cavity; then, suddenly relaxing the
muscles, the spine descends violently into the cavity, and
the force given by this sudden movement causes the base
of the elytra to strike against the supporting surface with
such power that the body is thrown into the air. See cut
under click-beetle.
11. Any active or motive power, physical or
mental; that by which action is produced or
propagated; motive.
Self-love, the spring of motion, acts the soul.
Pope, Essay on Man, Ii. 59.
12. Capacity for springing; elastic power;
. elasticity, either physical or mental.
Heav'ns ! what a spring was in his arm ! Dryden.
Th' elastic spring of an unwearied foot,
That mounts the stile with ease, or leaps the fence.
Cawper, Task, i. 136.
13. Naut.: (a) The start, as of a plank; an
opening in a seam ; a leak.
Each petty hand
Can steer a ship becalmed ; but he that will
GoTem and carry her to her ends must know . . .
Where her springs are, her leaks ; and how to stop "em.
B. Jonson, Catiline, ill. 1.
(6) A crack In a mast or yard, running oblique-
ly or transversely, (c) A line made fast to the
bow or quarter of a ship, in order to puU the
head or stem in any required direction, (d)
5864
A rope extending from some part of a ship to
another ship, or to a fixed object, to cant or
move the ship by being hauled upon. — 14. A
quick and cheerful tune ; a skip. [Obsolete or
Scotch.]
We will meet him.
And strike him such new springs, and such free welcomes.
Shall make him scorn an empire.
Fletcher (and anotherl), Prophetess, v. 2.
Last night I play'd . . .
"O'er Bogie was the spring.
Ramsay, Gentle Shepherd, i. 1.
15. la falconry, a collection of teal.
A spring of teels. Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 97.
Presently surprising a spring of teal.
Daily Telegraph, Dec. 26, 1886. (Eneyc. Diet.)
Atmosplierlo,bltumlnous, boiling, caballlne spring.
See the adjectives. — Backlasll-spring. Sec backlash. —
C spring. See C-s;)riHr/.— Carbonated springs, i^eecar-
bonatt'-. — Compound spring, a spring in which springs
of diiforent types are combined.— Intermittent or inter-
mitting spring. See i«(tr»ii(teii(.— Platform-spring,
a form of spring used for heavy vehicles, consisting of
four semi-elliptical steel springs arranged as a sort of re-
silient skeleton platform.— Pneumatic spring, a device
in which air is confined and made by its elasticity to per-
form the functions of a spring. It may be a simple air-bag
or a cylinder with a close-fitting piston, etc. Also called
air-spring, air-cushion. — Spiral spring, a coiled spring
used chiefly where the pressure to be resisted is direct and
in line with the axis of the spring. See cut under oiler.—
Spring of a beam or of a deck, the curve of a beam or
deck upward from a horizontal line. — Spring Of pork,
the lower part of the fore quarter, which is divided from
the neck, and has the leg without the shoulder. = Syn. 7.
Fountain, etc. See welU.
II. a. Pertaining to, suitable for, or occur-
ring or used in the spring of the year : as, spring
fashions ; spring wheat.— Spring canker-worm.
See canker-w&nn. — Spring cress, an American bitter-
cress, Cardamine rhomboidea, common in wet places, beai--
ing white Howers in early spring. — Spring crocus, an
earl.v crocus. Crocus vem^ts, having blue, white, or party-
colored flowers, perhaps the most common garden spe-
cies.—Spring fare, the first fare of fish taken any year.
Fishermen make about two fares of cod in a year, and the
first or spring fare, which commences early in April, is of a
superior quality. [New England.] — Spring fever. See
/eoeri.— Sprlnig grinder. See j/mwZcr.- Spring lob-
ster. Sec lobster, 2.— Spring mackerel. See macker-
e^i.- Spring safety-valve. See e«/e(j/-Baicc.— Spring
snownake. See snoivjlake, 3.
springalif, springaldif (spring'al, -aid), n. [<
ME. springal, spryiujal, spryngold, espringold =
MHG. springal, springolf, < OF. espringale, es-
pringalle (AF. also springalde), also espingalle,
cspinguale, and also cspringole, espringarde, es-
pingarde (= Pr. espingala = Sp. Pg. espingarda
= It. spingarda, ML. spingarda), a military en-
gine, also a dance, < esininguier, espringhier,
espringier, espinguer, espinguier, spring, dance
(= It. springare, spingare, kick about), < OHGt.
springan, spring, jump: see spring."] A mili-
tary engine, resembling the ballista, used in
Europe in the middle ages.
Eke withynne the castelle were
Spryn^oldes, gunnes, and bows, archers.
Rom. of the Rose, 1. 4191.
springal^, springald^ (spring'al, -aid), n. [Also
springel, springall, springold, springow,^ < spring
+ -aid, equiv. to -ard (the word being then
perhaps suggested by springal^, springald^), or
else + -al, equiv. to -el, -le, AS. -ol, as in E.
brittle, new/angle, etc. Ct.spring, n., 5, springer,
1 (6).] A young person ; a youth; especially, a
young man. [Obsolete or Scotch.]
A SjrringaXd, adolescens.
Levins, Manip. Vocab, (E. E. T. S.), p. 16.
Ha, well done! excellent boy ! dainty, ^we springal!
Middleton, More Dissemblers Besides Women, v. 1.
springardt (spring'ard), n. Same as springal^.
spring-back (spring'bak), n. In bookbinding,
a false back put on the sewed sections of a
book, which springs upward when the book is
opened flat, but returns to its proper position
wlien the book is closed. The outer or true back
does not change its outward curve, being kept stiff on li-
brary books by sheets of stiff paper, in large blank books
by molded pasteboard or sheets of thin steel.
spring-balance (spriug'bal"ans), n. See bal-
ancc.
spring-band (spring'band), n. In a vehicle, a
loop or strap used to unite the arms of an el-
liptic spring.
spring-bar (spring'biir), n. In a vehicle, a bar
upon the ends of which the body is supported.
It lies parallel with the axle, and rests upon
the center of the elliptic spring.
spring-beam (spring'bem), n. 1. A beam
reacliing across a wide space, without a central
support. — 2. In ship-building, a fore-aud-aft
timber uniting the outer ends of the paddle-box
beams, and carrying the outboard shaft-bearing.
— 3. An elastic bar at the top of a tilt-hammer,
jig-saw, or mortising-maehine, to accelerate
springe
the fall, or afford return motion. — 4. In a rail-
road-car, one of two heavy timbers resting on
the springs of a si.x-wheel ear-truck, and serv-
ing to support the bolster-bridges, which,
through the bolster, support the car-body. —
5. In carp., the tie-beam of a truss.
spring-beauty (spriug'bii"ti), )i. 1. A common
American wild flower of the genus Claytonia,
especially C. Virginica, a low, succulent herb,
sending up from a deep-set tuber in early spring
a simple stem bearing a pair of narrow leaves
and a loose gradually developing raceme of
pretty flowers, which are white or rose-colored
with deeper veins. See cut under Claytonia.
The smaller C. Caroliniana, with spatulate or
oval leaves, is more northern except in tlie
mountains. — 2. In entom., a beautiful little
butterfly of America, Erora lieta, which ap-
pears in spring, and has the hind wings in the
male brown bordered with blue, in the female
mostly blue. S. H. Scudder. [Recent.]
spring-bed (spring'bed), n. 1. A mattress
formed of spiral springs or a fabric woven of
coiled spiral wire, set in a wooden frame. — 2.
In a cloth-shearing machine, a long elastic plate
of steel fastened to the framing of the machine
to press the fibers of the cloth within the range
of the cutting edges.
spring-beetle (spnng'be'tl), «. A beetle of
tho tajaily Elatei-idie; an elater; a click-beetle.
See cut under click-beetle. Also springing-beetle.
See spring, «., 10 (6).
spring-bell (spring'bel), «. A species of rush-
lily, Sisyrinchium grandiflorum. See rush-lily.
spring-block (spring'blok), n. 1. Xaut., a
common block or deadeye connected to a ring-
bolt by a spiral or india-rubber spring. It is
attached to the sheets, so as to give a certain
amount of elasticity. — 2. In a vehicle, a piece
of wood iixed on the axle as a support for the
spring. — 3. In a car-truck, a distance-piece
placed above or below an elliptic spring.
spring-board (spring'bord), n. An elastic
board used in vaulting, etc.
springbok (spring'bok), n. [< S. African D.
spring-bok (= G. spring-bock), a wild goat, <
spring, ;=^.spring, + 6ot = E.6t«;fcl.] Abeauti-
ful gazel, Gazella euchore, so called by the Dutch
colonists of South Africa, where it abounds.
Springbok iCaxelJa eucMcrt).
from its agility in springing upward when
alarmed or as it scours the plain in escaping
from its pursuers. It is of lithe and graceful form and
handsome coloration, in which a rich tawny brown is va-
ried with pure-white and black. Also spring-boc, spring-
buck, sprink-buck, and springer.
spring-box (spring'boks), ». 1. The box which
contains the mainspring of a watch or other
mechanism; the barrel. — 2. A box or some
similar receptacle closed by a lid which opens
or shuts by the elasticity of a spring or some
similar device. See jmlpal. — 3. In upholstery,
the wooden frame within which the springs, as
of a mattress or of the seat of a sofa, are con-
tained.
spring-buck (spring'buk), n. Same as spring-
bok. Imp. Diet.
spring-carriage (spring'kar"aj), n. A wheeled
carriage moimted upon springs.
spring-cart (spring'kart), n. A light cart
mounted upon springs.
springe! (sprinj), v. t. ; pret. and pp. springed,
ppr. springeing. [< ME. sprengcn,< AS. sprengan,
springe
causal of springan, spring: see spring, and ef.
spreng (ot which sj>riitge is the proper form (cf.
singe, as related to sing), now only dialectal^.]
To sprinkle. Halliweil. [Prov. Eng.]
springe- (sprinj), «. [< ME. springe, < springen,
spring: see spring, r. Cf. springle, and D.
spring-net, a spring-net, OHG. springa, MHG.
sprinke, a bird-snare.] A noose or snare for
catching small game ; a gin. it is usually secured
to an elastic branch, or small sapling, which is bent over
and secured by some sort of trigger which the movements
of the animal will release, when it flies up and the noose
catches the game.
A woodcock to mine own springe.
Shak., Hamlet, v. 2. 317.
I will teach thee a ipringe, Tony, to catch a pewit
Scott, Kenilworth, xli.
springe^ (sprinj), »•. ; pret. and pp. springed,
yyv. springeing. [<. springe'^, n.'\ I. trans. To
catch in a springe.
We springe ourselves, we sink in our own bogs.
Fletcher {and another\ Queen of Corinth, iv. 4.
H. intrans. To set springes ; catch game by
means of springes,
springe^ (sprinj), a. [< spring, f.] Active;
nimble; brisk; agile. [Prov. Eng.]
The squire 's pretty springe, considering his weight.
Qeorge Eliot, Silas Marner, xi.
springer (spring'er), n. [< spring + -er'.] 1.
One who or that which springs, in any sense,
(a) A growing plant, shrub, or tree ; a sapling.
5865
spring-hammer (spring'ham"6r), ». A machine-
hammer in which the blow is partly or wholly
made by a spring to which tension has been
imparted by mecha-
nism during the lift of
the hammer-head. In
some hammers the spring
is a volume of confined
and compressed air. In
the accompanying cut a is
the anvil-block; 6, anvil;
c, frame ; d, guides for ham-
mer ; e, piston-rod ; /, cylin-
der; g, hammer; h, crank
(driven by the pulley t)
which lifts the hammer, at
the same time compressing
the air in the air-spring
cylinder /; J, idler-pulley
which tightens the driving-
belt k when pressed against
the belt by the action of
the rock-lever /, the rod n,
and the foot-lever or treadle
o — the rock-lever I being
pivoted to the frame at m,
while the treadle is pivoted
to it at p. Pressure upon
the treadle by the foot
tightens the belt, and the
hammer is then raised.
The treadle is then relieved
Spring-hammer.
from pressure, the belt is slackened on the pulley t, and springless (spring'les) a.
JI:^ ?e.?:Pl''.ri?'::^.'="".?™ thepiston, delivers the blow, tacking springs or spring.
spring-stud
[Tjhe furst age of man locond & light.
The springynge tyme clepe "ver."
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 169.
springing-tool (spring'ing-tol), «. In iron-
xcorking, same as hanging-tool.
springing-wall (spring'ing-wfil), n. In huild-
ing, a buttress.
spring-jack (spring'jak), n. In teleg., a device
for inserting a loop in a line-circuit, it usually
consists of a plug to be inserted between two spring-con-
tacts, the ends of the loop being joined to metallic strips
fixed to the opposite sides of the insulating plug. If the
latter is entirely of insulating material, it becomes a
spnng-jack cvt-out.
spring-latch (spring'laeh), n. A latch that
snaps into the keeper after yielding to the pres-
sure against it. See cuts under latch.
springle (spring'l), «. [= D. G. sprenlcel, a
noose, snare, springe, = Sw. sprdnkla, a sprin-
gle, = Dan. sprinkel, trellis; a dim. of sprivq,
springe, in similar senses: see spring, springe^'.'i
1. A springe.
They (woodcocks] arriue first on the north coast, where
almost euerie hedge serueth for a roade and euerie plash-
oote for springles to take them.
B. Carew, Survey of Cornwall, fol. 25.
2. A rod about four feet in length, used in
thatching. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
[< spring + -(ess.]
the^ belt then slipping easily over the pulley t.
spring-hanger ( spring'hang"er), «. A U-shaped
strap of iron serving to support the end of a
The young men and maidens go out into the woods and
coppices, cut down and spoil young springers
their May-booths. " ' " "
semi -elliptical car-spring,
to dress up spring-head (spring'heJ), «.
Evelyn, Sylva, IV. iv, { 4. head ; a source.
1. A fountain-
(6) A youth ; a lad. HaUiireU. [Prov. Eng.)
2. In arch.: (a) The impost or place where
the vertical support to an arch terminates, and
the curve of the arch begins. (6) The lower
voussoir or bottom stone of an arch, which lies
immediately upon the impost
stone of the coping of a gable.
Water will not ascend higher than the level of the first
spriTig-head from whence it descendeth.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, i.
2. A clutch, button, or other connecting de-
vice at the end of an elliptic carriage-spring,
(c) The bottom spring-headedt (spring'hed'ed), a. Havii
(rf) The rib of heads that spring afresh. [Bare.]
laving
a groined roof or vault. See cross-springer.— Spring-headed Hydres, and seashonldring Whales.
ti. A dog of a class of spaniels resembling the Spettser, F. Q. ll. xil 23
^m^""' Clirnvr"""^' *° '^"^^ °' ^"'^ 8pring-h00k(8pring'huk),«. 1. In locomotives,
game. Hee gpantel. ^ jjo^l^ gj^i^g ^^ driving-wheel spring to the
-Springer
See spaniel.
The Springer is smaller than the former (the Water
Spaniel), of elegant form, gar aspect, and usually white
with red spots, black nose and palate.
Quoted in S. and Q., 7th ser., V. 370.
4. The springbok.— 5. A grampus,
antelope, the springbok.
Springfield gun, rifle. See guii^, rifle^, also
cut under bullet.
spring-flood (spring'flud), n. [< ME. spring-
flood (= D. spring-vloed = G. spring-ftuth = Sw.
Dan. spring-flod); as spririg + flood.'] Same
as springtide.
Than ahal she [the moon] been erene atte tulle alway,
And tpryng-food laste bothe nyght and day.
Chawxr, Franklin's Tale, 1. 342.
spring-fly (spring'fli), n. A caddis-fly.
spring-forelock (spring'for'lok), n. A eotter-
kcy having a spring in the entering
„ i u J „ (o) Having no springs,
or natural fountains of water. (6) Lacking elastic springs :
as, a gpringless wagon.
springlet (spring'let), 71. [< spring -I- -let.] A
little spring ; a small stream.
But yet from out the little hill
Oozes the slender springlet still.
Scott, Marmion, vi. 37.
spring-ligament (spring'lig"a-ment), )i. The
inferior calcaneoscaphoid ligament of the sole
of the foot, connecting the os ealcis or heel-
bone with the scaphoid, supporting the head
of the astragalus, and forming part of the ar-
ticular cavity in which the latter is received.
springlike (spring'lik), a. Eesembling spring;
characteristic of spring; vernal: as, springlike
weather; a springlike temperature.
There the last blossoms spring-like pride unfold.
^ Savage, Wanderer, v.
spring-catch for keeping it fast in the staple.— spring-line (spring'lin), n. In milit. engin., a
3. A hsh-hook set like a spring-trap, with a line passing diagonally from one pontoon of a
supplementary hook, which, on being released, bridge to another.
fixes itself in the fish ; a snap-hook. Also called spring-lock (spring'lok), «. A lock which fas-
spear-hook. tens itself automatically by a spring when the
door or lid to which it is attached is shut. Also
called latch-lock.
spring-mattress (spring'mat'res), n. See mat-
tre.'is and spring-bed.
spring-net (spring'net), M. A bird-net which
can be shut by moans of a spring and trigger;
a flap-net. A net of similar form is used for
trapping rabbits.
The state or springoldif, n. Same as springaU.
frame. — 2. A latch or door-hoot having a
spea
spring-house (spring'hous), n. A small build-
ing constructed over a spring or brook, where
milk, fresh meat, etc., are placed in order to be
kept cool in or near the running water. [U. S.]
As I was a-settin' in the spring-house, this mornin',
a-workln' my butter, I says to Dinah, " I'm goln' to carry
a pot of this down to Miss Scudder. "
H. B. Stowe, Minister's Wooing, iv.
' end to pre-
vent its HCfidental withdrawal. E. H. Knight.
spring-gardent (spring'gar'dn), »i. A word of
doubtful meaning, possibly a corrupt form;
perhaps, according to Nares, a garden where
springiness (s{>ring'i-nes), K. 1
property of being springy ; elasticity. springoldSf', springOWt, n.' Same as springol'i.
The air la a thin fluid body endowed with elasticity and spring-Oyster (st)riiig'oi8''t6r), n. A thorn-oyS'
springiness, capable of condensation and rarefaction. ^ .,
tor. See cut under Spondylus.
BenOey. Bpriug-padlock (spring'pad'lok), n. A pad-
lock wliich locks automatically by means of a
r r"> — — '•■'^6 •" ^""co, « Koiucii Y.UCIC . .- , • ,• r/ »»T. spring when the hasp is pressed into its seat.
concealed springs were made to spout jets of spru»8in8 (spring ing), n. [< ME. springing, spring-pa-wl (spring'pal), n. A pawl actuated
r, •». .. f J spiyngynge; v»tha.l n. ot spring, V.2 1. The bv a spring.
2. The state of abounding with springs ; wet-
ness; sponginess, as of laud.
water upon the visitors.
Sophocles [bound). Thy slave, proud Uartlas?
. . . not a vein runs here
From head to foot, but Sopboclea would unseam, and
Like a spriTig garden shoot his scornful blood
Into their eyes durst come to tread on him.
Beau, and Ft., Four Plays hi One, Play Ist.
Bpring-gun (spring'gun), n. A gun which is
discharged by the stumbling of a trespasser
upon it, or against a wire connected with the
trigger; also, a gun similarly set for large ani-
mals, as bears or wolves.
spring-haas (spring'hiis), n. [< 8. African D.
."Iiriiig-haas, < apring (= E. spring) -t- haas. a
hare, = E. hare : see spring and Aarel.] The . - _, , . ,.
Cape jumping-hare, Pedetes caffer, a kind of spnnging-course (spring ing-kors), «,
jerboa, of the family Djpodjd*. See cut under <'"'"■"«'•
I'edetis.
spring-halt fspring'hMt), n. [Also, corruptly,
string-halt; < spring -t- halt^.'] An involuntary
convulsive movement of the muscles of either
hind leg in the horse, by which the leg is sud-
denly and unduly raised from the ground and
lowered ajgain with unnatural force; also, the
nervous disorder on which such movements de-
pend, and the resulting gait.
act or process of leaping, arising, issuing, or spring-plank (spring'plangk), «. A transverse
proceeding; also, growth; increase. timber beneath a railway truck-bolster, form-
The Poo out of a welle smal ' " ^ «..,,. . —
Taketh his flrste springing and his sors.
Chaucer, Prol. to CTerk's Tale, I. 49.
Thou Tisltest the earth, and waterest it . . . Thoumak-
est it soft with showers; thou blessest the springing
thereot Ps. liv. lo.
2. In arch., the point from which an arch
springs orrises; also, a springer.
springing (spring'ing), p. a. Liable to arise;
contingent: ae, springing uaes. See use.
sprlnging-beetle (spring'ing-be'tl), n. Same
as spring-bcclle.
springing-hairs (spring'in^-hSrz), n. pi. The
locomotory cilia of some infusorians, as the
Ilalteriida; by means of which these animal-
cules skip about.
springing-line (spring'ing-Un), n. The lino
from which an arch springs or rises; the line
ing a support for the bolster-springs. K H.
Knight.
spring-pole (spring'pol), n. A pole fastened
so that its elasticity can be used for some me-
chanical purpose.— Sprlng-pole drilling, a method
of boring holes in rock for oil, water, or any other purpose,
in which the ro<l8 and drill are suspended from a spring-
pole, which by its elasticity lifts them up after every stroke.
The down motion is effected by hand-power, or sometimes
a stirrup is added to enable the driller to use his feet.
Prospectlng-holes of from two to three inches in diameter
can be bored with this simple apparatus to the depth of
one or two hundred feet, or even more,
gge spring-punch (spring'punch),n. A punch which
has a spring to throw it back after it has been
driven down by pressure. This is usually done only
In quick-working punches which are driven by the blows
of a hammer, or in hand-punches such as those used by
shoemakers, railway conductors, etc.
spring-searcher (spring'sf'T'chSr), n. A tool
having steel prongs projected by springs, used
to detect defects in a cannon-bore.
One would take It,
That never saw 'em pace before, the spavin
Or springhalt relgn'd among 'em.
Shak., Hen. VliL, 1. 8. 18.
in which the springers rest on the imposts, spring-shackle (8pring'shak'l),ri. 1. A shackle
and from which the rise or versed sine is cal- closed by a spring.— 2. A shackle connecting
eulated. two springs, or connecting a spring to a rigid
springing-timet (spring'ing-tim), n. [< ME. part: used in vehicles, etc.
springing time; < springing + time.] The time spring-stay (spring'sta), n. Nant. See stay^.
of the new growing of plants; spring-time; spring-stud (spring'stud), n. A rod passed
spring. through the axis of a coil-spring to hold the
Sprin^ails.
Degteria nivalis; 2, a poduran ; both
greatly enlarged.
spring-stud
spring in place. The upper end works In a
guide. See cut under oiler.
springtail (spring'tal). H. 1. A coUembolous
thysanurous insect which leaps or skips about
by means of abdominal hairs
acting like a spring, as any po-
duran. In these creatures the anal
bristles are united and hent under
the body, forming a spring by the aid
of which they leap to a great height.
They are found in
(rardens, in hotbeds, i
on manure-heaps in
winter, and on snow,
and ntay also be seen
on the surface of
water in quiet pools.
See Couembcia, 2,
Podura, and Thysa-
nura,
2. A thysanu-
rousiusectof the
suborder Cinura,
oftener called
bristletail. See
Cinura, Lepisma,
and cut imder
silrerJiAh. — 3. One of certain minute neurop-
terous insects of the panorpid genus Boreus,
found in moss and on the surface of snow; a
snow-fly. This insect springs, but not by means
of anal appendages.
spring-tailed (spring'tald), a. Springing by
means of the tail, or having a spring on the
tail, as a coUembolous insect; thysanurous;
podurous.
spring-tide (spring'tid), n. [= D. spring-tij,
spring-tide, = G. spring-zeit, high tide, = Sw.
Dan. spring-tid, spring-tide; as spring, !i., rise,
+ tide.'] 1 . The tide which occurs at or soon
after the new and full moon, and rises higher
than common tides, the ebb sinking corre-
spondingly lower. At these times the sun and moon
are in a straight line with the earth, and their combined
influence in raising the waters of the ocean is the greatest,
consequently the tides thus produced are the highest. See
tide.
Hence — 2. Figuratively, any great flood or in-
flux.
Yet are they doubly replenished by the first and latter
spring-tide^ of devotion. Sandys, Travailes, p. 160.
springtide (spring'tid), n. [< spring, »., 3, +
tide.] Springtime.
Sounds as of the springtide they, . . .
While the chill months long lor May.
D, G. Hossetti, Love's Noctum.
springtime (spring'tim), n. Spring.
Primrose, flrst-bom child of Ver,
Merry spring -tijne's harbinger,
Fletcher (and another), Two Noble Kinsmen, i. 1.
spring-tool (spring'tol), n. A light tongs clos-
ing by a spring, used by glass-blowers.
spring-trap (spring'trap), n. 1. A trap work-
ing by a spring, which may cause a door or bar
to fall when the detent is released by the mov-
ing of the bait, or may throttle the victim, as
in an ordinary form of mouse-trap, etc. — 2. A
form of steam-trap. E. H. Knight.
spring-valve (spring' valv), «. l. A valve fitted
with a spring, which holds it to its seat except
when it is opened by extraneous force. — 2. A
safety-valve with which is connected a spring-
balance, graduated to any required number of
pounds, and acting as a check on the valve un-
til the determined pressure is attained. See
cut under safety-valve.
spring-wagon (spring' wag'on), n. A wagon
the bed of which rests on springs.
spring-water (spring' wa^tfer), ». Water issu-
ing from a spring : in contradistinction to river-
water, rain-water, etc.
Spare Diet, and Spring -water clear,
Physicians hold are good.
Prior, Wandering Pilgrim.
spring-weir (spring'wer), n. A kind of weir
arranged to drop to the bottom at low water,
and allow the fish to pass over it with the in-
coming tide, while at high water it is lifted up.
It is worked from the shore by means of capstans and
ropes, so that it forms an impassable barrier to the fish,
which are retained as the tide passes out, and are thus
taken in large numbers. [Maine,]
spring-worm (spring' wferm), n. A pin-worm,
as Oxyuris vermicularis ; a small threadworm.
See cut under Oxyuris.
springwort (spring'wfert), n. [< ME. spryng-
wurt, gprungwurt ; < spring + wort^.] In Euro-
pean folk-lore, a plant to which various magical
virtues were attributed, among them that of
drawing down the lightning and dividing the
storm: identified by Grimm with the caper-
5866
spurge. Euphorbia Lathyris. Dyer, Folk-lore of
Plants.
springy (spring'!), a. [_< spring + -pi.] 1. Hav-
ing elasticity like that of a spring; elastic;
light : as, springy steel ; a springy step.
Which vast contraction and expansion seems unintelli-
gible l)y feigning the particles of air to be springy and
nunous, Newton, Opticks, iii, query 31,
2. Abounding with springs or fountains; wet;
spongy: as, springy land.
sprink (springkj, v. t. [A dial. var. of spring ;
cf. «^ri«We.] To sprinkle ; splash. Halliwell.
[Obsolete or p»ov. Eng.]
sprink (springk), n. [< sprinh, v.] It. A sprin-
kle ; a drop, as of water. Howell, Arbor of Ami-
tie (1568). (Nares.) — 2. A crack or flaw. Hal-
liwell. [Prov. Eng.]
sprink-buck (springk'buk), ». Same as spring-
bok.
sprinkle (spring'kl),?;. ; pret. and pp. sprinMed,
ppr. sprinkling. [Early mod. E. sprenkle, spren-
kyll, < ME. sprenkclen, sprynklen, springgolen
(= MD. sprinckelen, sprenckelen, D. sprcnkelen =
G. sprenkeln), sprinkle; freq. of ME. sprengen,
< AS. sprengan, causal of springan, sprincan,
BpTing: see spreng a,nd spring. Ct. sprink.] I.
trans. 1. To scatter in drops or particles; let
fall in minute quantities here and there; strew.
To sprenkylle ; spergere, fundere. Cath. Ang., p. 366.
Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let
Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of
Pharaoh. Ex. ix, 8.
2. To besprinkle ; bespatter or bestrew; over-
spread with drops or particles, as of a powder,
liquid, coloring matter, etc.
Valeriatms ... at last was flayed aliue, and sprinkled
with Salt. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 367.
3. To cleanse with drops, as of water; wash;
purify.
Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience.
Heb. X. 22,
4. To distribute here and there ; diffuse.
Upon the heat and flame of thy distemper
Sprinkle cool patience. Sfiak., Hamlet, iii. 4. 124,
These and such other reflections are sprinkled up and
down the writings of all ages. Steele, Spectator, No. 11.
5. To diversify by objects placed here and
there over the surface ; dot.
Spacious meads, with cattle sprinkled o'er.
Cowper, Task, i. 164.
II. in trans. 1 . To issue in fine drops or par-
ticles; be sprinkled.
It will make the water sprinkle up in a fine dew. Bacon.
2t. To send out sparks ; scintillate; sparkle.
Toward the lady they come fast rennyng.
And sette this whele uppon her hede.
As eny hote yren yt was sprynggolyng rede.
MS. Laud. 416, f, 70, (Ualliwell.)
3. To rain slightly: used impersonally: as, does
it sprinkle? — 4. To scatter a liquid or any fine
substance so that it may fall in small particles.
The priest . . . shall sprinkle of the oil with his finger.
Lev, xiv. 16.
5t. To dart hither and thither.
The siluer scalit fyschis on the grete.
Oner thowrt clere streraes sprinkiUand for the hete.
With fynnys schinand broun as synopare.
Gavin Douglas, tr. of Virgil, p, 400,
sprinkle (spring'kl), n. [< ME. sprynkil, spren-
kill, sprenkylle (cf. MH6. G. sprengel); from
the verb.] If. A utensil for sprinkling ; a sprin-
kler ; specifically, a brush for sprinkling holy
water; an aspersorium.
And the litil gprynkU of ysop wetith in bloode, that is
in the nethir threswold, and sprengith of it the ouerthres-
wold, and either post. Wyclif, Ex. xii. 2-L
.She alway smyld, and in her hand did hold
An holy-water-gpn'jicWe, dipt in deowe.
Spenser, ¥. Q,, III. xii. IS.
2. A sprinkling, or falling in drops; specifically,
a light rain.
He meets the first cold sprinkle of the world.
And shudders to the marrow.
Browning, Ring and Book, II, 213.
3. That which is sprinkled about; hence, a
scattering or slight amount; a sprinkling. — 4.
A light tinkling sound; a tinkle. [Rare.]
At Sorrento you hear nothing but the light surges of
the sea, and the sweet sprinkles of the guitar.
Landor, Imag. Conv., Tasso and Cornelia.
5. Milit., same as morning-star, 2.
sprinkled (spring'kld), a. [< sprinkle + -ed^.]
Slarked bysraall spots; appearing as if sprinkled
from a wet brush : specifically noting a kind of
decoration of pottery, the edges of cheaply
bound books, etc.
sprinkler (spring'kl6r), n. [< sprinkle + -erl.]
1 . One who or that which sprinkles. Especially
sprite
— (at) A spherical or barrel-shaped vase having a small
spout. Such vases were grasped in the hand, and the li-
quid contents thrown out with a jerking motion, (6) A
brush for sprinkling holy water. Compare aspersorium,
1. (c) A device for spraying water over plants, or over a
lawn, etc,
2, Milit., same as morning-star, 2 Holy-water
sprinkler. See holy.
sprinkling (spring'kling), «. [Verbal n. of
sprinkle, v.] 1. The act of one who sprinkles,
in any sense of the word ; aspersion.
Your uncleanly unctions, your crossings, creepings, cens*
ings, sprinklings. Bp. Ball, Epistles, i, 1.
2. A small quantity falling in distinct drops or
parts, or comiug moderately : as, a sprinkling of
raiiiorsnow. Hence — 3. A small amount scat-
tered here and there, as if sprinkled.
We have a sprinkling of our gentry, here and there one,
excellently well learned. Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 197.
4. In bookbinding, the operation of scattering
a shower of fine drops of color on the trimmed
edges of the leaves to produce a mottled effect.
It is done by striking a brush charged with color against
a rod held above the edges of the book to be sprinkled,
sprint (sprint), V. i. [Also dial, sprunt; a later
form of sprenfl, q. v. Cf. spuri^, spirt^.] To
run at full speed, as in a short-distance foot-
race. Nineteenth Century, XXI. 520.
sprint (sprint), n. [< sprint, v.] A run at full
speed, as in a short-distance foot-race.
sprinter (sprin't6r), ». A contestant in a sprint-
race ; a short-distance runner. Encyc. Brit.,
XXI. 61.
sprinting (sprin'ting), n. [Verbal n. of sprint,
v.] The act or the sport of running at full
speed, as in a short-distance foot-race.
sprint-race (sprint'ras), n. A short-distance
foot-race.
sprint-runner (sprint'run''''er), n. Same as
sprinter. The Century, XT;. 206.
sprit^t (sprit), V. [< ME. sprutten, < AS. sprit-
tan, spryttan (= LG. .^rtitten = G. spritzen,
spriitzen), sprout, a secondary form of sjyreotan,
sprout: see sprout. Cf. spirf^, sp«ril.] I, in-
trans. To sprout ; bud ; germinate, as barley
steeped for malt.
The withi thet spruUeth ut. Ancren Biwle, p, 86.
II. trans. To throw out with force from a
narrow orifice ; eject ; spurt. Sir T. Browne.
Spritl (sprit), n. [Early mod. E. also spret ; <
ME. spret, sprete, spreot, a pole, < AS. spredt, a
pole, orig. a sprout, shoot, branch of a tree (=
D. spriet, > G. sprict, a sprit), < spredtan, sprout :
see sprit^, v., and sprout. Ct. bows2>rit.] If. A
sprout ; a shoot.
The barley, after it has been couched four days, will
sweat a little, and shew the chit or sprit at the root-end
of the corn. Mortimer, Husbandry.
2t. A stick; a pole; especially, a boatman's
pole.
Hastili hent eche man a spret or an ore.
William of Paleme (E. E. T. S.), L 2754.
3. Naut.: (a) A small pole, spar, or boom which
crosses the sail of a boat diagonally from the
mast to the upper aftmost comer, which it is
used to extend and elevate. The lower end of the
sprit rests in a becket, called the snotier, which en-
circles the mast at that place. See cuts under snotterZ
and spritsaa. (6) The bowsprit.
sprit^ (sprit), «. [Appar. a particular use of
sprit^, a sprout. Cf. sprot^, sjtrat^.] 1. A rush :
same as sprat^, 1. — 2. See the quotation.
The object of the rubbing [in the modern Irish process
of bleaching linen], which is so essential for many quali-
ties of goods, is to remove small specks of brownish mat-
ter called spritu, which may appear here and tliere through-
out the piece. SpoTis' Encyc. Manv/., I, 518.
sprit^ (sprit), V. i. [A corruption of split, simu-
lating «j»-j<l.] To split. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
sprite! (sprit), n. [Early mod. E. also spright
(erroneously conformed to the spelling of light,
night, etc.); < ME. sprite, spryte, sprit, spreit, <
OF. esprit, espirit, F. esprit = Sp. espiritu = Pg.
espirito = It. spirito, spirto, spirit, < L. spiritus,
spirit: see spirit. Doublet of sp/n't] If. The
breath ; the vital principle ; the spirit.
I thus beheld the king of equal age
Yield up the sprite with wounds so cruelly.
Surrey, jEneid, il.
2. A disembodied soul ; a ghost; a shade.
Thy haire vpon thy head doth stand vpright.
As if thou hadst been haunted with a spright.
Times' WhisOe (E, E, T. S.), p, 102.
3. An elf; a fairy; a goblin.
Of these am I, who thy protection claim,
A watchful sprite, and Ariel is my name.
Pope, R. of theL., 1. 106.
4t. The faculty of thought and feeling ; the wit ;
the mind.
sprite
When the fraiitick fltt inflamd his sprigU
His force was vaine. Spenser, F. Q., IL it. 7.
5t. Frame of mind; mood; humor; spirits-
sometimes in the plural.
With weaty upriU he stretcht him up, and thus he told
nu plaint. Surrey, Complaint of a L)ying Lover.
Come, sisters, cheer we up his sprites.
Shak., Macbeth, iv. 1. 127.
Holy Sprite*. Same as Holy Spirit (which see, under
spriteH (sprit), v. t. [< sprite\ «.] To haunt,
as a spnte.
I am spriUd with a fool. Shak., Cymbellne, ii. ». 144.
sprite'-t, H. [Also spright; a. var. form of
^ynf^.] A short arrow intended to be fired
from a musket.
„M h fh'' '" ?,**■"' °."f """' ''"' sea-flKh' short arrows,
»hich they called spnghts, without any other heads save
wood sharpened ; which were discharged out of musliets
and would pierce through the sides of ships where a buUet
would not Bacon, Nat Hist, § 704.
8pnte3 (sprit), B. [A corruption of spite^, prop
sptght, a var. of speight: see speight.l The
green woodpecker, Gecinus viridis. Also icoorf-
sjnte, Kood-gpaek. See out under popinjay.
[Prov. Eng.] j. j^ j 3
spritedt (spn'ted). a. [Early mod. E. gnriaht-
ed.-<^ritel + -<.rf2.] Mentally gifted ; quick-
witted. ^
-^■.rh? ^P^"^ ■"*« »nd wise, that by his wisdome
wrought . . . weU. HMuyf, Voyage,. II. 76.
5867
sprong2 (spr6ng), H. [Appar. a var. otpronn^.-]
1. A prong of a fork, etc.— 2. The stump of
a tree or a tooth. [Piwv. Eng. in both uses.]
sprongS (sprong), ». [Cf. sprug, sprigS.! The
sparrow, I'asscr doniesHcus. fProv. Ene 1
sproo, n. See sprew.
sproot (sprot), n. A dialectal form of sprout.
sprotH (sprot), n. [Also dial, sprote; < ME
sprotte, sprote, < AS. sprota, sprout, stick, nail
(=m). sprot OWall. sprot), a sprout, sprote,
sporte, a round of a ladder, = OHG. >ro^o
s]rro:^o, MHG. sprozze, a round of a ladder, G.
spross, sprout, twig, = leel. .«;>ro<J = OSw
sprotte, sprout, twig, stick), < spreotan, sprout:
see sprout, v. Cf. sprout, n., spritl, n., mrit^.l
1. A splinter; a fragment.
Spehis into sprottes spronge ouer hede.
Destruetion 0/ Troy (E. E. T. 8.X 1. S783.
ch™^. «''/„' I"'!^", •'^•^'Pe'^ so rudely that the Tron-
chouns flen in sproles and peces alle aboute the Halle.
Mandemlle, Travels, p. 238.
, In
of
by
sPritefult, spritefullyt, etc. See sprightful,
spriteliness, spritely. See spnghtUness, etc.
spntingt (spn ting), n. Same as spiritina.
spntlsMy (spri'tish-li), adv. [< 'spritwh «
s,,r,t.i + -ixhl) + -ly-i.-] In the manner of a
sprite or an elf; hence, mischievously; imp-
ishly. G. Harvey, Four Letters.
spritsail (sprit'sal), w. Naut. : (a) A sail ex-
Spritulb.
••11 topealUnailL ^^
Spri»al|.ilgi;e<l Boat.
tended bv a sprit, chiefly used in small boats.
See sjmtl, 3. (6) A sail, no longer in use, at-
tached to a yanl
slang across
the bowsprit of
large vessels, it
waa often pierced
with a large bole
at each of lt« lower
oomera, to let out
the water with
which the belly of
It wa« (reqnently
flUed when the ship
pitched. SpritgaTl
topuU* and sprit-
nil toMnlUntuils
were also formerly
pStt fl^lS^°"°"'^ """* •°™" "" bow'ii^S'to^'
BprittaU (sprit'tal), n. The pintail duck, Da-
_hla acuta. Also si>reettail. [Local, U. 8.1
spnttle (sprit'l), V. t. Same as sprutOe.
8pntty(spnt'i).„. [Al80(Sc.)*pri%; <»prit^
[8<-oteh f^^"^"^'^ »P"t8 <"• sprots (rushes).
, Hi. de«l master .. . -^g^UUU ^^ bj,-
sprocket (sprok'et), «. [Origin obscure.] 1
One of a aenes of projections in a grooved rel
cess round the lower part of
a ship's capstan, by which
the chain-cable is grasped
whilf heaving up anchor.—
2. One of the projections on
a sprocket-wheel which en-
gagi' the chain.
sprocket-wheel (sprok'et-
tweO, n. [< sprocket +
wheel.} In mach., a wheel sprocket .h«i.
upon which are radial projections that engage
tlif links of a chain passing over it
sprong't. An old preterit of spring.
2. A rush: same as S}yrat^, 1.
sprota (sprot) «. [Early mod. E. also sprott,
sprotte; < ME. sprot, sprott, sprote, a sprat
(glossed by L. epimeru, halecula, OF. esplene),
= MD. sprot = MLG. LG. sprot = Dan. sprut,
a sprat ; so called as being orig. considered the
young of the herring; lit. 'sprout,' i.e. 'voung
one, a particular use of the noun wpres'ented
by sprotK Hence dial., and now reg., siwat:
see sprat^.2 A fish: same as spratK Pals-
grave; Day.
Sprottle (sprot'l), V. i. A provincial English
form of sprattle. **
sprout (sprout), V. [< ME. sprouten, sprowten,
spruten, < AS. "sprutan, a var. of spredtan (pret.
spredt, pp. sproten) = OFries. spruta = MD
sprvyten, D. spruiten = MLG. spruten, LG
spruten = MHG. spriezen, G. spriessen, sprout;
not found outside of Tent. Hence ult. (< AS
sprMtan, spredtan) E. sprit\ r. (a secondary
form of sprout), sprit\ n., sproti, spurt\ spirt\
spirtle, spurtU, etc., spout, sputter, etc.] I
tntrans. 1. To shoot forth, as a bud from a
seed or stock; begin to grow; spring: said of
a ybung vegetable growth, or, by extension, of
animal growth.
.fSSi.',Sf '•^"i.''."'. "l^.J"?""* buds did sprout on ; which
•nerwards opened Into fair leaves. Bacon, Nat Hist, { 407.
A mouth Is formed, and tentacles sprout forth around It
W. B. Carpenter, Micros., f 517.
2. To put forth shoots ; bear buds.
TTie Night, to temper Dales eiceedlng drought
MoUtens our Aire, and makes our Earth to spnmL
Stfive^er, tr. of Dn Bartas's Weeks, i. 7.
«f^I^* ^1^*' ■ meadow tprouU with the yellow buds
of the dandelion. T. Winthrop, Love ind Skater
8. To spring up ; grow upward.
To rain upon remembrance with mine eyes
Thst it may grow and sprout as high as heaven.
Skat., i Hen. IV., 11. 3. 6a
ThMe Vines I have seene grow so high that they have
tproKted cleane above the toppe of thetree.
Coryat, Crudities, L log.
4. To spread into ramifications.
Vitriol ... Is apt to sprout with moisture.
a^w,-*< t- _. „ - AKon, Nat. Hist, 1604.
Sprouting fuiul 9«e fungus. . w <«^
n. trans. 1. To produce or afford by sprout-
ing; grow: as, to gprout antlers; to sprout a
mustache. » .r
Trees old and young, spmiHtig a shady boon
For simple sheep. XeoSTEndymion, I
2. To remove sprouts from : as, to sprout pota-
toes. [Prov. Eng. and U. 8.]
sprout (sprout), «. [< ME. sproute = MD
spruyte, D. spruite = MLG. LG. spruie, a
sprout; from the verb. Cf. sprotl, sprite n ]
r.el,^?.*',?* "' "; P'".°*- (") "'"' y'""'^ ""oot from
a germinating seed, or from a rootstock, tuber etc or
from the rooting tip of a stolon, (b) In a tree, a shoot
generally from an adventitious bud, as from the root (i
sucker\ the stump, or the trunk. ^
Stumps of trees lying out of the ground wiU put forth
sprouts tot a time. Bacon, Nat Hist, i 29.
Her la vine's] highest imroot
Is quickly levelled with her fading root.
B. Jonson, The Barriers.
Specifically — 2. pi. Young coleworts. -A cohtm
of sprouts, a thrashinc with switches or rods : atJrlteK
ng; a Wraiiiig ; a cii-stiKaticn ; hence, severe discipline.
a..;?,?' K?' ^'7"*^ sprouts, a subvariety of the
^I^ "^''t'*"' ''■•'tSi"'>"nK In Belgium, In which the
»t«m, which grows some 4 feet high, proiluces along its
whole length from the aiils of the early deciduous leaves
nrancnea with miniature heads an inch or two thick The
main head is small and of little value, but the sprouts are
highly esteemed. See cut iii next column, and compare
cut under hroecoli. '^
sprout-cell (sprout'sel), n. In fungi, a cell pro-
duced by sprouting.
BnisscU Sprouts (.Brassica oleracta
yar. gemmtfera). '
spruce
sprout-chain
(sprout'chau), n
fungi, a chain
cells produced
sprouting.
sprouted (sprou'-
ted), a. Having
sprouts; budded: as,
s;>roH ted potatoes.
The wheat was gener-
ally sprouted throughout
the country, and nnflt lor
bread.
Lady Holland, Sydney
[Smith, vii.
sprout-gemma
(sprout ' jem " a), n.
In fungi, a gemma
having the form of a
septate confervoid
filament, the seg-
ments of which are
capable of sprout-
ing. De Bary.
sprout-germination
(sprout'jer - mi - na"-
shon), n. Jxibot, the germination of a spore in
which a small process with a narrow base pro-
trudes at one or more points on the surface of
the spore, then assumes an elongated cylindri-
cell ™e'J"n/. ""^ '' ^^^"""^'^ ^' * ^P^°"'-
sprouting (sprou'ting), „. 1. In fungi, same
as puUulfitton, 2.-2. Same as spittingfd
sprucelf (spros) n. [An abbr. of Spruce leather,
B.ISO Pruce leather, where Spruce or Pruce is an
? ifi^^o""^ "*® °^ *'"' olderl5. name of Prussia;
\ n ^P"!S^< » variant, with unorig. initial S-
of P^^<^e,Pru^,Pruys (also in comp. Pruslond,
Pruyslmid), < OP. Pruce (F. Prmse), < ML
Prussia (Q.Preussen = D. Pruissen = Sw. Dan
Preimen% Prussia: see Prussian. The name
Aprwec Prussia, was not only used in the phrase
Spruce leather, or Pruce leather, but also in con-
nection with fashionable apparel ("appar-
reyled after the manner of Prussia or Spruce,"
Hall, Henry VIII., an. 1), and also alliiively,
somewhat like Cockayne, as a land of luxury
( He shall hue in the land of Spruce, mUke and
bony flowing into his mouth sleeping"- Chap-
man "Masque of Middle Temple and Lin-
coln s Inn"). Hence prob. the adg. ™n(ce2. Cf
spruce2.2 Prussian leather. Compare Pruce.
Spruce, corium pumicatum.
Levins, Manip. Vocab. (E. E. T. S.X p. 182.
sprucef (spros), a. [Sc. also sprtish; prob. an
extended use of spruce^, in allusion to fashion-
able apparel : see spruced This adjective can-
not be derived, as some attempt to derive it
from ME. prous, preus, < OP. proz, P. preux,
brave, etc. (see prow^), or from E. dial, ipruqi
OTsprack.-} 1 . Smart in dress and appearance ;
affecting neatness or dappemess, especially in
dress; tnm; hence often, with a depreciatory
force, dandified; smug.
niJi?,*' "y ^P™« companions, is aU ready, and aU things
"*"• Shak., T. of the 8., Iv. 1. Ill
Be not in so neat and spruce array
As If thou mean'st to make it holiday.
BeaumaiU, Remedy of Love.
A spruce young spark of a Learned Clerk.
Barkam, Ingoldsby Legends, I. 227.
2. Over-fastidious; excessively nice ; finical.
Taffeta phrases, silken terms precise,
rhree-piied hyperboles, spruce affectation.
Shak., L. L. L., v. 2. 407.
The niceties of a spruce understanding.
Jer. Taylor, Sermons, IIL ill
fyflh'" '"'*'**' ***• (see/n'saO, smart. Jaunty, nice, dan-
spruce^ (spros), v. ; pret. and pp. spruced, ppr
sprucing. [< *;)rttce2, „.] I. fraws. 1. Tomakp
spruce ; tnm or dress so as to present a smart
appearance : sometimes followed by up.
Salmacis would not be seen of Hermaphroditus till she
had spruced up her self first. Burton, Anat of Mel., p. KjT
2 To brown, as the crust of bread, by heating
the oven too much. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
n. tntrans. To become spruce; assume or
affect an air of smartness in dress : often fol-
lowed by up. [Chiefly colloq.]
But two or three years after, all of a sudden, Dench he
seemed to kind o spruce up and have a deal o' money to
"P""""- J^- B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 198.
spruce^ (sprSs), n. [An abbr. of spruce-fir.l
A coniferous tree of the genus Picea; a spruce-
i!fK..''^'if 'P^^'"^ »■■« handsome evergreens of a conical
habit, often of great economic worth. Some related trees
are also caUed spruce. See specific names below
Branchlet, with Cone, of Norway Spruce
(Picea excelsa).
spruce
For masts, etc., those [firs] of Prussia which we call
tpruee and Norway are the best. Evelyti, Sylva, I. xxii. § 2.
Black spruce, Picta nujra. a species of spruce growing
50 or 60 feet high, found through British America, the
northern I'nited States, and in the Alieghanies to North
Carolina. Its light soft wood is largely made into lumber,
and is used in construction, in shiivbuildinp, for piles, etc.
An essence of spruce is obtained from its branches, used
in making spruce-beer.— Blue spruce. Same as white
gprttee (c). — Double spruce, the black spruce. —Douglas
spruce, Fieudot^uaa DoUirlasii. See Pseudotsuija, and Ore-
gon pine (under yi««i).— Essence of spruce, a thick li-
quid with a bitterish acidulous astringent taste, obtained
by boiling and evaporation from the young branches of
the Norway spruce, the black spruce, and perhaps other
species. It is used in making spruce-beer. — Hemlock
spruce. See hendock-^pruce. — Himalayan or Indian
spruce, Ficea Morinda, of the temperate Himalayas
and Afghanistan, a tree 150 feet high, atfording a pale
straight-grained timber, durable only under shelter. —
New Zealand spruce, the imou-pine, or red pine. Doc-
rydium cupresnnum^ a beautiful tree with long weeping
branches. From
the young growth
Captain Cook made
an antiscorbutic
spruce -beer. .See
itmm-pitie. — Nor-
way spruce, Ficea
excelsa, a spruce of
middle and northern
Europe and north-
em Asia. It attains
a height of 150 feet,
forms extensive for-
ests, endures severe
ct^ld, and on moun-
tains reaches an ele-
vation of 4,500 feet
Its tough and elastic
wood is the white
deal of Europe, ex-
cellent for building,
furniture, masts,
spars, etc. It is the
source of Burgundy
pitch. See pitch^. —
Oil of spruce, oil
of hemlock. — Red
spruce, a stunt-
ed variety (P. ru-
bra) of the black
spruce, growing in
swamps. — Single
spruce. Same as
white spruce (a). —
Spruce bud-louse, an aphid of the subfamily Cherme-
sinje, Adelges abieticoleng, which deforms the end-shoots
of the spruce in the United States, producing large swell-
ings sometimes mistaken for the natural cones. In Eu-
rope A- coccinrus and A. strobUohiiis have the same habit.
— Spruce bud- worm, the larva of a tortricld moth, as
Tortrix ,fumi/eraim, which eats the end-buds of the spruce
in northeastern parts of the United States, especially in
Maine. Other spruce bud-worms are the reddish-yellow,
SUganoptycha ratzeburgiana ; the black-headed, Teras
variana; and the red, Gelechia obliquistrigeUa. — Spruce
cone-worm, the larva of a phycid moth, Pinipestis reni-
culella, which bores the fresh young cones of spruces in
the United States. — Spruce leaf -hopper, an oblong
shining-black leaf-hopper, Athysanus abietis, which punc-
tures spruce-needles in .May and June in the United
States — Spruce plume-moth, OxyptUus nigrociliatm.
Its larva feeds on spruce, and it is the only member of
the Pterophoridie known to infest any conifer. — Spruce
saw-fly, a common saw-fly, Lophyrus abietis, whose pale-
green larvse defoliate spruce, fir, pine, and cedar in the
United States, but especially spruce. — Spruce timber-
beetle, Xyloteriis biviltattis, the most injurious of sev-
eral scolytids which attack the spruce in the United
States. Others are Xyldborus (or Xyleborus) cselalus, Cryp-
turgus atomus, Pityophthorus inateriarius, and Hylurgops
pini/ex.— Tldeland spruce, Picea Sitchensis, a spruce
found from .Alaska to California near the coast, beat de-
veloped near the mouth of the Columbia river, where for 50
miles in each direction it forms a forest-belt 10 or 15 miles
wide. It grows from 140 to 180 feet high, and furnishes an
important light, soft, and straight-grained timber, large-
ly manufactured into lumber, and used for construction,
inside finish, cooperage, dunnage of vessels, etc. Sargent.
— White spruce, (a) Picea alba, the most important
timber-tree of subarctic America, extending into northern
New England, and at its best in northern Montana. Its
timber in commerce is not distinguished from that of the
black spruce. Also single spruce. (6) P. Engelmanni, the
most valuable timber-tree of the central Rocky Mountain
region, where it forms extensive forests. Its wood is of a
white or pale-yellow color, light and soft, in Colorado af-
fording lumber, fuel, and charcoal. The bark is rich in
tannin, which is locally utilized, (c) P. pungens, a rare
and local mountain species of the western United States.
Also called bliie spruce, Colorado blue spruce. Sargent.
spruce* (spros), K. An abbreviation of sprnce-
hcer. [CoUoq.]
"Come, friend," said Hawk-eye, drawlngout a keg from
beneath a cover of leaves, . . . "try a little spruce; 'twill
. . . quicken the life in your bosom."
J. F. Cooper, Last of Mohicans, vi.
spruce-beer (spros'ber), n. [A partial transla-
tion and aecommodation (as if 'beer of spruce'
or spruce-fir (< spruce^ +■ beer^, or as ii Spruce
beer, i. e. 'beer of Spruce' or Prussia (< Spruce,
or Pricce, Prussia (see spruce^), + beer^)) of G.
sprossen-bier, lit. 'sprouts-beer,' obtained from
the young sprouts of the black spruce-fir, <
sprossen, pi. of spross, a sprout (= E. sprot), +
bier = E. beer: see sprot'^ and beer^.'\ A beer
made from the leaves and small branches of the
5SG8
spruce-fir, or from the essence of spruce, boil-
ed with sugar or molasses, and fermented with
yeast. There are two kinds, the brown and the white,
of which the latter is considered the better, as being made
with white sugar instead of molasses. Spruce-beer is an
agreeable and wholesome beverage, and Is useful as an
antiscorbutic.
spruce-duff (spros'duf), n. Duff formed by
spruce-trees. See duff, 3. [Local, XJ. S.]
The soil . . . consisted of from two to four feet of what
is known among the woodsmen of northern New York as
spritce-duff, which is composed of rotten spruce-trees,
cones, needles, etc. Pop. Set. Mo., XIII. 289.
spruce-fir (spros'f6r), n. [A partial translation
and accommodation (as if 'fir of Spruce' or
Prussia, < Spruce, or Pruce, Prussia, + jfi/i : see
spruce^, and the quot.) of the G. sprossen-fichte,
the spruce-pine or -fir, whose sprouts furnish
the beer called spruce-beer, < sprossen, pi. of
spross, a sprout, + fichte, pine, fir. Cf. spruce-
beer.'] Same as spruce^: applied somewhat spe-
cifically to the Norway spruce.
spruce-grouse (spros'grous), n. The Canada
grouse. See grouse, and cut under Canace.
spruce-gum (spros'gum), n. A resinous exuda-
tion from the balsam-fir, Abies balsainea, used
as a masticatory.
spruce-leathert (spr6s'leTH"6r), ». Same as
sprncc^^.
sprucely (spros'li), adv. In a spruce manner;
smartly ; trimly ; smugly.
spruceness (spros'nes), n. The state or char-
acter of being spruce ; smartness of appearance
or dress.
spruce-OCher (spros'6"k6r), n. tAppar.< -Spruce,
Prussia (see spruce^), + ocher.'] Brown or yel-
low ocher.
spruce-partridge (sprSs'piir''trij), n. The spot-
ted or Canada grouse, Canace or Dendragapus
canadensis : so called in New England, Canada,
etc., in distinction from the ruffed grouse, there
known as the partridge, and because the bird is
highly characteristic of the coniferous woods.
See cut under Canace.
spruce-pine (spros'pin), n. Seepmel.
sprucify (spro'si-fi), «'. t. ; pret. and pp. spruci-
fied, ppr. sprucifying . [< spruce"^ + -i-fy.'] To
make spruce or fine ; smarten. Urqa-
hart, tr. of Rabelais, iii. 37. (Davies.)
[Rare.]
spruei (spro),?!. [Origin obscure.] l.In
casting metal, one of the passages lead-
ing from the " skimming-gate " to the
mold; also, the metal which fills the
sprue or sprue-gate after solidification:
same as dead-head, 1 (a). Also called sprue-
gate. — 2. A piece of metal or wood used by a
molder in making the ingate through the sand.
E. H. Knight.
sprue^, )(. See sprew.
sprue-nole (spro'hol), n. In casting metal, the
gate, ingate, or pouring-hole.
sprugl (sprug),?;. ; pret. and pp. sprugged, ppr.
spriigging. [Cf. sprag3, sprack.'] I. trans. To
make smart.
II. intrans. To dress neatly : generally with
up. [Prov. Eng.]
sprug2 (sprug), ». [Cf . sprig^, sprang, and spug,
a sparrow; origin uncertain.] The sparrow,
Passer domesticus. [Scotch and prov. Eng.]
sprung (sprung). 1. Preterit and past partici-
ple of 6yrJ«fif. — 2. Tipsy; drunk. [Colloq.]
Captain Tuck was borne dead drunk by his reeling troops
to the Tavern. Ex-Corporal Whiston with his friends sal-
lied from the store well sprung. S. Judd, Margaret, i. 13.
sprunkt, "• [Origin obscure. Cf. sprunt'^.'] A
concubine (Child); a sweetheart.
With fryars and monks, and their fine sprunks,
I make my chlefest prey.
The King's Bisguise (Child's Ballads, Y. 378).
sprunny (sprun'i), a. and n. [Cf. sprunt^.] I.
a. Neat; sjiruce. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
II. «.; pi. sprunnies (-iz). A sweetheart.
Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
Where, if good Satan lays her on like thee,
Whipp'd to some purpose will thy sprunny be.
Collins, Miscellanies (1762), p. 111.
spruntl (sprunt), V. i. [A var. of sprent: see
sprent^, sprint."] 1. To spring up ; germinate.
— 2. To spring forward or outward.
See ; this sweet simpering babe,
Dear Image of thyself; see ! how it sprunts
With joy at thy approach !
SomervUle, Hobblnol, iii, 393.
To sprunt up, to bristle up ; show sudden resentment.
[Colloq., U. S.]
sprunt^ (sprunt), n. [< sprunf^, v. Cf. sprint.]
It. A leap; a sprint; a convulsive struggle.
— 2. A steep ascent in a road. [Prov. Eng.] —
¥
Sprue,
def.2.
spuilzie
3t. Anything short and not easily bent, as a
stiff curl.
" This sprunt its pertness sure will lose
When laid," said he, "to soak in ooze."
Congreve, An Impossible Thing.
sprunt^t (sprunt), a. [Cf. ME. sprind, < AS.
sprind, agile; cf. also sprunt^.] Active; vig-
orous; strong; lively; brisk. E. Phillips, 1706.
spruntlyt (sprunt'li), adv. 1. Vigorously;
youthfully; like a young man. Imp. Diet. — 2.
Neatly; gaily; bravely.
How do I look to-day? am I not drest
Spruntly? B. Jonson, Devil is an Ass, iv. 1.
sprusadof, «. [< spruce, with Spanish-seeming
term, -ado.] A spruce fellow; a dandj'.
The answer of that sprusado to a judge in this Kingdom,
a rigid censor of men's habits; who, seeing a neat finical
divine come before him in a cloak lined through with
plush, encountered him.
Comin. on Chaucer, p. 19 (Todd's Johnson), 1665.
sprush (sprush), a. and v. A Scotch form of
spruce^.
spruttle (sprut'l), V. t. [Also sprittle ; freq. of
sprout: see sprout, and cf. spurtle.] To spurt;
sprinkle. [Prov. Eng.]
spry (spri), a. [Also obs. or dial, sprey ; < Sw.
dial, sjirygg, very active, skittish ; akin to Sw.
dial, sprag, sprdk, spirited, mettlesome: see
spy'ack.] Active, as in leaping or running;
nimble; vigorous; lively. [Prov. Eng. and
V. S.]
The lady liked our Margaret very well. "She was so
feat, and spry, and knowin', and good-natered," she said,
"she could be made of some use to somebody."
S. Judd, Margaret, i. 4.
spt. An abbreviation of spiritus, spirit.
spud (spud), n. [< ME. spudde, knife; perhaps
< Dan. spyd, a spear: see spit^. Prob. not con-
nected with spade^.] 1. A stout knife or dag-
ger.
The one within the lists of the amphitheatre . . . with
a sjmd or dagger was wounded almost to death.
Holland, tr. of Ammianus Marcellinus (1609). {Nares.)
2. A small spade, or a spade having a small
blade, with a handle of any length; a small
cutting-blade fixed in the axis of its handle,
somewhat like a chisel with a very long han-
dle, for cutting the roots of weeds without
stoopiug.
Every day, when I walk In my own little literary gar-
den-plot, I spy some [weeds], and should like to have a
spud, and root them out. Thackeray, De Finibus.
3. A spade-shaped tool for recovering lost or
broken tools in a tube-well. E. H. Knight. —
4. A nail driven into the timbers of a drift or
shaft, or fastened in some other way, so as to
mark a surveying-station. [Pennsylvania an-
thracite region.] — 5. Any short and thick
thing: usually in contempt. Speciflcally— (a) A
piece of dough boiled in fat. Imp. Diet. (6) A potato.
[Provincial.] (c) A baby's hand. [Prov. Eng. and U. S.)
(d) A short, dwarfish person. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng. j
spud (spud), V. t.; pret. and pp. spudded, ppr.
spudding. l<spud,n.] 1. To remove by means
of a spud: often with up or out.
At half-past one lunch on Cambridge cream-cheese;
then a ride over hill and dale ; then spudding up some
weeds from the grass.
E. Fitzgerald, quoted in The Academy, Aug. 3, 1889, p. 63.
2. To drill (a hole) by spudding (which see,
below).
A 12 inch hole is usually drilled or spudded down to the
rock. Sci. Amer., N. S., LV. 116.
spudding (spud'ing), n. [Verbal n. of spud, v.]
In oil-well drilling, a method of handling the
rope and tools by which the first fifty or sixty
feet of an oil-well are bored by the aid of the
bull-wheel, the depth not being sufficient to
allow of the use of the working-beam for that
purpose.
spuddle (spud'l), V. i. ; pret. and pp. spuddled,
ppr. spuddling. [Freq. ot spnd.] 1. To dig;
grub.
Hee grubs and spuddles for his prey in muddy holes and
obscure cavernes. John Taylor, Works (Ui30). {Nares.)
2. To move about; >do any trifling matter with
an air of business. HaUiwell. [Prov. Eng.]
spuddy(spud'i),fl. [<«;>«(? + -//!.] Short and fat.
They rest their spuddy hands on their knees, and shake
all over like jelly when they laugh.
W. W. Story, Eoba di Roma, iv.
spue, '0. An old spelling of spew : retained in
modern copies of the authorized version of the
Bible.
spuilzie, spulzie (spUl'ye), «. [Better written
spuh/e, spulyie : Sc. forms of spoil.] Spoil ;
booty ; in Scots law, the taking away of mova-
ble goods in the possession of another, against
spoilzie
the declared will of the person, or without the
order of law.
spnilzie, spulzie (spurye), v. [Better written
spiilyc, spiili/ie.'\ Same as »pml. [Scotch.]
Are ye come to spulzie and plunder my ha ?
Baron of BraikUy (Child's Ballads, VI. 192).
spnke, n. and c. Same as spool:
spoiler (spul'^r), 7i. A Scotch form of spooJer.
spnlzie, «. and V. See spuilzie.
sptune (spum), H. [< ME. spume, < OF. (and F.)
spume = Sp. Pg. espuma = It. spuma, < L. »;*«-
»ia, foam. Cf. /oa>« ; cf. also s/joow.] Froth;
foam ; scum ; frothy matter raised on liquors
or fluid substances by boiling, effervescence,
or agitation.
Waters frozen in pans and open glasses after their dis-
solution do commonly leave a froth and spume upon them.
Sir T. Brmene, Vulg. Err., ii. 1.
sptune (spum), V. i. ; pret. and pp. spumed, ppr.
spuming. [<. sptime, n.'\ 1. To froth; foam.
At a blow hee lastelye swapping
Thee wyne fresh spuming with a draught swtld vp to the
bottom. Stanibwrtt, .Xneid, L 727.
2t. Same as spoom.
Spnmella (spu-mel'a), n. [Nil., dim. of L.
spuma, froth, ifoam:'see spume.'] The typical
genus of Spumellidx. S. guttula and jS. vivipara
are two Ehrenbergian species, abundant in
fresh and salt infusions.
Sptimellaria (spu-me-la'ri-S), n. pi. [JfL. : see
Spumelln.'] An order of ratiiolariang. The cen-
tral capeule is (usually permanently) spherical, more rare-
ly discoid or polymorphous ; the nucleus is usually divided
only immediately before the formation of spores, into a
number of small nuclei ; the capsule-membrane is simple
and pierced on all sides by innumerable tine pores ; and
the extracapsularinm is a voluminous gelatinous sheath,
without phaKHlium. and usually with zooxanthella. The
skeleton consists of silica, or of a silicate, originally usu-
ally forming a central reticulate sphere, later extremely
polymorphous, more rarely rudimentary or entirely want-
m(t. The urder is divided into several families.
sptunellarian (spii-me-la'ri-an), a. and i>. I. a.
Of or pertaining to the Spumellaria.
II. H. A member of the Spumellaria.
Sptunellidse (spu-mel'i-de), n.pl. [NL.., < Spu-
mella + -kUe.'] A family of trimastigate panto-
stomatous infugorians, typified by the genus
Spumella. They have one long and two short
flageUa, and are adherent by a temporary
pedicle.
BpumeotlSt (spu'me-us), a. [< L. spumeus,
frothy, < spuma, foam: see spume.'] Frothy;
foamy : spumous ; spumy. Jjr. H. More.
spmnescence (spu-mes'ens), n. [< spumescen{t)
+ -cf.] Frothmess; tfie state of foaming or
being foamy. Imp, Diet.
gptunescent (spu-mes'ent), a. [< L. sputnes-
cen(t-)s, ppr. of spumeseere, grow frothy or
foamy, < spuma, froth, foam: see spume.] Re-
sembling froth or foam ; foaming. Imp. Diet.
SDnmidt (spu'mid), a. [< LL. spumidus, frothy,
foamy, < L. spuma, froth, foam: see spume.]
Froth V : spumous. Imp. Diet.
spniniferOTlS (spu-mif' e-rus), a. [= Pg. etpu-
mifero = It. spumifero"<. L. spumifer, frothing,
foaming, < «m<»ta, froth, foam, + ferre = E.
hear'^.'] Producing foam. Imp. Diet.
SpTimiliess (spu'mi-nes), n. [(spumy + -ness.]
The state or character of being spumy. Bailey.
spnmoas (spil'mns), a. [= F. spumeux = P>r.
spumos = Sp. Pg. espumoso = It. gpumoso, < L.
spumosus, full of froth or foam, < spuma, froth,
foam : see spume.] Consisting of froth or scum ;
foamy. Arbuthnot.
apumy (spu'mi), a. [< spume + -yi .] Foamy;
covered with foam.
The Tiber now their ipumy keeli divide.
Brooke, Conatantia.
Under the black clIIT's (pumy base.
Cotton (Arber's Eng. Oamer, I. tlT).
The«pum|/waTea.proGUimthewat'i7war. Dryden.
spun (spun). Preterit and past participle of
npin.
spunget, spnngerf, etc. Obsolete spellings of
spnnge. etc.
spmik (spungk), 71. [Formerly also sponk; < Ir.
Gael, spoiir, sponge, spongy wood, touchwood,
tinder, < L. spongia, a sponge, < Gr. airoyyta,
andyyo^, a sponge: see sponge.] 1. Touch-
wood; tinder; a kind of tinder made from a
species of fungus; amadou. Also called /)»nJl-.
Spmtlr, or touch-wood prepared, might perhapa make It
Ipowderl rumet. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., II. 6.
2. A very .small fire; a fiery spark or small
flame ; also, a lucifer match. [Scotch.]
oh for a jpuniir o' Allan's glee !
Bunu, FInt Eplttle to tapraik.
5869
A »pwik o* fire in the red-room.
Sc<M, Guy Mannering, xL
3. Mettle; spirit; pluck; obstinate resistance
to yielding. [CoUoq.]
The Squire has got spunk In him.
Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, i. 2.
Parsons is men, like the rest of us, and the doctor had
got his spunk up. H. B. Stoice, Oldtown, p. 67.
spunk (spungk),r.i. [<.spunk,n.] To kindle;
show a flame or spark: used in phrases To
spunk out, to come to light ; be discovered. [Scotch.]
But what if the thing spunks out?
Noctes Ambrosianae, Sept., 1832.
To spunk up, to show spirit, energj% or obstinate en-
durance amid difficulties. [CoUoq., \J. S.]
spnnkie (spung'ki), n. [< spunk + dim. -ie.]
1. A small fire ; a spark. — 2. The ignis fatuus,
or will-o'-the-wisp. — 3. A person of a fiery or ir-
ritable temper. [Scotch in all uses.]
spnnky (spung'ki), a. [< spunk + -^1.] 1.
bhowing a small fire or spark. [Scotch.] — 2.
Haunted : noting a place supposed to be haunt-
ed from the frequent appearance of the ignis
fatnus. [Scotch.] — 3. Having spunk, fire,
spirit, or obstinacy; spirited; unwilling to
give up, or to acknowledge one's self beaten.
[CoUoq.]
Erskine, a spunkie Norland blUie.
Bums, Prayer to the Scotch Representatives.
There are grave dons, too, in more than one college, who
think they are grown again as young and spunky as under-
graduates.
Landor, Imag. Conv., William Penn and Lord Feter-
[borongh.
spun-out (spnn'out), a. Lengthened; unduly
protracted.
We can pardon a few awkward or tedious phrases, a few
sputi-out passages. Qrove, Diet. Music, I. 645.
spur (spfer), n. [< ME. spure, spore, < AS.
spora, a spur (hand-spora. ' hand-spur,' talon),
= MD. spore, D. spoor, a spur, also a track, =
MLG. spore = ORG. sporo, MJIG. spore, spor, G.
sporn = Icel. spori = Sw. sporre = Dan. spore,
spur (cf. OF. esporon, esperon, F. eperon = Pr.
espero = OSp. esporon, Sp. espolon = Pg. esporSo
= It. sperone, sprone (> E. obs. speron), also with-
out the suffix, OSp. espuera, 8p. espuela = Pg.
e^fora, a spur, < OHG. sporo, ace. sporon) ; orig.
'kicker,' from its use on the heel; from the
root of spurn, v. Cf. speer^, spoor, speron, from
the same ult. root.] 1. A pointed instrument
worn on the •
heel by a ►"^ "
horseman to
goad the
horse. The
earilest medi-
eval apnrawere
without rowels
(see prteir-^pur,
ffoad-mur) ; an-
other form bad
a ball from
which a short
point project-
ed, and was
caUed the baU-
and-tpOte spur.
The rowel was
flrat Introduced
In the thir-
teenth century,
but was not
-«^
Forms d Spurs.
a, kntKht'sspitr(i2th orijtti century) ; d, brass
>pnr(nenry Iv.>: rjone-cplked rowcl-spur(Ed-
wud IV.) ; ct. loRff-necked brass spur (Henry
VII.) J *, rteel spur {Henry VUL).
common until the beoiiinlDg of the foarteenth. The spurs
of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries are sometimes of
extraordinary length on account of the projection of the
steel flanchen which kept the heel far from the horse's
side. See rovd^pur (with cut), also cut under prtcA'-«picr.
Wyth-oate tporet other spere npakliche he loked.
Pifrg Plmeman (BX xvlii. 12.
Mount thou my horse, and hide thy gptarg in him,
Till he bare brought thee up to yonder troope^
And here again. Shak,, J. C.« r. 3. 15.
2. Anything which goads, impels, or urges to
action; incitement; instigation; incentive;
stimulus : used in this sense in the phrase on
or upon the spur of the moment — that is, on a
momentary impulse; suddenly; hastily; im-
promptu.
What need we any tpur bat our own cause
To prick us to redreaa? Shak., J. C, iL 1. 123,
If yoa were ray counsel, you would not advise me to an-
swer upon the tpur af ike moment to a change which the
basest of mankind seem ready to establish by perjury.
SeoU, Guy Mannering, Ivi.
3, Some projecting thing more or less closely
resembling a horseman's spur in form or posi-
tion, (o) A root of a tree ; a large lateral root.
By the gpunt pluck'd up
The pine and cedar. Shak.y Tempest v. 1. 47.
Yet is thy root sincere, sound as the rock,
A quarry of stout ttpurs and knotted fangs.
Coicper, V'ardley Oak, 1. 117.
(b) pi. Short small twigs projecting a few inches from the
trunk. HaUivcdl, [Frov. £ng.] (c) A snag; aspine; spe>
spur
cifically, in herpet. : (1) An anal spur. (2) A calcar of some
frogs, (d) In entom., a spine or stiff bristle on the leg. (e)
In omUh. : (1) A homy modification of the integument of a
bird's foot> forming an outgrowth of the nature of a claw,
usually sharp-pointed and supported on a bony core, and
used as a weapon of offense and defense; a calcar. Such
a spur differs from a claw mainly in not ending a digit,
but being an offset from the side of the metatarsus; it is
also characteristic of tliough not confined to the male, and
is therefore a secondary sexual character. It is familiar
as occuiTing on the shank of the domestic cock and other
gallinaceous birds, and is sometimes double or treble, as in
Pavo bicalcaratus and in the genera Galloperdix, lihaginis,
and Polyplectron. See cuts under calcarate, Galloperdix.
Ithaginis, pea-fmvl, Polyplectron, Easares, and targometa-
tarsus. (2) A similar horny outgrowth on the pinion-bone
of the wing in various birds, resembling a claw, but dif-
fering in being a lateral offset not terminating a digit. It
occurs in certain geese, plovers, pigeons, and jacanas, and
is double in the screamer. See cuts under jaca?ia, Palame-
dea, and spur-icinged. (/) In sporting, a gaff, or sharp
piercing or cutting instrument fastened upon the natural
spur of a game-cock in the pit. (g) In nmmmal., the cal-
car of some bats, (h) In pkys. geog., a ridge or line of ele-
vation subordinate to the main body or crest of a mountain-
range; one of the lower divisions of a mountain-mass,
when this, as is frequently the case, is divided by valleys
or goi^es. See mountaiti^ckain.
The ground-plan of the latter massif [Mont Blanc] is
one long ridge, which, except at the two extremities, pre-
serves a very uniform direction, and throws out a series of
long spurs to the northwest.
Bonney, The Alpine Regions, p. 25.
(i) A climbing-Iron used in mounting telegraph-poles and
the like. (J) In carp., a brace connecting or strengthening
a post and some other part, as a rafter or cross-beam, (k)
In arcA., any offset from a wall, etc., as a buttress; spe-
ciflcally, the claworgriffe projecting from the torus at each
of the angles of the baseof early Pointed medieval columns.
(I) In hot, a calcar ; a slender hollow projection from some
f)art of a flower, as from the ca-
yx of columbine and larkspur and
the corolla of violets. It is usually
nectariferous, being the nectary
(nectarium) of Linneeus. The term
is also rarely applied to a solid
spur-like process. See also cuts
undeT tiectary, columbine, and Del-
phinium, (m ) In /ort., a wall that
crosses a part of the rampart and
joins it to an anterior work ; also,
a tower or blockhouse placed in
the outworks before the port (n)
In ship-building: (1) A shore or
piece of timber extending from
the bilgeways, and fayed and bolt-
ed to the bottom of the ship on the
stocks. (2) A curved piece of tim-
ber serving as a half beam to sup-
port the deck where a whole beam
cannot be placed. (3) A heavy tim-
ber extended from a pier or wharf
against the side of a ship to pre-
vent the ship from striking against
the pier, (o) In hydraul. engin.,
a wing-dam, or projection built out
from a river-bank to deflect the
current (p) On a casting, a fin, or
projection of waste metal, (q) A
small piece of refractory clay ware
with one or more projecting of'UT^^mpatitHi /u7va,
points, used in a kiln to support (a) TropmolufH Moritzia-
or separate articles in a saggar *"'* i^ Orchis mascuia.
during firing, and to prevent Uie ""'^■'** Myi^urus rnxnt-
pieces from adhering to the sag-
gar and to each other. Also caJled stilt, E. H. Knight.
(r> In an auger, a projecting point on the edge, which
makes the circular cut, from which the chip is removed
by the lip. E. II. Knight. See cut under auger, (s) The
prong on the arms of some forms of patent anchors, for the
lurpose of catching on the bottom and making the fluke
ite or take hold more ((uickly. See cut under ayichor.
(t) In printing, a register-point. [Kng.] (u) In anat, the
angle at which the arteries leave a cavity or trunk. Dun-
glison. (p) In mining, a branch of a vein ; a feeder or
dropper. — Anal spurs. See anal.— "3.0% O* the Spur.
Hee Ao(l.— Order Of the Golden Spur, an old order of the
papal court, of which tlie Iiadge was a Maltese cross with
rays between the arms, and having a small spur banging
from it Having sunk into neglect, it was superseded
In 1841 by the Onler of St Sylvester.— Scotch spur, in
her., a bearing representing a prick-spur without rowel.—
Spur-pepper, see Capsicum.— ^Tp\xr system, in hort.,
amethodof pruning grape- vines in which the ripened wood
of the preceding season is cut back close to the old stem or
arm, so aa to leave spurs bearing one, two, or three buds,
the spurs being so selected as to provide for shoots at equal
distances. The growing shoots are trained to a position
at right angles to the arm, whether this is horizontal or
vertical, and are topped after the formation of one, two,
or three bunches of grapes upon each.— Spur valerian.
See CeiUraiithus.— To Win One's spUTS, to gain a title to
knightho<:>d (because spurs were given as a reward for gal-
lant or valiant action) ; hence, to establish a title to honor-
able recognition and reward.— With spur and yardt,
with whip and spur — that is, at once.
Trusteth wel that I
Wol be hire champyon with spore and yerde,
I raughte nogbt though alle hire foos it herde.
Chaucer, Troilus, ii. 1427.
Spur (8p6r), V. ; pret. and pp. spurred^ ppr. spur-
ring. [< MK. sporen^ sperren, sporien, spurien
= 6HG. sporon, MHG. sporen^ sporn, G. spornen
= Sw. sporra = Dan. spore, spur; from the noun.
Cf. AS. spyrian, spirian, sperian, etc., track, fol-
low out, 'E.speer: see speer'^.'] I. trans, 1. To
prick or rasp with the point or rowel of a spur.
He sporyd his hors, and theder toke the way.
Oenerydes (E. E. T. S.^ L 217
*■. Spur in the flowers
El
spur
He tpurred the old horse, and he held him tight
KUigdey, The Knight's Leap.
2. Figuratively, to urge or incite.
Remember yet, he was first wiong'd, and honour
Spurr'd him to what he did.
Fletcher {and another). Love's Cttrc^ i 3.
3. To hasten. [Bare.]
Lovers break not hours.
Unless it be to come before their time ;
So much they spur their expedition,
Shak., T. G. of V., v. L 6.
4. (a) To fasten spurs to, as a horseman's boot,
or a solleret. (6) To furnish with spurs, as a
rider: as, booted and spurred; to furnish with
a spur or gaff, as a game-eock. — 5. To prop;
support. HalUtoell. [Prov. Eng.]
n, intrans. 1. To pnck one's horse with the
spur; ride in haste.
Now spurt the lated traveller apace
To gain the timely inn.
Shak., Macbeth, 111. 3. 7.
2. Figuratively, to press forward.
Some bold men, though they begin with inflnite Igno-
rance and erronr, yet, by spurring on, refine themselves.
Qrew.
spur-blindt, a. [Appar. a var. of purblind, sim-
ulating «;)«(-.] Purblind.
Madame, I crave pardon, I am spur-blind, I could scarce
see. Lyly, Sapho and Phaon, II. 2.
spur-bunting (spfer'bun'^ting), n. A spur-heeled
bu7iting; a lark-bunting.
spur-flO'Wer (sp6r'flou''6r), m. a plant of the
genus Cen tran tli us.
spur-fo'Wl (sp6r'foul), «. A gallinaceous bird
of the genus Galloperdix. There are several
Indian and Ceylonese species. See cut under
Galloperdix.
spur-gall (spfer'gal), n. A sore or callous and
hairless place, as on the side of a horse, caused
by use of the spur.
spur-gall (sper'gal), v. t. [< spur-gall, n.] To
make a spur-gall on, as a horse.
And yet I beare a burthen like an Asse,
Spur-gaU'd and tyr'd by iatincing Bulllngbrooke.
Shak., Eich. II. (folio 1623), v. 5. 94.
spur-gally (spfer'ga-'li), a. [< spur-gall + -yl.]
Spur-galled; wretched; poor. Halliwell. [Prov.
Eng.]
spurge^t (sp6rj)> V. [< ME. spurgen, spourgen,
spowrgen,<. OF. espurger, espourger.= Sp. Pg. ex-
purgar = It. spurgare, < L. expurgate, purge,
cleanse: see expurgate, and cf . purge.'\ I. trans.
To purge ; cleanse ; rid.
Of flyes men mow hem weyl spourge.
Rob. of Brunne, Handlyng Synne, L 10918.
H. intrans. To purge; froth; emit froth;
especially, to work and cleanse itself, as ale.
By reason that . . . the ale and byere haue palled, and
were nought by cause such ale and biere hathe taken
wynde In spurgyng. Arnold's Chron., p. 85.
spurge^ (sperj), n. [< ME. sporgen, spowrge, <
OF. spurge, espurge, spurge, < OF. espurger,
purge: see spurge^."] A plant of the genus
Euphorbia. Several species have special names, chiefly
used in books ; a few related or similar plants also are
called spurges. Exotic species are better known as e«-
pAorftMM.— Alleghany-mountain spurge. See Pachy-
Sandra. — Branched
5870
States. — Flowering spurge, a conspicuous species. Eu-
phorbia coroilata, of eastern North America, a rather
slender plant 2 or 3 feet high, with an umbel of about
five forks, the rays repeatedly forking into twos or threes.
The involucre has five white appendages appearing like
petals. The root has properties similar to those of the ipe-
cac-spurge. Also(witb other 8pecies)called mUk-weed.—
Hyssop-spurge, the purple spurge, Euphorbia Peplis, a
European nmritime species spreadi!lg flat on the sand. —
Indian tree-spurge, .same as milk-hedge. — tpeoa,c-
spurge, ipecacuanna-BPurge, Euphorbia Ipetaeuanhir,
found in tne T'nited States from Connecticut to Florida,
a plant with many low stems from a long perpendicular
root. The root has an active emetic and purgative prop-
erty, but in large doses tends to produce excessive nausea
and purging, and is inferior to true ipecac. — Irish spurge.
See maKnftoi/. — Leafy spurge. Euphorbia Esidn, an Old
World species resembling the cypress-spurge, but larger,
with commonly lanceolate leaves.— MSTtle-spurge. See
caper-spurge.— Ve\Xy spurge, a low branching European
species. Euphorbia jPfiidM.- Purple spurge. See /i;/s-
»oi)-«piir3e.— Sea-spurge, or seaside spyxrze. Euphorbia
Paralias, of European sea-sands.— Slipper-spurge, the
slipper-plant See /*erf*;aH(AM«.— Spotted spurge.apros-
trate American species. Euphorbia macidata, witli a dark
spot on the leaf: also called mitk-pumlaue. The large
spotted spurge is E. Preslii, sometimes called black spurge
ovpurslane. SeepMrsiaiie.-Spurge hawk-moth, a hand-
some sphinx, Deilephila euphorbias, whose larva feeds on the
sea-spurge: an English collectors' name.— Sun-spurge,
Euphorbia Helioscopia, an erect annu,al a or 8 inches high,
whose (lowers follow the sun. Also called cafs-milk, little-
good (Scotland), and wartweed or wartwort (Prov. Eng.).—
■Wood-spurge, Euphorbia amygdaioides, of Europe and
western Asia.
spur-gear (sper'ger), «. Same as spur-gearing.
spur-gearing (sper'ger''''ing), n. Gearing in
spurge, a mbiaceous
shrub, Ernodea littora-
lis, of the sea-shores of
the West Indies and
Florida, a prostrate
smooth plant with four-
angled branches, and
yellowish flowers sessile
in the upper axils. — Ca-
Per-SPUrge, Euphorbia
iMthyris, a smooth glau-
cous herb native in
southern Europe and
western central Asia,
cultivated in gardens,
thence sometimes es-
caping. It is singular
in the genus for Its op-
posite leaves, and has a
four-rayed, then forking,
umbel. Its young fruit
is sometimes substi-
tated for capers, and its
seeds contain an oil for-
merly used in medicine.
Also wUd caper, mole-
tree, and myrtle-spurge.
--Cypress-spurge, a
common garden plant,
Euphf/rbia Cyparissias,
with tufted stems and
yellowish inflorescence,
cultivated for Its foliage,
which consists of crowd-
ed linear leaves suggest-
ing cypress. It Is a native
of Europe, running wild
In tbt eastern United
Flowering Spurge (Euphorbia
coroilata).
a, a leaf; *, a flower-cluster of five
male and one female flower ; c, flower-
cluster, but younger, showinif the cup-
like oase: d, part of the involucre, show-
ing the gland at its base ; r, a male
flower ; f, the fruit, coosistinK of three
carpels.
Spur-gearing.
which spur-wheels are employed. See gear-
ing, 2.
spurge-creeper (spferj'kre"per), n. A nettle-
creeper : same as nettle-bird.
spurge-flax (sperj'flaks), n. A shrub. Daphne
Gnidium, a native of southern Europe : so called
from its acrid property and fibrous bark.
spurge-laurel (sperj'la'rel), n. A laurel-like
shrub, Daphne Laureola, of southern and west-
ern Europe. It has an acrid property suggest-
ing spurge; its fibrous bark is utilized for
paper-making.
spurge-nettle (sp6rj'net"l), n. A plant, Ja-
troplia urens. See Jatropha.
spurge-oli'Ve (sperj'ol''''iv), ». The mezereon.
spurge'WOrt (sperj'wert), n. [< late ME. spurge-
woort: see spurge"^ and worf^.'] 1. Any plant
oi the oxAer Euphorhiacem. lAndley. — 2t. The
fetid iris, Iris fcetidissima.
spurgingt (sper'jing), re. [Verbal n. of spurge^,
c] Purging. B. jonson, Masque of Queens.
spur-ha'Wk (sper'hak), re. A dialectal form of
spurhawk for sparroic-hawk. [Eng.]
spur-heeled (spfer'held), a. In ornith. , having a
very long straightened hind claw; lark-heeled:
specifically noting the eoucals or cuckoos of the
genus Ceutropus.
spurlae (spu'ri-e), n.pl. [NL., fem. pi. (sc.^en-
««, feathers) otspurius, spurious : see spurious.']
The packet of feathers growing on the bastard
wing, winglet, or alula ; the bastard quills, com-
posing the alula. See cut under alula.
spurious (spu'ri-us), n. [= Sp. Pg. espurio =
It. spuria, < L. spurius, of illegitimate birth,
hence in gen. not genuine, false; perhaps akin
to Gr. a-Kopa, seed, offspring, < aireipciv, sow: see
spore'^.] 1. Not legitimate ; bastard: 9,s, spu-
rious issue.
Her spurious first- born. Milton, S. A., 1. 391.
2. Not proceeding from the true source or from
the source pretended ; not being what it pre-
tends or appears to be ; not genuine ; counter-
feit; false; adulterated.
Spurious gems our hopes entice,
"While we scorn the pearl of price.
Cowper, Self-diffidence (trans.).
3. In zool. : (a) False ; resembling a part or
organ, but not having its function : as, s])urious
eyes or limbs, (b) Having the functions of an
organ, but morphologically different from it:
as, the spurious legs, or prologs, of a caterpillar.
spurn
(o) Aborted or changed so that the normal
functions no longer exist : as, the spurious or
aborted front legs of certain butterflies, (rf)
Erroneous; incorrectly established: as, a spti-
rious genus or species. See pseudogenus. — 4.
In bot., false; counterfeit: apparent only. —
Spurious Baltimore, the orchard-oriole. Icterus spurius,
fonnerly supposed to be a variety of the Haltimore oriole.
Also called bastard Baltimore. — STpXLTioUB Claw, in en-
tom., same as em^odmrn.- Spurious dissepiment, in
bot, a partition in an ovary or pericarp not formed by
parts'of the carpels, but by an outgrowth commonly from
the back of the carpeL See d«8ej«'in«»t. — Spurious
hermaphrodites. See hermaphrodite, 1.— Spurious
ocellus, a circular spot of color without any well-de-
fined central spot or pupil.— Spurious pareira. See
pamra.-- Spurious primary, in oniith., the first or
outermost primary or remex of a bird's wing which has
at least ten primaries and the first one very short, rudi-
mentary, or fnnctionless. Also called spurious quill. —
Spurious proposition, rainbow, stenuna, etc. See
the nouns.— Spurious sarsaparilla. See Hardenber-
gia. — Spurious vein, in entom., a faintly Indicated vein
or nervure of the wing, traceable only by a strong re-
flected light, particularly of certain hymenopters.— Spu-
rious wing, in ornith., the ala spuria, or bastard wnig;
the alula. See spurix, and cut under alula. [This use
of spurious has no reference to the condition of a first pri-
mary so called. See above. l=Syn. 2. Spuriom, Supposi-
titious, and Counterfeit agree in expressing intent to de-
ceive, except that counterfeit may be used with flguratlve
lightness where no dishonorable purpose is implied. Spu^
rious, not genuine, expresses strong disapprobation of the
deception, successful or attempted. Supposititious applies
only to that which is substituted for the genuine ; it thus
expressesaclassunderthe«pun'ow«; affw^(m(itiouswork of
Athanaslus Is not one that is supposed to have been written
by him, but one that is palmed off upon the public as being
the genuine text of a work that he is known to have writ-
ten ; a supposititious child is a changeling ; was the Tich-
borne claimant the genuine or a supposititious Sir Roger?
Counterfeit applies also to a class under the spurious —
namely, to that which is made in attempted imitation of
something else : as, a counterfeit coin, bank-note, signa-
ture. Chatterton's manuscripts were spurious, but not
supposititiotts ; as they were not exact imitations of any
particular manuscripts of early days, they would hardly
be called counterfeit. See factitious.
spuriously (spii'ri-us-li), adv. In a spurious
manner; counterf eitly ; falsely.
spuriousness (spa'ri-us-nes), n. l. Illegiti-
macy; the state of being bastard, or not of
legitimate birth : as, spuriousness of issue. — 2.
The state or quality of being spurious, coun-
terfeit, false, or not genuine: as, the spurious-
ness of drugs, of coin, or of writings.
spur-leather (sper'leTH''''&r), «. A strap by
which a spur is secured to the foot.
I could eat my very spur-leathers for anger !
B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, ii. 1.
spur-legged (sp^r'leg'''ed or -legd), a. Ha'ring
spurs or spines on the legs or feet. The Leptidee
are known as spur-legged flies.
spurless (sper'les), a. [< spur + -less.l With-
out a spur, in any sense.
spurling (sper'ling), re. A spelling of sparling.
spurling-Iine (sper'ling-lln), re. Naut. : (a) A
line connected with the axis of a wheel by which
a telltale or index is made to show the posi-
tion of the helm. (6) A rope stretched across
between the two forward shrouds, having thim-
bles spliced into it to serve as fair-leaders for
the running rigging.
spur-moneyt (8per'mun'''i), re. Money exacted
tor wearing spurs in church. See the quota-
tion.
Our cathedrals (and above all St. Paul's) were. In .Ion-
son's time, frequented by people of all descriptions, who,
with a levity scarcely credible, walked up and down the
aisles, and transacted business of every kind, during di-
vine service. To expel them was not possible ; such, how-
ever, was the noise occasioned by the Incessant jingling
of their spur-rowels, that it was found expedient to pun-
ish those who approached the body of the church, thus
indecently equipped, by a small fine, under the name of
spur-money, the exaction of which was committed to the
beadles and singing-boys.
Qifford, Note to B. Jonson's Every Man out of his
[Humour, ii. 1.
spum^ (sp6m), V. [< ME. spurnen, spornen, <
ASi.speornan{*spornan,ge-spcornai\,ge-spornan,
*spurnan, in Somner, not authenticated), also
in comp. xt-speornan, xt-sporn an (-pret. spearn,
pi. spurnon, pp. spornen) = OS. spurnan = OHG.
spurnan = Icel. sporna, spyrna, also sperna, kick
against, spurn with the feet, = L. spernere,
despise; ult. connected with spur.] I. trans.
1 . To kick against ; kick ; drive back or away
with the foot.
And Galashin with his fote spumed his body to grounde.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), 11. 199.
Am I so round with you as you with me.
That like a football you do spurn me thus?
Shak., C. of E., ii. 1. .8;j.
2t. To strike against.
Aunglls in hondis schullen beere thee.
Lest thou spume thi foot at a stoon.
Uymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.X p. 43.
spurn
3. To reject with disdain ; scorn to receive or
consort with ; treat with contempt.
0 how ray soul would gpum thia ball of clay,
And loathe the dainties of earth's painful pleasure !
Quarleg, Emblems, v. 13.
II. in trans. X. To kick.
1 purpose not to gpttm against the prick, nor labour to
set up that which God puUeth down.
Bp. 0/ Ely, in J. Gairdner's Richard III., iv.
2t. To dash the foot against something; light
on something unexpectedly ; stumble.
No wight on it sporneth
That erst was nothynge, into nought it torneth.
Chaucer, Troilus, ii. "97.
The maid . . . ran npstairs, but, spuming at the dead
body, fell upon it in a swoon. Martinug Scriblents, L 8.
3t. To dash; rush. — 4. To manifest disdain
or contempt in rejecting anything; make con-
temptuous opposition ; manifest contempt or
disdain in resistance.
It is very sure that they that be good will bear, and
not ipuni at the preachers.
Latimer, Sd Sermon bef. Edw. YI., 1549.
Thou art regardless both of good and shame.
Spuming at virtue and a virtuous name.
Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdeaa, v. 3.
gpuml (sp^m), n. [< ME. spurn, sporn; < spurn^,
r.] 1. A blow with the foot ; a kick.
lie tosse that heele a yard above his head
That offers but a spume.
Beyuxod, Koyal King (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, VI. SIX
2t. A Stumble; a fall. Joseph of Arimathie
(E. E. T. S.), p. 19.— 3. Disdainful rejection;
contemptuous treatment.
The insolence of office, and the spunu
That patient merit of the unworthy takei.
Shot., Hamlet, ilL I. 73.
4. In mining, one of the narrow pillars or con-
nections left between the holings, and not cut
away until just before the withdrawal of the
sprags. [South Stafifordshire coal-field, Eng-
land.]
spum^ (spem), n. [A var. of spur, after spitrnl,
V. Cf. 6. sporn, spur, orig. an ace. form : see
«p«r, n.] 1. A spur. [Prov. Eng.] — 2. Apiece
of wood having one end inserted in the ground,
and the other nailed at an ani^le to a gate-post,
for the purpose of strengthening or supporting
it. [Prov. Eng.]
spum-t (spAm), r. t. [< »/>um2, n. Cf. gpurnl,
r.] To spur.
Tbe Faery quickly raught
His poynant speare, and shurply gan to tpurru
His (omy ateed. Speruer, F. Q., III. L 6.
gpnmS (gpfem), n. [Early mod. E. spoorn,
spoorne; origin obscure.] An evil spirit.
Halliiccll. [Prov. Eng.]
spnmer (sp6r'n6r), n. [< gpurn^ + -erl.] One
who spurns or rejects.
Spum-pointt (sp^m'point), «. [< spurn^ +
point.] An old game, of uncertain nature.
He stakes heaven at fpumpoiyU, and trips cross and pile
whether ever he shall see the face of God or no.
Jer. TaDtor, Works (ed. 18SSX I- 748.
sptimwater (spi^m'w&'tfer), ». [< spurnl, v., +
obj. ifufcr.] ^aut., a V-shaped barrier or break-
water, from 1 to 2 feet or more high, erected on
sea-going vessels forward of the foremast, to
shed water <>oming over the bows.
spur-pnming (sp^r'prO'ning), fl. A mode of
pruning trees by which one or two eyes of the
previous year's wood are left and the rest cut
off, so as to leave spurs or short rods. Com-
pare npur-system, under sjiur.
spurred (spird), a. [< spur + -ed2.] l. Wear-
ing spurs: as, a spurred horseman. — 2. In or-
nith.: (a) Having unusually long claws: as, the
spurred towhee, PipiU) megalonyx. S. F. Baird.
[Bare.] (6) Having spurs; calcarate. See spur,
»., 3(e)(1). (c) Spur-heeled. (<J) Spur-winged.
— 3. In mamtmil., herpet., and entom., having
spurs of any kind; calcarate. — 4. In hot., pro-
ducing or jirovided with a spur; calcarate. —
Spurred butterfly-pea. See pea i . — Spurred cluuna-
leon, Chnnwrlenn miin/iT. — Spurred corolla. See CO-
roOa.— Spnrred gentian. .'<ie ;teiitian. — Spurred rye.
See rye 1 and ergui, ■>. - Spurred tree-frog "r tree- toad,
Palypedeta equee, of Ceylon, having a calcar.
spnrrer (spfer'ir), n. 1. One who uses spurs.
— 2. .Somebody or something that incites or
urges on.
I doabt 70a want a qmrrer-on to exercise and to amuse-
ment*. Swift, To Pope, July 16, 1728.
gpurrey, ». See spurry'^.
spurrier (8p*>r'i6r), n. [Early mod. E. also
sporyor; < ME. snorter, sporyer, sparer; < spur
+ -Jerl.] One whose occupation is the making
of spurs.
Ods so, my ipmrier! put them on, boy, quickly.
B. JmiKm, Staple of News, I. 1.
Spur.royal of James I.— British Mu-
seum. (Stze of the original.)
5871
spur-royal (sper'roi'^al), n. [Also spur-ryal,
>!pur-rial ;< spur + royal. Ct.ryal.'^ An English
fold coin issued by
ames I., and worth
15s. or 16«. 6rf.
(about 13.63 or
$3.99). It was so
named from the re-
semblance of the
sun on its reverse
to the rowel of a
spur.
She has nine spur-roy.
als,&ud the servants say
she hoards old gold.
Beau, and Ft., Scornful
[Udy, i. 1.
spurrylf (sper'i). a.
[< spur + -yl.] Ra-
diating, like the
points on a spur-
rowel. Chapman,
Iliad, xix. 367.
spurry''' (spur'i), n.
lAlso spurrey ; < OF.
spurrie, < MD. spo-
rie, spurie, speurie,
spurrie, D. spurrie,
spurry; cf. G. spiir-
fel, spergel (> Sw.
)au. spergel), < ML.
spergula, spurry ;
origin obscure.] A
plant of the genus Spergula. The common species
is S, mnoentig, tbe com-spurry, from whose seeds a lamp-
oll has sometimes been extracted. Knotted spurry, more
properly called truMed pearttcort, is Sagina nodota. The
lawn-spurry (or properly lawn-pearlwort) is Sagina glabra.
The sand-spurry is of the genus Spergularia. See Spergula.
Spurrie |F.l, tpurry, or frank ; a Dutch herb and an ex-
cellent fodder for cattel Cotgrave.
spur-shell (sp^-r-shel), n. A shell of the genus
/ni/fcrator (formerly called Calcar): so named
from its resemblance to the rowel of a spur.
The term extends to some similar trochifbrm
shells. See cut under Imperator.
spur-shore (sp^r'shdr), «. Naut., same as spur,
3 (m) {\).
spurti, spirt' (spirt), r. [Both spellings are
in use, spirt being etymologically more cor-
rect, and spurt appar. the more common spell-
ing; a transposed form of sprite (like fti'rrfi,
Wrd2, transposed forms of arid, hride^): see
sprit^. The word is prob. confused with spurt^,
^irf2.] L intrans. If. To sprout; shoot.
Shall a few sprays of us, . . .
Our scions, put in wild and savage stock.
Spirt up so suddenly into the clouds.
And overlook their grafters?
SMt., Hen. V., ill. B. 8.
IMd yon ever see a fellow so tpurted up in a moment?
He has got the right ear of the duke, the prince, princess,
most of the lords, but all the ladies.
Marsbm, The Fawne, 11. 1.
2. To gush or issue out suddenly in a stream,
as liquor from a cask ; rush with sudden force
from a confined place in a small jet or stream.
Thus the small ]et, which hasty hands unlock.
Spirts in the gardener's eyes who turns the cock.
Pope, Dunclad, iL 178.
The Prince's blood spirted upon the scarf.
reunysim, Oeraint
n. trans. To throw or force out in a jet or
stream; squirt: as, to spurt water from the
mouth ; to spurt liquid from a tube.
With toonge three forcked furth spirls tyre.
Slanihurst, .£neid (ed. Arber, p. 59X ii.
Toads are sometimes observed to exclude or spirt out a
dark and liquid matter behind.
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., UL 13.
spurt', spirt' (sptrt), n. [< spurt^, spirt^, v.
Cf. sprout. sprit\ sprot^, n.] If. A shoot; a
sprout ; a bud.
These nuts . . . have in tbe mids a little chit or spirt.
Holland, tr. of Pliny, xv. 22.
2. A forcible gush of liquid from a confined
place ; a jet.
Water, dash'd from fishy stalls, shall stain
His hapless coat with spirts of scaly rain.
Qay, Trivia, ill. 106.
3. A brief and sudden outbreak.
A sudden spurt of woman's Jealousy.
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien.
4. A school of shad. [Connecticut.]
spurt'^, spirt^ (sp6rt), v. i. [Both spellings are
in use, spirt being etymologically the more cor-
rect, and spurt the more common spelling; also
rarely spi-ri ; a transposed form of 'sprit or
'spret (cf. E. dial, sprut, jerk), < Icel. apretta
spur-winged
(for *sprenta) (pret. spratt, for *sprant), start,
spring, also sprout, spout, = Sw. spritta, start,
startle, = MHG. spremen, spout, crack; the
orig. nasal appearing in spreni, ME. sprenten,
bound, leap, and the noun sprint, dial, sprunt,
a convulsive struggle, etc.: see«pre«*, sprint.']
To make a short, sudden, and exceptional ef-
fort ; put forth one's utmost energy for a short
time, especially in racing.
Cambridge «p«r(«(i desperately in turn, . . . and so they
went, fighting eveiy inch of water. C. Beade, Hard Cash, 1.
spurt2, spirt^ (spert), n. [Cf. Icel. sprettr. a
spurt, spring, bound, run ; from the verb. Cf.
sprunt^, sprint.'] 1. A short, sudden, extra-
ordinary effort for an emergency; a special
exertion of one's self for a short distance or
space of time, as in running, rowing, etc.: as,
by a fine spurt he obtained the lead.
The long, steady sweep of the so-called paddle tried
him almost as much as the breathless strain of the spurt.
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, I. vL
In the race of fame, there are a score capable of brilliant
spurts for one who comes in winner after a steady pull
with wind and muscle to spare.
Lowell, Study Windows, p. 281.
2t. A short period; a brief interval of time.
Heere for a spirt linger, no good opportunitye scaping.
Stanihurst, Mneld, Hi. 453.
He lov'd you but for a spurt or so.
Marston and Webster, Malcontent, i. 8.
spurtle', spirtle' (sper'tl), v. t. and i. [Freq.
of spurt^, spirt^ ; in origin a transposed form
of sprittle, spruttle : see spurt^, spirt^, sprit^,
spruttle, etc.] To shoot in a scattering man-
ner; spurt. [Bare.]
The brains and mingled blood were spirtled on the wall.
Drayton, Polyolbion, ii. 283.
spurtle'^, Spirtle^ (sp6r'tl), n. [Dim. of sprite.
Cf. spurtie^, spirtlet.'] A stick used for stir-
ring. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.]
She left the spitrtle sticking in the porridge.
Oeo. MacDonald, Warlock o' Glenwarlock, xlix.
spurtle-blade (sper'tl-blad), n. A broadsword.
[Scotch.]
It 's tauld he was a sodger bred, . . .
But now he 's quat the spurtie blade.
Hums, Captain Grose's Peregrinations.
spur-track (spfer'trak), n. A short track lead-
ing from a line of railway, and connected with
it at one end only.
spur-tree (sp^r'tre), «. A West Indian shrub
or small tree, Petitia Domingensis. Also called
yellow fiddlewood.
spurway ( spf r' wa), n. A horse-path ; a narrow
way; a bridle-road; a way for a single beast.
[Prov. Eng.]
spur-whang (spfer'hwang), «. A spur-leather.
Scott, Monastery. [Scotch.]
spur-wheel (spfer'hwel), n. The common form
of cog-wheel, in which the cogs
are radial and peripheral, and
made to engage corresponding
cogs on another wheel. Com-
pare cut under pinion, E. H.
Knight.
spurwing (sp^r'wing), n. A
spur-winged bird. Especially— (o)
A jacana, or any bird of the family
Jacanidjf or Parridte, of which the
spur on the wing is a characteristic.
See cut under jacana. (b) A spur-
winged goose. See cut under Plectroptcrvs. (c) A spur-
winged plover. See Chetlusia and spur-winged.
spur- winged (spir'wingd), a. Ha-ving a homy
spur on the pinion, as various birds, it is a
weapon of olf ense and defense. It Is sometimes double, as
is well shown in the cut under Palamedea. See also cuts
under jacana and Plectroptents.— Spur-Wingedgoose.
a species of Plectroptenut, as P. gaviheiung. — Spur- Winged
plovers, those plovers or lapwings, of the family Chara-
driidJB, and of several dilferent genera, in which a spur is
developed on the wing (including some species of these
genera in which such a spur fails to develop). Wing-spurs
are more frequent in this than in any other family of birds
(excepting the related Jacanid/e or Parridse). None oc-
cur, however, in the true plovers (of the genera Chara-
Spur-wheel.
Egyptian Spur-winged Plover i,Hoplopttriis spinosus^.
spur-winged
5872
[< sputter, r.]
1. The
That which is thrown
,<fnu», .Egialitef, EiuSromias, SqtuUarola, etc.); they are sputter (sput'fer), n.
commonest among those plovers which are related to the ,pj^ qJ sputtering. 2.
lapwing of Europe (raHfWiw rrutfa*H5, which, liowever, -' . *^ . , . »
has noneX and which have a hind toe aiid often wattles on
the face. The presence of spurs and wattles is often coin-
cident. South American spur-winged plovers, with hind
toe and no wattles, constitute the genus Betonopterus ;
they are two, the Cayenne and the Chilian lapwings, £.
cayennensig and B. chilensig ; both are crested. The type
of the genus Hoplopterw: is the Egyptian spur-winged
plover, H. spinosttSy with large spurs, a crest, no hind toe,
and no wattles : it has when adult the whole crown, chin,
throat, breast, flanks, and legs black, and the greater wing-
coverts and some other parts white. It inhabits espe-
cially northern Africa, abounds in Egypt and Nubia, and „ ,
extends into parts of Europe and Asia. It is among the sputterer (sput 6r-fer), n. One who or that
birds supposed to have been a basis of the trochilus of which sputters.
off or ejected in sputtering.
She pouted out her blubber-lips, as it to bellows up wind
and sputter into her horse-nostrils.
Jtichardson, Clarissa Uarlowe, IV. vii. (Davies.)
3. The noise made by a person who or a thing
which sputters ; hence, bustle f ado ; excited
talk; squabble.
What a deal of Pother and Sputter here is, between my
Mistress and Mr. Myrtle, from mere Punctilio !
Steele, Conscious Lovers, iv, 1.
the ancients (compare crocodile-bird, sicsac, and cut un- „„„f,,_, */-arl1i'tllTn^ « • -nl <mvffi C-tiil
der «./i-tont(S). Itis represented in South Africa by the SpUtUm (spu^tumX n^^ J)l. spMM (-la)
more properly separated under the term iofctrancMti*. In gpy (gpi), (,.; pret. and pp. spied, ppr. spying. [<
ME. spyen, spien, by apheresis from espyen, es-
picn, < OF. espier = It. spiare = MD. spien, <
OHG. spehon, MHG. spehen, G. spdhen = Icel.
speja, speeja, watch, observe, spy, = L. specere,
look, = Gr. aKeTTT£a6ai, look, = Skt.-\/ spag,'\/ pa^
black-backed spurred lapwing, //. specimtis, with large
spurs and the top of the head white. The Indian spur-
winged lapwing, H. ventralis. has a black cap, a black
patch on the belly in white surroundings, and large spurs.
Two South American fonns, with spurs, but no wattles,
crest, or hind toe, are the Peruvian bronze-winged lap-
wing, H. re»pteiuiens, and the little white-winged, H.
eayanug (or stoiatm, if the term cayanit£ be thought too
near cayenneivsis) ; each of these has been made the basis
of a ditferent generic name. In the type of the genus.
Chettufia. C. (pregaria (see cut under Chettmia). and sev-
eral related species, a hind toe is present, and neither
spurs nor wattles are developed ; but the name has been
used to cover various species with wattles and spurs,
more properly separated under the term Lobivanelltts. In
this group it is the rule that large wattles are assoc
with well-developed spurs, for in those species which have
very small wattles the spurs are almost or quite obsolete.
Variations in these respects, and in the presence or ab-
sence of the hind toe, have caused the erection of other
genera. (See Sarciophorus, Xiphidiopterm.) Five of the
best-marked species of Lobimnellus proper, with large
spurn, large wattles, and a hind toe, are the following :
L. tenegaUvt, of the Ethiopian region north of the equa-
tor ; L. lateralis, of South Africa ; L. cucullatvs, of Java,
Sumatra, etc; L. personalus, of northern Australia, New
Guinea, and some other islands ; and L. lobatus, of eastern
Australia from Eockingham Bay to Tasmania (see cut un-
der wattled).
spurwort(sp6r'w6rt),n. [< spur + wor/1.] The
tield-madder, Sherardia arvensis: so called from
its whorls of leaves, likened to the rowel of a
spur.
sput (sput), n. [Origin obscure.] A thimble
or annular plate used to reinforce a hole in a
boiler. H. R. Knight.
sputa, n. Plural of sputum.
sputationt (spu-ta'slion), 91. [= F. sputation
= Pg. esputafSo, < L. sputare, pp. sputatus,
spit, spit out, < spvere, spit: see spew.'] The
act of spitting; that which is spit. Harvey.
sputativet (spu'ta-tiv), a. [< L. spMtorc, spit,
spit out (see sputation), + -ive.] Pertaining
to spitting; characterized by spitting. Sir H.
Wottnn, Reliquiae, p. 370.
sputcheon (spuch'on), ». [Origin obscure.] In
a sword-scabbard, the inner part of the mouth-
piece, which holds the lining in place. E. H.
Knight.
sputet (sput), V. i. [< ME. spute, sputi,'by apher-
esis from dispute.'] To dispute.
Whatt ! thay eputen & speken of so spitous fylthe.
AUiteratim Poerm (ed. Morris), ii. 845.
sputter (sput'er), f. [Also in var. splutter; ef.
LG. spruttern, sputtern, sprinkle, G. sprudeln,
spout, squirt; freq. of the verb represented
by spout. Cf. spurtle^, spirile^.] t. intrans.
1. To spit, or eject saliva from the mouth in
squab
[In the following passage, spy is supposed by some to mean
that which precedes and announces the time for the assas-
sination of Banquo, by others the very eye, the exact mo-
ment.
I will advise you where to plant yourselves ;
Acquaint you with the perfect spy o' the time,
The moment on 't ; for 't must be done to-night.
Shak., Macbeth, iii. 1. 130.)
5t. A glance ; look ; peep. [Rare.]
Each others equall puissaunce envies,
And through their iron sides with cruell spies
Does seeke to perce. Spenser, F. Q., I. ii. 17.
6t. An eye.
With her two crafty spyes
She secretly would search eachdaintielim.
Spenser, F. Q., III. i. 30.
If these be true spies which I wear in my head, here 's a
goodly sight. SAa*., Tempest, v. 1. 269.
= Syn. 2. Emissary, Spy (see emissary), scout.
.. , - . .... [NL., <
L. sputum, that which is spit out, spittle, <
spuerc, pp. sputus, spit: see spew.] 1. Spittle ;
a salival discharge from the month. — 2. In .
pathol., that which is expectorated or ejected spyalt, »• i^eespial.
from the lungs: used also in the plural, in des- spyboat (spi bot), n. Aboat sent to make dis-
ignation of tie individual masses.-JEruginous co'^eries and bring intelligence. [Rare.]
sputa, very green expectoration.— Globular sputa. Giving the colour of the sea to their gpi/ixiote, to keep
nummular sputa.— Rusty sputa, sputa tinged with them from being discovered, came from the Veneti
blood, and characteristic of some stages of pneumonia.—
Sputum COCtum, purulent, loose sputum, forming itself omrr-raff CsnT'VvHft^
iifto masses, as of the later stages of bronchitis.-Spu- ^P' . K^f V„f ^Jl.i
ttun crudiun, scant, tenacious, mucous sputum, as of the " "-"^ ^"" ^"^^ ni- r.r
early stage of bronchitis.
Arbuthnot.
The art or practices of
a spy; the act or practice of spying. [Rare.]
All attempts to plot against the Government were ren-
dered impracticable by a system of vigilance, jealousy,
spycraft, sudden arrest, and summary punishment.
Brougham.
spy-glass (spi'glas), n. A smallhand-telescope.
spy-hole (spi'hol),«. A hole for spying; a peep-
hole.
From the Teut. root are also ult. espy, spi- spsrtsm (spi'izm), to. [< spy + -ism.] The act
al, espial, spion, espionage, etc.; from the L. root
ult. E. species, spectacle, etc. ; from the Gr., skep-
tic, scope^, etc.] I. tratis. 1. To discover at a
distance, or from a position of concealment;
gain sight of ; see ; espy.
As they forward went.
They tpyde a knight fayre pricking on the playne.
Spenser, F. Q., III. viii. 44.
2. To discover by close search or examination ;
gain a knowledge of by artifice.
Look about with your eyes ; spy what things are to be
reformed in the Church of England. '-'■ " — ^^-•.»^
His master's eye
Peers not about, some secret fault to spy.
Crabbe, Works, I. 40.
3. To explore; view, inspect, or examine se-
cretly, as a country: usually with out.
Moses sent to spy out Jaazer, and they took the villages
thereof. Num. xxi. 32.
4t. To ask; inquire; question.
Thes folke had farly of my fare.
And what I was full faste thei spied.
They askid yf I a prophete ware.
York Plays, p. 173.
Thenne watz spyed & spured [speered] vpon spare wyse.
Sir Oawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.), 1. 901.
II.
nize;
intrans. 1 ,
pry-
It is my nature's plague
To spy into abuses. Shak., Othello, iii. 3. 147.
2. To play the spy; exercise surveillance.
This evening I will spy upon the bishop, and give you
an account to-morrow morning of his disposition.
Donne, Letters, Ixxvii.
small or scattered bits; hence, to throw out '»^*. ^^^y; ^^^^^ ^^^^^ (=UT>. spii),<t)F. espie,
a spy; from the verb: see spy, v. Cf. spion.]
moisture in small detached parts and with
small explosions; emit small particles, as of
grease, soot, etc., with some crackling or noise.
They could neither of 'em speak for Kage ; and so fell a
sputt'ring at one another like two roasting Apples.
Conyreve, Way of the World, iv. 8.
Like the green wood.
That, sputtering In the flame, works outward into tears.
Dryden, Cleomenes, L 1.
2. To speak so rapidly and vehemently as to
seem to spit out the words, as in excitement or
anger.
The soul, which to a reptile had been changed,
Along the valley hissing takes to flight,
And after him the other speaking sputters.
Longfetlaw, tr. of Dante's Inferno, xxv. 138.
n. trans. 1. To emit forcibly in small or
scattered portions, as saliva, flame, etc. ; spit
out noisily.
A poisoned tongue cannot forbear to sputter abroad his
venom. Rev. T. Adams, Works, I. 73.
Thus sourly wail'd he, sputt'ring dirt and gore ;
A burst of laughter echo'd through the shore.
Pope, Iliad, xxiii. 921.
2. To emit in small particles or amounts with
slight explosions : as, the canMe sputters smoke ;
a green stick sputters out steam. — 3. To utter
rapidly and with indistinctness ; jabber.
In the midst of caresses ... to sputter out the basest
accusations 1 Sw%ft.
1 . A person who keeps a constant watch on the
actions, motions, conduct, etc., of others; one
who secretly watches what is going on.
This sour informer, this bate-breeding spy.
Shak., Venus and Adonis, I
He told me that he had so good spies that he hath had
the keys taken out of De Witt's pocket when he was
a-bed, and his closet opened, and papers brought to him,
and left in his hands for an hour, and carried back and
laid in the place again, and keys put into De Witt's pocket
again. Pepys, Diary, IV. 72.
2. A secret emissary who goes into an enemy's
camp or territory to inspect his works, ascer-
tain his strength and his intentions, watch his
movements, and report thereon to the proper
officer. By the laws of war among all civilized
nations a spy is liable to capital punishment.
On the morowe erly Gawein sente a spie for to se what
the saisnes diden that thei hadde lefte at the brigge of
dione. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ih 290.
Edmund Palmer, an officer in the enemy's service, was
taken as aspf/lurkiTig within our lines; he has been tried
as a spy, condem ned as a spy, and shall be executed as a spy.
Oen. Israel Putnam, To Sir Henry Clinton, Aug. 7, 1777.
3t. The pilot of a vessel.— 4t. An advanced
guard; a forerunner. [Rare.]
Since knowledge is but sorrow's spy.
It is not safe to know.
Sir W. Damnant, The Just Italian, v. 1 (song).
or business of spying ; the system of employing
spies. Imp. Diet.
spy-money (spi'mun'''i), n. Money paid to a
spy ; a reward for secret intelligence. B. Jon-
son, Bartholomew Fair, ii. 1.
Spyridia (spi-rld'i-a), n. [NL. (Harvey), < Gr.
aixvpiq (aiTvpti-), a basket.] A genus of floride-
ous algai, giving name to the order Spyridiaccee
(which see for characters). The species are
few in number and mostly tropical. There are,
however, two forms on the New England coast.
Latimer. "(Imp. Diet.) Spjnridiaceae (spi-rid-i-a'se-e), n. pi. [NL., <
Spyridia + -acese.] A mon'otypic order (or sub-
order") of florideous algce. The fronds are filiform,
monosiphonous, and formed of longer branching fila-
ments from which are given off short simple branches.
The antheridia are borne on the secondary branches ; the
tetraspores are tripartite, and borne at the nodes of the
secondary branches ; the cystocarps are subterminal on the
branches.
Spy Wednesdayt. The Wednesday immedi-
ately preceding Easter: so called in allusion
to the preparations made by Judas Iscariot on
that day to betrajr Christ.
Sq. An abbreviation of square: as, sq. ft. (that
is, square foot or feet) ; sq. m. (square mile or
miles).
squat, n. An old spelling of squaw.
squai)! (skwob), v. ; pret. and pp. squahhed, ppr.
squabbing. [Also in some senses squob ; cf . Sw.
dial, sqvapp, a word imitative of a splash (Icel.
sJcvampa, paddle in water), Norw. sqvapa, trem-
ble, shake, = G. schwapp, a slap, E. swap, strike
(see swap, swab, squabble) ; akin to Norw. kvep-
pa, shake, slip, shudder, and to E. quap^, quop'^,
quabi-.] I. intrans. To fall plump; strike heavi-
ly; flap; flop.
They watched the street, and beheld ladies in . . .
short cloaks with hoods squabbing behind (known as car-
dinals). S.yi«f(i, Margaret, ii. 11.
II. trans. To squeeze ; knock; beat. Ealli-
iL-ell. [Prov. Eng.]
squabi (skwob), adv. [An elliptical use of
squab^, v.] So as to strike with a crash ; with a
heavy fall ; plump. [Colloq.]
The eagle took the tortoise up into the air and dropt
him down, squab, upon a rock. Sir R. L'Estrange, Fables.
Squab^ (skwob), a. and n. [Also squob ; cf. Sw.
dial, sqvabb, loose or fat flesh, sqvabba, a fat
woman, sqiabbig, flabby; connected with the
verb s^tfafci. Ct. qtiab^.] I. a. 1. Fat; short
and stout ; plump ; bulky.
To search narrowly; scruti-
e-W.
A little squab French page who speaks no English.
Wycherley, Country Wife, iv. 3.
2. Short; curt; abrupt. [Rare.]
We have returned a squab answer retorting the infrac-
tion of treaties.
Walpole, To Mann, July 25, 1756. (Dames.)
3. Unfledged, newly hatched, or not yet having
attained the full growth, as a dove or a pigeon.
Why must old pigeons, and they stale, be drest.
When there's so many squab ones in the nest?
W. King, The Old Cheese.
Hence — 4. Shy, as from extreme youth; coy.
aqnab
Yoar demure ladles that are so squob In comimny are
<levUs in a corner.
A'. Lee, Princess of Cleve, ill. 1. (Eneyc. Diet.)
n. M. 1. A young animal in its earliest pe-
riod ; a young beast or bird before the hair or
feathers appear, (a) Specifically, a young unfledged
pigeon or dove. A young pigeon is properly a squab as
long as it sits in the nest ; as soon as it can utter its
Squabs of Domestic Pigeon.
I
4)aenilons cries for food it becomes a »queaUr or squeaker,
and so continues as long as it is fed by the parents, which
to senerally until it is fully fledged ; but it continues to be
called aquab as marketable for its flesh, (b) Figuratively,
a young and inexperienced person.
Brit. I warrant you, is he a trim youth ?
Hon. We most make him one, Jacke ; 'tis such a xputb as
thou never sawest ; such a lumpe, we may make wbatwe
will of hiro. Brome, Sparagus Garden, il 2.
2. A short, tat, flabby person : also used figur-
atively.
Gorgonins sits, abdominous and wan.
Like a fat tquab upon a Chinese fan.
Cowper, Progress of Error, L 218.
We shall then see how the prudes of this world owed all
their fine figure only to their being a little straiter laced,
and that they were naturally as arrant $quab9 as those
that went more loose.
Pope, To Lady M. W. ilontagu, Aug. 18, inS.
3. (a) A thickly stuffed cushion, especially one
for a piece of furniture, as au upholstered chair
or sofa, to which it may or may not be attached.
Hence — (6) A sofa in which there is no part
of the frame visible, and which is stuffed and
caught through with strong thread at regular
intervals, but so as to be very soft.
Bessie herself lay on a tquab, or short sofa, placed under
the window. JTrt. OatkeU, North and South, xiil.
(c) An ottoman.
I bare seen a folio writer place himself In an elbow-
chair, when the author of duodecimo haa, oat of a just
deference to his superior quality, seated himself upon a
mjuab. Adiiion, Spectator, No. S29.
Sqnab^ (skwob), r. (. ; pret. and pp. squabbed,
ppr. squabbing. [< squab^, n.] To stuff thickly
and catch through with thread at regular inter-
vals, as a cushion. A button or soft tuft is usually
placed in the depressions to hide the stitches. Furniture
upholstered In tni* manner Is said to be iqtiaMied.
sqtiabash (skwa-bash'), r. (. [Appar. an arbi-
trary formation, or an extension otsquabi."] To
crush; squash; quash: also used as a noun.
[Slang.]
His [OUford's] satire of the Barlad and Mierlad »jua-
bOMhtd, at one blow, a set of coxoombs who might have hum-
bugged the world long enough.
Seott, DUry, Jan. 17, 1827. (Lodcliart.)
sqnabbish (skwob'jsh), a. [< squab'^ + -w*».]
Thick; fat; heavy.
Diet renders them of tiquabbith or lardy habit of body.
Ilarvey.
sqnabble (skwob'l), v. ; pret. and pp. squabbled,
ppr. squabbling. [< Sw. dial, 'skrahbla, dispute
iskrabbel, a dispute), freq. of skvappa, chide,
lit. make a splashing, < skrapp, a splash: see
swab, »irap.] L intrans. To engage in a noisy
quarrel or row; wrangle; quarrel and fight
noisily; brawl; scuffle.
Dmnk? and speak parrot? and iqueMUt swagger?
•wear? Shak., Othello, 11. 8. 27».
We sbonld equabUe Hke Brother and Sister.
StetU, Tender Husband, L 1.
= Spt To Jangle. See quarrel^ , n.
n. Irnns. h\ printing, to disarrange and mix
nines of composed types) when they are stand-
ing on their feet.
The letters do not range well, giving an Irregular or
K[uablAed appearance to the line. Science, VIII. 254.
squabble (skwob'l), n. [< Sw. dial, skvabbel,
a dispute; from the verb.] A wrangle; a dis-
pute ; a brawl ; a scuffle ; a noisy quarrel.
Pragmatic fools commonly begin the tquabble, and crafty
knaves reap the benefit. Sir R. L'Bttrange.
This contrariety of humours betwiit my father and my
ancle was the source of many a fraternal equabble.
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, L 21.
"tjn. Brmd, Wrangle, etc. See otuirreli.
300
5a78
scmabbler (skwob'lfer), «. [< squabble + -er^.']
One who squabbles ; a contentious person ; a
brawler ; a noisy disputant.
squabby (skwob 'i), a. l< squab^ + -y^.'i Thick;
resembling a squab; squat.
A French woman la a perfect architect in dress ; . . . she
never tricks out a squabby Doric shape with Corinthian
finery. Goldsmith, The Bee, No. 2.
squab-chick (skwob 'chik), «. A chick, or
young chicken, not fully feathered ; a fledgling.
[Prov. Eng.]
squab-pie (skwob'pi), n. 1. A pie made of
squabs; pigeon-pie. — 2. A pie made of fat
mutton well peppered and salted, with layers
of apple and an onion or two. Halliicell.
[Prov. Eng.]
Cornwall squab-pye. and Devon white-pot brings ;
And Leicester beans and bacon, food of kings !
W. King, Art of Cookery, 1. 165.
S(iuacc0 (skwak'6), n. [A native name, prob.
imitative (cf. quack^, quail^).] A small rail-like
heron of Europe, Asia, and Africa, Ardea or
Ardeola comata, ralloides, eastanea, or squaiotta.
of a white color, much varied with chestnut or
russet-brown and black. The head is crested, with
six long black and white plumes; the bill is cobalt-blue,
Squacco t.Ardi9ta cemiata).
tipped with black ; the lores are emerald-green ; the feet
Heah-colored. with yellow sole* and black claws ; and the
irides pale-yellow. The sqnacco nests In beroorlea, usu-
ally on a tree, and lays four to six greenish-blue egga. It
is rare in Europe north of the Mediterranean baiui, but
common in most parta of Africa, and extends Into a small
part of Asia.
squad^ (skwod), ». [(OF. vernacular esquarre,
r.fquare, > ME. square) < OF. esquadre, escadrc,
V. escadre = 8p. escuadra = Pg. esquadra, <
It. squadra, a squad, squadron, square : see
«(j>uarei,andcf.«9i<<idroR.] 1. .IfiVif., any small
number of men assembled, as for drill, inspec-
tion, or duty. — 2. Any small party or group
of persons: as, a squad of navvies; a set of
people in general : usually somewhat contemi>-
tuous — Awkward squad, a body of recruits not yet
competent, by their knowledge of drill and the maimal of
arms, to take their place In the regimental line.
squad^ (skwod), r. *. ; pret. and pp. squadded,
ppr. squadding. [< tquad'^, «.] To draw up in
a squad.
Squad your men, and form np on the road.
Lever, Charles O'Malley, IxxxvL {Eneye. Diet.)
squad''' (skwod), n. [Origin obscure; perhaps
a dial. var. of shode, ult. < AS. sceddan, seddan,
8eparat«: see shode.lj 1. Soft, slimy mud.
[Prov. Eng.] — 2. In mining, loose ore of tin
mi.xed with earth. [Cornish.]
squaddy (skwod'i), a. [A var. of «ouafty.]
Squabby. [Old Eng. and U. S.]
A fatte equaddy monke that had beene well fedde In
some cloyster.
Greetie, News both from Heaven and Hell (1503). (Nares.)
I had hardly got seated when In came a great, stout,
fat, equaddy woman.
jra>r Downing, Hay-Day. (BarOeU.)
sqaadroil (skwod'ron), n. [= D. escadron =
Dan. enkadron, < OF. esquadron, F. escadron =
Sp. escuadron = Pg. esquadrSo (= G. schwad-
Tone = Sw. sqvadrnn), < It. squadrone, a squad-
ron, aug, of squadra, a squad, a square: see
squad^, square^.'] It. A square.
SIxe dare* ioomey from Bezeneger is the place where
they get DIamants ; . . . it iit a great place, compassed
with a wall, and . . . they sell the earth within the wall
for no much a squadron, and the limits arc set how deepe
or how low they shall digge. Uakluyt's Voyages, II. 221.
2. A body of soldiers drawn up in a square, or
in regular array, as for battle ; specifically, in
squalid
modern armies, the principal division of a re^-
raent of cavalry. This corresponds more or less close-
ly to a company in the infantry, and consists of two troops,
each commanded by a captain. The actual strength of a
squadron varies from 120 to 200 men.
The Ordovices, to welcome the new General, had hew'n
in peeces a whole Squadron of Horse.
MUton, Hist. Eng., li.
3. A division of a fleet; a detachment of ships
of war employed on a particular service or sta-
tion, and under the command of a flag-officer.
— 4. Generally, any i-anked and orderly body
or group. — 5. In early New England records
(1636), one of four divisions of town land,
probably in the first instance a square. iTie
records show that sqiiadron was used later in other senses :
(a) A division of a town for highway care.
Agreed upon by the selectmen for the . . . calling out
of their men to work, that is within their several sjMadroiii.
Tovin Records, Groton, liass., 1671.
(6) A school district.
Voted and chose a committee of seven men to apportion
the school in six societies or squadrons, . . . taking the
northwesterly corner for one squadron.
Toum Records, Marlborough, Mass., 1749.
Sometimes spelled squadrant.
squadron (skwod'ron), v. t. [< squadron, m.]
1. To form into squadrons, as a body of sol-
diers. Hence — 2. To form in order; array.
They gladly hither haste, and by a quire
Of squadron'd angels hear his carols sung.
Miltoti, P. L., xii. 367.
squail, squale (skwal), n. [Also scale; per-
haps a dial. var. of skail, in pi. skails, formerly
skayles,a,\a.T.otkaiP: see kaiP and skayles.} 1.
A disk or counter used in the game of squalls.
Urge, towards the table's centre,
With unerring hand, the squail.
C. S. Calvertey, There Stands a City.
2. pi. A game in which disks or counters are
driven by snapping them from the edge of a
round board or table at a mark in the center.
— 3. pi. Ninepins. Halliicell. [Prov. Eng.]
squail, squale (skwal). v. [< squail, n.] I. m-
trans. To throw a stick, loaded stick, disk, flat
stone, or other object at a mark : often applied
to the throwing of sticks at cocks or geese on
Shrove Tuesday, a sport formerly popular in
England. Grose. [Prov. Eng. and New En^.]
n. trans. To aim at, throw at, or pelt with
sticks or other missiles.
"Squailing a goose before his door, and tossing dogs and
eats on Shrove Tuesday " (Mr. Hunt's '* Bristol "jL The al-
lusion is to the republican mayor of the city in 1651.
A', and Q., 7th ser., IV. 169.
squail-board (skwal'bord), n. The round board
upon which the game of squalls is played.
squailer (skwa'lfer), n. A kind of throwing-
stiek, an improvement on that used formerly
in squaUing cocks or geese.
Armed with squailers, an Ingenious instrument com-
posetl of a short stick of pliant cane and a leaded knob,
to drive the harmless little Miuirrel from tree to tree, and
lay it a victim at the feet of a successful shot
DaUy Telegraph, Nov. 30, 1881. (.Encye. Diet.)
sqnaimonst, «• See squeamous.
squaint, »• An obsolete dialectal form of stcain.
squalder (skwol'd^r), n. A kind of jelly-fish.
See the quotation.
I have oftentimes mett with two other entities which
seeme to hee of a congenerous substance with the afore-
named gellies, both of then) to bee found in the saltwater.
One is fiat and round, as broad as a mans palnie, or broad-
er, and as thick as the hand, cleare and transparent, con-
vex on one side and somewhat like the gibbous part of the
human liver, on the other side concave with a contrivance
like a knott in the very middle thereof, but plainly with
circular fibers about the verge or edge of it (where it is
growne thin) which suiTer manifest constriction and dila-
tation, which doe promote its natation, which is also per-
ceptible, and by which you may discerne it to advance
towards the shore, or recede from it. About us they are
generally called squalders, but are indeed evidently fishes,
although not described in any Ichthyology I have yet mett
with. Dr. R. Robinson, To Sir T. Browne, Dec. 12, leiiS (In
(Sir T. Browne's Works, 1. 423).
squale, n. and v. See squail.
Squali (skwa'li), n. pi. [NL. (Miiller, 1835), pi.
of L. squalus, a shark: see Squalus.'] In ichth.,
a section of elasmobranchiate fishes, or sela-
chians, having the gill-slits lateral and plural,
five, six, orsevenin number; the sharks proper,
as distinguished from the Haise (rays or skates,
with ventral gill-slits) and froiti the Bolvcephali
(chimeras, with gill-slits a single pair). Thename
has been used for groups of various extent ; it is now gen-
erally restricted to the plaginstomons fishes with lateral
branchial apertures and the pectoral fins regularly curved
backward from the base of insertion. Tlie Squali are
divided into al>ont 12 families and many genera, the no-
menclature of which is by no means fixed. See Selachii
and sharks, and cuts under selachian and dogfish.
squalid (skwol'id), a. [< L. squalidu.i, foul,
hlthy, < squalcre, be stiff, rough, or dry (with
SQualid
anything), esp. be stiff or rough from negli-
gence or want of care, be foul; of. Gr. oKiXMiv,
Xie Ary (see skelet, skeleton).'i 1. Foul; filthy;
extremely dirty : as, a squalid beggar ; a squalid
house.
Uncomb'd hia locks, and mualid his attire.
DryJen, Pal. and Arc, i. 639.
2t. Rough; shaggy. [Bare.]
Squalidse (skwal'i-de). H. pi. [NL., < Squalus
+ -idae.'] A family of sharks, typified by the
genus Squalus, to which various limits have
been assigned. By Bonaparte the name was used for
all true sharks. By some other writers it lias been used
instead of Acanthi^JUe. See dogfish and pu:kedi.
sqtiali(Uty (.skwo-lid'i-ti), n. [< LL. squalidi-
ta(t-)s, roughness, filth, < L. squalidus, rough,
filthy: see squalid.'] The state of being squalid;
foulness ; filthiness. Imp. Diet.
squalidly (skwol'id-li), adv. In a squalid or
hltliy mainier. Imp. Diet.
squaiidness (skwol'id-nes), n. gqualidity.
iuHey.
sqaaliform (skwa'li-f6rm), a. [< L. squalus, a
shark, + forma, form.] Of, or having the char-
acters of, the Squali; resembling a shark.
Squalius (skwa'li-us), «. [NL. (Bonaparte,
1837), < L. squalus, a shark. The European
dace was at one time called, for no obvious rea-
son, Squalus minor.'] A genus of small eypri-
noid fishes, many of which are known as dace.
The type is the European dace, Cyprinus leucisms ot the
Linnean system, now called SqualUts leucwcus or Lexuis-
CU8 vulgaris. Numerous American species fall in this ge-
nus, and ai*e loosely known as minnows, shiners, chubs, mid-
lets, etc. See cut under dace.
squall^ (skwal), «. [< Sw. sqval, a rush of wa-
ter {sqval-regn, a violent shower of rain, a
squall) (= Norw. skval, a gushing, rippling,
rinse-water; cf. Dan. skyl, also ski/l-regn, a vio-
lent shower of rain), < sqvala, dial, skvala, skvd-
la, gush out, = Norw. skvala, gush out, splash,
ripple ; also in secondary forms, Norw. skvelja,
gush, splash; Norw. skola, wash, gush, = Icel.
skola, wash; Icel. skyla = Norw. skylja — Dan.
skylle, wash. The word is generally assumed
to be connected with squall^.] A sudden and
violent gust of wind, or a succession of such
gusts, usually accompanied by rain, snow, or
sleet. In a ship's log-book abbreviated q.
A loweiing squall obscures the southern sky.
Falconer, Shipwreck, li. 145.
No gladlier does the stranded wreck
See thro' the gray skirts of a lifting squall
The boat that bears the hope of life approach.
Tennyson, Enoch Arden.
Arched sqnall, a remarkable squall occurring near the
equator, in which a mass of black clouds collects and rap-
idly rises, forming a vast arch, or ring-shaped bed of cloud.
The ring of cloud enlarges, and above it masses of cloud
rise higher and higher until they reach the zenith. Tlien
usually, tliough not invariably, a violent thunder-storm
breaks forth, with vivid zigzag lightning, deafening peals
of thunder, and torrents of rain, lasting, perhaps, for lialf
an hour. The phenomenon varies in its details in differ-
ent seas, but occurs most frequently and on the grandest
scale in the southern part of the China Sea, the Gulf of
Slam, the Sulu Sea, and particularly In the Straits of Ma-
lacca.— Black squall, a squall attended with a specially
dark cloud.— Bull's-eye squall, a white squall of great
violence on the west coast of .\frica.— Heavy squall, a
squall in which the wind blows with much force. — Llne-
squail, a squall accompanying the passage of the trough
of a V-shaped barometric depression : so named because
the squalls form a line coincident with the axis of the
trough, whicli sweeps across the country, broadside on,
with the progressive motion of the depression. - Thick
squall, a squall in which the rain or snow obscures the
view.— To look out for squalls, to be on one's guard;
be on the watch against trouble or danger. [CoUoq.] —
White squall, a whirlwind of small radius arising sud-
denly in fair weather without the usual formation of
clouds. The only indication of its development is the boil-
ing of the sea beneath the current of ascending air around
which tlie rapid gyrations take place, together with a
patcli of white cloud, generally formed above it at the
level of condensation. These are also the conditions of a
waterspout, which may or may not be completely formed,
according to the energy of the whirl and the amount of
vapor in the atmosphere. White squalls are infrequent,
and rarely occur outside of the tropics; in general they
are dangerous only to sailing vessels and small craft.
= Syn. Gale, etc. HeewindK
squall^ (skwal), V. i. [< squall^, ».] To blow a
squall: used chiefly impersonally : as, it squalled
terribly. [Colloq.]
And the quarter-deck tarpauling
Was shivered in the ftquallintj.
Thackeray, The White Squall.
squall^ (skwal), V. [Early mod. E. also squawl;
< Icel. skvala, scream, = Sw. dial, skvala, skvdla,
cry out, chatter, = Dan. (freq. ) sfe»aMre, clamor ;
cf. Icel. skella (pret. skall), resound, = G. schal-
len, resound (see seold); ci. 8c. squaUoch, skel-
loeh, cry shrilly, Gael, sgal, howl. Cf. squeal'^,
and see squaiV-.] I. intraiis. To cry out;
scream or cry violently, as a frightened woman
5874
or a child in anger or distress: used in con-
tempt or dislike.
You can laugh, and squall, and romp in full security.
Sieift, Advice to Servants (General Directions).
" Send that squallitifj little brat about his business, and
do what 1 bid ye, sir,"' says tlie Doctor.
Thackeray, Henry Esmond, iii. .^.
H. trans. To utter in a discordant, scream-
ing tone.
And pray, what are your Town Diversions? To hear a
parcel of Italian Eunuchs, like so many Cats, squauil out
somewhat you don't understand.
Tunbridge Walks, in Asliton's Queen Anne, I. 328.
squalP (skwal), n. [< squall^, v.] A harsh
cry ; a loud and discordant scream ; a sound
intermediate in character between a squawk
and a squeal.
There oft are heard the notes of infant woe,
'i'he short thick sob, loud scream, and shriller squall.
Pope, Imit. of Spenser, The Alley.
squalF (skwal), ». [Perhaps a particular use
of squall'^.] A baby; pet; minx; girl: used
vaguely, in endearment or reproach.
A pretty, beautiful, juicy squall.
Middleton, Michaelmas Term, i. 2.
The rich gull gallant call's her deare and love.
Ducke, lambe, squall, sweet-heart, cony, and liis dove.
Taylor's Workes (1630).
squaller (skw^'lfer), «. [< squall^ + -erl.] One
who squalls ; one who shrieks or cries aloud.
squally^ (skwa'li), a. [< squall^ + -yl.] 1.
Abounding with squalls ; disturbed often with
sudden and violent gusts of wind: as, squal-
ly weather. — 2. Threatening; ominous: as,
things began to look squally. [Colloq.]
squally''^ (skwa'li), a. [Perhaps a dial. var. of
scatlyJ] 1. Having unproductive spots inter-
spersed throughout: said of a field of turnips
or com. [Prov. Eng.] — 2. Badly woven; show-
ing knots in the thread or irregularities in the
weaving : said of a textile fabric.
squaloid (skwa'loid), a. [< NL. Squalus + Gr.
K^of, form.] Like a shark of the genus Squa-
lus; selacliian or plagiostomous, as a true
shark; of or pertaining to the <SgMaiirf«; squali-
form.
squalor (skwol'or or skwa'16r), n. [< L. squa-
lor, roughness, filth, < squalere, be stiff or rough,
as with dirt: see squalid.] Foulness; filthi-
ness; coarseness.
Hastiness, squalor, ugliness, hunger. Burton.
Squalor caxcerls, in Scots law, the strictness of impris-
onment wliich a creditor is entitled to enforce, in order
to compel the debtor to pay the debt, or disclose funds he
may have concealed.
Squalus (skwa'lus), n. [NL. (Linnaius, 1748),
< L. squalus, a kind of sea-flsh.] A genus
founded by Linna2us, including all the sharks
and shark-like selachians known to him (15
species in 1766). See Acanthias, and cut under
dogfish.
squam (skwom), «. [< Annisquam, a fishing-
hamlet in Massachusetts.] An oilskin hat worn
originally by fishermen and deep-water sailors ;
a cheap yellow sou'wester. [U. S.]
squama (skwa'ma),»i.; pi. s^'wawas (-me). [NL.,
?L. squama, a scale: see squame.] 1. Inbot.,
a scale of any sort, usually the homologue of a
leaf. — 2. In anat. and zoiil.: (a) A scale, as of
the epidermis. (6) A thin, expansive, scale-
like part of a bone : as, the squama of the tem-
poral bone (the squamosal); the squama of
the occipital bone (the supra-occipital). — 3. In
ornith., a scale-like feather, as one of those
upon a penguin's wing or the throat of a hum-
ming-bird. See cut under Squamipennes. — 4.
In entom., an elytrum.— Squama frontalis, the ver-
tical part of the frontal bone.— Squama occipitis, the
tliin expanded part of the occipital hone; the supra-occip-
ital.- Squama temporalis, the thin shell-like part, or
the squajnous portion, of the temporal bone.
squamaceOUS (skwa-ma'shius), a. [< L. squa-
ma, a scale, + -aeebus.] Same as squamous or
squamose.
Squamata (skwa-ma'ta), n.pl. [NL., neut. pi.
of ij\i, squamatus, seaXy: see squam ate.'] 1. In
herpet., the scaly reptiles, (a) An order of ReptUia,
establislied by Oppel in 1811. It was composed of the sau-
rians or lizards (including crocodiles) and snakes or ophid-
ians, divided accordingly into Saurii and Ophidii. Its
contents were the modern orders Crocodilia, LacertUia, and
Ophidic, with, however, one foreign element (Amphis-
bsena). (b) In Merrem's system of clafi8illcation(1820), same
as Oppel's Squntmtta exclusive of the crocodiles, or Lori-
cnta of Merrem. It formed the third order of Pholidota or
scaly reptiles, divided into Gradientifi. liepe-ntia. Serpen-
tia, Incnlentia, and Predejttia. Also called X "
and formerly Saurophidia.
2. In uKiiumaL, sca\y mammals; a group of the
ICntoinophaga or insectivorous edentates, con-
taining the single family Manididee, the scaly
Squamipinnes
ant-eaters, or pangolins, in which the body is
squamated, being covered with horny overlap-
ping scales. The group is now usually ranked
as a suborder.
squamate (skwa'mat), a. [< LL. squamatus,
scaly, < ti. squama, a scale: see squame] 1.
In :ooL, scaly ; covered with scales or squamee ;
squamose or squamigerous ; specifically, of or
pertaining to the Squamata, in any sense. —
2. In anat., scale-like; forming or formed like
a scale; squamous or squamiform: as, a squa-
mate hone; squamate scales ot cuticle. — 3. In
hot., same as squamose.
squamated (skwa'ma-ted), a. [< squamate +
-cd-.] Same as squamate.
squamation (skwa-ma'shon), «. [< squamate
+ -ion.] In sool., the state or character of be-
ing squamate, squamose, or scaly; the collec-
tion or formation of scales or squamse of an
animal: as, the squamation of a lizard, snake,
or pangolin. Compare desquamation.
squam-duck (skwom'duk), ii. See duek^.
squame (skwam), n. [< ME. squame, < L. squa-
ma, a scale (of a fish, serpent, etc.), a scale
(of metal), scale-armor, a cataract in the eye,
hull of millet, etc., LL. fig. roughness; prob.
akin to squalere, 'be stiff or rough: see squalid.]
It. A thin layer; a scale.
Orpiraent, brent bones, yren squumes.
Chaucer, Prol. to Canon's Yeoman's Tale, L 206.
2. In eoiil., a scale or squama. Huxley, Cray-
fish, p. 17'2.
squamella (skwa-mel'a), n. ; pi. squamellse (-e).
[NL., dim. of L. squama, a scale : see squame.]
1. In l)ot., same as squamula, 2. — 2. [_cap.] In
zool., a genus of zygotroehous rotifers, of the
family Euchlanidee.
squamellate (skwa-mel'at), a. [< NL. *squa-
meUatus, < squamella, q. v.] Same as squaniu-
late.
squamelliferous (skwam-e-lif'e-ms), a. [<
NL. squamella, a little scale, + 1j. ferre = E.
bcar^.] In hot., furnished with or bearing
sqtiamellsB.
Squamifera (skwa-mif'e-rii), n. pi. [NL., < F.
Squammiferes (De Blainville, 1816), < L. squama,
a scale, + ferre = E. bear^.] Squamous or
scaly reptiles ; Beptilia proper, as distinguished
from yudipelUfera or Amphibia: also called
Ornithoidcs.
squamiferous (skwa-mife-ms), a. [< h. squa-
ma, a scale, + ferre = E. bear'^.] 1. Provided
with squamre or scales ; squamate ; squamiger-
ous.— 2. In 6ot, bearing scales : as, a squamif-
erous catkin.
squamiflorous (skwa'mi-flo-rus), a. [< L.
squama, a scale, + flos (flor-), flower.] In bot.,
having flowers like scales; also, having scales
bearing flowers, as in the Coniferse.
squamiform (skwa'mi-form), a. [< L. squama,
a scale, -f- forma, form.] Having the shape,
character, or appearance of a scale ; squamate
in form or structure ; scale-like.
squamigerous (skwa-mij'e-ms), a. [< L. squa-
migcr, scale-bearing, < "squama, a scale, -I-
gerere, bear, carry.] Provided with squamae;
squamose ; squamiferous.
squamipen (skwa'mi-pen), n. Any fish of the
group Squamipennes or Sqttamipinnes.
squamipennate (skwa-mi-pen'at), a. [< L.
squama, a scale, + penna, awmg: see pennate.]
Having scaly feathers, as a penguin.
Squamipennes (skwa-mi-pen'ez), «.i>'. [NL.,
< L. squama, a scale, -I- penna, a wing, fin: see
pen^.] 1. In
ichth., same
as Squamipin-
nes.— 2. In
ornith., the
penguins, or
Sphenisci : so
called from
the scale-like
character of
the plumage.
[Bare.]
Squamipinnes (skwa-mi-pin'ez), «. pi. [NL.
(Cuvier, spelled Squammipeuues): see Squami-
pennes.] In ichth. : (a) In Cuvier's system of
classification, the sixth family of acanthopte-
rygian fishes: so called because the soft and
frequently the spinous parts of their dorsal and
anal fins are covered with scales, which render
it diflicult to distinguish them from the body.
The body is generally much compressed ; the intestines
are long, and the cseca numerous. The group included tlie
families Chsetodoididse, Ephipjnidse, Zanclidte, Scatopha-
Sqna?m'pffi»ft. — Scaly feather from ante-
rior edge of wing of penguin i,Afttnfxiytes
longirostris), enlarged 8 times.
Sqaamipinnes
gidx. Plataddse. Psettids, Pimeleplerida, Bramida, Pem-
pherididae, and Toxotid/e. (ft) In Gunther's system,
a family of Acanthopteviigii pcreiformes, nearly
the same as (n), but without the ZancUdie. Pla-
taeMse, Psettidee, Bramidm, Pempherididx, and
t^-pieal Pimelepteridse.
S^uamoid (skwa'moid), a. [< L. squama, a
scale, + Gr. eirfof, form.] 1. Resembling a
squama; squamiform; scale-like. — 2. Squa-
mous: scaly; sqiiamate.
squamomandibular (skwa'mo-man-dib'u-lar),
a. [< sqiiamo{u,'<) + mandibiilar.'i Of or per-
taining to the squamosal and the mandible, or
lower jaw-bone : as, the squamomandibular ar-
ticulation, characteristic of mammals. In hu-
man anatomy this joint is commonly called
temporomaxillary.
sqnamomastoid (skwa-m6-mas'toid), a. [<
sqiiamo{us) + mastoid.'] Of or pertaining to
the squamous and mastoid elements of the tem-
poral bone: as, a sqiiamomastoid ankylosis.
squamoparietal (skwa'mo-pa-ri'e-tal), a. [<
i<quamii{its) + parietal.'] (ft' or pertaining to
the squamosal and parietal bones: as, the
squamoimrietal suture, shortly called squamous.
squamopetrosal (skwa'mo-pe-tro'sal), a. [<
sqiutmo(u.^) + petrosal.] Of or pertaining to
the squamosal and petrosal elements of the
temporal bone : as, squamopetrosal ankylosis.
squamosal (skwa-mo'sal), a. and n. [< squa-
mo.fe + -al.] 1. a. Scale-like or squamous:
noting only the squamosal. See IT.
II. n. In zool. and anat., the squamous di-
vision of the temporal bone ; the thin, expan-
sive, scale-like element of the compound tem-
poral bone ; a membrane-bone, morphologically
distinct from other parts of the temporal, fill-
ing a gap in the cranial walls, articulating in
roan and mammals with the lower jaw, in birds
and reptiles with the suspensorium (quadrate
bone) of the lower jaw, effecting squamous su-
ture with various cranial bones, and forming
by its zygomatic process in mammals a part of
the zygoma, or jugal bar. It ia remarkably ezpan-
■iTe in nun. See cuts nnder Aeiperaer. aendont, Balm-
mdM, ermaqfacial, Crolaltu, Cydodiu, Fdida, OaUitue,
lehthyoiauTia, Ophidia, PKyuUr, Pythomdm, Rana, and
OmU.
sqoamose (skwa'mos), a. [< L. squamosus, full
of scales, covered with scales, < squama, a scale:
see squame.] \. In hot., scaly; furnished with
small appressed scales or squams ; also, scale-
like. Also squama te, .squamous. — 2. In zool.,
squamous; squamiferous or squamigerous; cov-
ered with scales; scaly; specifically, in entom.,
covered with minute scales, as the wings of
lepidopterous insects; lepidopterous ; squamu-
late.
squamosplienoidal (skwa'mo-sfe-noi'dal), a.
[< squamo(us) + sphenoidal.] "Pertaining to
the squamous part of the temporal bone and the
sphenoid bone: as, the squamosphenoidal su-
ture. .Also squamosphenoid.
sqQamotemporal (skwa-m6-t«m'po-ral), a.
[< squ<imti(us) + temporaP.] Squamosal, as a
part of tlio temporal l>one. Owen.
sqaamotympanic (skwa'mo-tim-pan'ik), a.
of or ])<'rtaining to the gqmmosal and tym-
panic bones: as, a squamottfmpanic ankylosis,
squamous (skwa'mus), a. [< L. tquamotus,
covered with scales: see squamoteT] 1. In
:i>ol. and anat. : (a) Covered with scales; scaly;
squamate; squamose; squamiferous or squa-
migerous. (o) Scale-like; squamoid; squami-
form; specifically, of a bone, same as squa-
mosal.— 2. In hot., game as squamose. ^Sqaa..
mens bone, the sqnamowL— Squamous bulb, in M..
a bulb In which the oater Males art- di^titH-t, tlcHhy, and
imbricated ; a scaly bulb. See buth. Squamous cellB,
Hattened, dry, thin cells, as seen in the siipcrflcial layers
of the epidermis. — Squamous epttheUum, epithclinni
coniposofl uf thin scale-like cells, either in a single layer
(teatellated epiUuiium) or in several layers (MraHjIed aealy
rpOMium). See epithelium.— Bq,nKmov» portlOIl Of
tne temporal bone, the sqaamoul : opposed to petrout
and inaM'/id [Kirtions ut the same contpnnnd l>one. — Squa-
mous suture, in attal., a fixed articulation or synarthro-
uls, ill w))icli the thin beveled edRe of a sqaamous bone
overlaps unother; siK;cif)ciUly, the squamoparietal suture
and B4|naniospliriioif]al suture, those by wnicb the squa-
moaal arliiMil:it<:^ ultli the parietal and alisphanoldal bones
re8pe«;tivcly. .Sec cut under pari^tof.
squamozygomatic (skwa-ui6-zi-go-mat'ik), a.
and H. [< squamo(us) + zytiomatic] I, n. In
a«flf.. noting the squamous and zygomatic parts
of the temporal Ijone: as, a squamozyijomativ
center of ossification.
II. H. A Kiiuamozygoraatic bone; the squa-
mosal together witli its zygomatic process.
gqaamula rskwam'O-lU), n. ; pi. squamuUe (-le).
[I.,., dim. of «>/iM/Hn, » scale: %ee squame.] 1.
5875
A little scale. Specifically, in entom. : (a) One of the
flattened scale-like hairs or processes which in many cases
clothe the lower surfafiM of the tarsal joints. (0) The
tegnla or scale covering the base of the anterior wing of
a hymenopterous insect.
2. In lot.: (o) A scale of secondary order or
reduced size, (ft) Same as MiCMfe. Also S5«a-
mella.
Also squamule.
squamulate (skwam'u-lat), a. [< NL. *squ<imu-
latus, < L. squamula, a little scale: see squam-
ule.] Having little scales ; covered ^vith squam-
ules; minutelyscalyorsquamose. Alsosquamel-
latc, squamulose.
squamule (skwam'iil), n. [< L. squamula, a lit-
ue scale, dim. of sqttama, a scale : see squame.]
In bot. and zool., same as squamula.
squamuliform (skwam'u-li-f6rm), a. [< L.
squamula, a little scale, + forma, form.] Hav-
ing the form or character of a squamule.
squamulose (skwam'u-los), a. [< NL. "squamu-
losus,<. h. squamula, a little scale: see squam-
ule.] Same as squamulate.
squander (skwon'dfer), v. [Not found in early
use ; perhaps a dial, form, a variant, with the
common dial, change of initial sw- to squ-, of
"swander, which is perhaps a nasalized foi-m of
*su;adder, orig. scatter as water (f) (cf. MD.
svadderen, dabble in water, = Sw. dial, skvad-
ra, gush out, as water), itself a variant of E.
dial, swatter, 8c. squatter, throw (water) about,
scatter, squander, < Sw. dial, squdttra, squan-
der; freq. of E. dial, swat, var. squat, throw down
forcibly ; cf. leel. skvetta = Sw. sqvdtta, throw
out, squirt, = lyau. skvatte, squirt, splash, squan-
der: see squat'^, squatter, strata, swatter. The
word may owe its nasalization to AS. swindan
(pret. swand), vanish, waste, OH6. swantian, G.
ver-schwenden, squander, etc.] I. trans. 1. To
scatter; disperse. [Archaic]
Other ventures he hath, squandered abroad.
SAa*.,M. of v., L 3.22.
They drive and squander the huge Belgian fleet.
Dryden, Annus Mirabilis, St. 67.
The fallen timber obstructed the streams, the rivers
were tauandered In the reedy morasses.
C. Elton, Origins of Eng. Hist., p. 223.
2. To spend lavishly, profusely, or prodigally;
dissipate ; use without economy or judgment ;
lavish; as, to squander one's money or an estate.
How much time is tquandred away in Vanity and Folly 1
Staiingfieet, Sermons, III. x.
Is he not a gay, dissipkted rake, who has squandered his
patrimony? Sheridan, The buenna, 11. 3.
H. in trans. 1. To disperse; wander aimless-
ly ; go at random. [Archaic]
The wise man's folly is anatomized
Even by the squandering glances of the fool.
Skak., As you Like It, 11. 7. 57.
2. To waste one's substance; go to wasteful
expense ; spend recklessly.
He was grown needy by squandering upon his vices.
Swift, Change in Queen's Ministry.
squander (skwon'dfer). n. [< squander, r.] The
act of s(|iiandering. Imp. Diet. [Rare.]
sqtianderer (skwon'dSr-^r), «. [< squander +
-eri.] One who squanders; one who spends his
money prodigally; a spendthrift; a prodigal;
a waster; a fivisher.
I say he is an unthrlft, a Squanderer, and must not ex-
pect supplycB from me. Brome, .sparagus Garden, ill. 5.
sqnanderingly (skwon'dtr-ing-li), adv. In a
s«|uaiidering manner; by squandering; prodi-
gally; lavishly. Imp. IMct.
squan-flsh (skwon'ftsh), ». A cyprinoid fish,
I'tijihocldlus lucius. See piVe^, w., 2 (a).
squanter-squa8ht(skwon ter-skwosh), «. Same
lis squtixli-. See the quotation.
Yet the clypeaue are sometimes called cymnels (as are
some others alsoX from the lenten cake of that name,
which many of them very much resemble. Squash, or
squanier.squa*h. Is their name among the northern In-
d1an^ and so they are called in New York and New Eng-
land. Beverley, Hist. Virginia, It. H 19.
squap (skwop), r. [A dial. var. of swap.] To
.strike. [Pit>v. Eng.]
squap (skwop), n. [<.sqttap,v.] A blow. [Prov.
Eng.]
squarable (skwSr'a-bl), a. [< square^ + -able.]
In math., capable of being squared. Button's
Recreations, p. 169.
square^ (skwar), «. [Formerly also (esp. in def.
■5) squire, squier; < ME. square, squar, sqware,
sware, a square, squire, sqiit/re, squijyre,squ)j^er,
a carpenters' square, < OF. esquare, esquarre, es-
rairre, esquierre, esquire, a square, squareness,
P. equerre = 8p. escuadra, a square, squad,
squadron, =■ Pg. esquadra, a squadron, csquad-
ria, a square, a rule, esquadro, a right angle
square
drawn on a board, = It. squadra, a square, also
a squad or squadron of men (orig. a square) ;
variant forms, with initial s due to the verb (see
square^, v.), of OF. quarre = Sp. cuadra = Pg.
It. quadra, a square, < L. quadra, a square, fern,
of (LL.) quadrus, square, four-cornered, < qua-
tuor, four, = 'E. four : see four, quadra^, quad-
rate, squad^, squadron. Ct. square^, a.] 1. lu
(jeom., a four-sided plane rectilineal figure, hav-
ing all its sides equal, and all its angles right
angles.
I have a parlour
Of a great square, and height as you desire it.
Tfymkis (?), Albuniazar, ii. 3.
The hard-grained Muses of the cube and square.
Tennyson, Princess, Prol.
2. A figure or object which nearly approaches
this shape ; a square piece or part, or a square
surface : as, a square of glass.
A third court, to make a square with the front, but not
to be built, nor yet enclosed with a naked wall.
Baemi, Building (ed. 1887).
He bolted his food down his capacious throat in squares
of 3 inches. Scott.
The casement slowly grows a glimmering square.
Tennyson, Princess, iv. (song).
Specifically — (a) In printing, a certain number of lines
forming a part of a column nearly square : used chiefly
in reckoning the prices of newspaper advertisements. (&)
A square piece of linen, cloth, or silk, usually decorated
with embroidery, fringe, or lace : as, a table-square.
3. A quadrilateral area, rectangular or nearly
so, with buildings, or sites for buildings, on
every side ; also, an open space formed by the
intersection of streets; hence, such an area
planted with trees, shrubs, or grass, and open
to the public for recreation or diversion ; a pub-
lic park among buildings; a common; a green:
as, Union Square in New York; Lafayette
Square in Washington; Trafalgar Square in
London.
The statue of Alexander the Seventh stands in the large
square of the town.
Addison, Remarks on Italy (Works, ed. Bohn, I. 401).
4. An area bounded by four streets; ablock: as,
the house is four or five squares furtherup-town.
— 5. An instrument used by artificers, drafts-
men, and others for trying or describing right
angles. It consists of two rules or branches fastened
perpendicularly at one end of their extremities so as to
Squares.
«, carpcnteis' square (of iron or steel) : *, *'. draftsmen's T-
squares of tnrood. #' having a head adjustable at any angle : c, l>evel-
square, ttie blade of which can be set cither square or at any angle ;
A center-square ; t, tniter-square ; y. carpenters' try-square ; £-, square
with adjustable heads and with vernier scale for measuring diameters,
also called vernier calipers.
form a right angle. Sometimes one of the branches is
pivoted, so as to admit of measuring other than right
angles. When one rule ia joined to the other in the
middle in the form of a T, it is called a T-square.
Thou Shalt me fynde as just as is a squyre.
Chaucer, Summoner's Tale, 1. 388.
Of all kyne craftes ich contreeuede here tooles.
Of carpentrie. of kenieres. and contreeuede the compas.
And cast out by squire !>oth lyne and leuell.
Piers Plowman (C), xii. 127.
A poet does not work by square or line,
As smiths and joiners perfect a design.
Cou?per, Conversation, 1. 789.
Hence — 6. A true measure, standard, or pat-
tern.
This cause III argue.
And be a peace between ye, If 't so please you.
And by the square of honouf to the utmost.
Fletcher (and another). Love's Pilgrimage, ii. 1.
Religion being. In the pretence of their Law, the square
of all their (otherwise ciuill) actions.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 183.
7. In arith. and ah/., the number or quantity
derived from another (of which it is said to be
the square) by multiplying that other by itself:
thus, 64 is the square of 8, for 8 X 8 = 04 ; i-3
or I X X is the square of x.
BQTiare
Light diminishes in intensity as we recede from the
source of light If the luminous source be a point, the in-
tensity diminishes as the sqtiare of the distance increases.
, . . This is the meaning of the law of inverse squares as
applied to light. TyndaU, Light and Elect., p. 15.
8. Rule ; regularity ; exact proportion ; hence,
integrity of conduct; honest dealing. See
phrases on the square (c), out of square j etc.
Read not my blemishes in the world's report ;
I have not kept my square; but that to come
Shall all be done by the rule.
Shak., A. and C, ii. 3. 6.
9. A body of troops drawn up in qnatli'i lateral
form. The formation used in the sixteenth century and
afterward was a nearly solid body of pikemen, to which
the harquebusiers, crossbowraen, etc., formed an acces-
sory, as by being posted on the flanks, etc. In Shakspere's
time troops drawn up in battle array were primarily in
squares. At the present time the square is a hollow for-
mation, composed of four fronts, each from two to five
ranks deep, having the otficers, colors, etc., in the center.
This formation is used to repel cavalry, or to resist any
superior force which outflanks or surrounds the body of
troops. See hollow square, below.
He alone
Dealt on lieutenantrj', and no practice had
In the brave squares of war.
Shak., A. and C, iii. 11. 40.
Dash'd on every rocky sqtiare,
Their surging charges foam'd themselves away.
Tennyson, Death of Wellington.
10. A name given to various squared projec-
tions or shanks to which other parts of ma-
chines may be fitted. — lit. Level; equality:
generally with the. See on the square (&), be-
low.— 12. In astral. J quartile; the position of
planets distant 90 degrees from each other.
See aspectj 7.
Their planetary motions, and aspects.
In sextile, square, and trine.
MUton, P. L., X. 659.
13t. Opposition; enmity; quarrel. Seesqnare'^j
V. t., 2. — 14. Apart of a woman^s dress, (a) The
yoke of a chemise or gown : so called because often cut
square or angular. [Still in provincial use.]
The sleeve-hand, and the work about the square on 't
[a smock]. Shak., W. T., iv. 4, 212.
(6) A square opening in the upper part of the front of a
bodice, or other garment covering the throat and neck. It
is usually filled in with another material, except for even-
ing dress.
A round Sable Tippet, about 2 yards long, the Sable
pretty deep and dark, with a piece of black Silk in the
.Square of the neck.
AdvU quoted in Ashton's Reign of Queen Anne, I. 173.
15. A puzzle or device consisting of a series
•of words so selected that when 0.^,^1.
arranged in a square they may sated
be read alike across and down- ATONE
■ward. Also called word-square. — TOAST
16. In bookbinding J the parts of e N S U E
the cover of a bound book that deter
project beyond the edge of the
leaves. — 17. The square end of '^""'''
the arbor designed to receive the winding-key
of a watch, or the similar part by which the
hands of the watch are set. — 18. In flooring,
roofing, and other branches of mechanical art,
an area 10 feet square; 100 square feet. — 19.
In her., a bearing representing a carpenters'
square. (See def. 5.) It is represented with or
without the scale. — 20. In organ-building, a
thin piece of wood, in or nearly in the shape
of a right-angled triangle, pivoted at the right
or largest angle and connected with trackers
at the other angles. It serves to change the
direction of the tracker-action from vertical to
horizontal, or vice versa — A deep square, a long
projection. — A small square, a narrow projection.— At
SCluaret, in opposition ; at enmity.
Marry, she knew you and I were at square;
At least we fell to blowes.
Promos and Cassandra, ii. 4. (Nares.)
She falling eUgguare with hlr husband.
Holinshed, Hist. Eng., iv. 8.
By the square, exactly ; accurately.
Not the worst of the three but jumps twelve foot and a
half by the squier. Shak., W. T, iv. 4. 348.
Why, you can tell us by the squire, neighbour,
Whence he is call'd a constable.
B. Jomon, Tale of a Tub, iv. 2.
Cyclical square. See cyc^tcoZ.— Face of a square. See
/ace'i . — Geometrical square. Same asgwarfrai, 2.— Gun-
ners' square. Same as quadrant, 5.— HoUow square,
a body of infantry drawn up in square with a space in the
middle to receive baggage, colors, drums, etc. When or-
ders or proclamations are to be read to troops, it is usual
to form a hollow square, with the files facing inwai-d. See
def. 9.— Incuse square. See incase.—ln. squaret,
square.
Then did a sharped spyre of Diamond bright,
Ten feete each way in square, appeare to mee.
Spenser, Visions of Belliiy, 1. 30.
Magic square. See TnofTw;.— Method of least squares,
the method used by astronomers, geodesists, ana others
of deducing the most probable or best result of their
0
5876
observations, in cases In which the arithmetical mean of
a number of observations of the same quantity is the
most probable or best value of that quantity. The
adoption of the mean value of a number of observations
may be considered as the simplest application of the
method of least squares. When the observed values de-
pend upon several unknown quantities, the rule which re-
sults from the principle of the arithmetical mean is to
adopt such values for the unknown quantities as to make
the sum of the squares of the residual errors of the ob-
servations the least possible. When there are certain con-
ditions that must be fultilled, as for example, in geodesy,
that the sum of the angles of each triangle nmst equal
two right angles plus the spherical excess, the rules be-
come still more complicated. There are also rules for
calculating probable errors, etc.— Nasik squares. See
the quotation.
Squares that have many more summations than in rows,
columns, and diagonals have been investigated by the Rev.
A.H. Frost(CambridgeMath. Jour., 1857), and called Nasik
squares from the town in India where he resided ; and he
has extended the method to cubes (called Nasik cubes),
various sections of which have the same singular proper-
ties. Jincyc. Brit, XV. 215.
Naval square, a rectilinear figure painted on a ship's
deck in some convenient place, for the purpose of aiding
in taking the bearings of other ships of a squadron or of
objects on shore, — Normal square, the mathematical
instrument called a square, for determining right angles.
— On or upon the square, (a) At right angles ; straight :
as, to cut cloth 071 the square, as opposed to bias. Hence,
figuratively —(b) On an equality ; on equal terms.
They [the Presbyterians] chose rather to be lorded over
once more by a tyrant . . . than endure their brethren
and friends to be upon the sqtiare with them.
MUton, Ans. to Salmasius, x.
We live not on the square with such as these ;
Such are our betters who can better please.
Dryden, tr. of Juvenal's Satires, iii. 179.
(c) Honest; just; fairly; honestly.
Keep upon the square, for God sees you ; therefore do
your duty. Penn, To his Wife and Children.
"Was the marriage all right, then?" *'0h, all on the
square — c^viiX marriage, church — everything."
George Eliot, Felix Holt, xxi.
Optical square, an instrument used in surveying for
laying out Imes at right angles to each other. It consists
of a circular brass box containing two
principal glasses of the sextant, viz.
the index- and horizon-glasses, fixed
at an angle of 45°. The method of
using this instrument is obvious. If
the observer moves forward or back-
ward in the straight line AB, until
the object B seen by direct vision
coincides with another object C, seen
by reflection, then a straight line
drawn to C from the point at which ^^ i> b
he stands, as D, when the coinci-
dence takes place will be perpendicular to AB. — Out Of
square, (a) Not drawn or cut to right angles. (6) Out
of order ; out of the way ; irregular ; incorrect or incor-
rectly.
Herodotus, in his Melpomene, scorneth them that make
Europe and Asia equall, afhnnynge that Europe . . . pass-
eth them in latitude, wherin he speaketh not greatly otvt
of square. R. Eden, tr. of Francisco Lopez (First Books
[on America, ed. Arber, p. 346).
In St. Paul's time the integrity of Rome was famous ;
Corinth many ways reproved ; they of Galatia much more
out of sqiiare. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, iii. 1.
Reducing squares, a method of copying designs or
drawings on a different scale. The original is divided into
squares by lines drawn at right angles to one another. The
surface on which the copy is to be made is divided into the
same number of squares, smaller or larger, according to
the scale desired, and the lines of the design are drawn on
the squares of the copy in the same relative positions that
they occupy in the original. Instead of marking the
original design with lines, a frame in which crossed
threads or wires are set may be laid over it ; or such a
frame may be used in a similar way in drawing a land-
scape or any other subject from the original.— Rising-
square, a square having a tongue and two arms at right
angles to it, used in molding the floor-timbers in wooden
ships. The tongue is in width equal to the siding size of
the keel; and the seat and throat of the floor-timbers are
squared across it, the risings of the floor at the head being
squared across the arms. The timber-mold applied to the
seating on the tongue and rising on the arm gives the
shape of one side of the floor-timber; the mold reversed
gives the other.- Solid square (niilit.), a square body of
troops ; a body in which the ranks and flies are equal. —
Square of an anchor, the upper part of the shank.-
Square of senset. See the quotation.
I professe
My selfe an enemy to all other ioyes.
Which the most precious square of sense professes.
And flnd I am alone felicitate
In your deere Highnesse lone.
Shak., Lear (folio 1673), i. 1. 76.
[This phrase has been variously interpreted by commen-
tators: Warburton refers it to the four nobler senses —
Bight, hearing, taste, and smell; Johnson makes it mean
'compass or comprehension of sense'; R. G. White, 'the
entire domain of sensation'; Schmidt, 'the choicest
symmetry of reason, the most normal and intelligent
mode of thinking.']— To break no squarest, to make
no difference. See the next phrase. — To break or breed
squaresi, to break tbe squaret, to throw things out
of due or just relation and harmony ; make a ditt'erence.
— To reduce the square imilit). See reduce.— To see
how the squares go, to see how the game proceeds, or
how matters are going on.
Atlengththey. having an oppertunitie, resolved to send
Mf. Winslow, with what beaver they had ready, into Eng-
land, to see how y squars wente.
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 268.
square
One frog looked about him to we how squares icent with
their new king. Sir Ii. L'Estrange.
square^ (skwar), a. [< ME. square, sqware, sware,
orig.two sy\lsibles,<.0¥.esquarre,escarr€{equiy.
to quarre, carre, F. carre), < ML. ^exquadratus
(equiv. to quadratus), squared, square, pp. of
*exquadrare, make square: see square^, v., aud
cf. square^, n., and quadrate, quarry^.} 1.
Having four equal sides and four right angles;
quadrate; rectangular and equilateral: as, a
square room; a square figure.
Thui^h a wyndow thikke, of many a barre
Of iren greet, and square as any spaire.
Chaticer, Knight's Tale, 1. 2ia
A massy slab, in fashion square or round.
Cowper, Task, i. 21.
2. Forming a right angle; having some part
rectangular: as, a table with square corners.
Square tools for turning brass are ground in the same
manner as triangular tools.
0. Byrne, Artisan's Handbook, p. 29.
3. Cut off at right angles, as any body or figure
with parallel sides: as, a square apse or tran-
sept; a square (square-headed) window.
The east ends in this architecture [early Pointed in Eng-
land] are usually square.
C. H. Moore, Gothic Architecture, p. 158.
4. Having a shape broad as compared with the
height, with rectilinear and angular rather than
curved outlines: as, a man of square frame.
Erode shulders aboue, big of his armys,
A harde brest hade the bueme, & his back sware.
Destruction 0/ Troy (E.E. T. S.), 1.8967.
My queen's square brows [forehead] ;
Her stature to an inch. Shak., Pericles, v. 1. 109.
Sir Bors it was, . . .
A gquare-^^i man. Tennyson, Holy Grail,
5. Accurately adjusted as by a square; true;
just; fitting; proper.
She's amosttriumphantlady,if report be jjguarc to her.
Shak., A. and C, ii. 2. 190.
Should he retain a thought not square of her,
This will correct all. Shirley, Love's Cruelty, ii. 3.
Hence — 6. Equitable; just; fair; unimpeach-
able.
All have not offended ;
For those that were, it is not square to take
On those that are revenges.
Shak., T. of A., v. 4. 36.
Telling truth is a quality as prejudicial to a man that
would thrive in the world as square play to a cheat.
Wyckerley, Plain Dealer, i. 1.
7. Even; leaving no balance: as, to make the
accounts square; to be square with the world.
There will be enough to pay all our debts and put us
all sqtiare. Disraeli, Sybil, iii. 2.
If a man 's got a bit of property, a stake in the country,
he'll want to keep things square. Where Jack isn't safe,
Tom 's in danger. George Eliot, Felix Holt, xx.
8. Absolute ; positive; unequivocal: as, a square
refusal; a sz/warc contradiction ; & square issue.
— 9. Leaving nothing; thorough-going; hearty.
Vn ferial beuveur. A «gware drinker, . . . one that will
take his liquor soundly. Cotgrave (1611).
By Heaven, sqtiare eaters !
More meat, I say 1 — Upon my conscience.
The poor rogues have not eat this month.
Fletcher, Bonduca, ii. 3.
Hence — 10. Solid; substantial; satisfying.
[Colloq.]
And I've no idea, this minute,
When next a square meal 1 can raise.
New York Clipper, Song of the Tramp. (Bartlett.)
11. Naut., noting a vessel's yards when they
are horizontal and athwartships, or at right
angles to the keel All square, all arranged ; all
right. Dickens.— A. sciuare mant. (o) A consistent,
steadfast man. See hrick^, etym.
The Prince of Philosophers [Aristotlel, in his tirst booke
of the Ethicks, termeth a constant minded man, euen egal
and direct on all sides, and not easily ouerthrowne by
euery litl[e] aduersitie, hominem quadratum, a square
man. Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie (ed. Arber), p. 113.
(b) A man who is fair-dealing, straightforward, and trust-
worthy.
Then they fill
Ix)rd8hips ; steal women's hearts ; with them and theirs
The world runs round ; yet there are square men still.
Ford, Lover's Melancholy, iv. 2.
Fair and square. Sec /airi.— Knight of the square
flag. See banmret^, 1.— Square B, in music. See B
quadratuvi, under /). — Square capitals. See capital^.
— Square coupling. See cmiplinri. — Square dance.
i^ee danee. 1.— Square dice, dice honestly nuide ; dice
that are not loaded. //«!(!«■(«,— Square fathom, file,
foot, joint, knot, lohe, measure. See the nouns.—
Square map-projection. See projeclion.—%(iaax6
muscle, a quadrate muscle (which see, under quadrate).
— Square number, a number wluch is the s(juare of
some integer number, as 1, 4, 9, Ifi, 26, etc.— Square octa-
hedron, parsley, rig, roof. See the nouns.— Square
piano. See pianoforte (<■).— Square root, in arith. and
all/. See root', 2 ((/).— Square sail, see sail'. 1, and
squaresait. — Square stem. See stem^. — Square to, at
right angles to.
square
The plane of cant being gquare to the half-breadth
plane. Thearle, Xaval Arch., § 54.
Three-Bqnare, five-square, having three or Hve equal
sides, etc. : an old and unwarrantable uae of square.
square^ (skwar), v. ; pret. and pp. squared, ppr.
squaring. [< ME. squaren, sqwareii, < OF. es-
quarrer (also esquarer, escarrer, esquarrir, es-
quarir, escarrir), F. equarrir = Pr. esquayrar,
escairar, seayrar = Sp. escuadrar = Pg. esqua-
drar = It. squadrare,< ML. *exquadrarc, square,
< L. ex-, out,-!- quadrare, make square, < quadra,
a square, < quadrus, square, four-cornered : see
quadrate, and cf. square^, a., square^, ».] I.
trans. 1. To make square; form with four
equal sides and four right angles : as, to square
a block; specifically {milit.), to form into a
square.
Squared in full legion («ach command we hadX
Milton, P. L., vlii. 232.
2. To shape by reducing accurately to right
angles and straight lines.
As if the carpenter l)efore he began to tquare bis timber
would make his squire croolced.
PuUenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 129.
Having with his shears tquared, i. e. cut off at right an-
gles, the rough outer edge of two adjoining sides of each
board. Ure, Diet, I. 421.
3. To reduce to any given measure or standard;
mold; adjust; regulate; accommodate; fit.
Stubborn critics, apt, without a theme
For depravation, to t^uore the general sex
By Creasid'a rule. Shak., T. and C, v. 2. 132.
Why needs Sordello iquare his course
By any linowu example? Brouming, Sordello.
4. In astroL, to hold a quartile position in rela-
tion to.
Mars was on the cusp of the meridian, squaring the as-
cendant, and in zodiacal square to the Moon.
Zadtiel, Gram, of AstroI.,p. 3»4.
6. To balance; counterbalance; make even, so
as to leave no difference or balance ; settle : as,
to square accounts.
I hope, I say, both being put together may tqumre cot
the must eminent of the ancient gentnr in some tolerable
proportion. FuUtr, Worthies, I. xv.
They tquare up their bills with the importers either with
the articles themselves or with the money they receive for
them, and lay in their new atock of goods.
The Century, XX. 317.
6. To make angular; bring to an angular posi-
tion.
With that I . . . planted myself side by side with Mr.
Dmmmle, my shoulders squared and my back to the Are.
Dickent, Oreat ExpecUtiont, xUii.
He again squared his elbows over hi* writing.
R. L. Stetentm, An Inland Voyage, EpU.
7. In math., to multiply (a niunber or quantity)
by itself. — 8. To form into a polygon: a loose
use of the word.
Snmme ben 6 squared, tamme 4 squared, and aumme 3, a«
nature scbapethe hem. MandevtUe, Travels, p. 160.
9. To make "square" or "all right"; "fix"—
that is, to make a corrupt bargain witn ; bribe ;
suborn : as, to square a subordinate before at-
tempting a fraud. [Slang.]
The horaea be had "nobbled," the jockeys "squared,"
the owners "bocuased." Lever, Davenport Dunn, xi.
How D was squared, and what he got for his not very
valuable complicity in these transactions, does not appear.
HuxUy, Fop. ScL Mo., XXXV. 6U».
10. To find the equivalent of in square mea-
sure ; also, to describe a square equivalent to.
—To square onV, to arrange ; lay out
Mason,
Advance your Pickaxe, whQit the Carpenter squares out
Our new work. Brome, The Queens Exchange, v.
To square the circle. See prMem «/ the quadrature,
under quadrature —To square the COOrte (nau(.), to lay
out the course.— To square the deadeyes Outut.\ to
get the deadeyes in the same hori»>ntaI line. - To square
the ratlines {naut.), to get the ratlines lioriztintal and
parallel to one another.— To square the yards (naut.),
to lay the yards at tight angles with the vesael's keel by
means of the braces, at the aanie time bringing them to a
horizontal poaitfc>n by means of the lifts.
U, intrans. 1. To accord; a^ee; fit: as, his
opinions do not square with mine.
He [the Duke] could never square well with his Emi-
nency the Cardinal. HowM, Letters, I. vi. 4ti.
There is no church whose every part so squares unto my
conscience. Sir T. Browne, Religio Medici, L 6.
\o works shall find acceptance in that day . . .
That square not truly with the .Hcripture plan.
Coirjxrr, Charity, 1. 559.
2t. To quarrel ; wrangle ; take opposing sides.
And when he gave me the bishopric of Winchester, he
said he had often squared with me, but he loved roe never
the worse. StaU Trials, Oardiner, 5 Kdw. VI., an. 1&61.
Are you such fools
To sqmrt for this ? Shak., Tit. And., ii. 1. 100.
5877
3. To take the attitude of a boxer; prepare to
spar: usually with a qualifying adverb: as, to
square up; to square off. [CoUoq.]
"Wanted to nght the Frenchman;" . . . and he laughed,
and he squared with his fists.
Thackeray, Peudennis, xxxviii.
Here Zack came in with the gloves on, squaring on the
most approved prize-fighter principles as he advanced.
W. Cottins, Hide and Seek, i. 12.
4. To strut ; swagger. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
As if some curious Florentine had trickte them up to
square it up and downe the streets before his mistresse.
Greene, Quip for an Upstart Courtier. (Davies.)
To squsire away, to square the yards for the purpose of
keeping the ship before the wind.
square^ (skwSr), adv. [< square'^, o.] Square-
ly; at right angles ; without deviation or deflec-
tion: as, to hit a person square on the head.
He who can sit squarest on a three-legged stool, he it is
who has the wealth and glory.
R. L. Stevenson, Inland Voyage, p. 50.
Fair and square. See/oiri.
square- (skwar), n. A dialectal form of squire^.
square-built (skwar'bilt), a. Having a shape
broad as compared with the height, and bound-
ed by rectilinear rather than curved lines: as,
a square-built man or ship.
A short, squareiuHl old fellow, with thick bushy hair.
Irving, Sketch-Book, p. 62.
Square-capt (skwSr'kap), n. A London appren-
tice : so called from the form of his cap.
But still she repli'd, good sir, la-bee.
If ever I have a man, sqvare-cap for me.
Cleaxxland, Poems (1651). (Hares.)
square-cut (skwSr'kut), a. Cut with square
cuffs, collar, and (broad) skirts: noting a style
of coat in fashion in the eighteenth century.
Hewas loosely dressed in a purple, square-cut coat, which
had seen service. Frottde, Two Chiefs of Dunboy, ii.
square-flipper (skwar'flip'fer), n. The bearded
seal, Kriniiathus harbatus.
square-framed (skwar'framd), a. In joinery,
having all the angles of its stiles, ra-ls, and
mountings square without being molded: ap-
plied to framing.
squarehead (skwar'hed), n. Originally, a free
emigrant ; now, a German or a Scandinavian.
[SliiiiK. .\ustnilia.]
square-headed (skwar'hed'ed), a. Cut off at
riglit iiiifjles above, as an opening or a figure
with upright parallel sides ; especially, noting
a window or a door so formed, as distinguished
from one that is round-headed or arcaed, or
otherwise formed.
The outer range, which is wonderfully perfect, while
the inner arrangements are fearfully mined, consists, on
the side towarda the town, of two rows of arches, with a
third story with square-headed openings above them.
K A. Freeman, Venice, p. 117.
square-leg (skwSr'leg), h. In cricket, a fielder
who stands some distance to the batsman's left,
nearly opposite the wicket, to stop balls that
may be hit square across the field.
squarely (skwar'li),adF. 1. In a square form :
as, squarely built. — 2. In a square manner,
(o) Honestly: fairly: as, to deal squarely. (6) Directly;
roundly; positively; absolutely : as, to Join issue sjuaraj/.
(ct) FAjuafly ; evenly ; justly.
3. In ziml., rectangularly or perpendicularly to
a part or margin : as, «(7uarWy truncate; square-
ly deflexed.
squareman (skwSr'man), «.; pi. squaremen
(-men). A workman who uses the square; a
carpenter. [Scotch.]
The squareman tollow'd 1' the raw.
And syiie the weavers.
Jfi^iw, Siller QuD, p. 22. (.Jamiemn.)
squareness (skwSr'nes), n. The state or quality
of being sijuare, in any sense.
squarer (skwar'fer), ». [< »gunrel -I- -erl.] 1.
< )mt wlio squares : as, a squarer of the circle.
— 2t. One who quarrels; a contentious, irasci-
ble fellow.
Is there no young squarer now that will midce a voyage
with him to the devlH Shak., Much Ado, 1. 1. 82.
3. One who spars ; a boxer. [Colloq.]
square-rigged (skwSr'rigd), a. Naut., having
tlic principal sails extended by yards slung to
the masts by the middle, and not by gaffs,
booms, or lateen yards. Thus, a ship, a bark,
and a brig are square-rigged vessels. See cut
under ship.
squaresail (skwar' sal), n. A sail horizontally
extPiido<l on a yard slung to the mast by the
middle, as distinguished from other sails which
are extended obliquely ; specifically, a square
sail occasionally carried on the mast of a sloop,
or the foremast of a schooner-rigged vessel,
bent to a yard called the squaresau-yard.
squash
square-set (skwar'set), a. Same as square-built.
S9.uare-shouldered (skwar' shol'd^rd), a. Hav-
ing high and broad shoulders, not sloping, and
well braced back, so as to be straight across
the back: the opposite of round-shouldered.
square-spot (skwar ' spot), o. and n. I. a.
Square-spotted, as a moth : as, the square-spot
dart ; the square-spot rustic : a British collec-
tors' use.
II. n. A square-spotted moth, as the geome-
trid Tephrosia consonaria.
square-spotted (skwar'spofed), a. Having
square spots : used specifically by British col-
lectors to note various moths. Also square-
spot.
square-stem (skwSr'stfern), «. A boat with a
square stem ; a Huron.
The boats from Kenosha to Sheboygan are called square-
stem. J. W. Miiner.
square-stemed (skwar'stfemd), a. Having a
square stern : noting small boats or vessels.
square-toed (skwSr'tod), a. l. Having the
toes square.
His clerical black gaiters, his somewhat short, strapless
trowsers, and his square-toed shoes.
Charlotte Bronte, Shirley, xvL
2. Formal; precise; finical; punctilious; prim.
[Rare.]
Have we not almost all learnt these expressions of old
foozles, and uttered them ourselves when in the square-
toed state ? Thackeray, Roundabout Papers, xi.
square-toes (skwar'toz), n. A precise, formal,
old-fashioned personage.
I have heard of an old square-toes of sixty who learned,
by study and intense application, very satisfactorily to
dance. Thackeray, Philip, xv.
squaring (skwar'ing), n. [Verbal n. of square^,
!■.] The act of making square.
squaring-boards (skwar 'ing-bordz), «. pi.
Thick planks of seasoned wood truly squared,
used by bookbinders for cutting boards for
single book-covers, or for the square cutting of
paper with rough edges.
squaring-plow (skwar'ing-plou), n. In book-
binding, a liand-tool used to trim the edges of
books.
Squaring-shears (skwar'ing-sherz), n.sing. and
pi. 1. In sheet-metal tvork, a machine for cut-
ting and tracing sheets of tin-plate. It has an
adjustable table with a scale and gage. — 2.
In bookbinding, a pivoted knife for trimming
the edges of piles of paper or book-sheets.
squarrose (skwar'os), «. [< LL. *squarrosus,
given in Festus as an adj. applied to persons
whose skin scales off from uncleanliness; prob.
an error for squamosus, scaly, scurfy: see «<7«a-
mose.'] 1. In bot., rough with spreading pro-
cesses ; thickly set with divergent or recurved,
commonly rigid, bracts or leaves, as the in-
volucres of various Compositee and the stems of
some mosses; of leaves, bracts, etc., so disposed
as to form a squarrose surface. Also squarrous.
— 2. In en<om.,laciniate and prominent: noting
a margin with many long thin projections di-
vided by deep incisions, the fringe-like edge so
formed being elevated.
squarrous (skwar'us), a. [< LL. *squarrosus:
see squarrose.'] 1. In hot., same as squarrose,
1. — 2. In entom., irregularly covered with
scales, which stand up from the surface at va-
rious angles, resembling scurf.
Squarrulose (skwar'ij-los), a. [Dim. of squar-
rose.] In bot., somewhat squarrose; finely
squarrose.
squarson (skwar'sn), n. [< squ(ire) + (p)ar-
son.] One who is at the same time a landed
proprietor and a beneficed clergyman. [Ludi-
crous, Eng.]
The death has lately occurred of Rev. W. H. Hoare, of
Oakfleld, .Sussex. . . . Mr. Hoare, it is said, was the origi-
nal of the well-known expression, invented by Bishop Wil-
berforce. Squarson, by wnich he meant a landed proprie-
tor in holy orders. Living Church, Aug. 'ii, 1888.
He held the sacrosanct position of a sqtiarson, being at
once Squire and Parson of the parish of Little Wentley.
A. Lang, Mark of Cain, ix.
squarsonage (skwiir'son-aj), n. [< squarson -I-
-age.] The residence of one who is at once
squire and parson. [Ludicrous, Eng.]
she left the gray old squarsonage and went to London.
A. Lang, Mark of Cain, ix.
squash^ (skwosh), v. [An altered form, con-
formed to the related gMa«ft, of what would
prop, be 'squatch, < ME. squacchen, squachen,
swacchen, < OF. esquachier, escachier, eseacier,
esquacher, escacher, F. icacher, crush; cf. Sp.
acachar, agachar= Pg. agachar, aca^apar, ren.,
squat, cower; < L. ex-, out (or in Sp. Pg. a-, <
sduasli
Li. ad-, to), + eoactare (ML. "eoactinre), con-
strain, force, freq. of cogere (pp. eoactus), con-
strain, force: see cogent. Cf. quash^, and see
sqmifl, quafi-.'] I. trans. To crush; smash;
beat or press into pulp or a flat mass. [Colloq.]
One of the reapers, approaching, . . . made me appre-
hend that with the next step I should be squashed to death
under his foot. Stiift, Gulliver's Travels, ii. 1.
II. intrans. To sphvsh; make a splashing
sound. [Prov. or coUoq.]
Wet through and through ; with her feet squelching and
squashing in her shoes whenever she moved.
Dickens, Hard Times, xi.
sauashl (skwosh), ». l<sqimsh^,r.'] 1. Some-
tliing soft and easily crushed ; something un-
ripe and soft ; especially, an unripe pea-pod.
Not yet old enough for a man, nor young enough for a
boy ; u a squash is before 'tis a peascod.
Shak., T. N., 1. B. 166.
2. Something that has been crushed into a
soft mass.
It seemed churlish to pass him by without a sign, espe-
cially as he took otf his squash of a hat to me.
Harpers Mag., LX.\:V'III. 80.
3. A sudden fall of a heavy soft body ; a shock
of soft bodies.
My fall was stopped by a terrible squash, that sounded
louder to my ears than the cataract of Niagara.
Swift, Gulliver's Travels, ii. 7.
Lemon squash. See lemon-squash.
squash- (skwosh), h. [An abbr. of squanter-
nquasli, squOHter-squash, < Amer. Ind. askuta-
sqitash ; asquash, pi. of asq, raw, green.] The
fruit of an annual plant of the gourd kind, be-
longing to one of several species of the genus
Cucurhita; also, the plant itself. The very numer-
ous and divergent varieties of the cultivated squash are re-
duced by good authority to three species — C. jiuixima, the
great or winter squash ; C. Pepo, including the pumpkin
and also a large part of the ordinary squashes ; and C. mos-
chata, the musky, China, or Barbary squash. The last has
a club-shaped, pear-shaped, or long cylindrical fruit with
a glaucous-whitish surface. The other squashes may for
practical purposes be divided into summer and winter
kinds. Among the latter is the C. maxima, of which the
fruit is spheroidal in form and often of great size, some-
times weighing 240 pounds. A varietyof thisisthecrowned
or turban squash, whose fruit has a circular projection at
the top, the mark of the adherent calyx-tube. Other
winter squashes are of moderate size, and commonly either
narrowed toward the base into a neck which in the ' ' crook-
necks " is curved to one side, or egg-shaped and pointed
at the ends, a? in the (Boston) marrow, long a standard in
America, or the still better Hubbard squash. The winter
squash can be preserved through the season. The sum-
mer squash has a very short vine, hence sometimes called
bush-squash. Its fruit is smaller, and is either a crook-
neck or depressed in form, somewhat hemispherical with
a scalloped border (seesirnlin) ; it is colored yellow, white,
green, or green and white. Squashes are more grown in
America than elsewhere, but also, especially tlie winter
squashes, in continental Europe, and generally in tem-
perate and tropical climates. In Great Britain the only
ordinary squash is the vegetable marrow (see marrow^), or
succade gourd. The summer squash is eaten before ma-
turity, prepared by boiling. The winter squash is boiled
or roasted ; in France and the East it is largely used in
soups and ragouts, in America often made into pies. It is
also used as food for animals.
Ask&tasquash, their Vine-apple, Which the English,
from them, call Squashes.
Roger WUliams, Key to Lang, of America (ed. 1643), xvl.
[(Rhode Isl. Soc. Coll.).
Sauashes, but more truly squmUersquashes ; a kind of
mellon, or rather gourd.
Josselyn, N. E. Rarities (1672), Amer. Antiq. Soc, IV. 193.
squash^ (skwosh), n. [Abbr. of musquash (like
coon from racoon, or possum from opossiim) .'\
The musquash or muskrat. Fiber zibethicus.
The smell of our weasels, and ermines, and polecats is
fragrance itself when compared to that of the squash and
the skink. GoldsmUh, Hist. Earth (ed. 1822), III. 94.
squash-beetle (skwosh'be'tl), n. The striped
cucumber-beetle, ZHafiroftca vittata, or a similar
species, which feeds upon the squash and re-
lated plants. See Diahrotica.
squash-borer (skwosh'b6r'''6r), n. The larva
of an EBgerian or sesiid moth, Trochilium cucur-
bits, which bores the stems of squashes in the
United States.
squash-bug (skwosh'bug), n. An ill-smelling
heteropterous insect, Anasa
tristis, of the family Coreidse,
found commonly on the squash
and other cucurbitaeeous
plants in North America. There
are one or two annual generations,
and the bug hibernates as an adult.
Throughout its life it feeds upon
the leaves of these plants, and is a
noted nest
squasner (skwosh'fer), n. [<
squa.shl + -erl.-] One who or squash-bug (.<«».
that which squashes. [Col- ■"" Iristis). natural
loq.l '^"•
squash-gourd (skwosh ' gord), n. Same as
squaslfi.
5878
squashiness (skwosh'i-ues), n. The state of
being squashy, soft, or miry. [Colloq.]
Give a trifle of strength and austerity to the squashiness
of our friend's poetry.
Landor, Imag. Conv., Southey and Person, it
squash-melon (skwosh'mel"on), ». Same as
sqiKi,-:!!-.
squash-vine (skwosh'viu), n. The squash. See
squdsli-.
squashy (skwosh'i), a. [< squash^ -I- -j/i.] Soft
and wet; mirv; muddy; pulpy; mushy: watery.
George Eliot, Mr. Gilfil, xxi. [Colloq.]
squatl (skwot), v.; pret. and pp. squatted or
squat, ppr. squatting. [< ME. squatten, sqwatten,
< OF. esquatir, press down, lay flat, crush, < es-
(< L. ex-) + guatir, quattir, press down, = It.
quattare, lie close, squat, < L. eoactare, press
together, constrain, force: see quaf^, and cf.
squash'^.] I. trans. 1. To lay flat; flatten;
crush; bruise. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
The foundementis of hillis ben togidir smyten and squat.
Wyclif, 2 Ki. [2 Sam.] xxii. 8.
And you take me so near the net again,
I '11 give you leave to squat me.
Middteton, No Wit like a Woman's, L 3.
2. To compress. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] — 3.
To make quiet. Compare squatting-piU. [Prov.
Eng.]— 4t. To quash; annul.
King Edward the second [said] . . . that although lawes
were squatted in warre, yet notwithstanding they ought
to be reuiued in peace.
Stanihurst, Oescrip. of Ireland, iii. (Holinshed's Chron.,I.).
5. To put or set on the buttocks ; cause to
cower or crouch close to the ground: used re-
flexively.
He . . . then squatted himself down, with his legs twist-
ed under him.
Marryat, Pacha of Many Tales, the Water-Carrier.
II. intrans. 1. To sit close to the ground;
crouch ; cower : said of animals ; sit down upon
the buttocks with the knees drawn up or with
the legs crossed : said of a human being : as,
to squat down on one's hams.
The hare now, after \\a.yvag squatted two or three times,
and been put up again as often, came still nearer.
Budgell, Spectator, No. 116.
2. To settle on land, especially public or new
lands, without any title or right: as, to squat
upon a piece of common. See squatter^.
The losel Yankees of Connecticut, those swapping, bar-
gaining, squatting enemies of the Manhattoes, made a
daring inroad into this neighborhood, and founded a col-
ony called Westchester. Irving, Wolfert's Roost, i.
3. To settle by the stem, as a boat. Qual-
trough.
squatl^ (skwot), a. [Pp. of squaf^, v.'] 1. Flat-
tened; hence, short and thick, like the figure
of an animal squatting.
A squat figure, a harsh, parrot- like voice, and a system-
atically high head-dress.
Oearge Eliot, Daniel Deronda, v.
2. Sitting close to the ground ; crouched ; cow-
ering ; sitting on the buttocks with the knees
drawn up or with the legs crossed.
Him there they found,
Squat like a toad, close at the ear of Eve.
Milton, P. L., iv. 800.
squat^ (skwot), n. [< sqiiat^, v. ; in defs. 3 and
4. < squat^, a.] If. A bruise caused by a fall.
Bruises, squats, and falls. Herbert. (Johnstm.)
Neer or at the salt-worke there growes a plant they call
squatmore, and hath wonderfull vertue for a squatt; it
hath a roote like a little carrat ; I doe not heare it is taken
notice of by any herbalist.
Aubrey's MS. Wilts, p. 127. {Halliwell.)
In our Western language squat is a bruise.
Aubrey's Wilts, Royal Soc. MS., p. 127. (Halliwell.)
2. The posture of one who orthatwhich squats.
One [hare! runneth so fast you will neuer catch hir, the
other is so at the squatyon can neuer finde hir.
Lyly, Euphues and his England, p. 421.
And every child hates Shylock, though his soul
Still sits at squat, and peeps not from its hole.
Pope, Moral Essays, i. 56.
3. A short, stout person. [Colloq.] — 4. A
small mass or bunch of ore in a vein. [Corn-
wall, Eng.]
squai^ (skwot), v. [< Dan. sqvatte, splash,
spurt : see squander, sioat^, swatter.^ To splash.
[Prov. Eng.]
squat^ (skwot), n. [< NL. Squatina.'] The
angel-fish, Squatina angelus.
Squatarola (skwa-tar'a-la), n. [NL. (Cuvier,
1817), < It. dial. (Venetian) squatarola, the
Swiss plover.] A genus of true plovers which
have four toes. The only species is 5. helvetica, for-
merly Tringa squatarola, the common Swiss, gray, black-
bellied, or bullhead plover, found in most parts of the
world, and having fifty or more technical names. It is
squattle
much like the golden plover (see plover) in plumage, in
changes of plumage with season, and in habits ; but it is
Swhss or Black-bellied Plover {Squatarola helvetica),
\n full plumage.
larger and stouter, and may be distinguished at a glance
by the small though evident hind toe, no trace of which
appears in any species of Charadrius proper.
squatarole, squaterole (skwatVol, -e-rol), n.
[< Squatarola.'] The gray or Swiss " plover,
Squatarola helvetica.
Squatina (skwat'i-na), n. [NL. (Dum^ril, 1806,
after Aldrovandi), < L. squatina, a skate, dim.
< squatus, a skate, an angel-fish.] The only
genus of Squatinidee, represented in most seas.
S. angelus is the angel-shark, angel-fish, monk-
flsh, or squat. See cuts under angel-jish and
pterygium.
Squatinidae (skwa-tiu'i-de), n.pl. [NL.,< (Sgtta-
tina + -idee.'] A family of somewhat ray-like
anarthrous sharks, represented by the genus
Sqimtina. These fishes inhabit most seas, and are of
singular aspect, having a broad flat body with very large
horizontal pectoral fins separated from the body hy a nai'-
rowed part, two small dorsals, large ventrals, a small cau-
dal, and no anal. The body is depressed, the mouth is
anterior, and the teeth are conical. The family is also
called Rhinidse, and the suborder Rhime is represented
by this family alone.
Squatinoid (skwat'i-noid), a. and n. [< Squatina
+ -oid.] I. a. Of or pertaining to the Squa-
tinidee.
II. «. A shark of the family Squatinidse.
squatmoret, n. [Appar. < squat^, n., a bruise,
+ more'^, a plant.] The homed poppy, Glau-
dum flavum ( G. luteum). See the second quota-
tion under squat^, n., 1. Britten and Holland.
[Prov. Eng.]
squat-snipe (skwot'snip), n. Same as krieker.
squat-tag (skwot'tag), n. A game of tag in
which a player cannot be touched or tagged
while squatting.
squattage (skwot'aj), n. [< squat^ + -age.]
Land leased from the government for a term of
years. [Australia.]
squatter! (skwot'er), n. [< squat^ + -er^.] 1.
One who or that which squats. — 2. One who
settles on new land, particularly on public
land, without a title. [II. S.]
The place where we made fast was a wooding station,
owned by what is called a Squatter, a person who, without
any title to the land, or leave asked or granted, squats him-
self down and declares himself the lord and master of the
soil for the time being. B. Hall, Travels in N. A., II. 297.
Hence — 3. One who or that which assumes
domiciliary rights without a title.
The country people disliked the strangers, suspected the
traders, detested the heretics, and abhorred the sacrile-
gious squatters in the site of pristine piety and charity.
R. W. Dixon, Hist. Church of Eng., xvii.
4. One who obtains from the government a
right of pasturage on moderate terms; also,
any stock-owner. [Australia.]
Squatters, men who rent vast tracts of land from Govern-
ment for the depasturing of their flocks, at an almost nom-
inal sum. subject to a tax of so much a head on their sheep
and cattle. H. Kingsley, Hillyars and Burtons, xlviii.
5. In ornith., same as krieker Squatter sover-
eignty. See popular sovereignty, under popular.
squatter^ (skwot'er), v. i. [A var. of swatter.
freq. of swat: see swat^, and cf. squander,
squaf^.] To plunge into or through water.
[Scotch and prov. Eng.]
Amang the springs,
Awa' ye sguatter'd, like a drake,
On whistling wings.
Burns, Address to the De'il.
A little callow gosling squattering out of bounds.
Charlotte Bronte, Villette, xxv.
squatting-piU (skwot'ing-pil), n. An opiate
pill; a pill adapted to squat or quiet a patient.
[Prov. Eng.]
squattle (skwot'l),?'. «. [Freq. ot squat^.]. To
settle down ; squat. [Scotch.]
Swith, in some beggar's haffet squattle ;
There ye may creep, and sprawl, and sprattle.
Bums, To a Louse.
squattocracy
squattocracy (skwot-ok'ra-si), H. [For *squat-
tt-rocnici), < squatter^ + '^craey as ia aristoe-
rncij, etc.] The squatters of Australia collec-
tively: the rich squatters who are interested
in pastoral property. [Slang, Australia.]
The bloated sqttaltocracy represents Australian Con-
servatism. Mrs. Campbeil-Praed, The Head-Station, p. 35.
squatty (skwot'i), a. [< sguati + -i^i.] Sfjuat;
short and thick ; dumpy ; low-set.
A few yards away stood another short, squatty hem-
lock, and I said my bees ought to be there.
J. Burroughs, Pepacton, iii.
squaw (skwa). ii. [Formerly also squa ; < Mass.
Ind. squa, cshqua, Narragansett squ4ws, Cree
iskicew; Delaware ochqueu, khqiieu, a woman,
squaw, in comp. female.] A female American
Indian: an American Indian woman.
squaw-berry (skwa'ber'i), n. Same as squaic-
hurklihirrii.
squaw-duck (skwa'duk), n. See duck^.
squaw-huckleberry (skwa'huk'1-ber-i), n. The
deerberry, Vaccinium stnmineum, a neat low
bush of the eastern United States, with scarcely
edible fruit, but with pretty raeemed flowers
having white recurved corolla and projecting
yellow stamens.
squawk (skwak), r. i. [A var. of squeak, per-
haps affected by squalfi.} To cry with a loud
harsh voice ; make a load outcry, as a duck or
other fowl when frightened.
Your peacock perch, pet post.
To stmt and spread the tail and squawk upon.
Brouming.
squawk (skwak), n. [< squawk, r.] 1. A loud,
harsh squeak or squall.
Gerard gave a little squawk, and pat his fingers in his
ears. C. Reade, Cloister and Hearth, ixvi. (Davies.)
2. The American night-heron : same as qiiawk.
squawk-duck (skwak'duk), n. The bimacu-
latcd duck. See bimaculate. [Prov. Eng.]
squawker (skwa'k^r), m. [< squairk + -<t1.]
(Jiie wlio or that which squawks. Specifically— (a)
A duck'CaU. Sporttman's OazetUer. (b) A toy consisting
of a rubber bag tied to one end of a tube which contains
a tongue-piece or reed.
squawking-thrush (skwa'king-thrush), n. The
mistlcthrush. [Prov. Eng.]
squawlt, r. An obsolete spelling of squalP.
squaw-man (skwa'man), n. A white man who
has married a squaw, and has become more or
less identified with the Indians and their mode
of life : so called in contempt. [Western U. S.]
Nowadays those who live among and intermarry with
the Indians are looked down upon by the other frontiers-
men, who couteaiutuouBly term them squaw-men.
T. HooteveU, The Century, XXXVI. 8S2.
squaw-mint (skw&'mint), n. The American
pcniiyroytil, Hedeoma puleffioides. [Kare.]
squawroot (skw4'rOt), «. 1. A leafless fleshy
plaut, CoiiophoUs Americana, of the Orobancha-
teit, found in the eastern United
States. It grows from S to < Inches
high, with the thickness of a man's
thumb, and is covered with fleshy
scales having the flowers in their
axils, at length becoming hard. It is
more or less root- parasitic, and occurs
In clusters among fallen leaves in oak-
woods. Also eancer-rottt.
2. Rarely, the blue cohosh,
Ciiuliiphii'Uum thalietroides.
squaw-vine (skw&'vin), >i. The
part ridge -l>erry, Mitdiella re-
peiix. [Rare.]
sqnaw-weed (skwft'wed), n.
Same as golden ragwort (which
see, under ragwort).
squeak (skwek),t'. [E. dial, also
Ktceiik : < Sw. sqvfika, croak,
= Norw. sktaka, cackle,
= Icel. sk'-akka, sound like
water shaken.
in a bottle; an
imitative word,
parallel to simi-
lar forms with-
out initial » —
namely, Sw. qrdka = D&n.qrakka, croak, quack,
= Icel. kraka, twitter, chatter, etc. : see quacks.
Cf. squawk.] L intrans. 1. To utter a short,
sharp, shrill cry , as a pig or a rat ; make a sharp
noise, as a pipe or file, a wheel or hinge that
needs oiling, or the sole of a boot.
The sheeted dead
bid squeak and gibber in the Roman streets.
Shak., Hamlet, L 1. lie.
Beside, 'tis known he could speak Greek
As naturally as pigs squeak.
a. BuOer, Hadlbras^ I. t. 52.
Sqnawraot (C*n*^lutis Mmtricmma),
psntttic on the root of oak.
5879
2. To break silence or secrecy; speak out; turn
informer; "squeal"; peach. [Slang.]
If he be obstinate, pnt a civil question to him upon the
rack, and he squeaks, I warrant him,
I>ryden, Don Sebastian, iv. 3.
" She was at the Kaini of Derncleugh, at Vanbeest Brown's
last wake, a-s they call it." . . . " "That 's another breaker
ahead. Captain I Will she not squeak, think ye? "
ScM, Guy Manneriug, xxxiv.
3. To shirk an obligation, as the payment of a
debt. [Slang.]
II. trans. To utter with a squeak, or in a
squeaking tone.
And that, for any thing in Nature,
Pigs might squeak Love-Odes, Dogs bark Satyr.
Prior, To Fleetwood Shepherd.
squeak (skwek), «. [< squeak, t'.] A short,
sharp, shrill cry, such as that uttered by pigs or
mice, or made by a wheel or the hinge of a door
when dry.
With many a deadly grunt and doleful squeak.
Dryden, Cock ana Fox, 1. 732.
There chanced to be a coquette in the consort, . . . with
a great many skittish not€8 [and] affected squeaks.
Addison, Tatler, No. 157.
A squeak, or a narrow squeak, an escape by the mer-
est chance. [Colloq, or slang.] — Bubble and Squeak.
See bubblei .
squeaker (skwe'kfer), n. l<. squeak + -er^.'i 1.
One who or that which squeaks.
Mimical squeakers and bellowera.
Echard, On Ans. to Contempt of Clergy, p. 137. {Latham,)
2. A young bird, as a pigeon, partridge, or
quail; a chirper; a peeper; a squealer.
Mr. Campbell succeeded in bagging 220 grouse by even-
ing ; every squeaker was, however, counted.
W. W. Greener, The Gun, p. 535.
3. An Australian crow-shrike of the genus
Strepera, as .S. cuneicauda (oftener called ana-
phonensis, after Temminek, 1824, a specific name
antedated by the one given by Vieillot in 1816),
mostly of a grayish color, 19 inches long: so
called from its cries. — 4. One who confesses,
or turns informer. [Slang.]
8queaklly(skwe'ki-li),arfr. [< squeaky +■ -Zy*.]
With a thin, squeaky voice : as, to siagsqueak-
ibj.
Sqneakingly (skwe'king-li), adv. In a squeak-
ing manner; with a squeaky voice ; squeakily.
squeaklet (skwek'let), «. [< squeak + -let.]
A little squeak. [Affected.]
Vehement shrew-mouse squeaklet^.
CarlyU, Misc., III. 49. (Daties.)
squeaky (skwe'ki),n. [< squeak + -yi.} Squeak-
ing; inclined to squeak.
squeal^ (skwel), r. i. [< ME. squelen, < 8w. dial.
sqvdla = Norw. skrella, squall, squeal ; a var. of
squalF^, < Icel. skt-ala, squall: see squalP.] 1.
To utter a sharp, shrill cry, or a succession of
such cries, as expressive of pain, fear, anger,
impatience, eagerness, or the like,
she pinched me, and called me a squealing chit. Steele.
This child began to squeal about his mother, having
been petted hitherto and wont to get all he wanted by
raising bis voice but a little.
R. D. Blaekmore, Loma Doone, Ixix.
2. To turn informer; peach; "squeak." [Slang.]
The first step of a prosecuting attorney. In attacking a
criminal conspiracy. Is to sprelul abroad the rumor that
this, that, or the other confederate is a)>out to squeal ; he
knows that it will be but a few days before one or more
of the rogues will harry to his office to anticipate the
traitors by taming State's evidence.
The Centwry, XXXV. 849.
squeal^ (skwel), n. [< squeal^, r.] A shrill,
sliurp cry, more or less prolonged.
His lengthen'd chin, his tum'd-ap snout.
His eldritch squeal and gestures.
Bums, Holy Fair.
WXUeal^ (skwel), a. [Origin obscure.] Infirm ;
weak. [Prov. Eng.]
That he was weak, and ould, and squeal,
And seldom made a hearty meal.
Waeal (Peter PindarX Works (ed. 1794), I. 286. {HaUiwell.)
squealer (skwe'lfer), ». [< squeal^ + -eri.] 1.
One who or that which squeals. — 2. One of sev-
eral birds, (a) A young pigeon ; a sqaab ; a squeaker.
See cut under squab.
When ready to leave the nest and face the world for it-
self, it [a young pigeon] is a squealer, or, in market par-
lance, a squab. The Century, XXXIJ. 100.
(f>) The European swift, Cupseliu apus. Also Jaek^quealer,
sereeeher. (e) The American golden plover, Charadritis
dominieus. F. C. Broume. rPlymouth, Mass.) (<f) The
harlequin duck. O. Trumbull, 1888. (Maine.]
Squeamt (skwem), v. i. [A back-formation, <
squeamish.] To be squeamish. [Rare.]
I'his threat is to the fools that aqueam
At every thing of good esteem.
C. Smart, tr. of Fhiedras (1765X p. 146.
squeamish (Kkwe'mi.sh).«. [Also dial. »H?enmi«/i,
swaimish ; early mod. E. squeimish, squemish ;
squeeze
a later form (with suffix -i^k^ substituted for
orig. -ous) of squeamous : see squeamous. The
sense ' apt to be nauseated' may be due in part
to association with qualmish.] 1. Easily dis-
gusted or nauseated; hence, fastidious; scru-
pulous ; particular ; nice to excess in questions
of propriety or taste; finical: as, a squeamish
stomach; squeamish notions.
Let none other meaner person despise learning, nor . . .
be any whit squeimish to let it be publisht vnder their
names. Pxtttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 17.
The modem civilized man is squeamish about pain to a
degree which would have seemed effeminate or worse to
his great-grandfather. The Century, XXXVI. 633.
2. Qualmish; slightly nauseated ; siekish: as,
a squeamish feeling.
The wind grew high, and we, being among the sands,
lay at anchor; I began to be dizzy and squeamish.
Pepys, Diary, I. 43.
= Ssm. 1. Dainty, Fattidiom, etc. (see nice), overnice, strait-
laced.
SClueamishly (skwe'mish-li), adv. In a squeam-
ish or fastidious manner; with too much nice-
ness or daintiness.
squeamishness (skwe'mish-nes), n. The state
or quality of being squeamish ; excessive nice-
ness or daintiness; fastidiousness; excessive
scrupulousness.
squeamoust ( skwe'mus), a. [E. dial, also sieai-
mous; early mod. E.sgMenioKS, skoymose, < ME.
squaimous, squaymous, squuymose, skeymous,
skoymus, sweymous, disdainful, fastidious, <
sweme, siceem, E. dial, sweam, dizziness, an at-
tack of sickness: see sweam. The word has
now taken the foimsqueamish. The dial, change
of sw- to squ- (which in ME. further changes to
sk-) occurs in many words : cf . sq»ander.] Same
as squeamish.
Thou wert not skoymus of the maidens wombe.
Te Deum (14th century), quoted in N. and Q., 4th ser.,
IIII. 181.
But soth to say he was somdel squaimmis.
Chaucer, Miller's Tale.
Thow art not skoymose thy fantasy for to tell.
Balers Kytige Johan, p. 11. {HallitceU.)
Squean^t, v. i. [A var. of squin.] To squint.
squean- (skwen), v. ». [Prob. imitative; cf.
sqiieal^.] To fret, as the hog. HalUwell; Wright.
[Prov. Eng.]
squeasinesst (skwe'zi-nes), n. Queasiness;
quuliuisiiness; nausea.
A squeasiness and rising up of the heart against any mean,
vulgar, or mechanical condition of men.
Hammond, Works, IV. 614.
Squeasyf (skwe'zi), a. [Mso squeezy ; formerly
squcazy ; a var. of queasy (with intensive s-, as
in splash for plash^, squench for quench): see
queasy.] Queasy; qualmish; squeamish; scru-
pulous.
His own nice and squeam stomach, still weary of his last
meal, puts him into a study whether he should eat of his
best dish or nothing. Rev. T. Adams, Works, I. 426.
The women are few here, squeezy and formal, and little
skilled in amusing themselves or other people.
Gray, Letters, I. 202.
squeege (skwej), v. and n. A dialectal form of
squeeze. Mayhew, London Labour and Loudon
Poor, II. 530.
squeegee (skwe'je), n. [A form of squilgee, sim-
uliiting s<ineege for squeeze.] 1. Naut., same
as squilgee. — 2. In photog., a stout strip of soft
rubber set longitudinally in a wooden back
which serves as a handle, and beyond which
the rubber projects, it is used for expressing moist-
ure from paper ifrints, for bringing a fllm into close con-
tact with a glass or mount, etc., and is also made in the
form of a roller of soft rubber, much resembling a printers'
inking-roller.
squeegee .(skwe'je), v. t. [< squeegee, n.] To
treat with a squeegee or squilgee.
A giac(^ finish may easily be obtained hy squeegeeing the
waslied print on a polished plate of hard rubber.
Sci. Amer., N. S., LX. 58.
[< squeeza-
T'he quality or state
of being squeezable. Imp. Diet.
squeezable (skwe'za-bl), a. [< squeeze + -able.]
1. Capable or admitting of being squeezed;
compressible. — 2. Figuratively, capable of be-
ing constrained or coerced : as, a squeezable gov-
ernment. [Colloq.]
You are too versatile and too squeezable; . . . you take
impressions too readily.
Savage, Reuben Medlicott, L 9. (Davies.)
The peace-of-niind-at-any-price disposition of that (Glad-
stone] Cabinet had rendered it squeezable to any extent.
Lowe, Bismarck, II. 230.
squeeze (skwez), v. ; pret. and pp. squeezed,
ppr. squeezing. [Early mod. E. also squize,
squise, E. dial, also sqxtizzen (also perversely
squeege); with intensive «-, < ME. queisen,
squeezability (skwe-za-biri-ti), n.
hie + -ity (see -hility).]
squeeze
squeeze, < AS. ncesan, ewysan, cirisan (in comp.
td-cicysa«, to-cicesan), crush; ef. Sw. qriixd,
squeeze, bruise; D. kwetsen = MHGr. queUien,
6. qiietsehen, G. dial. quet::en, crush, squash,
bruise ; MLG. qua Item , quettern, squash, bruise ;
Goth, hcistjatiy destroy; Lith. gais:ti. destroy.]
L trans. 1. To press forcibly ; subject to stro'ng
pressure; exert pressure upon : &s,to squeeze a,
sponge ; hence, to bruise or crush by the appli-
cation of pressure : as, to squeeze one's fingers
in a vise ; apply force or pressure to for the
purpose of extracting something: as, to squeeze
a lemon.
O Phylax, spare
My squeaed Soul, least from herself she start
Loose, loose the Buckle ! If the time be come
That I must die, at least afford me room.
J. Beauinotit, Psyche, Hi. 206.
The people submit quietly when their governor tqueezei
their purses. Pococke, Description of the East, II. i. 151.
The Ingredients for punch were all in readiness; but
no one would squeeze the oranges till he came.
Fielding, Joseph Andrews, i. 13.
2. To press in sympathy or affection, or as a
silent indication of interest or emotion : as, to
squeeze one's hand.
He is said to be the first that made love by squeezing
the hand. Steele, Spectator, No. 109.
With my left hand I took her right — did she squeeze
it? I think she did.
Thackeray, Fitz- Boodle Papers, Dorothea.
3. To produce or procure by the application of
pressure; express; extract: usually with out:
as, to squeeze consent from an official.
Qveise out the jus. Reliq. Antiq., I. 302.
When day appeared, ... I began againe to sqidse out
the matter (from a wound], <fe to annoint it with a litle
salue which I had.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1677), p. 146.
He [Canute] squees'd out at the English, though now
Us subjects, not nis Enemies, 72, some say 82, thousand
pound. iiaton, Hist. Eng., vi.
They can squeeze Bourdeaux out of a sloe, and draw
Champagne from an apple. Addison, Tatler, No. 181.
4. To thrust forcibly; force: withJHto, or other
similar adjunct: as, to squeeze a gown into a
box.
He (Webster] has not the condensing power of Shake-
speare, who squeezed meaning into a phrase with an hy-
draulic press. Lowell, Study Windows, p. 318.
Schneider had provided himself at the Greenland ports
with the entire costume of the Eskimo belle, and, being a
small man, was able to squeeze himself into the gai-ments.
A. W. Greet)/, Arctic Service, p. 176.
5. To harass or oppress by exactions or the
like.
The little officers oppress the people ; the great officers
squeeze them. Pococke, Description of the East, I. 171.
The whole convict system is a money-making affair ; . . .
they all just naturally squeeze the convict.
The Century, XX. 221.
6. To obtain a facsimile impression of on paper,
by means of water and rubbing or beating. See
squeeze, n., 3.
But the overhang of the rock makes It extremely diffi-
cult to squeeze satisfactorily. Athemeum, No. 3284, p. 455.
Squeezed-in vessel, a vessel of pottery or glass whose
form indicates that it has been pressed in on opposite
sides, as if nipped by the fingers. It is a common form
in Roman glass bottles ; and many Japanese flasks of stone-
ware also have this shape.
II. intrans. 1. To press; press, push, or
force one's way through or into some tight,
narrow, or crowded place ; pass by pressing or
pushing.
Many a public minister comes empty in ; but, when he
has crammed his guts, he is fain to squeeze hard before he
can get off. Sir It. L Estrange.
2. To pass (through a body) under the appli-
cation of pressure.
A concave sphere of gold filled with water, and sodered
up, has, upon pressing the sphere with great force, let the
water squeeze through it and stand all over its outside in
multitudes of small drops like dew, without bursting or
cracking the body of the gold.
Newton, Opticks, ii. 3, prop. 8.
squeeze (skwez), n. [< squeeze, v.'] 1. Pres-
sure, or an application of pressure; a hug or
embrace; a friendly, sympathetic, or loving
grasp: as, a squeeze of the hand.
Had a very affectionate squeeze by the hand, and a fine
compliment in a corner. Gray, Letters, I. 239.
The Squire shook him heartily by the hand, and con.
gratulated him on his safe arrival at Headlong Hall. The
doctor returned the squeeze, and assured him that the
congratulation was by no means misapplied.
Peacock, Headlong Hall, iii.
2. Crush; crowding.
The pair of MacWhirters journeyed from Tours, . . .
and, after fourand-twenty hours of squeeze in the dili-
gence, presented themselves at nightfall at Madame
ainolensk's. Thackeray, Philip, uvi.
5880
3. A cast or an impression, as of an inscrip-
tion or a coin, produced by forcing some plastic
material into the hollows or depressions of the
surface ; especially, such a facsimile or impres-
sion made by applying sheets of wet unsized
paper to the object to be copied, and thorough-
ly passing over the sheets with light blows of
a stiff brush, so as to force the paper into every
inequality. The paper, upon drying, hardens, yielding
a perfect and durable negative, or reversed copy, of the
original. Tins method is employed by archseologists for
securing faithful transcripts of ancient inscriptions.
It is to him that we owe the copies and squeezes of the
Nabathean Inscriptions. Contemporary Hev., LIV. 302.
Armed, therefore, with a stock of photographic plates,
and with the far more essential stock of paper for making
moulds or squeezes from the stone, I began work on the
temples of Thebes. Harpers Mag., LXXVII. 297.
squeezer (skwe'zer), n. l< squeeze + -er^.'] 1.
One who or that which squeezes. Specifically—
(a) In iron-working, a machine employed in getting the
puddled ball into shape, or shingling it, without hammer-
ing. (See puddling.) Squeezers are of two kinds, recipro-
cating and rotary. The essential feature of the recipro-
cating form is that a movable arm or lever works against
a corresponding fixed jaw, the fonner representing the
Rotary Squeezer.
tr, ridged eccentric casing : d, ridged roller. The lint] of metal enters
at c, in tlie direction shown by the arrow, and emerges at c .
hammer, the latter the anvil, of the old method of shin-
gling with the hammer. In the rotary squeezer the pud-
dled ball is brought into shape by being passed between a
cast-iron cylinder and a cylindrical casing, the former
being placed eccentrically within the latter so that the
distance between their surfaces gradually diminishes in
the direction of the rotation. The ball, being introduced
at the widest part of the opening, is carried forward and
finally delivered at the narrower end, reduced in size and
ready for rolling. (6) In sheet-metal working, a crimping-
machine for forcing the tops and covers of tin cans over
the cylinders which form the sides of the cans, (c) A
lemon-squeezer.
2. pi. A kind of playing-cards in which the face-
value of each card is shown in the upper left-
hand corner, and can readily be seen by squeez-
ing the cards slightly apart, without displaying
the hand — Alligator squeezer. Same as crocodile
squeezer.— Crocodile squeezer, a peculiarform of squeez-
er, having a long projecting tipper jaw armed with teeth.
It is used in the manufacture of iron.
squeezing (skwe'zing), n. [Verbal n. of squeeze,
«'.] 1. The act of pressing; compression. — 2.
That which is forced out by or as by pressure ;
hence, oppressive exaction.
The dregs and squeezings of the brain.
Pope, Essay on Criticism, 1. 607.
squeezing-box (skwe'zing-boks), n. In eeram.,
a cylinder of metal, through an opening in the
bottom of which plastic clay is forced in a
continuous ribbon of any desired section, to
form lugs, handles, etc.
squeezyt, «. See squeasy.
squelcn (skwelch), n. [Formerly also squelsh;
prob. a var., with intensive prefix s-, of E. dial.
quelch, a blow, bang.] A crushing blow; a
heavy fall. [Colloq.]
But Ralpho, who had now begun
T' adventure resurrection
From heavy squelch, and had got up. -
S. Butler, Hudibras, I. iL 933.
squelch (skwelch), r. [See squelch, n."] 1. trans.
1. To crush down; stamp on as if squeezing
out something liquid; put an end to. [Colloq.]
'Sfoot, this Fat Bishop hath so overlaid me,
^ squelch' d and squeezed me.
Middleton, Game at Chess, v. 3.
Here, all about the fields, is the wild carrot. You cut
off its head, just before it ^eeds, and you think you have
squelched it; but this is just what Nature . . . wanted
you to do. J. Burroughs, The Century, XIX. 688.
2. To disconcert ; discomfit; put down. [Col-
loq.]
Luke glanced shamefaced at the nosegay in his button-
hole, and was squelched.
J. W. Palmer, After his Kind, p. 120.
II. intrans. To be crushed. [Colloq.]
squid
squelet, v. A Middle English form of squeal.
squelert, squeleryt, «. Middle English forms
of sculler'^, scullery.
squencll (skwench), r. t. [A var., with inten-
sive prefix S-, of quench.'] To quench. Beau,
and Fl. [Obsolete or vulgar.]
squerelt, squerrelt, squerrilt, n. Obsolete
i()rms of squirrel.
squeteague (skwe-teg'), n. [Also squetee, squi-
tee, squit; of Amer. Ind. origin.] A salt-water
scisenoid fish, Cynosciou regalis (formerly Oto-
Uthus regalis), also called weakfish, sea-salmon,
and sea-trout in common with some other mem-
bers of the same genus, it is silvery, darker above,
with many irregular, small, dark blotches tending to form
oblique undulating bars. It is common from Cape Cod
southward, and is a valued food-flsli. A more distinctly
marked fish of this kind is C. macnlatus, the spotted
squeteague, weakflsh, or sea-trout, of more southerly dis-
tribution. See Cynmcion, and cut under weakfish.
squib (skwib), «).; pret. and pp. squibbed, ppr.
squibhing. [A var. of "squip, < ME. squippen,
a var. of swip (ME. swippen), move swiftly,
sweep, dash: see swip, swi2)e.i I. intrans. 1.
To move swiftly and irregularly.
A battered unmarried beau, who squibs about from place
to place. Goldsmith, Citizen of the World, Ixxxviii.
2. [< squib, n., 3.] To make a slight, sharp re-
port, like that of an exploding squib. — 3. [<
squib, n., 4.] To resort to the use of squibs, or
petty lampoons.
II. trans. 1. To throw (in or out) suddenly;
explode.
Thou wouldst neuer smtib out any new Salt-petre
lestes against honest Tucca.
Dekker, Humorous Poet (Works, ed. Pearson, I. 235>.
He [Mr. Brian Twyne] squibs in this parenthesis.
Fuller, Hist. Cambridge University, i. § 62.
2. [< squib, n., 4.] To attack in squibs; lam-
poon.
squib (skwib), n. [< squib, ».] 1 . A ball or tube
filled with gunpowder, sent or fired swiftly
through the air or along the ground, exploding
somewhat like a rocket.
Like a Sqjtib it falls.
Or flre-wingd shaft, or sulph'ry Powder Balls,
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 2.
Nor nimble squib is seen to make afeard
The gentlewomen.
B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, Prol.
So squibs and crackers tly into the air.
Then, only breaking with a noise, they vanish
In stench and smoke. Ford, Broken Heart, IL 2.
2. A reed, rush, quill, or roll of paper filled
with a priming of gunpowder; a tube of some
kind used to set off a charge of gunpowder, as
at the bottom of a drill-hole. Also called mote,
train, and match. — 3. A fire-cracker, espe-
cially one broken in the middle so that when
it is fired the charge explodes without a loud
report. — 4. A petty lampoon; a short satirical
writing or sketch holding up a person or thing
to ridicule.
Allowing that . . . (the play] succeeds, there are a
hundred squtbs flying all abroad to prove that it should not
have succeeded. Goldsmith, Polite Learning, x.
5t. One who writes lampoons or squibs; a petty
satirist ; a paltry, trifling fellow.
The squibs are those who, in the common phrase of the
word, are called libellers, lampooners, and pamphleteers.
Steele, Tatler, No. 88.
6. A kind of cheap taffy, made of treacle.
And there we had a shop, too. for lollipops and squibs.
Hood. Lines by a Schoolboy.
squibbish (skwib'ish), a. [< squib + -w/il.]
Flashy; light. T. Mace, Music's Montmient.
(Dalies.)
squid (skwid), n. [Origin unknown.] 1. A
kind oiE cuttlefish or ealamary; a dibranchiate
cephalopod with ten arms, especially of the
family LoUqinidx or Teuthididie. The name is
most frequently given to the small, slender calamaries,
a few inches long and with a caudal fin, which are much
used as bait, but is extended (with or without a qualifying
term) to many other species of different genera and fami-
lies, some of which, as the giant squids, are the largest
of cephalopods. See cuts under Architeuthis, ealamary,
Desmoteuthis, Lolininidse, Sepiola, and Spirtda. and com-
pare those under Dibranchiata, cuttlefish, and Sepia.
2. An artificial bait or lure of metal, ivory,
etc., used in angling or trolling for fish, often
simply a fish-hook on the shank of which a mass
of lead is melted in cylindrical or tapering form
to imitate a squid (def.l) False squids, the Loli-
gopsid/e.—TlTing squids, the Ommastrephida'.— aiaiit
squids, the very large cephalopods of the genus Archi-
teuthis, as A. harveyiof the .Atlantic coast of North Amer-
ica, among those called devil fish. See cut under Archi-
teuttis.— Long-armed squids, the Cldroteuthidid/e.—
Long-finned squids, specie.s of Lnligiuidje. See cut un-
der Loliginidie.— Short-Bjinei sqiilds, species of Om-
mastrephes, as 0. Ulecebrostui. common in New England
seas and northward, and a principal som-ce of bait.
BQUid
Sqnid (skwid), v. i. ; pret. and pp. squidded, ppr.
sqiiidding. [< squid, «.] To tish with a squid
or spoon-bait.
8qilid(iing(skwid'ing),n. [Verbal n.ofs3««d,r.]
The act. art. or practice of fishing with a squid.
squid-fork (skwid'fork), h. An instrument
used by fishermen in baiting with a squid.
Squid-hQUnd (skwid'hound), «. The striped-
bass. Uoccuis lineatus. See cut under bass.
squid-jig (skwid'jig), n. A squid-jigger.
squid-jigger (skwid'jig'^r), «. A device for
catehmg squids, consisting of a number of
hooks soldered together by the shanks so that
the points radiate in all directions. It is dragged
or jerked tlirough the water.
S^uid-jigging (skwid'jig'ing), n. The act of
jigging for squids; the use of a squid-jigger;
squidding.
squid-thrower (skwid'thr6'6r), n. A device,
on the principle of the catapult, used in trolling
to cast a fishing-line seaward. E.H. Knujht.
squier't, ». An obsolete spelling of squire^.
squier-t, «. An obsolete form ot square^.
squieriet, «■ An obsolete spelling of squiry.
Squiggle (skwig'l), v. i. ; pret. and pp. sqiiig-
ylid, ppr. squiggUng. [Appar. a var., with in-
tensive prefix «-, of 'quiggle, E. dial, queegle,
a var. of wiggle: see wiggle. \ 1. To shake a
fluid about in the mouth with the lips closed.
[Prov. Eng.] — 2. To move about like an eel;
.squirm; wriggle. [Colloq., U. S.]
squilert, «. A Middle English form of sculler"^.
squilgee (skwil'je), n. [Also sqiiillagee, squill-
gee, also squeegee, squegee (see squeegee); origin
obscure ; perhaps connected with swill, stcile,
wash, rinse; but the term, is not explained.]
1. Xaut.: (a) An implement somewhat resem-
bling a wooden hoe, with an edge of india-rub-
ber or thick leather, used to scrape the water
from wet decks, (ft) A small swab, (c) A
becket and toggle used to confine a studding-
sail while setting it. — 2. One of several imple-
ments constructed like the nautical implement
above defined (1 (a)), used for washing glass,
in photographic work, etc. See squeegee, 2.
squilgee (skwil'je), v. t. [< squilgee, n.J S'aut.,
to scrape (the wet decks of a ship) with a
squilgee.
The washing, swabbing. iquUgeeing, etc , luts, or is made
to la<t, until eight o'clocli, when breakfut is ordered, fore
and a(t A. //. iMiia, Jr.,Be(orethe Hast, p. 100.
squllgee-toggle (skwil'je-tog'l), n. A toggle
with ii small line fastened to it, used to secure
a strap round a studdingsail while being set,
so that by pulling out the squilgee when the
sail is hoisted far enough the sail is released.
SqniU^ (skwil), «. [< M.E.squille, squylle,sqwyUe,
squyle, < OF. squille, scille, F. squille, scille =
8p. esquila = Pg. sciila = It. squilla, < L. squil-
la, sciila, squill, = Or. aiu?y.a, squill, perhaps
for 'bkiA'/m (as equiv. ir^ixwffor 'axi^vo^), and so
called from its splitting easily into scales, < axi-
C'lv, split: tee schism.'] 1. The medicinal bulb
of Vrginea Sciila, or the
plant itself; the officinal
B({uill. See Vrginea. — 2.
Any plant of the genus
Sciila (which see), s. nutans
Is commonly called bluebeU, or
wUd hyadrttk. The springsquill,
S. oerna, and the autumn uaiU,
S. autumnatut, are small Euro-
pean wild flowers of no great
merit in cultivation. The star-
Dowered squill, 5. ameeaa, is a
distinct early species, the Howera
indigo-blue with large yellowish-
green OTary, less at&actiire than
the species following. The early SqoUl (Urfimea Sciila).
aqniU, S. tri/olia. produces rich
masses of dark-blue Howera very early In the (pring. The
toanish aquiU, S. Uvpanita (S. campanvtaU), is a fine npe-
eies of early summer, with a strong pyramidal lacemi.- uf
large pendent osually light blue flowers : also called Spat\-
UhUutbeU. Theltallansqulll,^. 7((iJua,haBpale'blue flow-
ers with intensely blue stamens. The pyramidal or Peni-
Tlan Mjuill, S. Peruviana, not from Peru, but from the
Mediterranean region, has pale-blue flowers with white
stamenii, the flowers very numerous in a regular pyramid.
The Siberian wiulll. S. SMrica (S. amctnula\ not from Si-
beria, but from southern Russia, is a very choice small early-
flowering species, the blossom of a peculiar porcelain-blue.
These are ail hardy except the pyramidal squill.— Chinese
■qnill, a species of SeUla, .9. Chineiuit, once classed as
Barnardia. — Compound symp of squUl. See in/rtip.
— Ozy uiel of squUL .See oiymW.— Pancratic squill,
a variety nl tlju ..fBi inal squiU said to he milder In iU
action. — Koman squill, the Roman hyacinth, llyadiUhut
Homaniu. uiice classed as .%tf<a, alio as BeiUvalia.—WiU.
squill, the American wild hyacinth, or eastern camass,
CamaMiia (.VoiUa) Frateri.
Bqnill''^ (skwil), n. [< L. squilla, sciila, a small
fish of the lobster kind, a prawn, shrimp, so
called from a supposed resemblance to the
5881
bulb or plant of the same name: see squill^.']
X. A stomatopodous crustacean of the genus
Squilla or tamily Sqttillidfe ; a mantis-shrimp or
squill-fish. See cuts imder mantis-shrimp and
Squillidse. — 2t. -Aji insect so called from its re-
semblance to the preceding; a mantis. .Also
called squill-insect.
Squilla (skwil'a), n. [NL. (Fabricius), < L.
squilla, sciila, a prawn: see squill^.'] 1. The
representative genus of Squillidx, containing
such crustaceans as S. mantis, the common
mantis-shrimp or locust-shrimp. The southern
squill of the United States is Coronis glahrius-
cula. See cuts under mantis shrimp and Squil-
lidte. — 2. [I.e.] Same as $9Kt22^, 1. — 3t. [i.e.]
Same as squill^, 2.
Tlie Squilla, an insect, differs but little from the fish
Squilla. Moufet, Theater of Insects, II. xxivii.
squillagee (skwil'a-je), n. Same as squilgee.
squillante (skwil-i&n'te), a. [It., ppr. of sqidl-
/«Cf, clang, ring.] In mitsic, ringing ; bell-like
in tone.
squill-fish (skwil'fish), n. A squill, or some
similar crustacean.
Squillian (skwil'i-an), a. [= F. squillien; as
L. squilla, squill (see squilp^), + -ian.] Ot or
pertaining to a squill; belonging or relating to
the Squillidse.
Squillids (skwil'i-de), «. pi. [NL., < Squilla
-f -idse.] A family of stomatopod crustaceans.
squint
Locust-bhrimp ^SfuiUa scatruaMda), in lonxitudinal vertical
sectioii.
I -XX, Uie somites; I' -XX', their appendages, of mo&t of which
the bases ooljr are seen. At, alimentary canal ; C, heart ; Am, anus :
T, telion ; ^r, tiranchix ; /, penis.
typified by the genus Squilla, to which the Sto-
nuiUipoda are sometimes restricted; the man-
tis-shrimps or gastrurans. The pseudogenus^Kma
and at least two other spurious genera were named from
larval forms of -this family. Other good genera than
the type are Coronit and Gotwdactylug. Also called SquH-
loidea.
squill-insectt (skwil'in'sekt), n. Same as
squiir-, l!. X Oreir.
squillitic (skwi-lit'ik), a. [< L. squilliticus, scil-
Titicus, < Or. <T«XA/r(/«if, pertaining to the squill :
see squill".] Of, pertaining to, or obtained from
squills.
A decoction of this kind of worms sodden in tquillitieke
yinegre. UMand, tr. of Fllny, xxz. 3.
aquimble-squamblet, adv. Same as skimble-
scambte, Votgrave.
squint (skwin), v. i. and t. [Also squean, skeen,
sken, also «g^inny, formerly squiny ; cf. squint.]
To squint.
As doctors In their deepest doubta
Stroke op their foreheads hie ;
Or men amaide their sorrow flouts
By meaning with the eye.
A rmin't Italian Taylor and hit Boy (1609). (Ifara. )
Squinancet (skwin'ans), n. Same as squin-
aiiry, 1.
Squinancyf (skwin'an-si), n. [Also eontr. s^uin-
cy, squiiisy; < 'M.E. squinacie, sqwinacie, < OF.
esquinancie,squinaHcie, quiney: see quinsy.] 1.
Quinsy.
Diseases that be verie perillous : ... to wit, the Pleu-
reale, Squiruineie, inflammation, sharpe Feuer, or Apo-
plexie. Guevara, Letters (tr. by Uellowea, 1677X p. 285.
2. The quinsywort.
squinancy-berryt (skwin'an-si-ber'i), n. Same
as (luiiisif-lifrry.
squikancy-wortt (skwin'an-si-wfert), n. Same
as i/iiiiLiywort.
squincet, "• [Early mod. E. squynce; var. of
squincy, etc.] Same as squinancy.
Diieaiai and sickenesses, as npiyneet.
Sir T. Etyot, The OoTemour, ill. 22.
squinchi (skwinch), n. [A var. of sconce^.]
In arch., a small arch, or a series of arches,
corbeled out, thrown across an angle, as in a
siiuaro tower to support the side of a superim-
posed octagon. In Western architecture It is frequent
as performing the function of the Eastern pendentive.
The application of the term may be due to the reaem-
blance of this structure to a corner cupboard, which was
also callril 8(|iilni:h or sconce. See cut in next column.
squinch'-' (skwinch), n. A dialectal variant of
quince.
Squinch.
squincyt, n. [A contraction of squinancy: see-
squinancy, quinsy.] Quinsy.
Shall not we be suspected for the murder,
And choke with a hempen squincy ?
Handolph, Jealous Lovers, iii. 14^
squin-eyet, «• A squinting eye.
squink (skwingk), v. i. [A dial, form of mnkr
see squint andi wink.] To wink. [Prov. Eng.]
squinny (skwin'i), v. i. [Formerly also squiny :
seesquin.] To squint. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
I remember thine eyes well enough. Dost thou squiny
at me! Shak., Lear, iv. 6. 140.
squint (skwint), a. and «. [Not found in ME.,
except as in asquint, askew; appar. an exten-
sion of the obs. or dial, squin, squean, sken,
prob. connected with D. schuinen, slant, slope,
schuin, slant, sloping; perhaps associated with
E. dial, squink, wink, partly a var. of wink,
partly < Sw.»ri«t«, shrink, flinch, nasalized form
of svika, balk, flinch, fail ; cf. Dan. svigte, bend,
fail, forsake; AS. swican, escape, avoid. The-
history of the word is meager, and the forms-
appar. related are more or less involved.] I.
a. 1. Looking difiEerent ways; characterized,
by non-coincidence of the optic axes; affected
with strabismus : said of eyes.
Some things that are not heard
He mutters to hiinseife, and his squint eye
Casts towards the Moone, as should his wits there lye.
Ueywood, Dialogues (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, VI. 190).
2. That looks or is directed obliquely; look-
ing askance ; indirect ; oblique ; sinister.
The pleasure I shall live in, and the freedom.
Without the squint eye of the law upon me.
Or pntting liberty of tongues that envy !
Fletcher, Rule a Wife, IIL 1.
I incline to hope, rather than fear,
And gladly banish squint suspicion-
MUUm, Comus, 1. 413.
Stmlnt quoin, In areh., an external oblique angle.
II. n. 1. An affection of the eyes, consisting
in non-coincidence of the optic axes; a squint
eye ; strabismus (which see).
He 's blue eyes, and not to be called a squint, though a lit-
tle cast he 's certainly got. Hood, The Lost Heir.
2. An oblique or furtive look; a furtive-
glance ; hence (colloquially), a leaning, an in-
clination: as, he had a decided squint toward
democracy. — 3. In arch., an oblique opening
through the walls of some old churches, usu-
ally having for
its object to
enable a person
in the transepts
or aisles to see
the elevation of
the host at the
high altar. The
usual situation for
a squint is on one
or both sides of the
chancel arch ; but
they are also found
in other positions,
though always di-
rected toward an
altar. Generally
they are not above
a yard high, and 2
Squints, Minster-Lovel Church, Oxford-
shire, England.
A A, squints ; B B, transepts ; c, chancel ;
D, altar.
feet wide, but sometimes they form narrow arches 10 or
12 feet in height, as at Minster-Lovel, Oxfordshire. The
name ho'jioscopi' is sometimes applied to them. — Braid's
squint, the turning of the eyes simultaneously upward
and inward, as if trying to look at the middle of one's own
forehead, as a means of producing a hypnotic state.
squint (skwint), V. [< squint, «.] I. intrans.
1. To look askew, or with the eyes differently
directed; look askance.
He gets a crick in his neck oft-times with squinting up-
at windowes and Belconies.
Brt/rm, Sparagus Garden, ill 4.
Some can squint when they will. Bacon.
2. To be affected with strabismus. — 3. To mu
or be directed obliquely ; have an indirect refer-
ence or bearing.
Not a period of this epistle but squints towards another
over against it. Pop^
saoint
Not meaning . . .
His pleasure or his good alone,
But squiiMiiy partly at ray own.
Cowper, To Rev. \V. Bull, June 22, 1782.
U. trans. 1. To render squint or oblique;
affect with strabismus.
Let him but use
An unsway'd eye, not gquinted with affections.
Heytcood^ Dialogues (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, VI. 22t>).
He gives the web and the ptn, gqiwU-it the eye, and makes
the hare-lip. Shak., Lear, lii. 4. 122.
2. To turn, cast, or direct obliquely.
Perkin . . . raised his Siege, and marched to Taunton ;
beginning already to xquint one eye upon the crowne and
another upon the sanctuary.
Bacon, Hist. Hen. Wl., p. 183.
squinter (skwin'tfer), n. [< squin t + -erl .] One
who squints; a cross- or squint-eyed person.
1 pass over certain dilHculties about double images,
drawn from the perceptions of a few squhiterg.
W. James, Mind, XII. 623, note.
Sq,Uint-eyed(skwint'id),a. l. Having eyes that
squint; having eyes with non-coincident axes.
y. Bailey, tr. of Colloquies of Erasmus, I. 103.
— 2. Oblique; indirect; sinister; malignant.
This is such a false and squinteyed praise,
Which, seeming to look upwards on his glories,
Looks down upon my f eai-s.
Str J. De/iAam, TheSophy. {Latham.)
3. Looking obliquely or by side-glances: as,
squint-eyed jealousy or envy.
The hypocrite . . . looks squint-eyed, aiming at two
things at once ; the satisfying liis own lusts, and that the
world may not be aware of it
Re«. T. Adams, Works, I. 494.
squintifegot (skwin-ti-fe'go), a. [< squint +
-if ego, an arbitrary termination. J Squinting.
The timbrel, and the squitxtifego maid
Of Isis, awe thee.
Dryden, tr. of Persius's Satires, v. 271.
squinting (skwin'ting), ». [Verbal n. oisquiut,
r.] The act or habit of looking asquint; stra-
bisratis.
squintingly (skwin'ting-li), adv. With squint
look; by side-glanees.
squint-minded (skwint'mm'ded), a. Deceit-
ful; crooked-minded. Urquhart, tr. of Rabe-
lais, ii. 34. [Rare.]
squinyt, i'. i. See squinny.
squir (skwer), r. t. and i. [Also squirr ; a var.
of *quir for whirr: see whirr.'] To throw with
a jerk. [Prov. Eng.]
I saw him squir away his watch a considerable way into
the Thames. Budgell, Spectator, No. 77.
Boys squir pieces of tile or flat stones across ponds or
brooks to make what are denominated ducks and drakes.
Halliwell.
squiralty (skwir'al-ti), n. [< squire^ + -ally,
after the analogy of loyalty.] Same as squire-
archy. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, I. xviii.
[Kare.]
squirarchy, ». See squirearchy.
squire' (sk-wir), «. [Also dial, square; early
mod. E. also squier; < ME. squier, squyer, sqwier,
scwier, swyere, by apheresis from esquire: see
esquire^.] 1. Aji esquire; an attendant on a
knight.
Than tolde Grisandolus how he dide laugh before the
abbey and in the cliapell, for the squyer that hadde smyten
his maister, and the dyuerse wordes that he liadde spoken.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 428.
The rest are princes, barons, lords, knights, squires.
And gentlemen of blood. Sliak., Hen. V., iv. 8. 94.
2. A gentleman who attends upon a lady ; an
escort ; a beau ; a gallant.
And eke himselfe had craftily devisd
To be her Squire, and do her service well aguisd.
Spenser, F. Q., II. 1. 21.
3. A person not noble nor a knight, but who has
received a grant of arms. — 4. In England, a
landed proprietor who is also justice of the
peace : a term nearly equivalent to lord of the
manor, as meaning the holder of most of tlie
land in any neighborhood. — 5. In the United
States, in country districts and towns, a justice
of the peace, a local judge, or other local dig-
nitary: chiefly used as a title Broom-squlie.
See the quotation.
"Broom-squires?" " So we call in Berkshire squatters
on the moor who live by tying heath into brooms."
Kiiiysley, Two Years Ago, xiv.
Sqtlire of dames, a man very attentive to women and
much in their company.
Marry, there I'm call'd
The Squire of Dames, or Servant of the Sex.
Massinyer, Emperor of the East, i. 2.
Sauire of the body, a personal attendant, originally on
a Knight, but later on a courtezan ; a pimp. — Squire of
the padt, a footpad ; a highwayman.
.Sometimes they are Squires of the Pad, and now and
then borrow a little Money upon the King's High Way, to
recruit their losses at the Gaming House.
Turn Eruuin, Works (ed. 1705).
5882
squire! (skwir), v. t. ; pret. and pp. squired, ppr.
sqiiiriufi. [< ME. "squiren, sqtiereii; < squire^,
«.] 1. To attend and wait upon, as a squire
his lord. — 2. To attend, as a gentleman a lady ;
wait upon or attend upon in the manner of a
squire; escort.
For he squiereth me hothe up and doun,
» Yet hastow caught a fals suspeccioun.
Chatwer, ProL to Wife of Bath's Tale,l. :i05.
To squire women about for other folks is as ungrateful
an employment as to tell money for other folks.
Wyctiertey, Country Wife, iv. 3.
Squire'^t, «• An old form of square^.
squireage (skwir'aj), n. [< squire^ + -aye.]
The untitled landed gentry ; the squires of a
country taken collectively. De Morgan, Bud-
get of Paradoxes, p. 46. [Rare.]
Squirearch (skwir'iirk), n. [< squirearch-y.] A
member of the squirearchy.
Man is made for his fellow-creatures. I had long been
disgusted with the interference of those selflsli squire-
arcfis. Bulwer, Caxtons, Ii. 11.
squirearcbal (skwir'ar-kal), a. [< squirearch
+ -(//.] Of or pertaining to a squirearchy.
Imp. Diet.
Squirearchical (skwir'Sr-ki-kal), a. [< squire-
, arch-y + -ic-al.] Of, pertaining to, or charac-
teristic of squirearch v or a squirearch. Bulwer,
My Novel, i. 10.
squirearchy (skwir'ar-ki), n. {_A\so squirarchy ;
C squire^ + Gr. apxia, rule (after analogy of
monarchy, etc.).] 1. In England, government
by the squires, or "country gentlemen" — that
is, the large landed proprietors, most of whom
are justices of the peace, and who, before the
Reform Bill of 1832, and to a certain extent af-
ter it, had great influence in the House of Com-
mons. Hence — 2. The squires themselves col-
lectively.
squireen (skwir-en'), n. [< squire'^ + dim. -cen,
common in Ir. words.] In Irelan<l, a small
landed proprietor: usually contemptuous.
Squireens are persons who, with good long leases or val-
uable farms, possess incomes of from three to eight hun-
dred a year, who keep a pack of hounds, take out a com-
mission of the peace, sometimes before they can spell (as
her ladyship said), and almost always Ijefore they know
anything of law or justice. Miss Edgeworth, Absentee, vii.
squirehood (skwlr'hud), n. [< squire^ + -hood.]
The state of being a squire ; the rank or posi-
tion of a squire. Sicift, Letter to the King at
Arms.
squirelt, "• An obsolete form of squirrel.
squirelet (skwir'let), M. [< squire^ ■¥ -let.] A
petty squire; a squireling. Varlyle, Misc., iii.
56. (Davies.)
squireling (skwir'ling), n. [< squire'^- + -ling^.]
A petty squire ; a squirelet.
But to-morrow, if we live.
Our ponderous squire will give
A grand political dinner
To half the squirelings near.
Tennyson, Maud, xx. 2.
Squirely (skwir'li), a. [< squire'^ -I- -ly^.] Be-
fitting or characteristic of a squire.
One very fit for this squirely function.
Shetton, tr. of Don Quixote, i. 4. {Latham..)
How could that oligarchy [the Southern States of the
United States], with its squirely tastes, its free wasteful
outdoor life, its love of landed property, and its contempt
for manual labour, become a trading community?
The Academy, July 20, 1880, p. 32.
Squireship (skwir'ship), n. [< squire'^ + -nhip.]
Same as squirehood. Shelton, tr. of Don (Quix-
ote, i. 4. (Latham.)
Squiress (skwir'es), n. [< squire^ + -ess.] The
wife of a squire. Bulwer, Pelham, vii. (Davies.)
[Colloq., Eng.]
squirm (skwerm), v. i. [Prob. a var. of squir,
throw witli a .ierk, influenced by association
with sitYfrOT and «ior»i ; see squir.] 1. To wrig-
gle or writhe, as an eel or a worm; hence, to
writhe mentally.
You never need think you can turn over any old false-
hood without a terrible squirmintj and scattering of the
horrid little population that dwells under it.
0. W. Holmes, Autocrat, v.
They [worms in the pupa state! only squirtn a little
in a feeble way now and then, and grow stiffer, till they
can't squirm at all, and then they're mummies, and that's
the end of it till the butterflies are born.
Mrs. Whitney, Leslie Goldthwaite, viii.
2. To climb by wriggling; "shin": as, to «</(«>>»
up a tree.
squirm (skwerm), )(. l<squirm,r.] 1. A wrig-
gling motion, like that of a worm or an eel. —
2. Nuut., a tvidst in a rope.
squirr, «'• See squir.
squirrel (skwur'el or skwir'el), n. [Early mod.
E. also squirril, squerrcl, squirel, squiril; < ME.
squirrel-fish
squirel, squyrcllc, scurcl, swcrclle, swyrelle, < OF.
esquirel.escurel, escuirel, eseureul, escureuil, es-
curieu, F. ecureuil = Pr. cscurol = Sp. Pg. esqui-
lo (cf. It. scojattolo, srojatto), < ML. sciuriolus.
sciurellus (also, after Rom., scuriolus, scurelliux,
escurellus, corruptly sirogrillus, cirogrillus, expe-
riolus, asperiolus, etc.), dim. of L. sciurus, < Gr.
aKiovpoi, a squin'el, lit. 'shadow-tailed,' < okio,
shadow, + ohpn, tail. For the sense, cf. E. dial.
skug, a squirrel, lit. 'shade': see slug.] 1. A
rodent quadruped of the family SHuridm and
genus Sciurus, originally and specifically Sciu-
rus vulgaris of Europe, squirrels have pointed eai-s
and a long bushy tail ; they are of active arboreal habits,
and ai"e able to sit up on their hind quarters and use the
fore paws like hands. 5". tmlgaris, called in England
skug, is a squirrel 8 or 10 inches long (the tail being nearly
European Squirrel {Sciurus vut£^aris).
as much more), with an elegant reddish-brown coat, white
below, and the ears tufted or penciled. It lives in trees,
is very agile and graceful in its movements, feeds on all
kinds of small hard fruits, nests in a liole, hibernates to
some extent in the colder latitudes, and brings forth usu-
ally three or four young. It is readily tamed, and makes
an interesting pet. The North American s<iuirrel nearest
to this one is the chickai-ee, or red squirrel. .S'. hudsonius.
(See cut under chickaree.) The common gray squirrel of
the United States is S. carolinensis. (See cut under Sciu-
rus.) Fox- or cat-squirrels are several large red, gray, or
black species of North America. (See cut under fox-
squirrel.) North America (including Mexico and Central
America) is very rich in squirrels ; southern Asia and
Africa are less rich, while South America and Europe have
each but a single species of Sciurus proper. In the ex-
tension of tile name squirrel to other genera of the family,
the species of Tamias, .Sperm ophilus, and Cynmnys are
distinguished as ground-sqidrrels or prairie-squirrels, and
some of them are also called marmot-squirrels {see cuts
under chiinnunk, Spennophilus, oui, and prairie-dog) ;
those of Sciuropterus and Pteromys are Jlyiny .srjuirrels
(see cuts under Jlyingsquirrel and Sciuropterus). The
scale-tailed squirrels of Africa belong to a different family,
Anmnaluridse. (See cut under Anomaluridir.) Certain
-Australian marsupials, as phalangers or petaurists, which
resemble squirrels, are improperly so called. (See cut
under Acrobates.) Some SciuHdie have other vernacular
names, as skug, assapan, taguau, jelerang, hackee, chick-
aree, gopher, sisel, suslik, prairie-dog, wishtonuish, etc. ;
but squirrel, without a qualifying term, is practically con-
fined to the genus Sciurus, all the many members of which
resemble one another too closely to be mistaken. See the
technical names, and cut under A'erus.
2. In cntton-manuf., one of the small card-cov-
ered rollers used with the large roller of a
carding-machine. Also called urchin Bark-
ing squirrel, the pi-airie-dog : an early name of this ani-
mal as brought to notice by Lewis and Clai-ke in 1814. —
Burrowing squirrel, Lewis and Clarke's name (1814) of
a prairie-dog, or some related prairie-stjuirrel. — CJllip-
plng-squlrrel, the chipmunk.— Federation squirrel,
the thirteen-lined spennophile, or striped gopher : so
called in allusion to tlie thirteen stripes of the flag of the
original States of the American Union. S. L. MitchiU,
1821. See cut under Spermophilus. — 'Bas.t the squlr-
reL See hunt. (See also flying-squirrel, prairie-squirrel,
sugar-squirrel.)
squirrel-bot (skwur'el-bot), n. A bot-fly, Cu-
titifrebra emasculator, whose larv» infest the
genital and axillary regions of various squir-
rels and gophers in the United States, particu-
larly the scrotum and testicles of the male of
Tamias striatus, the striped chipmunk.
squirrel-corn (skwur'el-korn), n. A pretty
spring wild flower, Dielytra (Dicentra) Cana-
densis, of eastern North America, it has elegant
dissected leaves, graceful racemes of a few cream-colored
heart-shaped blossoms, and separate yellow tubers which
rescndile kernels of Indian corn. See Dicentra. Less com-
monly called turkey-earn.
squirrel-cup (skwur'el-kup), n. The hepatica
or liverleaf .
squiirel-fish (skwur'el-fish), TO. 1. Any fish of
the family Holoccntridee, and especially of the
genus Holocentrus. The numerous species are re-
markable for the development of sharp spines almost
everywhere on the surface of the body. The name refers
to the noise they make when taken out of the water,
which suggests the bark of a squiiTel. H. peutaeanthusof
the West Indies, occasional on the United States coast, is
chiefly of a bright-red color, with streaks shiinng length-
wise ; its bright tints and quick movements make it one
of the most conspicuous denizens of rocky tide-pools.
See cut under Ilolocentridte.
SquuTCl 1:
:'ieo /errugim^uj) .
squirrel-fish
2. The Serrano, Diplectrum fascictdare, distin-
guished by the segregation of the serrse at the
angle of the preopereulum into two groups.
It is common in the West Indies, and also along
the southern United States coast to North Caro-
lina.— 3. A local name of the pinfish, Lagodon
rhomhoidcs.
squirrel-grass (skwur'el-grfts), n. Same as
Sfjiiirrcltuil.
squirrel-hake (skwur'el-hak), n. A gadoid
fisli, I'hi/cis chuss; the white hake. See chiiss,
hal:(-, 2, and cut under Pliyeis.
squirrel-hawk (skwur'el-hak), h. The ferru-
ginous rough-legged havtk, Archib^teo ferruffi-
neus, the larg-
est and hand-
somest bird
of its genus,
found in Cali-
fornia and
most other
parts of west-
em North
America from
British Amer-
ica south-
ward : so
called be-
cause it preys
extensively
upon ground-
squirrels and
related ro-
dents. It is 23
inches loiif; and
&6 in extent ;
when adult the
under parts are
nearly white,
with rich cbestnat flags barred with blaclc ; the tail is
mostly white, clouded with silver-gray, and tinged with
bay ; and the darlc upper parts are much varied with
brownish red.
Bquirrel-lemur (skwur'el-le'mtr), n. A lemur
of the subfamily Galaginime, and especially of
the genus Galago. See cut under Galago.
sqninrel-lock (skwur'el-lok), n. Squirrel-fur
from tlie under sides of the body. In gray
squirrels it is pale-yellow, and it is used for
lining winter gar-
ments.
sanirrel-monkey
(skwur'el-mung'-
ki), M. One of
many kinds of
small South
American mon-
keys ?rith a long,
bushy, and non-
prehensile tail:
go called from
their general as-
pect, (a) Any mem-
ber of the family
BapaUda or Midi-
dM; amarmoeet. See
cut under HapaU. (b)
Especially, a aaimirl
or titi of the genus
Chrjftftlhriz, aa the
death's-head, C. SCTurrut. See aoitmri, and compare soj^^n.
squirrel-moose fskwur'el-mous), n. Same as
squirrel-petaurist (skwur'el-pe-t&'rist), «. A
silnirri'l-ii'MalaiiK'T.
squirrel-phalanger (skwur'el-fa-lan'jfer), n.
An Au.stralian ttying-phalanger,' or petaurist,
as I'elaurm (Belidnis) seiureus, a marsupial
mammal resembling a squirrel in some re-
spects.
8<lUirrel-shrew (skwur'el-shrS), ». A small
insectivorous mammal of the family Tupaiidte,
as a banxring or a pentail. See cuts under
Tiipiiia and I'tilocercus.
sqnirreltail (skwur'el-tal), n. One of several
grasses of the genus Hordeum. (a) In Great Brit-
ain, H. mwiKmum,. and sometime* B. murintnn, the
wall-barley, and H. KcaUnum (U. pnUentt), the meadow-
barler. (6) In the United Htatea, cUefly B. fub^um, bat
Squinel-nionkey ICitrjrsatkrijc
ttiurtusj.
elsewhere, a pest, infesting wool, also the throats, etc., of
animals, with its lung barbed awns.
squirt (.fkw^Tt), r. [E. dial, also gwirt; perhaps
< Li j. «icirljt:H, squirt. The equiv. verb squilter
can hardly be connected.] I. trans. 1. To eject
with suddenness and force in a jet or rapid
stream from a narrow orifice: as, to squirt
water in one's face.
The hard-featured miscreant . . . coolly rolled his to-
bacco in his cheek and iquirttd the Juice into the fire-grate.
SeoU, Ouy Mannering, xixUi.
2. To Spatter or bespatter.
5883
They know I dare
To spurn or baffle them, or squirt their eyes
With ink. . B. Jonsoti, Apol. to Poetaster.
II. intrans. 1. To issue suddenly in a thin
jet or jet-like stream, as from a syringe, or a
narrow orifice suddenly opened; spurt.
The oars seemed to lash the water savagely, like a con-
nected row of swords, and the spray squirted at each vi-
cious stroke.' C. Reads, Hard Cash, i.
2t. To prate; blab. [Old slang.]— Squirting
cucumber. See EcbalUum.
squirt (skwert), k. [< squirt, e.] 1. An in-
strument with which a liquid may be ejected
in a strong jet-like stream ; a syringe.
His weapons are a pin to scratch and a tquirt to be-
spatter. Pope.
2. A small jet : as, a squirt of water. — 3. A
system of motion of a fluid, where the motion
is everywhere irrotational, and where there is
no expansion except at isolated points. — 4.
Looseness of the bowels; diarrhea. [Low.]
— 5. A small, insignificant, but self-assertive
fellow; an upstart; a cad. [Colloq.] — 6. A
hasty start or spurt. [Colloq.]
How different from the rash jerks and hare-braln'd
squirts thou art wont, Tristram, to transact it with in
other humours — dropping thy pen. spurting thy ink aljout
thy tal.le and thy books. Sleme, Tristram Shandy, ili. 28.
7. A sea-squirt; an ascidian or tunicary.
squirter (skwfer'ter),)!. [< squirt + -er'^.'] One
who or that which squirts. O. W. Holmes, Poet
at the Breakfast-Table, v.
squirt-gun (skw^rt'guu), n. A kind of squirter
or sjTinge used as a toy by boys.
squiry (skwir'i), «. [< ME. squierie, < OF.
esqiiirie, escuierie, escuyerie, cscuerie, esctirie, <
esc iiier, St sqaire: Bee squire^.'] If. A number
of squires or attendants collectively. Sob. of
Brioinc, Chronicles. — 2. The whole body of
la?ided gentry.
squit (skwit), n. Same as squeteague.
Squitch (skwich), m. A variant of quitch^.
squitee (skwi-te'), n. Same as squeteague.
squob. See squab^, sqiiab^.
sqnorget, n. [ME.; origin obscure.] A shoot.
The squoTffes [tr. L. flagilla iorflageUa] hie and graff es from
the folde. PaUadiut, Husbondrie (£. E. T. 8.), p. 65.
squuncket, ». An early spelling of skuttk.
W. »W(/, 1634.
squyncet, ». See squince.
sqw-. A Middle English fashion of writing squ-.
8r. A contraction of senior: as, John Smith, Sr.
Sr. In chem., the symbol for strontium.
sradha, shraddhaCsriid'ha, shrad'ha),n. [Skt.
grdddha, < i^addhd, faith.] A Hindu funeral
ceremony in honor of a deceased ancestor, at
which food is offered, and gifts are made to
Brahmans.
S8. A Middle English form of sh.
SS-. A Middle English fashion of writing ini-
tial »-.
SS. An abbreviation: (a) ot saints; (6) [i.e.]
of scilicet Ccommon in legal documents).
8. S. An abbreviation: (a) of Sunday-school;
{bS of steamship, also of serea steamship.
S. 8. E. An abbreviation of south-southeast.
ssh. A common Middle English form of sch,
now x/i.
8. 8. W. An abbreviation of south-southwest.
Bt. An abbreviation: (a) [eap.l of saint; (b)
[cap. or I. e.\ of street; (c) [cap. or /. c] of strait;
(d) of stoma; (e) of stet; (f) of statute.
'rt, interj. Same as hist^.
-Bti. See -€«fi.
-8t2. See -esfi.
atab (stab), r. ; pret. and pp. stabbed, ppr. stab-
bing. [< ME. Vta66e« (found in the noun); per-
haps < Jr. Gael, stob, thrust, push, stab, fix a
stake in the ground, < stob, a stake, pointed
iron or stick, stub; cf. staff.] I. trans. 1. To
puncture, pierce, or wound with or as with
a pointed weapon, especially with a knife or
dagger.
I fear I wrong the honourable men
Whoee daggers have stabb'd Cieaar.
Shak., J. C, 111. 2. 157.
He was not to be torn In pieces by a mob, or stabbed in
the back by an assassin. Maeauiay, Hallam's Const. Hist.
2. To thrust or plunge, as a pointed weapon.
[Rare.]
If we should recount
Oar baleful news, . . .
Slab poniards in our flesh till all were told.
The words would add more angiUsh than the wounds.
Shak., 3 Hen. VI., U. 1. 98.
3. Figuratively, to pierce or penetrate; inflict
keen or severe pain upon; injure secretly, as
by slander or malicious falsehoods : as, to stab
stabilitate
one in the back (that is, to slander one behind
his back).
Her sUence stabbed his conscience through and through.
Lowell, A Legend of Brittany, ii. 24.
4. In masonry, to pick (a brick wall) so as to
make it rough, and thereby afford a hold for
plaster — To stab annst. Seearmi.— To stab out, to
cut a continuous incision in with a sharp edge like that
of a chisel, by making one cut in line with and in continu-
ation of another, the first guiding the second, and so on.
II. intrans. 1. To aim a blow with a dagger
or other pointed weapon, either literally or fig-
uratively: as, to stab at a person.
None shall dare
With shortened sword to stab in closer war.
Dryden, Pal. and Arc, ill. 509.
2. To wound; be extremely cutting.
She speaks poniards, and every word stabs.
Shah., Much Ado, ii. 1. 255.
stab (stab), n. [< stab, r.] 1 . A thrust or blow
with the point of a weapon, especially a dag-
ger.
Hee neuer reuengeth with lesse than the stab.
Nashe, Pierce Penilesse, p. 25.
To fall beneath a base assassin's stab.
Kowe, .\mbitious Step-Mother, 11. 2.
2. A wound made with a sharp-pointed weapon.
His gash'd stabs look'd like a breach in nature
For ruin's wasteful entrance.
Shak., Macbeth, 11. 3. 119.
3. A wound given in the dark; a treacherous
injury.
This sudden stab of rancour I misdoubt.
Shak., Rich. III., lil. 2. 89.
Stabat Mater (sta'bat ma'tfer). [So called from
the first words of the Latin text, Stabat mater,
'The mother (sc. of Jesus) was standing': L.
stabat, 3d pers. sing, imperf. ind. of «tarc, stand
(see stand); mater = Gr. fii/Tr/p = E. mother: see
mother.'] 1. In the Rom. Cath. liturgy, a se-
quence on the Virgin Mary at the crucifixion,
written about 1300 by Jacobus de Benedictis
(Jacopone da Todi). It has also been ascribed to
innocent III, and others, and was probably modeled on
older hymns such as the staurotheotokia of the Greek
Church. It is sung after the Kpistle on the Feasts of the
Seven Dolours of the Blessed Virgin Mary on the Friday
before Good Friday and on the third Sunday in September.
2. A musical setting of this sequence. Famous
examples have been written by Palestrina, Per-
golesi, Rossini, Dvordk, and others.
Stabber (stab'^r), «. [< stab + -<t1.] 1. One
who stabs ; one who murders by stabbing.
A lurking, waylaying coward, and a stabber in the dark.
Dennis 0), True Character of Mr. Pope (1716).
2. A pricker, (a) Naut., a three-cornered awl used
by sailmakers to make holes in canvas. (&) A leather-
workers' pegging-awl. (c) An awl used in needlework to
make lioK-s for eyelets.
stabbing (stab'ing), J!. [Verbal n. of sta&,f.] In
bookbituliiig, the making of perforations in the
inner margins of pamphlets for the insertion of
binding-thread or wire. Also called, in Eng-
IiukI, holing.
Stabbingly (stab'ing-li), adv. In a stabbing
manner; with intent to do an act of secret
malice.
Stabbing-machine (stab'ing-ma-shen'), n. In
bookbiiitliiiii, a machine for perforating the in-
ner margins of gathered pamphlets by means
of stout stcf'l needles operated by a treadle.
Stabbing-press (stab'ing-pres), n. In bookbind-
ing, same as stabbing-machine.
stabelyt, adv. An old spelling of stably.
Btabiluy (sta-bil'i-fi), V. t. ; pret. and pp. sta-
bilified, -pYiT. stabilifyinq. [< L. stabilis, stead-
fast, steady (see stable^), + facer c, make.] To
render stable, fixed, or firm ; establish. [Rare.]
Render solid and stability mankind.
Browning. (Imp. Diet.)
Stabilimentt (sta-bil'i-ment), n. [< L. stabili-
mentum, a stay, support, <; stabilire, make firm,
fix: see stable^, v.] 1. Stablishment ; estab-
lishment. [Rare.]
If the apostolate, in the first stabUiment, was this emi-
nency of power, then it must be so.
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 18S6), II. 32.
2. Support; prop. [Rare.]
They serve for stabUiment, propagation, and shade.
Derham.
stabilisation, stabilise. See stabilization, sta-
bili:<:
stabilitate (sta-bil'i-tat), ». t. [< L. stabili-
ta(t-)s, steadfastness, firmness (see stability), -^■
-ate'^.] To make stable ; establish.
The soul about It self circumgyrates
Her various fonns, and what she most doth love
She oft before her sgM stabUitates.
Dr. U. More, Psychathanasia, I. U. 43.
stabilitate
The work reserved for hira who shall come to stabilitate
OUT empire in the East, if ever he comes at all.
W. H. itiusea, Diary in India, I. 180.
stability (sta-birj-ti), n. [In ME. stabilte, sta-
blete; < OF. st^tblete, F. stahilite = Sp. estabUi-
dad = Pg. estabilidade = It. stabilita, < L. uta-
bilita(l-)s, firmness, steadfastness, < stabilis,
firm, steadfast: see -s^nWc^.] 1. The state or
5884
Elizer was besy to serue sir Gawein and stable Grlngalet,
and helped him to vn-arme. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 665.
Here, stable me these steeds, and see them well bedded.
Scottf Monastery, xiv.
II. intrans. To dwell or lodge in or as in a
stable, as beasts.
In their palaces.
Where luxury late reign'd, sea-monsters whelp'd
And stabled. Milton, P. L., xi. 752.
Stachydex
stable-stand (sta'bl-stand); n. In old Eng. latCy
the position of a man who is found at his place
in the forest with a crossbow bent, or with a
long-bow, ready to let tiy at a deer, or standing
near a tree with greyhounds in a leash ready
to slip. This is one of the four presumptions
tliat a man intends stealing the king's deer.
Stabletet, n. A Middle English form of sta-
property of being stable or firm; strength to ..,,,„ - ..^-Kn „ r/ mt? „ir,hi^ Vnv' >,inhu biUtti.
i'.»L .^H ,.=;». ^v«.tl,rnw..oh«,.<,e. stable- stable- (|tabl),^a^ ll^ftabU = V^es^^= Stabhng(sta'bling),». [Verbal n. of _.;«M6l,r.]
stand and resist overthrow or change ; stable
uess; firmness: as, the stabilUy of a building,
of s government, or of a system.
Take myn herte in-to thi ward,
And sette thou me in stabilte !
Hymns to Virion, etc. (K E. T. S.X p. 26.
What I see in England, in America, in Switzerland, is
gtatnlitii, the power to make changes, when change is need-
ed, without pulling the whole political fabric down on the
heads of the reformers.
E, A. Freeman, Amer. Lects., p. 396.
2. Steadiness or firmness, as of purpose or reso-
lution ; fixity of character ; steadfastness : the
opposite of fickletiess and inconstancy.
The natural generation and process of all things receiv-
eth order of proceeding from the settled stability of divine
understanding. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, i. 3.
3. Fixedness, as opposed to fluidity.
Flaidness and stability are contrary qualities. Boyle.
4. Continuance in the same state; permanence;
specifically, an additional or fourth vow of con-
tinuance in the same profession, and residence
for life in the same monastery, imposed upon
monks by the Benedictine rule. — 5. That char-
acter of equilibrium , or of a body in equilibrium,
in virtue of which, if the position is disturbed,
it tends to be restored. The term is especially used
in this sense with reference to ships and floating bodies,
in which the distance of the center of gravity below the
metacenter is the measure of the stability. This may be
considered as the difference between the distance of the
center of flotation from the metacenter, called the stabili-
ty of figure, and the distance of the center of gravity from
the metacenter, called the stability of load. The stability
under sail is also considered. — Moment of Stability.
See vu>ment. =8yn. 1 and 2. Immobility, permanence. See
stable'^.
stabilization (stab'il-i-za'shon), n. [< stabilize
+ -ation.'\ The act of rendering stable; stab-
lishment. Also spelled stabilisation.
The transformation of "stable "matter into "unstable"
that takes place during the assimilation of food is neces-
sary, because, during the activity of the org.anism, forces
are constantly becoming "fixed," and with this "flxation
of force" goes "the stabilisation of matter."
Mind, XII. 602.
stabilize (stab'il-iz), f. t; pret. and pp. stabil-
ized, ppr. stabilizing. [< L. stabilis, firm (see
stablfi), + -ize.'] To render stable. Also spelled
stabilise.
A written literature, the habit of recording and reading,
prevalence of actual instruction, work yet more now-
the pre . . . .
erfully in the same direction ; and when such forces have
reached the degree of strength which they show in our .,, ■ /+-'v,iT.-\
modern enlightened communities, they fairly dominate Staule-DOy (Sta Dl-DOi^ n,
the history of speech. The language is stabilized, espe
cially as regards all those alterations which proceed from
Inaccuracy. Whitney, Life and Growth of Lang., p. 158.
Stabiltet, «. A Middle English form of stability.
stable! (sta'bl), n. [< ME. stable, stabul, < OF.
estable, P. etable = Pr. estable = Sp. establo =
Pg. estabulo = It. siabbio, a stable, stall, < L.
stabulum, a standing-place, abode, habitation,
usually in the particular senses, an inclosure
for animals, as for cows (a stall), sheep (a fold),
birds (an aviary), bees (a beehive), etc., also
poet, a flock, herd, also a public house, tavern ;
<«tare, stand: see sto«d. Cf. stoHl. The word
exists also in constable.'] 1. A building or an
inclosure in which horses, cattle, and other
domestic animals are lodged, and Which is fur-
nished with stalls, troughs, racks, and bins to
It. stabile, < L. stabilis, firm, steadfast, < stare,
stand: see sta«rf.] 1. Firm; firmly fixed, set-
tled, or established; that cannot be easily
moved, shaken, or overthrown ; steadfast : as,
a stable structure; a stable government.
But the gode Cristene men that ben stable in the Feythe
entren welle withouten perile. Mandeville, Travels, p. 282.
That all States should be stable in proportion as they
are just, and in proportion as they administer justly, is
what might be asserted. It. Choate, Addresses, p. 162.
2. Fixed; steady; constant; permanent.
Withe staMe Eye loke vpone theym rihte.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 8.
I have a stable Home-Employment proffered me by my
Lord Scroop, Lord President of the North.
Howell, Letters, I. iv. 26.
3. Fixed or firm in resolution or purpose ; not
wavering, fickle, or easily diverted : as, a man
of stable character ; also formerly, in a bad sense,
obstinate ; pertinacious.
StaUe and abydyng yn malyce, pervicax, pertinax.
Prompt. Parv., p. 471.
Stable equilibrium, flotation, etc.
=^Syil. 1 and 2. Durable, Permanent, etc. See lasting.
stablest (sta'bl), V. [< ME. stablen, stabelen,
stabullen, < OF. establir, F. etablir = OSp. es-
tablir = It. stabilire, < L. stabilire, make firm
or steadfast, establish, confirm, cause to rest, <
«te6i7ss, firm, steadfast: see stable'^, a. Ct.stab-
Ush, establish.'] I. trans. 1. To make stable;
establish; ordain.
Be hit ordeynyd and stablyd by the M, and Wardens.
Engluh Cfilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 328.
This book bore this title, Articles devised by the King's
highness to stable Christian quietness and unity among
the people. Strype, Abp. Cranmer, i. 12.
2. To make steady, firm, or sure ; support.
When thou ministers at the heghe autere,
With bothe hondes thou serue tho prest in fere,
The ton to stabulle the tother
Lest thou fayle, my dere brother.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 304.
3t. To fix or hold fast, as in mire ; mire ; stall.
When they the peril that do not forecast
In the stiflf mud ar^ quickly stabled fast.
Drayton, Moon-Calf.
II. intrans. To stand firm; be confirmed.
Of alegeaunce now lemeth a lesson other tweyne,
Wher-by it standith and staUithe moate.
Biehard the Redeless, i. 10.
A boy who is em-
ployed about a stable.
stable-call (sta'bl-kai), «. A trumpet-signal
in the cavalry and light artillery services, to
assemble the troop or battery for the purpose
of watering and grooming the horses; hence,
the assembling of a troop for this purpose.
Will you go down to stable-eall and pick out a mount?
The Century, XXXVII. 900.
stable-fly (sta'bl-fli), M. 1. The biting house-
fly, Stomoxys calcitrans, common to Europe and
North America. Itmuch resembles thecommon house-
fly, Musca dmnestica, but bites severely and is often very
troublesome. As it enters houses before storms, it has
given rise to the expression "flies bite before a storm."
2. Another fly, Cyrtoncura stabulans, common
to Europe and North America.
Stablelyt, adv. A Middle English form of sta-
bh/.
' at-
1. The act of putting horses or other beasts
into a stable. — 2. Stable accommodation j
shelter for horses and other beasts; stables.
Her terrour once on Afric's tawny shore,
Now smok'd in dust, a stabling now for wolves.
Thomson, Liberty, iii. 372.
The villas look dreary and lonesome, . . . with their
high garden walls, their long, low piles of stabling, and
the passiSe indecency of their nymphs and fauns.
Howells, Venetian Life, xxi.
Stablish (stab'lish), V. t. [< ME. slablisehen,
stablisshen, stablissen, < OF. establiss-, stem of
certain parts of establir, F. Hablir, < L. stabi-
lire, make firm or steadfast : see stable"^, v. Cf .
establish.] To make stable or firm ; establish?
setup; ordain. [Archaic]
Devyne thowht . . . stablyssyth many manere gysea to-
thinges that ben to done. Chancer, Boethius, iv. prose 6.
To stop effusion of our Christian blood.
And stablish quietness on every side.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., v. 1. 10.
Let a man »fa6Ji»R himself in those courses he approves.
Emerson, Essays, 1st ser., p. 238.
^''L^/L""""'' Stablishment (stab'lish-ment), n. [< stablish
+ -mcnt. a. establishment'.] Establishment.
For stint of strife and stablishment of rest.
Spenser, F. Q., V. vili. 21.
stably (sta'bli), adv. [< ME. stabely, stablely;
< stable^ + -ly'^.] In a stable manner; firmly;
fixedly ; securely.
God disponith in his purvyaunce syngulerly and stable-
ly the thinges that ben to done.
Chaucer, Boethius, iv. prose 6.
Thay saide a sterne, with leniys bright,
Owte of the Best shulde stabely stande.
York Plays, p. 126.
stabulationt (stab-u-la'shon), w. [< L. stabti-
latio{n-), a place where cattle are housed, <
stabulari, pp. stabulatiis. stable, lodge: see
stofiiei, t'.] 1. The act of stabling beasts.— 2.
A place or room for stabling beasts.
Stabwortt (stab'wert), n. The -wood-sorrel,
Oxalis Acetosella : so called as being considered
good for wounds.
Stabyllet. A Middle English form of stable^,
stable"^.
Stacca (stak'a), n. A Welsh dry measure, equal
to three Wiiicliester bushels.
staccatissimo (stak-ka-tis'i-mo), a. [It., superl.
of staccato, detached: see staccato.] In music,
very staccato.
staccato (stak-ka'to), a. [< It. staccato, pp. of
staccare, for distaccare, separate, detach : see
detach.] In music, detached; disconnected;
abrupt ; separated from one another by slight
pauses : used both of single tones in a melody
and of chords : opposed to legato. Three grades of
staccato are sometimes recognized — the slightest being
mai'ked by dots over or under the notes with a sweeping
curve (a), the next by dots without the curve (6), and
the greatest by pointed strokes instead of dots (c). In each
I a
r r Tb
contain their food and necessary equipments; ., „, s . i.
in a restricted sense, such a building for horses Stable-man (sta bl-lnan), n. A man who
and cows only; in a still narrower and now the tends m a stable ; an ostler; a groom
most usual sense, such a building for horses stableness (sta'bl-nes), «. [< ME. stablenesse,
only.
stabilnes, stahulnesse; < stable^ + -ness.] The
state, character, or property of being stable, in
any sense of the word.
stabler (sta'blfer), n. [< ME. stabler, stabyllcr,
< OF. stablier = Sp. establero, a stable-boy, <
And undre theise Stages ben Stables wel y vowted for
the Emperours Hors. Mandeville, Travels, p. 17.
The chambres and the stables weren wyde.
And wel we weren esed atte beate.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 29.
If your husband have stables enough, youll see he shall
lack no bams. Shak., Much Ado, iiL 4. 48.
2. In racing slang, the horses belonging to a
particular racing stable Augean stable. See^lu-
gean.
stable^ (sta'bl), V. ; pret. and pp. stabled, ppr.
stabling. [< ME. stablen, < OF. establer, < L.
stabulare, lodge, house, stable, In pass, be
lodged, stable, kennel, roost, < stabulum, an
abode, stable: see stable^, n.] I. trans. To put stable-room (sta'bl-rom), ». Koom in a sta
or keep in a stable, as horses. ble ; room for stables.
case something is subtracted from the duration of each
note, and given to a rest or silence. On keyboard-instru-
ments like the pianoforte and organ, a staccato effect is pro-
duced by a variation of the usual touch in the action either
of the flngers, of the wrist, or of the forearm ; in bow-instru-
ments like the violin, by an abrupt detached motion of
the bow, or by a springing bow ; in wind-instruments,
by stopping the mouthpiece with the tongue (sometimes
called tonguing) ; and in the voice, either by a detached
action of the breath or by a closing of the glottis. The
word is also used sometimes to note an abrupt emphatic
style of speaking or writing.— Staccato mark, in witm-
cal notation, nAotOT pointed stroke added over or under a
note to indicate a staccato rendering.— Staccato touch,
in playing the pianoforte or organ, a touch designed to
produce a clear and musical staccato effect.
L. «fci6«ZariMS, a Stable-boy, also a host, a tav- gtacher (stach'er), v. i. A Scotch form of
erner, landlord, prop, adj., pertaining to a sta-
ble or to a public house, < stabuhttn, a stable.
a public house: see stable^.] A person who
stables horses, or furnishes accommodations
and food for them.
There came a man to the stabler (so they call the peo-
ple at Edinburgh that take in horses to keep), and wanted
to know if he could hear of any returned horses for Eng-
land. Defoe, Col. Jack, p. 240. (Davies.\
stacker^.
Stachydeae(sta-kid'e-e),n.p;. [NL. (Bentham,
1836), < Stacliys (assumed stem Stachyd-) +
-ex.] Atribe of gamopetalous plants, of the or-
der Lalnatee. It is characterized by a five- or ten-nerved
or -veined calyx, a corolla with the upper lip erect, con-
cave, and commonly galeate or arched, the lower lip three-
cleft and spreading, four perfect ascending or included sta-
mens, with theforward pair longer, and a four-parted ov^ry
fonning in fruit four dry mitlets fixed by a small basal
or slightly oblique scar. It includes 36 genera (of which
Stachys is the type), classed in the subtribes Scutellarieie,
Stacliydese
Metatex, MamMeM. and Lamtex; other important gen-
era are PhyuxUgia, Bmnetla (Prunella), Phlamis, Sideri-
tif, Ballota, GaUopnt, Lamium, Leonurus^ and Moiueeella.
See cut under seif-heaL
Stachys (sta'kis), n. [NL. (Rivinus, 1690), <
L. stachys, < Gr. ardxvi, a plant, woundwort,
Stachys arvetisis, so called from the spiked
flowers; a particular use of araxi'i, an ear
of com, a spike, in gen. a plant.] A genus
of plants, of the order Labiatse, type of the
tribe Stachydese. It is characterized by flowers with
the five calyi-teeth equal or the posterior larger, the
corolla-tube somewhat cylindrical and either included in
or exserted from the calyx, the upper lip usually entire
and arched, the anther-cells usually diverging, and the
ovary forming nutlets which are obtuse or rounded at
the top. Over 200 species have been described, of which
about 170 are now thought to be distinct. They are wide-
ly dispersed through the temperate zones, occur within
the tropics on mountains, and extend in a few cases into
frigid and subalpine regions. They are lacliing in jVus-
tralia and New Zealand, and nearly so in Chili and in
South Africa. Sixteen species occur in the United States ;
5 are eastern, of which & a»pera is the most common,
and & palutlru the most widely dlilnsed. Several spe-
cies, especially S. sylcatica of Europe, are known as hedge-
nettie, and several others as woundwort, particularly S.
Qermanica, For S. BeUmica see betony, and for £^. palug-
trit Bee down-heal. Several species are occasionally cul-
tivated for ornament, as S. lanata, a woolly-leafed plant
much used for edgings. .9. affinu {S. tuberiferaX an escu-
lent recently introduced from Japan, cultivated in France
under the name of eromet, produces numerous small white
tubers which may be eaten boiled or fried or prepared as
a preserve. The tubers are said to decay rapidly if ex-
posed to the air, and are kept in the ground or packed
in sand : their taste is compared to that of the sweet po-
tato, followed by a peculiar piquant flavor.
Stachytarpheta (stak'i-tar-fe'ta), «. [NL.
(Vahl, 1804), so called from the thick flower-
spikes ; prob. an error for 'Stachytarpheia, < Gr.
ardxvi, a spike, + Tap(j>ei6i, thick, dense, < Tpe<j>eiv,
thicken.] A genus of gamopetalous plants, of
the order Verbenacex and tribe Verbeneie. it is
characterized by sessile spiked flowers with a narrow flve-
ribbed flve-nerved calyx, a corolla with five spreading lobes,
two perfect stamsns with divaricate anther-cells, and a
two-celled ovary ripening into two hard dry oblong or
linear one-seeded nutlets. There are about 45 species, na-
tives of tropica] and subtropical America, with one species,
S. IndicOy also dispersed through tropical Africa and Asia.
They are herbs or shrubs bearing opposite or alternate
toothed and commonly rugose leaves. The flowers are
white, blue, purple, or scarlet, solitary in the axils of
bracts, and sessile or half-immersed in the axis of the
more or less densely crowded terminal spikes. The spe-
cies are sometimes called bastard or /oiae vervain- S.
JamaicentU (now identified with S. Indiea) Is the ffervao
(which seeX from its use sometimes called Brazilian
tea. This and other species, as S. muttMUs^ a handsome
ever-blooming shrub, are occasionally cultivated under
glass.
Stack^ (stak), n. [< ME. stack, gtacke, slakke,
stak, sUtc, < Icel. gtakkr, a stack of hay (cf.
stakka, a stump), = Sw. stack = Dan. stak, a
stack, pile of hay; allied to staked, and ult.
from the root of stick^. Hence staffoarcfi.'i 1 .
A pile of grain in the sheaf, or of nay, straw,
pease, etc., gathered into a circular or rectangu-
lar form, often, when of large size, coming to a
point or ridge at the top, and thatched to pro-
tect it from the weather.
The whole prairie was covered with yellow wheat ilaet$.
Uarper'e Mag., LXXVIII. 581.
2. A pile of sticks, billets, poles, orcordwood;
formerly, also, a pyre, or burial pile.
Against every pillar was a ttaek of billets above a man's
height, which the watermen that bring wood down the
Seine . . . laid there. Ilaeon, Nat. Uist., i 24U.
3. A pile or group of other objects in orderly
position, (o) In prinUng, a flat pile of paper, printed
or nnprinted, in a press-room or bindery. (6) Miiit., the
pyramidal group formed by a number of muskets with
fixed bayonets when stacked, {e) In paper.maJcing, tour
or more calenderlng-roUs in position, (d) In libraries, a
set of book-shelves one above the other, whether placed
against a wall or standing in the middle of a room.
4. A number of funnels or chimneys standing
together. — 6. A single chimney or passage-
way for smoke ; the chimney or funnel of a
locomotive or steam-vessel: also called smoke-
slack. See cuts under pasxenijcr-cnfjine and
pudilling-furnace. — 6. A high detached rock;
a columnar rock; a precipitous rock rising out
of the sea. The use of the word Hack with this mean-
ing is very common on the coast of Scotland and the adja-
cent islands (especially the Orkneys), and is almost exclu-
sively limited to that region.
Here [in Shetland] also, near 200 yards from the shore,
stands the .flack nt .Snalda, a grand i>erpendicular column
of rock, at least sixty, but more probably eighty, feet high,
on the summit of which the eagle has annually nested
from time immemorial. Shirref, Shetland, p. (>.
7. A customary unit of volume for fire-woo<l
and coal, gfiicrally 4 cubic yards (108 cubic
feet). The three-quarter stack in parts of
Derbyshire is said to be 105 or 106 cubic feet. —
8. pi. A large quantity; "lots": as, xlacks ot
money. [8Ung.]=8yn. 1. SAoc*, etc. Seeihee^fl.
5885
stacki (stak), V. t. [< ME. stakken (= Sw. stacka
= Dan. stakke), stack; from the noun.] 1. To
pile or build in the form of a stack ; make into a
regularly formed pile : as, to stack grain.
Your hay is well brought in, and better stacked than
usual. Suift, To Dr. Sheridan, Sept. 19, 1726.
2. To make up (cards) in a designed manner,
so as to secure an unfair advantage; pack. —
To stack arms, to stand together muskets or rifles with
fixed bayonets in definite numbers, as four or six together,
so that they form a tent-shaped group.
stack- (stak). An obsolete or dialectal pret-
erit of stick^ (and stick^).
stackage (stak'aj), «. [< stack^ + -ajre.] 1.
Grain, hay, etc., put up in stacks. [Bare.]
Imp. Diet. — 2. A tax on things stacked. Imj).
Diet.
stack-borer (stak'bor'fer), n. An instrument
for piercing stacks of hay, to admit air, where
the hay is in danger of damage from heating.
Stackeil-cloudt (stak'n-kloud), n. A cumulus
cloud.
The rapid formation and disappearance of small cumuli
is a process constantly going on in particular kinds of
weather. These little stacken-douds seem to form out of
the atmosphere, and to be resolved again as rapidly into
it. Forster, Atmospheric Phenomena, p. 58.
stacker^ (stak'fer), f. i. [Sc. also stakker, stach-
er; < ME. stakeren, also stakelen, < Icel. stakra,
push, stagger, freq. of staka, push, punt; cf.
stjaka, punt, push with a stake (stjaki, a punt-
pole), = Dan. stage = Sw. staka, push, punt with
a stake, = MD, staken, staeken, set stakes, dam
up with stakes, give up work, = E. staked : see
Staked, V. Doublet of »ta<?<7er.] 1. To stagger.
[Prov. Eng.]
She rist her up, and itakereth heer and ther.
Chawxr, Good Women, L 2687.
2f. To stammer. Prompt. Pan., p. 471.
stacker'-' (stak'fer), n. [< stack^ + -erl.] An
attachment to a threshing-machine for raising
and delivering the straw from the machine,
either upon a wagon or upon a stack, it consists
of an endn»s-beU elevator running in a trough that can
be placed at any angle, the whole being mounted on
wheels, and connected by belting with the thresher, or
with the engine or other motor. Also called straw- or
hay -elevator, and staeking-machine. Another form of
stacker consists of a portable derrick used with a bay-
fork, and commonly called a stacking~derrick.
stacket (stak'et), n. [< G. stacket, a palisade,
stockade; appar. connected with stack^.'i A
stockade. Scott.
stack-funnel (stak'fun'el), »i. A pyramidal
opi'U frame of wood in the center of a stack.
Its objt-ct is to allow the air to circulate through the stack,
and prevent the heating of the grain. See siaek-stand.
stack-guard (stak'giird), n. A covering for a
haystack or rick, whether for the top or the ex-
posed side. Sometimes it is suspended from
posts temporarily set up.
Stackhousia (stak-hou'si-a), n. [Nil. (Sir J.
E. Smith, 1798), named after John Stackhouse,
an English botanist (died 1819).] A genus of
plants, type of the order Stackhousiea. it con-
sists ot alwut 20 species, all Australian except 2, which
are natives, one of New Zealand, the other of the Philip-
pine Islands. They are small herbs with a perennial her-
baceous or woody rootstock, producing unbranched or
slightly divided flower-bearing stems and alternate linear
or spatulate leaves, which are entire aitd slightly fleshy or
coriaceous. The flowers are white or yellow, borne in
spikes terminating the branches, or in clusters along the
main stem. Each flower consists of a small three-bracted
calyx, an elongated often gamopetalous corolla with five
indnded stamens, a thin disk, and a free ovary with from
two to five styles or style-branchea
Stackhonsies (stak-hou-si'e-e), »i. pi. [NL.
(IL (i. L. Keichenbach, 1828), < Stackhousia +
-€«.] An order of plants, of the polypetalous
series Disciflorx and cohort Celustrales. It is
characterized Dy a hemispherical calyx-tube, having Ave
imbricated lobes, five erect imbricated and often united
petals, and as many alternate stamens. From the related
orders Cdaitrinete and Rhamnacete it is especially distin-
guished by its lobed ovary, which is sessile, roundish, and
from two- to flve-celled, and ripens from two to five inde-
hiscent globose or angled one-seeded carpels, which are
smooth, reticulated, or broadly winged. It consists of
the Renos Statkhauiia and the monotypic Australian ge-
nus Maegregoria. Also Stadihmuiaeete.
Stacking-band (stak'ing-band), «. A band or
ro))o URi (i in binding thatch or straw on a stack.
stacking-belt (stak ing-belt), n. Same as stack-
ing-hiiiid.
Stacking-stage (stak'ing-staj), n. A scaffold
or .st;iK<' iistMrin building stacks.
stack-room (stak'rom), M. In libraries, a room
devotf'd to stacks of book-shelves ; a book-room.
stack-stand (stak'stand), ». A basement of
timber or ma.sonry, sometimes of iron, raised
on props and placed in a stack-yard, on which
to build a stack. Its object is to keep the lower part
of the stack dry, and exclude vermin. Such stands are
stack-stand wi*h Stack-funnel.
stadholder
more common in Eu-
ropean countries than
in the United States.
stack-yard (stak'-
yard), n. [< stack^
+ yard^. Cf . stag-
gard''^.'] A yard
or inclosure for
stacks of hay or
grain,
stacrte (stak'te), n.
[< L. stacte, staeta,
< Gr. oraKTti, the
oil that trickles
from fresh myrrh
or cinnamon, fem.
of (TTanrdc:, dropping, oozing out, < ard^eiv, drop,
let fall drop by drop.] One of the sweet spices
which composed the holy incense of the ancient
Jews. Two kinds have been described — one, the fresh
gum of the myrrh-tree, Batsarmniendron Myrrha, mixed
with water and squeezed out through a press ; the other,
the resin of the sturax, Styrax o^cinalis, mixed with wax
and fat.
Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and
galbanum. Ex. xxx. 34.
stactometer (stak-tom'e-ter), n. [Also stak-
tometer ; < Gr. craKTd^, dropping, oozing out (see
stacte), + fihpov, a measure.] A glass tube hav-
ing a bulb in the middle, and tapering to a fine
orifice at one end, used for ascertaining the
number of drops in equal bulks of different li-
quids. Also called stalagmometer.
Stadf. A Middle English form of the past par-
ticiple of stead.
Stadda (stad'a), n. [Origin obscure.] A double-
bladed hand-saw, used for cutting comb-teeth.
Also called steady.
Staddle (stad'l), n. [Also stadle, and more orig.
staihel, Sc. staithle, oontr. stail, stale, < ME.
stathel, < AS. stuthol, stathul, stathel, a founda-
tion, base, seat, site, position, firmament (= 08.
stadal = OFries. stathul = MLG. stadel = OHG.
stadal, MHG. (J. stadel, a stall, shed, = Icel. stiid-
hull = Norw. stoditl, stodul, contr. sto'ul, staul,
stoil, stul, usually stol, a milking-shed); with
formative -thol (-die) (akin to L. stabulum, a
stable, stall, with formative -bulum), from the
root sta of stand: see stand, and cf. stead. See
stalworth.'i If. A prop or support; a staff; a
crutch.
His weake steps governing
And aged limbs on cypresse stadle stout.
Spenser, F. Q., I. vi. U.
2. The frame or support of a stack of hay or
grain; a stack-stanci.
Oak looked under the staddles and found a fork.
T. Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd, xxztL
3. A young or small tree left uncut when others
are cut down.
It is commonlie scene that those yoong etaddles which
we leaue standing at one & twentie yeeres fall are vsuallie
at the next sale cut downe without any danger of the stat-
ute, and serue for fire bote, if it please the owner to bume
them.
W. Harrison, Descrip. of England, il. 22. (Holinshed.)
At the edge of the woods a rude structure had been
hastily thrown up, of staddles interlaced with boughs.
S. Judd, Margaret, ii. 6.
4. In agri., one of the separate plots into which
a cock of hay is shaken out for the purpose of
drying.
staadle (stad'l), v. t. ; pret. and pp. staddled, ppr.
staddling. [Also stadle; < staddle, n.] 1. To
leave the staddles in, as a wood when it is cut.
First see it well fenced, ere hewers begin,
Then see it well stadled, without and within.
Tusser, April's Husbandly.
2. To form into staddles, as hay.
staddle-roof (stad'l-rof ), «. The roof or cover-
ing of a stack.
stade^ (stad), n. Same as stathe.
stade^ (stad), n. [In ME. stadie, (]. v. ; = F.
stade = Sp. estadio = Pg. estadio = It. stadio, <
L. stadium, a furlong: aee stadium.'] A furlong;
a stadium.
The greatness of the town, by that we could Judge,
stretcheth in circuit some forty gtadet.
Donne, Hist. Septuagint (16S3)i p. 71. (Latham.)
stadholder (stad'hoKd^r), n. [Also spelled
sUidtlKildfr (= V. stathouderj ; a partial accom-
modation of MD. stadhoudcr, a (leputy, legate,
vicar, substitute, lieutenant, esp. a viceroy, a
governor of a province, esp. in Holland, in later
use (D. stadhoudcr = G. statthalter), a governor,
a chief magistrate, lit. 'stead-hoWer,' lieuten-
ant, " locum-tenens" (Kilian); < MD. stad, stede,
D. stede, stee (= OHG. MHG. stat, G. sto«, place,
= AS. stede, E. stead, place), + hm4der= G. hal-
ter = E. holder : see stead and holder. In an-
stadholder
other view, reflected in the false spelling stadt-
holder, the first element is supposed to be D. stad
= G. stndt^ a town, citj- (a particular use of the
preceding) : but this is an error, due to the fact
that D. stad, in its lit. sense * place,' is now ob-
solete ; moreover, a stadholder is not the * keep-
er of a city.'] Formerly, in the Netherlands, («)
the govemox' or lieutenant-governor of a prov-
ince ; (b) the chief magistrate of the United
Provinces of the Netherlands.
stadholderate (stad' hoi *d^r-at), n. [Also
spelled stadthoJderate (= F. stathoud^rat) , <
stadholder + -at€^.~\ The oflBce of a stadholder.
The Academy J July 20, 1889, p. 32.
Stadholdership (stad'hoF'^d^r-ship), ». [Also
spelled btadtlioldership; < stadholder -f -ship.^
Same as stadholderate.
stadia (sta'di-a), w, [< ML. stadiUf a station,
a fern, form, orig. pi. of the neut. stadiutHj a
stage, station, stadium: see stadium.'] 1. A
station temporarily occupied in surveying. —
2. An instrument for measuring distances by
means of the angle subtended by an object of
known dimensions. The instrument commonly so
called, intended for rough military work in action, con-
sists of a small glass plate with tlgures of horsemen and
foot-soldiers as they appear at marked distances, or with
two lines nearly horizontal but converging, crossed by ver-
tical lines marked with the distances at which a man ap-
pears of the height between the first lines.
3- In civil and topographical €ng in. ^ the method
or the instruments by which what are called
stadia measurements are made. This use is almost
exclusively limited to the United States, where this method
of measuring distances is extensively employed. Stadia
measurements are based on the geometrical principle that
the lengths of parallel lines subtending an angle are pro-
portioned to their distances from the apex of that angle.
The essential appliances for this kind of work are a pair
of fine horizontal wires (which are usually of platinum,
but which maybe spider-webs, or even lines ruled or pho-
t<^raphed on the glass), in addition to the ordinary hori-
zontal and vertical wires in the diaphragm of a telescope,
and a staff orgraduatedrod(the stadia rod)— these giving
the means of measuring witli considerable precision the
angle subtended by the whole or any part of a vertical
staff, and thus furnishing the data for determining the
distance of the rod from the point of sight. This may be
accomplished by making the subtending angle variable
(that is, by making the wires movable) and the space on
the staff ilxed in length, or by having the angle constant
(that is, the wires fixed in position) and reading off a
varying length on the staff ; the latter is the method now
most generally used. The wires maybe applied to the
telescope of any suitable instrument, as a theodolite or
transit-theodolite ; but the method is specially well adapted
foruse in plane-tabling, the wires being inserted in the tele-
scope of the alidade. This arrangement has been exten-
sively used in the United States, and has given excellent
results. The intervals between the wires are frequently
arranged so that at a distance of 100 feet a space of one
foot shall be intercepted on the rod ; but there are also
instruments made in which the number of wires is in-
creased, the method of reading varying accordingly,
stadiet, n. [ME., < L. stadium, a race-course,
a furlong : see stade^, stadimn.'] A race-course ;
a stadium.
Yif a man renneth In the stadie or in the forlonge for
the corone, than lieth the mede in the corone for whiche
he renneth. CAawcer, Boethlus, iv. prose 3.
stadiometet (sta-di-om'e-t^r), n. [< Gr. arddiov
(see .st(f(liui/i) + fxtrpovy measure.] A modified
theodolite in which the directions are not read
off, but marked upon a small sheet, which is
changed at each station. The distances as read on
the telemeter can also be laid down. The stadiometer
differs from the plane-table in that the alidade cannot be
moved relatively to the sheet.
stadium (sta'di-um), n, ; pi. stadia (-a). [< L.
stadium, < Gr. (rrdSiov, a fixed standard of length,
specifically 600 Greek feet (see def. 1), a furlong
(nearly), hence a race-course of this length,
lit. * that which stands fast,' < lordvai {■>/ ara),
stand: see stand. Cf. stade^, stadie.'] 1. A
Greek itinerary unit, originally the distance
between successive stations of the shouters
and runners employed to estimate distances.
The stadium of Eratosthenes seems to have been short of
520 English feet; but the stadium at the race-course at
Athens has been found to be between 603 and 610 English
feet. The Roman stadium was about the same length,
being one eighth of a Roman mile.
H^nce — 2. A Greek course for foot-races, dis-
posed on a level, with sloping banks or tiers of
seats for spectators rising along its two sides
and at one end, which was typically of semi-
circular plan. The course proper was exactly a stadi-
um in length. The most celebrated stadia were tliose of
Olympia and Athens. The latter has been, in great part,
restored.
3. A stage ; period ; in med., a stage or period of
a disease, especially of an intermittent disease-
Mohammed was now free once more ; but he no longer
thought of carrying on his polemic against the Meccans
or of seeking to influence them at all. In his relations to
them three gtadia can be distinguished, although it is
easier to determine their character than their chronology.
Encyc. Brit., XVI. 050.
5886
stadiet, «. An obsolete form of staddle,
Stadmannia (stad-man'i-a), «. [NL. (Lamarck,
1823), named after Stadmantiy a German botani-
cal traveler.] A genus of trees, of the order Sa-
pindacese and tribe Nepheliese. it is distinguished
from the nearly related genus Nepkelium (which see) by
the absence of petals and by a somewhat spherical calyx
with five broad obtuse teeth, by warty bmnches, and by
small velvety plum-like berries. The only species, S. Si-
deroxylon, is a native of Mauritius and Bourbon. It has
alternate abruptly pinnate leaves with from three to six
pairs of oblong obtuse leaflets, oblique at the base, each
leaflet narrow, entire, smooth, and finely reticulated. The
small pedicelled flowers form axillai'y branching panicles,
with conspicuous long-exserted erect stamens. It is
known as Bourbon iromvood. See Macassar oil, under oil.
stadtholder, stadtholderate (^taf hoi dor,
-at), etc. Eri'oneous spellings of stadholder^
etc.
Staflfi (staf ), «. ; pi. staveSj staffs (stavz, st&fs).
[< ME. staff) staffe^ staf (gen. staves^ dat. stave,
pi. staves), < AS. stspfj in a very early form staeb,
pi. stafaSy a stick, staff, twig, letter (see etym.
of book), = OS. *^a/= OFries. stef = D. staf =
MLG. LG. staf = OHG. MHG. stap (stab-), G.
stab, a staff, = Icel, stafr, a staff, post, stick,
stave of a cask, a letter, = Sw. staf a staff, =
Dan. Slav, a staff, stick (also stab, a staff (body
of assistants), an astragal (of a cannon), < G.),
= Goth. stafs (stab-), element, rudiment (not re-
corded in the orig. senses * letter' and ' stick') ;
= OBulg. stapu, shtapii = OServ. sttpt, Serv.
sta]}, shtap = Hung, istdp, a staff, =:.Lith. stehas,
a staff, stdbas, stdbras, a pillar; cf. Gael, stob,
a stake, stump ; prob. related to OHG. staben,
be stiff, from an extended form of the root sta
of stand: see stand. Not connected with L.
stipes, a stock, post, which is cognate with E.
stiff. Hence stave, q. v.] 1, A stick or pole.
Specifically— (a) A stick used as a walking-stick, espe-
cially one five or six feet long used as a support in widk-
ing or climbing.
In his hand a staf. Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 495.
He [the pilgrim] had a long staffe In his hand with a
nobbe in the middle, according to the fashion of those
Pilgrims staffes. Coryat, Crudities, I. 20.
(b) A stick used as a weapon, as that used at quarter-staff ;
a club; a cudgel.
A god to-hande gtaffe therowt he hent,
Befor Roben he lepe.
Robin Hood and the Potter (Child's Ballads, V. 20).
The wars are doubtful ;
And on our horsemen's staves Death looks as grimly
As on your keen-edg'd swords.
Fletcher, Humorous Lieutenant, i. 1.
(c) A stick used as an ensign of authority ; a baton or
scepter. Compare baton, dubi, macei.
The Earl of Worcester
Hath broke his staff, resign'd his stewardship.
Shak., Rich. II., ii. 2. 59.
(d) A post fixed in the ground ; a stake.
The rampant bear chain'd to the ragged staff.
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., v. 1. 203.
(e) A pole on which to hoist and display a flag : as, a flag-
staff; an enaign-staff; a jack-staff.
The flag of Norway and the cross of St. Geoi^e floated
from separate staffs on the lawn.
B. Taylor, Northern Travel, p. 295.
C/t) The pole of a vehicle ; a caiTlage-pole.
His newe lady holdeth him so narowe
Up by the brydel, at the staves ende.
That every word he dred it as an arowe.
Chaucer, Anelida and Arcite, 1. 184.
(g) The long handle of certain weapons, as a spear, a hal-
berd, or a poleax.
There stuck no plume In any English crest
That is removed by a staff of tYance.
Shak., K. John, IL 1. 318.
Their staves upon their rests they lay.
Drayton, Nymphidia.
(A) A straight-edge for testing or truing a line or surface :
as, the proof-staff used In testing the face of the stone
In a grind-mill, (i) In surv., a graduated stick, used
in leveling. See cross-staff, Jacob's-gtaff, and cut under
leveliiiff'Staff. ( j) One of several Instruments formerly
used in taking the sun's altitude at sea : as, the fore-staff
hack-staff, cross-staff. See these words, (k) In ship-build-
ing, a measuring and spacing rule. (I) The stilt of a plow.
2. In surg., a grooved steel instrument having
a curvature, used to guide the knife or gorget
through the urethra into the bladder in the
operation of lithotomy. — 3. In arch., same as
rudenture. — 4. Something which upholds or
supports ; a support ; a prop.
He is a stafe of stedfastnes bothe erly & latte
To chastes siche kaytifes as don ayenst the lawe.
Political Poems, etc, (ed. Furnivall), p. 3.
The boy was the very staff of my age, my very prop.
Shak., M.of v., Ii. 2. 70.
Bread Is the «to/of life. Suift, Tale of a Tub, iv.
5t. A round of a ladder, Latham. — 6. A body
of assistants or executive officers, (a) Mmt,
a body of officers who are not in command of troops,
but who act as the assistants of an oflicer in high com-
mand, sometimes including that oflioer himself. Thus,
staff
the regimental sttiff consists of the colonel, lieutenant-
colonel, major, and adjutant, or the officers correspond-
ing to these ranks: the brigade staff and diirision staff
are composed of aides-de-camp, commissaries, quarter-
masters, and the like; and the statf of a general com-
manding an army-corps, or an army composed of several
army-corps, includes these last-named officers and also
a chief of stalf, a chief of artillery, a chief engineer, and
the like. The general staff is a body of officers form-
ing the central office of the army of a nation, and It acts,
in a sense, as the personal statf of the commander-in-chief,
or of the king or other chief ruler. In the United States
navy, staff-officers are the non-combatants, comprising the
medical corps, the pay-corps, the steam-engineeiiiig corps,
and chaplains, of those who go to sea, as well as civil engi-
neers, naval constructors, and professors of mathematics.
(6) A body of executive officers attached to any establish-
ment for the carrying out of its designs, or a number of
persons, considered as one body, intrusted with the exe-
cution of any undertaking : as, the editorial and reporting
staff of a newspaper; the g^a/ of the Geological Survey ; a
hospital staff.
The Archbishop [Becket] had amongst his chaplains a
staff of professoi-s on a small scale.
Stubbs, iledieval and Modern Hist., p. 143.
7t. A letter of the alphabet. See etymology of
book.
The flrrste staff ias nemmnedd I. Ormulum, 1. 4312.
8t. A line ; a verse ; also, a stanza.
Nerehande sta/e by staf, by gret diligence,
Sauyng that I most metre apply to ;
The wourdes meue, and sett here & ther.
Bom. of Partenay (E. E. T. S.), 1. 6555.
If we consider well the forme of this Poeticall staffe, we
shall flnde It to be a certalne number of verses allowed to
go altogether and ioyne without any intermission, and doe
or should finish vp all the sentences of the same with a
full period. Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 54.
I can sing but one staff of the ditty neither.
B. Jonson, I'oetaster, ii. 1.
Cowley found out that no kind of staff ie proper for a
heroic poem, as being all too lyrical. Dryden,
9. In musical notation, a set of five horizontal
lines on which notes are placed so as to indi-
cate the pitch of intended tones. Both thelinea
and the spaces between them are significant, and are called
degrees: they are numbered from below upward. When
the nine de-
— 2d— added line.
— ist^ *' *•
—5th — line-
grees of the
staff are not
sufficient for
the notation
of a melody
or chord, it is
extended by
means of arfd-
ed or leger
lines above
or below. In
-4th-
-3d-
-2d—
-Ist-
4th
space
3d "
2d "
Ist "
— Ist — added line.
—2d— "
general, the successive degrees of the staff are understood
to correspond to the successive degrees of the scale or to
the successive white keys of the keyboard, Irrespective of
the fact that the intervals thus indicated are not equal
to each other. An absolute pitch for the staff-degrees is
indicated by a clef placed at the beginning. (See clef.)
Gregorian music is customarily written on a staff of four
lines, and the only clef used is the C clef. The staff with
its appropriate notation is a development from the early
medieval neumes, which were originally dots, dashes, or
compound marks, whose relative position or shape indi-
cated the relative pitch of successive tones. To make this
notation more precise a horizontal line was drawn across
the page to maik the pitch of some given tone, as C or F,
and the neumes were arranged above or below this line.
Later, a second line was added, and then others, only the
lines being at first regarded as significant What was
called the great or grand staff was such a staff of eleven
lines. In harmonic or concerted music, two or more staffs
are used together, and are connected by a brace. See
braced, 5, and score'^, 9. Also stave, especially in Great
Britain.
10. In her., same as fissure, 5 — Bishop's staff.
See crozi^r, 1.— Cantoral Staff, cantor's staff, tlie offi-
cial staff of a cantor or precentor: it is primarily the
baton with which he beats time, but is often large, and
elaborately ornamented, becoming a mere badge of office.
Also called baton. — David's staff, a kind of quadrant for-
merly used in navigation.— Episcopal staff, in her.,ihQ
representation of a bishoi)'s or pastoral staff, usually en-
twined with a banderole which is secured to the sliaft
below the head. See cut under ftrt/trfer^/ic — Foliiferous
Staff. See/ofoX/''^'>"*-— Jeddart staff, a form of battle-
ax used by mounted men-at-arms ; so named from the town
of Jedburgh, in Scotland, the arms of wliieh bear such a
weapon. Also caW&A J edwood ax. FaiV/ioZf.— Marshal's
staff. See 7nfl'r^/in^.— Northern staff, a quarter-staff. —
Palmer's staff, in her., same as bourdon^, S. — Papal
staff, in her., a staff topped with the papal cross of three
cross-bars.— Pastoral staff, a staff borne as an emblem
of episcopal authority by or before bishops, archbishops,
abbots, and abbesses. In the Western Church it is usually
headed with a volute, suggesting a shepherd's crook, and
in the Greek Church it generally has a T- shaped head,
often curved upward and inward at the ends ; in the Ro-
man Catholic and some other churches it bears a cross
in the case of an archbishop, and a double cross in the
case of a patriarch. See cambuca. crazier, patcressa, fnt/ia-
n'wm.— Pilgrim's staff. See pilgrim.— Ked Staff, in
milling, a strai^'lit-Liipe used to test the dress of a mill-
stone. It is so called because it is rubbed with reil chalk
or ocher, by means of whicli inequalities on tlie surface
of the stone are detected. — Rlng-and-staff investi-
ture. See ecclesiastical investiture, under inve.'^itta-e. —
Short staff, the cudgel used in ordinary ciulgel-play,
similar to the modern single-stick as distinguished from
quarter-staff.- Staffragllly,inAer.,eitherapalletcouped
raguly, or the representation of a trunk of a tree with short
projections on the opposite sides, as of limbs sawed off.—
staff
5887
To argne from the staff to the cornert, to raise some staff-slingt (stftf' sling), «. [ME. stafeslynge,
otherqiiestioiitlluiithiit under iliscussion. Abp. liramhall, , „ . .. - _
Works, 11. M. (Daiks.) — 10 break a staff. .Same as
to break a lance (which see, under break).— To go to Sticks
and staves, see eiiek:'.— To have the better I'r worse
end of the staff, to be getting tlie best or worst of a
matter.
And 80 now ours seem to haf^e the better end of the Haff.
Court and Times of Charles I., II. 94.
To set down (or up) one's stafft, to stop and rest, as a
traveler at an inn ; abide for a time, Hev. T. AdauM,
Works, I. 185. (^Davietf.) See crook, crazier, cruichi.
staff"- vstaf), n. Plaster of Paris mixed, in water,
with some cement, glycerin, and de.xtrine : used
as a building material. It was first employed at the
Paris Exposition of 1878, and was extensively used in the
construction of the buildings of the Chicago Exposition
in 1893.
staff-angle (staf ang'gl), «. In plastering, a
square rod of wood, standing flush with the
wall on each of its sides, at the ex-
ternal angles of plastering, to pro-
tect them from injury.
staff-bead (staf'bed), n. In arch., an
aii(;le-bead.
Staff-captain (stif'kap'tan), n. The staffbtad.
senior grade in the navigating branch of the
British navy.
staff-commander (stWko-m&n'd*r), n. The
second grade in the navigating branch of the
Briti'ili na\-y. See master^, I (6).
staff-degree (staf'de-gre'), ». In musical no-
lo Hon, !i degree of a staff, whether line or space.
staff-duty (staf'dii'ti), H. The occupation or
employment of an officer who serves on a staff,
especially of one who, not originally a staff-
officer, has been detached from his regiment,
and attached to a staff.
staffed (stift), o. i< staff + -€CP.'\ \. In her.,
surrounded or combined with staffs : as, an an-
nulet staffed, a ring from which staffs or scep-
ters radiate. — 2. Provided with a staff or body
of officers; officered. [Recent.]
A powerful church of the new type, ttafed by friends
and papila of Pnsey, rose in the centre of R .
Jfn. Humphry Ward, Robert Elsmere, izxiU.
staffellte (staf'e-lit), n. [< Staffel (see def.) +
-itf".'\ A somewhat altered apatite, occurring
in botryoidal reniform .shapes of a green color,
incrusting the phosphorite found at Staffel,
near the 1-ahn, in Prussia.
staff-herding (staf'htr'ding), n. In old Eng.
J'orr.st law, tue grazing of cattle in charge of a
herdsman. This wu restrained or forbidden as more
injurious to the herds of deer than If there were no herds-
man to drive away the deer, and the caUle had to find their
own ffC'ling-ground.
staff-hole (st&f'hol), n. In metal., a small hole
in a puddling-furnace through which the pud-
dler heats his staff. H'eale.
staffiert (stafier), n. [= D. staffier, an atten-
dant, < OF. estaffier, a lackey, footboy that
runs by the stirrup, etc., < It. staffiere, staffiero, a
lackey, footboy, < staffa, a stirrup (ML. staffa)
(> dim. stafetta, a little stirmp, a courier, >
8p. Pg. eslaffeta = F. estafette, > D. estafette =
G. staffelte = Sw. stafett = Dan. slufct, a cour-
ier), < OHG. stapfo, staffo, MH6. G. stapfe, a
footstep (also a stirrup I), < OHG. BtHG. step-
fen, also OHG. staphoH, MHG. stapfen, step,
tread, = E. step: see step, and cf. OBiilg. stnptt,
a spur. The notion reflected on the def. as
given in most dictionaries, that staffier means
a 'staff-bearer,' and is connected with staff, is
erroneous.] A footman; an attendant.
Before the dame, and roand aboot,
March'd whilflere and ttaMm on foot.
With lackles, grooms, Taleli, and pagea^
In fit and proper eqiiipagea.
S. BuOer, Badlbraa, n. U. 650.
Staffisht (stAf'ish), a. [In Sc. eoTTuptlv staffage;
< .iiii[f + -!>*!.] Like a staff; rigid; "hence, in-
traiial.le. .•<«r/i<jm,Toxophilu8(ed.l864),p.lll.
staff-man (staf'man), n. A workman employed
in ,.^i Ik-throwing,
staff-notation (stif'no-ta'shon), n. In musical
nutation, the entire system of signs used in con-
nection with the staff: opposed, for example, to
the tonic sol-fa notation, in which no staff is used.
staff-officer (stif'of'i-s6r), n. An officer form-
ing; ])art of the staff of a regiment, brigade,
army, or the like; in the United States navy,
an otliccr not exercising military command.
staff-sergeant (stif'sar'jent), ». A non-com-
missioui'il officer having" no position in the
ranks of a company, but atta(;hed to the staff
of a rcKiirii'iit. In the Ignited States service the stall-
sergeants are the sergeiuit-major, ordnance-sergeant, hos-
pital-steward, quartermaster-sergeant, and commisaaiy-
sergeant.
Staff-slinff, about the loth
century, (I^rom Viollet-le-
Duc's "Diet, du MobUier
fran^ais.")
stafslinge; < staff + sUng^.'] A weapon con
sisting of a sling com-
bined with a short staff.
The staff was held with both
hands and whirled around.
The weapon seems to have
thrown larger missiles than
the ordinary sling and with
greater force. Distinguished
from cord-giiiig. Also called
fttgtibale, jMStibalus.
This geaunt at him stones caste
Out of a fel staf-dinge.
Chaucer, Sir Thopas, 1. 11&
staff-stone (staf'ston), «.
Same as hacuHte.
staff-strikert (staf'stri'-
ker) , ». A sturdy beggar;
a tramp.
Many became gtaf-strikers,
. . . and wandered in parties of
two, three, and four from vil-
lage to village. H. Eden, quoted in Ribton-Turner's Va-
Igrants and Vagrancy, p. 53.
staff-surgeon (staf 'sfer"jon), n. A senior grade
of surgeons in tlie British navy.
staff-tree (staf'tre), n. A vine or tree of the
genus Celastrus. The best-known species is the
American C. seandens, a twiner with ornamental fruit,
otherwise named climbing bittersiceet, icaxwork, staff-vine,
and fevertwig (see the last, and cut under Itittersweet). The
seeds of the East Indian C. paniculata have long been in
repute among Hindu physicians for their stimulating and
acrid properties, and are applied externally or internally
for the relief of rheumatism, etc. They yield an expressed
oU, also an emp>Teumatic, known as oleuni nigrum.
staff-vine (stafviu), «. See staff-tree.
stag (stag), n. [E. dial, also steg, Sc. also staig;
early mod. E. stagg, stagge; < ME. steg, stagge,
< Icel. steggr, steggi, a male animal (a male fox,
cat. a gander, drake, etc. ), lit. ' mounter,' < stiga
= AS. stigan, mount : see sty^. Hence stag-
gard^, staggon.'] 1. The male of various ani-
mals, especially of the deer tribe. Speciflcally—
(a) The male red-deer or a deer of other large species of
the genus Cervus in a restricted sense : a hart, of which
the ranale is a hind; and particularly the adult hart, at
least five years old, with antlers fully developed (com-
pare tUtffffardl, and see cuts under antler) ; in heraldry, a
nomed deer with branched antlers. The stag of Europe
is C«m<< eiopAiu, now found wild in (jreat Britain only in
the Highlands of Scotland. It Is a magnificent animal,
standing 4 feet high at the shoulder, with the antlers 3
feet long, having sometimes ten points and palmated at
the crown : sometimes known as a stag qf ten. The hind is
hornless and smaller. The corresponding animal In >'orth
America la the wapiti, there called elk (Cervus canadensis\
larger than the European stag, with much-branched ant-
lers sometimes upward of 4 feet long, not palmated at
the end. (See cut underuupifi.) Tliere are several Asiatic
stags, among them the nuine deer (see i2uaat,safnZmr).
(b) A boll castrated wben half-grown or full-grown ; a
bull-stag ; a ball-segg. (e) A male fox ; a dog-fox. (d) A
young horse; a colt (sometimes a flllyX (e) A gander.
(/) A drake. (]/) A pit or exhibition game-cock less than
one year old ; the cockerel of the game-fowl. (A) A tur-
key-cock. (0 The wren. (Local, Eng.] (J) A stag-beetle.
[In most of these Dies prov. Eng.)
2. In com. slang: (a) An outside irregular deal-
er in stocks, not a member of the exchange. (6)
A person who applies for the allotment of
shares in a joint-stock company, not becaase
he wishes to hold the shares, but because he
hopes to sell the allotment at a premium. If
he fails in this he forbears to pay the deposit,
and the allotment is forfeited. — 3. A romping
girl ; a hoyden. [Prov. Eng.] — 4t. The color
of the stag; a red dirty-brown color.
Come, my Cub, doe not scome mee because I go In Stag,
in Buff e ; beer 's veluet too ; thou seeet 1 am worth thus
much in bare veluet
Dekktr, Satiromastix, I. 230 (ed. Pearson).
Eojral stag, a atag that has antlers terminating in twelve
or more pouita
stag (stag), v.; pret. and pp. staggcd. ppr. slag-
ging. [< stag, n. J I. intrans. In com. slang, to act
as a stag on the stock exchange. See stag, n., 2.
n. <raH». To follow warily, as a deer-stalker
does a deer; dog; watch.
[Slang.]
8o you've been tiagging this
gentlenuui and me, and ffsten-
ig, have you?
//. Kingdey, GeofTry Hamlyn, v.
[{Damet.)
stagartti ". An obsolete
spelling; of gtaggard^.
stag-beetle (Bta^'be'tl), n.
A lamellieom coleopterous
insect of the genus Lucatius
or restricted family Lura-
nidse (which sec), the males
of which have branche<l
mandibles resembling the
antlers of a s'taK* L. cervta
to Uie common sUg-beetle of Ea-
stage
rope, and L. daphus is the stag-beetle of the United States.
The former is one of the laigest of British beetles, distin-
guished by the enormous size of the horny and toothed
mandibles in the male, and by the rather long elbowed
antennas, which end in a perfoliated club, and are com-
posed of ten joints, the first being very long. It is com-
mon in some localities in the neighborhood of London,
and is often 2 inches long, of a black color. Other species
are numerous in various parts of the world. See also cut
under Platycenia.
stag-bush (stag'bush), n. The black haw, Vi-
hurmim prunifolium.
stag-dance (stag'dans), n. A dance performed
by men only. [CoUoq., U. S.]
stage (staj), «. [< ME. stage, < OF. esiage, es-
tiii(/e, estauge, astuge, etc., a story, floor, stage,
a dwelling-house, F. ^tage, story, stage, floor,
loft, = Pr. estatge^ a stage, = It. staggio, a stake,
prop, banisters (ML, reflex stagium, estagium),
<'Mh,*staticumj lit. 'aplaceof standing,' or (as
in It. staggio) ' that which stands,' < L. starCy
pp. stattiSy stand: see state^ stand. Cf. 6tagere,
In the sense of *the distance between two
points,' the word was prob. confused with OF.
estage, < L. stadium, < Gr. urdSioVf a measure of
distance: see stadium, stade^, stadie.} If. A
floor or story of a house.
The Erie ascended into this tour quickly,
As sone aa he myght to hiest stage came.
Itom, of Partenay (E. E. T. S.), 1. 4925.
litnl John stode at a window in the momynge,
And lokid forth at a stage.
Robin Uood and the Monk (Child's Ballads, V. 8).
2t. A house; building.
Ther buth seriauns in the stage
That serueth the maidenes of parage.
King Horn (E. E. T. S.), p. 58.
3. In arch., the portion between a projection
and the retreat next above it in a medieval
buttress ; also, one of the horizontal divisions
of a window separated by transoms. — 4. A
floor or platform elevated above the ground
or common surface, for the exhibition of a
play or spectacle, for public speakers or per-
formers, or for convenience of view, use, or
access: as, a stage for a mountebank; a, stage
for speakers in public.
Give order that these bodies
High on a stage be placed to the view.
Shak., Hamlet, v. 2. 389.
Speciflcally — (a) A floor elevated for the convenience of
performing mechanical work and the like ; a scaffold ; a
staging : as, seamen use floating 8tages,&nd stages suspended
by the sideof a ship, for calking and repairing. (6) In print-
ing^ a low platform on which stacks of paper are piled,
(c) A shelf or horizontal compartment, as one of the stepa
of a court-cupboard.
The number of stages in the bulf et or sideboard indicates
the rank of the owner.
5. K. Handbook, Corporation and College Plate.
(d)Theplatformon which an object is placed to be viewed
through a microscope, (e) A wooden structure on a beach
to assist in landing ; a landing-place at a quay or pier. It
sometimes rises and falls with the tide, or is lowered or
raised to suit the varying height of ttie water.
Getting y* starteof ye ships that came to the plantation,
they tooke away their stage, & other necessary provisions
that they had made for Ashing at Cap- Anne yyear before.
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. lyC
(/) A raised platform on which theatrical performances
are exhibited ; the nooring in a theater on which the actors
perform. In modern theaters the stage includes not
only the part which can be seen from the auditorium, but
Staff-beetle (Lucanuarer-
VMJ), one half natuial size.
Floor-plan of Stage.
A, proscenium ; B, C, D, first, second, and third prompt-entrances
respectively ; B', C, O', first, second, and third opposite -prompt -en-
trances respectively ; E, winffs; a a, center; ^ ^, prompt-side ; c c,
o.-p--&ide; i/rf, prompt-center; <<■, o.-p. -center.
also the spaces on each side, behind the proscenlum-
arch, which are used for shifting the wings or side scenes,
and are themselves called the uings. The part extending
back from the orchestra to the proscenium-arch is called
iXiG proscenium. That side of the stage which is on the
extreme left of the spectator is called the prompt-side, be-
cause in theaters which have no prompt-liox the prompter
stands there. The corresponding position to the specta-
tor's right is called the o^/posite-prompt-nde (or, briefly,
o.'V.'Side). Half-way between the center and the prompt-
lide is theprompl-cervter^ the corresponding position to the
stage
fight being called the oppotilt-prompt-cfnter (or, briefly,
ii.-p.-eenter). The sta^e is thus divided laterall.v into five
parts, called in order the prompt-side, the prompleenler. the
ctntrr, the o.-p,-eetiter, and the o,-p. -side^ and these designa-
tions extend through the whole depth ol the stage, as well
as up into the Hies : thus the tive ropes by which a drop-
scene is raised or lowered are known as the prompt-side
5888
successive steps in a course of development :
as, the larval, pupal, and imaginal stages of an
insect; several stages of an embryo.
A blysful lyf thou says I lede.
Thou woldez knaw ther-of the gta^e.
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), i. 410.
These three be the true stages of knowledge.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, ii.
Our education is in a manner wholly in the hands of
ecclesiastics, and In all stages from infancy to manhood.
Burke, Rev. in France.
They were In widely different stages of civilization.
Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vi.
10. [Abbr. of stage-coach.'] Same as stage-
coach; also [U. S.], an omnibus.
A parcel sent you by the stage.
C&wper, Conversation, 1. 305.
I went in the six-penny stage. Sivift.
Law of the three stages. See three.
stagger
stage-micrometer (staj'mi-krom'e-t^r), n. In
microscopy, a micrometer attached to the stage,
and used to measure the size of an object un-
der examination.
stage-plate (staj'plat), n. A glass plate with
a narrow ledge along one edge, used on the
stage of a microscope to hold an object when
the microscope is inclined, and sometimes as
tlie bottom plate of a growing-slide. E. H.
Knight.
stage-play (staj'pla), ». Originally, a dramatic
performance ; hence, a play or drama adapted
for representation on the stage, as distinguished
from a reading- or closet-play.
If the devil, or his instruments, should then tell him
[a dying man] of a cup of sack, of merry company, of a
stage-play, or a morris-dance, do you think he would then
be so taken with the motion? Baxter, Saints' Rest, iv. 3.
Lyric stage, stage-player (staj'pla"er), «. An actor on the
See ;!/nc.- Mechanical stage_^ *^'""'^rBtaee'"^e stage; one whose occupation is to represent
go on the stage, see go.— To run the stage. See
run^.
stage (staj), v.; pret. and pp. staged, ppr. stag-
ing. [< stage, m.] I. trans. 1. To represent
in a play or on the stage ; exhibit on the stage.
I love the people,
But do not like to stage me to their eyes.
Shak., M. for M., i. 1. 69.
Frippery. Some poet must assist us.
Gotdstone. Poet?
You'll take the direct line to have us sta{i'd.
Middleton, Your Five Gallants, iv. 8.
An you stage me, stinkard, your mansions shall sweat
for 't B. Joruson, Poetaster, iii. 1.
2. To place or put on the stage ; mount, as a
play.
characters on the stage.
Among slaves who exercised polite arts none sold so
dear as stageplayerg or actors. Arbuthnot, Ancient Coins.
stager (sta'jfer), n. [< stage + -erl.] If. A
player.
Dare quit, upon your oaths.
The stagers and the stage-wrights too (your peers)^
B. Jonson, Just Indignation of the Author.
2. One who has long acted on the stage of life ;
a person of experience, or of skill derived from
long experience : usually with old.
Here let me, as an old stager upon the theatre of the
world, suggest one consideration to you.
Chesterjield, To his Son, Dec. 20, O. S. 1748.
3. A liorse used for drawing a stage-coach.
The manager who, in stagitig a play, suggests Judicious gtaee-riKht (stai'rit), n. The proprietary right
ortinratinnB- is in the noaition of a critic, nothing more. °""8,^ '•»6"" v J '' _^. _ f_ __^_ •^. __•' . ° _
Section of stage, as seen from Prompt-side.
A, proscenium;/;/, border-lights; p-.f-',fly-Balleries ; A, proscenium-
arcli : »■,/', curtains ; A, asI>estos fire-proof curtain.
modifications, is in the position of a critic, nothing more,
FoHtughUy Rev., N. S., XXXIX. 819.
II. intrans. To travel by stage-coach : some-
times with indefinite it.
He seasons pleasure with profit ; he stages (if I may say
so) into politicks, and rides post into business.
Oentleman Instmcted, p. 54(i. (Davies.)
rope, prompt-center rope, center-rope, etc. As regards depth,
the stage is divided into entrances varying in number ac-
cording to the number of the wings or side-scenes. That
between the proscenium and the first wing is called on /„i^^'v,„i,„N „ a ,,,.^o„ot,;„ty, V,r.-r
one side the Jirst prompt-entrance, and on the other the Stage-bOX (sta] boks), n. A proscenium-box.
first o.p.-entrance. From the first wing to the next is the stage-Camage (staj'kar"aj), n. A stage-coach.
second prompt- or second o.-p-en!ra«M and so on. Every- j Gladstone was able to reduce the mileage for
thing above the stage from the top of the proscenmm-arch ,. rarrinues to one farthinc
upward is cMedthe flies, and includes the borders, border- "" **"!"' ':'""'""'' '° To^^f^^^es in England, III. 56.
lights, all needed ropes, pulleys, and cleats, the beams to . , ,
which these are attached, and the fly-galleries, from the stage-COach (staj ' koch), n. A coach that runs
lowest of which the drop-scenes are worked. The_ ancient ^y stages; a coach that runs regularly every
Greek theater in its original form, as developed in the
fifth century B. c, had no raised stage, the actors appear-
ing in the orchestra amid the chorus.
All the world 's a stage.
And all the men and women merely players.
Skak., As you Like it, ii. 7. 189.
Mirth. Pray you help us to some stools here.
Pro. Where, on the sfajee, ladies?
Mirth. Yes, on the stage; we are persons of quality, I
assure you, and women of fashion, and come to see and to
be seen. B. Jonson, Staple of News, Ind.
Hence — 5. With the definite article, the thea-
day or on stated days between two places, for
the conveyance of passengers. Also stage.
stage-craft (staj'kraft), n. 1. The art of dra-
matic composition.
The fact that their author so willingly leaned upon the
plot of a predecessor indicates his weak point — the lack
of that stage-craft which seems to be still one of the rarest
gifts of Englishmen. A. Dobson, Introd. to Steele, p. xliv.
2. Knowledge and skill in putting a play on
the stage.
A writ-
ter; the drama as acted or exhibited, or the Stage-dlrection (8taj'di-rek"shon), »,
icL , iLio y^a^a, aa , ^^^ ^^ pnntcd instructiou as to action, etc
profession of representing dramatic composi-
tions: as, to take to the stage; to regard the
stage as a school of elocution.
There were also Poets that wrote onely for the stage, I
meane playes and interludes, to recreate the people with
matters of disporte.
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 20.
Lo ! where the stage, the poor degraded stage,
Holds its warped mirror to a gaping age.
Sprague, Curiosity.
6. A place where anything is publicly exhib-
ited; a field for action; the scene of any noted
action or career; the spot where any remark-
able affair occurs.
When we are born, we cry that we are come
To this great stage of fools. Shak., Lear, iv. 6. 187.
7. A place of rest on a journey, or where a re-
lay of horses is taken, or where a stage-coach
changes horses ; a station.
I have this morning good news from Gibson ; three let-
ters from three several stages, that he was safe last night
as far as Royston, at between nine and ten at night.
Pepys, Diary, June 14, 1667.
which accompanies the text of a play.
stage-door (staj'dor), n. The door giving ac-
cess to the stage and the parts behind it in a ,_
theater ; the actors' and workmen's entrance Stag-evil (stag e vl), n
of the author of a dramatic composition in re-
spect to its performance ; the exclusive right
to perform or authorize the performance of a
particular drama. Compare copyright.
Stageritet, «. [< stager + -ite'^ ; with a pun on
jStagirite.] A stage-player. [Humorous.]
Thou hast forgot how thou amblest ... by a play-
wagon, in the high way, and took'st mad Jeronimoes part^
to get seruice among the Mimickes ; and when the Stager-
ites banish't thee into the Isle of Dogs, thou turn'dst Ban-
dog. Dekker, Satiromastix, I. 229 (ed. Pearson).
Stageryt (sta'jer-i), n. [< stage + -ery.] Ex-
hibition on the stage.
Likening those grave controversies to a piece of Stagery,
or Scene-worke. Milton, An Apology, et«.
stage-setter (staj'set''''^r), «. One who attends
to the proper setting of a play on the stage.
M. Sardou is a born stage-setter, but with a leaning to
"great machines," numbei-sof figurants, and magnificence.
The Century, XXXV. 544.
stage-struck (staj'struk), a. Smitten with a
love for the stage ; possessed by a passion for
the drama; seized by a passionate desire to
become an actor.
"You are a precious fool. Jack Bunce," said Cleveland,
half angry, and, in despite of himself, half diverted by
the false tones and exaggerated gesture of the stagestrxick
pirate. ' Scott, Pirate, xxxix.
Tetanus or lockjaw of
to a theater.
stage-effect (staj'e-fekt"), n. Theatrical ef-
fect; efi'ect produced artiticially and designedly.
stage-fever (staj'fe''vfer), w. A strong desire
to go on the stage, or to be an actor or actress.
[CoUoq.]
He was intended for the Church, but he caught stage-
fever, ran away from school at the age of 17, and joined
the theater at Dublin.
J. Ashton, Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne, II. 21.
stage-forceps (staj'f6r''''seps), n. A clamp for
the horse.
stage-wagon (staj'wag'gn), «. 1. A wagon for
conveying goods and passengers, by stages, at
regularly appointed times. — 2t. A stage-coach.
stage-wait (staj'wat), n. A delay in a theatri-
cal performance, due to dilatoriness of an actor
or carpenter, or to any like cause. [CoUoq.]
stage-whisper (staj'hwis"per), ». A loud whis-
per used in by-play by an actor in a theater ; an
aside ; hence, a whisper meant to be heard by
those to whom it is not professedly addressed.
holding an object on the stage of a compound stagewright (staj'rit), n. A dramatic author;
microscope. E. H. Knight.
stage-fright (staj'frit), n. Nervousness ex-
a playwright. See the quotation under stoker, 1.
[Rare.]
periencel on fading an audience, especially for stagey, stageyness. See stagy, staginess, 1.
the first time. staggardi, staggart (stag'ard, -iirt), n. [For-
Stage-hand (staj'hand), n. A man employed merly a\ao sfagart ;< stag + -ard, -art.] A stag
to move scenery, etc. in his fourth year, and therefore not quite full
Hence — 8. The distance between two places ^j^^gg ,g(.j^;-jjoug) „ A house, as an inn, gi'own
of rest on a road: in some coimtries a regular
unit.
Tls strange a man cannot ride a stage
Or two, to breathe himself, without a warrant.
Beau, and Fl., Philaster, ii. 4.
. Our whole Stage this day was about five hours, our Course
a little Southerly of the West.
Maundrell, Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 2.
9. A single step of a gradual process ; degree
of advance or of progression, either in increase
at which a coach stops regularly for passengers staggard^ (stag'ard), n. Same as staggarth.
or to change horses.
Stagelyt (staj'li), a. [< stage + -ly^.'] Per-
taining to the stage ; befitting the theater; the-
atrical. Jer. Taylor (?), Artif. Handsomeness,
p. 168.
Stagemant (staj'man), n. An actor. T. Bra-
hinc, 1589 (prefixed'to Greene's "Menaphon").
{Daries.)
or decrease, in rising or falling, or in any stage-manager (staj'man"aj-&r),n. In theaters,
change of state : as, stages of growth in an ani- one who superintends the production and per-
maloraplant; the staffes of a disease ; inhiol., formance of a play, and who regulates all mat-
a state or condition of being, as one of several ters behind the curtain.
staggarth (stag arth), n. [Also staggard; a
reduction of *stack-garth, < stack + garth^. Cf.
equiv. dial, haggarth, haggard, 'hay-garth'.]
An inelosure within which stacks of hay and
grain are kept. Cath. Ang.,p.358. [Prov. Eng.]
stagger (stag'er), V. [A var. of stacker, after
MD. staggeren, stagger as a drunken man (ap-
par. a var. of *stackeren = Icel. stakra, stagger) :
see stacker^.] I. intrans. 1. To walk or stand
unsteadily; reel; totter.
A violent exertion, which made the King stagger back-
ward into the hall. Scott, Quentin Uurward, x.
stagger
ify sight staggers; the walla shake; he must be — do
angels ever come hither?
Landor, Imag. Couv., Galileo, Milton, and a Dominican.
2. To hesitate ; begin to doubt or waver in
purpose ; falter ; become less couHdent or de-
termined; waver; vacillate.
He gtaggered not at the promise of God through un*
belief. Rom. iv. 20.
It was long since resolved on,
Nor must I gUi^ijer now in 't.
Magginger, Unnatural Combat, ii. 1.
Thfi enterprise of the . . . newspapers stops at no ex-
pense, staggerg at no difficulties.
Uarper't Mag., LXXVII. 687.
=8pL 1. Totter, etc. See red2.
n. trans. 1. To cause to reel, totter, falter,
or be imsteady ; shake.
I have seen enough to stagger ray obedience.
Fletcher, Valentinian, iii. 1.
Strikes and lock-outs occur, which stagger the prosper-
ity, not of the business merely, but of the state.
A'. A. Rec, CXXXIX. 615.
2. To cause to hesitate, waver, or doubt; fill
with doubts or misgivings; make less steady,
determined, or confident.
The question did at first so stagger me.
Shak., Hen. VIII., iL 4. 212.
Tis not to die, sir.
But to die unrevenu'd, that staggers roe.
Fletcher, Double Marriage, iv. I.
3. To arrange in a 2.\^zai^ order; specifically,
in tcheel-making, to set (the spokes) in the hub
alternately iuside and outside (or more or less to
one side of) a line drawn round the hub. The
mortise-holes in such a hub are said to be dodging. A
wheel made in this manner is called a staggered wheel.
The objects sought in this system of construction are in-
creased strength and stiffness in the wheel.
stagger (stag'er), n. [< stagger, r.} 1. A sud-
den tottering motion, swing, or reel of the body
as if one were about to fall, as through tripping,
giddiness, or into.xication.
Their trepidations are more shaking than cold agae-flts ;
their Jtofr^/CTV worse than a drunkard a.
Ret. T. Adams. Works, 1. 127.
The individual . . . advanced with a motion that alter-
nated lietween a reel and a stagger.
a. A. Sola, Dutch Pictures, The Ship-Chandler. {Latham.)
2. pi. One of various forms of functional and
organic disease of the brain and spinal cord in
domesticated animals, especially horses and cat-
tle : more fully called blind staggers, k kind of
■taggers (see also gidi and ((urdyS) affecting sheep is spe-
dfloilly the dlieue resulting from a larval brain-worm.
iSee MCTiurc and Tama.) Other forms are due to distur-
bance of the circulation in the brain, and others again to
^ligestive derangements. See domach-staggers.
How now I my galloway nag the taggers, ha !
B. JotuoH, Bartbolomew Fair, iv. 3.
Hence — 3. pi. A feeling of giddiness, reeling,
or unsteadiness ; a sensation which causes reel-
ing.
Johp. And a kind of whimsie —
Here. Here in my head, that puts m« to the staggers,
B. Jormm, Fortunate Iiles.
4. pi. Perplexities; doubts; bewilderment;
eonfusion.
I will throw thee from my care for ever.
Into the staggers and the careless lapse
Of youth and ignorance.
Shot., All's Well, II. 3. 170.
Blind staggers. See det 2, above.— Orasg-gta£Kere,
the loco-diseue in honee. See loco, 2, and loeo-weed.
^agger-ixAiAndnmeda .i/ariana). t, floweriag branch :
2, Uie fmitt.
370
5889
stagger-bush (stag'er-bush), H. The shrub An-
dromeda (I'ieris) Mariana of the middle and
southern United States, whose leaves have been
supposed to give the staggers to auimals. Its
fascicles of waxy pure-white or pinkish urn-shaped flow-
ers are very beautiful, the habit of the bush less so. See
cut in preceding column.
staggerer (stag'er-er),n. l<stagger + -er^.'] 1.
One who or that which staggers. — 2. A state-
ment or argument that staggers ; a poser; what-
ever causes one to stagger, falter, hesitate, or
doubt. [CoUoq.]
This was a staggerer for Dive's literary "gent," and it
took him nearly six weeks to get over it and frame a reply.
Athenaum, Oct. 26, 1889, p. 560.
stagger-grass (stag'er-gras),». The atamasco-
lily, Zephijranthes Atamasco : so called as sup-
posed to cause staggers in horses.
staggeringly (stag'6r-ing-li), adv. In a stag-
geiing or reeling manner; with hesitation or
doubt. Imp. Diet.
Staggerwort (stag'^r-wert), n. Same as staver-
icart: so called as supposed to cure the staggers,
or, as Prior thinks, from its application to newly
castrated bulls, called stags.
Staggont (stag'on), n. [Also stagon (ML. stag-
gon); < stag + -on, a suffix of F. origin.] A
staggard. Holinshed.
Called in the fourth (year] a stagon.
StarUhurst, Descrip. of Eng., Hi. 4.
stag-headed (stag'hed'ed), a. Having the up-
per branches dead: said of a tree.
They were made of particular parts of the growth of cer-
tain very old oaks, which had Rrown for ages, and had at
length become stag-headed and half-dead.
Harper's Mag., LXXVUI. 787.
stag-horn (stag'hdm), n. 1. A common club-
moss, Lycopodium clavatum. Also stag's-horn.
Or with that plant which in our dale
We call stag-horn, or fox's tail.
Wordsworth, Idle Shepherd-Boys.
2. A madrepore coral, itadrepora cenieomis and
related speeie8,u8ed for ornament. See cut un-
der Madrepore — Btag-hom fern, a fern of the genus
fHatycerium, but especially P. alcicome : so called from
the fact that the fertile fronds are dichotomously forked
like a stag's horn. The genus is small but widely diffused.
The name is also sometimes applied to certain'species of
OphmjluHfiim. — Stag-hom moss. Same as staghorti, 1.
— 8ta«-hom sumac. See sumac.
stag-homed (stag'liornd), a. Having long ser-
rate antenuee, as the longicom beetle ^can-
thophorus serraticomis.
S'taghoond (stag'hound), n. A hunting-dog
able to overtake and cope with a stag, (a) The
Scotch deerhound or wolf-dog, of great speed, strength,
and courage, standing 28 inches or more, with a shaggy
or wiry coat, usually some shade of gray. They hunt
chiefly t>y sight, and are used in stalking the red deer, for
running down the gtme. 0) A large kind of fox-hound,
about 25 inebe* high, trained to hunt deer by scent.
Staginess (sta'ji-nes), n. {^(. stagy + -ness.} 1.
Stagy or exaggerated character or style ; con-
ventional theatricality. Also stageyness. — 2.
A certain stage or state of an animal ; by im-
plication, that stage when the animal is out of
condition, as when a fur-bearing animal is shed-
ding. [CoUoq.]
Those signs of shedding and staginess so marked in the
seal. Fisheries <tf a. S., V. U. 488.
staging (sta'jing), n. [Verbal n. of stage, r.]
1. A temporary structure of posts and boards
for support, as in building; scaffolding. — 2.
The business of running or managing stage-
coaches, or the act of traveling in them.
ttagiont, «. [Appar. an altered form of stag-
ing, simulating station (ME. stacion, < OF. stu-
cion, esta^on, estnchon, estagon, etc.): see sta-
tion.} Stage; a staging; a pier.
In these tydes there must be lost no lot of time, for, if
you arriue not at the stagitms t>efore the tyde be spent,
yon must tume backe from whence you came.
Hakluyts Voyages, II. 2S4.
Btagirite (staj'i-rit), n. [Also, erroneously, Sta-
gynte; = F. Stagyrite = Sj). Pg. Estagirita =
It. Stagirita, < L. Stagirites, Stagerites, < Gr.
lTa}etpiTiK, an inhabitant or a native of Stagira
(applied esp. to Aristotle), < iTaycipa, Srayeipoi
(L. Stagira), a city of Macedonia.] A native
or an inhabitant of Stagira, a city of Macedonia
(Chalcidice), situated on the Strymonic Gulf;
specifically, Aristotle, the "prince of philoso-
pners " (384 - 322 B.C.), who was bom there, and
18 frequently referred to as "the Stagirite."
The mighty Stagyrite flrst left the shore,
Spread all his sails, and durst the deep explore ;
He steer'd securely, and discovcr'd far.
Led by the light of the Mseonfan star.
Pope, Essay on Criticism, I. 645.
stagnancy (stag'nan-si), n. [< stagnan{t) +
-'•y.] 1. The state of being stagnant or with-
Stahlian
out motion, flow, or circulation, as a fluid; stag-
nation.
There is nowhere stillness and stagnancy.
The Century, XXVII. 174.
2. PI. stagnancies (siz). Anything stagnant ;
a stagnant pool.
Though the country people are so wise
To call these rivers, they're but stagnancies.
Left by the flood.
Cotton, Wonders of the Peaks (1681), p. 55.
stagnant (stag'nant), a. [< F. stagnant = It.
stugnante, < L. stagnan(t-)s, ppr. of stagnare,
form a pool of standing water, cause to stand:
eee stagnate.'] 1. Standing; motionless, as the
water of a pool or lake ; without current or mo-
tion, ebb or flow : as, stagnant water; stagnant
pools.
Where the water is stopped in a stagnant pond
Danced over by the midge.
Browning, By the Fireside.
2. Inert; inactive; sluggish; torpid; dull; not
brisk: as, business is stagnant.
The gloomy slumber of the stagnant soul. Johnson.
stagnantly (stag'nant-li), adv. In a stagnant
or still, motionless, inactive manner.
stagnate (stag'nat), v. i. ; pret. and pp. stag-
nated, ppr. stagnating. [< L. stagnatiis, pp.
of stagnare (> It. stagnare = F. stdgner), form
a pool of standing water, stagnate, be over-
flowed, < stagnum, a pool, swamp. Cf. stonJ-l.]
1. To cease to run or flow; be or become mo-
tionless ; have no current.
I am fifty winters old ;
Blood then stagnates and grows cold.
Cotton, Anacreontic.
In this flat country, large rivers, that scarce had decliv-
ity enough to run, crept slowly along, through meadows
of fat black earth, stagjuxting in many places as they went.
Brice, Source of the Nile, I. 372.
2. To cease to be brisk or active ; become dull,
inactive, or inert: as, business stagnates.
Eeady-witted tenderness . . . never stagnates in vain
lamentations while there is room for hope. Scott.
stagnatet (stag'nat), a. [< L. stagnatus, pp.:
see the verb.] Stagnant.
To drain the stagnate fen.
SomerviOe, The Chase, iii. 440.
stagnation (stag-na'shon), «. [= F. stagna-
tion; as stagnate + -ion.'] 1. The condition of
being stagnant; the cessation of flow or circu-
lation in a fluid; the state of being without flow,
or of being motionless.
Th' icy touch
Of unproliflc winter has impress'd
A cola stagtuxtion on th' intestine tide.
Coieper, Task, vi. 139.
In . . . [suffocation] life is extinguished by stagrtation
of non-arterializcd blood in the capillaries of the lungs,
and by the ch.inges that result from the failure of the
function of the pulmonic system.
J. M. Camochan, Operative Surgery, p. 396.
2. Lack or absence of briskness or activity;
inertness; dullness.
I'he decay of my faculties is a stagnation of my life.
Steele, Spectator, No. 260.
stagnicolons (stag-nik'o-lus), a. [< L. stag-
num, a pool, + colere, inhabit.] Living in stag-
nant water; inhabiting swamps or fens ; palu-
dicole, as a bird.
stagont, «. See staggon.
stag-party (stag'piir'ti), n. A party or enter-
tainment to which men only are invited.
[Slang. U. S.]
stag's-horn (stagz'h6rn),n. Sameas«tog'-/ioni,l.
stag-tick (stag'tik), n. A parasitic dipterous
insect, Ltptoptena cerri, of the family Hippobos-
cifls, which infests the stag and other animals,
and resembles a tick in being usually wingless.
stag-worm (stag'wferm), n. The larva of one
of several bot-flies which infest the stag. There
are 12 species, 6 of which (all of the genus Hypoderma)
inhabit the subcutaneous tissue of the back and loins ; the
others (belonizing to the genera Cephenomyia and Pha-
ryngomi/ia) infest the nose and throat.
stagy (sta'ji).n. [Also stagiy; < stage + -y"^.]
Savoi'ingof the stage; theatrical; conventional
in manner: in a depreciatory sense.
Mr. I.ewes ... is keenly alive to everything stagey in
physiognomy and gesture.
Geiirge Eliot, in Cross's Life, II. xiii.
The general tone of his thought and expression never
rose above the ceremonious, stagy, and theatrical charac-
ter of the 18th century. Encyc. Brit., XII. 97.
Stagyrite, ". An erroneous spelling of Stagi-
rite.
Stahlian (sta'lian), n.and n. [< Stahl (see def.)
+ -ian.] I. a. Of or pertaining to G. E. Stahl,
a German chemist (1660-1734), or his doctrines.
n. «. A believer in or supporter of Stahlian-
ism or animism.
Stahlianism
Stahlianism (sta'lian-izm), H. [< Stahlian +
-ism.] Same as animism, 2.
Stahlism (sta'lizm). V. [< Stahl (see Stahlian)
+ -!>/«.] Same as animism, 2.
Stahlspiel (stal'spel), n. [G., < stahl, steel, +
spiel, play.] Same as lyre^, 1 ^c).
staid (stad). A mode of speUing the preterit
and past participle of stay^.
staid (stad), a. [Formerly also stayed; an adj.
use of staid, jyp.] Sober; grave; steady; se-
date; regular; not wild, volatile, flighty, or
fanciful : as, a staid elderly person.
Put thyself
Into a haviour of less fear, ere wildness
Vanquish my staider senses.
Shai., Cymbeline, iil. 4. 10.
The tall fair person, and the stUI staid mien.
Crabbt, Works, IV. 143.
staidly (stad'li), adv. [Formerly also stayedly."]
In a staid manner ; calmly; soberly.
Tis well you have manners.
That curt'sy again, and hold your countenance staidly.
Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, iv. 2.
staidness (stSd'nes), k. [Formerly also stayed-
HCS!<; < staid + -ness.] The state or character
of being staid ; sobriety; gravity; sedateness;
steadiness: as, staidness and sobriety of age.
The love of things ancient doth argue stayedness, but
levity and want of experience maketh apt unto Innova-
tions. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v. 7.
Brought up among Quakers, although not one herself, . .
she admired and respected the staidness andoatv/ard peace- Staina
fulness common among the young women of that sect.
Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovei-s, xxxii.
Staig (stag), n. [Avar, ofsto*/.] A young horse;
a stallion. [Scotch.]
Stail (stal), n. A spelling of staled.
stain (stan), V. [< ME. steinen, steynen (> Icel.
steina), by apheresis from disteinen, disteignen,
dfsteynen, desteinen, E. distain : see distain.'] I.
trans. 1. To discolor, as by the application of
some foreign matter ; make foul ; spot : as, to
stain the hand with dye, or with tobaceo-juice ;
to stain the clothes.
An image like thyself, all stain'd with gore.
Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 664.
2. To soil orsully with guilt or infamy; tarnish ;
bring reproach on; corrupt; deprave: as, to
stain the character ; stained with guilt.
Never believe, though in my nature reign'd
All frailties that besiege all kinds of blood.
That it could so preposterously be staind,
To leave for nothing all my sum of good.
Shak., Sonnets, cix.
Sf. To deface; disfigure; impair, as shape, beau-
ty, or excellence.
But he 's something stain'd
With grief that's beauty's canker, thou mightst call him
A goodly person. Shak., Tempest, i. 2. 414.
We were all a little stained last night, sprinkled with a
cup or two. J?. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, i. 1.
4. To color by a process other than painting or
coating or covering the surface, (a) To color (as
glass) by something which combines chemically with the
substance to be colored, (d) To color by the use of a thin
5890
You do remember
This stain [a mole] upon her?
Shak., Cymbeline, ii. 4. 139.
Swift trouts, diversified with crimson staim.
Pope, Windsor Forest, 1. 145.
2. A blot; a blemish; a cause of reproach or
disgrace: as, a stain on one's cbaracter.
Hereby I will lead her that is the praise and yet the
slain of all womankind. Sir P. Sidney.
I say you are the man who denounced to my uncle this
miserable stain upon the birth of my betrothed.
L. W. M. Lockhart, Fair to See, xxii.
3. In entom., a well-defined spot of color which
Stake
From her warm bed, and up the corkscrew stair.
With hand and rope we haled the groaning sow.
Tennyson, Walking to the Mail.
Staircase-shell (star'kas-shel), n. A shell of
the genus Solarium ; any member of the Sola-
riidse. See cut under Solarium.
stair-foot (star'fut), «. The bottom of a stair.
Bacon, Hist. Hen. VH., p. 123.
stair-head (star'hed), n. The top of a stair.
I lodge with another sweep which is better off nor I
am, and pay him 2s. 9d. a week for a little ««a»r-/icad place
with a bed in it.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, IL 428.
appears to be semi-transparent, so that it mere- Stair-rod (star'rod), n. A rod or a strip of thin
ly modifies the ground-color: it may be pro-
duced by very fine dots, as on a butterfly's wmg.
— 4. Taint; tarnish; evil or corrupting effect:
as, the stain ot sin. — 5t. Slight trace; tinge;
tincture.
metal, sometimes folded and corrugated to give
it stiffness, used to hold a stair-carpet in place.
It is secured across the width of the step by rings or sta-
ples Into which it is slipped, and in other ways ; by ex-
tension, something no'., a rod answering the same pur-
pose.
Stairway (star'wa), ». A staircase. Moore.
(Imp. Diet.)
color stair-wire (siSr'wir), n. A slender stair-rod of
metal.
You have some stain of soldier in you ; let me ask yon
a question. Shak., All's Well, i. 1. 122.
6. Coloring matter; a liquid used to
wood, ivory, etc., by absorption.
The ivory is invariably again placed in cold water that
has been boiled, before it is transferred to the slain.
Workshop Receipts, 2d ser., p. 234.
Diffuse stains, those dyes which stain all parts of the stairyt (star'i), a. [Early mod. E. stayry ; <
" '" stair + -yi.] Stair-like. A'osAc, Lenten Stuffe.
The banisters were beeswaxed, and the vei7 stair-vnres-
made your eyes wink, they were so glittering.
Dickens, .Sketches, Tales, i. 1.
tissue more or less uniformly.— Nuclear stains, those
stains which act upon the nuclei, and which stain not at
all or feebly the protoplasm of the cells. -Oyster-shell „+t<+i, ■i.„j+i,^„„
Stains, in photog. See oyster-shell. Staitfl, Slaitnman,
tainable(sta'na-bl),a. [< stain + -ahle.'\ Ca- staith'WOrt (stath'
liquid which penetrates the material, as in dyeing cloth or
staining wood, (c) In microscopy, to impregnate with a
substance whose chemical reaction on the tissue so treat-
ed gives it a particular color. The great value of staining
for this purpose results from the fact that some tissues are
stainable by a certain reagent to which others respond but
feebly or not at all, so that some points, as the nucleus of
cells, etc., maybe more distinctly seen by the contrast in
color. Many different preparations are used for the pur-
pose in different cases.
5. To print colors upon (especially upon paper-
hangings). [Eng.] — 6t. To darken; dim; ob-
scure.
Cloads and eclipses stain both moon and sun.
Shak,, Sonnets, xzxv.
Hence — 7t. To eclipse ; excel.
O Toyce that doth the thrush in shrilness stain.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, iii.
Her beauty shin'd most bright,
Far staining every other brave and comely dame
That did appear in sight.
Patient Orissel (Child's Ballads, IV. 209).
Stained cloth. Same a&painted cloth (which see, under
cloth).— Stained glass. See glass,
H, intrans. 1
tion,
pable of being stained, as objects for the micro-
scope. See stain, v., 4 (c). Encyc. Brit., XIX.
ooo.
stainchel (stan'chel), n. A Scotch form of stan-
ch<n.
stainer (sta'ner), n. l< stain + -er^.l 1. One
who or that which stains, blots, or tarnishes. —
2. One who stains or colors ; especially, in the
trades, a workman whose employment is stain-
ing wood, etc. See paper-stainer. — 3. A tinc-
ture or coloring matter used in staining.
stainless (stan'les), a. [< stain + -less.] Free
from spot or stain, whether physical or moral ;
unblemished; immaculate; untarnished: liter-
ally or figuratively.
stainlessly (stan'les-li), adv. In a stainless
manner ; with freedom from stain.
stair (star), n. [< ME. staire, stayre, stayer,
stcir, steire, steyre, steyer, < AS. stieger, a step,
stair (= MD. steygher, steegher, steglier, D. stei-
ger, a stair, step, quay, pier, scaffold), < stigan
= J), stijgen, etc., mount, climb: see sty'^, v., and
cf. stile^, styT-, n., from the same verb.] If. A
step ; a degree.
He [Mars] passeth but oo steyre in dayes two.
Chaucer, Complaint of Mars, 1. 129.
Forthy she standeth on the highest stayre
Of th' honorable stage of womanhead.
Spenser, F. Q., III. v. B4.
2. One of a series of steps to mount by : as, a
flight of stairs.
The qween bar furst the cros afturward,
To fecche folk from helleward,
On holy stayers to steyen vpwaxd
And regne with God vr lorde.
Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 148.
The stairs, as he treads on them, kiss his feet.
Shak,, L. L. L., v. 2. 330.
3. A flight or succession of flights of steps, ar-
ranged one behind and above the other in such
a way as to afford passage from a lower to a
higher level, or vice versa: as, a windings tor;
the back stair : often used in the plural in the
same sense.
Romynge outward, fast it gonne biholde,
Downward a steyre, into an herber grene.
Chaucer, Troilus, ii. 1705.
Below Stairs, in the basement or lower part of a house.
— Close-String stairs, a dog-legged stairs without an
open newel, and with the steps housed into the strings. —
Down stairs, in the lower part of a house. — Flight of
stairs, a succession of steps in a continuous line or from
one landing to another. — Geometrical Stairs, ^ee ge-
ometric.— Pair of stairs, a set or flight of steps or stairs.
Seepairi, 6.— Up stairs, in the upper part of a house.
To cause a 8ta,in or discolora- Stairbeak (star'bek), n. A bird of the genus
Xeitops, having the upper mandible straight
As the berry breaks before It staineth.
Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 460.
and the gonys ascending to the tip. See cut
under Xenops.
f-„T° *^H® ^*'^.'is! become stained, soiled, or staircase (star'kas),n. l<stmr -I- case^.]
sullied ; grow dim ; be obscured.
The only soil of his fair virtue's gloss,
If virtue's gloss will stain with any soil,
Is a sharp wit match'd with too blunt a will.
Shak., L. L. L., ii. 1. 48.
stain (stan), n. {(.stain, v.] 1. A spot; a dis-
coloration, especially a discoloration produced
by contact with foreign matter by external
causes or influences : as, mildew-stejn«.
The
part of a building which contains the stairs:
also often used for stairs or flight of stairs.
(Davies.)
See stathe, statheman.
wfert), n. Same as colewort.
staiver, v. i. See staver.
stakt. An obsolete preterit of sticl:'^, stick^.
Stakel (stak), n. [< ME. stal-e, < AS. staea, a
stake, a pin, = OFries. stake = MD. stake,
staecke, staeck, D. staak, a stake, post, = ML(J.
stake, a stake, post, pillory, prison, LG. stake,
> Gr. staken, a stake, = Icel. stjaki, a stake, pole,
candlestick, = Sw. stake, a stake, a candlestick,
= Dan. stage, a stake (Scand. forms appar. <
LG.); cf. OHG. stachulla, stacchulla, MHG. G.
stachel, a sting; from the root of stick (AS.
''stecan, pret. *stmc): ieastick^, v., and cf . «ticit3,
J!., stack. Cf. OF. estake, estaque, estacke, es-
tacque, stake, also estachc, estaiche, staclie, etc.,
a stake, prop, bar, etc., = Sp. Pg. estaca, a
stake, = It. stacca, a hook, < Teut.] 1. A stick
of wood sharpened at one end and set in the
ground, or prepared to be set in the ground, as
part of a fence, as a boundary-mark, as a post
to tether an animal to, or as a support for some-
thing, as a hedge, a vine, a tent, or a fishing-
net.
Here hefd and here kyng haldyng with no partie.
Bote stande as a stake that styketh in a muyre
By-twyne two londes for a trewe marke.
Piers Plowman (CX iv. 384.
Sharp stakes pluck'd out of hedges
They pitched in the ground.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., i. 1. 117-
"Was never salmon yet that shone so fair
Among the stakes on Dee.
Kingsley, The Sands of Dee.
Specifically — 2. The post to which a person
condemned to death by burning is bound : as,
condemned to the stake; burned at the stake;
also, a post to which a bear to be baited is tied.
Have you not set mine honour at the stake,
And baited it with all the unmuzzled thoughts
That tyrannous heart can think ?
Shak., T. N., iil 1. 129.
3. In leatlier-manuf., a post on which a skin
is stretched for currying or graining. £. H.
Knight. — 4. A vertical bar fixed in a socket or
in staples on the edge of the bed of a platform
railway-car or of a vehicle, to secure the load
from rolling off, or, when a loose substance, as
gravel, etc., is caiTied, to hold in place boards
which retain
the load.— 5. A ^^^ -S?
small anvil used
for working in
thin metal, ashy
tinsmiths : it ap-
pears to be so
called because
stuck into the bench by a sharp vertical prop
pointed at the end.
The stake is a small anvil, which stands upon a small
iron foot on the workbench, to remove as occasion offers.
J, Sloxon, Mechanical Exercises.
Stake-and-rider fence. Same as snake ferux (which see,
under .^ence).
Various forms of Stakes for Sheet-metal
Working.
Staircases are straight or winding. The straight Stake^ (stak), v, t,; pret. and pp. staked, ppr.
" "■ staking. {< ME. staken = MIl.MLG. staken (=:
OF. estacliier = Sp. estacar), stake ; from the
noun.] 1. To fasten to a stake ; tether; also,
to impale.
Stake him to the ground, like a man that had hang'd
himself. Shirley, Love Tricks, ii. 1.
are technically called fliers or direct fliers.
Though the figure of the house without be very extra-
ordinary good, yet the stayre-case is exceeding poor.
Pepys, Diary, III. 267.
Corkscrew staircase or stair, a winding stab-case hav-
ing a solid newel.
stake
Twaa pitty that such a delicate invenUve wltt shoold
be itatedia an obscure corner.
Aubrey, Lives (Francis Potter).
His mind was so airy and volatile he could not have
kept his chamber, if he must needs be there, stated down
purely to the drudgery of the law.
Roger North, Lord Guilford, I. 15. {Davia.)
2. To support with stakes ; provide with sup-
porting stakes or poles: as, to stake vines. —
3. To defend, barricade, or bar with stakes or
piles.
Then caus'd his ships the river up to iiake.
That none with victual should the town relieve.
Drayton, Battle of Agincourt, st. S9.
4. To divide or lay oflf and mark with stakes
or posts: with out or off: as, to stake off a site
for a school-house ; to stake out oyster-beds.
The modest Northerners who have got hold of it
[Florida], and staked it all out into city lots, seem to want
to keep it all to themselves.
C. D. Warner, Their PDgrlmage, p. 49.
When, therefore, M. Xaville disbanded his men at the
close of the fourth week, he had not only found a large
number of very precious monuments in a surprisingly
short space of time, but he left the ground chronologically
tUUted out The Century, XXXIX. 333.
6. To stretch, scrape, and smooth (skins) by
friction against the blunt edge of a semicir-
cular knife fixed to the top of a short beam or
post set upright.
The [calf-|skins ... are Mlaked by drawing them to
and fro over a blunt knife fixed on the top of a post.
Worlahop Jieenptu, 2d ser., p. 367.
Btake^ (stak), n. [= MD. staeck, a stake for
which one plays; a particular use of stake, a
stake, pole, appar. as ' that which is fixed or
put up': see «tofcel, «Wci3.] 1. That which is
placed at hazard as a wager ; the sum of money
or other valuable consideration which is depos-
ited as a pledge or wager to be lost or won ac-
cording to the issue of a contest or contingency.
'TIS time short Fleuares now to take.
Of little Life the beat to make.
And manage wiiely the la(t Stakt.
CowUy, Anacreontics, t.
Vhoae game was empires, and whose taket were thrones.
Byron, Age of Bronze, Ui.
2. The prize in a contest of strength, skill,
8x>eed, or the like.
From the king's hand most Douglas take
A silTer dart, the archer's Make,
Seatt, L. of the L., T. 22.
3. An interest ; something to gain or lose.
Both had Uie air of men pretending to aristocracy — an
old world air of respectability and tlake in the country,
and Church-and-Stateism. Bidvier, My Novel, xL 2.
4. The state of being laid or pledged as a wa-
ger ; the state of being at hazard or in peril : pre-
ceded by at: as, his honor is at stake.
Now begins the Oame of Faction to be play'd, wherein
the whole State of Qaeen Elisabeth lies at Make.
Baker, Chronicles, p. SS0.
I have more than Life at Stake on your Fidelity.
iSteeIc, Conscious Lovers, II. 1.
5. The see or jurisdiction of a Mormon bishop.
[A forced use.]
Inasmuch as parents have children In ZIon, or In any
of her Maket which are organized, that teach them not, . . .
the sin be npon the heads of the parents.
Doctrine and Covenants, Ixvill. 26.
■alden stakes. See tiuM*n.—Tb» Oaka stakes. See
oak.
stake''' (stak), V. t.; pret. and pp. staked, ppr.
staking, [i staked, n.'] To wager; put at haz-
ard or risk npon a future contingency; venture.
'Tis against all Bale of Play that I should lose to one
who has not wherewithal to dake.
Conffrtve, Way of the World, lit 18.
Like an Inspired and deqwrate alchemist,
Staking his very life on some dark hope.
ShetUy, Alsstor.
stake'^t, 1. A Middle English form of stack.
stake^ (stak), n. The ling. [Prov. Eng.]
stake-boat (stak'bot), n. A moored boat used
to mark the end of a coarse or a turning-point
in a regatta or boat-race.
Each boat to go fairly round the tiake-boati at mark-
bnoys without touching the same.
Qualtrougk, Boat Sailer's Manual, p. 141.
stake-driver (stak'dri'vfer), n. The American
\AUi-Tn. liotatirus mugitans or lentiginosus: so
called from its cry, which is likened to driving
a stake into the ground with a mallet. Al.so
jiilr-tlrirer, pump-thunder, thunder-pumper, etc.
stake-head (stak'hed), n. In rope-making, one
of HoviTal cross-bars set on stakes, use^ in a
roix'-vvalk to support the cords while twisting.
stake-holder (stak'h61'd*r), ». 1. One who
holds thf stakes, or with whom the bets are
(Icpositi'd when a wager is laid. — 2. In law,
one holding a fund which two or more claim
adversely to each other.
5891
stake-hook (stak'huk), «. On a railway plat-
form-car, a hook, loop, or clevis on the side of
the bed, to receive an upright stake.
stake-iron (stak'i'^m), «. The metallic strap
or armature of a railway- or wagon-stake.
stake-net (stak'net), «. A kind of fishing-net,
consisting of netting vertically hung on stakes
driven into the ground, usually with special con-
trivances for entrapping or securing the fish.
See gill-net, and cut under pound-net.
stake-netter (stak'nefer), «. One who uses
a stake-net or pound ; a pounder.
stake-pocket (stak'pok'et), n. A socket of
cast-iron fixed to the side of the bed of a flat
or platform-car to receive the end of a stake.
Stake-pnller (stak'pul'^r)^ n. A machine, cpn-
sisting of a hinged lever with a gripping device,
for pulling stakes or posts from the ground; a
post-puller.
staker^t, v. •'. A Middle English spelling of
stacker^.
Staker2 (sta'kfer), n. [< stake'^ + -«ri.] One
who stakes money, or makes a wager or bet.
stake-rest (stak'rest), n. On a railway plat-
form-car, a device for supporting a stake when
turned down horizontally.
Stakket, n. and t'. An old spelling of stack.
Stakkert, f • '• An obsolete spelling of stacker^.
staktometer, «. See stactometer.
Stalt. An obsolete preterit of steaP-.
Stalactic (sta-lak'tik), a. [< Gr. oralaKruidq,
dropping, dripping, < <TTo/'^/fTi5f, verbal adj. ,of
ara/Maodv, (rra/.a^civ, ara/.av, drop, drip, let fall
drop by drop, appar. extended forms of ard-
feiv, drop, let fall by drops.] Pertaining to or
resembling stalactite or a stalactite; stalac-
titic.
stalactical (sta-lak'ti-kal), a. [< stalactic +
-al.'i Same as' stalactic."
This sparry, gtalaetieal substance.
Derham, Physico-Theology, ill. 1.
Stalactiform (sta-lak'ti-form), a. [< staiact(ite)
+ L. forma, form.] Having the form of a sta-
lactite; like stalactite; stalactical.
stalactite Csta-lak'tlt), n. [= F. stalactite, <
NL. stalactites, < Gr. <jTa?.aKT<if , dropping, oozing
out in drops: see stalactic.'] 1. A deposit of
carbonate of lime, usually resembling in form
a huge icicle, which hangs from the roof of a
cave or subterranean rock-opening, where it
has been slowly formed by deposition from
calcareous water trickling downward through
cracks or openings in the rocks above. Water
containing carbonic acid in solution, which it has gained
In filtering through the overlying soil, has the power of
dissolving carbonate of lime, which it deposits again upon
evapormuon ; atalactites are hence common in regiona of
limestone rocka. They are sometimes white, and nearly
transparent, showing the broad cleavage-surfaces of the
caiclte, as those of \M cave near Hataiizas in Cuba ; but
commonly they have a gnnnlar structure with concentric
bands of pale-yellow to brown colors. In some caverns
the stalactites are very numerous and large, and of great
beauty In their endless variety of form, especially in con-
nection with the stalagmites, the corresponding deposi-
tions accumulated beneath the stalactites upon the floor
of the cavema. The oaves of Adelsberg in Carniola and
of Luray In Virginia are among the most celebrated for the
beauty of the& stalactites.
The grotto it perfectly dry, and there are no petrifica-
tions or ttalaetUtM in it.
Pocoekt, Description of the East, II. L 41.
2. A similar form of some other mineral spe-
cies, such as are occasionally observed, for ex-
ample, of chalcedony, limonite, etc., but only
sparingly and on a small scale. — 3. A like
form of lava sometimes observed in connection
with volcanic outflows, tava stalactites have been
noted hanging from the roofs of lava caverns in the crater
of Kilauea in Hawaii ; and slender forms of a nearly uni-
form diameter of one fourth of an inch, and from a few
Inches to 20 or 30 Inches in length, ornament the roofii of
caverns In the lava stream which descended from Mauna
ItcoL in the same island in lt<8L Stalagmites of lava rise
from the lava floor beneatlL
stalactited (stft-lak'ti-ted), a. [< stalactite +
-e<i2.] Covered with stalactites ; also, formed
in more or less sem-
blance of stalac-
tites. - stalactltMl
work. See rusUe unrk,
under ruetie,
stalactitic (stal-ak-
tit'ik), a. [< sta-
lactite + -ic.j Con-
taining stalactites;
having the form of SulacUtic Strucmre of Umonil*.
stalactites: as, in
mineralogy, the stalactitic structure of limonite,
chalcedony, and other species.
Stalactitical (stal-ak-tit i-kal), a. {< stalactitic
+ -«/.] Same as stalactitic.
Stale
Stalactitiform (sta-lak'ti-ti-f6rm), a. [< NL.
stalactites + L. forma, form.] Same as stalac-
tiform.
stalagmite (sta-lag'mit), n. [< F. stalagmite,
< Gr. (T7oAa}/iOf, dropping or dripping, arakayiia,
that which drops, < araAa^eiv, drop, let fall drop
by drop: see stalactic] Carbonate of lime de-
posited on the floor of a cavern. See stalac-
tite.
Stalagmitic (stal-ag-mit'ik), a. [< stalagmite
+ -tc] Composed of stalagmite, or having its
character.
Stalagmitical (stal-ag-mit'i-kal), a. [< stalag-
mitic + -at] Stalagmitic in character or for-
mation.
stalagmitically (stal-ag-mit'i-kal-i), adv. In
the form or manner of stalagmite.
Stalagmometer (stal-ag-mom'e-ter), n. [< Gr.
ara'/.ayjioq, a dropping or dripping (see stalag-
mite), + /lerpov, a measure.] Same as stac-
tometer.
Staldert (stal'd^r), n, [Prob. < Icel. stallr, a
stall, pedestal, shelf, = Dan. staid, a stall: see
stall^.] A wooden frame to set casks on.
stale! (stal), n. [Sc. also staill, steill, stall; <
ME. stale, theft, a trap, < AS. stalv, theft (in
comp. stsel-, as in stsel-hrdn, a decoy reindeer,
stxlgeest, a thievish guest, stselhere, a predatory
army) (= D. 'stal, in dief-stal, theft, = G. 'stahl,
in dieb-stahl, theft), < stelan (pret. steel), steal:
see steal^. Cf. stalk^.] If. Theft; stealing;
pilfering.
Ine these heste is uorbode roberie, thiefthe, gtale and
gauel, and bargayn wyth othren.
AyenbiU o/ Inwyt (E. E. T. S.), p. 9.
2t. Stealth ; stealthy movement. Old Eng.
Homilies, I. 249. — 3t. Concealment; ambush.
He stode in a ttale to lie in waite for the relefe that
myght come from Calleis. HaU, Chron., Hen. IV., an. 12.
4t. A trap, gin, or snare.
Still as he went he crafty stalet did lay,
With cunning traynes him to entrap unwares.
Spenser, F. Q., II. i. 4.
6t. An allurement; a bait; a decoy; a stool-
pigeon : as, a stale for a foist or pickpocket.
Her Ivory front, her pretty chin,
Were stMes that drew me on to sin.
Greene, Penitent Palmer's Ode.
Why, thou wert but the bait to fish with, not
The prey ; the stale to catch another bird with.
Beau, and Ft., Wit at Several Weapons, 11. 2.
They [the Bishops! auffer'dthemselvs to be the common
states to countenance with their prostituted Gravities
every Politick letch that was then on foot.
MiUon, Reformation In Eng., I.
6. An object of deception, scorn, derision, mer-
riment, ridicule, or the like ; a dupe ; a laugh-
ing-stock. [Obsolete or archaic]
You have another raistresse, go to her,
I wil not be her stale.
The Shepheards Uolyday, sig. G. i. (BaUiutell.)
I pray you, sir, is it your will
To make a state of me amongst these mates?
ShaJc., T. of the S., I. 1. 68.
A subject fit
To be the slaU of laughter !
Ford, Love's Sacrifice, 11. 1.
Stale^ (stal), n. [Also stail; also, with a pron.
now different, steal, rarely steel, early mod. E.
stele; < ME. stale,stele,<.AS. steel, stel, stalk, stem,
= MD. stele, steel, stael, D. steel, stalk, stem, han-
dle, = MLG. stel, stel, a stalk, handle, LG. stale,
a roimd of a ladder, = OHG. MHG. stil, G. stiel,
a handle, broomstick, stalk ; cf . L. stilus, a stake,
pale, pointed instrument, stalk, stem, etc. (see
style^) ; Gr. areXedv, arctTieidv, a handle or helve
of an ax, oraX/f, ariihi, an upright or standing
slab (see stele^)\ akin to art/Miv, set, place,
and Tilt, to stoHi and stilX^, from the root of
stand: see stand. Hence stalk^.] If. A stalk;
stem.
Weede hem wel, so wol thai wex(en) fele.
But forto hede hem greet trede downe tne stele.
PaUadius, Husbondrle (E. E. T. S.), p. 209.
The stalke or sleale thereof [of barley] is smaller than
the wheat stalk, taller and stronger.
B. Gouge's Hereebaehiue, fol. 28.
2. The stem of an arrow.
A shaft [In archery) hath three principal parts, the stele,
the feathers, and the head.
Aseham, Toxophilus (ed. 18«4), p. 117.
3. A handle; especially, a long handle, as that
of a rake, ladle, etc. [Prov. Eng.]
A ladel bygge with a long stele.
Piers Plovmtan (C), xxii. 279.
"Thereof," quod Absolon. "be as be may," . . .
And caughte the kultour by the colde stete,
Chaucer, Miller's Tale,l. 509.
4t. A round or rung of a ladder; a step.
stale
This like laddre (that may to hevene leste) ta charlte,
The stales gode theawis.
Quoted in Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris^ Gloss., p. 198.
Wymmen vnwytte that wale ne couthe
That on hande fro that other, for alle this hyje worlde,
Bitwene the stele and the stayre disserne nojt cunen.
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), ilL 613.
5892
chess, a position in which a player, having to
move in his turn, and his king not being in
check, has no move available with any piece:
in such a case the game is drawn ; figuratively,
any position in which no action can be taken.
It would be disgraceful indeed if a great country like
Russia should have run herself into such a stale-mate
jwsition. Contemporary Rev., L. 444
Stale^ (stal), a. and n. [< ME. stale, stale (ap
plied to ale ajid beer) ; < OF. estate (KUian), stalemate (stal'mat), v. t. ; pret. and pp. staU-
< mi.slel, old, ancient, applied to old and ^Z,fed,wT. statemating. l< stalemate, n.-] 1.
purified beer and to old urme (stel bier, stele
pisse, Kilian ; later written as compound, utel-
bier,stel-pisse, Hexham); origin uncertain; per-
haps lit. ' still,' same as MI), stel, var. of stil,
still (ef. still tcinc, etc.): see still^. According
to Skeat, who associates the adj. with stale,
urine, "stale is that which reminds one of the
stable, tainted, etc."; he also suggests that
stale in one sense may be 'too long exposed
to sale,' < OF. estaler, display wares on stalls,
< estal, a stall : see stalft. This explanation,
however, fails to satisfy the conditions.] I. a.
It. Old (and therefore strong): said of malt
liquors, which in this condition were more in
demand.
And notemuge to putte In ale.
Whether it be moyste or stale.
Chaucer, Sir Thopas, L 63.
Nappy ale, good and stale, in a browne bowle.
The King attd Miller of Mansfield (Child's Ballads, VXII. 36).
Two barrels of ale, both stout and stale.
To pledge that health was spent.
The Kings Disguise (Child's Ballads, V. 879).
2. Old and lifeless ; the worse for age or for
keeping ; partially spoiled, (a) Insipid, flat, or sour ;
having lost its sparkle or life, especially from exposure
to air : as, stale beer, etc. (6) Dry and crumbling ; musty :
u, stale bread.
That stale old mouse-eaten dry cheese.
Shak., T. and C, v, 4. 11.
3. Old and trite ; lacking in novelty or fresh-
ness; hackneyed: as, stoienews; a stale jest.
Fast bind, fast find ;
A proverb never stale in thrifty mind.
In chesK, to subject to a stalemate : usually said
of one's self, not of one's adversary: as, white
is stalemated. Hence — 2. To bring to a stand-
still; nonplus.
I had regularly stalemated him.
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, II. xvlii.
"Ibegyourpardon, sir, 'said Fred, . . . " I like neither
Bulstrode nor speculation." He spoke rather sulkily, feel-
ing himself stalemated. George Eliot, Middlemarch, xii.
Staleness (stal'nes), ». The state of being stale,
in any sense.
stalfcl (stak), r. [< ME. stalken, < AS. staslcan,
stealcian, walk warily, = Dan. «toifcc, stalk:
(a) lit. walk stealthily, steal along; with for-
mative -k, from the root of stelan (pret. steel),
steal: see steal^, and cf. staled, n. (6) In an-
other view the AS. stailcan, stealcian, is con-
nected with stealc, high, and means 'walk
high,' i. e. on tiptoe, being referred ult. to the
same source as stallfl, and perhaps stilt. For
the form stalk as related to staled (and steal^),
at. talk as related to tale (and tell).'] I. in-
trans. 1. To walk cautiously or stealthily;
steal along; creep.
In the night ful theefly gan he slalke.
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 1781.
The shadows of familiar things about him
ghosts through the haunted chambers of his soul
Longfellow, Hyperion, iv. 3.
Shak., M. of V., U. 6. 66.
Your cold hypocrisy s a stoic device.
Addison, Cato, i. 8.
4. In athletics, overtrained; injured by over-
training: noting the person or his condition.
= Syn. 3. Time-worn, threadbare.
II. n. If. That which has become flat and
tasteless, or spoiled by use or exposure, as
stale beer. Hence — 2t. A prostitute.
I stand dishonour'd, that have gone about
To link my dear friend to a common stale.
Shak., Much Ado, iv. 1. 67.
3. A stalemate.
Doe you not foresee, into what importable head-tear-
Ings and heart-searchings you will be ingulfed, when ths
Parliament shall give you a mate, though l)ut a Staler
N. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 61.
Stale^ (stal), t'. *. ; pret. and pp. staled, ppr. stal-
ing. [ME. stolen; < staled, a.] To render stale,
flat, or insipid ; deprive of freshness, attraction,
or interest; make common or cheap.
Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety. Shak., A. and C, ii. 2. 240.
ni go tell all the argument of his play afore-hand, and
so stale his Invention. B. Jonaon, Cynthia's Revels, Ind.
Not content
To stale himself in all societies.
He makes my house here common as a mart.
B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humour, ii. 1.
An imperial abdication was an event which had not, in
the sixteenth century, been staled by custom.
Motley, Dutch Republic, I. 96.
stale* (stal), V. i. ; pret. and pp. staled, ppr. stal-
ing. [Appar. < D. 6. stallen = Sw. stalla =
Dan. stalle, urinate (said of horses and cattle) ;
appar. a neuter use, lit. 'stand in stall,' parallel
with the trans, use, D. G. stallen = Sw. stalla =
Dan. stalle, put into a stall; from the noun, D.
stal = G. stall = Sw. stall = Dan. staid, stall:
see stall^, n. The form is appar. irreg. (for
'stall), and is perhaps due to confusion with
staled, a., as applied to urine.] To make water;
urinate: said of horses and cattle.
In that Moschee or Temple at Theke Thiol is a foun-
talne of water, which they say sprang vp of the staling of
Chederles horse. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 311.
stale* (stal), n. [See stek*, ».] Urine of horses
and cattle.
stalest. An old preterit of stealX.
stalely (stal'li), adv. [< staled + -Zi/2.] In a
stale, commonplace, or hackneyed manner; so
as to seem flat or tedious.
Come, I will not sue stalely to be your servant,
But, a new term, will you be my refuge ?
B. Jonson, Case is Altered, IL 3.
stalemate (stal'mat), n. [Prob. < staled (but
the first element is doubtful) + mate3.] In
2. To steal up to game under cover of some-
thing else ; hunt game by approaching stealth-
ily and warily behind a cover.
The king [James] alighted out of his coach, and crept
under the shoulder of his led horse. And when some
asked his Majesty what he meant, I must stalk (said he),
for yonder town is sliy and flies me.
Bacon, Apophthegms, published by Dr. Tenison in the
[Baconiana, xi.
Dull stupid Lentulus,
My stale, with whom I stalk.
B. Jonson, Catiline, iii. 3.
3. To walk with slow, dignified strides ; pace
in a lofty, imposing manner.
Here glMks me by a proud and spangled sir,
That looks three handfuls [palms] higher than his f oretop.
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, iii. 4.
II, trans. In sporting, to pursue stealthily,
or behind a cover; follow warily for the pur-
pose of killing, as game.
When a lion is vei-y hungry, and lying in wait, the sight
of an animal may make him commence stalking it.
hivingstone. {Imp. Diet)
There came three men outside the hedge, ... not walk-
ing carelessly, but following down the hedge-trough, as if
to stalk some enemy.
A D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone, xxxvul.
Stalkl (stak), n. [<sto«fcl, v.] 1. The pur-
suit of game by stealthy approach or under
cover.
I took up the trail of a large bull elk, and, though after
a while 1 lost the track, In the end I ran across the ani-
mal itself, and after a short stalk got a shot at the noble-
looking fellow. The Century, XXX. 224.
2. A high, proud, stately step or walk.
Twice before, and jump at this dead hour,
With martial stalk hath he gone by our watch.
Shak., Hamlet, i. 1. 66.
But Milton next, with high and haughty stalks.
Unfettered in majestic numbers walks.
Addison, The Greatest English Poets, 1. 66.
Stalk^ (stak), n. [< WE.stalke; j)rob. a var.
stalklet
He kan wel in myn eye seen a stalke.
But in his owene he kan nat seen a balke.
Chaucer, llol. to Eeeve's Tale, 1. fiS.
4. In arch., an ornament in the Corinthian cap-
ital which resembles the stalk of a plant, and
is sometimes fluted. From it the volutes or
helices spring. Compare caulis and canliculvs.
— 5t. One of the upright side-pieces of a ladder,
in which the rounds or steps are placed.
His owene hande made laddres thre
To clymben by the ronges and the stalkes
Into the tubhes, hangynge in the balkes.
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1. 439.
6. The shaft or handle of anything, especially
when slender, likened to the stalk of a plant;
the stem : as, the stalk of a wine-glass ; the .stoifc
of a tobacco-pipe.— 7. In zool., some part or or-
gan like a stalk; a stem; a stipe, (a) A pedicel or
peduncle ; a footstalk ; a supporting part : as, the stalk of
some barnacles. (6) An eyestalk, as of various crustaceans
and moUusks ; an ophthalmite or ommatophore. (c) The
petiole of the abdomen of many insects, especially hyme-
nopters, as wasps and ants, (d ) The stem, shaft, or rachis
of a feather, (e) The stem of a fixed crinoid and of various
other animals of plant-like habit, as rooted zoophytes.
8. A tall chimney, as of a furnace, factory, or
laboratory.
Twisted stalks of chimneys of hea\7 stonework.
Scutt, Keiiilworth, lit
9. In founding, an iron rod armed with spikes,
used to form the nucleus of a core. E. H.
Kn igh t Optic stalk. See optic.
stalk-borer (stak'bor'er), H. The larva of Gor-
tyna nitela, a noctuid moth of North America,
which is noted as a pest to potato, corn, tomato,
and a number of other plants. The larva; bore into
the stalks, killing them, and when full-grown leave the
plant and pupate below ground.
stalked like stalk-cutter (stak'kut'er), n. In agri. , a horse-
power machine for cutting off old corn-stalks in
the field preparatory to plowing, it consists of a
series of revolving cylindrical cutters mounted in a suita-
ble frame on wheels, and operated by means of gearing
from the axles.
stalked (stakt), a. I<stalk2-i--ed^.'\ Haying a
stalk or stem : as, a stalked barnacle or crinoid.
Innumerable crabs make a sound almost like the mur-
muring of water. Some are very large, with prodigious
stalked eyes, and claws white as ivory.
Harper's Mag., l.XX\U. em
stalker (sta'ker), n. [< stalk'^ + -crl.] 1. One
who stalks: as, a deer-stafter. — 2. A kind of
fishing-net. — 3. pi. In ornith., specifically, the
Gradatores.
stalk-eyed (stak'id), a. Having stalked eyes;
podophthalmous, as a crustacean: opposed to
A stalk-eyed Crustacean {Ocypoda dilatata).
a. a. the long eye-stalks.
sessile-eyed. See also cuts under Podophthal-
mia, Gelasimus, Megalops, and scliis<rpod-stage.
They all have their eyes set upon movable stalks, are
termed the Podophthalmia, or slalk-eyed Crustacea.
Huxley, Crayfish, p. 279.
stalking (sta'Mng), «. [Verbal n. of stam. f.]
In sporting, ths act or method of approaching
game quietly and warily or under cover, taking
advantage of the inequalities of the ground,
etc. , as in deer-stalking.
(due to association with the related stote^?) of stalking-horse (sta'king-hors), n. 1. A horse,
*stelk, < Icel. stilkr = Sw. stjelk = Dan. stilk, a ' ^-^ - ■= i..t,;_.i „.i.;„i, „ *..„!„,
stalk (cf. Gr. oTilexoi, the stem of a tree);
with formative -k, from the simple foi-m ap-
pearing in AS. stxl, stel, a handle, stale: see
staled. ] 1. The stem or main axis of a plant;
that part of a plant which rises directly from
the root, and which usually supports the leaves,
flowers, and fruit : as, a stalk of wheat or hemp.
I had sometimes the curiosity to consider beans and peas
pulled up out of the ground by the stalks, in order to an
Inquh'y into their germination. Boyle, Works, III. 310.
Some naked StaXk, not quite decay'd.
To yield a fresh and friendly Bud essay'd.
or a horse-like figure, behind which a fowler
conceals himself on approaching game.
The stalkiitij-horse, originally, was a horse trained for
the purpose and covered with trappings, so as to conceal
the sportsman from the game he intended to shoot at.
Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, p. 9a
Hence — 2. Anything put forward to conceal
a more important object; a mask; a pretense.
Flattery is
The stalking-horse of policy.
Shirley, Maid's Revenge, ii. 3.
France suffered all the evils which exist when a despotic
ruler is but the stalking-horse behind which stands the
irresponsible power. Fortnightly Rev., N. S., XLIII. S26.
[< stalk^ + -less.]
Congreve, Tears of Amaryllis.
2 The pedicel of a flower or the peduncle of a stalkless (stak'les), a.
flower-cluster (flower-stalk), the petiole of a Haying no stalk. , jta 4- 7,/ 1 A
leaf (leafstalk), the stipe of an ovary, etc., or stalklet. (stak .et), n. [< stalk^ + '^:L.^^
any similar supporting organ; in mosses, a seta, diminutive stalk ; especially, in Dot., a secou-
— 3t. A straw. dary stalk; a pedicel or petiolule.
stalkoes
Stalkoes (sta'koz), «. pi. [Cf. Ir. stalcaire, a
iusty. robust fellow, a bully, also a fowler.]
See the quotation.
Soft Simon had reduced himself to the lowest class of
gtaVcoei, or walking gentlemen, as they are termed : men
wlio have nothing to do, and no fortune to support them,
but who style themselves esquire.
Mi»s Edgeicorth, Rosanna, iii (Docws.)
Stalky (sta'ki), a. [< sto«-2 + -yl.] Formed
like a stalk; resembling a stalk. Imp. Diet.
[Kare.]
At the top [it] bears a great gtaUcy head. Mortimer.
Btall^ (stal). M. [< ME. stal, stall, stalle, stale,
steal, < AS. steal (steall-), stxl, a station, stall,
= OFries. stal, MD. D. MLG. stal = OHG. MHG.
stal (stall-), G. stall = Icel. stallr = Sw. stall
= Dau. staid (cf. It. stallo, stalla = OSp. estalo
= OF. esttil, F. etal, a stall, etau, a vice, = Pr.
estal, < ML. stallum, a stall, < Teut.), a place,
stall; akin to stool, staled, etc., and to Gr.
OTt/Miv, place, set, ult. from the root of stand,
L. stare, Gr. iardvai, Skt. V sthd, stand: see
stand. Hence stall^, r., and ult. stale*, stallion,
etc., as well as stell: see these words.] It. A
standing-place; station; position; place; room.
Gaheries . . . threwe down and slowgb and kepte at
Halt [kept his ground! a longe while, but in the fyn he
mote yeve grounde a litill, ffor than the saisnes be-gonne
to recover londe vpon hem. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iL 286.
Robyne Hode is euer bond to him,
Bothe in strete and itaUe [that is, both outdoors and in].
Hobin Hood attd the Monk (Child's Ballads, V. 16).
2. A standing-place for horses or cattle; a
stable or cattle-shed; also, a division of a
stable, cow-house, or cattle-shed, for the ac-
commodation of one horse or ox; the stand or
place in a stable where a horse or an ox is kept
and fed: as, the stable contains eight stalls.
Bot bye Ood som tyme senden can
His grace into a litel oxes Mntl.
Chaucer, Clerk's Tale^ L 2&1.
At last he found a ttail where oxen stood.
Dryden, Cock and Cox, L 223.
They bind their horses to the ftati.
For forage, food, and tiring call.
And varkms clamour fills the hall.
ScM, Marmion, Ui. 2.
3. A booth, either in the open air or in a build-
ing, in which merchandise is exposed for sale,
or in which some business or occupation is car-
ried on : as, a butcher's stall,
" Vnkynde and vnknowlng ! " qnatb Crist, and with a rop
smot hem.
And ouer-turnede In the temple here tables and here
1alU». Pirn Plowman (CX xix. 167.
4. A bench or table on which things are ex-
posed for sale : as, a book-«f«rt.
Tbey are nature's coaner wares that lie on the itaB, ex-
poaed to the transient view of every common eye.
aianvOk.
6f. A seat or throne ; a bench.
Thar als a god be sat In staff,
And so be bad men snid him call.
UUy Rood (E. E. T. S-X p. 124.
SUlb.— Choiiuf Chralci c rtlic lr,,l, Iinglaiid.
5893
6. One of a range of fixed seats inclosed either
wholly or in part at the back and sides, in the
choir or chancel of ft cathedral or church, and
often surmounted by a richly sculptured cano-
py (see cut in preceding column) : mostly ap-
propriated for the clergy : as, a canon's «taH; a
dean's stall; hence, the position or dignity of
canon.
New figures sat in the oaken gUiU»,
New voices chanted in the choir.
Longfellow, Golden Legend.
The choir is fitted up with a range of splendid cinque-
cento glalls. E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 129.
7. In a theater, originally, a seat separated
from others by arms or rails; now, usually,
one of the seats in the front division of the
parquet (sometimes called orchestra stalls); but
the application of the term is variable. [Eng.]
The price of seats has enormously gone up. Where
there were two rows of stalls at the same price as the dress
circle — namely, four shillings — there are now a dozen at
the price of half a guinea.
(T. Bemnt, Fifty Years Ago, p. 126.
8. In metal., a chamber or compartment iu
which ores are roasted. See roast-stall. — 9. A
working-place in a coal-mine, varying iii size
and shape according to the system adopted.
Also called chamber, room, breast, etc Post and
stall, pillar and stall. Same&ipaiarandbreast(vihKh
see, under yiZiorX— Prebendal StalL See prebendat.
stair (stal), r. [< ME. slullen, < AS. steallian,
place, set, = Sw. stalla, put into a stall, = Dan.
stalle, stall-feed, fatten, = MHG. G. stallen,
stable, stall ; from the noun. Cf . stell. Hence
forestall, install, installation, ete.'i I. trans. If.
To place ; set ; fix ; install.
Among foles of rist he may be gtaUyd.
Book o/ Precedence (E. E. T. .S., extra ser.), i. 83.
SUiU this in your boeom. Shak., All's Well, i. 3. 131.
2. To place in an office with the customary for-
malities ; induct into office ; install.
And see another, as I see thee now,
Deck'd in thy rights, as thou art $taU'd in mine.
Shak., Kich. IU., i. 3. 206.
But in his State yer he [Josua] be gtaU'd (almost),
Set in the midst of God's beloved Hoast,
He thus dilates.
Syltxiter, tr. of Dn Bartas's Weeks, ii.. The Captalnes.
3. To put into or keep in a stall or stable : as,
to stall a horse.
Where king Latlnus then his oxen ttaU'd.
Dryden, iEneid. ix. 526.
4. To set fast in the mire ; cause to stick in the
mud ; mire: as, to stall horses or a carriage.
Yet many times in many wordes haue been so tlatt'd
and stabled as such sticking made me blushingUe con-
fesae my Ignorance. Florio, Ital. Diet, Epis. Ded., p. [5].
To prmr alone, and reject ordinary meanes. Is to do like
blm in XJnun, that when his cart was gtalled, lay flat on
his back, and cried aloud. Help, Hercules.
Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 222.
Mathematics he (the general artist] moderately studi-
etb, to his givat contentment — Using it as ballast for hia
soul ; yet to fix tt, not to ttail it.
FvUer, Holy State, U. viL 6.
6. To comer; bring to bay; secure.
Wben as thine eve hath chose the dame.
And tlaird the deer that thou shonldst strike.
Shak., I>assionate PUgrim, 1. 300.
6t. To forestall.
We are not pleased in this sad accident.
That thus hath tIaUed and abused our mercy.
Intended to preaenre thee. B. Jomon, Sejanns, Ui. 1.
7t. To fatten ; fatten with stall-feeding.
It b tyme to Kofi your oxyn that yon entend to sel after
Bitcr. Paljvrave. {HaUiweU.)
Better la a dinner of herbs where love Is, than a ttalled
ox and hatred therewith. ITov. xv. 17.
St. To postpone the payment of; forbear to
claim payment for a time; allow to be paid by
instalments.
That he might not be stuck on ground, he petition 'd
that his Majesty would gtail his fine, and take It ap, as his
estate would bou* tt, by a thousand pounds a year.
Bii. Hackel, Abp. Williams, ii. 138. (Daviei.)
To be ttalled to the rogue*, to be formally received
into tlie order of rogues ; be Installed or initiated as a
rogue.
This done. theOrand Signior called for a Gage of Bowse,
which belike signified a quart of drinke, for presently, a
pot of Ale being put into his hand, liee made the yong
Squire kneeledowne, and powring the full pot on his pate,
▼ttered these wordes : I doe stall thee to the Romte by ver-
tae of this soneraigne English liquor, so that henceforth
it shall be lawfnll for thee to Cant— -that is to say, to be a
Vagatmnd and Beg. Dekker, Belman of London (1608).
H. intrans. It. To come to a stand ; take up
a position.
And ther thei stalleden and fonghten ihe ton vpon the
tother till thei were hothe wery for travalle.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.X ii. 161.
2t. To live as in a stall; dwell; inhabit.
We could not gtall together
la the whole world. Shak., A. and C, v. 1. 39.
stallion
3. To stick or be set fast in the mire. — 4. To
kennel, as dogs. Johnson. — 5. To be tired of
eating, as cattle. Imp. Diet.
stall'-^ (stal), n. [A var. of staled, a decoy, etc.,
appar. confused with stall^.'] It. An ambush.
The great Prince Bias, . . . when he happened to fall
into the stall of his enimies, and his souldiours beganne
to crie What shall we doe? he made aunswere : that you
make reporte to those that are aliue that I die fighting,
and I will say there to the dead that you scapte flying.
Guevara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1677), p. 42.
2t. A stale; a stalking-horse; cover; mark;
pretext.
This tyranny
Is strange, to take mine ears up by commission
(Whether I will or no), and make them stalls
To his lewd solecisms and worded trash.
B. Jonson, Poetaster, iii. 1.
3. A stool-pigeon; a thief's (especially a pick-
pocket's) assistant, whose role it is to divert the
attention of the victim while the thief operates,
to conceal the crime, assist the escape of the
thief, make off with the booty, or perfoi-m
similar offices. He is called fore-stall or back-
stall according to his position before or behind
the victim.
stallage (sta'laj), w. [Formerly also (So.) sfal-
lenge, < ME. stallage (?) (ML. stallagiiim, estal-
lagiutn), < OF. estallage, estalage, < estal, stall:
seestaWl, «., and -ai/e. Cf. stallinger.'] 1. The
right of erecting stalls at fairs; rent paid for
a stall.
The citizens of Hereford fined, in the second year of
Henry III., in a hundred marks and two palfreys, to have
the king's charter, . . . tliat they might be quit througli-
out England of toll aiid lastage, of passage, pontage, and
stallage, and of leve, and danegeld, and gaywite, and all
other customs and exactions.
S. Dowell, Taxes ta England, I. 26.
2t. Laystall; dung; compost.
stallandt, Stallantt, «. Early modem English
forms of stallion.
stallangert, «. Same as stallinger.
Stallationt (sta-la'shon), «. [< ML. "stallo-
tio(n-), < stallare, install, < stallum, place, stall:
see stalO-, n. Cf. installation.} Installation.
As for dilapidacion, I vnderstond the house [Abbey of
Hulme] was endettedatthetyme of hia stallacion ingrete
somes of mony.
Duke 0/ Suffolk, To Cardinal Wolsey, in Ellis's Hist. Let-
[ters, 3d ser., 1. 201.
stall-board (stai'bdrd), «. One of a series of
floors upon which soil or ore is pitched succes-
sively in excavating.
Staller (sta'l^r), «. [< OF. estallier, estalier,
estaillier, one who keeps a stall, < estal, a stall :
seeslalli.} 1. A hostler; a master of the horse.
The King's dish-thegn, his bower-thegn, his horse-
thegn or staller, all i>ecanie great dignitaries of the King-
dom. E. A. Freeman, Norman Conquest, I. 60.
2t. A standard-bearer.
Tovy, a man of great wealth and authority, as being the
king's staller (that Is, standard-bearer), first founded this
town. Fuller, Waltham Abbey, I. S 6.
stall-fed (st&l'fed), a. Fattened, as oxen, by
feeding in a stable or on dry fodder.
You sliall have stall-fed doctors, crammed divines.
B. Jonson, Staple of News, i, 2.
stall-feed (stal'fed), r. t. To feed and fatten
in a stall or stable, or on dry fodder.
If you were for the fair, you should be stall-fed, and
want no weal.
J. Bradford, Letters (Parker Soc, 18S3), II. 112.
stalling (sta'liug), >i. [Verbal n. of stalU, ».]
Stabling,
Hire us some fair chamber for the night.
And stalling for the horses. Tennyson, Geraint.
stallinger (st&'lin-j6r), n. [Formerly also stal-
langer (ML. stallangiarius) ; with intrusive n,
< stallage + -erl. Cf. passenger, messenger,
trharfinger. etc.] One who keeps a stall. [Lo-
cal, Eng. or Scotch.]
Vacancies among the Stallingers are filled up in like
manner from the inhabitants of the town.
Municip. Corp. Report, 1836, p. 1734.
Stalling-kent (st&'ling-ken), m. a house for re-
ceiving stolen goods. Dekker. [Old slang.]
A Starding.ken that is knowne of purpose to be trusty,
yea and that in the night too, least they be notified aiid
suspected to t>e scandalizing of the profession.
ItowiaiuU, Hist. Rogues, quoted in Ribton-Turner's Va-
[grants and Vagrancy, p. f;85.
stallion (stal'yon), n. [Early mod. E. also
station, "stallonl stalland, stallant, stalant, sto-
lon ; < ME. stahjone. stalon. stalun, < OF. cstalon,
F. et^ilon = It. Stallone (ML. reflex staloniis), a
stallion, in ML. also called equus ad stallum, 'a
horse at stall,' so called because kept in a stall,
< stallum, a stall, stable: 8ee«to//l.] The male
of the horse ; an entire horse ; a horse kept for
breeding purposes.
stallman
stallman (stal'man), ».; pi. stallmen (-men).
[< stall^ + man.] A man who keeps a stall,
as for the sale of meat, books, or other com-
modities.
The gtattmaii saw my father had [a strong fancy] forthe
book the moment he laid his hands upon it.
Sterne, Tristram Shandy, iil. 35. [Latham.')
Stallonf, «. [< ME. stalon, < OP. estalon, eslal-
lon, estelon, estolon, a stick, post, staddle, stand-
er, appar. < L. stolo{n-), a shoot, twig, branch,
scion, sucker.] A sUp; a cutting; a scion.
Soliitshed.
In gtaions forth thei sette
Her seede, and best for hem is solute lande.
Palladius, Husbondrle (E. E. T. S.X p. 113.
stall-plate (stS.rplat), ». A plate of gilded
copper upon which are engraved the arms of a
Knight of the Garter (see garter-plate), or of a
Knight or Esquire (Companion) of the Bath.
The stall-plates of the Knights of the Batli are fixed in the
upper row of stalls in the Chapel of Henry VII. at West-
minster, and those of the Esquires of the Bath in the lower
row.
stall-reader (stfil're'dfer), n. One who reads
books at the stall where they are sold.
Cries the gtall-reader, *' Bless us 1 what a word on
A title page is this I " MUtott, Sonnets, tL
stalon^t, ". A Middle English form of stallion.
stalon-t, «• An old spelling of stallon.
stalwart (stal'wart). a. and n. [Prop, a Se.
form of stahcorih, with assimilation of the
vowel of the second element to that of the first,
and an alteration, perhaps orig. dialectal, of the
orig. final sequence -rth to -rt (as, conversely,
orig. -rt changes to -rth in sivarth, swarthy) : see
stalicortk.] I. a. 1. Stout; strong: applied to
inanimate objects. [Scotch.] — 2. Hard; se-
vere. [Scotch.] — 3. Stormy; tempestuous.
[Scotch.] — 4. Stout; sturdy; strong; bold;
brave. See stalworth. [Scotch ; now also the
form regularly used in Eng. and U. S.]
It's neer be said, my staiwart feres.
We kill'd him whan a sleiping.
Sir James the Rose (Child's Ballads, III. 76).
Of the European sailors, by far the most reliable were
five stalwart A. B.8. Chambers's Journal, No. 627.
6. Sturdy and steadfast in partizanship : in
U. S. politics [cap.'], noting various sections of
the Republican party. See the phrase.
The epithet Stalxcart as applied to a class of politicians
was first used by Mr. Blaine in 1877 to -designate those
Eepublicans who were unwilling to give up hostility and
distrust of the South as a political motive. In the pres-
ent contest at Albany it has by a curious transformation
been appropriated by the followers of Mr. Conkling to
distinguish politicians faithful to his Machine.
The Nation, June 16, 1881.
Stalwart Republican, in U. S. hist. , a decided or thor-
ough-going member of the Republican party; specifically,
a member of that wing of the Republican party in the
State of New York which in 1880 advocated the renomi-
nation of Grant as President for a third term and in 1881
supported Roscoe Conkling in his opposition to the admin-
istration of Garfield, and antagonized the " Half- Breeds '
in 1881 and following years. = Syn. 4. Stout, Sturdy, etc.
(see robust), sinewy, brawny, muscular, strapping, power-
ful, valorous, resolute.
II. n. 1. A strong or sturdy person.
His opinion is not favourable, Emin's stalwarts, whose
praises had been so loudly trumpeted in Europe, proving
to be for the most pai-t brutal ruffians and abject cravens
in the presence of danger. The Academy, Jan. 3, 1891.
2. A stout and steadfast partizan; specifically
[c«p.], same as Stalwart Bepnhlican. See above.
Stalwartht, a. Same as stalworth, stalwart.
stal'wartism (stal'wart-izm), n. [< stalwart +
-ism.] In U. S. politics, the principles or policy
of the Stalwarts ; partizan devotion. Tlie Xa^-
Hon, Nov. 27, 1879, p. 355.
stal'wartly (stai'wart-li), adv. [< stalwart +
-ly^. Cf. stalworthly."] In a stalwart manner;
stoutly; bravely.
stalwartness (stM'wart-nes), n. Stalwart char-
acter or quality; sturdiness; stoutness; strength.
Jtheneeum, Jan. 14, 1888, p. 57.
stal'WOrth (stal'werth), o. [Early mod. E. also
stalwoorth, stalwortlte; < ME. stalicorth,stalword,
stalworthe, stalwurthe, staleworthe, stalewurthe,
stelewurthe, stealewurthe, also stalworthy, sta-
wurthy (see stalworthy), < AS. steelwyrthe, found
only once, in pi. steel wyrthe, in the sense 'good'
or 'serviceable,' applied to ships; a compound
peculiar to AS.: (a) prob. a contraction of *sta-
tholwyrthe, lit. 'steadfast,' 'well-based,' 'firm-
set,' etc., hence 'stout,' < stathol, siathel, foun-
dation, base, seat, site, position, E. staddle, Sc.
also contracted stale, stail (cf. AS. stmlan, con-
tracted from statholian, found, establish), +
wyrthe, weorth, tourth, good, excellent, worth:
see staddle and worth^. Cf. the equiv. stathol-
fsest, steadfast, firm, stable (< stathol, founda-
tion, + feest, firm, fast), and stedefeest, E. stead-
5894
fast (the AS. weorth and fxst as the second
element of adj. compounds being used rather
as adj. formatives than as independent words).
Such contraction is not common in AS., and
the form steelwyrthe has generally been other-
wise explained : (b) < ^talu (in comp. stsel-),
stealing, theft, + weorth, wurth, worth, worthy
(see stale''- and wor(A2), but the sense 'worthy of
theft,' 'worth stealing,' hence ' worth taking for
use' (" eaptu dignee,'' Gibson), cannot apply to
men, and the sense 'good at stealing,' suggested
by some, even if it were etymologically adnus-
sible, could not apply to ships, (c) In another
view, lit. 'worthy of place,' i. e. fit for its place
or use, serviceable, < AS. steal, stcall, also some-
times, esp. in comp., stiel, a place, stall, + weorth,
wurth, worth, worthy (see stalU and wortlfi).
The full form stall- occurs in ME. stallworthely,
a var. of stalworthly, and in the mod. surname
Stallworthy. In any view, the ME. forms stale-
worth, stalewurthe, stelewurthe, stealewurthe,
with medial e, must be regarded as irregular.
In fact the orig. meaning of the compound ap-
pears to have been lost, and the ME. variations
must be due .to simulation of one or other of
the words above considered. Hence, by further
variation, stalworth, and now stalwart, which is
no longer regarded as a compound.] If. Stead-
fast; firm-based.
That stalworthe sted [Constantinople] so strong was
founded,
Philip hoped that holde with h4s help to Wynne.
Alisaunder o.f Macedoine (E. E. T. S.X 1. 1230.
Steken the 5ates stonharde with stalworth barrez.
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), ii. 884.
2. Stout; strong; sturdy: used of things and
men or animals, in a merely physical sense.
[Archaic]
A hoge hathel for the nonez & of hyghe elde : . . .
Stume stif on the stryththe on stalworth schonkez [shanks].
Sir Oawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. 8.), 1. 847.
And his strengthe schal be raaad stalworthe [et robora-
bitur fortitudo ejus, Vulg.]. Wyclif, Dan. viii. 24.
His stalworth steed the champion stout bestrode.
Fair/ax, tr. of Tasso, vii. 27. (Nares.)
3. Stout; sturdy; brave; bold: noting men,
with reference to strength and courage. [.Ar-
chaic]
A man that es yhnng and light.
Be he never swa stalworth and wyght.
Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 1. 689.
Well by his visage you might know
He was a stalworth knight, and keen.
Scott, Marmion, i. 5.
stal'WOrthlieadt, n. [M.E. stalworthhede; (.stal-
u-ortli + -head.] Same as stalworthness.
stalworthlyt, adt\ [< ME. stalworthly, stall-
worthly, stalwurthly; < stalworth + -ly^.] Stout-
ly ; sturdily ; strongly.
Scho strenyde me so stallworthely [var. stalleworlhely,
Halliwell] that I had no mouthe to speke, ne no hande Ui
styrre. Hampole, Prose Treatises (E. E. T. S.), p. 6.
I rede we ryde to Newe Castell,
So styll and stalvnirthlye.
Battle of Otterboume (Percy's Reliques, I. i. 2).
stal'WOrtlineSSt (stal'werth-nes), n. [< ME.
stalworthnes ; < stalworth + -ness.] Sturdiness;
stalwartness.
The sexte vertue es strengthe or stalworthness noghte
onely of body but of herte, and wille evynly to suffre the
wele and the waa,welthe or wandrethe,whethire so betyde.
MS. Imcotn, A. L 17, f. 217. [Halliwell, s. v. wandrethe.)
Stalworthyt, a- [< ME. stalworthy, stawurthy:
see stalworth.] Same as stalworth.
stal'wurtliet, stal'wurtlilyt. See stalworth, stal-
wortldy.
Stamlf, n. An obsolete form of stemX.
Stam^ (stam), V. t.; pret. and pp. stammed, ppr.
stamming. [Cf. stem^.] To amaze ; confound.
[Prov. Eng.]
Stam^ (stam), n. [< stanfi, v.] Confusion.
O, then, in what a stam
Was theevish, barb'rous, love-sicke, angrie minde.
lAsle's Historie of Heliodorus (1638). [Nares.)
Stamber (stam'bfer), v. A dialectal form of
stammer.
stambha (stam'ba), n. [Skt., a prop, post, col-
umn, < -v/stawft/j, make firm, prop: see stamp.]
Same as lat^.
One or two stambhas stood In front of or beside each
gateway of every great tope, and one or two in front of
each chaitya hall. J. Fergusson, Hist. Indian Arch., p. 55.
stamelt, «• Same as stammel.
stamen (sta'men), 11. ; pi. stamens (sta'menz)
(only, in the fourth sense) or (in the other three
senses) stamina (stam'i-na). [< L. stamen, the
warp in the (upright) loom, a thread hanging
from the distaff, in gen. a thread, string, fiber,
a stamen of a flower (cf. MGr. ottj/m, a stamen,
stamln
Gr. OTTiiiuv, the warp in the loom, a thread as
spun); < stare = Gr. iaraadai {a-^vai), stand:
see stand. Ct. stamen^, stamin.] 1. The warp
in the ancient upright loom at which the weaver
stood upright instead of sitting ; a thread of the
warp; a thread. — 2. pi. The supports or main-
stays of a body ; the fixed, firm part of a body,
which supports it or gives it its strength and so-
lidity : as, the bones are the stamina of animal
bodies ; the ligneous parts of trees are stamina
which constitute their strength.
Some few of the main sfamtna, or chief lines, were taken
care of from the first, and made up the first creeds.
Waterland, Works, IV. S09.
Hence — 3. [PI. stamina, now sometimes used
as sing.] Whatever constitutes the principal
strength or support of anything ; power of en-
durance ; stajang power ; lasting strength or
vigor.
I indeed think her stamina could not last ranch longer ;
when I saw her she could take no nourishment.
Suift, To Dr. Sheridan, July 27, 1726.
Old English half pint bumpers, my dear— Zounds, sir!
they try a fellow's stamina at once.
Macklin, Man of the World, iii. 1.
She had run through all the stamina of constitution na-
ture had allotted her, and died of old-age, in youttu
Sydney Smith, To Lady Holland, Feb. 2, 1816.
4. In hot., the male or fertilizing organ of flow-
ering plants. It is situated immediately within the
inner circle of floral envelops, or petals when they are
present, and consists of two parts, the filament, which is
the stalk or support, and the anther, which is a double
The Unequal
Stamens of Lager-
strofntia Indica,
the flower cut lon-
gitudinally.
Stamens.
x.Qti Isopyrum bitematum (a, the anther; f, the connective;/",
the filament), s. Of Oryza sati'va. "i. Oi LiricdtHdron Tulipifera.
4- Ol Alltutn Porrutrt. 5. Of /Rosmarinus etfficinaiis. 6. Of Btrbtris
Canadensis. T. Of yaccinium Myrtillus. 8. Syngenesious stamens
of Carduus crispus. 9. Monadelphous stamens of A'rt/aarfwiira. 10.
Diadelphous stamens of t^<r«(V/<7 /iwcrtw-m. 11. Tetradynamous sta-
mens of jE'ryJ"''"'"^/''"''^''^*''*^.?- 12- Didynamous stamens of 7"A^-
mus Serpyllutn. 13. Stamen in (Jynandrous flower of A'/i/acri^/.i-
tustris. 14. Transverse section of the anther of Isopynttn, showing
the dehiscence and the pollen-grains.
sac or body of two cells placed side by side and filled with
a powdery' substance, the pollen. This pollen, when ma-
ture, is discharged from the anther through various open-
ings or pores. 'Iheoretically the stamen is the homologue
of a leaf, in which the two cells of the anther represent
the infolded halves of the blade, while
the connective represents the midrib
and the filament the petiole of the leaf.
The pollen represents the parenchyma
of the leaf. The stamens of a flower
are collectively called the androecium.
When both stamens and pistils are pres-
ent in the same flower it is said to be
hermaphrodite or perfect ; when only
stamens are present the flower is said to
be staminate or male. The number of
stamens varies in different plants from
one to one hundred or more, but is gen-
erally constant for the same species, and
forms an important element in the system of classifica-
tion. The classes in the Linnean sextial system were iiased
upon the number and position of the stamens ; and in the
natural system they are still an important factor. In re-
gard to their insertion, stamens may be hypogynous, epigy-
nous, or perigynous, or the flower may be gynandrous (see
these words). See also cuts under anther, anthophore,
diadelphous, epigynous, extrorse, introrse, and many plant-
names. — Barren stamen. Same as sterile stamen. ^In-
cluded stamens. See include. — Stamina of reason,
first truths.— sterile stamen, in bot., an organ or body
which belongs to the series of stamens, or androecium, but
which does not produce pollen ; an imperfect stamen, as
that produced by certain plants of the family Scrophulari-
nae ; a staminodium.
stamened (sta'mend), a. [i stamen +-ed'^.] Fur-
nished with stamens.
stamin^t, staminet (stam'in), n. [< ME. s/«»Hm,
stamyn, < OF. estamine, F. ctaminc, < ML. sta-
mina, staminea, stamineum (also stamina, after
OP.), a woolen cloth, bolting-cloth, < L. stami-
nous, consisting of threads, < stamen, a thread,
fiber (> OF. estame = It. stame, yarn, worsted) :
see stamen. Hence, by irreg. variation, stammel,
tamin, famine, tamitty, tammy, teimis.] A woolen
stamin
cloth, or linsey-woolsey, it is mentioned as a cloth
for common wear ; but ita cost was not so low as to indi-
cate the coarsest kind of cloth. In the quotation ap-
parently a tapestry.
She had ywoven in a stamin [var. gtames] large
How she was broght from Athenes in a barge,
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 2360.
Stamin^t, «• [JfE. stamyne, appar. a var. of
gteiiA. < AS. siemn = loel. stafn, stamn, a post,
post of the prow or stem; cf. It. stamine, the
upright ribs or pieces of timber of the inside of
a ship; perhaps < L. stamen {sUtmin-), the warp
of a loom, etc. (see stamen, stamin^). other-
wise < G. stamm, etc., stem: see stem^.'\ The
stem of a vessel. Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.),
1. 36.39.
stamina, n. Latin plural of stamen, sometimes
used as a singular (see stamen, 3).
staminal (stam'i-nal), a. [< L. stameti (-^n-), a
stamen, -t- -al.'] Same as stamineoiis.
Staminate (stam'i-uat), a. [< L. staminatus,
consisting of threads (NL. furnished with sta-
mens), i stamen, a thread, stamen: see stamen.]
In bot. : (a) Furnished with or producing sta-
mens. (6) Producing stamens, but no pistils:
said of certain flowers.
staminate (stam'i-nat), v. t. ; pret. and pp. stam-
iHiited, ppr. statni Hating. [< L. stamen (stamin-),
fiber (see stamen), + -ate^.'\ To endue with
stamina.
Staminet, «■ See stamin^.
stamineEU (sta-min'e-al), a. [< L. stamineus,
full of threads (see stamineous), + -a/.] Same
i\9,xt(imincous.
stamineotlS (sta-min'e-ns), a. [< L. stamineus,
full of threads, thready, < stamen (-in-), a
thread, stamen: see stamen.'] Consisting of,
bearing, or pertaining to a stamen or sta-
mens.
Staminidiumf (stam-i-nid'i-tun), n. ; pi. stami-
nidia (-a). [XL., < L. stamen (-in-), a thread,
stameni + Gr. dim. -iStov.'] The antheridium,
an organ in eryptogamio plants corresponding
to a stamen.
staminiferOUS (stam-i-nif e-ms), a. [< L. sta-
men (-in-), a thread, stamen, + ferre = E.
bear'ij] Bearing or having stamens. A iiami-
ni/tnnu fUnoer Is one which has stamena without a pistiL
A stonun^^frrvut nectary is one that has stamens growing
on it.
Staminigerona (stam-i-nij'e-rus), a. [< L. sta-
men {-in-), a thread, stamen, + gerere, carry.]
Same as staminiferous.
staminode (stam'i-nod), n. [< NL
diinii.] Same as staminorfium.
Staminodiom (stam-i-no'di-um), n.
L. stamen {-in-), a thread,
stamen, + Gr. f <Mof, form.]
A sterile or abortive sta-
men, or an organ resem-
bling an abortive stamen.
Also called parastemon.
staminody (stam'i-no-di),
«. [<NL. ".'(tam««orf«a,<L.
stamen, a thread, stamen,
+ fidof, form.] In bot., a
condition, frequent in flowers, in which various
organs are metamorphosed into stamens. Bracts,
sepals, petals, and pistils mur be thus transformed. Com-
pare tpalody, petalodji, pUtSudy. See mttamarfkatU, 4.
stamm (stam), n. [Origin obscure.] In the
game of solo, a pool of sixteen chips. The
.imerienn Hoyle.
Stammel't (stam'el), n. and a. [Earlv mod. E.
also slamct, stamell; a var. of stamini.] I. «.
1. A kind of woolen cloth, of a red color: red
linsey-woolsey: probably same as stamini.
In sommer Tse to were a scarlet petycote made at dam-
tU or lynse wolse. Dabea &)ok(R. E. T. S.X p. 248.
Now In satin,
To-morrow next in ftammel.
Chapman, Monsieur lyOllre, IL 1.
Hence — 2. The color of stammel: a red in-
ferior in brilliancy to scarlet.
Knrsies of all orient colours, specially of ilamM.
Uakluytt Voyagn, L 440.
The Violet's purple, the sweet Bose's JtomnMU,
The LUlie's snowe, and Pansey's rarloos amroell.
Sylvater, tr. of Dn Bartas's Weeks, L 3.
n. «. Of or pertaining to stammel or its hue ;
red ; made of stammel.
But the wench in the ilammtl waistcoat Is stopping too,
Adam . . . they are going to dance ! Friete-Jacket wants
to dance with atamnuf-waistcoat, but she is coy and rec-
usant. Scott, Abbot, xlx.
Stammel^ (stam'el), n. [Origin obscure.] A
large, clumsy horse. Wriqht. [Prov. Eng.]
stammer (stam'tr), r. [1^. dial, also stamber;
< JIE. stameren = D. stameren, stamelen = OHG.
stamino-
[NL., <
Tbe Flower of Ser^pkula'
ria naJMa, laid open to show
tbe stamioodium (£/). a, tbe
scaminodium.
5895
stammalon, stamalon, MHG. stameln, stammeln,
G. stammern, stammeln, stavamer; a freq. verb,
associated with AS.tta «iec,sta»ior,sta»i«)-, slow-
er = OHG. stomal^ stammal, adj., stammering,
and equiv. to the simple verb, leel. Sw. sfamma,
Dan. stamme, stammer^ from the adj. appearing
in OHG. stam, G. stumm, mute, = leel. stamr
= Goth, stamms, stammering; perhaps con-
nected with stem3, obstruct, etc. : see stcm^, and
cf. sta»|2. Cf. a\io stumble!] 1. intrans. 1. To
hesitate or falter in speaking; hence, to speak
with involuntary breaks and pauses.
His hew shal falewen,
& his tonge shal stameren, other famelen.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 224.
The Psythian grape we dry : Lagean juice
Will 9tamir\£ntifj tongues and staggering feet produce.
Dryden, tr. of Virgil's Georgics, U. 133.
The new strong wine of love.
That made my tongue so stammer and trip.
Tennyson, Maud, vi.
2. To stumble or stagger. [Prov. Eng.]
Stameryngein goyng, Idem quod stakerynge, waverynge.
PrrnnpU Pare., p. 472.
=:Syn. 1. Falter, Stammer, Stutter. He vfho /alters weak-
ens or brc-iks more or less completely in utterance ; the
act is occasional, not habitual, and for reasons that are
primarily moral, belong to the occasion, and may be vari-
ous. He who «tamtn<rs has great difficulty in uttering any-
thing ; the act may be occasional or habitual ; the cause is
confusion, shyness, timidity, or actual fear ; the result is
broken and inarticulate sounds tliat seem to stick in the
mouth, and sometimes complete suppression of voice.
He who stvtters makes sounds that are not what he de-
sires to make ; the act is almost always habitual, espe-
cially in its worst forms ; the cause is often excitement ;
the result is a quick repetition of some one sound that
is initial in a word that tlie person desires to utter, as
c-c-c-c-catch.— Stammering bladder, a bladder whose
muscles act irregularly and spasmodically, causing pain*
ful urination. Paget.
H. trans. To utter or pronounce with hesi-
tation or imperfectly ; especially, to utter with
involuntary breaks or catches : frequently with
out.
Bis pale lips faintly stammered mit a " Xo."
Dickens, Martin Cbuzzlewit, xxxlii.
stammer (stam'fer), n. [<, stammer, r.] Defec-
tive utterance; a stutter: as, to be troubled
with a stammer. See stammering.
stammerer (stam'^r-f r), «. [< stammer + -er^.]
One who stammers or stutters in speaking.
stammering (stam'6r-ing), «. [< ME. stamer-
yntjv ; verbal n, of stammer, v.] Hesitating
speech; imperfect articulation; stuttering.
Stammeringly (stam'fer-ing-la), adi: With
stammering; with stops or hesitation in speak-
ing.
Stamnos (stam'nos), n. ; pi. stamnoi (-noi). [<
Gr. ara/ivoc (see def.), < iaravai, cause to stand,
i(jTa<TSa(,gtand: seestanrf.] In Or.
archseol., a lai^e water- or wine-
vase closely resembling the hy-
dria, but generally with a shorter
neck, and provided merely with
the two small handles on the sides
of the paunch, the larger handle
behind being absent. Sometimes
called oUa Apullan stamnos, in
Or. archseol., a type of staninoe of peculiar shape, having
the handles on tbe shoulders prolonged upward in large
volutes, and the cover often
surmounted by a vase of the
same shape. It is called
ApuHan from the province or
region where most examples
are found. Often called, less
coiTectly, Apulian crater.
stamp (stamp), ('. [Also
dial, stomp; < ME. stam-
pen, a var. (due to LG.
or Scand. influence) of
'stcmpen, < AS. stcmpan
= MD. stempcn, stam-
pen, D.stampen = MLG.
stampen = OHG. stam-
fon, MHG. stampfen, G.
stampfen = Icel. stappa
(for 'stampa) = Sw.
stampa = Dan. stanipe
(cf. It. stampare = Sp.
Pg. estampar = OF. es-
tamjter, F. stamper. <
Teut.), stamp, = Gr.
arijijiitv, stamp, shake,
agitate, misuse (akin to
OTeijisiv, stamp on, tread, aTifu^v7ov, olives or
grapes from which the oil or juice has been
pressed), = Skt. ■^stambli, make firm or steady,
prop.] I. trans. 1. To crush or braise with or
as with a pestle ; pound or bray as in a mortar ;
pQund; bruise; crush: as, to stamp ores in a
stamping-mill.
Luse DO sianu,
Typical form of
Stamnos.
Apulian Stamnos, in the Museo
Nazionale, Naples.
stamp
Thise cokes, how they stampe and streyne and grynde !
Chaucer, Pardoner's Tale, 1. 76.
They put the water into large jarres of stone, stirring it
about with a few stampt Almonds.
Sandys, Travailes, p. 78.
2. To strike or beat with a forcible downward
thrust of the foot.
Under my feet I stamp thy cardinal's hat.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., i. 3. 49.
He frets, he fumes, he stares, he stamps the ground.
Dryden, Pal. and Arc, i. 446.
3. To cause to strike the ground with a sudden
or impetuous downward thrust.
Red Battle stamps his foot, and nations feel the shock.
Byron, Childe Harold, i. 38.
4. To impress a design or distinctive mark or
figure upon ; mark with an impression or de-
sign: as, to stamp plate with arms; to stamp
letters ; to stamp butter.
The Romanes were wont heretofore to stampe their
Coynes of gold and silver in this city.
Coryat, Crudities, I. 59.
Egmont dined at the Regent's table, ... in a camlet
doublet, with hanging sleeves, and buttons stamped with
the bundle of arrows. Motley, Dutch Republic, I. 403.
Hence — 5. To certify and give validity or cur-
rency to by marking with some mark or impres-
sion ; coin ; mint.
We pay ... for it with stampeA coin, not stabbing steel.
5Ao*,,W.T.,iv. 4.747.
6. Figuratively, to brand or stigmatize as be-
ing of a specined character; declare to be.
Dares stamp nothing false where he finds nothing sure.
M. Arnold, Empedocles on Etna.
7. To imprint ; impress ; fi.\ deeply : as, to stamp
one's name on a book; an event stamped on
one's memory.
If ever I an Hope admit
Without thy Image stampt on it.
Cowley, The Mistress, The Soul.
God has stamped no original characters on our minds
wherein we may read his being. Locke.
8. To characterize; mark.
They [Macaulay's articles] are characterized by many of
the qualities of heart and mind which stump the produc-
tions of an Edinburgh reviewer.
Whipple, Ess. and Rev., 1. 12.
9. To affix a stamp (as a postage- or receipt-
stamp) to: as, to stamp a letter or a newspaper.
— 10. To cut, or cut into various forms, with a
stamp: in this sense often with out: as, to stamp
out circles and diamonds from a sheet of metal.
—Stamped envelop, see enuetop.— stamped in the
blind. See Ut'ndl.— Stamped velvet, velvet or velve-
teen upon which a pattern has been impressed by hot
irons which leave a surface more or less lowered from the
pile according to the amount of pressure applied, etc. In
some cases the surface of the impressed pattern is Ijrought
to a smooth gloss. This material is useti chietly for upl)ol-
stery.— Stamped ware. ,Same as siyiilated ware (whicli
see, under iti(/iUalfd). Solon, The Old Eng. Potter, p. xiii.
— Stamped work, metal-work decorated by mciins of
dies and punches.— To Stamp out, to extinguish, as tire,
by stamping on with the foot ; hence, to extirpate ; eradi-
cate by resorting to vigorous measures ; suppress entirely ;
extenninate ; as, to stamp out disease whicli has broken out
among cattle by killing the whole herd ; to stamp out an
Insurrection.
II. intrans. To strike the foot forcibly down-
ward.
A ramping fool, to brag and stamp and swear.
Shak., K. John, iii. 1. 122.
stamp (stamp), n. [OHG. stampli, stampf, MHG.
stamp/, a stamping-instrument, a stamp (> F.
estampe = It. stampa, a stamp) ; in dim. form,
MLG. LG. siempel = OHG. stemphil, MHG.
stempj'el, G. (after LG.) stempel = Sw. stampel
= Dan. stempel, a stamp; from the verb.] 1.
An instrument for crushing, bruising, or pound-
ing; specifically, in metal., that part of tlie ma-
chinery of a stamp-mill which rises and falls,
and which delivers the blow by which the ore
is reduced to the necessary fineness for being
further treated for the separation of the valua-
ble portion ; by extension, the mill itself. The
stamp consists of 'head and stem, the latter having upon
It tlie tappet by which, through the agency of the cam or
wiper which projects from an- axis turned by steam- or
water-power, it is raised.
There are 340 stamps in operation at Butte, and the
amount of ore treated every tlay amounts to 500 tons.
Harper's Hag., LXXVII. 596.
2. An instrument for making impressions on
other bodies; an engraved' block, die, or the
like, by which a mark may be made or deliver-
ed by pressure ; specifically, a plate upon which
is cut the design for the sides or back of a book.
— 3. A hand-tool for cutting blanks from paper,
leather, etc., in various patterns, according to
the shape of the cutting-edges. It operates by
pressure or a direct blow, or is laid on the material and
struck with a hammer. Hand-stamps are used for can-
celing, bating, embossing, eyeleting, and similar work.
stamp
4. A forcible or impetuous downward thrust
or blow: as, he emphasized his order with a
stamp of the foot. — 5. An impression or mark
made with a stamp; an iin pressed or em-
bossed mark or pattern ; particularly, an im-
pressed mark used to certify something, or give
validity or currency to it: as, the stamp on a
coin; the stamp on a certified check.
What boots it to be coin'd
With Heav'n's own stamp ?
Qtmrlei, Emblems, v. 12.
That sacred name (the liing'sl gives ornament and grace ;
And, liice his stamp, malces basest metals pass.
Dryden, ProL at Opening of the New House, I. 33.
The rank is but the guinea's stamp. Bums, For a' that.
Specifically — (o) An ofBcial mark set upon a thing chai^ge-
able with duty or ta.v showing that the duty or tax is paid.
(6) The impression of a public mark or seal required by the
British government for reven'ie purposes to be made by
itsofficei-s upon the paper or parchment on whicli deeds,
leg:il Instruments, bills of exchange, receipts, checks, in-
surance policies, etc., are written, the fee for the stamp
or stamped paper varying with the nature of the instru-
ment or the amount involved. (See stamp-duty.) For re-
ceipts, foreign bills of exchange, and agreements, adhesive
stamps may be used, but in general the stamp must be em-
bossed or impressed, (c) A small piece of paper having a
certain tlgure or design impressed upon it, sold by the
government to be attached to goods, papers, letters, docu-
ments, etc., subject to duty, or to some charge as for post-
age, in order to show that such duty or charge has been
paid : as, postage-stamps; veceipt-stamps ; internal-reve-
nue stamps,
6. pi. Stamp-duties : as, the receiver of stamps
and taxes. See stamp-duty. — 7. i)l. Money: so
called in allusion to the use of postage-stamps
and small paper notes ("shinplasters") as
money. [Slang, U. S.] — 8t. That which is
marked; a thing stamped ; a medal.
Hanging a golden stamp about their necks.
Shak., Macbeth, iv. 3. 153.
Ot. A coin, especially one of small value.
Ric. Oh, cruel, merciless woman.
To talk of law, and know I have no money.
Vol. I will consume myself to the last stamp,
Before thou gett'st me.
Middleton (and others). The Widow, li. 1.
lOf. A picture cut in wood or metal, or made
by impression ; an engraving ; a plate or cliche.
He that will not onely reade, but in manner see, the
most of these exploits of the Hollanders, with other rari-
ties of the Indies, may resort to Theodoricke and Israel
de Bry, who haue in liuely stampes expressed these Naui-
gations. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 463.
WhenlwasatVenice, they were putting out very curious
stamps of the several edifices which are most famous for
their beauty or magnificence.
Addison, Remarks on Italy (Works, ed. Bohn, I. 38S).
11. Sanction; value derived from suffrage or
attestation ; authority.
The common people do not judge of vice or virtue by
the morality or the immorality so much as by the stamp
that is set upon it by men of figure. Sir R. L'Estranffe.
12. Distinguishing mark; imprint; sign; in-
dication; evidence.
If ever there was a workwhich carried with it the stamp
of originality in all its parts, it is that of John Bunyan's !
Southey, Bunyan, p. 70.
13. Make; cast; form; character; sort; kind;
brand.
Those he hath . . . predestinated to be of our stamp
or cliaracter, which is the image of his own Son, in whom,
for that cause, they are said to be chosen.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, v., App. 1.
He had wantonly involved himself in a number of small
book-debts of this ^amp. Sterne, Tristram Shandy, i. 12.
14. In leather-manuf., a machine for softening
hides by pounding them in a vat. E. JS. Knight.
— 15. Same as nohblin.
In the production of "charcoal plates" (for tinplate
making), tiie first rough forged slabs are cut into pieces
termed stamps. Encyc. Brit., XIII. 319.
16. pi. Legs. [Old slang.] —Atmospheric stamp.
See atTnospheric. — Ball stamp, a peculiar form of stamp
(so named from the inventor) in use at the mines on
Lake Superior. It is a direct-action stamp, the stem of
the stamp being the continuation of the piston-rod of
the steam-engine which is the motive power. — Leavltt
stamp, an improved form of Ball stamp, used chiefly in
the Lake Superior mines. One head is capable of crushing
2.50 tons of ore in 24 hours. This stamp works like the
Nasmyth hammer, the force of gravity being aided by
steam-pressure. — Stamp Act, an act imposing or regu-
lating the imposition of stamp-duties; in American colo-
nial history, an act, also known as GrenviUe's Stamp Act,
passed by the British Parliament in 17(15, providing for
the raising of revenue in the American colonies by the
sale of stamps and stamped paper for commercial trans-
actions, real-estate transfers, lawsuits, marriage licenses,
inheritances, etc. : it also provided that the royal forces in
America should be billeted on the people. The act was to
go into effect November Ist, 1765, but it aroused intense
opposition, led by the assemblies of Virginia, Massachu-
setts, and other colonies. A "Stamp Act Congress," with
delegates from many of the colonies, met at New York in
October, 1765, and a petition against this and other re-
pressire measures was sent to England. The Stamp Act
was repealed in March, 1766, but the agitation was one of
5896
the leading causes in eifecting the revolution. — To put
to stampt, to put to press ; begin printing. Hall, Hen.
VIII., an. 25.
stampage (stam'paj), n. [< stamp + -age.']
An impression; a squeeze.
No copy (of the rock inscription] was obtained until Oc-
tober, 1838, when the traveller Masson most carefully and
perseveringly made a calico stampage and an eye-copy.
Encyc. Brit., XIII. 118.
stamp-album ( stamp 'al 'bum), n. Ablank book
or album used by collectors for the classification
and display of postage- and revenue-stamps.
stamp-battery (stamp'bat"6r-i), n. A series of
stamps in a machine for comminuting ores.
E. H. Knight.
stamp-block (stamp'blok), n. A hollow wooden
block in which mealies are pounded before be-
ing cooked. [South Africa.]
stamp-collecting (stamp'ko-lek'ting), n. The
act or practice of collecting postage- or reve-
nue-stamps. See philateli/.
stamp-collector (stamp'ko-lek'tor), n. 1. A
collector or receiver of stamp-duties. — 2. One
who collects postage- or revenue-stamps as
articles of interest or curiosity; a philatelist.
Stamp-distributer (stamp'dis-trib"u-ter), n.
An official who issues or distributes government
stamps.
stamp-duty (stamp'dii"ti), II. A tax or duty
imposed on the sheets of parchment or paper
on which specified kinds of legal instruments
are written, stamp-duties on legal instruments, such
as conveyances and deeds, are chiefly secured by pro-
hibiting the reception of them in evidence unless they
bear the stamp required by the law. Stamp-duties were
first levied in England in the reign of William and Mary.
stampede (stam-ped'), «. [Formerly also
stampcdo; < Amer. Sp. cstampida, a stampede,
a particular use of Sp. estampida, estampido
(= Pg. estampido), a crack, crash, loud report;
connected with estainpar, stamp : see stamp, f.]
1. A sudden fright seizing upon large bodies of
cattle or horses, and causing them to run for
long distances ; a sudden scattering of a herd
of cattle or horses ; hence, any sudden flight or
general movement, as of an army, in conse-
quence of a panic.
With every herd this stampede occurs; and, watching
the proceedings, I hold that a drover ought to have rather
more patience than Job.
Atortimer Collins, Thoughts in my Garden, II. 131.
2. Any sudden unconcerted movement of a
number of persons actuated by a common im-
pulse: as, a stampede in a political conven-
tion for a candidate who seems likely to win.
Stampedes in American politics have been
common since the Democratic convention of
1844.
At the first ring of the bell a general stampede took
place ; some twenty hungry souls rushed to the dining-
rcKjm. L. M. Alcott, Hospital Sketches, p. 63.
stampede (stam-ped'), v.; pret. and pp. stam-
peded, ppr. stampeding. [< stampede, «.] I.
intrans. 1. To become generally panic-strick-
en; take suddenly to flight, as if under the in-
fluence of a panic ; scamper off in fright : said
of herds or droves. — 2. To move together, or
take the same line of conduct, under the influ-
ence of any sudden and common impulse. See
stampede, n., 2.
II. trans. 1 . To cause to break and run as if
panic-stricken; disperse or drive off suddenly
through panic or terror.
Those most trying times when . . . the cattle are stam-
peded by a thunder-storm at night.
T. Roosevelt, Hunting Trips, p. 7.
2. To cause to move or act in a mass through
some sudden common impulse: as, to stampede
a political convention for a candidate.
Stampedot (stam-pe'do), n. Same as stampede.
A sudden stampede or rush of horses. Irving.
stamper (stam'per), n. [< stamp + -crl.] 1.
One who stamps : as, a stamper in the post-of-
fice.— 2. An instrument for stamping; a stamp.
— 3. j)^. The feet; also, shoes. [Old slang.]
Strike up. Piper, a merry, merry dance.
That we on our stampers may foot it and prance.
Brome, Jovial Crew, i.
4. A stamping-machine, (a) A machine for clean-
ing textile fabrics, consisting of a tub revolving horizon-
tally, and a series of wooden stamps or pestles operated by
suitable machinery. (6) In (/impowder-manu^., a machine
used in small mills, consisting of ten or twelve stamps of
hard wood, ananged in a row, eacii stamp having a bronze
shoe. The material to be pulverized is placed in cavities
in a block of solid oak. (c) In porcelain-tnanv/., a mill for
pulverizing calcined flints preparatory to treatment in the
grinding-vat.
5. ;)/. In ornith., the Calcatores.
stamp-hammer (stamp'ham"fer), n. A direct-
acting hammer where the hammer-block is lifted
stamp-mill
vertically, either by cams or friction-rollers, or,
as is more commonly the case, by steam- or wa-
ter-pressure acting on a piston in a closed cyl-
inder. Pcraj.
stamp-head (stamp'hed), n. In a stamp, the
rectangular or cylindrical mass of iron at the
end of the stamp-stem, which by its weight gives
force to the blow. To the lower end of the stamp-
head is attached the shoe, a thinner piece of chilled iron
or steel, which can easily be replaced, when too much worn
for service, without the necessity of replacing the whole
stamp-head.
stamping (stam'ping), n. [< ME. stampyvge;
verbal n. of stamp, «;.] 1. The act of pounding,
beating, or impressing as with a stamp. — 2.
Something stamped, or made by stamping-ma-
chinery.
Groups of U-shaped soft iron stampings.
Electrical Rev., XXII. 174.
3. Same as WoeJcing, 1 (a).
stamping-ground (stam'ping-groimd), n. A
place of habitual resort; a customary haunt.
[Slang, U. S.]
It 's with them fellows as it is with wild animals. You
can just keep clear of them if you want, stay far out of
their stamping-ground, hold yourself aloof all the time,
W. M. Baker, New Timothy, p. 176.
stamping-machine (stam'ping-ma-shen"), n.
A machine for forming articles of hard materi-
als, as metal, whether for the first rough shap-
ing, or for decorative finishing.
stamping-mill (stam'ping-mil), n. Same as
stamp-mill, 1.
stamping-press (stam'ping-pres),«. 1. In sheet-
metal worJc, a power-machine for making hol-
low ware, as pans, bowls, kitchen-utensils, etc.
Machines of this class are a development of the earlier
stamping-machines, the direct blow or stamp having laeen
replaced in
many instances
byacontinuous
pressure. The
essential fea-
tures of the ma-
chine are two
dies brought
one over the
other by a di-
rect blow or
by pressure.
Where a con-
tinuous pressure is used by the employment of a screw,
cam, toggle-joint, or eccentric, forcing one die slowly upon
the other, the sheet of metal is pressed and stretched into
shape. The dies are often compound — one part cutting
out theblank from thesheetand another part compressing
it gradually into shape — or so arranged that one part takes
the blank, and holds it firmly by the edges, while a central
part stretches it to the required shape. In some forms of
these machines a series of dies are used successively, the
blanks being pressed in part, then annealed and re-pressed
until the final shape is secured. Also called stamping-
machine.
2. A small hand-press or seal-press used by pub-
lic ofiicials and others for impressing stamps
upon or afiixing them to documents, either in
obedience to legal requirement or as a matter
of convenience or custom. Compare seal-pre.'is.
— 3. Sa,viie a,s blocking-press. See also arming-
press.
stamp-machine (stamp'raa-shen'), n. In pa-
pcr-mamif., a machine for beating rags, etc.,
into pulp. It consists of a number of rods fixed into
a stout oak beam, and working alternately with a set be-
low, the water passing otf througli an opening covered
witli a fine sieve. Tlie machine is of German origin, and
is used only in small factories.
stamp-mill (stamp'mil), n. 1. In metal., a
crushing-mill employing stamps or pestles to
crush ores or rock to powder preparatory to
treatment for extracting metals. The stamps,
which are often of great size and weight, are arranged in
Die used in a Stamping-press.
rt, vertical section of die for forminEf a spoon ;
d, plan of upper die ; c, side view oi lower die.
stamp-mill,
a, undershot water-wheel ; *, shaft : c, cams: rf, wipers; ^. lifters of
pine, beach, or oak, with chilled cast-iron stamps : ./, kofers (otherwise
called mortars or battery-boxes) which receive the "stuff" or broken
ore and retain it until reduced to the required decfree of fineness. The
ore is fed to the stamps from an inchned platform at the rear of the
kofers.
a row, and are usually raised by means of wipers and cams
on a revolving shaft turned by steam- or water-power.
The cams release the stamps in turn, and they fall on the
ore placetl in chambers below, the sides of these chambers
being perforated to allow the escape of the/:rushed mate-
I
stamp-mill
rial as soon as reduced to the required fineness, while a
stream of water sweeps the slimes away as they are pro-
duced. Such a row of stamps is also called a stamp-bat-
tery. In another form of stamp mill the stamp is placed
at "the end of the piston-rod of a steam-cylinder, on the
principle of the steam-hammer. Also called stamping-
milt.
2. An oil-mill employing a pestle or pestles to
crush seeds and fruits.
Stamp-note (stamp'not), H. In com., a memo-
randum delivered by a shipper of goods to the
searcher, which, when stamped by him, allows
the goods to be sent off by lighter to the ship,
and is the captain's authority for receiving them
on board. Simmonds.
stamp-office (stamp'of'is), n. An office where
government stamps are issued, and stamp-du-
ties and taxes are received.
Stance (stans), n. [Early mod. E. also steMiice;
< OF. stance, estance, a station, situation, con-
dition, also a stanchion, = Pr. estansa, station,
condition, = Sp. Pg. estancia, a dwelling, = It.
stanza, a station, stanza, etc., < ML. stantia, a
chamber, a house, lit. a standing, < L. stan{t-)s,
ppr. of atare, stand: see stanrf. Cf.stanza.'] 1.
A station; a site; an area for building; a posi-
tion ; a stand. [Scotch.]
He fetched a gambol upon one foot, and, turning to the
left hand, failed not to carry bis body perfectly round,
Just into its former tctance.
Crquhart, tr. of Eabelais, L 35. (Davia.)
The boy answered his invitation with the utmost con-
fidence, and danced down from bis tianee with a galliard
■ort of step. Seott, Kenilworth, x.
2t. Space; gap; distance.
Since I can do no better, I will set such a BtauTtee be-
tween him and Pasiphalo that all this town shall not
make them friends.
Oatcoiffne, tr. of Arioato's Sapposea, U. 3.
St. A stave or stanza.
The other voices sung to other music the third gtance.
Chapman, Mask of Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn.
stance! (stans), v. t. [< stance, n.] To station ;
place.
He ne'er advanc'd from the place he was ttane'd,
BattU 0/ Shmf-Mmr (cbm't Ballads, VI L 162X
stanch^, staunch^ (st4nch, stanch), r. [< ME.
stanchen, staunchen, statcnchen, stonehen, < OF.
est<tnclter, estanchier, stanehier, etc., cause to
cease flowing, stop, stanch, F. etancher, stanch,
= Ft. 8p. Pe. estancar = It. stancare (ML. stan-
care), stancu, < L. stagnare, stagnate, cause to
cease flowing, make stagnant, HL. also stanch
(blood), L.«ta{7nare, cease flowing, become stag-
nant, <«(a</n«m, a pool, standing water: see stag-
nant, stagnate. Cf. stank^, staunch^, stanchion.]
L trans. 1. To cause to cease flowing; check
the flow of.
I will itaunehe bis floade*, and the great waters ihal be
restrayned. Bilile qf 1661, Exek. xzzL
Over each wound the balm he drew.
And with cobweb lint he ttanelud the blood.
J. R. Drake, Culprit fay, p. 34.
2. To stop a flow from; dry, as a wound, by the
application of a styptic.
Then came the hermit oat and bare bim In,
There ttaneh'd bis wound.
Tennyaon, Lancelot and Elaine.
3. To quench; allay; assuage. [Obsolete or
archaic]
Al weere It that a ricbe coveytoe man hadde a ryrer
fletynge al of gold, yit sholde It never $Unmehen hia
coveytlse. Chaucer, Boethius, III. meter 3.
Let my tears KaneA the earth's dry appetite.
SAa*., "fit And., m. 1.14.
I Mlanch with Ice my burning breast.
With silence balm my whirling brain.
jr. Arnold, Saint Brandan.
4t. To free; relieve: with of.
Yf two brether be at debate,
Ix>ke notber thou fortber In hor bate,
But helpe to stauncV hom o/ malice.
£«<««< Boot (E. E. T. 8. \ p. 907.
n. intrans. 1. To stop flowing; be stanched.
[Bare.]
Immediately ber liaoe of Uood ttanehtd. Luke tIU. 44.
2t. To stop; cease.
And the wynde ttonehede and blew no more,
And the meyst trunde into a bryjt cloude.
Chron. Vilodun., p. 127. (aaUima.)
stanchH, staunchit (sttoch, stanch), n. [<
stanch^, staunch^, t».] That which stanches;
that which quenches or allays.
O frendship, flour of flowers, O Uuely sprite of lyfe,
0 sacred bond of blissful peace, the tulwortb itanch of
strife.
Poemt of Vneertatne A ueton. On Frendship. (Riehardton. )
stanch^ (stAnch), n. [An assibilated form of
siank^ ; < OF. cstanche, a pool, fish-pond, etc :
aee«tanA.'i.] A flood-gate in a river for accumn-
5897
lating a head of water to float boats over shal-
lows; a weir. See standi. E. H. Knight.
Formerly rivers used to be penned in by a series of
stanches near shoal places, which held up the water, and,
when several boats were collected in the pool above a
staiicfi, it was suddenly opened, and the sudden rush of
water floated the boats over the shallows below.
Encyc. Brit., XX. 673.
stanch^, staunch^ (stanch, stanch), a. [< ME.
staunche, < OF. esianc, fem. estanche, csteiic,
estenk, estain, dried, dry, exhausted, wearied,
tired, vanquished, F. etanche, stanch, water-
tight, = Pr. cstanc, still, unchangeable, = Sp.
estanco = Pg. estanque, stanch, water-tight, =
It. stance, tired: from the verb shown under
stanch^, staunch^. Cf. stank'^, the same word.]
1. Dry; free from water; water-tight; soimd:
said of a vessel.
Now, good son. thyne ypocras is made parflte & welle ;
y wold than ye put it in staunche & a clene vesselle.
Ba6ee«Boo*(E. E. T. S.), p. 128.
If I knew
What hoop should hold us stanch, from edge to edge
O' the world I would pursue it.
Shak., A. and C, ii. 2. 117.
Our provisions held out well, our ship was stanch, and
our crew all in good health. Sicift, Gulliver's Travels, ii. 1.
2. Strong; firm.
You will lose their love. This is to be kept very staunch
and carefully to be watched. Locke, Education, § 107.
3. Sound and trustworthy; true: applied to
hounds with reference to their keeping the
scent.
If some stauTich hound, with his authentic voice.
Avow the recent trail, the justling tribe
Attend his call. SmnerviUe, The Chase, U. 125.
4. Soimd or firm in principle; loyal; hearty;
trustworthy.
Standing abf urdities, without the belief of which no man
is reckoned a stanch churchman, are that there is a calves-
head club ; . . . and that all who talk against Popery are
Presbyterians In their hearts. Addison, Freeholder, No. 7.
You are itauncA Indeed In learning's cause.
Cotcper, Tirocinium, 1. 492.
=S7n. 4. Stout, steadfast, resolute, stable, unwavering,
stanchel^ (stan'chel), n. [Formerly also stan-
chell, stanchil, Sc. stainchel, stenchit, etc.; cf.
stanchion.] Same as stanchion. [Obsolete or
prov. Eng. or Scotch.]
Round about the said tomb-stone, both at the sides and
at either end, wire set up neat stanehells of wood, joyned
so close that one could not put In his hand betwixt one
and the other.
Daviet, Ancient Rites (ed. 1672X p. 118. (BaUiaM.)
Stanchel- (stan'chel), n. Same as staniel.
stancher, staonclier (stAn'ch^r, stSu'ch^r), n.
[< stanch^ + -«ri.] One who or that which
stanches; specifically, a styptic.
stanchion (stan'shon), n. [Early mod. E. also
stanchenn, .itanchon, staunchon; < OF. estangon,
estanson, F. etan^n, a prop, staff, dhn. of OF.
estance, a stanchion, prop, support, lit. a sta-
tion: see stance. Ct. stanchel^?] A post, pillar,
or beam used for a support, as a piece of tim-
ber supporting one of the main parts of a roof;
a prop. Specifically — (a) One of the upright iron bars
passing through tbe eyes of the. saddle-bars and forming
part of tbe armattire steadying the lead lights of a large
wlndoW'bay.
He did him to tbe wire-window,
As fast as be could gang ;
^;
" Wae to the hands put in the ttaiuheont.
for out well never wi
«r» qf Frendraughl (Child's Ballads, VI. 180).
0) One of the upright bars in a stall for cattle, (e) In
ship4milding, an upright post or beam of different forms,
used to support the deck, the rails, the nettings, awnings,
etc. id) pi. In miiiL engin., one of the upright side-pieces
of a gallery-frame.
stanchion (stin'shon), v. t. [< stanchion, «.]
To fasten to or by a stanchion.
The cows tied, or s(aneAion«(f, as in tbeir winter feeding.
A'etr Amer. Farm Book, p. 380.
stanchion-gun (stan'shon-gun), n. A pivot-
gun ; a boat-gun for wil3-duck shooting.
stanchless, staunchless (st&nch'les, stiinch'-
les), a. [< stanch^ + -less.] Incapable of be-
ing stanched or stopped; unquenchable; in-
satiable.
There grows
In my roost ill-composed affection . . .
A stanehiesi avarice. Shak. , Macbeth, It. 8. 78.
And thrust ber down bis throat into his stanchless maw.
Drayton, Polyolbion, vll. 791. {If ares.)
stanchly, staunchly (stftnch'li, stanch'li),
adv. In a stanch manner; soundly; firmly.
stanchness, staunchness (staueh'nes, stanch'-
nes), «. Thy state or (|uality of being stanch,
in any sense. Boijle, Works, III. 184.
Stanckt. See stank^, stank^.
stand (stand), v.; pret. and pp. stood, ppr. stand-
ing. [< ME. sUxnden, stonden (pres. ind. 3d
stand
pers. standeth, stondeth, contr. stant, stent, pret.
stood, stod, pp. stonden, standen), < AS. standan,
stondan (pret. stod (for *stond), pp. standen,
stonden) = OS. standan = OFries. stonda =
OH.Gr. stantan, MHG. standen (rare) = leel.
standa = Sw. stanna, stadna = Goth, standan
(pret. stoth, pp. stothans for *standans), stand ;
a secondary or extended form, Teut. ■\^ stand
(perhaps orig. based on the orig. ppr., OHG.
stdnt-er, stent-er, etc., = L. stan{t-)s, standing),
parallel with a simpler form, namely, OS. stdn
= OFries. stdn = MD. staen, D. stann = MLG.
stdn, LG. staan = OHG. MHG. stdn (also with
altered vowel (prob. due to association with
the contrasted verb OHG. gen, G. gehen, go),
OHG. MHG. (and OS.) sien, G.stehen) = Sw.std
= Dan. staae, stand (whence E. dial, staw,
stand), Teut. ■}/ stai (not found in AS., Icel.,
or Goth., and not found at all in pret. and pp.,
which are supplied b)' the pret. and pp. of stan-
dan, ■]/ stand), orig. y' std = L. stare (redupl.
perf. steti, pp. status) = Gr. laravai, cause to
stand, set up, mid. and pass. ~icTaa6ai, stand,
2d aor. OTijvat, stand, = OBulg. stati = Serv.
stati = Russ. stati, etc., also OBulg. stoyati =
Serv. stayati = Bohem. stati = Euss. stoyati,
etc. (Slavic -y/ sta and V sti, with numerous
derivatives), = Skt. y/ sthd, stand. By reason
of the fundamental nature of the notion ' stand'
and its innumerable phases, and of the phonetic
stability of the syllable sta, this root has pro-
duced an immense number of derivatives, which
are in E. chiefly from theL. source — namely,
from the E., stand, «., perstand, etc., under-
stand, withstand, etc.; from Scand., staw^ ; from
the L. (from inf. stare), stable^ (with constable,
etc.), stable^, stablish, establish, stage, stamen,
stamin (tamin, etc.), stay^ (staid, etc.), cost^,
rest^, contrast, obstacle, obstetric, etc. ; (from
the pp. status) state, estate, status, station, statist,
statue, statute, armistice, interstice, solstice, etc. ;
constitute, substitute, etc., superstition; (from
the ppr, stan(t-)s) stance, stanchion, stoma, cir-
cumstance, constant, distant, extant, substantive,
etc. ; (from sistere, causal of stare) sist, as-
sist, consist, desist, exist, insist, persist, subsist,
etc.; while from various derivatives or exten-
sions of the L. •/ sta are ult. E. stagnate,
stanch, stank^, tank, stank^, stolid, sterile, des-
tine, obstinate, etc.; from the Gr., stasis, static,
apostate, ecstasy, metastasis, system, epistle, apos-
tle, etc. To the same ult. y sta, Teut. or other,
may be referred, with more or less plausibility,
many E. words having a root or base appar. ex-
tended from sta, namely (< \/ stop or stuf), staff,
stave, stem^, stenfi, step, slope, stoop^, stamp,
stub, stump, stiff, stifle; (< V stal) stall^, staled,
steals, stalk^, stell, still\ stilt, stool, stout, etc. ;
(< V stam) stammer, stumble, stctn^; (< V stad)
stead, stud^, steed, stithy, stathc, etc. ; and see
also standard, stare^, stecr^, steer^, stu(fi, steel,
stow, stored, story^, etc. The list, however, is
elastic, and may be indefinitely increased or
diminished. See the words mentioned. TheL.
verb has also passed into Sp. Pg. as the sub-
stantive verb estar, be.] 1. intrans. y. To be
upright; bo set upright; take or maintain an
upright position, (a) To place one's self or hold one's
self in an uprightposltion on the feet with the legs straight,
as distinguished from sitting, lying, or kneeling : said of
men or beasts.
And thanne commandethe the same Phllosophre asen
Stondethe up. Mandeville, Travels, p. 235.
Stands he, or sits he ?
Or does he walk? Shak., A. and C, i. 5. 19.
Ida, . . . rising slowly from me, stood
Erect and silent. Tennyson, Princess, vL
(6) To be set on end ; be or become erect or upright.
Fro the erthe up til heuene hem,
A leddre stonden, and thor-on
Angeles dun-cumen and up-gon.
Genesis and Exodus (E. E. T. S.), L 1807.
Comb down his hair ; look, look ! it stands upright.
Shak., 2 hen. VI., iii. 3. 15.
To the south of the church stand up two great pillars.
E. A. FreeffwtTi, Venice, p. C6.
2. To stop moving; come to or be at a stand-
still; halt; alight; more generally, to cease ac-
tion of any kind ; be or become motionless, in-
active, or idle ; be or become stagnant.
Foulis fayre and bright, . . .
With fedrys fayre to frast ther flight fro stede to stede
where thai will stande. York Plays, p. 12.
Deepe was the wey, for whiche the carte stood.
Chaucer, Friar's Tale, 1. 261.
I'll tell you who Time ambles withal, . . . who Time
gallops withal, and who he stands still withal.
Shak., As you Like it, iii. 2. 329.
stand
stand!
If thon advance an inch, thou art dead.
Fletcher (and another 1), Prophetess, 11. 2.
8. Specifically, in hunting, to point: said of
dogs. See pointer, setter^.
To i)olnt, set, or ttatui (which are different names for
the same act). Dogs at Great Britain and America, p. 234.
4. To rest as on a support ; be upheld or sus-
tained, literally or figuratively; depend: fol-
lowed by on, upon, or rarely hy.
This Ymage stont upon a Pylere of Marble at Costonty-
noble. MandeviUe, I'ravels, p. 9.
This reply tlartdeth all by conjectures. Wkitgift.
They itood upon their own bottom, without their main
dependance on the royal nod.
Milton, Chorch-Govemment) 11., CJoncL
Xo friendship will abide the test.
That stands o» sordid interest.
Or mean self-love erected.
Cowper, Friendship.
6. To be placed; be situated; lie.
"Now," quod Selgiamor, "telle vs what wey stmideth
Camelot," MeHin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 200.
In this King's [William I.l sixteenth Year, his Brother
Duke Robert, being sent against the Scots, builded a Fort,
where at this Day standeth New-Castle upon Tyne.
Baker, Chronicles, p. 29.
A nest of houses and trees at the mountain's toot, stand-
ing so invitingly as to make the traveller wish for a longer
sojourn. E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 191.
6. To continue in place; maintain one's posi-
tion or ground ; hold one's own ; avoid falling,
failing, or retreating.
The Saisnes were so many that they myght not be perced
lightly thourgh, but stode stiffly agein the Crysten.
" * * Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 215.
Take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may
be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all,
io stand. Eph. vi. 13.
Who, not content that former worth stand fast,
Loolu forward, persevering to the last.
Wordsumrth, The Happy Warrior.
7. To continue in being ; resist change, decay,
or destruction ; endure ; last.
He tolde vs also that the clerkes ne knew not the cause
why that youre tour may not stonde; but he shall telle
yow aperUy. Berlin (E. E. T. S.), 1. 35.
His living temples, bnllt by faith to stand.
MUton, P. L., xii. 527.
I reach into the dark.
Feel what 1 cannot see, and still faith standi.
Browning, Ring and Book, II. 209.
It (most of the black Indian ink] blots when a damp
brush is passed over it ; or, as draughtsmen say, "it does
not stand." ITorisAop ifeccipte, 2d ser., p. 33ft
8. To continue in force ; remain valid ; hold
good.
The resumpsion, men truste, shall forthe, and my Lordes
of Yorkes first power of protectorship stande.
Paston Letters, I. 378.
My covenant shall stand fast with him. Ps. Ixxxix. 28.
No conditions of our peace can stand.
Shak., 2 Hen. IV., iv. 1. 184.
•9. To take a particular attitude with respect
to others or to some general question ; adopt a
certain course, as of adherence, support, oppo-
sition, or resistance; take sides; specifically,
to make a stand.
Y tryste in God that he achalle me spede.
He standyth wy th the ryght. , „ „ . „ ,
MS. Cantab. Ff. ii. 38, f. 79. (HaUiwea.)
I'll stand to-day for thee and me and Troy.
Sha*., T. and C, v. 3. 36.
Godwin Earl of Kent, and the West-Saxons with him,
stood for Hardecnute. MiUon, Hist. Eng., vi.
Instructed by events, after the quarrel began, the Amer-
icans took higher ground, and stood for political indepen-
dence. Emerson, Address, Soldiers' Monument, Concord.
10. To become a candidate for ofllee or dig-
nity: usually with /or.
How many stand for consulships? Shak., Cor., IL 2. 2.
The Town of Richmond in Richraondshire hath made
choice of me lor their Burgess, tho' Master Christopher
Wandesford, and other powerful Men, and more deserv-
ing than I, stood for it. Bowetl, Letters, I. v. 3.
It had just been suggested to him at the Reform Club
that he should stand for the Irish borough of Lounhshane.
. . . Wbatl he stand for Parliament, twenty-four years
old ! Trollope, Phineas Finn, L
11. To continue in a specified state, frame of
mind, train of thought, course of action or ar-
gument, etc. ; keep on ; persevere ; persist.
But this so plain to be lawful by God's word, and exam-
ples of holy men, that I need not to stand in It.
Bidley, Works (Parker Soc.), p. 63.
One that stands in no opinion because It is his owne, but
suspects it, rather, because it is his owne, and is confuted,
and thankes you.
Bp. Earle, Micro-cosmographie, A Modest Man.
Never lie before a king, or a great person ; nor stand in
a lie when thou art accused ; but modestly be ashamed of
It, ask pardon, and make amends.
Jer. Taylor, Holy Living, 11. i 5.
5898
12. To be pertinacious or obstinate; be in-
sistent or punctilious; hence, to be overexact-
ing: generally followed by on or upon, rarely
by in or with. Compare to stand upon (c).
Stolid not in an evil thing. Eccles. viii. S.
Well, I will not stand with thee ; give me the money.
Marlowe, Faustus, iv. 5.
13. To hold back; scruple; hesitate; demur.
To have his will, he stood not to doe things never so
much below him. Milton, Eikonoklastes, ill.
An I had asked him to oblige me in a thing, though it
had been to cost his hanging, he wadna hae stude twice
about it. Scott, Old Mortality, x.
14. To be placed relatively to other things;
have a particular place as regards class, order,
rank, or relations.
Amongst liquids endued with this Quality of relaxing,
warm Water stands first.
Arbuthrwt, Aliments, v. prop. 4, § 9.
Amphloxus stands alone among vertebrated animals in
having a cajcal diverticulum of the intestine for a liver.
Huxley, Anat. Vert., p. 79.
Faith and scepticism stand to each other much in the
relation of poetry and criticism.
H. JV. Oxenham, Short Studies, p. 263.
15. To be at a certain degree, as in a scale of
measurement or valuation : as, the mercury (or
the thermometer) stands at 80°.
In 1791 the corn law was changed by Pitt. When the
price of wheat stood at 54s. the quarter, or above that
price, wheat might be imported at a duty of 6d.
5. Dowell, Taxes In England, IV. 10.
16. To have a specified height when standing.
He . . . stood four feet six inches and three-quarters in
his socks. Dickens, Sketches, Tales, x. 1.
17. To be in a particular position of affairs;
be in a particular state or condition: often in
the sense of ie, as a mere copula or auxiliary
verb : as, to stand prepared ; to stand in awe of
a person; to stand one's friend.
Alas, Fadyr, how standis this case,
That ye bene in this pcynes stronge ?
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Fumivall), p. 99.
In pity I stand bound to counsel him.
Massinger, Bashful Lover, i. 1.
He stood in good terms with the state of France, and also
with the company. Winthrop, Hist. New England, II. 130.
I do not know how the laws sta,nd in this particular.
Steele, Tatler, No. 135.
Wonder not that the great duke [Buckingham] bore him
stand
The flowerage
That stood from out a stiff brocade.
Tennyson, Aylmer's Field.
Trieste standi forth as a rival of Venice.
E. A. Freeman, Venice, p. 71.
22. Specifically {naut.),to liold a course at sea;
sail ; steer : said of a ship or its crew : followed
by an adverb or preposition of direction.
No sooner were they entered into that resolution but
they descried a saile standing in for the shore.
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, II. 125.
We did not stand over towards Sumatra, but coasted
along nearest the Malacca shore.
Dumpier, Voyages, II. i.
171.
out, and all stood mum. ^ „, , , t n^
Court and Times of Charles I., I. 96.
18. To occupy the place of another; be a rep-
resentative, equivalent, or symbol: followed
by for.
I speak this to you in the name of Rome,
For whom you starui. B. Jonson, Catiline, v. 6.
Definition being nothing but making another under-
stand by words what idea the term defined stands for.
Locke, Human Understanding, III. iii. 10.
The ideal truth staruls for the real truth, but expresses
It In its own ideal forms.
0. H. Lewes, Probs. of Life and Mind, II. li. § 56.
19t. To consist; be comprised or inherent:
with in.
No man's life standeth in the abundance of the things
which he possesseth. ^ . ^^ ,„ ,,„„
Latimer, 2d Sermon bef. Edw. VI., 1550.
Faith etandei/i not in disputing.
J. Bradford, Letters (Parker Soc, 1858), II. 121.
20. To be consistent ; be in accordance ; agree :
followed by with, except in the phrases to stand
to reason and to stand together.
It cannot stand with God's mercy that so many should
be damned. Burton, Anat. of MeL, p. 634.
The great Turke hearing Musitians so long a tuning, he
thought it stood not with his state to wait for what would
follow. N- Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 40.
How an evasive indh:ect reply will stand with your rep-
utation ... is worth your consideration.
Junius, Letters, No. 68.
21. With an implication of motion (from or to
a certain point) contained in an accompany-
ing adverb or preposition, to step, move, ad-
vance, retire, come or go, in a manner speci-
fied: noting actual motion,- or rest after mo-
tion: SiS, to stand back; to stand aside ; to stand
off; to stand out.
The place also liked ... me wondrously well, It being
a point of land standing into a cornfield.
R. Knox (Arber's Eng. Garner, I. 386).
As things stood, he was glad to have his money repayed
him and stand out.
Bradford, Plymouth Plantation, p. 280.
So he was bid starui by.
Bunyan, Pilgrim s Progress, p. 158.
Our nearest friends begin to stand aloof, as If they were
half-ashamed to own us. Swift, Tale of a Tub, i.
Stand off, approach not, but thy purpose tell.
Pope, Iliad, x. 93.
They tacked about, and stood that way so far that they
were lain to starui o/ again tor fear of the shore.
Court and Times of Charles /., 1. 266.
The ship . . . flUed away again, and stood out, being
bound up the coast to San Francisco.
B. H. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 68.
23t. To put up with something; forbear.
But stonde he moste unto his owene harm.
For when he spajt he was anon bore doun
With hende Nicolas and Alisoun.
Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 1. 644.
Covenant to Stand seized to uses. Seecouenanf — To
standabeigh. See ateijA. —To stand blufft. SceWu/i.
— To stand by. (a) [By, prep.) (1) To side with; aid;
uphold ; sustain.
I would stand byUva against her and all the world.
Suift, story of the Injured Lady.
Well said. Jack, and I'll stand by you, my boy.
Sheridan, The Rivals, v. 3.
(2) To adhere to ; abide by ; maintain : as, to stand by an
agreement or a promise.
Thy lyf is sauf, for I wol stonde therby,
Upon my lyf, the queene wol seye as I.
Chaucer, Wife of Bath's Tale, L 159.
If Tom did make a mistake of that sort, he espoused it,
and stood by it. Oeurge Eliot, Mill on the Floss, L 7.
(3) Naut, to take hold or be ready to take hold of, or to
act in regard to ; as, to stand by a halyard ; to stand by
the anchor. (6) [By, adv.] To make ready; stand in a
position of readiness to seize upon something ; be ready
to perform some act when a subsequent command or signal
is given : used principally in the imperative, as a word of
command. Originally a nautical term, it has come to be
used quite commonly in its original sense.- To stand fon
from. In, off, or over (naut.). See del. 22.— To stand
fortht, to persist.
To stonde forth in such duresse
Is cnielte and wikkidnesse.
Bom. of the Bose, 1. 3547.
To Stand flrom under, to beware of objects falling from
aloft.— To Stand good, see good.— To stand high, in
printing, to exceed the standard height of eleven twelf tlis
of an inch : said of a type or an engraving.— To stand
In. (a) To cost : followed by a personal object in the da-
tive : sometimes used without in : as, it stood me [in] five
dollars.
As every bushel of wheat-meal stood ns in fourteen
shillings. Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 56.
His wife is more zealous, and therefore more costly, and
he bates her in tyres what she stands him in Religion.
Bp. Earle, Micro-cosmographie, A Church Papist
(b) To be associated ; make terms : as, to stand in w ith
the politicians; the police stand in with them for the
profits. [Slang, U. S.]— To Stand In hand, to be on
hand ; be ready for use or service ; be of advantage : usu-
ally with an indirect personal object : as. It will starui us
in hand to be cautious.
Well, my Lady, I stand in hand to side with you al-
ways. A. E. Barr, Friend Olivia, xvii.
To stand In one's own light. See ligMX.— to stand
In stead, to be serviceable ; serve one's turn : with an in-
direct personal object.
My legs and arms stood me in more steod than either
my gentle kin or my book-lear.
Scott, Legend of Montrose, iL
To Stand In the gap. See gap. — To stand in the gate.
See jrotel.— To Stand low, in printing, to fall short of
the standard height of eleven twelfths of an inch: said of
a type or an engraving.— TO Stand mute. See mMte'.
— To stand off. (a) See del. 21. (b) To stand out ; show.
The truth of it stands off as gross
As black and white. Shak., Hen. V., 11. 2. 10&
Picture Is best when it standeth off as if it were carved.
Sir H. Wotton, Elem. of Architecture, it
To Stand off and on, to sail away from the shore and
then toward it, repeatedly, so as to keep a certain point in
sight.— To stand on. (a) See to stand upon, (b) Ifard.,
to continue on the same course or tack.— To stand on
compliment, on scruple, etc. See the nouns.— To
stand out. (a) To hold out, especially in a struggle; per-
sist In opposition or resistance ; refuse to yield.
His spirit is come in,
That so stood out against the holy church.
Sliak., K. John, v. 2. 71.
Of their own Accord the Princes of the Countrey cama
in, and submitted themselves unto him, only Roderick
King of Coimaught stood out. Baker, Chronicles, p. 56.
(6) To project, or seem to project ; be prominent or in re-
lief: show conspicuously. See def . 21.
Their eyes stand out with fatness. Ps. Ixxiii. 7.
In the history of their [the princes'] dynasty the name
of the city chiefly stands out as the chosen place for the
execution of princes whom It was convenient to put out
of the way. E. A. Freeman,''Vealce, p. 111.
stand
The heavy, irregular arches of the bridge, and the tall,
square mass of the tower, stand out against the red sky,
and are reflected in the rapid wat«r.
C. K. Norton, Travel and Study in Italy, p. 11.
To stand sam for one. See sam-'.— To stand to. (a)
{To, adv.] lo fall to; work.
I will gtand to and feed.
Although my last. Shak., Tempest, ill. 3. 49.
(f>) (To, prep.] (1) To stand by ; sustain ; help.
Give them leave to fly that will not stay ;
And call them pillars that will ttand to us.
Shak., S Hen. VL, iL 3. 51,
<2) To adhere to ; abide by ; uphold.
Stand strongly to your vow, and do not faint
Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess, ii. 2.
<3) To await and submit to ; take the chance or risk of ;
abide.
IVoilus will Itand to the proof.
Shak., T. and C, 1. 2. 142.
[They] fled into the woods, and there rather desired to
end their dales then etand to their trials and the euent of
lustice. Quoted in CajiL John Smith's Works, n. 122.
<4) To take to ; have recourse to ; keep to ; apply one's
self to resolutely.
Their sentinell caled, "Arme, arme"; so they bestired
them & stood to their armes.
Brad/ord, Plymouth Plantation, p. 84.
But Mr. Sampson stood lo his guns, notwithstanding,
and fired away, now upon the enemy, and now upon the
dust which he had raised. Scott, Guy Mannering, xlvi.
To stand to a child, to be sponsor for a child. Halli-
vett. IProv. Eng.] — To stand together, to be consist,
ent; agree.- Tostandtoit. (a) 'lostandone'sground;
hold one's own, as in a struggle ; hold out
Their lives and forttines were put In safety, and pro-
tected, whether they stood toil or ran away.
Bacon, Hist Hen. VII., p. 146.
I do not think . . . that my brother ifood (o it so lastOy
as he makes his brags for.
MuldUton, Blurt, Master-ConsUble, L 1.
<b) To persist, as in an opinion ; maintain.
Now 111 stand to it, the pancakes were naught.
Sha*.. As you Like it, L 2. 69.
To Stand to reason, to be reasonable.
This stands to reason indeed.
Brvme, Spanigus Garden, U. S.
To Stand under, to bear the weight or burden of : as, I
stand utider heavy obligations.— TO Stand up for, to de>
fend the cause of ; contend for ; support ; uphold.
He meant to stand up for ^yery change that the eco.
nomical condition of the country required.
Otorge EliU, Felix Holt, vili.
Ye see I stood up for re, Mr. Avery, but I thought 't
would n't do no harm to Kind o' let ye know wliat folks is
aayin'. H. B. Storm. Oldtown, p. 483.
To Stand upon or on. (a) To rely upon ; trust to.
We stand upon the same defence that .St. Paul did ; we
appeal to Scripture, and the t>est and purest Antiquity.
StUUngfleet, Sermons, II. L
8o, standing only on hli good Behaviour,
He 's very civil, and entrnts your Favour.
Congnve, Old Batchelor, ProL
<&) To be dependent or contingent npon ; hinge upon.
Your fortune stood upon the casket there.
Shak., U. of v., UL 2. 203.
<e) To concern ; alf ect ; involve.
Consider bow It stands upon my credit
Suik., C. of E., iv. 1. 68.
I pray God more your heart to be very careful, for it
stands upon their lires.
Quoted in Winthrop's Hist New England, I. 56.
((f) To dwell on ; linger over, as a subject of thought.
Since the Authors of most of our Sciences were the Bo.
mans, and before them the Greekes, let vs a little stoni
vppon their autboritle*. Sir P. Sidney, ApoL for PoeCrie.
The thini point . . . deaerreth to t>e a little stood upon,
and not to tie lightly passed over.
Bacon, Advancement of Learning, L
<<) To insist npon ; make much of : hence, to pride one's
self upon ; pr^ume upon.
This widow la the strangest thing, the stateliest.
And stands so much upon her excellencies :
Fletcher, Wit without Money, II. 2.
Nor stand so much on year gentility.
B. Jonson, Every Man in his Humoor, L 1.
Stand not tqxm the order of your going,
Bnt go at once. Shak., Macbeth, ilL 4. 119.
I must say that of you Women of Quality, If there Is but
Monev enough, yon stand not upon Birth or Reputation
in either Sex. Mrs. Centlim, The Basset-Table, ii.
</t) To be Incumbent npon : In the fcnn to itoiuf on< upon.
It stands me much upon.
To stop aU hopes whose growth may damage me.
Shall., Rich. IIL, ir. 2. 59.
Does It not stand them upon to examine upon what
grounds they presume It to be a revelation from God?
Locke.
To Stand upon one's pantaUegt, to stand npon
points, etc Seepan<aNe,po(n(i, etc. — To stand upon
one's rest*. See to set up one's rest (a), under »rti.- To
stand up to, to make a stand against ; confront or face
boldly.
He stand up to the Banbury man for three mlnntes, and
polished him off in four rounds.
Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xxxiv.
To stand np with, (a) To take one's place with (a part-
ner) for a dance ; hence, to dance with. (Ck>IIoq.)
5899
If you want to dance,. Sanny, I will stand up with you.
Jane Au^en, Mansfield Park, xii.
(&) To act as groomsman or bridesmaid to : as, 1 stood up
with him at his wedding. [CoUoq.) — To Stand With.
See def. 20.
II. trans. 1. To cause to stand ; specifleally,
to set uptight.
"And as concerning the nests and the drawers," said
Sloppy, after measuring the handle on his sleeve, and
softly standing the stick aside against the wall, "why, it
would be ar^ pleasure to me."
Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, iv. 16.
2t. To abide by ; keep to ; be true to.
These men, standyryje the charge and the bonde which
thei haue takene, wille leve vtterly the besynes of the
world, . . . and hooly yeve hem to contemplatife liffe.
Uampote, Prose Treatises (E. E. T. S.), p. 24.
3. To undergo; endure; bear; more loosely,
to endure without succumbing or complain-
ing; tolerate; put up with; be resigned to ; be
equal to.
I am sorry you are so poor, so weak a gentleman.
Able to stand no fortune.
Beau, and Fl., Knight of Malta, iv. 2.
I should never be able to stand Noll's jokes ; so I'd have
him think, Lord forgive me ! that we are a very liappy
couple. Sheridan, School for Scandal, i. 2.
The business of their dramatic characters will not stand
the moral test Lamb, Artificial Comedy.
She did not mind death, but she could not stand pinching.
Barham, Ingoldsby Cegends, L 271.
4. To await and submit to ; abide : as, to stand
trial.
Bid him disband his legions, . . .
And stand the judgment of a Roman senate.
Addison, Cato, IL 2.
Cf. To withstand ; resist ; oppose ; confront.
Valiant Talbot above human thought
Enacted wonders with his sword and lance ;
Hmidreds he sent to hell, and none durst stand him.
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., i. 123.
Not for Fame, but Virtue's better end.
Be stood the furious foe.
Pope, Prol. to Satires, L 343.
The rebels, who fled from him after their victory, and
durst not attack him when so much exposed to them at
Ills passage of the Spey, now stood him, they seven thou-
sand, be ten. ITafpoie, Letters, IL 19.
6. To be important or advantageous to ; be in-
cumbent upon ; behoove.
He knew that It depended solely on bis own wit whether
or no be could throw the ioke back upon the lady. He
knew that it stood him to do so If he poasibly could.
Trottope, Barcbeiter Towers, xlvL
7. To be at the expense of; pay for: as, to stand
treat. [Colloq.]
Asked whether he would stand a bottle of champagne
for the company, hb consented.
Thadceray, Vanity Fair, IIU.
To stand a watch (luiut X to perform the duties of a star-
board orptjrt watch fur a spiM-ifled time. — To Stand bUift.
See buff'i. To Stand fire, to receive the lire of an enemy
without giving way.— To stand OlT, to keep off ; hold at
adlstauce: as, tojtando/acreditorur adtin. — To Stand
one's gronntL See tn-oundi.-To stand out. (a) To
endure or suffer to the end.
Jewu fled from the persecution ; as he did not stand it
out, io be did not stand out against it
Jer. Taylor, Works (ed. 18S6X L 78.
(6) To persist ; Insist ; maintain ; contend.
It were only yesterday at e'en she were standing out that
he liked her better than you.
Mrs. Qaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, ixxix.
To Stand pad. 8eepad>.— To stand shot Seeshota.
stand (stand), N. [< MK. stand = D. stand =
MLG. slant, sidnt = MHG. stant (stand-), G.
stand = Dain. (> Icel.) stand, standing, stand,
station, etc ; also, In some mechanical senses,
E. dial, stond, stound, < ME. stonde, < AS. stand
= MD. stande = MLG. LG. stande, a tub, = OH6.
stante, MHG. G. stande, a tub, stand, a stand,
jack, support, etc. (the Gael, stanna, a tub, vat,
18 from E.); all from the verb.] 1. The act of
standing, (a) A coming to a stop; a cessation from
progress, motioii, or activity ; a halt ; a rest ; stoppage.
He stalks up and down like a peacock — a stride and a
stand. Shak., T. and C, IIL 3. 25'2.
Lead, if thou thtnk'st we are right
Why dost thou make
These often stands? thou said'st thou knew'st the way.
Fletcher, Beggars' Bush, v. 1.
2) The act of taking a decided attitude, as in aid or resls-
,nce ; a determined elTort for or against something ; spe-
cifically, miliL, a halt for the purpose of checking the ad-
vance of an enemy,
llreathe you, my friends; well fought; we are come off
Like Romans, neither foolish in our stands.
Nor cowardly in retire. Shak., Cor., L 6. 2.
All wo have to ask Is whether a man 's a Tory, and will
make a stand tor the good of the country?
Ueonje Eliot, Felix Holt, vlL
2. A state of rest or inaction; a standstill;
hence, a state of hesitation, embarrassment, or
perplexity.
stand
The sight of him put me to a stand in my mind whether
I should go on or stop.
T. EUwood, Life (ed. Howeils), p. 256.
Here, then, poor Rip was brought to a stand.
Irving, Sketch-Book, p. 56.
3. The place where aperson or an object stands;
a position, site, or station ; a post or place.
At every halfe houre one from the Corps du guard doth
hollow, shaking his lips with his finger betweene them ;
Vnto whom every Sentinell doth answer round from his
stand. Capt. John Smith, Works, I. 143.
The knight then asked me if I had seen Prince Eugene,
and made me promise to get him a staTid in some conve-
nient place where he might have a full sight of that ex-
traordinary man. Addison, Spectator, No. 269.
Amid that area wide they took their stand.
Pope, Dunciad, it 27.
A salmon is said to be swimming when he is moving up
the river from pool to pooL At other times he is usually
resting in his "stand" or "lie," or at most shifting from
one stand in a pool to another.
Quarterly Sev., CXXVI. 369, note.
Specifically— (a) The place where a witness stands to tes-
tify in court (6) A rostrum ; a pulpit
Sometimes, indeed, very unseemly scenes take place,
when several deputies [in the French Chamber], all equally
eager to mount the coveted stand, reach its narrow steps
at the same moment and contest the privilege of pre-
cedence. IT. WUson, Cong. Gov., iL
(c) A stall in a stable. HalliweU.
4. Comparative position; standing, as in a
scale of measurement ; rank.
Nay, father, since your fortune did attain
Bo high a staTid, 1 mean not to descend.
Daniel, Civil Wars, iv. 90.
5. A table, set of shelves, or the like, upon
which articles may be placed for safety or ex-
hibition ; also, a platform on which persons may
place themselves. Specifically — (o) A small lightta-
Die, such as is moved easily from place to place,
A stand between them supported a second candle.
Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre, xxvilL
(6) A stall for the sale of goods ; any erection or station
where business is carried on ; as, a fruit-staftd; a news-
stand; a carriage-stand.
The Chief of Police (of Racine, Wisconsin], acting under
instructions from the Mayor, has notified the proprietors
of every cigar-store, soda-fountain, ice-cream stand, and
confectionery shop to close on Sunday.
New York Evening Post, June 28, 1889.
(c) A rack, as for umbrellas and canes, (d) In museums,
the support for a mounted specimen of natural history;
especially, a perch for mounted birds, consisting of an up-
right and cross-bar of turned wood, usually painted or
varnished. Stands are also made in many ways, in imita-
tion of natural objects upon which birds perch or rest.
Stands for mammals are usiuUy fiat boards of suitable
slxe, rectangular or oval, and with turned border, (e) In
a microscope, the frame or support which holds tiie essen-
tlal parts of the instrument as well as the object under
examination. It includes the tube with the coarse and
fine adjustments, the stage and its accessories, the mirror,
etc. Hee microscope. {/) in printing, same as compoinng'
stand, (g) A platform or other structure, usually raised,
as for spectators at an open-air gathering, or for a band or
other group of performers : as, the grand stand on a race-
course.
A large wooden shed, called " The Stond," without floor
or weather-boarding, capable of covering, say, four thou-
sand persons, stood near the centre [of a camp-meeting
ground). Harper's Mag., LXXVIIL 902.
The stand-buildings for the accommodation of the pa.
trons of the course are four or five in number, and are
three stories high. T. C. Crawford, English Life, p. 28.
6. A standing gro-wth, as of grass, wheat, In-
dian corn, etc.
By the middle of April there should be a good stand of
the young sprouts [of sugar-cane].
The Century, XXXV. 111.
7. (o) A tree growing from its own root, in
distinction from one produced from a scion set
in a stock of either the same or another kind
of tree. (6) A young tree, usually one reserved
when other trees are cut. See standel. — 8.
Ductility ; lack of elasticity.
Leather may have the quality known as Stand— that
is to say, may be strongly stretched in either length or
breadth without springing back.
Workshop Receipts, 2d ser., p. 372.
9. In com., a weight of from 2i to 3 cwt. of
pitch. — lot. A company; a troop.
A stand ot six hundred pikes, consisting of knights and
gentlemen as ha^i been othcers in the armies of his late
Majesty. England's Joy (Arber's Eng. Gamer, I. 30).
1 1 . A complete set or suit ; an outfit. See stand
of arms, below.
Proclamation was made ... to furnish out to General
Lesly's army, and to ilk soldier thereof, their share of a
stand of gray cloatbs, two shirts, and two pair of shoes.
Spalding, Hist Troubles in Scotland, I. 289. (Jamieson.)
A stand o' claes was nae great matter to an Osbaldistone
(be praised for 't I). &o(t, Rob Roy, xxxvL
12. A tub, vat, or cask, or the quantity it con-
tains. A stand of ale is said in the seven-
teenth century to correspond with a hogshead
of beer.
stand
First dip me in a ttand o' milk.
And tnen in a ^and o' water.
The Younff TatrUane (Child s Ballads, I. 122X
Here, Will Perkins, take my purse, fetch me
A tttind of ale, and set in the niai'ket- place.
That all may drink that are athirst this day.
Oreenf, George-a-Greene (Works, ed. Dyce, II. 200X
Band-stand, a balcony or raised platform In a hall or
park for the accommodation of a band or company of mu-
sicians. -Brazler-Stand, a stand, usually consisting of a
rin^ nionnted on three feet, to support a brazier. — Con-
ducting'Stand, a rack or frame of wood or metal for
holding a score for tlie conductor of a chorus or an orches-
tra.—Grand stand, in any place of public resort, the
principal stand fi-om which spectators view races, games,
or any other spectacle.
We . . . will follow Mr. Egremont to the grand stand,
where ladies now sit in their private boxes much as they
sat some eighteen hundred years ago to smile on the dying
gladiator in the amphitheatres.
WhyU MelvOle, White Rose, II, iv.
Stand Of anununitlon. See ammumeton.— Stand of
armor, stand of arms, a suit of armor and weapons
taken together, or, in modern times, the arms and accou-
trements sufficient for one man. See ann'^, n. — Stand
of colors, a single color or flag. Wilhelm.— To be at a
stand, to be brought to a standstill ; be checked and pre-
vented from motion or action. — To get a Stand. See
the quotation.
Occasionally these panic fits . . . make them [buffalo]
run together and stand still in a stupid, frightened man-
ner. . . . When they ai-e made to act thus it is called in
hunters' parlance getting a stand on them ; and often thirty
or forty have been killed in one such stand, the hunter
hardly shifting his position the whole time.
T. Roosevelt, Hunting Trips, p. 274,
To make a stand, (a) To come to a stop ; stand stilL
When I beheld this hill, and how it hangs over the way,
I suddenly made a stand, lest it should fall on my head.
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 95.
(6) To take a position for defense or resistance ; stop and
fight, — To put to a stand, to stop ; arrest by obstacles or
difficulties: as, he was put to a statid for want of men and
money.
standagef (stan'daj), «. [< sta^id + ~age.^ If.
A stall.
Such strawe is to bee given to the draughte oxen and
catteU at the star^axe [read siandage] or the barnedores.
Archseologia, XIII. 883.
2, In mitiingj a place underground for water to
stand or accumulate in; a lodge or sump.
standard^ (stan'dard), «. [Early mod. E. also
standerd; < ME, standardj standerd, stojidard,
< late AS. standard (= MD. standaerdj D. stmi-
daard=z'MJjG,stanthartj LG. standare = MHG.
standertj stanthari, Gr. standarte (perhaps < It.) =
Sw. standar = Dan. standart)., < OF. estandart,
estendardj an ensign, standard, a point of rally-
ing, F. etendardf an ensign, standard, flag, =
Pr, estandardy estandart = Sp. estandarte =r It.
stendardOy an ensign, standard (cf. OF, estan-
dalf estandeiUe.j standale = It. stendale, an en-
sign); ML. standardum, an ensign, standard
(cf. standarduSy a stronghold, a receptacle of
water): (a) either < 0H&. stantan (MHG. stan-
den), stand, = E, stand, etc., + -art, or (6) <
ML. *st€nder€ (It. st€ndere= OF, estendre, etc.),
< L. extendere, spread out, extend: see extend.
The connection with stand is certain in the other
uses : see standardly standard^."] 1. Milit., a dis-
tinctive flag ; an ensign . Specifically— (a) The prin-
cipal ensign of an army, of a military organization such as
a legion, or of a military chieftain of high rank. In this
sense it may be either a flag or a solid object carried on
a pole, as the Roman eagH, or the dragon shown in the
Bayeux Tapestry, or a combination of a flag with such an
object, (b) A large flag, long in the fly in proportion to
its hoist, carried before princes and nobles of high rank,
especially when in military command or on occasions of
ceremony. A standard of Edward III. was shaped like a
long pennon, swallow- tailed, and bearing the royal arms
at the hoist^ the rest of the pennon being covered with
fleurs-de-lis and lions sem6. A standard of the Karl of
Warwick, carried during the Wars of the Roses, had a cross
of St. George, with the rest of the flag covered with small
copies of the badge of the Nevilles, a bear and ragged
staff. At the present time the word is used loosely. The
so-called royal standard of Great Britain, though a stan-
dard in function, is properly a banner in form. The flags
of the British cavalry regiments are called standards, to
distinguish them from the colorsoi the infantry regiments.
In the United States army a silk standard goes to every
mounted raiment; it bears the national arms on a blue
ground, with the number and name of the regiment under-
neath the eagle. See cut under labarum.
2. In bot.j same as banner, 5, — 3. In ornith. ;
(a) Ba.\ne aa vexillum. (&) A feather suggesting
a standard by its shape or position. See cuts
under Semioptera and standard-bearer, — 4t. A
standard-hearer; an ensign or ancient, [Rare.]
Thou Shalt be my lieutenant, monster, or my standard.
Shale., Tempest, iii. 2. 18.
To slope the standard. See elope.
standard^ (stan'dard), w. and a, [< ME. *sian-
dard, < OF. estandart, estcndard, also (AF.)
estander, ML. (AL.) standardum, standard of
weight and measure; appar. a particular use
in England of OF. estandart, etc., an ensign,
standard, as 'that to which one turns,' or, as
in standard^, 'that which is set up': see stan-
5900
dard^, standard^,'] I. n. 1. A weight, measure,
or instrument by comparison with which the
accuracy of others is determined ; especially, an
original standard or prototype, one the weight
or measure of which is the definition of a unit of
weight or measure, so that all standards of the
same denomination are copies of it. The only
original standard of the United States is a troy
pound. See 2)ound, yard, meter.
It is . . . necessary to have recourse to some visible,
palpable, material standard, by forming a comparison
with which all weights and measures may be reduced to
one uniform size. Blackstone, Com., I. vii.
2, In coinage, the proportion of weight of fine
metal and alloy established by authority. The
standard of gold coins in Great Britain is at present
22 carats — that is, 22 parts of fine gold and 2 of alloy;
and the sovereign should weigh 123.274 grains troy. The
standard of silver coins is 11 ounces 2 pennyweights of
pure silver and 18 pennyweights of alloy, making toge-
ther 1 pound troy; and the shilling should weigh 87-273
grains. The gold and silver coins in current use in the
United States are all of the fineness 900 parts of the
precious metal in 1,000, the gold dollar weighing 25.8
grains, and the silver dollar 412.5 grains.
That precise weight and fineness, by law appropriated
to the pieces of each denomination, is called the stan-
dard. Locke, Considerations concerning Raising
[the Value of Money.
3, That which is set up as a unit of reference;
a form, type, example, instance, or combina-
tion of conditions accepted as correct and per-
fect, and hence as a basis of comparison ; a
criterion established by custom, public opinion,
or general consent ; a model.
Let the judgment of the judicious be the standard of
thy merit. Sir T. Browne, Christ. Mor., it 8.
Let the French and Italians value themselves on their
regularity ; strength and elevation are our standard.
Dryden, Epic Poetry.
The degree of differentiation and specialization of the
parts in all organic beings, when arrived at maturity, is
the best standard as yet suggested of their degree of per-
fection or highness. Darwin, Origin of Species, p. 313.
[The respiratory act] ranging, during the successive pe-
riods of life, from 44 respirations per minute in the infant
soon after birth, to the average sttandard of 18 respiratory
acts in the adult aged from thirty to sixty years.
J. M. Camochan, Operative Surgery, p. 126.
Measuring other persons' actions by the standards our
own thoughts and feelings furnish often causes miscon-
struction. JI, Spencer, Study of Sociol., p. 114.
4, A grade ; a rank ; specifically, in British
elementary schools, one of the grades or de-
grees of attainment according to which the
pupils are classified. The amount of the parliamen-
taiy grant to a school depends on the number of children
who paBs the examination conducted by government in-
spectors—the rate per pupil differing in the different
standards.
Every boy in the seventh and sixth standards would have
held out his hand, as they had been well drilled on that
subject. N. and Q., 7th ser., VIII. 51.
Average standard, in copper-mining. See average^. —
Double standard, a monetary standard based upon both
gold and silver as the materials of the circulating medium,
as distinguished from a single standard based upon either
gold or silver. — Dutch standard, a set of samples of
sugar put up in bottles bearing the official seal and label
of the Dutcli government (whence the name), and recog-
nized as the standard of the commercial world in fixing
the quality of sugars. The set comprises 16 different
grades, numbered, according to the different colors of the
samples, from 5 (the darkest color) to 20 (the most refined)
inclusive. The quality of the sugar to be tested is deter-
mined by comparison with the samples or the standard,
and the sugar is named accordingly as No. 10, 13, etc.,
Dutch standard.— Gold Standard, a monetary standard
based upon gold as the material of the unit of value. — Me-
tallic standard, a gold or silver standard.- Multiple
standard, a monetaiy standard representing a consider-
able number of important articles in frequent use, the
fluctuations in tlieir value neutralizing one another and
thus causing a substantial uniformity of value among them.
— Mural standard, any standard set up on a wall, as,
for instance, a standard of measurement for convenience
in testing rules, tapes, measuring-chains, etc, — Photo-
metric Standard. See ^/io(o?He(ric.— Silver standard,
a monetary standard based upon silver as the material of
the monetar>' unit. —Single Standard. See double stan-
dard.— Tabular standard. Same as multiple standard.
II. a. Serving as a standard or authority ; re-
garded as a type or model; hence, of the high-
est order; of great worth or excellence.
In comely Rank call ev'ry Merit forth ;
Imprint on every Act its Standard Worth.
Prior, Carmen Seculare for the Year 1700.
The proved discovery of the forgery of Ingulfs History
of Crowland Abbey was a fact that necessitated the revi-
sion of every standard book on early English History,
StubbSy Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 46.
Latimer-Clark standard cell. See cell, 8.— standard
arrow, an an-ow used in the latter part of the fifteenth
century, and probably the heavier arrow conformed to
certain regulations : it is distinguished from the flight-
arrow.— Standard battery, a battery in which the elec-
tromotive force is perfectly constant, so that it can be used
as a standard.— Standard compass. See compass.—
Standard pitch. See pitchi, 3.— Standard solution,
a standardized solution (whiclx see, under solution). —
Standard star, a star whose position and proper motion
is particularly well known, and on that account ia recom-
standard-bearer
mended for use in determining the positions of other
stars, instrumental constants, time, latitude, and the like.
— Standard time, the reckoning of time according to
the local mean time on the nearest or other conventional-
ly adopted meritlijm just an even number of hours from
the Greenwich Royal Observatory. See time.
standard" (stan'dard), v. t. [< standard^, n.]
To bring into conformity with a standard; regu-
late according to a standard.
To standard gold or silver is to convert the gross weight
of either metal, whose fineness differs from the standard,
into its equivalent weight of standard metal.
Bithell, Counting-House Diet. (Encyc. Diet.)
standard^ (stan'dard), «. and a. [Early mod.
E. also standerd, siandert; < ME, ^standard (?),
< MD. standaerdy a post, pillar, column, mill-
post, trophy (cf . OP, estandart, a kind of torch,
<D.); a var., conformed to standaerd, an en-
sign, etc., oi slander J a post, mill-post, etc.: see
stander. The E. standard^ is thus a var. of stand-
er, with various senses, mostly modern. It has
been more or less confused with standard^ and
standard^.'] I, n. 1. An upright; asmallpost
or pillar ; an upright stem constituting the sup-
port or the main part of a utensil. Specifically —
(a) The upright support or stem of a lamp or candlestick ;
hence, also, a candlestick ; especially, a candelabrum rest-
ing on the floor in a church.
Doppione, a great torch of waxe, which we call a stan-
dard, or a quarrier. Florio (ed. 1611).
Beneath a quaint iron standard containing an oil lamp
he saw the Abb6 again. J. H. Shorthou.se, Countess Eve, iv.
(b) In carp. , any upright in a framing, as the quarters of
partitions, or the frame of a door, (c) In ship-building, an
inverted knee placed on the deck instead of beneath it
(d) That part of a plow to which the mold-board is at-
tached, (e) In a vehicle: (1) A support for the hammer-
cloth, or a support for the footman's board. See cut under
coach. (2) An upright rising from the end of the bolster
to hold the body laterally. E. H. Knight.
2, In hort. : (a) A tree or shrub which stands
alone, without bein^ attached to any wall or
support, as distinguished from an espalier or a
cordon.
The espaliers and the standards all
Are thine ; the range of lawn and park.
Tennyson, The Blackbird.
(b) A shrub, as a rose, grafted on an upright
stem, or trained to a single stem in tree form.
Standards of little bushes pricked upon their top, . . .
the standards to be roses, juniper, holly, berberries.
Bacon, Gardens (ed. 1887).
3. A stand or frame; ahorse. HaUiwelL [Prov.
Eng.] — 4t. A large chest, generally used for
carrying plate, jewels, and articles of value,
but sometimes for linen.
Item, the said Anne shall have two stoTidard-chestefr
delivered unto her for the keeping of the said diaper, the
one to keep the cleane stuff, and th' other to keep the
stuff that hath been occupied.
Ordinances and Regvlaiions, p. 215. (flalliwell.)
The Standard, which was of mason work, costly made
with images and angels, costly gilt with gold and azure,
with other colours, and divers sorts of [coats of] arms cost-
ly set out, shall there continue and remain; and within
the Standard a vice with a chime.
Coronation of Queen Anne, W%fe of Henry VIII., in Arber's-
[Eng. Garner, II. 49.
5. A standing cup ; a large drinking-cup.
Frolic, my lords ; let all the standards walk ;
Ply it, till every man hath ta'en his lo?.d.
Greene and Lodge, Looking Glass for Lond. and Eng.
6t. The chief dish at a meal.
For a standard, vensoun rost, kyd, favne, or cony.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 165.
7t- A suit; a set. Compare stand, n., 11.
The lady had commanded a standard of her own best
apparel to be brought down. B. Jonson, New Inn, Arg,
8t. One who stands or continues in a place;
one who is in permanent residence, member-
ship, or service.
The ficklenesse and fugitivenesse of such servants
justly addeth a valuation to their constancy who are stan-
dards in a family, and know when they have met with a
good master. Fuller, General Worthies, xi.
Gas-standard, a gas-fixture standing erect and of con-
siderable size, as one which stands on the floor, commoU'
in the lighting of churches, public halls, etc.
II. a. Standing; upright; specifically, in
hort., standing alone; not trained upon a wall
or other support : as, standard roses.
Rich gardens, studded with standard fruit-treea, . . .
clothe the glacis to its topmost edge.
Kingdey, Two Years Ago, xxiil
Standard lamp. See ).amp^.
standard-bearer (stan'dard-bar^'er), n. 1. An
officer or soldier of an army, company, or troop
who bears a standard : used loosely and rhetori-
cally: as, the standard-bearer of a political party.
King James, notwithstanding, maintained a Fight still
with great Resolution, till Sir Adam Fonnan his Standard-
bearer was beaten down. Baker, Chionicles, p. 260.
2. An African caprimulgine bird of either of
the genera Macrodipteryx and Cosmctornis; a
pennant-winged goatsucker, u. Umgipennis has-
standard-bearer
one flight-feather of earh wing extraordinarily prolonged
a$ a bare abaft beai-ing a racket at the end. C. vexillarius
Standard-bearer {Macrodipteryx tongipennis'),
hs£ a less lengthened lance-linear feather, chiefly white,
and in other respects resembles the common night-hawk
of the I'nited States. Also called /ffwr-ir»nf7».
standard-bred (stan'dSrd-bred), a. Bred up to
some standard of excellence agreed upon by
some association.
standard-grass (stan'dard-gr^s), n. Same as
standardization (stan'dSr-di-za'shon), n. [<
stanclardhe + -ation.l "The act of standardiz-
ing, or the state of being standardized Also
spelled standnrflisntion.
standardize (stan'diir-diz), r. t ; pret. and pp.
stdHtlanliziil, ppr. statHlar<ii:Hng. [< standard^
+ -lif.J To conform to or compare with a
standard; regulate by a standard; constitute
or recognize as a standard; specifically, in
chemical analysis, to determine accurately in or-
der to use what is so determined as a standard
of comparison : said of the strength of a solu-
tion, or the quantity of a certain reagent con-
tained in a given volume of it. Also spelled
standardise.
They [electrical meanuinginstniments] will be aaetul
for ttandardizinij the ordinary forms of voltmeter and
ammeter. Seitnce, XI. 237.
standardizer (stan'dar-di-z6r), n. [< gtandard-
i~e + -</i.] One wiio or that which standard-
izes. Also spelled standardiser.
The abadnte Talnet of the polarization . . . ahould of
course have been identical, but according to the tlan-
dardiier they were always markedly dmerenU
PhU<m>plaeai Mag., XXVIL 80.
standard-knee (stan'diird-ne), n. Same as
ultniil'inl'-'. 1 («).
standardwing (stan'dSrd-wing), n. Wallace's
bini (jf paradise. See cut under Semioptera.
Stand-bv (stand'bi), n. One who or that which
stands by one. (o) A supporter or adherent. (6) That
upon which one relies . especially, a ready, timely resource.
The Texan cowboys become very expert in the use of the
revolver, their inTariable Handbu.
T. tUxmtOt, The Century, XXXVI. 840.
(c) A nautical signal to be in readiness. 8ee tland by (b),
under g*.and.
Standelt (stan'del), ». [< stand + -el; eoniv.
to stonrfer.] A tree reserved for growth as
timber; specifically, in teir, a voung oak-tree,
twelve of which were to be leh in every acre
of wood at the felling thereof.
Standelwortt (stan'del-w*rt), n. [< standel,
e(juiv. to utandcr, + icorti. Cf. equiv. MD.
stiiiidflkruyd.] Same as stander-grass.
Stander (stan'dfer), n. [= MD. stander, a post,
mill-post, axletree, D. stander, an axletree, =
Oim.stuHter, MHG. stander, slender, G. stander,
a tub ; as stand + -er^. Cf . standards and stan-
del.'] 1. One who or that which stands, (a) One
who keep* an nprlgbt poaltlon, resting on the feet.
Tbey fall, as being slippery Itandert.
Shak., T. and C, ill. 3 84.
(6) One who or that which remains In a specified place,
•itaation, state, condition, etc. : speclflcally, a tree left for
growth when other treei are felled. Compare ilandet.
They Ithe Dutch] are the longest ttanden here by many
years ; for the English arc but newly removed hither from
Bean, where they resided altogether before.
Dampier, Voyages, II. L 48.
<«) A npporter ; an adherent. (Rare. ]
Onr young profldents ... do far outgo the old Oanden
■od profesaon of the sect. Berketey, Alciphron, 11. | 7.
Itt) A aentlnel ; a picket (Thieves' slang.]
5901
And so was faine to Hue among the wicked, sometimes
a gtander for the padder.
Hoiciandg, Hist. Rogues, quoted in Ribton-Turner's
[Vagrants and Vagrancy, p. 683.
2. pi. In the early church, the highest class of
penitents: a mistranslation of consistentes (avvi-
ard/ievoi), properly 'bystanders.'
Standerg, who might remain throughout the entire rite,
but were not sutfered to communicate.
Emyc. Bra., XVIII. 486.
stander-by (stan'der-bi'), «. One who is pres-
ent; a mere spectator; a bystander.
When a gentleman is disposed to swear, it is not for any
standertby to curtail his oaths. Shak., Cyinbeline, ii. 1. 12.
stander-grass (stan'der-gras), n. The Orchis
muscula -and various plants of this and allied
genera. See eullion, 2. Also standard-grass,
standehrort, standerwort.
standerwort (stan'dfer-wert), «. Same as
stander-grasg.
stand-far-oflFt (stand'rar-6f'), w. A kind of
coarse cloth. Compare staiul-fiirther-off.
In my childhood there was one [kind of cloth] called
Stand-/ar.off (the embleme of Hypo/;risy), which seemed
pretty at competent distance, but discovered its coarse-
ness when nearer to the eye.
Ftitler, Worthies, Norwich, II. 488. (Davitt.)
stand-further (stand' iir'^m-T), n. A quarrel ;
a dissension. Halliicell. [Prov. Eng.]
Stand-further-offt (stand'fer'^Her-of), n. A
kind of coarse cloth. Compare stand-far-off.
Certaine sonnets, in praise of llr. Thomas the deceased r
fashioned of divers stuffs, as mockado, fustian, stand-fur^
stand-offishness
A standing evidence of the care that was had in those
times to prevent the growth of eiToiirs.
X. Morton, New England's Memorial, p. 165.
Yes, yes, I think being a standing jest for all one's ac-
quaintance a very happy situation.
Sheridan, School for Scandal, v. 2.
5. In printing, remaining for further use : noting
composed types, printed or imprinted, which are
reserved from distribution .— standing army. See
omiya.—standlngljedt, standing bedsteadt, the large
or high bedstead, as distinguished from the trundle-bed
which rolled in and out under it.
There "s his chamber, his house, his castle, his standing-
bed and truckle-bed. Shak., M. W. of W., iv. 5. 7.
standing bevel or beveling, see bevel, i.— standing
block. See Wocti, 11.— Standing bowL Sameas««on*
ing cup.
Herei say we drink this standing-bowl of wine to him.
Shak., Pericles, ii. 3. 65.
Standing bowsprit, committee, cup, galley, matter.
See the nouns. — Standing nut, a cup made of a nut-
shell mounted in silver or tlie like : examples remain
dating from the sixteenth century or earlier, made most
commonly of cocoanut-shells. — Standing orders, (a)
The permanent orders made by a legislative or deliberative
assembly respecting the manner in wliicli its business shall
be conducted, (b) In a military organization, those orders
which are always in force.— Standing panel. See^nrf.
—Standing part of a tackle, the part of the rope made
last to the strap of a block or any fixed point— Stand-
ing piece*. Same as standing cup. MS. Arundel, 249,
1. 8i>. (//aUi»f«.)— Standing rigging (?«!«(.). Seerw;-
<;t)i(72.— Standing salt-cellar, shield, etc. See the
nouns.— Standing stone, in archieoL, a translation of
the lYench pierre lev'e, a menhir. E. B. Tyior.- Etand-
Ing table, a permanent table, fixed in its place, or of such
size and solidity that it cannot easily be moved, as the
table for meals in the old English hall.
(A«--<i/, and motly, all which the author dedicates to the standing-CTDreSS (stan'ding-si'pres), n. A
immortall memory of the famous Odcombian traveller. „ .. i,:„r,„:„i „„_j a„„. /-.;j.„ .' •
memory of the famous Odcombian traveller.
John Taylor, Works (1630X (Naret.)
stand-gall (stand'gal), n. Same as stanicl.
standing (stan'ding), M. [Verbal n. of stand,
I'.] 1 . The act of one who stands, in any sense.
I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing.
Ps. Ixii. 2.
He cursed him In sitting, in standing, in lying.
Barhain, Ingoldsby Legends, I. 212.
2. The time at, in, or during which one stands,
(at) The point in time at which anything comes to a stand ;
speclflcally, of the sun, the solstice.
finuik is sowe atte ttondyng of the Sonne.
PttUadiut, Hu8bondrie(E. E. T. S.X p. 160.
common biennial garden-flower, Gilia coronopi-
folia (Ipomopsis elegans), native in the south-
em United States. In its tubular scarlet flowers and
finely dissected leaves it reseml>les the cypress-vine ; but
it is of an erect wand-like habit.
Standing-ground (stau'ding-ground), n. Place
or ground on which to stand ; especially, that on
which one rests, in a figurative sense ; a basis
of operations or of argument; a fundamental
principle. W. IVilson. The State, $ 204.
standing-press (stan'ding-pres), H. See prcssl.
standing-room (stan'ding-rom), n. Space suf-
liciciit (inly for standing, as in a theater where
all the seats have been taken.
(b) The Interval during which one keeps, or is supposed standing-StOOl (stan'ding-stol), n. A small
Un^T' '" "'"^*'" " •^"•""« P"""'""- Compare at- frame or machine moving on wheels, used to
support a child when learning to walk.
I'hey (Perch] inay be, at one standing, all catched one
after another. /. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 157.
Hence — (c) Duration; continuance; practice.
lo„%°X~5SSi^«'l?iiX%in*XCTi^ Standish (Stan-dish), ». [A reduction of '^toid-
The elf dares peep abroad, the pretty foole
Can wag without a truckling standing-stoole.
Fletcher, Poems, p. 130. (,llalliuxU.)
1 know leaa geography than a schoolboy of six weeks'
standing. Lamb, Old and New Schoolmaster.
3. A Standing-place; a position or post; a
stand.
Yoa, ilrTah, get a standing tat your mlitreaa.
The beat in all the city.
MiddUton, Women Beware Women, L 3.
4. Relative position ; degree; rank; considera-
tion ; social, professional, or commercial repu-
tation; specifically, high rank: as, a member
in full standing (of a church, society, club, or
other organization); a committee composed of
men of good standing.
Of all the causes which contribute to form the character
of a people, thoae by which power, influence, and stand-
ing in the government are most certainly and readily ob-
tained are by far the most powerful.
Calhottn, Works, I. 50.
standing (stan'ding), p.a. 1. Havingan erect
position; upright; perpendicular; hence, ris-
ing or raised ; high.
Ixxik how yoa see a Beld of standing com, . . .
Rising in wavea, how it doth come and go
Forward and backward. Drayton, Battle of Agincourt.
W^ear standing collars, were they made of tin !
0. IT. Uolmes, Urania.
Standist) of Decorated Pottery. iSth century.
(From "L'Art pour Tou:,.")
dish, i stand + dish.] An inkstand; also, acase
for writing-materials.
In which agonie toiroenting my selfe a long time, I
grew by degrees to a niilde dis-content ; and, pausing a
while ouer my standish, 1 resolued in verse to paynt forth
my passion. 2iashe, Pierce Penilesse, p. 5.
Here is another letter of Niccolini that has lain in my
standish this fortnight. Walpole, Letters, II. 75.
stand-off (stand'df), n. l<. stand off: see stand,
c] A holding or keeping off; a counteraction.
[Colloq.]
The preferences of other clients, perhaps equal in num-
ber and value, who are flghting with Fabian tactics, make
a complete standof. The Atlantic, LXVI. 672.
2. Involving the attitude or position of one stand-ofF(stand'6f), n. [<. standoff: seestand,
who stands; performed while standing: as, a ''•] Holding others off; distant; reserved.
standing jump.
Wide was spread
That war and various : sometimes on firm ground
A standing flght ; then, soaring on main wing.
Tormented all the air. Milton, P. L., vi. 243.
[CoUoq.]
You always talk ... as if there were no one but Cath-
erine. People generally like the other two much better.
Catherine ia so xtand-of,
Mrs. Humphry Ward, Robert Elsmere, L 2.
3. Kemaining at rest; motionless; inactive; stand-offish (stand'df'ish), a. [< standoff +
ish.] Hume as stand-off. [Colloq.]
specifically, of water, stagnant
And thoughe so be it is called a see, in very dede it Is
but a stondynge water.
Sir R. Ouytforde, Pylgryroage, p. 49.
The Oarigliano had converted the whole country into
a mere quagmire, or rather standing pool.
PretcoU, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 14.
4. Permanent; lasting; fi.xed; not transient,
transitory, or occasional : as, a standing rule ;
a standing order.
If the "landed gentry" were stand-ofish, and . . . did
not put themselves out of the way to cultivate Miss Shal-
don's acquaintance, that young lady was all the more
grateful for their reserve.
F. W. Jtobinson, Her Face was her Fortuiie, v.
stand-offishness (stand'of'ish-nes), n. The
cliaructcr of being repellent; the disposition
or tendency to hold others at a distance. [Col-
loq.l
stand-offishness
I told him I did not like this pride and stand-o_ffishiiess
between man and man, and added that if u duke were to
speak to me I should try to treat him civilly.
D. C. Murray, Weaker Vessel, xxxil.
stand-pipe (stand'pip), n. 1. A vertical pipe
erected at a well or reservoir, into which water
is forced by mechanical means in order to ob-
tain a head-pressure sufficient to convey it to
a distance. — 2. A small pipe inserted into an
opening in a water-main. — 3. An upright gns-
pipe connecting the retortjand the hydraulic
main. — 4. In a steam-engine, a boiler supply-
pipe elevated enough to cause water to flow
into the boiler in spite of the pressure of steam.
— 5. A pipe on the eduction-pipe of a steam-
pump to absorb the concussions due to the pul-
sation and irregularities caused by the neces-
sary use of bends and changes in the direction
of pipes. — 6. An upright pipe, open at the top,
used in connection with a hot-water heating
system to allow room for the expansion of the
water when heated ; an expansion-pipe. — 7. A
portable pipe used to afford a high head of
water at fires. One section of a pipe is secured to
tmnnions, while other sections are kept in a rack, and
attached when required. When the hose is coupled, the
long pipe is raised by means of a wheel, and the lower
end is connected with the water-supply. Another more re-
cent form is a derrick, elevated by two cylinders and pis-
tons analogous in construction to these parts in a steam-
engine; but the pistons are moved by the pressure of car-
bonic acid gas, generated, immediately as wanted, from the
reaction of sulphuric acid upon a solution of sodium bi-
carbonate in a suitable generator. The pipe is elevated
above the derrick by a wire rope, pulleys, and a hand-
winch. A movable butt or nozle, which can be inclined
to any desired angle up or down, or turned in any direction
horizontally, is controlled by a man on the lower platform
of the derricli, and a copious stream can thus be poured into
or upon the top of a tall building. Also called water-tower.
standpoint (stand'point), n. [Tr. Gr. stand-
pttnkt; as stand + points : a word objected to
by purists.] The point at which one stands ; es-
pecially, the position from which one's observa-
tions are taken and one's opinions formed or de-
livered; the point of view; the mental situation.
The attraction of different speakers from Sunday to Sun-
day stimulates thought, each treating his theme from his
own standpoint. A. B. Alcott, Table-Talk, p. 91.
The great snare of the psychologist is the confusion of
his own standpoint with that of the mental fact about
which he is making his report.
W. James, Prin. of Psychol., 1. 196.
stand-rest (stand'rest), n. A stool, bracket, or
the like serving to support a person in an almost
upright position, as the miserere in medieval
stalls : applied especially to a contrivance like
a high stool, but with the top or seat sloping
instead of horizontal.
standstill (stand'stil), «. and a. [< stand still:
see stand, v., and sWMl, a.] I, n. A halt; a
pause; a stop, especially in consequence of
obstruction, exhaustion, or perplexity.
In consequence of this fancy the whole business was at
a stand-still. Oremle, Memoirs, Nov. 29, 1828.
II. a. Deficient in progress or advancement ;
unprogressive : as, a standstill policy.
stand-up (stand'up), a. 1. Standing; erect;
upright; high.
He was a tall youth now ; ... he wore his tail-coat and
bis stand-up collars, and watehed the down on his lip with
eager impatience, George Eliot, Mill on the Floss, ii. 7.
2. Specifically, in pugilism, noting a fair box-
ing-match, where the combatants stand man-
fully to each other, without false falls : as, a
fair stand-up fight.
His face marked with strong manly furrows, records of
hard thinking and square stand-up fights with life.
0. W. Holmes, Poet at the Breakfast Table, i.
gtane (stan), n. An obsolete and dialectal
(Scotch) form of stone.
8tane-raw (stan'ra), n. [Also staniraw, stein-
raw, staney-rag, rock-liverwort, appar. < stane,
stone, + raw (origin obscure).] A foliaceous
lichen, Parmelia saxatilis, used in the Scotch
Highlands for dyeing brown; black crottles.
[Orkney.]
Stang^ (stang), n. [< ME. stange (prob. in part
< Scand.), < AS. stsmg,8teng, stengc, a pole, rod,
bar, stick, stake, = MD. stanghe, T>. stang =
MLG. stange = OHG. stanga, MHG. stange, G.
stange, a pole, = leel. strng {stang-) = 8w. st&ng
= Dan. stang, a pole, stang (cf . It. stanga, a bar,
spar, < G.) ; < stingan (pret. stang), pierce, sting :
see sting^. Cf. stang^.'\ 1. A wooden bar; a
pole. [Obsolete or prov. Eng. or Scotch.]
He halchez al hole the halnez to-geder,
& sythen on a stif stange stoutly hem henges.
Sir Gavmyne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S,), 1. 1614.
"Ye strakeower hard, Steenie — I doubt ye foundered
thechield." *■ Ne'er a bit," said Steenie, laughing; "he
has braw broad shouthers, and I just took the measure o'
them wi' the stang." Scott, Antiquary, xxvi.
5902
2t. The bar of a door. Florio. — 3. A rod, pole,
or perch used in the measurement of laud.
Swift, Gulliver's Travels, i. 2. [Prov. Eng.] —
Riding the stang, in Scotland and the north of England,
a modf of punisliing brutal or unfaithful {or, sometimes,
henpecked) husbands, or other offenders, by carrying
them mounted on a stang through the town, with an
accompaniment of jeers and rough music. The culprits
have sometimes suffered by proxy, or, latterly, only in
efflgy.
stangi (stang), V. t. [< stang^, ».] To cause to
ride on a stang.
This WordStoni/, says Ray, is still used in some Colleges
in the University of Cambridge, to stawj Scholars in Christ-
mass Time being to cause them to ride on a Colt-staff or
Pole, for missing of Chapel.
Bourne's Pop. Antiq. (1777), p. 410.
stang^ (stang), n. [< ME. stange, a sting ; < sting
(pret. stang), sting: see stitig^.'i 1. A sting.
[Obsolete or Scotch.]
Quen the stanged mugt se
The nedder on the tree ther hange.
Thai ware al warisht of their stange.
Holy Bood (ed. Morris), p. 117.
My curse upon thy venom 'd stang,
That shoots my tortured gums alang.
Burns, Address to the Toothache.
2. The weever, a fish. Also stangster. [Prov.]
stang^ (stang), V. [< Icel. stanga, sting, goad,
< stong, a pole, stake: see stang^, n., and cf.
stang^.'\ I. trans. To sting.
The nedderes that ware fel
Stanged the folk of Israel.
Holy Bood (E. E. T. S.\ p. 117.
H. intrans. 1. To throb with pain; sting.
Halliwell. — 2. To cause a sharp, sudden pain;
inflict a sting.
But for how lang the flee may stang.
Let inclination law that.
Bunu, Jolly Beggars.
[Obsolete or dialectal in all uses.]
stang-^. An obsolete or dialectal preterit of
sting'^.
stang'*!, «• An obsolete form of stanlc^.
Stangeria (stan-je'ri-ii), n. [NL. (T. Moore,
1853), named after Dr. Stangerot Natal, one of
the first to collect specimens of the plant.] A
genus of gymnospermous plants, of the order
Cycadacese and tribe Zaniicx, made by some a
tribe Stangeriex. it is characterized by a strobile with
scales imbricated in alternating series, a thick naked napi-
form caudex, and leaf-segments with a strong midrib and
numerous unbranched or forking nerves. There are one or
two species, natives of Natal. They are singular plants with
the smooth irregular trunk only about a foot high or nearly
subterranean, from which rise a few coarse long-stalked
pinnate fern-like leaves, inflexed in the bud, the leaflets
straight in the bud, linear -lanceolate, scalloped, spiny-
toothed or cleft, and traversed by parallel forking veins.
The fruit, a thick downy strobile or cone, is borne on a
stalk surrounded by circular concave woolly bracts over-
lapping in two or three ranks. The male plants bear cy-
lindrical cones with numerous stamens on the under side
of their compound scales. S. paradoxa, in allusion to
its thick, round caudex, is called Hottentot' s-head ; small
articles, as necklaces and snuff-boxes, are sometimes made
from its seeds.
stanhope (stan'hop), n. [So called after a Mr.
Stanhope, for whom it was orig. contrived.] A
light two-wheeled carriage without a top.
When the carriages met again, he stood up in his stan-
hope, . . . ready to doff his hat.
Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xix.
Stanhopea (stan-ho'pe-a), m. [NL. (Frost,
1829), named after Philip Henry, Earl Stanhope,
president of the London Medico-botanical So-
ciety.] A genus of orchids, of the tribe Vandese,
type of the subtribe Stanhopiefe. It is character-
ized by a loose raceme of a few large flowers with spread-
ing and nearly equal sepals, a thick fleshy lip which is
commonly wavy or twisted, a straight erect or incurved
column usually prolonged and two-winged above, and
poUinia with flattened stalks and scale-shaped glands. The
peculiar lip is highly polymoi-phous and complex, bearing
lateral lobes which are often thickened into a solid mass
forming a spherical, oblong, or saccate hypochiliuni, a
middle lobe or epichilium which is itself often three-lobed
and attached by a distinct joint, and sometimes at its
base other appendages, lobes or horns — the metachilium.
There are about 20 species, natives of tropKal America
from Brazil to Mexico. They are epiphytes with very
short stems bearing many sheaths and a single large pli-
cate leaf. The stem soon thickens into a fleshy pseudo-
bulb, from the base of which the flower-stem proceeds.
The flowers are very remarkable for their structure, size,
and rich colorings, usujilly brown-spotted, yellow, or pur-
ple ; for their gi'eat fragrance, whence the recently intro-
duced perfume called stanhopea; and for their growth
downward, not upward as in ordinary plants — aliabit first
discovered by the accidental breaking of a flower-pot in
which the blossoms had buried themselves in the earth.
They are now cultivated under glass in h:u"d-wood baskets
with interstices through which the flowers protrude.
Stanhope lens, press. See lens, press^.
Stanhoscope (stau'ho-skop), «. [< Stanho{pe
lens) + Gr. oKOTreiv, view.] A form of simple
magnifying-glass, a modification of the Stan-
hope lens, in which the surface away from the
eye is plane instead of convex.
stanner
staniel (stan'yel), n. [Also stanyel, stannyel,
also (with the consonant i or y following n
assimilated to n) stannel, formerly stannell, or
assibilated to ch, stanchel, stanchil; < ME. stan-
iel, stanyel, earlier "stangelle, < AS. stdngella,
stdngilla, a kestrel (erroneously used to gloss
L. pellicanns) (= G. steingall, a staniel), < stdn,
stone, rock, + *gella, *gilla, < gellan, gillan, giel-
lan, yell, scream, a secondary form related to
galan,sm^: see stone a,nd yell, gale^. The word
is thus nearly similar in its second element to
nightingale^. The E. form stone-gall is partly
from the AS. with the long vowel retained, and
partly (as to the 2d element) due to the G. form ;
the form standgall, with the same terminal syl-
lable, simulates stand, and the form standgale
(as if equiv. to windhover) is a simulated form,
as if < stand + gale^.'] The kestrel or wind-
hover, Falco tinnunculus or Tinnunculus alauda-
rins. See cut under Tinnunculus.
Fab. What a dish o' poison has she dressed him !
Sir To. And with what wing the staniel checks at it I
Shak., T. n., il. 5. 124.
Stanielry(stan'yel-ri),«. l< staniel + -ry.'] The
act or practice of hawking with staniels ; igno-
ble falconry. Lady Alimony, sig. 1. 4. (Nares. )
Stankl (stangk), n. [E. dial, also assibilated
stanch{see stanclfl) ; < ME. stank, stanc, staunke,
stang, < OF. estang, F. itang (Walloon estank,
stanke) = Pr. estanc = Sp. estanquc = Pg. tanque
(ML. stanca), a dam to hem in water, < L. stug-
niim, a pool of stagnant water: see stagnate,
stagnant. Ct.stanchi; also et. tank.'} 1. A body
of standing water; a pool; a pond. [Obsolete
or prov. Eng.]
And alle be it that men clepen it a See, zit is it nouther
See ne Arm of the See ; for it is but a Stank of fresche
Watir, that is in lengthe 100 Furlonges.
MandeviUe, Travels, p. 115.
Seint John seith that avowtiers shullen been in helle
in a stank brennynge of fyr and of brymston.
Chaucer, Parson's Tale.
2. A tank; a ditch. [Prov. Eng. or Scotch.]
stank^ (stangk), V. t. [< stank'', n., or perhaps
an unassibilated form of the related verb
stanch^, q. v.] To dam up. Fletcher, Poems,
p. 154. [Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
stank^t (stangk), a. [Early mod. E. also stanck,
stanke; < OF. estanc, tired, = Pr. estanc, still,
immovable, = It. stanco, tired; cf. Sp. estanco,
= Pg. estanque, water-tight, stanch: see stanch^,
staunch^, a doublet of stank^.'] Exhausted;
weary. Florio; Spenser, Shep. Cal., September.
Stank^t (stangk). Old preterit of stink.
stank-hen (stangk'heu), n. [< stank^ + Aenl.]
The moor-hen or gallinule, GalUnula chloropus.
[Scotch.]
stankie (stang 'ki), n. Same as stank-hen.
[Scotch.]
stannaburro'W (stan'a-bur''''6), n. [Prop, stan-
nerburrow, < stanner + burrow^, 1, 2.] See the
quotation (the etymology there suggested is
erroneous).
Leaving the stream a little to the right, we shall notice
several small heaps of stones placed at intervals along
the slope. These little mounds, which are met with in
various parts of Dartmoor, are called by the moor-men
stannaburrows, which name is probably derived from Che
same root as the word stannary, and they were probably
tin bounds set up by the miners.
W. Crossing, Ancient Crosses of Dartmoor, p. 69, quoted
[in N. and Q., 7th ser., V. 45.
stannary (stan'a-ri), a. and n. [Also stan-
nery ; < ML. stannaria, a tin-mine, < L. stan-
num, tin : see stayinum.^ I. a. Relating to tin,
tin-mines, or the working of tin : as, " stannary
courts," Blackstone, Com., III. vi Stannary
court, a court instituted at a very early period in English
history for the purpose of regulating the alfairs of the
tin-mines and tin-miners of Cornwall.
II. n. ; pi. stannaries (-riz). A region or
district in which tin is mined : the English form
of the Latin stannaria (or stammaria, as writ-
ten in a charter of the third year of King John,
1201). The miners themselves were called
stannatores or (rarely) stammatores.
For they wrongfully claim all the County of Devon to
be their Stannary.
Petition to Parliament. 1 Ed. III., MS. in Rec. Oiflce,
[quoted in De La Beche's Geol. Kep. on Cornwall.
If by public laws the mint were ordained to be onely
supplied by our stannaries, how currently would they pass
for more precious than silver mines !
Bp. Hall, Select Thoughts, § 17.
stannate (stan'at), n. [< stann{ic) + -ate^.'] A
salt of stannic acid,
stannel (stan'el), ». See staniel.
stanner (stan'fer), n. [Origin obscure.] A
small stone; in the plural, gravel. Jamieson.
[Scotch.]
Btannery
stanneryi, a. and n. See stannary.
stannery^ (stan'6r-i), a. [ME. staH»[e]ry; <
stunner +-yl.] Gravelly; stony. Palladius,
Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 86. [Obsolete or
Scotch.]
stannic (stan'ik), a. [= F. stannique; < L. stan-
num, tin, + -ic.'\ Of or pertaining to tin; pro-
cured from tin: specifically applied to those
compounds in which tin appears as a quadriv-
alent atom: as, sttinnic acid, SuO(OH)2, a hy-
drate obtained from stannous oxid.whichtmites
with bases to form salts called stannates.
stanniferous (sta-nif'e-rus), a. [<L. stannum,
tin, + ferre = E. 6earl.] Containing or afford-
ing tin.
stainnine (stan'in), n. [< L. stannum, tin, -t-
-ine'^. ] A brittle steel-gray or iron-black ore of
tin, of a metallic luster, consisting of the sul-
phids of tin, copper, and iron, and generally
zinc, found in Cornwall; tin pyrites. Also
called, from its color, bell-metal ore.
stannite (stan'it), ». [<L. stannum, tin, + -«te2.]
Same as stannine.
gtannotype (stan'6-tip), n. [< L. stannum, tin,
-I- Gr. ri -oc, type.] In photog., a picture taken
on a tin plate ; a tin-type or ferrotype. Imp.
Diet.
stannous (stan'us), a. [< L. stannum, tin, +
■ous.^ Of, pertaining to, or containing tin : spe-
cifically applied to those compounds in which
tin appears as a bivalent atom: as, stannous
oxid, or protoiid of tin (8nO).
stannum (stan'um), n. [L. stannum, stagnum,
tin, also an alloy of silver and lead (> It. sta-
fno = Sp. estatl)) = Pg. estanho = Pr. estanh =
'. etain, tain, tin) ; perhaps the same as L. stag-
num, pool, applied to a mass of fluid metal : see
stanki, stagnate. Cf. Bret, stean = Com. stean
= W. ystaen = Gael, staoin = Manx stainny,
tin (< L. t): see tin.'] Tin.
Stannyel, n. See staniel.
stantH. A contracted form of standeth, third
person singular present indicative of stand.
stant^ (stant), n. Same as stents.
stantiont (stan'shon), n. [Appar. a var. of ston-
diimi.] Same as stemson.
stanza (stan'zft), n. [Formerly also stamo,
stanze (= Sp. estancia = G. stance = F. stance),
in def. 2; < It. stanza, Olt. stantin, prop, an
abode, lodging, chamber, dwelling, stance, also
a stanza (so called from the stop or pause at the
end of it), < ML. stantia, an abode: see stance.]
1. I'l. stanze (-ze). In arcA., an apartment or di-
vision in a building; a room or chamber: as, the
stanze of Raphael in the Vatican. — 2. In versifi-
cation, a series of lines arranged in a fixed or-
der of seqnenee as regards their length, metri-
cal form, or rimes, and constituting a typical
group, or one of a number of similar groups,
composing a poem or part of a poem, stanm U
often Died uitercbJuutemblT with tirophe — Btrophe, how-
ever, being OMd praanblj at ancient or qojuitltatlTe,
and itania of modern or aooentiul and rtmed poetry. In
the Utter the (taosa often coniiita of llnea identical In
form throngbout, the arrangement of rimea alone defin-
ing the gronp of Unea. Sncn a ataiua ia not properlj a
atropbe. A couplet la not regarded aa a atania, and a
triplet la rareljr ao dealgnated. Compare verm. Abbre-
TlatediL
Horace . . . conflnea hlniaelf strictly to one lort of rerae,
or tlaiua, in erery Odft Dr^dm, Mlae., FreL
Btanzaed(stan'zad),a. l< stanza + -ed^.] Hav-
ing stanzas; consisting of stanzas: as, a two-
stanzaed poem.
Stanzalc (stan-za'ik), a. [< stanza + -ic.] Con-
sisting of or relating to stanzas; arranged as a
stanza. E. C. Stedman, Vict. Poets, p. 381.
Stanzic (stan'zik), a. [< stanz-a + -ic] Same
as >itnn:aic. E. ffadham, Eng. Versification,
p. <J2.
stanzot (stan'zd), n. An obsolete form of
^lri)i::ti. Shak., As yon Like it, ii. 5. 18.
Btapet, a. See stapen.
stapedial (sta-pe'di-al), a. [< NL. stapedius +
-af.] 1. Stirrup-shiiped: as, the «tapeaiai bone
of the ear. — 2. Pertaining to the stapes or its
representative, whatever its form Stapedial
lUfament, the ahnnlar ligament of the stapea, connecting
the foot or liasc of the Btimip with the margin of the
fenestra ovalis. Stapedial muscle, the ttapedins.—
■ti^Mdlal nerve, a tympunic branch of the facial which
Innenratea the stapedial rauM;le.
Stapedifera (stap-e-dif'e-r»), n. pi. [NL.
(Tfiacher, 1877), neut. pi. of ttapedifer: see
stapecUferous.] Those animals which have a
stapes, as mammals, birds, reptiles, and am-
phiiii.ins: all vertebrates above fishes.
Btapediferous (stap-6-dif'e-ru8), «. [< NL.
stapedi/er, < ML. stapes, a stirrup, + h. ferre =
5903
E. 6«ari . ] Having a stapes ; of or pertaining to
the Stapedifera.
stapedius (sta-pe'di-us), n. ; pi. stapedii (-i).
[NL., < ML. stapes, a stirrup: see stapes.] The
stapedial muscle; a muscle of the tympanum
actuating the stapes of some animals. In man
the stapedius arises from a cavity hollowed out in the
{jyramid of the petrosal bone ; its tendon passes out of a
ittleholein the apex of the pyramid, and is inserted into
the necic of the stapes. Its action draws the head of the
stapes backward, and also causes the stapes to rotate a
little on a vertical axis drawn through its own center. The
name is correlated with incudius and malledius. See cut
under hyoid.
Stapelia (sta-pe'li-a), n. [NL. (LinnsBus, 1737),
named after .1. B. van Stapel, a Dutch physician
and botanist (died 1636).] A genus of gamo-
pe talons plants, of the order^«ctepi«(faceaj,type
of the tribe Stapeliex. it is characterized by flowers
with a wheel-shaped or reflexed corolla without appen-
dages between the five valvate lobes, and with the tube
short and broadly
bell-shaped or almost
wanting, and by a
double corona, the
outer of five horizon-
tally spreading lobes
alternate with the
anthers, the inner of
five scales produced
into erect or arching
horns. There are
over 70 speciea, na-
tives of South Africa.
Their short lleahy
leafless stems are
produced into four
prominent anglea,
which are coarsely SlaftUa Tartegnta.
toothed, sometimes
bearing transient rudiments of leaves at the apex of the
new growtha. Nomerons darlc tubercles give the stems a
grot^que appearance. Some are cultivated under glass
for their b^iatilol and varied flowers, which are com-
monly very large, some reaching 12 inches {S. yigantea
aometimea 14 inches) in diameter, of singular structure
and ofteD exqalaitely marbled or dotted. In other species
they are dingy or unattractive, usually coarse, thick, fleshy,
and 8bort.UTed, and in most species exhale transiently a
fetid odoraaof carrion, attracting Blea, which deposit their
eggs upon them in large qnantltiea. Their colors are largely
the liTid-pnrple and Inild-reddlsh, yellow, and brownish
bnea which are aaaociated with disagreeable odors also in
Bajlaia, Artilotoekia, Amarplu>phaU\u, and otheta of the
largest flowers, lliey are sometimes called earrion-jiow-
m; S. bu/imia is known, from its blotches, as load-flower;
and S. Aileria*, from ita spreading narrow-parted corolla,
»B itarfsh-flawer,
Stapeliea (stap-e-li'f-e), n. pi. [NL. (End-
licner, 1836),<.Sta/>e?io + -ea.] A tribe of garao-
rtalous plants, of the order Asclepitidiiccse. it
characterized by valvate and commonly fleshy corolla-
lobea, waxy erect or laterally placed pollen-massea soli-
tary in each anther-cell, and obtuse or retuse unappen-
daged anthers, cloaely incumbent over the disk of the
sti|;nia or partly Immersed in It The 16 genera are plants
communlv with short, thick, fleshy stems, coarsely angled
or tubercled, without leaves except in the Eaat Indian
genus Frerea; one genus, Bouceroeia, extends into Eu-
rope In Spain and Sicily ; the others, aa Slapelia, the type,
are mostly South African.
Stapent, stapet, a. Stepped ; advanced. Chau-
cer. Merchant's Tale, 1. 270.
stapes (sta'pez), n. [NL., < ML. stapes, a stir-
rup, < OHQ. stapf, staph = D. stap, etc., a
step: see step, and cf. staffier.] In zool. and
anat., the inmost one of the three auditory os-
sicles of man and other mammals, situated in
the tvmpanum, or middle ear. The stapes is con-
nected on tbe one band with the incus and on the other
with the feneatcm oraliik and is moved by a small muscle
called the Majmdiut, The name is derived from the close
resemblance in ahape of the human stapes to a stirrup.
LSt
Stapo^ diree times natural size.
I. Of Man (the surface of tts foot leparately shown). 3. Of Seal
{Ph«ca vitMiina). 3. Of Chick (its foot teparately shown, and car-
tilaifinous parti in dotted outline) : fH.st, mediostapedial part, form-
ine with si the itapc* proper (coUiineila) ; eat, extrattapedial part ;
ist, infrastapcdial part ; sat, Miprastapedial part.
In man the bone presenU a htad, with a little fossa for
movable articulation with the orbicalarlncudal bone; a
?i«ci: or constrictLtl part ; two branches, l^n or crura ;
and an oval base or /oof. This bone is morpholof^ically
one of the proximal elements of the hyoidean arch. The
corresponding element in birds and rt-piiles is very dif-
ferentlT shaped, and is sometimes called gtapfs, oftener
eolumeua. It is rod-lilte or columcllar.with an expanded
base fitting the fenestra ovalis, the other end usually
■bowtnff ft crow-bar. Farts of such a stapea are distin-
gniahedaMmedioatapeditU, the main shaft; extroMapedicU,
tbe part beyond -the cross-bar; ii\fraHtapedial, tbe lower
um of tbe crois-bar; and mprcutapedial, the upper arm
staphylinine
of the cro8ft-bar — the last being supposed to represent
the Incus of mammals. Some of these parts may be want-
ing, or only represented by a ligament, or coalesced with
a part of the mandibular arch. The stapea or columella
furnishes the primitive actual or virtual connection of the
hyoidean arch with the periotic capsule. See gtapedial,
columella, 3 (6), and cuts under hyoid, Pyihonidse, and
tympanic.— Ar\m\\T\T ligament of tlie stapes. See
ligament and stapedial.
Staphisagria (staf-i-sag'ri-a), n. [NL. (Tra-
gus, 1546), < ML. staphisagria^ stajihysagria,
stafisagria^ etc.; prop, two words, staphis agria,
< Gr. as if ^'cratfiq aypia: arafpig^ a (iried grape,
a raism, also (in L. staphis) the plant staves-
acre ; aypta, fem. of ayptoq, wild, < aypoq^ a field,
the country. The E. form of the name is
stavesacre, q. v.] A former genus of polypeta-
lous plants, of the order Bannnculacese, it is now
classed as a section of the genus Delphinium, and as such
distinguished by a short spur, from three to five ovaries
forming bladdery few-seeded capsules, and biennial habit.
See Delphinium and stavesacre, also ointment of stavesacre
(under oinhnent).
staphisagric (staf-i-sag'rik), a. [< Staphisagria
+ -ic] Contained in or derived from Staphi-
sagria. Encyc, Diet
StaphisagXine (staf-i-sag'rin), n. [< Staphi-
sagria + -ine^.'l A poisonous amorphous alka-
loid, soluble in ether and in water, obtained
from Delphinium Staphisagria^ or stavesacre.
staphyle (staf'i-le), n. [NL., < Gr. ora^vkij, a
bunch of grapes, also the uvula when swollen.]
The uvula.
Staphylea (staf-i-le'a), n. [NL. (Linnaeus,
173/ ), abridged from ^taphylodendron (Toume-
fort, 1700), <L. staphylodendron, a shrub thought
to have been S, pinnata; prob. so named from
its clustered fruit, < Gr. ffra^vA^, a bunch of
grapes, + 6iv6povj a tree.] A genus of poly-
petalous plants, type of the order Staphyleaeese,
It is characterized by an ovary which is two- or three-part-
ed to tbe base, contains numerous biseriate ovules, and
ripens into an inflated and bladdery membranous capsule,
discharging its few seeds at the apex of the two or three
lobes. There are 4 species, natives of Europe, the Hima-
layas, Japan, and North America. They are shrubs with
numerous roundish branches, bearing opposite stipulate
leaves, each composed of from three to five leaflets, which
are involute in the bud and are furnished with stipels. The
white flowers, with five erect petals, hang from nodding
panicles or racemes. The large and peculiar fruit is the
source of the common name Madder-nut. (See cut under
nectary.) S. pinnata, also called bag-nut, common in
hedgerows and thickets in Europe, bears hard smooth nuts
sometimes used for rosaries.
Staphyleaceae (staf i-lf-a'se-e), n. pi. [NL.
(A. P. de Caiidolle, 1825), < Staphylea + -acese.^
An order of polypetalous plants, of the cohort
SapindahSf long classed as a suborder of the
SapindacesB, from which it is distinguished by
its regular bisexual flowers with the five sta-
mens inserted outside of the base of the disk, by
albuminous and sometimes arillate seeds with
a straight embryo, and by opposite simple or
compound leaves, it includes 16 species, of 4 genera,
of which Staphylea is the type ; of the others, Turpinia in-
cludes a number of small trees and shrubs with roundish
berr>'-like fruit, mostly of tropical Asia and America, and
Euscaphis a few Japanese shrubs bearing coriaceous fol-
licles. See cut under Madder-nut.
Staphyline (staf'i-lin), a. [< Gr. irra^t'A/vof, of
or pertaining to a bunch of grapes, < GTcupvi.iij a
bunch of grapes, also the uvula.] 1. Having
the form of a bunch of grapes ; botryoidal. — 2.
Pertaining to the uvula or to the entire palate.
— Stapbylme glands, palatine glands.
Staphylinid (staf-i-lin'id), «. and a. I, n. A
rove-beetle, as a member of the Staphylinidse.
H, a. Of or pertaining to the family Staphy-
linidse,' staphylinine.
StaphylinidsB (staf-i-lin'i-de), n. pi. [NL.
(Leach, 1817), < Staphylinus + -idse.j A large
and important family of braehelytrous clavi-
com beetles, commonly called rove-beetles. They
resemble the Pselaphidx in having short elytra, but dif-
fer in having the abdomen flexible and consisting of eight
ventral segments. The antennic are generally eleven-
Jointed, the labial palpl three-jointed, and the maxillary
four-jotnted. The short truncate elytra usually leave
moat of the abdomen exposed, and this, when the beetles
are disturbed, is turned up over the back, as if the insects
were about to sting. A familiar example is the Ocypus
oieru, known as the cocktail and devil's coach-horse. (See
Ooerius, and cut under devil.) Some species discharge an
odorous fluid from the tip of the abdomen. Thelar^-sere.
semble the adults, and are found under bark, in fungi, de-
caying plants, and the excrement of animals, in ants' nests,
hornets' nests, and the nests of certain birds. It is one
of the largest and most wide-spread of the families of Cote-
optera. About 1.000 species are known in America north of
ilexico, and about 5,000 in the whole world. Also Stapfti-
linidest, Sfnphyliniy Staphylinine, Staphylinida, Staphyhniit
Staphylinites. See cuts under Homaliuvi and rove-beetle.
staphyliniform (staf-i-lin'i-f6rm), a. [< NL.
StaphylinuSf q. v., + h. format form.] Resem-
bling a rove-beetle ; related to the Staphylinidse.
staphylinine (staf-i-lin'in), a. Of or pertain-
ing to the Staphylinidse,
Staphyllnns
Staphylinos (staf-i-li'nus), n. [NL. (LinnsBus,
1758), < Gr. (rratfv/.ivoi, a kind of insect, < (Tra^v/b/,
a bunch of grapes.] The typical genus of the
family Stophylinidee, formerly corresponding to
that family in a broad sense. Used with various
limitations, it is now made type of the restricted family,
and characterized by having the maxillary palpi with the
fourth joint equal to or longer than the third, the nrnrgi-
nal lines of the thorax united near the apex, the lignla
emarginate, the middle coxse slightly sepiu^te, and the ab-
domen narrowed at the tip. The species are numerous,
and among them are the largest fonns in the family.
Twenty -one are known in America noith of Mexico, and
about 100 in the whole world.
Staphylion (sta-fil'i-on), n. [NL., < Gr. crra^ii-
/joi; dim. of aTa(j>v?^, the uvula: see staphiile.']
The median point of the posterior nasal spine.
Tdriik.
Staphylitis (staf-i-li'tis), «. [< staphyle, the
uvula, + -«</«.] UvTilitis.
staphyloma (staf-i-16'ma), n.; -pi. staphylomata
(-ma-ta). [NL., < Gr. "ara^vTiMfia, a defect in
the eye, < ara^vkii, a bunch of grapes.] A name
given to certain local bulgings of the eyeball.
— Stiipliyloma comese, a protrusion involving more or
less of the cornese, such as may result from preceding ul-
ceration. Also called anieri<yr gtaphi/toma. — Staphyloma
COmettpelluciduin, conical cornea. Also called staphy-
loma peBuCTdttni.— Staphyloma postlcum, posterior
staphyloma ; sclerochoroiditis in the back part of the eye,
resulting in a thinning of the coats and consequent bulg-
ing and progressive myopia.
Staphylomatic (staf'i-lo-mat'ik), a. [< staphy-
!oma{t-) + -ic] Characterized or affected by
staphyloma.
Staphylomatons (staf-i-lom'a-tus), a. [< sta-
phytoma(t-) + -ous.'] Pertaining to or of the
nature of staphyloma.
Staphyloplasty (staf'i-lo-plas''ti), n. [< Gr.
aTa<pv/J/, the uvula, + nMaaeiv, form, shape:
see pJastic.~i In surg., an operation for restor-
ing the soft palate when it is defective.
staphylorrhaphy (staf-i-lor'a-fi), ». [< Gr. ma-
(jn>/.ii, the uvula, + pa^^, a sewing.] In surg.,
the plastic operation for cleft palate, consist-
ing in uniting the mucous membrane across
the cleft. Also called cionorrhaphia, palator-
rhaphy.
Staphylotome (staf i-lo-tom), n. [< Gr. arafv-
?joT6ftov, a knife for excising the uvula, < aTa<^vA7],
the uviila, + rifiveiv, rafieiv, out.] lu surg., a
knife for operating upon the uvula or the palate.
staphylotomy (staf-i-lot'o-mi), n. [< Gr. 'araifiv-
MTouta, the excision of the uviila, < ora^t)/.)?, the
uvula, + -TOfiia, < TC/iveiv, ra/idv, cut : see -tomy.'\
In surg., amputation of the uvula.
staple^ (sta'pl), n. [< ME. stapel, stapil, sta-
pylle, stapul, < AS. stapel, stapol, stapul, a prop,
post (= OS. stapal = OFries. stapul, stapel =
MD. stapel, D. stapel, a prop, foot-rest, a seat,
pile, heap, = MLG. LG. stapel (> G. stapel), a
pile, staple, stocks, = OHG. stajfal, staphal,
MHG. staffel, stapfel, G. staffel, a step, = Sw.
stapel, a pile, heap, stocks, = Dan. stahel, a pile,
stack, stocks (on which a ship is built), hinge),
< stapan, step: see step. Of. staple^.'] If. A
post; a prop; a support.
Under ech stapel of his bed.
That he niste, four thai hid.
The Sevyn Sages, 201. (HalliuxU.)
2. A loop of metal, or a bar or wire bent and
formed with two points, to be driven into wood
to hold a hook, pin, or bolt.
Massy staples,
And corresponslve and fulfilling bolts.
Shak., T. and C, Prol., 1. 17.
3. In founding, a piece of nail-iron with a flat
disk riveted to the head, and pointed below,
used in a mold to hold a core in position. E. H.
Knight. — 4. Of a lock, same as box^, 13. — 5. In
musical instruments of the oboe class, the me-
tallic tube to which the reeds are fastened, and
through which the tone is conveyed from them
into the wooden body of the instrument. — 6.
In coal-mining, a shallow shaft within a mine.
[North. Eng.]— Seizin by haspandstaple. SeeAosp.
— Staple of a press, the frame or uprights of a hand
printing-press. C. T. Jacohi, Printers' Vocab.
Staple'^ (sta'pl), V. t. ; pret. and pp. stapled, ppr.
stapling. [< staple^, n.] To support, attach, or
fix by means of a staple or staples. Elect. Rev.,
XVI. 5.
staple^ (sta'pl), n. and a. [Early mod. E. sta-
ple; < OF. estaple, estape, F. ^tape(ML. stapula),
a market, store, store-house, = G. stapel (Sw.
stapel, Dan. stabel, in oomp.), < MD. stapel =
MLG. LG. stapel, a market, emporium, appar.
a particular use of stapel, a pile, heap : see sta-
ple^.1 I. n. 1. A settled mart or market ; an
emporium; a town where certain commodities
are chiefly taken for sale, in England, formerly, the
5904
king's staple was established in certain ports or towns,
and certain goods could not be exported without being
first brought to these ports to be rated and charged with
the duty payable to the king or the public. The principal
commodities on which customs were levied were wool,
skins, and leather, and these were originally the staple
commodities.
The first ordination of a Staple, or of one onely setled
Marttowne for the vttering of English wooUs & woollen
fells, instituted by the sayd K. Edward.
Hakluyt's Voyages, To the Reader.
Hence — 2. A general market or exchange.
Tho. O sir, a Staple of News! or the New Staple, which
you please.
P. Jun. What's that?
Fash. An office, sir, a brave young office set up. . . .
P. Jun. For what?
Tho. To enter all the News, sir, of the time.
Fash, And vent it as occasion serves.
B. Jonson, Staple of News, i. 1.
3. A commercial monopoly' formed by a com-
bination of merchants actmg under the sanc-
tion of the royal privilege of fairs and markets.
Foreign staple was the system of trade carried on by this
monopoly on the continent ; home staple was tlie business
organized by it in leading towns in England.
Their ayme in this edict is, if possible, to draw for the
lone of currents the staple of diners merchandise to that
citty. Sir Thomas Roe, Negotiations (London, 1740).
4. The principal commodity grown or manu-
factured in a locality, either for exportation or
home consumption — that is, originally, the m er-
chandise which was sold at a staple or mart.
The prices of bread-stuif s and provisions, the staples of
the North, and of cotton and tobacco, the staples of the
South, were high, not only absolutely, but relatively.
Taussig, Tariff History, p. 19.
5 . Tho principal element of or ingredient in any-
thing; the chief constituent ; the chief item.
He has two very great faults, which are the staple of his
bad side. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, vi.
Politics, theology, history, education, public improve-
ments, personal matters, are conversational staples.
Harper's Mag., LXXX. 466.
6. The material or substance of anything ; raw
or unmanufactured material. — 7. The fiber of
any material used for spinning, used in a gen-
eral sense and as expressive of the character
of the material: as, wool of short staple; cot-
ton of long staple, etc.— Corrector of the staplet.
See correcfor.— Merchant Of the staplet. See merchant.
— Ordinance of Staple. Same as Statute of Staple.— Bia,-
ple of land, the particular nature and quality of land. —
Statute of Staple, or Ordinance of Staple, an English
statute of 13.53 (27 Edw. III., st. 2), recognizing the ancient
custom of staple, and confirming the rights and privileges
of merchants under it. — Statute staple. See statute.
II. a. 1. Pertaining to or being a mart or
staple for commodities : as, a staple town.
Flanders is Staple, as men tell mee.
To all nations of Christianitie.
Hakluyt's Voyages, 1. 189.
2. Mainly occupying commercial enterprise;
established in commerce: as, a staple trade. —
3. According to the laws of commerce ; mar-
ketable; fit to be sold.
Will take off their ware at their own rates, and trouble
not themselves to examine whether it be stajple or no.
Suift.
4. Chief ; principal ; regularly produced or
made for market : as, staple commodities.
Staple^ (sta'pl), r. ; pret. and pp. stapled, ppr.
stapling. [< staple^, n.] I. intrans. To erect
a staple ; form a monopoly of production and
sale; establish a mart for such purpose.
Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 437. [Bare.]
II. trans. 1. To furnish or provide with a
staple or staples.
Fleeces stapled with such wool
As Lemnster cannot yield more finer stuff.
Oreene, Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay.
2. To sort or classify according to the length
of the fiber : as, to staple wool.
staple-house (sta'pUhous), n. [MD. stapel-
huys; as staple^ + housed. "] A warehouse where
commodities chargeable withexport duties were
stored. See staple"^, n., 1.
In their large staple-house en the Thames . . . were
stored the collections of raw produce — wool, tin, and
hides the chief of them — which England sent away to
foreign countries. F. Martin, Hist, of Lloyd s, p. 2.
staple-punch (.sta'pl-punch), n. A bifurcated
punch used for pricking holes in blind-slats
and rods for the reception of staples.
stapler (sta'plfer), n. [<stoj;Ze2 -(- -eri.] 1+. A
merchant of the staple; a monopolist. See
staple^, 3.
You merchants were wont to be merchant staplers.
Middteton, Family of Love, i. 3.
2. One employed in assorting wool according
to its staple.
Mr. Qlegg retired from active business as a vfooi-stapler.
George Eliot, ilill on the Floss, i. 12.
Star
staple-right (sta'pl-rit), «. A right, possessed
by municipalities of the Netherlands, and
thence introduced into the New Netherlands
(New York), of compelling passing vessels
either to stop and offer their merchandise for
sale first of all in the market-place of the town,
or to pay a duty.
Starl (star), n. [(o) < ME. starre, sterre, storre,
steorre (pi. starres, sterres, steores, sterren, stcor-
rcn), < AS. steorra = OS. sterro = OFries. stera
= MD. sterre, starre, D. ster, star = MLG. sterre
= OHG. sterro, MHG. sterre, a star; with for-
mative -ra (perhaps orig. -na, -r-na being as-
similated to -r-ra, the word being then orig. ult.
identical with the next). (6) E. dial, starn,
stern, < ME. stern, Sterne (perhaps < Scand.) =
MD. Sterne = MLG. sterne, stern, LG. stecrn =
OHG. sterno, MHG. sterne (also OHG. MHG.
stern), G. stern, < Icel. stjama = Sw. stjerna =
Dan. stjeme = Goth. stairno, a star; with a for-
mative -na, -no (seen also in the orig. forms of
sun and moon), from a base *ster; cf. L. Stella
(for *sterula) (> It. Stella = Sp. Pg. estrella =
OF. estoile, F. itoile), star, = Gr. aar-iip (aarep-),
a star, aarpov (> L. astrum), usually in pi. aarpa,
the stars (with prothetic a-), = Corn. Bret, ste-
ren = W. seren (for "steren) = Skt. tdrd (for
*stdra), a star, star, pi., the stars, = Zend star,
star; root unknown. If, as has been often con-
jectured, stor has a connection with -^star, strew,
it must be rath er as ' strown ' or ' sprinkled ' over
the sky than as 'sprinkler' of light.] 1. Any
celestial body which appears as a luminous
point. In ordinary modern language star is frequently
limited to mean a fixed star (see below). In astrology the
stars, especially the planets, are supposed to exercise an
influence upon human destinies.
Hise eyen twynkled in his heed aryght.
As doon the sterres in the frosty nyght,
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 268.
There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in
the stars. Luke xxi. 25.
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
Shak., 1. C, i. 2. 14a
You are, thanks to yonr stars, in mighty credit.
Dekker, Gull's Hornbook, p. 114.
Hence — 2. Destiny. [Bare.]
I was not bom unto riches, neither is it, I think, my
star to be wealthy. Sir T. Browne, Keligio Medici, ii. 13.
3. Anything which resembles a star.
His charger trampling many a prickly star
Of sprouted thistle on the broken stones.
Tennyson, Geraint.
Specifically —(a) A star-shaped figure made of silver, gold,
or both, sometimes set with jewels, worn usually upon the
breast as one of the insignia of a higher class of an hon-
orary order. See insignia, and cuts under bath, garter,
and Order of Si. Michael (under order).
While peers, and dukes, and all their sweeping train.
And garters, stars, and coronets appear.
Pope, R. of the L., i. 85.
(6) The asterisk (*). See asterisk, (c) In pyrotechny, a
small piece of infiammable composition, which burns high
in air with a colored flame, and presents the appearance
of a star, (d) A group of cracks or flaws radiating from a
center.
Three times slipping from the outer edge,
I bump'd the ice into three several stars.
Tennyson, The Epic,
(e) A spot of white or light color on the forehead of an
animal.
Onward, caballito mio,
With the white star in thy forehead !
Longfellow, Spanish Student, iii. 6.
(/) In zool. : (1) A star-animal ; a starfish, or other echino-
derm of obviously radiate figure, as a brittle-star, feather-
star, lily-star, sand-star, or sun-star. See the compounds.
(2) A stellate sponge-spicule ; an aster, (g) In a copper-
plate or lithographic printing-press, the radial spokes on
the roller, which serve as handles. E. H. Knight.
4. Figuratively, a person of brilliant or attrac-
tive qualities;' one who shines preeminently;
specifically, the chief and preeminent actor or
actress of a dramatic or operatic company.
Sole star of all that place and time,
I saw him — in his golden prime.
The Good Haroun Alraschid.
Tennyson, Arabian Nights.
If I were now to receive a message from the planet Mars
offering me a star engagement, I could not be more aston-
ished than I was on that day. J. Jefferson, Autobiog., iii.
5. In /(ec, sameasestoj?e. — 6. In /or<., a small
fort having five or more points, or salient and
reentering angles flanking one another. Also
called star-fort. — 7. An additional life bought
by a player in the game of pool. [Eng.]
Only one star is allowed in a pool; and when there are
only two players left in, no star can be purchased.
Encyc.Brit., III. 677.
AbeiTation of a star. See aberration, 6.— Apparent
place of a star. See apparent.— Blnaxy star. See
multiple .«?«?•. — Blazing star. See blaziuff-dar and .He-
trig. — Circumpolar star. See cireumpuiar. — Comple-
ment of a star, see complement.— TAxamal accelera-
star
~tiOii of the fixed stars. See acceleration.— JiOM'ble
Vtax. 'See nudtiple »(flr.— Equestrian star. See Hip-
■pea*(r«m.— Evening Star. See eiv/ii/if?.— Falling star.
See /aW»/iif-«*ar.— Fixed star, a self-luminous bouy at so
Tast a distance from the eiirth as to appear a point of
light, almost motionless except for the diurnal revolution
of the heavens. To the naked eye the brighter stars ap-
pear to have radiating lines of light ; but these are due
to imperfections of vision, and are ditTerent for different
obsen-ers. All the fixed stars twinkle (see (in^wth'n;'/). In a
good telescope on a fine night a star shows a minute round
disk surrounded by concentric rings; but these phenom-
ena are mere effects of diffraction, and no instrument yet
constructed can enable the eye to detect a fixed star's real
breadth. The stars differ in brilliancy, and in this r^pect
are said to have different magnitudes (see nM(/nitude,
5). These in many cases are changeable (see variable
dar). The number of stars in the whole heavens brighter
than a given magnitude m may be approximately calcu-
lated by the formula (3.3y'^^"^'". The stars are very
irregularly distributed in the heavens, being greatly con-
centrated toward the Milky Way. This is particularly
true of first-magnitude stars, and again of faint telescopic
stars. There are many clusters of stars, among which the
Pleiades, the Hyades, Praesepe, t'oma Berenices, and the
cluster in the sword-handle of Perseus are visible to the
naked eye. Other stars are associated in systems of two,
three, or more. (See multiple gtar.) To most eyes the
stars appear yellow, but some are relatively pale, others
chromatic yellow, and still others ruddy. There are many
ruddy stare in the part of the Galaxy near Lyra. L M.
Rutherfurdof New York first showed that in reference to
their spectral lines the fixed stars fall under several dis-
tinct types. Type I, according to the usual nomenclature,
embraces spectra showing strong hydrogen-lines, all others
being very faint These belong without exception to pale
stars, such as Sirius^ Vega. Procyon, Altair, Sptca, Fomal-
haut, Regulos, Castor. Type II embraces spectra show-
ing many strong metallic lines, like the sun. Almost all
such stars arts chrome, as Arcturus, Capelia, Aldebaran,
Pollox ; bat a few are pale, as Deneb and Elwaid, and a
few mddy. Type III consists of banded B{>ectra, the bands
shading away toward the red. These stars are all ruddy,
and probably all variable, lliey embrace Betelgenze, An-
tares, Mira Ceti, Sheat, Menkar, Pishpai, Kasalgethi. Tjik!
IV consists of spectra having three broad bands shaded
away toward the blue end. These all belong to very ruddy
stars, of which none are bright^ and none seem to be vari-
able. Type V consists of spectra showing bright lines.
Such stars are few ; their magnitudes and colors are vari-
able. Upon careful cotnparison of the spectra of stars with
those of the chemical elements they contain, it is found
that the lines are shifted a little along the spectrum toward
one end or the other, according as the star is receding from
■or approaching the earth. The apparent places of the fixed
altan are affected in recognixed wavs by diurnal motion,
precession, natation, aberx^Uoo, and refraction. In addi-
tion, each star has a very slow motion of its own, called
Its proper motion. There are very few cases in which this
is so great as to bare carried the star over the br«uitb of
Uie moon's disk since the beginning of tbe Cbristian era.
Many stars in one neigbborhood of the heavens show, in
many cases, like proper motions— a phenomenon first re-
marked by B. A. Froot<H', and termed by him ttar-dri/L
Bat tbe arerage proper motion of the stars Is away from
a radiant under the left hand of Hercules, showing tbst
the solar system has a relative motion toward that point.
This is sufficient to carry a sixth- magnitude star 4."4 in
a century. The parallax (that is to say, the amount by
which the angle at the earth between the star and the san
falls short of 90' when tbe angle at the san between the
star and the earth is eqaal to 00*) baa been meanired only
for a few stars, and these few have been selected with a
view of finding the largest parallaxes. That of a Centau-
ri, which is the largest, is nearly a second ot arc. It is
so ditttcult to measure parallax otherwise than relatively,
and to free its absolute amount from variations of lati*
tud^ diurnal nutation, refraction, etc., that very little can
be said to be known of the smaller parallazea. It ap-
pears, however, that small stars have nearly as great par-
allaxes as bright ones where the proper motions are not
large. The various methods of ascertaining the distances
of tbe stars depend upon three Independent principles.
The first method is from the parallax, by means of which
tbe distance of tbe star Is calculated by trigonometry.
IThe second method depends on tbe ascertaining of the
speed at which the star la reallv moving by the shifting
<a the Bpectnl lines, and then observing its angular mo-
tion, in the case of a doable star. Its motion in the line
of sight at dongation can be measured with the spectro-
scope ; and from this, its orbit being known. Its rate of mo-
tion at conjunction can be deduced. The third method
supposes tbe ratio of the amoont of light emitted by the
star to that emitted by tbe sun to be known In some way,
whertmpon the ratio of apparent light will show the rela-
tive dinances. All these methods show that even the
nearest stars are hundreds of thousands of times as re-
mote as the sun. In order to reach m<ve exact results It
may be necessary to combine two methods so as to deter-
mine and eliminate the constant of space, or the amount
by which the sum of the angles of a orlangle of unit area
•differs from two right angles. For the present, no de-
cisive result has been reached. The distances of stars
having been ascertained, the weights of double stars may
be deduced tnmi their elongations and periods. These
weights seem to be of the same order of magnitude as
that of the sun, not enormously greater or smaller. —
French stars, three asterisks arranged in this form %*,
used as a mark of division between different articles In
prin t. - Gloaming, golden , informed, lunar. MediC6an
rtar. Seeth»a>ij.._tiv.>. Lone star state, tliesute of
Texas.— Meridian altitude of a star, see aUUude.—
Morning star, a planet, as Jupiter or Venus, when it
rises after midnight. Compare evening atar. — Multiple
Star, s group of two to six fixed stars within a circle of
1&" radius ; in a few cases, however, stars distant a minute
or more from one another are considered to form a double
stak*. Thus, « and 6 Lyr«, distant from one another up-
ward of 3*, and Beparaole by the naked eye, each of these
consisting of two comnon«its distant about s>|" from one
another, with some other stars between them, are some-
times called collectively a muUipU alar. The multiple
stars are dlstlugaiihffd as double [tr. of Gr. affri}p iiv^ovi],
371
5905
triple, quadruple, quintuple, and sextuple. Many of the
double stars are merely the one in range of the other,
without having any physical connection, and these are
called optical dmibles. The components of other double
stars revolve the one round the other, apparently under the
influence of gravitation, fonuing systems known as binary
stars. The orbits of aboiit forty of these are known.
Thus, the two stars of a Centauri, distant from one another
by 17."5, revolve in about 80 years. In many cases the two
components of a double star have complementary colors.
— Kebulous star. See iiebula.— North star, the north
polarstar. See pole-star, 1.— Order of the Star Of India
(in the full style The Most Exalted Order o/ the Star o/ In-
dia), an order for the British Possessions in Indiii, founded
in 13v>l. The mottois, " Heaven's light our guide." The
ribbon is light-blue with white stripes near the edge. —
Periodic star, a variable star of class II, IV, or V.— Po-
lar Star. Same as pole-star, 1.— ShOOting Star, a meteor
in a state of incandescence seen suddenly darting along
some part of the sky. See aerolite, meteor, -1, and meteoric.
— StaJidard stars. See s^anrfarrf-'.— Star coral, cu-
cumber, cut, route. See coral, cucumber, etc.— Star-
jelly, a name for certain gelatinous algaj, as Nostoc com-
mune: so called originally in the belief that they are the
remains of fallen stars.— Star Of Bethlehem, (a) A
pilgrim's sign having the form of a stiir, sometimes like a
heraldic mullet with six straight rays, sometimes like an
estoile with wavy rays, (b) See star-of-Bethlehem.— Stars
and bars, the flag adopted by the Confederate States of
America, consisting of two broad bars of red separated
by one of white, with a blue union marked with white
stars equal in number to the Confederate States. — StaXS
and stripes, the flag of the United States, consisting of
thirteen stripes, equal to the number of theoriginal States,
alternately red and white, with a l)lue union marked with
white stars equal to the whole number of States. — Star
service. 8ee«tarro«/«, under route. — Stone mountain
star, a name proposed by Meehan for the composite plant
Oymrwlomia Porteri, found only on Stone Mountain in
Georgia.— The seven starst. See sfuen.— The wa-
tery Start, the moon, as governing the tides. Shak.,
W.T., L 2. 1.— To bless one's stars. See bless^.~To
see stars, to have a sensation as of flashes of light, pro-
duced by a sudden jarring of the head, as by a direct blow.
— Variable star, a fixed star whose brightness goes
througli changes. These stars are of five classes. Class I
comprises ttie " new " or temporary stars, about a dozen in
number, which have suddenly appeared very bright, in
several cases far outshining Slrius, and afterafew months
have faded almost entirely away. All these stars have
appeare<l upon the borders of the following semicircle of
the Milky Way. They show bright lines in their spectra,
indicating Incandescent hydrogen. Such was the star
which appeared 133 B. C. in Scorpio, and led Hipparchus
to the study of astronomy, thus inaugurating sound physi-
cal science; others appeared in l.'>72, 1004, and 1866. Class
II embraces stars which go through a cycle of changes,
more or less regular, in from four to eighteen months,
most of them being at least a tmndred times as bright at
their maxima as at their minima. These stars are for the
most part ruddy. Class III embraces irregularly variable
stars, without any definite periods, and commonly under-
going very moderate changes. Class IV embraces stars
which in a few days, or a month at most, go through
changes of one or two magnitudes, sometimes with two
maxima and two minima. Class V embraces stars which
remain of constant brightness for some tlme^ and then
almost suddenly, at regular intervals, are nearly extin-
guished, afterward as quickly regaining their former bril-
liancy.
Star^ (star), r. ; pret. and pp, starred^ ppr. star-
ring, [< star^, «.] I. tranfi. 1. (a) To set with
stars, literally or figuratively.
Budding, blown, or odour-faded blooms.
Which atar the winds with points of coloured light.
Shelley, Prometheus Unbound, ill. 3«
Fresh green turf, atarred with dandelions.
B. Taylor, Northern Travel, p. 231.
Hence — (6) To set with small bright bodies,
as gems, spangles, or the like, (c) To set with
figures of stars forming a sowing or sprinkle.
— 2. To transform into a star or stars; set in
a constellation. [Rare.]
Or that atMrr'd Ethfop queen that strove
To set her beauty's praise above
The Sea-Xymptu^ and their powers offended.
MiUon, II Penseroso, 1. 19.
3. To aflix a star or asterisk to (a written or
printed word) for a distinctive purpose, espe-
cially, in a list, to distinguish tne name of a
deceased person. [Colloq.] — 4. To crack so
as to produce a group of radiatint; lines To
Btar a glaze, to cat out a pane of glass. Tu/ts, Glossary,
1798. [Thieves' Jargon,]
H. intrans, 1. To shine as a star; be bril-
liant or prominent; shine above others; spe-
cifically {theat,), to appear as a star actor.
Doggett . . . had been playing for a week [1099] at the
above [Lincoln's Inn Fields] theatre for tbe sum of £30.
This is the first instance I know of the atarrinff system.
Doran, Annals of the Stage, I. 186.
2. In the game of pool, to buy an additional
life or lives, Encyc, Brit., ITI. 677. [Eng.] —
To star it (theaL\ to appear as a star, especially In a pn>
vincial tour.
star- (star), n, [Also starr; Heb. {ChsA.) shetar,
shtar, a writing, deed, or contract, < ahatavj cut
in, grave, write.] An ancient name for all
dee£, releases, or obligations of the Jews, and
also for a schedule or inventory. See star-
chamber. Also spelled starr.
Star-anixnal (star'an^'i-mal), n. A radiate, es-
pecially a starfish.
Star-apple {ChfysopkylltttH
Cainito).
a, the fruit, transverse sec-
tion.
star-buzzard
star-anise (star'aii"is), n. 1. The aromatic
fruit of a Cliinese slirub or small tree long gup-
posed to be the IlUcium anisatum of Linnseus,
but recently determined to be a distinct spe-
cies, /. verum (named by J. D. Hooker). The
fruit is a stellate capsule of commonly eight carpels,
each of which contains a sin-
gle brown shining seed. The
seeds contain four per cent, of a
volatile oil with the odor and
flavor of aniseed, or rather of
fennel. Star-anise is used in
China as a condiment and spice,
and in continental Europe to fla-
vor liquors. Also Chinese anise.
2. The tree which yields
star-anise — Star-anise oil,
the aromatic essential oil of star-
anise seed. The commercial
anise-oil is chiefly obtained from
the star-anise.
star-apple (star'ap'l), ».
The fruit of the West In-
dian Chrysophyllum Caini-
to, or the tree which pro-
duces it. The fruit is edible
and pleasant, of the size of an
apple, a berry in structure, hav-
ing ten or eight cells, which,
when cut across before maturity, give the figure of a star.
Also called cainito.
starbeam (star'bem), n. A ray of light emitted
by a star. fFnHs, Two Happy Rivals. [Bare.]
star-bearer (star'bar'^r), n. Same as JBftlile-
liemite, 3 (a).
star-blasting (stSr'bias'ting), n. The perni-
cious influence of the stars. Sliak., Lear,
iii. 4. 60.
Starblind (stiir'bUnd), a. [< ME. 'starblind, <
AS. stxrblind (= OFries. starblind, stareblind,
slarubliiid = MD. D. sterbUnd = MLG. star-
blint = OHG. starablint, MHG. starblint, G. star-
blind = Icel. "starblindr (in starblinda, blind-
ness) = Sw. starrblind = Dan. starblind, stssr-
blitid), < stier (= MD. stcr = MLG. star = OHG.
stara, MHG. stare, star, G. staar = Sw. starr =
Dan. stser), cataract of the eyes, -t- blind, blind :
see stared and blind.'] Seeing obscurely, as from
cataract; purblind; blinking.
starboard (stfir'bord or -b^rd), n. and a. [Early
mod. E. also starboard, -iteereboord ; < ME. stere-
bourde, stercburde, < AS. steorbord (= MD. stier-
boord, stuyrboord, D. stuurboord = MHG. stiur-
bort, G. steuerbord = Icel. stjornborthi = Sw.
Dau.styrbord), < stedr, a rudder, paddle, + bord,
side: see steer^, n., and board, n. Hence {<
Teut. ) OF. cstribord, stribord, F. tribord = 8p.
estribord, cstribor = Pg. cstibordo = It. stri-
bordo, starboard.] I. «. X^aut., that side of a
vessel which is on the right when one faces the
bow: opposed to j>or< (larboard). See port*.
He tooke his voyage directly North along the coast, han-
ing vpon his gteereboord alwayes the desert land, and vpon
the leereboord the maine Ocean. HakluyVs Voyages, I. 4-
II. a. jV«m(., pertaining to the right-hand side,
or being or lying on the right side, of a vessel.
starboard (stiir'bord or -herd), v, t. [< star-
board, «.] To turn or put to the right or star-
board side of a vessel : as, to starboard the helm
(when it is desired to have the vessel's head go
to port).
starboard (star'bord or -b^rd), adv. [< star-
liotird, fl.] Toward the right-hand or starboard
side. .Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii.,
The Trophies.
starbowlinest (star'bo'linz), n. pi Naut., the
men of the starboard watch.
Starbright (stiir'brit), a. Brilliant; bright as
a star. Emerson, The Day's Ration.
star-bnsh (stiir'biish), n. A middle-sized South
African evergreen, Greicia occidentalis.
star-buzzard (stiir'buz'jird), n. An Ameri-
can buteonine
hawk of the ge-
nus Asturina,
having a sys-
tem of colora-
tion similar to
that of the gos-
hawks or star-
hawks, but the
form and pro-
portions of the
buzzards. The
star-buzzards are a
small group of
handsome hawks
peculiar to Ameri-
ca. The gray star-
buzzard, Asturina
plagiata, is found
in the United
States, Gray 5tar-bu2zard {AslHrina /laglalai.
star-capsicum
star-capsicum (star'kap'''si-kum), n. See So-
lanum.
star-catalogue (star'kat'a-log), ». An ex-
tended list of fixed stars, as complete as pos-
sible within specified limits of magnitude,
place, etc., with their places and magnitudes.
starch^ (starch), fl. [< ME. *starch€y stercky
assibilated form of stark, sterl'j strong, stiff:
see stark^.'] If. Strong; hard; tough.
Nia non so strong, ne sterchy ne kene,
That mai ago deathes wither blench.
MS. Cott Calig., A. ix. f. 243. (HaUiweU.)
2. Rigid ; hence, precise.
When tall Susannah^ maiden starch, stallc'd in.
Crabbe, Works, IV. 85.
starch^ (starch), «. [< ME. starche (= MHG.
itterke. G. stdrke)^ starch; so called from its use
in stiffening; < starch^y ff., stiff: seestarck^y a.]
1. A proximate principle of plants, having the
formula OgHioOs, or a multiple of that formula.
It is a white opaque glistening powder, odorless, taste-
less, and insoluble in cold water, alcohol, or ether. Aque-
ous solutions contiiining free iodine impart to starch an
intense and very characteristic blue color. It is not crys-
talline, but occurs naturally in fine grauules, which are
fdways made up of fine concentric layers. Whether the
grains contain a small quantity of another chemical body,
allied to but not identical with starch, called starch eel-
Itdose or farinose, is a disputed question. When heated
with water to 60*- 70' C, starch swells up and forms a
paste or jelly. When heated in the dry state to 150°-
200' C, it is converted into dextrine, a soluble gum-like
body much used as a cheap substitute for gum arabic.
Heattjd with dilute mineral acids, or digested with saliva,
pancreatic juice, diastase, or certain other enzyms, starch
dissolves, and is resolved into a number of products, which
are chiefly dextrine, maltose, and dextrose — the last two
being f ennentable sugars. The malting of barley by brew-
ers effects this change in the starch of the grain, and so
prepares it for vinous fermentation. Starch is widely dis-
tributed, being formed in all vegetable cells containing
chlorophyl-grains under the action
of sunlight, and deposited in all
parts of the plant which serve as a
reserve store of plant-food. Hence
grains and seeds contain an aban-
dance of it, also numerous tubers
and rhizomes, as the i>otato and the
arrowroot, and the stem and pith
of many plants, as the sago-plant.
The chief commercial sources of
supply are wheat, com, and pota-
toes. From these it is manufac-
tured on an extensive scale, being
used in the arts, for laundry pur-
poses, sizing, finishing calicos,
thickening colors and mordants in
calico-printing, and for other pur-
poses. Starch forms the greatest
part of all farinaceous substances,
particularly of wheat-flour.
2. A preparation of commercial starch with
boiling (or less frequently cold) water, used in
the laundry or factory for stiffening linen or
cotton fabrics before ironing, in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries the starch used for ruffs, cuffs, etc.,
was frequently colored, yellow being at one time extremely
fashionable. Blue starch was affected by the Puritans.
A certaine kinde of liquide matter which they call starch,
wherein the devill hath willed them to wash and dive their
ruffes, which, when they be dry, will then stand stiffe and
inflexible about their necks. Stubbes, Anat. of Abuses.
3. A stiff, formal manner; starchedness. [Col-
loq.]
This professor is to give the society their stiffening, and
infuse into their manners that beautiful political starch
which may qualify them for levees, conferences, visits.
Addison, Spectator, No. 305.
The free-bom Westerner thitiks the blamed Yankee
puts on a yard too much style — the Boys don't approve of
style — and suavely proposes to take the starch out of him.
Great American Langitaffe, Comhill Mag., Oct., 1888, p. 375.
Animal starch. Same as glycogen, 1.— Glycerlte of
starch, one part of starch and nine of glycerin, triturated
into a smooth mixture. — Poland starch, blue starch. —
Starch bandage, a bandage stilfened, after application,
with starch.— Starch hath, a hot-water bath containing
starch, used in eczema.
starch^ (starch), v. t. [< starcK^, «.] To stiffen
with starch.
She made her wash, she made her starch.
Queen Eleanor's Pall (Child's Ballads, VII. 296).
star-chamber (star'eham''''ber), n. [Early mod.
E. starre-chamber (poetieaWy chamber of starres
(Slcelton), late AF. chambre des esUyylles), < late
ME. sterre-chambre (KoUs of Parliament, 1450-
1460, cited by Oliphant, in " New English," I.
293), also sterred chamber, i. e. ' starred cham-
ber' (MLi. camera stellata); so called because
the roof was orig. ornamented with stars, or
for some other reason not now definitely known
(see the quot. from Minsheu) ; < star^ + cham-
ber. The statement, made doubtfully by Black-
stone and more confidently by other writers
(as by J. R. Green, " Short Hist, of the Eng.
People," p. 115), that the chamber was so
called because it was made the depository
of Jewish bonds called stars or starrs (< Heb.
shetar) rests on no ME. evidence, and is in-
Celis of Potato ^Sola-
num tuberosum) filled
with starch-granules; a,
a, granules. (All greatly
magnified.)
5906
consistent with the ME. and ML. forms of the
name ; it is appar. due to the tendency of some
writers to reject etymologies that are obvious,
on the unacknowledged ground that being ob-
vious they must be "popular" and therefore
erroneous.] 1. [fa/).] In Enci. hist., a court
of civil and criminal jurisdiction at Westmin-
ster, constituted in view of offenses and con-
troversies most frequent at the royal court or
affecting the interests of the crown, such as
maintenance, fraud, libel, conspiracy, riots re-
sulting from faction or oppression, but freely-
taking jurisdiction of other crimes and mis-
demeanors also, and administering justice by
arbitrary authority instead of according to the
common law. Such a jurisdiction was exercised at
leaat as early as the reign of Henry VI., the tribunal then
consisting of the Privy Council. A statute of 3 Henry
VII. authorized a committee of the council to exercise
such a jurisdiction, and this tribunal grew in power (al-
though successive statutes from the time of Edward IV.
were enacted to restrain it) until it fell into disuse in
the latter part of the reign of Henry VIII. In 31 Henry
VIII., c. 8, a statute declared that the king's proclamation
should have the force of law, and that otfeiiders might be
punished by the ordinary members of the council sitting
with certain bishops and judges " in the Sterr Chamber at
Westm. or elsewhere." In 1640 the court of Star Chamber
was abolished by an act of 16 Charles I., c. 10, reciting that
" the reasons and motives inducing the erection and con-
tinuance of that court [of Star Chamber] do now cease."
As early as the reign of Edward III. a h.all in the palace
at Westminster, known as the " Chambre des Estoyer" (or
" Etoilles "), was occupied by the king's council ; and about
the reign of Henry VII. appear records of " the Lords sit-
ting in the Star Chamber, ' or " the Council in the Star
Chamber," from which time it seems to have lieen regarded
as the court of the Star Chamber. There is a difference of
opinion whether the tribunal sitting under the act of 3
Henry VII. should be deemed the same court or not.
Starre-chamber, Camera stellata, is a Chamber at the one
end of Westminster Hall, so called, as Sir Thomas Smith
coniectureth, lib. 2. cap. 4, either because it is so full of
windowes, or because at the first all the roof e thereof was
decked with Images of guilded starres. The latter reason
is the likelier, because Anno 2.'>. H[en]. 8. cap. I. it is writ-
ten the sterred chamber. Now it hath the signe of a Starre
ouer the doore, as you one way enter therein.
Minsheu (1617).
2. Any tribunal or committee which proceeds
by secret, arbitrary, or unfair methods: also
used attributively: as, star-chamber proceed-
ings; star-chamber methods.
starch-cellulose (starch'sel'u-lds), ». See cel-
hdo.^e-.
starch-cornt (starch'kom), n. Spelt.
S'tarched (stiircht or star'ehed), p. a. [< starch^
+ -erf2.] 1. Stiffened with starch.— 2t. Stif-
fened, as with fright ; stiff.
Some with black terrors his faint conscience baited.
That wide he star'd, and starched hair did stand.
P. Fletcher, Purple Island, vii.
3. Stiff; precise; formal.
Look with a good starched face, and ruffle your brow like
a new boot. B. Jonson, Every Man out of his Humour, i. 1.
starchedly (star'ched-li), adv. Stiffly; as if
starched. Stormonth.
starchedness (stiir'ched-nes), n. The state of
being starched; stiffness in manners; formal-
ity. L. Addison, West Barbary, p. 105.
starcher (star'chfer), n. [istarclfi + -er^.l One
who starches, or whose occupation it is to
starch: as, a clear-storc/ier. Meywood, Fair
Maid of the Exchange.
starch-gum (starch'gum), n. Same as dextrine.
starch-hyacinth (stareh'lu''''a-sinth), n. See
hi/achitli, 2.
starchiness (stiir'ehi-nes), n. The quality of
being starchy, or of abounding in starch.
Starchly (stareh'li), adv. [< starch^ + -ly^.}
In a starchy manner ; with stiffness of manner ;
formally.
I might . . . talk starchly, and affect ignorance of what
you would be at. Sm/t, To Rev. Dr. Tisdall, April 20, 1704.
Starchness (starch'nes), n. Stiffness of man-
ner; preeiseness. Imp. Diet.
starchroot (starch'rot), n. See starchtcort.
S'tarch-star (starch 'stiir), n. In Characese, a
bulblet produced by certain species of Chara for
propagative purposes: it is an underground
node.
starch-sugar (starch'shug'''ar), n. Same as dex-
trose.
Starch'WOmant (starch'wum''''an), n. A woman
who sold starch for the stiffening of the great
ruffs worn in the sixteenth century. The starch-
woman was a favorite go-between in intrigues.
See the quotation.
The honest plain-dealing jewel her husband sent out
a l)oy to call her (not bawd by her right name, but starch-
woman) ; into the shop she came, making a low counter-
feit curtsey, of whom the mistress demanded if the starch
were pure gear, and would be stiff in her ruff.
MiUdlelon, Father Hubbard's Tales.
stare
starchwortt (starch'wert), «. The wake-robin,
Arum mactdatnm,, whose root yields a starch
once used for fine laundry purposes, later pre-
pared as a delicate food under the name of
KtujHsh or Portland arrowroot. This was chiefly
produced in the Isle of Portland, where the plant
is called starchroot. See outs under Aracex
and Arum.
starchy^ (star'ehi), a. [< starch^ + -)/l.] Stiff;
precise ; formal in manner.
Nothing like these starchy doctors for vanity I . . . He
cared much less for her portrait than his own.
George Eliot, Middlemarch, xxii.
starchy^ (star'ehi), a. [< starch'^ + -i/l.] Con-
sisting of starch ; resembling starch.
star-clerkt (stiir'klerk), n. One learned in the
stars; an astronomer. [Rare.]
If, at the least, Star-Clarks be credit worth.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 3.
star-cluster (8tar'klu8''''ter), n. A compressed
group of six or more fixed stars; but most of
the collections so called contain a hundred stars
or more.
star-connert (8tar'kon''''6r), n. [< «tarl -t- cow-
«c/l.] Astar-gazer. Gasco!(7ne,FruitesofWarre.
Starcraft (star'kraft), n. Astrology. Tennyson,
Lover's Tale, i. ; 0. Cockayne, Leechdoms, Wort-
cunning, and Starcraft of Early England [title].
[Rare.]
S'tar-CrOSSt (star'kros), a. Same as star-crossed.
MiddlctoH, Family of Love, iv. 4.
star-crossed (star'kr6st),a. Born under a malig-
nant star; ill-fated. Shak., R. and J., Prol., 1. 6.
star-diamond (star'di''''a-mgnd), n. A diamond
that exhibits asterism.
star-drift (star'drift), n. A common proper mo-
tion of a number of fixed stars in the same part
of the heavens. See fixed star, under siari.
star-dust (star'dust), n. Same as cosmic dust
(wliich see, under cosmic).
Mud gathers on the floor of these abysses [of the ocean]
... so slowly that the vei-y star-dust which falls from
outer space forms an appreciable part of it.
A. Geikie, Geological Sketches, xiii.
Stare^ (star), v. ; pret. and pp. stared, ppr. star-
ing. [< ME. staren, < AS. starian = OHG.
staren, MHG. staren, G. starren, stare, = Icel.
stara, stare (ef. G. stieren = Icel. stira = Sw.
stirra = Dan. stirre, stare) ; connected with
starblind, and perhaps with D. staar = G. Starr,
fixed, rigid (cf. G. stier, storr, stiff, fixed) ; cf .
Gr. arepedf, fixed, solid, Skt. sthira, fixed, firm.]
1. intrans. 1 . To gaze steadily with the eyes
wide open; fasten an earnest and continued
look on some object ; gaze, as in admiration,
wonder, sui-prise, stupidity, horror, fright, im-
pudence, etc.
This monk bigan upon this wyf to stare.
Chaucer, Shipman's Tale, 1. 124.
Look not big, nor stamp, nor stare, nor fret.
Shak., T. of the S., iii. 2. 230.
To blink and stare.
Like wild things of the wood about a fire.
Lowell, Agaaslz, ii. 1.
2. To standout stiffly, as hair; be prominent ;
be stiff; stand on end; bristle.
And her faire locks up stared stiffe on end.
Spenser, i\ Q., III. xii. 36.
The winter has commenced ; . . . even the coats of the
hard-worked omnibus horses stare, as the jockeys say.
The New Mirror, II. 255 (1843).
3t. To shine; glitter; be brilliant.
A [as?] stremande sternez quen strothe men slepe
Staren iu welkyn in wynter nygt.
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), i. 115.
Thei ben y-sewed with whist silk, . . .
Y-stongen with sfiches that stareth as siluer.
Piers Plomnan's Creed (E. E. T. S.X 1. 553.
Her fyrie eyes with furious sparkes did stare.
Spenser, F. Q., III. vii. 39.
4. To be unduly conspicuous or prominent, as
by excess of color or by ugliness. Compare
staring, 3.
The homeliness of the sentiment stares through the
fantastic encumbrance of its fine language, like a clown
in one of the new uniforms ! Sheridan, The Critic, i. 1.
= S3m. 1. Gaze, Gape, Stare, Gloat. Gaze is the only one
of these words that may be used in an elevated sense.
Gaze represents a fixed and prolonged look, with the mind
absorbed in that which is looked at. To gape is in this
connection to look with open mouth, and hence with the
bumpkin's idle curiosity, listlessness, or ignorant wonder;
one may gaj>e at a single thing, or only gape about. Stare
expresses the intent look of surprise, of mental weakness,
or of insolence ; it implies fixedness, whether momentary
or continued. Gloat has now almost lost the meaning of
looking with the natural eye, and has gone over into the
meaning of mental attention ; in either sense it means
looking with ardor or even rapture, often the delight of
possession, as when the miser gloats over his wealth.
II. trans. To affect or influence in some spe-
cified way by staring ; look earnestly or fixedly
stare
at ; hence, to look at with either a bold or a
vacant expression.
I will glare hira out of hia wita.
Shot., M. W. of W., ii. 2. 291.
To Stare one in the face, figuratively, to tie before one's
eyes, or undeniably evident to one.
Tliey stare you still in the/ace.
Milton, On Def. of Humb. Remonst.
Starel (star), n. [< stare^, v.'] The act of one
who stares ; a fixed look with eyes wide open,
usually suggesting amazement, vacancy, or
insolence.
Stare''^ (star), ». [< (n) ME. stare, ster, < AS.
sUer = OHQ-. stara, MHG. star, G. shir, staar,
stahr = Icel. starri, stari = Sw. stare = Dan.
stser; (6) also AS. steam = G. dial, starn,
staren, storn = L. sturnus (> It. stoma, storo),
dim. sturnelliis (> OF. estournel, F. 4toumeau),
sturninus (> Sp. estomino = Pg. estominho),
starling ; cf . Gr. 4^p, NGr. \l>ap6vi, Tpapdviov, star-
ling.] A starling.
The Mare [var. gtarling] tliat the counsel can bewrye.
Chaucer, Parliament of Fowles, 1. 348.
And, as a falcon frays
A flock of gtarei or caddesses, such fear brought his assays
Amongst the Trojans and their friends.
Chapman, Iliad, xvl. 541.
Cape stare, cockscomb-stare, silk stare, .'^ee Cape
gtarling, etc., under gtarlingi-. — Ceylonese Stare. See
Traehycomus.
Stare^ (star), a. [Cf. D. stnar = G. starr, stiff:
see gtarei.] Stiff; weary. HaUiwell. [Prov.
Eng.l
Stare^ (star), «. [Formerly also starr; origin
obscure.] The marram ormatweed,^»im««/>At/o
arundinacea : same as halm, 3 ; also applied to
species of Carex. [Prov. Eng.]
Stareblindf, a. See starbUnd.
gtaree (stSr-e'), n. [< stare^ + -eel.] One who
is stared at. [Rare.]
I as starer, and she as ifame.
JTtw Edgeumth, Belinda, iU. (Davie*.)
Btarer (star'^r), n. [< »tarel + -«-l.] One who
stares or gazes. Pope, Essay on Man, iv, 256.
Starft. An obsolete preterit of starve.
star-facet (star'fas'et), n. One of the small
triangular facets, eight in number, surround-
ing the table on a brilliant-cut stone. See
l)riUi<iiit.
starflnch (star'flnch), n. The redstart, Ruti-
cilla iihwiiicura. See first cut under redstart.
Stairfish (stSr'fish), «. 1. An echinoderm with
five or more arms radiating from a central disk:
applied to all the members of the Asteroidea
and Ophiuroidea (see these words). These belong
5907
together in that position by platee filling the spaces be-
tween the arms, it would make the globular or oblate
spheroid figure of a sea-nrchin. If a starfish should turn
over on its baclc, and have a stem grow from the center,
and then have its arms come together lilte the petals of a
lily, it would represent a crinoid. If, again, the starfish
should have its arms reduced to mere rudiments, or to
tentacular appendages of an elongated leathery body, it
would represent a holothurian, sea-slug, or trepang. These
are the principal types of echinoderms — in fact less un-
like one another than are the several stages they undergo
in development, for which see Asteroidea, Bipinnaria,
Brachioiaria, echinop^dium, and pluteus.
2. The butter-fish or dollar-fish. — 3. In her., a
bearing representing a five-pointed star, the
rays surrounded by short waving flames or the
like, and lia\'ing a small circle in the center. —
Brittle starfish, a brittle-star; any ophiurian.— Cush-
ion starfish, a cushion-star, as Ctenodigcug crigpatus. —
Serpent-starfish. Same as <erpen(-<tar.— Starfish-
flower. See Stapelia.
star-flower (star'Aou'er), n. A plant with
bright stellate flowers, (a) Species of Trientalis, es-
pecially T. Americana, the chickweed-wintergreen. (6)
Species of the liliaceous genus Brodifea, formerly classed
as Tritcleia, of which B. unijlora, a delicately colored
free-biooraing early flower from Brazil, is the spring star-
flower, (c) Species of SlemJberffia. id) Any one of a few
other plants.
Star-fort (star'fort), n. Same as starl, 6.
Star-fmit (star'frot), n. A smooth tufted water-
plant, Damasonium stellatum, of southern Eu-
rope and eastern Asia : so called from the long-
pointed radiating carpels. Another name is
thrumurort.
star-gage (star'gaj), n. See under gage^.
star-gaze (star'gaz), v. i. To gaze at the stars ;
especially, to make astronomical or astrological
observations : used chiefly in the present par-
ticiple.
Struck dead with ladies' eyes ! — I could gtar-gate
For ever thus. Shirley, Maid's Revenge, L 2.
star-gazer (star'ga'zfer), n. 1. One who gazes
at the stars; especially, an astrologer, or, hu-
morously, an astronomer.
Let now the astrologers, the stargaierg, the monthly
prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things
that shall come upon thee. Isa. xlviL IS.
2. A book-name of fishes of the family Urano-
scopidse : so called from the vertical eyes. The
to the phylnm Eehinodermata, which contains also the
sea-urchins, holothurians, crinoids, etc., tboofh these are
not usually called starflsbes. In some of the asteroids
or starflsbes proper the disk is enlarged so as to take In
nearly or quite the whole length of the rays, so that the re-
saiting flgnre is a pentagon, or even a circle ; bat in such
cases the stellate stractnre is evident on examination.
Snch are known as eusMon-stors. In the ophiuriansthe re-
verse eitreme occurs, the body Iwing reduced to a small
circular central disk,
with extremelv long
slender rays, which in
as ibi
H aleans, are branched
B ^^^^ Into several thousand
^ft^^^^^^^ ramiflcations. ffleecot
^^^^^^^^■^^^^ under ftosM-ylsA.) The
^^^^^^^^^^^^ commonest type
^^^P^^ starfish has Ave rays;
^F^^^ whence such are popu-
V ^^k larly known as /ve-Jln-
m ^^^ ^ereii judt at fvefin-
M ^^ gert. (See cuts under
■ A^triat and Eekimu-
f ter.) Those with more
Btittie su>«ih (Z»ilM> ;/<Mn>/«). than Ave raysare often
called 9un-0tarjt$k or
gun-Hnrg. (See Helialtr, and cats under ArMn^a and
SotaMer.) The skin of starflsbes Is toogh and leatheir,
and usually Indurated with calcareoo* plates, tubercles,
spines, etc. It is so brittle that starflsbes readOy brmk
to pieces, sometimes shivering like glass Into many frag-
ments. This fragility Is at an extreme In the ophlu-
rlans, sometimes, on Ibis acooant, called 6ri(tls-jtar>. (.See
cut under Ailrophylon.) Lost arms are readily replaced
by a new growth, if the body of the starfish Is not broken.
On the under side of the animal's rays may be observed
rows of small holes; these are the ambalacra, through
which protrade many small soft, flesbv processes — the
pedicels, tabe.feet,or ambalacral feet— by means of which
the creatures crawl alMOt. The ambalaen converge to a
central point on the under side, where is the oral opening
or mouth. The animals are extremely voracloas, and do
great damage to oyster-beds. They abound in all seas at
various depths, and tome of them are familUr objects on
every sea-coast. Some of the free crlnoiiis of stellate figure
are included under the name iitar/!jrA«<. though they are usu-
ally called lUyttan or feaOtergtart. Encrinites are fossil
tUrflshes of this kind. (See cuU under Camatulidm and
enmtute.) Very dIRerent as are the appearances superfi-
cially presented by s starfish, a ses-urchln. a holothurian,
and a crinoid. their fundamental unity of structure may
be easily shown. If, for instance, a common five Angered
jack should have Its arms bent up over iU back till they
came to a center opposite the month, and then soldered
Naked Star-gsxar(.4x/rKr«/iM/«//a/Mf).
name originally designated Uranoseopus euro-
pseus. Astroseopus guttatus is a common star-
gazer of the United States.
star-gazing (st&r'ga'zing), a. Given to the ob-
servation and stndy of the stars.
star-gazing (stfir'ga'zing), n. Attentive obser-
vation anastudy of the stars; astrology or as-
tronomy. I'urelias, Pilgrimage, p. 63.
Star-gO<)Seberry (star'gos'ber-i), ». The fruit
of a moderate-sized tree, I'hyUanthus (('icca)
distichus, native in Java and Madagascar, and
cultivated throughout India, it is a globose
drupe, three- to five-lobed, acid, and eaten raw,
cooked, or pickled.
star-grass (stftr'grfts), n. A name of various
gras.>*-like plants with starry flowers, or other
radiate featnre. Sach are species of .^letrit, HypoxU,
and Jikunehotpora ; also Callitriche, more often water-
ttartam, so called from Its stellate tufts of leaves. See
the genus names, and cut under Hypoxig.
star-hairkt (star'hak), n. A goshawk; a hawk
of the genus Astur : so called from the stellate
markings of the adult birds. See goshawk, and
cut under Astur.
star-head (star'hed). ». A plant of the genus
Snihidxo. section Asterocephalus.
star-hyacinth (star'hi'a-sinth), n. A species
of squill. SrilUi amama, a very early garden-
flower with indigo-blue petals and a conspicu-
ous yellowish-green ovary.
Starierf, «. [ME., appar. for 'starrier, irreg.
< starre, sterre, a star.] An astronomer.
Without any maner of nicite of gtarieret imaginacion.
Tettament of Love, Hi.
Starik (star'ik), n. [< Buss, stariku, the ful-
mar, lit. 'an old man . so called from its gray
head.] An auklet or murrelet ; one of several
small birds of the family Alcidx, inhabiting the
North Pacific. The name was originally applied to the
ancient auk or murrelet. .synthlibt/rhampkug antifiwtg, and
thence extended to various related anklets of the genus
Simtrrhynchus and others, as the crested starik, S. crista-
(dlia. See cots under auUet and Synthliborhamphug.
stark
staring (star'ing), p. a. 1. Standing out prom-
inently and fixedly, or fixed and wide open, as
eyes; gazing fixedly or intently ; fixed.
He cast on me a glaring loke, with colour pale as death.
Surrey, Complaint of a Dying Lover.
How gaunt the Creature is — how lean
And sharp his glaring l)onea I
Wordgwortk, Peter Bell.
2. Bristling, as hair ; standing stiffly or on end ;
harsh or rough, as pelage.— 3. Striking the eye
too strongly; conspicuous; glaring; gaudy: as,
staring colors.
Starynge or schynyng as gaye thyngys. Rutilans.
Prompt Pan., p. 472.
The Muring red was exchanged for a tone of colouring
every way pleasing to the eye.
B. Hall, Travels in N. A., I. 282.
Staringly (star'ing-li), adv. In a staring man-
ner ; with fixed look. Imp. Diet.
starfei (stark), a. [< ME. stark, stare, sterk,
stere, stearc, < AS. stearc, strong, stiff, = OS.
stark = OFries. sterk, sterik = D. sterk = MLG.
stark, sterk, LG. sterk = OHG. stare, starch,
MHG. stare, G. stark = Icel. sterkr = Sw. stark
= Dan. stserk, strong, orig. stiff, rigid ; cf . OHG.
storchanen, become rigid, Icel. storkna = Dan.
storkne, coagulate, Goth, ga-staurknan, dry up;
Lith. stregti, become rigid. Hence starch^,
starch^.] 1. Stiff; rigid, as in death.
For fyre doth aryfle and doth drye vp a mannes Mode,
and doth make glerke the synewes and ioyntes of man.
Babeeg Book (E. F.. T. S.X p. 244.
Many a nobleman lies gtark and stiff
Under the hoofs of vaunting enemies.
Shak., 1 Hen. IV., v. 3. 42.
2. Stubborn; stiff; severe.
She that helmed was in glarke stoures.
Chaucer, Monk's Tale, 1. 380.
He is only debonair to those
That follow where he leads, but glark as death
To those that cross him. Tennygon, Harold, ii. 2.
3. Stout; stalwart; strong; powerful.
Me caryinge in his clawes glarke
As lightly as I were a larke.
Chaucer, House of Fame, 1. B45.
Stark beer, boy, stout and strong beer !
Fletcher, Beggars' Bush, ill. 1.
King James shall mark
If age has tamed these sinews glark.
Scott, L. of the L., v. 2a
4t. Great; long.
Kay smote Sonygrenx so that he fill from his horse that
be lay a glarke while with-oute sterynge of hande or foote.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), IL 214.
6. Entire; perfect; utter; downright; sheer;
pure; mere.
Consider, first, the gtark security
The commonwealth is in now.
B. Jongon, Catiline, i. 1.
What e're they may vnto the world professe —
All their best wisdome la gtarke fooiishnesse.
Timet' Whigtle (E. E. T. 8.), p. 147.
Ha! ha! ha! a silly wise rogue would make one laugh
more than a glark fool. Wyeherley, Country Wife, ii. 1.
Stark^ (stark), adv. [< ME. stark, used appar.
first in stark ded, lit. ' stiff dead,' ' dead and
stiff'; being stark^, a., taken in a quasi-adver-
bial sense, and extended later to a few other ad-
jectives describing a person's condition (rarely
in other uses) : as, stark blind, stark drunk, stark
»iorf, etc.] Wholly; entirely; absolutely: used
with a few particular adjectives, as stark dead,
stark blind, stark drunk, stark mad, stark naked,
rarely with other adjectives.
With the same cours he smote another that he fill Mark
deed, and plonged in depe a-monge hem.
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), Hi. 614.
In the euening It grew gtarke calme.
Quoted in Capl. John Sinilh'g True Travels, II. 134.
I drank gtark drunk, and, waking, found myself
Cloath'd in this farmer's suit, as in the morning.
Tomkig(?), Albumazar, v. 9.
He was 86 years of age, »<or* Uind, deafe, and memory
lost, after having ben a person of admirable parts and
learning. Evelyn, Diai-y, May, 1704.
I'll never forgive you if you don't come back gtark mad
with rapture and Impatience— if you don't, egad, I'll marry
the girl myself. Sheridan, The Rivals, ill. 1.
The captain had not a guess of whither we were blown ;
he was Mark ignorant of his trade.
Jt. L. Stevengon, Master of Ballantrae, ii.
stark^ (stark), V. t. [< stark^, a.] To make
stark, stiff, or rigid, as in death. Sir H. Tay-
lor, St. Clement's Eve, v. 5.
stark^ (stark), a. [Abbr. of stark-iuiked.l Na-
ked ; bare.
There is a court dress to be instituted (to thin the draw-
ing-rooms), stiff-bodied gowns and bare shoulders. What
dreadful discoveries will be made both on fat and lean ! I
recommend to you the idea of Mrs. C. when half-«far*.
Wcdpnle, Letters (1762), 11. 346. (Davieg.i
stark
The apple and pear were still unclothed and gtark.
H. W. Preston, Year in Edeu, i.
Starken (star'kn), v. t. [< storA-l + -oil.] To
make unbending or inflexible ; stiffen ; make
obstinate. -Sir H. Taylor, Edwin the Fair, iv. 4.
Starkey's soap. See soaji.
starkly (stark'li), nrfr. In a stark manner;
stiffly; strongly; rigidly. Shal:, M. for M.,
iy. 2. 70.
stark-naked (stark'na'ked), a. See stark^,
<nlr., and sturt-naked.
Starkness (stark'nes), Ji. Stiffness; rigidity;
strength; grossness.
How should wee have yeelded to his heavenly call, had
we beene taken, as they were, in the starkues of our igno-
rance? Milton, On Def. of Uunib. Remonst.
starless (star'les), a. [< s<ari + -less.] Hav-
ing no stars visible, or no starlight : as, a star-
less night.
Starlet (star'let), M. [< star^ + -lef.l 1. A
small star.
Nebulje may be comparatively near, though the starlets
of which they are made up appear extremely minute.
//. Spencer.
2. A kind of small starfish.
starlight (star'lit), n. and a. [< s<orl + lighfl.']
I. H. 1. The light proceeding from the stars.
Nor walk by moon
Or glittering starlight without thee is sweet.
MUton, P. L., iv. 656.
Hence — 2. A faint or feeble light.
Scripture only, and not any star-light of man's reason.
Hooker, Eccles. Polity, iii. 11.
H. a. Lighted by the stars, or by the stars
only.
A starlight evening, and a morning fair.
Dryden, tr. of Virgil's Gcorgics, i. 648.
starliko (star'lik), a. [< starl -(- like^.'] 1.
Resembling a star; stellated; radiated like a
star: as, s<aWite flowers. — 2. Bright; lustrous;
shining; luminous: as, storifte eyes.
Starlingl (gtilr'ling), n. [< ME. starling, ster-
ling, sterlynge; < .stare (< AS. stser), a stare,
starling (see stare^), + -Ihig^.'] 1. An oscine
passerine bird, of the family Stum icim and genus
Sturnns, as S. vulgaris of Europe. The common
starling or stare is one of the best-known of British birds.
It is 8J inches long when adult ; black, of metallic luster,
iridescing dark-green on some parts, and steel-blue, pur-
plish, or violet on others, and variegated nearly through-
out with pale-butf or whitish tips of the feathers. The
5908
star-read
ham, 1783), Amdotheres crislatelhis Starna(stiir'nii),H. [NL. (Bonaparte, 1838),< It.
lein Chma, and also the Phllippnie „,,,,.,,,, „ Vind'nf nni'trido-p 1 Sartip as Pfrllir
! it is supposed to have been intro- Stat n a, a iana ot pattnage.j same as 1 euiix.
of Brisson, 1760), but found chiefly in Indiiu It Is 9 stam^ (stilm), Ji. [< ME. 'sterti, < AS. steam,
Inches long; the ground-color of the plumage is black, gtiern, a stare, starling: sec stare^.'] The ster-
much glossed with greenish and bronze tints and varied ,. ' rPrnv Fno' T
with white ; the bill and a bare space above the eyes are ^^^^R* L*^^^"* ■ ^^&'J
orange.— Chinese Starling (Kdwards,l743X the so-called stam-^ (stam), «. A dialectal form ot stern^.
crested grackle (Latham,
of central and southern <
island Luzon (where it is supposed .„ „ ^ . ... , ■,, r., ^ ■„ y . o
duced). It is lOi inches long; the bill is yellow with stamel (star'nel), n. [Also star/nil; < starn^
rose-colored base: the feet and eyes are orange; the pin- -)- Jim. -rf.] The starling. [Prov. Eng.]
mage is glossy-black with various sheen, and also varied . -otfiricr rstHr'Tipfino') « A Vind of Tint
with white; and the head is crested. -Cockscomb-star- Star-netting (Star net mg;, «. A Kmu ot net-
line or -stare (Latham, 1783), a remarkable African and ting used tor the falling or background ot a
Arabian starling, DUophus carunculalus, having in tlie design : it produces a pattern of four-pointed
adult male the liead mostly bare, with two erect caruncles gf^rs connected by their points,
or conibs on the crown, and a pendent wattle on each side o4.„__„_„ j{_ _ /-k;. _s ,,„ jr/_;;\ „ „7 rvry
of the face ; the plumage is chiefly isabelline gray, with StamOBnadina! (star-ne-na-dl ne),v.pl. [JSL.
black wings and tail, the former vai-ied with white. — Glos-
sy starllDirs, various birds, chiefly African, forming a
subfamily Lamprotornithinte (or Juidinse) of the family
(Coues, 1884), < Starnoenas {-ad-} -h -i«a?.] A
subfamily of Columbidee, represented by the
genus StariKjenas, grading toward gallinaceous
birds in structure, habits, and general appear-
ance; the quail-doves. The feet are large and stout,
with short and not completely insistent hallux; the tarsi
are long, entirely naked, and reticulated with hexagonal
scales. There are caica, but no oil-gland nor ambiens, the
reverse of the case of Zenaidinse, the group of ground-
doves with which the genus Starneenas has usually been
associated.
Starnoenas (stiir-ne'nas), 71. [NL. (Bonaparte,
1838), < Starna + Gr. olvag, a wild pigeon of the
color of ripening grapes, < oIvt/, the vine, olvo^,
wine.] A genus of West Indian and Floridian
quail-doves, typical of the subfamily <Ster«a;jia-
diiiee. The bill is short and stout ; the frontal feathers
project in a point on the culmen; the wings are short,
broad, rounded, and vaulted, with reduced first priniai-y ;
and the tail is short, broad, and nearly even. The only
species is S. cyanocephalus, the blue-headed quail-dove,
of olivaceous and purplish-red or chocolate shades, the
throat black bordered with white, the crown rich-blue,
and a white mark along the side of the head, meeting its
fellow on the chin. It is about 11 inches long.
Stumida.as of the genera Lamprotomis, Lamproeditis, gtamose (stiir'noz), «. The star-nosed mole,
Spreo (or Notauges). Of the last-named there are several Coitdl/iura cristata.
\ ^ "^ ■ " ■' Having a circlet of
fleshy processes radiating from the end of the
snout in the form of a star, as some moles :
Glossy Starling {Sfireo bicolor).
species, as S. Iticolor of South Africa and S. ptdchra of , ■„_. j i^iA.^'^n,A\ n
West Africa. They are mainly of extremely iridescent ssar-nosea (siar uuiu;, «
Meadow-Starling, see def. i.— Red-wing-
plumage.
ed starling, see def. 1.— Rose or rose-colored star-
Ung, a bird of the genus ra.itor, as P. roseiis, which used
tobe called rose or carnation ouzel, rose-colored thrttsh,
etc. See cut under ^a»(or.— Silk Starling(Brown, 1776),
or Stare (Latham, 1788), the Chinese Pdiopsar sericeus,
8 inches long, the bill bright-red tipped with white, the feet
orange, the eyes black, tile plumage ashy-gray varied with
black, white, green, brown, purplish, etc. — Talking star-
ling, one of several different sturnoid birds of India, etc. ;
a religious grackle ; a mina. See mina^^, Acridutheres, and
cut under Eulabes.
starling^ (star'ling), n. [Also sterling; ef.
Sw. Dan. stor, a pole, stake, prop ; Sw. stiira,
prop up with sticks or poles, = Dan. stxre, put
com on poles to dry.] 1. In hydrauJ. engin.,
an inelosure like a coffer-dam, formed of piles
driven closely together, before any work or
structure as a protection against the wash of
the waves. A supplementary structure of the same
kind placed before a starling to resist ice is called a fore-
starling. See cut under ice-apron.
2. One of the piles used in forming such a
breakwater.
Starling^t, ». An obsolete form of sterling^.
starlit (star'lit), a. [< starl -{■ ut,} Lighted
by stars: as, a starlit night.
star-lizard (star'liz"ard), n.
genua Stellio ; astellibn.
Common European Starling {Stumus ■vutgaris).
wings and tail are duller-black, the exposed parts of
the feathers frosted or silvered, with velvety-black and
buff edgings. The bill is yellowish, and the feet are red-
dish. Immature, winter, and female birds are less lus-
trous, and more variegated with the ochery- or tawny-
brown, and have the bill dark-colored. Starlings live much
about buildings, and nest in holes of walls, crannies of
rock, openings in hollow trees, etc. They are sociable and
gregarious, sometimes going in large flocks. They are
often caged, readily tamed, and may be talght to whistle
tunes, and even to articulate words. The name sorting is
extended to all birds of the family Sturnidm, and some
others of the sturnoid series; also, erroneously, to the
American birds of the family Icteridse, sometimes known
collectively as American starlings. The last belong to a
different series, having only nine primaries, etc. The bird
with which the name is specially connected in this sense
is Agelse-usphceniceus, the common marsh-blackbird, often
called red-u-inged starling. The name of meadow-starling
is often applied to Sturnella magna. See also cuts under
AgelteinsB and meadow-lark.
Looking up, I saw ... a starting hung in a little cage.
"I can't get out — 1 can't get out," said the starling.
Sterne, Sentimental Journey (The Passport).
2. One of a breed of domestic pigeons which
in color resemble the starling. — 3. Same as
rock-trout, 2 American starlings, see def. i.—
Black starling, a melanistic variety of the common
starling.— Cape Starling or stare (Latham, 1783), the
black and white Indian starling of Edwards (1751), the
contra from Bengal of Albin (1740), Sturnopmtor contra :
so called as erroneously described from the Cape of
Good Hope (as I'^tourneau du Cap de Bonne Esp^rance
ioe cut under Stellio.
star-map (star'map), n.
Aprojectionofpartorall
of the heavens, showing
the fixed stars as they
appear from the earth.
star-molding (star'mol'-'-
ding), n. In arch., a
Norman molding orna-
mented with rayed or
pointed figures repre-
senting stars.
starmongert (star'-
mung"ger), n. An as-
trologer: used contemp-
tuously. B. Jonson, Ev-
ery Man out of his Hu-
mour, iii. 2.
star-mouthed (stiir'-
moutht), a. Having a
stellate or radiate arrangement of mouth-parts
Star-mouthed worms, the Strongylidse.
specifically noting Condylura cristata. See out
under Condylura. Also button-nosed.
star-of-Betnlehem (stiir'ov-beth'le-em), «.
1. A plant of the genus Ornilhogalu'm, partic-
ularly O. umhellatum : so called from its star-
like flowers, which are pure-white within. This
species is native from France and the Netherlands to the
Caucasus; it is common in gardens and often runs wild,
in some parts of America too freely. In Palestine its
bulbs are cooked and eaten, and they are thought by some
to have been the " dove's dung " of 2 Kings vi. 26. Some
other species are desirable hardy garden-bulbs, as 0. nu-
tans and 0. NarboTiense (0. pyramidale), the latter 3 feet
high with a pyramidal cluster. O. eaudatum, with long
leaves drying like taUs at the end, and with watery-looking
bulbs, is a species from the Cape of Good Hope, sometimes
called onion-lily, remarkably tenacious of life except in
cold. It has a flower-scape 2 or 3 feet high, and continues
blooming a long time.
2. One of a few plants of other genera, as
Stellaria Holostea and Hypericum calycinum.
[Prov. Eng.] See also Hypoxis and Gagca. [In
the name of all these plants there is reference to
the star of Mat. ii., which guided the wise men
to Bethlehem.]
A lizard of the star-of-Jerusalemt (star'ov-je-r6'sa-lem), w.
The goat's-beard, Tragopogon prateniis.' Prior
ascribes the name to the salsify, T. porrifoUus.
See cut under salsify.
Star-of-night (stiir'ov-nit'). «. A large-flowered
tree, C'lusia rosea, of tropical America. See
Clusia. [West Indies.]
Star-of-the-earth (star'ov-thf-erth'), n. See
Flantago.
Starost (star'ost), n. [< Pol. starosta (= Russ.
starosta, a bailiff, steward), lit. elder, senior,
< stary, old, = Russ. staro-, old.] 1. In Poland,
a nobleman possessed of a castle or domain
called a starosty. — 2. In Russia, the head man
of a mir or commune.
starosty (star'os-ti), n. ; pi. starosties (-tiz).
[< Pol. starostwo (= Russ. starostco), < starosta,
a starost: see starost.] In Poland, a name
given to castles and domains conferred on no-
blemen for life by the crown.
star-pagoda (star'pa-g6"da), n. A variety of
the pagoda, an Indian gold coin, so called from
its being marked with a star.
star-pepper (stilr'pep"er), «. See pepper.
Star-niol<lin(i. Romanesque.—
Aunay (Charente), Trance.
Starnl (stam), n. [Early mod. E. also dial, star-pife (stiir'pil), «. A thermopile whose ele-
sterrt; < ME. stern, sternc = MD. stcrne = MLG. ,ap,its are arranged in the form of a star.
Sterne, stern, LG. steern = OHG. sterno, stern, gtar-pine (star'pin), n. Same as cluster-pine
MHG. Sterne, G. stern = Goth, stairno, a star: (-y^-hieh see, under jj/hcI).
see starl.] A star. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.] gtar-proof (star'prof), a. Impervious to the
Thar es na coirupcion, but cler ayre light ot the stars. Milton, Arcades, 1. 89.
And the pianettes and 8(crn«s shonand. starrt". An obsolete spelling of Stare*.
//amp*. Prick of Conscience, 1.995. gt^r-readt (star'red), «. [Early mod. E. also
B/foi^^lsTn The fl^^ment.'^'' f ''"-'•"'«/ < f"'' + '■'^"fl^ "^ Knowledge of
York Plays, p. 127. the stars; astronomy. [Rare.]
star-read
ian.1.1. I c ^-Egyptian wisards old,
WBicli In Star-read were wont have best insight.
Sperutr, F. Q., V.,'proI.
Starred (stard), p. a. [< me. sterred, stirrede
(also steriml = D. gcstariui, gestenid = OHG
ge^iniot, MHG. gestirnet), starred; as starl +
-«<P.] 1. btudded, decorated, or adorned with
stars.— 2. Influenced by the stars: usually in
composition: as, ill-«terred.
-. _,, My third comfort,
starrd most unlaclciiy, is . . .
Haled out to murder. Shat., W. T., ill. 2. 100.
3. Cracked, with many rays proceeding from
a central point : as, a starred pane of glass ; a
starred mirror.— 4. Marked or distinguished
Xa«* ■ *"■ "^^••'^k.-starred corals, the Cary.
StM-reed (star'red), H. [Tr. Sp. bejuco de la
estrella.^ A plant, Aristolochia fragrantissima,
highly esteemed in Peru as a remedy against
dysenter>-, malignant inflammatory fevers, etc
Ltnaley.
Starrifyt (star'i-fi), r. t. [< «terl + -,•-/•,/. 1 To
mark with a star^^ Sylvester, tr. of DuBartas's
AV eeks, ii., The Handy-Crafts. [Rare.]
Stamness (star'i-nes), n. The state of being
starry. °
Star-fowel (star'rou'el), «. See roioel.
Star-ruby (star'ro'bi), «. a ruby exhibiting
asterism, like the more common star-sapphire
or a.stena.
Starry (star'i), a. [< ME. sterry, sterri; < starl
.'y -J 1- Abounding with stars; adorned
with stars.
5909
and polished piece of the trunk of a petrified
tree-fern. See Psaroiiius.
xf5* Z^'?'''^' "• [^ 'J'"'- also sterf, sturt: <
MK starten, sterten, stirten, styrten (pret. sterte,
sttrte, sturte storte, stert, later start, pp. stert,
■^^'^^''*}' P'"''*'- < AS. "styrtan (not found)
^.?^MT?^*';J'''"-.= ^^^- «*»'"«^» = OHG. stur-
'iVt ^?r' ^.•..*''"'^««> fall- start, = Sw. storia
(bw iiaX stjarta, run wildly about) = Dan.
styrte, east down, ruin, fall dead; root unknown.
Ihe explanation given by Skeat, that the word
meant ong. 'turn tail,' or 'show the tail,' hence
^ZSr^ ^''^f^''\: < AS^steort, etc., a tail (see
«/art^) is untenable. Hence stor«e.] l\«-
trans. 1 To move with a sudden involuntary
jerk or twitch, as from a shock of surprise
fear, pain, or the like : give sudden involuntary
expression to or indication of surprise, pain,
fnght, or any sudden emotion, by a quick con-
ir'thTsighr""' "' '''' '"'^''- ^''''' '*"'''"
The sesouii prilfeth every gentil herte.
And maketh him out of his slepe to slerU.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, I. 186.
lallcs of his brother to himself, starts strangely.
Fletcher, Mad Lover, v. 2.
With trial Are touch me his finger-end-
T» . i.. » •. • • '"'' " he start,
It is the flesh of a corrupted heart.
Shot., M. W. of W., V. 5. 90.
Ah^^.i. "•'ere Daphne wond'ring mounts on high.
Above the clouds, above the gtarry sky !
O /-•„„„• *• , ''"y. Winter, I. 70.
llV . ? I ^"^ "^ "^ Pi'oeeeding from stars ; stel-
lar, stellarj-: as, starry light; starry Oame.
The starry influences. g^^^
3 Shining like stars; resembling stars: as
starry eyes.-4. Stellate or stellfform; radt
ate; having parts radiately arranged.-6 Per-
la^ng to or in some way associated with the
The starry Galileo, with bis woei.
Byron, ChUde Harold, iv. 54
Were t not much trouble to your starry emDlovment.
I a poor mortal would entreat your furtherancT^ ^
In a terrestrial business. Ti,nki, cTSiru"^,, t s.
b^ Same M«,rtA^t<.r._starry ray. sT-c^.'"*"
Star-sapphire (star'saf'ir), «. Same as <Mfm-
af'd ,„j,i,l„rr (see sapphire) and asteric^
Ster-saiifrage (stiir'sak'si-fraj), ». a small
in^both hemispheres, having white starry flow-
fi^hi • flu ?*'' "s. ">« »iar.scaled dolphins,
flshes of the family ^«<roderm«to.
5tr1^!n®/^f"^'r?H'' »• See shake, n., 7.
Star-shell (star'shell'), „. A thin metal case
or shell loaded with luminous stars, tired from
tS^. ""^ " ,«?««•»% constructed apparatus,
S^dln"!^"^'' ^ ''"'!' '.? *^« "'' like a rocket
^ftion '''"" ■"•"°'"»'e the enemy's
Starshine (star'shin), n. The shine or light of
Ktars: starlight. TrHHtfwB. Oriana.
Star-shoot, sUr-shot (stfir'shst, stiir'shot), h
A gelatinous substance often found in wet
meadows, and fonneriv supposed to be the ex-
tmquished residuum of a shooting-star. It is
m7n"osioc' ^"^*"'"* ""^' '^"<^ «^'' --'
fal^- " " ""'«'"^>' "PO" ">e eitlnctton of. lill*
' * Boyle, Works, I. 244.
Star-Slough (star'sluf), n. Same as star-shoot
^•I;, J*?^i-^ (Jtar'spang'gld), a. Spotted or
spa.ig ,.,1 with sters: as, the star-spangled ban-
ner, the national flag of the United States.
Thou, friendly Night,
s^j:{rhy°'rwUuTeti'^''"'^p'«ta
Potter, tr. of .Kschylus (ed. 177»X II. S»3. (JodreU.)
The ^r spangled banner, O long may It wave
O er the Und of the free and the^homVofThrbrave '
P. S. Key, The Star-Spwigled Burner.
Star-spotted (star 'spot' ed), a. Spotted or
Htu.ldcd with stars. F"""" or
Star-stone (stUr'ston). «. l . Same as asteriated
supplnre (see sapphire) and a»fma.-8. A cut
^. lo make a sudden or unexpected change of
place or posihon; rise abruptly or quickly
spring; leap, dart, or rush with suddeii quick-
n^^fr! .*♦ • *^ ^^/I **"^^' I'a'^kward, forward, out.
or up ; to start from one's seat.
rp stirte the pardoner and that anon.
thaucer, Prol. to Wife of Bath's Tale 1 163
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres'
Shak., Hamlet, i. 6. 17.
The Captain started up suddenly, his Hair standing at
!: ° UowHl, Letters, I. iv. 28.
8 To set out; begin or enter upon action,
course, career, or pursuit, as a journey or a
At once they jtarf, advancing in a line.
Dryden, ^neid, v. 183.
AH being ready, we started in a caique verv earlv <•.
the rooming. A. Cur«m, Monast in tFe L^v^nttp 2W
4f . To run ; escape ; get away.
Out of hi« oweae hous as holy writ sheweth. ^^
Piers Plowman (p\ xx. 297.
„, „, .. When I have them,
ni place those guards upon them, that they start not.
B. Jonson, Catiline, Iv. 6.
f^? 1?** ^'^^'^ ' f"!® '^^y ' swerve aside ; be dis-
located or moved from an intended position or
direction ; spring : as, the ship's timbers started.
^The l>e»t bowmay«tor<.
Ana the hand vary.
B. Jonson, New Inn, Ii. 2.
6. To fall off or out ; loosen and come away,
as the baleen of a dead whale through decom-
position, or hair from a soured pelt _to rtart
after, to set out in pursuit of.- To ate wraLrtto
become engwd in opporttlon to ; opprnT^T^Itot to
to begin. lCoUoq.,U.8.)-To start out (a) To setforth'
.^Jr, ""^ «o •» » lawyer. -To start UP fa) To rtai
n^tt'lJ^pSSLc'..'-' "' ^""-^ eome^;idiel,ry''i^?S
iu.iJJl*!,^!?'* 15''' ""*" ¥''» "'«'' 0" "O'k in search of
some hidden Idea . though sometimes too thw rtart
up in our minds of their own accord. "'ey wan
Loclte, Human Understanding, II. x. 7.
^) To begin operation or business : as, the factorv will
stort up to-morrow. (CoIlo<).) no lacioiy wui
n. frail*. 1. To rouse suddenly into action,
motion, or flight, as a beast from its lair, a
hare or rabbit from its form, or a bird from its
nest ; cause to come suddenly into view, action.
^, ^;*u*j ' "^ t'"' lll'e-' »s, to«tar< game; to
»«ar( the detectives. * '
ttntoa will start a spirit as soon as Cesar.
Shak., 1. C, I. 2. 147.
game" '■"' ""^ • • • " '"'""P.,*"',' had sterfedqulte other
* "'"■ 'f- Hawthorne, Dust, p. 168.
start
f; tlkrth? *'? '''* °"'' °'" *° P^^'le the means
set n,,f .. ! 'k^I necessary to enable (one) to
set out or embark, as on an errand, a journey
enterprise, career, etc.: as, to staH one's son
m business ; to start a party on an expedition
— a. lo loosen, or cause to loosen or lose hold-
cause to move from its place: as, to start i
^a^^h *fl° *'"?'•' ^ t"""^; t°«""-« an anchor -1 5
lo set flowing, as liquor from a cask; pour
out: as, to start wine into another cask.— 6
To alarm; disturb suddenly; startle.
You boggle shrewdly, every feather starts you
•^*«*-. All's Well, v. 3. 232.
Lord Herbert o/ Cherbury, Life (ed. hSwciTs), p ^6"
S'S^itr*-l?Se'.'^'io-Jt°al.^v%^s=erf^»
Stump, to begin to build a vm^ build an entieW new
vessel, as distinguished from repairing an old one heScr
to furnish or outat a vessel conipletely ' '
^a"**,^/^""^^' "• [< ME. sreH; Otorii, «,.! 1
A sudden involuntary spring, jerk, or twitch!
such as may be caused by^'sudde'n surprise
tear, pain, or other emotion.
The fright awaken'd Arcite with a start
Dryden, Pal. and Arc, i. 655.
.^^''^.^'S?^^'"''"'"' ""'^ i' K'^es us to have an insect un
eipectedly pass over our skin or a cat noisele^lv comP
and sniffle about our hand. If. ./«mes")i!nd, X?I? iS
^ or recoil, as of an elastic body ;
2. To originate: begin; set in motion; set
going; give the first or a new impulse to: as
to start a fire; to start a newspaper, a school
or a new business ; to start a controversy. '
Oneof our society of the Trumpet . . . started last nl^ht
a notion which 1 thought had reason in It *
SUele, Ttttler, No. 202.
l^',?i'''»K".''"*'"i''".""l''' ""' be sustained between us
ftS^W '".'*''" .'"P'" ' *""*"* Immediately received
from her a turn at once coarse and trite, perverse and
ImbecUe. Charlotte Bronte, JanrE^e^xvU
In 179^ Canning and his friends started, as a weekly oa-
^ht m.n,1,""-''",?''l;'","'"S'' '""' « brilliant career^f
eight months. a. Uorley, English Writers, etc., 1. no'
2. A spring
spring; jerk
■...^i".?.''''"?^' ',!"' ™'"'* "•^y "^8 mmd up and strained
fs the^'SSS ^"^ * """■' ""''='' '*'? "«'=''• 'b-^ more JreWe
IS tne sound. Ea^on, Nat. Hist., § 179.
3. A sudden burst or gleam; a sally; a flash.
To check the starts and sallies of the souL
Addison, Cato, I. 4.
A certain gravity : . . much above the little gratiflca-
tion received from starts of humour and fancy *""""'*
SUele, Tatler, No. 82.
4. A sudden bound or stroke of action; a brief
impulsive, intermittent, or spasmodic effort
or movement; spasm: as, to work by fits and
For she did speak in starts distractedly.
Shai., T. N., ii. 2. 22.
erit'i'fv'"' ^'"^ wandering Impulses, (Its and starU at gen-
"'• hmerson. Essays, 1st ser, p. 236.
6. A sudden voluntary movement; a dash; a
rush ; a run. '
I .^it" ^ "ommcnd you, you hug me for that truth ; when
I speak your faults, you make a start, and fly the h^in!?
Beau, and Fl., King and No King i 1
a Zm" il^'ri;^d?2e dcK,;.'"'""'^'' ^"' ■'^""^' -'"•
Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, Iv. 8.
6. A starting or setting out in some course,
action, enterprise, or the like; beginning; out^
set; departure. ^'
Tou stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. Shak., Hen. V., ill. 1. 03
tions'^'LSr*"'*' °' ""''"i «™L""on new startJ or varia!
lions occur. MaudsUy, Body and Will, p. 150.
7. Lead or advantage in starting or setting out
as m a race or contest; advantage in the be-
ginning or first stage of something: as, to have
tne start in a competition for a prize.— 8 Im-
pulse, impetus, or first movement in some di-
Marnu lite."""""*^' send-off: as, to get a good
How much I had to do to calm his rage '
Now fear I this will give it start again.
Shak., Hamlet, iv. 7. 194.
il>l*'.l!fh?'' "-'"',' "l^S'fy ""^ endeavours of Aristotle, and
the noble start which learning had under him ?
Sir T. Browne, Christ. Mor., H. 6.
9. A part that has started ; a loosened or broken
part; a break or opening.
.JI?J!r'[""'l^''.J "'■'''''''"''"• '"''""d of s. start, as they call
S?X ;'"8 '" 'be copper, I found something sticking In
'b® bull. St. Nicholas, XVH. 686.
lOt. Distance.
Being a great start from Athens to England.
Lyly, Euphues and his England, p. 223.
At a Startt, at a bound; In an instant.
At a stert he was betwix hem two.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, I. 847.
To get or have the start, to be beforehand (with): gain
the lead or advantage ; get ahead : generally with 0/.
. . It doth amaze me
A man of such a feeble temper should
80 get the start of the majestic worid
And bear the palm alone. Shak., 3. C, I. 2. 130.
starts (start), M. [Early mod. E. also stert; <
ME. start, stert, stirt, steort, < AS. steort =
01 TKS stert, stirt = MD. steer t, D. staart =
Mlitr. L(j. stert, steert, staart, steerd = MHG
(i. ster:: = Icel. stertr = 8w. Dan. sfjert, tail;
start
root unknown ; some derive it from the root of
starts, in the sense 'project' or 'turn'; others
compare Gr. ordpBvy^, M(>r. aropthi, a point, tine,
tag of hair, etc.] If. A tail ; the tail of an ani-
mal: thus, redstart is literally redtoiV. — 2. Some-
thing resembling a tail; a handle: as, a plow-
sifiri (or plow-tail). — 3. The sharp point of a
young stag's horn. E. I'liillips (under broach).
— 4. In minittg, the beam or lever to which the
horse is attached in a horse-whim or gin.
[North. Eng.] — 5. In an overshot water-wheel,
oneof the partitions which determine the form
of the bucket. A'. H. Knight. — 6t. A stalk, as
of an apple. Palsgrave.
Startail (star'tal), «. A sailors' name for the
tropic-bird. See cut under Phaethon.
They also call it by the name of star-taU, on account of
the long projecting tail feathers.
J. G. Wood, must Nat. Hist., II. 766.
starter (star't^r), »<. [< starts + -crl.] One
who or that which starts, (a) One who shrinks
from his purpose; one who suddenly brings forward a
question or an objection. (6) One who takes to flight or
runs away ; a runaway.
Hay, nay, you need not bolt and lock so fast ;
She is no starter.
Heyieood, If you Know not Me (Works, ed. Pearson, 1. 218X
(c) One who sets out on a journey, a pursuit, a race, or the
We are early gtarters in the dawn, even when we have
the luck to have good beds to sleep in.
Scott, Rob Roy, xxxv.
(d) One who or that which sets persons or things in motion,
as a person who gives the signal for a race, or for the start-
ing of a coach, car, boat, or other conveyance, or a lever
or rod for setting an engine or a machine in motion.
There is one sfar(«r, . . . who, either by word or by pis-
tol-report, starts each race. The Century, XL. 205.
(e) A dog that starts game ; a springer; a cocker. — Bung
Starter. See bung-starter.
startful (stilrt'fiil), a. [< starts + -ful.l Apt
to start; easily startled or frightened; skittish.
[Rare.]
Say, virgin, where dost thou delight to dwell?
With maids of honour, startful virgin? tell.
Wolcot (P. Pindar), Ode to ABectation.
Startfulness (start'ful-nes), «. The quality or
state of being startful, or easily startled.
[Kare.]
star-thistle (star'this'l), n. A low spreading
weed, Centatirea Calcitrapa, with small heads of
purple flowers, the invofuoral bracts ending in
stiff spines, the leaves also spiny: in one form
called mouse-thorn. According to Prior the name (by
him applied to C solstitialis, a more erect plant with yel-
low flowers, sometimes named yellow star-thistle) arises
The Upper Part of the Stem with the Heads of Star-thistle
{Centaurga Calcitrapa).
a, one of the involucral scales.
from the resemblance of the spiny involucre to the weapon
called a morning-star. Both of these plants are sparingly
nattu-alized in the United States, the former on the east-
em, the latter on the western coast. The name is extended
to the genus, of which one species, C. Cyanxts, is the blue-
bottle or corn-flower (the Kornblume of the Germans, with
r whom it has patriotic associations), another is the blessed
thistle (see thistle), and others are called centaury, knap-
weed, and sultan. See these names and Centaurea.
Startbroat (stiir'throt), n. A humming-bird
of the genus Heliomaster, having the throat
spangled with the scales of the gorget, like
many other hummers.
starting-bar (star'ting-bar), n. A hand-lever
for moving the valves in starting a steam-
engine.
starting-bolt (star'ting-bolt), «. A rod or bolt
used to drive out another; a drift-bolt. E. H.
Knight.
5910
starting-engine (star'ting-en^jin), n. A small
low-pressure engine sometimes connected with
a large marine engine, and used to start it.
Sometimes called starting steam-cylinder.
starting-holet (star'ting-hol), n. [Early mod.
E.strrting-hole; < starting + hoU^ ."] A loophole;
evasion; subterfuge; dodge; refuge.
Some, which seke for starting-holes to mainteine their
vices, will objecte. Sir T. Elyot, The Governour, ii. 9.
What trick, what device, what starting-hole, canst thou
now find out to hide thee from this open and apparent
shame? Shak., 1 Hen. IV., ii. 4. 290.
Startingly (stiir'ting-li), arff. By fits and starts ;
impetuously; intemperately. Shak., Othello,
iii. 4._ 79.
starting-place (star'ting-plas), n. A place at
wliieh a start or beginning is made; a place
from which one starts or sets out.
Asham'd, when I have ended well my race.
To be led back to my first starting-place.
Sir J. Denham, Old Age, i.
starting-point (star'ting-point), n. The point
from VFliieh any one or anything starts ; point
of departure.
Stairting-post (stiir'ting-post), n. The point or
line, marked out by a post or otherwise, from
which competitors start in a race or contest.
starting-VSllve (star'ting-valv), n. A small
valve sometimes introduced for moving the
main valves of a steam-engine in starting it.
starting-wheel (star'ting-hwel), «. A wheel
which actuates the valves that start an engine.
Startish (star'tish), a. [< starts + -(s/il.] Apt
to start ; skittish ; shy : said of horses. [Col-
loq.]
startle (star'tl), v. ; pret. and pp. startled, ppr.
startling. [< ME. startlen, stertlen, stertyllen;
freq. of start^.'] I, intrans. 1. To start; mani-
fest fear, alarm, surprise, pain, or similar emo-
tion by a sudden involuntary start.
At first she startles, then she stands amaz'd ;
At last with terror she from thence doth fly.
Sir J. Davies, Immortal, of Soul, Int.
She changed colour and startled at everything she heard.
Addison, Spectator, No. 3.
2. To wince ; shrink.
Physic, or mathematics, . . .
She will endure, and never startle.
B. Jonson, Alchemist, iv. 1.
3. To move suddenly, as if surprised or fright-
ened.
Startling from hir traunce,
I wil reuenge (quoth she).
Gascoigne, Complaint of Philomene.
If a dead leaf startle behind me,
I think 'tis your garment's hem.
Lowell, The Broken Tryst.
4. To take to flight, as in panic ; stampede, as
cattle.
And the heerd startled, and ran hedlyng into the see.
Tyndale, Mark v. 13.
6. To take departure ; depart ; set out. [Ob-
solete or provincial.]
A gret stertling he mycht haiti seyne
Off schippys. Barbour, Bruce, iii. 170.
Or by Madrid he takes the route, . . .
Or down Italian vista startles.
Bums, The Twa Dogs.
II. trans. 1. To cause to start; excite by
sudden surprise, alarm, apprehension, or other
emotion; scare; shock.
I confess I have perused them all, and can discover
nothing that may startle a discreet belief.
Sir T. Brou'Tie, Religio Medici, i. 21.
Like the inhabitants of a city who have been just
startled by some strange and alarming news.
Scott, Kenilworth, xl.
2. To rouse suddenly ; cause to start, as from
a place of concealment or from a state of re-
pose or security.
Let me thy vigils keep
'Mongst boughs pavilioned, where the deer's swift leap
Startles the wild bee from the foxglove bell.
Keats, Sonnets, iv.
The garrison, startled from sleep, found the enemy al-
ready masters of the towers. Irving, Granada, p. 31.
startle (star'tl), n. [< startle, v.'] A sudden
movement or shock caused by surprise, alarm,
or apprehension of danger; a start.
After having recovered from my first startle, I was very
well pleased with the accident. Spectator.
startler (start'lfer), «. [< startle + -eri.] 1 . One
who or that which starts or is startled. [Rare.]
When, dazzled by the eastern glow,
Such startler cast his glance below.
And saw unmeasured depth around.
Scott, L. of the L., ii. 31.
2. That which startles: as, that was a startler.
[CoUoq.]
startling (stiirt'ling), p. a. [Ppr. of startle, v.]
1. That startles or that excites sudden surprise,
starve
apprehension, fear, or like emotion ; that rouses
or suddenly and forcibly attracts attention: as,
startling news; a startling discovery.
It was startling to hear all at once the sound of voices
singing a solemn hymn.
B. Taylor, Northern Travel, p. 42.
2t. Easily startled or alarmed; skittish; shying.
Ther was also the lorde of the white tour, that was a
noble knyght and an hardy, with vij hundred knyghtes
vpon startelinge stedes. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), li. 257.
The Tyranny of Prelates under the name of Bishops have
made our eares tender and startling.
Milton, Reformation in Eng., ii.
Startlingly (start'ling-li), adv. In a startling
manner ; surprisinglj-.
But who could this be, to whom mere human sympathy
was so startlingly sweet? Curtis, Prue and I, p. 155.
Startlish (stiirt'lish), a. [< startle + -w/ii.]
Apt to start; skittish. [Colloq.]
star-trap (stiir'trap), n. A trap-door on the
stage ot a theater for the disappearance of
gymnastic characters. It consists of five or more
pointed pieces which part when pressure is applied to the
center.
start-up^t (stiirt'up), a. and ?i. [< start up : see
starts, «'.] I. ^. Upstart.
Two junior start-up societies. Swift, Tale of a Tub, L
Whoever weds Isabella, it shall not be Father Falcona*
ra's start-up son. Walpole, Castle of Otranto, iv.
II. n. One who comes suddenly into notice;
an upstart.
That young start-up hath all the glory of my overthrow.
Shak., Much Ado, i. 3. 69.
startup'-^t (start'up), n. - [Usually in pi. start-
ups, also sometimes startopes ; origin uncer-
tain.] A half-boot or buskin, described in the
sixteenth century as laced above the ankle.
Guestres fgaiters], startups; high shooes, or gamashes for
countrey folks. Cotgrave.
Her neat fit startups of green Velvet bee,
Flourisht with silver ; and beneath the knee.
Moon-like, indented ; butt'ned down the side
With Orient Pearls as big as Kilberd's pride,
'Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii.. The Decay.
A stupid lout ... in a grey jerkin, with his head bare,
his hose about his heels, and huge startups upon his feet.
Scott, Kenilworth, xxiv.
starvation (star-va'shon), n. [< starve + -ation.
The word is noted as one of the first (flirtation
being another) to be formed directly from a
native E. verb with the L. term, -ation. It was
first used or brought into notice by Henry
Dundas, first Viscount Melville (hence called
"Starvation Dundas"), in a speech on Ameri-
can affairs, in 1775.] 'The state of starving or
being starved ; extreme suft'ering from cold or
hunger; hence, deprivation of any element es-
sential to nutrition or the proper discharge of
the bodily functions : often used figuratively of
mental or spiritual needs.
Starvation Dundas, whose pious policy suggested that
the devil of rebellion could be expelled only by fasting.
Walpole, To Rev. W. Mason, April 25, 1781.
Starvation was an epithet applied to Mr. Dundas, the
word being, for the first time, introduced into our lan-
guage by him, in a speech, in 1775, in an American debate,
and thenceforward became a nickname: . . . "I shall not
wait for the advent of starvation from Edinburgh to settle
my judgment." Mitford, in Walpole's Letters (ed. Cun-
[ningham), VIII. 30, note.
Whether an animal be herbivorous or carnivorous, it be-
gins to starve from the moment its vital food-stuffs con-
sist of pure amyloids, or fats, or any mixture of them. It
suffers from what may be called nitrogen starvation.
Huxley and Youmans, Physiol., § 170.
starve (starv), v. ; pret. and pp. starved, ppr.
starving. [Early mod. E. also sterve ; < ME.
sterven, steorven (pret. starf, sterf, pp. starven,
storven, i-storve, y-storve), < AS. steorfan (pret.
stearf, pi. sturfon, pp. storfen), die, = OS.
sterbhan = OFries. sterva = I), sterven = MLG.
sterven, LG. starven, sterven = OHG. sterban,
MHG. G. sterben, die ; not found in Goth, or
Scand., except as in the derived Icel. starf,
trouble, labor, toil, work, starfa, toil, work,
stjarfl, epilepsy (= AS. sieorfa, E. dial, starf, a
plague), which indicate that the verb orig.
meant 'labor, be in trouble': cf. Gr. oi KafidvTii;,
the dead, lit. ' those who have labored,' < Ka/jveiv,
labor, toil.] I. intrans. It. To die; perish.
She starf for wo neigh whan she wente.
Chaucer. Troilus, iv. 1419.
He starf in grete age disherited, as the story witnesseth.
Merlin (E. ~ " \ iii. 401.
Specifically — 2. To perish from
nourishment; die of hunger; als
lack of food; pine with hunger ; famish; sufler
extreme poverty.
Starves in the midst of nature's bounty curst,
And in the loaden vineyard dies for thirst.
Addison, Letter from Italy.
starve
3. To perish with cold ; die from cold or ex-
posure; suffer from cold. [Now chiefly Eug.]
Starring with cold «s well u hanger.
Irving. (Imp. Diet.)
4. To suffer for lack of anything that is need-
ed or much desired ; suffer mental or spiritual
want; pine.
Though oar soules doe gterve
For want of knowledge, we doe little care.
Times' WhiMle (E. E. T. S.X p. 15.
I . . . »tan>(! for a meny look. 5Aa*., C. of E.,ii. 1. 88.
n. trans. 1. To cause to perish with hun-
ger; afflict or distress with hunger; famish;
hence, to kill, subdue, or bring to terms by
withholding food or by the cutting off of sup-
plies : as, to starve a garrison into surrender.
Whilit I hare meat and drink, lore cannot gtarve me.
Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, i. 3.
2. To cause to perish with cold ; distress or
affect severely with cold; benumb utterly;
chill. [Now chiefly Eng.]
AUe the mete he sayes at on bare worde.
The potage fyrat with brede y-cornyn,
Coaerys hom agayn lest they beii itoruyn.
5911
See out under SteUaria. — 2. Any species of the
genus Aster, the name alluding to the stellate
rays of the heads, specifically, in England, A. Tripo-
hum, the sea-starwort. a salt-marsh species. The Italian
starwort is A. Amellus, of central and southern Europe.
3. Tlie genus ValUtriche, more properly irater-
staru-ort. Also stor-(jf»-a««. —Drooping starwort,
the blazmg-star. Chamxlirium Carotiiuanmn.-Illea.ly
starwort, the colic-root, Aletris farinom. It is tonic,
anil in larger doses narcotic, emetic, and cathartic— Yel-
low starwort, the elecampane.
Stasidion (sta-sid'i-ou), «.; pi. stasidia{-a.). [<
MGr. araaidiov. a stall, dim. of oraoif, a stand-
ing-place.] In the Gr. Cli., a stall in a church,
as of a patriarch, hegumen, or monk. Origi-
nally the stasidia seem to have been places for
standing only (whence the name).
Stasimon (stas'i-mon), «.; pi. stasima (-mii).
[< Gr. aramftov (see def.), < ardati, a standing,
station.] In anc. Gr. lit., any song of the chorus
in a drama after the parodos. The parabasis of a
comedy is not, however, called a stasimon. Some authori-
ties limit the use of the term to tragedy. The name is de-
rived not, as stated by scholiasts, from the chorus's stand-
mg still during a stasimon (which cannot have been the
case), but fr.ira the fact that it was sung after they had
'B<;b^'B^k(E: kTsA p. 324 i"'"'." ""'' r"T i" '*'•'' '"■':^'''}'^
Th.. ti • , ^1 Stasunorphy (sta'si-m6r-li). n. [< Gr. araaic.
That kiss .s comfortless standing^ H-' Ap^^. form.] Deviation of form
arising from arrest of growth. Cooke, Manual,
stasis (sta'sis), n. ^NL., < Gr. ardmc, a stand-
ing, a stoppage, < iaravai, mid. and pass, ctrraaeai,
stand: see«tanrf.] 1. In paMo/., a stopping of
the blood in some part of the circulation, as in
a part of an inflamed area.— 2. PI. staseis or
stases. In the Gr. Ch., one of the sections
(regularly three) of a cathisma, or portion of
the psalter. At the end of each stasis Gloria Patri and
AUeluta are said. The name probably comes from the
pause (a-rairit) in the psalmody so made. A stasis usually
~R'y,^„M^ i«.Ao..ri„. contains two or three psalms. See cathifma (a).
^r7l fSm nV tbr„^„f2v p ^ , ^- 8*a*- A° abbreviation of statute OT statutet : as.
&4a?^:j "?p-rov^eV"'' """"""• ^°«- 1^' '' bern*'st'a\\d"or^e'x;rsel.-"*'*-^ "''-
sfred'&K: ""4r., stripped Of its '1^X:^l^^J^^l^:.^-!i^^
starveling (stSrv'hng), ». and a. [Formerlv gtatant fsta'tantt a T< heral
al.so s,.rfi»g;< starve + -i.„<,l.] I. L A starv"- X P* ^tta^f L^v.^ to "f!
ing or starved person; an animal or a plant ' .^ vw jl .
that is ma<le thin or lean and weak through
want of nourishment.
Snch a meagre troop, such thln-chapp'd Manelingt,
Their barking stomachs hardly could refrain
From swallowing up the (oe ere they bad alain him.
Randdpk, Jealooa Lovers, ill. 4.
n. a. Starving (from hunger or cold); hun-
gry; lean; pining with want.
Sending beards of bodIs Marriing to Hell, while they
feast and riot upon theUboara of hireling Curats.
As frozen water to a gtarved snake.
Shai., Tit. And., Hi. 1. 252.
From beds of raging fire to starve in ice
Their soft ethereal warmth. Milton, P. L., ii. 600.
What a sad fire we have got, and I dare say you are lioth
itanxd with cold. Jane Aiulen, JJanslleld Park, xxxviii.
3. To cause to perish through lack of any
kind; deprive of life, vigor, or force through
want; exhaust; stunt.
If the words be but becoming and signifying, and the
sense gentle, there is juice ; but, where that wanteth, the
language is thin, flagging, poor, ttanxd
estant, standing, < L. 'stan(t-)s,
ppr. of stare, stand: see stand.']
In her., standing still with all
four feet on the ground sta-
tant amront^. See at gaze (p), under
'jnze.
Statarian (sta-ta'ri-an), a. [<
L. statarius, stationary, steady (status, stand-
ing),+-a».] Steady; well-discipUned. [Rare.]
A detachment of your tiatarian soldier*.
A. Tveker, light of Nature, n. IL 23.
Lion stataat i^ar-
dant.
[< Statarian
[Bare.]
ififlon. Apology for Smectymnaus _* ^ . , ,,.,.,. ,.
starvent. An obsolete past participle of starry. + ,,5T f./f ^ ? n-an-h), adv
Hani,l (Arber-s Eng. Gamer, I. 587). ' " ' + -'V-l i" a statarian manner
Starrer (star'v^r), n. One who starves orcauses ^^ tatarianty di«:lpllned battalion.
stiirvul ion. ,/. 8. Mill, On Liberty, iii. ^- ^^^"- LlRht of Nature, II. II. 28.
Starward (stiir'ward), adv. [< atari + -nard.] Sftatary (sta'ta-ri), a. [< L. statarius, station-
To or toward the 'stars. C'ar/j^te, Sartor Resar- """J'' steady, < »«ar«, stand.] Stated; fixed; set-
tus, ii. 6. tied. Sir T. Browne, \\i\a. Err., v. 23.
starward (star'ward), a. [< stancard, adv.]
Poiiitiii|r or reaching to the stars. """ '
Blackie,
(Enei/c. Diet.)
Lays of {lighlands, etc., p. 92.
[Rare.]
star-wheel (stSr'hwel), n. A spur-wheel the
teeth of which are V-shaped,
with an angle of 60°. gucb
wheels are now little used, eicept
(o) In the winding-mechanism of
the clotb-beama In some kinds of
looms, where tbeir taetb are en-
gaged byclicks: (6) foraome other
special VurpoMs, as in modlflca-
tlons of the Genera movement.
etc. : and (c) in clock-motions, the
teeth of the star-wheel enga^ng
with a pin on the hour-wheel, by
which the star-wheel is intermit-
tently turned aluna one tooth for every revolatlon of the
hour-whi. I : tIjlH movement Is aaed In repeating-clocks.
d
Sur-wheel.
drop; i, pawl ; r, disk :
d, (tar.wheel.
tied. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., v. 23.
state (stat), n. and a. [< ME. stat, staat, state,
condition, existence, also estat, < OP. estat. eata,
P. e'to< = Sp. Pg. estado = It. stato = MD. staet,
D. staat = MLG. stat = G. staat = Sw. Dan.
stat, state, the state, < L. status (statu-), man-
ner of standing, attitude, position, carriage,
manner, dress, apparel ; also a position, place ;
situation, condition, circumstances, position
in society, rank; condition of society, public
order, public affairs, the commonwealth, the
state, government, constitution, etc.; in ML. in
numerous other uses; < stare (pp. status, used
only as pp. of the transitive form sistere), stand :
see stand. The noun is in part (def. 15) appar.
from the verb. Doublet of estate, status.'] I. n.
1. Mode or form of existence; position; pos-
ture; situation; condition: as, the «<ate of one's
health: the state of the roads; a state of un-
andalB.. inr.fi;i»tcrlni{.mechanism,addlng.machrnes ete! "™'^!'= '"^ "'^^ <" we roaas; a State of un
—Star-wheel andJainp«r,lnAom<..an arrangement of certainty or of excitement; the present unsat-
f .,"!fLi'!i."'.'i...'"..™',''?_°",T'"'. ? P'" "" fhe minute wheel, isfactory State of affairs.
Nor shall he smile at thee in secret thought.
Nor laugh with his companions at thy state.
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 1086.
O sec how flcklc is their state
That doc on fntvB depend !
The Legend a/ King Arthur (('hiid's Ballads, I. 64).
Keep the ital* of the question In year eye. Boyle.
by which the snail Is caused to move in an intermittent
manner, or by Jumps.
star-worm (stiir'w^-rm), n. A gephyrean worm ;
any fujc of the Gephyrea.
starwort (stiir'wfert), n. [< starl + irortl.] 1.
Anv tilaiit of the genus Stellaria, the species of
wliich have white starry flowers; ch^kweed.
state
The solitude of such a mind is its state of highest en-
joyment. Irving, Sketch-Book, p. 29.
The present conscious state, when I say " I feel tired "
IS not the direct state of tire ; when I say "I feel anurv'"
It IS not the direct state of anger.
W. James, Prin. of Psychol., I. 190.
2. Political or social position or status; sta-
tion ; standing in the world or the community;
rank; condition; quality.
These Italian bookes are made English, to bryng mis-
chief enough openly and boldly to all states, greate and
meane, yong and old, euery where.
Ascham, The Scholemaster, p. 81.
A train whioti well beseem'd his state.
But all unarm'd, around him wait.
Scott, Marmion, iv. 7.
3. A class or order: same as estate, 9.
We hold that God's clergy are a slate which hath been
and wUI be as long as there is a Church upon earth, ne-
cessary by the plain word of God himself.
Booker, Eccles. Polity, iii. 11.
4. Style of living; mode of life; especially,
the dignity and pomp befitting a person of high
degree or large wealth.
Do you know, sir.
What state she carries? what great obedience
Waits at her beck continually?
_ „,_ ^ ,. Fletcher, M&d Lover, i.l.
0. btateliness; dignity.
The Abbess, seeing strife was vain.
Assumed her wonted state again —
For much of state she had.
Scott, Marmion, v. 31.
6t. A person of high rank ; a noble ; a person-
age of distinction.
The twelve Peeres or Stales of the Kingdome of France
1660. Hexham.
Quoted in Babees Book(E. E. T. .S.), Index, p. 120.
First you shall see the men in order set,
States and their Pawns.
Middleton, Game at Chess, Prol.
7t. A seat of dignity; a dais; a chair of state,
usually on a raised platform, with or without a
canopy; also, this canopy itself.
The state . . . was placed in the upper end of the hall.
B. Jonton, Mask of Blackness.
It Is your seat ; which, with a general suffrage,
, . „ (Offering Timoleon the state.
As to the supreme magistrate, Sicily tenders.
Massinger, Bondman, i. 3.
The Queene Consort sat under a state on a black foot-
cloth, to entertain the circle.
Evelyn, Diary, March 5, 1685.
8t. The crisis, or culminating point, as of a dis-
ease; that point in the growth or course of a
thing at which decline begins.
Tumours have their several degrees and times ; as be.
ginning, augment, slate, and declination.
Wiseman, Surgery.
9. Continuance of existence ; stability.
By a man of understanding and knowledge the state
thereof (of a land) shall be prolonged. Prov. xxviii. 2.
lOf. Estate; income; possession.
I judge them, first, to have their states conflscate.
B. Joneon, Catiline, y. 8.
1 1 . The whole people of one body politic ; the
commonwealth: usually with the definite ar-
ticle; in a particular sense, a civil and self-
governing community ; a commonwealth.
In Aleppo once,
Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk
Beat a Venetian and traduced the slate.
Shak., Othello, v. 2. 364.
A State is a community of persons living within certain
limits of territory, under a permanent organization, which
alms to secure the prevalence of Justice by self-imposed
■'"'• Woolsey, Introd. to Inter. Law, « 36.
12. The power wielded by the government of
a country; the civil power, often as contrasted
with the ecclesiastical : as, the union of church
and state. — 13. One of the commonwealths or
bodiespolitio which together make up a federal
republic, which stand in certain specified rela-
tions with the central or national government,
and as reganls internal affairs are more or less
independent. Inthis sense the word «*o«« is used chief-
ly with reference to the several States (generally cap.) of
the American Union, the United States of America. The
relations between the individual states and the national or
central government of Mexico, Brazil, and vaiious other
republics of the American continent are formed more or
less closely on the model of the United States. Current
designations or epithets of the States of the American
I'nion are the following : Badger State, Wisconsin ; Bay
State, Massachusetts; Bayou State, Mississippi; Bear State
Arkansas, California, Kentucky ; Big-bend State, Tennes-
see; Blue-hen State, Delaware; Blue-law State, Connecti-
cut; Buckeye State, Ohio; Bullion State, Missouri; Cen-
tennial state, Colorado; Corn-cracker State, Kentucky;
Cracker state, Georgia ; Creole State, Louisiana ; Dark and
Blomly Ground, Kentucky; Diamond .State, Delaware- Em-
pire State, New York : Empire State of the South, Geoigia ;
Excelsior State. New York : Freestone State, Conncctiiut ;
Garden State, Kansas; Golden State, California; Gopher
State, Minnesota; Granite State, New Hampshire; Green
Mountain SUte, Vermont ; Gulf State, norfda ; Hawkeye
state
state, Iowa; Hoosier Stat«, Indiana; Keystone State,
Pennsylvania; Lake State, ilicitigan; Land of Steady
Habits, Connecticut; Little Rhody, Rhotie Island; Lone-
Btar State. Texas ; Lumber State, Maine ; Mother of Presi-
dents, Viiyiuia ; Mother of States, Virginia ; Mudcat State,
Mississippi; Xew England of the West, Minnesota; Old
Ct>lony, Massachusetts; Old IViminion, Virginia ; Old-line
State, Maryland ; Old Xorth State, 5orth t.'ai-olina ; Pal-
metto State, South faroUna; Pan-handle State, West Vir-
ginia; Pelican State, Louisiana ; Peninsula State, Florida;
Pine-tree State, Alaine; l*rairie State, Illinois; Sage-hen
State. Nevada ; Silver State, Nevada ; Squatter State, Kan-
sas ; Sucker State, Illinois ; Turpentine State, North Cai-o-
liiia ; Web foot State, Oregon ; Wolverine State, Michigan ;
Wooden Nutmeg State, Connecticut,
14. pi. [crtj).] The legislativabody in the island
of Jersey, it consists of the bailiff, jurats of the royal
court, constables, rectors of the parislies, and fourteen
deputies. The lieutenant-governor has the veto power.
Guernsey has a similar body, the Deliberative States, and
a more popular assembly, the Elective States.
15t. A statement; a document containing a
statement, or showing the state or condition of
something at a given time; an account (or the
like) stated. — 16. In engraving, an impression
taken from an engraved plate in some particu-
lar stage of its progress, recognized by certain
distinctive marks not seen on previous impres-
sions or on any made subsequently unless cou-
pled with fresh details. There may be seven,
eight, or more states from one plate. — 17. In
bot., a form or phase of a particular plant.
Sticta Unita . . . was recognized as occurring in the
United States by Delise, . . . and Dr. Nylander (Syn., p.
S63) speaks of a staU from Arctic America.
Tudtennan, Genera Lichenum, p. 35.
Border State, inU.S. hist., one of those slave States which
bordered upon the free States. They were Delaware, Mary-
land, Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri. — Cap Of state,
in her., a bearing representing the head-dress woni in the
middle ages by the lord mayor of London on his instilla-
tion, like a short cone with a ring, as of fur, around the
head.— Chair Of state. See cAat'r. — civil state. See
cjoif.— Cloth of state. See cWA.— Commissioner for
the State of, etc. See co?tt7«i.s-m«^^.— Confederate
States of America, construct state, cotton States.
See the qualifying words. — Council of State. Sue coun-
cil.— Cretinoid state, myxedema.— Department of
State. See department.— 'Dodrias of States' rights, in
U. S. hisL, the doctrine that to the separate States of the
Union belong all rights and privileges not specially dele-
gated by the Constitution to the general government ; the
doctrine of strict construction of the Constitution. In this
form the doctrine has always been and is still held as one
of the distinctive principles of the Democratic party. Be-
fore the civil war the more radical believers in the doctrine
of States' rights held that the separate States possessed all
the powers and rights of sovereignty, and that the Union
was only a federation from which each of the States had
a right to secede.- Ecclesiastical statet, ftee States.
See the adjectives. — In a state Of nature. See nature.
-Intermediate, maritime state. See the adjectives.
—Middle States, see jmiirffe.— Military state, that
brancli of the government of a state or nation by which its
military power is exercised, including all who by reason of
their service therein are under military autliority and reg-
ulation.— Purse of state, in her. See purse. — Reason of
state. See rcmon.— Slave State. See siaocs.- south-
ern states, the states in the southern part of the United
States, generally regarded as the same as the former
slave States.— Sovereign state. See goyerei^n.- State
of facts, in law, a technical term sometimes used of a
written statement of facts in the nature of or a substitute
for pleadings, or evidence, or both. — State of progress.
See projre**.- State's evidence. See Knit's evideiKe,
under evidenee.— States of the Church, or Papal
States, the former temporal dominions of the Pope. Tney
were principally in central Italy, and extended from about
Ravenna and Ancona on the Adriatic to the Mediterra-
nean, including Rome. Their origin dates from a grant
made by Pepin the Short in the middle of the eighth cen-
tury. The territory was greatly reduced in 1860, and the
remainder was annexed in 1870 to the kingdom of Italy
(with a few small exceptions, including the Vatican and
its dependencies).— The States, (a) The Netherlands.
(ft) The United States of America: as, he has sailed from
Liverpool for the States. [Great Britain and her colonies. ]
— To keep state, to assume the pomp, dignity, and re-
serve of a person of high rank or degree ; act or conduct
one's self with pompous dignity ; hence, to be difficult of
access.
.Seated in thy silver chair.
Stajie in wonted manner keep.
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Bevels, v. 3.
To lie in state, to be placed on view in some public place,
surrounded with ceremonious pomp and solemnity : said
of a dead person. = Syn. 1 and 2. See situation.
II. a. 1. Of or pertaining to the community
or body politic; public: as, «tote affairs; state
policy ; a state paper.
To send the state prisoners on board of a man of war
which lay off Leith. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., V. 31.
2. Used on or intended for occasions of great
pomp or ceremony: as, a state carriage. — 3.
Of or pertaining to one of the commonwealths
which make up a federal republic : opposed to
national: as, state rights; a state prison; state
legislatures state hanlcs. See bank2, 4.— State
carriage. See carria.-ye.- state church. Hee established
church, under church. — State criminal, one who com-
mits an offense against the state, .as ti-eason ; a political
offender.- State domain, gallantry, law. See the
nouns. — State lands, lands granted to or owned by a
state, for internal improvements, educational purposes,
etc.— State paper, (a) A paper prepared under the dl-
5912
rection of a state, and relating to its political Interests or
government. (&) A newspaper selected, by or pursuant
to liiw, for the publication of official or legal notices.—
State prison (a) A jail for political offenders only. (6)
A prison maintained by a State for the regular confine-
ment of felons under sentence to imprisonment: distin-
guished from county and city jails, in which are confined
misdemeanants, and felons awaiting trial, or awaiting ex-
ecution of the duiith penalty, and from reformatories, etc.
[U. S.] — State prisoner, sword, etc. See the nouns.
state (stat), V. t. ; pret. and pp. stated, ppr. stat-
ing. [< sta/e, «.] 1. To set; fix; settle; es-
tablish; stablish: as, to state a day: chiefly
used in the past participle.
And you be stated in a double hope.
B. Jojison, Volpone, iii. 6.
2t. To settle as a possession upon ; bestow or
settle upon.
You boast to me
Of a great revenue, a large substance.
Wherein you would endow and state my daughter.
Middleton and Rowley, Fair Quarrel, i. 1.
3. To express the particulars of; set down in
detail or in gross; represent fully in words;
make known specifically ; explain particularly ;
narrate ; recite : as, to 5<a^e an opinion ; to state
the particulars of a ease.
I pretended not fully to state, much less demonstrate,
the truth contained in the text. Atterbury.
4. In laio, to aver or allege. Thus, statiny a case
to be within the purview of a statute is simply alleging
that it is ; while showing it to be so consists in a disclosure
of the facts which bring it within the statute. — Account
Stated. See acco«>l(. — Case stated. See ease agreed,
under easel.- To state itt, to keep state. See state, n.
Wolsey began to state it at York as high as ever.
Fuller, Ch. Hist., V. ii. 4. (Davies.)
=S3m. 3. Speak, Tell, etc. (see soyi), specify, set forth.
statet (stat), fl. [Irreg. used for stete/y.] State-
ly. Spenser, Shep. (Jal., September.
statecraft (stat'kraft), n. The art of conduct-
ing state affairs; state management; states-
mansliip.
stated (sta'ted), p. a. Settled; established;
regular; occurring at regular intervals; ap-
pointed or given regularly.
It was his manner to use stated hours and places for ex-
ercises of devotion. Steele, Englishman, No. 26.
The stated and unquestionable fee of his office.
Addison.
Stated clerk, the principal clerk of Presbyterian church
courts in the United States, usually associated in the
superior courts with an official called a jfermanent clerk.
The stated clerk of the General Assembly is the custodian
of all the books, records, and papers of the court, and has
charge of the printing and distribution of the minutes and
other documents as ordered by the Assembly.
statedly (sta'ted-li), adv. At stated or settled
' times ; regularly ; at certain intervals ; not oc-
casionally. Imp. Diet.
Statefult (staffil), a. [< state + -ful.'] Full
of state ; stately.
A state/ull silence in his presence.
Marston and Webster, Malcontent, i. 5.
statehood (stat'hud), ». [< state + -hood.l The
condition or status of a state.
state-house (stat'hous), n. The public build-
ing in which the legislature of a State holds its
sittings ; the capitol of a State. [U. 8.]
stateless (stat'les), a. [< state + -less.'] With-
out state or pomp.
Statelily (stat'li-li), adv. In a stately manner.
Sir H. Taylor, Philip van Artevelde, I., v. 9.
[Rare.]
Stateliness (stat'li-nes), n. The character or
quality of being stately; loftiness of mien or
manner; ma.iestic appearance ; dignity.
stately (stat'li), a. [< ME. statly, estatlich =
MD. staetelick, t>. statelijk = ML6. statelich, stat-
lich = Dan. statelig, stately; appar. confused
in MLG., etc., with MHG. *statelich, G. stattlich,
stately, excellent, important, seeming; cf. the
adv. ()HGr. statelicho, properly (< stat, opportu-
nity, etc. ; akin to E. stead, place : see stead),
MHGr. stateliche, statlich, properly, moderately,
G. stattlich, magnificently, excellently, etc.; as
state + -?(/!.] Grand, lofty, or majestic in pro-
portions, bearing, manner, or the like; digni-
fied; elevated: applied to persons or to things.
These regions have abundance of high cedars, and other
stately trees casting a shade. Raleigh, Hist. World.
The veneration and respect it [the picture of the Duchess
of Omiond] fills me with . . . will make those who come
to visit me think I am grown on the sudden wonderful
stately and reserved.
Su-ift, To the Duchess of Ormond, Dec. 20, 1712.
= Syn. August, etc. (see majestic), imperial, princely, royal,
palatial, pompous, ceremonious, formal.
stately (stat'li), adv. [< stately, a.] In a stately
manner.
Ye that walk
The earth, and stately tread, or lowly creep.
Milton, P. L., v. 201.
stateswoman
statement (stat'ment), n. [< state + -ment.'i
1. The act of stating, reciting, or presenting
verbally or on paper. — 2. That which is stated ;
a formal embodiment in language of facts or
opinions; a narrative; a recital; the expres-
sion of a fact or of an opinion ; account ; re-
port: as, a verbal statement; a written state-
ment; a bank statement ; a doctrinal statement.
— Calculus of equivalent statements. See calculus.
state-monger (stat'mung"ger), n. One who is
versed in politics, or dabbles in state affairs.
Imp. Diet.
Staterl (sta'ter), n. [< state + -erl.] One who
states.
stater''' (sta'ter), n. [< L. stater, < Gr. m-an'/p,
a standard of weight or money, a Persian gold
coin, also a silver (or sometimes gold) coin of
certain Greek states, < iaravai, mid. and pass.
laraaBai, stand.] A general name for the princi-
pal or standard coin of various cities and states
of ancient Greece. The common signification is a gold
coin equal in weight to two druchmfie of Attic standard, or
about 132.6 grains, and in value to twenty drachma?. There
were also in various states staters of Euboic and .*;ginetan
standards. The oldest staters, those of Lydia. said to have
been first coined by Crcesus. were struck in the pale gold
called electrum. At the period of Greek decline the silver
tetradrachm was called stater. This coin is the " piece of
money " (equivalent to a Jewish shekel) of Mat. xvii. 27. As
a general term for a standard of weight, the name stater
was given to the Attic mina and the Sicilian litra.
state-room (stat'rom), n. 1. A room or an
apartment of state in a palace or great house.
— 2. In the United States navy, an officer's
sleeping-apartment (called cabin in the British
navy). — 3. A small private sleeping-apart-
ment, generally with accommodation for two
persons, on a passenger-steamer. Compare
cabin, 3. — 4. A similar apartment in a sleep-
ing-car. [U. S.]
states-general (stats'jen'e-ral), n. 111. The
bodies that constitute the legislature of a coun-
try, in contradistinction to the assemblies of
provinces; specifically [cap.'], the name given
to the legislative assemblies of France before
the revolution of 1789, and to those of the
Netherlands.
statesman (stats'man), «.; pi. statesmen (-men).
[= D. staatsman = G. staatsmann = Sw. stats-
man = Dan. statsmand ; as staters, poss. of state,
-(- man.1 1. A man who is versed in the art of
government, and exhibits conspicuous ability
and sagacity in the direction and management
of public affairs; a politician in the highest
sense of the term.
It is a weakness which attends high and low : the states-
man who holds the helm, as well as the peasant who
holds the plough. South.
The Eastern politicians never do anything without the
opinion of the astrologers on the fortunate moment. . . .
Statesmen of a more judicious prescience look for the for-
tunate moment too ; but they seek it, not in the conjunc-
tions and oppositions of planets, but in the conjunctions
and oppositions of men and things.
Burke, Letter to a Member of the Nat. Assembly, 1791.
2. One who occupies his own estate; a small
landholder. [Prov. Eng.]
The old statesmen or peasant proprietors of the valley
had for the most part succumbed to various destructive
infiuences, some social, some economical, added to a cer-
tain amount of corrosion from within.
Mrs. Humphry Ward, Robert Elsmere, I. ii.
= Syn. 1. See jmlitician.
statesmanlike (stats'man-lik), a. [< statesman
-f- lil'e.~\ Having the manner or the wisdom of
statesmen ; worthy of or befitting a statesman :
as, a statcsmanlilx measure.
Statesmanly (stats'man-li), a. Relating to or be-
fitting a statesman ; statesmanlike. De Quincey.
statesmanship (stats'man-ship), n. [< states-
man + -ship.] The qualifications or employ-
ments of a statesman; political skill, in the
higher sense.
The petty craft so often mistaken for statesmanship by
minds grown narrow in habits of intrigue, jobbing, and
official etiquette. Macaulay, Mill on Government.
state-socialism (stat'so'shal-izm), «. A scheme
of government which favors the enlargement of
the functions of the state as the best way to
introduce the reforms urged by socialists for
the amelioration of the poorer classes, as the
nationalization of land, state banks where
credit shall be given to laboring men, etc.
state-socialist (stat'so'shal-ist), «. A believer
in the principles of state-socialism ; one who
favors the introduction of socialistic innova-
tions through the agency of the state.
stateswoman (stats'wum'an), «. ; pi. states-
icomen (-wim'en). [< state's, poss. of state, +
woman.] A woman who is versed in or meddles
with public affairs, or who gives evidence of po-
litical shrewdness or ability. [Rare.]
i
stateswoman
How she was in debt, and where she meant
To raise fresh sums : she 's a great stateswoman /
B. Jonson,
stathe (stath), «. [Also staith, staithe ; early
mod. E. also stayth, steyth; < ME. stathe (AF.
stathe), < AS. stseth, later steth, bank, shore,
= Icel. stodh, a harbor, roadstead, port, land-
ing; akin to AS. stede, stead: see stead.'] A
landing-place; a wharf. [Obsolete or prov.
Eng.]
stathmograph (stath'mo-graf), n. [< Gr. araB-
ftav, measure, -t- jpa^tir, write.] An instrn-
meut for indicating and registering the velo-
city of railroad-trains : a form of veloeimeter.
K.H. Knight.
static (stat'ik), a. [< Gr. 0707016^, causing to
stand, pertaining to standing, < oraToc, verbal
adj. of laravai, mid. and pass. IcraoBai, stand : see
stusis, stand.] If. Pertaining to weight and the
theory of weight. — 2. Same as statical Static
atajda, inability to stand without falling or excessive
swaying, especially with closed eyes, as in tabes. — Static
?:aiigrene, gangrene resulting from mechanic.1l obstnic-
ion to the return of blood from a part — Static refrac-
tion. See re/raction.
statical (stat'i-kal), «. [< static + -«/.] 1.
Pertaining to bodies at rest or to forces in equi-
libriiun. — 2. Acting by mere weight without
producing motion: as, statical pressure Stati-
cal electricity. See electri<nty.— Sia.tical induction.
.See i«(/i/<:^"'>/i, f..— Statical manometer. Sce muiwrneter.
statically (stat'i-kal-i), adv. In a statical man-
ner ; according to statics.
Statice (stat'i-se), M. [NL. (Toumefort, 1700),
< Gr. OTOTiKT/, an astringent herb, fem. of arart-
n>r, causing to stand: see static.'] A genus of
gamopetalous plants,
of the order Plumba-
fjinese, type of the tribe
Statief/e. It is character-
ized by its acaulescent or
tufted herbaceous or some-
what shrubby habit, flat al-
ternate leaves. Inflorescence
commonly cymose and com-
posed of one-sided spikes,
stamens but slightly united
to the petals, and styles dis-
tinct to the angles of the
ovary, with capitate, oblong.
or linear stigmas. Over 120
species have been described,
natives of the sea-sbore and
of desert sand& rooatly of the
Old World, and of the north-
em hemisphere, especially
of the Mediterranean region.
A smaller number occur in
America, South Africa, tropi-
cal Asia, and Australia. 1°bey
are usually perennials; a
few are diminutive loosely
branched shrubs. They are
smooth or covered with scurf
or dust. The leaves vary from linear to obovate, and from
entire to pinnatifld or dissected ; they form a rosette at
the root, or are crowded or scattered upon the branches.
The short-pedicelled coroUa consists of Ave nearly or quite
distinct petals with long claws, and is commonly sur-
rounded by a funnel-shaped calyx which is ten-ribbed
below, and scarious, plicate, and colored alwve, but usually
of a different color from the corolla, which is often white
with a purple or larender calyx and porplisb-brown pedi-
cel. They are known in general as lea-lavender. The
common European S. Limonium is also sometimes called
manh-beet from its purplish root ; it is the red hehen of the
old apothecaries. Its American variety, CanUmana, the
marsn-roaemary of the coast from Newfooodland to Texas,
is also known as eanter-not, from the use as an astringent
of its large Utter fleshy root, which also contains tannic
acid (whence its name ink-Toot\ The very large roots of
S. lalifMa axe used for tanning in Kussta and Spain, and
those of S. mueronata as a nervine in Morocco under the
name of tnfr\fa. Other species also form valued remedies,
as S. BrataientU. the gnaycura of Brazil and southward.
Many species are cultivated for their beauty, as S. lati-
fnlia, and S. arbontcent, a shrub from the Canaries. In
Afghanistan, where several species grow lo desert regions,
they form a source of fuel,
Staticeae (sta-tis'e-e), n. pi. [XL. (Endlioher,
\KW>), < Statice + ^a.] A tribe of plant.s, of the
order /'/umJajri/wa?, distinguished from the other
trihv ( Plumbagete) by flowers n-jth a commonly
spreading, scarious, and colored calyx-border,
stamens nnited to the petals at the base or
higher, and styles distinct to the middle or the
base. It includes 5 genera, of which Statiix Is the type.
They are commonly scanlescent plants, very largely mari-
time, and of the Mediterranean region.
statics (stat'iks), M. [PI. of static (see -ics). Cf .
F. statique, < Gr. OTaTiKJj, the art of weighing,
fern, of OTOTiKdf, causing to stand: see static]
That branch of mechanics which treats of the
relations of strains and stresses, or of the fig-
ures of bodies in equilibrium and of the magni-
tudes and directions of the pressures Cbeini-
cal, graphical, social rtatlca. See the adjectives.
station (sta'shon), n. [< ME. stacinn, < OF. sta-
tion, stai-ion, eslafon, cstachon, estaisun, etc., P.
tr\owetWKf\aatot statice Limo-
MtuM.yar. Curvttittama.
a, the flower with Its bracts.
5913
station = Sp. estacion = Pg. estagSo = It. sta-
zione = D. G. Sw. Dan. station, < L. staUo(n-),
a standing, place of standing, station, a post,
abode, dwelling, position, office, etc., < stare,
stand: see state, stand.] 1. A standing still;
a state of rest or inactivity. [Obsolete or
archaic]
Her motion and her station are as one.
Shak., A. andt'., iii. 3. 22.
Man's life is a progress, and not a station.
Emerson, Compensation.
2. Manner of standing; attitude; pose: rare
except in the specific uses.
An eye like Mara to threaten and command;
A station like the herald ilercury.
New-lighted on a heaven-liissing hill.
Shak., Hamlet, iii. 4. 58.
Specifically— (a) In ^ned., the steadiness (freedom from
swaying) with which one stands. (6) The manner of stand-
ing or the attitude of live stock, particularly of exhibition
game fowls : as, a duckwing game-cock of standard high
station.
3. The spot or place where anything habitually
stands or exists ; particularly, the place to which
a person is appointed and which he occupies
for the performance of some duty ; assigned
post : as, a life-boat station ; an obser>-ing-«ta-
tion ; the station of a sentinel ; the several sta-
tions of the officers and crew of a ship when
the fire-signal is sounded.
If that service ye now do want,
What station will ye be?
Blaneheflour and,/eHi(/fori<r«(Child's Ballads, IV. 297).
One of our companions took his station as sentinel upon
the tomb of the little mosque. O'Donoxian, Merv, xx.
4. The place where the police force of any
district is assembled when not on duty; a dis-
trict or branch police office. See police station,
under police. — 5. The place where the British
officers of a district in India, or the officers of
a garrison, reside ; also, the aggregate of soci-
ety in such a place : as, to ask the station to din-
ner. Tule and Burnell, Anglo-Indian Glossary.
The little bills done by the rich bunneahs, the small
and great pecuniary relations between the station and the
bazaar. W. U. Russell, Diary in India, I. 194.
6. The condition or position of an animal or
a plant in its habitat, or its relation to its en-
vironment : often used synonjTuously with hab-
itat (but habitat is simply the place where an
animal or plant lives, station the condition un-
der which it lives there).
The males and females of the same species of butterfly
are known In several cases to inhabit different stations,
the former commonly basking in the sunshine, the latter
haunting gloomy forests.
Dctncin, Descent of Man, I. 391.
7. Insure: (o) The place selected for planting
the instrument with which an observation is to
be made. (6) A fixed uniform distance (usu-
ally the length of a chain of 100 feet, or 66 feet,
or half the length of a twenty-meter chain)
into which a line of survey is divided. The
stations are consecutively numbered. — 8. A
stock-farm. [Australia.] — 9. A regular stop-
ping-place, (a) One of the stages or regular stopping-
places at which pilgrims to Rome or other holy place
were wont to stop and rest, as a church or the tomb of a
martyr. (ft)Oneoi the places at which ecclesiastical proces-
sions pause for the penormance of an act of devotion, as a
church, the tombof^amartyr, or some similar sacred spot.
Hence — (e) The religions procession to and from or the
service of devotion at these places, (rf) One of the rep-
resentations of the successive stages of Christ's passion
which are often placed round the naves of churches, and
by the sides of the way leading to sacred edifices, and
which are visited in rotation. («) In the early church, the
place appointed at church for eacll class of worshipers,
more especially for each grade i>f penitents; hence, the
status, condition, or class so indicated. (/) A place where
railway-trains regularly stop fur the taking on of passen-
gers or freight ; nence, the buildings erected at such a
place for railway business ; a depot
10. Kcrles.: (a) In the en Wy WiurcA, an assem-
bly of the faithful in the church, especially for
the celebration of the eneharist. (6) The fast
and service on Wednesday and Friday (except
between Easter and Pentecost), in memory of
the council which condemned Christ, and of
hi.s pa.ssion. These are still maintained by the fireek
Chnn-h. liut the fast of Wednesday in the Western Church
has been abrogated, (c) Among Roman Catholics,
a church where indulgences are to be obtained
on certain days. — 11. Situation; position.
The head has the most beautiful appearance, as well as
the highest Nation, in a human figure.
Addison, Spectator, No. 98.
12. Status; rank; standing; specifically, rank
or standing in life; social state or position;
condition of life ; hence, high rank or standing.
They in France of the best rank and station.
Shak., Uaralet, 1. 3. 73.
stationer
He never courted men in station.
Suift, Death of Dr. Swift
Content may dwell in all stations.
Sir T. Browne, Christ Mor., L 27.
Given as a tonic, but not worthy an officinal station.
l>ungtison, Med. Diet.
13. In mining, an enlargement made in a shaft,
level, or gangway to receive a pump, bob, tank,
or machinery of any kind.— False station, in surv.
Sec .feise.- Life-saving station, a station on a sea-coast
furnished witli life-boats and other apparatus for saving
life from sllipwreci;.- Military Station, a place where
troops are regularly kept in garrison.— Naval station,
a safe and commodious shelter or harbor for the warlike
or commercial ships of a nation, where there is a dock-
yard and everything requisite for the repair of ships.—
Outside station. See outside. = Syn. 9 if). See depot.
station (sta'shgn), v. t. {< station, n.] To as-
sign a station or position to: as, to station
troops on the right or left of an army; to sta-
tion a sentinel on a rampart; to station one's
self at a door.
Not less one glance he caught
Thro' open doors of Ida station'd there
Unshaken, clinging to her purpose.
Tennyson, Princess, v.
Stational (sta'shon-al), a. [< L. stationalis,
standing still, fixed," < statio[n-), a standing
still, a post: see station.] Of or pertaining to
a station.
Stationariness (sta'shon-a-ri-nes), n. Station-
ary character or quality; iSxity: as, the station-
ariness of the barometer ; the stationariness of
rents. J. S. Mill, On Liberty, iii.
stationary (sta'shqn-a-ri), a. and n. [= F.
stationnairc = Sp. fg. cstacionario = It. sta:io-
nario, < L. slationariiis, pertaining to a post or
station,< statio(n-), a post, station : see station.]
1. a. 1. Having a particular station or place;
remaining in a certain place ; not movable, or
not intended to b« moved ; not moving, or ap-
pearing not to move; technically, without ve-
locity, whether this condition is only instan-
taneous, or whether the body spoken of re-
mains motionless for an interval of time. A
planet is said to be stationary at a turning-point of its
motion, when its longitude is neither increasing nor di-
minishing. The sun is said to be stationary when it
reaches one of the tropics and begins to turn toward the
equinoctial.
2. Remaining in the same condition or state ;
making no progress ; without change ; with
neither increase nor decrease of sjTnptoms, in-
tensity, etc. : as, a stationary temperature.
The ancient philosophy disdained to be useful, and was
content to be stationary. Macaulay, Bacon.
Stationary air, the anmniit of air which remains con-
sliiiitly irj the luiiiis in ordinary respiration.— Station-
ary contact, diseases, engine. See the nouns.— sta-
tionary motion, such a motion of a system that no
particle continually departs further and further from its
original jKjsif ion, nor does its velocity continually increase
or diminish. Ctautniis. — Stationary point, on a curve, a
point where the i)oint generating the curve is stationary
and turns back ; acusp ; a binotle whose two tangents coin-
cide. - Stationary tangent of a curve, a t,™geTit where
the moving tangent generating the curve is stationary and
turns back ; an iiiikition.— Stationary tangent plaine
of a surface, a tangent plane which has stationary contact
with the surface.
II. H.; pi. stationaries (-riz). 1. A person or
thing which remains or continues in the same
place or condition; specifically, one of a force
of permanent or stationary troops.
The stationaries are mine already. So are the soldiery
all the way up the Nile. Kingtley, Hypatia, xx.
Then they are stationaries in their houses, which be in
the middle points of the latitudes, which they call eclip-
tlcks. Holland, tr. of Pliny, ii. 16.
2. One who wishes to stay as or where he is ;
one who opposes or resists progress; an ex-
treme conservatist.
Divided between the pariy of movement and that of re-
sistance—the progressives and the stationaries.
Hue, Travels (trans. 1852), II. 129.
station-bill (sta'shon-bil), n. Naut., a list con-
taining the appointed posts of the ship's com-
pany for all evolutions.
station-calendar (stii'shon-kal'en-dar), n. On
a railroad, a station-indicator.
stationer (sta'shon-6r), n. [Early mod. E. sta-
tyoner ; < ME. stacyonere, < ML. stationarius,
stacionarius, a resident, resident canon, vender
of books, < L. statio{n-), a station, stall: see
station.] If. A bookseller.
Any scurrile pamphlet is welcome to our mercenary
stationers in English.
Burton, Anat of Mel., To the Reader, p. 23.
Anterior to the invention of printing, there flourished a
craft or trade who were denominated stationers; they were
scribes and limners, and dealers in manuscript copies, and
in parchment and paper, and other literary wares.
1. D'lsraeli, Amen, of Lit, IL 432.
stationer
2. One who sells the materials used in writing,
as paper, pens, pencils, ink, etc — Stationers'
Hall, a buiUlinK in London belonging to the jriKl calletl
the ■'I'onipany of Stationers," in whii-h a book is kept for
the registration of copyiiglits. - Stationers' nile. See
rui« I.— WalMng, running, or flying stationer, a hawk-
er of ballads. chap-Kx^ks, pamphlets, and other kinds of
cheap popular literature. Ctompare running patterer, an-
derpatlerer. Tatter, So. 4.
Stationeiry (sta'shon-6r-i), ». and a. [< stationer
+ -_i/''(see-ery).] 1. «. The articles usually sold
by stationers ; the various materials employed
in writing, such as paper, pens, pencils, and ink.
— Stationery office, an office in London which is the me-
dium through which all government offices, both at home
and abroad, are supplied with writing-materials. It also
contracts for the printing of reports, etc. Imp. Diet.
H. «. Relating to writing, or consisting of
writing-materials: as, stationery goods.
station-house (sta'shon-hous), H. 1. Apolice-
station. — 2. The building containing the office,
waiting-rooms, etc., of a railway-station. Tlie
Century. XXXV. 89.
station-indicator ( sta ' shon - in ' d i - ka - tor), n .
On a railway: (o) Abulletin-board at a station
5914:
statuminate
statistics (sta-tis'tiks), «. [PI. of statistic (see statuary (stat'u-a-ri), n^ and n. [= T.^statuaire
-((>•).] 1. A systematic collection of numbers " " '^ "'' ^^ '~' '^
relating to the enumeration of great classes,
or to ratios of quantities connected with such
classes, and ascertained by direct enumeration.
Thus, a table of the populations of the different States
of the American Union is called a table of statvftics; so
is a table showing the percentages of farms in diflerent
parts of tile country that are mortgaged, proviiled these
percentages have been ascertained from direct sampling,
and not calculated by dividing the number of mortgaged
farms by the total number of farms.
The word gtatistics, as the name of a peculiar science,
was first engrafted into our language by Sir John Sinclair.
It comprehends, according to the practice of the German
writers, from whom it was adopted, all those topics of in-
quiry which interest the statesman.
Monthly Rev., 1798, App., p. 553 (N. and Q., 6th ser., XI.
[404).
2. The study of any subject, especially sociolo-
gy, by means of extensive enumerations ; the
science of human society, so far as deduced from
enumoratioiis. —Bureau of Statistics. See bureau.
— Vital statistics, a collection of statistical ratios relat-
ing to the average course of life, including the death-
,. , - •,.,.-,., i- -J i J. rates at different ages, liability to diflerent diseases, etc.
on which are exhibited the time of departure of gtatistology (sta-tis-tol'6-ji), «. [Irreg. < sta-
trains and the stations at which they will stop. ti8t(ics) + Gr. -?ii>yia, < ?Jyeiv, spe; '
(b) A device in a car for exhibiting in succes- - ■ •
sion the names of the stations where stops are
to be made.
station-master (sta'shon-mas'tfer), »!. The of-
iicial in charge of a station; specifically, the
person in charge of a railway-station.
station-meter (sta'shon-me*t6r), n. A meter
, speak: see-ology.'i
A discourse or treatise on statistics.
Stative (sta'tiv), a. [= or. statif, < L. stati-
vus, standing still, < stare, stand: see stiite.']
= Sp. Pg. estatiiario = It. staluario, < L. statua-
rius, of or pertaining to statues (statuaria, sc.
ars, the statuary art), < slattia, a statue: see
statue.] I. a. Of or pertaining to a statue or
statuary.
What connoisseurs call statuary gi-ace, by which is
meant elegance unconnected with motion.
GotdtnnUh, The Bee, No. 2.
Statuary marble, fine-grained white marble, especially
sought for monuments, busts, etc.
II. «. ; 'p\. statuaries {-Y\z). 1. Onewhomakes
statues; a sculptor; specifically, one who makes
statues in' metal, a bronze-caster, or one who
makes copies of statues designed by another
artist. '
Statuaries could
By the foot of Hercules set down punctually
His whole dimensions.
Masftinger, Emperor of the East, ii. 1.
Burst the gates, and burn the palaces, break the works
of the statuary. Tennyson, Experiments, Boadicea.
2. The art of carving or making statues or
figures in the round representing persons, ani-
mals, etc. : a main branch of sculpture.
The northern nations . . . were too barbarous to pre-
serve the remains of learning more carefully than they did
those of statuary or architecture or civility.
Sir W. Temple, Ancient and Modern Learning.
3. Statues collectively.
or quarters. — 2. In Seb. gram., indicating a
physical state, or mental, intransitive, or re-
, .. flexive action : said of certain verba.
of large size used in gas-works to measure the gt^tizet (sta'tiz), v. i. [< state + -ize. Cf. sta-
flowofgas. Such meters are made with various attach- ^^^^ ] To meddle in state affairs. Davies.
ments, as water-line, pressure, and overflow gages, regis-
ter-clock and telltale indicators of the rate of flow. E. Secular . . . mysteries are for the knowledge of statiz-
H. Knight. ing .Tesuits. Rev. T, Adams, Works, II. 168.
station-pointer (sta'shon-poin'ter), «. In statlicht,«. A Middle English form of stofe?2/.
sure, an instrument for expeditiously laying gtatoblast(stat'6-blast),H. [< Gr. arardf, stand-
down on a chart the position of a place from jng^ fixed (see static), + pTiaarog, a bud, germ.]
which the angles subtended by three distant - - • ... . , . , ,
objects, whose positions are known, have been
measured ; a three-armed protractor.
station-pole, station-staff (sta'shon-pol,
-staf), H. In surv., same as leveling-staff, 1.
Statism (sta'tizm), n. [< state + -ism.~\ The
art of government; hence, in a depreciative
sense, policy. [Bare.]
Hence it is that the enemies of God take occasion to
blaspheme, and call our religion statism.
South, Sermons, I.
iv.
statist (sta'tist), n. [= G. statist = Sw. statist,
a statesman, politician, = Sp. Pg. estadista, a
statesman, politician, also a statistician, = It.
statista, a statesman ; as state (L. status) + -ist.']
1. A statesman; a politician; one skilled in
government. [Obsolete or archaic]
Next is your statist's face, a serious, solemn, and super-
cilious face, full of formal and square gravity.
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, ii. 1.
2. A statistician.
The keen statist reckons by tens and hundreds ; the ge-
nial man is interested in every slipper that comes into the
assembly. Em^son, Success.
statistic (sta-tis'tik), a. and n. [I. a. = P
1. Pertaining to a fixed camp or military post gtatue (stat'u), n. [< ME. statue, < OF. statue,
„ T r, , i_ ,,= „_i- y statue == Sp. Pg. estatua = It. statua, < L.
stutua, an image set up, a statue, pillar, < statu-
ere, set up: see statute.'] 1. A figure of a per-
son or an animal, made of some solid substance,
as marble, bronze, iron, or wood, or of any sub-
stance of solid appearance; a sculptured, cast,
or molded figure, properly of some size (as dis-
tinguished from a statuette or figurine) and in
the round (as distinguished from a relief or an
intaglio).
This proude king let make a statue of golde
Sixty cubytes long. Chaucer, Monk's Tale, 1. 169.
Within the area of the foundation walls, and all round
them, were lying heads and bodies of many statues, which
had once stood within the temple on bases still in position
in three parallel rows.
C. T. Neujton, Art and Archseol., p. 306.
2+. A picture.
The rede statue of Mars with spere and targe
So shyneth in his whyte baner large
That alle the feeldes gliteren up and doun.
Chaucer, Knight's Tale, 1. 117.
Sir John. Your nieces, ere they put to sea, crave humbly,
Though absent in their bodies, they may take leave
Of their late suitors' statues.
Luke. There they hang. Massinger, City Madam, v. 3.
Equestrian statue, a statue in which the figure is rep-
resented as seated on horseback.— Plinth Of a Statue.
See plinth.
statue (stat'ii), V. t.; pret. and pp. statued, ppr.
statuing. \<. statue, n.] To place as a statue ;
form a statue of.
The whole man becomes as if staiued into stone and
earth. Feltham, Resolves, '
One of the peculiar internal asexual buds de-
veloped in the body-cavity of the fresh-water
or phylactoleematous polyzoans, comparable to
the gemmules of the fresh-water sponges, and
serving for reproduction. These germs of new in-
dividuals to be reproduced agamogenetically by internal
gemmation are formed in the funiculus or mesentery of the
polyzoan ; on the death of the parent organism, they are
ruptured, and give exit to a young animal essentially like
the parent. The fact that statoblasts contain no germinal
vesicle, and never exhibit the phenomena of segmentation
or yolk-cleavage, is conclusive against their being ova or
eggs ; and, moreover, an ovary producing ova occurs else-
where in the same individual that produces statoblasts.
Also culled winter bud. See cut under Plumatella.
Statoblastic (stat-o-blas'tik), a. [< statoblast
+ -ic] 1. Having the character or nature of
a statoblast; of or pertaining to statoblasts:
as, statoblastic capsules; statoblastic reproduc-
tion.— 2. Giving rise to statoblasts; repro-
duced by means of statoblasts: as, a stato-
blastic polyzoan.
statocracy (sta-tok'ra-si), n. [< state + -ocraey, _
after aristocracy, etc.] Government or rule by gt^tued (stat'ud), a. [< statue + -ed^.] Fur-
the state alone, uncontrolled by ecclesiastical
power.
tatistiC (sta-tis'tik), a. and M. [I. a. = F. sta- gtatoscope (stat'o-skop), n. [< Gr. araToc, stand
tistique = Sp. estadistico = Pg. estadi8t%co = It. ^ fl^ed (see static), + afcoirelv, view.] A forn
statistico(ci.(i.statistisch = Bw.Daii..statisttsk), ~ ■-- ■ - ... . .
lit. pertaining to a statist or to matters of the
state ; as statist + -ic. II. n. = F. statistique =
Sp. estadistica = Pg. estadistica = It. statisiica,
statistics, = G. statistik, political science, sta-
tistics, = Sw. Dan. statistik, statistics; from the
adj.] I. a. Statistical.
II. n. 1. Same as statistics. — 2. A statisti-
cal statement. — 3t. A statistician.
Henley said you were the best statistic in Europe.
Sauttiey, 1804, in Robberd's Mem. of Taylor of Korwioh,
[I. 508.
statistical (sta-tis'ti-kal), a. [< statistic + -al.]
Of or pertaining to statistics; consisting of
facts and calculations or such matters: as,
statistical tables; statistical information pri-
mary statistical number, the number of a class ascer-
tained by direct counting— Statistical inference. See
inference. — Statistical method, a scientific method in
which results are deduced from averages as data. Politi-
cal economy, the kinetic theory of pases, and Darwinian
evolutionism persue statistical methods, which are also
now applied to psychology. — Statistical proposition.
See propositi/in. — Statistical ratio, the number of one
class of things which are found associated upon the aver-
form
of^neroid barometer for registering minute va-
riations of atmospheric pressure, it consists of a
sensitive metallic diaphragm exposed on the outside to
the changes of atmospheric pressure, and connecting on
the inside with a closed reservoir of air, of four or Ave liters
capacity, protected from temperature-changes by non-con-
ducting walls filled with felt and wool. Registration is
effected by a long index-needle on the cylinder of a chron-
nished with statues; having the form of a
statue ; consisting of a statue or of statues.
Facing in sable robes the statued hall.
Longfellow, Wayside Inn, Falcon of Federigo.
Sometimes he encountered an imperial column ; some-
times he came to an arcadian square flooded with light,
and resonant with the fall of statued fountains.
Disraeli, Lothair, Izix.
statue-dress (stat'u-dres), n. Tlieat., a dress
for the body and legs, made in one piece, worn
in representations of statuary.
ograph At the begininng of observation the index is gtatuBSQUe (stat-ii-esk'), a. [< statue + -esque.]
brought to zero of the scale by openmg a stop-cock con- BuaKucoiiuo \=t;oir- co -'> l ^ J
necting the reservoir with the outside air, and the abso- J>ike a statue ; having the formal dignity or
lute pressure at the moment is observed with a mercurial
barometer. The stop-cock is then closed, and the index-
needle shows variations of pressure as small as .01 milli-
meter of mercury. The total limit of change that can be , . ^ - , ,,., . t -l -t
registered is about 6 millimeters; for pressures beyond statUCSqUCly (stat-u-esk li), adv. In a statu-
this the instrument must be reset. esque manner; in the manner of a statue ; as a
Statosphere (stat'o-sfer), n. [< Gr. (TTOTdf, statue. Xo«f/?, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 97.
standing, fixed, -f- rKpalpa, a globe.] The glo- statuesqueness (stat-u-esk'nes), ». Statuesque
bose, chitinous, spieuliferous envelop of the character or appearance. The Academy, No.
beauty of a statue.
The statuesque attitudes exhibited in the ballets at the
opera-house. De Quincey, English Opium-Eater.
age with each one of another class of things; thus, the g-hatliat (stat'u-ii)
nuinljer of children per family is a statistical ratio; so is f* r" ^ "../„*',.„
per family i
the average duration of life.
statistically (sta-tis'ti-kal-i), ado. In a statis-
tical manner; by the use of statistics; from a
statistical point of view.
statistician (stat-is-tish'an), n. [= F. statis-
ticien ; as statistic + -ian.] One who is versed
in or collects statistics.
protoplasm of the winter or resting stage of
the fresh-water sponges. J. A. Eyder.
Statospore (stat'o-.sp6r), «. [NL., < Gr. arard;,
standing, fixed, + airopd, seed: see spore^.] In
bot., a motionless or resting spore; a hypno-
spore.
[< L. staiua, an image, a
A statue.
statue : see statue.]
Even at the base of Porapey's statua,
Which all the while ran blood, great Cajsar fell.
Shal!., J. C, lit 2. 192.
Behold the Statuas which wise v.^ican plac'd
Under the altar of Olympian Jove,
And gave to them an artificial life.
Beaunwnt, Masque of Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.
904, p. 141.
statuette (stat-u-ef), n. [F., dim. of statue, a
statue : see statue.] A small statue ; a statue
or image in the round much smaller than na-
ture ; a figurine.
Most of the figures do not much exceed life-size, and
many were small statuettes.
C. T. Newton, Art and Archceol., p. 307.
Statuize (stat'u-iz), V. t. [< statue + -i:c.]
To commemorate by a statue. [Rare.]
James II. did also statueize himself in copper.
Misson, Travels in Eng., p. 809. (Davies.)
Statuminatet (sta-tu'mi-nat), r. t. [< I./. A'/fl^«-
minatus, pp. of s'tatumimire, prop up, support,
statuminate
< statumeu {-min-), a prop, stay, < statuere, cause
to stand, set up, fix upright: see stoiwe.] To
prop; support.
I will statuminate and ander-prop thee.
B. Jonton, New Inn, iL 2.
stature (stat'ur), n. [< ME. stature, < OF.
(and F.) stature = Sp. Pg. estatura = It. statura,
< L. statura, heiglit or size of the body, stature,
size, growth, < statuere, cause to stand, set up:
see statute.'] 1. The natural height of an an-
imal body ; bodily tallness ; sometimes, full
height : generally used of the human body.
The Lond of Pigmaus, where that the folk ben of litylle
Stature that beu but 3 Span long.
MandemUe, Travels, p. 211.
Unto ttature this damsel was grown.
Cot»Kn« Garland (Child's Ballads, Vin. 174).
2t. A statue. [An erroneous use, due to con-
fusion with statue.]
And then before her [Diana's] stature straight he told
Devoutly all his whole petition there.
Mir. /or Mags., I. 29.
In the second house there is the stature of a man of sil-
uer. UaUxtyt's Voyages, II. 236.
statnred (stat'fird), a. [< stature + -ed^.] If.
Of the height or stature of.
Were thy dimension but a stride,
Nay, wert thou statur'd but a span.
Shell make thee Mimas. Quarles, Emblems, ii. 6.
2. Of or arrived at full stature. The Century,
XXXIII. 48. [Rare.]— 3t. Conditioned; cir-
cumstanced.
They [Tusser and Churchyard] being mark'd alike in
their poetlcall parts, living in the same time, and statur'd
alike in their estates. Fuller, Worthies, Essex, I. 519.
status (sta'tus), n. [< L. status, standing, posi-
tion, attitude, state: see state.] 1. Standing
or position as regards rank or condition. —
a. Position of affairs. — 3. In laic, the stand-
ing of a person before the law in the class of
persons indicated by his or her le^l qualities;
the relation fixed by law in which a person
stands toward others or the state. Different
writers vary much in the extent of meaning implied, but
in the beat usage it includes liberty, citizenship, and mar-
riage, infancy and majority and wardship or tut«lage, and
mental capacity or incapacity according to legal tests. It
is rarely it ever used of any of those relations which are
terminable by consent, such as partnership. — Status
quo, the condition In which (the thing or things were at
first or are now). Compare in statu quo.
statutable (stat'u-ta-bl), a. [< statute + -able.]
1. Made, required, orimposed bystatute; statu-
torj': as, & statutable pnmshiaeut. — 2. Allowed
by the rules; standard.
I met with one the other day who was at least three
iocbei above five foot, which you know Is the stattOaNe
measure of that club. Additm, Spectator, No. 108.
statntably (stat'u-ta-bli), adv. In a manner
agreeable to statute ; as required or provided
by statute.
statute (stat'ut), n. [< ME. statut, < OF. statut,
e.^talut, statu, F. statut = Pr. statut = Sp. Pg.
estatuto = It. statuta, statuto = D. statuut = G.
Sw. Dan. statut, < LL. staiutum, a statute, prop,
neut. of L.«tafufu«, pp. of «tatuere, setup, estab-
lish: see «tan<f.] 1. An ordinance or law ; spe-
cifically, a law promulgated in writing by a le-
gislative bodv: an enactment by a leg^lature;
in the United States, an act of Congress or of a
State or Territorial legislature passed and pro-
mulgated according to constitutional require-
ments; in Ureat Britain, an act of Parliament
made by the Sovereign by and with the advice of
the Lords and Commons. Some early statute* are in
the form of charters or ordinances, proceeding from the
crown, the consent of the Lords and Commons not being
expressed. Statntea are either public or private (In the
latter case affecting an Individual or a company): but the
term Is usually restricted to public acts of a general and
permanent character. Strictly speaking, an ordinance
established by either house of the legislaUire, or by both,
without the assent of the executive, as a resolution, or
Joint resolution, is not a statute. The word has some-
times, however, been Interpreted to Include municipal
ordinances. See also aet. artieU, NK*, ty-Iaw, charter,
code, decree, edtet,.latc, onUnonee, peHlioit, provision.
Ac whiles Hunger was her maistcr there wolde none of
hem chyde,
Ne stryue a^elnea his statut so stenieliche he loked.
Piers Plowman (B), vi. 321.
The statutes of the Lord are right. Fa ill. 8.
Olrded with fmmns and curtail gibes, by one who
makes sentences by the Studite.ss if all above three Inches
long were confiscat. MOton, Apology for Smectymnuns.
What are called in England constitutional statutes, such
as Msgna Charta, the Bill of Rights, the Act of Settle-
ment, the Acts of Inion with Scotland and Ireland, are
merely ordinary laws, which could be repealed by Parlia-
ment at any moment In exactly the same way as It can re-
peal a highway act or lower the duty on tobacco.
J. Bryce, American Commonwealth, I. 237.
2. The act of a corporation or of its founder,
intended as a permanent rule or law: as, the
5915
statutes of a university. — 3. In foreign and Hvil
late, any particular municipal law or usage,
though not resting for its authority on judicial
decisions or the practice of nations. Burrill ;
Worcester. — 4. A statute-fair. [Prov. Eng.] —
Bloody statute, an occasional name of the Act of the Six
Articles. See the Six Articles, under arfu'ie. — Declara-
tory statute. See rffrfnrafori/.— Directory statute.
See directory. — Enabling statute, a stiitute which con-
fers a power upon a person or body that tiid not previously
possess it — Enlarging statute,a statute whicli increases
a power that already existed. — Equity Of a Statute.
See «9«tt.«.— Estate by statute, more fully estate by
statute merchant, or estate by statute staple, in
Eng. law, the esL-iti: or tenancy whicli a creditor acquired
in the lands of his debtor by their seizure on judgments
by confession in forms now obsolete. See statute merchant
and statute staple, below. — General Statute, a statute
which relates directly to the government or the general
public interest, or to all the people of the state or of a
particular class, condition, or district therein. See lei/is-
lation, also public statute and local statute. — Local Stat-
ute. See local legislation, under iocni.— Mandatory Stat-
ute. See mandatory.— f&aal statutes. Sec jK]ml.—
Private statutes. («) See private actft, under private. (6)
Same as special «to(«(c— Public statutes. See public acts,
under ^mWic— Remedial statutes, statntes the main
object of which appears directly beneticent, by supplying
some defect in the law or removing inconveniences, as dis-
tinguished from those the immediate aspect of which is to
Impose punishment or penalty, which are called penal stat-
utes. Some statutes partake of lK>th characters, for a stat-
ute which is penal as against an offender may be remedial
as toward those whom it is intended to protect. — Retro-
active Statute. See retroactive. — Special or private
Statute, a statute which the courts will not notice unless
pleaded and proved like any other fact; also, a particular
or peculiar statute : as, there is a special statute regulating
chattel mortgages on canal-boats.— Statute against be-
nevolences, an English statute of H8;i-4 (1 Rich. 111., c. 2)
abolishing the peculiar system of raising money by solici-
tation, called benevolences, and declaring that such exac-
tions should not l)e taken for precedent. — Statute cap.
See rajji — Statute de Donis, more fully Statute de
Donls CondltionalibUB, .-in English st.itutc of 1285 (13
Edw. I., being the Statute of Westminster, ii. c. 1) intended
to put an end to the common-law doctrine tliat under a gift
to a man and the heirs of his body he ac(|Uired absolute title
by having issue, even though none should survive. The act
prescribed instead that the condition stated by the giver of
reversion in failure of issue should be carried into effect.
Also sometimes called statute q^e/i(oi?.^ Statute labor.
See foAori.— Statute lacet. See face.— Statute law, a
law or rule of action i)rc8cribed or enacted by the legisla-
tive power, and promulgated and recorded* ii: writing;
also, collectively, the enactments of a legislative assembly.
In contradistinction toeomnum lav. See/airi. — Statute
merchant, in (aic, a bond of record, now obsolete, ac-
knowledged before the chief magistrate of some trading
town, on which, if not paid at the day, an execution
might be awarded against the body, lands, and goods of
the obligor. See podtet-Judffment.
A certaine .bllnde retayler, called the Diuell, vsed to
lend money vpon pawnes or anie thing, and would let one
for a need haue a thousand poundes vpon a statute-mer-
chant of his soule. Aathe, Pierce Penilesse, p. 9.
Statute of bread and ale. See breadi.- statute of
charitable uses, an English statute of 1601 (43 Eliz. , c. 4),
soniethncs called the sttOute qf Elizabeth, for the protec-
tion of property devoted to charities. It authorized the
lord chancellor to appoint commissioners to inquire into
the management of such property, with power to correct
abuses.— Statute of Clrcumspecte Agatis, an English
statuteof 1285(13 Edw. \.\ m the fnrm of a writ addressed
to the judges ; so named from its first two words. It di-
rected that the king's prohibition sliould not lie in spiritu-
al matters, and that the jurisdiction of the spiritual courts
should he exercised In cases of demands by a parson for
tithes, mortuaries, pension-s, etc., notwithstanding such
prohibition.— Statute of false pretenses, an English
statuteof l".S7(300eo. II.,c. '24) which detlnesand punishes
the crime of false pretenses. — Statute of fraudulent
conveyances, sometimes called the statute of Elizabeth.
(o) An English statnte of 1571 (13 Eliz.. c. 5), reenacted In
nearly all of the United States, which declares all convey-
ances of property with intent to delay, hinder, or defraud
creditors to be void as against such creditors. (6) An
English sUtnte of 1585 (27 Eliz., c. 4) making void all con-
veyances of land made with intent to deceive purchasers.
— Statuteof QlOUCester, an English statute of 1278 (6
Edw. I.X passed at Gloucester, and relating to local fran-
chises and Judicature, damages to real property, waste,
trespsss, etc.— Statute Of laborers, an English sUtute
of 1B49 (28 Edw. III.) designed to compel workmen and
servants to work for the wages commonly paid in the
year 13441: enacted because the pestilence had seriously
decreased the number of servants, and the survivors de-
manded exorbitant wages. — Statute Of Lincoln, an Eng-
lish statnte of 1315-16 (9 Edw. II. st. 2), so called because
the Parliament sat at Lincoln. It prescrilicd the qilulitl-
catious of sheriffs. Also known as the statute of sfievifM. —
Statute of Marlboronxli (Marleberge, Harlbridge),
an English statute of 1287 (62 Hen. Hi.), so called because
made at Marlborough, containing twenty-nine chapters
or sections relating principally to distress suits, land-
lord and tenant, courts, writs, etc. It is one of the ear-
liest written laws, after the Great Charter, and Is said to
have been Intended to defeat attempts to evade feudal
dues on succession at death made by gifts inter vivos.—
Statute of merchants (also known as the statute of
Acton Bumell, from the place of its enactment), (a) An
English statute or ordinance of 1283 (11 Edw. 1.) for the
collection of debts, (b) Another of 1285 (13 Edw. I.) for
the same purpose. — Statute of Merton. Same as pro.
visions o/ Mertoii (which sec, under 7W-octja'»n). — Statute
of military tenures. See »nW<ir.v. — Statute of mo-
nopolies. Same as .Vmutjmh/ Act (which see, under ino-
no^V).— Statute of Northampton, an English statute
of 1S28 (2 Edw. Ill ) relating to felonies, sheriffs, etc.—
Statute of Quia Emptores, an English statute of 1289,
1:^(18 Edw. 1.x which, because purchasers of land had
statuvolic
evaded their feudalduestothechlef lord by claimingtohold
under the seller as their lord, provided thatupon all sales or
feoffments of land in fee simple the feoffee should hold,
not of his immediate feoffor, but of the next lord par-
amount of whom the feoffor himself held, and by thesame
services, thus putting an end to subinfeudation lor sev-
eral centuries.— statute Of Ragemau, an English stat-
ute of 127(i (4 Edw. I.) requiring justices to "go through-
out the land" to try suits for trespasses.- Statute Of
Rutland, Ruddlan, or Rothlan, an English royal ordi-
nance of 1-284(12 Edw. I.), made at Rutland, which, among
other things, forbade suits in the Exchequer except such
as concerned the king and his officers, and referred to the
keeping of the rolls, etc. Also called provisioyis made in
the i'MA«j«er.— Statute of BheriflFs. Same as statute
of Ltncrfn.— Statute Of Stamford, an English statute
of 1309 (3 Edw. II.) which confirmed an act of 28 Edw. I.
abolishhig the taking of goods, etc., by the king when on
a journey except upon payment, and also abolished cer-
tain customs duties.— Statute Of Winchester or Win-
ton, an English statute of 1285 (13 Edw. I.) containing
police regulations such as concern lesser crimes and the
hue and cry, and prohibiting fairs and markets in church-
yards.—Statute of York, an English statute of 1318 (12
Edw. II.) wliich relates to the administration of justice.-
Statutes of liveries, English statutes, the first of which
were in 1377 (1 Rich. II., c. 1), 1392-3 (16 Rich. II., c. 4),
and 1396-7 (20 Rich. II., cc. 1 and 2), for the better pres-
ervation of the peace ; so called because directed against
the practice of giving distinctive liveries to retainei's and
partizans, whereby confederacies and hostile parties were
engendered.- Statutes of Westminster, early English
statntes, so called because made at Westminster. "The
first " (1'275X comprising fifty -one chapters, relates to free-
dom of elections, amercements, bail, extortion by officers,
aid taken by lords, etc. '*The second" (1285), including
fifty chapters, relates to gifts, writs, pleas, court-proceed-
ings, etc. Also known as Statute de Donis (which see,
above). "The third" was the statute "Quia Emptores"
(which see, aboveJL- Statute staple. In law, a bond of
record, now obsolete, acknowledged before the mayor of
the staple or town constituting a grand mart, by virtue of
which the creditor might forthwith have execution against
the body, lands, and goods of the debtor on non-payment.
There is not one gentleman amongst twenty but his
land be engaged In twenty statutes-staple.
Middleton, Family of Love, i. 3.
The Great Statute, an English code of customs law of
1660 (12 Car. II., c. 4.) imposing duties which were termed
the "old subsidy." (As to noted statutes on particular
subjects, such as statute of distributions, statute of enrol-
ment, statute of fines, statute of frauds, statutes of jeo,fail,
statute of Jeitry, statute of limitations, statutes of mort.
main, statute of murders, statute of iwn-claim, statute of
praemunire, statute of provisors, statute of staple, statute
of tillage, statute of uses, statute ofurUls, see the word char-
acterizing the statute.) = Sjm. 1. Enactment, Ordinance,
etc. See/a«'l.
Statutet (stat'iit), V. t. [< statute, n.] To or-
dain; enact; decree or establish.
The king hath ordelned and statuied that all and singu-
lar strangers . . . shall apply and come to his 'Towne of
Northberne. Uakluyfs Voyages, I. 186.
statute-book (stat'ut -buk), n. A register of
statutes, laws, or legislative acts: a generic
term commonly used to comprehend all the vol-
umes in which the statute law of a state or na-
tion is authoritatively promulgated.
statute-fair (stat'ut-fSr), n. A fair held by reg-
ular legal appointment, in contradistinction to
one authorized only by use and wont. See
inop^, 4.
statute-roll (stat'ut-rol), n. 1. A statute as en-
rolled or engi'ossed. — 2. A collection of stat-
utes; a statute-book.
His (Edward IV. "s) statute-roll contains no acts for se-
curing or increasing public liberties.
Stubbs, Const. Hist, f 378.
statutory (stat'u-to-ri), a. [< statute + -ory.]
Enacted, required,' or imposed by statute; de-
pending on statute for its authority : as, a statu-
tory provision or remedy; statutory fines.
The first duty of the Sluse is to be delightful, and it is
an injury done to all of us when we are put in the wrong
by a kind of statutory affirmation on the part of the critics
of something to which our judgment will not consent, and
from which our taste revolts.
Lowell, Among my Books, 2d ser., p. 132.
The reduction of the number of public-houses to a
statutory minimum.
Sir C. W. Dilke, Probs. of Greater Britain, vL 6.
On the first day of July, 1885, . . . the regular 8totut/)ry
duties were imposed. Harper's Mag., LXXVI. 429.
Statutory foreclosure. See foreclosure.— at&tutOTy
guardian. Seeyi/arrfiaii. 2.— statutory law. Sameaa
statute law (which see, under statute).
StatUVOlence (sta-tii'vo-lens), n. [< statuvo-
len(t) + -ce.] A peculiar state or condition
into which a person may throw himself by the
exercise of the will, independent of extraneous
conditions ; a kind of self-induced clairvoyance.
It is brought about by self-mesmerization, and closely re-
sembles that hypnotic or somnambulic condition which
may be produced by the will of another In suitable sub-
jects, ir. B. Fahnestock. [Recent.]
Statuvolent (sta-tu'vo-lent), a. [< L. status,
a state or condition, + iolen(t-)s, ppr. of velle,
will.] Inducing statuvolenee ; affected by sta-
tuvolence, or being in that state. [Rare.]
statuvolic (stat-u-vol'ik), a. [< statuvol(ent) +
-ic] Pertaining in any way to statuvolenee : as,
the statuvolic state; a statuvolic process. [Bare.'j
Btatuvolism
statnTOlism (st»-tu'v6-lizm), ». [< statii-
rol{c)it) + -ism.'] Same &a statuvolence. F. W.
Hayeg.
Staomrel (stam'rel), a. [Cf. stammer.'] Stu-
pid ; half-witted ; blunderiug. Burns, Brigs of
Ayr. [Scotch.]
staunch, stauncher, etc. See stanch, etc.
Staunton's opening. In chess-playing. See
ojiiniiiij. 9.
stauracin (sta'ra-siu), n. [< ML. siaiiracinus,
< MGr. *(rravpaKiv6v, neut. of "oravpaKivo^, per-
taining to small crosses, < oravpaKiov, dim. of
Gr. aravpd^, a cross.] A silken stuff figured with
small crosses, in use at the Byzantine court,
and as a material for ecclesiastical vestments
elsewhere, in the early middle ages.
stauraxonia (sta-rak-s6'ni-a), w. pi. [NL., <
Gr. oToi'pof, a cross, + a^up, an axis.] In pro-
morphology, stauraxonial organic forms, as pyr-
amids. Stauraxonia koinopola are figures with equal
poles, whose stereometric figure is a double pyramid
(two pyramids base to base). Stauraxonia heteropc'la are
single pyramids with dissimilar, usually anal and oral,
poles. When these have regular bases, they are staurax-
onia homostaura; when irregular, statiraxonia hetero-
staura.
stauraxonial (sta-rak-s6'ni-al), o. [< staurax-
onia + -al.] Having a main axis and a defi-
nite number of secondary axes at right angles
therewith, so that the stereometric figure is
fundamentally a pyramid : correlated with cen-
traxoninl.
stauri, n. Plural of staurus.
Stauria (sta'ri-a), n. [NL. (Edwards and
Haime, 1850), < Crr. aravpog, a cross, a stake.]
The typical genus of Stauriidx, having a com-
pound astneiform coraUum growing by calicu-
lar gemmation, four cruciate primitive septa,
and no columella.
Staurian (sta'ri-an), a. [< Stauria + -an.]
Resembling or related to the genus Stauria;
of or pertaining to the Stauriidse.
Stauriidae (sta-ri'i-de), n. pi. [NL., < Stauria
+ -«/«.] A family of fossil rugose stone-cor-
als, typified by the genus Stauria. The wall is
well d'eveloped ; the sep^ are complete, lamellar, and
conspicuously tetramerous. The interseptal loculi are
crossed by endothecal dissepiments, and there is a cen-
tral tabulate area. The genera besides Stauria are Holo-
eyslig, Polycatlia, Conoimtlia, and Metriophyllum. Usually
Stauridse.
Staurolite (sta'ro-lit), «. [< Gr. aravpdg, a cross,
-1- /Uflof, a stone.] A silicate of aluminium and
iron occurring in reddish- to yellowish-brown
or brownish-black prismatic crystals. These
crystals are often twins, in the form of a
cross, whence it is called cross-stone. Also
staurotide, grenatite Staurollte-slate, a mica-slate
through which are scattered crystals of staurolite. Rocks
of this character have been found in Scotland, the Pyre-
nees, and New England.
Staurolitic (sta-ro-lit'ik), a. [< staurolite + -ic]
Pertaining to, resembling, or characterized by
the presence of staurolite.
Stauromedusae(sta"ro-me-du'se), n.pl. [NL.,
< Gr. aravpoc, a cross, + NL. Medusas, q. v.] In
Haeckel's classification, a subfamily of Scypho-
medusse, having four pairs of adradial gonads
or four simple interradial gonads in the sub-
umbral wall, four large perradial gastral
pouches, and no special sense-organs.
Stauromedusan (stfi,"ro-me-dii'san), a. and n.
[< Stauroincdusse + -an.] I. a. Pertaining to
the Stauromedusm, or having their characters.
II. n. A member of the Stauromedusse.
Stauropus (sta'ro-pus), n. [NL. (Germar,
1813), < Gr. aravpdc, a cross, + iroiif = E. foot.]
1. .A genus of bombycid moths, of the family
Notodontidap, having the thorax woolly, the
fore wings rather broad and sinuate on the
hind margins, hind wings rounded, tongue
weak, and the abdomen slightly tufted above.
The larvse have fourteen legs, and are naked, with humps
on the middle segments and two short anal projections ;
the legs on the third and fourth segments are exceedingly
long. When at rest they raise the large head and en-
larged anal segments, and it is from their extraordinary
appearance that the only European species, S. fagi, de-
rives its English name of lobster-moth. Its larva is of a
brown color, and feeds on oak, birch, beech, and apple.
The only other known species is Asiatic.
2. A genus of melandryid beetles, erected by
Fairmaire and Germain in 1863 on a single
South American species.
Stauroscope (sta'ro-skop), n. [< Gr. aravpdg, a
cross, + OKOTTclv, view.] An optical instru-
ment, invented by Von Kobell of Munich, for
examining sections of crystals, and determin-
ing the position in them of the planes of light-
vibration.
staUTOSCOpic (stA-ro-skop'ik), a. [< stauroscope
+ -ic] Of, pertaining to, or made by means
5916
of the stauroscope: as, stauroscopic examina-
tion. Sjxittisu-oodf, Polarisation, p. 113.
Stauroscopically (sta-ro-skop'i-kal-i), adv. By
means of the stauroscope : as, stanroscopically
determined systems of crystallization.
staurotide (sta'ro-tid), n. [< Gr. aravpo^, a
cross, + -t- + -id'e"^.] Same as staurolite.
Staurotypids (sta-ro-tip'i-de), «. pi. [NL., <
Stauroti/pus + -/(/«.] A family of tropical
American cr^-ptodirous tortoises, represented
by the genera Staurotyvus and Claudius. They
have nine plastral bones, the carapace with epidermal
scutes, the nuchal bone with a short costiform process,
and caudal vertebne procoelous. Also Staurotypina, as a
group of Chelydridse.
StaurotypOUS (sta'ro-ti-pus), a. [< Gr. aTavpoq,
a cross, + Tinog, type.] In mineral., having
maekles or spots in the form of a cross.
StaurotypUS (sta-rot'i-pus), «. [NL., < Gr.
orai'ptif, a cross, + Tviroq, type.] A genus of
tortoises with a cruciform plastron, typical of
the group Staurotypina or family Staurotypidte.
staurus (sta'rus), n. ; pi. stauri (-ri). [NL., <
Gr. aravpdg, a stake, pile, pale, cross.] A form
of sexradiate sponge-spicule, resulting from the
suppression of both the distal and the proximal
ray. Sottas.
stave (stav), n. [< ME. stxf, staf, stave, pi.
staves, Steves, < AS. stsef, pi. staf as, a staff: see
staff. Stave is another form of staff, arising
from the ME. oblique and plural forms. In
the sense of ' stanza ' the word is prob. due to
the collateral form, Icol. stef, a stave, refrain.]
1. A pole or piece of wood of some length; a
staff. Specifically — (ct) In cooperage, one of the thin,
narrow pieces of wood, grooved for the bottom, the head,
etc., which compose a barrel, cask, tub, or the like, (b)
One of the boards joined laterally to form a hollow cylin-
der, a curb for a well or shaft, the curved bed for the in-
trados of an arch, etc. (c) A spar or round of a rack to
contain hay in stables for feeding horses; the rung of a
ladder ; the spoke of a wheel ; etc.
2. A stanza; averse; a metrical division.
Of eleuen and twelue I find none ordinary staves vsed
in any vulgar language.
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 54.
Chant me now some wicked stave,
Till thy drooping courage rise.
Tennyson, Vision of Sin.
3. Specifically, same as staff', 9.
stave (stav), V. ; pret. and pp. staved or stove,
ppr. staving. [< stave, n., or directly < staff
(with the usual change of /when medial to v;
cf. strive, < strife, live, < life, wive, < wife, etc.).
The proper pret. and pp. is staved; stove, like
rove for reeved, conforms to the supposed anal-
ogy of r/row, etc.] I. trans. 1. To break in a
stave or staves of ; knock a hole in ; break ;
burst : as, the boat is stove.
They burnt their wigwams, and all their matts, and
some corn, and staved seven canoes, and departed.
Wintfirop, Hist. New England, I. 232.
2. To cause or suffer to be lost by breaking
the cask; hence, to spill; pour out.
And Mahomet the third . . . commanded, on paine of
death, all such in Constantinople and Pera aa had wine
to bring it out and staue it, (except Embassadors onely,)
so that the streets ranne therewith.
Purctias, Pilgrimage, p. 294.
3. To furnish with staves or rundles. — 4. To
make firm by compression; shorten or com-
pact, as a heated rod or bar by endwise blows,
or as lead in the socket-joints of pipes To
Btave and tail, a phrase current in bear-baiting, to stave
being to check the bear with a statf, and to tail to hold
back the dog by the tail ; hence, to cause a cessation or
stoppage.
So lawyers . . .
Do stave and tail with writs of error.
Reverse of judgment, and demurrer.
5. Butler, Hudibras, I. ii. 163.
To stave It out, to fight it out with staves ; fight till a
decisive result is attained. S. Butler, Hudibras, I. iii. 88.
— To Stave off, to beat or ward off with or as with a staff ;
keep back ; delay ; prevent the approach or occurrence of.
Two dogs upon me?
And the old bearward will not succour me,
I'll stave 'em of myself.
Middleton, Anything for a Quiet Life, ii. 2.
It »(ffredojr the quarrelsome discussion as to whether
she should or should not leave Miss Matty's service.
Mrs. GastceU, Cranford, xiv.
II. intrans. To go or rush along recklessly or
regardless of everything, as one in a rage;
work energetically ; drive. [Colloq.]
He . . . went staving down the street as if afraid to look
behind him. The Century, XXXVIII. 41.
stave-jointer (stav'join''''t6r), n. See jointer'^.
Staverl(sta'ver),«. [< stave -i- -er'^.] An active,
energetic person. [New Eng.]
Mi.ss Asphyxia's reputation in the region was pei-fectly
establislied. She was spoken of with applause under
such titles as "a staver," "a pealer," " a roarer to work."
H. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 117.
stay
staver^ (sta'vfer), v. i. [Also staiver; < Dan.
istavre, trudge, stumble.] To stagger; totter.
He [Carlyle] slept badly from overwork, "gaeing stacer-
ing aboot the hoose at night," as the Scotch maid said.
Froude, Carlyle (Life in London, I. iiL).
stave-rime (stav'rim), n. Alliteration; an al-
litei-ative word : used especially in treating
of Anglo-Saxon and other ancient Germanic
poetry. The Academy. Jan. 14, 1888, p. 27.
stavers (sta'verz), n. pi. [< staver^.] The
staggers, a disease of horses. See stagger, 2.
Staverwort (sta'ver-wert), n. The ragwort,
Seneeio Jacohsea: so called as being supposed
to cure the stavers or staggers in horses. Also
staggerwort.
staves, «. A plural of staff and the plural of
stave.
stavesacre (stavz'a''''ker), M. [Early mod. E.
also stavesaker; < ME. staphisagre, < OF. staves-
aigrc, < ML. staphisagria, stapbysagria, stafis-
agria, stafisagra, etc., < Gr. as if *(Tra(j>'ig i'yp'"^,
stavesacre : ora^Sif , aaracjiig, dried grapes ; aypia,
fem. of aypioQ, wild. Cf. Staphisagria.] A spe-
cies of larkspur. Delphinium Staphisagria, na-
tive in southern Europe and Asia Minor, it is-
an erect downy herb, a foot or two high, with bluish
or purple fiowers in terminal racemes. Its seeds con-
tain a poisonous principle, delphinine, and are used in a
powder or ointment against vermin on man and beast, also
in tincture as an application for rheumatism. They were
formerly emphiyed as a purgative, but found too violent.
See delphinine'^ and louseu'ort, 2.
stave-tankard (stav'tang'^kard), n. A drink-
ing-cup formed of staves of wood, hooped with
either wood or metal, the bottom being general-
ly wood also. One preserved in Exeter, England, is 5
inches high and 4 inches in diameter at the l)Ottoni. It
is formed of fourteen staves of boxwood, the fifteenth, of
oak, forming the handle, and is bound with brass hoops.
Also called sapling-tankard.
Stavewood (stav'wud), «. [< stave + wood'^.]
1. See quassia, 2. — 2. A tall stout tree, Ster-
culiafcetida, of the East Indies, eastern Africa,
and Australia. The wood is soft, and thought
to be of little value.
Sta'Ving (sta'ving), «. [< stave + -fni/l.] 1.
Staves collectively, as those which form the
curb about a turbine water-wheel. — 2. In forg-
ing, a method of shortening or compacting a
heated bar by striking blows on its end.
sta'wi (sta), V. [< Dan. staa = Sw. std = D. staan,
= OHG. MHG. Stan, stand, stay, = L. stare =
Gr. iaravai = Skt. V sthu, stand : see stand,
where the relation of the orig. root sta to stand
is explained.] I. intrans. To stand still; be-
come stalled or mired, as a cart ; be fixed or set.
[North. Eng.]
II. trans. 1. To put to a standstill. — 2. To
clog; glut; surfeit; disgust. Burns, To a Hag-
gis. [Scotch.]
stjfW^ (sta). A. preterit of steal. [Scotch.]
StaxiS (staks'is), n. [< Gr. oraftf, a dropping.]
Inpathol., hemorrhage.
Stayi (sta), «. [< ME. "stay, < AS. stseg = D.
G. Icel. Dan. Sw. stag, a stay (in naut. sense) ;
cf. OP. estay, F. etai = Sp. estay = Pg. estay, es-
tai (pi. estaes), also ostais, a stay (< Tent.) ; ori-
gin uncertain ; by some supposed to be named
from being used to climb up by, being derived,
in this view, like stair, stilc'^, stag, etc., from the
root of AS. stujan (pret. stall) — D. stijgen = G.
steigen, etc., climb, ascend: see sty^. The word
has been confused with stay'^, a prop, etc.] 1.
Naut., a strong rope used to support a mast,
and leading from the head of one mast down
to some other, or to some part of the vessel.
Those stays which lead forward are called /ore-and-t^ft
stays, and those which lead down to the vessel's sides back-
stays. See cut under ship.
2. A rope used for a similar purpose; a guy
supporting the mast of a derrick, a telegraph-
pole, or the like. — 3. In a chain-cable, the
transverse piece in a link — In stays, or hove
In stays (naid.), in the act of going about from one tack
to tlie other.— Martingale stays. See martingale.—
Slack instays. See siacJ-l.— spring-stay, asmallerstay
parallel to and assisting the regular one.— To heave In
stays. SeeAeai'c— Tomlss stays. See missi.— Toput
a snip In stays, to bring her head to the wind ; heave
her to. — To ride down a stay. See ride.— Triatic stay
(naut.). an arrangement of pendants to hook stay-tackles
to for hoisting out or in boats or other heavy weiglits.
Onependantislashed at the foremast- orforetopmast-head,
and one at the mainmast- or maintopniast-head. These
pendants have a span at their lower ends to keep theni in
place, and a large thimlile is spliced into the lower end of
each, into which the stay-tackles are hooked.
Stayl (sta), j;. [<«to(/l, «.] I. trans. Naut: (a)
To incline forward, aft, or to one side by means
of stays : as, to stay a mast, (ft) To tack ; put
on the other tack : as, to stay ship.
II. intrans. ATiMt, to change tack; go about;
be in stays, as a ship.
stey
stay- (sta), n. [< ME. *staye, < OF. estate, estaye,
t., F. etai, m., a prop, stay, < MD. staeye, later
staey, a prop, stay, also a contracted form of
staede, stade, a prop, stay, help, aid; cf. D.stede,
stee, a place, = AS. stede, E. stead, a place : see
stead, and cf. statlie. The word stayi has been
confused to some extent with stay^. The noun
is by some derived from the verb. In the later
senses it is so derived: see stay^, f.] 1. A
prop ; a support.
There were gtays on either side on the place of the seat
(of Solomon's thione], and two lions stood beside the gtayg,
1 Kl. X. 19.
See we not plainly that obedience of creatures unto the
law of nature is the stay of the whole world?
aooker, Eccles. Polity, i. 3.
Specifically — (a) In bitildino, apiece performing the of.
flee of a brace, to prevent the swer^'ing or lateral deviation
■of the piece to which it is applied. (6) In steam-engines :
(I) A rod, bar, bolt, org:usset in a boiler, to hold two parts
together against the pressure of steam ; as, a tube-«fat/ ;
a water-space stay. (2) One of the sling-rods connect-
ing a locomotive-boiler to its frame. (3) X rod, beneath
the boiler, supporting the inside bearings of the crank-axle
■of a locomotive, (c) In minityj. a piece of wood used to
secure the pump to an engine-shaft, ((f) In some hollow
castings, a spindle which forms a support for the core.
<«) In anat and zool., technically, a prop or support ; as,
the bony stay ot the operculum of a mail-cheeked fish, or
■oottoid. This is an enlarged suborbital bone which crosses
the cheek and articulates with the praeoperculum in the
mail-cheeked fishes. See Cottoidea, Sderoparia.
2. pi. A kind of waistcoat, stiffened with whale-
bone or other material, now worn chiefly by
women and girls to support and give shape
to the body, but formerly worn also by men.
(Hall, Satires.) stays were originally, as at present,
made in two pieces laced together : hence the plural form.
In composition the singular is always used : as, slayliLCe,
■staymaker. See corset, 'd.
They could not ken her middle sae jimp, . , .
The stays o' gowd were so well laced.
The Bonny Bow o' London (Child's Ballads, II. 381),
3t. A fastening for a garment; hence, a hook;
A clasp; anything to hang another thing on.
Cotgrare.
To my4ear daofhter Phlllppa, queen of Portugal, my
second best stay of gold, and a gold cup and cover.
Tat. Vetust, p. 142, quoted in Ualllwell.
4. That which holds or restrains; obstacle;
■check; hindrance; restraint.
The presence of the Oovemour Is (as yoa say) a great
stay and bridle unto them that are ill disposed.
Spenser, State of Ireland.
6. A stop; a bait; a break or cessation of ac-
tion, motion, or progression: as, the court
granted a stay.
They make many stayes by the way.
Pvrehas, Pilgrimage, p. 42T.
They were able to read good authors without any stay,
it the book were not false.
Sir T. More, UtopU (tr. by Robinson), IL 7.
Works adjoum'd have many slays.
Long demurs breed new delays.
SoutlaeeU, Im* in Delay.
'6t. A standstill ; a state of rest ; entire cessa-
tion of motion or progress : used chiefly in the
phrase at a stay.
In buhfnlneaa the spirits do a little go and come — but
-with bold men upon a like occasion they stand at a stay.
Bacon, Boldness (ed. lugl).
7. A fixed state; fixedness; stability; perma-
nence.
iUai : what slay is there in human state T Dryden.
8. Continuance in a place ; abode for an indefi-
nite time ; sojourn : as, you make a short stay
in the city.
Your stay with him may not be long.
Shak., M. for M., Ui. 1. 256.
9i. A station or fixed anchorage for vessels.
Sir P. Sidney. (Imp. Diet.) — 10. State; fixed
■condition. [Obsolete or archaic]
Amonge the I'topiana, where all thingea be lett In a
«ood ordre, and the common wealthe in a good stays. It
very seldom chaunceth that they cheuse a uewe plotte to
bnyld an house vpon.
Sir T. More, Utopia (tr. by Eoblnson), U. 4.
Man . . . Cometh up and is cut down like a flower: be
fleeth as it were a shadow, and never continueth in one
■stay [in eodem statu (Sarum dirge)].
Book of Common Prayer, Burial of the Dead.
He alone continueth in one Hay.
hamh. Decay of Beggars.
lit. Restraint of passion; prudence; moder-
Ation; caution; steadiness; sobriety.
With prudent Hay he long deferr'd
The rough contention. PhUips, Blenheim, 1. 276.
Jbde-gnard stays, queen-post stay, etc. .See the
<|nalifyinK words.— Stay Of proceedings, in lair, a bus.
pension uf proceedings, as till sonic diri^< tion is conjplied
with or till some appeal is decided ; sometimes, in Eng^
land, an entire discontinuance or dismission of the action.
=8yn. 1. Hee staff. — i. Pause, etc. Heestopi.
5917
stay2 (sta), v. ; pret. and pp. stayed, staid, ppr.
staying. [< ME. *stayen, sieyen (pp. staid), <
OF. estayer, F. etauer, prop, stay, < estaye, a
prop, stay : see stay^, n. By some derived < OF.
esteir, ester, estre, F. ^tre, be, remain, continue ;
but this derivation is on both phonetic and his-
torical grotmds untenable. There is a connec-
tion felt between stay and stand; it is, however,
very remote.] I. trans. 1. To prop ; support ;
sustain ; hold up ; steady.
And Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the
one side, and the other on the other side. Ex. iviL 12.
A young head, not so well stayed as I would it were,
. . . having many, many fancies begotten in it, if it had
not been in some way delivered, would have grown a
monster. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, Ded.
Let that stay and comfort thy heart.
Winthrop, Hist New England, I. 442.
2. To Stop, (a) To detain; keep back; delay; hinder.
Yonr ships are stay'd at Venice.
Shak., T. of the S., iv. 2. 83.
If I could stay this letter an hour, I should send you
something of Savoy. Donne, Letters, riix.
This businesse staide me in London almost a weeke.
Evelyn, Diary, Nov. 14, 1671.
(6) To restrain ; withhold ; check ; stop.
If I can hereby either prouoke the good or staye the
ill, I shall thinke my writing herein well imployed.
Ascham, The Scholemaster, p. 70.
Why do you look so strangely, fearfully.
Or slay your deathf ul hand ?
Fletcher (and anofher\ Queen of Corinth, iv. 3.
Its trench had stayed full many a rock,
Hurled by primeval earthquake shock.
Scott, L. of the L., ill. 26.
(e) To put oft ; defer ; postpone ; delay ; keep back : as, to
stay Judgment
The cardinal did entreat his holiness
To stay the Judgement o' the divorce.
Shak., Hen. VIII., iii. 2. S3.
Well stay
The sentence till another day.
Northern Lord and Cruel Jew (Child's Ballads, VIII. 2S2X
(<f) To bold the attention of.
For the sound of some siliable gtayd the eare a great
while, and others slid away so quickly, as if ti.ey had not
bene pronounced. Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 56.
3. To stand ; tmdergo ; abide ; hold out during.
She will not Stay the siege of loving terms,
Nor bide the encounter of assailing eyes.
Shak., R. and J., L 1. 218.
Doubts are also entertained concerning her ability to
stay the course.
Daily Telegraph, Nov. 11, 1885. (Encyc. Diet.)
4. To wait for; await.
Let me stay the growth of his beard, if thou delay me
not the knowledge of his chin.
5AoJI-., As you Like it, iii. 2. 221.
His Lord was gone to Amiens, where they would stay
his coming. Capt. John Smith, True Travels, I. S.
There were a hundred and fortypeople, and meet stayed
snpper. Walpale, Letters, II. 369.
To stay tbe stomacll, to appease the cravings of hun-
ger ; quiet the appetite temporarily ; stave off hunger or
faintness : also used figuratively.
A piece of gingerbread, to be merry withal.
And slay your stomach, lest you faint with fasting.
B. Jonson, Alchemist, iii. 2.
n. intrans. 1. To rest; depend; rely.
Because ye decplae this word, and trust in oppression
and perversenea% and stay thereon. Isa. xix. 12.
I stay here on my bond. Shak., M. of V., iv. 1. 242.
2. To stop, (a) To come to a stand or stop.
She would command the hasty sun to stay.
Spenser, F. (J., I. x. 20.
Stay, you come on too fast ; your pace is too iropetuoos.
B. Jonson, Cynthia's Rerds, UL 3.
(6) To come to an end ; cease.
An 't please your grace, here my commission stays.
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., IL 4. 76.
(c) To delay ; linger ; tarry ; wait
Fourscore pound : can you send for bail, sir? or what
will yon do? we cannot stny.
Webster and Dekker, Northward Hoe, i. -2.
(d) Ta nuke a stand ; stand.
Give them leave to fly that will not stay.
Shak., 3 Hen. VL, ii. 3. 50.
3. To hold out, as in a race or contest; last or
persevere to the end. [CoUoq.]
He won at Lincoln, . . . and would stay better than Pi.
larro. DaHy Telegraph, Sept 14, 1885. (Encyc. Diet)
4. To remain j especially, to remain in a place
for an indefinite time ; abide ; sojourn ; dwell ;
reside.
I understand, by some Merchants to-day upon the Ex-
change, that the King of Denmark is at (iluckstadt, and
slays there all this Summer. Hoicell, Letters, I. v. 41.
And
They staui in the royal court,
Ilv'd wi' mirth and glee.
Young AHn (Child's Ballads, 1. 188).
5. To wait; test in patience or in expectation.
stay-rod
If I receive money for your tobacco before Mr. Randall
go, I will send you something else ; otherwise you must be
content to stay till I can.
Winthrop, Hist New England, I. 424.
For present deliverance, they do not much expect it ;
for they stay for their glory, and then they shall have it,
when their Prince comes in his, and the glory of the angels.
Bunyan, Pilgrim's ftijgress, p. 127.
6. To wait as an attendant ; give ceremonious
or submissive attendance : with on or vpon.
I have a servant comes with me along.
That stays upon me. Shak., M. for M., iv. 1. 47.
To stay put, to remain where placed ; remain fixed. [Col-
loq.] =Syn. 4. To rest, lodge, delay.
S'tay-at-home (sta'at-hom"), »». One who is not
given to roaming, gadding about, or traveling;
one who keeps at home, either through choice
or of necessity: also used adjectively: as, a
stay-at-home man.
"Cold! " said her father; "what do ye stay-at-homes
know about cold, a should like to know."
Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, ix.
stay-bar (sta'bar), «. 1. In arch., a horizon-
tal iron bar extending in one piece from jamb to
jamb through the muUious of a traceried win-
dow. See saddle-bar. — 2. Same as stay-rod, 2.
Its sectional area should be three or four times that of a
stay bar. - Rankine, Steam Engine, § 66.
stay-bolt (sta'bolt), «: In mach., a bolt or rod
binding together opposite plates to enable them
to sustain each other against internal pressure.
staybusk (sta'busk), n. See husk^, 2.
stay-chain (sta'ehan), «. In a vehicle, one of
the chains by which the ends of the double-
tree are attached to the fore axle. They serve
to limit the swing of the doubletree.
Staycord (sta'kord), n. Same as staylace.
stayedt, stayedlyt, stayednesst. Old spell-
ings of staid, staidly, staidness.
stay-end (sta'end), n. In a carriage, one of
the ends of a backstay, bolted or clipped either
to the perch or to the hind axle Stay-end tie,
in a vehicle, a rod forming a connection between the stay-
end on the reach and that on the axle.
stayer (sta'er), «. [< stay^ + -erl.] 1. One
who supports or upholds; asupporter; abacker.
Thou, Jupiter, whom we do call the Stayer
Both of this city and this empire.
B. Jonson, Catiline, iv. 2.
2. One who or that which stops or restrains.
— 3. One who stays or remains: as, a stayer
at home. — 4. One who has sufficient endur-
ance to hold out to the end; a person or an
animal of staying qualities, as in racing or any
kind of contest; one who does not readily give
in through weakness or lack of perseverance.
[CoUoq.J
S'tay-foot (sta'fut), n. In shoe-manuf., a de-
vice attached to the presser-bar of a sewing-
machine to guide a seam-stay in some kinds
of light work.
stay-gage (sta'gaj), «. In a sewing-machine,
an adjustable device screwed to the cloth-plate
to guide a strip over the goods in such a way as
to cover and conceal a seam.
Stay-holet (sta'hol), n. A hole in a staysail
through which it is seized to the hanks of the
stay.
stay-hook (sta'htik), «. A small hook former-
ly worn on the front of the bodice to hang a
watch upon. Fairholt.
staylace (sta'las), n. [< stay^ + lace."] A lace
used to draw together the parts of a woman's
stays in order to give them the form required.
stayless (sta'les), a. [Early mod, E. stailesse;
< stay- 4- -less.] 1. Without stop or delay;
ceaseless. [Rare.]
They made me muse, to see how fast they striu'd,
With stailesse steppes, ech one his life to shield.
Mir. /or Mags., p. 187,
2. Unsupported by stays or corsets,
stay-light (sta'lit), n. Same as riding-light.
Staymaker (8ta'ma''k6r), «. [< stay^ + maker.']
A maker of stays or corsets.
Our ladies choose to be shaped by the staj/maker.
J, Spence, Crito.
stay-pile (sta'pil), «. A pile connected or an-
chored by land-ties with the main piles in the
face of piled work. See cut under pilework.
Stay-plo'vr (sta'plou), m. a European plant:
same as rest-harrow.
stay-rod (sta'rod), n. 1. In steam-engines: (a)
One of the rods supporting the boiler-plate
which forms the top of the fire-box, to keep the
top from being bulged down by the pressure of
steam. (6) Any rod in a boiler which supports
plates by connecting parts exposed to rupture
in contrary directions, (c) A tension-rod in a
marine steam-engine. — 2. A tie-rod in a build-
stay-rod
ing, etc.. which prevents the spreading asunder
of the parts oonneeted.
staysail (sta'sal or -si), n. Any sail which
hoists upon a stay. See stay^, 1.
stay-tackle (sta'tak'l), n. A tackle hanging
amidships for hoisting in or out heavy weights,
and formerly secured to the forestay or main-
stay, but now genei-ally attached to a pendant
from the topmast-head.
stay-wedge (sta'wej), ». In locomotives, a
wedge fitted to the inside bearings of the driv-
ing-axles to keep them in their proper position.
S. T. D. An abbre\'iation of the Latin Sacrie
or Sacrosnnctee Theologite Doctor, Doctor of Sa-
cred Theology.
stead (sted), H. [Early mod. E. sXso sied; < ME.
sted, slid, stud, stede, stiide, < (a) AS.stede = OS.
stad = OFries. sted, stid, steth, steith = MD.
stede, stod, D. stede, ste4 = MHG. stede = OHG.
MHG. Stat, G. statt = Icel. stadha = Sw. stad
= Dan. sted = Goth, stailis, place; (6) also, in
a restricted sense and now partly difEerentiated
spelling, MD. stede, stad, D. stad= MHG. stat,
G. stadt = Sw. Dan. stod (< D. or G. ?), a town,
city (esp. common as the iinal element in names
of towns) ; (c) cf. MD. siade, staede, fit time,
opportunity, = OHG. staia, f., MHG. state (esp.
in phrase, OHG. zi statu, MHG. ee staten, G.
zu statien), fit place or time; (d) AS. stieth =
Icel. stodh, port, harbor, etc. (see stathe) — all
these forms, which have been more or less con-
fused with one another, being derived from
the root of stand, in its more orig. form (OHG.
MHG. Stan, sten, G. stehen, etc.): see stand, staw.
Cf. bedstead, farmstead, homestead, roadstead,
etc., instead. Cf. L. statio{n-), a standing,
station (see station), Gr. craaii, a placing (see
stasis), from the same ult. root. The phrase
in stead, now written as one word, instead, ex-
cept when a qualifying word intervenes, was
in ME. in stede, in stide, on stede, or in the stede,
etc. The mod. dial. pron. instid, often apheti-
cally slid, rests on the ME. variant stid, stide.']
If. A place; place in general.
1 lene the saving and gyfe gtede to hyra.
BampoU, Prose Treatises (E. E. T. S.), p. 19.
Every kyndly thing that is
Hath a kyndly gted ther he
May best in hit conserved be.
Chaucer, House of Fame, I. 731.
Fly therefore, fly this fearefull stead anon.
Spenser, F. Q., II. iv. 42.
The Bouldier may not move from watchfuU sted.
Spemer, F. Q., I. ix. 41.
2. Place or room which another had or might
have: preceded by in: as, David died, and
Solomon reigned in his stead. Hence instead.
And everyche of hem bringethe a Braunche of the Bayes
or of Olyve, in here Bekes, in stede of Offryng.
Mandeville, Travels, p. 59.
I buried her like my own sweet child,
And put ray child in her stead.
Tennyson, Lady Clare.
3t. Space of time ; while ; moment.
Rest a little sUad. Spenser, F. Q., VI. vii. 40.
4. The frame on which a bed is laid: now
rarely used except in the compound bedstead.
But in the gloomy court was rais'd a bed,
Stuff'd with black plumes, and on an ebon stead.
jyryden, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., x. 293.
6t. A steading. — 6+. Position or situation of
affairs; state; condition; plight.
She was my solas, my ioy in ech stede.
My plesaunce, my" comfort, ray delite to!
Rom. of Partenay (E. E. T. S.), I. 2886.
He staggered to and fro in doubtful! sted.
Spenser, F. Q., V. xii. 23.
7. Assistance; service; use; benefit; advan-
tage ; avail : usually in the phrases to stand in
stead, to do stead (to render service).
Here our dogs pottage stood vs in good stead, for we had
nothing els. Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, I. 90.
The Duke of Savoy felt that the time had at last arrived
when an adroit diplomacy might stand him in stead.
Motley, Dutch Republic, I. 200.
A deyil's advocate may indeed urge that his [Thiers's]
egotism and almost gasconading temperament stood him
in stead in the trying circumstances of his negotiations
with the powers and with Prince Bismarck — but this is
not really to his discredit. Encyc. Brit., XXIII. 305.
Stead oft, instead of. Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furni-
vall), p. 48. — To do Stead, to do service; help. Milton,
Comus,1.6ll. [Rare.]— To standin stead. Seestand.
[.St£ad occurs as the second element in many topographi-
cal names, as Hampstead, Vi'insted.l
stead (sted), v. [< ME. steden (pp. steded, stedd,
sted, stad) = Icel. stedhja, place (pp. staddr,
placed in a specified position, circumstanced,
etc.); from the noun.] I. trans. If. To place;
put; set.
5918
Lorde God ! that all goode has by-gonne,
And all may endc both goode and euyll,
'J'hat made for man both nione and sonne.
And stedde yone sterne to stande stone stille.
i'ork Plays, p. 127.
2t. To place or put in a position of danger,
difficulty, hardship, or the like ; press; bestead.
The bargayne I made thare.
That rewes me nowe full sare.
So am I straytely sted. York Plays, p. 103.
0 father, we are cruelly sted between God's laws and
man's laws — What shall we do? — What can we do*/
Scott, Heart of Mid- Lothian, xix.
3t. With up : to replace ; fill.
We shall advise this wronged maid to stead up your ap-
pointment, go in your place. Shak., M. for M., iiL 1. 260.
4. To avail; assist; benefit; serve; be of ser-
•vice, advantage, or use to.
We are . . . neither in skill nor ability of power greatly
to stiad you. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, i.
In ray dealing with my child, my Latin and Greek, my
accomplishments and my money, stead me nothing ; but
as much soul as I have avails. Emerson, The Over-Soul.
n.t intrans. To stop; stay.
I shalle not sted
Tille I have theym theder led.
Toivneley Mysteries, p. 6,
Steadablet (sted'a-bl), a. [< stead + -able.]
Serviceable.
1 have succoured and supplied him with men, money,
friendship, and counsel, upon any occasion wherein I
could be steadable for the improvement of his good.
Urquhart, tr. of Rabelais, i. 28. (Dames.)
s'teadfast, stedfast (sted'fast), a. [< ME. sted-
fast, stedefast, stidefast, stedevest, studevest, <
AS. stedeffest (= MD. stedevast = Icel. stath-
fastr), firm in its place (cf. Sw. stadfdsta =
Dan. stadfeeste, confirm, ratify), < stede, place,
stead, + fiest, fast.] 1. Firm; firmly fixed or
established in place or position.
" Yes, yes," quod he, "this is the case,
Your lee is euer stedfast in on place."
Generydes(E. E. T. S.), 1. 2772.
Ye fleeting streams last long, outliving many a day ;
But on more stedfast things Time raakes the strongest
prey. Draiiton, Polyolbion, ii. 148.
2. Firm; unyielding; unwavering; constant;
resolute.
Heavenly grace doth him uphold,
And stedfast truth acquite him out of all.
Spenser, F. Q., L viii. 1.
Stedfast in the faith. 1 Pet. v 9.
Through all his [Warren Hastings's] disasters and perils,
his brethren stood by him with steadfast loyalty.
Macaiday, Warren Hastings.
3. Steady; unwavering; concentered.
He loked fast on to hym in stedefast wise,
And thought alway his sonne that he shuld be.
Generydes (E. E. T. S.), 1. 414.
The homely villain court'sies to her low ;
And, blushing on her, with a steadfast eye
Receives the scroll without or yea or no.
Shak., Lucrece, L 1339.
= Syn. 2. Stanch, stable, unflinching.
steadfastly, stedfastly (sted'fist-li), adv. [<
ME. stedfastly, stedefeestlicc; < steadfast + -ly^.']
In a steadfast manner, (a) Steadily; firmly; confi-
dently ; resolutely.
Hesiod maketh him [Orion] the sonne of Neptune and
Euriale ; to whom his father gaue that veitue, to walk as
stedfaMly vpon the sea as the land.
Heywood, Hierarchy of Angels, p. 177.
(h) Steadily ; fixedly ; intently.
Look on me stedfastly, and, whatsoe'er I say to you,
"Move not, nor alter in your face.
Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, iv. 2.
(c) Assuredly; certainly.
Your woful mooder wende stedfastly
That cruel houndes or som foul vermyne
Hadde eten yow, Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, 1. 1038.
steadfastness, stedfastness (sted'fast-ues), n.
[< ME. stedfastnctse. stede fastnesse, stidefast-
nesse ; < steadfast + -ness.] 1. Firmness;
strength.
Ryht softe as the marye [marrow] is, that is alwey hidd
in tlie feete al withinne, and that is defendid fro withowte
by the stidefastnesse of wode.
Chaucer, Boethius, iii. prose 11.
2. Stability and firmness ; fixedness in place
or position.
Forward did the mighty waters press.
As though they loved the green earth's steadfastness.
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, I. 173.
3. Stability of mind or purpose ; resolution ;
constancy ; faithfulness ; endurance.
What coude a sturdy housbond more devyse
To preve hir wyfhod and hir stedfnstnesse?
Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, L 643.
steadier (sted'i-6r), n. One who or that which
steadies : as, he uses his cane for a steadier.
steadily (sted'i-H), adv. In a steady manner;
firmly; fixedly; steadfastly; intently; without
steak
wavering or flinching; without intermission,
deviation, or irre^larity ; uniformly.
steadiness (sted'i-nes), n. Steady character,
quality, or condition, (a) Firmness in position ; sta-
bility: as, the steadiness of a rock. (6) Freedom from
tottering, swaying, or staggering motion : as, he walked
with great steadiness; freedom from jolting, rolling,
pitching, or other irregular motion : as, the steadiness of
the great ocean steamers, (c) Freedom from iiTcgularity
of any kind ; unifoi'mity : as, prices increased with great
steadiness, id) Finnness of mind or purpose ; constancy ;
resolution : as, steadiness in the pursuit of an object, (c)
Fortitude ; endurance ; staying power.
steading (sted'iug), n. [< stead + -/nffl.] A
farm-house and offices — that is, barns, stables,
cattle-sheds, etc.; a farmstead; a homestead.
[North. Eng. and Scotch.]
steady! (sted'i). a. and n. [Early mod. E. also
stedy, steddy ; < ME. stede, stedi, stidig, < AS.
stxththig (also "stsedig, "stedig. Lye) (= Icel.
stothugr = Sw. Dan. stadig), steady, stable, <
s/atft, stead, bank: see stathe. Ct. MD. stedigh
= OHG. stati, MHG. stsete, steetec{g), G. stdtig,
stetig, continual, < statt, etc., a place : see stead,
to which steady is now referred.] I. a. 1.
Firmly fixed in place or position; unmoved.
The knight gan fajrcly couch his steady speare.
Spenser, F. Q., I. xi. 16.
And how the dull Earth's prop-less massie Ball
Stands steddy still, iust in the midst of All.
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 7.
2. Firm or unfaltering in action ; resolute : as,
a steady stroke; a steady purpose.
All the Foot now dis-embark't, and got together in sora
order on tirm ground, with a more steddy charge put the
Britans to flight. Milton, Hist. Eng., iL
With steady step he held his way
O'er shadowy vale and gleaming height.
Bryant, Two Travellers.
In this sense much used elliptically in command, for 'keep'
or ' hold steady ' : (a) Naut., an order to the helmsman to
keep the ship straight on her course. (6) In hunting, an
order to a dog to be wary and careful.
3. Free from irregularity or unevenness, or
from tendency to irregular motion ; regular ;
constant ; undeviating ; uniform : as, steady mo-
tion; a steady light; a steady course; a steady
breeze; a steady gait. — 4. Constant in mind,
purpose, or pursuit; not fickle, changeable, or
wavering ; not easily moved or persuaded to re-
linquish a purpose : as, to be steady in the pur-
suit of an object; steady conduct.
A clear sight keeps the understanding steady. Locke.
To keep us steady in our conduct, he hath fortified us
with natural laws and principles, which are preventive
of many aberrations. Karnes, Elem. of Crit., I. x.
Hence — 5. Sober; industrious; persevering:
as, a steady workman Steady motion, a motion of
a fluid such' that the velocity at each point remains con-
stant in magnitude and direction.— Steady pin. See
pin^.
II. n. 1. In mach., some device for steady-
ing or holding a piece of work. Specifically, in
tnttton-manuf., a hand-support for a button-blank, upon
which, used in conjunction with another implement called
a grip, the blank is held between the alined rotating spin-
dles carrying cutters for shaping it into the required form.
2. In stone-cutting, a support for blocking up
a stone to be dressed, cut, or broken. — 3.
Same as stadda.
steady! (sted'i), v. ; pret. and pp. steadied, ppr.
steadying. {^<.steadyi,a.'\ 1. trans. 1. To make
steady; holder keep from shaking, staggering,
swaying, reeling, or falling ; support ; make or
keep firm : as, to steady the hand.
Thus steadied, it [the house-martin] works and plasters
the materials into the face of the brick or stone.
Gilbert White, Nat. Hist. Selborne, To D. Barrington, xvi.
Hence — 2. To make regular and persevering
in character and conduct: as, trouble and dis-
appointment had steadied him.
II. intrans. To become steady; regain or
maintain an upright or stable position or con-
dition; move steadily.
She steadies with upright keel !
Coleridge, Ancient Mariner, iii
steady^ (sted'i), n. A dialectal form of stithy.
Job saith, Stetit cor ejus sicut incus: His heart stood
&& a. steady. Bp. Jewell, Works, J. 023. (Davies.)
steady-going (sted'i-g6"ing), a. Of steady
habits; consistently uniform and regular in
action ; that steadily piu-sues a reasonable and
consistent way: as, a steady-going fellow.
Sir George Burns appears to have been too steadygoing
through the whole of his long life for it to be marked by
any of the exciting incidents that make the charm of
biography. Athenxum, No. 3287, p. 545.
steady-rest (sted'i-rest), n. Same as bach--re.^t.
steak (stak), H. [< ME. steike, steyke. < Icel.
,'iteik. a steak, = Sw. steJ; = Dan. steg, roast
meat, < Icel. steikja (= Sw. stcka = Dan. stegc),
roast on a spit (cf. stikna, be roasted or
steak
scorched), akin to stika, a stick: see sticl-^,
s/ioA-3.] 1 . A slice of flesh, as beef, pork, veni-
son, or halibut, broiled or fried, or cut for broil-
ing or frying.
Steke of flesshe — charbonnee. Paiiffrave, p. 275.
Fair ladies, number five,
Who, in your merry freaks,
Witli little Tom contrive
To feast on ale and gteakg,
Sictft, Five Ladies at Sot's Hole.
2t. A slash or panel in a garment.
Is that your lackey yonder, in the steaks of velvet?
Middleton^ Phoenix, i. 5.
Hamburg steak, raw beef, chopped fine, seasoned with
onions, etc., formed into a cake, and cooked in a close
frjinB-pan. — Porter-house steak, ^ve porterhouse.—
Round steak, a steak from the round —Rump Steak.
See rump steak. — Tenderloin Steak. See tenderloin.
Steak-cmsher (stak'krush er), II. A kitchen
utensil for pounding, rolling, or otherwise
crushing a steak before cooking, to make it
tender.
SteaU (stel), V. ; pret. stole, pp. stolen (formerly
stole), ppr. stealing'. [< ME. stelen, steolen (pret.
stal, stale, stel, pp. stolen, stoolen, stole, i-stolen),
< AS. stelan (pret. steel, pi. steelon, pp. stolen) =
05. stelan = OFries. stela = D. stelen = SILG.
LG. «te/<>n =OHG. stelan, MHG. stein, G. stehlen
= Icel. stela = Sw. stjdla = Dan. stjsele = Goth.
stilan, steal. Connection with Gr. tnepiaiuiv,
arepciv, deprive of, is doubtful. Hence ult.
staled, stealth. For another word for 'steal,'
with L. and Gr. connections, see /i/f^.] I. trans.
1. To take feloniously; take and carry oflf clan-
destinely, and without right or leave; appro-
priate to one's own uses dishonestly, or with-
out right, permission, or authority: as applied
to persons, to kidnap^* abduct : as, to steal some
one's purse ; to steal cattle ; to steal a child.
Whan Grisandol sangh he was on slepe, she and hir fel-
owes com as softely as the! myght. and stale awey his
stafle. Merlin (E. £. T. S.), iii. iih.
How then should we steal oat of thy lord's house silver
or gold? Gen. xliv. 8.
2. To remove, withdraw, or abstract secretly
or stealthily.
And from beneath his Head, at dawning Day,
With softest Care have sUin my Arm away.
Prior, Solomon, 11.
3t. To smuggle, literally or figuratively.
Pray Walsh to lUat joa In, aa I hope he will do.
J. Bradford, Letters (Parker Soc., V&S), U. 187.
All the Spices and drags that are brought to Mecca are
ttUUn from thence as Contrahanda.
Bakhvf$ royagtt, IL 223.
4. To take or assume without right.
Oh, that deceit should tleal snch gentle shapes.
And with a virtuoas vizard hide foul guile !
Shot., Rich. IIL, it 2. •-'7.
6. To obtain surreptitiously, or by stealth or
surprise : as, to steal a kiss.
What sought these lovers then, by dav, by night.
But staUn moments of disturb'd delight?
Crabbe, Works, I. «.
6. To entice or ■win by insidious arts or secret
means.
How many a holy and obseqnloas tear
Hath dear religious love Hatn from mine eye !
Shak., Sonnets, ml.
Thou hast discovered some enchantment old
Whose spells have sfofm ray spirit as I slept.
Sheiley, Prometheus Unbound, IL 1.
7. To perform, procure, or effect in a stealthy
or underhand way ; perform secretly ; conceal
the doing, performance, or accomplishment of.
And than lough Arthur, and selde to the kynge Ban that
this mariage wolde he haae stole tuulde no Merlin l-be.
Merlin (B. E. T. S.), II. 863.
I went this evening to visit a friend, with a design to
rally him upon a story I had heard of his Intending to
steal a marriage without the privity of us his intimate
friends and acquaintance. Steele, Spectator, No. 133.
8. To move furtively and slyly: as, she stole
her hand into his.
The 'prentice spraka bis dtareapect by an extended
finger, and the porter by stealing out his tongue.
Steele, SpecUtor, No. 354.
9. In base-ball, to secure, as a base or run, with-
out an error by one's opponents or a base-hit
by the batter; to run successfully to, as from
one base to the next, in spite of the efforts of
one's opponents: as. to x((^n/ second base : some-
times used intransitively with to : as, to steal to
second base. — 10. In netting, to take away (a
mesh) by netting into two meshes of the pre-
ceding row at once. Encyc. Brit., XVII. 3.i9. —
To steal a by. .See by^.—To steal a march, i<> march
secretly; anticipate or forestall, or 'ithrr^isc- caiii an ad-
vantage atealthlly, or by address.— To Steal overt, to
smuggle.
5919
In the Flushing and Low Country's troublesome dis-
orders, some few (by stealing over of victuals and other
things from this commonwealth) have made themselves
privately rich. Dr. J. Dee (Arber's Eng. Garner, II. 60).
= Syn. 1. To filch, pilfer, purloin, embezzle. See pillage, n.
IL. in trans. 1 . To practise or be guilty of theft.
Thou shiOlt not steal. Ex. xx. 1.^.
2. To move stealthily or secretly ; creep soft-
ly; pass, approach, or withdraw surreptitiously
and unperceived; go or come furtively; slip
or creep along insidiously, silently, or unper-
ceived ; make insinuating approach : as, to steal
into the house at dusk; the fox stole away:
sometimes used reflexively.
Age is so on me stoolen that y mote to god rae 3Ude.
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.), p. 72.
Fix'd of mind ... to fly all company, one night she
stole away. Sir P. Sidney.
He will steal himself into a man's favour, and for a week
escape a great deal of discoveries.
Shak., All's Well, Ui. 6. 98.
But what has made Sir Peter steal off? I thought he
had been with you. Sheridan, School for Scandal, iv. 3.
Ever does natural beauty steal in like air, and envelop
great actions. Emerson, Misc., p. 25.
steaU (stel), «. [< steaJi, t'.] An act or a case
of theft : as, an official steal ; specifically, in base-
ball, a stolen or furtive run from one base to
another: as, a steal to third base. See steaP-,
r. t.. 9.
B'teal^ (stel), n. Same as stale'^.
stealer (ste'lfer), «. [< steaO- + -crl.] 1. One
who steals, in any sense ; especially, a thief : as,
a cattle-steo/er.
The trangreaaion Is In the stealer.
Shak., Much Ado, U. 1. 233.
Specifically — 2. In ship-building, the foremost
or aftmost plank in a strake, which is dropped
short of the stem or stem-post and butts against
a notch or jog in another plank. Also called
stealing-strake.
When the girth of the ship at the midship section is so
much In excess of each or either of those at the extremi-
ties as to cause the plates to be very narrow if the same
number were retained right fore and aft. It becomes ne-
to introduce stealers — that la to say, to cause cer-
tain plates to stop somewhere between the extremities and
mid^ips, and thus reduce the number of strakes which
end on the stem and stem post.
Thearle, Naval Arch., § 138.
stealing (ste'ling), n. [Verbal n. of steaP-, r.]
1. The act of one who steals; theft.
Men are apt to condemn whatever they hear called
stealing aa an 111 «ction, disagreeing with the rule of right.
Lodie, Human Understanding, II. xxvlU. 16.
2. That which is stolen ; stolen property : used
chiefly in the plural : as, his stealings amounted
to thousands of dollars.
Stealingly (ste'ling-li), adv. [< ME. stelendlich;
< stealing, Ppr., + -ly^-^ By stealing; slyly;
secretly. [Bare.]
stealing-strake (ste'ling-strak), n. Same as
stealer, 2.
stealth (stelth), n. [Earlv mod. E. also stelth;
< ME. stelthe, stalthe (= Icel. stitUlr = Sw. stold),
stealth, with abstract formative -th,<. AS.stelan,
steal: see steals. Another form, from the
Scand., is stouih. The older noun was staled.
Cf. health, heaP, teealth, ireo/.] If. The act of
stealing; theft.
Yf that Licurgus tbould have made It death for the Lace-
demonians to steale, they being a i>ef>ple which naturally
delighted In i(<a/U, . . . there should have bene few Lace-
demonians then left Spenser, State of Ireland.
2t. A thing stolen.
On his backe a heavy load he bare
Of nightly steltht, and pillage severalL
Spenser, V. Q., I. UL 16.
3. A secret or clandestine method or proceed-
ing; means secretly employed to gain an ob-
ject; surreptitious way or manner: used in a
good or a bad sense.
Yef It were oon that wolde assay hym-self In eny
straunge turnement by stelthe vnknowen whan thei were
diagised that ttiel wolde not be knuwc till thei hadde re-
nomee of grete prowesse. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 502.
Let bumble Allen, with an awkward shame,
Do good by stealth, and blush to And It fame.
Pope, Epa to Satires, L 136.
4t. A secret going; a stolen or clandestine
visit.
I told him of your stealth unto this wood.
Shak., M. N. D., 111. 2. 310.
Stealthftllt (stelth'ful), a. [< stealth + -fid.'}
Given to stealth ; bent on stealing ; stealthy.
t'hajimtm, tr. of Homer's Hymn to Hermes,
1. »!!).
stealtMuUyt (stelth'fiil-i), adv. By stealing;
Ktealtliilv.
stealtMlilnesst (stelth'f<il-ne8), n. Stealtbi-
ness.
steam
stealthily (stel'thi-li), odt). ' In a stealthy man-
ner; by stealth.
Stealthiness (stel'thi-nes), n. Stealthy char-
acter or action.
stealthy (stel'thi), a. Acting by stealth; sly;
secretive in act or manner; employing con-
cealed methods : as, a stealthy foe ; character-
ized by concealment; furtive: as, a stealthy
proceeding ; a stealthy movement.
Murder . . . with his stealthy pace.
Shak., Macbeth, 11. 1. 54.
Footfalls of stealthy men he seemed to hear.
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, III. 321.
See where the stealthy panther left his tracks !
0. W. Holmes, A Family Record,
steam (stem), n. [< ME. steem, stem, < AS. steam,
vapor, smell, smoke, = Fries, stoame = D.
stoom, steam; origin unknown.] 1. Vapor; a,
rising vapor; an exhalation.
rough ! what a steam of brimstone
Is here ! B. Jonson, Devil is an Ass, v. 4.
2. Water in a gaseous state; the gas or vapor
of water, especially at temperatures above
100° C. It has a specific gravity of .625 as compared
with air under the same pressure. It liquefies at lOO" C.
(212° F.X under a pressure of 14.7 pounds upon a square
inch, or the mean pressure of the atmosphere at the sea-
level. The temperature at which it liquefies diminishes
with the pressure. Steam constantly rises from the sur-
face of liquid water when not obstructed by impervious
inclosures or covered by another gas already saturated,
with it. Its total latent heat of vaporization for 1 pound
weight under a pressure of 76 centimeters of mercury
(or 14.7 pounds to the square inch) is 965.7 British ther-
mal units, or 536.5 calories for each kilogram. Its spe-
cific heat under constant pressure is .4805, (Regnault.)
It is decomposed into oxygen and hydrogen at tempera-
tures between 1,000° and 2,000° C. (Deville.) In addition
to the surface evaporation of water, the change from the
liquid to the gaseous sUite takes place beneath the sur-
face (the gas escaping with ebullition) whenever the tem-
perature of the liquid is raised without a corresponding
increase of pressure upon it. The temperature at which
this occurs under any particular pressure is the boiling-
point for that pressure. The boiling-point of water under
the atmospheric pressure at the sea-level is 100° C. or
212° F. Saturated steam has the physical properties com-
mon to all gases whose temperatures are near those of
their liquefylng-points, or the boiling-points of their li-
quids. Saturated steam when isolated, and superheated
at temperatures from 100° to 110° C, and under constant
pressure, expands with a given increase of temperature
about five times as much as air, and at 186° C. about twice
as much as air; and it must be raised to a tempera-
ture much higher than this before it will expand uni-
formly like air. The large quantity of latent heat in
steam. Its great elasticity, and the ease with which it may
be condensed have rendered its use in engines more
practicable than that of any other gaseous medium for
the generation and application of mechanical power.
3. Water in a visible vesicular condition pro-
duced by the condensation of vapor of water in
air. — 4. Figuratively, force; energy. [CoUoq.]
St. A flame or blaze ; a ray of light.
Steem, or lowe of fyre. Flamma. Prompt. Parv., p. 473.
Absolute steam-pressure, sceiwesnire.— Deadsteam.
Same as rxhn ust-Ktra m . —Dry Steam, sat urated steam with-
out any adini.xture of mechanically suspemled water. —
High-pressure steam, low-pressure steam. Seepres-
«wre. — Live steam, steam which has performed no work,
or only part of its work, or which is or might he available
for the perfonnance of work in an engine. — Saturated
Steam, steam ill contact with water at the same tempera-
ture. In this condition the steam is always at its con-
denslng-point, which is also the boiling-point of the water
with which it is in contact. In this it differs from super-
heated steam of equal tension, which has a temperature
higher than its conilensinK-point at that tension, and
higher than the boilinjj-poiiit of water under the same
pressure.— Specific steam-volume, in thermodynamics,
the volume wnich a unit of weight of steam assumes under
specific conditions of temperature and pressure. — Steam
ifre-englne. Seeyirp-enjrine, 2.— Steam Jet-pump. See
puinpi. — steam vacuum-pump. See vacuum-pump. —
Superheated steam, steam which at any stated pressure
has a higlirr temperature, and for any particular weight
of it a greater volume, than saturated steam (whicli see,
above) at the same pressure. Also called steam-gas. — To-
tal beat Of Steam. Hame as steam-heat. 1. — Wet Steam,
steam holding water mechanically suspended, the water
being in the form of spray or vesicles, or both.
steam (stem), v. [Early mod. E. also strein ; <
ME. stenien, < AS. steman, styinan (= D. stoo-
men), steam, < steam, vapor, steam: see steam,
«.] 1, intrans. X. To give out steam or vapor;
exhale any kind of fume or vapor.
Ye mists, . . . that . . . rise
From hill or steaming lake.
Milton, P. L., V. 186.
2. To rise in a vaporous form ; pass off in visi-
ble vapor.
When the last deadly smoke aloft did sleeme.
Spenser, F. Q., I. xlL 2.
3. To move or travel by the agency of steam:
as, the vessel steamed into port.
We steamed quietly on. past . , . the crowds of yachts
at Byde, and dropped anchor off Cowes.
Lady Brassey, Voyage of Sunbeam , 1. 1-
4t. To flame or blaze up.
steam
His eyen steepe and roUyngr in his heede,
That steinede as a forneys of a leede.
Chaucer, Gen. ProL to C. T., 1. 202.
Slemyn, or lowyn vp. Flammo. Prompt Parv., p. 473.
Two atemynge eyes. Wyatt^ Satires, i. 53.
H. trans. 1, To exhale; evaporate. [Rare.]
In slouthfoll sleepe his molten hart to xteme.
Spenser, F.ii., 11. vi. 27.
■2. To treat with steam; expose to steam; ap-
ply st^am to f orany purpose : as, to steam cloth ;
to steam potatoes instead of boiling them; to
steam food for cattle; steamed bread.
Bteamboat (stem'bot), «. A vessel propelled
by steam-power.
steamboat-bag (stem'bot-bug), n. A water-
boetle of hirge size, or otherwise conspieuous-
[Looal, U. !S.]
■ steamboat-coal (stem'bot-kol), n. Coal broken
small enough to pass between bars set from 6
to 8 inches apart, but too large to pass between
bars less than 5 inches apart. This is the vaiiation
of siie in different collieries in the Pennsylvania anthra-
cite regions, where this size of coal is rarely prepared
except to fill special orders, and where alone this term is
iu use.
steamboating (stem'bo'ting), n. 1. The busi-
ness of operating steamboats. — 2. Undue hur-
rying and slighting of work. [Colloq.] — 3, A
method of cutting many boards for book-covers
at one operation, instead of cutting them singly.
steamboat-rolls (stem'bot-rolz), «. pi. The
largest rolls used in breaking coal for the mar-
ket. Also called a-ushers and cnishei'-rolls.
See steamboat-coaL [Pennsylvania anthracite
regions.]
steam-boiler (stem'boi'l^r), 7/. A receptacle
or vessel in which water is heated and boiled
to generate steam; particularly, a receptacle
or vessel in which the water is confined, or iso-
lated from the external air, in order to gen-
erate steam under a pressure equal to or ex-
ceeding that of the atmosphere, for the conver-
sion of its expansive force into work in a steam-
motor or -engine, or for heating purposes.
The kinds of steam-boilers in use are very numerous and
may be variously classified. In some the parts are rigidly
joined tc^ether by rivets, bolts, stays, tubes expanded into
heads, etc.; in others the parts are easily detachable one
from the other, as in what are known as seciioiud boilers.
Another division may be made, with reference to the treat-
ment of the contained water, which in one class of steam-
boilers is heated principally in a single mass of considera-
ble cubic capacity, and in another is distributed in small
spaces connected with each other and with the steam-space,
as in what are known 2ia> sectional sa/ety -boilers. A third
ground of classification is the mode of applying heat. (8ee
cylindrical steam'boiler, retum-fiue boiler, horizontal tubu-
lar boiler, Ji re-tube boiler, etc., below.) Boilers aie made
of wrought-iron or steel plates and tubes, or of cast-iron,
or partly of wrought-iron or steel and of cast-iron. Steel
■of moderate tensile strength has lately been much used
for boilers in which high pressures are maintained ; and
the present tendency of engineering in power-boilers
is toward the use of as high pressures as is compatible
with good lubrication, or the use of steam at as high a
temperature as can be employed without decomposition
of lubricants. Sectional boilers are often made partly or
wholly of cast-iron, the sections being bolted or screwed to-
gether ; and cast-iron is also very largely employed for low-
pressure boilers used for steam-heating.— Circulating
steam-boiler, a compound boiler in which the connected
parts are unequally heated, the water rising in the more
intensely heated parts, and descending in the cooler parts,
to insure a rapid circulation of the water constantly in one
direction.— Compound steam-boiler, (a) A battery of
two or more single steam-boilers having their steam- and
water-spaces connected, and acting together to supply
steam to a heating-apparatus or a steam-engine. (&) A sin-
gle boiler, or a battery of boilers, combined with other
apparatus, as a feed-water heater or a superheater, for
facilitating the production or for the superheating of
steam, (c) A sectional boiler.— Comish steam-boUer,
the cylindrical flue-boiler invented by Smeaton. See re-
iurn-fiue rfeam-fcot^fr.— Corrugated fumace steam-
boiler, a boiler in which the plates exposed to the direct
radiation from the Are and to the hot gases in the furnace
are corrugated to give increased strength and to present
a more extended heating-surface to the fire. — Cylin-
drical steam-boiler, a boiler with an exterior cylmdri-
cal shell, having flanged heads of much thicker iron fas-
tened to the shell by rivets.— Fire- tube Steam-boiler,
a boiler in which the heat of the fumace is partly or
wholly applied to the interior of tubes which pass through
the water-space of the boiler. — Flue Steam-bOiler, a gen-
eral name for all steam-boilers with an internal flue or flues,
whether vertical, horizontal, or of other construction.-
Horizontal flue Steam-boiler, a horizontal steam-boiler
with one or more flues through its length. (Also called
retum-Jliie boiler.) If cylindrical also, it is a horizontal cy-
lindrical fine or return-flue boiler. — Horizontal steam-
boiler, a steam-boiler in which the flues or tubes are in a
horiz«intai position.- Horizontal tubular steam-boil-
er, a horizontal boiler with flre-tubes, through which the
gases of combustion pass in a manner analogous to their
passage through flues, for which the tubes are substitutes,
presenting a greater extent of heating-surface than can be
obtained in the same space by flues, and effectively tying the
heads of the boiler together. A modern form of this boiler
is shown in the cuts, which also show the method of setting
It in brickwork, a is the shell ; b, b, saddles for supporting
the boiler in the masonry c; d, the furnace-door; e, ash-pit
■door ; /, clean-out door In the boiler-front/', by which the
5920
tubes are reached for cleaning; (7, ash-pit; h, grate; i',
steam-dome;^', safety-valve; A:, steam-pipe; i, bridge-wall ;
in, combustion-chamber ; n, back connection for passage of
Horizontal Cylindrical Tubular Sceaiii-hoiler.
A. vertical longitudinal section; B, vertical cross-section.
the gases of combustion into the rear ends of the tubes ; o,
flue in the masonry; o', uptake; p, flanged head; g, tubes;
r, side-bars which support the masonry ; s, dead-air spaces
in the masonwork in which the air acts as a heat-insulator.
The course of the gases of combustion is indicated by
arrows.— Locomotive steam-boiler, a tubular boiler
which has a contained furnace and ash-pit, and in which
tlie gases of combustion pass from the furnace directly into
horizontal interior tubes (instead of passing first under the
boiler, as in the horizoi»tal cylindrical tubular boilerX and
after passing through the tubes are conveyed directly into
the smoke-box at the opposite end of the tubes. The name
is derived from the use of such boilers on locomotive en-
gines, but it is typical in its application to all boilers hav-
ing the construction described, and used for generating
steam for stationary or portable engines, as well as for
locomotives. — Marine steam-boiler, a boiler specially
designed and adapted for supplying steam to marine en-
gines. Compactness, as little weight as is consistent with
strength, effective steaming capacity, and economy in
consumption of fuel are the prime requisites of marine
boilers. They are usually tubular, and short in proportion
to their width, and have water-legs at the sides and water-
spaces below and at the backs of their furnaces — that is,
their furnaces are entirely surrounded by water-spaces
except at the openings for the doors. Marine boilers are
now sometimes used with forced draft — that is, air is
forced from the outside into the boiler- or fire-rooms
(which are sometimes made air-tight) or immediately into
the fires by powerful blowers.- Retum-flue steam-
boiler, a horizontal flue-boiler with one or more interior
flues through which the gases of combustion are returned
to the front end of the boiler after having passed to tlie rear
from the fumace over the bridge-wall and under the bot-
tom of the shell. — Rotary tubular steam-boiler. See
rotory.— Sectional safety steam-boiler, a sectional
boiler in which the water is divided into numerous small
masses connected with one another by passages large
enough for free circulation from one to the other, but not
large enough to permit so sudden a release of pressure, in
case of rupture of one of the sections, as to cause an explo-
sion.— Tubular steam-boiler, a boiler a prominent fea-
ture of which is a scries of either fire- or water-tubes. —
Vertical steam-boiler, a steam-boiler in which the heat-
ing-surface of the tubes or flues is in a vertical position.
When constructed with flre-tubes, it is called a vertical tu-
bular boiler.
steam-box (stem'boks), n. A reservoir for
steam above a boiler; a steam-chest.
steam-brake (stem'brak), «. A brake applied
by the action of steam admitted to a steam-
cylinder the piston of which is connected by
rods to the levers which apply the brake -shoes.
steam-car (stem'kar), n. A car drawn or driven
by steam-power; a railway-car. [U. S.]
steam-carriage (stem'kar''''aj), h. A road-car-
riage driven by steam-power.
steam-case (stem'kas), n. Same as steam-chest.
steam-chamber (stem'eham'''ber), ?i. 1. A box
or cliamber in which articles are placed to be
steamed. — 2. A steam-chest. — 3. A steam-
dome. — 4. The steam-room or steam-space in
a boiler or engine.
steam-cbest (stem'chest), ??. 1. The chamber
in which the slide-valve of a steam-engine
works. See cuts under passcnger-cngine, rock-
drill, and slide-valve, — 2. In calico-printing, a
metallic vessel or tank in which printed cloths
are steamed to fix their colors.
steam-chimney (stem'ehim*ni), n. An annu-
lar chamber around the chimney of a boiler-
furnace for superheating steam.
steam-cock (stem'kok), n. A faucet or valve
in a steam-pipe.
steam-coil (stem'koil), w. A coil of pipe, either
made up flat with return bends or in spiral
form, used to impart heat to a room or other in-
closed space or to a liquid, or, by exposure of
its exterior surface to air-currents or contact
of cold water, to act as a condenser.
steam-color (stem'kul*or), w. In dyeing, a col-
or which is developed and fixed by the action
of steam after the cloth is printed.
steam-crane (stem'kran), n. A crane worked
by steam, frequently carrying the steam-engine
upon the same frame.
steam-cutter (stem'kut'^'er), n. A ship's boat,
smaller than a launch, propelled by steam.
steam-cylinder (stem'sil'-'in-d^r), «. The cyl-
inder in which the piston of a steam-engine
reciprocates — Starting steam-cylinder. Same as
starting-engine.
Steam-engine
steam-dome (stem'dom), n. A chamber con-
nected with the steam-space and projecting
above the top of a steam-boiler. From it the
steam passes to the cylinder of a steam-engine, or to steam-
heating apparatus. See cut under steam-boiler.
steam-dredger (stem'drej*6r), ;/. A dredging-
machint^ operated by steam.
steam-engine (stem'en^jin), n. An engine in
which the mechanical force arising from the
elasticity and expansive action of steam, or
from its property of rapid condensation, or
from the combination of the two, is made
available as a motive power. The invention of
the steam-engine has been ascribed by the English to the
Marquis of Worcester, who published an account of it
about the middle of the seventeenth century. By the
lYench the invention has been ascribed to Papin, toward the
close of the same century. Papin'splan contained the earli-
est suggestion of a vacuum under a piston by the agency of
steam. The flrst actual working steam-engine of which
there la any record was invented and constructed by
Captain Savery, an Englishman, to whom a patent was
granted for it in 1698. This engine was employed to
raise water by the expansion and condensation of steam.
Tlie steam-engine received great improvements from the
hands of Newcomen, Beighton, and others. Still it was
imperfect and rude in its construction, and was chiefly
applied to the draining of mines or the raising of wa-
ter. Up to this time it was properly an atmospheric
engine {see atmospheric), for the actual moving power
was the pressure of the atmosphere, the steam only pro-
ducing a vacuum under the piston. The steam-engine
was brought to a high state of perfection by James W att
about the year 1782. The numerous and vital improve-
ments introduced by him, both in the combination of its
mechanism and in the economy of its management, have
rendered the steam-engine at once the most powerful,
the most easily applied and regulated, and generally
speaking the least expensive of all prime movers for im-
A5 4
steam-engine (Corliss KngineV
(The upper figure is a front view, the under a rear view.)
The steain-valve A and exhaust-valve A' are independent of each
other, and have cylindrical be a ring -surfaces. An oscillatory motion is
given to them by rods B, connecting with an oscillating disk C (wrist-
plate) upon the side of the steam-cylinder, which is worked by an in-
termediate rock-lever D, driven by the eccentric-rod E, connected
with an eccentric upon the main shaft. The motions of the exhaust-
valves are positive, but those of the inlet-valve are varied by means of
sprii^-catcnes a, which are adjustable to determine the [xjintsof open-
ing and the range of motion of the valves, and are also controlled in
their disengagement of the valve-stems by the governor F, rock-lever G,
connectii^-rods H, and rock-levers t. all connected together in such
manner that an extremely small increase or decrease of speed in the
rotation of the fly-wheel shaft causes the inlet-valves to be released
and to close correspondingly earlier or later in the stroke The
closing is performed by exterior weights suspended from short levers
on the valve-stems by the rods it, the motion of closing being controlled
by dash-pots at rf, only the covers of which are shown. The other
parts of the engine, which are common to most reciprocating engines,
are i, the bed-plate ; z, cylinder ; 3, piston ; 4, piston-rod ; 5, stuthng-
box ; 6, sliding-block or cross-head ; 7, connecting-rod or pitman ; 8,
rod-end fitted to 9, the crank-wrist ; 10, fly-wheel ; 11, crank keyed to
12, the crank-shaft: 13, centrifugal lubricating tube; 14, steam-pipe;
15, lubricator ; 16, exhaust-pipe.
pelling machinery of every description. The steam-en-
gine is properly a heat-enguie, and the total work L is ex-
pressed theoretically by the equation
L = QG(T,— T)/AT,,
in which Q represents the total heat converted into work
per unit of weight, G weight of steam, and A the thermal
equivalent of a unitof work, while T, and T are respective-
ly the higher and lower limits of temperature between
which the steam is worked, T, being the absolute temper-
ature at which the steam is inducted to the engine, and
T the absolute temperature at which it is exhausted from
it. Inspection of tlie equation shows that the work per-
formed must vary directly as the factor (T, — T) varies —
that is, the greater the difference which can be main-
tained between the temperature of induction and that of
eduction the greater is the amount of work performed by
any given weight of steam. It is in accordance with this
law that much higher steam-pressures are now adopted
than were formerly employed. The factor (T, — T) is com-
monly called the temperature range or /all. The varieties
of steam-engines are extremely immerous. (For names
of various typos, with explanations of their characteristic
features, see below.) The specific differences between
steam-engines of the same type of construction consist
chiefly in their valve-gear. (See valve-gear, governor, 6.
regidator, n., Hide-valve (with cut), and pittto7i-valve.) W
the total steam-power employed in modern industry on
land, that supplied by steam-engines of the horizontal
type far exceeds that furnished i3y steam-engines of all
steam-engine
other types put together. Vertical direct-acting
engines of large size are little used, but small en-
igiues of this type are much employ^*i- Steain-en-
Sinea of the rotary type are scarcely used except
for some kinds of steam hoisting-engines. Double,
triple, and quadruple expansion steam-engines are
now largely used in marine engineering. Many
double expansion stationary engines are in use,
and theecoiH'inical value uf the compound system
has been deni'jiistnittd Ixith theoretically and prac-
tically.—Agricultural Steam-engine, a portable
engine with a boiler, often specially adai»ted 1. 1 bum
light fuel, as ehaif or straw, either by itself or in
connection with wood or coal.— Annular steam-
englne, a steam-engine having an annular piston
working in an annular steam-cylinder, and having
two diametrically placed piston-rods connected
with the cross head, the latteralso being connected
by rods to a guide-block working in the hollow cyl-
inder forming the center of the annular steam-cyl-
inder, this guide-block being coiiriecteit with the
crank by a pitman.— Atmospheric steam-en-
gine. See atmospheric etu/ine, under atmi'ifpheric.
— Beam steam-engine, an engine in which a
■workini'-beam loniiects the connecting-rod with
the crank-pitman, and transmits power from one
to the other. See beam-engine.— COTdVOViXlCi
8tdani-6ngine, a steam-engine having two steam-
cylinders of unequal size, from the smaller of
which the st«am, after use, passes into the larger
cylinder, and completes its work by expanding
against the piston in the latter. — Concentric
Steam-engine. .Same as rotary sUam-enffine. —
Condensing steam-engine, a steam-engine in
which the exhaust-steam is condensed, for the pur-
pose of removing the tiack- pressure of the atmo-
sphere from the exhaust, and also to economize fuel
by saving heat otherwise wasted. See comleiiser,
and cut under pvlgometer.—CoTTdsh steam-en-
gine, a single-acting condensing Kteain pumping-
engine tirst aaed in the mines of < ornwall. It
is also used as a pumping-engine for supplying
water to cities. Steam-pressure Is not used to
raise the water, but to lift a long loaded pump-rod,
whose weight in its descent is the power employed
to force up the water. The motion is regulated
by a kind of hydraulic regulator invented by
Smeaton, and called a ca/«rac/.— Direct-acting
steam-engine, a steam-engine in which the i>-i\ver
of thepiston is transmitted to the crank without the
intervention of levers, side-beams^ or a working-beam. —
DisK steam-engine, a form of rotary engine in which the
stuam-pistons act succeufTely against a revolving disk
set at an angle to the plane of rotation, thus imparting a
gyratory motion to a central shaft upon which the disk is
mounted, the end of this shaft being connected with a
4 rank turnini; in the plane of rotation.— Double-acting
Steam-engine, the ordinary fonn of steam-engine, in
whicti the 8tt-am acts upon both sides of the piston.—
Double-cylinder steam-engine, a steam engine hav-
ing two steanwrylinders acting in combination with each
otlier. See compound gteam^m/ine. — DOUblO expansion
steam-engine, (a) A double-cylinder steam-engine In
which steam is umhI expansively, (o) .\ compound steam-
engine.— DOUble steam-engine, a steam-engine having
two cylinders in which the pistons make either simulta-
neous or alternate; strokes and are conneclet"
same crank-shaft.— Dllplex Steam-engine. Same
4ovbU *(«im-en^'»»^.— High-pressure steam-engine.
See hiffh presntre, under prefamn'. High-speed Steam-
engine, a somewhat indefinite name for a reciprocating
engine working at a high speed as compared with the
much slower speed of engines with the Corlisa and other
5921
r ^«=* y 0
Double Expansion Marine Steam-engine.
a, high-pressure cylinder; *, low-pressure cylinder; r, induction- and eduction-valve
for a in position of cxh.iust from lower end and of induction to upper end of cylinder ;
d, passage for steam from a to *," e, induction- and eduction -valve for d; f,/^ , bal-
ance-plates for valves of a and */ ^, e\ pistons; A. A', piston-rods; »', i", crois-hcads ;
*, if, connecting-rods; /, /', cranks; m, crank-
J.J' , slipper'^ides for cross-hca. ... ^ ... - . ,
shaft ; ». shaft which drives feed-pump o and also bil){e-pump (not shown) on the op-
pO!>ite side ; /, worm on main shaft gearing into worm-wheel a on the shaft n, and actu-
ating; pump- plungers by crank and pitman connection ; r, r', eccentrics ; s, s't eccen-
tric-rods; /, t', links connected by hnk-blocks with valve-stems «, »'; v, crank-tever
which turns a segmental worm-gear, keyed to the rock-shaft w carrying the rocker- ,v».. v.i» «j »<... .-» no u.r i. .. >.imwv ^v^ »u«kiii-.iiv i..«
arms jf.jT'.forreversinghigh pressure and low-pressure valves respectively; ^, bed- x^.^ ij^g steflin niav be admitted above the niston
plate; x. columns supporting the cylinders; #'.tie-rodsfor stiffening the columns; a', p»ow, live Steam may oc aumitteu aooye tne pibion
exhaust from low-pressure cylinder to the condenser (not shown) ; a", butterfly Oitot- *" «='"«* •" Hr.v....^ .t dr.w„i*M>ril 1 « H«*livpr « crpntl**
tle-valvc; *', gear for operating throttle-valve; f, relief-valves.
piston. The name Is pometimts given to reciprocating en-
gines which have a tly-wht-el and crank-shaft. E. II. Knight.
—Rotatory steam-engine, same as rota n/ tteam-enfjine.
— Semi-portable steam-engine, a steam-engine wliich
isni'ivabU- with its futuidation-plato, as distinguished from
an engint- nnumtcd on wheels, and from one resting on a
fixed fuundutiitn. — Triple expansion steam-engine,
a steam-engine that expands its steam in three successive
stages and in tliree separate and distinct cylinders, one
taking its steam from the boiler, and each of the others
taking its steam from the exliaustof the cylinder working
at the next higher pressure. This type of marine engine
is found at the present time on many of the swiftest steam-
ships, but may be in turn superseded l>y the ifuadruple
expansion-engine.— Vertical steam-engine, a steam-
engine whose piston reciprocates vertically,
neous" or alternate strokes and are connected with the gfeamer (ste'm^r), n. f< Steam -*- -cr^A One
who or that which steams, iti any sense, spe-
cifically—(a) A steam-box. (&> A person employed in
steaming oysterB in shucking them for canning, (c) In
caHeo-prirOitifft one who steams printed cloth for fixing
steam-ccdors. (cO One who steams wood for bending, etc.
(«) A steam-generator or -boiler : as. the boiler is an excel-
lent tUamtr. {J) Especially, a vessel propelled by steam ;
% ateamship. ig) A fire-engine the pumps of which are
worked by steam, (A) A vessel in which articles are sub-
jected to the action of steam, as in washing or cookery.
See tUam-chegt^ 2. (1) Id paper-making, a vessel in which
old paper, fiber, etc., are treated in order to soften them.
(2) An apparatus for steaming grain preparatory to grind-
ing. (I) A kfcomotive for road*. See road-gteamer.
gteamer-cap (ste'mer-kap), h. Same as fore-
antl-aft, 2.
steam-kettle
the mercury according to the amount of pressure.
A very common form of gage is that known as
Bourdon's, which consists essentially of a flattened
metal tube, closed *t one end and bent circularly,
into which the steam is admitted. As such a tube
tends to straighten itself out by the force of the
steam, the amount of pressure can easily be ascer-
tained by an attached index-apparatus,— Electric
Steam-gaige, an attachment to a steam-boiler for
imlicating at a distance the pressure of tlie steam.
One form consistsof a bent tube ttlled with mercury,
which, as it rises under the pressure, closes a series
of electrical circuits after the manner of a thermo-
stat. Another form employs the expansion or move-
ment of an oidinary steam-gage diaphragm as a cir-
cuit-closer. The closing of the circuit in each case
serves to sound an alann.
steam-gas (stem'gas), », Same as super-
heoted steam (which see, under steam).
steam-generator (stem'jen'^e-ra-tor), n.
A steam-boiler,
steam-governor (stem'guv^^er-nor),H. See
ffoccntor, 6.
steam-gun (stem'gun), n, A gun the pro-
jectile force of "which is derived from the
expansion of steam issuing through the
shotted tube.
steam-hammer (stem'ham'''6r), w. A f org ■
ing-hammer operated by steam-power, it
has assumed several forms, but now consists of a
vertical and inverted steam -cylinder with piston and
piston-rod (the rod passing thro'igh the lower cylin-
der-head and carrying at the e d a mass of metal
which forms the hammer), an anvil directly beneath
the hammer and cylinder, a supporting framework,
and suitable valves for the control of the steam.
Steam is u:sed to raise and may also be used to drive
down the hammer. By means of the valve-system,
steam is admitted below the piston to raise the ham-
mer and to sustain it while the metal to be forged is
placed on the anvil. To deliver a blow, the steam la
exhausted below the piston, and the hammer is al-
lowed to fall by its own weiglit. To augment the
blow, live steam may be admitted
to assist in driving it downward. To deliver a gentle
blow, the exliaust-steam below the piston may be re-
tained to act as a cushion. Blows can be delivered
at any point of the stroke, quickly or slowly, lightly or
with the full power of tlie combined weight of the ham-
mer and force of steam- pressure ; or the machine may be
used as a vise or s<tueezer. All modern steam-hammers
of the type described are ntoditications of the original
Nasmyth steam-hammer illustrated in the cut. Steam-
Hig1i-«peed Steam-engine.
Steam-hammer (Nasniyth's).
#, frame ; c. harnmer-head ; </, guides; *, piston-rod ; ^
g valves that control iDductio ' " *" "
1 of ste.iin to
and
types of valve-gears. In general it may be said that steamcr-dUCk Cstg'm^r-duk), «. A South Amer-
ican duck of the genus Micropterus (or Tachy-
eres); a race-horse. See Microptrrus, 2. This
duck becomee when adult incapable of flight, but swims
veiy rapidly, with a movement which has sufi^eated the
action of a sid^wheel steamboat (whence the name).
steam-excavator ( stem ' eks ' ka - va - tor), ».
Same as itarrtf-, 3.
engines of considerable power, making one hundred
turns p*T minute and upward, are high-speed engines.—
Horizontal stcam-ftngine, a steam-engine in which the
piston works horizontally.— Inclined-cylinder steam-
engiJU, afonnof marineengiiK- li:ivin;:i;sli)j<lr].s itK-ljucd
to the horizontal. — Inverted-cylinder steam-engine, a
steam-engine in which the cross-head is placed below the
cylinder. This construction is much naed for marin« en-
gines, and Ui some extent for stationary engines. — LOW-
pressure steam-engine. Hee tour prestitre. under prett-
#»/r^ Marine steam-engine, a steam-engine specially
denigiK-d for marine ]iro[>iiUion. The beat modem types
arc condensing, short^stroke. double, triple, or quadruple
expansion-engines of the Inverted-cylinder type. Marine
etigincA for steam-iugs are for the most part single and
often iioii-condfTming. See cut in next column, — Non-
COndensing steam-engine, an engine thnt exhausts its
Rteain without condt-nsatTon, See »»ort-coiM//*rwiH,7. — Oscil-
lating steam-engine, a steam-engine whofte cylinder os-
cillatea on tniiniions and has its piston-rod directly con-
nected with tht: rrank. Double cngincKof this type have
hvvu conf^i<b rably u^^ed for murine piM].uKjiHi,and aooie
arestiii . iiipiMyid'. -Overhead steam-engine, Seemwr-
ffo'i. Quadruple expansion steam-engine, a steam-
engine w I If -i st'-ani iit liieli pnsHure. expands
it in four': if ions snn-cssivt ly. ainl iti fourdis-
tinct and uu ( yliii'Ii-is. 'I'ln- pistiriis <»f thecyl-
iii'i'T- ■■' i l.v pisloti-ri'ds, fros.-t-h*-;idH,and con-
nf'!!'.-- ■ ' 1- \, irii ■ t imIC" attacltrd lo ;i (•..rnmnn shaft, to
whi' 1: T"i ir> III t]. :i 1- i III part t.-d by the <-m;i. ting pistons. —
Reciprocating steam-engine, a sttam-t ii;:tn»- in which
tht: p"«'r I'f ^t.- tiTi i^ ;ippli< >l to a rtcipro<:iitinit piston. —
Revolving-cylinder steam-engine, a ftt.:im engine of
which th' ivliinlcr is po inountcd tliat it isrnuMM) to rotate
by th'- r'<ipTMi:ittoTi ftti\iv piston. i'lmip-.iTQ rntnrt/ nt^nm-
ewjinfi. Rotary Steam-engine,asteam-t'ngine in which
the piston rotates in the cylinder, or the cylinder upon the
372
a, anvil ;
valve-chests containir ^
eduction from the cylinder A." A', steam-pipe ', e,i
by the ro«l i ) connected with the valve-stems and moving the valves ;
J, trippinic-mechanism by which the hammer is caused to descend
from any pan of the upstroke, the adjusting-ffear M being manipu-
lated by a workman standing on the platfonii f.
hammers of the laiyest class have been made with ham-
mers weighing; eiuhty tons. Another type of steam-ham-
mer consists of two horizontal steam-cylinders placed in
line, the hammers meeting over an anvil on which the
foFRin^' rt'sls.
steam-fountain (stem'foun'tan), n. Beefoun- Steam-heat (stem'het), «. 1. In therm odyti am-
lain
steam-gage (stem'gaj), n. An attachment to
a boiler to iudioate the pressure of steam; a
prcssnre-gago. There are many forms. One of the
older <s a t>ent tnbe partially filled with mercury, one end
of which connects with the boiler, so that the steam raises
(<w, the total heat required to produce steam
at any tension from water at 0° C. or 32° F.
It is the sum of the sensible heat and the latent
heat expressed in thermal units. — 2. Heat im-
parted by the condensation of steam in coils,
liipes, or radiators.
steam-lioist (stem'hoist), K. A lift or elevator
operated by a steam-engine.
steam-house (stem'hous), n. In oyster-canning,
a liouse or room where oysters are steamed.
Steaminess (sto'mi-nes), n. Steamy or vapor-
ous cliaracter or quality; mistiness.
steam-jacket (stem'jak'et), n. An inclosure
adii]it('(l for receiving steam,' and applj'iiig the
heat of the steam to a kettle, tank, steam-cylin-
der, etc., surrounded by such inclosure.
steam-gage (Ashctoft-s). stCBm-jet (stem'jct), H. A blast of steam causcd
a. l»olk)wI>ent tube att.Tched to case at fl', and receiving condensed ffy jssue frOm a nozlc
waterof steam under pressure through the opening at /'; d. link con- . " • . a. / x - / ■ '• i\ * . ■ a ai, a •
nectingendoftuheawithshort amiofrock leverf.wliichhas.ntthc Steaffl-JOint (stCm JOIUt), W. A JOmt that 18
upper rnd a small rack intermcshtng with a pinion on the siHndIc of «if.in.,T ti.^lif
the irKtm rf; e, small oiled spring which acts ujxju the spindle of ?^lt .mi-l lr."'_. ,, ., . ii a j
the index or pointer in a direction opposeil to the action of the rack StCam-kettle (Stem ket'l), W. A VeSSCl heateCl
audpinion: ^.dial.on whicbtbefigurestadicatepressures(inpouuds) v,, „a ..^1 .,...,.1 f.^. i.n»:n..c *.„»»nono m
»bo»e the BtJiospherit prMsutc. . v ,~ , by Steam, and used for vanous purposes. The
steam-kettle
5922
■team for heating is usually applied by induction to a steam-trap (stem'trap), n. A contrivance for
steam-jacket snrrounding tlie sides and inclosing the bot- -^r^j^" rX. ^'' ; -■"■ ^"ui.iiYa,ui,o iui
torn of the kettle.
An appara-
Steam-kitchen (stem'kicli'en), n
tus for cooking by steam.
steam-launch (stem'liinch), n. See launch.
steam-motor ^stein'mo'tor), «. A steam-engine.
steam-navigation (stem'nav-i-ga 'shon), II.
The art of applying the power of steam to the
propulsion of boats and vessels ; the art of navi-
gating steam-vessels.
Steam-nawy (stem'nav'i), n. A digging-ma-
chine or excavator actuated by steam.
steam-organ (stem'6r''gan), n. Same as cal-
lioiK . '2.
steam-oven (stem'uv'n), n. An oven heated
by steam at high pressure.
steam-packet (stem'pak'et), n. A packet pro-
pelled by steam. Compare packet, «., 2.
steam-pan (stem'pan), Ji. A vessel with a dou-
ble bottom forming a steam-chamber
UUIII-JHIII.
steam-pipe (stem'pip), n. Any pipe in which
steam is conveyed. SpeciHcally — (a) A pipe which
leads from a Iwiler to an engine, pan, tank, etc., or from tlie
iwUer to a condenser or to tlie open air. (b) In a steam-
heating or -drying apparatus or system, a name given to
any one of the steam-supply pipes, in contradistinction to
the corresponding return-pipe tlirough wliicii water of
condensation is returned to the boiler.
steam-plow (stem'plou), «. A gang-plow de-
signed to be (iraviTi by a wire rope, and operated
by steam-power. Such a plow has usually eight shares
arranged in a frame, four pointing in one direction and
four in the other. The frame is balanced on a pair of
wheels in the center, and forms an angle in the middle, so
that when one half the plows are in use the others are
raised above the ground. Steam-plows are used with either
one or two engines. If with two engines, the plow is
drawn forward and backward between them, each en-
gine being advanced the width of the furrows after each
passage of the plow. If one engine only is used, snatch-
blocks and movable anchors are employed to hold the
rope, the anchors being automatically advanced after
each passage of the plow. Traction-engines also have been
used to drag plows. See anchor, porter^, and plow.
steam-port (stem'port), «. 1. In a sMe-valve
steam-engine, the name given to each of two
oblong passages from the steam-chest to the in-
side of the cylinder, which aflford passage to the
steam to and from the cylinder, and act alter-
nately as an induction-port and an eduction-
port. See out under slide-valve. — 2. A passage
for steam into or out of any inclosure.
steam-power (stem'pou'fer), n. The power of
^team applied to move machinery or produce
any other result.
permitting the passage of water of condensa
tion out of pipes, radiators, steam-engine cyl-
inders, etc., while preventing that of steam,
steam-tug (stem'tug), «. A steamer used for
towing ships, boats, rafts, fishing-nets, oyster-
dredges, etc. Such vessels are furnished with enghies
very powerful in proportion to the size of their hulls, and
usually carry only sutflcient coal for short trips.— Steam-
tug heart-murmur, the combination of an aortic re-
gurgitant with an aortic obstructive murmur.
steam-valve (stem'valv), n. A valve which
controls the opening of a steam-pipe or steam-
port.
steam-vessel (stem'ves"el), n. Same as steam-
.sliip.
steam-wagon(stem'wag"on),«. Same assteam-
carriage.
steam-wheel (stem'hwel), «. a rotary steam-
engine. See steam-engine.
Heevac- steam-whistle (8tem'hwis"l), n. A sounding
device connected with the boiler of a steam-
k
A
k
J
i-i
f
,^y_
f
■;
_rt^
Steam-whistles.
Fie. I is the simplest form of steam-whistle, with adjustable lever z
whicn acts on the valve *-, its inotion beiiif; Umited by a stop-pin at ?u
Steam passes through a pi
opened. The steam issues t
Steam passes through a pipe connected at / when the valve x is
opened. The steam issues through openings in the base.v, and, pass-
ing over the lower edge of tlielietl k, causes a powerful vibration
producing the sound, the pitch of which depends upon the length of
the bell. Fig. 2 is a chime-whistle consisting of three bells, i, J, k,
tuned to emit the common chord or some inversion of it. It receives
steam at /. and by branches m, n, together with I, distributes it to
the several bases y. Fig. 3 is a piston-whistle. Its base jv and bell
*- operate as described for the other whistles, the steam entering at /.
The tone of the whistle is changed by moving up and down the piston
s by means of the stem <f.
engine, either stationary, locomotive, or ma-
rine, for the purpose of announcing hours of
work, signaling, etc.
steam-press (stem'pres),M. A press actuated by steam-Winch (stem' winch), »». Aformofwinch
steam-power acting directly or intermediately; or hoisting-apparatus in which rotatory mo-
specifically, a printing-press worked by steam, tion is imparted to the winding axle from the
Steam-printing (stem'prin'ting), n. Printing
done by machinery moved by steam, as opposed
to printing by hand-labor on hand-presses.
steam-propeller (stem'pro-pel"er), n. Same
as screw propeller (which see, under screwl).
steam-pump (stem'pump), n. See pump^ and
vacuum-pump.
steam-radiator (stem'ra"di-a-tor), H. A nest
or collection of iron pipes in ranks or coils,
through which steam is passed to heat a room,
etc. See cuts under radiator.
steam-ram (stem'ram), n. See ram"^, 2.
steam-regulator (stem'reg"u-la-tor), n. See
regulator, 2.
steam-room (stem'rom), «. In a steam-engine,
etc., the space which is occupied by steam.
steamship (stem'ship), n. A ship propelled by
steam.
piston-rod of a steam-engine, directly, or in-
directly by means of bevel-gearing, the direct
action giving most rapidity, the indirect most
power.
steam-worm (stem'werm), n. A spiral steam-
coil. Such coils are used in tanks for heating liquids, as
tan-liquor in tanneries, water in laundries, dye-works,
etc., the liquid being placed in the tank enveloping the
coil, while steam is passed through the latter. They are
also used in some forms of calorimeter.
steamy (ste'mi), a. [< steam + -y^.'\ Consist-
ing of or abounding in steam; resembling
steam; vaporous; misty.
The bubbling and loud hissing urn
Throws up a steamy column. Cowper, Task, iv. 39,
I found an evening hour in the gteamy heat of the Ha-
ram equal to half a dozen afternoons.
li. F. Burton, El-Medinah, p. 272.
steam-yacht (stem'yot), n. A yacht propelled
by steam, or by steam and sails.
steam-space (stem'spas), «. A space occupied,
or designed to be occupied, by steam only ; par- j.- a j ■ i j o .,
treularly, in a steam-boiler, the space allowed stean. See steeiii, steeifi, stone.
above the water-line for holding a quantity of steaning, «._ See steemng.
gfgam E> 1 J steapsin (step sm), >!. A ferment of the pan-
Steam-table (stem'ta'bl), «. 1. A bench or featic secretion which to some extent resolves
table fitted with shallow steam-tight tanks: fats into fatty acids and glycerin
used in restaurants, etc., to keep cooked dishes stearate (ste a-rat), «. {< sUar{ic)^ + -atei.-]
L^ ^L„r,„^rX^„i- „f ^„f„ ,„ A salt of stearic acid.
warm. — 2. A tabular arrangement of data re-
lating to steam-pressures, temperatures, and .+""•'' ^/^Jf:"
quantities of heat. SLeanc tste-i
steam-tank (stem'tangk), n. A chamber orin-
elosed vessel in which materials of any kind are
treated either by direct contact with steam or
with steam-heat by means of pipes coiled in the
tank or a steam-jacket. Such tanks are used in
many industries, and are made in many forms, as for steam-
ing wood, paper-stock, lard, etc. See rendering-tank.
steam-tight (stem'tit), a. Capable of resisting
the passage of steam, as a joint in a steam-
pipe.
steam-toe (stem'to), n. In a steam-engine, a
projection on a lifting-rod, which is raised by it stearin (ste'a-rin), n. [< stear(ic) + -iifi.'\ 1 .
through the action of a cam, tappet, or wiper. An ether or glyceride, C3H503(Ci8H3502)3,
The neutral stearates
of the alkalis are soaps.
~ ar'ik), a. [Irreg. for "steatic, < Gr.
oTtap (oTcaT-), stiff fat, tallow, suet: see steatite.']
Of or pertaining to suet or fat ; obtained from
stearin — stearic acid, C]t,H3p,0o, a monobasic acid,
forming brilliant white scaly crystals. It is inodorous,
tasteless, insoluble in water, but soluble in alcohol and
ether. It burns like wax, and is used for making candles.
Its compounds with the alkalis, earths, and metallic oxids
are called stearates. Stearic acid exists in combination with
glycerin as stearin, in beef- and mutton-fat, and in several
vegetable fats, such as the butter of cacao. It is obtained
from stearin by saponification and decomposition by an
acid of the soap formed, and also from mutton-suet by a
similar process.
Steatomithidse
formed by the combination of stearic acid and
gly ceri n . When crjstallized it forms white pearly scales,
soft to the touch but not greasy, and odorless and taste-
less when pure. It is insoluble in water, but soluble in
hot alcohol and ether. When treated with superheated
steam it is separated into stearic acid and glycerin, and
when boiled with alkalis is saponified — that is, the ste.wic
acid combines with the alkali, forming soap, and glycerin
is separated. When melted it resembles wax. There are
three stearins, which may all be regarded as derivatives of
glycerin in which one, two, or three OH groups are replaced
by the radical stearyl. Natural stearin is the tristeaiyl de-
rivative of glycerin. It is the chief ingredient in suet,
tallow, and the harder fats, and may be prepared by re-
peated solution in ether and cry stallization. Candle-pitch,
chandlers' gum, or residuary gum, used in the manufacture
of roofing-cements, is a by-product of this manufacture.
2. A popular name for stearic acid as used in
making candles — Lard-atearln, the residue left after
the expression of the oil from lard.
Stearinery (ste'a-rin-er-i), ». [< stearin -I-
-ery.] The process of making stearin from
animal or vegetable fats; the manufacture of
stearin or stearin products.
Stearone (ste'a-ron), «. [< stear(ic) + -owe.]
A substance (C36H70O) obtained by the partial
decomposition of stearic acid. It is a volatile
liquid, and seems to be stearic acid deprived
of two equivalents of carbonic acid.
Stearoptene (ste-a-rop'ten), n. [Irreg. < Gr.
areap, stiff fat, tallow, suet, + tttt/v6c, winged
(volatile).] The solid crystalline substance
separated from any volatile oil on long stand-
ing or at low temperatures. See elseoptene.
Stearyl (ste'a-ril), n. [< stear(ic) + -yl.] The
radical of stearic acid (CigH350).
Steatin (ste'a-tin), n. Same as steatinum.
Steatinum (s'te-a-ti'num), n. [NL., < Gr. arcaTi-
vov, neut. of urearivof, of or pertaining to tallow
or suet, < OTtap (ormT-), stiff fat, tallow, suet : see
steatite.'] A name given to certain pharmaceu-
tical preparations similar to cerates, but con-
taining considerable tallow Steatinum lodo-
forml. steatinum composed of mutton-tallow 18 parts, ex-
pressed oil of nutmeg 2 parts, powdered iodoform 1 part.
Steatite (ste'a-tit), n. [= F. .steatite, < L. stea-
titis, < Gr. aTiaTLTTji;, used only as equiv. to
aredTivoc, craiTivoq, of dough made of flour of
spelt, < artap (crrear-), also areiap, also eontr.
aryp (with rare gen. crf/poc, also araiT-), stiff fat,
tallow, suet, also dough made of flour of spelt,
prob. < WTavai (•/ ara), cause to stand, fix: see
stand.] Soapstone : an impure massive variety
of tale. Also called piotstone.
Steatitic (ste-a-tit'ik), a. [< steatite + -ic] Of
or pertaining to steatite or soapstone ; made of
steatite.
Steatogenous (ste-a-toj'e-nus), a. [< Gr. artap
(nreaT-), fat, -I- -ytir/^, producing: see -genoits.]
Tending to produce steatosis (see steatosis, 2):
as, steatogenous processes.
Steatoma (ste-a-to'ma), )/. ; pi. steatomata {-ra&-
tii). [< Gr. cTta-ufia, a kind of fatty tumor, <
miap (armT-), fat, tallow, suet.] A lipoma.
SteatomatOUS (ste-a-tom'a-tuS), a. [< steato-
ma(t-) -\- -ous.] Of'the nature of a steatoma.
Steatopyga (ste"a-to-pi'ga), n. [NL.,< Gr. ariap
{armr-), fat, tallow, suet, + riirjij. the rump.]
An accumulation of fat on the buttocks of cer-
tain Africans, especially Hottentot women.
SteatopygOUS (ste"a-to-pS'gus), a. [< NL. stea-
topyga -f- -ous.] Atfec'ted with or characterized
by steatopyga; having enormously fat buttocks.
li. F. Burton, EI-Medinah, p. 60.
Steatopygy (ste'a-to-pi-ji), w. [< steatopyg-ons
+ -,?/3.] The development of steatopyga, or the
state of being steatopygous. Jour. Anthrov.
Inst., XVIII. 17.
Steatornis (ste-a-t6r'nis), n. [NL. (Humboldt,
1817), < Gr. cTiap {arta--), fat, tallow, suet, + bp-
vig, a bird.] The representative genus of Stea-
tomithidee. The only species is S. caripensis, the gua-
charo or oil-bird of South America, found from Venezuela
to Peru, and also in Trinidad, of f rugivorous and nocturnal
habits. The bird resembles and is usually classed with
the goatsuckers. It is so fat that the natives prepare from
it a kind of oil used for butter. See cut under yuacharo,
Steatornithic (ste"a-t6r-nith'ik), a. Having
the cliaraeters of Steatornis.
Steatornithidae (ste"a-t6r-nith'i-de), n. pi.
[NL., < steatornis {-ornith-) + -idee.] A fam-
ily of picarian birds, represented by the genus
Steatornis. it is related to the Caprimvlfridse, and is
often associated with them, but differs in many impor-
tant characters, and in some respects approaches the owls.
The sternum has a single notch on each side behind. The
palate is desmognathons, with united maxillopalatines
and peculiarly shaped palatines. There are basipterygoid
processes, and the rostrum of the skull is compressed.
The second pector.il muscle is small, and the femoro-
caudal is wanting. The syrinx is entirely bronchial, and
hence paired. The oil-gland is very large. The plumage
is not aftershafted. and the rectrices are ten. There is
only one genus and one species. See cut under yuacharo.
steatornithine
steatomithine (ste-a-tor'ni-thin), a. [< Stea-
tornis {-oniith-) + -iite~.'\ Steatornithic ; of or
pertaining to the Steatornithidse.
steatorrhea, steatorrhcea (ste'a-to-re'a), n.
[XL., < Gr. uriap (cr-far-), fat, suet, tallow, +
poiay a flow, < pclvy flow,] 1. Seborrhea. — 2,
The passage of fatty stools.
steatosis (ste-a-to'sis), n. [NL., < Gr. arkap {are-
fiT-), fat, tallow, suet, + -om>.] 1. Fatty de-
generation or infiltration. — 2. Any disease of
the sebaceous glands. Also called steatopathia,
Steatozoon (ste*a-to-z6'on), n. Same as De-
modex.
stedK n. An obsolete form of stead.
stediast, stedfastly, etc. See steadfasty etc.
steed (sted), H. [< ME. stedCy < AS. stedOy a stud-
horse, stallion, war-horse (cf. gested-horSy stud-
horse ; leel. stedda for "stceddUy a mare ; Sw. stOj
a mare), < 8i6d^ a stud: see stud^, Cf. stot^y
state, stoat^.'] A horse : now chiefly poetical.
The kyiig aH^te of his gtede.
King Horn (E. E. T. S,), p. 2.
The fiend, . . . like a proud «f«e(^reii)'d^ went haughty on,
Champing his iron curb. Milton, P. L., iv. 858.
Steedless (sted'les), a, [< steed + -Ies8.'\ Hav-
ing no steeds or horses. Whittiery The Norse-
men.
steedyokesf, N. i>'. Beios; thongs. [Rare.]
Sorrowful Hector . . .
Harryed in sUedyock$ as of earst.
Startihurtt, ^neid, ii.
steek (stek), tr. [Also steilc; obs. or dial. (Sc.)
iovm of stielc^,'] 1. trans. 1. To pierce with a
sharp-pointed instrument ; stitch or sew with
a needle. — 2. To close or shut: as, to steek
one*8 eyes. Burns. [Obsolete or Scotch in
both uses.]
Bat doors were tteeyd, and windows bar'd.
And nane wad let him in.
Waiie and May Margaret (Child's Ballads. U. 172).
H. intra ns. To close; shut.
It es callede cloyster for tt closys and Mtet/oM^ and warely
sail be lokked. Rdigiom Pieeei <£. E. T. S.X p- ^.
steek (stek), n. [Also steik ; a dial. (Sc.) form
of stitch.'} The act of stitching with a needle;
a stitch. [Scotch.]
steeP (stel), n. and a. [< ME. steel, stel, stiel,
stil. < AS. *st€tey siyley earliest forms stelt, stMH
= MD. stacU D. stiinl — MI^. stal, LG. staal =
OHG. sUihaty stdl, MHG. staheU stachel, stdl, G.
sUthl = Icel. stdl = Sw. stdl= Dan. staal = Goth.
*stuMa =0Pru8s. stakUiy steel ; root unknown.
The words goUl and silver also have no L. or
Gr. or other cognate terms outside of Tent,
and Slavic] L n. 1. A modified form of iron,
not occurring in nature, but known and manu-
factured from very early times, and at the
present time of the highest importance in its
various applications to the wants of man. For
certain purposes, and especially for the manufacture of
tools and weapons, there is no metal or metallic alloy
which could take the place of steel. The most essential
features of st«el as compared with Iron are elasticity and
hardness, and these qaalities can be varied in amount to
a Tery eztraordinaiy a^r«e, in the same piece of steel, by
slight changes in the manipulation. Steel can be hardened
so as to cut glass, by rapid cooling after belns strongly
heated^ and it can be tempered, by reheating afUr bsrden-
tng, so as permanently to take the precise degree of hard-
neas best adapted to the ase to which It is to be applied.
(See temper.) Steel has been known from very early times,
but where and bow first manufactured is not known. Thst
it has long l>een in use in India, and that It is still manu-
factured in that country by methods [weclsely similar to
those ill use long sgo are well-known facts. (See wootz.)
It is ttioiiKht by some to have been known to the pyramid-
builders ; but this has not yet been demonstratea, and the
same is true of the ancient Semites. The words translated
'steel ' In the authorized version of the Old Testament sig-
nify 'copper' or ' bronze,' and are usually rendered 'brass,'
'brazen.' That steel was clearly nxognlzed as something
distinct from iron by the author or authors of the Uonieric
poems cannot be proved. The earliest known and sim-
plest method of rcNlucIng Iron from Its ore —the so-called
"direct process" — Is cspable also of furnishing steel.
althouKh a snlflclently homogeneous product cannot bo
easily obtained by this method. This would explain how
steel t>eoame known at an early period, and why it was so
long before it became an article of general use, with well-
efltabtisheii methods of manufacture. Steel Is a form of
iron in which the amount of carbon Is intermediate be-
tween that in wrought- and that in cast-iron, and this
carbon does not exi«t in the steel in the form of graphite,
but Lb either combined with or dissolved In It: but the sub-
ject of the relation of carUm to iron is one of difficulty.and
Is now undergoing Investigation at the hands of various
skilled metallorglca] chemiiits. Other ingredients bMldes
carbon are also present in steel-- namely, silicon, manga-
nese, sulphur, and pboephonis. Of these the two first men-
tioned are probably never entirely wanting, and they are
not especially undesirable or injurious, ss Is the case with
the two othera, of which only traces can be permitted In
the best quality of steel. They are all, however, different
from carbon, which latter is regarded as an essential ele-
ment of steel, while the others may be looked upon as
being more or leas of the nature of Imparities. The qual-
ity d Btoel virles with the amount of carbon present, and
5923
the effect of this latter element varies with the amoant
of impurity (silicon, etc.) present in the steel. The larger
the amount of impurity, the larger is the quantity of car-
bon required togiveto the iron thecharacterof steel. In
the case of the best bar-iron, a little over 0.3 per cent, of
carbon is sufficient to give It a steely character ; from 0.5
to 0.05 per cent, of carbon, according to the purity of the
iron, gives a steel which can be hardened so as to strike
fire with flint. Iron containing from 1 to 1.5 per cent, of
carbon gives steel which, after tempering, combines the
maximum hardness with the maxinmm tenacity. One
per cent, of carbon gives, on the whole, the most generally
useful steel. With more than 1.5 per cent, of carbon the
tenacity and weldability of the steel are diminished, al-
though the hardness may be increased. With more than
1.74 per cent, of carbon the steel ceases to be weldable, and
is with difilculty drawn out under the hammer ; and from
1.8 to 2.0 per cent, is usually considered as the limit be-
tween steel and cast-iron, the steel with that amount
breaking when hammered after softening by heat. Since
steel is inteniiediate between wrought- and cast-iron in the
amount of carbon which it contains, it is evident that it
might be made either by carburizing the former or decar-
burizing the latter. The method of carburization, or c^neft-
tation as it is generally called, is one of the oldest, perhaps
the most ancient, as, although differing greatly in the de-
tails, in the essentials it is the same as the process by which
the Indian wootz is manufactured. The cementation pro-
cess was described in detail by Reaumur in a workpublished
In 1722, By this method blister-steel is obtained, and this
la further worked up into spring-, shear-, and double-shear
steel by one or more processes of fagoting, welding, and
hammering or rolling, the object of this being to give
the metal greater homogeneity. A great addition to the
value of this process was the invention by Hnntsman. in
1740, of cast-steel, the product of the fusion in crucibles,
underauitablenianipnlation,ofblister steel, which process
is still in use as first arranged almost without change.
By this method, when iron of a sufficiently high grade is
used, the finest quality of steel is pnxiuced, and it is only
steel manufactured in this way which can be used for the
best tools, weapons, and cutting instruments of all kinds.
The methods of producing steel by the decarburization of
pig-iron are numerous and varied. The Styrian method
of decarburization in the open-hearth finer>-, whereby a
material called raic gtcel is produced, was once of very
considerable importance, but is now little used. The
method of decarburizing pig-iron by puddling, which is
similar in principle to the ortlinary pud<iling process used
for converting pig- into wroughl-iron. is also somewhat
extensively employed, especially on the continent of Eu-
rope, the pro<luct being called puddled gteel, this being
drawn into bars, which are cut up and remelted, as is
done with blister-steel in manufacturing cast-steel. There
are various methoils for producing steel by fusing pig-iron
with iron ores, or with wrought-iroii.orwith lK>th together.
The I'chatius process belongs to this class of processes,
but is of comparatively small impf>rtance ; but the pro-
cesses known as the "Siemens," the "Martin," and
the "Sieroens-Hartin" are extensively employed. The
steel made by any of these processes is generally called
€men-hearth tUei, as the work of decarburizing the pig is
done in the open-hearth regenerative furnace. The dif-
ference between these processes is simply that in the first-
named the pig-iron is treat«d with certain iron ores with-
out the addition of wrought-lron (scrap-iron) ; In the sec-
ond the pig is melted with scrap-iron; and in the third
both scrap and ore are used together : hence the names by
which the first two of these modifications of what is es-
sentially the same process are known— pt<7-and-or«, pig-
and-icrap — the third, or the " Siemens-Martin," being the
most commonly employed. By far the most important of
all steel-producing processes, if only the amount of the
metal produced is considered, is the "pneumatic" or
"Bessemer" process, invented by Sir Henry Bessemer
shout 1856, Which consists In blowing air through molt«n
pig-iron in a "converter," or vessel of iron lined with
a refractory material — the oxiilation of the carbon and
silicon which the pig contains, together with a small
part of the iron itself, furnishing sutticient heat to keep
the material in a fluid state witile the operation of decar-
burization goes on. After complete decarburization of
the Iron, a certain amount of cart>on is restored to the
metal by the introduction of spicgeleisen or ferromanga-
nese; this extremely important addition to the Bessemer
process, without which it would hiirdly have been a suc-
cess, was contributed by R. F. Mushet. The Bessemer
process, as conducted In a converter lined with the ordi-
nary silicious or "acid" material, is suited only for work-
ing iron which Is practically free from phosphorus and
sulphur, or such as Is made from ore like that of Lake
Superior, from which all, or nearly all. the Bessemer steel
made In the United States is manufactured. By the so-
called "basic" or "Thomas-fillchrist" process, the con-
verter having a IwsIg (calcined dolomite) lining, iron con-
taining a considerable amount of nb^isphorus is treated,
and a fair quality of steel produced, the phosphorus pass-
ing into the slsg during the operation, as is the case in
paddling. The metal produced by the Bessemer process
Is generally called BeMemer nteel, but some consider It
more correct to call It ingot-iron. It can be produced
of various grades by varying the amount of carbon which
It contains, and is a material of the highest value for
structural purposes — as being cheaper, and having more
durability, than wrought-iron made by puddling— al-
though of no value for the purposes for which the older
higher class steels are eroployea. Its principal use is for
rails, and during the past few years from seventv to eighty
Er cent^ of the Bessemer steel made in the United States
s been ased for that purpose.
Uold, ne seolver, ne Iren, ne std. Aneren BitUet p. 160.
A single span of the Forth Bridge is nearly as long as two
Eiffel Towers turned horiz<^>nta1Iy and tied together in the
middle, an<l the whole forms a complicated steel structure
weighing 15,0U0 tons, erecte<l without the possibility of
any intermediate support, the lace-like fabric of the britlge
Btjaring as high ns the top of Ht. Paul's. Tlie gteel of wlilch
the compression members of the structure are composed
contains A^ of carbon and I'Vii of maniranese. The parts
subjectea to extension do not contain more than ,Vn cf
carbon. W. C. Jioberts-Austeii, Nature, XU. 86.
steel
3. Something made of steel. Specifically— (a) A
cutting or piercing weapon ; especially, a sword. Com-
pare cold steel, below.
Shall I Sir Pandarus of Troy become,
And by my side wear steel?
Shak., M. W. of W., i. 3. 83.
(6) A piece of steel for striking sparks from flint to ignite
tinder or match, (ct) A mirror.
We spake of armour,
She straight replies, Send in your steel combs, with
The steel you see your faces in.
Cartwright's La4y Errant (1651). {Nareg.)
(d) A cylindrical or slightly tapering rod of steel, some-
times having fine parallel longitudinal lines, used for
sharpening carving-knives, etc. (e) A strip of steel used
to stiffen a corset, or to expand a woman's skirt. — Berard
steel, steel made by adding hydrogen gas to the air-blast in
the Bessemer process, to remove ai'senic, sulphur, and phos-
phorus.—Bessemer Steel, steel made by the Bessemer
process. See def. 1.— Blistered steel. Same as blister-
gteel.— Carbon steel, ordinary steel ; not " special steel,"
but steel in which carbon is clearly the element which gives
the iron thosL- peculiar properties which justify its designa-
tion by the term «?tfd.— Chrome Steel, steel alloyed with a
small amount of chromium. Various alloys called by the
name of chrome or chromium steel have been introduced,
but none have come into general use. They are said to be
hard and malleable, and to possess great strength, but to
oxidize on exposure more readily than ordinary steel. —
Cold-rolled steel, steel to which, after it is rolled hot
to approximately the required thickness, a very smooth
surface and a very accurately gaged thickness are im-
parted by first chemically cleaning the surface and then
rolling it cold between smooth surface rollers.— Cold
steel, a cutting- and thrnsting-weapon ; a weapon or
weapons for close quarters, as distinguished from firearms.
— Compressed steel, steel which is made more dense,
tenacious, and free from blow-holes by being condensed by
pressure while in a fluid state. This pressure is produced
in various ways, as by hydraulic machinery, by steam, by
centrifugal force, by the use of liquefied carbonic acid, etc.
— Crinoline-steels. See crinoline.— CrvLCihle steeL
Same as cast -steel. — Damask Steel, ^eedamask. — Garb
Of SteeL See .'/art-'.— (Jerman steel, steel from Ger-
many. The phrase has now no iktiiiite meaning other
than geographical. It fornuTly niLant steel made in the
finery from spathic ore. — Homogeneous steel. Same as
cast-steel.— In^lsji. Steel. Same as ?poo(z.— Manganese
steel, a variety of special steel made by the addition of
manganese, which element is present in various manga-
nese steels which have been analyzed in quantity ranging
from less than 1 per cent, to over 21 per cent. The qual-
ities vary greatly with its composition.— Mask Of SteeL
See ma*A-3.— Mild steel, steel containing a small amount
of carbon (Besscnicr steel is frequently so designated); a
metal which has some of the qualities of steel, but aoes
not admit of being tempered, or only imperfectly so. See
def. 1. — Native steel, t he name sometimes given to small
masses or buttons of steel, steely iron, or iron which has
occasionally been formed by the ignition of coal-seams
adjacent to deposits of iron ore,^ Nickel Steel, a va-
riety of special steel recently introduced, and thought by
some to surpass the best carbon steel in certain important
respects. It has not yet been sufficiently tried to justify
a decided statement as to Its value. The high price of
nickel, and the small likelihood of any considerable reduc-
tion in the price of this metiil, would seem to bear heavily
against the chances of the general introduction of an alloy
of which it should form any considerable part.— Kun
steel, a trade-mark name (in Knuland) of various small
articles, such as briiile-bits and stirrups, made of cast-iron
which has been to a certain extent rendered malleable by
partial decarburization by cementation. The method is
one which has been long known, but which has not come
int^> extensive use till comparatively modern times. Also
called malleable cagt-irou.- Silicon Steel, a variety of
special steel which has been experimented with to some
extent, but which has not yet become of importance.—
Special steel, steel in wlilch the element which gives
the iron its peculiar qualities, or what distinguishes it
from iron, Is not carbon, but some other substance. The
principal special steels are clu-ome, manganese, nickel,
silicon, titanium, and tungsten steels, all of which have
been nmch experimented with in recent years. While
some authorities appear to maintain that the carbon in
special steels is so overpowered by the special element
used that its effects are entirely neutralized, others be-
lieve that some carbon is absolutely necessary that iron
may become converted into what can properly be called
steel —Styxlan special steel, steel from Styria; steel
made by the Styriun process, which closely resembles the
Styrian process of making malleable iron in the finery. —
Tungsten steel, a variety of special steel, now largely
employed in the manufacture of the harder grades of cru-
cible steel. "Mushet's." "special," "imperial,"and "cres-
cent-hardened" are brands of tungsten steel now sold in
the American markets. Steel may contain a much larger
firoportlon of tungsten than it can of carbon without losing
ts power of being forged. In a table of thirteen analyses
of tungsten steel given by H. M. Howe in his "Metallurgy
of Steel "(1891), the tungsten ranges from 1.94 to 11.03 per
cent. ; the carbon, from 0.38 to 2. 15 ; the manganese, from
a trace to 2.66; the silicon, from .Ofi to .82. Tungsten
steel is exceedingly hard and very brittle: it is used
chiefly for the tools of lathes and planers designed for
heavy work.
II, a. 1. Made of steel: as, a steel plate or
buckle.
The average strength [of the Bessemer steel used In
building the Forth Bridge] Is one-half greater than that
of the best wrought iron, and the ductility of the steel
plates is fully three times that 6f corresponding iron
plates. Sir John Fmcler and Benjamin Baker, Nlne-
[teenth Century, July, 1889, p. 39.
2, Hard as steel; inflexible; unyielding.
Prison my heart in thy st^el bosom's ward.
Shak., Sonnets, cxxxill.
Smart as a steel trap, see fwnrfi.— steel bonnet, a
head-piece made of a Scotch bonnet lineil with steel, as
with a skeleton cap. Compare $ecret, 9.— Steel brOIUEO.
steel
5924
Si^]i5.^^.lllSVdmi;«.f"J3'^^^^^^^
at<amis in the middle ajies. having tlie bow and sometimes
the pommel guaided with steel.— Steel toys, among
manufacturers, small articles, such as corkscrews, buckles,
button-hooks, and boot-hooks, when made of polished
st«el.— Steel trap. Seefrnpi.
Steell (stel), r. t. [< ME. stelcn, stilen, < AS.
"fli/lan (= D. stolen = MLG. stolen, stclen = G.
sttihleH = Icel. stsela), make hard like steel ; from
the noun.] 1. To fit with steel, as by point
like.
Believe her not, her glass diflfuses
False portraitures ; , . .
Her crystal 's falsely eteeVd; it scatters
l>eceitf ul beams ; believe her not, she flatters.
Quarleg, Emblems, ii. 6.
Give me my sifeled coat. I'll fight for France.
Away with these disgraceful wailing rohes !
5*0*., 1 Hen. VI., i. 1. 85.
The Engineer, LXIX. 343.
steel-mill (stel'mil), n. A contrivance for
giving liglit, in use previous to the invention
of the safety-lamp, in English coal-mines in-
fested with tire-damp. It consisted of a disk of steel
which was made to revolve rapidly, a flint being lield
against it. from which a shower of sparks was given off
and a feeble light furnished, 'this method of obtaining
light was for a time quite populai-.
-3. To make hard as steel; render strong,
rigid, inflexible, determined, etc.; make firm or
stubborn.
Thy resolution would stfd a coward.
beau, and Fl., Little French Lawyer, i. 2.
Xiraenes's heart had been steeled by too stern a disci,
pline to be moved by the fascinations of pleasure.
Preacott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. !>.
4. To cause to resemble steel in smoothness
or polish.
Lo ! these waters, steeled
By breezeless air to smoothest polish.
WoTdmmth, Sonnets Dedicated to Liberty, ii. 5.
steeFt, ". An obsolete form of steal^, stale'^.
steel-blue (stel'blo), a. and n. I. a. Of a lus-
trous dark-bluish color, resembling steel tem-
pered blue.
H. H. A lustrous dark-bluish color; a darker
shade than Berlin blue and less chromatic, but
nearly of the same liue. See Miie.
steel-bow (st^l'bou), a. [Origin and distinctive
sense obscure.] See the phrase Steel-bow
goods, in Scots law, corn, cattle, straw, and implements of
husbandry, delivered by the landlord to his tenant, by
means of which the tenant is enabled to stock and labor
the farm, and in consideration of which he becomes bound
to return articles equal in quantity and quality at the ex-
piration of the lease.
Steelboy (stel'boi), «. [Prob. < steclT- in the
phrase "hearts of steel," used by the insur-
gents in a remonstrance entitled "Petition of
the Hearts of Steel" (Record Office, London).]
A member of a band of insurgents in Ulster,
Ireland, who committed various agrarian and
other outrages about 1772-4. Lccky, Eng. in
18th Cent., xvi.
Steel-clad (stel'klad), a. Clothed in armor of sreWaTdl"(sT§r7iirC"coll'oq7'stiryard), n.
° "" [Early mod. E. also Stilyard, StilHard, Sieeliard,
volving with great rapidity, used for cutting
cold steel.
Steelware fstel'wSr), n. Articles, collectively,
made of steel. The Engineer, LXVIII. 642.
steelwork (stel'wferk), n. Steel articles or
objects, or such parts of anv work as are made
of steel. The Engineer, LXIX. 191.
steel-worker (sterw6r"k6r), ». One who works
in steel.
steel-works (stel'w6rks), m. pi. or sing. A fur-
nace or other establishment where iron is con-
verted into steel. The Engineer, LXV. 38.
steely (ste'li), a. [< sleen + -y^.'] 1. Consist-
ing of steel ; made of steel.
Full ill (we know, & every man may see)
A steely helme & Cardnals cap agree.
Times' Whistle (E. E. T. S.), p. 120.
A sUely hammer crushes 'em to pieces.
Ford, I'erkin Warbeck, i. 1.
2. Resembling steel in some of its essential
properties ; hard; iirm ; stubborn.
When hee can beat it [Truth] off with most steely prow-
esse, he thinkes himselfe the bravest man ; when in truth
it is nothing but exsanguine feeble exility of Spirit.
N. Ward, Simple Cobler, p. 74.
That steely heart [of Judas] yet relents not.
Bp. Halt, Contemplations, iv. 27.
3. Resembling steel in color, metallic luster, or
general appearance; having more or less im-
perfectly the qualities or composition of steel :
as, steely iron.
The beating of the steely sea.
W. Morris, Earthly Paradise, Apology.
Steely iron, a mixture of iron and steel ; imperfect steel.
Bloxam and Huntington, Metals, p. 109.
steel.
Steelent, a. [< ME. stelcn, < AS. stylen (= D.
stolen, stelen), < style, *stele, steel: seesteel^ and
-e«2.] Of steel ; made of steel.
The stelene brond. Layarrum, 1. 7634.
steel-engraving (steren-gra^ving), »(. 1. The
art of engraving on steel plates for the purpose
of producing prints or impressions in ink
on paper and other substances. — 2. The de-
sign engraved on the steel plate. — 3. An im-
pression or print taken from the engraved
steel plate.
steel-finch (stel'finch), «. A book-name of the
small tiuch-like birds of the genus Hypochxra.
steelhead (stel'hed), n. l. The ruddy duck,
Erismatnra riibida: so called from the steel-
blue of the head, or perhaps for the same rea-
son that it is called hardheod, hickory-head, and
toughhead. See cut under /i'm»iatoro. [Mary-
land.]— 2. The rainbow-trout, Salmo irideus.
See cut under rainbow-trout. [Local, U. S.]
Steel-headt (stel'hed), a. Tipped with steel.
Siienser. F. Q., III. ix. 16.
steelification (ste'li-fi-ka'shon), )(. The process
of converting iron into steel. Jour. Franklin
Inst., CXXV. 304.
steelify (ste'li-fi), v. t. ; pret. and pp. steelified,
p|)r. steelifying. [< steeli + -i-fy.'] To convert
into steel. Jour. Franklin Inst., CXXV. 304.
Steeliness (ste'li-nes), n. The state or charac-
ter of being steely.
steeling (ste'ling), «. [Verbal n. of steel^, «.]
1. The process of welding a piece of steel on
that part of a cutting-instrument vvliich is to
receive the edge. — 2. The process of deposit-
ing a film of iron on engraved copperplates.
The plates are placed in a bath of sulphate of iron and
ammonium chlorid, a plate of iron submerged in the so-
lution being connected to the copper pole of the battery,
and the engraved copperplate to the zinc pole. From
such steeled plates from .1,000 to 1.5,000 impressions can be
taken. The same method has been successfully applied
to stereotype plates.
Steleard, Styliard, and as two words Steel yard.
Stele yards (also Steel house. Stele house); ex-
plained as orig. "the yard in London where
steel was sold by German merchants," as if <
stecl'^ + yard^; but in fact an imperfect transla-
tion of the MD. staelhof, later staalhof, = MLG.
stalhof, an office or hall where cloth was marked
with a leaden seal as being properly dyed, <
MD. stael, a specimen, sample, test of dyeing,
D. staal, a sample, = MLG. stale, LG. stal, > G.
dial, stahl. a sample, pattern (hence MD. staelen
= MLG. stolen, mai'k cloth with a leaden seal
as being properly dyed) (connected with MD.
staelen, stallen = MLG. stallen (OP. estaler, eta-
ler), expose for sale on a stall, display or show
on a stall, < MD. stal, etc., a stall: see stalls,
-t- fto/, yard, court: see /iorel. The notion that
the 5lD. staelhof is a contraction of *stapelhof
(which, moreover,doesnot occur; ci.stapelhuys,
E. staple-house) is untenable.] A place in Lon-
don, comprising great warehouses called before
the reign of Edward IV. Gildhalla Teutonico-
rum, 'Gildhall of the Germans,' where, until
expelled in 1597, the merchants of the Hanse-
atic League had their English headquarters;
also, the company of merchants themselves.
The merchants of the Steelyard were bound by almost
monastic gild-rules, under a separate jurisdiction from
the rest of London, were exempt from many exactions and
restrictions, and for centuries controlled most of the for-
eign trade of England.
This yere corn was verie dere, & had ben dearer if mar-
chuntes of ye styliarde had not been & Dutche shippes re-
strined. A an abstinauce of warre betwene Englande ife
Flaunders. Fabyan, Chron., an. 1528-9.
From him come I. to entreat you ... to meet him this
afternoon at the Rhenish wine-house i' the Stilliard.
Webster, Westward Ho. ii. 1.
steelyard'-^ (stel'yiird or stil'viird), n. [Early
mod. E. stilyard, stUiard, stilluird ; appar. lit.
' a rod of steel,' < stee/1 + ynrd'^; but prob. an al-
tered form, due to popular etymology, of the
steenbok
equiv. early mod. E. stelleere, supposed to stand
for stiller or *steller (= G. steller, regulator) : see
stiller'^. The word seems to have been confused
with Steelyard'; and is generally explained, with-
out evidence, as orig. the balance or weight used
by the merchants of the Steelyard.] A kind
of balance with two unequal arms, consisting
of a lever in the form of a slender iron bar with
ing, edging, overlaving, electroplating) or the Steel-Ore (stel or), n. A name given to various
iron ores, and especially to spathic iron (side-
rite), because that ore was supposed to be par-
ticularly well adapted for making steel. Much
of the so-called German steel was in fact for-
merly made from that ore.
steel-press (stel'pres), n. A special form of
press designed for compressing molten steel to
form sound and dense castings.
2. To iron (clothes). Bolliwell. [Prov. Eng.l Steel^saw (stel'sa), n. A disk of soft iron, re
Steelyard.
a, rectangular bar, gradu.ited both above and below ; *, adjustable
counterpoising weight : r. hook for supporting articles to be weighed
(this can be turned easily over the end of the bar at f); d and rf ,
hooks for support of the steelyard, according as one or other of the
graduations is turned to tlie upper side for use in weighing.
one arm very short, the other divided by equi-
distant notches, having a small erosspieee as
fulcrum, to which a bearing for suspension is
attached, usually a hook at the short end, and
a weight moving upon the long arm. it is very
portable, without liability to become separated, and the
process of weighing is very expeditious. It is much used
for cheap commodities, but owing to its simple construc-
tion it is liable to be so made as to give false indications.
Often used in the plural. Also called Rotnan balance or
beam. Compare Danish balance (sometimes called Danish
steelyard), under balance.
CrocAef, a small hook. . . . A Romaneheameor»«rffe«re,
a beame of yron or wood, full of nickes or notches, along
which a certaine peize of lead, ttc, playing, and at length
setling towards the one end, shewes the just weight of a
coinmoditie hanging by a hooke at the other end.
Cotgrave.
A pair of steelyards and a wooden sword.
Ilalleck, Fanny.
steemt, v. An old form of steam. Frompt. Pare.
steenl (sten), v. t. [Also stean, Sc. stein ; < ME.
stenen, oast stones, < AS. stienan (= OHG. steinon
= Goth. stainjan), stone, Kstdn, stone: see stone,
n. Cf. stone, v., of which stcen^ is a doublet.]
1. To stone; pelt with stones.
Te stones thet me [men] stenede him mide.
Ancren Riwle, p. 122.
2. To fit with stones; mend, line, pave, etc.,
with stones. Salliwell. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch
in both senses.]
steen^ (sten), «. [Also steon; a dial. var. of
stone, due to the verb stee»i.] A stone. [Prov.
Eng. and Scotch.]
Steen^ (sten), ». [Also stean, stein; < ME. steene,
stene, a stone jar, < AS. stsena (= OHG. steinna),
a stone crock (ef. sixnen, of stone: see stonen),
< Stan, stone: see stone.'] 1. A kind of jar or
urn of baked clay or of stone, of the general
type of the sepulchral urns of the Romans. '
Jour. Brit. Archxol. Ass., XXXV. 105.
Neuerthelatre ther weren not maad of the same mouee
the etenys [hydrise, Vulgate] of the temple of the Lord.
ITj/rfCf, 4Ki. 12Ki.]xil.l3.
ITpon an huge great Earth-pot steane he stood.
Spenser, F. Q., VII. vii. 42.
2. A large box of stones used for pressing
cheese in making it. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
steenbok (stan'- or sten'bok), n. [< D. steenbok
= G. steinbock, the wild goat, < D. steen, = G.
stein = E. stone, + D. bok = G. bock = E. buck:
see stone and buck'^.~\ One of several small Afri-
steenbok {.Nanolragus trapilui).
can antelopes of the genus Nanotragus, fond of
roekv places (whence the name). The common
steenbok is N. trarjidus, generally distributed in South
Africa, about :i feet long and 20 inches tall, with straight
horns about 4 inches long in the male, none in the female.
steenbok
large ears, and no false hoofs. It is of a general reddish-
brown color, white below. The gray steenbok is X. me-
lanotis. \. areotrafftu is the klip-springer (which see,
with cut). Also tUenbock, tteinboct. Compare strinbock
and stonebuck.
Bteening (st«'ning), w. [Also steaning; verbal n.
of «?<■( lA, r.] 1 . Any kind of path or road paved
with small round stones. Raliiicell. [Prov.
Eng.] — 2. In arch., the brick or stone wall or
lining of a well or cesspool, the use of which
is to prevent the irruption of the surroiuiding
soil. Also steining.
8teenkirk(sten'ke'rk), ». [Also, less prop., stein-
Icirk ; so called in allusion to the battle fought
in 1692 neaiTSteenkerke,F. Steinkerque (Ut. 'stone
church'), a town in Belgium.] A name brought
into fashion, after the battle of Steenkirk, for
several articles, especially of dress, as wigs,
buckles, large neckties, and powder; especial-
ly, a cravat of fine lace, loosely and negligently
knotted, with long hanging ends, one of which
was often passed through a buttonhole.
Mn, Calico. I hope jour Lordship is pleased with your
SUeitkirk
Lord F. In lore with it, stap my vitals ! Bring your Bill ;
you shall be paid to-marrow. I'anbruijhy The Relapse, i. 3,
I had yielded up my cravat (a smart Sttinkirk, by the
way, and richly laced). ScoU, Rob Eoy, xxxi.
Ladies also wore them [neckcloths], as in "The Careless
Husband " Lady Easy takes her SUinUrk from her Neck
and lays it (rently over his Head.
Ashtun, Social Life in Keign of Queen Anne, 1. 148.
Steenstrapine (sten'stmp-in), n. [Named after
K. J. V. Steenstrup, a Danish naturalist.] A rare
mineral oeeiUTing in massive forms and rhom-
bohedral crystals of a brown color in the sodal-
ite syenite of Greenland. It is a silicate of the
rare metals of the cerium group, also thorium,
and other elements. _
Bteep^ (step), a. and ii. [< ME. stepe, step, sta'p,
steap, < AS. stedp, steep, high, = OFries. stop,
steep; cf. Icel. st^ypthr, steep, lofty; Norw.
stup, a steep cliff; akin to «tooi< ; seastoop^, and
cf. steep^, gteeple.} I. a. 1 1 Ha ving an almost
perpendicular slope ; precipitous; sheer.
Two of these Hands are lUepe and vpright as any wall,
that It is not possible to climbe them.
Pvreha*. Pllgrlniage, p. 748.
Thus far our ascent was easy ; but now it began to grow
more tUep, and difficult.
MaundrtU, Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 119.
2t. Elevated; high; lofty.
To a room they came,
SUtp and of state. Chapman. (Imp. Diet)
3. Excessive ; difficult ; forbidding : as, a sleep
undertaking; a »/ef;> price. [CoUoq.]
Perhaps if we should meet Shakspeare we should not be
conscious of any fU^ iof eriority.
Emrr$on, Essays, 1st ser., p. 802.
Neither priest nor sqnfre was able to establish naytteep
difference in outward advantages between himself and the
commons among whom be liv^. Froude, Sketches, p. 164.
4t. Bright; glittering; fiery.
Ills eyen tteepe and rollynge in bis heede.
Chaucer, Oen. ProL to C. T., I. 301.
His Ene [eyes] leuenaund with light as a low fyn.
With stremys [gleams) full stitbe in his itepe loke.
Dutruetion of Troy (E. E. T. 8.), 1. 7724.
H, n. A steep or precipitous place ; an abrupt
ascent or descent ; a precipice.
Suddenly a splendor like the mom
Pervaded all the beetling gloomy tleept.
KraU, Hyperion, ii.
Yet up the radiant tteept that I survey
Death never climbed. Bryant, To the Apennines.
Steep^ (step), r. [< ME. stepen, < Icel. stei/pa,
cast down, overturn, pour out, cast (metals),
refl. tumble down, = ow. stdjHi = Dan. stobe,
cast (metals), steep (corn) ; causal of Icel. siiipa
= Sw. stupa, fall, stoop: see stoop^, and cf.
steejA.] I. (ran*. 1. To tilt (a barrel). Halli-
icell. [Prov. Eng.] — 2. To soak in a liquid;
macerate : as, to steep barlej' ; to steep herbs.
A day afore her [almonds'] setting, hem to ilepe
In meeth is goode.
PttUadiui, Uusbondrie (E. E. T. ax p. 54.
The Gordons good, in English blood
They 9Uep'd their hose and 8h(Mjn.
BotOd o/ Ottcrftourn* (Child's Ballads, VIL 24).
The prudent .Sibyl had before prepared
A sop In honey tteeped to charm the guard.
Dryden, .£neid, vl. 507.
3. To bathe with a liquid ; wet ; moisten.
Then she with liquors strong his eies did lUepe,
That nothing should him hastily awake.
Sprnaw, K. Q.,n. vi. 18.
His coursers, tteep'd in sweat and stain'd with gore.
The Greeks' presenrer, great Machaon, bore.
Pope, Iliad, xl. 728.
4. To imbue or impregnate as with a specified
influence; cauHe to become permeated or per-
vaded (with) : followed by in.
5925
Is this a time to steep
Thy brains in wasteful slumbers'?
Quarles, Emblems, i. 7.
Thou art so gteep'd in misery.
Surely 'twen better not to be.
Tennyson, The Two Voices.
The habitual criminal, steeped in vice and used to igno-
miny, cares very little for disgrace, and accepts punish-
ment as an incident in his career.
Bibliotheca Sacra, XLVII. 694.
II. intrans. To be bathed in a liquid ; soak.
And now the midnight draught of sleep,
Where wine and spices richly steep.
In massive bowl of silver deep.
The page presents on knee.
Seott, Marmiou, i. 30.
8teep2 (step), n. l<steep^,v.'] 1. The process
of steeping ; the state of being steeped, soaked,
or permeated: used chiefly in the phrase in
steep.
Strait to each house she hasted, and sweet sleepe
Pour'd on each wooer ; which so laid in steepe
Their drowsie temples that each brow did nod.
Chapman, Odyssey, ii. 578.
Whilst the barley is in steep it is gauged by the excise
officers, to prevent fraud. Encyc. Brit., IV. 287.
2. That in which anything is steeped; specifi-
cally, a fertilizing liquid in which seeds are
soaked to quicken germination.
When taken from the white bath, the skins, after wash-
ing in water, are allowed to ferment in a bran steep for
some time in order to extract a considerable portion of the
alum and salt C. T. Duvis, Leather, p. 665.
3. Eennet: so called from being steeped before
it is used. [Prov. Eng.] —Rot's steep, in bleach-
ing cotton goods, the process of thoroughly saturating the
clotb. The name is due to the former practice of allow-
ing the flour or size witli which the goods were impreg-
nated to fenuent and putrefy. Also called wetHng-out
steep.
steep-down (step'doun), a. Having a sheer
descent ; precipitous.
Wash me In steep-down gulfs of liquid fire !
Shak., Othello, T. 2. 280.
You see Him till into the steep-doim West
He throws his course. J. Beaumont, Psyche, ilL 14.
steepen (ste'pn), v. i. [< steep^ + -eni.] To
become steep.
As the way steepened, ... I could detect In the hollow
of the bin some traces of the old path.
Hugh Mater. (Imp. Diet.)
steeper (ste'p^r), n. [< «/fep2 -j- ^^l.] A ves-
sel, vat, or cistern in which thin^ are steeped ;
specifically, a vat in which the mdigo-plant is
steeped to macerate it before it is soaked in the
V)eating-vat.
Steepftut (step'ful ), a. [< steep^ + -/ui.] Steep ;
precipitous.
Anon he stalks about a steepfidl Rock,
Where som, to shun Death's (never shunned) stroak,
Had clambred vp.
Sylcester, tr. of Da Bartas's Weeks, 11., The Vocation.
steep-grass (step'grfts), n. The butterwort,
ringuicula rulgaris : so called because used like
rennet. A\so steepaeed, steepicort. Britten and
Holland, Eng. Plant Names.
steepiness (ste'pi-nes), n. The state or quality
of being steepy or steep; steepness. [Bare.]
The cragglness and steepiness of places up and down . . .
makes them inaccessible. /iouw£f,VorreineTravell,p. 132.
steeple (ste'pl), ». [< ME. steple, stepel, stepylle,
steput, < AS. stepel, stypcl, a steeple, < stedp,
steep, high: see steep^.} 1. A typically lofty
structure attached to a church, town-house, or
other public edifice, and generally intended to
contain the bells of such edifice, steeple Is a
general term applied to every secondary structure of this
escrlptlon, whether in the form of a simple tower, or,
as is usual, of a tower surmounted by a spire.
Ydeleblisse is the grete wynd that thrauth doun the
greate tours and the he,ie stepies and the greate becbes
ine wodes thrauth to grounde.
Ayenlnte n/ Tntryt (E. E. T. S.), p. 23.
Lod. What does he 1th middle looke like?
Aslo. Troth, like a spire steeple in a Country Village oner-
peering so many thatcht houses.
Dekker and Middleton, Honest Whore, ii. I.
At Paris all tleepUt are clangouring not for sermon.
Carlyle, French Rev., III. 1. 4.
2. A lofty head-dress worn by women in the
fourteenth century. See hennin.
Some of the more popular of these strange varieties of
head-gear have been distinguished as the "horned," the
"raltre," the "steeple"— in France known as the "hennin "
— and the " butterfly. " Encyc. fir*. , VI. 469.
3. A pyramidal pile or stack of fish set to dry.
Also called pack. See the quotation under
pack'y. 10 (b).
steeplebnsh (ste'pl-b^tsh), n. The hardhack;
al.io. Spin-Fa salirifolia. See Spiriea.
steeplechase (ste'pl-chas), n. A horse-race
across a tract of country in which ditches,
steeply
hedges, and other obstacles must be jumped
as they come in the way. The name is supposed
to be originally due to any conspicuous object, such as a
church-steeple, having been chosen as a goal, toward
which those taking part in the race were allowed to take
any course they chose. The limits of the steeplechase-
course are now marked out by flags.
Steeplechaser (ste'pl-cha'''ser), «. l. One who
rides in steeplechases. — 2. A horse running
or trained to run in a steeplechase.
" If you do not like hunting, you are to affect to," says
Mamma. " You must listen to Captain Breakneck's stories
at dinner, laugh in the right places, and ask intelligent
questions about his steeplechasers."
MneUenth Century, XXVI. 780.
Steeplechasing (ste'pl-eha'sing), n. [< steeple-
chase + -iiuj.'i The act or sport of riding in a
steeplechase.
steeple-cro'wnt (ste'pl-kroun), «. A steeplc-
ciowued hat.
And on their heads old steeple-crmcns.
Hudibras Medivivus (1706). (A'ore«.)
steeple-crowned (ste'pl-kround), a. Having a
high peaked crown resembling a steeple : not-
ing various articles of head-gear.
The women wearing the old country steeple -croicned hat
and simply made gowns.
Ashton, Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne, II. 138.
steepled (ste'pld), a. [< steeple + -«d2.] 1.
Furnished or adorned with a steeple or steeples.
As we neared the provincial city [Worcester], we saw the
steepled mass of the cathedral, long and high, rise far into
the cloud-freckled blue. H. James, Jr., Pass. Pilgrim, p. 44.
2. Having the form of a steeple; peaked; tow-
ering.
Steepled hattes.
IFni//i(, Passions of the Mind (ed. 1621Xp.330. (HaHiwell.)
A steepled turbant on her head she wore. Fair/ax.
steeple-engine (ste'pl-en'jin), n. 1. A form
of marine steam-engine used on side-wheel
boats, in which the working-beam is the high-
est part, and the connecting-rod is above the
crank-shaft. — 2. A direct-acting engine in
which the crank-shaft is located between the
cylinder and the sliding-bloek or cross-head,
the piston-rod is connected with the latter by
two branches or limbs which straddle the
crank-shaft and crank, and the connecting-
rod or pitman plays between the limbs of the
piston-rod. It is used for steam-pumps and
donkpy-pngines, being very compact in form.
steeple-fairt, "■ [Supposed to be a corruption,
simulating steeple (as if 'a church-fair' or 'ker-
raess'), of "staple-fair, < staple'^, market, +
/ai'r^.] A common fair or mart.
These youths, in art, purse, and attire most bare.
Give their attendance at each steeple Jaire ;
Being once bir'd he'l not displease his lord.
Taylor, Works (1630). (Nares.y
steeple-hat (ste'pl-hat), n. A steeple-crowned
hat.
An old doublet and a steeple hat. Browning, Strafford.
Steeple-honset (ste'pl-hous), «. A church edi-
fice: so called by the early members of the
Society of Friends, who maintained that the
word church applies properly only to the body
of believers.
The reason why I would not go into their steeple-house
was because I was to bear my testimony against it, and to
bring all off from such places to the ^^pirit of God, that
they might know their bodies to be the temples of the
Holy Ghost. George Fox, Journal (I'liUa.), p. 167.
There are steeple -hmtses on every hand,
And pulpits that bless and ban ;
And the Lord will not grudge the single church
That is set apart for man.
Whiitier, The Old South.
Steeple-hnnting (ste'pl-hun'ting), «. Same as
stiepln-lid.fiiig. Carlyle, Sterling, v.
steeple-jack (ste'pl- jak), n. A man who climbs
steeples and tall chimneys to make repairs, or
to erect scaffolding.
A steeple-jack of Sheffield . . . met with a shocking ac-
cident. iSt James's Gazette, May 11, lb87. (Encyc. Diet.)
Steepletop (ste'pl -top), n. The bowhead. or
great polar whale (Balasna mysticcti(s): so called
from the spout-holes terminating in a sort of
cone: a whalers' name. C. M. Scammon.
Steeplewise (ste'pl-wiz), adv. In the manner
of a steeple ; like a steeple.
Thin his'halre.
Besides, disordered and vnkemhd, his crowne
Picked, made steeple-wise; . . . bald he was beside.
Beywood, Dialogues (Works, ed. Pearson, 1874, VI. 1'20).
steeply (step'li), adr. In a steep manner; with
steepness; with precipitous declivity: as, a
heignt rising steeply.
At this point it [the highway! ^eply overtops the fields
on one side. Howetls, Indian .Summer, xz.
steepness
steepness (step'nes), «. The state of being
steep, in any sense; precipitonsness: as, the
tit'eepticA<> of a hill or a roof,
steep-to (step'to), a. Abruptly steep: noting
a bold shore haWng navigable water close in
to land. [CoUoq.]
The pans Ip«nice) rise over all the low lying parts of
the Islands, grinding and polishing exposed shores, and
raspint! those that are lieep-to. Amer. Nat., XXII. 230.
steep-tnb (step'tub), «. A tub in which salt
beef and salt pork are soaked before cooking.
steep-up (step'up), a. Ascending steeply.
Her stand she takes upon a steep-up hill.
Shak., Passionate Pilgrim, 1. 121.
steep-water (step'wa'ter), n. Water used as
a steep, or suitable for steeping; specifically,
a steep for flax.
The most celebrated eteep-irater in the world is the river
Lys, which rises in the north of France, and flows through
the west of Belgium. Ure, Diet, II. 409.
steepweed, steepwort (step 'wed, -w6rt), ».
Same as steep-grasn.
Steepy (ste'pi), «. [< sfeepi + -y^.] Steep;
precipitous.
Ever to rear his tumbling stone upright
Upon the steej)y mountain's lofty height.
JUarston, Satires, v. 78.
Steer^ (ster), v. [< ME. steeren, steren, gtiren,
stureii, steoren, < AS. steoran, stieran, styran =
OFries. stiura, stiora = MD. stuyren, stueren,
stieren, D. stitren, stieren = MLG. sturen, LG.
stierett = OHG. stiuran, stiurran, MHG. stiuren,
stiuweru, direct, control, support, 6. steuern,
control, steer, pilot, = Icel. styra = Dan. styre
= Sw. styra, steer; cf. Goth, stiurjan, establish,
confirm ; partly from the noun, AS. stedr, etc.,
a rudder (see steer^, n.), but in part, as more
particularly appears in the Goth., prob. an
orig. verb, 'establish ' (hence 'direct,' ' steer'),
connected with OHG. stiuri, strong, large ; cf .
Goth, usstiuriha, unbridled. Skt. sthavara, fixed,
stable, etc. The ME. forms are partly confused
with the ME. forms of stir.'] 1. trans. 1. To
guide by the movements of a rudder or helm;
direct and govern, as a ship on her course.
The two brether were abidyng bothe in a shippe
That was stird with the storme streght out of warde ;
Rut on a Roclte, rof all to peces.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3709.
You yourself shall steer the happy helm.
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., i. 3. 103.
5926
He relieved her of her burden, and steered along the
street by her side, carrying her bailed mutton and pota-
toes safely home. Mm. Oaskell, Cranford, ii.
To steer clear of, to keep away from ; avoid.
It requires great skill, and a particular felicity, to steer
clear of Scylla and Charybdis.
Bacon, Physical Fables, vi., Expl.
To steer roomer. See roomi,adv.— 'lo steer small,
to steer with little movement of the helm, and conse-
quently with but slight deviation of tlie ship's head from
the assigned course.— To steer with a small helm,
to keep the course accurately, with but slight shifting of
the helm in either direction.
steer 1 (ster), n. [< ME. steere, stere, ster, steor,
< AS. stmr = MD. stucr, stier, D. sttttir = MLG.
stiir, sture, LG. star = OHG. stivra, f., MHG. sfi-
iire, stiuwer, G. steuer, n., = Icel. styri = Sw.
Dan. styr, a rudder, a steering-oar, prob. orig. a
pole (applied to a steering-oar); cf. Icel. staurr,
a post, stake, = Gr. aravpdc, a pole, stake, cross
(seestaMr««): see steer^, v., and ci.steer^. Hence
ult. stej-H^.] If. A rudder; a helm.
With a wawe [wave] brosten was his stere.
Chaucer, Good Women, L 2416.
2t. A helmsman ; a pilot.
He that la lord of fortune be thy stere.
Chaucer, Man of Law's Tale, 1. 350.
3t. A guide ; a director ; a governor ; a ruler.
My lady dere,
Syn God hath wroght me for I shal yow serve.
As thus I mene ye wol yet be my stere
To do me lyve, if that yow list, or sterve.
Chaucer, Troilus, iii. 1291.
Commodity is the steer of all their actions.
Burton, Anat. of Mel.
4t. Guidance ; direction ;
p. 198.
government; control.
For whanne 1 my lady here,
My wit with that hath loste his stere.
Gmver, Conf. Amant.,
Ho merchant wittingly
Has steered his keel unto this luckless sea.
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, I. 399.
2. To pursue in a specified direction ; direct:
as, to steer one's way or course.
Then with expanded wings he steers his flight
Aloft, incumlient on the dusky air.
Milton, P. L., i. 226.
3. To guide; manage; control; govern.
Fyr so wood, it mighte nat be stered.
In al the noble tour of Ilioun.
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 935.
I have a soul
Is full of grateful duty, nor will suffer me
Further dispute your precept ; you have power
To steer me as you please.
Shirley, Bird in a Cage, i. 1.
4t. To plan; contrive.
Trewely, myn owene lady deere,
Tho sleighte, yit that I have herd yow steere.
Fill shapely ben to faylen alle yfeere.
Chaucer, Troilus, iii. 1461.
5. To lead; conduct; draw: as, a bunko-man
steers his victim to a bunko-joint. See hunko-
steerer Steering balloon. See balloon^.— Steering
committee, a sniall body of men, generally members of
a legislative body, engaged in directing the course of legis-
• ■ (Slang, U.S.] — To steer a trick at the Wheel, otpprable
To give one a steer, to give one a useful hint ; give one
a point or tip. [Slang, U. S,]
steer^ (ster), «. [< ME. steer, ster, steor, < AS.
stedr = D. stier = OLG. stier, MLG. ster = OHG.
stior, MHG. G. stier = Icel. stjorr = Goth, stiur,
a bull, steer; also without initial s, Icel. thjorr
= Sw. tjur = Dan. tyr, a steer; cf. L. taunts (>
It. Sp. toro = Pg. touro = P. dim. tavreau), <
Gr. ravpog = OBulg. turii = Bohem. Pol. tur =
Russ. ttiru = W, turw = Ir, Gael. tarWt, a bull,
steer ; prob. akin to OHG. stUri, stiuri, strong,
Skt. sthurin, a paek-horse, sthula, great, large,
powerful, sthura, a man, sthavara, fixed, stable,
Gr. urai'pdf, a pole, stake, etc. (see staurus). Cf.
steer^, ult. from the same root; cf. also stirk,
and Taunts.'] A young male of the ox kind;
a bullock especially one which basbeen cas- gteering-COmpass (ster'ing-kum'pas), n.
trated and is raised for beef. In the Umted ^^,„„f"| ^
States the term is extended to male beef-cattle gteering-gear (ster ' ing-ger),
of any age. . . ° ° , , . , ,.
Steersman
He bore his steerage true in every part.
Led by the compass of a noble heart.
Webster and Rowley, Cure for a Cuckold, iv. 2.
Let our Governors beware in time, lest . . . they ship-
wrack themselves, as others have don before them, in the
cours wherin God was dirrecting the Steerage to a Free
Commonwealth. Milton, Free Commonwealth.
5. A rudder; a helm; apparatus for steering ;
hence, a place of government or control.
This day the William was hald a ground, because she
was somewhat leake, and to mend her steerage.
Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 446.
While they who at the steerage stood
And reap'd the profit sought his blood.
Swi/t, Death of Dr. Swift.
6+. The part of a ship where the tiller traverses ;
the stem.
I was much surprized, and ran into the steeridge to look
on the compass. Dampier, Voyages, an. 1688.
7. In passenger-ships, the part of the ship al-
lotted to the passengers who travel at the
cheapest rate, hence called steerage passengers :
generally, except in the newest type of passen-
ger-steamers, not in the stern, as might be
supposed, but in the bow ; in a man-of-war, the
part of the berth-deck just forward of the ward-
room: it is generally divided into two apart-
ments, one on each side, called the starboard
and port steerages, which are assigned to mid-
shipmen, clerks, and others.
It being necessary for me to observe strict economy, I
took my passage in the steerage.
Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, xviL
Steerage ooimtry (»iom(.). See country.
steerageway (ster'aj-wa), n. Naut., that de-
gi'ee of forward movement or headway of a
ship which renders her subject to the helm.
Steerer (ster'^r), n. [< steer'^ + -erl.] 1. One
who or that which steers ; a steersman.
And I will be the steerer o 't.
To row you o'er the sea.
Yming Bekie (Child's Ballads, IV. 13%
2. In a tricycle, the rod and small wheel by
which the machine is turned about and guided:
called front steerer or back steerer according
to its place on the machine. — 3. In bunko
swindling, one who steers or leads his victim to
the rendezvous ; a bunko-steerer. [Slang.] —
Boat-steerer, in whaling, the second man in rank in a
boat's crew, whose duty it is to act as bow-oarsman while
going on to the whale, to harpoon or bomb the whale if he
is so instructed by the oflicer, and to steer the boat after
the whale has been struck, having shifted ends with the
oflicer. The duties of the boat-steerer, or harpooner or
slewer as he is also called, are the most important in-
trusted to tlie crew.
See
lation
to take one's turn in steering a vessel.
II, intrans. 1. To direct and govern a vessel
in its course.
Jason . . . the bote tok,
Stird ouer the streame streght to the lond.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 957.
Some of their men were starued, the rest all so weake
that onely one could lie along vpon the Helm and sterre.
Purchas, Klgrimage, p. 746.
2. To direct one's course at sea; sail in a spe-
cified direction : as, the ship steers southward ;
he steered for Liverpool.
The Ottomites, ...
Steering . . . towards the isle of Rhodes,
Have there iniointed them with an after fleet.
Shak., Othello, i. 3. 34.
3. To answer the helm: as, the vessel steers
with ease. — 4. Figuratively, to take or pursue
a course or way ; hence, to direct one's conduct ;
conduct one's self.
Well-bom, and wealthy, wanting no support,
Yoa steer betwixt the country and the court.
Dryden, To his kinsman, John Dryden, 1. 128.
Juvencus is a yonge oxe whan he is no lenger a calf, and
he is then callyd a steere whan he begynneth to be help-
full unto the proflt of man in eringe the erth.
Dialogues of Creatures Moralysed, p. 228. (HaUiuell.)
Laocoon . . .
With solemn pomp then sacrificed a steer.
Dryden, iEneid, ii. 268.
Steer^ (ster), v. t. [< steer^, n.] To make a
steer of; castrate (a young buU or bull-calf).
[Bare.]
The male calves are steered and converted to beef.
DaHy Telegraph, Oct. 18, 1886. (Encyc. Diet.)
Steer^ (ster), v. and n. An obsolete or dialectal
variant of stir^.
What '8 a' the steer, kimmer?
What 's a" the steer >
Charlie he is landed.
An, haith, he'll soon be here.
Jacobite song.
(ster'a-bl), a. [< steer'^ + -able.]
Capable of being steered : as, a steerable bal-
loon.
steerage (ster'aj), n. HEarly mod. E. also steer-
idge, .itirrage; < steer^ + -age.] 1. The act,
practice, or method of steering; guidance; di-
rection ; control ; specifically, the direction or
control of a ship in her course.
By reason of the enil stirrage of the other ship, we had
almost boorded each other. HaUuyfs Voyages, IL 110.
But He that hath the steerage of my course
Direct my sail! Shak., R. and J., i. 4. 112.
2. That by which a course is steered or di-
rected. [Rare.]
Inscribed to Phoebus, here he hung on high
The steerage [remigium] of his wings.
Dryden, ^neid, vi. 24.
3. Naut., the effect of the helm on a ship; the
manner in which the ship is affected by the
helm : as, she was going nine knots, with easy
steerage. — 4. A course steered ; a path or way;
a course of conduct, or a way of life.
„ „ , "• Naut., the
machinery by Which tlie"rudder is managed.
In large ships steam-power has come into very general use
for this purpose — a wheel, turned by the helmsman in the
same manner as when steering by hand, by its action ad-
mitting steam to the engines which move the helm.
Steering-sail (ster'ing-sal), «. Same as stud-
diugsail.
Steering-'wheel (ster'ing-hwel), «. The wheel
by which the rudder of a ship is shifted and the
ship steered.
steerlesst (ster'les), a. [< ME. siereles, < AS.
stedrleds, having no rudder, < stedr, a rudder,
+ -leds, E. -less; < steerl, «., -I- -less.] Having
no rudder.
Al sterdess withinne a boot am I.
Chaucer, Troilus, i. 416.
Like to the steerless boat that swerves with every wind.
Surrey, Eccl. iii.
Steerling (ster'ling), n. [< steer^ + -ling'^.] A
young steer.
To get thy stealing, once again
I'le play such another strain.
Berrick, A Beucolick, or Discourse of Neatherds.
Steermant (ster'man), »!. [< ME. sterman, steor-
man, < AS. steornian (= D. stuurman = MLG.
sturman, stureman = MHG. stiurman, G. stcuer-
mann, steersman, = Icel. styrimathr, stjoniar-
mathr = Sw. styrman = Dan . styrmand, a mate),
< steor, rudder, + man, man: see «tert'l and
man.] Same as steersman.
Their Star the Bible ; Steer-man th' Holy-Ghost.
Sylvester, tr of Du Bartas's Weeks, i. 1.
steersman (sterz'man), «. ; pi. steersmen (-men).
r< ME. steresman, < AS. steoresman, steersman,
< stedres, gen. of steor, a rudder, + man, man.]
One who steers, (a) The steerer of a boat; a helms-
man ; a pilot.
How the tempest al began,-
And how he lost his sterestnan.
Chaucer, House of Fame, 1. 436.
Through it tlie joyful steersman clears his way.
And comes to anchor in his inmost bay. Dryden.
steersman
(6t) A governor ; a ruler.
lie of the .V. gtereg-men
Viider hem welden in stere t^en [ten].
Genegis ami Exodus (E. E. T. 8.), L S417.
steersmanship (sterz'man-ship), H. [< steers-
man + -ship.} The office or art of a steers-
man ; skill in steeling.
They praised my gteernnanship.
J, Burroughs, Pepacton, p. 19.
steersmate (sterz'mat), «. [< steer's, poss. of
steer^. + mate^.'] A mate or assistant in steer-
ing. [Rare. ]
WTiat pilot so expert but needs must wrecl£,
ImbartE'd with such a gteers-mate at the helm ?
MUton, S. A., 1. 1045.
Steer-stafft, «. [ME. steerstaf; < steer'^ + staff.}
Same as steer-tree. Wyclif, Prov. xxiii. 34.
Steer-treet (ster'tre), h. [Early mod. E. also
steretre, stertree, stertre; < ME. steretre; < steer'^
+ tree.} 1. A rudder.
Wife, tent the stere-tre, and I shaUe asay
The depnes of the see that we liere, if 1 may.
Toumtley Myittria, p. 31. (HaUiwtll.)
2. The handle of a plow. Cath. Ang., p. 361,
note.
steery (ster'i), «. [< steer^ + -y3.} A stir; a
bustle; a tumult. [Scotch.]
" Where 'a the younger womankind ?" said the Antiquary.
"Indeed, brother, amang a' the fsUery, Maria wadna be
guided by me — she set away to the Uallcet-craig-head."
jScott, Antiquary, ix.
Steeve' (stev), a. [Sc., also stiere, stii-e, a var.
of stiff, prob. due to Dan. stiv, stiff : see stiff. }
Stiff; firm; unbending or unyielding.
A Ally buirdly, sUeve, an' swank.
An' set weel down a shapely shank
As e'er tread yird.
Bums. Auld Farmer's Salutation to his Auld Mare.
flteere^ (stev), v. t.-, pret. and pp. steered, ppr.
steering. [Also stieve; a var. of stive^, r. Cf.
steered, a.} To stiffen : as, to be steered with
cold. Grose. [Prov. Eng.]
fiteeve- (st«v), r. ; pret. and pp. steered, ppr.
sleeving. [Appar. orig. 'be stiff' (a steeving
bowsprit "being fixed stiff or firmly and im-
movably in the vessel, a horizontal one being
movable ") : see steered. Cf. Dan. stiver, a prop,
stay, sticebjxlke, a beam to prop with.] I. iii-
trans. Naut., to project from the bows at an
angle instead of horizontally : said of a bow-
sprit.
The bowsprit is said to tUne man or leaa, as the outer
end is raised or drooped. ToUen, Naval Diet., p. 417.
II. trans. Xaut., to give a certain angle of
elevation to: as, to steece a bowsprit.
Steeve- (stgv), n. [< steeve''', v.] Naut., the
allele of elevation which the bowsprit makes
with the horizon.
StMve-* (stev), V. t.', pret. and pp. steered, ppr.
steering. [Also stere; a var. of stire^, < OF.
estirer, stuff, cram (OF. estire, the loading of a
ship): see stive'^.} 1. To stuff; cram; pack
firmly and tightly. Jamieson. [Scotch.] — 2.
Naut., to stow, as car^o in a vessel's hold, by
means of a steeve or a jack-screw. R. H. Dana,
Jr., Before the Mast, p. 306.
SteeVB''' (stev), n. [< steered, v.} A long der-
rick or spar, with a block at one end, used in
stowing cargo. Hamersly, Naval Encyc, P- 777.
Steevely (stev'li), adv. [< steeve'^ + -ly^.} Firm-
ly; stoutly. .Tamieson. Also stierely. [Scotch.]
sbeeyingi (ste'ving), «. [Verbal n. of steeve^,
r.} Naut., the angle of elevation which a ship's
bowsprit makes with the horizon ; a steeve.
steeving^ (ste'ving), n. [Verbal n. of steereS, v.}
The operation of stowing certain kinds of car-
go, as cotton, wool, or hides, in a TesseVs hold
with a steeve or a jack-screw. See steeve^,
r. t., 2.
steg (steg), n. Same as «(<i£r(iuyarioas senses).
[Prov. Eni;.]
steganograpnistt (steg-a-nog'ra-fist), n. [<
stei/aiiiiiiniph-i) + -ist.} One who practises the
art of writing in cipher. Bailey, 1727.
ste^anographyt (steg-a-nog'ra-fi), n. [= F.
stiganographie, < Or. ort^avd^, coveried (< artytiv,
cover), + ypn(j>ew, write, mark.] The art of
writing in cipher, or in characters which are
not intelligible except to the persons who cor-
resi)ond with each other; cryptographv. Bur-
ton, Anat. of Mel., p. 498.
The Art of .Stenograpfaie, . . . wherernto is annexed a
Tery easle Direction for Sleganojrapkie, or Secret Writing,
printed at London in 1002 for Cnthbert Kurbiu.
Tilit, quoted In Encyc. Brit., X.\I. 838, note.
'Steganophthalmata (steg'a-nof-tharma-tft),
H. pi. [NJv., iieut. pi. of steganophthalmattu :
Under view of a seg-
ment of the diskofW«rr-
lia aurita : m, a litho-
cyst with its protective
hood, a usual character
of Stteanophthatma-
ta; c, the arrangement
of the radiating canals :
£^, the aperture of a geni-
tal chamber, with plait-
ed genital membrane.
5927
see steganophthalmatous.} The covered-eyed
acalephs, a division containing those jelly-
fishes whose sensory tentaculicysts are cov-
ered with flaps or lappets
proceeding from the margin
of the disk : contrasted with
Gjimnophtlialmata. This divi-
Bion contains some of the common-
est jellytlshes, as Aurelia aurita;
it corresponds to Digcophora in a
usual sense, more exactly to Dis-
cirphora phanerocarpie, or Scypho-
medtisx. Also called Steganoph-
thatmia. See also cut under Aurelia.
steganophthalmate (steg'a-
uof-tbal'mat), a. and n. [<
NL. 'steganophthalmatus, <
Gr. areyavd^, covered, + o<j>da?.-
/i6(, eye.] I. a. Covered-
eyed or hidden-eyed, as a hy-
dromedusan; not gymnoph-
thalmate. Also steganoph-
thalmatous, steganophthalmic,
steganoph thalmous.
II. n. A member of the
Steganophthalmata.
steganophthalmatous (steg^a - nof - thai ' ma-
tus), fl. li'Sh." steganophthalmatus: seestega-
niijihthalmate.} Same as steganophthalmate.
Steganophthalmia (steg'a-nof-thal'mi-a), n.
pi. [NL., < Or. <rreyav6c, covered, -I- btpSaXiid^,
eye.] Same as Steganophthalmata.
steganophthalmic (steg'a-nof-thal'mik), a. [<
steganophthalm-ate + -ic] Same a.a steganoph-
thalmate.
Steganophthalmons (steg'a-nof-thal'mus), a.
[< Gr. (TTf jQiof, covered, -t- o<fi)a?.ii6(, eye.] Same
Hs .it'iidHiiphthalmatc.
Steganopod (steg'a-no-pod), a. and n. [< NL.
skyanopns (-pod-),<. Gr.<rrf)'av<iiTOtif(-xo<5-), web-
footed, < areyavdi, covered, + iroic (jrod-) = E.
foot.} I. a. In omith., having all four toes
webbed; totipalmate.
n. n. A member of the Steganopodes.
Steganopodat (steg-a-nop'o-da), n.pl. [NL. :
see stifjanopod.} An Aristotelian group of
birds, approximately equivalent to the Lin-
nean .Inscrrs, or web-footed birds collectively,
Steganopodan (steg-a-nop'o-dan), a. [< stega-
nopod-f -an.} In orni'fA., totipalmate; stega-
nopod.
Steganopodes (steg-a-nop'o-dez), n. pi. [NL. :
see .sti'giniiijxxl.} An ortler of natatorial birds,
consisting of those which have all four toes
webbed and a more or less developed gular
{)ouch; the Totipalmatse. it Is now usually divided
nto six families Sulidm, PeUearMM, Phalacrwxraeida,
PMidm, raeAMN!ii(LB,andi*Aa^AorU<(fjv,re8pectlTelyrep.
resented by the gwineta, pelicans, cormoranti, darters,
frigate*, and troplc-birda. Dytporamarphit, Pinnipedet,
ana Piaetttom are synonyms. See cuta under anMnga,
cormorant, fripaU-biSrd, ganmt, ptlican, Phaethon, rough-
bilUd, Hnn totipalmait.
Steganopodous (steg-a-nop'o-dus), a. [< stega-
niiiiixl -f -<ius.} Same as steganopod.
Steganopos (ste-gan'o-pus), n. [NL.. (Vieil-
lot, 181M): aee steganopod.} A genus of phala-
ropes, having the toes margined with an even
membrane, and the bill very long and slender.
/'
•\_.s. -
WUaon'i Phalarope (Steeanofus v/ilstmi).
It Includes Wilson's phalarope, S. wHgoni, a North Ameri-
can specie^ the largest and handsomest of the family.
This genus nas nothing to do with the order of birds that
appears, from the term Steganopodes^ to be named from it.
Stegocarpi (steg-6-kar'pi), H. pi. [NL. : see
stiyiiriirpous.} A division oi bryaceous mosses
in which the capsule opens in the upper part
by a deciduous lid or operculum. It embraces
the larger jiart of the true mosses.
Stegocarpous (steg-o-kiir'pus), a. [< KL.*stego-
carpus, \ <ir. cTfytiv, cover, + Knpiz6(, fruit.]
In hot., of or belonging to the Stegocarpi; hav-
ing an operculate capsule.
stele
Stegocephala (steg-o-sef'a-la), n. pi. [NL.,
neut. pi. ot *steflocephalus : see stegocephalous.}
Same as Lahyrinthodontia. Also Stegocephali.
Stegocephalian (steg'o-se-fa'li-an), a. and n.
[< Stegocephala -f -ian!} I. a. Stegocephalous.
II, ti. A member of the Stegocephala.
Stegocephalous (steg-o-sef'a-lus), a. [< NL.
'st€gocephalus,<. Gr. <T7£;^e(v, cover, -t- Ke^akij, the
head.] Having the head mailed, loricate, or
cataphraet, as a labyrinthodont ; having the
characters of, or pertaining to, the Stego-
cephala.
Stegodon (steg'o-don), n. [NL. (Falconer,
1857), < Gr. oTtyecv, cover, -I- bdoig (bSovr-) = E.
tooth.} 1. A genus of fossil elephants of the
Tertiaries of India, intermediate in their den-
tal characters between the existing elephants
and the mastodons. They are, however, most nearly
related to the former, belonging to the same subfamily,
Elepbantinse. S. insignis is an example.
2. [i. <".] An elephant of this genus.
ste^Ognathous (ste-gog'na-thus), a. [< Gr.
areyew, cover, -1- yvdBoc, jaw.] In conch., hav-
ing a jaw composed of imbricated plates : not-
ing the BuUmulidx.
Stegopterat (ste-gop'te-ra), n. pi. [NL., neut.
pl.ot*stegoj/terus: see siegopterous.} An order
of neuropterous insects; the roof-winged in-
sects. It included the Panorpid/e or scorpion- flies, the
Rbaphidiidx or snake-flies, the Mantispidx or mantis-
flies, the Myrmeleontidte or ant-lions, the Hetnerobiidx or
lacewings, the Sialidx or May-flies, and the Fhryganeidx
or caddis-flies. The order is now broken up.
stegopterous (ste-gop'te-ms), a. [< NL, *ste-
gopterus, < Gr. mtyuv, cover, + nrcpov, wing,
= E. feather.} In entom., roof-winged; holding
the wings deflexedwhen at rest; of or pertain-
ing to the Stegoptera.
Stegosauria (steg-o-s&'ri-S), n.pl. [NL,, < Gr.
crtyew, cover, + aavpoq, a lizard.] An order
or suborder of dinosaurs, represented by the
families Stegosauridse and Scelidosauridm.
stegosaurian (steg-o-sa'ri-an), a. and «. [< Ste-
gosauria + -an.} I. a. Of or pertaining to
the Stegosauria, or having their characters.
H. n. A dinosaur of the order Stegosauria.
Stegosanridae (steg-o-sa'ri-de), n. pi. [NL., <
Stegosaurus + -idse.} A family of nerbivorous
dinosaurs, typified by the genus Stegosaurus,
with biconcave vertebrse, ischia retrorse and
meeting in mid-line, the astragalus coalesced
with the tibia, and the metatarsals short. They
were Jurassic reptiles of great size.
Ste^osanms (steg-o-s&'ms), n. [NL. (Marsh,
187 (), < Gr. orf J £<p,' CO ver, + aavpoq, a Uzard.]
1. TIio tj-pical genus of S(«(;o«aMn'djB. It con-
tained species some 30 feet long, mailed with
enormous bucklers and spines. — 2. [i. c] A
dinosaur of this genus.
Steik, r. t. See steek.
Steillt, «. -Aji obsolete Scotch spelling of staW^.
Steinlf, V. and n. An obsolete Scotch spelling of
stcen^, stcen^.
Stein^ (stin), n. [G. «*ei«, stone,] An earthen-
ware mug, especially one designed to hold beer.
Steinberger (stin'b6r-g^r), «, A white wine
grown on the Rhine, near Wiesbaden in Prussia.
The vineyard belongs to the Prussian national domain.
Steinberger ranks in estimation second only to the Johan-
nisberger, and in some years is considered better by con-
noisseurs.
steinbock (stin'bok), n. [G. : see steenbok.}
1. Tlio ibex. — 2. Same as «fef nftofc.
Steinerian (sti-ne'ri-an), a. and «. [Named by
Cremona from Steiner (see def.).] I. fi. Per-
taining to the discoveries of the German geome-
ter Jacob Steiner (1796- 1863) Steinerian poly-
gon. See polygon.
II. M. In math., the locus of points whose
first polars with respect to a given curve have
double points.
Steiner s surface. See surface.
steing, ". Same as sting^.
steinheilite (stiu'hi-Ut), n. A variety of iolite.
steining (sti'ning), », Same as steening, 2,
Steinitz gambit. See gambit.
steinkirk (stin'k^rk), w. See steenkirk.
steinmannite (stin'man-it), «. [Named after
Steitimann, a German mineralogist.] A vari-
ety of galena containing some arsenic and an-
timony. It commonly occurs in octahedral
crystals.
steirk, n.
steive, r.
steket, V.
See stirk.
A variant of stive^.
Anobsoleteformof stick^ .
Stelt. An obsolete form otsteel'^, steal^, staled, etc.
stela (ste'la), ti. Same as stele^.
Stele^t. An old spelling of steaV-, steals.
Stele^ti n. An obsolete form of stale'^.
stele
Stele^ (ste'le, sometimes stel), h. ; pi. .stel« or
stelai. [= F. stHe, < L. stela, < Gr. arijA;/, au
upright slab or pillar, < laravat, stand, set: see
stand and stool.'] In archxol. : (a) An upright
slab or pillar, often crowned with a rich an-
themiou, and sometimes bearing more or less
5928
Knglaml and about 20 in North America, of which 7 are
natives of the northeastern United States. They are com-
gP^^M
^^^^^^fJT"
J/ \
f '9^^'W
■ t ^ E NicTC E r 1 T EI.<'AM a pJoaP X ONTufJ
■ ft-r-. f (T>^ K; r- c- M c- ^ > -> Al A l-^ — -";■■ -i^
^g'a - -,:■■■-- ■ ., ... <■<!.) •..I'MHHM
Sculptured Stele.— Monument of the Knight Dexileos (who fell before
Corinth 394 B. C), on the Sacred Way, Athens.
elaborate sculpture or a painted scene, com-
monly used among the ancient Greeks as a
gravestone. (6) A similar slab or pillar serv-
ing as a milestone, to bear an inscription in
some public place, or for a like purpose.
Stelechite (stel'e-kit), n. [= P. slelecliite, < Gr.
aTe?^X<>i' tlie crown of the root of a tree, stump,
block, log, the trunk, + -ite^.] A fine kind of
storax, in larger pieces than the ealamite. Also,
erroneously, stelochite.
Stelgidopteryx (stel-ji-dop'te-riks), n. [NL.
(S. F. Baird, 1858), < Gr. OTfXj/f {arc?.yi6-), a
scraper, + Ji-rfpif, a wing.] A genus of JTirMB-
dinidse, having the outer web of the first primary
serrate by conversion of the barbs into a series
of recurved hooks ; the rough-winged swallows.
S. serripennig is the common rough-winp:ed swallow of the
United States, of plain brownish coloration, greatly resem-
bling the bank-swallow. .Several others inliabit Central
and South America. See cut under roicf/h-winged.
Stell (stel), V. t. r< ME. stellen, < AS. stellan (=
MD. D. MLG. LG. OHG. MH6. G. stellen), set
up, place, fix, < steall (= MD. D. stal = MLG.
stal, LG. stall = OHG. MHG. stal, G. stall), a
place, stall: see stalU.] To set; place; fix.
[Obsolete or dialectal.]
Mine eye hath play'd the painter, and hath gUU'd
Thy beauty's form in table of my heart.
Shak., Sonnets, xxiv.
stell (stel), n. [A var. of stalU, after stell, r.]
It. A place ; a station.
The said stell of Plessis.
Danet'8 Comines, sig. V 5. (Nares.)
2. A stall; a fold for cattle. Halliwell; Jamie-
son. [Prov. Eng. and Scotch.]
Stella (stel'a), «. ; pi. stellee (-§). [NL., < L.
Stella, a star: see stori.] A stellate sponge-
spieule; an aster; a stellate.
stellar (stel'Sr), a. [= F. stellaire = Sp. estrel-
lar = It. stellare, < LL. stellaris, pertaining to a
star, starry, < L. Stella, a star: see Stella?] Of
or pertaining to stars ; astral : as, stellar worlds ;
«(ei2ar space ; steZtor regions.
These soft flreg
Not only enlighten, but . . . shed down
Their stellar virtue on all kinds that grow.
Milton, P. L., iv. 671.
Stellaria (ste-la'ri-a),n. [NL. (Linnseus, 17!53),
name transferred, on account of the star-like
blossoms, from a Corispermum so named by
Dillenius (1719); < L. Stella, a star.] A genus
of polypetalous plants, of the order Caryophi/l-
laeeee and tribe Alsinese. it is characterized by the
absence of stipules, by flowers usually with five deeply
two-cleft petals and three styles, and by a one-celled glo-
lK>se or oblong capsule which commonly splits into three
two-cleft or completely parted valves. There are about
85 species, scattered throughout the world ; in the tropics
they occur only on mountains. .Seven species occur in
Great Chickweed i,Stellaria fiubera).
monly diffuse herbs, with weak, smooth, or hairy stems,
loosely ascending or growing in matted tufts. Their
flowers are usually white, and form terminal panicled
cymes, sometimes mixed with leaves. Several species are
known as chickweed, and several others as starwoii or stitch-
wort, especially ,S. Uolostea (see stitchvort), a common Eng-
lish species, bearing such local names as altbotie, break-
bones, shirt-buttons, snap-jack. S. lomji/oUa, the long-leafed
stitchwort, frequent in the Northern Atlantic States, forms
delicate tangled masses of light green overtopped by nu-
merous small white flowers. 5. pubera, the great chick-
weed or starwort, the most showy Atlantic species, forms
conspicuous dark-green tufts along shaded banks in ear-
liest spring, from Pennsylvania southward. See also cut
under ovarii.
Stellary (stel'a-ri), a. Same as stellar.
stellate (stel'at), a. and n. [< L. stellatus, pp.
of stellare, set or cover with stars, < Stella, star:
sue Stella.'] I. a. Star-like in form ; star-shaped;
arranged in the form of a conventional star;
radiating from a common center like the rays
orpointsof astar: as, steKflte leaves; thestellate
f roups of natrolite crystals Stellate hrlstle or
air, a bristle or hair which branches at the end in a star-
shaped manner. See cut under /tatV, 4. — Stellate frac-
ture, a fracture, occurring usually in a flat bone, in which
several fissures radiate from the central point of injury. —
Stellate leaves, leaves, more than two in number, sur-
rounding the stem in a whorl, or radiating like the spokes
of a wheel or the points of a star. Also called verticillaie
leaves. See cut under pywi«»eica.— Stellate ligament,
a costovertebral ligament; the anterior costoceiitral liga-
ment uniting the head of a rib with the body of a verte-
bra : so called from the radiated figure in man. — Stellate
spicule, an aster ; a stellate. — Stellate veins, very mi-
nute venous radicles situated just under the capsule of
the kidney, arranged in a radiating or stellate manner.
II. 11. A stellate mieroselere, or flesh-spicule
in the form of a star. Encyc. Brit., XXII. 417.
Stellated (stel'a-ted), a. [< stellate + -ed^.]
Same as.itellate.-steU3.tei polygon, polyhedron,
etc. .See the nouns.
stellately (stel'at-li), adv. Eadiately ; like a
star ; in a stellate manner,
stellate-pilose (sterat-pi"16s), a. In hot., pilose
with stellate hairs.
Stellationf (ste-la'shon), n. [< ML. stellatio{n-)
(?), < L. Stella, a star: see stellate.] 1. The
act or process of becoming a star or a constel-
lation.
The skaly Scorpion 's flxt amongst the rest, . . .
The cause of it's stetlation to enquire,
And why so beautify'd with heauenly fire.
Comes next in course.
Heywood, Hierarchy of Angels, p. 138.
2. Same as constellation.
Stars, and steltations of the heavens.
Bev. T. Adams, Works, II. 4.
Stellature (stel'a-tur), n. [< ML. *stellatura,
irreg. taken as equiv. to stellionatus : see stel-
lionate.] Same as stellionate.
Extortion and cozenage is proverbially called crimen
stellionatus, the sin of stellature.
Jiev. T. Adam^, Works, I. 79.
stelledt (steld), }). a. [Pp. of stell : see stell, and
cf. stalled, pp. of stall.] Fixed.
The sea, with such a storm as his bare head
In hell-black night endured, would have buoy'd up,
And quench'd the stdted flres. Shak., Lear, iii. 7. 61.
[Some commentators define the word as 'stellated,'
* stany. ']
stelleert, stelleeret, «• [See steelyard^.] Same
as steelyard"^. Cotgrave.
Stelleria (ste-le'ri-a), «. [NL., named after
G. W. Steller: see siellerinc.] In ornith., a ge-
nus of sea-ducks, the type of which is Steller's
eider, S. dispar, usuallv aaXled Polysticta stelleri.
Bonaparte, 1838.
Stellerida (ste-ler'i-da), n. pi. [NL., prop. Stel-
larida, < stellaris, starry, + -ida.] A class or
other large group of echinoderms of obviously
radiate figure ; the starfishes and brittle-stars :
synonymous with Asteroidea, 2.
Stelmatopoda
Stelleridan (ste-ler'i-dan), a. and n. [< Steller-
ida + -an.'] I. a. Of or pertaining to the Stel-
lerida.
II. n. A member of the Stellerida, as a star-
fish or brittle-star.
stelleridean (stel-e-rid'e-an), n. Same as stel-
leridan.
stellerine (stel'e-rin), n. [Named after G. W.
Steller, the traveler (1709-45).] The arctic or
Steller's sea-cow, lilnjtina stelleri. See sea cow,
2, and cut under Mhytina.
Steller's eider. See PolysUcta, l, and stelleria.
Steller's jay. A jay of northwestern North
America, Cyanocitta stelleri, crested like the
common blue jay, but chiefly of a blackish
color, shading into dull blue on some parts.
Steller's sea-cow. See sea-cow, 2, and cut un-
der Ilhytina.
Steller s sea-lion. The northern sea-lion. See
Eumctopias (with cut).
stelletf, n. An obsolete foTm of stylet, 1.
Dalyell, Frag, of Scottish History.
Stemferous (ste-lif'e-rus), a. [< L. stelli/er,
starry, < Stella, a star, -I- ferre = E. bear^.j
Having or abounding with stars.
stelliform (stel'i-form), a. [< L. Stella, a star,
+ forma, form.] Star-like in shape ; stellate
inform; asteroid; radiated'.
Stellifyt (stel'i-fi), o. i. [< ME. stellifyen, < OF.
atelUficr, < ML. stellificare, place among the
stars, convert into a constellation, < L. stella,
a star, + facere, make, do (see -/»/).] To turn
into or cause to resemble a star; convert into
a constellation ; make glorious ; glorify.
No wonder is thogh Jove her siellifye.
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 525.
Some thinke this floud to be Nilus, which is also Gyon ;
and therefore steltijied, because it directeth his course from
the Meridian. It consisteth of many stars, and lieth iust
beneath the star called Canopus, or Ptolomaia.
Heywood, Hierarchy of Angels, p. 176,
Stellio (stel'i-6), n. [NL., < L. stellio(n-), a
lizard: Bee stellion.] 1. A genus of agamoid
lizards, giving name to the Stellionidse. They
have acrodont dentition, naked tympanum, no pores, and
Common Stellion {_Steltio I'ttlgaris').
the scales of the tail disposed in whorls or verticils. There
are several species, ranging from countries bordering the
Mediterranean to India. The common stellion or star-
lizard, the hardim of the Arabs, S. vulgaris, is abundant
in ruins. S. tuberculatus is an Indian species.
2. [/. c.] A lizard of this genus.
stellion (stel'yon), H. [< L. stellio, a newt, a
lizard marked with star-like spots, also a crafty,
knavish person (cf. stellionate), < Stella, a star:
see Stella.] An agamoid lizard of the genus
Stellio or family Stellionidse; a star-lizard.
When the stellion hath cast his skin, he greedily de-
vours it again. Rev. T. Adams, Works, I. 79.
stellionate (stel'yon-at), n. [< LL. stellionatus,
cozenage, trickery, < L. steUio(n-), a crafty,
knavish person, lit. a newt, lizard : see stellion.]
In Scots and civil law, a word used to denote all
such crimes in which fraud is an ingredient as
have no special names to distinguish them, and
are not defined by any written law.
Stellionidse (stel-i-on'"i-de), «. pi. [NL., < Stel-
lio(n-) + -idx.] A family of Old World acro-
dont agamoid lizards, named from tlie genus
Stellio, properly merged in Agamidse; the stel-
lions or star-lizards. See cut under Stellio.
stellular (stel'u-lar), a. [< L. stcllula, a little
star, dim. of stilla, a star: see stella.] Finely
or numerously stellated, as if spangled with
little stars; stclliferous, as the surface of a
coral; shaped like a little star; resembling lit-
tle stars ; small and stelliform in figure or ap-
pearance. Encyc. Brit., XVI. 370.
stellulate (atel'u-lat), a. [< L. stellula, a little
star (see stellular), + -ate'^.] Resembling little
stars or a little star; stellular.
Stellwag's symptom. See symptom.
Stelmatopoda (.stel-nia-top'9-da), n. jtl. A di-
vision of Poly^oa or liryozoa, eoiTesponding to
the Gymnolsemata : contrasted with iopAojjorfa.
stelochite
BtelocMte (stel'o-kit), II. See stelechite.
StelOgraphy (ste-log'ra-fi), n. [< LGr. (STri/-o) pa-
<f>ia, an inscription on a stele or upright slab, <
Gr. cTi]>j], a stele (see steleS), + -ypaipia, < ypcujieiv,
write.] The practice of writing or inscribing steill'-^
on steles or pillars.
Jacob's pillar . . . thus engraved . . . gave probably
the origin to the invention of titHography.
Stackhouse, Hist. Bible, p. 323.
Stem^ (stem), n. [< ME. stem, stam, < AS. stemn,
stefii, stiefn, also stofn (> E. dial, stovin), stem,
trunk (of a tree), = D. stam, stem, trunk, stock
(of atreeorfamily), = MLG.s/aHi,.?fam»i<',stem,
stock, =OHG. MHG. stain (stainm-), G. stainm,
stem (of a tree), trunk, tree, stock, race, = Icel.
stofn, stomn, stem, trunk of a tree, = Sw. stam
= Dan. stamme (in comp. stam-), stem, trunk,
stock (of a tree), stock, race, family (also with
some variation of form in a particular sense,
'theprowof a vessel': aeestem'^); z=01r.tamon,
Ir. tamltdn (for 'stamon), stem, trunk; cf. Gr.
ard/jvoc, an earthen jar; with formative -mil-,
< •/ »*"» stand : see stand. Not related to staff,
except remotely.] 1. The body of a tree,
shrub, or plant ; the firm part which supports
the branches; the stock; the stalk ; technically,
the ascending axis, which ordinarily grows m
an opposite direction to the root or descending
axis. The stem is composed of fibrous, spiral, and cel-
lular tissues, arranged in various ways; it tj-pically as-
sumes a cylindrical form and a perpendicular position, and
bears upon it the remaining aerial parts of the plant. Its
form and direction, however, are subject to much variation
in particular raaes. In regard to internal structure, there
are three principal modifications of stems characteristic
of three of the great natural claases into which the vegeta-
ble kingdom is divided — namely, exogens. endogens, and
acrt>gens. Stems are herbaceous or woody, solid or hol-
low, jointed or unjointed, branched or simple. Sometimes
they !ire so weak as to be procumbent, although more gen-
erally firm and erect ; sometimes weak stems are upheld
by twining or by other methods of climbing. In some
plants the stem is so short as to seem to be wanting, the
5929
stem^ (stem), r. t.; pret. and pp. stemmed!, ppr.
stemming. [< stein'^, «.] To remove the stem
of; separate from the stem:
as, to stem tobacco.
(stem), n. f< ME.
'stem, stam, < AS. 'stemn,
stefn, 'stsefn, also stefna,
stsefna, the prow of a ship
{steorstefn, the poop, lit.
'steer-stem'), = OS. stainn
= D. steren = MIjG. LG.
Steven, prow of a ship (> G.
steren, stem {vorder-steven,
'fore stem,' prow, hiiiter-
steven, 'hind stem,' stem-
post)), = Icel. stafn, stamn,
also stefiii, stemni, stem of a
ship (prow or stern), = Dan.
stevn, stain = Sw. staf, prow
(Jram-stam, 'fore stem.'
prow, bakstam, 'back stem,'
stem); a particular use, with
variations of form, of AS.
stemn, stefn, E. steml, etc.,
stem, trunk, post : see stem^.
The naut. use in E. is prob.
in part of Scand. origin.] 1.
A curved piece of timber or
metal to which the two sides
of a ship are united at the
foremost end. The lower end
of it is scarfed or riveted to the
keel, and the bowsprit, when pres-
'^^ rests on its upper end. In
stem and allted parts.
S, stem; K. keel; A
apron ; D, deadwood
ss, stemson : DH, deck
hooks; BH, breast-hooks
SI*, stem-piece, or inde
pendent piece ; MF,
main piece, or lace
piece; BP, bobstay-piece
sws, bowsprit ; c. gripe
F, false keel (The dot
leaves and flower-stalks appearing to spring from the top
of the root. There are also stems, such as the rhizome and
tober, which, being sabterranean, have been mistaken for
roots. .See cuts under baiibab, uparUt, interruxie, piptu-
•nm, nuUrroot, rhizmne, and tuber.
2. The stalk which supports the flower or the
fruit of a plant; the peduncle of the fructifica-
tion, or the pedicel of a flower; the petiole or
leaf-stem. See cuts under pedicel, peduncle,
and petiole.
Two lovely berries moulded on one item.
Shot., M. N. D., lU. 2. 211.
For I mann crush amang the stoure
Thy slender tUm.
Burnt, To a Mountain Daisy.
3. The Stock of a family ; a race; ancestry.
Te may all, that are of noble item
Approach, and kisa her sacred veature's hem.
JfOton, Arcades, L 82.
4. A branch of a family; an offshoot.
Richard Plantagenet, . . .
Sweet gtein from York's great stock.
5Aair., 1 Hen. VI., 11. 5. 4L
6. Anything resembling the stem of a plant.
Snecifically— (a)Tliehandleof atool. IlailiireU. (frov.
Eng. 1 (6) That part ot a vase, cup, or goblet which unites
the body to the foot or base, in examples where the body
is not immediately set opon the latter.
Wine-glaaaes or goblets are classified by the nature of
their tteriu, or by the nature of their feet
U. J. PouM, Olaaa-Making, p. ei.
(e) In typt-founding, the thick stroke or body-mark of a
roman or italic letter. See cut under type, (d) In a vehi-
cle, a bar to which the bow of a falling hood is hinged.
(«) The projecting rod of a reciprocating valve, serving
to guide it in iu action. See cut under afldc-miw. (/)ln
tool, and anat., any slender, especially axial, part like the
stem of a plant ; a stalk, stipe, rachia, footstalk, etc. (y) In
omilh., the whole abaft of a feather. (A) In entom., the
base of a clavate antenna, including all the jolnta except
the enlarged outer onea : nsed especially in descriptions
of the Lepidoptera.
6. In musical notation, a vertical line added to
the head of certain kinds of notes. Of the kinds
of note now in use, all but two, the breve and the semi-
brev^ have stems. It may be directed either upward or
downward, thus,
Stemodia
He sat down to his milk-porridge, which It was his old
frugal habit to stem his morning hunger with.
Oeor(/e Eliot, Mill on the Floss, i. 12.
2. To tamp ; make tight, as a joint, with a lute
or cement.
stem*t, «. and V. An old spelling of steam.
Stemapod (stem'a-pod), n. [< Gr. rn-vfta, fila-
ment (see stamen^), + nohg {ttoS-) = E. foot.'\
One of the caudal filaments of the caterpillars
of certain moths, as Cerura and Heterocampa,
whose last pair of legs are thus modified into
deterrent or repugnatorial organs. A. S. Pack-
ard.
stem-character (stem'kar"ak-tfer), n. In gram.,
same as characteristic letter (which see, under
characteristic).
stem-clasping (stem'klas'ping), a. Embracing
the stem with its base ; amplexicaul, as a leaf
or petiole.
stem-climber (stem'kli'mer), ». In 6o<., see
climber^, 2.
Stemet, v. t. A Middle English form of steam.
Stem-eelworm (stem'el'wferm), n. A minute
nematoid, Tylenchus devastatrix, which causes
stem-sickness in certain plants. See Tylen-
chus.
stem-end (stem'end), 11. That part or point in
a fruit which is attached to the stem : opposed
to the blossom-end, which frequently bears the
remains of the calyx, as in a pear or an apple.
The stem-end is usually inferior to the blossom-
end in sweetness and flavor.
stem-head (stem'hed), «. in ship-building, the
top of the stem, or continuation of the forward
extreme of the keel.
stem-knee (stem'ne), n. In ship-building, a knee
uniting the stem with the keel.
stem-leaf (stem'lef), «. A leaf growing from
the stem ; a cauline leaf.
Stemless (stem'les), a. l< stem^ + -less.'\ Hav-
ing no stem ; having the stem so little developed
as to appear to be wanting; acaulescent. —
Stemless lady's-sllpper, thistle, violet See the
wooden ships it is frequently called
the main item, to distinguish it ted lines show bolts.)
from the false stem, or cutwater.
The outside of the stem is usually marked with a scale
showing the perpendicular height from the keel, for indi-
cating the draft of water forward. See also cut under
/urecagtle.
Pretious Jewells fecht from far
By Italian marchants that with Russian eUma
Pious up huge forrowes in the Terren Maine.
The Taming qf the Shreic, p. 22. (UaUiweU.)
2. The forward part of a vessel ; the bow.
Tnmynge therfore the »<«nme» of his shyppts towarde Stemlet (stem'let), ». [< stenO- + -Zet.] A lit-
the Easte, he alfyrmed that he had founde the Ilande of tie stem or stalk ; a voung stem.
Ophir. P«terJfar«yr(tr. in Eden's Krst Books on „, , ,. ' .' e
[America, ed. Arber p 66) Oives insertion to two multiarticulate Itemlets.
False stem, a stem fitted closely to the forward side of •^"»'"* ^'"- '"'''"■ "^ ^''^°" (l****)' I"' ^''■
the main stem, generally sharp, and introduced for the stemma (stem'a), H.; pi. stemmata (-a-tii). !<
P?r??^.?'*.«^?8»^S;^'":?"»t«.n<^''?nd'".<^"^"i"8 L. stiinma, < (3r. ari,I,ia, a wreath, "giiriand-
her speed; a cutwater.— From Stem to stern, from one
end of the ship to the other, or through the whole length.
They skip
From Item to item: the boatswain whistles.
Shak., Pericles, iv. 1. 64.
gtem^ (stem), r.; pret. and pp. stemmed, ppr.
stemming. [< »te»»2, n.] I. trans. 1. To dash
against with the stem (of a vessel).
They stood off again, and, returning with a good gale,
they itimmed her upon the quarter, and almost overset
her. winthrop, Uist. New England, I. 228.
2t. To keep (a vessel) on its course ; steer.
He is the master of true courage that all the time se-
dately itemi the ship.
Cametiut Nepoi in Engtidi (1723), Ded. (Encyc. Diet. )
3. To make headway against by sailing or
< aTt<l>eiv, put around, encircle, wreathe, crown.]
1. Afamily tree, or pedigree; specifically, such
a pedigree made more or less decorative with
heraldic or other ornaments; also, pedigree in
general; order of descent; family: as, a man
of the stemma of the Cecils. — 2. The simple
as distinguished from the compound eye of an
invertebrate; an ocellus: always sessile and
immovable. — 3. One of the facets or corneules
of a compound eye. — 4. In entom., the tubercle
from which an antenna arises Spurious stem-
ma, a small flat space, covered with semi-transparent
membrane, al>ove the bases of the antennse of certain Or-
thoplera: it has been supiwsed to represent a stemma, or
simple eye, in a rudimentary form.
swimming, as a tide or current; hence, in gen- Btenimatoptens (stem-a-top te-ris), n. [NL.,
■ y against (opposition of < tr>". on7i//a(r-) a wreath, -t- Trrcp/c, a fern.]
eral, to make headway against (opposition <
any kind).
The breathlesa Muse awhile her wearied wings shall ease.
To get her strength to item the rough Sabrinian seas.
Drayton, Polyolbion, ill. 434.
n. intrant. 1. To make headway (as a ship) ;
especially, to make progress in opposition to
some obstruction, as a current of water or the
wind.
They on the trading flood.
Through the wide .Ethiopian to the Cape,
Ply, Hemming nightly toward the pole.
A genus of fossil plants, established by Corda,
under which various stems or trunks of tree-
ferns have been grouped, but little being known
in regard to them, except the form of the scars
or impressions marking the points of attach-
ment of the petioles. Lesquereux describes remains
of this kind under the names of Slemmatopterie, Caulop-
terii, JUfi/aptiytmi, and Ptaronius; but, as he remarks,
they could all have been described without inconvenience
ide " . - .
under the name of Caultipteris.
common in the coal-measures.
These fossil remains are
See Caulopteris.
When two voice-parts ire writ,
ten on the same staff, the stems of the notes belonging to Stem^ (stem), V. t.
the upper part are often directed upward, and tboM of
the lower part downward, particularly
when the parts croii, or both use the L
same note (see tignreX The Utter note
is said to have a double lUm. See notel,
13. Also caUed taU.
7. Xn philol., a derivative from a root, having
itself inflected forms, whether of declension or
of conjugation, made from it : the unchanged
part ina series of inflectional form.s, from which
the forms are viewed as made by additions;
base; crude form.-ASrlal stem, the above-ground
axis of a plant, as opposed to the RKilstock or other subter-
ranean form of the stem.— Andpltal, compound, erect,
nerbaceons, pituitary, secondary, etc , stem .see
the adjectives.
to the .Southward of the I
crly, and then weilemmed S. W. by S.
Dampier, Voyages, I. 79.
pret. and pp. stemmed, ppr.
Hatm^r. L., it 642. Stemmatous (stem'a-tus), a. [< stcmma{t-) -I-
2. To head ; advance head on. ' -oiis.] Pertaining to a stemma, or having its
AtflrstweconldscarcelieS.W.,but,beinggotadegree character; oceUar.
...-=-.,... — , "■ ".Ine, the Wind veer'd most aist- stemmed (stemd), a. [<. stem^ -i- -ed^.'\ Fur-
nished with or bearing a stem : used chiefly in
composition : as, a straight-stemtned plant.
. ., - .- .. Stemmer (stem'er), «. i< slem'^ + -«rl.] 1.
gemming. l< ME. stemmcn ;< Icel. stemma = Same an blasting-needle. [Eng.] — 2. An im-
8w. stdmma =z Dan. stemme, stem, = 0H6. plement used in making joints tight by means
MHG. stemmen, stemen, G. stemmen, stdmmen, of cement.
stop, stem, dam; < i/ stam in «tam2, stammer, stemmery (stem'6r-i), n.; pi. stemmeries (-iz).
etc.: see stammer. Not connected with gtem'^ [< steiu^ + -ery.l A factory where tobacco is
or atem'i.'\ 1, To stop; check; dam up, as a stripped from the stem. New York Herald, 3u\y
stream. 17, 1884. [Local, U. 8.] '
And loke ge i««mm« nostepelstepl, hot strecheionfaste, stemming (stem'ing), «. [Verbal n ot stem^
Til 3e recbe to areset rstopplng-placej, rest 3e neuer. ,. n i TheODeration of tamninir _£> The
AUiteraHve Poemi (ed. Morris), ii. 905. \ ■ , "« operai'on oi tamping.— ,^. ine
The best way is. ever, not to attempt to stem a torrent. R:f,^"A}riifl^^}-f "^ r^^l° ''.t*^ "'^'-^
but to divert It. Btemodia (ste-mo'di-a), n. [NL. (Lmnteus,
A. IlamOton, To Washington (Works, I. 345). 1763), shortened from fitemodiacra (P. Browne,
He who »4ctiw a stream with sand. 1756), so called from the two-forked stamens;
&x>(t, L. of the L., lit 28. < Gr. (TTiji//uv, taken for 'stamen' (see stomeni).
Stemodia
+ Sif, St; two-, + oKpoi; a point, tip.] A genus
of gamopetalous plants, of the order Scrophula-
riiieie and tribe Gratioleee, type of a subtribe
Stemodiese. It is characterized by flowers with five
nearly equal calyx-lobes, and four perfect didynamous sta-
mens included within the corolla-tube, and by a capsule
«plittiQg partly or completely into four valves, the two
jdacentw separating or remaining united in a column.
There are aoout so species, mostly tropical, occurring in
all continents except Europe. They are glandular-hnii-y
or downy herbs, sometimes shrubby and often aromatic.
They bear opposite or whorled leaves and solitary or
spiked and crowded, usually bluish flowers, sometimes
with bracted pedicels. 5. maritima is known in Jamaica
u battard or seaside gennaitder, and S. duranti/olia as
goattceed; the latter, a low clammy plant with purplish
spiked flowers, extends also from southern Arizona to
BrazQ.
Stemona (ste'mo-na), «. [NL. (Loureiro,
1790), so called from the peculiar stamens; <
Gr. oTtjfiuv, taken for 'stamen. 'J A genus of
monocotyledonous plants, type of the order
Stemonacem. it is distinguished by erect ovules and
seeds, and stamens with very short fllaments more or less
united into a ring, having linear erect anthers with a
thickened connective, continued above into an erect ap-
pendage. There are 4 or 6 species, natives of India. Ma-
laysia, and tropical Australia. They are smooth, lofty-
climbing twiners, growing from a fusiform tuberous root,
and bearing shining alternate leaves which are cordate,
ovate, or narrower, with three or more nerves and numer-
ous cross-veinlets. The flowers form racemes, or are few
or solitiry in the axils ; the perianth-segments are rather
large, distinct, and erect, marked by many nerves. For-
merly called Ro^dmrykia.
Stemonacese (ste-mo-na'sf-e), «. p}. [NL.
(Durand, 1888), < Stemona + -aceee.] A small
order of monocotyledonous plants, of the series
Coronariese, by many formerly called Box-
hurghiaceiE. it is characterized by regular bisexual
flowers with a four-parted perianth of two rows, with four
stamens and a one-celled ovary which contains two or more
ovules and ripens into a two-valved capsule. It includes
8 species, belonging to 3 genera, of which Stichaneuron
and Stemona (the type) are largely Indian ; the other ge-
nus, Crooinia, includes one species in Japan, and another,
C. pauct\jlQra, in Florida and adjacent States.
Stemonitacese (ste'mo-ni-ta'se-e), n.pl. [NL.,
< StemoiiUis + -aceee.] A family of myxomy-
cetous fungi, belonging, according to the clas-
sification of Rostaflnski, to the order Amau-
rochsetex, which has a single sporangium or
sethalium, without the peculiar deposits of lime
carbonate that characterize the fructification
of other orders, and the spores, capillitium, and
columella usually uniformly black, or rarely
brownish-violet.
Stemonitis (ste-mo-ni'tis), «. [NL. (Gle-
ditseh), < Gr. ar^/iuv, taken for 'stamen.'] A
genus of myxomyeetous fimgi, giving name to
the family Stemonitaceee.
stem-pessary (stem'pes'''a-ri), n. A pessary
with a rod or stem which is passed into the cer-
vix uteri.
stem-piece (stem'pes), n. In ship-building, a
piece between the stem and the chocks, also
called independent piece. See cut under stem^.
stemple (stem'pl), n. [Cf. D. stempel = MH6.
stempfel, G. stempel (< D.), a mark, stamp:
see stamp.'] In mining, a small timber used to
support the ground by being laid across the
stulls, or in other ways : in some mining dis-
tricts of England nearly the same as lacing
or lagging.
stem-sicbiess (stem'sik'nes), n. A disease of
clover in Eugland. It is caused by a nematoid worm,
Tylenchug devoMatrix, known as the stem-eelworm, and
brings about first a stunted condition and finally the death
of the plant.
Stemson (stem'son), n. [Perhaps a var. of
stanchion, confused with stem"^. Cf. keelson,
sternson.'] In ship-building, a piece of curved
timber fixed on the after part of the apron in-
side. The lower end is scarfed into the keelson, and re-
ceives the scarf of the stem, through which it is bolted.
stem-stitch (stem'stieh), n. Inpillow-lace mak-
ing, a stitch by which a thick braid-like stripe
is produced: used for the stems of flowers and
sprigs, tendrils, etc.
stem-winder (stem'win"d6r),«. A watch which
is wound up or regulated by means of a con-
trivance connected with the stem, and not by
a key.
sten, v. and n. See stend.
stenchl (stench), n. [< ME. stench, stunch, < AS.
stenc (= OHG. stanc, stanch, MHG. stanc, stenke,
G. stank = Sw. Van. stank), a smell, odor (pleas-
ant or unpleasant), < stincan, smell: see stink,
v., and cf. stink, n. Cf. Icel. stsekja, a stench.]
An ill smell ; an offensive odor.
In our way to Tivoll I saw the rivulet of Salforata, for-
merly called Albula. and smelt the gtench that arises from
its waters some time before I saw them.
Addi»on, Remarks on Italy (Bohn), I. 482.
=83m. Stink, etc. Sec m)M.
5930
StenchH (stench), ».*. [< steMcfti, n.] To cause
to emit a stench ; cause to stink.
Dead bards stench evei-y coast.
Young, Eesignation, i. 24.
stenograpliical
ing such species as S. maculipennis. This Is a com-
mon grasshopper in most parts of the United States, and
resembles the hateful grasshopper or Kocky Mountain
locust (Melanopliis spretus) so closely that it has often been
mistaken for the latter.
An obsolete variant of stenocardia (sten-o-kar'di
^vtoif^i*^1f°rre« "■ '■ "" ""'»""^" "''"»"' "^ stenocardia (sten-o-kar'di-a), n. [NL., < Gr.
Stenchfult (stench'ful), a. [< stench^ + -/„?.] ""eet'^oris""™"'' "^ '"'"''"' ^^^ ^^^^'^ '^"^'°''
l:;ll.,^'il'?:^L'?^h^ini"'-'iifnr;:^S!;/L^!: ^enocarpus (sten.a kar-pus), n. [NL. (B.
Urown, 1810), so called from the usually narrow
fruit; < Gr. arevd^, narrow, -f- Kttfnruc, fruit.] A
genus of apetalous trees, of the order Protcaceae
and tribe limbothrieie. it is characterized by um
Stenchil (sten'chil), n. A Scotch form of Stan-
chel^ for stanchion.
stench-pipe (steneh'pip), n. In plumbing, an
extension of a soil-pipe through and above the
roof of a house, to allow foul gases to escape.
stench-trap (stench'trap), n. In a drain, a de-
pression or hollow in which water lies, intro-
duced to prevent the reflex passage of foul air
or gas.
stenchy (sten'chi), a. [< stench^ + -t/i.] Hav-
ing a stench or offensive smell. Dyer, The
Fleece, i.
Stencill (sten'sil), V. t.; pret. and pp. stenciled,
stencilled, ppr. stenciling, stencilling. [Origin
uncertain: («) According to Skeat, prob. < OF.
cstinceller (for "escin teller), cover with stars,
powder (used in heraldry), lit. 'sparkle,' F.
etinceler, sparkle, < L. scintillare, sparkle: see
scintillate. Ct. tinsel. (6) In another view, orig.
as a noun, identical with stencift, a dial. var.
of stanched, var. of stanchion, ult. < OF. estanee,
a support: see stance and stanchion.] To mark
out or paint by means of a stencil.
stencil! (gten'sil), re. [See stenciV-, v.] 1. A
thin plate or sheet of any substance in which a
figure, letter, or pattern is formed by cutting
bellate flowers, and numerous ovules downwardly imbri-
cated and ripening Into seeds which are winged below.
There are 14 species, 11 of which are natives of New Cale-
donia and :^ of Australia. They are trees with alternate
or scattered leaves, which are entire or deeply divided into
a few pinnate segments, and mostly yellow or red flowers
with a somewhat Irregular perianth-tube and a nearly
globular recurved and at length divided border, disposed
in terminal or axillary umbels whicli are solitary or clus-
tered In a short raceme or a compound umbel, and are
followed by coriaceous stalked follicles. S. sinualus is
known in (Queensland as ttUip-tree and fire-tree. S. salig-
nus, native of the same regions, is known as bee/-wood, silky
oak, and meleyn.
Stenocephalous (sten-o-sef'a-lus), a. [< Gr. on-
I'tif, narrow, -I- Ki<jia?J/, head.] Narrow-headed.
Stenochromy (sten'o-kro-mi), n. [< Gr. arevd^,
narrow, -I- itrpu/ja, color.] The art of printing
several colors at one impression. This is accom-
plished by various methods : (1) by dividing the inkfoun-
tain of a printing-press Into compai-tments, one for each
color, and allowing the rollers to blend the inks on the dis-
tributing-table; (2) by cutting or trimming the rollers of
a printing-press in such a way that only the desired parts
may take and dlstrlbnte ink — a different color for each
roller or set of rollers; (3) by lithographic methods.
through the plate, if the plate thus cut is placed Stenocoronine (sten''d-k6-r6'nin), a. [< Gr.
upon a surface and rubbed with color or ink, the pattern aTEv6(, narrow, -l- Kopijiw, a crow, also a crown. 1
For"Z„\putpoLs"ttfett7rs:eL.!'^'ecu'r;Uugfcom- having narrow-erowne'd molars: noting thi
pletely ; for transferring a pattern, as in embroidery, the hippopotamme type of dentition, as distin-
lines of the pattern are often indicated by small holes. In guished from the eurycoronine or dinotherian.
wall-decoration, etc., both these plans are employed. Dif- Falconer
ferent stencils are often used In the same design, each for o+<»».nJ«»m /•-^n-'^ ja_«,\ r/ oj j -i
a different color. Stcnoderm (sten o-derm), re. [< Stenoderma.]
2. The coloring matter used in marking with a -^ ^'-'t <>'" *'''" gf^ms'Sfenoderma ; a stenodermine.
stencil-nlate C T liami Rricks nnH Tilp« t> — Spectacled stenoderm, Stenoderma persj^tctiiafum, a
on i ly ^avis, rsriCKS ana lUes, p. tropical American bat marked about the eyes as if wear-
yu.— 8. In ceram., a preparation laid upon the ing spectacles. Also called spectacled vampire.
biscuit to keep the oil used in transfer-printing Stenoderma (sten-6-der'ma), n. [NL. (Geof-
or enameling from adhering to the surface; froy), < Gr. nrcMf, narrow, + dtpjia, skin, hide.]
hence, the pattern traced by this preparation!
reserving a panel or medallion of the unaltered
color of the biscuit.
stencil'-* (sten'sil), re. [A var. of storecfteil.] A
door-post; a stanchion. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
Stenciler, Stenciller (sten'sil-er), n. [< stencil^
+ -o-l.] One who works with a stencil, espe-
cially a decorative painter who applies patterns
with a stencil.
Stencil-pen (sten'sil-pen), n. A pricking-ma-
chine for perforating paper to form a stencil.
It consists of a hollow stylus carrying a needle
having a reciprocating motion, ^ee electric pen ,
under pen^.
stencil-plate (sten'gil--plat), n. A stencil.
Stend (stend), ju. i. [< OP. estendre, F. etendre =
A genus of American phyllostomine bats, of
the subfamily Phyllostomatinse, having a short,
broad, obtuse muzzle, short but distinct nose-
leaf, no tail, and the interfemoral membrane
concave behind, s. acliradophUum of the West Indies
is so called from its fondness for the berries of Achras sa-
pota, the naseberry.
Stenodermata (sten-o-der'ma-ta) ,n.pl. [NL. :
see Stenoderma.'] A section of phyllostomine
bats, of which tJie genera Stenoderma, Artibeus,
and Centurio are leading forms. It includes
about 20 species, of 9 genera, of Neotropical
bats. See cut under Centurio.
Stenodermatous (sten-o-der'ma-tus), a. Per-
taining to the Stenodermata, or having their
characters ; resembling a stenoderm.
It. stenderc, < L. extererfere, stretch forth, extend : stenodermine (sten-9-der'min), a. and n. [<
see extend] 1. To extend. [Prov. Eng.] — 2. Stenoderma + -ine^.] I. a. Having a contract-
To walk with long steps.— 3. To leap; bound; ^^ wing-membrane, as a bat; of or pertaining
rear; spring. Also«tere. [Scotch and prov. Eng.] to the Stenodermata.
stend (stend), re. [<stend,v.] A leap; a spring; „ 11. ». A stenodermine bat; a stenoderm.
a long step or stride. Also sten. Burns, Tarn Stenodus (sten'o-dus), re. [NL. (Richardson,
Glen. [Scotch and prov. Eng.] 1836), < Gr. arevd^, narrow, -1- bSoix = E. tooth.]
Stenelytra (ste-nel'i-tra), re. pi. [NL., neut. ■*■ genus of salmonoid fishes, related both to
YiLofstenelytrus: seesienelytrous.] In entom., Salmo and to Coregonus, having an elongate
in Latreille's system, the third family of hate-
romerous Culeoptera, divided into 5 tribes, corre-
sponding to the old genera Helops, Cistela, Dir-
ctea, (Edemera, and Mycterus.
Stenelytrous (stf-nel'i-trus), a. [< NL. *ste-
nelytros, < Gr. arivdg, narrow, strait, + ilvTpov,
a cover: see elytrum.] Having narrow elytra ;
of or pertaining to the Stenelytra.
Stenobothrus (sten-o-both'rus), n. [NL.
(Fischer, 1853), < Gr. OTevdc, narrow, strait.
body, projecting lower jaw, and weak teeth.
The inconnu, or Mackenzie river salmon, is S. mackemU,
attaining a weight of 20 pounds or more, esteemed as a
food-flsh. See cut under iiwonnu.
stenograph (steu'o^raf), n. [< Gr. oreiiof, nar-
row, + }pd<fieiv, write.] 1. A character used
in stenography; a writing, especially any note
or memorandum, in shorthand.
I saw the reporters' room, in which they redact their
hasty stenographs. Emerson, Eng. Traits, p. 266.
2. A stenographic machine ; a form of type-
writer in which signs and marks of various
kinds — dots, dashes, etc. — are used in place
of ordinary letters, a number of differentmachines
have been made, essentially type-writers operated by
means of a keyboard.
stenograph (sten'o-graf ), V. i. [< stenograph, n.]
To write or represent by stenography. BL
London Xews. [Bare.]
stenographer (ste-nog'ra-fer), re. [< stenogra-
ph(y) ■+■ -«-l.] One who writes shorthand.
stenographic (sten-o-graf'ik), a. [= F. steno-
graphique; as stcnograph-y + -ic] Of or per-
taining to stenography; shorthand Steno-
graphic machine. Same as stenograph, 2.
close, -I- fi6epo(, a hole.] A notable genus of stenographical (sten-6-graf'i-kal), a. [< sten-
grasshoppers, of the family ^cridMc/as, contain- ographic + -al.] Same as stenographic.
6 c
Stenobothrus tnacuUpennis.
, mature insect; b, pupa ; c, larva. (All natural size.)
stenographically
stenographically (sten-o-gi'af'i-kal-i), adv. In
sli.iitTuiiitl ; by means of stenography.
stenographist (ste-nog'ra-fist), «. [< stenog-
raph-ij + -ist.'] A stenographer; a shorthand-
writer.
stenography (ste-nog'ra-fi), «. [= F. steno-
lintphic, < (jr. oTfiof, narrow, close, + -jfxvfiia,
< ypa^tiv, write.] The art of writing by means
of brief signs which represent single sounds,
groups of sounds, whole words, or groups of
words; shorthand; brachygraphy : a generic
term embracing all systems of shorthand, or
brief writing.
The cradle age
Did throng the Seates, the Eoxes, and the Stage
So mach that some by Stenography drew
The plot : put it in print.
Heywoad, If you Know not Me (Works, ed, Pearson, 1. 191).
Sure 'tis SUnoffraphie, ererie Character a word, and here
and there one for a whole sentence.
Brome, Northern Lass, iiL 2.
Stenonian duct. See Stenson's duct.
stenopaic, stenopaeic (sten-o-pa'ik, -pe'ik), a.
[< Gr. iTTfKSf, narrow, + o-tj, an opening, + -if.]
Having a small or narrow opening Stenopaic
silt, a narrow slit in an opaque lamina, placed before an
eye to test the degree of its astigmatism by determining
the difference of its refraction in different meridians. —
Stenopaic spectacles, spectacles having an oral metal
platL- with ;l small cetitral aperture.
otenopelmatllS (sten-o-pel'ma-tus), n. [NL.
(Burmeister, 1838), <Gr. ffrevof, narrow, + vO.ua,
the sole of the foot.] A curious genus of Loeus-
tidse, containing forms known in the western
United States as saiid-crickets. They are fierce-
looking insects with large head andjaws, and live under
stones or in burrows in the sand, lliey are carnivorous,
and in New Mexico are commonly but erroneoosly reputed
to be poisonous. Several species are known in the western
Sand-oricket i.S/,..
United States, of which S. /aaeiatu$ Is the commonest
The genus is also represented In Mexico, Soath America,
and Australia.
stenopetalons (sten-o-^pet'a-lus), a. [< Gr.
mrvof, narrow, + jrfro/ov, a leaf (petal): see
petal.'} In bot., having narrow petals ; narrow-
petaled.
StenophylloUsCsten-o-fil'iis), a. [< Or. artvii^v/.-
//)f. narrow-leaved, i arcvAf, narrow, close, +
^i/z/jK, a leaf.] In bot., having narrow leaves.
Stenopsis (stf-nop'sis), n. [NL. (John Cassln,
1851), < Gr. (Trrvdf, narrow, + Inj/ic, look, appear-
ance.] A genus of South American setirostral
goatsuckers, of the family Caprimulgidte, con-
taining nunicTous species, as S. eayennensit.
Stenorhynchina (sten'o-ring-ki ne), n. pi.
[NL., < Stenorhynchus +'-•««.] A subfamily
of Phoeidte, or seals, typified by the ^nus Steno-
rhyiichus (OT Ogmorhinus); the sternncks. Theae
seals exclusively' inhabit soathem seas, for Monaehiu,
sometimes considered itenorhyDcblne, does not belong
here. The only genera besides the type are Lobodon.
LtpUmycKolMi/a Ltflonyx at Oray, not at SwainsonX and
OmmofepAoen. As expUined ander ttoAtopard, the cur-
rent name is untenable. See cat under ««■ tiwparj.
stenorhynchina (sten-o-ring'kin), a. [< Steno-
rhynrhiis + -i/iel.] Ot or pertaining to the
l<ttnorlii/iicliinie.
stenorhynchons (sten-o-ring'kns), a. [< 6r.
orfvof, narrow, + l>i>yx<K, snout.] In omith.,
narrow-billed; having a compressed beak.
Stenorhynchos (sten-o-ringHcus), n. [NL., <
Gr. aTei>6(, narrow, + piyxof, snout.] In :ool. :
(a) A genus of crabs, containing the British
spider-crab, .S'. phalangium: same as Macro-
podia. Latreille, 1819. (6) A genus of seals.
See Stenorhynchina. F. Cuvier, 1826. (c) A
name of other genera, of birds, reptiles, and
in8<>cts respectively.
Steno's duct. See' .Stenson's duet.
stenosed (ste-nosf), a. [< stenosis + -ed^.]
CliMracterized by stenosis; morbidly narrowed.
stenosis (ste-no'sis), n. [NL., < Gr. arivumi,
a straitening, < arnKwv, make narrow, straiten,
< aTn>6(, narrow, strait, close.] The pathologi-
cal narrowing of a passage.
Stenostomata (sten-o-std'ma-t&), n. pi. [NL.,
< (ir. (7Tiv6r, narrow, + (ir<i/ia(r-), mouth.] A
suborder of ctenophorans, containing the sac-
cate, lobate, and teniate comb-jellies, collec-
tively contrasted with the Eurystomata (which
see). Most of the comb-bearers belong to this
division.
6931
stonostomatous (sten-o-stom'a-tus), a. [NL., <
Gr. arfidf, narrow, + mofiaij-), mouth.] Hav-
ing a small, narrow, or contracted mouth; not
eui-ystomatous. Also stenostomous.
Steriotaphrum (sten-o-taf 'mm), II. [NL. (Tri-
nius, 1820), so called' in allusion to the alter-
nate notches of the rachis, in which the flowers
are embedded ; < Gr. arevdi, narrow, + rd^pof,
a ditch or trench.] A genus of grasses, of the
tribe Panicese. It is characterized by flowers with only
three glomes or with a fourth smaller one, the spikelets
acute, borne in small fascicles sessile or half-immersed in
excavations along a flattened or angled rachis. There are
3 or 4 species, very widely dispersed along sea-shores of
tropical regions, and most frequent on the islands of the
Indian and South Paciflc Oceans. They are creeping
grasses sending up short ascending and often compressed
branches with spreading, flat, or convolute leaves, and a
terminal spike of flowers. 5. Ainericatium, locally known
as buffaio-grasg, is valued as a means of covering shifting
sands with a firm turf, and has proved useful as a fodder-
plant, especially on Ascension Island. See St. Augustine
grass (miller saint^X and cut under peticle.
stenotelegraphy (sten"o-tf-leg'ra-fi), n. [< Gr.
armoq, narrow, + E. telegraphy.} A rapid tele-
graphic transmission of words and sentences
by a system of shorthand.
stenoterous (ste-not'e-rus), a. [< Gr. oTevurt-
p<K, compar. of arevdi, narrow, strait, close.]
Becoming more and more contracted from the
center to the circumference, relatively to the
radii represented.— stenoterous map-projection.
See projection.
stenotic (ste-not'ik), a. [< stenosis (-ot-) + -ic]
Pertaining to or of the nature of stenosis.
Stenotomns (stf-not'o-mus), «. [NL. (Gill,
1865), < Gr. aTev6(, narrow, + rSfiof, a cut, slice.]
A genus of sparoid fishes, or a section of Diplo-
dus, having the incisor teeth very narrow and
entire. The type is S. argyriops, the common
scup, seuppaug, or porgy. See cut under scup.
stenotype (sten'o-tip), ». [< Gr. arevdc, narrow,
-t- Hrrof , type.] An ordinary type-letter — capi-
tal, lower-case, or italic — used to denote a
shorthand character or outline. J. E. Munson,
Diet, of Phonography, Int.
Stenotypic (sten-o-tip'ik), a. [< stenotype + -ic]
Of or itortaining to stenotypy ; printed accord-
ing to t)ie rules of stenotypy.
stenotypy (sten'o-ti-pi), «. [< stenotype + -yS.]
A method of representing or describmg short-
hand characters and outlines by ordinary type-
letters. It Is used for lUostratlng phonographic text-
books and literature, and also is a system of shorthand for
typewriters. Capital letten are used to represent stems ;
small or lower-case letters stand for adjuncts; and an in-
vertc-ii period shows where a vowel-sound or -sign comes in.
Stenson's duct. 1. The duct of the parotid
gland (see parotid): so named from Nu Sten-
Hon, or Nicolaus Stenonianus, of Copenhagen
( 1638-86). Also Stenonian duct, Steno's duct.—
Z. See ducts or canals of Stennon, under duct.
Stent^ (stent), v. and n. An obsolete or dialec-
tal variant of sHnt.
Stent^ (stent), V. t. [A var. of stend, ult. of ex-
tend, Bjfter the noun »fen<2.] 1. To stretch. —
2. To straiten. — 3. To confine. [Scotch in all
senses.]
stent^ (stent), n. [A var. of stend, in def. 2 of
eitent: see stend,n.,stenfi, v., &xid extent.'] 1.
A stretcher; a stenter (which see). — 2. Ex-
tent; limit; in some English mining districts,
the limits of a pitch or bargain.
Stent^ (stent), tt. [Sc. also stant ; < ME. stente,
esient, taxation, valuation, < ML. extenta, valua-
tion: see extent."} In Scots taw, a valuation of
property in order to taxation ; a taxation; a tax.
stent^ (stent), r. t. [< stent^, n.} In Scots lau>,
to assess; tax at a certain rate.
stent*! (stent), n. [ME. stent, stopping-place.
Cf. Dan. stente, a stile; ult. < stand, v.} A stop-
ping-place.
stenV' (stent), n. [Origin obscure.] In jniHtnjjr,
same as atUe^. [Rare, Eng.]
stenter (sten'tfer), n. [(.stents + -er'i^.} Ama-
chine or apparatus for stretching or stentering
muslins and other thin fabrics. Also called
stenter-hook.
stenter (sten'ttr), v. t. [< stenter, n.} To oper-
ate upon (thin cotton fabrics, as book-mus-
lins, etc.) in a manner to impart to them a
so-called elastic finish. This work m originally per-
formed by hand was executed by holding the fabric edge-
wise by the selvages, and pulling it backward and forward
while ft was subjected to the action of heated air. The vari-
ous modem machines and frames now employed are de-
signed to produce the same effect upon the goods by an an-
alogous movement and treatment in a current of heated air.
Stenting (sten'ting), n. Same as stenton.
Stent-master (stent'mis'ttr), n. A person ap-
j)<>inti'il to allocate the stent or tax on the per-
sona liable. [Scotch.]
step
A short heading at right
[North of England coal-
ry ynorphus, twenty
L^ times natural size.
stenton (sten'ton), n
angles to a cross-cut.
fields.]
stenter (sten'tor), n. [< L. Stentor, < Gr. Irh-
Tup, a Greek herald in the Trojan war, who, ac-
cording to Homer, had a voice as loud as that
of fifty other men together. ] 1 . A person hav-
ing a very powerful voice.
Brutish noises
(For gain, lust, honour, in litigious proseX
Are bellow'd out, and cracke the barbarous voices
Of Turkish gtentors.
Chapman, Iliad, To the Keader, 1. 222.
2. In mammal.: (a) The ursine howler, My-
cetes ursinus, a platyrrhine monkey of South
America ; an alouate ; any species of Mycetes.
See cut under howler. (6) {cap.} The genus of
howlers: same as Mycetes^. Geoffroy, 1812. —
3. In Protozoa : (a) A trumpet-animalcule, or
so-called funnel-like polyp. (6)
leap.} The typical genus of
Stentoridae, of elongate, trumpet-
Uke, or infundibuliform figure,
with rounded peristome. They
are of large size, often brilliant color,
social habits, and wide distribution,
among the longest- and best-known of
infusorians. They were formerly mis-
takenfororclassedwithpolyps. 5. poly-
morphus is a leading species ; 5. niger
is another. See also cut under Infuso-
ria. Sitntcr poly.
stentorian (sten-to'ri-an), a
stentor + -i-an. Cf. LC Stentore-
us, Stentorian.] 1. Resembling the voice of
Stentor (see stentor, etymology); extremely
loud or powerful in sound.
They echo forth in steTUorian clamours.
Sir T. Herbert, Travels, p. 326.
He had a stentorian voice, and thundered it out.
Aubrey, Lives (Ralph Kettle).
2. Able to utter a very loud sound : as, sten-
torian lungs.
Stentoridae (sten-tor'i-de), n. pi. [NL., <
Stentor + -ids.} The trumpet-animalcules or
funnel-like infusorians, a family of heterotri-
chous Infusoria, typified by the genus Stentor.
Stentorin (sten'to-rin), «. [< Stentor + -in^.}
The blue pigment or coloring matter of infu-
sorians of the genus Stentor. E. B. Lankester,
1873.
Stentorine (sten'to-rin), a. [< stentor + -iJiel.]
Of or pertaining to the Stentoridse.
Stentorioust (sten-to'ri-us), a. [< stentor +
-i-ous. Cf. L. Stentoreus, < Gr. 'Srevrdpeto^, per-
taining to Stentor, < Sr^iTup, Stentor.] Sten-
torian. Fuller, Ch. Hist., X. Iv. 61.
stentorophonic (sten'to-ro-fon'ik), a. [< Gr.
oTciTopotpuvoi, loud-voiced like Stentor, < XHv-
Tup, Stentor (see stentor), + fuvi/jvoice.} Speak-
ing or sounding very loud. S. Butler, Hudibras,
III. i. 252.
stent-roll(stent'r61), ». The cess-roll. [Scotch.]
StenUS (ste'nus), n. [NL. (Latreille, 1796), <
Gt. arevdc, narrow, strait.] A large and cos-
mopolitan genus of coleopterous insects, typi-
cal of the old family Stenidee, which is now in-
cluded in the Staphylinidte. More than 200 species
are known, all of small size and active habits, found
usually on the banks of streams or ponds.
step (step), v.; pret. and pp. stepped or stept,
ppr. stepping. [< (a) ME. steppen, stappen, < AS.
steppan, stteppan = OFries. steppa = MD. step-
pen, stippen, stappen, D. stappen = MLG. stap-
pen = (jHG. slephan, Stephen, steffen, stepfen,
MHG. stepfen, also OHG. staphon, MHG. sta-
phen, staffen,stapfeti, go, step; secondary forms
(in part from the noun) of (6) ME. stapen, < AS.
"stapan (not found in the inf. , for which appears
the form steppan or stseppan, above, which has
the same pret. stop, pp. stapen) = OS. stapan
= OFries. stapa = MLG. stapen, go, advance ;
Teut. -v/ stap, appearing nasali^^pd in stamp,
g. V. ; cf . Russ. stopa, footstep, sole of the foot ;
Skt. ■^ stambh, prop, make firm ; ult. < V sta,
stand: see«te»rf.] I. intrans. 1. To move the
legs and feet as in walking ; advance or recede
by a movement of the foot or feet : ae, to step
forward ; to stej) backward ; to step up or down.
Alayn, for Goddes banes,
Stepe on thy feet ; com out, man, al at anes.
Chaucer, Reeve's Tale, 1. 154.
He pays you as surely as your feet hit the ground they
step on. Shak., T. N., iii. -1. 306.
'Tis done — he steps into the welcome chaise.
Cowper, Retirement, 1. 391.
2. To go ; walk ; march; especially, to go a short
distance : as, to stejt to a neighbor's house.
He myghte nother stappe ne stonde tyl he a staf hadde.
Piers PtoKjnan (C), vll. 40S.
step
Pny joa, let 's tUp in, and see & friend of mine.
Fletcher, Spanish Curate, iv. 6.
O, if you please, miss, would you step and speali to Mr.
Jamdyce? Dickem, Bleak House, xlv.
3. To advance as if by chance or suddenly;
come (in).
By whose death he 's stepp'd
Into a great estate. Shale., T. of A., ii. 2. 232.
The old poet« «t«p in to tlie assistance of the medalist
Addiion, Ancient Medals, i.
4. To walk slowly, gravely, or with dignity.
The meteor of a splendid season, she . . .
Slept thro' the stately minuet of those days.
Tennyson, Aylmers Field.
6. To go in imagination ; advance or recede
mentally : as, to step back to the England of
Elizabeth.
They are glepping almost three thousand years hacljward
into the remotest antiquity. Pope, Iliad, Pref.
To step aside, (a) To wall; to a little distance ; retire
for the occasion. (6) To deviate from the right path ; err.
To ttep afide is human. Bums, To the Unco Guid.
To step awry. See awry.— To Step Otlt, to increase the
length of the step and the rapidity of motion.
Jack or Donald marches«way, . . . stepping ovt briskly
to the tune of " The Girl I left behind me. "
Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xxx.
H. trans. 1 . To set ; plant, as in stepping :
as, stej) your foot on this thwart ; he has never
stepped foot in the city. [Familiar.] — 2. To
measure by stepping: as, to step off the dis-
tance.— 3. To perform by stepping, as a dance:
as, he stepped a stately galliard. — 4. To place
or set (two or more cutting-tools) in a tool-post
or -rest in such manner that they simultane-
ously make successive cuts each respectively
deeper than the preceding one, so that these
cuts present the appearance of a series of ledges
or steps. — 5. Xaut., to fix the foot of (a mast)
in its step, as in readiness for setting sail.
step (Step), H. [< ME. steppe, < AS. stsepe, a stop,
footstep, = MD. stappe, steppe, skip, step, D. stap
. = OHG. stapfo, staffo, MHG. G. stapfe ( > It. sta/-
fa, a stirrup, > ult. E. staffier), a footstep, foot-
print; from the verb.] 1. A pace; a com-
pleted movement made in raising the foot and
setting it down again, as in walking, running,
or dancing.
I'll . . . turn two mincing steps
Into a manly stride. Shak., M. of V., iii. 4. 67.
An inadvertent step may crush the snail.
Cowper, Task, vi. 504.
Hence — 2. In the plural, walk ; passage ; course
or direction in which one goes by walking.
Conduct my steps to find the fatal tree
In this deep forest. Dryden, ^neid, vi. 276.
But not by thee my steps shall be,
For ever and for ever.
Tennyson, A Farewell.
3. A support for the foot in ascending or de-
scending : as, steps cut in a glacier ; a structure
or an appliance used to facilitate mounting
from one level to another, whether alone or
as one of a series: as, a stone step (a block
of stone having a horizontal surface for the
foot); a step of a staircase (one of the gradi-
ents composed of the tread and riser taken to-
gether) ; the step of a ladder (one of the rungs
or rounds, or one of the treads or foot-pieces in
a step-ladder).
The breadth of every single step or stair [should] be never
less than one foot. Sir //. Wotton, Keliquife, p. 36.
An hundred winding steps convey
That conclave to the upper day.
Scott, Marmion, ii. 33.
On the step of the altar, in front of the railing, were
kneeling a band of the Fratres Penitentioe.
C. E. Norton, Travel and Study in Italy, p. 6.
Specifically — (a) pi. A step-ladder. Also called pair of
steps and set of steps. (6) A foot-piece for entering or
alighting from a vehicle.
4. The space passed over or measured by one
movement of the foot, as in walking; the dis-
tance between the feet in walking when both
feet are on the ground ; a half -pace.
If you move a step
Beyond this grY}und you tread on. you are lost.
Fletclier, Spanish Curate, v. 3.
The gradus, a Koman measure, may be translated a step,
or the iialf of a passus or pace. Arbuthnot.
6. An inconsiderable space ; a short distance ;
a distance easily walked.
'Tis hut a step, sir, just at the street's end.
Courper, To Joseph Hill, Esq.
It is but a step from here to the Wells, and we can walk
there. Thackeray, Book of Snobs, xxxv.
6. Gradation; degree.
The Turkes . . . studie their prophane Diuinitie and
Law, and bane among them nine seuerall steps or degrees
vnto the highest dignitie. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 313.
5932
7. Degree in progress or advance ; particular-
ly, a forward move; gain or advantage; pro-
motion; rise; a grade, as of rank.
Every age makes a step unto the end of all things.
Sir T. Browne, To a Friend.
To earn a garter or a step in the peerage.
ilacaulay, Hist. Eng,, xxii.
"General Tufto . . . and I were both shot in the same
legatTalavera." "Where you got your «(«;)," saidGeorge
[punning]. Thackeray, Vanity Fair, xxviii.
The Silver Bill of 18SX) . . . was declared to be a long
step toward the goal of free coinage of silver.
A'cw York Times, Jan. 15, 1891.
8. Print or impression of the foot; footprint;
footstep; track.
And zit apperen the Steppes of the Asses feet, in 3 places
of the Degrees, that ben of fulle harde Ston.
Mandeville, Travels, p. 81.
He seigh the steppes brode of a leoun.
Chaucer, Good Women, 1. 829.
9. Gait ; manner of walking ; sound of the step ;
foot ; footfall : as, to hear a step at the door.
A foot more light, a step more true,
!Ne'er from the heath-flower dash'd the dew.
ScoU, L. of the L., i. 18.
10. A proceeding, or one of a series of proceed-
ings; measure; action: as, a rash step; to take
prompt steps to prevent something.
It is no vicious blot, murder, or foulness.
No unchaste action, or dishonour'd step.
That hath deprived me of your grace and favour.
Shak., Lear, i. 1. 231.
Beware of desp*rate steps. The darkest day.
Live till to-morrow, will have pass'd away.
Coivper, The Needless Alarm.
11. Naut.,a, socket of wood or metal, or, in large
ships, a solid platform on the keelson, support-
ing the heel of a mast. — 12. In carp., any
'^
i**^..
t-.
steps in Timber-work.
piece of timber having the foot of another fixed
upright in it. — 13. In much.: (a) The lower
brass of a journal-box or pillow-block. (6) A
socket or bearing for the lower pivot of a spin-
dle or vertical shaft. — 14. In miisic: (a) Same
as degree, whether of the scale or of the staff.
(6) The interval between two successive de-
grees of the scale, degrees of the staff, or keys
of the keyboard, in tlie scale, a whole step is a major
second, or tone, and a half-step a minor second, or semi-
tone ; and the same nomenclature is transferred to the
staff and the keyboard. The successive steps between the
normal tones of a scale, whether whole or half, are collec-
tively called diatonic ; while intervals involving other tones
are called clirmnatic.—0\ii of step, not keeping step,—
Pair of steps, set of steps, a step-ladder, especially one
for indoor use.— Step by Step, (a) By gradual and reg-
ular process. Locke, Human Understanding, ii. 9. (b)
With equal pace ; at the same rate of progress. Shak.,
Tempest, iii. 3. 78.— To break step. See break.— To
keep step, to walk or march in unison ; put the right and
left foot forward alternately at the same moment with the
corresponding foot of anotlier person : often followed by
with. — To keep step to, to walk, march, or dance in time
to ; as, to keep step to the music, — To taJce a Step, or to
take steps, to make a movement in a certain direction,
either actually or as beginning any business ; take initia-
tory measures ; institute proceedings.
step- (step). [< ME. step-, < AS. stedp-, as in
steop-hearn, stepchild (-bairn), steop-cild, eXey-
(ih.\\<\,ste6p-fxder, stepfather, stedp-modor, step-
mother, etc. , = OFries. stiap-, stiep- = D. stief-
= MLG. stef-, LG. steef- = OHG. stiuf-, stiof-,
MHG. G. stief- = leel. stjup- = Sw. stjuf-, styf-
= Dan. stif-, stiv-, sted-: prob. lit. 'orphaned,'
as in AS. steopcild, steophearn, stepchild, steop-
sunn, stepson, etc., which are prob. the oldest
compounds, the correlative compounds, steop-
f seder, stepfather, etc. , being formed later, when
the prefix ste<ip- was taken appar. in some such
sense as ' subsequent,' 'nominal,' or 'in law';
< "stcopan, found only as in comp., and in the
secondary weak form, in comp. *d-stj/paii, "dste-
pan, in pp. pi. dstedpte, dstepte, orphaned, =
OHG. stiufan, ar-stivfan, bi-stiufan, deprive of
parents, orphan.] A prefix used in composi-
tion before/atter, mother, son, davfihter, brother,
sister, child, etc., to indicate that the person
spoken of is a connection only by the marriage
of a parent.
step-back (step'bak), a. [Irreg. < step- +
ftacfcl.] Noting the relationship a deceased
person bears to his widow's child by a second
marriage. [Rare.]
Richard is Henry's step-back father.
The Nation, Aug. 23, 1888, p. 153.
Stephanie
Stepbairn (step'bSrn), «. [< ME. steophcrn, <
AS. steopbearn (= leel. stjupbarn = Sw. styj-
barn = Dan. stijbarn), < steop-, step-, + beam,
child: see step- anAbarn^, bairn-l A stepchild.
[Obsolete or Scotch.]
step-bit (step'bit), n. A notched key-bit.
step-box (step'boks), w. A box or casing to
inclose the base of an upright spindle or shaft-
step, to retain the shaft in plaee and furnish a
bearing, and to hold the lubricant.
stepbrother (step'brul'H"er), n. [< ME. step-
brother, stepbroder, < AS. * stedpbrothor (= 1).
stiefbrocdcr = MHG. stiefbruoder, G. stiefbru-
der = Sw. styjliroder = Dan. stifbroder),<. steop-,
step-, + ftrotfio*', brother: see step- ani brother.']
One's stepfather's or stepmother's son by a
former maii'iage.
stepchild (step'child), n. [< ME. stepchild, <
AS. steopcild (= OFries. steifkind = D. stief-
fcjnd = OHG. stinfchint, MHG. stiefkint, G. stief-
kind), < steop-, step-, -t- did, child : see step- and
child.] The child of one's husband or wife by
a former marriage.
step-country (step'kun'tri), n. A country that
rears or receives and protects one born in an-
other coimtry. The speaker in the following
quotation is an Italian brought up in Sweden :
FareweU, my father — farewell, my step-country.
IHsrraeli, Contarini Fleming, ii. 4,
step-cover (step'kuv"er), H. On a vehicle, a
licfor protecting cover over a step. It is usually
so fitted that the opening of the door moves the cover to
one side and uncovers the step, or causes it, by a binge or
other device, to turn back out of the way.
step-cut (step'kut), n. Same as trap-cut (which
see, under cut).
Stepdame (step'dam), n. [Formerly also step-
dam; < step- 4- dame.] A stepmother.
Phryxus . . . with his sister Helle fled from their cruell
stepdam Ino. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 341.
step-dance (step'd&ns), n. A dance marked by
originality, variety, or difficulty in the steps;
a dance in which the steps are more important
than the figure, as a hornpipe or a clog-dance :
usually a pas seul.
Orth'ris began rowlin' his eyes an' crackin' his fingers
an' dancin' a step-dance for to impress the Headman.
Rudyard Kipling, The Taking of Lungtungpen.
stepdaughter (step'da"ter), n. [< ME. step-
douijhter, stcpdoghter, stcpdougter, stepdowter,
< AS. stedpdohtor (= D. stiefdochter = MLG.
stefdochter = MHG. stiuftochter, G. stieftochter
= Icel. stjupdottir = Sw. stijfdotter = Dan. stif-
datter), < steop-, step-, -I- dohtor, daughter: see
step- and daughter.] A daughter of one's hus-
band or wife by a former marriage.
After hir com the stepdoughter of Cleodalis, that hight
also Gonnore. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 453.
Stepet, a. A Middle English form of steep^.
stepfather (step'fa"THer), n. [< ME. stepfader,
stepfadyr, corruptly stifadre, < AS. steopfieder
{= OFries. stiapfeder, stiepfader = D. stiefrader
= MLG. stafvadere = OHG. stiuffater, stioffater,
MHG. G. sticfvater = leel. stjupfadir = Sw. stuf-
fader = Dan. stiffader), < steop-, step-, + feeder,
father: see step- and/a(^e»'.] A man who is
the husband of one's mother, but is not one's
father.
I sche! the telle altogadre,
Beten lehaue me stifadre.
Beves of Hamloun, 1. 464.
" He was delighted at his mother's inan-iage." "Odd, for
he knew already what a stepfather was."
Jean Ingelow, Off the Skelligs, xvii.
step-fault (step'falt), ». One of a series of
small, nearly parallel faults by which strata
have been dislocated so as to occupy a position
resembling a series of steps or stairs.
step-gage (step'gfij), «. A gage, arranged in
the form of steps, for testing and correcting
fixed ealiper-gages, etc. See cut under (jra()ie2.
step-grate (step'grat), n. See grate~.
stephane (stef'a-ne), n. [< Gr. cTt(pavri, the
brim of a helmet, a stephane (see def.), crown.
Of. aTi(j)avo(, a wreath, garland, crown : see
Stephanos.] In Gr. archeeol., a head-dress or
ornament consisting of a band or coronet typi-
cally high in the middle, over the brow, and
diminishing toward either side of the head. It
is characteristic of the goddess Hera, though often repre-
sented as worn by other goddesses, as well as by mortals,
and is frequently ornamented with an anthemion, as in
the example figured on the following page.
Stephanial (ste-fa'ni-al), a. [< stephauion +
-al.] Of or pertaining to the stcphanion: as, a
stephanial point.
Stephanie (ste-fan'ik;, a. [< Gr. arlfavo^, a
wreath, crown : see Stephanos.] Same as stepha-
nial.
Stephanie
5933
stercorsemia
were sometimes of natural leaves, as of the olive, laurel,
oak, parsley, or pine, and sometimes of leaves of metal,
as gold, and their award was a very usual distinction
among the Greeks. In this sense very conmionly ex-
pressed by the translators as 'crown,* as in the famous
oration "On the Crown " of Demosthenes. (6) A head-
omament or crown akin to the stephane, from
which it differs in that it preserves the same
height all round, instead of diminishing toward
the sides. See cut in preceding column.
Stephanotis (stef-a-no'tis), 11. [KL. (Thenars,
180(8), so called in allusion to the corona of five
flatfish petaloid bodies or auricles; <Gr. oTf^a-
t^, a crown, + oin- (ur-), ear.] 1. A genus of
asclepiadaceous plants, of the tribe Marsdenieee,
distinguished from Marsdenia by itslarge white
salver-shaped or fuiinelform corolla. There are
about 14 species, of which 5 are natives of Madagascar, 6
of the .Malay archipelago and southern China, 3 of Cuba,
and 1 of Peru. They are smooth shrubby twiners, often
high-climbing, bearing opposite deep-green fleshy or
coriaceous leaves, and beautiful fragrant waxy flowers in
umbelliform cymes between the petioles. The cylindri-
cal coroUa-tube is dilated at the base and often again at
the throat, and spreads into five overlapping oblique
lobes. The fruit consists of two thick horizontal follicles,
with numerous comose seeds. S. floribuiula is a favorite
evergreen greenhouse climber, commonly known by its
generic name gtephanotis, also as waxpneer, and some- Stepping (step ing), n
p»(H#,«.— Stepped gable, ga«e, gearing. See the nouns.
— Stepped pyramid, a form of pyramid of which the
faces, instgad of continuing in one slope from base to apex.
stepped Pyramid, Saklcarah, Egypt.
are formed in a more or less even series of enormous steps.
Some of the oldest of the Egyptian pyramids present this
form.
itepper (step'^r), n. [< stej) + -eri.] One who
or that which steps (with a certain gait or car-
riage expressed or implied) ; speciiically, a fast
horse : often in composition : as, a high-stepper;
that horse is a good stepper.
The mare 'a a stepper, and Phil King knows how to han-
dle the ribbons. The Century, XXXVIII. 377.
1. Collectively, the
The «rch of the top of the cranium Is markedly flat, giv-
ing the Stephanie region a somewhat angular appearance.
U. O. Forbes, Eastern Archipelago, p. 262.
Stephanion (ste-fa'ni-on), n. ; pi. stephania (-a).
[N L. , < Gr. (TTf^wor, dim. of (rri6avoc, a wreath :
see Stephanos.] In craniom., the point where
the coronal suture crosses the temporal ridge.
An upper stephanion and a lower are distinguished, cor-
resijondiiig to the upper and lower temporal ridges. See
cut under craniometry.
stephanite (stef'an-it), n. [Named after Ste-
phan. Archduke of Austria.] A native sulphid
of silver and antimony, a mineral of iron-black
color and metallic luster, it crystallizes In the
orthorhombic system, and is often pseudohexagonal
through twinning. Also called black silKr or britUe til-
rer ore.
stephanome (stef'a-nom), w. [For 'stephaiio-
iioDit , < <jlr. ariifiavoi, crown (corona), + vifietv,
take, vofiof, law.] Aji instrument for measuring
the angular dimensions of fog-bows — for ex-
ample, as observed at mountain observatories.
See the quotation.
This instrument, named a stephanome, consists of a grad-
uated ba^ at one end of which the eye is placed, and in
which slides a crofift-bar carrying certain projections. With
lt« aid faint objects, for which a sextant would be useless,
may be measured to within .'■ minutes.
Pha. Hag., &th ser., XXIX. 454.
Stephanophoms (8t«f-a-nof'o-nis), n. [NL.
(Striiklaiid. 1841), < Gr. are^vo^poc, < arfipai-og,
crown. + otpetv = E. ftearl.] 1. In ornith., a
inon<it_\-].ic Neotropical genus of tanagers, liav-
ini; a sliiirt, turgid, almost pyrrhuline bill.
.S. leueocephalus is bluish-black, with" the lesser wing-
coverts blue, the vertical cre«t crimson, the hindhead
**™S '*"" "* ■'*"^<= country, as Madagascar jasmine or steps Of a joint in which the parts at their junc-
^putjlower. tion form a series of reentrant angles, thus re-
*;„ ;'^lt r^ "^1° ,!^i «r"l- 1...... .„,.„„ «.e-l"-« - fligl^t of. steps, as in !he fitting of
Sttfkaru^keruM teuctctpkattu.
■tlky-white, the forehead, lores, and chin black. The
length is seven inches. The bird is confined to sonthem
Brazil, Paraguay,. Uruguay, and northern parts of the
Argentine Republic
2. In entom., a genus of coleopterous insects.
riierrnlnt. 1873.
Stephanos (stef'a-nos), «. ;
]>\..ittiihanoi (-noi). [< Gr.
nriwivor, a wreath, crown,
< nriipfiv, put around, en-
circle, wreathe, crown. Cf.
slfiiima.'] In Gr. arclia-ol.:
(«) A wreath awarded as
a prize to the victor in a
public contest, or as a
token of honor, especially swihswu <*;.
in recognition of some Head or h«f» on sihei
public .service. Such wreaths i!lf ' °' """ »* """"^
step-ladder (step'lad'er), «. A ladder having
flat steps, or treads, in place of nings, and usu-
ally provided with an adjustable supporting
frame.
stepmother (step'muTH'^r), n. [< ME. step-
moder, stepmodi/r, < AS. steiipmodor (= OFries.
stiepmoder = D. stiefmoeder = MLG. stefmoder
= OHG. Miiifmuoter, MHG. stiefmuoter, G. stU-f-
muttcr = leel. stjupniodhir = ipw. stijfmoder =
Dan. stifmoder), < sleop-, step-, + modor, mo-
ther.] 1. A woman who is the wife of one's
father, but is not one's mother.
Xo, be assured you shall not find me, daughter.
After the slander of meet stepmothers,
Evil-eyed unto you. Shak., Cymbeline, i. 1. 71.
2. A homy filament shooting up by the side of
the nail. UallUceU. fProv. Eng.]— 3. The
pansy. Britten and Hullaiid, Eng. Plant Names.
[Prov. Eng.] — stepmoUier'B blessing, a hangnail.
UalHwell. [Prov. Eng.)
Stepmotherly (step'muTH'^r-li), a. [< step-
mother + -li/^.'i Pertaining to or befitting a
stepmother; hence, figuratively, harsh or neg-
lectful: in allusion to the behavior popularly
attributed to stepmothers.
step-parent (step'par'ent), n. A stepfather or
stepmother.
steppe (8t«p), «. [= F. D. G. Dan. steppe = Sw.
sle2>p, < Buss, gtepi, a waste, heath, steppe.]
A more or less level tract devoid of trees : a
name given to certain parts of European and
Asiatic Kussia, of which the most characteris-
tic feature is the absence of forests. The word
ileppe was introduced into the scientiflc literature of west-
em Europe by Humboldt, in whose "Ansichten der Ma-
tur "— a work widely circulated, and transUted into all the
most important European languages — there is a chapter
entitled "Steppen und Wusten" (Steppes and Deserts).
The steppe region in Europe begins on the borders of Hol-
land,and extends through northern Germany — where such
lands are called Bti&n (heaths)— into Kussia in Eu-
rope, and beyond the Ural Mountains almost to the I'aciflc
Ocean, for a diatance of al>ont 4,fi00 miles. Although the
steppes are In ganeral characterized by the lack uf an
arbcreal and the presence of a grassy vegetation, and by
a pretty nntformly level surface, there are many breaks in
this botanical and toitographicMl monotony, in the form of
forests extending along the streams, large patches of dense
and sometimes tall shrubbery, lakes (both fresh and sa-
linei rolling hills, ridges, barren sands, and patches cov-
ered with saline efflorescence. The general character of
the region is pastoral, and the population (especially of
the Adatic steppes) nomadic : but all this has been to a
considerable extent interfered with by the spread of Kus-
aian civilization and the domination of Kussian authority.
TheRnsalsn and Siberian steppes pass southward into the
deserts of central Asia, and northward into the tundra re-
gion of the extreme north. HumlM>ldt, in the work named
above, occasionally uses the term strppe in dcscrildng the
pampas and llanos of .South America, and the plains, prai-
ries, and barrens of the northern division of the New
World, and his example has l)L'en followed to a certain ex-
tent hy other |ihysicul geographers writing in regard to
America; but the won! steppe is nowhere in popular use
except as to places where Russian is the dominating lan-
guage.
Some of the .Asiatic Steppes are grns.sy plains; others
are covered with succulent, evergreen, articulated soda-
plants : many glisten from a distance with flakes of exuded
the doors to the front frames of safes. — 2. Col-
lectively, a series of step-like bearings, as the
bearings for the spindles of a spinning-frame
or spool ing-machine, or of a ball-winding ma-
chine.
Stepping-point (step'ing-point), «. Same as
hearding, 1.
stepping-stone (step'ing-ston), n. 1. A raised
stone in a stream or in a swampy place designed
to save the feet in walking. — 2. A horse-block.
Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] — 3. Anaidormeans
by which an end may be accomplished or an
object gained ; an assistance to progress.
stepsister (step'sis''tf r), n. [< ME. stepsystyr
(= D. stiefziister = MHG. G. stiefschwester =
Sw. styfsyster = Dan. stifsoster); < step- + sis-
ter.'] One's stepfather's or stepmother's daugh-
ter by a former marriage.
stepson (step'sun), V. [< ME. stepsone, stepsnne,
< AS. steopsunu (= D. stiefzoon = ML(>. stefsone
= OHG. stiufsun, MHG. stiefsun, G. stiefsohn —
Icel. stjupson = Sw. styfson = Dan. stifson), <
stedp-, step-, + sunu, son.] A son of one's hus-
band or wife by a former marriage.
step-stone (step'stou), n. Same as stei>pi»g-
stone. [Rare.]
step-vein (step'van), n. In mining, a vein fill-
ing a fissure, consisting alternately of flats, or
horizontal, and steeply inclined or vertical
parts, resembling in form a flight of steps.
-Ster. [< ME. -ster, -stre, -esire, -estere, < AS.
-estre, used fem. of -ere, as in webbestre, a female
weaver (E. webster), fithelstre, a female fiddler,
witegestre, a female prophet, etc. ; = D. ster, as
in spinster, a female spinner (= E. spinster),
etc., = LL. ster, as inpoetaster (see -aster, poet-
aster, criticaster, etc.), also in oleaster; < Indo-
Eur. -as- + -tar.] A termination denoting occu-
pation, as in maltster, gamester, spinster, song-
ster, etc. In the earliest times, and up to about the end
of the thirteenth centur>', it was generally the sign of the
feminine gender, corresponding to the innsculine -ere or
-er. In the fourteenth century it began to give place as a
feminine termination to the Norman -ess, with which it
was later often combined, as in seamstres)*, sempstress, sonfl-
stress, or, if it survive*!, was used chiefly as masculine, and
took on new meanings of contempt or depreciation, as in
trickster, gamester, punster , etc., or indicated simple agency
or existence, as in deemster, doomster, huckster, tapster, team-
ster, upholster, roattster, yintmjster, etc. Some of the older
ncnns with this siittlx survive as surnames, as Baxter,
Webster, Sani/ster, Dempster, etc.
ster. An abbreviation of sterling^.
steraclef, ». [Early mod. E., also sterraele,
sterakel ; < ME. steracle; origin obscure.] A
strange thing, sight, or performance ; a prank.
Whan thou art sett upon the pynnacle.
Thou xalt ther pleyn a qweynt steracle.
Or ellys shewe a grett meracle,
Thysself tfrom hurte thou save.
Cooentry Mysteries, p. 208. (IlaUiuell.)
stercobilin (sttr'ko-bil-in), «. [< L. stcreus
(stercor-). dung, -I- bilis, bile, -I- -t«2.] The
brown coloring matter of the feces.
salt wliich cover the clayey soil, not unlike in appearance SterCOraceOUS (st6r-k6-ra'shius), a. [< L. ster-
to fresh fallen snow.
Humboldt, Aspects of Nature (trans.).
Steppe murrain, rinderpest
stepped (xtept), a. l<.step + -etP.] 1. Formed
in or forming a step or a series of steps. — 2.
Supported, as a vertical shaft, by a step, step-
eus(-or-), dung, + -aeeous.'] 1. Pertaining to,
composed of, or in any way resembling dung,
ordure, or feces; excrementitious ; fecal. — 2.
In entom., frequenting or feeding on dung, as
many beetles, flies, etc Stercoraceous vomit-
ing, in pathol., vomiting of fecal matter.
like bearing, or shoe — Stepped cone, same as con*- Stercorsemia, ». Hee stercoremia
stercoral
stercoral (st^r'k^-ral), a. and «. [< L. stcrcus
(-or-), dirng, + -al.'i I. a. Of or pertainiug to
feces; stercoraeeous.
H.t n. Dung; excrement.
Stercoranism (st6r'ko-ran-izm), n. [< Ster-
coran-ist + -isni.'i In eccles. hist., the doctrine
or belief of the Stercoranists. Also Siercoiian-
ism, Stereararianism.
Stercoranist (ster'ko-ran-ist), n. [= F. ster-
e«raiiiitU\< ML. Stereoraiiistx, < L. stercvs (-or-),
dung.] A name applied by opponents to vari-
ous persons in the church who were said to hold
a grossly materialistic conception of the Lord's
Supper. They were alleged to believe that the Lords
body was, like other food consumed, digested and evacu-
ated. The word was first used by Cardinal Humbert in
1054. .\lso Stercorianigty Stercorarian,
stercorareous (st6r-ko-ra're-us), a. Same as
stercorareoiis.
Stercorarian (st*r-ko-ra'ri-an), n. [< L. ster-
corariiis, pertaining to dung (< stercus (-or-),
dung), + -OH.] Same as Stercoranist.
Stercorarianism (st^r-ko-ra'ri-an-izm), n. [<
.Stercordriini + -ism.] Same as Siereoratiism.
Stercorariinae (ster-ko-ra-ri-i'ne), n. pi. [NL.,
< Stercorariiis + -ih«.] The dung-hunters, a
subfamily of Laridse, typified by the genus Ster-
corariiis : same as Lestridinse. See cuts under
skua and Stercorarius.
Stercorarius (st^-ko-ra'ri-us), ». [NL. (Bris-
son, 17{iO),< L. stercorarius, pertaining to dung:
see stercorary.'] The dung-hunters, skuas, or
jagers, a genus of Laridte, typical of the sub-
family Stereorariinm. Also called Lestris. The
name is used (a) for all the species of the subfamily ; (6)
for the larger species, as S. skua, the smaller being called
Leitrig (see cut under 8hua) ; (c) for the smaller species, S.
5934
named, < stercus (stercor-), excrement.] 1. A
genus of plants, type of the order SlercuUacese
and of the tribe Stereuliese. it is characterized by a
stamen-column usually with fifteen anthers crowded with-
out regular order, a five-celled ovary with two or more
Parasitic Ja^er {Stercorarius parasiticus).
pomatorhinug, S. parasiticus, and others, the larger being
called Bupkagus or Megalestris.
stercorary (st6r'ko-ra-ri), a. and n. [< L. ster-
corarius, pertaining to dung (ML. neut. *ster-
corarium.a, place for dung), < stercus (stercor-),
dimg.] I, a. Pertaining or relating to dung or
manure; consisting of dung. D. G. Mitchell,
Wet Days, p. 17.
n. n. ; p\.stercoraries(-Tiz). A place, prop-
erly secured from the weather, for containing
dung.
Stercorate (st6r'ko-rat), V. t. ; pret. and pp.
stercorated, ppr. stercorating. [< L. stercoratus,
pp. of stercorare, dung, manure, < stercus (-or-),
dung.] To manure or dung. Scott, Pirate, iv.
Stercoratet (stfer'ko-rat), n. [< stercorate, v.]
Dung; excrement. Imp. Diet.
Stercorationt (ster-ko-ra'shon), «. [< L. ster-
coratio(n-), a dunging or manuring, < stercorare,
pp. stercoratus, dung, manure, < stercus (-or-),
dung.] The act of manuring with dung. Eve-
lyn, ToMr. Wotton. '
Btercoremia, stercoraemia (ster-ko-re'mi-a), «.
[NL. stercorsemia,<. L. stercus (-or-), dung,-t- Gr.
a'l/ia, blood.] Contamination of the blood from
retained feces.
Stercorianism, Stercorianlst (st^r-ko'ri-an-
izm, -ist). Same as Stercoranism, Stercoranist.
Stercoricolous (stfer-ko-rik'o-lus), a. [< L. ster-
cus (-or-), dung, -I- colere, inhabit.] Inhabiting
excrement; dwelling in dung. Encyc. Brit.,
XIX. 842.
Stercorist (stfer'ko-rist), ». [< L. steixus (-or-),
dung, -I- -ist.'] A Stercoranist.
Stercorite (ster'ko-rit), n. [< L. stercus (-or-),
dung, + -ite'^.] A hydrous phosphate of am-
monium and sodium, found in guano on the
island Ichaboe, off the west coast of Africa.
Stercoryt (stfer'ko-ri), n. [< L. stercus (-or-),
dung.] Excrement ; dung. Mir. for Mags.,
III. 246.
Sterculia (ster-ku'li-a), «. [NL. (Linneeus,
1753), so called from tliie fetid flowers or fruit
of ceri^aiu species; < L. Sterculius, a deity so
stereographic
/uv6-), a worm.] The parenchymatous endo-
parasitic worms, having no intestinal canal.
They formed one of two main divisions, the other being
Coelehnitttha, into which the Eniozoa were divided by
Owen in 1843, corresponding to the parenchymatous intes-
tinal worms or vers intestitiaux parenchymataux of Cuvier.
Tliey are such as the cestoid and trematoid worms, or tapes
and Huiies.
sterelminthic (ster-el-min'thik), a. [< Sterel-
miiitha -I- -ic] Of or pertaining to the Sterel-
miiitha.
sterelminthous (ster-el-min'thus), a. Same as
sterelminthic.
stereo- (ster'e-6, also, especially in trade use,
ste're-6). An element of Greek origin, mean-
ing ' solid.'
stereo (ster'e-6), n. and a.
ti/jic.] Same as stereotype:
stereo apparatus.
stereobate (ster'e-6-bat), n.
< Gr. cTcpeoc, solid,
firm, + fiard^, verbal
adj. of fiaivciv, go,
step: see base^.] In
arch., the substruc-
ture, foundation, or
solid platform upon
which a building is
erected, in columnar
[Short for stereo-
as, a stereo plate ;
[= F. stereobate.
Flowering Branch of Sterculia platanifotia,
a, a male flower ; b, the same before anthesis ; c, the stamens ;
d, the fruit.
ovules in each cell, and a fruit of distinct spreading dehis-
cent carpels. There are about 85 species, natives of warm
climates, especially of tropical Asia. They are most com-
monly large trees, with simple feather-veined leaves, and
unisexual flowers in drooping panicles, with a colored bell-
shaped calyx, and a fruit of five radiating woody follicles
opening on the upper edge ; but none of these characters is
universal. Their inner baric is composed of a tough fiber
which is not affected by moisture, and is in many species a
valuable material for cordage, mats, bags, paper, or tow for
upholstering. Their seeds are filled with an oil whicli may
be used for lamps, and are slightly acrid but often edible.
They are mucilaginous, and often exude an abundance of
gum resembling gum tragacanth, swelling into a jelly in
cold water without dissolving. S, urens, and perhaps other
species, funiish a share of the Indian tragacanth, or kuteera
gum ; S. Trac/acanttia ot western Africa yields the African
or Senegal tragacanth. S. acerifolia of New South Wales, a
large tree sometimes 80 feet high and 8 feet in girth, with
large lobed leaves and racemes of showy red flowers, is
known 08 Jlame-tree, and also as iace&ar* from its beautiful
lace-like inner bark, which becomes 2 inches tliick and is
valued for many uses. 5. diversifolia, the Victorian bottle-
tree, or currijong, is a stout tree with coarser flber : for
the similar S. rupestris, see botUe-tree, and for S. villosa, see
oadal. S. lurida, the sycamore of New .South Wales, also
yields a fiber, there made into fancy articles. S. ^uadri-
Jida, the calool of eastern and northern Australia, pro-
duces clusters of brilliant scarlet fruits, each with ten or
eleven black seeds resemlding filberts in taste, and eaten
as a substitute for them. S. Carthaginensis (S. Cfiicha),
the chicha or panama, yields seeds eaten as nuts in Brazil
and northward ; it is a handsome tr^ with yellowish pur-
ple-spotted flowers. S. fcetida (see stavewood) is the source
of some native remedies in Java. S. alata has been called
Buddha's cocoanut; S. platanifotia of .Japan and China,
sultan's parasol. See jnahoe and cassoumba.
2. In entom., a genus of coleopterous insects.
Laporte, 1835.
Sterculiacese (st6r-kii-li-a'se-e), n. pi. [NL.
(Ventenat, 1799), < Sterculia + -acese,.] An
order of pol3^etalous plants, of the cohort
Malvales, intermediate between the two orders
Malvacem and Tiliacex, resembling the former
in its variety of habit and foliage and its fre-
quently monadelphous stamens, and the latter
in its two-celled anthers. It includes about 730
species, belonging to 49 genera, classed in 8 tribes, natives
mostly of the tropic^ or occurring further to the south
in Africa and Australia.
sterculiaceous (stSr-ku-li-a'shius), a. Of or
pertaining to the plant-order Sterculiacex.
sterculiad (stfer-kii'li-ad), n. A plant of the
order Stcrculiacese. Lindley.
Stereuliese (ster-ku-li'e-e), n. pi. [NL. (A. P.
de Candolle, 1824), <. Sterculia + -ex.] A tribe of
plants, of the order Sterculiacese. It is character-
ized by unisexual or polygamous flowers without petals,
commonly with a colored calyx, and five to fifteen anthers
adnate at the summit of a long or short column of united
filaments, and either crowded or arranged in a definite se-
ries or a ring. It includes 8 genera, of which Sterculia is
the type. They are natives mostly of tropical Asia and
Africa, extending into Australia and Java. See Sterculia.
Stere^t. A Middle English form of steer^, steer'^,
xtir'^, stoor^.
stere"'^ (star), n. [= F. sth'e, < Gr. arepcdg, solid,
cubic; prob. < ysta as in ioTavat, stand.] A
cubic meter: the French unit for solid measure,
equal to .'55.31 cubic feet. The word stere is liut
little used, except with reference to cordwood, cttbic meter
being the expression in universal use for the solid unit,
Sterelminthat (ster-el-min'tha), n. pi. [NL.,
irreg. < Gr. arepto^, stiff, hard, solid, + iXjuv^ (tk-
Stereobate of the Parthenon, east front (illustrating the convex
curvature of the iwst Greek Doric temple-foundations).
buildings it includes the stylobate, which is the uppermost
step or platform of the foundation upon which the columns
stand.
stereobatic (ster"e-o-bat'ik), a. [< stereobate
+ -ic] Of, pertaining to, or resembling a ster-
eobate ; of the character of a stereobate. En-
cyc. Brit., II. 408.
stereoblastula(ster"e-o-blas'tij-]a), )).; pl.ster-
eoblastulic (-le). [NL., < Gr.' c-ipeo^, solid, +
flfMardc, a, germ.] A solid blastula; a blastula
in which there is no cavity. J. A. Ryder.
stereochrome (ster'e-o-krom), n. [< Gr. OTE-
pio(;, solid, + ;irpu/ia, color.] A stereochromic
picture. See stereochromy.
stereochromic (ster"e-o-kr6'mik), a. [< stereo-
chrom-y + -ic] Of or pertaining to stereo-
chromy; produced by stereochromy Stereo-
chromic process, the method of painting by stereo-
chromy,
stereochromy (ster'e-o-kro-mi), n. [< Gr. are-
pcoc, solid, + xP^M^t color.] A method of paint-
ing in which water-glass serves as the connect-
ing medium between the color and its substra-
tum.
stereo-clumps (ster'e-o-klumps), n. pi. [< ste-
reo + clutnp.] Sectional blocks of type-metal
or wood, usually three fourths of an inch high,
made of different sizes so that they can be com-
bined to fit and uphold any size of stereotype
plate. When clamps are added, they keep the
plate secure in the process of printing. [Eng.]
stereo-electric (ster'e-d-e-lek'trik), a. [< Gr.
areptor, solid, + E. electric'.] Noting the electric-
current which ensues when two solids, especial-
ly two metals, as bismuth and antimony, are-
brought together at different temperatures.
Stereogastrula (ster'e-o-gas'trS-la), n. ; pi. ster-
eogastrulee (-le). [NL.', < Gr. cTipco^, solid, +
NL. gcstrula, q. v.] A solid gastrula; a form
of gastrula in which no cleavage-cavity is de-
veloped. ,/. A. Byder.
Stereognathus (ster-e-og'na-thus), n. [NL.
(Charlesworth, 1854), i Gr. crepeo^, solid, + yva-
6o^, jaw.] A genus of fossil mammals of prob-
lematical character from the Lower Oolite of
Oxfordshire, England, later identified with Mi-
crolestes. The original fossil was named S.
Ofjliticns.
stereogram (ster'e-o-gram), n. [< Gr. areped^,
solid, + ypd/x/ia, a writing, < ypcKpciv, wTite : see
gram'^.] A diagram or picture which repre-
sents objects in such a way as to give the im-
pression of relief or solidity; specifically, a
double photographic picture or a pair of pic-
tures mounted together for the stereoscope; a.
stereoscopic picture.
stereograph (ster'e-o-gi-af). n. [< Gr. fTTtpcd;,
solid, -t- -}pn(ticiv, write.] Same as stereogram.
stereographic (ster"e-o-graf'ik), a. [= F. ste-
rrogrdphii/ue ; as sfereograph-y + -ic] Show-
ing the whole of a sphere on the whole of anv
stereograpUc
infinitp plane, while preserving the angles. —
StereograpMc map-projection. See projectwn.
stereographical (ster 'f-o-graf i-kal), a. [< ster-
ciiiirapliic + -«/.] S&me aa steredfirapliic.
Stereographically (ster'e-o-graf'i-kal-i), adr.
In a stereographic manner; by delineation on
a plane.
Stereogrsiphy (ster-e-og'ra-fi), K. [= F. stereo-
graphic, < Gr. OTfpfOf, solid, + -ypa<tiia, < ypa<^iv,
write.] The art of delineating the forms of
solid bodies on a plane ; a branch of solid ge-
ometry which demonstrates the properties and
shows the coustructioa of all solids which are
regularly defined.
Stereolepis (ster-e-ol'e-pis), n. [NL. (Ayres,
1859), < Gr. aTepedf, solid, + Mmq, a scale.] 1.
A genus of serranoid fishes of enormous size in
comparison with related forms. 5. gigtu, the jew-
fish or black sea-ba£8 of the Califoruian coast, reaches a
length of 5 feet. It is brownish- or greenish-black with
large black blotches, most evident in the young.
2. \\. c] A fish of this genus.
Stereome (ster'e-6m), 11. [< Gr. mtpkujia, a solid
body, < (rrfpfof, solid.] In hot., a name pro-
posed by Schwendener for those elements
which impart strength to a fibrovasoular bun-
dle. Compare mestome.
Stereometer (ster-e-om'e-t^r), n. [< Gr. areped^,
solid, -I- fiiTpov, a measure.] 1. An instru-
ment for measuring the solid capacity of a ves-
sel.— 2. An instrument for determining the
specific gravity of liquids, porous bodies, et<;.
stereometric (ster'e-o-met'rik), «. [< stere-
iimitr-ij + -ic.'\ Pertaining to or performed
by stereometry. -stereometric function. See /unc-
tion.
stereometrical (ster'e-o-met'ri-kal), a. [<
stereometric + -n/.] Same as stereometric.
Stereometrically (ster'e-o-met'ri-kal-i), a. By
or witli reference to stereometry.
stereometry (ster-e-om'e-tri), ». [= F. stere-
ometric, < Gr. (TTtpeic, solid, cubic, -f- -/icTpia, <
/ifrpov, measure.] 1. The art of measuring
Tolames. — 2. The metrical geometry of solids.
— 3. The art or process of determining the spe-
cific gravity of liquids, porous bodies, powders,
etc.
stereo-mold (ster'e-6-m61d), *. [< stereo +
m»W3.] A mold used in stereotyping.
stereomonoscope (ster'e-o-mon'o-skop), n. [<
Gr. arrpedf, solid, + fiAvof, single, alone, -I-
oKorreiv, view.] An instrument with two lenses
for exhibiting on a screen of ground glass a
single picture so as to give it all the effect of
solidity.
Stereoneural(ster'e-o-nii'ral), «. [<Gr. arepeSc,
solid, + veiiiMD, a nerve.] Having the nervous
center, if any, solid.
stereoplasm (ster'e-o-plazm), n. [< NL. stereo-
jiliiKiiiii. < (Jr. arepedf, solid, -f- viAofm, anything
molded or formed: see pWm.] 1. In corals, a
delicate endothecal structure occupying differ-
ent positions in the corallite, often forming ver-
tical processes in the interseptal loculi or encir-
cling septa, or acting as true endotheca. This sub-
stance, which connectjs septa (environing their free edges
in some paleozoic eoralsX stretches across interseptal lo-
culi irregularly, and sometimes Alls np the lower part of
the Inside of the corallum, constituting a solid mass tbere.
It Is to be distinguished from the true endotheca.
2. In hot., same as stereoplnsma.
stereoplasma (ster'e-o-plas'rail), n. [NL.: see
stcrco]}Utsm."[ 1. Same a8«<creopJa«», 1. Lind-
striim. — 2. In hot., a term proposed byNaegeli
for the solid part of protoplasm. Compare hy-
firoplnKma .
Btereoplasmic (ster'e-o-plaz'mik), a. [< stereo-
phi im + -iV-.] Gf the nature of or formed by
stereoplasm; consisting of that substance.
stereopticon (9ter-e-op*ti-kon), n. [< Gr. ari-
pfor. solid, -f oi!-tik6<:, pertaining to seeing or
sight : see optic.'] An improved form of magic
lantern, consisting essentially of two complete
lanterns matched and connected. The object of
the reduplication is t<j permit the pictures shown to pass
from one to the next by a sort of aiasolvlng effect which
Is secured by alternate use of the two lenses, and at the
same time to avoid the delay or the unpleasant sliding of
the pictures across the field in view of the audience, but
imperfectly avoidable when the simple magic lantern is
used. The two lanterns may be either superposed or
Double-tier Stereopticon.
A, A', tubes containing objectives; B. B', covers for condensers;
C. C collapsible-bellows fronts of the lanterns, which are mounted one
above the other and hinged together at the rear standards (as shown
at D) to provide for the elevation or depression necessary to bring the
views on the screen into exact superposition ; E, E', lime-light boxes,
one of the lime-cylinders F and oxyhydrogen jets G being sliown in
the upper box, a part of which is removed; H. oxygen^older ; I,
hydrogen-holder; J, J', flexible tubes for separately conveying these
gases to the tmmers and mixing them only as they are oeeded to sup-
ply light : L. set-screw for elevation or depression : M, milled heads
of shaft opcratinggear for extending or shortening the lens-tubes A.
A' in adjustment ofthe focus; N, openings for insertion of sUdes, with
iiKlinea bottoms for insuring exact position.
placed side by side. Some forms of stereopticon are
made with three lanterns.
stereoscope (ster'e-o-skop), n. [= F. st^eoscope,
<-Gr. <TTepe<5f, solid, + amrrciv, view.] An optical
instrument illustrating the phenomena of binoc-
ular vision.andservingto produce from two near-
ly similar pictures of an object the effect of a sin-
gle picture with the appearance of relief and so-
lidity belongingto ordinary vision. Itdependsupon
the fact thatinordinary vision, whilethe respective images
of an object formed upon the retinas of the two eyes differ
slightly because of the divergence of the rays from each
point of the object, yet the effect upon the brain is that of
a single object seen in perspective relief which the monoc-
ular image lacks. The slide of the stereoscope shows
two pictures side by side taken under a small difference of
angiilar view, each eye looking upon one picture only;
thus, as In ordinary vision, two Images are cotiveyed to the
brain which unite Into one, exhibiting the objects repre-
sented under a high degree of relief. A reflecting form
of stereoscope was invented by Sir Charles Wheatstone in
1838. Subsequently Sir David Brewster invented the len-
ticulmr or refracting stereoscope, based on the refractive
properties of semi-double-coiivex lenses. This is the one
now In general use. There are many fonns of It, one of
which is shown in the figure. The action is Illustrated by
stereot3^er
stereotomic (ster"e-o-tom'ik), a. [< stereot-
om-y + -ic] Pertaining to or performed by
stereotomy.
Stereotomical(ster"e-o-tom'i-kal), a. [< stereo-
tomic + -al.l Same'as stereotomic.
stereotomy Cster-e-ot'o-mi), n. [= F. stereoto-
mic, < Gr. CTEptiiQ, solid, -I- -ro/iia, < rifivciv, ra-
lidv, cut.] The science or art of cutting solids
into certain figures or sections.
Stereotrope (ster'e-o-trop), n. [< Gr. areptdg,
solid, -I- Tpmr//, a turning, < rpiizsiv, turn.] An
instrument by which an object is perceived as
if in motion and with an appearance of solidity
or relief as in nature. It consists of a series of stereo-
scopic pictures, generally eight, of an object in the suc-
cessive positions it assumes in completing any motion,
affixed to an octagonal drum revolving under an ordinary
lenticular stereoscope, and viewed through a solid cylin-
der pierced in its entire length by two apertures, which
makes four revolutions for one of the picture-drum. The
observer thus sees the object constantly in one place, but
with its parts apparently in motion and in solid and natu-
ral relief.
stereotype (ster 'e-o- tip), «. and a. [= F.
stereotype, < Gr. arepeo^, fixed, + Tvirog, impres-
sion, type: eee type.] I. n. 1. The duplicate,
in one piece of type-metal, of the face of a
collection of types composed for printing. Three
processes are used, (o) The plaster process, in which
a mold taken from the composed types in fluid plaster
of Paris is baked until dry, and is then submerged in
melted type-metal. The cast taken in this mold, when
cooled, is shaved to proper thickness, making the stereo-
type plate. (6) The clay process, in which the mold,
taken by a press on a prepared surface of stiff clay, i&
Stereocoope.
the diagram beneath. The light-rays from corresponding
points of the two pictures P and l*" are refracted in pass-
ing through the lenses L, L , and their directions changed
■o that they now seem to the eyes E, E' to diverge from a
common point A beyond the plane of the card. By spe-
cial effort a skillea observer can combine stereoscopic
pictures into one without the use of the Instrtmient,
each eye being directed to one picture only and (to pro-
duce the normal stereoscopic effect) the one on its own
side; theprocesa maybe facilitated by interposing a card
screen between the pictures so that, for example, the left
picture is entirely cat off from the right eye, etc. If the
eye* are croaaed so that the right eye sees the left picture
and the left eye the right only, and the Images combined
by special effort, the usual stereoscopic effect is reversed —
a convex surface becomes concave, etc. A similar pseudo-
scoplc result is obtained with the oniinary stereoscope if
the positions of the two pictures are exchanged.
stereoscopic (ster'e-o-skop' ik), o. [= P. si&eo-
scopiquc ; as stereoscope + -ic] Of, pertaining
to, or resembling the stereoscope ; adapted to
the stereoscope ; having the form in relief, or
proper perspective, as of an object seen in
the stereoscope : as, stereoscopic pictures ; ster-
eoscopic views.— gtereoBCopic camera, diagrams,
projection. .See the nouns.
stereoscopical (ster'e-o-skop'i-kal), a. [< stere-
oscopic + -III.'] Same as stereoscopic.
Stereoscopically (ster'e-o-skop'i-kal-i), adv.
By or as t)y a stereoscope.
Stereoscopist (ster'f-o-sko-pist), n. [< stereo-
scope + -ist. ] One versed in the use or manu-
facture of stereoscopes.
stereoscopy (ster'e-o-sko-pi), n. [= F. stereo-
scopic, < (ir. crrepttif, solid, -t- -aKonia, < OKOTTdv,
view.] The use or construction of stereo-
scopes.
A. Stereotype Founding Apparatus. B. Stereotype Plates from the
Mold. .1, furnace by which the water-jacketed mold * is uniformly
heated. The mold is supported on the frame d and on the rollers,/*/
the parts of the mold are held together by a clamping-screw c ;
the water is supplied to the water-jacket through the funnel e. In
pouring the metal, the mold is placed in position shown in dotted
outline.
baked until dry, and filled by pouring into it fiuid metal,
(c) The papier-mach^ process, in which the mold is
made by covering the type with a preparation of paper-
pulp and clay, which is beaten into the interstices of the
type-surface by a stiff brush. This mold when baked by
steam-heat is put in a casting-box, which is filled with
melted metal. This Is the rudest but quickest process.
Stereotypes for daily newspapers are usually made in fif-
teen minutes. For newspaper-work the plates for rotary
presses are molded and cast with a curved surface that
fits them to the impression-cylinder. The practice of ster-
eotyping is now confined to newspapers and the cheaper
forms of printed work. Pliites of books, woodcuts, and the
finer formsof printing are now made by the electrotype pro-
cess, {i^ee efectroti/pe.) Stereotype plates were first made,
but imperfectly, by William Oed, at Edinburgh, in 1726.
The plaster process, which was the first to become popu-
lar, was invented by WUdon and Lord Stanhope In 1810.
2. Loosely, an electrotype. — 3. The art of
making plates of fixed metallic types ; the pro-
cess of producing printed work by means of
such plates.
n. a. Of or pertaining to stereotype, or ster-
eotyping, or stereotype printing: as, stereotype
work ; stereotype plates.
stereotype (ster'e-o-tip), i?. t. ; pret. and pp.
stereotyped, ppr. stereotyping. [< stereotype, n.]
1 . To cast a stereotype plate from : as, to stereo-
type a page or a form. — 2. To prepare for print-
ing by means of stereotype plates : as, to stereo-
type the New Testament. — 3. To fix or estab-
lish firmly or unchangeably.
If men cannotyet entirely obey the law, . , . itdoesnot
follow that we ought therefore to gtereotype their incompe-
tency, by specifying how much Is possible to them and how
much is not. H. .Spencer, Social Statics, p. 506.
stereotype-block (ster'e-6-tip-blok), «. A
block of iron or of hard wood, bound with brass,
about three fourths of an inch high, on which
a stereotype plate is fixed for use.
stereotyped (ster'e-o-tipt), p. a. 1. Made or
IirinteJ from stereotype plates. — 2. Formed in
an uu changeable manner ; fixed; set: as, ster-
eotyped opinions.
The entablatures show considerable progress, but the
capitals were so stereotyped that it is evident, if any Greek
or Roman artists had designed capitals in Gandhara dur-
ing the period just alluded to, we could predicate exactly
what they would have been.
J. Fergutton, Hist. Indian Arch., p. 178.
stereotype-metal (ster'e-o-tip-met'al), «. An
alloy for stereotj-pe plates; type-metal.
Stereotyper (ster'e-9-tl-p6r),"n. [< stereotype
+ -erl.] One who stereotypes, or who makes
stereotype plates.
storeotypery
Stereotypery (ster'e-o-ti'p^r-i), n. [< stereotype
+ -eryT] 1 . The art or work of making stereo-
type plates. — 2. Fl.stereotyperies (-iz). A place
where stereotype plates are made ; a stereo-
type founiiiy.
stereotypic (ster'e-o-tip'ik), a. ■ [< stereotype
+ -k:^ Of or relating to stereotype or stereo-
type plates.
stereotyping (ster'e-o-ti-ping). h. The art,
act. or process of making stereotj'pes Paper
process of stereotyping. See paper.
stereotypist (ster'e-o-ti-pist), n. [< stereo-
tjipr + -K<?.] One who makes stereotype plates ;
a stereotyper.
stereotjrpographer (ster'f-o-ti-pog'ra-ffer), n.
[< stereotypo(jrtiph-y + -e'rl.] A stereotype-
printer.
Stereotypography (ster'e-o-ti-pog'ra-fi), n.
[< Gr. (n-f/)E(if, fixed, -I- E. typography.'] The
art or practice of printing from stereotype.
Imp. Diet.
Stereotjrpy (ster'e-6-ti-pi), n. [= F. stereotypie;
as stereotype + -}/S ] The art or business of
making stereotype plates.
Sterhydraulic (ster-hi-dra'lik), «. [Irreg.< Gr.
oTtpeo^, solid, -f E. hydraulic.'] Pertaining to
or having an action resembling that of a ster-
hydraulic press. See the phrase Sterhydraulic
press, a peculiar formof liydraulic press in wliicli pressure
is generated in a hydraulic cylinder by the disiducenient
of a part of the contained liquid throupli the entrance into
its mass of a rod working through a stufling-box, a screw
working in a packed nut, or in some cases a rope wound
upon a barrel in the inclosure and pulled into it through
a packed hole, the shaft of the winding-barrel or -drum
also extending through a stufilng-box in the side of the
cylinder, and fitted on the exterior with a winch or a
driving-wheel. Of these forms that using a screw is the
simplest and best.
Sterigma(ste-rig'ma), )!.; pl.steriflinata (-ma-ta).
[NL., < Gr. CTiipiyfia,a, prop, support, < arcpi^uv,
prop.] In hot., a stalk or support of some kind:
a term of varyinjj application, (a) Same as fcosid-
ium. (6) The stalk-like branch of a basidium which bears
a spore, (c) The footstalk of a spore, especially of a spore
of minute size, (d) The cell from which a spermatium is
cut ofT. (et) A ridge or foliaceous appendage proceeding
down the stem below the attachment of a decurrent leaf.
Sterigmatic (ster-ig-mat'ik), a. [< sterigma{t-)
+ -i'c] In bot., resembling, belonging to, or of
the nature of a sterigma.
sterilt, a. An obsolete spelling of sterile.
sterile (ster'il), «. [Formerly also s<fr(7 ; < F.
sterile = Sp. Pg. esteril = It. sterile, < L. steri-
lis, unfruitful, baiTen; of. Gr.areped^, stiff, hard,
solid, aripujHtc, hard, unfruitful, barren.] 1.
Unfruitful ; unproductive ; not fertile.
Indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition that this
goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promon-
tory. Shak., Hamlet, ii. 2. 310.
It is certaine that in sterile years come sowne will
growe to an other kinde. Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 525.
2. Barren; not reproducing its kind.
She is grown sterile and barren, and her births of ani-
mals are now very inconsiderable.
J>r. H. More, Antidote against Atheism.
3. In hot., of a flower, producing only stamens
— that is, staminate or male (compare neutral);
of a stamen, having no anther, or a f unctionless
one ; of an anther, without pollen ; of an ovary,
without perfect seeds; of a seed, without an em-
bryo; of a frond, without sori. See cuts under
Onoclea, Ophioglossum, sassafras, and smoke-tree.
— 4. Free from living germs.
I at first suspected that the biologically sterile tube
might not be chemically clean. Medici News, X LIX. 400.
5. Leading to no results ; fruitless; profitless;
useless.
I will endeavour that the favour conferred on me rest
not sterile. Atfbi Mann, in Ellis's Lit. Letters, p. 431.
6. Lacking richness of thought or expression ;
bald; bare: as. a sten7e style; sterile verse. —
sterile wood a shrub or small tree, Coprostna /oetidis-
sima. of the Jiubiace/e, found iu New Zealand. It is ex-
tremely fetid when drying, though inodorous when alive
and growing.
sterilisation, sterilise, etc. See sterilization,
etc.
sterility (ste-ril'j-ti), n. [< F. sterilite = Sp.
esterilidad = Pg. esterilidade = It. sterility, <
L. st€rilita(t-)s, imfruitfulness, barrenness, <
stcrilis, barren, sterile : see sterile.] The state
or character of being sterile, (a) Lack of fertility ;
unproductiveness ; unfruitfulness, as of land, labor, etc.
For the Soil of Spain, the Fruitfulness of their Vallies
recompences the Sterility of their Hills,
Hauell, Letters, I, ill. 32.
(6) Lack of fecundity; barrenness: said of animals or
plants.
Suspend thy purpose, if thou didst intend
To make this creature fruitful !
Into her womb convey sterility!
Shak., Lear, i. 4, 300.
59a6
(«) Fruitlessness ; profltlessness.
The trueness of this formula is only equalled by its ste-
rility for psychological pui-poses.
11. James, I'rin. of Psychol,, I, 551,
(d) Deficiency in ideas, sentiments, or expression ; lack of
richness or luxuriance, as in literary style ; poverty ; bald-
ness ; meagerness.
He had more frequent occasion for repetition than any
poet : yet one cannot ascrii)e this to any sterilHy of ex-
pression, but to the genius of his times, which delighted
in these reiterated verses. Pope, Essay on Homer.
sterilization (ster"il-i-za'shqu), n. [< sterilise
+ -at ion.] The act or operation of making ster-
ile ; specifically, the process of freeing, from
living germs. Also spelled sterilisation.
Sterilization of cow's milk must and will be a most valua-
ble preventive of summer diarrhoea.
Medical News, LIII. 12,
sterilize (ster'il-iz), v. t.; pret. and pp. steril-
ised, ppr. sterilizing. [= F. steriliser = Sp. Pg.
esterilizar: as sterile + -ize.] To render sterile
or improductive in any way ; specifically, in
bacteriology, to render free from living germs, as
by heating or otherwise. Also spelled sterilise.
No, no — such wars do thou. Ambition, wage !
Go sterilize the fertile with thy rage !
Whole nations to depopulate is thine.
Savage, Public Spirit,
Prof. Tyndall found that he could not sterilize an infu-
sion of old hay . . , without boiling it continuously for
several hours. W. II. Carpenter, Micros., § 309.
sterilizer (ster'il i-z^r), n. [< sterilize + -eri.]
One who or that which sterilizes ; especially,
any apparatus for rendering substances free
from living germs, as by means of heat. Also
spelled steriliser.
sterkt. An old spelling of stark^, stirk.
sterlet (stor'let), «. [< F. sterlet = Dan. sterlet
= Sw. sterlett, < G. sterlet, < Russ. sterlyadi, a
sterlet.] A species of sturgeon, Acipenser
ruthenus. it is of small size and slender form, with a
long sharp snout and fringed barbels, and from sixty to
seventy lateral shields. It rarely reaches a length of two
sterlet {Acipffistr ruthenus).
feet, and is generally not more than a foot long. It in-
habits the Black Sea, Sea of Azof, Caspian Sea, and the
rivers of Asiatic Russia, as well as certain rivers of Sibe-
ria. It is highly esteemed for its flavor, and its roe makes
a superior caviar. Compare also cuts under Acipenser.
SterletUS (ster'le-tus), n. [NL. (Rafinesque,
1820), < F. sterlet, < Russ. sterlyadi, sterlet : see
sterlet.] A genus of sturgeons, the type of
which is the sterlet, having the spines of the
dorsal shield posterior, no stellate plates, and
the lip emarginate.
sterlinglf, n. An obsolete form of starling'^.
sterling^ (ster'ling), n. and a. [< ME. ster-
ling, sterlinge, sterlynge, starling, the coin so
called ; ef . D. sterling = Sw. Dan. sterling, ster-
ling (as in mod. E. use), = Icel. stcrlingr, a ster-
ling (the English coin so called), = MHG. stcr-
linc, stserlinc (-ling), a coin so called, G. sterling
(as in mod. E. use) ; = OF. esterlin, a sterling
(the English coin so called), sterlin, esterlin, cs-
tellin, estelin, a weight of twenty-eight grains (of
gold), the twentietn part of an ounce, = Sp. Pg.
esterlino, in libra esterlina, a pound sterling, =
It. sterlino, in lira sterlina, a pound sterling,
also as a noun, sterlino, sterling coin, standard
rate (of coin); ML, sterlingus, sterlingum, ster-
linus, stellinns, stelligus, sterlingeiis, sterilingus,
esterlingus, estrilingiis, a sterling (the English
coin so called), also a weight of twenty-eight
grains, the twentieth part of an ounce ; all <
E., unless, as Kluge asserts, the E. itself (and
so in part the OF. and ML.) is < MHG. sterlinc,
stxriinc (-ling), wliich is then < sterl- or ster-,
origin unknown, 4- -ing^ or -ling^ as in shilling,
farthing (^AS. feorthing, feorthling), penny (AS,
pening, etc.). In this view the word must have
been introduced into ME. use by the Hanse
merchants in London, who, according to the
story, first stamped the coin in England. The
accepted statement is that these merchants
were called EosterUngs as coming from "the
east parts of Germany" (Camden), and that
the coin received its name from them ; but the
similarity appears to be accidental, and the
statement, besides other deficiencies, fails to
explain the MHG. name, which could not have
meant ' Easterling.' It seems more probable
that the MHG. word is, like the rest, derived
from the ME. word, which must then be due,
in spite of unexplained difficulties, to Eastcr-
stem
ling, or else is derived, as asserted in a state-
ment quoted by Minsheu from Linwood, from
the figure of a starling (ME. sterling) at one
time engraved on one quarter of the coin so
called: see starling'^ . Historical evidence of the
truth of this assertion is as yet lacking.] I. «.
It. A silver coin struck by English (and Scot-
tish) kings from the time of Richard I. (1190).
Paste comen out of halle
And shoken nobles and st^rtinyes.
Chaucer, House of Fame, 1. 1315.
The oldest pieces (of the coinage of Scotland] are silver
pennies or sterlings, resembling the contemporary English
money, of the beginning of the 12th century.
Encyc. Brit., XVII. 658.
2. English money. [Rare.]
And Roman wealth in English sterling view. Artmthnot.
H. a. 1. Of fixed or standard national value;
conforming to the national standard of value :
said of English money, and, by extension, of the
precious metals: as, a pound sterl i)tg; a shilling
sterling. Abbreviated ster., stg.
In the Canon Law mention is made of .5 shillings ster-
ling, and a merke sterling, cap. 3. de Arbitris, <fe c. con-
stitut, 12. de procurator, Minsheu, 1617.
When a given weight of gold or silver is of a given fine-
ness, it is then of the true standard, and called esterling
or sterling metal. Blackstone, Cora., I, vii,
I lost between seven and eight thousand pounds sterling
of your English money, J. S. he Fanu, Dragon Volant, v,
2. Of acknowledged worth or influence; au-
thoritative.
If my word be sterling yet in England,
Let it command a mirror hither straight,
That it may show me what a face 1 have.
Shak., Rich. II,, iv. 1. 264.
3. Genuine; true; pure; hence, of great value
or excellence.
His sterling worth, which words cannot express.
Lives with his friends, their pride and their distress.
Crabbe, Works, II, 27.
I might recall other evidence of the sterling and unusual
qualities of his public virtue.
R. Choate, Addresses, p. 321.
sterling'* (ster'ling), n. See starling^.
Sterling's formula. See formula.
stem! (stern), a. [< ME. stern, sterin, sterne,
sturne, < AS. styrne, severe, austere, stern (also
in comp. styrn-mod, stern-minded) ; akin to
OHG. stornen, be astonished, sturni, stupor;
perhaps related to OHG. storren, MHG. storren,
stand out, project, = Goth. *staurran, in comp.
and-staurran, murmur against, also to D.
stuursch, stem, = Sw. stursk, refractory, and
to Icel. stura, gloom, despair, stUra, mope, fret.]
1 . Severe iu disposition or conduct ; austere ;
harsh; rigorous; hard.
No Man was more gentle where there was Submission ;
where Opposition, no Man more stem.
Baker, Chronicles, p, 132.
And sterner hearts alone may feel
The wound that time can never heal,
Byron, The Giaour.
2. Characterized by severity or rigor; especial-
ly, resulting from or expressive of harshness :
as, a stern reply ; a stern glance ; a stern rebuke.
He herd thair strakes, that war ful sterin.
Ywaine and Gaicin, 1. 3219. (Halliwelt.)
If wolves had at thy gate howl'd that stern time,
Thou shouldst have said, "Good porter, turn the key,"
Shak, Lear, ilL 7. 63.
Gods and men
Fear'd her stem frown. Milton, Comua, 1. 446.
3. Grim or forbidding in aspect; gloomy; re-
pelling.
In passing through these stern and lofty mountains,
their path was often along the bottom of a baranco, or
deep rocky valley. Irving, Granada, p. 88.
4. Rough; violent; tumultuous; fierce.
The werre wox in that won wonderly sterji.
Alisaunder of Macedoine (E. E. T. S,), L 337.
Those stem waves, which like huge mountains roll,
Drayton, Polyolbion, i. 435.
5. Rigid; stringent; strict.
Subjected to stem discipline by the rigid enforcement
of uniform motives, Maudsley, Body and Will, p. 8,
6t. Stout ; strong ; heavy.
The hamur bothe steme and gret
That drof the nayles thorow hond and fete.
Holy Mood (E. E. T. S.), p. 184.
Of bak <fe of brest al were his bodi sturne.
Sir Oawayiie and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.), 1. 143.
7. Firm; unyielding; inflexible; hard.
When that tlie poor have cried, Cwsar hath wept:
Ambition should be made of sterner stuif.
Shak., J. C, ill, 2, 97.
The sterner sex. See sex^ . = Syn. 1. Severe, Harsh, Strict,
etc. .See austere. — 1 and 2, Unrelenting, uncompromi*-
ing, inflexible.
stem
Stem^ sttm,, n. [< ME. sterne, steerne, steorne
(not found in AS., where only ste(h; a rudder,
appears: see steer^, n. ) =OFries. stionie, stiarne,
a rudder, = loel. stjom, a steering, steerage,
rudder; with formative -n, from the root of AS.
steor, E. steer, etc., a rudder: see steer^, n. and
r.] If. The rudder or helm of a vessel.
Sir he ne rise the rather and i-auhte to the gUmrne,
The wjrnt wolde with the water the hot ouer-throwe.
Piers Plowman (AX ix. 30.
But to preserve the people and the land,
Which now remain as shippe without a gUme.
Sorton and Sackvilie, Ferrex and Porrex, v. 2.
2t. Hence, figuratively, any instrument of man-
agement or direction ; a guiding agent or agency ;
also, a post of direction or control.
The father held the sterne of his whole obedience.
Ascham, The Scholemaster, p. 48.
Not a few of them [the eunuchs] have come to sit at the
gtem of State. Sandys, Travailes, p. 55.
3. The hinder part of a ship or boat, where the
rudder is placed; the part furthest removed
5937
snch as S". mintita of Europe and S. antUlarum of Amer-
ica, are called teaft terns, and all have a white frontal
crescent in the black cap : these represent a subgenus
# J"
Lower part of Ship's Stem.
5, stem-post ; A'5, keelson ; AT, keel; />r.doveUil-pUtes: /, Inner
stem-post; A deadwood; Z>Ar, deadwood-koee ; 55. stemsoo ; T,
deck-transom ; /■', false keel. (The doited lines sliow bolts.)
from the stem or prow. See also cat under
po<yp.
So, when the flrBt bold Teasel dared the teu,
H^h on the item the ThracUin ralaed hit strain.
Pope, Ode on St CecUla's Day, 1. SO.
4. The hinder parts, backside, buttocks, or
ramp; the tail of an animal.
He [the dragon] . . . gan his sturdy i<«rn« abont to weld.
And bim so strongly strok.: that to the ground him feld.
Speneer, F. Q., I. xL 28.
We don't want to deceive ooraelve* about them, or fancy
them cbemlw without Itenu.
Bcoke nf Prtedmut {K. B. T. B., extra aer.), Foreword!,
[p. xxUL
By the stem. See ivl.— False stem, an addition made
Uj till- Hterii i>f aveaael forstrenirth or jin'ttctiun. — From
Stem to stem. See lUmi.— Sqtiare stem, a stem leas
rounded or elliptical tban ii luual. — Stem foremost,
backside foremost; with the stem advancetl. — Stem on,
the position of a vessel when her stem is presented to-
ward the obser%*er. — To make a stem board. See
toard.— To moor head and stem, see monr'J.
Stem'-' (8t6m), u. [<«<ei-»i-, «.] I. <ra««. It. To
steer; goide.
Uulke tower ... Is a notable marke for pilots, in di-
recting them which wale to tieme their ships, and to
eschew the danger of the craggie rocks.
Stanihurtt, Deacrip. of Ireland, ill. (HolinMhed.)
2. To back (a boat) with the oars; backwater;
row backward 8t«m all I stem bard! orders to
l>ack water given by the offlcer of a bo«t to the crew.
Also simply Ktem !
U, intratw. To draw back; backwater: said
of a boat or its crew.
Meantime Mr. Norton, the mate, having strack the fast
whale, be and the second mate itemed off to wait for the
whale to get quiet. Fiiheriei of IT. S., V. IL 273.
Stem^ (st^rn), n. Same as atarn'^.
stem* (st*m), n. [A var. of tern : gee tern, and
pf . Sit rna.'i A tern.
Stema(8t<'r'nft),«. rNL.(Linn»a8,1758),appar.
based on E. tern."] A Liimean genus of LarMse,
tyj)icalof the subfamily jSterniiia?, and contain-
ing all the terns or sea-swallows, or variously re-
stricted. It la now commonly conflned to species of mod-
erate and large slie, white with usually a pearly-blue mantle
and black cap, and having a long deeply-forked tail, whose
outer feathers are more or leas narrowly linear for much of
their length. The tnecles are numerous, and are found all
over the » orld, at S. kirundo, the common tern of Europe
and America ; S. anUea, the arctic tern of the northern
hemisphere : S. paraditea or dmgaili, the roseate tem
(see cut under roseate), very widely distributed ; and S. for-
^tfnand^.fmtfscnii of America. Among the large apeclea,
representing a snbgeniu Thala—tut. are S. teeiegra»a or
eaipta, the Caspian tern of Asia, Europe, and America ; SL
maxima, the royal ten (smaller than the laat. In spite of
its name) of America ; S. Htgatu, the ducal tern of Amer-
ica. (See cut under Thalamtui.) A groupof small species,
373
Stemvla. (See cut under Stermda.) Some middle-sized
tems with dark upper parts, widely distributed in tropi-
cal and warm temperate retjions, are the subgenus Hali-
plana, as the common sooty and bridled terns, S.fvligi-
jlosa and 5. amesthetica. (See cut under sooty.) Gull-
billed terns form a section Gelocheiidon (see cut there).
The wholly white terns, the black terns, and the noddies
belong to other genera. See Steniinse and tem.
Stemadiform (stfer'na-di-f 6rm), a. [< NL. ster-
num, the breast-bone, -t- L. ad, to, -t- forma,
form.] In ichth., characterized by a tendency
to expansion or extension of the thoracic or
sternal region, as exemplified in the John-dory
and the Serranidee. Gill.
stemage (st^r'naj), «. [< stenfi + -age.'] Steer-
age ; direction ; course, as of a ship or fleet.
Follow, follow :
Grapple your minds to stemage of this navy.
And leave your England, as dead midniKht still.
Shak., Hen. V., ill. Prol., L 18.
sternal (stfer'nal), a. [= F. sternal, < NL. ster-
nalis, < sternum, the breast-bone : see sternum.']
1. Of or pertaining to the sternum, especially
the breast-bone of vertebrates: as, the sternal
end of the clavicle ; the sternal keel of a bird's
breast-bone; sternal articulation; a sternal
segment. — 2. In Invertebrata, of orpertaining
to a stemite; st«rnitic. — 3. Ventral; hemal;
on the ventral surface or aspect, where the
sternum is situated ; on the same side with the
sternum; in man, anterior; in other animals,
inferior: opposed to dorsal, tergal, or neural.
— Sternal band, in emtrjioi., uf insects, a longitudinal
thickening of the ovum, which gives rise to the sternal
region of the body.— Sternal canal, in Cnutaeea, a me-
dian paiiage Iwtween each pair of endostemites, arched
over by the meeting of the mesophragmal apophyses of
the apodemes of opposite sides. The sternal canal con-
veys Uie chain of nervous ganglia and the sternal arter)-.
See cut under Astaeidtr. — Sternal glands, a chain of six
to ten small lymphatic Klauds, situated aloiiK the course of
the Internal mammary l>l(X)d vessels.— Sternal line, the
vertical line on the f n)nt of the chust lying over the edge of
the sternum. — Stemal region, the region of the front of
the chest lying between the i-tt-mal lines. It Is divided into
a nipertor and an inferior sternal retjion by a line passing
thrtfofh the uppermost points of the junctions of the third
coatal cartUagei with tne stemum.— Stemal rib. (>■) A
true or fixed rib ; one that joins the sternum by Its henia-
pophysls, or ooatal cartUige, aa distinguished from a false
rib. See cut under eiuiosteleton. (d) llie hemapophysis
of a rib, aa distinguished from the pleurapophysis ; that
part of a bony jointed rib answering to the costal carti-
lase <it a mammalian rib, reaching from the end of the
pleurapophysis to the stemum or toward It, as distill-
gulsbed from a vertebral rib, which Is the pletirapophy-
sis alone. See cut* under epiplevra and interdaoiae.
Stemalgia (st^r-nal'ji-a), w. [NL., < Gr. arip-
vui; the breast-bone, -J- i/jof, pain.] 1. Pain
about tlie stemtun or breast-bone. — 2. Specif-
ienlly, angina pectoris. See angina.
stemalglc (stir-naljik), a. [< stemalgia + -»c.]
Pertaining to or aneeted with stemalgia; es-
pecially, affected with angina pectoris.
stemalls (st^r-na'lis), n.; pi. sternales (-lez).
[NL., se. musculus, muscle: see sternal.] A
stemal or prestemal muscle; specifically, the
rectus stemalls of various animals, more ex-
pressly called sternalis hrutorum and rectus
tkoracicus superficialis. It is not infrequently
present in man.
Stemaspida (st^r-nas'pi-da), n. pi. [NL., irreg.
< .S7<;H//.v/<ix(-ax/)iV/-)4--irf«.] Anorderof gephy-
reaus, represented by the genus iS<fr«fl«pi«; dis-
tinguished from an order AVAiu/itkj, both being
referred to a subclass Echiuromorpha of the
class Grj'hi/rea. Compare Echiuroidea.
Stembergia (st^m-b^r'ji-S), n. [NL. (Wald-
stein ana Kitaibel, 180.5), named after Count
Kaspar Maria von Sternberg. 1761 - 1838, author
of various botanical andpaleontological works.]
A genus of monocotyledonous plants, of the or-
der ^mrtn/Htrf«o<"a? and tribe .4 nian/Wf a". It Is char-
acterized by a commonly solitary funnel-shaped perianth
without a corona and with somewhat spreading lobes, and
by a fleahy nearly Indehlacent fruit with roundish aud
Steminse
often strophiolate seeds. About 12 species have been
described, now by some reduced to 6, all native of Europe
and the Mediterranean region. They produce a short flow-
er-stalk from a coated bulb, with leaves at the same time
or earUer. S. lutea and several other dwarf species with
handsome yellow flowers are cultivated under the name
of star-flower. S. lutea is also known as muter daffodil,
and S. jEtnetisis as Mount Etna lily; these are often sold
under the name of amaryllis.
Sternbergite (st^m'bferg-it), n. [Named after
Count K. M. von Sternberg: see Sternbergia.]
An ore of silver, a sulphid of silver and iron,
having a pinchbeck-brown color and metallic
luster. It occurs foliated, the laminse being
soft and flexible. It leaves a mark on paper
like that of graphite.
stem-board (stem'bord), n. Naut., a back-
ward motion of a vessel. See to make a stern
board, under board.
stem-cap (stfern'kap), n. An iron cap to. pro-
tect the stem of a boat.
Stem-cbase (stSm'chas), «. A chase in which
two vessels sail on one and the same course,
one following in the wake of the other: as, a
stern-chase is a long chase.
stem-chaser (stfem'cha'sfer), n. A cannon
plaeeti in a ship's stern, pointing backward,
and intended to annoy a ship that is in pursuit.
Stemese (st6r'ne-e), n. pi. [NL., < Sterna +
-ex.] A subdivision of Sterninee, containing all
the sea-swallows with forked tails and emargi-
nate webs, as distinguished from the Anoe'ee or
noddies; the typical terns. Cones, 1862.
Stemeber (stfer'nf-bfer), «. [< NL. stemebra, <
sternum + {vert)ebra.] One of the pieces of
which the breast-bone of a vertebrate usually
consists; a bony segment of the sternum; a
stemite, or sternebral element. The sternum is a
serially segmented bone, made up of pieces, primitively
separate bones, coiTespondIng to pairs of ribs, every one of
which is a stemeber. Thus, in man the manubrium stemi
and the xiphoid or ensiform cartilage are each a steme-
ber; and the gladiolus, the middle part of the breast-bone,
is composed of four other stemebers.
stemebral (stSr'nf-bral), a. [< stemeber +
-ah] Entering into the composition of the
breast-bone ; of or pertaining to a stemeber.
stemedl (st6md), a. [< stern^ + -ed'^.] Hav-
ing a stern (of a specified character). Chap-
man, Iliad, xi.
Stemed^t (stfemd), a. [ME., < sternS + -ed^.]
Starred ; starry. Hampole, Prick of Conscience.
stemert (st^r n6r), n. [< stern^ + -erl.] A
steersman ; a guide or director. [Bare.]
He that Is ** regens sidera," the sterner of the stars.
Dr. Clarke, Sermons (1637), p. 15. (LatMm.)
stem-fast (st6rn'f&st), n. A rope or chain used
to confine the stem of a ship or other vessel to
a wharf or quay.
stern-frame (stfem'fram), n. The several pieces
of till] ber or iron which form the stern of a ship
— the stern-post, transoms, and fashion-pieces.
stemfullyt (st^rn'fnl-i), adv. [< *stertiful (ir-
reg. < stern + -ful) + -ly^.] Sternly. Stanihurst,
Conceites. [Rare.]
stem-gallery (stfern'gal'e-ri), n. Naut. See
gallery, 9.
stern-book (stim'hiik), «. In ship-building, a
curved timber built into the stem of a ship to
support the stem-frame.
Stemidse (st^r'ni-de), n. pi. [NL., < Sterna +
-id^.] The Sterninee rated as a family apart
from Laridee.
Stemldlus (stfer-nid'i-us), n. [NL. (Le Conte,
1873).] A genus of longi-
com beetles, of the family
Cerambycidte, equivalent to
Ziopus (Leiopus of Serville,
183o). S. aculiferus Is a com-
mon North American species now
placed in Leptostylus. Its larva
bn
SterMidius aculiferus.
iurrows under the bark of various
trees.
Stemiform (st*r'ni-f6rm),
a. [< NL. sternum, the breast-bone, + "L. forma,
form.] In entom., having the form or appear-
ance of a thoracic stemum — Stemiform pro-
cess or horn, an anterior projection of the first ventral
segment of the abdomen, between the bases of the pos-
terior legs: It Is more commonly called the intercoxal
process.
Steminse (st*r-ni'ne), n. pi. [NL., < Sterna -I-
-ime.] A subfamily of Laridse, typified by the
genus Sterna, containing all the tems or sea-
swallows. It differs from Larinee in the average smaller
sixe, slenderer fomi. relatively longer wings and tail, the
forking of the tail, the small feet, and the slender sharp
hill. The bill is paragnathous (not epignathous as is usual
in Lariiue), with continuous homy covering, usually long
and slender, very sharp, with straight commissure or near-
ly so, gently curved culmen, long gonys, and slight sym-
physeal eminence. The wings are extremely long, narrow.
Sterninse
and po!nt«d, with the first primar>- much the longest, and
the secondiiries all short. The tail is usually long, and
forked or forflcate, with attenuatetl outer feathers. The
feet are small, and scarcely anibulatorial. There are 60
or more species, of all parts of the world. They are di-
Tided into two groups, the Stertie/e or terns proper, includ-
ing nearly all of the Steruiiue, and the noddies or Anoeje.
Most of the species fall int4> the single genus Sterna, Other
genera are Hydrochelidon, Phaethiufa, ProcelMernaj Gyffis,
Iiiea. and Anoits. See Sterna, and cuts there not^
Stemine (ster'nin), a. [< NL. ifterniiins, < Stfr-
no. tern.] Eesembling or related to a tern ; of
or pertaining to the Steminx.
stemite (stfer'nit), ». [< NL. sternum, the breast-
bone, + -ite^.] 1. In J rt/irop<xi«, as an insect
or a crustacean, one of the median ventral scle-
rit«s of the crust or body-wall ; the median ven-
tral piece of any segment, somite, or metamere,
whether a distinct piece or only that undistin-
guished ventral part or region which lies be-
tween the insertions of any pair of legs or other
appendages. The sternites are primitively and typi-
cally all alilte, but may be variously modified in different
5938
stemocoracoideus (st^r-no-kor-a-koi'de-us), «.;
■pi. stcniocorucoidci (-1). [NL.: see sternocora-
coid.} The stemocoracoid muscle of various
animals, arising from the sternum and inserted
in the coracoid. It is represented in man by
the peetoralis minor.
sternocostal (ster-no-kos'tal), a. [< NL. ster-
iioeostalis, < sternum, q. v., + L. costu, rib: see
costnl.^ Of or pertaining to the sternum and
tlie ribs or costal cartilages; costosternal.
sternOCOStalis (st6r"n6-ko8-ta'lis), ?i. ; pi. ster-
nocostaUs (-lez). [NL. : see sternocostal.'^ A
thin median fan-shaped muscle within the tho-
rax, behind the costal cartilages and breast-
bone, arising from the lower part of the ster-
stemoxian
noptyx. (a) In Glinther's system it includes the tjrpl-
cal Siemaptychidx and other families, (fi) In OiU's sys-
tem, a family of iniomous fishes with a compressed ven-
tradiform body, carinated contour, deeply and obliquely
cleft or subvertical mouth whose upper margin is consti-
tuted by tlie supramaxillaries as well as intermaxillaries,
branchiostegal arch near and parallel with lower jaw, scap-
ular arch with an inferior projection, and one or more of
the neural spines abnormally developed and projecting
above the back in advance of the dorsal fin. There are
:i genera and about 7 species, small deep-sea fishes of
remarkable appearance and organization, representing 2
subfamilies, Sterniyptychiiue and Argyropelecinse. Also
Sternoptti'jes, Stemattidi, and Sternoptygoidei,
Sternoptychoid (ster-nop'ti-koid), a. and «.
[< Sternoptyx (,-ptych-) + -ok}.'\ I. a. Of, or
having characteristics of, the Sternoptychidx.
II. H. A jish of the family Steruoptychidse.
Stemocoxal (stfer-no-kok'sal), a. [< NL. sterno-
coxali^, < sternum, q. v., -f L. coxa, the hip: see
coxal.'] Of or pertaining to the sternites and
...... J • 1 r -.k .1 . coxse of an arthropod.
regions of the body, or coalesced with one another or, i«-i/j..-j«-/i.i\ j„ r/
with other pieces of the exoskeleton, or suppressed. See stemoiacial (ster-no-ta shal), a. and ». [^
■ ■ " NL. sternofacialis,<. sternum., q. v., + h.facies,
face: see facial.'] I. a. Of or pertaining to
the sternum and the face: as, a sternofadal
muscle.
II. H. The sternofacialis.
Sternofacialis (ster-no-fa-shi-a'lis), n. ; pi. ster-
nofaciales (-lez). [NL. : see sternofacial.li A
num. Also called transversus thoracis, and Stemoptyx (ster-nop'tiks), w. [NL. (Hermann,
usually triangularis sterni. 1781), < Gr. arcpvov, breast, chest, + -rtf , a
fold.] A genus of fishes, so named from the
cut under cephalothorax.
2. In entom., specifically, the under or ventral
sclerite of an abdominal segment. [Rare.] —
3. One of the pieces of the sternum or breast-
bone of a vertebmte; a sterneber. [Rare.] —
Antemiary stemite. Same as epistmna (6).
Stemitic (ster-nit'ik), a. [< stent/te + -ic] Of
or pertaining to a stemite; sternal, as a sclerite
of an arthropod.
stem-knee (stfem'ne), ». The continuation of
a vessel's keelson, to which the stern-post is
secured by bolts. Also called sternsou and stern-
son-knee.
Stern-lightt, »• [< stern^ + Hght^.'] Starlight.
It was mirk mirk night, and there was nae stem light.
Thomas the Rhytner (Child's Ballads, I. 112).
sternly (stern'li), adv. [< ME. sternelich, sterne-
liclic, stumeliche, < AS. styrnlice,<styrne, stem:
see stern^ and -ly^.'] In a stem manner; with
severity, harshness, austerity, or rigor.
Stemmost (stem'most), a. superl. [< stern^ +
-most.'] Furthest in the rear; furthest astern:
as, the sternmost ship in a convoy.
sternness (stem'nes), n. [< ME. sternnesse,
steernnesse ; < stern + -tiess.] The quality or
character of being stem.
With steernnesse 36 comaundide to hem, and with power.
Wyclif, Ezek. xxiiv. 4.
= Syn. See stcrn^, a.
stemocliondr oscapularis (st6r - no - kon - dro -
skap-u-la'ris), «. ; pi. sternochondroscapulares
(-rez). [NL. (se. musculus, muscle), < Gr. arip-
vov, the breast-bone, + ;i;<if(5/5oc, cartilage, +
NL. scapularis, q. v.] A muscle of some mam-
mals, not infrequent in man, arising from the
first costal cartilage and the sternum, and in
transverse folds on the pectoral or sternal re-
gion, typical of the Sternoptychidae.
Sternorhabdite (ster-no-rab'dit), n. In entom.,
one of the lowermost or sternal pair of rhab-
dites.
sternoscapular (ster-no-skap'u-lar), a. and «.
[< NL. sternoscapularis, < sternum, q. v., + L.
scapula;, shoulder-blades : see scapiUar."] I. a.
Of or pertaining to the sternum and the scapu-
la: as, a sternoscapular muscle.
.__ _ _ , , ,. „ .. II. »i. The sternoscapularis.
muscle of the hedgehog, arising over the fore sternoscapularis (ster-no-skap-u-la'ris), n. ; pi
part of the sternum and passing to the side
of the lower jaw and integument of the face :
it assists the action of the orbicularis pan-
niculi.
Sternoglossal (ster-no-glos'al), a. and n. [<
NL. sternoglossalis, < Gr. aripmv, breast-bone,
-I- yTMdaa, tongue.] I. a. Of or pertaining to
sternoscapulares (-rez). [NL.: see sternoscap-
ular.] A muscle of many animals, connecting
the sternum and the scapula, and forming with
the serratus magnus and the levator anguli
scapulse a sling in which the fore part of the
body is supported upon the anterior extremi-
ties.
the sternum and the tongue : as, a, sternoglossal SternotliaBrid8e(ster-n9-the'ri-de),«.^?. [NL,
muscle.
II. n. The sternoglossus.
Stemoglossus (ster-no-glos'us), n. ; pi. sterrw-
glossi (-5). [NL., < (Jr. arepvov, the breast-
bone, 4- y'/udua, the tongue.] 1. A long re-
tractor muscle of the tongue, as of the great
< Sternotheerus + -idx.] A family of pleuro-
dirous tortoises, tj'pified by the genus Ster-
nothservs, to which different limits have been
assigned. As generally understood, they have eleven
plastral bones, mesoplastrals being distinct, and the skull
has no bony temporal roof. The species are confined to
Africa and Madagascar.
ant-ea.teT, Myrmecophaga jubata, attached be- gternotjijerug (gter-no-the'rus), «. [NL. (Bell
hind to the stemujn, and antagonizing the ac- — - • -• - • « • -
tion of the protractor muscles, the genioglossus
and stylohj'oideus. — 2. leap.] In entom., a, ge-
nus of coleopterous insects.
sternohyoid (ster-no-hi'oid), a. and n. [< NL.
steriiohyoideus, < sternum, q. v., + hyoides: see
hyoid.] I. fl. Of or pertaining to the sternum
and the hyoid bone — Sternohyoid muscle, a rib-
bon-like muscle arising from the manubrium sterni and
inner extremity of the clavicle, and inserted into the body
of the hyoid bone. It is innervated from the ansa hypo-
glossi, and its action draws down or back the hyoid bone
and larynx. See cut under muscle'^.
II. n. The sternohyoid muscle
serted into the superior border of the scapula. . ^^- !r \ii« ^''*''""/ y*^ . .
Also called cU^^roscapularis, scapn,.c^talis ^^^^^:^^l-l^^^'il^lZ%^Xoi<l. ^
minor, costoscapularis, suhclavius posticus. „i.' ' „i.„rij„,,„ /!ti„//,,;; i,t „i'/i5 ,ic^ « • r>l
Sternoclavicular (st6r"n6-kla-^k'u-lar), a. st^ohyoid^^s ^'^^'!'-^'^^l^Xh%i''TL
[<NL.stemocteOTCi(tom,<Gr.(Tripvoi^, the breast- stmnollyo^deH-l). \ssu..s6esternomjoia.i xne
bone, + NL. clavicula: see clavicular.] Per- sternonyom. _ ,t ■a\ ^
taining to the sternum and the clavicle. Also stemomastoid (stfer-no-mas to d) a
- - - - -- - - [<.Nlj.sternomastoiaeus,< sternum, q. v.
sternoclidal, and sometimes clidosternal Ster-
noclavlcnlar flbrocartllage. S^efibrocarlUaoe.— ster-
noclavicular ligament, a band of ligamentous fibers
uniting the sternum and the clavicle : an anterior and a
posterior are distinguished in man.
sternoclavicularis (8t6r"no-kla-vik-u-la'ris),
n. ; pi. sternoclaviculares (-rez). [I^L. : see
sternoclavicular.] One of two anomalous mus-
cles in man, anterior and posterior, extending
over the sternoclavicular articulation.
StemOcUdal (st^r-no-kli'dal), a. [< Gr. arcpvov,
the breast-bone, + k/^ic (kXciS-), key (clavicle),
-I- -al.] Same as sternoclavicular.
Stemoclidomastoid (stfer-no-kli-do-mas'toid),
a. and n. [< NL. sternoclidomastoideus, < ster-
num,q.-v., + clidomastoideus,q.y.] I, a. In anat.,
' of or belonging to the sternum, the clavicle, and
the mastoid process. The stemoclidomastoid muscle
arises from the summit of the sternum and the inner sec-
tion of the clavicle, and is inserted into the mastoid process
of the temporal bone. It is also called sternomastoid, inas-
toideus colli, and nutator capitis. See cut under muscle^.
n. n. The stemoclidomastoid muscle.
sternoclidomastoideus (st6r"n6-kli"d6-ma8-
toi'de-us), ». ; pi. sternoclidomastoidei (-1).
[NL. : gee stemoclidomastoid.] The stemocli-
domastoid muscle.
stemocoracoid (st6r-n6-kor'a-koid), a. and n.
[< NL. stemocoracoideus, < sternum, q. v., +
coracoideus, q. v.] I. a. Of or pertaining to
the sternum and the coracoid : as, the stemo-
coracoid articulation of birds and reptiles; a
stemocoracoid muscle.
n. ». The stemocoracoideus.
and re.
+ mas-
ioideus, q. v.] I. a. Of or pertaining to the
sternum and the mastoid process of the tem-
poral bone — stemomastoid artery, (o) A superfi-
cial descending branch of the superior thyroid artery,
1825), < Gr. aripvov, breast, chest, + daipo^, the
hinge of a door or gate.] A genus of tortoises,
having a hinged plastron (whence the name).
stemothere (ster'no-ther), «. [< NL. Sterno-
thierus, q. v.] An .ifriean turtle of the genus
Stemothmrus. P. L. Sclater.
sternothjrroid (ster-no-thi'roid), a. and re. [<
NL. sternotliyroideus, < sternum, q. v., + tliyroi-
dcus.] I. a. In anut., of or pertaining to the
sternum and the thyroid cartilage — Sternothy-
roid muscle, a small muscle beneath the sternohyoid
on either side, arising from the manubrium sterni, and
inserted into the oblique line on the outer side of the
thyroid cartilage: it is innervated from the ansa hypo-
glossi.
II. «. The sternothyroid muscle.
sternotliyroideus (ster"n6-thi-roi'de-ns), re. ;
pi. stemothyroidei (-1). [NL. : see sternothy-
roid.] The sternothyroid muscle.
sternotracheal (ster-no-tra'ke-al), a. and n.
[< NL. stcrnotrachealis, < stemim, q. v., + tra-
chea : see tracheal.] I. o. Of or pertaining to
the sternum and the trachea; connecting the
breast-bone and the windpipe, as a muscle.
II. n. The stemotrachealis.
which is distributed to the stemomastoid, platysma, and „j.„~" i_. -•|,-„i{_ /•„* a- „;; +-5 V5 5'l;<.^ « • tA
the muscles attached to the thyroid cartilage. (6) A small StomOtracheallS (ster-no-tja-ke-a lis), n. , pi
muscular branch of the occipital artery which supplies
the stemoclidomastoid.— Stemomastoid muscle, (a)
That portion of the stemoclidomastoid wliich arises from
the sternum. (6) The entire stemoclidomastoid, without
distinction.
II. n. The stemomastoid muscle.
stemomastoideus (ster"n6-mas-toi'de-us), Ji. ;
pi. sternomasioidei l-i). [NL. : see stemomas-
toid.] The stemomastoid muscle.
sternomaxillaris (stfer-no-mak-si-la'ris), re. ;
pi. sternomaxillares (-rez). [NL. : see stsmo-
maxillary.] The steruomaxillary muscle.
sternomaxillary (ster-no-mak'si-la-ri), a. [<
NL. sternomaxillaris, < sternum, q. v., + L. max-
illa, jaw: see maxillary.] Pertaining to the
sternum and the mandible : applied to the ster-
nomastoid muscle when, as in the horse, its an-
terior end is fi:xed to the mandible.
Stemon (ster'non), n. [NL.: see sternum.]
Same as sternum. Wiseman, Surgery. [Rare.]
sternopagUS (ster-nop'a-gus), n. ; pi. sternoj^agi
(-ji). [NL., < Gr. oTcpvoi), breast, chest, + nayog,
that which is firmly set.] In teratol., a double
monster with union at the sternum,
Sternoptychidae (ster-nop-tik'i-de), n. pi. ,,. , ,
[KL.,<.Sf€niOj,fi/x i-plilcM-) + -idee-.] A family stemoxian (sttr-nok si-an), a. and m
of iniomous fishes, typified by the genus titer- noxi + -an.] Same as sternoxme.
sternotracheales (-lez). [NL.: see sternotra-
cheal.] A muscle which in birds passes from
the sternum to the trachea or windpipe ; one
of a pair, or one pair of two pairs, of long slen-
der muscular slips attaching the trachea to
the sternum or the clavicle, or both.
Stemotribe (ster'no-trib), a. [< Gr. arepvov,
the breast, + Tpl^tiv, rub.] In hot., touching
the breast, as of an insect : noting those zygo-
morphous flowers, especially adapted for cross-
fertilization by external aid, in which the sta-
mens and styles are so arranged as to strike
the visiting insect on the breast. Compare
nototribe, pleurotribe.
Stemoxi (stfer-nok'si), n.pl. [NL., irreg. < Gr.
aripvov, breast, + ofi'f, sharp.] In entom., in
Latreille's system, a section of Serricornes, con-
taining two tribes, the buprestids and elate-
rids, having the prosternum produced in front
and pointed behind: distinguished among the
serricom beetles from Malaeodermi and Xylo-
trogi. It corresponds to the modern families Bvprestidie
and Elaterida in a broad sense. See cuts under Agrtius,
Buprestis, dick-beetle, Pyrophorus, and wireworm. Also
St£riioxia.
[< Ster-
stemozme
Stemozine (st^r-nok'sin), a. and n. [< Ster-
noxi + -tnel.] I. a. Pertaining to the Sternoxi.
or having their characters.
n. II. A member of the Sternoxi.
stem-port (stem 'port), n. A port or opening
in the stern of a sbip.
Stern-post (stem'post), n. The principal piece
of timber or iron in a vessel's stem-frame.
Its lower eud is tenoned Into or riveted to the Iceel and
to it the rudder is hung and the transoms are bolted. See
cats MBiei rudder and eUm2. - Stem-post knee, a large
knee which unites the stem-post and the keel. .See cut
under stem-.
stem-sheets (st^m'shets), n. pi. The space in
a boat abaft the thwarts on which the rowers
sit.
Stemsmanf (st^mz'man), «. [< stern's, poss.
ot stern'^. + man.'] A "steersman; a pilot.
Off trom the steme the lUmetman diuing fell
And from his sinews flew his soule to hell. '
Chapman, Odyssey, xii. 682.
Stemson (st^m'son), n. [Appar. < stern- +
-soil as in keehon.) Same as stern-kiiee.
Sternula (st6r'nu-la), n. [NL. (Boie, 1822), <
Sterna + dim. -u'la.) The least terns, a genns
of Sterninm containing species of the small-
est size, with moderately forked tail, a white
frontal crescent in the black cap, and the bill
yellow tipped with black: of cosmopolitan dis-
tribution, s. minuta inhabits Europe, Asia, etc. S ixi-
Umarum is .South African ; .S. nereif, S. placem, and 5 me-
lanauclum are Asiatic, East Indian, Australian, and Poly-
J^J"".'.?- «»P^<*«"* 1» South American. The common
Mrd of the ITnited State* and middle America is S. antO-
5939
piwsternuin. The parts called epistemum, omostemum
interciavicle, in tlie mammals just mentioned, or in vari
American Lea,,) Tern i.S/emu.'a aHlitlarum).
S'?"!J'.'''l!"''' .'" '"^ abundant along the Atlantic coast
It U 9 Inches long and 20 In extent of winga white with
pearlvblne mantle over all the upper parta, a black can
and the UBual white lunule. •-•"•»— > » ""P.
Stemnle (sttr'niU), n. A sea-swallow of the
gcnii.s Sternula.
Stemom (st^r'num), «. ; pi. sterna (-nft) or »ter-
nums (-numz). [NL., also sternon, <Gr. arip.
vov, the breast-bone.] 1. The breast-bone of
man and many other vertebrates; a bone or
longitudinal series of bones in the middle line
of the ventral aspect of the body, chiefly in its
thoracic section, completing the thoracic wall
by articulation with more or fewer ribs, or ele-
ments of the scapular arch, or both : theoreti-
cally, in Owen's system, the hemal spines of a
senes of vertebrae, (o) in man and moat mammals
toe sterDoni oonsiata of an anterior piece, the " handle "
manubrium, or prwtemam ; of several (in man four) seg-
menu or st«me6ert constituting the body of the steranm
gladiolus, or meKMtemum ; and of a terminal piece, the
ziphuid or ensiform cartilage, or zlphlatemum. It articu-
lates in man with the clavfcles and with seven ooatal car-
tllagea Tbestemebera
of a mammalian st«r-
num may remain per-
fectly distinct, or be an-
kyloaed in one. (See cut
undermcwiCemum.) In
cetaceans and sireniana
the sternum la much re-
duced, and may be a sin-
gle bone or quite rudi-
mentary. In the mono-
trematooa mammala a
small median bone
called prodateon la de-
TeloDed In front Qf the
;.: — » •'* ^"^ "laiiiiiiaiB juHL memioneu, or in vari-
ous reptiles, or in batracliians, belong rather to the shoul-
aer-girdle. There is no sternum in some reptiles, as ser-
pents. >,ee cuts under CotorrAtjia, Elephantine, interdav-
icU, omostertmm. and skeleton, (b) In birds the sternum is
a large single bone without trace of its original comnosi-
t on of seveiTU parts, liighly specialized in form and func-
tion, in relation to the muscular apparatus of the wings ar-
ticulating with several libs, with the coracoids, and some-
times ankylosed with the clavicle; it appears under two
principal modifications, known as the carinate and ratite
(.see these words.) The carinate sternum nonnally devel-
ops from flye ossiflc centers, having consequently as many
separate pieces in early life. The single median ossifica-
tion which includes the keel, is the lophosteon ; the ante-
rior lateral pieces a pair, are the pleurostea, which become
the costal or costiferous processes ; the posterior pair are
the metostea. In some birds are additional pieces, a pair
of coracostea and a urosteon. The ratite sternum has no
median ossiflca_tion or lophosteon. The passerine ster-
num nomially develops a prominent forked manubrium
in a few birds, as cranes and swans, the sternum is hol-
lowed out to receive convolutions of the windpipe. See
cuts under connote, Dinomig, and epiplevra. (c) In Clte-
loma, the plastron of a turtle, consisting of several bones,
normally nine, one median, and tour lateral in pairs. These
bones have no homology with the sternum of other verte-
brates. See cuts under carapace, plastron, and Chelonia
^. In arthropods, as insects and cmstaceans,
a median stemal or ventral sclerite of any so-
mite of the cephalothorax, thorax, or abdomen ;
a stemite: the opposite of a tertjite or notum. in
such cum, sternum and stemOe are used interchangeablv
Centum being seldom used of the series of sternites as a
whole (See cut under cephalothorax.) In insects the
three thoracic sterna are specified as presternum, meso-
JtOTwm, and metastemum. In IHptera, sternum generally
means the mesosternum, as the other thoracic rings do not
S?7 A "^J"^ P,'*S^. J" Cole«ptera, sternum is sometimes
extended to include the epistema and epimera, or whole
lower surface of a thoracic segment. See epislemmn, 3.
--Antennary sternum. See aiUennary.— CevbaMc
sternum, in arachnUogy. the lower part of the head or
gnla; the central plate on the lower part of the cephalo-
thorax of a spider, between the bases of the legs —Ster-
num collare, in entom., the sternal prominence of the
prothorai.- Sternum pectorale, in entom., the sternal
prominence of the nietathora.x.
Stemntation (ster-uu-ta'shon), «. [< LL. stei-
nutatio(n-), a sneezing. < U'sternutare, freq. of
stemuere, sneeze.] The act of sneezing. De
(^iinweii, Opium Eater, p. 135.
Sternutative (st&r-nu'ta-tiv), a. [< L. stemu-
tare, sneeze, + -we.} 'Same as stemutatorv.
Bailey, 1731. "
Stemntativeness (st&r-nu'ta-tiv-nes), n. The
cliaraclcr of Ix'iiig sternutative. Bailey, 1727.
sternutatory (st^r-nu'ta-to-ri), a. and n. [=
F. sternutatoire, < li.sternutare, sneeze: see«ter-
nutation.} I. a. Causing or tending to cause
sneezing. Set. T. Adams, Works, I. 476.
n. M. ; pi. sternutatories (-riz). Anvthing
which causes sneezing, as snuff; an errhine.
Sterautory (sttr'nu-to-ri), «. An erroneous
form of sternutatory. Dunglison.
stemward, stemwards (stfem'ward, -wardz)
a. and ailr. [< stern'^ -f -toard, -icards.f To-
ward tlie stem.
stemway (sttm'wa), n. The movement of a
ship l.n<kwar<l, or with her stem foremost.—
To fetch stemway. See/etchi.
Btera-wheeler (st6ra'hwe'16r), n. A steam-
vessel propelled by one wheel, similar to a side-
wheel, mounted astern: used for navigating
shallow or narrow waters.
Steropus (ster'o-pus), n. [NIj. (Megerle, 1821),
appar. < Gr. <nepe6(, solid, + jrotf = E. foot.] A
genus of beetles of the family Carabidfe, con-
t*ining about 100 species, widely distributed
throughout Europe, northern Africa, Asia, Aus-
tralia, and both Americas.
Sterquilinoust (st^r-kwi-U'nus), a. [< L. ster-
quiltnium, sterrulinium, stercilinium, sterquili-
num, a dunghill or dung-pit, < stereus, dung.]
Pertaining to a dunghill; hence, mean; dirty;
paltry. Howell, Letters, ii. 48
merer St **''
/.S^ly-V^""''"' '^'°''' *'^''' '"^ Sternum ,A . LlMrd (/».,«
/«*2«/./.) : upper 6(ure. under vie. : lo.« figure, .id™, ew ,*
MircUvlcle i gl. glenokl ; ,l, uenrnm ; ,,l, ilphiuei^gtl " ' "^ '•
Sterraster (ste-ras'ttr), n. [< Or. areppdc, var. of
arepedi, solid, -f- aari/p, star.] A form of sponge-
spieule characteristic of the family Geodinida.
It la of the polyaxon type, having many rays coalesced for
the greater part of their lengths, but ending in separate
hookleta
Sterrastrosa (ster-as-tro'sa), «. pi. [NL. : see
sterraster.] In .SoUas's classification, a group
of ehoristidan tetractinellid sponges, in whict
sterrasters are present, usually in addition to
simple asters, as in the families Geodinidee and
PUirosponi/idee : distinguished from Spirastrosa
and Kuastrosa.
Sterrastrose (ste-ras'tros), a. [< NL. sterras-
trosus, < sterraster, q. v.] Provided with ster-
rasters, as a sponge; of or pertaining to the
Sterrastrosa : distinguished from spirastrose.
Sterref, «. A Middle English form of star^.
Stcrrinck (ster'ingk), n. A seal of the genus
Stcnurhynehus {Ogmorhinus) or of the subfamily
stethoscope
Stenorhynchinse : as, the saw-toothed or crab-
eating sterrinck, Lohodon carcinophaqus
Sterro-metal (ster'o-mef'al), n. An alloy of
about three parts of copper with two of zinc, to
which a small amount of iron and tin is added.
trJ.l^,^''*". "•'".'" «''V«''«1 "se. but is said to be superior
^ens^v; If h ° T*""*' T*"."* *' "•« »«»« "">" less «-
hydrl^uHc presses"'''" ""•* '" ^"''"'' "" '"« P""P« "'
Stertl (stert) r A dialectal spelling of startK
Stert-t, n. A Middle EngUsh form of starts.
Stertet. [Inf. sterte(n), pret. sterte, pp. stert.]
An obsolete preterit of starts.
Stertor (stfer'tor), n. [< NL. stertor, < L. ster-
tere, snore.] A heavy snoring sound which
accompanies inspiration in certain diseases.
Compare stertorous.
Stertorious(ster-t6'ri-us),a. l< stertor -i--i.o us ]
bame as stertorous. Poe, Prose Tales I 125
Stertoriousness (st6r-t6'ri-us-nes), n. Same as
siertoroiisiiess. Poe, Prose Tales, 1. 125
Stertorous (st^r'to-rus), «. [< stertor + -ous ]
Characterized by a deep snoring sound, such
as characterizes the laborious breathing which
frequently accompanies certain diseases, as
apoplexy. '
Stertoronsly (ster'to-ms-li), adv. In a sterto-
rous raauner.
Stertorousness (st^r'to-rus-nes), «. The qual-
ity or state of being stertorous.
Steryet, r. A Middle English form of starve.
Stesicnorean (ste-sik-6-re'an), a. [< LL. Ste-
sichoreus, StesicJiorius,' < Gr. ^T?iaix6peiog' Ste-
sichorean, < Irr/aixopoc, Stesichoms (see def ) ]
Of or pertaining to the Greek lyric poet Ste-
sichorus (Tisias) of Himera (about 632-550
B. c. ), inventor of epodie composition ; specifi-
cally, in anc. pros., noting (a) a trochaic trim-
eter of the form — w I _,^ I _^ . /JX
an encomiologic verse; (c) a line consisting of
two dactylic tetrapodies, the last foot a spondee.
Stet (stet). [L., 3d pers. sing. pres. subj. act. of
stare, stand : see stand.] Let it (that is, the
original) stand: a proof-reader's order to can-
cel an alteration previously made by him. it is
indicated by putting a line of dots under wliat is crossed
out, and writing "stet in the margin. Abbreviated tt.
Stet (stet), r. t. ; pret. and pp. stetted, ppr. stet-
ttng. To mark with the word " stet"; direct or
cause to remain, after deletion, as printed; for-
bear to delete. [CoUoq.]
Stetch (stech), n. A ridge between two furrows,
as in plowed land. [Prov. Eng.]
Stetch (stech), V. t. [< stetch, «.] To form
into ndges with a plow : followed by up. Bal-
liwell. [Prov. Eng.]
*^tV'^*5'^ (steth-i-e'um), n.; pi. stethixa (-S).
[JNL., < Gr. OTifiialoi, of the breast. < aryeoi, the
breast.] In omith., the entire anterior half of
a bird : opposed to urmim. [Bare.]
Stethidium (ste-thid'i-um), n.; pi. stethidia (-ft).
[A L dim. of Gr. arfftoi, the breast.] In entoih.,
the thorax. Illiger.
Stethograph (steth'o-gr4f), n. [< Gr. <n-^of,
the breast, -t- ypaipeiv, write.] An instrument
lor recording the respiratory movements of the
thorax. Also called pneumograph.
Stethographic (steth-6-graf'ik), a. [< stetho-
graph -t- -ic] Of or pertaining to, or obtained
by means of, the stethograph. Nature, XLII.
Stethometer (ste-thom'e-t6r), n. [< Gr. ar^oc,
the breast, + fuTpov, a measure.] An instm-
meut tor measuring the respiratory movements
?. iw" ^f;}'^ °^ the chest . In one form a cord or band
LI?, r "^ "S"^ the chest, and its extension, as the
thorax is expanded, is shown by an index on a diai-plate.
Stethoscope (steth'o-skop), «. [= p. stMo-
scope, < Grr. ar^.
fcf, the breast, +
OKcmeiv, view.]
An instrument
used in auscul-
tation to con-
vey the sounds
from the chest
or other part of
the patient to
the ear of the h, ^'"^'"t°';f' '
a, bin.iural stethoscope.
observer. _ Bin-
aural stethoscope, a stethoscope in which the sound is
conducted to botfi ears Differential Stethoscope, a
double stethoscope having elastic tubular branches and
bells wliicli cin be applied to different parts of the thorax
so as to compare the indications at various points.
stethoscope (steth'o-skop), r. t. ; pret. and pp.
stethoscoped, ppr. stethoscoping. [< stethoscope,
n.] To examine by means of a stethoscope.
Lancet, 1890, II. 1267.
stethoscopic 6940
Stethoscopic (steth-o-skop'ik), a. [< stethoscope Stevia (ste'vi-S), n. [NL. (Cavanilles, 1797),
Of or pertaining to stethosoopy or the named after ^steve, a Spanish scientist.] 1.
„i,t„;...,.^ 1 *iu. .i-^i._ A senus of composite plants, of the tribe A'jyja'-
toriairai and subtribe Ageratese. it is character-
ized by crowded corymbose or loosely panicled heads with
i\\e or six nearly equal involucral bracts, flvc flowers, ap-
pendaged anthers, and a variable pappus of several scales
or awns or of both mingled in the same head. Over one
hundred species have been described, natives of the warm-
er parts of America from Buenos Ayres to Mexico, and es-
pecially numerous westward ; absent in tropical Brazil and
neiirly so in Guiana. They are herbs or slirubs, often some-
what rigid, or rarely diffuse. Their leaves are usually oppo-
site, three-nerved, and serrate, sometimes entire or three-
parted. The flowers are white orpurplish. forming slender
heads. Several species are cultivated as border-plants in
Europe. In the United States S. cmnpacta and S. serrata,
bearing a profusion of small white fragrant flowers, the lat-
ter flowering later, are grown under glass in great quanti-
ties for cutting and for winter use in houses. S. serrata
and five other species extend within the United States
into Arizona or Texas.
2. [I. c] A plant of this genus.
+ -•<••]
stethoscope ; obtained by means of the'stetho
scope.
stetnoscopical (steth-o-skop'i-kal), a. [< steth-
Ofn-'ipic + -111.'] Same as stethoscopic.
Stethoscopically (steth-6-skop'i-kal-i), adv. In
a stethoscopic manner; \)y means of the steth-
oscope.
stethoscopist (steth'o-sko-pist), M. [< stetho-
scoj)-!/ + -i>f.] One who is versed in the use
of the stethoscope.
Stethoscopy (steth'o-sko-pi), «. [< Gr. arffioc,
the breast, + -cKOTria, < tTKoirtiv, view.] 1. The
examination of the chest. — 2. Auscultation
with a stethoscope.
stet processus (stet pro-ses'us). [Law L. : L.
stet. 3d pers. sing. pres. subj. act. of stare, stand ;
proeessu-f, process.] In old Eng. law: (a) The
^TZ±^ ^l''j'^Ll'^r'„:jpTr'r"*.,?! stewi(sk),«. [<ME..,..i,..,.;..«,,«*,.,etc.,
the parties, by an order of court having the
effect of staying permanently all further pro-
ceedings. (6) The phrase entered on the record
as expressing that order.
steve, c. t. See stecre'^.
stevedore (ste've-dor), m. [< Sp. estivador, a
wool-packer, hence a stower of wool for expor-
tation, and gen. one who stows a cargo (cf. Sp.
estiva = It. stiva = OP. cstive, stowage, ballast),
< estivar = Pg. estivar = It. stivare, press close,
stow (a cargo), < L. stipare, press together: see
stive'^.'] One whose occupation is the stowage
of goods, packages, etc., in a ship's hold; one
who loads or unloads vessels.
Steven (stev'en), n. [Early mod. E. also steav-
en; < ME. Steven, stevene, stevyn, stevyne, stefne,
stemne, < AS. stefn, stemn = OS. stemna, s'tem-
nia = OFries. stemma = MD. stemme, D. stem
= MLG. stempne, stemme, L6. stemme = OHG.
sUmna, stimma, MHG. G. stimme, voice, = Icel.
stefna, stemna, direction, summons, = Sw. stdm-
ma = Dan. stemme = Goth, stibna, voice; root
and connections unknown. Cf. Gr. arofia,
mouth.] It. Voice; the voice.
When Little John heard his master speake.
Well knew he it was his gteven.
Robin Hood and Guy o/ Gisborne. {HaUiweU.)
2t. Speech; speaking; crying out.
Manne, stynte of thy steuen and be stille.
York Plays, p. 365.
3t. That which is uttered; a speech or cry;
prayer.
To thee, lady, y make my moone ; I praie thee heere my
tteuen. Hymns to Virgin, etc (E. E. T. S.), p. 6.
4t. Word; bidding; command; direction.
Thre semely sonnes and a worthy wiffe
I haue euer at my Steven to stande.
Yorlt Plays, p. 45.
5. One's word or promise; an agreement; an
appointment; hence, anything fixed by appoint-
ment.
Stephen kept his steaven, and to the time he gave
Came to demand what penance he should have.
Ellis, Spec, of Anc. Poetry, III. 121. (Nares.)
At unset stevent, at a time or place not previously spe-
cified ; without definite appointment.
It is ful fair a man to here hym evene,
For al day meeteth men at unset stevene.
ClMiicer, Knight's Tale, 1. 666.
To set a Steven, to make an agreement ; fix an appointed
time. [I'rov. Eng.]
Hit fli, on a tyde.
That by her bothe assent was set a Steven.
Chaucer, Complaint of Mars, 1. 62.
Steven (stev'en), v. [< ME. stevenen, < AS. sfef-
nian, call, summon (= Icel. stefna, stemna, cite,
summon), < stefn, stemn, voice : see Steven, «.]
I. trans. If. To speak ; utter ; tell of ; name.
In Rome Y shalle jou steuene
And [an] honyred kyrkes fowrty and seuen.
PolUical Poems, etc. (ed. FurnivallX p. 113.
2t. To call ; summon ; command ; appoint.
Lord God I I loue the lastandly.
And highly, botht with harte and hande.
That me, thy poure prophett Hely,
Haue (teuened me in this stede to stande.
yoriPteyj.p. 187.
3. To bespeak. JSalliicell. [Prov. Eng.]
n.t »»<rons. To talk; call out; shout; make
a noise.
Ye rebaldls that regnys in this rowte,
Ze stynte of youre steuenyng so stowte.
York Plays, p. 307.
stevenedt, a. [< late ME. stevynyd, stevend, stev-
ynd, also and appar. orig. stcyned, steynyd, ste-
ned, lit. 'stained,' pp. of stcynen, steinen, stain:
see stain.] Party-colored. Ca<7t. ^m(/., p. 363.
Item, a stevynyd clothe, a crucifix, . . . xid.
Potion Letters, IH. 408.
pi. steices, stucs, stiitces, stywes, stives, stuyves,
< OF. estuve, estouve, a heated room, hothouse,
bath-room, F. etuve, a vapor-bath, stove, = Sp.
Pg. esttifa = It. stufa, stove, hothouse, < OHG.
stiiba, stupd, MHG. stube, a heated room, a bath-
room, G. stttbe, a room or chamber in general,
= MLG. stove = MD. stove = AS. stofa, a hot-
house, bath-room: see stove^, the same word in
a more orig. form. In defs. 8 and 9 the noun is
from the verb.] 1. A heated room, especially
such a room for bathing purposes ; a hothouse ;
a stove.
It fresethe more strongly in tho Contrees than on this
half; and therfore hathe every man Stewes in his Hous,
and in tho Stewes thei eten and don here Occupatiouns,
alle that the! may. Mandeville, Travels, p. 131.
Whan he came out of his steive or bayne, he axyd drynke,
by the force whereof he was poysoned.
Fabyan, Chron., cxxv.
It [a small artificially warmed room] is used for drying
various substances, as plants, extracts, conserves, &c., or
for taking vapor baths. In this case the stew or stove is
said to be wet or humid ; in the opposite case it is said to
be dry. Dunglimn, Med. Diet., p. 987.
2. Specifically, a hatters' drying-room. HalU-
well. — 3t. A room; a chamber; a closet.
Troylus, that stood and myghte it se
Thorghout a litel wyndowe in a gtewe,
Ther he bishet, sen mydnyght, was on mewe.
Chaucer, Troilus, iii. 601.
4. A brothel; a bagnio: oftenused in the plural,
sometimes with the force of a singular noun.
Sleuthe . . . wedded on Wanhope, a wenche of the
stewes. Piers Plomnan (C), xxiii. 159.
Wommen of the styves. Chaueer, Friar's Tale, I. 34.
Shall we every decency confound ?
Through taverns, steus, and bagnios take our round?
Pope, Imit. of Horace, 1. vi. 120.
5t. A lock hospital. See hospital.
In the borough of Southwark, prior to the time some-
times fixed upon for the origin of syphilis, there were
places called stews, where prostitutes were confined and
received the benefits of surgical assistance.
5. Cooper, Practice of Surgery (6th ed.), p. 832.
{(Eruyye. Diet.)
6t. A prostitute : sometimes in the plural form
with a singular meaning.
And shall Cassandra now be termed, in common speeche,
a stewes? 0. Whetstone, Promos and Cass., I., iv. 3.
It was so plotted betwixt her husband and Bristoll that
instead of that beauty he had a notorious stew sent to him.
Sir A. Weldon, Court of K. James, p. 14&
7t. A close vessel in which something is cooked
or stewed ; a stew-pot or stew-pan.
I have seen corruption boil and bubble
Till it o'er-run the stew.
Shak., M. for M., v. 1. 321.
8. Pood cooked by stewing; especially, meat
or fish prepared by slow cooking in a liquid.
The contents of the kettle — a stew of meat and pota-
toes — ... had been taken off the fire and turned out
into a yellow platter.
George Eliot, Mill on the Floss, i. 11.
9. A state of agitation or ferment ; mental dis-
turbance; worry; fuss. [Colloq.]
And he, though naturally bold and stout,
In short, was in a most tremendous stew.
Barham, Ingoldsby Legends, T. 104.
Box-Stew, an oyster-stew made of box-oysters — that is,
of large select oysters. — Irish atew, a dish made of mut-
ton, onions, and potatoes, and sometimes other vegetables,
stewed in water mixed with flour, and seasoned with salt
and pepper.
ste'W^ (stii), V. [< ME. "stewen, stuen, stmcen, <
OP. cstuver {"estuwer), bathe, stew, F. etuver,
stew, = Sp. estufar, cstofar, estobar = Pg. estn-
far = It. stufare, stew (cf. D. MLG. LG. sfoven
(> G. stoven) = Sw. stufva = Dan. stuve, stew) ;
from the noun: seesie'wi,n. Cf. «<J!;e3, a doub-
let of s<eM;i.] I. trans. If. To bathe, as in a
liquid or a vapor-bath.
steward
Stuwyn or bathyn, or stuyn in a stw. Balneo.
Prompt. Parv.
2t. Figuratively, to steep.
The Stockes were fitter for him ; the most corrupted
fellow about the Suburbs, his conscience is stewd in Bribes.
Drome, Sparagus Garden, v. \H.
3. To cook (food) by simmering or slowly boil-
ing; prepare by cooking in a liquid kept at tho
siramering-point: as, to steic meat or fruit; to
stew 03'sters.
Stuwyn or stuyn mete. Stupho. Prompt Parv.
Stew'd shrimps and Afric cockles shall excite
A jaded drinker's languid appetite,
Francis, tr. of Horace's Satires, ii. 4.
stewed Quaker. See Quaker.
II. intrans. To be cooked by slowly simmer-
ing— To stew in one's own grease. See grease.
stew^ (stu), n. [< ME. stewe, stite, stieive, stive
= MLG. stouwe, stomo, stou, stow, a dam, weir,
fish-pond; connected with stouwen, dam, hem
in, = G. stauen, dam, = MD. stouwen, heap up,
collect. Cf. stoJi'l.] 1. A pond, usually arti-
ficial, used for domestic purposes ; especially, a
pool or tank in which fish are kept until needed
for the table; a vivarium; a stew-pond.
Many a breem and many a luce in stuwe.
Chaucer, Gen. Prol. to C. T., 1. 350.
At the Priory, a low and moist situation, there were
ponds and stews for their fish.
Gilbert While, Antiq, of Selbome, Letter xxvi.
We find vivarium sometimes rendered as "vivary" and
at other times as "stew." Athenieum, No. 3234, p. 524.
2. A breeding-place for tame pheasants. En-
eye. Diet. — 3. An artificial bed of oysters:
used of the old Koman and also of the modem
methods of fattening.
Stew3 (stui, n. [< ME. stew (Sc. pi. stovys), mist ;
cf. Dan. stov, dust, D. stof, dust {stofregen,
drizzling rain), G. stauh, dust.] Dust; a cloud
of dust, smoke, or vapor. [Prov. Eng. and
Scotch.]
Stew*t, !'• A Middle English variant of stow^.
steward (stii'ard), n. [< ME. steivard, stewarde,
stewerd, stewerde, stuward, stuard (also Stewart,
Stuart, as in the surname Stewart, Stuart; AF.
estuard), earlier stiward, styward, < AS. stig-
weard, later stiweard (> Icel. stivardhr), a stew-
ard, < stigu, stigo, a sty, pen for cattle, + weard,
a ward : see sty'^ and ward. Cf . AS. stigivita, stU
wita, a steward, < stigu, stigo, a sty, + wifa, an
officer, adviser.] 1. One who has charge of
the household or estate of another ; a majordo-
mo ; especially, a person employed in a court,
household, or important domestic establishment
of any kind to superintend financial affairs, as
by keeping accounts, collecting rents or other
revenue, or disbursing money for household
expenses.
This lesBoun loke thow uojt for-3ete :
The stuard, countroller, and tresurere,
Sittand at de deshe, thou haylse in fere.
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 299
The first of them, that eldest was and best,
Of all the house had charge and governement.
As Guardian and Steward of the rest.
Spenser, F. Q., I. x. 37.
Protector, steward, substitute
Or lowly factor for another's gain.
Shak., Rich. IIL, iii. 7. 133.
The hedge broke in, the banner blew.
The butler drank, the steward scrawl'd.
Tennyson, Day-Dream.
2. An officer or retainer appointed to perform
duties similar to those mentioned above ; espe-
cially, a person appointed to provide and dis-
tribute food and all the requisites of the table ;
a purveyor, (a) In some British colleges, one who has
charge of the commons, (b) One of a ship's company whose
duty it is to distribute provisions to the officers and ci-ew.
In passenger-ships he has charge of the table, servants,
staterooms, etc., and is called distinctively cAj<^ Reward,
the title steicard being also extended to his male helpers —
those who wait at table and attend to the staterooms. In
a man-of-war the paymaster's steward is now styled pau-
master's yeoman (see yeoman) ; tlie cabin-steivard, ward-
room steward, steerage-steward, and warrant-oj^cers' stew-
ard are petty oflScers charged with providing for their
several messes and keeping the apartments in order.
3. Figuratively, a manager ; especially, one who
controls expenditure ; a disburser.
A man is but a steward of his owne goods ; whercf God
one day will demaund an account,
Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 261.
And what not rare? Luxury being the steward, and the
treasure unexhaustible. Sandys, Travailes, p. 25.
4. Formerly, in the English gilds, one of the
officers in charge of the finances of the society;
also, a corresponding functionary in municipal
affairs. The title is still given in English towns to ma-
gistrates varying in functions, authority, rank, etc. In
this latter case it is usually qualifled by some limiting
word : as, the city steward of York ; the land steward of
steward
Norwich ; the town steward of Northampton ; the lord
high gteicard of Gloucester.
That the siewardx of euery crafte that ben contributory
shulleii be called to the acconipte to l<nowe the charge.
English GUds (E. E. T. 8.X P- 3S3.
5. In the early church, same as econome or ceco-
nomus. — 6. A fiscal agent of certain bodies;
specifically, in the Methodist Church, an offi-
cer having charge of the finances and certain
other material interests of the church Hospi-
tal steward. See hospital.— LotA high steward of
England, one of the former great officers of state ; his
chief functions were at an early date assumed by the justi-
ciar. This office was the inheritance of the Earls of Leices-
ter, till forfeited by .Simon de llontfort to Henry III., at
the close of whose reign it was abolished as a permanent
dignity. A lord high steward is now created only for par-
ticular occasions — namely, a coronation or the trial of a
peer — the office to cease when the business requiring it is
ended. In the former case the lord high steward is com-
missioned to settle matters of precedence, etc.; in the
latter, to preside in the House of Lords. — Lord steward
Of the household, in England, one of the chief officers of
the royal household. He is the head of the court called
the Board of Green Cloth, which has the supervision of the
household expenses and accounts and their payment, the
purveyance of provisions, etc. ; but his duties are practi-
cally performed by a permanent official called the master
of the household. The lord steward is a peer and a mem-
ber of the ministry.— Steward, or high steward of
Scotland, an ancient officer of the crown of the highest
dignity and trust. He had not only the administration
of the crown revenues, but the chief oversight of all
the atfairs of the household, and the privilege of the first
place in the army, next to the king, in battle. — Steward
Of the Cbiltem Hundreds, see ChiUern Hundreds,
under hundred,
steward (stti'iird), r. t. [< steward, ».] To
manage as a steward.
Did he thus requite his mother's care in steiearding the
estate? FulUr, Holy War, p. 85.
stewardess (sti'Sr-des), n. [< steward + -ess.']
A female steward ; specifically, a woman who
waits upon women in passenger-vessels, etc.
My new attendant . , . told me she had formerly been
the tteirarduf of a passenger vessel at the same time that
her bnsband wa* steward.
Jean IngeUnc, Off the Skelligs, vi.
Stewardly (stu'Srd-li), ado. With or as with
the care of a steward; prudently; providently.
[Rare.]
It is with a provident deliberation, not a rash and prodi-
gal hand, to be dealt ; and to be sUwardly dispensed, not
wastefuUy spent
Tooker, Fabrick of the Church (1004X P- <8. (.Latham.)
Stewardly (stu'iird-li), o. Managing; careful;
jiripviili'iit. HaUiweU.
stewardry(-stQ'jird-ri),n. [Al80»feicar<ry,q.v.;
< stiinird + -ry.] Stewardship.
stewardship (stu'jird-ship), n. [< ME. stiward-
sliepe ; < steward 4- -ship.'] The office or func-
tions of a steward.
He hym gaae, wlthynne a litlU space.
Of all bis lande the Stiicar[d\ihepe to holde.
And fttll power to rewie It as be wold.
OtnerydafR. E.T. 8.X1. 105&
Give an acooont of tby atoimrdsAfp, for tboa mayest be
no longer steward. Loke xtL 2.
stewartf, ». An obsolete spelling of steward.
stewartry (stu'art-ri), ». [8c. var. of stew-
ardry.] If. Same as steioardrj/.
As an banun tUvartry, or trust.
Of which account Is to be glv'n, and JusL
B}/rom, Poetical Version of a Letter.
2. In Scotland, a jurisdiction over a certain ex-
tent of territory, verv similar to that of a re-
gality; also, the territory over which this ju-
ri.sdiction extends. Most itewartriea consisted of small
parcels of land which were only parts of a county: but
the stewartry of Kirkcudbright (often called distinctively
" The Stewartry "X and that of Orkney and Sbetland, make
counties by themselves.
stewedt (stud), a. [< stew^ + -«f2.] Lodged
in or belonging to the stews.
u ArUtlppus, tboa art a greate medler with this woman,
beyng a ilimd strumpette.
(T'dna, tr. of Apophthegms of Erasmus. (Davit*.)
Stewerdt, "• An old spelling of steward.
stewisht (stu'ish), a. [< stew^ + -wAi.] Per-
taiuiug to or befitting the stews.
Kbymed In mles of ttewiMh ribaldry.
Bp. aaO, Satires, I. li. 9.
stew-pan (stu'pan), n. A utensil in which any-
thinf; is stewed.
stew-pond (stu'pond), ». Same as stew'^.
I'hire ni a dovecote, some delightfnl stew-pondM, and a
very pretty canal.
Jane Austen, Sense and ftenslbiltty, xix.
stew-pot (stu'pot), n. 1. A pot with a cover
for making stews, soups, etc. — 2. A covered
pan used for heating rooms with charcoal.
[F'rov. Kng.]
steyt, steyet, r. and h. Same as sty^.
steyeret, «. A Middle English form of stair.
Stg. An abbreviation of sterling.
5941
Sthenia (sthe-ni'a), n. [NL., < Gr. adtvoi,
strength.] In pathoh, strength; excessive
force : opposed to asthenia or debility.
sthenic (sthen'ik), a. [< Gr. adevog, strength,
might, + -ic] 1. Strong; robust; character-
ized by power of organization or energy of func-
tion, as a part or organ of an animal. Seewic-
gastheiiic, microsthcnic. — 2. lupathoL, attended
with a morbid increase of vital (especially car-
diac) action. Sthenic diseases are opposed to
diseases of debility, or asthenic diseases. — 3.
Exciting; inspiring: said of feeling. [A use
introduced by Kant.]
sthenochire (sthen'o-kir), n. [< Gr. cdcvoc,
strength, -1- x^'P, hand.] An apparatus for ex-
ercising and strengthening the hands for piano-
forte- or organ-playing.
Stiacciato (stia-cha'to), a. [It., crushed, flat-
tened (cf. stiacciato, n., a cake), pp. of stiac-
ciare, crush, press.] In decorative art, in very
low relief, as if a bas-relief had been pressed
flatter.
Stiant, n. A variant of styan for styS.
stih (stib), «. [Origin obscure.] The American
dunlin, purre, or ox-bird : a gunners' name. See
cut under dunlin. F. C. Browne, 1876. [Massa-
chusetts.]
stibble (stib'l), ». A dialectal (Scotch) form
of stubble.
Stibbler (stib'l&r), n. [< stibble + -eri.] 1.
One who goes from ridge to ridge on the har-
vest-field, and cuts and gathers the handfuls
left bv the reapers. Jamieson. Hence — 2.
One wlio has no settled charge, but goes from
place to place: often applied humorously to
a clerical probationer. Scott, Guy Mannering,
xlvi. [Scotch in both senses.]
Stibbomet, a. A Middle English spelling of
stubborn.
Stibial (stib'i-al), a. [< NL. stibium + -al.]
Like or having the qualities of antimony; an-
timonial.
Stibialism (stib'i-al-izm), n. [< stibial + -ism.]
Antituonial intoxication or poisoning. Dun-
glison.
Stibiated (stib'i-a-ted), a. [< NL. stibium +
-af«l + -etP.] Impregnated with antimony.
stibic (stib'ik), a. [< NL. stibium + -ic.] Same
as antimonie.
Btibiconite (stib'i-kpn-it), »i. A hydrous oxid
of antimony, of a pale-yellow color, sometimes
massive and compact, and also in powder as an
incrustation. Also stib'ite.
stibions (stib'i-us), a. [< NL. stibium + -ous.]
Same as antimonious.
stlbinm (stib'i-iun), n. [NL., < L. stibium, also
stibi, stimmi, < Or. aTif}i, ari/ifu, a sulphuret of
antimony. Cf. antimony.] Antimony.
stiblite (stib'lit), B. Same as stibiconite.
Stibnite (stib'nit), ». [< NL. stibium + -n- (f)
-I- -ite^.] Native antimony trisulphid (SbgSs),
a mineral usually occurring in orthorhombic
crystals, sometimes of great size, often acicular,
and also massive. See cut under acicular. The
color Is lead-gray. Stibnite Is sometimes blackish and
dull ext«n>ally, and with an Iridescent tarnish, but when
treab It has a vety brilliant metallic luster, especially on
the surface of perfect cleavage. It is very soft, yielding to
the pressure of the nail, 'nils ore Is the source of moat
of the antimony of commerce. Also called antimonUt and
antimoTxy-gUmot.
Stibogram (stib'o-gram), M. [< Gr. ariiioq, a
footstep, -I- tftduita, a writing.] A graphic rec-
ord of footprints.
Stibomt, stiboumt, a. Middle English forms
of stubborn.
stich (stik), ». [< Gr. trrixfK, a row, order, line,
< OTtixi'v, go in line or order: see sty^. The
word occurs in acrostic^ (for acrostich), distich,
etc.] 1. Averse, of whatever measure or num-
ber of feet. — 2. A line in the Scriptures. — 3.
A row or rank, as of trees.
Sticharion (sti-ka'ri-on), n. ; pi. sticltaria {-&).
[< L(ir. oTixaptnv.'] In the Gr. Ch., a vestment
corresponding to the alb of the Western Church.
Like the alb. It Is a long robe with close sleeves, and for-
merly was of white linen. At the present day, however.
It Is often of silk or other rich material, and may be pur-
ple in color. It Is worn by subdeacons, deacons, priests,
and bishops.
stichel (stich 'el), n. [Also stichall, stetchil;
origin obscure.] A term of reproach, applied
especially by parents to children. Halliwell.
[Obsolete or prov. Eng.]
Barren, lUehell that shall not serve thy turn.
Lady Aliinony, I. 4 b.
Sticher (stich'^r), v. i. [Assibilated freq. of
»(m-/.i.] To c(ttch eels in a particular way. See
quotation under sticherer.
Stick
"Stiehering," a Hampshire method [of catching eelsl, is
perhaps one of the most amusing.
Pop. Set. Mo., XXIX. 269.
sticherer (stich '*r-*r), «. [< sticher + -erl.]
One who stichers.
In the wide, deep drains used for irrigation eels abound,
and the object of the sticherer is to thrust the sickle un-
der the eel's body, and, with a sudden hoist, to land him
on the bank, from which he is transferred to the bag.
Pop. Sci. Mo., XXIX. 259.
sticberon (sti-ke'ron),M. ; yX.stichera (-rii). [<
MGr. BTixtpiv (se. rpoTzapiov), neut. of arixvp^i,
pertaining to a versicle, < Gr.OTixo^, a verse, ver-
sicle.] In the Gr. Ch., a troparion, or one of
several troparia, following the psalms and in-
termingled with stichoi. See stichos.
Stichic (stik'ik), a. [< Gr. mixindg, of lines or
verses, < im'^of, a row, line: see stich.] Per-
taining to a verse or line ; consisting of verses
or lines; linear; specifically, in a«c.^)ros., com-
posedof lines of the same metrical form through-
out : opposed to systematic.
The stichic portions of the cantica of Terence are di-
vided into strophes. Amer. Jour. PhUoL, VII. 399.
Stichld (stik'id), n. [< stichidium, q. v.] In
bot., same as stichidium.
stichidium (sti-kid'i-um), »i.; pi. stichidia (-ii).
[NL., < Gr. arixoi, a row, line, + dim. -i<hov.] In
bot., a peculiarly modified branch of the thal-
lus in some algse, which serves as a receptacle
for the tetraspores. See cut under Algse. Far-
low, Marine Algw, p. 165.
Stichomancy (stik'o-man-si), n. [< Gr. arixog,
a row, line, + /lavreia, divination.] Divination
by lines or passages in books taken at hazard ;
bibliomancy.
Stichometric (stik-o-met'rik), a. [< stichom-
etr-i/ + -ic] Savae &8 stichometrical. J. R. Har-
ris,'Jour, of Philol., No. 15, p. 310.
stichometrical (stik-o-met'ri-kal), a. [< stich-
ometric -I- -al.] Of or pertaining to stichom-
etry; characterized by measurement by stichs
or lines ; stating the number of lines.
Quite lately Mommsen has published ... a previously
unknown stichometrical catalogue of the books of the Bible,
and also of the writings of Cyprian.
.S^mon, Int. to the New Testament, p. 559, note.
stichometry (sti-kom'e-tri), n. [< Gr. arixof,
a row, line, verse,-!- -/ifTp/a,<///T/)oi', a measure.]
In paleog. , measurement of manuscripts by lines
of fixed or average length ; also, an edition or a
list containing or stating such measurement.
It ("The Assumption of Moses"] is included in the sti-
chometry of Nicephorus, who assigns it the same length
... as the Apocalypse of Ht. John.
Salmon, Int. to the New Testament, p. 526.
Stichomythia (stik-o-mith'i-a), M. [< Gr. an-
Xo/i\€ia, dialogue in alternate lines, < artxo/jv-
Oeiv, answer one another line by line: see stich
and myth.] In anc. Gr. drama and bucolic poetry,
dialogue in alternate lines, or pairs or gi-oups of
lines; also, arrangement of lines in this manner.
Usnally in such dialogue one speaker opposes or corrects
the other, often with partial repetition or imitation of his
words. Also stichomythy.
The speeches of this play are of inordinate length,
though stichomythia in the Greek antithetical manner is
also introduced. A. W. Ward, Eng. Dram. Lit., 1. 118.
stichos (stik'os), n. ; pi. stichoi (-oi). [< Gr.
'"■';tofi a row, line, verse.] 1. In paleog., a
line of average length assumed in measuring
the length of a manuscript. See epos, 3, and
stichometry. — 2. In the Gr. Ch., averse or ver-
sicle, as in the psalter or the odes; especially,
a verse or part of a verse from a psalm, used
as a versicle.
stichwortt, «. See stitchwort.
Stick^ (stik), r. ; pret. and pp. stuck, ppr. sticl-
inq. [A verb confused in form and meanings
with si'ick^, stick^ being more prop, stcek (as in
dial, uses) or 'steak (after the analogy of break,
speak, etc.) ; E. dial, steek, Sc. steik, etc. ; < ME.
stiken, prop, sicken (pret. stak, pp. steken, i-stck-
en, y-steke, stiken, stoken; also, by conformity
with stick'^, pret. stiked, stikede, pp. stiked),<. AS.
'stecan (pret. "sttec, pp. "stecmi), pierce, stab, =
OS. stekan (pret. stak) = OFries. steka = MD.
D. steken = MLG. LG. steken = OHG. stechan,
stehhan, MHG. G. stechen (pret. «tocA, pp. gcsto-
chen), pierce ; not found in Scand. or (Joth. (the
Goth, form would be 'stikan ; cf. Goth, .itaks, a
mark, stigma, stiks, a point, a moment of time) ;
Teut. y/ stik = L. -^ stig (in instigare, prick, in-
stigate, "stinguere (in comp. distinguere, distin-
guish, exstingucre, extinguish), stimulus, a prick,
goad, stilus, a point, style, etc.) = Gr. i/ any
(in CTTiftd', prick, ariy/ia, a prick, mark, spot) =:
Skt. -v/ tU for 'stij, be sharp. From this root
are ult. E. stick^, stick^, stitch, steajc, sting, etc.,
stick
and, through OF., ticket, etiquette (from a col-
lateral Teut. root, staked, stock^, staiii/^, stoke^,
stoker, et«.) ; from the L. root are ult. E. style'^,
distinguish, extinguish, distinct, extinct, instinct,
stimulate, stimultis, instigate, prestige, etc. The
verb stick^, pierce, has been confused, partly in
ME. and completely in mod. E., with its deriva-
tive stick^. The reg. mod. pret. of stick^ would
be 'stack or *stakc (as in ME.), but the pret. has
yielded to the influence of the pp. , and, becom-
ing "stoke, appears in mod. E. with shortened
vowel stuck, as also in the pp. (cf . break, pret.
brake, now broke, pp. broken ; speak, pret. spake,
now spoke, pp. spoken — verbs phonetically par-
allel to sWcfci).] I.trans. 1. To pierce or punc-
ture with a pointed instrument, as a dagger,
sword, or pin ; pierce ; stab.
The sowdan and the Cristen everichone
Ben al tohewe [hewed) and stited at the bord.
Chaucer, Man of Law's Tale, 1. 332.
He drew hia shining blade,
Thinking to gtick her where she stood.
Ckrk CkHpOI; or, The Mermaid (Child's Ballads. I. 194).
A villain fitter to stick swine
Than ride abroad redressing women's wrong.
Tennysmi, Gareth and Lynette.
2. To push, thrust, or drive the point or end of,
as into something which one seeks to pierce,
or into a socket or other receptacle ; place and
fix by thrusting into something.
A broche golde and asiire,
In whiehe a ruby set was lik an herte,
Cryseyde hym gaf, and stak it on his sherte.
Chaucer, TroUus, iii. 1372.
The Israelites . , . neither prayed to him, neither kissed
his bones, nor offered, nor sticked up candles before him.
Tyndale, Ans. to Sir T. More, etc. (Parker Soc, 1860), p. 123.
I would not see . . . thy fierce sister
In his anointed flesh stick bearish fangs.
Shak; Lear, iii. 7. B8.
3. To thrust ; cause to penetrate or enter in
any way ; loosely, to thrust or put (something)
where it will remain, without any idea of pene-
tration.
Byndez byhynde, at his bak, bothe two his handez, . . .
Stik hym stilly in stokez.
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), ii. 157.
A lean old gentleman . . . stuck his head out of the
window. J. S, Le Fanu, Dragon Volant, i.
Behind the said ear was stuck a fresh rose.
Kingdey, Westward Ho, ii.
4. To insert in something punctured: as, to
stick card-teeth ; hence, to set with something
pointed or with what is stuck in: as, to stick a
cushion full of pins.
Tho chambur dore stekes tho vssher thenne
With preket [candles] and fortes [torches] that conne
brenne. Babees Book (E. E. T. S.), p. 316.
Biron. A lemon.
Long. Stuck with cloves. Shak.,h. L. L., v. 2. 664.
5. To thrust or fix upon something pointed:
as, to stick a potato on a fork.
Their heads were stuck upon spears.
Burke, Rev. in France.
6. In carp., to run or strike (a molding) with a
molding-plane. — 7\. To close; shut; shut up.
See steek.
When the kyng had consaynit Cassandra noise.
He comaundet hir be caght, & closit full hard :
In a stithe house of ston stake hir vp fast.
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 7191.
Stick a pin there, make a note of that ; take heed of
that. [Colloq.] — To stick ofirt, to setoff ; adorn. Com-
pare the phrase and quotation under II.
The bumble variety whereof [of the Torch-bearers' hab-
its] siucke of the more amplie the maskers high beauties,
shining in the habits of themselues.
Chapman, Masque of the Middle Temple.
To Stick out, to cause to project; protrude. — To Stick
pigs, to hunt wild hogs with the spear, the hunter being
mounted, especially in British India. [Colloq.]
II. intrans. 1. To be fastened or fljced by or
as by piercing or by insertion ; remain where
thrust in : as, the arrow sticks in the target.
Therein stiked a lily flour. Chaucer. Sir Thopas, 1. 196.
Lucretia's glove, wherein her needle sticks.
S/iak., Lucrece, L 317.
2. To be thrust; extend or protrude in any di-
rection.
She espied his cloven foot.
From his gay robes sticking thro*.
The Dsenum Lover (Child's Ballads, I. .303).
To stick offt, to appear to advantage ; show off ; make a
display.
I'll be your foil, T^ertes ; in mine ignorance
Your skill shall, like a star i' the darkest night,
StMk fiery o/ indeed. SAo*., Hamlet, v. 2. 268.
To stick out, to project ; be prominent.
One hair a little here slicks out, forsooth.
B. Jonson, Volpone, iii. 2.
To Stick up, to stand up ; be erect. [Colloq. ] — To Stick
np for, to espouse or maintain the cause of ; speak or act
5942
In defense of ; defend : as, to stick up/or an absent friend ;
to stuk up for the truth or one's rights. [Colloq.]
Heard him abuse you to Ringwood. Ringwood stuck
up for you and for your poor governor — spoke up like a
man — like a man who sticks up for a fellow who is down.
Thackeray, Philip, xL
To stick up to. Sam e as togfami up (o (which see, under
stand). [Colloq.]
No matter how excellent may be the original disposition
of the head lK)y, if there is no one who dare stick up to him,
he soon becomes intolerable.
Contemporary Rev., LV. 173.
stick! (stik), n. [< stick^, ».] A thrust with a
pointed instrument which pierces, oris intended
to pierce.
Stick^ (stik), V. ; pret. and pp. stuck (formerly
sticked), ppr. sticking, [< ME. sticken, stikken,
stykken, stiken, stijken, sicken, stikieu, stykieii,
stekien (pret. stikede, etc. ; also, by conformity
with stick^, pret. stak, pp. steken, stokcn), be
fastened, adhere, also fasten, < AS. stician (pret.
sticode) (= MLGr. steken), pierce, stab, intr.
cleave, adhere, stick; a weak form, parallel
with an unrecorded form to be assumed as the
cognate of the LG., etc., weak verb, namely
AS. *steccan = MD. stecken = MLG. LG. stecke'n
= OHG. siecchen, MHG. G. stecken (pret. steckte;
also, by conformity with stechen, -pret. stack),
stick, set, stick fast, remain, = Sw. sticka =
Dan. stikke, stab, sting (these appar. due in
part to the LG. forms cognate with stick^) ; not
found in Goth., where the form would be *stak-
jan, standing for "staikjan = AS. as if "stxcan,
etc., a secondary form from the root *stik, or
else directly from the root *stak, a collateral
form of the root "stik : see stick^ , and ef . sticks.
The forms and senses of the primitive and de-
rivative verbs become confused, and cannot
now be wholly separated ; in most dictionaries
the two verbs are completely merged. Under
stick^ are put all uses of the verb so spelled
not clearly belonging originally to stick^ or
stick^. The proper pret. of stick'^ is sticked;
this has been superseded by stuck, or dial, stack
(ME. stak), which prop, belongs only to sficfcl.]
1. trans. 1. To pierce; stab. See stick^. — 2.
To fasten or attach by causing to adhere : as,
to stick a postage-stamp on a letter.
Twenty ballads stuck about the walL
/. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 65.
You should be on the look-out when Debarry's side have
stuck up fresh bills, and go and paste yours over them.
George Eliot, Felix Holt, xxviiL
3. To cause to come to a stand; puzzle; pose.
[Slang.] — 4. To impose upon ; cheat; chouse.
[Slang.]
The pawnbrokers have been so often sticck . . . with
inferior instruments that it is difficult to pledge even a
really good violin.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, II. 18.
The second purchaser found a customer willing to give
ten franca for it, but the latter's family so ridiculed him
for having been stuck on the canvas that he put it away
out of sight in his garret. The American, XIII. 14.
5. To beat, as at a game of cards: with/or be-
fore the penalty or stake : as, to stick one for the
drinks at poker. [Slang.]— To lae stuck on, to
be greatly taken with ; be enamored of. [Slang, U. S.] —
To be stuck up, to be proud or conceited. [Colloq.] —
To stick one's self up, to exalt or display one's self ;
assert one's self. [Colloq.] — To Stick up, to plunder;
waylay and rob : as, to stick up a mail-coach ; to siick up a
bank. [Bush-rangers' slang, Australia.]
Having attacked, or, in Australian phrase, stuck up the
station, and made prisoners of all the inmates.
Leisure Hour, March, 18S5, p. 192. (Eticyc. Diet.)
II, intrans. 1. To cleave as by attraction or
adhesion ; adhere closely or tenaciously.
She nadde on but a streit olde sak,
And many a cloute on it ther stak.
Bom. of the Rose, 1. 458.
The gray hairs yet stack to the heft.
Bums, Tam o' Shanter.
And on thy ribs the limpet sticks.
Tennyson, The Sailor-Boy.
2. To remain where placed ; holdfast: adhere;
cling; abide.
A bom devil, on whose nature
Nurture can never stick. Shak., Tempest, iv. 1. 189.
Now began an ill name to stick upon the Bishops of
Rome and Alexandria. Milton, Reformation in Eng., ii.
But finding that they [doubts] still stuck with his follow-
ers, he took the last and best way of satisfying them.
Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, II. ii.
*' We may teach you to ride by-and-by, I see ; I thought
not to see you stick on so long — " "I should have
stuck on much longer, sir, if her sides had not been wet.'^
B. D. Blackmore, Ix)rna Doone, xi."
3. To hold or cling in friendship and affection.
There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.
Prov. xviii. 24.
stick
Like true, inseparable, faithful loves,
Sticking together in calamity.
Shak., K. John, iii. 4. 67.
4. To be hindered from proceeding or advan-
cing; bo restrained from moving onward or
from acting; be arrested in a course, career,
or progress; be checked or arrested; stop.
And 3it in my synne y stonde and sticke,
Yuel custum ys ful hard to blynne.
Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 197.
I had most need of blessing, and "Amen "
Stuck in my throat. Shak., Macbeth, ii. 2. :i3.
We stuck upon a sand bank so fast that it was after sun-
set before we could get oflf.
Bruce, Source of the Nile, L 93.
5. To be embarrassed or puzzled ; be brought
to a standstill, as by being unable to interpret
or remember the words one is attempting to
read or recite.
They will slick a long time at a part of a demonstration,
not for want of will and application, but really for want
of perceiving the connection of two ideas.
Locke, Conduct of the Understanding, § 6.
Some of the young chaps stick in their parts. They get
the stage-fever and knocking in the knees.
Mayhew, London Labour and London Poor, III. 142.
6. To scruple; hesitate: withal.
I . . . desired his opinion of it, and in particular touch-
ing the paucity of Auditors, whereat I fonnerly slicked,
as you may remember.
Thomas Adams, in Ellis's Lit. Letters, p. 148.
To serve him I should, I think, stick at nothing.
Pepys, Diary, IV. 141.
To stick at it, to persevere. [Colloq.] — To Stick by.
(a) To adhere closely to ; be constant or faithful to.
For, of so many thousands that were vnder mine empire,
you only haue folowed and sticked by me.
J. Brende, tr. of Quintus Curtius, v.
(6) To remain with ; abide in the memory or possession
of: as, ill-gotten gains never stick by a man.
Nothing stickes faster by vs, as appeares,
Then that which we learne in our tender yeares.
Pttttenham, Arte of Eng, Poesie, p. 197.
To stick in one's gizzard. See gizzard.— To stick In
or to one's fingers, to remain unlawfully in one's hands.
He was — if half Leicester's accusations are to be be-
lieved—a most infamous peculator. One-third of the
money sent by the Queen for the soldiers stuck in his fin-
gers. Motley, Hist. United Netherlands, II. 87.
To stick out, to refuse to comply or come to tei^ns ; hold
out or hold back: as, to stick out for a better price. — To
Stick to, to abide firmly and faithfully by ; hold fast to:
as, to stick to a resolution.
Stick^ (stik), 7t. [< stick^, v."] 1. An adhesion,
as by attraction or viscosity.
A magnetic stick between the wheels and the rails, which
largely augments the amount of traction.
Elect. Rev. (Amer.), XVII. 194.
2. Hesitation; demur; a stop; a standstill.
When he came to the Hill Difficulty, he made no ^ick
at thatj nor did he much fear the lions.
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, Sixth Stage.
3 . A strike among workme n . HalliweU,
[Prov. Eng.]
stick^ (stik), n. [< ME. sticke^ stikke^ < AS.
sticca, a stick, peg, nail, = MD. stick, steck,
MLG. stickcj LG. stikke = OHG. sticcho, stecchOj
stecho (> It. stecco, thorn, stecca, staff, F. eti-
quette, ticket, etc.), MHG. stecke, steche, G.
stecken f a stick; cf. Icel^stikaj stick (for fuel),
a stick (yard-measure): so called as having
orig, a sharp point ; from the root of siick^ (AS.
*stecan^ etc.): see stick^, stick'^, and cf. stakCj
steak, stitch, stickle^, etiquette, ticket, etc. ; also
stock'^, etc.] 1. A piece of wood, generally
rather long and slender; a branch of a tree or
shrub cut or broken off; also, a piece of wood
chopped or cut for burning or other use : often
used figuratively.
Of all townes, castels, fortes, bridges, and habitations,
they left not any stick standing.
Spenser, State of Ireland.
Wither'd slicks to gather, which might serve
Against a winter's day. Milton, P. R., i. 316.
Come, liostess, lay a few more sticks on the fire. And
now, sing when you will.
/. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 174.
2. A cudgel; a rod; a wand; especially, a
walking-stick or cane.
Although thow stryke me with thi staffs with stikke or
with gerde. Piers Plowman (B), xii. 14.
Your old friend Mr. Burchell, walking . . . with the
great stick for which we used so much to ridicule him !
Goldsmith, Vicar, xxx.
Stick is a lai^e genus, running up from switch to cud-
gel, from rod to bludgeon. De Quincey, Homer, iL
3. Anything in the form of a stick, or some-
what long and slender: as, a stick of candy; a
stick of sealing-wax; one of the sticks of a fan,
whether of wood, metal, or other material.
A painted Landskip Fann, cutt, gilded Sticks.
Quoted in Ashton's Social Life in Keign of Queen Anne,
[I. 176.
stick
4. Specifically — («) The wand or baton with
which a musical conductor directs a chorus or
orchestra. (6) The wooden rod or back of a
bow for playing on a musical instrument of the
viol class, (c) The wooden rod or wand, with
a rounded or padded head, with which a dnmi
or similar musical instrument is beaten and
sounded; a drumstick. — 5. In printing: (n) A
composing-stick. (6) A piece of furniture used
to iock up a form in a chase or galley. It is
called, according to the place it occupies, head-
stick, foot-stick, side-stick, or gutter-stick. — 6.
The rod which is carried by the head of a rocket,
and serves to direct its flight.
And the ftnal event to himself [Mr. Burke) has been
that, as he rose like a rocket, he fell like the gtUk.
T. Paiiie, Letter to the Addressers.
7. A timber-tree. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] —
8. Xaut., a mast: as, the gale was enough to
blow the sticks out of her. [Humorous.] — 9.
That which is strung on a stick; a string: as,
a stickof herring. — 10. The number of twenty-
five eels, or the tenth part of a bind, according
to the old statute de ponderihus. Also called
strike. — 11. A stick-insect. Bee stick-bug a,xiA
walking-stick. — 12. A person who is stiff and
awkward in bearing; hence, a stupid, incapa-
ble, or incompetent person. [CoUoq.]
I was surprised to see Sir Henry such a gtieJc. Luckily
the strength of the piece did not depend upon him.
Jane Augten. Mansfield Park, ziU.
About the poorest Hick for a legislator ever elected.
.Vew York Tribune, Sept. 4, 1855.
As cross as two sticks, see i:ro«i.— Devil on two
sticks, ^^ee (fei'i^ — In a cleft stick. See ei^t^.— Long
stick. Inmeasurin^ British musUna, long gtick is the y&rd-
measure of 3G inches and athuiub, equivident to 37 inches.
It is used to measure goods for the home market. Goods
for the foreign market are measured hy short ttick, in which
the yard consists of 36 inches and a thumb, or about 36
inches. — Middle Stick, a measure containing 35| inches
and a thumb to the yard, or about 36^ inches. — Stick and
Stone, the whole ; everything : as, to leave neither stick
nor «ton« standing. CoraptLte stock and bicek, ander stocks.
And this it was she swore, never to marry
But such a one whose mighty arm could carry . . .
Her bodily away through slide and stone.
Beau, and Ft., Knight of Burning Pestle, ii. 1.
To beat all to sticks, to outdo completely. [CoUoq.,
Eng. I
Many ladies in Stnuburg were besntifnl, still
They were beat alt to sticks by the lovely Odille.
Barham, Ingoldsby L^ends, L 239.
To cut one's stick. See cut.— To so to sticks and
staves, to go tu pieces ; fall into ruin ; in allusion to a
tub with broken hoops.
She married a Highland drover or tacksman, I can't tell
which, and they leent all (o sticks and slaves.
Miss Ferrier, InherltaDce, 1. 06. (Jamiaon.)
= Syn.a.8ee<ta/.
sticks (stik), P. <. [< attcfcS, „.] l. TofumUh
or set with sticks, as for climbing upon : said
of peas.
Bat I . . . must ... go stUk some rows of pew which
are already flourishing in our new garden.
Carlyle, in Fronde, Ast Forty Years, zxiv.
I waa sUeUng peas in my own garden.
Jean Ingaow, Fated to be Free, vL
2. lu printing, to arrange in a composing-stick;
compose : as, to stick type.
stickadoret, stickadovet (stik'a-dor, -duv), n.
[Also stickmtouc, stiaidiiiw, slickado, steckado,
sticados; < F. «f€cAarfo« (Cotgrave), for corrupt
forms of NL. itaekailoi, fto» steeckados, flower
of Staechas: stcechados, gen. of Stcechos, q. v.]
A species of lavender, Lavandula SUechas, used
offieinally. See lavender^.
stick-bait (stik' bat ). «. Insects or worms found
sticking to the under surface of stones, and
used as bait. [North Carolina.]
stick-bog (stik bug), n. 1. Any orthopterous
insect of the family
Phasmidse: particularly
applied to Diapheromera
femorata. the common-
est insect of this kind in
the United States, where
it is also called wood-
horse, stick-insect, twig-
bug, twig-insect, walking-
twig, walkiitg-sUek, prai-
rie-aUigator, specter, and
deviVs horse. See cut
under Phasma. [Local,
U.S.] — 2. Apredaceous
reduvioid bug of the
United States, Emesa
longipes, with a long
slender brown body and
long spider-like legs, the front pair of which
are raptorial ; the spider-bug. when lodged on a
Stkl(.tMK iEmtia t9ngip€s').
5943
twig, it swings its body back and forth like some of the
daddy-long-legs. This insect resembles some of the Phas-
midie, which receive the same name, but belongs to a dif-
ferent order.
stick-culture (stik'kul'tur), «. A bacterial
culture made by thrusting a platinum needle
(sterilized and then dipped into a growth of the
microbe or other material to be examined) into
the culture-medium, as a tube of gelatin.
Stickedt. An obsolete past participle of stick^.
sticker^ (stik'er), n. [< stick^ + -erl.] 1. One
who or that which sticks or stabs ; especially,
one who kills swine or other animals by stick-
ing or stabbing.
Master Bardell the pig-butcher, and his foreman, or, as
he was more commonly called. Ram the Sticker.
Hood, Sketches on the Road, The Sudden Death.
2. An anglers' gaff. [Slang.] — 3. A sharp re-
mark or an embarrassing question, intended or
adapted to silence or pose a person. Thackeray.
sticker^ (stik'er), w. [< stick^ -t- -CT-l.] 1. One
who adheres, clings, or sticks to anything.
Although cultm-e makes us fond stickers to no machinery,
not even our own. if. Arnold, Culture and Anarchy, Pref.
2. One who sticks, or causes to adhere, as by
pasting.
The biU-seielvr, whose large flat basket, stuffed with
placards, leaned near him against the settle.
aeorge Eliot, Felix Holt, xxvUi.
3. Same as paster, 2. — 4. An article of mer-
chandise which sticks by the dealer and does
not meet with a ready sale. [U. S.] — 5. In
organ-building, a wooden rod serving to trans-
mit motion between the ends of two recipro-
cating levers, stickers are usually held in place by
pins in their ends, which work freely in holes or slots in
the lever-ends. See cut under organ.
6. pi. The arms of a crank-axis employed to
change the plane and direction of a reciprocat-
ing motion. For distinction the arms are thus named
when they act by compression, and are called trackers
when they act by tension. The axis is termed a roller.
stickful (stik'ful), n. [< stick'i -I- -/«/.] In
printing, as much composed type as can be con-
tained in a composing-stick.
stick-handle (stik'han'dl), r. The handle of
a walking-stick. See canel.
stick-helmet (stik'hel'met), n. A mask with
additional guards for the forehead and head,
used in cuilgel-play.
stickiness (stik'i-ne8),n. The property of being
sticky, adhesive, or tenacious; viscousness;
glutinousness.
sticking! (sfik'ing), n. [Verbal n. of sttcifcl, v.]
The act of stabbing or piercing, (o) The act of
throating a knife or spear into the neck or body of a beast
Hence — (6) pi. The part of a beast's neck where it is
stabbed by the butcher ; a coarse and cheap cut of beet
or pork.
The meat is bought in "pieces," of the same part as
the sansage makers purchase — the sliekings~Sit about
Sd. the pound.
Mayhne, London Labour and London Poor, 1. 196.
(e) Stitching; needlework. (Scotch, in the form tfMMn^.]
The cloth of It was satin fine,
And the sleeking silken wark.
The JoUy OotAawf (Child's Ballads, HI. 2S9).
sticking- (stik'ing), n. [Verbal n. of stick^, ».]
1 . The act of coming to a stop. Compare stick-
ing-place.
All sUckings and heattattons seem stupid and stony.
Donne, Letters, iv.
Specifically — 2. pi. The last of a cow's milk;
strippingg. [Prov. Eng.]
Sticking-place (stik'ing-plas), n. The point
where anything sticks, stays, or stops; a place
of stay.
Which flower out of my hand shall never passe.
But in my heart shall have a stieking-place.
Qorgeotis OaUsry qf GaUant IncenHtmsilbl^), quoted in
[Fumeas's Variorum Shakespeare, Macbeth,
But screw your courage to the sUcking-plaee,
And we'll not fail. ,Shak., Macbeth, L 7. 60.
sticking-plaster (stik 'ing- pits 't6r), n. 1.
Same as resin plaster (which see, under plas-
ter).— 2. Court-plaster.
In the reign of Charles I., . . . suns, moons, stars, and
even coaches and four were cut of sticking plaisler, and
stuck on the face.
J. Athlon, Social Life in Reign of Queeu Anne, I. 169.
Sticking-point (stik'ing-point), n. Same as
stieking-place.
One sight of thee would nerve me to the sticking-poinL
Disraeli, Alroy, L 2.
stick-insect (stik'in'sekt), n. Same as stick-
bug, \. See walking-stick.
stick-in-the-mnd (stik'in-the-mud'), n. An old
fogy; a slow or insignificant person. [CoUoq.]
This rusty-colored one fa pin] is that respectable old
sUek-in-Uu-mud, Nioias.
T. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxford, L i.
stickleback
Stickit (stik'it), p. a. [Sc. form of slicked, pp. of
stick'^ (and stick^).'] Stuck. [Scotch.]— stlcMt
minister, in Scotland, a student of theology who fails to
obtain license, or a licentiate who fails to obtain a pas-
toral charge.
He became totally incapable of proceeding in his in-
tended discourse—. . . shut the Bible — stumbled down
the pulpit-stairs, trampling upon the old women who gen-
erally take their station there- and was ever after desig-
nated as a stickit minister. Scott, Guy Mannering, ii.
stick-lac (stik'lak), n. See lac'^, 1.
Sticklel (stik'l), n. [< ME. *stikel, *stykyl (in
comp.), < AS. sticel (also, with diff. formative,
sticels), a prickle, sting, = MD. stekel, later
stickel, D. stekel = LG. stikkel (in comp.), also
stikke = OHG. stichil, MHG. stichel, G. dial.
stickel, a prickle, sting, =Icel. stikill,th.e pointed
end of a horn, = Norw. stikel, a prickle (cf.
MD. staekel, OHG. stachuUa, stacchulla, stachilla,
stachila, MHG. 6. siachel, a thorn, prickle,
sting) ; akin to sticca, etc., a (pointed) stick
(see stick'^), < *stecan, pierce, prick, stick : see
sHcfcl.] A sharp point; a prickle; a spine.
[Obsolete, except in sticklebacks., stickle-haxteA,
stickly, and the local name Pike o' Stickle, one
of the two Pikes of Langdale in England.]
stickle^ (stik'l), a. and n. [Early mod. E. also
stikle; < ME. stikel, < AS. sticol, sticel, steep,
high, inaccessible, < *stecan, pierce, prick, stick:
seesftcfcl.] I. a. 1. Steep; high; inaccessible.
— 2. High, as the water of a river; swollen;
sweeping; rapid.
When they came thither, the riuer of the Shenin, which
inulroneth and runneth round about the citie, they found
the same to be so dee^e and stikle that they could not passe
ouer the same. (Hraldus Cambrenxis, Couq. of Ireland,
[p. 37 (Holinshed's Chron., I.).
H. n. 1. A shallow in a river where the wa-
ter, being confined, runs with violence.
Patient anglers standing all the day
Neare to some shallow stickle or deepe bay.
W. Browne, Britannia's Pastorals, ii. 4.
2. A current below a waterfall.
The water runs down with a strong, sharp stickle, and
then has a sudden elbow in it, where the small brook
trickles in. R. D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone, vii.
[Trov. Eng. in all uses.]
stickle^ (stik'l), v.; pret. and pp. stickled, ppr.
stickling. [A mod. var. of stightle, which also
appears (with a reg. change of the orig. gut-
tural gh to/) as stiffle: see stightle. In defs.
II., 2, 3, the sense has been influenced by asso-
ciation with stick^.'i I.t trans. To interpose in
and put a stop to; mediate between; pacify.
They ran unto him, and pulling him back, then too fee-
ble for them, by force sticHed that unnatural fray.
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, I.
n. intrans. If. To interpose between com-
batants and separate them ; mediate ; arbitrate.
There had been blood shed if I had not stickled.
W. Cartwright, The Ordinary (Hazlitt's Dodsley, XII. 276).
2. To take part with one side or the other;
uphold one party to a dispute.
Fortune (as she 's wont) turn'd fickle.
And for the foe began to stickle.
S. BuUer, Hudibras, I. iii. 616.
You, Bellmour, are bound in Gratitude to stickle (or him ;
you with Pleasure reap that Fruit which he takes pains
to BOW. Congreve, Old Batchelor, 1. 4.
3. To contest or contend pertinaciously on in-
suflicient grounds ; insist upon some trifle.
I hear no news about your bishops, farther than that
the lord lieutenant stickles to have them of Ireland.
Swift, Letter, May 13, 1727.
4. To hesitate.
Some . . . stickle not to aver that you are cater-cousin
with Beelzebub himself.
Barhan^, Ingoldsby Legends, I. 122.
5. To play fast and loose ; waver from one side
to the other; trim.
stickleback (stik'l-bak), n. [Also corruptly
.•iticklebag, and metamorphosed tittlebat; < ME.
"stikeibak, stykylbak; < stickle'^- + back^. Cf.
thornback, and see stickling.'] Any fish of the
family Oasterosteidse : so called from the sharp
Two-spined Stickleback i,Gastirosltus acuUatus).
(From Report of U. S. Fish Coniniisston.)
spines of the back. They are small fishes, a few inches
long, of 5 genera, Gasterosteus, Pygosteus, Eucalia. Apfltes,
and Spiwiehia, but very pugnacious and rapacious,
being especially destructive to the spawn and fry of
many larger fishes. They inhabit fresh waters and
sea-arms of northern Europe, Asia, and North America
Nest or Stickleback.
stickleback
to the number of nearly 20 species. The common two- or
three-spined stickleback, banstickle, btlrnstickle, or tit-
tlebat, is G. acuteatugy 4 inches long. Another is the nlne-
or ten-spined, Pygaetera pungitiu*. The fljFteen-spined
stickleback, or
sea-stickleback, is
S^inachia ndaarigf
of the northerly
coasts of Ettrope,
a marine species,
from 5 to 7 inches
long, of very slen-
der elongate form,
with a tubular
snout. They ar«
among the most
characteristic
fishes of the north-
em hemisphere iu
the colder re-
gions. Except in
the breeding-sea-
son, they live In
shoals, and are
sometimes numer-
ous enough to be-
come of commer-
cial value for their oil or for manure. They are noted for
the construction of elaborate nests whicll the male builds
for the eggs, in which several females often or generally
deposit their burden. The eggs are comparatively few,
and while being hatched are assiduously guarded by the
male. The local or popular synonyms of the sticklebacks
are numerous, among them prickleback, spricklebact:, stick-
linffy and sharjpling.
Sticklebas (stik'l-bag), n. A corruption of
stickh'biick: I. Walton, Complete Angler, i. 5.
Stickle-hairedf (stik'l-hard), a. Having a
rough or shaggy coat; rough-haired.
Those [dogs] that serve for that purpose are stickle haired,
and not unlike the Irish grayhounds.
Sandys, Travailes, p. 60.
stickler (stik'lfer), n. [An altered form of
stiteler,*sUg1itler, after stickle for stiglitle: see
stickle^, stightle.'] If. An attendant on or a
judge of a contest, as a duel ; a second ; hence,
an arbitrator; a peacemaker.
The dragon wing of night o'erspreads the earth,
And, <(taK<r-like, the armies separates.
Shak., T. and C, v. 8. 18.
Buriasso, a stickler or iudge of any combatants, such a
one as brings into the listes such as shall fight a combat,
or run at tUt. Florio, 1698.
Hee is a great stickler in the tumults of double lugges,
and venters his head by his Place, which is broke many
times to keep whole the peace.
Bp. Earle, Micro-cosmographie, A Constable.
2. An obstinate contender about anything, of-
ten about a thing of little consequence: as, a
sf(cA:?«r for ceremony; an advocate; apartizan.
He was one of the delegates (together with'Dr. Dale,
&c.) for the Tryall of Mary Queen of Scots, and was a
great stidder tot the saving of her life.
Auttrey, Lives (William Aubrey).
stickling (stik'ling), n. [Early mod. E. also
stijckelyng; < ME. stikeling, stykelynge, steke-
lyng ; < stickle^ + -ingS. Cf. stickleback.'] A
fish: same as stickleback.
stickly (stik'li), a. [< stickle^ + -yi.] Prickly;
rough. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
stick-play (stik'pla), n. Same as cudgel-play
or single-stick.
stick-pot (stik'pot), n. A lath-pot for taking
lobsters : the common form of lobster-trap,
semicylindrical or rectangular in shape, and
constructed of laths or of any narrow strips of
wood.
Other names by which they are known to the fishermen
are "box-traps, "house-pots," " stick -pots," and "lath-
coops. " Fisheries of U. S., V. ii. 666.
Stickseed (stik'sed), «. A plant of the genus
Eckinospermum, of the borage family. The genus
consists of rather slender rough weeds whose seeds bear
on the margin from one to three rows of barbed prickles,
by which they adhere to clothing, etc. E. Virffinicum, the
beggar's-lice, is a leading American species.
Sticktail (stik'tal), n. The ruddy duck, Eris-
matura rubida. See cut under Erismatura. J.
P. Giratid, 1844. [Long Island.]
sticktight (stik'tit), n. A composite weed,
Bidens frondosa, whose flat achenia bear two
barbed awns; also, one of the seeds. The name
is doubtless applied to other plants with adhe-
sive seeds. Compare beggars-ticks, beggar's-
lice.
Stickyl (stik'i), a. [< stick^ + -y'^.'] 1. Having
the property of adhering to a surface ; inclining
to stick; adhesive; viscous; viscid; glutinous;
tenacious. — 2. Humid; producing stickiness;
muggy : as, a disagreeable, sticky day. [Colloq.]
sticky^ (stik'i), a. [< sUck^ + -j/i.] Like a
stick; stiff.
But herbs draw a weak juyce, and have a soft stalk;
and therefore those amongst them which last longest are
herbs of strong smell, and with a sticky stalk.
Bacon, Nat. Hist., § 583.
5944
Stlcta (stik'tS), M. [NL. (Schreber, 1774), <
Gr. ctikt6(, spotted, dappled, punctuated, ver-
bal adj. < ariCetv, mark with a pointed instru-
ment, prick: see stigma.'] A large, mostly trop-
ical, genus of parmeliaceous lichens, of the
family Peltigerei. The thallus is frondosefoliaceous,
variously lobed, but for the most part wide-lobed, and co-
riaceous or cartilaginous in texture. The apothecia are
scutelliform, submarginal, elevated, and blackened ; the
snores are fusiform and acicular, two- to four-celled, usu-
ally colorless. There are about 20 North American species.
Some of the exotic species, as 5. aryyracea, are rich in col-
oring matter. See erotUes'^, hazel-crotUes, lungwort, 3, oak-
lungs, raff^, 3, and cut under apothecium.
Sticteine (stlk'tf-in), n. [Irreg. < Sticta + -inc.]
In bot., relating or belongingto the genus <Sficto.
E. Tuckerman, N. A. Lichens, I. 83.
stictiform (stik'ti-f6rm), a. [< NL. Sticta +
L. forriia, form.] In hot., having the form or
characters of the genus Sticta.
Stidt. "• A Middle English form of stead.
Stiddyl (stid'i), n. A dialectal form of stithy.
James Yorke, a blacksmith of Lincoln, ... is a servant
as well of Apollo as Vulcan, turning his stiddy into a study.
Fuller, Worthies, Lincoln, II. 295.
stiddy^, fl. A dialectal form of steady^.
stiet. See sf^l, sty^, sty^.
Stiebel's canal. See canaU.
stieve, stievely. See steeve'^, steevely.
Stife^ (stif), a. A dialectal variant of stiff.
Stife2 (stif), n. [Cf . stifle, stive^.] Suffocating
vapor. Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.]
A large open-mouthed chimney or stack, about 45 feet
high (one for each set), which serves to carry off the smoke
from the fires, the fumes from the metal, and the st%fe
from the grease.
W. H. Wahl, Galvanoplastic Manipulations, Ixv. 517.
stiff (stif), a. and n. [Also dial, stife, stive
(with diphthong after orig. long vowel) ; < ME.
stif, styf, steef, sief, < AS. stif or stif = OFries.
stef, North Fries, stif, styf, stif (Siebs) = MD.
stief, stijf, D. stijf= MLG. stif or stif, LG. siief
= MHG. stif (appar. < MLG.), G. steif= Dan.
stiv = Sw. styf= Norw. stiv (Icel. *stifr (Web-
ster), not found, styfr (Haldorsen), prob., like
the other Scand. forms, of LG. origin) ; Teut.
■y/ stif, stif; akin to Lith. stiprus, strong, stipti,
be stiff, L. stipes, a stem (see stipe). Cf. stifle^.]
1. o. 1. Rigid ; not easily bent ; not flexible or
pliant; not flaccid: as, «ii^ paper; acravat«<i^
with starch.
A stif spere. King Alisaunder, 1. 2746.
Oh God, my heart ! she is cold, cold, and stiff too.
Stiff as a stake ; she 's dead !
Fletcher, Double Marriage, v. 2.
Hark ! that rustle of a dress.
Stiff mth lavish costliness!
Lowell, The Ghost-Seer.
2. Not fluid; thick and tenacious; neither soft
nor hard: as, a s/«^ batter; stiff cl&y.
I grow stiff, as cooling metals do.
Dryden, Indian Emperor, v. 2.
3. Drawn tight ; tense : as, a stiff cord.
Then the two men which did hold the end of the line,
still standing there, began to draw, tt drew til they had
drawn the ends of the line stiffe, & together.
Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 433.
Keep a stiff rein, and move but gently on ;
The cotirsers of themselves will run too fast.
Addison, tr. of Ovid's Metamorph., ii.
4. Not easily bent ; not to be moved without
great friction or exertion ; not working smoothly
or easily.
As he [Rip Van Winkle] rose to walk, he found himself
stiff in the joints. Irving, Sketch-Book, p. 56.
The plugs were stiff, and water could not be got.
Mrs. Gaskell, Maiy Barton, v.
5. Not natural and easy in movement; not flow-
ing or graceful; cramped; constrained: as, a
stiff style of writing or speaking.
And his address, if npt quite French in ease.
Not English stiff, but frank, and form'd to please.
Couper, Tirocinium, 1. 671.
Our hard, sti^lines of life with her
Are flowing curves of beauty.
Whittier, Among the Hills.
6. Eigidly ceremonious ; formal in manner; con-
strained; affected; unbending; starched: as, a
stiff deportment.
This kind of good manners was perhaps carried to an
excess, so as to make conversation too stiff, formal, and
precise. Addison, Spectator, No. 119.
7. Strong and steady in motion : as, a stiff
breeze.
And, like a field of standing com that's mov'd
With a stiff gaXe, their heads bow all one way.
JSfiau. and /^/., Philaster, iii. 1.
8. Strong ; lusty ; stanch, both physically and
mentally. [Now provincial only.]
stiffen
Yet oft they quit
The dank, and, rising on stiff pennons, tower
The mild aereal sky, Milton, P. L., vlL 441.
Somtyme I was an archere good,
A slijffe and eke a stronge,
I was commytted the best archere
That was in mery Eiiglonde.
l^teU Geste o/Iiobyn Hade (Child's Ballads, V. 120).
9. Strong: said of an alcoholic drink, or mixed
drink of which spirit forms a part.
But, tho' the port surpasses praise.
My nerves have dealt with stiffer.
Tennyson, W'ill Waterproof.
10. Firm in resistance or persistence; obsti-
nate; stubborn; pertinacious.
A grene hors gret & thikke,
A stede ful sl%f to strayne [guide].
Sir Qawaytie and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.), 1. 173.
Ther the batayle was stiffest and of more strengthe.
Joseph ofArimathie (E. E. T. S.), p. 18.
The boy remained stiff in his denial, and seemed not af-
fected with the apprehension of death.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, II. 58.
11. Hard to receive or accept; hard to bear.
Labienus—
This is stiff nev» — hath with his Parthian force
Extended Asia from Euphrates.
Shak., A. and C, I. 2. 104.
12. Hard to master or overcome ; very diffieult:
as, a sfj^ examination in mathematics.
We now left the carriages, and began a stiff climb to the
top of the hill. Harper's Mag., LXX VI. 447.
13. Naut., bearing a press of canvas or of
wind without careening much ; tending to keep
upright: as, a «(j^' vessel; a stiff 'k^A: opposed
to cranlc.
It continued a growing storm all the day, and towards
night so much wind as we bore no more sail but so much
as should keep the ship stiff.
Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 17.
14. High; steep: as, asij^price. [Slang.] —
15. Unyielding; firm: said of prices, markets,
etc. : as, the wheat-market is stiff. [Commer-
cial slang.] — 16. Rigid as in death; dead.
[Slang.]— A stiff neck. See neck.—io keep a stiff
upper Up. See Zip. = 8yn. 1. Unbending, unyielding.— 6.
Prim, punctilious. — 10. Inflexible, uncompromising.
II. n. 1. A dead body; a corpse. [Slang.]
They piled the stiffs outside the door —
They made, I reckon, a cord or more.
John Hay, Mystery of Gilgal.
2. In 'hatting, a stiffener. — 3. Negotiable pa-
per. [Commercial slang.] — 4. Forged paper.
[Thieves' slang.] — To do a bit of stUT, to accept
or discount a bill. [Slang.]
How are the Three per Cents, you little beggar? I wish
you'd do me a trit o/ stiff; and just tell your father, if I
may overdraw my account, I'll vote with him.
Thackeray, Newcomes, vi.
stiff (stif), V. i. [< ME. stiffen, styffen, a later
form of stiven, early ME. *stifien, < AS. stifian or
stifian, be stilt, < stif, stif, stiff: see stiff, a., and
cf. stivel', the older form of the verb.] To be-
come or grow stiff, (a) To become upright or strong.
As sone as they [chicks] styffe and that they steppe kunne,
Than cometh and crieth her owen kynde dame.
Richard the Redeless, ill. 54.
(b) To become obstinate or stubborn.
But Dido affrighted stift also in her obstinat onset.
Stanihurst, JEneiA, iv
stiff-borne (stif'bom), a. Carried on with un-
yielding constancy or perseverance.
The stiff-borne action. Shak., 2 Hen. IV., 1. 1. 177.
stiffen (stif'n), V. [= Sw. styfna = Dan. stivne;
as stiff + -e«l.] I. intrans. To become stiff,
(a) To'become less flexible or pliant ; become rigid.
With chatt'ring teeth he stands, and stiffning hair.
And looks a bloodless image of despair I
Pope, Iliad, xlii. 364.
In this neighbourhood I have frequently heard it said
that if a corpse does not stiffen within a reasonable time
it is a sign of another death in (he family.
X. and Q., 7th ser., X. 114.
(&) To become less soft or fluid ; grow thicker or harder ;
become inspissated : as, jellies stiffen as they cool.
The tender soil then stiff'ning by degrees. Dryden.
(c) To become steady and strong : as. a stiffening breeze,
(d) To become unyielding; grow rigid, obstinate, or for-
mal.
Sir Aylmer Aylmer slowly stiffening spoke:
"The girl and boy. Sir, know their dilferencef '"
Tennyson, Aylmer's Field.
(e) To become higher in price ; become firmer or more un-
yielding: as, the market stiffens. [Commercial slang.]
II. trans. To make stiff, (a) To make less pliant
or fiexible.
From his saddle heavily down-leapt,
Stiffened, as one who not for long has slept.
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, IIL 259.
(6) To make rigid, constrained, formal, or habitual.
I pity kings, whom Worship waits upon, . . .
" horn Education stiffens into state.
Cowper, Table-Talk, 1. 125.
I pit
Who
stiffen
(c) To make more thick or viscous: inspissate: as, to
tUffen paste, (d> To make stubborn or obstinate.
The man . . . who is settled and stifened in vice.
Barrow, Sermons, IIL xvi. (Encyc, Diet,)
stiffener (stif n6r), «. [< stiffen + -erl.] Oue
who or that which stiffens, (a) Formerly used spe-
cilieally for a piece of stiif material worn inside a stock or
Deckcloth, and also for a similar device worn in leg-of-mut-
too sleeves. (&) In bookbituiimj , a thick paper or thin mill-
board used by bookbinders as an inner lining to book-
covers to give them the needed stilfness.
stiffening (stif'niug), «. [Verbal n. of stiffen, r.]
1 . Something that is used to make a substance
stiff or less soft, as starch. — 2. Something in-
serted to make a garment, or part of a garment,
stiff and capable of keeping its shape. See
buckram, crinoline.
Stiffening-machine (stif'ning-ma-shen'), H. In
/w^m<i/.i»;/, an apparatus for applying the heated
composition used to harden and stiffen the felt
of hats. It consista of a vat filled with melted shellac,
and a pair of rollers for removing the superfluous stilfen-
ing niatfrial after the hat has been dipped in the vat.
Stiffening-order (stit'ning-6r"der), H. A cus-
tom-house warrant by wliich ballast or heavy
goods may be taken on board before the whole
inward cargo is discharged, to prevent the ves-
sel from getting too light. •^'"P- Diet.
stiff-heairted (stif 'har'ted), a. Obstinate ; stub-
born ; contumacious.
They are iropudeut children and siifhearted.
Exek.iL 4.
gtiffle^ (stif'l), n. A dialectal form of stiglitle,
stickle^.
Stiffle-t, "■ An obsolete form of stifle^.
Stiffler (stif'lfer), n. [Also stiller; < late ME.
styffeler, a var. of 'stightler, whence also stick-
ler: aee stickler, stickle, stiffie,stightle.] It. Same
as stickler.
The king Intendeth, in eschewing all inconvenienta, to
be as big as they both, and to be a liy/eUr atween them.
Ptttbm Lettert, IIL 9^ quoted in J. Oairdner's Richard
[HLL
The drift waa, as I Judged, for Dethick to continue such
tUfim in the College of his pupils, to win him in time by
hook or crook the master's room.
Abp. Parker, p. 262. (Daniel.)
2. A busybody. Halliwell (spelled stifler).
[Prov. Eng.]
BtifSy (stif^li), ade. [< ME. stifliehe, styfly, stifli
(=\ID. stijfiick); < stiff + -!>/■'.] In a stiff
manner, in any sense of the word stiff.
And you, my sinews, grow not instant old,
But bear me itifiy up. Shot. , Hamlet, L 5. 95.
PistorlUB and others itifly maintain the use of channs,
words, characters, &c. Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 271.
stiff-neck (stif 'nek), n. Cervical myalgia ; some-
times, true torticollis.
stiff-necked (stif'nekt or -nek'ed), a. Stub-
born; inflexibly obstinate ; contumacious: as,
a stiff-nerked people.
Stiff-neckedness (stif'nekt-nes or -nek'ed-nes),
n. The |)ropt'rty or character of being stiff-
iieckt'd ; sliibl>oriiue88.
stiffness (stif'ncs), ». [< ME. styfnesse, sti/f-
nex ; <